Obey─Remember─Teach

June 1, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I see this pattern of instruction repeated throughout the Bible, but especially as the Israelites are getting ready to enter the Promised Land:

  • Obey God’s commands
  • Remember what He has done for you
  • Teach His commands to your children

When Jesus was asked which commandment was the greatest, He quoted a passage from Deuteronomy, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” And He added, “And love your neighbor as yourself.” These, Jesus said, were the fulfillment of all the law.

  • Love God
  • Love yourself
  • Love your neighbor

This Great Commandment corresponds with this pattern of obey-remember-teach.

  • I obey God because I love Him.
  • When I remember what He has done for me, I can fully appreciate my own value in His eyes.
  • I teach others because I love them and want them to experience the same blessings from God that I have experienced.

This is what I need to be constantly evaluating:

  • Am I obeying God out of fear of what may happen, or out of love for Him?
  • Am I finding ways to continually be reminded of His blessings? Do I realize how valuable I am to Him?
  • Am I expressing true love to others by passing on what I am learning?

Obey [love God] … Remember [love myself] … Teach [love others].

What a great way to live!

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No Crutches

May 28, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

In preparing for the continuation of our Ignite series, I’ve been reviewing some of my notes about the Holy Spirit. This quote from R. Hollis Gause has really been working on me:

“[Jesus] was not a crutch for [the disciples’] immaturity. … Jesus did not encourage a mindless dependency on His physical presence; instead, He expected them to be interpretive of His instructions about their mission.”

Jesus said He wasn’t leaving us orphans, but He would send us the Holy Spirit to be a constant Counselor. When I submit to the Holy Spirit’s counsel, it’s not a mindless giving in, but a mind-full acknowledgment of His role. The Holy Spirit didn’t come to be my crutch, but to be my Liberator.

The Holy Spirit prepares me to be a conduit for God’s blessings.

I cannot touch in love…

I cannot speak with power…

I cannot truly represent Christ…

if I’m operating in my own strength.

The Holy Spirit comes alongside me to

Develop agape love in my heart…

stimulate my mind with the right words…

help me behave more like Jesus…

and live mind-full of His empowerment.

To do things on my own is to live with a crutch—to live a limited life.

To live in the flow of the Holy Spirit is to live a life that is fully engaged.

That’s how I want to live every day.

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God’s Math

May 21, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I’m preparing for a wedding this weekend, and I love God’s math that shows up in the marriage relationship. Very simply it looks like this:

1 + 1 = 1

One man + One woman = One marriage.

God said, “Let the husband and wife be joined together. And the two will become one flesh.”

A husband can have his oneness—his uniqueness—enhanced by his wife. So too can a wife have her oneness—her uniqueness—beautified by her husband.

This is why God is for healthy marriages: It gives us a better picture of the oneness that we can have with Jesus Christ. He brings out the oneness—the uniqueness—in all of His followers.

I love it!

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What If…

May 11, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

…for just one day you and I only said what God told us to say?

“Everything?” you ask, “Is that even possible?”

Yes! Jesus did it. Look:

I don’t speak on My own authority. The Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it.

Everything Jesus said was directed by His Father. Yes, everything.

Want to try it today? First, we have to spend more time in God’s presence to hear His words. Then here’s a simple gauge to use (as given to us by James). Are my words…

  • true?
  • pure?
  • peace-promoting?
  • considerate?
  • courteous?
  • gentle?
  • sincere?
  • merciful?

Are you ready to give it a try?

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A Voice Behind Me

April 28, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

In our series on Building Blocks, I’ve been talking about the basics of a relationship with Jesus Christ. An obvious foundation for any relationship is meaningful conversation.

If you think about any close relationship you have, the closeness was developed through conversation. Gradually you began to know their voice and know their heart. Our meaningful conversation with God produces the same increased intimacy. We talk with Him through reading His Word and through prayer.

The more you read the Bible and the more you pray, the clearer His voice becomes. Isaiah said it this way:

Your own ears will hear Him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left. (Isaiah 30:21)

Earlier this week I was on a long road trip, so I took our dog Grace with me. After grabbing some lunch, I wanted to find a place for Grace to run around and stretch her legs, but I was in a town I didn’t know. As I came to the end of the driveway, my next appointment would have been right, but I felt I should turn left instead.

I did, and two blocks away was a huge, grassy park where I could sit and eat my lunch and Grace could frolic to her heart’s content.

Did I actually hear a Voice? No, but I felt a Voice. His Voice. Yes, I believe God even cares about helping me find a place for my lunch and for my dog to run. He cares that much about me. And you too!

He’s speaking to you all the time. Are you listening to the Voice behind you?

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The Power Of Touch

April 21, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I grew up in a church that believed in the literal “laying on of hands” while praying for someone. I still like to pray that way because I believe there is a power in the human touch.

Science has proven that human-to-human touch helps people feel better faster, lowers blood pressure, and stimulates cognitive development in newborns.

We shake hands with people when we meet them as a sign of acceptance.

We lay our hand on a friend’s arm or shoulder to show we empathize with their pain.

We embrace or kiss a loved one to show affection.

Dr. Paul Brand, a renowned surgeon who worked with leprosy patients in India, said that his hands were his most delicate and most accurate diagnostic tool.

How devastating when we withhold our touch! How crushing when the only time we touch is when we are angry!

  • Think about how much more meaningful our prayers with someone would be if we would just lay our hands on them.
  • Think about how much warmer the greeting would be if we gave someone the two-handed handshake.
  • Think about how much greater our bond with a hurting friend if we simply put our arm around their slumping shoulders.
  • Think about how much deeper the connection with your spouse and children if you held hands more often.

Touch someone today. When you do, you’ll be touching much more than their hand; you’ll be touching their heart. Your touch could make a world of difference to someone today.

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You Can’t Lose

April 15, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I was really challenged by the message Andy Lapins brought to our youth group.

Andy opened with a simple question, “Have you ever been afraid to tell someone about your relationship with Jesus.” My hand went up, along with just about every other hand in the room.

Andy followed up: “Why? Why are you afraid to share this good news?” The number one answer: Fear of rejection.

Andy then asked us, “If you share the good news of Jesus with someone and they accept what you have to say, is that a good thing or a bad thing?” We all answered, “Good!”

Then he asked, “If you share the good news of Jesus with someone and they neither accept it nor reject it, but you know you have planted or watered a seed, is that a good thing or bad thing?” Again, we all answered, “Good!”

Then he asked, “If you share the good news of Jesus with someone and they completely reject it—they curse you out or tell you you’re a weirdo—is that a good thing or a bad thing?” We all answered, “Bad!”

To which Andy said, “Really?!?” Then he dropped these two Bible passages on us:

  • So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. (1 Peter 4:14)
  • Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. (Luke 6:22-23).

Andy followed up, “So what do you think now? If someone rejects you for sharing Jesus with them, is it a good thing or a bad thing?” Now we all answered, “Good!”

You can’t lose when you share Jesus with others!

There are only three possible outcomes:

  1. They accept Jesus = good thing
  2. You plant or water a seed = good thing
  3. You earn rewards in heaven = good thing (cha-ching!!)

I challenged our youth group to write “Cha-ching!” on their status line on Facebook whenever they shared the good news of Jesus with a friend.

Regardless of the outcome, you can’t lose! So go tell more people about Jesus today!

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If All Your Friends Were Jumping Off A Cliff…

April 6, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

…would you do it too?

Okay, quick show of hands: how many of you heard your Mom or Dad say this to you? I’ve got both my hands up!

I always hated this statement, because I felt like saying, “Mom, I’m not an idiot. I know where to draw the line.” This an extreme example (a hyperbole) intended to get a point across. The point that our parents were trying to make is: humans tend to be crowd followers.

We want to be accepted, so sometimes we bend ourselves a little bit to get the stamp of approval from our peers. It might be a little more obvious among teenagers with clothing choices, music preferences, or attitudes toward those “outside” the mainstream. Although it gets a little more subtle among adults, I think the desire to be accepted—to go along with the crowd—is always there.

Or else we become rebels. If society says “Right” the rebel says “Left.” If society says “War” the rebel says “Peace.” If Mom and Dad say, “Go to church,” the rebel says, “I’m going to stay away from church.” Which shows another tendency of human nature: we tend to go to extremes.

God says, “Do what is right. Period”…

You must not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you are called to testify in a dispute, do not be swayed by the crowd to twist justice. And do not slant your testimony in favor of a person just because that person is poor.

Don’t go along with the crowd just to be accepted.

Don’t go alone just to be an individual.

Live for the approval of an audience of One.

It’s only when I take the time to reflect on my conversations, my actions, my thoughts, that I see these two tendencies in me: I do one thing to go along and then do something entirely different to show that I’m my own man. Instead of these extremes, I need to ask, “Is this pleasing to God?”

I’m working on it. How about you?

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Higher Standards For Greater Rewards

April 5, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Most people think of the Ten Commandments as God’s law given through Moses. Actually the Ten Commandments are just the beginning of the laws, practices, and regulations that God gives to His people. The rest of the book of Exodus, the entire book of Leviticus, and the first ten chapters of Numbers compromise the bulk of the law.

For those of you keeping track, that’s nearly 60 chapters of rules and regulations.

Why so many? I think the answer is found in the lead-up to the Ten Commandments:

Now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

God wants people who are treasured. A people who are priests. A people who are holy. In short: He wants pacesetting leaders.

Priests have intimate access to God, and they are people who set an example for others to follow. In order to enjoy these special privileges, priests must be held to higher standards.

These are not standards just for those of Jewish ancestry, but for anyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ. Look what John recorded in the last book of the Bible:

To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father—to Him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

…With Your blood You purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.

Yes, the standards to be a priest—to be a holy leader—are higher. But the rewards are immeasurable!

Are you ready to bring greater glory to God? Do you want to be a pacesetting leader for the Kingdom of heaven? Then ask the Holy Spirit to sanctify you as you take on the discipline of greater responsibility. Live up to higher standards, and you won’t be disappointed by the rewards!

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What’s So Good About Good Friday?

April 2, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Good Friday? Good for whom?

For you and me? Yes.

Good for Jesus, no. It was Bad Friday for Him, wasn’t it?

Or was it?

The writer of Hebrews says, “For the joy set before Him, Jesus endured the Cross, scorning its shame.”

What joy?

It was for the joy of what was nailed to the Cross.

So what exactly was nailed to the Cross?

Isaiah records an usual statement from God –

Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

That seems unfair! We receive double (!) for our sins! Here’s a brief video where I explain what this means culturally –

Only when invoices were paid-in-full did they get doubled-up.

The Bible tells us that we’ve all sinned, and that the invoice or penalty for our sin is death. We have the IOUs of sin nailed to the door of our heart where God says “You owe Me your life!” But we cannot pay this debt by ourselves.

But Jesus can. And Jesus did! Check this out –

He personally carried our sins in His body on the Cross…. (1 Peter 2:24, NLT)

Having cancelled and blotted out and wiped away the handwriting of the note with its legal decrees and demands which was in force and stood against us. This He set aside and cleared completely out of our way by nailing it to His Cross. (Colossians 2:14, AMP)

That’s what is good about Good Friday. Jesus knew that taking our sins on His body, and then allowing His body to be nailed to the Cross, would double-up and nail-down our sin once and for all!

When Jesus said, “It is finished!” He was really saying, “It is was paid-in-full!”

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