Saturday, April 23, 2016

Planned Parenthood Protest - 04/23/16

On Saturday morning, April 23, along with several other ministers, I participated in a protest against Planned Parenthood. Here are my remarks given at this event. 
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Jesus said, “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these."

Why are we here this morning to protest Planned Parenthood?  Why am I, a minister of the gospel, standing before you to speak out against Planned Parenthood?  We are here because we love God and love our neighbor.  

Almighty God is the Creator of all human life.  He alone gives and sustains life.  He alone has the right to decide who lives and who dies.  Since we love God, we love his law and we love life.  We also love our neighbors, and that includes children - even those in the womb.  Love causes us to speak up for the disadvantaged and oppressed.  Psalm 94:6 says, They slay the widow and the stranger, And murder the fatherless.  Then Psalm 82:3 tells us to: Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy.

To defend the fatherless, we speak up for the unborn because they are defenseless and cannot speak for themselves. Proverbs 31:8-9 declares, Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.

So, this morning we speak on behalf of the unborn children that Planned Parenthood seeks to kill, dismember and sell.  Jesus said that the devil, who is a thief, came only to "steal, kill and destroy."  That pretty well describes Planned Parenthood, whose main business and profit is from the slaughter of defenseless pre-born children.  Each year, PP kills over 300,000 babies through abortion.  And our taxes continue to subsidize this evil. This must be stopped. 

Another reason for this protest is that God's word commands us to expose evil.  Ephesians 5:11 says, And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.  This past year, The Center for Medical Progress released a series of undercover videos that exposed the horrible wickedness behind the scenes of Planned Parenthood.  They exposed that PP was engaged in selling the body parts of aborted babies for profit.  Of course the public did not know these things until they were brought to light through these videos. We applaud those who exposed such evil.  They have done God’s work. 

The Scripture says, "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." 

Planned Parenthood is evil and does evil deeds.  Of course they will not come to the light lest their deeds be exposed.  It is our job as Christians to expose their horrible deeds.  There is no justification for our tax dollars to be used to support this institution of death.  Our state must defund PP as soon as possible.  We will have to answer to God if we do not. 

Though PP does not have a clinic in the upstate, the Greenville Women's Clinic continues to murder children before they can see the light of day.  If we could actually see what goes on in these abortuaries, we would all be sickened and stunned.  Author Randy Alcorn writes that, "years ago a pro-life candidate ran television ads showing aborted babies, and people were outraged. A CBS Evening News reporter declared the abortion debate had reached a “new low in tastelessness.” Strangely, there was no outrage that babies were being killed... only that someone had the audacity to show they were being killed." We need to continue to have the audacity to say what needs to be said and to expose the fact that babies are being killed every day in our state and in our city. 

On a more positive not, in Matthew 19:14 Jesus Christ said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."  We love these little ones and seek to rescue them so that they will have an opportunity, along with their mothers, to come to Jesus that they might have life. I'm here today because my own mother chose to give birth and give life to me.  And I'm here today because Jesus Christ has given me a new heart and new life.  Since Jesus Christ has changed my life, I care about people.  I care about little children and it grieves me to hear when one of them is harmed in any way.  It is our duty to speak for the little children, to protect them and to bring them to Jesus Christ.  May we speak for them in prayer before God’s throne and speak for them in protest of those who would end their lives before the light of day.  

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

How are we to pray?

The Larger Catechism
Q. 185. How are we to pray?
A. We are to pray with an awful apprehension of the majesty of God, and deep sense of our own unworthiness, necessities, and sins; with penitent, thankful, and enlarged hearts; with understanding, faith, sincerity, fervency, love, and perseverance, waiting upon him, with humble submission to his will.

1. We must pray with an awareness of the great majesty of God. Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.

2. We must pray with a deep sense of our sin and need. Genesis 18:27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes. Genesis 32:10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant. Luke 15:17-19 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. Luke 18:13-14 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

3. We must pray with a spirit of repentance. Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Psalm 32:5 I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You In a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters They shall not come near him. Psalm 38:18 For I will declare my iniquity; I will be in anguish over my sin.

4. We must pray with thankful, enlarged hearts. Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 1 Samuel 1:15 And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. 1 Samuel 2:1 And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.

5. We must pray with understanding, faith, sincerity, fervency, love and perseverance as we wait upon God. 1 Corinthians 14:15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. Mark 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. James 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. Psalm 145:18 The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. Psalm 17:1 Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips. James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 1 Timothy 2:8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

6. We must pray with humble submission to God's will. Matthew 26:39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. 1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us.


Thursday, April 7, 2016

For What Things Are We To Pray?

The Westminster Larger Catechism
Q. 184. For what things are we to pray?
A. We are to pray for all things tending to the glory of God, the welfare of the church, our own or others, good; but not for anything that is unlawful.

1. Pray for whatever will bring glory to God. Matthew 6:9 "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name." We are not to think first of our own problems and needs, but of God's honor and glory. We learn what things will glorify God only in Scripture.

2. Pray for the welfare of the church. Psalm 51:18 "Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem." "The true welfare of God's people, and even the peace and prosperity of the nations of the world, really depends on the spiritual welfare and security of the church. (J. Vos)

3. Pray for our own or others good. Psalm 125:4 "Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts." This involves temporal good, so far as it leads to God's glory. We must pray mainly for the spiritual and eternal good of ourselves and others.

4. Do not pray for what is unlawful. 1 John 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. Ps. 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.

For Whom Are We To Pray?

The Westminster Larger Catechism
Q. 183. For whom are we to pray?
A. We are to pray for the whole church of Christ upon earth; for magistrates, and ministers; for ourselves, our brethren, yea, our enemies; and for all sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter; but not for the dead, nor for those that are known to have sinned the sin unto death.

1. Pray for the whole church. Ephesians 6:18. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

2. Pray for Magistrates and Ministers. 1 Timothy 2:1-2. I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Colossians 4:3. Meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains.

3. Pray for ourselves. We must pray for ourselves unselfishly.

4. Pray for enemies. Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Even our worst enemies have been created in God's image and are sinners such as Christ died to redeem. They are not beyond God's power to save.

5. Pray for the living. The dead in Christ no longer need our prayers. Those who have died without Christ cannot benefit from our prayers because all opportunities for repentance and conversion are over.