Message Description

Guest teacher Mike Chilcoat launches the message series Reasonable Faith teaching out of the book of Acts to share the logic and reason behind the concept of the creation of the universe by none other than a personal and loving God.

Message Transcript

Good morning. As George mentioned, my name is Mike Chilcoat. I am on Young Life staff in what's called the Keystone Region, that is Pennsylvania and a little bit of Ohio. Don't hold that against us but that's where we're at. But my wife, Kimmy, and I, and our three girls, we live right down the street here. Again, consider Orchard Hill home. 

Thank you for having me this morning. I am sort of pinch hitting today. If you're an old Pirates fan, maybe picture me as Mike Keesler, or maybe a Craig Wilson. Remember that name? Craig Wilson. Although that was a dark era for Pirates baseball. Maybe if you're a hockey fan, I'm Casey DeSmith. Or the Steelers, we'll say I'm Charlie Batch this morning. So, thank you so much for being here and being a part of what we're doing. 

As George mentioned, we're kicking off a new series that's going to be in the book of Acts. And this morning, we're going to look in particular at Acts 17. 

The book of Acts originally was written, it was connected with the book of Luke. It was written as one book originally, then separated later. The book of Acts though, in particular, is as exciting as any book in the New Testament. It's the origin of the Christian Church, of the body of believers raising up in the church. And the opposition, and the pain, and the hardships and the difficulties that were navigated by Paul and others in the book of Acts. 

And we get here to Acts 17, and it is Paul continuing to bring the ministry to the Gentiles, bring the gospel to the Gentile world in Greece. And so, we kick off here in 17, with Paul going to Thessalonica. And then in verse 10 through 15, we see Paul travel to Berea. Not Berea, Ohio, it's Berea in Greece. Not where the Browns have training camp. Although I think it would help the Browns, if they began to have training camp in Greece, maybe more free agents would sign there with the Browns. 

And then later after that in Berea, let me say this really quickly too, extremely responsive, the Bereans. This fun, exciting moment, and if you've been around ministry long enough, or you've been in a church long enough, maybe you had one of those moments when, as you followed Christ, where you've had an opportunity to share with someone who, boy, they just lit up, and they were ready for it. 

They were just almost like a divine appointment that they wanted to come into this relationship with Jesus Christ. And it was really fruitful and productive. Or maybe you had a group of people that boy, it just feels like they were waiting for this to happen. That was the Bereans here. Really responsive to Paul's message. And they wanted to put it into action right away. 

So, Paul's coming off this great trip here. And then he slides over to Athens, also a town in Ohio. But again, this is the one in Greece. Don't get this confused, guys. I know everybody's always confusing Greece and Ohio. If you watch Mama Mia, you're like boy, Ohio looks great, right? No, this is a different place. 

So, in Athens, if you know anything about Athens, this is a place that would have been filled with great thinkers, and philosophers, and people in the town square would oftentimes be having debates and talking about philosophy, et cetera. 

And so, Paul comes and has this interaction here in Athens. I'll pick it up in verse 17. I want to read you 22 and 23. It says this; "Paul then stood up in the meeting and said, "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown God. Now what you worship is something unknown, I am going to proclaim to you." 

So, this is this incredible moment here where Paul is listening intently, he's put the time into to understand the culture. It's actually this beautiful picture Paul gives us here of cultural intelligence. He doesn't just come in like a bull in a China shop. He doesn't come in guns blazing. He listens, he understands. He's spent time understanding the culture and observing. He's very complimentary and gentle as he says, "I can see you're very religious. And as I've looked around and I've studied the culture here, I even saw one inscription that says, "To an unknown God." 

And Paul takes that little window, that little door, that crack in the door that he's given there, and he runs right through it. And he says, "Well, I would love to make known that unknown God to you. Because he is knowable." 

This would have been fascinating. This would have been shocking to the audience that was hearing this. Right? As Paul is, he's being respectful of culture, but he leverages it to talk about the one, true God and his loving design for all of mankind, for all of humankind. 

