First Remote Service Amid the Covid-19 Pandemic

As crazy as this week has been, I, as a pastor, feel freshly grateful for a number of things this morning. I am grateful for the staff team that we have here at Cornerstone. And when I speak of our team, I'm talking about Pastor Mike and Pastor Carlos, Pastor, Carlos Price, and also Eric Cooper and Kelly Lamon and Chris Kearns. And I'm also freshly grateful for all of our elders and their wives.

There's been a tremendous amount of dialogue going on amongst all of us this week, and I'm freshly reminded of the fact that we are wiser together than we are apart. If you would have seen the way that the elders and the staff came together this week to discern God's leading. And to chart the path forward for the next two weeks, I know that you would feel as grateful as I do for the amazing team that we have here at Cornerstone. I'm also grateful for our ministry leaders here at Cornerstone and the members also of our church who have been praying this week, with many of them seasoning our thinking with their counsel and their input.

I've also felt freshly appreciative this week for sister churches like Foothill Bible Church and the Anchor Bible Church and the Reformed Baptist Church of Riverside along with other sister churches that we have been in communication with this week. There's been a lot of sharing of insights back and forth and asking of questions, and one of the good things that has come of all the developments this week. Has been that we as sister churches are more united than we have ever been as sister churches, we have learned together that we are wiser together than we would have been if we were each flying solo.

I've often had feelings of ambivalence over the years about social media, but I have felt very appreciative this week of articles that have been posted and wisdom that has been shared by brothers and sisters on the Internet and on social media.

There's a tremendous amount of wisdom that rises to the surface coming from leading voices within evangelical Christianity. During times such as this, and we have benefited hugely from the wisdom that we have read from these voices over this past week. We have learned even from this standpoint that together we are wiser than we would have been if left to our own resources. Above all, I am grateful to Jesus Christ, who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

He is in perfect sovereign control of the universe, and his status as ruler of all has not changed this past week. When Pharaoh put Joseph in charge over all the land of Egypt in the Book of Genesis, Pharaoh said these words to Joseph. He said, and I quote, Though I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt, unquote. And that's essentially what the Father has said to his son when he gave Jesus all authority in heaven and on earth, as RC Sproul has said, there is not one maverick molecule in all of the universe that moves apart from his permission.

Jesus is absolute Lord, and his lordship is comforting to us during a time such as we find ourselves in right now. I have been struck over this past week at how fast and furious things have been happening that have changed what seemed wise just hours before. On the morning of Wednesday of this past week, a certain path for our Sunday programming seemed appropriate. We were preparing to tell you all that we will be having services on campus.

We bought disinfectant. Solutions and tried to obtain some Purell hand sanitizer containers and we were ready to give you the directions that you would need before you came to church on Sunday but by the end of that day what seemed to be the path of wisdom that morning no longer seemed wise. I sent out an email to you all on Thursday asking for your prayers for the elders as we sought to make decisions about the path forward. I heard from many of you assuring us of your prayers, and I thank you for those.

Words of encouragement and for your prayers. I believe that God's wisdom is in the decisions that we have been able to make thus far, and I know your prayers are a huge part of that. In the interest of absolute clarity, I want to restate the decision that the elders communicated to you this past Friday. After consultation with public health officials and with sister churches along with medical professionals and our own ministry leaders here at Cornerstone.

The elders have decided to cancel our on-campus Sunday events for this Sunday, March 15th and next Sunday, March 22nd, along with all of our weekly enrichment ministries, which would include Awana, the youth ministry, men forum, and men's Bible Study, and our women's Bible studies, and our college career ministry, canceling all of those weekly enrichment ministries through March 27th. As for care groups, the official expectation of weekly care group meetings has been suspended.

And care groups are free to decide what constitutes best practices for them. We trust care group leaders and Their members to collaborate in determining whether and when and how their care group will meet and or connect with one another over the next couple weeks in making this decision, we as elders not only aim to be responsive to the spirit of the directives given by our state and municipal leaders, but we also desire to act consistently with the law of love toward you.

And toward the people of the communities in which we live, especially toward those who are the most vulnerable among us. From information that is available to us, it seems that COVID-19 most adversely impacts those who are older and who have preexisting medical conditions, and we believe that we are serving them well with this decision. We are thankful that presently there are no known cases of COVID-19 that have appeared in the city of Riverside itself, though there are cases that have appeared.

