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…
Read MoreNext 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…
Read MoreAugustine of Hippo (354-430)
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…
Read MoreIn 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…
Read MoreMartin Luther was born November 10, 1483. On this anniversary of his birth enjoy these reflections of John Piper on Luther’s life and work. If you are interested in reading one of Luther’s works, I would recommend starting with Bondage of the Will. My favorite biography of Luther is Luther: The Reformer by James M. Kittelson. I’ve also profited from reading Roland Bainton and Heiko Oberman’s biographies. Martin Luther exhorted ministers of the word: “Some pastors and preachers are lazy and no good. They do not pray; they do not read; they do not search the Scripture … The call is: watch, study attend to reading. In truth you cannot read too much in Scripture; and what you read you…
Read More116. Why is prayer necessary for Christians? Because it is the chief part of thankfulness which God requires of us, and because God will give His grace and Holy Spirit only to those who earnestly and without ceasing ask them of Him, and render thanks unto Him for them. 117. What belongs to such prayer which is acceptable to God and which He will hear? First, that with our whole heart we call only upon the one true God, who has revealed Himself to us in His Word, for all that He has commanded us to ask of Him; second, that we thoroughly know our need and misery, so as to humble ourselves in the presence of His divine majesty;…
Read More“O LORD, we beseech thee, absolve thy people from their offences; that through thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the bands of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed: Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.” – 1662 Book of Common Prayer
Read MoreClick here for tomorrow’s bulletin. MORNING WORSHIP (9:30): Charlie Wingard, preaching Ecclesiastes 5:8-7:13 “Living Wisely in a Broken World” (4) 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 MoreI found this remarkable graph/map of Charles Joseph Minard on Cartographia (click map to enlarge), which includes this description: “Napoleon Bonaparte began his ill-fated 1812 invasion of the Russian Empire with 422,000 men. With each step further into Russian territory, more and more soldiers died or deserted. By the time it reached Moscow, Napoleon’s army had dwindled to 100,000 men–already less than a quarter the size it had been at the start. During their disastrous retreat out of Russia, temperatures plunged to −37.5 °C. Nearly half the remaining survivors of the invasion were killed during the botched crossing of the Berezina River. Of the 422,000 men who set out on the invasion, barely 10,000 of them returned alive. “All this…
Read MoreThe Tenth Commandment “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbors.” 113. What does the tenth Commandment require? That not even the least inclination or thought against any commandment of God ever enter our heart, but that with our whole heart we continually hate all sin and take pleasure in all righteousness. 114. Can those who are converted to God keep these Commandments perfectly? No, but even the holiest men, while in this life, have only a small beginning of such obedience, yet so that with earnest purpose they begin to live not only…
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