Church Family,
This coming Lord’s Day we welcome PCA Chaplain Rev. Bob Owen (Colonel US Army) to our pulpit to preach in Mike’s absence (see his bio below). Colonel Owen will be peaching a message entitled, “Identity Trumps All: Answering ‘These Things’ By Faith” from Romans 8:31-39. Please be in prayer for Bob as he comes to deliver God’s Word to us.
The God Who REDEEMS: Our Identity in Christ
Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,
Romans 8 is one of those well-known passages of scripture that yet defies comprehensive exposition and understanding due to the depths and riches of what the Holy Spirit communicates to us about our triune God’s redemption through Christ.
Last week, Pastor Mike took us to Exodus 19, at the foot of Mount Sinai to meet the God who IS, where we found God to be altogether DIFFERENT, HOLY, Set-apart, awe-inspiring and merciful. He concluded with both the reassuring and deeply challenging REALITY that God is NOT how we would have Him to be, BUT AS HE has revealed Himself to be: Holy, Just, full of BOTH wrath AND MERCY, showing HIS GREAT love for us by giving His One and ONLY SON. Remember what Mike reminded us? The justice and Mercy of God come together in the Love of Christ shown/demonstrated/displayed for us on the Cross.
This LORD’s Day we will look to Romans 8 and find the GOD WHO REDEEMS via Paul’s wonderful exposition of our IDENTITY, INHERITANCE, and INTERCESSOR IN CHRIST. Some have suggested that the letter to the Roman Christians is the highpoint of Scripture and JI Packer has noted that if so, then Romans 8 is the highpoint of Romans! I was inspired by the majesty and HOPE, by the glories of God in this chapter WEEKS ago, hearing the simple and straightforward reading of it in worship by Ruling Elder Fred Fohrell. What a MESSAGE Christ’s Church must hear and embrace by faith, each and every generation! In Christ we have a new identity which transforms us not only into a new creation, people, and community, but an identity which includes us as adopted heirs of the glories and riches of His kingdom!
This coming Lord’s Day morning we will continue to meet the God who is Holy AND Redeems. We will be reminded of His great salvation in Christ and our Adoption so that, by His grace, we cry out in faith, “If God is for us, who is against us? . . . in all these things, we are MORE than CONQUERORS through him who loved us.”
As you pray for the preaching of the Word and prepare your heart for worship, prayerfully read over our text several times (include all of Romans 8 for context; also read Colossians 1:13-20 for a preview of some concluding applications).
Pastor Mike Sightings? (He said he would ‘Disappear!’)
As many of you may know, ministers in the PCA are encouraged to take off four weeks per year, as this is greatly beneficial for them and for the congregations they serve. Pray for Mike and his Family as they take a well-deserved and needed rest. Next week, June 28, Rev. Jeff Hamm (also a Teaching Elder in the PCA) will lead us in worship. Please pray for this dear brother as he prepares to lead our worship and deliver God’s Word in Mike’s absence.
Introducing Chaplain Charles R. Owen, III
Chaplain Charles Robert “Bob” Owen, III currently serves as the US Army Security Assistance Command (USASAC) chaplain, Redstone Arsenal, AL. He is a native of Alabama, born and raised in Montgomery. He attended Auburn University on a 4-year Army ROTC scholarship, graduating as a Distinguished Military Graduate in 1984. He earned a Regular Army commission as a Military Intelligence officer and served for eight years in a variety of operational, intelligence, Special Forces and strategic assignments before leaving active duty to attend Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS).
Chaplain Owen met his wife Janet at Auburn University and they have been married 32 years. They have 9 children scattered throughout the Southeast (with 4 still at home), three grandchildren, and enjoy being closer to their mothers in AL, since moving to Huntsville in 2013 (the first time to live back home in Alabama in almost 30 years!).
Bob earned a Master of Divinity from RTS-Jackson, and was ordained in 1995, answering the call to ministry as an active duty Army chaplain. In 2002, he earned a Master of Arts in Religious Studies, with a North Africa and Islam Concentration, from the University of Kansas. He also earned a Diploma from the Post Graduate Intelligence Program (PGIP) National Intelligence University/Defense Intelligence Agency in1989, and completed a post-graduate Fellowship at George Mason University in Conflict Analysis and Resolution, in 2013.
In 1996, he began his service as an Army chaplain and served as Battalion Chaplain for the 503rd MP Battalion and the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, NC. Next, while assigned to the 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks Hawaii, he served as the 3rd Squadron/4th Cavalry Regiment Squadron chaplain and the 25th Aviation Brigade chaplain from 2000 to 2002. From 2004-2007, Bob served three years as an instructor and faculty of the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, developing curriculum and teaching US and international officers graduate courses on Culture, and Contemporary Islam.
Beginning in 2007, Chaplain Owen served as the 5th US Army Corps Unit Ministry Team (UMT) operations and plans officer, transitioning to the USAREUR/7th Army UMT in 2008, serving as an operational Religious Support Team (RST) planner in the G3, Combined Operations and Intelligence Center until 2009. Bob’s last operational assignment was in a special operations organization as command chaplain from 2009-2012, where he provided combat religious support (RS) and supervised Unit Ministry Teams performing RS in Iraq and Afghanistan.
CH Owen is a graduate of numerous military schools, most recently the United States Army War College Fellowship Program at George Mason University. His military awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Commendation Service Medal, Special Forces Tab, Master Parachutist Badge, and the Air Assault Badge.