May | 2014 | Craig T. Owens

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Links & Quotes

May 20, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Pay attention, guys: 3 Ways A Man Should Lead His Home. I love this quote from this post: “A husband and father can’t impart what he doesn’t possess. So the best strategy for the everyday preacher is to first preach the gospel to himself. Then, through his own repentance, he is able to lead his family to the very place where he himself has been.” —Dave Bruskas

This is a fun quiz: 100 Bible Knowledge Questions from Kevin DeYoung.

A brand new book from John Piper which he calls “the one most different from all the others.” Read more about Seeing Beauty And Saying Beautifully, and download a free PDF version.

A beautiful reminder from Chilly Chilton that God wants to bless us: The Search.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible study, blessing, book review, Chilly Chilton, father, God's favor, husband, John Piper, Kevin DeYoung, lifelong learner, marriage, quiz, quotes, Scripture, servant-leadership. Leave a Comment »

Create (book review)

May 20, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

“I believe that God has given every single person creative gifts. … This book is intended to help you use those gifts. It’s intended to help you stop making excuses and start making stuff for the glory of God.” That’s how Stephen Altrogge begins his book Create.

This is not a book for budding artists, nor struggling authors, nor promising young musicians. It is a book for all of those folks and for everyone who wants to unlock the creative potential the Creator has implanted in them.

Stephen writes about what he’s learned about creativity, and bolsters each of his points with personal examples, biblical references, and quotes from others who have tapped into their creative potential. Along the way Stephen gives us encouragement to be creative and demolishes all of the excuses we typically use to try to convince ourselves that we’re not creative.

This is a short but very informative and liberating book. Get it today!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: book review, creativity, Creator, excuses, Stephen Altrogge. Leave a Comment »

Faith’s Checkbook (book review)

May 20, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

When you pull out your checkbook, it’s nice to have money in the account so your check will be honored. The same concept holds true for your “spiritual bank account.” Charles Spurgeon has a collection of daily biblical promises called Faith’s Checkbook which will help you realize how fully-funded God has made your spiritual account.

Each day the Spurgeon, called the Prince of Preachers, highlights a promise in God’s Word and unpacks all the riches that promise delivers. Each thought only takes a page, but Spurgeon gives you enough “cash” to provide for you for that day.

What a fantastic year-long journey of faith-building I had with Faith’s Checkbook!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible, book review, Charles Spurgeon, devotions, faith, God's promise, God's Word, Scripture. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

May 19, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Some things I was reading today:

“They who find the Word sweet feed on it often, savor it continuously, share it eagerly, and grow from it consistently.” —T.M. Moore

I love this reminder about the value of corporate worship: Kindle The Fire In Corporate Worship.

“No man is a good preacher who is not willing to lay his future on the line every time he expounds the Word. He must let his job and his reputation ride on each and every sermon or he has no right to think that he stands in the prophetic tradition.” —A.W. Tozer

Abortion providers are scary! 15-Year-Old Girl Held Against Her Will In Abortion Clinic.

“I hope you will find the Lord present at all times, and in all places. When it is so, we are at home everywhere; when it is otherwise, home is a prison, and abroad a wilderness.” —John Newton, in a letter to a friend

My Detroit Tigers are rolling! Should we be worried?

[VIDEO] Ken Davis asks, “Remember when you could remember?”

Max Lucado has a good reminder about humility in Who Did The Work?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: A.W. Tozer, Abby Johnson, abortion, Bible, church, comedy, Detroit Tigers, God's presence, humility, John Newton, John Piper, Ken Davis, Max Lucado, pastoring, pro-life, quotes, reputation, sermon, sports, T.M. Moore, video, worship. Leave a Comment »

Money & Hammers

May 19, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Hammers are very similar to money. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at some of the things they have in common. They both…

…are tools.
…can be used to build up or destroy.
…are amoral.
…don’t have any power until they’re in a person’s hand.

I realize in church circles it can make people uncomfortable to talk about money, but it shouldn’t be that way. The Bible is very clear in saying wealth comes from God, as well as how to use that wealth, so why should that be uncomfortable? Here are some of the things the Bible says about wealth:

If we honor God, He blesses our work (Proverbs 3:9-10).
If we take the glory for our success, God calls us “foolish” (Luke 12:16-21).
Money can be used to build God’s kingdom (Acts 4:34-37) or to build our own reputations (Acts 5:1-11).
Making the pursuit of money our priority becomes an idol (Luke 16:10-13).
The anxiety over money can choke our spiritual life (Matthew 13:22).
God gives us the ability to work, to make money, and to enjoy both the work and the rewards of work (Ecclesiastes 5:19).
God alone judges our attitude toward money (Luke 16:15).

It’s not money that is immoral, but our pursuit of Money (with a capital “M” or what the Bible calls Mammon) that is immoral.

It’s not money that will ruin us, but our trust in money that will ruin us.

It’s not money that gives us a secure future, but God Who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment (1 Timothy 6:17).

Don’t envy people with more money than you. Don’t look down on people with less money than you. Don’t—as Jesus said to the Pharisees—justify your opinions and attitudes about money.

Only an honest listening to the Holy Spirit about your attitude and lifestyle concerning money is what can keep us from letting money rob us of God’s blessing.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 1 Timothy, amoral, anxiety, attitude, Bible, blessing, Book of Acts, counter-cultural, Ecclesiastes, God's Word, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Matthew, Holy Spirit, idolatry, immoral, Jesus Christ, lifestyle, mammon, money, proverbs, Scripture, success, tool, video, wealth. 1 Comment »

Links & Quotes

May 18, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Some good reading from today.

“No man is better for knowing that God in the beginning created the heaven and the earth. The devil knows that, and so did Ahab and Judas Iscariot. No man is better for knowing that God so loved the world of men that He gave His only begotten Son to die for their redemption. In hell there are millions who know that. Theological truth is useless until it is obeyed.” —A.W. Tozer

Oh boy, here we go again. Pat Robertson calls creationists “deaf, dumb, and blind.”

Watch out! Sen. Harry Reid wants to restrict your First Amendment right to free speech.

I love the research and info graphics at The Bible Overview Project. Check out the 10 least popular books of the Bible.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: A.W. Tozer, Bible, biblical truth, Creation, doctrine, First Amendment, freedom of speech, Harry Reid, infographic, obedience, Pat Robertson, quotes, science, The Overview Bible Project. 1 Comment »

Links & Quotes

May 17, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Some good reading this weekend:

“It is bad to pursue something good negligently; it is worse to expend many labors on an empty thing.” —Hugh of St. Victor

A ground-breaking scientist of the 16th and 17th centuries who was (gasp!) a Christian: William Harvey.

“Could the IRS do anything to make itself more unpopular?” Yep! Read more in New IRS Revelations.

“In the worst temptations nothing can help us but faith that God’s Son has put on flesh, is bone, sits at the right hand of the Father, and prays for us. There is no mightier comfort.” —Martin Luther

“Most of us are like the disciples. We see one miracle, and we are satisfied to talk about it for the rest of our lives. Yet, if we really knew God and let Him be God to us, we would ask Him for so much more.” —David Wilkerson

Great (not!): States Face Overwhelming Reality Of Obamacare.

Gratitude is a “chosen attitude.” Read more in Dr. Tim Elmore’s post The Inverse Relationship Between Gratitude And Entitlement.

Poetry Saturday—All Of Thee

May 17, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Oh, the bitter shame and sorrow,

That a time could ever be

When I let the Savior’s pity

Plead in vain, and proudly answered:

“All of self, and none of Thee.”

Yet He found me: I beheld Him

Bleeding on the accursed tree;

Heard Him pray, “Forgive them, Father,”

And my wistful heart said faintly:

“Some of self and some of Thee.”

Day by day, His tender mercy,

Healing, helping, full and free,

Sweet and strong, and oh, so patient,

Brought me lower, while I whispered:

“Less of self and more of Thee.”

Higher than the highest heaven,

Deeper than the deepest sea,

Lord, Thy love at last has conquered;

Grant me now my soul’s desire,

“None of self and all of Thee.” —Theodore Monod

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: humility, Jesus Christ, maturity, mercy, poetry, prayer, S.D. Gordon, Savior, soul. Leave a Comment »

5 More Quotes From “The Ministry Of God’s Word”

May 16, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

There was simply too many passages I highlighted in The Ministry Of God’s Word by Watchman Nee to share in just one post. Pastor, you must read this book! You can read my full book review by clicking here.

“Each man’s special characteristic is brought out only when he is subject to the Holy Spirit.”

“No one today can have God’s Word extraneous to the Bible; even the New Testament cannot exist alone, nor can the words of Paul. You cannot cut the Old Testament away and retain much of the New Testament; neither can you excise the four Gospels and keep the letters of Paul. … All the ministries in the Bible are interdependent; none possesses an unconnected revelation totally unrelated to the others and entirely disconnected.”

“How does God interpreted the Bible? How does He explain the words of the Old Testament to the New Testament minister? There are at least three distinct ways of interpretation in the New Testament: (1) prophetic interpretation, (2) historical interpretation, and (3) comprehensive interpretation. When New Testament ministers study the Old Testament words, they will approach the Scriptures from these different angles: they look to the Holy Spirit for interpretation of prophetic words, historical records, or comprehensive messages.”

“Let us remember that ministry of the Word in our day ought to be richer than that of those who wrote the New Testament. … How, then, do we say that today’s ministry of the Word should be richer? Because Paul had in his hand only the Old Testament as the basis of his speaking, but we have in our hand the writings of Paul and Peter and others in addition to the Old Testament. Paul had only 39 books in his hand, but we have 66 books. Hence our ministry should be richer in Word. We have more materials at the disposal of the Spirit of God, more opportunities for God’s Spirit to explain. Our ministry therefore ought not be poorer but richer.”

“One should never deceive himself by thinking he can be a minister of God’s Word if he simply reads the Bible. The question is not whether he has read the Bible: it is instead, how has he read it?”

You can read other quotes from this book by clicking here and here.

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: Bible, book review, God's Word, Gospel, Holy Spirit, interdependent, New Testament, Old Testament, pastoring, pastors, preaching, prophesy, quotes, Scripture, Watchman Nee. Leave a Comment »

A Few More “Generation iY” Thoughts

May 15, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

In a recently-released last chapter to his ground-breaking book Generation iY, Tim Elmore added material that made me realize more than ever that this book is a must read for anyone who works with youth. You can read my book review by clicking here, and you can read some other quotes I shared from this chapter by clicking here.

Just a few additional thoughts Dr. Elmore shared in this chapter that I wanted to pass along to you—

“We did a better job preventing, presuming and protecting then we did preparing.”

“Examine the right-hand column for a moment. Notice the words slow, hard, boring, risk and labor. Are those not the very ingredients that build a mature adult? When a task is hard and it moves slowly, it builds patience and work ethic in me. When things are boring, it forces my mind to be creative on its own. When I have to take risks, I learn that failure is not final or fatal, and that it’s only when I risk failure that I feel the satisfaction of true success. And when I learn to embrace labor, using my strengths to add value to others, I learned the value of service.”

“Wherever you see a lacking virtue, there’s likely an activity you can do to build it, just as one would lift weights to improve physical muscle strength. … We can no longer assume those emotional muscles will develop naturally in kids. We must initiate a plan to build them. Will likely need to discuss this issue over with them, and agree to balance the virtual with the genuine; the screen with the real. In short: