Incarnation | Craig T. Owens

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Love Dance

September 10, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I sat enthralled yesterday morning at the ministry of Pastor Bill Leach! He opened my eyes to a well-known passage in Philippians 2:5-11 as I had never before seen it.

In verse 7 the Scripture says that Jesus emptied Himself. Pastor Leach pointed out that this was not by laying something aside, but by taking on the human form. The Divine One became a doulos (the Greek word which means a bondslave with no rights of his own).

“Jesus is truly Man, but not merely Man.”

Jesus understood that being God is not getting, but giving. By taking on the human form, Jesus was showing us that He identified with us and therefore knew what to give us.

“For God so loved the world that He GAVE His One and Only Son.”

When we love someone, we enter into their orbit. We are focused on them and their desires. In the Trinity, each part of the Godhead is orbiting (or dancing) around each other.

In order for us to love God, God had to enter our orbit. We were self-absorbed: we danced only around ourselves. When Jesus took on human form He could enter our orbit—He could dance around us. It’s only then that we could understand how to join the love dance with Him.

Pastor Leach’s message called to my remembrance something I learned from another great pastor, Dave Williams, from 2 Peter 1:

His divine power has given us everything we needfor life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. (v. 3)

This verse sets the stage for what comes next (verses 5-7). The Apostle Peter then tells us to begin to add to our faith and our love dance with God. Add is a compound word that means a lavish dance with no expenses spared!

Because Jesus chose to step into our humanity, He chose to step into our self-centered dance. And now that we have seen Him—the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14)—it’s time to leave our self-centered dance behind and join with a new Dance Partner who loves us like no one else ever has or ever will!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 2 Peter, apostle Peter, Bill Leach, dance, Dave Williams, God's love, Gospel of John, Incarnation, Philippians, Trinity. 1 Comment »

My Healer

March 26, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

In yesterday’s “Where’s God?” series, I looked at the very difficult question: Where’s God in my sickness?

The word disease has an interesting origin. In the Old French the word literally means without ease. So we could call any disease our place of dis-ease. Whether it’s in the physical, the emotional, or the spiritual part of us, we have all experienced times of dis-ease.

God did not create disease. He did not create sickness. He did not create sin. We did. When we push our physical bodies too far, when we exploit our natural resources, when we rebel against God’s design, we are opening ourselves up to dis-ease. When we experience the painful results of this, God would be perfectly justified in standing aloof from our situation.

But this is the absolute miracle of the Incarnation—

Jesus choose to step into our pain!

He choose to personally experience our dis-ease!

But the fact is, it was our pains He carried—our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought He brought it on Himself, that God was punishing Him for His own failures. But it was our sins that did that to Him, that ripped and tore and crushed Him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. (Isaiah 53:4-5, The Message)

Only One who is fully Man and fully God could know our dis-ease and heal our dis-ease. Jesus is our Healer!

If you’ve missed any of the messages in this series, please check them all out by clicking here.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, disease, healing, Incarnation, Isaiah, Jesus Christ, sermon, sick. 1 Comment »

The Case For Christmas (book review)

December 20, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Virgin birth? The accuracy of the biblical account? God in flesh? These are all intriguing questions that crop up especially around the Christmas season, which is why The Case For Christmas by Lee Strobel is a timely read.

Lee Strobel investigates the fantastic claims that Christians make about the birth of Jesus Christ with all of the cool-headed dispassion of a newspaper journalist. Beginning with his own skepticism about the miracle of the virgin birth of Christ, Mr. Strobel seeks out the sharpest minds who have thoroughly researched the key areas surrounding this subject. In a book that reads a little like a detective story, we get to sit in on some of the fascinating interviews Mr. Strobel conducted for this book.

Whether you are an atheist, a doubter, or a wholehearted believer, there is much to ponder in The Case For Christmas. At only 96-pages long, you can read this book prior to Christmas Day, and gain a better appreciation for the true meaning behind CHRISTmas.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: apologetic, atheism, book review, Christianity, Christmas, Incarnation, Jesus Christ, Lee Strobel, virgin. Leave a Comment »

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.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: apologetic, C.S. Lewis, doctrine, Holy Spirit, Incarnation, Jesus Christ, quote, theology. 2 Comments »

Greatest Story… Ever

October 20, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

Logos Some people say, “Print is dead.” Perhaps. Probably because there was never a word or a story like the greatest Story. There is a Word that not only came alive but is still alive. A Story that is still being told, still being lived out right before our eyes.

Listen to how John, the disciple who was so crazy-in-love with Jesus, said it:

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, Who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. //NIV
And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth. //AMP
The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish. //MSG

In our Impact! Youth service this week we’ll begin looking at this living Story: the Word that came to life and is being lived out right before our eyes even now. It’s a Story in which we play an important part too.

I love this Story. I love telling this Story again and again. I love being a part of this Story. I’d love it if you could join us on Wednesday evenings for a new look at the greatest Story ever.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, Gospel of John, greatest story, Impact! youth group, Incarnation, Jesus Christ, living Word. Leave a Comment »

Real Raw Emotions

June 12, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

This week I’ve been writing about my favorite book—the Bible—and why I find it so fascinating. Yesterday I talked about how the Bible helps me mentally. But we are not just mental creatures, we are emotional, too, and I have found my Bible to be an excellent way to express some of my deepest, rawest emotions.

(If you would like to read the other parts of this series, they are here, here, here, and here.)

Humans are created in God’s image, and God expresses emotion. In fact, God expresses emotion more deeply and purely than we humans can His sorrow is more bitter, His love is more intense, His jealousy is more pure.

Emotion is expressed throughout the Bible, but I’m particularly attracted to the emotional responses in the Psalms. These are prayers and songs which express the deepest emotions of angry, loving, hurting people. A few examples—

You know what I long for, Lord; You hear my every sigh. (Psalm 38:9 NLT)

Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack. My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride. (Psalm 56:1-2 NIV)

God, smash my enemies’ teeth to bits, leave them toothless tigers. Let their lives be buckets of water spilled, all that’s left, a damp stain in the sand. Let them be trampled grass worn smooth by the traffic. Let them dissolve into snail slime, be a miscarried fetus that never sees sunlight. Before what they cook up is half-done, God, throw it out with the garbage! (Psalm 58:6-9 The Message)

O my God, my life is cast down upon me and I find the burden more than I can bear…. (Psalm 42:6 AMP)

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer, by night, and am not silent…. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth…. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. …But you, O Lord, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. (Psalm 22:1-2, 14-16, 19 NIV)

Jesus came to earth as fully God and fully man, able to experience the deepest, rawest emotions of anyone. “He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus knows what you feel because He felt it, too: “For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation” (Hebrews 4:15). As a result, “He lives forever to intercede with God on [our] behalf (Hebrews 7:25).

Don’t ever be afraid to express your rawest emotions in God’s presence—He knows profoundly what you are feeling. When you are struggling with deep emotion, the Bible knows how to speak your heart’s cry to God.