Until you're done reading, you want to turn with me to Joel, the first book of Joel, on the Q-Bios in front of you. It's on page 760. Joel Jenner. With the swarming locusts left, the hopping locusts have eaten, and with the hopping locusts left, the destroying locusts have eaten. Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number, its teeth are lion's teeth, and it has the fangs of a lion's. It has laid waste my vine, and split It has stripped off their bark and thrown it down. Their branches are made white. Lament like a virgin wearing sad cloth for the bridegroom of her youth. The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn and the ministers of the Lord. night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. Consecrate a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. Alas for the day, for the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty and gladness in the house of our God. The seed shrivels under the cloths. The storehouses are desolate. The granaries are torn down because the grain is dried up. How the beasts groan. The herds of cattle are perplexed because there's no pasture for them. Even the flocks of sheep suffer. To you, O Lord, I call. For fire has devoured the pasture. because the water brooks are dry, and fire has devoured the pastures. Well, thank you, Micah. Aaron, what better person to read scripture than a man who has a prophet's first name and a priest's last name. I do hope you have your Bible open. You're just a blessing to come each and every week to hear the word of the Lord. And that's our desire. That's our hope that we are faithful to the Word of God and what he wants proclaimed and taught. Back in May, Kim and I had opportunity to go to Colorado for our celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary and we went back to where we honeymooned near the Breckenridge area there. And while we were there, I could not breathe at times. Now that might be part, part of it might be because sometimes I'm up here doing announcements and you guys, I hope he makes it. I hope he makes it. I know what you're thinking most of the time, sometimes. And, but it was a struggle to breathe. And so I actually bought some oxygen at one point to take that and relapse up, however you do it. And maybe that's why it wasn't working. I just don't understand why this isn't working. And at times I just couldn't, I woke up like every hour now having the pillow on my face. Kim, I was wondering, what are you doing? Are we good? It's our anniversary. But was able to sleep a little bit, but I just couldn't breathe. And so this artificial oxygen helped a little bit, but there's something beautiful about getting real, real oxygen. And the Bible is, according to 2 Timothy 3.16, it says this, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's profitable for doctrine and it goes down through these different items that it is profitable for us. And it literally, the word inspiration literally is God breathed, theopneustos is the Greek. and it is God breathed. And so you think about that, we get this oxygen from God to breathe this Christian life and it's from his word, that's why he gives us that. And we live in a time of AI, artificial intelligence is able to, I didn't know if you knew this, I'm not trying to help the future or present college writers, but there are papers being written by AI, handed it in and there is a computer that has the capability of creating something like that. And what has happened in the past, because I know I had to do this with my dissertation, they have checks on what has been put out already, but if it's AI, it's new. And don't get the idea that, thank you, Pastor Mark, for helping me to sin in the future, handing in papers that weren't written by me. They'll know the difference. They'll look at you, I know you didn't write this. I thought about that when it comes to the word of God. This is not artificial. This is God's word given to us. That's why we're constantly stressing to be in the word, to spend time in the word. This is the breath of God. It is what we need to breathe in and function and to live. And so, let us be people that do that. And I believe that's our desire. We're working through the book of Joel here. It's our first or it's our last minor profit, the Jersey minors. We're working through a summer in the minors. And the fact that these are not profits that are JV, every bit of the word of God is profitable. It is because they're called minor because of the size. And we've got three chapters in the next three Sundays, including this one, we're going to be doing the book of Joel. And so I encourage you to be people of the word. Next summer, I'm hoping to tackle Isaiah and that's 66 chapters in 13 weeks of the summer. And how are we going to do that? There may be times as we work through it because To preach it, it would take a very long time. Now, some of you would go, this is great, all right? But my heart's desire is to get through these books, not rushing, but there are gonna be key points in Isaiah that we'll hit on, but I wanna read what we work through. Because I believe that it's the word of God that makes the difference. And so even as we read through, I could be thinking, this is gonna be the part that gets them. This is the part. And God takes his word and goes, Mark, I don't need you. Remember, I talked through a donkey. I don't need you, all right? but his word does its work. And so I'm excited about heading into this book today. So let's pray and then, and do just that. Father, thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for these songs. That last one always gets me. That dragon, that evil enemy of our souls. But you, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Thankfully, even