[Victor Kubik] I felt this to be an important and appropriate scripture to begin the service today. Romans 8:35, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written 'For Your sake we are killed all the day long.’" He's quoting from Psalm 44:22. “'We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I'm persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord." Nothing will separate us from Jesus Christ, from His protective wings that watch over us. Nothing, absolutely nothing. But as mentioned in this passage, there are challenges that we must endure, remembering always that God is with us. That's our life. And that's the story of what we will be talking about today. As we live in dangerous and uncertain times, we have been speaking about these warnings for years. That's been an important part in mission of our proclamation work of preaching the gospel into all the world, but let us always be mindful of all of God's promises of care and protection.

Just a month ago, events related to the spread of the Coronavirus seemed to be unfolding painfully in slow motion. We thought of it as just one more thing that will pass. One week ago when I posted the cancellation of church services around the world, I came to work on a Thursday morning and I had two versions of an announcement. One of canceling services for the next two weeks, and one saying, let's go forth and wait and trust in God no matter what is out there. I decided to go with the one relating to canceling services for the next two weeks, wondering if I had done the thing, the right thing. I wondered if we were acting prematurely. Now, every day brings new reports, new information, and new challenges of what we're going through in the world as the world is reacting to a common enemy. This trial has enveloped the entire world as nothing previously has. One hundred and sixty-seven countries as of an hour before services today are affected. It's only been discovered three months ago. And this is not persecution from the outside. This is not division from within. We have never had anything quite like this, that we as a church have gone through, but this is a threat from the outside endangering all of mankind, all races, beginning with the oriental, then the white, and then the black. It affects governments of all sorts, whether it'll be a pure democracy or whether it'll be a totalitarian system. All nations have hunkered down together to themselves.

What do we make of this and what can we learn? Well, one thing, well here at the Sabbath service where we have a very small group, but I feel just as our sermonette speaker, Mr. Scott Delamater spoke, I feel joyful. I feel happy. I feel happy with the people I see here, I feel happy about the conversations I've had, I feel overjoyed at the music that I heard that truly lifted my spirits and really gave me an extra boost to come up here and speak to you. Beautiful acapella music. I’d like to share some news from around the world though, I feel it would be good at this time, I'd like to give you an update from Italy, which is the second hardest-hit area in the world and where our director Carmelo Anastasi lives right in the epicenter of the Coronavirus area.

He writes the following. This is just a day and a half ago. "All the brethren in Italy are doing well so far, thank God. We are contacting church members almost daily to encourage them and to be updated on their real status. Everything is fine to date. Everyone will celebrate the Passover at home, but all of them will be able to follow the reading of the scriptures via WebEx, a technology that we have used successfully for years every Sabbath. But the situation is difficult. Tens of thousands are infected in Northern Italy and the rest of Europe and for the first time in history, 60 million Italians at almost total quarantine to combat the spread of the virus. All factories, restaurants, hotels, cinemas, theaters, and churches are closed. The streets in squares are completely empty. Everything seems spooky, especially in the evening. We are all forced to stay at home and only one member of each family, if he or she has not been infected, can go out and buy necessities, basic necessities, food, and medicine. This experience is putting a strain on the mental and emotional state of many people. We are all like prisoners in our own homes, but it's for everyone's protection. Our church members trust in God's protection and pray that this epidemic will soon end."

"The methods adopted to combat this pandemic seem to mark the beginning of a new era, a sign of what will happen in the future. It's awakened some from their spiritual lethargy so that they have turned to pray to God. Messages of prayers and thoughts that praise God arrive every day on my cell phone from our members and subscribers. But most people continue to rely on their human strength singing nationalistic songs. We alone will defeat the Coronavirus. I'm reminded of what the Bible says. They did not repent of their ways despite the plagues, but after the storm, they continued worse than before. And so, to perpetuate the false idea that men can do everything. None of them say, 'Let's repent and turn to the true God, the only one who can truly save.' As far as we are concerned, we will do what is possible to avoid any contact, but what is fundamental is our protection from God. His will be done. We, confined in our homes continue to pray for everyone awaiting that day when the eternal kingdom of peace and justice will finally be inaugurated by our God. Please receive a big hug from all of us." And I can see Carmelo saying that. I can almost feel that hug from him right now from Carmelo Anastasi. A beautiful letter. A beautiful letter, not only expressing the situation, but also a hopeful appearance for the future.

