Recently I spoke in Newark, Ohio….
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Christopher J. Olson
I wanted to share some recent teachings….
Today I’m sharing with you a recent message I preached at Heartland Church….
I had the privilege of ministering at Heartland Church this past Sunday. Here’s the video from the service.
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A message from a traveling minister now staying home. 👇 👇 👇
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I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. As we head into a new decade, I’m officially launching Christopher J. Olson Ministries. After 15 years of associate pastoring at Heartland Church, I’m laying down local pastoral ministry to follow God’s call to itinerate ministry.
Beth and I are working on what the daily structure for this new season will look like and scheduling my travel itinerary. There are so many places in the United States and around the world on our hearts.
We will still be based out of Iowa and Heartland will still be our home church. In fact, I’ll be speaking at Heartland this coming Sunday morning. I would love to see you there!
If you’d like to give to the ministry, you can do so using the button below.
I’m excited to let you know that my book is now available on Amazon!
Has your heart been filled with longing to know how to enter God’s presence? Has there been a desire to not just touch His presence, but learn how to cultivate and abide in His presence? Come On In To Papa’s Presence teaches theologically and practically, with Scripture and stories, how to live life in Papa’s presence.
Through this book, allow the Holy Spirit to take you on a journey of overcoming barriers that keep us from His presence and experiencing the depths of His love. As you go on this journey, don’t just read about the encounters in this book, but invite the Lord to take you into your own experiences with Him.
If you’ve never experienced His presence, let this be a tool in the hand of God as you begin your journey. If you’re already acquainted with God’s presence, let this book be an invitation to go deeper than ever before.
For more facebook live videos, visit my facebook page.
In the church, when we speak of pursuing God, seeking His face, or drawing near to Him, one of the challenges we run into is our concept, or rather misconception of who God is. There are some who would teach that because we are now in the New Covenant under grace with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, there is no need to pursue God as we already have Him.
While it is theologically true that we “have Him”, that doesn’t mean that all of us are experiencing all of God in every area of our lives. Any theological concept that is only understood in a vacuum, that is to say only in theory not in relationship, can easily lead us astray.
Let’s apply this concept to marriage. Hallelujah, my girlfriend agreed to marry me! We had a covenant ceremony called a wedding, and now we’re in a marriage relationship. Now I don’t have to seek her, I don’t have to pursue her or seek her face. Does this sound odd?
It does sound rather odd, because most of us never speak like this referring to our spouse. It is true that I don’t have to seek my wife in the sense that I lost her. I didn’t accidently leave her at the mall. It’s not like she ran off with a cowboy from Wyoming, and I have to go track her down. At the same time, just because we’re married does it mean it’s okay for me to stop pursuing her heart? Does it mean it’s okay for the romance to cease and for me to stop growing in my love, honor, and appreciation of her?
She would tell you, “No, it’s not okay!” (By the way, if I ever did leave her at the mall or if she ran off to Wyoming, I would chase her down in either circumstance.)
For those who would say that in the New Covenant, we already have it all in the finished work of the cross, I get it. I appreciate that. What we’re not talking about is seeking after God as someone who doesn’t know Him and is seeking to find salvation. We have discovered what true salvation in Christ alone is: by grace through faith.
Now having discovered true salvation in Christ, we are no longer seeking for salvation, rather we are seeking to know the God of our salvation even more. I no longer pursue my wife so she will marry me; we’re already married. I do pursue her to know her more and to love her better.
Here are some simple ways in which we can actively pursue the Lord:
1. Spending time in His Word
2. Inviting Him to speak to you while waiting on Him in stillness
3. Worshiping God for the wonder of who He is
How are you pursuing Him today? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.
Does anyone really need 180 gallons of wine? Apparently, Jesus thinks so. He's so extravagant with wine and bread.
A son of God who only sees himself as a sinner fails to recognize the fullness of what Christ accomplished for us on the cross. By giving us a new nature He gave us a new identity. If I am saved from sin and washed clean in His blood but still define myself by sin by calling myself a present tense sinner, I’m contradicting the victory of the cross.
For the child of God who recognizes the free gift of righteousness granted to him in Christ yet never stops to thank God for saving him his sins and from being a sinner fails to humbly acknowledge where he has come from.
When we fail to remember what the grace of God saved us from we are in a dangerous place.
