Speak Up!

Purpose: To motivate hearers to be proactive about the sacred nature of human life.

January 22nd is the day the United States Supreme Court ruled on the Roe v. Wade case making abortion legal for any reason during the entire term of pregnancy. Since that decision (and it’s neighbor Doe v. Bolton), around 40 MILLION babies have died, and it follows, around 40 MILLION mothers have lost a child.

For the past sixteen years a growing number of people who recognize that human life is sacred set aside time around that anniversary to remember, to mourn, to repent, and ask forgiveness for the millions of lives that have been literally sacrificed. In recent years the recognition period has been expanded to an entire week because of the largeness of this ensuing horror, and the growing culture of death that increasingly burdens our society.

“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing”

I could expend our message time today in statistics and penetrating stories to try and convince you that what is happening in America and the world today with regard to human life is the greatest tragedy of history. I shall refer to some of those things, but this crowd probably does not have to be convinced of that. I could attempt to highlight the horrors of where we are heading, in hopes that you will become hostile to the holocaust. Anger, however, has a way of subsiding, of waning, and with it the energy to act.

So how do I want you to leave here today? I want you to leave with a resolve that you will not add to the horror.

That you will not compound with condemnation the guilt and scars and anguish on those who have destroyed another human. I want you to leave today decided that you will look for ways to reconcile those who are estranged from God, even for those who have made decisions to end another’s life--whether pre-born or in a nursing home.

John 10:10 is true

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

1 John 3:8 is true, too

He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy (undo) the works of the devil.

2 Cor 5:18 is as true as the others,

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

I want you to leave with a resolve that you will not add to the horror of abortion.

It is my hope today that as a result of our gathering, you will be determined to act in your circles of influence in such a way that you slow the flow of the abortion travesty and shrink the growing acceptance of ‘mercy killing’ and ‘death with dignity’.

Rom 13:9

The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. 11

And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12

The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

My third goal is that you will engage in a pattern of activity that impacts those decision makers who are growing this culture of death.

Rom 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Mat 5:13

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

Mat 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Jack Hayford, in his powerful message "The Gospel and Morality" had this to say: "I propose that we will have infinitely more success at drawing souls to Him if we show His light with love and good works than if we shine it in the world’s face with the complaint that we wish they’d stop… Salt that is force-fed rather than sprinkled is embittering. Light that has glared rather than glowed is more blinding...