SERMONS ON CORONAVIRUS
Our sermon ideas about Coronavirus will help you preach a powerful message. COVID-19 has caused a great deal of concern, anxiety, fear, and worry throughout our world. It is understandable as this is a hugely unknown situation for all of us. From canceling worship services and holding our Sunday gatherings online, to not knowing when we can gather again, there is a great deal of unrest in the world today.
This is where preaching God's truth is so vital for the Church today. These messages have been chosen to help you as you prepare to preach sermons during the situation we find ourselves in.
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Use Me - Being the Hands/Feet of Jesus
by Joey Rodgers
Good AM Church family/online guest. I think few of us could've imagined our lives changing so rapidly over this past week - but it has. It's my hope/prayer that we are remaining calm/optimistic in spite of the fact that our stores are being ransacked for TP. W/out question, we're in unprecedented times. Never could I have imagined churches moving to online services while cancelling ministry event/programs for the good of the whole - and yet there's never been a more critical time for us to trust in the Lord and to minister His love/grace. But let's be upfront/honest. We have no idea what the next few days/weeks...
How to Pray About Big Problems
by Bob Ingle
Whether you are a part of our Waypoint Church family, or just dropping in to worship with us online, I want to thank you for being with us. I want to give a special shout-out to Waypoint Iola who are still able to gather and worship together this morning. We love you and praise God for you! Question: Do you pray differently about big things in your life than you do small things in your life? Understand when we talk about the size of issues and problems in our life we're comparing them to us, not God. Our power and ability, not God's power and ability. When it comes to God, there really is no big problem or issue in...
Coronavirus and Our Emotions
by Tim Melton
Good morning. We have now completed our first full week of quarantine with the Coronavirus, here in Madrid. Most of us have spent our time trying to figure out the new normal. The new normal of working from home. The new normal of parenting while being with our kids all day. The new normal in our marriage, being with our spouse all day. The new normal with our finances. I think for most of us there is a lot of emotion in it. Not just stress and pressure about the virus and our health concerns, but compounded by parenting, marriage, work, finance and health all coming together. It is definitely squeezing...
Disease and God's Sovereignty
by Robert Dawson
Welcome to our Sunday Morning Bible Study! I'd much rather be looking you in the face than you simply looking at mine! Even though we are not where we want to be, we all understand why we are where we are this morning. I'm already looking forward to gathering with my faith family again. Periodically we come face to face with events so large, devastating, frightening and beyond our control, that questions start to form in our minds, whether we want them to or not. They wiggle their way into our consciousness. This is one of those times. - COVID-19, aka the coronavirus, has dominated global, national...
COVID-19: Our Questions and God's Peace
by SermonSearch Staff
How does a prophet who wrote a book 2,500 years ago speak to us during of a global pandemic? That is what we'll be talking about today. PRAY Current Situation1. Currently, we are facing a pandemic that has swept over the world in less than 3 months. This respiratory illness, COVID-19, has caused great distress, anxiety, unrest, fear and more in a predominantly unsuspecting world. We saw the reports in early January and our hearts went out. But very few people had the foresight that we would be experiencing the far-reaching effects of this virus. 2. On March 1, 2020, there were only 30 reported cases of COVID-19...
A Biblical Response to Fear- A Pastoral Word about the Corona Virus
by Mike Stone
I heard about a little boy whose Mama asked him one night to go get the broom off the back porch. But it was dark and he was afraid. So he didn't want to go outside to get the broom. She told Him God was everywhere which meant God was also on the back porch. The little boy fearfully opened the door just a tiny bit. He whispered through the small opening in the door and said, ''God, since You're already out there, would You mind handing me that broom?'' It's safe to say that little boy was afraid. We expect our children to be afraid. They can be afraid of the dark. They can be afraid of the doctor. They can be afraid of...
God Bigger Than My Fears
by Scott Maze
Good morning to our church family who are joining us online. A special welcome to those of you who are guests joining us as well. Of course, there is no substitute for gathering together in person and I wish I could shake your hand to meet you face to face. The encouragement we receive from one another and the prayer support cannot be manufactured online. Though, I am so grateful to our technology team for providing this online opportunity, I am mindful that we have persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who risk their lives to gather for worship weekly. So we do not want to become used...
