May 15, 2020 Show with Joe Jacowitz on “Coronavirus: Pandemic, Pestilence & Panic (What Does the Bible Say?)” (Part 9)

Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours and we hope to hear from you the listener with your own questions and now here's your host

Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon

Cumberland County Pennsylvania, Lake City Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

This is Chris Arnzen your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio wishing you all a happy Friday on this 15th day of May 2020 and I am thrilled to have back on the program my dear friend

Pastor Joe Jackowitz who is pastor at Christ Bible Church of Pleasanton California, founder of First Love Radio, First Love Missions, and First Love Publications and today we are addressing part nine of our weekly coronavirus pandemic pestilence and panic, what does the

Bible say, an update on the coronavirus pandemic and also providing biblical application on how the body of Christ should be responding to the pandemic.

Today our specific theme is how to maintain the love of Christ in the midst of the pandemic and our email address if you'd like to join us on the air with a question is chrisarnzen at gmail .com

chrisarnzen at gmail .com and as always give us your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence.

If you live outside the USA only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Pastor Joe Jackowitz.

What a blessing it is to be back with you after a couple of weeks break and Wasn't it just one week?

We had Dr. James R. White on last Well yes, it's been two weeks since we've been together so one week yes.

And tell our listeners for the sake of those listeners who haven't heard you on the program tell them about Christ Bible Church of Pleasanton California.

Well our church is about 30 miles east of San Francisco and we have been established in 2000,

I'm sorry in 1990 so we've been going for just over 30 years and the

Lord's been very gracious to us. We have a very diverse body of believers from all different backgrounds and ethnicities.

We're a commuter church spread all over the Bay Area for up to an hour, hour and a half drive and we have an emphasis on evangelism, on missions, reaching out with the gospel, desire to teach sound doctrine, and we have been just like everybody else worshipping together online on Zoom and we're waiting until the end of the month to see what the state is going to do, the state of California and Governor Gavin Newsom concerning whether he's going to extend the mandate as has been going on for the last couple of months any further.

So there's a lot of churches in California that have signed a petition and sent it to the

Governor to allow churches to begin meeting again publicly so we'll see what happens.

But Christ Bible Church is planted right in the middle of all this just like everyone else is struggling and other churches across the nation and the world and we'll see what happens.

And of course this program live streams every day on First Love Radio that you founded.

Why don't you tell our listeners about that? First Love Radio started about three years ago and it came out of my experience with Family Radio that I had with them since 1984 when

I joined as an employee of Family Radio and then 2003 about 20 years later

I resigned over some teachings that the founder Harold Camping was putting forth and about three years ago rejoined

Family Radio as one of their staff pastors, well the only staff pastor they have.

But during my experience with Family Radio I learned the radio business, got involved in programming and after I left in 2003

I continued to be involved with various programs, a drive time program in the

Bay Area hosting a program and in our missionary outreach around the world I continued to maintain radio outreach as a part of our missions ministry.

We would go into different countries for two weeks on a short term mission trip and we'd have a team of five to ten to fifteen people, many of them pastors and I would train these pastors on doing radio.

We would buy air time on a local radio station whether it be in Nairobi, Kenya or Lagos, Nigeria or in Nepal or somewhere else,

Philippines and we would broadcast two or three hours a day a live call in Q &A program and so we continued to do that form of radio and about three years ago or maybe a little longer, maybe three and a half years ago we started an internet online radio station, 24 hours a day, seven days a week titled

First Love Radio based on Revelation Chapter 2 on the importance that our

Lord places on maintaining our first love as Christians. And so we have 24 hour programming as I mentioned, we have half a dozen or maybe even more, eight or ten solid

Reformed preachers that are regular features on the station like Martin Lloyd -Jones,

Peter Masters, Al Martin, John Reisinger and now we have a few new programs,

Dr. Robert Cook who was for many years heard on Family Radio, still is. From the King's College. Yes, King's College, so we have that program every day now which was launched on May 4th.

So if you haven't checked out First Love Radio yet and you're listening to this program through Chris's website, ironsharpensironradio .com,

you need to go to firstloveradio .com which you can also find this program and I'm sure many of your listeners are hearing us through firstloveradio .org

and check out the new programs. We have a new program that to my knowledge no one else is carrying, it's addressing an issue that many, many, many are struggling with today which is a pornography addiction and the program is called

Pure Life and the founder of Pure Life Ministries, Steve Gallagher and his staff, actually his staff has produced this program in conjunction with our staff at First Love Radio, Rich O'Marris and Bobby Hamlin and it really is a program that reaches into people's hearts and minds and addresses their struggle with pornography and the stubborn problem that it is and from a conversational counseling and teaching perspective.

Pure Life Ministries has their headquarters in Kentucky and they have a live -in program for men for a year

I believe it is and they have, I don't know, 50 or 100 men who live in and they go through the program and they've enjoyed remarkable success and they sell a lot of really good publications and now through First Love Radio and our agreement with them, they've launched a radio program and so if you go to firstloveradio .org,

the program is on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. There's two different time periods so you need to go to the programming schedule on the home page and check out the time on,

I think one program is on 1030 at night, another one is on in the late morning.

So that's called Pure Life Ministries and we would appreciate you sharing that program, listen to it yourself and then share it with perhaps other brothers or sisters that you may know who are struggling with the program, send them an email and say, hey, tune in because it's a really good program that addresses this problem from the scripture.

And the other program is Truth for Life with Alistair Begg.

We also have that on, you'd have to check out the programming schedule for the time, but that started, that program started about a week and a half ago.

So we've got him on Monday through Friday and then we've got about a half a dozen other local church pastors who are not national celebrities or do not have national programs.

Their program is pretty much just on First Love Radio, but these are very good teachers and preachers of the word of God.

So we've got a good mix, Chris, of both nationally recognized, even internationally recognized speakers as well as local pastors of local churches.

And then we have other programs with different genres that are on, we have an apologetics program hosted by Dr.

Edward Dalkor and Pastor James Tippins. And I think we're going to be looking at another apologetics program.

So we've got some really other good programs coming up in the future that we're looking at incorporating, including more music and other genres.

Well, now tell us something about any updates you have in regard to the coronavirus.

Well, we're up to 86 ,000 people have died in the last few months from the virus.

That's in the United States alone. At one time they were talking 60 ,000 would be the limit.

They were prognosticating along those lines at 60 ,000, but now it's up to 86 ,000.

Fortunately, the curve is starting to flatten and we're seeing some of the diminishing effects of the virus, especially in Florida and in,

I think, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida and Georgia.

And I think in general, the numbers are diminishing as far as the confirmed cases as well as the deaths.

