[Victor Kubik] I invite you to turn to Hebrews 12:25. Our sermon had ended with the first verses of Hebrews 12 and I'd like to start with the last verses of that same chapter. Hebrews 12:25, "See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For they do not escape when they refused Him who warned them on the earth, much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns from heaven." Verse 26, "At that time, His voice shook the earth, and now He has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.’ This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are shaken, that is the things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe.”

I wanted to begin this verse… this sermon with these words. And because this is where we are at. What's happened in the COVID-19 crisis that's affecting the entire world is more than just a coincidence. I feel for this time of year, for this Holy Day season, there are lessons in what is happening. I do believe that there are things that are more than coincidence. It happened and some of what we had expressed and had seen has been over the Passover, a very solemn time of year, the Days of Unleavened Bread, which threaten to unhinge, to disorient us during this time. This is a solemn time and was made much more thought-provoking and sober by the events that have taken place. I've kept the Passover more than 50 times and never did I keep the Passover just quite like this as many of you who have kept the Passover in these Days of Unleavened Bread had this kind of experience.

This came at the most solemn time of year. And yet, in talking to various people, some have said that this was the most meaningful Passover that they have kept as they read the Scriptures at home followed by the service administered at home.

I do believe that as we kept it in our home alone that we focused even more on the mind of God and His plan for mankind. I certainly did with those I observed it with. This is a good time where we are forced to think about those things more seriously, about ourselves, our God, our brethren, our relationships, our families, and our friends. We'll be more deeply concentrated on these things rather than go through a repetitious rote experience.

On this day 25 years ago, April 15th was the Passover. Would you believe? That was the very first service that I had observed outside where I had been before. The United Church was not even officially named yet at the time but, you know, in a week or two, it was. But it was a time of coming out. It was a time of an exodus. We all exclaimed how the timing of that time, of that period, was just so more than just coincidence. Because it was an exodus from apostasy, a nasty apostasy that had a cold intent to destroy a relationship that we built with God the Father, and Jesus Christ. That was my first service, as I mentioned.

Pentecost followed seven weeks later and that was the first official United Church of God service around the world following the example of Acts and the first Pentecost in Acts 2. Interestingly enough too that COVID-19 struck us at a time when we were to observe the 25th anniversary of the United Church of God in the General Conference of Elders. We had prepared for it. It was to be a big event. We were to have hopefully 80% of our ministry around the world be able to attend this celebratory event. It was the establishment of the United Church of God where we were going to talk about what we were meant to do and be able to look forward to the future. That was not to be. Now, it'll be only in online events scaled down quite a bit from what we had wanted it to be.

But again, I feel like this is more than coincidence because it really has forced us to think in a way that we hadn't thought before. It's forced us to think differently. Everything about what's happened at this time of year has caused us to think differently with the timing that has taken place.

We're all meeting in our homes, meeting online and as was mentioned also, we feel a closeness to each other even though we are not with one another at this time. And someone has said, "We've got to stop meeting like this."

We are brought to remembrance that this is not God's world. I feel like that, more than anything has been something that has made very, very clear to me. We are living in a world of the god of this world, who is Satan the devil. It's his world. He's the one who determines a lot of things that have happened. God still is ultimately in control but this is not God's world. Satan is the one who's insanely doing everything he possibly can to bring mankind to an end. The apostle Paul acknowledged that in 2 Corinthians 4. I'll just read it to you, 2 Corinthians 4, "The god of this world…" and he was not talking about God the Father and Jesus Christ. "The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing a light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

What God is saying though, what He's doing with the events that have taken place is, "Breaking news, breaking news. I interrupt this program for this special message." That's what God is doing to all of us. And what this is, is a message not only for the world but I do very strongly believe it's a message for us in the Church of God.

As of this morning, the latest number of this plague of COVID-19 is that more than 2 million people have been affected around the world with 127,000 who have died. It's affected 185 countries and regions around the world. Half the people in this world are locked down and not straying far from where they are. It has a certain similarity to the plagues of Egypt in that certain aspects of our society and thinking have been aimed at by this crisis, the crisis of the Exodus. The plagues were against the gods of Egypt: the Nile, frogs, and the other things.

So there have been certain things that have been affected very much that have been shut down for us. I feel that there are certain very interesting parallels. People have worshiped sports. God has shut down the stadiums. You worship music and movies? I'll shut down your theaters. You've not kept the Sabbath? I'll give you a Sabbath. I'll give you a lot of time to think, a lot of time to sit back and reflect. You like to go out and have a good time in a restaurant with a lot of people with restaurants and good life cruises? I'll shut all those down as well. So a time has been set aside for us to think.

God kept increasing the plagues until Pharaoh noticed when it got close to home. Economics and the economies are very uncertain and crazy. The price of petrol, gasoline, now is less than for bottled water. Would you believe? And I still have a full tank of gas. I have no place to go. I filled it up two or three weeks ago. I have no place to go except coming here to the home office occasionally. And getting into a car and driving any distance is rare because I sit at home and I communicate with the world.

But people are finding creative ways to deal with this thanks to the internet right now and people are doing things they have not done before. And the things that are done now that will probably be done after this crisis is over with through Zoom, WebEx and other streaming methods. My siblings, nieces, and nephews all met together on a big family Zoom meeting this last week. We have never gotten together as a family like this before except for Thanksgiving, but there we were using the new technology. While separate, people have found ways to reach out to one another. Also, people's sense of humor has arisen during this time. One woman wrote on Facebook yesterday. She wrote, "In my wildest dreams, I would never believe that I would walk into a bank with my mask on and ask a bank teller to give me money." A very, very funny woman.

But also at pandemic, depression is seeping in. And we don't know what the total psychological effect would be on people. And I am concerned about our people, our children and our grandchildren. Also, I'm concerned about certain areas around the world that are less able to take care for themselves, and here's a note that I would like to read from David Bensinger in Idaho. He's a member in Idaho, who has served in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, and he talks about the plight of the people there.

He says, "Good evening. I hope you all and your families are doing well and staying healthy. I spoke with Davidson today," who is Burmese, speaks English, and who connects with David Bensinger in all of us. He got a brief update on UCG brethren, Sakhangyi in Southern Myanmar. Like in the U.S., the Burmese government has been shutting down most of the infrastructure in Myanmar.” By the way, these people will not be getting supplemental checks in the mail. These people are not cared for by the government in the way that some of the countries that we live in are.

“Citizens began to shelter in place about two weeks ago. The Passover was kept in individual homes as per UCG direction. As with a great deal of Myanmar, most of the church members are day laborers. So with the stay at home directives, they are immediately cut off from their income they get paid at the end of the day for the work that they do. Of course, even if they had their incomes since there is no transportation, they would only have local items to buy. Myanmar does not have the same level of social services, social security that exists in the U.S. or the UK. But Davidson understood that the government was beginning to make lists of people who were considered poor with the intent of possibly distributing some rice and maybe some cooking oil to these individuals.”

People will say, "Well, can't we do something? Can't we help out?" No, you can't. You can't give the things to them. We have two members who own rice fields and they, of course, can help members a bit too. We discussed about how we could get money to these people but it is likely that banks are closed. And even if we could get money wired to the bank, the brethren likely would not be able to travel to get it. And if they could travel to get it, nothing is open for them to buy supplies with it anyway. Davidson felt that in the next three weeks or so we will understand better the level of strain for our brethren." And he will update us on them.

This particular situation has only been with us for really a month but what will take place, what will happen after six weeks, two months, three months? And we don't know exactly where this will all go. We should be praying in the meantime for our brethren around the world as we pray for our brethren in Myanmar.

You know, the model prayer of Jesus when his disciples asked him, "You know when we pray, what do we say?" And Jesus Christ gave them an outline and gave them a model to use which speaks to the heart of human existence and relationship with God. And in fact, looking over this model prayer which is something we just recite by memory. We know all the elements of it. It has more meaning, ever more meaning at this time right now. It takes on a deeper and more relevant meaning.

Christ said, "This then is how you are to pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name." Where we first connect to our God in heaven, hallowed be His name and we thank Him. We thank Him for waking up today. We thank Him for all the blessings that He gives us. "Your kingdom come." Has there been ever a time when we have said or felt like we would want God's Kingdom to come to this earth? “Your kingdom come,” that is a message of the United Church of God. This is the message that Christ told us to proclaim. God's Kingdom is coming. The Kingdom of God is at hand. That is prime, foremost, after we thank God on our minds. The Kingdom that is coming.

Then he says, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." You might be a little bit fuzzy about, "Well, what does that really mean?" To me, it's a very strong part of this prayer for survivability in this crisis. God's will is His plan. His promise is to protect us, to protect our children. We're not to be unwise or not understand what the will of God is. The way we find out what the will of God is, is by reading it, by studying it, by praying about it. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Then, here another one that we may say as well, you know, we just read through it very quickly because of course, we can go to anything from UDF to Costco to Walmart. But verse 11 is from Matthew 6, "Give us today our daily bread. Give us today our daily bread.” Do you know how close we are to being cut off from our daily bread? Even in a country like the United States where major cities like New York City have only 21 days supply of items?

After that, it'll be pandemonium as people search out for what they have if a whole line of trucks was not there supplying the city all the time. What if that was cut off? “Give us today our daily bread.” And notice that there's a timing in this verse where today is mentioned twice in six words. Two of the six words are, give us today our daily bread. The people in Myanmar are praying this. We should be thinking about this as well in the way we pray for God to take care of us and to take care of the people around us.

"Forgive us our debts" or forgive us our transgressions, verse 12, "as we have forgiven our debtors." What neglects have we had in our life? Our focus and attention is upon our lives. And one thing that we could very easily overlook and just have to go over the top of our head is the way we affect others and the mistakes that we make that we need to take responsibility for. Forgive us our debts. Don't forgive other people's debts. Forgive us our debts, our transgressions, as we have forgiven our debtors. That's a whole subject in itself.

You know, one of the highlights or one of the hallmarks of these Days of Unleavened Bread is that we examine ourselves whether we take the Passover in a worthy manner. That's not just reading a couple of verses in the New Testament that have the word examine in them, it means to truly look at ourselves. And God is focusing on putting our nose into our transgressions more this year than ever before. It's not just a nice platitude or just a nice thought. How do we affect others? What mistakes have we made? Forgive us our transgressions as we forgive others theirs as we examine ourselves.

And then, verse 13, "Lead us not into temptation," lead us not into sore trial. And that's another one that's huge at this time. Lead us not into sore trial. Protect us. Protect us from the COVID, from the coronavirus. We pray that. It could come to us in so many different ways. Who knows how it can come into our lives? We take all these precautions. But lead us not into sore trial. Lead us away from these microbes, from these viruses. "And deliver us from the evil one." The evil one right now is having a heyday. It's an insane being who cannot win. He just can't win. His future is sealed but he will not give up. And he is trying evermore hard to see how many people he can destroy in his time. He wants to have your life more than anyone else's. The lives of us in God's Church. Deliver us from the evil one.

When you take a look at this model prayer, it's more relevant now at this time than any other time and as I've looked at it, I say, "God be with your people. God be with us. God help us to honor, respect, and love you." Give us this day our daily bread. And these petitions will be even more acute as we go on over the weeks.

What is the church doing? I'd like to tell you a few things that the Church is doing and how it's responding to this crisis. We completely redid the next issue of Beyond Today magazine which went to press yesterday. This was to be an issue that had articles that were planned a month before that that had nothing to do with COVID virus. Actually, there were maybe some hints and some talk about plagues and so forth but not to the extent that this issue has been completely redone. And here are the articles in this edition, the May/June issue of Beyond Today that 300,000 subscribers will receive: “Five Tools for Dealing With Trials”, “Practical Steps You Can Take to Endure Worrisome Times”, “Epidemics in Bible Prophecy”, “COVID-19 and Rampant Fear”, “The Snare of Sudden Change.” You know, what's happened here caught everyone unaware. We had no idea it was coming. There was really no way even to dodge it.

Will He find faith on the earth? In a post-pandemic world, choose to change. This is a time that has brought our attention to aspects of who we are, how we live, our inadequacies. But maybe this is the time to change. And with motivation like this, being goaded like this, it may be the time to say, "God, maybe it's time that I really face myself, that I really face this issue, face this flaw." Another article is “Coping in Times of Crisis.” And the last one is “Could It Happen Again?” I mean, the issue is chockful of articles dealing with the relevance of the time in which we live. And this will be delivered to people's post office boxes and their homes in two weeks, next two to three weeks, at a very, very apropos and relevant time.

