Sermon Tone Analysis

Behold He Comes

WELCOME

Good morning family.

hear the Word of the Lord from Revelation 6:9-11...

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.

They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

One of the reasons we look forward to the return of Jesus is the end of injustice in this earth

Whether that’s the martyrdom of brothers and sisters, the murder of the unborn, or the smaller injustices you face week in and week out.

Jesus is coming to make all things new!

In just a moment we’ll hear a Scripture reading from Psalm 139:13-16.

Turn there now.

While you’re turning, 4 quick announcements:

1) A word about PBC.

We are Missionaries.

We’re going to labor to reach our neighbors and the nations with the Good News about Jesus

One ministry we support that is on the front lines in reaching our neighbors for Christ is CareNet

If you’re not familiar with CareNet, you can learn more in your bulletin or visit cnpeninsula.org

Grab a baby bottle, fill it with whatever the Lord leads you to give, and return it by March 13.

Or, if you’d rather give online there’s a QR code in your bulletin

2) Tabletalk Tonight at 5:30 PM

Ryan Holloway, Executive Director of CareNet

3) Kids Core Worship

KidsCore is a new children's music and worship curriculum that equips children to become active and informed worshipers of Jesus Christ.

Kids ages 4-12 will learn some of the songs we sing at PBC and the theology behind them.

(His Mercy Is More)

Nursery is available for children ages 0-4.

4) Singing a new song today

Insert in your bulletin with lyrics, for those of you who can read music

Now look in your Bibles at Psalm 139:13-16 as Phyllis Higgins comes to read for us.

Scripture Reading (Psalm 139:13-16)

Prayer of Praise (Phyllis Higgins), God is wrathful

He Will Hold Me Fast

How Great is Our God

Prayer of Confession (Self-Righteousness), Cliff Hall

Great is Thy Faithfulness

PBC CATECHISM #4

What is the origin of the world and everything in it?

We believe God is the sovereign creator and sustainer of all things.

PASTORAL PRAYER (John Rogers?)

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8)

Thank you for creating us.

Thank you for caring for us.

Thank you for crowning us with glory and honor.

Thank you for giving us dominion over the work of Your hands.

Prayer for PBC: Heart for the Unborn

Help us to think rightly about the value of the unborn

Help us to act in a way that is consistent with what we believe

James tells us that it’s pointless to tell a needy person, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving what they need.

The same logic applies to this issue.

If we’re able to do something, help us to do something.

At the same time, protect us from a legalistic demand that every Christian must be involved in every social issue to the same degree.

We don’t all have to act in the same way, but we all must care.

Prayer for sister church: By Grace Community Church

Pastor Kevin Hass

Faithfulness, holiness, love

Prayer for US: Against Abortion

On the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade

We lament the early 64 million legal abortions since then

SCOTUS---Dobbs v. Jackson

Give churches and Christian ministries wisdom to know how our ministry must shift if the legal landscape changes

If it doesn’t, protect us from discouragement

Prayer for world: Cote d’Lvoire (kowt-duh-vwaar)

The “jewel of West Africa” where 27 million souls live

Pray against the political unrest, and civil wars that have ravaged the nation in the past twenty years

Pray against the spread of HIV/AIDS which claims around 40,000 lives a year and inflicts nearly half a million people

The Gospel to penetrate the un-evangelized sectors of the predominantly Muslim north

Rich, biblical teaching to spread throughout the churches

Pray for the sermon

SERMON

Last January in Washington D.C., a young man dressed in pink approached a woman named Michele in front of the Supreme Court building during a pro-life event and asked her an abrupt question.

“Are you a Christian?”

Of course the question makes sense.

For at least the past forty years Christians in America have been among the strongest defenders for the sanctity of unborn life.

And of course, we could go back through the pages of church history and find a clear and consistent opposition to abortion for nearly two thousand years.

Even if she was a bit taken aback by the abruptness of the question, Michele answered "yes."

His reply was even more startling: “Well then, what do you have to say when your God supports abortion?”

Then he quoted a passage from the Bible that he had memorized.

Last February in the South Carolina House of Representatives, brave lawmakers in South Carolina were on the brink of passing a law that would protect the life of an unborn baby once a heartbeat had been detected.

As you know, bills like this have faced fierce opposition and this time was no different.

But what was different was one of the ways this bill was opposed.

Representative Justin T. Bamberg said, “There are those who say … abortion shouldn’t happen because the Bible doesn’t allow them.”

Now what would you expect Rep. Bamberg to say next?

The Bible isn't the Word of God?

It has no place in our society?

It shouldn't dictate the personal freedoms of individual citizens?

Bamberg didn't use any of those tactics.

Instead, he read a Bible verse that he claimed supported abortion.

The same passage, it turns out, that Michele heard outside the Supreme Court a month earlier.

[1]

In October a young lady named Amanda posted a TikTok video that received 2.5 million views.

Perhaps you've seen it.

She began the video by arguing that "in the Bible God quite literally instructs abortion."

[2] And then she turned to the same passage referenced in the previous two stories.

Turn in your Bibles to Numbers 5