January 2010 Event

Dr. Roger Sapp

We are excited to be hosting Dr. Roger Sapp here at Emmaus January 22-24, 2010!

Dr. Roger W. Sapp was saved in a Youth With A Mission coffeehouse ministry for American soldiers in former West Germany in 1972. For next twenty years his experience of physical healing was unpredictable, unreliable and mysterious. In 1993, he had a breakthrough that changed his understanding of healing by focusing him on Christ as the perfect example of healing ministry. Since that time approximately 20,000 healings, deliverances, and creative miracles have accompanied his ministry. For more than ten years he has been equipping other believers to do Christ-like healing.

He is the author of numerous books, booklets and articles. His most popular books are Performing Miracles and Healing, a comprehensive biblical guide to developing a Christ-like supernatural ministry, Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt, a shorter book dealing with the doubts that block healing and most recently Paid in Full, a radical series of three books on Christ-centered biblical finances. Many have commented that these books were set them free from legalism and they finally began to see continual blessing in their finances.

His background includes the Eagle Scout award earned in his youth. He has served local churches as an elder, assistant pastor and pastor. He has been an Army Artillery officer, a prison, hospital, troop and pastor chaplain. He honorably retired from the U.S. Army in 1993 and was a theology professor for 5 years until he began to travel in ministry. He holds a Bachelor, a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Philosophy degrees.

Many have commented favorably on Dr. Sapp’s relaxed style of ministry. He has been a guest speaker frequently at the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. He has appeared as a guest on John & Carol Arnott’s television program. He has been a guest on several national Christian radio programs including Sid Roth’s Messianic Vision. Dr. Sapp presently travels full-time in ministry by invitation of local churches and has spent a considerable amount of time traveling internationally.

Through a divine dream, Dr. Sapp was able to purchase a very large house in Springtown, Texas where he and his wife live. They also frequently hold meetings in this house that they call The Well to network and equip believers to do Christ-like ministry.

See our upcoming events page for more information or call us at 662-746-2555.

See you in January!

Day of Refreshing

Saturday we had a Day of Refreshing at Emmaus Chapel. It was a blessing to all who came.  The Lord ministered to us.  His presence was heavy in the air as we worshiped and received communion together.
We had 45 people brave the weather to spend time with the Lord and the Lord honored their sacrifice by touching them with His Spirit.  I want to thank Maggie Yoches and her worship team for leading us in this day of refreshing.  Blessing upon them and the Emmaus team for all the work that was done behind the scenes.  We are looking forward to our next seminar with Dr. Roger Sapp which is January 22-24, 2010.  I know that the Lord has much more in store for us here, so come and be a part of what God is doing at Emmaus Retreat Center.

Upcoming Events

We have busy upcoming winter. Here are some events that we have scheduled now -

October 30 - Night of Presence - Worship and Prayer - Just come and soak - 7:00 pm until 9-ish.

December 5 - Maggie Yoches - “Day of Refreshing” 9:00 am to 4:00 PM lunch served - FREE!!  Must however pre-register to secure your spot. Will be filling up quickly.

Other evernts - Jan. and Feb. in the works.

Great Conference

We had our Sozo Conference this weekend and it was amazing! We would like to thank Jim and Pat Banks for their ministry and for allowing themselves to be used by the Lord. It was a time of connecting with each other and with the Lord as we learned how to minister to others that are in need.

I have already been using the tools!

We hope to have the Banks back in the future for more conferences. It was great!

Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord

Last Friday night we had a wonderful night of intimate worship before the Lord.  Twelve of us participated in this time of soaking in God’s presence and peace.  We spent 3 hours just experiencing the Love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  What a blessing it was to all those who came to give and receive from the Lord!  I want to thank David Dixon for lending us his voice and skillful guitar playing. It truly was a blessing to us all!   If you are interested in joining us in our next night of worship, please just send an email to us at info@emmausretreat.net and we will get back to you with information on our next worship night.

Fellow Sojourner in Christ,

Joseph

Congratulations to the newlyweds!

Today was a beautiful day for a wedding… and what a beautiful wedding it was.  It was our third wedding here at Emmaus and things couldn’t have gone better.  Congratulations Kayla and Smith!

