Global Unity in Prayer: Celebrating Easter's Hope

We know, Lord, your Word says you did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. Yet, we are so human that sometimes we are afraid. We know your Word says: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds…" But sometimes we drop our guard and are anxious. So we come to you, Lord, admitting our own frailty and our own weakness, and we ask you Lord, to strengthen those who are fearful, to comfort those who mourn, to speak to those who have anxiety right now, who are worried about the future, who somehow think this pandemic has control. [08:24]

This is not the first time the world is encountering such a pandemic. The Church of Jesus Christ has stood the test of time as we reflect on the history of the church. In such a time as this, we need to remember to hold fast to the truth of God's Word in the midst of this chaotic situation. Zephaniah 3:17, "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save." There are 3 encouragements that we can claim from this passage. Firstly, the Lord is God. God is Sovereign in his purpose. Secondly, the Lord God is in our midst. He is with us. He is faithful in presence. Thirdly, the Lord is mighty to save. Nothing is impossible with God. He is mighty in power. [23:42]

I love challenging our church to step out there and actually be the light. In Isaiah 60, the Bible says, “Arise and shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you and kings shall come to the brightness of your rising” and so forth. I love to take a hold of that and believe our light has come, this is our day. They are challenging days, no doubt about it for the world. We’ve never seen anything quite like it. Who would have thought even just a month ago that at Easter all of us would be being innovative and coming up with new ways to take the gospel out to millions of people? It’s a great opportunity for us to truly be the light. [34:49]

The gospel is the power of God for salvation, for everyone who believes. I discovered that myself when as an 18-year-old atheist, I encountered Jesus. I heard the gospel and my life was changed. For the last 46 years, I've had the privilege of proclaiming that good news and seeing the immense change in people's lives as they encounter Jesus and the power of the gospel. We have the huge privilege this Easter of proclaiming that message afresh, and it's never been more relevant than at this moment. We're living at a time of huge crisis and tragedy as a result of the Coronavirus. But the message of the gospel is that God took the greatest tragedy of all time, the cross and turned it into the greatest triumph of all time through the resurrection. [41:33]

I want to pray for you right now that the Holy Spirit will refill you and reanoint you as you proclaim this message this Easter. The Spirit of the Lord is upon you because he's anointed you to preach good news. Lord that's our prayer right now. Come, Holy Spirit, and fill each person who is watching this right now. I encourage you, if you'd like to maybe open your hands as a way of saying, "Lord, come and refill me. Reanoint me this Easter to proclaim the most powerful message in the world. Come, Holy Spirit." Now the Spirit of the Lord is resting on you because he has anointed you to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, to set the prisoners free, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring the oil of gladness instead of despair. [44:37]

We have an amazing opportunity, it may be a threat because of the pandemic, but it is an opportunity also that has been given to us. We are in our homes, churches are closed, but the Bible and our fellowship of the Lord is not closed. So we have an opportunity to pray that during this time that we are in our homes, that when we get opportunity to come out, when the pandemic is gone, we can come out with a strong spiritual relationship with our Lord, spiritual relationship and fellowship with God. How I pray that we will take this time to pray for each other and to pray for spiritual revival. Andrew Murray said: "A revived church is the only hope for a dying world." [52:43]

To make it through a dark day, you have to hold onto a promise. To me, the great promise that is going to carry us through this time is Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who are the called according to his purpose.” Now, that’s not a promise for everybody. It’s only a promise for his church, “for those who love God are called according to his purpose.” Everything is not working together for good, for those who don’t love God. But the Bible says that for us, everything - including a pandemic, in everything, God works for good. It’s not all good. The pandemic is not good. The deaths are not good. The illnesses are not good. The economic devastation is not good. There’s a lot that’s going on bad in the world right now. [01:01:14]

But as we depend on Christ, we know that even in bad times, God specializes in bringing good out of bad. That’s the message of Easter. That’s the message of resurrection. God loves to turn crucifixions into resurrections. Bad times for the world can be good times for the church because it’s time for us to shine, to show our love, to show our grace, to show our compassion for the least, the last, the lost, the sick, the confused, everybody around. People are more open to the gospel now than at any other time. So let’s look at this time where we humbly come to God and say, “God, we are depending on you. We’re counting on you, not just to protect us, not just to save us, but to make us vessels of your love, instruments of your grace, ministers of your Word and power in the world.” [01:02:34]

God, you have said that those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. God, we declare to you today that you alone are our refuge. You are our place of safety. You are our God and we are trusting you. You have said that you will rescue us from every trap that you would protect us from the fatal plague and we’re asking you to shield us with your wings. We are asking you to shelter us with your feathers. God, your faithful promises are our armor and our protection. You’ve told us, God, that we don’t need to be afraid of the terrors of the night, that we don’t need to fear the dangers of the day, that we don’t need to dread the plague that stalks in darkness nor the disaster that strikes at midday. [01:04:53]

God, you have said that though a thousand fall at our side and though 10,000 are dying around us, that these evils will not touch us, but we will see it with our eyes and we will see how the wicked are punished. Lord, you have told us that if we would make you our refuge, if we would make you, the Most High, our shelter, that no evil would conquer us.” So we pray that. God, we ask it just as millions have asked it before, is that “no plague would come near our dwelling. You order your angels to protect us wherever we go. You’ve said that they would hold us with their hands and keep us from striking our foot on a stone.” We don’t even understand all of this, but we pray it back to you. [01:05:48]

I want to leave you with 2 verses specifically for pastors. Ephesians 3:10 tells us, “God’s intent was that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known.” God created the entire universe because he wanted a family. The only thing that’s going to last is the church. A thousand years from today, if Jesus Christ hasn’t come back yet, there won’t be a Microsoft, or an Apple, or a Starbucks corporation. There probably won’t even be a United States of America in 1,000 years. Why? Because nothing man-made lasts forever. Where is the Hittite Empire? The Uyghuritic Empire? The Sumerian Empire? The Akkadian Empire? They’re all gone! But I’m going to tell you this. If Christ hasn’t come back in 1,000 years, the one thing you can count on still being here is the church. It’s the only thing that is going to last. [01:13:42]