OwensMinistries.org

RESURRECTION DAY

Ron Owens — Mon, 10 Apr 2023 12:14:49 +0000

HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Easter commemorates the central event of the Christian faith. It is its centerpiece. According to the Apostle Paul, if Jesus Christ has not been resurrected from the dead then the Christian faith is worthless and futile (1 Cor. 15:14-17). And the evidence for a risen Christ? è

The CROSS is bare!
The TOMB is empty!
The THRONE is occupied!

And because of this, today, all around the world, in hundreds of languages, Christians are greeting one another with…

CHRIST is risen! He is risen indeed!
–Kristos voskres! Voistinu voskres!
–Christ est ressucite! En verite il est ressucite
–Cristo e risorto! E veramente risorto!
–Christ ist auferstanden! Wahrhaft auferstanden!
–Cristo esta resucitado! En verdad, esta resucitado!

Early Sunday, the great God of heaven
looked down at the sealed garden tomb,
Where His only Begotten lay buried,
bound by death’s chains in darkness and gloom.

There’s a flash and an angel from heaven
blinds the men who stand guard at the door.
He rolls back that great tombstone in triumph
for death’s chains hold the Savior no more.

Where, oh grave, where oh grave is your victory?
Where, oh death, where oh death is your sting?
He, the captive, has now become Captor,
Jesus Christ, Lord of Lords, King of Kings.

It’s Sunday, our Savior is risen.
It’s the Lord’s Day, from death WE’VE been freed.
It’s Sunday, hallelujah, He’s risen,
He is risen, He’s risen indeed!

Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes.
He arose a victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah, CHRIST arose.

CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

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Defining Worship Biblically

Ron Owens — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 17:35:43 +0000

The most important and highest activity that a company of God’s people could ever engage in, is to offer Almighty God acceptable worship. –D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

