Sanctity of Life 2024

Well, good morning. Is good to see you all. Welcome to but that is that I'm glad that you're here worship with us in person or watching online or TV. We're really glad that you're a part of this morning. I want you to turn in your bibles, if you will. We start this morning Isaiah chapter one, Isaiah chapter one, and we'll read verses sixteen and seventeen. You know, I've got some new neighbors at around my house and and they're kind of stragglers. They're kind of been here and there and everywhere. And they came in just a few weeks ago and there's about two of them, and now there's eight of them, and you know, they're just they're kind of crawlsing some issues and you know, they're you know, they're kind of you know, stragglers, if you will. And they're Canadians. Yep, there are eight Canadian geese. And they've taken up across the across across from my house. They've taken up at the house across the street. And you know, you know, when they first came in, they're just too old them. I thought, you know, it's not too bad. It kind of deed. They're kind of cute, you know, if you will, they kind of make cute noises, and until one morning where one of them was on the soccer field and one of them was that and then they were honking at each other trying to find each other, and I thought, yeah, maybe it's losing some of its cuteness, you know. And then next thing I know, there's eight of them and they're like callsing traffic gems in front of my house. And at seven point thirty this morning, the cars are blowing the horns at the geese trying to cross the road. And I thought to myself, I think I'm getting tired of this, you know, I think I'm done. It's only been a week or two, and I think I'm done. Have you ever felt like that at times where there's people in your life and sometimes you kind of get maybe a little tired of them. Maybe they're you know, at first, it seems kind of nice, and that then they start like get on your nerves because they really don't do anything about like some bad behaviors in their life, and they just continues and continues, and maybe you say something to them about it, and then yet they don't really change and it's just on and on and on the same thing in their life. It's always continual mess, and you at times you feel like you know, I'm kind of tired of this. Well in scripture and Isaiah, listen to this, the Lord says, I'm weary of you as God's people. I'm weary of my people. I'm getting tired of your And you know what he's tired of, listen is this. He's tired of their worthless worship. He's tired of their church services, their worship services. And why is he tired of them? He's tired of them because they worship on Sunday, but their lives do not reflect it on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And he even goes so far that I am so weary, I'm so tired of carrying your worthless worship that when you pray, I'll close my eyes. When you pray, I'll close my ears. I am weary of your worship. And as we come to Isaiah one verses sixteen and seventeen, he really gives them instructions. Hey, if you really want to do something about this worthless worship that you have, I have two instructions for you two things I just call you to do, and so I want to just share those with you this morning, to instructions for repentant worship. And let's just read this. We stand with me in reference reading God's words Isaiah one, and we'll just read two verses here. This is what it says. He says, wash yourselves and make yourselves clean. Remove the evil deeds from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, correct depression, bring justice to the fatherless. Plead the widow's calls. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for this morning, and Lord, I pray the Lord all of us will recognize that how important it is for us to worship you in sincerity and truth and Lord, not just with empty words. But Lord, we would worship you on Sunday morning, but God, we'd worship with you in our lives on throughout Monday through Saturday. That Lord, our worship would be a reflection of our worship for you every day. So Lord, help us think about your instructions for us today and help us apply these truths in our lives. Lord, we pray in your name, We pray Amen. So this morning, as we look at these two instructions for repentant worship. That these two instructions that he gave to Israel. Hey, these I'm weary of your worthless worship. Here's instructions for repentant worship. Number one, he says, listen, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. The first instructure for repentant worship. It's very simply, cease to do evil. Stop it. You know. The problem with Israel was Israel was saying, you know, I want to worship God on Sunday, but I really want to do what I want to do on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I really want to worship you God, but I really also want to keep my sin. And God says here, if you really want value in your worship, you really want your worship to have worth that stopped doing evil. Stop worshiping me on Sunday and then worshiping your sin on Monday. You know, the big issue for Isaiah was hypocritical worship. Coming to the Lord and offering sacrifices and offerings to the Lord, but have hearts that were far from him. And it was common in the worship of Israel, and it's really common in the church today. Today we are celebrating the Saint Do You Human Life Sunday? And this is typically done in February, but with our calendar every year we do kind of change it and we do it kind of in May. And you know, if you think about the Saint Human Life and the abortion issue, sometimes we would maybe be naive to think that it's not really a church issue, it's not really a sin issue in the Church. For reality, its statistically tells us life Way did a study and it showed up the women who have abortions. You