Several years ago, my book club read Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom. Highly recommended David Murray turns to the Puritans to demonstrate that sin is the greatest obstacle to personal happiness. Americans have deep-sixed the traditional funeral. Chad Bird considers what we’ve lost. And speaking of funerals, a montage from the 1965 funeral of Winston Churchill.
Read MoreUntil October, when I had to curtail my activities, I enjoyed listening to history lectures on my longer runs. Below are some of my favorites. Series from The Teaching Company: The Conservative Tradition, Patrick Allitt Famous Greeks, Rufus Fears Famous Romans, Rufus Fears Robert E. Lee and His High Command, Gary Gallagher The American Mind, Allen Guelzo Donald Kagan’s “Ancient Greek History” lectures are available for free through Open Yale Courses. Both audio and video are available. In one lecture he uses students to demonstrate the hoplite phalanx. The video is hilarious. I remain an enthusiastic subscriber to Ken Myers’ Mars Hill Audio Journal, which “is committed to assisting Christians who desire to move from thoughtless consumption of contemporary culture…
Read More119. What is the Lord’s Prayer? Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. 124. What is the third petition? “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven;” that is, grant that we and all men renounce our own will, and without gainsaying obey Your will, which alone is good; so that every one may fulfill his office and calling…
Read More“BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.” – 1662 Book of Common Prayer
Read More“Of all the feelings that man’s heart experiences, there is none perhaps which so soon runs into sin as the feeling of anger. There is none which once excited seems less under control. There is none which leads on to so much evil. The length to which ill-temper, irritability, and passion, will carry even godly men, all must know. The history of ‘the contention’ of Paul and Barnabas at Antioch, and the story of Moses being provoked till he ‘spake unadvisedly with his lips,’ are familiar to every Bible reader. The awful fact that passionate words are a breach of the sixth commandment, is plainly taught in the Sermon on the Mount. And yet here we see that there is…
Read MoreClick here for Sunday’s bulletin. MORNING WORSHIP (9:30): Charlie Wingard, preaching Ecclesiastes 9:1-18 “Living Wisely in a Broken World” (7) ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL (11:00): 1. READING THE BIBLE BIBLICALLY A study of how to use the structure, genres, and themes of the Bible to read it with more wonder, depth and understanding. Having considered how these aspects are seen throughout Scripture as a whole, we will apply them to reading select books of the Old and New Testaments. 2. INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN ETHICS Using the Westminster Larger Catechism, the class surveys important moral decisions that contemporary Christians face. Issues include the role of God’s law in a believer’s life, the sanctification of the Lord’s day, abortion, capital punishment, end of…
Read More“. . . apart from the gospel and outside of Christ the law is my enemy and condemns me. Why? Because God is my enemy and condemns me. But with the gospel and in Christ, united to him by faith, the law is no longer my enemy but my friend. Why? Because now God is no longer my enemy but my friend, and the law, his will, the law in its moral core, as reflective of his character and of concerns eternally inherent in his own person and so of what pleases him, is now my friendly guide for life in fellowship with God.” – Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. in Mark Jones’ Antinomianism: Reformed Theology’s Unwelcome Guest, 54.
Read MoreThe excerpt below comes from a 1774 speech by Edmund Burke after his election to represent Bristol in Parliament. He argues that a representative, as he makes laws in a deliberative assembly, is not bound to vote the mandates of those who elected him. Instead, he must exercise his mature judgment, which may lead him to vote contrary to the wishes of his constituency. If he is unable to persuade his constituency of the merits of his action, they may remove him. Accepting the risk of electoral defeat, the representative must lead. Certainly, gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with…
Read More119. What is the Lord’s Prayer? Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. 123. What is the second petition? “Thy kingdom come;” that is, so govern us by Your Word and Spirit, that we submit ourselves to You always more and more; preserve and increase Your Church; destroy the works of the devil, every power that exalts itself against You, and all…
Read MoreALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (1662 Book of Common Prayer)
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