Leave it to the pandemic
to show me how much I need Jesus.
I've been a Christian for almost 40 years now
and if my math is correct,
I've attended over 4,000 different church services.
Four thousand!
I've read the Bible,
not just a snippet here or there,
but cover to cover,
time after time after time after time.
And you would think that I would get it.
You'd think I'd be fairly good at it.
But, then the pandemic came.
I'm not sure if you can relate but
no matter how long you've been following Jesus,
whether it's your first day or you're 87 years in,
it's been really hard
to follow the basics.
To love God
and to love people.
To trust God,
to not give up our peace or our joy
but to know that he's here, he's got it,
he's in control of it
and then to love people.
To do everything without grumbling or arguing.
Man, I think it doesn't matter how long you've been following Jesus,
it's been tough.
And that's why I'm so thankful for grace.
This week we've been talking about the essential things
to get through the pandemic.
We've been talking about Jesus.
We've been talking about attitude.
We've been talking about wisdom.
But I definitely want to end these talks
with the biggest and best essential of all.
With grace.
So, let me overwhelm you with a bunch of Bible passages.
I hope you can think about them,
meditate on each one
and find all the peace that your soul needs.
I love this one from Romans, chapter five.
If your sins have been piling up more and more and more
since the pandemic began,
the Apostle Paul says:
And maybe you've given in to anger
or to drunkenness as you've been sitting home alone.
Or to lust as you've been frustrated and sitting online.
But the Apostle John said:
Maybe you've been wandering in your faith.
You've kind of gotten disconnected from
God and from church
and from the Bible and from your spiritual roots.
Maybe you wandered like a sheep,
but the prophet Isaiah said:
And maybe you think because of your struggles,
because of your anger and your attitude and your bitterness
that God's kind of sick of you and done with you.
But the Apostle Paul famously wrote:
And maybe when you step back and look at life,
you're pretty convinced that God
is going to be done with you people.
And he's going to find some new people
But God said through the prophet Moses:
That's grace.
That's so good, isn't it?
And, through Jesus, it's all ours.
So, let's do our best
to serve,
to love,
to trust.
And at the end of the day let's remember there's always grace.
And grace is all that we need.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, for many of us
the pandemic hasn't brought out the best in us.
But it reminds us of the best thing about you.
That you give shocking grace to people who just
don't deserve it and don't expect it
and don't see it coming.
After all of our struggles and sins, Father,
we wouldn't expect you to put up with us,
much less like us and rejoice over us.
But your Word says that through Jesus, you do.
So thank you for grace.
Now may that grace compel us to live godly
and self-controlled and holy lives
in this difficult time.
We pray this in the beautiful name of Jesus.
Amen.
Well thank you so much for sticking with me throughout this week.
I hope that these messages were a blessing to you and your faith.
And I'd love for you to pass the good news on.
We're inundated with bad news
and uncertain news and scary news.
So would you share this video
and its message of grace with someone who needs it?
I'd love for them to get that good news,
fix their eyes on Jesus
and grow in their peace during these crazy times.
Thanks, and I pray you have an amazing day.