Pro-life vs. Pro-choice | David Marvin

and so my fellow americans ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country [Music] [Music] hey welcome friends everywhere wherever you're tuning in from el paso fayetteville houston fort worth yeah get excited we are continuing this series divided states of america week two as we are launching into uh just a conversation around some key issues and divisive issues in our country and what's a christian perspective and how do we think about these things and what's the appropriate biblical lens to think through and so let me start by framing up our our time together by by a little bit of a story uh before we started awakening conference we used to do something called launch retreat launch retreat get excited was out at a camp sky ranch van texas and every year we'd have a different theme thousand young adults party by the lake really fun weekend one year our theme was party in the usa launched part in usa and so we went through just the nines on hey we gotta have decked out america usa all this different you know gear decorations everything and what else do you need to have if your theme for a huge party at a weekend is part of the usa that's right a bald eagle so i thought how do you find a bald eagle turns out they're not as easy as what you would think but that didn't stop me i'm not a quitter i'm an american party in usa so i decided man we're going to go full tilt all about getting a bald eagle called a bunch of different places and they were like yeah that'll be 50 grand it was like okay that's not happening and then i was told as i was calling someone that there was a wildlife preservation group in east texas near the retreat location that had recently rescued that's right a bald eagle so i got a hold of their phone number called them up explained yes i'm a pastor but i'd like to see your eagle and uh and walk through that and the guy was like i can't bring you the bald eagle i in order for us to do anything with it even for us to go rescue it we had to get a permit from the united states government because these are such restricted protected animals that you can't even approach one you can't go up to one you can't touch one even if you're out in the wild without risking getting a fine in other words if you're walking along and out in the you know you're camping one day in the wilderness you stumble upon a bald eagle nest if you decide and i'm going to take a selfie right here with this bald eagle the government if they find that selfie is going to find you and fine you up to 250 000 and five years in prison think about that now this has actually happened people have actually gone to prison for messing with a bald eagle egg or a bald eagle nest can you think about that can you imagine being in prison everyone's going around not that lunch you know trays and telling about what they're in for and yeah i robbed a bank i knocked a guy off and the other guy's like yeah i took a selfie with a bald eagle egg and now i'm in prison how bad is that story well how did that log get passed there was a group that decided hey we think that because it's an endangered species we need to pass legislation and advocate and raise our voice and have elected officials pass laws that protect bald eagles and bald eagle eggs what does that have to do with what we're talking about tonight tonight we're going to move into a divisive talking topic in our country that is related to the protection of rights on both sides in other words a divisive issue in our country right now it's around the conversation or the issue of abortion or pro-life and pro-choice the rights of the unborn versus the rights of the woman and let me say up front because immediately even saying that word i just know it's such a loaded term and some of you even the word abortion you're flooded with shame guilt and condemnation and i want to make abundantly clear those emotions are not from the lord if you were a christian that doesn't define you no sin is greater in terms of the fact that all sin and all of us any sin in our life require the death of jesus so for the next little bit you feel any amount of shame and condemnation in any of that beating over the head that's not where we're going and that is not from the lord that is from satan additionally the term triggers a bunch of people going hey i don't you guys don't talk nearly enough about this issue and so we're going to venture into a tricky topic and just talk through what does it look like to be pro-life versus pro-choice or pro the right to the unborn and some would say pro the rights of the women and the reason i say it's tricky is there's a lot of energy around this issue and christians will have a lot of energy around this issue and you'll be not cool with abortion but you're totally cool with sleeping with your girlfriend and you know that's what leads to an unplanned pregnancy right and so just as we move into this conversation i want us to look through the lens of what is god's word say about this topic how should we respond and how do we just stay informed and how do we be advocates for life period so we're going to walk through three ideas as it relates to this topic three questions and uh the first one is around when does life start there's a common uh terminology or phrase that's out there that hey it's just a clump of cells up to a certain point so we're gonna just talk through and begin the discussion and evaluate when does life start like when does it move from being an embryo or something more into actually a human life it's a crucial question to begin to ask but before i go into that i want to invite to the stage a couple friends of mine hold on before they come this is lauren and jordan lauren and jordan um are 20 weeks pregnant they have not had a sonogram because of covet they are about to have their very first sonogram find out what their baby looks like on the stage right now so they you guys can come up and they're with farah and meredith from thrive thrive as a ministry that helps with uh just unplanned pregnancies and couples that are walking through that and women that are walking through that and so they're gonna be getting ready and i'm gonna walk through and we'll keep talking over here but they're gonna be getting ready but this is lauren and jordan and they how exciting is this are about to see their baby for the very first time goosebumps you got your money's worth but while they're getting all set up i want to walk through and let's just talk about when does life begin is it just a clump of cells is it just the columbus cells right so that's the first question i want to walk through as they're getting ready according to princeton university conception a baby sex hair color eye color essentially all of its dna are present from the very moment of conception in fact further studies have shown that at the moment of conception sperm egg meat there's a flash of light and from that moment all of the baby's unique dna hair color eye color everything is fixed for the rest of their life according to mayo clinic in the first trimester first 13 weeks the baby's toes fingernails nose head hormones and heart begin to beat 21 days after conception you can detect the heartbeat of the baby it will beat 54 million times between now and when it's born and you can detect the heartbeat at six weeks you can detect brain waves that are functioning inside of the child's brain at eight weeks into pregnancy the baby will begin to express uh through touching it will be squinting jaw movement grasping motions thumb sucking at eight weeks in toe pointing and can even smile at you this is just from secular biologies this is what we know in terms of research at nine weeks the baby has fully developed its own set of fingerprints a doctor around this time can identify the sex of the baby and the baby's even now producing its own reproductive cells if it's a girl she's already developing her uterus and ovaries that will have the eggs that will carry or have the children that if she has children will be there for the rest of her life by the end of the first trimester the fetus has every organ fetus by the way is a word that we think means something it means offspring it's a latin word for offspring at the end of the first trimester it has every organ it will have throughout its entire life at 12 weeks the baby can actually cry in the womb at week 13 it can feel pain and will try to move away from any procedures or doctors or anything that is happening as people move in whether that's an abortion or another procedure 95 of biologists in america believe that life begins at conception so just as we're talking about this is just what biology says i'm not saying it's what you have to believe this is what biology is pointing out what they believe and uh how's it going back there guys pretty awesome yeah oh they just saw it's a baby girl scroll on ladies um hey you tell me you tell me whenever you're ready yeah we're ready are you ready sure man let's do this get the popcorn ready come on oh my goodness this is the baby's heartbeat 20 weeks old that heart has been beating since it was three weeks old come on and as you move it around for those of us for for them who can't understand what it is uh where what are we looking so what we're looking at right now that's the baby's face so the fear is going to point up yep that's the baby's nose there's the baby's eyes right there you'll see the stomach it's a little round circle so oh wow uh babies swallow the amniotic fluid so it's important for us to see that stomach right there and that happens in the first trimester nine to ten weeks wow um baby's feet so baby's pretty much folded in half right now the the legs are all the way up by the head oh my goodness there's the feet are those your feet jordan huge they're huge definitely so as a baby girl um by 16 weeks she has all of her ovaries i mean all of her eggs in her ovaries by 16 weeks wow yep so pretty amazing and that's the heart beating that's the heart beating i guess it's amazing yeah pretty amazing it's amazing that's so 3d yeah we're going to get to a 3d this machine is a amazing so it shows moms when they come in for these sonograms it gives 3d and 40 images and i got to tell you as great as sonogram machines are we see babies that are the size of a poppy seed so when a baby's heart is beating for the first time we can see that on sonogram and it's the size of a poppy seed that's tiny remember when you get a hamburger it's got the little poppy seeds that baby's heart's already beating it already has a spinal cord it's already got the hand and foot plates ready to um form its hands and feet it's just amazing so this is a 3d and it all depends on the the direction the baby's pointing um there's the nose and the eyes little mouth right there it's amazing how you doing jordan i'm great yeah how you doing mom yeah so they'll get pictures of all this amazing yeah it's pretty sweet so this is life and so this is this is 20 weeks it's amazing man hey will you guys give it up to thrive [Music] this is the age of yeah you go yeah so i think one of the hard things um right now to think about is this baby has all of its organs it's fully developed it's now just going to grow until it's born and this is the age that you can still have an abortion in texas and most states so all the way up to 21 weeks and six days can a mom have can a mom have an abortion and um i think dave is going to talk more about that later but just to kind of give that impact of what's going on in our culture in our country today and kind of to speak to what you're talking about what we're voting for yeah so yeah well thank you guys thank you so much for being here thank you lauren i feel like she has to be named the porch or something now it feels oh married it that's right awesome hey let me keep going if y'all uh i'm fighting every girl's attention on the foot up there i'm sure right now but i'm gonna keep driving so that's what biology shows us but what does god's word say about this in psalm 139 david writes and describes how god's relationship with him began where it began and he says this in psalm 139 verse 13-16 god you created my inmost being you knit me together in my mother's womb when i was that size i praise you because i'm fearfully and wonderfully made your works are wonderful and i know that full well my frame was not hidden from you when i was made in the secret place when i was woven together your eyes saw my unformed substance all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came yet to be david says god was weaving him together like he wove you together your personality your hair color everything about you was being formed all in the womb you're extroverted because god formed you that way you're introverted because he formed you you have brown hair uh not just because you dyed it but because originally god wove you together and he formed you in your mother's womb and fixed those things jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5 says that before i formed you in the womb god to jeremiah before i formed you in the womb i knew you before you were born i set you apart in exodus chapter 21 verse 22-25 it describes that if two men get into a fight and they accidentally hit a pregnant woman and it does damage or takes the life of the baby the life of the person who did that action is required it says this the tubular fighting and they hit pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely and there's no injury the offender must be fined whatever the husband demands in court allows but if there is serious injury and you take you are to take life for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for hood burn for burn wound for wound bruise for bruise exodus says it is a child in the womb even legally in the state of texas and again listen to me very closely if you feel shame and condemnation that is not the voice of the lord i'll explain even more of that here in a second but if you're feeling those things if you have trusted in christ those don't define you and you can be free from that and all of us are sinners and yet we have to have an important conversation about a really key issue even legally we have crossed the threshold whereas a nation in 38 states we inconsistently while we allow that she could go drive right now and have an abortion if on the way to that abortion clinic jordan and her get in a wreck and are hit by a drunk driver that's on the way there and it ends up killing lauren and the baby legally it would be a double homicide where even legally we go yep it's a life and we have crossed the threshold and the bible and biology seemed to be clear life begins at conception the second question that's often asked is maybe not well you know is it a life or is it not a life or is it just a clump of cells it's not maybe a clump of cells but it's still it's in her body it's her choice so who am i to say anything about that so the argument goes like hey it's my body i get to do what i want with my body it's my choice biblically as christians i'm talking to christians it's clear to passages like exodus chapter 21 and even even the fact of genesis chapter 1 verse 27 that is not just her body there are two bodies two dnas two blood types all wrapped up two sets of fingerprints in her body it's not just her body it's another human made in the image of god genesis chapter 1 verse 27 says in the beginning god created mankind in his image in his image god made them male and female it is abundantly clear that is not just her body in the womb i think one of the challenges if you're wrestling with like well you know i'm not really sure where i stand on that i just want to like give a few suggestions here's an acronym on like hey just thinking through like what does determine the life of the womb because some people be like well it's not really a person because it's way too small like if there's some threshold and because it's too small then it's not really a life and to that i would just say what makes the life of someone smaller less valuable than someone bigger i have a four-year-old son two-year-old daughter four-year-old son 38 inches tall two-year-old daughter she's a strong 20. is she less valuable than him no that's crazy anybody going oh that's silly well just begin to back it up at what point does size determine someone's value or level of development maybe you're going well they haven't developed they haven't finished growing they're not able to have you know they're not fully formed they don't be in teeth yet at what point does level of development determine someone's value is someone who hasn't gone through puberty less valuable and of less worth than someone who has because they've not developed as much or the argument of environment that hey the environment because the child is in the womb of another person or of a mother that the environment determines that it's less valuable on what occasion would somebody rationally say the environment in which someone is or exists determines how valuable they are if they're in the mountains versus on the beach what would determine what significance does that have towards their value location and environment maybe the most common one is related to dependency or viability which is around 22 weeks so right around this time but dependency and you're going well it's not you know it's still her choice still her body she still gets to do so because you know who am i she's the baby is entirely dependent on them the degree of dependency is crazy i just use my two year daughter my two year daughter totally dependent on us can't open the fridge can't give herself food to eat she she is totally dependent on another human in her life you'll be going yeah but they're not like attached and totally in the womb a one-year-old baby is still entirely dependent on another human and if it's going to survive it will require being dependent on someone else not just that when you start getting into the degrees of hey if you're dependent then the person you're dependent on gets to decide whether you live or die you are playing with some dangerous fire you're allowing people to say hey well that's a slippery slope towards you know they're on a ventilator for their lungs and technically you know i have the ability to decide whether or not i want to have that ventilator plugged in i have the ability because you know i'm around them and they're dependent on some other machine to decide whether or not they have the value and are worthy of life i have a friend who tragically his son got bacterial meningitis when he was a year and a half years old and he went from an incredibly blossoming growing smart young boy and he went into a coma and his brain fried for the rest of his life he's now six with the mental capacity of a one-year-old he may never speak he will live his parents is his life less valuable because he's dependent than you you begin to play with some dangerous fire that has some things in common with people that have done some of the most atrocious things in history and then desirability it would be the final one so sled if you went through all of that of size level development environment dependency and desirability maybe the mom doesn't want it does that mean that it's not worthy or valuable of life if someone doesn't desire it i mean think about the reactions that people have to the same circumstance a friend calls you they got pregnant and you bust out in tears and they're crying in tears and they're afraid and they're not sure what they're going to do and it's like if i have the baby it's social suicide i don't know what to do i'm looking for another option to take and you're heartbroken with him that same friend two years later if they were married and they called you and they said we're pregnant you're going to be over there you're throwing balloons you're doing a gender reveal party you're going up to the belly talking to them like hey big guy because the desirability we've bought determines whether it's worthy of living or not and the bible says it is worthy of life because it is made in the image of god second idea of hey it's it's my body biblically again for christians the bible says it's not your body it's god's body and so is the body of the child first corinthians 6 says you are not your own you are bought with a price honor god with your body but as christians this is an argument that we cannot embrace or allow or tolerate again if you're feeling a condemnation that is not from the lord it's from an enemy who wants you to feel shame and guilt as relates to the idea of what hits my body it's my choice as christians we advocate there are other choices that all of us can make and i know i'm talking about guys and girls and the pain involved from you know past experiences with abortion there's one in four girls that are involved there's one in four guys that are part of that as well but in terms of the choices that are promoted for the christian faith there's a few of them one of them would be don't have sex outside of marriage we have so through the sake of like you know i'm just going to do whatever i want to do we have brought and taken sex outside of god's design which is in the context of marriage to take place where sex is designed to take place in the context of marriage a lifelong commitment covenant to one another so that when it leads to life it leads to a celebration the other option would be an option number two would be to give the baby up for adoption listen to me very closely for every one child every one baby that is waiting to be adopted there are 36 families on a waitlist there are people waiting to adopt that will wait years and years hoping to be picked by the birth mother and they'll wait years and they'll never be able to adopt for every 36 families there's one child there is such a vast shortage of children or babies waiting to be adopted and if you make the decision and you end up finding yourself in that circumstance and it's hard and tragic and i know it's so so scary but many of you those in connected to watermark and those that we just hear from all the time who have made that decision that i'm going to go through with this i'm going to give and make an adoption plan take place i'm so proud of you i am so proud of you you decided that i'm going to take because of my conviction i'm not taking the easy road out and i am going to let this child live and those of you who didn't god is not done with you god loves you your sin is no grosser than mine or anyone else's but the second option of the choice involved could be to give it up for adoption the third would be to raise the child to decide i'm going to raise the child in my home in 2018 kylie jenner uploaded a youtube video called to our daughter she just found out she had just recently given birth to a baby that she had with the rapper travis scott inside of the video she talks about her child stormy that's about to be born and as we see kylie go in for the ultrasound with her mother she hears the heartbeat and her friend is in the background and she says this when you were 20 when you're 20 years old which is how old kylie was when she found it she was pregnant you're just figuring out life you don't know who you want or you don't know what you want you're basically an indecisive teenager you're just becoming an adult but there was one thing your mom knew stormy that she wanted and that was you in 2019 kylie told vogue magazine in australia i feel like having a daughter has made me love myself more and i want to be an example for her the idea that hey it's my body i can do whatever i want it's my choice and if you're a male or you're anything you have no right or the government has no right to tell me what i can do and what i can't do the government tells all of us what we can do and can't do all the time think about that there's certain things you can't do right now and try it on for size and respond with it's my body my choice in other words leave these doors go on the highway take all your clothes off and walk around naked and when the police show up say hey officer it's my body my choice see how that works we live underneath the regulations laws all the time there's tons of things that you can't do just because it's your body or i can't do because it's my body when it comes to this issue the bible is emphatically clear one of the lies i think that is attached to this is that abortion is an empowering thing to women and if you want to be fight for women's rights and fight for women you need to be at least open to and you know i kind of see how they get there and i don't want to be against you know girl squad and so don't come at me like that i am all for empowering women i'm married to a godly strong woman i'm the son of a incredibly strong woman i have a daughter who i hope raises or she comes up and she is incredibly strong and empowered abortion does not empower women if anything it empowers and allows society and men to get away with sexual irresponsibility taking advantage of women's bodies without any consequences that are there or just sexual indulgence on both sides and we have a culture that celebrates in 2019 michelle williams stood up the golden globes and she gave a speech we're receiving this golden statue of the golden globe here's what she said i would not have been able to do this won this award without employing a woman's right to choose as she did she said so to roaring applause in the audience if that is a life i want you to think about what she just said to thunderous applause from a culture how sad it is she essentially said i would not have been able to win this golden statue had i not killed the growing child in my womb and we have a culture that applauds it and they will hate you and call you anti-woman and call you a misogynist or sexist even if you're a woman and you say i believe life starts a conception it may be a part of my story and abortion is part of my past but god is healing any of that and i still because god is clear on this i want to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves and our culture sells the lie that this is empowering to women if anything it is empowering to many gross men in society harvey weinstein loves abortion because it allows him to decide hey i'm going to sleep around do whatever i want and then just give her 500 bucks and get rid of it and treat women like they're a mule the grossest men in society love abortion because they can abuse get away with things and have no consequences and sadly there's a feminist toxic strand of feminism that empowers men like that through fighting for the decision empowering women's rights what about the 50 percent of children aborted who are women when it comes to the idea of my body it's my choice scripture is abundantly clear that is not the case in 2016 mother teresa i'm sorry this is 1994. mother teresa was invited the white house hillary clinton was the president president's wife and at the uh lunch that they would have mother teresa she's a nun she was just legend and uh and she um came to the white house she's meeting with hillary clinton hillary clinton asked her hey why do you think that we haven't had a woman president yet mother teresa so savage doesn't miss a beat she says probably because she was aborted as she was saying we are ending the life of millions and millions of babies 60 million since 1973. that's more than hitler and world war ii stalin and again if you hear condemnation listen to me as clearly as i can say it that is not the voice of the lord i want to show you when i talk about the choice that's being made an animation video of the most common way that abortion takes place it's a video that just displays the most common way and i do this not to be over the top but it was through powerful images like emmett till and the 1950s and just don't even get lost there but through seeing what's happening there's a reason why the concentration camps in nazi germany were put outside of germany because they didn't want the german people to see and know what was going on because they knew if they saw it if they knew what was going on they wouldn't be okay with it and videos like the one we're about to see that's less than a minute long have been basically outlawed in terms of public spaces because the more and more that people see it the more difficult it is to tolerate and be okay with what's taking place so jj show the video the baby has a heartbeat fingers toes arms and legs but its bones are still weak and fragile the abortionist takes a suction catheter like this one this is a 14 french suction catheter it's clear plastic about nine inches long and it has a hole through the center it is inserted through the cervix into the uterus the suction machine is then turned on with a force 10 to 20 times more powerful than your household vacuum cleaner the baby is rapidly torn apart by the force of the suction and squeeze through this tubing down into the suction machine followed by the placenta though the uterus is mostly emptied at this point one of the risks of a suction dnc is incomplete abortion essentially pieces of the baby or placenta left behind this can lead to infection or bleeding in an attempt to prevent this the abortionist uses a curette to scrape a lining of the uterus the curette is basically a long handled curved blade once the uterus is empty the spec that video was easily the most tame of the different trimester abortions that they have but it is happening every year and a million children will lose their life to that taking place so as it relates to is it a life the bible seems to be abundantly clear even biology saying life begins its conception 95 of biologists agree my body my choice is that a reasonable argument to allow and not just allow for abortion it has become a bandwagon and it has become something that is the issue for many people it's celebrated and it is a tragedy and it is an affront to god finally isn't abortion just the lesser of two evils i mean yes it's an unexpected pregnancy but why would you have another wrong by bringing a child into the world when the circumstances that led to them being born was rape or why would you bring a child in the warm world when you know such terrible circumstances and his mom is on drugs and it's just a terrible upbringing he'll have no father system will just end up being you know in prison someday why would you bring a child into that or you can't tell a woman to carry a child and give it up for adoption you know how emotionally taxing that is you know emotionally painful would be to ask a woman to go nine months and then give a baby up for adoption it's social suicide that's crazy the lesser of two evils that's not great but abortion is the lesser of two evils right i want to talk about some of these these cases let's talk about the first the idea of rape less than a half of a percent of abortions that take place are related to rape or if it's tragic if you're sexually abused if it's a part of your story god didn't intend that god can use that it's not your fault you're not damaged goods and there are plenty of men and women who have that a part of their story and god is healing and using their story for good less than half a percent of those who have an abortion are related to rape the vast vast vast majority are related to decisions like michelle williams at but even in those situations where a person does have rape that leads to conception the bible would still say it's the taking of a life and if you're in that situation we can walk alongside you we want to care for you we want to come and be there with you every step of the way we just don't think the death penalty should be given to the baby the rapist should be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and if anyone should get the death penalty it's not the baby there's some friend of mine that is you know when she was actually serving at the porch not long ago and during one of those situations she ended up getting raped and she conceived and had a baby she made the decision to have that child and now that child attends on sundays it goes to sunday school and she's six years old and she's coloring pictures of jesus and moses with other children in the class how tragic would it have been if in the chorus of people around her who said man this is just not right it's not your baby or it's you know every time you see it you're going to think about him she had made that decision and now she's a beautiful girl being raised by a godly father and godly mother she eventually ended up getting married has a little brother and spencer sundays in sunday school at church coloring pictures of jesus because her mom made the decision it's a life some of these are such bad environments how could we even justify bringing them in i mean the world is so broken already it's almost loving or kind or compassionate to not bring them into the world i mean that's worse basically when that argument is made it's basically saying hey some lives you know they're not even worth living because that would be such a bad circumstance to bring them up in one of these lives that was not worth living was born to a woman whose first name i don't even have it on here but she had gotten pregnant and she was basically addicted on drugs she had gotten pregnant she found herself in a relationship that was toxic and everyone in her life told her you should get the abortion she ended up moving in on government assistance and finding herself in a home and she carried through and decided to have the child that woman's name or that woman's child is named justin bieber whose society would have said you're in a stinking home you're on government assistance the father was a drug addict or there's clearly broken service this is not a loving thing to do i'm not sure that life is worth bringing in i don't know justin but my guess is he would say i'm sure glad my mom brought me into this world this idea man it's just too bad of an environment who are we to decide that too emotionally traumatizing for the mother move quickly hey he's too emotionally traumatized and asked the woman to go nine months and to you know give the baby up for adoption i'm not invalidating that is a difficult challenging really hard decision to make and it's the body of christ we want to come alongside we want to care for we do everything we can to provide care for women and there's so many resources we'll point you to both in a minute and then after this message but the trauma of walking through an abortion statistically studies show is far greater than giving and making an adoption plan and giving a child for adoption in other words the least loving thing you can do is encourage hey you should have an abortion not an adoption because the mental health the challenges that happen in life skyrocket here's what study from cbs news found from the british cycle british journal of psychiatry when it looked into abortion connection to mental health it found that women had an 81 increased risk of mental health when it had abortion compared to adoption the study also found that women who had an abortion were 110 more likely to abuse alcohol 155 percent more likely to commit suicide concludes interestingly enough this completely contradicts the pro-choice narrative that only if women get the abortion they want will they be able to live happy fulfilled lives evidence points to the contrary it is women who do not get the abortion but give them up for adoption who are more likely to lead healthy happy lives finally there's a sentence that i think a lot of us fall into because you know as christians we're trying to love people we want to care for people we want to be compassionate and empathetic to really hard circumstances that i've never walked through or you may never have walked through and and so sentences like this will be said like you know i would never have one but who am i to say that a woman didn't have this type of right and you know i just you don't know how hard it's been through and everything that they're walking through and i don't and who am i to impose my beliefs on them and i want to remove that sentence from your vocabulary not because your attempt and saying so it's not from a heart of compassion or heart of care i believe that it is i just believe that it is continuing to be silent on an issue the bible is emphatically clear on and maybe the greatest moral blind spot in our country's history and certainly the greatest blind spot today doing so saying that you know i wouldn't but who am i to say that is essentially the pontius pilate argument pontius pilate you guys know who pilate is pilot was the governor of the time or the area where jesus when he lived hung out was walked on this earth he was the governor of that town i think greg abbott state of texas pilot judea and so jesus was there ends up getting arrested gonna be crucified pretty important you know that part of the story he goes and he's put on trial who is over the trial pilot this roman official pilot goes goes up to jesus these jewish people are like yeah he's crazy you should kill him and pilate's like all right well hey they're saying you're crazy and should i kill you and jesus is like um no i've healed people and i brought people back from the dead and you know it goes through his resume probably it's like i think he's a pretty stand-up guy i'm really sure that we should kill this guy and uh but the jews were like no we got to kill him he claims to do something pilate makes an infamous decision he says i see no reason to crucify this man but i washed my hands at this thing essentially what pilate was saying was i have reservations about whether to take jesus's life i'm personally opposed to putting his man on a cross but who am i to oppose my beliefs on others i'm not going to carry it out that's my personal view but if others want to they can as christians we are not to take that stance when it relates to any issue of injustice of life of caring for people proverbs 31 says that you and i are called to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves it says this in verse 8. speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves for the rights of all who are destitute or in need speak up and judge fairly defend the rights of the poor and the needy and it says you would speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves i don't know a single group in society who cannot more forceful or who cannot at all speak for themselves to a greater degree than the unborn child and i know this is a tricky topic and this is not a political thing this isn't a a republican thing this is a christian it is a life and we are called to advocate for life and there's no group that is more at threat the number one killer of people in america today is abortion more than cancer more than heart disease abortion the parallels to times in the past where society because i know this is tricky and and no one around us celebrates it and that's probably those are some times where christians despite the fact that society and culture is like no man who are you and you have no right to say that you stay out of this those are often the times where christians despite going against the culture are in the right the parallels to the issue of slavery on this one are uncanny and before you tune out i'm going to be very sensitive and very clear on what i mean by that in 1860 there was a candidate by the name of abraham lincoln you guys know who he ran against a gentleman by the name of stephen douglas stephen douglas abraham lincoln they ran against each other they were debating each other for president united states the nation was on the threshold of war over the issue of slavery both these two men ran they both had interesting uh platforms that they ran on part of stephen douglas's that's lincoln's opponent you know what part of his thing was pro-choice not around the issue of abortion his thing was hey look i personally would not advocate for slavery you go back and read the debates between stephen douglas just like we have debates and the craziness that that is right now you go read the debates of lincoln and douglas and they talk about this and there was a pro-choice era and movement and uh platform that he ran on he said i'm against slavery but here it's a big country got a lot of states who am i to say people in georgia can't decide whether or not they should have slaves and lincoln said i am for poor i am for choice but when the choice involves something as immoral as slavery it is wrong to say that a black person can be chosen by the person who owns them over whether their value is anything other than a human life to say that if if the black person is not as valuable as a human life then sure choices involved but when it comes to a person being a human being pro-choice about that is not an option this is a debate that's been going on for a long time even the parallels as it relates to culture and society it was really split there were some who were like yes so for slavery others who were like no i'm so against slavery then there was this huge swath in the middle many of them christians who are like i'm pretty neutral i just don't really want to speak out about it i don't want to be convinced about it and they were wrong if you think that you would have stood and fought against slavery you would have stood and fought against civil rights or four civil rights as martin luther king jr and you won't fight for the right of the unborn i just want you to consider do you think that you really would have or would you have been in that middle group where it's neutral and i just just kind of want to stay out of it because as christians we are called to speak up on this issue and the separation of church and state things may be like yeah but who am i to impose martin luther king jr nobody ever hates on martin luther king jr for bringing in his religious beliefs and convictions to say based on what i believe the bible teaches it is wrong for someone to be judged on the content or the color of their skin not the content of their character let justice flow like waters he quoted from the book of amos on the steps of the memorial or lincoln memorial and nobody had a problem with it christians over and over are called to go against whatever culture says if it contradicts the word of god and to raise our voice in the fight for the needs of those who cannot fight for themselves and just want you i want you to really think about that if you're listening and you won't fight for the rights of the unborn who are called well it's less than human the parallels to slavery of hey you know it's kind of they're not exactly on the same are shocking do you really think you would have fought against jim crow you really think that you would have fought against slavery because this is your time this is your age this is your era this is the time for you and i and christians everywhere to say we will see abortion end in our generation we're going to fight for life wound at the tomb we're going to care for people no matter where they are on the spectrum of life we're going to care for the immigrant we're kept for all people but there is no group that is being killed at the rate that the unborn is and society is applauding it and allowing it and fighting for it and enabling it and it is the most moral blind spot we have ever had america has more pro abortion allowance than almost every country on earth we are some of the most radical as it relates to you can kill a child up to 39 weeks in many places in our country think about that in terms of france spain germany the limit is 12 weeks and you've got to go see a counselor for three days to even have it before you can do that they look at america dude you guys are we're right there with china russia and north korea are those the nations that you want to be mentioned with and yet so many christians and candidly because this has been hijacked by this like yeah women's rights we gotta stay together guys it is an affront to god i am all for women's rights and whether you're a man a woman black white hispanic whatever we've got to come together and say whatever differences are we are going to be united on this in conclusion what is the application from this it's a few things number one if this is a part of your story god isn't done with you and i just want you to invite or i want to invite you to recover we have a ministry here that is entirely devoted to helping you just like all of us have sexual sin in our past and issues and our past we just need to recover and there's an entire ministry that's devoted called life initiatives a life initiative that's here it's about abortion post abortion care you go to watermark.org type in life initiatives or you can just email us at infoport.life email us at info the portrait live we'll connect you and you'll find other women there who've walked alongside and god is using their story he's redeeming it some of the most godly women i know how that is part of their story doesn't define them and they are redefining the way that our society and women and people in general understand where life is found which isn't jesus it's the first time we recover what volunteers and men and women tonight who are here who have that a part of their story that would love to talk and connect with you number two we got to pray we have to hit our knees and pray god not just on election year but every day and every year god will you end abortion in our generation you've ended the atrocities slavery in our past you ended what happened in nazi germany will you end again what is taking place in our land it is insanity that a bald eagle egg if you touch could cost you 250 000 but if you kill a life in the womb it is a constitutional right that is insane so we got to pray because this is just our nation's conscience is seared as it relates to this number three use your voice just like i said speaking out and knowing where you stand on this issue and advocating for it and raising up our voice just like they did with bald eagle eggs we're going to raise up our voice and advocate that legislation happen to protect these that we would raise up our voice number four vote whether this is a part of your story or not every time that you vote and by voting in and this doesn't have any this is not just the president this isn't an issue that no matter what happens on november 3rd is going to go away this is an issue that we have to be people who say we are going to stay informed on this and we're going to hold you accountable and we're going to see that we pass legislation and life is beginning to win again in america the generation that is right here young adults is beginning to turn the tide on their perspective on yeah this is pretty messed up in 1973 with roe v wade they didn't have 3d sonograms they didn't have the ability to go oh yeah that baby's smiling at me right now and now is our time to begin to vote hold people accountable and push this is an issue that cannot be one that we give in on number five if you or someone you know listen to me very clearly this is me very very clearly if you find yourself in a situation where you're pregnant have an unplanned pregnancy or you know someone who does i want you to bring the baby here you can bring the baby to us we will take care of your baby we'll come alongside that person if they just need help and care and they're trying to walk through that i want you to tell them they can bring the child here we will take them and walk with them every single step of the way so if you're like i don't know what to do what are even our options this just feels so crazy you can tell them or you can know you can bring the child here we will care for the child and find a place and help make an adoption plan to find a home for him and number six serve some of you have this a part of your story you don't it's just a passion point and there's opportunities we'd love to let you know about whether it be through thrive which is the ministry that these uh meredith and pharaoh were a part of that weekly helps women who are in that situation that is such a terrifying one to be in help them take the next step in their unplanned pregnancies put together an adoption plan put together a plan for care and walk alongside of them whether you serving that or maybe you serve in life initiative this is a part of your story you if you're a follower of jesus and it's there you have no idea how powerful your story is to other women who feel covered in shame covered in guilt cover without hope and you and your testimony of god's goodness despite all of our messed up decisions and despite your story is like a key that unlocks the shame and guilt and pain of people and you can serve in life initiative and share and use your mess to be a message for christ in conclusion i i've said and i'm about to end i've said a lot that if you hear condemnation and shame and guilt i want you to listen to me abundantly clear that is not from the lord how do i know that there's actually a moment in john chapter 8 we talked about before where it's a woman who's in sexual sin and jesus's response gives us some indication of how we respond to you and whether you just look to pornography whether we respond to you as it relates to abortion or sexual sin with your boyfriend or girlfriend it gives us how he responds to broken messed up people it's a woman who had been caught having sex with another man's wife or another man who wasn't her husband think about that moment somebody busts in the door and they find this woman who's having sex with a man who's not her husband and they drag her half naked they throw her in front of jesus in front of them and this group surrounds jesus who's in the temple teaching they throw this woman down and they see jesus we call this woman in sexual sin sleeping with the man who is not her husband the law says we should condemn her she should have the death penalty what are you saying what would the son of god say to your worst moment i mean you get caught having an affair with a guy who's married that's a bad moment what would jesus god and a god perfection in sandals walking on the planet eye to eye with this woman what would he say he bends over and he begins writing in the ground so that after a couple minutes he stands up and he says this crowd of men and this terrified woman on the ground half clothed disheveled ashamed he says whoever has no sin let them throw the surf stone after a moment the men begin to leave it says from the oldest to the youngest and then it's just jesus and the woman and he bends back down the text tells us and he lifts up her face and says woman [Music] where are your accusers does no one condemn you the woman looks around and realizes it's just her and jesus and she says no one and jesus responds neither do i go and sin no more he looks at a woman who had the equivalent of an abortion or adultery or pornography or sexual sin that's in my life and he looks right here in the eyes and says i don't condem you i don't condone what you did but i don't condemn you and i am calling you forward go and sin no more child whatever you have done whatever sin you think puts you beyond the length of god's love you have bought a lie and jesus would say to you if that's a part of your story the condemnation and guilt that you feel is not from him if you're a follower of christ he has paid for it that doesn't define you you have been washed and cleaned in his love and by him and by his love by what he did on the cross and you can walk free in that and we can all together look around at society and say man we don't condemn what you have done we don't condone it and we are calling us as a nation this has got to end whatever circumstance whatever brokenness or whatever challenge or whatever you think is like too far beyond god's reach or whatever circumstance you're in right now there is nothing that is impossible for god to turn around and use for good no matter how bad things look he can take the most crazy unplanned pregnancy and use it for incredible incredible good how do i know that because the greatest act in human history was connected to an unplanned pregnancy think about this i don't know over the greatest act in history there was a young girl named mary 16 years old realizes despite the fact that she's engaged never had sex with anybody she's pregnant angel shows up and says you're gonna give birth to the son of god how did that conversation go with her mom yeah mom i'm pregnant no we didn't do no handsy no nothing an angel yeah joseph didn't go so well because joseph who she was engaged to decided man clearly you've cheated people don't just get impregnated out of the blue so i'm i'm out until an angel shows up and says she is with child who will be the savior of the world an unplanned pregnancy that caught them totally off guard they had no idea was coming but god did every unplanned pregnancy that catches anyone totally off guard they had no idea was coming it's one that god did and he could take it and just like he did in that situation take even the most surprising confusing terrifying circumstances and use it for your good he's already done it but what he did with his son gave his life and paid for all of our sins every sin in your past and my past and your future and my future all of it paid for and we receive that by trusting you paid you paid you paid for me and now we go advocate and we speak for those who can't speak for themselves let me pray father i pray for anyone right now who they just have never experienced freedom from the pain and shame that you would be louder than any feelings of condemnation that they feel that they would hear your grace and your forgiveness and you called them by name and you loved them you died for them you're crazy about them you're not done with them you've forgiven them those would ring loudly i pray for any person [Music] who listens to this and finds himself in that situation of an unplanned pregnancy that they would take the steps that are in line with your word and they would walk through either giving the child making an adoption plan or raising the child and you would have them walk with that child in a full relationship with you for a full life probably would you end abortion in our generation would you put in office men who don't just say they're for pro-life but they are pro-life and would you capture the hearts and save men and women who refuse to do so would you awaken our country's conscience to this blind immorality that is currently amongst us and would you help us as your church to be winsome engaging courageous and loving as we do so and use our voice and point people to the one who saves all people who created all people and who gives offer of eternal life an abundant life now and forever christ's name amen

Channel: The Porch

Views: 15,956

Rating: 4.7464213 out of 5

Keywords: the, porch, dallas, watermark, community, church, christian, christianity, ministry, movement, fort, worth, faith, sermon, dating, truth, bible, advice, biblical, counsel, jonathan pokluda, the porch, watermark community church, young adults, fort worth, david marvin, todd wagner, the bible

Id: rGD2r6vp324

Length: 58min 20sec (3500 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 22 2020