Quick Restoration by the Living Word
June 7, 2023 · 42:47 · Watch on YouTube ↗
These notes - summary, key points, and highlighted thoughts - were generated by AI from the recording and are not the preacher’s exact words.
Summary
Two visiting preachers shared one heart on this Wednesday evening. The first, a pastor serving in Pakistan, taught that God works through whatever is already in our hands. Before David ever faced Goliath he had been faithful in smaller battles against the lion and the bear. Moses' rod was only an ordinary stick until he cast it down in God's presence, and there it received life and became the rod that worked miracles. In the same way the five loaves and two fish were multiplied only after they were placed into Jesus' hands. We are not asked to be worthy or able, only to be available and to surrender the little that we hold.
He testified that he had spent much of his life in depression and never imagined God would use him, yet when he threw himself before the Lord, God took a man like him and sent him to the nations.
The second preacher, Thomas, born in Ethiopia and saved in Germany, called his message quick restoration. Thirty-three years ago, lost and far from God, he heard a stranger in a swimming pool say only Jesus Christ saves, and those words shook the very foundation of his heart. Believing in the heart and confessing with the mouth (Romans 10), he was born again, devoured the Scriptures for hours, and within two weeks was preaching the gospel everywhere. The living word of God, he said, is sharper than any two-edged sword and can turn darkness into light and pain into joy in a single moment.
Key Points
- David faced Goliath only after he had been faithful in small battles against the lion and the bear, so let God use what is already in your hand.
- Moses' rod was nothing but a stick until he threw it down before God; surrendered to Him, it became the rod that worked miracles.
- The five loaves and two fish fed thousands only after they were placed into Jesus' hands - what we give Him is multiplied.
- You do not have to be worthy or able; you only need to be available to God.
- The gospel can change a life in an instant - the words Jesus Christ saves shook a lost man to his very foundation.
- Salvation is confirmed when we believe in the heart and confess with the mouth (Romans 10).
- The living word of God brings quick restoration - in seconds darkness turns to light and pain turns to joy.
Devotional
Look down tonight at what is already in your hand. It may feel small, ordinary, even lifeless, like a shepherd's rod. Do not despise it, and do not wait until you feel worthy; cast it down before God and let His presence touch it, and the same power that fed thousands and sent a depressed man to the nations will work through you. And when His living word reaches your heart, do not be surprised if change comes quickly - darkness turning to light, sorrow turning to joy, in a single moment of surrender.
Until the rod stayed in Moses' hand it could do nothing; thrown down before God, it became the rod that works miracles.
Jesus Christ saves - one sentence in a swimming pool shook the foundation of my heart.
Quick restoration can only come by the power of the word of the living God.
