7 Lessons From A Family In Quarantine For a Year, Pastor Sunny Philip, 03/22/2020

03/22/2020 A Lesson in the Quarantine of Noah by Dr. Sunny Philip.
A plague every 100 Years.  1720 - Bubonic, 1820-Cholera, 1920-Spanish Flu, 2020-COVID
• Always involves something new (Gen 7:7)
• In the midst of calamity you can receive grace from God. Ezekiel 14- 4 plagues. Stand the gap for others.
• Time to get ready for it
• Time like this you have to think about others.
• Priorities change in a crisis
• God is in Control

Youtube: https://youtu.be/iLNcIaF_dIU
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benny.gateway.7
Podcasts: http://gatewaychristiancenter.buzzsprout.com/
Podcast Episode: http://gatewaychristiancenter.buzzsprout.com/698179/3209572

Transcript

Sunny Philip: 0:09

I hope, the electronic ways we're able to carry what we experienced here this morning, we usually say the worship is for one. It's just for God. This morning, it's literally true. Apart from the worship team members, and the media team members, I am the only one here. But this place is filled with the presence of God, because we came here to worship Him and glorify Him. And His presence is filling the sanctuary this morning. Amen. Hallelujah. We welcome all of all your friends, all of our church members, and our friends who are watching us on Facebook this morning. Because of the current situation, we are forced to conduct our worship this way. But that does not in any way, diminish the amount of the presence of God in this worship service. Before I go into the Word of God, that God has given me. I want to pray for all of you out there. Amen. Let us pray that God will be with each one of you, guiding through you through this difficult season. For all of us, like his presence be with you in this crisis. Heavenly Father, I pray for all of our church members, and our friends who are watching this live streaming right now. I pray Father, for your special care for your special protection for your special provisions for every one of them of God. I pray, Lord, that No evil will touch any of them or God, no plague will appear near any of the tensor guard, they will be completely covered under your wing or father, you will hide them in the palm of your hand, oh Lord, I pray, Lord, that you let the blood of your Son Jesus Christ, be a her joy around the lives of others. And you will take glory and your name. Even in the midst of this. In Jesus name we pray, amen. During this week, I have been praying, especially for a comforting message. Because we know in what kind of a world we are living in right now. This microbe called Coronavirus, is reaping havoc across the globe. 1000s and 1000s of people have already died when now. And the latest number I saw was over 300,000 in three days time 100,000 More people have been afflicted by this disease. And as a result of that, we know that the so many restrictions are put in place, businesses are closed down, schools are closed down, restaurants are closed down, even churches are closed down. Weddings can be has been canceled. Even fuel funerals are being affected. So many people who died in the midst of this. So just the caretakers taking them alone to the to the final resting place or just one or two people more. And we also know that an incredible financial chore is levied because of this sickness. And we don't know where it's going to end in America. Here where we live. The government is talking about pumping $2 trillion in the economy to keep it afloat. I mean, you couldn't even imagine such a big number in your head$2 trillion. And now people are saying even that's not enough. So we don't know what is going to be the final financial toll of this plague. So we can say that the world has been brought to his knee by an unseen microbial organism called Coronavirus. But I want to start my talk this morning on some lessons that we can learn from history for the last four centuries every century, around the same time are the major plague. In 1720. The bubonic plague started in France, which killed 100,000 people. In 18 120, the cholera outbreak in Asia started and it's also killed about 100,000 people, but the Spanish flu or influenza that came around in 1920. It's estimated that killed 100 million people around the world and we know that the world didn't have 1/4 of the population that we have now. Imagine 100 million people dying because of a pandemic and in 2020 The Coronavirus and people are still dying. 1000s of people are still afraid Didn't we do not know how many? How many 1000s of people will die in this, but the but the funny thing is why every 100 years exactly 1720 1820 1920 and 2020. Why on the 100 year anniversary, another play comes in. And because it is happening in a regular fashion like that, there are people who say that this is manufactured crisis, some secret secret organization is controlling the world history, etc. But I do not believe that. The truth is that we share this world with millions of species have seen an unseen organisms. And we don't know what is lurking out there at the right time that they start coming up. So when I when we were going through this, and when we were staying home and forced to think about how to make sense out of all of this. I know all the people across the world, whichever country I speak, to have my friends, you know, I have friends in different nations and wherever, whichever friends I speak to all of them are