Passage for July 15th, 2007

Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty. Has not food been cut off before our eyes, Gladness and joy from the house of our God?(1:15-16 NASB)

"Yet even now," declares the Lord, "Return to Me with all your heart, and fasting, weeping and mourning; And rend your heart and not your garments." Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in the lovingkindness and relenting of evil. (2:12-13 NASB)

Then the Lord will be zealous for His land and will have pity on His people. (2:18 NASB)

"Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust, My great army which I sent among you. You shall have plenty to eat and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; Then My people will never be put to shame. Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other; and my people will never be put to shame. It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls." (2:25-32 NASB)

Background Passage Joel 1:1-3:21

Lesson Passage: Joel 1:15-16; 2:12-13, 18, 25-32

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Receive God’s Mercy

How did God make you aware that you needed to repent of your sins and receive His mercy? _____________________________________________

In Joel's day the people of ________ did not take seriously God's attitude toward _____.

Being cut off from the temple was __________ God was not pleased with the people. They had lost the joy and ____________ they usually experienced in the temple festivities. They were learning that God brings certain ____________ on His people's sins.

Why do we need to consider if adverse conditions may be the Lord's way of warning us to turn back to Him? ___________________________

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God is still ____________ and calling for His people to _______________.

Why do you think hard times often bring us closer to God? __________

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God's ___________ would produce three important results. First, the people would have their physical needs __________. Next, God's people would __________ the name of their God, Yahweh, for dealing so mercifully and so wondrously with them. Also, God's people never again would be put to ________. They had been shamed by their belief that God had abandoned them, and thus they felt they needed to look elsewhere for food instead of looking to God. Also, they were shamed in the face of other nations whose people thought God had forsaken Judah.