An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens March 31, 2024
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Sinners get mad because the truth God speaks contradicts the lie, they live.
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens March 30, 2024
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Little-by-little, step-by-step pays off. Drink the get-rich-quick Kool-Aide and we end up thirstier than ever.
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon
Resurrection Reflections March 29, 2024
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As we hunker in the bunker and wait for the Death Angel to pass over it’s good to remember that being negative is positively one of the worst things we can do. Not only is it a waste of time, it’s depressing. God tells us in many ways “Do not worry” more times than He tells us “Do not steal.” And we all know what stealing is. Can any one of us by worrying add a single hour to our life or add an inch to our height?
As with almost anything that happens it doesn’t take long for Christians to start asking, “Do you think these are signs of the End Times?” The Bible tells us we’ve been in the End Times at least since the writing of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. All I can do is repeat what Luke told us so long ago, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
Wars and pandemics shake our world. In a moment we’re in a brave new world wondering, “Will we ever get back to the way it was?” Things can seem so dark, so forbidding, so bleak it’s easy to lose our focus on Christ and the life He’s given us in the middle of so much sickness and death. If we focus on the negative, we may lose sight of the positive reality: Christ triumphed over death. He conquered it through His death on the cross where He died so we may live.
He lived a life of love and perfection. He died a death of hate and rejection. He rose to share joy and perfection. Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Accept Him and find life. Reject Him and reject life.
God is so vast yet so personal, so sublime yet so simple. We are His creation, yet He adopts us as children. He sustains the universe and all that’s in it, yet we ask Him to find us a parking space at MegloMart. The wisest humans who’ve ever lived could never devise a system of religious rules or disciplines that can lead us through the snare of the flesh to the liberation of the spirit. Or, as Paul expresses it, “For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.”
In these times of stress, we need to stand strong, keep our eyes on the prize, and refuse to waver. The government may try to become our all in all but believing that will be the surest way to fall. We may be riveted on the daily briefings and the emergency alerts in the natural, but in the spirit we need to turn our eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
“Don’t be misled no one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others — ignoring God! — harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.”
Here’s some good advice from the days of a war long ago which was also based on truths from the Bible:
Johnny Mercer began his #1 hit by saying, “Gather ’round me, everybody.
Gather ’round me while I’m preachin.’ Feel a sermon comin’ on me. The topic will be sin and that’s what I’m ag’in’. If you wanna hear my story
then settle back and just sit tight while I start reviewin’ the attitude of doin’ right”
Then he crooned:
You’ve got to accentuate the positive
eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
But don’t mess with mister in-between
You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
have faith, a pandemonium
Libel to walk up on the scene
To illustrate my last remark
Jonah in the Whale, Noah in the ark
What did they do
just when everything looked so dark
They said we better
accentuate the positive
eliminate the negative
latch on to the affirmative
But don’t mess with mister in-between.
As I reflect upon the Resurrection, I can see this is still good advice today.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2022 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page
Faith is The Answer and Prayer is the Key March 28, 2024
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This essay was read during Season Three Episode Five of
I Took a Right Turn
It’s time for us to grow up, to put away childish things and delve into the deep things of God.
Some may ask, “How do I do that?”
We need to study to show ourselves approved rightly dividing the word of God for it’s sharper than a two-edged sword or a surgeon’s scalpel. It divides soul and spirit, and it reveals all things. We need to speak to God and listen to God. We need to learn to hear His voice and recognize it. In other words, we need to be in a constant conversation with God so that we can be about His business in this world.
Often, we pray for God to guide our steps and then do nothing as we wait. God cannot guide our steps if we aren’t stepping. Step out in faith and He’ll sustain us as we work for Him. That’s right. It may have been free admission, but it isn’t a free ride. God has called us to work. And He has given us the tool to do the work: faith.
Don’t believe me believe Him.
It’s impossible to please God apart from faith.[1] And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him. And part of that faith is knowing that He didn’t send us out to work for Him without equipping us with what we need to accomplish that work.
Jesus said, “Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do.”[2]
And He didn’t just say it once or twice. He said it over and over, “This is what I want you to do: Ask the Father for whatever is in keeping with the things I’ve revealed to you. Ask in my name, according to my will, and he’ll most certainly give it to you.”[3]
Jesus wasn’t keeping this ability to accomplish the work He’s called us to do miraculously through the power of His Name a secret. He told us numerous times that praying in His Name, in line with His purposes was more than just effective, it’s powerful.
He also told us that we’ve been chosen to do His work in the world in His Name, “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.”[4]
The time for hesitation is through. Once we confess Him as Lord and believe that God has raised Him from the dead we are born again. There’s no time to linger at the edge of the pool waiting for someone else to do the heavy lifting. Dive headfirst into the deep end. Turn away from the weak and beggarly elements of this world and embrace life in His eternal presence which begins the moment we’re born again and translated from the kingdom of darkness in this world into the kingdom of light in His presence.