When people are asked to define worship, often their minds turn first to music. They think of music styles and talk about the type of worship, or the kind of music they like. To them, worship is seen primarily, if not exclusively, in the context of music. When asked about the worship in their church, they may respond with something like, “We have contemporary worship” or, “our worship is traditional,” or “we have blended services,” describing the kind of music they have. While all these expressions of corporate worship are legitimate and can be God-honoring, the fundamental question still is, “what is worship?” What does Scripture have to say about it?
The first words we read in the Bible are, “In the beginning God created.” These words are echoed in the first words of John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word.” And I don’t believe we violate Scripture by also saying that, “In the beginning was worship.”
We know that worship played a major role in heaven’s activity in eternity past. It was during this time that the sin of pride entered Lucifer’s heart and he became jealous of God. He wanted to be the one to receive heaven’s adoration. He wanted all of heaven, including God, to bow down to him. He wanted to be the one in charge, and this led to the organizing of the universe’s first rebellion. There was mutiny in heaven, and it was over worship.
As we know, Lucifer and his followers were cast out of heaven, but the effort to unseat God from His throne was not over. This was never so clear as when, following His baptism by John the Baptist, our Lord was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. At the heart of this encounter with Satan was the issue of worship. “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me,” said Satan to the Son of God (Matt. 4:9).
To this day, conflict rages in the human heart over who will ultimately be worshiped. Whom will those who have been created in God’s image worship? Before whom will the heavens and the earth bow? The real issue in worship is not if we will worship or how we will worship, but whom will we worship. Everyone worships someone or something, for worship is built into the very fiber of God’s creation. Those who visit the most remote, primitive tribes on earth find people worshiping something. Missionaries have long recognized this fact. Their mission is not so much convincing the natives of the existence of God, as it is the conversion of the people’s hearts from allegiance to their gods to the worship of the One True God.
This was what the apostle Paul faced in Athens. “Men of Athens,” he said. “I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD” (Acts 17:22–23). To this day it is not uncommon to find polytheism, the worship of more than one god, in many areas of the world. But no matter where, what or who it is, people do worship.
Part of the problem we face in understanding worship today is that the word itself, like many other words in our vocabulary, has lost some of its original meaning. Unlike these other words however, the meaning that God attaches to a word establishes it once and for all. God does not change but we do, and we sometimes redefine what God says in order to fit it into what we think. And when this happens, God says: “Return to Me…and I will return to you’” (Zech. 1:3).
So what does God have to say about worship in Scripture? How does He define the word, and what does He require? When the word worship is found in the Bible, it means essentially the same thing in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, two words are predominantly used: shachah, and abad. Abad connotes the idea of work, bond-service, labor, or general service, which is a form of worship. The aspect of worship I want to focus on in these letters, however, is that described by the word, shachah, a word found often in the Old Testament. It means to prostrate oneself, to bow down or stoop before the one you are worshiping. In the New Testament the primary word used for worship is proskuneo. It means essentially the same thing: to crouch, to prostrate oneself in homage, to reverence and adore, with the added picture of “kissing the hand.”
Those of us who grew up under a monarchy can perhaps relate better to the practice of bowing and doing homage than those who grew up in the United States. Though we (I am now also an American citizen) are usually respectful to those over us, we don’t call our president “Your Highness” or our judges “Your Worship.” Yet that is the exact attitude of heart found in this word worship. The accepted protocol is to bow, or even kneel.
Throughout the Old Testament we find people doing just that. Young David bowed before King Saul. In Joseph’s dream, he saw his brothers’ sheaves bowing down before his sheaf. Then there are times when the word shachah is used in conjunction with another Hebrew verb for bowing down physically, followed by the word worship. “Moses . . . bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped” (Exod. 34:8). So we find, according to Scripture, that worship involves a bowing, if not physically, at least a bowing of the heart before God.
Now back to music. As wonderful and important as music is, and it is to this writer, the truth is we don’t have to have it to worship. We have no record of music during much of the private or corporate worship recorded in Scripture. Music can be and often is a part of our worship, corporately and individually, but it is not fundamentally necessary. To many, however, worship is music, and music is worship, and many worship music. Yes, throughout our ministry we’ve met those who actually worship music!
What then are the fundamental ingredients in true worship? What are the essentials in offering God what He desires? We won’t find them in human reasoning, for that is nothing but man’s opinion and is what has created the division over worship in the first place. It comes down to what does God say in His Word, by direct instruction and through examples, that will help us understand what worship is. God established some basic principles in this regard, and only by looking at what He said to His people in the beginning, as He established them as a nation, as He laid down guidelines for their living and standards for their worship, can we understand what He is looking for.

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IN THE FULNESS OF TIME

Ron Owens — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:40:26 +0000

In Galatians 4 the apostle Paul wrote: When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to Son-ship.

The timing of our Lord’s birth was in no ways coincidental. It is no accident that we find the world Jesus entered so completely prepared for His arrival. The Romans Empire had brought peace over that part of the world. They had built an excellent road system which facilitated travel, meaning that the world became more interconnected than it had ever been in history.

AND, the Greek civilization provided a common language. Though the Jews retained a native Hebrew tongue called Aramaic, they used Greek in dealing with ALL outsiders. Greek was the language in which the New Testament was written and it was so uniformly understood across the land that the message of the gospel could be explained in detail and every nuance understood by all. IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME

In the fullness of time, God stooped down to the earth.
In the fullness of time, in the fullness of time.
In the fullness of time, a miraculous birth.
In the fullness of time, in the fullness of time.
All the plans of the ages from eternity past,
In the womb of a virgin culminated at last.
From the throne room of heaven to no room in the Inn.
From the splendors of glory, to a world lost in sin,
In the fullness of time, in the fullness of time.

In the fullness of time when all things were in place,
In the fullness of time, in the fullness of time.
In the fullness of time man would look on God’s face.
In the fullness of time, in the fullness of time.
Everything was now ready, not a thing left undone,
Preparation completed for the birth of God’s Son.
From the sunshine of heaven to the clouds of earth’s day,
From that city of glory, to a manger of hay.
In the fullness of time, in the fullness of time.

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A PURITAN’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING.

Ron Owens — Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:37:07 +0000

A PURITAN’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING.
GIVER OF ALL, yet a little while I shall go to thine home and be seen no more here. Help me to gird up the loins of my mind, to quicken my step, to speed as if each moment were my last, that my life be joy, my death glory.
I thank Thee for the temporal blessings of this world:
-the refreshing air,
-the light of the sun,
-the food that renews strength,
-the raiment that clothes,
-the dwelling that shelters,
-the sleep that gives rest,
-the starry canopy of night,
-the summer’s breeze,
-the flower’s sweetness,
-the music of flowing streams,
-the happy endearments of family, kindred and friends,
-things animate, things inanimate that minister to my comfort.
My cup runs over. Suffer me not to be insensible to these daily mercies. Thy hand bestows blessings. Thank You Sovereign God.

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WHAT IS TRUTH?

Ron Owens — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 02:27:34 +0000

With all the “spurious truths” floating around today, here’s a reminder of what Dr. Francis Schaeffer used to call, “true truth.”

THIS IS THE TRUTH
“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life…”
John 14:6

This is the truth as we have received it,
These are the facts that are based on God’s Word.
Christ died for sinners, and He was buried,
But on the third day He rose from the grave.
Oh, hallelujah, Jesus is risen. Oh, hallelujah, Jesus is Lord!

This is the truth as we have received it,
We all were part of the first Adam’s tree.
But through Christ Jesus, the Second Adam
We’ve now become part of God’s family.
Oh, hallelujah, Jesus our Brother. Oh, hallelujah, Jesus is Lord!

This is the truth as we have received it,
We died with Christ on that old rugged cross.
But when He rose we rose with Him in victory,
Now we are heirs and joint-heirs with our Lord.
Oh, hallelujah, with Him we’ve risen. Oh, hallelujah, Jesus is Lord!

This is the truth as we have received it,
When Christ ascended He promised to send
The Holy Spirit to comfort and guide us,
Now He lives in us and we are His home.
Oh, hallelujah, Jesus lives in us. Oh, hallelujah, Jesus is Lord!

This is the truth as we have received it,
Jesus now sits at the Father’s right hand.
There He is praying for every believer,
Our Great High Priest, Intercessor and Friend.
Oh, hallelujah, Jesus is praying. Oh, hallelujah, Jesus is Lord!

This is the truth as we have received it,
Suddenly Christ will appear in the sky.
Saints, dead and living will rise up to meet Him,
At the last trump, in the blink of an eye.
Oh, hallelujah, Jesus is coming. Oh, hallelujah, Jesus is Lord!

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Just in Time

Ron Owens — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 12:34:33 +0000

October, 1976, 5 AM, Bailey-Boswell Road, Saginaw/Fort Worth, TX

All I could think of as I headed out for my early morning run was the financial crisis Patricia and I were facing at the International Christian Center/Hotel Rosat, in Switzerland. I knew that it was going to take divine intervention for the need to be met. We had to have the money within the next few days, and I confess to not being “full of faith” that morning.

I recall what happened next as clearly as if it were yesterday. Just before I got to Boswell High School on Bailey Boswell Road, I heard a swoosh and looked up to see a “shooting star” flying across the sky. Then there was another, followed by a third. As I kept looking upward, I suddenly realized that I was covered by a canopy of lights, trillions of them, all created by my heavenly Father; a number that only He knew, and to each He had given a name. “He determines the number of the stars; He gives to all of them their names” (Psalm 147:4).

I stopped and just stood there gazing up at the wonder of God’s creation. The stars seemed close enough to touch. Then, before I knew it, I was on my knees weeping. I don’t know how long I was like that, but I do know that when I stood to resume my run everything seemed different. Everything! I began shouting and praising God at the top of my lungs that only He and the cows could hear. Then the shouting and praising soon turned into my singing something that would become the refrain to one of our favorite songs: TRY PRAISING THE LORD

Try praising the Lord. Try praising the Lord.
Try praising, try praising, try praising the Lord.
Try thanking the Lord. Try thanking the Lord.
Try praising, try thanking, try praising the Lord.

I sang it over and over and over, and as I did, I found that I was no longer carrying the financial crisis burden. I felt free. I just knew that the God who created all those stars was going to meet our need. And HE DID, just what we needed and just in time. Later that week I wrote the remaining words that Patricia would set to music.

