Generated Transcript:
when things are different we tend to ask
questions specifically when they’re very
different or unlike anything we’ve known
before so during this time of the
coronavirus time of panic a time of fear
a time in which we’re doing things maybe
we’ve not done before
not doing things that we’re used to
doing there’s a question that has come
up more than once Cindy and I were
talking the other day about the
situation and just asked out loud
is this a wake-up call is God trying to
send us a message is God sending us a
message what do you make out of all this
now those may be questions you’ve had –
I know other folks have posed those
questions and I’ll go ahead and
disappoint you early I do not know all
of the answers to those questions but I
do think this I do think that our
circumstance as well as any circumstance
offers an opportunity it offers an
opportunity to know God and to know God
better and to take advantage if that’s a
good word of the situations that present
themselves before us so that we might
draw more close to God so that we might
draw more near to other Christians and
so that we might become better servants
of God and of our fellow man what about
this thing is it a wake-up call is this
Kovan 19 something that should cause us
to think differently to act differently
to make changes I began to think about
this situation and one that happened a
long long time
go far far away in a place called Egypt
and from your Old Testament study in
history you would recall the first few
chapters of the book of Exodus as being
a time in which God raised up a man he
prepared him for about forty years he
prepared Moses to lead God’s people out
of the land of Egypt and into the land
of Canaan now for God to do this and he
could have done it any way that he
wanted to for God to do this
he chose Moses and his brother Aaron and
they would go to the king or the Pharaoh
of the Egyptians and request that God’s
people be released
God knew Moses new era knew that Pharaoh
wasn’t going to do this and so God then
through Moses has ten plagues placed
upon those people in that land now let
me be really clear at the front of this
so no one misconstrues and says that the
coronavirus today is God’s equal to the
ten plagues in Egypt that’s not it these
are not apples to apples God did
intentionally God did purposefully
caused those plagues to come upon that
land and there are both his testimony of
that and there are some purposes for
that that God intentionally accomplished
and we’ll talk about that it’s my
personal conviction that God did not
send the coronavirus God allows things
to happen and basically virtually
everything that is bad is directly or
indirectly over the course of time
attributed to sin and attributed to
wickedness and so it’s not my personal
conviction that God sent the coronavirus
to plague the earth to get us to wake up
or to receive
a message having said that I’m equally
convinced that there is an opportunity
to utilize these circumstances to wake
up and to make decisions and to make
changes and to become better people
better societies and a better world if
we choose to take that as a wake up call
Solomon said after the ten plagues and
before today and applicable to all the
times they’re Ecclesiastes chapter one
and verse nine there is nothing new
Under the Sun we’ve had help events
before that were very scary we’ve had
flu events we’ve had the Asian flu we’ve
had surge we’ve had MERS we’ve had Ebola
we’ve had Asian flu and and many many
other things that have impacted our
country or our world and so what we’re
dealing with is not something that is
completely out of the ordinary the fact
that it spreads easily the fact that we
were not prepared with a vaccine because
we did not know about this the fact that
we did not have medications readily
available the fact that we didn’t know a
number of things has certainly made it
frightening but among all of those
things can it be should it be will it be
a wake-up call that has nothing to do
with our physical health and everything
to do with our spiritual health let’s
think about Moses and let’s think about
God’s message to Pharaoh through the
plagues that he sent to Egypt it was the
Providence of God through Joseph
that the Israelites the people from whom
Jesus would come ultimately gained
prominence in Egypt the famine and all
of the things that happened to Joseph
providentially
it’s not God’s will that a brother or
brother sell their own brother it’s not
God’s will that that men lie about
someone is not God’s will that
Potiphar’s wife would lie about Joseph’s
integrity it’s not God’s will any of the
things that were negative that happened
to Joseph but Joseph utilized those for
good and God providentially allowed
Joseph to be enhanced by those things to
the point that he could interpret dreams
and that he could indeed become second
in command behind Pharaoh himself he was
able to bring his family back from a
