An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens June 13, 2024
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Time refines, defines, and confines us all.
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
Can Anyone Say Amen? June 12, 2024
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Staring at the carnival mirrors of this life we squint through a swirling mist at the constantly shifting mirage of a fallen world. Things are not as they seem. Good is so often trampled underfoot while evil triumphs. The innocent are sacrificed as the guilty ride roughshod over justice. Walking in the way of the flesh is stumbling through a maze all alone. Social Darwinism runs amuck. Survival of the fittest is the order of the day as the weak, the poor, and the defenseless are shoved out of the way for the next conqueror as they elbow their way to the fleeting throne that will eventually become their funeral pyre. Allowing our flesh to rule and guide us is walking with our eyes closed in the dark and following the lie that we can be like God creating our own realities through our selfish choices.[1]
There is a better way. Walking with God is walking in the light reaching out for His revelation in His Word which is truth.
As we mature by meditating on the Word of God the things of this world grow strangely dim. Suddenly a light shines through the darkness and the spiritual world which is invisible to the natural man comes into focus. Paul put it best in his first letter to the Corinthians, “The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and can’t be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah’s question, ‘Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?’ has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit.”[2]
Look at it this way if tomorrow morning when we opened our eyes, we saw Jesus standing right there beside our bed physically manifested before us do you think we might have a different kind of morning than normal? Now imagine if He were to walk next to us all day. Everywhere we went He went. Do you think an experience like that might change the way we see things?
The Lord is with us every day wherever we are and wherever we go because He prayed that the Father would send us the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of God. And we know the Father always hears and answers the prayers of His Son Jesus. Here’s what Jesus said about this, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”[3] He lives within in us. This is the fact of a born-again life. But do we really live this way? Or do we let the mundane sameness of this life gradually gloss over the sparkling joy of our first love? If we will open our spiritual eyes we’ll see through the filthy fog of this world and see Jesus in all the power of His resurrection with us every step of the way.
I’m not saying this’ll instantly convert a vale of tears into a bed of roses. Jesus told us we shouldn’t expect any better treatment than He received at the hands of man, and they crucified Him.[4] Look at Stephen the first martyr. He preached the good news[5] that man can be reconciled with God by confessing Jesus as the Lord and leader of our life and by believing that God raised Him from the dead. This upset the applecart for all the religious leaders who made their living and maintained their power by confining people within the straitjacket of religion filled with rituals and symbols but lacking in a personal relationship with God.
These wolves in sheep’s clothing couldn’t meet Stephen in an open debate. They couldn’t contend with the power of God that was so obvious in his preaching. So, they manufactured lies and spread false rumors. They stirred up a crowd and then aimed the violence of the mob directly at this man of God. But even while they stoned him, he had his eyes on Jesus and while the last breaths were crushed from his tortured lungs he cried, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
We too can live our lives walking, breathing, and speaking in the presence of the Son of Man, Jesus the Christ and there’s nothing the world can do about it. No one can snatch us out of God’s hand.[6] To paraphrase one old song Jesus gave it to us and the world can’t take it away.[7] So abandon the snipe hunt of seeking peace or fulfillment through walking in the flesh and embrace the reality of walking in the Spirit. Heed the words of the Master, “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Here’s a prayer I’d like to share, “Father let me see with Your eyes, hear with Your ears, speak with Your words, love with Your heart, and touch with Your hands. Reach through me to those in need. Let the fire of Your love burn so bright in me that when others look in my direction You are all they see.”
Can anyone say, “Amen?”
[1] Genesis 3:5
[2] I Corinthians 2:14
[3] John 14:16-17
[4] John 15:18-20
[5] Romans 10:9
[6] John 10:8
[7] This Joy by Shirley Caesar
Season Three Episode Sixteen June 11, 2024
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In Episode Sixteen / Season Three of I Took a Right Turn: We share one old-time gospel song: Jesus Gota Holda My Life and a newer praise song: River of Life. And one of our homegrown songs: I Was a Dreamer. For our Bible study this week we look at the fact that Jesus is the only way to return to God, to know the joy of salvation. Every other way is a counterfeit. We look at John 10:6-10, 14:15-17. Robert reads another essay from his series of books on Christian living, (Faith, Hope, and Love) reading Essay # 4 from the book, Hope: “Can Anyone Say Amen?”
The text of this essay will be posted the day after the release of this episode at www.itookarighturn.com and www.drrobertowens.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 June 9, 2024
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Whether you want to be a lawyer, a doctor, or a professor it’s still a good idea to know how to paint a wall, lay a brick, or cut a board.
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 June 8, 2024
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Anger is as infectious as a disease. Love is the antidote and forgiveness is the vaccine.
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 June 7, 2024
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Foolish fads find fancy with the young.
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
By Grace You Have Been Saved June 6, 2024
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When I think of my neighbor I pray for justice. When I think of myself I pray for grace.
Grace is defined as the love and mercy given to us by God because God wants us to have it, not because of anything we’ve done to earn it. We all need grace to be saved from the greatest sinner to the greatest saint. Quoting[1] the Old Testament Paul put it this way, “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.”[2]
Extending grace, mercy, and the forgiveness it demands isn’t just a good idea. It’s what God requires of us.[3] Remember we reap what we sow.[4] If we sow to our flesh of the flesh we’ll reap corruption. But if we sow to the Spirit of the Spirit we’ll reap everlasting life. Refusing to forgive is of the flesh. Forgiveness is of the Spirit. And we get to choose which one we’ll do.
We’re called to walk as pilgrims[5] in this world remembering that as born-again children of God this is not our home.[6] We have a home in Heaven with God in Christ Jesus. Trying to live this out day-by-day soon teaches us that it’s easier said than done prompting us to ask, “How then shall I live?”
One quick answer[7] is we should forgive others as God in Christ Jesus forgave us. This is nothing more or less than a natural outworking of Christ’s command that we love others as we love ourselves.[8] Of course loving others so completely isn’t always easy. So often other people do things we wouldn’t do or things we think others shouldn’t do. Not that we should turn a blind eye to sin but we should certainly open both eyes to the idea that there’re many ways to please God and He’s well able to lead each of us into the best way for us to do it.
It all comes down to love. We need to ask ourselves, “How does God love us?” Did He wait until we were perfect? Did He wait until we quit making mistakes? Did He wait until we were sin free?
If we won’t forgive others we aren’t dealing with them from love. Instead we’re judging them. Jesus is the judge and we should leave that job to him since we never get it right anyway. It’s easy to say we love God. But how can we say that we love God when we won’t love our brother?[9] How can we love our God who we can’t see when we don’t love our brothers who we can see?
If we’re really filled and motivated by God’s Spirit we’ll have His nature. We’ll reflect Him much as a mirror reflects our own image. We can reflect that nature not just in our personal circle of friends but also into the wider world. Imagine how much greater the leadership of our nation, our organizations, and our churches would be if instead of constantly criticizing those whose thoughts and beliefs differ from ours instead we devoted that time and energy to praying for them? If we as the born-again Church of Christ turned our criticism into intercession we would see the most effective changes possible shining like a bright light after a dark night.
It comes down to this: by grace we have been saved so we should extend grace to those around us. To love as we have been loved. And to forgive as we have been forgiven. We are one in Him so let’s go forth and be one with each other.
[1] Psalm 14
[2] Romans 3:10-12
[3] Ephesians 4:32
[4] Galatians 6:7-8
[5] I Peter 2:11-12
[6] Philippians 3:20-21
[7] Ephesians 4:31-32
[8] Matthew 22:36-40
[9] I John 4:20
An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens June 5, 2024
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Discipline a puppy and you’ll have a good dog. Let it run wild and you’ll have a wild animal that might bite you. The same holds true for children.
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
Season Three Episode Fifteen June 4, 2024
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In Episode Fifteen / Season Three of I Took a Right Turn: We share one old-time gospel song: Jesus I’ll Never Forget and a newer praise song: Living He Loved Me. And once again one of our homegrown songs: The Nashville Gospel. For our Bible study this week we tune into God’s revelation that salvation is needed by everyone, that it’s a free gift, and all we need to do is accept it to receive it. We expose this through a look at Romans 3:9-20 and Ephesians 2:1-10. Robert reads another essay from his series of books on Christian living, (Faith, Hope, and Love) reading Essay # 3 from the book, Hope: “By Grace You Have Been Saved.”
The text of this essay will be posted the day after the release of this episode at www.itookarighturn.com and www.drrobertowens.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 June 1, 2024
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No one builds a ship to keep it in the harbor.
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
Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future 