Rend our Hearts to Revival | Elder Peng Hoe

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World.

Chapter two it goes on like this, Like I said,

continuation from chapter one, it says, this locusts invade like

an army.

Okay, what's all these locusts? Okay?

Locusts is another word for grasshopper. Okay, grasshopper. I don't

think they will use grasshopper here because it doesn't sound cool.

It doesn't sound cool when you say the grasshopper invaded

like an army, because locus is a little bit bigger,

according to chain.

Okay.

For us in Basa, it's all bla lang. Okay, so

it's bala lang.

Okay.

Let's go sound the trumpet in Jerusalem, raise the alarm

on my holy mountain. Let everyone tremble in fear, because

the day of the Lord is upon us. It is

a day of darkness and gloom, a day of thick

clouds and deep blackness. Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains,

a great and mighty army appears, nothing like it has

been seen before or will ever be seen again. Fire

burns in front of them, and flames follow after them.

Ahead of them. The land lies as beautiful as the

garden of Eden. Behind them is nothing but desolation. Not

one thing escapes. They look like horses. They charge forward

like war horses. Look at them as they live along

the mountaintops. Listen to the noise they make, like the

rumbling of chariots, like the raw of fires sweeping across

a field of stubble, or like a mighty army moving

into battle manure. This is a description of blalang Okay grasshopper.

Fear grips all the people. Every face grows pale with terror.

The attackers much like warriors, and scale city walls like soldiers. Straightforward,

they much, never breaking rank, They never jostle each other.

Each moves in exactly the right position. They break through

defenses without missing a step. They swam over the city

and run along its walls. They enter all the houses,

climbing like thieves through the windows. The earth quakes as

they advance, and the heavens tremble. The sun and the

moon grow dark, and the stars no longer shine. The

Lord is at the head of the column. He leads

them with a shell. This is his mighty army, and

they follow his orders. The day of the Lord is

an awesome terrible thing who can possibly survive a lot

of paradoxes. It's an awesome terrible thing anyway, the Lord

bless the reading of his word. We don't know much

about Joel, actually a part of from the fact we

know his father's name because he starts off Joel's son

of pat Duel. I don't know how to pronounce okay.

I think maybe pet petul Okay. That's all we know

about Joel. We know his name, we know his father's name.

Well.

Some of the things that we can tell just from

their names. Both their names have the word that the word,

the Hebrew word e l okay e l basically is

reference to God. That's why you know how the words

L should I L, I don't know or all those

E L e l is basically God. So it looks

like this is a pretty godly family. Both father and

son have quite similar names in that sense, so they

must be men who are full of faith. We don't

know who he was, we don't know when he lived,

but we do know why he wrote this book and

why he preached. And I can tell you this basically,

it's all about the bla Lang it's all about the locus.

It was the result of a terrible, terrible catastrophe, a

natural catastrophe, which was causing at that point of time,

widespread famine. And it is something that we don't really

experience it here, but there are places, especially in the

Middle East, in Africa, I.

Think even in Europe, where you.

Can actually see the aftermath of a plague of locus,

clague of locus. And then you think, but locus bla

lang grasshopper, it's under harmless little things, small, little tiny things,

don't carry any disease, They don't attack humans, they don't

really bite.

I don't think they bit.

It's just that when you pick it up and they

crawl on your hand, it feels like they're biting you,

but it's just them poking you with your tiny legs.

But they don't really bite.

Little insects that fly around, hop around, They go through

about five different stages. No, they change color each stage

to know eventually a full sized locust. That's it. It's

just a small little grasshopper. So what should be so

frightening about a grasshopper? And the answer is basically only

one answer. The frightening thing about them is the numbers

in which they come at you.

The numbers.

So one swarm of locusts can have up to one

billion locus, and they when they set off to travel together,

they can go as far as two thousand miles before

they die. Every twenty four hours they will eat at

about eighty thousand tons of vegetation. That's basically the weight

of a cruise liner. So they can eat a cruise

liner worth of vegetation. Now you know why they are

quite frightening, because think about it, that one swamp can

cause a solar eclipse. That's what the scripture says, because

when they come, they can seem like nine. They can

literally cover the whole sunlight from actually penetrating to the ground.

And that is what happened here.

It was such a severe attack that Joe said, you,

age man, in chapter one, he says, did you ever

know anything like this?

Did your father's ever had such a bad one?

You children, remember this, tell it to your children and

to your grandchildren.

There has never been a plaque like this.

So what they experienced, or what they were experiencing at

that time, was a terrible, terrible plaque of locusts. And

think about it. In one day, a million people can

lose their food for a year to a plaque of locusts.

That means one year's worth of food for one million

people can be devoured by a plate of locus. And

you think about it in a country that back then

no supermarkets on it. You can't just go and pick

up veggie whenever I feel like picking it up, go

to the markets and get it. No, they are depending

on the produce day today. Today, you know, if a

whole patch of vegetation is devowed, it will spell a disaster.

And that is the horror of a plaque of locus.

And Joe's description of the locus is basically an eyewitness account.

He must have seen it because he describes the stages

very very vividly. He says the cutting, the sw the hopping,

the destroying. He's actually describing their appearance like lions and horses.

Remember reading it, It says like they are like horses, not

just horses, war horses.

And that's how the enemy attacks.

Sometimes we think that we don't need discipline in life,

we don't need discipleship in life. But yet when the

army attacks, they are single foul moving. They don't break ranks,

you read it, you catch it as you're reading it.

How discipline they are in trying to penetrate into our lives.

But yet we feel on our end we can live

however we want. I think we need to relook at

some of these things, because he describes their number as

an army, as an enemy, a nation, a host, a

hot He describes the sound that they are making, rumbling

like chariots, crackling fire. He says, before them, the earth

quakes and the heaven shakes.

Wow.

I don't know whether we can do that, even with

our own lives. But yet he's writing about the enemy,

and so Joel is writing what he saw. He describes

their movements. They much in line, keeps to their path.

They come like a mighty army. The locusts attack always

lead to consequences.

Always.

First of all, all the plants will be eaten up.

And he says, no, before them, before the locusts is

like garden of Eden. After them, it's like a desolate wilderness.

These are the terms that he's using.

Not only did it affect plants, you think about it,

it will affect animals because when there is no plants around,

animals also got no vegetation to eat. They got no food,

they got no pasture. And then beyond that, you think

about it. When vegetation goes, it will affect your climate. Basically,

it will affect rainfall and most fairy levels will reduced.

You will have less and less moisture, and water source

will eventually dry up. So eventually you have a big,

big problem because both your domestic on your wild animals

will be crying for both food and water. And then

eventually the human beings will be affected. The food and

the drink have been cut off before their eyes. But

now Joel is saying there is something else that has

gone even further wrong. He's saying that the offerings are

no longer being brought to the house of the Lord.

See when everything diminishes, what the people bring and what

the people present to God also diminishes. Basically, the house

of the Lord receives nothing. And that is the picture

of the locust plate destroying. And then the Lord goes

on to say this, okay, verse twelve, I'm going to

continue reading. That is why the Lord say, turn to

me now, while there is time, give me your hearts.

Come with fasting, weeping and mourning. Don't tear your clothing

in your grief. I'm reading from the NLT. You read

it from the NKJV. I think he says, don't ruin

your clothings, but ran your hearts. But tear your hearts

in stead. Return to the Lord your God, For he

is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry, and filled

with unfeeling love.

He's eager to relent and not punish. Who knows.

Perhaps he will give you a reprieve, sending you a

blessing instead of this curse. Perhaps you'll be able to

offer grain and wind to the Lord your God. As

before blow the rams horn in Jerusalem, announce a time

of fasting. Call the people together for a solemn meeting.

Gather all the people, the elders, the children, and even

the babies. Call the bridegroom from his quarters and the

bride from her private room. Let the priests who minister

in the Lord's presence stand and weep between the entry

room to the temple and the altar.

Let them pray.

Spare your people, Lord, don't let your special possession become

an object of mockery. Don't let them become a joke

for unbelieving foreigners. Who say, has the God of Israel

left them? You see the prophet Joel actually says this

plague is a miracle. He's saying that no, because whatever

that you are witnessing is not a natural event. It

has been caused by God. It is a direct intervention

of God in nature. Now, why should God send a

plague of locus? It's a question that we have to ask.

And before I answer that, let me point out that

this miracle was not a blessing. Science we think all

miracles are a blessing. No, this one is not a blessing.

This miracle is actually a curse. It was a direct

intervention of God cursing his people. You read it carefully,

you'll see that why should God do such a thing?

Sah, terrible wrong must have been done? Right now?

What had they done? That is the question that we

always ask ourselves. What do I docience when people call

my name?

Straight were always answer I.

Didn't do it. That's me in defense mode altogether. But

what terrible sin lay behind? This is what could be

the possible reason. And it comes out in two phrases. Okay,

two phrases, and you'll be able to sort of grasp

what they did wrong.

The first phrase is this.

The first phrase is return to me twice repeated, which

means quite simply, the thing that had they had done

wrong was they simply got away from God.

Actually that's all. No, you think about it, huh. That's

either they.

Were God's people and God was technically no longer real

to them, and they drifted away from God. God own

people were no longer with God. And sometimes we're like, ah,

is that either?

Is it?

I thought it was an idolatry thing. I thought they

were worshiping something. I thought it was some area of immorality,

they were doing something totally immoral. No, this is the

fact that the people drifted away from God. And that

is as serious as idolatry. It's as serious as immorality.

That is why today we who sometimes go to church,

and we who claim to be people of God, we

can still be complacent in our attitude, in our behavior.

That's the truth of it. I speak for myself, I'm

not speaking for others. You can go to church, you

can sing hymes, and you can have all the business

of the church, you can raise money, you can be

running around doing all the social services or the community work,

and you can still leave God out, and if we

do that, then we deserve a locust plate as well.

That's what the scripture is essentially saying. But yet God

still gives us a chance because he says, return to me.

You have gotten a long way away from me, but

year return to me. The second phrase that gives us

another clue is this ran your hearts and not your garments.

What does that mean?

Well, it means stop putting on an outward show of

religion and get back into the inward reality.

Very important. You see they.

What was happening back then, once they all went to

the temple, they all tall and riped their garments. They're

all trying to show themselves or like, really I feel remorse,

I feel you know, regret, so I'm tearing my clothes.

It's really an outward show because they were all godly people,

godly people, but yet deep down in their hearts, they

were not sorry at all for their sin.

They were not at least sorry enough to stop.

Isn't that what repentance is sorry enough to stop a

lot of them may be regretting a lot of things.

Regret is you feeling sorry for yourself. That's usually the case.

You do something you feel sorry for yourself. You're like,

oh hey, oh, way is mandarine for regret. Remorse? Sometimes

we feel remorse, but remorse is made feeling sorry for

someone else. I feel remorseful. I think I hurt someone else,

or I hurt my friend. Should have done that, shouldn't

say that. But yet, repentant or repenting is feeling sorry

towards God. And when you feel sorry towards God, it's

not just a lot. I feel sorry for breaking your heart.

God doesn't want us to just stop in that kind

of declaration. He wants us to say I am sorry

enough to stop sinning. That is what repentance really is.

And so they recited all the general confessions. They ripped

their clothes when everybody else did. But the trouble was

that they had order and routine rather than life. They

have the form of Godliness, but not the power of it,

and it was all outside. And basically God was quite

sick of them brending their garments. He was quite sick

of them just showing everything in the externals.

You know, it's like everything is just doing for sure.

You see, we.

Don't tell our garments today. If I start doing your

lives bi kukuie. Garments don't matter. Actually, what matters most

is your heart. What had gone wrong. You see, what

they had was a godless religion, and the best way

to get away from God is to embrace a religion

of outward respectability. A lot of times we want to

do what is what looks right, but there is no

inward reality, and.

We've got to go beyond. Go beyond, Go beyond.

Just the outside, go beyond just the externals, because this

can be a religion that is all put on the outside,

godless religion that doesn't meet God when it comes to worship.

You know, we can worship God without meeting him. It

meets a lot of people, we can come together, we

can meet a lot of people and all the people

that matter. But yet we still cannot meet God. You See,

a church can be very busy. We could be engaged

with a lot of activities, but sometimes we just don't

have the time to sit still, be still and know

that He is God. And that is what Joel is

trying to get at. That is what caused the locust plate. See,

no amount of events that you do in a church

will do you any good. Really, unless every partner depends

on God to be transformed into his image daily.

That is the truth of it.

We need to have a close individual relationship. We've got

very very, very important. You see, the scripture in Romans

chapter twelve tells you not to do what everyone else

is doing. It's saying, do not conform to the ways

of this world. But a lot of times we tend

to do that. And no, I remember reading this and

teaching about this. The best way that was described with

this is a reminder to not be chameleons.

You know what a chameleon is.

Chamelion is like a little insect, a lizard, a lizard

that ticks after the color of the surrounding.

So, but that's what we do.

Sometimes you put us on a gray floor, we return gray.

You put us on the black floor, we turn black.

We are conforming to this world. But the reminder in

Romans chapter twelve, verse two is don't conform to this world,

but be transform b transform. Actually the word translated more accurately.

It's the English word matter more for size, which is

a term that you all will remember when you study

your science. And it talks about the caterpillar becoming a butterfly, Okay,

it meta more for size. I think I think that's

how it's pronounced that the terrence looks like. I think

you miss out a few succul cutters somewhere, but I may.

Have got any wrong.

Okay, but don't be a chameleon b a caterpillar, because

a caterpillar will be transformed. You know what happens in

that cocoon. There's a transformation that is taking place. That

is happening, a transformation in your mind, really, because when

your mind is changed, a lot of things changes. That's

how the caterpillar eventually breaks free to become a beautiful butterfly.

So don't conform. Don't just come and just go with

the flow. Everyone else is doing it. Let's do it

this way. No, I think it's so important for us

to come before God, and only you will know it.

The condition of your hearts very very important.

You see, there are three things wrong with a godless religion,

and sow you may ask me other godless religion? What

kind of paradox is that? What kind of is almost oxymoronic?

Godless religion? Isn't religion all about God?

Is it? Well?

A godless religion? What are the treatings that can go wrong. Firstly,

I tell you what it's actually offensive to God. It

is an insult to the Almighty for us to actually

come to church and not meet him.

Think about it. Think about it again.

I speak for myself because all of us sometimes this

is what happens. And the second thing we need to

take not is this a godless religion is useless to

other people?

You see, a godless.

Religion can't help them and cannot change anybody's life. A

man say to me, you know, if our lives as

Christians do not provoke the right questions in other people,

there must be something wrong with us. Right if you

are in the marketplace but you blend in so well

that no one, no one is provoked to ask any

questions about the way you behave, about the way you talk,

about the way you carry yourself, About why is this

this person so different? I think it speaks a lot

of how we are living our lives. Are we already

to conform to this world? Is something that we have

to ask ourselves sometimes. As a believer, I think we

should be out there provoking people to question us and

what are you like that one?

Why do you make choices? Like this, tell me more.

I'm curious because it's so unlike what everyone else is doing.

That is what we should be doing. But the godless religion,

I'll tell you what. It will be useless to other people.

And the third thing is this, a godless religion is

dangerous to ourselves because we are deluded into thinking that

we are right, we've God, when we are actually nowhere

near him. And the scripture says in James for a

draw near to me. There is a part in which

we have to play draw near to me, and the

promise and the assurance is I will draw near to you.

And so godless religion useless to God, useless to others,

useless to ourselves. Well, now this is actually Joe's charge

against the people. He's saying that you're no, I'm not

point there, You're okay, okay, me me included. He's talking

to everyone. He's saying that you all, you have a

godless religion. And now, of course, when we read on

is this a hopeless position? Is this a place where

there is no hope? Lefe, Is there any situation that

is no longer beyond, is no longer within your control? No,

it's not because Joel gives them a specific program of getting.

Back to God. Ah.

That's the beauty of the prophet. He doesn't just tell

you what is wrong. It gives you the solution as well.

He doesn't leave them in vague. He doesn't like you

all useless people.

Ah. Then he walks off. He didn't do that.

He's actually saying, God is going to tell you this

whole program. And he's going to use me to tell

you the whole program. And what is the program? Where

I'll say it right now and you ready?

Just now.

The first thing is this, you must come back to God,

not just as individuals together. If people of God have

got away from God, then the way to get back

is for a group to get together and to go

back to God together. That's why the Fellowship of Believers

is very, very important. I cannot stress this anymore. A

lot of times we always feel come to church, no

big deal. But when we come together, there is power

in that. That's why Joe says, call and call an assembly.

It's so important to get everyone together. Not one of

those happy assemblies some less you just want to call

and he he hah, and just have fun. No, he says,

call and assembly where I'm not asking people to come

and done and bounce off the world. No, it's going

to be a serious and solemn assembly. That means we're

going to come back to the seriousness of following God.

That's what the scripture is saying. And then it goes

on to say, proclaim a fast. You see, if you

think fast thing is just for twenty one days, you know,

once a year we do it, and then maybe the

second time we'll do it when NYCF launches the forty

days Prayer and Fast before Malaysia Day.

It's more than that.

A fast is actually one of the aspects of Christian

living that is most neglected today. And I'm also preaching

and teaching this because i want us to remember and

to know that there is power in calling for a fust.

Some people think it's such an Old Testament thing, you know,

call for fast? Why I need a call for fust?

But even you study the New Testament, you read the

Book of As, you realize that fast thing is also

something that's very very important in a New Testament. In

the Book of X chapters thirteen and fourteen, really the

church pray and faster before they even send out the

missionaries it's not something that is done onely. It's not

just something that is not important. It is powerful because

before you even send people out there, all coming together, praying,

getting ready, that is how the church gets back to

God fasting. So in other words, even food is not

as important as this. Get everybody together. This is top priority.

Get your act together, get a solemn assembly, get a

serious assembly to come back together. And the second thing

is the instruction for the ministers. Actually, ministers have a

role as well. And if all of you all think

that I'm the only minister here, you're wrong, because all

of youall are called into a responsibility of functioning as

a follower of Christ, which means all of y'all have

got a prophetic call. All of y'all have a priestly

called all of your or have a call to lead others.

All of us as believers, we are people.

Who point the direction to God, which means that we

are also ministering to everyone. So the ministers were called

to get together and pray. And what kind of prayer

are they to pray? Well, even this was prescribed and

given to Joel. They are to pray that the people

of God may be spared in the mercy of God.

That is what Verse seventies say is spare die people,

O Lord.

The people of God need mercy, and they have got

away from God. It is a cry of a condemned person.

If you are someone who you know you are condemned,

you'll be crying out for mercy. But a lot of

times we don't cry out from mercy for God because

there's no realization of how bad we are. There is

only always earth trying to justify how right we are.

I think that some that we've got to be very

very careful. They are supposed to be praying that God's

people are respected again. That's why we are we are here,

That's why we are supposed to pray that God's people

will be respected again. It's they're always being laughter at.

The scripture actually says that the believers, the people who

were actually they were, they became a symbol of mockery.

People were mocking them, and so they are praying, now, God,

we pray you be vindicated. And the others should not

be taunting them because the others who are always taunting them,

where is your God?

Where is your God? You know?

The once upon a time there was this movement that

says God is dead, God is no longer a life.

You know, there are people who keep professing that. Why

do you think they're saying that? It's not because God

is dead. I tell you why. It's because his people

are there, not because God is dead, Because we know

God is alive. You see, the outsider can't see God.

The outsider does not have faith to see God. He

can only look at the people of God and see

what is happening to them. What does the outsider see

when they look into the Church of God. It's self reflection.

And we've got to keep on asking ourselves, Lord, where

are we? And I believe that God is saying to

his church, should they return to me even now while

the nation is still running away?

Even now? A return to me? You know.

Sometimes, Yeah, we live in places where everyone else is

running away from God. Everyone else wants to dissociate themselves

from Christ. But yeah, God is saying, come back to me,

Come return to me, come fasting. Question is how we

prepared to do it? And that was the calling of Joel.

That was the warning that he was trying to tell them,

and that was the prescription that he was giving to them.

And then when we.

Read on verses eighteen and eventually verses twenty five to

thirty two, which I'm going to read right now. Verse

eighteen says this, Then the Lord will pity his people

and jealously God the honor of his land. Okay, that's

verse eighteen, and I'm going to read on verses twenty

five he says. The Lord says, I will give you

back what you lost to the swarming locusts, the hopping locus,

the stripping locus, the cutting locusts. It was I who

send this great destroying army against you. Once again, you

will have all the food you want, and you will

praise the Lord your God, who does these miracles for you.

Never again will my people be disgraced. Then you will

know that I am among my people Israel, that I

am the Lord your God, and there is no other.

Never again will my people be disgraced.

He repeats that, and then the Lord's promise of his

holy spirits verse twenty eight says this, Then, after doing

all those things, I will pour out my spirit upon

all people, your sons and daughters, who all profit side.

Your old man will dream dreams, and your young men

will see Vigians. In those days, I will pour out

my spirit even on servants, men and women alike, and

I will cause wonders in the heavens and on earth,

blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun will

become dark and the moon will turn blood rate before.

That great and terrible day of the Lord arrives.

But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord

will be save for some on the mount Sion in

Jerusalem will escape, just as the Lord has said. This

will be among the survivors whom the Lord has called.

Do you know what God's response was, because there is

something that was not written. Between verses seventeen and eighteen.

You see, Joel has started talking about the plague of locusts,

and they went through days, and he say, all of

you will have a religion without God. They were singing hymns,

they went along with their routine, but somehow God was

not real to them. And then suddenly, in verse eighteen,

it began with a small little word than phn then,

which implies that something happened last between verses seventeen and eighteen,

we are not really told what because in verse seventeen

Joel told them what to do. In verse eighteen, God

does something. So what then happened in between? And I

can only come to one conclusion that the people of

God did what they ought to do. Otherwise God would

not have responded. That the people of God and the

ministers of God God together and they wept, they cried,

and they say, Lord, we cannot go any further without you. Lord,

come back to us. Lord, we are coming back to you. Basically,

they repented, and so Enjoel chapter two, verse eighteen. That

word then implies that God heard something from his people.

And I mentioned this for a reason.

You see, we cannot claim God's promise until we come

to realization that we have gone far away from Him

and that we need to draw back to Him and repent.

From our godlessness. We need to all of us.

If there is no repentance in our heart, then God

can't do much. God will always be jealous for his

people and have pity on them when they turn towards him.

And that's what the scripture says, because God became jealous

for them, and God had pity on them. You see,

when you turn to God, when you ran your hearts

and not just your outer clothing, God also runs his heart.

Do you know that there's a scripture in the Old

Estimate that says that if you repent, God also will repent.

That means God also can change his repentance is what

we call you turn right.

God has set his ways on doing something.

Do you know that when you do something first, he

can instead of allowing what was what he was going

to do, he can you turn from it. That's why

God had said certain things. If I'm going to do this,

I'm going to destroy this this group of people. But

if there was someone who says, will I will stand

in between the gap, I will pray for them. Lord,

please you turn from your decision. If you truly repent,

God will also repent. Do you know you can change

God's direction? That is how dear we are to him.

But realization is the most important thing. When you repent,

and when you realize that you have wronged him, come

to him in repentless and say Lord, I'm sorry enough

to stop. And God is also going to be kind

and merciful and he will stop from continuing on what

he has already is said to do. And that's why

we now have this description of two very deep emotions,

jealousy and pity. You see, God became jealous for his land,

and he had pity on his people. Know, some people

think God has got no feelings. One, he's just far away,

not doing his own thing. You don't care about me.

Sometimes we pain a view of God that is far

and aloof and couldn't be bothered. But that's not what

the Bible tells us about God. See, God is a

real person. He feels very deeply until he can actually

make him jealous and sorry, sorry enough, until he can

stop doing what he has set out to do. See,

the Bible presents us with a God who feels deeply,

a God whose spirit you can grieve, a God who

can actually feel sorry.

You know that you can grieve the Holy Spirit. The

Book of X.

Tells us that that means it's a he's a person,

He's not just a thing. Now you notice that the

response of God is not just his love. Some people

speak vaguely of his love. Well, there is this love

of God for the whole world. You know, we know

for God's soul love the world. We understand that. But

there is also a special love of God in the

Bible for his people. Do you know that it is

actually called Casset C H. E.

S D. Cassett love.

It is basically a married loves, a carvenant love. You see,

let me explain this. I hope that I'm someone who

love people. I love people around, I love everyone besides

my wife.

But the truth is I have a special love for

my wife.

It's a Cassett love, which means a love that has

made certain promises which will not be broken. It's different.

We can love everyone, but those who are married. You

will understand this. You will always still have a special

love for your spouse.

That is the difference.

God loves the whole world, but he has a special

love for his bride.

Who is his bride the church? It is us. You see.

God has a married love for his people, and he

has made promises to them. And when you have married,

you have a married love for someone, then you are

actually jealous for that person. You can say, no one

touches the one that I love, no one laughs at

the one that I love. That's what it means that

the people God hurts know when when people are mocking us,

mocking his church. And that is what we need more

than anything else today. The jealousy and the pity of

God that's free from his married love for his people.

He loves his people dearly. He does amen.

That is why we need it more than anything else.

The jealousy and the pity of God. You see, his

jealousy for our reputation is actually because of this. His

reputation is bound to our reputation. If people torn the

people of God and say where is there God? You

know whose name suffers more, God's name, And it is

also his reputation at state. And now let's look at

this lovely promise, because the lovely promise at the end

of it says this, I will restore to you the

years which the locusts have eaten.

Hallelujah, Praise the Lord.

You see, God wants his people to be satisfied and

have plenty. It is God's will that his people should

never be in life, that they always have what they need.

That is the normal. And when God's people are right,

we've God. Then the message is this, I will send

you plenty. That's why a lot of times I have

to check with my heart when I am always found

one thing and lacking.

Lord, am I doing what is right?

Because I know you always want to restore whatever that

has been taken away from me, provided we turn back

to him. You see, there is a promise of natural abundance,

because natural abundance will restore their confidence, naturally right. If

you have, then you will be confident. Then, he says,

you will know that I am Lord, and other people

will also know that I am Lord.

Through you.

You see, prayer will turn into praise, and they will

rejoice and be glad. Then comes this tremendous prediction of

the baptism of the spirit. And he goes back to

verse twenty eight of chapter two, because it says this.

It will come to pass in the last days, says God,

I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, not

just on the priests, not just on the minister, but

regardless of age, regardless of gender, regardless of what social

class you are. It says, your sons and your daughters

will prophesy, Your old man shall dream dreams, your young

men shall see visions, even upon the maid servants and

the men servants. In those days, I will pour out

my spirit. Now, why does this promise come here? Simply

because it is not only God's will that his people

should have enough material resources.

And it's true, he says, I will restore.

But it's not his will to just for us to

have enough material resources.

It is also his will that we have enough spiritual resources.

It is not only his will that he should bless

the people of God. It is his will that true them,

they should bless everybody else. And that cannot be done

with material resources alone.

Cannot.

If you think, ah, I got a lot of money,

I can bless other people.

On its own.

No. And that's why when Joel the prophet, Joel is

looking to the future, he sees that the day will

come and the whole people of God, young and all,

male and female, employer, employee, slave, whatever, all of them

will have the capacity to preach God's word, will have

the capacity to speak forth the mighty works of God.

They will know God's will and they will declare. That

is what the gift of prophecy is. The gift of

prophecy is to know the mind of God and to

speak the mind of God through our mouth, to let

your mouth be filled with His words.

That is the gift. And so what you see and

hear from God, you declare to others.

And even if a church has all the material resources

in it, you have a fine building you have all

the money in the world, you have all the stuff. Essentially,

it will all be futile unless the church has with

them the Holy Spirit.

We need the Holy Spirit. And that is exactly.

Why God said it will come to pass in the

last days that I will pour out my spirit on

all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, Your young

man will see visions, your old man will dream dreams.

This is the need of our day. I'm going to

invite the band. I'm almost done. Isn't this the need

of our day? Sometimes we think we need is more organization. No,

we don't need more organizations. Sometimes we think we need

more committees set up. We don't need more committees set

up suntimes. We think all we need more reporting. We

don't need more reporting. I tell you what we need.

We need more of the power of the Holy Spirit.

Then the harvest would come. What was the harvest that

had failed in many countries all around the world. Think

about it, Think about it. We think only in terms

of agriculture. But don't just think in terms of agriculture.

I know it's talking about a pick of locusts, But

what is the harvests that have failed all across the world.

It is actually the harvest of people, the harvests of

winning souls to Christ, and that harvests cannot be reaped without.

The Holy Spirit.

It's impossible if we think that, oh, you can all

carry out the mandate of evangelizing and discipling people. You

can't do that just with your knowledge and understanding. You

need the Holy spaper. You see, when the people are

filled with the spirit, you'll notice this. No longer will

they just talk about any other name. They will only

talk about the name of Jesus.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

information on our church, please visit as church Org. We

are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that

this week is going to be a good week.

I hit for you.

God bless