The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God – Romans 8:16 “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

The Holy Spirit helps us pray when we don’t know what to say – Romans 8:26 “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

The Holy Spirit prompts us to pray for each other – Romans 15:30 “I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.”

The Holy Spirit confirms the truth of the gospel to our hearts – 1 Corinthians 2:4 “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with the demonstration of the Spirit’s power.”

The Holy Spirit dwells among us as a temple of God – 1 Corinthians 3:16 “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”

The Holy Spirit enables us to put to death our sinful desires – Romans 8:13 “For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”

The Holy Spirit seals us until the day of redemption – Ephesians 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

The Holy Spirit prompts us to confess that Jesus is Lord – 1 Corinthians 12:3 “Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit transforms us into likeness to Christ – 2 Corinthians 3:18  “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit guarantees that we will be raised immortal, never to die again – Romans 8:11  “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal  bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”

The Holy Spirit grows the sweet fruit of holiness in us – Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.”

The Holy Spirit strengthens us within so that Christ dwells in our hearts – Ephesians 3:16 “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”

The Holy Spirit establishes us in unity with each other – Ephesians 4:3 “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

The Holy Spirit empowers us to live sexually pure – 1Thessalonians 4:7 “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.  Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit fills us so that we overflow with songs of praise – Ephesians 5:18 “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.  Instead, be filled with the Spirit.   Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.  Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.”

The Holy Spirit sets us apart as God’s – 2 Thessalonians 2:13  “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.”

The Holy Spirit enables us to know God better – Ephesians 1:17 “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, will give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.”

The Holy Spirit enables us to worship – Philippians 3:3 “For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God.”

What a vast treasure the Holy Spirit is!

How can we fail to ask the Father for the Holy Spirit?

Lifeway Ridgecrest Conference Center
Ridgecrest, NC

More details coming soon.

If you are looking for a way to connect and enhance your church experience, in home small groups offer a place to discuss daily life and to receive encouragement and support from one another. They provide a setting where questions are easier to ask, helping non-believers and believers alike to learn more about the Christian lifestyle.

Your Sunday bulletin will contain a registration form with instructions.

Luke 1:41, 44 (see also Luke 2:12, 16)

“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit … As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy … This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger … So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.”

The text in Luke 1 describes the baby in Elizabeth’s womb as leaping for joy.  The text in Luke 2 describes the baby Jesus lying in a manger.  What is really crucial here is that the same Greek word for a baby in the womb is used to describe a baby outside the womb.  Elizabeth’s baby was John the Baptist.  John in the womb is called “brephos” (a baby) and is said to have leaped for joy.  Jesus is called “brephos” (a baby) outside the womb and is said to have been lying in a manger.  Here Scripture makes no distinction between babies that have been born and babies that have not been born.  They are all babies.

What Should Our Response Be?

First of all, we should embrace the truth that God is the author of life. The one undeniable truth we can take from all these verses we’ve pondered is that what is happening in the womb is the unique work of God, namely, the making of a person.  The reason we believe the life of the infant and the life of the unborn are sacred (have worth and value and significance) is because God is the divine author.

Secondly, we need to see that since God views what is happening in the womb as his work, it is right to say that to abort a fetus is to destroy what God is forming / creating.  The tragedy is that we are doing this in our country at the rate of more than a million and a half babies each year.  People on both sides of the issue affirm that about 93% of the abortions performed in our nation are for the sake of convenience (termination of unwanted pregnancies) and a growing number for the sake of gender selection.

Back in 1987, noted author and theologian R. C. Sproul gave a plenary address titled The Christian and the Sanctity of Life at the now famous Congress on the Bible II held in Washington, D. C.  Sproul concluded his address with these passionate words:

“Any country that is willing to kill its unborn children for a fee is a godless nation.  I am supposed to be a theologian by profession, maybe with not all the dignity a theologian is supposed to manifest – and maybe no one will take me seriously – but I have had the privilege of being able to study the things of God as my life’s vocation.  I am sure there are errors in my theology. If I knew where they were, I would try to get rid of them.  I know I am not accurate or faithful all the time, though I want to be.  But I do know this.  If I know anything about the character of Almighty God, whose person and work I’ve been studying for so many years, I know that God hates abortion on demand.  Do you know that?”

I also know it is true.  How could it be otherwise?  God is the maker, the author of life.  Scripture after Scripture affirms that the fetus is already a uniquely determined individual.  That being the case, the life of all babies must be regarded as sacred – whether embryonic, fetal, or viable, because each one is the unique person-forming work of God.

