“‘Before this faith came, we were held prisoners…locked up until faith should be revealed’ (Galatians 3:23). God still causes us to be ‘locked up until faith’ is learned. Our own nature, circumstances, trials, and disappointments all serve to keep us submissive and ‘locked up’ until we see that the only way out is His way of faith. … Are you in some terrible trouble? Have you experienced some distressing disappointment, sorrow, or inexpressible loss? Are you in a difficult situation? Cheer up! You have been ‘locked up’ to faith. Accept your troubles in the proper way and commit them to God. Praise Him ‘that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him’ (Romans 8:28) and that He ‘acts on behalf of those who wait for Him’ (Isaiah 64:4).” —Charles Henry Parkhurst
Locked Up On Purpose
October 6, 2016 — Craig T. Owens11 More Quotes From “Culture”
September 28, 2016 — Craig T. Owens
A.W. Tozer wrote almost 50 years ago, but his words to the church still ring true today. Check out my review of Culture, and then enjoy some additional quotes from this book.
“To preserve life the physician and the druggist use words of fixed meaning common to both. How much more should the pulpit and the pew have a clear understanding about the words of eternal life. The modern effort to popularize the Christian faith has been extremely damaging to that faith. The purpose has been to simplify truth for the masses by using the language of the masses instead of the language of the church. It has not succeeded, but has added to rather than diminished religious confusion.”
“The hope of the church yet lies in the purity of her theology, that is, her beliefs about God and man and the relation to each other. These beliefs have been revealed to her by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the sacred Scriptures. Everything there is clear-cut and accurate. We dare not be less than accurate in our treatment of anything so precious.”
“I think we make two mistakes in our attitude toward our Christian leaders, one is not being sufficiently grateful to them and the other in following them too slavishly.”
“Today we evangelicals are showing signs that we are becoming too rich and too prominent for our own good. With a curious disregard for the lessons of history we are busy fighting for recognition by the world and acceptance by society.”
“That terrible zone of confusion so evident in the whole life of the Christian community could be cleared up in one day if the followers of Christ would begin to follow Christ instead of each other.”
“The difficulty we modern Christians face is not misunderstanding the Bible, but persuading our untamed hearts to accept its plain instructions.”
“Our churches these days are filled (or one-quarter filled) with a soft breed of Christian that must be fed on a diet of harmless fun to keep them interested. About theology they know little. Scarcely any of them have read even one of the great Christian classics, but most of them are familiar with religious fiction and spine-tingling films. No wonder their moral and spiritual constitution is so frail.”
“To accept the call of Christ changes the returning sinner indeed, but it does not change the world. The wind still blows toward hell, and the man who is walking in the opposite direction will have the wind in his face. And we had better take this into account when we ponder on spiritual things.”
“Christianity’s scramble for popularity today is an unconscious acknowledgment of spiritual decline.”
“The desire to stand well with our fellow man is a natural one, and quite harmless up to a point, but when that desire becomes so all-consuming that we cannot be happy apart from the praises of man, it is no longer harmless, it is sinful in itself and injurious in its effects.”
“A Christian’s standing before God does not depend upon his standing before men. A high reputation does not make a man dearer to God, nor does the tongue of the slanderer influence God’s attitude toward His people in anyway.”
To read some additional quotes I shared from Culture, click here. You may also follow me on Twitter and Tumblr to read quotes which I share daily from Tozer and other notable thinkers.
Religious Liberty In School
September 6, 2016 — Craig T. Owens
As our students are heading back to their schools, it is a great time to be reminded of the religious liberties they have while in school. With all of the talk of so-called “separation of church and state,” I think many parents and students are reluctant to say anything that sounds remotely Christian, for fear of getting in trouble with the powers-that-be.
But we don’t have to tread so carefully!
