Quarantine
As I tried to think of what to do this morning I began to think about the word “quarantine,” not that you are or maybe you have self-quarantined yourself, but we are kind of quarantined from each other.
Q
Quiet
1Kings 19:10-14
And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:
12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
14 And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
GOD was in the still small voice
Ps 46
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
Be still and know that I am GOD
Be quiet and still so that you can hear
Our voice just adds to the chaos and we cant hear
When we are speaking we are not listening
U
Understand
After we have stopped, when we are quiet and still we need to understand who HE is
HE is GOD and no matter as we said last week, no one or no thing can remove the LORD from HIS throne and HE does not relinquish control and no one can take it from HIM.
Before the 10 Commandments are given in Exodus 20 to Moses in verse 2, GOD says this,
I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
HE brought them out of bondage, out of Egypt, HE will bring us out of this.
In Isaiah 41 in the midst of the coming chaos GOD tells Isaiah this
For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
Fear is a hard thing not to have but the LORD assures that HE will help and as was recognized last we HE is the creator, HE has things under control, HIS control
A
Apply
We need to apply the principles of GOD
We can see this principles in action with JESUS in HIS walk of life. We follow HIM we cannot fail.
In Mark 12 JESUS in verse 29 tells us that GOD is one and after verse 30 that HE tells that we are to love the LORD with all our, heart, soul, mind and strength, the greatest commandment
But then HE tells us in verse 31
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
We are to love
JESUS said in John 13:30-31
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
This leads I think into the next letter
R
Rebel
We are to rebel against the world, we are in the world but we are not to be a part of it.
If we choose to go the way of the world we become a part of it, we become the same substance.
JESUS while HE was looking down at Jerusalem, praying to the FATHER, HE said in
John 17:16
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
If we are not of the world, we should Rebel against it.
A
Abhor
Not only are we supposed to Rebel against the world but we are Abhor its practices.
The harsh news of the truth is that the world is evil, some may think this is a harsh statement but as they say the truth hurts.
We are told in Romans 12:9
Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Abhor is an ancient word and we are not as familiar with that as say the world hate. For me that is a strong word, maybe Abhor is better for you but I remember that I was told by my Grandma and probably my mom, when the word hate was used, they would say oh don’t say that you don’t hate, you strongly dislike or something like that.
Some versions say hate what is evil, and this goes back to the Rebelling, cling to what is good because that is opposite the world.
N
Nurture
In the time that we are in and all times we need to Nurture our faith
In 2 Pet 3, Peter tells of how by the LORD’s word all things were made and by HIS word fire would come to punish and that the LORD would come as a thief in the night and he tells of the promises of the LORD and in verse 17-18
Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Of course growing in knowledge is not the only thing that we need to do to help Nurture our faith, we also need to trust in HIM
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.
Trusting in HIM and HIM completely will grow our faith, it will Nurture it
T
Tag Others
I know that we are not supposed to touch each other and we are really told to not get close to one another, I am told at work to stay 6 ft from everyone
But this morning I want to say that we need to tag up with others that are like us, others that are Rebelling against the world and are trusting in GOD
We are in a hostile world and we really need help to get us through.
We are part of the body of CHRIST and we cannot neglect our body
Paul told the Corinthians 12:27
27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
If we are not tagging others we are neglecting the body and it could get sick
This leads I believe into the next letter
I
Inspire
By tagging others, linking up with them and letting them know that we love them we inspire them
Also by being an example we inspire them
In the past I have been told by people when I worship with them, I am so glad you are here.
I’ve told you this story before but it doesn’t hurt to hear it again. When Jeana and I were in our twenties we were going to church and we would go on Wednesday night even, as you know Wednesday lots of people don’t show up, let alone young folks. After the service was over the people that were sitting behind us told us that they were so glad that we were there and that we inspired them.
We need to inspire and that by leading by example
Paul in 1 Corinthians 4 tells the people that there are a lot of teachers out there but they are not the right ones so he says in verse 16
Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
He tells them again in chapter 11:1
Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
Inspire one another by being an example and tagging others
N
Need HIM
Everyone wants to feel needed and we need to recognize that we need HIM
Not only in the bad times but also in the good times.
I believe that there are more people focused on GOD right now than before all of this but we need to focus on HIM always and need HIM always
Not only do we need HIM for all the physical things that we have in our life but we need HIM for our spiritual health.
Without HIM we are spiritually dead, with HIM we are made alive.
JESUS came that we may have life, John 10:10.
In John 1:4, it tells us that in HIM was life, so we get our life of course physically and we get life spiritually from HIM.
Our need for HIM will never go away. Some people will say that they don’t need HIM and maybe not in this physical life but in the next they will figure out real quick that they need HIM and since they didn’t rely on HIM to begin with it will be too late.
This leads to the next and last letter
E
Evangelize
We need to tell people about JESUS
There are lots of people out there that need to hear that there is a loving FATHER out there that has a special love for them like they have never seen.
So powerful that HE even gave HIS one and only SON, JESUS for them.
Romans 5:6-11
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
There is a GOD, the only GOD that loves people and HE is there for them and ready for them to come to HIM
We are justified, we are saved, we are reconciled and have received atonement.
We must tell others.
But let us remember to:
Be quiet and still
Let us understand who HE is
Let us apply the principles of GOD
Let us rebel against the world
Let us abhor the practices of the world
Let us nurture our faith
Let us tag others that are in the faith
Let us inspire others that are with us
Let us need HIM more everyday
Let us evangelize to others the Great News of the Bible.
Ben Gray