Calvary Assembly of God | Craig T. Owens

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Prayer That Opens Our Eyes

January 20, 2025 — 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.

Charles Spurgeon said, “We too often rush into the presence of God without forethought or humility. We are like people who present themselves before a king without a petition, and what wonder is it that we often miss the end of prayer?” I hope you are starting to…

…make prayer a Quadrant II activity by eliminating meaningless Quadrant IV activities
…pray before you pray so that you are ready to come before the King

Spurgeon also asked an important question: “Do we not miss very much of the sweetness and efficacy of prayer by a want of careful meditation before it, and hopeful expectation after it?”

We talked about competing priorities, but also how Jesus made prayer the priority for His life. This means that some things we call important may have to temporarily be set aside.

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

Let’s look at the example of Jesus. He prioritized prayer over:

Training. In Luke 5:16 and 9:18 we see Jesus praying in private even though His disciples were right there with Him. This was so revolutionary to the disciples that it prompted them to ask Jesus how they could pray like He did (Luke 11:1-13).

Sleep. Mark 1:32-35 tells us Jesus was up after sunset ministering to the needs of people, and that He was up and praying while it was still dark. And Luke 6:12 tells us Jesus spent the whole night in prayer before making a big decision.

Strategizing. The big decision Jesus had to make was choosing the twelve men who would be His apostles—the ones He would spend the most time training and preparing. He didn’t hold strategizing sessions or interviews with the perspective candidates, but He spent the night praying for wisdom (Luke 6:12-13).

Ministering. People were looking for Jesus, but He guarded His prayer time so the Holy Spirit could guide Him into His ministry time (Mark 1:37).

Why did He treat prayer this way? Because He knew that God knows our day better than we do. He knows the people will encounter, the conversations that we need to have, the decisions that await us. So we must prayerfully entrust our days to Him (Proverbs 16:9, 3:5-6).

Remember that Spurgeon said “careful meditation” before prayer and then “hopeful expectation after it.” This is exactly what David said in Psalm 5:1-3 where he was expectant of God’s answers throughout the day.

We see this example throughout the Bible, but let me give you three quick examples:

Hagar’s eyes were opened to see the supply of water that was already there (Genesis 21:14-19)
Eliezer had success in finding a wife for Isaac by seeing a woman that was already at the well (Genesis 24:7, 12-15, 21, 27)
Nehemiah prayed for 4 months so he could pray in the moment that the king asked him what he needed to be successful (Nehemiah 1:4, 11; 2:1-4, 8)

I think this is what Paul meant when he told us to “pray continually “ (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Jesus could announce that everything He did (John 5:19) and everything He said (John 12:49) was directed by the Father.

We can live like this too, if we will only make prayer the priority that sets the order for any other thing that we call a priority. Missionary Hudson Taylor said, “Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.”

If you have missed any of the messages in our series called Our Prayer Book, 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. ◀︎◀︎

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 1 Thessalonians, Calvary Assembly of God, Charles Spurgeon, Eliezer, Genesis, Gospel of John, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Mark, Hagar, Hudson Taylor, Nehemiah, prayer, proverbs, quotes, sermon, video. 1 Comment »

Don’t Confuse Pleasure With Joy

January 16, 2025 — 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.

The dictionary’s definition for “joy” is missing just a couple of words to make it align with the biblical definition of joy.

Oswald Chambers used this same example of Solomon’s cry of, “Meaningless” in my post Cynical or Satisfied.

You can check out the full sermon from which this clip was taken by clicking here.

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

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, Ecclesiastes, joy, pleasure, sermon, Solomon, video. Leave a Comment »

The Prayer Before The Prayer

January 13, 2025 — 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.

Last week I shared this thought with you from Pastor Tim Keller: “Your prayer must be firmly connected to and grounded in your reading of the Word. This wedding of Bible and prayer anchors your life down in the real God. … Without immersion in God’s words, our prayers may not be merely limited and shallow but also untethered from reality.”

“Untethered from reality” means that we determine the manner in which we come to God in prayer, the way prayer works, and the way God must respond to our prayer. But what we read in the Bible is the opposite of this (Isaiah 1:11-15).

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

I think there are two opposite and equal erroneous thoughts about how we approach prayer:

I’m not worthy to come into the presence of an all-holy God
I can waltz right into God’s presence whenever and however I please

Both are wrong and both are strategies the devil has used to keep us prayerless. Either we don’t go to God at all or our prayers are unheard because the Bible says that our arrogance has made our prayer ineffectual.

Our Prayer Book—the Bible—helps us find the balance. George Whitefield noted, “Reading the Bible is a good preparative for prayer, as prayer is an excellent means to render reading effectual.” So here’s what we read about those two errors.

I’m not worthy. God is unapproachable in His holiness, but Jesus has made it possible for us to enter in through His righteousness (1 Timothy 6:15-16; Isaiah 6:1-5; Hebrews 4:1, 14, 16; John 16:23-24).
I can come anyway I want to. Passages like Psalm 15:1-5 and Isaiah 58:2-4 make it clear that we cannot simply approach God in a way of our choosing.

Let’s unpack that second error a little more. We have to be clothed in righteousness in order to come into God’s presence, but we cannot be clothed in a righteousness that is apart from Jesus. When we say that we are praying in the name of Jesus, it means we are praying in the nature of Jesus and through the righteousness of Jesus. We must be wearing His righteous robe (Romans 3:22-24; Isaiah 61:10).

So I think we need to pray before we pray. Let’s try these actions which are tethered to the reality of our Prayer Book.

Worship. This is a deep pondering of who God is; it is humbly assigning Him the highest worth. In face, the Old English spelling of this word (“worthship”) gives us insight into what worship does. It is this kind of humility that God responds to (Isaiah 6:5-7; 57:15; Luke 18:9-14).

Confession. As we are worshiping, we will see our inadequacies (much like Isaiah did in Isaiah 6, or the tax collector did in Luke 18). We then need to confession these shortcomings. Dick Brogden wrote, “Confessed sin opens the portals of heaven into our darkness, and light and glory overwhelm shame. Confession is our glory for it lifts our heads and eradicates shame.” We see this so vividly lived out in the prayers of David (Psalm 139:23-24; 51:1-2; 19:12-14).

Repentance. I think we could also call this Repair. After confession where we have fallen short, we resolve now to both take a different path and repair what was damaged (Matthew 5:23-24; Mark 11:25-26; 1 Peter 3:7).

Petition. After worship, confession, and repentance / repair, our heart’s attitude is now in the place for God to heed our cries for His help (1 Peter 3:12).

Let’s learn to pray before we pray. Don’t just rush in and rush out of God’s presence. Take time to worship, confession any sins the Holy Spirit reveals, make things right, and then present your petitions.

Our hearts need to be prepared to present our petitions. This is how we know that God will hear our voice.

If you’ve missed any of the messages in our prayer series, you can find them all here.

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

3 Hindrances To Prayer

January 6, 2025 — 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.

I am sometimes amazed at how much Jesus accomplished in just a little over three years of public ministry. What I would have expected to see is a Man burning the candle at both ends—up early, working hard without any breaks each day, very little (if any) leisure time, and then burning the midnight oil. But instead we see Jesus never seeming to be rushed or exhausted. He takes time for meals with friends, time away from the crowds, and still in just a short period of time He fulfilled hundreds of ancient prophecies and trained His followers to take the Gospel around the globe! One of the keys is His priority. Notice that I said priority and not prioritieS. Jesus was singularly focused on His Father’s glory and He showed total dependence on Him. I think one of the most telling verses is Mark 1:35: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.” If Jesus needed prayer to start His day, how much more do we need this! Scottish pastor Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in his journal, “Rose early to seek God, and found Him whom my soul loveth. Who would not rise early to meet such company?”

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

So why don’t we treat prayer like this? I think there are three main hindrances to keep us from making prayer a priority. (1) Self-reliance. A common phrase we use is, “I need to get to work.” But this puts the emphasis on me—my plans, my abilities, my work ethic. I believe I can do more than pray, but I also believe that I shouldn’t do anything until I have prayed. Prayer, therefore, is a reminder of my utter God-reliance. God has a better plan than we do. God has more wisdom than we do. God has more strength than we do. So wouldn’t it be better to ask Him what we should be doing, how we should be doing it, and then ask Him for the strength to do it? When we have this focus, our prayer time will keep us aligned with His plans and empowered with His wisdom and strength. Look at a couple of examples.

Sarah knew how to believe God because He showed how He kept His promise in His perfect timing (Genesis 21:1-2).
Mary knew how to pray and behave in alignment with God’s word (Luke 1:31-38). Her prayer shortly after this is sautéed in Scripture, showing how she relied on God to keep His Word (vv. 46-55).
Saul of Tarsus (who became Paul the apostle) had assurances of God’s direction for his life at almost every turn (Acts 9:15-16, 20:22-24, 21:10-14, 23:11, 27:21-25). Then he writes to his friends at Philippi how God received the glory throughout this whole process (Philippians 1:12-14, 25-26).

We can live and pray with the same assurance that God is completely in control (Isaiah 55:8-11; Romans 8:26-28). (2) Distractions. When Martin Luther was asked about his plans for the next day he said, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” That sounds unrealistic to most of us, but that is because we call too many things “priorities.” We need a singular priority: The knowledge of God’s will and the help that only God can give. Stephen Covey has a very helpful tool that I use regularly: the urgent/important grid. Bible reading and prayer time is most decidedly a Quadrant II activity. We make time for these important activities by removing unimportant activities from Quadrant IV. The Bible frequently couples a “take off” with a “put on” (see 1 Corinthians 13:11; 2 Timothy 2:4; Ephesians 6:11-18), which should prompt us to ask, “What’s one thing I can take off of my Quadrant IV and put on that time for prayer in Quadrant II?” (3) Uncertainty. Sometimes we may wonder if our prayers are doing anything. Maybe we think we are not praying the “right way” or perhaps we wonder if we are praying for something in alignment with God’s will or only our own selfishness. The only two things Jesus said were the “wrong ways” to pray were praying to show off, and babbling like pagans (Matthew 6:5-8). As we read in Romans 8, the Holy Spirit will help us pray, if we will let Him.

One way we pray in alignment with God’s will is to pray using the Scripture. The Bible is our Prayer Book. Pastor Timothy Keller wrote, “Your prayer must be firmly connected to and grounded in your reading of the Word. This wedding of Bible and prayer anchors your life down in the real God. … Without immersion in God’s words, our prayers may not be merely limited and shallow but also untethered from reality.” So here are three steps we need to implement to counteract those three hindrances to a consistent, meaningful prayer life:

Listen to yourself pray—replace the “I have to” with “God, I trust You to direct me and help me.”
Track your time in each quadrant and identify just one Quadrant IV activity you can replace with prayer.
Start turning Scripture into prayers.

I will be elaborating more on the idea of using the words of the Bible to form on our prayers as we continue our series Our Prayer Book. ►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

Our Prayer Book

January 2, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

God has given us an amazing Book! The Bible addresses the human condition—all our desires, frustrations, hopes, and the only path on which we can find eternal and unfading joy.

The Bible not only tells us how to live, but it also tells us how to pray. And it’s as we pray that the principles in the Scripture come alive with fresh applications for our daily life. We don’t have to fumble around, attempting to find the right words to pray and then wondering if those prayers were heard on high. We can learn to pray in agreement with God’s perfect will.

God has spoken to us through His Word, and He invites us to use His words to form our prayers back to Him. I love beginning each new year with a reminder of the power of prayer, so I invite you to join me at Calvary Assembly of God for this life-changing series of sermons called Our Prayer Book.

If you have missed any of the messages, you can find them here:

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible, Calvary Assembly of God, God's Word, prayer, Scripture, sermon. 20 Comments »

Year-End Review (2024 Edition)

December 30, 2024 — 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.

I take some time at the end of each calendar year for a quick recap of everything we have learned during this year at Calvary Assembly of God. I do this because I want to make sure we are all on the same page with each other before we move into a new year. And I also think it’s very important that we are continually reminded and reassured of what God has done for us. In our series on gratitude we talked about the dangers of forgetting to remember and re-tell the blessings of God. We see in the letters from the apostles both a re-telling of their own words, and reusing and amplifying the words of Jesus and other apostles.

You can click on the sermon series title to find a list of all of the sermons in that series. Clicking on those individual sermons will give you a short written recap of that message, and it will also give you the link to watch the video of the full sermon.

Kingdom Praying. Jesus made it clear time and time again that He came to reveal the Kingdom of God to us. He described what the Kingdom was like and told us that He came to be the means by which we could enter God’s Kingdom. He also told us how God’s children could access the power and privileges of our Heavenly Father through the means of prayer. He assured us with words like, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Jesus said quite simply that we had access to our Father through prayer. And then to make sure we didn’t miss out on this awesome privilege, He instructed us, “This, then, is how you should pray” (Matthew 6:8).

Jots and Tittles. As we get closer to the death and resurrection of Jesus, there are an increasing number of prophecies that are fulfilled in these events. Jesus appears to have been very attentive to making sure that each and every one of these prophecies were fulfilled to the smallest detail. Near the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus noted that not one iota—or “one jot or tittle” in the Old English vocabulary—of any of God’s promises would be left unfulfilled (Matthew 5:18). It’s amazing that Jesus so carefully attended to all of these, but it’s also important to ask ourselves what these fulfilled prophecies mean to us today.

Takin’ Him to the Streets. Just before Jesus ascended to Heaven, He told His followers that they would have the joyful responsibility of taking the good news of forgiveness and eternal life to all the highways and byways of every nation. Later on, Paul would get more specific about all of the groups to which he was taking the message of Jesus (see Luke 24:46-47; 1 Corinthians 9:20-22). That commission is still in effect for Christians today: We are to share the gospel with everyone—from easy street to skid row, from Wall Street to Main Street, and every street in between. The streets on which you live and work are different from the streets where I travel. In fact, all of us live on different streets, but everyone we meet on every street needs to hear about Jesus. In this new series of messages, we are going to learn how the Holy Spirit can help us be ready to take Jesus to those on each street where God sends us.

Ascending. Every year, Jews from around the world made four pilgrimages up to Jerusalem for various feasts and sacrifices. These journeys reminded them of God’s goodness as they went to the Temple to worship, and they helped refocus on God’s ways as they returned to their regular routines. Jerusalem is over 2500 feet above sea level, so the pilgrimage there was a physical workout as well as a spiritual workout. These workouts were beneficial for God’s people, preparing them to minister in their cities in the following months. The Book of Psalms contains 15 songs that these pilgrims would sing to and with each other as they traveled up to Jerusalem. These Psalms of Ascent are still instructive for Christians today.

Living in your Gift Zone. God created each and every human being uniquely. We all come in different shapes and sizes, but we all share one thing in common: He created each of us with a unique personality and a unique gift package. By unique, I truly mean that we are all one-of-a-kind creations that have never existed in all of history! Here’s another thing we all have in common: We usually live in a comfort zone that is far smaller than our gift zone. Living this way keeps us from soaring through life in the way that God intended. He wants each of us to know our gifts, and to use our gifts in a way that benefits our world and brings Him glory. It starts with believing that we are indeed gifted by our Creator. Then we must have the courage to step out of our comfort zone into the much larger gift zone God has given us.

Is that in the Bible? A meme that makes me chuckle every time I see it is a “quote” attributed to Abraham Lincoln in which he says, “The problem with quotes found on the internet is that they are often not true.” (Not to spoil the joke for you, but unless Lincoln knew how to time travel to the future, I don’t think he knew about the modern internet!). I love this meme because it captures something that so many people fall into: a quick acceptance of a statement without verifying its source or thinking through the implications of the statement’s truthfulness. In this series I think you may be surprised to discover just how many phrases we call biblical aren’t, and how many phrases there are that we never realized are actually in the Bible.

Be Thankful. It’s so easy to spot the negative things. It’s so easy to gripe about the bad stuff with others. It’s so easy to complain about what’s wrong with the world. But the Bible repeatedly calls the saints of God to rise above this downward pull of negativity. In fact, for those who have a relationship with their Heavenly Father, who call Jesus their Savior, and who call the Holy Spirit their Counselor, there is really only one way to live: Grateful!

Christ’s Advents. The word Advent means the appearing—something that bursts onto the scene. At this time of year we are actually thinking about TWO Advents. We look backward in gratitude to celebrate the first Advent of Jesus when He was born in a manger in Bethlehem. And then we look forward in joyful expectation to the second Advent of Jesus when He will return to earth again as King of kings. As Christians live in this time between the two Advents, our celebration and expectation should bring four noticeable attributes from our lives: hope, peace, joy, and love.

I also shared a couple of messages that weren’t a part of a series. My Mother’s Day and Father’s Day sermons, and a sermon on how Christians should live in a political season.

This next year promises to be another amazing time of learning and growing. If you live in northern Kent County and don’t have a home church, I would love for you to visit us!

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

Christ’s Advents Bring Love

December 26, 2024 — 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.

The lights of hope, peace, and joy burn brightly. They drive out the darkness in our own lives and in the lives of others with whom we come in contact. But you and I both know lots of people who are very positive people—always upbeat, seemingly peaceful and joyful. The real question is: What is the source of this light? Or more specifically, how do people know that you are hopeful, peaceful, and joyful because you know Jesus as your Savior and King?

Jesus said there were two proofs that we are His followers:

That we love others (John 13:35)
That we are producing God-honoring fruit (John 15:8)

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

God IS love—it’s His very nature. Just like an apple doesn’t have the capacity for apple-ness but is by its nature an apple, so God doesn’t have the capacity for love, or love more than others, but He is by His nature Love.

Any qualities of hope, peace, and joy in our lives have to originate from God’s love. We cannot manufacture these fruits, but they are a natural result of our being connected with Love Himself.

Love is what brought Jesus to earth at His First Advent (John 3:16-17; Romans 5:5-8). And we can only love others and produce the fruit of hope, peace, and joy because Jesus went first and became our Source (1 John 4:19; John 15:1).

Love brought Jesus to earth at His First Advent, and Love is what empowers us to be loving and fruitful between His Advents.

Love one another means that love serves (John 13:1-5, 15-17, 34-35)
Bear much fruit means that love grows (John 15:1-12)

We can only serve and be lovingly fruitful as we stay connected to Love (2 Peter 1:2-7; 1 John 2:28).

Love brought Jesus to earth at His First Advent, Love is what empowers us to be loving and fruitful between His Advents, and Love is what patiently waits for Christ’s Second Advent (2 Peter 3:3-4, 9).

We continue to grow in our love and produce fruit by being connected to the Vine of Love (1 Corinthians 13:11-12; 1 John 3:1-2 ; Hebrews 10:23-24).

This means we live every moment as though the Second Advent is imminent. Because it is!

We need to let our love be continually supplied by Love Himself so that our fruitfulness can shine as a bright testimony. Jesus said, He was the Light of the world, and then He called us to be the light to our part of the world where He has placed us (John 8:12; Matthew 5:14-16).

Always remember that we celebrate the First Advent and look forward to the Second Advent by staying connected to Jesus, growing in our love for Him and for others, and allowing the fruit of hope, peace, and joy to shine brightly for God’s glory.

If you’ve missed any of the other messages in our Advent 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. ◀︎◀︎

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 1 Corinthians 13, 1 John, 2 Peter, Advent, Calvary Assembly of God, Christmas, First Advent, God's glory, Gospel of John, Gospel of Matthew, Hebrews, hope, Jesus Christ, joy, love, Messiah, peace, Romans, Second Advent, Second Coming, sermon, video. 1 Comment »

An Amazing Word!

December 24, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

This is an amazing word!

God Almighty—in all of His holiness—lives in unapproachable brilliance in highest Heaven. And yet He also chooses to abide with those who humbly admit their desperate need of His mercy and forgiveness!

You can check out the full sermon from which this clip came by clicking here.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, Isaiah, peace, sermon. Leave a Comment »

Christ’s Advents Bring Joy

December 23, 2024 — 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.

We have the candles of hope and peace burning brightly. Romans 15:13 tells us that our hope in God’s fulfilled promises and our hope in His fulfilling of His future promises is what brings us not only peace but joy as well.

(You can read all the Scriptures I reference in this post by clicking here.)

William Gurnall noted, “Joy is the highest testimony which can be given to our peace.” That means that hope bubbles up in peace and joy, but joy then sustains and fuels future hope, which allows us to experience peace all over again!

The English dictionary has the right definition for joy: the emotion of great delight caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying. Unfortunately, all of the examples the dictionary gives for joy are fleeting external things.

The Bible makes it quite clear that pleasure is not the same thing as joy, but still people try to find what they call joy in things that bring them pleasure. C.S. Lewis wrote, “Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is.”

Just ask the wisest and richest man who ever lived: King Solomon. He wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes which is all about his pursuit of pleasure, yet every attempts ends with him crying, “Vanity! Meaningless!” But notice something: every time he says this, the phrase “under the sun” is adjacent to it. In other words, nothing on earth can provide true joy.

Paul experienced the same thing in the New Testament (see Romans 7:18-20).

Just like we said about these candles that darkness is not the opposite of light, but it is the absence of light, so too, this wretched state of joylessness is the absence of things that are eternally satisfying.

That means we need something other-worldly—something higher than the sun—to truly bring light and satisfaction. The prophet Isaiah foretold the light that Jesus would bring from Heaven, and this light would be our eternal joy and salvation (Isaiah 9:1-3, 6-7; Matthew 1:21).

Notice how the angelic announcement of Christ’s birth ties together the thoughts of joy with Savior (Luke 2:8-11).

Isaiah foretold this First Advent which Jesus fulfilled (Isaiah 61:1-3; Luke 4:18-19), and which Paul come to discover as well (Romans 7:24-25).

Another biblical definition for the word joy is delighting in God’s grace in our trials because we understand that these trials enlarge our capacity for even greater joy. This is the joy we can know as we live between the two Advents of Jesus. We see this in the example of Jesus fixing His eyes on the eternal joy even as He walked toward Calvary, and how His Father then exalted Him for that (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 2:9-11).

In a similar, Jesus prepares us for the joy following our time of grief (John 16:17-24). The writer of Hebrews agreed with this (Hebrews 12:11), as did the writer of the 126th Psalm (notice the word joy being used four times in just six verses here!).

The Second Advent of Jesus will be eternally satisfying joy beyond anything we can imagine! I love how Isaiah 35 foretells what we can read on the last pages of the Book of Revelation.

This thought from Charles Spurgeon is spot-on: “We who trust in Jesus are the happiest of people, not constitutionally, for some of us are much tried and are brought to the utter depths of poverty, but inwardly, truly, our heart’s joy is not to be excelled.”

May we all live in that hope-filled, peace-fueled joy every single day until Christ returns or calls us Home!

If you missed it, check out the lights of hope and peace in our previous messages in this series by clicking here.

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

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Advent, C.S. Lewis, Calvary Assembly of God, Charles Spurgeon, Christmas, First Advent, Gospel of John, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Matthew, Hebrews, hope, Isaiah, Jesus Christ, joy, Messiah, peace, Philippians, prophecy, quotes, Romans, Second Advent, sermon, video, William Gurnall. 2 Comments »

Christ’s Advents Bring Peace

December 16, 2024 — 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.

We lit the candle of Hope last week and today we light the candle of Peace. As we saw, hope is what allows us to experience peace and joy: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

(You can read all of the Scriptures I reference in this post by clicking here.)

But notice the phrase “as you trust in Him” in that verse. Peace doesn’t come just because we want it to, but it only comes as we trust in the One called the Prince of Peace.

Light drives out darkness and exposes sin, and often people don’t like it (John 1:9-11). In fact, Jesus Himself said that He was first coming with a sword to do battle against all of the things that rob us of lasting peace (Matthew 10:34).

Oswald Chambers described it this way, “The coming of Jesus Christ is not a peaceful thing; it is overwhelmingly and frantically disturbing, because the first thing He does is to destroy every peace that is not based on a personal relationship to Himself.”

Peace is only possible when the war is over. Modern-day diplomats use a phrase “sue for peace,” but this can only be done when one side admits defeat. God is at war with sin and He only gives peace to those who throw up their hands in total surrender to Him (Isaiah 57:14-21).

Jesus said He was the Light of the world and the only way to peace with the Father. The apostle Paul elaborates on that idea—

Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the Cross, by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household. (Ephesians 2:12-19)

That’s what Jesus provided for us at His First Advent. Now, as we live between the Advents of Jesus, we can expect to have trouble in the world, but never peacelessness (John 14:27, 16:33).

The Messiah’s peace will:

Guard your heart and mind—Philippians 4:7
Arm your for battle against the enemy—Ephesians 6:15
Equip you to do His will—Hebrews 13:20-21

As our hearts are guarded, we are prepared to stand firm in spiritual battle, and we are equipped to do God’s will, we can live in peace concerning Christ’s Second Advent.

Jesus will appear again to fulfill one of the first promises made about the peace He would bring. God told satan that Jesus would crush his head, and then Paul tells us, “The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet” (Genesis 3:15, Romans 16:20)!

So we have no fear of Death or Hell because the Prince of Peace has forever defeated those things for those who “trust in Him” (Revelation 20:10, 14; 21:1-5).

The bottom line: