Important Sermon On #Coronavirus

Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

What you're about to watch is a sermon, a message from Apologia Church's worship service. And again, I want to thank you all so much for watching, for liking, for commenting, for sharing the sermon itself.

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Word of God. So we thank you so much for partnering with us to send this out across the world. I just wanted to say something before you actually watch this, and that is that I'm not your pastor, though I'd love to be,

I am not your pastor. And it's very important as you're watching this, you know that it's

God's design for individual Christians to be part of a local Christian church under the care of qualified, faithful, biblical elders.

And so as much as we love all of you watching these sermons, and we're thankful to God that God uses them to bless you, to encourage you,

I do want to encourage you as a minister of the gospel to get plugged into a local body of believers, particularly,

I think important, a reformed church would be best. But we want to encourage you to get plugged into a solid biblical church where you can fellowship, where you can worship, where you can serve, where you can be connected.

That is vitally important and actually a biblical command. And so as much as again, as we love for your participation, your partnership, and we are so thankful to God that He's using these in your lives, we want to encourage you to get plugged into a local church.

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You can partner with us. And I want to say one last word about that. Do make sure that none of your giving and partnership towards Apologia Church interferes with your giving, your worship, your tithes, your offerings to a local body of believers in your area.

So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. If you would, open your Bibles to Philippians chapter 4.

You know, when we were recently in Scotland, I mentioned that we had about a three and a half hour

Covenanter tour. The Covenanters in Scotland. So we got to see a lot of the famous places.

Got to see John Knox's house, where he used to walk through every day, even the little corridor, the place where he used to preach daily.

We got to see where they were persecuting Christians for refusing to say that the king was king over the church.

They were willing to die for that, to recognize the two different realms of authority, that the government had no right to control the church.

We also got to walk down this path where they took the Christians after they would break their thumbs or break their legs to torture them.

And they would bring them down this long path to this place where they would execute them, beheading them at times.

And we even got to see the guillotine that they would use. Still there. In the museum, you can literally touch that, which is weird.

They let you touch the thing where many martyrs had their blood spilled. And one of the things our tour guides said was, as they would bring these

Covenanters down this long path, often again, having been tortured, they would drag them down there and they would bring them up on this platform so that everyone could witness the execution, them being martyred.

They did that, of course, to keep people in fear, like, you know, you obey us or this is what's going to happen to you.

So they would do these executions in public. And again, you got to think these were believers who believed in the doctrines of grace.

They believed in the Word of God. It's an heresy, the gospel, Christ alone for salvation, all that we hold dear.

And they held to those essentials. And what they were saying, you know, was just simply, we can't acknowledge, we can't say that and swear to that the king is king over the church itself.

And so they died. All they had to do is say it, the king's king over the church.

And they died to say no, no to that. It's a powerful testimony to Christians.

And there was just so many stories of torture and months and months of starvation and all kinds of just horrible atrocities committed.

And there's even this one spot on the ground that is right outside John Knox's church where now people are just passing right over it.

But you notice it's stained. It's this heart on the ground in the middle of it's this sort of brick.

And it's definitely dirty and stained. You can see the splotches all over it. And the Scottish people walk past it.

And as a tradition, they spit on it. Most of them don't know, though, why they're spitting on this thing.

And we were told that this was the actual location where they would bring these Christians in and try them and torture them and then drag them down this place to execute them.

So spitting on it was a sign of disdain for that kind of murderous act. So of course, we went and spit a few times on it.

But one of the stories that I just want you to think about in terms of the word of God and this particular moment we're in, and of course, all that's happening in our communities, stuff like this is happening all the time, but now it's highlighted.

Death has the ability to focus the minds. And that's what we're seeing.

But I want you to know how seriously I take this privilege to bring the word of God to us in this particular context.

There was a story of a pastor who was brought down after being tortured and brought up.

And of course, they reveled in the fact that they were torturing these people and they were in control at this time.

But one of the things they would try to do is the guards would try to strike fear into the martyrs being killed up there in front of everybody else.

And so this faithful minister, as he was going up, the guards were trying to make him fearful of the fact that he's about to have his head cut off.

And the record of the witnesses is that he stopped as he was going up and he told them, he said,

I have less fear coming up here to be killed than I do every

Lord's day when I come up to present the word of God to the people of God. I'm way less fearful of this moment.

That's a powerful thing. And I think it tends to focus the Christian minds as to the glory and the benefits of the word of God in a moment like this, especially when you have communities fearful of the future, we ought not to be fearful at all.

We should rejoice. And so with that in mind, we're in Philippians four. Again, as I said, we're jumping ahead.

We will get right back on track. I had a plan to do, right behind Wade's position in the text, do everything without grumbling and complaining, but I thought it'd probably be very valuable right now with eyes on this particular message and our communities in the state that they're in to do actually

Philippians chapter four. So let's go ahead and start in Philippians four, verse four here.

Now the word of the living and the true God rejoice in the

Lord. Always again, I will say rejoice, let your reasonableness be known to everyone.

The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything. Do not be anxious about anything.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

As far as the reading of God's holy and inspired word, let's pray together. Father, we come before you as your people rejoicing.

We know who you are. You've made yourself known to us. You've disclosed yourself in history, in creation itself, in special revelation, the giving of your word and your law and supremely in Jesus Christ.

Father, thank you God for your word and this privilege that we have to hold it and to hear it and to meditate on it.

I pray God that you would get the preacher out of the way. Lord, you know that in myself outside of Jesus, I have no right to hold this word.

And so I ask Lord for your blessing by your spirit that you would speak God for your glory, for the benefit of your people.

Teach us God in Jesus name. Amen. So we're in Philippians and the main theme that we've been talking about as we're going through this is pursuing authentic joy.

I mentioned as you look through Philippians, this very short letter written by the apostle Paul while in prison in chains,

I mentioned that you keep seeing the constant points of joy, joy, joy, rejoice, rejoice.

And so we have talked about the fact that this is a peculiar thing from a human perspective because as we've noted, the apostle

Paul from a human perspective has got the worst life now. It's the worst, right?

I mean, he's constantly struggling for the health of the church. He's fighting against false teachers.

He mentions, of course, at one point that he's been beaten times without number. Can't remember how many times there's so many times he's been shipwrecked.

He's in danger constantly. He's got false brethren to deal with. He's got trials to deal with.

He's has people falsely accusing him and he calls all these struggles in this life.

I mean, think about that, the hunger, the difficulty to being lowered out of windows, the beatings, all the false accusations and trials.

He calls this a light and a momentary affliction, light and momentary.

And in Philippians, while in chains, he's praising God for his chains.

He sees the big picture in terms of who God is. God's wielding of history is control over every detail of the world.

Paul's life hurts. It hurts. He doesn't have the lavish lifestyle, the big home, and doesn't have all the details of life that people think that they need to have joy and to be rejoicing.

I think it was, we often think, and we take, we find books that will sell us that story, right? Like this is what you should pursue.

Like here's the light, the stuff, all the stuff, just gather, gather, gather. And if you can make your life a garden, then you'll be joyful.

Then you can rejoice because you're surrounded by the garden, right? So let's get to that place of garden status.

And then we have a reason to rejoice. Well, by all accounts, the apostle Paul is sitting in a desert and you've got the man in the desert with more joy and genuine, authentic rejoicing than many of us who find ourselves in a garden.

How? So we've talked about like, what's the source of this authentic joy? Because what we don't want to do is pursue the plastic smile.

We don't want to pursue the external, right? The fake. None of us want, if you're truly a child of God and you want a deep and authentic, intimate relationship, a life of worship with God, none of us want the fake, the facade, right?

To pretend like all is well, and then to turn around and have the frown and the brokenness and the depression and the loneliness, all of that.

We want the authentic joy. We want true renewal, real transformation, renewing of our minds.

We want authentic relationship with God. Jesus constantly goes after things that religious charlatans just won't because they don't have it.

The authenticity. Jesus condemns the hypocrisy, the actor, the pretender, the mask.

Jesus goes right for the jugular. He tells them, if you're going to fast, do it so nobody sees you fasting, knows you're fasting.

If you're going to give, don't let one hand know what the other one is doing. If you're going to pray, don't do it for the applause of men so the others see you praying.

Go into your closet, do it in secret. Why would you ever do that from a human perspective? Well, if God is who he says he is, and this is true, then there's no reason to do it for the applause of men because God is who he says he is, and we are who he says we are.

And so the private prayer is the authentic prayer. It's the genuine relationship. Now, Paul knows this, and so he's sitting here in these circumstances rejoicing, having joy, praising

God, and we've asked the question, how? How do you do such a thing with so much pain from a human perspective, so much brokenness all around?

How do you do it from the wilderness? Because we all get it when there's a garden. We know what it's like to have people pour gifts out on us.

We know what it's like to have money in the banking house, maybe, and okay, I'm okay now, and our rent is paid, our mortgage is paid, right?

The bills are paid. Okay, we're on an even place right now. I feel basically good. I've got expendable income.

I've got food in the cabinets. Okay, I'm in the garden now, right? Maybe we have the opportunity that God gives us the grace to have that we go on vacation and we celebrate with family.

We have holidays and Christmas and rejoicing, all that. We go, I get the celebration of the garden, but the real question is, how is there authentic joy in the midst of plague, disease, imprisonment, persecutions, slander, gossip, death?

How do you have authentic joy there? Because Paul, as a child of God, redeemed by the same blood and filled with the same spirit as us, has it, and he has it in the midst of troubling circumstances, and he says clearly that God is the center.

Stop, because that's just an easy Christian t -shirt. That's the mug. That's the typical Christian quip, right?

God is at the center. God is the gospel. We're all good as Christians of having the one -liners and saying,

I affirm. I check the box. I understand that. I acquiesce to that truth. I believe it, but we have to understand, if we're going to have authentic joy and be transformed by the renewing of our minds and have death in our intimacy with God, our relationship with our creator, we have to understand that that's the source of it all for Paul.

God is the center. It's the very reference point. There's pain. Yes, but God.

There's persecution. Yes, but God. There's death all around me. Yes, but God.

You see, that's the source of the authentic joy, and so Paul understands

God's character. You see it through Philippians all the way through his thanks to God.

Why? For who God is. He knows about his control over all things. He knows what

God is doing. He knows about the righteousness that we have that comes through Jesus Christ to the praise of God.

He knows that every detail of all of this story in history is wielded by God and that God's in control of it.

And so the apostle Paul can't help but rejoice. He can't help but by having but having joy in the midst of troubled circumstances.

He's even rejoicing over people's sin and preaching about Christ. He sees the sovereignty of God and the ability to rejoice in it.

And of course, the center of it all for the apostle Paul is the sovereignty of God. And I wanted to say, especially in this moment, as we talk about not being worried, not being anxious, not being fearful.

If you don't understand this doctrine, the doctrine of the sovereignty of God, make it your whole life's effort over the next 30 days to put the sovereignty of God front and center in your life.

I think the brokenness around us, even within Christian communities, in terms of how we respond to calamity, plague, difficulty, trial, and death comes to us, comes out of us for a reason.

And there's a theological reasons. Paul's enduring what he's enduring because of what he knows about God.

It's his relationship with God that's at the core of his rejoicing and his joy. And so I want to say, as we face a fallen and broken world, we have to understand the foundation for our authentic joy in the midst of difficulty.

The foundation for our freedom from fear and worry and anxiety isn't going to be through physical exertion, trying to make our way through it, putting on the plastic smile, just trying to endure.

It's going to come from a place of true healing for our souls and minds.

And that's on truth. The truth about God's sovereignty, his ruling over everything.

You see, the biblical God, the way that God describes himself in scripture is many times far from what we hear, even from the mouths of modern evangelicals.

People think about God in terms of, well, he knows about the future, but somehow his hands are tied.

There are things that happen in the world that, of course, God is all -knowing. Every Christian wants to affirm that truth about God.

He's all -knowing. He's not like the pagan deities of mankind and world religions. He knows everything.

And so people say, well, he knew about this particular plague or this disease or this trial or tribulation.

But you see, this is a fallen world. Some people would even suggest under the rule and control of Satan, Satan's the one really dictating the story and the whole narrative, or they'll say, but God really can't do anything in the midst of what he knows is going to happen because there's such a thing as free will.

And what people mean by free will ultimately is that man is free and God is not.

That's not the biblical perspective of the will of man and the will of God. They say the creature has the real free will, but God ultimately can know what's going to happen, but his hands are tied.

Brothers and sisters, no wonder, no wonder. Men and women who even profess faith in Jesus Christ live in fear in moments like this, live in fear.

There is anxiety. And I want to say this very, very important, and I hope this cuts somebody.

You cannot cloak your panic in piety and think that it's impressive to God.

People at times will cloak their panic in pious language, and they'll think that somehow it's impressive.

It isn't. We have to find the heart of all of this and the sovereignty of God, his full control over all things.

The God of the Bible declares the end from the beginning. He doesn't just know as though he looks through time and figures out what's going to take place in history.

He sees ahead of time and goes, well, let me, let me understand what's happening there. God doesn't learn anything.

If he learned anything through looking through history, that would mean he wasn't all knowing because he learned something by looking.

That's not the God of the Bible. When we talk about God knowing the future, we're talking about God who decrees the future.

He determines yes or no. He can hold back people from sinning, or he can determine to allow them to sin.

People say, well, that sounds really powerful and sovereign. And how does that even work out?

I would say all of us understand this in the murder of Jesus. We grant the arguments with the murder of Jesus.

Brutality, grotesque, bloody, painful, awful, lies, false witness, slander.

All of that is at the heart of Jesus' trial. And what do we recognize? The church prays to God in Acts chapter four, that gathered against Jesus and this

Holy Spirit, Holy and your Holy servant, Jesus. They say it's Pontius Pilate, Herod, the peoples of Israel, the

Gentiles to do what? To do whatever your hand predestined to occur.

God predestined the graphic brutality and murder of Jesus Christ.

And all of us recognize, yes. Praise God. All glory to God that God determined the murder of Jesus Christ, that it was in his hands to determine that Jesus is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

Yes. Before the fall even occurred, God had determined to bring glory to himself through the sacrifice of his son and the redemption of an undeserving people.

