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messages of Psalms is when we're going through trials and difficulties and fears what's he doing you know I mean we've got Psalm after Psalm after Psalm of David or other Psalmist you know praying to the Lord singing unto the Lord and what we gain from the book of Psalms is the only place you're going to get comfort the only place that's going to help you find strength is if you go to the Lord that's the that's the key to the book of Psalms and this is why anytime you're going through difficulties you know anytime you're having difficult you know just hardships just just go I recommend open the Psalms you know what you're suffering what you're going through your fears are no different to the fears that other men in the Bible have had and sometimes when it's difficult to pray you can just pray the Psalms you go to the Psalms find a Psalms that's applicable to your situation those are the words of God you're not going to find a better prayer than what you find the word of God you know and you know sometimes when it is difficult you can just pray you know read that read it unto the Lord pray it unto the Lord and tell the Lord look the same things that this man is going through that's what I'm going through can you deliver me through these difficult times and so sorrow in the heart I think we have right now you know the last couple of weeks a lot of sorrow in the hearts of people a lot of fear and you know a lot of this has to do with not just the virus itself but also how the media how the governments also deal with these situations and there is always a push for fear you need to understand this you know what we're dealing with you know I'm not saying there isn't a virus of course there is all I'm saying to you is you know when when the world wants to guide you and direct you they're not going to lead you to fear the Lord they're always going to lead you to fear something else but you know the greater fear that they're looking for is for you to turn your eyes away from the Lord and turn your eyes toward maybe themselves or you know other people and as we're going through the end time series we learn about the antichrist and the you know the beast and of course at some point he's going to draw all men unto him he's going to you know the people's eyes is going to be upon the antichrist because we've gone through all those famines and pestilences and wars people are going to be fearful they're going to be looking for an answer a solution and there comes the antichrist with his solution you know and so you know what we find in these difficult times and you know this is I've never lived for anything like this before you know even out the other hysterias that have been you know the y2k and different viruses the swine flu and the bird flu and I mean what else have we gone through I don't know there's been many uh end times prophecies 2012 remember that the Mayan calendar there's always something going on right and I've never I've never seen that the world react the way they do uh that all they have uh with this virus with this coronavirus and so it is bringing a lot of sorrow in the hearts of people and you know we expect sorrow in the hearts of the world you know who don't know Christ the savior who do not have God and you know the atheists that they think well if I die that's the end of my life and there's obviously fear to these people that don't have the rock of Jesus Christ but you know we've seen a lot of sorrow in the heart of Christians as well I think a lot of Christians are fearful afraid not knowing what's going to happen or you know will God see them through and so as again I want to as we study for this psalm let's let's keep the context but at the same time let's take a greater spiritual truth and see how we can apply it to this to this virus now um you know what you know I don't believe this at the end times if you have that question you know I don't believe you know we're at the end times what we see with the seals we saw the wars and rumors of wars then we saw or saw conquering the nations right you know one major power conquering nations you could say that's the United States you know they got bases all around the world you know but then there are actual wars you know and famines there's a lot of a lot of uh what the bible describes a lot you know the catastrophe is a lot greater that's developing in the earth and then we see the family the pestilences coming to place so I don't believe and it's pestilences it's plural it's more than one that's attacking the world so you know I don't believe this is the end times but I think what this situation allows us and the advantage especially as Christians that we have going through this time is that we can judge how we're performing like how would we perform how strong is our faith you know uh and you know how would it be you know I think you know we look at uh Peter right and when when the Lord's saying look I'm going to be crucified tonight I'm going to be arrested tonight you know and Peter's like I'm not going to leave you Lord you know I'm going to stay faithful to the end or die for you and then next morning he's denying the Lord right he's already denied the Lord and you know within 24 hours he's denying the Lord and um so I think you know this is you know for Peter that was a good test you know that was a good test to say well how was my faith you know when it really got difficult you know I denied the Lord Jesus Christ and of course by that self-examination for himself he became a great Christian became a great leader after the resurrection you know after the ascension of Christ and so what I think the advantage for us is to see you know how well are we performing how's our hearts do we have sorrow in our hearts do we have fear are we fearing the Lord are we closer to the Lord you know how are we reacting how's our faith holding up I think this is a great time to examine ourselves and if you find some weaknesses listen brethren you know I'm made of flesh and blood you know I have some concerns some you know I wouldn't I would be lying to say that I've never had any of those fears or the virus creep in a little bit uh but overall you know I do trust in the Lord I think one of one of my personal advantages is being a pastor because it's kind of like well you've got to you've got to be an example right you've got to be strong you know for your family for your for your church and uh so that's a personal thing that you know keeps you motivated keeps you push pushing ahead serving the Lord and what I find in the in difficult times is you know some people will desert the Lord in difficult times some people will have be less faithful to the Lord but some others will desire nothing more but to draw strength from the Lord so again I want you to be able to sort of just look at these passages and compare how are you doing you know don't ask how is brother so-and-so doing how is sister so-and-so doing ask how am I doing in light of the current events so when we look at Psalm 13 verse 1 Psalm 13 verse 1 we notice immediately here a bad state that uh David is in he says how long wilt thou forget me oh Lord forever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me so as far as David is concerned at this point in time the beginning is the Lord deserted me he's turned his face away from me how long is this going to go on Lord is this forever you know have you deserted me forever and if you can keep your finger there go to Ezekiel 39 please Ezekiel 39 Ezekiel 39 because the thought would be well surely God has not turned his face against David no the Lord can turn his face away from you okay that can happen that's why it's here in the bible these things can happen go to Ezekiel 39 verse 23 but I want you to understand why would God do such a thing okay now we know that you know that Jesus promises us that uh you know that he'll never leave us nor forsake us you know when he comes to that promise again we're talking about our position with God you know we're saved we're born again we're a child of God we have the righteousness of Christ when God the father looks at us he sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ we're his child he will never leave us in the end and forsake us in that sense okay our position before God but don't forget we have our walk with God and you know by our walk you know if our walk is filthy if our walk is faithless God can hide his face from us and this is when you'll feel that God is distance you know you feel that God is not answering my prayers and you know you'll have this sensation that you know just where is the Lord where is my strength where is my comfort and it won't be there but I want you to understand it's not because the Lord's done something wrong it's because you've done something wrong it's because you've sinned against the Lord look at Ezekiel 39 verse 23 Ezekiel 39 verse 23 of course this the application of this is with Judah remember how Judah had turned against the Lord then this is this is all speaking about the prophecy of the Babylonian captivity to come and the people will be scattered but let's take the spiritual truth unto us verse number 23 and the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity why for their iniquity why because they trespassed against me what did God do therefore hid I my face from them so why would God hide his face from his people he just told us why because of our iniquity because we've trespassed against God and brethren if you're feeling that God is far away it's not because it's far away he's exactly where he's always been right Jesus Christ is saying today yesterday and forever is that you've sinned against God you've trespassed against God and listen if you're if you're fearing this virus you know more than you're fearing the Lord God that's a sin you know to put something in the place of God and fear something as though you were fearing God that's a sin and when you do such things the Lord's going to hide his face from you okay it's because you've trespassed against him let's keep reading therefore hid on my face from them and gave them into the hand of their enemies so fell they all by the sword look at verse 24 according to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them and hid my face from them so again God says look the only reason I'll hide my face from you is if you are unclean if you have trespassed against me let's keep going verse 25 therefore thus saith the Lord God now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel and will be jealous for my holy name so does God want to be merciful to those that have sinned against him of course right he wants them back and the only way that Judah was going to learn their lesson was to allow them to go into captivity to allow them to be in hardships and and and these are you know away from the land away from the possessions this was going to be the thing that would bring them back to the Lord God wants to give you mercy and sometimes you know in order for God to give you his mercy he's going to allow you to go for some hardships and brethren look we all sin every day you know I allow this this coronavirus allow the you know the concerns about this let it be a situation where you're asking for God's mercy where you can self-examine and say Lord you know I've got sin in my life you know maybe I've not confessed my sins to you for a while Lord maybe there are major things upsetting me Lord allow the situation to break me allow the situation to be one where I'm seeking your mercy verse number 26 after that they have borne their shame and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me when they dwelt safely in their land and none made them afraid look at verse number 26 just the beginning after that they have borne their shame that's what we need to do right so our sin brings us shame you know and we need to get to that point where we're broken where we have that contrite heart we we we have we bear that shame of the sins that we've done instead of being prideful and saying no Lord you know I don't care what I've committed Lord I'm not going to confess that I'm not going to feel bad about that no you need to bring allow that shame to fall upon you verse number 27 when I have brought them again from the people and gather them out of their enemies lands and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations then shall they know that I am the Lord their God which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen but I have gathered them unto their own land and have left none of them anymore there so God promises them look you get right with me you bear that shame for the period of time then you'll know that I'm your Lord thy God they've forgotten the Lord God they had forgotten and so God allows this difficulty so they can remember who their true God is right and they come in shame of their sins and look at verse number 29 neither will I hide my face anymore from them for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel sayeth the Lord God so does God want to hide his face from you no he wants you to be uh you know it that that broken and contrite heart he wants you to come bearing the shame of your sin confess it unto the Lord remember that he is your Lord God and then he'll shine his face upon you once again neither will he hide his face anymore from from them and the way they say pour out your spirit you know if anything's going to help you through hard difficult you know hard times and difficulties and fears it's the spirit of God we're near the fullness of his Holy Spirit in our lives so we can continue serving him continue remaining faithful so what we learned there in Psalm 13 verse 1 is that sin will separate us from God and we know that already but we see that how you know when we see David speaking of of God's face being hidden from him it's because David's got sin that's why he's trespassed against the Lord and of course when we sin you know you don't need to turn that you can go back to Psalm 13 but first John 1 6 it says if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth so if you walk in darkness if you walk in sin and if you walk in the trespasses you know you break God's laws you know you can't have fellowship with God it's going to appear though his face is turned away from you it's going to seem like he's far away it's going to seem like his distance but then verse number seven says but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin so don't forget that brethren you know we sin every day we're going to sin to the day we die don't forget that the blood of Jesus has cleansed you from