Before we read Psalm 46,
I do wanna just make a couple of comments quickly
about this whole coronavirus thing that's going on.
Look, a lot of people have very different opinions on this,
very different beliefs on this.
And the fact of the matter is
that none of us have all the facts or all the information.
And obviously when this is all over, looking back,
things are gonna seem obvious because hindsight's 20/20,
but we're in uncharted waters here.
There are a lot of very strange things going on,
unprecedented things that we've never seen before
in our lifetime.
Even our parents have never seen before in their lifetimes.
So I would suggest that you be gracious to people
who have a different opinion than you on this.
There are dramatically different opinions
all across the board, all from people who love the Lord
and who know the Bible and wise men
that have very different opinions about this.
And so be gracious to people who have a different opinion.
Don't just be a know-it-all,
like, "Oh, I got this all figured out, you guys are not."
You know what?
You may end up with egg on your face
in the very near future,
because none of us knows what a day is gonna bring forth.
This is a very fluid situation.
And so anybody who claims to have all the answers right now
is full of baloney, in my opinion,
because of the fact that, you know,
none of us really knows all the facts and all the information.
Now, I'm gonna give you my personal opinion,
and my personal opinion seems to be kind of an unpopular opinion right now,
even in our church or amongst my friends and amongst a lot of people,
but I'm gonna give you my personal opinion,
and I'm entitled to my opinion.
And maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong,
and I'm not claiming to be clairvoyant,
but in my opinion, there's going to be a major outbreak of this thing
in the United States, it's gonna be another Italy,
maybe not to that extreme,
but I do believe that the time is gonna come in the next few weeks
when thousands of people are dying every single day in this country.
Now, not necessarily in Arizona.
You know, it may not break out here in Arizona,
but my opinion is that it's probably going to become a severe epidemic
in other parts of the country and possibly even here.
Now, you might, you know, have all your ideas about 5G
and all your, you know, stories about how it's all made up and everything
and how the flu's worse and whatever, you know what?
And look, I've been gracious to people who hold to those kind of opinions
and I totally see where people are coming from,
where they don't believe what the media says because the media has lied so many times,
they don't believe what the government says because they lie so much, I totally get that.
But, you know, I'm just looking at the facts, I'm looking at the data,
that's the conclusion that I've come to.
I think that this is actually a very serious thing and that although it hasn't broken out yet
in Arizona in any substantial numbers, it could any day now explode.
And I'm pretty certain it's probably going to explode in other parts of the country,
almost certainly, places like New York, Washington, California, those three places especially.
So again, and here's the thing, I hope I'm wrong.
You know, I hope a few weeks from now everybody can laugh at me and say
that it was a big nothing burger, but you know what, I don't think I am wrong.
But anyway, I just want to make that clear.
My view on this, because I don't want people to just take this really lightly.
I think it's better if people are smart about this and exercise caution.
And this situation is changing very rapidly.
But as of right now, we have all of our church services open.
We have all of our soul winning times open.
But we're trying to be as cautious as we can as we do those things.
Be as sanitary and socially distancing and everything.
But here's the thing about it.
You know, our church is like a drop of water on a hot stove
compared to everybody else is out going about their normal life mainly.
So if this plague spreads around like crazy, it's not going to be because of our church.
It's because everybody else is doing their thing and whatever.
Nobody's on lockdown in this area at all, not even close.
All the roads are full of cars, businesses are packed, everything's just going forward.
Who knows what's going to happen.
One thing I would say is that if you're going to sit there and say that this virus doesn't even
exist, it's kind of hard to be gracious to that opinion because that's kind of a wild opinion.
Well, does anybody actually know anybody who has it?
Well, a pretty well-known independent fundamental Baptist preacher just came down with it.
What's that guy's name? Kenny Baldwin. You're familiar with him, right?
That guy, he's like a sort of the Lord guy and he's in the hospital with it,
suffering from it severely from what I've heard. Also, some of my wife's extended family has come
down with it and they've all been exposed to it in Germany and so they're having to kind of lay low
right now and see if they actually picked it up or not, her sister and mother that is. So anyway,
just wanted to throw that out there, my thoughts on this, and if you don't agree with me,
no problem, but don't just lambast people who have a different opinion. And I've seen it on
both sides, not necessarily in our church, but I've seen the people who hold to my view really just
ripping on and just getting enraged at and telling off people who have a different view and vice versa
and I think that, you know, right now we don't have all the info so just be nice to people who
who see this differently, amen?