A Biblical Response to Crisis: Call Solemn Assemblies
I. RECEIVING INSTRUCTION FROM THE BOOK OF JOEL
A. Great revival and crisis are coming to America in the days ahead. The Spirit is calling the Church to understand the crisis and
respond in the way that Scripture teaches. God requires a response that is outlined in the book of Joel (Joel 2:12-17). We are to gather in
solemn assemblies, to return to God in wholeheartedness with fasting as we cry out to God for mercy and deliverance.
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly. (Joel 2:15)
B. The book of Joel is one of the briefest yet most succinct statements in Scripture that describes how God wants us to respond. I
recommend that everyone study the book of Joel.
C. God’s people often embrace one of three wrong responses to the coming crisis. First, some are too negative with a non-biblical
pessimism, thinking that society has too gone too far to change. Second, some are too positive with a non-biblical optimism, thinking that
there is no coming crisis. This view ignores what Scripture says about the crisis. Hope-filled desire is important. However, it must be
tempered by Scripture and not based on humanistic optimism. Third, some are too vague and simply ignore the crisis, thinking that the
future will just take care of itself.
D. The spiritual culture in the Western Church today has a scoffing and passive spirit that considers it “extreme” to believe God’s Word
about the coming revival, crisis, and judgment.
Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days… (2 Pet. 3:3)
E. Joel gave the elders in his day a four-generational mandate to respond to God in a radical way. God wants us to develop a spiritual
culture of faith and revelation that affects even our children.
3 Tell your children about it, let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. (Joel 1:3)
F. God has given the human race great dignity. We have free will, which means we have been given the ability to make choices that
make a real difference. These choices for righteousness or for sin will bring either blessing or evil to us and those around us. The choices
we make provide the legal entry point for both angels and demons to be much more active in the natural realm.
G. God opens doors of blessing and closes doors of oppression in response to our prayers. There are blessings that God has chosen
to give, but only if His people rise up in the partnership of prayer.
You do not have because you do not ask. (Jas. 4:2)
H. God is waiting for our persistence in prayer before Him. Isaiah taught that He longs to release His grace and power, but actually
waits until He hears the cry of His people in intercession.
The LORD longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on High to have compassion on you...19 He will surely be gracious to you at
the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. (Isa. 30:18-19; NAS)
II. THE RESPONSE THAT GOD REQUIRES: SOLEMN ASSEMBLIES
12 “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” 13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to
the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. 14 Who knows
if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing…? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; 16 gather the
people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders…17 Let the priests…weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, “Spare
Your people, O Lord…” (Joel 2:12-17)
A. In this passage, the Lord tells us exactly what we are to do to receive His mercy and deliverance in a time of crisis. God requires a
specific response. Joel gives us God’s plain road map.
B. We are to gather in sacred or solemn assemblies. The leaders and people who love Jesus must come together to fast, pray, repent,
and ask God to release His favor on us. Calling a sacred assembly is the most practical thing we can do before and during a crisis. God
releases His favor and protection in response to prayer and repentance.
C. The Lord does not leave us guessing as to what He desires from us. What confidence this brings! We can act with certainty in times
of crisis knowing that our solution is found in God. Even the most uneducated and ungifted can repent with prayer and fasting to freely
receive God’s favor.
III. TURN TO GOD WITH WHOLEHEARTEDNESS
Now therefore, says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning.” 13 Rend your heart, and not
your garments; return to the LORD… (Joel 2:12-13)
A. God wants our hearts more than anything else. He wants all of our love (Mt. 22:37). This reveals His heart for us. He only requires
that we respond to His love for us by loving Him back.
B. When we turn to God with all of our heart, we position ourselves to receive His favor. The place of safety from God’s judgments is in
corporate, long-term wholeheartedness for God.
C. What does it look like to turn to Him with all our heart? We are to turn from all that is contrary to His will. This involves tearing our
heart in repentance as we pray with fasting. To rend means to tear forcibly. What God desires is the rending or the tearing of the heart,
which speaks of separating ourselves from everything that is displeasing to God.
D. Speaking symbolically of this radical tearing of the heart, Jesus said to pluck out our eye if it causes us to sin (Mt. 5:29). He was
talking about a radical pursuit of obedience that is willing to painfully tear the heart in the process; in other words, to forsake all
compromise in our life!
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out…for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole
body to be cast into hell. (Mt. 5:29)
E. We cannot pursue wholeheartedness in a casual way. It can be costly and painful to confront the root systems behind our bondage.
It can hurt to press through until we get a breakthrough, yet it is the way to freedom. Tearing our heart is intensely personal. The Lord will
help, if we ask Him.
F. The Father’s heart was torn when He gave Jesus’ life away, and it continues to be torn in His patient longsuffering with His people as
they refuse to respond to His leadership. Jesus tore His heart when He went to the cross. In other words, God has torn His heart in His
pursuit after us.
IV. REPENTING WITH CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S TENDER HEART
13 Return to the Lord...He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; He relents from doing harm. 14 Who knows if He
will turn and relent, and leave a blessing…? (Joel 2:13-14)
A. Joel summons the people to return to the Lord, giving five reasons why this is wise—because God is gracious, merciful, slow to
anger, of great kindness, and He relents from doing harm. He desires to make a way of deliverance. The knowledge of God’s heart for us
gives us courage to tear our hearts in repentance. If we take one step toward Him, He will take ten steps toward us.
B. First, the Lord is gracious in that He evaluates us differently from how anyone else does. He understands our weakness and
remembers our frailty and that we are but dust (Ps. 103:14).
C. Second, the Lord delights in mercy. He enjoys giving us a new start after every failure.
Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity...because He delights in mercy. (Mic. 7:18)
D. Third, the Lord is slow to anger. He is not quick to judge but gives time to repent (Rev. 2:20-22).
E. Fourth, the Lord has great kindness. Our repentance will never be met with rejection. Because of Jesus’ work on the cross, we can
receive the gift of righteousness and His favor (2 Cor. 5:17-21).
F. Fifth, the Lord relents from doing harm. In other words, He will cancel the decree of judgment God desires to transform a would-be
disaster zone in a geographic area into revival centers. There are two stages in God’s decrees: first, the decree is established in the
heavenly court. Second, it is issued as God releases angels to execute the judgment (Ezek. 9-10) or it is canceled.
Gather yourselves together…2 before the decree [of judgment] is issued…before the LORD’s fierce anger comes upon you…3 Seek the
LORD…it may be [perhaps, NAS] that you will be hidden [protected from judgment] in the day of the LORD’s anger. (Zeph. 2:1-3)
G. Ezekiel taught that God searched for one who would stand in the gap between Himself and Israel, someone who would pray in a way
that would cause God’s judgment to be withheld.
So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy
it; but I found no one. (Ezek. 22:30)
H. I call refer to the “perhaps of God.” The New American Standard says, “Perhaps you will be hidden” or protected from judgment
(Zeph. 2:3). In response to prayer, God changes what He releases in a nation. A disaster in nation can be changed (Gen. 18:22-32; Ex. 32:
9-14; 2 Sam. 12:15-23; 24:10-14; 2 Chr. 34:22-28; Jer. 18:7-10; 51:6-8; Ezek. 18:21, 22, 28; 33:10-14; Dan. 4:29; Amos 5:1-3,14-15; 7:1–
6; Zeph. 2:1-3; Hab. 3:16-19; Jon. 3:4-10; Mal. 3:16-4:6).
V. GATHER THE PEOPLE AND SANCTIFY THE CONGREGATION
Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; 16 gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders,
gather the children and nursing babes... (Joel 2:15-16)
A. How should we respond? What can we do in a time of crisis? The Lord has handed us a clear and effective battle plan, though it will
take faith to carry it out. We call solemn assemblies to gather the elders and people. Since no one will be exempt from the coming crisis
and judgment, no one is exempt from crying out to God for mercy. Then we consecrate a fast to cry out for mercy.
B. We are to blow the trumpet by boldly warning the people of the coming danger and by calling them to gather to in solemn
assemblies to fast as a top priority.
VI. ESTABLISHING A SPIRITUAL CULTURE OF PRAYER WITH FASTING
2 Hear this, you elders, and give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything like this happened in your days, or even in the days of
your fathers? 3 Tell your children about it, let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. (Joel 1:2-3)
A. The first exhortation in the book of Joel is to “hear and give ear” or to pay close attention to his message and to learn from history
what happened to Israel in times of God’s judgments (Joel 1:1-2:9). In other words, we must seek to go deep in our understanding of the
book of Joel.
B. Joel emphasizes the unprecedented magnitude of the coming crisis (v. 2). He asks, in essence, “Have you seen anything like this?
Is this normal?” The significance of the message is that what is to come is unprecedented and is therefore unfamiliar to us. We are entering
a new season of history where God’s glory and judgments will shake everything that can be shaken.
26 He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27 Now this…indicates the removal of those
things that are being shaken… (Heb. 12:26-27)
C. Joel gave the elders a four-generational mandate that all should understand his message about the Day of the Lord revival and
judgment, rather than being ignorant or indifferent to it. God wants a spiritual culture that includes prayer with fasting with
wholeheartedness that affects even the children. This is what God was after in commanding all to “tell the children.”
3 Tell your children about it, let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. (Joel 1:3)
INVITATION: Join IHOP–KC in our monthly Global Bridegroom Fast days. See www.IHOP.org for info.