salt | Craig T. Owens

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Light The Night

October 9, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

There are so many encouragements that Scripture gives us to make a difference in our world:

Jesus tells us to be salt that seasons and light that brightens (Matthew 5:13-14).
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven (Matthew 5:16).
Shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life (Philippians 2:15-16).
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

We should look for opportunities to do shine every day. But sometimes there are even more appropriate times to do so. One such time is Halloween … Hallow’s Eve … Reformation Day. October 31 used to be a day that glorified God. Now, sadly, it has become a day to glorify anything but God.

So Calvary Assembly of God will be lighting the night again this Halloween. We will put on the best, brightest, friendliest carnival of the evening right on Main Street in Cedar Springs! We have a prayer team going out 24 hours before this event to pray for protection and favor, and to pray for open doors through which the light of Jesus will shine on October 31.

Here’s how you can help:

Pray. Start now and pray through October 31.
Bring some candy to the church through October 28.
Come pray with us at 5pm on October 30.
Signup as a volunteer to shine with us from 4-8pm on October 31.

We’re believing the light of Jesus will be seen as we Light The Night!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 1 Corinthians, Calvary Assembly of God, Cedar Springs, community involvement, Gospel of Matthew, Halloween, light, Light The Night, Philippians, salt. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—A Friend Of God And Enemy Of The World

August 16, 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.

A Friend Of God & Enemy Of The World

The Bible says that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…,” and yet it says that if we are friends of the world we are enemies of God. “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” (James 4:4). The difference is that God loves the world so much that He goes to all lengths to remove the wrong from it, and we must have the same kind of love. Any other kind of love for the world simply means we take it as it is and are perfectly delighted with it. … It is that sentiment which is the enemy of God. Do we love the world in this sense sufficiently to spend and be spent so that God can manifest His grace through us until the wrong and the evil are removed?

From Biblical Psychology

Do I love the world the way God so loves the world?
Am I willing to let Him use me to change the world?
Am I willing to spend and be spent for God’s glory?

Jesus said, “You are salt and light.” But my salt does the world no good at all unless I allow the Holy Spirit to shake it out of me. And the light doesn’t benefit anyone if my apathy is not allowing the love of God to shine brightly through my life.

I must be a friend of God and an enemy of the evil in the world which keeps anyone from coming into a relationship with Him.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Book of James, enemies, friendship, God's love, Gospel of Matthew, light, Oswald Chambers, salt. Leave a Comment »

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!

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: 1 Timothy, Cedar Springs, Christian, community involvement, Gospel of John, Gospel of Matthew, government, light, Pastor, pastoring, Romans, salt. Leave a Comment »

Light The Night

October 31, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Today is Halloween, and Calvary Assembly of God is going to be fully engaged with our city.

In Cedar Springs, the downtown businesses encourage families to come walk up and down Main Street, collect candy, and have fun. I know there are some who think Christians should have nothing to do with Halloween, or they come up with alternative activities for that evening.

I want us to be salt and light in our community. And we cannot do that from a distance.

So we’ll be right in the middle of it lighting the night with the love of Jesus for our neighbors. For the second year, we will have a huge inflatable slide, some carnival games, and lots and lots of candy. We want Cedar Springs to know that we love them.

I read an interesting article “What Christians Should Know About Halloween” (you can read the article by clicking here). I love the closing paragraph:

“For those who are still bothered by Halloween’s historical association with evil spirits, Martin Luther has some advice on how to respond to the devil: “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him for he cannot bear scorn.” Perhaps instead of fleeing the darkness in fear, we should view Halloween as an opportunity to mock the enemy whose power over us has been broken.”

The light of Jesus within us is so much greater than the darkness the devil may try to produce around us. Please pray for us as we let that light shine tonight.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, Cedar Springs, community involvement, God's love, Halloween, light, salt. 2 Comments »

We ♥ Cedar Springs

April 4, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Winning 2011 Earth Day Artwork, Hunter George, 8th Grade, CTA

I believe that our church should be a pacesetting organization for our community. When we are actively involved in our community, it gives us more opportunities to season and illuminate Cedar Springs (hey, we’re talking about this on Sunday too!).

So we are planning to have a whole lot of our folks out to help with some spring cleaning for Earth Day 2011.

When we show how much We ♥ Cedar Springs, more people will get to experience firsthand what others already know about Calvary Assembly of God: We ♥ Our Church!

If you are close by, please consider joining us.

If you live in another community, what are you doing to season and illuminate your city?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, Cedar Springs, Earth Day, light, salt. Leave a Comment »

Salt & Light

March 30, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Jesus called His followers to be salt and light in the world. He said:

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

We have been placed in this world to season it and to illuminate it. What does that mean? How do we do that in a way that glorifies your Father in heaven?

I’m really excited to kickoff our new series Salt & Light this Sunday morning. I hope you can join me at 10:30am to learn more about being seasoning and illumination.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, disciples, Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ, light, salt, sermon. 1 Comment »

Engaging Culture

September 29, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I read something very interesting: Next to Christmas, more money is spent on Halloween than on any other holiday event. Halloween?!? Wow! We’re in the midst of planning our church’s role on Halloween night, so I’ve been thinking quite a bit about engaging our culture.

It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

So here’s how I think followers of Jesus Christ should light a candle to engage culture:

(1) Have the right motivation. In Jesus’ inaugural sermon, He said He was coming to preach the Good News about God’s love. He purposely left out the part of Isaiah’s prophesy that talked about God’s coming judgment. There will be a time for that, but for now, our motivation should be to make known the favor of the Lord.

(2) Get out of your box. If you only hang around with Christians, your ability to effectively engage culture will be diminished. If you never get around others, it’s sort of like salt that sits in the saltshaker too long. Paul told the Athenians that he had been walking around their city looking at their culture.

(3) Listen. As Paul talked to the Athenians, he quoted their poets to them. He knew what they were listening to because he was listening too. What are people watching on TV? What movies are they talking about? What music are they listening to? You can find the key to their heart by knowing something about what interests them.

(4) Collaborate. There are lots of other faith-based organizations, non-government organizations, and churches that are already active in your community. Join forces with them.

(5) Just be there. Go to local restaurants, cheer on the local sports teams, join a rec league team, attend the city council meetings, volunteer at a shelter or food pantry. Just be there! After a while, people will begin to ask you why you are so involved, and you’ll have a great platform to speak to them.

It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.

Are you engaging your culture? It’s time to go shine!