He Gave...

 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16

I recently heard Sheila Walsh exhort her listeners, professing believers, to actually "live like believers." Can we contemplate what she's saying and examine whether we really do?

I'm thinking that our concepts of what it is to be a "believer," and what it is that constitutes true faith in Christ have become greatly muddled in our day. Believing is not simply agreement with facts about the Father, Jesus Christ, the Bible, and so on. Believing something in our mind does not make it real in our heart and spirit. True belief comes from a result of our actually experiencing the facts, the truth, that is spoken of by Him in and through His Word. Faith is not the result of a determination to believe those facts, but the outflowing of our experiencing that truth through a living relationship with Him. A true believer lives out in their daily lives what it is they profess to believe in. It was said of the Pharisees, the Jewish religious leaders of Christ's day who rejected Him, that "they didn't believe the God they said they believed in." How many of us fall into that same description?

John 3:16 may well be the most quoted and known Scripture in His Word, but do we really know just what is being said in these words? These words in particular carry infinite power, "He gave His one and only Son." Can we be still enough to dwell upon what is being said here? Can we meditate upon the infinite riches given us in His Son, Jesus Christ? Have we even begun to understand the depths of what we have been given in Him? There is no end to the spiritual riches that are ours in Christ. We can never exhaust them, and in Him, they are ours. Someone said to the effect, "In view of all that we have been given in Jesus Christ, it must be a great scandal in heaven that we live as we do." To what degree have you and I contributed to that scandal?

There could be nothing more precious to the heart of the Father than His Son, Jesus Christ. Yet for us, who have never deserved such love, He was yielded up so that if we would receive Him and believe in Him, we would receive the endless riches of eternal life. Life that begins upon our receiving Him. Jesus Christ, fully God came into our realm and became fully man as well, and made a pathway, the only pathway, to the Father and life. By faith, we spiritual beggars, were made sons and daughters of the Father through a living faith. The reality of this should boggle our minds, but I fear too many of us haven't begun to grasp the wonder of it all. So we go on living like beggars when all the bounty of eternity is offered....but we can't see it and don't know it.

We live like orphans when He has called us His sons and daughters. We subsist on crumbs when He has provided His bounty. His Word says that He's placed eternity in our hearts, but we fail to live in His eternal life right now. The apostle Paul said that the God who gave us His only Son would also through His Son, give us all things. All things needful for life. Physical life, but even more, for spiritual and emotional life as well. Are we living in the wonder of His "all things."

He gave, and He gives. Do we live in this reality today? Are we living what we believe? If not, do we really believe at all?

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Lie

 "The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes. He trusts something that can't help him at all. Yet he cannot bring himself to ask, 'Is this idol that I'm holding in my hand a lie?' " Isaiah 44:20

The above Scripture is part of a rebuke that the Father spoke to His people Israel in response to their having given their hearts and loyalty to idols made of wood and stone. They, like their forefathers in the desert, who'd constructed a calf of gold to worship, had "exchanged their glorious God for a grass eating ox." He calls those who do likewise, "deluded fools." They hold fast to man made idols, seeking from them what only God Himself can do. They could not bring themselves to admit the lie that they have believed. Can we dare to ask as to just how much we in the American church have been like them?

John Calvin said something to the effect that "from birth, we are master craftsmen of idols." We, the church, have certainly crafted a seeming galaxy of them, and hold just as tightly to them. Whatever they are, financial security, relationships, children, careers, political figures, parties, and philosophies, and yes, ministry, we are being brought to the place of seeing the futility of all of them to do for us what only He can do. He is exposing every place where we have been "deluded fools." Where has He been doing so in you? Where is He seeking to break the death grip on whatever idol it is that you've been putting your trust in, that you've been worshipping?

Here's a question for each of us to ponder; from where and from whom do we find our meaning, our reason for being?

If you've been a part of His Body for any length of time, you'll likely come up with the quick answer, "from God!" Yet is that so? Does our life activity give proof to the statement? Would those who know us best agree with the testimony we give?

I can speak on this from sad experience. It has always been my statement that my life is centered on Him, and I fully believed it was. Yet, when I lost my ministry for a time during the course of my separation and divorce, I was devastated. I had allowed my identity and meaning to be found in that which I did and was. Without them, I no longer felt myself to have value or meaning. It was in that time that He began to expose the lie I'd been gripping in my hand. He was exposing that He wasn't really the center of my life and being. Being a pastor was. I had allowed something, something good, to take the place of the One who is not only the best, but all. It is painful to admit it, but it was fully true. I was a deluded fool, and it took the fall of my idol(s) to show me that I was. It was there that I found my real identity could only be found in Him.

We have entered into days where our idols, your idols, are going to be exposed. The lies we've clung to as our salvation are going to be shown to be powerless to help us. Our many delusions, as well as our foolishness are going to come to light, and we'll be faced with the choice of confessing, repenting, and releasing our hold upon them, or maintaining a literal death grip. Have you made the choice beforehand, or do you still waver?

All of our idols are becoming ash in our hands. May we turn to the One, the only one worthy of worship. Let's renounce the lies we've believed in and embrace the One who is Truth. Let's be fools no more.

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Pickaxe

 I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’ Hosea 10:12

As I look back upon my childhood, I realize how frustrated my father must have been with my brothers and me and so many of our ways. One of the things he loved having was a beautiful yard. He and my mother planted many trees and bushes, and sought to have a well maintained lawn. For the most part it was.....except for one bank leading up to the front of our house. Though there were steps right beside the bank, my brothers and I ceaselessly ran up that bank when we came home. The result was a well worn path. Time and again my father would put up stakes and string, spread seed, and seek to grow grass. He would get the grass, and then threaten us with death if we once again made the path. In a short time, we beat a new path, and though there was grass all around it, there was none on the path. The ground was much too hard. Nothing would grow on it, not even crab grass. Somehow, my brothers and I survived, even though the grass never did.

It's been more than a half century since those days, but I still remember how rock hard that path became. Many a time my father broke it up and replanted it, but eventually, he gave up. No grass grew there until my brothers and I had grown up, and we no longer beat a path to our house. Finally, the grass grew. There' a lesson in this, and we see it in Hosea 10:12. Too many of us have allowed too many other things to beat a path upon the face of our hearts. Anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, unhealed wounds, self-centeredness, and just plain apathy, have all worked to bring a rock hard surface to our hearts. Nothing really grows there. Nothing can grow there. We may read our Bibles, listen to sermons, and quote Scripture, but nothing penetrates our hardened hearts. The saddest part of this is that we often are the last ones to realize just how hardened our hearts have become. We've become so used to having such a heart that His Spirit is no longer registering upon it. Often I have seen a rain shower come down upon such hardened ground, but the water never really penetrated the ground, but runs off and does no good to the soil beneath. How much of the rain of His Spirit has done so upon our hearts?

The rain of His righteousness is always falling, but until we, you and I, take a pickaxe to the hardened soil of our hearts, through confession and repentance, and break up the hard, unfruitful ground, it will simply run off and away from us. The rain of righteousness that He means to penetrate through the hard soil covering our relationship with Him, with others, in our marriages and homes, and yes, over whole congregations, will simply run off of us. And the ground simply gets harder.

It is past time for us, as individuals, as husbands and wives, parents, young people, and professing members of the Body of Christ, to break up our hardened heart ground. It is time to turn the hardened clods upwards, that they may not only receive the rain of His righteousness, but also the sun of His love and presence. What we will discover is that upon ground that previously produced nothing, now comes the fruit of His Spirit; love, joy, peace, and more. God will not forcibly break up our hard ground. Only we can do that, but He can and will provide all the grace and power we need to do so. It will begin on our knees, at the cross. The ground we thought beyond fruitfulness will give way to a rich soil where the things of the Spirit may flourish.

Where does the hardness in your heart exist? Will it grow harder, more barren, more dead than alive? Or will it produce a crop of righteousness? Before us is a cross and a pickaxe. The first will give us the desire and grace to lay hold of the pickaxe. And then the ground of our hearts, which one translation calls fallow, will begin to produce the fruit of His righteousness in response to His showers of blessing upon it. Break up the hard ground. Have that hardened heart become one of tender flesh again.

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Lack

 "All these I have kept," the young man said, "what do I still lack?" Matthew 19:20...."The rich young ruler had morals, manners, and money. He would be welcomed readily into many churches today, with no questions asked. He would make a good 'joiner,' but he would be a poor disciple........Salvation is free but discipleship costs everything." Vance Havner

The Lord Jesus had a tendency to ask penetrating questions and make seemingly absurd demands. I think with the above Scripture and quote from Havner, He does both. I think His question is, are we "joiners" or are we disciples? We will usually find a good number of the first, but very few of the second. I remember years ago getting a phone call from a woman who desired to be married. She'd obviously been calling around to churches seeking a minister to officiate the wedding. The one thing she said that I still remember was that if she and her prospective spouse were required to join our church in order for me to do so, they'd be happy to comply. Joining was no problem to her, as I'm sure she had little if any intention of ever being inside our church again. She placed no value upon joining our fellowship, and I think there are many like her sitting in our pews today. As one person has said, "Our churches are filled with 'rich young rulers."

