A Warning To The Itinerant Missionary

November 15, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

My cousin wrote this post mainly to himself, but it is an important reminder for everyone—missionary or pastor—who preaches the gospel.

Live DeadGuest Blogger: Dick Brogden 

Missionaries are given the immense privilege of representing God’s heart to both the nations and the church. When we return from our fields of obedience, we are invited into pulpits—grand and humble—to speak on behalf of both the lost and the Lord. We are feted and lauded, which can lead to pride. We observe shallowness and performance, which can lead to a critical spirit. The more we travel and speak, the more we must beware our own hearts. I sat down this weekend and wrote out some warnings to myself:

  • I do not deserve the pulpit; I have not “earned” it.
  • I am not better than the ones I preach to.
  • I cannot presume God’s favor or anointing.
  • I cannot live in sin and call others to holiness.
  • My life has to match my exhortations.
  • I can’t rely on old sermons. I am responsible to give God’s flock fresh bread. If a sermon is to be re-used, it must be fresh to my soul.
  • I cannot allow any whisper of entitlement into my heart. I am not owed praise, respect, attention, or any financial offering.
  • I cannot think my looks, height, posture, style, or natural ability is important, nor that natural gifts can in any way impart divine life to the hearer.
  • I cannot waste God’s time or money with half-hearted preparation, reflection, passion, or effort.The flock must see and feel that I love them, and more importantly that I love Jesus.
  • My spirit must be gentle even if my words are hard.
  • I must have true humility and lowliness. Nothing is as proud or as disgusting as false humility, whether to the individual or before the congregation.
  • I must care more about what God thinks than what man thinks and must obey His promptings and speak as His oracle.
  • If I do not ascend to the pulpit clothed and endued with the Holy Spirit, I am immediately exposed as naked and foolish before God, and it will not be long until I am exposed as a fraud before all men.
  • I must have a holy terror of speaking in my own strength or from my own wisdom. I must have a heavenly horror of speaking what is false, exaggerated, or misleading. I must be terrified of speaking one word without the covering and impetus of the Spirit.

I noted with sadness this weekend that even if all is said in the right spirit and under God’s authority, some ears remain deaf and others hear selectively. We cannot control our hearers, nor are we responsible for how they hear. We are responsible for what and how we speak. It is incumbent on us to speak the words of God in the way and in the spirit He requires. This is a fearful and awesome privilege. God help us. God watch over our hearts and lips.

** I encourage you to follow the Live Dead blog where Dick regularly posts.

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Lord, I Give You My Some

April 16, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

This post originally appeared on the Live Dead website. It is reproduced here by permission.

Live DeadMy selfish ambition sets sail
Down the hidden rivers of rebellion in my heart,
Secret tunnels obscure things not yet ready to reveal.

I’ve come this far,
given You most.

Why can’t You be satisfied with that?

No, all is what You want.

And every atom of my being is restless,
defensive,
Silent tantrums heard only by You swallow my energy.

The war for my heart—all my heart—
is one you won’t relent.
But I don’t give up easily.
Logic says I’m Yours anyway
But You ask that I should offer,
voluntarily surrender
Even those things, Lord? That too?

I willfully give You…
some.
much.
most.

All? Must You really require all?

I fall to my knees in humble—exhausted—surrender

Tell me again: What great thing was I fighting so valiantly for?

Ah. My heart.

[Our souls are restless until they find rest in You.]

*Written by a Live Dead Arab World missionary

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Mammon

March 5, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

It’s a funny-sounding word, but it has deadly consequences!

Jesus said we cannot serve both God and mammon (Luke 16:13 KJV). That word mammon had no direct translation in the English language, so the translators of the King James Version of the Bible simply did a transliteration: they took the Greek word and carried the same word into English. The translators of the New International Version did something different with this word: they made it Money, with a capital M.

The idea behind this word is placing our trust or reliance in anything except God. For us, the means of our security and basic living needs seems to be money, so Money (with a capital M) seems like an appropriate way to translate mammon.

Jesus recommended giving an offering—above and beyond our tithe—as a way to defeat the Mammon Monster. Giving our tithe is simply obedience to God’s commands. But giving our offering shows our trust in God’s provision.

