Life is Sacred so Cherish it

Life is a sacred gift from God—at every stage, from conception to old age. In this deeply personal and courageous message, Pastor Chris Teien addresses the value of life, the tragedy of abortion, and the need for the church to respond with both truth and compassion. Drawing from Scripture, personal testimony, and the gospel’s healing power, this message offers hope, forgiveness, and a call to cherish and defend life.

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/16335663

Key Points:

1. Life Begins at Conception and Is Precious to God – Psalm 139; Jeremiah 1:5. Every life is known, valued, and created by God before birth.
2. Abortion Leaves a Trail of Hurt but Is Not Beyond God’s Healing – God offers forgiveness, restoration, and hope for those who have experienced abortion.
3. The Church Must Speak Truth with Compassion – Proverbs 6:16–19. God detests the shedding of innocent blood, but the church must respond with love, mercy, and grace.
4. Adoption Is a Powerful Alternative and Act of Love – Stories highlight the beauty of adoption and how life given a chance can bless generations.
5. Life Must Be Valued from Beginning to End – From unborn children to the elderly, God calls us to honor and care for all people.

Personal Stories from Pastor Chris:

• Sharing how he was a "perfect candidate for abortion" but was given life instead, and how that changed everything.
• Emotional recounting of teens making courageous adoption decisions despite difficult circumstances.
• Honest acknowledgment of the pain surrounding abortion and a call for compassion toward hurting individuals.

Notable Quotes:

• “Life is sacred because God gives it—and only He has the right to take it.”
• “You may have made mistakes, but God's grace is greater than your past.”
• “We are called to run toward the hurting, not away from them.”

Actionable Takeaways:

1. Value life at every stage—protect the unborn and honor the elderly.
2. Encourage adoption and support those facing unplanned pregnancies.
3. Extend compassion and forgiveness to those who have experienced abortion.
4. Speak truth boldly but always with Christlike love and humility.

Scripture References:

• Psalm 139:13–16 – God's creation of life in the womb
• Jeremiah 1:5 – God’s calling before birth
• Proverbs 6:16–19 – God’s hatred of hands that shed innocent blood
• Hebrews 4:13 – Nothing hidden from God’s sight
• Jeremiah 29:11 – God's plans for a future and hope
• Luke 1:41–44 – John the Baptist leaping in the womb

Keywords:
 life is sacred, sanctity of life, abortion recovery, forgiveness, adoption, Psalm 139, value of life, Christian compassion, pro-life, gospel hope

Closing Statement:
 Life is sacred from beginning to end. Let’s cherish it, defend it, and extend Christ’s compassion to a world that desperately needs His love and truth.

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I hope this message helps you understand and apply God’s Word. Find sermon transcripts at Well.faith, learn more at ChrisTeien.com, or come visit us at Rockwell Church in Virginia, Minnesota. If this message encouraged you, I’d love to hear from you at wellfaith24@gmail.com.