That's the story. And that's the true God. So for the apostle Paul, the heartbeat of authentic joy, the heartbeat of rejoicing during times of trial and tribulation is

God's character. It is the sovereignty of God. It is our status,

God's character, his sovereignty, our status. You know, the part we were just in,

I had the privilege of preaching on Philippians chapter two and the apostle Paul talks very clearly about the fact that he is rejoicing.

And he talks about the fact that he is grateful to even die.

That was actually in chapter one. He says in 21, for to me to live as Christ and to die as gain.

If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful label for me yet, which I shall choose.

I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is far better.

But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. How do you have that kind of mindsets?

He understands God's character. He understands the sovereignty of God and he understands his status.

I'm a child of God. I've been redeemed. Jesus bought me. I have eternal life.

I'm not condemned. God declared me righteous. God counted me righteous. Romans four apart from works.

And God does not count my sin against me. That's the heartbeat. So Paul says, look,

I'm good. I am good and I am good to rejoice because to stay with you is fruitful labor.

Glory to God. All this fruit from God actually ends up bringing him praise and.

To depart or weigh the anchor and sail away to be with Jesus is so much better.

Each way I get more of Jesus each way, each way. But the ultimate for Paul is to depart and be with Christ is so much better.

It's so much better. It's the kind of power granted through that knowledge that gives a pastor the ability to stand up on a platform and to say, you think

I'm afraid of this? You think I'm afraid to have my head cut off? You think I'm afraid to go and be with my redeemer?

I'm more fearful walking up these steps to come up to this pulpit to handle this word from this

God. That's the core. God's character, God's sovereignty, our status in Christ.

And so that leads us. To actually address today our current circumstances, but also the text

Philippians chapter four, verse four, the apostle Paul says, rejoice in the

Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. You just can't get away from it.

I said to you as we started to do the series before we even entered it, I said, spend time just reading this very short letter over the next 30 days.

Just read it. You can read it daily. No problem. And try not to find the encouragement to joy, the encouragement to rejoicing and keep in mind the apostle

Paul's circumstances. You see, it's so easy for the charlatan with the, with $50 million in his bank account to come out on stage and to smile and to say, rejoice, rejoice.

It's easy. It's easy with the, with the beautiful jet, the beautiful private jets, plural.

It's easy when you're driving the fat Cadillac, it's easy to say rejoice in those circumstances, but Paul has it in chains.

And he just said it in Philippians three, look at the chapter as it begins there. He says, finally, my brothers rejoice in the

Lord. It had to be unnerving for people who are like in those circumstances with Paul, right?

Like if I come into you today and we've got people making mad rushes for the meat and for weird toilet paper, people

I've surprised me. Human beings have surprised me in my country. Very much. So we're more concerned with what goes out of our bodies and going out with clean behinds than we are with what goes inside our bodies.

It's like you're doing it backwards, wrong thing, right? But we have to consider the circumstances

Paul was in. They understand the persecution. Remember this in this time, Christians are a persecuted minority.

They are persecuted minority. We're at the very beginning of very intense persecution. Not too long after this in history was a neurotic persecution of the

Christians where they're slaughtering the Christians. That persecution lasted a very, very long time through history until ultimately the

Roman empire was conquered by Christianity and the gospel. But what if you did that in today's circumstances, right?

We've got people dying in the streets in Wuhan. You got people all over the world dying and you hear from a

Christian minister, rejoice, joy in God, rejoice, rejoice.

It's unnerving, right? Because as you're hearing a minister of the gospel from the word of God say, rejoice in everything, rejoice always.

Again, I say rejoice in the midst of these circumstances, or people are clearing the shelves at times, or people are losing loved ones around the world where you have people panicking at times unnecessarily.

And you hear a minister saying rejoice, but Paul says under the inspiration of the

Holy spirit of God, these are God's words, rejoice in the Lord always. Always?

Always. What about when I lose a child through miscarriage? Is it possible to rejoice?

To actually rejoice? Not to say we don't grieve. There is a time to grieve. There's a time to weep.

There's a time to cry. Yes, a time to gather around one another and to get on our knees and be broken. Yes. But even in the brokenness, when you know

God, his character, his sovereignty, our status before God, there's a reason to rejoice.

Why? Because this isn't all there is. People panic and people fear the future because this is all they have.

This is all they have. They don't know God. This is all they have. They don't know the future ahead of us.

And so they panic. Paul can say in these circumstances, under the inspiration of the spirit of God to God's people throughout the ages, rejoice in the

Lord. Always. Again, I'll say rejoice. Rejoice during plagues in history.

Yes. Especially during plagues in history. Always, always rejoice.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. Some translations will say gentleness be known to everyone.

Let your gentleness be known to everyone. How's that for a difference? How's that for a difference in terms of the community of Christ, the

Messiah's people in the world, facing the world with a completely different context, a completely different perspective, an entirely different way of seeing every detail of the world so that the world can look in and see that there's a balance with the people of God.

There's gentleness with the people of God. There's an endurance of the difficulties of this world that looks vastly different from the way the world faces things.

The world faces things apart from God, not wanting God, worshiping other gods.

So there's fear, there's trembling, there's difficulty. But Paul says rejoice in the

Lord. Always, again, I must say rejoice. Let your gentleness, reasonableness be known to everyone.

The Lord is at hand. He says, do not be anxious about anything.

I'm going to say it again because it's so, so superior, vastly superior to what the world offers any of us.

Please hear it. Do not be anxious about anything.

That's a bold, that's a bold statement.

Do you believe it? Do you want to embrace that? Because that's a big commitment.

It's a big commitment in a fallen world. It's a big commitment for moms and dads that are looking at a bank account and then looking at hungry mouths and looking at bills coming in and perhaps not knowing the future.

It's a big commitment when you know that the attack is coming. It's a big commitment with the enemies surrounding the camp to say,

Lord, I don't want to be worried about anything.

Lord, I don't want to live with fearfulness of what the enemies can do or what the world can bring, what this fallen world has to offer.

Be anxious about nothing. It's interesting because the word here for anxious, um, uh,

Merimnate is the same word that's used. We're going to go here in a minute to Matthew 6, 25 by the

Lord Jesus, when he tells his people as a command, not a request, not a suggestion. He tells his people by way of command, do not be anxious.

Do not be worried. Do not be anxious. Same word there. But the word there essentially means worried, worried, fearful about the future, worried, anxious.

Oh, we're good at cloaking it. Aren't we so good at cloaking it? The world doesn't know how to solve the spiritual problem.

All they see is the material in front of them. And they say, well, there is no creator God. All we've got is matter.

And so the physicians and the doctors and the psychiatrists, all of the therapists will say, here's the problem.

So here's the pill, right? You have worry and fear and anxiety. So take this pill and don't you love it?

I saw last night and it's so perfect too. Cause, um, I, thinking about this, I got an ad in my, my feed.

It looked, I was questioning. I don't understand. Is this for the drug or is it against the drug? I was like, I don't get it. So I click on it and it's an ad to help people who have

ADHD. And it's a particular drug that helps with ADHD. And it's, it's so interesting.

Cause it's like promising all these amazing things. Like my family never believed me and that this is a real issue.

And now they know, and I have this medication to help me. And so I'm smiling. And so then the next 30 seconds after the woman gives the praise for the medicine, she's sitting on the couch and she just, all she's doing is smiling different poses, right?

Trying to cover up the narrative underneath of it, which was all the warnings about the pill and all the warnings where the pill were graphic, were graphic.

It wasn't even like subtle, like could cause some of this. Cause it was like, uh, taking this pill could cause instant death, heart attack and stroke.

And she's just like, you know, like, yeah. And it's like, just know that this is considered a, a very serious criminal offense.

Keep this medicine contained, giving it away or distributing it as a crime. And if she's just like, you know,

I got that, you know, myself, right. That's how we solve the problems. The world says, well, okay, what do we got here?

We've got a person with neurological responses going on. Something's out of whack. And by the way, we don't deny that as Christians that we are spiritual and material creations of God.

There's impact to our physical bodies and stuff that impacts our brain and brain chemistry.

We understand all that, but the world says, here's the pill to settle the fear. Here's the pill to settle the worry.

My question is, what do you do when the pill stops working or isn't available anymore?

What are you left with? Same hearts, same mind, same fear of the future, same separation from God.

These are spiritual issues, first and foremost, that result from a broken relationship with God.

And so the command of scripture is, do not be anxious about anything, but it's really interesting because if you read this from the

Greek texts, there's actually a structure to the text where actually there's a stress there over the word, anything, do not be worried about anything.

Mayden, the word is nothing, nothing. And the words at the beginning of the sentence, nothing, nothing be anxious about, nothing be anxious about.

So the stress there is nothing. Well, how about nothing? But what about the nothing?

But there's got to be nothing, nothing be anxious about. Do not be worried.

Do not be fearful about nothing. And that's a powerful charge for the people of God.

It's a command from God. It's a command from scripture. Do not be worried. Now listen, it's easy to say it because if you say it to the unbeliever, it really falls on deaf ears.

It means nothing to them. You can say to the unbeliever on the street who's panicking about a particular virus, be worried about nothing.

And ultimately it's just words. It's just words to them because they don't have the context. They're at war with God.

They don't know him. They refuse to acknowledge his rule. They refuse to bow the knee.

They refuse to believe or understand his character. And so they're suppressing that truth.

And so there is nothing but constant fear about the future and every reason to be worried. They don't know

God, but for Paul and for those who've been redeemed by God, this is truth that satisfies the soul.

It calms the minds. It heals the hearts. I used to be a person who was ruled by fear of the future.

I used to be the person that was panicking constantly. If things didn't go as I thought they should go, if there was a plan that got broken in some way,

I was the one literally throwing my fist up to God, angry with God. Why aren't you showing up?

Why did you allow this to happen, God? Why? And it wasn't until God really broke my mind, my heart, and the way that I saw the world and him.

It wasn't until then that I received real healing and hope. And it was because I understood who

God truly is in the midst of this fallen world. But the Bible says, do not be anxious about anything.

You see, the source of fear, worry, and anxiety is a broken view of God and his wielding of history.

It's a broken view of God and his wielding of history. If I don't believe that God is sovereign and in control of all of history, then it makes sense to be fearful about the future because God's not in control.

This time, maybe this universe is just time and chance acting on matter, right?

Maybe it's just sound and fury signifying nothing. Maybe it's just stuff happening all around us.

All the stuff happening in the world, all the brutality, all the sin, all the evil, all of the pandemics, it's all just accidents.

It's just the universe moving throughout space. It's just happening. There's every reason to be fearful and worried in that context, because you won't acknowledge

God and his sovereignty. The source of fear, worry, and anxiety is a broken view of God and his wielding of history.

God is calling his people in his word constantly to trust him, to not fear.

And what does he call him back to every time? Me, trust me. Do not fear because I, do not fear because I, God is the source of it all.

And God, of course, we know at Apology of Church, I learned it from this guy over here, that Isaiah 40 through 46,

God throws down with the idols of men and he challenges in two ways. One, try it.

Try to tell me the future before it happens. Only God can do that because God's in control of the future. He's the sovereign.

He rules over creation. And God says the other challenge, have your gods tell you the past and why it happened the way that it did.

All the evil in the past in history, all of it, God can answer it. Here's why it happened.

All of the blessings of history, God can answer the question, why did it happen? Because he was sovereign over it.

He's the one that controls the story of history because it's going to his glory. That's the God of the Bible.

I acknowledge that's a very different God than the gods of men. We don't want a sovereign God. We want a

God that looks like us. We've run from the true God and bowed to false gods and false deities that can never satisfy, that can never save, that can never remove fear or worry from us.

God is sovereign even over the bad stuff. Read Isaiah chapter 10. Even when there is judgment brought,

God's sovereign over the nations that come against other nations. Look at even, of course, the murder of Jesus.

Again, that wicked act in history was predestined by God, God's sovereign over every detail.

And we know, of course, from Romans chapter eight, that God causes what things are you?

Are you sad today? But do we just say rejoice, right? God causes what all things to work together for good.

For those who what love God, those who are the called according to his purpose.

There it is. Causes all things to work together for good. For those who love

God, those who are the called according to what his purpose, he has a purpose in history.

People wonder what's happening. All the difficulty, all the breakdown all around us. I'd say, yeah, well, we've been a nation under God's judgment for a long time.

We've hated his ways. We say no to every detail of his word. We don't even want proper gender. We don't even want male and female.

We want gay mirage. We want to destroy children. We want to reject your word and your authority and your law and your justice.

And we wonder why there's judgment. We wonder why there's difficulty. God is sovereign over every detail.

You see, God is so sovereign that in John chapter nine, there's an interesting statement made by the

Lord Jesus. Let's just go to it quickly. So you can just get context here. And we have to see balance here in scripture because yes,

God does send plagues. Yes, God does bring judgment. God does actually curse people in the world because it's a fallen world.

He's a holy God. He has a right to, we are owed nothing from God, but his judgments.

But in John chapter nine, there's this particular question about somebody who was blind from birth in John chapter nine, verse one, it says, as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him,

Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents? Who sinned? This man or his parents?

That he was born blind. Jesus answered, it's not this man. It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

So here's a case where Jesus redirects people from the question of, well, who's responsible for his blindness?

Is it him or his mom and dad? Like what, where'd it come from? And Jesus redirects them to what?

The purpose of this man's blindness from birth.

That is a horrible, horrible thing to endure. It's horrible.

Most of us can't even imagine living in that kind of darkness your whole life. Take that in.

This is real history, real dirt, real breath, real lungs, heartbeats, flesh, real pain, real tears, real grieving parents over a blind child.

And Jesus moves away from their direction and says, here's the purpose of his blindness from birth.

It was that the works of God might be displayed in him. What's the purpose of his blindness from birth?

So that God is glorified. That's a big view of God. That's a big view of God.

It's a big view of God that ultimately can cause a child of God to rejoice in the midst of trial, tribulation, death, plague, disease, and all the rest.

It's a big view of God. The purpose of his blindness is to bring glory to God. So here's an example of difficulty, physical brokenness in a fallen world, where Jesus says, here's what you're to pay attention to.

His purpose was to glorify God. But of course, we do know there are examples in scripture we can spend all day just in this particular subject here about God pouring out judgment by way of plagues.

