Thank you for that prayer praising the Lord for what he's doing here today, man. And have been good already telling you so grateful for the worship team and those that let us today. I have loved the songs. I think they've been right in line with what we're looking at today and what we got has for us this morning.

And so, again, just so thankful for the opportunity to be here with you all today. I'm actually an Atlanta boy. I grew up on the south side of Atlanta and want to just kind of introduce to tell you a little bit about my story, just so you understand my heart today as we talk about the things that I believe God has for us.

I now, of course, live in Birmingham at our Lifeline's home office there. But before joining Lifeline, I had the opportunity to serve in pastoral ministry for about 24 years, had the chance to plant a couple of churches, leads at several churches in different ways. Did ministry primarily in Georgia, kind of on the south side of Atlanta and then down in Florida as well.

That's what I want to share. This is my family picture one In addition to my family. While serving in pastoral ministry, God also called my wife and I to serve as foster parents, and for a number of years we had the opportunity to welcome children into our home for a season for temporary care. And so this picture represents our family.

You see there in the middle, my wife and I and our three biological daughters. And then all around there, around the picture are different young people that came into our home. Some as infants, some as elementary students, teenagers, some teens together with their children, teen moms together with their children. You also see the biological parents of some of the kids that we were able to care for as we sought to bring them into our family as well and welcome them and care for them and love them.

Also, my wife and I never planned to adopt. That was not we didn't think that was part of God's story. But God has a way of laughing at our plan sometimes. And so while we didn't plan to adopt God had children, that he was preparing for our family and had our family, that he was preparing for some children.

And so as we began to meet and hear about teenagers and young people who whose parents rights have been terminated, who without a family, God opened our hearts and our eyes to that need. And once we knew of that need, we had to engage in some way. We tend to my wife and I, one thing, if you get to know us, you find out we don't do things halfway.

We kind of we're going to do something. We're like all in. We literally like. So we met each other in college, graduated on a Wednesday night, got married on Saturday after that Wednesday night, and then went on our honeymoon and then started our first church ministry the next Sunday. So like from the beginning of our marriage, just like full throttle, all in, whatever God you want.

Let's just let's just do it. So we kind of did the same with foster care. There was never a time where we didn't have more kids than we were supposed to have in our house. You know, the state has all these guidelines of the number of kids. Well, there's a secret thing that I don't know about called an over cap.

And we lived on the over cap like constantly through our whole process. So when it came time to adopt, we kind of did the same. So we went from our three daughters to then adopting seven kids out of foster care. And so if you count it all up, there are 12 of us there. And so actually if you look hashtag Johnson does and we kind of use that you can learn more about us on social media, but just thankful for what God has done, how God grew our family.

Five of the seven that we adopted were teenagers when we adopted them, they were 16 or 17. And so there was a time when it was not unusual for us to have seven, eight, nine teens in our house at one time, seven of our own, plus others that we were fostering through the process as well. I had four that graduated high school all the same year.

I had seven in college at the same time. We had four weddings within three years. So basically what I'm telling you is I'm completely broke. That's really the bottom line of this. And so but you're so thankful for what God has done as God has worked in our family and grown our family in ways that we never dreamed or never even imagined that he would do.

And so we're so thankful for that. We've continued to grow over the years, as I said, brought spouses in, and God just keeps bringing these here. You like it, boys to marry my girls. And we have to go through the, you know, the battles of that. Actually, God has blessed me with just wonderful three wonderful son in laws and a great daughter in law as well.

My kids met all of their spouses in Bible College, which is a wonderful thing. So there are several of are serving in ministry even today and grateful for that. We also now have the best part of parenting is grandparenting. Everybody told me that and told me that and told me that, and I just didn't believe it till I got to experience it.

And so we now have three beautiful grandchildren as well. Two of our grandchildren are also adopted out of foster care. And so God has just blessed us abundantly in that and and we are so, so grateful. So when I talk about the things that I'm going to talk about today, I'm not coming at it from the perspective of someone that's asking you to do something I'm not willing to do or someone that's talking and, you know, misunderstood or non, a sense of not really knowing whether what they what they're asking or what they're explaining or talking about.

When we talk about standing for life, it's something that that is very important to me, something that I'm passionate about. And I'm so grateful now that God has given me the opportunity to travel the country, travel the world, to share with churches, like he's got Presbyterian to come alongside you guys and share about this gospel call, the Biblical Mandate to stand for Life and what that means and what that looks like.

