Friending Like Jesus

October 19, 2026 — 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. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here. 

The words we use are important and can be quite revealing of what’s going on in our heart and mind. I often find it quite funny listening to some of our students and their choice of words. For instance, I heard this exchange the other day between some guys: 

“Do you like her?” 

“Yeah, I like her.” 

“But do you like her like her?” 

“No way! I like her as a friend. I don’t like her that way!” 

This may be both cute and confusing for adults relating to young men and women. But I have learned that these young people are setting some clear boundaries about what their relationship with that other person entails. They’re really saying, “I don’t dislike her, but I’m not ready to say that I love her yet either.” 

However, this kind of language and this kind of mindset should never be said about Christians! We are coming to the pinnacle of this progression of virtues that Peter is listing for saints, so let me remind you of what built up to this point (see 2 Peter 1:1-7).

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

I read the words brotherly kindness in v. 7 because nearly every English translation has it rendered that way, and it’s probably the closest to the Greek word philadelphia. 

  • The root word (adelphos) is used over 300 times in the New Testament. 
  • Adelphos can be literally translated as a biological sibling (Matthew 1:2), but it is most often used in the NT as a spiritual brother or sister (2 Peter 3:15, 1:10). The first Christians recognized that their faith in Jesus—a faith as precious as ours—adopted us all into the same family of God. 
  • The prefix philos means the most straightforward, uncomplicated definition of “friend” that come readily to your mind. 

So when we are talking about the precious faith of precious friends, we are talking about something distinctively Christian. 

Last week we saw how Jesus taught us the importance of abiding in Him (see John 15:4-11). Our abiding produces a fruitful harvest. In the next verses, Jesus goes on tell us what this harvest looks like (John 15:12-17).

Notice the word command (v. 12, 17) is singular. Jesus said the same thing in John 13:34-35, and John again highlights this in 1 John 3:23. 

The word for love is agape, which Peter uses in 2 Peter 1:7. He says philos grows into agape. But now Jesus says, when we are abiding in His agape, something amazing happens: We are called friends (philos) of Jesus (John 15:13-15). Unlike my young friends, it appears that Jesus sees no difference between liking (philos) and loving (agape) for those who are called His saints. Lovers of Jesus will love their friends so much that they will like their friends too! 

Solomon describes friendship like this:

  • Always loving—Proverbs 17:17, 18:24 
  • Speaking truthful, loving words—Proverbs 27:6 
  • Giving helpful counsel—Proverbs 27:9 

This growth of philadelphia to agape, which then demonstrates itself by looking like philadephia has some powerful benefits. 

  1. It sharpens all of us (Proverbs 27:17). 
  2. It adds power to our prayers, which also benefits everyone (John 15:7, 16; James 5:16). D.L. Moody expressed it the opposite way: “If we do not love one another, we certainly shall not have much power with God in prayer.” 
  3. It enhances our witness (John 13:35, 17:21). 

My friend T.M. Moore wrote this about a healthy, growing family of saints—

“Oh look: ‘the Lord added to the church daily…’ [Acts 2:42-47]. Now we’re talking. Let’s get those numbers up, shall we? Let’s do, but let’s remember that adding people to our church is the Lord’s work, and He does it His way. And His way is to cause people to respond to the lived and spoken witness of a body of believers who love one another, encourage one another, build one another up, share with one another, and present a united voice, speaking truth in love to their community. When they see our oneness, Jesus insisted, they will believe the Father has sent Him.” 

This whole progression we have seen in 2 Peter becomes a continually growing, continually God-glorifying, Christ-revealing, Spirit-led testimony! Your part in this is invaluable and indispensable! 

So we must ask ourselves: How would Jesus be a friend? Am I friending like Jesus? 

If you have missed any of the previous messages in this series, you can find them all by clicking here. 

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Abiding In Worship

October 12, 2026 — 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. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here. 

Peter is giving us an important progression of virtues that supercharge our Christian testimony in the world and our ability to encourage fellow saints. We’ve looked at the first four (faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control) and now I see a place for a warning. 

A saint that is growing in their faith, in their goodness that shows itself as a Christian gentleman or gentlewomen, increasing in their knowledge of the things of God, and staying within the guardrails of self-control is probably starting to get noticed. They are seeing their own growth in maturity, and their old friends are also seeing it. This is a place to be on guard! 

I think this is what Jesus described in Mark 4:3-7, 14-19. 

  • A little knowledge can make us proud of what we’ve accomplished and tempt us to run too far ahead before we’re ready. This is the people with shallow roots. 
  • The worries of life can be giving too much attention to what others say or think about us, or how they begin to treat us. We become unfruitful when we pay attention to those things. 

(See all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

Look at our progression in 2 Peter 1:2-6. The Holy Spirit inspired Peter to list perseverance in the perfect place in this progression! 

This is called patient endurance in the NLT and steadfastness in the AMPC, but I like to call it stick-to-it-iveness. The Greek word is interesting: hypomone = by (hypo-) + abiding (-meno). 

This word for remain or abide appears 11x in John 15:4-11! 

  • Scripture teaches us, but hypomone turns truth into hope (Romans 15:4) 
  • Hypomone keeps me living obediently to God’s Word (Hebrews 10:36; Revelation 14:12) 
  • Hypomone turns the seed of God’s Word into a bountiful harvest (Mark 4:8, 20) 
  • Hypomone keeps me peaceful—and therefore focused on God—during trials (Luke 21:19 AMPC) 

When Peter and John stood before the Sanhedrin, those leaders could tell they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13b), so too with Stephen (6:15). The virtue that follows perseverance is godliness. Peter has already used this word to describe Jesus (2 Peter 1:3) and so does the Septuagint in Isaiah 11:2. 

The Greek word literally means “good worship” because godliness is a lifestyle—a lifestyle of worshipping God and magnifying the immeasurable worth of our Savior! 

To fully describe this word, godliness in the NT is typically linked with another attribute: 

  • godliness + power (Acts 3:12) 
  • godliness + reverence [righteousness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness] (1 Timothy 6:11) 
  • godliness + knowledge of the truth (Titus 1:1) 
  • godliness + zoe life (2 Peter 1:3) 
  • godliness + holiness (3:11) 

Remember that make every effort is not my ability to supply myself, but my choice to ask, receive, and apply. 

I must make every effort to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to persevere. I must make every effort to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit to display more Christlikeness. 

As I add goodness to my faith, and add knowledge to my goodness, and add self-control to my knowledge, and add perseverance to my self-control, and add godliness to my perseverance, people should see in me what John the Baptists desired: He must increase, but I must decrease. 

My growth in godliness is best seen by an attitude to persevere to see even more godliness in me. 

Check out all of the other messages in this series from 2 Peter called Friends of the Faith. 

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Knowledge Under Control

October 5, 2026 — 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. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here. 

Years ago, I read a book by Tim Elmore called Artificial Maturity. The premise of his book is that youth have access to so much information that they can sound informed and educated, but because they don’t know what to do with all that knowledge, they remain unprepared to handle the situations they face each day. 

If we’re not careful, we Christians can be described as artificially mature. We know what the Bible says, we can quote a lot of passages, but if we don’t know how to actually apply that knowledge in our everyday lives, we are immature. 

So we have to do something. One of the things we have to do is use our brain. God wants us to be fully engaged so that we can love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. So there needs to be a recognition of what we don’t know so that we can know how to apply what we know. 

We don’t know what we don’t know until we know someone who knows something we don’t know (Romans 7:7). 

(You can see all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

But once we know that we don’t know, we have a choice: (1) Seek knowledge so we can know what we don’t know, or (2) Seek someone who can help us both know what we don’t know and know how to apply what we’ve learned. The Holy Spirit is that Someone (John 16:14-15). 

We’ve already looked at one word for know in 2 Peter 1:2—epignosis is how to apply what we know. Remember the progression (vv. 2-5). The word for knowledge in v. 5 is gnosis: this is moral wisdom. So gnosis is having the knowledge; epignosis is how to apply that knowledge. 

When we perceive the goodness—the gentlemanliness—of Jesus and we see ourselves in comparison, it makes us want to: (1) throw in the towel, (2) try to improve ourselves (which will ultimately make us want to throw in the towel), or (3) submit to the Spirit’s sanctification process. 

God loves to help those who admit that cannot help themselves. In 1 Peter 5:5, Peter quotes Solomon, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” God stands back from those who say, “I know how to do this myself,” but He rushes in to help those who say, “I know I need to change, but I don’t know how” of “I need wisdom to apply what I know.” 

“There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way.’” —C.S. Lewis  

So we make every effort to add goodness to our faith, we make every effort to add knowledge to our goodness, and we make every effort to add self-control to our knowledge. 

Self-control literally means “with strength.” Knowledge without strong self-control can be dangerous—just like a curvy road without guardrails. 

In Titus 2:12, Paul ties together a sound mind with sober behavior. So it appears that self-control starts in the mind that is taking in new knowledge. Remember that knowledge is Spirit-breathed, so the strength of self-control must also be His strength. My strength fails, but God’s strength sustain me (Isaiah 40:29-31; 41:10, 13). I can know that…

  • God’s strength is my assurance in spiritual battles—Ephesians 6:10 
  • His strength gives me longsuffering patience and joy—Colossians 1:11 
  • The same strength Jesus used is given to us—Hebrews 2:14, 18 

My knowledge won’t help unless it’s Spirit-illuminated. My self-control won’t stand unless it’s Spirit-empowered. 

Our “make every effort” is to ask, receive, and apply. And then do that again, and again, and again with the Holy Spirit’s illumination and empowerment. 

Check out all of the other messages in this series by clicking here. 

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The Spiritual Dance

September 28, 2026 — 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. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here. 

My wife was a cheerleader in high school, so she taught me to appreciate some of the finer points of the integrated movements and stunts that the sideline cheerleaders performed at each game. But it wasn’t until our daughter moved from her first sideline cheer season to her first competitive cheer season that I really took notice. Competitive cheer is cheerleading on a whole different level—the stunts and tumbling runs, the coordinated movements, the precise way the words of the cheer are punctuated by the claps, stomps, and jumps of the cheerleaders is quite impressive! 

In many ways, the relationship of the three Persons of the Godhead are much like a coordinated dance. Which part of the Trinity you may see at any one moment is based on your viewpoint, as you can quickly see the other Persons of the Trinity at the exact same moment. The Father revealing Himself in the Son; the Son sending the Holy Spirit to be in us; the Spirit drawing people to the Father through the Son. Each Person of the Godhead revealing and promoting and glorifying each Other! 

It’s absolutely awesome! And yet what is even more astounding to me is that we are invited to participate in this Spiritual Dance (see John 7:33, 14:16-17, 16:14-15, 17:20-21). 

(You can see all of the biblical passages in this post by clicking here.)

Peter says we are a part of this dance; actually he calls it more of a chorus. The word “add” in 2 Peter 1:5 is the Greek word epichorego. The root word (chorego) sounds like “chorus.” But it really means to be a chorus leader who supplies everything for the dance/chorus. As v. 3 tells us, “His diving power has given us everything we need” to participate in this Spiritual Dance. 

As we have already seen, Jesus has provided everything we need except for our effort—our diligence to learn this dance and become more proficient in it. The idea of adding is really implied throughout these next verses. We could read vv. 5-7 like this—

“Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and [add] to [your] goodness, knowledge; and [add] to [your] knowledge, self-control; and [add] to [your] self-control, perseverance; and [add] to [your] perseverance, godliness; and [add] to [your] godliness, mutual affection; and [add] to [your] mutual affection, love.” 

The supply of these virtues is not ours, but the “every effort” to ask, receive, and apply is ours. I cannot supply myself. But faith from God allows me to access the One full of grace (remember what we saw in John 1:16). 

Our Father already knows what we have need of (Matthew 6:8), so we could ask something like, “Where is my goodness lacking?” And when the Holy Spirit reveals that to us, we can then ask our Savior—Who is full and overflowing with goodness—to impart to us what we need. 

So my “every effort” is not supplying what I lack but asking to be supplied what I lack. The only thing keeping me less than full of any of these virtues is my lack of effort to ask and then apply what I am supplied. 

The Holy Spirit imparts faith to us to believe for salvation. Then there is a faith we must “make every effort” to strengthen. This is the faith on full display in Hebrews 11. 

Faith is: 

  • conviction of the truth revealed in the Bible 
  • believing that what God calls us to do, He will also empower us to do 
  • being convinced that Jesus is our Example 
  • trusting the Holy Spirit to conform us to this image of Jesus—to reveal Christlikeness in us 

The first virtue Peter lists—the first virtue that our faith believes God to form in us—is goodness. This is moral excellence (NLT), good character (MSG), and virtue—excellence, resolution, Christian energy (AMPC). 

