Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Are you a pastor who is feeling discouraged? Or do you know a pastor who has become frustrated by what isn’t happening in their church? If so, please read on because I have something special for you.
When I was interviewed on the 200churches podcast with Jeff Keady, I tried to speak an encouraging word to my fellow pastors, especially those who were discouraged to the point of wanting to throw in the towel. If that’s you, I hope that you will take two minutes to listen to this short clip (click the audio link above).
I’ve never seen the actual research, but I’ve heard the story enough to believe that it’s probably true that more pastors write their letters of resignation on Monday morning than on any other day.
That’s understandable.
All week, pastors prepare to deliver a message on Sunday, and then they pour out their hearts as they minister to those who have come to church. But when they look around for those who didn’t come to church, or when they see only apathy in those who did come to church, or (perhaps worst of all) when all they hear are complaints, it’s understandable how frustration and discouragement can creep in and even overwhelm.
So back in their office on Monday morning, facing the prospect of another week that seems to be shaping up to feel unsuccessful again, many pastors choose to resign.
My heart goes out to these pastors. In fact, I had these very pastors in mind as I wrote my book Shepherd Leadership.
As we are at the start of a new year, I would like to make a special offer for pastors. For just $12 I will send you an autographed copy of my book and a download link to get the audiobook of Shepherd Leadership free of charge.
All you need to do is complete this form and I’ll have the materials right out to you. I’m praying for you, my friend, that you will allow God to use the message in this book to encourage you to persevere and thrive despite the challenges you are facing.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
I enjoy reading devotional books that are based on passages of Scripture, but I get quite frustrated when there is more devotional thought than there is Scripture. This is decidedly not the case in Dick Brogden’s devotional book Proverbs: Amplified And Applied.
Full disclosure: Dick Brogden is my cousin, so I may be just slightly biased on this book. But I don’t think my bias in any way contradicts my statement about the volume of Scripture contained in this powerfully insightful devotional work.
Dick has taken the Book of Proverbs and gone deep on every single verse. Each note is a treasure trove of insights, cross-references to other biblical concepts, and action steps that can immediately become a prayer request or a daily goal.
Let me give you an example. Provers 2:7 says, “He holds success in store for the upright, He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless.” Dick’s amplification and application for this verse says—
“Wisdom is a supply and a defense. Wisdom gained now provides in the present and protects in the future. God in His benevolence stockpiles wisdom for us. He gives neither Spirit nor wisdom by measure. He delights to flood, saturate, fill, overwhelm, and lavish the spirit of wisdom, counsel, discernment, and understanding upon us. When we walk in the light, in integrity, it is as if we have a library card that allows us free checkout of heaven’s daily living manuals. Our integrity is what gives us access to all the stored-up wisdom of God. Integrity also shields us from the attacks of folly. The grandest folly comes wrapped in deceptive intelligence. The devil is able (cunning angel of light that he is) to make foolish things seem wise. We are able to see through his disguises and be shielded from his traps when we have a legacy of continually checking out, reading, and applying God’s insight. It is the familiarity with the feel of the true that helps us recognize the false.”
I’m reading through the Book of Proverbs very slowly this year, allowing Dick’s commentary to help me let these principles sink in deep. For those who love the wisdom of Proverbs, I would greatly encourage you to get a copy of Dick’s book for yourself.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Jesus told us numerous times that we can come to God as our Father.
Have you ever played a word association game? For instance, if I said “winter” you might say “shoveling” (or kids might say “sledding”). If I said “summer” you might say “vacation.” But I think the word “father” may bring up a lot of very different feelings or images. Some may have fond memories of the word “father” while others may think:
playful but not a good provider
disciplinarian
hard to please
absent
unavailable
Even if our human fathers were good, they were still flawed. Jesus said this about us, “If you parents, that even know how to give good things to your kids are evil, how much more amazing is the goodness and love of God” (Matthew 7:11). But Jesus had something entirely different in mind for us when He told us we could come to God as our Father. And, sadly, it’s a level of intimacy that many have never known.
All of us could only experience limited intimacy with our earthly fathers, but with our Heavenly Father we can have unlimited and unimaginable intimacy!
When Jesus was teaching us to pray in Matthew 6:6-9, there are two thoughts that stand out to me about coming to God as our Father. First, Jesus tells us that we don’t have to use any special language. When He said some people babble in prayer, Jesus was saying they were using a language that was unnatural to them—they weren’t being themselves.
Our Heavenly Father wants us to come to Him as children: full of innocence, and wonder, and expectation, and imagination!
Second, I notice that three times Jesus calls God “your Father,” but when He begins His model prayer He says, “Our Father.” Think of that: Jesus is saying we can approach God the same way He approached His Father!
