I had the privilege today  of speaking at the Northwest Indiana March for Life Rally. Here is a written copy of my speech on behalf of the unborn and those who are courageously standing in their defense.

Stand & Speak
The Prophetic Voice of the Church
Dr. Ron Johnson
Northwest Indiana March for Life
January 22, 2015

I want to thank you for the great privilege of addressing you today as hundreds of thousands of Americans will be gathering in on nation’s Capital and in local communities like ours to be a prophetic voice for the unborn on behalf of Christ and His Church.

It is never pleasant to stand outside this or any other abortion mill. It is sobering and sickening to realize that every week we allow innocent unborn Americans to be slaughtered right in our own backyard. It is sickening to think of the men, women and families that will be devastated by the painful consequences of the lie of pro-choice.

And, like you, I am stunned by the darkness hanging like an ominous dark cloud over our nation, a deception so deep we are unable to recognize the unspeakable injustice and horror of abortion and unwilling to do anything to stop it. How have we become so callous, so cowardly and so complicit to the evil all around us?

I am not standing here today to be a prophet of doom and gloom. As Christians, we forever remain prisoners of hope. God is always on the move. The efforts of the pro-life community are making a huge difference both here and across the nation. I am here today to simply encourage your heart and to challenge us all to be the prophetic voice Christ has called us to be.

I want to direct our attention to the second chapter of Acts. If you know your Bible, you’ll recall this chapter gives the account of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and the birth of the Church of Jesus Christ. What I want you to see is the unlikely way God chooses to work to accomplish His purposes.

First of all, why choose Jerusalem as the place to birth the Church? This is the city where the Son of God and the promised Messiah was brutally murdered. It was a placed filled with darkness and deception. After seeing the miracles and the ministry of Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6), how could they kill the Author of Life? And who would think of planting the Church in such a wicked place? It’s an unlikely choice.

And secondly, why would God allow such an unlikely candidate as Peter to deliver the first sermon? This is the guy who denied Christ three times. Couldn’t Jesus pick a better spokesman for His movement? How will a coward like Peter be able to preach to such a hostile crowd in such a wicked city? Peter is an unlikely choice.

And let’s not overlook the unlikely message he was preaching. A message that says, “No matter what you’ve done, whatever evil acts you have committed, there is forgiveness and mercy in Christ. Jesus not only forgives, he also redeems and transforms. If you repent and place your trust in Him, He will turn you into a new person.” What an unlikely message of good news to a people so undeserving of anything but judgment.

Perhaps that’s exactly why Peter is the preacher. He is the poster child of personal transformation. In Acts 2:14 we read, “Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them…” This verse gives us a model of what our Lord expects from us today.

First, Peter STOOD. This takes COURAGE. Standing for the TRUTH has always taken courage. There are many professing Christians who are content to remain comfortably seated within the safety of our places of worship. They argue we should limit our focus to getting people ready for the next life and not worry about abortion or any of the cultural evils of this life. How quickly they forget the example of Daniel who stood boldly in the face of idolatry and publicly refused to stay seated. He stood boldly for truth and so should we.

However, he didn’t stand alone. The Bible tells us he stood with the eleven. We are reminded to stand for truth in COMMUNITY. We need each other. That’s why events likes these are critical for sustaining the strength and vitality of our cause. Courage is caught before it is taught. We act courageously when we fellowship with courageous people. We can gather with men like Saul or we can join the ranks of leaders like David. David was a giant killer. Saul was a giant talker. David’s men slew giants. Saul’s men ran from giants. Stay connected with men and women who love Jesus and hate evil.

Finally, when Peter stood he had something to say. He spoke with CONVICTION. Do you remember the time when Herod had John the Baptist arrested and thrown in jail? What was John’s crime? He had the courage to tell the King that his sex life was out of bounds and in clear disobedience to God’s commands. John told Herod it was against God’s law for him to marry his brother’s wife (Matthew 14:3-4). Here we see the proper role of the Church being a prophetic voice to government.

It’s why we are here today to boldly declare that the shedding of innocent blood is an abomination to God and a stain on our great nation, and that God’s judgment will fall on our nation if we persist in this great wickedness. We stand here on the basis of our biblical convictions and not on what is culturally convenient or politically correct.

There are those today who mistakenly believe God’s commands apply only to Christians. They argue that abortion may be wrong for you but it is perfectly okay for me. And due to the modern perversion of the founder’s understanding of the separation of church and state, religious people need to keep their mouths shut and mind their own business!

The truth is God’s Word is not true because we choose to believe it. God’s Word is true whether we acknowledge and submit to it or not! Our job, as the Church, is to stand and speak the Truth with courage and conviction.

The good news is that, if we’ll do our part, God will do what only He can do. As Peter declared the good news, the Holy Spirit was moving on the hard, wicked hearts of the people. The Bible says they were “cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37) and they wanted to know what they needed to do to live a life pleasing to God.

If the Church will stand together in unity and speak the truth, the good news, with love, conviction and courage, God will transform people and transformed people will reform our nation.

May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!

Psalm 20:4

One of the greatest joys God allows us to share with Him is the ability to dream. Dreams are what cause us to be excited about getting up in the morning. A man or woman without a dream is someone just going through the motions of life.

Have you ever been there? You get up, go to work or school, come home, eat, pay the bills, clean the house, and go to bed. The same lifeless cycle is repeated over and over again.

For the dreamless, life becomes a joyless ritual.

But when God places a dream in a person’s heart everything changes. The dream energizes your life. You prepare. You plan. Your make sacrifices. And you envision the day when your dream becomes a reality and you actually step into your destiny.

You see, dreams have the power to transform our lives.

I love this quote by Dr. David Yonggi Cho on the transformational power of a dream:

“When vision comes, you are changed. You speak and act differently, and you lead differently. Vision received from the Lord makes you a new person. And thankfully, we don’t need to make the vision – the vision makes us.”

A life dream helps to bring focus to our lives. It assists us in maximizing the remaining days of our lives.

The cry of Moses’ heart was “So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.

Psalm 90:12, 17

Moses was concerned with living a meaningful life and with leaving a lasting legacy. To “number your days” is to reflect on the fact that life is a vapor and to make the conscious choice to make the most out of the time we have here on earth. The cry for the Lord to “establish the work of our hands” points to the fact that we all want to leave a legacy to future generations.

We are confronted with a myriad of demands upon our limited time. In light of eternity, what is most important? How do I weed out the good opportunities from the best ones? A clear vision helps define reality. It reminds you of what is MOST important and MOST valuable.

Take a couple of minutes today and finish the following question:

“One of my dreams is to…”

The answer to that question has the power to transform your life!

But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”
Numbers 13:30:31

Moses received the command from the Lord to send 12 spies, one leader from each tribe of Israel, into the land that He was giving them.

They all took the same journey. They all had the same experience. Yet they came to two different conclusions. While the terrain was the same, the brain was radically different!

Caleb says, “Let’s take it now! We can conquer it!” Caleb and Joshua are energized, confident and full of faith.

But the others have a completely different report.
We can’t do it!
They are too strong for us!
The land devours anyone who goes there!
The people are huge!
There are giants in the land!
We are like GRASSHOPPERS!

This passage highlights the power of our beliefs. A belief is simply the knowledge that we CAN do something. What we believe on the inside determines what we become on the outside.

The Bible says it this way – “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”
Proverbs 23:7, NKJV

What’s truly amazing about the story of the 12 spies is that both reports were absolutely correct!

How can this be since they gave opposite reports?

What we see at work here is what has been referred to as the “sure enough” factor – if you believe you can then “sure enough” you will and if you believe you can’t then “sure enough” you won’t! What we choose to believe largely determines the outcome.

Achieving our resolutions is more than just working hard – it also involves believing positively than we can do it. The first and most important step toward success is the conviction that we can succeed.

So, which report will you believe?

If you’d like to hear more about the power of godly resolutions, listen to our podcast at http://www.lstones.org/media