Getting A Checkup

May 15, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Probably almost everyone has heard the so-called Golden Rule that Jesus gave us:

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12)

Most of the time we apply this verse from an I-perspective. That is, we ask, “How would I want to be treated in this situation,” and then we treat others like that.

What about if we switch it? What if we took the time to find out how the other person wanted to be treated?

In Romans 12, Paul says we are all interdependent on one another (v. 6). And he gives us some ways to live out the Golden Rule from an others-perspective. So from his teaching, here’s a checkup I’m giving myself:

  • Am I truly devoted to others, like I would be to my own family members (v. 10a)?
  • Do I honor others’ wishes ahead of my own (v. 10b)?
  • Do I work to find harmony (v. 16)?
  • Am I willing to do what others think is right (v. 17)?
  • Do I work hard to find a peaceful solution for everyone involved (v. 18)?

Now here’s the real test:

  • How would others answer the above questions about me?
  • How would someone who doesn’t like me answer those questions about me (v. 20)?

This checkup is making me think. How about you?

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God Is For You!

May 9, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I cross paths with far too many people who think God is unapproachable, distant, or—perhaps worst of all—angry with them.

But listen to this good news: God is for you! 

God created you to be in relationship with Him.

When Paul writes in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us,” it’s not a wondering, uncertain “if” (as in, “I wonder if this is true?”). No! What Paul is saying is, “If you already know that God is for you, why are you wondering about who or what is against you?”

Here are the facts (all from Romans 8):

  • The Holy Spirit is interceding for you (vv. 26, 27)
  • God is working out all things for your good (v. 28)
  • God justifies you (vv. 30, 33)
  • God will give you everything He gave Jesus (v. 32)
  • Jesus is interceding for you (v. 34)
  • Nothing and no one can ever separate you from God’s love (vv. 35-39)

Let me state it again—

God is for you!

Nothing can stand between you and God!

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Victory!

May 2, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Twice in Romans 7, the Apostle Paul uses the phrase “but sin, seizing the opportunity” (vv. 8, 11).

Sin always seizes any opportunity it gets. The devil always prowls around looking for an opportunity to tempt and destroy. And my flesh is always only too eager to give in to the pull of sin and the devil (v. 25).

If we want victory over sin and the devil, we have to be AWARE and be PREPARED.

“When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left Jesus until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13).

The devil will bide his time.

“…satan has asked to sift you as wheat…” (Luke 22:31).

It’s not always the big shakings that will cause us to sin, but the little siftings can wear us down.

“Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…” (1 Peter 5:8-9).

“Keep awake and watch and pray constantly, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38).

If you haven’t been tempted lately, or if you’ve recently overcome a temptation, stay humble. “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

And then stay ready: “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).

A warrior in a combat zone never has a single day he is without his armor.

There’s a time to take a stand against the devil: “So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

And there’s a time to run toward something else: “Shun youthful lusts and flee from them, and aim at and pursue righteousness…” (2 Timothy 2:22).

Victory is yours IF you will be aware and be prepared. You don’t have to give in to the devil’s temptation to sin! Fight victoriously today!

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Keep On Asking

April 30, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

We finished The Q Series yesterday morning, but I hope the questions keep on coming. I always love answering questions, and doing it in the open forum like we did was both challenging and fun (at least I had a good time!).

But I also encouraged the Calvary Assembly of God family to keep on asking questions. It’s fine if the questions are directed to me, but the most important questions are the ones we ask of ourselves.

The Holy Spirit makes all of our lives a work-in-progress. This is what is called sanctification. That word really means to make a saint out of us (think of it as saint-ification).

That means He will constantly challenge us with questions that we are wise to answer. Things like:

  • Why are you thinking that?
  • What does the Bible say about that?
  • Is doing that for your comfort or for God’s glory?
  • Is that the wise thing to do?
  • How would Jesus handle that situation?

Over time the answers to these questions will change, as we should all be growing up in our relationship with God (1 Corinthians 13:11; Ephesians 4:15).

The Apostle Paul tells us that we should take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5), because our minds will either be set on natural desires or set on spiritual truths (Romans 8:5).

So don’t tune out the Holy Spirit. Don’t stop asking those maturing questions. Don’t stop growing in your relationship with your Heavenly Father.

Keep on asking, and you’ll keep on growing!

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Free To Be A Slave

April 25, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I just love the oxymorons in the Bible! Without the spiritual component, these statements appear to make no sense at all. But through the lens of God’s Word, they are energizing!

Like this one: I can be free to be a slave.

Usually we think of freedom in terms of, “I’m free to do whatever I want to do.” In the natural this is freedom; but in the spiritual it’s slavery.

Think of it this way. When I say, “I’m free to do whatever I want to do,” I’m saying that I am in charge. But I am sinful … selfish … envious … short-sighted … petty … vengeful … and a whole laundry list of other nasty things. So when I want to do what I want to do—when I think I’m free to control my own life—I’m still a slave. A slave to sin.

There’s a price for this “freedom” to be my own boss. The price is death (see Romans 6:23).

But because of what Jesus did for me on the Cross, I don’t have to have this “freedom” that leads to death. I can be free to be a slave. Check this out:

But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. (Romans 6:22)

I have a choice to make:

  1. I can choose to call my own shots (so-called “freedom”), and have to pay the penalty of death; or,
  2. I can choose to be a slave of God, and receive His gifts of holiness and eternal life.

