2000s | A Strange New World

There still exists a general state of either denial, complacency, or even apathy about both the reality and the potential effects of Y2K. By the end of the 90s, many of us were happy slaves to our computers. But our new masters had a trick they had forgotten to tell us about. The basic idea on Y2K was that, for convenience, all these computer programs, when it came to do dates, you only needed two numbers. Why use four numbers when you only need two?

And then they recognized, what date is a computer going to think it is when we get to 2000? One simple date change for man, one major screw-up for computer. At the stroke of midnight, January 1st, 2000, elevators may stop. Heat may vanish. Credit cards and ATMs may cease to function.

Airplanes and trains may come to a halt. People were terrified the world was going to end. This is not one of the summer movies where you can close your eyes during the scary parts. With nearly everything in our economy run by computers, the prospect of a digital meltdown is too huge to contemplate. I was worried because the whole computer game was new to us, and I was a little ignorant.

We didn't know what we didn't know. And many thought what we didn't know was going to hurt us. I've got a revolver right now, but I wanted something more. That was a dragon's breath shell. It can shoot a 4,000 degree flame 300 feet.

It's also the most popular ammunition among Y2K customers at KGS Guns and Ammo. There was a fear. Everything's in the internet. Everything's in computers. And we're going to lose it all.

And Jesus is coming back. With pre-millennium tensions growing, the president appoints a crisis management expert to prevent a Y2K meltdown. 8% to 10% of the population were fairly confident that this was going to be an apocalypse. The president called me one night and said, here's an office and an assistant, and don't let the world stop. A strange new world, right?

It was a strange new world when the millennium began. I'm Pastor Leon, so glad you're here with us today as we have been taking a time machine back. And whoops, did you get me? Okay, there you go. Decades to learn, you know.

Just kind of feel out each decade and what's going on. So it's been a really exciting series. Had a lot of great feedback about this series. Hopefully it's a blessing to you. We've been walking through each decade since the 1950s and it seems like overnight, just like life, overnight we are in the 2000s already, okay?

We got a couple more weeks of this. So I'm going to challenge you, invite your friends, and come on out to finish off this series well. So the decade starts out, yes, of course, a different world, a strange new world. Boot cut jeans and ripped pants were kind of the fad. I know some of you had those big baggy pants.

I mostly wore baggies during that time. Hip huggers and mid-drift link shirts and things like that were the style of that time. Some of us have never left that time. And if you hang on to that time, it's going to come back, okay? Because everything kind of comes back around.

That's why I don't throw away my jeans because I know they're going to come back someday. And also, you know, just as a side note, that was the decade I met my wife, Miranda. And that was the decade that I came to Virginia Beach for Regent University. That's what brought me here. So that was, I guess, the way before infant stage of Salt Church, right?

So there was a purpose for everything. The iPod came out during about 2001. I remember the guy I met that first had an iPod. He worked at Macintosh. He worked in my office.

He came from Macintosh to my office. And he had this white thing in his hands. And he said, I have my entire CD collection on this one little box. And I was like, your entire CD collection? You can put that much music in one little box?

That's amazing. I just could not believe it. It was just astounding. And that was the start of everything, really. And then you had, by the end of the decade, you had the iPhone that came out.

Now everybody has, or most people have an iPhone. I would say about 75% of people have iPhones now. And then we had this thing called MySpace. How many of you had a MySpace or even know what a MySpace is? Where you had Tom, who was your only friend at the beginning.

And it was the first social media connection. We didn't even know what social media was. You had your own personal website. It was really, really kind of wild. Facebook and Twitter eventually took over by the end of that decade and kind of oust MySpace where it wasn't around anymore.

So that was kind of short-lived. But Friends ended, and How I Met Your Mother began. And the Big Bang Theory and all the age of Ensemble Cast, which was started by Friends, came into... The real world kind of phased into The Real Housewives, which I think it got from bad to worse when it came to reality TV. And then there was the launch of American Idol, right?

Wow, how many of you remember the first American Idol, which is still going today? It took a little hiatus there for a few years, but came back strong. Movies in that time, Avatar was one of the most popular movies or at least one of the most highest grossing movies. And then we had this little book that was released during the 2000s called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which launched this craze about, it started as a children's book and adults and everybody got into it. And some of you in here, the room got kind of quiet because some of you are like Harry Potter fans and others of you are praying the witchcraft out of the other people for reading Harry Potter.

So I know there's controversy about that. But yeah, so it launched movies and even today you can go into shops and still find paraphernalia for Harry Potter. It got so popular. And then, of course, we had this book, which, you know, bringing Lord of the Rings to life was amazing. To be able to see it outside of a cartoon was incredible, Lord of the Rings.

And some people would call that the second Bible, right? And then we, as far as music scene was concerned, we went from Nirvana and Pearl Jam to a post-grunge movement, kind of dwarfed into Foo Fighters Creed and Linkin Park and some of those famous bands. But I think the biggest phenomena of that day with rock music was the pop-punk scene, how a pop-punk scene came out. Everybody was listening to pop-punk. How do you incorporate pop and punk?

Well, Blink-182 did that. And other bands like Sum 41. There was a ton of different ones. They all put little numbers and names to their names. That was kind of the thing, I guess, in that day.

But that didn't really take the height of music scene in the 2000s. It was those pop groups. Those pop groups. Boy bands and pop singers with NSYNC and Britney Spears. I didn't get a lot of yells for that one, okay.

I guess people don't like Britney Spears. Of course, some of you are Backstreet Boys. Yeah, they were in the 2000s, too. But that kind of started in the 1990s and then NSYNC came after that. And, of course, Christina Aguilera was a really popular pop singer in that day as well.

And then rap music was obviously big every decade. But this white boy with frosted hair came out. He was called the Real Slim Shady. Everybody listened to this fast rapper, the Real Slim Shady. He got real popular.

He was probably the most famous rapper during that time. If you remember... If you remember... In the sports world, Kobe and Shaq dominated the NBA. Brett Favre just wouldn't leave the NFL.

He just kept coming back, although he was probably touted the greatest quarterback of all times at that particular point in history. Michael Phelps kills records in the Olympics. He's just a phenomenon. Tiger Woods just keeps doing what Tiger Woods does. He just keeps winning golf tournament after golf tournament.

The Red Sox finally win a World Series after 86 years. That was a pretty big thing in 2004. But the one thing that probably captured our hearts more than anything was the death of Dale Earnhardt in the tragedy in 2001. The last lap, the last turn of the Daytona 500. His life was taken.

What a tragedy for the NASCAR world. And we'll never forget that moment. In politics, George W. Bush was president for most of the decade, but he would release his, relinquish his office to the first black president, which would be Barack Obama, which was a milestone in our country, electing in the first black president. But major events, as we saw in the video opening up, major events were a part of the 2000s.

In fact, I would say there was probably more fear, almost as much fear as we're experiencing now. It kind of relates to a lot of what we're going today with the start of the Y2K, natural disasters. We had a financial collapse in 2007. I remember people were losing their houses left and right because of the financial collapse. And, of course, terrorist attack our homeland with 9-11.

It changed everything. It was a strange new world. When we came out of that event, when we faced some of the challenges coming into 2000s, everybody was like, what in the world? It was definitely a strange new world. And it's rare in human history that a single decade truly brings foundational changes.

Because during the 2000s, everything happened in warp speed. Technology blew up in warp speed. Strange, most people didn't even see it coming. It just happened overnight. One day we have the computer.

The next time we have so much information at our fingertips. It was an information explosion that happened in the 2000s with social media and the Internet just blooming and blossoming. And everybody had a website by the end of the decade. And someone quoted in an article, they called it the wormhole decade, a period when the traditional rules of economic might, social status, and political hierarchy were completely rewritten. Completely rewritten.

For instance, nobody had heard of a president being elected by mostly through electronic social media means as Barack Obama. That was unheard of in its time. Every decade has a story. Every decade has its period. And when we look at the decades, we learn from the decades.

We don't want to repeat. Unfortunately, a lot of times we do repeat the decades. But if we are smart, if we are wise, we'll look at each decade. In every period we see joys. Every decade we see crisis.

But the truth always stands the test of time. Because there's questions. As Pontius Pilate stood before Jesus and said, what is truth? Every decade demands that statement. What is truth?

They're asking the question, what is truth? We all want to know the truth. And the truth was standing right before him. God stands strong in every season, in every decade. God's ways stand like a mountain sea, like a cliff on the side of a sea.

And when it crashes upon that cliff, it's always there. It always stays the same. God is always the same. Yesterday, today, and forever. His truth always works.

Even when the world says it doesn't work, it always works. That's why the Lord says this, I do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. So that you are not destroyed, I will remain the same yesterday, today, and forever. And I will always be a guiding light.

I will always have what you need in every decade and every time. In fact, he says this, this is what the Lord says, stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths. How many of you would agree that we are at crossroads right now? We've got different directions.

We've got to decide where to go. It's an ancient path. It's always been there. He's always made it available to us. It might seem dated.

It might seem like a different... No matter what the decade demands or what it says, the ancient paths, the old paths, are always the paths to look towards. God's ways are always right. So ask for the ancient paths. Ask where the good way is and walk in it.

And you will what? Find rest for your souls. Everyone is looking for rest in their souls. That's why they're asking the questions. What are the questions there?

When we look at each decade, we come up with some central themes. Again, every week, I could come up with 20 themes of a decade. It's just easy to look at different concepts of decades. But I try to pull out the best overarching themes of that decade. And we're going to look at that.

And we're going to make that practical for us by looking at each thing. So the dilemmas of that decade. Knowledge is king. Knowledge is God. The information age, it advanced overnight.

It just happened so quickly. And everyone is an expert. Every one of them. Every one of them. Every one of them.

Every one of them. Everyone has everything at their fingertips. If somebody calls out something or says something or says something happened, we can always, oh, well, I'll just pull it up on my phone. I'll pull it up on the internet. I'll figure it out on my own.

I'll know truth because truth was determined by knowledge. And knowledge is determined by what I get off the internet or what information is available to me, whether it was academic or not. It's just available and I can figure it out. And it became the God. In fact, it said this, an article said this I read the other day.

A 16-year-old in Mumbai now has as much data and network access at her fingertips. It is akin to what a Fortune 100 CEO had in the 70s and 80s. That's how much information. Just a 16-year-old girl can have as much information as somebody in the 80s that was a CEO of a company. And everything's out there.

You can see everything. Nobody is private anymore. You can have all of your information out there and everybody's looking and everybody. There's no privacy. See it all.

And the research is vague. Y'all saw it in COVID-19. There was so many conspiracy theories out there. You didn't even know what to do or what to believe. Everybody had an opinion.

You had an opinion. I had an opinion. And we could put it out there and we could be king. Because we know. And we rule because we have all the information there.

Information was our God. It was our king. I remember going to Snopes. You know, you go to Snopes and figure out the truth, whether somebody did that. But then I learned that Snopes was biased as well.

I mean, everybody's biased. And we think internet rules and information rules and all the things that we have. We have software and everything available to us at our fingertips. So the more I know, the more I can be God. And the more I don't need God.

In fact, information started filling the gap between God and man. It was making it impossible for man to connect to something other than what they had in front of them. It was God. It was king. It ruled.

And it still rules today. Information rules. But the scripture says in 1 Corinthians, For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom. The foolishness of God, which is impossible because God's not foolish, just meaning that the smartest person, the smartest capability that we have in this world to produce information is foolishness to God. Because God is so much more wise.

And the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards and not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. You were nobody before you knew God.

Think about where you were. When you start thinking that you know everything, when you think you got it all figured out, when you start thinking that you don't need God, you need God, you need God. You need to go back to where you once were, that without God you would not have any. God gave us the ability for intelligence, and I'm not dogging intelligence, man. I love studying, I've got several degrees myself, and I encourage anybody to be academic in their knowledge and grow in their knowledge of things, but when we allow knowledge to be our God, when we say, I am so smart, I am so good, you know, it really keeps people from discovering who truly God is.

We take it on ourselves, and that's why James says, if any of you lack wisdom, where does that come from? If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. One of the biggest things I ask for when I pray, I don't start out, like, even here at the church, you know, I pray for souls to be saved, amen. I pray for us to have a building, amen. I pray for us to be financially sound, you know.

I pray for all of those things, you know, God, God bless us, bless us, but the first thing I always want to pray for is wisdom. When I started the church, the first thing I asked, well, God, just give me wisdom. I need wisdom, I want wisdom more than anything. How do I handle this? How do I do this?

Well, and James is saying, man, you got to ask God for wisdom. He'll give you wisdom. Don't go with the world's wisdom. Go with God's wisdom. He's got it available for you.

For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. We can have understanding, knowing who, fear, let me just, fear of the Lord, fear of the Lord. We don't have fear of the Lord, we have fear of knowledge. Why do I say that? Not fear as in, oh, I got to run, I got to get away.

We reverence knowledge. We bow down and worship knowledge. We've become a generation that worships knowledge, and we're all seeking truth, and we're all seeking something more than ourselves, but knowledge has become our God and our spiritual connection to something greater than ourselves. But we need fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

The second thing is, they had sensationalism, and we still experience this today, sensationalism over sincerity. Sensationalism. It's more about feelings than thinking and remembering something. That we got all this available to us. Somebody can put together this fantastic TikTok video, and everybody jumps on board to some kind of movement, or some kind of idea, or some kind of thought, or some kind of philosophy, or some kind of giving to a certain cause, or whatever, and it's short-lived.

Everybody's going crazy about it. I was just, just yesterday, I was hearing about how TikTok has influenced the younger generation between 18 and 34 with the pro-Palestinian anti-Semitism thing. It's like, it's out there, and there'll be Being manipulated and brainwashed through this, whatever side anybody's on, they're not getting truth because everything's sensationalized. It's put out there, it's polished and it's put in this nice package and everybody goes crazy over it and you're for that cause. But that cause is short-lived because it's just sensation, it's not sincerity.

It's just a fad. People just want to go with the fad, want to go with the latest thing. And it's not sincere, it's not really heartfelt and it's filled with hatred and about myself and about what I want to think and what I want to do and how I want people to look at me. I think about the Ice Bucket Challenge. Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge back in the, you know, a few years back?

Everybody was on board with that, man. You saw it all over the internet. Some of you participated in it. And we raised a lot of money, right? I mean, just people raised a lot of money for ALS.

It was just, it was so big and overnight it was gone. I would beg to ask the question, how many people are still supporting that cause today? Probably very few because it was sensationalized. And for a lot of people, they're, I'm going to give to this and I want people to know that I'm giving to this because it looks good for me. And don't get me wrong, please give to causes.

We need to give to causes. But if it's, if it's not sincere, you have to question why you're, why you're doing it. Philippians 2, 3 says, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. So you have to ask yourself that. Am I giving out of, when I'm putting something towards a cause, am I doing it because of myself?

I want people to look at me and say, wow, wow, their business does this. Or their church does this. Or, or my family does this. So that you can be on the altar of self. So that you can resurrect your own altar.

Are we doing that? Is it out of selfish ambition or vain conceit? Rather in humility, value others above yourself. Value others above yourself. Sincere heart.

Not looking at your own interests. It's not about me. I should be able to do this in private. Nobody even look at what I do. Because that's where it comes from.

From the heart. From something deeper. Something down in the bones. A sincerity that's there. Not just an outward, I'm just going to do this because people need to look at me.

Rather in humility, value others above yourself. Not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interest of others. And that's two areas. That's two areas. In relationships.

I read this article. It says this. People of all incomes, ages, and life experiences struggle daily with an overwhelming amount of information. We spend so much time on handheld devices that we have almost stopped living, in quotes, real. We stop living real lives.

Family members and work colleagues alike struggle to be present face to face as they are too. Their virtual relationships on email, Facebook, and Instagram. Even people waiting in line don't look at each other or out at the world anymore, only downward and at their screens. We're getting text neck. You know, there's actually text neck right now.

My chiropractor said there's text neck. He's adjusting people because they're looking at their phones too much. We look at our phones so much that we're having physical issues. I mean, that's a problem, guys. We're always looking down the screens.

And research shows us that we can't resist the addictive pull, yet we are not getting smarter, more fulfilled, or nourished as a result. Just more isolated, distracted, and discontent. That's how our relationships have become because we've allowed sensationalism and what captures us right away to command our relationships. That's why Proverbs 86-11 says, Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness. Give me an undivided heart.

