Links & Quotes

March 31, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

I have a series of nearly 70 posts on the topic of godly leadership. Here is the latest installment about going all in. Be sure to check out all of my videos on my YouTube channel.

T.M. Moore writes persuasively to Christians to encourage them to build for the future. He wrote, “For most Christians today, the Kingdom which Daniel saw, Jesus proclaimed and brought near, and the Spirit inaugurated on that first Christian Pentecost—that Kingdom is little more than a theological idea, or a distant hope. It is not a daily reality to be sought, seized, shared, and strengthened in every nook and cranny of our Personal Mission Fields. Christians today are trapped in their past or mired in their present, and they have little or no sense of what it means to build for the future so that righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit increase wherever they live, move, and have their being.”

Whether you know it as the Mesha Inscription, the Mesha Stele, or the Moabite Stone, this 1868 discovery is another piece of archeological evidence lending proof to the historicity of the Bible.

And another piece of research from both paleontologists and entomologists points to the Flood described in the Bible as historically viable. Researchers discovered fossilized giant ants in Canada where evolutionists claim they shouldn’t be. The Institute for Creation Research commented, “There is no need to postulate ants trekking across the Arctic to explain the distribution. Nor is there a need to inject short ‘hyperthermal’ episodes to allow passage from one continent to another. The global Flood explains what we observe the best. The warmer pre-Flood conditions and likely higher oxygen levels explain the large size of the ants. And their fossil distribution is best explained by their transport off the highest pre-Flood hills as the waters were receding.”

“If we were to look at Jesus’s death merely as a result of a betrayer’s deceit and the Sanhedrin’s envy and Pilate’s spinelessness and the soldiers’ nails and spear, it might seem very involuntary. And the benefit of salvation that comes to us who believe might be viewed as God’s way of making a virtue out of a necessity. But once you read Luke 9:51, all such thoughts vanish. Jesus was not accidentally entangled in a web of injustice. The saving benefits of His death for sinners were not an afterthought. God planned it all out of infinite love to sinners like us, and He appointed a time.” —John Piper, Love To The Uttermost reading plan on YouVersion

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Links & Quotes

March 25, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

There is something very important that mature leaders need to remind themselves of so that they can help emerging leaders become successful. You can watch out this full conversation about mulligans and do-overs on the most recent episode of The Craig and Greg Show. Be sure to check out all of my videos on my YouTube channel.

In my sermon on Sunday, I talked about the sovereignty of God over world affairs and world leaders. This is a great reminder from John Newton:

Merat Sultan was born in the shah of Iran’s palace in 1876. He became the chief of police and of the army in Tabriz, Iran. When the Russians invaded and occupied that area, they made plans to execute Sultan. How he escaped actually led him to a relationship with Jesus as Sultan became a Christian. Check out this fascinating story from the website Praying For Muslims. I would also urge you to check out their weekly prayer guide.

My wife and I are reading through the He Gets Us devotional series on YouVersion. I love this picture of Jesus that comes from He Gets Us #3: Questions Jesus Asked—

“No voice. No contribution. No significance. No meaning.

“Invisible.

“That’s the way many women probably felt at the time Jesus lived. And every person with an illness—cancer, leprosy, epilepsy, mental disabilities—every one of those people were marginalized. In Jesus’ day, what careers were on the lowest rung of the corporate ladder?—fishermen and shepherds. Yet when you read every account of Jesus, who do you see Him hanging around? Fishermen, shepherds, women, and people dealing with health issues.

“Jesus wanted it that way. He took every opportunity He had to bring people in from the fringes and give them His full attention. He saw them. He listened to them. He loved them in ways they’ve never been loved before. They had never experienced anything like it.”

T.M. Moore wrote, “We are becoming so accustomed to the forsaking of traditional values, the undermining and fragmenting of long-established institutions, and the breakdown of morality and civility that we can begin to think that these conditions are the new normal, the best we can hope for in an age in flight from God. Everywhere we look in our day, the prophetic words of William Butler Yeats, in his 1919 poem, ‘The Second Coming,’ seem to be coming true: ‘Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world./The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere/the ceremony of innocence is drowned.’ But the appearances, which press upon us daily, are only a matter of perspective.” Check out the rest of his post.

When things are going well, how can we talk about our success in a way that glorifies God? John Piper had a thoughtful answer to a businessman who asked how he could talk about the success of his business and make God look great while he was doing so.

