Exodus chapter 40 beginning in verse number one the Bible reads and the Lord spake unto Moses saying on the first day of the first month
Shout thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation
And thou shalt put there in the ark of the testimony and cover the ark with the veil
And thou shalt bring in the table and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it
And thou shalt bring in the candlestick and light the lamps thereof
And thou shalt set the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the testimony
And put the hanging of the door to the tabernacle
And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation
And thou shalt set the labor between the tent of the congregation and the altar
And shalt put water thereon
And thou shalt set up the cork round about and hang up the hanging at the cork gate
And thou shalt take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is there in
And shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof, and it shall be holy
shall be holy and thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt offering and all his vessels and
sanctify the altar and it shall be an altar most holy and thou shalt anoint the labor and his foot
and sanctify it and thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons under the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation and wash them with water and thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments and anoint
him and sanctify him that he may minister under me in the priest's office and thou shall bring
his sons and clothe them with coats and thou shalt anoint them as thou didst anoint their father
that they may minister unto me in the priest's office for their anointing shall surely be an
everlasting priesthood throughout their generations thus did Moses according to all that the Lord
commanded him so did he and it came to pass in the first month in the second year on the first
day of the month that the tabernacle was reared up and Moses reared up the tabernacle and fastened
his sockets and set up the boards thereof and put in the bars thereof and reared up his pillars
and he spread abroad the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent above upon it
as the Lord commanded Moses and he took and put the testimony into the ark and set the staves on
the ark and put the mercy seat above the ark and he brought the ark into the tabernacle and set up
the veil of the covering and covered the ark of the testimony as the Lord commanded Moses
and he put the table in the tent of the congregation upon the side of the table northward
without the veil and he set the bread and order upon it before the Lord as the Lord had commanded
Moses and he put the candlestick in the tent of the congregation over against the table on the
side of the tabernacle southward and he lighted the lamps before the Lord as the Lord commanded
Moses and he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation before the veil and he burnt
sweet incense there on as the Lord commanded Moses and he set up the hanging at the door of
the tabernacle and he put the altar of burnt offering by the door of the tabernacle of the
tent of the congregation and ordered it upon and ordered upon it the burnt offering and the meat
offering as the Lord commanded Moses and he set the labor between the tent of the congregation
and the altar and put water there to wash with all and Moses and Aaron and his sons
washed their hands and their feet they're at when they went into the tent of the congregation
and when they came near under the altar they washed as the Lord commanded Moses
and he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar and set up the hanging
of the court gate so Moses finished the work then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation
and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle and Moses was not able
to enter into the tent of the congregation because the cloud abode there on and the glory of the Lord
filled the tabernacle and when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle the children of Israel
went onward in all their journeys but if the cloud were not taken up then they journeyed not till the
day that it was taken up for the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day and fire was
on it by night in the sight of the house of Israel throughout all their journeys and the
fireheads for word of prayer father we thank you so much for this evening Lord and we thank you for
the chance to look within your word and we just pray that you just bless the sermon fill me with
your holy spirit as i preach and in Jesus name i pray amen so in exodus chapter 40 verse 1 the
bible reads and the Lord spake unto Moses saying on the first day of the first month shalt thou set
up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation the first thing i want to point out here is the
significance of the date where they set up the tabernacle this is the culmination of just how
many chapters of just going on and on about all the different preparations for building the
tabernacle the furniture the wardrobe for Aaron and his sons and going through all this so then
it's finally being deployed on this date and it says it's the first day of the first month now
the way that this is reckoned if you remember is that when God instituted the Passover he told them
that that month from then on would be their first month on their calendar the month where the
Passover took place would be the first month and then of course on the 14th day of the month was
the Passover so then after that they left Egypt so basically they've been out of Egypt for just
a little bit less than a year so it's the first day of the first month and if you jump down to
verse number uh 17 it says it shall come to pass in the first month in the second year okay so
this is the second year first month first day they pitch the tabernacle they deploy everything
and what God's getting across to us here is the fact that in all things he must have the
preeminence he comes first that's why God's house is reared up on the first day of the first month
all throughout the bible you know it tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness and all these things will be added unto us the bible talks about giving the first
fruits unto God we go to church on the first day of the week you know we get up first thing in the
morning and we read our bibles and pray and seek the Lord early you give the first tenth of your
income unto the Lord in the tithe and so over and over again we see this principle in the bible
of putting God first so after we get the date in verse two it says in verse number three and
thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony and cover the ark with the veil now flip over
to a mark chapter 15 in your bible mark chapter number 15 so the ark of the covenant represents
the word of God the ark of the covenant has the stone tablets in it written with the finger of
God so God's word is in the ark of the covenant it's represented by the ark of the covenant he
says put the veil over the ark of the covenant now while you're turning to mark 15 the bible says in
second Corinthians 3 14 but their minds were blinded for until this day remain at the same
veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament which veil is done away in Christ
so the bible says the veil is there when they're reading the old testament so what is
the ark of the covenant it's the word of God and specifically it's the old testament
it's the old covenant engraven in stones that is contained therein and so the veil being put over
the ark of the covenant is a picture of the fact that in the reading of the old testament there's
a veil over their heart but then it says the veil is done away in Christ verse 15 but even
unto this day when Moses is read the veil is upon their heart nevertheless when it shall turn to the
Lord the veil shall be taken away so this shows that it's not possible for an unsaved person
to understand the word of God the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God
for their foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned
but look down at mark 15 verse 37 and Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost so this
is when he's dying on the cross he breathes his last breath he gives up the ghost and the veil
of the temple the exact veil that we're talking about the veil of the temple was rent in twain
from the top to the bottom so supernaturally when Jesus died on the cross the veil separating the
holy place from the most holy place the veil covering the ark of the covenant keeping it out
of sight from being exposed it tore down the middle and the picture is that Christ does away
that veil so that if we're in Christ we can understand the word of God we can actually see
the word of God we can open the old testament and understand that's why a Christian is going to be
able to understand the Bible a hundred times better a thousand times better than someone
who's Jewish now you can't really say a hundred times better because the Jews understand it zero
and so it's not even a hundred times it's it's just you can't even put a number on it the Jews
can't understand it so you say well but they speak Hebrew but here's the thing I would rather read
the Bible translated into English with my eyes open than to put a veil over my head and read it
in Hebrew I mean would you rather give a Hebrew Bible to a Hebrew speaker that's literally
blindfolded or would you rather give it to a Christian whose high whose eyes are open to read
it in plain English and of course in the King James Bible we have an accurate translation of
the original Hebrew and so we have everything we need with the King James Bible to perfectly
understand the old testament in our English language and so don't go to the Jews to get
their interpretation of the word of God they are blind they can't they can't explain it to you
because they are not in Christ it all comes down to whether or not you're in Christ so he says in
verse three of Exodus 40 thou shalt put the ark put there in the ark of the testimony cover the
ark with the veil verse four and thou shalt bring in the table and set in order the things that are
to be set in order upon it and thou shalt bring in the candlestick and light the lamps thereof
so notice the repetition of that term in order this symbolizes the fact that in God's house the
Bible says that all things should be done decently and in order and so in the tabernacle things had
to be placed in a certain order the picture is the order and orderliness of the new testament church
now look we could go down through here and talk about what all this stuff symbolizes like I did
for the first few verses but the thing is we've already hit all this because we've already
in this series on Exodus talked about the courtyard and the tabernacle and the candlestick
and the show but we've already covered all that symbolism so tonight what I want to do is just
focus on a few uh basic things that we can get out of this chapter just uh kind of a wrap-up
for the book of Exodus the main points that are made in this chapter so I feel like there are
three major points that we can pull from this chapter that are different than what we've
already covered number one is that we must put God first in our lives he has the preeminence
first thing in the morning the first thought should be either prayer or reaching for the Bible
or singing a hymn right away you've got to wake up and put on the new man if the thing expires
overnight okay when you go to bed and you sleep and you wake up you're not in the new man anymore
you must push the reset button every single day that's why Paul said I die daily that's why Jesus
said take up the cross daily and follow me and so that should be the first thing it's the most
important thing it should be done first you know why we do things for God first is because that way
we know that they get done you know sometimes you could start something and just get tied up on that
so you want to make sure that you seek God first that way if your day gets busy and hectic you know
hey at least I already read my Bible today you know at least I've already prayed today at least
I've already sought the Lord I've already worshiped the Lord so the number one thing we get from this
chapter is put God first that's why he said hey the month of the Passover that's the first month
for you and then he said we're going to start the tabernacle we're going to pitch the tent on the
first day of the first month in the second year which is the first year of freedom you know the
first full year of being outside of Egypt so that's number one number two what we can take
from this passage is that God wants us to live holy and clean lives one of the things that comes
up over and over again in Exodus chapter 40 is the thing of being sanctified you know he talks
about in verse 9 they shall hallow it verse 10 sanctify the altar it shall be an altar most holy
verse 11 thou shalt anoint the labor in his foot and sanctify it the end of verse 12 wash them with
partway through verse 13 sanctify him that he may minister unto me in the priest's office and as you
go down through here just over and over again just sanctify it sanctify it wash it wash it
clean it clean it sanctify it make it holy holy and that's a major theme in the book of Exodus
is the holiness of God and the Bible says be you holy as I'm holy right so God wants us to be holy
because he's holy so God wants us to be holy he wants us to be clean he wants us to be pure
that comes across loud and clear in this chapter and then the last thing that I want to point out
in this chapter is beginning in verse number 34 the Bible says in verse 34 then a cloud
covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle
and Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation because the cloud abode thereon
and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle and when the cloud was taken up from over the
tabernacle the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys but if the cloud were not
taken up then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up for the cloud of the Lord
was upon the tabernacle by day and fire was on it by night in the sight of all the house of
Israel throughout all their journeys so flip over if you would to Numbers chapter 9 book of Numbers
chapter 9 but we already see here that the Bible says when the cloud was taken up they went onward
on their journeys and if the cloud were not taken up then they journeyed not till the day that it
was taken up and so the point that I want to draw from this is that God decides when we go
and God decides when we stop and that's pretty relevant right now since we're going through a
time where a lot of things in our country and even around the whole world have come to a grinding
halt things have stopped and so a lot of people and places are in a holding pattern right now
and so I want to point out that we have this principle in Exodus chapter 40 of God deciding
when we go and God deciding when we stop now look down at your Bible in Numbers chapter 9 verse 21
and so it was when the cloud abode from even under the morning and that the cloud was taken
up in the morning that they then they journeyed whether it was by day or by night that the cloud
was taken up they journeyed so if it's the middle of the night and all of a sudden the cloud starts
moving it's like all right wake up everybody it's time to start packing we need to go now now look
it's easy for us to complain about our lives especially in 21st century America where we live
in the lap of luxury we have all the conveniences we have all the toilet paper and we have the
electricity and the running water and all these different things and we whine and complain when
the smallest little thing goes wrong but you know what how would you like to be in the wilderness
with the children of Israel where it's just one big camping trip and you say I love camping this
is a camping trip that lasts for 40 years okay this is 40 years in the wilderness where when God
says go you go and when God says stop you stop okay so they had to follow God's leading the
cloudy pillar or the pillar of fire by night and so these people didn't have the amenities
they didn't have the luxuries they are just living by faith they're just taking it one day at a time
and just letting God lead them they don't even know necessarily exactly where they're being led
it's just a cloudy pillar starts moving and they just follow it and so God decides when they go
and when they stops and look what the Bible says in verse 22 not only could this happen day or
night but it says in verse 22 whether it were two days or a month or a year that the cloud tarried
upon the tabernacle remaining thereon the children of Israel abode in their tents and journeyed not
but when it was taken up they journeyed at the commandment of the Lord they rested in the tents
and at the commandment of the Lord they journeyed they kept the charge of the Lord at the commandment
of the Lord by the hand of Moses so look at this can you imagine if the cloudy pillar is moving
moving moving we're hiking hiking hiking and then all of a sudden the cloudy pillar stops and you
say okay here we are set up the tent right build the tent build the camp get everything dialed in
and just about two days in you finally got everything settled in you got your fire pit
and your campsite you got your hammock you got everything dialed in and then the cloudy pillar
starts moving all right everybody take it all down again and pack it up and let's go folks
that's the reality of what God is making them do in the wilderness for 40 years sometimes the
cloudy pillar would be stationary for an entire year okay or it could be a month or it could be
two days you have no clue so you say well I just hate my routine being upended I just don't like
the uncertainty of it but here's the thing they lived a life that was dictated by the will of God
and they didn't know what was going to happen and they don't know are we going to be here for
a month are we going to be here for two days are we going to be here for a year and you know God's
basically telling them is just hey that's none of your business when the cloud moves you move
and when the cloud stays you stay so keep that in perspective when you think that your life is
inconvenience and you think you've got it hard there's a reason why they're complaining in the
wilderness because they had to eat the same food every day they had to eat manna and they got bored
of it okay they had to go days without water even at times and God's testing their faith and and
seeing if they're gonna obey without complaining and murmuring and so forth so the children of
Israel are an example unto us according to first Corinthians chapter 10 so that we don't lust as
some of them lusted and we don't complain like they complained or commit fornication like some
of them committed fornication we need to be holy and clean and obedient even when things
aren't going the way we want them to go or when things aren't happening the way that we expected
them to happen so God decides when we go and when we stop and look this coronavirus outbreak
is an act of God all right and this is something that has happened throughout history
different viruses have come different plagues have come diseases and sicknesses have come
and of course some of them have been even way more extreme than the coronavirus when you look
back through history at things like the black death in Europe or when you look at things like
the flu epidemic of 1918 I mean that flu of 1918 just wiped out tens of millions of people
because that was a huge deal and so even though this is not of that magnitude this is still
an illness that's of a severe magnitude it's of a severe enough magnitude where we're to the point
now where in the coming days thousands of people a day are going to be dying of this thing I mean
today is the first day that it broke a thousand deaths a day in the U.S. alone there's like 48,000
deaths worldwide but folks that's only the very beginning the thing is still growing exponentially
it's just the beginning and so because of that there are all these measures in place all over
the world where they're having the stay at home order over here shelter in place over here you've
got the quarantine over here you know all these different rules and uh closing down businesses
and saying you know this is essential and this is not but the bottom line is
all over America there are a lot of people that are being forced to take a break from their job
churches that have closed their doors including our church and we are just live streaming only
and we're not having the big gathering of several hundred people that we normally have here on Sunday
mornings we have uh just switched to live stream only and so you know the church basically as
far as the work that we've been doing has come to a screeching halt you know here we've been
just out there soul-winning soul-winning soul-winning and just packing this place out
and having visitors at every single service and the church is growing the church is thriving
and we're going door to door and we're knocking every door on the Indian reservations and you
know we had big plans for March big plans for April big plans for May big plans for June and
you can just see all of those plans have just gone away because of the fact that you know we
can't go to the Indian reservations they're all closed off you know mission strips that were
planned you know you can't even fly to those countries anymore those flights are being
canceled and everything like that but why is this happening it's an act of God it's an act of God
God sent this pestilence God sent this sickness and is it interesting how if you look back over
history this happens like every hundred years or so you know God sends some kind of a worldwide
pandemic some kind of a worldwide sickness that kills people worldwide and without modern
technology like all these ventilators and whatever they're using to keep people alive you know
imagine how many people would have died then and if you didn't have communication to warn people
this is coming to your area and everything like that then obviously it would have wiped out even
more people but God sends these plagues he sends these sicknesses you say oh it was made in a
laboratory well was it made in a laboratory in 1918 was it made in a laboratory when it happened
in the 19th century the 18th century the 17th century the 16th century folks this is something
that happens where God sends some kind of a sickness or a plague and you know what it's an
act of God and you say well the government didn't have to react the way that they did though you
know why the government have all these shutdowns they could have just you know minded their own
business but here's the thing about that yeah they could have and then the death rate would have
been through the roof you'd have way more people getting it even with everybody wearing a mask and
gloves and staying home the thing is still spreading like wildfire but it but it'd be
spreading even more without those things and so you know yeah okay if they did nothing then it
could kill millions of people instead of probably hundreds of thousands of people in the United
States that are going to die from this it'd be millions so the bottom line is though it's an
act of God and even if you were to just sit there and just totally deny that it's an act of God
which I think it's clear that it's an act of God but if you're gonna say no no it's all man-made
okay who's the one who allowed man to do this to you then if you're going to take this approach
that it's all man that's doing it's all the government okay but who's the one who allowed
them to do that to you who's the one who is allowing all these things to happen it's God
it's an act of God and so here we are you know this is the situation that we find ourselves in
and look God decides when we go and when we stop God has forced us to a halt it's not that we
decided you know what we're gonna knock all the doors on the Navajo reservation but you know what
we changed our mind we're not that's not what we did we had the plans to go up there and do the
door knocking God closed that door you know God has caused our operations here in many ways to
come to a grinding halt just like the children of Israel you know they're going to the promised land
we're marching to Zion right there march to the promised land
they're marching to the promised land folks where do you think they want to be you think they want
to be in the promised land or you think they want to be in the middle of the desert and it's like
all right we're getting closer we're getting closer we're getting closer and then what happens
the pillar stops I think God's really going to take us there this time pillar stops
and you wait for a year and then the pillar starts moving again okay so the point is God
decides when we go and when we stop and you know what I am looking at the bright side of the
situation you won't find me whining about this you won't find me complaining and grumbling and
murmuring you know what I am enjoying it and making the best of it and it doesn't matter what
this is look if I were thrown in prison tomorrow you know what I would do I would try my best to
enjoy it and make the best of it that's what I would do I mean what else can you do folks right
you got to play the hand that you're dealt and so instead of grumbling and murmuring and complaining
take a positive outlook of things and say you know what God is giving us a Sabbath as a nation
God is forcing us to take a Sabbath you know all throughout the old testament they've got the
Sabbath day Sabbath week Sabbath year God's forcing the word Sabbath if you just actually
break down the word Sabbath the word Sabbath just simply means to cease or to rest anytime you stop
anytime you rest that's a Sabbath there's the Sabbath and then there's a Sabbath okay
and that's why the Bible teaches that Jesus is our Sabbath because he's our rest where we stop
trying to work our way to heaven and we just rest and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ
so Jesus is our Sabbath well guess what God has given to us a Sabbath right so he's giving us
a period of being on pause he's given us some downtime what do we do with that time
well let me give you some advice what to do with that time is you know use it to draw closer to God
use it and look don't let this time be a time of getting backslidden because you're out of the
routine of church and soul winning don't let it get backslidden because that brings me back to
point two of the sermon that God wants to be holy and clean so God didn't give you a Sabbath so you
can binge watch some tv show on Netflix or Amazon or wherever you watch these shows if you are just
going to stay home and say well you know what work is canceled church is canceled sports are
canceled everything's canceled so you know what I'm going to catch up on tv and video games you
know what that's stupid that's a waste you're not making the best of what God's giving you if God
gives you some time to take it easy you need to use that time to draw closer to God use that time
to be productive and look if we be creative we can all be productive during this time
we can catch up on bible reading catch up on prayer catch up on family time draw closer to
our families make some special memories with them we can reach out to loved ones that we
haven't talked to in a while through technology there are all kinds of things that we can be doing
we could be studying learning a new skill you know there are all kinds of now look you say well I'm
not on pause because my job is going full speed ahead okay well then you know go full speed ahead
work hard keep going but the point is though a lot of people have been given this Sabbath have
been given a break and so let them make the best of it and not complain about it and whine about
you know it's funny I bet a lot of the same people who are going to work every day are the same
people are whining about not being able to go to work they're probably the same people where you
run into them on the job and you say hey how you doing well it's Monday right oh man I can't wait
till Friday oh man the days are dragging and then these are the same people like oh man saying
something oh my bet it's like well you hate being at work you know you know the problem is it's not
work that's the problem it's not home that's problem you're the problem because you're a
complainer there are two kinds of people in this world people who are complainers and people who
look on the bright side okay and so don't be a grumbler don't be a murmur don't be a complainer
I guarantee you that the children of Israel were going through worse stuff and God still
got mad when they complained so don't complain if God has given you a Sabbath of rest don't get
backslidden and I'll tell you the recipe for getting backslidden is is okay you're not going
to church you're not soul winning you're just stuck at home and then you spend that time just
filling your mind with worldly junk and nothing spiritual is happening well guess what that's a
recipe for getting backslidden okay so you need to make an extra point to take care of yourself
spiritually during this time obviously live streaming the preaching is going to help you
stay right with God because you're having God's word preach and and and look we need preaching
to keep us fired up keep us motivated to keep us on the right path but you know what you need to be
abstaining from just a constant intake of worldly junk and just spending seven hours a day in front
of tv or something you know that's not going to bring you closer to God that's not going to make
you a better person that's not going to make you a better worker when you go back to your job
or whatever now if you would go to first peter chapter number two while you're turning there
numbers 1034 says the cloud of the Lord was upon them by day when they went out of the camp and it
came to pass when the ark set forward that Moses said rise up Lord and let thy enemies be scattered
and let them that hate thee flee before thee and when it rested he said return oh Lord
unto the many thousands of Israel return oh Lord unto the many thousands of Israel that's where
we're at right now we're on pause we're on a sabbath we're on a sabbatical which is where
that word comes from and so let's use it for for the honor and glory of Christ you know and and
you know there are people out there who believe that we should just be defying the orders and
recommendations and and things that are being said where they're telling people hey look
you know you need to stay home right now or you need to shelter in place don't have any large
gatherings right now and all these different things there are a lot of people out there
they're just saying we need to resist we need to ignore that we need to fight against the
government and just do what we're going to do and just defy them and all these different things and
you've already seen in the news there have been pastors in different places that are defying this
and just packing you know there was some holy roller phony charismatic preacher in Florida
who packed his place out with a thousand people because he's getting up and saying hey you know
we're not gonna get sick no matter what because we have faith you know what basically it's just
a snake handling mentality it's the mentality of these churches in the south that want to handle
deadly snakes and say hey god's gonna protect us from these snakes so they play with a poisonous
snake until it bites them and rots their flesh or even kills them folks stop and think for a second
you got people that are picking up a snake that's a deadly it's not even a rattlesnake it's something
far worse than rattles what kind of snake is it again i thought you were i thought you were
telling me what it was is that solomon anyway it's a bad snake folks so there's this you know
it's in the south here we have rattlesnakes they're also poisonous but but they have worse
snakes in the south and basically people these churches these charismatic holy roller churches
they handle these snakes and say oh as long as i have faith god's gonna protect me you know what
that's exact same thing as when the devil told jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the temple just
to show that god can protect you and you know what jesus said to that thou shalt not tempt the lord
thy god so this attitude that just says hey we're just gonna pack a thousand people in here and you
know nobody's gonna get sick nobody's gonna die and if they do we'll just say they didn't have
enough faith folks that's garbage that's a false doctrine we should not tempt the lord thy god the
lord our god and you know what i'm not afraid of getting sick from this thing but i might already
have it for crying out loud but the point is i'm not afraid of getting sick from this thing because
i'm young and healthy and i don't have any existing conditions you know but what we are concerned
about is the people in our society that are vulnerable you know we don't want to just kiss
goodbye millions of people and just say well guess what they had a pre-existing condition so
nuts to them that's not what i believe okay so the bottom line is that you know
saying that you're just immune from this thing if you have faith is a false doctrine okay we should
take the cleanliness and precautions that god showed us in the old testament and basically
follow those principles today in light of what's going on and and use common sense to not spread
this thing around already more than it's going to spread around but here's the thing it's not even
really our decision because in many places the government has made the decision the government
has said this is what we're going to do so it's not like they're just saying everybody hey do what
you want they're getting up and saying hey look this is what we're going to do you know we're
going to have this slow it down for 15 days you know 30 days to slow the spread or whatever
these are the things that are being handed down many counties and cities and states
are shutting down assemblies of 10 or more people they're saying hey we only want you out and about
for that which is essential whatever that means and so forth but the bottom line is we are
instructed by god to obey these things now if the if the government is asking us to do something
that is sinful or immoral then obviously we will die on that hill because the bible says we ought
to obey god rather than men but asking us to be on pause asking us to take a sabbath asking us to
take a rest while a deadly illness goes around is not telling us to do something sinful or wicked
so therefore this is not a thing of hey let's stand up against the government and prove to
everybody how we're not going to take the mark of the beast guess what i don't have to prove that
i don't have this need to persuade of well i'm just going to show everybody that i'm never going
to take the mark of the beast and you know i'm going to stand during folks people who are going
to stand during the tribulation are the people who stand all the time it's the people who week after
week after week stand for what's right it's the people who get up and preach from their pulpits
what's right in season out of season you know i think of pastor roger Jimenez who you know went
through a major firestorm back in 2016 for preaching the word of god and you know what
when the authorities are coming down on him when the sodomites are coming down on him when his
landlords coming down on him when politicians are coming down on him when he's facing all this
backlash and attacks you know what he did he stood and he stood up and did not back down but
yet in california when they issued the order to stay at home when they issued the order not to
have gatherings of more than 10 people you know what pastor Jimenez did he said you know what we're
not gonna have gatherings of more than 10 people and he complied with that oh it's because he's
just a weakling you know what why don't you shut up you you stinking keyboard warrior
lame-o who's never actually stood for anything in real life before before you say those kind
of stupid things because guess what pastor Jimenez has already been proven and tested in battle
and stood for what was right the reason he's not fighting this battle is because it's a stupid
battle it's a stupid battle to say no i refuse to stop spreading this germ no i refuse to
cooperate with a cooperative effort where everything's shutting down it's not that the
churches that are shutting down folks that the theaters are shut down every school is shut down
every college is shut down every casino is shut down every bar is shut down the dining room of
every restaurant is shut down and you know what if you're going to say it's a persecution of
christians really is is the casino christian is the theater christian is the bar christian is the
public school christian is the university christian no it isn't so if the government
is saying hey we're going to exercise our power in an emergency to stop the spread of this thing
and here's what we're asking you to do stay home wow oh wow that's so horrible here let's start
a revolution because they told us to stay home what is the why do you hate your house so much
just stay home for crying out loud who cares if they want us to stay home then just stay home
so what oh it's persecution yeah oh yeah i forgot about that that chapter of fox's book of martyrs
where the catholic church made people stay home and and and use toilet paper alternatives i
forgot about that chapter of fox's book of martyrs folks this is the wrong battle you know all
throughout the bible there were people who who fought the wrong battle and it didn't end well
for them you know you think of a great man like jesiah you know jesiah is a great king he's doing
that which is right in the side of the lord he's accomplishing great things for god and then he
decides he's going to go fight against pharaoh now look were there some times where pharaoh's
the bad guy yeah are there some times where pharaoh is the villain yeah look are there some
look are there some times where our government is a villain yes there are times when our government
could be a villain if our government we're coming around and saying hey we're gonna force your kids
into the public school system we're gonna have a problem aren't we hey we're gonna force you to be
vaccinated yeah that's gonna be a problem hey we're gonna force you to do this or do that look
there could be a lot of times where our government could be a villain where they could say hey it's
illegal to preach against sodomites hey it's illegal to criticize islam or it's illegal
to preach against the jews or it's illegal to preach that verse or what look if the government
does those things then they're a villain and you know what there are times in the bible where
pharaoh is the villain where pharaoh's a bad guy where god's people are supposed to go out in an
army and and stand up to the egyptians and stand up to the babylonians and stand up to the
moabites and stand up to the ammonites and they does but there are other times when god tells them
hey you know what fall fall to the babylonians right give yourself up to the babylonians that's
what jeremiah preached for the whole book have you ever read the book of jeremiah
hey and they you know what they accused him of being a traitor to the babylonians because he's
telling them hey you can't win you just need to surrender to the babylonians this is god's will
god's gonna put you in captivity but you know what they hated jeremiah because that's what
he preached and they accused him of being a traitor and whatever he wasn't being a traitor
he's just preaching the word of god but back to josiah i got a little bit on a rabbit trail
josiah went out to fight against the king of egypt pharaoh which in some bible stories is a
villain but in this particular story pharaoh neko tells josiah look i have no beef with you
i am fulfilling the will of god right now i am doing god's will and josiah didn't listen and
josiah got involved in this fight that was the wrong fight it was stripe not belonging to him
it was an enemy that that god did not consider an enemy god was actually using pharaoh neko to
judge people and so forth so what happened was josiah went out and fought against pharaoh neko
and you know what happened to josiah he got killed so here you got a guy king josiah who's
a good man a godly man he's doing right in the side of the lord and he goes out to fight against
the enemy but it's the wrong enemy wrong timing wrong battle not the will of god and so you know
what he died he was killed because of it so we we need to make sure that we don't just fight
every battle and just assume that pharaoh is always bad okay because sometimes we need to just
ignore pharaoh that's what josiah was supposed to do just ignore pharaoh you know it's not always
us versus the government that's ridiculous now does the government get out of line sure and
patriotic people libertarian-minded people what do they do they stand up for their rights and
they push back but you know what pushing back when the government's actually doing the right
thing when they're actually trying to protect human life is not the right thing okay and when
they're not asking you to do anything sinful and it just doesn't make sense what does the bible
say look at first peter chapter 2 verse 13 let's hear what the bible says submit yourselves to
every ordinance of man for the lord's sake whether it be to the king as supreme or under governors
as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise
of them that do well for so is the will of god that with well-doing you may put to silence
the ignorance of foolish men as free and not losing your liberty using your liberty excuse
me as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of god honor
all men love the brotherhood fear god honor the king servants be subject to your mass masters with
all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward for this is thank worthy if a man
for conscience toward god endure grief suffering wrongfully for what glory is it if when you be
buffeted for your faults you shall take it patiently but if when you do well you and
suffer for it you take it patiently this is acceptable with god for even here unto where
you called because christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should fall in
a step so what does the bible say submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the lord's sake what
does the bible say titus 3 1 put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers to obey
magistrates to be ready to every good work romans chapter 13 let every soul be subject
unto the higher powers for there is no power but of god the powers that be are ordained of god
whosoever therefore resisted the power resisted the ordinance of god and they that resist shall
receive to themselves damnation for rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil
wilt thou then not be afraid of the power do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the
same for he is the minister of god to thee for good but if thou do that which is evil be afraid
for he beareth not the sword in vain for he is the minister of god a revenger to execute wrath
upon him that do with evil wherefore you must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for
conscience sake for this cause pay you tribute also for their god's ministers attending
continually upon this very thing so the bible is saying look obey magistrates obey every ordinance
of man for the lord's sake be subject to the higher powers the powers that be ordained of
god and again there are times where the government is breaking the law folks there are times when our
government breaks the law and does things that aren't legal and hurts innocent people and they
abuse people or they steal and cheat and do these things but here's the thing asking you to stay
home is not a sinful or wicked thing it's something that a lot of people would be wise to do and you
know what not only should you obey the rules during this time because it doesn't harm anything
to hurt the rules and in fact you might even save somebody's life by actually following the
rules we shouldn't even just do it for wrath's sake you know because we're afraid of the
punishments or whatever that's not why he said don't do it for wrath's sake do it for conscience
sake do it because it's the right thing to do okay and look we should not even just obey the
letter of it i think we should obey the spirit of it why because the idea is that this virus
is spreading like wildfire and people are dying and if we can slow it down by social distancing
then there's nothing wrong with slowing it down with social distancing and that's what we're doing
there are people out there that are just in denial about this and saying
well do you even know anybody who has it i mean these flat earther types is what they are
that basically just say oh i don't even think the virus even exists you know it's just
the 5d cellular tower is making people sick and they're lying and saying it's a virus
folks do you also believe the earth is flat you also believe in geocentricity
you also believe in other all these other nonsensical things that do not match the real
world that we live in folks to sit there and say oh this virus doesn't really exist and all this
folks that's like a flat earth mentality or even people are saying well the virus exists
but do you even know anybody who's sick from it but you know what that's what everybody was
saying like a week ago and you know what everybody's saying this week yeah i know
somebody who has it now yeah my aunt's in the hospital yeah my uncle's in the hospital
yeah my friend from work's in the hospital yeah my my friend's child is in the icu right now
now and folks this thing is just getting started you know people scoffed at me weeks ago when i
said we're gonna get to the point a couple weeks where thousands of people are dying a day and
here we are and there's already over a thousand people dead today alone in the united states of
america and half of that's in one place new york 500 and some is in one spot well guess what
that's gonna start blowing up everywhere all over the united states that's what everybody's
projecting that's what all the experts are saying that's what all the numbers are saying if you
just look at the raw data that's what's happening and you know what all these people who are blowing
off their mouths right now and talking about hell oh man it's just the flu it's no big deal
well you know what let's see what they what they're going to be saying two or three weeks
from now i wonder what they're going to be saying a month from now you know when the death toll is
still skyrocketing and you have all these people and you know what it's going to start hitting us
closer to home you know god willing it won't hit hard in arizona hopefully we'll be in like
a gaussian down here in arizona but because we haven't really got hit very hard with it yet at
all but folks it's easy for people to blow off their mouths about this when they don't really
have a lot of skin in the game but you know what for those of us that are pastors and we we we love
and care about our people we don't want to just blow this off and disregard this and just put our
people at risk because you know what say well who was it going to kill one or two percent of
people it's like okay i'm not willing to kiss goodbye two percent of my congregation and just
and just say well you know what nuts to them or let alone all the other senior citizens that our
state is packed with so anyway i don't want to go on and on about that but it's just it's easy
to get sucked into what a lot of people are saying right now of trying to downplay this
thing but you know what these are the same people who a few weeks ago were downplaying everything
and saying that we wouldn't get to the point that we're at right now and they're the same
people who are telling us we're not going to get to the point that's coming in a couple weeks
folks you better buckle up this thing is not going to be over soon so the cloudy pillar has stopped
we're resting why don't we instead of complaining about instead of defying the government which
god ordained government i am not an anarchist yes i believe in a minimal government yes i
believe in liberty but i don't believe in anarchy and you know what the bible says about reprobates
it says they despise government in general just says they despise government i don't despise
government i despise wickedness of government i despise wicked people in government i despise
wicked things that they do but you know what when you get to a place where where basically even when
the government is doing something to protect people you're just going to rebel just because
the government told you to do anything because what did they tell you to do stay home i'm not
going to stay home don't fall into that category of being someone who despises government second
peter chapter two you know we are supposed to try as much as possible to live at peace with all men
and we're supposed to try to have a good report of them that are without people outside the church
we're supposed to have a good reputation with them now look not at the expense of trimming the
message you know we're not going to sugarcoat the message so that people will like us hey we're
going to keep ripping hard and ripping face and preaching the word of god but you know what we're
not just going to go out there and just get in people's faces during an epidemic and say hey you
know what we're going to keep on soul winning and preaching and getting in your face if people if
people are getting mad and and saying hey you're endangering us you're endangering the community
get away from us you're spending germs and look i'm not saying not to be soul winning right now
but you know what we should be so winning in a way that doesn't cause our church's reputation
to stink in the community so we should do soul winning in such a way where we're following the
guidelines and you know there are lots of people out walking around and and lots of people walking
up and down the street look if you want to go soul winning go out and talk to people that are
already out and about anyway and talk to them from a distance talk to them at a safe distance so that
you're not making our saber to stink in the community just by saying bless god i'm gonna go
so and then every door is is telling you off you're not really accomplishing much say well
you know and and here's the thing folks the christian life is not measured in years it's
measured in decades and so don't get this short-term attitude where you're thinking
like a pre-tribber or something like oh man you know this might be our last day on earth or
something it's like look folks we need to understand that you know we've got our whole lives
and we measure christianity decades over the course of 30 years 20 years we're going to win
a ton of people to christ we're going to preach to tons of crowds we're going to pack out the
church house more times than we can even count we're going to baptize god willing hundreds of
people preach to hundreds of people we're going to win souls to christ a little bit of downtime
is not going to kill us so that we can reflect and pause we can take a break take a sabbatical
go deep put put our root down deep into god's word pray memorize scripture strengthen
the inner man and you know what this is all going to be over before we know it and then we can be
ready to pick up where we left off knock the doors and you know what we can pack up the stuff when
the cloudy pillar starts moving again hey you know what we'll pick up on the indian reservations
we'll pick up on the soul winning we'll keep bringing visitors to church we'll keep on going
strong a break isn't going to kill us and you know what god knows that we're in this situation god's
the one who put us in this situation and so he's not going to punish us for quote unquote forsaking
the assembly when obviously church is down because of a legitimate concern about an illness the
government has made the decision it's not sinful in fact i and look you know i know this isn't
popular to say right now but you know what i actually agree with it there i said it i actually
agree with the social distancing i actually agree with the the stay-at-home orders because i would
rather save the lives i would rather save the lives than to just say ah nuts to it and let
everybody die from this thing that is a highly infectious highly deadly disease in comparison
with other things like the flu it's much more deadly it's more infectious and so it needs to be
dealt with that's my opinion that's what i believe but whatever your opinion is you know what this is
the situation that we're in the cloudy pillar has stopped and so make the best of it put god first
what are the principles number one put god first right first day of the first month right every
day seek god first pray read your bible sing hymns walk with god first thing in the morning
okay number two give him the preeminence make him the most important thing in your life
number two god wants us to be holy and clean that means you don't use your your stay-at-home time
to watch a bunch of junk and fill your mind with garbage not reading your bible not praying
but just pouring garbage into your mind and just binge watching show after show and movie after
movie nope seek first again god live a holy and clean life and number three god decides when we
go and when we stop so don't complain don't grumble don't murmur keep things in perspective
and when you find yourself tempted to be down and complain just think about the children of israel
in the wilderness and how much better you have it than they did god decides when we go and when we
stop so you know what i'm willing to patiently wait until god reopens the door until then i'm
ready to just hunker down and get through this thing and make the best of it and praise the lord
all the way through it let's bow your heads in a word of prayer dear lord we thank you so much for
our church lord all the wonderful people lord that represent and make up this church lord and
i just pray that you'd bless every single one of them lord keep them safe lord please help us if
possible to get through this thing with with few or even none of our church members being infected
with this thing lord please if that would be your will lord i pray that that would be the case that
none of us would get and lord i pray that you would even spare the entire state of arizona
from having a major outbreak of this thing lord god let your will be done lord but i just pray
that you be merciful unto us your people and and other good churches all throughout america lord
i pray that you just put a hedge around them and protect them and keep them safe and healthy as
well lord and god i just pray that you would please just help us to be spiritual at this time
and not get backslidden because obviously there's a tendency if we're not going to church or soul
winning to get backslidden help us to actually give extra attention to our spiritual lives right
now to make doubly sure that we don't get backslidden during this time in jesus name we pray
amen