Halel

October 29, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

HalelThe last five psalms all start and end on the same note: “Praise the Lord!” This is actually the Hebrew word halel. In the English language it’s usually translated praise, but it can also mean boast about—our God has a lot about which I can boast!

In fact, there is so much to boast about concerning God, that the first halel psalm opens with, “I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live” (Psalm 146:2).

Here are some of the other boast-worthy things these halel psalms list:

  • God upholds the cause of the oppressed
  • God gives food to the hungry
  • God sets prisoners free
  • God gives sight to the blind
  • God lifts up those bowed down
  • God loves the righteous
  • God watches over the alien
  • God sustains the orphan and widow
  • God gathers exiles
  • God heals the brokenhearted
  • God binds up our wounds
  • God knows all the stars by name
  • God sustains the humble
  • God cares for His creation
  • God delights in those who fear Him
  • God strengthens and blesses His people
  • God gives peace
  • God satisfies
  • God displays His splendor for all to see
  • God takes delight in His people
  • God crowns the humble with salvation
  • God gives us His Word

Halel! Just like the psalmist, I will boast about my Lord all my life; I will continually sing my boasts about Him all of my days!

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5 Quotes From Habakkuk

October 28, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

HabakkukNestled among the so-called minor prophets of the Old Testament, Habakkuk has some of my favorite verses. It’s only three chapters long, but it is packed with amazing promises!

“The uncompromisingly righteous man shall live by his faith and in his faithfulness” (2:4, AMP)

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (2:14, NIV)

“I have heard all about You, Lord. I am filled with awe by Your amazing works. In this time of our deep need, help us again as You did in years gone by.” (3:2, NLT)

“Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed.” (2:3, GNB)

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the victorious God of my salvation!” (3:18, AMP)

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Links & Quotes

October 27, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

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Some good reading from today…

“The book of Romans in a sentence: Because you were condemned (1:1 – 3:20) and God justified you (3:21-5:21), empowered you to be distinct (6-8), and explained His plan to keep His promises to Abraham (9-11), it is right for you to submit your life for Divine inspection (12:1-2), and live the life of a real believer (12:2-16:27).” —Dr. Randall D. Smith

[INFOGRAPHIC] I love the Bible study tools from The Overview Bible Project! Check out this one on the main characters in Genesis.

A great story about a marathon runner who intentionally loses the race.

The co-founder of The Weather Channel blasts the “global warming” crowd.

“It is too bad that anything so obvious should need to be said at this late date, but from all appearances, we Christians have about forgotten the lesson so carefully taught by Paul: God’s servants are not to be competitors, but co-workers.” —A.W. Tozer

“The truth is that evil is not a real thing at all, like God. It is simply good spoiled. That is why I say there can be good without evil, but no evil without good. You know what the biologists mean by a parasite—an animal that lives on another animal. Evil is a parasite. It is there only because good is there for it to spoil and confuse.” —C.S. Lewis

“Love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people.” —C.S. Lewis

“In our time we have all kinds of status symbols in the Christian church—membership, attendance, pastoral staff, missionary offerings. But there is only one status symbol that should make a Christian congregation genuinely glad. That is to know that our Lord is present, walking in our midst!” —A.W. Tozer

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Transforming Grace (book review)

October 7, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Transforming GraceWhen many people think of God’s grace, the most appropriate adjective they offer is amazing. I totally agree! And when I think of Jerry Bridges’ book Transforming Grace, the word amazing quickly comes to my mind again.

Truly this is one of the best books I have read addressing the topic of God’s grace. Bridges doesn’t range far and wide, but sticks to this one topic: when we truly begin to understand God’s grace, it will absolutely transform our lives.

Early in the book Bridges states the problematic paradigm many of us have about God’s grace—

“My observation of Christendom is that most of us tend to base our personal relationship with God on our performance instead of on His grace. If we’ve performed well—whatever ‘well’ is in our opinion—then we expect God to bless us. If we haven’t done so well, our expectations are reduced accordingly. In this sense, we live by works rather than by grace. We are saved by grace, but we are living by the ‘sweat’ of our own performance.” (emphasis added)

This book is jam-packed with so many paradigm-shifting thoughts, and is well grounded in the Scripture. Bridges transparently shares his own personal struggles with coming to grips with the true nature of God’s grace, and shares the quotes of many notable theologians as well. I loved this book!

If you want to live with a deeper understanding of how God’s grace can transform your life, I couldn’t recommend this book any more highly … this is a must read!

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Delightful Fear

October 2, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Delightful FearThe 112th Psalm begins with an interesting idea that almost sounds like an oxymoron: delightful fear—

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in His commands. (v. 1)

  • Fear and delight
  • Worship and obedience
  • Reverence and action
  • Awe and love

These are not contrasting ideas, but two sides of the same coin. They are completions of each other, and they are essential to a healthy relationship with Jehovah. And then, oh!, the blessings that flow from God to me!

  • Mighty children (v. 2)
  • Abundant household (v. 3a)
  • Enduring righteousness (v. 3b)
  • Brightly shining life (v. 4)
  • Reciprocated generosity (v. 5)
  • Security in troubled times (v. 6a)
  • A lasting legacy (v. 6b)
  • No fear of calamity (v. 7)
  • Eternal life (v. 8)
  • Highly honored (v. 9)

After nine verses of these amazing blessings to the one who delightfully fears God, only one verse is left for the one who doesn’t—he is vexed, wasting away, and frustrated.

I don’t know about you, but I want to delightfully fear—worship, obey, revere and love—Jehovah my God!

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Links & Quotes

September 16, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

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Some good reading & watching from today…

[VIDEO] John Maxwell has a good reminder about envy.

“Watch human nature; we are so built that if we do not get thrilled in the right way, we will get thrilled in the wrong. If we are without the thrill of communion with God, we will try to get thrilled by the devil, or by some concoction of human ingenuity.” —Oswald Chambers

“The study ‘provides the best evidence to date that fMRI can be used to identify consciousness in vegetative patients,’ says Russell Poldrack, a cognitive neuroscientist at Stanford University.” An amazing study that proves that vegetative patients are fully aware of their surroundings.

I am a big fan of The Overview Bible Project’s work. This is a great case study on Melchizedek.

Monergism has lots of free ebooks for you… go get ’em!

“The Gospel can be summed up by saying that it is the tremendous, tender, compassionate, gentle, extraordinary, explosive, revolutionary revelation of Christ’s love.” —Catherine de Hueck Doherty

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The Love In The Law

September 10, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Love In The LawWhen I say “Law” what sort of words come to your mind. Do you think of words like: restrictive? killjoy? barriers? hindrances? no fun?

If you’re a Christian, perhaps the same descriptive words come to mind when you think of biblical commandments. Maybe you think, “Don’t do that” (or for those of you who think in King James English: Thou shalt not).

But if we think of the law/commandments that way, that also means we have to think of the Lawgiver that way. In other words, God becomes a Policeman. He is closely watching to see who will break His laws so that He can dispense the appropriate punishment. After all, if the laws are a bunch of no-nos, then Someone has to be watching for law-breakers and handing out the penalties.

If that’s the case, what do we do with the Bible’s description of God that says “God is love”? If the Lawgiver is Love, how does that change our view of the laws themselves?

It must mean that God’s laws are an expression of His love. It must mean that His love is in the laws He has given us.

It must mean that God’s laws are NOT no-nos, BUT yes-yeses. 

Join us this Sunday at Calvary Assembly of God as we talk about The Love In The Law. We’ll be working our way through the Ten Commandments, especially looking at God’s love that make each commandment a giant YES for our lives. Prayerfully, this series will completely change how we view God’s laws and commands.

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

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Inconceivable

September 10, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

InconceivableThe “therefores” in Scripture always intrigue me. They are a signal that there is a natural conclusion to the words that just came before the therefore, so it’s important to look at both sides.

The prophet Hosea opens his book with these words: “…the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord” (Hosea 1:2). The picture is painted of God’s people acting like a wife that has not only abandoned her husband, but turned to prostitution as well. So the list of things that follow God’s therefore are what we might expect—

  • I will block your path
  • I will take away My grain
  • I will take back My wool
  • I will expose your lewdness
  • I will stop your celebrations
  • I will ruin your vineyards
  • I will punish you (Hosea 2:6-13)

Then here is what I find almost inconceivable: the very next word of the very next verse is therefore again, and God says things that, in my mind, are completely unexpected—

  • I will allure you and speak tenderly to you
  • I will restore our marriage
  • I will remove your stains
  • I will obliterate the past
  • I will betroth you to Me forever
  • I will answer your prayers
  • I will restore your crops
  • I will establish you forever
  • I will cancel your divorce
  • I will call you Mine (2:14-23)

This kind of love is mind-blowingly incomprehensible to me. It is so unexpected, so lavish, so overwhelming! This is absolutely the last thing I would have expected God to say, and yet His love is furious and relentless and boundless!

How could I ever slight such a love?!

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Taste And See (book review)

September 9, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Taste & SeeTaste And See is made up of 140 short, powerful thoughts from the pen of John Piper. As the title advises, these are thoughts that you will want to chew on slowly, enjoying the flavorful way Pastor Piper brings Scripture to bear on our daily lives.

Each day’s reading is short (perhaps three pages long at the most), so you would almost think you could speed-read right through it. But the limited number of words for each reading is in no way an indication of the weight of those words. Some devotionals convicted me; some brought me to tears; some made me angry; but all of them made me think differently.

If you are already familiar with John Piper’s books, Taste And See will be a welcome addition to your library. If you haven’t read anything from him yet, this book will be an excellent introduction to this wise and gentle pastor/author.

Taste And See is part of a verse of Scripture which says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the the one who takes refuge in Him” (Psalm 34:8). Indeed, the best part of Pastor Piper’s writings is that you will taste and see more clearly how good and worthy of praise God is!

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God’s Longing

September 4, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

God's LongingHere’s what God says about you and me: “I long to redeem them” (Hosea 7:13). The prophet Hosea has a front row seat, watching God pursue and woo His people, and Hosea records for us God’s longing passion.

The placement of God’s declaration—I long to redeem them—is a wonder to me. It’s right in the middle of a catalogue of His people’s sins. God says:

  • Your kings fall because they don’t call on Me (Hosea 7:7).
  • You don’t realize how weak and powerless you’ve become because you won’t pray to Me (7:9-10).
  • You try to rule yourselves without consulting Me (8:4).
  • You disregard My laws as if they were irrelevant (8:12).
  • You no longer pay attention to My prophets who are calling you back to Me (9:7).

And still in the midst of all this comes, “I long to redeem them.” Astounding!

God tells us what we need to do—

Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until He comes and showers righteousness on you. (10:12)

The alternative?

BUT you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors…you will be completely destroyed. (10:13-15)

What will you choose: To seek God OR to depend on your own strength?

God LONGS to redeem you, but you have to ask Him to do so.

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