In Riverside County.

Yet, limited access to testing leaves us without any real measure of the existence of COVID-19 among us. Given what we know and given what we don't know at this time, humility dictates that we as a church stand in solidarity with our fellow citizens in seeking to limit opportunities for the coronavirus to spread. I want you all to know that we will be monitoring developments very closely in the coming days and weeks and we will be. Seeking with the Lord's help and with your help to make the best decisions going forward, we will communicate with you on a regular basis so that you will know what our thinking is.

And we will be inviting your thoughts as well along the way. We've already benefited hugely from wisdom and input from a number of you in the congregation, and we look forward to continuing to receive your input. In the weeks to come. Obviously, our desire is to resume our Sunday services and our ministry meetings as soon as possible.

As I said in my Friday email message to all of you, this is a very important time for us as a church community. This is not a time for us to put community on hold over these next two weeks, but it is a time for us to come together like never before and to make sure that we are walking through this time in community with one another. To whatever degree you are able to connect in person or via technology with one another, we plead with you to take every opportunity to do that. We especially encourage our care groups to be creative and exploring ways that they as a care group can come together and serve together and be praying together.

During this time. Let us also be mindful that there are people in our church family who work in industries that are being hit very hard by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. And if you become aware of financial needs in the life of a brother or sister as a result of these developments, please notify us so that our Agape team can evaluate the situation and consider providing help from the Agape Fund. For them, this is exactly what our Agape Fund is for.

I do want to encourage you all to be continuing to give to the church during this time. It's tempting during times like this to. Feel fear and then to hold on to our money and wait to see how things turn out. But this is the time of all times to live out the ethic of Proverbs 3:9, where Solomon teaches us to honor the Lord from our wealth and from the first fruits of our produce.

We honor God not by giving to him after we see that everything has worked out OK, but we especially honor Him by giving to him even in moments of great uncertainty and then trusting Him to provide for us. And so I encourage you to seize this opportunity. To give to the Lord in this way as an act of trust in him and as a way of investing in eternity. As for the sermon for this morning, I really wrestled with what would be the proper.

Message from the word to bring to you today. I've worked over the last couple of weeks on Titus chapter 1, verses 10 through 16 and was preparing to preach from the Book of Titus to you this morning. And this morning I was even just putting the finishing touches on that sermon, but I kept feeling a disconnect in my spirit. And began to really feel that the Lord wanted me instead of preaching from Titus to just talk with you and share with you some thoughts about how I think that we all should be responding to this coronavirus pandemic that we find ourselves in right now and so with the time that we have I want to, to give you several ways that I think we as individual Christians and as a congregation.

Can and should respond to. This coronavirus pandemic and so that would be the title of the message this morning is just responding to this pandemic and I wanna at least give you 9 ways that I think we should respond to the coronavirus pandemic that we're faced with today. And some of these will go through rather rapidly and then others will take a little bit more time with. But I think the first response is that we should be humbled.

We should be very humbled. The developments regarding the coronavirus over the last few weeks is a fresh reminder to all of us of how vulnerable we are, how fragile our lives really are. That we would be so vulnerable to something so tiny and so invisible as a virus. And as I've said earlier, I don't think I've ever experienced a situation in which what seems to be the path of wisdom one day.

Or even earlier in the day is clearly not the path of wisdom by the end of that day or the next day. Things have changed from one hour to the next to where the wisdom of even two hours ago is suddenly outdated. Our lives are truly vulnerable, and things change very quickly. And if this pandemic serves to teach us how vulnerable our lives are, then I think we can be truly thankful for this very needed lesson.

In James chapter 4, James speaks to us and he says, come now, you who say today or tomorrow we shall go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit, yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. There's a lot of people who had some travel plans this week and those plans got changed and they were not able to travel to such and such a city and engage in business.

In that city whenever I've read this particular word of counsel from James, I've, I've always focused on the word tomorrow, but I just noticed this week that he says come now you who say today or tomorrow we shall go to such and such a city.

James is teaching us that we need to not only be humble about the plans that we're making for tomorrow, but we need to even be humble about the plans that we're making for later in the day today. Because we are not in control. God is in control and things can change very quickly. If we're properly humbled by what has been happening to us in recent days, I think we will have a charitable spirit, towards other people, especially towards those that are making decisions about how best to respond to this coronavirus situation.

I appreciate what one friend on Facebook wrote this past week. Let me give you his words of counsel. He says, and I quote, This is not a time to second guess school closures, activity restrictions, forced cancellations, etc. Those individuals who must make these difficult decisions are doing the best that they can in an evolving crisis that changes minute by minute.

They have a responsibility to make the best decisions they can with the best advice available from well-meaning professionals. If our officials err on the side of caution and the crisis is not as extensive as anticipated, then you will be inconvenienced. But if they are correct, then lives will be saved. Put yourself in their position before you criticize them.

They have awesome responsibilities resting on their shoulders. Instead of criticizing, why not use that energy to help a single mom who must go to work while her kids are at home for school for 3 weeks. Stop criticizing and do something useful, unquote. I think that's good counsel and on a related note, there's a second way I think we should respond to this pandemic.

First of all, we should be humble, but secondly, we should be good citizens. And 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 17, Peter tells us to honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honor the king. And this is a time for us to do all four of those things. This is not the time for us to think of ourselves only, but also to be thinking about others.

It's easy to feel resentful of the 150 people who are in the line ahead of us at Costco. But these people are image bearers of God trying to deal with a tough situation just like you are. Pray for them. Give them a smile.

They really need one, and encourage them and chat with them and look for gospel opportunities just as I know that some of you are already doing. Along these lines, there's a 3rd way that I think we can respond appropriately to this coronavirus pandemic, and that is 3, to be prayerful. To pray. In 1 Timothy chapter 2, Paul says, and I quote beginning in verse 1, 1st of all, then I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

We should put more energy into praying for our leaders than we do in criticizing them. Regardless of our political differences, we should pray for President Trump and for the members of his administration. We should pray for Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi and all of our senators and representatives that God will give them. The wisdom that they need to work together for the good of us all, we should pray for our state and local leaders.

And for medical professionals as they seek to manage the needs that arise from this pandemic, praying like this will not only be good for our leaders. But it will also be really good for us. Paul tells us in Philippians 4 that if in everything through prayer and supplication we make our requests known to God, then the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. None of us are of any use to anyone when the peace of God is not reigning in our hearts, so let's pray and let's enjoy the peace of God guarding our hearts.

Along these lines. I think one of the things that we should pray for is that God would help us to love. In fact, one sister in our congregation told me the other day that she is praying that God would help her to love boldly during this time. When so many are frazzled and fearful.

So let's talk about that for a moment. A 4th way that we can respond to this coronavirus pandemic is to love, to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Bible teaches us to look out for the elderly, and it seems that this virus affects the elderly and those who are vulnerable in a greater way than it affects those who are younger and less vulnerable. If restricting our activities is how we can protect the more vulnerable among us, then we should be willing to do that.

As an act of love, and we should count it a blessing to endure inconveniences for the good of others. We should also realize that good hygiene is love. We don't just wash our hands for our own sake, but we wash our hands and take precautions as an act of love toward others whom we do not want to infect. The command you shall not murder means many things.

One of the things it means is that we must never endanger others through our negligence or recklessness when it comes to hygiene. So remember, good hygiene is love. We should also not become selfish during this time and stock up on items simply for our own personal preservation, but we should stock up so that we can share what we have and use it to show Christ's love to other people. As one writer has said this past week, for Christians, it is better that we should die serving our neighbor.

Then that we should die being surrounded in a pile of masks that we never got a chance to use. I think that is good counsel. For all of us. There's a 5th way that we should respond to this coronavirus pandemic, and that is this.

Number 5, remember who sits on the throne. Remember who sits on the throne. The last time I checked, the coronavirus is not sitting on the throne of the universe. God is.

The coronavirus is subservient to God and must do his bidding. In Habakkuk chapter 3, Habakkuk speaks of God and says in verses 4 to 6, Listen to this. God's radiance is like the sunlight. He has rays flashing from his hand, and there in his hand is the hiding of his power.

Before him goes pestilence, and plague comes after him. He stood and surveyed the earth. He looked and startled the nations. Yes, the perpetual mountains were shattered.