It's important to know your audience. Paul gives us a masterclass here on cultural intelligence, cultural awareness, understand the audience he's speaking to. It was funny, as I was preparing this talk, I was thinking about, and some of you know me well. If you know me well, I'm an absolute buffoon. So, I thought 273 different examples of moments where I stuck my foot in my mouth or said something I should never. Not knowing my audience. 

But one stood out in particular. I remember several years ago, it was 2009. I was at a Young Life camp just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. And I was going to spend a month there, and I was going to be the guy doing some of the comedy stuff, and doing some of the speaking, and doing the presentation stuff upfront. And if you're at a Young Life camp, they break those into four weeks, you're there for a month-long assignment. And each week has 600 students that are piling in from all around the US, and actually international as well. Young Life's in over a hundred countries. 

So, you'll have folks sometimes come from completely different cultures. And it's really fun to watch. Well, whenever I have a chance to speak or to present from upfront at a Young Life camp, I love to kind of put the time in the gym, so to speak where I'm studying the folks that are coming in so that I can make sure I understand contextually where they're coming from, and that they don't step on any toes or say anything inflammatory or offensive. And this one week, there was a group coming in from Norway and Sweden, that were coming to Georgia to be a part of this week. And I don't know how I didn't get the memo, but I did not get it. And it was literally a couple hours before we were set to begin, and I'm hearing this news that they're coming. 

And so, I don't have any time to prepare at all. And I think to myself, well, Chili ... Chili is a nickname for myself. I'm like, Chili, just don't say anything offensive, and don't touch any hot topics. And when I was doing comedy, a lot of times I would add-lib a lot, or I would shoot from the hip. So, I'm like, just play it safe here, because you haven't really put the time into study. 

So, the first night we're there. And again, I ad-libbed some. And I look in the front row, and there's a kid there, and he's eating black licorice. A big bag of black licorice. Now I'm going to say something here. And this is, you talk about a hot take, I'm going to really make a stand here. And if you're offended, I apologize. But I am going to go on record as saying black licorice is the absolute worst candy ever created. 

In fact, I wouldn't even categorize it as candy. It is awful. I don't know who invented this and said, boy, this is delicious. They're crazy. They're wrong. Other than circus peanuts, I can't think of a candy that is more offensive to me than black licorice. 

So, I see this kid eating the black licorice and I'm like, I'll just go off on that. So, I start mocking, ripping black licorice, right? Who would like this? It's awful. And the crowd is laughing and it's going well. But for some reason I can tell over here, on the right side is this group from Norway and Sweden, the Scandinavian crew that's over here. They're not laughing. 

In fact, they're not laughing at all. And they almost looked angry and offended. And I'm thinking, what could be more innocuous than talking about black licorice? But it's kind of throwing me off my game, but I finish up. And at the end of it, some of the leaders come up. And again, English is a second language, so we're trying to understand one another. And the leaders come up and basically say, "Chili, I got to be honest with you. It didn't start off on the best foot." 

We got off to a rough start, and I think that's affected the crowd. And I'm like, "I noticed that. Was everything okay? I don't feel like I touched any hot topics." 

And he was like, "Well, I'll be honest with you. The black licorice stuff was tough." 

And I was like, "The black licorice?" 

And he's like, "Yeah, I don't know if you know this, but in Norway and Sweden and Finland, and in that area of the world, black licorice is beloved, as the most important candy in the area." 

I'm like, "What? Black licorice?" 

He's like, "No, absolutely. It's in fact, it's a source of civic pride." 

I'm like, "Civic pride?" 

He's like, "Yes." And he goes, "I don't want to keep piling on, but some of the kids, some of the students that are here, their parents work for a black licorice manufacturing company." 

And I thought to myself, what are the chances that the moment where I decided I'm going to really rip into black licorice, that it's this offensive thing that sets us off on the wrong foot, and drives a wedge between us and this group of students? 

So, it is important, vital, to know our audience. To know who it is. We're speaking to, to be sensitive, to put the time in to earn the right to be heard, relationally, and to understand their perspective with gentleness, humility, and kindness. Paul really epitomizes this. He leverages that well, he models that well for us as he talks about the one, true God in his loving design for humans. 