So thank God for that. I know a lot of Christians are praying. I know that we are praying. That is on the prayer meetings that I'm involved in at our church,

Christ Bible Church, as well as at Family Radio and others. And I know being in touch with a number of pastors and believers across the country and around the world, a lot of believers are praying that God would have mercy and eradicate the coronavirus.

And we see, I could see the effects of those prayers that God in his mercy is doing that.

But we're not out of the woods yet as the government has decided to slowly open up business and allow people to have a limited activity in terms of business opening and having contact, not direct contact, but in public places.

And so that's encouraging. But we need to continue to pray that God would have mercy in these areas.

I noticed that there's a firm, a biopharmaceutical firm in California that claims that they have a coronavirus antibody breakthrough that they discovered that would shield the human body from the coronavirus and flush it out of a person's system within four days.

Fox News is reporting on that. And so federal health officials are looking into that.

So they have a number of potential vaccines that they're trying to develop.

The president today unveiled a new team that would be in charge of the development of a coronavirus vaccine and its distribution.

There's this well -known doctor around the world who's already developed a number of vaccines.

And there's a general, a four -star general in charge of the logistics in distributing that.

The president said that they're hoping to have a vaccine available from any one of these potential vaccines by January or early in 2021, maybe

February. So that would certainly be on a fast track to getting a vaccine compared to how long it usually takes to develop one for similar viruses.

And so that's our update. Well, you're going to be hearing a commercial for the first time today for Dr.

Banu Gadi. He is a pharmacist with a doctorate in pharmacy.

He is the owner and operator of three pharmacies in New York, and he's also an elder at New Hyde Park Baptist Church.

And he has been witnessing amazing, just incredible breakthroughs with using high doses of vitamin

D3 in coronavirus patients, a couple of whom were on their deathbed and completely cured of the virus by going under Dr.

Gadi's regimen. And it's been amazing to be discussing these things with him nearly every day.

And he's a new sponsor of Iron Trip and Zion Radio. And I just thank

God for him. And I ask you to pray that Fox News and some other larger outlets will finally start listening to this exciting news and start publicizing it because it may save lives.

It's a, vitamin D3 is extremely inexpensive and it's just a simple, it's a simple procedure where the, where the,

I don't know if procedure is the right word, but the simple regimen where for the first week to two weeks, the patient takes very high doses of vitamin

D3 and then is gradually weaned down to a normal dosage.

But it's just, I'm very impressed and very excited about it. And his name again is Dr. Bhanu, B -H -A -N -U.

And his last name is Gadi, G -A -D -D -E. He's from India and he's now obviously living in New York.

And by the way, we do have feedback from your computer or something. Everything I say is being repeated back to me.

Okay. How about now? Is that better? Let's see. Well, sounds like I'm not being repeated.

So yes, it's better. Okay. So, I don't know if you're finished with the updates that you had, but I know that you have a main theme for how to maintain the love of Christ.

Well, I think the need to maintain love in the Christian life is, transcends any time period, any age.

It's a major part of the teachings of the New Testament, the

Bible in general. And there are many exhortations for Christians to maintain the love of Christ.

The Scripture is very strong and very convicting in this area.

It says, he that does not have the love of Christ is condemned. And so, that's a pretty strong statement.

You know, it's one thing in these end times as well to see the diminishing of the love of Christ, as we read in Matthew chapter 24.

But also, in the situation with the coronavirus, we see that a lot of people have a fear.

It's one thing not to succumb to fear and uncertainty and worry, but it's another thing to maintain the love of Christ.

And so, it's imperative that during this time of great concern internationally, health -wise, and the spread of the coronavirus and people dying around us and the need to keep our perspective, maintain faith in the

Lord, we also have to maintain the love of Christ. As Christians, we're being challenged every day to manifest the character of Christ, to reach out with the

Gospel, to maintain Christian character as a witness to others around us that we may come into contact with.

I know that many are not maintaining a lifestyle of contact with people at their jobs and even in their families, because most of us are mandated in the states in which we live to keep socially distant from one another, social distancing and wearing masks and all of the rest.

But we do have contact with people still and will continue to in an increasing way as the virus diminishes and vaccines are distributed.

But the important thing is that we keep up and maintain God's love in this day and age when unbelievers are watching believers more closely than ever before.

And so, if the changes that took place, many of these changes in society and around the world are going to become the new normal with irreversible effects, how much more should we resist the temptation to change our attitude and behavior because we have a lot of external pressure from us, from the world rather, and from as a result of the virus.

And we need to, one thing we need to do is maintain the love of God, because we read, for example, when we talk about maintaining the love of Christ in our lives as Christians, in Ephesians chapter 3, the

Apostle Paul has an amazing statement here. He says in verse 14, For this reason

I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his

Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

And so the purpose of this text is for believers to comprehend

Christ's love in a full way, in an extended way, in an enlarged way, to seek to reach those heights and depths of the love of Christ.

It's a major focus of the sanctification and growth and maturing in the

Christian life. And this is the second prayer. It's actually a prayer, this text,

Chris. It's the second one that the Apostle prays in the book of Ephesians.

It's not only Scripture, but it's a prayer for the Ephesians that began in chapter 1 and verse 15 by now repeating his request that Christ would be the center of believers' lives.

He stated in this mixed metaphor that we're to be rooted like a plant and established or grounded like a building in chapter 1 and verse 17 in the first prayer.

And so these participles being rooted and established are in the perfect tense, which means it's a past action with continuing results.

It could be translated having been rooted and established. And so we are to continue to build upon the love of Christ that we were rooted and established in when you and I became

Christians. And so this is very, very important, because the content, summarizing the content of these two prayers in the book of Ephesians in chapter 1 and chapter 3, the

Apostle is saying that God wants us, not only the

Ephesians in the historical context, but all Christians, basically three things.

First, the knowledge of Christ, which is the main focus of the first prayer in chapter 1.

And secondly, the love of Christ, which is the main focus of the prayer here in chapter 3.

And we are to accomplish this by the power of Christ, which is mentioned in both prayers.

And so we're exhorted to maintain and grow in the knowledge of Christ and the love of Christ by the power of Christ.

And so, pardon me, so I might ask the question, why is the issue of the love of God important?

Well, the issue is important because God purposed and designed for His love to dwell in us, to be renewed in us, and to be maintained by us.

Love is very, very important to the Lord. And so, because of its importance, we see it flows from God's nature itself.

We learn that God's nature is love. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love, 1

John 4, 8 says. And then in verse 16, God is love, and he who abides in love abides in Christ and God in Him.

So if we profess to be partakers of the divine nature, and to be Christians, and to have

God living inside of us, the scripture clearly teaches that as God is love,

His love dwells inside of His people. It's part of our new nature.

And love is important in another way, because love is our motivation, which drew us, well, at least most of us, into the faith, as we read in John 3, 16, the most famous verse in the

Bible, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

And so, I don't know about you, Chris, but sure, when I heard the Gospel, I was convicted of my sin,

I repented of my sin by God's grace, but the main drawing element was the love of God.

I saw for the first time in my life that Jesus Christ died on the cross because He loved me.

And I couldn't get over the fact that He would love such an unworthy sinner as I am.

And that's what drew me into the faith. That's what God used, mainly, besides the other truths in the

Gospel. Actually, the two greatest commandments in the Bible, I'll show you about love, talk about love, is that we are to love the

Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like it,

Jesus says, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

So God elevates these two commandments related to love, loving God and loving one another, above every other commandment, so that if we do not have love for God and love for others, even if we keep all the other commandments, it's worthless, as it were.

And so the love of God is extremely important, especially in these end times when it's difficult enough to maintain an outward appearance of being a

Christian, let alone being faithful to God in the way of our hearts. But to maintain the love of God in our lives is very, very important, and I think it will become more and more important as the days go by.

Christianity is a religion of love, and it's a religion of the Holy Spirit. The presence of both the love of God and the

Holy Spirit provide the grounds of assurance of salvation. They just do so much for us as Christians.

The love of God ignites adoration, affection, and thanksgiving within our hearts for the

Lord Himself. To experience His love, to have a sense of it in your heart, to be conscious of it, to know it, is one of the greatest privileges of a

Christian. Nothing will stir up gratitude in our hearts. Nothing will prompt a life of self -denial.

And nothing will make us so loving to others and so dead to the world as agape love.

Agape love is supernatural love, which means God has to provide it, and God has to renew it in His people on a regular basis.

This is very, very important, especially now when so many people are afraid, they're stressed out, they're worried.

All of this worry and fear is taking its toll on them. They need to see believers who are walking in the love of God as an example and as grounds of encouragement.

Well, we have to go to our first break right now, and if anybody would like to join us on the air with a question of your own for Pastor Joe Jakowicz, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com,

chrisarnson at gmail .com. Please give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence, if you live outside the

USA, and only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter. Don't go away.

We'll be right back with Pastor Joe Jakowicz, right after these messages from our sponsors.

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We are now back with Pastor Joe Jakowitz. And Pastor Joe Jakowitz is the pastor of Christ Bible Church in Pleasanton, California and the founder of First Love Radio.

And we are discussing how to maintain the love of Christ, and this is in the backdrop of our coronavirus updates where this is a key factor in being salt and light in the world during this pandemic, how to maintain the love of Christ.

If you have a question of your own, our email address is ChrisArnsen at gmail .com,

ChrisArnsen at gmail .com. And one of the difficulties surrounding this topic, obviously,

Pastor Joe, is that the biblical definition of love and the biblical expressions of love, although they would often reflect things that your average person who knows nothing about the

Bible would expect from someone demonstrating love toward them.

It's kind of a universal thing that people recognize love, but there are other elements of a biblical love that are not only foreign to the average understanding of the average person who is lost, but they may be even in great contradiction to what the average person thinks love should contain.

For instance, the very gospel itself not only talks about and focuses on Jesus Christ's deep love for sinners, for which or for whom he suffered not only the physical agony and torturous and brutal death on Calvary, but even more agonizing was the propitiation he provided by taking upon himself the wrath of his own father in order to pay the penalty for the sins of his people.

But the gospel, a part of that, is not only telling people about the love of Christ, that he would actually take upon himself human flesh and go on this mission to seek and save that which is lost.

That is such a powerful demonstration of love, but a part of that gospel is letting people know why he needed to do that, telling them that they are sinners and that they're heading for hell, and your average person is not going to view that as a very loving thing to say.

If you could pick up where I just left off. Yes, it's because they can't appreciate the love of God until they see themselves as sinners who have offended

God by breaking his commandments, until they see that they're unworthy of God's love, they've rebelled against God all of their lives, they have spurned his offers of the gospel, of salvation, of the forgiveness of sins, they've rejected his son.

Most people walk around blindly, ignoring these implications of their sin.

But once they're convicted of their sins and their eyes are opened to the blackness and the vileness and the heinousness of their sin, and they begin to understand how much they've offended a holy

God, they begin to change their minds and have a different perspective.

They begin to seek God. And as they seek God and as they learn more and more about the gospel, that his son came into the world to save sinners, and they understand that Jesus Christ did not have to do this, he could have let all of us die and go to hell and then the lake of fire and be judged for our sins and so forth, we see that it was the love of God, nothing inside of us, but the pure love of God for sinners that drove

Jesus to die on the cross. The highest, the absolutely highest statement and example of love anywhere forever is seen on the cross.

When the entire world rejected Christ and the immeasurable, incomparable, unfathomable grace and mercy of God and love of God that was done by God unilaterally in spite of the world's blindness and hatred towards God, we see that this love is a different kind of love than the so -called love that people have for one another.

There's different types of love. The Bible teaches there's eros, which is physical love, sexual love, erotic love.

That's where we get the word erotic. Then there's phileo, which means brotherly love, and this love is the love of family members one for another, the love of friends one for another.

But these kinds of love are natural of this world.

But then there's agape love, which is rooted in the power of God. It's supernatural.

It's an otherworldly kind of love. It's a love that passes all human understanding, and humans are incapable of experiencing and manifesting agape love because this love proceeds from God and is shed abroad in our hearts by the

Holy Spirit, who was given to us as Christians. And so this love must come from God, and the love of God was intended and designed for Christians to battle against the flesh, to battle against bad motives, to battle against the natural reaction of the flesh, to hate our enemies instead of loving them when they hurt us, to do good to those that despitefully use us instead of returning evil for evil.

The love of the agape supernatural love of God is the only kind of love that can really accomplish

God's purposes for the church. As being light and salt in the world.

And otherwise we just will do unto others as they do unto us. And we'll only do good to those that do good to us.

So we absolutely need to have the love of God that we experienced at the beginning of our conversion renewed and resupplied over and over and over again because it is the love of Christ that constrains me in a positive sense in fulfilling all of the commands connected with worship.

Otherwise we're reduced to just going through the motions in religion, just the rituals and liturgy and the ceremonies of religion.

We need the love of God to drive our worship. It's the dynamic upon which the

Holy Spirit brings out of our hearts when we bow before the throne of grace and worship in adoration of the

Lamb of God in praise and thanksgiving to Him who lives forever, who is worthy of our lives and of every resource and skill and grace that He's given to us.

