[MUSIC PLAYING] We want to welcome you to
our midweek service, done a little bit differently
than what you're used to, than what we're used to. We're not used to doing that. But welcome from our home,
so to speak, to your home, from our watch party
to your watch party. And you know, this could be
the new normal for a while. I had a pastor, Chuck
Smith, who used to say, "Blessed are the flexible. They shall not be broken." So this is the time
for us to be flexible. And that's what we're doing. We're coming according to
what the laws of the land lately are dictating in terms
of preventing this virus. So thank you for joining us. We do pray God's best blessing
upon you during this time. And honestly, I'm
excited to see what the Lord's going
to do in purifying the church through this. And when it's all said
and done, guess what? We're going to have
a big welcome home party here and just celebrate
this thing like crazy, right? [APPLAUSE] So I have my family here. My wife, Lenya's,
here, Nate and Janae, my son and daughter-in-law,
and some of our friends and part of the
worship community. So we're glad to be joining you. If you have a Bible,
I'm going to invite you to turn to the Gospel
of Matthew, chapter 6, and we're going to look
at some familiar verses that Jesus spoke on the
Sermon on the Mount. Then, afterwards, I'm going to
interview some co-workers here to kind of give you information
on what you can expect in days ahead and also what we can
do for you in days ahead and how we can partner together. Well, we're living in
some pretty crazy times. I was on a call yesterday with
the White House, about 20 of us faith leaders. And they were
asking-- the president I was asking for a 15-day
kind of a lockdown, kind of a quarantine. 15 days where we're going to
individuate like this and then take it day by day
and week by week. But I think it's safe to
say, this is unprecedented. We've never experienced
something quite like this. I think that large swaths
of the world's population is living in fear and
panic, because they don't know what's going to happen. And it seems to be growing,
that panic and fear, day by day. We don't want to be
a part of the panic. We want to be a
part of the prayer and the praise and
the preparation. But we're not to
be given to fear. We're to act cautiously
and soberly and all that, but we're to also live in faith. I was reading something
on from Science Alert that said as coronavirus proliferates
on a global scale, worry and panic are on the rise. Everybody's noticing that. USA Today newspaper
said, "The coronavirus has the world on edge,
and as the number of confirmed cases
of illness grows, so too the nation's
collective uncertainty." So it's a fluid situation. It is a day by day. Bet you've never
listened to the news or watched it as much
as you are recently. We kind of want to know,
what's the new news? What do I have to do? What's going on? Psychologists and
public health experts say public anxiety is high,
and it's largely fueled by a sense of powerlessness. I want you to think about that. You can't control this. I can't control this. Nobody in the world right
now is able to control this. Only God can. We are really at His mercy. So we find ourself in a
very humbling situation, where we are looking to God. And I hope the world looks
to God during this time. We need to be praying for
medical professionals, those who are on the front
lines of this battle. They're dealing with patients
who not only have the disease, but are extremely anxious. And they have to deal with
that on a daily basis. So the question is, that I want
to ask you, ask all of us-- should I be worried? That's what I'm
calling this message. Should I be worried? Of course we should be vigilant. Of course we should be
careful and all those things. But should I be worried? We should be loving, so
this disease doesn't spread. But should I be worried? Did you know the term "worry"-- it's an English word. Our word worry comes from
a German word, wyrgan. We get our word worry
from wyrgan, which means to choke or to strain. So the idea is something
that sort of just chokes you out emotionally,
is the idea of worry. But you know, Jesus
talked about the seed that was choked by the
worries of this world. Think about having a backpack. You put a little day
pack on, and it's empty at the
beginning of the day. But every person you bump
into or every tweet you read or every news flash you
get, you put a stone in. At first, no big deal. But by the end of the day,
it's going to break your back. That's why the Bible says,
casts all your cares upon Him, because He cares for us. So every time you
get that tweet, every time you hear
that news update, immediately cast that
to the Lord in prayer. Now, in contrast, to all
the people freaking out all around us, I want you to
listen to what Jesus said. This is His promise to you. Matthew chapter 6, in verse
25, "Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your
life, what you will eat, what you will drink, or
about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and
the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air,
for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. Yet, your Heavenly
Father feeds them. Are you not of more
value than they? Which of you, by worrying, can
add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry
about clothing? Consider the lilies of
the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And yet, I say to you that
even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed
like one of these. So now, if God so clothes
the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow
is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe
you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not worry,
saying, what shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? For after all these
things, the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knows
that you need all these things. But seek first the Kingdom
of God and His righteousness, and all these things
shall be added to you. Therefore, do not
worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about its own trouble." Now, I've broken this down
into three simple directives. The rule-- that is the
command that Jesus gives. He three times in this little
paragraph, so that's the rule. Second, the reason
for the rule-- why? Why aren't we to worry? And then, finally, what do
we do instead, the recourse? So the rule, the reasons,
and the recourse. First of all, the rule-- three times in this paragraph,
Jesus says, don't worry. Verse 25, "Therefore, I
say to you, do not worry." Verse 31, "Therefore,
do not worry." Verse 34, "Therefore,
do not worry." And the way that
can be translated is stop an action that
is already ongoing. So think of it this way. If you're not worried,
don't start worrying. If you are worrying, stop it. You need to rein that in. You need to think differently
than you're thinking now. In fact, the Amplified
Bible puts it this way-- "Stop being perpetually uneasy. That is, anxious and
worried about your life." This year has been an
interesting year for me. A few weeks ago, I was on a
gurney in an emergency room facing a second brain surgery. I had elective back surgery at
the end of last year, something I knew I needed to get done. Got it done, not knowing there
was an ongoing condition, blood collecting in my brain. That's a subdural hematoma. Got that drained. Thought I was good to go. Thought I was healed. Now I find myself lying on
a gurney in a emergency room facing a second surgery. And I'm thinking, I
thought I was over this. I thought this was healed. And then I thought, you mean
these things can come back? So now I'm getting worried. I'm getting perpetually uneasy,
as the tech says, not to do. And I started
thinking through what this could mean in the future. I thought of all
the implications. I thought of the
seizures that they say will come next after
lethargy, which I was already experiencing, and
possible death. And you start thinking every
imaginable scenario that's not good. And I said to my
wife, Lenya, I said, I have a bad feeling about this. And she immediately
quoted Philippians, which says, "Whatever
things are pure, lovely, honest, of good
report, praiseworthy, think on these things." And just reeled me back in
to where I needed to be. And I think we need to do that. So right then and
there, on that gurney, I had a decision to make. I was wrestling my emotions. And I could go one way or
I could go the other way. And I realized I
don't know my future. I only know the one
who knows my future and who controls my future. So in wrestling
with that, I decided to make the emergency room,
instead of a place of worry, a place of worship. And turning my worry
into praise to God, because He has my
future in his hands. Now, Jesus says, don't worry
about what you're going to eat, what you're going to drink,
what you're going to wear. Honestly, though we
know these verses, they don't make much
sense to us in the West. Most of us, maybe
up until recently, have never worried about
what we're going to eat, never worried about what
we're going to drink. The only thing we worry about-- not even worry about, wonder
about-- is what we want to eat. You want Mexican tonight? Do you want Italian? I mean, we start having
discussions, husband or wife, of what we feel like eating. We'd never worry about
what we're going to wear. We worry about, does this
look good today on me? Because I have a lot of
options in the closet if this outfit doesn't
look good, right? So we deal with it differently. In those days, Jesus
was speaking to a group that this was a daily
wrestling match. They were preoccupied,
literally, with will they get another meal. Will they get to
wear something else? Because usually, people just
had what was on their back. So when Jesus spoke
these words, he wasn't speaking to
a Western culture facing just the
issues we're facing. He was facing people
who were dealing with survival on a daily basis. And yet, he says to
them, don't worry. So that's the command. That's the rule. But here's the big question-- why not? I mean, are there any reasons
for me not to get worried? And Jesus give some
pretty good reasons. Here's what I love
about the Bible. It's reasonable. You know, God didn't
just toss out a command and say, hey, stop doing that. He says, let me tell you why
it's unreasonable to stop doing that. That's why Isaiah says,
"Come, let us reason together, says the Lord." And God always is
practical, always giving us practical stuff. So here's three
reasons not to worry-- because of your master,
because of your father, and because of your future. And you who are gathered
together and listening, I want you to hear these words. You have a master,
