09.20.26 Sermon-In the Image of God

0:00Thank you, John. All right, with that, I'm going to bite Kurt up and he is going to read the text for us. So, would you guys please stand and honor of God's Word as Kurt comes to read. Then God said, let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky. He died over the livestock and all the animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So, God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. Thank you, you may be seated. Thanks, Kurt. Another short text for us this week, but very powerful as we shall see. All right, would you guys pray with me before we dive into the Word today?

1:01Lord, God, we come before you and we just open our hearts to receive what you have to say to us through your Word. God, pray for clarity, pray for conviction and Lord, ask that your Holy Spirit would guide us into your truth. Lord, encourage those who need that boost of encouragement and strength, convict those of us who just need a little conviction to align ourselves closer to your Word. God, it's all in your love and it's all according to the truth of your Word. So, would you guide us today in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Okay, our new campaign that we started last week is called Being Human. And in this campaign, we're going through how we can hold on to our God-given humanity in the age of AI. So, as AI continues to develop and expand and become more and more common in our everyday usage, these questions are going to be asked more and more by our culture and it's really important for us to have clarity as the church about what it means to be human as AI is going to challenge some of those pre-seppositions.

2:01And we want to avoid a lot of the just simple answers, right? I'm just like, oh, this is human, this isn't human. We want to dig in to what the Word of God actually says because the Word of God has a rich anthropology. Anthropology is a big term, it just means like study of humanity, right? So, it reveals a lot about what it means to be human and so we want to dig in deep so that as AI continues to influence our lives and how we adopt it into our lives, we can do so wisely and we can do so with integrity and with clarity of thought and that we can be the conscience to the culture. Okay, because that's part of the responsibility of the church is to say in our culture to say like, here's where the lines are according to the truth of God's Word. And whether the culture listens or not, like that's on them. Our responsibility is to just speak with clarity and truth according to God's Word and we have a great opportunity to do so in this space. In fact, I think this is one of the biggest spaces that the church is going to have to speak into and that the church needs to have clarity on in the coming era or this era that is currently here.

3:03What does it mean to be human, especially as AI continues to grow and expand? Today, as you can probably tell from the text that Kurt read for us, we are talking about the image of God. As I was thinking about the image of God and the concept of an image, right, got me thinking about AI, especially in this topic, and what image is AI made in? And I'm not going to go into great details throughout this campaign of like how AI works in large part because I don't know. And I'm not an expert on that and you guys shouldn't take my word for it too much if I were to go into that. But from what I understand, how AI works is it operates on this thing called large language models. And so what these companies do who have developed AI technology, they train their AI on just billions of pages that humans have written and public things that have been posted online, books that have been written.

4:09And so what AI does when you type in a prompt is it just like based on all of that information that it has, again, like billions of pages, there's a lot of information. Based on that information, it can kind of spit back what it would guess to be the next word in each sentence. And it's learning, it's growing, it's developing, that may be out of date by now, I don't know. But from what I've heard, it's kind of like a neural network even now where it has representations of words at this point and it can use those representations to then respond based on that. So it's developing, it's growing, it's learning, but that's kind of the basis of it. Is this been trained on human language, right? So then I think we can say that AI is built in our image because it's built on the language and the words that humans have put out into the world. And therefore the way that it processes information is really based on how we process information so we could perhaps even say that AI is built on our image. So what that means is that it is capable of both great good and great evil, right?

5:12Just like humans are created in the image of God, we're capable of good and evil, so AI will be. And so again, I hope you aren't scared by this, we're the church. Like we know that God is sovereign as we talked last week. We have a good biblical anthropology to fall back on, like we have the truth of God's word. And so we shouldn't be afraid as these things continue to develop and change. We know the end of the story, we know what God has said and we know that He is faithful and He will bring to being what He has promised. So it will be capable of great good, it will also be capable of great evil. But humans have kind of always been like that, right? So it's not a lot new. It's just going to happen faster and change a little bit. One of my big concerns with AI was like, what image is it going to be made in in the sense of what worldview is it going to adopt? Okay. So I did some tests this week and I just kind of asked it some big questions like does God exist? What's the basis of human ethics? Stuff like that.

6:12And it actually answered really well, I was shocked at how well it answered. It didn't just give me one worldview or one answer. It was great, it like outlined some of the primary ideas that humans have come up with. It gave me like six different options and say, well, there's this one, there's this one, there's this one. So I think this, something that I'm like, that's actually really good. That's a great use of AI. The danger is if AI starts to just pick one worldview and then promote that. Then we're really asking like, whose image is this made in? But right now I think the creators are doing a good job with that. So that's kind of tangentially related to the image of God, but let's dig in. The idea that we're going to see is that like humans are creating a God's image, AI never can and never will be. And so that changes the way we treat each other and we're going to talk about dignity today as a result of humans having the image of God. That comes from Genesis 126. So again, if you haven't joined us, if you were just joining us in the summer and you haven't been here with us in the fall or through the school year last year, I'm just going to go through the text right now and kind of do the nerdy stuff and then I'll come back up and apply it after we worship a little bit.

7:18So let's go through the text. In Genesis 1, we're going to be in in verse 26 here. The context we have to note that this is day six of creation. So this means that this is God's crowning achievement in creation. Right? And what that means is humanity. When God creates humans. And so this means that humans are more glorious than stars. Okay? This means that when you look at a beautiful sunrise over the ocean, this means that human beings are more beautiful than that. This means that human beings are more intriguing than the most interesting sea creature. I don't know about you, but when I see like national geographic stuff and I see like all the crazy things that exist under the ocean, I'm like, what on earth? Like that's so interesting. I'm like stunned by that. Humans are more intriguing than that. Okay? The problem for so many of us is that humans are so common in our experience of life that we see one another, renear act with one another, which is great, which is the way we're designed. And we should exist in community, which is what we're supposed to be. But because it becomes so common and familiar, then it loses, we lose our awe at the beauty and the dignity of humanity.

8:25And the people who are sitting right next to us. And we fail to see the glory that God has given us. So humans are exalted by this. Right? We're creating in God's image on day six of creation where the crowning achievement of God's creation. And we're giving his image, right? In Psalm 8, the Psalmist, David is kind of wrestling with this. Like the tension that we talked about last week. Here we're creating in God's image that exalts us. Last week we said like, in the beginning, God, not in the beginning humans. Okay? So God created God is the ultimate truth of the universe. He is the one in whom is life. And he breathes his life into us that we don't have it in of ourselves. So that humbles us. So the Psalmist, David, here is wrestling with this tension of the humility of humanity, but also the glory of humanity. And in Psalm 8, he writes, when I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have said in place,

9:26and this is David in the ancient world. He's looking at this. He doesn't have a quarter of the amount of scientific information and knowledge that we have today about what the stars are. But he still looks at the stars. He's like, whoa, those are cool. Like we look at them now. We can say, whoa, the universe galaxies. This is awesome. The same truth applies. What is man that you are mindful of him and the scent of man that you care for him? So David is looking out at the universe and he's like, why do you care about us? Right? We're relatively small creations, creatures on a pretty small planet. And there's like billions of us. So what makes us so special? Yet, transition, humility, now glory. You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. David is reflecting likely in the creation account from Genesis when he writes this song. You are given him dominion over the works of your hands, and you have put all things under his feet.

10:31I'll sheep and oxen and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the past of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all of the earth. Today, we're reflecting on this tension, right? That humans, we shouldn't be too prideful because we're created beings. And we also shouldn't be, we shouldn't think too little of ourselves because God gave us His image and He loves us. Going further in this text, in Genesis 1, it says, where are we? God says, let us make mankind in our image. That term mankind in the Hebrew is the term Adam. So you can hear that. What's happening in Genesis 1, the name Adam, Adam, it means human. So depending on the context, it can be referring to mankind and be translated mankind to all humanity. It can refer to Adam, the individual, or it can refer to the male gender.

11:39So we have to let the context determine which is which. And here in Genesis 1, 26, it's clearly referring to all mankind because in the next verse, it will say, God created the male and female in His image. So he's talking about all humanity is created in the image of God. The term Adam, it also sounds like the term in Hebrew for dust or ground, which is Adam. Hebrew does this often, sorry, I'm not a little bit. Hebrew does this often, we're like words sound similar. And they don't necessarily have the same meaning, but when they sound similar and they're used similarly, you kind of like, let me just show you. Genesis 2 verse 7 says this, then the Lord, Yahweh, God, formed a man that is Adam from the dust of the ground that is Adam. You see what's happening in Genesis 2 and God forms them out of the dust of the ground. It's not only a statement on the material of which we're made of, which is the same material as the earth, it's referring to our mortality, right, that we will die one day.

12:39And breathe life into his nostrils, the breath of life. There's a lot happening there too, but I'm not going there. We're talking about that last week. That's like the spirit of God that he gives us. And so we see this kind of dueling concept about the human. We see glory and we see humility, right. We're creating the image of God, give him glory, we're created beings, we're creating the image of God, God gives us authority to rule over all of creation. So that exalts us, loves us up. But also we're created beings, God's God, we're not, and we're created from dust and we're mortal and we'll die. So that humbles us, right. It's perfect. So you can't think too little of yourself, you also can't think too highly of yourself. The biblical anthropology of what it means to be human is absolutely perfect. It's almost as if it was inspired by God. Because we see in our life experience that it is wrong and it is not according to the truth, in that sense, to think too low of yourself.

13:41Because God has given you his image and he has given you glory and honor. You are the crowning achievement of God's creation. We also see that it's wrong to be prideful. Because then we're putting ourselves in the place of God. And we're making an idol of ourselves and worshiping ourselves instead of worshiping God in a place that only God can be in. So it is perfect. The 18th century Rabbi, Simchi Bunim, I love this. He carried two notes in his pockets to remind him of these truths. One of them was written, I am but dust and ashes. In the other pocket, it was written, for my sake, the world was created so that he would just remember both of those truths and hold them in tension. Okay. Because if you steer one way or another, it leads to problems in your self-concept. A couple other notes on the text. We see here it says, let us make mankind in our image. Plural. What? I don't think God is consulting angels here as someone suggests. I think God is here. This is the early hint at the Trinity.

14:43So Father, Son, Holy Spirit are all involved in creation as the New Testament authors will expound down later. I'm just going to mention these things briefly. We see the image and likeness. Those are two different words, depending on the context. They can be used slightly differently, but here they are synonymous. They are referring to the same thing. And then in verse 27, we see that both genders are created in the image of God. Okay. So we can't miss this. It's not as if one gender has more of the image of God or less than the image of God. Now, both genders are required to image God the way he intends. Okay. And that's this beautiful truth that God has written into humanity. All right. Next, I want us to think about the context a little bit here. For us to understand what's actually happening here. This was written like like 1200-ish BC long time ago. Right. And in this cultural context, idols were everywhere.

15:46Temple worship was everywhere. Moses wrote this for the people of Israel who were coming out of Egypt in the Exodus. Like in Egyptian culture, they had temples everywhere. And they had idols of all of their pagan gods in those temples, like everywhere they went. Not only that, so you can think of an idol as like an image or likeness of the God. Right. That's the idea of an idol. Not only that, but Pharaoh and rulers and kings of this day, they would think of themselves as God or the image of a God. And so what they would do is set up their likeness, their images, their statues all over the kingdom to remind everybody of their divine right to rule. So this is the culture that they were steeped in. That the people of Israel coming out of Egypt have been just, that's all they know. Slash 400 years. This is all we know is this Egyptian worship culture. And then Moses writes this, divinely inspired by God.

16:49And he writes that actually all of you, all of you former slaves, our image bearers of God created by God to rule over creation. The little old lady who's been a slave all of her life is like, wait, that was Pharaoh's job. Like you're saying that I'm like Pharaoh? What? And yeah. So think of how revolutionary that idea was in the ancient world. That not only Pharaoh, not only the gods, like you, from the smallest child to the poorest person in Israel. All the way to King Solomon, right? You were all created and given that same image and dignity and stewardship over creation.

17:49You have that same calling, that purpose, that responsibility because God has given it to you. That's wild. Revolutionary idea in the ancient world and it still is today. So there are two functions of the image that we see here. So there is the substance of the image. Bible never says what it is. We'll talk about it in the devotional. Don't go down that rabbit trail. Not worth your time. We don't know what it is, but it's something intrinsic to the human being in our nature. And it is a substance a part of humanity. But there are two functions that result from us having this as a substance of our nature. And number one is stewardship. We see it here in the text. God makes man in their image so that they may rule over the fish of the sea in the birds of the sky. So this authority to rule creation is a functional result of the image of God on humanity.

18:50This gives us purpose, gives us authority in creation. But the idea is stewardship. It's not ultimate authority. A steward is one who has delegated authority. Again, Lord of the Rings is my reference for this and I love it. Think of the steward of Gondor. He is a steward. In the dramatic scene, who are you to deny the return of the king? He can't. Because the king holds the authority, he doesn't. And so when we resist God's authority in creation and his ultimate authority will like that steward, it doesn't go well for him in the story. And that's what Tolkien is trying to illustrate. And so we are stewards of creation under God's ultimate authority. And so we are to learn from him and follow his rules. But we do have real authority that he's given us. We'll talk about this next week, so I'm not going to go into it a bunch. The next result of us having the image of God is what we will call dignity. And for that we have to keep reading in the text and we come to Genesis 9, verse 6.

19:52Text says this is during the flood, Noah, and this is what God tells Noah, whoever sheds human blood by human shelter, blood be shed. For when the image of God has God-made mankind. So there's more we can talk about here. I'm just kind of reasoned through it though. The reason murder is wrong is because human beings are created in the image of God. So like Y'all can have a stake for lunch today. We're good with that. According to the biblical standards. But you can't kill a human being. This is why it's wrong. It's okay for us to talk about throwing an AI bot that isn't working anymore in the trash. But it is a violation of the dignity of humanity to even think of, to perceive, to say in any way human beings should be thrown in the trash. It's wrong based on human dignity that God has given us. James, chapter 3 says something similar.

20:52With the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness. It says out of the same mouth comprising, cursing my brothers and sisters, this should not be. The way I'm saying here is like, you shouldn't curse humans because they're made in the image of God. That's the basis for why that's wrong. And when he says curse, it doesn't just mean cast a spell or put a hex on somebody, which craft stuff. Curcing in the biblical language is much more of just like wishing and projecting evil or badness into the life of another person. So we do this in a ton of ways. We do this in a way we look at them, the little mutters that we say to ourselves, where we ignore people, we do this, when of course we tell them bad things and we invoke badness into their life. And James is saying here, inspired by God, the reason we shouldn't do that to other human beings is because they bear the image of God. So the image of God on us and all humans is the basis for ethics and human dignity.

21:56This is why we treat people with respect and honor, is because they have the image of God. And it is an essential part of what makes you you, it can never be taken from you, it can never be taken from anybody else. And so we should treat all human beings with dignity and respect. So our big idea is that all humans are created in the image of God. What we'll see is throughout the history of the world, we've tried to segment this and say, these humans are, these humans are not. And at least to terrible atrocities in the history of humanity. All humans are created in the image of God and therefore have dignity and stewardship over creation. Again, we're not going to talk about stewardship this week, we'll talk about it next week in the creation mandate. We're going to talk about dignity. And after we worship, I will apply that. Worship team, you guys can come and get set up. Are we just missing Savannah? It's her birthday today, so she might be hiding.

22:58So be sure to say happy birthday to her when she comes back in. But let me pray for us and then we will transition into a time of worship and I'll come back and apply it later. Lord God, we thank you for your word that has established the truth, this principle that is unshaking, that all human beings are created in your image. And therefore we have dignity, we have value, and all should be retreated with respect and honor and the glory that you have given us. So Lord, we thank you for this. And I just beg you, Lord, that you would inspire this heart within us, that this truth would settle in your people, in our minds, our imaginations, the way we live our day to day, that we would recognize the great dignity that you have given, the person sitting next to us, that you have given the people that we will encounter this week, the people that frustrate us the most, our greatest enemy, Lord has created in your image and are worthy of dignity, honor and respect. So Lord, I pray that you would give us this perception of the world and of ourselves, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

24:03Let's stand in this worship God together. If you would like to pray while we're singing, Michael and Kathleen, they are in the prayer area, they would love the opportunity to pray for you. Amen. Amen. Yahweh, our Father, Lord, we love you. We love to worship your name, Lord, we are created by you and for you. And Lord, like David and Psalm 8, Lord, we are in awe of your creation.

25:04Who is man that you are mindful of us? But Lord, you have created us, a little lower than the heavenly beings, and you have given us glory and honor. Lord, why? But you have done so. So we believe it, we trust it. Now, what your word says is true. So we will not see ourselves as any less than you say. We will not see ourselves as any more than you say. We are created in your image and we are loved by you. So Lord, I pray that you today would strengthen the hearts of those who struggle to believe that, who struggle to see themselves in that truth that you would lift them up, Lord. Help them to see the glory that you have given them. And Lord, for those who are prideful, who are exalting ourselves above you, Lord, I pray that you would humble us to recognize that we are from the dust, that we are mortal.

26:10Thank you for the perfect truth of your word. Now, you have created all things and created us. Help us to live in the truth and believe it and trust it. Jesus, in your name, we pray. Amen. You guys can have a seat. All right. Our big idea again is all humans are created in the image of God. And therefore, all humans have dignity and stewardship over creation. The image of God is a substance. It is something that God has given us. The function, the results of us having the image of God is dignity and stewardship over creation. As Angie mentioned, we are starting to make life labs a little bit more of a part of the culture of our church. And so if you're taking notes or if you want to use the notepads in front of you, in the notes section, I encourage you to put some of the old life patterns that you're seeing in your life and how you want to see this big idea lived out in your life more closely.

27:21And what steps you can take, what next steps you can take to get there. So as you consider some of the possible old life patterns that contradict the truth of God's word, some of them can be failing to see all people with dignity yourself included. Again, what we tend to do is to put, tend to view some people, some groups of people as having less dignity than others. And whether we view them that way, or we just treat them that way, both are sinful. We may think that somebody has dignity but not treat them according to the dignity that they actually have. And in those instances, that's an old life pattern that we need to change. So identify those, write them down. Another one will be failing to exercise biblical stewardship over creation. God has called you. He has given you purpose to steward a specific sphere that he has called you to and to serve in that. And if you're not doing that, we'll talk about this next week. But if you recognize today that you're not stewarding creation or that you're acting as the king and not the steward, right, that's an old life pattern that you can write down.

28:32But today we're going to focus on dignity stewardship. We'll talk about next week. Dignity according to the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, which my wife Savannah has a master's degree from and I got to the opportunity to take some great classes from as well. They wrote the recognition, this is how they define dignity, the recognition that human beings possess a special value intrinsic to their humanity and as such are worthy of respect simply because they are human beings. Human dignity is this inherent and viable worth that every human being has that is grounded in the reality and the truth that they are created in the image of God. Therefore, all humans should be treated with dignity and respect and honor. This is the only comprehensive and consistent grounding for human dignity and ethics. There are lots of other philosophies, lots of other meta narratives, world views, whatever you want to call them, that try to ground it in something like the general good of all humanity or human flourishing or there's lots of other attempts to ground human dignity.

29:44All of them come up short, all of them will face a challenge that doesn't work and doesn't fit. It is only the intrinsic image of God that has been given us by God that is the firm foundation to ground our dignity as human beings. And it is really difficult to overstate the significance of this truth in our world, generally and specifically in our Western culture. History shows that humans haven't been so great on this principle. We have struggled, but as Martin Luther King Jr. said, the archipist history is long and it bends towards justice. Today we are living in a day and age where praise be to God that the dignity of all human beings is recognized more today than it has been at any time in the history of the world. And that is something to be very grateful for. What God has been doing.

30:45So consider even the biblical narrative, the biblical story. This text Genesis was written as the people of Israel were coming out of Egypt where Pharaoh enslaved them for 400 years. Where Pharaoh decided to kill all the baby boys to prevent population growth. For fast forward to the time of Jesus, Herod does something similar to preserve his position of power. The Nazis in more recent history, there is a lot that I could go on in the history of humanity, but I am just picking a few of the obvious ones. The Nazis, they attempted to exterminate an entire people group, the Jews. They experimented on human beings. They viewed people with disabilities as less valuable and so just discarded them or experimented on them. There are stories of the Nazis experimenting on humans to see like to what elevation that a human being could get to before they died.

31:55And they did it in the name of saving their soldiers. This is why this principle is so important. Because if you ground it in utility or even human flourishing, that's vague. Where it's like flourishing for how many. How many can we sacrifice for the greater good? The answer is none. Because every human being is created in the image of God. And without this principle, it gets muddy. And it gets really confusing. And we find ourselves even being led astray with false logic that sounds good in the moment. But it muddies the water and it confuses us. But no, we stand firmly on this ground that every human being is created in the image of God. So it is wrong to take the life of another person, period end of story. Right? So the American slave trade, treating human beings as property, simply because they're from Africa. And the different color of their skin. But because this principle is so strong and so solid in God's word,

33:00that even during the American slave trade, some of the arguments that you read about in order to justify slavery are appalling. Because they had to say that people from Africa aren't human. Because if they say they're human, then they're held to this principle of treating them like humans and not property. But this principle is so strong. And so they had to argue with some really pseudo-science that they're not humans. And therefore, justify treating them without dignity that they deserve. See, it's so sinister and so sick and twisted and evil when we try to distort this principle that's so clearing God's word. Today, we're still...there are still many battles that we're facing on this. Current abortion industry treats unborn children as expendable, often because they're simply unwanted. The porn industry and sex slave industry, they treat women as objects of sexual gratification just to turn a profit.

34:01The recent harsh treatment and dehumanization language about immigrants in our culture in America today violates the dignity of those human beings. And the church, we are to be those who, in the face of even societal pressures of those who stand up and say, no, we will not talk about immigrants like that. Because they are created in the image of God and they have dignity. And all too often, and this is part of the problem of political polarization and diving in with one party over another, is that we lose sight of the image of God on all human beings and start talking about others, as if they aren't creating the image of God without dignity, without respect, because we're kind of just led to go with the flow of our political party. We need to be careful with that church, because the scriptural text is so clear that all human beings are created in God's image. And therefore, the way we talk about them, the way we think about them, the language that we use, we need to be careful.

35:01That we are honoring the dignity that they have. So not only is it big social issues, it's also changes the way we live in our day to day. Like this is why, if you're driving home today and somebody cuts you off, you shouldn't cuss them out. You shouldn't flip them the bird. Why? They're human beings creating the image of God. Very simply. This is why if we're talking to insurance companies on the phone and they are driving you nuts, don't let them have it. Human beings creating the image of God. I had a moment like that, a couple weeks ago. With the phone company, not that. So we need to be careful about what we say about people online. There's other people on the end of that. They're creating the image of God. This is why we forgive those who have wronged us. This is why we ask forgiveness of those who have wronged. They're creating the image of God. This is why even those we look at in society, the poor, the vulnerable, and we say they don't deserve our generosity, we still give it.

36:05Because they're human beings creating the image of God. This is why last week I was called to the hospital for a little baby who was born and the baby didn't take its first rest, it didn't cry. But when I got there, they had transported the baby to a hospital in Milwaukee. They had to get out there. The baby is on life support. They hooked up to some of this crazy technology that was costing tons of money to operate on an hourly minute-by-minute basis. Turns out, tragically, the baby never had brainwaves and the baby passed away. But why? Why do we spend an insane amount of money to keep a baby alive? We know this baby is likely not going to survive. But we do that because this baby is creating the image of God and we want to give it every chance to live and to survive. And this is why we should expect others to treat us with dignity and respect.

37:08Because we are created in God's image and therefore we are worthy of honor and dignity from others. C.S. Lewis said in the weight of glory, there are no ordinary people. So, church, I want you to think about how you think of yourself and how you think of others and how you treat others with dignity, honor and respect. So here's our next steps for this week. Number one, write out a statement of your dignity as a person created in the image of God. You are creating a God's image right out of statement of what that means in your own words so that you can revisit it often. And second, repent and ask forgiveness from anyone that you have thought of or treated with less respect or dignity or honor than they deserve. Because they are human beings created in the image of God. The reality that we are all created in God's image is what makes salvation a matter of supreme importance to God for us.

38:10Jesus came and died and saved us. He had been perfectly justified in staying in heaven. He is God, the second person in the Trinity. There is never a time when he was not. He has always existed. He could have stayed at the right hand of the Father in glory. And he had been totally justified in all of us going to hell. But because of the great love with which he loved us. Jesus was incarnated. He came and suffered and he died on our behalf because he saw you as valuable because he loves you and he wants you to be in his presence forever. He took your sin upon himself when our faith and trust is in him to save you, to redeem you so that you will be in his presence. So you can never question your value to God. That's what he did for you. He not only said it, but his actions proved it. And he gave everything for you and he died for you. So we are going to go through a time of communion now and remember what Jesus did to save us.

39:15Usures are going to come forward. We are going to do communion in a little bit of a different way today. And they are going to pass it out. So you can remain in your seat and just sit and reflect on what it means. How God views you if Jesus would die for you. How God views others when you are tempted to treat with less dignity, less respect, less honor. As you are holding the elements in your hands, just reflect on those. Usures, go ahead.