Gospel of John | Craig T. Owens

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Thursdays With Oswald—God’s Silence

October 13, 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.

God’s Silence

Has God trusted you with His silence—a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany [John 11:1-6]! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible—with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him—He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes.

From My Utmost For His Highest

Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? Wow! I need to think about this one for awhile…

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Gospel of John, Oswald Chambers, prayer, silence. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Fasting From Eloquence

July 21, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Fasting From Eloquence

Belief in Jesus is a miracle produced only by the effectiveness of redemption, not by impressive speech, nor by wooing and persuading, but only by the sheer unaided power of God. The creative power of redemption comes through the preaching of the Gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher.

Real and effective fasting by a preacher is not fasting from food, but fasting from eloquence, from impressive diction, and from everything else that might hinder the gospel of God being presented. The preacher is there as the representative of God—‘as though God were pleading through us…’ (2 Corinthians 5:20). He is there to present the Gospel of God. If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get close to Jesus Christ. Anything that flatters me in my preaching of the gospel will result in making me a traitor to Jesus, and I prevent the creative power of His redemption from doing its work.

From My Utmost For His Highest

So much of pastoring focuses on the preaching. And yet Chambers says, “If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get close to Jesus Christ.”

He’s right: It’s not about me or my preaching. My focus is on what Jesus said: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me” (John 12:32).

Posted in Pastoring, Uncategorized. Tags: 2 Corinthians, Gospel of John, Jesus Christ, Oswald Chambers, pastoring, preaching. Leave a Comment »

How To unDo unChristian

July 18, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Yesterday at Calvary Assembly of God, we continued our series called In It Not Of It, in which we are considering how to biblically engage our culture. In alarmingly high numbers, more and more people have thoughts that are positively unChristian toward those who call themselves Christian.

How do we undo this cultural bias? I think we have to be people of overwhelming grace.

Being grace-filled people is the only way I can see for us to unDo the unChristian mindset. To see how Jesus did this, see His interaction with a particular woman in John 8:2-11.

The Apostle Paul also gave us a good example of grace-filled living. In his letter to the Romans, Paul says he is indebted to all mankind, which makes him eager to preach the Gospel (Romans 1:14-15). I love Oswald Chambers’ commentary on these verses:

“Paul was overwhelmed with the sense of his indebtedness to Jesus Christ, and he spent his life to express it. The greatest inspiration in Paul’s life was his view of Jesus Christ as his spiritual creditor. Do I feel that same sense of indebtedness to Christ regarding EVERY unsaved soul? As a saint, my life’s spiritual honor and duty is to fulfill my debt to Christ in relation to these lost souls. Every tiny bit of my life that has value I owe to the redemption of Jesus Christ. Am I doing anything to enable Him to bring His redemption into evident reality in the lives of others? I will only be able to do this as the Spirit of God works into me this sense of indebtedness. …

“Quit praying about yourself and spend your life for the sake of others as the bondservant of Jesus. This is the true meaning of being broken bread and poured-out wine IN REAL LIFE.”

I am committed to living a life of overwhelming grace poured out for EVERY unsaved soul. And I am SO BLESSED to be able to pastor a church that feels and acts the same way! We’re not going to be passive reactionaries to the unChristian cultural bias … we’re going to live IN REAL LIFE as proactive, grace-filled people, so that we can unDo unChristian!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: apostle Paul, Calvary Assembly of God, Christian, Gospel of John, grace, Oswald Chambers, quote, Romans, sermon, unchurched, video. 1 Comment »

Does Either-Or Work?

May 18, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Sometimes I read about this debate whether churches should be “attractional” or “missional.” The first approach says that church should attract people first, and then share the gospel with them. The second approach says that if churches simply focus on sharing the gospel they will then attract people.

Either-or. Either missional or attractional.

What about both-and?

Consider the life of Jesus. No one would ever argue that He wasn’t “on mission” all the time. In fact, numerous times He says, “I’m doing what My Father wants me to do,” or even, “It’s not time for me to do that yet.” Jesus was missional.

And yet… “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that He was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them! (Luke 15:1-2). People loved being around Jesus. Jesus was attractional.

Jesus exemplified both-and missional-attractional. I think He was able to perfectly balance this because of the work of the Holy Spirit. I can aim for the both-and of missional-attractional in my life … I can give it my best shot. But the only way I can truly achieve anything is by allowing the Holy Spirit to shape and direct my life, just as He did for Jesus. Henry & Melvin Blackaby, in their book Experiencing The Holy Spirit, wrote:

“The world doesn’t need to see good people giving their best to God; they need to encounter God doing in and through us what only He can do! …Our best isn’t good enough when it comes to kingdom work; we need the Holy Spirit in our lives if we’re going to be of use to God.”

I need the Holy Spirit in my life if I’m going to be of use to God, and be of any benefit to people.

I need the Holy Spirit in my life if I’m going to balance both-and missional-attractional like Jesus.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: attractional, Both-And, Either-Or, Gospel, Gospel of John, Gospel of Luke, Henry Blackaby, Jesus Christ, Melvin Blackaby, missional, quote. 1 Comment »

Failure To Recognize

April 1, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

The Apostle John opens his gospel account with these sobering words:

[Jesus] was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. (John 1:10)

Commenting on this verse, A.W. Tozer wrote:

My fellow man, do you not know that your great sin is this: the all-pervading and eternal Presence is here, and you cannot feel Him? Are you not aware that there is a great and true Light which brightly shines—and you cannot see it? Have you not heard within your being a tender Voice whispering of the eternal value of your soul—and yet you have said, “I have heard nothing”? This is, in essence, the charge that John levels at human kind: Jesus Christ, the Word of God, was in the world, and the world failed to recognize Him.

