The first privilege of being with Christ

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Sermons of Thomas Watson. Here we enjoy Christ by letters, and that is sweet; but what will it be to enjoy his presence in glory? Here is that which may amaze us, we […]

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 […]

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 […]

Sermon: The Final Words of Jesus

“The Final Words of Jesus” Selected Scriptures April 5, 2015 (Easter Sunday) They are some of the dying words of famous and infamous men: Napoleon Bonaparte, the French general and emperor, said, “I die before my time, and my body will be given back to the earth. Such is the fate of him who has […]

Sermon: For This Purpose I Have Come to This Hour

“For This Purpose I Have Come to This Hour” John 12:27-36 March 29, 2015 (Palm Sunday) Today is Palm Sunday. It’s a day to remember that everybody loves Jesus. Everybody loved Jesus on the day He entered Jerusalem riding on the donkey, making His claim to be Messiah. And everybody loves Jesus today. Except that’s […]

Look on Christ

Look on [Christ] in what respect or particular you will; cast your eye upon this lovely object, and view Him any way; turn Him in your serious thoughts which way you will; consider His person, His offices, His works, or any other thing belonging to Him; you will find Him altogether lovely. [John Flavel]

Sermon: The Message of the Cross – Grace

The Message of the Cross: Grace John 1:14-17 January 25, 2015 The story (I assume it’s apocryphal, but who knows…) is told about a woman who went to a photographer to get a portrait done. She was anticipating the day when he would call her back to see the result of his work on her […]

It was wonderful that Christ would die for us

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Lord’s Supper, Chapter 4: “Christ’s Love Displayed in the Sacrament.” Behold the amazing love of Christ. His body was broken. The cross, says St Augustine, was a pulpit in which Christ preached his […]

He explains the Father

What is God the Father like? John 1:18 tells us that no one can see God and live. So we cannot know the fullness of God. It is impossible for us to know God. Except Christ came for the express purpose of revealing the nature and character of God to us. So because of Christ […]

He came to explain the Father

The following is a manuscript of the Christmas Eve message I gave tonight. After my junior year in college I got a job working in a hardware store and lumberyard. While “fix-it” projects had always intrigued me, I really knew nothing about what I was selling. And our store had one particular customer who seemed […]

Why was it useful that Jesus Christ was made flesh?

This is a bonus edition of Wednesdays with Watson — a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from A Body of Divinity, Part IV: “The Covenant of Grace and Its Mediator;” it follows this morning’s post, “Why was Jesus Christ made flesh?” Use one: Of instruction. (1.) […]

Why was Jesus Christ made flesh?

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from A Body of Divinity, Part IV: “The Covenant of Grace and Its Mediator.” (1.) The causa prima, and impulsive cause, was free grace. It was love in God the Father to send Christ, and love […]

Sermon: The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown

The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: A Short History of Jesus 1 Timothy 1:15-17 December 14, 2014 If you didn’t know better, it would be pretty easy to be confused about what Christmas is about. When you listen to Christmas music you might think that the heroes of Christmas are: Frosty the snowman Rudolph […]

The glory of the incarnation

“The glory of the incarnation is that it presents to our adoring gaze not a humanized God or a deified man; but a true God-man — one who is all that God is and at the same time all that man is [yet without sin]; one on whose almighty arm we can rest, and to […]

What God looks like

When I was in high school, I worked for a grocery store where an impressively large man used to shop with some regularity. One day someone asked me, “You know who that is, don’t you?” “No.” “That’s Keith Fahnhorst; he’s an offensive tackle for the San Francisco 49ers!” From then on, this football fan was […]