Ticked Off!

September 12, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Have you ever been so angry that you couldn’t see straight?

Has someone ever pushed all your buttons?

Have you ever worked with someone who knew how to get on your very last nerve?

I can’t imagine anyone answering “No” to these questions. Of course, we all get mad. The real issue is what do we do when we get there?

More specifically: what’s a Christian to do when he or she gets thoroughly ticked off?

Starting this Sunday, I’m going to be exploring this topic, and I hope you can join me. We’ll be looking at what the Bible has to say about what we are supposed to do with these strong emotions. If you missed any of these messages, check them out here:

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Got Wisdom?

August 1, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Solomon advised us to pursue wisdom:

  • Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them. (Proverbs 4:5)
  • Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. (Proverbs 4:7)
  • How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver! (Proverbs 16:16)
  • Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding. (Proverbs 23:23)

I like T.M. Moore’s insight on this…

“Wisdom is that skill in living which comes as Christ is formed in us and lives His Word, in the power of His Spirit, through our lives. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God (Psalm 111:10). But we’ll have to work hard and in many different ways to bring wisdom to a higher state in our lives. Solomon prayed for wisdom, but he also applied himself diligently to studying and contemplating a good many subjects in order to acquire that which he was trusting the Lord to give him. So we too, if we would increase in wisdom, must devote ourselves to ‘getting’ it by all the ways God makes available to us.”

In other words, we can (and should) pray for wisdom, but then we need to get busy to actually get the wisdom. God won’t simply pour wisdom into our hearts and minds.

Wisdom is earned through experience

Godly wisdom is earned through experiences that the Holy Spirit helps us evaluate and assimilate. The experience might be pleasant, or it might be painful. It might come through reading your Bible, or it might come through prayer. It might come in a pastor’s message, or it might come in a friend’s words. You might get it by going to your job, you might get it while taking a stroll along the beach on your vacation.

God’s wisdom is constantly being revealed to us. Are you getting it?

If not, what are you going to do to get it?

Whatever you do, GET WISDOM!

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Reading The Bible Isn’t Enough

July 30, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I had to give my congregation a heads-up that I was going to say something that sounded a little like heresy, so they wouldn’t throw me out of the church. So I’m giving you a similar heads-up now: Read this all the way through before you label me a heretic.

Our P119 spiritual workout relies heavily on the Word of God. If we are going to grow as Christians, here’s what I believe:

There is no substitute for the Bible, but the Bible is not enough.

The Pharisees of Jesus’ day knew the Scriptures better than anyone, but they misapplied those Scriptures, using them as billy clubs wielded by the sin police. When we read the Scripture, we must respond to what we read. Prayer is an indispensable part of our spiritual workout because prayer is how we properly respond to God’s Word.

Check this out—

In the He section of Psalm 119 (verses 33-40), you will read words that sound more like a prayer than any of the sections before it. You will hear the psalmist crying out to God as he is confronted by his lack of proper application of God’s Word. As he reads the Scriptures, he asks God to:

  • Teach him what the Scriptures are saying
  • Help him discern the truths found in God’s Word
  • Lead him in the right path
  • Turn his heart away from his natural selfish bent
  • Allow him to see the futility of pursuing earthly possessions
  • Give him boldness in standing up for God’s glory
  • Remove the fear of man that would paralyze his pursuit of God

The last verse of this section is the cycle of read the word → respond in prayer in miniature. How I long for Your precepts! Preserve my life in Your righteousness. Do you see the reading of the Word (Your precepts), and the prayerful response (preserve my life)?

The Bible can be an incredible prayer book for us! Get into the Word, and let the Holy Spirit get the Word into you. You will then be able to respond back to God in His own words! And then I think you will be astounded at how your spiritual life grows!

If you have missed any of the messages in our P119 series, you can access them all by clicking here.

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“Prayer Is Irksome”

July 29, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I shared this quote from C.S. Lewis this morning—

“Well, let’s now at any rate come clean. Prayer is irksome. An excuse to omit it is never unwelcome. When it is over, this casts a feeling of relief and holiday over the rest of the day. We are reluctant to begin. We are delighted to finish. While we are at prayer, but not while we are reading a novel or solving a crossword puzzle, any trifle is enough to distract us…. Now the disquieting thing is not simply that we skimp and begrudge the duty of prayer. The really disquieting thing is it should be numbered among duties at all. For we believe that we were created ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ And if the few, the very few, minutes we now spend on intercourse with God are a burden to us rather than a delight, what then?… The painful effort which prayer involves is not proof that we are doing something we were not created to do. If we were perfected, prayer would not be a duty, it would be a delight. Someday, please God, it will be.”

Why don’t we pray more? Why does it seem like prayer is not a regular part of our lives?

Perhaps… We don’t know what to pray. The Bible is an amazing prayer book! Just use the words of Scripture to form your prayers. You can use the psalms, or go to the New Testament where Jesus or the other New Testament writers say something like, “This is my prayer….” Borrow their words, personalize them, and it will be an incredible prayer.

Maybe… We don’t have time to pray. We always have the Holy Spirit with us, and He reminds us of the Word and helps us pray. So we can pray anytime, anywhere, no matter what we are doing.

It could be… We run out of things to say. The Bible gives us so many things on which to meditate. This word means to mull over, or to even talk to ourselves. Combining Bible reading and prayer helps us continue to talk to God all throughout the day.

Try these simple steps and you will begin to realize, as C.S. Lewis said: “If we were perfected, prayer would not be a duty, it would be a delight. Someday, please God, it will be.”

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Savoring It

July 1, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

For those of you who asked, here is the quote I shared this morning from John Piper—

“If you don’t read the Word and memorize the Word and meditate on the Word daily and delight in the Word and savor it and have your mind and emotions shaped by the Word, you will be a weak Christian at best. You will be fragile and easily deceived and easily paralyzed by trouble and stuck in many mediocre ruts. But if you read the Word and memorize important parts of it and meditate on it and savor it and steep your mind in it, then you will be like a strong tree planted by streams of water that brings forth fruit. Your leaf won’t wither in the drought and you will be productive in your life for Christ.”

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Thursdays With Oswald—Jesus Can Satisfy

June 21, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Jesus Can Satisfy 

     [There] are indications from innumerable passages in God’s Book which prove that this complex soul which we have been examining can be satisfied and placed in perfect harmony with itself and with God in its present existence. The thought that a human soul can fulfill the predestined purpose of God is a great one. The human soul, however, can also be stagnated by ignorance. In the beginning, we do not know the capabilities of our souls and are content to be ignorant; but when we come under the conviction of sin, we begin to understand the awful, unfathomable depths of our nature and the claim of Jesus Christ that He can satisfy this abyss. Every man who knows what his soul is capable of, knows its possibilities and terrors, but knows also the salvation of God, will bear equal testimony with the written Word of God that Jesus Christ can satisfy the living soul. 

From Biblical Psychology

I think Chambers explains why some people don’t read the Bible regularly. Because when we read the Word, the Holy Spirit does show us the abyss between where we are and where God wants our souls to be. Then we are convicted and restless. And, as Augustine said, “Our souls are restless until they find their rest in You.”

But with that realization of the separation—the abyss—also comes the recognition that Jesus paid the price for our atonement (our at one-ment). Our souls can find their full satisfaction here and now if we will just turn from the thoughts and practices that are separating us from God.

Don’t wait for the “sweet by and by” to find satisfaction with God:

  1. Read the Word
  2. Let the Holy Spirit convict you of the abyss in your soul
  3. Obey the Spirit’s prompting so you can repent
  4. Experience the at one-ment with God that Jesus paid for!
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Be A Foolish Preacher

June 15, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Pastor, do you realize how clever we try to be?

  • We come up with a catchy sermon series and add some stylish graphics.
  • Then we labor over sermon titles that sound so compelling.
  • As we write our sermons we try to dream up memorable patterns, like all three of our main points start with “S,” or we spell out the word “P.E.A.C.E.”

When the truth of the matter is, what we’re saying is foolishness.

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. (1 Corinthians 1:20-25)

You don’t have to try to make God’s Word clever. It is already profound!

You don’t have to try to make it memorable. The Holy Spirit makes it memorable (John 14:26)!

You don’t have to make the Bible relevant. It is the most relevant, applicable wisdom that humanity has ever known! 

D.L. Moody said it this way:

“If God has given you a message, go and give it to the people as God has given it to you. It is a stupid thing for a man to try to be eloquent. Make your message, and not yourself, the most prominent thing. Don’t be self-conscious. Set your heart on what God has given you to do, and don’t be so foolish as to let your own difficulties or your own abilities stand in the way.”

Don’t try to be clever. Just be Spirit-led and you will utter the most profound, compelling, and memorable words ever spoken by a preacher!

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Thursdays With Oswald—Seeing And Hearing “Holy”

June 14, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Seeing And Hearing “Holy” 

     The Bible places in the heart everything that the modern psychologist places in the head. … 

     God does alter the desire to look at the things we used to look at; and we find our eyes are guarded because He has altered the disposition of our soul life. …I will always hear what I listen for, and the ruling disposition of the soul determines what I listen for, just as the ruling disposition either keeps the eyes from beholding vanity or makes them behold nothing else. 

From Biblical Psychology

Solomon wrote, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23). This is where Chambers gets the thought about our hearts doing what psychologists want our heads to do.

The more I fill my heart with God’s Word (Psalm 119:11), the more the Holy Spirit can remind me of that Word (John 14:26). The more I am tuned in to that sanctifying instruction of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:26), the more holy I will live (Romans 8:4; Galatians 5:16; 1 Thessalonians 4:7).

This “tuning in” in the spiritual realm (the heart) absolutely affects the physical realm (the head). I have written before about the reticular activating system (RAS) in our brains (you can read about this here and here). The combination of the Word and the Spirit reprograms our RAS so that our eyes and ears are looking and listening for what pleases and glorifies God.

Do you want to live a holy life? Start by guarding your heart. You do this by filling your heart with the Word of God.

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If I Only Would Have Thought That Through…

May 22, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

These words are usually said after we have messed up something. We look back and say, “What was I thinking?!”

The truth is: you were thinking, it was just wrong thinking.

The Apostle Paul writes this:

Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (Romans 13:14)

The King James Version, instead of do not think, says, “make no provision for the flesh.” In other words, the idea here is forethought.

We have a filter at the base of our brains called the reticular activating system (or R.A.S.). This is what lets in the important things, and keeps out the unimportant things. But here is the vital issue—

YOU CAN PROGRAM YOUR R.A.S.!

You tell your RAS what’s important and what’s unimportant. Paul says that if we use our forethought to consciously decide to clothe ourselves with Christ, we are programming our RAS to spot the things that glorify Him and ignore the things that gratify our fleshly desires.

A phrase that I use often (hat tip to Dr. Richard Dobbins) is: I need to think about what I’m thinking about.

By doing this, I’m able to see how I’ve programmed my RAS. It’s either programmed to look for God-honoring things or flesh-gratifying things.

Try it for yourself. Make the conscious decision to read the Bible every day. Then in your prayer time, ask the Holy Spirit to help you think about God-honoring things. If you will do this, you will notice that you are noticing more things that please God, and that you are ignoring more things that please your sinful nature.

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Temptation

April 3, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Have you ever thought, “Well, of course Jesus could say ‘no’ to temptation! After all, He is God.”

Yes, Jesus is fully God. But He is also fully Man. And it was as a Man that He defeated temptation.

“As a Man, without using any of His divine powers, Jesus defeated temptation in the same areas where Eve failed and where we fail. … By this He condemned sin in sinful man, that is, He showed we sin, not because we have to sin, but because we choose to sin and because we ignore the help available through the Word and the Spirit.” —Stanley Horton

We don’t have to sin, but we choose to sin.

Ouch!

“In His temptation, Jesus did not use His divine power to defeat the devil. Still identifying Himself with us as Spirit-filled human, He defeated satan by the same means that are available to us — the Word, anointed by the Spirit. Eve, tempted in exactly the same areas—the lust of the flesh (appetite), the lust of the eyes (desire), and the pride of life—failed (Genesis 3:6; 1 John 2:16). In these areas, which John says together comprise the things of the world or worldliness (1 John 2:15). Jesus won a complete victory for us. He has truly overcome the world (John 16:33). We can do the same by our faith (1 John 5:4).” —Stanley Horton

We can do the same thing. Instead of saying, “I gave in to temptation,” we can say, “I gave in to the Holy Spirit, Who helped me defeat temptation!”

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