Resources by Charlie Wingard
God’s Interests
“We quickly learn that God is more interested in our holiness than in our comfort. He more greatly delights in the integrity and purity of his church than in the material well-being of its members. He shows himself more clearly to men and women who enjoy him and obey him than to men and women whose horizons revolve around good jobs, nice houses, and reasonable health. He is far more committed to building a corporate ‘temple’ in which his Spirit dwells than he is in preserving our reputations. He is more vitally disposed to display his grace than to flatter our intelligence. He is more concerned for justice than for our ease. He is more deeply committed to stretching our…
Read MoreClick here for Sunday’s bulletin. 1. MORNING WORSHIP (9:30): Charlie Wingard, preaching Ecclesiastes 11:1-12:14 “Living Wisely in a Broken World” (9) 2. ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL (11:00): Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands Michael Shipma will be teaching a course based on the book Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands by Paul David Tripp. It will weave video instruction with class discussion on the topic of how God uses people, who themselves are in need of change, to be instruments of change in other people’s lives. Please contact Michael if you would like more info or a copy of the book. (Meets in room 105/106) Christians in Politics 3: Religion and Law in America Nat Causey explores the history of our right to…
Read MoreThe Grace of Godliness
In my opinion, the best manuals of the Christian life remain the historic Reformed confessions and catechisms, and especially the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms, the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort. In them we learn what we are to believe about God and man, the way of salvation, the shape of godly behavior, and the life of prayer. Michael Barrett’s The Grace of Godliness: An introduction to doctrine and piety in the Canons of Dort places the Canons in their early 17th century historical context and provides a good exposition of its main points. Both the Canons and Barrett’s fine commentary identify the vital connection between the doctrines of…
Read MoreSeveral years ago one of Westminster’s teenagers recommended to me The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy’s Finest Hour by James D. Hornfischer. What a read! From beginning to end a fast-paced and moving story of heroism. Leyte Gulf was the largest naval engagement in history, and also the world’s last large-scale naval battle (or perhaps, more accurately, series of battles). Leyte was a desperate attempt by the Japanese to disrupt MacArthur’s Philippine invasion, and to keep the the Philippines and its vital natural resources under Japanese control. The book focuses on one engagement of the Battle of Leyte – the two-and-a-half-hour fight off the island of Samar. There,…
Read MoreThe Heidelberg Catechism for the Lord’s Day, January 19
6. Did God create man thus, wicked and perverse? No, but God created man good and after His own image, that is, in righteousness and true holiness, that he might rightly know God his Creator, heartily love Him, and live with Him in eternal blessedness, to praise and glorify Him. 7. From where, then, does this depraved nature of man come? From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise, whereby our nature became so corrupt that we are all conceived and born in sin. 8. But are we so depraved that we are completely incapable of any good and prone to all evil? Yes, unless we are born again by the Spirit of God.
Read MoreALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth; Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. – 1662 Book of Common Prayer
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