A Word from THE WORD

Good Morning Happy Church,

Today is Saturday, March 19^th 2016. Today is the 79^th Day of 2016.

Today is Cooper Shoemakers’ Birthday!

There are only 287 days left in this year; and, there are only 22 Days Left until Our Spring Revival Meetings Begin!

We will begin the Revival Meetings on Saturday, April 9^th with a Banquet and Sermon at 6pm.

Sunday, April 10^th, we will hear Bro Bobby at 10am and again at 6pm.

Monday and Tuesday, April 11^th and 12, we will hear Bro Bobby at 7pm each night!

Please clear your schedule to attend as many of these meetings as possible.

As I often say, “The two things you have to invest to be blessed are your Attendance and your Attention!”

Please be in prayer for Dr. Bobby and Sandra Boyles as they travel here and back.

Pray that God will pour out HIS SPIRIT on us as never before!

Pray for the salvation of the lost; repentance and renewal in the life of God’s people; new people to become part of our Church Family; the calling out of ministers and missionaries; a spiritual awakening in our area; and, for Jesus Christ to be glorified in all that we do!

Joel was a Prophet to Israel just after the end of the Babylonian-Media-Persian Captivity that ended around 516 BC. The people had not completely turned back to Jehovah and HE responded to their continuing rebellion with continuing judgments – primarily through a devastating plague of Locusts. (Joel 1:1-2:11)

Here is God’s inspired action-plan for revival:

¹⁵ “Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly;
¹⁶ gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.
¹⁷ Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, “Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

Joel 2:12-15

(1) “Blow the trumpet in Zion!”

(2) “Consecrate a Fast!”

(3) “Call a Solemn Assembly!”

(4) “Gather the People!”

(5) “Consecrate the Congregation!”

(6) “Assemble the Elders!”

(7) “Gather the Children, even Nursing Infants!”

(8) “Bring the Newlyweds!”

(9) “Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, “Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

Let us commit ourselves to doing all 9 of these preparatory steps; for today, I want to focus on Step #9 – The Prayers of the Priests:

WE are the Priests of God in the Dispensation of the Church.

As we look at the end of this passage, I want you to see that there are two reasons that they are seeking Revival:

• The Good of the People
• The Glory of God

For today, I will focus on the first of these reasons… Revival is Good for God’s People.

FIRST: (Do not miss this) Experiencing revival will spare God’s people.

“Spare your people, O LORD…”

“Spare” in this passage means to save physically. Recall that Joel is a post-exilic prophet; and, that the people of God had recently returned from exile in Persia.

By the grace of God, Christians in America are not yet facing grave physical danger. Sadly, that is not true for millions of our Brothers and Sisters around the world.

But, in America, we ought to pray that God will spare our marriages, our children and grandchildren, and – in fact – the freedom we now have to worship God as the Bible teaches.

We truly are just one vote away on the Supreme Court of the United States from losing many, if not all, of our remaining religious freedoms.

SECOND: Experiencing revival will maintain the honor of God’s people.

“and make not your heritage a reproach…”

So-called “Christianity” in America has nearly become a joke. We hear lots of names used to lump us all together such as, “evangelicals.” That particular title used to be reasonable; but, today tens of thousands of people identify themselves as evangelicals who are merely “nominal” Christians; (Christians in name only) or, “congregational” Christians (people who assume they are Christians because they attend a church.)

All over our Nation and all over the world we see non-Christians who claim to be Christians bringing reproach to the Name and Kingdom of Christ.

THIRD: Experiencing revival will preserve the public testimony of God’s people.

“a byword among the nations.”

Being a “byword” means that the very mention of God’s people brings derision and hatred to the minds of people who observe how professing Christians, (and sadly, some actual Christians) live in this world.

Think of all of the “wackos” in the world who claim to be Christians and all of the Cults that also claim to be “True Believers.”

As I once heard someone say, “It is heartbreaking to think of how much damage has been done TO the Name of Christ IN the Name of Christ.”

Joel leads them to pray for revival in hopes that these three calamities will not come upon God’s people.

We will also. I hope you will determine to do whatever it takes to be part of these meetings.

REMEMBER: Our Revival Meetings begin in only twenty-two days!

Get ready now… set aside the time now… Start praying now… DO NOT MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY to experience a great moving of God!

Revival CAN happen, it really CAN happen!

Will we really have revival?

Will you?

Carpe Diem!