We all have questions for God. I know my first was “Why me.” Then once we’ve taken up residence in His city on a hill we move on to, “What do You want me to do?” quickly followed by “How am I supposed to do that?” He isn’t looking so much for ability as He is for availability. And remember where God guides God provides. If He’s called, you to it you can do it. Just have faith, talk to Him, listen to Him, and watch as He turns your life into Acts Chapter twenty-nine.
Whatever questions, whatever problems, whatever opportunities we face in this life prayer is the answer and faith is the key.
[1] Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews+11%3A6&version=MSG 1-24-19
[2] Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+14%3A13&version=MSG 1-24-19
[3] Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+16%3A23-24&version=MSG 1-24-19
[4] Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+15%3A16&version=MSG 1-24-19
Season Three Episode Five March 27, 2024
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In Episode Five / Season Three of I Took a Right Turn: We share three old revival songs: Jesus on the Mainline, We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise, and Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. We look at James 1:5-8, I John 5:14-15, and Philippians 4:6 and talk about how these passages relate to prayer. Robert reads another essay from the first in a series of books on Christian living, (Faith, Hope, and Love) Robert reads Essay # 7 Faith is the Answer and Prayer is the Key. The text of this essay will be posted the day after the release of this episode at www.itookarighturn.com All of Robert’s more than thirty books are available through Amazon. We also invite everyone to visit our online art store, The Pair a Docs Shop where we offer our original paintings, prints and merchandise.
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens March 25, 2024
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We can’t cover our sins and think we will get away with it, mercy comes when we confess them and leave them in the dust.
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens March 23, 2024
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People who have everything think they know it all, those who have nothing can see right through them.
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens March 22, 2024
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The same God who created the world in six days and then rested on the seventh is the same one who redeemed us on the cross on the sixth day and rested in the tomb on the seventh. Jesus is God!
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens March 21, 2024
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Remember the days when you asked God for what you have now.
This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon
Does God Speak to You? March 20, 2024
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Whenever people ask me this question, “Do you mean God speaks to you?” I answer it with another, “Do mean God doesn’t speak to you?”
You can officially mark me down as a crazy person or whatever you like I don’t care. But I initially turned from the world to face God because I heard a voice answer my silent plea, the plea of a lost and lonely sinner about to give up on life, “I’ve got to try something.”
What I heard was a voice as real as any I’ve ever heard say right in my ear, “Why don’t you try God.”
As a militant atheist I turned to confront whoever it was that dared to say some invisible make-believe spirit might be the answer to my aching heart. There was no one there. At least there was no one there that I could see or find. So, after an exhaustive search that turned up no one I started searching for who might have been there that I couldn’t see. It was a search that eventually led me through the Gospels to Jesus. It was a search that led me from a dead-end life to a life filled with hope.
I said all that to say all this:
Have you ever felt God leading you to do something? It probably won’t be an audible voice. I am convinced that God only uses an audible voice for either the extremely hard-hearted/hard-headed or to comfort the extremely hard pressed. Instead, he leads us through our spirit which is linked to Him through His Spirit which lives in us as born-again believers.
If you aren’t one of those it’s easy just confess Jesus as Lord or leader of your life and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead…and that’s it. Done and done.
So here we are children of God through adoption, made right with Him, spiritually standing in Daddy’s throne room, minding our own business and His Spirit leads us to do something: something that doesn’t seem like something we would want to do on your own……. say He leads us to spend everything we have to buy Bibles to give to homeless people.
What should we do?
I’m talking about spending way more money than our natural head says we can afford. It just doesn’t make sense when we look at our budget through natural eyes. And the wisdom of the world tells us, “Come on most of the homeless you give a Bible will either lose it or throw it away.” Or “Come on they’ll only listen to you witness about what Christ has done for you and accept the Bible so they can get a handout or something.”
But there it is again, an urging, a leading to do this thing that makes no sense. It itches at our hearts. It won’t leave. We feel our spirit saying, “If I don’t do this I’ll miss an opportunity to do what I’m supposed to do,” while our head says, “Are you crazy you can’t afford to do that!”
Over and over our heads, filled with natural sense knowledge keep shouting, “If I spend all that money just to give it away I won’t have it for what I need.” Or the ever ready, “Can’t someone else do it? Like someone who has more money.”
God isn’t looking for ability He’s looking for availability. If He can make donkeys speak and use murderers to bring people back to life, turn water into wine, and save sinners like us He can surely provide for all our needs.
If we want to see the miracles of God, we need to follow Him into uncharted water. We need to do what He calls us to do because where God guides God provides. Walking in faith always sensitive to what He calls us to do and then following Him in the doing … that’s the way to see the miracles of God.
Faith isn’t doing only what we can do on our own. Faith is doing what God calls us to do even when we know we can’t. Let’s step out of the boat and feel the waves beneath our feet.
Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future 