Let my heart be about you. Let it be all consumed in you that I may fear your name. That I look at your name as a holy name, a righteous name, a powerful name. And I want to honor you over anybody or anything else in this world, Lord. I want to give you what I have.

My time, my treasure, my talent, my life, Lord. I want to give it to you. Not for anything else, but because of who you are. Because I fear your name. Instead of letting feelings decide our choices, as so many people do, they allow that.

If I feel this, it must be right. Instead, I trust the Lord with all my heart. Trust the Lord with all your heart. And lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways. What does it say?

Acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. That's what He wants. With all your heart, with everything that's in me. I don't want it just to be a church service on Sunday morning, Lord, and a little time set to the side for you. I want it to be every day of my life.

I want it to be a heart thing, God. So my relationships and my compassion, the compassion I have is only this deep. And relationships are only that deep because we allow sensationalism over sincerity. And thirdly, fear over faith. This is so relevant today, it's not even funny.

When I was preparing this message, I said, How is it so relevant to today that we enter into this decade with fear? And people right now are living in fear. We're at the beginning of a decade now, and there's a lot of fear. We've got Israel at war. We've got terrorism.

We've got all these things. And then it was Y2K. It was terrorism. It was Katrina. It was the Iraq War.

It was natural disasters. I was reading an article that was talking about the statistics of the natural disasters that were happening in the 2000s. Look at this. Earthquakes killed the most people over the period of 2000 to 2008. An average of 50,184...

Just in earthquakes. It says floods affected a large number of people, an average of 99 million people a year. South Asian tsunami in 2004, which affected seven countries, killed 226,408 people. Man, you would have thought it was the end times. We did think it was the end times.

The Lord's coming back. Y2K. All these things are happening. And we had this end time blitz of what's going to happen. Everybody was making predictions about end times.

And we're even doing that today, right? Now, I'm not negating that the Lord's, who knows that the Lord's, if the Lord's coming back tomorrow, if God's coming back, Jesus is coming back tomorrow. We believe that He's coming back. But look, look, Paul talked to the people in the New Testament about this. He talked to the church about this.

He said, He said, guys, why have you stopped working? Why have you stopped living? Why have you stopped? Because you think the Lord's coming back tomorrow. You need to live as if He's coming back a thousand years later.

So we live with anticipation that He's coming back. And praise God, I'm ready for Him to come back and make everything right. Amen. And I believe He's come back sooner than He ever is. Of course, logically, He is.

He's coming back sooner than He ever was. And it could be tomorrow. But I'm going to live as if He's not coming back in my lifetime. And we need not to separate from life and live in fear and let fear dominate our theology. Let fear dominate our lifestyles.

Do you remember 9-11? Everybody ran to the church. The churches were packed. And within a month, everybody was gone again. Short-lived.

Because people were driven by fear, not faith. Now, I'm not saying that fear isn't a component. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That's how we know who the Lord is. I'm not saying that the fear of the Lord isn't a part of the process of knowing Him and understanding that we're far from Him in our sin.

But if we're driven by fear, if our faith's driven by fear, it will not last. It has to be faith over fear. Not fear over faith. Fear shouldn't be driven. Faith shouldn't be driven by fear.

Verse 10, he says this, For God has not given us... Y'all know this one. If you've grown up in church in any amount of time, God has not given us a spirit of fear. But He's given us power. We have a God of power.

We have a God that's all-powerful. I don't have to be afraid of anything. A lot of people ask me, Why aren't you afraid of all this that's going on? Because I have a God of power. He controls it all.

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is always the same. And I will not be destroyed as a reason for that. He is all-powerful. And He is full of love.

I have a God who loves me and loves the world so much that I have nothing to worry about. So with that power and that love, I don't have to... Go crazy, because I can have a sound mind. So many people, Christians particularly, you guys are crazy right now. Oh my gosh, what's going on?

What's God up to? I mean, it's really, really difficult. I know. I know at times it's difficult, but the reason I can be at peace is because I don't live in a spirit of fear. I'm not going to live in a spirit of fear because I know who my God is.

He has power and love, and He gives me a sound mind. He has it all under control. So how do we apply these things? How do we answer these dilemmas as we're navigating this? First of all, we need to start with love.

Start with love. We don't start with knowledge. Because you can't argue anybody into heaven. You're not going to. I have fun going on YouTube and watching the debates.

I've been kind of into it lately with the apologist. Miranda's probably like, oh gosh, he's watching this. There's this one particular atheist I just like to watch because he's just, I like to see him get mad when, you know, trying to just see his attitude and stuff. And I watch different apologists, and I'm like, which one will handle him the best, you know? And I just love that.

But the reality is, by the end of the debate, there's no decisions that have been made differently than what they already know. You're not going to argue someone into heaven. They need something more. They need something more than just, you can give them all the tangible proof you want to, but they need something more. They need something intangible, and that's love.

They need love because it says mockers resent correction so they avoid the wise. See, you're not going to win an argument because even if you have the wisdom of God, they still won't listen because they avoid it. It says in Proverbs 9, if you are wise, your wisdom will reward you. Let your wisdom speak for itself. If you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.

And Paul says, you know, knowledge puffs up. It's like a blowfish. It just puffs you up, and you just look all full of you know what, you know? That's all you are. But love builds up.

That's the thing. Knowledge puffs up. And just give context. They were arguing and debating about whether we should eat meat, bless the idols or not. Well, you shouldn't, you know, the church is the biggest issue because we're arguing and debating among ourselves instead of focusing on the things that really matter, and that's called love, and that's people who are lost in this world.

And all we do is debate about how to do church, how to preach, what scripture says this and that, and how they interpret it based on the way they were raised. We're just way off a path, guys. Instead of focusing, instead of coming together as the kingdom of God, bonding together on the essentials of the truth of the faith, and walking out those truths, and believing God to do miracles of salvation. But we don't do that, so we puff up instead of build up. And they were arguing about meat, bless the idols.

And Paul's like, You know, love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know, meaning when we think we're smart, we're really not that smart, but the man who loves God is known by God. So then, and then he goes on and says, so then, eating food and sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing at all in this world, and there is only one. There is only one God. There is a God.

When I walk into that place, I'm not going in the back of the kitchen when I go eat Thai food. Is this blessed idols? I'm not eating it if I'm blessed idols. You know, how does that make you look as a Christian, you know? You know, I just know that that idol, it's not even real, and my God is the true God.

And when I walk into that place, I know that God is in me, and God is in that place. And no idol and no demon in hell has anything to do with what I'm eating at that plate, all right? Okay? And I'm going to enjoy my Thai food in peace, all right? I'm not going to worry about whether they've got a Buddha in the back room.

Now, if they put it in front of me, that might be a different story, but I'm not going to worry about that. I'm going to eat my Thai food. Secondly, develop a sincere heart for others. Compassion isn't a feeling, okay? What are you talking about?

I feel compassion. It's deeper than that. For example, y'all have heard me teach this. Joy isn't a feeling. Joy is a state of mind.

Regardless of what I'm going through, regardless of the pain, and regardless of what's around me, I don't let that determine my joy. My mom always says, don't let them steal your joy. Don't let that thing steal your joy. Whenever I'm frustrated, I'm calling her for prayer. She says, don't let it steal your joy.

And you can't. Compassion is the same way. It's not just a feeling. It's something deeper than that. It's a state of mind that we are to choose compassion, not let feelings choose, and then choices.

We have choices first, and then feelings follow. We allow the choices that we make to determine the feelings we have. Because if we let our feelings just dictate everything we do, then what is truth? That's the point. What is truth?

The way I feel or what actually is? What actually is there? God's way, as I communicated at the beginning of this message, is always the right way. So I look to him first. As Christians, as believers, we look at his way first and determine and filter our feelings through those things.

We can start out with feelings, but we always filter them through foundational truth. The Bishop of Alexandria, Dionysus, said this. Here's a nice little picture of him. Isn't he pretty? I love that beard.

I wish I could grow one like that. I'm getting as gray as him, so maybe so. But he wrote this. He wrote some letters, and we still have those available to us today. While he was in Rome, they had a plague break out.

It was like a COVID-19 plague. And guess what the pagans were doing? They were... They were running. They were like, let's get out of here.

Let's go to Mexico and get away from this. That's actually a true story. A lot of people did that. Oh gosh, COVID-19, where can we go? Where can we get away?

There was a plague going on. People were dying. The pagans were fleeing for fear of their lives being taken, but the Christians remained and cared for the dying and the sick. They just stayed there. And this is what he said.

He wrote this. They exchanged their health and well-being so that they might care for those who were dying. So that they may both be sincerely. If we refresh others, we are also refreshed, as Scripture says. A sincere heart.

And during this time, Christianity exploded, not because of feelings, because they saw something substantive, something deeper than just a feeling. Because if my feelings dictated a pandemic, what would I do? I would be jumping in the boat with the pagans and going across the water. That's what we would do. But the Christians were different.

And it reminds me of the first century church. In Acts 2, when they ate together and no one was without and God added to their number daily. Imagine a church. I'm telling you guys, imagine a church that was not about themselves, was not about fleeing and coming together and taking care of the poor and the needy and adding to the number. Remember, because we really had a sincere heart for people.

It wasn't just a fancy look. It just wasn't a nice polished service on Sunday morning. It's just more than that. Our hearts should be sincere. I feel like I'm preaching to myself.

Good Lord. Maybe y'all are just deep. Y'all are just deep, right? Y'all are getting it into you. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, wow. This is good. This is good. Yeah, I'm beating myself up here, okay? All right?

For example, let me just share Horatio. Most of you know Horatio. He's an African-American gentleman that's, he's homeless. And we've pretty much taken him in, taken care of him, fed him. We allowed him to come to every guest's lunch because he needs food.

And we've really taken care of him. Well, he just learned that he had diabetes. And he's been in the hospital for two weeks. And we've been in and out of the hospital. And we have two individuals in this church.

Actually, three individuals in this church who has sat with Horatio 24-7. They've been there. My goodness. Now, Horatio goes to a lot of churches. He bounces around because he loves Jesus and he's just hitting church after church after church.

But I'll tell you what, I am so proud of our church. I am so proud that that's a church that I want to be a part of. Amen? One that looks after those in need. Like no other church has come.

Now, I'm not bashing any other church. Maybe they don't know or whatever. But he went to a lot of churches and none of them have come to the needs of him like we have. That's a church that will grow. That's a church that people will see.

And if all of us come together and we're like that, we care and we have a deep concern, our hearts break for what God, breaks God's heart. If we have that deepness, if we have that concern, there's no telling what God will do. There's no telling what God will do. First Peter says, each of you should, I gotta go, I know that, I've been talking, rambling on. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms.

If anyone speaks, they should do it as one who speaks the very word of God. Let me just stop right there. We all have gifts, and God's given me the gift of gab, but I'm, thank you for taking a clap. But I will say this, I take it so seriously, guys. I don't get up here on stage without being prepared and prayed up, because I know I have God's word in my mouth.

And I need the Spirit of the Lord to speak to the church, not Leon Dunning speak to the church. So I fear God when I come up here on stage. I fear God when I'm preparing my messages. I'm fearing God. Some people say, you know, why is Pastor not here at 6 o'clock in the morning, you know, setting up with everybody?

Because I'm up at 6 o'clock in the morning praying for you guys. I'm praying for this church. I'm just asking the Spirit of God to be with us before I even enter the house that day. So I'm with you. I'm doing this.

I'm doing my job, because I believe that God has given me a word to speak to the church. God has given me a word to speak to Virginia Beach. And I'm desperate to get that word out to people around us. And it says, if anybody, if anybody, if they should do so as one who speaks the very word of God, they should do that. I'm speaking the very word of God.

If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides. So that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. Amen. Jesus Christ, you are Lord, you are King. To Him be the glory and the power forever and ever.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Man, I love that last piece of it. Whether it was inserted or not, it rings true.

A lot of people argue that part was inserted. It doesn't matter. It lines up with the rest of Scripture. I'm preaching it to Him. Be the glory and the power forever and ever.

Amen. Ever, ever, ever. Amen. And number three, trust God in all seasons. Trust God in all seasons, guys.

God is at work even in the bad seasons. God's always working. And God's always moving. And it may not feel good. It may not look good.

It just may not be good. But God is always good. God is always good. And I can trust Him. So, because perfect love casts out.

Perfect love casts out. The truth is, the world does not know how to handle the difficulties of life, so they go other directions that bring them further into the abyss of shame and hurt and darkness, but we have a God who loves us. So pure in love, Isaiah says it like this, the prophet said thousands of years ago, he said, so do not fear, for I am with you. Can you hear that, guys? I'm losing my voice here today, because I'm kind of loud.

So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed. Somebody needs to hear that today. Do not fear. Somebody out there that's watching today.

Do not fear. Do not be dismayed. I will strengthen you. I am here. I am very present.

Don't get caught up in the whirlwind of everything that's going on. Don't get caught up in the wars that are going on around you and make you drift away from what truly is truth. What really is true. What foundational. I will strengthen you.

I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. That right hand is that firm hand. The right hand of the Father. He puts you in a special place.

He holds you there. It is true. For I am the Lord, says Isaiah. For God, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear. I will help you.

I will help you. Do you believe that? I will help you. I will help you. Where can we go?

What can we do? If we run to everything else, there's just no, there's no hope there. An atheist will say, I just run to myself. You can't do that. When I look at myself, the deepest parts of myself, I realize that I can't do that.

I can't run to myself. I can't run to society. It seems like society doesn't have it figured out. I can't run to that. It's sensationalized.

It's full of fear. But there is something that we can go to. And there's something about being a believer that's different. There's something about being a Christ follower that makes us well. People ask me all the time, how are you not worried about what's going on?

I say, well, I'm concerned, but I'm not worried. I'm not worried because I can't explain it. It can only be experienced. That's what I tell people. I can't explain to you something intangible that's happened in my life.

I can't explain to you why I feel this peace. There's times where chaos is taking place and there's something inside of me as the world's falling apart and as people are falling apart around me or somebody says something or doesn't. Something happens in front of me. There's something inside of me that just settles down. It's this piece that just says, I got this, Leon.

It's okay. And it can't be explained. It can only be experienced. I can't explain. Those words ring true from decade to decade until today.

It may be a strange, strange new world. And it may get stranger. I believe that we're in the strangest of times, right? Holy cow, it's just that I have a faith. Because this is what my Jesus says.

And I want to challenge anybody here today. If you have not made Jesus Lord of your life, here he is knocking at the door. He says, come to me all who are weary and burdened. If you're weary and burdened today, he has rest for you. He says, I will give you rest and take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

For I am gentle and humble at heart. When the world is chaotic. When your life is chaotic. When finances aren't where they need to be. When your child is sick.

When your grandmother is at her deathbed. When your father or mother, they're getting ready to divorce or having issues. What can you do? You can hold on to the one thing. He says, I am gentle and humble at heart.

And you will find rest for your soul. You will find rest for your soul. And somebody here today needs rest for their soul. For his yoke is easy and his burden is light. He will take the burden off of you.

I believe it. He's done it. He's done it for me. And I know he'll do it for you. Will you consider Jesus today?

Will you consider right here, right now to make that decision that Jesus is the one? If you've walked away from God and you're ready to fully, I'm just going to use this statement, fully surrender. Fully surrender. Because some of you, you've made a commitment, but you haven't fully surrendered. Let me just say that.

Will you fully surrender to God today? Just make him Lord. Not just Sunday mornings for a little while. And not just maybe my Wednesday Bible study for a little while. But every day, every minute, every hour will you make him Lord of your life.

Because his yoke is easy, his burden is for your soul. Father, I pray over this congregation. I pray over the people today. My heart is so heavy, God. For those who are experiencing very troubling times, we've got people here, Lord, that are experiencing...

Financial difficulties, they don't know when their next meal's coming in, living on credit card debt. We got others that are wondering how they're going to pay their house, their mortgage. We got others that are dealing with sickness in their family, sickness in their selves. I'm asking Holy Spirit to fill to them your heart. Show yourself strong, Lord, this morning.

I ask for a wind of the Holy Spirit to blow over them, right? That you would stir people to yourselves. And we're asking God, if there is one that does not know you today, or has not completely committed to you, and needs to rededicate their lives to you, that they would right now confess, I turn from my ways, I turn from my own way, I turn from the sin of the world, I turn from my own sin, I turn from my own decisions, I turn from me being the king of my world, to you being the king over all. Every day. I give my life to you, Jesus.

The king of my heart. The king of my life. We ask that. The king of my soul. Thank you.