Don’t Play The Fool

September 24, 2012 — 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.

You probably know this already: Once you get boiling mad, it’s hard to see things objectively anymore. You get steamed up—ticked off!—and you are on a no-detours course to “make things right.”

You might say things like…

  • “They need to know what they did wrong!”
  • “He’s got this coming to him!”
  • “She needs to get a taste of her own medicine!”

The unspoken completion of all of those phrases is the dangerous part. What we’re really saying is, “He needs to know what he did wrong, and I’m just the one to tell him!” Or, “She needs to get a taste of her own medicine, and I’m just the one to dispense that prescription to her!”

It’s been said that action has killed its thousands; reaction its tens of thousands.

Did he hurt you? Yes!

Is he a jerk for doing so? Absolutely!

Should he get punished for it? Probably!

Are you the one to do it? No. No! NO!

He played the fool… Don’t sink to his level and play the fool yourself! 

Wise King Solomon said:

Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself. (Proverbs 26:4)

A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control. (Proverbs 29:11)

So what can you do to the one who injured you?

The best thing you can do is to FORGIVE HIM!

That’s right: leave him in God’s hands. Let the All-Righteous Judge deal with him. Don’t stay wounded, because you are continuing to allow your injurer to keep you trapped, to keep you wounded. Leave him in God’s hands by taking your hands off of him!

Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. (Romans 12:17-19)

Don’t play the fool! Forgive him and let God take it from there.

If you want to check out the other messages in our series called Ticked Off! you may click here.

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

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It’s Not Anger Management

September 17, 2012 — 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.

Aristotle had an insightful quote that was almost accurate—

“Anybody can become angry—that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way—that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.”

I agree with most of this, but I would argue that it’s not within anybody’s power to express their anger in the right way.

The Bible says that our challenge is to not sin when we are angry (Ephesians 4:26). But most anger is selfishly provoked. That means, I’m angry because I have been offended, or my “rights” have been violated, or someone injured me.

If my anger has been selfishly provoked, how can I be expected to express my anger in any other fashion but selfishly?!

Instead of me trying to manage my anger, I need to listen to the Holy Spirit’s voice. There is one important question the Spirit asks us (which comes from Jonah 4:9)—

Do you do well to be angry?

  • Is it good for me to be angry with this? or should I let this go?
  • Is my anger righteously provoked? or is it selfishly provoked?
  • Does this grieve the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 63:10)?

God’s Spirit within you is never silent. He will either confirm that your anger is righteously provoked (as it was with Jesus in John 2:13-17), or it’s selfishly provoked (as it was with Jonah). That’s why you must ask yourself that question and allow the Holy Spirit to help you answer it: Do I do well to be angry?

If you answer “yes,” and the Holy Spirit confirms this in your heart, then He will help you to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way (as Aristotle said).

And if you answer “no,” the Holy Spirit is the only one who can help put out the flames of your anger in a healthy way.

So don’t try to manage your temper. Listen to the Holy Spirit asking you, “Do you do well to be angry?” And let Him guide you from there.

If you want to check out the other messages in our series called Ticked Off! you may click here.

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

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4 Myths About Your Temper

September 16, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

This morning I shared with my congregation—in part one of our Ticked Off! series—three myths about anger. I want to add a fourth here…

1.  Anger is a sin. 

God is angry numerous times; in fact, the Old Testament alone has hundreds of verses that mention God’s anger. In the New Testament, Ephesians 4:26 says, “…in your anger do not sin….” It doesn’t say, “don’t get angry,” but “when you’re angry, don’t sin.”

2.  Anger is always destructive. 

Some great advances have been brought about by people who got angry. For instance, Martin Luther, the father of the reformation, wrote, “When I am angry I can write, pray, and preach well, for then my whole temperament is quickened, my understanding sharpened, and all mundane vexations and temptations gone.”

3.  Anger doesn’t affect me.

Anger affects you physically. In one medical study researchers found that people who had strokes were more likely to have experienced anger in the two hours prior to having their stroke. It also affects your relationships. After you blow up, people close to you are injured and began to distance themselves from you.

4.  I can manage my anger.

Anger has a tendency to completely seize you, making it next to impossible to manage the furnace of emotions that is raging inside you. You cannot manage your anger! Instead, you need God’s help.

Check out the messages in this series by clicking here.

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Ticked Off!

September 12, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

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

Has someone ever pushed all your buttons?

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

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

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

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

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Prayer Focus: Families

September 6, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

As this week marks the beginning of a “new year,” (as students are heading back to school and we’re all settling in to our fall routines), we are taking time to focus our prayers.

Today’s pray focus is for our families.

