Week before last I started on 1 Samuel 29 & 30, but before Sunday came the Lord directed me to split my message up into two messages (thank you Lord, it would have been a LONG message that day!).
I even had a title for this weeks message - "Ripped Off," because that is exactly what our enemy likes to do, rip us off:
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. (John 10:10)
But Satan is not interested in your car, your golf clubs, or your flat screen TV. No, Satan is more interested in ripping you off in the things that matter spiritually:
- Your gifts
- Your calling
- Your future
Yet the real message is NOT that Satan likes to rip us off, the real message is that GOD RESTORES! We serve a God that when we turn to Him, just like David in 1 Samuel 30, God restores to us what we allowed the enemy to steal.
That is a pretty incredible truth when I stop to thing about it: I can make a dumb decision, allow myself to be in a vulnerable place, and the enemy will swoop in and rip me off. I can sit there and think "I had it coming, I blew it, it's my fault." True. But God... God is so awesome that if I will turn to Him, and seek His face, He will RESTORE my fellowship with Him, He will move mountains in my life, and RESTORE what the enemy took. ALL OF IT.
Wow. That truth deserves to be more fully explored.
Join us this Sunday at Calvary Chapel, 9:30 or 11:30 am, for 1 Sam 30: Restored.
...till the whole world hears,
Pastor Clay