James one says, "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. For man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." Quick to listen. So many times when I'm in a situation rather, than active listing, I'm waiting for the thing I can say, or I'm planning out my response, rather than really listening, and hearing, and putting myself in their shoes. 

He moves from this moment where he's talking in Athens in 22 and 23, and he slides the argument over, in 24 through 30, to creation, to the origin of the universe. To God's creation in particular. And I'm going to pick that up here in Acts 17. This is starting in verse 24. 

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men and women, that they should inhabit the whole earth. And he determined the times, set for them and the exact places where they should live. 

"God did this so that men and women would seek him, and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.’ For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ “Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone - an image made by man's design and skill. In the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent." 

Paul's audience would have been blown away by this. Certainly, in Athens, there was all kinds of arguments between philosophy and different schools of thought. And this one would have been new. I don't know if there was an openness there, but they certainly would have perked up, because this would have been radical. A personal, singular, one God, who's personal and desires to know people intimately, and created them with intentionality. It isn't just random chance or a cosmic accident. This would have really, really stood out. Paul knows his audience here. 

If you read another creation account in Genesis one with Moses, Moses is writing this to an enslaved people group to let them know that their existence is not random chance. He's writing them knowing that they've been enslaved, the kind of opposition and pain and difficulty and challenges and hurt that they have gone through and navigated, I can't even comprehend. I've never experienced anything like that. 

But Moses is aware of this as he's writing it, he's aware of what the audience, where they've been, what they've gone through. And he's thinking, they need to know that they were created with intentionality. That they were fearfully and wonderfully made. In fact, Psalm 139:14, that's exactly what it says. Psalm 139:14 says, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." We have God's fingerprints all over us. 

If you're a parent in the room, you'll understand this. I have three daughters. They are some of my very best friends. I mean, I love being a dad. It's been a fantastic ride. But you cannot possibly prepare yourself for the childbirth experience. You can't. I mean, literally each time, even the third one, I'm like, okay, mentally prepare yourself that your face doesn't just show the shock. You're trying to make sure your wife is comfortable and calm. 

And really, the guy's only role is to hand ice chips and say, "I'm really sorry about this. You're doing great. You look beautiful." That's really your role. So, in that process with the three daughters at this moment, that verse was rattling around in my head. Fearfully and wonderfully made, you see God's design in it. You see the intentionality behind it. It's a beautiful thing. 

Rebecca McLaughlin says this, "If we are no more than the features that can be described by science, and our only story is the evolutionary story, we have no grounds for insisting on human equality, protection of the weak, equal treatment of women, or any of the other ethical beliefs we hold dear." 

If this is the case, if that's all we are, if we could just boil it down to, that's the existence of humankind. If there's no right or wrong, if there's no absolute truth, then we won't sacrificially love anyone. If it's just, we're here to grab as much pleasure as we can have for ourselves and that's it, maybe it's Oscar Wilde's argument of hedonism, where it's like the chief end of man is my own happiness. The world revolves around me. I'm just going to grab little, fleeting moments of pleasure and that's it. That's what sums up my existence. It's not any more than that. 

If that's the case than what Rebecca McLaughlin says really holds water. An implication of morality indicates a creator. And implication of morality indicates a creator, a personal and relational creator. Now I'll get back to that, let's earmark that for now and we'll come back. 

When breaking down the possibilities of the origin of the universe, it can be separated into three potential options. Three main buckets. Those buckets for the origin of the universe would be nothing, impersonal, or personal. Nothing impersonal, or personal would be the three major buckets. 

The basic framework for the cosmological argument for the existence of God, the basic framework of that as lifted and stolen from the CS Lewis Institute, would be as follows, would break down like this: number one, if something exists now, then something has always existed, unless something comes from nothing. 

Number two, that something that always existed is most likely either the universe, or one that's created the universe. And then that leads us into number three. 

If you can eliminate the universe as being that which has always existed, you're left with the one who has created the universe. That is the basic framework of the cosmological argument for the existence of God. Right there, sums it up. 

If you asked various people around, if you went out, man on the street and did interviews here in the community, or down in downtown Pittsburgh about the origin of the universe, if you interviewed folks about the origin of the universe, a lot of them would mention or endorsed the big bang theory. That would be common. 

This theory consists of the argument that an infinitely dense piece of matter existed and exploded, in this case went bang. And from the explosion, the universe went out. This explosion happened; the universe went out. This leads us back to the beginning with the same question of, how did this infinitely dense piece of mater get there? How did it begin? How did it go bang? When did it start? 

It takes you right back to the original question, of what caused this original piece of matter? I don't want to get into this too much, but even if you look at the second law of thermodynamics, you think that the universe is continuing to expand, burning out, indicating an end. If there's an end, then, logically, we would think back to there must be a beginning. 

If we glance back at Genesis 1:26, I referenced Genesis one earlier, and I'll read that to you right now. Genesis 1:26 says this, "Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 

If you look at that, you read that account, we can see the anthropological side of this as well. At the height of creation, man is made in God's image. The height of creation, man is made in God's image. The earth had to be in place for man to survive. Humans are made to live in a gravitational environment. Everything from our blood flow to our sense of balance is influenced by this gravitational pull, by this gravitational environment here on the earth. 

When it comes to the force of the Earth's gravitational pull, if it were different, greater, or weaker by a measure of now, get this, one to one in 60 zeros, imagine that number there, life couldn't exist. Too weak, and the planets would fail to coalesce. Too strong, and the universe would collapse back in upon itself. 

Similar issues exist with the electromagnetic force, the velocity of light, both the strong and weak nuclear forces, proton to electron ratios, et cetera, et cetera. There are literally 100-plus of these that we could talk about. So, unless it can be established that these physical constants, being what they are, are somehow necessary, the choices are either that we got inconceivably lucky, or there was an intentional creation design in place, that the universe speaks to design. 

George Greenstein, the astrophysicist, says this, "Nothing in all of physics explains why its fundamental principles should conform themselves so precisely to life's requirement." 

This one of my favorite quotes, this is a great one. Robert Jastrow, a NASA scientist, also an astrophysicist himself. He said this, "For the scientist who has lived by faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak. As he pulls himself up over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries." 

The earth must orbit in energy source, the sun. Just at the right distance, rotate at the right speed. It needs to rotate at the right angle. The moon stabilizes the angle, and the other planets in the solar system stabilize the orbit. 

It's almost like before the creation of the world, someone dialed in the settings just right. Almost like before the creation in the world, someone's put the settings just right for life to exist. For you and me to be here. They're dialed in perfectly for us to exist. 

Albert Einstein says this, "Everyone who is seriously engaged in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that the laws of nature manifest the existence of a spirit vastly superior to that of men. And one in the face of which we, with our modest powers, must feel humble." That's Big Al himself, said that right there. I'm quoting really smart people here. 

The last few quotes, really smart folks. They have a pretty high IQ, right? This is by design. I did that by design. Keep in mind that I'm not the guy that you should or would have come and speak to you if we went any further into the deep complexities of the science at play here. I wouldn't be the guy. 

In fact, last night I spoke at the six o'clock service. I go into the bathroom just to wash my hands before the service begins. And I'm sitting there at the soap dispenser and I hit the pump like six, seven times. And I'm like, okay, Orchard Hill, you need to raise your budget. You need to step your game up. This is some of the lowest grade soap I've ever been around. It doesn't even lather. And then I realized when I turn it around that it's hand sanitizer, that's the guy speaking to you right now. You have to keep that in mind. And that's a real thing, that did happen. I'm a fool. 

Anyway, for more depth of insight, to dive even deeper into this, you should look up folks like William Lane Craig and John Lennox. You should read their writings. It's brilliant. It's actually a wonderful blessing to the body of believers that we have thinkers like this, that are diving into these things. Huge blessing. 

However, even a feeble brain like mine can comprehend what we're talking about and can walk out and look at the beautiful intricacies, the vastness of God's creation, and look at it and be humbled. As you look at even the science at play there, where you look at it and think, wow, God, this is beautiful. The vastness and detailed complexity of the world blows me away with the intentionality and the beauty of your design. 

With all this said, perhaps the most convincing and powerful argument for creation is found in the loving, personal, and relational nature of God, and how he draws near to us in community. God draws near. He is there, and he is not silent. God comes near. John 1:14. In fact, the message translation of John 1:14 says, "God put on flesh and moved into the neighborhood." I love that. 

That God puts on flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, and comes to be with us, to interact with us, to be relational with us. Genesis through Revelation, we see this beautiful picture of a holy, loving creator god who rolls his sleeves up and wants to be with his people. Wants to set up his tent, and spend time with us, and be with us in relational contact. 

So, here's a great question. What was God doing before creation? I don't know if you've ever thought about that. You ever thought about, what was God doing prior to creation happening? I mean, I've thought about this sometimes. It makes your brain hurt if you think about it real long. But when you think about it, there's moments where, at first, we're like, was he just kind of sitting in the dark? Was he just kind of chilling on a rocking chair, and twiddling his thumbs and thinking, man, I am bored? I need to come up with Netflix or something, this is terrible. 

Was that what was happening? No, not at all. Certainly not. No, what was at play here is that God has always existed in relationships. God has always existed in relationships, even prior to creation. How do we know that? Do you know how we know that? We know that through the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity screams to that, it's so important. A big, neon arrow to this relational side of it, that God has always been active, always been creative, and has always expressed his love. Always. Eternally. In fact, God is love. He is the very epitome and manifestation of love. 

God has always been love. The doctrine of the Trinity shows us this relational, give-and-take, this community, this right relationship between God in three persons that we see God's relational side. 

This is mind blowing. In John 17:24, the verse says this. This is from Jesus himself, "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me." When? "Before the creation of the world." It says it right here. And Jesus is like, all throughout eternity the doctrine of the Trinity has proclaimed the glory of God, and also his relational nature. 

In the same way, earlier in John 17:5, it says this, "Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began." Relationships and love were not something human beings thought up and created. It's more fundamental to the universe than matter itself. It's more fundamental to your existence and who you are than matter itself. 

Now, this is elusive. When we start talking about love, and the word love, and loving relationships, boy you look at the world and every song, and certainly any breakup song in any movie or any TV show, all of it. I mean 99.9% of it, in some way, interacts with love. They talk about it, it's elusive, they can't quite figure it out. 

Some of it is manifested in a way that's really unhealthy, and painful, and difficult and you watch it. And again, I work with adolescents. And so many times when you're talking with students, boy, they're, as the old song says, looking for love in all the wrong places. Or they're running into these to help fill this void, this eternal void. 

And we talk about love, certainly a loving father. Some people have had a real bad experience, maybe, with their father growing up. or maybe they had no experience at all. Maybe they didn't know their father. Some people have been in situations that are far more painful than I could even imagine. It's difficult to navigate this conversation then, but we do have a loving father. We have the ultimate picture of what a father should be. The person of Jesus Christ. 

This explains why we are relational. Because we are made in God's image, we are hard-wired to be in close relationships. It's in our very DNA. And this is a hard year we're coming off of. I mean, are you kidding me? Next week it's going to be, maybe it already is. I think next week is going to be a year. The shutdown. 

It was funny, recently I found some old emails. I was doing a big event in downtown Pittsburgh a year ago. And the emails are like, hey, I think this COVID thing might be legit. And then the other emails are like, nah, give it a few weeks. It'll be fine. Right? Here we are a year later. 

And I think a lot of us have gone through a little more pain in this year than maybe we've even realized, some worse than others. But there's some PTSD, there's bound to be some PTSD that we've experienced through this because we're created to be in relationships. And this has been taken from us. One thing that I think will springboard out of this, that I think is really good in a year of so many bad things, there's some good things too. And one of the good things I think that'll happen from this is that it will not be as hard, as it was maybe in 2019 and earlier, to lovingly and with gentleness and respect, to lovingly convince folks that you can't put all your confidence in this world. 

This world will let you down. It's not all bad, but this world will let you down. It will not fill you up eternally. It can't possibly stand up under that. It will rust, spoil, or fade. This world will disappoint. Maybe because of the year, we've gone through, and the world is, the captive audience that the Lord's had to talk, and speak and say, boy, there's another opportunity here to be in a right relationship. You can't put all your confidence in this world. 

Human love relationships are not biological accidents or evolutionary adaptations. Human relationships reflect the very nature of God and ultimate reality. Now let's circle back now through the lens of, we talked about God's creation and the relational aspect of it and how God has always been relational throughout time and throughout history, and he's hardwired us to be that way. Now, if you read Paul, and in 17:24 through 30, read it through the lens of Paul knowing his audience, and speaking to them about why they needed to hear about how they were lovingly created and not a cosmic accident. 

It's a great time to ask the question, what's the basis for human dignity? Why do you and I even matter? Why does any of this matter? If God is the creator, okay, great. Well, what does that mean for you and me? Let's go back and look at some of these verses. 

Here's 24, "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands." You were created intentionally and lovingly to be in a right relationship with God. Life to the fullest. You're not a cosmic accident, you were fearfully and wonderfully made. 

In 25 it talks about, "He is not served by human hands as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men and women life and breath and everything else." 

In 26, he talks about all nations as well. So, all men and women, all nations. I love that this is added. Because this is so important for us to know through gentleness, and respect, and understanding, and humility, other cultures, other ethnicities, other colors, other backgrounds, other socioeconomic statuses. For us to seek to understand with humility and to celebrate the differences. 

Sometimes we think that the answer is colorblindness, no, it's color consciousness. It's caring so much that you look at the beauty of how God made things so different, and intimate, and crazy and awesome all around. And all the differences are this beautiful tapestry of the mosaic of God's creation. And that we can love people enough to get to know where they're from, and what they're about, and what their experiences were like. 

Otherwise, we undermine experiences or hardships that folks have faced. So here Paul again, speaking lovingly about God's creation, and how you're not a cosmic accident. And this is for everybody, all nations. God's the originator of all things. 

In 27, boy, and this is as big as any spot in here. "God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." I love that. This is major good news here. There is a supreme God, both transcendent and immanent. He graciously desires a relationship with you and with me. He reaches out to us. He wants to be found by you if you reach out to him. 

But he also pursues us, he's the hound of heaven. Continually pursuing us and offering this free gift, this gracious gift of a relationship with him. Unearned, unmerited favor. In fact, Matthew 7:7 says, "Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you." That is a promise, Orchard Hill Church. 

28 and 29, Paul talks about avoiding idols and idol worship. "Surely, the true God of the universe is greater than something made by humans." You might turn this part off and be like, idols? And is this like the Brady Bunch episode where Greg falls off the surfboard because they're worshiping the little wooden idol or whatever? 

No, it's not necessarily a wooden, or created idol. An idol could be anything. It could be your importance, you're putting all your importance and all your eggs in the basket of money, or sports, or prestige at work, or status. Or maybe if you're a younger person, maybe it's how you're viewed on Snapchat or Instagram. These all can be idols. These all can be things that we're putting our confidence in and saying, "This will fill me up. This will be the one true thing." 

Surely the God of the universe is greater than something made by humans. And then in verse 30, Paul gets direct and puts it bluntly, "A personal invitation to change your mind and to turn to the one true creator, God. God will return as righteous judge." It's a promise here. "So, turn to him today, and be completely forgiven." 

God's graciousness is complete, and total, and overwhelming and abundant, and it's not earned, it's a free gift given to you and me. We can trust in and believe in Jesus with our head and our heart. We can walk in that confidence. 

Jesus, thank you so much for this time, this opportunity to talk about your majesty, your glory, your creation, your love. That, Lord, we're not a cosmic accident. That you created us with intentionality, that you care for us beyond what we could even comprehend. Lord, we thank you for that. We're humbled by that. Lord, help us to spring to life with new confidence in who you say we are Lord and help us to trust you as we put our hand in yours. In your name, I pray, amen.