Joel
Calvary Chapel Cherry Creek
Joel 3 vs 1-21
May 19, 2021 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
This study and this chapter and this book, it’s all very much about choosing the Lord. It’s also a revelation that He has already chosen you. And if you have chosen the Lord, then the call to arms in your heart of hearts is to grow in that decision. Here’s the thing, if you have received Jesus Christ and through Him redemption, salvation and acceptance into the family of God, that’s great! But that is not the end, it’s the beginning. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:22-23, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God…” You see, what you have received from God is a seed. And Peter goes on to teach what you and I need to do in order to allow that seed to produce fruit in our lives…leaving behind the flesh and walking daily in relationship and communion with Jesus. Joel is a tough one…a lot about hardship and judgement and condemnation…but there is also the promise of God…that His desire is to provide for those that are His. So, I just wanted to give you that…that first, please choose the Lord. Hear His call on your heart, on your life…and if you have chosen Him, it’s not like you now stop hearing His call because you’ve already answered…grow in faith. Seeds are promises…but the will of God in my life and in yours is a great harvest, some 30, some 60, some a hundredfold… Joel Chapter 3 Verses 1 – 2 • Where is the Valley of Jehoshaphat? The truth is that we really don’t know. Most people associate what Joel is saying with the Valley of Megiddo, or the place in Hebrew called Armageddon which is mentioned in Revelation 16 as the place where the kings of the earth are gathered to face God. Entirely acceptable… • What you’ll also discover is that Jehoshaphat himself is mentioned in Matthew Chapter 1 Verse 8 which is the lineage of Jesus. I am going to make a connection here that to me is personally key. All of the issues that I am dealing with or facing, thinking through and praying about, God enters into judgement with me, I find clarity, when I stand it up in the presence of Jesus. • Now, that’s not judgement in a bad sense at all. It’s more like, He helps me to see it rightly. What is right here. What is good here. What is healthy here. What is going to bring life…no matter really what the issue is. The Valley of Jehoshaphat for me, for the Christian is the lineage of Jesus. 1 Peter 4:17 says that, “Judgment begins in the house of the Lord,” and 1 Corinthian 6:19 says that, “You are the temple of the Holy Spirit,” God Himself…and so whatever your thought, situation, thing, problem or decision, take it and stand it against the standard and righteousness and goodness and holiness of Jesus Christ and what you or I should do is made very clear very quickly. • Jesus is the standard of judgement in our lives. Not the circumstance or the data or the emotion or whatever. Let the Lord guide and decide…do that with your stuff, man. Yea you’ll have to make some momentary calls and decisions that aren’t exactly convenient, but in the long run, you will be exactly where you want to be and the person you want to be. This is exactly what Paul was talking about in Romans 12. • Also notice, God takes very seriously the mishandling of His people. Absolutely talking about Israel in context of Joel Chapter 3 for sure but you are also His. Not a replacement of Israel but rather a grafted in addition to Israel. Joel Chapter 3 Verse 3 • One of the saddest indictments that God could deal out. Essentially, people being used as payments. More practically put, money and getting for yourself, prioritized over people. A right heart and a clean spirit prioritizes God first and others second. It’s just as simple as that. Confusion and complexity and consternation…they all enter and virally spread in a heart and life when priorities out of whack. Joel Chapter 3 Verses 4 – 8 • God will take care of His people. I mean, that is one of the best promises found in all of scripture. My job is really just to hold it together while I wait and that looks like trust…it might be able to be stated as trust…but honestly for me, and perhaps I’m not alone, sometimes its just plain holding it together with barely an ounce of hope. • I want greater faith than that, how about you? Romans 10:17 says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God. I can honestly say that the times when my hope is the lowest, its when I’m spending the least amount of personal time alone with the Lord, and specifically in His Word. By the way, this is consistent in my observations of others as well… • Prayer is essential, worship is essential, corporate gathering of the church is essential, ministry is essential…but nothing compares to time in the Word. Hebrews 