This is just one example of the power of a leader’s storytelling. Check the full conversation Greg and I had on The Craig And Greg Show. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” —Benjamin Franklin
George Jeffreys was born with a limiting speech impediment, but with the empowering of the Holy Spirit, George and his brother Stephen led incredible Pentecostal revivals in England and Wales. They were said to be the greatest evangelists since George Whitefield and John Wesley. Someone asked Jeffreys how long a revival should last, and he responded, “Thank God, a revival started in my heart 30 years ago, and it has never stopped; it will never end.” He continued by saying, “As long as Jesus is kept in the front, and made the center of fellowship and blessing and unity, the revival will never end.” Check out this mini biography about his life.
John Stonestreet uses the example of C.S. Lewis’ Aslan to talk about how God can speak to us through our pain. John writes, “Pain is never the point of God’s plans, any more than it is the purpose of physical exercise. Never pushing ourselves to the point that it hurts means never improving our health. On the other hand, seeking pain is more likely to do harm than to aid our wellbeing. In and of itself, pain is not good, but it is meaningful. Pain indicates that something is wrong and needs to be addressed.”
“The best way to make a dream come true is to wake up.” —Dame Anna Wintour
Because of the extensive prayer, research, and work I put into my book Shepherd Leadership, I am frequently drawn to passages of Scripture that reinforce the idea of pastors as shepherds. I was meditating on Hebrews 5:2 the other day, and I shared some of my thoughts with some of my pastor friends.
Healthy leaders look in the mirror first before they confront a teammate on something that needs to change. Check out the full conversation Greg and I had on The Craig and Greg Show about defeating the two-headed leadership killer of ignorance and arrogance. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
“I am often, I believe, praying for others when I should be doing things for them. It’s so much easier to pray for a bore than to go and see him.” —C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” —William James
The most empowered and empowering person is the one who remains in Jesus.
“Whereas three or more incidents of intense stress within a year (say, serious financial trouble, being fired, or a divorce) triple the death rate in socially isolated middle-aged men, they have no impact whatsoever on the death rate of men who cultivate many close relationships.” —Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee, Primal Leadership
T.M. Moore has an outstanding series of posts on how Christians should interact with the governments in the lands in which they live. I highly recommend this series to you. T.M. wrote, “We have seen that justice is a jewel of many facets. In its obligatory facet, justice requires that we love our neighbors simply because they are made in the image of God. We must regard them, and do with them, as we wish to be regarded and done with ourselves. In its preventive facet, justice demands that we use forethought in all our actions to make sure, as far as possible, that our neighbor or his property is not injured by what we do. Distributive justice encourages us to share generously with our neighbors and others in need. Restorative justice comes into play when the balance of neighbor love has become disturbed and the one guilty of disturbing it is required to set things right again. Each of these forms of justice, grounded in the Law of God, is very much a part of life in our society today. It is simply mindless or prejudicial to insist that we should have no input from Scripture or the Law of God, either in the public square or in the making of public policy. Our nation was founded on Biblical principles of justice, and to deny this is to rewrite history past and to put in jeopardy history to come.”
The Greek word translated as “consider” in Hebrews 3:1 means to observe closely, to consider attentively, to fix your eyes or mind upon it. In its context, this verb is usually directing us to the end result of being in awe, kindling a renewed faith, and being rejuvenated with a new resolve to move forward.This is what happens especially when we consider Jesus❣️
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
In our series on six important spiritual disciplines, our key phrase is “so that”—
I get stronger so that we can get stronger.
For discipline #1: I study my Bible so that I have something to apply to my life.
For discipline #2: I take time for solitude so that I can respond in a God-glorifying way in stressful situations.
Our third spiritual discipline makes people nervous: Giving. So perhaps if I give you the “so that” up front that will help you stick with me. Here it is: I practice the spiritual discipline of giving so that I can encourage others and experience God’s greater blessings.
Jesus has a caution about giving: Don’t give to get earthly recognition (Matthew 6:1-4). He states this with two don’ts and one do:
do not announce your giving
do not calculate or reckon your reward for giving
do expect God’s reward for your giving
The stark contrast is seen between Joseph Barnabas and Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 4:34-5:4. Barnabas gave everything he had received from the sale of a piece of property without expecting anything in return. Ananias and Sapphira pretended to give everything they had received from the sale of a piece of property fully expecting some sort of recognition. The results are just as stark and clear: Barnabas was honored by both the church and God, while Ananias and Sapphira were severely punished by God.
When Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 that our giving should be in “secret,” He clearly doesn’t mean that no one knows that we have given. Clearly, in our examples in Acts, people knew that Barnabas had given money to the church.
In two of his public letters, Paul gave public thanks to the church at Philippi for their financial gifts to him, and he called out the church at Corinth for their failure to give as they had promised they were going to (Philippians 4:10; 2 Corinthians 8:11).
Paul noted that the Philippians gave because they knew there was a need, and Paul praised them for this and told them that they would see God’s reward for their generosity (Philippians 4:10-20). We can see our “so that” idea here: Paul was encouraged, he said that the Philippians would have all their needs met, and God was glorified.
Paul used this example of the Philippians as an encouragement to the Corinthians (see 2 Corinthians 8:1-12, 9:5-8). Paul encouraged them to make sure they had a “get to” attitude about giving, not a “have to” obligation. He noted that God blesses the cheerful, get-to giver.
Notice how similar the blessings of God sound to these two churches:
And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)
When the Bible talks about giving, it is never restricted to money, although that is part of it. The Bible talks about giving in three categories. We could call these The three Ts—
Treasure—our tithes and offerings.
Time—giving our service to those in need.
Talent—using the abilities God has given each believer to build up the Kingdom of God.
How much of our treasure, time, and talent should we give? We should never look for the bare minimum, but we should be lavish givers. C.S. Lewis said it this way in his book Mere Christianity:
“I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them.”
For myself, I am trying to think of spiritual discipline #3 as this prayerful declaration:
I will allow the Holy Spirit to show me how much of my time, talent, and treasure I am privileged to invest in the Kingdom of God. I will gladly do this so that God will meet all my needs here, He will reward me in Heaven, and other saints will be encouraged by my giving.
I hope you will join me in making this your declaration as well.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
In my book Shepherd Leadership I talk about some strong, godly men who gave into temptation at a moment of weakness—David who behaved so poorly toward Bathsheba and Uriah, Elijah who got depressed and suicidal, and Peter who denied knowing Jesus.
One common factor for all of these guys is that their moment of giving in came when they were alone. They were isolated from others who may have been able to help them overcome the temptations that tripped them up.
Have you ever heard of the law of the weakest link?
If I have a chain with links that can handle 400, 300, 250, 175, and 500 pounds, how much weight can the chain hold? You don’t really need a calculator for this one because the answer is the capacity of the weakest link: 175 pounds. This is why it’s to my advantage to not only strengthen myself, but to help others grow their strength as well.
In Galatians 6:2-5, the apostle Paul talks about the strength we need for ourselves and our fellow Christian brothers and sisters. First, he says that each of us should test our own actions. I can only know my breaking point if I’m tested, and the Holy Spirit knows how to do this perfectly. After this testing, Paul says then I can take pride in myself without saying, “Well, at least I’m better than him!”
Quite simply, Paul tells each of us that we must be able to carry our own loads. Why? Because only a strong Christian can help someone else with their load. We each have to get stronger individually so that we have strength for others!
This is just like what we’ve been learning in our look at the Songs of Ascent: the goal is for all of the pilgrims to get to Zion together!
In this series, we are going to learn about six spiritual disciplines. Much like a physical workout, the Holy Spirit will start with us where we are. Not everyone will be at the same level nor will everyone progress at the same rate. But all of us will need these four things.
(1) Discipline. This is saying no to the easy thing or the thing that brings only fleeting happiness so that I can say yes to the things that bring eternal joy.
(2) Stick-to-it-iveness. I have to be committed to this process for a lifetime.
(3) Grace for yourself. There are going to be moments of struggles, plateaus, and even stumbles. Those are all a part of the journey, so we must extend grace to ourselves to learn, repent, and move forward.
(4) Patience for others. As I just mentioned, we are all on our own journey and we all progress at different rates. Let’s be patient with each other.
All of these spiritual disciplines are to strengthen us individually so that we have something to share with other saints (2 Corinthians 1:3-6).
These spiritual disciplines shouldn’t become legalistic. Don’t make the way you do it the way everyone has to do it. After all, a 175-pound link will be different than a 250-pound link.
What I am calling spiritual disciplines, C.S. Lewis called religious practices. In a letter to a friend, he wrote about the safety and beauty that result from these pursuits—
“I think about the practices what a wise old priest said to me about a ‘rule of life’ in general—‘It is not a stair but a bannister’…i.e. it is, not the thing you ascend by but it is a protective against falling off and a help-up. I think thus we ascend. The stair is God’s grace. One’s climb from step to step is obedience. Many different kinds of bannisters exist, all legitimate. It is possible to get up without any bannisters, if need be: but no one would willingly build a staircase without them because it would be less safe, more laborious, and a little lacking in beauty.” (C.S. Lewis)
T.M. Moore is in a series of posts about the Kingdom of God being revealed on earth. He wrote, “Jesus’ vision of the proximity of the Kingdom, therefore, was a threefold vision: The Kingdom is yet to come in all its fullness (there and then); nevertheless, at the same time, the Kingdom is unfolding in our midst (here and now); and thus every follower of Jesus Christ must make it their primary concern to seek and attain to more and more of the Kingdom of God every day of their lives. Then and there, here and now, more and more: This is how we must think about the Kingdom of God and our involvement in it.”
For many years, the theory of evolution has been unraveling. As more and more discoveries are being made, Darwin’s theory is becoming less tenable. John Stonestreet and Shane Morris wrote a recent blog post on this. Their article opens with this: “In 1973, evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky wrote that “nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution.” Almost 50 years later, an increasing number of scientists are asking whether evolution makes any sense in light of what we now know from biology.”
The most effective leaders consistently see the world through their teammates’ eyes. Check out this full conversation on The Craig And Greg Show.
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.“ —C.S. Lewis
“No prophet or priest, king or great leader has ever told us to dare to address God as our Father, except Jesus! He is the only One who has taught us to call God, our Maker and Creator, Father. In the Old Testament, that relationship is mentioned only a few times (for example, Exodus 4:22-23; 2 Samuel 7:14). But in the gospels, it is mentioned 165 times. Jesus wanted to instill in us how important God’s fatherhood is. It is not a mere creed. It is a relationship that is central to our new life in Christ and essential in our worship to Him.” —Sobhi Malek
We can look back to learn or we can look back to relive. Looking back to learn is healthy, but looking back in regret to try to relive our past is unhealthy and unproductive. Learning vs. reliving makes all the difference. See my full message on this mental health thought here. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
“I’ve learned one thing: You only really get to know a person after a fight. Only then can you judge their true character.” —Anne Frank
Lenny Esposito is an outstanding Christian apologist. Check out this podcast where Lenny discusses the historical facts about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties.” —C.S. Lewis
“I believe it will only be known on the Last Day how much has been accomplished in missionary work by the prayers of earnest believers at home.” —James Fraser
This is a good reminder from Axis for parents with students returning to school. The heading of this section of Axis’ weekly Cultural Teanslator is “Back to Backpacking.”
“What it is: As a new school year begins, teens might have mixed feelings of excitement, anxiety, and feeling overwhelmed.
How to approach this season: As Hannah King writes in Christianity Today, all seasons of transition bring with them an element of loss. Starting a new school year might mean making new friends, meeting new teachers, or starting a new curriculum. It can also mean the loss of free time, increased stress levels, and more difficulty creating intentional moments as a family. For parents, the beginning of a new school year might also feel like a reminder that time with their teens living at home is dwindling down, a feeling which can bring its own set of griefs, pressures, and regret. King recommends allowing space for teens and adults to name the things they’re disappointed about or not looking forward to, noting that repressed sadness can keep us from ‘entering freely into [the] joy’ of a new thing.
“Start the conversation: What will you miss the most about this summer?”
“Either you deal with what is the reality, or you can be sure that the reality is going to deal with you.” —Alex Haley
One of the things that contributes to “quiet quitting” is a lack of passion. But when the leader has conveyed a compelling vision for all that the organization is doing, that vision fuels the passion to work excellently. Vision can change a “have to” attitude into a “get to” attitude. Check out the full conversation Greg and I had about quiet quitting on the Craig And Greg Show. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
“One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.” —Arthur Ashe
“Strange as it may seem, the first rule of gracious speech is sincere listening: ‘So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath’ (James 1:19). Being an attentive and sincere listener is like cutting a swath through the jungle. It creates a path along which conversations can develop and people can journey together.” —T.M. Moore
J. Warner Wallace discusses how scientists who were Christians used their biblical worldview to drive their scientific pursuits. As a result, Christian scientists have been awarded more Nobel Prizes than any other group of scientific contributors!
“The devil will not stand by quietly and watch his realm decline and erode. He counterattacks with rage; his onslaught is fierce. One of the tricks he uses is to preoccupy Christian workers with issues that are detrimental to a healthy relationship with Christ. The scenario is all too familiar: a Christian worker gets busy in the ministry and work takes priority over relationship with God. He no longer has the time to sit at Jesus’ feet in quiet solitude and listen to God’s Word. Spiritual emptiness comes unnoticed and with it vulnerability to satan’s sifting (Luke 22:31-34); dishonest handling of monies or power or an illicit relationship is justified, and whoa! immorality has lured and sent such a Christian worker tumbling. He commits what he has preached against. Sin is dangerous. Sin is destructive. Its price is very costly—separation from God, irreversible stigma, damage to family relations, loss of ministry, loss of reputation, a black mark on God’s work, and the list goes on.” —Sobhi Malek
Our Creator gave us an amazing gift of the human brain! I love the fascinating new discoveries that scientists are continuing to make. Like this one: “To be spatially capable creatures, humans need their brains to tell them 1) where things are in relation to themselves and 2) where everything is in relation to everything else—the so-called allocentric map of space. To navigate an environment, the brain seems to generate a mental representation of its surroundings. This is often called a cognitive map.” Read more about our cognitive map here.
I hope you have had a chance to see the movie “Sound of Freedom.” Thankfully, this has gotten a lot of people talking about how to eliminate sex trafficking. Fight The New Drug has an excellent post on how you can spot and report human trafficking, and you should also check out Operation Underground Railroad, which was founded by Tim Ballard (whom Jim Caviezel portrays in the movie).
“It will be a comfort to me all my life to know that the scientist and the materialist have not the last word, that Darwin and Spencer, undermining ancestral beliefs, stand themselves on a foundation of sand.” —C.S. Lewis
“If we thought we were building up a heaven on earth, if we looked for something that could turn the present world from a place of pilgrimage into a permanent city satisfying the soul of man, we are disillusioned, and not a moment too soon.” —C.S. Lewis, in a speech ‘Learning in War Time’
“Perhaps the character of Faramir, the Captain of Gondor in The Lord of the Rings, expresses it best. He possesses humility as well as great courage—a warrior with a ‘grave tenderness in his eyes’—who takes no delight in the prospect of battle. As such, he conveys a message that bears repeating at the present moment, in a world that is no stranger to the sorrows and ravages of war. ‘War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all,’ he explains. ‘But I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.’” —Joseph Loconte
“Without an equal growth of Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love, Science herself may destroy all that makes life majestic and tolerable. There never was a time when the inherent virtue of human beings required more strong and confident expression in daily life.” —Winston Churchill
“With God discredited, meaning must be found ‘in life itself, in the act of living, in the vitality of the moment.’ Thus, the new psychology legitimized a new hedonism. Within a decade, W.R. Matthews, the Dean of Exeter, complained of ‘the decay of institutional religion’ because of the ‘incoherence of the Christian message and its apparent contradiction with modern knowledge.’ All of this helped to produce the modern, secular zealot: the revolutionary who seeks to create heaven on earth. Science, psychology, politics, economics, education—any of these disciplines might be enlisted in the cause.“ —Joseph Loconte
“It will be a comfort to me all my life to know that the scientist and the materialist have not the last word, that Darwin and Spencer, undermining, ancestral beliefs, stand themselves on a foundation of sand.” —C.S. Lewis
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Two of my favorite authors in one book? I knew this was going to be good before I even cracked the book open, and Joseph Loconte’s superb behind-the-scenes biographies in A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, And A Great War didn’t disappoint me at all!
C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien’s lives are intertwined on so many levels. Tolkien was instrumental in leading Lewis to Christianity, and without Lewis’ encouragement, the world may never have been enraptured with The Lord Of The Rings books. Both men were incredibly creative in numerous genres of literature, and both were highly sought essayists and speakers.
And, as Joseph Loconte recounts, both of them had their creativity forged in the cruel furnace of Word War I—or “The Great War” as it was known then.
Loconte tells of the horrors of this war, the disillusionment that so many felt—both on the front lines of trench warfare and at home on the supply lines—and, how these experiences became the driving force for the creation of Narnia and Middle Earth. Loconte shares the personal correspondences and private journal entries for both of these authors as they went through this horrific war, and then he shows us how those experiences became the settings, good and evil characters, and epic quests that millions of readers have enjoyed for so many years.
If you’ve never read the Chronicles of Narnia or the space trilogy from C.S. Lewis or the Middle Earth stories from J.R.R. Tolkien, this book will be an excellent primer. If you have read these engrossing stories, reading Loconte’s book will give you new insights that will help you appreciate these timeless works even more.
As a postscript from me, I am so thankful to my son Harrison for putting this book in my hands!
Because of the extensive prayer, research, and work I put into my book Shepherd Leadership, I am frequently drawn to passages of Scripture that reinforce the idea of pastors as shepherds. I was meditating on Hebrews 5:2 the other day, and I shared some of my thoughts with some of my pastor friends.
Craig T. Owens 