God loves human life. Of course, He created it! He created us in His Image — Imago Dei! If you call yourself a Christian, if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, if you at least visit a church every Sunday, you owe it to God, you creator, to seek HIM before you vote in this election. My pastor, Chuck Foreman, started a 5-week series today called, “Citizens of Heaven — on Earth”. For the next 5 Sundays, I’m going to feature the video of each service, and include pertinent scripture verses as well as links to dig deeper. I’ll continue with the series on the Book of Hebrews during the week.
It was one of his sermons a few years ago that convicted me into switching from the Democratic Party to the Republicans. I explain it here. My hope with this series is to help readers and listeners to the podcast reflect on God’s Word and search your hearts for God’s guidance and wisdom BEFORE YOU VOTE!
This morning, Pastor Chuck began the series with the Sanctity of Life. Here is the video. I’ll summarize below…
God Loves Life
First Christian Church Worship Service 9/20/2020
Please see Pastor Chuck’s disclaimer at the bottom.
As Citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, we must do 2 things:
- Look to God and His Word for direction.
- Think clearly about the hot topics in our society.
Pastor Chuck opened with the story of the birth of Moses. Moses was born in the middle of ancient genocide or early eugenics. The story is in Exodus 1 – 2:10. He also quoted the following scripture passages…
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
Psalm 139:13-16 NLT
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
5 Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.
Ecclesiastes 11:5 NLT
5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.
Jeremiah 1:5 NLT
Before you were born I set you apart
and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”
He also quoted the account of when Mary went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, when she was pregnant with Jesus by the Holy Spirit…
41 At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. 43 Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.”
Luke 1:41-44 NLT
I’m adding a couple more scripture verses that pertain to life…
Choose Life
19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! 20 You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NLT
What God Hates
6 There are six things the Lord hates—
Proverbs 6:16-19 NLT
no, seven things he detests:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that kill the innocent,
18 a heart that plots evil,
feet that race to do wrong,
19 a false witness who pours out lies,
a person who sows discord in a family.
“Hands that kill the innocent.” We can expand on that — people who support hands that kill the innocent.
A Warning in the Bible
There is a warning in scripture about suppressing what is right and true for our own interests:
18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.
25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
Romans 1:18, 21-22, 25a NLT
Two Challenges Before Us Christians Today
Here are some stand-out quotes from Pastor Chuck’s message…
- How can we think clearly about the rhetorical clutter surrounding the issue of abortion so that we can judge what we hear in the media and in the political arena and talk more intelligently about it ourselves?
- How do we respond to each other as Jesus would?
Regarding women who’ve had an abortion…
“In America, 1 in 3 women will have an abortion by age 45. That means I’ve succeeded in making a good number of you horribly uncomfortable this morning. That’s not my intention. I think you need me/us to respond to you as Jesus would.
“Jesus is not pointing his finger at you today. Jesus is sheltering you behind himself today and pointing his finger at the rest of us, saying, ‘Let him who has no sin, cast the first stone.’
“Many of our sisters who’ve found themselves in this situation were misguided and misinformed, or even pressured into having an abortion. They deal with horrible regret and guilt. What they need from us is, mercy, love, acceptance and grace.”
Chuck Foreman, FCC
“Grace only becomes real when you face what grace covers.”
Larry Crabb
“Dear Sister, if this is you, Jesus is saying to you today what He said to the woman long ago who felt condemned and whom HE was expected to also condemn, “Go your way and sin no more.” ‘What’s done is done. It’s in the past. You are forgiven and I have a beautiful future for you! Your child is with ME now in heaven.'”
Chuck Foreman
As Chuck ends his message…
The Big Idea: We are Citizens of Heaven, but we live out our citizenship on earth. We arrive at our moral conclusions from God’s Word, not popular opinion.
Our Big Challenge: Measure your own conclusions, and those of the world around you, regarding morality and truth against what is taught in the Bible.
Chuck Foreman
Imago Dei
We, every one of us, bear the image of our creator!
Every human being is our neighbor. Even the unborn ones!
Abortion is the sacrament of the Left. It’s time for Christians to wake up!
More Abortion Statistics:
Arizona:
- Approximately 34 abortions are performed in Arizona every day.
- In 2018, 12,362 abortions were performed in Arizona.
- In 2018, 21.2% of women receiving an abortion had 2 previous live births.
- In 2018, 24.2% of women had 1 previous abortion.
National:
- An Average of 1 million abortions are performed annually in America, over 60 million abortions have been performed in America.
- Approx. 22% of people who attend religions services 1x/week believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
- African Americans (Blacks) make up approx. 13% of Americans, but have approx. 37% of all abortions.
Source: CBRInfo.org
Black Lives Matter? No, All Lives Matter! Even the Unborn!
Here’s a video showing the development of a baby in the womb…
Especially for Democrats
As I’ve mentioned before, I used to be a Democrat, but once I became a born-again Christian, the Holy Spirit convicted me and I could never vote for a Democrat again as long as they supported the murder of innocent lives, aka, abortion.
In the Vice Presidential debate in 2012, Joe Biden, as a “devout” and “practicing” Catholic, confessed his views on abortion…
Abby Johnson
Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood employee, now a pro-life activist speaks the truth about abortion at the 2020 Republican National Convention…
“I support President Trump because he has done more for the unborn than any other president.”
Abby Johnson
I saw this graphic on Instagram, posted by @gregcook14 and had to share it.
I graduated high school in 1973 in the height of the “sexual revolution”. It was also the year that the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Decision made abortions legal in America.
When you look at the bigger picture, it gave society the green light to have have sex whenever and with whomever you wanted. If a gal gets pregnant, just abort it.
It’s time for Christians to get a hold of the moral compass that is found in God’s Word — the Bible. The further Left you go, the whole concept of a moral compass disintegrates.
Yesterday, I talked about what happens when we let ourselves drift along with our culture, or society, rather than standing firm on the Word of God — the Bible. The Word of God provides the wisdom and guidance we need to make the right choices in life. Choices that will please God and earn us our crown in Heaven!
Would Jesus vote for a person who doesn’t respect the sanctity of life? Read the Bible and figure it out for yourself.
Soli Deo Gloria! To God Alone Be the Glory!
Here are Some Pro-Life Resources:
- Choices Pregnancy Centers in Arizona
- Center for Bio-Ethical Reform
- Love and Truth Network
- And Then There Were None — Abby Johnson’s Organization
Pastor Chuck Foreman’s Disclaimer
I believe it is important for me to encourage people to determine, based on their beliefs and convictions as Followers of Jesus, how they should vote. In fact, I was careful to say in my message this past Sunday that “I am neither republican or democrat in this. And neither is this church, FCC. FCC is a Kingdom of God church. Our loyalty as Followers of Jesus must first to His Kingdom and not to any political party or earthly kingdom.” I believe people are intelligent enough to connect any dots that need to be connected, and I do not want to circumvent the work the Spirit of God is doing or wants to do in anyone listening to me. I want republicans and democrats at FCC to love and respect each other even though they may disagree—the point of our last series, “Living & Loving through Disagreement” –even when the issues at hand are moral issues. I truly believe the Spirit of God will do his work in people, and when he does, the change will be deep and genuine and lasting. My job is to teach truth and then get out of the way.
My intention in this series is to clear up any confusion in the minds of Christians over the biblical view of the 5 topics I have chosen, about which there is a popular narrative in society right now which does not represent the biblical view. This is the same approach Jesus took in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5): “You have heard that it was said, (popular rhetoric in society), but I tell you, (here’s what God says).” I’m also talking a reasoned look at what society is saying about each these 5 topics which necessarily requires a dismantling of poor logic. Lines will be drawn in the sand simply because there is a very clear distinction presently between popular thought and the biblical world view. And I am wiling to drawn these lines.
However, the delicate position in which I find myself requires me to ask this question every single day: How do I preach the truth in faithfulness to God’s Word and not divide the church? The path I have chosen is to not be guilty of doing what politicians are doing. I will not politicize these moral issues by telling people how to vote. I will not divide the flock. I will make every effort to be a good shepherd who unites the flock around the standard of God’s Word, not around a political party! I will declare the Truth as best as I am able. And I will trust God’s Spirit to move through his Word to convict and guide his people. I long to see a politician who sees himself/herself as a shepherd who must unite people, not divide people. That’s what secular society needs. That’s what the church needs. As a pastor, this is what I must do.
Once Jesus was pressured to pick political sides against Rome in favor of the Jews over the issue if paying taxes to the hated Roman government. He refused. Remember the story? He asked for a coin…
I know how and for whom I will vote. But I will not be pressured into to picking and promoting a political party on the public platform God has given me. I will simply speak His Word, tear down the faulty logic being forced upon us, and trust His Spirit to move.
