Living out Life with Passion, Purity & Purpose

  At Restoration House we’ve been focused on Jesus Sermon on the mount and the Beatitudes for a few weeks. Wednesday night during Bible study we talked about what it means to be humble.   God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.     Matthew 5:5 NLT “The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed.” These are the words of Jesus And Jesus is not only the teacher but the model and the goal. “If Jesus is only a teacher, all He can do is tantalize us by erecting a standard we cannot come anywhere near. But if we know Him first as Savior, we know that He did not come only to teach us; He came to MAKE us what He teaches we should be.” Oswald Chambers “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”        Matthew 11:29 NLT Jesus starts with “Blesse

  Trust Recently many of us at Restoration House have been on a journey through Jesus Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes. I shared a teaching on Leaning on Jesus, which is the ONLY way we will every fulfill any of Jesus teachings.   Part of this lesson focused on Isaiah 26:3-4 ESV You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.   Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.   As part of this study I learned the Hebrew word for trust or “to trust” is Batach  baw-takh' It’s a verb To trust   To trust in, To have confidence, To be bold, To be secure It is closely related to Arabic verb trust which means “to throw one down upon his face, to lie extended on the ground”   Today I saw this post on Facebook “Maybe this is the season where God just wants you to put every ounce of trust in Him.” And I get it…. Well, sort of Because I’m pretty sure EVERY SEASON is the season where God

  Wednesday night during our Bible study Brynt shared about Jesus knocking at the door of our hearts.  My parents had this picture in our house growing up.  Revelation 3:20-21 "Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne. I have previously studied about the lukewarm church of Laodicea in Revelation 3. In reality the church of Laodicea is us - it represents the church of today. This plea is for any church - yes - any person, believer - who once knew God with Zeal and passion but has now become indifferent and lukewarm. There is a repeated cry throughout the messages to the 7 churches in Revelation. Revelation 3:6 "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. Revelation 3:13 "Anyone with ears to hear must lis

“ It’s a beautiful thing to repent.” I heard this quote by Francis Chan this week.  You know I’ve always said I’m thankful social media was not a thing when I was a growing up, that not every stupid decision & bad choice I made was publicly available in an instant & recorded forever!  You see during that time I was also walking out my new Christianity in a family full of new believers! I was young - most of them adults! My family was radically altered by an encounter with Jesus & filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.  My home Immediately became different but you know what... it didn’t become perfect. I didn’t become perfect.  Some of those stupid decisions & mistakes took place after I encountered Jesus - and you know what I still Loved Jesus! I still wanted to serve Him!  I spent a lot of time at altars! A lot of time in Repentance!  Remember the disciples... the ones who all abandoned Jesus in His greatest time of need - Peter who went back to cussing and fishing

Last night we sang "Trust in God" by Elevation Worship It seems to me that part of it is taken from Psalm 34:4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Looking at this Psalm it can be very familiar. But do we realize that David wrote this Psalm in a cave, a fugitive running from Saul. He had been joined in the cave at Adullam by many other desperate men. Several parts of this Psalm are memorable  David may have been physically hiding in a cave, but this Psalm makes it clear that in his heart he was hiding in the Lord. David knew that Praise was connected to his deliverance. He continues in Psalm 34:3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together. When we magnify something we don't actually make the object bigger. We cannot make God bigger.  He is Jehovah.  He is incomparable, unparalleled and matchless. There are 2 ways we magnify an object in this physical world -  a microscope and a telescope. One makes a small thing l

  Sunday David preached a sermon on weakness. Today I found this blog “The Power of Weakness” I wrote back in 2009 and have shared multiple times since. This is an updated 2023 version of that blog, 14 years later and still learning this process of weakness becoming strength. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong I think we could all agree that this concept is a hard one for us to grasp. We are talking about