Preaching Goes Viral

ENCOURAGEMENT AFTER CORONA-VIRUS SHUTDOWN [borrowed]

Respect for government and/or patriotic loyalty, as a priority

[OLD] Accept or reject public health guidelines

Our regular services were not held this morning due to governmental instruction to maintain “social distancing” and avoid assemblies of more than ten people. This has been ordered as a means to limit the spread of the very contagious Coronavirus (covid-19). As a result, we have held our first ever “virtual church” meeting for OCPBC this morning. While we were not able physically to be with one another, as is the proper manner for conducting church and worshiping as a “called out assembly” in accordance with scripture, we recognize the wisdom of these containment efforts and our responsibility to comply with governmental instruction not intended to discriminate against or otherwise harm the church or her worship of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Our Pastor, Elder Jonathan Cook, opened our “virtual church” worship service with the acapella singing (which is in our customary manner) of the hymn “Because He Lives,” while we at home sung along with him. He then reminded us that God is still in control and that we all need to be in prayer for our communities, nation and its leaders, care-givers and other first responders on the front lines, teachers and students, pastors, parents and families. He then he shared a number of specific prayer requests from our church members and others. Next, Elder Cook provided a very robust prayer on behalf of the congregation to open the worship services.

2022-12-16

Jonathan Cook

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