From Ruin To Restoration - Pastor J. D. Howell 1-25-2026

Will you turn with me to the Book of Joel.

May I direct your attention to chapter number one and

verses number one through eight. Our text will be verse

number four. Brother Nathaniel Joel chapter number two versus number

eighteen through twenty seven, with an emphasis on verse twenty five,

and Brother Jesse Luke chapter number fifteen versus number twelve.

Then skip to verse number twenty one through twenty four

Luke fifteen twelve, and then twenty one through twenty four.

It's good to have brother Jesse and Brother Buford home.

They were away on business Wednesday night, but we're glad they're back.

Praise the Lord, Brother Nathaniel Joel chapter number two versus

number eighteen through twenty seven. Then will the Lord be

jealous for his land and pity his people? Yay, the

Lord will answer and say, on those people, behold, I

will send you corn and wine and oil, and you

shall be satisfied therewith, and I will no more make

you a reproach among the heathen. But I will remove

a far off from you the Northern Army, and will

drive him onto a land bearer and desolate with his

face toward the east Sea, and his hinder part towards

the out the utmost sea, and its stink shall come up,

and its ill savor shall come up, because he hath

done great things. Fear not, old land, Be glad and rejoice,

for the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid,

ye beasts of the field, for the pastures of the

wilderness do spring, for the trees beareth their fruit, and

the fig tree and the vine to heald their strength.

Be glad, you children of zign, and rejoicing the Lord,

you your God, for he hath given you the former

rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for

you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain

in the first month, and the floors shall be full

of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and

oil verse twenty five. And I will restore to you

the years that the locust hath eaten, and the canker worm,

and the caterpillar and the palmer worm my great army,

which I sin among you. And you shall eat in

plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord,

your God. And he hath dealt wondrously with you, and

my people shall never be ashamed, and he shall know,

and you shall know that I am the midst. I

am in the midst of Israel, that I am the Lord,

your God, and none else, and my people shall never

be ashamed.

He's the Lord. Praise the Lord.

Look at verse number twenty five, and I will restore

to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the

canker worm, and the caterpillar and the palmer worm, my

great army which I sent among you, which I sent

among you. All of that happened because God was behind it,

and it took place because people would not cease sinning.

Brother Jesse Luke, Chapter number fifteen, Verse number twelve skipped

the verse twenty one.

I read on to twenty four.

And the younger of them said, unto his father, Father,

give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.

And he divideth unto them his living. But the father

said to his servants, bring forth the best robe and

put it on him, and put a ring on his hand,

and shoes on his feet, and bring hit to the

fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and

be merry for this. My son was dead and is

alive again. He was lost and is found, and they began.

To be merry.

Praise the Lord from ruin to restoration. Let's stand for

the reading of our golden text Joel chapter number one

versus number one through eight. The Bible says the word

of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Bethul.

Hear this, ye old men, and give ear all, ye

inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days,

or even in the days of your father's. Tell ye

your children of let your children tell their children and

their children another generation. That which the palmer worm hath left,

has the locust eaten. And that which the locust hath

left hath the cankerworm eaten. And that which the cankerworm

hath left, hath the caterpillar eaten. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep,

And how all ye drinkers of wine because of the

new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.

For a nation has come up upon my land, strong

and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion,

And he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.

He hath laid my vine waste and barked my fig tree.

He has made it clean. Bear and cast it away.

The branches thereof are made white lament, like a virgin

girded with a sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

The ruin would be like a virgin losing out on

an opportunity for marriage. Pray, Heavenly Father, Oh how great

the ruined, But oh how great the restoration. Heavenly Father,

We thank you for the opportunity to come into your

house this morning. We thank you for this people of God.

Thank you for each one that's obeyed the Lord in

the service. I appreciate the testimonies. I thank you for

the singing and the musicians playing skillfully as unto the Lord.

With the anointing. We thank you for an atmosphere that

is anointed. I pray that you would anoint me now,

said a guard at my mouth. Help me to say

the things you would have me to say, nothing more

or less. Anoint the ears of this thy people, that

they might hear what the Spirit of God says unto

the church through the preach word. May these sayings descend

into that heart and soul. We pray that we would

be hearers and doers of Thy word. And may we

depart this place joyfully and not sorrowfully in Jesus's name,

and the Church said, Amen, catch your neighbor and say, hey, neighbor,

expect restoration. Our text is found in an Old Testament

book of the Holy Bible. The Book of Joel was

written by one whom many considered to be a minor prophet,

and they reach that conclusion because of the brevity of

his writing.