So the love of Christ, the love of God in Christ is indispensable.

You cannot be a Christian, you cannot be a believer without the love of Christ. The importance that God places on love is manifested not only on the cross but is seen in its indispensable, vital need in the two greatest commandments of the

Bible which cannot be fulfilled, by the way, without agape love. And so when we talk about the love of God and its importance, we're talking about God's love being the motivation for being saved we see that Christianity, because of agape love, is a religion of love.

It is a religion of the Holy Spirit. We see that love ignites worship.

It maintains true worship. Nothing will really stir up our hearts in adoration like the love of God.

But the love of God inspires our service to Him. The Apostle Paul said in 2

Corinthians 5, and he suffered so much for the Gospel's sake, but he says, for the love of God compels us, or constrains us, because we just judged thus, that if one died for all, then all died.

And he died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again.

So the love of God is the motive and the driving force of our service to Him.

The love of God honors Christ by paying sincere devotion to Him instead of just superficially paying lip service to Him.

It's the love of Christ that reaches the bottom and the core of our hearts, our motives, our desires, and pays sincere, consecrated devotion to Him.

And the love of God, all of these things the Bible teaches is nothing unusual.

It is our reasonable service to love God in this way.

If we had 10 ,000 lifetimes, Chris, to love God with the love

He gives us in all of these manifestations and in all of these ways, it would but barely touch the hem of the garment of what we should do in loving

God. And so the love of God also is a vital, critical element in maintaining this marriage that the

Bible describes that the church is the bride of Christ and Jesus is the bridegroom.

We're in a marriage here, and the marriage is a spiritual one. And it is...

Can you imagine a marriage without love? No. The Bible uses many metaphors to describe that the church is the bride of Christ.

We're in this marriage and the most important element of maintaining and growing our marriage is the love of God.

We absolutely must have the love of God. Jesus told the Pharisees, who were the most religious people of our

Lord's day, He says, I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. He could not pass up the absence of God's love in them because of its vital nature.

And in 1 John we read, but whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

And that's one of the things I think you touched on earlier when you mentioned different forms of love.

The expression and manifestation of love is revealed in our works, in our labors, in our service.

We see a person who's in need and we have of this world's goods to help and we harden our heart, we shut up our heart from that person.

How does the love of God abide in him? It doesn't because love must find its expression in doing something, in showing it.

And that's what is one of the effects of the love of God in us. And we read in 2

Thessalonians, the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God.

If the Holy Spirit is truly in us, the Spirit of God is always directing and drawing and prodding our hearts into the love of God.

In 2 Corinthians 13 -14, the famous benediction, the grace of the

Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God in the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. Yeah, we mentioned this verse as one of the important passages that are at the basis of the doctrine of the

Trinity, but we often, and we quoted, pastors quoted, I quoted often at the end of our worship services, it's the famous benediction, but the practical implications of this verse are enormous.

When we talk about the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the communion of the

Holy Spirit, we're talking about things that are rooted in this reciprocal, practical, spiritual relationship that we have with God, of which grace, love, and the

Holy Spirit are the mix which stirs it all together. We read in 1

John 2, but whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.

By this we know that we are in him. So love manifests the fact through works and through the right motive and through true agape affection for God that we are the

Lord's, we are in him. We're exhorted in Jude 21, keep yourselves in the love of God.

So that is a synonym for the title and theme of this program today in trying to be and maintain our testimony and witness and our obedience to the

Lord concerning the times in which we live during the coronavirus pandemic.

We need to maintain the love of God or we need to keep ourselves in the love of God.

And we have to go to our midway break. This is the longer than normal break, folks, so please be patient.

It's because Grace Life Radio requires of us a long break in the middle so that they can air their own public service announcements that are local to Lake City, Florida, where they are located.

And while they air their own public service announcements, we air our globally heard commercials. So please use this time wisely.

Write down as much of the information that our advertisers provide so you can more frequently and more successfully patronize them, which will mean that they will be happy and that will mean subsequently,

God willing, that they will continue as our advertisers and keep us on the air because we require the finances that come from our advertisers to exist.

So please write down as much of the information as possible that our advertisers provide and please patronize them as much as you can.

And sometimes when it's a church that may be very far away from you that you may never visit, why not even just contact them by email, by a physical letter through snail mail, or by a phone call and thank them for sponsoring

Iron Troupe and Zion Radio. That will probably go a long way if you let them know how grateful you are to them for keeping this show on the air.

But of course, as I said, send us your questions for Joe Jakiewicz on how to maintain the love of Christ amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Our email address is chrisarnson at gmail dot com chrisarnson at gmail dot com We'll be back after these messages from our sponsors.

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Hi, this is John Sampson, pastor of King's Church in Peoria, Arizona. Taking a moment of your day to talk about Chris Arnson and the

Arnshoppin's Iron podcast. I consider Chris a true friend and a man of high integrity. He's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big penetrating questions while always defending the key doctrines of the

Christian faith. I've always been happy to point people to this podcast knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the internet where folk won't be led astray.

I believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide. This is a day of great spiritual compromise and yet God has raised

Chris up for just such a time. And knowing this, it's up to us as members of the Body of Christ to stand with such a ministry in prayer and in finances.

I'm pleased to do so and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting

Arnshoppin's Iron financially. Would you consider sending either a one -time gift or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry?

I know it would be a huge encouragement to Chris if you would. All the details can be found at ironsharpinsironradio .com

where you can click support. That's ironsharpinsironradio .com. When Ironsharpins Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the

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This is Pastor Bill Sousa of Grace Church at Franklin here in the beautiful state of Tennessee.

Our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio financially. Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in Scripture.

Through the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the end of which we strive is the glory of God.

If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe 10 minutes, or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will join us some

Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.

Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org That's gracechurchatfranklin .org

This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign

Lord, God, Savior, and King Jesus Christ today and always.

This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign Lord, This is

Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign Lord, God, Savior, and King Jesus Christ today and always. This is

Pastor Bill Sousa the richest blessings of our sovereign Lord, Jesus Christ today and always. This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign

Lord, Jesus Christ today and always. This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all of our sovereign Lord, God, Savior, and King Jesus Christ today and always. This is

Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign

Lord, Jesus Christ today and always. wishing you all God, Savior, and King Jesus Christ today and always.

This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign Lord, Jesus Christ today and always. Jesus Christ today and always. This is Pastor Bill Sousa preaching God's timeless truths in the 21st century.

Our church is far more than a Sunday worship service. It's a place of learning where the scriptures are studied and the preaching of the gospel is clear and relevant.

It's like a gym where one can exercise their faith through community involvement. It's like a hospital for wounded souls where one can find compassionate people and healing.

