Ephesians | Craig T. Owens

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But Now

February 16, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

Remembering our past is so important. Forgetting where we’ve come from can make us insensitive to the feelings of others, it can make us falsely proud of what we assume we’ve accomplished for ourselves, and it can make us fearful that God cannot handle what’s coming next.

So God want us to remember two things: what we were, and what we are. In Ephesians the verb tense Paul uses literally says, “Keep on calling this to mind; keep on keeping it fresh in your thoughts” (Ephesians 2:11 & 12).

Keep on remembering what you WERE:

separate from Christ
excluded from citizenship
foreigners to the covenants of the promise
without hope
without God in the world (v. 12)

And then come two amazing words―BUT NOW (v. 13) keep on remember what you ARE:

brought near through the blood of Christ (v. 13)
able to access to the Father (v. 18)
no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people (v. 19)
members of God’s household (v. 19)
a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit (v. 22)

Constantly calling this to mind should produce three attitudes―

Thankful to God for His grace gifts to me.
Graceful to others who are separated from God now like I used to be.
Hopeful of the help Christ can bring through me to others.

We are continuing our study of the Book of Ephesians this coming Sunday. Please join us!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, citizenship, empathy, Ephesians, fear, God's presence, grace, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, hope, Jesus Christ, pride, remember, sermon, thankful, thought life. 3 Comments »

Sit Walk Stand [re-launch]

February 12, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

This coming Sunday we re-start a series at Calvary Assembly of God which we began last year called Sit Walk Stand: A Study In The Book Of Ephesians.

Why Ephesians? Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, who preached 232 sermons on this book to his packed-out church, said, “It is very difficult to speak of Ephesians in a controlled manner because of its greatness. Many have tried to describe it. One writer has described it as the crown and climax of Pauline theology. Another has said that it is the distilled essence of the Christian religion, the most authoritative and most consummate compendium of our holy Christian faith. What language! And it is by no means exaggerated.”

It is my desire that our congregation be as biblically literate as I can encourage and resource them to be. So Tom Kaastra, a 38-year veteran pastor, is going to co-teach with me again this year as we continue our attempt to master this powerful epistle.

The name of our series—Sit Walk Stand—comes from Watchman Nee, who wrote, “Of all Paul’s epistles, it is in Ephesians that we find the highest spiritual truths concerning the Christian life. The letter abounds with spiritual riches, and yet at the same time is intensely practical.”

Please join us this Sunday at 10:30am.

Whether you were with us last year or not, I posted some sermon recaps each week which will help prepare you as we re-launch this series. Click on the links below:

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: apostle Paul, Bible study, biblical literacy, Calvary Assembly of God, Ephesians, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, sermon, Tom Kaastra, Watchman Nee. 3 Comments »

More Ministers Needed In The Church

July 25, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

I always get a bit nervous when someone calls me “the minister of Calvary Assembly of God.” I am not the minister; I’m the pastor and a minister.

There’s a big difference!

A pastor is one of the gifts Jesus gives the church to equip lots of ministers (see Ephesians 4:7-13). A pastor is not the minister, but a minister-equipper.

Check out this quote from Oswald Chambers—

“Notice the gifts that the Apostle Paul says Jesus sent after He ascended—viz. apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers—‘for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.’ The test of a preacher or teacher is that as we listen to him we are built up in our faith in Jesus Christ and in our intimacy with Him; otherwise he is not a gift from God. Today we are apt to test the preacher on the ground of his personality and not by his building up of the saints.” (emphasis added)

I don’t want to be put on a pedestal as the minister. I want Jesus to be exalted. This will only happen when all the gifts to the church—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers—are equipping the entire church to minister.

What do you think?

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: apostle Paul, Calvary Assembly of God, church, Ephesians, equipping, gifts, Jesus Christ, minister, Oswald Chambers, Pastor, video. 2 Comments »

Altar To Alter

June 30, 2014 — 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.

The process of sanctification—or as I like remember the word: saint-ification—is the process whereby the Holy Spirit develops Christlike character in us. His process is immediate, personalized, and ongoing. In other words, the Spirit is intimately and immediately involved in every aspect of our lives.

