Pastor's Outlines

  TITLE: Promises for the Repentant TEXT: Joel 2:18-32 TONE: Encouragement TARGET: Believers TASK: To encourage believers concerning the promises of God for the repentant. TEACH: As there is a curse wrapped up in the best things God gives the wicked; so there is a blessing wrapped up in the worst things He brings upon His own. As there is a curse wrapped up in the wicked man’s, so there is a blessing wrapped up in a godly man’s sickness. As there is a curse wrapped up in the wicked man’s strength, so there is blessing wrapped up in a godly man’s weakness. As there is a curse wrapped up in a wicked man’s wealth, so there is a blessing wrapped up in a godly man’s wants. As there is curse wrapped up in a wicked man’s honor, so there is a blessing wrapped up in a godly man’s reproach. TRUTH: We are intended to assume that Joel’s appeals preserved in the preceding part of the book were successful. Evidently the people did gather to a national service of fas

   Valley of Decision   TITLE: Inward Reality or Outward Show  Sermon Date: Oct. 15, 2023 TEXT: Joel 2:1-17 TONE: Warning TARGET: Believers TASK: To warn believers of the coming Day of the Lord and to encourage them to sound the alarm. TEACH: Illustration: Working at the sale barn as a teen. TRUTH: Elsewhere in Scripture, when the trumpet is blown, it is by a watchman to warn of an approaching enemy army. Here it is blown not on the city wall but on the temple mount. It is blown not only in view of an approaching army but also to call the people to gather at the temple to appeal for mercy in view of the approaching day of the Lord.   The description in Joel is better understood as a picture of the heavenly army of the Lord since its effects are unprecedented and cosmic. The army of the Lord is like a human army in many ways.   I. Approaching Quickly.     Picture a military battle, the Lord speaks through the prophet (1), commanding

  Series Title: Valley of Decision Sermon Date: Oct. 8, 2023 TITLE: Divine Disaster TEXT: Joel 1:1-20 TONE: Warning TARGET: Believers TASK: To help believers understand how God dispenses His judgement. TEACH: O n the first day of November 1755, one of the great earthquakes of modern times struck the city of Lisbon, Portugal. The epicenter was located several miles off the Portuguese coast, in the Atlantic, so tremendous tidal waves struck the city and contributed to the damage. The earthquake came at 9:40 a.m. and lasted for six minutes. In those six minutes all public buildings and 12,000 dwellings were demolished. Sixty thousand people died, including those who were killed as a result of the tidal waves and a fire, which raged for six days. Heavy damage occurred in Fez, Morocco, to the south, and in Algiers, 700 miles to the east. On the coast the tidal waves were sixty feet high.   TRUTH: Nothing personal is known about the man Joel, and cons

The Decrees of God The decrees of God is His purpose or determination with respect to future things. The Sciptures make mention of the decrees of God in many passages and under a variety of terms. The word "decree" is found in Psalm 2:7, Eph. 3:11, here we read of God's eternal purpose. In Acts 2:23 we read of His "determinate counsel and foreknowledge. In Eph.1:9 we read of His good pleasure. God's decrees are called His counsel to signify they are complety wise. They are called "God's will" to show He was under no control, but acted according to His own pleasure and for His own glory.  The decrees of God relate to all future things without exception: Whatever is done in time, concerning biblical redemptive history was foreordained by God before time. We learn from scripture that God works all things after the counsel of His own sovereign will. Thus, the decrees of God are declarations or pronouncements  that He has made in working out His purposes