Rend Your Heart

Hi, this is Pastor Daniel Bracken. You're listening to Kings Alaska Podcast. I hope the Word encourages you and you get a touch from God that brings transformation and equips you to experience life with people, power and purpose. Thank you for joining us. Enjoy the Word and we're going to read five verses of Scripture.

Are you gentlemen, are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready? Here we go. Here we go.

Joel 2, verse 12. New King James. Now therefore, says the Lord, turn to me with all your heart. Other Version says, return to me, Turn to me with all your heart. With fasting, with weeping and mourning, so rend your heart.

Verse 13 and not your garments, return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. What kind of kindness? Great. What kind of kindness? Great kindness.

He's of great kindness and he relents from doing harm. Verse 14. Who knows if he will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering, a drink offering for the day of the Lord your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes. Let the bridegroom go out of his chamber and the bride from her dressing room.

Final verse, verse 17. Let the priests who minister to the Lord weep between the porch and the altar. Let them say, spare your people O Lord, and do not grieve, Give your heritage pardon me to reproach that the nation should rule over them. Why should they say among the people, where is their God? Let's read that again.

Why should we? Why should they say among the people, where is their God? Let's pray. Gracious awesome. Mighty God, we lift our hands, we lift our voices before you.

Come on, lift your voice and pray. Come on, lift your voice and pray. We lift our voices and pray and ask that you would move with increasing power. That your spirit tonight would mark us indelibly upon our heart. We're here in a moment in time, a kairos moment where time and destiny cross.

And we're asking that you would speak with crystal clear clarity to each and every one of us that when we leave this place we would be stirred with holy emotions. We would be stirred to activity, we would be stirred to move forward. In the vision and what you've called us to do in Jesus name so that the nations will why they would say where is their God? You are amongst us, you were here. Where is our God?

You are here. The kingdom of God is among us. Manifest your power. Let this service touch those who are sick. May they leave healthy and healed.

Let this service touch those who are discouraged. May they leave encouraged. May your word break in with truth. Break him with light. And may we never be the same.

And as a result, the the momentum bringing us to a place of fulfillment of our new goal. And we thank you and praise you for it. In Jesus name. Shout Amen. Amen.

Shout a better Amen. Amen. Wonderful. History shows this truth. If you study history, a student of history, and you should be, all of us should be, because history repeats itself.

And if you study biblical history, you study ancient history, you'll find that whenever God's people ended up in a difficulty, whenever they ended up into a problem, whenever they had a yoke, and I'll define that. A yoke put upon them by the enemy, that yoke was invariably broken off when they repented, when they fasted and when they prayed, when they repented, when they fasted and when they prayed. Definition of a yoke. A yoke is any controlling influence, spiritual, relational, political or religious, that determines how a person lives, moves and serves. Let me say it again.

A yoke is a controlling influence. Spiritual, religious, cultural, governmental. There can be a yoke that comes from government. There can be a yoke that comes from religion. There can be a yoke that that puts a bondage on you and tries to control.

Jesus came that we might have life and life to the full. Jesus came to set the captives free. Them that know him and his truth will be free. God wants you to be free. God wants that for you.

He doesn't want to be yoked with any other yoke than his easy yoke. Jesus said in Matthew 11, verse 29, My burden is easy and my yoke is light. In the Book of Acts, Chapter 15 talks about the yoke of the law. There's a yoke of the law and religion. You don't want that.

You don't want that. There's a. In Galatians 5:1, a yoke of bondage. And so if you look through the Old Testament as well as in the New, yokes were broken. People were delivered when they fasted, when they prayed, and when they turned towards God.

And that's what this scripture is really all about. Hezekiah was a king, and when Assyria came and attacked him, he turned towards the Lord. He put on sackcloth. Now, it doesn't say that he fasted. This is 2nd Kings 19 and Isaiah 37.

It doesn't say he fasted, but he put on sackcloth, which is a type of fasting. In other words, when you're wearing sackcloth, you're usually fasting. It's a picture of mourning, a picture of repentance. And God set the nation free because Hezekiah turned towards the Lord. He fasted, he prayed, he repented.

And God wiped out Assyria with one angel in one night. Totally fulfilled the prophetic word spoken by Isaiah. You can look at Manasseh, what he did. Manasseh was clearly evil in what he did. Second Chronicles 33.

But when he repented, even though he was evil, he repented. He called on God. He turned towards God. He prayed. Then what happens?

God changed the situation. God turned things around. God intervened. What about Ahab, that dirt, dirt bag, angry husband of Jezebel? He was a wicked king.

And yet Ahab, when he fasted and he prayed, what did God do? Same thing intervened. That's in 1st Kings 21. The word of the Lord came to Elijah, the Tishbite saying, now Ahab has humbled himself. This is First Kings 21:29.

So Ahab has humbled himself before me, says the Lord to. To Elijah, because he's humbled himself before me. I will not bring calamity in his days. So everybody, listen to me. When you have problems, when you have challenges, don't look at them as some.

Some thing that's just so terrible. See it differently. Problems are opportunities for you to springboard yourself into the solution and to be promoted by God. Problems are opportunities. Say it with me.

Problems are opportun. Opportunities. And problems are fantastic. Because when you have a problem, you should examine yourself to see maybe things are Jack. Maybe you're jacked up somewhere in the Bracken family.

When we have difficulties, we. We just take a hard look at what we're doing. Is everything okay? Have I. Have I sinned?

Have I done anything wrong? Have I grieved you? My wife and I, we check with ourselves. We. We.

We start praying, and we'll also fast. We have a tendency in. In this Western world, we have a tendency to get so smug, so arrogant, because you have maybe a little bit of money in the bank, and things are going pretty well. Well, you know what could happen? Things are pretty good.

Yeah, but things could go really bad in a big hurry. Do you realize that we're on the very edge of a whole world war? I mean, what's taken place in Venezuela, what's taking place around the world of Russia and the Ukraine, what's happening in Iran, it really, to me I mean, I'm an eternal optim. To me, what's taking place is that people are throwing off the yoke of, of corruption, throwing off the yoke of, of bondage. And I believe they're coming to the Lord.

That's what I hear in, in Iran, that's what I hear is happening in Venezuela. They're worshiping in the streets. These are reports that I'm hearing from different ones and missionaries that are there. That's kind of amazing. We need a massive turnout.

I, I don't know what's happening in China, but I'm telling you, there's an underground church in China that is on fire when, when people, when the Chinese people give their hearts to. Am I yelling? Good, I'm glad because I'm fired up about the hour than which we live. This is a moment in time. It's a moment in time that you don't want to miss.

God placed you in the midst of it and it's easy just to look at your own life and think, well, things are pretty good. Don't get arrogant, don't get smug. You live in this nation, you're a part of this state in Alaska or wherever you're listening to this message go. God wants to use you to break the yoke off of your own life yolks you might not even know you have. And he was breaking the yoke, I believe, off of the nation such as we've seen around the world even this week.

It's hard to understand all this taken place and we can't, can't just totally agree and understand that we're hearing accurate, correct news because we're just not sure God's moving in the world. And this is a powerful time to seek the Lord. When you have a problem, it's an opportunity to seek the Lord and let him turn it around and move you forward. Quit bellyaching about your problem. Start fasting, praying and repenting and go after God and return to the Lord and see what can happen.

Oh, there's been times of my life when I've gone through things and I, I just wanted to point the finger at my leader or one of the point oh, they don't understand or oh, but, but the Lord would constantly correct me, said, no, it's you, it's you, it's the window in the mirror principle. When things are lame, just go look in the mirror. It's you. So easy to blame other people. When things are going great, look out the window and just give credit to everybody else because it's the grace of God.

When you look at the Context of Joel 2, let's look at this text. It shows that judgment is. Is on the way. So judgment's coming. Locusts are coming.

They have very similar problems in Joel of what we have right now talks about the enemy coming from the north and judgment. They had economic problems, they had governmental issues. They. They had this agricultural issue. Locusts.

You know, when locusts would come, you know what they would do. You thought you could eat a lot. A locust can take. A locust can take out the. Everything green is gone in the land.

Everything. An agrarian culture, every. Everything they worked for would be wiped out in a moment where locusts would come. And so locusts are on the way. And it's like God is saying to them, hey, excuse me, McFly.

Excuse me. Yeah, everything's not okay, and our nation needs to turn back to God. Everything is not okay. But if we turn towards the Lord, if we return to him, what can happen? What can happen is he can cause a great turnaround.

And as we are here in this hour of history in the United States and around the world, we're really on the precipice of some tremendous things. And I think it's going to either be a global revival or perhaps global war. I'm not sure. I'm contending. I'm contending for revival.

You say, Pastor, you're making me a little nervous. Good. I want to make you nervous. Not nervous for nervous sake, but put you on the edge of God's in control. It's time to seek him while he may be found.

Come on, somebody say amen. Can you say a better amen? Can you say a better amen than that? Amen. Oh, on a personal level, when you're going to turn towards God to seek him, when you have difficulties and problems on a national level, on a state level.

So tonight I am aware that bondages are going to be broken off of people and that God is going to use you as leaders. God is going to use you as his people, his ambassadors to break the yokes off of others. The description of true fasting is seen in Isaiah 58. Now, for those of you that aren't aware, we are in the midst of a 21 day of prayer and fasting. And as of Sunday night, right now, we're just about to finish seven days.

Hallelujah. I love fasting. I don't really, like, start doing it after I get there. I love what it does for me. It's profound.

The breakthrough that comes when you fast and pray and my spirit just feels anybody else. Raise your hand if you feel like man, my spirit is just fresher than I was last week. Yeah, that's fasting and prayer and it's just easier to fast and pray when you're in a corporate environment like this. King's cathedral and chapels, one church, many locations. Fasting and praying all together.

Hope that you would just jump in and be a part of that. Let's look at this text now. This rending your heart. Look at verse 13. So rend your heart and not your garments.

One of the things they would do to show grief is they would tear their clothes when they were grieving. And the Lord's saying, that's nice. Tear your clothes, stop tearing your clothes and rend your heart. Rent. What does that mean?

What does that mean, tearing your heart? What does that mean? It's a number of things. It means, it means change the way that your heart is, change your attitude, change the way you're thinking about things. Rend your heart, change your attitude.

Here, listen to this. James 4 and verse 8. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands you sinners, purify your hearts, you double minded in the niv. Grieve and mourn and wail and change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves before the Lord. You know, if you don't humble yourself before the Lord, guess what, you're going to get humbled. I way prefer humbling myself than. Than having him humble me. It's a way better plan to have you turn towards God and humble yourself and go low and examine your heart and rend your heart as opposed to he's humbling you.

I'd way rather deal with the issues perhaps of the yoke that I might have now than stand before him having not dealt with it in the end. On that day, that great and dreadful day, the dreadful day of the Lord, there's got to come a brokenness for sin. I don't know, I've been. A number of years ago there was this. A long time ago there was a song that was sung and it's about this Roman soldier and how he comes to the revelation that he's the one that put the nails in the hands of Jesus.

And it's this whole, it's. I've seen human videos and different things, maybe you've seen it and the Roman soldier comes to the awareness, said he's the one that crucified Jesus. You know, you need to come to that place. You we, we all need to be aware that it is our sin that crucified him. It's so easy to say, well, you sinners, how about you?

You sinner, how about you? And to really take a look at where your life is at with God, there's gotta come a brokenness. There must come a revelation. And I recall the story of Esther Morocco. Esther Morocco was, I think she was in a service and that was a dream.

And she saw one drop. She was at the foot of the cross and she's. One drop of his blood came and landed on her head and it just cleansed her completely of sin. And she had a revelation of her deep need for a Savior. Everyone needs a Savior.

So many people don't grieve over sin anymore. We should grieve over our sin. He said, well, I'm not sitting like I used to. Well, I'm glad you're not, but, but God wants to elevate you. God wants to raise you up.

We're supposed to live holy. Keep that in mind. How's your attitude towards, towards God? Are you walking in humility? So at these times of fasting and prayer, as we're positioned in this Joel 2 moment in America, and as we fast and pray and as we seek God, really on the precipice of possible locusts and worldwide war, it's time to seek God.

And of course, we do this every year. We seek God every year. But how are you doing? How are you living right for God? I was talking to a brother who was watching the, what's that movie?

The, it's about Mel Gibson's movie, the Christ something. Jesus, help me. What's the name of that movie?

I can't remember. But you watch this movie and it's just so profound. How Jesus is whipped, How Jesus. Thanks for the help, guys. How Jesus is whipped.

