restoration

Nathanael needed just one thing. And he cried out to God for it not even knowing what it was. He just knew that he was deficient for everything that he could possibly need without it.

And so he sat, under a fig tree, emptying out all of his concerns to a God who he thought wasn’t listening.

And so he sat.

It wasn’t long after that that he ran into Philip … and Philip had found the one thing.

John 1 ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

⁴⁶ “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

⁴⁸ “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

⁴⁹ Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

It is Independence Day. Let us not forget today about the freedom that all of us have.

As I sit today in a beautiful cabin nestled in the mountains of Buffalo Creek, I am so grateful for that freedom.

For our country.

For our soldiers.

For a pledge that says “One nation UNDER God”

And as my wife played this song for me today and I watched the lyrics, I couldn’t help but think about Nathanael. As he sat under that fig tree and cried to God, he was not completely sure that God was even listening to him.

But he found out.

And he found out in an encounter with none other than Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And he found out that something good could come Nazareth. In fact, to let us know that He has walked that road, He chose to be from Nazareth.

Let us not forget today that true freedom comes from Jesus.

Let us not forget that God is listening to us.

Let us not forget that an encounter with Jesus is all that we ever truly need.

Because He … Is Where It Begins.

John 1 ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God …

In The Name of the Father and the

Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Coach J

1 Samuel 30 ⁶ David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.

It didn’t take David very long to lose the support of people. The very people that he had rescued were turning on him discussing executing him! This, to me, is unfathomable and yet it makes perfect sense. People want all of it. We are never satisfied with what we have … we always want more. And, we probably don’t see it until we have been on the side where David sat in this verse.

Thank God … this is not the end of David’s story, or ours.

Our God is on an eternal quest to Recover What The Enemy Has Stolen.

And He has done so from the beginning, and on our behalf.

But how can this be done? How can you make a covenant when someone continually and consistently breaks it?

God knows.

In Genesis 15, God makes a covenant with a sleeping Abram. And why not? You can not “cut a covenant” when the person that you cut it with can not and will not meet up to his end of the bargain. So God cut a blood covenant with man through the only One strong enough to keep it.

God cut His blood covenant with man through Jesus.

And Jesus lived up to His end of the deal by dying on His end of the deal.

By His blood we are healed.

By His life we have life.

By His resurrection we can have eternal life.

By His perfection we can be sons … and daughters.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

The enemy will always try to steal from us. Sometimes he will win the battle. Most of the time, he will lose. And He can not win the war. The battle belongs to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

And it is on Him that I stake my life.

He … is MORE than enough.

In The Name of the Father and the

Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Know anyone who might like these? Encourage them to jump on to 2minutewarning.blog and hit the FOLLOW button!!!

Coach J

2 MINUTE WARNING

WITH DOUG JOHNSON

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508 Independence Day

451 Recover What The Enemy Has Stolen