Transcript of a published sermon by Chad Erickson, transcribed from YouTube. An attributed primary source — not Acts 2:38 Life doctrine text.
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Summary
Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.
The church that hell cannot prevail against
- His ground is Christ's own word: upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
- The church is not a building that can be closed; we are the body of Christ, and members in particular, and God has set the members in the body.
Scriptures: Matthew 16:18; 1 Corinthians 12:27-28
The Comforter, and the temple he lives in
- It was expedient for him to go away: if he did not go, the Comforter would not come; but having gone, he sent him.
- Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God; the temple is to be cared for, not carelessly risked.
Scriptures: John 16:7; 1 Corinthians 6:19
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God
- The text Jesus answered Satan with becomes the sermon's rule of common sense: thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
- It is one thing to take a bold step of faith in obedience to God; it is another to do the same act to prove God, which is presumption, not faith.
Scriptures: Deuteronomy 6:16
Kadesh Barnea: learning from the experience of others
- At Kadesh Barnea, the spies were sent to see the land God had already given, not to decide whether taking it was possible.
- Joshua and Caleb insisted the people obey God and go in boldly; the other ten said they were not able, and the nation believed the ten and refused to trust God.
- The same act attempted later, after God had spoken wandering, became presumption and ended in disaster; the rest of that chapter he leaves for the hearers to read on their own time.
Scriptures: Numbers 13
The leper shall dwell alone: separation that protects
- The law's own pattern for contagion is read entire: the leper in whom the plague is shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.
- The cleanliness statutes given through Moses run through the law in large share; distancing and washing are not a lack of faith but an old biblical pattern.
Scriptures: Leviticus 13:46
The Lord is my light and my salvation
- The psalm he reads is a confession for an attacked man: the Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear.
- Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
Scriptures: Psalm 27:1-3
Go ye: witnesses to the uttermost part
- The commission has not been quarantined: go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
- The promise stands behind the sending: you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to the uttermost part of the earth.
- Joseph's word to his brothers is the sermon's landing: you meant evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to save many people alive.
Scriptures: Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; Genesis 50:20
Scripture index: Matthew 16:18; John 16:7; 1 Corinthians 12:27-28; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Deuteronomy 6:16; Numbers 13; Leviticus 13:46; Psalm 27:1-3; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; Genesis 50:20.
Transcript
we are blessed to have the greatest senior pastor and first lady in all the world and I want to honor them tonight in the presence of the greatest church in the whole wide world and we have two campuses and I am blessed to be a part of these two campuses I'm blessed to know the greatest people I believe in all the world and I want you to know as you're opening your Bibles to Matthew chapter 16 that I miss you all so bad I promise if we would have had any idea that the carpenter Eriksson Hammond family would have had any idea that going on vacation for about ten days or so that by the time we returned that everybody be quarantined and there would be social distancing I promise you we would not have gone on vacation because this is by far the longest time away from my church family I've been to the other side of the world many times and I've been away maybe ten days but here we are going on now since we've been on vacation then came back on quarantine and I think it's been some two and a half weeks and I'm dying but I just believe maybe that on maybe on Saturday we have our time of Prayer together maybe we can wave at one another and at least we can see one another we may not be able to interact and and can't shake hands and hug necks but it'll be so good just to see you because I love you my wife she misses you dearly my children do and we give this this great church with two campuses we give you honor tonight I want you just very quickly I'm gonna read Matthew 16 and 18 and then I'm gonna get right into the word tonight Matthew 16:18 says and I and this is Jesus speaking say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it jesus said I'm gonna build my church and notice the word build that's a that's a word that continues on he's still building his church upon this same Rock Bible says it Jesus he's gonna add to the church daily such as should be saved but then the next part is where I'm really gonna preach about the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it if you're standing you may be seated thank you brother chase for helping me tonight didn't you enjoy all of our praise and worship tonight our praise and worship team they come so faithfully in minister and as you saw we had we had exactly ten included pastor I came in late including pastor we had exactly 10 here I took the place of a couple and but I'm just privileged to be a part of the greatest music team I believe in all the world thank you to all those that are complementing the videos to be putting out apostolic collective we have a brand new studio called apostolic collective and we've been writing songs they've been recording been editing thank you so much Apple stock collective all of you that are part of that for blessing the kingdom of God with great music but let me begin by saying this that there is no crisis within the Church of the Living God there has been no change to the value or the worth of the church the stock market might fail it might crash but God's church as is in an all-time high if the very gates of Hell cannot be victorious in conquer the church I promise you there's no coal mid-nineteen pandemic that has a chance to conquer the church and I've come to preach to the church and I'm not talking about the building that I'm standing in I'm I'm referring to the people of God I'm referring to the Assembly of people that are the true church because if you have the Spirit of God on the inside of you you are the church the word church is simply defined as the house of God the house of God the church is what houses the Spirit of God Jesus himself said in John 16 and 7 he said nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you as long as Jesus Christ the man the son of God the Son of man as long as he walked the earth God already had a body of flesh that he in dwelled and we as humanity could not become the body of Christ the house of God we could not become the church until Jesus left the earth and that's why it was expedient Jesus said listen it's not about me it's expedient for you that I go away because there can only be one house of God there could only be one body of Christ and if you know understand that Jesus is God then you understand that those two are the very same thing but now we have become the church ever since Jesus has left the earth and the Holy Ghost was poured out we are the body of Christ first Corinthians 12 and 27 and 28 says now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular and God hath set some in the church I want you to see that it's on your strength you see that the body of Christ that term body of Christ and the term the church are interchangeable because they're the very same thing the body of Christ the church he said pasal in secondary prophets teach miracles then gifts of healing helps governments diversity of tongues he's talking in referring to the body of Christ I'm so glad I'm a part of the Church of the Living God is anybody glad that you're a part of the Church of the Living God I want to give hope tonight because I I don't I don't need a building in order to worship you don't need a building to have Church now I know that there's some Christians out there and and they think that the government is trying to take away their right to worship but let me tell you let let me correct this this thought process nobody can take away our right to worship there's no governing power that has the authority to keep us from being the church that's been proven for a long time there's been many closed nations there's been many many churches that are underground who are hiding who are worshipping God day and night who are coming together in Bible studies these clothes nations they hate Christianity but I want you to know that the church in those nations is alive and well whether it be in the Middle East whether it be in China wherever it is there are people that are gathering even right this moment and they're worshiping the same God we're worshiping they don't have a building with a steeple they don't have a building with stained glass they don't have choirs they don't have praise and worship teams but they're still the church because the church has nothing to do with a building it's all about what contains the Spirit of God it's all about where the Spirit of God dwells inside Christianity listen the Bible makes it very clear that where two or three are gathered together in the name of Jesus it makes it very clear jesus said I will be right there in the midst of them Christianity is the only corporation it's over two thousand years old where the founder and the CEO still attends every single meeting it doesn't matter if you're a whole missions Church if you're a whole missions past or watching by way of the internet tonight let me tell you something the same God it's in this place when we have over 600 on a Sunday morning is the same car that you have in your living room when it's just you and your wife and your two children because we are the church and whatever the church gathers if there's two if there's three if there's ten if there's twenty wherever the people of God come together the founder the CEO shows up and he shows out in his power is in the midst of his people his church the body of Christ our president our governor has signed a mandate that doesn't allow us to meet in groups of more than 10 but it doesn't affect the church that doesn't change one thing about the people the body of Christ that meets every Sunday and every Wednesday at 13:30 one William Blount driver or meet set 25-15 Chapman Highway not one thing changes we don't look any different we don't ask any different we don't live any different and I might even want to add this we shouldn't even worship any different my god if you can feel the Holy Ghost on up you and raise your hands you want to be able to feel the Holy Ghost on your couch and raise your hands if the presence of the Lord is in your home if you can feel them it ought not be an awkward moment to just say ho God I love you O God I know I can't come to a sanctuary to a place of worship I know I can't come to 1331 right now but all God that doesn't make me any less of your body it does make me any less of the church first Corinthians 6 and 19 says what know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you and he have of God and ye are not your own I want you to remember that case I'm going to come back to that verse but I just want to simply say that God doesn't need a brick and mortar building he has us he has you watching by way of the internet he has every person that's filled with this spirit but now let me turn the corner because I sure don't want anybody watching tonight to think that I don't love my house of worship God may not need a building but we do because there's nothing that compares to corporate worship no doubt we can pray at home but that doesn't compare to the power of corporate prayer no doubt we can sing songs of worship at home and watch videos of anointed singing the ladies feel tonight was amazing we saw a video that was shot today in the Apostolic collective studio for the chase Condon thank you for the work that you're putting into editing these videos this this audio we watch there but that doesn't compare to corporate singing and worshipping with the people of God in a house of worship you can be healed at home but there will never it'll never be the same level of faith by yourself than what you experienced in a corporate healing service no doubt you can be at work and be healed no doubt you can be at school and you can pray to God and God can heal you but the amount of faith with corporate worship the amount of faith that takes place in this place it is an overload and it causes other people to have faith and maybe wouldn't have faith in the beginning but because the people of God the church comes together the body of Christ comes together in corporate worship we can see miracles signs and wonders take place you can watch a sermon online and I've enjoyed Bishop Jake Charles Borna I've enjoyed brother Paul Makia I've enjoyed I said in my in my living room last night and absolutely enjoy the ministry i sat in my living room on Monday night and absolutely enjoyed the ministry but there's nothing like being in God's presence gathered around God's wonderful people because we are far better together we are far better together it doesn't make us any more the body of Christ but I want you to know right now I cannot wait until the day that were released from homes to enter back into this house of worship together what a day that's gonna be listen it's gonna feel a little bit like heaven when we oh my god can you imagine when the doors open on this on this house of a worship and people start flooding in these doors and filling these pews when the choir goes back up into the choir lofts what a day that's gonna be it's give me the same feeling we're gonna have in heaven when we start meeting loved ones that have gone on before us that we haven't seen in time and a lot of time and we're gonna love on them and we're gonna say come on let's worship the Lord together come on let's praise the name of Jesus together let's go to the throne together in worship and I cannot wait for that day to take place and it's coming I said it's coming but just for a few minutes and I just I I do mean just for a few minutes I I want to preach on this subject the subject is the church's response to a world-wide wake-up call what will be the church's response to a world-wide wake-up call Cobin 19 now dominates the news every channel every channel has something going about the pandemic extreme actions are being taken by governments across the world to contain the spread of this virus it's driving stock market down and back up again in town and back up again in town and unfortunately it's become part of the political dialogue it's affecting Commerce in travel it's affecting entertainment it's affected sports the Olympics have been cancelled - next year postponed President Trump has declared this crisis is a national emergency primarily the concern is not the current sickness and death count but it's the potential devastation this virus can cause the influenza pandemic that struck in 1980 affected one third of the world's population I want you to imagine this that that would be two and a half billion people in today's population it's estimated to have killed 50 million people when the population was much less than ours is today there's even some estimates that that as high as a hundred million people died in 1918 from this flu virus to put that perspective on think about this the total fatalities and World War two are estimated at around 70 to 85 million more died from influenza in that one year then died during a whole world war and these statistics explain why the government's response to the current pandemic is so dramatic but with the Bible the Bible has a lot to say about place and we can draw council from the Word of God as to how we ought to respond brother Hammond to the current situation as the Church what should we personally do facing our current crisis three things I'm just gonna narrow them down to three things number one we must exercise common sense we must I must say together we must exercise common sense if your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost then you ought to do everything in your power to protect it because it was it was very clearly stated that your body is not your own if the Holy Ghost lives within you you can't make decisions about your buck you've got to listen to the will of God and the will of God is for you not to contract some disease or some virus that's gonna affect the body of Christ when Satan tempted Jesus I want you to think about this to jump off that the pinnacle of the temple Jesus calendar the suggestion by quoting Deuteronomy 6 and 16 and he simply said you shall not tempt the Lord your God to force God's hand by doing something so foolish it's the tempt or to test God I saw a news story for the Josh a man who they're pressing charges against who went through a Walmart and licked he licked everything he could find to lick the pressing charges again and we look at him as being what what kind of idiotic well mental mess-up would take place in order for somebody to do that but in the same fashion could it be said of someone who refuses to social distance themselves during a pandemic let me read to you what campbell morgan wrote he said the moment we do something to prove god we are proving that we are not sure of God trust never employees tricks to find out whether the one trusted is trustworthy I'm gonna read that again because there's a lot in this one quote the moment we do something to prove God we are proving that we are not sure of God trust never employs tricks to find out whether the one trusted is trustworthy it's called tempting the Lord or testing the Lord it's one thing to take a bold step of faith in obedience to God it's another to initiate the same action for our own purpose as Satan suggested Jesus do let me explain little bit further when Israel came to Kadesh Barnea in numbers chapter 13 God had given them the land and they were told to possess it I'm not gonna go deep into this because you know the story of Joshua and Caleb they were coming and God said go into the land I want you to look around I want you to see all that I've given you all that I've promised you I want you to go across the Jordan and I want you to possess the land the 12 spies were not supposed to determine whether it was possible or not the 12 spies were sent to go look at the land and tell the people of God all the great things that God had in store for them God had already promised Joshua and Caleb insisted that they obeyed God and boldly enter indicated you remember the story two spies said let's go in and take the land and ten spies said we can't do it we're not able but doing that would have been an act of faith because God already told them to do it and had promised it to them it was an act of unbelief when the nation decided not to trust God and not go into the land so watch this but the same action became presumption not things when God said now you know what since you could go since you didn't have faith in me and you and believe in me you're gonna wander for 40 years and in chapter 14 of numbers there rose up up people and they said you know what we're gonna go into the land and possess it and I it was very disastrous and I want you to read it on your own time I don't have time to tell the rest of the story but I want you to know it did not end well for those people and my point is this in the absence of divine command to do otherwise we simply must act with common sense I'm gonna say it again unless God tells us differently brother Noland we act in common sense we don't act in presumption we we presumption is driven by subtle pride faith acts in humble obedience God if you tell me to go I'll go God if you tell me to stay I'll stay God if you've given me leaders in my life if you've given medical staff that are telling our country to stay in their homes and to stay away from large groups of people and to wash their hands and to do this and God whatever it is the Lord you put people over me you've put people to rule over me you've given me a president you've given me a governor lord help me have common sense as the church unless God tells us differently we must use the common sense that God has given us doctors and governmental authorities are providing guidelines it's it's not rocket science it's not hard to understand they say come on wash your hands use sanitizers avoid touching your face after you in any public areas you've got to minimize exposure to large crowds our president our governor has asked for social distancing self quarantine listen it's not a hard thing to understand the act of social distancing and cleanliness is found in Scripture over 600 Oh over 600 statutes that Moses gave the children of Israel as ritualistic work 33% of them were on cleanliness this is not a Donald Trump thing this is not a president truck this is not our our medical staff from the United States on 33% of the statutes had to do with cleanliness such as he shall wash himself he shall wash his clothes 33% of the statutes had to do a diet especially forbid forbidden things they told you what not to eat stuff like bat soup I mean that wasn't in there but it was in 33% of statutes had to do with quarantine and he shall be unclean that means stay away from everybody until they even or the evening or seven days shall he be unclean we don't we don't need to think that self quarantine is an invention of the presidents of the governments that are facing this pandemic Leviticus 13 and 46 Moses laid down strict regulations regarding treatment of those that were afflicted with leprosy or plague it says all the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled he is unclean he shall dwell alone without the camp shall his habitation be because the leprosy was the contagious sickness of their day leprosy was their Kovan 19 and as heartless as it might seem to force lepers into a leper colony and force them to dress differently and look differently and stay confined away from the public as gruel and harmless as it might seem the only other option was for the sickness to spread to the whole nation self quarantine and social distancing it's biblical when deadly sicknesses are contagious so here's just a few practical suggestions that we can and and we should follow but let me give you two extremes that we've to avoid number one is the presumption that because we're a king's kid that we will not deal with any of his Kovan 19 belonging to God does not exempt us from the human experience God will take care of us as we trust and obey Him but we are still mortal bodies our complete salvation has not yet arrived we are looking forward to be clothed with glorified bodies but in the meantime the Bible talks about there's gonna be groaning along the way to that one day when we get to the other side there's gonna be times of disease and sicknesses there's gonna be death even within the people of God so one extreme is thinking that because we're you're the church they're automatically exempt from contracting covin 19 we already know this is not sure we have ministers we have pastors in the country of Spain even right now who are hospitalized eyes and they are on breathing treatments and ventilators even right now because they have kovin 19 I was told I was told just before church my parents would let me to know I've got a very close family member that lives across the country that he and his wife I got an uncle in an aunt he and his wife were both admitted into a hospital today in separate rooms totally quarantined they've been tested in the hospitals almost positive that they've got Kovan 19 he's a preacher of the gospel he is an apostolic one God preaching machine he's got : 19 don't think for a second than just because you're filled with the Holy Ghost and you've been baptized in Jesus name keeps you from contracting there's a virus you better wake up and realize you are not given a free pass but the other extreme is we can't panic either God has not given us a spirit of fear listen to David's confidence in Psalm 27 one through five because this right here this is a man who understands that he can be attacked this is a man who understands the disease can come his way this is a man who understands that he is not above getting attacked by the enemy David said the Lord is my light and my salvation he said whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid when the wicked even my enemies and my foes come upon me to eat up my flesh they stumbled and fell though an host should encamp against me why or my heart shall not fear it's an attitude that says I know that I've not been given I know that I've not been given a free pastor to just skip this virus but at the same time I also believe that I have a God it's on my side that's looking out for me and I refuse to take on the spirit of fear so house of the church respond to this worldwide wake-up call number one exercise common sense number two we've got to learn from this experience the first thing that I've personally learned is how easy it is for the virus to spread in my generation I've never seen anything like this I you know even when the flu when there's when there's that when there's a strand of flu that that's being passed around you know we see in our schools but as far as worldwide watching is it's jumped over the oceans and jumped over the seas in Antonina nations and God help Italy and God help Spain right now as its jumped across the water and now it's it's infiltrating whole governments and whole nations god help them but I've never I've never seen quickly a virus could spread and I'm sure some blame can be placed on China but the fact is this no matter what they would or could have done a viruses job is to spread that's what it's born to do that's what viruses do their job is to spread kind of reminds me way back when I was when I was a youth pastor here at first Apostolic we we called our - age or college and career students we call them contagious we called them contagious because we just believed that after our students graduated high school anyway we just believed that they would become contagious and they would infect the world with the gospel because the gospel of Jesus Christ must break through every continental barrier and spread into every country it's our job as the people of God to spread this gospel to every land Oh God I begin to watch as they would give pictures of the nations of the globe and I began to watch as these small red dots would begin to get larger and larger in countries that were barely infected all the sudden they would turn almost totally red as as the virus would spread from city to city from person to person and I got to thinking to myself oh my god that was your intention all along when Jesus said it's expedient that I leave you so that my spirit can be poured out on my people Jesus was saying I want this to be like a virus I wanted to go into every land mark 16:15 says and jesus said go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature acts one an age says but ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem Judea is some and into the uttermost part of the earth I just believe that Jesus was describing a spiritual virus they would go from one town to another town to another country to another city to another continent and the gospel would reach this whole world so how can we infect the world with the gospel during this pandemic time I'm preaching a revelant message right now this is for you right now I believe today more than ever before we are going to reach this world through the online internet I just believe that the more views and the more shares that the more people are gonna be infected oh my gosh I just believe in a time like this this church here in Maryville was made for such a time as this I just believe in every camera that's in place I believe that every technician every production staff member I believe that God allowed us to bring together a team of people for such a time as this I don't believe this by any accident that we just put the Apostolic collective studio upstairs it just happened a couple of weeks ago it's not by any accident because we've got to get apples tonic one God music into this world we got to get preaching into this world in the way it's gonna be done at this hour at this time in this season is gonna be from the online internet and I just believe that God is going to use us in God's going to anoint us and God's gonna tell us exactly what's a record and exactly what to shoot exactly what to preach exactly what to sing we got to spread as much salvation Bible doctrine as we can brother Hammond right now now listen I know that we've got to spread hope because there's a lot of hopeless people right now I understand I get there we got we got a spread faith I understand it completely but listen now is the time I'm gonna say this right here very clearly now is the time for apostolic doctrine for Bible salvation doctrine to be spread across the airwaves because people are watching and people are listening and I just believe that Facebook and Skype and FaceTime in every social media Avenue can be the greatest form of soul-winning and spreading this gospel throughout this world I want you to know that every city in America doesn't have a building that's called a church they don't have a building with a steeple this preaching truth but every single city every single town in this country have internet access and I believe in God is going to use us during this quarantine time during this social distancing time to reach the Lost through online ways I'm challenging every epistatic songwriter I'm challenging every episodic blogger take this time of quarantined or white like you've never written before my God writes some good doctrinal songs come on writers come on I'm so thankful I saw brother Saul and brother solvents here tonight he's unblocker I thank you for your daily post you've been putting online because it's gonna help people to understand that there's more to life than just watching the news and watching the stock market fail but there is a God that wants to get on the inside of them the church is growing daily such as should be saved the second most important thing I'm rushing to an end the second most important thing I've learned here this pandemic is we truly need each other we're not in Ireland I pray that if your attendance to your local house of worship has been lacking that this mandatory social distancing will wake you up and increase your faithfulness I'm praying listen my father my father when I was a I was probably 12 years old my father was pastoring a great church that he started and my family started in Auburn New York and I remember there's there was a time there was time when the worship got a little dry when when when when the song leader was singing songs of glory and in singing songs of worship in power and praise to God when the people were just sitting on their hands and and dad I remember when you told the people I want you I don't want you to make a noise we're gonna sing two more songs I don't want you to clap your hands don't you lift your hands I don't want you to shout Amen I don't want you to sing you just sit there and you just keep your mouths closed they're gonna worship on the platform you're just gonna sit because obviously and he did it in a nice way but he said obviously we're not in the worst men right now so we're just gonna sit and we're just gonna watch the team as they worship and it was unbelievable I still remember this has been some thirty thirty over thirty years ago I remember as that church erupted when we were allowed to worship again brother Whitley when we felt how it felt to not be allowed to worship and then all of a sudden be allowed to worship it was the greatest film in the world to shoot our hands up in a star clapping our hands and to start dancing unto the Lord there was no better feeling because when you're not allowed to do something you realize how important it is oh my god you realize how important it is and listen I know we've been away from one another and if your church attendance has been lacking I pray to God that you'll wake up and realize now that you can't come to the house of God now that you can't come into the sanctuary now that you can't be among the worst person appraisers that will wake up and say God I'm gonna be in the sanctuary every time the doors are open if it's revival I'll be there if it's prayer meeting I'll be there if the doors are open I'll find myself in the house we need each other we need each other I'm gonna preach this in the way of an announcement up and I've been talking to our our small group leaders I I don't think it's any accent brother Hammond there's some six months ago some six months ago we started training leaders to be over small groups and what didn't you know that the very week that we launched our care groups koban nineteen took over in social distancing and self-quarantine start taking place and and we started calling buddy ever said listen this is not a good time to go to each other's houses this is just not good time to be out travel and get out around about the community we're just gonna hold off on our care groups and we'll we'll get them started back up but I was in pray or the other day and I started thinking you know there's are other ways for our small groups to meet than in person we could get on a zoom conference call and we could have video to where each person can see one another and we can pray together and study the Word of God together and share needs with one another we don't have to touch physically we can just see one another because there's such an importance of the body of Christ connecting to each other and I say this and we're about to get him started here about a week or so work about to get them launched back into these online zoom meetings and if you're not already in a care group inbox me text me call me call the church we want to get you signed up in one of these because we're better together and we need one another so how should the church respond to this worldwide a wake-up call we got exercise common sense we got to learn from the experience that we're in right now in number three and I'm almost done we must put our trust in God well listen closely God is able to redeem any situation and turn it toward his purpose it was terrible what Joseph's brothers did to him selling him into slavery the intention behind the action was pure evil the suffering they Joseph experienced was real come on search family listen to me we cannot see these numbers in the death toll rising and look at it as if it's just just just another statistic those are real people dying that have real families have real parents and children have grandparents those people have grandchildren those people have a loved ones God help us not look at it like just another statistic we wake up the next morning oh there's another 200 dead Oh in this country they Wow they're up over 4000 this country mean well well I hope that doesn't happen - a miracle well let me tell you something the people of Spain they've gotten loved ones too and they've got people that care for them - and the people of Italy have lowers the people of China have loved ones that care about them - come on somebody we gotta realize the Joseph had real-life problems he was facing he wasn't just saw some Joyride on the way to Farrell's house but he was going through all kinds of travel or tragedy all kinds o of mental anguish remembering who he used to be and seeing who he was today can't help us can't help us the suffering that Joseph's experienced it was real but God redeemed even that and worked his purpose of salvation Genesis 50:20 see in the end Joseph could say to his brothers you know you meant evil against me but God meant it for good and we don't preach this next statement very often but then Joseph a dad and he said in order to bring about as it is this day to save many people alive I want to say it again God is able to redeem any situation and turn it toward his purpose may the church continue to be the church no matter how bleak the situation may see because I just believe that there's gonna be a mighty revival that's gonna come out of this pandemic but it's all gonna be contingent upon how the church responds it's all good it's all gonna be contingent if the church doesn't respond as a church ought to respond we will never see the revival that I believe that God could turn this thing around to become if Joseph would have got off track if you would have got his eyes on on Piper's life if he would have got his eyes on riches oh my god the people would have never lived there would have been no children of God but thank God he just kept on do what he knew to do he kept on living for God he kept on being faithful and because he did God rewarded even the most dreary in the worst outlook on life that he had God rewarded him and made him second-in-command and not only did he do that but he saved the lives of his people so wherever you are about your head I just want to pray just just just a prayer over this great church this great body of Christ the people of God come on let's pray together father honest believe in Lord God this pandemic it has some people scared it has other people Lord God that they ought to watch themselves there's some people that are a little bit careless with their temple of God Lord God but I'm just believing in Jesus name that we're gonna come around to the center and we're gonna live for you like we've never lived for you before we're gonna be careful we're gonna obey our leaders that rule over us we're gonna have more prayer than we ever had there's gonna be more devotions in our home going on than there's ever been when we get out of this pandemic I believe there's gonna be such a revival I'm not even talking about a soul revival I'm talking about the body of Christ he's gonna be revived the Spirit of God is gonna well up in every home and people who are not spiritual are gonna find themselves with spiritual nests and they're gonna find themselves wanting to pray they're gonna find themselves wanting to sing when the worship team sings up they're gonna find themselves wanting to get up in the middle of the night and open up their Bibles and study the Word of God I just believe revival is gonna come out of this in Jesus name I pray for every saint of God in a miracle campus and in the Sevierville campus I'm just gonna believe Lord God that when this whole thing is over we're gonna have church like we've never had Church before because when the church comes together that's when an explosion takes place and and true church happens when the body comes together to worship their God in one mine in one Accord I pray this blessing over this great church in Jesus name Amen and amen god bless you first Apostolic Church listen get on tomorrow night at 7:30 you're gonna want to hear pastor Tim Ham and he is gonna bring the Word of God from Watkinsville Georgia be looking for a brand new song from my apostolic collective God's doing great things even in this time God is doing great things I love you we love you can't wait to see you on Saturday god bless you
Scripture references as spoken: Matthew 16:18; John 16:7; 1 Corinthians 12:27-28; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Deuteronomy 6:16; Numbers 13; Leviticus 13:46; Psalm 27:1-3; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; Genesis 50:20.