Our journey through the book of Joel has begun, and while the message may feel heavy, it carries profound truth for our lives today.

Summary: The sermon explored the opening chapter of Joel, where God speaks through His prophet about a devastating locust plague that had struck Judah. This immediate catastrophe served as both a historical reality and a prophetic warning of future judgment—what Scripture calls "the day of the Lord." While 27% of the Bible is prophetic, we approached this passage with humility, recognizing that God uses these warnings not to frighten us, but to prepare us and draw us back to Himself. The physical famine Joel described mirrors the spiritual famine we face in our culture today—a hunger not for bread, but for hearing and obeying God's Word. Through this difficult passage, we discovered that God's judgment always comes with an invitation to return to Him, for He is "gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."

Takeaways:

• Tell Your Children: We have a sacred responsibility to pass down God's truth to the next generation. Just as God commanded in Deuteronomy 6, we must talk about His Word when we sit, walk, lie down, and rise—investing in our children and grandchildren's spiritual future because we love them.

• Wake Up and Take Action: God calls us to spiritual sobriety through action words—hear, tell, wake up, weep, wail, cry out, and call. Rather than cursing the darkness around us, we must take personal responsibility to repent, surrender fully to Christ, and cry out for God's mercy on ourselves, our families, and our nation.

• Weep Over Sin: When was the last time you truly wept over your own sin—not just the sin of our culture or others, but your personal selfishness and pride? God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. We need seasons of genuine mourning that drive us back to dependence on God.

We encourage you to spend time this week being still before the Lord, rereading Joel chapter 1, and asking the Holy Spirit to search your heart. Are we truly surrendering all? Are we crying out in dependence on Him? Are we preparing the next generation for what lies ahead?

May we be a people who hear God's Word and respond with humble, obedient hearts.