Today fear is prevalent in society, fear of contracting COVID-19, fear of losing loved ones, fear of losing jobs / education. Satan is having the proverbial field day and the church globally throughout this pandemic has risen to the challenges it has faced to date. But as a new chapter begins in this pandemic the church needs to adapt again and counter Satan’s lies head-on.

In Matthew 14:31 as Peter is sinking he cries out to Jesus to save him and immediately Jesus reached out His hand to take hold of Peter to save him. How many people do we know who are crying out to the world for help and are living in fear, how many people do we walk past, meet, work with who are need of hope yet we haven’t noticed?

As society starts to get back on its feet again, with the occasional local lockdown requirements, the Church needs to keep its ear to the proverbial ground to meet the needs of their congregation and local society. Justin Welby earlier this week said that the UK government should decentralise their response to the increase of COVID-19 cases, the Church needs to resist the temptation of copying other churches responses to reaching out, as each city, neighbourhood will have its own particular needs as it can be very tempting to copy another successful church’s outreach strategy.

As individuals we too need to be aware of those around us who may have questions and/or living in fear. We need to be ready to respond, Charles Spurgeon and Tim Killer advocate when preaching a sermon the preacher needs to make the proverbial beeline to the Gospel, we too need to do the same. There is no point in saying ‘there there it will be okay or trust in God’ we need to be able to give examples when God met the needs of His people in the Bible and when He has answered our own prayers during our times of distress, pleas and has met our needs.

When Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross He did so out of love, and because of His sacrifice we all have hope which we need to be proclaiming on a daily basis. We need to be telling those around us that there is more to life than our health, jobs; we need to be telling people that they are loved no matter what they have done in their lives and that they have hope, and that Jesus will never forsake us/them, we may lose our health, jobs etc, but He will always be there for us. If we look at the Israelites despite what He had shown them they still disobeyed Him by worshipping a false god, yet He still provided for them by providing food and drink for the forty years they wandered the desert. And if we look at our own sinful lives, He still remains faithful to us.

This week we need to remind ourselves that God is there for us and when we get the opportunity we need to be proclaiming His love and that through Him we have HOPE no matter of our past.

All Bible links and quotes have been taken from http://www.biblegateway.com