4:12, “For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit…” As I spend time in the Word, this is the only thing that can pry off the soulish fleshly death that is clinging to my weary spirit. • Psalm 119:105, “Your Word is a lamp to my feed and a light to my path.” What to think, what to feel, what to rationalize, where to go…a guide post and light house in the stormy sea of my mind and heart! John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” It is the Word of God that pulls us into the heavenly calling that God has placed on each one of us. Luke 11:28, “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!” The blessing is in the learning, receiving, embracing and applying the Word of God. It is so essential. • I want greater faith. I want to get to a really tough day or a really tough situation or get some really tough news or in the face of some really tough discouragement, I want to stand in faith. This is how to grow in this area of my life. • 2 Peter 3:17, “Beware lest you fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked (version of myself), but GROW in the grace and KNOWLEDGE of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” I need and you need one thing. To grow in the Word of God. And as you increase your hunger for the Word of God, you decrease your hunger for the things of the flesh. • And then I’ll read and hear that God will take care of His people and instead of that being a single drop of cool water on my thirsty soul, it will be sufficient grace for the entire day! This is really what happened by the way…to those who sold God’s people, who persecuted the people of God…. • Nero led a tragic life, lost his mind, lost his power and empire and was so hated by the senators of Rome that they forced him to kill himself. Domitian was murdered by his own soldiers. Trajan died of disease. Severus died in battle. Maximus was cut to pieces together with his own son. Decius died in exile. Valerian was flogged to death after being captured by the King of Persia. Aurelian was killed by his own soldiers. Diocletian poisoned himself and Maximum hanged himself. All of these idiots live in my heart of hearts too…and I don’t want to listen to them because if I do, I become them. • God has a great plan for me. And a great plan for you…waiting for each of us on the other side of deciding to follow and to trust Him…and the will to make that decision grows strong, you and I grow strong in the Spirit, when we feed it the Word of God. Joel Chapter 3 Verses 9 – 16 • The nations, the things of this world rise up against God in battle and He just sits and judges. There is no victory for any enemy of God. But rather there is a revealing of the decision that they have made… If you are fighting against God, you are on the wrong side… • Jesus taught in Matthew 25:31-46 about this event. And the crux of the decision is who did you choose in your life? To serve self, or to serve God. (Read) Boil it all down…sin and salvation…saved or lost…filled with the Spirit of God or rejecting the call of God on your life. That really is the single decision. Who have you decided to serve? • And in the last day and even in today, the light diminishes and the earth shakes but that decision will shelter the man or woman of God. God has promised that He will be a shelter for His people. The truth and the word of God is a hope (that’s the actual word here) and a shelter and a refuge for those that love Him and it is a curse for those that refuse Him. Both now and on this day. All will know this next line… Joel Chapter 3 Verses 17 – 21 • Remember, Zion is the heart of the land. This is where God desires to dwell and really the only place He will dwell. God is with me, I know this. He is in my life. He is in my plans. He is in my desires. In my thoughts, in my circumstances, in my waking and in my sleeping…I know all of this…but He will only dwell in my heart of hearts. That’s where I’ve got to welcome Him and allow Him to set up His sovereignty in my life. • Edom and Egypt are always a picture of the world in the Bible and the world is going by the way of desolation and wilderness…but God’s plan for you is good. His plan for me is God. Lasting abundance. Days of drought are a long-forgotten memory. New wine, speaking of a continual, daily, new filling of the Holy Spirit and milk always speaks of health and nourishment which is what God desires to give and do for me and for you. • After the rapture, after the Great Tribulation, the thousand-year reign of Christ and the White Throne Judgement, this is the end-game for us church and for Israel. Acquitted, declared innocent and right, because of the love of God through Jesus. And the best thing to think about it…this decision for you…to invite and welcome you…to fill you with His Spirit…to make you clean and right…it’s already been done.
