Voices

 "They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison. Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time." Jeremiah 37:15-16....."We are coming to a day when the prophet who knows what God is saying may well have to tell it from jail." Vance Havner

Jeremiah was a prophet commissioned by God to preach His words to a generation who would, for the most part, reject, abuse, and mock him. While other professing prophet/preachers were telling the people of Judah that all would be well, that they would enjoy peace, prosperity, and security, Jeremiah was warning of the severe consequences of continued indulgence of sin, apathy towards God, and lifestyles centered upon self-indulgence (all while outwardly "worshiping Him). This angered the people, but even more, it angered those who wanted no part of His message. When the mocking and laughing could not silence him, they threw him in jail.

There was a desperate need for Jeremiah's prophetic voice in his day. There is an even more desperate need for such voices in this day. Sadly, as Leonard Ravenhill said, the American church is "more pathetic than prophetic." One of my prayers has been that God would raise up a generation of prophetic voices that hear from heaven and speak the language of heaven into the culture of the earth, and even more, into the culture of the modern church.

I don't think a voice like Jeremiah's would be any more welcome in the American church of today than it was in his time. People welcome being comforted, encouraged, and promised a continual well-being. They do not welcome warnings and challenges from heaven. Even more, they do not want to hear of the consequences of ignoring them. Such voices are not honored in their lifetime. Jesus told the listening Pharisee's that though they built monuments to the martyred prophets of old, they would have been with the very ones who put them to death had they been present in their day.

I recently read a powerful article by John Burton giving 7 reasons pastors don't address the wickedness of the culture. Fear was a recurring reason, but there was one that really stood out. He said that they fail because they have no real prayer life or prophetic unction. Unction is a little heard word in the modern church, but it means to preach in the anointed power of the Holy Spirit. Such anointing can never be upon those with shallow prayer lives, and more, how can such "preachers" speak of what God is saying when they have no idea as to what He is saying? Too many have listened more to the influential members of the church, or the experts on cultural trends, than they have to the voice of Almighty God. We give in to the fear of men over the fear of God.

Jeremiah spoke a painful truth with deep love for his hearers. We must do the same, but we must be prepared for the consequences. God has never ceased to speak to His church, but we have lacked for those who would receive and faithfully proclaim what they hear. Both in the pulpit and the pew. I have always been moved by the Scripture that speaks of God seeking a man to "stand in the gap" for his nation and people. He did not find many then. Will He find any now? Will you be such a person? Will I?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Time

 "You fools! You know how to interpret the weather signs of the earth and sky, but you don't know how to interpret the present times." Luke 12:56...."There has never been a generation as ignorant of the answer of one little question: 'What time is it?' " Vance Havner

I have been an admirer of a pastor and evangelist named Vance Havner, who many years ago went home to the Lord. He had a way of cutting directly to the root of a problem or situation, and infusing God's truth into the center of it. He, along with men like A.W. Tozer and Leonard Ravenhill, were identifying and coming against thinking, attitudes, and behaviors that they were seeing emerging in the American church. The watering down of the Word of God, the lax attitude towards sin, the adoption by the church of corporate methods over "consecrated men," and the emphasis on buildings, programs, attendance growing, and monies raised, over the presence and operation of the Holy Spirit in all of His fullness. He addressed a generation and though He has been gone nearly 50 years, He addresses ours.

He said, "Civilization today reminds me of an ape with a blowtorch playing in a room full of dynamite." Could there be a more apt description of what we're seeing not only in the culture of America, but throughout this world today? And I fear that the church, for the most part, is asleep in the midst of it all. How? Why?

Jesus spoke to a generation well versed in the teachings of the Father. They were religious, but they were blind to what God was saying, and most especially what He was saying through His Son Jesus Christ. The Messiah they had been looking for was before them, but they didn't recognize Him. When He spoke and told them who He was, they didn't believe Him. When He warned them of the sure consequences of rejecting Him, they laughed at Him. When He pointed to all that the prophets who'd foretold concerning Him had been realized in Him, they denied Him. When He told them what lay ahead as a result of it all, they couldn't see it. They could discern the weather, but they couldn't discern His reality. They didn't believe the God they said they believed in.

In Luke 19:44, Jesus told the people that their city, Jerusalem, and their beloved Temple would be destroyed because they did not recognize "the time of their visitation." How close are we, the church, to entering into that same place of danger? The Father's warning signs are everywhere and are increasing, yet far too many of us continue on in our pursuit of our own comfort and happiness. We have continued to build our "houses" on foundations of sand, and we don't even notice their eroding.

I have said before, and I say again, this is not a message of despair, but of hope. We are told in His Word to "look up, for our redemption draws near." We will miss what He is saying and doing if all we can see is what is going on with ourselves. We must live looking up, listening up, and not miss what He is saying and doing in these and all days. Someone said that the enemy's greatest lie to those of us living as I describe above is to tell us that "there's still time," which permits us to go on ignoring what He is saying, doing, and warning of right now.

His Word says that "Now is the day of salvation." No one is guaranteed tomorrow. A grieving God told the nation of Israel, "My people perish for lack of knowledge." I believe He speaks this to us right now. Do we hear? Or, do we go on as we have been? After all, there's still time......isn't there?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Saturated

 "Therefore, 'Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.' " 2 Corinthians 6:17....."What would happen if everyone in the church spent the week alone with God and then came together? It would change everything." Francis Chan

Can anyone walk through a sewer and not be covered with the filth that is found there? I know I'll offend some when I compare this world to a sewer, but how far does the average person go in their day to day living without seeing "sewage" pass before their eyes? It happens with the advertising we're bombarded with, the entertainments we watch, and the music we listen to. The world is catering to our various "lusts" in ways never imagined just a generation ago. Even the one committed to purity is challenged to maintain it in today's world. How tragic that many of we who confess Him as our Savior regularly invite many of these things into our homes on a daily basis. Worse, we see no real problem with it.

I once asked a good friend who was a believer how he could watch some of the movies he did when they were filled with coarse language, and sometimes, explicit sexual scenes. He told me that he didn't notice any of that and just concentrated on the story. I'm not a legalist, but as one who once freely used that language and beheld such scenes, I knew how they attached themselves to my mind and made return "appearances" again and again. We deceive ourselves if we think that maintaining a holy mindset can happen when we're saturated with such words and images.

So how does one maintain a holy way of life in the midst of an unholy world? A world that seeks to saturate us with its values, thoughts, and desires? There is only one way. We must be saturated in His Holy Spirit. It has to become our way of life. Too few of us know how to live such a life, and too many don't want to. Even a sewer can become "home" if we spend enough time in it.

Whether we wish it or not, we are going to be confronted every day and all day with that which seeks to take our hearts and minds away from Him. The enemy knows how to appeal to our flesh and has endless ways to make his appeal. In our own strength, we have no way to defeat that. We can only overcome as we walk in His Spirit, saturated in His presence. This means time, real time, spent in His presence. This means living with a conscious awareness of Him at all times. This is an everyday lifestyle, not a once a week visit to a church building.

No matter how hard we seek to entertain and hold the attention of people, they're in so many cases, bored with church. They don't see it as relevant, or they don't believe in the power of the God they say they believe in. With as little time as the average believer spends with Him, how could they? He's not real most of the week, how could He be real at the end of that week? This is why we need to soak in the truth of Chan's words. What would happen if we set ourselves apart for Him? What if we made real time to soak in Him, hearing His heart, listening to His voice? Going ever deeper in our knowledge of Him. As Chan writes, it would change everything. How badly do we want such a change?

Jeff Deyo in his song "Lose Myself," sings, "Saturate my life, fill every part of me with You. Drown me in Your love, let me lose myself in You." We will be saturated in either the ways of the world or His Kingdom. Oh Lord, may we lose ourselves, be saturated in You.

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Dispute

 "Come unto Me." Matthew 11:28....."If you want to know how real you are, test yourself by these words - 'Come unto Me.' In every degree in which you are not real, you will dispute rather than come, you will quibble rather than come, you will go through sorrow rather than come, you will do anything rather than come....'just as I am.' " Oswald Chambers

Matthew 11:28 is one of the most, if not the most quoted Scriptures. We love the invite from the heart of Jesus. "Come unto Me all you who labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." We want to take Him up on that invitation. We want relief, help, strength, rest. Preachers and workers across the church have used that verse to encourage the lost and broken to come to Him. Likewise, much of the professing church has heard this invite at the end of a sermon centered on this text. What gets left out is the full meaning of His invitation. He bids us come not on our terms, but His.

Few were more direct in their presentation of Biblical truth than Oswald Chambers. His words above pierce all of our illusions about what Jesus Christ is actually saying and inviting us to. We want to come for what He gives, we "dispute" with Him over what He demands. He demands all of us, every part of us, in our coming to Him. We're eager for rest and relief, we're beyond reluctant to surrender everything in our hearts and lives to Him in our coming. I believe it was Chambers who said that when Christ bids us come to Him, He bids us to come and die. When we come to Christ we also come to His cross. All that we are, all that we have, all that we want, is nailed to that cross, and it is no longer ours, but His. Our flesh will always fight such a transaction, but Jesus Christ will not relent on it.