We're a diverse family of all ages. Enthusiastically serving our Lord, Jesus Christ. In fellowship, play, and together.

Hi, I'm Pastor Bob Walderman and I invite you to come and join us here at Linbrook Baptist Church and see all that a church can be.

Call Linbrook Baptist at 516 -599 -9402. That's 516 -599 -9402.

Or visit linbrookbaptist .org. That's linbrookbaptist .org. The coronavirus pandemic has rapidly changed our way of life, bringing so many uncertainties.

When will it end? Why do disasters like this happen? How do we deal with anxiety, fear, and the like?

Well, join us each Friday on the program Iron Sharpens Iron with your host, Chris Arnzen, and Pastor Joe Jackowitz as they explore

God's Word for answers to this and other of life's related issues. Tune in at firstloveradio .org.

That's firstloveradio .org each Friday at 1 p .m.

Pacific, 4 p .m. Eastern. That's Iron Sharpens Iron on firstloveradio .org

Fridays, 1 p .m. Pacific, 4 p .m. Eastern, to hear what the Bible has to say about pandemics and how we should respond.

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Andrew Rapoport with Striving for Eternity Ministries Are you cooped up at home? Are you just desiring to use your time wisely?

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Chris Arnzen, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio here. I want to tell you about a man I have personally known for many years.

His name is Dan Buttafuoco. Dan is a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer but not the type that typically comes to mind.

Dan cares about people and is a theologian himself. Recently he wrote a book titled Consider the

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Dan handles serious injury and medical malpractice cases in all 50 states. He represents many

Christians in serious injury matters all over the country. Dan is an exceptional trial lawyer.

He wrote the test for the National Board of Trial Advocacy and currently his firm has over 100 cases that have settled for one million dollars or more and in approximately 10 different states.

In Illinois, his lawyers had the fourth largest settlement in the state's history. In New York, his case involving a paralyzed police officer made the front page of the law journal.

If you have a serious personal injury or medical malpractice claim in any state, I recommend that you call

Dan. Consultations are free. There is no fee unless you win. Dan Buttafuoco's number is 1 -800 -669 -4878.

1 -800 -669 -4878. Or email me for Dan's contact information at chrisarnson at gmail dot com.

That's chrisarnson at gmail dot com. Charles Haddon's Purgeon once said,

Give yourself unto reading. The man who never reads will never be read. He who never quotes will never be quoted.

He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own. You need to read.

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Solid Ground Christian Books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. And don't forget folks, every time you purchase books from solid -ground -books .com,

you are helping Iron Sharpens Iron Radio to remain on the air for a longer future. Because Solid Ground Christian Books is a key, a vital, a primary sponsor of this broadcast, we could not exist without their financial help that comes through their advertising, and barring a miracle of God, of course.

And, obviously, you're going to have to help them to stay in business through your patronage, and you're going to, therefore, subsequently, help us stay in business because of their sponsorship.

So, please, with all the reasons for giving gifts coming up, you've got Father's Day in June, you've got graduation gifts, you've got back -to -school gifts, a lot of wedding anniversaries in the spring and summer, you have birthdays, you've got bereavement gifts for those who have lost loved ones, get -well -soon gifts for somebody who might be at home in bed ill, possibly even due to the coronavirus, or perhaps even in the hospital.

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So, go to Solid -Ground -Books .com and tell them that you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Trip and Zion Radio.

Before we return to Joe Jakowicz, we'll just have some important announcements to make Please, folks, if you really love

Iron Trip and Zion Radio, help us to remain in existence. We lost, and I'm hoping it's just temporary, two of our largest advertisers because their businesses have been so negatively impacted by the coronavirus hysteria.

So, please help us make up for that. I want to thank all of you out there who have been such great supporters of Iron Trip.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. that appears in the screen.

If you prefer snail mail, make out a check to IronTrap and ZionRadio and mail it to the address that you will see on your screen when you click support at IronTrap and ZionRadio.

Please never ever siphon money away from your regular giving to your local church in order to give to IronTrap and ZionRadio, especially during this time of the coronavirus pandemic hysteria when many churches are being severely impacted negatively financially due to this time that we are now living in and some churches have even closed their doors permanently.

I'm not talking about for the ban on public gathering. I'm saying some have closed their doors permanently.

So please don't siphon the money money away from your church to give to us especially during a time like this and please don't put your family in financial jeopardy.

But if you are financially blessed above and beyond your ability to obey those two commands and you have money that you're saving because you're not going to concerts, you're not going out fine dining, you're not going to Bible conferences, you're not going to the movies, you're not going to Broadway shows, you're not going to your favorite sporting events, so many things that have been interrupted in your life, well can you use some of that money to help us remain on the air if you love the show and don't want it to go away?

Go to IronTrapandZionRadio .com, click support, then click click to donate now. Also folks, if you are not a member of a local

Bible -believing church and you're not even prayerfully looking for one, you are living in disobedience to God, so please try to rectify that.

I don't mean to be harsh by that because I know that there are sensitive areas of how people have been horribly treated and abused in churches.

Sometimes folks are in cults and when they leave they never want to go to a house of worship again, so I'm not taking those things lightly.

But at the same time there is no reason that qualifies as a legitimate reason to disobey

God and we are to be under the authority of local elders in a church if we are to be obedient Christians.

So I can help you find a church, God willing. I have lists of biblically faithful churches all over the world, so send me an email to ChrisAronson at gmail .com

and put on any church in the subject line. That's also the email address where you can send in a question to Pastor Joe Jakowitz of Christ Bible Church in Pleasanton, California.

And right now we are continuing our Friday coronavirus update with biblical application for the church to follow in light of the pandemic.

And today we are specifically highlighting how to maintain the love of Christ amid the coronavirus pandemic.

And our email address is ChrisAronson at gmail .com. ChrisAronson at gmail .com. We have

Susan Margaret in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, who has a question for you,

Joe. She says, do you have practical advice on how we could best demonstrate love to those whom we know when we are being forbidden from having any physical contact with them at this time?

Well, sure. If you have communication with them through the phone or through email or social media, make sure that you seek the

Lord for strength, for grace, for wisdom. Especially the love of God is such a liberating, emancipating gift of God's grace, which he bestows into our hearts.

And when the love of God comes in, we see from James 3, it is usually accompanied with the wisdom of God.

If I might just look up that passage real quick in James chapter 3, it talks about in verse 13, who is wise and understanding among you.

Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self -seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.

This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self -seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.

But in contrast to that, we read in verse 17, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. So we're not talking about knowledge, we're talking about wisdom.

Wisdom in which the Holy Spirit provides. And wisdom is always intermingled with the love of God.

