Return to God

A Call From God

Bad Pastor Joke: One Sunday morning, the pastor noticed little Alex staring up at the large plaque that hung in the foyer of the church. The plaque was covered with names, and small American flags were mounted on either side of it. The seven year-old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up, stood beside him and said quietly, “Good morning, Alex.”

Good morning, Pastor,” replied the young man, still focused on the plaque. “Pastor McGhee, what is this?” Alex asked.

“Well, son, it’s a memorial to all the men and women who have died in the service.”

Soberly, they stood together, staring at the large plaque. Little Alex’s voice was barely audible when he finally managed to ask, “Which one, the 9:00 or 10:30 service?”

Read

Read Joel 1:2-13

King James Version Chapter 1

2  Hear this, ye old men,

And give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

Hath this been in your days,

Or even in the days of your fathers?

3  Tell ye your children of it,

And let your children tell their children,

And their children another generation.

4  That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten;

And that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten;

And that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.

5  Awake, ye drunkards, and weep;

And howl, all ye drinkers of wine,

Because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

6  For a nation is come up upon my land,

Strong, and without number,

Whose teeth are the teeth of a lion,

And he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.

7  He hath laid my vine waste,

And pbarked my fig tree:

He hath made it clean bare, and cast it away;

The branches thereof are made white.

8  Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

9  The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD;

The priests, the LORD’s ministers, mourn.

10  The field is wasted, the land mourneth;

For the corn is wasted: xthe new wine is ydried up, the oil languisheth.

11  Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers,

For the wheat and for the barley;

Because the harvest of the field is perished.

12  The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth;

The pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree,

Even all the trees of the field, are withered:

Because joy is withered away from the sons of men.

13  eGird yourselves, and lament, ye priests:

Howl, ye ministers of the altar:

Come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God:

For the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.

A Call From God

-The people in Judah in the time of Joel had become so preoccupied with the stuff that the world had to offer that they no longer focused on God

-For this reason God sends a swarm of locust to destroy the city and all of its surrounding area.

-Historical Background: We do not know much about Joel, except that he was a prophet and we get his father’s name

-Joel was prophesying to the people of Judah and was not only speaking of the current events, but also events that would take place in the future.

-In fact, Peter sites Joel’s writings in his sermon at Pentecost.

What Do You Love?

— In modern times w have an extremely difficult time expressing our emotions.

— We often use the word “love” to describe how we feel about our mother, our dinner, and our favorite sports team. (AND JESUS!!!)

— Joel points each of the different people to what he or she loves to show it being destroyed.

Drunkards, Farmers, Priests

3 categories :

The one who loves self

The one who loves work

the one who is religious

—

We are similar to these in that we place our hope in them.

What Does God Love?

— A cheerful giver. .

— The world. .

— Justice. , .

— The righteous.

— Christians. ; .

— Non-Christians. , .

— Those who love Him. .

--Those who obey His commands.

— Those who pursue godliness. .

— Those who fear Him. .

We Must Begin to Change