The Bible uses the picture of a family frequently to portray the type of relationship that fellow followers of God should have with each other. So if satan can escalate divorce rates, and cause friction between parents and children, and create tension between siblings, the family doesn’t look so appealing any longer. As a result, it’s hard for people to feel like the family of God is something that they would enjoy being a part of.

But I believe that prayer can combat—and reverse—the alarming trends of divorce, estrangement, abandonment, and tension!

Charles Spurgeon said,

Let us set apart special seasons for extraordinary prayer. For if this fire should be smothered beneath the ashes of a worldly conformity, it will dim the fire on the family altar, and lessen our influence both in the Church and in the world. 

Even modern-day sociologist Paul Amato found “that if divorce rates and other family disruptions today were as low as they were fifty years ago, we would have 70,000 fewer suicides, 500,000 fewer acts of teen delinquency, 600,000 fewer children receiving therapy, and 750,000 fewer children repeating a grade.” What a compelling reason for us to pray for our families!

Billy Graham noted: “When brothers and sisters in Christ unite in the common bond of the Word of God and prayer, they are strengthened in their faith and witness.”

The Bible tells us the dangers of a divided home (Proverbs 21:19; Matthew 12:25). On the other side, we see the Bible talk frequently about entire households coming to the Lord together (see John 4:53; Acts 11:13-14; Acts 16:14-15; Acts 18:8), and how much joy there is when everyone serves God together (Proverbs 23:24; Psalm 133:1; 3 John 4).

Please pray with us throughout the day for our families. And if you can join us tonight, the church will be open for prayer from 5:30-6:30pm.

UPDATE: You can download the PowerPoint of our prayer points for today by clicking here → Week of prayer – families

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Even Greater Things

September 3, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I’m a fourth-generational Pentecostal. I’ve grown up in the church. Over many years I’ve seen and heard some incredible things.

And yet I’m so hungry for God to do more!

I’ve had an amazing last three years as the pastor of Calvary Assembly of God. We’ve seen God move in awesome ways!

And yet I’m so hungry for God to do more! 

I feel like the prophet Habakkuk who cried out,

Lord, I have heard of Your fame; I stand in awe of Your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known. (Habakkuk 3:2)

What God has done in my personal history, and in the history of our church, is nothing compared to what I believe is coming!

You won’t find me standing on the sidelines. I’m not dreaming about “the good ol’ days.”

I’m going to live my life like Jesus taught us. He announced that His ministry was anointed by the Holy Spirit to tell everyone the good news of God’s favor (Luke 4:18-19). And then He lived this out by doing good everywhere He went (Acts 10:38).

Jesus instructed us to conduct our lives the same way (Matthew 28:19-20), living in the anointing of His Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). The same Spirit which anointed Christ Jesus for ministry will anoint your life for ministry!

I am so hungry for God to do more in me … in my church … in Cedar Springs! Like the words of the song say, “Greater things are yet to come!”

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Good News!

September 2, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

When I say, “I ♥ My Church!” that is not some throw-away phrase. I’m not saying it to try to whip up some emotion, or get Calvary Assembly of God to live up to some unreasonable standard. I say it because I truly mean it. I sometimes sit down in my office on Sunday after our service, and I can hardly force myself to head home because I’m just basking in all that God has done.

Some highlights from today:

  • I so enjoy watching my church family during the greeting time. I just stand back and smile as I watch everyone being greeted as a long-last friend. As Mary told me on my very first Sunday here, “We don’t shake hands here. We hug!” And it’s true. Honestly, I think if I didn’t step back to the microphone and say, “Ahem!” the greeting time would continue all morning long. There is some amazing one-on-one ministry that was happening in that greeting time today!
  • It was great to hear from our special guests Bill & Melissa Chappel. They are preparing to go to an unreached area in Asia, and their enthusiasm is contagious! 
  • A brother shared a spontaneous praise report this morning. He lives on a fixed income and has had several unexpected bills lately. So when the “Check Engine” light came on in his van, he was quite upset about it. He drove his van for about a week, wondering how he was going to pay for the repairs. Before the offering last Sunday, I prayed that God would take care of anything that was perplexing us. Gary shared that after service he got in his van to head home and the “Check Engine” light didn’t come back on… and it hasn’t been back on since!
  • As I shared this morning about the ministry that we’ve been doing, as well as the ministry we are planning for this fall, I read an email I received. This email came from a business owner in Cedar Springs after our Halloween outreach (that’s called the “Spooktacular” in our city) last year—

Hey Craig, I just wanted to tell you that I think it’s fantastic that you participate in Spooktacular.  It seems like sometimes churches and pastors are so scared to step out into the community when it comes to Halloween.  But, in my opinion, Jesus went to the people.  When I see christians stepping out to love on people rather than bowing to fear, I really see God at work.  And I think people in the community do too.

Amazing stuff happening around here!

If you live near Cedar Springs and don’t have a home church, I invite you to come visit with us. I think you will quickly discover why I and so many others around here say, “I ♥ My Church!”

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Need Power?

August 29, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

In many ways, Labor Day marks the beginning of a “new year.” The summer fun is behind us, a new school year is starting, and everyone is settling back into their normal routine.

Undoubtedly many people begin this part of their “new year” with the same excitement as New Year’s Day, with a renewed passion to accomplish greater things. Perhaps you are thinking about some new habits for this “new year.” Or maybe you are taking a deep breath before you have to dive in to all that awaits you in the next few months.

In any case, the greatest and best thing we can do to prepare ourselves is prayer.

I always start January with a week of prayer, so I want to begin this “new year” with a week of prayer as well. So we will be having a special prayer focus September 4-7. The church will be open each evening from 5:30-6:30pm, but I encourage you to pray with us wherever you are during that week.

Here are some great quotes on the power we can gain in prayer:

“Prayer does not equip us for greater works—prayer is the greater work.” —Oswald Chambers 

“Prayer provides the powerto do what we love to do, but can’t do without God’s help.” —John Piper 

“The most healthy state of a Christian is to be always empty in self and constantly depending upon the Lord for supplies; to be always poor in self and rich in Jesus; weak as water personally, but mighty through God to do great exploits…. As the runner gains strength for the race by daily exercise, so for the great race of life we acquire energy by the hallowed labor of prayer. …Prayer girds human weakness with divine strength, turns human folly into heavenly wisdom, and gives to troubled mortals the peace of God. We know not what prayer cannot do!” —Charles Spurgeon

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Holy Spirit-Controlled

August 25, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I am loving my time reading Spirit Rising by Jim Cymbala! This passage I just read leapt off the page:

“Many of us want more of God but not to the point of being ridiculed. Our Western minds think, I will serve the Lord, but I will remain in control as I do it. But whether we like it or not, that’s not how the church began. The church began with Spirit-controlled Christians who yielded themselves to God. That’s radical, yes, but that’s the way the Lord did it.

“Some might say, ‘Yeah, but we’ve improved upon the New Testament style of Christianity.’ If that’s true, I want to see the spiritual fruit our improvements have produced. People may have mocked those first, ‘unsophisticated’ Christians, but thousands got saved in the first four chapters of Acts. The Word of God was treasured. The churches were filled with sacrificial love. A holy excitement pervaded the atmosphere. Have we really improved upon that?”

Oh, how I want that in my life, and in Calvary Assembly of God, and in my city!

If it takes being “unsophisticated” and ridiculed, bring it on, Lord! 

I want to be totally Spirit-controlled.

Bring. It. On!

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Why Do You Read The Bible?

August 20, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Do you exercise? Why? What’s the purpose of all of your exercises? To get stronger? To last longer? To get or stay healthy? Yes! But to what end? Why do you want to be stronger, have greater endurance, or better health?

I could ask the same question regarding the spiritual realm: Why would you want to do a spiritual workout? To quote more Bible verses? To have more endurance in prayer? But why do you want to know more of the Bible, or pray better or longer?

Our goal should be simply this: To know God more intimately.

We have to be careful about being so focused on the workout that we miss the purpose (or should I say the Person). Andrew Murray wrote this:

“Christian! there is a terrible danger to which you stand exposed in your inner chamber. You are in danger of substituting Prayer and Bible Study for living fellowship with God, the living interchange of giving Him your love, your heart, and your life, and receiving from Him His love, His life, and His spirit. Your needs and their expression, your desire to pray humbly and earnestly and believingly, may so occupy you, that the light of His countenance and the joy of His love cannot enter you. Your Bible Study may so interest you, and so waken pleasing religious sentiment, that—yes—the very Word of God may become a substitute for God Himself, the greatest hindrance to fellowship because it keeps the soul occupied instead of leading it to God Himself.”

Our spiritual workouts should help us integrate God’s presence into our souls. He is not just someone that we know about; He is the One we know. The One we have let into our hearts. The One who is at the very center of our being. He is the CORE of who we are.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him. Have the roots [of your being] firmly and deeply planted [in Him, fixed and founded in Him], being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6-7 AMP)

Don’t lose sight of WHY you read the Bible, and respond in prayer; of why you glorify God and enjoy Him forever; of why you go through your spiritual workouts. You do all of this because Christ is in you, and you are in Christ, and you want to strengthen this core relationship, and let everything else that you do flow out from this core!

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

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