Forge Church

The Lord calls the nations to the valley of Jehoshaphat for judgment. The surrounding western nations made up Phoenecians and Philistines had snatched the people of Judah into slavery, taken their silver, gold, and precious things, and parceled out chunks of the promised land. The LORD vowed retribution against them for the ethnic cleansing of the Jews out of their lands. He would bring his judgment against them in turn.

AS we come to the 2nd half of the book of Joel, the LORD speaks more and more plainly. It is His voice that is heard. He promises to restore the agriculturally devastated land of Judah...immediately, supernaturally, and set in motion the natural order of early rains and late rains, as well. He promises to take away all reproach from Judah. Right there are two promises....one for the present in Judah, and one that is parked far out in the distance of the Day Of The LORD. He, through Joel, promises the outpouring of Holy Spirit on all of mankind. And the LORD promises a remnant of survivors will cry out ot Him and come to Him for salvation and rescue.

The prophet Joel saw The Day of The LORD in the future, and to him, it was near. He cried out over Judah, picturing the invading army that would take Judah and Jerusalem. Suddenly, it is the voice of the LORD that is heard. He is directing this human army against Judah as judgment. Just as suddenly, the LORD looks for a way to relent from His anger, and invites His people to return to Him. Joel calls a second time for a national fast and solemn assembly for everyone. Priests are to cry out for God not to abandon them, lest His name be scorned.

The prophet Joel gives further directions to the priests and the people to move them to national repentance before the LORD. The LORD sent the locusts and a drought, and Joel, seeing the Day of The LORD for the first time, believes that another judgment is soon to fall on Judah. Joel notes that even as the food has been cut off from the people, the herds and flocks as well as the wildlife are suffering. Only Yahweh can restore "the land of milk and honey."

The Prophet Joel has the Word from the LORD. A plague of desert locusts has swept over Judah, again and again, from September into March of the following year, resulting ini devastation. The LORD instructs the people to wail and mourn, for they are out of compliance with Him. The locusts have come as fulfillment of the Deut. 28 promise that if Israel is unfaithful, He will send them to punish Israel. The ability to worship has been cut off, there are no sacrifices, and all vegetation is gone, as is all the joy of Judah.

Joel bears the name "Yahweh is God". His prophecy is not dated in the text by any time stamped references as to which King was reigning at the time.His message was to Judah, which was sunk in empty religion under Athaliah, and swept along by her deviant ways. Joel prophesies that God will punish Judah, punish those who hate Him and His people, and bring Israel together through great suffering

As Paul prepares to finish his epistle to the churches in Thessalonica, he lays out both leadership style and practices for those who lead and those who would become leaders. He finishes with a blitz of commands, spread across one long sentence. Snippets of this passage are often taken out of context for correction purposes in the church. We need the who package.

We praise and thank God the Father for sending His only begotten Son, Jesus, to live, to die, and to be resurrected. Jesus is the Christ, the risen Messiah. Included in this podcast are accounts of resurrection power poured out through the Body of Christ.

Paul and the missions team had taught The Thessalonian believers about the Great And Terrible Day Of The Lord, in which the Lord God returns with vengeance against those who hate Him and His people, Israel. Paul here teaches the Ekklesias that they are not assigned to experience that wrath of God; that they are sons of the light; that they are to arm themselves with His love and hope of full Salvation. He finishes with the exhortation to keep encouraging and building one another up.

The churches in Thessalonica were deeply concerned about what happens to those who die in Christ. Paul writes back, opening up a new word from the Lord for those brothers and sisters. Those who have fallen asleep in Christ will have resurrected bodies and rise first, followed by those who are alive and remain. God resurrected Jesus bodily, and will do so for us as well.