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Newington Three Angels Church

Eric Walsh

Love, Relationships and COVID19

So, our scripture reading was taken from the book of Proverbs, thank you Donnie, chapter 30, verse 18 to 19.

I read a slightly different translation than was read before.

It says, Solomon says, there are 3 things that amaze me.

How eagles glide, how an eagle glides through the sky.

Our message this Sabbath is entitled, Love, Relationships, and COVID-19.

Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to study your word.

I ask in a special way, Lord, that you make me just a nail upon the wall once again, Lord.

Upon that nail, Lord, I ask that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ.

Let Eric Walsh not be seen or heard today, Lord.

But Lord, we need to hear a word from the throne room of grace.

As our prayer in Jesus' precious and holy name.

And if you have ever studied the book of Genesis, it is a sordid tale, 1 of the most interesting reads you'll ever get.

It is tons of twists and turns and all kinds of crazy things happen.

It's a love story, but true to form, those in the story make some pretty crazy decisions and mistakes.

Genesis 19, verse 1 says, Then Jacob went on his journey and came into the land of the people of the east.

And he looked, and behold, a well in the field, and lo, there were 3 flocks of sheep lying by it, for out of that well they watered the flocks, and a great stone was upon the well's mouth.

He had deceived his brother twice to steal the blessing and the birthright of the family.

He lied, he cooked good food, he did all kinds of crafty things.

And interestingly, His parents were co-conspirators with the 2 twin brothers.

They had a pretty dysfunctional family element, did Jacob and his family.

He has been exiled, as it were, because of what he did to his brother.

He is in fear that his brother Esau will find him and so his journey takes him a long way as I'll show you in a second.

Verse 3 says, And thither were all the flocks gathered and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in his place.

And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye?

Now Jacob's grandfather, Abraham, had spent some time in Haran, and so this was a welcome word for him.

And just to show you where Jacob was, he had to spend some time alone.

It was like he was on quarantine, locked down, except he was mobile.

He traveled a very long distance all the way up to Haran, down from where his family was.

He traveled a good distance by himself and had time to contemplate life.

This pandemic and the social and really physical distancing it has caused probably has given a lot of people a chance to really think.

Well, as we go into this pandemic, it has almost been a year that we've been dealing with.

From the time from November through December, early January, there was a massive increase in new cases.

And now you can see there's been a precipitous fall.

It's still not better than it was at the beginning of course, but precipitous fall.

Some are wondering if some of the efforts that are happening are beginning to turn the tide of the pandemic.

The point I bring this up to tell you is that people are still living isolated and alone.

And even as we heard of our sister church going into lockdown, there's still this threat that is happening.

And there's a true psychological toll that this thing takes.

They said 1 of the things they said has happened to young people in America is that more young people are aware of their mortality because of COVID-19.

Young people, I've seen young people cry in clinic when they find out they're positive because they're worried they're going to die, even though statistically speaking the chances are slim to none honestly.

There's been a massive increase in dating apps and less happy.

Young people are saying that they are less happy with dating.

So this is an interesting time as online dating has ticked up, but people are less happy.

I want you to follow that theme that people aren't doing so well.

Most daters say their dating lives aren't going well and it's difficult to find people to date.

That is literally what people are saying.

The point being that love is hard to find.

We are living in a strange time where I'm gonna show you that things are changing in such a way that it is making the ability for individuals to form meaningful relationships more difficult.

It is more difficult for this generation right now to form meaningful relationships than probably any generation in the past.

So there's also been a wave of despair from the pandemic.

Federal agencies and Experts warn that a historic wave of mental health problems is approaching.

Depression, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicide.

This was back in April, I think this was put out, and it has come to pass.

We've seen increases in all kinds of things.

Just as the initial outbreak of the novel coronavirus caught hospitals unprepared in the United States, the mental health system vastly underfunded, fragmented and difficult to access before the pandemic is even less prepared to handle this coming surge.

I saw a patient like this just this week, with having severe anxiety and depression.

And I can tell you, it was almost impossible to find somewhere to have this young lady get help.

And she, I'm not supposed to say this in the sermon, but I'll say it.

She happened to have a cross on, and I asked her if she was a Christian.

Unfortunately, 2 of her family members were outside.

And I began to share with her the words of the scripture.

I began to talk to her about the Bible, share with her from the book, 2 Timothy 1, verse 7, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Turns out she'd had a rocky life at a very young age and was clean and sober for a year while still a teenager.

Just to tell you what she had been through.

But before it was all over, I was able to gather her and her family in the room and call on the name of the Lord.

And church, I watched as her quivering, shaking, panicked, anxious body calmed all the way down.

In fact, she said she wanted some Burger King French fries when she left that place.

But America is not ready for what is coming.

I'll show you some more of why that is so here in a second.

But we said there's been initially at least a show that increase in domestic violence, opiate overdoses, and this is what this graph is showing you for the state of Virginia.

And the whole country kind of looks like it.

And we have seen this in our practice, alcoholic liver disease is the other pandemic that's happened.

So while everybody's been quarantined, they've been quarantined with rum and beer and wine, and that has been their solace for many people.

And the livers of Americans are in worse health now than probably ever.

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Love, Relationships and COVID19

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