concerned and every nation is concerned, almost every nation is coming to a lockdown status. So because of that, I have been, I have been asking God, God give me a message of comfort that so that when I share this message, it will come for the people who actually will be watching this right now, and also will come for the people who will watch it later on. And God took me to a family in Bible who was quarantined for a while. And I don't know if you know which family I'm talking about. I'm talking about the family of Noah, and all the story very familiar story. But God taught me some wonderful lessons from that old story this week that we can apply in our in our message this morning. So I'm going to quickly going to share with you the seven lessons that God taught me from this story this week. Number one, it always involves something new, for which man has no immediate answer. It always involves something new, for which man has no immediate answer. If you look at the story of Noah, it was something new in the world. There was never rain in the world until now, when we read Genesis chapter one, it says itself says that the India Earth was originally covered with water. And when God started the creation process, God divided the waters from the waters. That's the word used in the English Bible. God divided the waters from the waters, some water kept, was kept here and some water goes, went up into the sky. And and the Bible clearly says the firmament that we call the sky came between these two waters. So above the sky, there was water. But we know that the water is so heavy and it cannot stay up there. So how did the water stay up there? We don't know. There are people who say that there was a water ring around the earth at that time, just like we see the ring around Saturn or Uranus now, and maybe it's true. But when we come to Genesis chapter seven and verse 11, this is what the Bible tells us. All the founders of the deep, were broken up, and the windows of heaven were open. In other words, God brought forward to the surface of the Earth, the water that was already on the surface of the earth, in the form of oceans, and then also God brought down the water. That was a bow the firmament, wrote probably in the form of a water ring around the earth at that time. And also the water that is underneath the soil are underneath Earth. We know that underneath the earth also, there is water now scientists tell us that there is more water under the earth than all the Asians on the oceans put together that are on the face of the earth. So God brought all these waters together at that time when the deluge started in the days of Noah, but man had never seen that man had never experienced it. Man did not know what rain was. Man did not know what a flood was that because he lived in a world that were all the trees of the Earth was watered by the due in the morning and in the evening. And that's the only thing that my new so this rain thing was something totally new. So the world had no answers for it. And isn't that exactly where we are right now? Because this is a brand new disease in the mind new sickness that we are faced with and everyone tells us that we do not know we do not know we do not know they they are frantically trying to come up with an answer but they did not have an answer in store for what we are going through So every time a calamity comes like this, we have to remember that it will include something new. And the second point that God taught me from the story this week was there, even though it's a huge calamity, it's gonna affect a lot of people. But in the midst of that you can receive grace from the Lord, you can receive grace from the Lord. In the midst of that, the Bible specifically says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And we know that when Sodom and Gomorrah was about to be judged, you know, Abraham stood in the gap, and because of the Lord and his family was able to receive grace. In the book of Ezekiel, chapter 14, it talks about another time for different plagues coming up on the face of the earth, the plagues are sward, farming, wild bees, and plagues coming upon the earth, one after another. And God said, during that time period, even if you stand in the gap for others, others will not get grace, but you will get grace. Amen. So I want to encourage the people who are watching us from whether you are belong to our church, or another church in New York, or wherever on the face of the earth you are this morning. If you stand in the gap of a calamity like this, amen, you can make sure that you will receive grace from the Lord, because our God, he's a gracious God, amen. He wanted to extend his grace. And when he when you look at this life of Noah, Noah went around Noah shared the news of the impending calamity that is coming, but he could not save anyone else. But he was able to save his family. First Peter chapter three and verse 20 tells us that he was able to save his family, because of obedience. So I want to encourage all of you, even if you never prayed in your life, this is the time to seek the Lord. Amen. And, and he will show mercy to you. He will show mercy to your family. Amen. And your dear ones, so stand in the gap for your family. Hallelujah. Amen. Just like no one was able to say his family, you will be able to say your family. The third lesson that God showed me, or taught me from this story this week is that, but it's a time to get ready for it. Is it time to get ready for it? Amen. There are people who say that no one went around and preached about this judgment 420 years. But the truth is that Bible does not say that there is nowhere in the Bible you can lead a verse that says no went around and preached for 120 years. But what it says in association with the story is that God said From now on man's age will be limited to 120 years, his laser will be numbered 220 years. Because of that. People say that since the day most I mean, Noah got that message until the day the deluge started, it was 120 years. But that's just a deduction. Bible does not say that. But at the same time Bible tells us very clearly that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Imagine Noah is building a humungous structure. If you go online, and Google the replica of this ark that is made in Kentucky, you know, even if you didn't actually go and see it, just look at the pictures how humongous the structure is, and nobody had seen their structure later. Nobody had a board. Nobody had a need for a board. I mean, maybe there was more boards, we don't know. But if you look at that humungous structure, I'm pretty sure a lot of people are curious about what is this man doing? Why is he making such a humungous structure? So Ollie's to the people who came curiously to him. He was able to share the news of the impending judgment. Amen. And, but none of them took seriously no one took them seriously. No, seriously. Therefore, nobody got ready for this calamity that came in their generation Z. That's the same thing that happened with the Coronavirus. Scientists knew about this Coronavirus yesterday was listening to a doctor and he was saying that this Coronavirus is something that we have been carrying all along in our body. But this Coronavirus sometimes get mutated. When it gets mutated that's become when it becomes an infectious disease. It turns against our body. Other times it's just silently living inside our body. In 2002. They had a another outbreak in China called the SARS severe, severe acute respiratory syndrome. I believe what starts and a lot of people died and it was associated to another version of the same Corona virus. Then 10 years later, in 2012, they had another outbreak A chord moves me Rs, which stands for Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome. And that also was caused by another mutation of the same Corona virus. So, already we had a to Coronavirus, affections in his in recent history in 2002 and 2012. But the sad story is that nobody, nobody made a vaccine for it, because the vaccine business is run by profit. It's generally done by private companies, pharmaceutical companies, and if there is no ongoing, you know, affections then they have no market for the vaccine and they had to invest millions and millions of dollars for to develop this vaccine. So, as soon as the this epidemic was over, the the interest was gone. And nobody tried to make a vaccine. I was reading about a doctor in Texas Children's Hospital two weeks ago, in 2016, his his office and a few scientists who work with him, I forgot his name now actually, actually made a vaccine for Coronavirus in the lab. And they went to many companies and said hey, we have developed a vaccine for Coronavirus, but we need money to do human trials, can you invest some money into this? So that you can have this product you know, and you can sell it and what there was no Coronavirus, affection, affliction in the world at that time, so nobody was interested, he went to the government and told the government we have developed a vaccine for this. If you can invest some money into it, we can how this waxing ready when the next you know affliction comes or pandemic comes. And then we would have plenty of vaccine around. Now if you watch the news every day there is a news update. Right? When you watch it, what do you hear? There is no vaccine, there is no vaccine, there is no vaccine. Why? Because nobody took it seriously. Nobody learned the lessons from the history from the history. And that's why we do not have vaccine today. Amen. So that's the same story that happened in the generation of Noah, Noah went around and told everyone, this is what God told me. And I believe God, if God said it, it's going to happen. That's why I'm building this huge Ark. And if you want to join with us, you can give you refuge in this hour. But nobody took him seriously. Nobody took him seriously until the day the rain started. And when the rain started, I'm sure 1000s of people were banging on the ark and telling him open open up for us openers for us open up for us. But only thing Noah could say was that sorry, I'm not the one who closed the door. It's God who closed the door. And I don't have a key to open this door. So we have to understand that God gives us a time to get ready for the coming epidemics some many times, but we have to take the warning seriously. Even when we look at what is going on in this country. I am grateful for a person who has his hand sewn now. And they are frantically trying trying everything they can. But they didn't take it seriously. I have to be trolled for this morning, even here didn't take this seriously. In the beginning, we wasted at least a month and a half saying that this is just another hoax. It just just like common flow, it's just going to remain in China. And we were trying to sell trying to sell all these stories instead of you know, getting ready. So we wasted a month and a half which we could use to get our people ready for this epidemic in this country. And we would not be facing what we are facing today. And I would not be preaching to an empty church. You know if we had done that, amen. And also you have to remember many times, many times I have told you that whatever America says become a standard for the rest of the world, because they respect America so much. And they say oh, if America is not taking seriously, then we don't have to take it seriously. So because of that, look, the whole world is coming to an lockdown. Amen, because we did not use the opportunity that God gave us. And that was the same story with the people in Nawaz generation. He had plenty of opportunity to listen to Noah and accept that message and say say say themselves, but they but they did not. And because of that because of that what happened? They all died in that deluge. The fourth lesson. The fourth lesson is this remain. Port lesson that God taught me from the story is this is in a time like this. You have to think about others. You cannot just think about yourselves. I mean, this is a time when you have to think about other people also imagine no and his family was asked to prepare food for every living thing on the face of the earth. Maybe he got, I don't know, because it takes a lot of time to garden for for everything starting with the with the elephant on down. Amen. And and also, he was not told how many days this he will be inside the ark. He was told the rain would last for 40 days. But that didn't mean that on the 41st day he came out. In fact, when you read the story, what we see is that the rain stopped after 40 days, but the water harvest and so high that it took another 150 days for the water to come down. Which means they stayed inside that are for owlish, 190 days. But you want to know what is the truth? You know, he they actually ended up saying more than that. If you look at the chapter seven and chapter eight, and compare the dates given there, you can see that it took them an ear for the Earth to restore itself one year, or the year to restore itself. So imagine God asking Noah and family to have enough supply for everyone that is entrusted to him, every living thing that is entrusted to him for at least 190 days or 200 days. But he had to extend it even more than that. So we have to remember that in a season like this, we have to think about other people. And we have heard stories of people who have been hoarding stuff. I mean, it's a natural tendency, right? Let me take care of my family. And last week when I went to Costco early in the week, I wanted to get some toilet tissue and some paper towels for our church and for our house. And, and when I went there, they said as we have some you go and stand in line, and about 150 people were on our line. And I stood in line, thank God I God. And when I got to the front, they said okay, one each. So we were able to bring that here. So and then two days later, I went back again, hoping to get at least one each more. But this time, the line to get inside the store was around the entire Costco building. So I knew I would be standing in line for hours and hours. So I left but at the same time, doves, amen. But you cannot do that. You cannot do that in a season like this. You cannot do that you have to think about others. That's what God taught. Noah, amen, and said, Listen, Noah, you are going to take care of yourself, you're going to prepare for yourself. But you have to think about others. Also, I am grateful for all the encouraging stories that we have seen on on TV about people who go around and share whatever they have with other people. The fifth lesson that God taught me from the story is this priorities will change in a crisis, priorities will change in a crisis. If you look at the last story, when we read Genesis chapter six, there are three verses that talks about the wickedness of the people verse number five, verse number 11, and verse number 12. Each one is worse than the other or previous description, because it was indeed a vicar generation, where we cogeneration and God decided to judge the nation, and the deluge was a tour of judgment. But I'm not saying that Corona is a judgment from God. I'm not saying that. Amen. I don't want anyone to write to me anyone to put a comment on my Facebook feed that apostle, you're wrong. I am not saying Corona is a judgment from God. But at the same time, you have to think how our priorities change, and that time of an epidemic like this. Amen. We could think about the what were our stories? What were our priorities last year? What were the discussions in this country, during the second half of last year, you know, how long you can do an abortion. And you know that some states pass a law that you can do an abortion, you know, up to the moment of birth, and some states are even thinking what to do with a child, if that child, even even after that, if the child survives the abortion, what are we going to do? Has the does the doctor have authority to kill that child? Because the mother don't want that? That was our discussion during second half of 2019 command thing with me this morning. Amen. Another story of second half of two in all of 2019 was how many sexes earlier? The Bible says God made us men and women, male and female. But today, we changed that. And we said whatever you feel like