People are returning to their home countries from abroad. Nick and Megan Lamoureux flew back yesterday from Malawi, from Lilongwe Malawi on a scarce crowded Ethiopian Airlines' flight. Most flights are canceled, and actually, the bigger problem is that you can't go through certain countries. You can't stop off in South Africa. You can't stop off in other countries. You have to go to countries that at least allow the plane to land. The plane was crowded with Chinese, Americans, and Europeans coming from South Central Africa, via Addis Ababa.

They were on a pastoral humanitarian mission for one year, from the Church in a sense doing a lot of the pastoral work in our Church in Lilongwe and Nkhwazi, Malawi. About a half an hour after he landed, we talked to him on WhatsApp in Washington, D.C., where he described the semi-deserted Washington Dallas airport. It was they're connecting to get back home to Vermont. We're just so thankful that we got him back in time because he got the last seats, I understand, and there are hardly any flights out. It would hate to have him be stuck someplace which was not home.

This past week, we had to make some tough decisions, but actually, some weren't so tough because they were made for us like canceling services. That would have been done anyway. As far as other meeting announcements they've been made for us. We weren't necessarily courageous. We have to go with what was going on. For the first time though, in our history, we canceled the face-to-face component of our General Conference of Elders, which is held every year. This was to be a special year, 25th anniversary, silver anniversary of the United Church of God, and it was canceled because of the virus. We've also taken other deliberate measures. We don't want to lead by reacting to things. We want to lead by making deliberations and saying, "This is what we will do. And we will plan to do this." We won't just get up to the last minute, and then just react to what happens. Passover and the Days of Unleavened bread, will be conducted online. It's pretty much Mr. Myers announced. There'll be no physical congregational meetings until further notice. We don't know when they will start. We're also canceling other conferences through the summer and that is not necessarily because of the virus. We're taking a look at what's going to happen with the economies of the world, with priorities and spending. I'll say a few things about that here coming up.

We need to reprioritize what is essential and what is discretionary. What is that absolutely essential for our worship? I feel like meeting here in this way and being thankful for the streaming technology we have is essential for our lifeblood. Mr. Myers talks about the calling circles. I'm not sure exactly what the official title is, but he and his wife, this last week, put together a system of several groups that call each other and we've received their first call this morning from somebody we hadn't talked in a long time. How wonderful? How wonderful? I can't wait to call my first person as well. How are you doing? Because in the busy world that we live, with a lot of people around, we can be very lonely and very busy and say, "I could always do it." Now, it's just less certain, and it's been wonderful to make these connections. We're going to ask ourselves, "What can be done differently? More efficiently?" Anything involving travel is going to be severely restricted or canceled for the foreseeable future.

What is being done to the economies of the world is a parallel problem with the virus. The virus will come and go. I have no idea what will exactly happen there, but the loss of equity, one-third of the equity in the U.S., and the world markets will have an effect. There's no question that there will be a fallout from that possibly recession and even depression coming as a result. Markets are unstable and disarray, trillions of dollars in capital lost. And that won't be corrected overnight, even if the health crisis is resolved. So, we're bracing for that. We're very grateful for the fact that we've been able to have some reserve and we will put our members first in taking care of their needs.

I wrote an article for the January issue of "Beyond Today." I didn't realize what I was writing necessarily. And the headline article was "The 2020s are here: Are you ready?" I wrote it in November or December for the January issue. And as I reread it, I hadn't read it some time, reread it again a few days ago, but I say at the very end, "They're just not shopworn platitudes and glittering generalities." They are things that are very, very important to becoming prepared and ready. Instead of just rewriting something we've said over and over again, it really has very direct meaning. Following public health guidelines issued at the state and federal level, we've switched Ambassador Bible College to an online-only format, which means no further assembling of our wonderful students in the home office. This last year, I have really become attached to the students. It's been a wonderful class, 20 wonderful people, who I've gotten to know their personalities, their senses of humor, their questions, their natures. And it was heartbreaking for me to address our ABC students on Monday telling them that we probably won't be meeting like this in-person for the rest of the semester. I'm not sure when we will be meeting again. I had tears because I knew that I'd walk away and we wouldn't be walking back into this building together as a class in that way.

Many of our home office employees now work remotely, some can't. There are certain things that we have to do, sending out literature and doing things that require being on the job. And I plan to be here myself. I plan to be here as much as I can, and the remainder who need to work in the office, exercising social distancing measures, which I keep forgetting about. I saw our song leader this morning and I stuck my hand out and he stuck his elbow at me. I had forgotten. Remember to use your elbows, wash your hands, but use your elbows. We hardly knew the definition of social distancing a week ago. In fact, as I was writing the column for my last week's e-news, the one before this last week, we're using the word self-isolation. One of my assistants said, "You know what, it really shouldn't be that. It should be social distancing." I said, "Oh, no, no, no. What is social distancing…?" Should have had what she had advised. But now, social distancing is a common term. Now we walk by one another at the home office, being cautious not to be in the personal space that is less than six feet. I think our home office administration team that is eagerly and wholeheartedly responding, and we plan to meet a great deal this coming week to work out instructions and details for the Church.

