1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,800 Good morning. My name is Junia and today's scripture reading is from Psalm 139 verses 2 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:17,320 13 through 16 and it's page 532 in the Bibles in the back of your pews. 3 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:25,240 For it was you who created my inward parts. You knit me together in my mother's womb and 4 00:00:25,240 --> 00:00:30,880 I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your 5 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:36,320 works are wondrous and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from you 6 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:41,680 when I was made in secret. When I was formed in the depths of the earth your 7 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:47,480 eyes saw me when I was formless. All my days were written in your book and 8 00:00:47,480 --> 00:01:00,520 planned before a single one of them began. This is God's Word. There are some 9 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:09,480 issues that the church does not like to talk about. Talk about prayer? Yeah, let's 10 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:17,280 talk about prayer. Talk about worship? Yes, let's talk about worship. Talk about 11 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:27,880 overcoming the enemy? Hallelujah. Amen. Talk about sin? As long as it's not the 12 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:37,280 sin that I embrace. Talk about racial reconciliation? Maybe not. Talk about life? 13 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:44,040 Well, it depends. One easy way to shoot down someone talking about an issue at 14 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:51,000 church that you don't like is to call it political. Oh, that's political. And then 15 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,480 demand that we keep politics and religion separate. That's the American 16 00:01:55,480 --> 00:02:01,720 way. One issue that has consistently undergone this attack is the issue of 17 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:08,440 life. But what could be more foundational to our existence and purpose than the 18 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:14,680 questions surrounding life? And who has more authority to speak to issues of 19 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:22,920 life than the people of life and light? Than the people of the way, the people of 20 00:02:22,920 --> 00:02:31,640 the Word, the people of God? Never has our culture and society needed to hear truth 21 00:02:31,640 --> 00:02:42,960 more than right now. And the psalmist in Psalm 139, he's captivated by life and by 22 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:50,280 the God who would give such a life. He says, for it was you who 23 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:57,760 created my inward parts. You knit me together in my mother's womb. And a 24 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:01,760 little bit later, he says, my bones were not hidden from you when I was made in 25 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:08,640 secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. God has fashioned together 26 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:17,800 in a directed way, he says. God isn't distant or uninvolved. God didn't wind up 27 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:24,080 the clock and then just let it run its course. The psalmist is glorying in the 28 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:30,120 fact that God didn't just show up in his life at some predestined moment of 29 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:38,880 revelation, but that God was there causing the very spark of life. He uses 30 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:44,000 the metaphor of knitting. When he says, my bones were not hidden, it's another way 31 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,440 of saying, not just the parts of me, as if they were delivered on a truck for 32 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:56,640 assembly by God. No, the bones were like the very substance of a person. God knows 33 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:05,600 both our shape and our substance. The vast majority of who we are operates in 34 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:14,920 secret. I love you, but I never want to see your kidneys. And you're probably not 35 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:18,960 going to show up to small group this week, burying your small intestines for 36 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:22,960 everyone to examine. Some of you guys do like to come and show really gross 37 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:30,760 pictures though of injuries. You got to stop that. And I'm never going to see the 38 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:38,560 inner workings of your eye or the secret thoughts of your mind. Most of you exist 39 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:49,440 in secret, out of reach, beyond my gaze. But none of that is secret from God. None 40 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:57,880 of it. So woodworking is not for the faint of heart. In my experience, it is 41 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:06,280 an arduous work. It often doesn't go as planned. And the truth is, to make 42 00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:10,560 anything effectively out of wood, you ought to start with a plan. And I am 43 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:18,040 notorious for going into things without a plan. I'll wing it. And what do you find? 44 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:24,240 Corners don't match up perfectly because you're measuring down to the 32nd or the 45 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:32,960 64th of an inch to get a tight joint on a piece of furniture. And then glue-ups, 46 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:37,880 right? Glue-ups for cabinets. Don't you wish, any of you guys who've been in 47 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:42,240 carpentry or woodworking, don't you wish you have 13 arms for like a glue-up or 48 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:46,000 trying to hold different things? It's inevitable that you start to glue up, 49 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:50,120 right? And then you remember, oh, the clamp is across the room and the 50 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:54,680 brad nailer is over here. And now I'm holding all these pieces with my feet, my 51 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:59,800 tongue, and I'm trying to keep it all together, yelling for someone to please 52 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:08,400 come grab the clamp for me. A lot of projects began with the creation of just 53 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:14,280 a box or multiple boxes. And if you were to look at any of them at that stage, 54 00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:18,360 they would be pretty rough and unattractive, even if they might be 55 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:26,600 functionally 80% done. It's usually here where I go, wow, I'm almost done. I've got 56 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:32,800 a box. But in truth, I'm probably not even 60% of the way there because there's 57 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:38,240 still doors and filing, you know, filling nail holes and joints and sanding and 58 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:44,120 trim to add and stain and paint and hardware. And that all takes time and 59 00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:50,440 adds a hundred more possibilities for failure. Something that I learned over 60 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:54,560 the course of watching many YouTube videos and doing it myself is that 61 00:06:54,560 --> 00:07:00,640 nothing is perfect. Every piece of handmade furniture has a story of some 62 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:06,680 problem that had to be overcome. And finally, what began as an idea in the 63 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:12,040 mind of the craftsman, rough lumber and fasteners in a box and stain in a can, 64 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:18,280 has now been brought together under the watchful guidance and deliberate actions 65 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:24,240 of that craftsman to create the piece of work. And there's this moment where you 66 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:32,000 step back so you can see the whole thing edge to edge. And the only way I can 67 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:40,240 express how I feel in those moments is joy. There's some sort of joy, a joy over 68 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:46,240 what you have made, a joy as you begin to think of all the possibilities that 69 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:54,120 this thing will serve in your home as a cabinet or by your bed as a side table. 70 00:07:54,120 --> 00:08:00,680 Joy in what is and what will be as it functions in this world to whatever ends 71 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:07,400 you made it for. Genesis chapter 1 tells a similar but different story. We're told 72 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:15,720 that God, out of nothing, created everything. We're told that no raw 73 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:21,240 materials or fasteners were needed when God embarked on his endeavor to 74 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:29,240 create. But by the word of his power he spoke and it burst into existence. What 75 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:37,200 began in the mind of God was created by the word of God. And the crown jewel of 76 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:46,960 his creation, the icing on the cake, the cherry on the banana split, was humanity, 77 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:53,120 humankind. And he makes them with a purpose and a job that they might share 78 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:59,000 in all of his creation by ruling over it, by being co-regents, by being queens and 79 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:04,440 kings and queens to rule the land in all of life. And when God had finished 80 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:12,080 bringing all of this about, we're told in Genesis that God saw all that he had 81 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:21,920 made and it was very good indeed. He saw and he declared it was good. Now, Google 82 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:27,960 it and you'll find out. Google it and you'll find out that our friends and our 83 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:38,280 neighbors and our family members are all desperate to be seen and validated. It is 84 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:46,800 a human condition that we need to be seen and validated. What is social media 85 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:52,640 except a case study in folks who want to be seen, even if it is in a particular 86 00:09:52,640 --> 00:10:00,000 light, staged? But we watched some videos a little while ago when we 87 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,960 were preparing for Operation Christmas Child and I pointed it out then, I'll 88 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:07,520 point it out again today, that one of the things that always strikes me in those 89 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:11,520 videos when a kid receives a gift and they go to interview him, they 90 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:19,040 inevitably say something to the effect of, I feel seen. I feel like someone saw 91 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:28,920 me. People want to be seen. People want to be truly seen. But sin and shame tell 92 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:37,360 us that if we are truly seen and known, we will never be loved. We will never. No 93 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:44,120 one can truly see who we are and still actually love us and actually validate 94 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:51,620 our existence. And some of you in this room struggle with that. You hate who you 95 00:10:51,620 --> 00:11:01,800 are but you desperately want someone to know you, see you, love you, in spite of 96 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:08,040 your failings and shortcomings. Some of you have done things that you think are 97 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:15,680 unforgivable and you would never want to share here. Some of you are caught in the 98 00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:22,400 trap of self-hatred, never feeling valued and loathing your very existence. You are 99 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:32,720 hurting and you need to hear this. God was there at your very beginning. He was 100 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:39,920 there when you were formed in your mother's womb. He was instrumental in you 101 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:49,520 coming to be. He knew everything about you before you took your first breath. He 102 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:55,560 knew the outcome of every choice you would make or could make. He sees you as 103 00:11:55,560 --> 00:12:07,280 you truly are right now. When the psalmist realizes this, he erupts in verse 14 into 104 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:12,520 praise and he says, I will praise you because I have been remarkably and 105 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:22,600 wondrously made. Your works are marvelous and I know that very well. He's telling 106 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:27,160 us that you don't need to go to the Amazon forest or to the Angel Falls in 107 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:34,460 Venezuela or to the glaciers in Alaska or to the Azores of Portugal to see the 108 00:12:34,460 --> 00:12:42,120 glory of God's creation. For God has deposited wonder and glory into humankind. 109 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:49,080 What is more amazing than the meticulous design of a human body? Each part of 110 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:58,000 virtual universe unto itself. And while we are similar, we are very similar in 111 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:05,760 some respects. We're all 100% unique. Everyone in this room, every single one 112 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:13,160 is uniquely made. There is truly no one who was made just like you. And here's a 113 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:23,600 big idea. Verse 16 said, your eyes saw me. There's that being seen. Your eyes saw me 114 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:30,320 when I was formless. All my days were written in your book and planned before 115 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:39,400 a single one of them began. All my days written in your book planned before a 116 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:47,760 single one began. That means there's no mistakes. God saw you when you were a 117 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:57,040 single cell fertilized egg. And shortly after that, about 30 hours later, when 118 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:05,880 you divided into two cells, he saw you and he knew your days. And a little bit 119 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:12,240 after that, you divided into four cells and he was there, present, working his 120 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:21,320 handiwork. When after three days, you became like a little raspberry, 16 cells, 121 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:27,880 he was there, working his handiwork, knew the number of your days and had planned 122 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:30,160 them. 123 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:45,320 It wasn't just you planning out your days. It was God way ahead of time, not 124 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:52,840 just planning out your days, but also planning the days for you. The days that 125 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:59,480 you would occupy were planned out for you as well, by God. You are no accident. 126 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:07,000 You are no mistake. You are supposed to be here right now. In the book of Acts, 127 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:12,440 chapter 17 verse 26, what does it say? It says, from one man he has made every 128 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:18,920 nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times 129 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:26,520 and the boundaries of where they live. God, from one man, made all humankind to 130 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:31,840 fill the earth and he has appointed their time to be and the boundaries of 131 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:39,480 where they will be, all of humankind. As Pastor Matt Chandler puts it, these are 132 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:49,560 the days he made for you and these are the days you were made for. Don't believe 133 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:53,600 the lie that you are insignificant and don't believe the lie that others have a 134 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,920 purpose in this life, but your purpose is to exist in perpetual 135 00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:05,600 hopelessness. Remember that agreement gives accusation power. Agreement gives 136 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:11,080 accusation power. What you need to do is glory in and rejoice in the precious 137 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:18,040 words of Scripture and believe them as true. They are truth and let them govern 138 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:25,960 and direct and lead your life. God saw to it that you were made for these days, but 139 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:35,560 why? You heard earlier that God sees you. We want to be seen and God sees us, but 140 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:42,480 just being seen, just being laid bare in all of our naked shame, doesn't sound 141 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:53,240 like good news, does it? Oh, you see us. You see all of me. Oh, that's not good 142 00:16:53,240 --> 00:17:00,200 because we don't just want to be seen, we also want to be loved and validated. And 143 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:10,440 the verse that comes right after Acts 17 verse 26, verse 27 says that he did this. 144 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:14,320 Why did he determine the times and the seasons and the places for all of 145 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:20,160 humankind? Why did God do that? Well, Paul answers in verse 27. He says he did this 146 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:27,600 so that they might seek God and perhaps might reach out and find him though he 147 00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:34,880 is not far from each one of us. He put everyone uniquely in a position, in a 148 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:41,040 time, in a place, so that they uniquely could reach out to him and find him, that 149 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:48,200 they could seek him and find him. He is not far. Back in the story in Genesis, we 150 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:53,960 will only find our true identity and purpose when we are reconnected to the 151 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:59,000 source of life, which is God. Sin and disobedience has separated us from God 152 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:05,640 and we need him to look on us again as he did in Genesis. We need the eyes of 153 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:12,520 God to look on us and declare us good. We desperately need that. But what does the 154 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:21,120 world do? Instead of seeking God, what do they do? Most want to deny him. They want 155 00:18:21,120 --> 00:18:26,760 to deny his very existence. They want to deny his character and they want to do 156 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:34,760 whatever pleases them. They deny what can be known of God through his creation. 157 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:41,040 They deny his eternal power and his divine nature. They say that life itself 158 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:50,680 isn't sacred, isn't an act of wonder of God, that life isn't given to us as a 159 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:59,800 gift, but instead that life is chosen by the strong over the weak. They refuse to 160 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:04,520 give God glory for all he has made and to live their lives in accord with the 161 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:10,440 reality of who God is. And so we're told that they are disconnected from the 162 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:14,920 source of life and their days are darkened with the senselessness of their 163 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:24,520 own hearts. This is the world we live in. Many around have denied God in his very 164 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:31,160 character, have denied him as the gift giver of life, and so have taken life 165 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:39,520 into their own hands as if it was a choice instead of a gift. But the good 166 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:46,120 news of the gospel is that God loved us so much that he gave his son, Jesus, to 167 00:19:46,120 --> 00:19:51,520 take our place and to take on him our shame and our sin and our failures, even 168 00:19:51,520 --> 00:20:00,560 the failures of those who once denied God. Some of you are in this room. He 169 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:05,160 takes away our sin and shame and failures and frees us from the burden 170 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:11,320 and the chains of our sin. And in Christ we can be declared righteous. We can be 171 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:21,560 seen by God and we can be told good, made good again in right standing before God. 172 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:28,320 In Christ we can receive the love and validation that we long for. God who is 173 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:34,360 perfect love and obedience. Christ who is perfect love and obedience secured for 174 00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:41,880 us this longing of our heart which is met in him that we might be seen and 175 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:54,120 again we might be loved. We all make bad decisions, poor choices. Some of them have 176 00:20:54,120 --> 00:21:01,560 huge consequences. All of them are denying the reality of who God is and 177 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:09,120 what he is doing and what his character is. But that doesn't mean that God can't 178 00:21:09,120 --> 00:21:14,720 restore. That doesn't mean in Christ the good news is that he can restore and 179 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:21,400 that he can reclaim the days that were lost in our pursuit of sin. He can remove 180 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:28,240 the shame from our shoulders and instead give us a testimony of life of what he's 181 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:35,760 done in our lives. I wasn't planning on this but had a quick conversation with 182 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:43,000 my sister Junia beforehand. Junia would you mind sharing with us? Junia is going 183 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:48,120 to share from her own life experience about choices and the redemptive power 184 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:50,880 of God. 185 00:21:50,880 --> 00:22:03,000 I haven't shared this story with the group this large but this this passage 186 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:11,240 was so near and dear to my heart because as a teenager 58 years ago I gave up a 187 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:22,440 baby girl for adoption and at the time I was in a very poor family and being 188 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:27,960 raised with four other children and it just it felt like the right thing to do. 189 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:35,680 And it was it was a painful decision because for 30 years I didn't know where 190 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:43,520 that child was and then God restored her to me when she was 30 years old. She 191 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:50,760 found me and I had a relationship with her now for almost 30 years. I had two 192 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:56,680 grandchildren that I didn't know about and now I have a great-grandchild and 193 00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:06,720 you know in 1965 the other choice was available but God saw fit to restore 194 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:11,500 this this child to me and I'm I'll be forever grateful. She lives in 195 00:23:11,500 --> 00:23:20,200 Colorado. We text pretty much on a daily basis and see each other very often and 196 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:27,800 I'm just so blessed and thankful for that. I just wanted to share that with you. 197 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:39,720 Thank you for sharing. 198 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:52,720 Christians have historically believed that all of life is precious and valuable. 199 00:23:52,720 --> 00:24:02,320 That the craftsmanship of God created for his glory and purpose is sacred. In 200 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:07,800 ancient Rome they would rescue abandoned children. Christians are our brothers 201 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:12,120 and sisters who went before. They would rescue abandoned children who were 202 00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:17,960 placed outside of the city gates or in trash heaps left to die and the 203 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:22,080 Christians would come to find those children and to bring them into a home 204 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:27,280 and a family. It's one of the reasons why we want to support an organization like 205 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:31,200 Village of Hope in Guatemala because that's what they're doing as well. As 206 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:35,160 these children who have endured trauma oftentimes at the hands of their own 207 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:41,760 family members are able to be rescued and brought into a family and to learn 208 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:50,640 and grow in the faith and experience what God has for them. In all of humanity 209 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:57,440 is the image of God that we are imagers of God's divine nature and his character 210 00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:02,720 and that the imager is something special to God and therefore worthy of honor, 211 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:10,240 dignity, and value. We stand up for life from that single-celled fertilized egg 212 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:17,680 to the hundred-plus man or woman. We believe that life is a sacred trust and 213 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:24,440 that we must not meddle in its destruction. For those who have given 214 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:29,680 into the temptation to take matters into their own hands and to end a life 215 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:36,720 through repentance and faith there is forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Regardless 216 00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:40,880 of the choice you've made in the past there is a future and a hope that you 217 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:48,280 can have in Christ. Only in him will you find relief from the guilt and shame 218 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:58,720 that comes from the sin of murder. Only in him will you find the hope of life 219 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:06,640 from the life giver. We live in a time of great darkness and in the very hour 220 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:13,960 that we've been together over 100 babies have been killed. About a million a year 221 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:22,800 in the US. We want to be a people that actively work for the good of others who 222 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:27,040 stand up for the helpless and the silenced and who bring the good news of 223 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:31,400 Jesus Christ to the lives of those who are hurting, to those who have 224 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:36,000 been deceived by the world and to those who are bound up in shame. They all need 225 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:43,120 Jesus and Jesus is the answer for all of it. So I want to remind you that you were 226 00:26:43,120 --> 00:26:49,680 made for these days and these days were made for you and therefore you are 227 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:53,720 particularly and uniquely placed here in a time where I could quote a stat about 228 00:26:53,720 --> 00:27:01,560 what has taken place in the last hour. You're here for a reason. You're here 229 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:06,880 because others have made choices to bring you here and to honor the image of 230 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:11,720 God in you but you're also here to look and to look for those who are helpless 231 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:18,880 and those who are voiceless and to stand up and say something. This world needs the 232 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:29,600 truth and we are the truth bearers. If we don't speak who will?