Joy in the Journey

Luke 24:13-31  I was reflecting on the road to Emmaus and how the disciples felt as they journeyed along the road leaving Jerusalem.  Jerusalem, in their minds was a place of failure, a place of hopelessness and a place of discouragement.   All their hopes and dreams seemed lost in the death of their Rabbi and friend, Jesus.  There was no new kingdom, no change, they were back to the way it was before Jesus.
We all struggle just like they did.  We are no different.   Have you experienced lost dreams, shattered hopes, missed opportunities, or no purpose?   Life’s circumstances can do this to us.  Things happen in life that we just don’t understand or have control over.   Why we go through these circumstances- I don’t always understand.  Can life come out of death?
How about your life?  Have you seen life come from death?  I have.  It doesn’t mean it hasn’t been full of trials or pains.  It doesn’t mean it won’t take time before you see it.  Just like the disciples on the road to Emmaus who weren’t aware of the miracle who was walking with them,  we don’t always recognize Jesus when we see Him either.
Before we look at what Jesus did for the disciples, let’s deal with one illusion we all have- “we are in control”.  We all have it, we all want control. We desire control over ourselves, over others, over nature, over circumstances and even over God.  Christians must surrender this illusion and allow God to be in control.   Why?  Because He loves us and He is good and has our best interest at heart.  He proved it didn’t He?  Jesus did die for you and me so we could have this eternal life and we can take part in His Kingdom with Him.
We have a great Father who loves us dearly.  If you have a hard time believing this, I would like to recommend two books to you.  The first is “Experiencing the Father’s Embracing” by Jack Frost and the second is “He Loves Me” by Wayne Jacobsen.  They are both very good books on our Father’s love.
Let me ask you a question.  Do you always recognize and see Jesus’ kingdom at work in your life?  I would venture to say you don’t.  But guess what? - it is.  He is always before us, always with us, always speaking to us.  We just don’t see, hear or feel Him at the time.
So what did Jesus do for the disciples and what does he do for us?  If you look at Luke 24:15 Jesus came along side of them, He was with them even when life seemed darkest and most out of control.  He was there, but they did not see Him until He was ready to reveal Himself to them.
Jesus poured the scriptures into them giving them revelation on what the scripture meant and showed them who He was and what was fulfilled in His death.  We also need to ask Jesus to show us.  How is He revealing Himself to us in Word and deed?   Take the time to be honest with Him about your life, hopes and dreams.  Allow Him to comfort you, speak to you, and  show you His love.  He will guide you through times of sorrow and disappointment.  I know, I’ve had my share of them too.
He can take the grief in your life and exchange it with resurrection life giving us hope, joy, peace, and love.  Look at the disciples in Luke 24, they said “didn’t our hearts burn within us?”  Passion was reignited in their hearts.  What was dead had come to life again.  He does the same for us, why? Because he loves us and we are his sons and daughters.  Ask for the passion, ask for hope, joy, peace and love.  He will give it to you.
Place all the disappointments, fears, grief, and broken dreams on the cross.   Let them die and let Jesus deal with all the pain and let Him resurrect what He desires in your life.  I know this is not a one shot deal for most of us, but the more we let go, the more He can change us and heal us, and life will come out of death.  We need to trust Him and surrender.
Jesus walked with two hopeless disciples and gave them hope again.  He was present to them, encouraged them, spoke wisdom to them, gave them revelation, created passion in them, had communion with them and restored them as His disciples.  They returned to Jerusalem the very place they had left.  These two disciples weren’t special but they were His disciples and so are we.  And He will do the same for us.  He wants to breathe life into us, to give us new hope, revelation, wisdom, passion and fellowship with Him.   We will be able to dream His dreams, to live the Kingdom life, the eternal life in and through Him.  Yes, life can come out of death, but will we allow Him to take control of our lives or will we insist on doing things our way.  The choice is ours to make.  I pray we all make the right choice to surrender to Him.

A Bird Falling to the Ground:

Last Tuesday morning, Brandon and I were praying in the chapel together when all of a sudden we heard this large thud. A red-bellied woodpecker had flown right smack into our large chapel windows.  The impact was so hard that he left feathers stuck to the window before he fell to the ground.
We stopped praying and looked over the edge of the window and saw the woodpecker laying on the ground in front of the window.  His wings were outstretched and he wasn’t moving at all (except I could see his eyes blinking every now and then.)  Brandon and I decided to pray for this bird -one of God’s little creatures. We didn’t want to see him die this way.
We called out to our Lord to bring healing to this little woodpecker in his moment of need.  We prayed for 15 minutes or so.  You may be saying to yourself, “Why pray for a simple bird?  There are so much more important things to pray for.”  Yes, you are right there are more important things to lift up to our Father but we felt called to lift this little bird up to the Lord.

He did move slightly a couple of times, but as we watched life seemed to drain from the bird until there was no more blinking and I could only see shallow breathing.  It was now time for us to leave the chapel and go pray with a dear friend that was having surgery that morning.
As we left we walked to where the woodpecker was laying and spoke to him softly.  He tried to pick up his head only to have it flop over his body and then he closed his eyes.

Wednesday morning Brandon sited our red-bellied woodpecker in a tree near his house.  Thursday morning I spotted him perched in the pecan tree next to the Chapel.  Sunday before services I saw him again.  This little woodpecker has lifted my faith in our Father.  Our Lord does care about a little bird enough to heal him and He cares so much more about you and I.  Every time I see this woodpecker it’s a reminder of the love of God and how God still does heal and how His kingdom can and will invade ours lives to heal us and draw us closer to Him each and every day.
Next time you see a bird thank the Lord for his faithfulness to you and those you love.

A fellow sojourner in Jesus,

Joseph

Faith like Potatoes: Angus Buchan

“The condition for a miracle is difficulty, however the condition for a great miracle is not difficulty, but impossibility.”

A faith building story… a great movie….a must see.
click here to read more

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