When you find that the valley is lonely and deep,
Or the trails on the mountain keep getting more steep;
In those nights when it is harder to laugh than to weep,
Have you thought about praising the Lord?

When the sandcastles built in the dreams you have dreamed
Start to crumble and fall and all hope seems to end.
When you wish you could turn and start over again,
Why not stop, and try praising the Lord.

What burden are you carrying today? Do you need to look up and try praising the Lord? Remember, “what seems impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke 18:27).

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A Morning Without Clouds

Ron Owens — Sun, 28 Aug 2022 02:26:40 +0000

I’ve recently been encouraged by J. C. Ryle’s comments on a description (name) of God found in 2 Samuel 23:4 that should be an encouragement to all us “old travelers.”
“He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even as a morning without clouds…” (KJV).
“The text is taken from a chapter which ought to be very interesting to every Christian. It begins with the touching expression, ‘These be the last words of David.’ Whether that means, ‘these are the last words which David ever spoke by inspiration as a Psalmist,’ or ‘these are among the last sayings of David before his death.’ In either case it contains the experience of an old servant of God who has had many ups and downs in his life. It is the old soldier remembering his campaigns. It is the old traveler looking back on his journeys and sees his God as a morning without clouds.”
Thank you, Lord, for this reminder that no matter what the weather may be, YOU are always as ‘a morning without clouds.’

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A PRAYER

Ron Owens — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 18:31:10 +0000

A Puritan’s prayer beautifully expresses the essence of God’s love.
Lord Jesus, Thou didst love me before I loved Thee.
Love brought Thee from heaven to earth,
from earth to the cross,
from the cross to the grave.

Love caused Thee to be weary, hungry, tempted,
scorned and scourged, crucified and pierced.
Love led Thee to bow Thy head in death.
My salvation is the point where perfect created love,
and the most perfect uncreated love meet together;
for Thou dost welcome me.

Help me to see Thy love everywhere,
not only in the cross but in the fellowship of believers,
and in the world around me.
When I feel the warmth of the sun,
may I praise Thee who art the Sun of Righteousness.
When I feel the tender rain,
may I think of the gospel showers that water my soul.
When I walk by the riverside
may I praise Thee for that stream that washes white my robes
that I might have the right to the tree of life.
Thy infinite love is a mystery of mysteries,
and my eternal rest lies in the eternal enjoyment of it.

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A Puritan’s Prayer

Ron Owens — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 21:21:00 +0000

A Puritan’s prayer of gratitude for God’s grace.
“O LORD GOD, teach me to know that grace precedes, accompanies and follows salvation; that it sustains the redeemed soul, that not one link of its chain can ever break. From Calvary’s cross wave upon wave of grace
-reaches me
-deals with my sin
-washes me clean
-renews my heart
-strengthens my will
-draws out my affection
-kindles a flame in my soul
-rules throughout my inner man
-consecrates my every thought, word and work,
and teaches me Thy immeasurable love.
Praise be to Thee for grace, and for the unspeakable gift of the LORD JESUS. Amen!”

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To Whom Do I Belong?

Ron Owens — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 21:17:37 +0000

“Great THEOLOGY, married to great HYMNOLOGY, rises to God in great DOXOLOGY.” –Stephen F. Olford

The fundamental reason why the living God wants His people to assemble in worship is for them to ascribe to Him the worth and value that are His, and to present themselves to Him as “living sacrifices,” individually, and as a body.
When we truly worship, we acknowledge that all power, dominion, control, authority and supremacy belong to the One who sits on the throne. We worship the One who lives forever and ever. We acknowledge His absolute authority over space and time. We worship the One for whom a thousand years are as a day. We acknowledge that there was a time when we were not, but that there never was a time when He was not!

In Revelation 4, the apostle John was witness to the highest worship there ever will be, as redeemed humanity removes from its head every sign of achievement and lays it at the feet of the Lamb seated on the throne. In removing and relinquishing their crowns they renounce the right to rule their own lives and turn that right over to another.

My rights? Whose rights?
God has bought me outright,
I am no longer my own.
My rights? Whose rights?
God has bought me outright
That through me His glory might be known.
I BELONG TO GOD!
I am longer my own.

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