See The Invisible

August 2, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Noted New Atheist Richard Dawkins says,

“Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence. … Faith is not allowed to justify itself by argument.”

I wholeheartedly—and even respectfully—disagree.

The Bible does define faith as “Being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Just a few verses later there is an even stronger statement about faith: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

I have evaluated the evidence. I have thought long and hard about the options. I can justify all of the arguments. And my faith stands strong!

God wants all who call on Him to grow in God-pleasing faith. So I’m really excited to dive into our brand new series called SEE THE INVISIBLE this Sunday.

I hope you can join me at 10:30am this Sunday at Calvary Assembly of God.

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Enemies Of The Heart (book review)

August 1, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Andy Stanley has a God-given talent to explain things in ways that not only help them “stick,” but in ways that are easily applicable too. In Enemies Of The Heart, Andy helps identify and confront four things that could derail anyone’s life.

Guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy are the four enemies Andy confronts. In a theme that runs throughout the book, Andy describes how each of these can be viewed as a debt-to-debtor relationship. This dynamic is a huge growth impediment to any relationship — whether with God or mankind.

Andy points out:

  • Guilt says, “I owe you.”
  • Anger says, “You owe me.”
  • Greed says, “I owe me.”
  • Jealousy says, “God owes me.”

In the first half of the book, Andy teaches the reader not only how to diagnose these heart problems, but also the danger in allowing these enemies to stay lodged in our hearts. In the second half of the book, Andy shares how to rid our hearts of these enemies, and how to improve the long-term health of our heart.

Since all four of these enemies are relationship killers, and tend to isolate us from other people, the study guide at the back of the book is especially helpful. Because this study guide is designed to be used in discussions with one or more people, there is an instant accountability process built in to rooting out these heart enemies.

Just as our physical heart health affects the rest of our lives, so too does our spiritual/emotional heart health. Don’t wait until it’s too late! This book can help you live a much, much healthier life.

I am a Multnomah book reviewer.

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Calling Out Manhood

August 1, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Last week I shared about the outstanding movie Courageous which opens on September 30. This movie will be enjoyed by everyone in the family, but Dads especially are going to be challenged to take their fatherhood to a whole new level.

I recently read Secure Daughters, Confident Sons by Glenn Stanton, and these two quotes from that book tie-in so well to the message of Courageous—

“When a relationship between a boy and his father is loving and warm, as opposed to critical and stoic, those boys are indeed more likely to develop healthily in more masculine ways.”

“The girl who doesn’t have the power and beauty of her femininity affirmed by the first and most important man in her life [her Dad] will grow into a woman driven to flaunt it in the face of every young and older man, constantly making the very public and insecure statement, ‘I desperately need you to notice me as a woman!’”

Here’s a powerful 1-minute clip from Courageous…

Make your plans NOW to see Courageous when it opens on September 30.

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Thursdays With Oswald—Learning From My Experiences

July 28, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly 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.

Learning From My Experiences

     It is all very well to have experiences, but there must be a standard  for measuring them, and a standard more worthy than my own on the line on which  I know I am worthy. The standard for Christian experience is not the experience of another Christian, but God Himself.

     On the ground of the Redemption I am saved and God puts His Holy Spirit in me, then He expects me to react on the basis of that relationship. …The only way to understand the Scriptures is not to accept them blindly, but to read them in the light of a personal relationship to Jesus Christ.

From Baffled To Fight Better

Some people have said that experience is the best teacher.

That’s incorrect.

My experience is just that… MY experience. I have to have a standard other than myself to judge that experience. As a Christian I have this: God’s Word, and the Holy Spirit to help me apply that Word to my experience. If I will use this as my standard for all of my experiences, only then will I learn something eternally useful from my experiences.

As C.S. Lewis so right stated, “All that is not eternal is eternally useless.”

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Plugged-In Parenting (book review)

July 27, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Media saturates our lives. But it’s even more of a factor for the lives of our children. For years I’ve trusted the insights and movie/TV reviews from Focus On The Family’s Bob Waliszewski. Now in Plugged-In Parenting we get to go behind the reviews to learn the whys of the reviews.

In today’s world, we look at our presidents, our prime ministers, our princes and our potentates and we describe them as our leaders, but they’re not. They’re merely our rulers. The leaders are the people who change the minds and stimulate the imaginations of the public, whether children or adults. That means the movie makers, the people who make TV shows, the entertainment people in the business. —Douglas Gresham

Bob lays out some practical, biblically-sound principles that will help parents develop a framework for making sound decisions about media consumption. His approach is not a top-down, because-I-said-so approach, but one that involves even the kids in understanding why these decisions need to be made.

One of the more thought-provoking chapters is about developing a family constitution which gives the guidelines for what types of media are acceptable or unacceptable for your family.

I would recommend this book for every household who wants to ensure that only the highest quality media is being viewed in their homes. In addition, I appreciate the Plugged-In reviews both on their website and on the handy iPhone app.

I am a Tyndale book reviewer.

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“The Best Movie Of The Year”

July 27, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

For a movie that won’t even open until September 30 to already be labeled “Best movie of the year,” you might think is merely marketing hype.

