It’s week two of livestream-only church. Pastor Josh opens with a confession: the praise band finished playing, sat down by the camera, and immediately started scrolling their phones — reading the live comments. Twenty-five seconds behind the stream, Josh was, in his words, “speaking from the future.” It was a bizarre, honest moment that set the tone for a message born out of a very real, very unusual season.
March 2020. COVID-19 had just reshaped daily life. Social distancing was new. Grocery store shelves were uncertain. The stock market was in freefall. And everyone — everywhere — was doing the same thing: calculating risk.
So Josh set aside the Philippians series and went topical. The question on the table: what is actually worth risking?
You Already Do Risk Assessment Every Day
Before getting to the spiritual dimension, Josh acknowledged the ordinary math we were all already doing. You open the fridge. The expiration date has passed. Do you cut off the moldy part and eat it, or throw the whole thing away? (Josh asked the congregation to comment “cut” or “chuck” — which tells you something about his pastoral style.)
The stock market drops 30%. Is now the time to invest, or to pull out? Someone offers you a high-risk investment opportunity. What’s the reward worth?
These are mundane examples, but they reveal something: we are always weighing risk against reward. And that calculation changes depending on what we think the payoff is.
The Two Options for Getting Right with God
Josh then posed the most important risk question of all. Every person on the planet will face it. And unlike everyday decisions, this one has a fixed outcome — 100% risk or 100% reward.
Genesis 1:1 sets the stage: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. There is a God. That fact doesn’t change based on opinion. And God, by nature, is completely holy — entirely without sin. That creates a problem. Romans 3:23: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Not almost all. Not most. All.
So how do we get right with a holy God?
Option 1: Earn it yourself. Try harder. Be good enough. Tip the scale in your favor. Joshua walked through why this fails completely. Galatians 2:16: A person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And the key word there is no one — repeated for emphasis. No one earns salvation through works. 100% risk. 100% failure. That’s not harsh; it’s just math. If any human work were required, no one would make it, because all have sinned.
Option 2: Trust someone else to do it for you. God loved us enough to not leave us in our sin. So He sent Jesus to die as the perfect sacrifice — paying the full penalty for every sin ever committed. Jesus didn’t just forgive sins; through His death and resurrection, He secured full justification. That means God doesn’t just wipe the slate clean — He credits Christ’s righteousness to everyone who trusts in Him.
It’s grace. And grace means you get something you absolutely do not deserve: perfect righteousness, eternal life, and the full love of God forever.
The Only Risk Is Not Believing
Here’s the stunning part of the message: the risk on God’s offer is zero. John 10:28: I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Not a single person — no circumstance, no trial, no pandemic, no death — can take you out of God’s love if you’ve placed your faith in Christ.
That’s the one scenario where risk and reward are both 100% — because the reward doesn’t depend on you. It depends on Jesus. And He cannot fail.
Why This Message Came When It Did
This sermon was recorded on March 30, 2020 — two weeks into nationwide lockdowns, one week after GBC’s first-ever livestream service. Josh acknowledged that the congregation was scattered across the country, logging in from California, Tennessee, Michigan, Washington, even South Dakota. He asked people to comment their favorite local restaurant, just to stay connected. It was a makeshift, imperfect, faithful effort to be the church when the building wasn’t an option.
And in that context, Josh posed the question that cuts through every crisis, every uncertainty, every season of life: What are you trusting in?
COVID-19 would end eventually. Economies would recover. Routines would resume. But the greatest risk humanity faces never goes away — and the only safe bet is the one God Himself made on your behalf.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”— Ephesians 2:8–9
So What?
Pastor Josh closed with a challenge. In a season when people were staying home, avoiding contact, and thinking seriously about life and death — now was the time to share the hope of the gospel. You can forward this sermon. You can invite someone to watch. You can have an honest conversation: If you died today, would you be ready?
That question doesn’t go away when the crisis fades. It just becomes easier to ignore.
If you’ve never trusted Christ alone for your salvation, you can do that right now. Confess to God that you know you’re a sinner, that you can’t earn His love — and put your full faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection as the payment for your sins. That’s it. That’s the gift. And you can trust it completely.
Scripture References
- Genesis 1:1
- Romans 3:23
- Galatians 2:15–16
- John 10:28
- John 14:6
- 1 Corinthians 15:1–4
- Ephesians 2:8–9