Untamed (book review)

April 21, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

A friend introduced me to the writings of Alan Hirsch, and I’m so glad he did! Co-written with his wife Debra, Untamed resonated with me on so many levels.

Untamed is about discipleship the way it should be; not the way those in Christendom have made it. It’s about viewing our lives as an integrated whole; not the part-Christian, part-other roles in which we tend to operate. It’s about seeing the Church operate as a living, breathing, loving organism; not as an only-meets-once-a-week organization.

There were parts of this book that made me say, “Yes! That’s what I want to be a part of.” There were other parts that made me pause and say, “Hmmm, I never thought of it like that before.” And there were still other parts (honestly) that I said, “That’s a bit too radical for me to try right now.”

If you’re tired of clichéd “Christians” or the same-old-same-old “church,” Untamed will probably resonate with you. At the end of each chapter are some great discussion questions, which will help you begin to see discipleship in a new light.

If, however, you think the church and Christendom are doing just fine, then stay far away from Untamed, because you just might begin to think otherwise!

As for me, I loved this book!

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Costly Grace (book review)

March 29, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Jon Walker comes out swinging with his timely book Costly Grace. This book is subtitled “A contemporary view of Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship,” and it makes Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s challenging book come alive for a whole new generation.

“Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the Cross.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer

If you have previously read Bonhoeffer’s classic work, you will appreciate the way Jon makes The Cost Of Discipleship understandable to this generation. He does this with watering down Bonhoeffer’s tone at all.

If you haven’t read The Cost Of Discipleship, Jon’s book should be just the primer you need to dive into Bonhoeffer.

In either case, be prepared: Costly Grace is no easy read. You will probably feel like your toes are being stepped on, and that Jon (and Bonhoeffer) are being too unreasonably difficult. This is a serious read for serious disciples of Jesus Christ. So if you are ready to step into a more mature walk with Christ, Costly Grace is an excellent place to start.

I am an ACU Press/Leafwood Publishers book reviewer.

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Thursdays With Oswald—Broken And Crucified

February 24, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Broken

       We need to remember that we cannot train ourselves to be Christians; we cannot discipline ourselves to be saints; we cannot bend ourselves to the will of God: we have to be broken to the will of God.

From Facing Reality

Crucified

       To “crucify” means to put to death, not counteract, not sit on, not whitewash, but kill. If I do not put to death the things in me which are not of God, they will put to death the things that are of God.

From Biblical Ethics

Jesus said to His disciples, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it.”

Then Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

I’m trying to live broken and crucified. Will you join me in this daily pursuit?

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Buying Into It

February 8, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)

There is something basically wrong with our Christianity and our spirituality if we can carelessly presume that if we do not like a Biblical doctrine and choose not to “buy” it, there is no harm done.

Commandments which we have received from our Lord or from the apostles cannot be overlooked and ignored by earnest and committed Christians. God has never instructed us that we should weigh His desires for us and His commandments to us in the balances of our own judgment and then decide what we want to do about them.

…Of course you can walk out on it! God has given every one of us the power to make our own choices. …We have the power within us to reject God’s instructions—but where else shall we go? If we refuse His words, which way will we turn? If we turn from the authority of God’s Word, to whose authority do we yield? Our mistake is that we generally turn to some other human—a man with breath in his nostrils. —A.W. Tozer

Notice that Peter tells us being holy comes before doing holy things: “Be holy in all you do.”

  • I cannot do holy things unless I am holy.
  • I cannot be holy unless I have the life of the Holy One in me.
  • I cannot have the life of the Holy One in me unless I totally buy in to His Lordship.

I’m buying in to holiness today. How about you?

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Thursdays With Oswald—Disentangled

January 20, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Disentangled

       A disciple of Jesus must know from what he is to be disentangled. The disentanglement is from things which would be right for us but for the fact that we have taken upon us the vows of God. There is a difference between disentanglement for our own soul’s sake and disentanglement for God’s sake. We are apt to think only about being disentangled from the things which would ensnare us—we give up this and that, not for Jesus Christ’s sake, but for our own development. A worker has to disentangle himself from many things that would advantage and develop him but which would turn him aside from being broken bread and poured out wine in his Lord’s hands. We are not here to develop our own spiritual life, but to be broken for Jesus Christ’s sake.

From Approved Unto God

My prayer: Break me … disentangle me … pour me out for Your glory, O God.

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Building Blocks

April 5, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Whether you have been a follower of Jesus for years, or you’ve just invited Him into your life, there are important building blocks that can help this relationship grow stronger. Join us as we discuss the basic building blocks of a relationship with God over the next four Sundays…

April 11—Relationships. A satisfying relationship with God shows up in satisfying relationships with others. How do we make all our relationships better?

April 18—Bible Reading. Just what is this big book and how can we use it to help us every day?

April 25—Prayer. Does talking to God sound scary? It doesn’t have to be. In fact, it can be the best conversation ever!

May 2—The Holy Spirit. His role is probably the least understood, but the most vital, for our day-to-day lives.

We’d love to see you on Sundays at 10:30am.

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Don’t Just Sit There

March 26, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I’m convinced that in my pursuit of a deeper relationship with Christ, neutral is the most vulnerable position I can take.

I can pursue God with all I’ve got. Every day I can learn a little more what it means to love God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, and with all my strength.

Or I can make a decision that I’ve gone as far as I can in my relationship with Jesus. I can say, “I’m not willing to be stretched any further. I’m comfortable with where I am.” But when I get into this neutral position, I’m more likely to slide away from God than I am to move closer to Him. It’s hard to even stay where I was. Check this out:

BLESSED—HAPPY, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable—is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly—following their advice, their plans and purposes—nor stands submissive and inactive in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down to relax and rest where the scornful and the mockers gather.

It’s when I become inactive that I am vulnerable to ungodly counsel.

It’s when I sit down to relax that I can easily slip into the cynical banter of the scornful.

If I want to avoid the downward slide away from God, I can’t just sit still. I’ve got to be actively, passionately, wholeheartedly moving toward Him. Solomon wrote:

Make your ear attentive to skillful and godly Wisdom and incline and direct your heart and mind to understanding—applying all your powers to the quest for it.

Don’t just sit there! Keep on moving closer and closer to Jesus every day.

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Rethinking The Master’s Master Plan

December 1, 2008 — Craig T. Owens

master-planBetsy and my kids had a snow day today, so I took the opportunity to work from home too. I spent some time this afternoon reading some more of Robert Coleman’s excellent book The Master Plan Of Evangelism. Here’s a quote from this book which has stuck with me all day:

“If Sunday services and membership training classes are all that a church has to develop young converts into mature disciples, then they are defeating their own purpose by contributing to a false security, and if the new convert follows the same lazy example, it may ultimately do more harm than good. There is simply no substitute for getting with people, and it is ridiculous to imagine that anything less, short of a miracle, can develop strong Christian leadership.” [emphasis mine]

I need to prioritize my schedule so that my time is focused around people. I’m looking forward to Coffee With The Pastor tomorrow, where I’ll be able to spend some quality time with Barney, Dave, Elias, Jerry, and some of my other Starbucks friends who will be there. What about you? What are you doing to make sure you are “getting with people”?

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