The Gospel and Abortion-- Kiley Waldrop (April 28, 2024)

Amen. Well, I am delighted to have Kylie Waldrop come and preach for us this morning.

He is the director of Love Life Greenville and the pastor of Dominion Church in Anderson. Love Life is an organization committed to uniting and mobilizing churches to end abortion.

And as I mentioned earlier, we are one of what we hope will end up being 40 churches this year who are partnering to adopt a week with Love Life.

And Kylie, he'll tell you a little bit more about what that looks like. I've tried to give you a glimpse of that over the last few weeks.

He'll tell us more. I can say this about Kylie. I've known him since I believe the end of 2020. We've done evangelism ministry outside of the abortion clinic over on Grove Road together.

That means we spent some really cold days together and some really hot days together taking turns climbing up a ladder to preach the gospel over the fence there at the abortion clinic.

And that means we've been cursed out and cussed out together by some opposition demonstrators.

And over these years, I have been encouraged and strengthened by Kylie's faithfulness and courage.

And so it's a delight to have you come and preach for us this morning. So come bring the word to us. Well, thank you,

Brother Red, and thank you, First Baptist Traveler's Rest, for having us.

Well, I do want to get this out of the way. I am the only male I know by Kylie, so don't hold that against me.

There may be a Kylie in here that's a female. I know at least 10 female

Kylies, but don't hold that against me. I have something important to say this morning, but again, thank you for being here.

Thank you for allowing us, Brother Red, allowing us to stand behind this pulpit and proclaim the truth of God's word.

Our prayer is that it would stir the brethren today to love and good works with regard to the least of these.

Jesus is asked a question in his incarnate ministry. A young teacher of the law comes to him and they ask him, what is the greatest commandment?

And I hope you notice that God never says in his word anywhere there is one supreme command that's greater than the other.

This young man is trying to trap Jesus when he asks this question, and Jesus' answer is what we would call summary law.

Jesus summarizes all the law in the prophets, and he says, the first and greatest commandment is to love the

Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the second is like the first, to love your neighbor as yourself.

And Jesus says all the law in the prophets are summed up in those two great commandments, love for God and love for neighbor.

I want to share something with you because I think that this brings to bear the reality of what

God calls us to do with respect to loving God and loving neighbor, both born and unborn, by the way, all image bearers of God.

In 2023, 8 ,125 image bearers of God were murdered in our state via abortion.

That comes out to 677 per month, 170 per week, 24 a day.

Brothers and sisters, that's one image bearer of God in our state on our watch, proximal to where we are every hour.

Then the question comes now, what does it look like to love God and to love neighbor in a state that in 2023 murdered over 8 ,000 children in the womb via abortion?

And so my hope today is to show you that this is not something new.

And this is not, please hear me, this is not a public policy disagreement. This has everything to do with the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light.

And with that, would you open your scriptures to the book of Luke, Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4, again, my desire today is for you to see that this is not something new.

This has happened for millennia and there is one, there is one remedy for it.

And it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And underneath that, it is the church of Jesus Christ being obedient to the gospel of Jesus Christ, loving our neighbor as ourself.

In Luke chapter 4, beginning in verse 5, we will read, and here are the words of the living and the true

God. The devil took him, speaking of Jesus, up and showed him, listen to me, all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

And he said to him, to you, I will give this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom

I will. If then you will worship me, it will all be yours.

And Jesus answered him, it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you for your word. You promised to preserve it, but we're thankful to have it today, and we pray that as we come to it,

Lord God, that you would again stir in the hearts of the brethren to love and good works for you,

Lord God, and for our neighbor. We ask in the name of Jesus our King, amen. You may be asking, what does this passage have to do with abortion?

And the answer to that question is it really does have everything to do with abortion. And what we would call, again, and what the word of God calls it, it's child sacrifice.

And I want you to see this, this morning. This is not new, because we have white lab coats, and we have brick buildings, and we have electricity, and we have shiny instruments that we use, and we give it a cute name, women's health care, or abortion.

This is not new. This is something that has been happening for millennia. But I want you to notice, this passage here has everything to do with abortion, because it has to do with kingdoms.

Now we're told in scripture of two kingdoms, aren't we? The kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of Satan, and the kingdom of light.

The kingdom of Jesus Christ, you'll notice in Colossians chapter 1. The Lord God tells us that he has transferred us from the domain of darkness, that kingdom of darkness, and into the light of his son's glorious kingdom.

These are the kingdoms that are spoken about here. And I want you to notice, we're going to pay a little bit more special attention to this passage, but I want you to have this on the front of your mind.

What does Satan say of these kingdoms of the world? And can Satan lie to the

Lord Jesus? Is Satan able to lie to the Lord Jesus? But here's what

I want you to know. It's a tactic of the enemy, this kingdom of darkness, to shed the blood of innocent children.

It's always happened. And the scriptures bear that out. I want to tell you a story, I want you to write these down to look at later.

In Deuteronomy chapter 12, the Lord God tells his people, Israel, as they're going to dispossess all those pagan nations of the land of Cain, and he tells them the very reason why they're being driven out from before their eyes.

God says to his people, what they're seeing, the practical reality of his judgment on those nations was because of child sacrifice.

They were offering their sons and daughters in the fire to their false gods.

And God pays special attention to tell his people, don't inquire about their gods.

It's idolatry first and foremost, but don't worship their gods that way. And what was the practical reality of their worship?

It was child sacrifice. It was offering children to these false gods. Now all of us know this.

Israel of the Old Testament, are they faithful? Most of the time, no, correct?

They actually are in perpetual disobedience, and so the psalmist says in Psalm 106, giving a history of the people of Israel, in verses 34 through 38, that they did not heed that command.

They actually didn't destroy all of the Canaanites as they were supposed to, but they mixed with the nations, and they learned to worship as they did.

And the psalmist in Psalm 106 says they took part in the same thing those pagan nations were taking part in, child sacrifice.

And the psalmist says, listen to me, that they offered their sons and their daughters to demons.

This is the reality of what's taking place. It's demonic. It has nothing to do with you having an

R by your name or a D by your name. This isn't public policy dispute. This is fundamentally demonic.

And this is what the pagans, those who are far off, this is what they have always done.

And listen to me, we find ourselves in a time, in a state where over 8 ,000 children were murdered in 2023, and our automatic thought process, and again,

I say this because it was mine. Well, I'm not taking part in it. I'm not doing it.

I'm not actively taking part in abortion. And again, for the vast majority of the

Christians in the West, that's our posture towards it. We're not taking part in it. But what does

God have to say about this issue? Is it enough today to just not take part in it?

I want you to see this with your eyeballs. Would you turn to the book of Leviticus? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 20.

I want to show you this, and there are all sorts of places that we can go. But I want you to see with your eyeballs today that it does not have to do simply with not taking part in it actively.

God goes further, and he tells his people that if they turn a blind eye to it, their judgment is the same as the one who takes part in it actively.

So God says today, it's not enough, church, to not take part in it.

We have to actively oppose it. This is what God says. Leviticus chapter 20, beginning in verse 1.

The Lord God says this, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, say to the people of Israel, any of the people of Israel or the strangers who sojourn in Israel, listen, who gives any of his children to Molech, shall surely be put to death.

The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people because he's given one of his children to Molech to make my sanctuary unclean and to profane my holy name.

Notice what does God say? Don't actively take part in it. Don't take part in child sacrifice.

Don't take part in the worship of these false gods. It's idolatry fundamentally, but what practically comes of it?

It's offering children to demons. God says don't actively take part in it. And again, the vast majority of us can say, we get a pass there.

We don't actively take part in this reality. But notice what God continues to say in verse 4, and if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death, then

I will set my face against that man and against his clan, and I will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in whoring after Molech.

Friends, I want you to notice, it's not enough to simply not take part in it. God says don't turn a blind eye to it.

And for far too long, friends, hear me, the church in the West has turned a blind eye to the reality of what's taking place, proximal to where she is.

Thirty minutes up the road tomorrow, children are going to be murdered on our watch via abortion.

And God says it's not enough to just not take part in it, friends. God says we have to actively oppose it.

We have to actively oppose it. Now go back to Luke chapter 4 if you would, and I want you to notice very carefully about what

Satan claims here in this passage. Again, after taking Jesus up to the high mountain and he shows him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, what does he say of these kingdoms, of these nations?

Look at what he says in verse number 6. He said to him, to you

I will give this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom

I will. If you then will worship me, it will all be yours.

I want you to notice, Satan claims here that he actually is the one who has authority over the pagan nations of the world at that time.

Now again, we all know that any authority Satan had was authority given to him by God. God is the ultimate arbiter of authority.

But I want you to notice that. Satan claims here, and again, you can't lie to the

Lord Jesus. I want you to know that, okay? He's not lying to Jesus. He said he had authority over those nations.

And he tells Jesus he can have them if all he does is bow down to them.

Here's essentially what Satan is offering Jesus. He's offering Jesus precisely what he came for. We just sang a song, why do the heathen nations rage?

Psalm 2. This was the promise given to the son, that all the nations would be his. That at the time that he would be begotten, and the

New Testament tells us exactly when that was, at the death and resurrection of this Messiah, he would receive the very inheritance of the nations of the earth.

But here we are, prior to the cross, prior to the death of Jesus, and Satan offers

Jesus precisely what he came for. But he offered it to him on Satan's terms.

Not on God's. Notice, Satan says, if you will bow down and worship me, you can have what you came for,

Jesus. Do it on my terms. Not on God's. And we praise

God, the Lord Jesus doesn't do it on Satan's terms. What does he say? You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

Jesus says he's going to do it on God's terms. But I want to, I want to pay attention here to this reality.

That at this point in history, in Luke's Gospel, Satan actually did have a palpable authority over the pagan nations of the world.

He did. He claims it here, and I promise you, you see it in the Old Testament.

I want you to, I want you to notice these things. These pagan nations that we read about in your

Old Covenant Scriptures, they're not just evil nations. There's something beyond evil.

They're actually demonic. And there are a lot of places that we could go to show you this, but I want to, I want you to write this down.

In Daniel chapter 10, verse 20, Daniel begins to pray to God. And the angel

Gabriel comes to answer this prayer, and listen to what he says in verse 20. He said to him, do you know why

I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against, listen, the prince of Persia.

And when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come. I want you to notice this.

Daniel's praying, and the angel Gabriel comes to answer the prayer. What's an angel doing fighting the prince of Persia and the prince of Greece?

Again, these aren't just realities that these pagan nations were evil. They were. They were demonic.

Satan exercised real authority over those nations. And again, what was the byproduct of that?

It was child sacrifice. Child sacrifice. All throughout the old covenant scriptures, we see it over and over and over again.

Those who are far off, they will inevitably succumb to this reality.

Okay? And at this point in our history, right here in Luke chapter 4, Satan exercised real palpable authority over the pagan nations of the earth.

But God. You see, if we were to just foundationalize the gospel, the gospel is essentially this, that the perfect son of righteousness,

Jesus Christ of Nazareth, he's entered time and space to rescue the kingdoms of the world from their bondage to the principalities and powers of darkness.

Christ has come to rescue those kingdoms from the domain of darkness and into the light of his glorious kingdom.

And brothers and sisters, what are kingdoms made up of? Human beings, individuals.

Christ has come to rescue the kingdoms of the world, all kingdoms are his, from their bondage to darkness, and again, all of the things that come with it, and transfer them into the light of his glorious kingdom.

Abortion is not a public policy issue. Child sacrifice has always been, and it still is, a tactic and a stronghold of our enemy.

For this reason, the church must, must engage abortion.

Because the gospel itself demands it. This is what Christ is doing.

He is rescuing currently the kingdoms of this world from the domain of darkness, and he's transferring them into the light of his glorious kingdom.

Now all of us know today, if we were to say, does Satan have any authority over any nation in this world, all of us would say absolutely not, and you would be correct.

But what I want you to see is how. How did that take place from Luke chapter 4 to now?

Something took place, and I hope by the end of this you see why. Because of this event in history, you and I, we have to, we have to engage this issue.

Turn to the 11th chapter of Luke. Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11.

We're going to begin reading in verse 17. I'm going to just be honest with you, this was always an interesting passage to me. But I hope today that we see the reality of what's taking place here, and we begin to grasp the importance of this parable that Jesus gives here.

A little bit of context here. Jesus is exercising authority over the demonic realm.

He's exercising demons. He's casting out demons. And so the

Pharisees look on and they accuse Jesus. They say of course he can cast out demons. He's working for Satan, right?

And that's what brings to bear this passage here in Luke chapter 11. Look at verse 17.

But he, speaking of Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said to them, every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.

And if Satan is also divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

That's just another name for Satan. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out?

