Worship

I have often wondered over the years if in the environment in which the western church exists, if Jesus Christ alone is enough? This is not a tirade against churches seeking to minister in excellence to individuals and families. Excellence in ministry is what we must always offer to Him, but have we reached a place where we're offering what He and His church can give us over and beyond who He is and desires to be to us? We live in a consumer culture and that culture has invaded the church. In many ways very successfully. Is what we're doing and offering in His name pushing the Person and Presence of the One whose name we bear aside? Are people leaving our corporate gatherings feeling like they've just had a very good experience yet leaving in the same state in which they came? Are we emphasizing touching emotions and stimulating the senses above our encountering Him in life transforming ways? It's a fine line, and I think too many fellowships lack the discernment and understanding to see the difference. When I came to Christ in 1979, I had no idea what "church" even was or was meant to be. What I did know was that in the center of my broken life, His Spirit had placed within my heart a deep desire for Him. After a couple of months as a believer, I found a fellowship not far from where I grew up. It was about 20 miles from the city of Pittsburgh where I was living, but I was determined to go that Sunday. I didn't find a church geared towards meeting all my needs. They were a church of mostly married people with families. I was single. They sang songs I didn't know with instruments unlike the drums, guitars, and keyboards I was familiar with. There was no singles ministry and more, there were no single girls. There was however, a dynamic presence of Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit. The pastor, who became a lifelong mentor, was a gifted communicator of Jesus Christ and His life. When he preached, my heart and spirit were moved. I drank it all in. I couldn't wait to be in church. On Wednesday nights I drove out from the city to be there. There were more than 20 traffic lights on the way, and I usually caught every one of them. It didn't matter, so hungry was I for Him. What they didn't have played no part because I was fully caught up in what they did. The fullness of His Life. People choose to be in churches for a number of reasons. Most of them good reasons, but for how many of us does it come down to simply whether the power and presence of His Holy Spirit holds sway? Where His Presence is so mighty that if all the other things were missing, we'd still be there....and that would be enough. More than enough. My heart's desire for His church is that we would see preachers raised up who proclaim Christ in such power that He is real to those who hear them. I stayed at that church because I heard about a Jesus that I knew this preacher knew intimately, who was real, and was all that the preacher said he was and more. My heart burned to know that Jesus. I desire a church where every aspect of every ministry has as its central purpose making Jesus Christ real and alive to those they minister to. I desire a church that wants far more than to just provide a good experience, but to see the people truly encounter Him, and be radically transformed by Him. I know this is happening to some degree in many places, but I believe His word to us is that whatever we have experienced so far is nothing in comparison to what He seeks to do in and through us. May we hear Him speak that He has "so much more for us than this." May our response be to enter into it. Into all of it. As someone put it, to come together in worship is not a duty, but a gift. Let us receive this gift and come to Him, run to Him with hearts wide open.....and worship. Blessings, Pastor O

What Is

I don't remember the source for it, but in my prayer journal I have written, "We must surrender what we thought our lives were going to look like and step into what God has for us instead." We all have dreams, desires, and hopes. A happy marriage, beautiful family, a rewarding vocation, and ministry that bears much visible fruit. Beautiful dreams can become broken ones. It comes to everyone in some way and in some form. What do we do when it does? What do we do when our life mate suffers dementia? How do we respond when our marriage and family is broken apart by divorce? What happens when our children reject everything about us and push us completely away? What do we do when our expected ministry of abundance become a forlorn mission in the midst of the wilderness? What DO we do? Katherine Wolf was a beautiful young wife and mother with a life that seemed to have everything. Then, with no warning, at the age of 26, she suffered a severe stroke that left her disabled, partially paralyzed, and with a severe speech impediment. She refused to give in and give up. She did not run from her God, but to Him. There is no doubt she experienced a wide range of emotions and seemingly unending questions about it all, but she made a decision. She said that she decided that she would not dwell upon all the "what if's" of her life condition but would move into the "what is" of it. And she would do so centered upon the living hope she had in Jesus Christ. The result has been a rich ministry of hope and transformation for thousands of people. To live in the realm of "what if" invites darkness. It's a prison with chains only He can break, and they are broken when we enter into the realm of "what is." And what we will find as the foremost characteristic of this realm is Jesus Christ Himself. He is always in the place of what is. If we will trust Him there, He will lead us through even the most difficult and unpleasant circumstances into the broad place of His blessing and abundance. For our good and His glory. The roll of those who have done this include, besides Katherine Wolf, Fanny Crosby in her blindness, Joni Eareckson Tada in her wheelchair, Corrie Ten Boom in her concentration camp experience, and the apostle Paul and John Bunyan in their prison cells. Do not fear or run from what is, because He is there with you, and what He has for you there will be, as the old hymn says, "worth it all." Blessings, Pastor O

