An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens April 4, 2024
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.add a comment
That which is true never minds being questioned, a lie does.
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
Here’s a Free Gift April 3, 2024
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.add a comment
As a retired pastor I am still amazed at the number of people who came forward week after week repenting of sins and seeking salvation. It was often the same people week after week. No matter how much I preached it, no matter how much I taught it, so many never seemed grasp the idea that the cleansing of sins, salvation, and righteousness are free gifts given to us by our Father.
People would cry, “I’ve been seeking after God for years. I’ve laid at the altar and pleaded over and over for God to guide me, to save me, to help me, and nothing happened. I leave the altar the same poor sinner as when I went up there.”
My heart breaks for any and all who labor under such beggarly results.
My mind would scream as my voice would say, “Salvation is a gift. It isn’t necessary for you to go anywhere to get it. You can find it anywhere. It isn’t what you do, it’s what Jesus has done. All there is to getting saved and to becoming a child of God is to receive something for free. You can’t earn it by doing anything.”
Most of us have been taught and have accepted that it was all about giving up, surrendering, and confessing sins. It isn’t. It is receiving Jesus Christ as our Savior and confessing Him as our Lord.
I have had people say, “It can’t be that simple.”
It is that simple. It’s free and it’s available to everyone, everywhere, at all times.
Some have asked, “But don’t we have to do something about our sins?”
No, He has done everything that ever could be done. And this isn’t some new teaching or revelation. Our Father God told us about it through His prophet Isaiah long ago, “We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him.”[1]
This is speaking about all of us. We have all gone our own way, done what we wanted without any reference to what God wanted us to do. We were stubborn and willful yet the Father laid the penalty for all that on Jesus. Notice there was nothing we had to do to save or help ourselves.
So how do we get from knowing this in our heads to having this become life in our hearts? John tells us, “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”[2]
Once again we do nothing except receive a free gift.
John also tells us “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”[3] This is the Father giving His Son Jesus as our substitute, as our Savior and all He asks is that we accept Him for what He said He is. There is nothing for us to do except believe that He paid the debt owed for our sin and that He rose from the Dead to bring us life. Or as Paul put it, “who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”[4]
God delivered Jesus to pay the punishment for our sins and He was raised from the dead when He had paid the full measure, and all we have to do is accept that. We don’t have to do anything to earn what He has already paid for.
Paul sums it all up well in the next verse when he says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”[5]
Now besides salvation we have peace. There is nothing standing between us and God we are at peace and still there is nothing for us to do is there?
Paul tells us as clearly as can be how this all comes about and what the result is when he says, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
Look at that a little closer: when we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord that should be the end of us going our own way and doing our own thing. If you’re anything like I was before I did this that shouldn’t be too hard considering where our own choices and our own things have brought us. In other words if I relinquish being the Lord of my life and give that place to Jesus I will no longer be separated from God and I will become His child, a member of His family with all the rights and responsibilities that means.
If we do this what does the Word say? It says that we will be saved. When does it say we will be saved? It happens as soon as we believe. This isn’t pie-in-the-sky. This is here and now reality. What does the Word say we are when we believe? It says we are now children of God. Does that mean now or someday way over there in the future when we get to heaven? No it says we have it now even if we don’t know fully what that means. Or, as John put it, “now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”[6]
How do we know all this is true? How do we know that as soon as we confess and believe we are born again into a new life right here right now? John tells us, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Having learned this do you believe in the Name of Jesus?
If you do then you have eternal life. Eternal life is the nature of God. That means you now have the nature of God. You are no longer a fallen sinner who needs to beg forgiveness you are filled with the very nature of God. Peter put it very clearly when he said, “by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” That corruption is spiritual death and we have escaped it by receiving the divine nature: eternal life.
So don’t fall into the trap of thinking you have to get good enough to get saved, or to see your life change. None of us could ever be that good. It isn’t about what we do. It’s about what He has done. It isn’t about who we are. It’s all about who He is. He paid the price. He purchased the freedom of all humans from the grip of Satan, and he extends that freely to all who believe He is who He said He is, that He rose from the dead and that He is the Savior of all who believe in Him.
Come on. It’s free and it’s yours for the taking. Why wait another moment. You can have it right here right now. Confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and it’s yours.
Got it? Done it? Now tell someone. Shout it from the rooftops you are a child of God living an eternal life in fellowship with our Father. Welcome to the family.
[1] Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+53%3A6&version=MSG 1-25-19
[2] Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+1%3A12&version=NKJV 1-25-19
[3] Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+3%3A16&version=NKJV 1-25-19
[4] Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+4%3A25&version=NKJV 1-25-19
[5] Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+5%3A1&version=NKJV 1-25-19
[6] Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=I+john+3%3A2&version=NKJV 1-25-19
Season Three Episode Six April 2, 2024
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.add a comment
In Episode Six / Season Three of I Took a Right Turn: We share two old revival songs: I’ve Been Redeemed and I Saw The Light, and one of our homegrown songs: He Will Save You Too. In our Bible study this week we look at John 1:12, 3:16; Romans 5:1; and I John 3:2, looking into the free gift of salvation available to all. Robert reads another essay from the first in a series of books on Christian living, (Faith, Hope, and Love) Robert reads Essay # 8 Here’s a Free Gift. 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 April 1, 2024
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.add a comment
God has already prepared the Way, now He’s preparing us.
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 31, 2024
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.add a comment
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
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.add a comment
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
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.add a comment
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
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.add a comment
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
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.add a comment
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
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.add a comment
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
Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future 