Beyond Today television, you've seen one of the presenters right here leading songs, Steve Myers. We have new opportunities which I really do not want to discuss at this time on television. I feel it's time for us to come out with a stronger message. We've all been told that we're to be the watchmen of Israel and we talk about that and we certainly do. But perhaps, this is a time to focus our message more towards what's happening in the world and maybe ask a lot of why questions.

God sees us and He knows more than we know but we need to ask Him to help us to be able to fulfill a commission that we have been told for decades, for decades, that we're to be the watchmen of Israel. We're to warn our people of impending doom. We now understand more about it. There are so many people that you ask… that you talk about what's happening in the world. They have absolutely no orientation of what this is about. We not only know but we've been steeped in it for all these years. We're pent up with a message that is about to go out to the world in a stronger way. And there's no better time to preach it than when people are being affected by it.

It's hard to preach this message on a cruise ship. It's very hard to preach this kind of a message when people are on spring break or when people are having a good time. The time is now to preach it with strength, with focus, with a kind of fervor that Ezekiel and Jeremiah preached their message. We have more effect.

The week after lockdown, Gary Petty's program, which he featured a booklet about the antichrist, we had double the response of people who are watching it. All of a sudden, people are paying attention. And believe me, as the world is coming apart, more and more people will say, "Maybe there's something to their message. Maybe there's something to what they're saying. At least, I should maybe tune in to find out what that might be."

This is a time when our entire nation is worried and has lots of time to think and truly reflect on important things, especially as we are in lockdown and people sit at homes and wonder. It's getting tiresome. I'm getting tired of sitting at home. One of the biggest exciting things my wife and I do is to walk our neighborhood, our 1.82 miles that we walk over and over again. And I took a trip out to the recycling box just to get in the car and drive a few miles to take out bottles.

While this nation is on this modern-day plague, this is a time to lift up our voice and warn the people of their sins and call them to repentance and to turn to God as Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Isaiah did. Isaiah 58:1, this is a message that he was given. Isaiah 58:1, "Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; and show My people their transgression, in the house of Jacob their sins.” Our nation is filled and steeped in sin. He doesn't really realize it but finally, the birds are coming home to roost. The effects of their sins are coming upon them. And things are happening that you thought could not happen.

They are not happening in the minds of people because last year was a fantastic year in the life of this planet. The global economy topped $80 trillion, more than ever in history. Employment was up. All we hear is how good the news is. Virtually no one who can work is unemployed. And now, millions of claims for unemployment are being filed with the government. How long will that continue? Yes, the government can borrow its way into providing trillions of dollars in relief but that is not a long-term solution. What's going to happen? What will ultimately happen?

Before though, thousands of jobs were being created. The Dow Jones market was heading towards 30,000. And then, virtually in a matter of days, it sank below 20,000. There were a few concerns about our society but life was good. And then suddenly, in this first quarter of 2020, our robust global economy shattered and life for billions suffered massive disruption. Wall Street Journal article a couple of weeks ago summed up the unprecedented pause in the economy as “A $3.6-trillion wakeup call.”

And by early April, which we are in, half the world's population was on mandatory lockdown. This has never happened. This is an event that we'll be telling our children. Our children will be telling their children about how everything stopped. These huge numbers are hard to grasp as we will be looking at the fallout. I don't think we can honestly say that after the virus passes after we provide short-term support to workers that the economy is just going to bounce back, people will be flying all around the world just the way they had before. Yes, there may be recovery. Most likely will be some recovery.

And perhaps this is just one in the series of events. All the plagues in the Book of Revelation were sequential. One followed another. Just like the plagues against Egypt. One followed another which had a different purpose. And one thing we do know for sure that we are very thankful to God for His knowledge is that He shows us what will take place. We don't have always the exact details of who, when, what, exactly when but we know there's a sequence of things that will have to take place before the return of Jesus Christ. And they are going to begin to come across and come on more sequentially. Who would think that a microbe so small, almost atomic, could bring the world down as it has?

I'd like to tell you about disruption in people's lives. I feel like I need to tell you this story. Because of the reason I'm here, the reason I'm in the United States is because of disruption that took place in my parents' lives. My parents were teenagers living on either side of Ukraine. In 1941, when the Germans launched Barbarossa, my mother was 15 years old. My dad lived on the other side of Ukraine. He was just a 17-year-old young teenager. Life was good. All they heard about all kinds of rumblings of things in Europe and there was a war going on that really wasn't in full force yet between Germany and England once again. But life for them was okay.

Then the Germans suddenly launched Barbarossa and opened a 2,000-mile front. My mother's town was bombed. My mother was in the field bringing the cows in as the Germans were bombing and she still had her hands shake to the day that she died from the fright of having bombs fall around her. When I've gone back to visit my relatives, my aunts, cousins, and even my grandmother when she was still living, all they could do is reflect on the invasion about how their lives were rudely interrupted.

On the first day of bombing in the city, which wasn't all that big, 700 people were killed. Just bang, right there with the initial destruction. It was a town 70 miles south of Kharkov. They showed us around town when we visited there for a family reunion, and they showed us street by street what happened at the time when mother lived there. She said, "This is where our old house used to be but it was destroyed in the war. Here's the root cellar. Here's where the root cellar was that we spent the whole winter of '41, '42. And there's our gardens that supplied us our produce the next year, how we lived through it."

In 1942, the Germans who administered the area took one teenager from every family and sent them to Germany to work in slave labor camps. My mother was sent to work in a shoe factory and my father from Western Ukraine went over. They went on boxcars. They just loaded them in boxcars. And, you know, the teenagers at that time kind of thought it was kind of a fun trip. The Germans told them, "It's only going to be for about six months or so, you know." And they thought, "Wow, this is a neat thing. This is like a class trip, you know. Go to Germany, you know." And they thought it was very, very interesting and the Germans said, "In six months you'll be home." It was 28 years before my mother was able to come and visit her mother after the war.

My father and mother, and this is a whole long story, they eventually came to the United States. They came into the Church of God. And when they were told what the great tribulation was, they said, "Hey, we know that. We've already been there. We've already experienced the great tribulation." When they were talking about the slavery of people, they talked to them about the hardships, they talked to them about the things that people would have to go through, they said, "We've already been there."

But one thing my father noticed about Saint Paul, Minnesota where we lived. He said, "You know, if we had a crisis of food or a crisis like what happened in Germany, our people would not be able to handle it." We had an apartment complex that was next to us. My parents had an older home with a small pond behind it. They said that if there was no water, they said they'd have the whole community out here draining every drop of water out of our pond. If we had no electricity, if we had no telephones, it would bring absolute disruption to this society.

You know, one thing that I'm going to add to my model prayer. "God, keep internet up." If internet goes down, what's going to happen? Everything will go to pieces. If right now I could not have internet and connectivity with my brothers and sisters in the church with my work… and we take it for granted. Maybe grumble about a little bit slow speed and, you know, not connecting, but what if we had no internet? How would you get messages to someone else? Even telephone is on the internet.

My parents said that we lived through… in this apartment complex, in this part of town there's not even a well. There's not even a well. Of course, why would you have a well, pump well, you know, in the middle of a city? But they were able to survive because they had a well. They had a root cellar. They could live there and they lived it out. It'd be absolute pandemonium if things got worse. That's why I'm saying that we need to be praying for God to deliver us from a sore trial. That's what we need to be praying, "Let Your will be done. Let Your promises be passed on and be fulfilled in us. God, thank you for this day, thank you for this past week, thank you for bringing us through what you have.”

I want to completely sound a clear message of optimism for the future because the reason for prophecy is to show us that it'll all end up very well. But also the message of prophecy is that bad things will happen. We need to ask God to protect us, to protect our dear, little children, to protect our grandchildren because, frankly, at the age I'm at, I'm really more concerned about my grandchildren because after I'm gone, they're the ones who have to live through whatever it is that has to be faced at that time.

I interviewed Carmelo Anastasi, he's our director in Italy, and made a podcast with him. Carmelo said the following because I asked him what are some of the effects of people being kept in their homes in Bergamo, which that week was considered the most dangerous city in the world. He said, "God is making us stop and think." That was an astute comment.