Since Peter uses the same word to describe Jesus in v. 3 (His own glory and goodness), people around us should see our growth as Christian gentlemen or gentlewomen. 

Remember that 2 Peter is written to saints about their interaction with other saints. Being around other faith-filled gentlemen and gentlewomen is an excellent training ground for all of us. It matters how we speak to each other. It matters that we treat each other chivalrously and with good manners. It matters that we are kind and polite to each other. 

Because when we take this gentlemanly or gentlewomanly behavior into the world, it gets noticed. So make every effort to develop the goodness of Jesus in your life. Let this community of saints be the place where your training takes place. 

Check out all of the other sermons in this series from 2 Peter by clicking here. 

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Divine Partnership

September 21, 2026 — 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. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here. 

Having worked in and consulted with various businesses, I know there are a variety of configurations of businesses that people will choose for different reasons—there are S-corps and LLCs, and there are several types of partnerships. 

The two most basic partnership arrangements are a general partnership and a limited partnership. In a general partnership, all of the partners share equally in the risk and the reward, and all partners have a say in how the business is run. Typically, partners with more shares of stock have more “voting power” in making decisions, and they will usually benefit more if the company is successful. 

In a limited partnership, one general partner manages all the decisions, with the limited partners being merely passive investors. The limited partners can invest as much or as little as they feel comfortable doing, but they don’t have a say on how the business is run. If the general partner is a savvy operator, everyone will be rewarded handsomely; if the general partner isn’t quite as successful as others had hoped, the limited partners’ losses are limited to only as much as they invested. 

Although these types of business relationships didn’t have these names in the time Peter was writing, he used language that would be very familiar with today’s business attorneys when he wrote that we “may participate in the divine nature.” Participate literally means partnership—it’s the same word Peter knew for his partners in his fishing business (Luke 5:9-10).

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

I believe Peter would call our partnership with Jesus a spiritual limited partnership, with Jesus as the General Partner. He is the One who makes the decisions and calls the shots. 

But what about us as “limited partners”? What investment can we make to this partnership? Only what Jesus has already given us. We saw this last week—HIS divine power has GIVEN US everything we need for life and godliness (see 2 Peter 1:3-4).

This is unheard of in today’s partnerships! The General Partner is giving the limited partners everything they need to invest in the partnership, and then He is allowing the limited partners to reap all of the rewards of His work (see Matthew 19:29)! 

Last week we said Jesus did the work so that we could do the work. We could modify this to say, Jesus gave us everything we need to reap the rewards of this partnership. 

The amazing benefit of this partnership is stated in the next verse: He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature (v. 4). 

Look at some blessings…  

  • recipients of the Holy Spirit—Galatians 3:14; Ephesians 1:13 
  • heirs of His Kingdom—Galatians 3:29 
  • eternal life—Titus 1:2; 1 John 2:25 
  • a perfect Mediator—Hebrews 9:15 AMPC 
  • power to access every single promise in His Word—2 Corinthians 1:20 

Peter says we are participating in His divine nature. Literally, Theios physis. The NLT says, “the promises that enable you to participate in the divine nature.” 

In his first letter, Peter quoted Leviticus, when God said, “Be holy, because I am holy” (see Leviticus 11:44-45; 1 Peter 1:15-16). Investing in this divine partnership releases to us the promises that empower us to participate—to be a partner in—God’s perfect holiness! 

Our participation in this divine partnership allows us to “escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (v. 4b). The word participate or partnership can be used negatively (1 Corinthians 10:18-21). But Peter uses it positively. Prior to salvation our desires aligned with demonic desires, but now a new and infinitely superior power is at work in us. This power changes our desires from temporal things to eternal things (Galatians 5:17 NLT). 

Jesus told a story of a master who gave money to his to invest. The ones called wise were also welcomed into the master’s presence forever. They realized that their best investment was to use what their master had given them in partnership with their master, so they went all in. They invested everything their master had given them. 

Peter tells us essentially the same thing: Be all in with the investment Jesus has given you! Don’t hold anything back—make every effort. Don’t let Jesus be merely your Savior, but let Him be your Lord. Trust Him as the General Partner to do what is best. Give Him complete control of all the great and precious promises He has given you, and then allow the Holy Spirit to make you holy inside and out! 

