Rend, Renew, Restore
Majoring on the Minors
June 11, 2023
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. —Joel 1:4The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up;
the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails. —Joel 1:10
Why would God judge His people?
Sin eats away at every part of our lives.
Sin numbs you and then destroys you.
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand— a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come. —Joel 2:1-2
The Day of the Lord?
The Lord thunders at the head of his army;
his forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey his command. The day of the Lord is great;
it is dreadful. Who can endure it?
“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
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. —Joel 2:11-13
God calls his people to REPENTANCE.
Then the Lord will be jealous for his land
and take pity on his people. The Lord will reply to them: “I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations. —Joel 2:18-19“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. —Joel 2:25-26
God’s response to REPENTANCE is RESTORATION
“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. —Joel 2:28-29I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved…” —Joel 2:30-32a
God Promises future RENEWAL
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. —Romans 10:9-10
As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” —Romans 10:11-13
How deeply do we need spiritual renewal in our lives?
“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
Rend your heart and not your garments. —Joel 2:12