At the Core: Biblical Convictions Dr. Steve Walker

Transcription

1 Series: At the Core January 18, 2015 At the Core: Biblical Convictions Dr. Steve Walker We want you to be encouraged. Wow! Where did all these people come from? Well, welcome to the 10:00 service, and the 11:30 service, apparently. I feel like we're going to be meeting in a phone booth in the next service, but I am glad you're here. If you came earlier than you usually come on Sundays, good for you. Welcome, to you. I do want you to be encouraged. That little video clip is really meant to remind you that there is a way to connect to your church, to feel like you actually belong, that you know some people, and that you can make a difference in your church. One of the major ways and strategies we have for that is through Life Groups. That's no surprise, if you've been around here for any amount of time. We want you to know it's possible to have your church be so much more meaningful than just the hour or so we get together on Sunday mornings. In fact, right out in the lobby today, you could get a head start on that. There are going to be a bunch of people out there at the Life Group display. You can start that conversation. Next week, we're going to talk about it a little bit more. Hopefully, over the next couple of weeks, you'll investigate that further. I'm just curious. How many Life Group leaders, in every age group level, do we have here in the room? Let me just see. Raise your hands just high enough for me to see them. Wow, that is so cool. Do you know what? We want to pray for you, our leaders in our church. You are doing an amazing ministry. Would all of you, all at once, just stand together? Life Group leaders, stand together. We want to pray for these folks. They are shepherding in the trenches of God's people here at the church, and I think it's appropriate that we take a moment and pray for your ministry. So let's bow our heads for them. Can we do that? Father in heaven, just like Paul prayed for the Colossians, we want to ask that you will fill these men and women with the knowledge of your will. God, we know it can only come from your Spirit of wisdom and understanding. We pray for them, God, that they would live and walk in a manner that is worthy of the Lord we have just worshiped, whom we love. Canyon Hills Community Church 1

2 I pray, God, that their highest achievement in life will be to please you. We ask, God, that you would empower and equip them to bear fruit in their groups. We pray, God, for the fruit of making more and better disciples of Jesus. Strengthen them with power, God. Strengthen them with endurance and patience. I pray, God, that their service will be a joy, not a burden. We pray this for all of them in the name of Jesus Christ, and everyone said, "Amen." Thanks, you guys, for letting us pray for you. Thank you for your ministry. I'm going to ask all of you, now, to open your Bibles to 1 Timothy, chapter 4. Today is part three of a little sermon emphasis on the church that we're calling At the Core. It's simply our effort to get all of us on the same page regarding who we are supposed to be inside the walls of this thing we call the church. In light of the relentless (or at least the ongoing) criticism our world lobs at the church, it is imperative that you and I know who we are, who we're supposed to be as a collection of people called out by God. In part one, just a couple of Sundays back, we talked about how, at the core of who we are, is a spiritual leadership: men and women who are called and qualified by God. Not by the world's standards, but by God's standards of leadership We looked at 1 Timothy, chapter 3, to see that. Last Sunday was part two. We said, at our core of who we are supposed to be, is a faithful membership, a living, breathing community of Christian people who belong to one another. We looked at Romans, chapter 12, and Hebrews, chapter 10, specifically. Today, we're going to broach the idea that at our core, we are a Christian people who actually believe something. At the core of who we are supposed to be, as a church, are biblical convictions. That is really, really important for us to grasp. We are actually supposed to believe some things that are true, and today I want us to start the process of understanding what this means. If your Bibles are at 1 Timothy, chapter 4, let's go ahead and stand for the reading of God's Word. We're going to pick it up in verse 6. The apostle Paul is writing to young Pastor Timothy. He's pastoring his first church. The instruction Paul gives to Timothy is very revealing and, I would even say to you, very needed in today's church, even 2,000 years after this encouragement was given by Paul to Timothy. Verse 6 of chapter 4: "If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." Verse 9: "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Canyon Hills Community Church 2

3 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers." God in heaven, I pray that you would prepare our hearts to understand this, to embrace it, and to love it. I pray, God, that at our core, we would be a people, your people, who believe your Word. God, take this time now this morning to just embed this in our hearts. God, I pray for all the other churches that will be opening their Bibles today. I pray that your Word would be boldly proclaimed in all grace and all truth. God, I just want to pray for our military today, especially all the military family who are related to us in this church. I pray, God, that you would bring them comfort, wherever they are in our world right now. I pray they would be comforted by your presence in your Word and other believers. I pray you would give them courage and wisdom to do their jobs. I pray, God, that ultimately, you would bring them all home safe. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and your Son, amen. Please be seated. I want you to just focus for a minute on the last verse in this passage, verse 16. According to Paul, we are to watch our lives closely. In other words, we're to make sure the way we're living matches up with what we say we're believing. That's what Paul is saying here. "Keep a close watch on yourself " Yet at the same time, in the same verse, he calls us to keep an equally close watch on our doctrine. "Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching," he says. All throughout this passage, you'll notice we are commanded to know right doctrine, to believe right doctrine, to teach right doctrine, to be trained by doctrine, and to keep a close watch and even excommunicate anyone who refuses to stop teaching false doctrine. You could find Paul's passion about false teaching in the church in chapter 1 of the same book, 1 Timothy. All throughout this particular passage, though, we must be a people who are committed to believe everything the Bible says as true. Here are some examples of some biblical convictions we must hold. The first one is the inerrancy of Scripture. Every book, every chapter, every sentence, and every word is true. It's the Word of God, inspired by his Holy Spirit. We believe in the sovereignty of God, that God is in control of all things, all the time. We have the conviction that the gospel and the deity of Jesus Christ are absolutely true. Salvation is only by God's grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone for God's glory alone. We have that conviction. We have the conviction of the Holy Trinity, that we worship one God in three. We have the conviction that marriage, according to God, is between a man and a woman, only. Canyon Hills Community Church 3

4 We have the conviction that God's ordained responsibility for the leadership of his church is given to men called pastors and elders. We hold to the conviction of the doctrine of church discipline, where God's people deal with their sin honestly and forthrightly. We hold to the conviction that there is a real heaven and a real hell, and real people go to both. For the church to be the church, we must be committed to the Bible. It has to be our only authority and our only motivation for faith and life. For the rest of our time, I want to take this opportunity to unpack one of our biblical convictions. I want us to deal with the conviction regarding the sanctity of human life. The timing of this is very intentional. Today is the National Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, and it's the anniversary, this week, of the historic Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion. That decision, in my opinion, anyway, is in the top two most polarizing decisions of our higher court, ever, in the history of our country, if you include with it the decision to make prayer in public schools illegal. Those two decisions by our courts have been two of the most polarizing and defining decisions in our country's history, but it's important to know that as a church (and as this church), we have been faithful as an advocate for the rights of the unborn. Over the years, many people in this church have volunteered and given to this heroic cause. In fact, in the lobby today, is our ministry called Care Net. That is our crisis pregnancy clinic we helped to establish in the city of Kenmore, 13 years ago. That ministry is still thriving and going, and that ministry is represented in our lobby today. If you have always had the passion or desire to want to somehow be involved in the sanctity of human life, we have some ways for you to get involved in that. Feel free to stop out there. Grab some brochures. Talk to somebody. We'd love for you to take that opportunity before you go, but we have a deep conviction, church, that life begins at conception, and we believe that is verifiable by the medical world, by the science world. It is verifiable by our legal system, and it is verifiable by just pure, simple logic. There are two reasons why we preachers would tend to shy away from talking about this subject (let me just include all of my friends who are pastors and preachers), why we are hesitant when this subject needs to come up. I think the first reason is it feels like we're preaching to the choir. Most likely, the majority of you have a conviction of pro-life, of the sanctity of human life. Maybe not all of you, but probably most of you. It would be our tendency to say, "Well, you already believe this anyway, so we just won't go there. It's a good reason to avoid it." Yet I think more importantly and more seriously as to why we would want to stay away from this subject is because it's just too painful. If the statistics are true, over 200 women in this church alone have been touched by this issue, this thing we call abortion. Some, even against every fiber of their own conscience, partook in this, because at the time, they felt like they had no other choice. Canyon Hills Community Church 4

