Moses | Craig T. Owens

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Links & Quotes

August 26, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Some good reading from today…

“Moses’ aim in knowing God’s ways is so that he may know God Himself. ‘Let me know Your ways that I may know You’ [Exodus 33:13]. … This is the great passion of our lives: to know God Himself by grace, and to make Him known by grace.” —John Piper

“However deep the mystery, however many the paradoxes involved, it is still true that men become saints not at their own whim but by sovereign calling.” —A.W. Tozer

“A thousand years of remorse over a wrong act would not please God as much as a change of conduct and a reformed life.” —A.W. Tozer

“To think that before the hills were formed, or the channels of the sea were scooped out, God loved me; that from everlasting to everlasting His mercy is upon His people. Is not that a consolation?” —Charles Spurgeon

As our kids get ready to go back to school, Kevin Belmonte has a great reminder why teachers deserve our thanks.

“God is willing to let His name be mocked just to wake up the church and give one last trump to the world.” Read more in David Wilkerson’s post: Please Say It Isn’t So.

“It’s easy to forget who is the servant and who is to be served. The tool of distortion is one of satan’s slyest. When the focus is on yourself, you worry that your co-workers won’t appreciate you or your leaders will overwork you. With time, your agenda becomes more important than God’s. You’re more concerned with presenting self than pleasing Him. You may even find yourself doubting God’s judgment. … Guard your attitude. If you concern yourself with your neighbor’s talents, you’ll neglect your own. But if you concern yourself with yours, you could inspire both!” —Max Lucado

Watch out! It won’t be long until this is true in America: British Christians forced to hide beliefs.

Jonah Goldberg asks: If “evil” doesn’t apply to ISIS, then what does?

7 Bible Study Ideas From D.L. Moody

July 20, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

As I read D.L. Moody’s book Pleasure & Profit In Bible Study, I made note of several ideas that could stimulate a great Bible study. Check out my review of this book by clicking here, then check out these great study-starters:

“If you are impatient, sit down quietly and commune with Job. If you are strong-headed, read of Moses and Peter. If you are weak-kneed, look at Elijah. If there is no song in your heart, listen to David. If you are a politician, read Daniel. If you are getting sordid, read Isaiah. If you are chilly, read of the beloved disciple. If your faith is low, read Paul. If you are getting lazy, watch James. If you are losing sight of the future, read in Revelation of the promised land.” —Richard Baxter

“Every chapter [of Mark] but the first, seventh, eighth and fourteenth begins with ‘And,’ as if there was no pause in Christ’s ministry.”

“Matthew begins with Abraham; Mark with Malachi; Luke with John the Baptist; but John with God Himself. Matthew sets forth Christ as the Jew’s Messiah. Mark as the active worker. Luke as a man. John as a personal Savior.”

“[In John’s Gospel] the word repent does not occur once, but the word believe occurs ninety-eight times.”

“Dr. A. T. Pierson says: Let the introduction cover five P’s; place where written; person by whom written; people to whom written; purpose for which written; period at which written.”

“Some time ago a man wanted to take my Bible home to get a few things out of it, and when it came back I found this noted in it:

Justification, a change of state, a new standing before God.
Repentance, a change of mind, a new mind about God.
Regeneration, a change of nature, a new heart from God.
Conversion, a change of life, a new life for God.
Adoption, a change of family, new relationship towards God.
Sanctification, a change of service, separation unto God.
Glorification, a new state, a new condition with God.”

“I was wonderfully blessed by taking the seven ‘Blesseds’ of the Revelation. … Or you may take the eight ‘overcomes’ in Revelation…. I have been greatly blessed by going through the ‘believings’ of John. Every chapter but two speaks of believing. … Take the six ‘precious’ things in Peter’s Epistles. And the seven ‘walks’ of the Epistle to the Ephesians. And the five ‘much mores’ of Romans 5. Or the two ‘receiveds’ of John 1. Or the seven ‘hearts’ in Proverbs 13, and especially an eighth. Or ‘the fear of the Lord’ in Proverbs.”

“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

The Incense Of Prayer

March 5, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

E.M. Bounds has challenged and inspired my prayer life probably more than any other author. Check out these words from his book Purpose In Prayer—

“God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that utter them may be closed in death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God’s heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.

“That man is the most immortal who has done the most and the best praying. They are God’s heroes, God’s saints, God’s servants, God’s deputies. A man can pray better because of the prayers of the past; a man can live holier because of the prayers of the past, the man of many and acceptable prayers has done the truest and greatest service to the incoming generation. The prayers of God’s saints strengthen the unborn generation against the desolating waves of sin and evil. Woe to the generation of sons who find their censors empty of the rich incense of prayer; whose fathers have been too busy or too unbelieving to pray, and perils inexpressible and consequences untold are their unhappy heritage. Fortunate are they whose fathers and mothers have left them a wealthy patrimony of prayer.” (emphasis added)

When God gave Moses instructions for building the tabernacle, the altar of incense was placed before the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. The Bible does not tell us how the high priest passed through or by the curtain, so many believe that as he worshiped God, his prayers mingled with the incense, and God translated him through the curtain and into His presence.

There are other verses to support this:

Let my prayer be set forth as incense before You, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. (Psalm 141:2)
The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse into Heaven, and twice we see the prayers of the saints being linked with the incense of worship (see Revelation 5:8 and 8:3-4).

Notice what E.M. Bounds says … our prayers TODAY are providing the incense the NEXT GENERATION will need! If we fail to pray now, we’re not only hurting ourselves, but we’re putting our children and grandchildren on a path toward “perils inexpressible and consequences untold.”

Instead, let’s leave them “a wealthy patrimony of prayer”! Will you pray? Today?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: children, E.M. Bounds, generations, Heaven, heritage, incense, legacy, Moses, parenting, prayer, prayerlessness, Psalm, Revelation, Tabernacle. 2 Comments »

The God Of Luck

November 25, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

‘Tis the season we are supposed to be thankful. As Thanksgiving Day approaches, many people will gather around a dinner table and share what they are thankful for this year, and then quickly move on to the turkey and football. But we never quite finish the thought: Yes, we are thankful, but to whom are we thankful?

Consider some of these clichés we use:

The ball bounced my way.
I thank my lucky stars!
Wow, must be good clean living!
Whew, I caught a lucky break there.
It’s about time something went my way.

In all of these phrases we are saying, “I did something to get what I got. I did the right things, or I was in the right place at the right time.”

God says, “My people shall be satisfied with My goodness” (Jeremiah 31:14). Notice He says MY goodness.

Contrast this with what Moses warned in his farewell address. He said, when you have been blessed make sure you give the thanks to God, and don’t forget all He has done for you. If we forget to thank God, the inevitable result is pride in our own abilities, or in our own luck. YOU may then say to YOURSELF, “MY power and the strength of MY hand has made this lucky break for ME” (see Deuteronomy 8:10-20).

Notice the MY has been changed from God to me. I have made a god out of my luck. Or even worse, I have enthroned MYSELF and dethroned God.

The only guard against this is continual, uninterrupted gratitude to God for His goodness—Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Don’t make a god out of luck, but make sure the One True God is the center of your thankfulness this week, and all year long!

I’ll be wrapping our series A Grateful Heart Is A Strong Heart this coming Sunday, and I’d love to have you join me!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, Deuteronomy, gratitude, Jeremiah, luck, Moses, sermon, thankfulness, thanksgiving. 1 Comment »

More Spirit-Filled Leaders

November 1, 2013 — 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.

Moses was so right on the mark when he cried out, “I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me!” (Numbers 11:14)

It takes a confidently humble man to ask for help (Numbers 12:3). But God gives more grace to that humble person, while He stands aloof from those know-it-alls and those I-can-do-it-all-by-myselfs.

God anointed leaders to assist Moses. He took the same Spirit that was on Moses and imparted it to those 70 leaders. But—note this carefully—the Spirit on Moses was not at all diminished!

Moses’ responsibility was to pick the 70 “who are known to you as leaders” and then the Lord placed His Spirit on them. There were 70 who prophesied but Moses correctly desired “that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit on them” (Numbers 11:16-17, 25, 29).

Leadership is necessary, and it is meant to be shared. From the senior leader, this requires:

Humility
Responsibility
Willingness

Oh Lord, raise up more Spirit-empowered leaders!

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: church, grace, Holy Spirit, humility, leadership, Moses, Numbers, pastoring, pastors, responsibility, servant-leadership, video. Leave a Comment »

Favor

September 4, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

There’s a really cool comment in parentheses in the book of Exodus: “(The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people)” (Exodus 11:3; see also 12:36).

At Moses’ word bad things have happened in Egypt; in fact, nine bad things have happened so far. Blood, frogs, gnats, hail, locusts, and other nasty things have plagued the Egyptians, and still the general population—and even the inner court of Pharaoh—hold Moses and the Israelites in high regard!

The King James Version says it this way: “The Lord gave the people favor.”

Favor with people doesn’t come when I try to please people. Favor with people comes when I try to please God.

People didn’t respect Moses because he cowered before Pharaoh, but because he feared God.

Ironic, isn’t it? We fear the opinion of people, which excludes us from the favor of God, which robs us of favor with people!

To grow in favor with people, to earn their respect, I must be sold-out to God. I must not care about the opinion of people in order to be highly favored by people.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: God's favor, Moses, opinion, pharaoh, plague, respect. Leave a Comment »

10 Quotes From “Plastic Donuts”

June 12, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

Plastic Donuts is a fresh look at the biblical concepts of tithing and giving offerings. You can read my full book review by clicking here. These are some of the quotes that caught my eye—

“What I didn’t realize was that my lifestyle had frozen my giving at the 10 percent level. When it came to my finances, my lifestyle had all the influence. The issue is not about my needing to sacrifice my lifestyle. The issue is about my giving a gift that is connected to my heart.”

“In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus provided instructions on giving, praying, and fasting. For each, He focused on the heart standard but did not provide an amount standard (see Matthew 6:1-18).”

“David praised God seven times a day. Daniel prayed to God three times a day. Moses fasted from food and water twice, for forty days straight. Daniel fasted twenty-one days from rich foods and wine. Where did these faith heroes get their standards? They determined them. It’s human nature to seek something that is concrete, an inviolable guideline, clear marching orders. … But let’s be honest. Are we looking for a rule to follow so we can check it off the list? Or does a strict rule help to soothe a sense of guilt and confusion? It’s always easier to follow rules than to follow a living God. The absence of rules can cause tension in determining the amount of our gifts. Shouldn’t there at least be a minimum? If not, suddenly it’s wide open. Multiple options appear.”

“God is not looking for the same gift from all His children. He wants a personal gift.”

“You may not think you have the ability to give. But if you pay attention, you’ll be surprised at just what abilities you really do have.”

“Tapping your true giving ability will require countercultural lifestyle choices—such as debt-free living or a reduction in your spending.”

“If you want to grow your faith, grow your gratitude. To grow your gratitude, take time to count your blessings.”

“No matter what your ability or inability, God can be pleased with your gift.”

“Could it be that a giving lifestyle apart from love and obedience to God is simply philanthropy?”

“In the end, it is the condition of the giver’s heart that makes the gift pleasing to God.”

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: book review, Daniel, God's love, God's provision, gratitude, King David, missions, Moses, offering, quotes, tithe. 1 Comment »

Confidence Is Inspiring

February 9, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Leaders see the destination long before everyone else does. They see it, they describe it in vivid detail to the rest of the group, and then they help get the whole group to that “promised land.” Consider these visionary leaders…

Moses—God showed him a picture of the promised land, and then Moses explained to the Israelites how to get there and stay there.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—“I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!”
Mike McCarthy—“Wait a minute,” you may be thinking, “Do you mean the coach of the Green Bay Packers?!”

Yes, I mean that Mike McCarthy: The head coach of the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay Packers.

Most teams win the Super Bowl, celebrate it during the off-season as they get measured for their rings, and then have a ceremony at the beginning of the next season to hand out the Super Bowl rings. But not the Packers.

Check this out: Mike McCarthy had the Packer players get their rings sized BEFORE the game!

“I talked to our football team a lot about having real confidence, and those are just examples and opportunities to express that,” said McCarthy. “I felt that the measurement of the rings, the timing of it would be special, it would have a significant effect on our players doing it the night before the game.”

Here’s how some of the players responded:

“So that’s pretty unusual, huh?” linebacker A.J. Hawk asked. “Well, I liked it. It made things real for us.”

“It was the night before the game,” linebacker Desmond Bishop said. “And we could see that it was right there. Everything we wanted was right there in our hands, literally and figuratively.”

“That’s our head coach. He’s been the same way all year,” defensive end Ryan Pickett said. “He said he thought we were going to win it all, so we should have the rings fitted. After the meeting, we just went out (of the meeting room) and they had people there to measure us.”

If you are a leader:

(1) Get a clear vision for where you are taking your team.

(2) Describe it in vivid detail for your team; make it real for them.

(3) Then put the symbol of the “promised land” right in their hands.

What a great leadership lesson!

(Hat tip to my dear friend Greg Heeres for sending this article my way!)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: confidence, Deuteronomy, Green Bay Packers, leadership, Martin Luther King, Moses, Promised Land, Super Bowl, vision. 2 Comments »

Will You Make A Difference Today?

October 19, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Moses shared a great prayer with us: Teach us to use wisely all the time we have (Psalm 90:12).

How will use your time wisely today? What does that look like in your world?

Let me today do something that shall take
A little sadness from the world’s vast store,
And may I be so favored as to make
Of joy’s too scanty sum a little more.
Let me not hurt, by any selfish deed
Or thoughtless word, the heart of foe or friend;
Nor would I pass, unseeing, worthy need,
Or sin by silence when I should defend.
However meager be my worldly wealth,
Let me give something that shall aid my kind—
A word of courage, or a thought of health,
Dropped as I pass for troubled hearts to find.
Let me tonight look back across the span
‘Twixt dawn and dark, and to my conscience say—
Because of some good act to beast or man—
“The world is better that I lived today.” (Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Morning Prayer)

Make your world a better place because you passed through it today.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: blessing, carpe diem, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, lifestyle, make a difference, Moses, poem, poetry, prayer, Psalm. 1 Comment »

4 Leadership Requirements

June 30, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I love studying leadership—leadership principles, leadership practices, and leadership people. There’s a great leadership case study in the Bible in the life of Joshua that always intrigues me.

Joshua had been through extensive preparation to become Moses’ successor. He was a recognized leader in his tribe, the general of the army, and an aide-de-camp to Moses for a number of years. But his most important leadership qualification: He was called by God.

As the story of his leadership opens in the first chapter of the Book of Joshua, God gives four requirements for Joshua (and you and me) to be effective in our leadership roles.

1. Be yourself. God didn’t say, “Be like Moses.” In fact, the only time God talks about Moses to Joshua is to reassure him, “I will be with you like I was with Moses.” But never once does God uses a “Moses Grading Scale” for Joshua. God simply says, “You will lead these people.”

2. Have an objective measuring stick. Feelings may change, but God’s Word never does. So God counsels Joshua to always rely on the Book of the Law.

3. Guard your thoughts. Leaders have so many people “in their ear” wanting to lobby for their way. So God tells Joshua to not only read the Bible but meditate on it as well. One definition of meditation is to hum God’s Word. In other words, humming God’s Word will help a leader know which lobbying voice is in harmony with God’s Voice, and which lobbying voice is off-key.

4. Guard your attitude. God repeats this to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Even doing everything they are supposed to be doing, leaders can become afraid to make a change, or discouraged because people aren’t following along. These feelings must be driven out with one firm declaration: “I know the Lord has called to this leadership position, so I know the Lord is with me. He will enable me to complete what He has called me to do.”

God’s direction to Joshua is still great counsel for leaders today.