all sins okay and so even the sins that you've done and you feel guilty and you're not going to the Lord and confessing them they've been paid for already by Jesus just go and confess those sins to the Lord so you can be in fellowship with him so you can be walking in his light so you can see the difference there you know the Lord promises never to leave us nor forsake us that's our position before him but if we walk in darkness we will lose the fellowship you know God will hide his face from us as it were not because God's gotten distance is that we've gotten away from the Lord because of our of our sins and uh you know Hebrews 13 verse 5 says let our conversation be without covetousness and be content be content with such things as you have for he have said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee we need to remain content with what God has given us now look my toilet paper supplies are running low God says be content all right with what you have you know and look we may not have you know all the foods that we love to eat because the shelves are getting a little bit bare in the shopping centers God wants us just to remain content you know just remember he is looking out for us you know and again you know as a father with a big family with a lot of children you know my biggest concerns are am I able to provide are my kids going to be fed are they going to have a full tummy by the end of the day you know I need to be content God will take care of the rest of it right he promised me he will never leave me nor forsake me and so brethren once again if God seems distant go and confess your sins to him you know I think this is a an area where I sometimes forget you know to do this and you know I think there's a lot I don't hear a lot of preaching on this I don't know why I don't know what it is you know go and confess I don't know if it's because we you know as baptists we think of the Roman Catholic Church and you know how they've got to go into the road to the priest and get into that little box and confess their sins you know say 10 hail mary's and you'll be right with God you know but no we need to go to the Lord God you know you know we can go directly to him because Christ is our mediator he's our high priest he's given us that opportunity to direct there in the throne of God but we are called to go and confess our sins to God on a regular basis not for salvation but to remain that you know that faithful walk with God that faithful fellowship with our Lord God Psalm 13 verse 2 then he says how long shall I take counsel in my soul now before we read the rest of it so we see that David is taking counsel all right the Lord seems far he's seeking counsel now there's nothing wrong with getting counsel in general okay the bible in fact many times instructs if you need wisdom if you need guidance go get some counsel you know we book of proverbs is filled with we've taken counsel but again you know the book of proverbs is also you know warning you about what counsel you can't you get you know make sure it's biblical counsel make sure it's godly counsel make sure it's not the counsel of this world but we know here that David is taking the wrong kind of counsel because he says how long shall I take counsel in my soul having sorrow in my heart daily listen to the counsel that David is seeking for is not alleviating the sorrow in his heart it could be uh you know escalating very much the sorrow in his heart not only does he have sorrow in his heart he has it daily every day he's suffering with this sorrow he's not getting the right counsel here and then he says how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me and brethren you know we know the media we know they're there to to bring fear into our hearts you know you know how they get ratings by making you go back you know they they get paid by the advertisers they're making you go back and if you're afraid you're constantly going to be checking the media you're constantly going to put on channel 9 news and channel 7 and what's the latest what's what's what's the prime minister saying what's the health organization saying and you're constantly turning on watching the and you know the advertisements they get paid okay if they give you good news and say everything's fine you're going to be like well okay i don't need to turn it on anymore i don't need to watch anymore but that's not their desire that's not the goal of the media don't forget the media is not a christian organization okay there might be some truth i'm not saying there's no truth in there but they're going to spin things in a way to get you addicted just like any television show you know you watch a television series at the end of an episode they leave you on a cliffhanger so you can go back and watch it the next episode and you think you're going to get an answer and there's a cliffhanger at the end of that it's like i gotta watch the next one you know and things like that they never leave you satisfied because they want you coming you know coming back for more and more and brevin you know you could you know you know you're going to get most of your information especially from the health you know organizer what's it called the um world health well not potential world health but what's the australian that's i say the health department let's say you know i think it's important to see what they're saying what they're advising but you know you can read one article in about five minutes and be done and get the information you need you don't need to constantly 24 hours a day every day of the week be checking what the latest information is on the virus and i'm telling you by doing this you know you think you're educating yourself but really you're bringing sorrow into your heart you're bringing fear into your heart that's the purpose of the media to get you uh you know going to them for help rather than going to the lord and brevin i think if we just turned off our tvs i think if we just turned off youtube for a while and just got into our bibles i mean look you're probably you know more in quarantine than you've ever been right you know probably some of your your workplaces are asking you to work from home you've got more opportunity now to read your bible if you've not read your bible cover to cover this is your chance you know even the world's saying stay home read your bibles do that you know instead of turning on the media listen the bible's not going to bring sorrow into your heart the bible's going to give you good counsel it's going to give you strength okay it's going to alleviate those fears brethren and so it says here how long shall my enemy be exalted over me i don't want the fears of this virus you know you know as christians we have enemies the world is our enemy the devil is our enemy you know there are people watching us and saying how are christians going to react to this you know we don't want them exalted over us we don't want them mocking our faith walking our walk with god so be careful about the council you take in make sure it's the council of the word of god because otherwise yeah like david you're going to have sorrow in your heart daily and i know this is a popular passage but please turn there and go to philippians 4 say in psalm 13 with one finger but go to philippians 4 philippians 4 verse 6 and i know