The Valley of Decision

Today we're going to be kicking off a new series called sickles and swords. Sickles, let's say that a few times fast, sickles and swords and Pastor Matt and I have really been sensing some things in the Spirit, and God's been speaking to both of us about the same things, which is always fun when it's not different things, but it's the same things. How many of you know, if you're married, it's good to be moving around in Unity? Okay? And a few weeks ago, on our Tuesday morning prayer, for those of you that don't know, we have Tuesday morning prayer every Tuesday at 6am we've got people that meet here, people that meet in steward and we pray together as a church. And God began speaking to us from Joel chapter three. And we really felt like this was a word for mercy city right now, but not just a word for our church. We really feel like this is a new season that the church as a whole is moving into. And how many of you know the Bible talks about understanding the times and seasons and so this is something that God's really wanting to do in us, to awaken something in us, not in our natural minds, but in the spirit. Okay? This is not a natural minded message. This is a spiritually minded message, and it's not probably going to feel like my normal message. There's still going to be a lot of Scripture. We're still going to talk about a lot of really great things, but this is more out of my time with the Lord. This is more out of my journal. This is more out of what God's speaking to me right now. So I'm really, really excited. I feel really I feel a lot of anticipation in what God wants to do in our hearts today. So I want to encourage you to be open, maybe just to remind yourself not to check out. You know what I mean? Like, I really feel like God has something to deliver us today, and so I want to encourage you to lean in, to sit up, to be ready to receive. Maybe you've never actually listened to a message. You've been Come let's Today's the day. I want to invite you to listen, to lean in, maybe get out some little notes in your phone or a piece of paper or a receipt or something you find in your purse, like whatever you got to do. I believe God wants to speak a word to us today, and when we come expecting, God will always exceed our expectation. So let's pray as we get started, father. I thank you that we have the opportunity today to be in your presence. God, I thank you that you're here, that your presence is here, that your spirit is here. And so Lord, I just pray that as we sit underneath you, as we sit underneath your spirit and this open heaven that you have for us today, God, that our hearts would be softened to receive Lord, that You would invite us in to a place of knowing you and leaning into a place of hearing your voice today in Jesus name, amen. Amen. Okay, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Pastor Carrie. If we haven't met yet. I always hate it when people don't introduce themselves, and I forgot to put it in my notes. So I forgot who I was for a minute, but I'm back. I'm back. Okay, so pastor Matt and I have been pastoring mercy City Church for almost 10 years now, and it's literally the greatest joy of our life. It's just getting better and better God. What God's doing right now is really exciting, and we believe, as we've been praying, as God's been speaking to us, a word keeps coming back up for years now, and that word is harvest, and God's been speaking to us about harvest. If you look through scripture, through the all through Scripture. There's so many references to harvest and how God wants to use a harvest that specifically of moving people to a place of salvation and desperation for the presence of God, where lives are changed, where sin is broken, through repentance, through humility, where it's impacting your life. Your relationship with God should be impacting your life. It shouldn't just be somewhere you visit. It's not church. Your relationship with God isn't church. Your relationship with God isn't something that you do. It needs to become who we are. That is a move of God, that is a move of harvest, and this is the season that God is moving us into and he wants to prepare us for harvest. You guys believe that. Look at your neighbor and say, get ready. Okay, that was low key. Look at your neighbor and say, get ready. Everybody. Get ready. Everybody get ready. I think a lot of churches. I love churches. We have so many amazing churches, but us included, what we have the tendency to do is to sit back and wait for people to show up. We sit back on our heels and think, Well, I hope people come. I hope people get it. I prayed about it, but I never talked to anybody. And we sit back on our heels and we take a passive position about reaching. People for Jesus, and I want to make it really clear when I talk about reaching the lost, I'm talking about people who are far from God, who don't know God. They may be in churches, they may be not in churches, but they do not know Jesus. And we cannot be a people who take a passive position. We do not want to be that church. That's not who we are, we have created space