know, seventy percent of women who have abortionsdify themselves as Christians. Seventy percent twenty seven are a Catholic, twenty six Protestant, fifteen percent non Denominational, and two percent Orthodox. Among the Protestants, thirty three percent identify themselves as Baptists, eleven Methodists, ten percent Presbyterian, and nine percent Lutheran. Can I say abortion is a sen issue, it is an evil issue, and it's more prevalent in the Church than it is among the lost. Statistically, it tells us we know by statistic that fewer women have abortion that identify themselves as agnostic. Only eight percent who are agnostic have abortion. Only four percent who identify as atheists three percent, Jewish, two percent, Muslim, one percent, Hindu, Buddhist one percent, Mormons, one percent, have a witnesses one percent, and three percent say other seventy percent identifies Christians. You know there's evil in our churches, there's also evil in our community. Can I tell you that in North Carolina, we see that abortion is a huge issue in our state. Can I tell you that there are one hundred counties in North Carolina, and out of one hundred counties in North Carolina, there's only nine that have reported an abortion. Did you know that? And the reality is out of those nine counties, majority of those counties are counties that have universities. So you see what's happening with the abortion issue. That abortion issue, as al Mueller would say, is more about sex revolutionary sex revolution. It's about taking sex outside the confines of marriage and saying sex is about having sex whenever I want, with whoever I want, which is what a feminist by the name of Andrea Dorkin said, And that's what our world wants to do. They want to allow abortion, that the sex revolution will continue in our world, and that sex would be taken out of the confines of marriage into to be able to have it however and whatever you want. And we see that statistically because it's happening on our college campuses. For example, in Durham County in twenty twenty one, there were nine hundred and thirty six residents I mean, I'm sorry, non residents that had abortions. There's one and forty four residents that had abortions. But the staggering statistics that shows us that this is what's happening among young college aged students in universities is the statistics of Orange County. Orange County is where University of North Carolina is and in Orange County, three thousand and thirty six had abortions and they were non residents, So that means that they were from out of state coming to North Carolina and having abortions in Orange County. In Orange County only two hundred and thirty two were residents. So what are the majority of the ones having abortions, Well, most likely it is college duds. If you follow the non counties of abortions in North Carolina it's around major universities in North Carolina. I say that to say that there's evil in our community, we must recognize there's an evil issue in our churches, there's an evil issue in our community, and there's an evil issue in our world. And that is right now. The reality is, and we're going to have some people sharing in just a few moments that an abortion is becoming not only a huge issue in our state, but it's coming more problem in our world. Do you know over fifty percent of abortions today are chemical. Since overturning of Woe versus Weighed, our world has pushed more to legal abortion through chemicals bypill. Just over the last few months. In January of this year, the Food and Drug Administration handled down a permanent rule that allows big pharmacy chains like CBS and Walgreens to distribute the abortion pill from their brick and mortar stores. It even goes as far as now that the Justice Department cleared the Post Office to deliver the abortion pill. Listen of this to states that restricts its access. So we're now going from a place that it's happening in our churches, it's happening in our world, but now I mean in our community, but it is pushing out to all parts of our world. We've got to recognize that if we wan't repentant worship, it starts when we say we're gonna cease to do evil. Stop it. I'm gonna stop it in our world. But Isaiah, listen to Isaiah and the Lord who speaks through Isaiah. Wash yourself and make yourself clean. Remove the evil deeds from Europe before my eyes. Cease to do evil, but listen to this. The first instruction for repentant worship was cease to do evil. The second instruction was learned to do good. Listen to this, learn to do good, seek justice, correct the oppression, bring justice to the father's plead, the widow's calls. We've got to It's not just enough as Southern Baptists as, but that's a Baptist church to say we're gonna stop evil. We must also seek to do good. They say, what are we going to do good? Are we going to do? Not just say we're going to stop this, but we want to do good to those who've been oppressed. We want to do good to those who are fatherless. I'm excited to tell you some good things that are happening, and share some people with you that are doing some good things. One thing I want to tell you about is do you know, as Southern members we give to the corporate program. We gave roughly fifty thousand dollars last year to the cooperative program, and we do that every year, and part of that fifty thousand goes to an organization called the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and that it is an organization within this other mass convention, and it fights for life, it fights for religious liberties. Well, in two thousand and one, this organization launched a project called Psalm thirty nine project, and the goal of that project was to raise money to put ultrasound machines and pregnacive resource centers and provide medical staff for these resource centers all across the world. So we understand, statistically, if