Heart Tracks - Listening Ears

 "Let him who has ears to hear listen and understand." Matthew 11:15......"If we had ears to hear, what would He be saying to us?" Beth Moore...."This generation is drunk on a spirit of deception." James Robison

I don't remember who said it, but I have written down in my notes the quote, "The church is thinking logically to the wrong conclusions." T. Austin-Sparks said something to the effect that we have reduced His mystery and His Word down to what our intellects can understand. Spiritual discernment in the Body is not just lacking, it seems to be wholly ignored. So much of what is happening is based in the flesh, yet we who are His seem unable to discern that. And so, as Robison says, we often walk in deception. Charlatans, fakes, and ear-ticklers abound, but we seem unable to discern that, and so many are led astray....fooled. The Who sang the classic "Won't Get Fooled Again," but we do. Again and again. Moore's question is piercingly honest. If we had hears to hear, what would He be saying to us?

Think on that question as it applies to every area of your life, your household and the part of the Body to which you belong. If you could truly hear Him, what would He be saying to you concerning each and all. In all of them, are we walking in ways that seem right to us, or are we being led in all by His Spirit?
The people of Israel journeyed according to the actions of God's pillar of fire and cloud. The Church today has Someone infinitely greater to lead us; His Holy Spirit. And His Spirit speaks, teaches, counsels, and leads, and He does so as concerns every aspect of our lives. As he does, He also gives us understanding, discernment, spiritual sense. He leads, He checks, He speaks. And He does so in the midst of every kind of circumstance and need. Proverbs says that there is a way that seems right to a man, but it's end is death.....destruction. This will always be the result when we live in and depend upon our own understanding.  And doing so will be an open invitation to deception and eventually, destruction. The fruit of this lifestyle is everywhere to be seen. Where is it seen in us?

Where are you thinking logically to the wrong conclusions in your affairs of life? In our relationships, families, life choices, and especially ministries, where are we operating in dependency upon our intellects and fleshly understanding? He has direction for every detail of life. He speaks into all of it. Have we ears to hear Him? As to how we are living, moving, relating, ministering right now, what does He say? How does He speak? Do we walk in spiritual discernment, or do we lean upon our own understanding? Do we live in the spirit of His wisdom and understanding or our own? Where are we thinking logically to the wrong conclusions? Does the way we're on now seem right to us? If so, in who and upon what are we basing our confidence?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - A Deeper Death

"For I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." Galations 2:20...."I die daily" I Corinthians 15:13...."Take no thought for your life." Matthew 6:25....."The great word of Jesus to His disciples is abandon." Oswald Chambers

I remember the words of my first pastor when he would speak of the challenges, difficulties, criticism, opposition, and opinions of others concerning him. He would say that he had to "die out" to the effect they had upon him, or to any desire to vindicate himself, or take it upon himself to change the situation, circumstances, or person(s). He said he would have to "die to" all of those impulses. And, to the best of my memory in watching his life, he did. It was also the message he brought forth in his ministry of 40 plus years. Do you and I have such a witness and testimony? What is our response to those things named above, and all those things not named? When our flesh is assaulted, what do we do? Assert our "right" to defend ourselves, which is always the reaction of the flesh. Or, do we surrender that right at the cross? Do we crucify it, die to it, so that He lives in us in that place? Do we abandon all....reputation, desires, conflicts, opinions, dreams, hopes, and all the battles of life, to Him?

In the current church culture that so emphasizes achieving our optimum "destiny" and maximizing our lives, the idea of a cross-style life doesn't seem to have much place. People are much more interested in "living up" not dying out. Has it ever dawned on us that the main beneficiary of all our hopes and dreams is usually ourselves? Yes, others may well benefit, but who benefits most, or at least, just as much? But it is more than just about our dreams, hopes and destiny. It's about how we "do life." To be a true follower of Christ is to live a life that sets you apart. It shows in behaviors for sure, but it appears far more in our inner witness. In and through our spirits. It is is literally Christ appearing in and through us. To live such life means we must die to all that is not that life. It can't happen by our trying harder or doing more. It can only take place at the cross. There we die, and there we also come alive.

The thing of it is, to enter into His deeper life, we must be willing to enter into a deeper death. This means a deeper surrender, a deeper consecration, which will yield a deeper work of grace in us. Leonard Ravenhill said of Paul that he was "Fully surrendered, wholly sanctified, completely satisfied. Complete in Christ."
Are these familiar terms to your life and mine? Do they emanate from our pulpits? Are they witness the of our fellowships? I know that in my life, I need to take that road that leads to an ever greater surrender, an ever deeper dying out to myself. An ever greater portion of His life within me. That road only leads to one place. His cross....and into the abundance of His resurrection life that lies beyond it. A deeper death, a greater life. The road lies before us. Before you. Do we take it?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Random Things

There are some random thoughts and questions running through my mind today. I thought I might share them with you as I think they're thoughts and questions we really need to address and face. Here they are......

"And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." Colossians 1:17.....Question: Who is that holds your world together? Another question would be, just what is it that makes for "your world?" What is it founded upon and what does it consist of? Is it a world grounded in His life or yours? Is it rooted in His unshakable Kingdom, or your very fragile house of straw? In the Tsunamis, earthquakes, and hurricanes of life, what is it that you are depending upon to hold that world together? Don't answer with what your lips might say. What do your heart, life, and values say? Do we live, in the midst of all the unknown, in a world that is passing away, has always been passing away? Or in the sure knowledge, peace, and comfort, that all things, and especially ourselves, are held together in Christ? If a kind of "atomic bomb" exploded in your life today, in who and what would you be trusting in? Who and what are you trusting in right now? Who really holds your world together? Are you living in houses made of sticks and straw, or in one built upon Christ and with the "bricks" of His Kingdom?

"And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Go and report to John the things which you see and hear; the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear and the dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me.' " Matthew 11:4-6....Question: What is it that you and I have seen and heard? John the Baptist, imprisoned, sent some of his followers to ask Jesus if He was truly the Messiah. The above is the answer Jesus gave them for John. They had seen with their own eyes His miracles, and heard with their ears His words. Jesus directed them to share what they had seen and heard. He does the same with you and I. Just what is it that we have seen and heard? We are surrounded by a culture that is in parts apathetic, ignorant, skeptical, rejecting, and wholly unbelieving as concerns Jesus as Savior. We can crank up our outreach mechanisms, but when we reach out, what is it that we can tell those we reach to of what we have seen and heard of and from this One named Jesus? Not what we have heard others say about Him, or seen of Him. What have we? The world doesn't need another outreach method or plan. It needs a people who have "seen" with spiritual eyes the risen Christ, and heard with spiritual ears His voice. Are we such people. What can we tell our unbelieving world of His life and words? Where have we seen not just hands raised agreeing to accept Christ, but the blind seeing, the lepers cleaned, and dead raised up? What can we witness to in our lives and those we say we minister to?

"But He answered them, 'My Father is always working, and I Myself am working." John 5:17....A friend said recently that we are prone to make the statement, "I'm doing God's work." He said, "Only God can do God's work." Do we understand the truth and depth of that? I think we are trying to do what only God can do. We seem to think that people coming to Christ is only a matter of hitting upon the right plan or approach. We're always looking for a key. We're always thinking of a better way, a better means. I'm not removing our responsibility, but only He can do a work of grace, a miracle, make a transformed life. God builds His Church, not us. And He chooses the means and results. Again, not us. Christ said He was always working. What was the end of His earthly ministry? Betrayal, denial, and a scattered following. It appeared He built nothing in the end. Yet all the while the Father was building, though it looked completely the opposite to the eyes of flesh. He is always working, but His deepest and greatest work is in us. Than through us. What is He working in and through you and me?

Just some thoughts to share. And questions to be answered. How do we ponder and answer?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Different Language?

"I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent Me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life." John 5:24...."The truth is, anyone who believes in Me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father." John 14:12........"How can we have a room full of people who say they have the Holy Spirit of God Almighty within them and yet their lives look just like everyone else?" Francis Chan

Francis Chan shared how he, as a young believer would look around at the fellowship he was a part of and it's lack of fruit and Holy Spirit life, and wonder if this Bible containing His Word that everyone seemed to carry, but so few seemed to live in the power of, was speaking another language from theirs? That may sound judgemental, but Chan spoke and pondered those words with deep love and concern. And in the pondering and speaking, included himself in the question as well. Are you and I willing to do the same? Can we allow His Word and Spirit to search us in order to find what is real, and what is not, within us? That was one of the apostle Paul's great challenges to the church. To allow Him to so search them as to know whether they truly had life in Him or not. Are we up to the challenge?

We are experts at looking around us, but so poor at searching within us. If we are, as the Word says, a people set apart for Him, what is that sets us apart? The surrounding American culture is obsessed with pleasure, entertainment, materialism, comfort, and yes, self-absorption. At the same time it is assailed with a propensity to every kind of addiction, aimlessness, hopelessness, despair, and the absence of inner peace. It seeks its security in outward things, yet never lays hold of it, so it abides in a always present spirit of fear. All of this in direct contrast to the life to be had in Christ. Life that is to mark those who are His. When Jesus promised that all things become new in Him, new creations in Him, is it the witness of our lives, our fellowships, that this is so? He said that we pass "from death into life," ......now, not just at some future date. Again, is this so for you and me? I've a friend who likes to say that the world speaks "earthish" while His people are to be speaking "heavenish." The Bible clearly speaks in heavenish. Are we who say we are His continuing to speak earthish? If all things are new in Him, shouldn't our language be so as well? A language that comes not from our minds and tongues alone, but from our hearts. Kingdom language has become our native tongue.

Jesus said that we would do the same works that He did, and even greater ones. I can't begin to plumb all that promise means. I just ask myself, is this the witness of my life and the life of the church I am a part of? Is is the witness of yours? Christ came that we might have life and have it abundantly. How do we define such life? When we come down to it, does our definition look any different from the world's? Are we speaking the same language as it does? Have we passed from death to life? Are all things new? Do we see? Do we hear? Do we know? Do we really believe, and do we live what we believe? Do we speak the language of Christ, or the language of the world and it's bondage that He died and rose to deliver us from? What's our native tongue?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Outpost

"For He has said, 'I will never leave you or forsake you.' " Hebrews 13:5....."Sometimes it is not difficulty that makes me think God will forsake me but drudgery. There is no Hill Difficulty to climb, no vision given, nothing wonderful or beautiful, just the commonplace day in and day out.....We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing, that He is preparing and fitting us for some extraordinary thing by and by, but as we go on in grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, in the present minute." Oswald Chambers

Throughout history, empires and nations had lonely outposts situated on the border of their frontier and manned by soldiers tasked with defending it. They were almost always found in isolated areas, and those who served there did so while being unknown and forgotten by most everyone they were charged to protect. Even by those who had sent them there. Yet to them fell the task of being that nation's first line of defense against invasion. In the monotony of that frontier life, they needed to be in constant watchfulness. Ever ready. Ever faithful. Even while no one noticed. Following Christ can oftentimes be the same. He will place us in our own lonely outposts, and task us to be watching, to be ready, to be faithful. Even while no one else sees, notices, or applauds us. What lonely outpost might you be stationed at right now? Pastor, missionary, teacher, leader, husband, wife, employee. Will you "garrison" that place, live in a state of constant readiness, in faithfulness, even when doing so is the very definition of drudgery?

The culture of the west is completely enthralled with the idea of excitement. The Church is very much a part of that culture. Everything must have it, and our senses are bombarded with such stimulus all the time. Nobody wants to sit through a movie that lacks it. People leave marriages, relationships, churches and ministries because they feel such excitement and adventure is missing. So they go looking for someone, someplace, where they might have it, and have it in abundance. We want something to be going on around us.....even while nothing is really going on within us. We fully depend on outward stimuli. It keeps us from realizing what is missing within.

What we need to know is that He is God in whatever place we are. What we need to realize is that Christ is fully present in even the most lonely of places. Here's what we need to know most of all. If we are truly His, truly following Him, it is He who has put us there. And if He has put us there we can thrive there. We can know His abundance there. We are His there. Fully His. And....that is enough. At that outpost joy, peace, life, overflow from within us. We are fruitful even if it seems that nothing at all is happening. At that outpost, we stand ready, faithful, and listening. Most of all, we bring Him pleasure. Great pleasure. We don't need to drum up artificial excitement because we're caught up in the wonder of His glory and life....even in that desolate outpost. And we know that though that outpost might seem to be at the end of the world, it is not. Oh, He will use it to make an end to the "world" within us, but He intends that at that place we enter into the fullness of His world. Have we? Will we?

Are you at such an outpost? Feeling forgotten, passed by, unnoticed? You're not. He sees, He knows, He blesses, and He will grow you there. And at that outpost, you will find what true adventure in Him really is. You're on the borderland of His Kingdom.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Utterly Different

"And all of us have had the veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even more." 2 Corinthians 3:18....."What came in at Pentecost was a creation of a people 'utterly different in the very center of their being. Their power and influence lie in that fact. It is the secret of their influence in the world." T. Austin-Sparks

I don't doubt at all the desire of the Church to have great impact and influence upon the world it seeks to minister to and win. The "buzz word" for some time now has been "missional." We are to be a missional church, outreach minded, desiring to reach a world trapped in darkness. So, pastors and leaders constantly exhort the people to "go out and make disciples." The results of it all are a very mixed bag. If we are making disciples, just what kind are they? Are they, are we, really a people who are "utterly different" from the culture that surrounds us? Utterly different in the very center of our being? The Father, in seeking a people for Himself, has always commanded that they be a "people set apart." What is that sets you and me apart? The fact that we go to church, listen to Christian music, and read Chirstian books? Go to Bible studies, even read those Bibles? Good things all, but is there something going on, something real and powerful, in the very center of our being? Something unexplainable yet undeniable to a watching world. Do we live among that world with and in Kingdom power? Do we speak into that world with Kingdom power? Paul said he was "all things to all people," yet we have so misunderstood and watered down his meaning to the degree that we have harmed, even nullified our witness. Sparks said of Christ's earthly ministry, "Jesus could move in any circle, but His power over them was in His basic difference from them. To conform is to lose spiritual power." Somehow, in our good intentions, we have drifted very far from such a life and witness. How can this be so in a Church that professes to be controlled and led by His Holy Spirit?

Leonard Ravenhill said of John the Baptist, "In his eyes was the light of God, in his voice was the authority of God, and in his soul was the passion of God." And all of this BEFORE the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. If such a life and witness was John's before that outpouring, how can ours be something that is so much less? So much weaker? When we pastors preach, do those who listen see a reflection of His glory? Do they see and hear what the listeners of John saw and heard? The old hymn goes, "Heaven came down and glory filled my soul, when at the cross my Savior made me whole." Is such happening in what we call "worship?" Francis Chan once said that he wondered what the first century church would have made of the church today? He wondered what they would think of a crowd of people coming to a building, everyone facing forward for an hour or so, and then going out to the parking lot, getting in their cars and going home? What would there be about such a people to make them "utterly different?" What makes us so?

In Luke 4, Jesus proclaimed the words of Isaiah 61, which foretold of the coming of the Messiah. After reading those words, the scripture reads, "Everyone in the synagogue stared at Him intently. Then He said, 'This Scripture has come true today before your very eyes.' " They had heard that passage read countless times before. Now they saw it come to life before them. Jesus was, is, the Living Word in all it's glory. We are to be vessels of the same. We can either accept or reject such Living Glory, but we can never be neutral towards it. Are the fellowships we are a part of such vessels? Are our lives? We cannot motivate or program this. But we can be part of a movement raised up by Him, empowered by His Holy Spirit, and then move among a world trapped in darkness as His Living Light, reflections and vessels of His glory. His words come to life. Such is what I long to be. Utterly different. Utterly His. How about you?

Blessings, 

Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Tyrant

"I have food to eat that you don't know about....My food is to do the will of the Father...." John 4:31, 34....."Need is a voice that never says 'Enough!', yet Jesus Christ was never a slave to that voice." Alicia Britt Chole...."Many are 'busy' in Christianity and think they're in the Kingdom of God." T. Austin-Sparks....Jesus lived 30 years before doing a miracle. The need of men was not His primary motivating force. It was the will of His Father." Donald Rumble..."A man's obedience is to what he sees to be a need. Our Lord's obedience was to the will of His Father." Oswald Chambers

Not long after I came to know Christ, the classic tract, "The Tyranny of the Urgent" came into my hands. I kept it for many years, re-reading it many times, for the tyrant we know as "the urgent," and all the demands he makes upon us, was a constant adversary to me. At times, he still is.

The quotes I use above speak loudly. I hope they do to you as well. In this day when the rallying cry seems to be "Get busy, and be about the Lord's business," it seems to me that we spend little if any time in His Presence in order that we might know just what His "business" is. Winning souls? Yes, that is part of His business, but it is not the first part. Chambers, who was a mentor to missionaries, consistently cautioned his charges to "tarry" in the presence of God before they undertook any missionary effort. And this as a lifestyle, not as a means to make their work more successful. If this aspect was missing, then he believed the effort would in the end be fruitless. We may motivate men and women for a moment. Only the Holy Spirit can ignite and motivate for a lifetime. This happens when we have soaked in the presence of the Holy Spirit. The first century church tarried for 40 days until the Spirit came upon them at Pentecost. We struggle to spend 40 minutes with Him....per week. As they tarried, needs were everywhere. People were living, suffering, and dying while they prayed. They were not equipped to meet any of those needs until they had been saturated with His Presence. They didn't hold a conference and bring in "expert" speakers. They sought the face of the One who never ceases to reach out, and in doing so, they got hold of His heart as well. They were now His living presence to a world trapped in death.

Yet busyness is not just an affliction of the church, but of our lives in general. Need, as Chole says, is a taskmaster that will never say "enough!" Need was everywhere Jesus set His feet. He was never controlled by the needs around Him, but by His need of His Father and His will. Jesus did not live in the "immediate" but in the eternal. He was not crushed by needs and demands of the "now" because He lived in the light of forever, in the eternal. Therefore He was able to work His miracles in the way and timing of His Father.

I'm not advising that in every need we must first pray if we're to act upon it. What I am saying is that we need to be so in tune with His mind and heart that when He places us in the pathway of someone whose need is desperate, we not only recognize that need, but have the spiritual insight and ability to meet it, and in many cases, miraculous ways. This comes from a lifestyle of eating the food that the flesh knows nothing about. It is a consuming of the Word, Life, and Spirit of the Father. Need(s) will always seek to diminish the voice of the Father. It will always seek to be a tyrant whose great aim is to exhaust us, and take us further from His purpose and will. In the end, we are of little use to anyone. Despite the "spectator culture" that has infused the church, there is still a great amount of activity going on. Far too much of it is little more than the dry bones of Ezekiel's vision rattling about, making much noise, but walking in and giving forth no life.

Chole asks, "What is our food? What is the aim that nourishes us? Do we need a change of diet?" When Jesus spoke the above words to the disciples, they had just returned from seeking food in the village's local "McDonald's." They were familiar with "Big Mac's." Jesus knew and ate the bread of Life. Do we? Have we become so used to and satisfied with the world's "quarter pounder with cheese," that we have lost our hunger for the manna of heaven? Has the food that nurtured the life of Jesus become something that we know nothing about? Do we eat at the table of the tyrant, or the King?

Blessings,
Pastor O