Calvary Assembly of God | Craig T. Owens

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The Counselor Helps Renew & Restore

June 8, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us the Holy Spirit-inspired Word of God does four things. Each of these things is also part of the definition of what the Holy Spirit does as our Counselor: teach, reprove, correct, and train.

The word for correct in this verse is the only time this Greek word is used in the Bible. It is the word epanorthosis. The prefix ep- means upon, at, by, across; and the root word -northosis means:

to return to straightness—see Luke 13:13
restore to the original standard—see Acts 15:16
restore lost strength—see Hebrews 12:12

Do you notice the “re” words in this definition? The Holy Spirit wants to come upon us and use His inspired Word to (a) restore us to an upright state, and (b) renew the life and character of Christ in us. This is part of the meaning of being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Jesus lived on earth as a human being, and as such He did not use His God-ness. As a man Jesus could know God’s thoughts (see Matthew 11:25-26, where Jesus is speaking to God in obvious answer to what the Spirit had been speaking to His mind). Jesus also could know men’s thoughts (see Luke 6:6-9) because He was perfectly attuned to the Holy Spirit.

As Christians, this should be our normal life too.

When we discount our worthiness for The Counselor to restore and renew us—we begin to accept sub-normal as normal, and the normal become miraculous and only obtainable by a few “spiritual giants.”

The Father’s desire is for all of us to bear a strong, unmistakable family likeness to Jesus. Christ relied on The Counselor to tell Him God’s thoughts and men’s thoughts, so we must as well. If you would like to receive all that God has for you, ask Him to baptize you in the Holy Spirit. Then you, too, can enjoy the unbroken fellowship—the restoring and renewing—of The Counselor just as Jesus did.

I will be continuing our series on the Holy Spirit as The Counselor this Sunday, and I would love to have you join us!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: baptism, Bible, Calvary Assembly of God, Christian, Christlike, fellowship, God's thoughts, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Pentecost, renewal, restoration. 8 Comments »

T.M. Moore On Prayer

June 2, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. (Revelation 8:5)

Commenting on this verse, noted theologian T.M. Moore wrote—

“What the angel threw to the earth were the prayers of the saints, offered to God as a sweet offering of incense for His pleasure (cf. Psalm 141:1-2; Revelation 5:8). God intends the prayers of His people to fill the earth, to pervade it everywhere and at all times, to make the entire earth a sweet offering to Him, and to bring about the earth-shaking realization of His will (cf. Revelation 4:5), is this the way we pray? Are we as earnest, constant, and resolute about prayer as God intends we should be? Do we believe for our prayers what God holds out as expectations for them? We must allow Scripture to teach us how to pray, for then our prayers will be filled with holy fire, great expectations, and emboldening power to guide us in our daily lives. Lord, teach us to pray!” —T.M. Moore (emphasis added)

We have our monthly prayer time this Sunday at 5pm. If you are in the area, I’d love to have you join us. If you cannot be with us, please comment below if you have a prayer request and we will be sure to lift your need up to God in prayer.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible, Calvary Assembly of God, God's Word, Heaven, prayer, Psalm, quotes, Revelation, saints, Scripture, T.M. Moore. 1 Comment »

The Counselor Brings Reproof

June 1, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

No one likes being rebuked, but it is necessary. In fact, it is vital for healthy growth. As a Dad, I didn’t look forward to the times I had to rebuke my children. But what’s the alternative? What happens if I just let misbehavior slide? We must rebuke those we love if we want them to mature.

The Counselor—the Holy Spirit—not only teaches us, but He reproves us as well because of His love for us. And we all need it!

The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? (Jeremiah 17:9)
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing… (Romans 7:18)

This knowledge of my wickedness becomes even more painful when I think that Jesus calls us to perfection (Matthew 5:48). I can’t “do” perfect on my own. But thankfully Jesus didn’t tell us to “do” perfect things, but to BE perfect.

The Holy Spirit reproves us—that is, He shows us where we are deviating from the mark—so that we can BE perfectly at one with Jesus, with our lives demonstrating Christ’s perfect nature.

Warning: the enemy wants to pervert The Counselor’s reproof. He wants to whisper to you that God is mad at you, that you’ve blown it too many times, that you’ll never be good enough.

Just like Jesus countered all of satan’s temptations with the Spirit-breathed Scripture, you need to do the same thing. You tell him, “My Father loves me so much that He sent His One and Only Son to die on a Cross for me! He wants me to display the glory of Jesus in my life because that’s what brings Him pleasure. He only reproves me because He loves me. If He didn’t care about me, He would leave me alone!”

Because He loves you and wants the very best for you, here’s what you can boldly pray:

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

I will be continuing my series on the Holy Spirit as our Counselor this Sunday. If you are in the Cedar Springs area, please come join us!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible, Calvary Assembly of God, conviction, counselor, God's love, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, Jeremiah, Jesus Christ, lies, maturity, parenting, perfection, prayer, reproof, Romans, satan, sermon, spiritual warfare. 1 Comment »

The Counselor

May 20, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

There are several people in the Bible that are called “a counselor.” But there is only One Who is called “the Counselor.” This is the title Jesus gave to the Holy Spirit, when He said One was coming Who would be of invaluable help to us.

This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. On that first Pentecost after Christ’s ascension, something amazing happened to the followers of Jesus—they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. The Counselor saturated their lives with His wisdom.

From this moment the Christians operated in extraordinary wisdom, power, discernment, boldness, and effectiveness.

Josh McDowell points out, “By AD 100, the apostles had died, but the Christian Church was still in its infancy, with fewer than twenty-five thousand proclaimed followers of Christ. But within the next two hundred years, the fledgling church experienced explosive multiplication of growth, to include as many as twenty million people. This means the church of Jesus Christ quadrupled every generation for five consecutive generations!” (emphasis added)

This type of growth was only possible because of the counsel The Counselor imparted every day to these new Christians. And this same counsel and help and empowerment is available to all Christians today!

This Sunday at Calvary Assembly of God we begin a new series called “The Counselor.” If you are in the Cedar Springs area and don’t have a home church, I invite you to come join us to learn more about this power that is for you.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: baptism, biblical history, boldness, Calvary Assembly of God, Cedar Springs, Christian, church growth, church history, discernment, effectiveness, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Josh McDowell, Pentecost, wisdom. 4 Comments »

No, Virginia, Pentecostals Do Not Swing From Chandeliers

May 18, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

Wow! We had an absolutely amazing service yesterday morning at Calvary Assembly of God! All throughout the service we could feel that the Holy Spirit was moving, and we were all blessed by His presence.

Pastor Bill Leach was our guest speaker, and he used Acts 2 as his text to talk about some of the misconceptions people have about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and the correct biblical perspective of this empowerment for a Christian’s life. I tried to take notes as fast as I could, so below are the thoughts which especially caught my attention. Pastor Leach’s message was entitled “No, Virginia, Pentecostals Do Not Swing From Chandeliers.”

Our Pentecostal experience must be firmly established in the Word of God. Peter made this clear in his Day of Pentecost sermon (Acts 2:16, 25, 30, 34). This experience is not a fad, but we are involved in the eternal plan of God. So it is an important movement for us to be a part of (Acts 2:39).

When Jesus said “stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4), He said it in the form of a command. Our Savior commands us to receive this Holy Spirit empowerment.

Luke describes the followers of Jesus as being “all together in one place” (Acts 2:1). In other words they were together together. This is a characteristic of followers of Jesus.

God’s temple is not a house, but people. Just as the fire was to be kept burning in King Solomon’s temple, God’s eternal fire fell on His followers on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:3), symbolizing His abiding presence in Christians.

The whole Godhead continually points to and glorifies the other aspects of the Godhead—“This is My Son in Whom I am well pleased”; “The Holy Spirit will testify about Me; and “I have come to glorify the Father.” When man was created God said, “Let Us make man in Our image—worshiping along side Us and enjoying Us!” The baptism in the Holy Spirit empowers us to do this!

Impossible obstacles must give way to the Spirit-anointed trod of the Spirit-baptized Church.

