Here are a couple of photos I took this morning at the United service. As the service concluded, people formed prayer circles to prayer in unity. How amazing to see folks from different churches, different denominations, different backgrounds all united in prayer to the one true God!
Big Time!
August 12, 2012 — Craig T. OwensThe Bible tell us…
The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth (Psalm 145:18).
I tweeted this early Sunday morning:
And guess what? I was right: He did show up! Big time!
I ♥ My Church (and their hunger for God)!!
If you are hungry to meet with God, please consider joining us next Sunday morning.
Got Wisdom?
August 1, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
Solomon advised us to pursue wisdom:
- Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them. (Proverbs 4:5)
- Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. (Proverbs 4:7)
- How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver! (Proverbs 16:16)
- Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding. (Proverbs 23:23)
I like T.M. Moore’s insight on this…
“Wisdom is that skill in living which comes as Christ is formed in us and lives His Word, in the power of His Spirit, through our lives. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God (Psalm 111:10). But we’ll have to work hard and in many different ways to bring wisdom to a higher state in our lives. Solomon prayed for wisdom, but he also applied himself diligently to studying and contemplating a good many subjects in order to acquire that which he was trusting the Lord to give him. So we too, if we would increase in wisdom, must devote ourselves to ‘getting’ it by all the ways God makes available to us.”
In other words, we can (and should) pray for wisdom, but then we need to get busy to actually get the wisdom. God won’t simply pour wisdom into our hearts and minds.
Wisdom is earned through experience
Godly wisdom is earned through experiences that the Holy Spirit helps us evaluate and assimilate. The experience might be pleasant, or it might be painful. It might come through reading your Bible, or it might come through prayer. It might come in a pastor’s message, or it might come in a friend’s words. You might get it by going to your job, you might get it while taking a stroll along the beach on your vacation.
God’s wisdom is constantly being revealed to us. Are you getting it?
If not, what are you going to do to get it?
Whatever you do, GET WISDOM!
Getting Out Of A Pit
July 28, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
This guy was having a bad day (or maybe a bad week, a bad month, a bad year…). The bottom line: he was in a pit, and it appears he had been in it for some time.
Nothing was going right.
And it didn’t appear things would turn around anytime soon.
He cried out, “My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” (Psalm 42:3)
Ever been there?
Are you there now?
If so, follow the example of this psalmist as he began to talk to himself…
Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again—my Savior and my God! (v. 5)
Why could he put his hope in God at such a dark time in his life? Consider these wise words from Charles Spurgeon—
“Speak to thy soul thus, ‘If I were dealing with a man’s promise, I should carefully consider the ability and the character of the man who had covenanted with me. So with the promise of God; my eye must not be so much fixed upon the greatness of the mercy—that may stagger me; as upon the greatness of the Promiser—that will cheer me. My soul, it is God, even thy God, God that cannot lie, Who speaks to thee. This word of His which thou art now considering is as true as His own existence. He is a God unchangeable. He has not altered the thing which has gone out of His mouth, nor called back one single consolatory sentence. Nor doth He lack any power; it is the God that made the heavens and the earth who has spoken thus. Nor can He fail in wisdom as to the time when He will bestow the favors, for He knoweth when it is best to give and when better to withhold. Therefore, seeing that it is the word of a God so true, so immutable, so powerful, so wise, I will and must believe the promise.’ If we thus meditate upon the promises, and consider the Promiser, we shall experience their sweetness, and obtain their fulfillment.”
If you are in a pit, begin to recall the promises listed in God’s Word.
Pray them.
Meditate on them.
Speak them out loud.
Hang on to them.
“If we thus meditate upon the promises, and consider the Promiser, we shall experience their sweetness, and obtain their fulfillment.”
Keep On Keeping On
July 16, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
I was challenged by the message “Grandpa George” (also known as Tom Amrozowicz) shared with our church yesterday morning. This coming from a man who is a third-generation Pentecostal, and has walked with Jesus for over 70 years. The Bible text he shared was:
O God, You have taught me from my earliest childhood, and I constantly tell others about the wonderful things You do. Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim Your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me. (Psalm 71:17-18)
I am also a fourth-generational Pentecostal, and I have walked with Jesus for over 40 years (I know, I’m a rookie compared to Tom!). Tom’s words and God’s Word challenged me.
O God, You have taught me from my earliest childhood. I never want to take this for granted!
I constantly tell others about the wonderful things You do. Constantly? I hope my life is always showing how I am grateful for God’s blessings, but I know I needed that reminder to also be telling others how grateful I am.
Now that I am old and gray. Gray? Yes. Old? Well, let’s just say older.
Do not abandon me, O God. I don’t believe God would abandon me, but I need to ask myself, “Am I more attentive to following Him as I was a year ago?” You might ask, “Why ‘more attentive’? Don’t you just need to be as attentive?” When I was a teenager, there were things I ate that I never gave a second thought to, but I would never consider eating those things now because I know they aren’t the healthiest diet choices. In others words, as I’ve gotten older, I’m paying more attention to my physical health. Shouldn’t I pay more attention to my spiritual health too?
Let me proclaim Your power to this new generation. I want to make sure my kids, who are fourth-generation Pentecostals, know about the power of God that can be theirs.
Let me proclaim… Your mighty miracles to all who come after me. I also want to find relevant ways to tell younger generations about all that God has done for me, and all He wants to do for them too.
So if I were to sum up what the Holy Spirit was saying to me yesterday morning, it would be this:
I need to keep on keeping on. Don’t rest on the past, but use the past as a launching pad for even greater things in the future!
Your Personal Spiritual Trainer
July 9, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
If you are a Christian, you have a personal trainer for your spiritual workouts. He is the Holy Spirit.
We should never think of the Holy Spirit as showing up just in the New Testament. He is living and active all throughout Scripture. Yesterday we saw Him in the gimel section of our P119 Spiritual Workout (that’s verses 17-24 of Psalm 119).
A personal trainer who has our best interests in mind will always set a healthy pace for us: neither letting us loaf nor working us too hard that it does permanent damage. But that pace is almost always painful because it is stretching us into a new dimension of fitness. This is just as true—if not truer—in the spiritual realm.
Take a look at the Hebrew letter gimel. Do you see a silhouette of runner? The Jews did, and they gave this definition to gimel: a richer man running after a poorer man in order to bless him. Isn’t that a great picture of what God does for us?! The Holy Spirit wants to help us “keep pace” with what God is blessing. That’s why He makes the laws and statutes and decrees of Scripture come alive so that we can keep pace with all that God has for us.
Now remember that blessing has two components. One part is the rich rewards we receive, and the other part is the loving correction. Both rewards and loving correction are blessings because they both keep us on pace with God’s plan for our lives.
The Holy Spirit sets a pace for us to follow as He reveals God’s Word to us. It’s a bit painful to stretch and grow, but God will reward us as we obediently follow the Spirit’s leading. If we choose not to keep pace, we may be alright for a while. But eventually, we’ll start to fall short, or even get on a wrong path. Here the blessing of God is to lovingly rebuke and correct us, in the attempt to get us back on pace with Him.
And when we get back on pace with God’s plan for us, His richest rewards can continue to flow into our lives!
If you’re not allowing the Holy Spirit to be your Personal Spiritual Trainer, I suggest you invite Him to take that role in your life today. No one is more concerned about your spiritual growth and spiritual vitality than He is, and He alone can help you get to the place of optimal spiritual health.
If you have missed any of the messages in our P119 series, you can access them all by clicking here.
I Want To Be Fascinated
July 2, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
If we are going to stick with anything for the long haul, we have to be fascinated by it. As soon as it becomes boring, humdrum, or monotonous, the downward spiral leading to us throwing in the towel is almost inevitable.
It looks like this:
Inattention → Fizzled passion → Lack of discipline → Quitting
This is bad enough for a diet, exercise routine, or any other healthy pursuit. But it becomes even more painful when this downward cycle occurs in our spiritual life. In that case, the “quitting” is called by another name: Sin.
In Psalm 119, the Beth section (verses 9-16) opens with two contrasting thoughts:
- How can a young man keep his way pure? By LIVING according to Your Word.
- I seek You with all my heart; do not let me STRAY from Your commands.
Stray is a passive word. No real attention or foresight is required to wander or meander around. On the other hand, living is an active word. In the Hebrew, this word carries the idea of keeping careful watch; protecting; carefully tending.
So the question that leads to my success is this: What fascinates me? What dominates my thoughts? What motivates me?
The answer to these questions will determine my stick-to-itiveness.
The remaining verses in this section show the upward spiral away from sin if we will keep careful watch over how closely we stick to God’s Word.
- → Living = guarding (v. 9)
- → Seek You with all my heart (v. 10) … Yearning (in the Amplified Bible)
- → Hidden Your Word (v. 11) … Treasured (in the Complete Jewish Bible)
- → Personal praise (v. 12)
- → With my lips… (v. 13) = verbal, public praise
- → Rejoice (v. 14) … as in more than in any kind of wealth (in the CJB)
- → Meditate (v. 15) = constant companion
- → Delight (v. 16)
When we delight in God’s Word, the cycle is started over again—I will not neglect Your Word—but now with a renewed and intensified PASSION!
I want God’s Word to dominate my thoughts, and its principles to captivate me. I want to be fascinated by my relationship with Jesus Christ that comes through the revelation of the Bible to my heart.
There is no other way to live!
If you have missed any of the messages in our P119 series, you can access them all by clicking here.
Thursdays With Oswald—Examination
June 28, 2012 — Craig T. OwensThis 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.
Examination
Sin destroys the power of the soul to know its sin, punishment brings awakening, self-examination brings chastisement and saves the soul from sleeping sickness, and brings it into a healthy satisfaction.
From Biblical Psychology
There’s so much to unpack in this single sentence…
- We are very good at self-medicating away any pain (even spiritual pain), so that we never address the source of the pain (Ephesians 4:18).
- I can be “sin sick” and not even know it because I’m not allowing the Holy Spirit to examine me (1 Corinthians 10:12).
- The pain of punishment and chastisement is for my eternal benefit (Hebrews 12:5-11).
What do I need to do? Invite the examination of the Spirit:
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. (Psalm 139:23-24)
So let a person examine himself first, and then he may eat of the bread and drink from the cup; for a person who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. This is why many among you are weak and sick, and some have died! If we would examine ourselves, we would not come under judgment. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined, so that we will not be condemned along with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:28-32)
Good Memory / Bad Memory
June 23, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
When you look back into your memories, what do you see? Do you recall the good things? The bad things? Which most readily springs to mind?
“I do not find fault with short memories, but with good memories which are treacherous towards divine things. What I complain of is that memory may be very strong concerning self-interest, grievances, and trials, and yet towards God’s mercies it may be very weak.” ―Charles Spurgeon
When one of the psalmists was downcast, his thoughts started to go back to the bad memories, but he chose to remember the good…
…my soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember You… (Psalm 42:6)
Did you catch that therefore?
This psalmist said, “As soon as I realize I am focusing on the bad, I will remember my God!”
This is why I am a big proponent of using a prayer journal: a written record of your prayers, answers to those prayers, revelations the Holy Spirit has shown you in the Scriptures, and other good memories. That way when your soul is downcast, you can remember the good things God has said and done for you.
Don’t let the bad memories trump the good things God has done for you. Remember … remember … remember!
P119
June 20, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
Have you tried the P90x workout program? The idea is to work all different parts of your body in different ways: resistance training, cardio work, stretching. This multi-discipline approach is intended to give you a complete workout.
We are getting ready to start an intense spiritual workout at Calvary Assembly of God. This summer we’ll be launching The P119 Workout. We’ll be using the 119th chapter in the book of Psalms to have a multi-discipline approach to stretching and improving our spiritual lives.
Each week throughout the summer we will look at one of the 8-verse segments, and learn how to apply the principles to our daily routines. There will be some “workout instructions” given in our Sunday morning services, and then some on-your-own workout routines to do throughout the week.
I am really excited about the expanded spiritual strength everyone will gain from this. Please join me this Sunday at 10:30am.
If you missed any of the messages in our P119 series, check them out here:
- Perfect? Yes! (aleph vv. 1-8)
- I Want To Be Fascinated (beth vv. 9-16)
- Your Personal Spiritual Trainer (gimel vv. 17-24)
- Getting Back Up When Life Has Knocked You Down (daleth vv. 25-32)
- Reading The Bible Isn’t Enough (he vv. 33-40)
- Taunting (waw vv. 41-48)
- From A Frustrating Life To An Exciting Life (zayin vv. 49-56)
- Why Do You Read The Bible? (heth vv.57-64)
- Oxymoron (teth vv. 65-72)
- Small Beginnings (yodh vv. 73-80)
- Mouth-To-Mouth (kaph vv. 81-88)
- Learning & Teaching (lamedh vv. 89-96)
- 867-5309 (mem vv. 97-104)
- Rewards For Faithfulness (nun vv. 105-112)
- The Love & Hate Of God (samekh vv. 113-120)
- Eye Exam (ayin vv. 121-128)
- 10 Blessings From Obeying God’s Word (pe vv. 129-136)
- Humility Misunderstood (tsadhe vv. 137-144)
- Holy Rescuers (qoph vv. 145-152)
- Tears And Humility (resh vv. 153-160)
- Live Blessed And Peaceful (sin & shin vv. 161-168)
- God Stamps His Children (taw vv. 169-176)
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