a young lady is pregnant and she goes and has an ultrasound and she sees the life in her womb, the chances of her aboard and go WAGH statistically down. So the ERC wanted to do some one thirty nine to put more ultrasounds in Cristis pregnancy centers, that more ladies would be able to see their babies. And so in twenty twenty one that started and from twenty one to two thousand and four it's around forty thousand dollars for an ultrasal machine and for someone trained to run that, and from two thousand and one to two thousand and four they put about two or three in twenty twenty. December of twenty twenty, ERC had a goal that they wanted to put fifty ultrasald machines across the United States by twenty twenty three, which would have been the twenty year. In the fiftieth anniversary versus Wade, Can I tell you since the beginning to today this is this, they had a goal of fifty. Today there's been eighty five that's been placed in the United States through the Southern Basque Convention. Eighty five ultrasoal machines across our United Praise the Lord for that. We need that these are good things that we need to praise. Can I tell you that a part of that was a North Carolina Baptist convention, and since two thousand and two, the North Carolina Baptist which we're a part of, have placed five ultrasound machines in North Carolina since twenty twenty two. Listen to that, Amen, praise the Lord for that. Just this last year, our North Carolina Baptist Convention received an award recognizing its exceptional partnership in the Psalm one thirty nine. It was called the Partner for Life Award. We were one of the very few states that got this award, but we got that for so these these ulture sounds were placed in Bravard, Concord, North Carolina, Elizabeth City, Franklin, Franklin, Raleigh, and Roxburgh right here in our own community. You're giving as you've given faithfully to the Lord, and we tithe that money and give it to the Southern Basque Convention and the North Carolina Baptist Convention. That money and other giving that people have done has gone from that happen. And so I want you to see some kind of on a big level, some of the things that we're doing as a convention and as a state. But also I love what the president of the Religious I mean Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission says. His name is Miles Mullins, and he said this, I mean, I've really thought so much about this statement. I won't read you his quote. He says, the heroes of the pro life movement are the men and women working in the pregnancy care centers across this nation, day after day, meeting women with unplanned pregnancies at the point of their need and educating and empowering them to choose life and saving baby after baby after baby after baby. Can I tell you the real heroes of the pro life movement this morning are the crisis pregnancy support and the pregnancy sinners who are meeting with these ladies one on one and advocating for them to keep their babies. And so this morning we have a few guests with us and they are some of these heroes of the pro life movement. So I want tovite them to come. So we have Kevin Kevin's coming calls. He's from the Baptist Children's Home and he works in every the children's home with the adoption process. And then also we have Madison Smith and she works with pre Support Services of Durham. So you guys come on up and then we're gonna I'm gonna just ask them to share about these are give them a hand. These are the heroes. They're on the front line. So you guys can have a seat, and I want them to share with you a little bit of what they're doing and how you can be apart and doing good. Amen. And so let's just start, Kevin, I'll ask you to start. We're gonna ask them just a few questions and so a question you each will answer and then we'll just go one by one. So the first question is share about your ministry. Who are you and what do you do? So I'm with Baptist Children's Homes and Christian Adoption Services, been there eight years. I was a president of Christian Adoption Services and four years ago we merged under the Baptist Children's Homes of North Carolina, and so I serve in the development side, preaching in churches, connecting with folks that may be considering wanting to adopt, churches that want to partner with us across the state of North Carolina. And so it's a privilege to be a part of an organization it's been around since eighteen eighty five and just touching many lives all the way from birth, moms and birth all the way those folks in the North Klina Baptist agy Ministry as well. So it's a privilege to be here. Pastor Jonathan, thank you for having us absolutely. Hi and my name's Madison. I work for Pregnancy Support Services. I've been there for about a year now, but they have been around since before I was alive, and we offer help and hope to women and men facing unplanned pregnancies. And so oftentimes a woman will come through our door where the first person she tells that she's pregnant and she doesn't know what to do, and so we meet with them in the counseling room. We talk to them about their life situation and we offer we offer resources and the support that it would take for this woman to choose life. And oftentimes we see them keep their babies. Sometimes we don't, and that's hard, but we want to provide support that goes all the way around them, from education to material support to ultimately getting them plugged into the local church in order for them to feel like they have the community they need to keep their baby. It's good, you know. One of the things that we've seen a lot change in just the world since twenty twenty three and the overturning War versus Wade, and our world is just changing so much. What are some biggest challenges that you're facing in your ministry today. That's a great question. Jumping so to your point with the abortion changeover with the law, it certainly benefited us with a lot more adoptions that took place. In my first seven years, we were averaging about thirty adoptions in North and South Carolina. Last year we had forty one, which was amazing to see that, and we're already on pace for that, you know, around forty again for this year. And so God's doing a tremendous work. Probably from a challenge standpoint, I would say moms that obviously have an abortion. We work with moms they could be six weeks pregnant all the way up to you know, forty weeks pregnant the hospital. And so those moms in those early times when we get to meet with them, if they choose to have an abortion, that's certainly a challenge and we certainly hate that. Also in North Carolina, we don't we work with moms and father law straight by the law, and we don't give money to anybody. Right well, there are a lot of out of state agencies that were legal out of state agencies that are paying moms they're giving them, and really you're dealing with child trafficking. They're flying them out to another state, have their baby, and they never see their baby again. So that's a big problem for us because we can't compete and we don't give money. We pay for real reasonable living expenses, but we don't give money. So those are several challenges that we're dealing with, and certainly the culture is challenging us on standing on the word of God LGBTQ movement and in challenging agencies across the country, but we continue to stand on the word of God and we're going to continue to do that no matter what. So I'm glad you mentioned the abortion pill. That is something that you can get sent straight to your door in discrete packaging. Nobody knows you ever ordered it, and we're finding that time is our biggest challenge because you can find out your pregnant or suspect your pregnant, order this at midnight and within two days get it delivered to your doorstep. And so we're trying to combat that with online advertisement and marketing, and that's something that is way above my pay grade. I don't know how search engine optimization works, and Google Ads and all of these things. But women are going straight to their phone, and we want to pop up very first when they're searching for where can I get an abortion pill? We want them to see pregnancy support services here. We can give you information, we can help you. And so that is our biggest thing because our ideal client wants an abortion and they don't want to come to us, and so just having the information readily available on their smartphone is kind of the fine walk and dance we're doing right now, and it's challenging because it's so easy to do that. Can the col abortion You know one thing that Miles Mullen said that said that sinners would not be able to do the work that they do without the support of the local church. And so we understand that you guys are hums. You're on the front lines of the pro life movement. But it's so vital that the church get involved in order to for us to make some really to really continue to do good. So how can we as a church and we as members of the church get involved and support you guys individually? Yeah. I always start with this, Johnathan, because I get that question a lot as I travel the state and Our biggest need is prayer. It really is, and I don't just throw that out there lightly. This you know, the spiritual warfare I was a pastor for twenty two years and before coming on at Christian Adoption Services, and the spiritual war for element that we deal with on a daily basis the highest of highs. So knowing folks like Bethesda Baptists are coming, you know, supporting us and praying for this ministry means the world to us, because even one hates what's happening with that our ministry of You know, when these children who a mom makes a courageous decision not to have an abortion but can't parent, but wants a better life for their child in places with a two parent Christian family, I mean that's a big deal and it changes the trajectory of that child's life. You know, I've been around the agents see now over eight years, and I've seen children that were born that first year in twenty sixteen that now get the videos of them being baptized and come to know Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior. So again it changed their life. But also prayer for the moms that we get to minister to this past year we had the opportunity to talk to three hundred moms, and like Madison was saying, we do the Google ads, and man, we spend a lot of money on those Google ads. Our question is geared toward more. A mom will type in our phone, she could be homeless, and she'll say, give my baby up for adoption. We want to be that first option for them to call us to minister them. And so our birth mom ministry is what makes us different than I think any other agency across the country. And there's some good ones, there's some bad ones, but I think it really makes a difference. So we had three hundred moms that we had the opportunity to minister to. Last year, we had forty one of those obviously placed with Christian Adoption Services and we have gospel conversation with these moms. But we had which was our biggest number in a year. Yet, we had seventeen of those mobs Jonathan and give their life to Christ. And so our goal is not just to place as many children as possible, but to place those children in Christian homes, but plant the seed of the Gospel with these moms. We know of seventeen out of that three hundred that gave their life to Christ. But I believe when all this is said and done, because the churches like Bethesda and those that have come alongside of Christian Adoption Services and Baptist Children's Homes, there are going to be more moms in heaven that we don't even know about because we planted the seed and somebody came behind us, and so no one you're praying. It means a lot also, families that may be considered an adoption, whether it be international adoption, domesic adoption, or even fostering foster to adopt. Here in North Carolina, we would love to be your first point of contact to help you and to walk through that thank you. In simple terms, I think our clients they need way more support than pregnancy support services can offer. We do a pregnancy test, we do an ultrasound, we can give the baby clothes. But what these new moms need when they to his life is community. I'm a new mom myself. You probably saw my tiny guy in here, and I have a husband, I have a job, I have a church community, and it's hard. I'm exhausted and I can't. I just have so much more respect for our moms who do this all on their own. They don't have anybody to roll over in bed and whack and say it's your turn, please help. They're all alone and so they need wrap around support and community. And that doesn't mean they move into your house, or maybe it does. You never know what God may be asking you, but they need a whole community of people who can provide a meal that can go in vacuum, that can just be practical, tangible love and support and to be available. Can I tell a quick story atly? Okay? So before I started working for Pregnancy Support Services, I was a missionary with my husband in West Africa for three years. I learned a local language known as Bombara, and I thought, God, what are you doing? Because now I'm in North Carolina, nobody speaks this language. And just last week, someone scheduled an appointment for an abortion. And when I called her to let her know that's not in fact what we do at our office, but we're happy to help her to confirm her pregnancy, to allow her to see an ultrasound so she could see her baby, she was like, I'll just cancel my appointment. That's not something I'm interested in. I was like, okay, but at risk of being awkward, I noticed your last name is this and I lived in West Africa for a while. Do you happen to be from there or your family? Do you have roots in West Africa? And she said, my dad is from Molly and that's where I lived for three years. And so I texted her afterwards and I was like, hey, I know you didn't keep your appointment, but my number is here. If you ever have any questions, if you need anything, just let me know. And she texted me and texted me and texted me. I took my phone home so that I could keep up contact with her, and she ended up coming back into our office and she saw her baby on an ultrasound and said, I can't have an abortion, and so isn't that so cool? And you know, I had no idea that God would use this random language that I know that is completely useless here in Durham, Raleigh Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He brought somebody who needed just what I have, and so we all have something. You may not speak Bombara, you probably don't, but you can do something and there is a mom out there who needs that. And so I just want to encourage you all to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the thing that you have that you can offer to these moms and to show up and do it. They just need someone to show up for them. Amen. Hey, let's pray for them. Will you pray with me? Father, We thank you Lord for Christian adoption services in the Baptist Children's Home and Lord the work they're doing. We thank you for Kevin and his leadership. God, we thank you for moms who want to choose life better or going through the hard process process of adopting. And Lord, we pray that souls would be saved as the Baptist SoRs Home ministers to those moms. Lord, pray for families to adopt, and Lord, as they walked through that process, Lord, that you would walk with them and encourage them. Lord, you know all the things that this ministry needs. And Lord, we pray that you would protect them. You guard them, Father, but God, may you use them that Lord, lives of moms and dads would be changed, but lives of babies would be changed. Homes would be changed. Lord for the work of this ministry. Lord, we thank you for praidsee to support services in Madison. And Lord with the work that you're doing there. Lord, this is also a ministry that's under attack, and Lord, they're facing daily battles Lord, from the enemy. And Lord, we pray for your protection for them. We thank you for more God, thank you for Madison's God moment of just seeing Lord, how You've gifted her. And Lord, I pray that Lord, you would continue to use this ministry to meet moms right where they are, to love them and lead them to the truth and hope in You. Lord. Lord. We Lord, we pray Lord that our members today, as they hear these testimonies and see these heroes, they would consider the good that they can do. Not only would they stop and cease to do evil, God, but they would they would learn to do good. They would seek ways to do good. Well. We love you. We thank you Lord for these two, lead them lead their ministries. We give you praise for them today and the testimonies the Lord they brought in your name. We pray, Amen, thank you so much. So we only have heroes in our community with praise support services and Christian adoption services in the Baptist Shutter's Home, but we also have heroes in our church, and so I want to bring up one of I believe is our heroes. She does not like me saying that. Let me just say that for the very beginning, but again, as Miles Mullan said, the heroes of the pro life movement are the men and women working and preniancy care centers. And one of the things I wanted you to see is is not only are the good of these ministries doing, but the good that we can do, the good that our members can do. And so Teresa a few years ago got involved at Pretty Support Services is she's one of our members. And so I wanted you to see the good that our members of Bethesda are doing in the pro life movement and these Christius Pregnancy Center. So I want to just ask Teresa a few questions. And so Teresa, well, just kind of share with the church for what led you to get involved in this ministry five years ago on this same type of service than to deal life service. I was sitting right back there in the middle, and a lady named Nan came and spoke about the pregnancy Support Services and how we could help as a church and the help that they needed there. They needed volunteers, they needed people to help, and I sat there and the Holy Spirit jumped all over me. You need to do this, you need to do this, and I was like, I don't know. You know. When I got up, I actually went all the way to after the service was over, went all the way to my car, did not stop at those tables out there, got all the way to my car, and it was like the Holy Spirit was like, go back in there and tell her that you will help. So I did. I came back and Wit, arguing with him, came back and I talked to Nan at the table, and she set me up to go to pregnancy Support Services and to set up being a volunteer there, which the volunteer part that I was really interested in. What I felt the Holy Spirit was leading me to was being a client advocate. That is, the person that takes in the new mother and talks with them about the situation and determines their needs and then follows them through for if they keep their child. I followed them for the first year of after they've had their baby, so through the pregnancy, and then for a year afterwards, just keeping in touch with them and just seeing what their needs are. And it's just been a wonderful experience. Okay, tell us about how the ministry has impacted you. Okay, I'll tell you. The biggest impact on me is that I was a Christian, that I knew the gospel, but I didn't share it. Okay. Part of our we have a little dialogue that we take each mother through and one of the sections of that is we tell them that we're interested in them physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. And so one section of that is that I asked them, do you have a faith that you believe in? Some will claim that they are Christians, but when you ask them what does that mean to you to be a Christian? You find out they might have a head knowledge, but maybe not a hard knowledge. So and some of them I've filled the spirit leading me to ask them, would you like for me to tell you what means to me? And it has opened the way for me to learn how to share the gospel. And I think the biggest impact on my life has been that carries over now to be able to share the gospel outside of pregnancy support services. I feel more open to be able to tell others what christ means to me. And and so there's been a lot of impacts on my life just I could talk all day, but that's the biggest impact. I think that it has helped me personally with what since you've been involved, what's been the biggest blessing, but also what's been the biggest challenge. Okay, the biggest blessing is when you when I've talked to a mom, it came in there fully, you know, we tell them you have there's only three choices. You have been pregnant. You can choose to carry and to parent. You can choose to carry and to make an adoption plan, and you can abort. That's the only three choices you have. We don't recommend by any means abortion, but we put that out on the table to see where they're coming from, see what they're thinking. And for a mother to come in that at the beginning is really consider an abortion. That's where she's heading. And she goes into that ultrasound and sees that baby at six weeks, you see that heart beating, and for them to see that heart, little heart beating, and like Madison just said, say I can't do this. I can't do an abortion. That's a live being there, and to see them change their minds follow through with the pregnancy, deliver that child and be such happy, devoted mothers is the biggest blessing I can receive. You tell us about You told me the other day about you had a Was it a Mother's Day event? You tell the church about that? Acts? Yeah? Great. We had a Mother's Day drop in the Friday before Mother's Day and we had ten mothers show up, almost all of them I think maybe eight had their babies with them. And it was just so beautiful because these some of these mothers were not expecting to carry through with having a baby, and you saw them devoted and loving and just enjoying that child that you know, nine, ten, twelve months ago they had been thinking about giving up. It was. It was beautiful and we just had the most joyous time playing with the babies and just fellowship and with the mothers. What's the biggest challenge. The biggest challenge right now for me is and for the whole Prendzey Support services, I think is we need help. We need help. I used to have maybe four or five clients at a time. I only work part time, I only work four hours a week. I volunteer four hours a week on Fridays, I would have four, maybe five clients at a time. Right now I have fifteen clients because after row versus weighed, it has increased a lot. And to follow fifteen women through their pregnancy and a year later. And of course we all pull in weight with each other when it's needed, because I'm not there when they call in sometimes and somebody else feels in. But to be able to do that and to do it well, it's almost impossible working four hours a week, and so I think should volunteer for more hours or what. But they need help. We need help. We need more volunteers, We need more people that care about these women. And that is probably the biggest challenge we face. There are women that have another big challenge. There are women that have no place to live. They're homeless and to be able to keep their child, they need a place to live. And you might think that these are just indigent people that are coming to us, but no, it is a lot of college students. It is a lot of people that just this is the interference in their life. They just don't want this right now. And so finding resources to help these people to let them know there's a place that will help you with your utilities there's so many resources that they don't know about that we can guide them to to help them to realize this is a doable thing. You can do this, But it's a challenge sometimes when you know they're homeless and there's all the shelters are full, there's nowhere to send them. Those kind of challenges are really tough. You shared with me the other day that when you started four years ago that PSS was busy, but they had a lot of volunteers. And you said to me the other day that now four years later, after versus, they have twice as much people coming in with less volunteers, and so there's a huge need today for volunteers. Yes, and we just had a new volunteer Friday that came in and actually shadowed me through one of my client advocate sessions. And so you're trained to volunteer, you're trained, you've really got a script to go by when you meet these women. But when you let the Holy Spirit just go, you know, it just opens up some doors that you you know, and it's surprising to know how many people are out there. We think that we're in a Christian nation, well, we used to think we were in a Christian Nation. But it's surprising how many people do not know anything about Jesus. People that have grown up here in America and they don't know Jesus and don't know anything about him, and when you tell the story, it's like new to them. But we need more volunteers that are willing to come in. We have volunteers that just help with the office things and the supplies that come in. And you know, it's a wonderful thing that our church is very good about supporting PSS with supplies, you know, diapers and clothes and things that we send over to PSS. But I would love to see more people get involved, you know, four hours a week or more or and they're they actually got staffing U paid uh staffing appointments that need to be put in place where people have moved on. And we need nurses, anybody that you know that can run an ultrasound. And and of course everybody is Christian. Everybody in the organization is Christian. And the one thing another blessing when you come in, when I come in on Friday morning, is the first thing that happens is everybody gathers with prayer and we start our day with with God. So it's been a very strongly closer to God. It's helped me to understand more awareness. I didn't know what BSS was when I first volunteered. I really didn't. I didn't know there was such an organization out there until Nan came and spoke that day. But there's there's so much awareness now that I have of the situations that are out there and how many women truly want their babies, but they see no way to make it happen. And that's what's really sad. They don't want to abort, many of them, they don't want to aboard, but either getting pressure from the from the baby daddy, or they're getting pressure from a mom or a dad, or you know that don't want to bring shame on the family and those kind of things. It's just amazing who you face and knowing that they just want help, They really want to make this work. And some of them are young, but some of them, I would say most of our clients in between twenty five and thirty years old. Hey, I encourage you today to think about this, pray about this. How can you be involved, how can you get involved? How you can you support? Is it through prayer is it. Can you get involved in one of these support centers? Volunteer a few hours, however gives As we say, we have a collection that we give baby supplies and those go to help these moms who are keeping their babies. Pray about how you can do good, how you can get involved in these things. These both ministries on Christian Adoption Services and Prince and Support Services or tables outside, so as you leave, please make sure you check with them. Also, Teresa helps lead a group here from our church right here in Bethesda. You've been involved in this for many many years, well even before I came. You're involved in print support services in other ways. So let's just continue our involvement. See Teresa how you can help with her team here from Bethesda, and let's continue to do good. Amen, Let's pray for Teresa in the ministry that she's doing. Lord, we love you, We thank you Lord for Teresa. We thank you Lord for her as advocate and caring for these moms, the opportunities to share the gospel, that the opportunity to lead the ladies and choosing life. And so Lord, we pray that you continue to quip her, protect her, guide her Lord, we thank you for the volunteers who have provided and for the baby bottle drive or supplies that these moms need. But Lord, I pray you would call us more to action, not just to say these is evil or to cease to do evil, but God also to do good. So help us lead us as members as a church body to continue to work to do good and for the pro life movement and to encourage ladies in choosing life. Lord, we love you, We thank you Lord for today. In your name we pray Amen. So we're excited about Teresa, and she's one of our hearers among many of you guys who've been a part of Prince Support Services and others. But we also have another hero that I call that I they're They're not gonna like to call them heroes either, but I believe the heroes. Said Emily Donovan, you make their way up. And Emily Donovan, we announced to you last week that they are adopting, and so we are excited about them. They're actually adopting through Kevin's organization, Christian Adoption Services, and so we want to bring them up and just let them share a little bit about their their story and how God led them and what God is doing in them. So here I let you go. You can, y'all can share, y'all can have your own. You have the red one NC State fan, their graduate coincident or maybe plan. So we're so excited for you guys, excited about what your journey. And as I mentioned last week, we're starting adoption fund here at Bethesda and and we're they are the first recipients of that, and we hope this is just the start. So we believe that not always should we encourage people to choose life, but when when ladies choose life, we want to be a church that is it is coming alongside them, adopting a fall string and being a part of adopting these babies that these ladies are choosing. So you guys are a part of that. So just share a little bit about your journey so far and with the church. So Emily and I met at run club. Actually, so even before we were dating. When you're when you're running, you got miles of time to not focus on the sweat and the grueling. So we would just talk. And one of the things Emily talked about was how her heart was called towards adoption. Even then and I actually have two cousins who were adopted, so definitely, you know, familiar in my family as well. But then we got married and after a couple of years, we realized we were struggling with some infertility issues. So we decided that God was calling us to use adoption a little sooner than we'd even planned to. Initially, we looked at a couple adoption agencies. Emily and actually has some friends who have used before, and the Baptist Children came up and presented at Bethesda a little over a year ago, and we realized those two were connected, so we reached out. We did an information session with them. One of the things we liked about this agency was they focus on knowing the child, but the birth mother. They continue to minister to the birth mother, not just after the delivery, but for years afterwards. They do retreats, they do counseling sessions with them, and they just really love on them. So that was something we really respected. It was again about the baby and the birth mother, not about the adoptive family. That's great, that's great, Emily. You want to add anything, I think he did most of the highlights, I guess kind of I think One of the things you had mentioned to us is how can you be praying both for us and just kind of this journey in general. And so I think our first prayer request would be that you'd be praying for the birth moms for wisdom and discernment for them. I can't imagine what they're going through. A lot of them are not in an ideal situation to begin with, and so just prayers that God is with them and that if they are brought to CS that the ladies that work there are just absolutely amazing. We had a retreat with them and got to meet all the person last month and just being able to see their love for Jesus. They commented at the birth mother's retreat that they had in March that they had was it fifteen or sixteen, seventeen, seventeen ladies birth moms there who committed to Christ. So they share the Gospel with those women and are alongside them for life, and I think that that is just really important. So prayers for the birth moms, for the agency to be able to love on them, and then for us and the other adoptive families just for peace and patience throughout this process. There is a lot of waiting on our end. An exciting time, but I'm trying to just be prepared and knowing that God has a plan. He will have the right baby, the right birth mom, the right story, and just that we as a couple can minister to the birth mom as well and have a lifelong kind of partnership with her. That's wonderful. Hey, let's pray. Would you pray with me? So would you pray for the birth moms now these moms. Now you pray for Emily Donovan as they prepare and when wait, and that God will give them patient God to give them an understanding as God prepares that mom, that God will continue to prepare them. Lord, you are so good, and we thank you for just the seeds that you plan in our heart. Lord, to do good, to get in that the seed that you planted in Teresa. She walked out that door that day as she was almost to her car to get involved. The seed that you planted in Emily and Donovan as they were running that God, this was something that they were You were calling them to God. We thank you for your work of your Holy spirit drawing us to do good. God. I thank you Lord that as You've done that in them and been preparing them. Lord, I know right now in our congregation that you're preparing others to get involved to do good. So Lord, we pray that they would not resist your spirit as these have not, and the Lord, they would surrender to you. But God, we pray for these birth moms today. God, you've planted seeds in them to Lord to give their child up for adoption, and so the Lord, we pray that you would care for them. We thank you, Lord for the Baptist Shorn's home and how they care for the moms. And Lord, we pray for these moms that they would come to know you, Lord, that their lives would be changed through this. Lord, we pray for the child, and we pray for Emily and Donovan as they adopt that God, you would continue to prepare them and lead them, and Lord, that their life will be changed as long as well as the child. Through this. God, you say in your word that we are your child. We are your children God, that you adopted us as children of God. And God, we thank you today that Emily and Donovan are displaying your gospel for us today, that God, just as you adopted them into the family of God, that God. They're adopting your child, Lord and demonstrating that gospel message today. God. So we thank you Lord for their example to do good. We pray that you'd lead them, care for them, provide for them. Lord. Lord, may you continue to use us to as a church body to care for them, walk with them in this journey that they're all. Lord, we love you, We give you pray. He is Lord for today in your name, we pray Jesus, pain and all to Him.