On Mission for the Unborn

Good Morning Family. If you don’t know who I am, my name is Rob. I’m one of the elders and pastors here at Hillside. It’s great to see you all here this morning.

Let’s start things off with Prayer.

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We’re going to spend our time in the 139th Psalm this morning

wonderful psalm of worship as david is in awe of the complete power of God.

He spends most of this Psalm being overwhelmed by God’s

omniscience - omnipresence

He’s overwhelmed as he ponders the knowledge of God

And that God is everywhere at all times.

You could say he’s overwhelmed and in awe of how big and great God is.

We’ll be diving into verses 13-16 specifically. And the subject matter will be abortion.

Before we get into it I want to make a couple of things clear from the beginning.

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The first thing I want to throw out there...

What you’ll hear taught at this church is that

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Abortion is murder.

No other way to put it. Abortion is the premeditated, medical dismemberment, of a human baby.

Abortion is Murder.

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The second and as important thing

I want to make clear is that in this family,

if you’ve had an abortion,

pressured someone or paid for someone to have an abortion,

or been that guy who got your girlfriend pregnant then took off - and played that role in abortion.

Then I want you to know that the sacrifice of Jesus is infinitely bigger than your sin

and we want to love you and walk with you in the mess.

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Abortion is not an unforgivable or disqualifying sin.

There is no place in scripture that would lead us to believe that you’ve stepped out of bounds so much that you cannot be forgiven.

In fact Moses, David, Paul -

All wrote more of the scriptures than any other men

Also…all murderers. Moses/Egyptian, David/Uriah, Paul/Stephen

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Too often I’ve seen Christians destroy people on Facebook and get downright ugly about things like this

without taking into account at all, the hurt, guilt, and anguish being felt should someone who’s been through this see what they’ve written.

We’re too quick to speak and too slow to listen.

Quick to make sure everyone sees us and hears our opinion and knows what we think...

Never stopping to feel the compassion of Christ for those who’ve gone through this and are in pain.

So I want to say to anyone who’s been involved in abortion in any way, that I’m going to say some hard things today, but you are not without hope.

You are not alone. And you don’t have to go through this alone.

We long to walk with you through this.

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On January 22, 1973 the United States Supreme Court ruled that unduly restrictive state regulation of abortion was unconstitutional. In a majority opinion the court held that a set of Texas statutes criminalizing abortion in most instances violated a woman’s constitutional right of privacy,

which it found to be implicit

in the liberty guarantee of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment in which it states

“…nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”.

To add a bit of perspective to the issue...

How many people were killed in the holocaust? - 17 million!

What about Stalin? How many of his own countrymen did he kill? - 23 million!

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Since this date; since Roe vs. Wade - The United States has dismembered 60 million of its own babies!

60 million!

This is an evil that matches any evil that has been recorded on planet earth

It’s greater than any massacre or genocide in the history of mankind.

Let’s dive in and see what scripture says.

many times we have this belief, but we’re not quite able to back it up.

So let’s look at what the Bible has to say about life,

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Psalm 139:13–16 NASB95

13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

David says to God, “You formed my inward parts;”

The word used here for inward parts is used elsewhere to describe kidneys or other organs

but in other places is used to describe the inner man,

conscience, inner being, mind, or soul.

This is a big deal because as science has progressed they’ve had to admit the child in the womb isn’t simply a clump of cells.

so the argument has had to shift.

Where they used to say, it’s not a life yet,

Now they would say, Of course it’s a life but it’s not a person.

When does personhood happen? When does a human being receive a soul?

At what point does a baby receive a soul or

become a true entity or

think or feel?

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David says in Psalm 51:5… which is ironically the Psalm he wrote when he was repenting for adultery and murder...

Psalm 51:5 NASB95

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.

This doesn’t mean David was conceived out of wedlock or anything like that. David was the youngest in a big family.

Nothing shady happened there.

David is saying that from the moment of his conception he was in sin.

This means he had a soul - he was a sinner in the womb - he already had Adam’s stamp on him.

Now, I realize that some of us think little Johnny came out perfect and he wasn’t born a sinner…and we can discuss why that’s wrong later we can put you on the nursery schedule and you can let them convince you.

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Psalm 139:13 NASB95

13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.

“Wove me in my mother’s womb.”

Some of your translations will have knitted there rather than wove.

Both are good translations.

Point is that God, IN THE WOMB, plays an intricate role in developing and creating every single thing about every single person ever.

Who knits in here or crochets?

You select the type of material, colors, size of hooks.

Every step of the way you’re intentional and you’re thinking about the big picture;

the finished product is in your mind.

God’s creation of every human being is an intimate one.

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Psalm 139:14 NASB95

14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.

David being overwhelmed by God’s creating him begins to praise God.

“My soul knows it very well.”

How beautiful that the same soul that God put in David,

The same soul that David knows was sinful from the start,

Is able to know and actively praise God in this moment.

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Psalm 139:15 NASB95

15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;

Verse 15.

“My frame was not hidden from you”

Frame seems to point to the bone structure, the skeleton.

This points to the deepest part of the body.

Another way to say that nothing about my being, physical or spiritual is hidden from you

because YOU MADE ME.

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Psalm 139:16 NASB95

16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

“Unformed substance”

almost certainly points to the embryo.

The time in development when a baby doesn’t even look much like a baby.

David is saying even before I’m recognizable as a human being your eyes are on me.

Even in that stage when you bring home an ultrasound and it looks a lot like you may have been abducted by aliens

and this is the product...

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God takes it a step further when he said to Jeremiah...

Jeremiah 1:5 NASB95

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

So even before birth God knew every person.

Family before your great grandparents were born God already decided…YOU.

And at the moment of conception a brand new strand of DNA is born!

In that instant God begins weaving.

Even then God’s eyes are on baby. Even then God is aware of the baby

And not only aware of the baby but forming the baby,

Knitting baby together in the womb.

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Did you know that in the first 8 weeks a baby goes from 1 cell to over a billion?

At 8 weeks a baby begins to grip with with his hands.

At 8 weeks baby begins to suck his thumb.

Begins to form eyebrows.

Did you know that even at 8 weeks when doctors go in to draw blood from baby in the womb the little boy or girl pulls away.

This means at 8 weeks you touch baby with a needle and they feel pain; they hurt.

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This means that at 8 weeks when someone reaches in there and begins ripping apart a little boy or a little girl, they feel every bit of it!

They feel it.

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In January the mayor of new york signed into law legislation that would allow babies to be murdered while their mothers are in labor about to give birth.

In February the governor of Virginia stated that after birth a baby could potentially be put down; like a dog being taken to the vet.

Author and journalist Mary Elizabeth Williams says this in an article she wrote in 2013...

Entitled “So What if Abortion Ends Life”

“Yet I know that throughout my own pregnancies, I never wavered for a moment in the belief that I was carrying a human life inside of me. I believe that's what a fetus is: a human life. And that doesn't make me one iota less solidly pro-choice.”

She goes on to say later in the article...

“Here's the complicated reality in which we live: All life is not equal...a fetus can be a human life without having the same rights as the woman in whose body it resides. She's the boss. Her life and what is right for her circumstances and her health should automatically trump the rights of the non-autonomous entity inside of her. Always.”

And the woman who is credited for founding planned parenthood is quoted saying...

“The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” ~Margaret Sanger

This is the world we live in.

Donna and I - Pregnant with Dallas - Stationed in 29 palms - Naval hospital sent us to specialist - Guy recommended an abortion.

He told us we should abort Dallas.

We were already firm in our faith.

Many of these young women are not only not firm in their faith

many of them don’t have it yet.

Many of them in Dickinson don’t have it yet.

And you can bet that if there are folks in this room that have traveled out of state to have what they believe is an important operation...

Then there will be young women traveling to Fargo or Billings to have what they believe is an important operation...

Dickinson is a part of this. And we have a role to play.

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And I’ll say this...

Overturning Roe Vs. Wade will not end this.

We want that. That will be a glorious win for the cause of Christ.

But it won’t fix this. Jesus will!

If we want to end abortion, we simply must end the longing for abortion. Then it doesn’t matter if it’s legal.

Causes

Fatherlessness,

Boys not becoming men,

Girls and Women who have no ID,

Don’t know Christ,

Gospel Fluency Class not for looks or so we can maintain a Sunday School Class.

Use it...

Best Friends Mentoring Program

Connect Medical Clinic

CRU

Get involved in MC...

MC’s get as involved as you can...

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Abortion ends when we the church

teach

Boys to be godly men

Girls to be godly women

youth and adults alike the meaning of dating and sex and marriage

and waiting!

The end of abortion happens as people come to know the love of Christ and submit to the rule and reign of Christ.

And that begins with the church being on mission where God has them.