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Links & Quotes

March 18, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

One of the best pieces of advice if you’re looking to regulate your emotions is very simple: SLOW DOWN! Constantly having your game face on or being “on a mission” can cause your emotional regulation to suffer, and seriously hurt your leadership. Be sure to check out all of my videos on my YouTube channel.

You may have heard the oft-repeated line that human beings and chimpanzees share 98-99% of our DNA with each other. This simply isn’t true, and yet it will not die. John Stonestreet has an idea of what is behind this claim in his post Of Primates and Percentages.

“The unprepared mind cannot see the outstretched hand of opportunity.” —Alexander Fleming

John Piper asks, “Why is anxiety about the future a form of pride?” Check out this faith-building post that concludes with these words, “The way to battle the unbelief of pride is to admit freely that you have anxieties, and to cherish the promise of future grace in the words, ‘He cares for you.’ And then unload your fears onto His strong shoulders.”

“Hold fast to eternal salvation through the eternal covenant carried out by eternal love to eternal life.” —Charles Spurgeon

“Celebrate what you’ve accomplished, but raise the bar a little higher each time you succeed.” —Mia Hamm

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Links & Quotes

March 11, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

When you say, “I don’t know how to do this,” your mind stops looking for answers. But if we simply add one word—“I don’t know how to do this yet”—your mind will stay active. Adding this one word will unleash the creative, solution-finding part of your mind.

“Our preaching ought to have a voice for all classes, and all should have an ear for it. To suit our word to the rich alone is wicked sycophancy, and to aim only at pleasing the poor is to act the part of a demagogue. Truth may be so spoken as to commend the ear of all, and wise teachers seek to learn that acceptable style.” —Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon And The Psalms

“How did Jesus live among us? He was different things to different people. See if you find yourself on this list.
To the victim, Jesus defended.
To the rebel, He held out mercy.
To the brutalized, Jesus comforted with kindness.
To the questioning, He spoke truth.
To the fearful, Jesus stood beside.
To the lonely, He nodded, ‘I’ve been there.’
To the sick, Jesus revitalized.
To the outlier, He welcomed in.
To the forgotten, Jesus remembered in detail.
To the filthy, He washed clean.
To the broken, Jesus empathized.
To the doubting, He listened.
To the isolated, Jesus joined company.
To the discouraged, He drew near.
To the cynic, Jesus answered.
To the rejected, He restored.
To the anxious, Jesus calmed.
To the betrayed, He identified.
To the betrayer, Jesus forgave.
To the wounded, He sympathized.
To the wanderer, Jesus pointed the way.
To the shattered, He rebuilt dreams.
To the lost, Jesus led home.
To the abandoned, He was home.
To the destitute, Jesus deepened.
To the single again, He completed.
To the tempted, Jesus was available.
To the courageous, He gave purpose.
To the one in trouble, Jesus led out.
To the exhausted, He was wholeness.
To the hurried, Jesus patiently waited.
To the over-committed, He built margin.
To the weak, Jesus fortified.
To the one in debt, He released.
To the searching, Jesus satisfied.
To the foolish, He said, ‘Turn around.’
To the pure in heart, Jesus blessed.
To the one who keeps on going, He rewarded.” —He Gets Us (part 2) reading plan on YouVersion


This is a pretty long article, but it’s quite fascinating to see the engineering behind the artificial intelligence (AI) of ChatGPT.








“God is not afraid of my questions. Am I afraid of His answers?” —Betsy Owens


C.M. Ward was the speaker for the Revivaltime radio broadcast for a quarter of a century. Dan Betzer, who was also involved in these broadcasts, once said that he heard Rev. Ward preach on the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 more than a dozen times without ever repeating himself. Here is a quick biographical sketch of this influential man’s ministry. I have also shared before my brief encounter with Rev. Ward when I was a young man.


A bonus quote from Charles Spurgeon: “‘No God’ means no law, no order, no restraint to lust, no limit to passion. Who but a fool would be of this mind? What a bedlam, or rather what a battleground, would the world become, if such lawless principles came to be universal!” —Charles Spurgeon, commenting on Psalm 53:1


A reminder of just how amazing our Sun is! Our Creator perfectly fashioned our Sun and Earth and solar system to sustain the life we enjoy. Check out this amazing article from The Institute for Creation Research.










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Links & Quotes

March 4, 2023 — Craig T. Owens 








Pastors, on Monday morning, as you debrief how things went on Sunday, if you are feeling a bit discouraged, I want you to consider something Jesus said. Your success in ministry is not exclusively seen in the harvest you reap, but in the seeds you are sowing. Keep sowing good seed faithfully and then let God help it grow.




Many people turn to pornography when they are feeling bad about themselves. Sadly, watching porn can actually diminish a person’s self-esteem. Check out this post from Fight The New Drug.


“We ought above all things to desire a heavenly happiness; to be with God and dwell with Jesus Christ. Though surrounded with outward enjoyments, and settled in families with desirable friends and relations; though we have companions whose society is delightful, and children in whom we see many promising qualifications; though we live by good neighbors, and are generally beloved where known; we ought not to take our rest in these things as our portion. We should be so far from resting in them, that we should desire to leave them all, in God’s due time. We ought to possess, enjoy and use them, with no other view but readily to quit them, whenever we are called to it, and to change them willingly and cheerfully for heaven.” —Jonathan Edwards


“Jesus didn’t preach to tell you to turn over a new leaf, but to turn you to a new life.” —Reinhard Bonnnke


Steven Lee has an excellent post entitled Good leaders are easy to follow. I wholeheartedly concur! “A church’s willingness to obey and submit affects the joy and the care they receive from their leaders. But the reverse is true as well. Leaders can lead in a way that makes obedience and submission easy and happy, or difficult and frustrating. Shepherds shape the habits of the sheep.”


T.M. Moore has a series of posts on apologetics, which I encourage you to check out. In one post he writes, “God is not a capricious Deity. He does not act in ways that make it difficult to know Him or His will. His purposes are carefully considered and prudentially engaged, and in such a way that human beings can understand what He is about. … God shows us that He Himself is reasonable in that He makes known Himself and His will in a wide range of rational ways—through types and symbols and teachings and verbal exchanges of many different sorts. Anyone who takes the time to read the Bible can understand it. Its stories are stories about people like us. The teachings of Scripture are not shrouded in arcane or mystical language. What God has done and what God requires can be clearly discerned by any reasonable person, because God reveals Himself and His will in terms amenable and accessible to reason.”








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Our Perfect King

February 27, 2023 — 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. 



Our country has a policy of separation of church and state, and that appears to be a good thing. When the head of the government starts telling the church how to worship, or when the head of the church starts telling the government how to run its affairs, strife typically results. 


There have been some notable examples of wise kings who were God-fearing rulers, and some examples of religious leaders who had the wisdom to make just laws. But history has most often shown us that when a king imposes on the church a mode of worship or a pastor imposes on the king religious ways of governing, clashes result. Some of them have been bloody civil wars and some have spread into international conflicts. 


That being said, wouldn’t it be better for everyone if there was a way that one person could hold both of those offices simultaneously? If only there was some way to bring those different offices together. Very few people could ever accomplish this because it would require a perfect person with both absolute wisdom and complete God-honoring selflessness, someone so confident in both their wisdom and their relationship with God that they would never be swayed unfairly one way or the other. 


Last week we saw the first bold claim from Jesus: “I am the I AM.” With this title and authority, Jesus claimed to be the Head of the Church. This is a title Paul uses several times in his letter to the church at Ephesus (Ephesians 1:22, 5:23). Paul goes on to remind us that our aim as the Church body is to grow into maturity under the Headship of Jesus (Ephesians 4:15). 


Consider two other notable rulers during this same time period. As the high priest, Caiaphas would have laid claim to the title of “head of the church.” As the Roman governor, Pilate would have laid claim to the title of “head of the government in Judea.” Yet both of them clearly demonstrated that they had “become the symbol of those who make religious decisions based on political expediency rather than truth and justice,” as Dr. Donald Stamps noted. 


Paul goes father than calling Jesus simply the Head of the Church—


And He [Jesus] is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. (Colossians 1:18) 


Not just Headship over the Church, but Headship over “everything.” 


After the bold claim of Jesus that He was the I AM, the Sanhedrin wanted to have Him put to death, so they took Jesus to Pontius Pilate (Luke 22:71—23:2; Matthew 27:1-2; John 18:28-37). 


Pilate “knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him” (Matthew 27:18), but he still asked Jesus, “Are You the king of the Jews?” Just as Caiaphas was trying to save his position of power by keeping a delicate balance between the Jews and the Romans, Pilate was also trying to save his skin. Pilate was trying to appease both the Sanhedrin and Tiberius Caesar. 


