Heart Tracks - Undone!

      Pastor and writer Michael Catt says that there are two God's being worshiped in the American church, God as He is, and God as we've created Him in our image.  Before you pull back in horror, think on his words.  Dwell upon much of what we call "worship" in the church today.  How much of what goes on is tailored to our needs and desires, what we like, what we want?  How much of "church" is about "us" rather than being all about Him?  How much of our music and preaching is geared towards getting a favorable response from people, instead of being an offering of brokenness to Him?  I once has an irate congregant tell me after a message that displeased him that "I come to church to feel good."  If we don't leave a gathering feeling "good", we feel shortchanged somehow.  We're "paying customers" aren't we?  Shouldn't we be getting what we came for?  In Isaiah 6, when God appeared to Isaiah, all he could say is "Woe is me, I am undone."  Catt says that this element is missing in modern worship.  The sense of awestruck wonder in His presence is missing.  Few of us are "undone" in most "worship" experiences today.  We may sing fast paced choruses or traditional hymns.  We may clap and dance, or stand in somber silence, but when we are done, how many of us have been undone?

     I once preached on this matter, and in the course of the message, I mentioned how so many of us, at the immediate end of a "worship service," immediately check our phone messages, or begin texting, or pick up a conversation right where we had left off before "worship."  I didn't detect that anyone was not "listening" when I said that, yet, as the service closed, I saw a number of folks immediately do what I had just spoken of.  Were they being defiant?  I don't think so.  Though they heard, they didn't hear.  I believe the reason they could disengage from Him so easily was that they had never been truly engaged with Him to begin with, and this disengagement was not a Sunday morning thing, but a day by day reality for them.  Is it the same for you and I?
   Jesus, in John 4, told the Samaritan woman that those who would worship the Father would worship Him in "Spirit and truth."  I think many wonder just what does that mean.  I like the meaning that Catt gives; those who truly worship Him in Spirit and truth will do so as a way of life, surrendering moment by moment to His Lordship, living with an ever growing, ever deepening sensitivity to His Spirit, a day by day dying to themselves, and a step by step obedience to His Word.  This is a lifestyle of worship.  This is a lifestyle that will live in His Presence.  For sure we will be undone by this lifestyle before Him, be remade as well.  True worship encounters Him as He is, not as we wish Him to be.  One cannot truly worship Him and remain unchanged.  True worship comes to Him as He is, with a willingness to be shown who and where we are.  This is the worship that He'll joyfully receive, and worship that we must joyfully give.  Which God will we come before, the one we've created in our image, or the One who is?  One way or another, we'll answer that today.  What will that answer be?

Blessings,

Pastor O  

Heart Tracks - Cover Story

      Most folks seem to enjoy a good "thriller," be it book or movie.  A favorite theme in these is when the main character goes into "deep cover" in order to infiltrate and subvert a crime or spy organization from within.  Always, they are given a "cover story," something that creates knowledge about the character, knowledge that is almost always false.  The other day, a good friend shared some great insights on just how this applies to the lives of those who are His.  I thought I'd pass on some of those insights, as well as some the Lord has shown me since then.
      If we're honest, most of us only know each other through our "cover stories."  We have surface knowledge of each other.  We know each others favorite teams, foods, TV shows and movies.  We know a lot about each other, but very little of each other.  Is it any wonder then that the same is true of our knowledge and relationship with Christ?  We rarely get beyond the surface with Him.  We rarely enter into the place, the secret place as His Word calls it, of truly knowing Him.  We know lots about, but little of.  We're satisfied to know one another's cover story, and in a way, Christ's, but that's where it ends.  There is a "deep cover" in each of our lives, but few of us ever discover it, even as concerns ourselves.  As a result, like some of the characters, we've been in deep cover so long, we can no longer distinguish between our cover story, and who we really are, and who He really is.  In the Word, John tells us that we shall behold Him, that we shall see Him, Christ, "just as He is."  Many think this is a future promise, but I believe that the fullness of His Word tells us that this beholding of Him can begin now.  That we can begin to see Him, the fullness of Him, now.  But we must desire to get beyond the cover story.  In Exodus, it's written that Moses "entered into the deep darkness, where God was."  The Father has no desire to remain under "deep cover" in His relationship with us.  He longs to be known, but this knowing is a journey of discovery, and at times, it will require entering into the unknown, but in that unknown, we will come to know Him more.
     There's another element in all of this that my friend shared.  It's the role of the believer living in "deep cover" in the midst of broken, lost culture.
In His Word we're told to be "in the world, but not of it."  How do we truly live that out?  First off, those who continue to live only on the surface, the cover story, can't live it out.  We can "do church" even engage in good works, but if the lives involved are not living deeply in Him, the results will not be lasting.  It is, and will be, lives lived out in the resurrection power of Christ, that will "turn the world upside down."  This is what Paul and a few followers were accused of in the book of Acts.  The were able to do so because they lived so deeply in Him, deep cover in Him, that the power of His life through them, shook the world.  They "subverted" their culture, not nearly so much by what they did, but by who they were in Him, and who He was through them.  We who are His are called to the same, and nothing less.  To do so, we must go beyond the "cover story" we've been living and have been content to have as the filter in knowing others, and knowing Him.  From the place of our deep cover in Him, we live lives of Holy Spirit power, lives that can and will, turn the world upside down.  To such a life we're called, but we must drop our cover story.  Will we?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Living In Nowheresville