practically speaking, when we think about how the word is written, you told us that when Satan fell, he took one third of the angels with him. We've got two thirds on our side. We've got, and yet sometimes we live defeated lives. We act as if there's more power in the demonic world and there isn't. You are the victor. Satan and you are not equals. He's a created being. You are all powerful, and so I ask you, Father, today, that what is needed to be heard and listened to and received would be just that, what you desire, and anything else would just be put to the side, and you do your work. So thank you, God, you're so gracious and so patient with us, and we pray all this, thanking you in Jesus' name, amen. This name, we don't know much about Joel at all. We know that his name, Joel, means Yahweh is God. Joel, or abbreviation there for Yahweh or Lord, and El is Elohim. So he's coming before the people of Judah, and he's sharing with them that Yahweh is God. And right now and then I'm obviously putting flags on the piano. Last week, I didn't mention it, but it was the, the flag of the Assyrian Empire, that's who Hosea had begun to. This is a representation of the Babylonian Empire that would ultimately come and take over Judah, and this is the flag of Iraq, okay? So that's where, to give you an idea that there is this enemy that's going to come because these people are not being obedient. And I don't know if you knew this, but even Saddam Hussein thought of himself as a modern day Nebuchadnezzar. Now things changed for him quickly, but at the time that's what he thought he was gonna do just that. And so these biblical things that you and I work through are constantly showing up in our modern times because in the Middle East, they have an amazing history. You gotta remember they got an amazing history. And so they'll go back to that like we would go back to Lexington and Concord. So these mean, these stories mean very much to them. And that's why it's a beautiful thing when you and I can learn these books together. So his name means Yahweh is God. We're not sure of the date of his prophecy and no kings are mentioned in this prophecy at all. And the theme of the book is the Day of the Lord, and we'll learn more of that as the next weeks progress here. And the Day of the Lord is the occasion when Yahweh actively intervenes to punish sin that has come to a climax. The prophecy here is not just dealing with Israel ultimately, but it will lead into future days of even what you and I are living. Point number one, as we're working through this together, is the devastation. Sometimes this book is separated into two themes, one being the day of the locust, and then the day of the Lord. And you're gonna see a present day thing for Joel, the people of Judah, and what they were going to experience. And that would be a picture of a future thing that would be happening to the world, that would be happening to Israel and the world. But let's look at verse one, please, in Joel chapter one. The word of the Lord, so this isn't just artificial intelligence, this is God's word breathed here. the word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethul. And that's all we know about Joel, who his dad was. But he's got this name that tells us that his dad, and back then names meant more than sometimes the names we give our kids, his dad must have thought highly of God. And so he gives him a name that says, Jehovah is God. And he's going to come on the scene here, And he's going to explain to the people what God was doing because of the fact that they had been disobeying him. Remember, Israel had a special relationship with God. God had expectations for them. And so we come to verse two, and we go on here. He says, hear this, and that means I want you to pay attention. Hey, everybody, I want you to pay attention. I don't want you to just listen to this, but I want you to listen and act. That's all tied in. When he's saying here, it's, I want you to do something with what I'm telling you. You ever have that where you're saying something, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's not this hearing. It's, no, you're gonna do something with what I'm telling you. I have that expectation. Hear this, you elders. So these are the people that should know better. These are the ones that have heard the word of the Lord and they've been disobedient and it's time for them to obey even. God expects adults to obey. It's not just a kid thing. Give ear. Boy, he's stressing this. All the inhabitants of the land. And then he asks a question. He says, has such a thing happened in your days or in the days of your fathers? And then he says this. He says, tell your children of it. and let your children tell their children and their children to another generation. This is how they got news. We've got this. We got cable, we got whatever. We can get stuff instantly, and I think some of the things we're dealing with is we know too much about what's going on. It can raise up the anxiety in our lives in ways that people that are not, and they're living, they're still doing life, But back then, what would happen to get news, a lot of times the elders would sit at the gates and travelers would come through that area. Hey, what's going on in Philippi? What's going on in Samaria? What's going on? And you find out those things. And then those elders would tell that to the people in their family, or people would come and hear from the elders. And then in homes, they would pass that along. And so that's how they would get information. And God is saying here through Joel, what I'm about to tell you is big. And I want you to not just keep it to yourself. I want you to tell your kids and I want your kids to tell their kids and so on. And this is a good word for even us when it comes to evangelism. If God has done a work in your life, he saved you, he's changed you, his heart's desire is that we would tell others. It's just part of the deal. He says, go therefore, make disciples. And so don't expect someone else to witness. And if you want, I don't do this perfectly, but God has really moved me to do this. And if it's something that is your heart, I'd be glad to tell you how I do it, but you could do it differently with your sphere of influence, how you communicate, but it's not how that's for you. There's no verse there that says, and by the way, that's just for this person. If you are a child of God, it is our responsibility to tell others. Aren't you glad somebody told you? I'm so grateful. And so that's the calling of God on our lives, and it can be scary, I understand that, but if I would ask you to ask God to give you the boldness, I'd also ask you to ask God to give you a love for him like the love that you have for the thing that you don't have a problem talking about. Some of you about grandkids, it's like, 4,000 pictures, right? Or, you know, more often, you know. Sports. Keep listing the different things. The thing that you're passionate about, you'd go, God, I wanna feel that way about you. I don't think he'd go, I don't wanna answer that prayer. I think that's his heart. It's his heart. And then watch what he does. Watch what he does. And don't feel like you gotta do it perfectly either, okay? We put pressure on ourselves. We don't do that with that other stuff. Okay, done with that commercial, all right? So what is happening here is huge, and I want you to take heed for the future generations. And then he says this, look at verse four. He starts to line up an attack of these insects. What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. And what the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten. And what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten. And he warned them, he said, Deuteronomy, just so you know, Deuteronomy is the second law, duet, namas, second law. and it was a way of communicating to them his expectations for him. They had what is called the Mosaic, Moses' covenant that was conditional. I want you, I bless you, and if you don't behave, this is what's going to happen. And so take a look at this in Deuteronomy 28, this is what he said. The Lord will bring you and your king, whom you set over, you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. And you shall become a whore, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples, where the Lord will lead you away. You shall carry much seed into the field, and shall gather it in the middle, for the locusts shall consume it. And so he told them, if you don't behave, this is what's going to happen. It's because you are a special people. You want to be called the chosen people. You like the fact that I'm your God and you've got that tied to you. Well, part of that responsibility is when you live in this house, these are the expectations. These are the house rules. It's kind of your house. That's your name when you're out. Remember, you got my name and that's the expectations that you have and God, so God puts it. And so I wanna give you an idea of what the locust could do to an area. There's so much out there, but take a look at this video that explains a little bit about that. I know you'll be scratching a little. Their goal is solitude, he says. But when there's an apartment across, many others can reach any proportions. These Triton's harbors can form armies that can be launched at long range. But they are only just begun. The time is over. The war is over at last. I swore with his eyes that only I could last a day in Madagascar. Traveling over 80 kilometers a day, they have devoured 40,000 tons of vegetation. We couldn't have gone as fresh if it wasn't for us. Our bridge to the islands, Aquilae, is finally installed. I can't imagine what it means. So there are actually 90 kinds of locusts. Here we see just four. But these cutting locusts, they gnaw. The swarming locusts, that means the storming ones. These hopping locusts means these ones that hop and creep. And these destroying locusts means the stripping ones. And it's almost like an army moving its way through. And you've seen that if you've watched documentaries, how they'll start out sometimes with bombing an area, and ultimately it gets to the point where the attack is gone, and then the last ones are brought in to just clean house as it's moving. And God is painting a picture here. He's also showing us what a future day could look like when it comes to armies moving against the people of God in a period called the tribulation period. But he's basically saying, have you seen anything like this? And he wants children, even children to be told about it as a warning. Look at verse five. And then he moves, he says, I want you, this is a time to wake up. Awake, you drunkards, and weep and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. And so what's happened is the dependence on the vineyard is now going to be at peak level. People that have been using this as an escape Nothing wrong with drinking wine in moderation, but if it is used as an escape, it becomes a problem. And what's happened is these that are very comfortable in their ways, they're, I'm fine, and drinking to the point of excess, he's saying, wake up. because this thing that you like so much is gonna be gone completely because of these locusts. But he's saying also to you and I in his word here, because all scripture is given by inspiration of God, I want you to sober up. I want you to take me seriously. I don't want you to look to escape. and he's indicting these people. In the past, they've been indicted for idolatry. You know that as we've worked through Hosea and the previous prophets and he's saying, but here he's saying to them, I want you to understand, you've been sinning so long and you've gotten so comfortable in your sin that even the things that you use to sin will be taken from you so that you realize how badly you need me. And God can do that. God can obviously do anything. I think sometimes we'll watch a locust thing like that and we go, well, not in America. We've got enough pesticides. We've got enough ways of killing them. But the guys I talked to, I know guys that It's interesting how you meet different people. I know people that deal with soils and deal with crops and things along that line. They have explained to me over the years as we've talked about stuff, they become immune to things. And I'm not trying to scare you, but I want you to understand sometimes we rest so much in technology the inventiveness of what we've been blessed with, that it makes us go, that would never happen to me. Well, that won't affect me, that'll affect people on farms, but I'll always go to the store and get food. And you wanna go, you do know that they're the one, really? You gotta remember, I grew up in the city, the first time I saw a cow was at the zoo, all right? So scary, scary. But I love how he uses that word, Awake, wake up. Just recently I was talking with Dave Olson and we were talking about this church history thing. And he's excited about getting to the point of the great awakening, that time in our country's history where God got ahold of us. We can just become so sleepy. And God is desiring to wake us up. And what really matters, we need a great awakening again. Wow, that would be such an awesome thing. Well, let's keep going. Verse six. For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number. Its teeth are lion's teeth. Isn't it interesting how many times the prophets use the picture of lions? Its teeth are lion's teeth and it has fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it down. Their branches are made white." And so these locusts, they've destroyed everything in their path, leaving only this white powder in the wake of it. It almost looks like the same word there is used of snow. So you can imagine, almost like if you've watched the pictures in Maui, what's been happening with the fires. and the devastation of that and just the rubble there and the whiteness because of the burning, that picture, that's coming, Israel, that's coming, Judah. I don't want that for you. I do not want that for you. It's an understanding too that these are insects that have not just eaten that, but they've been known to eat plastic and metal Nothing stops them. And God is trying to say to you and I, please take me seriously. Look at verses eight and nine. Then he says, lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth. Now get that picture there, because it's easy to see words like that and you don't see the word, what he's trying to communicate. This is a picture of a bride that has lost her husband and they just got married recently. I want you to cry and lament and feel the pain of that kind of situation. That's how seriously I want you to take this. The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn. So even they are mourning. The ministers of the Lord. There's few references to drink offerings in the Bible, and this is one of them. So before the locusts devoured their crops, people would pour wine on top of their sacrifices and offer them as drink offerings to the Lord. But he wants even the religious leaders who should know better, who aren't sharing the word of God. I want you to mourn. I want your heart to break because you haven't been sharing the word. If you were sharing the word, these people would know what they need to turn from. Look at verse 10. The fields are destroyed. The ground mourns. So earlier it was the priest mourning, now it's that picture, that picture of the earth mourning. the wine dries up, the oil languishes. I want you to, we need to have an understanding because we live in a day, you'll hear people that get on us about the fact that we were so much into religion. I don't, we want God to guide us, but I want you to understand it. Please hear me on this one. Some of the things that are out there right now, whether it be LGBTQ or climate change, Those are religions. They won't call themselves that. Because if you call themselves that, then you can't teach it in school. But I want you to understand, as you see that, and they have their sacraments, they have their belief system, and they'll push it, they'll hold strongly to those things over, What they believe and so when you and I push it, we could. Well, it is a religion is we believe in God, but they have their gods. Not saying all these things. Things are important. I understand for discussion sake, but understand that that's the reality. And so when I read my word, I see a God who's in control of the climate. He's in control of the world. We don't have mother earth. We have father God. And I keep beating that drum here because He can raise up things at any point and it's Him doing it for whatever reason. And He could stop it. Should we be wise with them? Of course, all of those things, of course. But those things are, and if we were to point out, well, you have your conspiracy, those aren't conspiracy theories, that's science. We have what we believe, we hold to it as strong, why? Because we believe this. So I'm guilty, I believe this. But everybody's got those things that they believe in. So understand that, not that you're in the middle of, just so you know, it's a religion, because that would shut down conversation. But understand those things. There's something behind that. And so we see that these fields, the ground mourns because the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil languishes. Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil. Wail, O viner. These are pictures, be ashamed. Wail, O viner. Vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished, the vine dries up, the fig tree languishes, pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are dried up, and gladness dries up from the children of man. This is a time not just to weep, we saw that, it's a time to awaken, a time to weep, now there's a time of withering that's going on. This devastation caused by the locust not only meant that there'd be little to eat or drink in the coming year, but it also meant that the country would collapse. And it did. Sometimes in America, we rest in our technology or our economy or our military. But Joel tells us and shows us that something as small as a grasshopper, can cause amazing amounts of devastation. Now, I want to keep stressing to you though, because sometimes we live in a time of anxiety and you'll hear messages like that, or you think, man, my kids are listening to this. I don't want, we don't need to fear because we know God. We can rest in God. There's hope in God. There's trust in God. I don't need to be anxious about these things because I could trust in the God who's in control of that stuff. And as I'm his child, he takes care of his children. And so on Joel's day, they had just seen good days, and then all hell breaks loose, literally. And so he's saying, be ashamed. Judgment has come. Point number two, as we continue on, the proclamation, the proclamation. Look at verse 13. He says this, put on sackcloth, and if you don't know what that is, think of a burlap sack. If you don't know what that is, that's like really uncomfortable. I used to say, you know, you could say stuff like that. Well, you know, when we do potato sack races at the church picnic, you know, like we don't do those anymore. I know some of you are like, we gotta bring those back, right? But those burlap sacks, they're uncomfortable, okay, to put that on. And what the picture of that was, the reason was they were in mourning. It was a reminder to be in mourning over their sin. The Jews had a bunch of celebration feasts. They had this one day, Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, where they fasted and they took seriously. But he's saying that he's calling on the priest to do something special. This is a call to repentance. Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests. Wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth. I want you to sleep that way. This isn't one of those nice sheets commercials, all right? I want you to realize this is bad, what the country's been doing, and you and I need to pray O ministers of my God, because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. Saying, I want you to consecrate a fast. Look at this, verse 14, consecrate a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land in the house of the Lord, your God, and cry out to the Lord. I've mentioned it before, 9-11 hits as a Tuesday. Wednesday night, prayer meeting was packed. We called a special prayer meeting to pray. Why? Because this is amazing what happened. And so he's saying to these people, take seriously what is going on and pray. Our heart's desire for us as a church is to be praying people. This solemn assembly, usually there's gonna be festive purposes going on, Now I need you to stop and take seriously what's happened. Point number three, the destruction. The destruction. When you guys, when you hear one, once upon a time, what comes to your mind? I'm not asking you to answer out loud, but I would think that you think that's going to be a positive story for the most part. I know we have Ursula and we have, whatever the bad queen was in Sleepy Beauty. I know, whatever. You have those, but you always have that thing where you're like, this is going to be a good story, once upon a time. Look how he starts the story here. Alas. We've got a hymn, alas, and did my savior bleed. Alas for the day. Look out, he's saying, that's what that means. For the day of the Lord is near. And as destruction from the Almighty, it comes. The day of the Lord is near. There's an express train headed for a collision course. destruction from the Almighty. The Hebrew term destruction forms a powerful play on words with the Almighty. The notion of invincible strength is foremost. Destruction is coming and this omnipotent God is going to do this work. Things just can't keep going on as if everything's okay. Something's got to break. When bad things are going on, something has to break. That's true across the board. That could go into each of our lives. I'm back in school, and I have a requirement to get certain grades, or something's going to happen. At a certain point, I remember being called into the office. I think you have heard this story before. Some of you are new, and you don't know what you're listening to right now. I remember being called in the office, and I was just wasting time. I was not doing what I ought. I'm in college, Bible college, studying. Not studying. And the dean of students pulls me in, Dr. Master. had looked at my ACT scores, he looked at my SAT scores, he looked at my GPA, grade point average in high school. And he just looks at me, and these are the first words, wasn't even high mark, looks at me and goes, you're a goof-off. And what could I say? I was. Now I could list you all the reasons, what was going on with my family back home, but the bottom line was, I wasn't doing the work. And so I had to sit out a semester because of that. if you keep heading down a road, there are consequences. It's just the reality. That's a great thing to learn. If you can learn it, and to stop whatever that bad thing is, if you have it in your power, seek help so that you don't have Dr. Master saying that to you, all right? But at some point, you will have a meeting with your doctor master. It's just life. It's just how it is. It can only go on so long. Israel, Judah, this is their meeting. America, we just keep thinking. We think about, well, we'll figure it out. We're so innovative. We're so smart. We've been so blessed. Here I go. What, in your own life right now, what are you flirting with? What are you playing with? Stop and turn. And some of you might be going, he says that every week. I don't think I'm doing it. Oh, amen. But there's somebody, we got a few people here. I've known over the years, people that have sat in church and wonder what happened to that person. And it's because there was a secret life going on. There's something going on and it's time to stop. and turn, wake up, weep, lament. Let's keep going, verse 16. Is not the food cut off before our eyes? I mean, what does it take sometimes? Joy and gladness from the house of our God. It'll be gone. The seed shrivels under the clods. The storehouses are desolate. The granaries are torn down because the grain is dried up. How the beasts, how the beasts groan. You know why? The sin of the people is affecting them. You ever have that where somebody else's sins affecting you? The herds of cattle, I love this. The herds of cattle are perplexed. You think, hmm. Cow, you know, next to the fence. It's like a far side thing, okay? The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them. Even the flocks of sheep suffer. God's trying to, your sin has consequences for me. Vice versa. Stop. He moves from that spiritual realm to the physical realm. It's going to have ramifications. Last point, point number four, the supplication. Verse 19, to you, oh Lord, I call. So now he makes it personal. He's not just going to be, my prayer is that as your pastor, I want to be, I want to walk with God. I want to get up here and be a hypocrite. That's why these songs rip my heart out. I don't want to, I don't wanna be fake. To you, O Lord, I call. Joel's opening up his heart. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness and flame has burned all the trees of the field. Even the beasts of the field pant for you. I love the pictures here. This is very poetic. Because the water brooks are dried up and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness. So he's gonna be, if it takes me to be the first one to call us to repentance, I'm calling, I'm doing it. I'm owning it. Not just you, I'm owning it too. So please don't wait for America to turn. Let's allow the church to be the first ones that we would model humility, repentance. Well, since we're working through Joel, I thought of a Billy Joel song. I love this song. This is one of those songs. This is just so romantic. Don't go changing to try and please me. You never let me down before. Don't imagine you're too familiar and I don't see you anymore. And he starts singing, he said, I would not leave you in times of trouble. We never could have come this far. I took the good times, I'll take the bad times. I'll take you just the way you are. Don't go trying some new fashion. Don't change the color of your hair. You've always have my unspoken passion, although I might not seem to care. I don't want clever conversation. I never want to work that hard. I just want someone that I can talk to. I want you just the way you are. I need to know that you will always be the same old someone that I knew. Oh, but what will it take till you believe in me the way that I believe in you? I said, I love you. That's forever. And this I promise from the heart. I couldn't love you any better. I love you just the way you are. So Billy Joel writes this. Beautiful, poetic words. He wrote this song about his first wife, Elizabeth. A pure expression of unconditional love, he gave it to her as a birthday present. Sadly, after nine years of marriage, Joel and Elizabeth divorced in 1982. Joel's next two marriages didn't work out either. He was married to Christie Brinkley from 1985 to 1994 and to Katie Lee from 2004 to 2010. Listen to the words of Joel. Every time I wrote a song for a person I was in a relationship with, it didn't last. Joel said, it was kind of like a curse. Here's your song. We might as well say goodbye now. I wanna stress something to you. You need to hear this. It's a quote by Leighton Ford. It says this, God loves you just the way you are, but too much to leave you that way. Unconditional love. God loves you with all of your junk. And so if you're here today, if you're here today and you're going, I'll do this God thing, but give me some time. I'll clean myself up first. No, He wants you as a mess. Just give Him you, and then watch what He does with you. That's the God we serve. He likes us warts and all, receives us, and then He starts doing this work from the inside out. Look out what He starts to do. Let's pray. Father, thank you. You're gracious, you're good to us. Thank you, Father, for loving us just the way we are, but not letting us stay that way. And we thank you in Jesus' name, amen. Would you stand? Take your hymn note. Turn to hymn number 479, 479. Help me out. I know I always say that to you, Help me out as we sing this song. We talked about an army today, an army of locusts. God has called us to move into enemy territory, love people, allow him to use us in a mighty way. 479. ♪ Onward Christian soldiers ♪ ♪ Marching as to war ♪ ♪ With the cross of Jesus ♪ ♪ Going on before ♪ Christ the Royal Master leads against the foe. Forward into battle, see his banners go. Brent, would you close our time of prayer, please?