Peace Over Worry
by Josh Malone
Hi friends, thank you for tuning into this brief message today. This has been a crazy weeks, with things escalating very quickly due to the Coronavirus or COVID-19. We've seen major sports cancelled or postponed, school closures, the President declare a state of emergency, and of course many churches not having in person services this Sunday. It's a unique time certainly in my lifetime. - This virus is serious business. We cancelled our normal 10:45 AM service to do our part to flatten the curve of the virus. We are simply trying to be good neighbors as we help join the fight against this virus. We certainly...
What to Do When I Am Afraid?
by Scott Maze
Because of Covid-19, we are feeling vulnerable and fragile. Our stock market is yo-yoing like the days of 9/11 and we are being forced to close schools, universities, city hall, and now our church meetings. A few microbes from China has grounded flights, restaurants, and our collective lives. We fear for our senior adults and those who have compromised health around us. Where do we turn to in a time of crisis? Find Psalm 16 with me if you will. Today’s Scripture Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. 2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” 3 As for the saints in the land, they are...
Coronavirus 2020: A Time to Choose
by Dave Gustavsen
Good morning and welcome. This is a great reminder that when we say the word ''church,'' we're not talking about a physical location or a building. The church is group of people who are following Jesus Christ together. And I'm not just talking about The Chapel. Today, we join hands (sanitized hands) with every gospel-preaching church in the world, and we declare that we are the church. And even though a virus can keep us out of our buildings for a while, there is no virus that can stop the church from being the church. Amen? So this morning, no matter where you are, I hope you feel that sense of unity and fellowship. You...
Who Ya Gonna Call
by Donald Cantrell
For the first time since the Great Depression, America has been brought to its knees, while the enemy is not dressed in Communist combat gear, the enemy is not from the Middle East, nor is our enemy flying planes overhead and dropping bombs upon our great land. No our enemy is a virus; it is not very tangible, though its results are deadly and dire. I went into a Wal-Mart today in Dawsonville, Ga. and the toilet paper isle was so bare, that they were painting the shelves. The wet-wipes and every other type of sanitizers had been snatched off the shelves. People were walking around wearing N95 facemask. We stopped by...
The Great Disinfectant (15 of 52)
by Christopher Harbin
They tell us sunlight is a great disinfectant. The same ultraviolet light that can damage our skin and lead us down the path of skin cancer can destroy viruses and kill bacteria. We open wide the windows at home periodically to allow the sun to shine in and perform this function of acting as a disinfectant, ridding our houses of harmful bacteria and viruses. We used to hang our clothes in the sun to do more than simply dry the wash. On the other hand, sunlight as a disinfectant also carries another meaning for us. It means that transparency, openness, and truthfulness helps keep us on course. This kind of sunlight clears the...
How does the Gospel change the Coronavirus?
by Brian Fletcher
First, let's look at what we do know about the Coronavirus: 1. it is a respiratory illness that can spread from person to person 2. symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath and can lead to pneumonia 3. in order to not get it you must avoid people who have it or have been exposed to it 4. there is currently no vaccine or anti-viral drug to combat the virus only experimental drugs 5. people suffer mild to severe sickness with best estimates that 3% of those who contract the virus will die. This is a serious illness that is creating a significant amount of fear and anxiety, it's impacting our economy at large and financial...
Divine Protection
by Stephen Whitney
In the late 4th century, a few hoodlums in the city of Antioch were outraged by a new set of taxes levied against them by the emperor Theodosius. They took to the streets and toppled statutes of the emperor and his wife, dragging them through the streets in protest. The emperor was so angry that he issued a threat that he would avenge the mob by destroying the whole city. The citizens then waited in anxiety and fear about their impending destruction. John Chrysostom (d. 407) who was a pastor there preached 21 sermons during this stressful time. He wrote about the fear which the people felt: ''Lately...
