Dear beloved church family,
Another week and more adjustments to our normal schedule. As the news continues to mesmerize our attention and tempt our hearts to anxiety, I want to encourage us to fight to keep our eyes on the Lord in the midst of this trial. Whatever each of our particular temptations—to worry, or fear, or a need to control, or a lack of control, or laziness—we need Jesus more than ever. We have been praying for maturity as a congregation, and the Lord has sent the coronavirus. May the Lord expose our sin and work deeply in our hearts so that we would become a more sanctified body as a result of His gracious work in our midst.
If you weren’t able to listen to last week’s sermon from Psalm 91, you can do so
here
. This week, we return to Isaiah. The text is very fitting for our current crisis. King Hezekiah is sick to the point of death, and he cried out to the Lord for personal deliverance. The most striking verse of the passage is Isaiah 38:17, in which, after he is healed, Hezekiah writes, “Behold, it was
for my welfare
that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.” Our welfare is first of all connected to the glorious truth that God has cast all of our sins behind his back through the work of His Son. Praise Him!
In addition to this week's sermon (which is available at 11:00am on our website) and the Home Worship Guide, I want to invite you to consider joining our 30-minute prayer meeting at 10:00am on Sundays on Zoom. (Just use this web to attend the prayer time:
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/909796688
).
More ministries are becoming available on-line almost every day. Look for a master list of options to be emailed out at the beginning of next week (which will include things like Small Fellowship Groups, other prayer times, women’s Bible study, a new men’s and women’s book study on The Hole in Our Holiness, a choir/musician hang-out, youth group, and other fellowship opportunities).
As this period of isolation continues, we need to do all we can to stay connected as a church family. I want to encourage you to consider making contact with one person per day outside your home. Pick someone you might not normally talk with. Call, email, text, Skype…whatever works best and will enable you to personally connect in some way with at least one other person.
Please contact Steve Lengkeek (steven.lengkeek@gmail.com, 215-518-3612) or Jeremy Johnson (jeremy@proclamation.org, 254-717-7466) if you have any physical needs. We have lots of people who would love to help in any way!
I look forward to “seeing” you all on Sunday! May God bless the rest of our week.
Warmly in Christ,
Pastor Ben