for people. It's hard to see it in this room right now because it's pretty full, but there are empty seats around us. Those are intentional. We've created space at City impact. We didn't do that for fun. We did that because we need more room. What do we need more room for? Not so you have elbow room and a seat for your purse. We did that so that you can find people to fill those seats. Those seats are empty intentionally, in the chapel in Seward here in our broadcast location at City impact, because they are for someone you know, who is far from God. They are meant to be filled. I hope we get to a place where every seat in every room is full and we have to find another location. We have to find another building, we have to find another room to put people. Why? Because that means that there are fewer lost people than there are today. That means that God is building his house. I heard some disturbing stats this week that I want to share with us. Are you guys ready? I like statistics. Didn't like this. 180 2% of the unchurched. This means people who are disconnected from church for at least six months. Okay? So these are, if you only come on Christmas and Easter, that's you. Okay, that's the disconnection, six month span of time where you're disconnected. 82% of the unchurched people are at least likely to attend church if they are invited. 82% of people are likely to attend church when if they are invited. Listen to this. 21% of church attenders invited anyone to church last year. 2% of church attenders invited someone who is a non Christian to church last year. So even if we add those two, that's 23% of church people who are making an invite. That leaves my math is bad. Somewhere around 50% of people who would come if they were invited not coming because nobody's invited them. That is a disturbing statistic that should as the church, that should get under our skin, that should bother us. If it doesn't, then that is an indicator to us that we are complacent in our faith, that there is something that's lacking in us where we are unwilling to make an invite, and our prayer has been this, that God would find us worthy to be used as harvesters. I don't want to be people who miss out on the move of God. I don't want to be a church that misses out on what God's trying to do in our city, in our state. I want to be used. I want to experience a move of God, where people are coming to know him, where their lives are being changed. They're being healed, they're being set free. We want to be a house of healing. We want to be a house of harvest. We want people who are passionate about what God's passionate about. That means we're not sleepy. That means we're not going through the motions. That means we're not just going by to get by, just doing the thing that's not what that's about. We want to be passionate about what God's passionate about, and I've got to tell you, God is passionate about people we will meet in a parking lot if we run out of room, because God is not passionate about our buildings. He's not passionate about our sound system. He's not passionate about our lights and our merch and about all those things. God is passionate about people. So we have got to be passionate about people. We've gotta get to a point where we don't leave Sunday after service and forget what God challenged us to. We've gotta be carriers of this message for people. And I believe, over the next few weeks, God wants to do two specific things. We've got two specific goals for the month of October during the series. The first is this to make sure that each and every person who calls mercy city home is confident of their own salvation,confident of their own salvation, we cannot reach the lost if we ourselves are lost, if we ourselves are disconnected. If we ourselves are far away from God, salvation is a response of life change. I want to make sure we understand that salvation is where I invite Jesus in and something changes where I don't live my life the same way I. Always lived it, but something shifts in me. Salvation is where maybe I said yes to Jesus 30 years ago, but I'm still changing. Some of us have our salvation has become complacent. What does that mean? It means we're not taking a next step. It means we're not letting God challenge us. It means that we're at risk of being sleeping on our calling, of being asleep in the Spirit, one of the most dangerous places to be is a place of having the form of godliness but denying the power of God in our life. We do not want to be a church where we look good on the outside but the power of God has no access to our hearts, where the power of God has nothing to do to change us, where we have a form of godliness, a form of godliness that's called religion, but we deny the power of God at work on the inside of us, where our spirits are dead in our sin, the power of God changes us and moves us to a place of who I used to be to who I am. Now, you should have a used to be story. That's how do I know if I'm saved? You should have a used to be story. I used to be anxious, but God set me free. I used to be broken, but the power of God healed me. I used to be