Thursdays With Oswald—Don’t Let Others Stumble Because Of Me

January 17, 2013 — 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.

Don’t Let Others Stumble Because Of Me

     There is a difference between “offense” and “stumbling.” And they were offended in Him. But Jesus said unto them, “A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country…” (Matthew 13:57). But Jesus knowing in Himself that His disciples murmured at this, said unto them, “Does this cause you to stumble?” (John 6:61; see also Matthew 5:29; 11:6; 13:41; 16:23; 17:27; 18:6-7). Offense means going contrary to someone’s private opinion, and it is sometimes our moral duty to give offense.

     …Stumbling is different from offense. For example, someone who does not know God as well as you do, loves you and continually does what you do because he loves you, and as you watch him you begin to discern that he is degenerating spiritually, and to your amazement you find he is doing what you are doing. No offense is being given, but he is stumbling, distinctly stumbling.

From Biblical Psychology

In 1 Corinthians 8 and 9 Paul talks about not causing someone else to stumble because of what we do. It’s a fine line sometimes between offense and stumbling, but it’s a distinct line that the Holy Spirit can help us discern.

Jesus often offended people because their mindset was so rigid, and He didn’t act in a way that fit their rigid religious stereotypes. But Jesus was very cautious about making sure He never caused someone to stumble. As Matthew points out, Jesus fulfilled the prophesy of Isaiah: He will not quarrel or cry out…. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out… (Matthew 12:19-20; Isaiah 42:1-4).

My prayer: Lord Jesus, please don’t let others stumble because of me! Let me have the discernment of the Holy Spirit to know when to offend, but to never cross the line to cause others to stumble. May I have Your same gentle spirit to not quarrel, and to treat the “bruised reeds” with utmost care.

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Scared Half To Death

December 24, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Mega fearHave you ever had a really good scare that turned your life around? For some people, they need to be scared half to death in order for them to make changes in their lives.

I think this is what happened to the shepherds outside Bethlehem the night Jesus was born (Luke 2:8-20). The Bible says that when the glory of the Lord shone around them they were terrified (the King James Version is very picturesque when it says they were sore afraid). The Greek word for fear is phobeo, but the phrase Luke uses here for “terrified” is megas phobeo phobos. Get the picture? They were scared half to death!!

But now, what to do what that fear? The angel gave them the first step—Go find Jesus. He didn’t tell them to get themselves cleaned up, or start going to church, or even to stop acting a certain way. Simply go find Jesus.

The shepherds obeyed and went to meet Jesus, and then something amazing happens.

  • Their fear is turned to praise—the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God.
  • Their silence is turned to testimony—they spread the word concerning what had been told them.

Jesus was born as a Man to experience all our fears and sorrows and pains. But He took these upon Himself as He became the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice. Now there are no fears that can keep us from God’s presence. Jesus conquered all that kept us from God! 

There was nothing beautiful or majestic about His appearance, nothing to attract us to Him.He was despised and rejected—a Man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for His own sins! But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. (Isaiah 53:2-5; Ephesians 1:3-4)

This Christmas I pray you will…

Find Jesus for yourself!

Let your praises to Him ring out!

Tell others what Jesus has done for you!

If you have missed any of the messages in our Fear Not! series, you can find them all by clicking here.

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The End?

December 11, 2012 — 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.

When Jesus was arrested, almost all of His disciples ran away. Peter, however, stayed somewhat close to Jesus, but not for the reason I originally thought.

Meanwhile, Peter followed Him at a distance and came to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and sat with the guards and waited to see how it would all end. (Matthew 26:58 NLT)

Peter waited to see how it would all end.

Peter thought, “This is the end, roll the credits, turn out the lights, we can all go home now.”

When we think we can figure out how it will all end, our faith is too small. It’s not our story—it’s HIS story. And God’s story never ends for those who love Him. Their story is a perpetual, never-ending love story that gets better and better as eternity rolls on!!

Don’t put a period where God hasn’t put one. Don’t look for how it’s going to end. If you are a follower of God, you have His eternal life. That means the story never ends. It goes on and on and on and on….

Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock. (Isaiah 26:4)

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Showers Of Blessings

December 7, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

My Word will not return emptyAs the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

Pastor, please carefully read these words from Oswald Chambers, written nearly a century ago, but still so relevant for us today—

“God’s Word is a seed. The ‘seed-thought’ idea is one that preachers and evangelists need to remember. We imagine we have to plough the field, sow the seed, reap the grain, bind it into sheaves, put it through the threshing machine, make the bread—all in one discourse. … 

“The truth is we don’t believe God can do His work without us. We are so anxious about the word, so anxious about the people who have accepted the word; we need not be, if we have preached what is a word of God it is not our business to apply it, the Holy Spirit will apply it. Our duty is to sow the word, see that it is the word of God we preach, and not ‘huckster’ it with other things, and God says it will prosper in the thing whereto He sends it. …

“He says, ‘My word…will not return to Me empty.’ Every temptation to exalt the human, human experience, human interests and blessings, will fall short; the only thing that prospers in God’s hands is His own word.”

From God’s Workmanship, emphasis added

I need to be reminded of that again. Perhaps, my fellow pastor, you needed it to. This Sunday just preach the word God has given you, and then let the Holy Spirit take it from there. God WILL bring the harvest in His time.

UPDATE: In the final chapter of my book Shepherd Leadership (a chapter entitled “Applause”) I wrote this:

      Did you catch that? Twice Paul reminds us that it is God who makes things grow [1 Corinthians 3:4-8]. God, not man. So is the only successful ministry the one that harvests? How did they harvest without someone watering the seed? What exactly were they watering if no one had planted any seeds? And even with everyone doing the work, it is still God who makes things grow. 

      According to Paul, what does God reward? It’s not numeric growth, but shepherds “will be rewarded for their own hard work … the work the Lord gave us.”

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It’s Not Anger Management

September 17, 2012 — 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.

Aristotle had an insightful quote that was almost accurate—

“Anybody can become angry—that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way—that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.”

I agree with most of this, but I would argue that it’s not within anybody’s power to express their anger in the right way.

The Bible says that our challenge is to not sin when we are angry (Ephesians 4:26). But most anger is selfishly provoked. That means, I’m angry because I have been offended, or my “rights” have been violated, or someone injured me.

If my anger has been selfishly provoked, how can I be expected to express my anger in any other fashion but selfishly?!

Instead of me trying to manage my anger, I need to listen to the Holy Spirit’s voice. There is one important question the Spirit asks us (which comes from Jonah 4:9)—

Do you do well to be angry?

  • Is it good for me to be angry with this? or should I let this go?
  • Is my anger righteously provoked? or is it selfishly provoked?
  • Does this grieve the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 63:10)?

God’s Spirit within you is never silent. He will either confirm that your anger is righteously provoked (as it was with Jesus in John 2:13-17), or it’s selfishly provoked (as it was with Jonah). That’s why you must ask yourself that question and allow the Holy Spirit to help you answer it: Do I do well to be angry?

If you answer “yes,” and the Holy Spirit confirms this in your heart, then He will help you to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way (as Aristotle said).

And if you answer “no,” the Holy Spirit is the only one who can help put out the flames of your anger in a healthy way.

So don’t try to manage your temper. Listen to the Holy Spirit asking you, “Do you do well to be angry?” And let Him guide you from there.

If you want to check out the other messages in our series called Ticked Off! you may click here.

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10 Quotes From The “Necessity Of An Enemy”

July 31, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I was intrigued by the title of the book: The Necessity Of An Enemy. But I was even more intrigued by what I read in Ron Carpenter’s thought-provoking book. You can read my full review by clicking here.

Here are 10 quotes that caught my eye from this book:

“You will never be an exceptional person if you only fight ordinary battles.”

“Because you have a God-given purpose, this means the devil’s painted a bull’s-eye on your back. …It’s good to have enemies and the trouble they bring—it means you’re in the game.”

“When Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians that ‘we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory’ (Ephesians 1:12), he didn’t tell them to just give God praise. He urged them to be a praise. … In New Testament terminology, glory actually means ‘likeness’ or ‘to resemble.’ In other words, for you to bring glory to God means that God is hard at work making you become something that resembles Him, something that more clearly bears His image. It comes as no surprise that this reality makes someone very upset: The devil isn’t concerned with fighting something that you’re doing; he fights who you’re becoming.”

“God’s definition of winning is fulfilled when you fight the battle and, after it’s over, you are even more established in the identity He designed for you.”

“God knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). … So the fact that He started the area of your life where you’re now facing a challenge from an enemy is the very evidence that He’ll bring you through the battle to complete the thing.”

“A good teacher does not use a test to teach you something…a test measures what you already know.”

“Negative people, allowed to speak into your life, will become agents of destruction of your purpose. An enemy will always try to weaken your passion for your dream.”

“Sometimes it’s easier to super-spiritualize something and blame the devil than to understand a need or personal flaw and take ownership for it.”

“An enemy is someone who increases, strengthens, encourages, or enables an area of weakness in you that God wants to remove from your life.”

“In your progress toward God’s purpose for you, anything you hang onto that God wants you to drop is an enemy.”

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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!

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Waiting For Your Dream

July 17, 2012 — 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.

Some time ago, when my wife Betsy and I were waiting for God to bring about something we believed He had promised us, Betsy taped this verse to our bathroom mirror—

At the time I have decided, My words will come true. You can trust what I say about the future. It may take a long time, but keep on waiting—it will happen! (Habakkuk 2:3)

Keep on waiting.

You might be able to relate to that statement. Perhaps you say, “I am waiting. And waiting, and waiting, and WAITING…!”

But let me ask you something: What are you doing while you’re waiting?

Did you know that the Hebrew word for “waiting” here can also mean to ambush? That means you need to be doing everything you can do now to capture God’s promised dream when it arrives. As John Wooden used to say, “When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare.”

What do you need to do to ambush and capture your dream?

  • Learn a skill?
  • Take a class?
  • Get a degree?
  • Forgive someone?
  • Get out of debt?
  • Find a partner?
  • Volunteer your time?
  • Improve your waiting skills?

How do you improve your waiting skills? Check out this well-known verse—

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…. (Isaiah 40:31)

Wait upon the Lord.

This is not a passive activity. This doesn’t mean to put your feet up, take it easy, and just lounge around until God finally decides to show up.

This word for “wait” has a different definition.

Have you ever dined at a really nice restaurant? In those high-priced restaurants, one of the things that makes the dining experience so nice is the staff who serves you. They anticipate your every need, they seem to be there just when you need them. They’re not late in arriving, nor are they rushing you along. They are WAITING on you!

This is what Isaiah is saying: When we wait on the Lord we are actively serving Him. We are trying to anticipate what He wants us to do. We’re not late and we’re not rushing Him along. We just want to give Him our very best service.

So if you are waiting (and waiting, and waiting!), make sure you’re making good use of your waiting time. Serve God with all you’ve got, and then make sure you’re ready to ambush your dream when God brings it to you in His perfect timing. God said it:

“Keep on waiting—it will happen!” 

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Battling Depression

April 2, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Have you ever been depressed? I have. I know all too well how depression robbed me of sleep, sapped joy from my day, kept me from smiling and on the verge of tears all the time, made sunny days seem cloudy, caused me to sigh all the time and lose interest in the things that used to bring me pleasure, and brought such a sense of loneliness and isolation.

Did you know that Jesus felt the crushing load of depression too? As He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane just before His arrest, listen to these words—

  • He began to be sorrowful and troubled
  • He became anguished and distressed
  • He began to show grief and distress of mind and was deeply depressed
  • He said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death”
  • He prayed more fervently, and He was in such agony of spirit that His sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood
  • “Abba, Father,” He cried out, “everything is possible for You. Please take this cup of suffering away from Me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine.” (see Matthew 26:37-38; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:44)

The writer of Hebrews wrote this about Jesus—

While Jesus was here on earth, He offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the One who could rescue Him from death. And God heard His prayers because of His deep reverence for God. Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered. In this way, God qualified Him as a perfect High Priest, and He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him. (Hebrews 5:7-9)

We learn something in suffering that we can’t learn any other way. Jesus learned how to experience all of the grief, anxiety, and depression that you and I will ever feel. And that is what qualifies Him to be a perfect High Priest for us.

Our part is to pray. Time and time and time again, not only did Jesus pray, but He encouraged His disciples to pray as well. As you continue to pray, Jesus is your High Priest praying for you. Only He truly knows how to translate the cry of your heart into a language Abba Father can understand.

In all their troubles, He was troubled, too. He didn’t send someone else to help them. He did it Himself, in person. (Isaiah 63:9)

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

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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.

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