Latest / Women At The Well: REJOICE / Episode 26: God Restores

Transcript

Episode 26: God Restores · Women At The Well: REJOICE

• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Grand Rising Sisters, peace and blessings to each of you on this glorious day gifted from God.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Rose, your host, and thank you for joining me this morning at the well.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Today I want to I want you to think about how God restores.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps you've had an experience with deep loss in your life.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: You might have gone through a divorce, lost a job, lost a close friend.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've watched a business fold or endured other painful seasons of lack.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Each of these losses can leave us feeling completely empty.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: But sisters, I want you to note today.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: God does restore.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: In today's episode, we will look at three biblical women who, through their wisdom, courage, and obedience were beautifully restored by God.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, sisters, get your tea, your coffee, and your lemon water.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And don't forget your Bible.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get restored this morning.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Gracious and Heavenly Father, we thank you for this beautiful morning, for this day that you have uniquely made and gifted to us.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Father, we come to you right now at the well, with hearts wide open and our spirits ready to receive from you.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, this morning, we pray for every sister listening today.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know the exact weight she is carrying.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know the spaces in her heart, her family, her finances, or her health that feel empty are possibly broken today.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Father, as we as we go into your word today, we ask that you quiet the noise of the world.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Open our ears to hear your truth.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Open our minds to receive your wisdom and strengthen our hearts to walk in courage and obedience.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, remind us that no matter how empty a situation looks, you are the God of abundance and the master of restoration.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we give this time to you.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Come and sit with us.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, sisters.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: This morning episode, at the beginning, each of these three situations looked a completely doom.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: But because these women that we're gonna talk about this morning stepped out in faith, but what looked like a dead end actually became a highway to a blessing.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because they stepped out in faith.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Our women of faith this morning are Abigail, the widow at Joraphat, the widow with the oil.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna be looking at these three women and looking at scripture to see what happened.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, let's look at Abigail, a woman of wisdom and courage.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I named her.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: A woman of wisdom and courage.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Turn with me to 1 Samuel the 25th chapter, verses 32 and 34.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel the 25th chapter, verses 32 through 34.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now, first of all, I want to give you a little background.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Abigail was married to a wealthy but harsh man named Nabal.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Scripture explicitly notes that she was both intelligent and beautiful.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now here's where the story begins.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: While David and his men were living in the wilderness of Peron, they had protected Nabon's shepherds and flocks from harm.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Later on, David was now in the wilderness and David sent messengers to Nabal, hoping Nabal would return the kindness by sharing some provisions.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Nabal rudely refused.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: When Abigail was told of her husband's insults to David, she knew it was a disastrous choice.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: David and 400 armed men were already marching to wipe out her entire household.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: She didn't panic, but she acted.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: In 1 Samuel 25, 18 through 19, Abigail acted quickly.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: She took 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dress sheep, five sheets of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisin, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on a donkey.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Then she told her servants, Go on ahead, I'll follow you.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: But she did not tell her husband.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: As she met King David, she bowed before him.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is what David said to Abigail.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Praise in verses 32 through uh I'm reading verses 32 through 34.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: David said to Abigail, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day, and from avenging myself with my own hands.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, Go home in peace.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: I have heard your words and granted your request.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now this was a life-saving decision.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: David accepted her offer and called off the attack.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Lady Nabal passed away.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Abigail became David's wife.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: She was not only saved from the destruction of her household, but she was fully restored to a life of honor.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Just because of her wisdom and courage.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the next lady, the widow at Zarophat, she had courage and she had provisions.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: So our next woman of courage and obedience is found in 1 King 17, verses 1 through 8.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: So let us go to 1 King chapter 17, verses 1 through 8.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Actually verses 1 through 18.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna do it a little differently, because this is a lot.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: So now Elijah the Tizbite from Tizbi in Galilee said to Ahab, as the Lord the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years, except at my word.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Leave here, turn eastward, and hide in the Coret Ravine, east of Jordan.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: So Elijah he did what the Lord had told him.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: He went to Coreth Ravine east of the Jordan and stayed there.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Sometime later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Then the word of the Lord came to him, Go at once to Jerephat in the region of Siddham, and stay there.