This is a sacred writing.

There is no doubt whatsoever that the Holy Ghost moved

upon this holy oracle, and he spoke and wrote things

that were given to him by God. And verse number

one of chapter number one, you can see that this

man is not speaking of his own words, but he

is speaking the word of the Lord. And anytime a

man of God, a minister, a preacher, and evangelist, a

teacher is speaking the word of God to us, I

do not consider it to be anything minor.

I consider it to be major.

It's a big deal, really, And say, as you sift

through these three chapters, you'll notice something very common that

we found in recent messages, and this is the fact

that it is a preacher doing his dead level best

to persuade people to turn from their wickedness and wrong

and evil doings back unto God. So as we read this,

we can tell that Joel he shares the preacher's burden,

and every preacher should have a burden, and a preacher

should love people unconditionally. There's been a lot of times

that my wife has approached me and she said, you know,

I'm not the pastor. I'm not the one with a

pastor's heart, and I can't love everybody the way you

love them. And I know that her love for each

person in this building is great, and I have no

doubt that she's speaking correctly when she says that pastoral

love for those people that are in that church by

that pastor is a great love. But what I want

you to know is God's love is a greater love

than that of the under shepherd that is looking over

the Lord's sheep. And thank God for that great love.

There's people in this building this morning. You're just like

anyone else. If you're honest, you'll say there are people

that I would be okay if they just ended up

stuck in the mire. I'd be okay with the fact

of them just being gone. I'd be all right with

getting them out of my hair and seeing them off.

But the Lord is the creator of us all and

all souls belong to the Lord. You've heard how mothers

have loved their little children, and how those children have

grown up to become menaces of society, even monsters of society,

and they end up in prison.

And those mothers will go.

And go through all of that security process to get

access to their little baby, give them the benefit of

the doubt, and try their best to provide for them

the best they can. And Brother Jesse, that mother will

offer that criminal child of theirs words of hope. And

sometimes we as outsiders, say the tough love of mother

didn't work, so perhaps the.

Strong arm of the law will work.

And there's no doubt that that mother that went in

there seemingly so innocent. As she walked by the guard,

I'm sure she whispered to the guard and said, I'm

sorry that it resorted to this. I'm sorry that things

escalated and deteriorated to the point that my child required

being incarcerated. But it was for the best because my

child would not listen to me, it would not listen

to its father, it wouldn't listen to its legal team,

it wouldn't listen to law, and for horsement, and so

therefore I've got to trust the Lord to do his

work behind closed doors. And so we know these men,

they love the people of God, and they felt God's burden,

and they understood that God was bringing forth this judgment

upon his people to turn them around. And I don't

know what it's going to take to get some people

to turn around. I look at our world in his

spiritual condition, and I know that judgment begins at the

house of God, and I believe it.

Already has begun.

We are experiencing as spiritual famine in many houses of worship.

People are perishing for a lack of hunger. And it's

a shame that they are sitting there in those pews

until they perish. Why do they sit there until they die?

I don't know.

I don't understand why the likes of Jeremiah, the prophet

Hubbaki would have to preach to the nations of Israel

and Judah and tell them, hey, you're God's people, but

you can't do wrong and get by. You can't commit

immorality and idolatry, and God take notice of it. It's

never been a question of whether or not God loves

all of his creatures. God loves everyone. He loves the backslider.

He loves the church elder, he loves the church deacon,

he loves the pastor, he loves the church maintenance man.

He loves the church cleaner woman.

But God also loves those that used to know what

it was like to sit inside of the House of God,

and those that have gone out into the world, those

that have tasted of the good things of God, and

those who are now munching on a bitter morsel of saul.

As I go through this little short to a book

of the Bible, it's only three chapters long. As a

student of the Divine Library, I know that sometimes people

who proclaim to be the children of God refuse to

release their grip on sin, and rather they embrace an

unholy lifestyle. And the Lord is going to eventually confront

the evil. It's only a matter of time and before

God sends forth a messenger, and that messenger will be

very careful to say exactly what God told him to say,

and he will do just exactly as God instructed him

to do. Most of the time, the ministers, they try

their very best to bring us as the parishioners, to

an awareness of our spiritual condition.

Sometimes we do not.

Really realize just how far we have drifted away from

the Lord.

Sometimes we don't really realize.

What stage of ruin we are in, and the preacher

will begin to push us towards a godly sorrow which

brings us into a true repentance.

There's no doubt whatsoever in.

My mind that God's love, his mercy, and there is

a hope for each a person in this building. This morning,

as I read through this book of the Bible, I

noticed the verse number one of chapter number two, and

that's the part that stood out to me. The most

of the Bible said for the day of the Lord

that cometh, for the day of the Lord cometh.

And this is not.

Talking about the advent of the Lord. This is talking

about the chastening rod in the hand of God coming

down upon a judgment bound people.

The next verse describes what appears.

To be the judgment of the Lord for the evil

of the Israelites, not for the evil of the Pagans,

but for the Israelites, those who called themselves the specially

selected and chosen of God. If you look at our

golden text again, Joel, chapter number one in verse number five,

it speaks of the palmer worm having left a little something,

and then the locusts coming in and eating that that

the palmer worm left, and that which the locust hath

left that the canker worm eats, and that which the

canker worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten. It's hard

to wrap our minds around this verse. In this season

of revival, we wonder who amongst us, or who among

the many numerous churches throughout the United States of America,

could be in some sort of spiritual famine that is

brought on by God. Who could be dealing with spiritual

insects and spiritual parasites that are devouring the harvest of

their life. I see this judgment coming upon the children

of God who willingly chose to harbor iniquity in their hearts.

The Bible said they that Nameth, the name of the Lord,

should depart from iniquity. If I was to speak in

farmers verbiage right now, I'd say something like this, a

farmer speaking to here's apron clad bride. Honey, it's going

to be another bad year. Things aren't looking good for

our cropsome and our life stock. One of the points

that the Holy Girl spoken into my heart yesterday was this,

the Lord is going to wipe out the harvest and

the herds of the disobedient, unruly, rebellious, and stubborn people.

And the people's only hope for.

Their harvest and for their herds is a true repentance

that will lead to restoration again. The only hope for

the harvest and the herds is a true repentance that

will bring forth a restoration. And there's no doubt God

wants to restore you fully.

The people in.

This building have been encouraged by the Lord to turn

loosen of whatever it is would hinder them from growing

in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ. And they've been encouraged to embrace a

lifestyle of purity. If you look at Joel chapter number

two and put your attention the verses number twelve and thirteen,

the Bible says, therefore, also now say it the Lord.

It turn you even to me with all your heart.

Now you'll find him when you have search for him

with all of your heart. It's one thing to say something,

it's another thing to mean it in your heart and

to do it. For where your treasure is, there will

your heart be also. And so God is not saying, here,

tell your pastor you got saved after he preached that

message through the anointing of the Holy girls, so that things.

Can get for you.

This is not saying you've been experiencing a few hardships

and afflictions here of late, and you just need to

get some pressure off and come down to the altar

and cry some crocodile tears and pray until you feel

better and return to your wicked ways that that's going

on inside of your heart. And the Lord said, turn

ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting,

and with weeping, and with the morning. This generation does

not want to hear this, but I will say it nevertheless.

There are some things that will never get off your

trail and never get off your back without fasting and praying.

There are some things that you will never have the

victory of. There are some gifts that you will ever

gift to it without fasting and praying. Some things will

never be fixed until you understand in your heart you've

got to fast for the King of Glory to look

at some after a man had been delivered gloriously, and

to say this kind of goeth not forth, but by

prayer and pasting. He was letting them know when you're

dealing with a spirit of discouragement, or you're dealing with

an oppressive spirit. I'm not talking about a possessive spirit always,

but I'm talking about it incessantly, a nagging tug of

something going on, or something trying to misdirect you, or

something trying to lead you Australia, or a lying voice.

In your ear.

You're gonna have to fast and pray to have victory

over that. Verse number thirteen of chapter number two says,

and render your heart and not your garments, and turn

unto the Lord your God, for he is gracious and

he is merciful. He slowed anger and of great kindness

and repented him of the evil. Why are churches experiencing

spiritual famines? And why have they received pastors that are

hirelings and wolves and sheep clothing? Because like the children

of Israel, they wanted a king, just like they requested

Saul to be a lord over them. So they have

heap to themselves. Teachers having itching ears. They wanted to

hear certain things they wanted to preacher to preach on

certain topics on.

The midweek service.

They wanted a mend to go to one room and

the women to go to another room, and they were

to have open dialogue and open discussion on how everybody

in the building there is weak, and those men and

women go out of those respective classes, saying one to another,

I had no idea you were dealing with the spirit

of alcohol lives, saying things like I had no idea

you were desiring that woman's husband. I had no idea

you've been stealing from your employer. Listen, the Bible did

say confessor your faults.

One to another.

It did instruct us to be honest sometimes with those

that were laboring with.

