Introduction: This short series of messages can be considered as what used to be called “artillery sermons.” The custom (and the name) began in England in the first half of the 17th century, where military groups invited ministers to come and preach to them. In our colonial period, ministers used to preach such sermons prior …
Reading List of Completed Books
As you peruse this list, please keep in mind that these books were read, and evaluated, over a period of many years. As my understanding of God’s Word (not to mention the world) has grown, the predictable result is that I would now evaluate many of these works differently — DW 2023: 1. The Man …
Challenging a Young Man’s Ten Assumptions
This is a rough outline of remarks I gave to the young men of New St. Andrews. Those of you who have been here for a while know that we strive to live in community in a way that cultivates a garden of grace. We know that law doesn’t have the power to enable you …
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/Annotated
INTRODUCTION:We are accustomed to our Christmas carols, but we have to take care not to get used to them in the wrong way—where we are somehow singing and celebrating on autopilot. The word carol comes from the word carola, which means a circle or ring dance—a folk dance. Christmas carols, rightly understood, are a sacred …
Two Pieces of Fudge
This is our first celebration of the Lord’s Supper in the Advent season for the year of our Lord, 2010. And note that word celebration. When we celebrate God’s grace to us here, we are learning how to celebrate His goodness in every aspect of our lives, and that includes our orientation to festivals like …
What the Angels Said
Introduction: Grace is one of the most difficult things in the world for sinners to grasp. And as soon as we gather that it is difficult, we turn the “grasping of it” into a contest and a work, with the right answer earning the “best in show” award. But of course, grace means that some …
The Song of Mary
The Bible teaches us a great deal about our Lord’s mother, and about her great and astonishing faith. But unfortunately, Roman Catholic errors, idolatries and excesses have all created or contributed to a great over-reaction from Protestants, and hence a great loss for us. Often we do not even want to talk about Mary at …
A Decree Went Out From Caesar
As we come to a robust celebration of Christmas, we want to maintain the biblical antithesis. This cannot be done on the basis of genial Unitarian platitudes, egg nog, gentle snow fall, or anything else like these things. “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, …
The Holiday of Stuff
This is the first Lord’s Day of Advent, the year of our Lord, 2005. This is the beginning of the church year, marking annually, as we do, the beginning of our salvation in the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus in the womb of the Virgin Mary. We are marking our days, building up to one …