I’m choosing option #2!

How about you?

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Got Hope?

April 24, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

In my position as a pastor, you can probably imagine that many people come to me with pretty desperate situations. One of the common things I hear from these hurting people is something along the lines of, “I really thought God had directed me on this, but it seems like it’s not going to work out.”

In other words, their hope is wavering.

For a Christian, hope is not blind trust. It’s not a feeling that things might work out. It’s not even holding on tighter.

For a Christian, hope is about a promise and a Person.

It’s about what God said and Who God is.

It’s about believing that His Word is true and that He is trustworthy.

Let me stitch together a few phrases about Abraham—

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed. …Without weakening his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead… yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. (Romans 4:18-21)

Abraham didn’t deny the facts, but he trusted the promise and the One Who gave him the promise!

And then there’s this promise for us about hope—

And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:2-5)

Do you need hope? Get the promise from God’s Word, and then trust the One Who spoke that word. Hang on—God IS doing something great!

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Do You Know Your Community?

April 20, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Jesus called His followers to be salt and light. It’s pretty easy to figure out that the salt cannot season the food if it stays in the saltshaker, and the light cannot illuminate the darkness if it stays covered up. In order to season and shine in your community, you have to know your community.

And, pastor, that starts with you.

What you do is a much more effective sermon that what you say. Pastor, you need to know your community, so that you can be involved in your community, so that you and your church can season and shine in your community together.

So let me ask a couple of questions:

  • Do you know your Mayor / City Manager / Township Supervisor? If you don’t know them, how can you affirm their leadership (Romans 13:1-7)?
  • Do you attend City / Township Council meetings? If you don’t, how will you know what issues they’re wrestling with? If you don’t know those issues, how can you pray effectively for them (1 Timothy 2:1-2)?
  • Are you involved in your community? Don’t just assume people in your community will come to your church to sit among stranger to hear a stranger speak; instead, be so involved in your community that they will come to church to fellowship with friends and hear a friend speak (John 2:1-2).

I opened with the question, “Do you know your community?” But maybe a better way to ask this is, “Does your community know you?”

Does the community come to you to ask for help? This may be the best barometer of your involvement in your community: how often they seek your help or assistance in addressing issues within your community.

If you’re not as involved as you should be, the good news is that it’s never too late to start! Go get involved—go season and shine!

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What Are You Exchanging?

April 17, 2012 — 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.

In Romans 1, the word exchanged shows up three times in just one passage (Romans 1:22-32). Quite simply, this means every encounter with God’s presence requires me to make a choice, to exchange something.

I cannot remain neutral. The interaction with God is not static, but dynamic.

There are two forces at work in my life: sin and the Holy Spirit.

Sin wants me to exchange…

  • …the creation for the Creator (Romans 1:23)
  • …lies for truth (v. 25)
  • …pleasure for purity (v. 26)
  • …depravity for holiness (v. 28)

One exchange toward sin makes the next one that much easier. Soon the downward spiral can be pulling me faster and faster until: it’s not as if they don’t know better. They know perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s face. And they don’t care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best! (v. 32, The Message)

C.S. Lewis said it this way:

“Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.”

The Holy Spirit also asks for an exchange. He wants me to exchange…

  • …the momentary for the eternal
  • …self-gratification for God’s glory
  • …my desire for God’s will

You will encounter God today. The choice is yours: What exchange will you make?

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Thursdays With Oswald—Seeing Sin As Sin

March 8, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

This 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.

Seeing Sin As Sin

     Knowledge of what sin is is in inverse ratio to its presence; only as sin goes do you realize what it is; when it is present you do not realize what it is because the nature of sin is that it destroys the capacity to know you sin. …

     To ‘crucify’ means to put to death, not counteract, not sit on, not whitewash, but kill. If I do not put to death the things in me which are not of God, they will put to death the things that are of God.

From Biblical Ethics

Romans 7 tells me that there are two forces at work in my life: God and sin. This is a battle to the death! So, if I think I am standing firm, that’s the exact time to watch out (see 1 Corinthians 10:12).

God never turns away the one who prays to Him, “Be merciful to me, a sinner.” But He turns a deaf ear to the one that claims, “I’m alright.”

May I always be VERY sensitive to even the hint of sin in my heart.

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Thursdays With Oswald—Intercessory Prayer

January 12, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

This 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.

Intercessory Prayer

     You cannot truly intercede through prayer if you do not believe in the reality of redemption. Instead, you will simply be turning intercession into useless sympathy for others, which will serve only to increase the contentment they have for remaining out of touch with God. True intercession involves bringing the person, or the circumstance that seems to be crashing in on you, before God, until you are changed by His attitude toward that person or circumstance. Intercession means to ‘fill up . . . [with] what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ’ (Colossians 1:24), and this is precisely why there are so few intercessors. People describe intercession by saying, ‘It is putting yourself in someone else’s place.’ That is not true! Intercession is putting yourself in God’s place; it is having His mind and His perspective.

From My Utmost For His Highest

How arrogant on my part to tell God what He needs to do for me or for someone else!

Instead I need to pray that my eyes of faith will be open. I want to have faith to believe that God knows the plans He has for me (Jeremiah 29:11), and that He is working all things together for the good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

Intercessory prayer is hard work. But the rewards are so worth it!

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