WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:04.480 It's time now for the road with Patrick Teacher's people. 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:06.400 Guess what? 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:12.000 Such a big believer that with the rise of darkness, it's gonna be the rise of light. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:17.199 With the rise of the power of the demonic, there's gonna be a rise of the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:44.000 Even as we see the lawless one at 2 Thessalonians 2, which talks about the satanic power of lying, signs and wonders, there's going to be the rise of spirit-filled, word-rooted, church planting, evangelistically oriented believers who are filled up with the power of the Holy Spirit doing true signs and wonders. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:48.960 Welcome to another edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt. 00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:53.920 Steve is the head pastor of The Road in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:01:01.679 It's our vision to make wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ and to see you grow in the grace and knowledge of his love. 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:12.159 If you're in the area, we meet at Chapel Hills Church, located at 2025 Parliament Drive, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80920. 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:16.959 You can go to our website at theroad.org for service time. 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:19.680 That's theroad.org. 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:25.040 Here now is Pastor Teacher Steve Holt with today's message. 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:31.599 Okay, tonight we're starting the book of Joel. 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:44.400 I woke up this morning to read from my Twitter account that ISIS, it was ABC News, that ISIS had claimed credit for the 126 to 129. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:53.120 Some of the different accounts seem to vary about how many were killed by the attacks in Paris yesterday. 00:01:53.760 --> 00:02:04.000 Men and women, we are going to see in the latter days increased satanic and demonic power. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:12.159 Where the dark is the darkest, the light can be the brightest. 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:18.080 And God is going to empower his church like never before in history. 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:19.520 We get to be a part of that. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:27.680 So you can choose to view it from the perspective of fear, or we can choose to look at it from the perspective of faith. 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:40.639 Because God, in his infinite wisdom, and his ways are not my ways and not your ways, and the way in which he works is not necessarily the way we think, has given us inside information. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:50.479 He's given us prophetic intelligence briefs about what he's going to do in the latter days setting up the coming of the Lord. 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:54.879 And Joel is one of those books that he's given us. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:03:03.919 It's this minor prophet stuck way in the middle of the minor prophets of the Old Testament, often overlooked. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:06.240 I've never heard a sermon on the book of Joel. 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:08.400 I've never heard a sermon on the book of Joel. 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:13.439 I've never listened to a sermon, and I haven't had any sermons to prepare for this. 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:16.800 I've just been going through commentaries and studying and preparing for it. 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:30.479 But Joel is a prophetic book that I believe has words for us in our time, maybe like no other book outside of maybe parts of Ezekiel and the book of Revelation. 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:37.280 So here's where we're going for the next year is that Joel is kind of an introduction. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:40.479 I would call it sort of Cliff's notes of revelation. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:48.639 As I've studied it and read it and reread it and restudied it, Joel is going to give us a glimpse into the rise of lawlessness. 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:49.520 The rise of law. 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:51.280 Now next week I'm going to talk more about that. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:53.599 This idea of the restrainer. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.080 That's in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 00:03:56.159 --> 00:04:07.199 So if you want to read ahead, not in your notes, but 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, read ahead about the restrainer and the rise of lawlessness and the rise of the lawless one that's mentioned. 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:25.199 But my concern in leading us into Joel and then into Revelation after that is because of the deep, deep concern that I personally have, and I know many of you have, we've talked about it, of the direction of our nation, but also the direction of the church. 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:26.879 The church in America. 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:37.360 And I can speak to what I've heard about the church in Asia, or what I've heard about the church in Europe, or where I lived for many years, the church in Japan. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:39.920 But the reality is this is our home now. 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:42.560 And so this is what I hear on the airwaves. 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:44.160 This is what I read about. 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:53.360 And I'm deeply concerned that we have what I'm going to call a cultural hermeneutic instead of a biblical hermeneutic. 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:55.279 What do I mean by hermeneutic? 00:04:55.439 --> 00:05:02.000 Hermeneutic's a big, sassy sounding intellectual word that makes me feel like I'm really educated, but I'm not. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:04.720 That means interpretation. 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:11.040 And so it's this idea, men and women, that we interpret life through the lens of something. 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:13.040 And we all have a worldview. 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:16.560 And it all and it's all impacted by culture and upbringing. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:21.839 But the Bible, I believe, as a pastor and a leader, should be our main hermeneutic. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:27.680 In other words, we look through the lens of scripture to interpret culture. 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:32.720 What I'm concerned about is that the church is doing the opposite. 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:37.439 And they're looking through the lens of culture to interpret the Bible. 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:39.680 And that's really, really scary. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:51.279 And so what we have is we have a church that is continually redefining and readapting the Bible to fit where the culture's at. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:06:04.959 I say that God's called us to be a church that uses the Bible to interpret culture, and the Bible is our guide as to how we hermeneutic or how we define or how we look at culture. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:10.079 So Joel is one of those books that gives us that opportunity. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:11.360 But here's what I want to do tonight. 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:14.720 I want to give us an introduction into prophecy in general. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:21.360 We're going to really just barely get into Joel, and then next week we're going to dive into chapter one way more. 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:28.879 But let me give you why I think the study of the prophetic scriptures is important. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:33.759 I want to give you five reasons why I think studying prophecy is important. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:42.319 Number one, the Lord tells us that all scripture is God-breathed. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:44.639 All scripture is God-breathed. 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:57.439 The Bible tells us that the Bible itself, in other words, the Bible interpreting itself says that it's living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:00.079 So it has power within itself. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:08.879 I was recently with Victor and Eileen Marks, and I was with a young girl from Cambodia who was staying with them. 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:15.360 She had an injury on a scooter in Cambodia and was here getting help. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:17.040 Her name is Holly. 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:24.879 Holly comes out of a very, very abusive, drug, addicted background. 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:27.759 She spent time in jail. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:30.639 She was a pimp. 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:34.800 You know, you talk about women being, I mean she she pimped out girls. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:39.519 She was just comes out of a really rough and tumble background. 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:56.879 So what she has been called to do for the last seven years in Cambodia, she takes traffic girls and girls that are coming out of abusive backgrounds like she came out of, and she has kind of like a school where she's where she's bringing healing and restoration into their lives, about 30 girls. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:03.759 And we were talking about the fact that the most important thing she does is she gets them into the word. 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:06.560 She gets them into scripture. 00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:10.639 They have to read the entire Old and New Testament in one year. 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:15.680 And that, in and of itself, is bringing healing into their lives. 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:23.279 Men and women, the word of God in 2 Timothy 3.16 says this. 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:53.279 Church, the word of God is the most powerful thing you can be putting into your emotions, into your mind, and into your heart. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:09:00.559 And I say that because I am surprised all the time, personally, and I'm a professional Christian. 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:04.799 I mean personally, that I don't spend enough time in God's word. 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:07.279 So I know you struggle with it too, right? 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:09.519 And all the rest of you are liars if you don't know. 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:22.720 Because the reality is this, is that the enemy is constantly working against that quiet time, against that devotional life, to just get on with our day and get into bed at night because we're tired or watch too much TV. 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:29.600 The reality is that the word of God brings correction, instruction, reproof. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:37.120 Getting it into our souls is like a diet of meat and potatoes. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:43.919 Eating that to keep us physically strong and then meditating in it, keeping us spiritually strong. 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:48.080 So, first of all, the prophetic scriptures are from God. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:55.679 And the word here for inspiration is theonostis. 00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:58.399 It's the idea of God breathed. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:13.120 I would say to anybody who wants to go see a counselor, who wants to go see a psychologist, who wants to go get help, are you spending time in God's word? 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:16.559 Are you drinking, are you eating God's word? 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:18.960 It cleanses you out. 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:22.799 It's powerful, it's living and active. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:24.159 Hebrews 4 12. 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:39.600 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, joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:40.399 Here's what it's saying. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:48.879 It says like a sword that comes in and just drives into our into our muscle tissue and divides it. 00:10:49.039 --> 00:11:10.879 It's this two-edged sword that comes in between your flesh and your lust and your jealousy and your envy and your strife and your arguments, and then the intentionalities of where we want to be: loving, compassionate, caring, forgiving. 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:12.000 Right? 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:14.639 The battle, Romans 6, 7, and 8. 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:16.879 There's this battle being waged. 00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:24.639 The Spirit comes in and cuts into that and begins to grow us up into all righteousness. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:30.000 That a man of God, a woman of God, can be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:40.000 So, first of all, we study the Bible at the road, book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse, because of this, right? 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:41.679 This is why we're here. 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:48.559 Because just look literally, just by listening to God's word, he's doing something in your heart. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:12:00.480 Because it has its own living nature within the spirit, like nothing else that's spoken anywhere in our culture and in our world. 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:07.039 So men and women, the number one thing you can do as a disciple of Christ is be in God's word. 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:10.799 My wife just reads it all the time. 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:12.799 It's like she reads it way more than I do. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:17.200 And I'm always sitting there, she's like, I've got her pillow, she's got she's reading God's word. 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:27.200 And it's because of her that God has used me in many ways because of her support and her encouragement as a woman of the word. 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:31.600 We have women of the word and men of the word all over this body. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:33.039 So I want to encourage you. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:34.320 That's first, that's number one. 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:39.200 So we study the prophetic scriptures because they're the scriptures. 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:39.919 All right? 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:45.360 Number two, the Bible is a prophetic book. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:48.559 So we know that the Bible is an historical book. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:50.320 There's the historical books of the Bible. 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:58.879 We have the Pentateuch, we have the first five books, we have historical books of the Bible, 1st and 2 Kings and 1st and 2nd Chronicles, 1 and 2 Samuel. 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:00.159 Those are historical books. 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:06.240 We have poetic books, we have the Psalms and the Proverbs and Song of Solomon, prophetic books, we have the Gospels. 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:11.360 But listen, 28% of the Old Testament is prophetic. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:14.320 So 28% of the Old Testament is prophetic. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:20.480 21.5% of the New Testament is prophetic in nature. 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:31.840 There is eight times more prophetic passages about the second coming of Christ than there is prophetic passages about the first coming of Christ. 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:34.080 And I think there's a real fear in that. 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:37.120 I think there's a real fear in pastors with that. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:43.919 And I think the fear with the prophetic, with many pastors, is how many nut cases there have been over the years. 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:57.440 There's just some real fruitcakes out there that have made pronouncements about the second coming of Christ, probably the most famous one, is the 88 reasons that Christ will come back in 1988. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:13:59.519 The best-selling book. 00:13:59.840 --> 00:14:02.559 And it obviously he didn't come back. 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:18.000 And the reality is that I think many pastors and many churches want to, you know, stay as far away from the prophetic as possible because of the temptation that they'll somehow be lumped in to the guys who are claiming something about the coming of Christ. 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:19.279 You're not going to hear that here. 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:22.159 There's going to be no dates, no pronouncements. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:31.519 I, man, if Christ wants to come back tomorrow, I would be just happy as a June bug in spring, let me tell you, but I don't have that kind of insight. 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:34.320 I leave that to Hal Lindsey. 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:43.600 So first, scripture is God breathed, it's living and powerful, and that's why we teach the prophetic Bible. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:46.240 Second, the Bible is a prophetic book. 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:53.440 Thirdly, prophetic preaching and personal prophecy builds up the church. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:15:01.039 You're going to get built up over the next number of months and over the next year. 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:09.440 1 Corinthians 14, 3, Paul says that the purpose of prophecy is for edification, exhortation, and comfort. 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:23.039 So if I'm teaching this right, and I may have good days and bad days, but if I'm teaching this the way it's supposed to be taught, you should feel edified, exhorted, encouraged, and comforted by the scriptures. 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:28.240 It's uh prophecy encourages our walk with God. 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:33.919 The spirit, the scriptures say the spirit of prophecy is the spirit of Jesus. 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:39.440 So our purpose here is to lift up Jesus. 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:51.360 Not lift up Satan, not lift up demons, not lift up the doom and the gloom of maybe some of the current things that are happening, but to lift up Jesus Christ. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:52.480 So that's what we're gonna do. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:16:00.240 Even in Revelation, we're gonna look at some really, really bizarre stuff in Revelation, and it's gonna lift up Jesus Christ. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:09.200 Fourthly, prophecy is divine intelligence that equips the church to endure. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:14.000 So prophecy is divine intelligence that equips the church to endure. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:35.919 Unger's Bible Dictionary on Prophecy says this the revelation of future events is needful in times of discouragement to awaken or sustain hope, to inspire confidence in the midst of general backsliding and to warn of evil threatenings to the faithful. 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:48.480 It's interesting during slave times how the black slaves so loved the coming, the idea, the principle, the theology of the coming of the Lord. 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:54.799 If you listen to some of the great Negro spirituals, they speak of the coming of the Lord. 00:16:54.960 --> 00:17:02.240 They speak of the beauty of Christ coming back and how he would come and he would set the captives free. 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:10.799 Because Bible prophecy in times of discouragement, in times of enslavement, in times of difficulties is a beautiful thing. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:12.400 It gives us hope. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:14.000 It gives us excitement. 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:15.279 It gives us faith. 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:17.039 Christ is coming back. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:26.880 And then you look at some of your marriages, and then you look at some of where your children are at, you go, oh Lord, you can't come too quickly. 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:28.880 You know, come, please, Lord. 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:39.039 And so God gave us prophecy for that purpose to encourage us and to equip us and get us excited to hang in there and endure because he is coming back. 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:41.359 Have you ever T-vot a football game? 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:42.880 I mean, we do that all the time. 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:49.119 Georgia was on today, and I'm it started at 10, and I had stuff to do, so I told Josh to record it. 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:51.279 So he set the recording, even though he was watching it. 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:54.079 I wanted to go back maybe and see it, but I had stuff to do. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:58.960 And so many times we do that, especially Duke games, because my dad, you know, Duke and everything. 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:03.119 So I'm I follow Duke not too closely because it's just too discouraging. 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:04.480 But but my dad does. 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:05.200 He's at every game. 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:07.039 Dad's got season tickets. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:15.200 So many times we'll be driving out of here on Saturday, and I go, I'll say to Josh, so should we watch it? 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:19.759 And I'm always looking at that first reaction because he's not supposed to tell me anything. 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:21.599 And he goes, nah. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:23.599 And so we don't. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:29.759 But when he says yes, we do, and and just by that word, that's an intelligence brief. 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:36.319 Just by that intelligence brief, I can watch it, and in the third quarter, they're three touchdowns behind. 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:38.000 I'm not worried. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:42.079 Because I know Josh said, yeah, dad, you need to see this game. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:47.200 You know, that's what that's what Jesus has given us in the prophetic scriptures, you guys. 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:51.920 When things are tough and things are difficult, we know who wins the game. 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:57.359 We know who's going to score at the end, we know who's going to show up, and we know who gets defeated. 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:08.240 Jesus, speaking of the last days, and I've already read this partially in our beginning here, but he says, Take heed that no one deceives you. 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:13.359 For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:15.839 And you'll hear of wars and rumors of wars. 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:17.839 See that you're not troubled. 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:20.000 So we're not supposed to be troubled. 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:22.319 That's what he says with Jesus. 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:26.640 Jesus said, Don't be troubled by wars and rumors of wars. 00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:30.079 For all these things must come to pass. 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:31.680 They have to happen. 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:34.400 He's got it planned, he's working it out. 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:36.480 But the end is not yet. 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:40.799 For nation will rise against nation, and that means ethnos against ethos. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:45.680 It's not talking about just geographic nations, it's talking about tribal groups too. 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:52.480 Kingdoms against kingdoms, and there'll be famines, pestilences, earthquakes in various places. 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:54.720 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 00:19:54.960 --> 00:20:02.000 They will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you'll be hated by all nations for my name's sake. 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:05.599 And then many will be offended and will betray one another. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:11.119 So there's going to be this internal struggle within the church itself with people betraying one another. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:12.559 They will hate one another. 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:16.880 Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:24.079 And because lawlessness will abound, and we'll talk about lawlessness next week, the love of many will grow cold. 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:27.839 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:37.920 So the prophetic scriptures are to help us and equip us and encourage us and strengthen us to endure until the end. 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:44.559 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations in the end will come. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:50.880 You see, that's why I'm such a big believer that with the rise of darkness is going to be the rise of light. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:56.000 With the rise of the power of the demonic, there's going to be a rise of the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:24.880 Even as we see the lawless one, which we'll look at again next week on 2 Thessalonians 2, which talks about the satanic power of lying signs and wonders, there's going to be the rise of spirit-filled, word-rooted, church planting, evangelistically oriented believers who are filled up with the power of the Holy Spirit doing true signs and wonders. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:27.519 We know what's going to happen. 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:31.440 So the book of Joel is an intelligence brief. 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:44.799 So tonight we're coming in, and Jesus is instructing us from Joel as an intelligence brief about something that's coming up soon in the future for us. 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:52.559 And then fifthly, prophecy reminds us that we are preaching, living, and will inherit the kingdom of God. 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:54.720 You're going to inherit the kingdom of God, church. 00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:59.599 Jesus says in Matthew 25, then the king will say to those on his right hand, come. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:08.000 Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:11.839 Men and women, God is preparing a home for you. 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:13.839 He's preparing a place for you. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:20.720 He's preparing the kingdom of God, the rule and the reign of Christ for you. 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:23.039 Isn't that great? 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:28.000 Even if you blow it on this earth, you get the kingdom up there. 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:31.440 Even if you limp into heaven, you're in heaven. 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:43.839 Even if you're broken and you've gone through difficulties and struggles and abuse and all kinds of things that are just so debilitating, you will be healed in heaven. 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:45.680 That's awesome. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:47.039 That's good news. 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:50.880 Nobody else can say that except the Christian faith. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:54.559 And we know that Jesus is promising his kingdom. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:59.039 The prophetic is on four levels. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:01.920 The prophetic is on four levels. 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:03.599 So there's a now. 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:09.359 Let's put it the way there's going to be an historical, there's a present, and there's a future. 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:11.359 Let me explain the four levels as I see it. 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:13.599 This is my understanding of the prophetic. 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:15.519 First of all, it's in the past. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:18.720 So what we're reading about literally happened. 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:21.359 So we're looking at the nation of Judah. 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:23.920 Israel and Judah are two separate kingdoms. 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:29.039 And in Joel, we're looking at the southern kingdom around Jerusalem called Judah. 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:33.200 Seven times Judah is mentioned in the book of Joel. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:34.000 That really happened. 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:39.359 And there really were a locust who came into the land and devoured everything. 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:40.559 So we're going to look at that. 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:42.160 That really happened. 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:46.559 But there's also a now perspective to a prophetic book. 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:59.119 So Book of Revelation, really, Island of Patmos, John on the Island of Patmos really did see a revelation of Jesus, the apocalypse, at a time of great persecution in the church. 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:03.759 But also there's a now element to this historical book. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:07.519 And so, church, this book is for you. 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:10.240 It's for your life right now. 00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:21.359 Even as we look at Joel and we see that we're going to see the triumph of the church in the book of Joel and the book of Revelation, that triumph is true for your life. 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:25.200 Also, if you take it and by faith you believe it. 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:30.720 There's also a church, an ecclesiological element to the church. 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:34.559 This is a word to the church and to the world. 00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:45.519 And then lastly, and this is the part we tend to camp on the most as it relates to prophecy, it's also something about a future work that God is up to. 00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:51.920 So Joel is going to speak of a trumpet blast. 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:55.519 We're going to be looking at a trumpet blast. 00:24:55.920 --> 00:25:12.960 And that trumpet blast, at the time of the writing of Joel, this minor prophet with his major message was to warn Israel of something coming that was dangerous. 00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:22.559 Joel is warning us of things to come in the future that if we're unprepared for, could be dangerous. 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:28.480 So turn in your Bibles if you have them with you to Joel chapter 1, verse 1. 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:32.319 And let's look briefly at Joel. 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:40.160 The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel. 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:44.480 Joel, the son of Pethuel. 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:48.240 Joel means Yahweh is God. 00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:50.480 He's a Hebrew prophet. 00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:54.559 Very little is known about Joel. 00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:56.400 Pretty interesting to study him. 00:25:56.559 --> 00:26:04.240 Went to several commentaries, and they all said, very little is known about Joel, except what's found in the book of Joel. 00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:06.160 So everybody look at me. 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:10.000 Very little is known about Joel except what's found in the book of Joel. 00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:14.160 So if you read it three or four times this week, that's what we have on Joel. 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:20.160 The dating of the book, my goodness, it ranges from 500 to 800 BC. 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:21.680 So we really don't know. 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:26.559 It could be that he's the earliest of the minor prophets, that he's the first one. 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:30.799 He's actually quoted, it appears in Amos and Isaiah. 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:37.759 And then when I read that, I'm like, well, then why couldn't he be quoting Amos and Isaiah? 00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:39.279 So that's the reason they don't know. 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:46.160 Between 500 and 800 BC, Joel is writing in a time of devastation in Judah. 00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:52.720 An enormous plague of locusts has come through, probably many believe, in just a few hours. 00:26:52.960 --> 00:27:05.279 So here was beautiful pasture, beautiful forest, cattle, sheep on the hills, fertile ground, green grass, bushes, trees with leaves on them. 00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:11.680 And then these locusts just come through in swarms. 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:16.720 And we're gonna, it's very descriptive in the rest of the chapter what they do. 00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:28.720 And they devoured the land and to such a degree that they even strip the trees of all of their bark, and it brings economic devastation. 00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:30.559 Don't miss this. 00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:34.400 God judges sin. 00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:39.920 God brings judgment on nations who will not repent. 00:27:41.119 --> 00:27:50.960 Nations that will not turn back to God or turn to God will be eventually judged by God. 00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:54.240 Listen and don't miss this. 00:27:55.039 --> 00:28:03.200 What the prophet Joel was to ravage Judah, the prophetic church is to a ravaged world. 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:10.960 What the prophet Joel was to ravage Judah, the prophetic church is to a ravaged world. 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:27.119 Men and women, we are called to warn this earth of the coming judgment of God and also to preach of the loving forgiveness of God. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:29.119 That there's more grace. 00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:33.359 You can't outsend God's grace. 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:43.279 Some of you have committed some pretty bad stuff, and you're walking right now with a lot of guilt. 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:51.119 All of you are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:28:52.559 --> 00:28:58.720 Jesus is through the prophet Joel is reaching out to us today. 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:10.799 So the prophet Joel, as he was to ravage Judah, Jesus is to our ravaged world today. 00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:18.720 What the prophet Joel is to ravage Judah, Jesus is to your ravaged life and family. 00:29:20.319 --> 00:29:21.759 Come to Jesus. 00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:47.119 Jesus wants to come into the deepest parts of our damaged hearts to make us wholehearted believers by letting us come vulnerably to Him and letting His healing touch come to us. 00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:49.119 Verse 2. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:51.920 Hear this, you elders. 00:29:53.279 --> 00:29:54.559 I would reframe that. 00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:56.400 Hear this, you pastors. 00:29:57.119 --> 00:29:58.400 This is to me. 00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:00.000 This is to pastors. 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:01.759 This is to church leaders. 00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:03.519 Hear this, you elders. 00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:06.880 Give ear, all you inhabitants of the land. 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:10.480 Has anything like this happened in your days? 00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:13.440 Or even in the days of your fathers? 00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:15.519 Tell your children about it. 00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:21.599 Let your children tell their children and their children another generation. 00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:30.640 This, men and women, is about something terrible and beautiful that's going to happen. 00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:38.720 Who would have dreamed even 25 years ago that we would be where we are today? 00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:41.359 That we we didn't even know the term Al-Qaeda. 00:30:41.839 --> 00:30:46.880 Until really about five or six years ago, we didn't know the term ISIS because it just got formed. 00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:49.119 We didn't know about cell phones. 00:30:49.279 --> 00:30:53.759 I remember getting the first, I think we called it a car phone. 00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:57.920 And I thought I was like sort of like James Bond pastor. 00:30:58.559 --> 00:31:03.759 And I'm gonna say this was the mid-90s, like 96 or 97. 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:07.359 I remember, I don't even think we had a church building yet with Mountain Springs. 00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:09.359 And I'm just driving along, and it's a brick. 00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:14.720 It's this massive honking thing, and you pull out the little antenna and everything. 00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:18.799 And where we are today, how much things have changed? 00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:34.960 The transformation and information and all that's happening, and right now with Paris reeling 9-11, just a number of years ago, us reeling, and the Middle East on fire right now. 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:44.319 Who would have dreamed that we'd be at a place where it's quite debatable whether we really even support Israel anymore at all? 00:31:45.200 --> 00:31:49.680 The central theme of Joel is the day of the Lord. 00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:54.000 The day of the Lord is coming, mentioned five times in Joel. 00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:56.799 13 times in seven other prophetic books. 00:31:56.880 --> 00:32:01.359 So it's mentioned the most in the book of Joel, the day of the Lord. 00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:04.079 This is a warning book. 00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:13.039 Israel's being warned by this prophetic word, and America is being warned by us tonight. 00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:16.079 Colorado Springs. 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:24.720 Two fires of the kind of devastation we saw in the last three years. 00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:30.000 And God's not trying to get our attention here in Colorado Springs? 00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:31.440 Are you kidding me? 00:32:33.039 --> 00:32:38.079 God, I believe, has a special plan for this city. 00:32:39.279 --> 00:32:47.359 I believe in his heart God's wanted to do something great in this city of Colorado Springs. 00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:59.680 I believe he wanted to be a model city of God's love and compassion and generosity and righteousness. 00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:03.920 The devastation of those fires. 00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:10.079 As far as I can tell, there's no increase in church membership. 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:13.119 No great revival that's come to our city. 00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:21.839 God's allowed two massive fires to come through and destroy hundreds and hundreds of homes. 00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:27.359 The central theme of Joel is the day of the Lord is coming. 00:33:28.160 --> 00:33:32.000 Men and women, there's a day of the Lord in your life too. 00:33:33.200 --> 00:33:38.640 God's coming, and he always gives us grace with his warnings. 00:33:40.079 --> 00:33:41.359 You have warnings. 00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:42.720 We have warnings. 00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:44.240 Our nation has warnings. 00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:52.160 We have warning after warning after warning, harbingers, as it were, of the coming of the Lord. 00:33:53.119 --> 00:33:56.400 He does that personally and he does that nationally. 00:33:57.680 --> 00:33:59.680 Joel is a warning to us. 00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:20.480 And so in 2 Chronicles 7.14, we read: if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, and I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and heal their land. 00:34:21.119 --> 00:34:41.599 This word coming out of Chronicles to us is a word to the people of God about the one true God, about the grace of God, that if we'll repent and turn back to Him, not only will He relent from judgment, he'll actually heal our land. 00:34:43.519 --> 00:34:45.360 It's true on a personal level. 00:34:45.599 --> 00:34:52.880 When we come and we know stuff's in our life, some of you here tonight, you know there's stuff that's happening in your life. 00:34:53.519 --> 00:34:55.119 You're running from God. 00:34:56.000 --> 00:35:00.480 And the long arm, the grace and the love of God is calling you back. 00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:04.400 He can heal your heart. 00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:12.480 I was with a young man this week who spent a majority of his life running from God. 00:35:13.760 --> 00:35:16.400 And he's just recently come back to the Lord. 00:35:17.280 --> 00:35:21.440 He's so fired up, he's so excited. 00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:27.840 And I look at his life, and I mean, there is a lot of devastation because of choices that he's made. 00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:30.159 But God's healing him. 00:35:30.719 --> 00:35:32.320 And he's in a D group. 00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:39.920 He's got some guys ministering to him, and he's ministering to them, and it's encouraging to see what God's doing in his life. 00:35:40.239 --> 00:35:46.400 God's long arm of grace calls you men and women home, but turn back. 00:35:47.280 --> 00:36:00.639 Because I believe there is sometimes a place where you pass through this place where it moves from the compassion of the Lord to the judgment of the Lord. 00:36:01.199 --> 00:36:02.960 You don't want to be under the judgment of the Lord. 00:36:03.039 --> 00:36:03.679 Everybody go like this. 00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:05.440 You don't want to be under the judgment of the Lord. 00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:09.199 Now I'd rather be under the judgment of the Lord than the judgment of man. 00:36:10.480 --> 00:36:12.800 Because there's always grace with the Lord. 00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:19.039 Joel's message to us is that a day of the Lord is coming. 00:36:19.599 --> 00:36:20.559 Repent. 00:36:20.880 --> 00:36:22.239 Blow the trumpet. 00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:24.239 Come back to the Lord. 00:36:24.719 --> 00:36:26.480 And so that's what we're studying. 00:36:26.719 --> 00:36:28.000 The book of Joel. 00:36:28.639 --> 00:36:30.880 God's divine intelligence to us. 00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:31.760 Noah. 00:36:32.559 --> 00:36:34.480 Noah was given harbingers. 00:36:34.639 --> 00:36:38.800 Noah is giving signs that there was a storm coming. 00:36:39.039 --> 00:36:43.440 There was a flood coming, and he prepared. 00:36:43.599 --> 00:36:47.599 And God is giving us a harbinger, as it were, through Joel. 00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:52.320 This is an intelligence brief of the things that are coming our way. 00:36:52.639 --> 00:36:53.599 So prepare. 00:36:53.760 --> 00:36:56.239 You don't think Noah was made fun of? 00:36:56.320 --> 00:36:58.639 Don't you think Noah was considered a lunatic? 00:36:58.800 --> 00:37:00.639 You think Noah was the laughingstock? 00:37:00.719 --> 00:37:01.599 Of course he was. 00:37:01.840 --> 00:37:06.400 And you will be too as you prepare for the coming of the Lord. 00:37:06.639 --> 00:37:09.119 Because we are going to be not in step. 00:37:09.199 --> 00:37:11.519 We're going to be out of step with the culture. 00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:14.239