Come Home Running Series

Come Home Running

If you have your Bible, please open it to Joel Chapter 2. John ordered flowers to be sent to the opening of his friend’s new branch office. When John`s friend got there, he was shocked to see the flowers with the inscription. “Rest In Peace.” He was so outraged that he stopped at the florist to complain. “It could be worse,” the florist said, “Just think: Today someone was buried beneath a floral arrangement with the inscription. ‘Congratulations on Your New Location!’”

If you look at the screen behind me, you will see that the title of my message today is Come Home Running. I believe this is an important message that every person, every church, and every nation need to hear. It is time to we all return back to God. Look at the country today. It is overrun by evil, corruption, and sin. People are evil. The crime rate in this country is continually growing. People still think that a woman should be able to abort her child. The murder rate is also high. People today are also corrupt. I believe that is plain and obvious. It does not take much to corrupt a politician. All you must do is wave some money in their face and they will do whatever it takes to get it. Sin is rampant. It is everywhere and most people either do not know it because they have never heard of it before, or they have heard of it, and they do not care.

We are an evil country, a corrupt country, and we are a sinful country. We desperately need to return to the Lord. There is a song by Reba McEntire called Back to God that says this:

Oh, have you looked around

Have you heard the sound

Of Mama's cryin'

Or do you turn away

When you see the face

Of the innocent dyin'

In these darkest days

Are you not afraid

That it's too late

You gotta get down on your knees, believe

Fold your hands and beg and plead

Gotta keep on praying

You gotta cry, rain tears of pain

Pound the floor and scream His name

'Cause we're still worth saving

Can't go on like this and live like this

We can't love like this

We gotta give this world back to God

We desperately need to give this world, this country, and this nation back to God. A nation without God is a nation that has gone under. I believe it is safe to say that this is a nation that has gone under. Let us look at Joel Chapter 2 starting in verse 12.

READ JOEL 2:12-17

In these 5 verses, God instructs Joel to return to Him. Verses 1-11 of Joel chapter 2 talks about the Day of the Lord meaning, the soon coming of the Lord. We will not talk about it much today, but the coming of the Lord is near. I believe that my generation will be here for the rapture which also means there will be some in my generation left behind and they will experience the tribulation. Listen folks, even if the rapture does not happen for the next 500 years, either way every single one of us will leave this place. Whether the Lord raptures us out, whether He calls us home beforehand, or if you do not leave this place until we all stand before the judgement seat. Either way, we will one day leave Earth. We must be ready to do so and that is what God is telling Joel here. That they must return to the Lord and be ready. Next week, we are going to look at why we need to be ready. Verses 12 and 13 give us 2 reasons why we need to return to the Lord:

1. God Tells Us Too

READ JOEL 2:12 – 13 A

We need to return to God because God tells us too. We as Christians should be obeying what God has called and told us to do. God tells us here not only to return to Him, but to do it with our whole heart. There is a difference between saying that you will return to God and actually doing it.

We have all heard and probably used the phrase “actions speak louder than words.” You can talk about it as much as you would like, but until you do something about it, nothing will ever change. There is a difference between knowing about God and knowing God. There is a difference between singing and worship. There is a difference between going to church and being a Christian. You can act like a Christian. You can act like you are worshipping. You can act like you know God, but until you do those things with all your heart, nothing will happen. Look at what it says next: