Romans 8: 35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Why don’t you live for God?

During a time of crisis, the world seeks after God. Why did the world fall into apostasy?

Revelation 3: 14-19 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Look at the past years of your life. You felt like you didn’t need God, right? Now that something strange is happening, all that you have didn’t amount to anything, right? Bible believers who have seen God work through their entire lives are instead feeling secure and having peace because we are so used to live for God and not for ourselves. You thought you had life figured out until God sent a disease like the coronavirus.

Depend on God, not yourself.

Live for God, not yourself.

Why don’t you come back to God?

If not the coronavirus, what will it take for you to seek after God?

A loss in your family, broken legs?

Where is that hunger (to read the bible, fellowship with the church, pray) that you used to have?

Or has it been filled with the vanity and comforts of this world? You’re too preoccupied with your job, family, and things of this world.

You have to learn to wait on the Lord

Acts 1: 4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

Instead of complaining that you are in lockdown, remember that God isn’t limited to rooms or houses. God can use you when you are stuck in bed or in your room. Pray, just as the disciples did in the time of Acts. What do you mean you can’t do anything for God?

Start studying the bible. Start praying on your knees and for souls to be saved. Start sharing the video with other people. Start memorizing the bible. Why haven’t you been doing it all that time?

Wait on the Lord. Be still and know that I am God. People are hoarding masses for no good reason. Learn to wait and trust in God. There’s no need to panic buy.

Be prepared

There is some preparation to do. Things like this are not new – this is not the first epidemic or pandemic.

Genesis 41: 29-31 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land; And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous.

People do not want to acknowledge that the famine is coming because they are in comfort. We are living in plentifulness and comfort today. We need a healthy fear, which is necessary to take precautions. Learn to trust God. Take some precautions – if you’re coughing or developing a fever, just stay at home. There are 6 men in the church who can preach at the pulpit as a backup plan.

Supporting one another

This is your best chance, church, where we need you to encourage one another, pray for one another, show up, volunteer at the kitchen, etc. It requires you to double your effort. A crisis situation makes us more empathetic and listening to one another instead of dividing and arguing.

Despite the bad, notice the good that can come out of it? Use this opportunity to win souls – because previously they rejected the gospel tracts, now they are fearful and open to hearing.

Do not critique one another

Romans 14: 4-5 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

Romans 14: 7-8 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

Romans 14: 22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

The unity in the church can be broken if we start to critique one another based on our convictions, e.g. vaccines, being under-prepared or over-prepared. “I’m more spiritual than you, so you gotta do what I do” – this is a terrible thing to do to divide the church.

If everyone thinks about being judged at the judgment seat of Christ, these convictions will not matter.

Trust God to take care of you

If you are saved in the Lord Jesus Christ and you are right with God (repent), you need to realize that God can take control of the rest.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

If you’ve done everything that you can (got saved and straighten things out with the Lord) and you got the coronavirus, just know that God can take care of you. If it doesn’t compromise on the word of God, it is alright, e.g. if you caught the virus and you were underprepared. Don’t make the problem bigger than it already is. We’re not treating it lightly either.

Mankind fears because there are so many unknowns – whether we’ll catch it, our church/family members will catch it, how will the economy be, could the church shut down and we cannot meet. It’s scary because we don’t know the future. But, God already knows what will happen to the virus and how many people will die, and even all their names. That God is inside you. You can have peace.

All things are in His control. Why not depend on Him to carry the stress and burden?