We can look at the exodus, the people of God in Egypt. Yes, God brought judgment and that judgment was by way of plague.

God does that. He's the sovereign. It's his world. We're the rebels. God is holy. What does he owe us?

Judgment. When the criminal walks to the bar in the court and stands before the judge and is guilty and there's a verdict coming, when this person is guilty of the crime, it's a fact.

It's proven. It's witnesses. There's witnesses. They've confessed. What does the judge, if he's going to be just, owe the criminal?

Mercy, grace, or judgment? Judgment. And all of us before God's throne, every single image bearer of God is guilty before God's throne.

And so God does bring judgment in this world. He does bring his disciplining hands down. But in Revelation chapter 16, there's an example, an example of actual judgment.

Verse one, then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, go out, go and pour out on the earth, the seven bowls of the wrath of God.

So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped as its image.

The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea and it became like the blood of a corpse and every living thing died that was in the sea.

The third angel poured out his bowl and the into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood.

Yes, there are examples in scripture of God actually pouring out judgment upon fallen people.

And those judgments at time come in the form of plagues, sickness, disease, famine.

God is a holy God. And if I could address the particular circumstances that we're in by, by way of application of where we're at in the text, we, as I mentioned, deserve

God's judgment. As a nation, there's just consider this. We think in terms of our own nation, our own nation, we think 1776, right?

1776 will rise again, right? Okay. 1776. We're always thinking back to like George Washington, the beginning of America, the

American experiment, we've got the bill of rights and all that. I would argue that America as a nation was started long before that.

You had colonies who were Christian through and through, who would acknowledge the triune

God of the Bible as sovereign over their colony, over their place, over their state. They would do treaties with other nations in the name of the triune

God of scripture. You had them actually codifying law in their communities with reference to the word of God.

They would quote scripture. I've announced many times, John Jay, our first Supreme court justice was a devout

Christian. And as he's recording case law examples at the beginning of the nation, from his perspective as the first Supreme court justice, he's pointing directly to laws from the

Torah. Here's a case law example from the word of God. We are a nation that has benefited greatly from the work of the gospel and the kingdom of God and the biblical worldview.

Just consider it. We need to thank God. This is big. We need to thank

God for the covenanters. The covenanters are in many ways responsible for America.

So thank God for those Presbyterian covenanters in Scotland, because they're responsible for our nation. You say how well, because they actually had very, very clearly developed biblical doctrine in regard to the right of the people of God to even defend themselves against a tyrannical government.

And so that's of course, where the Presbyterian revolt came from. That's what, by the way, England called the war for independence.

They called it the Presbyterian revolt, the Presbyterian revolt coming from those covenanters who would actually preach the word of God.

There were reformed baptists as well, covenanters, Presbyterians. They preach the word of God from the pulpits.

They would take off the black robe, grab a musket and go fight. We are the benefit.

We are the beneficiaries of the biblical worldview and the gospel and our nation and nations around us that were weren't once covenanted to God have rebelled against God.

Well, when you have a nation that has benefited so greatly from worship of God, knowing God and having his word that turns its back on God, what should we anticipate?

Blessing? Blessing from God's hand or judgments?

I want to say as Christians, when our nation comes under the judgment of God because of our sin, our first duty is not to wonder how and why, but it's to get on our knees and to repent before God.

And I want to say the repentance has a start first and foremost in the church and then that proclamation of the gospel comes right out of the church into the culture around us to win our culture to Jesus Christ for the proclamation of the gospel.

It's only going to happen by his spirit. I want to say this, listen, in hard times like we're facing right now, our duty before God, our duty before God is not to run and to hide and to act like the world.

Our duty before God is not to live in fear and anxiety and worry. Our duty before God is to lay our lives down, to live godly risky lives for the sake of the kingdom of God and to preach the gospel to the world around us.

That's why we have the tracks in the back because brothers and sisters, that's what we ought to be doing.

Winning the world to Jesus Christ to the proclamation of his gospel. The gospel is the power of God for salvation.

So we should be taking opportunity like Christians have in the past in moments where there was disease and pandemics, and we should be preaching the gospel.

When we have opportunities to go into the store and the shelves are cleared temporarily, don't panic.

But when the shelves are cleared, we should be there to serve people, to care for their needs and to tell them about Jesus.

While people are now thinking about their own mortality, you can point them to the fact that the first death isn't the one you need to be most concerned about.

It's the second death. You need to be contemplating eternal things. This is not all there is.

This is the opportunity to stand up on street corners and to give people the good news of Jesus Christ.

Life, death has the ability to focus the mind. This is an opportunity not for fear for the people of God, but to preach the gospel.

And with addressing this particular place that we're in right now with the novel coronavirus, the particular circumstances, as everybody knows, as we're facing our communities right now, fairly recent comer, this particular virus, there's speculation as to where it actually came from.

But ultimately, it doesn't matter in terms of where we're at and what our responsibility in the midst of it, whether this was something that came out of a disgusting food market, or whether it was something that was developed in a lab, whatever the case may be, our response has to be the same.

Do not be worried. Do not be anxious. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice.

Be like light in the midst of it. But we have to face the fact that we have an outbreak worldwide that's gone from epidemic classification to pandemic classification.

But I think it's important for us to notice something. Number one, we need to stop as Christians believing everything the media feeds us.

Please. I want to just say this. I'll go on record for sure with this.

I think some of the greatest damage done by the novel coronavirus isn't going to be from novel coronavirus.

It's going to be the destruction of the world economy because of panic and fear that is ultimately in many ways unjustified.

I'm not I'm not ignoring the fact that there are concerns and health issues and ways to respond to something like this in a way that is sensible, meaningful, balanced.

But when we panic and we're worried and fearful about the future in such a way that it begins to actually injure our neighbors by closing their businesses, we are overreacting and living in sinful fear and anxiety.

We are. It's not the first outbreak we've dealt with. Brothers and sisters, listen, just do a look over the last 20 years of history.

Do we need to talk about it? H1N1, SARS, the bird flu.

I mean, we're not even supposed to be here right now. Y2K, remember that? Harold camping, right?

How much do we face in the last 20 years of people's fear of the end of the world and this is a global killer and all the rest?

And it's amazing that at times in the last 20 years where we've had these global killers and all these pandemics that were supposed to end civilization as we know it, how many times did we just ultimately just push right through it and not close down society and not destroy other businesses and destroy our neighbors lives?

We get right through it. It's not the first outbreak in history. We've had some awful ones in history that the church had to endure and work through.

Everyone who's in here that lived through the 80s, you'll remember the HIV and AIDS pandemic.

Everyone will remember in 1968 in history, the flu pandemic. It was known as the

Hong Kong flu. A lot of flus coming out of China. Interesting. It's a 1968 flu pandemic that killed a death toll of, here it is, 1 million.

1968 is where that came from. The Asian flu 1956 and 1958 killed 2 million people.

The flu pandemic of 1918. Oh, this is a big one. Upwards of 50 million people were killed during the time of the

Spanish flu. We can't even imagine those numbers and what that must have been like in terms of community to deal with that 50 million people globally dying because of the

Spanish flu. That is something that none of us could possibly even imagine or understand or comprehend.

