Report Card on Covid - Respect the Virus

April 18, 2021 REPORT CARD ON COVID RESPECT THE VIRUS Numbers 25: 1-18 This morning, I want to return to a familiar theme – the pandemic. So much has happened in the past year and for that reason, I want to provide the GP Family a perspective that is intended to keep us vigilant, alert and in proper alignment with God. Today’s lesson is one that I have been holding since last year, but now I feel the timing is right to present it to you as a tune up on how to maintain a proper spiritual disposition as the virus shifts, twits, and turns from month to month. If nothing else, I feel a strong compelling share from a passage that has constantly spoken to me throughout the pandemic. [But first] I want to pause a minute to say “Thank You Lord” for giving the scientists of our time the ingenuity to discover a vaccine that gives the inhabitants of the Seven Continents great hope. Thank you, Lord for the breakthrough. Page | 1 My personal prayer for GP, the people of God as a whole, the American people, and the world in general – is that we remain trusting and respecting God in spite of the vaccine. I pray that just because there’s a vaccine, we don’t stop trusting God. It’s easy to now drop our guard, wax cocky and self-confident – and abandon our dependence upon God like a hot potato. Figuratively spoken, let’s not all of sudden – throw God in the trunk like a spare tire – now that we have gotten the main tire fixed. [SLIDE] Psalm 20:7 says: Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God. Given that, I want to turn to an occurrence found in book of Numbers 25. The story told here reminds me of how important it is to respect mighty upheavals allowed by God. What is the proper response from God’s people? The straight answer is to respect and honor God by taking him seriously. What happens when people don’t? And what must be the collective position and response of God’s people? Turn with me to the Book of Numbers, Chapter 25, verses 1-13 I’m going to do a simple walkthrough of this chapter and correlate the very spirit of its happenings with one or two of the attitudes currently on display in our own country regarding the pandemic. Page | 2 [SLIDE] The title of today’s teaching is: REPORT CARD ON COVID RESPECT THE VIRUS Let’s being . . . by reading Numbers 25: 1- 4 (NLT -New Living Translation) 25 While the Israelites were camped at Acacia Grove, some of the men defiled themselves by having sexual relations with local Moabite women. 2 These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, so the Israelites feasted with them and worshiped the gods of Moab. 3 In this way, Israel joined in the worship of Baal of Peor, causing the Lord’s anger to blaze against his people. The Lord issued the following command to Moses: “Seize all the ringleaders and execute them before the Lord in broad daylight, so his fierce anger will turn away from the people of Israel.” 4 Here are my compelling insights: Verses 1-3 are equivalent to defining and/or identifying the problem at hand: The Pandemic. Listen to what it says: 25 While the Israelites were camped at Acacia Grove, some of the men defiled themselves by having sexual relations with local Moabite women. 2 These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, so the Israelites feasted with them and worshiped the gods of Moab. Page | 3 3 In this way, Israel joined in the worship of Baal of Peor, causing the Lord’s anger to blaze against his people. These verses could be termed the problem, the plague and the pandemic. They pronounce that there is a problem. The problem here is manmade. The problem of some of the Israelite men “defiling themselves by having sexual relations with local Moabite women” was a concoction of an apostate, false teaching hireling prophet named Balaam who was hired to curse Israel for King Barak. But God would not allow this wicked prophet Balaam to pronounce a curse on His chosen people. In Numbers, Chapters 22 – 24, King Balak is trying to persuade Balaam to curse Israel to keep their powerful “God-directed” army from crushing his country, Moab, as they had recently done to the mighty Amorite army. Because Balaam was not allowed to pronounce a curse upon Israel, he instead gave the Moabite King direction on how to provoke the Lord’s anger against His people. His advice was to cause them to stumble by getting them “to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.” Tragically, his advice was heeded . . . and the likes of a plague and a pandemic was born. Page | 4 [SLIDE] Just to differentiate, the plague was intentionally inflicted upon the people by God for their “sexual relations with local Moabite women and their partaking of sacrifices and worshipping of false Moabite gods”. This caused “the Lord’s anger to blaze against his people”. The pandemic of 2019, 2020, and 2021 was allowed by God; but with it has surfaced a very crucial God-centered message to the world that God is still in control; and to the church: – “My Church is a spiritual institution built upon Christ the Solid Rock and not “four walls”. “It’s time to be the Church more than being at the church house”. Verse 4 represents the seriousness of the problem. It’s not a hoax, or temporary fluke phenomena that will just soon disappear. Many will die before that happens because a terrible offense has occurred. [SLIDE] Listen to (Numbers 24) verse 4: The Lord issued the following command to Moses: “Seize all the ringleaders and execute them before the Lord in broad daylight, so His fierce anger will turn away from the people of Israel.” 4 How serious was the plague? Serious enough for it to be respected and crucial enough for it to merit God issuing an edict to round up “all the ringleaders and execute them before the Lord in broad daylight, so His fierce anger will turn away from the people of Israel.” Page | 5 How serious is today’s Seven Continent pandemic? Serious enough to shut down the world’s economy of quad-trillions of dollars – as well claiming more than 140 million cases and over 3 million deaths. [SLIDE] Verse 5 is an appeal to RESPECT the plague and take it seriously. To RESPECT the plague is to RESPECT God. So Moses ordered Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death the men under your authority who have joined in worshiping Baal of Peor.” 5 This same message is directed to us today: To RESPECT the plague is to RESPECT God. To RESPECT the virus is to RESPECT God. Regardless of your political affiliation or your religious persuasion, or church denomination or faith heritage – respect the reality of the havoc being wreaked by this virus which has nobody’s name on it. It matters not that you are black or white, saved or unsaved, rich or poor, American or Argentinian, Apostle or atheist, gay or straight, doctor or ditch digger. Like the plague, the virus is real. Respect it, Respect God. In verse 6, the plague was played down and literally ignored. Listen to what verse 6 says: 6 Just then one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman into his tent, right before the eyes of Moses and all the people, as everyone was weeping at the entrance of the Tabernacle. Page | 6 This is a sign of utter defiance. Notice the phrase “Just then” in verse 6. Now, notice, in verse 5 how conditions were so exceedingly sinful, that Moses had “Just then” ordered the “Israel’s judges, “to put to death the men under their authority who have joined in worshiping [idol god] Baal of Peor. The reality of the plague, like the virus, was dismissed as a hoax, a joke, and some kind of conspiracy to trick people out of enjoying life and to control their every move. So, the result for the truly delusional: Don’t exercise any restraints; Don’t respect your fellowman’s health or life; Just keep on partying and proving there’s nothing to this democrat party concocted, underworld scheme. Hence, “Just then one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman into his tent, right before the eyes of Moses and all the people, as everyone was weeping [for their lives and begging for God’s mercy] at the entrance of the Tabernacle. [Numbers] Verses 7, 8 and 9 – I have earmarked for church folks. In particular, those who are born again and possess the Spirit of God. They read: 7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest saw this, he jumped up and left the assembly. He took a spear 8 and rushed after the man into his tent. Phinehas thrust the spear all the way through the man’s body and into the woman’s stomach. So the plague against the Israelites was stopped, 9 but not before 24,000 people had died. Page | 7 If no one else recognizes the hand of the Lord, or is able to discern Hi voice – then the church surely must. This world is lost without the church – specifically the Saints of God who are called to be Salt and Light. In times like these, the church must rise up like Phinehas who jumped up and move into action. That action is to respond appropriately to the crises of our day. We must show wisdom in what to do when people have lost all hope and are spiraling down into despair. The message from the church should be decisive – driven by the wisdom of God and the power of the Holy Spirit – not the mere quoting of Scripture – namely Psalms 91 and Second Chronicles 7:14 – Respectfully: [SLIDE] Ps. 91: 5 - 7 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, 6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. Page | 8 Second Chronicles 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Perhaps the two most popularly quoted Scripture during the pandemic – while also considered the most misapplied verses as well. However, look closely at the details of this passage: 7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest saw this, he jumped up and left the assembly. He took a spear 8 and rushed after the man into his tent. Phinehas thrust the spear all the way through the man’s body and into the woman’s stomach. So the plague against the Israelites was stopped, 9 but not before 24,000 people had died. Phinehas, acting out of zeal, a passion for God, jumped into action as a sign of speaking up for God and His righteousness. He refused to stand idly by and let wrong prevail in the face of a crisis. We too, must not spiritualize the pandemic but take a stand and respond to it as the spirit reveals. He called wrong out: Phinehas thrust the spear all the way through the man’s body and into the woman’s stomach. Ultimately, the plague against the Israelites was stopped. Why? Because, God was pleased with righteousness and right actions prevailing in the face of defiance. Page | 9 The church too, must prevail and do things in accordance with the leading of the Spirit which runs the church – and not march to the dictates of a confused world. [SLIDE] Finally, verses 10-13 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest has turned my anger away from the Israelites by being as zealous among them as I was. So I stopped destroying all Israel as I had intended to do in my zealous anger. 12 Now tell him that I am making my special covenant of peace with him. 13 In this covenant, I give him and his descendants a permanent right to the priesthood, for in his zeal for me, his God, he purified the people of Israel, making them right with me. 10 Because of Phinehas’ zeal God’s holiness, the Lord made a covenant of an everlasting priesthood with him so that through his family line would come all future, legitimate High Priests. The actions of Phinehas sends a clear message to the church. That message is that in times of crisis (and for all time), the church must dare to stand for truth and win the contest of righteousness over wickedness. Many churches and church organizations have sent mixed messages to the masses on what should be a proper response, not a popular or political response of position – on this “everything impacting” crisis. Page | 10 Ultimately, the church’s message is still blurred as it waxed too political and too overly spiritualized. Like Phinehas’ action, the virtue, zeal, wisdom, the patience and perseverance of the church should, and must always be the clear voice in the earth during this dispensation of time. We must arise and put wickedness to shame and cause righteousness to prevail. With that in mind, let the church have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to Her, rather than compromising God’s Truth for a political fanfare and empty traditions. Then, let us as God’s children conclude as Isaiah said in . . . Isaiah 55: 3, 6 - 9 . . . which says: 3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David. 6 Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. Page | 11 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. 8 There’s Still a Need to Respect the Virus %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%END%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Page | 12