sermon | Craig T. Owens

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The Freedom In Fear

August 4, 2025 — 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 Royal Psalms take us from King David to King Jesus. David went from the anointed king on the run from King Saul, to being king over Judah (2 Samuel 2:4), to being king over “all the tribes” (2 Samuel 5:1-3; 8:15).

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

David’s kingdom stretched far and wide (1 Chronicles 22:14-16; 29:10-13). This absolute control King David now wields over every nation surrounding Israel puts fear into the hearts of Israel’s enemies. Fear of David brings freedom for the people of his kingdom.

As the Sons of Korah think about this fear that brings them freedom, they look beyond their earthly king to the King of Heaven and compose this Royal Psalm recorded in Psalm 47. This psalm has majestic terminology for God in almost every verse; including, Lord Most High, great King over all the earth (vv. 2, 7, 9), God reigns over the nations; and God is seated on His holy throne.

I’m especially intrigued by the word awesome in verse 2. The KJV says “the Lord Most High is terrible” because it does take two Hebrew words to give us the full definition of awesome. First, “Most High” is best thought of with the suffix -est: greatest, highest, noblest. In other words, there is nothing above Him. Then “terrible” is to be held in awe, to be honored, to be reverenced.

Just as the Israelites had no fear of enemies because David was on the throne, God says the same thing to us: Because the Most High is on the throne, His people have no fear of their enemies.

When we fear God we need not fear anything else.

When we fear God:

…we hate our own sin (Psalm 36:1-3)

…we love His mercy that forgives our sin (Psalm 103:2-3, 10-12)

…we hate sin in the world (2 Timothy 2:26)

…we love sinners (2 Timothy 2:24-26; Acts 10:38; Jude 20-23)

…we hate the darkness that traps people (2 Corinthians 4:4)

…we love shining the light of King Jesus (Philippians 2:15-16)

…we hate this life (John 12:25)

…we love eternal life (Romans 3:23-24, 8:18)

When the people of Israel reverenced David as their king, they would be able to know his blessings. When we fear our awesome God, we will also receive His blessings. Take a look at the amazing blessings Jesus Himself—the King of kings—lists for those who reverence His awesome Kingship (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28; 3:5, 11-12, 21)!

God is awesome and asks us to reverence Him and then enjoy life in His freedom.

If you have missed any of the other royal psalms we have covered, you can find the full list by clicking here.

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

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 1 Chronicles, 2 Corinthians, 2 Samuel, 2 Timothy, awesome, Book of Acts, Calvary Assembly of God, forgiveness, Gospel of John, Jude, King David, King of kings, mercy, no fear, Philippians, Psalm, Revelation, reverence, royal psalms, sermon, video. 1 Comment »

Praise In The Park

July 28, 2025 — 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.

Calvary Assembly of God joined with Hillcrest Community Church of God for a service to send a message. We want to show that the Body of Christ is more than just multiple buildings where people meet on Sundays.

Pastor Caleb Claybaugh and I are going to be joining our congregations together again for two more outdoor gatherings over the next two months, and I would love to have you join us! Leave me a comment and I will get back to you with all of the details.

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

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 1 Corinthians, Book of Acts, Calvary Assembly of God, community involvement, sermon, unity. Leave a Comment »

The King’s Bride

July 21, 2025 — 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.

How many of you have taken time to watch a royal wedding? It captivates the attention of so many people when actress Grace Kelly becomes Princess Grace of Monaco, or when a Kate Middleton becomes the Princess Catherine of Wales. There is something that enthralls us when someone who isn’t born to royalty is elevated to such a special place in a fairy tale-like romance and wedding.

Remember that these Royal Psalms are pointing through the earthly representative to the heavenly Reality. Psalm 45 is a wedding song, quite probably a wedding march for King David’s bride.

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

I’m intrigued by the preamble to this Psalm, as it is longer and more descriptive than most.

For the director of music—appears 55x in the Psalter.
To the tune of “Lilies”—appears only here and Psalms 69 and 80.
Of the Sons of Korah—these are the skilled worship leaders. There are 11 songs written by them or for them.
A maskil—this means it is to be a reflective song and is used 13 times.
A wedding song—sometimes called a “song of love” in some translations. This Hebrew word is used 9 times in the Old Testament, always in poetic form, but Psalm 45 is the only instance it is said to be a wedding song.

