Douglas Campbell's sermon, 'Idolaters Shedding Innocent Blood,' explores Psalm 106, focusing on the progression of Israel from receiving God's blessings in the promised land to their eventual exile due to idolatry and sin. Campbell draws parallels between ancient Israel and contemporary America, emphasizing how both societies have strayed from divine teachings by mixing with other nations and adopting their sinful practices. The sermon highlights the seriousness of idolatry, equating it to adultery against God, and discusses the impact of innocent bloodshed, particularly through the lens of abortion. Campbell stresses the importance of repentance, urging believers to return to God's word and align their lives with scripture. He also touches on the role of civil government, asserting its duty to uphold justice and protect the innocent. The sermon concludes with a call to personal and national repentance, highlighting God's readiness to forgive and restore those who turn back to Him.

If you would turn with me to Psalm 106. Just one chapter back from the cult of worship. My brother must have known why with that. Psalm 106. In Psalm 107 we have this great message of redemption, this great message of grace that God showed towards his people.

And in chapter 106, we find the reason that that grace is so amazing, the reason why They're in awe of God's grace. So this morning I wanna start at verse 35 and read through 39. In this chapter, in the Psalm, we find a history of Israel, a progression of Israel from entering into the promised land. If you remember, they crossed the Jordan and they enter into this promised land of no company. The blessings that God has put upon his people, they enter into these blessings.

And this, in the Psalm, it records the progress from this initial blessing progressing all the way to their exile to the Assyrians in the battle of the Andes. So they go from a height of God's blessing, a height of closeness with God. And then as time goes on, this closeness falls away, all the way to the point in verse 39, the one, the last one that we'll look at this morning that God says they played the poor in their deeds they are complete sellouts to demonic to the demonic to to wickedness to evil and so let's this morning look at this progression in Psalm 106, 35-39. It says, but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did. They served their idols which became a snare to them.

They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons. They poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idol of Cainan. And the land was polluted with blood. Thus they became unclean by their acts and played the horde in their deeds. Let's pray.

Father, we come to you this morning, the one as we've just read in your Word, in all of your grace. Father, that you are the God of perfect grace. The Father, as we read throughout scripture, as we read in the Old Testament about the Israelites, your chosen people, whom you blessed, whom you called out, whom you provided for in the desert, in the wilderness. Whom you parted the waters that they might walk through on dry ground to rescue them from the enemies that pursued. Those same people, Father, were very quick to turn on you, to build idols with their hands to mix with people whom you commanded them not to sell out to come against the one true God, the one true love.

And yet Father, in this supreme offense to a perfect God who chose to love them, out of this offense you didn't hold forever. And Father, to fast forward into our lives, We in many ways are just like the Israelites. Father, you give us much grace. Father, we're so quick to turn to what makes us happy, to turn to what the world has to offer. Father, in that we find ourselves in a part of history that reminds me very much of this history, Father.

Father, help us to understand where we're at. Help us to understand where we're at personally, Father, with you. Father, this morning help us to understand your Word. And Father, I would ask that you would grant us the ability to repent. The Israelites needed to be casted into exile before they would come to their senses.

Father, I fear what it might take us. Yet we find ourselves today in that position. Father, help us today, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Well, in this song, once again, we find the progression of Israel from seemingly a high point or a mountaintop of their devotion to God and God rescuing them and delivering them to a land of which could be compared to a land of prosperity. It's described as a land of milk and honey, where things would be easier. Things would be easier to not only make a living, but easier to put food on the table. They're no longer wandering in the desert, depending upon, essentially depending upon God to miraculously give them food. Now they're into a land of milk and honey of which they can provide once again through farming and through different things to provide for themselves and to and with that connotation of it being easy farming.

They're at a high point. Yet as time progressed We find this same progression that we have seen all through history. That as time goes on, our flesh, our inner cavity, we tend to fall away from God until God will grab us and shake us and make us come to our senses and drag us back and put us back on the right track again. And I believe this morning that's the very spot where we find ourselves in America. The spot at which God is either going to grant us repentance.

Father, thank you for your daughter, Father. Thank you, a blesser, and help us head in your way. Amen. The other lives find themselves, or as we find ourselves, at the point where we will either repent or God will grab us and He will shake us until we come to our senses. So this morning I'd like to take some time and look at this progression.

How did they come to this spot? How did their relationship with God devolve to such extent that now God must do something? He must intervene. And we find that just a little bit later in this chapter, he intervenes by giving them over to other countries. Other countries will then take them over and they will be conquered.

And this morning, as we find ourselves on America, it is only in our pride and in our misunderstanding that we would even begin to think that America is immune from being conquered by other countries. It's because it's only known, just as you Israelites, it's only known as the land, at this point, is the land of milk and honey. No one could conquer us because God is we serve the God once your God of the universe. Yet that claim was no longer true. While they may claim them that claim was absent of any kind of proof, any kind of fruit, any kind of deeds that would support that.

They lived a lie, believing that they served God, believing that He would protect them, and yet the one true God of the universe loved his people enough to not let this continue. Now think about that. God loved them enough to let them go into exile. God loves you enough to allow extremely hard times to come into your life if that's what it takes to get you to come to your senses. How did they get to this point?

We find in verse 35. It started with what seemed fairly innocent. In verse 35 it says, but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did. Essentially, it's this, that God called them to be a separate people. God called them to not live in certain ways.

Just as you, if you're this way, if you're a genuine born again, regenerate believer, God says you're a sojourner in a foreign land. You are called apart. You are not the same as those that live around you who don't know Christ. You are called to be different. You're called to worship the one true God of the universe.

You're called to go to scripture and see how does scripture say that I should live. And the Bible makes it very clear if we don't live according to how God's called us to live, we may know him by name but we don't know him as our God, of which we are not saved. If we don't know him not just as our Savior, but also our Lord, our Commander, if he isn't everything to us, if he isn't what we desire, we are on a slippery slope of am I just like the Israelites do I claim a god whom I don't know And I believe it was voting Bakham that I should have put this quote in my notes. But he said, in the Herakl we, I'm going to butcher it, essentially we serve a God whom we don't really know. Or we claim a God whom we don't really know.

How do we know Him? By going to His Word. How do we live for Him? How do we bear fruit for Him? We go to His Word.

And not only do we read it, but we become obedient because he is our king. Are we mixing with the nations? It's the very reason why your master says over and over again, you should not be living as your neighbor lives. You shouldn't be entertained by the same thing your neighbor is being entertained with. You shouldn't spend your free time just as the nonbeliever spends his free time.

America is full of idols. Those idols have been very successful in infiltrating the established religion in America. For the most part, we have very well mixed with the nation. We've learned to live as those around us live. It's a little different for you and I because we weren't born into, As the Israelites children weren't born, many of us probably weren't born into Bible believing, Bible obeying families who raised us as a believer.

Yet the command is still there. If I wasn't raised in a family that participated in daily family worship, where my father shared the Word of God and explained it to me, and it was preeminent in our household, it doesn't leave me off the hook. The hook. We must, if we are genuine believers, we must go to the Word of God. We must see.

How does it say we are to do family? And we must aspire and do our best to conform ourselves to scripture? We've spent much time and moments since don't conform yourself to the world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind through the means of scripture. Are our minds being renewed? Are our families being renewed?

Or do we simply continue the conformed track? Do we make decisions? Do we do things simply because that's what everybody does. If that's what everybody does, it's probably not a good thing. Why?

Because we are in this world, but we're not of this world. We're in the world that does things a certain way, but we're not of this world. We should conform our lives to Scripture. And that's where the Israelites find themselves. They find themselves caring less and less about Scripture, or caring less and less about carrying out and applying scripture and more and more about being entertained and being as those Around them after all they seem to be having fun doing well who wouldn't want to be like them Continue on in verse 36 This mixing then progressed into Israel is now serving their idols and it says and the result of that is which became a snare to them.

The primary reason why we don't serve idols is because it causes us to be adulterers before God. But a secondary reason is it's a snare. If we live as our culture lives for 20 plus years, the church has done, the church in America has done all kinds of studies to try to figure out why do kids come to church and they go to high school and they leave the church and they never come back again. What is the problem? Why is this happening?

It's, I'll give you a clue, It's not because we're not entertaining enough. It's not because we don't bug people with us. It's not because we don't pound on people's doors and do all the things that seemingly our culture thinks will improve the problem. The problem is, is that Christian families come to church and they live just like the world and those ideologies ensnare them. It's a trap.

This Hebrew word for snare specifically means something that catches a person unaware. And I preach so often to not be like the world and there's a reason I preach it over and over and over again probably so often that some of you get tired of hearing it. The reason I say it over and over again, because it's something that's catching you unaware. If you want to catch an animal, You don't just put a very big trap out in the woods and then put some food in it. That's what lots of people do.

And then they don't catch too many raccoons. And I'm not here to teach you how to catch a raccoon. But to catch them, you find the path that they walk on you put the trap kind of off the path a little bit you put some food on their path so they they're like hey here's some food that's good stuff and you get them so enthralled in their food that they can walk right into a cage of wires and be unaware. They're unaware until the door falls down and goes clank. And then if you receive an analogic call like that, they slam back and forth and go crazy until they realize they can't get out and they sit there like a victim.

And what are they going to do? That very same thing comes from serving the idols of this world. When we do the same things that our neighbors do, more entertained by the same things that they're entertained by. When we spend a majority of our time doing whatever, whether it's watching, binge watching on Netflix or even not so bad of things that have us playing at the park all day long. When as a family, we spend more time doing these things than learning and worshiping God, learning his word and living for him.

It's a snare. And so often families find this snare take effect when their children leave high school and they leave the church and they never return. Why? The church was never valuable. The church was never what we lived for.

God was someone we acknowledged, but he was like a bottle of medicine on the shelf. And as long as we woke up every morning and took our little spoonful, we didn't go on and live however we want to live. There are some who, many in our culture, who do the same thing with medicine. The doctor will give you the speech. I'm sure some of you have this.

I don't know, I've had this speech, that if you don't change how you eat, you're going to die. If you keep doing this, I'm going to give you medicine. If you keep up, you're doing more medicine. There are people, a lot of people, who decide, I would rather take the pills. What you find is it's a trap.

What we find is that the trap. We treat God the same way. If we wake up and read a little devotion or maybe if you just come to church once a month or once a week, everything will be fine. The Christian, understand this, listen close, the Christian life is not one of checking a box once a week. It is a complete transformed life.

It's a life with a new heart. A Christian family isn't one that comes to church on Sunday morning. A Christian family is one who says, above all, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. He is number one. He is what we think about.

He is the one who we serve. He is the one whom we spend much time chasing after. We spend our time chasing the idols of this world, whatever it may be, whether it's finances or whatever it is, we will soon find not only our children in a snare, but also ourselves. And Psalm 106, continue on in verse 37. It continues this progression.

First, they are mixed. Next, they are serving the idols of, and now they're sacrificing their sons and daughters to demons. They're not just sacrificing goats. They're not just sacrificing bulls to their idols. Now they're sacrificing their own sons and daughters, their own children, and not just sacrificing, but sacrificing them to demons.

In 1 Corinthians 10.20 it says, No, I apply that what pagans sacrifice, they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. And you would say this morning, well, how is that best not us yet? In the commentary of James Montgomery voice, He says, but are we so sure that we never practice it ourselves? We do if we desire worldly success for our children to the point of thrusting them into a pagan environment today or by encouraging them to live like the world, accommodating its morality, just to get ahead.

If you worship any of the gods of this world, whether wealth, fame, sect, or power, they will become a snare to you and your children. This morning we live in a world that is also literally sacrificing our sons and daughters to demons. Over the past few months, you've had ample time being informed about the world system, being informed about civil government. What side believes this and what side believes that? In our country, we find that there's an entire mainstream platform who supports sacrificing our sons and daughters to demons.

Now you think maybe this is up for debate, Maybe I just don't understand the science. Today, even science agrees, 100% agrees, that life begins at conception. Science says this. And yet there's at least 50% of our society that says, who cares what science says? You're being mean to people.

No, you're killing people. If there's any doubt, you and I, we trust science as long as it agrees with scripture, because if it doesn't agree with scripture, it's not science. Ultimately, they are wrong. But scripture is right. So this morning, I don't want to appeal to you just from science or even hardly appeal to you at all from science.

Look at Exodus 21, 22 through 25. It says, when men strive together and hit a pregnant woman so that her children come out but there is no harm, the one who hit hit her shall surely be fined as the woman's husband shall impose on him and he shall pay as the judge is determined. Look at this next part it says, but if there is harm then you shall pay, everybody look at this, life for life. God declared, life for life. God declared, I'm super happy to see Jennifer today, God declared that what's in your belly is life.

In this scripture, it is life. And if any of you in here would come against that, come against Yenifer, first you gotta be with her dad and her pastor and everybody else in here who loves her. Lots of brothers. I don't think I would contend with them. But God says it's life.

If you would kill what's inside the Old Testament, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, you were to be put to death. The Bible is not unclear about abortion. The godless culture that we live in is unclear. Does life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, strike for strike. We find this further explained in Genesis 9 verse 5.

God says, and for your life, love, I will require a reckoning. From every beast, I will require it, and from man. From his fellow man, I will require a reckoning for the life of man. This morning I understand as you murder a baby in the womb God has declared that there is a reckoning that he is required this he is required a reckoning and further in Genesis 9 6 it says whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed for God made man in his own image now understand this if you shed someone's blood if you murder someone this is specifically talking about murder, killing the innocent. Now understand this is just a short rabbit trail, understand that there is no one innocent among us, to God.

But to civil government, there is those who are innocent. Babies in the womb are innocent. It should be the safest place in the world. They have no capability of even committing a civil crime. In Romans 13, which we'll look at in just a minute, the government's job is to protect the innocent.

It's their job. It's why God has given government authority. In Psalm 106 verse 38 It says, they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. I underline in my notes this word polluted, because this is very important to you and I if by God's word as innocent blood is shed God has required a reckoning of this required a fixing of this and we refuse to fix it it makes our land polluted America and its killing of the unborn has polluted itself. This pollution is caused by Genesis 9.5.

Again, it says, and for your life blood I will require a reckoning. It is required from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. So it is in the New Testament, it is the civil government who is required to do this repudy, required to administer this punishment. Look at Romans 13, 3 through 4.

In the last year, I've got to spend lots of time on Romans chapter 13 trying to understand this right way, to understand our relationship to the government. Look what it says, it says, for rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad Would you have no fear of the one who is an authority then do it as good and you will receive his approval For he is God's servant for your good But if you do wrong be afraid for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. God has given us civil government to enforce these things of which he is laid out. It is God who determines what is right and wrong.

It is God who delegates his authority to governments. When God delegates his authority to our civil government that we live in, it is within the expectation that they would punish wrongdoers. And wrongdoers would include those who would murder their child in the womb. But our government no longer does that. For a long time, not done that.

As a result of which I believe our country has become polluted. We should be surprised that our country continues on another day. We should be surprised that we haven't been conquered or handed over to the symbolic Assyrians of our time. Look at Isaiah 24, five through six. This speaks of the end times, this speaks of the return of Christ.

The first line in verse five says, the earth lies defiled. Now that word defiled, that Hebrew word defiled is the exact same Hebrew word that's used for polluted in the previous verse. This should terrify us. The earth lies defiled, the earth lies commuted under its inhabitants, for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant, therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are squashed, and few men are left.

Today our civil government ignores its mandate to reckon the murder of innocent life that's within their authority. It's within, when God established authority on earth, essentially he established three authorities he established the civil government he established the family and he established the church each of which have their own jurisdiction. The civil government refuses to fulfill its jurisdiction on punishing the wrongdoer, and yet even this morning as we have begun, encroaches upon the church and tries to mandate to us how many people can gather together on Sunday morning. Now, if you read the works of Richard Baxter in one of his writings, he addresses this very question. If the civil government requires or asks of you or requires of you to not gather together, then generally we should obey the civil government if it's for a time.

But the reason before it matters greatly. And this reasoning and this request must be equally applied to all within this realm. When the government begins to say, well, you can gather together this many for protesting, but not for inside a church, They have encroached upon the authority of the church and in effect has rendered their authority void. When we started this pandemic, and I'm going down a different rabbit trail, bear with me for a minute, when we started this pandemic and no one knew the severity of what was happening, it made sense for us to obey our government which seemed to be trying to protect us. But at this point, if you're an average healthy person, you have a greater chance of dying in a car wreck on your way to church than dying from the bug-wrecked point around.

To further mandate to the church what it must do or not do, I believe at this point is rendering their commands. This morning I would ask that you search the scriptures and that you would pray. But my statement to you is no matter where this goes, if it still seems to not be what they say it is, I'm going to be here every Sunday morning. I might need some of you to bail me out, but I'm going to be here. Because they are, they are setting outside of their authority and to the authority of the church is the authority of the elders within the church to determine if we should need or not need.

God grants all authority. God grants authority to the civil government. God grants authority to the church. God grants authority to the family. When one begins to encroach on another, I believe it's our duty to say, no, this is our authority.

Amen. Back to where I was going. The government abandons their authority to put away, to deal with the evildoer. As a result, I believe our land has become defiled before God. This morning, and you hear me say this all the time, I count on the dads all the time, and you guys should love me for it.

If things are going to change, It starts in the family. It starts all the way back with verse five. We have to determine that we're no longer going to be intermingled. We're no longer going to be like the guy next door. That as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord.

And we're going to dig in the scripture and we're going to see what it says of how we should operate and how we should live as a family. If across America, those who who claim Christ, if that is their position, I believe that would be the sign that God is reviving our country. God sends pandemics. God allows pandemics to draw his people to repentance. But we're not seeing a wave of repentance across America.

This morning it has to start in your family. Coming to hear the preacher stomp on your toes every Sunday morning is a good thing it's not going to bring repentance if you say ouch that hurts and then you don't have to live like the world still does I would rather somebody come to me in tears afterwards and be so bogged down by their sin and ask me how can I change, how can I leave my family a hundred times over more than a good sermon pastor and go back to live like the world? If we come to church and we hear the word of God and it doesn't change us, I believe we have the same hope as the Israelites have. I believe that bad times are coming. In Psalm 106 39, it says, thus they became unclean by their acts.

They played the whore in their deeds. So often in scripture God gives us this illustration that we're the bride of Christ. That relationship that God has with us is like a husband and wife relationship in a sense, not that falls apart, but it's a covenantal relationship. When we sell out to the things that God hates, he sees us as the unfaithful wife, the one that trades him for pollutant, the one that trades God for filth. Let's read through that in conclusion Once again, let's see this progression.

Psalm 106, 35-39, but They mixed with the nations and did not do, and learned to do what they did. So first they mixed. They became like the people they were around. Second, they began to serve their idols, which became a snare to them. Third, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons.

They poured out innocent blood in the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the Isles of Canaan, and the land was polluted with their blood. Abortion in America had went on long enough. I heard a great statement by John Piper that he, when he was talking about this principle, someone said well abortion isn't so bad because just saying all those babies are, they're going to heaven. They don't even have to deal with all this stuff. And he pointed back to that, the scripture connects and it's true, Abortion is demonic.

The demons are involved. He said the demons will gladly send a million babies to heaven if it causes the parents of those babies to become murderers before God. It is demonic. As we come to this election day, we have many ideas of what we could think about when we go to the poll. We can think about what this candidate is saying for, what that candidate is saying for.

One candidate wants to put more money in my pocket. The other candidate wants to give me a better work week or less work week work. And the next candidate has this idea or that idea. But I can tell you this morning, it's outside my jurisdiction to tell you who to vote for, but I can inform you, as a redeemed believer in Christ, abortion must be the top of your list. It must be the sole determining factor.

If you pick any of the other things, if you pick more money in your pocket, it will be money in your pocket with blood on your hands. You would participate in the works of demons to put money in your pocket. It must be the top. Understand, we're not. On Tuesday, I'm not voting for a pastor.

There is nobody running for president that I would dare to want as my pastor. They don't meet the qualifications for pastor. I'm not just saying learning. I'm saying character. They don't meet the qualifications.

They cannot be. And in fact, with this understanding, the office of pastor is higher than the office of president. The qualifications are different. I'm not going to vote for someone to defile our land, to murder the innocent because one of it, because the other guy is rude. I don't care about his character.

In fact, the murdering of innocent is a bigger character flaw than someone who just needs to get off the internet and close his mouth for a while. This morning I want you to hear me. There is much at stake in this election. Because the results that we find hopefully on Tuesday night or Wednesday, to me, shows me very much where God is leading this country, where he's taking us. At the end of it though, God is sovereign.

If he gives us Charles Manson as our president, we deserve it. The country deserves it. That country deserves it. We'll go on to Psalm 106 and we read about this idea that even though we're idolaters and whores to God, even though all of this is true God still rescues us he's still his grace pours out upon us and this morning in conclusion I don't know what's happened in your life I don't know if you've had an abortion If you have, it is a vile thing. But today, God offers forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

Today, if you put your trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, God will forgive you. But any person who goes to the abortion clinic with this idea that God will forgive me if I do this, so I can just go through it with it, does not know God, and it's an extreme risk of immediate judgment. Don't ever put yourself into that position. But this morning, if in your past you look back and there's things you regret, I have good news. Christ is ready to forgive.

One final thought. Over and over we see in scripture the apostle Paul mourned that he is the chief of centers. The Apostle Paul was a murderer. And yet, God chose him even when he was in his mother's womb to carry the good news of forgiveness for those who turned from their sin and trust in Christ. It was a thing that Paul had a hard time wrapping his head around.

Paul's like, I am the worst of sinners and yet God has been so merciful to me. But I believe God does this on purpose so that you sitting in this room, if you look back and he would say, he's talking about me, I've murdered my child, and I feel with you. But you have nothing to stand on today to say that God will never forgive you because he forgave Paul. I believe on purpose so that you can look you can't look back into your life and say God can never forgive me because I'm just too bad. Paul says I beat you.

I'm worse and he forgave me. He could forgive you. So this morning, don't leave down. Don't leave mourning. Turn to Christ.

He's took the punishment for your sin. Wherever you find yourself. Turn to Christ. If you found yourself not being a great parent, if you found yourself not being a great child, not living up to what scripture says, don't leave here upset. It's not the goal of a preacher or for anyone for you to leave here sad and then just go back to what you're doing.

Turn, let today be the day that you need your family. Don't worry about the past, Make today be the day that we say, ask for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. That's what God asks of us. You'll find in the next chapter, it's a blessing that Brother Greg read that. Even though this is where Israel was, God wasn't done with them.

There's still hope. They're singing God's praises in the next chapter. He did lead them through very hard times. And those are sometimes phrases of God for us. But God, when He shakes us to our senses, and we come to our senses, we come to Him with more praise, more thanksgiving, a deeper admiration for the God who forgives, the God who paid for my sin.

Amen? Amen. Let's pray. Father, as always, we come to you this morning thankful for your word. God, would you do a work in us?

Would you open our eyes to the snares? Would you open our eyes to the deception the world was before us, for so many who are caught in this, grant us repentance. Father, at this point in history, we need you more than ever. Mother, we sit in awe of your mercy and grace. If you don't see through us, wipe us out.

And griefs if you don't wipe us out. We watched the civil government as you have ordained. We watched them fall apart and do as they should. Father, even more within those whom you have chosen. We've so easily made love with the people.

We've lived as they live. We've thought what was important is what they think is important. Father, it has severely affected us. Father, Today would you grant us repentance? Will this come out from them?

Not that we would ever never be around the lost Father, that we would continue to preach the gospel, that God, we would live a life honoring to you and not one that conforms to this world. Father, I pray that you would grant us wisdom in this coming week as we go to the election poll. I pray that our votes, while none of us probably find the candidate you would really like. I pray that your vote would honor you, honor what's important to you, even if it would mean giving what we want. Father, that shouldn't be what we want, honor you.

I pray that they would know that there's a church family here who loves them. A church family that understands mistakes, that we all make mistakes. God ultimately a church family that wants them to explain to us forgiveness. It should be found from all return to Christ who trusts in him. Father, that is to be truly blessed as my brother said this morning, to find your forgiveness that's truly offered to all who turn to you.

So Father, we pray that you would draw people in you with me. Amen.