Transcript

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Chris T 0:16

Talk about kind of a sensitive subject in a nice way, in a safe way. So sanctity of human life, that is our topic for today, that life is sacred. So when I posted that this was our topic, we lost a couple of Facebook followers and somebody off our email list. And I don't know if it was coincidence or it's just that it's such a controversial subject: abortion, the sacredness of life, that life begins at conception, that God cares about the pre-born. So when I look at this topic, I wish that it wasn't a topic that we had to talk about. I wish that was just the general consensus. And in the church, usually there might be women or guys that have been involved. Maybe they had an abortion or helped someone have an abortion. And a lot of people don't know any better. A lot of people think that they needed to because of the fear that they had. And so there's just this trail of hurt people all along. And so, one, we need to acknowledge that life is sacred. Two, realize that there's probably hurting people, even among us, that we need to care for and help find forgiveness. And if they've asked God for forgiveness, to help them to help us all to move forward, because what's in the past is in the past. And the greatest thing we can do is to move forward and help other people realize that abortion is a terrible idea. And for me, I was the perfect candidate for abortion. So I was actually born before Roe versus Wade. And fortunately, my biological mother went to a Catholic school, or she was, you know, Catholic enough to realize that that wasn't an option. So I was brought into the world, but I wasn't planned and I was a life disruption, and I might have I might have sidetracked somebody's career and all this stuff. But I was born and I was raised and I'm here today, and I could have been conveniently disposed of. And so that's what we want to talk about today. I have a bunch of resources from other people and a couple videos to try to hammer the point home, but really the idea is that God cares. And if a young girl gets pregnant and she isn't gonna get married, or even something worse, what if it's because of rape or something else like that? If she had enough faith to be able to give that child a life, even if she put it into the arms of another family, somebody that was waiting to adopt, that person could grow up to be something great in the eyes of God or even in the eyes of society. And so as we think about this, realize it's a sensitive subject that a lot of people have hurts all the way around. Sometimes guys have hurts because there was a baby and then all of a sudden it was gone and they had nothing to do with it, but they're kind of a victim in that. And so pray for me as we go through this. I want to say the right things in the time we have, and I think the videos are helpful. I'm gonna pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much that you have given us life, and we are here today. So I pray through your spirit that you would give us the right words that we need to minister to others, to be encouraging to others, have broken hearts for others, and to help them to heal and to help them to choose life. God, we thank you for the opportunity to adopt. We pray that more of these children would be adopted, that more of these children would be taken and cared for, and that you would reward the mothers who give their children up for adoption as opposed to disposing of them. In Jesus' name. All right, we're gonna watch this.

SPEAKER_04 3:36

Thus, the anti-abortion laws of 46 states were rendered unconstitutional.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Someone once said that the death of one is a tragedy, the death of a million is a statistic. And when you have that many who have died in this fashion, and it has become so commonplace that I fear that many Christians have become anesthetized to the horror of it.

SPEAKER_06 3:59

I think the church, in order to contend for life in our present culture, should acknowledge the fact that it is an issue.

SPEAKER_07 4:10

We have to acknowledge it and share life. I had been going to church for 17 years, very involved, and never heard the word about abortion or anything to do with abortion. It was like that was something that you just didn't talk about.

SPEAKER_08 4:28

When I look across the evangelical church on a whole when it comes to the issue of abortion, I think on a whole, we are shamefully silent and appallingly passive. And I say that humbly because that's that's what I was two years ago. That's exactly what I looked for the majority of my life as a Christian, even the majority of my ministry as a pastor. I I just looked at abortion as an issue that is political, and therefore I don't need to deal with it.

SPEAKER_11 5:00

It's agents of justice, and it's agents of the God of justice.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

And the Bible justice is linked to on behalf of those who do not have power. And when you stop and think about it, I hope you know that there is a bigger justice issue facing us today than the right of the unborn.

SPEAKER_03 5:24

And so that the holiness of life, the awareness of life, the protection of life is inherently a justice, because only God can give it a take life, and because God itself is world over, it's bound up life with justice. We are compelled. If the compassion of the community is away, if the compassion of the community is away, then it holds a great harvest with anything.

SPEAKER_08 6:01

With implications, implications that compel you on the what the gospel to do around the top of the world is not created.

SPEAKER_10 6:14

We that haven't had a fortune, but a rather we have to go.

