Got Wisdom?

August 1, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Solomon advised us to pursue wisdom:

  • Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them. (Proverbs 4:5)
  • Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. (Proverbs 4:7)
  • How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver! (Proverbs 16:16)
  • Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding. (Proverbs 23:23)

I like T.M. Moore’s insight on this…

“Wisdom is that skill in living which comes as Christ is formed in us and lives His Word, in the power of His Spirit, through our lives. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God (Psalm 111:10). But we’ll have to work hard and in many different ways to bring wisdom to a higher state in our lives. Solomon prayed for wisdom, but he also applied himself diligently to studying and contemplating a good many subjects in order to acquire that which he was trusting the Lord to give him. So we too, if we would increase in wisdom, must devote ourselves to ‘getting’ it by all the ways God makes available to us.”

In other words, we can (and should) pray for wisdom, but then we need to get busy to actually get the wisdom. God won’t simply pour wisdom into our hearts and minds.

Wisdom is earned through experience

Godly wisdom is earned through experiences that the Holy Spirit helps us evaluate and assimilate. The experience might be pleasant, or it might be painful. It might come through reading your Bible, or it might come through prayer. It might come in a pastor’s message, or it might come in a friend’s words. You might get it by going to your job, you might get it while taking a stroll along the beach on your vacation.

God’s wisdom is constantly being revealed to us. Are you getting it?

If not, what are you going to do to get it?

Whatever you do, GET WISDOM!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »

Reading The Bible Isn’t Enough

July 30, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I had to give my congregation a heads-up that I was going to say something that sounded a little like heresy, so they wouldn’t throw me out of the church. So I’m giving you a similar heads-up now: Read this all the way through before you label me a heretic.

Our P119 spiritual workout relies heavily on the Word of God. If we are going to grow as Christians, here’s what I believe:

There is no substitute for the Bible, but the Bible is not enough.

The Pharisees of Jesus’ day knew the Scriptures better than anyone, but they misapplied those Scriptures, using them as billy clubs wielded by the sin police. When we read the Scripture, we must respond to what we read. Prayer is an indispensable part of our spiritual workout because prayer is how we properly respond to God’s Word.

Check this out—

In the He section of Psalm 119 (verses 33-40), you will read words that sound more like a prayer than any of the sections before it. You will hear the psalmist crying out to God as he is confronted by his lack of proper application of God’s Word. As he reads the Scriptures, he asks God to:

  • Teach him what the Scriptures are saying
  • Help him discern the truths found in God’s Word
  • Lead him in the right path
  • Turn his heart away from his natural selfish bent
  • Allow him to see the futility of pursuing earthly possessions
  • Give him boldness in standing up for God’s glory
  • Remove the fear of man that would paralyze his pursuit of God

The last verse of this section is the cycle of read the word → respond in prayer in miniature. How I long for Your precepts! Preserve my life in Your righteousness. Do you see the reading of the Word (Your precepts), and the prayerful response (preserve my life)?

The Bible can be an incredible prayer book for us! Get into the Word, and let the Holy Spirit get the Word into you. You will then be able to respond back to God in His own words! And then I think you will be astounded at how your spiritual life grows!

If you have missed any of the messages in our P119 series, you can access them all by clicking here.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , . 3 Comments »

“Prayer Is Irksome”

July 29, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I shared this quote from C.S. Lewis this morning—

“Well, let’s now at any rate come clean. Prayer is irksome. An excuse to omit it is never unwelcome. When it is over, this casts a feeling of relief and holiday over the rest of the day. We are reluctant to begin. We are delighted to finish. While we are at prayer, but not while we are reading a novel or solving a crossword puzzle, any trifle is enough to distract us…. Now the disquieting thing is not simply that we skimp and begrudge the duty of prayer. The really disquieting thing is it should be numbered among duties at all. For we believe that we were created ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ And if the few, the very few, minutes we now spend on intercourse with God are a burden to us rather than a delight, what then?… The painful effort which prayer involves is not proof that we are doing something we were not created to do. If we were perfected, prayer would not be a duty, it would be a delight. Someday, please God, it will be.”

Why don’t we pray more? Why does it seem like prayer is not a regular part of our lives?

Perhaps… We don’t know what to pray. The Bible is an amazing prayer book! Just use the words of Scripture to form your prayers. You can use the psalms, or go to the New Testament where Jesus or the other New Testament writers say something like, “This is my prayer….” Borrow their words, personalize them, and it will be an incredible prayer.

Maybe… We don’t have time to pray. We always have the Holy Spirit with us, and He reminds us of the Word and helps us pray. So we can pray anytime, anywhere, no matter what we are doing.

It could be… We run out of things to say. The Bible gives us so many things on which to meditate. This word means to mull over, or to even talk to ourselves. Combining Bible reading and prayer helps us continue to talk to God all throughout the day.

Try these simple steps and you will begin to realize, as C.S. Lewis said: “If we were perfected, prayer would not be a duty, it would be a delight. Someday, please God, it will be.”

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , . 2 Comments »

Thursdays With Oswald—Spiritual Perception

July 26, 2012 — 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.

Spiritual Perception 

     The characteristic of a man without the Spirit of God is that he has no power of perception, he cannot perceive God at work in the ordinary occurrences. The marvelous, uncrushable characteristic of a saint is that he does discern God. You may put a saint in tribulation, amid an onslaught of principalities and powers, in peril, pestilence or under the sword, you may put a saint anywhere you like, and he is “more than a conqueror” [Romans 8:31-39] every time. Why? Because his heart being filled with the love of God, he has the power to perceive and understand that behind all these things is God making them “work together for good.” 

From Biblical Psychology

God says, “For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). So I cannot understand what God is doing if I only use my own powers of perception.

To truly discern what God is doing, I must rely on the Holy Spirit within me.

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.” But it was to us that God revealed these things by His Spirit. For His Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

Oh, how I need the Holy Spirit’s help!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Three Amazing Years

July 24, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

This week marks my three-year anniversary of pastoring one of the most amazing churches I have had the privilege of being a part of!

I grew up in some powerful churches, served in others, and have experienced many other churches. And I wouldn’t trade any of them for Calvary Assembly of God. I’m grateful for what I learned and what I experienced at the churches that I have attended in my lifetime. Those prepared me. But Calvary is showing me what a real church looks like.

To my Calvary family:

I so appreciate the love and acceptance everyone in our congregation has for all. Whether it’s a first-time visitor or a lifelong member, all are loved (and hugged) the same.

I love your willingness to reach out to our community. You are always looking for tangible ways to show the love of Jesus to those in and around Cedar Springs.

But most of all I love the hunger for more of God’s presence. Each and every time we gather together, God does amazing things in people’s lives, and yet no one is content to “bottle it up.” Instead you are always seeking an increasingly intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, and you allow the Holy Spirit to move freely in our midst.

More and more I say…

I ♥ My Church!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , . 2 Comments »

Getting Back Up When Life Has Knocked You Down

July 23, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

The Bible never presents life as some sort of pie-in-the-sky, walk-in-the-park, everyday-is-always-rosy picture. If it did, we would reject the Bible because our experiences would immediately tell us otherwise. Instead, the Bible realistically portrays the challenges, and the pain, and the heartache, and the disappointments of life. But as it does so it also shows us that God’s way is the only way out of our sorrow and into His joy!

In our P119 Spiritual Workout series, we saw the bookends of the section daleth (Psalm 119:25-32) are:

I am laid low in the dust (v. 25) → You have set my heart free (v. 32).

How do we get this freedom when we are knocked down and laid low in the dust?

The Jews saw the Hebrew letter daleth as a door. Specifically, a door through which humble people stepped into a greater realization that He is God, and I’m not … that He has the answers, and I don’t … that He is in control, and I’m not. So part of going from down in the dust to a free heart is humbly acknowledging that you need God’s help!

In verses 26 and 27, the psalmist recalls his past history, and in so doing he is reminded that God has always been there. God has never left him nor forsaken him, so here’s what the psalmist resolves to do:

  • Teach me = I learned something before, so let me learn again.
  • Let me understand = help me to discern, distinguish; tell things apart. This word is used for things that are divinely disclosed; in other words, they’re things you and I cannot figure out on our own.
  • Meditate = talk with my soul about these new things the Holy Spirit has disclosed to me.

In verse 28, the psalmist says that his soul is weary with sorrow (or as the King James Version states it: my soul melteth for heaviness). The only way to overcome this is to ask for God’s help to energize us to go forward.

In the final four verses of this section you can sense the psalmist’s strength returning as he makes these bold statements:

  • keep me from deceitful ways (v. 29a) = keep me from lying to myself (NLT).
  • be gracious to me (v. 29b) = give me the privilege of knowing Your instructions (NLT).
  • I have chosen (v. 30a) = I have determined (NLT).
  • I have set (v. 30b) = I am long-sighted (on God), not short-sighted (on my problems).
  • I hold fast (v. 31) = the KJV says I have stuck to it!
  • I run (v. 32) = I will [not merely walk, but] run the way of Your commandments (AMP).

So when you are sad/disappointed/injured, run TO God. Don’t cling to your own (old) ways of thinking. Let Him take you from I am laid low → You have set my heart free.

If you have missed any of the messages in our P119 series, you can access them all by clicking here.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments »

Was That Sermon Successful?

July 20, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Pastor, ever had one of those times when you delivered what you thought was an amazing sermon, but when it was over people looked completely unmoved?

Or maybe you sat down with someone to tell them something that would be so beneficial to their lives, and they responded by lashing out at you?

What happened? Did you miss something? Wasn’t God in your sermon or in your  counseling time?

The Apostle Paul has some great insight for us—

Now this is our boast: our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God…. (2 Corinthians 1:12)

Paul didn’t rely on external observations to gauge his success in following God, but he listened for the internal witness of the Holy Spirit. Paul wasn’t living to please an audience of people, but an audience of One. He was listening for either the approval or the reproof of the Spirit.

Those you and I preach to may say, “That was wonderful! Great word, pastor!” and have no change of heart at all.

Others may scowl at us, but only because the Holy Spirit is using our words to bring about a deep heart change in them.

So we cannot use the facial expressions, or the compliments, or the complaints of others to know if we hit the mark or not. We have to let the Holy Spirit testify to our conscience whether or not we have been obedient.

I’m praying for you (and for myself): Holy Spirit, remind us of this. Help us to be tuned into You, and not into the external cues we think we may be observing. You alone can approve or reprove us.

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—God Builds My Character

July 19, 2012 — 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 Builds My Character 

     Character is the whole trend of a man’s life, not isolated acts here and there, and God deals with us on the line of character building. 

     Remember, then, that we have the power to fix the form of our choice. “Delight yourself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart” [Psalm 37:4]. Desire embraces both determination and design. Some people when they read this verse, behave before God as people do over a wishing-bone at a Christmas dinner. They say, “Now I have read this verse, I wonder what I shall wish for?” That is not desire. Desire is what we determine in outline in our minds and plan and settle in our hearts; that is the desire which God will fulfill as we delight ourselves in Him. 

From Biblical Psychology

God is not a cosmic slot machine, where I drop in the coins of Bible reading, prayer time, church attendance, and a few good deeds here and there, and then I can select which reward I would like God to dispense for me. But I’ve met way too many people who feel that it should work that way!

The Holy Spirit changes me from the inside out. He builds my character piece by piece, conforming me to the image of Jesus Christ. There are certainly blessings along the way, but I shouldn’t go into this character-building process with the goal of getting rewarded for my efforts.

When I determine to fix my thoughts on God’s Word, to tune into the Spirit’s direction, then I will experience the reward of God’s approval. And there is no greater reward than knowing my Master says, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

My prayer: Father, I want to delight only in You. I am determined to allow Your Spirit to build the character of Jesus in my heart and mind. I am committed. I am ready.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Your Personal Spiritual Trainer

July 9, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

If you are a Christian, you have a personal trainer for your spiritual workouts. He is the Holy Spirit.

We should never think of the Holy Spirit as showing up just in the New Testament. He is living and active all throughout Scripture. Yesterday we saw Him in the gimel section of our P119 Spiritual Workout (that’s verses 17-24 of Psalm 119).

A personal trainer who has our best interests in mind will always set a healthy pace for us: neither letting us loaf nor working us too hard that it does permanent damage. But that pace is almost always painful because it is stretching us into a new dimension of fitness. This is just as true—if not truer—in the spiritual realm.

Take a look at the Hebrew letter gimel. Do you see a silhouette of runner? The Jews did, and they gave this definition to gimel: a richer man running after a poorer man in order to bless him. Isn’t that a great picture of what God does for us?! The Holy Spirit wants to help us “keep pace” with what God is blessing. That’s why He makes the laws and statutes and decrees of Scripture come alive so that we can keep pace with all that God has for us.

Now remember that blessing has two components. One part is the rich rewards we receive, and the other part is the loving correction. Both rewards and loving correction are blessings because they both keep us on pace with God’s plan for our lives.

The Holy Spirit sets a pace for us to follow as He reveals God’s Word to us. It’s a bit painful to stretch and grow, but God will reward us as we obediently follow the Spirit’s leading. If we choose not to keep pace, we may be alright for a while. But eventually, we’ll start to fall short, or even get on a wrong path. Here the blessing of God is to lovingly rebuke and correct us, in the attempt to get us back on pace with Him.

And when we get back on pace with God’s plan for us, His richest rewards can continue to flow into our lives!

If you’re not allowing the Holy Spirit to be your Personal Spiritual Trainer, I suggest you invite Him to take that role in your life today. No one is more concerned about your spiritual growth and spiritual vitality than He is, and He alone can help you get to the place of optimal spiritual health. 

If you have missed any of the messages in our P119 series, you can access them all by clicking here.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »

Lord, I Need Your Anointing!

July 6, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

How miserable to try to preach a sermon if God’s anointing is not on it! The most gifted speaker’s words sound hollow without God’s help. The most educated theologian’s thoughts are mere babbling without the Holy Spirit’s aid. All your hours of pastoral study are utterly wasted unless the power of Christ is present.

Pastor, let these wise words soak in…

“I know that it is dreadful work to be bound to preach when one is not conscious of the aid of the Spirit of God! It is like pouring water out of bottomless buckets, or feeding hungry souls out of empty baskets. A true sermon such as God will bless no man can preach of himself; he might as well try to sound the archangel’s trumpet.” ―Charles Spurgeon

“Keep yourself full to the brim in reading; but remember that the first great Resource is the Holy Ghost Who lays at your disposal the Word of God. The thing to prepare is not the sermon, but the preacher.” ―Oswald Chambers

“Apart from divine help, the enterprise of a Christian minister is only worthy of ridicule. Apart from the power of the Eternal Spirit, the things which the preacher has to do are as much beyond him as though he had to weld the sun and moon into one, light up new stars, or turn the Sahara into a garden of flowers. We have a work to do concerning which we often cry, ‘Who is sufficient for these things?’ and if we be put to this work but have not your prayers, and in consequence have not the supply of the Spirit, we are of all men the most miserable.” ―Charles Spurgeon

“The character of our praying will determine the character of our preaching. Light praying will make light preaching. …The preacher must be preeminently a man of prayer. His heart must graduate in the school of prayer. In the school of prayer only can the heart learn to preach.” ―E.M. Bounds

“If you preachers lose your compassion, you can stop preaching, for it won’t be any good. You will only be successful as a preacher if you let your heart become filled with the compassion of Jesus.” ―Smith Wigglesworth

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »
« Older posts
Newer posts »