Jesus Is Everlasting Father

December 15, 2025 — 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. 

Last week we talked about how the title “God” can mean different things to different people. When we are talking about the One True God as He is revealed to us in the Person of Jesus, there is no doubt of Whom we are speaking. The opponents of Christianity knew this too, which is why they tried to get the early saints to not use the name Jesus.  

Isaiah 9:6 says that a Child is born and a Son is given, but this Son is given the unusual title of Everlasting Father. Jesus acknowledged this unusualness in this exchange with the Pharisees in Matthew 22:41-45. 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

“Everlasting” means continuous existence; existing in perpetuity; the Chief by which all other things are ordered and aligned. We see this in Genesis 1:1, where “In the beginning” signifies God started Time but He existed before that moment. 

In John 1:1, similar words are used,  but here “in the beginning” means if you stand at the moment Time began and were able to look back into the immeasurable eternity that existed before that, God was there. More specifically, the Word of God (Jesus) was there as God. Jesus Himself affirmed this in Revelation 1:8 and 3:14. 

Then in 1 John 1:1, the phrase “from the beginning” means that after Time ends, you can look into the infinite eternity that still exists and God is there. Again, Jesus Himself affirms this in Revelation 22:13. 

“Father” this is the first word in our biblical Hebrew dictionary. It means father, the head or founder of a family, the protector of the family. Paul says that Jesus fulfills all of these definitions (Colossians 2:9-10, 1:15-22), and the writer of Hebrew opens his epistle with the same thought (Hebrews 1:1-3). 

No one on earth has seen God the Father. This makes it difficult to follow Him. Which is why Jesus made His appearing among us (John 1:1, 14, 18). 

Paul wanted people to know “the mystery of God, namely, Christ” (Colossians 2:2), and he said that Jesus is the Key that unlocks the treasure-trove of God’s rich love for us. Notice Paul’s progression: teaching the Word (1:25-27) so that we mature (1:28), so that we have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that we may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ (2:2-4). 

When Jesus was born, Simeon gave us the same assurance when he saw Jesus and announced that Jesus was the Christ that had been prophesied (Luke 2:25-32), and Jesus Himself told His disciples the exact same thing (John 14:8-9). 

Let people see God’s love through your life, all year-round but especially at Christmas. As we said last week, when we talk about Jesus and live for Jesus, we invite others to God, through Jesus, by the Spirit’s illumination. 

If you have missed any of the other messages in our series Jesus Is…, you can find them all here.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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

Links & Quotes

January 4, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

William Gurnall was right when he noted that joy is the highest testimony of a Christian’s peace. Check out the full sermon from which this clip came.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“Your failures are your accomplishments because it makes you prepared for whatever it is that you are going to do next.” —Lee Daniels 

One of my favorite Christmas movies is Miracle on 34th Street, where a well-timed letter to Santa Claus arrives at the courthouse to tip the scales of justice for Kris Kringle. The US Postal Service reports that they still get thousands of letters addressed to Santa each year. Have you ever wondered what happens to them. The Smithsonian has the heart-warming story. 

“The more we learn from God’s Word about how creation praises and reveals Him, the better able we will be to explain His revelation to others. But we’re not content for people merely so experience some revelation of God from the things He has made. We want them to know Jesus. For that, we’ll have to lead them to the Scriptures. The better we know the Scriptures and are daily immersed in them, the more we will see Jesus there and be made like Him. The more we are made like Him, the more we will see Him in all His works, and the more our hope will grow and be visible to others, some of whom may ask a reason for the hope that is within us.” —T.M. Moore 

“No priest, no theologian stood at the manger of Bethlehem. And yet all Christian theology has its origin in the wonder of all wonders: that God became human. Holy theology arises from knees bent before the mystery of the divine Child in the stable. Without the holy night, there is no theology.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Early Pentecostals generally viewed the observance of the ‘church calendar’ as remnants of liturgical traditions. Apart from Easter and Christmas, there were few days that Pentecostal churches set aside for special services. One exception was New Year’s Eve, when a ‘Watchnight Service’ would be held, typically starting around 7 p.m. and lasting until after midnight.” Check out the notable history of people “praying in the New Year.”

Scott Hubbard writes, “Spiritual health yesterday does not guarantee spiritual health today. So, at the end of a new year, on the edge of another, let’s stop to take some spiritual vitals. How healthy is your soul?” He then gives us six biblically-based questions to help us assess the healthiness of our soul. 

An amulet discovered under the chin of a man buried in a tomb dating to AD 230–270 shows the spread of Christianity into Germany by the middle of the third century.

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

Christ’s Advents Bring Hope

December 9, 2024 — 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. 

The word Advent means the appearing—something that bursts onto the scene. At this time of year we are actually thinking about TWO Advents. We look backward in gratitude to celebrate the first Advent of Jesus when He was born in a manger in Bethlehem. And then we look forward in joyful expectation to the second Advent of Jesus when He will return to earth again as King of kings. As we will in this time between the Advents, there are four qualities that we should exemplify—the first is hope. 

When the candle is lit, darkness disappears. 

Darkness is not the opposite of light, it is the absence of light. In the same way, despair or hopelessness is the absence of hope. 

Adam and Eve lived in perfection, but when they tried to do things their way—instead of obeying God’s way—their sin caused them despair. They tried to cover their nakedness, but with a hopeless covering of dying leaves. God came with a promise of full restoration, and illustrated it by covering them with the skin of a sacrificial animal (Genesis 3:7, 15, 21). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

Job knew the hopelessness of self-covering and finality of earthly life, and even David—the man after God’s own heart knew this too (Job 6:11-13, 17:13-16; 1 Chronicles 29:15). 

But Job and David both knew the hope they could have in their Redeemer (Job 19:25; Psalm 16). 

Hope in both the Old and the New Testaments means a patient waiting, anticipating with pleasure, having a confident expectation. It’s a light shining in the darkness that cannot be extinguished—it’s hope that despair cannot darken (Isaiah 9:1-2, 6-7). 

At His first Advent, Jesus appeared in our “clothing” so that He could become our sin and then clothe us in His righteousness (Hebrews 2:17; John 1:14; Romans 4:6-8; Hebrews 6:16-20). For this we look back in gratitude. 

But we don’t live today merely in gratitude for Christ’s first Advent, but we also live in confident hope of Christ’s second Advent (Acts 1:11; John 14:1-3; 2 Corinthians 5:1-8; Revelation 22:7, 12, 20).

He came into this world of sin,
Made flesh and blood His dearest kin;
He died, that He might take us in,
And keep us till He comes again. —Scott Hubbard



How do we live out this confident hope—


May the God of HOPE fill you with all JOY and PEACE as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13) 


Follow along with all four of the Advent attributes by clicking here. 


►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎








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



	



The King Of Glory

December 18, 2023 — 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. 




I did a series of Advent messages a few years ago called “The Carols of Christmas” with the premise that many of our old familiar carols had become too familiar and we had lost the true meaning in those beautiful songs. 


I think the same is true with the sentiment of wanting to experience the glory of God. Sometimes you will hear people say, “We just want to see God’s glory!” but I’m not sure they really mean this or really want it. 


Throughout the Bible, “glory” comes from the Hebrew word which means weightiness. When God appears—or even one of His angels glowing with His glorious presence—people collapse under the weight of His glory. Look at the examples of Moses, Isaiah, Daniel, and even John the beloved disciple of Jesus (Exodus 3:6; Isaiah 6:3-5; Daniel 8:15-17; Revelation 1:12-17). 


In the light of Christ’s glory everything is exposed. We have no excuses for our sin. We are seen exactly as we are, and the fear of God’s judgment causes us to collapse under that weight. 


But the First Advent story is filled with the phrase “Fear not.” Let me show you two examples. First, notice the strong emotions when the angels appear to the shepherds— 


An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” (Luke 2:9-10)


What was this good news that would turn their fear into joy? Listen to the angelic message to Joseph—


Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins. (Matthew 1:20-21) 


Notice the phrase, “HE will save His people from their sins.” Part of what contributes to our fear of God’s glorious presence is knowing that we are helpless to remove our sins. The fact that Jesus would do this for us was foretold in prophecies like Isaiah 25:7-9 and 59:15-16.


How will Jesus do this? In 1 Corinthians 15:53, Paul says that in order to enter into God’s presence our perishable, mortal lives have to be exchanged for something imperishable and immortal. We are unable to do this, but in the Incarnation, the immortal God put on mortal flesh!  


Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians 15 to say, “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55)! 


If our sins were still clinging to us, spending eternity in the presence of the King of Glory would be torturous! Our fear of His weighty glory is only changed into joy when we accept that He has saved us from the penalty of our sins. Now our fear of His glory isn’t a crippling fear, but as we worship Him for His salvation our fear becomes reverential worship. 


Or we could say it this way—When we fear the King of Glory we fear nothing else! 


Charitie Lees Bancroft captures that idea in these stanzas of her poem:


When satan tempts me to despair


And tells me of the guilt within,


Upward I look and see Him there


Who made an end of all my sin.


Because the sinless Savior died,


My sinful soul is counted free;


For God the Just is satisfied


To look on Him and pardon me. 




Behold Him there! The risen Lamb,


My perfect, spotless righteousness;


The great unchangeable “I AM,”


The King of glory and of grace!


One with Himself I cannot die,


My soul is purchased by His blood;


My life is hid with Christ on high,


With Christ, my Savior and my God.


With our sins forgiven by our faith in Jesus, we can now enjoy an eternity in the weighty, awesome presence of the King of Glory! 


If you’ve missed any of the other messages in our series Long Live the King of Kings, you can find them all by clicking here. 


►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. Like this video where I talk about the logic in Psalm 119. ◀︎◀︎








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



	



Candlelight Christmas Eve

December 16, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




It’s one of my favorite services of the year: Our annual Candlelight Christmas Eve service.


Please join me at 6pm on Friday, December 24, at City Impact for some hot chocolate and Christmas cookies, Christmas carols and special music, a special story just for the kids, and an encouraging thought from the Scripture about the wonderful gift of the birth of Jesus Christ.


Our service lasts less than an hour so it will fit into your family’s Christmas plans.


Get a map to City Impact by clicking here.






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



	



Don’t Give In To Pseudo-Wisdom

February 2, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on iTunes or Spotify.




Dr. Craig Bartholomew wrote, “Wisdom is deeply experiential.” In other words, we can’t just have head knowledge and call it “wisdom,” but we have to have an experience in which we have learned a lesson in order for it to truly be called wisdom. 


In the three wisdom books of the Bible—Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes—the wisdom that is shared is hard-won by people who personally experienced what they shared with us. Even if we consider the wisdom in the poetic books of Psalms and the Song of Solomon, we are still reading first-person, firsthand experiences. True wisdom can never be dispensed by someone who hasn’t “been there, done that” and learned a valuable lesson from that experience. 


In Job, we meet three of his friends who claim to have wisdom but don’t meet the criteria of personal experience. This pseudo-wisdom always comes in the form of, “I’ve heard that…,” or “It’s obvious from my observations…,” or “Everyone knows that….” 


That means that satan’s tactics fall into this pseudo-wisdom category too: he has no personal, first-hand experience of human situations that result in hard-won wisdom! The best he can offer is secondhand observations. 


Jesus, on the other hand, fully entered into the human experience. Jesus IS Wisdom. As a human He had first-hand experiences, and as God He doesn’t just see fragments of lessons, but He sees the whole, eternal picture into which all lessons fit. 


This is why Solomon wrote, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” This holy respect and willingness to heed the words of Wisdom Himself is the starting point and the conclusion of wisdom. This is also why the writer of Hebrews wrote that Jesus knows every situation that we are going through. He knows how to help us because He has personal, first-hand, experiential wisdom.


satan’s temptations are only suppositions. He can never say, “I know from personal experience.” Look at his temptations of Adam and Eve, Job, Jesus, and the apostle Paul:


    

  • Did God really say?
    • 

  • Does this suffering even make sense?
    • 

  • Doesn’t the Scripture tell us…?
    • 

  • I don’t think you deserve the thorn in the flesh. 
    • 



Don’t give in to the pseudo-wisdom that satan pushes!


Jesus was tempted in every human way possible. He learned wisdom by this personal experience. Jesus alone is qualified to be the only source of Wisdom that you and I need to successfully handle trials and temptations. 


Because He Himself in His humanity has suffered in being tempted, tested and tried, Jesus is able immediately to run to the cry of—to assist and relieve—those who are being tempted and tested and tried…. (Hebrews 2:18 AMP)






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



	



Poetry Saturday—Hymn #120

January 2, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




What shall the dying sinner do


That seeks relief for all his woe?


Where shall the guilty conscience find


Ease for the torment of his mind?




How shall we get our crimes forgiv’n?


Or form our natures fit for heav’n?


Can souls all o’er defiled with sin


Make their own powers and passions clean?




In vain we search, in vain we try,


Till Jesus brings His gospel nigh;


‘Tis there such power and glory dwell


As save rebellious souls from hell.




This is the pillar of our hope


That bears our fainting spirits up:


We read the grace, we trust the Word,


And find salvation in the Lord.




Let men or angels dig the mines,


Where nature’s golden treasure shines;


Brought near the doctrine of the Cross,


All nature’s gold appears but dross.




Should vile blasphemers with distain


Pronounce the truth of Jesus vain,


I’ll meet the scandal and the shame,


And sing and triumph in His name. —Isaac Watts








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



	



Shadows And Light

December 25, 2020 — Craig T. Owens 




Have you ever been afraid? Even scared half to death? Once there was the biggest, lumpiest, scariest monster hunched in my room just waiting to pounce on me! My mouth was so dry that I couldn’t even call out for help. Finally, I got enough moisture in my mouth to be able to yell out, “DAD!!” When my Dad came into my room and turned on the light, the monster disappeared. But right where he had been waiting to pounce on me was my desk chair with a hoodie hanging on the back. 


Sometimes we’re scared because of what we don’t see clearly or can’t fully understand because there’s not enough light for us to make out the details. 


On the night Jesus was born, an angel announced the news of His birth to some nearby shepherds. The angel was coming with good news, but Luke writes that the shepherds were terrified! I like the picturesque language of the King James Version that says they were “sore afraid,” as if they shook so much it made them sore!  


Why were they so terrified? I think it’s because they knew that when angels show up that means God Himself is close by! In fact, Luke emphasized that it was an angel of the Lord who shone with the glory of the Lord. 


For their entire lives, these shepherds had been trying to live by the law. They had been told that this is what would make them acceptable to God. The law told them how to live, and how to make things right with God if they broke a law. If they didn’t make things right, God would punish them. So perhaps they were sore afraid because they weren’t ready to meet God. 


But the angel told them something unexpected: Today your Savior has been born! A Savior, not a Judge! 


This is what God promised through one of His prophets: “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel. I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”  


The writer of Hebrews said all of the laws were just a “shadow of what is in heaven” (Hebrews 8:5). This shadow was the source of fear, but now Jesus had come as the Light of the world and as our Savior. Jesus came to take away the penalty of sin: Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant (Hebrews 9:15). 


In The Pilgrim’s Progress, Faithful told how a man came and beat him because he had broken the law. Even when Faithful begged for mercy the man said, “I don’t know how to show mercy to anyone.” This man was Moses the Lawgiver. 


Faithful explained what finally gave him relief: “He would have finished me off, but then one came by, and told him to stop. I did not know Him at first, but as He went by, I saw the holes in His hands and in His side and I concluded that He was Jesus.” 


The Advent of Jesus was to let the punishment for breaking the law fall on Him instead of us! 


The Law says, “Clean yourself up first and then you can come to God. But if you miss anything, God will bring down the hammer of His judgment!” Jesus says, “Come to Me just as you are. If you ask Me, I will forgive your sins. I’ll clothe you in My robe of righteousness so you can stand faultless and unafraid before God” (see Romans 8:1; Galatians 3:26-27).  


This is very Good News indeed! It means we can join in the song of the angels: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests. 






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



	



Poetry Saturday—Of The Father’s Love Begotten

December 19, 2020 — Craig T. Owens 




Of the Father’s love begotten


ere the worlds began to be,


He is Alpha and Omega,


He the Source, the Ending He,


of the things that are, that have been,


and that future years shall see,


evermore and evermore!




O that birth forever blessed,


when the Virgin, full of grace,


by the Holy Ghost conceiving,


bore the Savior of our race;


and the Babe, the world’s Redeemer,


first revealed His sacred face,


evermore and evermore!




This is He whom heav’n-taught singers


sang of old with one accord,


whom the Scriptures of the prophets


promised in their faithful word;


now He shines, the long expected;


let creation praise its Lord,


evermore and evermore!




O ye heights of heav’n, adore Him;


angel hosts, His praises sing:


all dominions, bow before Him


and extol our God and King;


let no tongue on earth be silent,


ev’ry voice in concert ring,


evermore and evermore!




Christ, to Thee, with God the Father,


and, O Holy Ghost, to Thee,


hymn and chant and high thanksgiving


and unwearied praises be,


honor, glory, and dominion


and eternal victory,


evermore and evermore! —Aurelius Clemens Prudentius








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



	



Candlelight Christmas Eve

December 15, 2020 — Craig T. Owens 




It’s one of my favorite services of the year: Our annual Candlelight Christmas Eve service.


Please join me at 6pm on Thursday, December 24, for some hot chocolate and Christmas cookies, Christmas carols and special music, a special story just for the kids, and an encouraging thought from the Scripture about the wonderful gift of the birth of Jesus Christ.


Our service lasts less than an hour so it will fit into your family’s Christmas plans.


Get a map to City Impact by clicking here.






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








« Older posts