Gratitude Is A Medicine

November 27, 2023 — 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. 

Gratitude is our shield against the negativity, and gratitude is also our sword against the ambushers. But using these pieces of our armor is exhausting, which means we also need a way to recover from the attacks of negativity. 

Jesus began His public ministry with a sermon that prompted Luke to record that “everyone spoke well of Him.” But in less than 60 seconds, after Jesus outlined how His ministry would unfold, Jesus is being criticized to the point where those same praising people are now ready to throw Jesus off a cliff (Luke 4:18-29)! 

Elbert Hubbard wrote, “If you have something others don’t, know something others don’t, or do something others aren’t doing, then, rest assured, you will be criticized. … To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, and be nothing.” 

Even though Hubbard is probably right, Christians don’t have the option to “say nothing, do nothing, be nothing,” because Jesus has called us to go into all the world, preach the Good News, and be salt and light. That means we will be victims of criticism. We can use our shield and sword of gratitude, but we are also going to need some medicine to help us recover too.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” is a lie. Words do hurt. 

Jesus told us these stinging words would be thrown at us like sticks and stones in Luke 6:22. When we are criticized, we have to be careful not to get embittered. How does that happen? We are naturally self-protective, so criticized people become critical and cynical unless they can be healed and have joy restored. If we hold on to our hurts, bitterness can fester in our hearts (Hebrews 12:14-15). 

Look at David in Psalm 69. He acknowledged the attacks from his enemies and how it made him feel, but then he applies the healing medicine of gratitude—

But as for me, afflicted and in pain—may Your salvation, God, protect me. I will praise God’s name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving. (Psalm 69:29-30) 

Our healing is in our thanking! 

Medical research has shown that gratitude improves physical health—it reduces stress and resets the heart’s healthy rhythm. This is just as true spiritually: gratitude is our medicine. 

You may be thinking, “How can I bless critical people? How can I be grateful when I’m surrounded by such hostility?”  

David also wrote Psalm 23 for us. This is the psalm that begins, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want.” But notice especially the words of verse 5: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” 

It is precisely in the presence of enemies that God invites us to abide with Him and to receive His medicine of anointing. But I also see that our Good Shepherd doesn’t just give us adequate blessings, but overflowing blessings—enough for me and more to share with those around me. 

In the New Testament Greek, one word for “bless” is eulogeo which literally means “good words.” Jesus, Paul, and Peter all tell us that when we are victims of the sticks and stones of negative words, we are to respond by saying good words both to God and to those who are hurling evil words at us (Matthew 5:43-44; 1 Corinthians 4:12; 1 Peter 3:9). 

Peter shows us exactly how Jesus did this when He was hanging on the Cross and enduring the sneers, mocking words, and insults from those surrounding Him (1 Peter 2:21-23; Luke 23:35-39). Instead of throwing evil words back at them, Jesus blessed them by saying, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). 

Learn a lesson from our Lord
Often silence cuts like a sword
When we stand upon the Rock
We needn’t bother when fools mock


Bantering with fools just won’t do


Unless you want to be foolish too


To the wisest words they won’t listen


But joy in airing their own opinion




Our Lord knew just what to do


When mockers hurled words untrue


He entrusted things to the King


Who perfectly records everything




Help us follow the example You gave


To not engage with those who rave


May not our hasty words undo



Because we have been forgiven, we can forgive. Because we have been blessed with overflowing blessings, we can bless. Our healing is in our thanking! 


If you’ve missed any of the messages in this series on power of gratitude, you can check them all out by clicking here. 


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Moving Toward Maturity

October 30, 2023 — 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. 



Our sixth spiritual discipline—confession—is at the pinnacle of our growth as maturing saints. That’s because many of the other disciplines will culminate in one saint confessing to another saint. Confession not only keeps us strong as individuals, but it keeps the whole Christian community in a strong, healthy place. 


The story has been told about two monks who had woven plenty of baskets to sell in town on market day. On the way to town they devised a strategy where one monk would sell at one end of the market and the other at the opposite end. At the end of the day they would meet at a designated place to go back to the monastery. One monk sold all of his baskets and returned to the meeting place. He waited, and waited, and waited. It wasn’t until the next morning that the second monk appeared. 


“I cannot return to the monastery with you,” he told his waiting friend. “I have committed a terrible sin. I was tempted, and I gave into the temptation and committed fornication last night. I have broken my vows to my brothers and to God, so you will have to go back without me.” 


The first monk listened to his friend and then answered, “Come, my friend. We will go back to the monastery and repent together.” 


He was really saying to his friend, “I can identify, because under the same circumstances I might have done the same thing. Perhaps if I had stayed at your side I could have held you accountable, so I bear mutual responsibility for your stumble.” 


The early church is described in terms of togetherness. James, the early leader of the church in Jerusalem, was a part of this togetherness and used it as an important conclusion to his book of instructions to the saints—


Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. … My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. (James 5:13-16, 19-20) 


James wants the saints to be together in prayer, together in worship, together in confession, and together in rescuing their fellow brothers and sisters. The word he uses for “confession” means an out-loud profession or agreement. When he says, “confess your sins” he uses a word that means a deviation from a standard, or a falling short of God’s word. 


James sees this ongoing confession as a preventative to “a multitude of sins.” In this instance, the word he uses is an outright violation of God’s laws. In other words, the small deviations can add up to something deadly. 


Paul uses a similar idea when he writes, “Let us purify ourselves” (2 Corinthians 7:1). The implication again is that we are confessing both individually and corporately. I can be a huge blessing to my brothers and sisters by going first in confession (Matthew 7:1-5). 


Confession also helps others know they are not alone (1 Corinthians 10:12-13). 


As an individual saint I mature by continually closing the gap between realizing a shortcoming in my life and confessing that shortcoming to God and to another saint. Then as saints together we can love, encourage, help, and hold each other accountable. I have said before that I think confession may be the most under-used resource for Christians to gain power in prayer and victory over falling into temptation! 


In each of our previous five spiritual disciplines I’ve shared a “so that” statement to help us keep perspective of why we need to employ those disciplines. For confession, here’s our focal point: I confess to other saints so that we can be mutually accountable in our growth toward purity and maturity. 


Confession is good for us individually and corporately, so let’s continue to use this to strengthen everyone. 


If you’ve missed the messages covering the other spiritual disciplines, you can find all of them by clicking here. 


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Is Your Love Growing?

September 28, 2023 — 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. 



Are you a more loving person today than you were a year ago? If you said, “Yes,” how do you know?


Check out this episode of The Podcast.




Resources mentioned in this video:



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Dismantling Lies

September 14, 2023 — 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. 



Lies, half-truths, and fake news: All of those can steal joy from a Christian’s life. How do we dismantle these joy-stealers?


Check out this episode of The Podcast.




Resources mentioned in this video:



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Focus On Today

August 7, 2023 — 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. 



Without a doubt, Jesus had the most robust mental health of anyone who has ever walked planet Earth! Dr. Luke, a trained physician, captures this in just one verse (Luke 2:52) where he talks about how Jesus grew in a wholly healthy way, and Luke lists Christ’s mental health as the first priority. 


I’ve already shared five strategies that Christians can employ to enhance their mental health, and I encourage you to check them out here. 


Let me share a sixth strategy with you. 


I’m sure there have been plenty of times when someone asks you about something you like or dislike or why you do something the way you do, you probably don’t tell them the facts but you tell them a story. We have a story for everything we like, everything we do, and everything we avoid. 


It’s good to rehearse these stories and to really listen to them. If we don’t really listen to them, we cannot learn from them; if we don’t learn from them, we rob ourselves of robust mental health. 


From some of our stories, there is a regret that comes from three enemies. These enemies are all tied to our stories about our past and they are would’ve, could’ve, and should’ve—“If only I would’ve…” and “Things would be different today if I could’ve…” and “I should’ve known….”


One of the ways we need to talk back to those thoughts is like this, “I only know the would’ve, could’ve, and should’ve now because I’m older and more experienced. I didn’t know those things in the past so it was impossible for me to have done something differently.” Even the apostle Paul noted, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me” (1 Corinthians 13:11). 


If we don’t talk back to those regrets of yesterday, we will have doubts about today: Will I make another mistake today? Do I have what it takes to meet today’s challenges? What will others think of me if I mess up? If we don’t address those doubts we have today, that will cause us worry and stress about tomorrow. 


Regret … doubt … worry … stress. Those don’t really sound like words that contribute to positive mental health, do they? 


Here’s the thing we need to remember—Learning from our yesterdays is healthy, but trying to relive our yesterdays is both unhealthy and unproductive! 