Lots of information needs to get out to the people. We have to get out of an easy way. Right now, a simple way to see what the latest information is we have a Coronavirus blog going, coronavirus page, which still isn't fully there, but under ucg.org/members, you will there find all the articles, all the podcasts, everything having to do with what we've said about the Coronavirus and the latest information. But I get a lot of questions including, "What kind of wine should I buy for the Passover? What kind of fruits are allowed?” you know? …Grapes, you know. "What type of wine?” “How will we do ABC graduation?” “What about summer camps for our children?" We just get a ton of questions. We want to be able to have instant answers or as best we can on our websites. So, be sure to check the reports and also at this service, which we will have as the home office service, it will be geared for going to the whole world where we will have announcements dealing with things that have occurred the past week at the home office. Now, after this week, your local pastor may start a webcast for your church, which we do recommend. We really do want your local pastor to stay in contact with you, at least in that fashion. And so, we highly recommend that. But we also recommend that you leave the spot 2:30 in the afternoon, open Eastern Daylight Time for announcements from the home office so that people can tune in to the local webcast and also can hear announcements at least from the national or international webcast.

One overarching directive drives our decisions, and that's this, is the welfare and protection of you, our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, and members of the family of God. That is above everything else. We want to protect you, we want to protect you in every way, spiritually and also physically. One thing that drove my decision to cancel services even when others said we should go ahead with it. I know the demographics of our congregations. I see our people in wheelchairs, with canes coming to services. And some of these people are the ones who want to be at services the most because that is their only recreation. You might see that as their only outlet to the world all week long. And they will be here sometimes ahead of those who are more able-bodied. And I would hate to have one of those people come who are more vulnerable after age 60, I've heard various statistics, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80 about one who becomes infected and the mortality rate, it becomes very, very high, or more elevated at those ages. And I would hate to see anybody of our elderly demographic become sick and die. And that's why I'm very, very interested and very concerned about doing anything to endanger these people. While we devote considerable resources to proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom of God, the other part of our mission is to prepare a people which includes doing whatever it takes to protect, safeguard, and nurture our wonderful families and members.

The decisions that we make are not decisions that we just, kind of, decide very haphazardly to make. Any medical decisions have been done with counsel from medical professionals, from skilled and experienced people, including highly qualified medical professionals who have weighed in on important decisions to help us in a factual, sound, and objective way. On the internet, there is so much bogus information. News is 24/7. You can get any kind of news you want or any variation of truth that you want and it depends upon the kind of people that you follow. When I was growing up, the news used to be 5:30 PM. Walter Cronkite. That was it. That was the news. And there was some other local news, maybe at 10:00 or 11:00. But that was the news. And what they said was the truth as we took it. Now, you have many channels, you have many different versions of it, you have many biases, there's so much quackery and there's so much false information that's out there.

But we've sought the counsel of two doctors, Dr. Daniel Berendt and Dr. Rick Berendt, who are seasoned medical professionals and church elders, both in the Edmonton, Alberta church, who advised me, members of my staff, and the council of elders on what steps we should take as a church in the activities we had. I recorded the podcast on Tuesday morning with Dr. Daniel Berendt about the COVID-19 crisis, and he made several insightful comments. You can tune into that. And I advise everyone to go and hear the podcast because he talks about from the standpoint of the Church, the standpoint of how we can protect ourselves, but also what we can do and some very implications because he's not only a medical doctor, he is an elder. And the easiest way to find podcasts, the Inside United Podcasts are to go to ucg.org, to the main homepage of ucg.org, and on the menu line, there is a Podcast button. Click or tap on that button and you'll get our podcasts. Very easy to find.

In the podcast, Dr. Berendt discussed how public health administrators reflect biblical principles of quarantine, hygiene, and crowd control. I would like to add to the Passover service that is nearly upon us eloquently demonstrates the principle of quarantining oneself and family from harm. People think, "Quarantining, they're telling us we can't go anywhere. I hate that." Well, one of the first things that God did working with the Exodus was to quarantine Israel. Stay in your homes, kill a lamb a few days before, take the blood of that lamb and apply it to the doorpost and lintels of your homes, but stay behind those doors because the angel… pardon me, not the angel. I had that wrong in the e-news. The death source or the plague of death is coming, and it will kill anybody who is not protected by that blood. The people were quarantined. Exodus 12:22. "None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning." You stay inside because death will be on the outside. Thus, they will be self-quarantined and protected from the death plague.

The lesson of quarantine, you know, we are self-quarantined right now in great degree. Listen, when you're told to stay inside, listen, don't go out, don't defy orders, stay together, communicate, don't take matters into your own hands, don't panic, don't be disruptive. Trials always bring out the true nature of people. It's interesting that when the trial comes, you just see the true nature of people pop out through their personalities. The first that we see are the fearful. We also see the courageous, the dandies, the selfish, the courageous, the caring, the sacrificial. We even see that in our neighborhood. We have people that are walking up in our neighborhood and asking people, "If you need anything," young people, I'm just amazed, "Give me a call. Can I deliver something to you? Can I do something for you?" We'd gone to our neighbors, even though I know that they're elderly couple. Even I know that they have a son who lives somewhere in the area, I'm not sure how far he lives away, but we told him, "If you need anything, please let us know." You may want to go to your neighbors, the people that you maybe haven't seen that much, or don't know what their schedule is, or who they see to just maybe ask if they could use some help or just make yourself available to them. But there are lessons, very important lessons to us from the Exodus and the first Passover, more than just the quarantine.

Let's start with the Exodus is referred to in many places in the Bible. It's not just something that's there in Exodus but is repeated through the Psalms, it's listed 13 times in 8 specific locations in the New Testament. Jesus Christ Himself spoke of Moses. Acts 7, indictment of the Jews by Stephen, the Martyr, who spoke very proficiently and eloquently about the Exodus. And Jesus referred to Moses in His ministry. What are we to learn, and what is the basis for our learning? Please turn to Romans 15. Romans 15. The apostle Paul makes reference to what had been recorded and written before in the Word of God, which to us is the Old Testament. Here's what he says about the Word of God. Romans 15:4. "For whatever things are written were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." Let's read that again. What's the purpose of what is in the Scriptures and how it applies to us “that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” We don't have hope because of finding a vaccine necessarily. I hope they do find the vaccine and this abates the infections and finds a cure, but my hope is in God, for my family, for my wife, for my children, and for my grandchildren. That's where my hope is. And I find that in the Word of God because that's what's been recorded and written before time.

“Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may be a one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” But more specifically as to the Exodus events, let's turn to 1 Corinthians 10. 1 Corinthians 10:1. The apostle Paul makes a similar statement about the applicability of the Old Testament. "Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,” a reference to the Exodus, passing through the Red Sea. "All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea." He likens that going through the Red Sea as a baptism of the nation. "They all ate," verse 3, "the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ." Talking about Jesus Christ's preexistence, and Jesus Christ's place in the Old Testament. "But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness." And this, we look and see the story of the Exodus but it's a hopeful story of redemption, the beginning of a new nation, of God's continuing His fulfillment of promises that began with Abraham and continuing to the building of a nation into a spiritual nation.

That Exodus of the first groups that went out from Egypt was not a rosy story, it contained many bad examples. And the apostle Paul says so in Verse 6. "Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evils things as they also lusted. Do not become idolaters," verse 7, "as were some of them. As it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’" Before this time, they were given exemption from death that took the firstborn of every Egyptian family. It didn't happen to the Israelites. They went through that Red Sea and the Egyptian army was buried and drowned. And after this, they still sinned. They really didn't get it. Just now, talking to our people in different places when colleges have let out and said, "We will have no more classes." Just before that, the spring break, the partying, and drinking, and debauchery is continued without a real serious view. It hasn't brought about change in people's nature, changing people's character.

Verse 8, "Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and the one day, twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer." Now, all these things happened to them as examples. And they were written for our admonition, for us to learn from them upon whom the ends of the ages have come, how more applicable can we become, talks about those about whom the end of the ages has come. That's more applicable to us and it was even in Paul's time and talks about the bad examples that they set and they were written for us as admonitions, as warnings. So, what do we learn?

Is there anything more in the historic Passover in Exodus account that we can learn from into how to conduct ourselves in the current distress? Yes, there are a number of parallels that we could learn from that we could apply to ourselves. God imposed sanctions first in the appearance of plagues on the Egyptians. Waters turned to blood, frogs, lice, the wild beast, cattle boils, hail, locusts, darkness, I mean, all these plagues took place. And the Israelites watched them afar, some of them, they were involved in, not all, and they saw these things happen to try to humble the nation of Egypt, but it's as much humbling as the sanctions that are placed on Iran. You know, these people take them, but they don't really change as a result.

