Jesus Christ | Craig T. Owens

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Thursdays With Oswald—What The Spirit Does

July 10, 2014 — 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.

What The Spirit Does

The majority of us “hang on” to Jesus Christ, we are thankful for the massive gift of salvation, but we don’t do anything towards working it out. That is the difficult bit, and the bit the majority of us fall in, because we have not been taught that that is what we have to do, consequently there is a gap between our religious profession and our actual practical living. …

The great factor in Christian experience is the one our Lord continually brought out, viz., the reception of the Holy Spirit who does in us what He did for us, and slowly and surely our natural life is transformed into a spiritual life through obedience.

From Conformed To His Image

There is a process whereby the Holy Spirit brings our Christ-likeness from us; it’s called sanctification (or as I like to say it, saint-ification).

This is how the Spirit forms us into God’s saints. But here’s the key point: we have to let the Spirit do His work. If we say, “No thanks, I’d rather not work on that area of my life,” He will leave you alone.

But, oh, the rewards that we miss out on when we don’t receive all that the Holy Spirit has for us!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Christian, Christlike, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Oswald Chambers, rewards, saints, salvation, sanctification, video. Leave a Comment »

Be A Witness

July 7, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Jesus said we have some really, really, REALLY good news to share! It’s news about how much God loves us and wants us to know Him personally.

Jesus wanted us to spread the word far and wide about this really, really, REALLY good news, but He didn’t want us to try to do it in our own power. In fact, the last words He spoke to His disciples before ascending into Heaven were—

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

Did you catch those words: power TO BE witnesses. The Holy Spirit provides us with the resident, miracle-working, moral, influential, and enabling power not to do witnessing, but to be witnesses.

“The Pentecostal believer is to be something, not just experience something. He or she must become a living witness of Christ on earth.” —Charles Crabtree

There are really two ways that we are witnesses for Him. Our witness is:

(1) Strategic

The New Testament believers strategically met house-to-house and in the Temple (Acts 2:46).
The church strategically picked leaders to help them be effective in their witness (Acts 6:2-3).
The Holy Spirit strategically picked missionaries to be witnesses in far-off lands (Acts 13:2-3).
Those missionaries were strategic in following up on their witnessing work (Acts 15:36).

(2) Spontaneous

The newly Spirit-baptized believers were able to spontaneously worship God (Acts 2:4) and testify of His power to others (Acts 2:14).
Peter could spontaneously respond to the crowd’s question after Peter had finished his sermon (Acts 2:37-39).
Peter and John had a spontaneous reply when the Sanhedrin called them in to testify (Acts 4:8).
This spontaneous witnessing power was available to them through the Holy Spirit just as Jesus had promised (Matthew 10:17-20).

If we try to just do witnessing, our strategy will be lacking and we’ll quite possibly be caught off-guard in a spontaneous setting. But when we allow the Holy Spirit’s power to transform us TO BE witnesses, our strategies are more effective and our spontaneous moments are too! The Holy Spirit helps us share the really, really, REALLY good news!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Acts 2, Book of Acts, Charles Crabtree, church history, empowerment, God's power, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, leadership, New Testament, Pentecostal, spontaneous, strategy, witness, witnessing, worship. 1 Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Get Closer To Jesus

July 3, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Get Closer To Jesus

You can’t pump up faith out of your own heart. Whenever faith is starved in your soul it is because you are not in contact with Jesus; get in contact with Him and lack of faith will go in two seconds.

From Conformed To His Image

Oswald Chambers’ words remind me of the old song…

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in His wonderful face

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of His glory and grace

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: faith, Jesus Christ, Oswald Chambers, personal experience, relationship, song. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

July 1, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Some good reading from today…

Hobby Lobby: Good News, Bad News & A Warning.

And a scary news item: Obama White House seeking ways to circumvent the Hobby Lobby SCOTUS ruling.

Perhaps even scarier is this [VIDEO]: President Obama unapologetic about trying to bypass Congress.

Hamas (which is supported by the Obama State Department) murdered three Israeli teenagers.

All of this re-reminds me: The world needs Jesus. John Piper says, “Your life is too small if it is not connected to this great challenge. Not all Christians are missionaries. But all care about the mission. All are connected. And want to be connected. No Christian should go for months and never think about this greatest of all enterprises.” Read more in his post The Greatest Challenge In The World.

“Success is not final; failure is not final: it is the courage to continue that counts.” —Winston Churchill

“No scripture is exhausted by a single explanation. The flowers of God’s garden bloom, not only double, but seven-fold: they are continually pouring forth fresh fragrance.” —Charles Spurgeon

“Human knowledge must be understood in order to be loved; but Divine knowledge must be loved to be understood.” —Blaise Pascal

Altar To Alter

June 30, 2014 — 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 process of sanctification—or as I like remember the word: saint-ification—is the process whereby the Holy Spirit develops Christlike character in us. His process is immediate, personalized, and ongoing. In other words, the Spirit is intimately and immediately involved in every aspect of our lives.

Christlikeness in us is described in the Bible with phrases like…

Being made new in the attitude of your minds; and putting on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:23-24).
Conformed to the likeness of God’s Son (Romans 8:29).

The Holy Spirit is often portrayed as fire. In fact, the Bible says that Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11). This is because in order for Christlike character to be formed in us, that character will have to be forged in us. Forged in the Spirit’s fire.

Look at two examples:

Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph’s character (Psalm 105:19).
Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered (Hebrews 5:8).

Here’s what I’ve learned—

We must altar our lives so that the Holy Spirit can alter our lives.

Unless we yield to what the Holy Spirit wants to do with us, He cannot and will not bring about the changes that will lead to more Christlikeness being revealed in us.

It may be painful to altar our lives, but the apostle Paul says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

You altar, and then watch the Holy Spirit alter your life in a way that reveals God’s glory!

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: altar, apostle Paul, attitude, character, character development, Christlike, Ephesians, God's glory, Gospel of Matthew, Hebrews, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Joseph, Pentecost, Psalm, Romans, sanctification. Leave a Comment »

Poetry Saturday—Pass It On

June 28, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Have you had a kindness shown?

Pass it on;

‘Twas not giv’n for thee alone,

Pass it on;

Let it travel down the years,

Let it wipe another’s tears;

Till in Heav’n the deed appears,

Pass it on.

Pass it on, pass it on!

Cheerful word of loving deed,

Pass it on,

Live for self, you live in vain;

Live for Christ, you live again,

Live for Him, with Him you reign.

Pass it on.

Did you hear the loving word?

Pass it on;

Like the singing of a bird?

Pass it on;

Let its music live and grow,

Let it cheer another’s woe;

You have reaped what others sow,

Pass it on.

Have you found the heav’nly light?

Pass it on;

Souls are groping in the night,

Daylight gone, daylight gone!

Hold your lighted lamp on high,

Be a star in someone’s sky,

He may live who else would die,

Pass it on. —Henry Burton

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: encouragement, Heaven, Henry Burton, Jesus Christ, kindness, love, music, poetry. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Character Development

June 26, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Character Development

God can put a saint into a right relationship with Himself, but He cannot make him work out that relationship, the saint must do that himself. …

God alters our disposition, but He does not make our character. When God alters my disposition the first thing the new disposition will do is to stir up my brain to think along God’s line. As I began to think, begin to work out what God has worked in, it will become character. Character is consolidated thought. God makes me pure in heart; I must make myself pure in conduct.

From Conformed To His Image

I like to think of the word sanctification this way: saint-ification. Through His Holy Spirit, God is making me a saint, by making it possible for me to demonstrate Christlike conduct.

Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to make a saint out of you? What’s holding you back?

(If you are in the Cedar Springs area this Sunday, I will be talking more about the Holy Spirit’s role in this saint-ification process. Please join me!)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, character development, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Oswald Chambers, relationship, saints, sanctification. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

June 24, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Some good reading from today…

“Married women are notably safer than their unmarried peers, and girls raised in a home with their married father are markedly less likely to be abused or assaulted than children living without their own father.” See what else Eric Metaxas shares in Men Who Serve And Protect.

“A rejection, or in Scripture’s strong language, a crucifixion of the natural self is the passport to everlasting life. Nothing that has not died will be resurrected.” —C.S. Lewis

“If Bible Christianity is to survive the present world upheaval, we shall need to recapture the spirit of worship. We shall need to have a fresh revelation of the greatness of God and the beauty of Jesus. We shall need to put away our phobias and our prejudices against the deeper life and seek again to be filled with the Holy Spirit.” —A.W. Tozer

The state of California is going to pay abortion providers more money to kill babies. Guess where the funds are coming from? Yep, those doctors who are trying to save lives will be paid less! Bishop Jaime Soto speaks out.

Planned Parenthood wrote an open letter saying the word abortion is not mentioned in Scripture, so that somehow makes it okay to kill innocent lives. Pastor Garrett Kell has a wonderful, biblical response.

In a Family Talk interview with Ryan Dobson, here are some great quotes from Nick Vujicic: “Fear will disable you more than your physical limitations. … When we give God our broken pieces, he can turn our broken pieces into something beautiful. … You’re not important because of how many people know you; you’re important because you’re a child of God. … Don’t be a bystander, be on stand by. I will not allow a bully to bully others. I will not laugh at his jokes, I will not remain silent. I will stand up and say ‘Enough is enough.’”

“Our resources are the Christlikeness we win while immersed in battle. They are the lessons, the faith, the character we gain from warfare with the enemy.” —David Wilkerson

Defeating satan

June 23, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

The Bible tells us that satan is a formidable foe. He steals, he kills, he destroys. When he speaks, lies are all that come out of his mouth. He slanders, he deceives, he coaxes, he bullies; he does whatever he can to trip up as many people as he can.

Remember this: “The prince of this world now stands condemned” (John 16:11). He wants to take as many victims down with him as he can! Look what the Bible says about his powers—

He is more crafty (Genesis 3:1). This means he is extremely subtle. He seldom throws a huge blatant sin right in your face, but he whispers subtle suggestions.
He operates with mighty powers (Ephesians 6:12). He knows how to match strength for strength.
He knows the Bible (Luke 4:9-11). The difference is he only knows the words, but the scriptural text is not illuminated by the Holy Spirit to him.
He waits for the most opportune time (Luke 4:13) to pounce.

But “…that satan might outwit us… we are not unaware of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11). What are his schemes?

Pride—“You can do it yourself.” This was his original downfall, and now he will use it on you.
Second-guessing—“Did God really say…?” (Genesis 3:1). He will try to make you think that God’s Word is out-of-date or irrelevant to you.
Condemning. Notice that satan wasn’t around when God showed up in the Garden of Eden. Instead he leaves you feeling like you’re unacceptable to God and that you need to hide from Him.

The way we overcome satan is the same way Jesus did it: Jesus quoted Scripture to refute each of satan’s temptations (see Luke 4:1-13). We are victorious in the exact same manner!

Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony… (Revelation 12:10-11).

Don’t try to go toe-to-toe with the devil because he is too strong for you to handle on your own! But with God’s Word as your weapon and the Holy Spirit as your Counselor, you can hurl him down every time!