Giving an offering to God is counterintuitive.

After all, less money is less than more money! If I receive money, I tend to hang on to it. I tell myself, “This might come in handy if the economy nosedives, or if something unexpected comes up.” When I start thinking this way, I start to make money Mammon, because I see money as my provider, instead of God.

What an appropriate way to wrap up our Live Dead series yesterday, as we made faith promises to God. We said, “God, I believe You will provide the amount of money I should give as an offering. And when You do provide, I promise to give it.” Placing my trust in God not only helps me to live dead to the pull of Mammon, but also Jesus promised—

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Luke 6:38)

I don’t give to get. I give because I trust God to provide.

P.S. By the way, all of the offerings that come in as a result of these faith promises will be going directly to missions. Calvary Assembly of God will not be keeping one cent of these faith promise offerings.

If you’ve missed any messages in our series called Live Dead, you can find them all by clicking here.

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I-Have-To-Have-It Attitude

February 27, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

In our Live Dead series, we have been talking about different areas we need to allow to die, so that we might truly live for Christ as His disciples.

One of the things that often gets in the way of our pursuit of Christ is our cravings. This word—which the dictionary defines as a longing or an eager desire—has an interesting origin. The root word in both Latin and Old English means to lay claim to or to demand by right.

In other words, a craving is when something that was originally a want has now become a need in my mind. So I lay claim to it, saying that it’s something that is owed to me.

The Apostle Paul talks about cravings that we all had before we came to know Christ as Savior when he wrote, “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts” (Ephesians 2:3).

This same Greek word shows up in Christ’s parable of the sower when He talks about the seed that falls among the weeds. These people, He explains, allow the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the Word (Mark 4:19).

Gratifying my cravings = Choking out the life of Christ in me

The problem is that this craving or desire for things other than Christ is often an unconscious habit. We have allowed them to become cravings—laying our claim to them as needs—without even realizing it.

The antidote: fasting. When we give up something, the Holy Spirit can show us if that thing has created an I-Have-To-Have-It attitude in our hearts. This spiritual discipline is hard because our bodies will rebel against having to give up “a right.” But when we press through with this discipline of fasting, God describes the results:

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say: Here am I. (Isaiah 58:8-9)

That’s how I want to live! So I must live dead to my cravings. I can only do this when I allow a time of fasting to open my heart to hear the Holy Spirit point out all my I-Have-To-Have-It attitudes.

To check out all of the messages in our Live Dead series, please click here.

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Whose Reputation?

February 20, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

When I graduated from high school and began to look for a job, I had very little to put on my resume. Over time, however, I gained some experience, and began to accumulate some skills and accomplishments. Every once in awhile someone would even tell me, “That will look good on your resume!”

This might work fine in a job-hunting role, but it will never do as a disciple of Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus told a pretty pointed story about a resume-building Pharisee in Luke 18. This man was described as one who was “confident of [his] own righteousness and looked down on everybody else.” He emphasized all his good qualities, and did his best to make himself look good at the expense of others (see vv. 11-12). Jesus said, this type of man who exalts himself, will be humbled by God.

Another man was praying at the same time as this reputation-conscious Pharisee. But this man didn’t try to make himself look good. Instead he prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (v. 13). Jesus said this man “went home justified before God” (v. 14). As C.S. Lewis said,

“Humility is not thinking less of myself. Humility is thinking of myself less.”

I’m not trying to promote my accomplishments, but God’s accomplishments.

I’m not trying to put my skills in the spotlight, but God’s magnificence.

I’m not trying to make myself famous, I want God to be famous.

I don’t need to look good, but I certainly do want God to look good.

If you want to live this way, I challenge you to pray this prayer:

Dear God, I am humbled by my sins. But I am confident that through the forgiveness paid for by Jesus You receive me as justified. May I die to my reputation so I may live exalted by You.

To check out all of the messages in our Live Dead series, please click here.

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Whose Plans?

February 13, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Sometimes what needs to go on my To Do list seems logical. But logical to whom? If I’m not careful I can get so focused on doing the next logical thing, that I miss out on the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

Bruce Wilkinson said it this way—

“If we aren’t passionately and deliberately focused on carrying out God’s agenda with God’s heart, we’ll end up putting our own agenda first. We’ll increasingly look for the kind of missions we enjoy most. We’ll tend to ask God to bless our busyness for Him instead of asking Him to send us on the miracle mission of His choice.”