Mud

"As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust." Psalm 103:13-14 If we truly seek to follow Him, to worship Him and give ourselves wholly to Him, then we have surely experienced those times when our doing so feels empty and ineffective. We will have those times when it feels like what we offer Him is feeble, even worthless. Like what we bring to Him in our weakness is an offense to Him. We feel like we have completely disappointed Him, that it would have been better not to pray or worship Him at all. All of it is a lie, but it's a lie we so readily believe. Joni Eareckson Tada wrote on this. She said, "When my worship seems fragile and feeble, when my heart is muddied with misgivings, Jesus does not impatiently tap His foot, fold His arms and look at His watch, and think, "This girl better get her worship on. He graciously remembers that I am made of nothing but mud." This reminds me of an illustration from my professor of theology at Bible College, Dr. Arnold Airhart, concerning His receiving of our imperfect offerings of love. He used the picture of a small child who, with dirty hands, got a cup of cold water for their father. As his small hands carried the cup, pieces of dirt fell in, muddying the offering. He said the father didn't notice the dirt in the water, just the love in the heart of the child. He took it and drank. It's a beautiful picture of His love for us, and of us His love of what we bring to Him in love, even when we do so imperfectly. There have been so many times when I felt my prayer, my praises, my thanksgivings were beyond feeble. That they were worthless. The devil loves for me, for you, to believe it is so. It isn't. He sees our heart. He remembers that we are dust, mud. Weak, imperfect dust and mud. He looks beyond that. He looks deeply into what is in our heart. He doesn't focus on all the imperfections we bring. He focuses on our love for Him. Even when our love feels so weak and shallow. May we never lose sight of the illustration of the water mixed with dirt. Nothing we could bring Him can ever be worthy of the Savior that He is. He desires us, dirty hands and all, for it is Himself who makes all our imperfect offerings acceptable. Praise and worship, even at its weakest, is still praise and worship. It is still precious in His eyes. He remembers we are mud. Blessings, Pastor O

Rescuers

There is a beautiful painting that I've seen often on social media. It depicts Jesus reaching down beneath the waters to rescue someone who is drowning. I know the reality of that painting because it is exactly what He did for me all those decades ago. Many who read this know that experience as well. I am so thankful for the ministry of my Lord Jesus as the Rescuer of my soul, but through the years, I've learned that He often chooses to rescue us through the ministry and actions of others. There are a number of places where this has been true for me, but one in particular really stands out in my memory and experience. I was in the first couple of months of the collapse of my marriage. I had been offered the use of a small cottage on our denomination's campground. When I arrived to take up residence there, there was a group of fellow pastors gathered to do some maintenance work on the grounds. They talked with me a bit, told they'd be praying for me, yet I couldn't escape the feeling that they didn't really know what to say or do. They got back to work and I started to walk away towards the cottage. In that moment, I felt completely alone. I felt like I was drowning. Drowning in pain, in fear, in the midst of the impossible. As I walked, I sensed that someone was behind me. I turned and saw the face of a brother pastor I knew, but didn't know well. He simply reached out, put his hand on my shoulder, and began to pray for me. For me, in that place, I felt Him reaching down through this brother's touch, and pulling me up from the "waters" that I was drowning in. I wept as he prayed, but as he did so, I felt surging through me what I can only describe as waves of fresh hope. The Lord saw me right where I was, and on that lonely campground, He used this good brother to reach down and pull me out of the murky waters of despair. To be a rescuer employed by King Jesus is not a ministry many seek. I make no judgement against those other brothers who were present, but only one of them felt the urging of His Holy Spirit to come after me and minister to me His Life. Ever since then, I have sought to be a rescuer in the service of my Lord. To be attuned to the hearts and needs of those He brings before me. To be the vessel through which He reaches down to save a drowning soul. There have been times I missed His promptings, to my great regret, but I strive to be faithful to them. I'll be accountable for the ones I passed by. So will you. Rescuers, for the most part, are anonymous people, mostly overlooked by the majority. Yet their ministry is of infinite value in the Kingdom. The numbers of those crying out for rescue are legion. The number of those willing to be His agents of rescue are few. Peter failed his Lord in a spectacular manner. and was in despair as a result. Yet the risen Christ reached into His despair and restored him. Then, he sent Peter to his brethren to do the same for them. To be a Rescuer. Peter could be nothing less. Can we, who have also been rescued by Him, be anything less as well? Blessings, Pastor O

The Uttermost

Therefore, He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him. Hebrews 7:25 "Saved to the uttermost." Have you ever contemplated what that means? As used in the Bible, its meaning is; "The extreme, farthest point, or the completel totality of something." I see a Savior who has no limits, especially as concerns the salvation He so freely offers those who will trust and follow Him. Yet, how often do we find ways to limit this salvation? What are we missing when we do? How far below the level of life He offers are we living? Joni Eareckson Tada, confined to a wheelchair for more than 6 decades now, said that she wants to proclaim a Gospel that, "Saves every day. That sustains and shapes us every day." She's talking about a Gospel that is alive...every day. A Gospel that pours out saving grace upon us in the midst of all of life's challenges and needs....every day. A Gospel that not only sustains us through this day, but does so every day, and sustains in victory. A Gospel that shapes us as we live in His loving hands and He works within us His mind, His heart, His life...every day. A Gospel that, no matter how far He has taken us on this day, He will take us even further in the next day. And He will do so....every day. In 2nd Timothy, Paul wrote about how he was living chained within his Roman prison cell, but He triumphantly proclaimed, "but the Word of God is not chained." Unless it is chained by us. Where in our lives might we be doing so? What particular prison cells are we living in where not only we are bound, but we believe His Word and His promises are bound as well? Where are we not allowing His Word to be experienced "to the uttermost?" If you're reading this, I expect you have some level of belief in His Word. Is it the kind of belief that makes His Word real to you in your everyday life? When you're confronted with challenges, deep needs, fears, dangers, and more, who and what do you look to? Someone once said that we don't believe the God we believe in. How true is that in us? Churches are filled with people for whom the Word of God plays no real role in their lives. If His Word is not real then He is not real, at least in our day to day living. Paul, in a prison cell, was free. Joseph, enslaved for 12 years, was free. David, in a cave, pursued by enemies who sought his life, was free. For them, and so many more, God and His Word were real and alive. This was more real to them than the cell, the slavery, or the cave. May it be so for you and me as well. His Word is not bound, and through it, He saves to the uttermost. The enemy, working through this world will challenge that truth daily, but his words are words of death. They cannot stand against Christ's words of life. Stand in His words. Live in them, and the enemy will flee from you, every time. Every day. Every moment. Blessings, Pastor O

Everyone

And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. Matthew 19:29 I hesitate to tell too many of my life experiences with my Lord for fear of coming across as presenting myself as some kind of hero of the faith. I am not. At all. I know how weak I truly am. But the above Scripture has had deep meaning in my life for many years now, and that meaning was brought home once more this very morning. I made the decision to follow Jesus Christ 47 years ago this month. Wherever He led, I would go, no matter the cost....but I never imagined how much that cost would be. It began almost immediately as I left my old life behind, and in doing so, so many of my friends as well. That involved some pain, but I was young and I knew I couldn't stay in the environment I had been living in and still go on with Him. I trusted Him in this and He didn't disappoint. When I left for Bible College, I entered into a whole new world and one of the choice blessings I received were the many fantastic friendships I made there, most of which have continued to this day. He kept His word. I entered the ministry in 1984, and it is where I really began to learn of what it meant to suffer loss for His name. Most of all in my own family. The hardest part of ministry is watching people walk away from you for a number of reasons, but what they all had in common is that on some level, they wanted me to heed them before Him. Refusing to can make people angry and angry people can lash out and do very unloving things. I felt the deep sting of abandonment and betrayal more than a few times. People I thought would never do so, did. It's a story shared by every faithful pastor. Yet again, for everyone that left me, He would raise up from many different sources, those who would prove to truly be friends of the heart. Once more, He kept His word. Eventually, I would pay the deepest price. My wife, who I had believed was my life partner, began to hate the lifestyle of a pastor's wife. She sought for me to make compromises that I just couldn't make. She wanted a lifestyle for us that I knew I could never live. Whatever love she once felt left her, and was replaced by a cold, bitter anger and seeming hatred. She left, and she took her daughter, who we had raised as my own, with her. I will never forget the indescribable and heart wrenching pain I felt on the day she was taken away. A young girl that I loved completely as my own. I would not see or know anything of her for more than a decade. Yet even in this loss, He was faithful, and He has remained so. I lost my family, but what He did in response was to bring in seemingly endless numbers, people of all ages to simply love and be loved by. In 42 years of ministry, I have had the blessing of loving and being loved by so many wonderful people of God. I have formed some of the deepest friendships and relationships that will go on into eternity. What I have gained from Him has greatly outweighed what I lost. I was reminded of that this morning when a young girl, now a teenager, came up to me in church. When I pastored in Northern Viginia, I would each week pick she and her mother up for church. That little girl would sit in the backseat and banter the whole way with me. She was quite the character, but I loved her and knew she loved me. I hadn't seen her in years, but the bond was still there. She's just one of the many countless blessings I have received from Him as I keep on keeping on in the Kingdom. Through it all, through all the losses and cost, He has kept His word. He will always keep His word. Trust Him. The cross of Christ is soaked in His blood. We cannot expect that if we truly follow Him, it will not be soaked with ours as well. In the midst of the cost, He gives His greatest gift; Himself, a truly incomparable gift. . Blessings, Pastor O

Himself

God, in both the Old Testament and New, is always calling us to Himself. In Isaiah, He calls His people to "come, and let us reason together." In the Gospels, Jesus, in response to two of His disciples' questions, calls them to "Come and see." Then of course is His beautiful invitation to all who are weary and broken to "Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden." It is always to Himself that He calls us, yet we miss that truth so easily. Alicia Britt Chloe said, "We ask for angst dissolving answers; He offers Himself. We pray for peaceful paths; He offers Himself. We desire detailed directions; He offers Himself." We're missing that in our insistence on His giving us answers, or help, or deliverance from hard places, He offers us something far greater. He offers us Himself. We want rest, or peace, or strength, or joy, or answers, or deliverance. We miss that He is all of these and more. We want something He does or gives. He wants to give us Himself. How sad that we settle for so little of Him when He longs to give us so much more of Himself than we could ever imagine. We're missing the great truth that in all those things we see as threats, or needs, or fears, and in which we want His help, that they all must bow to His Presence. We miss that none of these could hold power over us when He is with us and in us in the fullness of His life. In Himself we find everything we could ever need or want, but we're missing that. In comparison, we're asking for cheap tinsel when we could have all the riches of the Kingdom that are found in Him. Somewhere in this day, week, month, or year, we'll be faced with need. In some places, desperate need. May it be that we don't just ask for His work, blessing, or answer. May we seek the best part, as Mary did when she sat at Jesus' feet. May we want nothing more or less than Himself. That is a desire that He will always fulfill. May it be fulfilled in us today. Blessings, Pastor O