From the Heidelberg Catechism for the Lord’s Day, November 24

By Charlie Wingard · November 24, 2013 · 0 Comments
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119. 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. 122. What is the first petition? “Hallowed be Thy name;” that is, grant us, first, rightly to know You, and to hallow, magnify, and praise You in all Your works, in which Your power, goodness, justice, mercy, and truth shine forth; and further, that we so order our whole…

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A Prayer for the Lord’s Day, November 24

By Charlie Wingard · November 24, 2013 · 0 Comments
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O GOD, whose blessed Son was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil, and make us the sons of God, and heirs of eternal life; Grant us, we beseech thee, that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves, even as he is pure; that, when he shall appear again with power and great glory, we may be made like unto him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where with thee, O Father, and thee, O Holy Ghost, he liveth and reigneth, ever one God, world without end. Amen. – 1662 Book of Common Prayer    

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Sunday, November 24, at Westminster

By Charlie Wingard · November 23, 2013 · 0 Comments
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Click here for tomorrow’s bulletin. MORNING WORSHIP (9:30):  Charlie Wingard, preaching Ecclesiastes 7:15-8:1 “Living Wisely in a Broken World” (6) 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…

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A Minister’s Priorities

By Charlie Wingard · November 21, 2013 · 0 Comments
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From Carl Trueman: “Furthermore, make sure your reading reflects biblical priorities. Strange to tell, you can preach the gospel without ever having watched a movie, let alone offered a Christian response to one. And, believe it or not, your people can get to heaven in blissful ignorance of the latest Great American Novel or the op-ed columns of The Village Voice. That is not to say that knowledge of these things is necessarily wrong; but these are not to be priorities for the time which the minister of the gospel has for study, nor are they priorities for the time that he spends in the pulpit.  Watching our lives and doctrine is a vital part of our ministerial calling; watching…

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From the Heidelberg Catechism for the Lord’s Day, November 17

By Charlie Wingard · November 17, 2013 · 0 Comments
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119. 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. 120. Why did Christ command us to address God thus: “Our Father?” To awaken in us at the very beginning of our prayer that childlike reverence for and trust in God, which are to be the ground of our prayer, namely, that God has become our Father through Christ,…

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Sunday, November 17, at Westminster

By Charlie Wingard · November 16, 2013 · 0 Comments
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Click here for tomorrow’s bulletin. MORNING WORSHIP (9:30):  Charlie Wingard, preaching Ecclesiastes 6:7-7:14 “Living Wisely in a Broken World” (5) 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…

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Westminster’s Tuesday Morning Men’s Group

By Charlie Wingard · November 14, 2013 · 0 Comments
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Next Tuesday, November 19, my men’s group begins discussing Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book About a (Really) Big Problem. We meet at 7 a.m. at Blue Plate Cafe on Governor’s Drive. Nat Causey leads the group. If you need a copy, let Nat or me know. From the back cover: “Just one look at our jam-packed schedules tells us how hard it can be to strike a well-reasoned balance between doing nothing and doing it all. “That?s why award-winning author and pastor Kevin DeYoung addresses the busyness problem head on in his newest book, Crazy Busy – and not with the typical arsenal of time management tips, but rather with the biblical tools we need to get to the…

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Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

By Charlie Wingard · November 13, 2013 · 0 Comments
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No person contributed more to the development of Western Christianity than Augustine of Hippo, born November 13, 354. On this anniversary of his birth, why not read John Piper’s excellent biographical sketch?  If you would like to read some of Augustine’s works, begin with his Confessions, perhaps the world’s most influential theological and spiritual autobiography. My favorite biography is Augustine of Hippo by Peter Brown. Last year, I reread this splendid book to prepare for my book club’s discussion of The City of God. I also read with profit Henry Chadwick’s Augustine of Hippo: A Life, a much briefer biography than Brown’s and an excellent introduction to his life and work. From Augustine: “Two cities have been formed by two…

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A Gospel Encounter that Changed the World

By Charlie Wingard · November 11, 2013 · 0 Comments
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In the first half of the 20th century, millions of Russians disappeared into the gulags of the Soviet police state. Many of these were condemned on trumped up charges. Unjustly declared enemies of the state, they became victims of communism’s cruel tyranny. Still, in the midst of horrible evil, faithful men proclaimed Christ. And one extraordinary encounter changed not only a man but also the world. James Montgomery Boice recalls: “One of the inmates of the notorious Russian prisons was a Jewish doctor by the name of Boris Nicholayevich Kornfeld. He was a political prisoner of the Stalinist era. But he was treated better than most simply because doctors were scarce. Guards got sick as well as prisoners, and no…

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