We have added a lot of “stuff” to our prayer language, almost like God wouldn’t know that we were praying to Him unless we used these special words! Jesus made it simple by giving us two words: “Our Father.” I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
“Immersing ourselves in the Psalms and turning them into prayers teaches our hearts the ‘grammar’ of prayer and gives us the most formative instruction in how to pray in accord with God’s character and will.” —Tim Keller, in Prayer
“We best take care of others when we are judicious about self-care. We only pour our lives out for others well over time if we have taken care of our own bodies and souls well in time. … Folly neglects soul care and leaves us empty, powerless to effectively serve others. We only have resources to constantly give out if we have been diligent to constantly receive in.” —Dick Brogden, in Proverbs: Amplified and Applied
Issac is an amazing foreshadowing of Jesus. Consider these aspects:
the wood for the sacrifice is on his back
the father placed the wood on his son’s back
the son was to be the lamb offered in sacrifice as God commanded
John Stonestreet and Dr. Glenn Sunshine write, “Constantine has been a controversial figure throughout Church history. Both the genuineness of his conversion and his impact on the Church have been consistently questioned and scrutinized. Many think that Constantine’s actions to tie the Church to the empire compromised the Gospel. Often, these arguments are based on a misunderstanding of what Constantine did and fail to consider what followed from the legalization of Christianity.” Check out more of the history and the impact of Emperor Constantine.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Every monarch or president on the planet has certain protocols for anyone who interacts with them. There are requirements on how to walk into the room, titles that have to be used, the way you have to act, things you can or can’t say, and the list goes on and on.
So it’s natural to think that this is how we also have to approach the Sovereign King of the Universe. But this King so desires intimate conversation with His people that Jesus gave us this simple protocol: “Our Father” (Matthew 6:9-13).
Jesus told us that He wanted us to dispense with the world’s expected protocols. He said that when we approach God, those protocols are gone. In the preceding verses, He told us that we pray…
…NOT for show or else we are called hypocrites—putting on an act or performance to earn applause or approval.
…NOT with “alien” vocabulary or else we are pagans—adopting manners that aren’t our own as a means to be accepted.
The prayers of Jesus seldom sound like our modern idea of “prayer.” Instead, they sound more like an everyday conversation when He’s talking to His Father, and the sound like commands when He’s casting out demons or healing diseases (see examples in Matthew 8:3, 13, 26, 32; John 11:40-44).
Jesus also reminded us that we pray because…
He told us to
He wants us to seek God’s Kingdom
He wants us to receive God’s Kingdom
He wants us to live in the power of God’s Kingdom every single moment
Let me repeat: our protocol for prayer is nothing like the world’s protocols for interacting with rulers. Our protocol is simply coming to our Heavenly Father in simple, childlike love and anticipation.
Kingdom praying should be as natural as talking to the most loving Father you can imagine!
Check out the others messages in our series Kingdom Prayingby clicking here.
Jesus made it clear time and time again that He came to reveal the Kingdom of God to us. He described what the Kingdom was like and told us that He came to be the means by which we could enter God’s Kingdom.
He also told us how God’s children could access the power and privileges of our Heavenly Father through the means of prayer. He assured us with words like, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
Jesus said quite simply that we had access to our Father through prayer. And then to make sure we didn’t miss out on this awesome privilege, He instructed us, “This, then, is how you should pray” (Matthew 6:8).
Please join me this Sunday as we go point-by-point through this Kingdom-accessing model prayer. We will learn just how truly expansive and all-encompassing this short prayer is.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
The apostle Peter said he wrote two letters to the church “as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking” (2 Peter 3:1). And Paul reminded his young friend Timothy to “keep reminding [your congregation] of these things” (2 Timothy 2:14).
In the spirit of those great apostles, I have made it a practice to take time at the end of each year to look back on all that we have learned in the previous year, and then to look forward to where God may be leading Calvary Assembly of God in this upcoming year.
Clicking on each series title will take you to a list of all of the sermons in that series.
Intimate Conversation—The dictionary defines the word “intimate” with these phrases: associated in close personal relations, characterized by warm friendship, and closely personal. These words perfectly describe the relationship God wants to have with His children through prayer. Pete Briscoe said, “Prayer is an intimate conversation with the One who passionately loves you and lives in you.” The One who loves you so passionately desires to walk with you and share intimate knowledge with you. Prayer is not something formal, cold, or mechanical, but it is vibrant, warm, engaging, and life-changing.
A Christian’s Mental Health—I don’t think there is any arguing that Jesus was the healthiest individual who ever walked planet Earth. Some may want to push back with, “Of course He was because He didn’t have any problems to deal with!” But the writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus experienced everything you and I will ever experience (Hebrews 2:17), so His deity didn’t exclude Him from the stressors that His humanity would have to face. And yet, He handled all of these things successfully. Luke the physician observed the growth of Jesus and tells us that it all began with Jesus having a robust mental health. From that foundation, everything else—physical, spiritual, relational—all could develop properly. We must learn from this example and pay careful attention to our own mental health.
Bold Claims—“That’s a pretty bold claim. Are you prepared to back that up?” I’ll bet you have heard something like that said to you, and maybe you have even said that yourself to someone else who made a big, audacious statement. After Jesus is arrested by the religious leaders—an arrest that will ultimately lead to Jesus being crucified on the Cross—there are some incredibly bold claims spoken by key people in this part of the Story. For the most part, these are claims that we don’t read earlier in any of the Gospels, but as this story is heading toward its most crucial moment, we have these audacious statements pronounced. But here’s the most important part: These bold claims weren’t just made, but they were backed up with proof as well.
We Are: Pentecostal—Pentecost for over 1500 years was a celebration in Jerusalem that brought in Jews from all over the world. But on the Day of Pentecost that came just ten days after Jesus ascended back into heaven, the meaning of Pentecost was forever changed! Followers of Jesus—now empowered by an infilling of the Holy Spirit—began to take the good news of Jesus all over the world. These Spirit-filled Christians preached the Gospel and won converts to Christ even among hostile crowds, performed miracles and wonders, stood up to pagan priests and persecuting governmental leaders, and established a whole new way of living as Christ-followers. We, too, can be Pentecostal followers of Jesus Christ today.
Ascending—Every year, Jews from around the world made four pilgrimages up to Jerusalem for various feasts and sacrifices. These journeys reminded them of God’s goodness as they went to the Temple to worship, and they helped refocus on God’s ways as they returned to their regular routines. Jerusalem is over 2500 feet above sea level, so the pilgrimage there was a physical workout as well as a spiritual workout. These workouts were beneficial for God’s people, preparing them to minister in their cities in the following months. The Book of Psalms contains 15 songs that these pilgrims would sing to and with each other as they traveled up to Jerusalem. These Psalms of Ascent are still instructive for Christians today.
Saints Together—Throughout the New Testament the word “saints” is always in the plural form. This is a clear indication that none of us can develop into the full-fledged Christians we were meant to be on our own. We all need each other. More specifically, we all need the most mature version of each other. A key component of an individual saint’s development is the time spent alone being forged by the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Maturing saints then come together with each other to continue to strengthen and sharpen everyone in the church. Strong individual saints make a strong church, and a strong church makes strong individual saints! Let’s learn about six important spiritual disciplines that each individual saint must put into practice so that they can use their newly developed strengths to help other saints in their own development.
The Great Attitude Of Gratitude—There’s something about gratitude that distinguishes people. Think about it: would you rather hang around with grumblers or grateful people? The gratitude of Paul and Silas certainly made them stand out from the crowd when they were in Philippi. Wrongly accused, beaten, and thrown in prison, but instead of bellyaching, they were praising God. Later on, when Paul wrote his letter to the Christians in Philippi, the theme of gratefulness permeates his letter. The distinguishing mark is actually in the title: The GReat ATTITUDE spells out GRATITUDE!
Long Live The King Of Kings—Throughout human history, whenever a king died, the people would say something like, “The king is dead. Long live the king!” They would say this because the next king ascended to the throne immediately after his predecessor died. Except when a nation had been defeated, the cry, “The king is dead” was unanswered by, “Long live the king!” Israel must have felt like this. After being defeated by Nebuchadnezzar and spending 70 years in exile, it appeared to many that the line of kings was broken. Even after retuning to their homeland, Israel continued to live under the thumb of other powerful nations. And yet, some still clung to the glimmer of the promise God had made about an eternal King sitting on Jerusalem’s throne. The First Advent of Jesus revealed to us in the Gospels reassures us that the promise of an eternal King is true. Jesus came to earth to reveal His majesty to us. The First Advent is so important because it bolsters our faith for the imminent Second Advent when Jesus will return as the King of kings! Christmas is a great time to be reminded that even now we can confidently declare, “Long live the eternal King of kings!”
2024 promises to be an exciting year! If you don’t have a home church in the northern Kent County area, I would love to have you join us!
I grew up with a phrase ringing in my ears, “The Church moves forward on its knees.”
I believe this is true! We cannot expect to be effective in any kingdom-building endeavor if we are not empowered by heavenly help. So we like to begin each new year with a dedicated week of prayer. I invite you to join us in kicking off the new year with a renewed passion for prayer.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
I do my best to take care of my physical body. I exercise every day, l try to watch what I am eating, and I attempt to get the correct amount of sleep. I attend to all of these things because I want to keep my body as healthy as I can.
But in all of these efforts, I would never presume that I could determine how long I’m going to live. I thought of this the other day when I read an interesting statement from Jesus.
In my Bible, this section of Luke’s Gospel has been given the heading “Do Not Worry.” Jesus tells us that we shouldn’t fret about our lives, our food, or our clothing because our Heavenly Father will take care of those things. Then Jesus says, “Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” (v. 26).
What is this “very little thing” Jesus says I cannot do? In the previous verse, He says, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”
I don’t know about you, but that seems like a very big thing to me! How could I add any time to my life!? I have no idea when my time is up. If I think that controlling the number of days I have left to live is a big thing, then the daily concerns of providing food, clothing, and shelter, seem small by comparison.
But Jesus says determining the length of my days is a very little thing. If that’s how He sees it, how infinitesimal it must be for Him to provide the basics of life for His trusting children!
This is why Jesus says to us over and over again, “Do not worry.”
“When we are foolish and young, we need more rules. As we mature, we can be trusted with extended boundaries. The wiser we are, the more we appreciate those boundaries and the less they offend us. Offense at law, accountability, hedges, and boundaries is an indicator of immaturity. The wiser we are, the more unafraid and appreciative we are of those who hold us to account.” —Dick Brogden, in Proverbs: Amplified and Applied
“When public policy begins to encroach on the Christian’s freedom and duty to proclaim the Good News, or to bring the benefits of the Gospel to the community, believers must continue our mission nonetheless and be ready to bear whatever punishments those in authority may choose to inflict. Christians do not seek suffering, but we must not shun it, particularly when by our suffering we can work for public policies more in line with the centrality of the Gospel for the wellbeing of all people.” —T.M. Moore
The Golden Rule—treat others as you would want to be treated—applies to the way you treat yourself too. Stop beating yourself up when you make a mistake. You probably don’t beat up others when they stumble, so extend the same grace to yourself. Practice healthy, affirming self-talk. Check out this full conversation from episode 68 of The Craig And Greg Show.
“A thought, a sword, and a spade should never be allowed to rust.” —Irish Proverb
Dr. C. John “Jack” Collins uses some thoughts from C.S. Lewis to help us learn a little better how to read Genesis 1-11. He writes, “We should approach any biblical passage with the conviction that God inspired the Bible to be the right tool for its job. If we can get a good idea of what kind of tool our passage is, we can discern what job God intended it to perform. And that means we need to be willing to adjust what we’re looking for and be willing to find other ways of addressing some questions.”
“Failure to pray is simple unbelief. We must repent of our unbelief and take up the work of prayer with greater devotion and dedication. We shall not be able to realize progress in Christ’s Kingdom, or in returning our nation to a greater experience of justice and goodness, apart from prayer. Prayer is the starting point for public policy. Prayer must be the sustaining power of public policy. And prayer in the form of worship will be the outcome of public policies, forged in prayer, which lead to a peaceful, godly, dignified, true, and Gospel-friendly society.” —T.M. Moore
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
An expert in Jewish law asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus, knowing this man was an expert in the law, turned the question back on him, “What do you think is written in the law about this?”
This man quoted to Jesus two passages in the mosaic law, and Jesus told him, “You have answered correctly. If you do that you will have eternal life.”
The two things he quoted were loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself. But then comes an interesting phrase. Luke writes that, “He wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” This tells me that this expert in the law was trying to figure out the least that he could do to be approved by God.
In answer to his question, Jesus told the story that we now refer to as the parable of the good Samaritan. The Samaritan didn’t measure his love by the least he could do, and he didn’t limit himself to doing only what was comfortable or convenient. In fact, he didn’t measure his response at all—he simply did what was needed without any thought of the cost.
We often use WWJD to ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?”
Since Jesus embodied love, maybe a more clarifying question would be WWLD—What would love do?
Maybe we could combine this with the Golden Rule. If I was in need, how would I want my neighbor to treat me? Then, as Jesus said to the expert in the law, “Go and do likewise to all your neighbors.” This is what pleases God and glorifies Jesus.
(Read this whole account for yourself in Luke 10:25-37.)
Perhaps a good prayer for us would be: Heavenly Father, I want to love the way Jesus loved. Help me to do what Love would do in all my interactions with my neighbors today. Father, be glorified in my neighborly responses today. I want to follow the example Jesus gave me, so I pray this prayer in His name. Amen.
Healthy leaders look in the mirror first before they confront a teammate on something that needs to change. Check out the full conversation Greg and I had on The Craig and Greg Show about defeating the two-headed leadership killer of ignorance and arrogance. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
“I am often, I believe, praying for others when I should be doing things for them. It’s so much easier to pray for a bore than to go and see him.” —C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” —William James
The most empowered and empowering person is the one who remains in Jesus.
“Whereas three or more incidents of intense stress within a year (say, serious financial trouble, being fired, or a divorce) triple the death rate in socially isolated middle-aged men, they have no impact whatsoever on the death rate of men who cultivate many close relationships.” —Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee, Primal Leadership
T.M. Moore has an outstanding series of posts on how Christians should interact with the governments in the lands in which they live. I highly recommend this series to you. T.M. wrote, “We have seen that justice is a jewel of many facets. In its obligatory facet, justice requires that we love our neighbors simply because they are made in the image of God. We must regard them, and do with them, as we wish to be regarded and done with ourselves. In its preventive facet, justice demands that we use forethought in all our actions to make sure, as far as possible, that our neighbor or his property is not injured by what we do. Distributive justice encourages us to share generously with our neighbors and others in need. Restorative justice comes into play when the balance of neighbor love has become disturbed and the one guilty of disturbing it is required to set things right again. Each of these forms of justice, grounded in the Law of God, is very much a part of life in our society today. It is simply mindless or prejudicial to insist that we should have no input from Scripture or the Law of God, either in the public square or in the making of public policy. Our nation was founded on Biblical principles of justice, and to deny this is to rewrite history past and to put in jeopardy history to come.”
The Greek word translated as “consider” in Hebrews 3:1 means to observe closely, to consider attentively, to fix your eyes or mind upon it. In its context, this verb is usually directing us to the end result of being in awe, kindling a renewed faith, and being rejuvenated with a new resolve to move forward.This is what happens especially when we consider Jesus❣️
Issac is an amazing foreshadowing of Jesus. Consider these aspects:
Craig T. Owens 