Therefore, they will be your judges. So I want you to notice here, in answer to the accusation that Jesus is doing this by the very finger of, and the very power of Satan, Jesus gives this answer.

A kingdom divided against itself is going to fall, and a house divided cannot stand. What's Jesus saying?

Well, he's essentially saying if Satan is casting himself out, he's not going to stand. His kingdom is not going to stand.

When I read this passage, I get the picture in my mind, and you've probably seen this, the house divided license plates with South Carolina on one side and Clemson on the other.

But what's the house divided here? Jesus is answering the accusation that he's doing this by the very power of Satan himself.

And he says a house divided that way, if Satan is casting himself out, his kingdom is not going to stand. But notice what he says in verse 20, but if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Now all of us in here would say, and we would amen heartily, that Jesus was doing this by the power of God, amen?

And Jesus says here, in the first century, to that first century audience of Pharisees, if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

And I want to pay special attention here. We talk about kingdoms. We talk about the kingdom of God. Well Jesus just claimed that it was present in the first century.

He looked those men in the eye and he said, by the power of God, if I cast out demons, the kingdom of God has come upon you.

And I want to pay special attention here, because this has a lot to do with the fight for abortion. The kingdom of God is not some far future reality, friends.

The kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God was present in the first century. And Jesus was sharing with them one of the practical evidences that the kingdom of God was at hand was

Jesus casting out demons, having authority over the demonic realm.

And he says a very easy way to see that the kingdom of God had come upon that first century audience was this reality of what was taking place.

Jesus was casting out demons. But let's keep going.

In verse 21, Jesus says, when a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe.

But when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Listen to Matthew 11. It's just a parallel passage to what we find here in Luke chapter, or sorry,

Matthew chapter 12. This is the parallel passage to what we find in Luke chapter 11. Jesus says, or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man?

Then indeed, he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Friends, I want to pay very close attention to this little metaphor that Jesus gives. Again, think about the context here.

Jesus is casting out demons. He's exercising authority over the demonic realm. And he says, because of that reality, the kingdom of God had come upon them, and he gives this small parable, this little metaphor of a strong man who's guarding his palace, guarding his house.

And be honest. When we come to the scriptures and we usually, when we see somebody who's strong, someone of might, our automatic assumption is, well, this is

God, right? This is usually God. Usually God is presented to us as one with strength and might. But I want you to pay very special attention to this story.

There is a strong man present, but a stronger man comes and binds that strong man and begins to plunder everything that he owns.

And so again, answering the accusation that Jesus was doing this by the hand of Satan, he says, no, no, you can't take everything that the strong man owns unless you first bind that strong man.

Then you can plunder his house. So what is this telling us?

Well, it's telling us that Jesus came to bind that strong man and plunder his house.

Now who's the strong man in this story? Well, the strong man is Satan. The stronger man is

Jesus. And so I want you to put yourself into this story. I want you to think through this story.

Jesus says you can't begin to plunder the strong man's house unless you bind him first.

And then you take everything that he owns. Jesus came to bind that strong man and to plunder his house.

Now brothers and sisters, what did Satan own? What did he have authority over?

Somebody tell me. What does he say in Luke chapter 4? It's the kingdoms of the world that he had authority over.

And Jesus says here during his incarnate ministry, one of the reasons why he was exercising real authority over that demonic realm was because he had begun the binding of that strong man and he had begun the plundering of his house.

And again, what did he own? He owned every kingdom of the world. Jesus has come to rescue the nations of this world from their bondage to darkness.

And all the practical realities that that bondage brings. What are those realities? Well, Paul says in Romans chapter 10, or Romans chapter 3 verse 10 through 18, what are the practical realities?

Well, no one's righteous, not even one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. We've all turned aside.

The venom of snakes is on our lips. Ruin and misery are in our path. The way of righteousness we do not know.

We have feet that are swift to shed blood. And this

Jesus has come to offer himself for the sake of sinners. This Jesus has come to rescue the very nations of this world, the very kingdoms of this world from their bondage to darkness.

And I want you to see this. Where did this take place in history? Are we waiting for this event to take place or has this already taken place in history?

Turn to the book of Colossians, if you would. Colossians chapter 2.

Again you'll notice in Colossians chapter 1 verses 12 and 13, the Apostle Paul says that God in Christ has rescued us from the domain, the kingdom of darkness, and he's transferred us into the light of his glorious kingdom.