Ouch!

I don’t think the Bible is against To Do lists, but I need to make my lists the right way.

Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:15)

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)

With those verses in mind, this is what I’m praying:

Dear God, I want to decided right here and now that Your agenda is more important than mine. Not my “To Do” list be done, but Yours. I die to my plans so that I might live out your plans.

I am trying to Live Dead to my agenda this week.

If you’ve missed any messages in our series called Live Dead, you can find them all by clicking here.

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Live Dead

February 7, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Put this in the category of “contradiction” or maybe “oxymoron.” However you want to classify it, the phrase just doesn’t make sense to the natural mind. Jesus tells us to die so that we might live—

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)

We are to deny our agenda, to follow His.

We are to not seek our advancement, but His.

We are not to pursue our passions, but His.

We have to die to self to live for Him.

We have to live dead.

I’m going to be diving into this topic beginning this Sunday. Many have already purchased a Live Dead journal, in order to take a 30-day journey of building our understanding of what it means to live dead. If you are near Cedar Springs, please join me this Sunday. If you live elsewhere, I encourage you to check out the live dead materials (click here to go to their website), and begin your own journey of dying to yourself so that you might live for Christ.

Check out of the messages in this series:

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Live Dead (book review)

January 18, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Live Dead is not for the faint of heart. Nor those who don’t want their regular routine disturbed. Nor those who like the status quo. Nor those who want life to be comfortable. But if your desire is to allow God to use you anyplace, anytime, anywhere, this just may be the resource you’ve been looking for.

Live Dead takes its name from the scriptural principles of considering everything in our lives dead so that we can live for Christ. This journal is compromised of 30 days of thought-provoking devotional material from those who are living dead. Namely: missionaries who are living in remote, unfriendly places, in order to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to unreached and unengaged people groups.

Each day you will get a glimpse into their personal lives, the sacrifices they have made, and the joy they have discovered in living dead. And you will be confronted on how you too can follow them in living dead. Not everyone will hear God calling them to move to a foreign land to share the love of Jesus, but I believe everyone who takes this month-long journey will hear God calling them to live dead right where they are.

I did.

I’m glad I took the 30-day challenge, and I encourage you to do so as well. You can order live dead materials, including this journal, from their website. And if you live near Cedar Springs, MI, you can join me at Calvary Assembly of God as I teach a series based on this book during the month of February 2012.

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The Land Of Tumors

October 18, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

My cousin Dick Brogden is one of my heroes. He has faithfully followed God to some of the toughest places on the planet to share the love of Jesus. He continues to grow in his relationship with Jesus Christ, and challenges me to grow as well.

Check out these challenging words an amazing prayer journal that Dick edited called Live Dead:

Greetings From The Land Of Tumors

Three weeks ago I started getting dizzy when I stood up. Over the next few days my vision began to blur and a headache set in behind my eyes that has not left. My eyes felt like they were being pushed out from the inside, and after 2 pm it was hard to keep them open. I went to the neo-omniscient internet and diagnosed myself with a brain tumor. Yesterday I went to the doctor. He ordered a CAT scan and the result was encouraging: There is nothing in my head. The doctor had some ridiculous advice for me like getting more sleep and working less.

Flying home to Chicago from Pennsylvania this week I asked myself what I would do if I did have a tumor. My thoughts initially turned to eating a dozen Twinkies, and coughing up the $500 it would cost to take my sons to a Chicago Bears game before settling on this:

If I had a tumor, I’d hammer in the morning.
I’d hammer in the evening, all over this town.
I’d hammer out gospel, I’d hammer out warning
I’d hammer out love and truth to brothers and sisters
—all over this land.

Now that I don’t have a tumor, I have decided to live like I do. This is after all what it means to Live Dead. Dying to what people think. Dying to what doesn’t matter. Living every moment to make Jesus famous, to make much of Him, to see God glorified. Let’s all live with imaginary tumors. Let’s live as if we are dying—which incidentally we are.

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