Marble Hill - Oh Come to the Altar

Aw Tozer Quote

God not only forgives great sins as readily as little ones, but once He has forgiven them He starts anew right there and never brings up the old sins again.…

When a person makes a mistake and has to be forgiven, the shadow may hang over him or her because it is hard for other people to forget. But when God forgives, He begins the new page right there, and then the devil runs up and says, “What about this person’s past?” God replies: “What past? There is no past. We started out fresh when he came to Me and I forgave him!”

Psalm 103:10–12; Luke 7:36–50; Romans 8:1

Faith Beyond Reason, 113.

A. W. Tozer

Reading in Luke 7:36-50 yesterday it not only had me reflect how grateful I am that we can come to him with our brokeness, requests, and sin and he wipes it clean

Not only can we do this right here at the altar, but anywhere

This woman in Luke 7 was at his feet and reminds me of the song oh come to the altar

Read Luke 7:36-50

Luke 7:36–50 (NKJV): 36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. 37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”

40 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”

So he said, “Teacher, say it.”

41 “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”

43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”

And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” 44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

48 Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

50 Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Our past is made new-just reading this its makes me think back when I was tearful and thankful at the same time to confess what a messy sinner I was and to know he washed me white as snow

Aren’t you thankful for a merciful God —if jesus did it for her he can do it for you

And at a time in my life when I was running from the Lord

Embracing all the worldly desires of the flesh

That resulted in my own unexpected pregnancy and being pressured to have an abortion

toying with the decision of life and death and being told just get an abortion no one will ever have to know

at the time I didnt know what abortion was

It wasnt talked about, it wasnt mentioned in my church

all i knew was that I was pregnant and wouldn’t be pregnant anymore

But something in me could not do what my boyfriend was pressuring me to do

I chose life for her

and when I was 8 months pregnant I knew I was lost in sin

I would walk that aisle of my church

and fall at the altar as if I was falling at the very feet of Jesus

as I laid there, crying out -I called upon the name of the Lord

He heard me and answered me, and pulled me out of pit I was in and saved me

Romans 10:13 says that for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved

And not long after becoming a believer, I gave birth to an 8 lb baby girl

There is a photo (if you can pull that up)

As they laid her on my chest - i just began to weep and cry —all of those hard things I walked through at that time which is many other stories for another day

I was weeping and saying my baby my baby

as she was lying there on my chest at delivery - I knew I was going to do everything I could to fight for her

Little did I know that I would be standing before you today asking you to join us as we advocate and fight for those who have no voice

and speak life and the truth (HIS TRUTH)into moms and dads that think they are the only ones going through this

At the pregnancy resource center we have truth to share about the baby that God is fearfully and wonderfully creating, but also

How he can take what we think is shattered to whole, forgiven, and set free

I love opportunties to share what God is doing at the Pregnancy Resource Center

Because it is HIs ministry

We just follow His lead - we die to self and walk in His way

Many of you are helping us carry out this life-affirming work day in and day out

You are drawing your line in the sand - and praying, giving, and serving so our community funded ministry can continue

Maybe you arent doing any of those

and today will be the day where you change that

The Need

when I first came on at the pregnancy resource center a little over 10 years ago — we were seeing about 4-5 people a week

Many of which were happy and pregnant and just needed a hand up of support

I thought where are the girls like me—that think they are the only ones

that are being pressured to have an abortion

Do we even have a problem in our community

Lord where are they

He was about to flip my world upside down

I read a book called unplanned by abby johnson —which she now has a movie out

She was an abortion worker — sidewalk advocates would pray for her to leave this work and be an advocate for life

Those prayers were answered when she was assisting in an ultrasound guided abortion and saw that baby fight for its life

and she knew she couldn’t do this anymore

She fled to the sidewalk advocates and now is a huge outspoken voice for life

Reading this book and praying the Holy Spirit revealed to me that I needed to go and stand outside our local abortion business

I was connected to a lady who had been faithfully praying outside this abortion business for many years

Her name was Esther

Before I met Esther that Friday — I called the abortion business about where to park

They shared with me where to park, but also warned me that there would be protestors outside

Not to take their pink papers and also said I could be helped in the building if needed

she shared to me not be worried about my abortion that they do 5 on a slow day 25 on a busy day

Protestors - 5 to 25 lives

I didn’t sign up for this - I am not sure, But I told the Lord I would do anything He wanted me to do— I would—so I did

Parking that morning at a local church you had to walk over a hill, so I didnt see anything yet

I was nervous

As I came over the hill —no yelling or screaming

Only a lady about my height walking back and forth on the sidewalk—praying

she had pink papers in her hand

this was resources of where women could go to get the true help they needed

I remember thinking — they are being lied to

why couldn’t you offer women and their families alternatives

That day was a busy day and my heart was crushed

Why why Lord would you send me out here to see this

Why aren’t they coming to us first

And He answered

You hadn’t prayed and asked me to send them - so that is what we started to do

We prayed and marched around that building we were in and told HIm that I would not stop until He flowed women, men and their preborn babies down our road like a river - so we could offer the life-affirming help and support they deserved

We are walking in the days we have prayed for

You might think that this doesn’t apply now since Tennessee doesn’t allow abortions in this state

That is hardly the case, Not only are they getting referrals online and from the abortion industry on to where to go out of state

but they can easliy get the abortion drug mailed to their home

The research arm of the abortion industry called Guttmacher recently reported that in Tennessee more than 10,000 Tennesseesans crossed state lines to obtain an abortion last year

All the more reason why today is so important for you to know places like the Pregnancy Resource Center exist and how you can help her find us first

As you kick off your baby bottle campaign know that

It takes roughly $420 to serve one family at the pregnancy resource center

that’s roughly committing to $35 a month —

Lillie story

To take action to help moms just like lillie

I was standing at my office window looking out one day and watched a car pull in

A girl got out and as the passenger door opened my heart sank

Lillie and her face I had seen that face before

Come to find out she was in denial about this pregnancy and did not want to be

All I could do in that moment from the other side of the building was pray

And thank goodness her friend brought her to us

solution: your impact

We were able to confirm that she was pregnant through free pregnancy testing

and offer an ultrasound as the nurse was doing her scan all you could hear was weeping/joyful laughter

Lillie was about 24 weeks pregnant

Another life that God was creating, Lillie chose life

From that ultrasound we were able to start the process for insurance coverage and get her referred to a local OB for the care for her and her baby

we were able to gift her and all the pregnant moms we see a free 30 day supply of prenatal vitamins

Our support doesn’t stop at our medical services-we continue to offer support while they are pregnant and after they have their baby

She went through one of our faith-based support programs called Embrace Grace, rededicated her life back to the Lord, and is a beautiful momma to her handsome baby boy

We are able to do this day in and day out because of people like you and have for the past 38 years the pregnancy resource Center has been in existence

We don’t receive state or federal funds, it all comes from likeminded people like you that want to sow into where God is at work

To help meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs families have when they face unexpected pregnancies

We are able to serve brave families at 3 debt-free locations one in Maryville, in Sevierville, or on our mobile clinic that travels to various counties which is outside for you to see today

this is our new upgraded mobile unit that we received in December last year

We get in the trenches with these families, maybe its budgeting to help be ready for this new baby,

or parenting as they never had that modeled for them, there are so many scenarios,

we see where they are and where they desire to be and we help them get there and on a path to thriving, healthy and whole parents

Is it really free families will ask, they even have gotten to our check out window and the dad is pulling out his wallet asking how much he has to pay

and we can tell them we told you everything is at no cost

someone who loves you and cares about you— who you will probably never meet and has paid your debt which opens the door for gospel conversations

tears well up in their eyes as —many times they have never had someone love them the way that they have experienced at their visit and not charge them something

Through people locking arms with us and putting words to action, it helped us serve more people than we ever have in the history of PRC last year and continue to do so

We served 2,287 brave families last year which is 30% more than the year before

95 % of those made a decision for life,

not only are hearts being impacted, but as we share his truth they are longing for peace- and we have opportunities to share how they too can lay it all at his feet

We had 15 accept Christ as their personal Savior last year and 4 rededicated their lives to Christ

Many of those got baptized at their Embrace Grace baby shower and it was beautiful to witness a change in their lives,

My question as I close is how will you respond

We would love for you to lock arms with us and

pray-(Facebook),

give - baby bottle or monthly or

serve - volunteers (know anyone closer to Sevierville Seymour)

We all can use our stories for His glory