Isaiah 58:1 “Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins.
Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear.
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
How would you present Christ’s life if you had lived with Him as a young man? Now how would your telling of the story change if you much older and had grown in grace and knowledge of that same Lord and Savior?
Let’s turn to it and see….in the book of John
John apparently lived the longest – Tasked with taking care of Jesus’ mother; and writing the book of Revelation
More than likely read the other gospel accounts
Have you ever been in the throes of a trial
Too difficult to save yourself
Out of desperation and as a last resort you turn to God?
These are the times that are coming
It is well accepted within secular circles that the ancient Persians are today’s Iranians. Though less known, it is also understood that the Elamites were what they were known as even before they became Persia.
Ancient Elam was situated in the area from SW Iran (just east of the Persian Gulf) up to western Iran. As they grew and spread out, they moved eastward, even as far as India (see the Parsee of India, a derivation of the word Persia).
I would like to begin today’s message by asking you a very simple question or so it seems at face value, yet one that maybe one of your most difficult and ongoing questions that you will ever have to answer.
If you are asked that question could you describe with a high degree of certitude exactly who you are?
Written ~800 BC –
Theme: Day of the Lord
Joel 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand:
Joel was there in a vision and he is recounting it to the people of Judah (Southern Kingdom)
How would you be if you saw the same thing? What would you do?
Wouldn’t you want to tell everyone:
what was going to happen
AND
how to avoid it
This is exactly what Joel’s message is
What happens when you die, playing harps? reincarnation? nothing?
If you will stay with me today, we will go through and reveal God’s plan for mankind
Heard on TV:
I forgive…
When can we forgive?
When should we forgive?
Where is God? Why does He not reveal Himself? If He exists, why does He not just come to Earth and prove it and prove all the naysayers wrong? Why does He remain in heaven and allow fallible and imperfect humans to do the work of preaching the Gospel and feeding the flock?