Light Us Up

May 19, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

This Sunday, May 23, is a pivotal day for the Church. It’s Pentecost Sunday: the day the promised empowerment from God came upon the first believers and turned them into power-packed dynamos!

Wow, what a day!

But that empowerment is still for all Christians today. Unfortunately far too many people shut the Holy Spirit out of their lives. So I’m chomping at the bit to launch our new series this Sunday: Ignite: The Empowerment Of The Holy Spirit.

There is so much to say, so I’m trying to reign myself in a bit. Hope you can join us at Calvary Assembly of God over the next few Sundays as we talk about how to get lit up by the Spirit of God.

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A Voice Behind Me

April 28, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

In our series on Building Blocks, I’ve been talking about the basics of a relationship with Jesus Christ. An obvious foundation for any relationship is meaningful conversation.

If you think about any close relationship you have, the closeness was developed through conversation. Gradually you began to know their voice and know their heart. Our meaningful conversation with God produces the same increased intimacy. We talk with Him through reading His Word and through prayer.

The more you read the Bible and the more you pray, the clearer His voice becomes. Isaiah said it this way:

Your own ears will hear Him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left. (Isaiah 30:21)

Earlier this week I was on a long road trip, so I took our dog Grace with me. After grabbing some lunch, I wanted to find a place for Grace to run around and stretch her legs, but I was in a town I didn’t know. As I came to the end of the driveway, my next appointment would have been right, but I felt I should turn left instead.

I did, and two blocks away was a huge, grassy park where I could sit and eat my lunch and Grace could frolic to her heart’s content.

Did I actually hear a Voice? No, but I felt a Voice. His Voice. Yes, I believe God even cares about helping me find a place for my lunch and for my dog to run. He cares that much about me. And you too!

He’s speaking to you all the time. Are you listening to the Voice behind you?

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Learning To Distinguish

April 23, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

In Moses’ instructions to the priests, he said, “You must distinguish between the holy and common, between the unclean and the clean.”

Why? Because these men were to be leaders. He went on to say, “You must teach the Israelites all the decrees.”

If I’m going to be a leader, I must be able to distinguish.

Here’s where the Holy Spirit is challenging me. I am working on distinguishing between…

Good and Best

Acceptable and Excellent

Common and Holy

Ordinary and Extraordinary

Want and Need

Present and Participant

Quantity and Quality

I am certain that this list is just a start, and that it’s going to be a lifetime pursuit.

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Two Helpful Questions

April 19, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Some people tell me that they don’t read the Bible for themselves because they don’t understand parts of what they read, or they don’t know what to do with the parts they do understand.

To which I reply, “That’s understandable.”

The Bible is filled with timeless principles given to us by an Eternal God. The principles may be timeless, but their application is not universal. For example, God’s timeless principle of, say, honoring your parents may be applied one way by someone living in the 12th century B.C. and applied completely differently by someone living today.

Same principle. Different application.

This is easy to say, but much harder to put into action. But I believe it is imperative that we continue to read God’s timeless principles in His Word and find daily application for our lives. So I’d like to suggest two questions to help you in this pursuit. They are the same two questions that people asked the day of Peter’s first sermon after the birth of the Christian church. Try these the next time you read your Bible:

  • What does this mean? (Acts 2:12)
  • What should I do? (Acts 2:37)

Don’t avoid reading the Bible. And don’t approach the Bible the way Søren Kierkegaard said some people do: “Many read the Bible the way a mouse tries to remove the cheese from a trap: trying not to get caught.”

I’m still learning too. Two things that help me immensely: (1) Pray before I read my Bible, asking the Holy Spirit to illuminate His inspired Word, and (2) Talk with other wise friends about the application questions I have.

If you have some strategies that are working for you, please share them in the comments below.

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Higher Standards For Greater Rewards

April 5, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Most people think of the Ten Commandments as God’s law given through Moses. Actually the Ten Commandments are just the beginning of the laws, practices, and regulations that God gives to His people. The rest of the book of Exodus, the entire book of Leviticus, and the first ten chapters of Numbers compromise the bulk of the law.

For those of you keeping track, that’s nearly 60 chapters of rules and regulations.

Why so many? I think the answer is found in the lead-up to the Ten Commandments:

Now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

God wants people who are treasured. A people who are priests. A people who are holy. In short: He wants pacesetting leaders.

Priests have intimate access to God, and they are people who set an example for others to follow. In order to enjoy these special privileges, priests must be held to higher standards.

These are not standards just for those of Jewish ancestry, but for anyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ. Look what John recorded in the last book of the Bible:

To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father—to Him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

…With Your blood You purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.

Yes, the standards to be a priest—to be a holy leader—are higher. But the rewards are immeasurable!

Are you ready to bring greater glory to God? Do you want to be a pacesetting leader for the Kingdom of heaven? Then ask the Holy Spirit to sanctify you as you take on the discipline of greater responsibility. Live up to higher standards, and you won’t be disappointed by the rewards!

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Building Blocks

April 5, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Whether you have been a follower of Jesus for years, or you’ve just invited Him into your life, there are important building blocks that can help this relationship grow stronger. Join us as we discuss the basic building blocks of a relationship with God over the next four Sundays…

April 11—Relationships. A satisfying relationship with God shows up in satisfying relationships with others. How do we make all our relationships better?

April 18—Bible Reading. Just what is this big book and how can we use it to help us every day?

April 25—Prayer. Does talking to God sound scary? It doesn’t have to be. In fact, it can be the best conversation ever!

May 2—The Holy Spirit. His role is probably the least understood, but the most vital, for our day-to-day lives.

We’d love to see you on Sundays at 10:30am.

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God Tests Us

April 1, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I’m challenged by this quote from Rick Warren: “God develops the fruit of the Spirit in your life by allowing you to experience circumstances in which you’re tempted to express the exact opposite quality!”

In school, your teacher had to test you to see if you knew the material. She probably didn’t want to give you the test, but she had to. It would be unkind of her to promote you to the next level of learning if you weren’t prepared for it.

God does the same thing. He tests us on what we’ve learned in order to take us to the next level of fruitfulness. Many times these tests tempt us, as Rick Warren said, to do the opposite of what we’ve learned. But if we don’t pass the test, God cannot promote us.

As the Israelites began their journey out of Egypt, twice in the first few days of their freedom the Bible says God tested them.

  • God tested their thirst to see if they would trust Him to provide.
  • God tested their hunger to see if they would still trust Him even after they were full.

God loves you so much that He wants to keep promoting you. He wants to see more and more fruitfulness coming from your life. That means He has to keep preparing you for the next test, and then administering that test. Don’t run away from His testing.

Right now you are in one of three places:

  1. The Holy Spirit is preparing you for a test;
  2. God is giving you a test; or
  3. You just completed a test.

Listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, your Divine Tutor. He will remind you of everything you have learned and help you ace that test!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to studying for my next test…

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Challenging Concepts

March 18, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Part two of our Spiritual Self-Defense series went well last night. Considering this was a difficult concept to wrap our finite, human brains around, I felt that everyone was tuned in. Trying to wrestle with the concepts of God as omnipresent, the unique Three-in-One arrangement of the Trinity, or Jesus as fully God and fully Man are not easy. But it is so important to keep learning and keep growing in our understanding of who God is.

Some people bail out too quickly. “It’s too hard,” they complain, and then walk away. But we have to keep stretching.

A couple of thoughts I’m pondering today:

“If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.” —Augustine

“It seems that when we encounter a hard truth about God, we either bend our understanding to Him or bend Him to our understanding.” —Chris Tomlinson

I want to believe the Bible more, so I’m asking the Holy Spirit to continue to bend me and shape me to the deeper truths about God.

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Bad Theology

March 17, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I’m working on the next lesson in our Spiritual Self-Defense series. It’s a tough topic to address: the deity of Jesus, who was fully God and fully Man.

I know it’s very hard for a finite human mind to grasp an infinite concept like this. However in my studies I have found some really bad theology posted on the web. I realize as soon as I say, “It’s like this…” that I’ve already diminished the majesty of God coming to earth in human form, because Christ’s virgin birth, sinless life, sacrificial death and resurrection is nothing like anything we can comprehend. But still, I need to find a way to capture it and explain it to our students.

C.S. Lewis wrote about the need for good philosophy to address bad philosophy. I’m adapting his quote in this instance to say,

“Good [theology] must exist, if for no other reason, because bad [theology] needs to be answered.”

Prayerfully my good theology can answer the bad theology that I’ve been seeing.

Theology is a compound word: Theos (God) + Logos (wisdom, revelation, thought). I’ve been praying that God will give me greater revelation about Him. And I’m grateful that the Holy Spirit has given me some like analogies to use. But I’m still blown away by how unlike anything we’ve ever known was the coming of Jesus to earth. It is truly the grandest of all miracles.

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A Sense Of Urgency?

February 27, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I’m reading a challenging book today called Endued With Power: The Holy Spirit in the Church. I just read a thought-provoking quote from the book:

“If the church that is claiming to be Spirit-filled is not a missionary community that is living with a sense of urgency, then its members will be caught up in the rush to respectability and social accommodation” —Steven J. Land

(1) Do we have that sense of urgency? Are we living and working and sharing like today is the day Jesus could return?

…or…

(2) Or are we more concerned about what is socially acceptable and politically correct? Are we just playing church?

I pray that I am leading our church always into that first category. I pray that I personally am always living with that sense of urgency.

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