Christlikeness in us is described in the Bible with phrases like…

Being made new in the attitude of your minds; and putting on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:23-24).
Conformed to the likeness of God’s Son (Romans 8:29).

The Holy Spirit is often portrayed as fire. In fact, the Bible says that Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11). This is because in order for Christlike character to be formed in us, that character will have to be forged in us. Forged in the Spirit’s fire.

Look at two examples:

Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph’s character (Psalm 105:19).
Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered (Hebrews 5:8).

Here’s what I’ve learned—

We must altar our lives so that the Holy Spirit can alter our lives.

Unless we yield to what the Holy Spirit wants to do with us, He cannot and will not bring about the changes that will lead to more Christlikeness being revealed in us.

It may be painful to altar our lives, but the apostle Paul says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

You altar, and then watch the Holy Spirit alter your life in a way that reveals God’s glory!

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: altar, apostle Paul, attitude, character, character development, Christlike, Ephesians, God's glory, Gospel of Matthew, Hebrews, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Joseph, Pentecost, Psalm, Romans, sanctification. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

June 17, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

“A spirit of thankfulness is so at odds with a spirit of coarse jesting that when one rises, the other falls [Ephesians 5:4]. And a spirit that yearns to edify is so at odds with foul talk that when one rises, the other falls [Ephesians 4:29].” —John Piper

“Love for others is the overflow of God-given security for the good of others. It signifies that we have the resources to care about others because God cares for us.” —John Piper

British prime minister David Cameron said recently that “our religion is now the most persecuted religion around the world.” Read this post about The War On Christians.

The Assemblies of God has now shown membership growth for 24 consecutive years, and its attendance grew more in 2013 than the US population did! Check out these God-glorifying stats.

“Let anger be guarded against. If it cannot, however, be averted, let it be kept within bounds. For indignation is a terrible incentive to sin. It disorders the mind to such an extent as to leave no room for reason. The first thing, therefore, to aim at, if possible, is to make tranquility of character our natural disposition by constant practice, by desire for better things, by fixed determination.” —Ambrose of Milan

“There is no true comfort for anyone on this earth except that of the Holy Spirit. This is why you need Him abiding in you. He alone can lay you down at night, as in a warm bed, and fill your heart with perfect peace. He alone can truly comfort you in times of pain and sorrow. He is the one who will assure you, ‘This comfort is not just temporary—it is eternal!’” —David Wilkerson

Guess what? Being popular in high school may hurt you in the long run.

Surprise (or not)! The biggest tax delinquents are US government employees.

Just One Question

March 24, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Paul makes it quite clear in Ephesians 2 what we are apart from Jesus Christ:

Dead in our transgressions and sins (v. 1)
Following the ways of the world and selling out to satan’s dominion (v. 2a)
In obstinate opposition to God (v. 2b)
Living only for our own wicked cravings (v. 3a)
The objects of God’s righteous wrath (v. 3b)

The penalty is a death sentence. Yet God made Jesus—the perfect, sinless One—to be sin in our place so that God’s judgment would fall on Jesus Christ instead of us. That is what Paul describes as God’s great love and rich mercy (v. 4).

Mercy means not getting the punishment we should have received.

It would have been enough if God stopped there by showing mercy, but He didn’t! God brought us back to life, saved us from eternal damnation, and raised us up with Christ to a position of honor (vv. 5, 8-9). What did this? God’s amazing grace!

Grace means getting blessings that we never should have received.

God did this in order that we might be trophies of the incomparable riches of His grace and His kindness… (v. 7).

Gordon MacDonald said, “The world can do almost anything as well as or better than the church. You need not be a Christian to build houses, feed the hungry, or heal the sick. There is only one thing the world cannot do. It cannot offer grace.”

So just one question…

What does the world learn about God’s grace by watching you and me?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible, BibleGateway, Calvary Assembly of God, Ephesians, Gordon MacDonald, grace, Jesus Christ, mercy, punishment, righteousness, satan, sermon, sin. 1 Comment »

Atomic Spiritual Power

March 17, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

I was so excited while listening to Tom Kaastra’s message in our series on Ephesians yesterday! To really reflect on the power God wants to see operating in our lives is almost mind-blowing!