The first lesson which we've already covered was that of the quarantine. None of you shall go out of your house until the morning, because the next day they were to leave altogether 600,000 men plus women plus children. It was a massive Exodus, even by today's standards. A convoy, a grouping of people that would have been upwards of 2 million people left by night, the next night after the quarantine. They all left at once. Exodus 12, where we were, they all left at once.

Exodus 12:40. "Now, the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years— on the very same day— it came to pass at all the armies of the Lord went out to the land of Egypt." This was a night of solemn observance as a New King James has it, or as the Old King James has it in a term that we used more popularly in the Church, it was a night much to be observed. That was the next night, after the Passover, which is a very serious service. We have the Night Much to Be Observed. It's translated as a native solemn observance. Solemn observance does not necessarily mean sad. It means just a serious observance. And I'm sure that the very first one was very, very seriously taken as God was now liberating them from the tyranny of living in Egypt for hundreds of years. This is the night of the Lord, the solemn observance of all the children of Israel throughout their generations. And as it says in Exodus 14:8, this was to be as the people left with a high hand, victorious, triumphant, free at last, thank God we're free at last, as they begin their journey towards the Promised Land.

One thing that the people saw very quickly as they did this because the first lesson is quarantine. Second lesson is that they were to move together. There wasn't advanced party, this wasn't to be in different chunks, and nobody's going to find their own way to the Promised Land. It was all together and it was moving east, but here's something else. Exodus 13:20. "So they took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night, a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.” The people all walked together, following the lead that God was showing them. Exodus 14:1. Because here was a change in direction. The people started East, but “Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth between Migdol and the sea.’" This was a change in direction. Not something that people necessarily were expecting. They saw where they were headed. They knew that they were headed towards safety. And the obvious route was the main highway that led to the Middle East. The main highway was the one that led up through Beersheba, up to, you know, what was Jerusalem, you know, and towards the Babylon. But now, the people stop and take a right turn into a box Canyon and the Red Sea. That's where the cloud was taking them. They took off from the main freeway down into a way that was a dead end.

Well, the complaints started coming. Exodus 14:9. So, the Egyptians pursued them, probably, saying to themselves, "Those silly people, look what they're doing. That's the dumbest thing they can do." They're taking off and are boxing themselves in, suicide. "All the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen, and his army overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth before Baal Zephon. And when Pharaoh drew near," verse 10, "the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses,” I should say verse 11, "Because there were no graves in Egypt, you have taken us to die in the wilderness?" Very sarcastically. They said, "Moses, what are you doing? Wasn't enough cemeteries in Egypt, now you're taking us out here to kill us?” “Why have you so dealt with us to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that you told us in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For would've been better for us to serve the Egyptians that we should die in the wilderness." People saying what a silly decision. But here, we see the leadership of Moses. The reason that they took that turn was not because of Moses. Was because that's where the cloud and the pillar took him. Moses said to the people, verse 13, "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today." Here's leadership. "Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord… For the Egyptians whom you see today, you'll see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." In other words, shut up, stand still, be quiet, and see the salvation of God.

You know, one of the lessons that I have learned and have seen repeated many times in the United Church of God, we've had to make some bold moves, bold steps, wondering how things would work, starting even with the beginning of the United Church of God, 25 years ago. We've had several box canyons that we've walked into. Very first one was the very first one after we started in 1995, where we all had to go through the Red Sea. We didn't know what to do. We had no resources. We've been part of a church for 25 years that gave us a message of don't ever leave us. We had some very, very tough decisions to make, things that really gnawed at us, brought tears, anger, frustration in the beginnings 25 years ago with the silver anniversary, just about this time was in March of 1995.

But we have looked back as to the many ways in which God has delivered us over and over again. He gave us a new home, He gave us a church. Yes, we've had our run-ins, we've had our difficulties, we've had our trials, we've had our cliffs to stare up, but, you know, God has delivered us over and over and over again. And He will continue to do that to the future. The Lord said to Moses verse 15, "Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward." Don't sit here, just to go forward. This is after he says, "Stand still, listen to me." Now, He says, "Now, you go forward. Lift up your rod, stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea." Who, when, how are we going to get through this? One of the greatest geologic miracles was performed as the Red Sea parted.

Another lesson part of this was that they were to go through that Red Sea together. There was only one ticket. There wasn't, "Take another flight." It was at that time, they were allowed to go through at the same time. Verse 22. "So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them and their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went after them in the midst of the sea, and the horses, Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and horsemen. And it came to pass, in the morning watch," verse 24, "that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. He took off the chariot wheels." Another miracle is that the chariot wheels fell off. So, they drove them with difficulty. And Egyptians are beginning to get it now and said, "Let us flee from the face of Israel for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians." They've beginning to understand how this whole… what was going on. "Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea,’" this is on the other side, “'the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and their horsemen.’ And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing from it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.” Verse 28, "And the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that went into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained." Total route. "But the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on the right hand and on the left. So," verse 30, "the Lord saved Israel that day.” He saved this nation through a series of miracles out of the hand of the Egyptians “and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.” They saw the evidence, “Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so, the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses."

Tremendous event here. Timing was important. They had to stay together. There's a beautiful song that's written after this, which is Exodus 15. They're actually two songs. The lyrics of two songs. One is called "The Song of Moses," and the other one is called "The Song of Miriam" inspiring Psalm of redemption, victory, and intervention of God. "I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown from the sea! The Lord is my strength and song, He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him. My father's God, and I will exalt Him." As the people sang this newly composed song. "The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army is cast into the sea. His chosen captains are also drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them; they sank to the bottom like a stone." And you can read the rest of that song, but the birth of a nation right here as they cross over the Red Sea and come to the other side. But the complaints continued.

Now, they've come to the side to chapter 16 of Exodus. It didn't take too long for the people to start complaining again after several miraculous events. And this is the admonition to us. We have seen so many miracles in our life, and we can easily just fall back on business as usual as the way our lives continue and to start complaining about what we see around us. "As they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Sinai, and the fifteenth day of the second month…” This is only one month now, one month after the Exodus and after “they departed from the land of Egypt. Then the whole congregational children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, ‘Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt,” how ungrateful! "When we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full! But you brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."

“This is a conspiracy. He let us out here so he can kill us here. He's got to be in cahoots with somebody. He brought us out here to kill us here. How silly. We could have just stayed in Egypt.” And this rumor started and panic began. “Look, we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, and the melons” as this is described in numbers 11. “And all we have now are just drive-thrus.” They're talking about the things that they didn't have now. Let's be grateful for everything that God gives us to take life when it's good, and when we had to go through some inconveniences and disappointments, but always to have that joyful spirit as it brought out so well in the sermonette before I started speaking.

These are lessons to learn from Scriptures. Stay together, be united, look to God's guidance by the cloud, and the pillar of fire. As God shows us what to do. What does it mean when we pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, thy will be done, thy will be done?" Do not be unwise, in not understanding the will of God. And we try to the very best of our ability to beseech our God, show us the way to go, show us the way that we should lead, show us as your representatives here the things that we should be doing, please let me not complain and grumble.

Starting rumors and grumbling and complaining is so ungodly. And that was the downfall really of this first group that led to them, not even making it to the Promised Land, to separate a few people who were the spies they were righteous because of constant complaining and grumbling. Don't complain. As well also brought out by Mr. Myers, we should be using this time that we have to fortify ourselves. One thing I've found that was the cancellations that we've had, I didn't realize how much extra time I had. I actually had time to work on the sermon, I had time to read these chapters in total. There's certain things that I did not have to do. I found that last Sabbaths when we heard the sermon by Mr. Myers and afterward, my wife and I had opportunity to talk, had more time to pray, to talk to God, not being rushed, to do different things. Let's take the time to talk to one another online. Let's take this time to share. Let's take time to appreciate the things that we normally don't in life.

This morning, I appreciate the daffodils in our backyard. You know, it's a simple thing. My wife brought in a real big one. I thought, "How do these grow so fast?" It was so beautiful. I actually had time to look at it, you know, look at it in detail, look inside of it and enjoy it. I do believe that in this time when we have inconveniences that there are many, many good things to help us to fortify ourselves as human beings one towards another, to take time to talk to one another. In my office this last week, you know, we've had a lot of conversations, but a number of things were canceled as well. I know people felt free to walk into my office and just sit down, plop down at my big round table and just talk, sometimes for half an hour, sometimes for 45 minutes. You know, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I couldn't schedule it that way normally, but I have enjoyed talking and having that type of conversation. I look forward to being able to talk to more people, to just become a real human being with more people. Right now, there are many things that we don't have to do. Let's take a look at the things that we don't have to do. Now, there's certain events for this summer that we are canceling because we don't have to do them. We can survive as a church. Perhaps God is getting our attention in this way to help us to focus on the things that are important regarding relationships, regarding the building of strength between us as human beings.

In my planning, I'm rethinking things that we need to do, you know, in the Church because one thing I'll promise you, things won't be just quite the same after the virus passes. There are going to be certain consequences as a result of what's happened economically, even as far as the direction of the Church. We have been on a high economically. The stock market has grown, it seemed like there was no end to it, we didn't know how the correction, as they say, would take place, we didn't realize it was going to be overnight and over a virus. We didn't expect companies like Boeing to be even talking about the bankruptcy word, company that was so big. And now, air travel probably won't be the same as it was. And they say that what happened in 9/11 with the aviation industry was nothing compared to what's happened now with the Coronavirus. Of course, I don't want to start, you know, thinking about the worst, but I'm just saying, it's not going to be the same for a while. It may come back, but, you know, we have been prophesying these things. The thing is, is that our business in the Church is to prophesy, to talk about, "This is coming, this is coming, this is coming." Then when it come, “Ooh!" You know, affecting us. It's inconvenient. You know, “I can't go to Ruby Tuesdays.” You know, “It's affecting my life, it’s slowing me down.” No, there are going to be inconveniences and we're going to have to live through them.

Interesting that I got to talking to one of our workers, Natasha. She is the one who is our Russian language specialist and she handles our Russian translations and handling our Russian literature. We got to talking one of these chats in my office because her parents lived through World War II and the invasion of the Germans, all the things that took place then. And I talked about my parents who went through World War II, also were taking this teenage slave labors from Ukraine to work in German factories in World War II. And then we would talk about these events and what all took place. And, you know, Natasha and I were talking to each other, and you know, something I've never had the feeling like my conversations with my parents and talking about those hard times like right now. She said, "You know, something, that's the same thing true with me. I feel that same, kind of, feeling as our parents talking about these difficult times." The upside of that is, is that their parents adjusted to that. My parents still lived in their country a year after the German invasion, when the Germans were in control, and they, kind of, got used to it. They, kind of, learned to adapt to it and live with it. And they even went as teenagers, of course, they had no choice, but to work in German factories. They, kind of, learned to live with the difficulties that took place.

What kind of adjustments will we have to make in life? How will we live with adversity? Perhaps, this should be part of our thinking about how will I adapt to making it? Was a market that took one-third of my retirement, or how am I going to adapt to what's taking place here? How will I adapt to certain losses that will take place or losing my job? Now, right now, we are thinking about our brethren and the things that they may have to go through. We already have certain thoughts about making sure that good works is ramped up to make certain that we have our brethren, you know, who need help, that where the government cannot help, you know, to be able to stand by as a priority to help our people. What we're going through perhaps very well is a test. Just to see a test of how we respond. Do we respond with courage? Do we respond with sacrificed? Do we respond with helping one another, or being encouraging, or are we going to respond with fear? Are we going to stick together and say responsible, encouraging, and energizing words to one another? That's what we should be doing. There may be a time that we may come to having to do things that we do not like or understand.

If you listen to the podcast, I really hope that you do listen to the podcast because Dr. Berendt speaks not only as a medical doctor, he speaks also as an elder. And he talks about all the good things that are being done by public health service in Canada, which he said was very well organized because it's organized centrally by the government when the U.S. public health service is a little bit here, a little bit there, and is not as responsive as he felt it was in Canada. Maybe I shouldn't be saying this, but I did. And he said that people need to be doing things from a pure heart to help one another. This could be an opportunity for us to really show the good side of ourselves in helping others. Do we live a life of love or are we too busy to be helpful? Are we servants helping people where we possibly can, and helping those of the household of God? A lot of people do help, but more people could. I find that when we talk to people about helping people, it's only a certain group and they're the same group over and over and over again that does it. Maybe we need to expand the group to another sector of the people in the Church of God.

This is a time where we need to renew, establish, and maintain a better, stronger relationship with God our Father, and Jesus Christ, and our elder brother from where we really seek our true refuge and where we seek our strength. So, please continue to take sensible precautions. God intimately knows our needs, He knows the needs of your family, and He knows your personal situation better than you even know yourself. Christ said, "Do not be anxious for your life." That wasn't just where to go. I hope things go well for you today as we might say. When Christ says, "Do not be anxious for your life," it’s because He can back it up and He can make certain that he provides the way not to be anxious. Let's drive to praise God, cooperate with one another, and serve one another with genuine humility.

