First Advent | Craig T. Owens

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6 Facts About Angels

December 7, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

Angels play a fairly visible role in the First Advent story. As a result, we can begin to piece together some facts about angels from the biblical accounts. In my series on The Carols Of Christmas, I was looking at Angels From The Realms Of Glory, and there is information about the angels in this carol that is well-support from the Scripture.

Angels were created before the Earth was created, and they celebrated as God created our universe (Job 38:4-7). The Christmas carol says, “ye who sang Creation’s story now proclaim Messiah’s birth,” which we see in Luke 2:8-14.
Angels are messengers sent from God, and they carry a message from God to turn people toward God (Daniel 10:12; Matthew 1:20-23; Luke 1:11-20, 26-38). In the Christmas carol they remind us to leave our contemplations and “seek the great Desire of nations.”
Angels are not to be worshiped, because they are created beings. Lucifer’s desire to be worshipped is what led to his rebellion against God and expulsion from Heaven (Isaiah 14:13-14). And he still tries to appear today as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).
Angels long to look into the Gospel that humans can know by personal experience (1 Peter 1:12).
Angels know that Christ’s First Advent is a reminder of His Second Advent (Acts 1:10-11; see also 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
We have been given an angelic responsibility to tell others about Christ’s First and Second Advents (notice that the messengers in the churches are called angels in Revelation 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14; 22:16). The carol reminds us that it’s “all creation” (that includes us!) that joins the angels in praising God.

One of the biggest lessons we need to learn from this Christmas carol, and the corresponding verses about angels, is that we aren’t just celebrating the First Advent. We are anticipating and looking forward to the Second Advent as well!

Next Sunday we will be continuing our look at the rich messages in the familiar Christmas carols. Please join me!

In the video below, we had some slight technical difficulties. But it clears up about the 5-minute mark, so hang in there!

If you have missed any of the messages in our series The Carols Of Christmas, you can find the full list by clicking here.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 1 Peter, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Corinthians, Advent, angels, Book of Acts, Calvary Assembly of God, Christmas, Christmas carols, church, Creation, Daniel, First Advent, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Matthew, Isaiah, job, lucifer, Messiah, rapture, Revelation, satan, Second Advent, video, Vimeo. 4 Comments »

Living Nativity

December 5, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

We are always excited to portray the story of the First Advent at an annual event in Cedar Springs called “Mingle With Kris Kingle.” My thanks to all of the folks from Calvary Assembly of God who help assemble the set and portray the characters from the biblical story each year. Also glad for all of our 4-H shepherds who help us out each year.

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Advent, Calvary Assembly of God, Cedar Springs, Christmas, First Advent, photography, Santa Claus. Leave a Comment »

The Carols Of Christmas

December 2, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, goodwill to men. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

How many “old familiar carols” have you heard Christmas after Christmas, until the words have almost lost their meaning? If we’re not careful, any song repeated too often can lose the richness of its original intent.

There are some amazing messages in many of our old familiar Christmas carols, because many of those messages are saturated with the old familiar story of Redemption that the Bible tells over and over again.

Please join me this Sunday as we once again take a new look at the old familiar messages in our Christmas carols. These messages will bring a new appreciation of God’s love that was sung at Christ’s First Advent, and reawaken the sweetness of meaning for this Christmas Day.

If you would like to check out some of the carols we have already looked at, check out these posts:

The carols we discussed in 2014 are here
6 Facts About Angels (Angels From The Realms Of Glory)
The Non-Christmas Christmas Carol (Joy To The World)
O Holy Night & O Holy Day (O Holy Night)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Advent, Bible, Calvary Assembly of God, Christmas, Christmas carols, First Advent, music, Second Advent. 7 Comments »

Links & Quotes

December 26, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

“When we meet with our kinsfolk and acquaintances, let it be our prayer to God that our communion may be not only pleasant, but profitable; that we may not merely pass away time and spend a pleasant hour, but may advance a day’s march nearer heaven, and acquire greater fitness for our eternal rest.” —Charles Spurgeon

“When Scripture says that Christ died ‘for’ us, I think the word is usually υπερ (on behalf of), not αντι (instead of). I think the ideas of sacrifice, ransom, championship (over death), substitution et cetera are all images to suggest the reality (not otherwise comprehensible to us) of the atonement. To fix on any one of them as if it contained and limited the truth like a scientific definition would in my opinion be a mistake.” —C.S. Lewis

“Christ will really help us in our fight. He really will help you. He is on your side. He didn’t come to destroy sin because sin is fun. He came to destroy sin because it is fatal. It is a deceptive work of the devil and will destroy us if we don’t fight it. He came to help us, not hurt us.” —John Piper

A really cool timeline of the events surrounding Christ’s birth.

“You will not experience the real presence of Jesus until you have within you a growing hatred for sin—a piercing conviction for your failures and a deepening sense of your exceeding sinfulness. Those without Christ’s presence become less and less convicted by sin. The further they withdraw from His presence, the bolder, more arrogant and more comfortable in compromise they grow.” —David Wilkerson

Have you seen Unbroken or read the book? This post—Unbroken Uncut—is very interesting.

This is a disgusting twist of Scripture that perverts God’s Word to make it sound like those who are pro-abortion are the evildoers.

“You will never forgive anyone more than God has already forgiven you.” —Max Lucado

[VIDEO] A sweet video of a 10-year-old boy who finds out he is going to be a big brother—

Links & Quotes

December 18, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

“How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the universe (His Son) to enjoy with the greatest joy possible? The answer is that God put our sins on His Son, and judged them there, so that He could put them out of His mind, and deal with us mercifully and remain just and holy at the same time.” —John Piper

“This Christmas, enjoy the fruit of the first coming, but anticipate the glory of the second. We live between the advents. Let the first one whet your appetite for the final one.” Read more in Max Lucado’s post Between The Advents.

I marvel at the discovering scientists make, but I also marvel at how adamant these scientists are that there isn’t a Creator. In this study on how the earth’s deep crust could support life, one scientist says, “If you identify a source of energy that’s everywhere, it’s no longer a limiting factor for the spread of life.” The Bible does identify The Source of life!

If you love studying the Bible, here is a list of 5 free Bible study tools on the web.

[VIDEO] Lecrae gives us a good word on how to engage race issues—

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Advent, Bible study, Christianity, Christmas, Creation, Creator, First Advent, forgiveness, God's glory, Jesus Christ, John Piper, justice, Lecrae, Max Lucado, mercy, quotes, race relations, science, Second Advent, sin, video. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

December 16, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Pastor Saeed Abedini is an American citizen imprisoned in Iran for his Christian faith. This letter he has written from prison is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. After reading this letter I hope you will sign this petition to let your voice be added to those calling on Iran to release Pastor Saeed.

“Prayer is not a lazy substitute for work. It is not a short cut to skill or knowledge. And sometimes God delays the answer to our prayer in final form until we have time to build up the strength, accumulate the knowledge, or fashion the character that would make it possible for Him to say ‘yes’ to what we ask.” —Roy M. Pearson

“Whoever, therefore, thinks that he understands the divine Scriptures or any part of them so that it does not build the double love of God and of our neighbor does not understand it at all.” —Augustine

As you prepare for Christmas and celebrate Advent, check out these beautiful words from Max Lucado in What Love Does.

Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit will like this post: Bilbo’s Last Goodbye.

What this so-called ethicist says about “post-natal abortion” is truly horrifying.

Links & Quotes

December 10, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Some good stuff…

“One thing is certain, 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 any way.” —A.W. Tozer

Wow: “I used to look for people who were ready for ministry. Now I look for people who are ready to die—to die to their own plans and ideas.” Read more in this Live Dead post: The Struggle Of Sacrifice.

Seth Godin talks about creativity in his post The Thing About A Clean Sheet Of Paper.

[VIDEO] John Piper talks about 3 ways to make Christmas special—

[VIDEO] The Lowell (Michigan) Police Department has a great way to spread Christmas cheer—

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: A.W. Tozer, Advent, Christian, Christmas, creativity, family, First Advent, John Piper, Live Dead, ministry, parenting, police, presents, quotes, sacrifice, Seth Godin, video. Leave a Comment »

Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

December 8, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

We began our series on The Carols Of Christmas by looking at the poem written by Charles Wesley in 1744: Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus. As far as I can find, Wesley never shared where he got his inspiration for this prose, but I have a hunch that it might be from a song in the Bible called The Benedictus.

Zechariah had been unable to speak for nearly a year because of his doubt over the message God sent him through the angel (see Luke 1:5-20). When his son was born and Zechariah named him John, his tongue was loosed and he “was filled with the Holy Spirit” and burst into song (Luke 1:67-79). The first word of his song in Latin is benedictus, from which the name is derived.

Here’s what I love about both Zechariah’s and Wesley’s songs—they both look forward to Christ’s First Advent and His Second Advent. Mary was still pregnant with Jesus when Zechariah sang his song, but his lyrics reflect the Redemption story that Jesus would fulfill as Emmanuel, God with us. Charles Wesley picks up this same theme, rejoicing over Christ’s birth and His imminent return.

In fact, that’s exactly the point! We aren’t celebrating Christmas as much as we are celebrating Advent. Jesus was born “when the time had fully come” for His First Advent (Galatians 4:4-5), and “this same Jesus, Who has been taken from you into Heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into Heaven” (Acts 1:11). That’s the message that should encourage us (see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Check out the remarkable parallels between the Benedictus and Wesley’s hymn—

If you’d like to download a PDF of this side-by-side comparison, here it is → Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus & Benedictus ←

If you’ve missed any of the messages in this series, you may check them out by clicking here.

The Morning Star

December 23, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

This is part three of a 3-part series called The Star Of CHRISTmas. I was going to deliver this message at Calvary Assembly of God yesterday morning, but due to the terrible weather, we had to cancel our services. I hope this message will be a blessing to you. Please leave me some feedback in the comments section below.

Check out the other ways Jesus shined brightly at His Advent in our series The Star Of CHRISTmas.

Merry Christmas!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Advent, Calvary Assembly of God, Christmas, First Advent, hope, Jesus Christ, morning star, Second Advent, sermon, video. 3 Comments »

The North Star

December 16, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

In our series called The Star Of CHRISTmas, Pastor Josh reminded us that Jesus is the North Star.

The North Star never wavers, never moves; it’s always constant.

But as Josh reminded us, light pollution sometimes makes it hard to see the North Star. The bright lights of the city, airplane lights, and even street lights make it difficult to know for sure we are following the North Star.

Jesus is the North Star—“I am the way, the truth, and the light” (John 14:6). But there are so many things that bring light pollution to His bright, unwavering, unchanging light. Lights that say, “This is important,” or “This light will get you where you need to go,” or even “All lights are equal.”

In this busy time of year, it’s important for us to take the time to filter out light pollution, and make sure that we are truly following Jesus. David prayed a great prayer, “Search me, O God, see if there is any offensive ways in me” (Psalm 139:23-24). It’s a great prayer for us to pray too.

Check out the other ways Jesus shined brightly at His Advent in our series The Star Of CHRISTmas.