Chris T 8:03

But instead, she went to go live with some relatives far away while she delivered the baby, put the baby up for adoption, then came back and finished high school. And then later in life, she got married and had kids, and so she was able to go through her life knowing that she did the right thing. There's no shame in putting your child that you're not ready to raise up for adoption. And we as a church need to be compassionate to people, to girls, to people people who get pregnant unexpectedly, you know it it happens, and it happens a lot. And we shouldn't be pushing them away, but we should be running to them, praying for them, helping them, caring for them, and encouraging them that God cares about choices and God can get you through this, and God can answer prayer and all sorts of things. So I'm sure that we could all share stories of children that were adopted and how wonderful that was for the people that were able to adopt them. But life is sacred. Life is sacred from conception to the grave, to think about not just babies being brought into the world and cared for, but also as people get older to value them in their old age, and you know, not just to get rid of them because they're not a productive part of society, not to just not value them because they aren't doing things or not care, not providing for themselves or or whatever. God cares, God sees. It's interesting if you look in Proverbs 6, 16. So Proverbs 6, 16 in in the Bible here, so that's in the middle. You usually get a phone signal in here too, duh. Use your technology your technological Bible. But Proverbs 16, there's a list of things that God hates. So that's pretty strong language when it says that God hates something. You know, it's God's inspired word, so if it uses the word hate, that's a pretty serious thing. And this is the list of what it says. There are six things the Lord hates. No, seven things he detests. That's a literary thing they used to use to help the kids to remember. And it's also interesting that it starts from the eyes and works its way down to the feet. So, all right, haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who sows discord in a family. And when you think about that, you can see in the abortion industry and the whole thing about abortion that all of those things can come into play. So the pride of life that says, you know, I have to do what I have to do, because it's my body, and I can't be sidetracked from my aspirations and the things that I want to do. So I'm going to do whatever I want. And I don't care what God has to say, I don't care what it means to anything else, not even the life inside of me. Satan had haughty eyes. He was prideful, he was also a liar. And Satan wanted to ascend to God's throne, and he was kind of the great example of all of these things on this list here. And God hates Satan. God hates pride and arrogance, a lying tongue that says it's okay, don't worry about it. Nobody cares. It's just a just a pile of tissue. It's not really a life until it's born into the world. And even now they're trying to, you know, say, well, it was born and it is not perfect, so let's get rid of that one and you can try again. But yeah, people that have children like Down syndrome and other disabilities talk about how great their lives are. What it about being a parent to a child like that and how it's made them better people. A lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent. Well, there's abortion right there. A heart that plots evil, beat that race to do wrong, a false witness, a person who soared discord in a family. We could we could talk a lot about those verses, but let's focus on ending a life and what abortion really is. It's amazing that I always have all sorts of great things I could say, but I only have so much time. I just said a minute ago that you could take out your your computer Bible or tablet Bible. Anybody have an iPhone at all? Any iPhone people around here? I personally don't have one, but you know they're popular. Every kid in this school actually has an iPad. February 24th, 1955, Stephen Jobs was born in San Francisco to an unmarried mother named Joanna Simpson. Joanne was a graduate student at the time and had concluded that her life was just too hectic to raise a child. We don't know what thoughts went through Joanne's mind. But given a similar set of circumstances, many pregnant women in our world faced the following decision: to have an abortion or to bring the child to term and put the child up for adoption. Joanne Simpson chose the latter and gave birth to her son. Stephen was almost immediately adopted by an accountant named Clara and a machinist named Paul, two parents who would provide a loving home for him. Stephen would go on to graduate from Homestead High School in Cupertino, California, and attend only one semester at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. For the next 18 months, he spent his nights sleeping on a friend's floor and spent his days returning empty Coke bottles for the five cent deposit. He also dressed up as characters from Alice in Wonderland at a San Jose Mall for three dollars an hour. But in 1974, Steven's fortune changed. He would become a designer for the video game Giant Atari, where he would create one of the most popular games of the era, Breakout. He would stay there for two years before leaving to start a new computer venture with two friends. They chose a simple name for their company, Apple. Today, the late Steve Jobs is considered one of the greatest creative minds of the modern era. Many cultural observers place him among the ranks of innovators such as Thomas Edison in terms of his contribution to the way humans live their everyday lives. Throughout the week, many of you will use an Apple computer or an iPad, or you may listen to music downloaded on iTunes and played through your car stereo speakers by your iPod. Many of you have an iPhone sitting in your pants pocket right now. You've enjoyed memorable moments with your children while watching the latest film from Pixar, a company Jobs founded that pioneered computer animation. He was executive producer of Toy Story, one of the most beloved children films of the last 20 years. Even though, as far as we know, Steven Jobs never came to know Jesus, millions of Americans have encountered the Word of God through apps on his products. It will take decades to assess the impact of his inventions on modern society. Steve Jobs has changed our world. And because on February 24th, 1955, Joanne Simpson said yes to life and yes to adoption. So June Hunt in her Christian counseling manual has a great list of what is abortion, who has abortions, why they have abortions, and things like that. And so I won't like read the whole list. If you're really, really interested in this, I could probably send you what I have. But I have a lot of stuff. In your bulletin, too, we also included a resource to help you to know more and how to pray and how you can get involved and even to think about what you could do now or in the future to encourage people to have their babies, to encourage people to value life, to encourage even struggling parents, what could you do? Abortion is it's Oxford Dictionary defines it as the procuring of premature delivery so as to destroy offspring. Abortion is an umbrella word for the different methods used to destroy developing human fetus. So then there's a list between them from the morning after pill to vacuum suction method, all these different things, saline method, salt poisoning, all these things. But I don't want to focus on that, I want to focus on life. Focus on life. So in the first month after conception, at 17 days, the new life has developed blood cells. At 19 days, the eyes begin to develop. At 21 days, the heart begins beating. At 28 days, the backbone and 40 pairs of muscles are developed along the trunk of the new life. Arms and legs are forming. In the second month, at 30 days, regular blood flow is evident within the vascular system. The ears and nasal development have begun. At 40 days, the baby's heart is beating faster than the mother's heart and produces almost 20% of the energy of an adult heart. At week six, the baby is a half inch long. At 42 days, the skeleton is complete and reflexes are present. At 43 days, electrical brainwave patterns can be recorded. This is usually ample evidence that thinking is taking place in the brain. The new life may be thought of as a thinking person. At week seven, the baby is three-fourths of an inch long. At 49 days, the fetus has the appearance of a miniature doll with complete fingers, toes, and ears. At 56 days, all organs are functioning stomach, liver, kidneys, brain, all systems are intact. The new life has all its physical parts and now needs only nourishment. All future development is simply that of refinement and increase in size until maturity at approximately age 23, 23 years old. The mother will not usually feel the child's movement until four months after conception. So here's the third month. At nine and ten weeks, the new life squints, swallows, and retracts the tongue. The contour of the face and body look more like a baby's, and the physical characteristics are obvious. At 11 and 12 weeks, the arms and legs move while fingernails and toes appear, along with thumb sucking. The new life inhales and exhales amniotic fluid. At the fourth month, at 13 weeks, hair appears on the baby's head. At 14 weeks, the baby brings both hands together and sucks on their thumb. At sixteen weeks, genital organs are clearly differentiated. Hands are able to grasp. The new life swims, kicks, and turns somersaults, as though movement is often still not felt by the mother. Fifth month, at 18 weeks, the baby is 12 inches long and the mother can feel her baby move. The vocal cords are working and the new life can cry. Sixth month, at 26 weeks, the sensory organs are all working. The baby is able to hear, see, taste, and touch. Although no one fully understands all the ways and works of God, yet he will do what is right on behalf of both you and your child. Each precious life in the mother's womb is being formed by God, the maker of all things. Isaiah 44, 24 says, This is what the Lord says. So doctors, since Hippocrates would take the hipp Hippocratic oath, a confession of code of ethical values that has governed the medical profession since ancient times. The oath of Hippocrates prohibits abortion. Here's what it says The regimen I adopt shall be for the benefit of my patients, according to my ability and judgment, and not for their hurt or for any wrong. I will give no deadly drug to any, though it be asked of me, nor will I counsel such, and especially I will not aid a woman to procure abortion. So the Bible has some things to say about life and life in the womb. So the personhood of the unborn child is clearly demonstrated, traded by John the Baptist, who leaped for joy while still in the womb. John's mother Elizabeth exclaimed to Mary, As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leapt for joy. In Psalm 139. Scripture explicitly states that God not only forms the unborn child in the womb, but also has a plan for his or her future even before conception. Jeremiah 1 5. Before I, God formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. Psalm 139. It's a great thing for you to read for your devotions today. Part of it that says, You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous. How well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. And Jeremiah 29, 11 says, I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. There are plans for good and not for disaster to give you a future and a hope. You know, if we had time, we could talk about what happens to aborted babies. Unfortunately, the church isn't seen as a place where pregnant ladies can come, pregnant girls can come to find encouragement. Lifeway conducted some research in 2015 that showed that four out of ten women who had an abortion were churchgoers when they ended a pregnancy. But only seven percent of the women discussed their abortion decision with anyone at church. Three-fourths say the church had no influence on their decision to terminate a pregnancy. Also, among women who have had an abortion, two-thirds, 65%, say church members judge single women who are pregnant. A majority, 54%, think churches oversimplify decisions about pregnancy options. Fewer than half, 41%, believe churches are prepared to help with decisions about unwanted pregnancies. And only 38% of women who have had an abortion consider church a safe place to discuss pregnancy options, including parenting, abortion, and adoption. More than half of churchgoers who have had an abortion, 52% say no one at church knows it. Nearly half of women who have had an abortion, 49% say pastors' teaching on forgiveness don't seem to apply to terminated pregnancies. But they do. And so June Hunt in her counseling manual, which is actually a bunch of research that she puts together that says really helpful for pastors and you for counseling, has a list of all the things that can happen as a result of having an abortion. At first there's a relief that the there's freedom now from the difficult decision, but as they start to think about it, there can be, they can either repress it or resent it, and it can lead to inner anger and anxiety and bitterness, alcohol, drug abuse, sexual dysfunction, increased risk of suicide, poor bonding with other children, all sorts of things, suppressed feeling, shame, unworthiness, all these things. And Hebrews 4 13 says, Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. But it's not the end of the world. It's not that God can't forgive that. It's not that God can't. Can't do great things. I mean, really, the aborted baby theologically goes straight into the arms of Jesus, goes straight to heaven. And so she suggests that if someone's had an abortion, that they shouldn't think of it as a tissue, but they should give that child a name and then they should talk to God about that and to realize that someday they might see that child in heaven. I mean, to end up in that situation, you might be a teenage girl that or you know, a teenage guy that convinces your girlfriend to go through that that you're afraid of what your parents are gonna think, or you don't know how you're gonna raise the child, or someone said, Oh, the child might not be perfectly healthy, it might have some kind of syndrome or some kind of health issue. Maybe you should consider ending that one and trying again. There's all sorts of reasons, but the wrong belief is abortion is a simple procedure designed to remove a mass of tissue from a woman's body, and a woman have should have the right to determine what happens to her own body. That's the wrong belief. The right belief is the unborn life within a pregnant woman is a separate, unique human being created by God at conception. A woman does have rights over her own life, but she does not have the rights to destroy an innocent life. There's all sorts of things that counselors can do to help talk this through, but to know that that person, whatever the sin is, you know, whether everybody's got sin in their life, whatever the sin is, the destructive sin, whether it's abortion or all these other things, that there can be forgiveness, that there can be new life, that to acknowledge the sin before God, and then to maybe get help or counseling if you're struggling with it. And then to take your mass and turn it into a mission, to take all the difficulty that you went through and to realize that, you know, this is why I guess I chose this poor I made this poor choice. I did this thing and it was wrong, and now I want to make it my mission to try to encourage others that might be going through the same thing that not to make that choice because this is how it was hurtful and this is how I regret it, and all these things. Amazing how fast time goes. I can't believe I'm out of time already. There's three choices. You can have the baby, you can abort the baby, you can give the baby up for adoption. Some mothers feel bad about giving their baby up for adoption, but it can be a great thing, both for the person who does it and for the family that gets to raise the child. So, what can they do if they've had an abortion when they can take personal responsibility and stop blaming other people or the circumstances for the abortion? To realize the decision is ultimately the mother's choice and to agree, and usually sometimes it's forced upon them, but to agree with God that abortion is wrong, and then choose to work through the denial and relive the negative feelings surrounding the abortions and talk about the experience with a trusted friend or sensitive counselor, then to name your child, realizing that a real five baby was aborted, to conduct a short memorial service, and to commit your child into the loving hands of God. To know that each child, each of us has a purpose, that each God has a purpose for our lives. Some wonder if maybe the person that had the cure for cancer was aborted. Or some wonder why the government would allow abortion because those are future taxpayers. But I'm gonna end with this. And if this is something that's on your heart or that you struggle with, I can share some of my resources with you. But here's a woman that wrote a letter to her aborted children. Patricia Raybon honestly shares the regret and grief that she carried after aborting two children. She writes, I had told myself that an abortion would end my problems, not complicate them by bringing an innocent life into my own upheaval. I swallowed Satan's lie. That is, then I spit it out again, saying it with my own mouth. So she wrote this letter. I think, even though we were together for such a short time, I did a bad thing. I didn't trust God. I didn't understand that God would have made everything okay. I was like Peter, who looked at the waves, not at Jesus, and when he looked at the waves, he started to sink down, down, down. That's how I felt. Like I was sinking down when the doctor said you were growing inside of me. That's how I felt. So I didn't know how to love you. I was afraid. Oh babies, I made so many, many mistakes, and I was afraid, so I let fear convince me that more babies would just make things worse. And said, look what I did. I robbed us. First I robbed you, taking your own lives. I didn't think I was strong enough. So I robbed myself of all the joy you have brought brought all of us, your sisters, your family, and for each of you, your daddy. I thought we'd have more problems, that we didn't have enough money. I thought we'd we didn't have enough time. I thought that we didn't have enough love. But I just didn't know then that God is bigger and God would make everything all right. I didn't know. I know you are in heaven waiting for us, waiting for me. I know you've been waiting, looking every day, wondering when I would get there. Oh babies, I'm trying to get there to learn what God wants me to learn so I can make it to you. Lord Jesus, we pray that you would help us to be sensitive in these issues and know that abortion is a symptom of a greater problem, a lack of trust in you, a lack of following you. And Lord, we pray that you would give us the resources and the means to help people that are struggling with us, to encourage them and maybe even to help provide for them or to help them find care or to just help adoption to be possible. We thank you in the past that you've helped River Rock Church arrange a few adoptions in our church history or to get people together. God, we pray that you would help us to show love and compassion to all people sorts of people like us who have sinned in the past. Lord, we pray you'd bless us in Jesus' name. So, all right, we got this, and then the worship team will come forward.

SPEAKER_09 28:11

Is it really? Or is it silly to say that a choice is given when no voice is given to the one whose life is taken away? No, not silly, tragic, a tragedy of epic proportions where epic distortions have led to an epidemic of holocaustic abortions, murder. Yes, I said the word. So it needs to be said, because blood has been shed, because babies are dead, so I will not opt for a soft word instead. Choice? Yes, choices are made. Some choose to silence babies' heartbeats with violence, and hitmen called doctors choose to get paid. Now here's where it gets dramatic. Where I get labeled the right-wing extremist, a religious fanatic. But let me be emphatic. I'll take any name as long as I proclaim Christ and save babies from being sacrificed while I'm at it. That would make me ecstatic. So go ahead and aim your verbal automatic and fire away and get erratic. To me, that will not be in the least bit problematic. But here is where the problem lies. It's where Christians choose to compromise. It's where we choose to cover up our eyes while baby after baby dies. It's where sinners are sinking into hell and we have saving truths, we choose to refuse to tell. That's the reality. That's the current mentality. Some offer baby girls and boys to an idol called choice in the name of convenience and individuality, while Christians refrain as sinners perish in vain, and babies are slain through legalized medical brutality. So where is the hope? For the Christian who's failed to take a stand, he still extends his nail-pierced hand. So for the sake of his glory and the sake of his fame, let him stand your flickering flame and casting aside the fear and the shame. Repent and obey and speak truth in his name. So where is the hope? For the sinner, there is faith and repentance, because God can wipe away your sentence, because he chose to send his son, the one he chose to sacrifice in the sinner's place, so he can give sinners grace. Because there is no sin without or within that his redeeming blood cannot erase. He can impute to sinners his righteous perfection through his death and glorious resurrection. So don't let it get distorted. You can be forgiven even if you abort it. That's the truth. Don't ignore it. If your heart is contrite, you'll make it right and restore it. Choice. Some will make the choice to arise, to open their eyes, to see through the lies, to turn from foolish to wise. Choice. Some will make the choice to refuse, to reject truth and good news, to still stumble and snooze, and they'll have a whole lot to lose. Choice. What will you choose?