Transcript
[hymn]
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. And also with you. Let us look to God in our prayer of confession. Our Father, we have sung your praises this morning as the King of creation. You not only made mankind and the universe we inhabit, but you reign over it all, carrying out your purposes. We tremble as we try to contemplate your purposes in the Persian
Gulf. We struggle daily. Are we your instruments for bringing Saddam Hussein to justice, or are we also a nation under your judgment? Forgive us for any arrogance or boasting of our iron might, and bend us low in your presence in contrition and repentance for our own national and personal sins. As we pursue the goal of justice in this conflict, deliver us from destruction of civilian targets and needless loss of life of men, women, and children in
the line of fire. Grant us honesty as we examine our national and personal motivation in this conflict, and forgive us for we have been blind to our real motives. Give us, who are your people, insight into the mind of Christ who minds the falling sparrow and cares for every hurting soul on both sides of this conflict. Amen. Hear the words of King David, who was also a warrior. Some boast of chariots and some of horses, but
we boast of the Lord our God. Does David sound like Saddam Hussein calling on Allah, or was David truly humbled before his God? I choose to believe that David was humbled. And all that is within me, that is all within me. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And all that is within me, that is all within me. Now it's the time for the Old Testament lesson. Here in the congregation and
for our radio listeners who wish to join in the scripture reading, it's the 103rd Psalm, the Psalm of David. We remember our friends, homebound friends today, as we gather together in this sanctuary. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who
crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like eagles. The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always try, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal
with us according to our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As the Father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him, for he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his
days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower in the field, for the wind passes over it and it is gone, and his place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. Bless
the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, heartening to the voice of his word. Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will. Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. [hymn]
Let's
continue to look to God in prayer. Almighty God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn, but the sword of righteousness. And no strength known, but the strength of love. We ask you this morning to send your spirit throughout the world. Gather our nation and all peoples engaged in the conflict in the Persian Gulf. Gather us under the banner of the Prince of Peace. We ask that you would look with compassion on the whole human family.
Take away the arrogance and hatred which can infect our hearts. And break down the walls that separate. Guide the nations of the world in the way of justice and truth. And establish among us that peace which is the fruit of righteousness. We pray this morning for your church around the world. We pray for ourselves that we may speak with clarity the truth of the gospel. And point to the one who is our life. Guide your church
by the light of your word. Turn our hearts to your decrees and give us life in your ways. May we indeed be salt among the people of the earth and a clear light of hope. Enable us to follow Jesus Christ who for the great joy set before him endured the contempt and rejection of the cross before he sat down at your side. Mercifully grant that we may have the courage to walk in the way of the
cross. And may we indeed find it to be none other than the way of life and peace. Our Father, we commend our country to your merciful care this morning. We ask that you would bring us safely through these dark and fearful hours. Keep watch over us. You have bound us together in a common life. And we bring our nation to you and ask that the brightness of your truth continue to search us and prove us. Show
us what is just. Give our leaders love of truth and righteousness. And teach all of us in this hour to rely on your strength. Gracious God, your son commanded us to love our enemies. So we pray for the people and leaders of Iraq. Even as we seek mercy for ourselves. Deliver them and us from hatred and cruelty and revenge. And we also commend to your gracious care in keeping all the men and women serving this nation
who are in harm's way. Defend them day by day with your grace. Strengthen them in their trials and temptations. And give them courage to face all that threatens. And grant them a sense of your abiding presence. Wherever they may be and whatever this day may bring. And our Father, you sent your son to reconcile the world to yourself. And in all parts of the world, you have gathered a community that prays and labors for the sake
of the kingdom of God. And for those who you have called and sent and the power of your spirit to tell the peoples of the earth the love of Christ, we give you thanks. We pray for Bruce Hanson and his ministry within our varsity here at Cal. Grant him a vigorous and hearty faith in the faithfulness of Christ. Strengthen him as he participates with graduate students in a conference this weekend. And as he prepares for a
summer outreach project in Bulgaria. Encourage him and bless his ministry. And may many students recognize their need for your grace. And welcome into their lives the gift of Christ and his transforming love. We also pray for our own university students who are away this weekend. Bless them as they are at Mount Hermon. Make this a time of learning and growth and healing and refreshment. And we thank you for George Fisher, for his ministry among us, his
leadership among the worship and fine arts department. We ask that your good hand of blessing would rest on him and that he might indeed know the joy of Christ. And Father, we ask that you would accept our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We praise you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life itself. And above all, we thank you for your
son, Jesus Christ, for the truth of his word and the example of his life, for his steadfast obedience, for his dying and his rising to life again. Grant us the gift of your spirit that we may know him and make him known. It's in the name of Jesus Christ that we pray. Amen. This is now the fourth sermon in a series of messages that I've been preaching on David the King. And today, I want to talk
to you about greatness. First, I want you to look at 1 Peter 5, because in that letter, Peter gives us a description of greatness. There are lots of New Testament descriptions of greatness, but this is one of the, it's very pithy, it's very down to earth and to the point. And Peter puts it at the end of his letter, his letter to the church. Notice that marvelous statement that he gives in the fifth chapter. I'll start
with the fifth verse. He says, Clothe yourself, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you. Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that
the same experience of suffering is required of your brothers and sisters throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you. To him be dominion forever and ever. Amen. Quite a paragraph, isn't it? It's a portrayal of greatness. The portrayal of a person that's not shaken by the roaring lion of evil. In all of
its guises. A person who has a firm faith. A person who knows that he or she belongs to a fellowship of brothers and sisters around the world. You're not alone. A person who's able to suffer and take it on the chin. And a person who has discovered God's love. And a person who's been restored, established, and strengthened. It's a portrayal of greatness. Now, it's hard to be like that. In fact, it's a portrayal of Christian character
from Peter's pen. But it's hard to be that way in a generation. Every generation, his generation, face tremendous challenges to those people that's why he wrote this. It's hard to be humble. It's hard to have those ingredients of character. It's hard in our generation, too. It's hard on this campus to be that way. It's hard where you work to be that way. You know what I'm talking about. There are all kinds of pressures that pressure you
into wavering and not being firm in your faith and standing for what you believe and knowing who you are. Right now, here on our campus, have you been reading the Daily Carol this fall? You know that there's been a sort of hot topic right now on our campus. Is the pressure that's on all of us to be, and here's the new catchphrase. You'll hear a lot of this catchphrase now because it's a new one. And this
fall, we've been thinking about it a lot here at Berkeley. It's the pressure on everyone to be politically correct, PC. That pressure to be politically correct can take away your greatness and take away your freedom. Right here on our own campus, it got to be a very tight subject because one of the professors, a professor of anthropology, Vincent Sarek, was teaching in his class subjects and making comments in the class and teaching themes that were offensive
to groups on this campus, and maybe for good reason. And some students, not students in his class, but some other students came in and tried to shut down his class, and it became a big issue. Can a professor teach something that's not politically correct? And the Daily Cal's had numerous stories on this subject. Can you teach something that's not politically correct? Thank God, the Academic Senate of the University of California came up with a tremendous statement
on academic freedom as a result of this crisis, so that's something good that's come out of it. But you know the pressures that are on you. Recently, the Scientific American, one of the most prestigious scientific magazines in America, fired one of its science editors because he didn't, not that he said he was a creationist or believed in creation theory, but because he said he had some doubts about Darwinism. And that's not politically correct among the biology
team and opinion pace setters at the Scientific American, evidently, and they fired him. Not because he wasn't a good science editor, but because of that heresy. He wasn't politically correct. Unfortunately for Scientific American, a professor at this campus wrote an incredible letter to the editors of the Los Angeles Times, which swept the country, challenging Scientific American for that, but still didn't get the guy his job back. But you know what it's like. It happens sometimes when
you go into the restaurant. Have you ever gone to the restaurant with a group of your friends who are politically correct and are correct on food issues, and you're in that restaurant, do you know how tough it is to order a rump roast with mashed potatoes and a little lake of gravy on top? You know how tough it is to order that? It's very high on the food chain. You're going to get a lot of funny
looks. Have you had that experience? No, they want you to order soybean loaf on Minnesota wheat. And if you have that pressure to say, my, the flavors mingle nicely, it seems so nice, actually you hate it, but you're eating it because it's politically correct. I have that problem with my daughter, who's a big lentil bean fan, and she criticizes me for what I order, and she makes this horrible soup with lentil beans. I don't even think
she likes it. I asked her, I said, do you like that soup? And she said, she evaded it. She said, it's good for you. I remember my mother saying that about Vic's vapor rub. Listen, you know what I mean. There are pressures on you to comply with some powerful group in your office where you work. And that's the challenge to greatness. How do you stay firm and stay settled in what you believe and say what you
honestly feel and say it the way you feel it when you're around people that have that kind of power around you? Will you get tenure at Cal if you're not politically correct? At Stanford? Those are big questions. And do you want to jeopardize your career over that? It's true in the church too. Both in the right wing and the left wing of Christian faith. People in the right wing right now. I agree for the Southern Baptist
Convention, where a group of very strong Christians on the right in the Southern Baptist Convention have created definitions and views of the Bible that are so tight and so precise. And if some professors and Christian pastors and lay people don't jump through that hoop in just a certain way, then they won't get their job and they lose their job. And they may have a very deep faith, but they've got to say it just a certain way
to please that group. And you see the same thing on the left wing, where there's certain rhetoric and language that's got to be used, and if you don't use that language and speak that way, you're not religiously correct. And it's hard to stay great. It's hard to keep your integrity when you have those kinds of pressures. I want to tell you about David the King. David the King was a great man by that standard. In his
early years and in his later years. Not in his middle years. But in the early years of David and in the later years of David's life, David the King was a great man by Peter's definition in 1 Peter 5. He was not politically correct. He didn't say what everybody wanted him to say. He said what he honestly felt. He kept his integrity intact, and he was a great man. Unfortunately, he was not in the middle of
his life. Hey, by the way, what's wrong with middle age? What does it do to us? That's the story of so many people's lives. Great at the beginning, and thank God, great at the end. Sadder but wiser. And all fouled up in the middle. It happened to David. Later we'll talk about his middle life and the last years of his life, but today we'll talk about his early life. When David was a genuinely great man. There
is genuine greatness in this man. I don't have time now to read for you the whole journey of his life in 1 Samuel. I've created a study guide for you to help you to study David's life. But if you want to read something really interesting today, if the Buffalo Bills just blow away the New York Giants today, and it gets boring, why not read 1 Samuel 18, 19, 20, 21? Or read it tomorrow. I want to
tell you those are incredible chapters. They're an amazing saga story of David's life, the early years of his life. 1 Samuel, start with the 17th chapter. It starts with the Goliath incident, and then goes through his life. He was a remarkable man. After the Goliath incident, David, who defeated Goliath, was not even known to Saul. Saul the king didn't even know who he was. And then he meets this young man. And then he was so taken
by his bravery and courage, that he invited David to leave his family and come and live in the palace. And David did. You can't refuse the king. And so David came. He became the musician to the king. And there are several scenes where David plays the harp for Saul to calm Saul. In fact, one of the most brilliant of all the Rembrandt paintings is Rembrandt's painting of David playing the harp for Saul. And so David began
his career. In that house, he made a friendship with Jonathan. We'll later preach on that, because that's a beautiful part of David's life. He made a great friendship. And he starts and becomes the servant of the king. And during that period of time, David becomes a truly great man. There's no question about it. But it's a complex and complicated time in David's life, because Saul very soon, even in the 18th chapter, right away after Saul brings
him into his house, and after he becomes one of Saul's men, right away Saul becomes insanely, and that's the only word you can use for it, insanely jealous of David. David goes to battle, comes back, and the people like David better than Saul. And the people say, they cry out in the streets, Saul has his thousands, David has his ten thousands. And that made Saul all the more angry at David. And so Saul began to plot,
and by the way, that was the way things were done in the royal houses of antiquity. He plotted and began intrigues against David. Two of those incidents are quite graphic. At one point, David was playing the harp for Saul, and Saul reached in and took a spear and threw the spear at David, trying to impale him to the wall. How would you like to be a musician in that kind of a cafe? And David, fortunately, stepped
aside. One time, and then Saul arranged for David to marry his daughter, Michelle, and then at one point he sent murderers, assassins, to kill him in his bed. But his wife was very smart, and she put a fake person in the bed, just some towels there, and they stabbed the towels instead. And David escaped. David escaped, and you'll see this in chapter 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. You'll see all those narratives. Over and over again, he
was put in the front of battle where Saul hoped that the Philistines would kill him. Over and over again, he tried to get Jonathan to kill him, and of course, Jonathan wouldn't. But Saul tried every tactic there was to destroy David. And yet, in the midst of all this, David never lashed back at Saul. He kept his integrity. He refused to play that game with Saul. In fact, on one occasion, David was in Saul's tent, and
Saul was asleep, and David took the sword of Saul. David had a lot of style, too. He took the sword of Saul, went out, and then hollered to Saul and woke him up and said, Hey, by the way, Saul, here's your sword. I could have stabbed you, but I didn't. I'm loyal to you. Still, Saul wanted all the more to kill him. It's a terrible, tragic narrative. And yet, David kept his greatness. Just like Peter, he
resisted the roaring lion. He kept his integrity. He trusted God and kept his integrity. How did he do it? I think David gives you clues, and he gives us a threefold explanation of his greatness in the great psalm was read to us just a few moments ago by Khaki, Psalm 103. Open up to it. I can't read that whole psalm to you. It's one of the great psalms of David, but in that psalm, there are four
strophes, and in the four strophes, there are three great themes that David shares with you, which are the secrets, as I see it, to his character. You know, David wrote many psalms, and the psalms are very transparent, and they show you what David feels and thinks. He was the sweet musician of Israel, and here in this great psalm, we learn a lot about David's greatness. Notice he starts right out in the first strophes and also ends
on the same note. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And forget not all his blessings and benefits to me. He forgives my iniquities. He heals my diseases. He rescues me from the pit. And he ends on that same note. Thanking God for his love. That would be, as I see it, the first mark of David's greatness. He trusted in God. He
loved God. And he saw God as the source of his life. And that's the greatness of David. The greatness of David was that he saw that he had a source. He had a resource in God, and in God's faithfulness and God's love for him. You think about it for a minute. That is the great source of greatness that enables you to stand and to hold your ground. And it holds for David. Now the second great theme
that's in Psalm 103 is more subtle. And it appears, it starts out in verse 6. The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed. He has made known his ways to Moses. His acts to the people of Israel. Here David brings up Moses. Moses the law giver. And notice he picks this up again over in verse 17 and 18. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon all who fear
him and his righteousness to children's children. Listen to this line. To those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. And that's the second great source of David's greatness. It's very subtle. David by the way is a very sophisticated writer. That's a subtle and very sophisticated point that he makes. The greatness of David is that he remembers the covenant of God. That God had given his commandments in Moses, and David remembered those. And when
David forgot them, David became tragic. But he remembered that the God had made a commandment. And secondly he remembered the covenant of God. Now that covenant was shown in the anointing of Saul. Saul had been anointed by God. That was a covenant God made, a promise. And you'll notice that all the way through these texts, David refuses to arrange for treachery against Saul because he does not want to lift his hand against the Lord's anointed. Now
that becomes an ingredient of greatness in David. He realizes that God made a covenant even though Saul is a man in the covenant. God made a covenant and promised to Saul, and David does not want to raise his hand against what God had covenanted. And that I think is a mark of David's greatness. Now the third is also in this psalm. Notice verse 15. As for man, his days are like grass. He flourishes like the flower
of the field. For the wind passes over it, it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. The third greatness theme in David is that he realizes that his life is boundaried. He recognizes there's a boundary around his life. This too shall pass away. Arthur Vandenberg, the great U .S. Senator, had that on his desk. It's always intrigued me because it seems to me
every powerful person, every political leader, every business leader, should have that inscription on their desk. This too shall pass away. And David knew that. And that sense of his own humanity, that he was boundaried, he's like grass that blows away, but God's word abideth still. That's a line actually that Luther put in his great and mighty fortresses are God. The body they may kill, but God's word abideth still. And that gave David the ingredients of greatness.
Now these are marks of character. They're marks of greatness. And we see them in David, but they're still relevant for us today. And they're relevant for us today in a greatly enlarged sense of what David experienced. Because in the Gospel, in Jesus Christ, all of the great Davidic threads are fulfilled. And notice even this definition of greatness is fulfilled in Christ and becomes even profounder and more far-reaching than David could ever have imagined. Let me
see if I can show you. Let me see if I can describe the marks of character for you and me today. If we were to use David as our model here from Psalm 103. First, character begins. Greatness begins with a relationship with God just like David saw it. It begins with trusting in God, trusting in God's love. And God has spoken for himself in his son, Jesus Christ. You can trust in Jesus Christ, as Paul puts
it, Christ in you, the hope of glory. When you have that, when you have that source, that's what enables you to withstand the politically correct people or the religiously correct people or the economically correct people. You're able to stand between a rock and a hard place and to keep your own integrity when you have a source of meaning that comes from God. Let me tell you something, folks. If you don't have a source of meaning that
comes from God, then you will tap into every power source you see. And that's how you get victimized. You'll tap into the business crowd you're with. Or if you're out for dinner, you'll tap into that crowd and see what they like and do what they like in order to be in with them. You'll tap into the politically correct or religiously correct people that are around you. Because how else will you get tenure? How else will you
really be able to make it? Unless you have a source of meaning for yourself that is beyond that crowd or these people. Or, by the way, you can do this with your own family. Some people tap into their children way too much to make themselves happy. And some children tap into their parents too much to make them happy. The best gift you can give your children is a sense of their own relationship with Jesus Christ so
that they can have a source of meaning, a source of worth that comes from God. Remember we saw that last week. We talked about the anointing we have in our baptism. That's the source of greatness. You can't be great in your own energy. You can't be great because you decide you're going to be great. And you're going to be faithful and you're going to stand and you're going to be able to suffer and do all these
things and withstand pressures. You've got to have some resource inside of you. And David had it. And we have it fulfilled in Christ. Secondly, now the second one is very subtle. You need to keep the promises. You and I need to keep the promises. The promises of the law and the gospel. We need to obey the law and we need to remember the promises. And keep them. David would not kill Saul because he recognized an anointing
was there. Now that has been greatly enlarged for us. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his remarkable little book, The Cost of Discipleship, saw the implications of all of this in New Testament theological terms. Bonhoeffer pointed out that as a result of the gospel, I no longer have any direct relationships with anyone, like Saul did when he tried to throw that spear through David. That's what you call a direct relationship. Bonhoeffer says because of Jesus Christ and because of
the gospel, I have a mediated relationship with everyone. I see every human being around me through the mediator. Even my children, even my wife, my husband, I see everyone around me in a mediated way. That means that I've made a discovery in the gospel that they are beloved. See, that's what Saul was anointed. He was loved by God and that's why David didn't want to practice a treachery against him. And David held back from that. And
we honor David for that. That's his greatness. When we realize that Jesus Christ stands between myself and my neighbor, I see my neighbor's worth in the light of Christ. Now you can see why Paul can say that we're able to love our enemies. We see our enemies. We see everyone in a mediated way. We realize that people are not permanently against us or seen as against us. We can work for peace even in the midst of
crisis because we see human beings in a mediated way. We know something about everybody we meet. We know their crisis. We know everybody's in crisis. And we know they're beloved. And that's the second thread of greatness. It will make you a great person when you realize that every person around you has their worth settled by God. And that means you honor people for that anointing you know about. That's the covenant relationship. And third, when you know
your life is boundary. When you know that your life is boundary. When I know my life is boundary. When I know that Jesus Christ is the last word. He has the right to say the last word of judgment and he is the one who is the last word of redemption. And he boundaries all the turbulence of life. And when I know that, then I'm not quite so terrified from the things that I meet during the daily
walk of my life. And I'm able to have a kind of prophetic independence. And keep my own thoughts. And stand for what I believe in. I don't have to be so politically or religiously correct. Because I know that I get the meaning for my life from God. From who is my source. And that he's the one who's able to forgive. And he's the one who is the boundary. Our world needs people like this today. We thank
God for David. David, early in his life, was a great man. David was a great man at the end of his life. Not in the middle. But we have to thank God for what we can get. We're thankful for the beginning and the end. Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you for your faithfulness. For your love. Which is the source of all of our greatness. David's greatness too. And thank you, Lord, for your covenants and your promises.
What you've shown us in the gospel is your will for life. And thank you also, Lord, that you boundary all of history. Father, I pray that there will be people here in this room that will become great men and women in this profound sense that 1 Peter has defined it. Our generation needs it very, very much. Bless us all and our generation. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. I invite Mindy Creason to come up. One of
the joys I have as a pastor is to see how many of you, the laypeople in this church, are involved in ministries all over the Bay Area. Many of these ministries are not directly related to our church. They have their own boards, they have their own leadership, and yet people from our church are volunteers, and in this case Mindy is actually on the staff of these organizations around the Bay Area. And we are so grateful that
you're involved. So many of you are in Habitat for Humanity and all these different organizations that are trying to help and serve people. Well, one of those organizations in the Bay Area is the Berkeley Crisis Pregnancy Center. And Mindy, who was an intern in our church for one year, member of our church, is right now holding the role as director of client services there. And I know that a major class is starting next week, and so
I wanted to have a chance for our people to learn about what's happening there. And Mindy, why don't you tell us what is your ministry there and how do you help people in that clinic? Well, recently a young woman came into our center who was very, very upset. She just found out that she was pregnant and she felt that she had no way to care for her child at all. She was unemployed, she was living in
very poor conditions, she had little food, no baby clothes, no baby furniture, and no resources for prenatal care. And I don't know about you, but when I hear about women like this and when I meet them every day, I am so convicted about all that I take for granted in my life, a warm place to sleep, supportive friends and family, adequate food and clothing, and medical care. We believe, but there are literally thousands of women in
our community who do not have the same opportunities that we do. The good news is that we at the Crisis Pregnancy Clinic were able to come alongside this young woman and meet her needs. We fed her, we helped her secure housing, we provided her with the important support and acceptance that she desperately needed. We helped her with baby clothes and baby furniture, and what's really exciting is that we were able to provide her with free prenatal
care to ensure the health of herself and her baby. And we believe that through this care, that we will be able to lead many women to Christ and that they'll really be able to experience the love that he has for them. Mindy, how can we as individuals like in our church and those that maybe have a concern in this regard, how can we respond to the needs and help you at the Crisis Pregnancy Center? Well, at
this point, we are growing tremendously. We started in 1984 with our counseling center in Berkeley, and just in the last year, we opened a medical office in Oakland and a second counseling center in Richmond. However, at this point, half of our counseling rooms sit empty, and we're only able to have our medical office open one day a week because we simply do not have enough volunteers. Several years ago, as a new Christian, I sat in the
sanctuary when I heard somebody from the Crisis Pregnancy Clinic talk about the needs of the center. And you may feel that in a situation like this, you don't have much to offer, and that's how I felt. I doubted that I had much to give. But at the same time, I heard God calling me to the CPC, and I've been there now for three years full-time on the staff. And I can tell you that it is
God who equips us. When He calls us to something, He does equip us. And my life and my faith have been radically changed and enriched by the CPC. We are beginning a training session in mid-February. We'll be holding three sessions in Berkeley and in Richmond, both a day and evening session. And I would just invite you to pray and to ask God if He might be calling you to serve in this ministry. And finally, just
on behalf of the many women that we serve, I want to thank you for your support, your prayers, your financial support, and to many of you who have volunteered at the center, because many women have received help and have come to know Jesus Christ because of your support. Thanks, baby. Thanks. Here, let me pray for you. Thanks. It's been a joy to watch your own life as an intern and now in this ministry, and we're just
so pleased. And I know you told me that something like, well, 20 or 30, or what was it, 40 % of the volunteers are from this? Right, four of our paid staff are actually members of First Press, and many, many of our volunteers. Dear Lord, bless this ministry. We thank you for people who care. And bless Mindy and bless those that may take this training class to also be volunteers. Lord, help us to know how to
help people who have needs and to reach out. And Lord, we pray for these folks and ask your special blessing in their lives. In Christ's name, amen. Jesus taught His disciples to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. And now, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God our Father, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. That is how you learn. Amen. Let us pray. Amen.