Pentecostals do not swing from chandeliers, but they have yielded their lives to the Holy Spirit’s empowerment, to be Christ’s witnesses and to display God’s glory throughout His creation.

This coming Sunday (May 24) is Pentecost Sunday, and I will be launching a new series about the Holy Spirit called simply The Counselor. Check back on my blog later this week for more details.

Special Guest: Bill Leach

May 13, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

I am so excited to welcome back to Calvary Assembly of God our District Superintendent Bill Leach and his wife Marilynn! Pastor Leach will be sharing a message with us this Sunday, May 17, in our 10:30am service.

After 27 years of serving our District as Superintendent, Pastor Leach is retiring at the end of the summer. We will miss his leadership, but on Sunday we will have the privilege of celebrating his faithful service.

Please don’t miss this very special service!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bill Leach, Calvary Assembly of God, servant-leadership. Leave a Comment »

A Mother’s Prayerful Perseverance

May 11, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

Naomi had it rough. It seemed like everything in her life fell apart. And to add insult to injury, everything around her seemed to mock her pain—

She lived in Bethlehem, which means House of Bread, but there was no bread because of the famine.
Her husband’s name was Elimelech, which means God is my king, but instead of him trusting God, he trusted his own wits.
Her sons were supposed to bring her joy and a hopeful future, but their names also haunted her: Mahlon means sickly, and Kilion means wasting away.

Naomi hit rock-bottom—Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband died… And after they had lived there about ten years both Mahlon and Kilion both died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband (Ruth 1:3, 5).

Is it any wonder Naomi—whose name means pleasant—wanted to change her name to Mara (bitterness)?

But somewhere deep inside, Naomi had courage enough to hang on to hope. She heard that God had once again provided bread in the House of Bread, and she returned home. She had no prospects for success, and her husband’s debts were still awaiting her, but she went back to Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law Ruth.

It was here they encountered Boaz. His name means pillar and he is described as “a man of standing” (2:1). Boaz was a kinsman-redeemer. Boaz is a picture of Jesus. As our Kinsman-Redeemer, only Jesus can…

Give our needs a voice as He intercedes for us
Bring us peace as He asks us to cast all our cares on Him
Pay all of our debts
Give us a hope-filled future

Especially as we remember Mothers Day, it’s a great reminder that a mother’s prayerful perseverance on her Kinsman-Redeemer yields blessings now and for generations to come!

Don’t give up! Jesus is your Kinsman-Redeemer, and He is waiting for you to cling to Him.

(The Book of Ruth is an absolutely amazing, hope-inspiring story. It you haven’t read it lately, you can read it through in just a few minutes.)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible, Boaz, Calvary Assembly of God, future, God's blessing, hope, intercession, Jesus Christ, Kinsman-Redeemer, Naomi, prayer, Ruth, sermon. Leave a Comment »

Salty Disciples

May 4, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

Who are Christ’s disciples? Is it only the people who walked Earth at the same time and place as Jesus? Was it an exclusive club of the 12 men Jesus selected as His apostles? Can anyone be a disciple of Jesus Christ?

Great questions!

First of all we must know that discipleship is not something we DO; it’s who we ARE. We have to start thinking of discipleship like a job search, where we need to have the right education and experiences that will build up our spiritual resume, and then Jesus will “hire” us to be one of His disciples.

We do the being, and Jesus does the preparing—And Jesus said to them, Come after Me and BE My disciples, and I will MAKE you to become fishers of men (Mark 1:17, AMP). We are to just BE with Jesus, and being with Him will prepare us to be made into something else.

We don’t negotiate with Jesus on how much time we can give Him. We don’t say, “As soon as I get through this busy time in my life I’ll follow you” or “After the kids are grown, then I’ll have more time for you” or “As soon as I get my business situation taken care of.” Jesus wants us to come to Him just as we are right now—Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be My disciple. (Luke 14:33, MSG)

As a disciple of Jesus we don’t try to act a certain way, we simply ARE—You ARE the salt of the earth… (Matthew 5:13). We can do this because of the Atonement (or as Oswald Chambers says, the “at-onement”). You are in Christ, and He is in you—when God sees you, He sees Jesus; when others see you, they see Jesus.