Dr. William Osler said, “If the load of tomorrow is added to that of yesterday and carried today, it will make the strongest falter.” 


Four times in just ten verses, Jesus told His followers not to worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:25-34). He ties that worry about tomorrow to having little faith. That lack of faith comes from our doubts, and those doubts come from our past regrets. 


T.G.I.F.—thank God it’s Friday!—is an escapism. It’s not wanting to deal with the regrets, doubts, and worry by trying to push them to some distant time. It doesn’t allow us to really concentrate on today. The Bible constantly brings us back to the present. 


    

  • Today is used 203 times in the NIV Bible 
    • 

  • Tomorrow is mentioned 56 times
    • 

  • Yesterday is only used 8 times 
    • 



Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11) so that we won’t let past regrets spiral downward into daily doubts and then anxiety about tomorrow. Elizabeth Elliot wisely counseled, “One reason we are so harried and hurried is that we make yesterday and tomorrow our business, when all that legitimately concerns us is today.” 


Christians that want to be mentally healthy should continually replace a T.G.I.F. mindset with T.G.I.T.—thank God it’s today! 


Taking a line from Joshua who said, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15), here are four things we need to choose to remember each day. 


    

  1. Choose to remember that God uses all things—even our would’ve, could’ve, and should’ves—for our good and for His glory (Romans 8:28). 
    2. 

  2. Choose to forget those old, self-limiting, stress-causing stories (Philippians 3:13).
    3. 

  3. Choose to believe that God is doing something new—something I never could have planned (Isaiah 43:18-19). 
    4. 

  4. Choose to believe that God can help you tell a new story about your past (Genesis 41:51). 
    5. 



(Check out all of these verses here.) 


You have to choose each day to say “Thank God it’s today! Thank God that I’m not who I was yesterday! Thank God that He is using my would’ve-could’ve-should’ve moments from yesterday to prepare me for today! Thank God that He is teaching me a new story!” 


If you’ve missed any of the previous messages in our series on a Christian’s mental health, you can find them all here. 


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Eternally Confident

July 31, 2023 — 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. 



When we hear the word “if” we hear something that is uncertain: “If only I get that job” or “If I have enough money at the end of the month” or “If we get there in enough time.” 


The dictionary tells us “if” has an element of uncertainty. Like when King George III said of George Washington’s decision to step down as the president, “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.” 


Sometimes we think of “if” as a condition to receive some sort of award or recognition. Like Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem If—


If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you … [then] Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, and—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son! 


We need to be careful of those paradigms when we come to the next song of ascent in Psalm 124, since the word “if” appears twice in the opening two verses. 


David is not saying, “Weren’t we lucky that God was there for us” or “I wonder if He will be for us again in the future.” I like how the New Living Translation renders this verse: “What if the Lord had not been on our side?” In other words, He was on our side, therefore look what we avoided! 


Far from being a statement of uncertainty, this is a statement of total assurance: It’s saying, “I’m confident of what would have happened if God wasn’t there, and I’m assured of what will happen in the future.” This is why in the next verses David calls on us to praise God in the present tense. 


Every one of these songs of ascent can be sung as stand-alone songs, but the Jewish sages believed that these 15 songs are like the 15 steps that go up to the center of the courtyard. No one climbs the steps from their basement, stops after three or four steps, and says, “I was lucky that the first steps held me! Now I’m wondering if the next step is going to fail me or not.” No, the fact that we have already climbed some steps gives us assurance of the stability of the next step. 


Look at a quick review of the previous steps: 


    

  • in Psalm 120 pilgrims climb away from the pull of the dark valleys 
    • 

  • in Psalm 121 we read the phrase, “I lift my eyes up to the One who is watching over me”  
    • 

  • in Psalm 122 we climb the steps knowing that we aren’t climbing to a throne of judgment but a throne of shalom because of the peace Jesus purchased for us
    • 

  • in Psalm 123 we are called to only have eyes for our Savior who has lavished His grace on us, and who continues to lavish His grace on us
    • 

  • now in Psalm 124 we continue to climb up in growing assurance 
    • 



The devil loves to use “if” as a weapon to keep us from this confidence. Perhaps the doubt comes like this, “This song was written by David. If I’m not King David—or even a part of the Jewish nation—can I be assured that God is on my side?” 


Yes, you can! Remember that God’s grace is unearned, undeserved, and unending. And it’s for anyone and everyone who puts their faith in Jesus (Romans 4:23-24; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Romans 8:31-32). 


Or perhaps the devil’s doubt comes like this, “If I sin, will God no longer be on my side?” 


No, neither our efforts nor our shortcomings increase nor decrease God’s love for us. He loved us before we even knew we needed Him, and our sin cannot diminish His love one iota (Romans 5:20-21; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:4-5). 


When the devil confronted Jesus, he used that little weapon “if” with all three of his temptations. Jesus dismantled those temptations to doubt God by quoting Scripture. So too with Joshua. As he contemplated leading the Israelites into the Promised Land, he may have felt a bit insecure. God told Joshua to continue to meditate on His Word and as a result, Joshua would be strong and courageous. 


David’s closing words in Psalm 124:8 is the Source of our doubt-destroying confidence: “Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth!” 


Whenever the devil plagues you with doubts, keep your eyes on your Maker, keep His Word in your mouth, and then feel His confidence grow in your heart. 


If you’ve missed any of the messages in our Ascending series, you can find all of them here. 


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Kept To Keep

July 10, 2023 — 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. 



Last week I reminded you that the main point in Hebrew literature is usually found in the middle. In Psalm 121 that would be the first phrase of verse 5: The Lord watches over you. 


But I notice something that seems contradictory in the New Testament. Whereas the message here is, “God watches over you,” the message in some New Testament verses seems to be, “You watch over yourself” (see for example Matthew 26:41; 1 Thessalonians 5:6; 1 Timothy 4:16). Paul even said to the Christians at Corinth, “I worked harder than all of them” (1 Corinthians 15:10). 


So which is it: Is God watching over us or are we to watch over ourselves? It’s actually both, but something important has to come first. We cannot watch over ourselves unless we are assured that the Lord is watching over us to sustain us. 


Okay, I was being a bit sarcastic when I said those verses seemed contradictory, as I clearly quoted them out of their context. For instance, in that statement from Paul in 1 Corinthians, check out the full verse, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” Paul is clearly saying that he could only work hard because he was empowered by God’s grace. Notice that it is decidedly not the other way around: Paul doesn’t say, “I worked hard to earn the grace of God.” 


Remember that these psalms of ascent remind us of our upward look and our upward journey. We need to keep our eyes on the prize, which is God Himself (Psalm 121:1-2). Using the apostle Paul’s life as an example again, he said something very similar—


Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14) 


The middle verse of Psalm 121 foretells what appears six times in just eight verses: the Hebrew word samar. Depending on the translation of the Bible, this word is either “watch over” or “kept.” In either case, the meaning is a concentrated focus, not turning aside to the left or the right, not distracted, eyes on the ultimate prize. And all six of these instances are God’s unwavering, loving focus on us. In this song, we are told: 


    

  • God never slumbers or is even momentarily distracted (vv. 3-4) as opposed to other deities that were thought to sometimes be unavailable to their worshippers (see 1 Kings 18:27). Instead, our God watches us so closely that He notices if even a single hair falls from our head (Matthew 10:30-31). 
    • 

  • God stands beside us to protect our places of vulnerability (vv. 5-6). The Amplified Bible says, “The Lord is your shade on your right hand—the side not carrying a shield.”
    • 

  • God keeps us from the entrapment of evil (v. 7). Jesus told us that He was praying this way for us so we can have confidence to pray this for ourselves (Luke 22:32; Matthew 6:13).  
    • 

  • God protects us as His most precious treasure. David uses this same word samar in Psalm 17:8, “Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings.” 
    • 

  • God is our eternal Protector. The last phrase of this psalm says He watches over us “both now and forevermore” (v. 8).  
    • 



The other places the word samar is used in the Bible is a call for us to keep God’s commands. But just as we saw with Paul that he was committed to running his race well because he was assured of the prize Jesus had secured for him, so for us, we can only keep God’s commands because we are kept secure by God. 


Because we are kept by God we can keep His commands. In Deuteronomy 4, Moses applies the word samar to God’s people. We are to..


    

  • keep the commands of the Lord (v. 4) 
    • 

  • watch ourselves closely so we don’t forget what God has done for us (v. 9) 
    • 

  • be careful not to forget the covenant God paid for us (v. 23)
    • 

  • keep God’s decrees and commands as way a way to pass on God’s blessing to future generations (v. 40)
    • 



If God is not the One keeping and preserving me, it will be impossible for me to keep His commands on my own. The promise of His watchful keeping and preserving should fuel our prayer to watch over ourselves with all diligence. Read His promises, pray His promises, be assured of His ever-present help so that you can use His help to look out for yourself. 


If you’ve missed any of the others messages in our look at the Psalms of Ascent, you can find them all here.


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The Biblical Metric Of Success

June 22, 2023 — 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.



I was asked to share an article on the Converge Coaching blog.


There is no shortage of books that define “success” in our business or ministry endeavors, but as Christians, let’s try to get a more precise definition—a biblical definition.


I did a quick search for the words “success” or “successful” in just the New International Version of the Bible, and I was somewhat surprised by two things. First of all, the relatively few times this word is used: Only 25 times in the entire Scripture. We read of prayers offered for a successful journey, or a king’s reign, or a building project, success that comes to someone because of God’s favor on their life, or success in battle.


The second thing that surprised me: The word “success” isn’t used in the New Testament. The reason this surprised me is because without there being even a close second, Jesus has to be the most successful person who ever walked this planet. No one ever taught like He did, performed the miracles He did, or willingly laid down His life and was resurrected like He was. And yet the word “success” is never attached to His life.


This means we are left to draw some Holy Spirit-illuminated inferences from the Bible on how to define success. You may ask, “Why do we even need to know what ‘success’ is?” I would say we need a biblical definition for success to avoid the inevitable feelings of failure that come if things aren’t going as well as we thought they should.


In business, we often define success as revenue growth or a healthy net profit. In ministry, we typically measure success by church attendance, the number of people launched into ministry, or the amount of money given to missions work.


But what happens if we apply these metrics to the work Jesus did while He was on Earth? We see His disciples fretting over not having enough money to buy food for the congregation, and Jesus mentioning He often didn’t have a bed to sleep in, or the fact that Jesus only had one set of clothes. As a businessman, Jesus wouldn’t be considered successful by any current metrics. Even as a ministry leader, the congregation that gathered after Jesus was resurrected back to life only numbered 120 people. So if we consider Jesus as a pastor, His church wasn’t exactly thriving according to modern metrics.


After Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) and his sermon following the healing of the lame man (Acts 3), we don’t hear much about quantitative growth throughout the rest of the Book of Acts. But in the balance of the Book of Acts, in the teachings of Jesus, and in the instructions in the epistles, we do hear substantially more about qualitative growth.


I think the clear message is that qualitative metrics are much more important to God than quantitative measurements. Specifically, I think we see the emphasis on two important qualities for godly leaders: faithfulness and excellence.


















Solomon wrote, “Whatever you do, do well” (Ecclesiastes 9:10 NLT), and Paul told us, “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV). These things tell us that our best effort is always required—no cutting corners, no half-measures, no bare-minimum effort. Instead, we should always do the best that we can, always striving for excellence.


My Grandma drilled a poem into my memory whenever I wanted to stop at “good enough.” She would say—


Good, better, best


Never let it rest


Until your good is better


And your better is best


How long do we do this excellent work? Until our Master returns.


Jesus said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns” (Luke 12:42-43 NIV).


Our devotion to these qualitative metrics of faithfulness and excellence can only truly be judged by listening to the Holy Spirit each day. He alone can speak to each of our hearts about our level of excellence and faithfulness for that day. He alone can help us know what true success is. We need to listen to His voice so that we don’t get distracted, disillusioned, and possibly even de-railed by trying to measure up to others’ quantitive metrics of success.


After all, ultimate success for any leader is to hear the applause from nail-scarred hands as our Master says, “Well done—excellently and faithfully done—My good and faithful servant!”


I can think of no better definition of success.


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Jesus In The Seven Feasts

May 22, 2023 — 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. 



Douglas Carmel from Rock Of Israel ministries shared an amazing overview of the seven Jewish feasts that are listed in the Book of Leviticus, and how Jesus is the fulfillment of all of these feasts. Doug was born into a Jewish family and became a Christian in his late teens, so he has firsthand knowledge of both the traditional celebrations and the Christian understanding of these feasts. 


One of the things I appreciated was Doug’s explanation that the feasts were merely a shadow of the reality—Jesus is the Reality! 


Please check out the message he shared at Calvary Assembly of God. I encourage you to visit his website to get more information on all of the ministries Rock Of Israel. 




Passover—celebrated on the 14th day of the first month 


    

  • Leviticus 23:4-5
    • 

  • Matthew 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-26; Luke 22:7-20
    • 

  • Jesus was crucified on the same day that the Passover lamb was being sacrificed 
    • 



Unleavened Bread—celebrated on the 15th day of the first month


    

  • Leviticus 23:6
    • 

  • 1 Corinthians 5:6-9
    • 



Firstfruits—celebrated on the 16th day of the first month (or the day after the Sabbath) 


    

  • Leviticus 23:9-14 
    • 

  • 1 Corinthians 15:12-26 
    • 



Seven Weeks—celebrated 50 days after Firstfruits 


    

  • Leviticus 23:15-21 
    • 

  • Also known as Pentecost 
    • 

  • Acts 2:1-41
    • 



Doug called our attention to the calendar on which these feasts appeared. Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Seven Weeks all happen in the spring. All four of these feasts have already been fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. 


There are no feasts in the summer months, as these are the months of field work (Leviticus 23:22). This is where we are now, which is why Jesus told us, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field” (Matthew 9:38). This is the time for us to tell others about Jesus the Messiah! 


The final three feasts appear in the autumn—Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. These are feasts that are still to be fulfilled at Christ’s Second Advent. 


Trumpets—celebrated on the 1st day of the seventh month


    

  • Leviticus 23:23-25 
    • 

  • This is also known as Rosh Hashanah when the shofar is blown 
    • 

  • 1 Corinthians 15:51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18
    • 



Atonement—celebrated on the 10th day of the seventh month


    

  • Leviticus 23:26-32 
    • 

  • This is also known as Yom Kippur—the one day of the year the high priest goes into the Holy of Holies 
    • 

  • Romans 11:25-32; Matthew 23:39 
    • 



Tabernacles—celebrated on the 15th through the 21st days of the seventh month



Jesus said of Himself, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). Jesus is THE Reality and THE Fulfillment of all of these celebrations! 


(Check out all of the Scripture verses I listed above by clicking here.) 


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Beware Of “I’m Owed This”

May 17, 2023 — 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. 



On Mother’s Day, I shared a word of encouragement from a woman who interacted with the prophet Elisha. As I was studying for this message, I paused to consider an example—actually a warning—that comes from Elisha’s servant Gehazi. 


Because of the miraculous things that God had done through Elisha, word began to spread about God’s power that was on display through this godly prophet. In fact, word even spread to other countries, including the land of Aram where was a highly decorated military commander named Naaman lived. This revered leader was afflicted by leprosy. The king of Aram sent Naaman to Elisha to be cured of this disease (see 2 Kings 5). 


When Naaman came to Elisha, he was given instructions to bathe himself seven times in the Jordan River. Initially, Naaman balked at this, but eventually, he humbled himself in obedience and was miraculously healed of his leprosy! 


Naaman had come to Israel and Elisha with the intention of buying a miracle (just take a look at the treasures that he brought with him). Elisha would not accept money or gifts from Naaman. Not that there’s anything wrong with a prophet receiving gifts, but not when the intention of the giver is to give a bribe. 


This is where Gehazi makes a fatal mistake. Gehazi has a conversation with himself (notice the phrase “he said to himself”) that he should have had with Elisha. He determined that he and Elisha were owed something for their ministry work. Gehazi then compounded this unhealthy conversation by telling one lie after another lie to justify the conclusion he had reached. 


Elisha knew that God keeps track, that God keeps perfect records, that God will reward far better than any man ever could. He said, “Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes?” No! We need to let God determine the timing and the gift. 


As a result, the leprosy that had left Naaman now attacked Gehazi. In reality, it was a leprosy of his heart that merely appeared on his skin. Gehazi was then dismissed from his ministry position with Elisha. 


Sadly, I’ve witnessed many ministry leaders who have derailed their leadership with an “I deserve this” attitude. Thinking “I’m owed this” took their eyes off God and put them on the rewards they thought they should have received. How sad this is! 


We all need to be on guard. The “I’m owed this” lie didn’t just derail Gehazi, it’s also what turned Lucifer into satan. Is it any wonder, then, that satan uses this lying attitude as an effective weapon—from Adam and Eve, to King David, to Gehazi, to Ananias and Sapphira, all the way down to us. 


Our constant prayer should be, “Holy Spirit, guard my heart against the leprosy of entitlement. Help me keep the ‘I’m owed this’ attitude far, far away from my heart’s door.” 


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