Gospel of Matthew | Craig T. Owens

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What God Do You Tru$t?

April 27, 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.

Things seem to be going very, very well for Israel! Check out what Isaiah wrote:

Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots.

Sounds like a success story to me!

But wait: the next verse sounds a bit ominous:

Their land is full of idols; the people worship things they have made with their own hands.

Money? Yes.

Influence? Lots.

Prosperity? For everyone.

Idolatry? Widespread.

They were no longer looking to God, but they were looking to what they had made with their own hands. In other words, they made Money their god.

Money can save us!

Money can fix all our problems!

Without Money we are lost!

Only those with Money can be saved!

Sadly, I believe what was said of Israel 2500 years ago could be said of the United States of America today. In God We Trust is printed on all our currency, but it really has become In Money We Trust. We have made Money our god.

Don’t believe me? How do you think most people would answer these fill-in-the-blanks:

I need _____________ to get clothes.
Without _____________ I cannot feed my family.
If I lost _____________ today I would be devastated.
I frequently think about how more _____________ in my life would make my life better.

But check out what Jesus says about clothes, food, and our means of survival.

What should go in the blank: Money or God? Again, let’s let Jesus have the final word: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Luke 16:13).

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: envy, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Matthew, idolatry, Isaiah, jealousy, Jesus Christ, mammon, money, prosperity, stress, worry. 1 Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Hate Properly

April 21, 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.

Hate Properly

A Quaker friend of mine referring to a certain man said he did not like him because he did not hate properly. … The Christian standpoint should be one of positive anger when anyone is made to stumble. To remain indifferent when there is injustice abroad is to come under the curse of Meroz, who “came not to the help of the Lord…against the mighty” (Judges 5:23).

From Baffled To Fight Better

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. (Proverbs 6:16-19)

But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. (Matthew 18:6; Mark 9:42; Luke 17:2)

And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’ But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.” (Zechariah 7:8-12)

It’s time for us to get positively angry and hate the things that God hates.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: anger, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Matthew, hate, Judges, Oswald Chambers, proverbs, righteousness, Zechariah. Leave a Comment »

Salt & Light

March 30, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Jesus called His followers to be salt and light in the world. He said:

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

We have been placed in this world to season it and to illuminate it. What does that mean? How do we do that in a way that glorifies your Father in heaven?

I’m really excited to kickoff our new series Salt & Light this Sunday morning. I hope you can join me at 10:30am to learn more about being seasoning and illumination.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, disciples, Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ, light, salt, sermon. 1 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 »

Thursdays With Oswald—Broken And Crucified

February 24, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Broken

We need to remember that we cannot train ourselves to be Christians; we cannot discipline ourselves to be saints; we cannot bend ourselves to the will of God: we have to be broken to the will of God.

From Facing Reality

Crucified

To “crucify” means to put to death, not counteract, not sit on, not whitewash, but kill. If I do not put to death the things in me which are not of God, they will put to death the things that are of God.

From Biblical Ethics

Jesus said to His disciples, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it.”

Then Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

I’m trying to live broken and crucified. Will you join me in this daily pursuit?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: broken, Christianity, crucified, discipleship, Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ, Oswald Chambers, saints. Leave a Comment »

Let It Go

January 31, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part. (Matthew 6:14-15)

Have you ever had an “awkward” handshake with someone?

You try to grab their hand, but they’re going for the fist bump. Or you’re thinking fist bump and they’re going for a high five?

That’s sort of what’s happening in these verses…

God is extending an open hand of forgiveness to you, but your fist is tightly clenched as you hang on to a grudge.

If you want to grasp God’s hand in forgiveness, you must let go of the slights, wounds, hurts, insults, sins, and grievances you have against others. You probably have every right to hang on to those things.

Just as God has every right to hang on to your sins against Him…

…but He doesn’t.

SO LET IT GO!

It’s the only way to be able to hold onto those nail-scarred hands of Jesus that bring forgiveness.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: forgiveness, Gospel of Matthew, grudge, Jesus Christ, sin, unforgiveness, video, wounds. Leave a Comment »

Is Your Integrity Worth $12 Million

January 19, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

My wife alerted me to this almost unbelievable story this morning. Gil Meche, a pitcher for the Kansas City Royals baseball team, is walking away from the final year of his contract with the team.

He’s walking away from $12 million.

Why? Because Gil Meche is a man of integrity. He signed a contract to pitch for the Royals, but due to his injuries, he doesn’t think he can live up to his end of the bargain. I especially liked this part of the article:

“A lot of people might think I’m crazy for not trying to play and make this amount of money,” he said, “[but] I don’t think I’m going to regret it.”

This would have been the final season under the five-year, $55 million contract he signed with the Royals prior to the 2007 season. Health issues, with his back and then with his shoulder, plagued him the last two seasons.

“I didn’t want to go try it again for another season and be the guy making $12 million and doing absolutely nothing to help this team,” he said.

There is no settlement, no nothing for Meche as he walks away from the guaranteed money.

“I think it really reaffirms and validates why we signed Gil Meche—the integrity and the class and the respect that he’s displaying,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said.

What price can you put on integrity?

Or as Jesus asked, “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?”

Thanks, Gil, for showing the world that integrity is worth even more than $12 million.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: fame, Gil Meche, Gospel of Matthew, integrity, Jesus Christ, money. Leave a Comment »

Signing A Blank Check

January 17, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

In our current series on prayer, we’re using the prayer that Jesus taught as our pattern. Yesterday we looked at this part of the pattern:

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is all about trust. It’s about acknowledging to God that He is in control and He knows what’s best. It’s not about me coming into His presence and telling Him how things should work. I love the quote from C.S. Lewis:

There are two kinds of people: those who say to God “Thy will be done” and those to whom God says, “All right then, have it your way.”

When we come into God’s presence in prayer, we say, “Before I ask You for what I need, I want You to know that I trust You. No matter what.” In essence, we sign a blank check and trust God to fill in the amount.

And, by the way, the verb for “Your kingdom come” in this model prayer is an imperfect verb. That means that we have to keep on signing those blank checks, as we keep on submitting to His will and His kingdom.

Are you willing to sign a blank check to God?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ, Lord's Prayer, prayer, sermon, submission, trust, trustworthy. 1 Comment »

Get Up And Do

January 11, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I was reading an article posted on WebMD about how much damage we can do to our hearts by spending more time in front of the TV or computer than we do exercising. You’re probably thinking, “Well, duh!, isn’t that obvious?!” It should be, and yet we still have a tendency to just sit there. (By the way, you can read the article here.)

One quote from this article especially stood out to me:

“It’s not even about the exercise. It’s about not sitting,” says Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, a preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “I think that sort of points us in a little different direction. In order for you not to cause harm to yourself, you really need to focus on getting up and moving.”

This reminds me of Joseph (Mary’s husband) in the Bible. God seemed to speak to him quite often in dreams. Instead of just sitting there contemplating the vision, there’s a phrase that shows up after every vision…