Truly, we face this. How about the black plague? Christian church throughout history has had to face moments where there were worldwide outbreaks, worldwide pandemics.

And I just want to say this, that the Christian church, God's people has been facing down pandemics, outbreaks, and massive death tolls for 2 ,000 years of history.

We have. And we've been facing it down as the ones who are light in the midst of the death and the darkness.

We have. I'll just read to you this. I found it to be actually a pretty good article.

I'll just read a little excerpt from it. This was actually from, let's see here, foreignpolicy .com.

I'm not going to read a lot of this, but just, it's a good little highlight thing here. It says, the

Christian response to plagues begins with some of Jesus' most famous teachings, do unto others as you'd have them do unto you.

Love your neighbor as yourself. Greater love has no man than this, that he should lay his life down for his friends. Put plainly, the

Christian ethic in a time of plague considers that our own life must always be regarded as less important than that of our neighbor.

Less important than that of our neighbor. I like that. During plague periods in the Roman Empire, Christians made a name for themselves.

Historians have suggested that the terrible Antonine plague of the second century, which might have killed off a quarter of the

Roman Empire, Christians cared for the sick and offered as spiritual model, whereby plagues were not the work of angry and capricious deities, but the product of a broken creation and a revolt against a loving

God. That's how they stood as light during that. But the more famous epidemic is the plague of Cyprian, named for a bishop who gave a colorful account of this disease in his sermons.

This plague of Cyprian helped set off in the Roman world, but it did something else too. It triggered the explosive growth of Christianity.

Cyprian sermons told Christians not to be concerned with Christians who had died because of this plague, who now live in heaven, but to redouble their efforts to care for the living.

His fellow bishop, Dionysius, described how Christians heedless, quote, heedless of danger, took charge of the sick, attending to their every need.

Throughout history, we have examples. You can even talk about the plague that Martin Luther had to endure.

People are fleeing the city. People are fearful. They're concerned. And Martin Luther had to actually put out a particular tract that addressed the situation from a biblical perspective, and his need to really care for the people who were hurting, and were sick, and were broken, understanding people's fear, and they're fleeing, and they're leaving.

But he ultimately said, I have to do my duty and care for these people, lay my life down for these people.

It's having an eternal perspective does not hold on to this life as the most valuable and as the most important thing.

Death has the ability to focus the minds. What's most valuable to you?

What's the most important thing to you? Is it God? Really?

Is your relationship with God? You'll see. You'll see what's truly valuable for a person.

What truly is the treasure of their life and their heart when they're on their deathbed? You see, that's where everything else just sort of just passes away.

The things that seem like serious trials and difficulties that seem so very valuable, so important, all of those just dissolve.

And you'll see what is truly most valuable as somebody is facing death. And in these moments in our society where people are panicking about death, where they're panicking about the end, you see what is most valuable.

And if we know God, if we've been redeemed, bought with a price, we're saved.

If we're known by God and we know Him, then what the world should see from us, should see from us, is that He is our ultimate treasure and that we are not fearful of the future.

We're not fearful of death. Because hey, do you know the whole substance of our story is that we already died, right?

And you see it. You see it when people fear death and live a life of worry and anxiety.

You see whether or not they really understand that first part of the call of Jesus to come.

Now, if you went out for a second and your mind trailed off, this is where you have to come back. Because this has to be understood.

For Christians who know Jesus and His call of the gospel, really know the biblical call of the gospel, we are the ones that are supposed to understand first that we've already gone from death to life.

You see, Jesus tells people in coming to Him to come take up the cross, to do the death march, and come die.

So if you know Jesus and you understand His message, you understand the holiness of God and your sin and the core, the heartbeat of all of life, that God is the supreme, then you should already understand that if you've trusted in Jesus, you've already died.

You've already died. And you know if you're a believer that you have the gift of eternal life.

You've heard His voice. You believe in Him who has sent Him, so you have eternal life.

You have it. So where's the fear of death? Where's the fear of the future? Where's that come into play for the believer?

Because you've already died. Have you? Have you died yet? Are you still holding on to your life as supreme, as most valuable?

God has so much for us in His word about fear. We could spend an entire message just talking about what

God says about fear. Just a couple, just to hopefully heal your soul, heal your mind, speak to your heart.

Isaiah 35, 4. Say to those with fearful hearts, be strong, do not fear.

Your God will come. He will come with vengeance, with divine retribution. He will come to save you.

John 14, 27. Jesus says, peace, I leave with you. My peace,

I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Do not be afraid. Joshua 1, 9. God says, if I not commanded you, be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. Matthew 6, 34. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Each day has enough trouble of its own. Isaiah 43, 1.

But now this is what the Lord says. He who created you, Jacob. There's a source. He's sovereign.

He's the creator. He who formed you, Israel. He's in control. He's supreme. He's the center.

Do not fear for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name.

You are mine. Psalm 23, 4. Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 94, 19. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.

Psalm 27, 1. The shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?

God clearly over and over again wants his people to have their hearts and minds set on him as the source of their joy, as the source of their freedom from worry, anxiety, fear.

And God tells his people over and over and over. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid.

Do not worry. Do not fear. Why? Because me. There is a caveat

I want to say. While God is always telling his people from the beginning of this book to the very end, do not fear.

Do not be anxious. Do not be worried. I will be with you. I am your stronghold. All the rest. God does say something about fear in his word.

And he says this, fear God. Fear God. What you should fear is

God. It's not a fear in terms of God being imbalanced. God being a God who is out of control.

He's the out of control dad that reacts wrong, who is abusive in any way. You should fear

God because he's the creator. You're the creature. Fear God. Fear God. Reverent awe and submission to God.

Fear God. Don't fear the future. If you know him, if you belong to him.

Now, I want to say something. This is very important. Stop. Pause. This is where everything needs to come back for a second.

When you tell people at times, God is fully sovereign. He says, don't fear. Don't be worried. Sometimes people get imbalanced and they say, oh, then

I don't, I can sit back and just go home and I don't need to do anything.

I don't need to prepare for anything. I don't need to do anything. Nothing. Right? Like Jesus says, like, don't worry about what you'll put on or what you'll eat.

And then you'll have some buffoon that says, great. I'll never buy clothes again. David danced naked before the

Lord. Maybe that's what I should do. Right? Or they'll say something like, well, if I don't have to worry about food, then

I'm not going to get a job. I'm not going to work. Paul says, if you don't work, you don't eat.

Right? Scripture provides the balance in terms of don't be fearful of the future and what the future brings because God is the sovereign.

But the Bible does actually commend to people planning, planning, being wise stewards, especially in terms of men, protecting your family, doing your job, feeding your family, putting a roof over their heads.

It would be absolutely spiritually ridiculous for a person who comes before his elders, who's not taking care of his family to say,

I'm just trusting the Lord brothers. We'd have a lot to say to that man, a lot to say, but just consider in terms of scripture, talking about preparation, a couple of verses,

I'll throw them out. Go find the references later, prepare your work outside, get everything ready for yourself in the field.

And after that, build your house, commending preparation says, then the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.

Five of them were foolish. Five are wise from when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.

As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. Here's actually Jesus giving us a picture of wisdom and preparation, right?

