Jesus Christ | Craig T. Owens

April 2026
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Mere Humanism

February 7, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend among many of my pastor colleagues. I’m not sure if it’s an attempt to be “relatable” or unoffensive, but it is dead wrong.

The trend is to tell stories (even Bible stories) without using the Bible. To give people good thoughts from Scripture without actually opening the Scripture. To tell people how they should live but to never show them the passages of God’s Word on which those thoughts are based.

Are we ashamed of the Scripture? How can someone “preach” without pointing their audience to the authority for their preaching?!?

A.W. Tozer warned us with these words—

“Any appeal to the public in the name of Christ that rises no higher than an invitation to tranquillity must be recognized as mere humanism with a few words of Jesus thrown in to make it appear Christian.”

Don’t just throw in some words of Christ; actually take them to His Word. This inspired Word is powerful, if we will just let people get their hands, and eyes, and hearts on it!

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: A.W. Tozer, Bible, dangerous, God's Word, humanism, Jesus Christ, pastors, preaching, Scripture, sermon, stories. 5 Comments »

Thursdays With Oswald—Anarchy!

February 6, 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.

Anarchy!

Every other view of sin, saving the Bible view, looks on sin as a disease, a weakness, a blunder, an infirmity; the Bible revelation shows sin to be an anarchy, not a missing of the mark merely, but a refusal to aim at the mark.

From Christian Disciplines

Pulling no punches, Oswald Chambers calls sin exactly what it is: anarchy against God.

Sin is not something we can cure or tame; it’s not something we can inoculate ourselves against. Sin must be put to death! We cannot do this. Only Christ can put sin to death, so we must surrender to Him.

The Bible uses the word Atonement. I like to think of it this way: at one-ment with Jesus. I can only be forgiven and free of sin if I am at one-ment with the only One who can kill sin: my Savior Jesus Christ.

Have you completely surrendered to Jesus? You cannot fight off sin on your own. Until you surrender to Christ, you will remain in open rebellion—anarchy!—against God. Don’t wait another day, surrender to Christ now.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: anarchy, atonement, Bible, death, forgiveness, Jesus Christ, Oswald Chambers, rebellion, repentance, salvation, sin. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

February 5, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

These are links to articles and quotes I found interesting today.

Christians need to learn church history: 10 Reasons To Know A Little Bit Of Church History

“If I am not so much at ease as I ought to be, because my faith is dim, yet I am equally safe because the Lord’s eye is not dim, and He sees the blood of the great Sacrifice with steady gaze. What a joy is this!” —Charles Spurgeon

“Labels, labels, labels. I’m glad Jesus referred to people as people. He never mentioned His friend being a coward; He simply called him Peter. He never referred to the woman who loved Him deeply as a prostitute; He just called her Mary Magdalene.” —Joni Eareckson Tada

David Wilkerson wrote, “A person’s countenance is the outward expression of what is in his heart.”: More And More Like Jesus

Amazing! Anonymous Customer Leaves Waitresses $15,000 Tip

Planned Parenthood is embarrassed about abortions: Read about their donation appeal letter

[VIDEO] Benedict Cumberbatch On Sesame Street

Danger! How Obamacare Will Drive People Out Of The Workforce

Great news! Missing Children Rescued From Super Bowl Sex Trade In FBI Sting

Praying ‘Round & ‘Round

February 3, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

There are lot of different ways to look at the function of prayer, but please allow me to share one more with you. Perhaps this prayer cycle will help you see the value of each aspect of prayer.

(To download a PDF of this file, click here → Prayer cycle)

Each step in this cycle helps facilitate the next step. If any step breaks down, the whole cycle of prayer can grind to a halt. But as any part of the cycle is strengthened, the whole cycle expands and grows in potency!

We need to be be assured that God’s Word is true when it says to come to Him in prayer.
Once we are assured that God’s Word is true, then the Holy Spirit will illuminate His Word to our present circumstance, giving us the mind of Our Lord. This is called discernment.
Having discernment will bring us the peace that knows God hears us, and that God is working on our behalf and for His glory.
All of these steps flowing together allow us to pray and live in greater boldness, which fuels the whole cycle again.
At the heart of this cycle is the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, who helps us at each step along the cycle of prayer.

Here are some Scriptures that correspond with the various steps in the cycle:

Assurance—If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. (John 15:7)

Discernment—But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26)

Peace—Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)

Boldness—After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (Acts 4:31)

Holy Spirit Empowerment—In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:26-28)

The only way I know of to learn how to pray better is to pray more! Don’t wait for a better opportunity to begin to pray … Start right now!

Next Sunday I am continuing our series on prayer. If you are near Cedar Springs, please join us!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible, Calvary Assembly of God, God's Word, Holy Spirit, infographic, Jesus Christ, peace, prayer, Scripture, sermon. Leave a Comment »

Boomerang

January 31, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

I was very hesitant to enter the pastorate. As I look back now, I see God had been preparing me for this all my life, but I was reluctant to take on such a heavy spiritual responsibility.

When I finally submitted, I made a covenant with God: “I never want to preach a sermon where my finger is pointed at the congregation, where I am saying, ‘You people better listen to this!’ But I only want to share what You have been challenging me to do and become. I want the congregation to hear an overflow of the work being done in me.”

I recently read a paragraph from Oswald Chambers that validates that covenant I made—

“It is an easy business to preach, an appallingly easy thing to tell other people what to do; it is another thing to have God’s message turned into a boomerang—‘You have been teaching these people that they should be full of peace and of joy, but what about yourself? Are you full of peace and joy?’ The truthful witness is the one who lets his light shine in works which exhibit the disposition of Jesus; one who lives the truth as well as preaches it.”

My pastor friend, don’t preach it if you’re not living it! Or another way: live it first, then preach it.

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: covenant, Holy Spirit, integrity, Jesus Christ, lifestyle, Oswald Chambers, pastors, preaching, responsibility, sermon. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Eternal Life Now

January 30, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Eternal Life Now

But to the soul alone with God the secret is known and made real, and already a Paradise has begun that presages a grander and a greater blessedness than has entered into the heart of man to imagine.

From Christian Disciplines

Far too many Christians think of Christ’s promise of “eternal life” to mean something we get later, as in after we die. They falsely think that they have to just hang on during this life to finally get eternal life, if only they’ve hung on long enough.

That’s not at all what Jesus meant!

The Gospels record Jesus talking in present tense about being Life and having His fullness of life flow through us. He talks about the oneness we can have with the Father, just has He has, right now. He tells us the Holy Spirit will be a constant companion to us, revealing more and more of God’s mind to us about this present eternal life.

Don’t wait until after death to live in eternal life; live in it right now … today!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: death, eternal life, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, life, Oswald Chambers, promise. Leave a Comment »

Don’t Exasperate Them

January 24, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Pastoring is not for the faint of heart. Nor those easily offended. Nor those lacking in patience…. You get the idea!

John Chrysostom (347-407) gave this counsel to pastors—

“Thus then must the Priest behave towards those in his charge, as a father would behave to his very young children; and as such are not disturbed either by their insults or their blows, or their lamentations, nor even if they laugh and rejoice with us, do we take much account of it; so should we neither be puffed up by the promises of these persons nor cast down at their censure, when it comes from them unseasonably.”

The Bible tells fathers not to irritate and provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to resentment], but rear them [tenderly] in the training and discipline and the counsel and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4, Amplified Bible)

Instead we should follow the example of Jesus, the Great Shepherd—

When He saw the throngs, He was moved with pity and sympathy for them, because they were bewildered (harassed and distressed and dejected and helpless), like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36, Amplified Bible)

Ask our Shepherd to give you His patience, and compassion, and tenderness, and wisdom to carry His sheep in your arms. After all, it’s His flock that we’ve been given the privilege and responsibility to care for!

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: children, compassion, Ephesians, father, Jesus Christ, John Chrysostom, pastoring, pastors, patience, prayer, shepherds. Leave a Comment »

God’s Answers Are Bigger

January 22, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

I’m studying for our current series on prayer at Calvary Assembly of God, and I came across this amazing story (see John 20:10-15). I’m not sure if we will have time to get to it during this series or not, but in either case it’s just too good to hold back any longer …

If you are praying for something right now and the answer hasn’t arrived yet, keep on praying. God is doing something in the waiting time. Perhaps He wants you to modify your prayer, or perhaps He has something even bigger in store for you, bigger than you could have even imagined.

Keep on praying!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: blessing, Calvary Assembly of God, Jesus Christ, perseverance, prayer, video. Leave a Comment »

Sword Drills

January 22, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

When I was a kid in Sunday School, we used to have “sword drills.” Anyone remember those? We would hold our Bibles up in the air until the teacher gave us a reference to look up. The first one to find it, and stand up and read it, won that drill. For that, we received a sticker to put inside the front cover of our Bibles. I loved sword drills, and it showed: the front cover of my Bible was filled with stickers!

Oh, that we were as quick to pull out the Sword God has given us today! I wish we were as quick to flip open our Bibles as we seem to be to turn to something else. We call friends, consult a pastor or a counselor, pray about it, talk about, plan how to overcome it; but we are slow on pulling out our Swords.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that the Word of God is sharper than a sword (Hebrews 4:12).
Paul told Timothy that the Bible was the premier place for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training (2 Timothy 3:16).
He told the Corinthians that God’s Word is what helps us capture wrong thoughts (2 Corinthians 10:5).
In Revelation we see satan defeated by the blood of the Lamb and the use of the Word (Revelation 12:11).
Jesus Himself demonstrated the power to defeat satan’s temptations when He used the Word to ward off every attack (Luke 4:1-13).
And Paul said the Sword is the weapon we should arm ourselves with every single day (Ephesians 6:17).

I love the story John Knox (1514-1572) told about defeating satan’s temptations by the Sword of the Word—

“All my life I have been tested and assaulted of satan. But my present test has assailed me most fearfully. He has set to devour me, and make an end of me. Before, he often would place all my sins before my eyes. He tried to ensnare me with the allurements of this world. But the Spirit broke those attacks. Now he has attacked me another way. This cunning devil has labored to persuade me that I have earned heaven by my faithfulness to my ministry! … Blessed be God who has enabled me to beat down and quench this fiery dart by passages from the Scripture. By the grace of God, I am what I am, not I, but the grace of God in me. Through Jesus Christ I have gained the victory.” (emphasis added)

What do you think? Is it time to brush up on our Sword-handling skills? Get some Sword drills in today, and see how God’s Word will help you!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: apostle Paul, Bible, Bible study, Corinthians, God's Word, Gospel of Luke, Hebrews, Jesus Christ, John Knox, Revelation, satan, Scripture, spiritual warfare, Sunday School, sword, temptation, Timothy, victory. 1 Comment »

Prayer’s Empowerment

January 20, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Prayer is not about insurance, but assurance. Prayer is not about figuring things out, but about getting God’s mind on a subject.

But how does the faith to believe for that assurance, and the faith to capture God’s discernment come to us? It comes through the Third Person of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers us; He’s the central part of our prayer life.

Check out what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit’s role in your prayer life (see John 14:15-27).

Assurance—the Counselor [will] be with you forever (v. 16). The Holy Spirit doesn’t come and go, but He abides constantly. Jesus said I will not leave you as orphans (v. 18), but you will be loved by My Father (vv. 21-23). The Holy Spirit plays a vital role in bringing you into this intimate relationship (Romans 8:15).

Discernment—Jesus said a key component of your prayer life was if you remain in Me and My words remain in you (John 15:7). The Holy Spirit helps teach you what the Word says, and He will remind you of everything I have said to you (John 14:26). The more you can be reminded of God’s Word, the more you can pray and live with God’s discernment.

Peace—My peace I give you … do not be afraid (v. 27). One of the names given to the Holy Spirit is Comforter. The Amplified Bible defines this title as, “Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby.”

Boldness—when you have greater assurance of God’s Word, deeper discernment into the mind of the Lord, and a more tranquil peace because of prayer, you can pray and live boldly! Want to see boldness in action? Check out how the followers of Jesus lived and prayed after they were baptized in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; 2:14; 4:8; 4:31).