The rich young ruler had come to Jesus wishing to be a follower, to join the crowd already surrounding Him. He was, as Havner says, a man of good character, good morals, and very affluent. Surely he would have supported Jesus' earthly ministry with generosity. In reply to Jesus' question as to whether he'd been keeping Jewish law, he quickly answered in the affirmative. He thought that should qualify him, but two perceptions remain, his, and the Lord's. Somehow, he knew his answers did not fully satisfy Jesus, so he asked Him what was missing. Jesus knew the answer. What Jesus knew was missing, his lack, was himself and his treasures. Christ required that if he were to come after Him, he must sell or give away all he had, and follow him. This the young man couldn't do. He would willingly join Jesus, he would not willingly surrender all he was and had to do so. How like him are you and I?

The church has done very well producing joiners. We are failing badly in producing disciples, and we must take responsibility for it. We need to confess that, repent of it, and begin anew to do so. In our zeal to get people into the church and Kingdom, we have, intentionally or not, put the very real cross centered requirements to do so on the very most "rear burner." We have good intentions. We believe that over time we will disciple them, but my experience is that we rarely do. The great lack of Scriptural knowledge and experience in the people making up our congregations is the proof. They're willing to join, but they are not willing to die. Not for Him, but even more, not to themselves. There is a lack in them. To what degree is the lack in us?

In His call Jesus made demands that Havner says, "demanded absolute obedience and unquestioned loyalty." He was not afraid to do this, but we are. I think we are past the time where we can continue to do so. Joiners will not be able to stand in the great shakings that are coming upon, and are upon the church. Only His disciples, armed with His Word and empowered by His Holy Spirit will. Will we, along with our marriages, families, and fellowships be standing with them?

Are you and I brave enough to ask our Lord what it is we still lack? What it is that keeps us from truly following after Him with all of our being? More, are we brave enough to hear His answer?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Reckless

 "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God." Romans 1:1....."Paul is unconscious of himself, he is recklessly abandoned, separated by God....." Oswald Chambers

Reckless is not a word that has good connotations for most. It brings up pictures of people living with no thought of their safety. Of people who don't dwell on the consequences of their actions. Reckless people may be admired for their bravery, but rarely, if ever, for their wisdom. Few have as their desire the living out of a reckless life. Therefore, it surely comes as a surprise to most of us that a reckless spiritual life is exactly what we're called to, but few of us even hear the call, and fewer still answer it if they do.

Why do we think it is only the "Paul's" of the church who are to be "recklessly abandoned" to Him? Why are these same Paul's expected to exhibit reckless faith, reckless trust, and reckless courage? Why is timidity, caution, and an obsession with safety seen as disobedience in them, but acceptable in us?

As I ponder this, I'm reminded of the workplace term, "Business casual." There was a time suits and ties were the norm in the workplace, but a more relaxed atmosphere has replaced that. That may be fine in the business world, but not in the Kingdom. I think we've adopted our own kind of "Kingdom casual" outlook. We've become very casual about the kind of life we're called to, the kind of witness we're to exhibit, and the kind of ministry we're to perform. Fervency in our faith has been replaced by a more laid back approach. Those who wish to respond to His call to reckless abandonment to Him are viewed as being extreme in their faith, and not a little bit strange. Francis Chan was once admonished by a member of his church over his call for people to wholeheartedly give themselves away to Him. They told him that he needed to realize there was "middle road" in the faith life. Not too shallow, but not too intense either. What they don't know is that middle road is called lukewarmness, and it only leads one way.....to death.

We are entering into days that none of us have ever witnessed before. Casual, middle of the road faith lives will not bring us through. We are going to be challenged on every level of life. All of our comfort zones are going to be invaded. We are going to have to step out on pathways that we won't see until we take the step. It will not be safe, and to do so will be seen as reckless. But the pathway will lead to victory, to overcoming, to wholeness.....to life.....Recklessly abandoned. That's His call to us. By His grace, I intend to answer. I think there is no other choice for me. Is there another choice for you?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Yielded

"For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them." Matthew 13:15......."The only thing that Jesus can't heal is that which we won't yield to Him." Kim Meeder

Isn't it a tragedy that what should be the center of healing and wholeness in a lost culture, the church, too often isn't? There are many reasons for this and not all of them are due to the failure of the church. Certainly there are parts of His Church that suffer from spiritual weakness brought about by compromise, cowardice, or the presence of unrepentant lives and leadership. Yet even in healthy churches, the pews can be filled with lives and souls in desperate need of healing that can only come through Jesus Christ. Yet though they come to church, they don't actually come to Him, and so they leave the same as they came in. Worse really, as they likely resisted yet another appeal from His heart to "come and be healed."