    "Living in 'Nowheresville.' "  That's where pastor and writer Greg
Matte said Moses called home as he tended sheep on the backside of the
desert.  His father-in-law's sheep, not his.  It's a place where far
more often than not, I've found myself living.  Maybe you have as well. 
Maybe you are now.
      Maybe you can describe this place.  A place where you feel you're
unseen, unnoticed, perhaps unappreciated.  Pastor's can certainly be
familiar with this place, but so can husbands, wives, children,
employee's, really, just about everyone.  Nowheresville is a lonely
place, and it's also a place where our enemy, if he can catch us
unawares, will seek to convince us that it's God who put us there, and
that He's as unaware of us as everyone else seems to be. The first may
well be true, He may well have placed you there.  He surely did so with
Moses, but the second will always be amongst the devil's great lies. 
There is never a place, never can be a place, where He does not see us,
is not aware of us, and more, does not join us in.
      It is natural, and human, to want to be noticed, appreciated, and
yes, applauded.  Yet, we live in a fallen world, one that will only be
too happy to take and use us, and then discard us when its finished. 
There may be some recognition along the way, but it's fleeting.  The
culture has always been and always will be a "what have you done for me
lately" one.  The church, to our shame, has not been immune.  We can be
as gulity, even moreso, than the culture we seek to reach, because,
tragically, that culture, in so many ways, has had more influence upon
us, than we upon it.  Even so, when living in Nowheresville, there is
still opportunity to see and be swept up into the glory of God.
     Moses, chief citizen of Nowheresville, saw that glory in the
burning bush.  Hagar, driven out of the camp of Abraham by a jealous
Sarah, sat in the desert waiting to die, when the Father came to her,
revealed Himself to her, and let her know that He was not finished with
her yet.  In Genesis 16:13, she calls Him, "the God who sees me......I
have seen the One who sees me."  In her own Nowheresville, she beheld
His glory.  Yet such encounters are not confined to the persons of the
Bible.  Singer and speaker Sheila Walsh, having suffered an emotional
breakdown, checked herself into a sanitarium.  Her marriage had
crumbled, her ministry seemed ended, and in the small room where she
changed into a hospital gown, she felt totally alone, forgotten, and
unnoticed.  Yet at that moment, a nurse she had not seen before, and
would not see again throughout her stay, entered that room and said,
"Sheila, the Shepherd knows where you are."  She too beheld the glory of
God.  So may you and I.  So must you and I.
     In his autobiography, "The Heavenly Man," Brother Yun, a Chinese
believer who had suffered terrible suffering in a number of Chinese
prisons for his faith, could say in the midst of it all, "I am nothing. 
Christ is everything."  For anyone who has read that book, there can be
no denying that Yun saw, so many times, the glory of God, and always, in
his own particular Nowheresville.  I have written in my prayer journal,
that I would have the strength to be nothing.  To live, willingly, in
Nowheresville.  Unknown. Unnoticed.  Perhaps to everyone, but never to
Him.  To see, in that place, His glory, to be swept up into it.  Living
in Nowheresville....with Him. Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Standing In The Shadows

     Acts 5:15 tells of the wondrous witness and testimony of the power of Christ's life in Peter, that the people would often bring their sick and crippled out into the street in hopes that should Peter pass by, his mere shadow falling upon them would bring healing and wholeness.  There can be no doubt that Peter walked, lived, and ministered in the power of Jesus' resurrection life.  True Holy Spirit power coursed through him and countless lives were touched powerfully by his life.  Yet, I have so often wondered if those upon whom his shadow fell, and all those who received such powerful ministry from him, did they ever come to know for themselves, experience for themselves, the life that Peter knew.  Did they live, move, and yes, minister, in that same resurrection power?

