Links & Quotes

February 14, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Greg and I challenge you to take a phrase from our amazing military personnel: Change “I work here” to “I serve here.” Then just as we express our thanks to our active duty and retired service members—“Thank you for your service”—others at our workplaces can say the same thing to us.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“The human mind never goes so fast as that except when it has got into a groove.” —G.K. Chesterton

“In the opening paragraph of Revelation, we’re met by the encouragement, ‘Blessed are those . . . who keep what is written in [this prophecy]’ (1:3). Then at the conclusion we’re reminded, ‘Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book’ (22:7; see also 22:9).” Justin Dillehay then outlines three ways Christians can “keep” the Book of Revelation.

“For it is not so much of our time and so much of our attention that God demands; it is not even all our time and all our attention; it is ourselves. … When we try to keep within us an area that is our own, we try to keep an area of death. Therefore, in love, He claims all. There’s no bargaining with Him.” —C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory 

T.M. Moore also wrote about the Intimate Glory we have in Jesus: “The greatness of our great salvation is to be known in the Presence of Jesus, God With Us, and the intimacy of peace, safety, rest, and joy we know in Him. Take away all the outward trappings and benefits of our salvation, and we will still, like Peter, be overjoyed just to be with Jesus. The hope of sharing in His glory—not just then and there but now and here in all we do—refreshes and excites our soul and energizes our bodies for daily obedience.”

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Love + Perseverance

February 5, 2026 — 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. 

May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. (2 Thessalonians 3:5 NIV)  

God’s love and the patient steadfastness of Jesus is the winning combination, and is the prayer Paul desires us to pray for ourselves and others. 

I like some of the aspects of this verse that are amplified in different translations:

May the Lord direct your hearts into realizing and showing the love of God and the steadfastness and patience of Christ and in waiting for His return. (AMPC) 

May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ. (NLT) 

And check out what Jesus said to the Church at Ephesus about not losing hold of their first love as they patiently endure (Revelation 2:3-4). 

The agape love of our Heavenly Father
+ The patient endurance of Jesus
+ The instruction and encouragement of the Holy Spirit
= My loving endurance which is a testimony to others

You may also want to check out my posts: Learning Perseverance and Sincere Love. 

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Only The Good Ol’ Days?

January 22, 2026 — 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. 

Sometimes when Christians get anxious about a situation, it appears that they have forgotten that God is just as loving and strong today as He was in the good ol’ days. We need to guard against this misunderstanding. 

This is a clip from the sermon Review Your History, which was a part of our mini-series called “What to do in a crisis.” 

The Scriptures I reference in this clip—Psalm 107; Isaiah 59:1; Hebrews 2:18, 13:8.

Let’s use this prayer to remember that God isn’t just the God of the good ol’ days, but He is still just as loving and powerful today as He has ever been—

“God, You have been faithful—You have rescued me. Now help me to see that You are still Sovereign over this current situation—You are doing something in the midst of this crisis.”

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The God Who Knows You

January 8, 2026 — 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. 

You are lovingly and securely held in the most powerful, the most loving Hand imaginable! 

The Scriptures I reference—Isaiah 40:12, 25-26; Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 49:16; Matthew 10:30; Psalm 139:13-16. 

You may also want to check out these related posts:

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Advent Quotes

December 23, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

“Joy doesn’t wait until everything is repaired and restored. It takes root in God’s presence and grows even in hard soil.

“Advent joy doesn’t mean everything is going well. It’s not shallow optimism or a quick distraction from pain. It’s the deep gladness of knowing God is near, faithful, and making all things new.  …

“This joy doesn’t depend on circumstances. It flows from union with God. That means joy can live alongside sorrow. … 

“The Advent season invites us to practice this kind of joy. As we remain in God’s love and join his Kingdom work of generosity and mercy, we let joy overflow through our lives like a song that begins quietly now but will one day fill all creation.” —Bible Project’s Anticipating Christmas reading plan 

“No other story, no pagan legend or philosophical anecdote or historical event, does in fact affect any of us with that peculiar and even poignant impression produced on us by the word Bethlehem. No other birth of a god or childhood of a sage seems to us to be Christmas, or anything like Christmas.” —G.K. Chesterton 

“One incident in angelic history, the angelic pronouncement to shepherds in their fields, is enough to weld our hearts to them forever. How free from envy the angels were! Christ did not come from heaven to save their peers when they fell. When satan, the mighty angel, dragged with him a third part of the stars of heaven, Christ did not stoop from His throne to die for them; but He left them to be reserved in chains and darkness until the last great day. Yet angels did not envy men. Though they remembered that He took not up angels, yet they did not murmur when He took up the seed of Abraham; and though the blessed Master had never condescended to take the angel’s form, they did not think it beneath them to express their joy when they found Him arrayed in the body of an infant.” —Charles Spurgeon 

“Long had God promised the world’s redemption would come through the offspring who would sustain a bite to the heel yet, in the very act of battle, crush the serpent’s head. Even as kings and prophets pinned their hopes on the coming births of sons, God unfolds His master scheme of one Son to overshadow them all.

“A glimpse of this Son’s manifold greatness will be captured in His name (Isaiah 9:6), which turns out to be not singular but fourfold. He is Guide, Champion, Caretaker, and Peacemaker, and each of these paired with attendant glory.” —David Mathis 

“The manger of Bethlehem was big with God’s glory; in the incarnation was wrapped up all the blessedness by which a soul, snatched from the depths of sin, is lifted up to the heights of glory.” —Charles Spurgeon

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God’s Faithful Love

December 9, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Therefore, behold, I will allure her [Israel] and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak tenderly and to her heart. There I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor [troubling] to be for her a door of hope and expectation. And she shall sing there and respond as in the days of her youth and as at the time when she came up out of the land of Egypt. (Hosea 2:14-15 AMPC)

This “therefore” seems out of place. God has just finished listing the sins of the people (vv. 1-13), so I would expect Him to say something like, “Therefore, behold, I will punish you.” God would be just in this judgment. 

But even when we are faithless, God remains faithful! “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). 

So He says He will speak tenderly and turn your trouble into blessing. How amazing and undeserved is the love that our God lavishes on us! 

Related posts:

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(Extra)Ordinary People

November 19, 2025 — 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. 

Paul addresses his letter to the church at Philippi like this, “all God’s holy people … the overseers and deacons” (Philippians 1:1). Notice that Paul addresses all of the saints, whether they are in a position of leadership or not. 

In verse 5, Paul says he is grateful for their “partnership in the Gospel.” Some translations use the word “fellowship” instead of partnership. This is the Greek word koinonia. By the use of this word Paul is recognizing the close relationship the church members have with their leaders, with each other, with Paul, and even with other Christians in other cities. 

The root word is koinos. The Levitical Jews used this word to designate anything that their religious rules deemed unclean, common, or ordinary. One of the things these Jewish leaders would have called unclean are Gentile people. Which means they would have referred to the saints who made up the bulk of this assembly at Philippi as unclean and unworthy of God’s love! 

But here is Paul using this ordinary word in an extraordinary way. That is, he is calling ordinary people something extraordinary: saints! Remember in the opening verse he addressed his letter to “God’s holy people.” The word holy here means the exact opposite of common or unclean—it means people set apart for God’s special use. 

The “extra” that elevated common, ordinary, unclean people to the extraordinary position of being called a saint is their personal relationship with Jesus as their Savior and Lord. 

Jesus makes the ordinary extraordinary!

Still today, our koinonia is something extraordinary. When common, ordinary, blood-cleansed people remain in relationship with Jesus and other fellow saints, God can do extraordinary things through them. Our common bond with our Savior and with other saints is itself a testimony to the life-changing power anyone can have in Jesus! 

When you are in fellowship with God and in fellowship with God’s holy people, there is nothing ordinary about you. You are an extraordinary testimony of God’s loving, transforming, and keeping power! 

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God’s Infinite And Eternal Love

October 7, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists, as the mother can love the unborn child.”

God loved you before you were born. He had a plan in mind for your life before you were conceived. 

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10) 

Even as God formed you in your mother’s womb, He implanted in you all that you would need to live for His glory. 

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:16) 

God couldn’t love you any more than He already does because His love for you is infinite and eternal❣️

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God’s Loving “Stop!”

May 29, 2025 — 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. 

Does it sound loving when the Bible says that God’s hand was against His people to defeat them when they went out to battle? It’s actually one of the most loving things God could do for them. 

Check out the full message from which I took this clip. 

Not only does Judges 2:15 say, “Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them,” but these words from Isaiah 63 are just as startling—

In all their distress [God] too was distressed, and the angel of His presence saved them. In His love and mercy He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. Yet they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy and He Himself fought against them. (Isaiah 63:9-10) 

But this got their attention: “Then His people recalled the days of old” (v. 11), repented of their evil ways, and turned wholeheartedly back to God. 

Remember that the opposite of love is not hate, but the opposite of love is apathy. If God simply ignored their sin, He would not be loving them. It is God’s love that causes His loving hand to be against us in our sinful ways so that we will recall, repent, and return. 

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Links & Quotes

May 3, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

I’ve found that in helping my teammates receive feedback about areas that need to be addressed, asking questions is the best way to do this. Check out the full conversation Greg and I had about blind spots.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

William Shakespeare was a master at a well-timed insult when one of his characters zinged another! Reader’s Digest has a list of 53 Shakespearian insults that are still good today!

What happens when you hold your breath? Among other things “your blood is delivering the last of oxygenated blood cells to your tissues while carbon dioxide is rapidly building up (hypercapnia). At the same time, there is a steady decrease of blood oxygen (hypoxia). The pH of your blood is getting slightly lower (acidic), and your heart starts to beat faster. God designed your brain to sense the increased carbon dioxide levels and initiates the effort for you to breathe. This will last for about a minute before there will be an involuntary intake of air via the contraction of your diaphragm.” And yet God designed aquatic mammals in a way uniquely suited to thrive in water. Amazing! 

When the Bible says that God’s hand was against His people, that is actually a very loving thing! Consider this example of a parent with a small child. Please watch this full sermon.

I have been sharing a series of messages with my church about how God turns our grief into joy. As a tie-in with this series, John Piper has Fifteen Tactics for Joy.

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