5 Top Tips for Holiday Parties During COVID-19

(Sunday message for House Church and individual use: preached 11/15 – 11/21/2020)

According to the official website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (more commonly known as the CDC),

“There are several factors that contribute to the risk of getting infected or infecting others with the virus that causes COVID-19 at a holiday celebration.” (“Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-/19): YOUR HEALTH Holiday Celebrations.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 19 Oct. 2020, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays.html. Accessed 30 Oct. 2020.)

However, in words that now apply directly to this current time that we are living in, right now, the Bible says,

“Moreover, you shall not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink.’ For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am going to eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.” (Jeremiah 16:8-9)

Therefore, based on an even higher authority than the CDC, and yet using the CDC’s headings as a guide, we here at this ministry for the Lord Jesus Christ, being true to our profession of declaring God’s truth, and in seeking to care for your mortal body so that you might gain an extended opportunity to “prepare to meet thy God” (Amos 4:12), that you might prepare both your immortal soul and your body, we dare to provide you with the following.

5 Top Tips for Holiday Parties During COVID-19

Tip #1: You should properly respond to the rising community levels of COVID-19 during the world’s traditional “holidays.”– As recorded in the Bible, in the Book of Exodus (7:14-12:36), fatalities occurring in an area wide pandemic are frighteningly increased when the response of the people inflicted by the pandemic, inflicted by the plague, do not mourn over their offences against God, do not, with a sincere heart, turn away from their own personal sins and the sins of the society, the community around them; and in turning away from that which offends God, turn back to the only way, the only path to God, which is directly and only through his crucified son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, through Jesus, alone.
Tip #2: You should properly locate both yourself and your family for planned traditional gatherings, as indicated in the best historical records. – History is clear on where you should gather to celebrate the “Holidays” in the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of a plague.

- One of the greatest historical examples is found in what occurred during one of key plagues in early Egypt.
  - “He that feared the word of the Lord … made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses.” (Exodus 9:20)
  - “He that regarded not the word of the Lord left his [people] … in the field.” (Exodus 9:21)
- What happened to those who “regarded not the word of the Lord?”
  - They died. They were struck down dead while they were where they were told not to be; not back safely inside of their own home, but rather foolishly and in direct disregard and rebellion against God, outside of the stay-at-home warning given through the “word of the Lord.” (Exodus 9:25, ESV)
- So what should you do?
  - Well, it seems that, now more than ever, we should follow the good guideline given by Joshua, Moses successor, as recorded in Joshua 24:15.
    - “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)
  - However, considering our current condition, with this current virus taking the lives of so many of our citizens daily, it seems that there are two words that should be tacked on for us at the end of Joshua’s famous words, causing them to then say this.
    - “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord [at home]! (Joshua 24:15, with addition)

Tip #3: You should coordinate any and all attempted traveling plans in accordance with at least as much respect for the plague as the national agencies of the world. – Consider the article that was printed in Forbes that stated, “With [the] coronavirus continuing to spread rapidly in the United States, at least 33 countries have barred entry to American travelers. [And now] the European Union’s 27 countries extended their ban on U.S. travelers.” (Sternlicht, Alexandra. “These 33 Countries Have Banned U.S. Travelers.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 20 July 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/alexandrasternlicht/2020/07/20/these-33-countries-have-banned-us-travelers/?sh=74f20d617ea9.)

Even our own government here in the United States likewise banned much (although not all) international travel, with movement between the states greatly discouraged. Why? The answer is obvious. Plague spreads. Its death and disease quickly reaches unto and into those who are not affected, once they are visited by those who are.

So where is the best place for a guest at your upcoming holiday celebration to be from during this quickly spreading “virus?” Nowhere. That is if we take a hint from the nations of the world, and even from our own; or, even more important, if we actually, reverently, fearfully stop to regard God.