Joel 2 vs 1-32
May 5, 2021 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
If God is anything, He is a God of restoration. That is what the cross is about, that is what salvation is about, that is what the work of the Spirit in my heart and life is about…that is what God is about. God is love. Agape. Without condition and without exception kind of love. Love that just loves. And that kind of love, God Himself, 24/7, desires restoration unto Him. This chapter is special because I believe what we find in it is specifically how we come back to Him. How we become restored with Him and in our lives. Maybe you’re fine today and don’t necessarily need restoration, you’re doing well….we don’t like you but good for you. HA! But I would guess that many of us aren’t there. So, as we walk through this chapter, I’ll point out the three things, the three steps to restoration unto God. Because they are clear…. Joel Chapter 2 Verse 1 • Step one of restoration jumps right out at us in the first verse of this chapter and really lasts through verse 11. The first step of restoration unto God is urgency. We want to change, we want to be well, but in our heart of hearts, there is no urgency. It must be there. The devil’s favorite word, or one of them, is tomorrow. We really must always have an urgency when it comes to sin in our lives. To clear it out as soon as possible. And when it comes to restoration, if you want it, want to receive it from God, then look…there must be urgency. • Last week, in chapter 1, we talked a lot about the issue of sin and the affect that sin can have on a life. The chewing, the swarming, the crawling, the consuming of verse 4 of the previous chapter. And we talked about the grace of God, the protection and provision that He desires for us that we would awake and choose Him. • Here is the urgency…., blow the trumpet, sound an alarm…Yes Joel is speaking about Israel but remember we don’t have much of a reference point to draw from in terms of historically linking this to any past event. Perhaps we can tie it to future events as we progress through this chapter…but because of that, I read these words and internalize them immediately. Personalize them readily. • This is my play, my role, my action of believing God and choosing Him in order to offend sin…offend the enemy…because there is no defend. Once the enemy is driving recklessness and consequence into my heart and mind and life, I can’t defend…damage is already being done…so if I do choose to go on the offense, which every Christian should be on the offense, then these urgent actions are mine to take! • Blow the trumpet in Zion! Zion is a placename used in the Bible as a synonym for Jerusalem as well as for the Land of Israel as a whole. Specifically, the term Zion is used to imply that this is the land of God. This is His land. This is not just Israel, this is Zion, this belongs to the Lord. Psalm 147:12, “Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!” • And so, Jerusalem, Israel is the land of God and Zion speaks of the heart of the land…belonging to God Himself. And so, what must I do, to offend the flesh, offend the enemy…blow the trumpet of offense in my own heart. Blowing of the trumpet, or the shofar, is an act of war, it is a call for congregation…for joining, for unity…I am to go to the pinnacle of my heart of hearts, only I’m there…and only the Lord is there…and I am to do these things. Blow the trumpet and sound the alarm. • Once you do these things, there’s no going back. The people are going to take up arms. They are going to assemble. The army is coming. And this is the place I and you and we and us must get to, Christian, if we are to overcome sin through the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Everything changes…that trumpet cannot be unblown….homes and jobs and hobbies and interests and all that is left behind for the sake of coming to the holy mountain, meeting God there in my heart of hearts, and drafting and enlisting every bit of who I am into the person and mission of Jesus Christ. For my life and for the lives of those around me. • This is the decision, this is the action, this is pivotal in a life. This is it. Remember that song? Huey Lewis? If this is it? Please let me konwwwww! Well, I’m letting you know. Muster up some urgency…sound your alarm. I cannot do it for you. Do it! • Look, this is what God did for you! In Zion, the Holy Mountain in Mt. Moriah, where Jesus took your sin and my sin and your shame and my shame and He nailed it to a cross, buried it in a tomb, and left it there. His sounding, His alarm was, “It is Finished.” And now it’s my job to respond! Joel Chapter 2 Verses 1 – 2 • The Day of the Lord is a term used not infrequently (in fact 35 times) throughout scripture to describe God’s final and ultimate intervention in the affairs of men. It’s used to describe the rapture in 1 Thessalonians 5:2, the second coming of Jesus in Revelation 16:14, and the final judgment of all sin such as we read in Isaiah 2:12. And so the Day of the Lord can be applied to any of these events or the series of events that are all eschatological and all yet ahead in our timeline/future. • But notice, it says here, in the end of verse 1, “For it is at hand.” The Day of the Lord for the you could be coming to salvation. A people come, great and strong, the like of whom have never been…that is the power of the blood of Jesus, unlike anything else, because it alone has the power to forgive you of all of your sin and restore you unto your creator. To change your destiny from elimination (removal from a holy and just God) to eternal life. • For the believer, this is the calling upon the whole of heaven, the power and the might of the Holy Spirit from within you, to defeat your sin and your flesh and to move forward. To trust God. To break free from the strongholds that sin has held onto within you that you have never had the strength to overcome! • Surely Joel is talking about Israel and definitely he is talking about a true and real and perhaps future physical army, but this doom and gloom is pronounced upon my sin and my shame when I walk into and receive the grace of God, calling upon and yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit with urgency. HE PROMISED! God promised you!! • Deuteronomy 4:29, “But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heat and with all your soul.” Proverbs 8:17, “I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me find Me.” Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” So, God, I call You on that! And that’s what He wants…why? Because that is to trust HIM! • So, walk through these verses with me and picture this…this is the stronghold of sin in my heart…and the righteousness and love and grace and forgiveness and power of God through the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart and life just decimates it when I got after it with urgency! Joel Chapter 2 Verses 3 – 11 • None. No sin can survive. I give my whole heart to Jesus…He overpowers, overwhelms, overcomes, overshadows and calls it all to be over even in my own heart of hearts! • When we are right with the Lord, we want the Day of the Lord to come. It’s great and it’s terrible but it restores, it renews, it removes that which is not of Him. When we aren’t right with the Lord, we dread the Day of the Lord because it takes away something that we desire more than we desire Him. Joel Chapter 2 Verses 12 – 13 • The second step in restoration is brokenness. Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, these, O God, You will not despise.” There must first be an urgency and then there must be a brokenness. • The Jews would outwardly display disgust and remorse by rending or ripping their clothes. A circumstance that would need repair…but God says, “Yea, do that with your heart!” Thick with meaning here…only you can do that. It’s literally, break your own heart over the situation. Only I can be broken over my own condition. And God is so much less (zero) concerned over me facing and fixing what’s on the outside than me facing and fixing what’s going on in my heart! • God has said so many times to me, “I don’t want your tears! I want transformation!” He gives a new heart, a new mind. David cried out, “God, You desire truth in the inward parts!” I heard it said once that the harvest only comes from broken soil. Rain only comes from broken clouds. Bread only comes from broken wheat. Nutrition and filling only comes from broken bread. Peter was never restored unto power until he was thoroughly broken and humbled. The fact is that God can only use broken hearts. Humble hearts. His heart is far from the proud but His grace is poured upon the humble. • But notice, He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness…just looking for an opportunity to save. Just looking for me to call out to Him…man in trust or not in trust…He’s ok with desperation…His heart is for me, not against me…to bring me through not to leave me to my own pain…doesn’t feel like that in the moment…but the sorrow only lasts for the night when I turn to God…it lasts indefinitely when I don’t deal with myself. Joel Chapter 2 Verses 14 – 17 • This is like bring it all…go entirely all in after the Lord. This is the third and final step of restoration unto God. First, urgency. Second, brokenness and humility. And the third is surrender. This is the setup for success in the heart and life of the child of God. Bring the people, elders, children, bring your faith, bring your past and your future (elders/children) and go get hitched to Jesus! This is a call to turn to the Lord with your entire heart…hurts (past), fears and questions (future) and then even a renewal of faith… Let my faith that has been built these years but now has failed…let it fall and rise again stronger… Joel Chapter 2 Verses 18 – 19 • New wine always speaks of the Holy Spirit. It always speaks of a new work that God is doing and will do in your life, in my life. The trick is though, can’t use old wineskins…before God can bring the new wine, I’ve got to be in a prepared state…new wine skins…that’s brokenness and surrender. Joel Chapter 2 Verse 20 • I love this picture…James writes in James 4:7-8,10, “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” I actually don’t have to fight the enemy, my offense is to resist and to draw near to the Lord. When you draw, you create a picture, a reality…that is a great thought here…that I am redrawing my life, redrawing my heart…and in doing so, the enemy is fleeing because I am near to the Lord! • This picture is awesome. This enemy doesn’t know if he should run or defend. That’s why his face is towards the east and his back is towards the west but he is moving north. He’s on his heels. Scrambling. Totally unstable and panicked. Why? Because I am finally dealing with my own heart…the one thing that will defeat the monstrosity of sin in my life… Joel Chapter 2 Verse 21 • Notice, from monstrous to marvelous. I’m so ready for that. One thing though, let the monster flee. I hold onto my failures of yesterday like treasures. Treasures that teach me how to be better…not so much, let them go…the marvelous of now and what God is doing now and how God has healed and changed me and given His grace…that is a much much much better teacher for my future. Joel Chapter 2 Verses 22 – 23 • It’s good to recall the faithfulness of God. The former rains as it were. That God has been so faithful and even now He will yet be faithful to His Word. The latter rain. I also personally read that as the ladder rain. That as I wait upon the Lord and watch for His faithfulness, many times that gives me the tool I need to climb out of my pity party, my ditch, my own darkness. Far too many times I look at God through the shadow of my own sadness when it ought to be the other way around. That’s when I climb… Joel Chapter 2 Verses 24 – 27 • Trials, tests, situations and seasons build faith. Isn’t that just the pits? HA! I mean, I’d rather bible studies and prayer and good works and good stuff like that…I’d rather that do the work of perseverance and character in me…but it doesn’t. I’m happy with full vats… God wants bigger vats…and He wants to see me watch them overflow. I’m good with today being good…God wants to show me even how the years past can be entirely restored. I’m weak but He is strong. And what He wants for me is greater…and His will is on the other side of hardships in my life in which I learn to trust Him more… Joel Chapter 2 Verses 28 – 29 • Certainly speaking of future events for Joel…the giving of the Holy Spirit upon the hearts of men, the foreshadowing of the Day of Pentecost, an emersion into the Spirit of God. That is the idea of “pouring.” Joel Chapter 2 Verses 30 – 32 • Whosoever figures it all out, whosoever is sinless, whosoever isn’t hurting, whosoever is entirely ready and entirely done with sin…nope, none of those things. Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord…that’s it. Urgency, brokenness, surrender. To call upon Him for help. For healing. For deliverance. For change. For salvation. It’s so much easier and simpler than we/I make it. Whoever will simply call…blow the trumpet, sound the alarm…call a stop to it all in your own heart of hearts and perhaps even again trust in God completely! Humble myself in the sight of the Lord, and He will life me up!
Joel 1 vs 1-20
April 28, 2021 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Setting up the Book of Joel might be the easiest introduction that I’ve ever done! Why? Because just so little is either known or agreed upon regarding when this Book was written and who this Joel is. There are no explicit or obvious references in the book to objectively datable persons or events. For this reason, most Bible commentators attach no great importance to the precise dating of this Book, and neither do I. You can play with some of the things and events mentioned, and you can play with the many scriptures that are perhaps quoted by Joel (some say other scriptures quote him) and you can come up with some ideas but honestly, doesn’t interest me. If it interests you, have at it! So, who is this Joel? Answer is, we really don’t know. One Bible teacher concluded that there are upwards of 13 different Joels in the Old Testament. Joel was the name of the firstborn son of the prophet Samuel. Joel was the name of one of David’s mighty men, the brother of Nathan. (Just to name a few) So, which one is this? No way to know. Could actually even be yet another Joel! Even today, Joel remains a common name in modern culture, however not too popular in America, its ranked 187th in terms of boy’s names here but interestingly, in Finland, its ranked 15th! So, next Joel you meet, ask him or her if they are from Finland. Good convo starter. Unless its Joel Osteen. Start that conversation differently if you know what I mean, HA! So, who is this Joel? Well, a messenger of God. Fact. Indisputable. Everything else we try to reach for ends up doubtful or just in some sort of human tug-of-war argument which honestly, I am not interested in at all. Joel, a messenger of God with rich meaning in the name itself. Joel literally translated means, “The Lord is God.” (Yahweh is God) This is so important. Critically important even to the content of this book as we study through it. This statement, this thought, this personal decision for each and every one of us. Who have you assigned/allowed God to be to you in your heart of hearts? This goes all the way back to the original revelation of reality given to us in Deuteronomy 28. That if we choose to make God our Lord, blessing will come. Completeness of heart and safety of spirit will rise in our lives. But if not, if we choose differently, then hardship, incompleteness and loss will be our personal life harvest. Simply put, blessings on obedience, trust and submission to God, and curses on disobedience and rejection of the authority and glory of God. Yahweh is Lord. That is the proclamation that must permeate and predominate all other actions, decisions, emotions, attitudes and ventures of the heart. This is to live as Christ lived. This, simply put, is to be a Christian. All the do’s and the don’ts…not needed…this one thing is needed. God…You are MY Lord. This personal stop-the-presses, final decision, identity statement within a heart denotes ultimate respect towards God, preeminent devotion unto Him, transcendent trust of Him, extreme honor upon Him, absolute leadership and shot-calling in your daily navigations and decisions, works and actions in your life. This is paramount…have you made this decision? If not or if you’re not sure…Christian, will you make it today? There is no other decision that needs to be made compared to this one…this one decision will determine your intimacy with God, your blessed or cursed course ahead of you, your tomorrow, your identity, your character…this decision determines who you are. Would you just make this decision right now? God is Lord. That is this Joel and that is truly the theme of this entire short Book…. Joel Chapter 1 Verses 1 – 3 • The term “elder” is a term of honor, leadership and wisdom. All of those things come not in your accomplishment, intellect, ability, or presence. Those things, honor, leadership and wisdom all come in the heart declaration and personal decision that God is Lord. No one that has ever lived has had shame brought upon his or her character that has made the One true God their Lord. Their Leader. No matter how their life went or ended, each person in all of time and places that has resolved to honor God as their personal Lord has been a person of honor, leadership and wisdom. • Do it today…and God does even a new work in your heart of hearts. You may have been a Christian your whole life or maybe just a year, devote yourself to goodness, righteousness, holiness, and truth…give yourself over completely to God who today is perhaps finally your personal Lord and Savior, and a new creation…again. • God will speak to you, show you, lead you forward to the point He will have you saying, “Has anything like this happened in your days?” No! Because in all of