Restored – The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl

On a museum tour, the guide told us, “That chair goes back to Louis the 16th.” That’s nothing, I have a couch that goes back to Sears on the 15th.

In driving all over south Jersey, going to work, I see a lot of furniture sitting near the street, waiting to picked up by the garbage trucks. When a piece of furniture is worn out or damaged, it appears that the majority of people will throw it away and buy a new one to replace it. I wonder how many people considered restoration? Maybe they think the old, worn item is not worth the trouble. It is just not worth the effort. We should be glad that God isn’t like that. He is in the restoration business. But God does not make things ‘like new’, He makes them new!

John saw it in Revelation 21:1-7: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”

And in 2Corinthians 5:17, the Bible says: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

In this morning’s schedule, we also read about this happening to Saul. Samuel had told Saul in 1Samuel 10:5-6, “After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy: And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.”

In verse 22 we catch a glimpse of the old Saul. When Samuel was going to introduce Saul as Israel’s new king, they could not find him. They had to ask the Lord to show them where Saul was. “And the LORD answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff.”

But in chapter 11, Saul went from fear to freedom. God gave Saul boldness as he went up against the Ammonites. “Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabeshgilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel. And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, Give us seven days’ respite, that we may send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel: and then, if there be no man to save us, we will come out to thee. Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept. And, behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field; and Saul said, What aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh. And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly. [God took away the fear.] And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one consent. And when he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. And they said unto the messengers that came, Thus shall ye say unto the men of Jabeshgilead, To morrow, by that time the sun be hot, ye shall have help. And the messengers came and shewed it to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. Therefore the men of Jabesh said, To morrow we will come out unto you, and ye shall do with us all that seemeth good unto you. And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the host in the morning watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.” (1Samuel 11:1-11).

God is not finished with us yet. It takes time for us to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. Samuel told Saul that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon him and he would become a new man. As we yield more to the Holy Spirit, and less to ourselves, the new man that God wants us to be is going to shine through.

Peace. (Galatians 6:15-16)


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