It is a few minutes before 11 a.m. when Harrison raps on the door of his operating room and walks in.
His Fayetteville Women’s Clinic occupies a once-elegant home dating to the 1940s; the first-floor surgery looks like it was a parlor. Thick blue curtains block the windows and paintings of butterflies and flowers hang on the walls. The radio is tuned to an easy-listening station.
An 18-year-old with braces on her teeth is on the operating table, her head on a plaid pillow, her feet up in stirrups, her arms strapped down at her sides. A pink blanket is draped over her stomach. She’s 13 weeks pregnant, at the very end of the first trimester. She hasn’t told her parents.
A nurse has already given her a local anesthetic, Valium and a drug to dilate her cervix; Harrison prepares to inject Versed, a sedative, in her intravenous line. The drug will wipe out her memory of everything that happens during the 20 minutes she’s in the operating room. It’s so effective that patients who return for a follow-up exam often don’t recognize Harrison.
The doctor is wearing a black turtleneck, brown slacks and tennis shoes. He snaps his gum as he checks the monitors displaying the patient’s pulse rate and oxygen count.
"This is not going to be nearly as hard as you anticipate," he tells her.
She smiles wanly. Keeping up a constant patter — he asks about her brothers, her future birth control plans, whether she’s good at tongue twisters — Harrison pulls on sterile gloves.
"How’re you doing up there?" he asks.
"Doing OK."……."Good girl."
Harrison glances at an ultrasound screen frozen with an image of the fetus taken moments before. Against the fuzzy black-and-white screen, he sees the curve of a head, the bend of an elbow, the ball of a fist.
"You may feel some cramping while we suction everything out," Harrison tells the patient.
A moment later, he says: "You’re going to hear a sucking sound."
The abortion takes two minutes. The patient lies still and quiet, her eyes closed, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. The friend who has accompanied her stands at her side, mutely stroking her arm.
When he’s done, Harrison performs another ultrasound. The screen this time is blank but for the contours of the uterus. "We’ve gotten everything out of there," he says.
As the nurse drops the instruments in the sink with a clatter, the teenager looks around, woozy.
"It was a lot easier than I thought it would be," she says. "I thought it would be horrible, but it wasn’t. The procedure, that is."
She is not yet sure, she says, how she is doing emotionally. She feels guilty, sad and relieved, all in a jumble.
"There’s things wrong with abortion," she says. "But I want to have a good life. And provide a good life for my child." To keep this baby now, she says, when she’s single, broke and about to start college, "would be unfair."
Sanctity of Human Life
On January 22, 1973 the United States Supreme Court handed down its famous Roe vs. Wade decision which unleashed death and destruction to the unborn. By a vote of 7-2 they declared that abortion was a constitutional right. This January marked the 23rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the dreadful Supreme Court decision that found this "right to privacy" in the Constitution and used that right to legalize abortion-on-demand. Human dignity was dealt a horrendous blow. Some 50 million babies have died since that ruling was handed down. Today, however, the stakes are higher. We’re not talking about taking the lives of 50 million kids, as horrible as that is. We’re talking about creating the lives of 50 million kids—and then killing them, ostensibly for the good of humanity. Supposedly, we have created life for our own purposes.
Jeremiah 1:1- 5
“THE SANCTITY OF A HUMAN LIFE”
Jer 1:1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,
Jer 1:2 to whom the word of the LORD
came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king
of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
Jer 1:3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
Jer 1:4 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
Jer 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."
Jeremiah 1:5
MHC - Jeremiah was a priest, a native of Anathoth, in the tribe of Benjamin. He was called to the prophetic office when very young, about seventy years after the death of Isaiah, and exercised it for about forty years with great faithfulness, till the sins of the Jewish nation came to their full measure and destruction followed
God created you as a PERSON
God has a PATTERN for your life
God has a PURPOSE for your life
1. God created you as a PERSON. Before I formed you in the womb I knew you
FBN - When the church has need of any service, God raises up and qualifies men for it.
Scott Cox speaks of in Genesis when the Bible says that God "formed man from the dust of the earth." The same purposeful act of God that took place in the dust of the earth when Adam was formed takes place in the womb when God forms life there. You see the unborn is not an accident, he or she is not the product of random chance, he or she is the product of God’s creative work.”
Remember we are not talking about
Ps 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.;
Ps 139:13 - 16 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
Isaiah 43:1; 49:1; Exodus 33:12, 17; Isaiah 44:24; 45:3-4; Luke 1:11-15; John 1:6-8; Galatians 1:15-16; Psalm 22:10
God creating us as a person…..he has a certain pattern for our lives.
2. God has a PATTERN for your life. Jer. 1:5a Before you were born I sanctified you
JWN - I sanctified-I ordained thee for this public service
God told Jerimiah….I have a service for you to do….and I had it before you were even born.
Ge 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
ACC - It is evident that God intends to impress the mind of man with a sense of something extraordinary in the formation of his body and soul, when he introduces the account of his creation
JWN - That man’s creation was a mere signal act of divine wisdom and power, than that of the other creatures.
God’s image upon man, consists,
JWN - In his nature, not that of his body, for God has not a body, but that of his soul. The soul is a spirit, an intelligent, immortal spirit, an active spirit
2. In his place and authority. Let us make man in our image, and let him have dominion of the inferior creatures
A practical way of putting is….we are to the animals as God is to us. We are higher than the animals, and God is the ultimate supreme being over us all.
JWN - God’s image upon man consists in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness,
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Ge 1:27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.; 2:7; Psalm 71:5-6; Isaiah 43:7; 44:2, 21; Job 10:9-12; 31:15; Psalm 22:9-10; Isaiah 46:3; Psalm 119:73; Ecclesiastes 11:5
God also has a purpose for each of our lives
3. God has a PURPOSE for your life. I ordained you a prophet to the nations JWN - The nations-To other nations besides the Jews. This includes everyone
nations. For Jeremiah did not only prophecy against the Jews, but also against the Egyptians, Babylonians, Moabites and other nations.
Psalm 102:18; Isaiah 43:7, 21; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Proverbs 16:4; Psalm 22:30-31; 45:16-17; 86:9; Ephesians 1:12; 2:10; 1 Peter 2:9-10; 4:11; ; John 15:8
Our main text again
1:5 Before I formed thee in the womb I knew thee; and before thou wast born I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet to the
GBN – The scripture uses this manner of speech to declare that God has appointed his minsters to their offices before they were born
Isa 49:1 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.
Ga 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace.
The number 1 misconception in America today… The value of Life… Just how valuable is Life?
Steven Pace On September 11, 2001 over 3500 lives were extinguished . They were future leaders of this nation, doctors who could have saved many, scientist who may have found a cure for cancer, evangelist who may have lead thousands to the Lord and they were loved. Yes on September 11, 2001, evil doers killed over 3500 people.
On September 12, 2001 4000 lives were extinguished and again on September 13 and 14 and 15. Every day in America there are over 4000 unborn babies who’s lives have been taken in what is called pro-choice. 4000 each day, 28,000 each week, 112,000 each month and 1,460,000 each year.
On September 11, 2001 terrorist killed over 3500 people, and the outcry for justice was great, the cry of pain was heard through out our Nation. Swift and accurate justice was rendered. 4000 unborn babies are being taken everyday, but I see no weeping, no anger, and no outcry for justice and no one who cares.
Now some of you think that this is a political issue… I want to tell you that I am neither a democrat or a republican….. But I will tell you that I vote ProLife because God is Pro Life.
Steven Pace goes onto say. I believe that it is the one social issue that defines the morality of each and every candidate that runs for office. I will also say that if you voted for a candidate that is pro choice then you need to come to the alter and give your life to the Lord.
Luke give us the words of Jesus himself in Luke 16:13, It states, No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Each time God created something in Genesis he followed it by saying and it was
God created us in His own image. We are a part of God and God creates every child that is conceived in His image. Even while that baby is in the womb, he or she is in God’s image. What gives us the authority to destroy innocent life?
The reality is that 1 out of 4 women have had an Abortion… In the Church 1 out of 10 have had an Abortion… I am not here to look down on you… I just want you to know that God Loves you and wants to Forgive you and give you the healing you desire. You just need to Ask Him.
Life… Life is sacred.
So what difference can I make? You probably remember the story of the man walking along the seashore throwing starfish back in the water. There were many of them, just then an older gentleman came up and asked what are you doing and why? The man said I am saving the starfish, with the reply of the old man being….there are to many but the young man stopped, bent over, and picked another up and threw it in and said…..it matters to this one.
A lady shared her powerful testimony
She and Her Husband tried having 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.
But something went wrong and she had a miscarriage. She lost the child after all the prayers and efforts her child died in her womb. It was an extremely difficult time for her and her husband but they had a supporting church and they got through it.
Then God opened up her womb and 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 and at age 15 she became pregnant. The first thing the mother did was call Family Planning and schedule an appointment her daughter to have an abortion.
Her daughter was 15 years old… The Father 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 the church organist and adult Sunday School teacher. What would the Church think to know that her daughter was 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… deep down she knew that God doesn’t make mistakes… 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 took the young girl and her mom and loved her and was there for her… The baby was born and we saw the little guy running around the church when we were there.
She 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 has 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 refer back to the main verse
Jer 1:5
5 "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."
(Play Libby’s Testimony)
God has a plan for our lives. Jeremiah was appointed to be a prophet to the nations before he was born, while he was still in his mother’s womb. From the moment of conception God has a plan or calling for the unborn baby. Some are appointed for evangelism, others doctors, others ministers, others missionaries, others leaders of nations, and still others as disciples.
What would have happened if Jeremiah’s mother had aborted him? Would Jerusalem have been overthrown? Would the history of Israel be different today? Isaiah 44:2 again tell us that God forms us in the womb.
Church…..it is our responsibility to be here for ones who are hurting….there are thousands of women out in society that think they have no alternative….well there is….we need to step up and help. There is one other point to the message that I have not spoken of.
God has a Provision of Comfort
For you who are hurting. I don’t know if there is any in this crowd who have had an abortion….but I do know this we have a God that is standing with open arms waiting to comfort you.
We are created as a person God has a pattern and a purpose for our lives, but his provision of comfort is all encompassing, it covers all hurts, all needs, all failures…..when it seems like a big mountain, it is just a molehill to God. When it seems we have gone to far…..God is still following after us…..Nothing can separate us from the Love of God.