I never want to be guilty of failing to recognize Jesus! Sometimes in the busyness of life—even the busyness of the ministry of the church—I can become guilty of being focused on the activity, instead of focusing on Christ, Who is supposed to be the focus of my activity.

So we’re taking a “time out” today. As a church we are fasting and praying for 24-hours to cleanse our hearts to recognize Jesus, and to recognize what He wants to accomplish as we commemorate Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday later this month.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: A.W. Tozer, apostle John, busyness, fasting, Gospel of John, Jesus Christ, prayer, quote. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Spiritual Overloading

March 17, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Spiritual Overloading

One continually finds an encroachment of beliefs and of attachment to things which is so much spiritual overloading. Every now and again the Spirit of God calls us to take a spiritual stock-taking in order to see what beliefs we can do without. The things our Lord asks us to believe are remarkably few, and John 14:1 seems to sum them up—“Ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” We have to keep ourselves alertly detached from everything that would encroach on that belief; we all have intellectual and affectionate affinities that keep us detached from Jesus Christ instead of attached to Him. We have to maintain an alert spiritual fighting trim.

From Facing Reality

Probably because I’m still studying and preparing for our Overloaded series, but I’ve been especially tuned into to the idea of all sorts of overload… even (especially) spiritual overloading. I never want to fall victim to the same trap the Pharisees were in:

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.” (Matthew 23:1-4)

I don’t want to overload myself; nor do I want to overload those I teach. So I’m taking a hard look in the mirror—and listening closely to the Holy Spirit—about those spiritual overloading things that may be crushing me.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Gospel of John, Gospel of Matthew, Holy Spirit, introspection, Jesus Christ, Oswald Chambers, Pharisees, religion. Leave a Comment »

Happy To See You

March 13, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Do you like being around people? Or maybe a better question is: Do people like being around you?

In the case of Jesus, the answers are “yes” and “yes.” Check this out:

When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that He was back home. Soon the house where He was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. (Mark 2:1-2)

People like being with Jesus.

They invited Him to their weddings…

They invited Him to their parties…

They invited Him to their dinners…

And when Jesus showed up somewhere, people flocked to that house.

If you and I are Christians—followers of Jesus Christ—the same thing should be said of us: People should like having us around, and they should like being around us.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Christianity, dinner, Gospel of John, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ, party, wedding. Leave a Comment »

Land Of Smoke

March 1, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Guest Blogger: Dick Brogden

Greetings From the Land of Smoke,

A Christian handed a Bible to a Northern Sudanese Muslim Arab who declined to receive it saying, “I have a smoking problem. If I take the Bible, I will just rip out the pages, make cigarettes, and smoke them.”

Thanks be to God, the distributor did not stand on niceties and responded, “No problem, go ahead and rip the pages out to make your cigarettes. But before you roll them, make sure to read the page you ripped out.”

The Muslim man agreed, took the Bible and began to contemplatively smoke his way through the Gospels. Daily he would rip out a page, peruse it, then roll it into a cigarette and puff away. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all were read and then immolated. By the time the smoker had inhaled his way into John, the Holy Spirit had begun to draw as well. John 3:16 was the clincher—it was after smoking that chapter and verse that this Muslim man gave his heart to Jesus.

I guess it goes to prove that where there’s smoke, there is fire!

Dick Brogden and his family have served as missionaries in Sudan for 15 years.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible, cigarette, Dick Brogden, Gospel, Gospel of John, missionary, Muslim, Scripture. 1 Comment »

How Noble Do You Want To Be?

March 1, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Sometimes I find the most thought-provoking phrases buried in the middle of passages in the Bible that seem somewhat obscure. Take this line from the book of Nehemiah, where we read who’s rebuilding which section of the Jerusalem wall…

The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.

This chapter lists all kinds of people working on the wall: priests (including the high priest) … goldsmiths … perfume-makers … temple servants … mayors … even Shallum’s daughters. Everyone, it seems, was willing to pitch in except these nobles.

Many times in the Old Testament this Hebrew word for nobles is used to describe God Himself. In other words, these nobles thought they were far too important to put their shoulders to the work.

Jesus washed feet. The noblest of us all came to earth to serve even the lowest of the servants.

Which do you think was really the most noble?

How noble do you want to be?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Gospel of John, Jesus Christ, Nehemiah, servant-leadership, servanthood. 1 Comment »

Baaaa!

February 18, 2011 — 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.

Of all the things God could have used as a picture of our relationship with Him, He used an animal. And, no, it wasn’t an animal that seems particularly powerful or smart or noble.

He picked a sheep.

A fuzzy, sometimes dimwitted, needs-a-lot-of-help animal.

I’m a sheep. Baaaa!

But then I have the great picture of God as my loving Shepherd. How wonderful to know that the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want!

As a pastor I am called to be the shepherd to God’s flock of sheep under my watchful eye. Jesus set the example for me:

But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.

And Solomon said:

Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds.

Pastors, here are the questions I’m asking of myself, and I invite you to ask them of yourself too:

Do my sheep recognize my voice? Or am I trying to sound like someone else?
Do I know all my sheep by name?
Are my sheep following me as I follow Jesus?
Am I willing to go first?
Do I find fresh pastures and clean water for my sheep? Or is it recycled food I’m serving them?
Am I spending enough time with my sheep to know the condition of each one?
Do my sheep get my undivided attention?