Names

 This past Sunday night, the Lord gave me a message to share with a group from our fellowship that were coming together. Some who were not present, asked if they might have a copy of it. Since simple notes don't translate meaning that well, I felt I would write something, led of His Spirit, that might communicate what He said through me that evening. I pray His words bless you, speak to you, and call you by name.

But now O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the One who formed you says, 'Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name, you are Mine.' " Isaiah 43:1

What's in a name? That's an age old question, and if we give any thought to it at all, we know that the answer is, quite a lot. Quite a lot indeed.

In ancient cultures, a great deal of thought went into the name a child was given when born. It was the hope of the family that the name given would define the character of the one named as they matured into adulthood. Today, in the west in particular, that's not really the case, though parents still try to select a name that sounds beautiful or grand to them, but even those names, known or not, almost always have a root meaning. The name can mark us, whether we realize it or not.

However, it isn't our birth name that exerts the most effect upon us. It's the names given us by others. Others that often mean them for our hurt. Names that can come from the coldness and enmity of an unforgiving culture. Names that are put upon us and have their root in the hatred of the enemy of our souls, satan. Names that can even come from the church itself. And last, maybe the most damaging of all; names that we put upon ourselves. All of them can scar us. All of them can seek to make us take their meaning upon us. All of them can become who we identify ourselves as. All of them can lead us to use them as a means of defining who we are. All of them can become a means to holding us in captivity to their meaning. All of them can become our prison. An identity prison that we have no idea of how we might escape.

The number of names we can take on are endless; Fool, loser, failure, screw-up. Not smart enough, beautiful enough, skilled enough, or simply not enough to be worthy of anyone's love. Maybe the most common name we take on is simply, "Not Enough." We're not enough for anyone or anything. We're not enough even for Him. What we need to know, must know, is that all of these names, no matter the source, are a lie. None of them are the name He gave us when He created us. When He created us, He gave us a name that no one else, NO ONE ELSE, in all of the human race's history has been given. A name that carries with it His purpose, His destiny for us. He knows our name, and He passionately seeks that we should know it as well. He created us for Himself, and it is on in and through His Son, Jesus Christ, that we may know what that name is. Those without Him, never do discover it, and they never live in that name. Tragically, far too many who have come to Him, never learn the name He created them for either. They have spent too many years living under the labels placed on them by others, or even themselves. Yet there is a pathway, Jesus Christ, through which those names, and all their destructive power can be done away with. That pathway is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and His cross. At the cross, His cross, the burden, the prison of those names, all of those names, is rolled away. Canceled.

We, you and I, have had so many of these destructive names placed upon us. We must take them, all of them and each of them to His cross, and there, at the cross, nail them all, singly and together, to it. With this nailing, we renounce not only the names, but all the power and resulting captivity they have wrought upon us. When we have nailed these names there, Jesus, in His great love, writes His name, and our new name over them all, in His blood. The curse of all those other names is broken. We can live in the power of His name and our new name. Our true birth name. We are free.

Someone said that no one has the authority to tell us who we are but God. It is only who He says we are that matters. Can you dare to believe that? Can you take all those false names, no matter how many, to the cross...nail them there, see them covered by His blood, and walk in the newness of your new name and life in Him? Allow Him to write that name, in His blood, upon your heart, spirit, and life....and then live in it now. Take a moment right now. Think on those names, false names, whose tyranny you've lived under. Now take them to Him, to the cross, and give them all to Him. Lay hold of your new, true name, written down in glory as the old hymn says. Carry it through this life, and into eternity. It's who you really are. It's who you've always been in the heart and eyes of the Father.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Exiles

 "Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept, as we thought of Jerusalem. We put away our lyres, hanging them on the branches of the willow trees. For there our captors demanded a song of us. Our tormentors requested a joyful hymn. 'Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!' How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land." Psalm 137:1-4

This Psalm was written during the great Babylonian exile of the Jewish people. Their sin and disobedience had led to their being conquered by the Babylonian empire, and carried away as slaves to that empire. That 70 year period has always been referred to by Jewish historians as "The Exile." They were captives, living in a foreign land, exiled from their home. Exiled, they felt, from their identity as the children of the Father. They were exiles. To what degree might we be, and why?

Someone once said that the church oftentimes looks more like a Prisoner of War camp, held in enemy territory, than it does like a conquering, triumphant people. Certainly, the enemy of our soul has had a lot of success in making us feel that way. To see ourselves in that way.

During WW2, there were, in the horrible concentration camps of the Nazi's, several rebellions. During these rebellions, many of the prisoners did not participate, and passively stood by during these attempts at securing freedom. These ones had been so broken down by the cruel treatment of their captors, that they lacked any motivating spirit to be free. They had resigned themselves to their captivity. That can happen to a human mind and spirit, so abused by a powerful captor. It had happened to the Jews in Babylon. Has it happened to you...to me? Has the enemy convinced us that we are nothing more than prisoners of war, kept in our camps, our churches, allowed to sing our songs, preach our sermons, but never live out the truth found in both? Have we lost the desire to be truly free.....in Christ? Are we living as exiles, far from the life He has given us in Christ? Are we too unable to sing the Lord's song in the place we now find ourselves?

I think that any place where a believer and follower of Christ stands becomes holy ground. It is made holy by His presence. For the Jews, Jerusalem signified the presence of God. For them to be removed and far from it meant that so too were they removed and far from Him. They could not envision being able to sing songs to Him when they felt He wasn't there. How often have we felt the same way. They didn't realize that God could never be confined to one place. They didn't realize that even in their captivity, a captivity brought on by their own rebellion against Him, that His presence was there. Even in their exile, He was with them.

In what way might you be living as an exile today? Maybe you, like the Jews, have brought this spiritual exile upon yourself by your rebellion against Him, or your running from Him. If so, you haven't succeeded in running Him off. He pursues you where you are. As you run from Him, He runs after you. His burning desire is to bring you home, to His land. To His heart....Maybe your exile comes as the result of the enemy convincing you that you can never live in the fullness of His promise. That those promises may be true for others, but they're never true for you. Somehow, the enemy has herded you into his prisoner of war camp, and secured it with his spiritual barbed wire and iron gates. He's made you a captive in your own land. An exile in your own land. You too, He longs to bring home.

For the Jews, the exile did end. He had promised its end even before it began. Isn't it time for yours to end as well? Isn't it time to walk about as free men and women in Christ. It's our birthright in Christ. We are not meant for captivity to any but Him, and as Paul wrote, captivity to Christ means freedom in Him as well. It makes no sense to the world, but it is so. He who is free in Christ is free indeed......Let us end our spiritual exile. Let us live in the land He has given us. Let us sing the Lord's song wherever we are today, for the ground we stand on, in and with Him, is holy ground. His ground.....and ours as well.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Amazing Grace

 "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' " 2 Corinthians 12:8-9...."What would the world learn about grace just by studying us?" Sheila Walsh

Sometimes I wonder if most of us have little more than "bumpersticker faith." You know, those Bible verses, quotes, and faith utterances that we like to put on our cars. We like to think of them as personal testimonies, and a witness to those who don't know Him. They certainly can be that, and He can use them to plant seeds in a person's life, but I don't think the Father is depending upon our vehicles and stickers to be the witness to His life and grace. He's looking to us. A thousand cars bearing a thousand stickers will not even begin to make the impression of one person living fully in and depending upon His matchless grace. So, Walsh's question is staring us in the face. What would the world learn about grace simply by studying our lives? Your life and mine?

Paul was in distress. Scripture doesn't tell us what His affliction was, but it was severe. So much so that he begged the Lord to take it from Him. The Father declined. He told him that His grace, His loving presence, power, and strength, would be enough for Him. More, He would use Paul's response to His affliction to show a watching world and church how, even in the midst of the deepest pain, His grace, which we can't even begin to understand the depths of, would be enough. Indeed not enough, but more than enough. Paul could bear his affliction because he would have the overwhelming sense of His presence, His comfort, and His power. Power that would enable Paul to rise above His suffering, and live victoriously even in the midst of great difficulty. Those who witnessed his life would witness just how magnificent the grace of God really is.

In Christ, we are saved from the penalty of sin, but not it's effects. We will face suffering, loss, pain, and hardship. Yet, He calls us to live not as a world without hope does, but as those who have a living hope in Him. What enables us to do so in the face of the greatest losses is His grace. Grace that is unceasingly reaching for us, pouring through us, and carrying us along when we are sure we lack the strength to take even one more step. Such is His amazing grace.

John Newton, a former slave trader, liver of a totally debauched life, and who admitted to once trying to think of new ways to blaspheme the name of God, was, by His free grace, gloriously saved. The result was his writing the most loved hymn ever written, "Amazing Grace." The lyric, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me." Newton knew his wretchedness apart from Him. A wretchedness that all who are apart from Christ share. Totally undeserving of His grace, yet receiving it. Someone asked, "How wretched must we be before His grace cannot reach us?" On this side of eternity, I don't believe there is such a place. So, wherever we may be right now, His grace reaches out to us. His grace. His amazing grace. Greater than all our sin. Greater than all our need. Greater than all that can ever come against us. Thank you Father for Your amazing grace.

Blessings,

Pastor O

What Word?

 But the Lord said to me, 'Leave Jerusalem, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. The crowd listened till Paul came to that word, then with one voice they shouted, 'Away with such a fellow1 Kill him! He isn't fit to live!' " Acts 22:21-22...."Most of us, somewhere deep inside of us, have a bottom line, a line we would hardly dare to cross. We like to choose our areas of sacrifice. We can't. Discipleship doesn't work that way." Chris Tiegreen

Discipleship doesn't work that way, but we've somehow convinced ourselves that it does. More, we like to continue to call ourselves His disciples even as we do. Do we, you and I have a "bottom line" when it comes to following Him? Is there an area, an unsurrendered area, where we have decided that to follow Him into it is too much for Him to ask? Is there a point where He might speak a word that will cause us to cease to listen? A point where we too, like the crowd Paul preached to, will turn against Him?

These are hard questions, but they're questions that we have got to decide upon our answer before Christ brings us to the place of His asking. John Bevere said that for the believer, the decision must be made that before He asks, indeed, commands anything of us, we have already determined that we will. That our answer is already written upon our hearts. That we have already said "Yes," to whatever it is. Whatever....it....is.

Our soft western Christianity and "easy believism" has convinced us that Jesus would never dream of asking us to follow Him into an area of life that will bring us pain, intense pain, and loss. At times, devastating loss. Christ calls us to "leave all and follow Him." We say that we agree to that, but in our hearts, we don't really believe He'll call us to actually do so. He knows that we love our families, our children, our mates. Now, He will never violate His word and demand that we abandon any of them, but He will, very likely will, call us to follow in ways that may, will, cause them pain. Leading us into places that not only cost us, but them as well. No one wants to see their loved ones hurt, but His call to us is to trust Him in it, to know that the short term pain will be outweighed by the long term gain. A chinese believer known as Brother Yun, who suffered incredible tortures at the hands of the communist government in China, said that "the cross of Christ is soaked in blood. If we choose to pick it up, it will be soaked in ours as well." That is a far from enticing invitation, but it is a true one. Our blood, whether figuratively or literally, will soak the cross we carry for Him. Too many of us know this, and it's why we come to lay it down somewhere along the way.

Here in the American church, we've created "Kingdom Celebrities." Celebrity preachers, singers, and "leaders." I don't think most of them will enjoy any celebrity in heaven. The true heroes of the faith in eternity will be men and women we never knew anything of. People who suffered the loss of all things for the joy of knowing and following Him. They knew the cost was great, but it was nothing in comparison with the fellowship of suffering they knew in Him. Do you and I know that reality today?

What's the word that you'll turn back on? What's your bottom line? What's mine? If we let Him search us, He will bring it to the surface, and then, it is our choice as to whether we surrender it, all of it, to Him, or turn back. What will we do? Go on with Him into whatever and wherever He leads, or......turn back?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Slander

 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Genesis 17:1

Written down in one of my journals is this prayer, "Father, do not allow me to slander Your ministry to and through me by failing to recognize You as Almighty." To slander someone is to give or spread false information about them. How often might we, you and I, "slander" His name by living and believing in such a way as to present to the world a view of Him that is false? I think that one of the most common ways we do this is our failure to live and trust that He is exactly who He told Abram that He was; God Almighty.

When those around us see us in one of the many "crisis" points that life can bring, what do they see as far as our belief and trust in the God we have been saying that we trust and believe in? Do we give a witness that underscores that He's the faithful and mighty God we've been claiming. Or has that witness crumbled in the face of the unforeseen place we find ourselves in? The size of our God can shrink immensely in the face of the giants and mountains that come upon us, all of which seem suddenly much bigger, greater, and more powerful than Him. When we fearfully yield to the threat they pose to us, we end up slandering our God, no matter unintentional that may be. We're telling those that are looking on that He really isn't all powerful....Almighty.

Jesus is in every way, the exact representation of His Father. All that the Father is, is found in His Son, Jesus Christ. Throughout the Gospels, we witness Christ commanding nature, circumstances, people, and the demons of hell. Yet, we fail so often to believe He can command the events of our lives. They overwhelm us, and so we feel they have also overwhelmed Him. In such times, we need to hear the voice of the Father, the same Father that spoke to Abram. "I am God Almighty. Walk before Me faithfully and be blameless." Be blameless especially in your witness as to His faithfulness and might on our behalf. On you and my behalf.

The young Christian singer Anne Wilson sings a song titled "My Jesus," which she wrote and sang at the funeral of her older brother, killed in a car accident. She said as she struggled with a loss she couldn't understand, she one day heard the whisper of His voice asking, "Will you trust Me....even in this?" She would, and out of that came a proof of how almighty He is. In the ashes of her sorrow, He brought beauty. In the midst of her loss, He brought peace and comfort to countless lives who also suffered loss. The might and power of God is not as often seen in what He prevents or saves us from, but in what He does in and through our lives in the midst of what threatens us. Jesus promised that we would experience pain and sorrow in this fallen world, but He also promised that He has overcome that world, and in Him, so have we. In that we see the almighty power of our Father God, and His Son and Holy Spirit.

So, in our sorrow, and troubles, mountains, giants and obstacles, let us not slander the name of the God we say we trust and believe. Paul said that we are "more than conquerors" in Christ. Let us prove to the world, again and again, how true that promise is. We refuse to slander His name, but instead, bring it glory.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Which Style?

 "Because of that cross, my interest in this world died long ago, and the world's interest in me is also long dead." Galatians 6:14

William Borden was a young man and heir to a great fortune. He forsook it to undertake to study to become a missionary to the Muslim population of India. At the age of 25, he arrived at his destination, and lived with a Muslim family in order to better learn their language. While there, he contracted meningitis, and shortly after, died at the age of 25. There is a story that after his death, his mother found written in His Bible, "No Reserves....No Retreats....No Regrets." Borden was believed to have written the first upon his decision to forsake his inheritance and position in the family business. He wrote the second after his father warned him that to continue on his path would mean he would never have a place in that business. The last was written upon his contracting the disease, and knowing it would take his life. Some consider this story a legend, but whether or not it is fully true, there can be no doubt that these three declarations fully described the life of William Borden. He followed Christ with no reserves, no retreats, and no regrets. Do we? Can we?

Paul's words in Galatians 6:14 are powerful and convicting. So much so that we tend to think that they can only be spoken by someone like Paul, that they are what God would expect him to say. Somehow, we don't really believe that He expects us to have the same attitude. That He expects us to live so deeply in Him, with such a cross-style life, that the world's interest in us, it's claim upon us, is broken, and our interests, claims upon it, are broken as well. Such a life, such a choice, can only be made by those who have been, as Paul was, "crucified with Christ."

I once heard evangelist Stephen Manley preach a sermon centered upon the only two styles of life available to a follower of Christ; the cross style life, and the self style one. Cross style, self style. I remember the effect of that message upon all who heard it, because the truth of it all was so clear. Our lives are either centered upon ourselves, or upon the cross. It is impossible to live in between the two. It is impossible to be "half crucified," though for sure, most of us seem to think it isn't, and that we can. We're willing to die out to some things, the less important things, but not those that we keep as treasure in our hearts. They maintain their interest in us, and our interest in them. Cross style, self style. Which are we really living today?

All of us, meaning you and me, know what Paul is speaking of here. We know what He calls us to. Jesus tells us to pick up our cross and follow Him. Somehow, a lot of the current preaching seems to tell us that because He went to the cross, we don't have to. We get all the benefits of the cross and none of it's cost. That would indicate why so much of the western church is so weak and flabby. Our faith costs us nothing. David said that he wouldn't offer God a sacrifice that cost him nothing. Too many of us do so every day of our lives.

Cross style, self style; which is yours? Which is mine? Ultimately, ours will be one or the other. Which will you choose? One...or the other? No Reserves....No Retreats....No Regrets. That may not be written in our Bible, but is it written on our heart?

Blessings,

Pastor O

More Jesus

 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

Most of us know the above verse, just as most of us will likely admit we're lacking in all of the fruits of the Spirit that are listed. The lack of these spiritual fruits in our lives is not the problem. The way we go about filling that lack is.

Henry Blackaby made an interesting point on this in one of his devotionals. He said that our response to knowing our lack is to ask the Lord to give us more of what we lack. We ask for more love, or more joy, or more peace. The desire is sincere, but our mistake is centering on a fruit of the Spirit, and not the Person of the Spirit, Jesus. We don't need to be asking for more of any one aspect of the Spirit, but for more of the Spirit Himself. We need to ask for more of Jesus, because Jesus is joy, and He is peace, and He is kindness, and goodness, and gentleness. All of the fruit of the Holy Spirit is found in Him. The more we have of Him, the more we have of His fruit. Where He is missing in our lives, His fruit will also be missing. When His fullness is present within us, so too will be His fruit. The more of Jesus that we have, the more of His life we have.

Oswald Chambers spoke in a similar way about this. He talked about the "new name" that we're given in Christ. He said that God writes our new name in every place in our heart and lives where we have surrendered to Him, where we have died to self that we might live to and in Him. He said that in those places where we haven't yielded, haven't surrendered, we still bear our own name. We're His, but we're not fully His. We've reserved some part ourselves, often a very large part. He said that we have His name in "spots only, like spiritual measles." In short, we're spotty believers, spotty followers of Jesus.

I think a great part of our problem is that we're always "trying" to be better followers of Christ. We want to exhibit more of His personality in our lives, so we ask Him to give us what we need to be so, because we're trying so hard to be like Him. What we miss is that He has already given us everything in Himself in order that we can live in His fullness. As I've seen it put, we're saved by grace, but we continue to live by the law. We're trying to get into a room that has already been opened to us. We don't have to kick that door in. It's wide open before us. That's where our old self-life keeps showing up. Consciously or not, we hold to this idea that we can achieve Christlikeness by our own striving. Self is exalted over Christ.....and we keep on trying.

Nowhere in the Gospels did Jesus ever exhort His listeners to "try harder" to live out His teachings. He did constantly encourage them, indeed command them to receive all that He gives them. Jesus said, "Freely I have given, freely receive." Through His cross and His resurrection, He really has given us all things. We don't have to try to get to them. Through faith, obedience, and yielded lives, we can receive all He gives us. Are we ready to cease the striving to live for Him and just surrender ourselves to Him......and freely receive all things?

Blessings,

Pastor O