Baaaa!

February 18, 2011 — 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.

Of all the things God could have used as a picture of our relationship with Him, He used an animal. And, no, it wasn’t an animal that seems particularly powerful or smart or noble.

He picked a sheep.

A fuzzy, sometimes dimwitted, needs-a-lot-of-help animal.

I’m a sheep. Baaaa!

But then I have the great picture of God as my loving Shepherd. How wonderful to know that the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want!

As a pastor I am called to be the shepherd to God’s flock of sheep under my watchful eye. Jesus set the example for me:

But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.

And Solomon said:

Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds.

Pastors, here are the questions I’m asking of myself, and I invite you to ask them of yourself too:

  • Do my sheep recognize my voice? Or am I trying to sound like someone else?
  • Do I know all my sheep by name?
  • Are my sheep following me as I follow Jesus?
  • Am I willing to go first?
  • Do I find fresh pastures and clean water for my sheep? Or is it recycled food I’m serving them?
  • Am I spending enough time with my sheep to know the condition of each one?
  • Do my sheep get my undivided attention?

What a privilege to be a pastor! What a responsibility! What a joy to know my sheep and to be known by them!

Baaaa!

UPDATE: This post was one of the seed thoughts that went into fashioning my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? ◀︎◀︎

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Let It Go

January 31, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part. (Matthew 6:14-15)

Have you ever had an “awkward” handshake with someone?

You try to grab their hand, but they’re going for the fist bump. Or you’re thinking fist bump and they’re going for a high five?

That’s sort of what’s happening in these verses…

God is extending an open hand of forgiveness to you, but your fist is tightly clenched as you hang on to a grudge.

If you want to grasp God’s hand in forgiveness, you must let go of the slights, wounds, hurts, insults, sins, and grievances you have against others. You probably have every right to hang on to those things.

Just as God has every right to hang on to your sins against Him…

…but He doesn’t.

SO LET IT GO!

It’s the only way to be able to hold onto those nail-scarred hands of Jesus that bring forgiveness.

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Thursdays With Oswald—The Word Of God

January 27, 2011 — 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.

The Word Of God

       The Bible nowhere says we have to believe it is the Word of God before we can be Christians. The Bible is not the Word of God to me unless I come at it through what Jesus Christ says, it is of no use to me unless I know Him. The key to my understanding of the Bible is not my intelligence, but my personal relationship to Jesus Christ. … You may believe the Bible is the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation and not be a Christian at all.

From Facing Reality

Do I just know the Word of God, or do I know the God of the Word? If I read and study the Bible just to gain knowledge, I will become a very religious person. But if I read the Bible to know Christ more, I will enter into a deeper relationship with Him.

…knowledge puffs up while love builds up… (1 Corinthians 8:1)

I want to read my Bible as a love letter, and fall more and more in love with the God who wrote it to me.

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Are You A Missionary?

January 21, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

My cousin is a missionary in a country that is over 98% Muslim. Every day he engages Muslims using their language, their culture, their beliefs, their traditions. He’s in their homes, their businesses, their marketplaces.

He shows them how much Jesus loves them by showing them how much he loves them.

The other day I was reading one of his recent e-newsletters where he described what a missionary is:

Missionaries engage culture respectfully, learning local languages, celebrating what is good, speaking against injustice, speaking for those too weak or abused to speak for themselves. Missionaries often love their adopted countries as much as natural citizens do. Missionaries exalt Christ and point to Him as the only answer for our common sin problem, and the only hope for lasting peace. They are a blessing to their families and society. They are loyal to their families, faithful to their authorities, and servants to their communities.

When I read this description I thought, “I’m a missionary. I do all of these things right here in Cedar Springs.” Like learning the local culture and traditions; celebrating the good in our community; speaking out for those who can’t; supporting our schools, police, fire, and elected officials.

I ♥ My Church and I ♥ Cedar Springs!

Two questions:

1.  Do you agree with my cousin’s definition of missionary?

2.  Are you a missionary in your community?

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Is Your Integrity Worth $12 Million

January 19, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

My wife alerted me to this almost unbelievable story this morning. Gil Meche, a pitcher for the Kansas City Royals baseball team, is walking away from the final year of his contract with the team.

He’s walking away from $12 million.

Why? Because Gil Meche is a man of integrity. He signed a contract to pitch for the Royals, but due to his injuries, he doesn’t think he can live up to his end of the bargain. I especially liked this part of the article:

“A lot of people might think I’m crazy for not trying to play and make this amount of money,” he said, “[but] I don’t think I’m going to regret it.”

This would have been the final season under the five-year, $55 million contract he signed with the Royals prior to the 2007 season. Health issues, with his back and then with his shoulder, plagued him the last two seasons.

“I didn’t want to go try it again for another season and be the guy making $12 million and doing absolutely nothing to help this team,” he said.

There is no settlement, no nothing for Meche as he walks away from the guaranteed money.

“I think it really reaffirms and validates why we signed Gil Meche—the integrity and the class and the respect that he’s displaying,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said.

What price can you put on integrity?

Or as Jesus asked, “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?”

Thanks, Gil, for showing the world that integrity is worth even more than $12 million.

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Signing A Blank Check

January 17, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

In our current series on prayer, we’re using the prayer that Jesus taught as our pattern. Yesterday we looked at this part of the pattern:

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is all about trust. It’s about acknowledging to God that He is in control and He knows what’s best. It’s not about me coming into His presence and telling Him how things should work. I love the quote from C.S. Lewis:

There are two kinds of people: those who say to God “Thy will be done” and those to whom God says, “All right then, have it your way.”

When we come into God’s presence in prayer, we say, “Before I ask You for what I need, I want You to know that I trust You. No matter what.” In essence, we sign a blank check and trust God to fill in the amount.

And, by the way, the verb for “Your kingdom come” in this model prayer is an imperfect verb. That means that we have to keep on signing those blank checks, as we keep on submitting to His will and His kingdom.

Are you willing to sign a blank check to God?

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Thursdays With Oswald—A Passion For Christ, Not Souls

January 6, 2011 — 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.

A Passion For Christ, Not Souls

       The reason some of us have no power in our preaching, no sense of awe, is that we have no passion for God, but only a passion for Humanity….

       It is not a passion for men that saves men; a passion for men breaks human hearts. The passion for Christ inwrought by the Holy Spirit goes deeper down than the deepest agony the world, the flesh and the devil can produce. It goes straight down to where Our Lord went, and the Holy Spirit works out, not in thinking, but in living, this passion for Christ.

From Approved Unto God

Wow, tough word. But it’s true: If I love Christ more than my loved ones, I will love my loved ones even better. A passion for Christ will win others to Christ; a passion for souls will only lead to building my ministry.

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Thursdays With Oswald—Whose Approval?

December 30, 2010 — 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.

Whose Approval?

     The Gospel of Jesus Christ awakens an intense craving and an equally intense resentment. Base on personal love for the Lord, not on personal love for men. Personal love for men will make you call immorality a weakness, and holiness a mere aspiration; personal love for the Lord will make you call immorality devilish, and holiness the only thing that can stand in the light of God. The only safety for the preacher is to face his soul not with his people, or even with his message, but to face his soul with his Savior all the time.

From Approved Unto God

As a pastor, if I endeavor to please men, I cannot call sin “sin,” nor can I call people to holiness before God. If I love the approval of people more than I love the approval of God, I must naturally water things down.

I must live for the applause of nail-scarred Hands alone.

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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.

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What Do You Know About Leadership…

December 10, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

…and what are you doing with it?

I read an interesting verse about King David:

And David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that his kingdom had been highly exalted for the sake of His people Israel.

“David knew” reminds me of a line from Jesus’ life: Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power (John 13:3).

David and Jesus both knew that their positions of leadership were God-granted. And with that knowledge, they both wanted to further expand God’s Kingdom.

They didn’t keep the power for themselves; they didn’t lord it over others; they didn’t hoard the blessings; they didn’t use their leadership for personal gain; they used their God-granted authority to serve others.

They were confidently humble leaders.

If you are in a position of leadership, it’s not for you nor is it because of you. Leadership is from God, through you, to benefit others and to expand His Kingdom.

What do you know about leadership … and what are you doing with it?

UPDATE: This is one of the seed thoughts that went into my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter.

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