Video Transcript: 

Hello Alabama Baptist, my name is Daven Watkins, I’m the pastor at First Baptist Church Pelham. I want you to know, I’ve been praying for you these days.

Earlier, I thought about some familiar words recorded in Hebrews chapter 12. In verse, one the author says, “Therefore, since we’re surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles. Let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us.” Let’s focus on that last phrase, “Let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us.”

I’m not much of a video gamer, but whenever I do play a video game, I’ll always choose the games, where I get to pick the course. And when I pick the course, I pick a course that’s easy and smooth. Never one that has peaks and valleys, zigs and zags, highs and lows. But sometimes in life, the course is marked out for us.

I don’t know very many of us, who saw this global pandemic coming. We didn’t choose it, we didn’t determine it, we didn’t ask for it to happen. Yet we find ourselves doing ministry, in a course that’s been marked out for us.

Let me remind you, that whatever God permits, he has a purpose, to promote. During these days, it’s not a question of, will we run the race? The question is, how faithfully, will we run the race? And so we run it with perseverance. We don’t need a new bag of tricks.

Let’s just keep on doing what God has called us to do. Love the gospel, and love people. Every chance we get, present the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all the while, we love people. You don’t need a new bag of tricks. God has great confidence in you. He could have sent, this global pandemic at any time in human history, but he sent it now. Because he knows, that you’re able to do effective ministry, during these dates.

Also, this past week I was, given an email from a dear friend, who just reminded me, that the Apostle Paul, wrote half of the New Testament. And the majority of those letters, he was quarantined. He was under house arrest, he was in prison, and some of his most fruitful ministry, came during times of quarantine. Friends, I know that maybe you can’t leave your house, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot do faithful fruitful ministry.

So as the author of this Hebrew letter reminds us, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the father. Consider him, who endured such sinful, opposition from sinful men, so that you won’t grow weary, and lose heart. God bless you Alabama. You keep up, the great work.