5 I want to make a couple of promises to you really quickly. First of all, I'm not going to be graphic. There's no need to do that. Secondly, I'm not going to condemn, today, because most likely, if you have suffered through that choice, you've done a good enough job at that yourself. Except for clinging to God's grace and mercy, none of us have any real way of coping with our sin. Amen? We all cling to God's grace and mercy. Like many of you, I believe in the sanctity of life, but let me ask you Do you know why you believe that? My sense is that there may be a lot of you who aren't confident enough to support your convictions on this, and so, in light of what today is nationally, and what this week represents, I want to give you three very profound biblical convictions I want you to hold on to as to why, as children of God, we have no other choice but to be pro-life and to believe in the sanctity of human life. 1. We believe all life originates with God. Now that may not be a surprise to most of us today, but it has to start there. This is the starting point for everything we believe about our existence. From a Christian worldview, it has to be the deepest conviction that everyone's life begins in the heart of God. We have to believe that. All human rights have their beginning in this one truth, that all life originates with God. I want you to hear me say the fact is evolution has no say in the human rights conversation none. They have no integrity to be involved in that conversation. If what you believe, that every human life is an accident and a chance and that it really has to come down to the survival of the fittest, then you, in my strong opinion (I'll be glad to share that with you on this issue), have no say in the conversation of human rights. Typically, those who hold tightly to that conviction, that we are biological accidents, usually do not speak very loudly for the rights of humans. Let me give you some statements that will support this conviction that all life originates with God. A. God created mankind with a divine stamp. At the end of the creation story, we see God doing his most amazing work, the most amazing work of all. It's actually found in Genesis, chapter 1, verse 27. I want you to turn there in your Bibles with me. Now you're not going to be surprised by this verse, but I want you to use it as a formation of your convictions. Genesis, chapter 1, verse 27, says, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Now if that verse isn't underlined in your Bible, do that right now, because you need to know that is a conviction-forming truth in your Bible. God put a piece of himself in all of us, and no other part of creation was given any part of his image just you and I. That means our capacity to love, reason, grieve, be angry, and be compassionate all comes as a reflection of his image. That's why, I think, the psalmist wrote emphatically, in Psalm 100, verse 3, "Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture." I love that conviction. It's the same in Psalm 8, verse 5, where the psalmist writes, "You made us only a little lower than the angels and crowned us with glory and honor." Canyon Hills Community Church 5

6 What is that glory and honor with which God crowns all of us? It's his image. When he looks at you, he sees a little bit of himself. Think of this. The second after you come out, the second after you are born into this world, God looks down from heaven and he looks at you and he says, "That's my boy. That's my girl, right there." I know that's what God says. He just looks at you because he has stamped you with his image. Now the implication of this is that we are different than the animals. We are not related to the monkey. We are related to our Creator. That is the implication of our conviction. We are not some advanced biophysical evolutionary accident, no matter what our middle school textbooks or college professors told us. We are stamped by God. B. God divinely forms us in the womb. The womb is not a cold, random holding tank for a fetus or a tissue. It is God's workshop. The womb of the mother is God's canvas. I'm not trying to be poetic with you here; I just want to show you where God tells us that in the Bible. You know where it is. It's in Psalm 139. This is one of the more important chapters in all of Scripture, both New Testament and Old Testament. Let's pick it up in verse 13. The psalmist writes, "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. Verse 15: My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you." For nine months, God is creating his priceless masterpiece in the womb, shaping us into exactly what he desires us to be. David calls it being " fearfully and wonderfully made." God looks into the womb and he sees the beauty and value of every person. In fact, before we are born, David writes that his thoughts of us are numerous. They are infinite. Before we were even born, in eternity past, God started thinking about you and me, and David is blown away by that. The implication of this is that no matter what the circumstances are surrounding your conception They could have been irresponsible. They could have been unloving. They could have even been criminal. No matter what the circumstances were involved in your being conceived, we do know your body, mind, heart, and soul were ultimately the result of a God who perfectly and personally knit you together. You need to remember that. I hope there are some of you today who needed to be reminded of that. To God, you are priceless. C. God creates us with absolute uniqueness. This may be my favorite part of this conviction. We find it from Isaiah, the prophet. He writes, and reminds us this morning, in chapter 64, verse 8, "But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand." I love that. Is that underlined in your Bible? Underline it. Put a star by Canyon Hills Community Church 6

7 it. Put the word wow next to it. Put big arrows pointing to that. That is a conviction-forming verse as to your and my existence. Have you ever been to a pottery store or taken a pottery class? I've never taken a class, but I've been in pottery stores before. I love stopping in those. I don't drive to a pottery store, but if they're in the way, I will always go in one. I don't get up one day and go, "I just need to go to a pottery store," but when there is one around, I will always go in, because the individuality of pottery is fascinating to me. The colors, shapes, and sizes are amazingly unique. The prophet, here, is saying we are God's pottery, uniquely shaped by him. There are no two exactly alike. He throws away your mold. That's what the prophet is telling us here. He creates us with absolute uniqueness. Now before I go on, I feel like I do need to stop right here and deal with the question What about babies born with physical deformities? How do we put this conviction, that all life begins with God and that he forms us in the womb? How do we reconcile that with the reality that some are born with serious handicaps at all levels? We know sometimes that could be the result or consequence of sin, maybe from alcohol or other drugs that bring harm, but not always. Do you remember John, chapter 9, and the man who was born blind? The disciples came up to Jesus with the blind guy and they said, "Jesus, what happened to this guy? Did he sin, or did his parents sin?" They want an explanation. If God is good and he is powerful and he forms in the womb, then how do we deal with this on a spiritual, religious level? It's a good question. Do you remember Jesus' answer? It says, in John 9, that he said, "Neither. It happened that the work of God might be displayed in his life." You see, when we see disability, we see it as a physiological failure, but God sees it as something completely different. I love how Chuck Swindoll, the great author and preacher in Texas, right now, commented on this. I think it will be helpful. He said something like, "Disabilities are often the perfect soil in which God's seeds of glory grow." That's powerful, and that is perfectly consistent with how God responded to Moses in Exodus. Do you remember Moses, in Exodus? He was kind of complaining and worrying about his disability. He had some kind of a speech impediment. He may have just had an intense fear of public speaking. God had asked him to do something and Moses came back to him two or three times and said, "God, I can't do this. I can't talk well enough. I'm not a good enough speaker. I'll panic. I'll freak out." We don't know exactly what it was, but it was something so serious, Moses was willing to come back to God and say, "I can't do what you're asking me to do." God's response is very amazing. It says, in Exodus 4, "Then the Lord said to him, 'Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.'" The implication of that is that God makes no mistakes. Do you know why you believe you are pro-life? It's because of that truth. God makes no mistakes. Canyon Hills Community Church 7

8 I love Helen Keller. Everything I've read and watched about her blows me away. I found this quote recently, that I have to share with you. She was blind and deaf since 19 months old, and she wrote this. "I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times, but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers." "When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us." "I thank God for my handicaps, for through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God." What amazing statements which apply to all of life's challenges. That sentence right in the middle, "When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us " Maybe there are some of you this morning who need to hear that. It has been my experience that those with disabilities often have a capacity for love, compassion, and understanding that the rest of us don't have. Just as a word of encouragement to you parents who have or had children with special needs, I want you to hear that we love you and honor you, and God honors you, because he makes no mistakes. The application of this conviction is that as Christians, we have no choice but to affirm the sanctity of human life and to place our faith in the fact that God is the originator of life, and that every human being is a reflection of him. Therefore, we can say abortion is a capital offense against God's creation. 2. We believe our time is determined by God. In other words, it's our conviction that ultimately, it's not the parents who decide when a child is born; it is God. It sounds kind of funny, I confess. When you think about all the family planning that goes into a couple's thoughts in relationship to when they're going to start having kids, or how many they're going to have, or what gender they're going to have, it all sounds funny in light of that, but in the end, you and I must believe God's sovereign will is the final determining factor. God must be having a great time with the Duggars. I don't know who these people are, and I've never watched the show, but I see the headlines often. I guess they have 19 children now, and I think God must just be belly-laughing up in heaven. They're ready. They're prepared. That woman must be just a machine, pumping out these children, but she seems to accept it with joy, with everything I've read. Here's how we can know our time is determined by God. A. We are purposely placed in history by God. Not only does God create us, but he places us in a time and a place that is according to his plan for us, and you need to know this is in your Bible, in Acts, chapter 17. Verse 26 is a powerful verse. Underline it if it's not already underlined. It says, "And he made from one man [Adam] every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth " Okay, we all get that, but look at the next part of the sentence. " having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place " Canyon Hills Community Church 8

9 Scripture tells us God created all of us from one man, Adam, but it also goes on to say he determined where and when we would live. I want to say to you that I am so glad God did not determine that I live before cars and indoor plumbing. I am just so thankful for that. I hate to be cold. I hate it, and the only thing I hate more than that is riding horses, so I'm glad I am living right now. Can any of you say amen to that? Do we have any other wimps like me in the room? I am so happy God put me here and now. He placed us in his history. B. Our days are specifically numbered by God. In Job, chapter 14, speaking of God's sovereignty in when and where we live, Job acknowledges, "Since our days are determined and the number of our months is with God, he has appointed our limits that we cannot pass." In other words, our arrival and our departure times are firmly established by God. You did not get into this world one minute early, and you will not leave one minute late. That's why the psalmist wrote, in Psalm 90, "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." It's because they are specifically numbered. The application, Christians, is that we have no choice but to affirm the sanctity of human life, that that must be our conviction, because our lives are not only formed by God in the womb, but the exact time and place is God's sovereign prerogative. Abortion takes God's birth announcement and deletes it. 3. We believe every life has the potential to bring glory to God. This may be the most important of all. Every person is a potential child of God with the power to spread God's fame throughout the earth. Only God holds the sovereign power to determine how to bring glory to himself through every life, and he does not allow us and give us the right to squander his glory. Let me give you some ways in which your life and my life and everyone's life has the potential of spreading God's fame and glory throughout the earth in your lifetime. A. Our repentance and our salvation. In Psalm 96, it says, " tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations " His salvation and his glory go together, and when we are saved, when we repent and turn to him for forgiveness, God is glorified. His glory increases through our worship. In Psalm 29, it says, "Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name " How do we do that? He says, " worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness." Ascribe him glory; worship him. They go together. B. Our thankfulness and gratitude. Psalm 86, verse 12, says, "I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever." Giving thanks and God's glory spreading throughout the earth go together. C. Our prayers. Jesus himself said, in John 14, "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." Do you want to know why Jesus loves to answer our prayers? It's because God is glorified. D. Our good deeds. In 1 Peter 2, it says, "Keep your conduct honorable so unbelievers will see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of his visitation." Peter says, "Live a life worthy of the Lord, and when you do, when Jesus returns, even unbelievers will give him glory." Canyon Hills Community Church 9

10 E. Our evangelism. In 2 Corinthians 4, it says, " as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God." As more and more people turn to Jesus for forgiveness, God's glory becomes more and more visible. F. Our everyday lives. In 1 Corinthians 10, it says, " whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." The application is, as Christians, we have no choice but to affirm the sanctity of human life, because it's our conviction that abortion limits God's glory from spreading. That is the application of this conviction. Every life has the potential to bring glory to God, our time is determined by God, and all life originates with God. Let me answer this question: What if we know someone who is struggling with guilt when it comes to this choice of abortion? Most likely, we will or do know somebody who has struggled through this horrible decision, and there may be opportunities for you and me to try and bring comfort in those situations. If God should bring us that opportunity, I would try to say three things. First of all, God has enough grace for you. Very clearly, Scripture tells us, "Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience." When God forgives, God cleanses, and he has enough grace to cover every sin, including this one. Secondly, I think I would also say, put your past in its place. We are given permission to do that in Romans, chapter 8, verse 1. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Do you want to know why God doesn't count our sins against us? It's because he has already charged it to Jesus. That's why Isaiah writes, in chapter 53, verse 6, "The Lord has laid on Jesus the iniquity, the sins of us all." He has laid them all on him. In Romans, chapter 4, it says, " blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin." So I would say to the person struggling, listen. We can't undo the past, but we can leave it there. We can leave it there. If you're not a follower of Jesus, he's your only hope, and I would ask you to let him take hold of your sin and remove it from your heart, cleanse you, and give you forgiveness. Thirdly, talk to others. If this is a struggle, I would encourage people to talk to others who have gone down that road. There are many in this church who have identified themselves and are willing to lock arms and hold hands with those walking down that road of God's forgiveness. If that is something you would want to do, you don't hesitate to call this church. Ask for our Counseling Office, and we will put you together with those who are. We all need a Savior. Maybe you needed to hear that again today. Maybe you needed to hear that God loves you and God made you and he has a plan for your life. There is enough grace for all of our sin. There are some of you who need to come to Jesus today, by faith, and you need to believe he is God and he came to the earth, taking on flesh and blood, and lived a perfectly obedient life, obeying all of God's laws. Canyon Hills Community Church 10

11 You need to believe he willingly sacrificed his righteous life by dying in our place on a cross, paying the price for our sins with his own blood, and purchasing our pardon from God's coming wrath against all the wickedness and ungodliness of man. You need to believe he rose from the dead, conquered death and sin, and has the power and authority to give forgiveness to any who will come to him, repent, believe, and receive him as their Savior. You need to believe that without Jesus, you will face God in the judgment and you will not be able to stand. You will be condemned. Yet today, you can be saved. So I pray that in just a minute, when I'm done praying, before you leave this room, you will stop over here and talk to someone and say, "Would you help me take that next step of faith? I want to repent and receive Jesus as my Savior." I hope you'll do that today. It'll be the most important thing you do, not only today, but in your whole life. I'm going to ask you to bow your heads with me, just a moment. Father in heaven, I just ask, in the name of Jesus Christ, that you would move on the hearts of those who desperately need your forgiveness in Christ. I pray, God, that today would be the day of their salvation. Give them courage, Lord, to come forward and have that conversation. God, I pray for us as a church that we would be a church who has, at our core, biblical convictions, things we can believe, things that are true, things that will always be true. I pray, God, that you will give us strength, boldness, and courage to believe them now and forever. God, may your Word be at the core of who we are. Lord, as we go from here, I pray that your glory will spread. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Listen. I want to give you a little personal challenge today, regarding this conviction of the sanctity of human life. I've asked our ushers to just stand at the doors, kind of incognito. They'll have an offering bag, and I would love to be able to put some feet to our conviction. If there's any way you can just drop something in those bags on the way out Maybe it's a $5 bill. Maybe you have to dig down to the bottom of your purse or your wallet. If you have anything you can give, we're just going to surprise Care Net this week. We're going to add it all up. We're going to deliver a check to them that says, "We love you. We care for you. We're proud of you. Keep going. Keep fighting for the sanctity of life." If you want a way for your conviction to have some feet today, and you're able to do that, on the way out the door, just drop it in the basket. Next week, we'll tell you how much we gave. It'll be a joy to give it to them this week. I hope you can do that. If you have the conviction and you want to write a check, just write it out to the church and then we'll put it all together in one lump and bring it to them. All right. God bless you. Have a great rest of your day, and we'll see you next Sunday. Canyon Hills Community Church 11