I want to look at two reasons for this, though I know there are more. The first is detailed by Jesus Himself as He looked upon the very lives of those He came to save. They would not come because to come meant that they would have to yield, surrender to His Lordship and way. We see this worked out daily in people's lives. They carry around with them deep emotional wounds. Wounds that manifest themselves in a myriad of ways; anger, bitterness, unforgiveness. These emotions can then show themselves in their inflicting emotional and physical abuse on others. Families come into our fellowships every week that look fine on the surface, but underneath lay all manner of brokenness. They are in the presence of the Healer, but they remain in their wounded state. It is often said that though Jesus healed many, there were so many more that were never healed. I've often wondered if at least part of the reason for that is that they wouldn't come to Him in the first place?

The second reason is found in something else Meeder said, and that is we must cease focusing on all that hurts in our lives, and begin to focus on the One who heals. This may be the even greater reason so many remain in their brokenness. All they can see is the events and people who caused their woundedness, as well as the resulting pain. They never see Jesus. They may fully believe that He is a Healer, but they cannot believe that He can and will heal them. Their pain blocks out His face and His hand.

Too many of us are as the cripple at the pool of Bethsaida, in his state for decades. He wanted healing, but could never focus on the healing waters of the pool. All he could see were all the obstacles to getting into that pool. Then, finally, he saw Jesus, and was made whole. Where are we like him? Where do we go on with the brokenness in our lives, our homes, our relationships, all because we don't see His face, or receive the touch of His hand? The only thing He cannot heal is that which we won't yield to Him. Let us, in all things, yield to Him....and be made whole.

Blessings,

Pastor O 

Commanded

 "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give." Matthew 10:8

The above Scripture is on my heart today. These are the words with which Jesus sent out the twelve to minister to the lost sheep of Israel. He prefaced these words with, "Tell them that the Kingdom of heaven is near." As I contemplate these words of the Lord, so many questions come to my mind. Foremost among them is this; is the Church, the part which you and I inhabit as well as the whole, in any condition to live out, carry out this command? I fear the answer is more "no" than "yes," and we should tremble at the consequences of that.

Meditate on what this verse commands us to do and live out. We live in a culture filled with those who are sick. Sick physically, emotionally, and spiritually. How willing are we to go to them? We're also surrounded by those who are spiritually dead. Many are found each week in our "worship services," as well as our homes and neighborhoods. Leprosy was a serious affliction in the disciples time, they would have encountered people held in its awful grip wherever they went. Actual leprosy may be rare in our culture, but the spiritual leprosy of sin is not. It eats steadily away at lives, marriages, families, communities, and the church itself. And whether we care to admit to their presence and activity or not, demons are real. They do oppress and possess, and their work is seen everywhere. We are, in the power of His Name and Life, to drive them out. Jesus didn't give us an option in this. He's told us that He has freely given the power and resources to carry out this ministry and calling. So what keeps us. What keeps you.....and me?

There's another aspect in this that we easily overlook. When Jesus gave His disciples this command, Pentecost, the outpouring of His Holy Spirit upon His Church, had yet to happen. Yet the power to carry out His command was obviously given His disciples. Without getting into some theological discussion, it would seem to me that even greater power to live this out has been given to us than was given to the disciples. We don't need to beg Him for His power and presence. He's already given them to us. Our great problem is that we have failed to receive Him in all of His fullness. The result of this is painfully evident, if we'll be willing to see. We are called to prevail against the power of the darkness with the infinitely greater power of His Light and Life. Can we really say we are. We can bemoan the state of our culture, but can we confess and repent of the truth that the culture is as it is because the church has not been what it must be? Especially when we've been given all the resources of the Kingdom to be so.

When the imprisoned John the Baptist sent the question of whether Christ was truly the expected Messiah, Jesus answered him, "The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is preached to the poor." In this answer Jesus gave testimony to the proof and power of who He was and who He remains. I think this also must be the proof that His church in this day and all days must give to a lost but watching world. It is not our gatherings, meetings, songs, buildings, and media skills that will do this. It is a church, you, me, us, living out what Jesus answer entails. We are commanded to do so. When John sent his question, he closed it with, "Or should we look for someone else?" Will we, the Church, live out His command, or should the world look for someone and something else?

Blessings,

Pastor O