Reminded of the Brevity of Life

For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. - James 4.14

I am reminded of the brevity of life this morning. Three reasons:

1. I found out last night that Abbie Adams, a six-year-old from Southern Illinois, passed away on Saturday afternoon. Abbie went with her family to the same church as my parents and was the niece of one of my close long-time friends. A month or so ago Abbie caught a virus and tragically the virus went to her heart. She ended up losing her heart and being kept alive through a Berlin heart.

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“Children are a Kind of Wealth”

“Children are a kind of wealth,” according to Barbara Curtis, mother of twelve ranging in ages 8-39. Most Americans would find this king of statement strange or flat out absurd. We are now living in an era in which a large family is considered by the mainstream to be a sort of freak show. It was not this way not so long ago. According to an excellent recent New York Times article, 

In 1976, census data show, 59 percent of women ages 40 to 44 had three or more children, 20 percent had five or more and 6 percent had seven or more. By 2006…28 percent of women ages 40-44 had three or more children, 4 percent had five or more and just 0.5 percent had seven or more.”

So a lot has changed in just 30 years. As an ONLY child raised in the 70s, I probably had an uncommon view. To me, a family with two children was normal.  A family with three or more children was large. My uncommon view then is common now.

We have chosen to buck the trend.

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The Truth about Sin

From A Tale of Two Sons by John Macarthur, page 78:

When we sin, we show disdain for God’s fatherly love as well as His holy authority. We spurn not merely His law, but also His very person. To sin is to deny God His place. It is an expression of hatred against God. It is tantamount to wishing He were dead. It is dishonoring to Him. And since all sin has at its heart this element of contempt for God, even the smallest sin has enough evil to unleash an eternity full of mischief, misfortune, and misery. The fact that the entire world of human evil all stemmed from Adam’s simple act of disobedience is vivid proof of that (Romans 5:12, 19; 1 Corinthians 15.21-22).”

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Back by Popular Demand: “Believing Despite Difficult Doctrines” (John 6:35-66)

There are rare occasions in which a message I preach is an instant hit.  An abnormal number of people approach me after the message and express thanks and seemed moved and people say things like “That’s the best message I’ve ever heard you preach.”  Usually it’s one I never dreamed would get such a response.  Such was the case this Sunday.  It had a lot going against it: #1) It covered too much ground (about 30 verses) #2) It had very few illustrations. #3) It was waaaayyyy toooo lonnngggg (1 hour and 8 minutes) and #4) It was on one of the most controversial doctrines in the history of the church: election. But, for whatever reason, God seemed to put His hand upon it.

And wouldn’t you know, something went wrong and it didn’t get recorded.

So, because of the interest in the podcast of the message and disapointment of the lack thereof, I have agreed to preach it again this Sunday (greatly reduced, of course, say about 45 minutes this time) for recording purposes.  If you want to help provide a congregation for this recording, please come early, about 8:20 a.m., and make your way into the theater.  Sorry, but no childcare will be provided.

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This Sunday at Harvest

Harvest welcomes special guest speaker Pastor Marius Sabou to the pulpit this Sunday, March 22nd.  Marius is the pastor of Betel Baptist Church in Cluj, Romania.  He is currently finishing a Ph.D. in Theology from Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  He and his wife, Mihaela, have been married for 15 years and have three daughters.

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Basketball — The Christian Sport

March Madness is here and for those of us who love filling out brackets and are tempted to spend too much time watching tourney games (I dropped cable a month ago, so it should be easier to resist the temptation this year!), Elesha Coffman has written an interesting piece on the Christian origins of the sport.

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Regarding St. Patrick

Few people are aware that I am actually more Irish than I am Italian. I’m at least 1/4, and possibly 3/8, Irish. Which makes me more Irish than St. Patrick himself! That’s right, St. Patrick was not Irish at all. He was born in Scotland and then at a young age moved with his family to England where, still relatively young, was captured and kidnapped by Irish pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. He later escaped and returned to his parents in England, eventually being called by God to return to the land of his slavery to deliver the message of Christ. He planted 700 new churches and trained 1,000 pastors.  Read more about him HERE and HERE.

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Tullian Tchividjian

Tullian Tchividjian, the grandson of Billy Graham, became the 2nd senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church of Fort Lauderdale yesterday.  The new position consists of a merger between his current church, New City Church of Fort Lauderdale, with Coral Ridge.  He succeeds the founding pastor, Dr. D. James Kennedy, who went to be with the Lord in 2007.  Dr. Kennedy was well known for his television and radio ministries as well as being the author of Evangelism Explosion!, an evangelistic program that has been used to lead many people to a saving knowledge of Christ.

This merger will be interesting to follow since Coral Ridge is a large, established, aging traditional church, and New City Church, founded by Tullian, is a young, contemporary church.  Say a prayer for Tullian and the two congregations as they seek to glorify God through what is sure to be a challenging, but hopefully very fruitful, transition.

Tullian embraces the doctrine of election, the truth I expounded yesterday at Harvest from the sixth chapter of John.  In an interview with Justin Taylor some time ago he explained how he came to embrace this difficult doctrine:

I really wrestled with the doctrine of election. But after a long hard struggle with the Bible I came to the realization that I could choose not to believe this doctrine but I could not in good conscience say that the Bible doesn’t teach it. It was clear to me that from cover to cover Scripture highlights God’s sovereignty in salvation.

Tullian came to embrace the doctrine of election through a struggle in the Scriptures.

I recognize that many who heard the message at Harvest yesterday might have been surprised by the doctrine of election.  For some, this doctrine can seem like it goes against everything they have ever thought or been taught.  For others, it leads to a flood of questions. It is important that no matter what people are saying about the doctrine, no matter what feelings may emerge as one wrestles through an understanding of this doctrine, one must keep going back to the Word of God. Our thoughts do not naturally line up with God’s (Isaiah 55.8-9).  We must conform our thoughts to His.

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Is Your Soul Stuffed with Small Things?

If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of this world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.

- John Piper, A Hunger for God, p. 23.

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Pray for the Winters Family and FBC Maryville, IL

This morning, Fred Winters, the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Maryville, IL, was shot and killed at the front of the church during the early morning service.  You can find the story HERE.

They say it is a small world and how true that is.  This evening in our small group, one of our young singles, Logan, shared that his aunt is an employee at that church. I also called one of my close pastor friends who is serving in that area and he said that he just had lunch with Fred Winters within the past month.

While the details are sketchy at this point, and there has not been a motive revealed, I am assuming that Fred Winters is enjoying a martyr’s reward as I write.  May God bless and comfort his family, friends, and church.

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