PANDEMIC Preaching @ COSTCO – preached from 3 sides – during the lockdown

Preaching during the Coronavirus lockdown. I gave two very brief sermonettes on their property. But once I was respectfully escorted off, I preached from the sidewalk at full volume. Interestingly, several in the parking lot told me they wanted to hear more. The harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few.  

The Lord’s people must fear God, not a virus. Looking at church history, Harry Reeder III said this of John Calvin during an even more deadly plague in his time. He didn’t just “stay home,” or close church, or stop demonstrating his faith as a Christian. 

“During the first outbreak, in 1542, Calvin personally led visitations into plague-infected homes. Knowing that this effort likely carried a death sentence, the city fathers intervened to stop him because of their conviction that his leadership was indispensable. The pastors continued this heroic effort under Calvin’s guidance, and they recounted the joy of multiple conversions. Many pastors lost their lives in this cause. Unknown to many, Calvin privately continued his own pastoral care in Geneva and other cities where the plague raged. Calvin’s pastoral heart, already evidenced by the provision of hospitals for both citizens and immigrants, was further revealed as he collected the necessary resources to establish a separate hospital for plague victims. When believers died, he preached poignant funeral homilies with passion and personal concern.” *

* Harry L. Reeder III, ‘Calvin and the Plague,’ in John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, and Discipleship, ed. Burk Parsons (Lake Mary, Fla: Reformation Trust, 2008), pg. 65.
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