Joel 2:15-17

-The 4th of July is coming up this week, and a lot of people will gather together, there may be several things they gather to do, undoubtedly one of may favorites is to eat, perhaps shooting fireworks will be in the mix. A key important reason folks gather with others is to be in the company of their loved ones.

-We gather as the church, not to mark it off our list, not to sit in a pew in our lonesome and then hurry to get home. I don’t if you have noticed but as soon as our service is over you don’t see each of us rushing out the door to get home, instead we are fellowshipping with one another, we see the importance of being with one another, of checking on one another

-In our text Joel called the Jews to gather together, but it was not a call for a cookout

-again the blowing of a trumpet - the shofar, not a call to war, not to call the men to man the walls, but instead a call for an assembly to turn from sin and to turn to God, a sacred assembly

-a call for the hope of restoration

-this is reminiscent to the Festival of Pentecost in Lev. 23:21

Leviticus 23:21 ESV

21 And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.

-Something is to be said about the corporate gathering to seek God, Joel didn’t say yall all go home and get your families together and fast on your own - no this was very much we are all coming together to seek God, we are all gathering to confess our sins and to hold one another accountable

Deuteronomy 31:12 ESV

12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law,

Nehemiah 8:1 ESV

1 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel.

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

-There is a need to gather, I hear it way too often - I can worship God anywhere, I can go outdoors and worship God, I can go hunting and worship God (I’ve found that one interesting -which God are you worshiping there?), and yes you can worship God anywhere, and we are not only to worship God at the gathering of God’s people - but this thought is missing the whole point of the gathering - it is not just the fact that we gather to worship God - it is to remind one another that we are worship God every day, it is to encourage our brothers and sisters to growing into holiness, it is to hold each other accountable spiritually, it is the fellowship of the saints - being with like minded Christians who desire the best for us spiritually - this is the purpose of the gathering of believers

We must cease to think of the Church as a gathering of institutions and organizations, and we must get back the notion that we are the people of God.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Welsh Preacher and Writer)

-Sadly many gather in buildings today to say that they went and worshiped God, and they fail to worship Him any other time - to which I wonder if they truly worshiped Him

-This is a picture of the church - the corporate gathering of God’s people, the holding one another accountable, the encouragement of forsaking sin and seeking God

-Now notice Joel said Consecrate = be holy

-gather, fast together so that you may help each other in holiness

-How were the Jews to gather for this solemn assembly? What are the applications for us today?

Deny All Other Pursuits

-Why were the Jews to gather? Was it just for a festival of some sort? or for the sake of gathering? No, it was to fast

-Now I don’t know about yall, but I like to gather with people and there is one thing I like to do more than anything when I gather with a group of people and that is eat

-This gathering was not for eating, instead it was for fasting

-There are different types of fasting in the Bible, we may mainly think of fasting as abstaining from food for a period of time, but there are numerous types of fasts

-We have examples of those who fasted: David, Daniel, Moses, Jesus, Paul

-Regular fast - abstaining from food and drink, except for water

2 Chron 20 - King Jehosaphat called for a fast when an invasion was looming

Luke 4 - when Jesus was fasting in the wilderness (supernatural fast)

-Partial fast

Daniel 10 - Daniel only fasted from certain foods

-absolute fast - no food or water for a short period of time

Esther called for this after hearing the plan to kill all the Jews in Persia and as she was approaching to make it known to the king

-Paul in Acts 9:9 at his conversion did not eat or drink anything for three days

Supernatural fasts

-Moses receiving the law ate no bread nor drank water, Jesus

-There were times where fasting was called for repentance and this was such a time in which Joel called for the corporate fast

-But why fast? What is the purpose of fasting?

-What it is not: to just get what you want, this not a genie in the bottle, or a rabbits foot action

-No fasting, is so that we might seek God, it is to get rid of other desires, it is also to say that we need God above all other pursuits, that we need Him even more than we need food - think about it

-We pursue God because He has pursued us, and only because of His pursuit of us

-He continued to pursue the Jews

1675If you are not seeking the Lord, the devil is seeking you. If you are not seeking the Lord, judgment is at your heels.—2.92

Charles Spurgeon

Care for the Whole Body

-Who was to participate in this solemn assembly as they fasted together?

-One might suppose that just the leaders should fast

-Or other faithful ones

-Joel calls out for everyone to fast, from the infant to the elderly, from the priests to the average joes

-Also, it did not matter what you were doing or where you were

-the bridegroom in the process of being wed to his bride, is to leave his room and she to leave her chamber

-again the importance of seeking God, no other pursuit is as important

-would you think of that for a moment, your wedding day is not more important than your pursuit of God, the day your children were born is not more important, when you got your degree, when you retired and so forth - the point being the pursuit of God is before all other things

-But we must see the point that everyone needs to pursue God

-We may think well why the children or the nursing infants, because they are to be taught to pursue God

-Are you teaching your children that the pursuit of God is more important than anything else in life, sports is not more important than seeking God, their vocation will not be more important, whether or not they are a straight A student, nothing else matters if one is not pursing God

Christians are supposed to be holding each other accountable for the truth, or they’re not loving.

Timothy Keller

Galatians 6:1–2 ESV

1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Lead the Body Well

-Joel calls out the leadership

-This makes you wonder why there is a need to tell the priests, the minister of the Lord to intercede for the people

-This was their purpose, under the old covenant the priests were to make sacrifices and to intercede on behalf of the people

-Joel had to say it, fellas time to do what you were called to do, intercede for the people, lead them to repentance, bring them back to God

-they were between the vestibule and the altar, they were the mediators, they were the ones who were to help the people pursue God

-It is quite something that Joel is having to tell them to weep, to seek God, to intercede for the people, they need to lead the people well and they were not doing it, they were not interceding and bringing the people back to God

I am relieved that we have the Great High Priest, that we have a Priest who paved a way of perfect intercession, who brought us back to Father, in fact no one else could

Hebrews 7:25 ESV

25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

-Today we have leaders of our fellowship and we must lead well, we must lead one another to the Great High Priest, to the One who intercedes for us

The goal of a pastor and the leaders of a church should be to generate proper spiritual attitudes in the hearts of the people.

John F. MacArthur

-My desire for each of us is to know Christ, to grow in Christ, and I believe I can speak for the elders that is their desire as well, we want the body to be edified and we as leaders are to be constantly evaluating if we are doing everything to oversee the spiritual health of the body, as well you are to be evaluating are you doing everything you need to do to help the spiritual health of another member of the body?

-As we partake of communion together today we are reminded how through the blood of Christ we are united with God, we are also reminded of our union together as the body

-As we fellowship around the table later today we are also reminded of the fellowship we have with one another