The Devastation is upon us.
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
There is a devastation across this land. Abortion Immorality. Rampant greed, Apathy. A genuine like of love
The Enemy has wrecked our world. Sin has devastated the family, health, and the church.
Intro to Joel
Intro to the prophecy
The disaster is upon us
The disaster is upon us
and it has given no pardon.
Similar in nature to what was going on in Joel’s Day There is an economic devastation upon us. but even greater is a spiritual devastation on us. If we don’t ready ourselves we will not be prepared.
Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors? Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten. Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips. A nation has invaded my land, a mighty army without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white. Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the betrothed of her youth. Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the Lord. The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the olive oil fails. Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed. The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree— all the trees of the field—are dried up. Surely the people’s joy is withered away.
So there is this massive disaster upon the land. these locusts have destroyed everything. For a society largely based on what they can grow this would be the end. What now? How will we survive?
The gas prices are high, almost $5/gallon. How will I get to work?
I can no longer afford groceries. how will we eat?
I cant afford clothes
My retirement is evaporating? What will I do?
I read the other day that a record number of single parents are skipping meals so that their kids can eat more.
You see in Joel's day there what total disaster? So everyone was falling down and seeking God right?
Well not exactly
Heads in the Sand, but Hearts Tremble
Heads in the Sand, but Hearts Tremble
Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes— joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up. How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering. To you, Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness.
Joel’s word to Israel is repent
Put on Sackcloth and repent
What was everyone doing after this devastation? Probably panicking and working to reseed and replant to rescue what has been lost. Running around aimlessly. Working I am sure! what will we do? what will we do?
They werer doing, but not resting. Worrying in instead of worshiping.
I hear the same thing in the world today? WHat will we do? WHat will we do? You see the same I see in many peoples eyes I see in my own.
But this morning my call in not to worry, not to fret but worship and lift our heads.
For this morning there is upon on a spiritual disaster reaching across the church. WE have seen many once strong believers fall into the sin of apathy and worldliness in the last 2 years. there is much devastation around. The enemy has depleted our hearts and robbed of blessing.
WE are not where we are called. WE are struck down, and it time to rise. Time to take back the ground lost. To boldly proclaim the gospel and see those who are broken healed.
Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations. Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run. As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, like a powerful army drawn up for battle. Before them peoples are in anguish; all faces grow pale. Like warriors they charge; like soldiers they scale the wall. They march each on his way; they do not swerve from their paths. They do not jostle one another; each marches in his path; they burst through the weapons and are not halted. They leap upon the city, they run upon the walls, they climb up into the houses, they enter through the windows like a thief. The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. The Lord utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it?
If the Spiritual issues are not dealt with the Lord will bring about a much greater disaster than we can image. So here we lie at this difficult time in our nation, but if we are not careful a far greater disaster will befall us. So what is the answer?
It’s time to Breakthrough!
It’s time to Breakthrough!
How many of us spend all of our time and resources trying to solve every problem ourselves when crisis arises. Financial, health, covid, whatever we spend our time worrying about things we not cannot stop but honestly have zero control over. My favorite of these is climate change. The world has convinced a generation that they can control the weather by driving a hybrid. Please! but yet there are entire generations running around screaming at everyone panicking about things they literally have no control over. Before we cast stones, we do the same thing in our finances or family issues. Something happens and the world is ending so we try and fix it ourselves.
My friends it’s time we broke through this cycle and let the Lord lead and restore everything the enemy has stolen.
WHat was Gods Solution to the disaster in Joel’s day?
Plant more crops, work harder? No Repent and return to Him.
Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people. The Lord answered and said to his people, “Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations. “I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land, his vanguard into the eastern sea, and his rear guard into the western sea; the stench and foul smell of him will rise, for he has done great things.