I'd like to conclude with a psalm that really, really meant a lot to me this week. I turned to it randomly to be truthful. It wasn't one of those things you got to read this one, but it Psalm 77. So, I'm 77 because it really seemed to strike a chord. And I'd like to read it all these 20 verses odd ones because it really, to me was the start of Coronavirus and the solution. "I cried to my God with my voice— to God with my voice; and He gave ear to me. In a day of my trouble I sought the Lord; my hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing; my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled. I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed." How many times do we feel just overwhelmed and just, just overwhelmed like just enough of this? Stop the world. Verse 4. "You hold my eyelids open; I'm so troubled I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I call it the remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, and my spirit makes diligence search." So, now it's the Psalmist saying, "Okay, I'm going to pull myself together now and thinks the things I shouldn't be thinking through this trial. And I remember when this happened before. Okay, what happened when this happened before?”

Then he asks verse 7, "Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more?" You know, God did wonderful things in the Old Testament, wonderful things in our life at one time, but will He be favorable no more? Is He not responding? What's going to happen with the Coronavirus? What if it increases? What if it gets into our neighborhood? "Has His mercy," verse 8, "ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore? Has our God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?” One thing about David is that he was very honest with God. When he wasn't getting an answer, he said, "God, what's the matter. What's it going to take? This is the way I feel.” He took ownership for his feelings. "And I said, ‘This is my anguish; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High." Okay. Now he's beginning to think, not only to think but also to think back of how God had delivered him in the past. "I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely, I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate in all Your work and talk of Your deeds."

You know, I take a look at my life from the time that I was called by God, my years of Ambassador College, my career, so to speak, I'll put it that way, in the ministry. I take a look at all the ways that God had delivered me and helped me and helped me in the Church. Not only me but helped others. Even the current history, the current existence of the United Church of God is because God has us here, He's taught us lessons. And through miracles over and over and over again, He brought us here. United Church of God began in 1995. We had the Exodus in April, May of 1995. Our first overall service was the Day of Pentecost in 1995. It couldn't have been timed better. It was a sign that God was pleased with us. He was bringing us to a new existence. We had obstacles with leadership, with people that wanted to be leaders for reasons that were not the right reasons. I'll be very bold about saying that. You get God delivered us over and over and over again and brought us to where we are now. And when I say, when we have difficulties in the Church, whether it be financial, manpower, there's all kinds of issues that come up. I say, "God, you have delivered us before and you will deliver us now."

There are many things in my work that are stumbling blocks with personnel, mostly getting older, not being able to serve. We had deaths. We need to have new ministry injected into our workforce. We have many things that we need to be doing. Then I say, "God, you have delivered us before and you have brought us the people we need. You have given us the vision, the mission to perform. I know something God, I know You'll do it again." And this is, kind of, the way that David is leading in this psalm. “Oh, I feel rotten. I feel awful. God, are You going to do anything about this church? Oh, wait a minute. Maybe, maybe you will. Maybe you have in the past.” Verse 11. "I'll remember the works of the Lord; surely I'll remember Your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all Your work and talk of Your deeds. Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; who is so great a God is our God?”

So, right now, he's just very openly praising God, praising Him because God has done these things in the past. "You are the God who does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the peoples. You have with Your arm redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. The waters saw You, O God; the waters saw You, they were afraid; the depths also trembled. The clouds poured out water; the sky sent out of a sound; your arrows also flashed about. The voice of Your thunder was in a whirlwind; the lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook. Your way was in the sea,” he's talking about the Exodus. What he's talking about is a problem that the Israelites had at the very beginning, the problem that Moses had, and God was coming through with the Exodus, with the Red Sea crossing the waters, the earth trembling, the waters breaking up, the waters coming down from the clouds. "Your way was in the sea, your path in the great waters, and Your footsteps were not known. You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron." I just really feel like this Psalm really meant a lot to me in some of the challenges that we have right now, where we've had challenges, we're not sure exactly how things will work out, but also, I do remember what God has done in the past and what He will continue to do, and that He will have a great passing through the difficult times.

So, I'll end on that and I'll just end with a short prayer because I feel very pleased, indulge me that I feel moved to conclude with just a few words and thanking God for what He has done.

Our Father, we thank You very much for the Church. We're thankful to You for all you've done for us. We're thankful to You for the ministry that You have raised up that are serving You with their whole hearts and beings at this very, very time. We're grateful to You, Father, for deliverance over and over again. So, we ask you to protect your people, to protect all demographics, the very old and the very young. Please protect them, Eternal God. So, we're grateful to you for what you have done. As we prepare for the Passover and as we examine ourselves, let's examine how You have worked in our lives. We're thankful to You for all this. In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen.