I am so proud of our team that portrayed the birth of Christ at our second annual Living Nativity! And I’m grateful that we were asked to be a part of the annual Mingle With Kris Kringle event in downtown Cedar Springs.
Pictures don’t really do it full justice, but it’s a start, so click here to see the pictures and a couple of videos too.
This is the time of year for gift giving. Everyone is out looking for the perfect gift to give to a loved one, co-worker, or friend.
Can you imagine going through all of the work of finding the right gift, paying your hard-earned money for it, wrapping it up, delivering it to the recipient, and then watching them set it aside unopened?!
Or how about the one who opens the gift, but doesn’t show any gratitude at all?!
Or the one who says a sincere “Thank you!” but then puts the gift on the shelf and never touches it again?!
Christmas is the time we think about the greatest gift of all—God’s gift of His only Son. But this isn’t the only gift God gives. In fact, He is a lavish Gift Giver. So the key questions are:
I’m starting a brand new series this Sunday, and going all the way until Christmas morning, looking at God’s Gifts. We’ll see what the Bible says about these gifts, including how to show our gratitude, and how to use them in a way that honors the Gift Giver.
I hope you can join us!
Great things happening around Cedar Springs again this weekend:
Veterans Day Celebration → A huge Chinook helicopter will be landing on Skinner Field at 11am, a memorial service at Veterans Memorial Park at 1pm, and a special American Legion flag raising ceremony at Metron at 3pm. Come honor our veterans.
Overflowing With Thanks → We’re kicking off a brand new series at Calvary Assembly of God, as we lead up to Thanksgiving Day. There is such a power when we live our lives focused on all of the blessings we have received. When thanksgiving is a lifestyle — not just a day — we’re living the way God intends. Join us at 10:30am on Sunday morning.
Courageous → The Cedar Springs Ministerial Association has partnered with the Kent Theatre to offer a special showing of Courageous on Monday, November 14, at 7pm. If you cannot make this one, this incredible movie will be shown throughout the weekend (check the website or Facebook page for exact times). Tickets are just $3.
I hope you have a great weekend relaxing and recharging for another productive week!
As we approaching Thanksgiving Day later this month, it is important for us to pause to consider a couple of important issues: (1) to whom/what am I thankful, and (2) why am I thankful.
In his letter to the church at Colossae, the Apostle Paul had a lot to say about thank-fullness. It is very instructive for us to see how being full of thanks builds our faith, gives us peace, and keeps us alert against joy-stealers.
I hope you can join me at Calvary Assembly of God over the next three Sundays as we explore all the benefits of living lives Overflowing With Thanks.
I noticed something last night at our Light The Night event: lots of people were smiling, and laughing, and enjoying themselves.
And I thought to myself, “Why don’t we do this more often?”
To think that just a blow-up inflatable, some fun carnival games, and candy could make people light up. Well, it was more than that. It was our amazing Calvary Assembly of God folks. They were the ones smiling first, and that brought out the smiles in everyone who came by.
This is why I say it all the time: I ♥ My Church!
Thanks Lindsay, Scott, Harrison, and Jeff for keeping everyone safe on the slide. And for your kind words and smiles that made everyone feel so welcome.
Thanks Jeff, Damian, Brandon, Sarah, and Crystal for making such simple carnival games so much fun. And thanks for your words of encouragement and smiles to everyone who came by to play.
Thanks Mindi, Kayla, and Betsy for passing out the candy, answering questions, and smiling at all our guests. You made them feel so welcomed.
Do you want to influence people? Here’s a simple suggestion: Smile more often!
And I have to pass along some other thanks as well:
- Del — you take amazing pictures!
- Inflatable Frenzy — you are so easy to work with.
- Esigns.com — you made us look good for a great price.
(I highly endorse these businesses. They are people of integrity and are very flexible and reasonably priced.)
Today is Halloween, and Calvary Assembly of God is going to be fully engaged with our city.
In Cedar Springs, the downtown businesses encourage families to come walk up and down Main Street, collect candy, and have fun. I know there are some who think Christians should have nothing to do with Halloween, or they come up with alternative activities for that evening.
So we’ll be right in the middle of it lighting the night with the love of Jesus for our neighbors. For the second year, we will have a huge inflatable slide, some carnival games, and lots and lots of candy. We want Cedar Springs to know that we love them.
I read an interesting article “What Christians Should Know About Halloween” (you can read the article by clicking here). I love the closing paragraph:
“For those who are still bothered by Halloween’s historical association with evil spirits, Martin Luther has some advice on how to respond to the devil: “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him for he cannot bear scorn.” Perhaps instead of fleeing the darkness in fear, we should view Halloween as an opportunity to mock the enemy whose power over us has been broken.”
The light of Jesus within us is so much greater than the darkness the devil may try to produce around us. Please pray for us as we let that light shine tonight.
I am so excited to invite you to a special night of worship. Dilip is a great friend of mine, and an incredibly gifted musician and song writer. His debut CD The Great Reversal will be released soon, and you are going to have a chance to hear these songs live!
Dilip will be presenting music from his album, and other worship songs, as we join together for a night of worship.
You will love his music, but you will especially appreciate his heart for worship. This is going to be an incredible night! Friday, October 28, at 7pm at Calvary Assembly of God.
Do you have plans for this weekend? If you’re around Cedar Springs this weekend, let me suggest a few great things you might be able to do:
1. Take a bag (or two) of groceries to North Kent Community Services. This is the last week of the county-wide food drive. Your food donation will help two food pantries right here in Cedar Springs.
2. Go see Courageous. The movie had a great opening weekend because it is a great movie!
3. Come to Calvary Assembly of God on Sunday morning. We’re starting a new series called Total Freedom, exploring the incredible freedom that comes through forgiveness. I cannot wait to experience this freedom with you on Sunday.
Charles II had a slight problem with unforgiveness
A couple of weeks ago I asked our church a simple question. So let me ask you the same thing: Anyone ever not been burned by someone, taken advantage of, or hurt by somebody else? Anyone? I didn’t think so. We’ve all been hurt, but the real issue is what we do with those hurts.
In January 1647, Oliver Cromwell captured King Charles I during the British Revolution. But a few months later, Charles escaped and managed to raise another army. In August 1648 Cromwell’s army defeated Charles’ army and once again Charles was taken prisoner. Cromwell had Charles tried for his crimes, and after the guilty verdict was issued, Charles I was executed. A total of 59 people signed his death warrant.
Eleven years later Cromwell’s son Richard had taken his place as Lord Protector of England, and there was great discontent with his leadership. As a result, the Loyalists were able to sweep Charles II into power. Charles II wanted the 59 death warrant signors put on trial, but 15 of them had already died. Charles II ordered their bodies exhumed, placed on trial, convicted, and then hung.
I’m no psychologist, but I think it’s safe to say that Charles II might have had a problem with unforgiveness!
When someone has hurt us, we tend to keep the pain alive. Sometimes even after that person is long-gone from our life, we still exhume the corpse of their injury, put them on trial, convict them, and punish them all over again. But this process is actually punishing YOU. As long as you keep the hurt alive, you are trapped in the past.
The key to freedom is easy and yet hard: forgiveness.
On Sunday I was answering questions that our congregation submitted, but we ran out of time. So I’m attempting to answer all of the questions. I thought this one might be worthy of some further conversation.
Another question that we didn’t get to in Sunday’s Q Series: Does it matter the genre of Christian music to be considered glorifying God?
I think music has been one of the most dividing factors in our churches. I think this is so because satan knows the power of music. (I believe that lucifer may have been the “worship leader” in Heaven before he rebelled and was cast out, but that’s a topic to cover another time.)
We don’t really know what the music in the Bible sounded like. We don’t have any of David’s musical scores, but we do have his lyrics preserved for us in the Psalms. And what heart-moving, God-focusing lyrics they are!
The bottom line is that musical notes or musical instruments are not “Christian” or “non-Christian.” They are tools. And those tools can be used to either glorify God or detract from God. The lyrics, on the other hand, are easy to hold up to a biblical standard. So although a style/genre of music may not be my favorite, I need to look through that to two things: (1) the lyrics—do they glorify God? and (2) the attitude of the singers/musicians—are they merely performing or are they exalting God?
I can speak personally for the worship team at Calvary Assembly of God. These talented musicians and singers truly have a heart for God. They only want Jesus to be seen every single time they are on the platform. So we carefully pick our music with the goal of only exalting our King. Sometimes they are modern choruses, sometimes they are traditional hymns, sometimes they are hymns slightly rearranged with a more modern feel. Whatever the genre, we only want God to be seen and heard and exalted in our musical selections.
Blessings,
Craig
Craig T. Owens 