THE VOICE OF THANKSGIVING - Joel 3: 1-13
THE VOICE OF THANKSGIVING
Joel 3: 1-13
Sunday, November 20, 2016, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
In unison, Christians far and wide rejoice this thanksgiving that the reproach has been rolled away from our captivity (enslavement to the god of the kosmos). Our national freedoms had become subject to the gods of other nations with the intent to bring the people of the United States into captivity through terrorism, intimidation, and lawlessness.
Psa. 26:7: “That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all your wondrous works.”
Throughout the history of the Lord’s creation of earth, whenever he moves in the nations of men, he has used two witnesses:
- Civil ------- King
- Spiritual-- Priest (Israel and now the Church).
We have had a complete over throw of the government presently under the spirit of the antichrist. Thus the Lord has a new civil order and authority. The old order is passing away. There is also a new spiritual order. It is the (Church) who recognized the Hand of God in this shaking and stood in prayer discerning spiritually the things of the Spirit of God.
1 Cor. 2:14: “But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Through time, God has progressively restored the “years” (Joel 2:25), and gathered his people from among strange “nations.”
Joel 3:2: “I will also gather all nations…”
No one is exempt in the Day of the Lord. God will “gather” and judge “all nations,” all flesh (Joe. 2:28). As God continues to pour out His Spirit, the pure Word of the Kingdom will increasingly vindicate His righteous name and bring cleansing to every “nation.” As with all biblical truths, there is a threefold paradigm concerning the “nations.” As revealed to the prophet in Ezekiel 8:6-18, there are “abominations” (idols) in three dimensions:
1. The Outer Court is crowded with many denomi-nations. This dimension deals with the body (the natural realm). Here we see the divided Church. These divide over issues of religious doctrine and methodology.
2 Cor. 10:5: “Casting down imagi-nations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
2. The Holy Place, the Pentecostal realm, is overrun with many imagi-nations. This is the dimension of the soul. Here we see divided minds. These imaginations and human reasoning are “estranged” from Christ’s thoughts, His mind.
Jer. 14:14: “The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke unto them; they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of naught, the deceit of their heart.”
3. In The Most Holy Place are men and women who were originally apprehended for the high-calling of the Kingdom realm. Many have been contaminated by unholy divi-nations. These were to partake of His “divine nature” in Zion. But they have corrupted themselves, and become a “strange god” and/or a “strange fire” in and of themselves.
Romans 1:25: “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.”
Men and women have conformed God to their own image, so that their perception of God can corroborate and substantiate their teachings and ways of living. Thus we have an Evangelical Jesus, a Pentecostal Jesus, a Kingdom Jesus and a Messianic Jesus.
The Church has been liberated in the year 2016 to worship One Jesus and preach One Gospel of Jesus Christ.
1 John 5:4: “Whatever is born of God overcomes the world (kosmos); and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.”
The Day of the Lord is a day of reversals (Ps. 126). The nations of the world are going to be re-captured in the name of the Lord. They will be turned over to a life of “praise.” In the harvest, God will continue to deal with every antichrist spirit that the worldly church and politicians have created, and He will spoil the fruit of all their labors.
The nations of the earth are going to bring their glory and “honor” into the city of God. Our most valuable commodity we have is our children. The kids are coming to Zion. We have a generation of young people who have been brain washed in our education system to bow to the idols of the spirit of antichrist. (Joel 3:6)
Our young people have been removed “far” (Joel 2:20) from the “border” of Zion’s high calling. Their lives are void of the Word of God and the ways of the Spirit. We watch on our T.V. screens young people totally disoriented and unable to function due to our recent election.
Joel 3:3: “…They have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.”
Joel 3:7: “Behold, I will raise them out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head.”
I say to you Christians, my words may sound presumptuous except we have been watching the LORD GOD overturn and shake everything in our nation. Why would God’s faith within us, not reach high enough to believe He will also turn the captivity of our youth and vindicate His purposes for their lives. As He did with Joseph, the Lord will “raise” them out of the pits into which they have been “sold.”
Join your faith with my faith, even the victory of faith that overcomes the world. The Lord has given us a great victory over the “kosmos.” By a miracle of God, we have been given an administration who has vowed to push back the Islamic extremists, protect our citizens from lawlessness, overturn the corruption in our government, and protect our religious freedoms. This will not be done by men whose feet are made of clay. It will be done by the intervention of the Hand of God by His Holy Spirit into our nation.
The same God who has moved sovereignly to overturn the media, Republican Party and Democratic Party, is the same God who will overturn the abominations, divinations, and imaginations within the divided church.
Once we the church, have judged ourselves righteously, we will be given the authority to rule and reign with Him. We will form His corporate divine witness on the earth.
“To him who overcomes and does My will to the end, I will give authority over the nations…” (Rev. 2: 26-27).
In 2000-2008, the Lord moved for the Church to arise, but churches used the opening of Heaven to magnify their own stature and fill their own pockets. Joel 3:5: “Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things.”
We cannot hide our head in the sand that there is not continued warfare for the church in the days and months ahead.
Joel 3:9: “Proclaim you among the Gentiles; Prepare war…”
Joel 3: 9-15 tells of a “holy” war, a “sanctified” war. He sets apart this holy war to the finish, not relenting until all have come through the valley of decision.
The trumpet is to “proclaim” this sound among the Gentiles. (Joel 1:14; 2:15, 32). All the “nations” are summoned to the Valley of Jehoshaphat (God’s judgment).
Now is the time to inherit the land, to cross over to “prepare” or “sanctify” ourselves to receive His promise. His Holy Army has been prepared to execute His purposes.
Joel 3:9: “…wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up.”
This trumpet-blast is a double wake-up call.
“I have commanded My sanctified ones, I have also called My mighty ones for My anger…” (Isa. 13:3)
“Wake up” the mighty men.
- The Mighty Men of Joel 3:9 are the “Mighty Men” of Joel 2:7. God’s army of mature sons. They are the “strong” ones of Joel 3:10, and the “mighty ones” of Joel 3:11 who will stretch the bow.
- This can also point to the proud, arrogant heroes from every arena of the earth. When God changed the old order in Noah’s day, he dealt with the giants (Gen. 6:4). These were the Nephilim, the fallen ones, bullies and tyrants. The proud warriors of earth are again coming down to the valley to be judged.
The “men” of war are to “draw near” (approach, present themselves). The Army of Zion is made up of “ordinary men (enosh)”. Yet corporately they are His mighty and strong ones (Ishi), which is a tempest of hail and a destroying storm…a flood of mighty waters…the overflowing scourge.”
“Beat your plowshares into swords…” (Joel. 3:10).
Once the Lord’s holy war is accomplished---the full, complete appropriation of His finished work---the Lord will rule in Zion. This eventual reversal of the order of things (swords back into plowshares, and spears back into pruning hooks) is described by both Isaiah and Micah.
“…Let the weak say, I am strong.” (Joel 3:10)
“He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12: 9-10)
Don’t be afraid Zion! I will say, Zion will not be afraid! God has made you ready for this Day. You were “weak” in Adam. But now we are “strong” in Christ Jesus. Joel’s “strong” ones are the same as the “mighty men” (Joel 2:7; 3:9). God will birth a prophetic Man-child Company who will bring the nation back to God.
These faithful ones will sound the alarm. They will call this nation to repentance under the power of the Holy Ghost.
Joel 3:11: “Assemble yourselves, and come, all you heathen, and gather yourselves together round about; thither cause your mighty ones to come down, O Lord.”
The Lord is dealing with every worldly hero from every arena of society, the “heavy hitters,” the movers and shakers. The shaking has accelerated. He continues to invite them all down to the valley.
Why are the “nations”---the denominations, imaginations, and the divinations---to be gathered there? Because there in the valley, the Lord’s “mighty ones” are to “come down.”
The bow is symbolic for covenant.
Joel’s army, the corporate Overcomer, the Man-child Company, is like David. They can handle the bronze bow.
Ps. 18:34: “He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bonze.”
The “nations” are haughty, as were the “drunkards of Ephraim”. Babylon sits as a defiant “queen.” But the sons of Zion, the “arrows” of the Lord, will bring her down.
You can say, “Who me?” Yes you who the Lord has had in the Valley strengthening you in your weakness. You who the Lord has taken you through another level of sanctification. You who the Lord has been stretching your faith for the salvation of your souls.
Joel 3:12: “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.”
There will be an awakening! This is not an invitation to be wakened. It is a command. All the nations of the earth have heard an alarm. They are awake. All the great men and women who have walked after the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are now ordered to “come up” from the swamp to the valley.
Joel 3:13: “Put 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.”
“Drain the swamp.”
“But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he puts in the sickle (gathering hook), because the harvest is come.” (Mark 4:29)
There is an apostolic sickle in the “valley of decision”.
The “wickedness” or “evil” of the “nations” is “great.”
There are innumerable “multitudes” in the “valley of decision.”
All the nations will be brought to the valley of decision.
We are watching as these scriptures play out before our eyes. It is the Lord’s Hand in our midst. It is the Lord’s doings. He is moving before our eyes.
It is a day of great thanksgiving to the Lord that we have come in to a fullness of time that Heaven is rejoicing and declaring:
Psa. 26:7: “That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all your wondrous works.”
Let us join with those multitudes I saw before the throne of God rejoicing in thanksgiving that we have come into a fullness of time.
Ps. 116:17: “I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.”
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. – I entered into the labors of Rev. Kelly Varner (1909-2009)- Sound the Alarm. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of Rev. Varner.