Colossians chapter 2 beginning in verse 9, the Apostle Paul says this, for in him, speaking of Jesus, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, listen to this, who is the head of all rule and authority,

Paul's. Something happened between Luke chapter 4 and Colossians chapter 2.

Because now Paul says that all authority, Christ is the head of it. There's no authority left for anyone else.

Something happened. Well let's keep reading. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power working of God who raised him from the dead.

Verse 13, and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, the kingdom of darkness,

God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, kingdom of light, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

This he set aside, nailing it to the cross, glory to God. And notice what

Paul says in verse 15. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.

Those principalities and powers, the demonic realm, the kingdom of darkness,

Satan himself, where in history was he put down? It was at the cross at Calvary.

Christ made a public spectacle of him. And listen, what does the word of God tell us happens?

When Jesus was going into Jerusalem, he tells his disciples, the son of man is going to be lifted up, and what's going to happen when he does?

What's he going to do? I'm going to draw all men to myself. Not just Jews, all men,

Jew and Gentile together. At the cross, Jesus bound that strong man by his death.

The word of God tells us that Christ purchased those nations by his blood. Revelation chapter 5 verse 9, they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed the people for God from every tribe, tongue, language, and nation.

Revelation also says that the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of who? Our Lord and of his

Christ. Why do the heathen nations rage?

Psalm 2. And the Lord God sits in the heavens and he laughs and he says, I have established my king on Zion, my holy hill.

I will tell of the decree, you are my son, today I have begotten you, ask of me and I will give you the very nations as your inheritance, the very ends of the earth as your possession.

You shall rule them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.

This is our king. And he was offered those nations early on in his incarnate ministry on Satan's terms and he said no, we're going to do it on God's terms.

Christ came and by his blood he purchased the nations. And by the way, hear me. The realities of what being a part of that kingdom of darkness bring.

Feet that are swift to shed blood. And we live in a nation whose feet are swift to shed blood.

There are individuals in our city whose feet are swift to shed blood. Why? Because they are far off.

Because they remain in the kingdom of darkness. And the

Lord Jesus himself tells us that by his power and by his authority,

Matthew 18 or 28, 18 through 20, Jesus says all power and all authority in heaven and on earth.

Again, notice something happened. Satan had no longer had authority anywhere.

It was all Christ's. Something happened. But he said on the basis of that authority we go and we disciple who?

The nations. This is the reality of what's taking place. Christ is in the process of plundering that strong man's house via his gospel.

Which is the power of God unto salvation. To the Jew first but also to the

Gentile. This is our king. And by this gospel and the power of the

Holy Spirit he calls us to go and take part in rescuing those who are in bondage. The church must engage abortion.

Because Christ demands it. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation he says in Mark 16 verse 15.

And it's the church of Jesus Christ that has been given this message of reconciliation. So Paul says in 2

Corinthians 5 that in Christ God is currently reconciling the world to himself. Not counting their trespasses against them and he's given to us this message of reconciliation.

So brothers and sisters hear me. This is the message that we've been given to proclaim. And there is no greater need of this hour than for men and women to stand with courage.

To stand with principle. To stand on the truth. And to proclaim that gospel faithfully to all those who are far off.

And brothers and sisters that includes fundamentally 1142 Grove Road where mothers and fathers are going to drive tomorrow to murder their children.

What greater place is the need of the light of the gospel than the darkness of that place.

And so again brothers and sisters I want you to see this with your eyes. Turn to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 24.

If you would. If you've been in this fight long at all you've heard this passage to Proverbs 24 11.

To rescue those that are being led away to death. Hold back those that are stumbling toward the slaughter.

And again there's no greater description of what will take place tomorrow morning at 1142 Grove Road.

Little image bearers of God will be taken away to death. And God says to rescue them. To hold them back.

And to do all that we can. To stand in the gap and interpose ourselves. And I want you to notice what

God says the verse immediately before Proverbs 24 11. Look at verse 10. God says if you faint in the day of adversity your strength is small.

Rescue those who are being taken away to death. Hold back those who are stumbling toward the slaughter.

For far too long the church has fainted in her day of adversity. Here's what

I want you to think. And I want you to know this. We hear the number 8 ,000 in 2023.

What you're about to hear is 17 ,000 a week in our nation. 17 ,000 image bearers of God this week in our nation.

And we look at that and we say man what a massive enemy. And here's what I'm not here to tell you.

I'm not here to tell you that this is not a massive huge enemy. But might

I suggest that the church begins to view enemies of God in a different light than we have in the past.

And instead of looking at this enemy and cowering away in fear we would be like this little shepherd boy

David. Who though the Israelites looked at Goliath and they saw a giant. Too big.

And they ran away and they cowered away and this little shepherd boy he saw the giant. It was a giant.

He saw Goliath. But what does he say? He says who is this uncircumcised

Philistine who thinks that he can don the battle lines of the living and true God. And might

I suggest brothers and sisters that is the paradigm shift that must take place in the church of Jesus Christ.

We don't lie to ourselves and say it's not an enemy. We don't lie to ourselves and say it's not a giant.

But David saw a giant that was too big to miss. That's what he saw. And might

I suggest that's the paradigm shift that has to take place. Church don't faint in your day of adversity.

Take the gospel faithfully to the gates of hell.

It's interesting we call 1142 Grove Road the gates of hell because it literally is a bunch of gates that have gotten bigger and taller.

We've got to get bigger and taller ladders to be able to preach over there. And again we do that because we want moms to see the concern on our face.

We don't want to just be some voice up in the clouds somewhere. We want moms to see the concern of our face.

We want moms to see that we are actually telling the truth when we say that if you are here we'll adopt your baby.

We'll help you. We'll come alongside you. We'll love you. And so we do call this place the place of death but more fundamentally the gates of hell.

But what does the Lord Jesus said of the gates of hell? He tells Peter after Peter exclaims that you are the

Christ the son of the living God. He says to Peter you are Peter. And on this rock I believe the rock there is the exhortation that Peter gave that Jesus Christ is the son of the living

God. Jesus says I will build my church upon that rock that foundation. And he says the gates of hell will not withstand who?

It's the church of the living God. It's not the Republican Party.

It's not pro -life organizations. It's the church of the living God who has been given victory over the gates of hell.

It's the church of the living God who the gates of hell will not withstand. And so brothers and sisters the time has long come for us to stop outsourcing this to everybody but ourself.

And we take up arms in the way that Christ has given. We take the sword of the spirit.

The gospel that is the power of God unto salvation. And we wield it faithfully in our culture.

And we allow God to work. Amen. Let me pray for you and then we'll talk about this week just for a little bit.

Lord Jesus we thank you that your gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And that God those who are far off today can be set free because of the work of Jesus on their behalf.

And so Lord I pray for us as we take this week to pray very specifically God that you would end this scourge in our nation.

You would end it in our state. God we repent of your church for our apathy towards this issue.

We repent God of outsourcing this to everybody but ourselves and just throwing money at it. Lord Jesus we pray that you would stir in the hearts of your people today to love you with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor both born and unborn as ourself.

We ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. So Love Life exists to essentially expose you, the church, to the reality of what's taking place proximal to where you are.

I think we have, wait a second for brother up there to get, there we go, yeah. So our mission, again

Rhett's mentioned this a couple of times, but the mission of Love Life is to unite and mobilize the church.

I want to pay special attention to both of those. To unite the church we divide over stupid things. We do.

And when Jesus prays for us in John 17 that we would be one as he and the father are one, that's what we desire.

And here's what happens when you actually engage the enemies of your day with the gospel.

You see real unity. That surpasses denominational lines.

That surpasses all of the things we want to divide ourselves over. So we want to unite and mobilize the church to create a culture of love and life that will bring an end to the abortion and the orphan crisis.

And we believe this when Jesus says nothing is impossible with God. Do you believe that this morning?

Amen. So it's time to respond church. We believe this. The church will end abortion.

Okay? The church is the entity that God has called to shape culture.

We believe that politicians and legislation will follow. And those, again, those two aren't at odds with each other.

But we cannot continue to outsource this to the people in Columbia and say they'll do the right thing and continue to be silent on this issue.

The only way the men and women in Columbia will know how they are to act with respect to this issue is if the church is telling them.

So the church will end abortion. When she wants it to end in South Carolina, it will end. The church, particularly in South Carolina, is the vote.

And we believe, again, God has called the church, you and I, to shape culture. And the politicians will follow. Again, the vast majority of politicians are just doing this right here.

Ready? They're just going where the wind blows. And so be culture shifters.

That's what the gospel does, by the way. We preach faithfully. It doesn't return empty or void. And God promises that of a church armed with the gospel going forward into the culture.

The tragic truth of abortion in the United States. Abortion is the leading cause of death in our country, by far.

Not cancer, not heart disease. 17 ,000 babies are killed weekly in our nation.

Okay? That's a reality. And don't become jaded to those numbers either. 17 ,000 image -bearers are going to die this week in our nation.

Abortions are allowed up to birth in some states. And in many states, they're trying to have abortions legalized even after birth.

And again, you think about that and you say, what does it take? What does it take to seek that?

To have a human being born and allow them to kill the child after they're born?

What does it take? Does it take just public policy issue? This goes far beyond public policy.

This is a sin issue. Abortions are allowed up to birth in some states. One in four women and men will have an abortion in their lifetime.

I want to say this. I know we've been here a little while. When we say and men, we don't mean to say that a man can have an abortion procedure done to him.

But what we do want to push back is that this is merely a women's issue.

It's not. Babies are going to die tomorrow in Greenville, South Carolina, that have a mother and a father.

And we believe, Love Life believes, that if men would actually act as men and be men, abortion wouldn't exist.

And again, we believe primarily that abortion is a men's issue. It is. If men would be faithful husbands and fathers, abortion would cease to exist.

Fifty -four percent of those who have abortions identify as Christian. These are the realities, friends. Fifty -four percent, over half, identify as Christians.

Next slide says that nearly four out of ten of the women who were attending a church at least once a month or more during the time of their first abortion.

It goes up for men. Five out of ten men were attending church at least once a month. Now hear me. In a church that by and large says nothing of this issue, are we surprised that over half of the people who take part in this grievous sin proclaim to be

Christians? So what's our message? Well, our message is not shame and condemnation.

Our message is healing and restoration. That's what the gospel does, by the way. Listen, Rhett, me, we don't have the power to condemn or shame you.

Where does shame and condemnation come from? Yes, from sin. It's from disobedience.

Where does shame ultimately show itself the very first time in scriptures? It's when Adam and Eve sinned.

They felt shame for the very first time. Shame and condemnation comes from our sin. The gospel is the power of God into salvation.

The gospel is the gospel that says in Romans chapter 8, verse 1, that there is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.

We stand principally on the truth. The truth oftentimes hurts, does it not, Rhett? And when worldviews start to be chipped away at, it can get pretty gnarly.

But our message is not shame and condemnation. Our message is healing and restoration. That's what the gospel does. If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation.

The old is gone and the new has come. That is our message. And we believe this. Love life is a prayer ministry, first and foremost.

We believe that prayer is the key. And how many of you believe this, that God can bring about his intended ends through the means of the saints praying?

And we think about practicalities. People ask me all the time, Kylie, is it practical to actually end this enemy with 30

Christians standing out in front of an abortion clinic and praying? You think practically, well no. Practically it doesn't make sense.

But show me anywhere in scripture where God works practically. Can you show me? Can you show me where our

God works in practical ways? Was it practical for God to tell the Israelites to march around Jericho and sing and play drums seven times?

Was it practical? Was that practically going to bring down the walls of Jericho? Well, no, it wasn't practical.

But what happened at the end of that story? God intervened. The people of God were faithful and God intervened.

And what did the nations look on and say? They didn't say, man, those Israelites, they got it going on.

What did they ask? They said, what God are they worshiping? They could do something so miraculous. And so again, that's how

God works. He works through these, these means. Because at the end of the day,

Rhett Burns doesn't get to put his name on it. Kylie Waldrop doesn't get to put his name on it. Love Life doesn't get to put their name on it.

At the end of this, when God ends it, God receives the glory for it. That's how God works, friends.

And so I would encourage you today to stop thinking practically and think principally.

What has God said on this issue? And what does God require of you? And be obedient.

Be obedient and let God work. Stop thinking practically.

God doesn't work that way. God blesses faithfulness and he blesses obedience. And again, he rarely ever, if ever, works practically.

So here's a look back. In 2016, Love Life began in Charlotte and since then we are now in 29 cities across the

U .S. We've seen over 5 ,400 babies saved since 2016. That's worth praising the

Lord over. Yeah. We're not a, we're not a, our mission is not to save babies. We are a gospel ministry first and foremost, but praise

God, the gospel proclaimed faithfully, it brings about saved babies.

Amen. Like this is a, is a fruit of the gospel being proclaimed. We've seen over 180 ,000 people.

We're actually pushing in on 200 ,000 individuals like you who have left the comfort of their home on a

Saturday, put their feet on the ground of their local abortion center and beseeched the Lord to end the scourge of abortion in our nation.

Over a thousand partnering churches. Now First Baptist TR is part of that church network of a thousand partnering churches.

Listen to this. Isn't this crazy? We've seen over 70 abortion workers leave this industry because of the witness of Love Life in their city.

Isn't that awesome? The gospel proclaimed faithfully, it allows for even nurses and doctors to hear the truth of what they're taking part in, to hear the truth of what

God has said on this issue and to run away from it. Praise God. Right?

We've seen over 3 ,800. We're actually closing in on 4 ,000 people connected beyond the prayer walks and we'll, we'll talk a little bit more about that on, on Saturday.

Okay. So what's this week going to look like? Well, this is our, this is, this is our vision. Okay. Our mission, unite and mobilize.

Our vision is this right here. Hear, pray, go and connect. Those are the four things. Hear, pray, go and connect.

Today you're hearing. I pray that you've heard from the scriptures the need this hour for the church of Jesus Christ to engage this evil on a real level.

So you've heard that you're hearing the tragic truth of what's taking place proximal to where you are. On Wednesday, we're going to invite you as a church to fast and pray together, beseech the

Lord to end this scourge in our state. On Saturday, we're going to go, we're going to put our feet to our actions.

We're going to put actions to praying, we're going to put our actions to getting there theologically today. We're going to go to the local abortion mill and we're going to pray and we're going to sing.

We're going to worship the Lord together. We're going to interpose ourselves as Christ did for us and we're going to ask the Lord to end this.

And part of Saturday is our connection piece, to connect beyond just one week of targeted prayer and a prayer walk.

And so here's what we're calling you to today. Calling us to action, to act.

In 1 John chapter 3 verse 16, God says this, this is how that we know what love is.

Jesus Christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay our life down for our brothers and sisters.

I want you to notice Jesus didn't just say that he loved you saints. He acted in his love.

He had compassion. He gave himself, he interposed himself for you. Jesus Christ acted in his love.

And so the apostle John says, we ought to lay our very lives down for the sake of our brothers and sisters. But notice verse 18, not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth.

We often, it's very easy to love in word and speech, is it not? It's a lot harder to love in action and in truth.

And so that's what we're calling you to today. We're calling you to action. And so we ask that you would join us for our adoption week this week.

Now, you're sitting there. Most of you have a little Tahiti blue card somewhere around you.

Okay. And there's also, brother, if you want to put the QR code up on the screen as well, if you're more tech savvy, you certainly can do this.

Here's what we know. Okay. To believe is actually to commit. And here's what I know is if I say, hey, before you leave, fill out that card.

Okay. Once this is over, everybody's going to be ready to get back to the roast that's in the crock pot at home. And again, there's nothing wrong with that.

We want to give you an opportunity right now to commit to this week. Now, you'll notice on there, there's information that you need to give to us.

We need your first and last name. Please give us your email as well. We're not going to spam you with a bunch of emails. What we are going to do is give you information about this week.

On Wednesday, we're going to send you an email reminding you that that Wednesday is a day of prayer and fasting together as a church.

And if you choose to commit to Saturday, we're going to send you some information about what

Saturday is going to look like. Where to meet? What time to meet? So please give us your first name, your last name, and your email.

And at the bottom of that commitment card, please check one or both. You don't have to choose both.

One or both, Wednesday prayer and fast, and Saturday prayer walk. And we do believe this.

That belief is to commit. So we want to give you that time right now to commit. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to pray. Pray for us right now.

Give you some time to do that. And I think we have a hymn to sing afterwards, if I'm correct. So let me pray for us.

And during that hymn, if we'll just fill those out. And please, before you leave, if you filled one of those out, please hand it to me.

Okay? Lord God, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it's sharp and that it pierces through the things that we like to cover ourselves with.

Lord God, we thank you that you're the life giver, but not just that. You are the life sustainer of all that exists. And so God, I pray that you would stir in the hearts of your people today, a love and a desire to love our neighbor as ourself,

Lord Jesus, as you've loved us and given your life for us. Lord, be blessed through this time and glorify yourself through our time of commitment to you.