Gracepointe Church (Dover, OH)
Gracepointe Church (Dover, OH)
Exodus Series, Part 13 | The Ten Commandments: Stealing | Randy Garcete
What does the commandment "You shall not steal" truly mean for us today? Picture a community brought together by a heartfelt birthday celebration, setting the stage for a tale about a stolen car that opens up a wider conversation on the nature of theft. By reflecting on this personal story, we unravel the deep-seated lessons within the Ten Commandments and consider their relevance in a world where theft is more commonplace than we might think. It's a call to look beyond the obvious criminal acts and understand how the principle of not stealing can guide our everyday actions with integrity.
Journey with us as we uncover the profound consequences of theft, not only for its victims but for the perpetrators themselves. Through the intriguing story of Stéphane Breitweiser, a notorious art thief, we explore how theft can lead to isolation and a personal loss of peace. Drawing from biblical teachings, we contemplate how theft signifies a lack of trust in divine provision and discuss the power of faith to transform a taker's heart into that of a generous giver. It’s an exploration filled with hope and redemption for those battling dishonest tendencies.
Finally, we dive into the realm of radical integrity, ignited by a simple yet telling personal anecdote about a running competition. What happens when trust is breached, even in seemingly small ways? We probe into themes of repentance and trustworthiness, urging a life that reflects God's trustworthiness. Through heartfelt discussions and a prayerful conclusion, listeners are encouraged to seek forgiveness, confront hidden dishonesty, and embrace a life that not only honors God but also builds a foundation of trust and truth in every relationship. Join us for a transformative discussion on living with integrity and discovering the profound impact of aligning our actions with our faith.
that you would come down and anoint him with your spirit and just speak through him. We just ask that you would guide and direct his thoughts and just calm his nerves. We just pray this all in your name, amen, amen, thank you. Well, good morning to each and every one of you. It's good to see you all here this morning. Thank you for coming and worshiping together with us this morning. Before I dive into the sermon, I want to start off by I want to honor my dad. He has a birthday tomorrow and I'd love for us to sing happy birthday for him, but not him only. I don't know if Jimmy is here. Is Jimmy here this morning? I didn't see him. No, jimmy, okay, well, we're just going to sing for Dad then, all together now. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Carlos. Happy birthday to you. Awesome, all right, okay, now that that is out of the way, I invite you all to open your Bibles to Exodus, chapter 20. Exodus, chapter 20.
Speaker 1:In 2018, something happened to my wife and I that I never dreamed would ever happen to us. We had just been married for a couple of months. We were enjoying our newly married life together. We were renting a little one-bedroom apartment that smelled like musty cigarette smoke, maybe old cat pee. It was sort of a dingy little place in an apartment complex close to the Dover Park. On this particular Monday morning I was at work and I got a call from Christy and I answered the phone hello. And she said where's our car at? And I responded with what do you mean where's our car at? And I responded with what do you mean where's our car at? She's like babe, our car is not where we parked it last. So I said are you sure, go double check, maybe we just forgot where we parked it and call me back. So she hung up, goes out, checks again, comes back and calls me and says Randy, our Jetta is not where we parked it last. So our precious little white 2010 Volkswagen Jetta had been stolen. And so a bunch of jumbled thoughts went through my mind. First of all, how could I have been so naive to leave my car keys in the car overnight? You guys are probably thinking the same thing. Next, what kind of crazy person is out there driving my little Jetta around right now? And I will never, ever trust anyone ever again. Why would someone do something like this? Why would someone take my car? That's the question I want to look at this morning.
Speaker 1:With you all, I've been working my way through the book of Exodus and right now we're at Mount Sinai. We've been following the story of how God takes this group of people Hebrew slaves, slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt and rescues them, frees them from slavery, brings them out of Egypt into the wilderness and brings them to himself on Mount Sinai. And it's on Mount Sinai where we're at right now. God has met his people, he has entered into a covenant with them and he has given them the law. And that's where we're at right now. God has met his people, he has entered into a covenant with them and he has given them the law. And that's where we're at right now. We're in the middle of the law, or what we call the Ten Commandments, and a couple of things.
Speaker 1:I want to just remind us again of sort of what the purpose is of the law and of the Ten Commandments. Number one it's for the sinner. The Ten Commandments show us, and the law, the Old Testament law, show us God's righteousness and it convicts us of our guilt as a sinful, fallen creation. And ultimately, it's only Jesus and his blood that can set us free from that guilt. But secondly, it's not only that. The Ten Commandments, especially, are for us today as believers, as Christians. There's an incredible amount of wisdom that we can learn through studying the law and understanding. What does it look like to live a righteous life? What does it look like to live a life that is defined by this type of righteousness?
Speaker 1:Theft is a huge, huge problem, and the Ten Commandments speak into this. We're going to read verse 15. It's four words In verse 13,. We looked at you shall not murder. Verse 14 was you shall not commit adultery. And now today we come to the eighth commandment, which is you shall not steal. Eighth Commandment, which is you shall not steal.
Speaker 1:Theft is a huge problem in the world today. It's been around for as long as sin has been around Today. It's a problem that has a huge impact on our society. In 2023, more than a million one million cars were stolen across the US. One million cars were stolen across the US. More than $13 billion worth of goods were stolen from retail stores. That's a lot of money. More than one million traffic cones are stolen every year, which is I have so many questions about that.
Speaker 1:And around one million homes are broken into every year in the US. This has all kinds of impacts and effects on our society. So my question is a question I've been asking is why do people steal, why do people cheat? And that's a question I want to explore today. Before you get too comfortable, I know most of you guys are upstanding citizens who abide by the law. Most of you have probably never stolen anything of real value, significant value. So I don't want you all to just check out and say, oh man, I'm glad this commandment is not really for me. I'm sort of like I'm sort of nailing this one Like the lust thing. Maybe that was for me, but today I can just sort of sit back, relax, drink my coffee and not really worry about it. So I hope you don't check out of this just yet.
Speaker 1:I think there's a lot of wisdom that we can take, we can learn from this command, and what are the implications for our lives? What does it mean for us as we live our daily lives and the way that we interact with the world around us, the way we do business, the way that we handle our resources? We handle our resources. What does this mean for us? So the Hebrew word for steal is ganav and it literally just means to be a thief or to take items without permission by the owner, usually by stealth and not by force. And I found it very interesting that this word is closely related to the word cheat or trick. So it's the same root word. The same root word is found in the story of where Jacob tricks his uncle, laban, the. In Hebrew the word for trick is literally steal, the heart of. So in Hebrew, when, when Jacob steals or tricks Laban it's, it's can be translated literally as Jacob stole the heart of Laban. So the word steal here can mean just taking. In essence, cheating and stealing is taking something that does not belong to you.
Speaker 1:There's many, many ways to steal. Typically we think of criminal theft, things like burglaries, bank robberies, home break-ins or extortion, like the big sort of splashy news stories, and that's not really the thing I want to focus on today. That's sort of the main thing we think of. There's another type of theft I think that can be referred to by. Scott Adams calls it the weasel zone. The weasel zone. He describes it like this it's the gigantic area, gigantic gray area between good, good, moral behavior and outright felonious activities. So it's sort of the types of theft and stealing and trickery and deceit that we often hear. People say, ah, it's no big deal, it's just no big deal. What's the big deal? That can take a lot of different forms. What's the big deal? That can take a lot of different forms. Things like stealing or cheating from the government by failing to honestly report or file taxes. People who do that usually justify it by saying, ah, what's the big deal? The government takes all of our money anyhow, so what's the big deal?
Speaker 1:That weasel zone theft can look like stealing from your employer by wasting time, consistently wasting time at work for the hours that you're getting paid for About one. I don't know how. I haven't. Actually, I should have probably double-checked how true this is, but apparently, according to one study, one-third of product costs go to cover the wasted time from unproductive employees. It can look like price gouging or taking advantage of your customers. It can look like cheating on schoolwork or cheating in business. It can look like deceptive marketing or false advertising. We see this a lot in our world today. Just look at the beautiful picture of the McDonald's Big Mac on the billboard. Compares to what you actually get when you go through the drive-thru and it can look like just little petty things which I think for most of us, we've either engaged in or had done to us. It's things like stealing a little piece of gum from no my friend. It can look like taking sticky notes from my coworker without saying something to him or her about it. It can look like using the shampoo or the body wash of somebody in your, your, maybe a shared location where maybe it's not yours and you didn't really ask for it, or not paying back fuel in a vehicle that you borrowed.
Speaker 1:Did you know we can steal from God? Did you know we can steal from God? In Malachi, god is addressing the Israelites and he says this Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me, but you say how have we robbed you in your tithes and contributions? So as, as people who belong to God, we are given resources, we are stewards of God's resources. They belong to God and when we misuse them or don't give God what belongs to him, we're stealing from him. So why do people do it?
Speaker 1:There's multiple reasons why people cheat and steal. Sort of the first thing that comes to my mind often is poverty. There are people who are driven to steal just because they want to feed their kids or they want to eat for the day, so they're driven to steal. There's things like pride and wanting to keep up appearances. So I have to find a way to keep up with my friends and their lifestyle, and I'm not doing that by the income that I'm making. So I need to find some way to cheat the system and get ahead. Some people just do it for the thrill, the adrenaline rush of seeing what you can get away with, and some people just do it because it's the only thing they know. They grew up that way, they were discipled into it, and maybe their parents did it, their uncles did it, and it's just the way we live life. Theft is a huge, huge problem today in our society. I want to look at four markers of theft, four markers of theft, and when I talk about this, I want to include cheating as well. I think they're closely related. So the first marker of theft is this Theft breeds distrust. Theft breeds distrust.
Speaker 1:Think of all the things we put in place to keep our possessions from getting stolen. What are some things that we do or that we have that we put in place to keep our possessions from getting stolen? Anyone? What's that? Locks Okay, thank you, that's a good one. Alarms and cameras Okay, anyone else. Passwords those are all like sort of big categories that you can sort of like break down into smaller categories.
Speaker 1:You said locks, like we have window locks, door locks. We lock our car doors or we should, and we should take the keys out when we do so. We have padlocks on our doors. We have people live in sort of fenced-in properties with a locked gate. There's security guards, no trespassing signs, ring doorbell cameras, iron bars across store windows. We have tasers and handguns Not us, I hope. And the one that probably annoys me the most is going to Walmart to buy something electronic and having to wait on the worker to unlock the plexiglass thing that's covering the product.
Speaker 1:This Tuesday, because there is a profound lack of trust in our election system, there are thousands of poll watchers going to go out to all the polling stations or the voting stations to watch out for cheating and for stealing. So I could go on and on and on about this, but you guys get the picture that God never designed his world to work this way, and I think it has to make him really sad. It's a world and we live in a culture that is profoundly fearful and distrustful of each other. Theft breeds distrust. Secondly, theft is done in secret and that's sort of obvious. Theft is never advertised. People are rarely proud of stealing. Burglars wear masks. Cheaters wait till no one is watching. Wait till no one is watching.
Speaker 1:I think of Achan in the Old Testament when he stole some loot from Jericho and he brought it back to his tent and he put it inside his tent under his bed. It was something that he had to do in secret. He couldn't show it off to his friends, he couldn't celebrate with his friends and family. It was something he had to keep hidden and it's something we learn from a really, really young age. I remember when I was four years old three or four I was at I think it was Giant Eagle with my mom and we were going through the checkout line and I saw something that I wanted in the checkout line and it's something that is till this day is one of the most precious things to me, and that is chapstick. I actually will sooner leave my house without a shirt than without my chapstick. I saw this little. It was like a little tube of chapstick that had a little round like a dome cap and in my little three or four-year-old mind I wanted it and I never asked my mom for it, I just took it. And I think at that age already, I think I knew that if I wanted to take it and it didn't belong to me, I had to keep it hidden. So she found it later and we went back to the giant eagle and paid for it and I had to apologize to the clerk.
Speaker 1:Theft is normally done in secret. Thirdly, theft robs the thief. Theft robs the thief. What exactly do I mean by this? So God has given, god, created every one of us with the ability and maybe even the desire to work, to create, to accomplish things, to build, to accomplish things to build, and he created us and wired us really to have almost like an internal reward system where we feel a great sense of accomplishment. When we work for a reward, it gives us a sense of fulfillment. When we work for a reward, it gives us a sense of fulfillment going to work every day, earning an honest living. There's a sense of fulfillment that comes with that and a sense of purpose in providing for the people you love and a sense of purpose in providing for the people you love and I think that the secrecy and the shame that comes with taking something that doesn't belong to you. It hijacks that reward system. It robs you of that inner sense of accomplishment when you take something that does not belong to you Because, even if no one else knows it, you do. You know that you didn't work honestly to attain the reward that you took or that you cheated to get, and so it robs you of that fulfillment. It robs you of that reward. You know inwardly that it doesn't belong to you not entirely and it robs you, I think, of an intimacy with other people and an intimacy with God, because you have to keep it hidden. You can't be open with your life when you cheat or when you steal.
Speaker 1:Stéphane Breitweiser he was a Frenchman in the 1990s. He's known as one of history's greatest art thieves. I believe he's still living. I think he's in his upper 50s. In the 1990s he stole over 300 works of art from over 200 museums across Europe. He did it with his girlfriend and his whole collection totaled over $2 billion. And Time magazine did an interview with him and just asked him how were you so successful at stealing all of this art? And what he described was, I think illustrates this point, that theft actually robs the thief. He kept all of his stolen art locked away in his bedroom closet or in his bedroom, and the interviewer writes this in this article.
Speaker 1:He says if you're wanting to do what Stéphane did, he says it's probably best to rid yourself of any social or moral conscience you might have. Also, it would be best if you did not have any friends or relatives or need a repair person, because you can never invite anyone into your home. Finally, do not make any mistakes either while stealing or hiding art. Being human, you may find this impossible, in which case, be prepared to spend time in jail. So he had all of this artwork in his house $2 billion worth but he couldn't share it with anybody. He couldn't sell it billion worth, but he couldn't share it with anybody. He couldn't sell it, and I think a little piece of himself died, probably every day more and more. It utterly corrupted him and the only thing his act of theft actually stole so much from him, from his own character and from his own life.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 9, 17 says stolen water is sweet. By the way, I love how Proverbs words things. There's so many just epic one-liners in the Proverbs that are just so good. It says stolen water is sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol. Theft robs the thief.
Speaker 1:And fourthly, theft is an act of distrust in God. Theft is an act of distrust in God. I believe this is one of the fundamental problems with the sin of theft and the sin of cheating. When I'm tempted to steal or to cheat, I believe it's because I fundamentally don't trust God to take care of my needs. Jesus taught us that we have a heavenly Father that loves us and he's a good Father who wants to give us good things. And when I don't believe that he's a good Father, when I don't trust him to take care of my needs, I take matters into my own hands, and sometimes it's because of pride or because I need to keep up appearances. Sometimes it's because I think I need something that I really don't actually need. But when I steal or when I cheat, it's because fundamentally I'm not trusting God to take care of those needs for me. So for most of us maybe you're sitting here saying this isn't really actually a huge problem for me and I would say praise God. But if you're here this morning and you feel convicted and in your heart you know, you know what I don't live with a radical integrity. Maybe I find ways to cheat the system or I find ways to take sort of gray area shortcuts in my business or in my relationships, I think there's hope for us. This is actually something that I have struggled with in my life and I think there's an antidote and I think the gospel is the antidote for this type of sin, this type of behavior.
Speaker 1:I think, first of all, number one the gospel is an antidote for stealing, in that Jesus died for Thebes. Jesus died for Thebes and I love the picture and the story of having Jesus when he hung on the cross, he hung between two Thebes, one on his left side and one on his right side, and when he took your sins and my sins upon himself and when he died, he died the death of a thief. He died the death of a thief and what that means for you and me, and especially if you're someone who maybe you have stolen and you feel that a sense of guilt. When Jesus died the death of the thief, he died for you and me and it's through his death, through his blood that was shed, that we can actually be freed from that impulse and the power that sin has over our lives to steal. Secondly, the gospel changes us and is an antidote for this sin, in that the gospel changes takers into givers. The gospel changes takers into givers.
Speaker 1:In the gospel of Luke we read about the story of Zacchaeus, and Zacchaeus was this like these four markers of theft that I described, like they defined his life. They were almost like his identity. People didn't trust him. He, I don't believe, trusted God. He had to live a life of secrecy. He had to live a life really a lie. And when he encounters Jesus I love how Jesus approached him and dealt with Zacchaeus there's a sense of joy and excitement that Jesus has to come and stay at Zacchaeus' house.
Speaker 1:Jesus knew who Zacchaeus was. Jesus knew what kind of a thief he was, what kind of a scoundrel really. And he tells Zacchaeus Zacchaeus, hurry, come down. So Zacchaeus is up in that little tree. I must stay at your house today and I can just picture Jesus saying that with a look of joy and excitement. It's like I get to stay at Zacchaeus' house and the people all around them says they all grumbled. He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.
Speaker 1:Nobody trusted Zacchaeus. People despised him, but not Jesus and the response that Zacchaeus has in just being in the presence of Jesus. We're not told what all Jesus said to him. He may have said more things than this, but I don't think Jesus confronted Zacchaeus about his sinful behavior. Jesus pursued him, went to his house. He loved him and somehow, through that, zacchaeus knew that his life was in sharp contrast to the love of Jesus. His life was in sharp contrast to the love of Jesus.
Speaker 1:Something about Jesus' love compelled Zacchaeus to do this. He says Behold, lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. Something about Jesus compelled Zacchaeus to just spill the beans and be like you know what, like I'm not going to hide from you, jesus. This is what I've done. This is who I am, and I repent I need. Whatever life you have is the life that I need in my life. Whatever you have, jesus, I need that in my life because I'm miserable. People don't like me, people don't trust me. I don't like myself, probably. And along with that repentance, the action that he took was to give to the poor, to give back, to give back what he had stolen fourfold. So Zacchaeus went from being someone who was identified as a thief and as a taker, as a cheat, to being someone who was identified as a giver and someone who was identified by what he was giving. And we don't read much about Zacchaeus later on, but I believe he probably had a huge impact on the people around him by what he gave.
Speaker 1:Apostle Paul would sort of echo this idea in Ephesians. He says to the Ephesian church he says let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he says why, why should we do this? So that he may have something to share with anyone in need. So giving is the opposite of stealing, not not stealing. The opposite of stealing is not just quit stealing, it's actually to be filled with the love of Jesus and with an impulse to give.
Speaker 1:So many people, and myself included, often live my life in such a way that I do what I can't like, I get away with what I can and I try to look for areas. Whether it's in the tendency I have is to get away with as much as I can, to look for little shortcuts Instead of looking at how can I contribute, how can I give, what are ways that I can give? And I think that's what the gospel does is. It takes us, changes us, from people who are known by what we take and try to get away with, to people who are contributing and giving and try to get away with, to people who are contributing and giving.
Speaker 1:So again, I don't know how this is all sitting with you guys. I don't know how this is hitting you. Maybe it's completely going over your head and you're just like you know what. This doesn't apply to me in any way. But maybe you're sitting here and you're like, hey, I live my life in that weasel zone, that sort of that gray area where it's not necessarily wrong or illegal, but it's also not morally upright.
Speaker 1:Maybe you have a sense of shame about what you're doing, a sense of guilt and knowing, hey, if people knew the way I was handling my resources, people knew how I was filing my taxes, if people knew how I was cheating the system, they wouldn't trust me, I would be untrustworthy. And so some questions I have for us today to consider. I'm just going to read these questions and invite you all to ask yourself this question, these questions, and if you feel convicted by the Holy Spirit, if you feel a sense of guilt, knowing that I'm not actually living with the type of radical integrity in this area, I would invite you all to to do what Zacchaeus did Um, just spill the beans. Just say, lord, I am not living my life with like it's it's, it's not it's. It's in sharp contrast to your love, and I would invite you all to repent and then to take the action that he did is restore and give back, make restitution to the people and maybe the people that you've taken from or cheated.
Speaker 1:So, number one am I stealing from the government by filing my taxes dishonestly? Am I stealing from my employer by consistently wasting time at work that I'm getting paid for? Do I cheat when I know I can get away with it? Do I justify using or taking small items from people around me, like sticky notes or gum or toothpaste, etc. Because it's no big deal? Am I stealing from God by not giving as generously as he's asking me to? Do I approach life by seeing how much I can get away with or how much I can take advantage of, instead of how much can I contribute or give. In closing, I'd like to share a story from my life that happened last year, actually, and it's something that I'm embarrassed to share it because it sort of exposes, I think, my heart motivations.
Speaker 1:Um, every for the past two years we've had a uh myself and my my co-workers have had a running competition that starts in april and ends in september, and we the goal is to see who can run the most miles over the summer. So we have a scoreboard inboard in the shop, on a white sort of marker board, where we have our names and then our mileage, and periodically we just have to update our mileage numbers. And last year it was a very heated competition between Matt and myself. Matt is my coworker, he's one of the most determined people that I know, and we were neck and neck most of the summer and I would track my miles on my phone, on my Nike Run Club app, and every now and then I would sort of compile my miles and update the scoreboard. I sort of usually went about once a week as the deadline came closer for us to end the competition.
Speaker 1:I found myself not wanting to update my scoreboard because I knew that every time I update my miles it's going to be just a motivation for Matt to go out there and just like, just like, blow past me again. And I was just, it was um, so I didn't update my miles. Uh, he was a little bit ahead of me and then I ran a bunch and didn't update my scoreboard until like maybe two days before this competition ended and he comes into the shop and he sees my updated mile markers and it was just like I forget. It was like way ahead of him and he was not happy with me. He knew what I had done and I knew what I had done. I knew that I had cheated him, I had cheated the system. I stole that reward from him, I had cheated the system, I stole that reward from him and I felt an incredible sense of shame and guilt around what I had done and it caused him to not trust me. In that moment and he expressed his frustration and what could have been a really fun morale boosting competition that lasted all summer turned into this really sort of distasteful event that I repented for it and I apologized to him and we're okay now.
Speaker 1:But this year we did the competition again and there may have well been a little part of Matt's mind as we went into it wondering can I trust Randy? Is he going to do what he did last year? And I just communicated with him. It's like Matt, I am not going to do what I did last year. I'm going to update my miles very consistently. It was done in secret, it bred distrust, it broke down relationship temporarily and it was fundamentally, I think, a lack of trust in God's goodness. So this is a problem that faces most of us, maybe not in that specific way, but when it happens, I believe we need to repent, and I think that's why the gospel is so powerful in freeing us from that.
Speaker 1:In closing, I want you all to think of how this sin problem of theft is a temporary one. It's a problem that's only going to be around for a temporary time. There's coming a day when Jesus returns, he fully establishes his kingdom here on earth, and it's fully realized where we will need. There will be no need for padlocks. There will be no need for gates, for fences, there will be no need for no trespassing signs. There will be no need for passcodes and VPNs. There'll be no need for handguns or security guards. We're no longer going to struggle to trust each other. There'll be a sense of innocence and purity in our dealings with each other that will totally negate the need for contracts.
Speaker 1:And I think, until that day happens, I think our call as a church and as people of God is to live that out right now, to live out what is coming in its fullness someday. God is doing that in a small sense in us today, and so, as we go out this week, we're called to live our lives with a radical integrity so that people, when they do business with you or when you shop from them, or when you interact with them, they say who is this person? Why are they so trustworthy? Who's their God? What motivates them? Why do I trust them? And I think that's our mission is to live that out. That type of radical integrity where there's not even a hint of doubt is to live that out. That type of radical integrity where there's not even a hint of doubt when people deal with you that they know they come back to you because they know that person's trustworthy. And he's trustworthy because his God is trustworthy and I can trust him and I can deal with him because he clearly has a God that is trustworthy and who can be trusted. So our lives reflect God and when we don't live with that type of radical integrity, people don't doubt us. They doubt our God. So when churches steal or cheat or don't live with integrity, people don't question them necessarily. They should be like why would I want anything to do with that God? So we reflect God and we have the opportunity to do that here on earth and that's my challenge for you all today. If you're living with a type of secret, maybe hidden sin of stealing or cheating, to repent of it and to make restitution. I think that reflects the trustworthiness of God.
Speaker 1:Let's stand for a word of prayer and then I'll turn the time over to Mike.
Speaker 1:Father, we come before you in Jesus' name and God. As we look at these Ten Commandments, there's so much here that for one, we see our lives so often fall so short of the type of righteousness you're looking for, lives that are becoming more and more like Jesus, and we thank you that when that happens, that we have atonement, we can have forgiveness of our sins. We thank you for what you've done on the cross. We thank you that you died the death of a thief. We thank you that you took our sins on yourself and that we can be forgiven and made whole and new again. As we go from here, lord, I pray that you would help us, empower us to live lives of radical integrity, so that the world around us could see the trustworthiness of our lives and that they could bring glory to you, that they could be pointed to you and that they could be drawn to a trustworthy God. All this I pray in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated, mike. I'll turn the time over to you.