Home Fellowship Churches Response to COVID-19

The United States is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and despite “shelter in place” requirements, Born-Again Christian believers of Home Fellowship Churches continue to receive powerful and effective prayer, daily devotionals and inspiring God’s Words and virtual counselling services they have come to expect by faith and trust in God.

The health and safety of our families, relatives, loved ones and neighbors is, as ever, our priority in our prayers. As this situation unfolds, we are taking all necessary steps to protect families and relatives, and collecting true and good news from local, state and federal authorities especially from FoxNews to ensure the safety, dependability, spiritual services with encouragement and inspiration, and insights such as faith, hope, and agape love we share. Our hearts go out to those affected by the virus, and we are committed to accomplish our purpose, vision, and mission being part of spiritual, mental, emotional, relational response to it in the communities we love and serve. We will continue to communicate with all of our families, relatives, loved ones, friends, neighbors, church partners, veterans and their families in the American Legion Post 447 and District 10 about our response of good attitude and behavior, concerns, and prayer requests and as circumstances dictate in the coming weeks or months, hopefully, and God forbid.

Do not be afraid. Be smart and vigilant against this pandemic coronavirus. Have faith and trust God. We will continue to pray for all of you in your homes.

In the Bible, book of James 5:7-8 says, “Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. 8 You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.”

We as believers are to be patient even during injustice especially these hardships, suffering, grieving and mourning. We as Born-Again Christian believers need to endure, trust in God through our trials, and refuse to try to get even for wrongs committed against us (see also James 1:2, 12; Psalm 37). But patience does not mean inaction. There was worked to be done – serving God, caring for one another, and proclaiming the Good News. There is an end point, a time when patience will no longer be needed – our Lord Jesus Christ’s return. At that time, everything will be made right. The early church lived in constant expectation of Christ’s return, and so should we. Because we do not know when Christ will return to bring justice, anti-lynching, and remove oppression, we must wait with patience (see 2 Peter 3:8-10). As an example of patience, James talks about the farmer who must patiently wait for the precious harvest to ripen. Patience must be exercised and developed between the rains. Even nonfarmers have plenty of opportunities to develop patience. The waiting for the arrival of a baby, starting a new job, finishing school, waiting for a loved one’s visit, slowly improving health during a prolonged illness, Shelter-At-Home, sick of coronavirus, drug addictions, spousal and child abuse, all these situations try our patience. We will exercise patience as we concentrate on the result of our waiting. God’s way is seldom the quick way, but it is always the complete way.

There are three (3) truths to remember:

  1. Waiting reveals what we worship. When the Israelites’ plans were delayed, they pursued instant gratification because that’s what they valued. When we find ourselves dissatisfied with our situation (loneliness, emptiness, self-quarantine, sick, etc.) what do we turn to? Government officials, scientist, data medical models, etc.? What we focus on reveals what we value, and what we value determines what we worship.
  2. Waiting is never wasted. God wasn’t withholding His promise from the Israelites – He was preparing them for it. God’s timeline is different than ours, but our waiting might be preparing us for the plans and purposes God has for us.
  3. Waiting helps us focus on God’s faithfulness. God’s faithfulness hasn’t changed. The God who patiently protected and provided for the Israelites also conquered death so that we could experience eternal life.

If we find ourselves growing weary from waiting, look up and look back for learned lessons on what God’s done for us. This will help us hold onto hope.

Hoping in God is never wasted because the One and mighty God, our Lord Jesus Christ who conquered death is still in control, in the person of God – the Holy Spirit. The Holy spirit is always at work in our waiting.

Again, have faith and trust God. God bless you all!

 

Published by Elias A Busuego Jr PhD DTM

Elias A. Busuego, Jr., PhD, DTM is self-described as “proud of the only two women in my life – my wife and my daughter (with her husband and one grandson & one granddaughter). I am also proud of my three sons: John and his family (two sons & 1 daughter); Christopher and his family (with his wife and one grandson & one daughter); and Elias Jr. IV and his family (with his wife and one son & one daughter), who are all serving in the U.S. military.” The author states that he read the Bible back-to-back, and learned the history behind it, but did not understand its deeper spiritual perspective until he experienced of being Born-Again, born in spirit. Since he was Born-Again on March 17, 1972, he started understanding the Passage and/or Scripture on John 3:3-7 NLT. These are most of his favorite verses. In John 3:3-7 NLT says, “3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” 4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again? "Jesus replied, “I assure you; no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ In John 3:5 – This statement has perplexed and divided commentators for many centuries. Some traditions have taught that the water denotes physical birth (referring to the “water” of amniotic fluid or even semen) and Spirit to spiritual birth – in which case our Lord Jesus Christ would be saying that a person has to have two births: one physical and the second, spiritual. This view builds upon the preceding context when Nicodemus referred to physical birth. It also points to the parallel our Lord Jesus Christ makes in verse 6. According to this position, our Lord Jesus Christ would have been granting the Pharisee’s point in order to highlight the nature of the second birth as spiritual. Two strengths of this interpretation are that it avoids making the physical act of water baptism a necessity and that it avoids bringing almost a “third birth” idea into the discussion. If water doesn’t refer to natural birth, say its defenders, then our Lord Jesus Christ seems to be saying that a person must be born of their parents, born of water, and born of the Spirit. Other traditions have taught that the water refers to baptism and the Spirit to spiritual regeneration – thus, our Lord Jesus Christ would have been saying that a person must both be baptized and receive the Spirit in order to enter the Kingdom of God. This view is at times influenced by the belief that the sacrament of baptism is itself a requirement for salvation. A parallel view makes water refer to baptism but places the emphasis on teaching two steps of baptism; one by water, the other by the Spirit. For support, these views point to the larger context in John where John the Baptist and water baptism are mentioned just preceding the events in Cana and following this encounter with Nicodemus. They also rely on the tendency of previous generations of Christians to equate the mention of water with baptism. But in the first seven chapters of John, water appears in some way (naturally or symbolically) in each chapter. To associate water and baptism too closely makes baptism a higher priority than the Scriptures give it. Here, for instance, if our Lord Jesus Christ was speaking of two completely separate acts, two baptisms, it is odd that the rest of the discussion between our Lord Jesus Christ and Nicodemus never again refers to the subject but revolves entirely around the work of God’s Spirit. Still other traditions have taught that our Lord Jesus’ reference to water is not physical in either the sense of birth or baptism. The term water is simply another description of the Spirit – or the Spirit’s activity of cleansing and giving life (see John 7:37-39). In John 3:6 – Humans can produce only more human beings; this answers Nicodemus’s question in verse 4. Only God the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. At the same time God puts His Spirit into us, we are given a new regenerated human spirit. It is God’s Spirit, not our effort, that makes us children of God (John 1:12). Our Lord Jesus’ description corrects human hopes that we might somehow inherit goodness from parents or earn it by good behavior, church background, or correct associations. At some point we must be able to answer the question: Have I been born of the Spirit? In John 3:7 – Our Lord Jesus’ statement to Nicodemus that evening has been heralded to all the world ever since. Both Jew and Gentile have heard the divine mandate: You must be born again. Without the new birth, one cannot see or enter into the Kingdom of God. In those words, millions have heard our Lord Jesus Christ speaking directly to their hearts and our hearts. Behind our Lord Jesus’ challenge is His invitation to each of us –” You must be born again; allow me to do that for you.” Since he was born again on March 17, 1972, he started also understanding his other favorite Passage on Romans 12:2 NLT. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” When Elias offered his entire self to God, a change happened in his relation to the world. As one of Born-Again Christians, he believes we are called to a different lifestyle than what the world offers with its behavior and customs, which are usually selfish and often corrupting (Galatians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:14). He commented that Born-Again Christians are to live as citizens of a future world. There will be pressure to conform, to continue living according to the script written by the world, but Born-Again Christian believers are forbidden to give in to that pressure. But refusing to conform to this world’s values must go even deeper than the level of behavior and customs – it must go to the transforming of the way we think. In Elias testimonies as a Born-Again Christian believer, he emphasized that born-again is an experience and he experienced a complete transformation from the inside out. And the change must begin in the mind, where all thoughts and actions begin. Much of the work is done by God’s Spirit in us, and the tool most frequently used is God’s Word. As we memorize and meditate upon God’s Word, our way of thinking changes. Our minds become first informed, and then conformed to the pattern of God, the pattern for which we were originally designed. When we as Born-Again Christian believers have had our minds transformed and are becoming more like our Lord Jesus Christ, we will know what God wants and we will want to do it for it is good, pleasing to God, and perfect for us. It is from those gleanings that he was able to write this book.