My dear friend, Beth, whom I love so much received this email yesterday from Pastor Bob. And she sent it to us because she loves us and knows how much I miss this kind of teaching.
Have I mentioned how much I miss Pastor Bob's teaching and Cornerstone Church?? A LOT!! Anyway, what I miss is this kind of bible based "empowering, in your face, stand on faith, be who God created you to be" kind of teaching... I need it to wake me up and stand firmly for Jesus! If we can't walk in faith, talk about our faith and be Jesus to people, why bother being saved??
*WE ARE VICTORIOUS!! THE BATTLE IS THE LORD'S AND IT IS ALREADY WON!! WE JUST HAVE TO SHOUT ABOUT IT!!* So, in the spirit of restoration and squashing satan and his plans, I'm standing firmly for Jesus and sharing this empowering word.
02/13/08
Dear Victorious One,
Last Sunday I brought a message about restoration and how God wants you and me to have restored to us the things that have been taken from us. All of us can agree that we have had things stolen from our lives: dreams, jobs, health, relationships, joy, etc. This is not God’s will for our lives. In fact, Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and, and that they may have it more abundantly.” This verse shows us clearly that the enemy is against us and that God is for us. The devil takes – God gives. The devil kills – God resurrects. The devil destroys – God restores!!!!!
Since Jesus identified the devil as a thief, we can have an expectation that God will hold him responsible. In fact, in Proverbs 6:31 the Bible says, “Yet when he [the thief] is found, he must restore sevenfold…” You should get excited about that because what was taken from you must be restored BACK TO YOU!
Restoration is the heart of God. Look at what God said in Joel 2:25 – “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust…” God said that He would restore! Say that out loud – “God will restore!” You have God’s Word on it. He promises us that whether the enemy takes a little or a lot – God will restore!
Do you want God to bring back to you what the enemy has stolen? Of course you do. In order for that to happen, God needs our cooperation. Notice Isaiah 42:22 - "But this is a people robbed and plundered; all of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses; they are for prey, and no one delivers; for plunder…" Does that sound like your life at all? Things taken, you live in fear that the blessing you have may be stolen. Did you ever feel like it’s just not fair? I’m sure you have. Well, even though that verse may describe your life, notice what the rest of the verse is saying: “…and no one says, ‘Restore!’” Did you catch that? God didn’t say, “No one felt the pain” or “No one prayed to Me.” He said, “No one says, ‘RESTORE!’” No one speaks His promise out loud, no one speaks the Word out loud. No one is saying restore!
We all know how easy it is to complain when bad things happen, but God is saying that no one is speaking any faith – RESTORE! Look at what God said to Esau when he had the blessing STOLEN from him by his brother – “By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; [life is tough] and it shall come to pass, when you become restless, that you shall break his yoke from your neck” Genesis 27:40. Notice the words, “…when you become restless.” I have written in my Bible right next to that verse, "When I get fed up.” Are you fed up? Are you restless? When you get to the place in your life that deep down inside of you, you have truly had enough, you can begin to shout: “I am fed up! RESTORE!” THEN you can break the yoke of the enemy off of your neck. THAT’S GOOD NEWS!
Finally, in Job 22:28, the Word says, “You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; so light will shine on your ways.” It’s time for you to “declare a thing” and then watch it come to pass. It’s time for you to get fed up and restless and say, “No more, devil! RESTORE!” That takes faith, boldness and commitment. I want to encourage you this week to feed upon the promises of God’s Word and allow the Word to work within you. Keep planting the seed of God’s Word until something begins to grow. All this week stay restless and shout, “RESTORE!” You can do it!
You are a winner and you are loved,
Pastor Bob
Give your marriage a tune up!
Let us tell you all about Weekend to Remember! We've been twice- the first time was in 2005, two months after we divorced on our 14th wedding anniversary... God placed that conference in our path to give us the tools to tear down the walls of isolation we'd unknowingly built in our marriage. He used that conference to restore our relationship, our marriage and our lives.
We made a commitment to go to the conference every year or so and attended again in 2007. God's Word is alive, and we came away learning so much more about how God designed marriage, how He created us for each other and how He uses what we perceive as weaknesses to strengthen each other and grow in Him.
The Weekend to Remember is a great multipurpose tool- it is a how to be married guide for engaged and newly married couples, a restoration tool for broken marriages, a maintenance tool for great marriages and a springboard to the next level for good marriages. The presenters are so human, so easy to relate to, so easy to listen to and learn from.
After we attended the conference last fall, God pressed on our hearts to volunteer for FamilyLife, so we are working at the Raleigh weekend this year. Scott is a group coach and I'm on the prayer team. We'll be there at the conference, serving in whatever way God needs us to serve.
CALL 1-800-358-6329 to register for the weekend so you can use our group code to get an $80 discount on the conference registration, you have to register over the phone in order to get the group rate. Our group code is 16418. The group rate is $178/couple.
Are you military?? If so, the military discount rate is $138/couple- you can register for this discount online- use the code FREEDOM in the key code area.
To learn more, call or email us today!!!
We made a commitment to go to the conference every year or so and attended again in 2007. God's Word is alive, and we came away learning so much more about how God designed marriage, how He created us for each other and how He uses what we perceive as weaknesses to strengthen each other and grow in Him.
The Weekend to Remember is a great multipurpose tool- it is a how to be married guide for engaged and newly married couples, a restoration tool for broken marriages, a maintenance tool for great marriages and a springboard to the next level for good marriages. The presenters are so human, so easy to relate to, so easy to listen to and learn from.
After we attended the conference last fall, God pressed on our hearts to volunteer for FamilyLife, so we are working at the Raleigh weekend this year. Scott is a group coach and I'm on the prayer team. We'll be there at the conference, serving in whatever way God needs us to serve.
CALL 1-800-358-6329 to register for the weekend so you can use our group code to get an $80 discount on the conference registration, you have to register over the phone in order to get the group rate. Our group code is 16418. The group rate is $178/couple.
Are you military?? If so, the military discount rate is $138/couple- you can register for this discount online- use the code FREEDOM in the key code area.
To learn more, call or email us today!!!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
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