***This is the transcript of the sermon from our first gathering in Everett at 
www.thechurchatplannedparenthood.org . I post it here just in case you didn’t hear the words over the honking horns or “Girl’s Just Wanna Have Fun” songs blasting from across the street. There is nothing really special about this sermon, but my hope is that it gives everyone a sense of the WHAT, WHY, and HOW of this event. ***
Thank you for gathering with us. Our purpose in gathering here tonight is not to be a protest, but to be a presence. The church is not merely a place or a production, it is a people who gather in the presence of God. And while the church usually assembles between the walls of buildings, tonight we gather on the grounds of Planned Parenthood—the local expression of the largest cemetery in the world.
In our culture of death, where the babies are being murdered daily, Planned Parenthood is the primary provider of abortions. From 2017-18, 332,757 children were slaughtered, amounting to 911 babies killed every single day in the fiscal year of 2017. Since 2011, Planned Parenthood has participated in the murder of over 2.5 million unborn children. Since 1973, there have been over 54 million abortions in the United States alone. According to the World Health organization, every year in the world there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions. And these are only the surgical abortion numbers.
Recently, on the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the New York State Senate passed the Reproductive Health Act, which extended the allowances for abortion. The ambiguous language of the bill — as well as the words of Governor of NY — indicate that “abortion will be available to women essentially on demand up to the point of birth.” Law no longer fights wickedness; law has become the tool to promote it. We stand on the grounds of a modern-day death camp in nation where the innocent are senselessly and selfishly sacrificed at the altars of progressivism. There is nothing “progressive” about a society which legalizes the murder of the unborn.
And what does God have to say about this? God, our Creator and author of life, has called a people out of the world AND sent them into the world as ambassadors and watchman! Without question, we have encountered various kinds of criticism—over this gathering—from the world as well as from the church. Some say “You’re doing too much…or doing it wrong” others say “You’re not doing enough.” Some of these responses are rooted in fear, others come from idle critics who know how everything must be done, yet, do nothing themselves. Though I pray we can all agree that the legalized murder of the innocent is worthy to abolish, that it is right to be the voice for those who cannot speak for themselves, I know we will certainly not agree on how this battle will be won. Everyone must decide how to confront this issue, and none of us can simply look away. God warns his people in Leviticus 20.1-5:
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3 I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary unclean and to profane my holy name. 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… 5 then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him…
We are the people of the land…the people of God…and if we close our eyes to what we see, then God says HE sets HIS face against US. The great English abolitionist, William Wilberforce declared: You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.” Do we fear men or do we fear God?
But what can we do against such a force of darkness? The enemies of the God of life are popular, powerful, and prosperous. While there are laws to pass, adoptions to support, and signs to hold.. at the heart of this event is an acknowledgement of what Paul tells us in Ephesians 6: “our battle is not against flesh and blood”, therefore, our weapons must be spiritual. We will pray. We will praise. We will proclaim. And we will let God do the rest.
FIRST, WE PRAY. This is kind of battle that we see in 2Chronicles 20 where King Jehoshaphat is surrounded by a horde of nations. What does he do? He set his face to seek the Lord, fasted, and prayed.
2Chr. 20:5-12 And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, 6 and said, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. …10 And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— 11 behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. 12 O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” It has been said that prayer is not preparing us for the greater work, prayer is the greater work.
Prayer is an act of surrender. It is a confession that we cannot fix this or stop this ourselves. It is a plea for God to move against impossible odds, to change not only laws but hearts. But we do not pray to some small God, we pray to the God who spoke the universe into existence—who created life. We pray to the God who directs the hearts of kings like streams. We pray to the God of the resurrection. We don’t dare storm the gates of hell with our spiritual squirt guns, we call in the God who flooded the world! We are not here to protest, we are here to pray.
SECOND, WE PRAISE. (16-19) And as the people pray, God responds to Jehoshaphat:
Thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s. 16 Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you.” Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. 19 And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
They did not draw physical swords but a spiritual ones. They praised God in song. Singing songs is not merely designed to give us tickles and tingles—or elicit an emotional response. It is SPIRITUAL WARFARE—God does something through song As John Piper says: we ambush Satan with song. Or, as my sister Liz Kirkman said: When God’s people SING, God FIGHTS for us! Our enemies are routed, they turn on each other, the prisons shake, and chains fall off! We get to be a people of joy and peace, spreading light and love to the lost. As we sing and declare God’s Lordship and goodness, GOD will take down our invisible enemies – sin and Satan – that seek to destroy the lost souls who we are simply called to love in truth. We are not here to protest, we are here to praise.
FINALLY, WE PREACH on proclaim the truth. Through the prophet Ezekiel again God tells us what to do:
Ezek. 33:7-9 “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8 If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.
Do we fear men or do we fear God? We are warned to warn…as the people who were called out of darkness, as the people whose eyes have been opened, as the people who have been gifted a message and a ministry. Yes, we need to preach warning, we need to warn the wicked to repent, but no one is ever scared into the kingdom of God. As we give a voice to the voiceless and condemn the murder of the innocent, we need to proclaim hope in Jesus Christ to the shame-filled and the guilty.
Abortion reveals humans taking an innocent life to cover their “guilt” and “save” themselves from an imaginary hell; the gospel reveals an innocent Savior giving his life to save the guilty from real hell. The blood of innocent children does not need to be shed to cover our sins, Jesus has already shed his blood for sin. Only the church can offer true hope and true healing and true help because only the church knows the one true God, and His Son Jesus Christ. We must preach the gospel AND we must LIVE the gospel. As we open our mouths to all who will listen, we must open our hearts to those who have had abortions AND open our homes to those courageous enough to choose life. We are not here to protest, we are here to preach good news, to preach hope for the hopeless, freedom from slavery, beauty from ashes.
Let us never forget, our battle is not against flesh and blood. And while we can and should fight in the earthly arena, we MUST fight in the spiritual. Do more than a protest, pray, praise, preach.