Gateways To Better Education has some great resources. I ordered a couple hundred of their “Free To Speak” pamphlets. I gave them to our school superintendent, and as many parents as as I could. This short pamphlet summarizes the US Department of Education’s guidelines on what is allowed in school. In short, the Seven Freedoms are:
- Students can pray, read their Bibles or other religious material, and talk about their faith at school.
- Students can organize prayer groups and religious clubs, and announce their meetings like any other club.
- Students can express their faith in their class work and homework.
- Teachers can organize prayer groups with other teachers.
- Students may be able to go off campus to have religious studies during school hours.
- Students can express their faith at a school event.
- Students can express their faith at a graduation ceremony.
Don’t be intimidated. Don’t be uninformed. Know your rights as a US citizen.
Trust The Bridge
August 25, 2016 — Craig T. OwensFrom Corrie ten Boom’s book I Stand At The Door And Knock…
“Once I was waiting at a very primitive bridge in New Zealand. We were traveling by car, but we didn’t dare to cross. First, one of the men in the car went to investigate if the bridge was strong enough. It appeared to be strong enough, even though it was very primitive, and we crossed without a problem.
“This man was not investigating our trust in the bridge. Very often, we tend to look at our faith, and we know our faith is big and strong, or weak and small. But we shouldn’t investigate our faith; we should investigate the Bridge. We should not rely on ourselves, but on Him. And when we look to Jesus, we know that He is strong.” —Corrie ten Boom (emphasis added)
8 Quotes From “Today’s Moment Of Truth”
August 24, 2016 — Craig T. Owens
There is so much excellent content to digest in each day’s reading from Today’s Moment Of Truth. Be sure to check out my book review by clicking here. Below are th first set of quotes I’m sharing from this book.
“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.” —Robert Jastsrow, founding director of NASA’s Goddard Institute For Space Studies
“As astronomers have discovered, our sun and moon are much more exceptional than once thought. Our sun is far from ordinary; it has exactly the right mass and composition and is the ideal distance from the earth to enable life on our planet. If it were much smaller, its luminosity wouldn’t allow the high-efficiency photosynthesis necessary in plants; if it were much closer, the water would boil away from the planet’s surface. Similarly, our moon is just far enough away and just the right size to stabilize the Earth’s tilt. Without the moon’s stabilizing presence, the Earth would experience wild temperature swings, with devastating consequences for life.” —Lee Strobel
“I think people who believe that life emerged naturalistically need to have a great deal more faith than people who reasonably infer that there’s an Intelligent Designer. —Walter Bradley, co-author of The Mystery Of Life’s Origin
“An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going.” —Francis Crick, Nobel Prize winner
“It is my science that drove me to the conclusion that the world is much more complicated than can be explained by science. It was only through the supernatural that I can understand the mystery of existence.” —Allan Rex Sandage, cosmologist
“The beginning seems to present insuperable difficulties unless we agree to look on it as frankly supernatural.” —Sir Arthur Eddington
“Secular scientists often talk as though life came about through this formula: Matter + Energy + Time = Life. However, when scientists go into their labs and try to produce life, they add another ingredient—one they often don’t think about. The formula they really use is: Matter + Energy + Time + Ideas = Life.
“In other words, they’re not just throwing all of the ingredients into a blender, switching it to the highest setting, and hoping life will pop out at the end. Rather, they’re applying the best of scientific knowledge to selecting the elements necessary for living matter as well as the conditions that will be conducive for life to flourish.
“Putting it another way, they’re trying to replicate what God did. And if they finally succeed, it’ll only serve to reinforce what the Bible says—that God created life.” —Dr. A.E. Wilder-Smith
“When this church service is over, I’m heading to the airport to fly back home. But it’s not enough for me to sit in the terminal and believe that airplanes fly. Just acknowledging the soundness of aviation science will never get me home. I have to go beyond mere belief that airplanes fly to a personal belief in the particular airplane that’s heading to my city—demonstrated by climbing on board. It’s that active trust that will ultimately get me where I want to go. Similarly, we all need to go beyond merely believing that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the Cross for our sins. We must take the next step and trust in Him personally, asking Him to forgive our sins and to lead our lives.” —Mark Mittelberg
If you would like to know when I post more quotes from Today’s Moment Of Truth, you may enter your email address in the form to the right, and you will be notified by email as soon as new content is available.
Also be sure to follow me on Twitter and Tumblr, where I will be sharing quotes from this book, along with lots of other material I’ve been studying.
Notes From The Global Leadership Summit
August 15, 2016 — Craig T. OwensI had an amazing time last week at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. Every year I came away with some many thoughts, and a brand new passion for the various leadership roles in which I get to serve.
Below are just a few of my notes that I jotted down during an intense two days.
Bill Hybels—The Lens Of Leadership
“Everybody wins when a leader gets better.”
“Armed with enough humility, leaders can learn from anyone.”
Hybels discussed four leadership lenses:
1. Passionate leader (depicted by vibrant bright red frames)
- They understand unbridled passion in leadership.
- “Passion is like protein for the team.”
- A motivated worked will outperform an unmotivated worker by 40%.
- People are more motivated by working for a passion-filled leader than they are by compensation or perks.
- Passion comes from a mountain-top dream, or a valley-deep frustration of current settings.
2. People leader (cool frames, but cracked lenses)
- An organization will only be as healthy as the top leader wants it to be.
- This world needs more pastors of businesses, factories, medical offices, military units, etc.
3. Performance leader (self-adjusting glasses)
- Leaders ask: what progress should be made? how do we measure this? what doesn’t need to be measured?
- Every worker wants to know how they are doing. For the leader, it’s cruel to hire someone and never let them know how they’re doing. Every staff member should get an update at least every six months.
4. Legacy leader (sunglasses with a rearview mirror [cyclist])
- Every once in awhile we need to look behind to see what legacy we’re leaving behind.
- Leaders should reflect on this annually.
- If my leadership assignment were to end today, what legacy would I leave?
Alan Mulally—CEO Boeing and Ford Motor Company
An average commercial airline has 4 million parts!
- People first
- Include everyone
- Create a compelling vision
- Present a workable strategy
- Set clear performance goals
- Relentless implementation
- Share lots of data
- “Over-communicate the plan and the current status against the plan.”
- Instill a positive can-do attitude
- Keep your emotional resilience
- Have fun
Melinda Gates—Gates Foundation
Melinda says of herself, “I am an impatient optimist. We are changing the world, but we need to change it faster.”
“At the end of the day, you have to hear the cries of those in need, let your heart break and act in courage.”
Jossy Chacko—Empart
“All of us have been entrusted with something. What are we doing to leverage it?”
In thinking about the parable of the talents … “To Jesus, faithfulness is not just sitting with what you have been given, but multiplying what you have been given. God’s mission is not maintaining.”
“Playing it safe is not enough for a follower of Jesus Christ.”
Three principles for expanding our leadership reach:
1. Enlarge your vision
- “When people hear my vision, they should know the size of my God.”
- “An enlarged vision should keep us driven.”
- “Do not be confused about what people say about your vision; trust what God has said to you.”
2. Empower your people
- “Leadership is about taking wise chances and giving people opportunities.”
- “Your leadership reach will be determined by your empowerment choices.”
- Three things to keep in mind: (1) Focus on building their character before empowering them; (2) Empowerment has to be through relationship; and (3) Make sure we have agreed on the right outcomes, and have the right way to measure them.
3. Embrace risk
- Faith = risk. Without faith it is impossible to please God = without taking risks it is impossible to please God.
- Paradigms to be changed: (1) See risk as your friend to love, not as your enemy to be feared; (2) See comfort and safety as your enemies; and (3) Increase your pain threshold.
- “Your leadership capacity is in direct relationship to your pain threshold.”
- “Don’t allow the fear of losing what we have to lose what God has in store for you.”
- “By me not taking risks, who is missing out?”
Dr. Travis Bradberry—TalentSmart
All inputs into the brain travel through the limbic system first (emotional center) before the inputs travel to the frontal cortex. The EI (emotional intelligence) center is in the front of the brain, just above the left eye.
Only 36% of people are able to accurately identify their emotions as they happen.
EQ (the Emotional Quotient that measures emotional intelligence) is not IQ.
EQ can be improved all throughout life.
Four components of emotional intelligence:
1. Self-awareness: knowing my emotions, and knowing my tendencies. I need to lean into my discomfort if I want to improve.
2. Self-management: what I do with this increased self-awareness. This is not “stuffing” my feelings. The biggest mistake is only trying to manage negative emotions; positive emotions need to be managed too.
3. Social awareness: focusing more on others than on myself.
4. Relationship management: using the first three skills in concert. Seeing how my behavior is affecting the other person, and then adjusting accordingly.
How to increase my EQ:
- Control stress—stress under control is healthy; chronic stress is unhealthy. Gratitude reduces the stress hormone cortisol.
- Clean up my sleep hygiene—sleep cleans up toxic hormones in the brain. To get better sleep: (1) Don’t take any kind of sleeping pill; and (2) Reduce “blue lights” in the evening.
- Reduce my caffeine input—especially after noon.
Patrick Lencioni—Author
Three qualities of an ideal team player:
1. Humble
- Lacking self-confidence is not humility.
- “Denying skills and downplaying abilities is not humility.”
2. Hungry
- Strong work ethic
- Driving hard
3. Smart
- Not intellectual smarts, but people smarts = EQ
“To develop people, we have to have the courage to humbly and constantly talk to people about their ‘stuff.’”
Chris McChesney—Franklin Covey
Rahm Charan asked:
- Q: Do leaders struggle more with strategy or execution? A: Execution.
- Q: Are leaders more educated in strategy or execution? A. Strategy.
“The hardest thing a leader will ever do is drive a strategy that changes someone’s behavior.”
There are four disciplines for making changes in human behavior:
1. Focus
- “Focus on the wildly important.”
- If a team focuses on 2-3 goals, they are likely to get them done. But if there are 4-10 goals, momentum is killed. At 11+ goals, the team is going backward.
- We narrow the focus by coming up with a WIG: wildly important goal (this lives at the intersection of ‘really important’ and ‘not going to happen’).
2. Leverage
- “What are the fewest number of battles necessary to win the war?”
- “When you want to go big, don’t think big, think narrow.”
- One WIG per team at the same time. Everything else is in sustainment mode.
- Make goals like this—“From x to y by when.”
3. Engagement
- “The biggest driver of engagement is when people feel like they’re winning.”
- “Do the people who work for me feel like they’re playing a winnable game?”
4. Accountability
- Everyone needs to answer: “What are the things I do that have the biggest impact on the WIG?”
- After sharing the scoreboard, allow people to determine what they need to do next. The people need to determine their own next moves, not the leader. The leader pulls this out of people.
Erin Meyer—INSEAD
On The Culture Map communication is divided into Low vs. High Context:
- Low = feel we don’t have the same context or relationship. We feel we need to explain things very simply and explicitly.
- High = we assume we have a larger body of shared reference points. We feel communication is more implicit or nuanced.
Anglo-Saxon countries are typically low context.
Latin American are mid-low.
Asian countries are usually high context.
In low context we tend to nail things down in writing, where in high context we leave things more open to later interpretation.
“Context impacts communication. … We need to read both the messages ‘in the air’ as well as the explicitly stately messages.”
“In a high context culture, repeat things less, ask more questions, learn to ‘read the air.’”
John Maxwell—Author
“Good leaders lift.”
“You have to find the people before you lead the people.”
“The one thing leaders have to get right—they must intentionally add value to people every day.”
Five things that intentionally adds value to people:
- Value people—“God values people I don’t know; He even value people I don’t like.” “Are we going to spend our lives connecting with people, or correcting them?”
- Think of ways to add value to people—“Intentional living is thinking upfront on how to help people.”
- Look for ways to add value to people.
- Do things that add value to people.
- Encourage others to add value to people.
If you attended the GLS, please share in the comments below something amazing / challenging / paradigm-busting that you learned. Let’s all keep on learning!
John Piper On Defeating Lust
August 2, 2016 — Craig T. Owens
“Faith is not content with ‘fleeting pleasures.’ It is ravenous for joy. And the Word of God says, ‘In Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore’ (Psalm 16:11). So faith will not be sidetracked into sin. It will not give up so easily in its quest for maximum joy.
“The role of God’s Word is to feed faith’s appetite for God. And, in doing this, it weans my heart away from the deceptive taste of lust.
“At first, lust begins to trick me into feeling that I would really miss out on some great satisfaction if I followed the path of purity. But then I take up the sword of the Spirit and begin to fight. …
“As I pray for my faith to be satisfied with God’s life and peace, the sword of the Spirit carves the sugar coating off the poison of lust. I see it for what it is. And by the grace of God, its alluring power is broken.” —John Piper
Poetry Saturday—Pressed
July 30, 2016 — Craig T. Owens
Pressed beyond measure ; yes, pressed to great length.Pressed into living a Christ-life outpoured. —Annie Johnson Flint
6 Quotes From “The Fi5th Gospel”
July 28, 2016 — Craig T. Owens
I have been watching the One Minute Apologist videos from Bobby Conway for quite awhile, and find them very helpful. Recently I finished a reading plan in YouVersion based on Bobby’s book The Fi5th Gospel. Here are a few quotes that especially caught my attention.
“If I am the only Gospel people will ever experience are they experiencing the true Gospel?”
“At no other time in human history has God so plainly and blatantly revealed Himself than at Calvary. At no point has He so graphically uncovered His heart for mankind. It was there, on a hill outside Jerusalem, the Messiah bled for us, suffering hellish agony and sin-induced banishment, all the while enduring the brutal wrath of a holy and righteous God.”
“The exclamation point to this graphic love letter to us was the resurrection—Jesus’ conquering moment of triumph over sin, satan, and the grave. This is what Christians are all about right? It’s how we are saved. Take away the Cross and we’re no different from any other religious idea. It’s Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. Strip away all the modern church fluff and this is what you find at the core of our faith. It’s essential. Nonnegotiable. Undeniable. It’s what makes us who we are. It’s what makes Christians ‘Christian.’ And it’s why Jesus is the answer to all of life’s deepest issues.”
“The sacrifice [God] requires isn’t death on a cross, but rather death to our pride and fear of what other might think. God just wants us to be proud of Jesus and what He has done for us. He wants us to be unashamed of His Son.”
“Though we were originally created in God’s image, God’s reflection in us was marred in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned. And though His image wasn’t completely erased, it was defaced and tarnished. When you trusted in Christ, the Holy Spirit began a beautiful work of ‘image restoration’ in you; masterfully remaking you to more accurately reflect God’s virtue. He began sculpting, forming, and transforming your character to better display Christ to the world. You become His image-bearer, and His ongoing work in your life distinguishes you from the world. This is a lifelong process, by the way, and one God is committed to completing.”
“None of us will ever perfectly represent God’s character. As long as we’re on this earth, we’ll have imperfections. And it’s these imperfections that some unbelievers are quick (and happy) to point out and expose. But there is value in listening to what others say, of taking an honest look in the mirror, of stepping into an unbeliever’s shoes to see what they perceive about Jesus and His bride. Think of it as a spiritual awareness-building exercise.”
Poetry Saturday—God Is Sufficient
July 23, 2016 — Craig T. Owens
It is easy to love Him when the blue is in the sky, My most-viewed posts
Craig T. Owens 