When God-fearing people are concerned with the direction their nation is heading, when they are upset over the lack of biblically-sound laws, when they are pained over the cultural trends, God gives them just one recourse: Prayer.
Furthermore, God gives them only one place to look: In the mirror.
If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
May 2 has been designated as a National Day Of Prayer, and I sincerely hope you will find a time and a place to pray for our country.
Calvary Assembly of God will be open from noon to 1pm for a time of prayer. If you can’t join us, please make an altar wherever you happen to be to humble yourself and pray. It’s the only recourse we have!
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
A quick survey: Please raise your hand if any of these pertain to you:
Have you ever had a disagreement with someone?
Have you had a disagreement with someone you love?
Have you had a disagreement with someone you love, who also called themself a Christian?
If you raised your hand, you joined 100% of my congregation who answered “yes” to all three.
When we are in close proximity to anyone, there will be conflict. In fact, close proximity usually leads to more conflict because closeness increases friction. For a Christian the issue is not if we will have conflict with others in the Church, but how will we navigate and resolve these conflicts.
The apostle Paul wrote a thank you letter to the church at Philippi, in which he speaks in some of the most glowingly loving terms of any of his letters. Clearly, this was a group of people close to his heart. So when he heard about a conflict between two ladies in this congregation, he took time to address it publicly in his letter—
I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. (Philippians 4:2)
We don’t know why these ladies were arguing but notice that Paul doesn’t take sides. He simply says, “I please with Euodia AND I plead with Syntyche.” The word for plead means someone who comes alongside to help. In using this terminology, Paul gives us an important principle:
We can come alongside those in conflict without taking sides with either one of those in conflict.
In the next verse, Paul implores the rest of the church to join him in this alongsided-ness—
And I exhort you too, my genuine yokefellow, help these two women to keep on cooperating…. (v. 3 in the Amplified Bible)
In other words, Paul wants the rest of the church to embrace these at-odds sisters, also without taking sides. He addresses the members of the church as yokefellow. It’s not a word we use too often today (although it is still in the dictionary), but it paints a crystal clear picture of our role. Here’s what we CAN’T do as yokefellow:
Look away
Mind our own business
Hope the situation will work itself out
Try to navigate around the problem
Instead, we embrace the conflict by embracing those in the conflict. We help them to cooperate and to work in harmony in the Lord (v. 2 in the Amplified Bible). It’s our responsibility to help maintain the bonds of peace so that the Body of Christ can grow in a way that is healthy and God-honoring.
Do you know someone in conflict right now? Are you in the conflict yourself? Ask God to show you how you can come alongside—not take sides—with those in this conflict so that you can help bring about peace.
When God created the earth, He directed Adam and Eve to care for His creation. Today it’s just as important for us to be good stewards of our Heavenly Father’s beautiful world.
So I’m excited that Calvary Assembly of God is going to be involved in the cleanup efforts in our hometown of Cedar Springs. For the fourth year in a row we’ll be picking up the junk that seems to accumulate around our waterways and in our public areas. We’ll be pulling on our waders so we can walk into Cedar Creek to remove the things that shouldn’t be in there. The fish and wildlife will be happier, and I bet our Creator will be too!
We’re meeting behind the fire station off of Main Street on Saturday, April 27, at 10am. If you are in the area, please come join us.
Although all of the cleanup efforts are concentrated on one day, my hope is that it will become an ongoing lifestyle for us to always be caring for our community.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
I remember when I was a teenager having such an ache in my legs at night. I’d be laying on my bed trying to sleep, but I couldn’t get comfortable because of that dull, unrelenting ache in my legs. I’d go ask my Mom what was going on, and her reply was simple: “Those are growing pains.”
In order to grow in any area of our lives—physically, emotionally, mentally, relationally—we have to go through a certain amount of pain.
No pain, no gain.
The process is not always a lot of fun, but that’s why we have to keep our eyes on the goal. The process may not be something we like, but the end results will make the pain worth it.
For instance, you may not like dieting but you like the weight loss or lower cholesterol numbers, so you stick with it. You may not like saying, “I’m sorry, I was wrong, please forgive me” but you like the healed relationship, so you say it.
Throughout the New Testament the phrase one another is frequently used to address how members of the Body of Christ should relate to each other. God desires that all of us operate interdependently with one another. In order to get there, we must get ready for some growing pains!
In Ephesians 4:2, Paul tells us what is required to get to a place of unity and maturity in the Church:
Be completely humble (the King James Version says lowliness). This Greek word means not letting our thoughts rise far from the ground. In other words, we are thinking of ourselves as God thinks of us, not independently as a self-made man or woman, but viewing all of my success as God-appointed. This process toward interdependence starts in our thoughts—in our attitudes about ourselves and about others.
Gentle means strength under control. Gentleness says, “I could do this, but for your sake I won’t.”
Patient interaction (KJV: longsuffering) with others is allowing them the freedom to grow just as others allowed me the freedom to grow.
Bearing with one another in love. Think of a load-bearing wall in a building that is holding up the weight of the roof and walls. When we bear with one another we are helping to share the burdens.
Being humble with ourselves and gentle and patient with others is the way we go through the growing pains of bearing with one another in love. The process may not be a lot of fun, but the end result is something that glorifies God, that’s why we must stick with one another through all our growing pains.
Check out all of the other messages in our series Live Togetherby clicking here.
One of the things that stands out so clearly about the first century church is this—they really liked being around each other! Even though the early Christians faced persecution, rejection by the Jewish religious leadership, and even martyrdom, they truly enjoyed a special bond with one another.
In fact, that’s the key phrase: one another. The New Testament says they were devoted to one another, they helped one another, they prayed with one another, they confessed their sins to one another, they opened up their homes to one another, and on and on. This doesn’t mean they were without problems and personality clashes at times, but they found that one another was so much more enjoyable and productive than being on their own.
This Sunday at Calvary Assembly of God as I begin a brand new series called Enjoying Life Together With One Another. If you missed any of the messages, you can check them out here:
On Friday I had the privilege of sharing the message at our combined Good Friday service, where all the churches in Cedar Springs came together. I talked about the contrast Jesus presents to us from John 16:33. Quite simple it goes like this:
In the world = trouble
In Jesus = peace
This morning our Easter breakfast drama confronted (sometimes comically) the various conspiracy theories about the death and resurrection of Jesus. Then I shared how the biblical account of Jesus’ resurrection is not only the most plausible, reasonable and logical of accounts, but it is also the only option which gives us lasting hope.
It’s amazing to think that my “job” allows me to speak the words of life, the hope of freedom, the promise of eternal life, the beauty of a relationship with Christ. I am truly blessed and humbled to do what God has called me to do.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
One of the misconceptions about Jesus is that He first appears on the scene in a manger in Bethlehem. Nothing could be further from the truth! Jesus appears in the opening words of the Bible—In the beginning God created—and in the last words of the Bible—Yes, I am coming soon. And He appears in every word in between!
B.B. Warfield has a great picture of the Old Testament being a mansion with richly-decorated, beautifully-ornate rooms, but which are dimly lit. So with just the Old Testament by itself, it is hard to appreciate the magnificent beauty that’s there. In Jesus, the light is turned on, and we can now appreciate the glory and majesty that was always there!
So notice how the “I Am” statements shine a bright light on the titles of “Jehovah”—
Jehovah Jireh (I Am Your Provider) → I am the Bread of Life (John 6:35)
Jehovah Rapha (I Am Your Healing) → I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25-26)
Jehovah Nissi (I Am Your Source) → I am the Vine (John 15:5)
Jehovah Shalom (I Am Your Peace) → I am the Light of the world (John 8:12)
Jehovah Raah (I Am Your Shepherd) → I am the Good Shepherd (John 10:11)
Jehovah Sabaoth (I Am Your Wall Of Protection) → I am the Gate (John 10:9)
Jehovah Tsid-kenu (I Am Your Righteousness) → I am the Way, Truth, and Life (John 14:6)
Jehovah Shammah (I Am Here) → I am the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:8; 22:13).
In essence Jesus is saying “I Am Jehovah in all His fullness.” So what are we to make of that? What are we to make of Jesus Christ? Here’s how C.S. Lewis addressed that very question:
“This is a question which has, in a sense, a frantically comic side. For the real question is not what are we to make of Christ, but what is He to make of us? The picture of a fly sitting deciding what it is going to make of an elephant has comic elements about it. But perhaps the questioner meant what are we to make of Him in the sense of ‘How are we to solve the historical problem set us by the recorded sayings of this Man?’
“The problem is to reconcile two things. On the one hand you have got the almost generally admitted depth of sanity of His moral teaching, which is not very seriously questioned, even by those who are opposed to Christianity. In fact, I find when I am arguing with very anti-God people that they rather make a point of saying, ‘I am entirely in favor of the moral teaching of Christianity….’
“On the one side clear, definite moral teaching. On the other, claims which, if not true, are those of a megalomaniac, compared with whom Hitler was the most sane and humble of men. There is no halfway house and there is no parallel in other religions. If you had gone to Buddha and asked him, ‘Are you the son of Bramah?’ he would have said, ‘My son, you are still in the vale of illusion.’ If you had gone to Socrates and asked, ‘Are you Zeus?’ he would have laughed at you. If you had gone to Mohammed and asked, ‘Are you Allah?’ he would first have rent his clothes and then cut your head off. If you had asked Confucius, ‘Are you Heaven?’ I think he would have probably replied, ‘Remarks which are not in accordance with Nature are in bad taste.’
“The idea of a great moral teacher saying what Christ said is out of the question. In my opinion, the only person who can say that sort of thing is either God or a complete lunatic suffering from that form of delusion which undermines the whole mind of man.” (emphasis mine)
In this quote, C.S. Lewis gives us three choices about Jesus. We can either say (1) He is a liar, (2) He is a lunatic, or (3) He is who He says He is.
Some call Him Savior. Some call Him a moral teacher. Some call Him a prophet. Some only call His name as a curse word. Regardless of what people call Him, Jesus is almost universally known.
Despite what people call Him, and as much as people claim to know about Jesus, there are still so many questions that swirl around—
Who is this Man?
How can someone be both God and Man at the same time?
Did Jesus just show up in Bethlehem, or was He around earlier?
Was He really perfect? Could He really live His whole life without sinning once?
How could He die and yet come back to life?
Better yet: why did He have to die at all?
Does it really matter whether or not He was resurrected from the dead?
As we approach this Easter season, more and more people’s thoughts will be turning toward this Man. Please join me as we consider this simple, yet profound question: Who Is Jesus? The answer to that one simple question will be life-changing!
True love—or the Greek word agape—is a hard-working verb. It’s not mushy. It’s not puppy love. It’s not even romantic. It’s a love that is determined to love another no matter what! It’s the kind of love God extended toward us when we weren’t doing anything worthy of His love, and it’s the kind of love Jesus told we as us His disciples would be known for.
We just wrapped up a series called Loving The Unloveable where we explored what the Bible says about how we are to live out this agape love, especially to those who seem “unloveable.” We went through a list of 15 facets of this love spelled out in 1 Corinthians 13.
You can read about the first five facets by clicking here.
You can read about the second set of attributes by clicking here.
Here are the final five—
Love is protecting
The King James Version says love bears all things. So we need to ask, “What does love bear?”
The Greek word means: “protecting by covering with silence.”
In other words, we bear with the insults of an unloveable/unloving person by refusing to talk about them in a negative way.
Agape doesn’t talk about people (unless it’s a conversation with God); agape only talks lovingly to people. Agape protects their reputation.
Love is trusting
Love has a high confidence in success. Not my success, but God’s success. So we keep believing for a breakthrough; keep trusting God to accomplish something; keep doing our part in pointing out the best (or the best that is yet to be) in others.
Love is hopeful
The Amplified Bible says: love’s hopes are fadeless under all circumstances.
So we work now, but we are always looking forward to the future with joy and full confidence.
Think about a farmer: After he plants the seed, he doesn’t see it any more. But his outlook remains hopeful. So he waters a seed he cannot see. He fertilizes a seed he cannot see. He works the ground for a seed he cannot see.
Our acts of love may be planting a seed, or fertilizing, or watering. Every part is vital; no part can be skipped. And we remain hopeful of a harvest.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)
Love is persevering
I love the Greek definition: “enduring through every circumstance without ever weakening.”
Never let your love waver. Keep on being patient, and kind, and forgiving, and all of the other characteristics of agape listed in 1 Corinthians 13. All of them are irreplaceable and effective!
Love is maturing
Love continues to grow up.
Agape is creative, never stagnant or stuck in a rut. Agape finds new ways to express itself.
Here’s where the real test comes in: How will you apply these attributes of love to someone in your life? More specifically: to someone you think is “unloveable”?
I know you have someone in your life that you think is unloveable. With that person’s face clearly in mind, how will you fill in the blanks:
I can protect their reputation by…
I believe God is working in this…
I need to not give up in this area…
I must remember this…
I can how my love more maturely by…
If you would like a downloadable PDF of this worksheet, click here -–> Love Is… worsheet 3
If you would like to download the other worksheets, or if you missed any of the messages in our Loving the Unlovable series, you can check them all our here.
“The one Jesus that skeptics refuse to tolerate is a uniquely divine, miraculous, prophesy-fulfilling, and resurrected Jesus—even if the evidence points persuasively in that direction. After all, that would put them in the place of being beholden to Him. Their personal sovereignty and moral independence would be at risk. The problem is: that’s the real Jesus.” —Lee Strobel
Jesus was crucified. He was in the grave for three days. Then God raised Him from the dead, fulfilling everything that had been prophesied about Him! That’s the real Jesus!
But those who don’t want to acknowledge those facts have concocted all sorts of conspiracy theories as to His death and resurrection.
On Easter morning, Calvary Assembly of God will be presenting an original drama called Conspiracy! to tackle these conspiracies head-on. The cast of characters is interesting, the dialogue is witty and fast-moving, so this will be a very memorable morning!
Cost: FREE but we suggest you get a ticket to make sure you have a seat. You can reserve your spot by clicking here and emailing your ticket request to me.
A delicious breakfast + some uplifting music + a memorable drama = a great morning learning about the risen Jesus. Please don’t miss it!
When God-fearing people are concerned with the direction their nation is heading, when they are upset over the lack of biblically-sound laws, when they are pained over the cultural trends, God gives them just one recourse: Prayer.
Craig T. Owens 