The evil of temptation is overruled for good to the godly (part 2)

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from All Things for Good, and continued from last week. (3) These temptations are overruled for good to the children of God. A tree that is shaken by the wind is more settled and rooted; […]

Sermon: Paul, God, and the Gospel (Pt. 3)

“Paul, God, and the Gospel” Pt. 3 Romans 1:1-7 June 7, 2015 You don’t need me to tell you this, but our world is changing. Rapidly. This week I read a sobering article entitled, “Stage Two Exile: Are You Ready for It?” The author’s premise was that over the past thirty years or so the […]

Free MacArthur audio book

Each month Christian Audio makes a book available for free and this month’s book is an excellent title by John MacArthur, Being A Dad Who Leads. This is a perfect book this month for fathers, as Father’s Day is in a little more than two weeks. If you are a Dad, why don’t you listen […]

The evil of temptation is overruled for good to the godly

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from All Things for Good. The evil of temptation is overruled for good to the godly. The evil of temptation works for good Satan is called the tempter (Mark 4.15). He is ever lying in […]

Sermon: It’s About People

“It’s About People: the Priority of Relationships” Selected Scriptures May 31, 2015 Someone called this maze of relationships, “the theory of relativity:” …consider the marriage mayhem created when 76-year-old Bill Baker of London recently wed Edna Harvey. She happened to be his granddaughter’s husband’s mother. That’s where the confusion began, according to Baker’s granddaughter, Lynn. […]

Q & A: Christ’s heavenly throne

Following Sunday morning’s sermon, I had the following email interchange to clarify one point from the message on Romans 1:4. The essence of the question is, “just what does it mean that Christ was “declared [a better translation is “appointed”] the Son of God with power?” Q: I wanted to ask you for a bit […]

A godly man is a servant of God

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Godly Man’s Picture. A godly man is a servant of God. ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven’ (Ezra 5:11); ‘Epaphras, a servant of Christ’ (Col. 4:12). Question: In what sense […]

Sermon: Paul, God, and the Gospel (Pt. 2)

“Paul, God, and the Gospel” Pt. 2 Romans 1:1-7 May 24, 2015 A few years ago I saw a book in the bookstore and was curious about the title and book, Jesus, Life Coach, so I looked it up online and found this description from the editors: There was a time when only athletes had […]

Why read and study the Bible?

Each year our church publishes a Bible reading plan for the church to follow. And every Sunday morning we typically read at least two passages of Scripture during the worship service, in addition to Scriptures that are read during the sermon. Our Sunday School classes and instruction in AWANA are generally all expositions of biblical […]

A godly man is like God

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Godly Man’s Picture. He has the same judgment as God; he thinks of things as God does; he has a Godlike disposition; he ‘partakes of the divine nature’ (2 Pet. 1:4). A godly […]

Sermon: Paul, God, and the Gospel (Pt. 1)

“Paul, God, and the Gospel” Pt. 1 Romans 1:1-7 May 17, 2015 If you’ve ever had a young teen in the house, you know that teens don’t always want to listen. They believe that they have all the answers to life and that their parents are ill-equipped and to handle life because they have not […]

My first visit to the principal’s office

It was my first time in the principal’s office (that I remember, anyway). I wasn’t there for a good reason. A friend and I had a disagreement and decided to settle it in a “manly” fashion — with our fists. It may have been a long walk to the office, but the conversation behind the […]

A godly man is moved by faith

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Godly Man’s Picture. As gold is the most precious among the metals, so is faith among the graces. Faith cuts us off from the wild olive of nature, and grafts us into Christ. […]

Romans: the most OT book in the NT

Romans is a complex logical argument, and much of the logic is derived from the OT. In a sense this is a research document, with its primary source being the OT. In addition to a great many allusions to the OT, Paul directly quotes it 63 times. And at least 14 OT books are quoted […]

What Romans says about God

The book of Romans is about two things: it is about the gospel and it is about God. That Romans is about the gospel might be widely assumed and understood, since the themes of justification and sanctification are particularly prominent in the book. And since Romans is in the Bible, it is slightly obvious to […]