When you hear that the one who called it “Best movie of the year” is Pastor Rick Warren, you might think it’s a churchy movie.

But you’d be wrong.

I had a chance to see Courageous and I can tell you that this will be the best movie of 2011, and that it is definitely NOT a churchy movie.

Set against the backdrop of a city battling gang-related issues, four sheriff’s deputies struggle with being good dads and good law enforcement officers. In the process they learn what it takes to excel at both: it takes courage.

Courageous opens on September 30.

DO NOT MISS THE OPENING WEEKEND!
This is a movie that will challenge your whole family, but will be especially impacting for dads.

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One Service. Many Churches.

July 26, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I think one of the most hurtful things in the Christian world is the squabbles between denominations. So much energy — that could be used to win people to Christ — is lost in these stupid (yes, I said stupid!) territorial battles about insignificant theological or preference issues.

In Cedar Springs we are so blessed with an amazing ministerial association! I love working with all of my fellow pastors to impact our community with the good news about Jesus. These men and women are more than colleagues; they’re my friends.

On the last Sunday of August we all cancel our regular service schedules at our churches and join together in Morley Park for a combined community-wide service. Quite appropriately, this service is called UNITED.

This is going to be a fantastic morning of worship, teaching, hanging out in the park with others, and a great lunch and worship concert following the service.

If you are anywhere close to Cedar Springs, I encourage you to attend. All of the details are at unitedcedarsprings.com.

UNITED

one service. many churches. august 28 at 11am.

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Why God Won’t Go Away (book review)

July 25, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Allister McGrath is a genius at pointing out the flaws in the arguments that atheists use. So if you would like to know how to pick apart the theories of the leading atheists of our age, Why God Won’t Go Away: Is The New Atheism Running On Empty is just the book for you.

One of the things I appreciate about Dr. McGrath is his humble attitude. He is an extremely learned man, and could probably not only win a debate, but emotionally crush his debating partner in the process. Instead, you can sense the love and humility underlying all of his arguments. But make no mistake: his love in no way diminishes the sheer force of his intellectual prowess.

Why God Won’t Go Away gives the reader some valuable insights into the “four horsemen” of the New Atheism movement: Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett. Then Dr. McGrath systematically breaks-down their arguments using reason, science, history and fact. Although he points out the intimidation and ridicule that the New Atheists seem to resort to, Alister McGrath never even hints at a Christian using these tactics.

Another thing I appreciate about this book, is that there is enough information here to help the reader learn how to defend themselves against the arguments of an atheist friend, but the topics aren’t so complicated that it requires an advanced college degree to grasp.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and I think you will too.

I am a Thomas Nelson book reviewer.

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Marriage Math

July 25, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Martin Luther said:

“There is no more lovely, friendly, and charming relationship, communion, or company than a good marriage.”

Unfortunately our culture has watered-down and diminished the value of marriage. Far too often marriage is seen as something which diminishes life, instead of enhancing it.

Perhaps this is because we have been viewing marriage with the wrong math.

Marriage is NOT ½ + ½ = 1

That makes sense mathematically, but it’s inaccurate. God didn’t create us a half-people. God created us whole and complete. So our spouse is not our better half, he/she is our better whole.

Marriage is NOT 1 + 1 = 2

Again, this makes sense mathematically, but it is not biblical. Why? Because 2 is divisible, and the Bible makes it clear that a man and woman who are married are one flesh.

Marriage IS 1 X 1 = 1

Not only does this work mathematically, but biblically too. God sees marriage as one whole man and one whole woman coming together to make one whole marriage.

Not coincidentally, X (chi) is the first Greek letter of the name Christ. When Christ is at the center of a marriage, and when the husband and wife are more in love with Him than they are with their spouse, then a wholeness exists in the marriage.

1 X 1 = 1 is the type of marriage that glorifies God.

1 X 1 =1 is the type of marriage that is so lovely, friendly, and charming.

If you are single, keep yourself pure so you can bring your “oneness” as a gift to your future spouse. If you are married, keep the X—Jesus Christ—at the center of your marriage.

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Thursdays With Oswald—Fasting From Eloquence

July 21, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly 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.

Fasting From Eloquence

     Belief in Jesus is a miracle produced only by the effectiveness of redemption, not by impressive speech, nor by wooing and persuading, but only by the sheer unaided power of God. The creative power of redemption comes through the preaching of the Gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher.

     Real and effective fasting by a preacher is not fasting from food, but fasting from eloquence, from impressive diction, and from everything else that might hinder the gospel of God being presented. The preacher is there as the representative of God—‘as though God were pleading through us…’ (2 Corinthians 5:20). He is there to present the Gospel of God. If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get close to Jesus Christ. Anything that flatters me in my preaching of the gospel will result in making me a traitor to Jesus, and I prevent the creative power of His redemption from doing its work.

From My Utmost For His Highest

So much of pastoring focuses on the preaching. And yet Chambers says, “If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get close to Jesus Christ.”

He’s right: It’s not about me or my preaching. My focus is on what Jesus said: “And I, if  I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me” (John 12:32).

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