We have so much we wish to dispute with Him on. Our desires, our dreams, our attitudes, our anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, our secret sins. The list of items is almost endless, and we feel that to surrender them to Him will kill us, and that's the point. It will kill us, and the result is that we will find in Him true resurrection life.

In three plus decades of pastoring I have listened to countless voices saying how they desperately wanted victory, deliverance, freedom.....abundant life. Yet so few of them would find it. The reason is simple and tragic. In all of it there was in them, some area(s) where they chose to dispute with Him rather than wholly come to Him. And so they went on in their captivity because they would not become captive to Him....and be free. How like them are we?

Where is the "dispute" in your life? Chambers says, "You will never get further until you are willing to do that one thing." To come, with nothing held back from Him, in order that you might receive all that He wishes to pour out upon you. He is before each of us right now, calling us to come to Him. What will we do? Dispute, quibble, or simply surrender....and come?

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Balance

 "When the group of prophets from Jericho saw from a distance what happened they exclaimed, "Elijah's spirit rests upon Elisha!" 2 Kings 2:15...."Mercy triumphs over judgement." James 2:13...." God's mercy is always a higher priority to Him than judgement. God's heart will always draw Him to those who need His grace." Chris Tiegreen

In the Old Testament, two of my favorite prophets are Elijah and Elisha. Both were mighty men of God, and Elijah was the mentor and example for Elisha. Before his departure from this world, Elijah asked Elisha what he would ask of him. Elisha asked for a double portion of the spirit that Elijah walked and ministered in. I've always loved that story and have always hoped that this would be my deepest desire as well; to have a double portion of the spirit that men such as Elijah and Elisha walked in. Yet, I have come across, due to the writings of Chris Tiegreen, insight into these two men, and to the ways of God that I've not truly seen before.

The name "Elijah" means "Yahweh is God." And this was what the message of Elijah pointed to. He spoke to a people captivated by a host of sins, not least of which was idolatry. He warned the people of the consequences of their sin and called them to repentance. Justice and judgement were the center of his preaching. Elisha means "God saves," and this was the central message of his life and ministry. In these two men we see what must be the whole message of the church and its ministers. A pointing to the truth that God Almighty is God alone and that He will tolerate no other gods before Him. That to reject Him brings upon us the most dire of consequences of which none can escape. This was the message of Elijah. In Elisha we see a man preaching to those same people.

As Tiegreen writes, "Elijah declared the sins of a nation. Elisha remedied them." Both men gave witness to the heart of God. He is a God of judgement and His wrath will come upon the finally unrepentant. Elisha, who had twice the spirit of Elijah, showed the deep desire of God to forgive, to heal, to make whole. His mercy will always triumph over His judgement......unless we reject that mercy.

I think our great error in the church, and an eternally costly one, is that we have no balance between the messages of the two prophets. We have a group, smaller I think, that emphasizes His judgement. God is angry, and He is seeking to punish. The other group, much larger I believe, is that God is all mercy, and that He would never allow His wrath to fall upon those who defy, disobey, and reject Him and His ways. The first abuse the reality of His justice and the latter abuse the truth of His mercy and grace. God is a God of balance, and the church must present Him as such. He hates sin and He will and does judge, but His first desire is to forgive. The church must hear and receive this message, and it must be boldly presented. Then the church must take this message to the world. This was seen in the message of His Son, Jesus Christ. It must now be seen in the message of those who profess to follow Him.

I still yearn for that double portion of His Spirit, but a double portion that will proclaim the full message of the gospel. Unconfessed, unrepentant sin will be finally judged. The verdict, hell, will be terrible. But before that verdict is given, His mercy, grace, and forgiveness will be constantly held out before all. It is a frightening and at the same time wonderful message. May we proclaim it with a double portion of His Spirit. May I, may you, walk in that Spirit right now. And if we're not, may we yearn for nothing else until we do.

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Passage

"For you have not passed this way before." Joshua 3:4

We are now more than three quarters of the way through this year. It has been a year like no other any of us have ever experienced. Most are longing for a return to some kind of normalcy. I don't think that we're going to see that. Others talk about adjusting to a "new normal," but I don't think there will be a new normal either. I believe that what we have seen in 2020 is going to be repeated in some form or another in each of the years to come until His return. I believe that we're going to see continuous shakings as God moves upon our nation and upon the world. I believe that in the midst of the shakings there will also be a move of the Holy Spirit. I believe that move is taking place even now. The massive prayer gathering in Washington D.C. this past Saturday for both the Franklin Graham prayer march and the Jonathan Kahn "The Return" assembly are mighty evidence of this. I believe that we are part of a generation that will see the might and power of God as we never have before. Maybe as none have ever seen before. We are not to be fearful. We are to be watching, praying, and following His leading. And we must heed the word of the Father in Joshua 3 as He leads us. In that passage, He was taking the Israelites into a new land, a land they had never been in before. Here, thousands of years later, He is leading us into a way, a "country," that we also have never passed through before. As we travel, we must be alert, in tune with His Holy Spirit, and obedient to His leading. He will take His people through, and He will take them through in victory. But the way will not be easy. Giants, mountains, obstacles, will abound. If we will trust as we travel, we will get to the place He leads us to.

I don't believe that half-hearted faith will be sufficient. Indeed, it never has been, but we have been so comfort oriented, and so casual about holiness, sin, and righteous life, that a great part of the professing church has been deceived into thinking that it is. Massive shakings have come. More will follow. In these times, the truth of Daniel 11:32 is more relevant than ever; "The people who know their God will display strength and do exploits." This is a knowledge born of intimacy. A casual approach to His Word, to prayer, to a lifestyle of worship will not yield such a life. That kind of life will fall in the midst of the shakings.

Shakings reveal what is actually in our hearts. All the impurities that we've so cleverly hidden before can not be hidden now. The shakings will bring us to our knees, and into the depths of His life, or they will cause us to step away, to step back from Him. In the shakings that have so far come, what has been our response? What has been your response? In which direction do we walk?

I write none of this with a desire to cast gloom and doom. I write because I sense that the glory of God is going to be revealed in ways we have never known, but it will be revealed through the shaking off of all that has kept us blinded to His glory. All the glitter of this world will be shaken so that we can see the wonder of His glory. We have not passed this way before, but He knows the way. Christ is the Way. Let us follow Him. Humbly, obediently, completely. He will get us home.

Blessings,

Pastor O 

Messengers

 "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Isaiah 53:1...."Is your message consistent with who you are as a messenger? With God's people, message and messenger are united." Chris Tiegreen..."We are the Bibles the world is reading." Billy Graham

There's a great deal of difference between information givers and messengers of the heart. I wonder if in the church, we have many more of the former and too few of the latter. Tiegreen writes that "Abraham didn't have a message about faith, he was a man of faith. David didn't just write about worship, he was a worshiper. And Jesus isn't just a message about salvation, He is salvation." It's a hard question,, but it must be asked and answered. Do we embody the truth of the message we seek to give?

People were amazed at the message of truth Jesus brought. It wasn't that the Pharisees hadn't also brought them truth, but they gave it in the form of information. What impacted their hearing and hearts was that when Christ spoke and taught, He did so with authority. "Never did a man speak as this man has spoken" is what was said of Him. He was and is the Word of God come to life. The Living Word. We can be as well and to the fullest extent possible for us. Jesus was what He proclaimed. Are we? If we aren't, then all we do is give information, and information, no matter how true, can never move a heart as can seeing it as a reality in the life of the one who brings the message.

If we speak peace, do we live in it? If we proclaim a message of God's love, do we embody that love? If we preach a message of holiness do we live a life of holiness? If we talk about the security found in Christ, do we live in conscious awareness of that security? Paul said of those that he wrote to that they were 'His letters." He meant that the passionate truth he wrote to them in his messages to the church was meant to be lived out in both the life of the church and the people who comprised it. We too are to be letters from the heart of the Father to not only an unbelieving world, but to the Body of Christ itself. We are the Bibles they read. Are we garbled letters on a page, or finely crafted messages from the heart of the Father?

In this fallen world, and in our imperfect human state, we will never so clearly proclaim His message as did Christ, yet proclaim that message we can. It's to my shame that in too many instances I was too consumed with my own life to really tell His story through mine. Too often I was distracted by what was going on around me or within me. I gave a conflicted message. I talked of how abundant His life was, yet lived a life lacking in that abundance. I spoke of His peace but displayed so little of it in me. I preached on the fiery heat of His love yet lacked His love in my heart. It is my deep desire to be a messenger united with His message. One with it. By His grace, more and more, I will be. What of you? All of us will be a letter of some sort each day. Will we be a letter from His heart, or from the heart of the enemy? Today's letter is already being written. What will yours and mine proclaim?

Blessings,

Pastor O