Jesus answers Pilate’s question in a way Pilate never expected. Twice Jesus says “My kingdom,” noting that His kingdom is other-worldly. His kingdom comes from outside this world and therefore supersedes any government of this world. Pilate clearly has never heard anything like this, so after hearing this statement he announces, “You are a king, then!” 


Just as Jesus had answered the Sanhedrin with, “You are right in saying I am the Messiah,” now He answers Pilate, “You are right in saying I am a king.” 


Combining those two bold claims—“I am God” and “I am a King”—Jesus is the only One who can perfectly hold both offices without any conflict. This is what the prophecy in Isaiah 9:1-7 foretold, and this is the fulfillment that John shows us at the end of time (Revelation 17:14, 19:11-16). 


What does this mean for us? How are we now supposed to live knowing Jesus as our God and as our King? We should live confidently before our King and humbled before our God. We don’t fear earthly kings, but neither do we fight them. We don’t have to try to convince earthly kings to rule a certain way because they are God’s servants to accomplish God’s plan. We don’t have to get caught up in the politics of the day because this day will come to an end. 


We are subjects of a kingdom not of this world, so the kings of this world don’t get to decide our final destiny!


(If you would like to explore this topic further, check out my series of messages from 1 Peter called Aliens and Strangers.)


If you’ve missed any of the messages in our series called Bold Claims, you can find the full list of messages by clicking here. 


►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎








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Links & Quotes

February 25, 2023 — Craig T. Owens 








I’m really excited for this! On March 9, I will be a guest on The Church Lobby podcast with Karl Vatters! Check it out wherever you get your podcasts.




T. M. Moore has been presenting an outstanding series of posts in the series To Stop The Lie. In his most recent post, he wrote, “Winds of false doctrine blow across the sails of the Church continuously, bringing lies against the ship of truth to drive it off its Kingdom course. Wafting in from worldly thinking, these false doctrines downplay the Word of God, make the needs of people rather than the glory of God the focal point of religion, introduce alien practices to worship and church life, and becalm the Body of Christ into complacency. Such lies must be exposed, deconstructed, and stopped.” Check out the post from which this quote came by clicking here, and then you can follow the thread to read the other posts in this series.


“We are more fulfilled when we are involved in something bigger than ourselves.” —John Glenn


NASA has a really cool interactive map that allows you to track the flight of asteroids and comets as they orbit around the sun. You can go forward or backward in time, zoom in or out, and angle the solar system to see the flights and orbits from a different perspective.


John Stonestreet has a good history lesson for us of past revivals on American soil, and the transformation that came about as a result. If you are a pastor and would like to join other pastors once per week for prayer for revival, please check out this prayer group.


Doug Clay has a reassuring post about the blessed hope Christians should have concerning Christ’s Second Coming. He writes, “Will Jesus return in 2023? That question stirs hope in some and anxiety in others. … The Rapture should calm anxious Christians rather than causing anxiety. No matter how bad things get, we know that our Blessed Hope is imminent!”


Too many people in leadership positions think that leadership means that others do things for them. In actuality, godly leaders view their elevated position as an opportunity to serve more—to do more things for more people. I dive deeper into this in my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter.












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Links & Quotes

February 18, 2023 — Craig T. Owens 








Writing Shepherd Leadership opened the door for me to have a lot of conversations with pastors, and I discovered just how beat up so many of them feel. As a result, I am working on a new book called When Sheep Bite as a way to help these pastors not just survive, but thrive in their ministry. I am self-publishing this book, and I could really use your financial investment in this project. I’ve got some special offers for you. Please check out this link and prayerfully consider helping me help these hurting pastors.




I love learning more about the historicity of the Bible! If you do too, check out this archeological biography of King Jehoram. And if you would like to keep the history of the kings and prophets straight, this side-by-side chart is one of the most downloaded resources I have ever produced.


“I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” —Michael Jordan










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Links & Quotes

February 11, 2023 — Craig T. Owens 








There are some long-lasting benefits in keeping a journal. Here’s one benefit I shared with some ministry interns. If you haven’t already done so, please check out my YouTube channel for more great content.




