1 Corinthians 1:1

1 Corinthians 1:1 says, Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,  As always, Paul identifies himself to those he is writing to .  We do not know much about Sosthenes, except he was with Paul and accepted by Paul as a brother in Christ.  When we read things today that are written about God, we need to make certain that we know who it is that is writing them.  Not everyone who writes about Who God is and what He wants from us is a born-again believer in Christ.  Paul said he was called to be an apostle, and we need to be sure that if we are reading things written about God that they are written by someone who is God's servant through a call and acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  If what is presented is not consistent with the teachings of the Bible, we need to avoid it.  That would include what I write.  If anything that I say goes against the teachings of the Bible be certain that what I write is wrong.  Verse two adds, Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:  Paul's letter had a specific group that it was addressed to, but it had a universal message.  Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, those who were sanctified in Christ Jesus.  This is what the church always was and always will be, and that is a group of sinners saved by grace.  Paul expanded his audience to include all who called upon Jesus as Savior and Lord in every place.  That would include us today as followers of Christ.  Verse three continues, Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. There is only one way that we can find peace, and that is through the grace of God.  When we are living under the Lordship of Christ, we can really know peace, no matter what may be going on around us.  Verse four states, I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; Paul was always thankful for his fellow believers.  This should be our attitude as well.  We should always lift each other up in prayer and never let little disagreements come between us.  We are to be united in our love for Christ.  Verse five adds, That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;  Paul's prayer was that they would be enriched in everything by their salvation and the lordship of Christ.  We today should always be enriched by our relationship with Christ.  This does not mean materially enriched, but spiritually enriched.  Verse six continues, Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: Paul prayed that their salvation might be confirmed. Salvation is more than just saying the right words.  Salvation brings a change of heart that should be confirmed in our lives always.  Verse seven says, So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:  Paul prayed that the followers of Christ around him would use their spiritual gifts.  When all believers use the spiritual gifts that God has given them, then the gospel can be spread effectively.  We are called to be at work for God while we await the return of Christ.  Verse eight adds, Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ, when He returns, will confirm us for all time, and if we are following Him obediently, He confirms us daily.  Again, this does not mean that one day we are God's and the next day lost to Him, but that we can be effective or ineffective in our witness for Him.  Verse nine continues, God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.  We can always rely on God to be faithful to us.  We have an everlasting fellowship with God through Christ.  This alone should cause us to rejoice every day.

Joel Review

We need to review what Joel has to say to us today, because as always, if we do not see the relevance of God's written word to us, we are missing the importance of it.  First, we can never rely on the powers of this world to protect us.  No matter how powerful we may be as a nation this is not where our security lies.  As followers of Christ, our security comes from God alone.  Also, we need to acknowledge that God does not need military power to destroy a nation.  He used insects in Joel's day, and He can use anything today to accomplish His purpose.  I read a few years ago about a man who said that he now believed that the world could end because with nuclear weapons man for the first time had the ability to accomplish it.  He missed the point though.  The ability to destroy or sustain the world does not rest with man, but with God.  We need to acknowledge that when those who call themselves God's rebel against Him, He will allow punishment to come upon them.  We must also acknowledge that we can only be God's through a covenant relationship with Him.  For us today, that covenant relationship comes through Christ alone.  If we claim to be God's people through any other means, then we are deceiving ourselves.  We can also be certain that if we are really followers of Christ, God secures us to Him forever.  Just as salvation is not of our own merit, neither does everlasting security come from our own actions.  We have God's promise that nothing can separate us from Him once we are born again into His kingdom.  If we stray from His will, though we may lose the joy of our salvation, we do not lose our salvation.  God waits ready to restore that joy as soon as we repent and return to Him.  This should make us a rejoicing people.  We are God's forever.

Joel 3:18

Joel 3:18 states, 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.   Joel closes his prophecy with promises of hope.  When God pronounces judgment on people, He never leaves them without a way to return to Him.  Now, we know that in the last days, when people will no longer respond to God's call that He is coming in judgment and all hope for them will be gone, but this is their choice, not God's choice.  The people of Israel were promised that they would live in a land of plenty.  God has promised His people that He will always generously meet their needs. This includes us today.  We as followers of Christ should be living in contentment knowing that God will provide for us forever.  Verse nineteen adds, Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. Those people who oppose God and oppress or kill His people will ultimately be left in complete desolation.  This does not mean that we as followers of Christ are to attempt to leave them that way. What Joel was telling God's people was that God would ultimately destroy those that oppressed Him and protect His people.  Verse twenty continues, But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.  This is the promise to God's people that they would be His forever.  We can rest secure in that promise.  Our faith can never be in the things of this world, but only in the promise of God that we are His through His power forever.  Verse twenty-one concludes, For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.  We know that we as followers of Christ are cleansed through the blood of Christ, and this is the only way to be cleansed before God.  This is the promise of God to all who would be saved.

Joel 3:15

Joel 3:15 says, The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.  There will be little doubt that God is at work.  Even the heavenly bodies will be affected.  We are about to have a solar eclipse, and many people worldwide are anxious to see it, but when God darkens the sun and moon in the day of judgment, the lost will not be anxious to see it happening.  Verse sixteen adds, 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.  Since God spoke everything into existence, we should not be surprised that His voice can shake the world.  No matter how many or how powerful the weapons we have may be, they are no match for the simple voice of God.  The second part of the verse tells us that the Lord is the hope of His people.  As followers of Christ, we are God's people, and we can rest assured in that fact.  Even if heaven and earth are shaken, our faith keeps us safe from whatever comes.  We are God's children forever.  Verse seventeen continues, 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.  I believe that God was telling His people in that day and today that when He comes in judgment, there will be no doubt that He is God.  After the judgment, there will be no more hope for salvation, no more strangers will pass through. God will gather those who are His.  It is hard to envision life without the ravages of sin, but in the place that God has prepared for His people, sin will no longer exist.  There will be no division based on nationality or anything else. We will all be brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are now by salvation.  We as followers of Christ should be living with this truth now.  We are not called to live totally in the will of God one day in heaven, but to live under His Lordship now.  I am not sure how we can feel justify hating other people today based on external characteristics and then feel that we will love them in heaven.  We as followers of Christ must live by God's standards today and forever, and that standard is that we love as God loves.

Joel 3:9

Joel 3:9 says, 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:  I believe God is issuing a warning to those who oppose Him.  They need to prepare for war, and even when they bring their best power against Him, it is going to be ineffective.  Anytime we battle against God, no matter if we bring our most powerful weapons, we are going to lose.  I believe that this also tells us that God always warns everyone that if they are attempting to defeat Him that they are fighting a losing battle.  Verse ten adds, Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.  We as followers of Christ are told to beat our swords into plowshares, but here those that oppose God are told just the opposite.  We may have some very powerful weapons in the world today, but they are nothing compared to the power of God.  If a person or a nation is going to war against God, they can use everything at their disposal, but it is not going to be enough to defeat Him.  Verse eleven continues, Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.  Those opposed to God are called on to gather together, but God warns that His mighty ones, His angels, will come down against them.  We know at the second coming of Christ that the angels will be with Him and the powers of this world will be completely defeated.  We also know that since Christ's ascension that His followers have thought that His return was imminent, but all we can be sure of is that it is certain.  We do not have to fight the forces of evil in the world alone, because the Holy Spirit is there to strengthen us for the fight.  Verse twelve states, 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 is coming a day of judgment when all the heathen, those that do not believe in Christ as Savior, will be gathered and judged.  Without accepting the gracious gift of forgiveness through Christ, the only verdict can be guilty. Verse thirteen adds, 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.  The harvest was ripe, but it was ripe with wickedness.  We as followers of Christ are told that we are to be busy witnessing, because the harvest is ripe.  Those who are lost in the world today always need to hear the gospel now.  We are to be concerned not with killing them, but instead with converting them.

Verse fourteen continues, Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. There are indeed multitudes and multitudes in the valley of decision today, even if they don't realize it.  It is our responsibility as followers of Christ to make them aware of their need to make a decision to follow Christ also, for the day of the Lord is indeed nearer every day. Whether it be today or a thousand years, for many people it is today. For everyone who dies today, the day of the Lord is indeed here.

Joel 3:1

Joel 3:1 says, For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,  This was a promise of God to His people in the time of Joel, but it is also a promise to us today as followers of Christ.  No matter how scattered or persecuted we may be, God will gather us to Himself and set us free from captivity.  No matter what is going on in the world today, and there are plenty of disturbing things going on, we need not despair, because God has insured our everlasting destiny.  We will be with God forever if we are His indeed.  Verse two adds, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. God assured His people in that day that they would be restored and their enemies called to account.  God said that He would gather His enemies and plead with them.  I believe that this means that no matter how bad a person may be, as long as they are alive there is hope of redemption.  God's choice is never deserved punishment but free mercy through Christ for all people.  We are called to proclaim God's message of forgiveness through Christ to all people, even those who may hate and try to destroy us.  Verse three continues, And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.  Not only had other nations enslaved God's people so that they might work for them, but they had enslaved them to serve as a source of pleasure. We hear of human trafficking today and know how terrible it is, but it is nothing new.  Those who defeat other nations often abuse those who are defeated in very degrading ways, often just to send a message to the rest of the world.  Even within a nation, those who are in power often abuse people who do not follow their gods.  If the day comes that this is true for us, if we are totally under the power of a repressive group, we must not lose faith in God.  We know the ultimate outcome.  God will indeed one day deliver all His people. Verse four states, Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;  I believe that God was telling those that were not His people, those that do not know Him as a personal God, that He could not be bought.  We may attempt to buy God's good will with material possessions, but He will not accept them if we are not following His will for our lives.  Verse five adds, Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:  Those that God was talking to could offer Him nothing that they hadn't taken from Him.  We need to remember that everything belongs to God to start with, so what can we hope to offer Him to obtain His forgiveness?  All one can give is their life through acceptance of Christ.  Verse six continues, The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. Those who opposed God had sold His people into slavery.  There are many places in the world today where those in power enslave God's people, and we can be certain that God knows this and is still with those that are His.  Verse seven says, Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:  Those who had enslaved God's people may have felt secure in their strength and that they could buy God's favor, but God promised a coming judgment.  We need to simply stay faithful to God today and know that He will one day deal with those who do not follow Him and will likewise raise up those who do. Verse eight adds, And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.  This was a declaration of defeat to those who had enslaved the people of Judah, God's chosen people.  It concludes by saying God has spoken it. There is nothing more certain than what God has spoken.  We never have to doubt His word being fulfilled.  We have His promise that those that are His followers through faith in Christ will be His forever.

Joel 2:27

Joel 2:27 says, 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.  The nation would be restored to one nation, Israel, and they had the premise of God that He would be in their midst.  After they had repented and returned to God, He told them to know that He was in their midst.  We today should know that God is with us if we are His people.  As long as we follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit, God will be at work in our lives.  Even if we fail to follow God at times, the Holy Spirit still indwells us.  Again, the people of Israel were told they needed to not be ashamed, and neither should we.  Verse twenty-eight adds, 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:  God promised to pour out His spirit on the people of Israel, His people.  As just discussed above, this promise was fulfilled when Christ died for our sins and the Holy Spirit came to indwell all believers in Christ.  The people of Israel were told of the results of this pouring out of God's Spirit on them.  It didn't matter what age or what gender they were.  All would be witnesses to the power of God.  We today need to remember that God does not just work through some of His people, but through all of them.  No one is more important to God than anyone else, especially based on physical things.  The more that we fill our role in God's kingdom and let others fill theirs, the better the gospel will be spread. Verse twenty-nine continues, And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.  Again, God does not discriminate based on social status or gender.  Just because a person is poor in the eyes of the world does not mean that God is not working through them.  Also, it does not mean that if a person is rich then God cannot work through them.  Whatever our social status, though, we must not do as Israel did too often and forget about God. Verse thirty states, And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.  Verse thirty-one adds, The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.  This can be seen as what happened while Christ was on the cross, and it will be what happens when Christ returns.  Since these verses state that these things will happen before the great and terrible day of the Lord to come, we need to realize that for those who are truly God's people, it will be a great day and for those who are not it will be a terrible day. The choice of which it will be is up to each individual.  Verse thirty-two continues, 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.  Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.  This once more states the only way to salvation.  We can be certain that for anyone who believes in Christ though faith in His salvation will be delivered.  None are excluded from calling on Christ for salvation.