In His intense prayer time just before His crucifixion, Jesus used the phrase “Abba Father” to express His intimacy. This phrase is used two other times in the New Testament. Both of these times it’s telling us that we can approach our Heavenly Father the same way Jesus did (see Mark 14:36; Galatians 4:6; Romans 8:15).
The Romans understood the weight that was associated with the practice of adoption. They knew that a father chose that child to be a part of his family, giving that child full acceptance into the family. Marvin Vincent noted,
“We have but a faint conception of the force with which such an illustration would speak to one familiar with the Roman practice; how it would serve to impress upon him the assurance that the adopted son of God becomes, in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father.”
In writing to the Romans, Paul reminds them that for those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation—nothing holding them back from God’s presence. He also said that God has fully adopted us into His family, and that the Holy Spirit was now in us, encouraging us to call God “Abba Father” just as Jesus did (Romans 8:1, 14-16).
Check out these two final thoughts from Jesus: He encourages us to approach God as innocent children, and He praises Our Father for then intimately confiding in His children—
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. … I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.” (Matthew 18:3, 11:25)
No matter what your relationship was with your earthly father, Jesus encourages us to approach our Heavenly Father in innocence, wonder, expectation, imagination, and intimacy. This is what God desires in His relationship with you!
God made you uniquely YOU on purpose. So you can ask Him to show you why He put you together as He did—with all of the gifts that make you YOU. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel.
“It is best not to be too dogmatic about the events surrounding [Christ’s] second coming. But if language is a vehicle of thought at all, it certainly takes a good deal of explaining and interpreting to make anything else out of Jesus’ words than that He Himself looked forward to His coming again as a definite historical event in which He will personally and literally appear to gather to Himself and to eternal glory those who have been redeemed by His blood.
“And it is best not to cloud the hope of His coming with too detailed a theory as to what is going to happen when He comes. Some people may be disappointed if Jesus does not follow the schedule they have mapped out for Him.”
“The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave.” —Ronald Reagan
“We are not called to punish the people for whom Jesus was already punished.” —Kevin Berry
Daniel B. Wallace, a New Testament professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote, “If you could stack up all handwritten manuscripts of the New Testament—Greek, Syriac, Latin, Coptic, all languages—how tall would the stack be? … I have said in many lectures that it would be the equivalent of c. 4 & 1/2 Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other. How did I come up with that number?” Check out his post to read how he calculated this astounding number. This is just another link in the chain of evidence for the historicity of the Bible.
I shared this commentary on YouVersion this week: We are made in God’s likeness. Ever since sin entered the world, man’s sinful nature is to flip this around—to make God in our likeness. Literally to say, “This is what I want God to be. I want Him to approve what I want.”
“Pure humor is the most difficult of all of comedy. Late night humor is funny because it is mean. It is relatively easy to be crude, cynical, and sarcastic. It comes naturally to our fallen natures to criticize, tease, mock, and scoff. It’s much harder to make people laugh by lifting others up.” —Dick Brogden, in his book Proverbs: Amplified and Applied, commenting on Proverbs 1:22
The dictionary defines the word “intimate” with these phrases:
associated in close personal relations
characterized by warm friendship
closely personal
These words perfectly describe the relationship God wants to have with His children through prayer. Pete Briscoe said, “Prayer is an intimate conversation with the One who passionately loves you and lives in you.”
The One who loves you so passionately desires to walk with you and share intimate knowledge with you. Prayer is not something formal, cold, or mechanical, but it is vibrant, warm, engaging, and life-changing.
I invite you to join us for our prayer series called Intimate Conversation beginning this Sunday. We would love to have you join us in person, but if you are unable to do that, we will make all of the messages available on Facebook and YouTube. If you’ve missed any of the messages, you will be able to find them all here:
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Plato said, “Arguments, like men, are often pretenders.” This is both true and a logical syllogism. It is true because men often pretend, and they design their arguments to support their pretenses.
One of my favorite classes in college was “Introduction to Logic.” In fact, it is one of my few college textbooks that is still in my personal library today. It always struck me that God created logic. That means He is infinitely logical.
So we can restate Plato’s quote like this, “God’s arguments, like God Himself, are always authentic, logical, and valid.”
In my Bible study time, I often highlight the words that denote premisses and conclusions. In just Ezekiel 36 alone I find:
therefore (6x)
because (2x)
then (6x)
for (1x)
so that (1x)
We can argue against God’s logic, and we can even try to invalidate His arguments. But to do so makes me illogical. God not only gives the premisses and the conclusion, but He makes them both logical and valid. God told Jeremiah, “I am watching to see that My word is fulfilled” (Jeremiah 1:12).
So any of my attempts to redefine or re-order or invalidate what God has logically presented ultimately brings disorder, collapse, and frustration. It is far better for me to simply follow the premisses and trust God to bring about His promised—and logical—conclusion.
I encourage you to look for these logic statements as you read the Bible yourself. Here is a Bible study from Proverbs 2 that can help get you started.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
When Jesus said, “Let the reader understand,” He was saying He wants us to be able to understand and apply every Scripture we read. Check out this teaching video—
And although I didn’t mention it in the video, you can check out five different kinds of Bible studies I have shared here and here.
I’m excited to hear about your Bible study journey. If you have questions or other resources to share, please get in touch with me or leave a comment below.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
The apostle Peter said he wrote two letters to the church “as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking” (2 Peter 3:1). And Paul reminded his young friend Timothy to “keep reminding [your congregation] of these things” (2 Timothy 2:14).
In the spirit of those great apostles, I have made it a practice to take time at the end of each year to look back on all that we have learned in the previous year, and then to look forward to where God may be leading Calvary Assembly of God in this upcoming year.
Clicking on each series title will take you to a list of all of the sermons in that series.
Awesome—Jesus told us that we could pray in His name and expect amazing things (see John 14:13-14, 15:16, 16:23-24). This does not mean that simply adding the phrase “in Jesus’ name, Amen” to the end of a prayer unlocks a secret code. Rather, it means that the more we understand just how awesome our Savior is, and that He is the Key to God’s storeroom, the more we will being to align our prayers with the will of God. Jesus desires for His Father’s glory to be seen on earth through the answers to our prayers. The writer of Hebrews opens his letter by reminding us that Jesus is “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3).
Is That In The Bible? (part 1 and part 2)—A meme that makes me chuckle every time I see it is a “quote” attributed to Abraham Lincoln in which he says, “The problem with quotes found on the internet is that they are often not true.” (Not to spoil the joke for you, but unless Lincoln knew how to time travel to the future, I don’t think he knew about the modern internet! ). I love this meme because it captures something that so many people fall into: a quick acceptance of a statement without verifying its source or thinking through the implications of the statement’s truthfulness. I think you may be surprised to discover just how many phrases we call biblical aren’t, and how many phrases there are that we never realized are actually in the Bible.
Christmas Unwrapped At Easter—Remember as a kid when you would unwrap a gift and discover it wasn’t something you really wanted, but then your parents explained that it was something you needed? The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem was a little like that—it wasn’t exactly what people were hoping for, but it was exactly what they needed. The real meaning of that Christmas gift wasn’t realized until after Jesus was crucified and resurrected back to life.
We Are: Pentecostal—Pentecost for over 1500 years was a celebration in Jerusalem that brought in Jews from all over the world. But on the Day of Pentecost that came just ten days after Jesus ascended back into heaven, the meaning of Pentecost was forever changed! Followers of Jesus—now empowered by an infilling of the Holy Spirit—began to take the good news of Jesus all over the world. These Spirit-filled Christians preached the Gospel and won converts to Christ even among hostile crowds, performed miracles and wonders, stood up to pagan priests and persecuting governmental leaders, and established a whole new way of living as Christ-followers. We, too, can be Pentecostal followers of Jesus Christ today.
Selah—The word Selah appears nearly 70 times in the Bible, almost exclusively in the Psalms. Although it is primarily a musical term, it applies beautifully to our summer series. It means a pause. Throughout the Psalms, Selah appears at the end of a verse, at the end of the psalm, or sometimes even mid-sentence. But each one of them is perfectly placed by the Spirit-inspired authors to get us to take a breath and deeply contemplate what we just read or sang.
Craving—Doesn’t it seem like far too many Christians think of their relationship with Jesus as bland? After all, we’ve been told that any cravings we have should be quickly downplayed so that they don’t carry “good Christians” away. But what we discover in the Bible is that God made us to be craving creatures—He wants us to long deeply and find ultimate satisfaction for those longings. In short, God created us to long after the things that only He can fulfill. As we dive into this new series, I think you will find it quite eye-opening and heart-lifting.
The Great Attitude Of Gratitude—There’s something about gratitude that distinguishes people. Think about it: would you rather hang around with grumblers or grateful people? The gratitude of Paul and Silas certainly made them stand out from the crowd when they were in Philippi. Wrongly accused, beaten, and thrown in prison, but instead of bellyaching, they were praising God. Later on, when Paul wrote his letter to the Christians in Philippi, the theme of gratefulness permeates his letter. The distinguishing mark is actually in the title: The GReat ATTITUDE spells out GRATITUDE!
Bethlehem Is Proof—The prophet Micah foretells that the Messiah will arrive in dark times. Enemies will surround Israel, and Israel’s ruler will receive a nasty punch to the jaw. Demonic strongholds, witchcraft, and idolatry will appear to be gaining the upper hand. And then Micah turns his attention to a small village just south of Jerusalem—a village so small that it is often overlooked—a village from which no one would expect Israel’s Deliverer. And yet, Micah writes, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me One who will be Ruler over Israel, Whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2). Jesus the Deliverer was born in the little town of Bethlehem, and His birth there 700 years after Micah foretold it is our proof that God always gets the last word, the decisive word, and the best word!
We will be returning to a couple of these series in 2023, and we’ll be launching some brand-new ones as well. If you don’t have a home church in the northern Kent County area, I would love to have you join us!
Every Monday I share a 1-minute thought to get your week started. It’s my weekly Monday Motivation series of videos. Check out this week’s video that I posted the day after Christmas, and please subscribe on YouTube.
T.M. Moore wrote one of the endorsements for my book Shepherd Leadership. In an interview I then did on his Fellowship of Ailbe podcast, I shared my dismay over unbiblical ideas and practices that have crept into the church. Both T.M. and I share a passion to see our church leadership return to our secure biblical foundation.
In a recent blog post, T.M wrote, “From the days of the apostles onward, a tendency has existed among church leaders to drift from the plain teaching of the Word of God into forms of Christian life and ministry that derive from sources other than Scripture. Or that stretch the meaning of Scripture to fit the shape of certain cultural forms.” Please check out T.M.’s post “Do not go beyond.”
In a fascinating post from Rabbi Benjamin Blech, I read these thoughts about the power of a name: “The Hebrew word for soul is neshamah. Central to that word, the middle two letters, shin and mem, make the word shem, Hebrew for ‘name.’ Your name is the key to your soul. … When the Torah says, ‘God created,’ it doesn’t suggest that He worked with what He fashioned by labor, but merely that He spoke—and the very words describing the object came into being. God said, ‘Let there be light and there was light.’ The Almighty merely gave it a name, and the very letters defined its atomic structure.” Check out the full post here.
“Success” doesn’t always mean bigger numbers. King David got into trouble with God when he wanted to measure his success by how many fighting men he had under his command. Consistently throughout the Bible God’s measure of success is our trust in Him. This thought was a key part of the sub-title of my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
An interesting comment that Jesus made that should catch the attention of every leader is this: “I know My sheep and My sheep know Me” (John 10:14). Jesus is telling us that He knows the uniqueness of every person.
Combine this with David’s encouraging words about Jesus as our Good Shepherd in the opening words of Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need” (Psalm 23:1 NLT).
This tells me that quality shepherd leaders…
…are around their teammates enough to know them personally.
…can quickly ascertain when their teammates are feeling stress or anxiety.
…know how to give their teammates what they need to destress in a healthy way.
My friend Greg and I discussed how leaders can use playtime as an effective tool to keep their teammates at their healthiest. Check out this short clip—
If you would like to watch this full episode from The Craig And Greg Show, please click here.
I also talk about how wise leaders take care of those under their care in my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter. It’s available in print or ebook, and in audiobook through either Audible or Apple.
Are you a pastor who is feeling discouraged? Or do you know a pastor who has become frustrated by what isn’t happening in their church? If so, please read on because I have something special for you. 
). I love this meme because it captures something that so many people fall into: a quick acceptance of a statement without verifying its source or thinking through the implications of the statement’s truthfulness. I think you may be surprised to discover just how many phrases we call biblical aren’t, and how many phrases there are that we never realized are actually in the Bible.
Craig T. Owens 
Proverbs: Amplified And Applied (book review)
January 10, 2023 — Craig T. OwensListen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Full disclosure: Dick Brogden is my cousin, so I may be just slightly biased on this book. But I don’t think my bias in any way contradicts my statement about the volume of Scripture contained in this powerfully insightful devotional work.
Dick has taken the Book of Proverbs and gone deep on every single verse. Each note is a treasure trove of insights, cross-references to other biblical concepts, and action steps that can immediately become a prayer request or a daily goal.
Let me give you an example. Provers 2:7 says, “He holds success in store for the upright, He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless.” Dick’s amplification and application for this verse says—
“Wisdom is a supply and a defense. Wisdom gained now provides in the present and protects in the future. God in His benevolence stockpiles wisdom for us. He gives neither Spirit nor wisdom by measure. He delights to flood, saturate, fill, overwhelm, and lavish the spirit of wisdom, counsel, discernment, and understanding upon us. When we walk in the light, in integrity, it is as if we have a library card that allows us free checkout of heaven’s daily living manuals. Our integrity is what gives us access to all the stored-up wisdom of God. Integrity also shields us from the attacks of folly. The grandest folly comes wrapped in deceptive intelligence. The devil is able (cunning angel of light that he is) to make foolish things seem wise. We are able to see through his disguises and be shielded from his traps when we have a legacy of continually checking out, reading, and applying God’s insight. It is the familiarity with the feel of the true that helps us recognize the false.”
I’m reading through the Book of Proverbs very slowly this year, allowing Dick’s commentary to help me let these principles sink in deep. For those who love the wisdom of Proverbs, I would greatly encourage you to get a copy of Dick’s book for yourself.
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