The ancient hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting. If we learn anything from the 10 plagues that God sent upon Egypt, we learn that God can send plagues, and He can withdraw them at any time because God is sovereign and plagues are not sovereign. There are no maverick viruses or bacteria cells in God's universe.

They all are His servants, and they must do His bidding in order to serve His cosmic purposes on Earth. Which brings us to the next way that we should respond to this situation. Number 6. We should remember Romans 8:28.

We should remember Romans 8:28. In Romans 8:28, Paul speaks with a confidence that all of us as Christians should have, and he says these words we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. The truth of this verse means that everything that has transpired this past week has been allowed by God because God intends to bring good out of this. He wants us to learn and to grow through this, and he wants us to become more like Christ during this time, conformed to the very image of his beautiful Son, and he wants to use us during this time.

In the lives of others as we seek to glorify Christ and show His love and serve His gospel purposes in the lives of others, God is at work even right now in drawing souls to Himself, and glorifying His name through all that is happening, and we can count on that. Based on the truth of Romans 8:28. That said, there is a 7th way that we should respond to this pandemic, and that is we should be discerning. We should be discerning.

God is at work during this season, but so is Satan. Satan will do all that he can to separate us from one another during this time. He will try to make us selfish and to care only about our own selfish. Preservation he may tempt us to become resentful and selfish toward others who are less prepared for this pandemic than we are.

The devil may tempt us to give way to fear, or he may tempt us to be more dismissive. Then we ought to be. He could foment pride in our hearts to where we are posting on Facebook about how stupid everyone else is to be taking such precautions. Satan may even try to sow division in our church.

In fact, I am sure he will seek to do that. He might stir you up to disagree and become angry with the elders for a decision that the elders may make. He may try to make the elders sin and trusting our own wisdom and to make decisions based on reasons that are not soundly biblical. These are extraordinary times that call for extraordinary discernment and humility and grace and wisdom.

And we need to be mindful of the fact that yes, God is at work, but so is Satan, and let us not. Give the devil a foothold among us in the coming days. There is yet another way that we should respond to this pandemic, and that is 8, to realize that this is not the church's first plague. This is not the church's first plague.

The Church of Jesus Christ has encountered various plagues throughout its 2000 year history, and it was in some of these plagues that the church showed the glory of Christ in ways that still reverberate thousands of years later. In the 2nd century AD, there was a plague that literally went through the Roman Empire and killed 25%. Of people living in the Roman Empire, 25% imagined that. Yet while the Romans were abandoning their sick during this plague, Christians cared for the sick in ways that left the Romans amazed.

In the 3rd century AD, there was an awful plague that was so devastating that Romans were fleeing from cities and leaving their sick loved ones behind. Dionysius, a 3rd century bishop, describes the behavior of the Romans during this time. He says that the citizens thrust aside anyone who began to be sick. And kept aloof even from their dearest friends and cast sufferers out upon the public roads half dead and left them unburied and treated them with utter contempt when they had died.

Yet, while the Romans were abandoning their own in this way, Christians fearlessly moved toward the sick and cared for them. In fact, as people were fleeing from the city of Carthage during this plague, Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage, gathered Christians together in the center of the city, and he spoke these words to them. Listen to what he said to the Christians. He says, if we are going to do what Jesus did, so that through his poverty, we might become rich, I call you to give personal and financial aid, care and comfort to all according to their need.

Not their faith. What he was saying by that is don't just care for the Christians among you, care for those who are pagans. And the Christians gave heed to that call and cared for the sick and the dying who had been left behind in the city of Carthage. Roman society was left utterly baffled by the sacrificial charity of these Christians during this plague.

The sacrificial love and the good deeds of these Christians exposed the bankruptcy of Roman religion and caused many Romans to turn to Christ, including some who were in positions of political power, and within 100 years, Christianity was the dominant religion in Rome. That's the power of Christians showing confidence, fearlessness, and sacrificial love during a time of plague. In Martin Luther's Day. A plague ran through Wittenberg, Germany, and Luther refused to flee from the city together with others who were fleeing.

He stayed behind and he ministered to the sick and the dying. He encouraged Christians to think carefully and to strike a balance between sacrificial love and common sense precautions. In a letter to a friend during this time, Luther explained his approach. If faced with a plague, he says, and now I quote, I shall ask God mercifully to protect us.

Then I shall fumigate. Help purify the air. Administer medicine, and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence.

But if my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely to him. That's a good balance for all of us. Just after World War One, the Spanish flu came to the United States. The Spanish flu was actually caused by an H1N1 virus that literally infected one third of the world's population at this time and killed 50 million people, 50 million people.

When the Spanish flu came to the United States, I believe around 1818 and started spreading in Washington DC, churches in the Washington DC area obeyed the governing authorities and canceled their Sunday morning church meetings in order to help mitigate the spread of the Spanish flu. And they justified their decision by love, love for their fellow men, and when the epidemic began to abate, these very churches successfully petitioned the United States government to allow them to begin their Sunday morning services once again.

I don't share these examples to say that what is happening now is on the level of these earlier plagues. But I share this only to say that the church has been in these kinds of situations before, and if the Lord tarries, the church will find herself in these kinds of situations again.

What's important is that we as a church, that we as Christians seize this moment to glorify God in every way that we can and trust that God's kingdom can actually advance during this time if we will be faithful to shine the light of Christ the way that he calls us to. And to do this, we must yet do one other thing in response to this pandemic, and that is number 9, we should keep our eyes fixed on Christ. We should keep our eyes fixed on Christ. We're told in Hebrews chapter 12 to fix our eyes on Him who is the author and the finisher of our faith.

We need to remember that call to fix our eyes on Jesus. During a time such as this when it is easy to fix our eyes on the latest headlines that are coming at us in rapid succession, if all you do is stare at the latest headlines, you will find your heart melting with fear. If you're looking only to the Drudge Report for perspective, you will find your heart swooning with anxiety. Because one thing you will never find on the Drudge Report is a reminder that God is on the throne.

And that God's kingdom is advancing even during this time. Sometimes all of us do well to put our phones down and close our laptops and turn off our TVs and spend some time gazing at Jesus. And here's why doing this will help us. When you look at Jesus, you notice that he's not flustered.

He's not in heaven wringing his hands and wondering what he's going to do about this virus that has gotten out of control. Jesus is in perfect control, and his sovereign composure is the fountain of our peace. That he wants us to enjoy from day to day. There's a lot that I personally don't know about the coronavirus, but I do know this with absolute certainty.

The coronavirus cannot separate us from the love of Christ. In Romans 8, the apostle Paul expresses a confidence that all of us should have when he says, and I'm reading from verses 38 and 39, Paul says, I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present, and that would include the coronavirus, nor things to come. Nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

The coronavirus or COVID-19.

Might be able to separate us from good health. It might be able to separate us from even our earthly lives. It might even separate us from having access to rolls of toilet paper. But it cannot separate us from the love of Christ.

So let us fix our eyes upon Jesus and look full in his wonderful face, and we will have the peace. And the confidence that we need in a time such as this. If you personally do not have this assurance through a relationship with Jesus, I plead with you to run to Jesus this morning, to believe in Christ today. Jesus died on the cross and he bore your every sorrow and your every grief.

He died on the cross in order to shed his blood as an atonement for your sins. He died and was raised again to show his power over death, and he died to vindicate his right to have all authority over heaven and earth. And to vindicate his right to reign as the sovereign lord of history. In Revelation chapter 5, the apostle John looks into the future and he sees heaven, looking for one who is worthy to break the seals of judgment upon the world.

The question is asked, who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals. The apostle John then writes, beginning in verse 3 of Revelation 5. And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it, and I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, Stop weeping.

Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah. The root of David has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals. The lion of the tribe of Judah is Jesus, and when Jesus begins to open the seals, an unparalleled series of judgments will be unleashed upon the world. Plagues and disasters will descend upon the world that will make this coronavirus pandemic look like a picnic in comparison.

Literally billions of people will die as the judgments of Christ are unleashed upon a sinful world, and those who do survive will wish that they could die. Those who survive will plead for the mountains to fall upon them, to hide them from the unrelenting wrath of the Lamb that is being unleashed upon the world. And then at the end of the period of tribulation. The heavens will be open, and Christ will return to establish His kingdom upon the earth.

