The Pregnancy Center put that video together for churches who wanted to use it just to remind us of the reality of abortion and how much it’s still very much so an issue in our time. And it’s an issue that I think there’s been some progress on bit by bit, but it’s still very much so alive and well. And there are plenty of people fighting in courts and beyond to see that it stays alive and well.

You know, I have some friends who would like to say, you know, abortion, yeah, it matters, but, you know, that’s kind of our parents’ fight. That’s yesteryear’s fight. It just kind of is what it is, and we just kind of need to move on. And not be concerned if, you know, that’s a political figure’s position, because it just kind of is what it is, and we need to ignore it. And I think that’s such a mistake, because what war worth fighting do you ever come 60%, 70% through and say, ah, let’s just give up, because it’s really hard? Either abortion does matter, or it doesn’t matter. Either it’s a gospel issue, or it’s not a gospel issue. And if it is a gospel issue. I think it matters so much for you and I as followers of Jesus, and I don’t think we can ever let that issue go at all.

I remember being probably six years old, and at that time we were going to my grandpa’s church. You know, it was a little old shotgun style sanctuary.

And I think we were doing like prayer requests or something. And, of course, I think it was my first exposure ever hearing about it. But I remember my dad standing up and saying, I just want to pray for… Our nation, I want to pray for, you know, what wicked things we’re doing, that we would stick a vacuum inside of a baby’s head and suck its brain out.

And that’s obviously one of many ways that it can be done. And honestly, there are plenty of grotesque ways in which it is done.

And that is something that is horrible. It’s disgusting. Not just because it seems like it is. It does seem like it is. And I think… I think, you know, even as fallen creatures with sin natures, I think things that seem awful are awful. And we have to really work to suppress, suppress those feelings and get myself… And we can. You can warp your conscience to believe anything if you, you know, beat it up enough. But I want to take you to, just for a moment, Genesis.

And in the early parts of Genesis, you know, God is creating everything. He’s creating. He’s creating a very… He’s creating a very perfect world.

And there is nothing… There is nothing like creation that God has ever done. He’s made this universe with galaxies and stars and moons. And it’s beautiful. And He makes planet Earth. And it’s uniquely beautiful from all the other planets. And there’s goldfish and bananas. And there’s mangoes. And there’s zebras. And there’s crazy things that are cool and amazing and beautiful. And mountains and valleys and oceans. And all the, like, the amazing things that we experience. And all of it, and the psalmist tells us, it screams, it shouts God’s glory that He did this. Look at what God did. Look at what God did. But it’s amazing as if God couldn’t… God could have stopped there and that would have screamed His glory. God did one more thing. It says in Genesis, Genesis 1, verse 26, Then God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over fish of the sea, over the birds of heaven, over the livestock, and over all the earth, over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them. And those are such a small… But not only does God say it, God created man in His image, reemphasize it, in His image. In the image of God, He created them. And then, in case we needed to be reminded a third time, male and female, He created. He created them. God created male and female as unique in that you and I, we bear the image of God. And now, in saying we bear the image of God, I think we can talk about that in a few different ways. It means, one, you and I have the capacity, like no other creature, like, you know, the birds or, you know, livestock, nothing can know God, desire God, the way that human beings have been given the capacity to know Him, just consciously know He exists, consciously see what He’s done. No other creature has the capacity to be like God in character.

That’s enough. That’s an amazing thing, that you and I have the capacity as human beings made in His image to be like God in our character, in love, in the way that we act and treat one another, in the way that we treat God. So, to be a human being is a precious thing. Now, the things that you spend most of your time around, they begin… Like, you don’t see them, right? Like, it’s like, oh, like you bought a brand new car, it’s the best thing ever for like six months, and then it’s like, ah, it’s just a car, it’s got dings, and it’s not a great thing. And I think, like, we’re people, we don’t pause to think about… What it means to be people. Like, I’m a person every day, I’m around people. And in just the hustle and bustle of life, we don’t stop. And I think this is the problem here. We don’t stop as Christians, and much less the world is not going to stop and say, hold on, why do I exist? You know, the philosophical statement, I think, therefore I am.

Man, God has given me a capacity to think in a way unique. God has given me a human body unique. Much more, Jesus Christ has come and He’s redeemed people. He’s redeemed our fallen. He’s redeemed broken spirits and souls that go on forever, just as He does, different from livestock and animals. And He’s renewed my body just as well. And we talked about that, you know, a couple weeks ago, about how Jesus restores our souls and our bodies. So if we go all the way back to Genesis, we see right here in these three lines in 27, what a wild, what a wild gift and privilege it is to just be created much more in the image of God. In the image of God. And the world, the world will never, never see the value of human life the way that you and I can see the value of human life through the cross of Jesus. It’s only in knowing Jesus. It’s okay if we have kids. I figure we’re talking about babies. So if there’s babies and noises, it serves as an illustration for the sermon.

But through the cross, you and I can see the value of being a human in a way that no one else can. Other people, they love their children. Absolutely. Do they love their spouses? Absolutely. Have people in battle who perhaps aren’t Christians, have they given their lives, you know, to save people? Absolutely. But it’s only in the one who created human beings, exposing us to our sin problem and renewing our hearts and mind in His Son Jesus, that we really come to see the point and purpose of life, the point and purpose of people in all things. That’s what you and I as Christians can really see in Christ. That’s what we see in Christ. You know, around the time that Jesus lived,

and, you know, the centuries after while Rome was still in control, there was something called exposing. And so, you know, if you, you know, say a mother was pregnant and they really wanted a boy,

or, you know, they just didn’t have the money to take care of it or whatever. And again, you’re talking about a very strong, you know, society where, you know, I want a boy to, you know, carry my name, work in the fields. It was more valuable even. It was very normal to do what was called exposing. And it was simply nothing more than casting your newborn baby in a ditch on the side of the road. That was not uncommon practice. And when the church started to form in the first couple centuries, the church began to take these babies in and adopt them and raise them and call them their own. And obviously those who hated the church and what they stood for started spreading the word. They started spreading lies that, oh, Christians are cannibals. They’re taking these babies in and they’re eating them. So I want you to see in that two things. One, what we’re doing as Christians in the 21st century is nothing new. What we get to do is carry on the legacy and heritage of Jesus’ people and caring for the least of these and loving children and seeing the value of the image of God on people as the lost world never has. So it’s not a political movement. So anyone that says it’s a political movement, it’s got nothing to do with politics. It has to do with seeing the image of God that you and I can see because of Christ Jesus in Genesis right here. Secondly, it means this. You have got to be willing and we have got to be willing to stand with the church of past generations and stand to hold a legacy for future generations that, hey, I don’t care if you want to call me a bigot. I don’t care if you want to tell me. You know, make up lies. I don’t care if you want to hate me because of it, socially marginalize me because of it. I’m always going to stand for children. I’m going to stand for the unborn because I’m a Christian and I’m going to uphold that legacy and I’m going to suffer what comes because that’s God’s way. And I believe every human being is precious to God. Every human being, every child born, every baby has the image of God and has the potential in their lives. To know God, to live for God, to make God’s glory known, just as you do, just as you do. And it is pride of pride and sin of sins to say, you know what? For this reason or that, I’m going to stop that life. I’m not going to let this child live to the glory of God. I’m not going to let this child who has the image of God live out that image to the glory of their creator. So friends, abortion, it might be, you know, a few decades old, but it’s not an old fight. It’s not an old fight. It’s a meaningful fight. And again, it’s not one for us as whatever your political affiliation is. It’s not a political conversation. It’s a gospel conversation. Jesus came to save people. And that’s why you should be 110% anti-abortion, anti-abortion. You know, so I believe it’s important for us to hear that this morning and to be reminded, you know, it’s the things that we assume that we end up losing. You know, if you assume your kids know Jesus, you’re risking that when they grow up, they don’t, right? If you assume a great number of things, those things usually go into disrepair. Oh, it’ll be fine. It’s not going to be fine. You’ve got to constantly nurture and care for those things if you want them to thrive. And this is one of those things where we cannot just turn a blind eye and say, oh, it’s a political issue, or faithlessly say, oh, that’s never going to change, or, you know, it just is what it is. Who am I? What can I do about it? You can do a lot about it. One thing that we can do about it is be people of prayer. We can do. The most important work we can do as Christians and ask God to change hearts, to change hearts of legislators. Now, we can ask God to bless pregnancy centers. And I know you saw some of those stats. But, you know, as I’ve worked at the pregnancy center more and more, you know, it’s been such a reminder to me of how much ignorance people live in. Like, they hear a sound bite, and that’s true. A fetus is a clump of cell. I’m going with that. Like, where did you get that? Well, I heard that. That’s what I’ve been told. Well, can I tell you the truth? You know? So the truth goes a long way in making a difference. To say, no, let me tell you what’s going on in the body at a few weeks. Let me tell you what’s going on at eight weeks. Did you know your baby has fingerprints? Did you know your baby has a brain? Did you know your baby has all their major organs? That doesn’t sound like a clump of cells to me. So, friends, pray. Pray, pray, and pray some more. And secondly, you know, Chase and I, the first couple of years, you know, we were going to church. We’re praying, Lord, show us what it means. Show us what it means for us to love our community. Well, and the Lord, and I’ve talked about this before, but I really believe the Lord just dropped the pregnancy center out of the sky for us as a church to partner. I know Chase is signing up to be a male advocate to talk to some of these fathers when they’re coming in and they’re abortion vulnerable. It’s amazing. I think Richard’s going to start serving on Thursday nights for the fatherhood classes and just building relationships with some of these dads. So we’ve got the baby bottle driver doing this month. So there are so many opportunities, I think, for us right here in Huntsville to make a difference. For, you know, this calls for Christ. The stats came out last week. Huntsville, we are number two in the state of Alabama for number of abortions, only to Tuscaloosa. We’re number two only in Tuscaloosa, which was surprising.

But that’s what it is. And there’s one abortion doctor in town, Dr. Robinson.

And so I think, you know, she’s doing single-handedly like 35% of abortions in Alabama. Yeah. So you think about that. It’s terrible. It’s awful. You know, as a staff, we pray for her by name almost every morning. We pray for her salvation. We pray for her to come to light. But we also pray the Lord would stop what she’s doing, what she’s doing. So, again, if you know the good you ought to do and you don’t do it, yeah, you sin. You know, so again, let this be an issue that lives in your heart and mind. Look for ways you can serve. Look to pray for this daily. Look to honor Jesus as His people in our time to love the image of God on people that the world can’t see. Right? So I want to share that with you this morning.

Chase was actually supposed to preach this morning out of 1 Corinthians, and he’ll preach that sermon next week. I’m sure it’ll be great. But we just kind of felt like, hey, you know what? Let’s just share a little bit and just remind ourselves of the importance of prayer. Pro-abundant life culture, and that’s something that is used in the pregnancy center. We don’t just want to be pro-life. We want to be a pro-abundant life, right? And who gives abundant life? Christ. So it’s not enough. You know, we want to see children come to life, but we want them and their families to come to Christ. And so that’s what the pregnancy center is about. That’s what we should be about, obviously, as the local church. So by God’s grace and His power and wisdom and opportunities He gives, let’s do that together. Amen. Let’s pray together.

Father, we again come and we recognize that we live in a wicked time amongst a wicked people.

And we cannot close our eyes and just pretend it’s not there. We cannot just crawl under a rock and wait for You to come back and take us away. What You call us to do is what Your Son Jesus did and what the apostles did and what everyone’s so courageous. And that was obey truth. That was do right. That was live in the power of the Spirit to live with the fullness of heaven in them while on earth to make a difference for You, Lord. So let us not shrink back. Let us not be careless. Let us not say that’s someone else’s problem and someone else will deal with that. God, use us right where we are in our time. As weak as we may be, as afraid as we may be, Lord, let us be Your people. And we know that You will bless and You will grow. And You will empower. You will give the provision for what we need when we’re doing Your cause for Your kingdom.

So Lord, that’s my prayer for Providence Fellowship. That’s my prayer for every other local church in Madison Huntsville, Lord, that is seeking Your face on this issue. Lord, let us know truly what it means to be pro-abundant life. To be pro-abundant life. And Lord, if there are churches in our city, and I imagine there are who think by some way that they’ve concocted that abortion is appropriate before You, that it’s somehow okay before You, God, would You shake them up? Would You convict them of this sin? Would You convict and reshape their conscience according to the truth of Your Word? May they see the image of life, the image of God in every baby, every unborn baby.

Lord, so we are small for these things. But You are great. And so Lord, we just entrust it to You and bless You for Jesus, for His salvation,

and how He’s working in us and through us, Lord, for Your glory. And we just pray all that in Christ’s name.

Amen.