Being foolish as opposed to being prepared. Another one, the prudent sees danger and hides himself, right?

Paying attention, saying, Oh, I better make plans. I better protect, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

Go to the end. Oh, sluggard, consider her ways and be wise without having any chief officer or ruler.

She prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. So here you have just a number of examples in scripture that essentially tell you, be wise, make plans.

And of course, even in the texts that we were just in, in terms of talk, taking up your cross and coming to die.

We know that Jesus tells people, he says, what, what will people do when they see somebody that started to build something that they never, ever contemplated whether they can finish.

They're going to laugh at that person and scoff. Why? Because you need to count the cost of what? Following Jesus. So there's always this principle of scripture of being wise, making preparations.

So here's the deal I'm going to say in terms of the imbalance. You can talk about the sovereignty of God, not being fearful, knowing

God's character. And then the person hears that and says, great. So I'm going to sit back and do nothing.

There's a difference between preparation and panic be wise. And this word in particular goes out to men who need to make plans, not be worried or fearful, but be wise stewards and wise planners.

And in particular, it goes out to mothers, wives of homes who need to make sure that they're making preparations and plans when you see difficulty.

But here's the deal. Ultimately, God is in control. If everything collapses around us and we're all eating dirt, the answer is rejoice.

Be anxious about nothing because we can make the plans in our hearts, but God's ultimately the one that controls the future.

But let us be found as wise servants all the way through. I need to make just a quick word.

I give a quick word here in terms of our position on government and government shutdowns of worship and those sorts of things.

I think it's important as we're talking about handling these circumstances, not being worried about the future.

I do think it's important for us to actually address this in particular. Scripture makes it very, very clear that there are different realms of authority.

God has given to us government, Romans 13, to do what? To punish the wicked, to protect the righteous, to wield the sword of justice, to be

God's deacon, his servant. That's the role of government. But God has also given the church, and the government has no authority or rule over the church itself.

The church, in particular local churches, are governed by local elders, pastors, bishops.

That is a local government realm of authority. Now, what we would say as elders of apology at church is we highly regard, highly respect our brothers in the

Lord who may be responding to this particular circumstance in a different way than us.

We want to say, have it to yourself between the Lord. We pray that you're doing what you're doing for the glory of God, and you're trusting in him.

We are not going to condemn brothers who have made a determination to do what they've done, but we are going to say officially as elders of apology at church, we reject fully the idea that the state has any authority over the church whatsoever, period.

The church does not have the authority to dictate how the people of God gather for worship, whether they will worship or not.

That decision must come from the men of God that he has placed in authority over local churches.

Those decisions in terms of worship, how it will function, where it will function, where it's going to happen, all those are under the direct authority of the elders of God's local churches, not the government itself.

So, I wanted to make sure that I put that down on record. That is our position. Now, I wanted to point us finally and finish with this particular theme.

I just really want to allow you to hear the words of the Lord. I mentioned to you that the word here that the

Apostle Paul uses when he says, do not be anxious about anything, is the same word ultimately that the

Lord Jesus uses in Matthew 6 .25, or is used in Matthew 6 .25. So I want you to go to Matthew 6 and let's let the word of the

Lord Jesus heal us and be the root and the grounding as to how we can rejoice always and nothing be anxious about.

In Matthew chapter 6, we're going to start in verse 25,

Matthew 6 .25. The Lord Jesus has just finished telling

His people, telling us not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

There is the sole satisfying delight for the people of God in the midst of difficulty, trial, tribulation, pandemics, plagues, and death.

Where's your treasure? Where's your treasure? If you find yourself fearful, if you find yourself anxious, come to these words.

Where's your treasure? Where is your treasure? Is it here? Is it now? Where's your treasure, brothers and sisters?

So the Lord Jesus says, therefore, verse 25, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.

Those are tall orders and I love that it's not a suggestion. I love that it's not a suggestion.

I love that it's actually the Lord Jesus, God incarnate, coming to His people saying, knowing their circumstances, knowing the difficulties they face.

By the way, you understand back then when Jesus says this, He's saying it to crowds of people that don't have what you and I have.

No, they don't have the transportation you and I have. They don't have the access to the internet and the fast communication.

They don't have the access to global community for help. They don't have GoFundMe. They don't have refrigerators and freezers.

Many of them are living day by day, and these are much bigger cares and worries for them than they have ever been for you or me, ever.

And He says to them, to them, not you and I who have an abundance of blessings.

He says to them, He says, do not be anxious about your life.

Do not be worried about your life. What you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you'll put on.

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air.

They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they? I've oftentimes, and I've talked about this,

I always take this opportunity to give a confession about my fearfulness and my worry.

After my addiction, when I know I truly came to Jesus, one of the first things God began to pull out of my life is this obsession over, how am

I going to do this? And how are we going to take care of this and all the rest? And so I would live in panic, panic.

I didn't know if I was going to be able to take care of my family. I didn't know how I was going to provide for this need. And so I'd be fearful. I remember there were times where things would fall apart and I would have screaming matches of God, why, why are you letting this happen?

I've trusted you God, I've given my life. Why are you letting this happen to me? If I've turned to you, why are you letting this happen to me?

And I remember there was one day in particular where God was impressing this passage upon me, this particular passage, healing was happening in my life.

God was beginning to strip away all of my clutching onto the things of this world and not seeing his truth, not trusting in his truth.

And there was a day where I was completely and totally dependent upon God to show up with really a miracle in terms of finances.

God was putting my life back together. I was trying to provide for my family and I was really, really struggling.

And I was at a place where I was having to just say, God, if you don't show up with a miracle, I'm not going to be able to take care of my family, but I'm trying to trust you.

And this particular passage was on my heart and in my mind and God was using it really stressing and being sanctified.

And I remember that I was struggling because I didn't know if I was going to be able to take care of myself and my family.

And so I remember that I go to Starbucks, I'm really waiting for a phone call to see if things are going to come together and I'm going to be able to get a paycheck and take care of my family.

There was no guarantee whatsoever. And so I go to a coffee shop, Starbucks, I think it was, and I'm sitting there outside and I think

I had bought like just like a bagel or something, just something simple because I had no money.

And so I just needed something to eat. And so I remember that I'm sitting there and I'm outside and no one's around me.

And I'm just like, Lord, just please show up. And I'm trying to trust you, Lord. I don't know how this is going to happen, but if you don't show up with something,

I'm done. I don't know how, I'll trust you, but how are you going to do this? And I'm sitting there and I'm being sanctified and God's working this in my mind.

And then this little bird just lands like literally between my feet and looks right up at me.

And I'm just looking at this stupid little bird. And so he won't go away.

So I'm just looking at him. I'm like, Oh man. So I just grabbed like little pieces of bread off the bag. I'm like throwing it down the bird versus down there, just eating bread and just look at me again.

And I just grabbed another piece, throw it down. I'm like stupid bird. Um, Lord, you got to show up. He's got to take care of my needs.

You got to find some way, Lord, just make this miracle happen. Just please take care of this. I'm trusting in you and all this. And all the while, this is taking place where I'm just struggling and just anxious and worried and all the rest.

I'm trying to fight all that unbelief in my life. Here's this little tiny bird landed at my feet.

And I'm just feeding this little bird from the hand of God right in front of me.

The father's feeding this little bird. He planned before the world began. He's going to feed this little bird right at my feet in that moment while I'm struggling dealing with unbelief, little pieces of bread from my hand.

This struggling, worried, anxious, little creature, Jeff, is feeding this little bird at my feet.

And it really, in that moment, it wasn't just the experience of that, but it was the word of God there.

What? The birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly father feeds them.

There's the source. Your father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

And which of you by being anxious, by being worried, can add a single hour to his span of life?

And there's the challenge to us as children of God. In all your panicking, in all your freaking out about the future, in all your worry, in all the elevated heart rates, in all the fear that you just are consumed by, can you, by all of those moments of fear and worry, can you add even an hour to your life?

Can you? So Jesus, right now, just takes the floor out from underneath the child of God who's consumed by fear and worry.

Takes it right out. He says, can you, by all this worry, can you, with all this being consumed by this, can you add time to your life?

And you have to answer him with brutal honesty. The answer is no. As a matter of fact, all that fear and worry and anxiety is probably taking time off of your life, right?

So the answer is no, it adds nothing to your life. And so what's the source there of Jesus saying, do not be worried.

Here it is. He says, why? He doesn't owe us a why, but he gives the why to the people of God.

Do not be anxious. Do not be worried about your life. Why? Because God is the one who is the sovereign over your days.

He's the sovereign over your breath, over your heartbeat. He's already determined the length of your days and you can't challenge that, change that, affect that because he's the sovereign.

So do not be worried. Do not be anxious. Why? Because he's the sovereign and you're not.

You see, when you're the little God in the center of your own universe, there's lots to panic about because we make very, very bad gods.

But when you remove yourself as the God or the deity in the center of your universe and you submit to God as he truly is and accept what he says over what you say, it removes all panic.

It removes all fear. It removes all worry. So Jesus says, and why are you anxious about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you,

O you of little faith? I love Jesus' little nickname for his people there, little faiths.

So if the challenge here comes in the nickname, what's the problem about worry and fear?

If his little pet name for his people is little faiths, what's the problem? Is you trust little.

You trust little. And so the word from the incarnate one, God in the flesh, is big faith.

Be big faiths. Trust God with big faith, big trust.

Don't be the little faith. Jesus is saying, you don't trust me. You don't trust.

So if he's calling us little faiths, what's the way out of the anxiety and the worry? It's big faith, big trust.

Trust in God and who God is. Jesus says, O ye of little faith. Therefore, he says, do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear?

For the Gentiles seek after those things. See the contrast? We're ending on this so catch it. It's big. It's very, very big.

Notice the contrast Jesus is making there. The people of God, the children of God who know the sovereign

God, who are loved by the father, cared for by the father. He owns every inch of their life, all of their days.

He's decreed it. He's saying, so you don't be worried about all these things. You know, the

Gentiles, they don't know God. They don't know him.

They're seeking after those things. They're fearful about those things. And guess what? They don't know him.

They don't know him as father. You do. You have him as father.

They seek those things. And that's why you shouldn't be like them.

He says this, your heavenly father knows that you need them all.

Do you see that you see the relationship there? He's your father. Now I got to say this. I know we're probably over on time.

Yeah, we are. Hey, Pastor Jeff's back. I do have to say this because I think it's critical and this is huge.

It's huge. I mean, this is probably going to hit a lot of you guys really, really hard. And I hope it really starts to make you think some long and deep thoughts and meditation over this particular thing.

Very, very important. You see Jesus saying here, your heavenly father knows that you need them all.

So for Jesus, the healing for the soul is that he's your father. He's your father. He's your father in heaven.

That's the distinction. Gentiles, they do that, but your father knows that you need them. They don't know God. Your father knows.

The problem is many of us see that and we go, that all sounds wonderful, but we've got a problem with fathers because our father was awful.

Right? You do that at times. Like you hear father, you think of father and you think about your father in heaven through the lens of your very, very sinful, broken earthly father.

He was imbalanced. Maybe he had a hot temper. Maybe he wasn't loving and gentle and gracious.

Maybe you don't even know your father. Maybe your father couldn't be trusted.

Right? Can I just say this to you? The only reason any of us can ever complain about bad earthly fathers is because you know the standard of what a father ought to be.

Him. We don't even have the right to complain about bad fathers if we don't have

God as the reference point as to what a father really should be. So first and foremost, embrace this.

If you call your father a bad father, if he was broken and he hurt you and he abandoned you, he was untrustworthy, he didn't care for you, whatever the case may be, you now have satisfaction for your soul because you have the true father who's never left you, never abandoned you, will always be faithful.

He's the standard of father. So when you see God saying, here's the source your heavenly father knows, you get to rest in that truth.

He is the heavenly father. He is always to be trusted. He does not change.

He is not the father who is imbalanced, who has outbursts.

He is the father who can be trusted. He's holy. And so Jesus wants that to satisfy you, your heavenly father.

He knows. And so it says this, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, path out of anxiousness.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious for itself, sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

There's the words from God. Final words. I'm not finishing

Philippians. I wanted to focus on the not be worried part. Pray, pray, pray.

This is a time for us to seek God and to pray. Use this as an opportunity.

Use this as an opportunity to minister to one another and to our communities.

You know what would be glorifying to God is if in the midst of difficulty, who knows what the next week's going to bring in terms of unnecessary panic, or maybe even at times necessary panic from the world's perspective.

You know what would be glorifying to God is that we shine as lights in the midst of darkness. Something else Paul says in Philippians is that we shine as lights in darkness and that what the world sees from us is that we care for each other's needs.

If someone in the church doesn't have toilet paper, I got you.

Maybe not me, but you know, I don't have everybody, right?

But we share, we take care of one another's needs. If some of us in the church body need meat, food, nobody here is going to go without because we're going to take care of each other's needs.

If there's difficulties ahead of us that we can't even foresee at the moment, we need to allow the

Lord to be glorified through how we love one another. Let the world see and let the world glorify

God in how we love one another. We take care of each other's needs and how we respond to the community's needs.

Let the world glorify God, not us. Glorify God in seeing people who are living without anxiousness and without worry that are actually seeking not to save their life, but to lose it for the sake of the other person.

People who are willing to lay their lives down for people who are hurting, who are struggling. Let us be the ones who are trying to provide for the community's needs, but not merely providing for their physical needs, but the most important thing, their eternal need, their relationship with Jesus Christ.

This is the time to let the gospel be on your lips. Let it be a time where you point people to the fact that there is a second death.

The first death is only temporary. There is a second death, but brothers and sisters, rejoice.

Rejoice even in the midst of disease and death.

Rejoice always. Nothing be anxious about. Let's pray.

Father, I pray you bless the message that went out for your glory. Help us to honor and glorify you.

Help us to be changed and transformed by these truths. Help us to live lives where we are not anxious because we know you, your character, your sovereign control, and our status in you, who we are, our identity.

Help us to not be worried about the future because we know who holds it. Help us to be satisfied and to delight in you as Father, that you know our needs.

Help us to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness, knowing that all these things will be added to us.

Help us to have our treasure in heaven and not on earth. Empower us,