lost, but now I'm found. I used to be sick, but now I'm healthy. I used to be depressed, but now I'm full of joy and full of peace. I am passionate about this. I didn't even start with the jokes today, guys like God has given me a word for our church, and it is important that we hear it. It is important that we hear it. The second purpose of this series is to understand that our role in harvest season is to be bold and confident in sharing the gospel. We're called to be gatherers. We're called to be harvesters, those who bring in the lost. Bring them. That means you might have to pick them up. That means you might have to knock on their door and say, oops, I'm here. We can be Midwestern. Say, oh, not ready yet. Okay, I'll wait. We got third service, 1130 I'll be back like we we need to be bringers. Why does it matter? Because if they're not invited, they're at risk for spending eternity separated from God. That's real. Our comfort is king, isn't it? Our comfort keeps us from knocking on our neighbor's door, our neighbors, my sweet neighbors, they do not like us across the street, and we have we every time we're like, Hey guys, hey, I know why. I'll tell you the story later if you want to know it. But it wasn't us. It was teenagers that was the problem. But here's the truth that doesn't excuse me from inviting I don't care if they don't like me. I'm more concerned about their soul and where they're spending eternity. I'm less concerned about my comfort. This is for all of us, acts one eight. These are all available in the Mercy city app. I don't have all my scripture out, but it says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses. This is to all of us. These are Jesus's final parting words to be His witnesses, to tell people about him all over to the ends of the earth. Matthew 19 says, Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, go be my witnesses. These were Jesus's words, not just to a few, but to all of us. God has something for us to do as the church. The church is his answer. I love the local church. I love that we get to gather together to celebrate the name of Jesus, but our relationship with God and what we're called to do does not happen on a Sunday morning. You don't go and tell on Sunday you know, you go and tell at your workplace, you go and tell at your school you go and tell, at your family gatherings, you go and tell in your neighborhood you go and tell, not here on Sunday mornings, if all you're doing for your faith happens on Sunday mornings, you are not walking out the call of God that He has for you your call. If you don't know anything else is to go and tell, is to go and tell, tell what, tell of the goodness of God, tell of what he's done. Tell of how you used to be, but now you are. As a generation and a culture, we have been complacent and passive, where God is telling us to be active and passionate. Don't you want to live a passionate life? Life. Don't you want to live a life where you're not just like napping and going through the motions, but every day is lived on purpose, every day, every day, we have an opportunity to see the harvest that God is calling us into. God is moving, and I want to invite you into this move. I think God wants us to be a part of it. I think he sent us here. I think he saw us, and he said, You need to go to Lincoln because there's a move that's about to take place, and you need to get there because I want you to be a part of it. We've been praying for the last 25 years, God use me. From the moment I got saved in 1998 I've been saying, God, use me. Use my life. I don't want to live a lame life. I want to live a life on purpose. I want to have stories of people's salvation. I want to be excited about what God's doing. I want to be able to say, I prayed for somebody and God healed them. I told somebody my story, and I led them to the Lord outside. You stop. I want to be able to tell them I witnessed, I shared the gospel with my neighbors, and now our entire block is at church. What if God did that? That's harvest. That's what he's doing. So today, we're going to tackle some Old Testament, scripture, Old Testament. We're going to the old prophets. Okay, because I believe that God was speaking then about what's happening now. Okay? And we're going to be in the book of Joel, so you can turn there. It's a little guy sort of in the middle on the other side of Psalms, the right, right side, left and right is hard. Anybody else have to go like this, so that's it. Oh, thanks. Thanks guys. Thank you. Thank you. I see smart people raising their hands so I feel good. Okay. Okay, a little background on Joel. So this book of Joel is known as a minor prophet, and there's no clear description of when this book is written. So most of the time, biblical scholars can tell you exactly when it's written, exactly what's going on, but this one has a number of references to other books of the Bible, and it's not accusing Israel of any specific sin. So it's hard to narrow down exactly when it was written. It's a prophetic book, which means that God is speaking to His people then. But he's also giving us pointers to a future time that God wants to bring salvation to the entire world. This is pointers to now. Okay, Joel is speaking to the people specifically about a recent disaster. There's a Locust Swarm. The locusts were, like, serious this year, but not like this. Okay, this is like a swarm where you can't see can you imagine that is like my nightmare. The only thing worse would be a swarm of birds. Okay, like, just lock me in the house. I am not going outside. Okay. So this Locust Swarm has come in, and it's decimated the land and the people of God. It's a it. They're seeing it as a punishment for the sin, for ignoring God, for kind of putting him on the back burner. And Joel is talking to them a call to come back to God about his mercy, about what's coming ahead, the plan for the new season. Okay, so today, as we look at these verses, what I want to do is talk about some of this prophecy, but also how it's applicable in our current harvest season. Okay, so I want to give you a few thoughts about harvest. Okay. Number one, the harvest starts with repentance. The harvest starts with repentance. Joel, 212, and 13. I would encourage you to read the whole book. It's only three chapters. And one thing. This is just a side note. If you don't understand the Bible, sometimes, what I really like there's this amazing resource called the Bible project. If you've never heard of it, it's, like, awesome. They've got like, little videos that explain what's going on. The historical perspective. I like to look at those specifically about these Old Testament books, just to get kind of, like, an idea of what's going on. So that's called the Bible project. I would encourage you to check it out and read the whole book. We're just going to be kind of in a few different verses here, but I don't want you to think I'm just picking out certain things. So go read it. Okay. Joel two says this. That is why the Lord says, Turn to me now, while there is still time and I this just stuck out to me so, so strong. While there is still time, give me your hearts come with fasting, weeping and mourning. Don't tear your clothing in grief, but tear your hearts. Instead, return to the Lord your God, for He is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry, and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish. Repentance leads us to a place of salvation.we cannot commit to being gatherers and harvesters if we have not experienced salvation for ourselves. And this verse, I love it because it's talking to the people, but it's also talking to us, because in the Old Testament, before Jesus came, everything was outer and physical. Okay, so if I sinned, I had to bring an animal with me to sacrifice. It didn't do anything to cleanse me on the inside, I still carried that shame. I still felt that, that burden of sin, the. Punishment for that was death. So what I would do is I would bring an animal to sacrifice to instead of my death, I would say this animal is standing in place of my own sin. So it would be a covering, okay? That was outer and physical. But when Jesus came and He died on the cross, he became that once and for all, sacrifice for our sin, he said, You don't have to bring any goats, you don't have to bring any sheep. My blood is going to cover you. My death paid the price for your sin. So the wages of sin is still death. But God's gift to us was Jesus the covering for our sin. So it now becomes inner and spiritual. So that's how we know that this is not talking about Old Testament. This is talking about now, because their heart was not involved in the Old Testament, repentance. They would wear grief garments, right? They would, you see in the Bible, it talks about them tearing their clothes and putting on sackcloth. What was that? It was something outer that was representing their repentance. But now, what this is talking about is there is a spiritual heart response to sin. It's a turning back. It's not salvation in theory, it's salvation in practice. Let me say that again, it's not salvation in theory. It is salvation in practice, where you've had an encounter with Jesus that sets you on a different path. When I had an encounter with Jesus, I was headed in one way. I was at school, I was going for something I don't even remember what, and God picked me up, and he put me on a different path, and my life was different. Salvation is an action that takes place where our life changes. Something changes. We are living in a lukewarm culture. The Bible says in the book of Revelation that when you're neither hot nor cold, he will spit us out of His mouth. We are living the church is living lukewarm right now. It is better to be lost than lukewarm, because you know the truth, but you deny the power of God at work on the inside of you, it is day. It is a dangerous place to be playing the game of church without an attitude of true repentance, turning away from our sin. You cannot be a part of the harvest. You can't allow your heart rend your hearts, tear your heart, weep over your sin. Give it to God. Turn away from it, set it aside, and turn back to God, where he's merciful, where he has compassion. We've got to acknowledge our sin and turn away from it. I am so much less concerned with people being offended and going to hell. I'd rather tell you the truth that your sin is separating you from God, and unless you acknowledge it and repent of it. You will live eternity separated from God. That is the truth of the gospel. But let me go back to this, return to the Lord. He is merciful. Oh, that was the wrong one. Merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled, filled, filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not to punish. He's not waiting to punish you. He's waiting to show you mercy. He's waiting to show you compassion. That's what happens when we repent. It's not okay now you repented, so you gotta do this, this, this, and this and that. No, you repent. He says, Thank God, come close. I've got mercy. I've got compassion for you. I love you. You're my son. You're my daughter. That's what's waiting for you on the other side of repentance. The second thing that we need to know about the harvest is it brings a freshness of the Holy Spirit. Joel continues on in chapter two, and he says this, Then, after doing all those things, I will pour out my Spirit upon who all people we know this is talking about. Now. We know this is talking about now. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. In those days, I will pour out my Spirit, even on servants, men and what women alike. That's a different sermon, men and women alike. How do we know this is talking Joel is prophesying about the coming gift of the Holy Spirit. This is at minimum 400 years before Pentecost at minimum 400 years Joel is talking about now. He's saying, I will pour out my spirit, and you are going to need my spirit to do what I'm called you to do. It is not our job to save people. It is our job to present people to. Invite people to pray for people. The Holy Spirit does the work of salvation at Pentecost. This is at what happened in Acts chapter two. It says the day of Pentecost had come. Suddenly, a sound like a violent wind came, and the Holy Spirit filled the house. Because he came, we have access to the power of God, power to what to be His witnesses, power to go and witness. This is why we can walk in confidence and boldness. This is why we can walk in what God's called us to do in his power. There is a harvest, and the harvest season we're entering requires the Holy Spirit, and you require the Holy Spirit by an invitation. That's it. It is a free gift. You say, Holy Spirit, I need you today. Holy Spirit, I need you to give me boldness today I'm scared, to share my faith. And the Holy Spirit will give you boldness, and he'll give you confidence, and he will remind you it's not about you, girl, it's not about you, Brother, it is about God that sounds better when Pastor Matt says, he says, my brother, it doesn't sound good. It doesn't sound good when I say, but then I said, Girl, and it was like only half of us. So anyway, there's a harvest. We need the Holy Spirit. I am not the savior of the lost. That's revelation to some of us, you are not the savior. You don't have to be. Take that pressure off. It's the work of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says nobody comes to the Father unless the Holy Spirit draws them. So you just keep on making the invitation. Keep on doing it. People are going to tell you, no, okay, I'm going on to the next person. I'll come back to you. I'll come back to you. Keep asking the Holy Spirit draws them in. I can be a vessel used by God. We can be vessels used by the creator of the universe to bring people to a place where they're healed. You know, when you're talking to somebody and they're so they're hurting so bad, how many like empathetic people do I have in the room, and you're so compassionate, you just want to help everybody? I'm glad some of you that I know did not raise your hands, because I would say, no. Not all of us are blessed with the gift of empathy and compassion, but we feel so overwhelmed with other people's problems. I mean, just get on social media. It is enough to overwhelm you. Here's I want to tell you the truth you don't have any power to fix their situation. The Holy Spirit inside you, however, is the only power that can go and work and go and do and bring healing from places of anxiety and healing from loss and grief and broken people made whole. That's what the Holy Spirit's power does. But we get to be the vessel he lives inside of us. That means that we are actively involved in this harvest season. If we sit in our cute, little gray, puffy chairs in our churches, the Holy Spirit never has an opportunity to reach the lost. He uses us. He compels people through our lives. This is the final one, and this might seem intense for some of us, but this harvest is spiritual warfare. This is not scary. This is reality. We are living in a spiritual world. There are things going on in the spirit that we can't see. We see with our natural eyes, but God is Spirit. So there's things going on in the spirit that we have to be awakened and aware of. Joel three, verse nine says this. Say to the nations far and wide, get ready for war. This is the word of the Lord to us, get ready for war.Call out your best warriors. Those are, those are the people who are like, Yeah, let's do it. I'm I'm down, I'm excited. But then look what it says. Let all your fighting men advance for the attack. Hammer your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears, train even your weaklings to be warriors. Those of you that are new, those of you that are like I just got here, it's you. You're a part of it, the best of us, the most strongest of us, the boldest of us, the most courageous of us, and those of us who are scared out of our minds, it's all of us. Come quickly. Come quickly. All you nations everywhere gather together in the valley. Oh and now, oh Lord, call out your warriors. Let the nations be called to arms. Let them march to the valley of Jehoshaphat, which means the place of God's judgment. The place of God's judgment there, I the Lord will sit to pronounce judgment on. Them all swing the sickle for the harvest is ripe. Come and tread on the grapes for the wine press is full. The storage bats are overflowing with the wickedness of these people. 1000s upon 1000s are waiting in the valley of decision. You1000s, 82% to be exact, are waiting. What are they waiting for? They're waiting for us. They're waiting for us. They're waiting for our words. They're waiting for our prayers. They're waiting for us to stand in the gap. Those little cards on your chairs aren't cutesy little cards for you to write a little name on and forget about it when you leave this place, they are names. We've got to go to war because life and death hangs in the balance in the valley of decision, the harvest will only be won by a battle and harvesters. I love it. It says I bought this off Amazon. Not a lot of sickles laying around the Erickson house. You know what's cool about this? It's got a short handle. Means I gotta get close. I'm not an attractor. I'm not throwing a net. I won't throw it. I promise guys, what do I got? Who's gonna get caught by this? Only people I'm willing to get close with, only people that I'm willing to get in their lives, to tell my story, to make that invite. It's vulnerable, it's transparent, it's real. The sword is you to protect the harvest. That is prayer, that is the word of God. It's the sickle and it's the sword. It's both. It's gathering and praying and protecting. Gathering and praying and protecting. We have a job to do. The enemy wants nothing more than to come in and disrupt and steal from what God is doing. But I gotta tell you something, there are great events going on. There are amazing, big moves of God that meet in arenas. But I gotta tell you something, the harvest needs a storehouse. If you don't have anywhere to put the harvest, guess what happens to it? It rots. We are the house. We are the storehouse. It is our job. It is our responsibility, not to be lazy and complacent with the message of the gospel, but to be willing to take it out the harvest needs a storehouse. At the beginning of this message, I told you our goal was twofold. The first was to make sure that everyone who calls mercy city home is confident in their own salvation. The Bible says this in Romans, 323, and 24 it says, For everyone has sinned, we all fall short of God's glorious standard. So if you think you're worse than the rest, you're not. Everyone sins, we all fall short. Yet God, in His grace freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Jesus Christ, when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. This is the gospel. This is the free gift of salvation, the forgiveness of our sins. It's Jesus dying on the cross, shedding His blood to act as a covering for us, this is repentance. This is the moment where we have to think, are my sins controlling me, or have I given them to the Lord? Have I repented? And I want to pause right here, and I want to invite you to close your eyes. We're not standing up. We're not lowering the lights. This is a moment I want you to truly think about your heart. Is it far from Jesus today? Has sin been ruling and reigning in your life? Secret sin, hidden sin, things you've been unwilling to give up? Is the Lord tapping on your heart right now to repent. I want to stop here, and I want to invite you to receive Jesus in a real way. Maybe you have before, maybe you never have before, but Jesus is here and he wants to meet you. He doesn't want you to live in your sin. He doesn't want you to live in darkness. He doesn't want you to live in shame. There's healing in this harvest, and I want to ask you to raise your hand if that's you. I'm the only one looking. Thank you for your honesty. Thank you. I know there's more of you in here. I know thank you. Thank you for your hands. I'm going to pray, and I want everybody to pray with me, Father God, thank you for Jesus, thank You that You sent him to die for my sins so that I could live a new life free from shame. I. Free from the punishment of sin, change my life today. Make me new, transform my mind. I lay aside my old life and I pick up your life. Thank you, Jesus for that gift that you've given me in Jesus name, amen.