I would urge us as Christians to:

• Pray regularly and earnestly that our nation would embrace God’s truth about the sacredness of all human life and
• Support alternatives to abortion with our time and money and be willing to speak out for the safety of the unborn and
• Lovingly proclaim that saving faith in Jesus Christ brings forgiveness of sins and cleansing of conscience and help through life and hope for eternity.

Job 31:13-15

“If I have denied justice to my menservants and maidservants when they had a grievance against me, what will I do when God confronts me?  What will I answer when called to account? Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?”

Granted this is not a familiar text.  But it is compelling.  Essentially Job argued that he dare not deny justice to his servants when they had a grievance against him.  It was common in the culture of Job’s day to treat servants as non-persons and thus withhold justice.  But Job knew God would not stand for that kind of treatment of servants.

Job rightly argued that servants deserve justice because they were made by God.  He said, “Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?”  When Job and his servants were being fashioned in the womb, the key person at work was God.  God shaped the fetus (Job) and God shaped the fetus of his servants.  This is why worth and value and dignity and the right to justice is owed to every person.  Job testified to the truth that God is the one who makes babies in the womb.

Jeremiah 1:4-5

“The word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

God told Jeremiah that he knew him even before he made him.  Jeremiah was an intimate reality in the mind of God even before his conception.  Also notice the LORD said to Jeremiah, “…before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”  God not only formed the unborn child, he formed him as a specific individual and fit him specifically for his post-natal calling to be a prophet.  So here is another text where God himself testifies to the truth that he is the one who forms a person in the womb and fits a person for service outside the womb.

Jeremiah 20:17

“For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever.”

This verse is found in a stunning context.  Jeremiah was voicing a deep and painful complaint against the Lord.  And during the course of his complaint he remarked that God “…did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave.”  What I want you to see is that Jeremiah talked about the possibility of killing taking place in the womb.  He used the same word that is used to describe David’s killing of Goliath.  The prophet of God acknowledged that killing can take place in the womb just like it can take place outside the womb.  I know killing is an emotionally charged word.  Still it is the word the prophet used.  Killing is the taking of a life of a person, which means it is a person and not a thing in the womb.

Psalm 51:5

“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

In this Psalm David confessed his sin of adultery with Bathsheba. David was talking about what we call in theology “original sin.”  David understood that our sin nature is inherited from our parents at the moment of conception – “…sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

Dr. Bruce Waltke writes: “…in tracing his spiritual condition to the time of conception, David goes on to note that already in his fetal state the moral law of God was present in him.” Professor John Frame, in his book Medical Ethics, made the following observation on this verse:

“Personal continuity extends back in time to the point of conception.  Psalm 51:5 clearly and strikingly presses this continuity back to the point of conception.  In this passage, David is reflecting on the sin in his heart that had recently taken the form of adultery and murder.  He recognizes that the sin of his heart is not itself a recent phenomenon but goes back to the point of his conception in the womb of his mother … The personal continuity between David’s fetal life and his adult life goes back as far as conception and extends even to this ethical relation to God.”

When David said that he was ”…sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (in the midst of his painful confession of guilt) the King affirmed the true humanness of the unborn at the moment of conception.  The reason is because moral guilt may only be charged against a person.  So there is a continuous line of life that starts at conception and continues through birth on into eternity.

These biblical texts enable us to hear God tell us He is the author/creator of life and as such the lives of both the born and unborn are sacred to him.  By “sacred” or the phrase “sanctity of life” we mean that all life has special value and worth, that mankind is not a cosmic accident but is a finite and dependent creature who is made and assigned high value and significance and dignity by the Creator.

Why write on this theme?

The best reason I can give is because God has not remained silent. God answers the question “Who is the author of life?” with clarity and authority in the Bible. Nothing God says is irrelevant and that includes what he says about the creation of life and sacredness of life. My desire is for us to hear how clearly God speaks so that we will know the truth from His perspective (which is the only true perspective) and love it and live by it. We need to make sure we know what God has said so that what we believe and how we talk about what we believe and how we practice what we believes pleases him.

So my reason for writing on this question is that God requires me to do so. God requires us to listen to his word, believe it, love it, and apply it to our lives. We are simply not free to ignore or remain silent about God’s view of the most serious ethical issue impacting human life in our culture. We might win our culture over to God’s viewpoint. We might not win our culture over to God’s viewpoint. We are not called to win. We are called to witness, to proclaim, to make known God’s word on the sacredness of all human life because God has not remained silent.

Let’s hear what God says in Psalm 139:13-16:

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

One unmistakable truth we can draw out of this text is that the formation of the life of a person in the womb is the work of God. God is the “you” in these verses – “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” The psalmist says to God “You created my inmost being” which in Hebrew refers to all our vital organs. Then the psalmist says, “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place” which in Hebrew means “bony substance or skeleton.” In other words, God makes everything, knits everything together. So where does he do this creative act? In the womb!

Dr. Paul Rockwell gives us a glimpse of what God’s knitting looks like in the early stages:

“Eleven years ago while giving an anesthetic for a ruptured ectopic pregnancy (at two months gestation), I was handed what I believe was the smallest living human ever seen …Within the sac was a tiny human male swimming extremely vigorously in the amniotic fluid … This tiny human was perfectly developed, with long, tapering fingers, feet, and toes. It was almost transparent, as regards to the skin, and the delicate arteries and veins were prominent to the ends of the fingers. The baby was extremely alive and swam about the sac approximately one time per second, with a natural swimmer’s stroke.”

“Fearfully and wonderfully made” indeed!

The life of the unborn is the knitting of God and what He is knitting is a human being. This is why photographs and ultrasounds and fetal surgery enable us to look upon the unborn with their little faces and eyes and noses and ears and hands and arms and feet so that we can see they are one of us.

When the psalmist emphasizes that God is the fashioner, knitter, Creator, he is stressing that what is happening in the womb is the unique person-forming work of God. No wonder the psalmist praises God for being fearfully and wonderfully made.

I resolve to master the good news of Jesus’ life, ministry, death and resurrection recorded in the Gospel of Mark by reading it through once every month during 2012.

I think this is a resolution worth keeping. Filling your mind with Mark’s verbal portrait of Jesus will deepen your love for him as you walk with him on the path of discipleship.

Here is Mark’s Gospel broken down into 26 readings. One reading each day makes it possible to read Mark once a month with several days to spare.

This is an excellent opportunity for you to make a habit of reading from Holy Scripture most days. Another idea is to read through Mark with your spouse and/or family.

Consider this definition of worship from these Gospel advent narratives: “Worship is praising God with reverence and overflowing joy while giving gifts to him forever and every day.”

Let’s think it through.

Worship is praising God.

The shepherds, wise men, Simeon, Anna, and Mary praised God for the gift of Jesus. How could they do otherwise? God was keeping his ancient promises. God was putting on display his divine omnipotence – proving that nothing is impossible with God. God was acting in mercy to forgive – to save us. Worship is praising God for who he is and for all that he does for us, especially all that he does to make us his forever.

Worship is praising God with reverence.

The shepherd’s trembled in fear and awe at the sight of the glory of God. Later they went away from the presence of the Christ-child reverently praising and speaking to others. The Magi bowed in humility and awe before him in worship, confessing his kingship. It was like they were saying, “You are great and we are small in comparison.” Reverent worship is always earnest and deeply heartfelt. It is never frivolous or thoughtless. It is never offered to God flippantly. Such worship is sincere and serious. It is to be amazed and awestruck over God.

Worship is praising God with reverence and overflowing joy.

Mary sang, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” What about the Magi? “When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.” They did not simply rejoice. Nor did they rejoice only with joy. It says, “They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.” It is a quadruple way of saying they rejoiced. Worship is not just feeling awe and reverence in your heart. Worship is not just ascribing praise to God for his attributes and acts. It is to do it joyfully. So worship is seriousness mixed with delight – gravity mixed with gladness – reverence mixed with joy.

Worship is praising God with reverence and overflowing joy while giving gifts to him.

The Magi are our example (Matt 2:11). Giving gifts to Jesus is not like giving him a care package, because he is infinitely wealthy. It is not like a bribe, because his forgiveness is gracious, underserved, and free. Instead, it is like saying, “You are my King and my treasure, not these things.”
What can you give him? Give him your wealth for the sake of gospel advance. Give him your tongue by speaking openly and often and unashamedly for him. Give him your hands by working for him without complaining but with joy. Give him your feet – go where he wants you to go. Give him your whole self and show it in all that you think and say and do. And give him your heart filled with love for him.

Worship is praising God with reverence and overflowing joy while giving gifts to him forever and every day.

I say FOREVER because that is what Mary and the Shepherds and Simeon and Anna and the Magi are doing now. It is what all who believe in Jesus for salvation will do for all eternity. I say EVERY DAY because Jesus is our Redeemer and King and as such is worthy of our daily praise (Psalmm145:1-2).

So worship is praising God with reverence and overflowing joy while giving gifts to him forever and every day. May God get nothing less from us.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Mitchell