But I really don't believe it.

Meant for you to go in there and to just

air out your dirty laundry and confessor your sins to

your fellow men.

God said turn to me.

God did say turn the jeermy God did say turn

yourself on hold, or send a text or make you

feel better. God did say tear your garments. God did

say mess up your hair. God did say tear up

your shoes. God said, rin that heart. I'm telling you

It doesn't matter what we see you do on the exterior.

God knows what's going on in the heart. And the

Bible said about that heart of yours, it's the sea

ploo wicked.

Who can know it? I'll tell you who knows it.

God knows the thoughts and the intentions of the heart.

And for reason these people had come to judgment.

It's because they had frustrated the goodness and the grace

and the mercy.

And the love of God.

God said, I slow the anger. It ain't that the preacher,

he is an angry preacher. It ain't that the teachers

are angry. It ain't that everybody's wanting to.

Push you out of the block of God. It's being a.

Gradual wearing away processor that's bringing about your ruling. Churches

aren't ruined overnight. Families aren't ruined, overnight. Businesses aren't ruined overnight.

Brother Jesse had just returned from the Capitol after meeting

with one of our senators who was a long standing

leader of the state Senate, and Brother Jesse said while

he was there, some of them offered to take them

on a tour of the new capital. In the old capital,

and Sister whoot, And he said that old capital is

just amazing. And he said what they did when they

built the new capital because of the influx of migrant

workers coming into Miami, Florida, they had to build a

high rise and they had to climb to the sky

to have enough offices. They needed plenty of office space

just to take care of the business that was happening

due to an infestation of migrants. They came in legally

and they generated a lot of revenue for this state

and for their employers. And Brother Jesse said, at some point,

some of the legislatures and government officials made a decision

they would tear down the old Capitol building. I've been there.

I've been to both of them. I've been in the

Governor's office. And Brother Jesse, I would hate to think

that somebody even contemplated and considered tearing that building down.

But they did.

And Brother Jesse said, a group of law and some

of them congressional people, they decided, you know what we

need to do. We need to save our old capital.

We need to save what I believe to be the

original capitol building. And Brother Jess said that they went

in there and they restored everything. He said if a

piece of furniture had been removed. There were specialists and

art people and just construction teams that went in there

and looked at pictures and analyzed the details, and they

literally recreated, if you would, the former Senate and the

former what is it called the House of Representatives, and

the former Governor's office. And they took it all the

way back to nineteen o two. They restored it to

its condition as it was in nineteen o two. And

brother Jesse said, it is a beautiful site. And I

tell you you're right here this morning. I know that

God spoke into my heart to tell somebody. God can

take you back to whatever significant date in your life.

It is where you felt like you were a new creature.

God can take you back before the locusts came in,

before the palmer worm and the caker came in. God

can restore you. That's what the psymist desire of the Lord.

He said, create in me a clean heart, O God,

every new, a right spirit within me. Another voice said's

revers goes like this, restore.

Unto me the joy of thy soul. Ovation.

I'm asking you you cannot get back some years that

God can help you recover Meslough some things that you

feel like you have squandered up and wasted. You can

restore money, you can restore cars, you can restore courthouses,

you can restore the everglades, you can restore the capitol

building there. But it's very hard to restore years. And

that's what God said in this texture. I will restore

the years of ruin with restoration.

I feel like God showed me.

You could expect them a bumper harvest if you just

turn up from your wickedness and let.

Corda get ahold of that harder. He fix it.

God wants to fix what's broken and corrupted inside. Left

Sunday night, bro the Gabriel collapsed right here on these

steps in front of the pulpit. Four years prior, as

a backslider, he came home to God. I remember that

evening service when he come into church and nobody recognized him,

nobody knew who he was, nobody knew where he came from.

But he walked in through them doors and he prayed.

That's a service. He said, I'm a backslider and God's

been dealing with me to come home. He said, I've

got to live in girlfriend back there, and I'm just

feeling like I'm going to start a family. I feel

like I better get right with God. God has warned me,

there's been significant signs that I'm in trouble if I

don't pray. I've been very concerned about what's going to

happen to me, and he had every reason to be concerned.

I feel like if I hadn't to turn when I

did on my heels and pivoted and handed God my

heart and said, you know what, not my way, Lord,

but your way, not my will, but your will be done.

I feel like I ended up just like my best

friend did, dead on the highway somewhere. But Brother Gable,

he prayed that to church. We asked him, said where

did you come from?

Brother?