Check out all of the other messages in our series based on 2 Peter called Friends of the Faith. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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The Power Cycle

September 14, 2026 — 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. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here. 

I worked for my friend’s Dad on his lawn service for a few summers. This was a side business for him, and we worked with normal push mowers. The first stop of the early morning was always a challenge to get the mower started. I’d pull on that ripcord and listen to the engine sputter and then stop. Then I’d give it another pull, and perhaps it would run just a bit longer. Eventually the flywheel would keep on spinning, the engine would roar to life, and I could get to work. 

Question: which pull started the mower? I really needed all of the pulls, didn’t I? In other words, I had to put in some effort in order to get the mower to work. Then I could actually be productive in my work. 

Last week we talked about the dual blessings Peter says that God wants to send us—grace and peace. Notice that Peter longs for us to know these in abundance. Not just a small sampling, but overflowing blessings—sort of like my lawnmower that is running at full speed. 

2 Peter 1:3 tells us it is “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our KNOWLEDGE of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness.” 

(See all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

Remember that Greek word means our personal, intimate, experiential knowledge of Jesus. God allows us to know Him intimately (Jeremiah 29:13-14a). Notice it is “His divine power [that] has given us EVERYTHING we need for a godly life.” 

“Divine power” literally means God’s power—Theois dynamis. This is the power which Jesus promised in Acts 1:8. Then His followers were able to live like Jesus, as we see in Acts 3:12; 4:7, 33. 

But Jesus is the One Who got this started for us. HIS divine power has given us everything we need for A GODLY LIFE. 

“Godly life is two words in Greek: “life” and “godliness.” The word for life is zoe. This is everlasting life that is deeper and richer than biological or psychological life. And the word for godliness is eusebia, which is the reverence, respect, and holy fear that gives evidence of one’s assured relationship with God through Jesus. 

Check out two other translations of this verse.

The AMPC says: For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that are requisite and suited to life and godliness, through the full personal knowledge of Him…. 

And The Message paraphrase says: Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. 

Here’s the power cycle for saints of God. The more intimately I know Jesus, the more the Holy Spirit’s dynamis power is unleashed in my life. The more His power flows through me, the more godly I can live. The more godly I live, the more I grow in intimacy with Jesus! 

This is a flywheel that can really start spinning! Look at some of the blessings in the next few verses: 

  • Participating in Christ’s divine nature—becoming more and more Christlike (v. 4a). The Greek word is defined as a way of feeling and acting which by long habit has become more and more natural to me. 
  • Escaping the corruption in the world (v. 4b). 
  • Becoming increasingly effective and productive in your knowledge—that’s the word epignosis again—of Jesus (v. 8). 

I had to put the effort in to get the mower’s flywheel spinning so that I could actually do my job. 

Peter says, Jesus got this poem cycle started so that I could be productive for Him. Peter introduces a phrase that we are going to see three more times in this letter: Make every effort (v. 5). 

We are not saved by good works, but we are saved in order to do good works. 

Jesus was empowered to do good works (see Luke 4:18-19 and Acts 10:38), and Jesus calls us to live the same way with the same anointing (John 20:21-22; Acts 4:30-31). 

The cycle of power and godliness and greater intimacy is for you. Make every effort to keep it spinning so that you can bring more glory to God by increasing your capacity to be a blessing to those around you. 

Please check out the other messages in the Friends of the Faith series by clicking here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Intimate Knowledge

September 7, 2026 — 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. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here. 

Remember that Peter’s first letter was to instruct Christians how to interact with non-Christians, but his second letter is about Christians interacting within the community of faith. It’s a precious faith that we share with precious friends. Our dear friends encourage us to think wholesomely, have informed perseverance, remain pure, and stay on guard until the very end.  

You can sense Peter’s longing for his dear friends of the faith to grasp this. He even says in this letter that it is his second letter to keep reminding the saints about the richness in Jesus, and he says as long as he has breath in his lungs he will keep on reminding us (2 Peter 1:12-15). 

(Click here to see all of the Scriptures in this post.) 

Peter uses an almost identical greeting in both letters: “Grace and peace be yours in abundance” (1 Peter 1:2; 2 Peter 1:2). This sentiment of linking grace and peace was almost universal, with all but five New Testament books greeting their audiences with the dual blessing of grace and peace. 