He will judge the wicked and he will cast them into outer darkness, and he will bring salvation to all who believe in Him. So if you are not a Christian this morning, I'm here to tell you that the thing that you should fear most of all, is Jesus Christ, who will stand as your judge in a future day. I'm here to tell you that you actually have more to fear from Christ than you do from the coronavirus. But I'm also here to tell you that right now Jesus comes to you in peace.

He offers you clemency and forgiveness and salvation through his shed blood at the cross. Today, he comes to you in mercy. If you reject Him at the end of time. He will come to you with a sword of eternal judgment.

Believe in Christ. Call upon His name as your Lord and Savior, as the psalmist says in Psalm 2:12. Pay homage to the Son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled, and blessed are all who put their trust in Him. Let's pray together Lord, how blessed are all who put their trust in you.

How blessed we are who have put our trust in you. You are a great and merciful. Generous savior who is pleasured to forgive all who. Pay homage to you and put their trust in you, and we as a result are blessed.

We are blessed Even during a time such as this, we are blessed even when shelves are empty of items that we want. We are blessed even when standing in long lines. We are blessed who put our trust in you, even, Lord, when. The stock market is falling.

We are blessed, Lord. Even when we are sick. We are blessed even when we are burdened because we have put our trust in you. And we thank you, Lord, for this assurance that you as our strong tower, as our mighty King who reigns supreme, even at this very moment.

That it is always. Perpetually eternally true that all who put their trust in you. are blessed. And if there are any within the sound of my voice, Lord, who are outside of that blessing, I pray that they would see the beauty of you, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that they would be drawn through your sweet persuasions.

To come to you and believe in you and find refuge in you. I pray that you would help us as a congregation during these days to. Keep our eyes fixed upon you and appoint others to you as well. That we would look for gospel opportunities at every turn.

And that we would engage people. And speak to them of Jesus Christ and that we would manifest the heart of Christ, not just through the words that we speak, but through the deeds that we do. May people see on our countenances that there is a God in heaven who is in full control. And I pray, Lord, that they would taste the deliciousness of your loving heart through the love that you show to them through us.

As we seek to serve our fellow men. And be a light and be a source of practical blessing. I pray for us as brothers and sisters in this congregation, Lord, that you would help us to look out for each other during these next two weeks. That this would not be a time of spiritual isolation.

But that in miraculous ways, these next two weeks would be. A time of of unparalleled community amongst us. As we seek for every possible way that we can connect and walk through these days in community with one another. May we connect in every way possible over the phone through sending messages.

And through other technologies that are available to us. And through visiting each other in homes. And praying together and serving together. And fellowshipping together, Lord.

In the matchless name of our Savior Jesus Christ. Above all, Lord, do your full good purposes in us. Grow us through this, wean us from. The things of this world.

May we set our affections not on things of the earth, but upon the things of heaven where Christ is at your right hand. May we be reminded afresh that this world is not our home. We are just passing through, and this world is a broken world that one day, Lord, you are fully going to make right. And you will wipe away every threat to our well-being.

You will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and there will be no longer any fear, any sorrow, any crying, or any pain or death. Because all such things will have passed away through your great power. And we thank you for. Your incarnation.

And for your death upon a cross and your resurrection from the dead and your mighty ascension to the right hand of God that gives us the abiding assurance that these things are true, that we can fix our hope on these things. Because the gospel is absolutely true. And it is this message that we cling to. That we preach to ourselves, and it is this message that we seek to Declare to the world, and we ask that you would empower our witness as brothers and sisters.

To preach Christ. And appoint people to him. Watch over us, Lord. We truly do feel pained over the fact that we cannot be together today.

To be physically in one another's company. And we pray that you would hasten the day that we could be together. With one another in the flesh once again and be blessed and encouraged by each other's fellowship face to face. But we thank you for the technology that allows us to connect in this way, help us to make the most.

Of the opportunities and the means that you have given to us. As we seek to serve together and glorify your name. I pray for this congregation, Lord. And for your great blessing upon every member, every brother and sister of Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church, and we pray for the church at large around the globe, here in this country and in other countries that you would prosper.

Every local church that rightly proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that you would empower our global witness. For your glory And we ask all of these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.