If you would have told most people that we would be facing great physical, economic, and socialally uncertain times just three months ago it would have been hard to believe. However, we are facing unpresetented uncertainty today. What instruction does the Bible give to find peace in uncertain times.

<p>If you would have told most people that we would be facing great physical, economic, and socialally uncertain times just three months ago it would have been hard to believe. However, we are facing unpresetented uncertainty today. What instruction does the Bible give to find peace in uncertain times.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Bay City SDA Church

Taylor Hinkle

Keys to Peace in Uncertain Times

Father in heaven we thank you so much for the privilege of spending time in your Word this Sabbath.

Lord we thank you for the blessing of rest in the midst of an uncertain and chaotic world.

Father we're so thankful for your Word that can minister to our heart, the living Word that speaks to us today with power and with life.

And Father, I pray that Your Word would give us wisdom and comfort, that You would give us instruction and guidance for the days that we're living in.

Father, we need You to speak to our hearts and to our minds, and we pray that you would open our hearts and minds, that we might be receptive to your word, to your will.

And Father, we pray that your word would be transformative in preparing us for your soon return.

Well, if I had 1 word to describe the world that we live in today, that word would be uncertain.

You know, we live in a world that just a few months ago was drastically different than what we're experiencing today.

As a nation, we've experienced great stability for centuries.

Sure, we've had little ups and downs, but now more than ever, we're living in unprecedented times and people are experiencing more and more uncertainty every day.

You could look and just read the major headlines of news agencies and you will recognize that this uncertainty underlies the majority of articles that are being put out today.

The first thing we can recognize very clearly with the COVID-19 crisis is that there is physical uncertainty.

There especially for health care workers and essential workers who are still trying to keep the bare bones necessities of America functioning.

They're asking questions and 1 of the most common questions is, will I contract this virus?

And if I do contract the virus, how's my body going to respond?

Am I going to be asymptomatic like some people are fortunate to be or will it be fatal in my situation as it has been for thousands around the world.

Others might want to know, well, maybe I'm a carrier of the virus.

I might pass it unknowingly on to someone else and it might injure 1 that I love.

How is the virus going to impact me and my loved ones?

Well, that brings a great bit of uncertainty in the physical realm of this world with our physical health, but then there's another crisis that people are recognizing that coexists with this health crisis and That's the economic uncertainty.

People are being laid off at rapid rates.

Unemployment is exploding with numbers they haven't ever seen before.

People are wondering when they'll go back to work again, when they'll be able to get a paycheck, will they be able to pay their mortgage or their rent, Will people be able to make ends meet?

Some people are wondering if this is just the beginning of a Great Depression type era that the world is getting ready to go into.

We're very fortunate here in the United States that just a few months ago You never had a question about the availability of a product that you might want in a store If you wanted something you simply walked into a retailer and you purchased it But now today you go to purchase certain items, and they don't they're not there.

They don't exist We also live in a time where you used to be able to click and order something that would be delivered to your house in a few hours, at the most 2 days off of Amazon, and Now you're looking at periods where it's going to be 1 to 2 months to get certain items.

All of these things are leading people to a feeling of uncertainty and the question is when will this pass?

When will this crisis peak and when will we come out of it and return to life as normal?

Or is this maybe the new normal that we have to get used to?

My friends, all of these things are troubling many people in the world.

There are people looking for answers, trying to understand what's taking place.

I've had multiple people message me asking whether or not these are the beginning of what the Bible describes as the end times.

Now my friends, I don't know exactly when the end will come.

It is very clear that Jesus says before he comes back in Matthew chapter 24 verse 7 and 8 that there would be famines and pestilences, and we recognize this pestilence or disease of the COVID-19 virus is 1 that has had an unprecedented response.

And Jesus says that these viruses, the pestilences and the earthquakes and all these pandemics, that they will be like birth pains.

In other words, they get more intense and more frequent to the nearness of the coming of Christ.

My friends, could it be that in the midst of all of this uncertainty, God is trying to get our attention.

Oftentimes throughout Scripture, you can think of the passage in 1 John chapter 2, Jesus says, Love not the world, neither the things of the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

There's a continuous desire of God calling his people to not love this world or the things of the world.

But my friends, can we be honest that here as we live in very comfortable societies, it's easy to become complacent with spiritual things and sometimes our love for the world increases and our longing for heaven decreases, but could it be that God is using this pandemic experience to disconnect our love from this world and to cause us to long for another world that is to come.

You know, it's very interesting, just this last week I read an article by a person that I never thought I would quote in a sermon.

Many of you might be familiar with him as a celebrity wrestler, and I'm not saying this to endorse wrestling or anything of that sort, but it's very fascinating what this whole pandemic has caused him to reflect upon spiritually.

Notice the words that he shares in 1 of his recent posts.

He says, In 3 short months, just like he, God, did with the plagues of Egypt, God has taken away everything that we worship, Hogan began.

I'll shut down the economy and collapse the stock market.

You don't want to go to church and worship me?

I will make it where you can't go to church." And notice this interesting conclusion to his statement.

Maybe we need to take this time of isolation from the distractions of the world and have a personal revival where we can focus on the only thing in the world that really matters, Jesus.

Now my friends I think there might be a lot of truth to this saying.

Could it be that God is using this time of the crisis in earth's history to pull away our love from the world?

As we're experiencing so much uncertainty, the uncertainty should prompt us to look for something else within we can trust.

For years, people have been comfortable trusting that they would receive a consistent paycheck, trusting that they would be able to keep the nice comfortable home that they live in, trusting that they would be able to drive the cars that they've been used to driving for years.

They've been used to all of these things, but now as economic uncertainty hits, and as political uncertainty hits, and physical uncertainty hits, the question comes, where does my certainty lie?

And all of these things should draw our mind to the fact that we can no longer trust in the physical things of this world and we must find our peace and our purpose and our security and something much more consistent than what this world has to offer.

My friends, this world should become growing strangely dim to us.

And I have to confess that God has been reminding me of how attached I am to this life.

And He wants to use this time of uncertainty to connect us to the source of all certainty.

You know, the verse comes to mind, and especially in the times that we're living in today from Mark chapter 8 verse 36, where Jesus says, what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?

My friends, many people worship the God of money, spending their time, their life, energy, and even robbing God of the things that he deserves just so that they can gain a little bit more, but in a few moments, the earnings of this world can evaporate.

And during this time when we recognize that we can't have peace in our financial security, we can't have peace in the midst of physical uncertainty, we can't have peace during social distancing because of the support of others, we can only find peace when we look for it in the right place.

The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 11 talking about the people in the hall of faith, as the Bible describes the heroes of faith and the giants of those who have gone before us spiritually.

It describes the experience of Abel and of Enoch and of Noah and of Abraham and of Sarah and all of the others throughout time.

And 1 of the things that the Bible says they consistently had in common is what we find in Hebrews 11 and verse 13.

The Bible says in Hebrews 11 and verse 13, it says, These all died in faith, not having received the promise, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, they embraced and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

For those who declare such things, or those who say such things, declare plainly that they seek a homeland." Now this is interesting language.

It says these people talking about Abel and talking about Enoch and talking about Noah, these people were all considering themselves as strangers and pilgrims on this earth.

In other words, they recognized that this world was not their place of long-term membership or dwelling, but they were literally just passing through.

They were nomadic people upon this earth, and they had 1 purpose, and it was to know God and make Him known to others.

But my friends, could it be, and could you admit, as I've searched my own heart, I recognize this is a reality for me, that sometimes it's so easy to get comfortable in this life and that it takes things where we recognize the uncertainty of this world to cause us to start longing for that true homeland of heaven and to recognize that this world is just a temporary spot.

Notice how the Bible continues, Hebrews 11, verse 15, it says, And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.

But Now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country.

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." My friends, these heroes of faith are not much different than what you and I experience today.

You might say, well, it was easy to be a person of faith during the time of Abel or during the time of Enoch or during the time of Noah.

But my friends, we must recognize that Enoch stood out in biblical history because he was so much different from those around him.

He was a man of faith who walked with God but those around him didn't have the same experience.

You think about Noah who being divinely warned of things not seen it says moved with godly fear and prepared an ark and The Bible calls him a preacher of righteousness.

But in the midst of where he lived or as he lived in the midst of a generation who were getting ready to suffer under the judgment of God because they were so godless, these people lived in faith looking for a better country, longing for heaven, detached from this earth, but useful for the service of God as they started to see the heavenly realities.

My friends, could it be that God is trying to help us what really matters today.

Could it be that God wants us to long for heaven, to want the experience of holiness and happiness and wholeness in Jesus more than we want the stability in this life?

You know, I find it very interesting as I look at what the Bible teaches about the end of the world.

Revelation chapter 7 is such a sobering picture, but also a loving picture of a God and Father who cares for His people.

Revelation chapter 7 verse 1, some people as they ask, is this the end of the world?

Are we meeting the beginning events of the end of time?

I don't know for certain, but we can see that what we're experiencing is surely lining up with what Jesus has foretold.

Could it be that God is trying to prepare us for the greater crises that are getting ready to come upon this earth?

Keys to Peace in Uncertain Times

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