is who you are. And we started hearing about, you know, bisexuality, homosexuality. bisexuality pansexuality. And then the list kept increasing. And I saw a paper online with a one college professor, that she could identify 37 sexes. And I was wondering, How in the world is that possible if God made everyone male and female? So that was our discussion in 2019. Our priority in 2019, a third priority in 2019, especially in Europe, people were fighting for the right to walk in the street. Node. totally nude. They were fighting. They were asking for legal protection to walk in the streets. Lee, totally knowed. Guess what if you go to the same countries, now, they're completely covered. But they're not really covered. Even the face is covered. Amen. Completely cover even the face is covered. It's interesting how spiritual people up so he saying that don't worry, all the money you lost, you know, I'm going to come back and the stock market going to rebound. But I want to tell you that nobody knows for sure. Right now. Nobody knows for sure. But in the midst of this, we should all be thankful that we are still alive, that God is keeping us alive. Amen. Hallelujah. Times may be tough economic ramifications of this virus. Pandemic can be huge, huge. We already said the government is already pumping $2 trillion into the economy. Maybe it don't even not end there. I mean, I one, one estimate I had was fight, flee and oil. You can even imagine how much money is$5 trillion, you know, to keep keep this country by me to bring this country back. But But this country being the most powerful nation on the face of the earth will do that. But what about all the poor nations? What about all the poor nations of the world? How are they going to rebound from it? If we think our situation is bad, think about, you know, people that we know are live in those poor countries. How are they surviving? What is their situation right now. So things are uncertain right now. But that doesn't mean that a God is not in control, which is the last point I want to share with you this morning. You had to remember the seventh lesson that God taught me from the story was that even when everything is going haywire around you, everything is going crazy around you. God is still in control. Amen. Hallelujah. Look at the story of Noah. Noah built the ark in the plains, in the plains. But when the deluge ended, where was this ark on top of a mountain? It came to rest on top of a mountain. No, I had no idea going to end up on top of a mountain. God didn't tell you that when this thing is over. When this season is over, you will be on top of the mountain. No, he just had to trust God. Amen. And the when the rain came, and the waters rose up, and it picked up this mass Sea Org and it started floating, know how to no steer no awkward and care for a minute. It just went wherever he couldn't control where it would be floating to trust God completely. Amen. Because he is your refuge and strength. The Bible says a very person held in the time of trouble. And I'm sure none of us have lived through a trauma a time that is more problems than than now. But in the midst of this troubled times, he is our refuge. He is our strength. He is our fortress. He is our Redeemer. He is our source. He is our blessing. He is our healer. Everything that we need is in him. Let's put our trust in Him. Hallelujah. As long as he is on his throne. Everything will work out fine, because he is the one who is in control of your life. Amen. Give your life into God's hands. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we will come to you this morning your Lord. Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to meditate on your faithfulness. From your word. Once again, our Lord God, we thank You for this valuable lessons that we learned from the life of Noah who was forced to be quarantined in that ark for almost a year. But in the midst of all the impossibilities in the midst of all the dire circumstances, in the midst of all the challenges, you kept them alive, the Lord brought them brought them out of that ark alive and allow them to continue with their lives of father and become progenitors for all the people on the face of the earth today. God we know that just because there's a crisis in our lives, promises does not end just because we are going through an epidemic now. It doesn't mean that your promises come to an end, Lord just because we are facing this tough times. It does not mean alone. We put our trust in you. We trust in You, Lord Jesus. And we pray, Father, that you will take care of every month in our church family, Father, God, we pray for all the elderly folks in our church. We pray for all the parents who are worried this morning. We pray for all the brothers and sisters, we pray for all the singles in this congregation. We pray for all the children and even the babies in this congregation of Father, in walk your divine protection upon all of them of God. Father, we pray that you will be enough for us. Amen, you will be more than enough you are more than enough God, hallelujah. We declare that we are a more you are more than enough God and you will be you will come through for us a God and He will take care of us and He will take over everyone who is watching this message this morning. Lord, help your people not to lose their faith. What church do you receive their salvation? Father, let your name be glorified even in Jesus name