And so I'm grateful, so grateful for the opportunity to be here with you today to share a little bit of my heart. I think it's important that we take time to to recognize the significant significance of this day. I know how many of you are aware, but 50 years ago on this day, on January 22nd of 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States issued forth the ruling of Roe versus Wade, which legalized abortion all across this country.

It then became that it literally they they they claimed that our Constitution, that it gave a constitutional right for women to take the lives of their pre-born children today that I believe is greatest, to bring great sorrow and great lament to the people of God, to our country, to our nation. I believe that much of the struggles that we face are are tied to this horrific sin of abortion that has so plagued our nation.

Now, today would have been a day of recognizing 50 years of Roe, but we know that now we are living in a post Roe world last summer. If you're not aware through the Dobbs case, the Supreme Court actually viewed that there was no constitutional right to abortion and they overturned Roe versus Wade. It's a day that many people have been working toward and praying for and fighting for for many, many years and a day that deserves celebration, a day that deserved recognition and rejoicing in what God had done in our country.

But it also marked the beginning of a whole new set of issues and a whole new struggle and a whole new fight that must continue on. Because now abortion, the abortion laws and abortion rules and guidelines are now being set by the states. So we have 50 different states that all have to varying degrees, different laws and different guidelines concerning abortion.

We have some states that we are grateful for that are taking a strong stand for life. I'm thankful for the standards being taken here in Georgia and Alabama, where I live in Florida, where you live in some of these other states are taking strong stances. Some states abortion has been pretty much completely outlawed and made to be illegal.

And we're grateful for that. But we also recognize that a number of states across our country have gone far more extreme in their abortion and what they will allow in abortion. And we know that there are national pushes. The abortion pill is something that we can't even begin to fathom. The magnitude and how that is going to to be such an issue as that is being pushed now and passing across state lines and all the different pieces.

So the thing that I want you to understand today, and I think that I think we must recognize as people of God today, we celebrate and rejoice in what God is doing to protect life in the womb. But we cannot we cannot take it easy. We cannot coast. We cannot rest. We, as people of God, must continue to stand for life.

We as people of God must be vigilant in our in our fight for the things of God and for what is right so that we might preach the gospel, the good news of the gospel, so that we might help others recognize and see the importance of life. And so today I want us to look at how can we do this?

How can we as God's people, how can how can I as an individual, how can how can my family together? And then ultimately, how can our church family, how can we stand for life? And what does that look like to have a truly biblical pro-life ethic? So we're going to look at that. This this this morning and see from God's word what that means to us.

So how do we stand for life? First of all, I believe that we must stand for life. I hit a wrong button. There it is. I'm going to get this thing for the in here. First of all, I believe that we stand for life by recognizing God as the giver and sustainer of life. Recognize God as the giver and sustainer of life.

We've mentioned it in the scriptures that we've read together today. It was in the songs that we sang today. Pastor talked about this earlier in the service. This morning, recognizing that God is the giver and the sustainer of life. If you have your Bible this morning, turn to the very first chapter. If you want to if you want to if you want to get things right from the beginning, you go to the very beginning, go to Genesis chapter number one in Genesis chapter number one, of course, we have the creation account where we're told about how God created the earth, how God created the world, how God created all things.

Beginning in verse number 26, it says, Then God said, Let us make man in our image. No God. It had created the light and separate the light and darkness. He created the sun, moon and stars. He created the fish and the animals that he created vegetation and greenery and all the different pieces. And he gets to this this end of of this account.

And he says, Now we could have all of these things, but now let's do something a little different. Now let's create let us make man in our image after our likeness. God, of course, the Triune God, speaking of himself. And so he is saying there is something unique and there is something different about what we're going to create.

Now, we've created a lot of things in these 76 days, but on that we're in these five days, but on the sixth day we're going to create something that is unique from everything else. It's unique from all the other things for what we're going to create now is something that's going to be living and breathing, but it's also going have a soul.

It's going to have something that it's going to last. We're going to make something now in our image after our likeness. So what is this special thing that God is wanting to create now? He is creating man and let them let this man, let this creation have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens.

And over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God is saying from the beginning, I'm going to create something unique and special that bears my image. This is something that is different from everything else I've created because I'm going to place my image on this creation. And he created man to then have dominion over all of the rest of his creation in verse 27.

So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, He created him. God doesn't want us to miss this. Do you see how many times he says image? He says he's he's reminding us that there is something unique about this creation. There's something unique about this this man that he is creating a God created man in his own image, in the image of God, He created him male and female.

He created them. Now, we could go into a whole sermon on just that line right there. We don't have time for today, but we see God's design. We see God as the giver of life. Male and female. He created them and God bless them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.

Have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heaven and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food and to every beast of the earth and every bird of the heavens into everything that creates on the Earth, everything that has the breath.

I have given every green plant for food. And it was so and God saw everything that he had made. And behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning. The sixth day. So God created man as unique, as different from the rest of his creation. All humans, all mankind that would flow out of this.

This man that was created in this woman, that was created all mankind that would flow out. It was created to bear the image of God. Every human individual is an image bearer of the most high, most holy Triune God. And every life that is born is a result of God's sovereignty, of God's sovereign plan. So if God is the creator of life, God is the one that from the beginning said He began life and he created life.

We also see that he continues sustain life. He continues to to carry forth this thing of life. Psalm 139 We read part of it earlier this morning, Psalm 139 in verses 13 and 14, it says for you, speaking of God, you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. So from the very beginning, from the moment that conception occurred, in the moment that did that did, the life began, God created and crafted me in my mother's womb, Nasima says.

I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. God is the one who creates life. God is the one who sustains life. No life is given without God in His sovereignty and in his design and his plan. Creating that life. Now, it's hard for us to wrap our minds around sometimes, because sometimes new life comes at inconvenient times, sometimes engaging in supporting and and valuing life comes at a cost, because sometimes life doesn't look like we think it should look.

And sometimes there are struggles and there are difficulties that don't make sense to us. And it is. And sometimes it's easy for mankind to sit in our own little thrones that we have kind of created and say, Well, if I was God, I would have brought that person into that situation. So maybe I can help God by not bringing that person to that situation.

Or maybe I can end this life because it's really hard. And so I don't want them to suffer. So I'm going to end that. I'm going to make the choice. Brothers and sisters, we cannot take the role of God. We are not the givers of life. We are not the sustainer of life. And we cannot be the one that makes the decision of who should live and who should not live.

God is sovereign. God has a design, God has a plan. God has a purpose for every life that He creates. He is the one that brings life. He is the one that sustains life, and he is the one that can be trusted with every life. No matter how difficult a circumstance, no matter how dark the situation, no matter how bleak we may see the future as being God is the giver and sustainer of life.

And because of this, every life that God chooses to create has value. It has worked. It has meaning because God has a plan for that life all the way from conception, all the way to natural death. And so we must fight to protect life. We must fight to do what we can. We must be advocates for we must stand for all life.

And I submit that we must stand, especially for those who are most most vulnerable among us. For those who have no voice, for those who have no one to stand for them, for those who are facing struggles and difficulties and challenges of life, those are the ones. Instead of backing away, we should be leaning even more so in to be advocates, to be fierce advocates for all life that God has created throughout God's Word.

We often see this command to to care well for the orphan and the widow. We see it over and over and over again. Song Number 68, Father of the fatherless, protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary, the lonely infant in the home in families. Psalm 80 to defend the poor and fatherless do justice to the afflicted and needy.

Psalm ten You have been the helper of the fatherless. Isaiah 117 Learn to do good. Seek justice, correct oppression. Bring justice to the fatherless. Joseph 14 three four In you the orphan finds mercy. I think as we as we hear these terms throughout Scripture, we'll see oftentimes the orphan and the widow mentioned together, we'll see turns like the fatherless.

Well, we'll hear about the sojourner, the stranger, the poor, the needy, the distressed, all of these different terms. And what I want us to to recognize and understand today as we read scripture in was we see scripture as a hope. When we hear these different people groups, they are not mentioned in isolation and saying, okay, this time you're only supposed to focus on this group and this time this group.

But ultimately these terms are representative of whoever is the most vulnerable in your community and your society and the times that they were written. These people would have known very clearly what God is calling us to do is step into those who have no voice, those who have no one to stand for them, those who have no one to fight for, them to advocate for them.

And God is calling us to step into that place in our context today, this includes very much so. That child in the womb who is literally the most vulnerable among our society, it could look like the child in another country who has been orphaned and who needs a family or it could look like the child right here in our community who finds himself in foster care not because of anything he had done, but because those who should be caring for him either could not care for him well, or chose not to, or could look like the woman who finds herself in that unexpected or crisis pregnancy.

And she's weighing her decisions and trying to think through what is best for her, for her life, and for that life that she is carrying or may look like the parents who have no support and and aren't able to care well for their children. So social services or others have had to step in. Or it could look like that that person with birth defects and maladies or special needs who who whose life is so beautiful and precious and created by God, but has no one to protect them and stand for them and be a voice for them, and includes those who may not look like us, who may come from different backgrounds or ethnicities.

It includes the elderly whose society may may tell us no longer can contribute to our world, but whose life has value and purpose and meaning. Folks, when we see God's Word over and over again, we hear that God has a heart for the vulnerable, that God has a heart for those who the world would not defend, who would not stand for it.

And so we as God's people, we must stand for all life. And we must stand especially for the most vulnerable among us. We must help those who are broken, who are hurting, who are without, who need support, who have no voice of their own, those who were created in the image of God and whose life have purpose and meaning.

Every believer must stand for life by recognizing God as the giver and sustainer of life. Number two, by remembering what Christ has done, by remembering what Christ has done. I think one of the reasons sometimes that we forget about the vulnerable and we turn our back on on the needy is because we forget about our own vulnerability. God reminded the child of Israel over and over again when they found themselves often in that situation where they were the stranger times of captivity, where they were the ones who didn't have a voice, they were the ones who were on the outside.

And God reminded them over and over again, Don't forget where you came from and never let that spur you on to care for those that you see amongst you. Now, in brothers and sisters, we as a people of God must remember that we were in a place of hopelessness, that we were in a place of despair. Ephesians two tells us that we were completely dead, completely lost, completely separated, and then those awesome two words.

But God, but God who is rich and mercy, and by his love and by its great grace, he has saved us and given us life. You see, God is the giver of life. But then sin brought death. And so now there is the need for God to bring us back to life. And so God now has offered new life to all those who would come to him, turn very quickly, if you will, to second Corinthians chapter number five, Second Corinthians Chapter five.

Paul was reminding us of this very thing, beginning in verse There are 17 sacred themes, five beginning in verse 17. He says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. I love that he didn't say he's a better version of his old self. He says, God makes him something new. He faces, tells us we were dead and God is the one that brings us to life.

God has brought us those who are in Christ. God has brought us to life. The old has passed away. The whole the new has come. All this is from God. It's not about us. All this is from God who, through Christ reckons sired us to himself and gave us the Ministry of Reconciliation. This is that the call to go and to call to to go and proclaim this good news, this Ministry of reconciliation.

The word reconciliation is a cut, a log. It means to restore to favor. God has restored us to a place of relations ship with Him. Our Creator, our sustainer, has invited us into relationship with him, and now he has given us a ministry of doing the same on his behalf. Verse 19 that is in Christ. God was reconciling the world.

Those who are without, those who are dead, those who are lost, who need restoration. He is reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. And you see, we have this ministry of reconciliation, this call to go. And what do we share? We share the message of reconciliation, which is the hope of the gospel.

You see, God through Christ, no longer holds our sinned against us. He has given us new life, but he has not given us this new life just to keep to ourself. He has called us to go and be ministers of reconciliation, to carry this message of reconciliation to others. Verse 20. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. God making His appeal through us.

We are the way through which God gets the Gospel to the world around us. And I believe especially those who are vulnerable and those who are needy and those who are helpless. This is the message that we are proclaiming as ambassadors. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God for our sake. for our sake.

He made him to be sin. Who knew those? And so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

As Christ followers, we have been reconciled to God and we have now been called to be His ambassadors of reconciliation. So what is our motivation in serving the vulnerable? What is our motivation in standing for life? It's not to get a pat on the back. It's not to be told how awesome people we are. It's not to be called a hero.

It's not to have a cool picture that you can have in your Christmas card. If any of those things are our motivation, those things will fade and those things will not last. Those things will not be effective in any way. Her motivation, brothers and sisters, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our motivation is the gospel that reconciled us to God and is the one thing that will bring hope, that will bring, that will change situations, that will change hearts.

It's the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the only motivation that will sustain us. But thankfully, it's the only motivation that is needed. This is why we seek to to care for women in crisis pregnancy, to come alongside them and share the gospel with them. This is why we we want to place orphans and kids without a family.

We want to place them in Christian homes and Christian families so they can hear the gospel. This is why we must come alongside broken families and fight for them so that we can share with them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Understanding God's heart for the vulnerable. We were able to see that we must give priority to this ministry in the lives of those most vulnerable among us.

Every believer must stand for life by recognizing God as the giver and sustainer of life, by remembering what crisis done, and then by serving the vulnerable among us. By serving the vulnerable among us. We must be willing to engage. You see, when we recognize recognition of God as the giver and sustainer of life and remembrance of the Gospel, what He has done for us, recognition of God and remembrance of the Gospel compel us to action.

Understanding who God is and what God is doing, and then remembering what God has done for us. It forces us to get involved. It forces us to do something. I want encourage you Tell me one more passage of Scripture, one more passage of Scripture. James Chapter one again. So when we read this verse earlier today, James one James is telling, Hey, you can talk about your faith all you want, but if your life doesn't show it, then I'm questioning if your faith is real and genuine.

He's not saying that you do works to earn salvation. It's not at all what James is saying, but he is saying if your faith is real and genuine, it will show itself in the way we live. So James is not so much about commands that he's telling us to do, but he's talking about realities, realities of the Christian life, a faith that is real and genuine.

Beginning in verse 19 of Chapter one, a faith that is real and genuine will hold God's word in high esteem. We'll look into the Word of God and allow God's Word to shape our lives and direct us in order. Our steps and in this context are saying, You want to know what real faith is? Do you want to know what genuine faith looks like?

What's the reality of a faith that is real? And he comes to verse number 27 and he says, Religion that is pure and undefiled before God. The Father is this You want to know There's some things that God may leave, some some vague idea about and some some questioning on. He says, I'm going to just tell you straight up.

You want to know if a faith that is real and genuine, what it looks like. This is it to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and keep oneself unstained from the world. Now, again, we're recognizing orphans and widows here. In James context, that would have been the most vulnerable.

It might. It looks a little different in our context today. They certainly are a part of that, but this is representative language. So anyone that we see in our community that would we would see as vulnerable, see as someone who doesn't have a voice, who doesn't have what is needed, the resources that are needed. James says the faith that is real will visit those individuals in their affliction.

The word visit here we often think of visit as kind of you stop by pat somebody in the back and go about your business. The word visit here in the Greek, it's ever said to me, ever get to me. It's a it's a two part word, but it literally means to look closely into it gives the idea of not being a father, but coming close, leaning into investigating in such a way that you become almost a part of what you're looking into.

So what James is saying here is if your faith is real and genuine, then you will will lean into you will look into the lives of the most vulnerable among you, and you will join them in their affliction. You will get so close that it may rub off on you a little bit. You may get a little dirty in there.

You may have a little bit of a struggle yourself in there. You may face some affliction yourself by taking a stand and joining them. Folks, Biblical Christianity, standing for life can't be done from the sidelines, from a biblical understanding, visiting the orphan in the widow means joining the most oppressed, joining the vulnerable, joining them in their distress, in their affliction, doing life together with them in a way that sees them and hears them and understands them and comes alongside them and shares with them what is needed.

And he says that when we do this, we'll keep ourselves unstained from the world. We often separate those two things. We get a lot more preaching about keeping ourself unstained from the world than we do visiting the work for the widow. But the reality and the original here, this is a continuation of Galt because when we join the afflicted, joined the vulnerable in their affliction, it becomes a witness to the world around us.

It becomes a witness to those who are watching and those who are watching are no longer able to point our fingers and say all you people care about is the baby in the womb. All you people care about is just getting babies born, but they're able to see that our heart goes beyond that and we are willing to join the vulnerable in their affliction.

And it becomes a testimony to the world around us. Why is that? Because think about it. This is exactly what Christ did for us. This is exactly what our Heavenly Father did for us. He saw us in our reflection. He saw us in our place of despair. And he said, I am willing to visit to have a skip to me.

I am willing to come put on flesh. I'm going to walk with you. I'm going to cry with you. I'm going to share with you. I'm going to do life together with you. And he joined us in our reflection in the person of Jesus Christ. So I submit to you, when we do the same to the vulnerable in our community, we are a great witness for the gospel.

We are a great witness for the glory of God. And I believe that we are never more like our Heavenly Father than when we are serving. Those who have nothing to give in return. Because that's exactly what he did for us. And as we are faithful to care for the vulnerable, to care for the distress, as we are faithful to stay in ourselves with the darkness of this world, then God is faithful to make His glory known and brokenness finds healing through the power of the gospel the most pure way for us to live out our faith is to see hurting people, to see brokenness and move toward that brokenness and not away from it.

I'm so glad that God did that for you, and God did that for me. Folks, may we allow God to break our hearts for that which breaks His May we cultivate a heart of compassion that sees the broken and the vulnerable as those who need to know that they are loved and that they are valued. The compassion that causes us to lean into the struggle of that woman in crisis, to provide for her felt needs, but also to help her see that she and her child are created.

The image of God, compassion that causes us to see the orphan and point him to the love and care of his Heavenly Father compassion that causes us to mentor and advocate for the child or the teen that's in foster care, struggling with identity and attachment, compassion that causes us to come alongside the parents who are who are working hard to support their families.

Compassion that causes us to recognize the struggle of foster and adoptive parents are on the front lines of pouring into kids that are hurting compassion It causes to recognize the needs of families that are caring for children with special needs. And they need to know that their value, they need to know their worth, and these families need to be supported and encouraged.

May the work of God be moved in our hearts in such a way that compassion drives us to answer the call. So every one of us today has a role to play. Every one of us today must figure out what is it that God wants us to do. I want to leave you with these thoughts today. What is what are we what are we called to do?

What must we do? What are the takeaways for us today? First of all, I would encourage you pray faithfully for the vulnerable in your community and around the world. There are broken and hurting people right here, right here around this church. They're broken, hurting people around this community, in this state, in our country, and ultimately around the world.

And we must pray faithfully for them to lift them up before the Lord see God's blessing in their life. Pray, pray. There's nothing greater that we can do than prayer. But then number two, I want to encourage you to wrestle with what God is calling you do. Not your neighbor, not the person down the street, not the elders of the church. What's got calling you to do?

I believe that every one of us who claim Christ must wrestle God what is my role now? There's some in here that God. Are you calling you to be a foster parent? He may be calling you to be an adoptive parent, to welcome a child to your home. He may be calling you to come alongside women in crisis pregnancies and difficult situations.

He may be calling you to to do those things that seem big and hard and scary to us. Right. And they are they're difficult. But he may be calling you to come alongside those that he's calling to do that. But I promise you this, if we claim faith in Christ, then we have a responsibility. We have a role to play in manifesting the gospel to the vulnerable and visiting the orphan in the widow, in their affliction.

So I want to challenge you wrestle. What is God calling you to do? What is God calling your family to do? What is God calling your church to do? And when you get clarity on that, the final step is take your next step as quick as possible.

Don't delay, don't put it off, don't wait. Take your next step. Say, God, if this is what you want me to do, I'm going to at least start exploring it. I'm going to find out what it takes to get to a doctor. I'm going to look at what the needs are in the embrace ministry. I'm going to come alongside those who are hurting and I'm going to figure out a way to be engaged and be involved and be a part of the solution.

We would love to be able to help with that. And and there are some different ways that you can get engaged. We having conversations with pastor and others here about things that we can do as a church family together. We will do that. One thing I would encourage you visit this website, check this website to go to right now on your phone.

If you want to leave the preacher, he's going to tell you, take your phone out in church. You can take it out and go to this. I'll be okay with that. On this page. We've kind of laid out, here are some specific things that individuals can do that families can do, the churches can do. There's even like a practical page of about just kind of practical things like showing up with a meal or doing yard work, just do different things, whatever it is, wrestle with what God is calling you to do and then say yes as soon as possible.

God we got as the giver and sustainer of life. He is worthy of our praise. He is worthy of all the glory. This morning He has given life. He has given us life, but he has given us life so that we might be his ambassadors to share this good news with the vulnerable around us. May we be faithful to the task that we obey and submit to God's will and God's design in God's plan. And may we honor the Lord and care and stand for life.