Shane Idleman addresses the critical issue of abortion in his sermon 'When the Weak Are Destroyed by the Powerful,' emphasizing the need to speak for the voiceless and defend the sanctity of life. He highlights the moral decline in society, particularly regarding the acceptance of abortion, and calls for the church to awaken and take a stand against the powerful forces that promote such practices. Idleman draws parallels between modern abortion and ancient child sacrifices, urging believers to confront false narratives and advocate for the innocent. He encourages repentance and a return to biblical truths, emphasizing that the church must be the moral compass of the nation. Ultimately, he offers hope for redemption and healing through Christ for those affected by abortion.

Some of you know it's Sanctity of Human Life Sunday today. And so I woke up early yesterday morning and this morning and put this message together. I think it's important to speak on behalf of those who have no voice, especially in the condition that our nation is in and the turmoil that we are in. So the title of this message is, When the Weak are Destroyed by the Powerful. Maybe I should make the announcements first. It's a hard message. This month marks 47 years of Roe v. Wade, many of you know. And Lila Rose, who actually spoke in Lancaster many years ago, me and my wife had the privilege of listening to and meeting. Now her ministry has really grown. She said the new year is upon us and 2020 will be one of the most pivotal years in the fight to end the killing of preborn babies. Here's what you and I can expect to see happen over the next 12 months. Planned Parenthood will spend a record $45 million in a massive propaganda campaign to influence the 2020 election. Folks, if this isn't money laundering, I don't know what is. You have a government giving to a group taxpayer monies and then that group giving back to the government to put that person in office. That's laundering the money. That's exactly what this is. And if it steps on toes today this morning, that's okay. The toes are meant to be stepped on. The Supreme Court, which is majority pro-life for the first time in decades, will be considering crucial court cases that have the potential to finally overturn the disastrous Roe v. Wade decision. But we have to remind the courts not to play God and our leaders not to play God. But on the flip side, more states will follow New York's example and attempt to ram those radical bills legalizing the killing of preborn babies up to the moment of birth. Several states have bills in the works that have passed, would become the most extreme pro-abortion laws in the world. Sometimes I'm wondering if we're living in the twilight zone or in a nightmare where we live in a nation, we elect people that are actually okay with killing children. And for those of you who don't vote, I encourage you to wake up. Well, California, this, whatever, I don't care. There's many people listening in different states. We've got to wake up. We've got the blood of innocent children in our hands, and I'm tired of pathetic excuses. And I'm going to share some notes from Dr. Mark Newman. He's the head of a ministry that speaks for life on this issue. And as he has said before, and I will remind us that the whole system is built on false arguments to excuse sin and fuel sexual appetites. Let's just be honest. The whole argument for abortion is based on false facts. It's meant to encourage sin, fuel sexual appetites. And I don't want to get too graphic, but it's no different than sacrificing our children to the gods of Molech and what they did in the Old Testament. They would have unwanted pregnancies, and they would offer those babies to the god Molech and Baal and different things. There's no difference in what is happening. Maybe you might say, Shane, haven't enough sermons been preached on this topic? Probably. Would I would have rather went into 1 Corinthians? Absolutely. But when God is convicting, you either submit to that conviction and allow him to lead, or you ignore it. And I would be more miserable that way. The false arguments go something like this. It's not a human being. It's just a blob of tissue. And when debating or talking to people, you don't have to use biased sources. You can use non-biased, meaning medical journals. There's a very famous one, Moore. It's called Moore and Persaud in their book on medicine. They say that the single cell that formed is a living being. There's also a book in 1950s that said that life begins at conception. Now why did I mention that? Guess who promoted this book in the 1950s? Planned Parenthood. And I was shown the old copy that promotes life begins at conception. They also say it's really not a person. They call it the sled, S-L-E-D, because of the size of the child, the level of development, the environment, and the degree of dependency. It's not really a child. But we have to remember, none of that determines value. The size of a child, the level of development, the environment that the child is in, and the degree of dependency. We have human rights because of who we are, not what we do. We have human rights for who we are, not what we do. We live in a nation where we've got a political party, the Democratic Party. All their candidates