Slideshows

 John C. Fremont was a cultural superstar of the mid-19th century. Fremont, an army major, had been ordered by the President to map out a vast area of unexplored territory in the far west of a young America. He spent several years doing this, gathering notes which become a bestselling book and winning him huge acclaim. He became a lecturer of great repute and people flocked to hear him tell of all the wonders he'd seen in his adventures. He was called, "The Pathfinder" and he captivated his listeners. However, most who heard him talk left the lectures inspired, but unchanged. They loved to hear of where he'd been, but they had no desire to leave their present comforts in order to see for themselves all that he described. No costly journey into the unknown for them. Still, there were some, a few, whose hearts were aroused, who had to see this glorious land for themselves. They wanted to walk where Fremont had, live where he'd lived, go where he'd gone. They were the ones who left everything behind in order to follow in the steps of The Pathfinder.

I tell this because I think it is the story of much of the church today, We gather each week to listen to someone(s) sing and preach about a Person and His Land. A Person and Land that pulls upon our hearts and invites us to come and know and experience them. We feel inspired, but in the end, we don't wish to let go of our safe, secure, and familiar lives. We're happy for them to tell us of what they've seen and experienced. We're stirred, but unmoved. Inspired, but unchanged. We enjoy hearing about this Person and Their Land, but we don't really want to go there. Not if leaving all is the condition for it. As with Fremont, those who really want to follow Him, go with Him, live in Him, are few, and possibly becoming fewer.

Have you listened to the Sandy Patty and Larnelle Harris song, "I've Just Seen Jesus," lately? To me, it's more powerful than ever, particularly these lyrics: "I've just seen Jesus, and I know He really saw me too. As if till now I'd never lived. All that I've done before, won't matter anymore. I've just seen Jesus, and I'll never be the same again."

In John 20:18, Mary Magdalene announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord." She would never be the same again. Soon after, the disciples saw Him as well. They too would never be the same again. I think it was not just because they saw Him, but because they realized that He saw them, really saw them as well. As the lyrics say, till that moment, they'd not really been living. From now on, they would. 

I don't think you and I can truly live until we've had such a moment. We can agree to believe. We can listen to the "lecture" and the accompanying music, agreeing with it all. We can raise our hands and even come forward to show how much we agree with everything we've heard. Yet, we won't take the final step. We won't come to the foot of His cross that we might enter into all He came, died, and rose to give us. The "slideshow" may have moved us, but in our hearts, we're unchanged. We can't bring ourselves to leave this fallen land for His land. We'll just continue to listen to lectures about it. 

Jesus the true Pathfinder and Pathgiver calls us to come, take up His cross, and follow the path He has cut into His wondrous country He's prepared for us. A path He means to use to make us pathfinders to someone else. Our choice is, will we go on listening to our weekly lectures and slideshows, or, with hearts ablaze, leave all to follow Him? If you've really seen Him, nothing can keep you from His country and from Himself. If not, lectures and slideshows will always be enough. If you've really seen Him. Have you really seen Him?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Humbled

 I recall one of our denomination's leaders saying some years back, "So many people come into our services and are stirred but not changed." That's a heart piercing truth, but not one that seems to pierce many hearts. Why is this so? How can this be?

I can't remember a time in the church when there hasn't been a great deal of talk about our desire for revival. 2 Chronicles 7:14 quotations abound; "If my people who are called by My name, humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and will heal their land." So many pastors and churches have been pleading this promise, yet revival tarries. An awakening tarries. The heavens can seem like brass. Perhaps they are. We're praying, we're seeking His face, His forgiveness and His healing, yet it hasn't come. Not in the degree we say we hope for. The promise isn't being realized. What are we missing? The answer is before our eyes but our hearts remain blind to it. All of the power of the promise hinges on this: We're to humble ourselves before Him. We're willing to hold all night prayer vigils, to fast, to seek Him, but to humble ourselves? I'm not sure we know what that is or what it entails.

Gerald Fry says that the biblical meaning of "humbling oneself" is to be willing to be seen and known for who we really are. This is terrifying to our flesh. We're willing to pray, to seek, and for great amounts of time. But humbling ourselves to the point of being willing to see ourselves for who we really are and how we really live, think, and act, well, that's another matter isn't it? That means coming to His cross and dying to ourselves there. All the prayer and seeking in the world will never substitute for that.

