A message concerning the Coronavirus pandemic:
I come to you in difficult times, with confidence that God
will walk us through this and make us stronger for it. This is a time in which
our grit in God will be tested. Will we make the effort to seek opportunity
within the terms that God has handed us to demonstrate faith and humility? That
question we will have to answer everyone in his own heart.
The question is not about our human rights but God's word. God did not say we
had to like the government edict but calls us to obey the government He has put
in place -for God is in control or not.
Romans 13:1-7 Submission to
the Authorities
Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those
who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be
unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the
same.
For He is God's minister to you for
good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for He does not bear the sword in vain;
for He is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices
evil.
Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for
conscience' sake.
For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending
continually to this very thing.
Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom
customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
Now is a time to strengthen one another in the faith, to support in pray and
endeavor to establish peace in our hearts.
As your pastor I do not like the situation any more than
anyone else, but to take action in contradiction to it is to challenge whether God
is in control.
this is a time to put to task the weapons of God, PRAYER, for they are not
carnal. Unity in the body is of great importance to see us through. We must not
let the struggle become the focus or our vision of Jesus will be blurred.
Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith
Heb 12:1-2 Therefore we also,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with
endurance the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that
was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at
the right hand of the throne of God.
this is a time to quite the chatter of discontent and look into the eyes of our
savior and speak of Him.
God's love has not changed and never will, in this we
trust.
Rom 8:38-39 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 created thing, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
My encouragement to you as your pastor is to just find your place in Gods' lap and rest. Myself and your leadership will pursue every avenue in God to encourage and comfort your hearts. We will be streaming video by next Sunday. The audio teaching will be on the internet site as usual. The video will be linked to the internet and Facebook, both mine and the churches.
GOD BLESS,
Pastor JIM