The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is causing problems for Big Bang proponents. In a recent post from the Institute for Creation Research, some of these problematic areas were laid out. “As noted in a previous Creation Science Update and Impact article, data from the JWST show that distant galaxies look more ‘mature’ and ‘developed’ than predicted by Big Bang theorists. Big Bang astronomers assume light from the most distant galaxies took almost 14 billion years to reach Earth. Although this may sound reasonable, creation scientists think this assumption is open to challenge. But in any case, by Big Bang reckoning, we should be seeing these very distant galaxies—not as they are now, but as they were almost 14 billion years ago. Hence, these galaxies should appear very “unevolved” and ‘immature.’ Yet, this expectation is routinely contradicted, and data from the JWST are making the disagreement even worse.” One thing the JWST has definitely done: It has shown the beauty and the power of our Creator!


John Piper said, “One of the greatest hope-killers is that you have tried for so long to change, and have not succeeded.” This is an encouraging word for anyone who has prayed, and prayed, and prayed for a breakthrough. “Take heart, struggler. Keep asking, seeking, knocking. Keep looking to Christ. If God gets glory by saving robbers in the eleventh hour, he surely has his purposes why he has waited till now to give you the breakthrough you have sought for years.”


This is pretty compelling evidence for the global Flood that is described in the Book of Genesis—










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Come To God As A Brother

January 16, 2023 — 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. 



Being the firstborn, I didn’t have a big brother, but I took being the big brother to my little sister very seriously! Like when young men would come to pick her up for a date, I would meet them on the front porch and say, “I hope you have a really nice evening. Just so you know, I will be home all evening waiting by the phone. You’d better pray that my little sister doesn’t have to call me!” Hopefully, that let my sister know I was ready to protect her whenever she may need it. 


 Whenever we go into any situation for the first time, there is always a natural fear of the unknown. What’s going to happen? How do I behave? What do I say? How will others treat me? How will I know who to trust? Or even, how will I know what to pray for? 


Those unknowns cause fear, and fear prevents intimacy. The Bible says, “There is no fear in love” (1 John 4:18). Where there is love, fear has to leave. But when there is fear, love is pushed aside. 


We learned that we can come to God in prayer as a Father—we can bring Him all our fears and concerns and problems—but did you know that we can also come to God in prayer as coming to a Brother? 


Jesus loves the fact that we can come to our Abba Father just as He did, which is why He taught us to begin our prayers with, “Our Father in heaven.” 


How wonderful it is to have a “big brother” to show us the ropes, to walk with us, to give us his counsel! One that says, “I’ve already been to that high school … I know that employer … I have experience with that kind of relationship … I’ve solved that problem … I’ve tasted that pain.…” That’s exactly what Jesus does for us. He is our perfect Big Brother! 


Jesus knows everything we will experience in life. There might be unknown things that we walk into, but they are never unknown to Him. And more importantly, they are never unexperienced by Him. Check out these assuring words from the Book of Hebrews—


Both the One who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. … For this reason He had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. (2:11, 17-18) 


For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (4:15-16) 


Jesus has been there, done that, and has the scars to prove that He is victorious! 


    

  • We never have to be at a loss of what to say (John 12:49-50)
    • 

  • We never have to be at a loss of what path to take (John 14:6) 
    • 

  • We never have to be at a loss of what prayer to pray (John 16:23)
    • 



(Check out all of those verses by clicking here.) 


Charles Spurgeon said, “The Lord Jesus Christ is always ready to take the most imperfect prayer and perfect it for us. If our prayers had to go up to heaven as they are, they would never succeed; but they find a Friend on the way, and therefore they prosper.” 


Solomon wrote, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take (Proverbs 3:5-6). 


Commenting on these verses in his book Proverbs: Amplified and Applied, Dick Brogden wrote:


“We tend to crave God’s explicit direction for the momentous choices of life—marriage, study, career, transition, promotion, change—but sail through a thousand daily choices independent of consultation with Him. Functionally, we act as if we only need God’s help for big things because we can handle the small things without Him. The error in this dichotomy of dependence (thinking we only need God’s help for big decisions) is twofold. First, big decisions are not divorced from small decisions; they are simply the crowning act, the summary of a legion of choices. Second, big decisions are not more important than small decisions. It is the small, simple, silent, serial choices of daily living that make one wise. When we acknowledge the Lord in all the minutia, our course is chosen and our path is set, and we do not stand bewildered at the critical crossroads of life.” 


Walking with Jesus as our Brother keeps us free from fear. His perfect love opens our hearts to have intimate conversation with our Heavenly Father. You can trust our Brother to help you with every single decision at every single moment. Let’s learn to lean on Him more! 


If you’ve missed any of the messages in our series on prayer called Intimate Conversation, you can find all of the messages by clicking here. 


►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎








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