When we combine the beauty of lilies, the reflection of a maskil, and the skill of the Sons of Korah, we have a unique arrangement for a fairy tale-like romance that is culminating in a royal wedding.

So I ask you to imagine this royal wedding ceremony where this song is sung from the perspective of the bride who is about to become royalty. As we see King David standing at the front awaiting his bride, let’s watch the scene expand to find King Jesus standing and awaiting His Church.

Psalm 45:1-2 … Hear the bride, “How handsome You are, my Beloved! Oh, how charming!” (Song of Songs 1:16), and hear the wedding guests Revelation 19:6-7.
vv. 3-7 … see the King standing with all the trophies of victories He has won. Verse 7 is quoted by the writer of Hebrews, specifically stating, “But about the Son [God] says…” (Hebrews 1:8-9). Also see Revelation 19:11-16.
v. 8 … the aroma of victory is on the King and imputed to the Bride (Song 1:3; 2 Corinthians 2:14-15; Song 1:12).
vv. 9-15 … the King is enthralled with the beauty of His Bride (Revelation 19:7-8; Song 1:15; Ephesians 5:25-27).
vv. 16-17 … a blessing is pronounced on the couple (Ephesians 5:32).

When we are enthralled with our King—when we only have eyes and hands and heart for Him—we are a pure virgin in His sight (2 Corinthians 11:2). But we are also a testimony to those who watch us watching our King.

Just as royal weddings on earth captivate people who are watching the fairy tale-like wedding celebration, so will our devotion to the King intrigue and captivate a watching world. Notice again verse 17, “the nations will praise You for ever and ever.” When we love our King with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and then love others with that same love, we will draw the nations to our King (Revelation 22:17).

If you have missed any of the other messages in our series looking at the Royal Palms, you can find them all here.

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

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 2 Corinthians, Calvary Assembly of God, end times, Hebrews, Psalm, Revelation, royal psalms, sermon, Song of Solomon, Song of Songs, video, wedding. 3 Comments »

Light In The Darkest Of Times

July 14, 2025 — 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.

One of the reasons I appreciate the Bible—in fact, one of the main reasons that continually convinces me of the truthfulness of the Bible—is the way it portrays life as it really is. It doesn’t avoid the difficult subjects, nor does it sugarcoat the bitterness of life. The Bible tells it as it is.

The songs that have us singing praises to God “when the sun’s shining down on me and the world’s all as it should be” are great, but when we can also find hope when we’re “found in the desert place” is the real test.

Dark times come to all of us.

David is anointed king of Israel and given a promise by God for a lasting legacy (2 Samuel 7:8-9, 16, 27-29; Psalm 110:1). And yet David cried out one of the most painful phrases ever uttered in Psalm 22:1-2, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

Despite the promises that God gave David, when any of us are in a dark place, there is a natural human tendency to focus on the darkness around us and second-guess what is happening to us. You know the questions:

How did I get here?
How will I get out of here?
When will I get out of here?
Have I offended God and perhaps missed out on His promise?
Has He forgotten me?

The Bible does tell us, “If You, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?” and we also know it’s true that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Psalm 130:3; Romans 3:23).

That’s for us, not for Jesus. He is the sinless One. He obediently became human to rescue us, knowing full well that He was the fulfillment of the promise God made to David (Matthew 1:1; 22:41-44). Yet He ended up uttering the same painful words David did (Matthew 27:41-46).

Remember I said that King David was a visible picture to help us see the coming King of kings. David was inspired by the Holy Spirit with this knowledge (Acts 2:29-30, 25-28).

The old hymn says, “When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace” and “When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.” Look at David’s preaching to himself:

I am feeling forsaken (Psalm 22:1-2) … YET You are on Your throne (vv. 3-5)
I am scorned by others (vv. 6-8) … YET You are closer than my scorners (vv. 9-11)
I am completely cut off (vv. 12-18) … BUT You are my rescue (vv. 19-24)

What did Jesus know:

He would sit on the throne of Heaven—Matthew 26:62-64
His Father was completing everything—John 19:30; Psalm 22:25-31
He would conquer every enemy—Revelation 1:8, 18

Jeremiah cries out about his dark time, and then like David he says, “YET this I call to mind and have hope.” Jeremiah then talks about the never-ending love and mercy of God, and concludes by preaching to himself, “I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him’” (Lamentations 3:19-24).

“The Lord is my portion” means the Lord is my King who declares promises and fulfills promises.

The help in suffering is not found in focusing on the present darkness—and all the questions—but to focus on God’s promises. Like David’s “yet” and “but” we need to preach to ourselves about God’s past deliverance and then be assured of our future hope.

Just assuredly as our King of kings said, “I will be resurrected from the dead to sit on the throne of Heaven,” He also said, “I will come to take you where I am”!

Take your eyes off the present, temporary darkness and put them on the eternal King!

If you have missed any of the messages in this series on the Royal Psalms, you can find them all here.

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

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 2 Samuel, Book of Acts, Calvary Assembly of God, crucifixion, Gospel of John, Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ, King David, King of kings, Lamentations, prophecy, Psalm, Romans, royal psalms, sermon, tetelestai. 1 Comment »

Refuge From The Shoving

July 7, 2025 — 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.

I don’t know when the last was that you may have tried to get a dozen little kids lined up, but it’s quite an experience! Everyone is vying for their spot. Someone gets mad and yells out, “He cut!” And then the reply is yelled back, “No, I didn’t. She was saving my spot!” This usually results in lots of pushing and shoving as each person tries to reclaim their rightful place in line.

This is the backdrop for Psalm 7. The introduction tells us that Cush is causing David grief. Maybe because Cush is from the tribe of Benjamin like King Saul, and he doesn’t want David cutting in line so he is shoving him back to his proper place.

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

There’s a musical term David uses, which isn’t used in any other psalm: shiggaion. This means a rhythm that isn’t normal—it’s a freewheeling, irregular, impassioned beat. This also helps set the atmosphere for what’s happening in David’s life. The root word for shiggaion implies a shakeup (or a shoving and pushing) that could lead to someone losing their way.

David tries to do the right thing. He asks for God’s help (v. 1) so that he doesn’t get ripped to shreds (v. 2). He even takes time to ask himself if he has done anything that led to Cush’s shoving (vv. 3-5). But notice these are all David’s attempts to make things right.

Remember that this is a Royal Psalm, but we haven’t heard anything about God as King yet. But now we come to the end of v. 5, which is also the end of David’s own striving. It’s marked by the word Selah.

My little friends push and shove to try to get their place. But all of that stops when I say, “Johnny is my line leader, and this is the way the rest of you are going to line up behind him.” David’s Selah pause was a call to switch from doing things on his own to yielding to the King to sort things out. He was saying, “The King of kings is the Leader and He knows my place in line.”

It’s only after the Selah that we see the royal terms for the Undisputed Leader:

He is the One who will decree justice (v. 6)
He will rule…from on high (v. 7)
He is the Supreme Judge (vv. 8, 11) so David yields his introspection to Him (vv. 3-4, 8-9)
He is God Most High (vv. 10, 17)

Our King has no rival. No one can shove Him. No one can contradict Him. No one can hide anything from Him (vv. 11-16).

We must bow only to the King of kings (Philippians 2:10-11).

We mistakenly bow our knee to man when…

…we aren’t willing to own our mistakes
…we try to administer our own “shove” of justice
…we make our own refuge

So we bow to the King when…

…we acknowledge, confess, and repent of our sins (vv. 3-5; Psalm 19:12, 69:5)
…we follow the example of Jesus when we’re shoved around (1 Peter 2:21-23)
…find our refuge solely in God (v. 1; c.f. 2:12; Ephesians 6:12; James 4:7)

Our best response in troublesome times—when you feel like you are being shoved around—is to fall to your knees in reverence to the King of kings (v. 17)! The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; He covers him all the day long, and makes His dwelling between his shoulders (Deuteronomy 33:12 AMPC).

If you’ve missed any of the other messages in our series looking at the royal psalms, you can catch up by clicking here.