Why Would I Want A Shepherd?
by Jeff Strite
Several years ago in the country of Turkey, a flock of sheep made the news. It seems that the shepherds of the flock had been eating breakfast when their sheep began to wander off. Now, ordinarily this wouldn't have been a problem, except the flock was just a stone's throw away from a cliff. Suddenly, one of the sheep went over the cliff and 1500 more followed it. Four hundred of the flock fell 45 feet to their deaths. The other 1100 survived only because the dead sheep broke their fall. But many of which were seriously injured. Cost to the local farmers was estimated at around: $74,000. In John 10:12-13 we...
The Bird's Are Still Singing
by Donald Cantrell
There was a story; it happened in a fantasy world. A mouse was playing under the bushes when a cat spotted it, and chased it all the way to the fields. The mouse was scared to death that it called out for its fairy godmother and asked that it be transformed to a cat. So, the mouse became a cat. One day, the same cat was bobbing in the prairie when a dog spotted it, and chased it all the way to the woods. The cat was scared to death that it called out for its fairy godmother and requested that it be transformed to a dog. So, the cat became a dog. One sunny day, the dog was searching for food in the woods when a...
We Do Not Fear (1 of 4)
by Jordan Easley
Do you ever ask the question... What if? What if things had turned out different? What if certain historic events would have never happened? What if...- Hitler or Saddam Hussein would have never been killed... - The Internet would have never been invented...- Phillip Fulmer would have never been fired... [Too soon?] When you consider reality, it's easy to ask ''What If'' and wonder how things might have turned out. I was thinking about that personally this week and I considered the question: What if my family would have never moved to Odessa, Texas when I was 12 years old? My entire life would look different today. I would...
Farewell to Fear
by James Merritt
It is a spirit that hovers over every home and hamlet on earth. Sometimes it expresses itself through sweaty palms. In a moment it can tie your stomach into knots that take hours to undo. It can shove a lump into your throat and shut down your entire windpipe. It can cause your blood pressure to rise like a rocket and your courage to drop like a rock.2. If the shock it brings is strong enough, the blood can be cut off almost completely from the brain momentarily, causing a person to faint. In other cases, it can cause the blood flow to the extremities of the body to be hindered so that a person actually gets "cold feet."3. This...
Fear Not (1 of 7)
by Stan Coffey
This is a forty day period of time that gives us an opportunity for forty days to have a special walk with God when we focus our attention on God's love and God's care for us. And the fact that God wants to give us victory over fear. God wants to give us affirmation; He wants to give us faith for daily living. Right now in our nation we just memorialized those who were killed in the tragedy of 9/11, the third year anniversary of 9/11. We know many Americans are concerned about the future. In fact among women, the number one concern in the national election is security. One of the main issues that people are concerned about is the security...
There Is Peace in the Storm
by Ken Trivette
Over the past several days we have all carried heavy hearts for the literally thousands of people that have been affected by hurricane Katrina. The images we have seen of the destruction Katrina brought are staggering. I have heard several that were interviewed say that what we were seeing on TV does not tell half the story. It is hard to imagine that a city the size of New Orleans is practically a ghost town. Katrina brought in its wake the greatest natural disaster in American history. The full extent of its effect is yet to be told. Tom Crawford, executive director of Crawford and Company of Atlanta, the world's largest...
Removing Fear from the Driver's Seat
by Robert Dawson
Kristin Tabb, in an online article, shares a story that I can relate to. On what I assume was a mission trip, Kristin found herself and a group of others being chauffeured at unsafe speeds down treacherous East African roads ''booby trapped with deep potholes'' and crevices. She found herself clutching for nonexistent seatbelts while nervously but quietly staring at the metal bars hanging in front of her face until the driver began carelessly playing chicken with other drivers headed toward them at equally insane speeds for such poor conditions. (I've been there. It's not fun. Even if you've never been on foreign soil traveling on dangerous...
Hope in the Face of Fear (3 of 5)
by Scott Maze
Today, I want to speak to you on this important topic: ''Hope in the Face of Fear.''Isolated from meeting together because of the Coronavirus, we meet for worship online. Of course, there is no substitute for gathering together in person. How I look forward to seeing everyone face to face! I am so grateful to our technology team for providing this online opportunity. Even though a virus can keep us out of our buildings for a while, there is no virus that can stop the church from being the church. Amen? We are just two Sundays from Easter and I invite you to find John 13 with me. To prepare us to celebrate the resurrection, we are in a series...
Rest for the Anxious
by Drew Hunter
We're taking a few weeks to focus on prayer within our series on the Psalms. The handful of Psalms we're looking at these weeks are ones that were written out of the midst of some kind of significant situation in the Psalmist's life. The situation is either some kind of terrible circumstance or it was a problem within the author's own heart. Often we see both. We're looking at issues like depression, anxiety, doubt, and suffering. This morning, we're going to look at Psalm 3. This is a prayer of the anxious. Read Psalm 3] [3:1] O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; [2] many are saying of my soul...
Hope for the Hopeless
by Drew Hunter
Shifting Our Focus To Prayer. This morning we're taking a slight turn within our series in the Psalms. For the next few weeks, we're going to focus on Prayer within the Psalms. We're not going to be thinking through all the aspects of prayer. We're going to look at a handful of Psalms that model how to pray when we're dealing with certain issues in our lives. The Psalms cover the whole range of life situations and emotions. It's not just a book for people who are in the mood to sing and praise God. Many psalms are clearly written out the midst of suffering, depression, anxiety, doubt, and fear. So, we're going to focus on some of these...
The Shortness of Life and the Goodness of God
by Drew Hunter
You can join me in opening up to Psalm 90. And as you're turning there, I want to remind you about how we're praying as a church family. -I know many of you are praying together as individuals, and families, and small groups. -And we also had our first churchwide prayer meeting over Zoom this past Thursday night. Our next one will be on Tuesday morning. We'll be having two of these each week for whoever can join. -And in our Midweek update we'll also be sharing another way we can pray for each member of our church family. This is a unique time for us. We've seen a number of different responses to the spread of COVID-19....
The Path to Peace in Trying Times
by Drew Hunter
So, we're turning to the book of Psalms this morning, and in particular Psalm 4. So, please grab a Bible and have it open in front of you. The book of Psalms is a magnet for those in suffering. Many of these psalms were written out of distress. And they were written for people to find deep hope and comfort and joy in the midst of hard circumstances. They give words for us to pray. They give voice to our emotions. They teach us to turn to God in our trials. I'm going to be spending these next months immersing myself in the Psalms. I try to read a psalm every day anyway, but I'm going to be engaging with more focus. And I invite you...
The Hidden Place (4)
by Lenny Ports
Pizza delivery. Something much better than pizza - food from God's word that He has sent me to bring to you. Shout out to Christian Life Church who opened their doors to us over these past few weeks in order to do some high-quality recording of our worship team. We love you Christian Life, Pastor Kyle and all the guys that opened their hearts to help us with such graciousness and love. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I want to talk to you for the next few minutes about ''The Hidden Place'' that we are in. LET US PRAY. The future is hidden but there is no need to fear. I know that many of you are suffering through this...
What To Do In The Valley (2 of 3)
by Jim Perdue
This morning, we're in our second sermon in a series I'm calling Fear-Less. I don't mean to imply that we can be 100% fearless until we get to Heaven, but we all can learn to trust more and fear less. *This is an unusual time isn't it? I don't think I had ever heard the phrases, ''social distancing'' or ''self-quarantine'' until a few weeks ago. Every week, on Monday, I look at the calendar for my family and delete events. I'm removing baseball games, softball games, gymnastics, a spring break vacation, and so much more. Like you, I've watched the news but I try to only look a little bit. I don't set up camp in ''newsland'' I just...
Where Does My Help Come From? (1 of 3)
by Jim Perdue
Because of the unusual circumstances we find ourselves in, I am transitioning from our series entitled, Love Where You Live, and moving to a series I'm calling Fear-Less. I don't mean to imply that we can be 100% fearless until we get to Heaven, but we all can learn to trust more and fear less. *Can I just say before we begin, this is a little strange. To be honest, most preachers have had nightmares of getting up to preach to an empty auditorium. But, this is not at all a nightmare. It is an opportunity to connect in a different way. I thank God for the technology we have so I can come to you via video right now and communicate God's Word to you and your family.*Church, please know that I love you and...