In Paul’s lengthy prayer for the Christians in Ephesus, he three times says he is praying, “For this reason” (Ephesians 1:15; 3:1; 3:14). And every one of the reasons has to do with power or strength. In fact, Paul uses four Greek words for power in his prayer to try to convey the magnitude of God’s awesome power. This power can be summed up two ways:

Quantity (resurrection power): That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead… (1:19-20).
Quality (love power): And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power… to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love surpasses knowledge… (1:17-19).

Notice that this power only comes to me through the Holy Spirit, and resides in my “inner being” (3:16) and “within us” (3:20). It is power waiting to be released!

Think of this Holy Spirit power in terms of atomic energy power. The awesome power in the atom has been around since Genesis 1:1, but it was hidden from human awareness until July 16, 1945, at 5:29:45 AM, when the first atomic bomb was detonated. People couldn’t release the power because they didn’t know that it was there! In similar fashion, Paul wants us to know what sort of atomic spiritual power is available to us.

Paul’s prayer is that we will intimately know this power (1:18), and that we will release this power (Ephesians 3:20; Colossians 1:29; Philippians 2:12-13). The Holy Spirit is not released through dormant people, but through people who are moving toward Him and willing to let Him move through them.

There are three kinds of people in the world. Those who are…

1. …designed by God to be adopted into His family and to do great things, but are dead apart from Him.

2. …designed by God to be adopted into His family and to do great things, adopted into His family, but not using the power He has provided.

3. ..designed by God to be adopted into His family and to do great things, adopted into His family, and fully operating in His awesome atomic-like power.

In what category are you? What’s holding you back for all that God has planned for you?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Albert Einstein, apostle Paul, atomic energy, Bible, Calvary Assembly of God, Ephesians, God's power, God's strength, Holy Spirit, Scripture, sermon. 1 Comment »

Hyper-Mega Dynamite

March 10, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

One of my favorite scenes in the movie Elf is when Buddy is discovering all the amazing human things in New York City. In a public restroom he stands up on the toilet in his stall to shout to the person occupying the stall next to him, “Have you seen these toilets? They’re ginormous!” It was so amazing to him that gigantic wouldn’t cut it, and neither would enormous, so he combined them together … it’s ginormous!!

When I read Paul’s prayer for the Christians in Ephesus (see Ephesians 1:17-23), I get the sense that even the well-educated apostle was having difficulty finding enough adjectives to describe the amazing inheritance we have in Christ. He mentions things like…

Out-of-this-world wisdom,
divine revelation,
deep and intimate knowledge of God,
a flooding of heavenly light,
supernatural hope, and
an overflowing, incalculable, inestimable, eternally-compounding inheritance!

But then he comes to God’s power and his vocabulary almost fails him. Like Buddy the elf, he starts putting words together to try to convey the vast majesty of this power.

Most Bible translations say something like incomparably great power. But when you look at the Greek you see prefixes like hyper! and mega! and you realize that Paul is saying it’s so beyond gigantic or enormous … it’s ginormous!!

The word for power is “dynamis,” and many people have said that God’s power is like dynamite. But they have it exactly backwards! Dynamite has only been around for 200 years. When dynamite was created it was named after Christians who were living in the hyper-mega, ginormous, dynamic power of Jesus Christ. Christians’ power wasn’t named after dynamite; dynamite was named after empowered Christians!

This is the power in which Christians can live everyday in every way! This is the power God has for you! If you’re living in anything less than hyper-mega dynamite power, perhaps you should pray for yourself the prayer that Paul prayed for us!

We’ll be continuing our series in Ephesians this coming Sunday, and I’d love for you to join us.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: apostle Paul, Bible, Calvary Assembly of God, Christian, dynamite, empowerment, Ephesians, Ephesus, God's power, God's Word, Holy Spirit, hope, inheritance, Jesus Christ, prayer, Revelation, Scripture, sermon, vocabulary, wisdom. 1 Comment »

Adopted By God

March 3, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

We have been working through our series on the Book of Ephesians, and I am so excited to share the speaking responsibilities with Tom Kaastra. Tom pastored a church in the Detroit area for nearly 40 years, and he is bringing such a richness of knowledge to this series!

“If you had one son in whom you found unspeakable delight, would it not be normal as a father to want many more? It is exactly so with the Eternal Father, Who by nature and choice, has desired and purposed to have a vast family of human-divine sons who are just like His Only Begotten Son.” —DeVern Fromke

The opening section of Ephesians 1 is just loaded with words of God’s delight:

…it gave Him great pleasure… (v. 5)
…the glorious grace He has poured out on us… (v. 6)
…He is so rich in kindness and grace… (v. 7)
…He has showered His kindness on us… (v. 8)
…His own good pleasure… (v. 9)

Not only is God’s delight so ample in this section, but so is be the praise toward God which should be bursting out from us:

…all praise to God… (v. 3)
…so we praise God… (v. 6)
…we bring praise and glory to God… (v. 12)
…we would praise and glorify Him… (v. 14)

What is this thing in which God is so delighted, and for which we should be so filled with praise?

It is quite simply this: God has revealed Himself to us as a loving Father, His Son has made it possible for us to come into God’s family, and the Holy Spirit has given us the assurance that we have been adopted by our Heavenly Father.

That’s right … God’s plan was to adopt you into His family. When did He come up with this idea?

…before He made the world… (v. 4)
…God decided in advance to adopt us… (v. 5)
…a plan to fulfill His own good pleasure… (v. 9)
…He choose us in advance and He makes everything work out according to His plan… (v. 11)
…He promised long ago… (v. 13)

God loves YOU so much that He had a plan from before the beginning of time to adopt YOU into His family. That’s what Jesus made possible through His death on the Cross, and what the Holy Spirit is constantly trying to reveal to YOU!! WOW!!

Please join us next Sunday as we continue our study on this amazing book in the Bible.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: adoption, Bible, Calvary Assembly of God, Cross, delight, DeVern Fromke, Ephesians, God's glory, God's joy, God's pleasure, God's purpose, grace, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, kindness, praise, salvation, Scripture, sermon. 1 Comment »

What God Will You Choose?

February 24, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

My friend Chuck and I have a sort of shorthand when we talk. We’ve been through so many experiences together, that now just a single word can bring to our minds the fullness of that time, with all of its tears and laughter. Someone listening to one of our conversations might not get the full impact, but we sure do!

It’s the same way when we read one of the Apostle Paul’s letters. He is writing to a church or an individual with whom he had a rich, personal experience. So when he alludes to something, those friends who went through that experience with him recall all of the fullness. When reading the letter to the church at Ephesus, you can experience some of that fullness by reading about Paul’s experience in that city in Acts 19.

In Acts 19 you will meet the followers of Jesus who were already there and see them get baptized in the Holy Spirit … watch Paul teach for three months in the synagogue before the Jewish troublemakers run him out … see Paul lecture for the next three years in the Hall of Tyrannus, so that everyone in that province heard the Word of God … see how God authenticated Paul’s ministry with miracles … experience those who tried to counterfeit what Paul was doing … see many in that city turn from their witchcraft and idol worship … and finally experience the tumult of a near-riot started by the merchants who were losing their income on sales of mythological trinkets because so many were turning to Christ.

With this backdrop, you can then understand why Paul uses such specific language in the opening greeting of his letter to Ephesus (see Ephesians 1:1-3). By doing so he is contrasting the followers of Jesus with the followers of Artemis—

Christians for whom God has a specific plan (“by the will of God” [1:1a]; see also 1:4 and 2:10) versus Artemis’ followers who felt like they had no choice (Acts 19:26).
Christians who are called saints (set apart for God’s special use) and faithful (trusting Jesus implicitly [1:1b]) versus those followers of Artemis who are self-serving (Acts 19:24, 25).
Christians who experience God’s grace and peace (1:2) versus those followers of Artemis who did not even know why they were there (Acts 19:32).

But the most specific language is in Ephesians 1:3—Praise be to THE God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (emphasis added)….

Not “a” god, but “THE” God.
Not a god that needs to be appeased, but THE loving Father.
Not a god that may or may not be able to respond, but OUR Lord Jesus Christ Who overcame death, hell and the grave so that our sins can be forgiven!

The question Paul invites the Ephesians to consider is the same question we must consider: