Advent Studies

Before Christmas I read Classic Sermons on the Birth of Christ, edited by Warren Wiersbe, as an aid for meditation upon the Christ's birth. I have read it before and it is interesting to note that the sermons I enjoyed the most the first time I read it are not the ones I found spiritually helpful this time around. This is not to say the former do not have material good for the heart and the head. But some of the sermons I dismissed as not particularly helpful the first time around have I think been of lasting spiritual impact this time around. Particularly some of the preachers whose sermons were considered to appeal to the heart rather than the head. I specifically refer to the sermons by George H. Morrison, Clarence Mccartey, Clovis Chappell, George Truett, and Walter Maier. I remember reading the long sermon by Spurgeon and thinking it was boring; this time it excited me as well as fed my soul. There were three sermons that I felt were duds during the first reading and still consider them so: those byAlexander Whyte, A.T. Pierson, and H. P. Liddon.  A secondary motive for reading these sermons is to get ideas for short advent messages of a minute or two to be given during services. An added benefit to this volume is that it introduces us to sermon collections we would never have heard of otherwise. Next Christmas I plan on reading my copy of Augustine's sermons.