time God has only made one of you…and what He wants to do with you, and for you, and in you…it’s never happened before. Even if you tonight feel far from the Lord, in a moment, God can bring beauty from ashes…a lost-cause heart to healing light…He’s already made the decision to do that for you…it’s your decision to say yes to Him and promote Him from the God of truth to the God of you… Joel Chapter 1 Verse 4 • The idea being presented here is that of the effects of sin. Consequence of sin comes in waves, cycles, layers…and in many ways its relentless in its attack. Consequence doesn’t run on batteries, its not gas powered, its spiritually powered…the realm of the spirit is not powered by some sort of renewable resource that is limited…it just is…it’s constant…it never runs out. Once you figure that out then you search better. Its not time that heals, its not drugs, alcohol, toys or treasure…the only way to stop the chewing, swarming, crawling and consuming that sin wants to do to you, and that consequence will do continually and without mercy to your life and loved ones, the only way to stop that is to promote God. Godly sorrow leads to repentance and repentance in play changes everything! Promote God in your life! • Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. The father of sin is the enemy and the power of sin is death…you and I cannot defeat that enemy…but God is able. Greater is He. So promote the Lord in your heart to the top spot. Avoid the curses all together…but even in the midst of the curse…if that’s you, this is the game changer. The battle winner. The war ender. Joel’s call to you, to me, to any receiver…to stop these cycles of nonsense and hurt is ….wake up!!!! Joel Chapter 1 Verses 5 – 7 • There is an element of sorrow…without pain there will be no change. But let shame go. That is not from the Lord. No where in the Bible do we see or read of God sending shame from heaven. Shame can go…shame lies to you about you. Sorrow fuels repair. Godly sorrow takes even what the enemy meant for evil and flips it on its head and uses it for good. Shame leads to pride and more damage. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” • And so, there is a bit of mourning and humility that just has to be part of the equation. Of what I could have been and how I have missed it. The fierce lion roaming about seeking whom he can devour has crept in, perpetrated my space…caused all kinds of cost. The white branch literally speaks of barrenness. But take heart…remember what verse 5 started with! It wasn’t woe is me all is lost…it was awake! • Yes, I’m here. Yes, I’ve missed this, yes I’ve really messed up…but even yet, God has not left me! He still calls me His beloved! He still has that sin slingshot ready to cast my sin as far as the east is from the west…it is time for me to simply fold into my Father and allow His righteousness, His strength, His unquenchable love to surround me and fight this thing for me!! How do I tag Him in? True and Godly repentance. There is hope NOW…head up, eyes forward, trust and MOVE OUT! Joel Chapter 1 Verses 8 – 12 • Honest…these are the conditions of the heart, the circumstance of life and the reward of living after the flesh that God calls you away from and desires to save your from and out of…. Joel Chapter 1 Verse 13 • There is also a spiritual element of consequence to sin…as a spiritual man or a spiritual woman, your soul craves intimacy, proximity and communion with God. That is the source of joy in your life. And when the flesh is promoted, if God is demoted…in the circumstance, decision, or situation, then your joy is interrupted. Its not gone…one moment of repentance restores the full measure of joy…not lost…you’re not lost…the path just got a bit foggy. In that moment, take His hand…holding a father’s hand, the child need not even have their eyes open…its almost a position of rest. This is the advantage of the born-again child of God…even in the midst of failure… Joel Chapter 1 Verses 14 – 20 • How extremely encouraging! HA! But the theme isn’t the sin…what’s underneath, above and around all of this is a God that is fully prepared to unleash grace! What does the situation need? Grace. What do I need? Grace. What do I need to give? Grace. Who is the Author, Owner, Manufacturer, Distributor, Genesis and Supplier of Grace? Promote Him. And that paper of promotion, that assignment and allowance of promotion…its repentance. Simply agree with God, tell Him about it, tell Him everything…and then wait for instruction from Him. It will come immediately. Joy will come immediately. And then stand back on your feet and obey Him. The entire future course filled with fog will light up like the Eastern Sunrise, and everything will be different as you walk hand in hand with your perfect Father.