THE SANCTITY OF LIFE
INTRO:
A.Vince Lombardi was one of the most outstanding coaches of
the Green bay Packers. Due to his success each year the winner
of the Super Bowl receives a trophy called the Lombardi Trophy.
Each year Vince would start each summer camp the same way.
He would get h is players together in a locker room and grab a
football, hold it up in the air and say, “Gentlemen, This is a
football.” Then he began his training teaching the basics and
fundamentals of the game of football.
B.The very basic fundamentals of human life begins with Genesis
.”
1.We are a part of God’s eternal plan. Ephesians 2:10
states, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advanced
for us to do.”
2.Notice what God told Jeremiah. “Before I formed you in
the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5
I. OUR PRESENT DAY HOLOCAUST
A. On September 11, 2001 over 3500 lives were extinguished do the bombing of the world trade towers in New York. In that crowd of people there were potential doctors, scientists, preachers, future leader whose lives were taken due to evil terrorists.
B.What did not make the headlines on September 12, 2001, The very next day, was the 4000 lives that were extinguished by what is called pro-choice. It happen again on September 12, 13, 14 etc. Each day since 1973 approximately 4000 unborn babies are aborted each day, 28,000 each week, 112,000 each month, 1,460,000 each year.
1. One September 11, 2001 Terrorist killed over 3500 people,
and the out cry for justice was heard around the world.
There was swift and action as it should be.
2. 4000 unborn babies are being taken every day, but I see no
weeping, no anger, and no outcry for justice.
3. The penalty for killing an unborn eagle in this country
is a fine of up to $5000 and up to five years in prison But,the killing of an unborn baby is not considered a crime at all, as long as the mother approves.
4. One in four women have an abortion and one in ten women
in the church have an abortion.
5. AMERICAN WAR CASUALTIES
REVOLUTIONARY WAR 25,324
CIVIL WAR 498,332
WORLD WAR II 407,316
KOREAN WAR 54,246
VIETNAM WAR 56,655
GULF WAR 293
WAR ON THE UNBORN 31,000,000 since abortion was
legalize in 1973. (6 times the number of casualties in all
the wars combined)
C. Psalms 139: 13-16 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mothers womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, 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 in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be”
1. Within 21 days the baby’s backbone, spinal cord, and nervous system are forming. A small heart is present and beating. At one month arms and legs are present. There is a head with rudimentary eyes, ears, mouth, and brain. The digestive system has begun. The baby is still only one-fourth of an inch long, but he is ten thousand times larger than when he began.
2. At 2 months the baby is fully formed. He reacts to stimuli such as tickling. He will try to grasp a tiny instrument with his tiny hand. He "swims" or moves about in the amniotic fluid. He has fingerprints.
By the end of the 3rd month, as one observer notes, "he can kick his legs, turn his feet, curl and fan his toes, makes a fist, move his thumb, bend his wrist, turn his head, squint, frown, open his mouth," swallow, and breathe.
a.The lack of value for life today is the result of godlessness. Many of our universities and schools
have taught our young people that human beings
are nothing more than highly organized,
animated slime.
b.Our children are taught that they are cosmic accidents, nothing more than time + chance + matter. Our society has rejected the belief that HUMANS HAVE INTRINSIC DIGNITY BECAUSE THEY ARE
CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD
1. The Psalmist tells us, “Behold, children are a gift from the Lord.” (Ps.127:3) God is the power behind barrenness, and the power behind conception
2. Listen to Moses’ words in Exodus 4:11: “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
3. Did you know that you are God’s crowning creation?
Did you know that you’re the greatest thing that God every created?
4.You Were Created in God’s Image.
Do you know why you’re so valuable to God?
Because you look just like Him!
Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in His own image.
5. Don’t you ever convince yourself that your worthless.
Don’t you ever buy into the lie that no one loves you.
6. You aren’t an accident. You weren’t mass-produced.
You aren’t an assembly-line product. You were
deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly
positioned on this earth by the Master Craftsman.”
Psalm 100:3, “Know that the LORD, He is God; It is
He who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are
His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
Tony Campolo, “God carries your picture in his wallet.”
7. So, Jim what can I do about all this?
II. ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
A. A young man was walking along the seashore. Far ahead of him, he saw a another man walking towards him. He paused every few steps, stooped down, throwing something into the sea.
The young man hurried forward, his feet awkward in the sand, as he tried to catch up with the man. As he came closer, he saw that it was an old man, and the reason that he would stop every step or two was to pick up a starfish and fling it into the ocean. It was only then that the young man noticed the thousands of starfish that littered the beach for miles, stranded there by the tide.
The young man rather was rather curious. What the old man was doing seemed so pointless, and he couldn’t wait to catch up with him to tell him so. The young man came near the older man.
"Why are you doing this?" he gasped. "You can’t save all of these starfish! It’s useless! What does it matter?"
The old man paused for a moment, looking down at the crusty starfish he’d just picked up. He turned it over slowly, then answered.
"It matters to this one,"
5.
III. I SEE TWO POSSIBLE OPTIONS:
A. Raise and Love the Child.
A couple tried to have a baby for years. They went through all the treatments and all seemed to fail. They had found an adoption agency and was looking into Adoption but could not afford it when all the sudden she became pregnant.
Can you imagine the joy, but something went wrong and she had a miscarriage. She lost the child It was an extremely difficult time for her and her husband but they had a supporting church and they got through it.
Then she became pregnant a second time and again she miss carried, but she never gave up hope. And She became pregnant for the third time. The pregnancy was a difficult one but in the end God gave her a beautiful girl.
This girl grew up and got around the wrong crowd. She met a boy that her mom bitterly despised and at age 15 she became pregnant. The first thing the mother did was call Family Planning and schedule an appointment for her daughter to have an abortion.
Her daughter was 15 years old… The Father of the Child was a bum and she knew that he would never be around and this mistake would destroy her daughters life. She was scared and didn’t know where to turn… She was even scared that the church would find out and she was a Sunday School teacher. What would the Church think to know that her daughter pregnant.
What kind of a mother was she that her daughter would end up pregnant at the age of 15… She was desperate and wanted to get rid of the problem so her daughter could get on with her life… and deep down she knew that it was not right… But she was scared.
Her daughter refused to go and decided to have the baby… Some of the older ladies from church found out and they just loved the young girl and her mom and loved her and was there for them… The baby was born.
The grandmother praises God that her daughter did not follow her advise. Was it hard to raise a child at 15… absolutely… as a matter of fact for the first 2 years the child was raised by the grandmother… But now the daughter met a young man, a Christian Boy, They have gotten married and he has adopted the Boy. But the question remains what would have happened if the daughter would have taken her mothers advise? Praise God we will never know.
Let me warn you though straight up, Don’t condemn the Grandmother, until you have walked in her shoes. The other reason why this is a happy story is because the church never condemned the Grandma or the granddaughter they only loved them and helped them through it.
WE NEED TO MAKE THE CHURCH A SAFE HOUSE AGAIN! A place were people come to get healing. A place that shows love to our brothers and sisters. A place that when someone comes and asks for prayer we understand that they are asking us for prayer and it is not a point of gossip. It is not a point that we use against them. We need to show one another the Love that Christ showed us.
B. The second option – Adoption
The event occurred back in the early 60’s when Abortion was not a legal option. She was a young High School student. She met a boy that was everything that she dreamed of. She allowed him to have his way with her and she became pregnant. He told her that he had no desire to marry her and was going to college. She wanted to keep the Baby but her family had different Ideas. They told her that she was too young and it would be to difficult.
Her uncle had found a place that cared for unwed mothers and agreed to take her there and take care of her while she was there. The baby would then be placed up for adoption and she could return to school and finish her high school education.
It was a different time, unlike today where the girl remains in school and around her friends and it is accepted and even somewhat expected to have pregnant girls in High School… It just didn’t occur that much back then and if it did the girls were usually taken to away to places for unwed mothers or moved to family members that were far away.
She ended up having a little girl and the girl was placed up for adoption. A few years later she met a man while she was working in a factory. He told her that he loved her and she moved in with him and became pregnant. The man found out that she was pregnant and kicked her out and moved a different girl friend in.
She didn’t know where to turn so she went back to her Uncle that helped her the first time. This time he suggested that she get an abortion. When she refused, He told her that he was not going to help her this time and she was on her own. She had no where to turn so she moved into an old friends house but quickly got thrown out of there also.
Pregnant and no where to turn she moved into the Salvation Army shelter where she lived until the birth of the child. She planned on raising this child on her own but the state had different idea’s. After she was admitted to the hospital the case worker for the state came along and told her that she would have to sign papers to have the child put up for adoption. She didn’t want to but what hope did she have? She had no money, No place to Live, No way to get the food that her and the child needed so she signed the papers.
The child was born, this time a baby boy which she named Tommy. Two days later little Tommy was taken away and placed into foster care. The mother didn’t believe in God and thought the church was only a group of hypocrites. After all where were they when she needed help? Oh, they talk a good game… They love to condemn… But where were they when she needed them?
The little boy was placed into a loving home that loved the Lord. The child was raised in church. Life was not perfect for the little boy, There were hardships that came his way. But he was given the gift of life and the gift of a mother and father that loved him and instilled Christian values in him.
He graduated High School and served 4 years in defending this country in the military. After he got out he went to college and graduated. He got married and has children of his own.
Today Little Tommy stands in a pulpit in the state of Illinois preaching Jesus Christ!
Conclusion:
Ephesians 1:5 “He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his will and pleasure
