Welcome to the Bethel Church Sermon of the Week.

We hope you enjoy this message by Pastor Bill Johnson.

For more information about this podcast and other resources, visit bethel.com.

Several years ago, I was doing a study. I had noticed that there were awkward, awkward is probably the wrong word, unusual responses

to trial, famines, difficulties in the word.

And so I began to do a study, this is quite a few years ago now. And since this whole virus issue came up, these things

have come to mind. Because what I want for me and what I want for us is to learn how to respond

biblically to a crisis that comes up. What are the different ways that the people of God in history

have dealt with famines,

plagues, pestilence, all those things?

The number one response that we are to have, we find in the Second Chronicle 714,

if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray,

turn from their wicked ways, seek my face,

turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, heal their land.

Always, when there's difficulty that comes up, it gives us a reminder to refine our focus

and to make sure that we're standing on solid ground, that our attitudes, our behavior, our relationships,

all these things are really in divine order.

But the unusual approach to, in this case,

we're going to look at three famines in the Bible,

and I want you to see the unusual response

of different people of God throughout history.

So the first one is in Genesis 26.

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