Tip #4: It is especially important that the attendees at your Holiday Dinner and/or Party be strictly limited only to those same members of your household with whom you have continued in quarantine for these past several months. – You see, the sad truth, which must be realized, is that the vast majority of our populace will refuse to fear God, and refuse to regard their own sin and the sins of the society in which they live. They will therefore quickly revert to living their lives without eternal caution and care – as they have always done. They will then (and already are) increasingly go from place to place without a mask; work out at the gym; eat at restaurants, etc., etc., etc. with less and less care for the lives of others; or for the rapidly increasing approach of their own end: the beginning of their life (whether prepared for or not) in eternity.
Tip #5: You should step out of the extremely crowded path of the foolish who will, in spite of this and many other given warnings, still indulge in venturing outside of the quarantine of their own homes and into the midst of unadvised gatherings throughout our nation and the world. – It is written, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18) Is that statement still true? Well lets see. Alcohol sales are at an all time high. The idea of repentance is discarded and, if even considered, disdained. Christians are pictured as the enemy of society. Satan has his own TV show. The unrepentant world, and especially those living here in the United States are set, right now, set in their hearts to some way – in fact, anyway possible, and with as little pause to pray as possible… “party like it’s 2020!” And yet the Bible is still true; and the Bible stills says,

“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” (Psalm 9:17)

Tip #6: You should step into the obvious reality right in front of you; that beam of light in the darkness, that single ray of truth which, if looked upon, if beheld, if truly examined, will reveal that this present tribulation may, if you let it, be used to deliver you from others. Will you? Will you allow what is occurring all around you, and mathematically multiplying day by day to awaken you to our one true hope, your one true way of escape? Please, on behalf of the grace still yet held out to you we ask, will you now allow yourself to be awakened? After all, how hard is it to understand what Jesus meant when he said,

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:” (Matthew 7:13)

Tip #7: You should pray, beg, demand from God (whether it take minutes or months, days or weeks) that he make clear to you your need and then standing, lying, walking or upon your knees at last reveal to you and let you see yourself a sinner and Jesus, not as something else that you may have minimized him to be, but rather to see you as the great “chief of sinners” and that your whole being will then encompass that great truth declared by the “angel of the Lord” before the birth of our Lord when he so clearly declared,

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

Conclusion

To conclude, let us allow the Lord Jesus to finish a statement that we earlier quoted (above). Hear him as he went on to declare this one and only way of escape.

“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:14)

OUTLINE:

5 Top Tips for Holiday Parties During COVID-19

(A Message to the Multitudes)

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:” (Matthew 7:13)

Tip #1: You should properly respond to the rising community levels of COVID-19 during the world’s traditional “holidays.”
Tip #2: You should properly locate both yourself and your family for planned traditional gatherings, as indicated in the best historical records.
Tip #3: You should coordinate any and all attempted traveling plans in accordance with at least as much respect for the plague as the national agencies of the world.
Tip #4: It is especially important that the attendees at your Holiday Dinner and/or Party be strictly limited only to those same members of your household with whom you have continued in quarantine for these past several months.
Tip #5: You should step out of the extremely crowded path of the foolish who will, in spite of this and many other given warnings, still indulge in venturing outside of the quarantine of their own homes and into the midst of unadvised gatherings throughout our nation and the world.
Tip #6: You should step into the obvious reality right in front of you; that beam of light in the darkness, that single ray of truth which, if looked upon, if beheld, if truly examined, will reveal that this present tribulation may, if you let it, be used to deliver you from others.
Tip #7: You should pray, beg, demand from God (whether it take minutes or months, days or weeks) that he make clear to you your need and then standing, lying, walking or upon your knees at last reveal to you and let you see yourself a sinner and Jesus, not as something else that you may have minimized him to be, but rather to see you as the great “chief of sinners” and that your whole being will then encompass that great truth declared by the “angel of the Lord” before the birth of our Lord when he so clearly declared,
- “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:14)

WORSHIP:

Intro:

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Opening:

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Message:

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