How Jesus is, is, is, is absolutely flogged and marred. And you're watching that. And every time I watch it, I, if you're ever going problem with sin, go, go ahead and see that movie, Mel Gibson, Christ something, go look it up. I just can't remember as I'm sitting here preaching to you, but part of prayer and fasting is. Part of prayer and fasting is repentance.

It's turning, it's rending your heart. The second thing is changing your thinking. You know, I constantly have to adjust the way I think concerning my marriage and my wife. I mean, not the best of ways. I, I, I think differently than my wife does.

The way that she thinks about things. Is differently than I do. And together we have to and to think. And you think maybe some things about your husband, well, he's not leader enough or he's not this or he's not that. You, you be more Christ like yourself, and your wife will fall more in love with you.

Your, your husband will fall more in love with you. You learn to live more like Christ. It's a changing of your heart. It's a changing of your thinking. You got to change the way that you think.

I shared this just recently. It was a paradigm shift. My wife has stolen the covers from me for 28 years. Every night she steals the covers. Except last week I discovered that I'm the one that steals them.

So I've been accusing her for 28 years of ripping off the covers every night. And we have like the COVID war. And then I realized I'm actually the one that does it. And I had to repent. That's a good thing.

It's changing the way you think. You've got to change your mind. You've got to think differently. It's a, that's a part of returning, rending your heart. Return to the Lord, verse 13.

Return to the Lord your God. What does that mean? That means basically in the Hebrew, to turn around, to reverse a direction, to go back to a starting point, to restore what was abandoned, to realign one's life, in fact, that is really, to return to the Lord is, is really the theological engine of Joel 2. It's all about. You can, in fact, you can do a whole series on Joel and call it Return to Me, Return to the Lord.

That's what Joel is, not just Joel 2, but the whole book about returning to God. So he's saying returning, what does it mean to return to the Lord? Rend your heart, which is your attitude and your thinking. What is it to return to the Lord? Well, it means literally to have a new focus, start thinking about God.

Put away your scrolling and start thinking about the Lord. You know, it's an interesting thing for me. What I put before my eyes is very, very important. I don't watch a lot of violence. I, I, I like, I like, you know, good over evil action movies.

But I don't put a lot of violence before me. I don't look at things I shouldn't look at. I, I don't live that way. It has an incredible impact upon my spirit, has an incredible impact upon my soul. I live in such a way that encourages me towards the Lord.

I don't like living any other way. I just don't like it. You have to change your. What are you focused on right now? You have to change your focus.

You have to change the way that you think about things. You have to change your focus of your life. What is the focus of your life? See, some of you, your focus of your life is work and about making money. Well, if you make the focus of your life about making money, then you're going to have problems.

Money cannot be your God. What you think about the most, that is what you worship. So what are you thinking about the most? You say, well, I'm, I'm not thinking about the Lord the most. Well, then change the way what you're thinking about.

You have to do that. If you don't do that, you're not going to see these Joel 2 benefits which I've talked about. This, the blessing being released. There's incredible results. If you'll rend your heart, which is your, your, your attitude, attitude, your thinking, and, and you return to the Lord.

It's, it's changing your focus and it's not just changing your focus. Keep in mind this. God is holy. Say it with me. God.

I can't hear you. God is. I still can't hear you. God is. God is holy.

And so you. We are not holy, but we're made holy by his blood. That's an imputed righteousness. Righteousness. It's given to you not because you did anything, but because you believe, because you believed on the Lord Jesus.

You're a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. He took out the heart of stone. He put in the heart of flesh. So you've been made new.

But then there's an imparted righteousness which is you living out. You've got to set your life up to live out righteousness. And if you don't, well, then you're going to miss out. Without holiness. The Bible says no man will see the Lord.

God's holy. Come on, say it. God is God's holy. And I used to, I don't know, when I was a kid in Catholic school, when I was a kid in Catholic school, just kind of like, oh, that Catholic school. But Catholic Church, I mean, it was a terrifying thing.

I mean, God help you if you got on the wrong side of God. It'll just kill you. I mean, that's how it was for Catholics back in the day. At least that's how I perceived it. But I'll tell you what it did do for me.

It, it, it, it put the Catholicism put A, a, a, a fear of God in a good way as well. Then understand that God is, come on and say with me, God is holy. And without holiness, no man will see, no woman will see the Lord. How are you made? Only you're made holy by the blood.

That's the only way. And then when you realize what he's done, when you realize how he's washed you, how he's cleansed you, you'll begin to walk in holiness and purity. When you realize he lives on the inside of you and you're getting your, you get your identity, you get your idea. Passion of the Christ is the name of the movie. Go get the movie.

Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson. Go, go get it and watch. It'll help you with your sin problem because that is what he had to pay. The Passion of the Christ doesn't even portray it well. It just shows the price it was paid so that we could be made holy.

It is truly amazing. So sometimes, you know, you come to church and you fall asleep. Sometimes, some, sometimes you, you know, you, you, you, you don't, you don't respond like God wants you to. When you're worshiping. You're on TikTok, you're, you're distracted with all the different things.

The Lord's patient and then he brings a bald headed preacher with a blue coat to tell you return to the Lord. Get rid of your distraction. It's, it's certainly time to do it. Have a, have a real fear of God. Have a real fear of God.

Some of the things I've heard that happen actually in church services are mind blowing to me. I've seen some things over the years and it's, it's because people don't have the fear of God. God is all powerful. He's a consuming fire and he is love and he is light. Yes, but he's, he's holy.

And you need to cultivate when you have the fear of God. You, you, you're not going to go do some of the things that you, that you, you might want to do. It'll, it'll train you. It's the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of, of wisdom.

Revelation chapter 2 in the NIV, verse 5. Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I'll come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Listen, you don't, you don't want to lose your lampstand. Jesus says if you don't repent, you too will also Perish.

And there's a lifestyle of ongoing repentance. Returning to the Lord requires. It requires action. It really is. It's.

It's. It's action. It's not just lip service. It's turning. It requires confession.

When's the last time you confessed your sin to God? Or maybe somebody else? In the Book of James, it talks about, confess your sins to one another, pray for one another, you may be healed. The Catholics talk about. About Catholicism again.

The Catholics use that as one of the means for the priest. But you don't need a priest. You are one. And he is the high priest of our confession. But you do need brothers and sisters in Christ.

Brothers meet with brothers, sisters meet with sisters. It's important to have somebody to share your burden with and so fulfill the law of Christ bearing one another's burdens. It's so important to share what. Okay, what are you struggling with? I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but, you know, women are very detailed, thank God.

And some men are. Some men are detailed as well, some more than others. But the course of being a pastor for these many years, I found. I found when there's adultery in a marriage, especially when it's the man that if he's brought to repentance and he confesses to his wife, it kind of usually goes something like this. You know, forgive me, I. I was unfaithful.

And they're like, what do you mean? I've seen it. I've. I've been a witness, unfortunately, numerous times. What do you mean?

Well, I. And then I. If I'm there and I'm helping to coach them, I said, go ahead and tell the whole thing. And they're like, I slept with somebody. Let me just tell you what the woman says after she cries, she weeps.

She's there, she wants to gouge his eyes out. Maybe she's very upset. And then she. Then she'll say something like, who is it? Now, sometimes guys will be like, that doesn't really matter.

Let me just tell you. You're going to have to tell your. You're going to have to tell the spouse what you did and who you did it with.

It was. And then you have to share her name and. And when was it? It's not important. I'm not doing it anymore.

It is important.

Yes. She wants to know, who was it? When did it happen? How often did it happen? Are you still doing it?

Where is she? Do you have her number? Let me see your phone. I mean, it's gonna Be a long drawn out. Understandably.

And I totally agree with it. You got to get it all out. And the man generally is like, dude, just forgive me. I, I'm sorry. No, that's not how it works.

Now some of you come to God just like that. You just like, lord, forgive me. Well, he's like, for what? Confession is very. Forgive you for what?

What are you confessing? It's very important to put words to it. And it's important also to share that with somebody who will. A leader, someone who's mature. Not some gossiping backstabber.

Backbiter. Backbiter is a backstabber that misplaced their knife. Share with somebody who's, who's walking in purity and holiness. A leader, a pastor. You gotta be careful with all of that.

And all of a sudden you'll see a post up there talking about you on Facebook or something. And if you do that, you, you just need healing yourself for God's sake.

Confession, Confession. What are you, what are you asking God to forgive you of? What is it that's binding you? What is the thing? Returning to the Lord requires action.

The first action is confession. First John 1:9. Confess your faults, confess your sins, one to another. Pray for one another, that you may be healed. It's so important.

No. Is that right? No, sorry, I mixed up two scriptures. First John 1:9, Confess your. Confess your sins to him.

He's faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Pardon me. I clean I, I, I, I, I jammed up James in there, but sounded good. Conf. Everybody say confess.

Come on, bump your neighbor and say, hey, confess. Confess. You know, one of the things that's so beautiful is these life groups that we have, these small groups, we have over 241. We have a new goal, which I'll tell you in just a moment. Life groups are so powerful because we're to serve God in relationship.

It's not just about coming to a big service like this. It's about developing relationship with people and with God. We have fellowship first John talks about this. We have fellowship with him and one with another. It's so important to have that somebody said, well, I just go outside.

That's my church. No, that's not even a biblical idea. I mean, I have fellowship with God outside too. It's, it's, it's inside and relationship with people and, and it's growing together and you need to have somebody that you can talk to and pray with. And life groups are so powerful for that.

They Meet in homes, they meet in cafes, they, they meet all over teams. Also just powerful. But you got to develop relationship. So returning to the Lord requires action. The first one is confession.

The second one is be reconciled. What does that mean? That means confess, but then be reconciled. It is an unbiblical thing to say separated or, or divided. I mean there is division, there is, there is things that we're going to get divided over.

Doctrine, we're going to get divided over that. If somebody's going to follow error, we're not going to agree with that. We can't have fellowship with that. We're not going to agree with sin, we're not going to agree with certain things. You need to have boundaries.

But when you've done somebody wrong and you've repented, you need to reconcile and, and you need to make amends. What does that mean? That means when you stole money, you pay it back with interest. Hello, is there anybody here tonight? Hello?

You pay, you pay it back. It's amends. That's not even taught in most church circles. So important, it's important to be reconciled. And the third thing is change your behavior.

What do you mean? Returning the Lord means change your behavior. Listen, some of you need to be in church every night. You backslide every two or three days. Get here, be a part of transformations, be a part of, of young adults.

Be a part, be a part of our services. Come get in a life group, Serve in some capacity. Come to native fellowship. That's not, that's not weak, that's smart. Change, change your behavior.

Change your, what your actions are. The boy coming home would constantly fall into the five and dime stores. Like back in the 50s, you've go into the five and dime store and look at Playboy magazine, look at pornography. And so he came to the pastor and the pastor says, well, what do you need help with? He said, I have a struggle with porn.

Well, tell me what's happening. I go home, I cross over the street and there's a five and dime and I go in and I look at pornography. He says, go home another way and let me pray for you. You know, you need to change your behavior. It's so important to do that.

Behavior change is something that doesn't happen overnight. You got to create new neural paths. You got to learn to think differently. And change your behavior is so important. Change your behavior, your experience that have happened to you, that have you locked in your mind, that it affected you in such a way that your behavior, you behave certain way and you think it's normal.

It's not normal. It's not. And you have to change your behavior. But if you're never in relationship with somebody long enough, that someone who's healthy long enough, that'll tell you, hey, that, that's not right. You shouldn't be doing that.

Some of you have a constant habit of, of, of drinking or constant habit of smoking weed or, or gossiping. I mean, just fill in the blank. Change your behavior. And when you're in relationship with loving spirit filled Christians, it's wonderful to be able to share that. And it's also wonderful to be rebuked.

Has anybody been rebuked? If you haven't been corrected by the Lord lately, you might be illegitimate. Do you understand what that means? You might not have a relationship with him if he hasn't corrected you recently. I wonder about your relationship.

And then also with people, they'll tell you hurt my feelings or this happened or that happened. My wife corrects me all the time. I speak into her life too. That's a part of relationship. Do speak to one another.

In love, you got to correct one another. You who are spiritual, restore one. So it's just so important.

Look at verse 15 of Joel to come on, Joe to verse 15 is with the wheels are down, we're coming in for a landing. Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast. Call a sacred assembly. Call a sacred assembly that's seeking the Lord together. That's what we're doing tonight.

Gather the people, sanctify the congregation. It goes on to say, I mean, notice that, gather the, the children, the nursing babes. It's. The children are a part of the fast. The children are a part of the congregation.

You know, church services that don't have kids in them. I mean, the kids are in the back on Sunday morning. But you're here tonight. Do you know that the, the apostle Paul wrote letters, epistles and would say, speak to the children. Book of Ephesians talks about that.

This tax is talking about to children also. You can fast and pray, let your parents guide you with that. But it's so important corporately. It's important to individual and corporate prayer. All right, let me, let me, let me conclude this message.

And what does all of this bring? What does it all bring? The rending of our heart. What does it all bring? The returning to the Lord.

What does it all bring? These things. What does it break? Well, it. Right in the text, in verse 18 and 19.

Now, we didn't read it, but I want you to go there with me 18. Then everybody say then. Can't hear you. It's if. Then.

If you do this, then what does it say then? All right, so if you rend your heart, return to the Lord, then the Lord will be zealous for his land and have pity on his people. The Lord will answer and say to his people, behold, I will send you grain and new wine. Provision. Provision will be released.

If you do your part, it releases supernatural provision. I've already seen provision in the first week of fasting. I've seen a breakthrough that way. Rend your heart, not your garment. Return to the Lord.

Change your attitude, change your thinking. Draw near to him. Change your behavior. Understand and know that God's holy turn towards him. What does it do?

It brings provision. Verse 18. Provision, grain, new wine. It's a picture of the Holy Ghost. Financial breakthrough.

It's a picture of outpouring. Verse 20. Look at verse 20.

But I'll remove from you the far northern army and I will drive him away into a barren, desolate land. What. What does that mean? It's deliverance. You need deliverance.

You need the enemies that are coming after you to be broken. You need the yoke to be broken. Fasting and prayer coming together breaks. The yoke, brings deliverance. Number.

Number. Number three. And the notes. Verse 22. Look at verse 22.

Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field. For the open pastures are springing up and the trees are bearing forth its fruit. It's fruitfulness, another aspect of what will happen out of a fast and prayer and repentance and turning in the midst of difficulty, in the midst of problems that are really opportunities. What happens as we do that, as we rend our heart, not our garment, return to the Lord, is that there's a release of fruitfulness. How many of you raise your hand if you want to be more fruitful?

I'm going to be more fruitful in 2026 than I've ever been in my whole life. I'm a preach more, pray more, prophesy more. I'm going to reach more people for the glory of God. I'm going to be more fruitful for the kingdom than I've ever been in my whole life. Hallelujah.

Come on, somebody say I'm gonna be fruitful. Look at verse 25 and. And 26. Oh, I love this. This is a scripture that is a life scripture for me.

So I'll restore. Verse 25. Overstore the years. The swarming locusts of eaten. The crawling locusts consuming locusts, the chewing Locusts.

My great army, which I sent among you. Remember the judgment. There was judgment upon them.

Repay you, says another version. It's restoration. How many of you need some things restored? Raise your hand if you need some things restored. I prophesy right now.

Families restore. Come on, raise your hand if you need restoration. I prophesy restoration in Jesus name. I prophesy restoration over families, restoration over marriages, restoration over children, restoration over finances. Everything that was lost, I call back in in the name of Jesus.

Loose Restoration as we rend our heart, Changing our attitude, changing our thinking, as we return, as we return to you, seeking you, loving you, praying, changing our behavior, knowing that you're holy. Release. Restoration. I pray that every single family here, the locust, that which has been eaten would be restored. Come on, somebody shout Amen.

Come on, shout a better Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. And then finally we come to that passage where it says, and I will pour out my spirit. It's an outpouring.

This is the context of Joel 2. That fits right in Acts 2. Judgment on the way, difficulty on the way. They rend their heart, they return towards the Lord. And an outpouring.

Verse 28. Look at verse 28 with me again. We didn't read this, but I'm. For the sake of time, I'm bringing it to you to show you that then if you do all the parts I taught you on, this is what happens. Verse 28.

And it shall come to pass afterwards. It shall what? Come to pass after? After what? After you rend your heart at your return to the Lord.

And we define those two things. You rend your heart, you return to the Lord. You get all of this. You get outpouring. I'll pour out my spirit.

The Context of Acts 2 is the same. And the context of the United States of America is the same. Here in Alaska, it's the same. It's time to repent. It's time to render heart.

It's time to return to the Lord. And what happens is all of these blessings outpouring.

The depth of outpouring will come by the depth of repentance. The depth of repentance brings the depth of outpouring. Some people just think it's just God's just going to come and pour out his spirit because he's good and he does it well. There is a measure of that. That's true, he does.

But you can also see a release of God's spirit when his people turn return to God. When they return, he responds, if you return, he'll respond with what? All of these things. Provision, deliverance, fruitfulness, my God, restoration, revival. It's what he brings.

This next season. We are going to believe. Are you ready? We are going to believe and pray. And I decree it today.

That we will have 300 life groups is the next goal that we're going to hit. We hit 200. We're going for 300 life groups and 100 teams. We didn't hit the teams mark yet, but we're getting there. 100 teams.

300 life groups. Say with me. 100 teams. 300 life groups dot for those of you that aren't aware, teams are ministries. Worship team, youth team, children's team, usher team, greeter team, ministries teams.

100 teams. 300 life group. Say it with me. 100 teams. I can't hear you.

Let's try it again. How many? 100 teams. 300 life groups. How many?

100 teams.300 life groups. Why? Because all the world needs to hear the greatest messenger has ever been preached, which is Jesus Christ, crucified. Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth and you shall be saved. For those of you that are here and maybe have not gotten involved in the process of discipleship, I'd encourage you to do it.

Get into the Discover Track. Go to Discover Track. Learn from there. The next steps that you take. We have a Next Steps desk just outside.

Get involved in a life group. Get involved in a team. Some of you can sing. Incredibly, you sing at home all the time. Come and be a part of the worship team.

Try out for the worship team. Try said, try out. Some people think they can sing, but they really can't. They make a joyful noise. But try out for the worship team to be a part of something, serve somewhere.

Get in a life group. Get discipled. Perhaps God will raise you up to be a leader. There's a whole process for that. And I welcome you and invite you to be involved.

And what God is doing here at Kings, it's the greatest time to be alive. It really is. Before Pastor Karen comes back, would you bow your head for just a moment and let me ask you, if you die, God forbid, tonight, would you go to heaven? Have you made a decision to live for Jesus? Have you repented of your sin and believed on the Lord that he died on a cross and he rose again from the grave to as many as believed in him?

He gave them the right to become children of God. Do you believe? Have you received them? Have you repented? Repent tonight.

Give your life to him tonight. Give your Heart to him tonight. Don't wait, don't, don't, don't wait. Do it do tonight. Those online, those maybe listening to the podcast, give your heart to Jesus for the first time or make a recommitment.

Some of you need to return, make a recommitment to him. That's what returning is. You, you're not walking as close as you used to. And you return, return, return. What are you going to wait?

Do you know that you could step over a line? In fact, I tell you by a word of knowledge that there's some of you who have been playing with, playing with sin and you think it's okay, you're right at the end of a line. Line. If you cross over that line, you don't know whether your heart will turn dark and you'll go off and never be able to come back to God. But you're here listening to this preacher tell you, return, don't wait.

Give your heart to Jesus. Return. Come back home. He's what you're looking for. You'll never be satisfied in any of that debauchery.

You'll never be satisfied with sin. Sin will always take you further than you want to go and destroy your life. And then you'll end up in a place of. Of judgment and difficulty and pain in the earth. And later on as well, you can miss heaven, give your heart to Jesus tonight in recommitment or perhaps for the first time.

You say, pastor, that's me. Lift your hand high. Lift your hand. Go ahead. Lift your hand right now.

God bless you. Lift your hand. Lift your hand. Unashamed, you and God, lift your hand. Lift your hand.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you online. God bless you in concert view. God bless you wherever you are.

God bless you. Now pray this prayer with me right out loud. Come on, Everybody's going to pray it right out loud. Some people just affirming their faith. That's what I'm doing.

Those of you getting right with God for the first time, you pray with all your heart. Those of you returning to the Lord or recommitting, come on, you pray. Pray with me right out loud. Say, dear Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your son Jesus to die on a cross for my sin.

I believe that you paid the price for me and I ask you tonight to forgive me, to come into my heart, to wash me, cleanse me, and make me new. Thank you for loving me and thank you for hearing my prayer. Lift your hands all across this place as a sign of surrender with hands raised. Holy Spirit, come. Holy Spirit, come and fill these.

Touch them now. Release your power right now. Release your power upon them. Baptize them in the Spirit right now. Well, I hope you were encouraged by God's word.

Thank you again for listening to Kings Alaska Podcast. God bless you. You. For more great content, go to kcalaska. Com and may God's face shine upon you and give you peace.