God of the Mountains and God of the Valleys
by William Wyne
Never underestimate the power of God! There is nothing ahead of you that is greater or bigger than Him. There is nothing that you may be presently facing that is bigger or stronger than Him. That does not mean in any way that life cannot present to many of us grave and great situations. There are things that can be intimidating or threatening; it may even have a sense of overwhelming us. But He that is with us, and He that is for us, has a way of having the last word to say about us and over us! Again, there is nothing greater than who He is. I search all over, and I can't find nobody greater than Him! I looked...
A Call in Crisis- A Pastoral Response to the Corona Virus
by Mike Stone
Whenever there is a crisis, one of the first things that happen is the phone rings. The doctor calls with bad news. The sheriff's department calls with bad news. Your friend calls with bad news. I heard about a man who was an artist. One day he received a call from the art gallery where his paintings were on display on consignment. The gallery owner said, ''I've got good news and bad news. Good news: I told a customer today that the value of your paintings would skyrocket after you died. And the man bought every one of them! The bad news: He was your doctor.'' As a pastor, I have had many times that my phone has rung in the...
A Changeless God in Changing Times
by Mike Stone
In the last two weeks, it seems like everything has changed. Two weeks ago, I preached that morning on the widow giving her two mites. That evening I preached on Jeremiah going down to the Potter's house. We had Monday night visitation and our Wednesday night activities. I spoke that evening to our 2 youngest AWANA groups. I led in a simple evangelistic lesson...and I told all the boys and girls I would see them Sunday in worship. But thanks to the Corona Virus, Sunday came...but Sunday services did not...at least not in a corporate sense. The events of the last few weeks confirm that Henry David Thoreau was...
The Master of the Sea
by Mike Stone
We speak about storms in our witnessing. When people give a testimony they will often speak of a storm in their life. In fact, many salvation testimonies hinge on a time where the winds of life were blowing and the waves of life were crashing. We study about storms in the Word. Psalm 107:28-30 - ''Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and He brought them out of their distress. He caused the storm to be still so that the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad because the seas were quiet and He guided them to a quiet port.'' Then there is this text. Recorded in the synoptic gospels it is a marvelous picture...
To Meet My Needs (1 of 6)
by Jim Perdue
I am thrilled to begin a new series this morning on Psalm 23. This is probably one of the best-known and best-loved passages of Scripture in the entire Bible. Whatever you think about Psalm 23, by the end of this series I want you to remember one thing: God Is Enough. That's the title of this series. God is enough...to meet my needs, to give me rest, to guide my steps, to calm my fears, to heal my hurt, and to secure my future. God is enough! So, when we're finished with this series, my hope is that when you hear Psalm 23, it will remind you of the complete sufficiency of Jesus Christ. He is enough! Today, we start with Psalm 23:1, and...
How to Survive the Pandemic Panic
by Ernest Easley
In this worldwide pandemic that is currently sweeping and shaking our world, we need a fresh word from God and here it is in three words: There is hope! In fact, more than simply having ''hope,'' friend we have a ''good hope.'' And it's that ''good hope'' that I want to talk to you about today as we learn. ''How to Survive the Pandemic Panic.'' Take God's word and turn with me to the book of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 where we find the Apostle Paul writing to a group of believers living through a time of great persecution and affliction. In fact, he tells them in chapter 1.4, '' ... we ourselves boast about you among God's churches, about...
God Will Never Abandon His Children
by Tim Melton
On December 7, 1998 there was an earthquake in the northwestern part of Armenia. It was estimated that 25,000 people died. In one small town a father survived the earthquake and immediately ran through the streets to the school where his son had been attending class. Once he arrived he saw a pile of rubble in the place where the school had once stood. He figured out in what area his son might had been when the earthquake occurred. He then climbed up on the pile of rubble and started digging. After an hour or two others began to call out to him, telling him how hopeless it was and that no one could have survived....
New Life (1 of 3)
by Jim Perdue
We are fascinated with new stuff and old stuff. But I've got the best of both worlds for you. What if I told you a really old message could make you brand new? It's true. There's a really old message that can make you completely new. It's called the gospel. Listen to what Jesus says in John 5:24. READ TEXT Jesus is talking in this verse. And He's talking about some very important things. He's talking about life or death. He's talking about eternal life or judgment. He's talking about freedom or bondage. He says, ''Most assuredly...'' In other words, ''pay attention to what I'm about to say; this is important.'' And it is. This is the most...
Hope Lives
by Jim Perdue
Some time ago I read a story of a grandfather who wanted to see how much his four-year-old granddaughter knew about the Easter story. He put her on his lap and asked, ''Honey, why do we celebrate Easter?'' Without hesitating she said, ''Jesus was crucified, and after he died, His body was put into a grave. Then they rolled a big stone in front of the opening and a bunch of soldiers guarded the tomb. Then on the third day, there was a big earthquake and the stone rolled away.'' Well you can imagine! Grandpa was very pleased with how much his granddaughter knew about the Easter story. But to his dismay she continued! ''And, and...
There's Still Hope
by Jim Perdue
This morning, we conclude our series, Songs for the Summer. I have thoroughly enjoyed studying selected Psalms with you for the last ten weeks. This morning, we will be studying two psalms together instead of one individually. Psalms 42 and 43 need to be taken together for several reasons: (1) in a number of the Hebrew manuscripts the psalms are joined together as one unit; (2) Psalm 43 has no introductory title, although every other psalm in book two, except for Psalm 71, does; and (3) the refrain is repeated three times and links the two psalms (42:5, 11; 43:5). The main reason for taking the psalms together, however, is that both...
Peace in the Midst of Chaos
by Jim Perdue
Today, we continue our series, Psalms for the Season. Turn in your Bible to Psalm 2. The first two chapters of Psalms are closely related. Both Jewish and Christian traditions indicate they were once considered one psalm. The two are separate psalms in our Bibles. Yet they stand together as the introduction to the Psalms. In a real sense, these two psalms seems out of place. Psalm 1 would fit better in the wisdom literature of Proverbs. Psalm 2 would fit better in the messianic passages of the prophets. But here they are as a passageway into the psalms. They remind us that the psalms are not merely ancient Hebrew...
Man's Only Hope
by Jim Perdue
A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small. The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible. The little girl said, ''When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah.'' The teacher asked, ''What if Jonah went to hell?'' The little girl replied, ''then you ask him.''*Those who believe in the God of the Bible will have little difficulty believing that such a miracle is possible...
Is There Any Hope?
by Jim Perdue
Today, we continue our series, Psalms for the Season. Find Psalm 3 in your Bible and you'll discover David is running for his life from his own son, Absalom. In fact, that's the inscription right above the psalm, ''A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.'' And I want to ask you this question, a question that most likely David asked as he was on the run. A question that you have asked, I have asked, and most likely everyone has asked at one point or another: Is There Any Hope? READ TEXT -- PRAY *On December 17, 1927, the Navy submarine S-4 was conducting submerged trials off Provincetown, Massachusetts...
3 Q's for Quarantine (5)
by Lenny Ports
It is that time when we are all starting to feel it. Things are sinking in and the new norm is becoming a reality. We can easily become nervous, antsy, fearful, restless. Too much information. Too many voices. Too many opinions. Too much noise. Too much gloom and doom. While the science labs are trying to develop a vaccine for this virus, we need a different kind of injection. We need an injection of HOPE. So, I have come to you with means to get there today. 3 Q's for the quarantine. LET US PRAY. 1. Quiet down. There are 2 ways to quiet down, one is to quiet down the noise around us, and the other is to quiet down the noise within us....
Don't Waste a Pandemic
by Mike Stone
A sign at my school read, ''The best way to kill time is to work it to death.'' But by far the worst thing you can do with time is to WASTE it. People who farm say things in the morning like, ''We're burning daylight.'' That's a farmer's way of saying, ''Get busy because we're wasting time.'' In Ephesians 5, Paul addresses these 1st century believers and seems to warn about the dangers of wasting time. And the problem, he says, with wasting time is that the days are evil. Interestingly, this word ''evil'' is a derivative of a word that means ''great trouble'' or ''pain.'' That is, make the most of the time because these are challenging days that are...
Tracing the Rainbow Through the Rain
by David Davis
In nineteenth-century Scotland there lived a man with an amazing amount of promise and potential. He was destined for greatness, and all was going wonderfully well for him. While engaged to be married he was suddenly hospitalized. He found he had a degenerative eye disease which would eventually blind him. Consequently, his fiancée broke off their engagement and left him with a broken heart. George Matheson - in blindness and brokenness - within a period of five minutes penned these hymn lyrics we believers have cherished: We see violence - starvation - suffering - and disease. We are prone to ask - ''Where is...
Allow Yourself to Grieve
by Dave Gustavsen
What we are experiencing right now is, in many ways, tragic. But the more I've thought about it, the more I have realized something: the way that we respond to this crisis could make the tragedy even worse. Here's what I mean: when this is all over, if we emerge from this unchanged-if we are exactly the same we were before-that would be a double tragedy. So right now, there are things that you and I are supposed to be learning-life-defining lessons that we may not learn at any other time. So I've decided to devote these next six weeks to those Lockdown Lessons. And let me just give you a little preview: today's lesson is ''Allow Yourself...
A Season of Restoration (7)
by Lenny Ports
Some of you have been through some real difficult times. And maybe you're there again right now. This quarantine has really thrown a monkey wrench into the plan you had for your life, for your family, for your finances, for your future. You may be feeling down, discouraged and disillusioned that things didn't work out according to your plan. The temptation in times like these is to pull away, to disconnect from people and even from God because deep down you feel forsaken. God is a restorer! Today's word is a lesson from the life of Peter. Peter was one of Jesus' disciples. He was one of the original 12. You know Peter...
When the Crisis Exposes Our Heart
by Tim Melton
Research shows that Google searches on prayer have increased dramatically in recent days in the midst of the Covid-19. One evangelistic website launched new web pages with Covid-19 resources in six languages and in the initial four weeks, 173,000 people visited the websites. Another one of the largest online evangelism ministries made 12.4 million gospel presentations in March alone. That is great news. God is using this crisis to turn many hearts towards Christ, but that is not the whole story. Difficult times can either drive a person towards God or away from Him. While some are being driven towards Christ...
Developing Trust in Difficult Times
by David Cawston
We are very aware today that life is filled with uncertainties. We are living in challenging times. But we need to remember that even though things around us are in continual change God never changes. I am glad to tell you that there is a God that is in control of everything. There is nothing that escapes His attention. He knows right where you are, what all your needs are and how to direct you to your future. History shows us crisis after crisis that has impacted the world in days past God has always been faithful. Story of crossing the south Atlantic during WW2 Isaiah 43:2 (NKJV) When you pass through the waters...
The Cure for Separation Anxiety (10)
by Lenny Ports
This is the time of the quarantine where people are starting to feel the pinch of the reality of it. It is a sensitive time because people are realizing that what was normal may never be recovered. This new norm is starting to sink in. You may be feeling the impact of what has been imposed upon us and a host of emotions can come to the surface as a result. You're not alone. You may be experiencing separation anxiety. Separation anxiety is normal in very young children. Kids often go through phases when they are ''clingy'' and afraid of unfamiliar people and places. As was probably true with most young families, it is extremely difficult to bring...
The Gift of the Holy Spirit (11)
by Lenny Ports
Good morning and Welcome to Encounter Online. Today is what is known as Pentecost Sunday. Across the globe today, Christian churches and organizations are celebrating the day that the New Testament church was birthed. We rejoice that what started 2000 years ago is still going! The church is still thriving, growing, and advancing throughout the world by the same power that was poured out on the church on the day of Pentecost - the Power of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus began to talk to the disciples about the Holy Spirit, He told them that He would be with them and in them. That He, the Spirit of truth, would guide them into all...
Navigating The Future Confidently: Post COVID - 19 - Part 1
by Palitha Jayasooriya
With lockdowns being gradually eased in many countries, people are beginning to face the uncertainty of what is termed a 'new normal'. Job losses, pay and allowance cuts, financial losses and business closures stare us in the face. At a difficult time like this, we can however go back to the scriptures to get fresh perspective and encouragement to navigate our future post COVID-19. Around two years ago, I was reading through 1 Kings 5 and noted down some thoughts I gleaned then but never shared. However, at this time, I would like to put those thoughts down, 12 in all, to inspire those facing uncertainty about the future...
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