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

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 1 Peter, Book of James, Calvary Assembly of God, Deuteronomy, Ephesians, Jesus Christ, justice, King of kings, Philippians, Psalm, royal psalms, Selah, sermon, spiritual warfare, video. 1 Comment »

Resourced Like Jesus

July 1, 2025 — 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.

If Jesus needed to be empowered by the Holy Spirit in order to do His Father’s business, how much more do we need this anointing today?

You can check out the full sermon from which I took this clip: The Father’s Business.

The Scriptures I reference in this clip—Luke 3:22; Matthew 17:5; Luke 4:1, 18-19; Acts 10:38; John 5:36.

Like Jesus, when we are full of and led by the Holy Spirit everywhere we walk is holy ground; every moment is a sacred moment; every work is worship to God because we are occupied about the Father’s business.

Check out the full series of messages about the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in the series We Are: Pentecostal.

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

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: anointing, baptism, Book of Acts, empowerment, Gospel of John, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Matthew, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, missional, Pentecostal, sermon, video. Leave a Comment »

A Lost Culture Of Reverence

June 23, 2025 — 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.

There are several psalms that are regal in their focus—talking about the King’s coronation, or the King ruling on His throne, or the ultimate victory of the King that is coming in the future. Although these royal psalms are extolling God as King, many of these psalms use King David as an object lesson. The idea is seeing how a man after God’s heart (1 Samuel 13:14) became the standard by which all other kings were measured:

Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done (1 Kings 15:11)
Amaziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not as his father David had done (2 Kings 14:3)
Unlike his father, Ahaz did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord, as his father David had done (2 Chronicles 28:1)

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

The people followed their king in both righteousness and evil. They were fiercely loyal to their monarch. We don’t really get that loyalty today. “We’re Americans,” we cry, “We live in the land of the free and don’t ever bow our knee to a king!”

That’s an appropriate response for those living in a democratic republic, but we would do well to learn to bow our knee to a true King.

After the United States Constitution was adopt adopted, Elizabeth Willing Powel asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?“ Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Franklin went on to say, “In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no form of government, but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered; and believe further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government.”

Because of our defiance as free people in our government, we have become lacking in our loyalty, which shows itself in a lack of proper reverence or respect. Just listen to how people talk so disrespectfully or even hatefully about those in “the other political party.” Benjamin Franklin also said, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

Where are the days of the armor bearer who said to Prince Jonathan, “Do all you have in mind. I’m with you heart and soul,” even though Jonathan was proposing an impossible task? Or the loyalty of the men around David who heard him sigh about the water in Bethlehem, and they put their lives at risk to bring him a drink? This was even before he was on a throne, and yet they showed their loyalty to him. I fear that our lost culture of reverence for earthly leaders has eroded our reverence for the King of kings, and vice versa.

The first royal psalm (Psalm 2) practically open the Psalter. This psalm calls us to consider the differences between earthly kings and the King of kings.

Notice that earthly kings “conspire”—they angrily boast and rage. They plot (v. 1b) and scheme (AMPC). They take their stand together (v. 2).

Against Whom? Against the LORD (Jehovah) and against His Anointed One (the Messiah)!

Much like the fiercely independent people I described us as earlier, these earthly rulers want to call their own shots—they don’t want to take directions from anyone else because they think they know best (v. 3). But notice in v. 1 that the peoples have followed their leaders in their plot.

God doesn’t rage at them, but He laughs, He scoffs, He rebukes, and the people are terrified when they realize that they cannot overcome Him. In v. 1 we see their plots are “in vain.”

There is nothing men can do—no matter how powerful they may seem or how many of them “take their stand…together”—to thwart or even delay the plans of Jehovah.

All of History is His Story. Notice the phrase that God speaks, “I have … I will” (in vv. 6-7; c.f. Daniel 4:25).

In vv. 7-9 God speaks to His Son—the Messiah, the Anointed One, the King of kings. We hear this repeated in Acts 13:32-33 and in God’s own voice in Matthew 3:17. Then we see the fulfillment of this in passages like Philippians 2:9-11 and Revelation 11:17-18.

This royal psalm ends with an important conclusion: Therefore (vv. 10-12):

Be wise
Be warned
Serve the King with reverential fear
Rejoice with trembling
Kiss the Son with absolute loyalty and joyful reverence

Check out another “therefore” in Philippians 2:12-16. This is a call for righteous, reverent living for those who have acknowledged Jesus as their King. It’s only those who live this way who will know the blessed refuge in Him that is unshakable for ever and ever!

Follow along with our look at all of the royal psalms by clicking here.

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

All Hail King Jesus

June 17, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

The Bible closes with a vivid picture of Jesus as the undisputed King of kings, and we look forward to that time when all creation bows before Him. Even more so, we cannot wait to be with our King for ever and ever!

The psalmists of Israel also foresaw the coming of this King, especially in the example they had in their King David. Many of the poetic words they penned esteemed Jesus as the King for Whom they longed. David himself not only saw the future coming of the Eternal King, but he also looked back in time to see Jesus reigning as King before time began.

It is these royal psalms that we will be studying as we celebrate the first arrival on Earth of our King and as we anticipate the second coming of our Royal Majesty. The more clear our vision is of this King, the more we will worship Him, follow Him, and invite others to know Him as their own Lord and Master.

Please join us at Calvary Assembly of God as we explore the beautiful, reverent, and awe-inspiring description of our King of kings in the Book of Psalms.

A Lost Culture of Reverence (Psalm 2)
Refuge From The Shoving (Psalm 7)
Light In The Darkest Of Times (Psalm 22)
The King’s Bride (Psalm 45)
The Freedom In Fear (Psalm 47)
Eyes On The Eternal (Psalm 72)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, Jesus Christ, King David, King of kings, Psalm, sermon. 16 Comments »

The Father’s Business

June 9, 2025 — 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.

The Holy Spirit’s involvement in our lives isn’t reserved for just the “big” things, but He wants us to be aware of and tuned in to His voice and His thoughts all the time. There shouldn’t be a secular-sacred divide in our activities, but we should make every place holy ground and every moment a divine opportunity for God to be glorified. Or said another way, we shouldn’t have times of work and times of worship, but our worship should be seen in every single thing we do.

I think everyone of us has experienced at one time or another a poor employer or manager. Maybe it’s an employer that demands results but doesn’t give you the training or the tools to do the job. Or maybe you have the training and tools but you don’t know exactly how much you are able to use these things without crossing a line.

Maybe you have known a boss that is barely present, but when they do stop by the worksite, they aren’t happy with the work that has been done. On the opposite side, maybe it’s a boss who does everything and then gets mad that you aren’t keeping up or working as hard as them. It’s drudgery working for someone like this!

But, somewhat surprisingly, Jesus used more work examples to talk about the Kingdom of God than He did worship examples. He talked about farmers, bakers, builders, employers, managers, and employees way more than about worshiping, singing, or preaching.

One of the few glimpses we have of the early life of Jesus shows Him talking about His mission while on earth. Consider the story of Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem when He was 12 years old (Luke 2:41-49). The phrase in the NIV where Jesus says that He must be “in My Father’s house” can be translated…

about My Father’s business (NKJV)
dealing with the things of My Father (MSG)
occupied about My Father’s business (AMPC)

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

Jesus was consistent about this idea of working while He was on earth (John 5:17, 36; 9:4; 17:4). For Jesus, His work was a delight because it was directed by the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:21-22; 4:1, 18-19; Acts 10:38).

Remember that I mentioned the unreasonable employer that gives us no training, no tools, no goals for which to aim, but expects us to work for his benefit alone. This was not the case with Jesus! He trained us, provided us with the Holy Spirit to guide us, told us the goal for which we were to aim, and said that both His Father would be glorified and we would be rewarded by our Kingdom work done on earth.

Jesus wants us to work as He did, and He promised that the Holy Spirit would help us in this (John 14:10-12, 24:49; Mark 16:19-20).

We saw that Luke 2:49 in the AMPC has Jesus saying, “occupied about My Father’s business.” In Luke 19:13 Jesus tells us to “occupy till I come” (KJV). This word is also translated into phrases like:

put this money to work (NIV)
do business (NKJV)
invest this (NLT)

Jesus is talking about the “talents” given to His stewards (Luke 19:11-13, 16-23). Every servant received the same thing: one mina. We all have been given one life to live; we all have been given 24 hours in a day; we all have been given opportunities to be occupied about our Father’s business.

The Holy Spirit as our Counselor is there at every moment, every conversation, every decision to help us hear His voice, think His thoughts, and sanctify every experience. Jesus says that He will reward our occupying until He returns. Just doing things like feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, taking care of those in need. This sounds a lot like the work of Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 and Acts 10:38. This Spirit-empowered work earns the commendation from our Master, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into your Master’s happiness!”

Be baptized in the Holy Spirit and let Him help you be about your Father’s business until Jesus returns.

If you’ve missed any of the messages in our We Are: Pentecostal series, you can check them all out here.

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

Sanctified Experiences

June 2, 2025 — 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.

Even with the Voice of the Holy Spirit in our ear and the Mind of God giving us insight, we still “miss it” sometimes. Maybe it’s fear or impatience or immaturity, but we try something on our own and the results are painful.

I like the maxim, “Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.” It’s true, but in order to learn I need a proper lens or a wise tutor to help discover those lessons from my experiences. This is what the Holy Spirit does for us: He helps us make senses of our “misses.” Otherwise, if I don’t learn from these painful experiences I will become either arrogant and God opposes this kind of pride (Proverbs 14:7; James 4:6a), or I remain ignorant (Proverbs 15:32; James 4:6b).

(Check out all of the biblical references in this post by clicking here.)

Peter heard from Jesus that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was intended to empower the Christians to take the Good News of Jesus to all people—including Gentiles. Peter struggled with this part, as would all good Jews. In their minds, Gentiles weren’t eligible for the blessings of God, especially not the gift of eternal life which would allow them to be in God’s presence forever!

Before we look at Peter, we need to remember what was happening with Saul/Paul at the same time. Saul met Jesus (Acts 9:3-15), and he then went to Jerusalem (vv. 26-28; Galatians 1:13-19).

Now let’s go back to Peter. He had just seen a vision from God and heard the Voice of the Spirit (Acts 10:9-16, 19-20). In obedience to this Voice, he went to Cornelius’ house and was given the Mind of God to preach to them. These Gentiles not only accepted Jesus as their Savior but were baptized in the Holy Spirit (vv. 44-48).

Now let’s switch back to Paul for a moment. Antioch became the home base for Paul and Barnabas (where the believers were first called Christians), and apparently there was a large Gentile population there. At one point, Peter came to visit and struggled with whether or not the Gentile Christians must then convert to Judaism. Peter was struggling with obedience to the vision that God had shown him, his disobedience was beginning to affect others (including Barnabas), and Paul called Peter out on this (Galatians 2:1, 7-14).

Back in Jerusalem, the Jewish Christians were insisting that the Gentile Christians become Jews. It was this controversy that prompted the Jerusalem Council. At this Council, Peter responded like one who had throughly learned a lesson from his previous “miss” (Acts 15:5-11).

I like this verse in the Amplified Bible, particularly one phrase: I will praise and give thanks to You with uprightness of heart when I learn by sanctified experiences Your righteous judgments (Psalm 119:7 AMPC).

Sanctified experiences. A “miss” that the Holy Spirit uses to teach us. The “miss” has been sanctified to become a learning experience. This is what Jesus said the Spirit of Truth would do for us (John 16:13).

There are things we simply experience, and then there are “sanctified experiences” where the Holy Spirit teaches us an invaluable lesson. These sanctified experiences are what the Holy Spirit uses to bring our thought and conduct into alignment with the perfect standard of God’s Word.

The Holy Spirit never condemns us for our missteps (Romans 8:1), but uses them for God’s glory (v. 28).

Just as Paul had to help Peter learn to pay attention to the Voice of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit wants to make us learner-teachers as well. In Psalm 119:7 the Hebrew word for “learn” is lamad which is also the word for “teach.” In other words, I’ve learned it well enough to teach it to another person. Even David with his sinful behavior—a really big “miss”—learned from the lesson from the Spirit of God so well that he could teach others (Psalm 51:10-13).

Spirit-baptized Christians can lean into the Spirit of Truth to help them learn sanctified experiences from even the difficult things that have happened to them.

If you’ve missed any of the other lessons in this series, you can find them all here.

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