My question is, in the self-quarantine during this recent pandemic has given us time and the church… I'm saying it's a pandemic and it's a crisis not only for the world but for us to learn from. And as we consider examining ourselves at this time of year, as we think the Passover, as we eat unleavened bread signifying a new way of life, a changed life, a sinless life, is that how we will continue? Do we recognize that this is a time for us to think differently? Give us time to think.

I made allusion to 1 Corinthians 11, but this is the message of the New Testament and the keeping of the Passover. 1 Corinthians 11, the chapter probably in the New Testament that gives you more details about the keeping of the Passover as was revealed to the apostle Paul. 1 Corinthians 11:27, "Therefore whoever eats this bread and drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself."

And that's not just a little perfunctory list of little bulleted points but deeply examine himself. Am I living up to the way I should be? Have I really made the changes that I really should have made? It's time to make those changes. “And so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he…” and he gives a warning here. If a person really doesn't think and examine himself the way he should, "For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not understanding or discerning the Lord's body.” For what He did because He paid for the sins that we have committed."

This coronavirus crisis has left a swathe through society unlike any other time in history. Physical, economic, emotional, mental and even spiritual disruption has taken place. Whereat one time we considered ourselves invincible, now all of a sudden, every part of our life is vulnerable. And the only shield we have is that of God helping us. Because before it was science that could deliver us, now it's the government that can deliver us. But it's only going to be God who will be able to ultimately deliver us. We find ourselves, our economic livelihood, and indeed our families and those close to us to be fragile and we are vulnerable in a risky world that's turned hostile towards humanity.

But now, people are talking about how should we rebuild in a post-coronavirus world because the coronavirus epidemic will end. It will end. I guarantee you. Like every other plague and epidemic and pandemic has ended. Ebola came and went. 1918 Spanish Flu, even though it killed 50 million people, came and went. And then, society and the world will have to rebuild. But there is something more that we could do than just live it out and continue on. And that is a message and that is an assignment for all of us in the Church of God.

First of all, we need to return to reality and be aware of what's going on. Are we aware of what's going on in a world that is so fragile? Have we taken the time to pause and reflect? Have we taken the time to stop and think and discuss with our mate about who we are, what we need to be doing? Are we aware? Are we thinking differently than we had before? Are we reprioritizing our lives in a post coronavirus world? Do we have more impetus to take action?

This is the time to do it. We'll be warning the world through the Beyond Today magazine, which should be coming out in two weeks, and I guarantee you that Beyond Today television program will be warning the world of where it stands. But also, I'm saying to us, we're not just the ones who warn, we're the ones who also take to heart those messages that are given. Are we increasing our awareness of what's going on? Do we see the need to make the changes that we should to consider other options and solutions?

There's one thing that human beings are different from animals. This is a very, very important point. Because this is the gateway, this is the way to making those changes. Human beings are the only form of life that can exercise free will. In fact, it is so important that that is why God allows suffering in this world. Because mankind has, in many cases, as a race, made the choice through free will to take the road that it did. And through redemption in Jesus Christ, that'll all be corrected. But we have a society with a tradition to continue to stay what it is.

God, from the very beginning in working with Adam and Eve, gave them a choice. He gave them the Garden of Eden and all its benefits including the tree of life, which signified, which suggested that by eating of the tree of life they would live and not just for 70 years, not just for 1,000 years but forever. But He also told them that there was this tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Don't eat of it because the day that you eat of it, you will face death. It's your choice. It's your choice.

God cannot and does not make that available to anybody else. He doesn't talk to lions and say, "You've got to change your nature. You've got to be nicer to sheep. You've got to be nicer to the wild game. Why don't you just change your nature?" No, that is all part of the way that the animal is. But to human beings, He says, "You, I give you choices, and you have to take this direction which leads to life and other direction that leads to death."

God worked with ancient Israel. And in the very last of the book of Deuteronomy, He points out a continuation of what He started working with Adam and Eve. In Deuteronomy 30:19, and after He had given the law to them on two different occasions in a formal way, and He gave them the same opportunities that He did to Adam and Eve. Deuteronomy 30:19, "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, a choice, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life,” by your own free will. God wasn't going to make them do it because if He made them do it, people… we would be robots. If He made us do the things that we should be making choices ourselves, it would not be us making it. It would be God making it and we'd complain that He is controlling our lives, that we had no choice. We have the choice.

"Therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the lord your God." And He says these are the things that have to do with life. First of all, it's loving God. "That you may obey His voice." Obedience. Love, next obedience. “And that you may cling to Him… That you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."

And our responsibility is to make that right choice. That conversion, coming to repentance, baptism is a choice. We have never baptized anyone against their will. In fact, when I used to talk to people about baptism I said, "Are you sure this is what you want to do? Because if you're unsure, I don't want to baptize you. I don't want you to be baptized because you're going to want something else in return or you want to bargain with God or you want to marry someone. We want to have you be baptized because it's your choice and you understand the terms."

There's a word in the New Testament that has to do with thinking right. As we become aware of the possibility of having a powerful relationship with God who cares for us, we might ask ourselves, "Well, what do we need to do?" I've already answered this to a certain degree. But it comes down to a word in the New Testament that has to do with these choices. The word… there's two Greek words. They're actually the same. One is the verb form and the other one is a noun form is metanoeo, which is the verb, and metanoia, it means to change one's mind. But this word is translated to English is the word repent. Repent.

Repentance is not something which is a religious experience, where you feel sad, you want God. Whatever people think of repentance and when people are told to repent, they say, "I don't really want that. You know, it doesn't sound right to me." But when Jesus Christ said, "Repent. The Kingdom of God is at hand." It was this word and it was the word to think differently. That's what it means. Think differently. Not to be sorrowful, necessarily.

In fact, a differentiation is made between this emotional aspect of making mistakes, and making changes and taking the action is expressed in 2 Corinthians 7:10. And this involves a person who comes to awareness of a wrong way of life and applying his free will to make changes. 2 Corinthians 7:10, "Godly sorrow produces repentance," the word repentance is metanoia, "leading to salvation." Now we have to feel sorrowful, we have to feel upset. We have to feel, "I shouldn't have done that." That's a very important part. But, you know, there are people that just have called sorrow of the world which is just, "I'm so sorry I got caught. I'm so sorry I'm in prison." That's sorrow of the world that leads to death.

Back to 2 Corinthians 7… "And even though I've made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. I perceived that you… that the same epistle made you sorry, though for a while. Now, I rejoice," verse 9, "not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer the loss of nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted of; but the sorrow of the world produces death." That means just being upset, being sorry that you are caught, or that you have spent time in prison or that you have lost money, whatever. But it does not lead to thinking and acting differently is what we really want to see take place. We have to become aware of what we do.

Next, in our lives, we have to take responsibility. After we become aware of the mistakes that we make, take responsibility. This is so important in the way we live. It's so important for us to say, "It's my fault. I need to do what I should be doing." Forgive me my sins as I forgive others their sins. Not to be one who blames others for them. This is a part of thinking differently.

Then, next step, after being aware, then we seek forgiveness for what we have done. This is a very important part of the Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive others. That is a prayer. That is a daily prayer. “Forgive us our sins as we forgive others their transgressions.” Then, we come to peace of mind. We come to peace of mind and to joy as we come to fullness as a person. This is the pathway to thinking differently and this is repentance. This is repentance. Accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior.

So let's be grateful for the lessons that are taught to us at this time. We have time here during this crisis period to think differently, to think, period. I'm just very grateful for the time that I've had to study the Word of God, to study through things that you just read through. And even for ministers, we oftentimes study because we've got a sermon to give so we work on that. We work on this and we have a class to teach. But to study really to change our life, to be able to think differently.

Let's make use of what we have come to in this crisis to better ourselves, to really come to a deep repentance of who we are and what we are, to make the changes that are absolutely vitally necessary for salvation. Jesus Christ will forgive us. He's the one who will fix the world. He's the one who's going to redeem us. He's the one who's bought the whole human experience and has died for us. And then. He's going to give us an environment to live in forever, the Kingdom of God, that is coming to this world. So let's be grateful. Let's be thankful to God for the wonderful meaning of these days and we look to very brighter and much happier days in the future.