He said, I come from Fort Myers. He said, my

mother met you and your wife years ago, and she

noticed the holiness, and she took down your wife's number,

and I punched it into Google and I found out

where y'all's church is. That man wasn't texting me saying

I'm suffering. That man was not texting me saying pastor,

how I'm coming. That man was not at all pointed

at his garment. He wasn't pointing at the beard on

his face or his bald head. He wasn't pointing at

the exterior. He came in on his own. He didn't

approach a confessional booth. Oh come on now, it wasn't

everybody staying, and let's pray a sinner's prayer. At the

end of that service, that man got down. He didn't

talk to Jeremy Howell. I didn't hear him say my

Heavenly Father, Jeremy Howell. I heard him pray and cry

out to God. And you know what, it got gloriously

saved and born again and Sunday we could go. He

knelt down, Brother Jesse in that same spot that he said,

after four years, I told God, I need to get

right here where it all began because I'm desperate and

I don't understand. Isn't interest and how some people can

see they are desperate and they are destitute, and they

need a visitation from the Lord. That's what Hubacca was saying.

That's what Joel was saying. God wants to help you.

God wants to restore you. God wots to beat you

in the altar. God wants to give you back those

wasted years. God wants to give you a bumper crop.

God wants to give you of God for harvest. But

what bothers me and is with so many in the

world today, a lack of sincerity, a lack of humility,

and a lack of honesty. They come boldly into the

tone of grace. Yes, you know what they say, as

they wiped their mouths with their sin on their lips.

They say, I've done no hello, I've.

Done no hellong.

That's not the spirit of David. David rent his heart. Hey,

David said, I cried on my bed at night.

I read it with my tears. Pride will keep you.

From saying I'm sorry God, I'm sorry Dad, I'm sorry Church.

God wants to fix that is broken. And you know what,

when they refuse, God allows the devil to take them lower.

And lower. How low can they go? I don't know.

I've seen them go mighty low and still hold on

to that haughty spirit, and still hold on to that

spirit of pride and say I'm just as saved as

anybody in the house.

How can that be? That's the same thing.

It'sraeltes you're telling Joe and Joel is saying, it's breaking

the Lord's heart for him to see how far you're

having to go. You parents just fixing to connect for you.

You discipline your child and they don't do what you

told them to do, you increase the discipline. You probably

add a restriction to it. Then they don't do what

you said to do, You add another restriction to it,

and before long they're totally restricted, until they can do

nothing but what you said to do. And that's what

I want you to know about your prodigal sons and

your prodigal daughters, and the prodigals of this church and

every other church. It's the goodness of God when he

takes the prodigal son that willingly walked out.

Oh, come on now, he walked out with a fortune.

He went out there and devoured it with rioteous living.

He squandered it with the horrors of this world, and

partied with the hormongers of this world.

And he found himself in the hog pin.

I doubt there's anybody in this building tonight chomping on swapper.

I doubt there's anybody in this building steaking like a swiner.

But God knows if that heart is dirty, and the

prodigal son because a severe consequences and great restrictions by God.

God took his money that could have been restored. God

took his popularity that could have been restored. But God

took it and took it on down until he didn't

have bread to eat, until he's in a famine. If

he would, he would have feint fielder his melly with

a husker, not to swine did eat. And then of compounds,

and no man wants to give him anything. Nobody wants

to toss him her rib bond, nobody wants to bring

him a loaf of her stale bread. The Bible said,

no man came under him. But then he came to himself,

and he returned to his citizens. He came to his

right mind, and he got to thinking, Why said I

here in a ruin when I know very well that

my father.

Would restore me to the foe. I'm asking you, will

you die, he swider, or will you die? Her son?

I said, will you die, he swie, or will you

die the son? Amen?

He could have died in that hog pen, and you

know what them filthy swine would have done.

They'd have made dinner out of him and that's what

I want to tell you.

If you don't get up and out of the mire,

they'll make dinner. How do you, I said, damn, make dinner.

Amen.

I could almost see it now as one pig looked

at another and that natural instinct. He's getting weak. I

wish I could do barnyard noises right now. My cat

can tell when sister how and I don't feel good,

and it seems to almost go into a slight depression

if we're not ourselves. That cats that smart. It's instinct

to desern. And I'm sure them old pigs notice he stopped,

you know, get off me, your nasty thing. You're losing

your kick. You're losing your fight. And he would fain

have filled his belly with a husk had to swine,

did he. I don't understand, brother Philip, why they would

rather feast on the fodder of this world rather than

on the bread in the father's house.

But some do, some do.

Joel was telling them Sin will take you further than

you thought it would.

He will take you lower, low, low.

I've seen a lot of people lose out with God

in a church house and they sit there until they die,

and then after they die spiritually them wolves in sheep's clothing.

The pastors themselves devour them. But Jesus is saying, through

the prophet, and I will restore you the years that

the locust hath eaten, the canker worm, and the caterpillar

and the palmer worm, my great army which I sent

among you. Basically, he's saying, I'll call the troops off,

and I'll let it rain again. I'll let the tender

shop go up again, Brother Rocap, I wonder what the

farmer thought when he looked out there and saw swarm

of hope locusts coming, and they stripped the field, and

says to howl, he told his wife, I'm sure honey

couldn't be any worse than this. And then comes to

can'ker warm, and then honey can't get any worse than this.

Then comes to palmer worm, can't get any worse than this,

then comes to caterpillar. It can get worse. He doesn't

want it to get worse. And some of you, because

the prophets every now and then throwing a little mercy,

because God's mercy is new every morning, and where sin

abound's grace does much more bound, And because you feel

like you run on long enough that you can just

keep on running and doing wrong.

But I'm telling you, if you don't.

Have ears to hear what the Spirit of God has

been saying for the last two weeks, you are in

trouble with the churches in these United States of America especially.

It's like God is playing whack them ale. You look

out over towards the horizon, and you see a prairie

a field, and you see little holes that represent little churches,

and you see little moles or little ground hogs, the

little gophers. You put your animal choice, we'll call it

the old tortoise, they'll gopher tortoise that we have down here.

And you look at the entrance of them.

Holes, and there's what's supposed to be there, but for

some let's call it a groundhog. They're standing up there,

twitching their whiskers.

And nibbling their lips with their teeth. And then suddenly.

And you look over here at this one who's underneath

the earth, grabbing them by the little paws and pulling

them into the abyss. I don't need God playing why

them Old with me. I'm telling you that right now,

have you any of you ever played that. I still

feel the Holy Ghost. So some of you are thinking

this is just gonna be another message. I text pastors

say thank you for obeying the Lord. It was very timely,

very fitting. I prayed something through. We'll see because I

felt a surge of the Holy Ghost when he offered restoration.

But for some reason, Sister How, I felt a kickback. Amen,

Sister How, and Amen, brother, stare it Isaiah fifty nine

of verse number two. But your iniquities have separated between

you and your God, and your sins have hid his

face from you that he will not hear. Listen, brother,

and sister. Sin will bring separation from God into one's life.

And he said, your sin, be sure your sin will

find you out. Listen Israel, Listen, friend, Listen, brother sister,

take ownership. Admit it is your fault. It is your sin.

It's why you're losing things. It's why you're losing your crop,

it's why you're losing livestock. It was your sins that

cost you to lose so much. It wasn't your pastor's fault,

the first lady's fault, the elder of the deacon, or

the deacon us. It was not their fault. It's your fault, Israel.

And Joel painted a perfect picture of fruitless years, the

aftermath of rebellion and disobedience. The sins committed grew, and

they grew, and the more they grew, no more of

those pesti insects came, and they came to devour any

good thing they could find. Can I tell you that

sin is all consuming? God gave me that early this morning.

Sin is all consuming. But our God is greater, and

our God's Holy fire is greater. He said, he is

a consuming fire, and he is the God of restoration.

He said, it was my mighty army doing this. It

was my mighty army. And God took back all of

those blessings he gave. And God's entitled to take back

any blessing he gave you. But Joel said, I feel

the spirit of God. I feel like preaching one more time.

The latter reign will come upon those that are truly

truly repenting of their sin. And he said, for those

that have truly repented, they shall eat in plenty, and

they shall be satisfied. And he said, you will praise

again the name of your Lord God at some point

in them painful years will become years of plenty again. David,

the sweet Psalmist of Israel lost everything that he had.

He lost his wives and his children. But David prayed

and he asked God, shall I recover all? And the

Lord said, yes, David, You've encouraged yourself and me, and

thou shalt without fail recover all. And God restored it.

All.

The backsliders can get their blessings back. Look what you

and your sin did, but look what the Lord can do.

Also.

Luke fifteen tells of somebody in their rebellious years. David

went through some painful years and he found restoration. And

this man went through some rebellious years. And I want

you to know his sin had stripped him. But after

true repentance. Notice his words, Father, I have sin. We

all know this to be true. I'll use him as

an example because he's my son. I know he's never

done that. And again, for the critic and the one

listening to find fault, I will say again, my son

Samuel has never done this. But I know for a

that my son Samuel could lose his cool with his employees.

I'm not expecting that, but people could push him to

the point that he lost his cool and grew angry,

just like God, who's slow to anger, can get to

the point where judgment begins. And I could see my

son Samuel, without using curse words, coming down hard and strong,

and then literally five minutes later, feeling terrible about it,

and an office door closing, and him getting down in

his office chair and saying, forgive me God, I've been

a bad witness. I've hurt you. I'm terribly sorry. And

I could see him coming to church the next service

as full of the Holy Ghost as he is is

and getting down here and saying, Lord, I'm sorry for

breaking your heart and being a bad witness and testimony

for you. And that's what you need to get ahold of.

With all that you have done, with all the world

has done, with all they are doing, aborting babies, crying

over beach dolphins, but leaving beached babies on operating tables.

My heart goes out to the beach dolphin and the

beach well too. But what about all them beach babies?

When do you rend your heart? That's what David did,

creating me a clean heart, old God, renew a right

spirit within me, coveteousness, envy, jealousy, which is as cruel

as the grave. I've seen church leaders and church elners

before leave good solid churches because they were jealous of

God using somebody else. But where are the real genuine tears,

not the crocodile tears?

David said, My soul is as a wereen child.

Sometimes Mom and Daddy ain't got the answers. Sometimes the

pastor hain't got the answer. David had a good father

in Jessy. David, no doubt had a good mother. But

Jesus was his answer. There's some of you.

He'd rather cry to Dad, crowd a mob, crowd the preacher,

rather the crowd to God.

Why because you're not going to pray through You want

pity and you want to be petted.

And pampered.

But the prodigal's son came home to Dad, and when

he approached Dad, he said, if Father, I have sinned,

I'm preaching the message the Holy Ghost title from Ruin

to Restoration. Don't you think he was e parised when

he saw the steward of the house, the butler, and

the baker of the house, and all the servants. See

how he looked. They come on, now, we all see

it anyway. We all see the ruin anyway.

We all know the.

Caterpillar has been to your place. We know the caterpillar

has been to your church. We know the caterpillar has

been all over your country. But the father, no doubt,

after running to him and kissing his neck, his next

words are restoring.

And that's my question right here.

The minute you rent that heart and the minute you

turn from your sin. Jesus told the woman that was

taken in the very act no doubt committing adultery with

a religious leader. He said, where are those that would

bring you into condemnation? She said, they're not here. Lord,

you know why because they all refused restoration. They walked

right out into their ruin, because they were just as

guilty as she was. And Jesus basically said, one man,

you found restoration.

Go and sin no more.

Go go and do it no more, Go and seek

occasion to commit it no more. Whatever it is you're

doing that's upsetting and grieving God, nation, family, country.

Individual, church member, israelied.

Whatever it is you're doing, it's offending God and bringing

judgment into your life. Where God has to employ the caterpillar,

the locust, the canker worm and the palmer worm to get.

Your a to chod? What will it take God? I said,

what will he it take to get your attention?

And I'll tell you this, God's got the ability to

do what it takes. You asked Nebakanazar, the emperor that

God used, who didn't give glory to God where it blonged?

And you know what when he's out there grazing grass

like a cow and saying moove, and he's insane.

Oh, you know what.

There came a time, though, when God said I will

restore him. And when Neb Canezzar was brought back to

his right mind, he didn't want to give the preacher

a piece of his mind. He didn't want to say,

brother Jeremy, you ain't doing it right. He didn't want

to say, brother Daniel, you ain't.

Doing it right. You know, he talked to God.

He said, I extole thee most holy God heaven left.

Father.

Oh, come on, now, couldn't nobody preach like nebkaness her

when he got under the impulse and they're noughting.

I'm tied.

I'm telling you, if God can restore never conness her

from ruin her God can restore you. But in least

he never conesse her had the sense her to get

up out of the field. At least a prodigal son

had de sense her to get.

Up out of the hog pit. I'm asking you right now,

where are you at.

It's nothing but crickets in here, I said, It's nothing

else but locus in here.

All up here is crickets.

Father, I have sin, Not did somebody in the church

did me wrong? Not that my elder brother is a

smart elck, Not that my elder brother's a jerk.

Father, I have sin. Two wrongs don't make a right father.

My actions put me here, Father, My actions brought about

to ruin. And you only father can bring about restoration.

You only father can bring about restoration. I'm at your mercy,

I'm at your messy Please forgive me. And you know

what that old, soiled, stinky garment that the prodigal son

was wearing. The father never said, you smell like a

bunch of swe Here's what the father said, Look at it.

He's sitting there, Luke chapter number fifteen. He said, go

get a garment and put it on him, because he's

gonna feel unworthy, because he's so humble already, he said,

I don't belong in the father's house. Just leave me

out there in the servants quarters. What he's saying is,

I know, I know. This was a broken young man

right here. His spirit is different, his attitude is changed.

And then it gets even better than that. He said,

see them old callous send callous and hardened hands, see

them old dingy, dirty fingernails. He said, go in there.

That ring he left behind, that declared his sonship, that

gave him power over the estate, just like the oldest

son has. He said, put the ring on his finger. Restoration,

brother Nathaniel, it's here this morning from ruin the restoration.

And then.

The father said, go out there and get the fatted

calf slame and fix him, and let's have some steak,

some prime rib, and let's celebrate. You have to deal

with that spirit of haughtiness, rebellion, stubbornness.

It's not funny.

And as long as you think it's funny, God is

going to just keep tightening down on it. But for

some sys to how the latter reign came and God

called his troops off and they reaped a bountiful harvest,

a bumper crop sys to how the only way God

could restore the years is that the same spirit that

he allowed to move upon Joseph would move upon them,

and God would allow them filleds to just bring forth

so much, brother are And if it had been four

years that God had diminished them to nothing, he may

have gave him four years in one year. Boys, you

know what I'm talking about? That tangerine tree. There'd be

some years of them little howl boys go out there

wanting the tangerine. They take one of their sister, and

then the next year they went with the same anticipation,

and there wasn't a single tangerine on that tree. And

Daddy'd put a little horseman nue around it. Ma must

cratch a little bit around it with a lake with

a rake, and we do what we could do, but

our hands were tied. But then the conditions were right,

brother Jesse, and the next year covered in tangerine. Well, Preacher,

you don't know how much I've lost. With you'd humble yourself,

you could maybe get saved, sanctified, and Holy goost filled

in less than a week. Well, I've lost so much ground.

You don't think God can restore you y'all know when

your pastor started preaching at the age of thirty. You

know when your pastor knew he was supposed to preach

at the age of eighteen. But because of the words

of a man, A man told me to wait until

you're thirty. God told me to get started at eighteen.

I lost twelve years, but I want you to know

he's restored. I cry and I weep and say, God,

I hope, I sure hope. How did mess up somebody

for not preaching to them them twelve years? But then

I look out here this morning and I say, God,

I may be one born out of due time. I

may be a late bloomer or a late comer. I

feel that in my soul. That's what Apostle Paul say.

I feel it, brother, justin Apostle Paul. He may not

have had the privilege that Peter and James and John

to put his feet in the footprints of Jesus. But

Paul said, how I am one. I've been born out

of due time, But I am one. I am one,

and I want you you know you're a child of

the King. And that's what Hubacchic and Joel was telling

these Israelites. You are a child of the king. Let's

stand and I hear the sound of revival rain, I said,

I hear the sound of revival rain. And God wants

to rain on your crop. But if he doesn't rain,

the locusts will come instead. Now say this, there's some

of you just need to pray for these two or three.

This altar shouldn't be bearing right now. The flip side

of it is the devourer will come and take everything.

Can we bow our heads and close our eyes the

word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son

of the Thule. Hear this, ye old men, and give

ear all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been

in your days or even in the days of your fathers.

Tell your children of it. Let your children tell their

children and the children of the generation. That which the

palmer worm hath left, hath the locus eating, And that

which the locust hath left had the cankerworm eating. And

that which the cankerworm has left had the caterpillar eating.

There's one in the altar right now as this somebody else.

While heads are bout and eyes are closed, you know

that you need to be praying. Is there some more?

I want to take the walk. I want to kneel

around an altar. I want to say, Father, I admit

when he admitted that, everybody saw he admitted it. There's

about seven or eight in the altar. Now is there

more to come? I can't tear it much longer. There's

some more, And I will restore to you the years

that the locust hath eaten, the canker worm, and the

caterpillar and the palmer worm my great army which I

sent among you, And you shall eat in plenty, and

be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your

God to add dealt wondrously with you, and my people

shall never be ashamed. The restoration will be so perfect

you won't have to bear shame. Jesus here I am today.

I own.

This.

It's mine. I take ownership. I admit I could do better.

I could be better. I could live better. I could

be more devoted, I could be more committed. There's some

things that I need to release, there's some things I

need to turn loose of, and there's some things I

need to embrace. Take the canker worm from me, destroy

the palmer worm,