The Star Of CHRISTmas

December 4, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

The Star Of Christmas [web]I’m really enjoying preparing for our 3-week Christmas series called The Star Of CHRISTmas. If it’s not obvious to you by the way I wrote that title, I believe the star of Christmas is CHRIST!

We will be learning how Jesus Christ’s birth in Bethelehem was the…

  • SUPERNOVA which brings light into the Old Testament’s darkness, and allows other stars (that’s us!) to be born.
  • MORNING STAR which shines brightest just before the dawn and replaces a feeling of fear with the confidence of favor.
  • NORTH STAR which helps us keep going in the right direction despite the circumstances around us.

If you are able to join us over the next couple of Sundays at 10:30am, we would love to celebrate The Star of CHRISTmas with you!

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The Purpose Of Christmas (book review)

December 3, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

The Purpose Of ChristmasAre retailers and Christians the only ones who think Christmas is a big deal? Why is it so important? Just in time for this year’s Advent celebration, Rick Warren reminds us of The Purpose Of Christmas.

In his typical style of helping folks clearly understand the meaning of things that sometimes we overlook or take for granted, Pastor Rick shows us that Christmas is a time for celebration, a time for salvation, and a time for reconciliation.

Blending together passages of Scripture throughout all of the Bible—not just the passages we usually associate with the birth of Christ—Pastor Rick powerfully illustrates why we needed God to send His One and Only Son to earth to rescue us. And also why we need to celebrate His birth correctly at this time each year.

This book is an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand recalibration of the meaning of Christmas. For anyone who has ever felt that the retailers are dominating the Christmas season, this is a welcome book to help you return to the foundational truths. It might be a good book for you to pull out each Christmas and read aloud with your family.

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Scared Half To Death

December 24, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Mega fearHave you ever had a really good scare that turned your life around? For some people, they need to be scared half to death in order for them to make changes in their lives.

I think this is what happened to the shepherds outside Bethlehem the night Jesus was born (Luke 2:8-20). The Bible says that when the glory of the Lord shone around them they were terrified (the King James Version is very picturesque when it says they were sore afraid). The Greek word for fear is phobeo, but the phrase Luke uses here for “terrified” is megas phobeo phobos. Get the picture? They were scared half to death!!

But now, what to do what that fear? The angel gave them the first step—Go find Jesus. He didn’t tell them to get themselves cleaned up, or start going to church, or even to stop acting a certain way. Simply go find Jesus.

The shepherds obeyed and went to meet Jesus, and then something amazing happens.

  • Their fear is turned to praise—the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God.
  • Their silence is turned to testimony—they spread the word concerning what had been told them.

Jesus was born as a Man to experience all our fears and sorrows and pains. But He took these upon Himself as He became the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice. Now there are no fears that can keep us from God’s presence. Jesus conquered all that kept us from God! 

There was nothing beautiful or majestic about His appearance, nothing to attract us to Him.He was despised and rejected—a Man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for His own sins! But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. (Isaiah 53:2-5; Ephesians 1:3-4)

This Christmas I pray you will…

Find Jesus for yourself!

Let your praises to Him ring out!

Tell others what Jesus has done for you!

If you have missed any of the messages in our Fear Not! series, you can find them all by clicking here.

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What Does It Mean To Fear God?

December 17, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Fear GodWhat does it mean to fear God? Does it mean we cower before Him? That He is utterly unapproachable? Or maybe it means we’re always looking over our shoulder wondering if God is coming after us in anger?

Let me ask the question another way:

  • Are you afraid that you won’t buy the right Christmas gift for someone?
  • Are you afraid that you’ll forget someone?
  • Are you afraid that your response won’t be right when you open a gift?
  • Are you afraid you’ll offend a family member by something you say or do?
  • Do other people’s opinion of you factor into your decisions?

If you answered “Yes” to the above questions, you have a fear problem. That is: you fear letting other people down.

I think this was the issue for Joseph in the Bible (Matthew 1:18-25). When he found out that Mary was pregnant before their marriage, Joseph carefully deliberated his response. Based on the meaning of the words had in mind and considered, and examining the way the angel told Joseph to “Fear not,” it appears that Joseph, too, lived in this same fear of letting others down.

But here’s the issue: Joseph placed greater value on people’s opinions than he did on God’s opinion. And what makes it even worse is that Joseph simply assumed what people would say about him, as he never actually asked anyone.

The angel challenged Joseph to re-evaluate his value system. To give greater weight to God’s opinion than to man’s opinion. In short, to change his fear of man to fear of God.

That’s really what it means to fear God: To give greater weight to His Word and His opinion than to anyone or anything else.

The wise king Solomon explored everything he could to find the meaning of life. He tried money, education, art, travel, women, food, power, and the like. At the end of his exploration, he came to this conclusion—

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

We should be living for the approval of an Audience of One. 

We should be longing to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant” from our Creator. 

We should be listening only for the applause from nail-scarred Hands. 

“The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else.” —Oswald Chambers

If you have missed any of the messages in our Fear Not! series, you can find them all by clicking here.

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Are You Worthy Of God’s Favor?

December 10, 2012 — 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. 

Today some call her “the holy mother” and revere her as a saint. But 2000 years ago, Mary saw herself as only an ordinary, faceless, fame-less, Israelite girl.

  • She came from Nazareth (a town of which people said, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?!”)
  • Nazareth was in the region of Galilee (an area of which people said, “No one special has ever come from Galilee”)
  • She was pledged to be married (probably a marriage that she had no say in)
  • And she was a young teenager

What did Mary think of herself? We can infer her self-image from what went on her mind when God’s angel greeted her with the words, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

She was greatly troubled and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. Psychologists today would describe Mary’s response as inner dissonance—the feeling that something is not quite right, but she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what was wrong. The phrase greatly troubled is a single Greek word which means agitated and perplexed by doubts.

In short: the way the angel greeted Mary didn’t jive with the way Mary saw herself (see Luke 1:26-38).

Mary, like many of us still today, didn’t think she was worthy of God’s attention, let alone His special blessings.

But the word the angel used when he said she was highly favored is a wonderful word! It’s root word is grace, and it only appears twice in the New Testament. This word means God’s grace which is constantly reaching out to us, even when we’re unaware of it. Look at the other passage where this word is used—

God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son. (Ephesians 1:5-6 NLT)

How amazing! God wants to adopt you! It’s something that brings Him great pleasure, so He constantly pours out the blessing of His grace on us!

Are you worthy of God’s favor? YES!! Not because you did anything to earn it, but because Jesus paid the price for you on the Cross.

Now you need to respond the way Mary did. The angel told Mary to “Fear not!” The verb tense implies that Mary needed to stop fretting about her (un)worthiness, and simply accept the grace that God was extending to her. In other words, she needed to see herself as God saw her.

Mary’s response should be our response: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”

If you have missed any of the messages in our Fear Not! series, you can find them all 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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Living Nativity 2012

December 3, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

We were so honored to be able to present the story of the birth of Jesus in downtown Cedar Springs again this year. We had a nice introduction from Mayor Bob Truesdale, and a great crowd was on had to see this story come alive. I have way too many people to thank, so I hope I don’t leave anyone out…

  • Joe built the manger
  • Josh, Judy, Samantha, Crystal, Cherie, Jeff, Harrison & Rich were the actors
  • Cindy and her 4H kids were our little shepherds
  • Nancy brought out her horses
  • Claudia and Betsy conceived and designed all our costumes
  • The Cedar Springs Chamber of Commerce gave us room on their agenda to present this story
  • Brandon shot the video
  • God gave us absolutely beautiful weather so a big crowd could hear the story of our Savior being born as a baby because God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son!

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No Missed Opportunities

December 3, 2012 — 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.

One fear that can haunt us is the fear that we’ve missed an opportunity. The fear becomes even more acute when the opportunity we fear we’ve missed is an opportunity that we believe God has promised us.

That’s the fear that plagued Zechariah (Luke 1:5-13). He and his wife Elizabeth were both PKs (priest’s kids), they were godly people who were upright in God’s estimation. Zechariah was even chosen by God to offer the incense in the Holy Place of the temple. Yet one fear haunted Zechariah: He and Elizabeth were childless.

The Bible says they were well along in years; or as the King James Version more poetically says it, they were stricken with years. This literally means they had moved on—they weren’t in their prime childbearing years any longer.

Zechariah had almost pushed this out of his mind, thinking that he had missed his window of opportunity, when the angel showed up with God’s message to him—

Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son…. (Luke 1:13)

Did you notice this phrase: your prayer HAS BEEN heard? The verb tense really makes it say: “The thing you used to pray for—the child you used to believe for, the pregnancy you used to try for—has been heard. But you stopped praying, you stopped believing, you stopped trying to get pregnant.”

Zechariah let his fears speak louder than God’s voice. That’s why the angel called him by name. Zechariah means Jehovah doesn’t forget! 

What has God promised you? Are you still praying for it? Still believing for it? Are you still doing what you need to do to see it happen? Zechariah needed to sleep with his wife. What do you need to do? Do you need to go back to school? Make a phone call? Set up an appointment?

If God spoke it to you, He has not forgotten you! Don’t believe the lie that the window of opportunity has closed!

If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. (Habakkuk 2:3)

If you have missed any of the messages in our Fear Not! series, you can find them all 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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Good News Of Great Joy (book review)

December 2, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Good News Of Great JoyI love the Christmas season! Each year I enjoy unwrapping a new aspect of what it means that Jesus Christ came to earth to be born as a baby. This year I want to recommend to you a great resource for enjoying Advent—a free ebook from John Piper called Good News Of Great Joy.

I read through this book quickly in order to be able to make an informed recommendation to you, and now I’m enjoying staring again, reading it slowly, and contemplating the message for each day. Good News Of Great Joy is designed to be read each day of the Advent season (this year that begins today, December 2).

By clicking this link, you can find several download options (Nook, Kindle, PDF). I am so grateful to Pastor John Piper for making this wonderful book available to us free of charge. Please download this book and rediscover the beauty of God’s gift of sending Jesus to earth.

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Fear Not!

November 27, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Christmas is a time of celebration, peace on earth, and goodwill toward men! But have you ever stopped to wonder why the celebration? Yes, it’s the time we celebrate Jesus Christ’s birth, and the advent of His ministry on earth. But what’s the real good news about that?

In the Christmas stories recorded in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, there is a recurring phrase—

FEAR NOT!

Fear paralyzes. Fear blinds. Fear immobilizes. Fear exaggerates all that is wrong. Fear obscures all that is right.

Before Jesus comes into our lives, we are slaves to fear. Before Jesus comes into our lives, we aren’t truly alive.

So let the good news of Christmas ring out again—FEAR NOT!

We will be talking about the good news of this Christmas message each Sunday leading up to Christmas. I hope you can join me at Calvary Assembly of God as we learn more about the fear-busting, joyful news that Jesus can set you free.

If you missed any of the messages in this series, check them out here:

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No More Fear

December 25, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

Have you ever noticed the overarching message throughout the Christmas story? In both Matthew’s and Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus there is a repeated angelic message to humankind: “Do not be afraid.”

  • “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard” (Luke 1:13).
  • “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God” (Luke 1:30).
  • “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife” (Matthew 1:20).
  • “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people” (Luke 2:10).

Why all this fear? Quite simply sin brings fear: Fear of God’s impending judgment. But the canceling power is Jesus. In the Christmas carol Joy To The World there are powerful, fear-lifting words in the third verse:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

His blessing comes to bring joy wherever the curse of sin has brought fear! Jesus defeats sin, and so therefore His joy displaces all fear!

  • “His mercy extends to those who fear Him” (Luke 1:50).
  • “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come and has redeemed His people…. To show mercy to our fathers…. To enable us to serve Him without fear…. To give His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke 1:68, 72, 75, 77).
  • “He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
  • “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

Sin forgiven. Curse canceled. Fear removed. Joy has come because Jesus has come.

My prayer for you is that you are living without fear because you are living without sin. It’s only possible because Jesus came for you. Merry CHRISTmas!

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