Heart Tracks - Voices

"John replied in the words of Isaiah: 'I am a voice shouting in the wilderness, prepare a straight pathway for the Lord's coming.' " John 1:23

By now, most everyone, believer and unbeliever alike, know of the death of Rev. Billy Graham. In a number of the secular news sites, I've read the responses of many in the comments section below the story. A good number express sorrow at his passing, and honor the man and his ministry. Yet mixed in are a large number of mocking, even vicious statements about who they believed he was. A couple of things come clear to me in all that. First, there can be little doubt that his was the preeminent voice of Christianity in the 20th century. That can't be debated, and he spoke into a fallen world culture throughout his ministry life. He was always a voice shouting in the wilderness. He always sought to prepare a pathway for the Lord's coming....wherever he spoke, and wherever he was.....Secondly, the ugly reaction by many to his death reflects the depths to which that culture has sunk. It also shows us how desperately both the world culture, and the culture of this nation need to hear a new voice, indeed, voices, crying out in the wilderness. Seeking, in all of their words, actions, and ways, and wherever they may be, to prepare a straight path for His coming.

I was speaking to the man who was my first pastor last night. I still consider him such. He remarked on who might be the one the Father raises up to take up the mantle just laid down by Rev. Billy. Who would be Elisha to his Elijah. Maybe the Father will choose to do just that, but maybe instead, He will not raise up just one, but many. Many voices crying out in the wilderness that is this fallen world. Many voices seeking, wherever they may be, to prepare a straight path for the coming of Christ into every area of life. First in His Church, and then through that Church, into the surrounding culture. Voices crying out in the wilderness. And there can be no doubt, wherever you are today, it is most certainly a spiritual wilderness. He will be raising up voices.The question for each of us is, will we be one of them?

The wilderness exists not just outside of the Church, but within it. We are seeing the watering down of His Word, and along with it, its supernatural and mystical wonder. Intellectualism is more and more coming to the forefront. Cultural trends are dictating to the Church, and the Church is less and less speaking into the culture. The culture is shaping us, while it is to be the Church that shapes the culture. John knew the reality of the state of His people when he was sent. Do we? Do you, and do I? The wilderness is literally dying for a voice. Dare we be it?

A "celebrity" recently mocked a prominent Christian because he said that Christ regularly spoke to him. She suggested such people should be considered mentally ill. The Church today needs to know not just what He has said in His Word, but what He is saying through it right now. He speaks, do we hear. And as He speaks, do we speak for Him to the generation He has placed us in? A generation lost in the wilderness. A generation in need of a voice. Of voices. Again...will we be those voices?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Questions

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, [a]Elijah; but still others, [b]Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” 15 He *said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are [c]the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon [d]Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 16:13-17......"We have questions for the Word, but the Word also has questions for us......There is no such thing as faith if there are no questions to be asked." Beth Moore

I once had a person that said to me after a sermon, "Pastor, you always ask questions, but you never give me any answers." I understood where he was coming from, but sadly, he didn't grasp where I was coming from. It has always been the way of the Father and His Son, and always through their Holy Spirit, to ask questions of us. God asked Adam where he was as he tried to hide from Him. He asked Elijah what he was doing in a cave, and Job why he thought he knew more than He did. Jesus asked people what they wanted Him to do for them, if they wanted to get well, and why were they afraid. Always their questions penetrate. They go far deeper than the surface life many of us appear to be most comfortable with. They are questions that demand an answer, and the answers can be difficult for us to come by. They require the searching of our hearts and their honesty as well. It's not that God doesn't already know the answers in all of them, He does. It's not just that He wants us to know them as well. That's true. I think His deepest desire in the asking is the intimacy He invites us into in the answering. As He penetrates our hearts in His asking, He also draws us to Himself as we answer. As He brings to the surface our fears, wrong conceptions of Him, crooked reasonings, and a host of other misconceptions or lies believed, He replaces it all with His Truth. The Truth of Himself.

When Jesus asked the disciples who they said that He was, He knew they already possessed a certain amount of truth in their beliefs. He was a great teacher, certainly a worker of miracles, and He was truly sent of God. All true, but mixed in were a great many things not true, or at least only half true. T. Austin-Sparks said that "Satan's main work is deception by mixture." He's done that work to a great degree in the Church, and to our great harm. There's a lot of mixture in what we believe about Him, and about ourselves. It's always been there, but it is growing ever faster in this day. The lies we believe can only be dispelled when replaced by His Truth. And so He questions us....if we will allow it. Are we allowing it? Are you?

Who do we really believe Him to be, say who He is? Why do fear as we do? Why do we hide from Him? Why do we think we know more than He does? Why are we living where we're living? Why do we live so far beneath our calling? Why don't we even know what our calling is? There's likely much mixture in to be found in our answers. That's why His Truth can only be entered into by deep intimacy. His deep questions will always require deep responses, and will lead to deeper and greater intimacy....if we'll have it. That is, if we truly want to answer.

I couldn't give answers to the one who asked them of me. I only asked the questions that the Father put on my heart to ask...of him, and all who heard. Those answers could only come in conversations...deep conversations with Him. Chit-chat with the Holy Spirit would never do. It still doesn't......I don't know what questions He asks of you today, but I know He does. Do you risk coming to the answers with Him? It can be painful. It likely will be...but the end will be His riches, His healing, and His wholeness. And His Truth without mixture. Who do you say He is? Why are you here? Why do you fear? Where are you? He has questions.....and answers. How badly do you want to share in them?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Called To His Embrace

"Peter said to Him, 'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.' And He said, 'Come!' And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, He became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, 'Lord, save me!' Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, 'You of little faith, why did you doubt?' " Matthew 14:28-31

I know I've either preached or written on the above passage of Scripture a number of times, but it has almost always been from the perspective of faith, or lack of it. Or of His miraculous power and ability to save and deliver in any situation. Yet in my prayer journal, I've written the following down. I don't know if it's a quote from someone else, or a thought He led me to through hearing His voice, directly or through another. What I have written is, "Jesus called Peter not to walk on water, not to fulfill some great goal, but to be held in His embrace." Certainly there are elements of faith, the miraculous, and deliverance here. Yet, if you look closely, we can see that Peter's first desire was to come to His Lord. In response to that desire, Jesus didn't first command Him to walk on the water, but to "come" to Him. And though Peter lost his focus on both his desire for Christ and his Lord's call to him, that desire was still fulfilled when Christ took hold of Him, and brought him into His embrace. Yes, Peter's faith wavered, and Jesus did gently rebuke him, but if Peter had kept his focus on the object of his desire, Jesus, he would never have sunk. Jesus will never be first about enabling us to "walk on water," or do wonderful and amazing things. He will always be about calling us into His embrace. Into His intimacy. Into His Life. His foremost interest for us is to have deep communion and fellowship with Him. Not in the goals we set and the exploits we hope to do in achieving them.

Someone has said that Peter's first step was not upon the water, but upon the word, "Come!" Oswald Chambers said that Christ's first words to us are not "Go forth," but "Come unto Me." We are always so excited to see things happen, to achieve, to reach the place we want to get to. All can have the motive of serving Him, but we cannot go out for Him until we have fully come to Him. And we don't just come into His embrace, we live in it. This appears to have been the lifestyle of John, the beloved disciple. Because he lived in His embrace, he was able to overcome all the persecutions of the enemy, and He beheld things that no other human had ever or has ever seen. The apostle Paul lived in that embrace as well, and because of it, experienced being caught up "into the third heaven," and saw things "too wonderful for words." Both of these men had exploits, but the exploits were not the goal. They were the by-product of living in His embrace. Indeed, during their lives, neither could be thought of as "achievers," at least not as we measure achievement today. Both ended up in prison, John's was a cave, Paul's a cell....and then the headsmen's axe. They faced it all and overcame it all because they lived in His embrace.

Many talk about being called to something. More often than not it's an envisioned place that coincides with what they do in the process. And usually the place is a pinnacle most would call "success." There is a journey involved for sure, but the most powerful part of the journey is also the shortest one. It is merely to step into His embrace. That's His place for us, and to find it and live there is success as the Kingdom measures it. Everything else flows out of that. Have you found that place yet? He calls you to come to Him. Do you take that step?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Post

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them." Romans 8:28...."Jesus Christ was maintained in God's strength all the way through because He was dominated by the sense of His mission. because He kept firm His purpose." T. Austin-Sparks

Among the American Indian plains tribes were a number of warrior societies whose members would take a vow that in battle, they would not retreat from their position. To mark this, they carried with them a stake and length of twine. They would wrap the twine around their ankle and drive the stake into the ground. They would then stand and fight. They would prevail, or they would die, but they would not retreat. They stood their ground. They held to their post. How much more should this be the heart attitude of they who follow Christ?

Sparks words concerning Jesus Christ are powerful. No one ever has or ever will face what He faced. Neither has anyone ever had the mission and purpose that He had, or faced the overwhelming adversity that He did. Flesh could not prevail in such a place. Jesus was sustained by the strength of His Father, and the steadfast knowledge of His purpose and His mission. He would not be moved. And because of the power of His Life, we need not be either. Yet are we moved? And if so, how easily does that happen?

A common term for those who serve in the military is that of being "posted" to a place of service. Sometimes those posts are wonderful, in exotic and beautiful locales. More often though, they are in places that few would willingly choose. The expectation of those who send them though is that they serve faithfully and fully. They stand their post, no matter where, and no matter how long. This is what they signed up for, and they have a purpose and mission. Their leaders expect them to be sustained by that purpose and mission.....If this is so for them, how much more must it be so for those who are His?

To serve and follow Him is to go wherever it is that He chooses to place us. Our post. In our natural thinking, we all want the choice postings. Highly visible, abundantly rewarding, and noticed by all. Everyone is willing to sign on for that. Very few would ever choose a posting that had as its description, "the backside of the desert." Yet that is exactly where He tends to send His people. Few get the paradise location. Most find themselves out of sight, often out of mind. A disaster for the one ruled by the flesh. Those who walk in His Spirit know that they are not out of His sight or mind. And in that knowledge of purpose and mission, maintained by His strength, they man their post. Faithfully and fully.

Sparks said that "A walk in the Spirit demands a circumcised heart." Such a heart lays hold of His strength and life. It's sustained by it. Flourishes in it. Even on the backside of the desert. It drives a "stake" into the ground, and attaches itself to it. It will not be moved. The stake is the cross. The hemp cord is the blood of Christ. Such a one won't be moved. Such a one prevails, regardless of what might appear to be.

Where has the Father posted you? That question covers far more than those who may be pastors and shepherds. It speaks to those who serve in a myriad of places and ways for Him. As husbands and wives, employees, fellowship members, leaders, followers, the people of God, wherever He has placed them. Have you driven your stake into the ground there? Have you attached your hemp cord? Will you be immovable, and move only at His leading? Will you not only walk in the Spirit with a circumcised heart, but also stand in the Spirit with the same? Serving His purpose by His strength. Immovable to the end. Standing your post....in Him.....even if it is the backside of the desert.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Aliens Among Us

"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were strangers and aliens on earth." Hebrews 11:13...."The name of Jesus should be the food we eat and the air we breathe." Chris Tiegreen

Aliens from outer space have been a pop culture phenom since the time of H.G. Wells. Movies and TV programs have abounded with just such a theme. There are not a few who fully believe that aliens live among us today. In college, I had several friends who fully believed that Jesus Himself was an alien. Now here's a shock, though it shouldn't be for those who are His; they were and are right....but not at all in the way that they think. Jesus was an alien, and He lived among us as one. So do His disciples. Not aliens from another planet or solar system, but from another realm, the realm of the Kingdom of God. A realm that is fully alien to all that is grounded in the fallen system of this world. They live within a value system and mindset that is completely alien, the opposite to all that this world holds dear. Doing so, living so, makes them "strangers and aliens" in the midst of that world. Here's the question for us. Do we live a life that marks us strangers and aliens in this fallen world? Or, do we have little if any easily conforming to it? Are you an alien?

Here's something else. Jesus wasn't just an alien to the lost world He came to, He was an alien to the very "church" that should have been eagerly looking for Him. In a sense they were, but they expected someone who looked and acted very much like them. He didn't...at all, and so as His Word says, "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." Two thousand years have not changed things very much. The church still looks for Jesus to come in ways and character that it defines. It happens each week in our fellowships, our organizational meetings, in most everything we do. We too often have expectations in what He'll do and be. He has to stick to our traditions and ideas. Whatever might be "alien" to them will be suspect. If this is true of the One who fully manifests the Kingdom of God, will it be less so for those of His who do the same? Both in the world and the church?

Have you ever come across a person that you could easily tell "wasn't from around here?" Everything about them sets them apart from the status quo. Language, habits, and behavior. This is to be the case for the people of God, of His Kingdom. We are to live in such a way that clearly marks as "not being from around here." Those who heard Christ often remarked that "no one has ever spoken as this Man does." Or lived as He did...or died and rose as He has. And now lives as He does. As He lives now through those who are His. Strangers and aliens. They don't fit in. They never get comfortable. And they long for the realm that is really their home. Pilgrims passing through, speaking a language this world has never known, and inviting others to join them, to become fellow aliens, strangers, and citizens of another place. His place. Are we among them?

Being such a one will cost. Hebrews tells us that the world is not worthy of such, though they themselves are so focused on His Kingdom that they never think that. They just live for Him....as strangers and aliens....Many, deeply rooted in this world, often say of them that, "They're so heavenly minded that they're no earthly good." Words spoken in ignorance. Someone else said that he hoped to be so heavenly minded as to be of much earthly good. The natives of this world are powerless to give the help this realm so desperately needs. Only He, working through His strangers and aliens, is able to do so. Will you and I be among them? Are we among them now?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Sacred Steps

"Through Him you Gentiles are also being made part of the dwelling where God lives by His Spirit." Ephesians 2:22..."He indwells us to take us where we should go and lead us away from where we've been....."Perhaps we have forgotten that every step is sacred. Live with a sense of sacredness." Chris Tiegreen

"Fitbits" are the rage today. These are devices that count the number of steps one takes over the course of the day. Those that have them tend to be very diligent about their steps. Almost obsessively so. There's a lot of evidence to support that. I wonder, how much evidence is there as concerns our spiritual "steps?" How diligent are we about them? Tiegreen asks if we've forgotten that every step for a believer, a child of the King, is sacred. There's a lot of evidence to support that we have.

I was struck today by this Scripture and Tiegreen's quotes. Our lives are made up of steps. It's where our steps lead that make all the difference. Not long ago I wrote about our tendency to take "side-trips" in our journey with Him, and how easily we find it to do so. If we really treated our walk in Him as a sacred relationship and a sacred trust, could that ever be the case?

No matter who we are, our spiritual journey will be sure to contain numerous "roadside attractions." Some of them will seem quite harmless, indeed, would appear a very good thing. Yet we miss that while we respond to the good, we will always miss the best. When we live with a sense of the sacred, He who always leads us to His best, gives us the wisdom, discernment, and strength to never accept the good over it. In the same way, those other roadside diversions that make no pretense of being "good," but simply appeal to our fleshly lusts, lose all power to entice us and pull us from His way. Our sense of the sacred walk we have in and with Him keeps us focused on our journey that goes ever deeper into Him, and ever further from what and who we have been.

His Word says that the steps of a righteous man (and woman) are ordered by the Lord. They are, but it is so easy for us to get out of order. In a world that increasingly tells us that nothing is sacred, it gets ever easier to live as if that's true. Our steps may take us into a church sanctuary or a mid-week Bible study or prayer group once or twice a week, but they don't seem to take us into the depths of His heart.

Maybe the real problem is that we try so hard to "live up to" the example of Christ. We ask "What would Jesus do?" Tiegreen says that the better answer is, "What is Jesus doing?" And saying. He's not some example to be copied. He's a Living Lord living in those who are His. Empowering, speaking to, leading along. We don't have to try and follow Him. He walks in us, with us. And as we allow Him to fully do that, we come into the sense of the sacred that He calls us to. We don't want the good, we want the best. The roadside attractions no longer divert us. He's our attraction. Our steps won't go in the direction of the profane because we're drawn to the Holy, to the One who is Holy. We become ones who live an otherworldly life while being fully engaged in the world. And the steps we take lead us ever more deeply into the "exceedingly abundant life that is beyond all we could ask or think," spoken of by Paul in Ephesians.

Not everyone has the Fitbit sold in stores and online, but every one who is His has a spiritual one. More than the number of steps, it shows where our steps go. Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and...verbally. It shows them all. Where will your Fitbit show your steps taking you today, tomorrow, this week? Do you walk with a sense of the sacred....or are you more drawn to the profane?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Showing Up

"For we are to God the sweet fragrance of Christ to those who are being saved and to those who are perishing.
2 Corinthians 2:15....."What would be the result if every one of His people showed up 100% every day?" James Robison

In our last fellowship gathering, a couple shared about an encounter they had in the lobby of a Doctor's office. The husband was there for help with his back problems. While there, they saw a young lady, obviously stressed, enter carrying a large armful of note pads and papers. She lost her hold on them, and they fell scattered on the floor. She got down on hands and knees and the couple could she was near tears. No one else in the crowded office offered to help her. The husbands back prevented him from assisting, but his wife joined her on the floor, helping her gather up all the papers. While doing so, she discovered she was in the midst of preparing an important paper for school, and was under intense pressure. The accident just seemed a breaking point for her. The wife was able to offer encouragement and a listening heart. When all was back in order, she asked if she could pray with her, which was very much welcomed. And so the fragrance of Christ was released through this couple and wife unto one who desperately needed to "smell" that fragrance.

In their testifying, the husband said they would not have been in that place were it not for his back. They had been praying that the Lord would put them in the path of people who needed Him, and they believed that this encounter was God ordained. They were to minister to and pray for that young woman. God used a sore back to do so through them.

The church talks a lot about winning people to Christ, and it should, but I think we couch it as something we do and count the results for. It needs to be who we are, and it needs to be about something far more and greater than numbers. We look to close the deal, get the decision, and then make a tally mark. I believe the Father calls us, sends us to be a sweet fragrance of Christ to the lost, and through that fragrance, He can work to bring them to that "decision." That may not happen in the moment, and we are powerless to make it so. But He will use every fragrance as part of His process of working in a life and heart. We may not get the "credit" as the flesh counts things, but if we are one of His fragrances in that life, we are part of what He is doing in a soul's journey coming to Christ. Only in eternity will we see the extent of what our role has been in bringing a soul lost in sin into the saving grace of Christ. That couple didn't lead her to Christ that day, but they know that He used them to plant the seeds of His Life in her heart. Now the Father will use other fragrances to water them and bring the increase. That's how He works. It's what Paul meant when he said that he planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. If only we in the church could be more in tune with how He moves upon a heart.....and that we were willing fulfill our part in that work. A work where the only credit (read glory) given, is given to Him. Our part is to live as sweet aromas of Christ in all places. He honors that, and brings forth fruit. In His time and way. And here's the beauty. When such a life is what marks our life, we not only serve as seed planters and water givers, but we'll be available to Him to be present to share in the harvest/increase when He brings it forth.

I think of that crowded lobby the couple were in. Were they the only believers there? That's doubtful. If there were others, why didn't any of them respond? Likely they were more absorbed in their own concerns, needs, and priorities. In that moment, they gave off no sweet fragrance of Him. Dare it be said that they "smelled" more like ones who have never known Him?

So we come to the Robison quote. What would be the result if all of His people did show up every day? What would our neighborhoods, workplaces, and most of all, His church have the fragrance of? What do they have the fragrance of now? I know this. It is a 100% chance that you and I will encounter at least one like that young woman today. Will we see them? Or do they pass by unnoticed, unseen, uncared for? While we focus on what amounts to.....ourselves. They desperately need the fragrance of the King and His Kingdom. Are we that? Or, are we a smell of another kind?

Blessings,
Pastor O