it's always more interesting to learn about disasters and you know the bad things in this world but that's not what god wants us to have our minds on you know philippians 4 verse 6 be careful for nothing say what does that mean that means i can't be careful about things no no when it says careful that means don't be full of care don't be full of worry is what it means said here be careful for nothing that's the message of the bible all right but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto god so what's the teaching go to god take your thanksgiving take your prayer take your supplications the things you need from god take it to him in prayer don't be careful for anything verse number seven and the peace of god which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through christ jesus listen during this pandemic time you can be someone that has the peace of god you can be walking the streets all right going shopping with a big smile on your face singing the hymns praising the lord and the people who look at you and say what why is this guy so peaceful why is he so happy because it says here that the peace of god which passeth all understanding listen the world cannot understand the peace that you can have during these difficult times but what's it doing here you've got to go to the lord you've got to bring you got to get your strength from the lord he shall keep your hearts and minds it says here he'll keep you established he doesn't want you wavering verse number eight finally brethren and these things come together whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just now brethren look you know like you i've gone to youtube i'm sure you've done it you know you're trying to get different sides of you know this virus you know trying to find the truth i don't think anyone's got the full truth i'm sure everyone's got a little bit of truth maybe there are things that we don't even know that are really the truth and you know all i'm saying is we could be binding to a lie or half truths i don't know but the only place that i know this full truth is in the word of god this is the only place that i can be assured every every whatever verse i read would not be to waste because it's the full truth and look there are different opinions out there in the internet world you probably have your own opinions i've had different opinions as the days gone by what could this be what could it be you know be what's the purpose behind this all these kinds of questions you know is it just the judgment of god upon the world who knows but here's the thing i'm asked to focus on the things that are true let's go back to verse number eight what sort of things are honest what sort of things are just what sort of things are pure what sort of things are lovely listen going on youtube and watching you know videos in china of people collapsing you know and blood coming out of their eyes or whatever that's not lovely all right or whatever other videos you know you might be watching of these viruses that's not what god wants you focused on if you do that's where you're going to be fearful that's where you're going to be worried about this and we don't even know if these videos are even about this situation you know i mean to get all these uh uh videos of you know cc tv and compile it all together well it could be videos of several of the last 20 years or so of different events going on and someone's packaged it all together to make it seem like it's just about the virus we don't know we don't know i mean think about how hard it would be for you to put out a video and get all the cc cameras you know footage and put it all into one video and publish it on on youtube there's a lot of these videos making the rounds on the internet about how you know all the chinese are suffering i'm sure they're suffering i'm sure there are real cases of this i'm not saying this is not real all i'm saying is just focusing your time on these things that's not lovely that's not lovely okay it's disgusting okay it's not lovely it says here what sort of things are of good report if there be any virtue if there be any praise think on these things what are you thinking about brethren what were you thinking about this morning what are you thinking about last night were you thinking of the virus think on the things that are good things that are lovely things that are pure things that are just god wants us mentally focused on being good being positive being positive you know we should think okay the whole world's afraid i'm going to be positive minded here i've got the lord god the world doesn't have it hey you know australians they've gone through the fires they're going through this pandemic now you know australia is a nation where people think they don't need god or maybe now they're thinking of god maybe now they're thinking of death maybe now they're going to be more receptive ever than ever before to know the truth i wonder who's got the truth oh that's me all right praise god it's me it's my church we've got the truth we can be the light of the world you know in its difficult time in these dark times verse number nine those things philippians 4 9 those things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the god of peace shall be with you what does he want you to do he says the things that you've seen you've heard you've heard preach do those things hey this is the time to be doing more for the lord this is not the time to stop okay we have the words of eternal life i don't know about you forever i'm not actually afraid to die you know now look what have i been a christian there's been times in my life and i've been afraid to die of course okay but as you grow as you mature in the lord i'm not afraid i'm not afraid to die i may have concerns what happens to my family if i were to die that's where my concerns in my life but you know that's where you know you take other things in consideration and i think i've already done that so i'm not that concerned about the future but i want you to be careful about the things you're meditating on okay how many hours yesterday did you spend looking up the virus you know reading about the virus here in the news how many hours and then how many hours did you spend reading your bible how many hours did you spend in prayer you know how many times how many hours did you spend giving the gospel to someone that is lost and dying you know so i want you to have a good balance of these things i'm not saying don't look at the virus don't get information i'm not saying don't spend some time on that but look i don't think more than five minutes i don't think you're going to get any more someone that looks it up for five minutes get some latest information with someone that's spending hours and hours and hours every day of the week you you'd be at the same place with the information that you have back to psalm 13 please verse number three psalm 13 verse number three uh and um yeah let's just read this so uh david says he consider and hear me oh lord my god lighten mine eyes lest i sleep the sleep of death and that's the situation we're in right now everyone's thinking they're gonna die you know oh actually except those that are at bondi beach did you hear about that the people in bondi they all you know flock to the beach on what was it friday or something you know they you know uh so i guess they were okay but you listen that's australian sometimes right australian's sometimes a little bit thick but um you know here we see that david's afraid of like not afraid but he's thinking that i'm gonna die you know you know i i need to i need the lord to lighten mine eyes i need god to brighten mine eyes and that's what we need you know we we we are people are afraid of death you have like i said you have the light of the you are the light of the world you have the light of the gospel if you're gonna if anyone's lights eyes are going to be lightened god's going to be using you to do that okay and if you can please uh keep your finger then go to ezra 9 go to ezra 9 for me ezra chapter 9 the only remedy for the fear of death is for god to lighten or brighten your eyes it needs to come from god if you look at ezra chapter 9 verse 6 and again this ties in with judah being taken into captivity in babylon and then god promising that they will be restored back onto their land and i want you to notice this in verse number six ezra 9 6 and said oh my god i am i am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee my god for our iniquities are increased over our head and our trespass is grown up into unto the heavens so we see ezra here coming and confessing the sins not just himself but of his nation to god he's like embarrassed right he's saying look i can barely i'm blushing i can barely lift up my face and and express you know our sins here verse number seven since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day and for our iniquities have we our kings and our priests been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands to the sword to captivity and to spoil and to confusion of face as it is this day verse 8 and now for a little little space grace have been showed from the lord our god to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail in his holy place look at this that our god may lighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our bondage so ezra is coming he's confessing the sins his own sins the sins of his nations uh to god he asked god for a little bit of grace verse i'm right for now have a little space grace have been shown from our lord our god saying look god is there with his grace he's ready to have his mercy and grace upon us and here he's asking that god will may lighten our eyes you know things seem dark seeing things seems difficult but he's now he's asking lord can you lighten my eyes what is this about he keeps going and give us a little reviving in our bondage okay so ezra here is associated with lightening the eyes we've been revived you know i'm sure you guys have heard of that term revival you know a lot of churches speak of revival lord send us revival revival is not a word you see in the bible but here we have the concept here of being revived you know when you revive someone you're bringing someone that's close to death back to life right someone that's drowning you know they might be rescued by the lifeguard and you know they might need cpr or something they cough up the water and they can breathe again they've been revived we'll say you know and what ezra is asking is that the nation of judah would be revived that their eyes will be lightened and brethren if you're afraid of death if you have a fear of this virus you need a bit of revival you need your eyes to be lightened you know you need to go to god and ask him can you give me some of that life back once again i need to come back i want to be back where i used to be that confidence that zeal that i had for you for your things lord i need that back and we need revival you know when when david's asking for his lives to be lightened he's asking god give me revival and uh you know we think that revival in our churches you know we think that there's you know god's just going to you know snap his fingers and everyone's going to be full of the holy ghost and everyone's going to be up and praising god with their arms lifted up they're all going to go out and win the entire world to the lord and they think that's revival now look revival happens within you revival happens when you go to the lord bow your head blush a little bit you know be ashamed of your sins have that broken and contrite heart say god i'm in darkness lord i need your strength i need you to give me a bit of life i'm not serving you the way i used to serve you i'm not excited about the things that i used to be excited about lord please bring some of that revival back and god will bring that into you listen many times in the bible when we see the nation of israel struggling in sin god just needs one man you know god just needs a moses you know god just needs a joseph you know god just needs a samson you know god just needs a king david usually it's just one man that's revived that stays strong that that's got that power of god and that one man can lead many and uh you know i hope i can be that leader for you in this church and for the fathers and husbands i hope you can be that person in your family hope you can be that person that brings revival not for yourself but also for those that you have authority over so you know let's not allow this situation to darken our hearts to darken our eyes to have the fear of death let this be an occasion where we have the greater light than we've ever had before let us be our people that are asking for god to lighten our eyes back in psalm three and verse three oh sorry psalm three and uh verse number four psalm three verse four actually before i read that let me just uh read psalm 85 verse five and it says here will thou be angry with us forever wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations will thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee show us thy mercy oh lord and grant us thy salvation okay so we see another call for revive us will thou not revive us again in fact that's where we get the the term the lyrics for that hymn revive us again you know that's that hymn well we need the lord to revive us but again it's when we ask the lord for our mercy and it said here in verse number seven show us thy mercy oh lord and grant us thy salvation let's tie it into this virus you know we want to be saved from this virus we don't want to be infected we don't want to suffer we don't want to pass it on especially to the elderly especially those that are compromised with this we need god's salvation and we need god's revival you know we need these two things but it comes from god yes wash your hands you know yes yes you know be be careful with how you interact with other people you don't know how this virus can be spread but at the end of the day salvation is of the lord salvation belongs to god you know and god's still in control god still commands the seas and the winds god still commands it all you know and if you know if you have the virus god can just stop it in its place right there where you don't infect other people i mean god can do whatever he wants you know he's got full power over this thing the virus is not out of god's control you know god's allowing this virus to accomplish whatever it needs to accomplish okay and just you know don't ever think that god has lost control over the events of this world now the world has lost control you know uh but we we we are people of god we are people of god we should be those that are revived and seeking to revive others you know that are close to death that are on their way to hell with the beauty and light of the gospel psalm three verse four psalm three verse four and i said to you how our you know enemies are watching christians the enemies of of god are watching christians verse number four lest mine enemies say i have prevailed against him and those that trouble me rejoice when i am moved this is a constant theme in the book of psalm as well where you know the psalms are saying how the how the how god's people are struggling how they're going through hardship how they might be you know fearful of being overtaken by armies of you know other nations and there's a constant theme it's like god you know we don't want the enemy to think that they have uh you know uh strength over your people you know we don't want the enemy to to mock to mock you you know when you think of moses when he led the israelites out of egypt and how they were you know the israelites were um complaining and murmuring and god got so angry that he was on the verge of destroying the entire nation and moses steps in and says but god what will the other people say you know what will our enemies think you know they'll think that you just brought us out here to kill us is that what they want you know is that what you want the enemies our enemies to think about you and to think about your people you know this is something that that's constantly brought up in the bible and you know god is mindful of what the enemy thinks so we don't want you know to roll over and allow this virus to control every part of our lives to bring fear into our lives because it'll cause the enemies of god to mock our faith to mock out our walk with god to even mock our lord god no i want to see a smile on your face when you get out there in public you know i want to see confidence in you that hey i'm a child of god you know god can protect me oh god can let this virus wipe me out if that's what god's will is for my life but i'm letting god be in charge of of that situation you know and so be mindful of the enemies be mindful people are watching you how you act you know how you react to the virus how you're going to react during the tribulation to come in the future you know um and look you can set a good example to others you know your the way you react in these difficult times could open the doors for others to want to have what you have to have the confidence that you have okay we don't want our enemy to rejoice when they see christians rolling over afraid and there are christians that are afraid i mean i heard of a family friend that's had a breakdown you know about this whole situation and um she's a christian she's a believer you know and she's um it's it's it's too much for her you know she's had a mental breakdown you know the enemies will laugh and mock that situation we don't want that situation in our lives verse number five but and this is where we turn the corner now all right so it says here but i have trusted in thy mercy my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation all right so he goes look i know you're merciful god you know i've got these sins and i'm coming to you lord i need the mercy i know you've got it i know your mercies your faithfulness is new every morning you know and that's the truth of god when you're in sin brethren when you're ashamed you know god's mercy is always there just trust in his mercy trust that you can forgive and he will forgive you you come with that broken contrite heart he will forgive you you know you don't once you're forgiven say well god i've messed up you know lord forgive me give me strength to not do that sin again and just stop beating yourself up about it okay uh just trust in his mercy my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation if you can please go to um psalm 86 for me psalm 86 verse 5 psalm 86 verse 5 psalm 86 verse 5 it says here about thou lord art good and ready to forgive ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call unto thee this is our lord god he's ready you're like oh man i can't face god with my sins and my fears or man god's like hey i'm right here i'm ready right my mercy is like hey come on come to me come and ask for forgiveness god doesn't want you in this state of despair okay he wants you to offload that it's been paid for by jesus he wants you to do the great works for him i'll read you from daniel 9 9 it says to the lord our god belong mercies and forgiveness though we have rebelled against him and we do rebel against him you know we do so when every time we sin we rebel against him but the lord is ready to forgive us you know the lord's got this great heart this great love especially for his people we need to draw strength to know that god is ready to give us the strength we need back to psalm 13 verse number six psalm 13 and verse number six and this is how we need to be reverend psalm six that's uh the last uh sorry verse six that's the last uh that's the end of the the psalm all right he's gone for despair he spends a lot of time talking about this the sorrow in his heart but this is where he needs to end up in verse number six i will sing unto the lord because he have dealt bountifully with me you know when god gives you mercy and gives you forgiveness that's been bountiful towards you you know that's more than you deserve okay and we need to remember that you know god's forgiveness his salvation the heavenly inheritance that god has promised us these are bountiful gifts okay they're above and beyond what we deserve we deserve none of it actually we don't deserve any of it that's why it's bountiful every blessing every gift every reward that god can give us but notice it says i will sing unto the lord that's how your heart ought to be reverend this is what i want to ask this church to do something you've got hymn books at home you've got the internet you've got the hymns you've got the music i want you to not just make a decision to read your bible every day especially during these trials okay during the fears of this virus i want you to sing every day i want you to open up your hymn book i want you to go and find the lyrics if you haven't got the hymn book go find the lyrics on on the internet i want you to sing unto the lord i promise you it'll change your life it'll give you strength it'll make you happy it'll put a smile on your face you'll be able to walk out the doors and go what virus who cares right i've got the lord on my side we've got to get the song into our hearts you know and and one mistake we often make especially in church is we think that singing is just for some people for the people that have a great voice you know why they have a great voice because they practiced they didn't start with a great voice no one starts singing beautifully like an angel all right get your kids to sing see how bad they sound okay the only thing that the only thing that works is they're practicing singing every day the only way you're going to get better at singing and singing in church is you know practicing go home practice sing get your family together hey guys let's sing a hymn together let's sing a psalm together whatever it is you know learn to sing it says here i will sing unto the lord so when you sing you know do it as unto the lord do it as though you're standing god says you're in heaven god says all right you know brother jason you know come up here and sing me a song how would you sing right i mean even if you've got the bad voice right you're gonna sing with a full heart you've got lord god there you're singing unto the lord you're not singing to me you know you're not singing to the song leader you're not singing to this church necessarily though we are to sing and teach one another you know psalms and hymns and spiritual songs those kind of things but we're singing unto the lord don't forget that okay and if you remember who i was singing to the one who died for me the one who's forgiven me the one that has given me mercy the one who wants to give me strength the one who wants to reward me in heaven boy that's the one that's my my father above you sing unto the lord if you can just have that in your mind it's going to change the way you sing and when you sing i'm telling you it has an effect on your life i know when i sing it has an effect on how i preach you know if i've got sometimes i've got a bit of a sore throat not because i'm sick because i've you know preached down in sydney or whatever and i get a bit tired and i don't sing that much i don't sing as loud and i realize when i get up to preach i just don't have it in me i just it's just it's you know singing allows the spirit of god to work in you to strengthen you to help you you know serve the lord brethren please be a singing person i don't care how bad your voice is you may never sing as good as some other people right we had the special item remember annie and alex and how beautifully they sang hey that was a blessing to see how they sang but more important than listening to songs is for you to sing i will sing unto the lord because he have dealt bountifully with me hebrews 2 12 says saying i will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church will i sing praise unto thee hey you're having difficulty singing at home come to church come and sing here we'll teach you how to sing if you want to be a song leader you're you're hired okay get up here sing praise until it looks saying i will declare thy name unto my brethren when we come to church we're going to the brethren say hey i'm going to declare the name of god to you i'm going to tell you that i trust him i'm going to tell you he's my savior he's my lord and by and the way i'm going to do this by singing the way i sing unto god is me giving testimony to my brethren how much the lord means to me let's learn to sing let's have the songs of god in our hearts and uh so brethren you know i was going to call this sermon pandemic self-examination maybe that's clickbait i don't know okay pandemic self-examination but no sorrow in the heart you know has this uh has this event brought sorrow into your heart and i'm honest yeah it has a little bit i'm sure it has a little bit to you i'm sure all right but are we going to remain there what counsel are we going to get you know and once again i do not believe that we're entering the end times but if we did if we did and things got worse tribulation persecution pestilences plural you know people that you trusted your family your friends turning their backs against you you know i mean how are you how are you going to respond i mean think about how you responded now you know and this is not even close to how bad it's going to get okay and if if your faith has dropped if your fears have increased you know you're doing less for god you know you're doing less barbering you're doing less singing you know you got to ask yourself well was i am i really ready but you know don't feel bad this is an advantage this is an opportunity for you to examine and say well am i you know am i right are there weaknesses in my spiritual life are there weaknesses in my faith and if there are i need to get this right so when the tribulation does come i'm ready to face that like i said peter needed that opportunity you know to deny christ and then to be embarrassed to say i wasn't ready christ but then he was ready later on he was he was very ready later on you know and uh we need these opportunities take advantage take full advantage you know don't beat yourself up just say look lord i messed up i'm weak i'm you know i've got flesh and blood i've got a sinful nature lord i've got the same fears i guess at the end of the day that i i thought i had overcome them i thought that i was going to remain faithful to you until the end lord i thought i was going to you know never leave you but lord i kind of have maybe you know and uh please help me you know give me your mercy forgive me you know i'm a little bit ashamed maybe of the things that i've been thinking about and the way i've been behaving but lord allow this to be a learning lesson for me help me to you know like like king david before david was able to take on goliath he took on the line he took on the bear then he took on goliath you know we need to allow these opportunities you know let's take this on this pandemic and let's take a full advantage of this let's try our faith let's ask god to examine us as well you know where are we at what do we need to work on and so how are you responding to this pandemic you know verse number one in the psalm was you know are you distant from god or are you closer than you've ever been verse number two you know what counsel are you receiving is it bringing fear or sorrow verse number three was it you know are you preoccupied about death you know or are you seeking and experiencing revival number you know verse number four you know are you given opportunity for the enemy to scorn your faith you know our enemy at the end of day is the devil you know ephesians 4 27 says neither give place to the devil we don't want the devil we don't want to give him place with this virus don't let the devil you know find a foothold in your life because he's going to take full advantage of that remember the devil's still going about you know as a roaring lion seeking him he may devour he's still active today okay the devil he hasn't he's not afraid of the virus okay he's taking full advantage of this opportunity to be that roaring lion verse number five well you know are you trusting in god's mercies you know are you asking for his salvation from this virus or you know verse number six are you staying positive are you singing praises unto god you know let's examine ourselves in light of these verses how well are you performing during this time and uh again you know we can take some further practical steps about this how prepared are we you know financially brethren you know the people are going to suffer the most because of businesses closing down the economy is is crashing you know it's it's our dollars and we've always known if you know about finances you've known that our money's never been based on anything anyway right so it's only going back it's only going to where it needs to go that's zero at the end of the day okay but at the end of the day who's going to suffer the most during this time people that live paycheck to paycheck you know people that have not you know put a saving aside you know that people that have not prepared themselves for difficult times they're going to suffer the most and brevin you know let this be a lesson let it be well next time i'm going to make sure i save up next time i'm going to make sure i don't pay you know stupid money to to different subscriptions of cable television or whatever it is that you're you know all the waste of money that you're spending on you know maybe instead of you know eating out every day at hungry jack's or whatever kfc or whatever you know maybe i need to set that money aside and and and have a little bit of flour on the side a bit of rice on the side in case of any hardships in case the shops close down hey we should be prepared you know as christians we've gone through genesis what what did we see with joseph god told him hey i'm going to give you seven great years you know get ready for the hardship to come the seven difficult years to come let's take the lesson of a great man of god and be prepared for these things not just spiritually but also practically you know god has given us our families to look after to nurture to lead we need to be mindful about these let this be a you know a time where you can say hey am i ready you know how well am i doing do i have a plan b do i have a plan c you know am i am i ready to you know through to go through these difficult times or your work for god you know you're doing less for god today i think this is the time to do more for god honestly and look i don't know what the quarantine levels are going to be like you know i don't know if the government's going to say hey you can't go and knock doors on other people and preach to god look that might come and if that were to come we just have to find some other ways to preach to god you know i do believe the government and i want to make this clear i do believe they have the power they have the authority given by god to quarantine to shut people up in case of disease or fear of spread of viruses you know we've got to give the government their rightful authority which god has already given them okay that that was found in the law of moses that is something they can do okay now of course our government's corrupt you know that of course they're going to go beyond the measures that god has given them okay but they do have that power okay and so if they put certain restrictions because of that reason we need to be in obedience to that i truly believe but we just have to find some other ways you know we have the wisdom of god we've just got to find some other ways to do what we need to do we're going to find other ways to meet in church we're going to find other look if they say we can't be in a building we'll go to little mountain commons we'll go to the park we'll sit down on the grass we'll have church there all i need is a bible all we need is a few hymn books we'll be fine we'll have church probably have better church service than we've ever had right out there in nature with the fresh air we'll find a way you know if 10 of you have to be over there 10 of you have to be over there 10 of you over there 10 of you over there and well we need you know there's still more people and we need more services we'll do whatever it takes okay we'll do whatever it takes and uh reverend one thing i've noticed i'll just share this you know obviously i've seen a reduction in the offering that's coming in this month because of this issue and look at the end of the day you know that's between you and god you know and i've been able to pay the lease for next month so not to worry about that but i've noticed that we've been able to pay a little bit later than what i normally would be able to pay it so keep that in mind but at the end of the day i don't care if we lose the building because the church is not the building you know nothing's going to stop me from having this the church you know the doors of church open i don't care where it is you know if it's by the lake we can do some baptisms fine if there's time for that you know but we just have to be smart you know let's allow the government to do what they have to do god has given them certain powers okay and if they're at least obeying those powers that god has given them all good i'll let them have that okay um but let's be careful about how we're responding about this pandemic you know not just church but our lives our homes you know how's our enemies seeing us are we stopping to do the work of god i don't want to stop and say well what about other churches what about other pastors that's between them and god that's between them and god okay and i realize that you know when it comes to times like this and pastors have to make certain decisions they're going to be popular decisions they're going to be unpopular decisions whatever decisions you make in church someone's going to be happy someone's going to be upset and that's just a decision you've got to make you know and one thing i want to make very clear as well in church that if people decide to stay home and not attend church again and i you know i teach this extensively every man has the authority of his home every man has the authority of his family every man is accountable to god for his family and so if he decides not to be in church fine you know he's got that authority just like the government has the authority it's quarantine that man has the authority to make certain decisions for his family okay and we need to allow that we need to allow uh you know the the um you know the boundaries that god has given us and the authority that god has given us you know for different people they might make different decisions than i would make that's fine other pastors would make different decisions than i would make that's fine i have to keep a clear conscience with god you know i've got to lead this congregation i've got to set a good example i personally think the place i want to be the most in any difficulty is in church that's how i feel but if others don't feel that way well that's between them and god you know and i'm not going to speak bad of them you know i don't want to you know make make i don't want anybody to feel bad with the way uh you know they are acting about this situation i want everyone to just do that self-examination how well am i doing god you know do i need to work on some things lord hey let this be something between you and god your family and god you know it's not about looking at other people this is the time we need to be united this is the time we need to have one mind the mind of christ this is the time that we need to you know support our brethren you know encourage our brethren be prayerful for our brethren you know not mocking or not making fun or anything like that no this is the time for god's church to be stronger than ever before you know we can be the light of the world we can use this opportunity brethren to to do some amazing work for god i'm excited about what's going to happen okay you know i'm maybe a little bit of fears at the beginning but that's been replaced by excitement i'm a child of god i'm a citizen of heaven i'm an ambassador of god and so are you and so is this church this is the body of christ this is where the world needs to be turning to and asking questions you know god's church what do we do what's going on how can i be right with god so please brethren you know use this opportunity to do greater works for god use this opportunity to do a self-examination of yourself all right let's pray