Here’s the amazing thing: God wants to use you to show Jesus to others. God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ IN you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

Make it your goal to simply be with Christ, and then be prepared for His God’s glory to be on display in you. You will then BE salt and light to a needy world!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: atonement, Bible study, Calvary Assembly of God, disciples, discipleship, God's glory, Jesus Christ, sermon, testimony. Leave a Comment »

An End To Tears

April 27, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

I was asked the age-old question: Why is there suffering and pain? This is usually accompanied by the other often-pondered question: Why do bad things happen to good people?

I’m not sure that I can answer that one, because I’m not a “good” person. I’m a sinner. I’ve messed up more time than I can count, and it is only by God’s mercy that His righteous judgment hasn’t consumed me.

Here’s what I do know:

God loves me so much that He sent His Son to rescue me—John 3:16-17
I am of immeasurable value to my Heavenly Father—Luke 12:6-7
Suffering on earth is temporal; rewards in Heaven are eternal—Romans 8:18
God develops something in my through suffering that I could learn in no other way—Romans 5:3-4
God can be glorified through my suffering if I will let Him—John 9:1-3; 11:3-6

I also know that Jesus is Perfection. If anyone ever deserved to not have anything bad happen to them, it was Him. And yet He was rejected by His family (Mark 3:21), betrayed by one of His companions (John 13:21), abandoned by all His followers (Mark 14:50), and even felt the sting of God forsaking Him (Mark 15:34).

What makes this even more startling to me is that He knew all of this was coming (Isaiah 53:3; Luke 9:22; Matthew 26:54-56). But He went through all of that pain because His suffering meant He could become the prefect Intercessor and Mediator for our suffering (see Hebrews 5:7-9; 4:14-16).

Jesus us told us, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

And the last book in the Bible promises that eventually God’s children will have every tear wiped away! There will be no more death, no more mourning, no more crying, and no more pain! (Revelation 21:4)

In the midst of your pain, hold tightly to the One Who loves you so much and is interceding for you!

If you are near Cedar Springs this coming weekend, and you don’t have a home church, I would love for you to join us as we continue to learn about the greatest words ever spoken.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: abandon, betrayal, Bible, Bible study, Calvary Assembly of God, crying, God's love, Heaven, High Priest, intercession, Jesus Christ, pain, rejection, Revelation, rewards, Scripture, sermon, suffering, tribulation. Leave a Comment »

Are You Grace-full?

April 20, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

The order that words and phrases are listed in the Scripture is not haphazard nor random; each word is divinely inspired, even the order in which they appear. So look at the order in these verses:

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 3:18)
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, Who came from the father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Do you see it? Grace then truth/knowledge.

Our human tendency is to switch this order: we want truth and knowledge first. But the Bible never teaches this, and the One Who delivered the greatest words ever spoken never said this. Our tendency is to want to get the facts, and then choose which ones we’ll embrace because they “fit” with what’s comfortable to us. Then we argue with others over what we claim to be “truth” and get labeled as judgmental and haters.

Bottom line―We cannot know what “truth” is without first having received grace.

To fix this, we need to pursue grace, not more knowledge. We need to pursue Jesus. Look at the order again: IF you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. THEN you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31-32).

Why can’t we know what truth is without having first received grace?

Jesus said this about the devil, “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)

Jesus never talks about grace. Why? Because He IS grace.

For IN Him the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily form giving complete expression of the divine nature. (Colossians 2:9, AMP)

...I am IN My Father, and you are IN Me, and I am IN you … Remain IN Me, and I will remain IN you… (John 14:20; 15:4)

And you are IN Him, made full and having come to fullness of life IN Christ you too are filled with the Godhead—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and reach full spiritual stature… (Colossians 2:10, AMP)

You grow in grace by growing in Christ. You grow in truth by growing in grace. When you are full of Christ―when He is IN you and you remain IN Him―then you are grace-full, and therefore you can also be truth-full. This is how you can reach full spiritual stature.

So here’s a question for you: How grace-full are you?

If you are around Cedar Springs this coming Sunday, I would love for you to join with us as we continue our series answering your questions with the greatest words ever spoken.