Father’s Day

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God-Devoted Fathers

June 16, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

Here are a couple of great quotes from Andrew Murray that I shared with our Dads (and future Dads!) at Calvary Assembly of God this morning.

“God seeks a people on earth to do His will. The family is the great institution for this object; a believing and God-devoted father is one of the mightiest means of grace.”

“O God, teach me to realize fully what this parental faithfulness involves that You ask of me. I would make this the one object of my family life, to train my child to serve You. By my life, by my words, by my prayers, by gentleness and love, by authority and instruction, I would lead them in the way of the Lord. Be my helper, Lord. Above all, help me to remember that You have appointed this parental training for the fulfillment of Your purposes and that You have made provision for the grace to enable me to perform it. Let my faith envision Your undertaking for me in all that I must do to raise my children to love you. I ask all this in the name of Your Son. Amen.”

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Dads Are The Foundation

June 12, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

It’s been said (and I believe it’s absolutely correct), “As the family goes, so goes the society.” But I think it’s even more important to specify, “As the father goes, so goes the family.”

Dads are vital to the success of a family.

I know that’s a lot of responsibility to place on a father. God knows it too, so He has provided unique help for Dads to help them be the solid foundation for their families and for our societies.

Please join me at Calvary Assembly of God at 10:30am this Sunday for Father’s Day 2013 as we look at the help God has given to fathers to be successful as the godly foundation for their families.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, Dad, family, Father's Day, foundation, God's provision, success. Leave a Comment »

“The Bridge Builder”

June 17, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I shared this poem in my Father’s Day message this morning, and several folks have asked me to share it. I’m happy to do so!

An old man walking a lonesome road,

Came at the evening, cold and gray,

To a chasm vast and wide and deep.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim,

The rolling stream had no fears for him;

But he turned when safe on the other side,

And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow traveler near,

“You are wasting your strength with building here,

Your journey will end with the passing day,

You never again will pass this way,

You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,

Why build you this bridge at eventide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head,

“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,

“There followeth after me today,

A youth whose feet must pass this way.

The chasm that was naught to me,

To the fair headed youth may a pitfall be.

He too must cross in the twilight dim –

Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.” —W.A. Dromgoale

I am thankful for all of the fathers who said they would be courageous enough to be a bridge-builder for their kids! May God bless you as you follow through on this noble calling.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, Dad, father, Father's Day, poem, poetry, sermon. 1 Comment »

Weekend Review

June 20, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I feel so full after such a wonderfully full-filling weekend.

On Saturday morning our worship team helped kick-off Lifewalk 2011, by leading some worship songs during the registration time. I love doing spiritual battle alongside this team! It was a great way to remind everyone why we were there.

God gave us beautiful weather for Lifewalk! Along our route we stopped to pray at Cedar Spring City Hall, The Springs Church, Alpha Family Center, and Red Hawk school. When we returned to our starting point in Morely Park, we were greeted with the great news that Lifewalk had raised nearly $12,000!

I had the privilege of addressing the Lifewalk participants just before we released our balloons. I spoke from Ephesians 2:10, where we read that God created us in advance to do good works that would bring Him glory. Unfortunately, tens of millions of babies have been aborted before they had a chance to do their good works, so it is now up to us, the living, to redouble our efforts. We need to do not only the good works God prepared us to do, but also the good works of those aborted lives. It was a somber, yet empowering, reminder.

On Sunday morning I spoke to our Dads on Father’s Day. I told the story of Boaz the kinsman-redeemer from the book of Ruth. Boaz was a man motivated by God’s word, and a man who did not give in to culture’s pull. Boaz was also a picture of Jesus Christ as the ultimate Kinsman-Redeemer. I challenged our Dads to remember that they are the representation of Christ to their wives and kids.

The highlight of Sunday morning for me was watching all of our Dads serve Communion to the rest of the church. Powerful! What a reminder to all of us that Dads are to love and serve their families just as Christ loves and serves His Church.

To cap it all off, I got to have lunch with both my Dad and my kids. It was a very moving thing for me to not only honor my Dad, but to read the notes my kids had written to me. Part of what I wrote to my Dad was about the investment he made in my life. Then he and I both watched that investment being compounded in the lives of his grandkids. How awesome is that!

When I experience such a full weekend, only one thought dominates my mind: How blessed am I! I love living my life to honor my Heavenly Father, and I’m so grateful I get to share that life with so many other incredible people.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Alpha Family Center, Calvary Assembly of God, Ephesians, family, Father's Day, Lifewalk, pro-life. Leave a Comment »

June 16, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I love digging up stories in the Old Testament that are so timely for today! And I’ve got a great story to share with our men on Father’s Day.

It’s the story of a man who had the title kinsman-redeemer. Culturally, we don’t practice this anymore. But spiritually, the concepts are so on-target for today. I am really excited to share this with our men this Sunday, and then to watch our guys step up to the challenge of becoming a modern-day kinsman redeemer for the families.

If you’re in the area, I hope you will join us for a great morning.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Boaz, Calvary Assembly of God, Father's Day, sermon. Leave a Comment »

Homemade = Heartmade

June 22, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “I love you”?

My favorite Father’s Day gifts are the homemade, personalized cards that my children make for me. Throughout the years I’ve kept a number of those close to me as bookmarkers or framed reminders on my desk. To me homemade = heartmade.

Yesterday one of my children gave me a card which had this heart-tugging line: “I love you so very because you love me.” And then there was this P.S.: “Don’t stop loving.”

On Father’s Day or Mother’s Day or birthdays, it seems easy to express our love. After a hospital stay or a near-death experience, it seems required to express our love. And that’s as it should be. But what about all the “normal” days in between?

I believe one of the greatest gifts I can give my family is a personalized, “heartmade” gift that tells the recipient that I’m thinking about them. In other words, I need to be actively and deliberately finding ways to express my heartmade love to those close to me every day.

Of the 86,400 seconds I have today, it will only take me a few seconds to: