Craig T. Owens

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Links & Quotes

November 10, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

“The Kingdom of God is Good News because it ushers all who receive it into God’s good plan for their lives, a plan which brings them, among other things, pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).” —T.M. Moore

“Remember a little more the intimate connection between the body and the soul. Go to the poor man and tell him of the bread of heaven, but first give him the bread of earth, for how shall he hear you with a starving body?” —Charles Spurgeon

“We must open our Bibles every morning with this prayer—‘Give us this day our daily bread.’” —Charles Spurgeon

“The Lord rebukes his people for seeking ‘their own’ pleasure on His holy day [Isaiah 58:3-4]. But what does He mean? He means they are delighting in their business and not in the beauty of their God. He does not rebuke their hedonism. He rebukes the weakness of it. They have settled for secular interests and thus honor them above the Lord. Notice that calling the Sabbath ‘a delight’ is parallel to calling the holy day of the Lord ‘honorable.’ This simply means you honor what you delight in. Or you glorify what you enjoy. The enjoyment and the glorification of God are one. His eternal purpose and our eternal pleasure unite.” —John Piper

“We may conclude that the chief end of God is to glorify God and enjoy Himself forever. He stands supreme at the center of His own affections. For that very reason, He is a self-sufficient and inexhaustible fountain of grace.” —John Piper

David Wilkerson warns, “We think that when we fail to trust God in our daily situations, we only harm ourselves. We think we’re simply missing out on His blessings. But that isn’t the whole story. … Unbelief is the mother of all sins.”

Stan Guthrie writes about the strange spectacle of Christian surrender in cultural ideas. He states, “We need more cultural engagement, not less, particularly in the realm of ideas.”

Max Lucado recalls an amazing story from the life of John Wesley and then asks, “How bold are your prayers?”

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: BibleGateway, boldness, church history, culture, David Wilkerson, enjoyment, God's glory, God's Kingdom, Good News, John Piper, John Wesley, Max Lucado, prayer, Psalm, quotes, Sabbath, sin, T.M. Moore, unbelief. Leave a Comment »

Intentional Living (book review)

November 10, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

I believe I have read every book John Maxwell has written, and I found Intentional Living to be different from every other book so far.

The teaching points were still there, but they felt different. The quotes from other wise men and women were still there, but not as many of them. This book was different, because it was personal.

I love to read biographies and autobiographies of successful men and women, and then try to dig out the leadership lessons from their lives. But Dr. Maxwell did this for me in Intentional Living. He told his life story in a very personal way (it felt a lot like a memoir or autobiography), but then he also wrote about the leadership lessons from his life. Thankfully, he didn’t stop there, but then went on to challenge us with ways to apply those leadership lessons to our own lives.

John Maxwell calls us to live an intentional life—

“Living intentionally will motivate you to start asking questions and begin prioritizing whatever is important to you. … Can I make a difference? Whom should I help? How can I help them? How can I add value to them? … An unintentional life accepts everything and does nothing. An intentional life embraces only the things that will add to the mission of significance.”

If you feel that your life lacks intentionality, this book will help you make the changes necessary. If you feel that your life is intentional now, this book will help you laser-focus on the most significant things you can do to take your impact of significance to a whole new level.

I am a Center Street book reviewer.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: autobiography, book review, John Maxwell, leadership, lesson, purpose. 5 Comments »

Links & Quotes

November 9, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

“To do an evil action is base; to do a good action, without incurring danger, is common enough; but it is the part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risks everything.” —Plutarch

“A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends.” —George Washington

Jon Bloom reminds us that your Bible is a gold mine! “The Bible contains over 31,000 verses—so much gold and so little time. We’ll never exhaust the gold it contains during our brief lives, but we must discover all we can.”

Dr. Steve Turley on the consequences from families that skip church for sports.

Another good reason to be involved in a local church. “We can’t really experience salvation by ourselves. By its very nature, it reaches out toward others in community,” say Ben Sternke. Read more from his post here.

I am shocked (I type this with great sarcasm!)—Planned Parenthood has donated to (bribed?) several Democrats who are on the committee to investigate Planned Parenthood’s murderous crimes.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: abortion, action, Ben Sternke, Bible study, boldness, church, community, family, friendship, George Washington, God's promise, government scandal, Planned Parenthood, Plutarch, priority, quotes, risk, salvation, Steve Turley. Leave a Comment »

4 Powerful Truths About Peacefulness

November 9, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

Have you ever noticed the importance the Apostle Paul gives to “peace”? Not just any kind of peace, but the peace that is linked with God’s grace.

Paul always puts grace and peace together. Every one of his letters opens with “grace and peace.” The only exceptions are his two personal letters to Timothy where he says “grace, mercy and peace.”

In his letter to the Colossians we get a clue to why this is, when he writes, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful” (Colossians 3:15).

Let me start at the end of the verse. The word “thankful” is the Greek word euchristos. It’s where we get our word Eucharist (or Communion). The root word (charizomai) means to (a) live gracefully, (b) forgive gracefully, (c) rescue gracefully, (d) restore gracefully. That’s just how Jesus—the Prince of Peace—lived on earth, and that’s what His broken body and spilled blood purchased for us: peace with God.

So a thankful Christian is a peaceful Christian. Or another way of saying this: a Christian’s peace-fullness comes from thank-fullness.

When we “let the peace of Christ rule” in our heats, it’s because we understand what His grace has purchased for us. And we want others to know this grace and peace as well!

Peacefulness is contagious—a peace-full person has plenty of peace to share.
Peacefulness is unifying—fear makes people run away, but peace brings them close to God and close to each other (Luke 2:14; John 14:27).
Peacefulness promotes worship—we don’t worship what we fear, but we worship what we are drawn to (Luke 19:38; Hebrews 10:22).
Peacefulness signals victory—the absence of conflict is peace (Romans 16:20).

If you don’t have peace in your life, can I suggest that you might want to start by looking at your thank-fulness level. When you are thankful for what the Prince of Peace did on the Cross for you, it’s so much easier to become thankful for all the other blessings that He gives as well. This thank-fullness will raise your level of peace-fullness!

On Sunday we are going to continue to look at the power and beauty of grace-filled gratitude. Please join us!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible, Calvary Assembly of God, Christian, Colossians, Cross, Gospel of John, Gospel of Luke, grace, gratitude, Jesus Christ, peace, Romans, thankfulness, victory, worship. 1 Comment »

Links & Quotes

November 8, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

“Don’t dare to be different, dare to be yourself—if that doesn’t make you different then something is wrong.” —Laura Baker

“Real joy is to be found in the presence of God, with Jesus Christ, secure and loved forever and ever (Psalm 16:11). Knowing the presence of God is the unique privilege of all who have made the Kingdom turn. God never changes in His love for us, and Jesus Christ holds us fast forever, regardless of the outward circumstances of our lives. The result of experiencing this is joy.” —T.M. Moore

“We can do nothing unless by a supernatural grace of God. It is God who gives the will. It is God who gives the power.” —John Calvin

“How singularly does God, in political events, prepare men’s minds for the particular phase which His church assumes! … I cannot go into the question now, but every Christian student of history knows that the circumstances of the outward world have ever been arranged by God so as to prepare the way for the advance of His great cause.” —Charles Spurgeon

“There is no such thing as genuine knowledge of God that does not show itself in obedience to His Word and will.” —Sinclair B. Ferguson

Eric Metaxas reminds us why Darwinism cannot explain religion. Check out Saber-tooth Psychology.

New emails continue to show the tragedy that Benghazi is. Hold our leaders accountable!

Tim Elmore explains how leading and following must go hand-in-hand.

[VIDEO] John Maxwell challenges us to enrich other people’s lives—

International Day Of Prayer For The Persecuted Church

November 7, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

TOMORROW please be in prayer for our Christian brothers and sister all over the world who are being persecuted and even martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ.

Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. (Hebrews 13:3)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Christianity, church, Hebrews, infographic, martyrs, persecution, prayer. Leave a Comment »

Persecuted Christians

November 6, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

This Sunday, November 8, is the International Day of Prayer for persecuted Christians around the world. We will be praying at Calvary Assembly of God, and I hope wherever you are you will be praying too.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, Christian, freedom of speech, International Day of Prayer, martyrs, persecution, prayer, religious freedom, video, Vimeo. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

November 5, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

“The experience of being married and bringing up a family cannot have the old bittersweet of first falling in love. But it is futile (and, I think, wicked) to go on trying to get the old thrill again: you must go forward and not backward. Any real advance will in its turn be ushered in by a new thrill, different from the old: doomed in its turn to disappear and to become in its turn a temptation to retrogression.” —C.S. Lewis

“We who trust in Jesus are the happiest of people, not constitutionally, for some of us are much tried and are brought to the utter depths of poverty, but inwardly, truly, our heart’s joy is not to be excelled.” —Charles Spurgeon

Good word: Purity is more than saving sex for marriage.

Live Action shares 10 reasons why women should be pro-life.

John Knight writes very movingly about The Blind Eyes of Abortion. His concluding sentence is brilliant: “The killing ends when heart-eyes are opened and stony hearts, which champion abortion, are turned to flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) and find the practice unthinkable.”

[VIDEO] A very cool look at the authors of the Gospels—

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: abortion, apologetic, Bible, C.S. Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, Christian, church history, Gospels, Jesus Christ, joy, Live Action, love, marriage, One Minute Apologist, pro-life, quotes, sex, sexual purity, temptation, video. 1 Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Passionate, Devoted, Absorbed

November 5, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

This is a periodic series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Passionate, Devoted, Absorbed

Christian experience does not mean we have thought through the way God works in human lives by His grace, or that we are able to state theologically that God gives the Holy Ghost to them that ask Him—that may be Christian thinking, but it is not Christian experience. Christian experience is living through all this by the marvelous power of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost working in me does not produce wonderful experiences that make people say “What a wonderful life that man lives”; the Holy Ghost working in me makes me a passionate, devoted, absorbed lover of the Lord Jesus Christ.

From Our Place Of Help

Too many people are trying to “figure out” Christianity. But let me ask this: can you figure out why you fell in love? You probably can’t give the hows and whys of your love for someone else, but you know you are in love nonetheless.

The Holy Spirit isn’t given to a Christian so that he can come up with good theology, or even so he can have an experience. The Holy Spirit is given to make Jesus real—God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).

This is why Jesus wants us to receive His Spirit, because the Spirit would make Jesus known to us (John 14:16-17) … make Him real to us (John 14:25-26) … make us into a passionate, devoted, absorbed lover of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Have you received the Holy Spirit? If not, you can—How much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Luke 11:13).

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: BibleGateway, Christian, doctrine, God's love, Gospel of John, Gospel of Luke, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Oswald Chambers, personal experience, Romans, theology. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

November 4, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

“With such prayer [‘Praying in the Holy Sprit’ (Jude 20)] it is an absolute certainty that I must succeed with God in prayer. If my prayer were my own prayer, I might not be so sure of it, but if the prayer which I utter be God’s own prayer written on my soul, God is always one with Himself, and what He writes on the heart is only written there because it is written in His purposes.” —Charles Spurgeon

“In the passage where the New Testament says that every one must work [Acts 20:34-35], it gives as a reason ‘in order that he may have something to give to those in need.’ Charity—giving to the poor—is an essential part of Christian morality.” —C.S. Lewis

“Security comes as we put God’s precepts into practice. We’re only as strong as our obedience.” —Max Lucado

Dan Reiland shares 6 things God says to church leaders.

“Mountain lions detect vulnerabilities in their prey and attack the weakest—the young, the sick, the injured. Studies have confirmed this instinctive cruelty. It’s how the mountain lion lives, following the scent of suffering and feasting on whatever he finds. The enemy of your hope and happiness hunts with that same instinct, with a cold-hearted and ruthless hunger for the weak or hurting. satan prowls like a roaring lion.” Read how to overcome the prowlings of the devil.

For anyone struggling with pornography, here is a great source of help: MyPilgrimage.com. Watch the introductory video, and then subscribe!

Here is some good advice for students who are addicted to pornography—