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: So he went to Zaraphat, and when he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: He called to her and asked, Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: As she was going to get it, he called, and bring me a piece of bread.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: As surely as the Lord your God lives, she replied, I don't have any bread, only a handful of flour and a jar and a little olive oil in a jug.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son that we may eat and die.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Elijah said to her, Don't be afraid, go home and do as you have said.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Then make something for yourself and your son.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: She went away and did exactly what Elijah told her to do.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because of her obedience, there was food every single day for her family.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: But the story doesn't end there.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes later her son became severely ill and stopped breathing.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: She cried out in grief, feeling like she had given everything, only to lose her child.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yet God still had a plan.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Through Elijah, her son came back to life.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Her obedience initially created daily provision, but her enduring faith ultimately brought absolute restoration to her family.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Just think about that.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: She was getting ready to prepare food for her and her son to eat their last meal and die.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: But look how God changed the script and turned it around.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: God does that.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: He restores.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Our last woman is the willow with the all.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: She was overcoming the death.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: This woman was the willow of a man from the company of the prophets.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Following her husband's death, she fell upon incredible hard times.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: She had far more death than money.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody ever been in that situation?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: You got more bills than money?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: So in 2 Kings chapter 4, verses 1 through 4, let us go there.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: 2 Kings chapter 4, verses 1 through 4.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, by the way, I'm reading from the New International Version.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: But now his creditors is coming to take my two boys as his slave.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Elisha replied to her, How can I help you?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me, what do you have in your house?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Your servant has nothing there at all, she said, except a small jar of olive oil.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Elisha said, Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Don't ask for just a few.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your son.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Pour all into all the jars, as each is filled, put it to one side.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: So she left him and shut the door behind her and her son.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: When all the jars were full, she said to her son, Bring me another.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: But he replied, There is not a jar left.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Then the all stopped flowing.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: She went and told the man of God, and he said, Go sell the all and pay your debts.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: You and your sons can live on what is left.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Sisters, she was restored because she followed instruction.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: He told her to get jars from all of her neighbors, and she did that.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Then he told her to go in and shut the door behind her and her sons, and she did that.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Then he told her pour oil into all the jars, and she did that.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: And the oil kept coming.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Sisters, this is still true for us today.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Our lives can look as if we are at the absolute end of our ropes.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: But God always has a plan.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: In Isaiah 41:10, he tells us, so do not fear, for I am with you.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: I will strengthen you and help you.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is a reminder that God is always with us.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: He is a God of restoration.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: And you are not alone.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: No matter what you're going through, you are not alone.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: God is a restorer, and if we walk in wisdom, courage, faith, and obedience, He is and He will restore.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: The exact same God who restored those same women are the same God who is ready to restore what has been broken or lost in your life today.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we praise you today because you are a restorer of broken things, broken dreams, broken hearts, broken families.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: You are a restorer.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Father God, we thank you for the reminders of Abigail, the widow at Jaffor, and the widow with the oil.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for showing us that when we offer you our small steps of faith and obedience and our quiet moments of courage, you can multiply them into miracles.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray for my sisters as they leave the world today.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: If they are facing a situation that looks doomed, give them the spiritual eyes to see your plan at work.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Help them to stand firm on the promise that you are a restorer.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing that you are not finished with them yet.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Pour out your peace where there is anxiety, your joy where there is mourning, Heavenly Father, and your provision where there is lack.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: Multiply what we all have left, Lord, and carry us through to completion.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you, we love you, we trust you for the restoration that is already on the way.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' mighty name, we pray.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Rose, and I have been your host.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for spending this time with me today.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Sisters, go forth in peace, walk in faith, walk in courage, and expect God's restoration in your life this week.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, grand rising and blessings.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: And always remember, this water is living and will this well will never ever run dry.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: There's always something in this well for you.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Have a wonderful day.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Bye bye now.