GET YOUR BUCKETS READY BECAUSE THE RAIN IS COMING!
Joel 2:23-32, "Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD 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 fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call."
I once attended a number of motivational business seminars. I can’t remember the number of times when I heard this statement. One of our primary objectives in building a profitable business was the continual establishment of independent business owners who would not just be associates, but, through the process of profit sharing, would also become sources of income for those who established them.
It was always taught that there will come a time when the volume of product would flow greatly and that there would be vast amounts of profits made and that these would be shared. Each one of those franchised businesses would become like a bucket into which the profits would flow to be re-distributed according to our set formula.
Time and again we were asked, “How many buckets do you want?” The implication was that the more “buckets” you had established the higher your profits would be and the greater the income of each business owner.
It was always my goal to establish buckets everywhere in preparation for the outpouring of the money. I personally helped to plant as many buckets in as many places as possible in case the outpouring should happen in one place and not in another. Over a period of about 10 years I planted and established somewhere between 1300 and 1500 “buckets” and I was ready for the downpour of profits.
But the profits never came the way they were touted to come. Sure there were trickles here and there. Maybe a good shower in another place or a steady downpour in another. But there was never a “financial gully-washer” like we all hoped would come. It was just never to be.
Man’s promises of wealth and prosperity can’t be trusted. He has no power to make your dreams come true or to fulfill the promises made. Time, money, circumstances and economic conditions play too much of an unpredictable role in making those things come true.
Thank God that you can trust in His Word and you can establish your life on his promises. If we place our life in His hands; if we make investments in his kingdom; if we plant seed in his fields, then we can rest assured that everything will succeed and we won’t be left holding an empty bag.
People are quick to invest in the stock market, only to find later on that their investments were stolen or the value of their stocks were driven to worthlessness by more business savvy people. We will invest our time into a job hoping that someday we will be able to withdraw from the retirement that is given to us. But jobs can cease to exist and multitudes have lost their entire retirement. The bottom line is that if man has promised it, don’t bank your life on it. Nothing in this life carries an immutable guarantee of success.
The only thing that is guaranteed to never fail is the Word of God, so bank your life on what God says, not what man may say!
In these scriptures in the Book of Joel, I can almost hear God saying, “How many buckets do you have out? How much blessing can you contain? How much blessing do you want me to pour out on you? How much are you willing to receive?”
I don’t know about you but when I think of the blessings that God has in store for his children, I find myself looking for as many spiritual “buckets” as I can find. I want all I can get and all I can hold. I don’t want to miss out on anything that my Father in Heaven has in store for me.
In the land of Israel there were two times in a year when it was so very important for the rain to fall. Israel was a land-locked nation with no real seaports and no highly developed irrigation canals and rivers like Egypt.
Sometimes I feel as though living for the Lord leads me through a dry and thirsty land. I almost feel like singing that old spiritual, “Nobody knows the trouble I Seen, nobody knows but me.” It seems that God is pouring out his blessings upon everybody but me and I can sing one of the lines of an old country-western song that says, “My bucket’s got a hole in it”!
Sometimes the pickin’s in my spiritual bean patch are pretty slim. Sometimes I feel like a dried out raisin instead of a plump grape. Lord, I need some rain. Send down the rain of the Holy Ghost and give me some life.
Don’t you get tired of dead sermons, preached by dead preachers, in dead churches, in a dead community in a dying world? We need some new life poured into us. WE need a fresh anointing? We need those showers of blessings. We need a revival of Holy Ghost anointed sermons, preached under the power of the anointing of the Holy Ghost on the preacher, who stands behind the pulpit of a Holy Ghost powered church that can make a difference in a dying world! We need the rain, both the former rain and the latter rain together. Pour it on us Lord! Help us to get our buckets ready for the coming flood!
The former rains came in Israel just after planting of the first seeds by the farmers. Just after the seed is dropped in and the soil covers over it, or it sits on top of the plowed ground, that’s when the rain is desired to water that seed and wash it into a place in the ground where it can grow. Without that rain, the seed simply dries up and dies.
The seed has been planted in our lives by the power of the Holy Ghost. God’s Word is continually planting new seeds into our hearts, but we need the former rain to water it and make it grown. Without the outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon that word that has been planted in me, the word quickly leaves me and I am left barren and dry.
God, send down the rain, send down the former rain. Water that seed so that I may grow spiritually and know you more.
After the former rain has fallen, the time for growth comes. The seed takes root and begins to grow to the place where it breaks through the crust of the earth, forcing its way into the light of the sun, then takes the power of the sun and uses it to produce the life-giving nourishment for the plant to grow. The roots grow down deep, searching for water and nourishment and anchoring the plant in the place that the farmer has sown it.
That’s what the outpouring of the former rain of the Holy Ghost does for you and I. The Holy Ghost waters the seed of God’s Word in us. Then He leads us into the place where God has pre-established for us to work and grow and put down roots to become a productive plant in his garden. The Holy Ghost causes us to root down deep into the Word of God, anchoring our souls against the howling winds of adversity, and gives us the source of life when the ground above is parched with sin and shame. As we are established deeper and deeper into the Word of God, we become more and more productive in reaching out to the lost around us and God then uses us to plant some more “buckets” to hold his blessings.
Isn’t it a wonderful thing to see God pouring out his blessings upon someone that you have led to Christ? Isn’t it a greater blessing for you than it is for them sometimes? God wants to pour out more of his blessings, so just keep putting out more buckets to receive them and we can share in those blessings together.
In between the former rain and the latter rain is the growing time. It’s a lengthy time of overcoming obstacles for the plants. Some of them fall prey to the birds of the air, represented in the Parable of the Sower, as demonic spirits who come to steal the seed from your heart. Sometimes the storms of life, sand storms, wrong kind of rain, or wind storms rip the plants out of place and they are lost because their roots were not strong enough to hold. Sometimes there are periods of drought where the farmer’s doubts and fears are realized and the plants die because there is a lack of water – they just ceased to draw from that life giving water.
Sometimes the cankerworms, will get at the roots and begin to eat away at them. The caterpillars start chewing on the beautiful green leaves that gather in the light of the sun. The palmerworms attack the fruit itself and sometimes ruin the fruit that comes forth. Those worms represent all the little sins, secret sins and weights of this life that so easily beset us, undermining the working of the Holy Spirit within us.
Somehow though, through the knowledge and working of the farmer, representing the working of the Holy Ghost in your life, we make it through and the time for harvesting is drawing near.
That’s when the “latter rain” begins to fall. God, in His great mercy and provision for Israel, sends the rain just in time to make the plants produce in abundance and bring forth much fruit for the harvest. Notice that it is all God! The seed is his; he is the former rain; he is the keeper in time of growing and troubles; and he is source of the latter rain too. Then he is also the giver of fruit and the harvester. It’s all God. You and I are but his planting ground, useful in producing the fruit that God wishes to bring forth through us.
But God is telling Israel, and He is saying to you and I right now, “Rejoice, Shout for Joy!” God is already at work, pouring out the rain upon his children. He is sending both the former rain and the latter rain together to bring forth a speedy crop and a bountiful crop.
As we are drawing nearer to that last great harvest of souls before the coming of the Lord, I can’t help but believe that God is getting ready to pour out the rain of the Holy Ghost on this world like never before.
I am looking for, hoping for, praying for and expecting a great revival, not just in our church, our community, but around the world. America needs the former rain and the latter rain together. Our church needs the former rain and the latter rain together. I need the former rain and the latter rain together.
God don’t let my bucket fail. Help me to grow in Jesus and become larger in the spirit so that I can receive more of you! God I need your anointing! I need your outpouring! I need your rain in my soul like never before! I’m tired of this dry and thirsty land – I need an outpouring right now!
Have you been dry and thirsty in your spirit? Have the effects of sin eroded your roots in the Lord? Has the cankerworm, the caterpillar and the palmerworm eaten away at the fruit that you have brought forth and made them appear less than you had hoped for? Have they eaten away at your testimony and your life so that the beauty of Jesus that was once seen in you has begun to fade away or grow weaker and less noticeable?
God promises to pour out his spirit upon you like a flood, both the former rain and latter rain together. He promises to feed you and provide for you until you are more fruitful than ever before.
God’s rain is falling! The flood gates of Heaven have been opened and the unending power of the Holy Ghost is falling like never before so don’t miss out. Put out your buckets and let them fill up!
God is going to bring your children in and they will not only begin to bear fruit through prophesying, or teaching, but some will be used in prophetic ministries in these last days. God has promised to pour out his rain upon them and anoint them for ministry.
God is going to bring your parents, your older family members into the fold, and he will pour out his rain upon those who will receive it and they will develop a new dream, and a new purpose for living that will bring forth fruit for the harvest.
God is going to bring teenagers in and fill them with power of the Holy Ghost and they will see visions of God’s plans for his children and for coming of Jesus Christ.
Even the old Christians who are set in their ways will be refilled and used by God if they will allow the rain to fill them once again. Those who won’t will die and be blown away by the winds and storms of life and they will become unprofitable servants.
The former rain and the latter rain together will be poured out on those who will allow the Holy Ghost to anoint and fill them.
It’s time to set out your bucket! Make yourself ready to receive and let the Holy Ghost fall on you! Revival is here, revival is coming! God is pouring out his anointing upon all who will receive! Let your bucket get full and let it overflow. Tell everyone you know about Jesus and let him touch their hearts and fill them too. God is going to pour out a blessing that you can’t contain.
Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording, including sermon titles, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these sermons. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and/or quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