you have a father, and He promises you a future. So, first of all,
because he's your master. Unfortunately, when
we read the Bible, we often sort jump
into the paragraph without really noticing
context, what's before it, what's after it. And so we kind of just
jump in with Matthew 6:25. "Therefore, I say to you, do
not worry about your life." And we just start there. But you'll notice the first word
in the sentence is "therefore." And you know the rule, whenever
there's a therefore, you find out what it's there for. And it's always pointing
back to a different thought. So listen to the whole chapter. In the whole chapter, Jesus
is telling his disciples to trust and to pray. He teaches them the
"Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed
be Your name," pray this way, trust God. Then, down in verse 9, or
down in verse 19, he says, "Do not lay up for yourselves
treasures on Earth, where moth and rust destroy,
where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves
treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust
destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also." Then, in verse 24, he says,
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the
one and love the other, or he'll be loyal to the
one and despise the other. You cannot serve God,"
and money-- and mammon. So he says trust God and pray. Don't get swallowed
up by treasure. And you can only serve two
masters, and it should be God. So here's the underlying truth-- God is to be your master. You are to be his servant. He is to be the
master of your life. Now, this terminology is
frequent in the scripture, because the master-slave
relationship was quite common 2,000 years ago. It's estimated that between
60 and 120 million people were slaves at that time
in some form or another. So it was a huge deal. And so it was common. But here's the thing-- it was
also comforting, in a sense. It was comforting because if
you were a servant of somebody, if you were a slave, it
meant your master had absolute total responsibility
of every need you possessed. If you needed clothes, your
master took care of it. If you needed a
drink, your master took care of that for
you and your family. Whatever you needed, your-- that's part of the deal, part
of the relationship of the slave and master relationship. He takes care of everything. One day, a man came
up to John Wesley. You know, the famous evangelist. And said to him--
ran up in a panic, and he said, your
house burned down. And he immediately
said, no, it didn't. And they said, oh, yes, it did. He goes, no, it hasn't,
because I don't own a house. The one I have been living
in belongs to the Lord. And if it is burned
down, then that's one less responsibility
for me to worry about. Now that's perspective. I don't have that
perspective, but I need it. But you know, God is in control. We say that glibly,
but He owns this world. And the Bible says the winds
and the waves obey Jesus. There's nothing in nature that
is out of God's control, even viruses. God is absolutely in control. God's got this. We don't know what the
plan is, we don't know why, but God has this. We're going to get through this. And God owns the world, and God
owns the people in the world. Bible says the Earth is
the Lord's and the fullness thereof. So it all belongs to Him. He owns us by creation. He owns us by redemption. So because He's your master. Second, because
He's your Father. Even better-- because
He's your Father. Now, that's a point
Jesus makes in verse 26. He goes, look at the
birds of the air. So, good thing, tomorrow
morning, go outside. Do what Jesus said. You're self-quarantining. Birds aren't affected
by coronavirus, last time I checked. So go get your little
binoculars and watch them. They're diligent. They're building their nest. But you know what they're doing? Singing. Whistling. And what Jesus says is, look
at the birds of the air. They don't toil. They don't reap. They don't gather
into the barns. But your Heavenly
Father feeds them. Notice the language. He doesn't say their Heavenly
Father feeds them, because he's not their Heavenly Father. He's their heavenly
creator, but there's no personal relationship. Birds don't pray. God doesn't promise to birds
what he promises to us. So he's our father more
than just our creator. So he says, look at the birds. Your Heavenly Father feeds them. Because He's your master, and
also because He is your Father. By the way, can you
ever remember a time when you watched birds worry? You ever see a bird
with its little beak down in its claws going,
I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, man. What's the virus going to do? And what's going to happen
with my home and the country in the future? No, they don't. They are singing, and they
are at the mercy of their God and your Heavenly Father. But you've got the
promises they don't have. No bird was ever created
in the image of God. No bird was ever recreated
in the image of Christ. No bird was ever promised an
eternity forever in Heaven, right? He's your master. He's your Father. I've always loved
that little poem. Lenya, you'll remember this,
because Phil Cagey sang a song about it, and
CS Lewis wrote a poem before that about it. "Said the sparrow
to the Robin, I would surely like to know why
these anxious human beings rush about and worry so. Said the Robin to
the Sparrow, friend, I think that it must be
they have no Heavenly Father such as care for you and me." So they would speak a lesson to
us, because He is our Father. Now, I want you to
think for a moment what it costs God to be your
Father, what it costs Him to make you His child. And it says in Romans
chapter 8, verse 32, "He who did not
spare His own son, but gave him up for us all, how
will He not, along with him, graciously give us all things?" So you know what that means? I know this is tough. I know this is a big trial. But worry advertises
that we don't trust God as our master or our Father. What we're saying is, yeah,
I don't think this is good. I don't think God's got this. He does have this . Worry advertises
that you don't trust He's going to take care of you. He is. He promised He would. So because of your master,
because of your Father, and finally, because
of your future-- your future. Now, Jesus makes personal
application in verse 27. He says, to his disciples,
which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit-- that's 18 inches--
to his stature? Now, this may refer
to length of life. Commentators sort of
go back and forth. Should it be translated
cubit to his stature, or should it be
translated you can't add a single hour to your
life or a day to your life? Doesn't matter. You can't do either. If you worry, it's unproductive. I remember when I
was younger, and I was filled with worry as a
young junior high schooler. I was worried about the future. Raised in the 1960s-- I don't know if some of
you young ones remember this, or have heard your
parents tell you about this. But in 1960s California, we
we're told about nuclear bombs and that you better watch out,
because the enemy might blow us all up. So we had nuclear bomb
drills, atomic bomb drills, where you get under your
desk, like that's going to really help a nuclear bomb. But they also built bomb
shelters in California. And many of my friends in
the back of their home, you could go underground 10
feet into a cement bomb shelter. And so we kind of
grew up with the worry of being annihilated
by nuclear explosion. And that was just
nuclear explosion. Then, as a kid, I'm worried
about am I going to be tall? Because I was sort of
a short kid growing up. I didn't really-- believe
it or not, I'm 6'5" now. Right? But there was a time
where I thought, I don't know what's going
to happen in my future. I was a skinny kid, and I
was trying to gain weight. And my mom had me drink
cream and eat butter cubes and do everything I could
to get rid of that worry and to hopefully
grow up a little bit. But the crazy stuff that
I used to worry about. Now, when it comes
to the future, our culture is obsessed
with the future. I'm watching news
today, and they're trying to predict
what the markets are going to do and predict how
long this is going to last. We don't know. But we're in this together. We're in it for the long haul. But listen to what
Jesus said in verse 34. "Therefore, do not
worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about its own trouble." Worry does not empty
tomorrow of its sorrow. It only empties today
of its strength. So don't cripple the present
by worrying about the future. That's the point of this verse. So the rule is don't worry. And the reasons are
because of the master-- God as your master-- your Father-- God is
your Heavenly Father-- and your future. Now, I want to
end on this note-- the recourse. What should we do instead? What is the backup plan
instead of worrying about it? Verse 33, first word is "but." It's a word of contrast. So don't worry, but seek
first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things will be added unto you. Here's the principle--
don't worry. Instead, work. Instead of worrying, work. That's the solution, in part. That's the antidote to worry. Don't be slaves of fear. Be servants of your father. Get busy about the kingdom work
during this time of difficult. Now, usually, we reverse this. We seek first our own
kingdom, our own pleasure, our own comfort, and we just
hope the Kingdom of God's going to be added to us. Jesus said, nope, seek
first the kingdom. Seek the Lord. Ask Him what He's doing, what
He wants you to be doing, and He will add everything
you need to that. So while you're
quarantined, I'm going to encourage you to stay busy. Stay busy praying, because
Jesus gave this model prayer in the chapter and
verses before us. "In this manner,
therefore, pray-- Our Father in Heaven,
hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your
will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." Pray during this time. And while your
quarantined, bless people. Bless people. Somebody once said,
blessed is the person who is too busy to
work in the daytime and too sleepy to
worry at night. Let me give you
some suggestions. Check in on one another. Make phone calls. If you can't go out,
make phone calls and ask, can I deliver food to you? Can I do something for you? Especially those who are shut
in, those who are elderly. Pray for people. Call them and just pray. Offer to help. Stay connected. I don't like this term
"social distancing." I know that is the term,
but people are already distant from one another,
already disconnected from one another. So in the midst of
social distancing, make sure that you're not
spiritually distancing. Connect with people. Pray for people. Support people. Let them know you love them. This is the time
they need to hear. So I would say, to
put it all together, convert your fears
into faith and redirect your energy heavenward
instead of just earthward. OK? I'm going to pray
and then we're going to have a little bit
of time of discussion of what we can practically do. Let's pray together. Father in Heaven,
hallowed be Your name. We do want Your
kingdom to come, Lord. You did say that things would
happen in the very end of days, and we're not
saying this is that. But we're looking up, because
our redemption draws nigh. And we are saying, Lord,
we want Your kingdom to come on Earth as it is
in Heaven and Your will to be done. We do pray, Lord, that you
would give us, your people, the body of Christ, those who
are connected by television or the internet or
their device or radio, give the daily bread
that is needed, the daily provision
that is required. And Lord, we pray
that You'd keep us from temptation-- the
temptation to worry and to doubt Your provision. And Father, we trust
You, and we know that Yours is the kingdom
and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, well, I've got
some friends coming here. And I'm going to ask
them a few questions, and we're going to
dialogue together. How are you guys doing? Good. Good. Good. This fine evening. What a great way
to do church, huh? It is. It's different. It's cool. Yeah. So this is Austin. Austin, you're one of our
assistant pastors on staff, and the trend is beards. You have one. You've grown a mighty beard. I didn't think you
could do it at first, but you've done pretty well. So this whole new thing of
Calvary at home, Calvary Church at home and the online
community going forward, could you tell us about how that
works and what we can expect? Absolutely. So, I mean, the big
heart behind all of the church online
community is that we get to bring the church to you. No matter what season you're
going through, no matter where you are, we get to
bring the church to you. Right. I mean, it's a great
reminder, especially in this season for us, that
church isn't a building. It's a people. That's right. And so being able to
provide a platform, like we just launched--
it's live.calvarynm.church-- that you can join in--
we have a chat in there that you can engage with
people, that pastors are going to be available
to be able to chat with you. If you're going through
something, you need prayer, you can click Live Chat,
and people can pray with you right then and there. There's also-- It's so good. I watched this at the weekend,
and I noticed how many people were coming on and interacting. And our pastoral team
was writing them back, counseling them and receiving
their prayer requests. So cool. Yeah, it's amazing. One of the really cool
things that I like is we can put in any
notes for people. So you can type in your
notes and follow along, send it to yourself, as
well as sign into your Bible app, your YouVersion Bible
app, and follow along with the message as we go
through scripture together. You know, so often we talk
about the church beyond walls. And now the Lord is
giving us the opportunity to really step up to the plate
and provide that for people in a very unique fashion. And so we're really
grateful for the technology. Absolutely. It's amazing. And just so that you know,
all of our regular services are still going to be happening. Just tune in on our
online community page at live.calvarynm.church,
and we'll see you there. That's great. Thank you so much, Austin. Absolutely. Right next to you
is Roxy Sharpe, and Roxy does not have a beard. I'm glad for that, by the way. So am I. Thank you. She is just a superstar
children's director. And you know, we can't
leave out the kids. Because in a crisis like this,
it's not just about adults paying attention to the
news or watching online, but their kids have
spiritual needs, as well. So, Roxy, how are we
providing for kids? Well, we have put together
a calvarykids.online.church. There's a lot of
dots here tonight. There's a lot of dots there. And we just had a blast over
the last few days just preparing this. We've got the Kids Worship
team coming out and doing our worship, just like you'd
have it in Sunday school here on campus. And we have the Bible drama
doing their Bible lesson that way this week, as well. So on that page, you'll see
a sidebar that is our notes, and it has family follow-up
conversation starters, as well. That's great. So I envision families sitting
around the kitchen table having Sunday school together. That's really good. So let me just say
to our audience, before I finish up here
with you, Antonio, is that there's a lot of
ways you can go online. I'll tell you the reason
we did this new format, this new website. You could watch on just
the app that we have. You could go online and just go
to our website and watch live. You could see it on
YouTube, as well. But this is a platform
that allows interaction and fellowship, even though
we're distant from one another. You can bring prayer requests. We can counsel you. We can give you resources. So we're not just
giving you a new website to give you a new website. We're doing it to
connect better. So I want you to say
the website again. Yeah. It's going to be a
live.calvarynm.church. And then, Roxy, you
give that address again. Calvarykids.online.church. Good. Great. And if you didn't get that, just
rewind what you're watching, and you'll be able to get it. Next to us is Antonio. Antonio does have a beard. Slightly. Slightly, yes. Yeah, slightly. It's fine. You had a longer one, but
I'm liking the looks of that. Thank you. So, Antonio, you know, in this
time of social distancing, it's so counterintuitive,
because the church is community. Yes. We connect. We hug. We weep together. But we're told we can't
really be together. So what do we do? What are we working on in terms
of watch parties, we call it? Well, if you're healthy-- like the president addressed
on Monday, if you're healthy and you want to gather in a
group of 10 or less people, you can do that, and we're
encouraging everybody to do it. If you're part of that
group, we can invite you to go to somebody's house. Or you can have a watch party
in your own living room. What a watch party is,
is you gather together with a group of people, and
you watch the Calvary worship service in your living room, or
at somebody else's living room, through the platform that
we had just discussed. Many of you have
probably had a Super Bowl party in your living
room, or you've gone to a Super Bowl party. Well, this is a
super worship party, and the party doesn't stop. So we encourage you to
go to another website, and it is
calvarynm.church/watchparty. And on that website,
you can learn how you can post to invite
people to your own watch party. Or if you're looking for
one, we have a couple watch parties already established. You can find out where
they're at in the city, and you can request to
join their watch party. But aside from watch
parties, throughout the week, our connect groups,
our small groups, very vital to the
church, most of them are still meeting in
groups of 10 or less. And we encourage you, if you
don't have a group of people in your life, fellow believers,
who are gathering around you in prayer, those that you
can discuss the Word with, we encourage you to
go to our website, calvarynm.church/connectgroups,
and learn how you can join a connect group. And if you want to inquire how
you can lead a connect group, you can also go there. But it's all about fellowship. And the president has
given us those parameters. If you're healthy and you
still want a fellowship, we encourage you to get
together and still do that. Yes. So I'm going to lead us-- or I'm going to have
you lead us in prayer before we end this in worship. But let me just
say to you again, let not your heart be troubled. That's what Jesus said. Don't let it be troubled. It has the tendency to do it. You're going to want
to be tempted to do it. We are going to get
through this victoriously. We are. And we're going to
beat this thing. And we're just being vigilant,
and we're being loving, and we're doing all the
things for our population. You know, the whole
world is facing-- this is very unprecedented. It's not like September 11th. September 11th, we were hit,
and the world watched it, and we all suffered
here in this country. What happened in 2008,
the economy collapsed. But it's not like now. The entire world is facing
the same things we are. So God is up to something
for even allowing this. And we want to find
out what it is, even if it's humbling
ourselves and repenting before God as a nation. You know, we had a National Day
of Prayer this last weekend. We should have a
National Month of Prayer. When I was on the phone call
with the White House, 20 of us the other day,
one of the pastors suggested, and it'll be brought
to the president-- he said, hey, suggest to the
president that he declare a month of prayer. And we're hoping that. We want to see our nation
brought back to God. We're glad you joined us. I do want to say that
coming up this weekend-- and we have all four
services scheduled, Saturday and Sunday-- I'm going to be bringing
a special message out of the Book of Psalms that
will encourage your heart. Some concrete steps to take when
times are uncertain like this. You're going to want to tune
in and tell your friends to, as well. But Antonio, would
you close this off before we end in
worship, in prayer? Absolutely. Heavenly Father, You tell us in
Your Word many times, fear not. And so, Father, we want to
be obedient to that command, to fear not. We thank you, Father, that You
hold the world in Your hand, and You hold us in
Your hand, Lord. And nothing can snatch
us out of Your hand. And so, Father, as many
are home for the week, many have lost their jobs, many are
wondering what's next, Father, we know that You're
going to take care of us. We know that You're
going to watch over us, You're going to
provide for us, Lord. And for those that
don't know You, I pray that this would
draw them closer to You, that they could come to a
loving salvation in Jesus Christ and faith in Him. So, Father, we
lift up our prayer to You that You would calm the
fears of Your people, Father. And I pray that this would
draw people closer to You. May the church come
together and be stronger because of this, Lord. And we know that all
things work for the good to those that love You, Lord,
and those that are called according to Your purpose. And so, Father, we hold
on to Your promises. We trust You. We thank You. And we just praise
your name, Lord. We say these things
and we ask these things in the precious name of
our great Almighty, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING]