    I think we in the church have always flocked to see and hear those who have truly seen, encountered, and have known Almighty God, but perhaps never more than in this day.  We want to know what He is speaking, what He is doing.  We want to know what these men and women are hearing.  Somehow we miss the reality that these ones are not "superspiritual believers," living lives that can only be obtained by a select, privileged few.  They are merely ones who have so hungered and thirsted after Him that they would allow nothing to come between they and the Christ they so loved, and so passionately sought.  It is lost to so many of us that the life they are leading is also the life He invites us into as well.  In our spiritual laziness however, we'd rather someone else do the "hard work" of going deeply into His life.  We'll be content to just "stand in the shadows" of those who have.

   Pastor and writer Francis Frangiapane writes that he was very much once among the latter.  He was always asking godly men and women he admired what they were hearing from God.  Finally, one replied to his question, "Tell Francis I miss him."  Might the Father be saying the same to you and I today?  If He is, are we even in the place spiritually, where we could hear Him?
   More than 50 years ago, A.W. Tozer wrote, "We are turning out from the Bible schools year after year, young men and women who know the theory of the Spirit-filled life, but do not enjoy the experience....who turn out a generation of believers who know nothing personally of the inner fire.  The next generation will drop even the theory."  We need, desperately, to be a people who know of Him only through what we've read or heard.  We must be a people, a church, who are able to relate to those around us what we have seen, heard, and felt, and lead them to the place where they too may encounter Him, see Him, hear Him, and encounter Him.  We need to cease standing in the shadows of men, and stand instead in His presence.

Blessings,
Pastor O

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Heart Tracks - Whatever It Takes

     Every New Year's Eve for the last several years, we've joined together with two other fellowships to worship and bring in the new year.  Each year, there is a time of testimony, when people relate how the Lord has moved in their life.  Usually, it's about how God came through in the midst of, at least to them, very dire circumstances.  Now, it's good to relate to others how the Lord works and blesses in our lives, for it does bring encouragement, but as a good friend says, we so often  say "God is good!"  only when He's done what we wanted Him to do.  Leaving the impression that if He has not, then He's not good.  We like to say that "God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good," but we seem to presume that God will be doing what we want, "all the time."  However, that night, a lady got up and shared words one does not often hear in most fellowships.
    The good sister related that her husband had left her that year, and that she was alone, and with mounting pressures on all sides.  Most, if not all, still remained.  Yet, it was her final words that laid hold of my heart.  She said that in the midst of all this, she had discovered a beauty and knowledge of Him she had never known before, and that if the result of her pain was to bring her deeper into the life and heart of Christ, than her desire was that whatever it takes for that to happen, even if it be deep pain, she welcomed it, because she, like Paul, knew it brought her into the surpassing greatness of knowing Him.

    For most of us, our response to pain is that He remove it, and quickly.  Our ongoing concern in the midst of it is how much longer will it go on, and why isn't the Father doing something to take it away.  Seeing pain and suffering as a roadway to Him, something that He may not author, but will certainly use, continues to be unseen by us.  We see only the immediate cause of the pain, and so, we're unable to see Him in the midst of it.  We may know that, as we read in Jeremiah, that He is the Potter and we are the clay, but we expect Him to only shape us through gentle, easy ways.  As James Robison put it, "We say to Him 'Squeeze easy,' and He says to us, 'Stay soft!.' " 

    I've heard it said that "God's 'good' is being conformed into the image of Christ."  Christ's road was the one of pain and suffering, but we in the west would rarely consider that a "good road" for us.  Sometime ago I wrote two statements down in my notes.  I have no name beside them, so I do not remember if they are mine, or another's, so I take no credit for the power I believe they hold.  The first is that we must follow Him in life, even if this is not the life we wanted, even when the following leads through pain and sorrow.  The second is, that it is harder to waste pain, than to walk through it with Him.  I think these are truths that the sister on New Year's Eve had discovered.  Have you and I?  Will we?  Will our heart's desire, like hers, be "Whatever it takes to come more deeply into your life, Lord lead me on."  Yes, Lord, lead us on.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Focus

    Recently I came upon this account from a missionary to a large portion of Africa.  She and her family had gone to Lake Nakuru National Park, which teemed with wildlife.  They were awed by all the different forms of life they saw.  Then, from their white van, they heard the unmistakable cry of a baboon, and saw the response of all the animals that heard it.  They seemed intent upon seeing what it was the baboon's cry sought to alert them to.  She said, "With curiosity, we inched toward the hailing sentinel who directed all creatures in one direction.  What could command such esteem?"  She said that she then saw in a nearby tree, a "huge male lion," writing, "That explained it all.  The focus was on the king of the jungle.  The humans in a white van didn't distract the animals.  Their focus was on the king, and nothing would change that.  Their focus even drew us to him."

     What does our life focus say to others?  Does it cause them to notice our relationships, our families, our jobs, our ministries?  Does the cry of our life point to something that is not Christ?

Our hearts and lives may be focused on many "good things," but they are empty things if we fail to see and focus on the one thing, seeing, hearing, knowing, and living in Him.  Is the Lion of Judah going unnoticed in our midst because we have our focus on everything and everyone but Him?  The animals, having fixed their eyes on the lion, were not distracted by anything around them.  We on the other hand, are so distracted by everything that is around us, fixing our eyes on one thing, and then another, that He goes unseen, unnoticed in the midst of our lives.  Because of this, we go to church services hoping to catch a glimpse of Him, but we rarely do, since our untrained eyes are unable to see Him in our day to day lives.  So, we settle for a few emotional perks, and then get back to the true focus of life.  Our concerns, sometimes even others concerns, but rarely if ever, His concern, which is that we know and see Him.

     I close with two scripture references and ask myself and you just how much they would describe the witness of our lives.  Jesus said in John 12:32, "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."  Like the cry of the baboon, will the cry of our hearts and lives point to Him, and so powerfully that even a "passerby" to our lives cannot help but have their attention drawn to Him?  Does our day to day life focus lift Him up, or push Him aside?  The second scripture is found in Luke 2, in the life of aged Simeon, who had been told by God that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah, Jesus Christ.  When Joseph and Mary brought the child Jesus to be presented according to custom, Simeon, who had spent his life looking for this One, took Him in his arms and said, "Now I may die in peace, for my eyes have seen Your salvation."  The eyes of Simeon had never ceased to look for Him and to Him.  Now, he looked upon Him.  Are such eyes found in you and I?  Where is our focus?  To what does our line of vision point to?  What do the two of these say to those around us about us, and even more, about Him?  Today, and every day, may He be lifted up in our lives, and may we not rest in a day until we have seen Him.

Blessings,

Pastor O

 

Heart Tracks - Ruined!

     Not long ago a young pastor posted a photo of their church sanctuary saying, as best I remember, "God wants to wreck us here in the morning."  Two thoughts emerged in my reading that.  First, when we truly come before Him in worship, He most definitely desires to "wreck us."  Secondly, I believe few of us are desirous of being wrecked.
     In Isaiah 6:5, Isaiah, in his encounter with the awesome wonder of God, says, "Woe is me....I am ruined."  Ruined in the Presence of the Lord.  There can never be any other result for anyone who has such an encounter with Him.  To see Him, to encounter Him, to know Him, is to be ruined.  The Father told Moses that "No one may see Me and live," and He spoke truth.  We cannot see Him and continue to live the same self-absorbed, pleasure obsessed, lovers of this world lives.  That, along with our outlaw nature must die, so that we may truly live.  Such an encounter is, I believe, alien to most of our church gatherings, where we sing a few hymns, or a snappy chorus or three that may touch our emotions, but not our hearts.  We may hear a message that brings conviction, but not transformation.  We call it worship, but really, we've just attended a meeting.  We go out as we came in....the same.
    Oswald Chambers said that God's deepest desire is to reveal to us who He is.  Devotional writer Chris Tiegreen writes, "When we really understand who God is, the natural response is to offer Him whatever we can get our hands on....and all we have is ourselves......If we have not yet gotten to that point of laying ourselves on the altar before Him - without reservation - we have not yet encountered the living God."  We've not been wrecked.  We've not been ruined.  Make no mistake beloved, He most definitely desires to ruin us.  To ruin us for all that works in our lives to hold us captive to all in life that is not Him.  Jesus said "What does it profit a man if he would gain the whole world, but lose his soul."  Saul of Tarsus encountered the risen Christ on the Damascus road.  This encounter transformed him, he was ruined forever as to who he had been, made new by He who is.
  Saul of Tarsus was now the apostle Paul.  There can be no other result for anyone who has truly seen Him.  Have you yet seen Him?
    I heard a panel of "talking heads" recently ask the question "Is America becoming more religious?" citing the number of movies and cable programs that feature religious or spiritual themes.  What we miss in the question is what it means to be religious.  I've heard religion defined as "man's ideas about God."  My ideas, your ideas about Him are meaningless when they're based on our own understanding.  These "ideas" need to be ruined, wrecked, so that our understanding is replaced by His.  Human reason and logic will never encounter God, but a heart that is truly drawn to Him will.  If you have such a heart, beware, for it will surely lead to an encounter with Him, and encounter that will ruin you for the world if you embrace Him, but ruin you for Him if you reject Him.  Out of the wreckage of the first comes true life, from the second, death.  Which will you have?

Blessings,
Pastor O