The Lure of the Easy Way

Introduction

Good morning. If you will open with me in your Old Testament, it’s to 1 Chronicles, chapter 21. We’re not in the book of Psalms, so it is a chapter. 1 Chronicles, chapter 21. There’s a story that must be dated based on the prices, but the story goes of a little boy who was going to be taught what sacrifice meant. What he really wanted was a pack of bubblegum, and I guess it took more than 25 cents but less than 50 cents. This is just the illustration as it is. So his parents said, Well, this gum that you want takes two quarters. So this Sunday morning, we’re going to give you two quarters. But one of them is the Lord’s quarter, and one of them is for you.

After some back and forth and learning that this is what he had to do, and this is what it meant to give something of his to God, he went along with it. So the first week he saved is one quarter. And he said, Well, you know what? Just next week, I’m going to be able to get that bubble gum. Well, the next week comes and the family’s out to breakfast before they come to worship services, and he can put in his other quarter, and his mom says, Here’s the Lord’s quarter, and here is your quarter. And wouldn’t you know it as they’re walking out of the restaurant? One of the quarters drops out of his pocket and falls down in the storm drainage pipe. The little boy looks at his mommy and goes, Mommy, there goes the Lord’s quarter.

See, little kids have a way of being innocent and expressing thoughts that sometimes we as adults share, except it’s not as cute and it’s certainly not as funny when we do it. The truth of the matter is, all of us, from young to old, are allured by this idea of an easy way out. There is an enticement, a temptation to take what is easy and go along that path. Which can be okay if that easy and right path is what God wants for us. The problem we’re going to examine this morning is what it means to be a sacrifice and what God expects of us. Don’t often, if at all, go along with the idea of an easy way. If you see in 1 Chronicles chapter 21, we see David violated what should have been an easy idea from God.

1. David Transgressed God’s Law

And 1 Chronicles chapter 21, beginning in verse 1. Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring me a report that I may know their number. But Joab said, May the Lord add to his people a hundred times as many as they are. Are they not my Lord, the king, all of them my Lord’s servants? Why then should my Lord require this? Why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel? But the king’s word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came back to Jerusalem. And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to David, and all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand men who drew the sword, and in Judah four hundred and seventy thousand who drew the sword.

But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, for the king’s command was abhorrent to Joab. But God was displeased with this thing, and he struck Israel, and David said to God, I have sinned greatly in that I have done this thing, but now please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly. What we see here is a couple very easy things. This is the story where David defines what sacrifice is for us. What does it mean to be pleasing to God? What does God expect and what does God require? Well, first of all, we see from the first several verses, God did not want David to take this census. Now we can examine a couple of reasons why, but we see the fact is this is a problem.

Warning number one is when you see Satan is behind it. Look with me in 1 Chronicles 21, verse 1 again. Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number them. So that’s going to be a big clue to us that this was not right. A second clue is in verse 3. What is Joab’s response? When David goes ahead and says, I want my numbers counted, I want to know how many men of battle we have, what is Joab’s reaction? Does he say, That’s great, I can’t wait to find out. No, in fact, we see later that’s abhorrent to Joab, but even in verse 3, he says, Are they not all that he had named my Lord the king, all of them my Lord’s servants? Why then should my Lord require this?

Why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel? Joab recognized it was wrong. We see Satan’s involvement, we see David go for it anyway. We say Joab’s objection, and you see the next part in verse 4, but the king’s word prevailed against Joab. And then, of course, finally you see the action taken. And in case we weren’t clear that this was wrong, look at verse 7. But God was displeased with this thing, and he struck Israel. What is the problem? Without diving into great detail, it seems likely that David’s pride is what is being called out in its sinful nature here. Instead of trusting in God for the victory, what was he involved with? Counting his mighty men, knowing how good at battle he could be, how much they could be in defensive, and how offensive they could be with who they have added up.

And if you look at Joab’s comments in verse 3, the idea of having everyone already there for him seems to make that point clear. But nonetheless, David transgressed God’s law. In fact, this displeased God, and David recognized it. And for the first of two times this morning, we’re going to see David makes a great point and example for us. His first example in verse eight, what does he do? Upon recognizing his sin and finally turning to do what’s right, in verse eight, he says to God, he confesses, I have sinned greatly, and that I have done this thing. But now please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly. David recognizes that he has violated God’s will on the issue he needs to change, and that starts with confessing his sin and asking to be forgiven.

2. I Will Not Offer That Which Costs Me Nothing

But you see, secondly, as the story continues, there would still be punishment. Yes, God will forgive sins, but like as God handled David with the sin of David and Bathsheba, there still were physical consequences for his sin, albeit he was spiritually forgiven. Look with me in verse 9. And the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, Go and say to David, Thus says the Lord, three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you. So Gad came to David and said to him, Thus says the Lord, choose what you will, either three years of famine, or three months of devastation by your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the Lord, pestilence on the land, with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.

Now decide, what answer shall I return to him who sent me? Then David said to Gad, I am in great distress. Let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is very great, and do not let me fall into the hand of men. Verse 14, so the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell. And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. But as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw, and he relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, It is enough, now stay your hand. And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan and the Jebusite. And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem.

Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. Now, in addition to being guilty of sin, David is faced with a terrible decision, and all kinds of childhood flashbacks probably came to you as they did me. When the Lord says, David, you have to do what now? Because you have sinned and punishment is coming, you get to pick your punishment. Now, luckily it seems like it’s a generational thing. I didn’t grow up in the time where I had to go out and pick up these things they call switches off of trees. They’re branches, that’s funny. Haha, yeah. And so you would go and pick your punishment, and the whole time the idea would be that you knew it was coming. And don’t make any mistake, I was not spared the rod by any means.

I just got to look at it the whole time sitting in front of me. I knew what I’d be spanked with. But as you think about the punishment, the torment that would go into picking your punishment. And David. What’s interesting about David’s punishment, all three of the options share something in common. David would not be the only one affected. In each case, whether it be the three years of war, uh, of pestilence, the three months of pest three years of war, three months of pestilence, and the going out and having the angel of the Lord go across the field. Who would be affected? Even with the Lord’s trust, even with all that David put in the Lord, and that he would be gracious and merciful, what happened?

Seventy thousand men of Israel fell. David was not among them. As king, was David affected? Absolutely. As king, was David’s army diminished and his pride perhaps taken down a notch? Absolutely it was. But who was punished for the sin that David knew he was guilty of and in charge of? It was his people who he was king over. What a powerful and humbling blow that David would have had to live with. And thanks be to God that David made a good decision, in which case we see borne out by the fact that God did relent of disaster when he came upon Jerusalem. He stopped the angel, and saw that the seventy thousand was enough punishment was delivered. But note that David’s return to God didn’t stop there.

It didn’t stop with simple punishment, it didn’t stop with simple confession. He went a step further. In verse 17, David said to God, Was it not I who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done great evil, but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Lord my God, be against me and against my father’s house. But do not let the plague be on your people. Now the angel of the Lord had commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. So David went up at Gad’s word, which he had spoken in the name of the Lord. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.

He turned and saw the angel and his four sons who were with him, hid themselves. As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out from the threshing floor and paid homage to David with his face to the ground. And David said to Ornan, give me the side of the threshing floor that I may build on it an altar to the Lord. Give it to me its full price, that the plague may be averted from the people. Then Ornan said to David, Take it, and let my Lord the king do what seems good to him. See, I give the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for a grain offering. I give it all.

Then the Lord commanded the angel and put his sword back into its sheath. We see that David had one more command of God to follow. He had to build an altar, and that would end the destruction, the devastation on his people that David was responsible for at the hand of the punishment that David selected. And yet we see David teach us a critical lesson in verse 24. I will not offer to God that which costs me nothing. The truth about the Lord of the easy way is we think that we can have it both ways. The Lord of the Easy Way is not just in its simplicity, although that is often an enticement. The idea of taking the easy way is that I have two pathways that get me to the same destination.

So why go with great difficulty? It’s kind of like when you’re setting out on a road and you see a pathway that has I four and any other pathway that does not have I4. If at all possible, you don’t take I4. But sometimes you have to. Sometimes that’s the way it is required. It’s the only way to get there without going an extra 30, 40, 50 minutes out of your way. And more so than roads and having to deal with traffic and annoying cut-ins and cut-outs of lanes. We understand that God has prescribed one way to be pleasing to him. One way that we can be reconciled to him. David did exactly what God commanded him every step of the way, and he was unwilling to take the cheap and easy way out.

3. We Lose Out on What Is Our Best

He recognized that his sin and that his God required him to offer a true sacrifice, dedicating something that cost him something. So why is the easy way so tempting? I think we can see a few examples from the Bible that show us why we might share in the struggle. First of all, the easy way is hard because when we talk about sacrificing, we don’t want to give up the easy way because then we lose out on what is our best. Look with me in Malachi chapter 1. Look with me in the first chapter of the book of Malachi, you’ll see what the Jews struggled with. When it comes to sacrifice and trying to take an easy way out. In Malachi chapter 1 and verse 6, now this is after the people have gone into captivity for not worshipping God and honoring him as God.

And then they went into captivity and they came back, and they should be spiritually restored and refreshed, and yet here we find them in Malachi 1 and verse 6. A son honors his father and a servant is master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise my name. But you say, How have we despised your name? By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, How have we polluted you? By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised. When you offer blind animals and sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil?

Present that to your governor. Will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts. And now entreat the favor of God that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you, says the Lord of hosts? Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the doors that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain. I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. What was the problem with the Jews? The problem was that they were doing what God said. But they weren’t doing it in a manner of sacrifice. They weren’t fulfilling all of God’s commandments. And that’s the truth about our discussion this morning.

It’s not about an easy way or a hard way, and you’d be wise to take the easy way. It’s that there is only one way. Were the Jews offering sacrifices in the time of Malachi? Yes, they were. Were they offering different animals as they should? Yes, they were. And yet in verse 8, what was the problem? In their evil, wicked hearts, they offered the sick, the lame, the blind. How egregious is that? What was the problem? Well, first of all, you see in verse 8, how bad was it? Malachi even says to them, present that to your governor as he records. Will he accept that? We wouldn’t even do that to the best of men. And yet sometimes we offer to God that which isn’t our best.

It’s pretty easy to see the tie-in and application this morning. When it comes to something like our time or our flexibility, there’s pretty much nothing we value in this life more than our time. So why would we not devote it all to God? If we know God is worthy of the sacrifice, if we know that Jesus in Luke 9 23 tells us we have to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow after Him, we know we should sacrifice our lives, including our time. So why don’t we? The answer is pretty easy. It all boils down to no matter how you get there, no matter who you are and what your personality is like. It comes back to one factor. We want to guard our time.

Because we think of it as ours rather than God’s. The nature of sacrifice in the Old Testament was not because God just loves a bunch of animals and he needed to eat, he needed to feast on it. In fact, in Acts chapter 17, Paul points out that God doesn’t need any of those animals. He doesn’t need a temple made by human hands. Our God is sufficient for all of his own desires. So why then make sacrifice necessary and mandatory? Why require the Jews to offer their best when they could otherwise have benefited from it? Because God wants us to learn, just like the Jews, that God needs to come first and only in our priorities in this life. Our everything, whether it be time or money, or you name another asset that we possess.

It is from God, and it is for God. And that is the perspective that sacrifice takes. David understood that as king, he could have made Ornan give him the field. In fact, Ornan even offers it. David could have taken him up on his offer. And yet, what was David’s words to him? I will not offer a burnt offering to God, which costs me nothing. How do we guard our time? Do we make sure that we have time set aside so that we can just kind of relax and do whatever it is we feel like to the detriment of God’s will? When we know Christians are in need of help or encouragement, or God is worthy of worship and praise, which is a 24-7 option. Do we kind of sit back and say, you know what?

I just want to have some time because I deserve it. Neither Ken nor I, nor the elders, nor anyone who worships here, is here to suggest that we don’t need sleep, we don’t need alone time, we don’t need to be with our family. In fact, we need all of those things if we’re going to encourage one another and we’re going to grow and become and be more pleasing to God. But at some point, and to some extent, we have to look at our calendars and say, am I doing anything for God? Or am I trying to do the bare minimum? You see, the Israelites did essentially the bare minimum. They did offer an animal sacrifice. But how did God do that? Evil in vain. And as verse 10 says, Oh, that there one among you who would shut the doors that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain.

4. We Don’t See the Problem

I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord. We know we need to offer our best. That means putting God first. A second reason the easy way is so tempting is frankly, because we don’t see the problem. We don’t see that there is a more difficult way to take. We think we found the right road, and if it’s easy and it works, then why not stay on it? But look with me in Isaiah chapter one, we see this problem before captivity. In Isaiah chapter one, note the condition of the people of Israel. Isaiah chapter one in verse three, a very flattering description. I say that with the utmost sarcasm. Isaiah chapter one and verse three. The ox knows its master, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know.

My people do not understand. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly, they have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. Why will you be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint, from the soul of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it. Does this sound like a delightful picture of God’s people? Of course not. A pe sinful people laden with iniquity, sick from head to toe, or from the sole of the foot to the head? Of course not. And yet if you continue on, you see the people were worshiping God, at least as we would call it.

If you pick up the reading with me in verse 10, hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the teaching of our God, that you people of Gomorrah. What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my cords? Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations, I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feast, my soul hates. They have become a burden to me.

I am weary of burdening them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. The people of Israel were continuing to worship God. They were offering him sacrifice after sacrifice. And in this text, we don’t even see that they were offering the blame, the lame, the blind, the sick. But what was God’s feeling towards these vain sacrifices? It was burdensome to him. The text says they were wearying God. That’s a scary description of a people.

You can look at verses 3 and 4 all you want and see how they were a sinful people, laden with iniquity, but when you see that they, as a people, wearied God, that’s a problem. And then it’s magnified, then you say, wait a minute. In their worship, in their sacrifices that were only for God, they were wearying him. They were burdening God. That means for me that I have to do a real self examination and understand that sometimes I take the easy way out because I’ve never stopped to ponder is this truly what God wants? I take a compilation of kind of snippets I’ve heard from sermons and Bible class and a couple verses that I’ve read in Bible study, and I pair it with what I think is best, what I know to be a pattern that I’m used to seeing or being a part of.

And we get into our ruts. We get into our habits. And sometimes I can be just like the Jews, offering what I call sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice. And God says, I take no pleasure in them. That’s a real problem that we have to examine. When we don’t see a problem with not giving our all to God, we have missed the entirety of what God wants for us. Through different preachers, such as Joel Osteen and other prominent names, there’s a bad rap, and appropriately so for what’s called the prosperity gospel. But sometimes, even we, I think, at least me, find myself thinking that you know what, God does want me to be happy. God wants me to have a carefree life. When the fact is, God never promises those things.

He wants us to have happiness and peace and joy and the true, full versions of what those mean. And that means that means being a part of the body of Christ, trusting in God for salvation, and one day having the utmost joy and peace, being with our God forever. That’s what God wants for us. And if I know that’s the destination, and I’m examining that there’s an easy way, and I see all the warnings in the Bible that talk about how difficult it will be, and how if you follow after Jesus, you’ll be persecuted like he was. If you follow after the prophets, you’ll be persecuted as they were. Then I know that if I’m on the easy way, I’m missing some details. I’m missing some of what my God wants from me.

5. The Price for the Only Way Is Far Too High

What my God wants from me and expects, as we’ll examine momentarily, is complete self-denial and submission to his well. And the truth is that’s the rub, and that’s the part that really kicks some of us off the bandwagon and onto the easy way. It’s tempting because the price for the right way, the price for the only way, is far too high. In Luke chapter 14 and verse 25 through 33, Jesus gives two different examples in which he’s imploring those listening to him to count the cost of following me. He says, no one would begin to build a tower without first counting the cost. No one would go out to war without figuring out do they have the proper amount of troops. If we’re going to count the cost of following Jesus, we’re going to recognize that that cost is a lot.

That cost is not only time, money, effort, it might cost me relationships, it might cost me discomfort, and it can and will bring problems along the way through persecution of a dark world that has always persecuted the light that’s trying desperately to shine in it. The world persecuted Jesus. If we’re going to follow in his footsteps, if we’re going to fulfill the words of 1 Peter chapter 2, not only are we going to walk in his footsteps, we’re going to recognize that when Jesus was reviled, he did not revile in return. It’s going to be hard. Because when somebody wrongs me, I want to wrong them back. When people don’t put in their full effort, I think that maybe I don’t have to go full throttle either.

6. The Anatomy of a Sacrificed Life

But the truth is, Jesus never says a single word about being too zealous, being too faithful, or being too committed to the cause of righteousness. And if we’re not giving our all, then it’s either because we think we don’t have a problem. We just are holding something back for ourselves. Or we just don’t want to pay the price at all. There’s only one way to be pleasing to God, and that is through the anatomy of a sacrificed life. If you look at Luke 9 23, Jesus breaks it down very simply for us. Luke chapter 9 and verse 23, many of you no doubt already know the verse. And he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow after me.

What does it mean to sacrifice your life? How is it that, like David offering a burnt offering, we are to be living sacrifices as Paul commands in Romans chapter 12 and verse 1? First of all, it begins with understanding that there is a need and a right singular pathway for me to be on. You see that in Luke 9 23. Do you see the first words we often read out we read over them? If anybody would come after me, do you want to follow after Jesus? I think anyone, most in most cases, on a Sunday morning listening to a sermon is going to raise their hand and say, Yes, I want to follow Jesus. But then we have to remember what that same Jesus said in Luke 14.

We have to count the cost. Have to recognize that persecution, trials, tribulations, sacrifice is required. Do I really want to follow Jesus? If you notice with me in Matthew chapter 10 and verse 38, quickly what Jesus says to this effect. In Matthew chapter 10 and verse 38, as you consider what all entails choosing to follow Jesus, what does it mean to give your all for him? Matthew chapter 10, pick up the reading with me in verse 34. Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter in law against her mother-in-law, and a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. There’s part of that cost laid out by Jesus. Are we willing and aware of the need to pay the price of severing even the closest of relationships if it would take us off that one narrow pathway that leads to life? Really, the rub is not volunteering to follow Jesus. The rub is in actually following him. You see the second part of Luke 9.23. Let him deny himself. This is the crux of the matter because when we make decisions, when we try to go through what it means to be part of the local church, what it means to be a Christian, it means self-denial.

It means it’s no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. If we woke up every morning as individuals and as a collective and said, What can I do this day for God? How different would our day look? How different would our impact on the community be if it wasn’t about how I can get through my work and get through some tough times to get to the one good thing that I’m looking forward to? What if rather than looking at each thing on our plate as an obstacle or something to get over with or to get through, we looked at it as an opportunity when we can be found pleasing to God, when we can shine our light so that others may see our good God and glorify him.

I have to stop looking out for me, and that means when I wake up, not thinking about what I have to do, but about what I can do for God and others. Denying self is incredibly hard because it by nature demands true sacrifice. And David was even unwilling to offer a burnt offering that cost him nothing. Do we think we can be pleasing to God by saying we’re denying ourselves, but still, at least some or most, or a partial amount of the time, living for self. That does not compute. It doesn’t reason with how Jesus expects his people to follow after him. It doesn’t show or follow in the footsteps of how Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins. At what point did Jesus stop and say, you know what?

This is for me. You know what? I’m going to take some time. The only time Jesus is found pulling himself away, it’s when he was doing what? Taking advantage of his relationship with God. Praying, studying, meditating. Jesus knew what it meant to live a life wholeheartedly focused on serving God and submitting to his will. And the question of denying self is not, am I doing my best, although that’s part of it. If I look at how I’ve lived and the decisions I’ve made, am I denying self in the name of others? Do I take every opportunity available to worship God and to encourage fellow saints? Or do I not? It’s a yes or no question. And Jesus demands the answer be, yes, I’ll deny myself. And thirdly, I will take up my cross daily and follow after him.

We have essentially a similar choice, if not identical choice, and a parallel thread spiritually, as the choice that Joshua gave the Jews who were following him back in Joshua chapter 24 and verses 15 and 16. We are to choose this day whom we will serve, but recognize there is only one way to please God. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And in Luke 9 23, he says, if anyone wishes to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow after me. What does it mean to live a sacrifice life? Recognize there’s a calling we’re living for. We have to deny self and say, how can I serve others?

Conclusion

What time do I have and what can I do with that for God? And thirdly, it begins every day. And sometimes that’s the lure of the easy way. Is that I’ve done a lot of sacrifice and ready for it to be my turn. Jesus never had his turn. He was crucified on the cross for our sins, so that we might live, and God’s will would be carried out. To follow after Jesus means to likewise deny self, pick up our cross, do so daily, and follow after him. Maybe you’re here this morning and you’ve never taken up your cross and followed after Jesus. You recognize he is Lord, but you’ve never let him take control of your life. You’ve never denied self in the name of obeying God.

Recognize that Jesus’ call is still there for you. It is possible today that you can believe in him, trust in him, confess your wrongdoing, repent of your sins and be baptized into the crucifixion, be buried with him, and rise to walk in newness of life as Jesus was also resurrected from the dead. And you can have your sins forgiven. You can begin your walk with Christ today. Or it might be that maybe you’re here a Christian this morning and you’ve kind of allowed the daily effort to fail. You’ve denied self sometimes, but you’ve been selfish on others. Recognize that as a body of Christ, we can pray with you, we can pray for you. And above all, our God is to be glorified, and to Him belongs all glory, honor, and praise.

Be pleasing to God today. If we can help you in any way, come forward as we stand and sing the invitation song.