It’s Decision Time
Joel 3:9-18
9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: {Prepare: Heb. Sanctify}
10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. {pruninghooks: or, scythes}
11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. {cause...: or, the LORD shall bring down}
12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. {decision: or, concision, or, threshing}
15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. {hope: Heb. place of repair, or, harbour}
17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. {holy: Heb. holiness}
18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim. {flow: Heb. go}
Verses 9-11 are a picture of the assembly of the mighty army which the Antichrist will lead against Jerusalem.
Jesus Christ, at this time, has already come back for the born-again believers in the Rapture of the church.
Joel 3:10 says:
10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
This verse proclaims the nations of the world under the domain of the anti-christ preparing war against Israel.
When it says “let the weak say that I am strong”, it is saying that Israel has to come to a place where she understands that she is weak, but through Christ she will be strong.
When I am weak, that is when Christ becomes strong within my walk.
When it seems that you are weak, that is when Christ can be magnified in your walks of faith.
Joel 3:11-13
11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. {cause...: or, the LORD shall bring down}
12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
Verse 11 is referring to Revelation 16:16 and is talking about the Battle of Armageddon.
Verse 12 again is referring to the Battle of Armageddon when the Lord will judge the nations.
This morning what I really want to focus on is Joel 3:14.
Joel 3:14
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
This valley that Joel is talking about, the valley of Jehoshaphat where the Battle of Armageddon will be fought, and will be won with the help of God.
The reason that it is called the valley of decision is because the Lord has made the decision to meet Satan there, and his man, the anti-christ, and defeats him.
This will bring on the Second Coming of Jesus.
Everything that is taking place in the world we are living in, is leading up to the Rapture of the church.
You might not believe this, but it really is decision time in our lives, who are we going to serve?
We will either serve God or we are serving Satan. There is NO in-between.
You are either born-again and on your way to Heaven, or you are lost and on your way to Hell.
I’ve entitled this morning: It’s Decision Time
Here’s the reason why:
Dream 2-27-08
I dreamed that a couple, who was married, was sitting at a table in our living room with Susan, Mary, and me. I was reading the Times Recorder. I noticed that, on the front of the paper, is a picture of a church that I thought was ours. I was not totally for sure, but I think that it was our Sanctuary. As I was reading, the lady got mad at her husband, and walked into our bedroom. Her husband followed her back. He came back and he told me that his wife had just told him she does not love him in the way that she should as a wife. Mary told me that the woman had told her the same thing. I told the man that God could give her the love that she needs to have for him. I told him to keep praying.
Interpretation
A married couple sitting at a table in the living room, would mean that it is decision time.
Do they want their love to live or die?
I was reading the Times Recorder, everything that we do is news to God.
Everything that we do is being recorded.
I noticed a picture on the front page, but I was not certain that it was our church.
Sometimes we don’t want to believe that these issues can happen within our church, but it can and it has.
When I was looking at the picture, I noticed the Sanctuary, a place of separation from the world, a place where God shows up as we worship.
Sanctuary is a place of spiritual healing.
The woman does not love the man the way that she should as a wife.
Do we love Jesus the way that we should as a bride?
Jesus is the Bridegroom and we are the bride as Christians.
The man told me what his wife said to him, and Mary confirmed that she had told her the same thing.
God is establishing something this morning that we need to keep on falling in love with Jesus and never get tired of Him.
Maybe this morning you’re going through what I have just spoken about, and you don’t think you love your spouse the way you should.
You are in the right place to ask God to give you that love for them and He will.
Church, it really is decision time in our lives. Are we going to decide to give all of our life to Christ, or are we going to try to give only part of ourselves to Him?
Joel 3:14
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
Even though this scripture is talking about the Battle of Armageddon, I am going to apply it to our situations right now.
Are you in a valley of decision and you really do not know what to do?
What we need to understand, as Christians, is that the day of the Lord is near, and it seems that we are in the valley of decision.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. {comfort: or, exhort}
Church, it really is decision time in our lives, we need to make decisions that will be helpful in our walks with Christ.
Satan, in the day we live in, is mad because he knows that he really does only have but a short time to work.
If you are a born-again Christian, then you are not of the night, but you are of the light.
Christ is coming back for a church without spot or wrinkle; He is coming back for a church who is watching for Him.
People say that we will never see the Rapture of the church so I will do whatever I want and when I am older I will repent.
That’s what Satan wants people to do, but we need to understand that if I would die in a willful sin then I would go to Hell.
Satan wants you to lust for the things of this world.
He wants you to fall; He wants to destroy your walk with the Lord.
If you are married this morning, stay faithful to God, stay faithful to your spouse.
If you have your eyes on someone else’s spouse, get your eyes off of them, and get your eyes back on the things of God.
Do you need a spiritual healing this morning? You had better start working on it because time is running out.
It is time to get serious for God because God is serious for us.
Israel became a nation in 1948; Jerusalem became the Capitol in 1967.
Listen to me closely this morning:
Mathew 24:33-34
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. {it: or, he}
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
The Bible says that no man knows the day or the hour, but it does not say that we would not know what generation.
Christ is coming back, and all I know is that it is going to be soon and I mean very soon.
Is your love relationship with Christ fresh?
It is time to overcome lust!
Closing
John 10:10
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have l
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