{"id":31431,"date":"2022-09-10T15:30:10","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/3-unexpected-scriptures-your-church-needs-right-now\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:30:10","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:30:10","slug":"3-unexpected-scriptures-your-church-needs-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/3-unexpected-scriptures-your-church-needs-right-now\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Unexpected Scriptures Your Church Needs Right Now"},"content":{"rendered":"
Brody Childs photo – Unsplash <\/p>\n

By Joe McKeever<\/em><\/p>\n

As we help our people keep the present crisis in perspective and as a guidance for our messages, we’re always on the lookout for a fresh Scriptural perspective on life-in-the-midst-of-a-crisis.<\/p>\n

See if these help …<\/p>\n

1 Kings 20:28<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Then the man of God approached and said to the king of Israel, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because the Arameans have said: The Lord is a god of the mountains and not a god of the valleys, I will hand over all this whole huge army to you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”<\/p>\n

People have always wanted to make God one or the other\u2014Lord of the big, important matters or God of little, inconsequential, “spiritual” things.<\/p>\n

One of my neighbors, a businessman, once said, “That’s all right in your line of work, Joe, but in the real world … .” I jumped all over that, you may believe. Jesus Christ is Lord of all.<\/p>\n

God is God of the infinite, as well as the infinitesimal. Of the mountains and the valleys.<\/p>\n

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We’re currently ministering to people in life’s valleys. The constant challenge is finding ways in which God uses this crisis for His glory and our good.<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 20:12<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When Jehoshaphat faced the murderous Assyrians, the King of Judah prayed:<\/p>\n

“Our God … we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”<\/p>\n

Every believer finds themselves in situations where we pray, “Lord, we don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” That surely applies to this day.<\/p>\n

As they prepared to cross the Jordan into Canaan, Joshua told the Israelites, “You have not passed this way before” (Joshua 3:4). That’s more true of us today than it’s ever been! So, we look to Him.<\/p>\n

The government is important, and we pray for our leaders, but we don’t look to the government for salvation.<\/p>\n

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See also  Why Pastors Must Acknowledge Their Own Needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Science is amazing, and we pray for scientists to find the vaccine and the cure for this super-virus, but our trust is not in science.<\/p>\n

As the Psalmist said, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7).<\/p>\n

We’ll want to help our people to conquer their fears by giving them to the Savior. He alone knows the way through this wilderness.<\/p>\n

Psalm 116:7<\/strong><\/h3>\n

“Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.”<\/p>\n

This is heaven’s cure for anxiety.<\/p>\n

“Get back in your hole, anxiety! The Lord has always dealt bountifully (generously, lavishly, lovingly) with us, and there’s no reason to believe He won’t do so now!”<\/p>\n

I made this little discovery while grieving for my parents. Mom and Dad lived long lives (each was almost 96 when God took them), so I have no complaints. But I loved them dearly and still miss them every day.<\/p>\n

Once when the grief for my father was almost inconsolable, I began giving thanks to the Lord for the wonderful things about Dad that I’ll never forget.<\/p>\n

Almost instantly, the pain went away and was replaced by a sweet joy. That was a great discovery. Joy and grief may sometimes exist alongside each other, but anxiety and joy may not, in my experience.<\/p>\n

“Weeping endures for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).<\/p>\n

Pastors, see if these assurances from God’s Word minister to your people as they have many generations before.<\/p>\n

JOE MCKEEVER (@DrJoeMcKeever) <\/strong>pastored for 42 years and has been preaching the gospel since 1962. He blogs regularly for pastors and other church leaders at JoeMcKeever.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com<\/div>\n
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The Tony Evans Study Bible<\/h2>\n

FIND OUT MORE <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Related posts:<\/h3>\n
What Do Pastors Believe About the End Times? What Do Pastors Believe About the Book of Revelation? 3 Ways to Reach Non-Religious People in Your Community <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brody Childs photo – Unsplash By Joe McKeever As we help our people keep the present crisis in perspective and as a guidance for our messages, we’re always on the lookout for a fresh Scriptural perspective on life-in-the-midst-of-a-crisis. See if these help … 1 Kings 20:28 Then the man of God approached and said to … Continue reading “3 Unexpected Scriptures Your Church Needs Right Now”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}