land of poverty or famine and he was
able to reunite them and they grew
together and they became a strong and
and a mighty group of people again
because of God’s providence and because
Joseph by remaining true to God was able
to navigate through these difficult
circumstances but the Pharaoh the
Pharaoh that was so good to Joseph
because Joseph had been so good to him
eventually died the Nexxus chapter 1 and
verse 8 it said there arose a king or a
pharaoh that didn’t know Joseph yet on
the allegiance to Joseph Joseph didn’t
really matter to him and so he saw this
group of Israelites becoming really
strong and powerful and they were very
healthy and and he ultimately went to
the point of having all the baby boys
killed he saw them as a threat he put
put them in bondage he made it hard on
them their lives were difficult they
prayed and asked God they said God would
you help us would you free us and would
you take our oppression away from us and
God ultimately does that he does that
through the plagues but what did God
want to happen what was God’s purpose
for all of the the water turning to
blood and the frogs and the lice and the
hail all of those template’ what was
God’s
purpose of that did you just not like
the Egyptians was he just not a fan of
their countrymen you know what God
wanted them see through all this was
there is a God there was an eternal
almighty all-powerful God in Exodus
chapter 5 and verse 1
Moses and Aaron said Pharaoh thus says
the Lord God of Israel let my people go
that they may hold a feast in the
wilderness but Pharaoh said who is the
Lord that I should obey his voice and
that Israel go I do not know the Lord
and moreover I will not let Israel go we
live in that world today where a lot of
people don’t know the Lord a lot of
people don’t acknowledge the Lord a lot
of people see themselves as God and so
God wanted them to know there was a God
God sent the plague so there would be
freedom and deliverance from oppression
in Exodus chapter 3 verses 9 and 10 God
said he heard the cry of the people saw
the oppression that the Egyptians have
pressed some with and told Moses I’ll
send you to Pharaoh that you may bring
my people the children of Israel out of
Egypt we think about the purpose of God
with plagues he had something better in
mind for them next was chapter 3 and
verse 17 I promise that I bring you up
out of the fliction of Egypt to the land
of the Canaanites Hittites a mirage
perizzites hivites and the jebusites a
land flowing with milk and honey not
only did God take them out of a bad
situation but he put them in a better
situation there was a purpose behind the
plagues there was a purpose behind the
plagues to keep the lineage of Jesus
clean and pure and flowing when you look
at the genealogy through the Israelites
and through Joseph and through that
tribe you see God’s purpose and
ultimately bringing Jesus to be born of
a woman Jesus who would live the perfect
life and die upon the cross and we look
back at that and we see the work the
handiwork the hand of God the purpose of
God even in those plagues upon each
we see in that systematic deliverance
through these plagues the death of a
firstborn in Exodus chapter 11 and verse
5 it talks about the fact that the debt
the death of both man and beast the
firstborn would take place and and we
recall how that God instructed the
interlocks if you’ll put the people of
Joseph if you put blood over that man
over that doorpost when the angel pass
is over it’ll see the blood and your
firstborn of man and beast won’t die
we’re reminded the death of God’s Son
we’re reminded of the blood and so as we
think about those things today and as we
think about those plagues and have it it
wasn’t just a random act it certainly
wasn’t an act of hatred it was a plan
that God had for specific intentional
purposes and we wonder we think we
ponder about our country today you think
about how our country began it began in
part because of religious oppression it
certainly began with founding fathers
whose faith was deeply seated in God and
in the Bible
now the theology and the doctrine was
not always correct but the foundation
upon which our country was based was oh
so well layered with God and with the
Bible and with truth and with morality
that’s how we began just like Joseph in
the land of Egypt upon his faith in God
and how that for many many years decades
our country prided itself and we even
have used the phrase and some still
today one nation under God
and while there’s religious freedom here
and while people certainly are at will
at liberty to believe whatever they
choose in whoever they choose
predominantly our nation has been a
nation of God believers believers in the
Almighty the the one of the Bible he who
is alive and yet as we go from the
founding of our country and we fast
forward today we see a vast difference
in principles we see a vast difference
in practice we see a vast difference in
the Allegiance or lack thereof to God
and to his word and to his principles
and to his teachings
you can choose pretty much any arena
that you want to look at maybe we began
at the foundational source of any
country and that’s the home and we see
not only the disruption of the home but
we see the despair of the home today our
country began founded upon biblical type
homes a man and a woman a father and a
mother children and they studied and
they prayed and they worshipped the God
of heaven and they sought to be good
servants of God and good stewards of
what they were blessed with and and good
neighbors to others but the home today
the homefront today many many many homes
today don’t look like what God intended
when he began the home in the Garden of
Eden what he stressed throughout his
word that we call the Bible what homes
looked like in the beginning stages of
our country and when I say homes I’m not
talking about the
physical dwelling the houses I’m talking
about the people we have taken that that
God has made sacred and and it’s been
trampled underfoot marriage is no longer
respected for the most part marrieds no
longer in some cases is even between
God’s design of a man and of a woman
we’ve taken and we’ve killed and we’re
so concerned about people dying with the
coronavirus and we should be we ought to
do what we can do within our power to
save people from contracting the
coronavirus and if they’ve contracted it
we ought to use every medical ability
every medical technique every medical
piece of equipment available we ought to
take that and use it to spare lives and
yet in this country we’ve killed
millions upon millions in the womb that
did not even have an opportunity for
life the life intentionally taken and it
goes without even the blink of an eye
today we think about the morality today
the language the behavior and we see a
far different country from the one that
was founded by our forefathers from the
principles and we ask the question can
the coronavirus become a wake-up call
can it wake us up back to where God
wants us to be we think about the areas
and the things that we need to wake up
to or to wake up in realization of it’s
a great time to realize our human
limitations and how limited we are
without God and how without him who
gives us life and breath and and
everything good we’re sorely missing
those things that
really really matter oh we’re so
advanced technology wise medically we
can go in on normal days and we can do
open-heart surgeries just like they were
taking splinters out of people’s finger
we can go in and do organ transplants
just like you were doing a filling at
the dentist Jim Crow virus has reminded
us we don’t have all the medical answers
matter of fact we can’t even cure the
common cold and for all that we know
there’s so much more where we’re limited
and there is a power that’s higher and
we need to reach out for that power
we’re a minded or hopefully we’re waking
to the fact of their things that are
essential and they’re things that are
not essential the corona virus has taken
away some things from us and when I say
take it away we voluntarily done that
but we’ve learned we can live without
sports we’ve learned we can live without
going to the movies we’ve learned that
we can live without a number of things
that were just a routine part of our
life and hopefully there’s a wake up
call that says we need to focus on what
really matters Solomon said it was this
fear God and keep his Commandments for
this is the whole of man jesus said it
this way seek the kingdom of God first
and His righteousness and all these
things will be added to you we’re waking
up to the fact of the coronavirus how
badly we need a vaccine something that
would prevent this disease from taking
over our bodies and spreading so rapidly
and hopefully we’re waking up to the
fact that we need a vaccine spiritually
that would prevent us from sin and from
the consequences of sin and that vaccine
is the teaching of the word of God
wherein we see what is bad and we self
quarantine ourselves spiritually and we
socially distance ourselves spiritually
from those things that hurt and harm us
in the greatest of ways we see the
coronavirus and hopefully we wake up to
the need for cure Oh would it be
wonderful if we had a cure wouldn’t it
be wonderful if someone could
immediately and and maybe at some point
in time with all of the research they
will find something appeal a vaccine
something that we could take something
that could be injected something that
could be done but we’re really we need
to wake up to the cure for sin and sin
and while the coronaviruses is certainly
very scary and and painful and and at
times deadly fortunately with the corona
virus there’s only a small percentage of
the people that are infected by that
ultimately die now please don’t
misunderstand me that doesn’t minimize
it in any way if it were one person out
of a billion that one person would be as
important as the world but fortunately
it’s a relatively small percentage of
people that die from the corona virus
but within the terminal the fatal rate
is 100 percent unless the blood of Jesus
Christ is applied as a cure can we wake
up can we use it as a wake-up call that
I need the blood of Christ initially in
the waters of baptism to wash away my
sins I need the blood of Christ daily if
we walk in the light as he is in the
light John says we have fellowship one
with another and the blood cleanses us
from all sin even if God’s child I still
sin and I need that blood can I wake up
to the cure for sin then otherwise
becomes fatal 100 percent of the time to
make well again to make whole again what
about the response do we is this should
this be a wake-up call to America to the
world should it be a wake-up call to
dáil should it be a wake-up call to you
to my family to your family home our
response be you see is we have wake-up
calls we have them and
lot of different forms if you go to
hotel you can call the front desk and
you can say give me a wake-up call at 7
o’clock and they’ll ring the phone at 7
o’clock and you could you can pick that
up we have different wake-up calls
sometimes it’s the rooster in the
backyard that reminds us this morning
sometimes it’s an alarm clock sometimes
it’s something on our phone or on our
device or some other method that we may
use to wake us up to get us into reality
to get us into soberness to get us into
consciousness but what will our response
be to the wake-up call to the potential
wake-up call you know when the alarm
clock goes off some just turn it off
roll over and go back to sleep I suspect
and I certainly hope that six months
nine months a year from now the
coronavirus won’t be nearly gathering
the attention that it doesn’t have the
heat of the summer hopefully will kill
much of it will make medical advances
we’re doing other things to try to help
and while it still will have been an
event life and all likelihood will have
going on the only question oftenly will
be has it made us any difference has it
changed us have we allowed this to be a
spiritual wake-up call or will we just
turn the alarm off and roll over and go
back to sleep in life and country and
business just be as usual
sometimes when the alarm goes off people
hit the snooze button I’ll wait a little
bit I think about Acts chapter 24 and
verse 25 when Felix was challenged by
Paul in regard to righteousness
temperance and judgment to come and it
said that Felix trembled he was
terrified he had a opportunity for a
wake-up call to change his life forever
spiritually but he hit the snooze button
he said Paul go your way for this time
when I have a convenient season later on
on the road I’m not getting up right now
I’m not waking up right now I’m not
getting into consciousness right now he
said I might call for ya or there’s the
opportunity when the alarm goes off when
the wake-up call comes to wake up and
get up and get busy
visions chapter 5 and verse 14 therefore
he said awaits leaping ones and rise
from the dead in Christ will give you
life you see it makes a difference what
we choose at this point in time well we
just go through the Cronus virus like
the other eleven health related event
since 1984 and it eventually gets far
smaller and less impactful and and we
don’t need more trillions of dollars
from the government and we just kind of
get back to the point where we say
remember when we were all quarantined
kind of sorta add the corona virus or
will it really changed me will it change
my family will it change the church will
it change our country will it really be
a wake-up call think about the rooster
the rooster that Jesus told Peter about
and we need to listen to that rooster
not that specific rooster but in mark 14
72 when Peter heard the rooster crow
after making some really bold statements
about his loyalty to the Lord and said
Peter remembered what Jesus had told him
and he broke down and he wept rooster
who made a difference the wake-up call
made a difference but he didn’t just
break down and cry Peter then got up and
Peter helped preach that first sermon of
Peter became a faithful servant to the
Lord unto death is this a wake-up call
I don’t know again I wouldn’t argue
about what your belief with God in the
coronavirus is I personally don’t
believe God sent the coronavirus to
plague the United States in the world
what I am convicted of is there
God will allow this event God will allow
these circumstances to wake us up to
challenge us to call us to sober-minded
thinking and to make the changes that we
need to make in our lives and in our
country and in our world and the
coronavirus could turn into one of the
greatest blessings that the world’s ever
known that the words of Joel chapter 2
and verse 13 return you to the Lord your
God for he is gracious and merciful slow
to anger and abounding in steadfast love
return to the Lord your God is this a
wake-up call
you decide
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