God's New Ways in the Crisis

 This crisis is a hard test for many. If you are doing well anyway, it is important to help those who are really suffering.

There are different reactions. Some want to complain because the strict measures seem like a dictatorship. If we were really under a dictatorship, do you think protests from a few thousand  people could liberate us ?

Someone has said of a head of government, ``He is a dictator. We must get rid of him in the next election campaign.'' The answer was clear. ``What do you know about dictatorship?''

For the Christians in the New Testament, democratic freedom was totally unknown, but they spread the good news of Jesus and expanded God's kingdom in a dramatic way.

The first church in Jerusalem had to deal with two non-democratic governments. The Roman rulers were not nice and the Jewish religious rulers wanted to abolish Christian freedom.

But God used the persecution of the church to spread the gospel.

Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. Acts 11:19 NKJV

But this was only the first phase of God's plan. Then it became quite radical.

Among them were some people from Cyprus and Cyrene. They entered Antioch and began to proclaim the good news about the Lord Jesus also to Gentiles. Acts 11:20 CEB

Some now complain because normal worship services are not allowed, but God has also used this situation to spread the gospel.

Many churches have shared sermons and services with online streaming and You Tube. Something amazing has happened.

Before the crisis, 200 to 400 visitors were expected in our church on Sunday. But when we were only allowed to minister online, 2000 were involved.

Not only that, but God has also blessed our finances. The donations have increased dramatically.

And what has happened to the church building? It was used to distribute food for the unemployed.

“Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? 

I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18–19 NKJV

Some people are upset because normal worship services are not allowed during the crisis, but God has also used this situation to spread the gospel. God is leading us in new directions.