Let’s talk about these dual blessings. 

James Thayer defines this Greek word for peace: “According to a conception distinctly peculiar to Christianity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is.” 

This means that Christians who have put their faith in Jesus as their Savior have peace with God (Romans 5:1), and that peace guards our hearts against all fear (Philippians 4:7). 

The other blessing in Peter’s greeting is grace (see also Romans 5:2). This is—quite simply and quite profoundly—God’s favor toward us. God’s grace is unearned by our efforts, undeserved despite our sins, and unending for all eternity. And it comes coming in wave after wave (see John 1:16; I especially like it in the AMPC). 

Peter’s greeting in his second letter adds a phrase from his first letter: “…through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” It’s fitting that this is in his second letter, showing he is still growing in his knowledge of Jesus. 

We don’t get more grace and peace through knowledge, but we realize and can apply more grace and peace through this growing knowledge. The tap of God’s blessing is already open full—no more can come out. As we grow in the knowledge of this, we find it increasingly precious and valuable. 

The Greek word for knowledge here is epignosis. This is knowledge through personal experience.

I once worked with a man who was a retired Air Force officer. Before flying one mission, he walked into the flight control building—a huge hanger-like structure—where dozens and dozens of personnel sat staring at screens to forecast the weather. 

Lou asked a private for the forecast: “Sir, you have clear skies and excellent visibility for your mission,” he dutifully reported. 

“Private,” Lou shouted, “on your feet!” The young man snapped to attention. “Follow me,” Lou ordered and began marching toward the door of the hanger. When they got there, Lou ordered the private to open the door, step outside, close the door behind him, and not to re-enter the hanger for 60 seconds. 

One minute later that private stepped back inside and stood before Lou dripping wet. “Now, private,” Lou demanded, “what is my weather forecast.” 

“It looks like rain, sir,” the young private reported. 

Epignosis is not book knowledge about Jesus, but personal, intimate, experiential knowledge of Jesus. That Air Force meteorologist only knew about weather from his radar screen, but once he got drenched outside, he knew of the weather conditions from personal experience. 

Peter says this epignosis is ours (2 Peter 1:3-5). 

There’s only one thing that keeps us from growing in our knowledge of God’s abundant grace and peace: Complacency. In v. 5, Peter says we are to “make every effort.” 

It’s not our effort that brings God’s grace, but it is our effort that allows us to know His grace—to know Jesus personally. Notice the progression:

  • (v. 3) Christ’s divine power has give us everything we need by His own glory and goodness 
  • (v. 4a) Through these gracious gifts He has given us His great and precious promises 
  • (v. 4b) Through His promises we can participate in His divine nature 
  • (v. 5) For this very reason, we are to bring our best effort, our diligent interest, and our total attention 

Peter concludes his letter exactly as he starts it: Keep growing in your epignosis (3:18). 

The more you grow in epignosis, the more intimate knowledge you will have to encourage your dear friends of the faith—

And we know that the Son of God has come, and He has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and He is eternal life. (1 John 5:20 NLT) 

Then like Paul, we can pray for ourselves and for our dear friends for a continual growing in this intimate knowledge of Jesus (see Ephesians 1:15-19). 

Check out the other messages in this series from 2 Peter called Friends of the Faith. 

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Jesus Is THE One And Only

September 2, 2026 — 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 the angelic messengers bring the news of the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, they announce—

The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! (Luke 2:11 NLT) 

(See all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

Many people claiming to be a savior of the Jewish people had come on the scene earlier. 

We see the Jewish leadership asking John the Baptizer if he was “the one” they had been expecting (John 1:19-23). In the Book of Acts, Gamaliel reminds the Sanhedrin of all of the previous men who had claimed to be the deliverer and had utterly failed in their attempts (see Acts 5:34-37). 

Undoubtedly, the shepherds had heard many stories as they sat around their campfires at night. So notice that the angel clarifies that this is not just another story, but the fulfillment of the promises of the advent of THE Messiah. Jesus wasn’t just another so-called savior, but He was “THE Messiah, THE Lord.” 

Jesus Himself would say of Himself, “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life” (John 14:6).

He is THE ONE AND ONLY! 

Only Jesus is the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:8).
Only Jesus holds the keys of death and Hell (Revelation 1:18).
Only Jesus fulfills every prophetic promise (Hebrews 1:1-2; 2 Peter 1:19-20).


All confusion is removed when we look to Jesus.


All doubts are satisfied in Him.


All uncertainty is made certain by Who He is, what He did, what He is still doing, and what He will soon complete!


No other name but the name of Jesus! 


You may also want to check out: 



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With Friends Like These

August 31, 2026 — 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. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here. 



How do most people finish this phrase: “With friends like these…”? You probably said, “…who needs any enemies!” 


But isn’t that rather sad? If this cliche is so well-known, it must be because so many people have experienced false or fickle friends. Maybe a lot of people have experienced what Christian Bovee noted: “False friends are like our shadow, keeping close to us while we walk in the sunshine, but leaving us the instant we cross into the shade.” 


I much prefer the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.” 


I think the apostle Peter would agree with Emerson. 


Peter wrote his first general epistle to Christians who are interacting with worldlings. Peter calls Christians “aliens and strangers” because of citizenship is heavenly—we are simply sojourners on earth as we make our way to our home in Heaven. Along this journey, 1 Peter gives us invaluable wisdom on how to behave ourselves as citizens of Heaven. 


Peter probably has this journey in mind when he addresses his second epistle: “To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours” (2 Peter 1:1). 


(All of the Scriptures in this post can be read by clicking here.) 


“Precious” is defined here as highly esteemed. And when he says, “as ours” he is saying the saints in the Kingdom of God have equal honor with anyone who may have a title or a position of leadership in the Church. Paul would agree with Peter (see 1 Corinthians 3:5, 21-23; 12:27). 


Peter emphasizes this point by using the phrase “dear friends” four times in this letter (2 Peter 3:1, 8, 14, 17). Let me give you another quote from Emerson: “God evidently does not intend us all to be rich, or powerful or great, but He does intend us all to be friends.” 


Peter uses the Greek word agapetos—with the root word for servant-hearted love at the root. This makes me think about our precious faith that we defined as highly esteemed, because agapetos also means esteemed, highly valued, beloved. 


Precious friends encourage us in our precious faith on our long journey as we travel toward Heaven. 


(1) They encourage us to think wholesomely (3:1). 


They pray for our minds, as Paul did for his friends at Philippi (Philippians 1:9-10), and they practice—or live out—what they preach (Philippians 4:8-9). 


(2) They encourage us to have informed perseverance (vv. 8-11). 


They help us look backward see how faithful God has been in past times and how trustworthy God is now, and then ask us, “What kind of man or woman ought you to be in this moment? How can you continue to persevere in holiness and godliness until the very end?” 


(3) They encourage us to remain pure (vv. 11-14). 


They prompt us to be looking forward in hopeful expectation, and they encourage us to make every effort to be pure. These things require the development of habits. Andrew Murray said the habits that keep us pure are formed over the long haul: “The entrance of divine truth into the mind and heart, the formation of habits and the training of character—these are not attained by sudden and isolated efforts, but by regular and unceasing repetition.” 


Sometimes our precious friends have to speak a lovingly hard word to us (see Proverbs 27:6). 


(4) They encourage us to remain on guard (v. 17) 


They don’t want us to be disqualified in our race (1 Corinthians 9:24-27), so they come to our rescue if we do stumble (James 5:19-20). 


Let’s make this something new: 


With friends like these I can live a victorious, God-honoring, Christ-glorifying life! 


Let’s be those precious friends to others who share in the same precious faith. 


Check out all of the message in this series from the book of 2 Peter by clicking here. 


►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎








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Friends Of The Faith

August 25, 2026 — Craig T. Owens 




In Peter’s first letter to the saints, he teaches saints how to interact with the world. He calls Christians “aliens and strangers” as they sojourn on Earth on their way to Heaven. 


In Peter’s second letter, he instructs saints on how to interact with other saints. He addresses this letter to those of us “who share the same precious faith.” 


Join us at Calvary Assembly of God for this study of 2 Peter, as we delve into Peter’s inspired instruction on how saints in community with other saints naturally grow in deeper intimacy with their Savior Jesus. This increasing intimacy not only serves as an encouragement to other saints but it presents an attractive testimony to those still in the world to know Jesus for themselves. 


We meet at 10:30 every Sunday morning. Here’s what we have covered so far: 







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