And the fruits and effects of the love mingled with wisdom is its pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy, good fruits.

And so it's important as a believer that the love of God is renewed in our hearts, as he promises to do, through the channel of the means of grace.

That is Bible reading, Bible meditation, and prayer. And these are responsibilities that are difficult to maintain consistently, because the enemy,

Satan, is dead set against believers developing a consistent lifestyle of meditation on the

Word and prayer, because he knows that if we do that, the

Lord works mightily through his Spirit to enlarge and increase the fruit of the

Spirit in our lives. And the number one fruit of the Spirit is love. So if you maintain a close walk with God, you will not fall short in the wisdom and love you need to initiate contacts with people through the

Internet, through email, through social media, telephone. The fear of man will be removed.

Any awkwardness and hesitation to reach out will be removed and replaced with thoughts of love, thoughts of courage, thoughts of boldness, intermingled with wisdom.

You will be given thoughts about that person's need. There will be an opening up of all kinds of ideas and burdens and thoughts about this person's need.

So I would begin my day with a close walk with God in the Word and prayer, and then ask the

Lord how he might use you to reach out to this person. And you will find that the wisdom of God, opportunities and open doors will come along.

Thoughts will flood your mind and heart where previously your mind was blank and you were reserved in reaching out because you couldn't think about what to talk about.

The Holy Spirit will just bring a flood of thoughts and desires that are godly and rooted in the

Word of God to reach out to them. So the love is very important. Love is very important to initiate and stimulate this flood of thoughts and biblical, godly reasons to reach out.

Great. And let's see, we have an anonymous listener who says,

I have been estranged from someone I love very dearly in my family for many years, and I was thinking this would be an ideal time to reach out to this person.

Can you give me some of your best advice as a pastor on how to break the ice?

And of course, this person's not even really describing in detail why they're estranged or anything, so this may be difficult for you, but anything that you have in mind?

Sure. Well, the estrangement occurred. Both you and the other person are separated from one another.

You're not communicating. And whatever the problem is, you can't control the other person.

And there's a good amount of hesitation and risk in reaching out to another person without making sure that you have the wisdom of God, you have the open door, you have the godly and correct motives and thoughts that God wants you to have.

So what you can control in this situation is yourself. So this is what

God requires of us, since we can't control the other person. First, you have to get your own heart right with God.

You need to search your heart and identify those areas, those sins, those blockages that are preventing you from maintaining a pure heart, the love of God, you know, the motivation to be able to initiate a conversation with this person.

You need to make sure that there's nothing residing within you that is hindering you from doing your part.

And so I would make that a matter of prayer, asking God, oh God, search my heart and try me and see if there's any wicked way in me.

The Bible says, he who covers his sin shall not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

So once there is a thorough self -examination and searching of your own heart and a repentance of anything, a confession of anything, and that's a true, deep -rooted repentance of anything in your life that has been the cause for hindering you from reaching out, once all of that is cleansed and purified from your heart and replaced with the love of God and with a sense of forgiveness,

Scripture says that love covers a multitude of sins. So whatever this person has done against you, again, since you can't control them, you need to make sure that you receive the love of God as a cleansing agent, as a purifying agent in removing any resentment or bitterness from your heart, any misunderstanding, you know, and so that you can love this person with agape love in spite of what they've done to you because you've forgiven them with the forgiveness of Christ.

And then after that is done and you've become liberated from what has been holding you back from initiating a communication process that would lead towards reconciling you with this other person.

You can pray for the wisdom of God, as we read in James 1, if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it will be given to him, but let him ask in faith.

So you have a promise of God, and since you've already been estranged from this person, there's no absolute crisis that it's something that needs to be done overnight in terms of, you know, just going like gangbusters, like a bull in a china shop.

Pray about all these things, get your heart right first, and ask God for wisdom and an open door for you to reach out to them.

You're, you know, you're taking a risk. You're making yourself, again, to become vulnerable and open to attack, open to your motives being suspect.

Why is this person calling me or contacting me after so long? None of that matters when the love of God is driving this desire in you by the help of the

Holy Spirit to reconcile this person. When the love of God fills your heart, you're willing to be trampled upon.

You're willing to bear the greater weight of responsibility. You're willing to carry the heavier load.

Love bears all things, and so love thinks no evil, 1st

Corinthians 13. And so reach out. As the Lord leads you and opens the door, gives you an opportunity, reach out.

Send an email. Let the focus of it be totally on you. Don't bring up the fault of the other person.

If the Lord is working, you don't have to be a police officer in reminding them of how they hurt you.

Just, if you've truly forgiven them, let it go. Let it go. Bury it.

You know, don't legalistically feel you've got to have a competition where, you know, you need to get your pound of flesh from this person before you feel better about doing what is right and forgiving and loving.

Love is unconditional. We must remember that. Regardless of what they've done to you, if we're to forgive our enemies based on the love of God, it means that the

Holy Spirit has provided liberty to forgive without ever again bringing it up again, because the

Lord has given you freedom in your heart to let it go first. So the issue is rooted in your heart.

Once you're able to let it go, there's freedom, enlargement accompanied with that, so you don't have to get anything in return as a condition before you forgive them and reach out to reconcile.

And you need to be really praying about that diligently, frequently, to be able to maintain that attitude and that loving perspective on the whole matter so that you don't lapse back into a place of weakness and limitation and hesitation in doing the right thing by reaching out to them.

So that's what I would do. I would take the initiative. Once God gives you release, once he gives you freedom, once the law of the

Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death, that law that it's holding you back, that is trending towards death, towards lifelessness, towards not doing what you're supposed to do.

The Spirit of God gives you freedom to do what is right, even to your own hurt, even if you bear the full burden of the matter on you.

Even if that other person was mostly wrong and you were mostly right, it doesn't matter who gets the credit, who gets the thanks, who gets it.

The thing that matters is you and you do what's right before God. You are pleasing to God.

You follow the example of Jesus Christ, who looked down at the Pharisees from the cross and said,

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And so that would be my advice.

Great. I have another question that I can ask you and then you can answer it when we return from our final break.

We have John in Bangor, Maine, who asks, I know that you founded

First Love Publications. I was wondering if you could recommend books to give to those who are sick and or dying.

And we'll have you answer that when we come back. This is our final break, folks, so if you have a question for Pastor Joe Jakowicz, submit it as soon as you can so you will be assured of getting your question asked and answered on the air before we are out of time.

That's Chris Arnzen at gmail .com, C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com.

Don't go away, we'll be right back. Iron Sharpens Iron welcomes

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This is Pastor Bill Sousa, Grace Church at Franklin, here in the beautiful state of Tennessee.

Our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support Iron Sharpens Iron Radio financially.

Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers who strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in Scripture through the person and work of our

Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the end of which we strive is the glory of God.

If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe 10 minutes, or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will join us some

Lord's Day in worshipping our God and Savior. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.

Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org. That's all the richest blessings of our sovereign

Lord, God, Savior, and King Jesus Christ, today and always.

The coronavirus pandemic has rapidly changed our way of life, bringing so many uncertainties.

When will it end? Why do disasters like this happen? How do we deal with anxiety, fear, and the like?

Well, join us each Friday on the program Iron Sharpens Iron with your host Chris Arnzen and Pastor Joe Jacobs as they explore

God's Word for answers to this and other of life's related issues. Tune in at firstloveradio .org,

that's firstloveradio .org, each Friday at 1 p .m.

Pacific, 4 p .m. Eastern. That's Iron Sharpens Iron on firstloveradio .org,

Friday's 1 p .m. Pacific, 4 p .m. Eastern, to hear what the Bible has to say about pandemics and how we should respond.

As host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, I frequently get requests from listeners for church recommendations, a church

I've been strongly recommending as far back as the 1980s is Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, New Jersey, pastored by Alan Dunn.

Grace Covenant Baptist Church believes it's God's prerogative to determine how he shall be worshiped and how he shall be represented in the world.

They believe churches need to turn to the Bible to discover what to include in worship and how to worship

God in spirit and truth. Grace Covenant Baptist Church endeavors to maintain a

God -centered focus. Reading, preaching, and hearing the Word of God, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, baptism, and communion are the scriptural elements of their corporate worship, performed with faith, joy, and sobriety.

Discover more about Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, New Jersey at gcbcnj .squarespace

.com. That's gcbcnj .squarespace .com

or call them at 908 -996 -7654. That's 908 -996 -7654.

Tell Pastor Dunn that you heard about Grace Covenant Baptist Church on Iron Sharp and Zion Radio. Every day at thousands of community centers, high schools, middle schools, juvenile institutions, coffee shops, and local hangouts,

Long Island Youth for Christ staff and volunteers meet with young people who need Jesus. We are rural and urban and we are always about the message of Jesus.

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For details, call Long Island Youth for Christ at 631 -385 -8333.

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That's liyfc .org. I want to tell you about a man

I have personally known for many years. His name is Dan Buttafuoco. Dan is a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer, but not the type that typically comes to mind.

Dan cares about people and is a theologian himself. Recently, he wrote a book titled, Consider the

Evidence for the Bible. Ravi Zacharias wrote the first book about Dan also has a master's degree in theology.

Dan handles serious injury and medical malpractice cases in all 50 states. He represents many

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He wrote the test for the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and currently his firm has over 100 cases that have settled for $1 million or more, and in approximately 10 different states.

In Illinois, his lawyers had the fourth largest settlement in the state's history. In New York, his case involving a paralyzed police officer made the front page of the

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I recommend that you call Dan. Consultations are free. There is no fee unless you win.

Dan Buttafuoco's number is 1 -800 -669 -4878, 1 -800 -669 -4878, or email me for Dan's contact information at chrisarnson at gmail .com.

That's chrisarnson at gmail .com. I'm Dr.

Tony Costa, Professor of Apologetics and Islam at Toronto Baptist Seminary. I'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where I've been invited to speak, and have grown to love,

Hope Reformed Baptist Church in Corham, Long Island, New York, pastored by Rich Jensen and Christopher McDowell.

It's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of God, like the dear saints at Hope Reformed Baptist Church in Corham, who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into the unfathomable riches of Christ in his holy word, and to enthusiastically proclaim

Christ Jesus the King and his doctrines of sovereign grace in Suffolk County, Long Island, and beyond.

I hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation, and receive the blessing of being showered by their love, as I have.

For more information on Hope Reformed Baptist Church, go to hopereformedli .net.

That's hopereformedli .net, or call 631 -696 -5711.

That's 631 -696 -5711. Tell the folks at Hope Reformed Baptist Church of Corham, Long Island, New York, that you heard about them from Tony Costa on Iron Sharpens Iron.

When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the

New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the

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And he has already helped several people get off their deathbeds when they looked like there was little hope.

So he can help you too. Call 516 -354 -2000. And we are now back with our guest,

Pastor Joe Jackowitz, for our final segment of today's show. And our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com

if you have any questions. Pastor Joe, the last questioner wanted to know if you had recommendations for books, especially for those who are sick and or dying.

Well, I have a couple of books to recommend. The first one is a booklet, 28 -page booklet, which is outstanding.

It's one of the best ones I've seen on the topic of sickness, written by J .C.

Ryle. It's titled Sickness by J .C. Ryle, R -Y -L -E.

Excellent. And you can obtain that free of charge from Chapel Library in Pensacola, Florida.

Their contact information, first of all, their website. You could probably just order it from their website at chapellibrary .org.

It's chapellibrary .org. I have it right in front of me.

There you go, chapellibrary .org. And their phone number there is 850 -438 -6666.

You can get that contact information from their website as well. And then you want to also inquire about their coronavirus package.

Their special of the quarter is that they will send out a package of tracts, booklets, and books to you on the topic of the coronavirus concerning a biblical...

The titles will relate to a variety of aspects of the coronavirus concerning how, what perspective should you have as a

Christian about it. And these are all written by older authors of many years ago, a century or two ago.

They'll also have information about the sickness and disease and so forth.

So there's probably five or six items in there. They'll send that to you free of charge. Ask for their coronavirus package.

And then at the firstlovepublications .org website, you want to ask about...

Well, you want to go to the website and order A Cordial for Troubled Times by Robert Jones.

The website is firstlovepublications .org and the title is

A Cordial for Troubled Times by Robert Jones. A Cordial for Troubled Times by Robert Jones.

And that's at firstlovepublications .org. Well, I have a couple of recommendations, too.

Banner of Truth has an excellent book by Douglas Taylor, a former employee of Banner of Truth, who has since gone home to be with Christ for eternity.

He perished himself from a serious illness. And this is a book, obviously, if you give it to somebody who is just sick and they're not actually dying, you want to make sure that you reassure them you're not dying.

I just want you to know that. But this is a wonderful book that might bless you from someone who did pass on into eternity, who was a devout

Christian and faithful disciple of Christ. And I shall not die but live.

I shall not die but live. Banneroftruth .org is where you can get that.

And also, our sponsor is Solid Ground Christian Books. Solid -Ground -Books .com.

They have a number of things, but one in particular is Living in the Hope of Glory, A Dying Pastor's Farewells.

That's by Adolph Manot, and that's Living in the

Hope of Glory. So if you go to Solid -Ground -Books .com, you can type in the search engine

A D O L P H E M O N O D.

A D O L P H E M O N O D. That's Adolph Manot, and you will be directed right to that book, and I hope it blesses you.

Now, before we run out of time, I want you to make sure, Pastor Joe, that you summarize what you most want our listeners to remember, you want most to have etched in their hearts and minds before we go off the air today.

Well, the coronavirus pandemic and all of the suffering and troubles associated with it has challenged the

Church to maintain our godly lifestyle, as well as our witness to the lost, and also our walk with the

Lord and our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. These are critical times. I mean, every day and every age requires the grace of God for us to be faithful witnesses, but there are especially trying times, crises, events like the coronavirus, which reach down and challenge us as Christians, unlike we've been challenged before.

So maintaining the love of God in our lives will go so far in helping us maintain a godly lifestyle and be faithful to the

Lord. And so let's remember the obstacles to maintaining love, which is unrepentant sin, the distractions of the world, and an undisciplined life.

Let's remember the promises of God in Luke 11 13, where God promises, if evil men know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more shall your

Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask? And so we need to be careful, because in the midst of all the sins we battle against, and we can grieve the

Holy Spirit, who will not leave us because we are sealed by Him until the day of redemption.

There's always the Holy Spirit interacting with our spirit.

He's our ally to keep sin and the world and all of these discouraging things that are happening in this day and age at bay, and He's there to rekindle

God's love within our hearts, and this is very, very important to remember.

I do have one more book on a different subject, Chris. Sorry, on a different subject,

I have one more book to recommend, and it's published by Reformation Heritage Books.

It's called, A Night of Weeping, Morning of Joy, by Horatius Bonar. Night of Weeping, Morning of Joy, and it describes suffering in general, and certainly much of it is a prescription for those who are struggling with the emotional and physical effects of disease and sickness and illness.

Night of Weeping, Morning of Joy, by Horatius Bonar, published by Reformation Heritage.

Well, we have another listener. CJ from Lindenhurst, Long Island, New York wants to know, if you have a loved one who is dying, how do you approach the gospel to them without being unnecessarily terrifying?

They know that they are dying, and you want to make sure that they hear the gospel, but at the same time, you don't want to be overly dramatic or frightening to these individuals, especially because family members might be vehemently upset with you and bar you from visiting this person again.

Well, one of the most beautiful things about believing in the sovereignty of God and salvation is that you don't have to feel like you are responsible to manipulate or coerce people into making a decision, or you don't have to bring up all of the elements of the gospel in one sitting.

Remember, when we share the gospel, it's important to keep in mind the circumstances. I'm not saying we have any leeway to compromise the word of God or the gospel, but in a situation like that where someone is seriously ill, who has a life -threatening illness, who is on basically his deathbed, the driving key factor in the communication and interaction with that individual is the

Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, He is the balm of Gilead. He is the remedy and solution for everything.

So I would go in there making sure that you're prayed up, that you've really trusted in God for wisdom and love, to be the guiding and directing forces that lead you in the conversation.

Another thing besides Christ is you want to be able to have your mind free of any distractions or any weakness, spiritually speaking.

You want to make sure that your mind is really open and clear to be directed by the

Holy Spirit, who will provide spontaneous wisdom and knowledge and verses of scripture and thoughts from the gospel, but He will mingle it with wisdom at the moment, and so that as you talk with this person, as you're led by the

Spirit and prompted by the Spirit, you will be able to guide the conversation in a way that will share very edifying and encouraging things with that person.

So I would just start out by listening. Let the person say hi and let the person explain their situation, and then just start talking to them.

Share a few verses from scripture. Would you mind if I shared a verse of scripture with you and get a positive promise or a verse about Christ, like from Hebrews 2 or Hebrews 4?

There are verses there about our Lord Jesus Christ being touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

He sympathizes with our weakness. He was tempted in all points as we are without sin. Talk about the fact that you're praying for this individual and that the

Lord Jesus is there for us. Bring out positive aspects about our Lord's high priesthood, about His death, and that the

Lord will hear us. Just lead the conversation in that direction, beginning with positive things about Christ.

We still have hope as long as we're still alive. The Lord Jesus is there to hear our prayer and guide us.

Then see what His response is. The Lord may open His heart. The Lord just may melt Him.

I can't tell you how many times I've met at the hospital bed or bedside of people who were typically hardened in their hearts.

They had no interest in the gospel, but God had already done a lot of preparation in their hearts.

I didn't have to say a whole lot. I just listened to them. I brought up some hopeful verses about Christ being there.

We didn't get into doctrinal controversies. That's not what it's all about. You don't have to dump on them the whole gospel and bring up a lot of negative things.

They probably are already alerted in their minds to eternity.

They're concerned about their future. Just bring up some thoughts about Christ. See where the conversation goes.

Then they may be the one to ask you, what should I be thinking?

How do I know I'm going to heaven? What about my sins? Are my sins forgiven?

That will allow you, when you see where it goes, to bring up some of these other issues. You need to be gentle.

You need to be compassionate. You need to be loving. You need to be wise about how the conversation goes.

You don't have to beat them over the head with hell and damnation and the lake of fire. If negative things come up naturally and spontaneously in the conversation, especially as prompted by this individual, that'll be your time to say something like, yes, we're all sinners.

The Bible does talk about this, but God would have prepared his heart already for that, to hear that.

So that would be my advice. And folks, you may not be aware of this if you haven't heard all of my interviews with Pastor Joe Jackiewicz, but I'm speaking to somebody who was mercifully and graciously snatched from the jaws of death himself.

Pastor Joe Jackiewicz just had a very deadly and aggressive form of cancer, where he was given less than a 60 percent chance of survival.

And he was cured and healed through chemotherapy and other things, and of course, through the prayers of faithful Christians all over the world.

Amen. And if anybody wants to hear his testimony about that, there's actually at least two, maybe more, on that specific issue.

You can go to the archives of www .ironsharpensironradio .com, where it says

Past Shows Podcast. You click on that, and then you type in the search engine Jackiewicz, J -A -C -O -W -I -T -Z.

There's no K in there. It's J -A -C -O -W -I -T -Z. Well, thank you so much for being on the program again,

Pastor Joe, and I want to remind our listeners once again about your websites for your church, and also for First Love Radio.

Christ Bible Church of Pleasance in California can be found at www .christbiblechurch .org, www .christbiblechurch

.org, and www .firstloveradio .org, www .firstloveradio .org.

I want to thank everybody who listened. I want to especially thank those who took the time to write in questions.

I hope you all have a safe and refreshing and relaxing weekend and God -honoring

Lord's Day, and I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater