WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:04.879 It's time now for the rope with Pastor Peter Steve Holt. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:12.320 Church, it's time for us to be vigilant in the disciplines of the faith and holy habits in our life. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:21.199 If we're just gonna kick back and just do church, if the enemy's gonna win, devastation is coming. 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:23.519 A warning to all of us. 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:28.640 I believe where much is given, much is expected, even in our city. 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:33.600 Welcome to another edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:38.560 Steve is the head pastor of The Road in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:46.320 It's our vision to make wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ and to see you grow in the grace and knowledge of his love. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:56.799 If you're in the area, we meet at Chapel Hills Church, located at 2025 Parliament Drive, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80920. 00:00:57.119 --> 00:01:01.439 You can go to our website at theroad.org for service time. 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:04.319 That's theroad.org. 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:09.599 Here now with today's message is Pastor Teacher Steve Hope. 00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:16.480 We are in Joel chapter 1, moving into Joel chapter 2. 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:20.400 You can go online and pick it up if you've missed the first two messages. 00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:25.840 But the theme of Joel is the day of the Lord. 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:30.079 And just another way to frame that, you guys, is the Lord's day. 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:32.159 So we think of the day of the Lord. 00:01:32.239 --> 00:01:36.959 It's a day of reckoning, it's a day of judgment coming upon Israel. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:41.680 Somewhere between 400 and 800 BC, we don't know exactly. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:43.840 We know very little about Joel. 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:54.480 But in Joel chapter 1, and then in Joel chapter 2, we are seeing an unhuman army assaulting Israel. 00:01:54.799 --> 00:02:02.239 God is using an unhuman judgment upon Israel through locusts. 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:04.640 These locusts are coming upon the land. 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:06.319 They're devouring the land. 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:10.000 I described that in greater detail last week. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:18.159 But I see three unhuman armies of devastation upon America right now. 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:20.400 Invading our nation. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:22.400 And the first is pornography. 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:27.599 Pornography, men and women, is just invading our nation. 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:38.560 I was just in King Supers doing some marriage, premarriage counseling on Monday, and after the couple left, I always go to the magazine section or the book section. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:40.879 I just want to see what's out there. 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:50.159 I don't buy anything there except usually Victoria magazine for my wife, which has all these really cool designs on houses and everything. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:58.639 So me being the sensitive and loving husband that I am, I bought a Victoria magazine for Liz, and she said, I already have it. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:07.360 But there was there on the bookshelves, the bestsellers was 50 shades of gray. 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:16.800 Um, just a travesty from what I've read about the brutality of sexual exploitation, especially of women. 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:19.439 Haven't heard anything from any of the feminists on that. 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:21.280 Gosh, I haven't heard anything. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:33.280 The pornographic industry makes more in one year than Yahoo, Apple, Amazon, and eBay combined. 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:39.919 Porn is ruining marriages, it's destroying homes, and it's a national disaster. 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:48.479 If you're involved in porn, and statistics would say eight out of ten men in this room are, I hope that's not true in the road, but it could be. 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:56.639 If you are regularly involved in porn, it will ruin your relationships, it will ruin your marriage. 00:03:56.879 --> 00:03:58.879 And demons are in porn. 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:02.000 When you're looking at porn sites, there's demons there. 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:08.960 There's demons just pouring into your eye sockets and into your heart, and it's ruining your life. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:13.680 So I believe national disaster is porn. 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:19.040 Second national disaster in epidemic terms is violence. 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:34.000 In the movies and TV shows that glorify violence and mayhem, violence is pouring into our hearts here in our culture and into our country, and we just saw it yesterday, even in our own city. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:37.600 I don't know if you've ever seen the movie or I mean seen the show. 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:42.639 I haven't watched it, but I've seen it in advertisements, criminal minds. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:50.879 I don't know what that's about, but my understanding is from what I've read about it, and then what I've seen in the advertisements, it's glorifying criminals. 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:55.439 It's glorifying deranged people. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:58.480 It is a national disaster. 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:02.000 The prevalence of violence into our hearts and minds. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:09.040 And then thirdly, and this is the most important and the deepest national disaster in America, it's unbelief. 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:12.879 The worst national disaster in America is unbelief. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:19.120 Secularism, atheism, agnosticism, humanism is a national disaster. 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:22.959 One nation under God? 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:26.000 Indivisible? 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:27.600 Are you kidding me? 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:32.560 The unbelief, even in the church, is a national disaster. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:35.519 And it's more of a national disaster than porn. 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:42.000 It's more of a national disaster than violence because porn and violence are just the fruit of unbelief. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:55.040 Unbelief in our church, in a powerful, loving, kind, compassionate God that can empower you through the Holy Spirit and His Word to do all things through Christ who strengthens you. 00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:56.480 We don't believe that. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:57.600 We don't believe that. 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:03.120 And God is raising up a church that does believe that because you're gonna have to believe that. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:14.720 And I believe most of you are here right now because you do believe that, and you're growing in your faith, and you're getting equipped in your faith because this is what's about to come. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:20.319 So turn Joel chapter 1, we're at verse 13. 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:23.439 Joel chapter 1, verse 13. 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:27.279 Gird yourselves and lament, you priest. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:31.120 Wail, you who minister before the altar. 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:42.399 Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you who minister to my God, for the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the houses of your God. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:50.639 And so last week I shared with you what it means to have a nineteen trillion dollar economic debt. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:07:04.480 And I gave you some illustrations of what that looks like as we see the economics in Israel at that time and even the economics in our country pouring in to the point where there will be no grain offering. 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:10.079 There will be no economic abilities with our banks because of what's happening before us. 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:14.399 But what would happen, church, if we cried out to God? 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:17.279 Joel is speaking. 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:19.680 By the way, Joel's a nobody. 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:21.120 Joel's a nobody. 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:25.279 We have no references to Joel except from the Bible. 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:27.759 And in the book of Joel, we don't know who he was. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:29.680 Probably very similar to Amos. 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:33.920 Amos was just a sheepherder who, even in the book of Amos, says, I'm a nobody. 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:42.959 He's a nobody, and he and he's crying out to the priest, and he's crying out to the temple worshipers and to the Levites. 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:45.199 Cry out, lament, cry out to God. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:51.680 What would happen if we had a national leader like Abraham Lincoln? 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:56.319 Have you read the 1863 proclamation for Thanksgiving? 00:07:56.639 --> 00:07:59.519 So we read it before our meal. 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:01.600 No, in the middle of our meal. 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:03.040 Everybody was so hungry. 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:06.639 Liz and I looked at each other, this is not going to happen before the meal. 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:08.560 Nobody's going to hear what we're saying. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:20.560 So in the middle of the meal, as people were getting stuffed with all the goo that goes with Thanksgiving, I read the 1863 proclamation, and just Google it. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:28.879 1863 proclamation for the first Thanksgiving by as a national Thanksgiving holiday by Abraham Lincoln. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:30.720 It sounds like this. 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:33.840 He says, Cry out to God, lament. 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:35.840 We're in the midst of a civil war. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:37.279 That's God's judgment. 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:45.440 What would happen if we had a national leader who called forth that our whole nation lament and cry out to God? 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:48.480 And we said, Lord, we don't know what to do about ISIS. 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:53.120 God, would you show us what to do about this evil? 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:55.679 God, we don't know what to do. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:59.120 Because everybody already knows they don't know what to do, but they finally admit it. 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:02.320 Lord, we don't know what to do about our economic debt. 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:06.000 We've got Democrats saying this, we've got Republicans saying that. 00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:08.399 Lord, we're not sure what your will is. 00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:10.240 We cry out to you. 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:12.960 You think God wouldn't answer? 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:18.639 We got on our faces, if national leaders got on their faces and cried out to God. 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:22.799 God promises, if you draw near to me, I will draw near to you. 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:25.039 That's what Joel's saying. 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:31.200 God would show up in power and redemption and love and forgiveness and awakening. 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:33.360 He would, because that's his nature. 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:35.279 That's what God does. 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:39.200 And so God's giving us in the book of Joel harbingers. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:41.200 We see harbingers. 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:45.360 We see warnings coming to us through economics. 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:49.519 And in our nation, they're coming, they're almost happening every. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:51.840 Before it was like every year. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:53.519 Now it's every month. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:56.720 And currently it seems to be every week. 00:09:57.200 --> 00:09:58.799 Consecrate a fast. 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:00.799 Call a sacred assembly. 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:09.519 Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God and cry out to the Lord. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:17.360 And so, guys, listen, prayer is turning to God, but fasting is turning away from things. 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:20.080 Fasting is not just turning away from food. 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:21.679 It's turning away from TV. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:23.759 It's turning away from media. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.320 It's turning away from hobbies. 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:28.159 It's getting alone with God. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:29.360 That's what he's saying. 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:31.919 Get alone with God and seek me. 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:40.480 Men and women, we're coming into the holidays to set aside time to get alone with the Lord and cry out to him. 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:43.279 Get alone with the Lord and call to him. 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:45.519 May I challenge you to a fast. 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:53.519 We fast always, you guys remember, we we have our prayer and fasting time at either the first or second week of January. 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:55.039 We'll be doing that again. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:58.879 And I'm still praying about what that theme will be. 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:01.759 Last year it was windstorm. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:12.799 But even in your own life, that you might take, maybe take a day a week, or sometime between now and Christmas to take a day or two and just stop. 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:15.919 Just stop everything. 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:17.279 And maybe get away. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:20.000 Go to a coffee shop, go to a cabin. 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:22.639 Even in the quietness of your own. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:23.200 Fast. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:24.559 Fast from TV. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:26.720 Fast from a hobby. 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:32.639 Fast from food, maybe too, but some of you can't fast from food because of different dietary issues and stuff. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:39.919 But fasting is turning away from things, and prayer is turning to God. 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:43.039 He says, consecrate a fast. 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:46.639 Get alone with the Lord. 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:50.559 Alas for the day, for the day of the Lord is at hand. 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:55.600 Verse 15, it shall come as destruction from the Almighty. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:12:01.919 Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:08.720 Church, do you realize that sometimes joy and gladness is inappropriate? 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:16.559 Even joy and gladness in the assembly because of what the enemy is doing is actually inappropriate. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:24.879 That there's a time of sober confession and sober repentance in our lives, and that's what Joel is calling out for. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:41.440 Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God, the seed shrivels under the clods, storehouses are in shambles, barns are broken down, for the grain has withered. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:44.399 How the animals even groan. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:51.279 The herds of cattle are restless because they have no pasture. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:56.879 Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:02.320 It's a day of reckoning and accountability. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:06.240 God's patience is running out. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:09.120 It is near. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:11.200 It is coming. 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:20.559 Don't mistake the patience of the Lord as the Lord's acceptance. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:32.320 Longfellow wrote, the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceedingly small. 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:38.799 Though with patience he stands waiting, with exactness he grinds all. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:49.519 God's patience, God's judgment comes slowly, giving us opportunity to repent. 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:57.200 God's patience is long suffering, but then there's a point of judgment. 00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:04.879 Petronius said, vengeance may be delayed, but it will come when least expected. 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:08.320 God's judging Israel. 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:13.120 You know, it might even do us well in December. 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:22.720 Even if you have Isaiah as you're reading right now in our PBJ in our bookmark, I'm gonna do this at least. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:27.200 To read again 1st and 2 Kings. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:32.799 And the warnings of the Lord to kings and to nations. 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:39.679 And if God judged his beloved people of Israel, you think he won't judge America? 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:47.519 His wheels of judgment are grinding slowly but exceedingly fine. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:59.120 Verse 19, O Lord, to you I cry out, for fire has devoured the open pastures, and a flame has burned all the trees of the field. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:08.960 The beast of the field also cry out to you, for the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the open pastures. 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:15.360 To cry out to God, you guys know the greatest prayer in the Bible is help. 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:27.840 Just to cry out to God, help, to cry out to God for his mercy, and to cry out to God for his patience, he always answers. 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:38.000 And as we talk about being a church, the church of Jesus Christ, the church in these latter days, we're the only ones who are going to cry out. 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:40.480 We're the only ones who will cry out. 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:48.320 We cannot expect those who do not have a personal, vital, dynamic, growing relationship with Jesus Christ to cry out to anybody. 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:50.879 They don't know how to cry out, but we do. 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:58.480 And so we carry this responsibility and this weight as the people of God to cry out to our God. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:03.519 And this is our city, and this is our watch. 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:09.279 There is judgment upon Colorado Springs. 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:15.679 The two biggest fires in the history of Colorado in the last three years. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:18.159 Is that not a harbinger? 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:19.919 Is that not a wake-up call? 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:26.879 And in just the last month, two major shootings to whom God has given much. 00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:29.440 He expects much. 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:46.720 And here we are, the home of navigators and YWAM and compassion and focus on the family, and yet less than 11% of our population is in a church on any given Sunday or Saturday night. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:49.519 That's pretty bad, gang. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:51.360 That's pretty bad. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:59.279 So God is judging this city, and we have got to cry out to him or it's going to increase. 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:07.359 I mean, I don't see how it couldn't be any more obvious that God is giving us warnings. 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:13.680 The Israelites cried out to God in their bondage in Egypt. 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:20.400 The Lord heard their cry, raised up a Moses, and he came and he set the captives free. 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:29.279 The Israelites, the nation of Israel, came to the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army closing in on them, mountains on one side, the ocean on the other. 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:32.880 They cried out to God, he heard their cry and he brought deliverance. 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:47.119 Joshua leads the army of Israel, they march around Jericho seven times, and on the seventh day, they march around seven times, they blow the trumpet, they cry out to God, and God gives them the victory. 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:54.319 Gideon, down in the wine press, so scared of the Midianites that he hides away and doesn't want to lead anything. 00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:56.880 God gives him just 300 men. 00:17:57.200 --> 00:18:11.759 He tells them to take these 300 men with their jars, put tortures inside, surround the enemy's camp, hold up the jars, break the jars, cry out to God, and the Midianites run for cover. 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:14.160 David's facing Goliath. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:17.200 Goliath makes his challenge to David. 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:29.359 David runs at Goliath and he says, You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:33.519 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands. 00:18:34.559 --> 00:18:37.599 And I'll strike you down, I'll cut off your head. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:40.799 David cries out to God. 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:45.279 Elijah cried out to God at Mount Carmel, and fire came down from heaven. 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:51.839 Apostle Paul in the Philippian jail cried out to God, worship, the chains fell off, and the doors open. 00:18:53.200 --> 00:19:01.039 That God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that is the God we can cry out to, folks. 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:02.960 And we've got to cry out to him. 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:07.039 At some point, I don't, it this is not business as usual. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:15.039 I read several articles this past week, and they were not from a conservative viewpoint. 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:18.880 These were what we might classically call liberal journals. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:23.359 And in all three of them, it said, are we now actually in World War III? 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:29.440 This was right after the Turkish uh missile shot down the Russian fighter plane. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:31.519 Are we now in World War III? 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:36.480 If we are, many of you are gonna be drafted. 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:39.920 Many of you are gonna be on the front lines. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:43.920 You're young enough, and we will have no choice in that. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:46.079 Is that what we want? 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:57.759 If we just think that we can just keep doing business as usual as a church, then we're no different than the rest of the culture that's doing business as usual. 00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:08.720 And we always think it's gonna be a political solution or it's gonna be a treaty, and I'm not against those things, and believe me, I want you to vote as long as you're voting for the right person, because if you're not, then don't vote. 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:10.640 We don't want you to vote. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:16.079 But he is a God of mercy, love, forgiveness, and compassion, but we have to call out to him. 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:17.839 Psalm 34, 17. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:23.920 The righteous cry out and the Lord hears, and he delivers them out of all their troubles. 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:32.240 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and he delivers them from all their troubles. 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:36.799 And for some of you, you're in a day of the Lord. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:40.640 You're in the day of the Lord, you're in the Lord's day. 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:49.519 You know there's stuff in your life that the enemy has got strongholds on in bondage, and I'm telling you, it's time to cry out to God. 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:54.640 To cry out in your own life and for your own marriage, and your own relationships and your own issues. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:55.599 Cry out to God. 00:20:55.759 --> 00:21:07.680 He'll come, he'll come with love, he'll come with forgiveness, he'll come with compassion, he'll come with care, and he'll come with power and with healing. 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:14.480 But for some reason, he set up a prescription here that he calls us to call out to him. 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:17.759 Okay, George, where are you? 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:48.880 Chapter two Blow the trumpet in Zion. 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:52.480 Sound an alarm in my holy mountain. 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:58.720 Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. 00:21:58.960 --> 00:21:59.680 It is at hand. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:23.519 Hand, a day of darkness and gloomliness, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains, a people come great and strong, the like of whom has never been, nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations. 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:29.119 A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:35.759 The land is like the Garden of Eden before them and behind them a desolate wilderness. 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:38.559 Surely nothing shall escape them. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:45.119 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like swift steeds, so they run. 00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:47.519 You understand here? 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:49.200 This is demonic, folks. 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:50.400 This is a release. 00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:53.519 This is like I talked about last week, the restrainer. 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:55.920 The restrainer has been lifted. 00:22:56.079 --> 00:23:04.319 The Holy Spirit's restraining power by the calling of God and by the evil that has risen over the land. 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:09.200 It's a release of demonic powers that are actually currently being held back. 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:16.000 And I believe it doesn't happen one day that the gates are open, but there's a gradual lifting in the latter days. 00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:21.359 That was 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 of the restrainer being lifted, and then what is it? 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:25.119 It's called the spirit of lawlessness upon the land. 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:38.319 With a noise like chariots over mountaintops, they leap like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble like a strong people set in battle array. 00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:42.640 God is blowing the trumpet, church. 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:45.920 The shofar is being blown. 00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:46.880 It is a war. 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:54.559 The first shofar, the first warning, the first trumpet blast in these ancient times was a warning blast. 00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:56.640 That was a warning blast. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:00.799 And the way George did it was perfect with the staccato sound. 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:06.319 Blow the trumpet in our churches. 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:12.400 Warning us that the Syrians are coming from the north. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:16.480 That the Babylonians are coming to invade Judah. 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:22.400 God's patience was running out with Israel. 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:26.960 God's patience is running out with America. 00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:32.880 The God of history judges every nation for sin. 00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:41.759 These disasters have come and they're coming, and we cannot ignore it anymore. 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:46.319 This is the responsibility of the church. 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:49.519 And I believe it's our finest hour. 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:58.400 I believe for the right churches at the right time who understand the times, who have that what I would call kind of an Issachar anointing. 00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:05.359 The Issachar anointing are those who understood the times and knew what Israel should do. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:09.359 Those who understand the times and know what America should do. 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:28.720 Can you imagine what would happen if the president of our nation, who's the most powerful man in the world, said, I want to bring together the top 30 leaders in the world to convene a conference for 10 days on how we handle ISIS? 00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:30.799 You think people wouldn't come? 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:32.160 Hello? 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:46.480 Can you imagine if the president of the United States said, I want to get the 100 top spiritual leaders in our nation to come together and we're going to fast and pray for 10 days and see what God's saying to our nation? 00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:49.200 You think those national leaders wouldn't come? 00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:52.400 It's so obvious to me. 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:56.160 We read Joel, that's what he's calling them to do. 00:25:56.559 --> 00:25:58.480 You guys know I like to hunt. 00:25:58.799 --> 00:26:03.359 And when you're elk hunting or you're deer hunting, you're out there, it's really early in the morning. 00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:12.559 And the coldest part of the day, the most uncomfortable time of day, is right before the sun rises. 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:20.960 I mean, it's it's already starting to get light, and you keep thinking, you always faked it out because you think, I'm gonna now, it's gonna start warming up, and it never does. 00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:28.000 It actually, the cold air kind of tends to be pushed down into the valleys and the mountain valleys and stuff, and it gets colder. 00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:29.839 And that's when you start to shiver and stuff. 00:26:29.920 --> 00:26:32.079 But that's the time when you're supposed to be ready to shoot. 00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:33.599 So it's really a problem. 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:42.960 But but I found, I found at Walmart this really cool little thing that's a French press that you can carry in your backpack. 00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:45.759 And so, and it keeps it hot for like three hours. 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:46.640 It's really cool. 00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:55.039 And so, you know, with my son and everything, uh Josh and I were there, and so we're like sipping on our coffee and stuff to keep the chill off. 00:26:55.279 --> 00:27:04.799 But then the sun rises, and so it's the coldest time, it's the most bitter time right before the sun rises. 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:10.079 I believe with all my heart, and this is why I signed up. 00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:12.160 This is why we're here, that's why we planted the road. 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:25.279 The road less travel is because in this day, it is an opportunity for the sun to rise and be the finest hour of the church in America if we will cry out to God, if we will seek Him, if we will pray. 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:28.079 Folks, it's not business as usual anymore. 00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:30.400 It's not just we go to church now. 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:36.640 If you want to we go to church now, church, there's 300 others you should pick in this city, but not the road. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:50.960 Because we believe that God's called us to be anointed by the Holy Spirit as a word and spirit church to heal the sick, to proclaim the kingdom, to set the captives free, and we need to get equipped in how to do that. 00:27:51.200 --> 00:28:02.400 And so we're getting equipped to do that because God's gonna bring not only greater power anointing, but greater discernment and wisdom about these days. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:04.640 And God's giving us divine intelligence. 00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:08.079 You know, Joel's just an intelligence brief. 00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:15.119 Really, for the next few weeks, as we're in Joel and then we're gonna go into Revelation, you're just getting a briefing from God. 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:16.960 It's a God briefing. 00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:19.119 This is what's going to happen. 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:33.440 If you're still in that, you know, that mixed up state that think that history is just little cycles, you know, some kind of a Taoism or some kind of a yin and yang thing, that we're just kind of in this cycle and it's gonna get better. 00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:34.720 It's not. 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:37.200 There's actually a beginning to history. 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:39.279 We just studied that. 00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:43.039 We went through our stuff on the on kingdom power and war. 00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:48.160 There's a middle of history, and that's the coming of Jesus, and there's actually an end. 00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:53.759 And that's why 27% of the Bible is about the prophetic. 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:59.599 And there's eight times more prophecies about the second coming of Christ than there is the first coming of Christ. 00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:02.240 And we're getting ready to come into the first coming of Christ celebration. 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:07.279 So we'll have Micah and Isaiah and all those cool passages at our Christmas Eve service. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:16.000 But there's eight times more prophecies in the scriptures about the second coming of Christ than the first coming of Christ, and guess what? 00:29:16.240 --> 00:29:17.200 He came. 00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:18.559 He came. 00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:26.720 One of the most debilitating judgments on theology, and many of you wouldn't be aware of this, called open theism. 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:29.599 And open theism became really popular about 10 years ago. 00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:31.759 It's had its ebbs and flows since then. 00:29:31.839 --> 00:29:38.400 But it was by a professor last name Boyd, and the idea was that God kind of hasn't quite figured it all out yet. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:44.319 And he changed, and he took all those, God changed his mind passages, and he built a whole theology about it. 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:45.839 What a travesty. 00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:47.680 Someone was asking me about that years ago. 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:48.240 What do you think? 00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:49.599 I said, well, I think it's a travesty. 00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:49.920 Well, why? 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:51.680 Because I believe in the sovereignty of God. 00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:53.119 I believe God knows the future. 00:29:53.279 --> 00:29:56.480 Well then, doesn't that mean it's kind of sarah, sada, whatever it shall be, shall be? 00:29:56.559 --> 00:29:58.880 I said, no, you got to read the whole Bible. 00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:00.880 There's a mystery to that. 00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:11.440 But if I were to say God's not sure about the future, what would that do with prophecy in the first and second comings of Christ? 00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:13.519 You'd have to throw all that out. 00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:14.720 Do you understand? 00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:16.640 Do you understand how important that is? 00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:21.359 That's like, that's like, and I don't want to get into theology too much here, but that's like the virgin birth. 00:30:21.519 --> 00:30:27.839 The issue of the virgin, well, you know, I don't know if Mary really was a virgin, or if it just means she was a young woman. 00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:29.759 And that's the stuff I grew up with. 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:35.039 I grew up with that with all these Lutheran pastors that I was hanging around with, and my dad's theological bent was that way. 00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:46.559 And then one day it just kind of occurred to me: if Mary was not a virgin, then who conceived Jesus? 00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:47.680 Joseph? 00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:51.839 Because you understand that's the key to his divinity. 00:30:52.559 --> 00:31:02.000 And so what happens in our world is we we start listening without using discernment, and before we know it, we get deceived. 00:31:02.240 --> 00:31:07.119 And the deceiver is upon the land and upon the church. 00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:10.720 And you remember the Waldo Canyon fires. 00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:12.480 I remember them. 00:31:13.039 --> 00:31:16.640 And I remember the sirens that I heard just all through the city. 00:31:16.799 --> 00:31:17.279 Remember that? 00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:17.920 Remember that? 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:21.759 And then Black Forest Fire the next summer, all that happened. 00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:31.359 Because what happens was our firefighters in their bunks, playing checkers, whatever they're doing in the middle of the day, and suddenly they hear the trumpet. 00:31:31.599 --> 00:31:36.240 They hear the alarm and they knew what to do. 00:31:36.720 --> 00:31:40.559 They understood the times and they knew what to do. 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:44.880 And they jumped in their trucks and they took off and they put out the fire. 00:31:45.039 --> 00:32:00.000 And in the Black Forest fire, there were 489 homes destroyed,$420 million worth of damage done, only two people died. 00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:01.039 You know why? 00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:06.000 Because we heard the alarm and we acted differently than before. 00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:14.000 So I was in a counseling session, and one of my staff came in and knocked on the door and said, I think there's a fire really close to your house. 00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:19.039 And so we all went outside and we looked and we could see the billowing smoke right where I live. 00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:21.839 So about 10 of us jumped in trucks and stuff. 00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:28.400 We drove out to our house and we started cleaning it out and we got stuff out and then we drove back and then we stayed in a hotel. 00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:30.000 And you guys all remember that, right? 00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:32.880 Some of you are mightily affected, some of you lost homes. 00:32:33.119 --> 00:32:36.480 And so for those weeks, your life changed, right? 00:32:36.640 --> 00:32:38.000 Our lives changed, right? 00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:40.000 Because we heard the alarm. 00:32:41.119 --> 00:32:43.839 It's not a time for business as usual. 00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:50.799 Church, it's time for us to be vigilant in the disciplines of the faith and holy habits in our life. 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:57.759 If we're just gonna kick back and just do church, then the enemy's gonna win. 00:32:58.400 --> 00:33:00.240 Devastation is coming. 00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:02.720 It's a warning to all of us. 00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:07.759 And I believe where much is given, much is expected, even in our city. 00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:24.559 Amos 5, we read these words seek me and live, but do not seek Bethel, nor enter Gilgal, nor pass over to Bathsheba, for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing. 00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:27.039 Seek the Lord and live. 00:33:28.160 --> 00:33:34.400 The day of the Lord, God's reckoning of the profane, ISIS will be judged. 00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:40.240 The slaughter of the innocent children and the babies will be judged. 00:33:40.559 --> 00:33:43.599 The suicide bombers will be judged. 00:33:43.839 --> 00:33:53.200 In our nation, those who have put together, developed, and set up pornography websites, they will be judged. 00:33:53.839 --> 00:34:00.720 Those who slaughter others through prostitution who are pimps, they shall be judged. 00:34:01.599 --> 00:34:03.440 There's a judgment coming. 00:34:03.680 --> 00:34:06.480 But Amos says, Seek me and live. 00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:17.039 The Lord of love calls out to his beloved those who know him and those who future will know him. 00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:30.880 Come to the cross, come to redemption, come to see your sins forgiven and your shackles broken and your captivity set free into new life in Jesus Christ. 00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:34.159 Jesus Christ came to set you free. 00:34:34.400 --> 00:34:36.880 Jesus Christ came to give you new life. 00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:40.000 Jesus Christ came to give us a life of love. 00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:46.079 Now is the time more than ever, church, that you're walking in intimacy with Christ. 00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:50.960 Because many of the things that we've trusted in are going to be taken away. 00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:53.280 Let me give you three things here in closing. 00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:59.039 Three things that I see that are huge in a walk of intimacy with Christ. 00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:02.400