Pet (Pastoral) Peeve

March 16, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

One of my biggest pet peeves is hearing pastors say, “Ministry would be great if it weren’t for the people.”

Pastor: People ARE your ministry!

After Christ’s resurrection, He wanted to help restore Peter. Jesus asked Peter a simple question, “Do you love Me?” When Peter acknowledged that he did, Jesus gave Peter a way to show it: “Feed My sheep.” I believe this exchange is what Peter had in mind when he penned the words,

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. (1 Peter 5:2-3)

Is it hard to be a shepherd? Yes.

Are some sheep difficult to shepherd? Yes.

Is it worth it to shepherd them? Yes, yes, YES!!

I love Oswald Chambers’ insight on this:

“Jesus has some extraordinarily peculiar sheep: some that are unkempt and dirty, some that are awkward or pushy, and some that have gone astray! But it is impossible to exhaust God’s love, and it is impossible to exhaust my love if it flows from the Spirit of God within me. The love of God pays no attention to my prejudices caused by my natural individuality. If I love my Lord, I have no business being guided by natural emotions—I have to feed His sheep.”

Jesus, increase my capacity to love Your sheep. All of Your sheep—the ones that bite; the ones that are nice; the ones that are untidy; the ones that are clean; the ones that are thankful; the ones that are ungrateful; the ones that “get it”; the ones that don’t. All of YOUR sheep. Thank You, Lord, for the supreme honor and heavy responsibility of serving as Your under-shepherd.

UPDATE: This idea of pastors as shepherds is what drove me to write my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter. I hope you will pick up a copy today!

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Again?!

February 8, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I heard a pastor say once, “You’re either in a trial right now, just coming out of a trial, or will soon be going through a trial.” And I thought to myself, “Wow! What a cheery thought… not!”

Do you ever feel that way? Like you just get through one challenging time, only to be greeted by another challenging time? If you just focus on the challenging times, you will miss the point. The point is: God is doing something wonderful in you.

Check out what Jesus says in John 15—

…God cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit. (Amplified Bible)

Did you catch that phrase: every branch that continues to bear fruit? Does it feel like God is constantly working on you? That’s good! That means you are already bearing fruit, but God desires for you to be even more fruitful (or as the Amplified Bible says, even more rich and excellent!).

The writer of Hebrews says it this way—

My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either. It’s the child He loves that He disciplines; the child He embraces, He also corrects. God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. (Hebrews 12:5-6 The Message)

So the next time you feel like saying, “Again?!” change it to “Yes, again! This must mean God wants to bring even more excellent and rich fruit out of my life!” God love you, my friend!

Here’s to more fruit!

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Defeating Temptation

January 18, 2012 — 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.

In probably the best-known prayer, the one Jesus taught us to pray, there is a line I have breezed past way too many times without thinking more about it. It says, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13).

This prayer is addressed to our Heavenly Father, the One Who is all-loving and all-powerful. God loves us and He gives us His power. Even power to defeat temptation.

Sometimes we have to battle the same temptation again and again and again. Perhaps we have seen that we are overcoming that temptation more times than we’re being overcome by it; perhaps not. Sometimes it’s a totally new temptation that sneaks up on us each time. In either case, God knows what temptation we are going to face.

This line of the prayer is really saying, “God, please don’t bring me into battle with a temptation I’m not ready to face. Help me to be ready to overcome that temptation when it comes” (see 1 Corinthians 10:13; James 1:13-17).

NEWS FLASH—Instead of waiting to pray for help until I’m facing a temptation (a reactive prayer), I can pray for God’s help before I even face the temptation (a proactive prayer).

In my mind, proactive is way better than reactive!

Check out what John Bunyan learned about this—

“…I did not, when I was delivered from the temptation that went before, still pray to God to keep me from the temptations that were to come; for though, as I can say in truth, my soul was much in prayer before this trial seized me, yet then I prayed only, or at the most principally, for the removal of present troubles, and for fresh discoveries of His love in Christ, which I saw afterwards was not enough to do; I also should have prayed that the great God would keep me from the evil that was to come. … This I had not done, and therefore was thus suffered to sin and fall, according to what is written, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And truly this very thing is to this day of such weight and awe upon me, that I dare not, when I come before the Lord, go off my knees, until I entreat Him for help and mercy against the temptations that are to come; and I do beseech thee, reader, that thou learn to beware of my negligence, by the afflictions, that for this thing I did for days, and months, and years, with sorrow undergo.”

What would happen if the next time you are facing a temptation you could say, “Hello, temptation! I’ve already prayed about you, and my Heavenly Father has already given me strength to defeat you”? Don’t you think you would be much more successful? I do!

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Thursdays With Oswald—My God Came Down The Stairs

November 17, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

My God Came Down The Stairs

     It is not our earnestness that brings us into touch with God, nor our devotedness, nor our times of prayer, but our Lord Jesus Christ’s vitalizing death; and our times of prayer are evidences of reaction on the reality of Redemption, so we have confidence and boldness of access into the holiest. What an unspeakable joy it is to know that we each have the right of approach to God in confidence, that the place of the Ark is our place, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness.” What an awe and what a wonder of privilege, “to enter into the holiest,” in the perfectness of the Atonement, “by the blood of Jesus.”

Oh, long and dark the stairs I trod,
With stumbling feet to find my God:
Gaining a foothold bit by bit,
Then slipping back and losing it:
Never progressing, striving still,
With weakening gasp and fainting will,
Bleeding to climb a God: while He
Serenely smiled, unnoting me.
Then came a certain time when I
Loosened my hold and tell thereby.
Down to the lowest step my fall,
As if I had not climbed at all.
And while I lay despairing thereby.
I heard a footfall on the stair,
In the same path where I, dismayed,
Faltered and fell and lay afraid.
And lo! when hope had ceased to be,
My God came down the stairs to me.

From Christian Disciplines

I am so grateful my God came down the stairs to me!

I am so awed that I now can come into His presence with confidence!

I am so humbled that God would save a sinner such as me!

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Thursdays With Oswald—Love Comes With Hatred

November 10, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Love Comes With Hatred

     Love to be anything at all must be personal; to love without hating is an impossibility, and the stronger and more emphatic the love, the more intense its obverse, hatred. God loves the world so much that He hates with a perfect hatred the thing that switched men wrong; and Calvary is the measure of His hatred. The natural heart of man would have argued—“God loves the world that of course He will forgive its sin”: God loved the world that He could not forgive its sin.

From Biblical Ethics

God had to allow Jesus to become all of your sins and my sins, so that those sins which He hates so much could be nailed once for all to the Cross. Without the Cross, there could be no forgiveness.

Because He hated sin so much, Jesus chose to personally identify with us, and carry our sins away from us. God could not merely look away from our sin, so He allowed Jesus to take away our sin.

Such perfect hatred … such wondrous love!

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Light The Night

October 31, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Today is Halloween, and Calvary Assembly of God is going to be fully engaged with our city.

In Cedar Springs, the downtown businesses encourage families to come walk up and down Main Street, collect candy, and have fun. I know there are some who think Christians should have nothing to do with Halloween, or they come up with alternative activities for that evening.

I want us to be salt and light in our community. And we cannot do that from a distance.

So we’ll be right in the middle of it lighting the night with the love of Jesus for our neighbors. For the second year, we will have a huge inflatable slide, some carnival games, and lots and lots of candy. We want Cedar Springs to know that we love them.

I read an interesting article “What Christians Should Know About Halloween” (you can read the article by clicking here). I love the closing paragraph:

“For those who are still bothered by Halloween’s historical association with evil spirits, Martin Luther has some advice on how to respond to the devil: “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him for he cannot bear scorn.” Perhaps instead of fleeing the darkness in fear, we should view Halloween as an opportunity to mock the enemy whose power over us has been broken.”

The light of Jesus within us is so much greater than the darkness the devil may try to produce around us. Please pray for us as we let that light shine tonight.

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Un-Dragoned

August 22, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I love the scene in C.S. Lewis’ The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader where Eustace is changed back from a dragon into a boy. Not changed back into the same person, because he was surely different from that point on.

Eustace was desperate to be un-dragoned, but despite his best efforts, he couldn’t do it himself. He had to let Aslan do it for him. Eustace said,

Then the lion said, “You will have to let me undress you.” I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back and let him do it.

Have you ever been where Eustace was? So desperate to lose something dragon-like in your life, but unable to do it yourself?

The problem for many of us comes after we pray to God for help. We pray, and God shows up. But after He shows up, we want to tell Him how He should take care of us, instead of just letting Him do His work. Listen: if I could have done it on my own, I wouldn’t have called on God. Once I’m desperate enough to cry out for His help, why do I then still want to be in control?!

God is so gracious to us! After we’ve been undressed from our dragon-like state, He covers us in clothes He Himself has fashioned for us. Eustace explained,

“After a bit the lion took me out and dressed me–“

“Dressed you. With his paws?”

“Well, I don’t exactly remember that bit. But he did somehow or other: in new clothes.”

Don’t let any dragon-ness in your life keep you from everything God has for you. And don’t try to un-dragon yourself (because, honestly, you can’t do it!). Let our gentle God un-dragon you, and then dress you in new clothes He’s made just for you.

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Yet

August 17, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

God’s mercy is AMAZING! Charles Spurgeon said:

“There is nothing little in God; His mercy is like Himself—it is infinite. You cannot measure it. His mercy is so great that it forgives great sins to great sinners, after great lengths of time, and then gives great favors and great privileges, and raises us up to great enjoyments in the great heaven of the great God.”

In the Bible, Daniel called on God’s mercy:

We do not make requests of You because we are righteous, but because of Your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your Name. (Daniel 9:18, 19)

Mercy, simply put, is not getting the punishment we deserve. I am so grateful for God’s mercy which is new every morning. I need it.

But mercy is not something to be treated lightly. Mercy requires something of its recipient. In the verses preceding Daniel’s prayer, notice the use of the word YET:

  • All this disaster has come upon us, YET we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to Your truth (v. 13).
  • The Lord our God is righteous in everything He does; YET we have not obeyed Him (v. 14).

If we receive God’s gift of mercy and YET do not change, we repudiate that mercy. In other words, it’s a slap in the face of God to not receive the penalty for our sins, and YET continue to live the same way.

My friend, if you have received God’s mercy gift turn from your old ways, give attention to His truth, and obey Him. This is the only way to show proper appreciation to our just God for His incredible mercy.

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I Am Debtor

July 1, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

A poem penned by Robert M’Cheyne in 1837:

When this passing world is done,
When has sunk yon glaring sun,
When we stand with Christ in glory,
Looking o’er life’s finished story,
Then, Lord, shall I fully know—
Not till then—how much I owe.

When I stand before the throne,
Dressed in beauty not my own,
When I see Thee as Thou art,
Love Thee with unsinning heart,
Then Lord, shall I fully know—
Not till then—how much I owe.

Even on earth, as through a glass
Darkly, let Thy glory pass,
Make forgiveness feel so sweet,
Make Thy Spirit’s help so meet,
Even on earth, Lord, make me know
Something of how much I owe.

Chosen not for good in me,
Wakened up from wrath to flee,
Hidden in the Savior’s side,
By the Spirit sanctified,
Teach me, Lord, on earth to show,
By my love, how much I owe.

What are you going to do with how much YOU owe?

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Wider Longer Higher Deeper

June 6, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

When was the last time you experienced a dimension of God’s love for the first time?

The Apostle Paul suggested that God’s love went beyond our 3-dimensional world—

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19)

God’s love is WIDER than we can cross in a lifetime…

…LONGER than we can see with natural eyes…

…HIGHER than we can scale on our own…

…DEEPER than we can comprehend.

I love the last verse of Frederick M. Lehman’s hymn The Love Of God—

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

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