I remember talking to a brother pastor and he was grieving over the loss of yet another relationship in his church and ministry. I knew all too well his pain. There'd been a disagreement, but rather than work it out, as Christ directs, they left. His pain soaked words were, "I'm so weary of one broken and lost relationship after another." Yet this is what we do. We, a people with a message of reconciliation with God, seem unable to ever reconcile with one another, and so, with Him as well. Why? Pride! Always at root its pride. So we go on, always looking for His fullness but constantly frustrated in our search and blind to the reasons for it. We want to know Him but stumble at really knowing ourselves. How can we come clean with Him if we won't come clean with ourselves? And it will continue to be so until.....we humble ourselves before Him.

Are we, you and I, among those so often stirred but never transformed? Wanderers looking for a spiritual high, either not ever finding it, or, thinking we have, soon become disenchanted and then moving on. All the while leaving a trail of broken relationships behind. James Robison has said that either the church in America will humble themselves and bow before Him or He will humiliate us and break our legs in doing so. I think the latter is taking place, in both the church and the nation. May we not wait for the breaking of our legs of pride, but be broken by His holy love and life, and in our brokenness, discover His healing and wholeness, and what He means true revival to be. He will hear from heaven. He will hear, and He will come. Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!

Blessings,
Pastor O

Reconciled

 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD  Isaiah 55:18

One of the hardest, perhaps the hardest things to come to grips with in the walk of faith is the truth of this Scripture. God's ways and thoughts are so often, most often, completely different from ours. So much so that as we gaze in bewilderment at what is happening in our lives, happening all while we believe in a good and loving God who always seeks our best, we can only exclaim with desperation, "Why?"

I heard a woman named Alexandra Hoover say, "We have to reconcile with God the things that feel irreconcilable." This is the great test. In the face of life events that appear to paint God as uninterested, unloving, powerless, absent, and a multitude of other feelings and thoughts, we have to come to the place of believing that He is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. In short, we have to reconcile everything that is seeking to deny that He is any of what He promises to be, with all that He has told and promised us that He is. We have to be as Abraham was in the face of a decades long wait for his promised son. A wait that only saw his ability to father a child dwindle away and become impossible. In that place, His Word says that Abraham, "against all hope, in hope, believed." Every circumstance told Abraham that God had lied to him, that God would not come through. With every reason to give up and give in to unbelief, Abraham chose to believe. He reconciled with the irreconcilable. 

This place is going to come to each of us in our faith journey, but there will be a blockage to getting through. Hoover says that, "When we're struggling with our faith, we're really struggling with the sovereignty and character of God." Do we, will we, believe that He is all powerful and all loving? The enemy will attack the character and power of the Father relentlessly. Only making the choice of Abraham, choosing to "against all hope, in hope, believe!" 

In the Garden, the devil's first and most effective assault upon Eve was to get her to doubt and question the goodness and character of God. He has never ceased. We live in a broken, fallen world. A world not created by Him, but by us. Everything is tainted by the sin of Adam and Eve. Pain, suffering, loss, none of this comes from Him. None of us, even we who have believed upon Him will be exempt from the effects of sin. Rain falls on the just and the unjust, but He has made a way through in His Son Jesus Christ. He does send the suffering but He does allow it, and in it, He reveals Himself in ways only suffering can. As He leads us through, our great challenge is to believe Him whenever things around us deny Him. We must reconcile the irreconcilable. If you have come to the Father through His Son Jesus Christ, your relationship has been reconciled and the curse of sin removed. Now remains the choice to reconcile everything else in this fallen world with the reality of who He is. Have you done so? If not, you surely must.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Desperate Arms

 "and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”  John 11:26....."Rest in the reality that He knows no impossibility. And then pray," Alistair Begg

"Do you believe this?" It's a question that will be asked of every one who has trusted in the name of Jesus Christ for life and salvation. Often, it will be asked by the devil, in ridicule of His promise. "How can you believe this?" will be his mocking words. More often though, it will be the Lord Himself who asks this question of us, just as He did of Martha as they stood before the grave of Lazarus, right before He raised him from the dead. He asked her to believe the impossible. He will ask us to do the same, and more often than our flesh cares for.

I can remember many times when He's done so with me. One of the hardest times was during the first Christmas after my marriage and ministry had fallen apart. I had come home to be with family, and that was a good thing. But some real difficulties arose while there. The temperatures plunged to record lows, so much so that the engine of my old car seized and had to be replaced. What little money I had was taken in the replacement. As I prepared to leave early on the day of departure, before the sun had even risen, I sat in my mother's kitchen. All I could see and feel were impossibilities and reasons for despair piled on top of each other. I wanted it all to be over. I wanted Him to take me home and end all the pain. He wanted something else. He wanted me to trust Him and to believe Him. To trust and believe that this place was not where He would leave me. That no matter what I "saw" or felt, it was not what was truly real. He was. What He had promised me was. He gave no specifics, just that where I was wasn't going to be where I stayed. This was not where my end would be.

Chris Tiegreen wrote, "He responds to the spirit of desperate arms around His neck." Sometimes that's all we can offer Him. At that time, it was all I could give Him. It was also all that He wanted from me. Desperate arms around His neck that clung to Him with little more than a drop of hope and faith. For Him, a drop is always enough. In the place that I was then, and would come to be in again, He whispered through my pain, "Do you believe this? Do you believe Me?" I'd been preaching for 5 years about doing so. Now, in this place, would I? Will you? If you're on a true journey with Him, you'll come to the same place I did. You'll be asked to believe in the face of the impossibility, that He knows no impossibility. And then pray. All the while clinging with all your strength to Him. All your strength enhanced by His limitless grace. 

The fact that 34 years have now gone by since that dark winter morning tells you that He didn't leave me in that place or state. He kept His word, and all the impossibilities fell before the reality of His promise that nothing is impossible with Him. Now, maybe you're in such a place yourself. He asks you what He asked me and has asked countless others as well. "Do you believe Me?" Believe Him. His promise is true. His promise is real. He is real. More real than the impossibilities you face. Wrap your arms around Him and cling to Him. And behold the wonders He will work.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Pieces

 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Romans 12:1

Writer and author Bob Goff tells the story of a young girl who was diagnosed with a rare and deadly disease. After extensive testing, it was determined that she would need a complete blood transfusion in order to survive. Finding a match donor proved to be very difficult. The parents were tested but the results were negative. Finally, it came down to her little brother, who was a match. The parents kept this news to themselves, but after a short time, as the situation worsened, they talked to their young son and told him of the need. He asked for a night to think about it, and then agreed. When the day came, and as he lay on a bed next to his sister, he waved the Doctor in charge over. As the Doctor stood at the side of the bed, the little boy asked, "How soon will it be before I die?" Goff writes, "The little boy thought that in helping his sister he would have to give up his own life. He said yes anyway."

Someone once asked, "Why is it that God only seems to get our lives in pieces?" Why is it that in response to the one who has given us "all things," including Himself, that we are so reluctant to give all of ourselves in return? There always seems to be a limit on what we'll give, a limit on what we're willing to sacrifice. That limit almost always comes when comfort zones and outward securities are threatened. We give up to a tithe. We serve up to a limit. We make ourselves available to Him, but with terms applied. We're willing to follow Him, but only after He shares with us just where it is He's leading. There's an old hymn that asks, "Is your all on the altar?" All of ourselves, no conditions, no limitations. All really means all. Few of us sign up for such a relationship.

We're willing to give ourselves to Him in pieces, and almost always pieces we feel can afford to give. That which costs us everything is far too often held back. King David, when he wanted to purchase a piece of land in order to offer sacrifice to his God, was offered the land for nothing. David refused that, saying, "I will not offer to Him a sacrifice that costs me nothing." How deeply ingrained is that sacrificial spirit ingrained in you and I?

In my 40 plus years of serving Him I've seen a lot. I've witnessed the lives of many of His choice men and women. I have witnessed some who have not placed limits on what they offer Him. Some who have determined that if a need is presented to them, their only response can be to offer themselves in some capacity as an answer to the need. They do it not so much for the sake of the one in need as they do for the One to whom they have given all of themselves to. There is no matter of pieces of themselves with Him. That matter has been settled. They are those who long ago decided that they would be living sacrifices for Him. Just as Christ, on His cross, was for them. As He was for you and me.

Is He simply getting pieces of you or does He have all of you? How much of you, of me, is really His?

Blessings,
Pastor O

New!

 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17

I have written in my prayer journal, "There is no place so dark and hopeless that He cannot come and save you." I have witnessed the truth of this in my life, as well as in the lives of many others. I'd like to share some of the story of one such life with you.

It was nearly 30 years ago that a young father and husband came to our church. He'd found one of our flyers and he was looking for hope. His marriage was crumbling and he was caught in the throes of deep depression. I'd like to say that he immediately discovered Christ and his life began to improve. That wasn't the case. Like so many, he desired more but he couldn't let go of all that kept him from it. I would go and visit with him as often as I could. We talked, but he never seemed to move beyond the darkness that gripped his life. Yet God was working. On one such visit, I found him sitting in his living room, alone and in the dark. I sensed that everything was worsening, but I had no idea how much worse it was getting. 

Not long after that visit, on a cold winter evening, I got a call from his wife. She couldn't wake him up. She'd found an empty bottle of pills on the nightstand and she knew he'd taken far too many of them. She asked me to come and help. I've no idea why me and not 911, but God never ceases His work. When I got there he was barely conscious. Somehow, I was able to manhandle him down the stairs and out into my car. I drove him to the ER of the nearest hospital. He'd tried to take his life and the medical team was able to save him. He eventually recovered, and though the hospital tried to get him to check in to their psychiatric wing, he refused. He went home, and the darkness increased.

His wife, saying she'd had all she could take with him, demanded he leave. He did, and for a few days, he stayed with me. His wife eventually allowed him to return, but things only grew darker and worse. I set him up with a good counselor I knew, but after a few sessions, he stopped going. His wife again demanded he leave. This time for good. But this was not the end of the story. Someone once wrote a book titled, "God Works The Night Shift." He certainly worked this one. There have been people that I've had to step back from and leave in the hands of the Lord. I couldn't do so with this man. Our fellowship took him in, literally. One of the families invited him into their home and we simply loved on him....and God kept working.

He continued to deal with depression, and he experienced setbacks, but he didn't give up, we didn't give up, and God will never give up. Someone said that the Father specializes in renovation projects except that we don't get to move out while He does His work of transformation. God rebuilt this man from the inside out. So much so that one Sunday morning he stood and testified to a miraculous transformation. He said that he'd been driving along as the evening was coming and as he topped a rise, he beheld the most beautiful sunset he'd ever seen. He said that this was the first time he'd felt his heart and spirit surge with joy and hope. With that testimony began the formation of a man who eventually literally shone with the joy of the Lord. It was one of the most incredible works of transformation I have ever seen, and it was all due to the patient, persistent work of the Holy Spirit. For him, all things really had become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 is true, and though you may be in the place where that man was or are praying for someone who is, don't give up. Don't look at what is going on outwardly. Trust what He is doing from within. His Light does pierce the darkness. His Life does crush death. Joy does come in the morning. There is no place so far removed from Him that He cannot come there and save and deliver. I think it starts, as someone said, with the simple prayer, "Jesus, come and get me." Scripture promises that He will come and save you. Put that promise to the test.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Hands Off

 In John 21:18-22, the risen Christ, having lovingly confronted Peter over his failing and betraying Him, begins to speak to him of his future, saying, "I tell you the truth, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go' Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then He said to him, "Follow Me!"

I find myself standing in Peter's place today. Maybe you do as well. If not, you will. All who profess to fully follow Him will be. There is a shaking going on and comfort zones are being breached. Indeed, they are being shattered. What we have known, externally at least, is passing away. Much of it has already passed away. We now must come to grips with just how "real" He is in our lives. To see if we really do know the "unchangeable One?" He is leading us to places our comfort loving flesh does not want to go. We are being confronted with the question pastor and author Erwin McManus asks: "Have the benefits of faith become more valuable and precious to us than the Benefactor of our faith?" Have they? My quick answer is "no," but at the same time, I have become very attached to the benefits. I want to stay by the still waters and green pastures of Psalm 23. He calls me to stand up, take up my cross, and follow Him. He's always called me to that, and you as well, but our comforts and benefits have dulled His voice. 

When I first began to follow Him, it was much easier to go wherever He led. It was only me and I had few possessions to weigh me down. Though personal risk and danger were present, it didn't really seem that I had that much to lose, at least materially. All these years later, the situation has changed.  Risks and dangers have greatly increased and there is so much more to lose. Everything has changed except this; Jesus is still the One calling me to follow. As McManus says, "Jesus wants to take us places only dead men and women can go." Those who have died to grip that comfort and outward security have held them in. So the question is this: "Can I take not only myself, but the people and blessings He has given me, following Him to the cross, placing all of them there? Dying to them there, and dying there to myself and all desires that seek to dull my desire for Him? Going with Him to those places that only those who have died can go? My flesh will resist. So will yours. But it's where He is leading. Leading us, and leading His church.

Does this mean we will lose all that we have? The only thing I know for sure is that we will lose the controlling fear that we've had over their loss. Yes, He calls us to put ourselves and even our families at risk, but as evangelist James Robison asks, "What better thing can we do than to take our hands off, and for what we release to be placed in His hands?" Only hands and lives that have died can do that. It is now beyond asking if we can. It is knowing that we must.

Blessings,
Pastor O