are for the murdering of children. How a person can remain in that party, I have no clue. It baffles my mind. I don't care anymore what people think. I really never have from the beginning. And you're going to come up with some arrogant, silly excuses about our current presidency to allow the slaughter of children? We've lost our mind. We've lost our moral compass because now we're looking through these things through the lens of my culture, my ethnicity, how I was raised, or what is best for me and my appetites. And this is not right. And of course, the biggie, the risk to the woman's life. We need to have abortion because there is a risk to the woman's life. But if you have to remove a child to save the woman, that's not abortion. That's not murder. That's not abortion. It's actually for the life of the mother. And there are so many websites out there you can look to where the statistics are so low that there are famous doctors who have said, I don't know if I've ever had to do that. Look at interviews with Ben Carson and many different doctors and physicians. It's so minute. But if that were to happen, that is not aborting or killing a child in the context I'm talking. That's removing the child in order to save the mother's life. That's a whole different context. What about rape and incest, which would be terrible? But rape accounts for about 1%. Abortions incest is about 0.05%. Very, very small amounts. Not only that, we have to remember that it's a child who pays the final price in these types of decisions. When we devalue life and moral responsibility and waiting until marriage, we begin to elevate my right to choose murder. That's what's happening. We begin to devalue life and devalue all these things. I mean, I honestly can't believe that we even have people in positions of office which are okay with terminating, especially life towards the end of pregnancy. And those bills, they're so worded in such a way that they will give the parent and the doctor the option to abort the child, kill the child, even after birth if they deem the child has birth defects or different things. So we've lost our mind. Our conscience as a nation has been seared. We allow political parties and persuasions to trump everything else and to be put above everything else. Here's the number one excuse. USA Today, of all people polled, 74% said of why we have abortion in our nation is this, having a baby would dramatically change my life. Yes, it would. But we want the freedom to indulge in the flesh without the ramifications. See what this really is about is don't tell me there's morality. Don't tell me there's a God. I want to do what I want, when I want, to who I want, and I don't care what the consequences are. That's what this is about. 74% of why, and this is why we have abortion, a baby would dramatically change my life. And I can't have that. Now I have a lot of sympathy, understanding where people are coming from. And if you were dating someone you broke up with and you don't like this person and now there's pregnancy. But see, we don't go back far enough to teaching why we taught abstinence, why we taught waiting for marriage, why we taught choosing the right person. See, when you go against biblical mandates, this is the problem we are now facing. So you have to go back to that wholeness and purity and oh, the culture will mock it, they'll ridicule it, but I don't care. That's the answer. That's the answer. As you go back to the old truths, you go back to the old paths that were designed to protect not only the mom, but the child. Many of you know about pregnant actress, Michelle Williams, who thanked God for her abortion in her 2020 Golden Globe Award speech recently. She thanked God for that abortion, because without that abortion, she would not be standing there today. And then she said, so women, 18 to 118, when it's time to vote, please do so in your own self-interest. So why is it okay for those people to encourage people to vote, but I can't? See, they want the church to shut, keep your mouth shut in all areas. Please don't say what you're saying today, Shane. Why? We need to stir the hornet's nest. We need to, we need to kick it where it hurts. I mean, can you imagine the news? Pastor says Planned Parenthood is money laundering. Innocent, innocent, the blood of innocent children. The Supreme Court is acting like God. Yes, please, please put it all over the Los Angeles Times. Put it all over the LA and New York Times. Put it all over, because you have to shock a nation that is asleep. You have to wake it up. You have to cry out. Did John the Baptist whisper? He cried out. He woke up a nation that is sleeping. And if the church would wake up, if pastors would wake up and spend time with God and say, Lord, what do you want me to say? What do you think God has something to say about this? Now with this boldness, understand comes a lot of compassion. You know, I've shared my own story before on how I conceded to abort a child. I've had to explain this to my firstborn. And when I did, my wife gave me these encouraging words, just four more kids to tell. But don't we see that's the problem? Silence. Silence has been the problem. You get pastors preaching it, political leaders legislating against it, people waking up to it. You will wake up the nation. That's why they want us to be quiet. How do they cope? How does Hollywood cope? How do people cope with abortion? How did I cope for many years? Well, number one, they have selective exposure. They have selective exposure, meaning they don't expose themselves to the truth. They're very selective. They hang around their core group. They listen to their bullet point. I wonder do you ever hear the Babylon Bee, that fake news site? I wonder who's closer to fake news, them or CNN? I mean, it's just amazing. Because they twist everything. I went on to Huffington Post, this very liberal site to try to find, is there anything to support what I'm saying? Absolutely not. They live in a bubble. People might throw that back at me. Well, Shane, so do you. You know, I don't live in a bubble. I read on all kinds of sites. I look at all points of view. I don't need to live in a bubble because I have God's Word as my standard. But those who want to live in a bubble, remove. That's why they want to silence the church, silence my voice. That's why they definitely are not going to like what I'm saying. They live in a bubble. It's selective exposure. And there's something I've talked to you about, cognitive dissonance, that psychiatrists are finding that people, their world is shaken when they're given facts that go against their beliefs. Don't confuse me with the facts. I have my certain beliefs. I have my certain things that I like to believe in the way I like to live. And they have a selective perception. They perceive things a certain way. They have selective retention. They only want to retain certain things. And they begin to rationalize. So if you're in a situation that I've been in, and I know half this room is, I don't want you to feel beat up. But we have to obviously bring things to the surface that are important. We take it to God. And we have to stop hiding behind rationalizing, especially in the church. The main reason pastors won't speak on this is because they say there's a lot of people dealing with it, and it'll hurt a lot of people. But I think you can also encourage a lot of people. You don't, it doesn't, the Word of God doesn't always just hurt. It cuts, but then it heals. And we have to have both those things taking place. I still remember the, the, the clinic in San Fernando, the El Presidente restaurant that I went to. But you begin to rationalize and forget certain things. We also, they also devalue new information, and they devalue old information. It's the same, same bullet points. That's not a child. They don't want to say child. And they framework it in a mother's right to choose. They'll never say what really is happening. It's about reconstructing this whole argument. That's why we must use concrete word choices such as baby in the womb. That's what it is. It's a baby in the womb. And this is anti, I am anti-abortion. Abortion is an act of violence designed to end life. That's what it is. It's not a glob of tissue. It's not a medical procedure. The procedure is designed to end a human life, a life that can't speak up, can't tell you how they feel about the decision that's about ready to be made. Alyssa Milano, do you know who that is? Who's in the, who's, what was that sitcom, Who's the Boss? I guess she thought she was. She revealed in a podcast that she had two abortions in 1993, saying it put her in conflict with her Catholic faith. The 46 year old Who's the Boss actress said her life would be completely lacking all its great joys had she kept her two aborted children. That's demonic. Let's call it what it is. That is demonic reasoning. That's no longer blessings. It's no longer a joy to have children. It's a hassle. Now I know if you meet someone, and you hook up with them, and you don't like them, and you've just made a major, I got it. But you got to go back and rewind. Don't hook up. Saying are you into dating? Not really. I think young adults should find someone that shares the same core values. And that's, hey, this could work out. And then you go on a date or court or whatever you want to call it. But you just go to clubbing and clubbing and this person, that person that you're going to be miserable for the rest of your life, because that's not how God designed it. And that's what gets us in trouble. We want the freedom to do what we want. And now here's the price we have to pay. And let's eliminate the price. Let's eliminate the consequences. That's why this is an industry. The sexual appetites of Americans are driving this industry. Bottom line, plain and simple. You can tweet that. That's what's happening. And now we want to mask this and put legislation in place, ungodly legislation. I would never want to stand before God someday as these people saying we can kill our children in nine months. And in New York, there was thunderous applause. I think I wrote an article, the title was something like, I know I wrote an article, I don't know what the title was, but thunderous applause, we can now abort our children at nine months. And it went viral, like, I don't know how many 400,000 shares. And you just be amazed at the excuses people make. Well, no, Shane, the law didn't really say that. Yeah, it did. You're just trying to pacify. You're just trying to justify. These laws will not only lead to that, they're going to lead to a euthanasia at some point. You're 65, you can't provide for yourself anymore. You've been diagnosed with something. Go to the doctor, get a shot to end your life. Because we devalue human life. That's what we're living in that culture today. It's coming. Unless the church wakes up and people wake up and begin seeking God again. But again, I can relate, I can relate to those stuck in unrepentant sin. And we will continue to justify it unless repentance is brought to the surface. So the weak are being destroyed by the powerful. But why don't we say much? Why don't we say much? Well, it's political. That's the number one reason. Did you know that? And the church, they've interviewed pastors and different things. We don't say it's shame because it's political. Well, where do you read in the Bible that what is political is not necessarily biblical? Where can you tell me just because something is a political hot button means we need to avoid it? Actually, as a pastor, if it's a political hot button, I got to push it. I got to push that hot button. Because God's Word has something to say about marriage between a man and a woman. God's Word has something to say to our kids that it's either male or female. But Shane, what do you tell people who are confused? You point them to the hope of the gospel, not psychotic drugs. You point them to the cross, you point them to Jesus. What about if they're not completely healed? Well, you point them to the Savior, the rock will be with them from here on out. And they have tremendous hope and peace and trusting in him. You can't sit them down with a psychotherapist once a week for an hour and hope that heals their heart. You've got to point them to who has all the answers, the right answers. Might not be the answers they want to hear. Do you know that? They've done studies and decades ago, people are a lot more open to biblical truth. Now actually, as a counselor in a secular setting, you can't mention the Bible. You can't try to convert or convince them of biblical truth. You have to use secular language that jumps all around the place. What must be your inner child, and you felt needy at this age, and you didn't connect with your teddy bear at seven. And then you lost this identity and your father traveled a lot. So it might be just you need some type of inner healing. Go out and sit on a rock and do poses and yoga while you're at it. See, that doesn't offer people lasting freedom and hope and joy. It's too political, Shane. It's too political. And see, that's what's happening now. It's not just about what was politics once about focused on corporate America, the budget, the deficit, how much on spending, how much spending on war, and our military building it up. How much towards improvements in our roads and our governmental schools, what can you know, it's a lot of different things. But now politics has turned into moral issues. Moral issues are dividing our nation. Moral issues are what politics is now focusing on. Correct? Transgenderism, the definition of marriage, abortion, morality. I don't know how much I should share with you guys. But you know, the LGBT has now had a cue. And then there's a plus now P pedophile that they're trying to get past. Where now there's people speaking out on pedophile and then it's just, we have got so perverted. And the church needs to wake up and get off their tush and get to prayer meetings and get to worship times and start putting God first. That's the only way we're going to make a difference. I'm all for voting, but that's not going to change the spiritual climate of our nation. Christians change the spiritual climate of our nation. So a pastor should be political. They should a church that doesn't mean you go out and do a lot of political things. But you have to be a voice of reasoning that is the conscience of the nation. Martin Luther King Jr. said this, that's why he was shot. The church must be reminded that it's not the master or the servant of the state. It's the conscience of the state. And if we lose that prophetic zeal, we will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. See, that's what happened when you have you've lost your way church, you have no moral authority. You've lost your prophetic voice when you're not the conscience. Because the church is too busy walking on eggshells, tiptoeing around not offending, never stopping to consider have we offended God. So just because something is political means we need to jump all over it sometimes. Do you know the Bible has something to say about protecting our borders? As a sovereign nation, I'm going to burst somebody's bubble right now. But it's the job of the government to protect the nation. It's did you get that? It's the job of the government to protect the nation. Now, I might go bring the refugees some sandwiches and help them okay, as a Christian. You have you have the government is to be a terror to do evil. That's their God ordained role. The Christian, the believer has a different type of responsibility. We have dual citizenships. So the Bible says something very significant about building or restraining terror that wants to come in. To just open the borders is very, very unwise. Well, Shane, you shouldn't be so selfish. I'm not I'm thinking of your kids, and your grandkids. And what God has given us, you put in a you put something in a in such a way where people are allowed the freedom to come and enjoy the blessings of America. Well, how does that happen? I don't know. I'm not the top. I'm glad that doesn't rest on me. I would start with the polygraph. Are you here to hurt America? Yes or no? You're not coming in. But what about the families that are truly needing help? And I that's, I have friends that are in Christian ministry that reaches out. And we need more missionaries to do those things. I'm all for that. But you if you think the government is to act to turn the other cheek like Jesus did, that's not for the government. Jesus said turn the other cheek, and us personal insults and injuries. If the government was to turn the cheek to South Korea and Russia and China, that's not a government. That's being a coward in the ponds of a political playbook. See, the Bible has something to say about these issues. They're actually, our government is actually supposed to defend our borders, our sovereignty, because of the protection for her citizens. Now in doing that, do you make some bad decisions? Yes. But you would you'd be amazed at how many people are fed by the false news. Look at these kids being kept in cages at the border. No, no, we have people going down there visiting, many people visit the borders, they see the tremendous pressure that these people are under. A lot of the things that are out there are complete lies, complete lies that they're trying to do to deceive the American public. That's that's a lot of what this is all about. Another reason why we don't say much, it's divisive. Oh, can't have any of that now, can we? It's divisive. Jesus said, I came to bring a sword. Sometimes the biblical truth will divide, will divide. I praise God. I'm not some of those pastors who have mixed congregations where they can't talk about anything I just talked about. They've got it. They got their sermons have to be way carefully. Oh, that's gonna offend. I can't do that. I can't do that. And they show up hoping it doesn't offend. They leave. I'm hoping that didn't offend him. I'm gonna get fired. Is the board going to do this? And they have to they have to tippy toe around everyone that's not speaking boldly for God. Because God's Word will divide. How do you convict those who are wrong? If we don't say much people say because this has already been preached. But they're pushing lies on us every day. We have to push the truth as well as often as possible. Or we don't say much because it's too personal, which is difficult. I know that's hard. So I just want to spend a few minutes hearing God's Word. And remind us that God will rise up, God will rise up, but he will also raise up people. Because we pray God rise up, bring awakening, rise up, make a difference, Lord. Okay, but I'm also going to raise up people. And you might not ever do anything like what I'm doing. But you can pray. You can fast, you can say, God, here I am, use me. That's what Lila Rose did. Little girl, black hair, a decade and a half ago, with live action news. And I think that's what it's called. Don't quote me on it. But God, just God use me this, we have to make a difference. And things are not getting easier, are they? This culture war is getting more divided and more divided and more ugly. I don't know if you saw, they caught, I think it was, I don't know if it's campaign manager or somebody works on Bernie Sanders' campaign. But that guy was caught saying, if Trump wins again, cities are going to burn, people are going to die. Wake up, that's who you're putting in positions of leadership. Our nation, half of our nation is open to hearing the complete idiocracy of some of these people. And I think it is true. I have no respect for that man. I have no respect for Elizabeth Warren running for office, you name them, you put them all up there. I have no, no respect whatsoever for those individuals as leaders in our nation, if they want to abort and terminate the life of innocent children. So maybe this question for some of you listening, probably not here, but out there, how can you support them? Psalm 82.3, we are to defend the weak and the fatherless. You are to defend the weak and the fatherless. I think this topic might fit under this category. I'm not a biblical scholar, but I have a feeling abortion, innocent children will fit under this category. Defend the weak and the fatherless. Uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Did you know that's not the job of the government? It's not the job of the government to be concerned with the poor, it's our job. If each church just took the poor in their community the way God designed it, and we used our discernment, that's why we're in the trouble we're in today, entitlements, and the government just pours out millions and millions and millions of dollars, a vast majority of those people are taking advantage of the system. And that's why many people want a certain political party in office, is because of those entitlements. And that's not biblical. It should be the people caring for those who are poor and oppressed. And if the government can help in any way, tax refunds or providing food, I got it, I'm there with you. But they can't control it. That's why there's been a problem. For example, did you know things like Section 8 and food stamps and different things, the idea and the concept behind it was actually good. To help people, a single mom who had a couple kids who needed housing, study the history of it and how it came about. But then, that's why they call it government bureaucracy. That's why they call it government intervention. As that grows and more people begin to take some begin to take advantage of the system, and they get dependent upon it. And the system that was possibly designed for good, now is creating a lot of evil. Because that's not necessarily the government's role. That's the church's role, is to have discernment and to help people in need. Because you can go to somebody and you can say, listen, we've helped you, you need a good job now. I know who you are, you can work, I've got a job for you. The government can't do that. All they can do is fill out this application, and we'll send you the money. And then what happens is when you open the borders, now what our governor wants to do is give free medical health care, which of course we stopped ours because it's too expensive. So I guess mine doesn't matter. But free medical care and free benefits to anybody who wants to come into California. That's just unwise and that's ludicrous. Because you're creating a culture of entitlement. You have to create a culture of work, hard work, and blessing people who work hard and give back to the system. And not only that, that taxes the system. Have you ever thought about who's going to pay for that? Who's going to pay for that? But see, these are politically motivated. They do not care for the poor. This is politically, there's a political agenda. Get more people in, more voters in, to help further our agenda. That's what it's all about. And to just allow, now granted, if there's somebody hurting, and they need medical care, I'm there with you. That's hard, I understand that. But to just say, hey, it's for anybody, without a vetting process, without giving back into the system. For example, on ours, we had to cancel ours and just do a share program for the family. And they have a big questionnaire. Do you drink? Do you eat? Are you overweight? I mean, do you eat? Of course. But do you have any issues? Do you take care of your body? And there's a responsibility in this program to share and to take care of this gift that God has given us. I better get off that topic, I'm going to come fake some people. Isaiah 59, seven through eight, their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood. Anytime throughout the Bible, you see the shedding of innocent blood, you see feet that are swift to running to evil. It is ungodly. It is demonic. And that's what people want to do. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, desolation and destruction are in their highways, the way of peace, they do not know. Proverbs six, there are six things that the Lord hates. Did you know that the Lord hates things? There are six things the Lord hates. And then it goes on to say, Isaiah seven are an abomination to him. He hates a lying tongue. He hates a proud look. He hates feet that are swift to running to evil. He hates those hands that shed innocent blood. He hates one who sows discord among the brethren. One who bears false witness. One who is angry and anger is allows anger to dominate their lives and is an angry person and lashes out at others. Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood. And I'm all for people and you know, in our past, we've made mistakes. And God knows that there's nothing wrong with that. My concern is for those who keep hardening their hearts. They keep hardening their hearts to the truth of our nation having the blood of innocent children on their hands, our hands. And we must intercede like Nehemiah. Nehemiah interceded, Daniel interceded on behalf of the people. We have forgotten that great privilege of intercession. Do you know that God calls everyone in this room to be an intercessor? To stand before God and intercede for the sins of the people. I don't know exactly how it works. Some people would say that's all Old Testament shame. God doesn't judge us based on nations anymore, even though the nations will be judging goats and on one side, sheeps on the other. I don't want to find out. I think God can judge us collectively as a body of governing officials in a sovereign land and that his blessings can flow out or the curses of God can flow into a nation that rejects him. It's throughout scripture. Deuteronomy 27, curse be anyone who takes a bride to shed innocent blood and in Psalm 139, 13 through 14, for you created my innermost being, you knit me together in my mother's womb. So see, here's what we see. We see life begins at conception. God knits that child together. That's life. And to take that life, there's nothing more precious to God. That's innocent blood. That's terminating life. I praise you because you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. It's the NIV. But I want to end with the story meant to encourage for some of us. I'm going to paraphrase Luke chapter seven, starting at verse 40. Jesus said, Simon, I have something to say to you. Wouldn't that be interesting if Jesus said that to you? Yes. What is it? There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed him 500 denarii and the other only 50. And when they had nothing to which to repay, he freely forgave both of them. In other words, you owe the government 1.2 million. Someone else, you know, owes them $120. But their debt is forgiven. Both those debts are forgiven. Who's going to celebrate a little more? Who's going to be a little bit more excited? And he goes on to explain that. Simon answered and said, I suppose the one he forgave more. And he said to him, you're rightly judged. Then he turned to the woman and said, Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she washed my feet with her tears. Wipe them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but this woman has ceased to kiss my feet. She has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore, I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. So that's the beautiful end of this story. Those who have sinned greatly run to the cross, run to the cross. You can experience, you can experience the love of Christ more than most people. Let the pain drive you to the cross. I feel sorry for the modern day Pharisee who mocks my past, who has no vibrant relationship with God, who is bored in this dull religion. They don't know the power and the love of redemption of the cross. So see, through this great sin can be great victory. Out of the ashes, you will rise again. God will put you up on the pedestal and say, see, son or daughter, because of the forgiveness I've given you, you know me at a deeper level. The darker the sin, often the more light that can shine through. Now, of course, that doesn't encourage us to go sin, but God offers us a hope in that running to the cross, running to redemption, running to salvation. So no matter what pain you're going through, whether it's your past, anybody have a past that you're not proud of? Don't raise your hand. Why not run to the cross? Why not run to God's saving grace? I know there might be some listening. I don't know if they've made it this far through the sermon, but if they have, and they've recently had an abortion, or they're going to have one, and they're still living that lie that it doesn't really matter, I want to offer them hope in Christ as well. The Bible is clear. Just forgive. Ask for forgiveness. God, I need your forgiveness. I repent. But see, in order to repent, you have to identify something as sin. We can't keep making excuses and saying, well, it wasn't a big deal. I'm much better off now. That's a bunch of baloney. How's that? God wants you to run to him, not away from him. There's rape, or there's incest, or a past, or infidelity, or whatever it is. God wants you to run to him. And see, then you live in his arms redeemed and forgiven. As hard as it was for me to give this message, I don't walk around depressed, because God has set me free. There's reminders of consequences, but I use those to draw me closer to Jesus, deep into worship. Usually, you see people who've went through a lot of pain, they are worshipers. People who've went through a lot of pain in their past, and they come out ahead, and they know God, they become worshipers. So I'm going to have the worship team come up, and I just want to ask, if there's anything God has put on your heart, if you don't know him this morning, make that decision today. If you've been running from responsibility, change that. If you've been ignoring this issue in your own heart, in your own life, pray about bringing that to the forefront, exposing it, taking it to the cross. And I don't encourage everyone to tell their kids or anything. Sometimes I think that's best. Unfortunately, I don't have that privilege. My life is an open book. I wrote about that before. I remember where I was in the kitchen this year. I tried to get around it. I just blurted it out. I told my daughter, I said, I've conceded to abort my child. I'll never forget the look. But folks, we've got to start owning our sin. Show our kids, our families, what forgiveness looks like and redemption. They're not going to live in a bubble. They're going into warfare. Do you understand that? I hope you do. Your kids and your grandchildren are going into a hellish war zone. And they need to be prepared. You need to build them up spiritually. Encourage them. Pray for them. Fast for them. I promise myself I wouldn't say this too much, but I'm going to break my promise. But that's one of the reasons I get kind of frustrated. There's more, not more people at our Wednesday morning prayer or Sunday morning prayer and worship. This isn't a time where we just put down numbers on our check sheet so it looks good. This is a time where families come and contend for their families and our nation. And if we're that lazy to not to get out of bed, no wonder we're in the particument that we're in. God calls us. Call a sacred assembly. We have. Where are the people? I don't know. Come together. Worship. Fast. Seek the heart of God. You'll be amazed at what he does with corporate prayer and worship. But we've got to get back to that. This is the only way we're going to change the course of our nation is to pray for our families. Pray for our marriages. Listen, God has to be the priority again. Got it? God has got to be the priority. That's the hope in 2020.