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The Cure For Judgment –
Call A Sacred Assembly
Encouragement last week / Conviction this week
INTRO: LEADING to WED. – Judgement is God Responding to Sin [Broad term]
We are to respond BEFORE it comes, but we’re also given grace AFTER it comes.
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A person is not to wait for judgment; they are to remove the cause.
Arthur Wallis, “If lukewarmness and apostasy are predicted for the endtime, it is not that we might apathetically await the fulfillment, but that we may be forewarned and strive to advert it.”
ACT Before – to avoid / ACT After – to establish and reconnect with GOD
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Ironically, the response is often the same: “God is slow to anger, patient & kind.”
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God is not worried about what people think.
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We don’t want to hear about the penalty, but the pardon. Don’t tell me about pain, I want pleasure. Don’t tell me about judgment, give freedom.
On Screen: In 2 Timothy 4:1-2, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”
TELL THEM ABOUT THE PAIN, but also the PROMISE…ABOUT THE JUDGE but also the PARDON.
Martin Luther – “Always preach in such a way that if the people listening do not come to hate their sin, they will instead hate you.”
Reminder: Paul is saying to preach the difficult truths as well as the joyful ones; preach the cross and the new life; preach hell and preach heaven; preach damnation and preach salvation; preach sin and preach grace; preach wrath and preach love; preach judgment and preach mercy; preach obedience and preach forgiveness; preach that God “is love,” but don’t forget that God is just.
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This should sound an alarm in the the heart of every pastor—are we encouraging sin by SILENCE?
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Regardless of where you’re at [our nation] – Joel offers the cure for Judgement
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IN THIS CASE, JUDGMENT ALREADY CAME
On Screen JOEL 1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.2 Hear this, you elders, And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything like this happened in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers? 3 Tell your children about it, Let your children tell their children, And their children another generation.
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ACKNOWLEDGE IT – OWN IT – PASS IT DOWN
Who are we to soften God’s blow?
Who are we to ease the pounding of the hammer?
Who are we to silence the trumpet that God is blowing to get our attention?
I WANT TO SEE MY CHILDREN CRYING OUT TO GOD – Weeping under the magnitude of their sin – seeing that they are lost without Christ.
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THE GREATER THE NEED THE TIGHTER THE HOLD
The Resurrecting King Is Resurrecting Them
On Screen 4 What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten. 5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you drinkers of wine, Because of the new wine, For it has been cut off from your mouth. 6 For a nation has come up against My land, Strong, and without number; His teeth are the teeth of a lion, And he has the fangs of a fierce lion.
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AWAKE – Are You Among The Living Dead? Article 11/2017
A.W. Tozer said, “A Christian will make spiritual progress exactly in proportion to his ability to criticize himself.” You must assess your spiritual health often.
Are you hungry for prayer? Are you desiring the Word? …craving worship?
SKIPPING AHEAD – Joel 2:25, “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.”
On Screen …8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the husband of her youth. 9 The grain offering and the drink offering Have been cut off from the house of the Lord; The priests mourn, who minister to the Lord. 10 The field is wasted, The land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine is dried up, The oil fails. 11 Be ashamed, you farmers, Wail, you vinedressers…All the trees of the field are withered; Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men.
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LAMENT – A PASSIONATE expression of grief
We must recognize our condition. The flaw of the Self Esteem Movement is that we validate our sin – we excuse our pride – we justify our actions.
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MORE SELF ISN’T THE ANSWER – THAT’S THE PROBLEM!
We’ve forgotten how to weep…to blush…to be ashamed.
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Why? Because the tenderness of Christ, the holiness of God, and the power of the Spirit are lacking in most Christians.
On Screen 13 Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; Wail, you who minister before the altar; Come, lie all night in sackcloth, You who minister to my God; For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God. 14 Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land Into the house of the Lord your God, And cry out to the Lord. 15 Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.
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FAST – the magnitude determines the response.
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Join us Wed. – “Call a Sacred Assembly” – Daniel, Nehemiah, Prophets..
Fasting is depriving the flesh of it’s boastful arrogance as we pray and seek His mercy.
Closing – vs. 16 Is not the food cut off before our eyes, Joy and gladness from the house of our God? …19 O Lord, to You I cry out…
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Is there lack in your life? Are joy and gladness nowhere to be found?
“I will restore to you the WASTED years…the years of REGRET and LOSS.”
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Or are you on the verge of God judging?
The chewing of the locus will be nothing compared to the Roaring of the Lion.
The buzzing of the insects will be nothing compared to Trumpet sounding from zion.
The devastation of the crops will be nothing compared to the Devastation of God almighty.
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Or do you simply need encouragement – it’s about FRUIT, not FAILURE.
CALL A SACRED ASSEMBLY – COME Wed. Hungry, Broken, and Alive
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