Our great King and Savior

At Christmas, many sermons, blog posts, and magazine articles rightly expound the greatness of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Those writings echo the theme of Scripture, which exposes Christ’s glory with unique and superlative terms [my emphasis]: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Col. 1:15) “For those whom He […]

Christmas Joys

Below is the text of the message I preached this evening at our Christmas Eve service: “Christmas Joys” (Luke 2:25-35). It’s a little late to send a letter to Santa with your gift requests tonight. But people have been sending in requests for a while now. It’s usually just children that send in their wants, […]

Sermon: Christmas Sorrows

Christmas Sorrows Matthew 2:13-23 December 23, 2018 What is your dream of the perfect Christmas? Paint the picture in your mind: who are the people who are around you? Where are you celebrating? What are you eating? What gifts are you giving and receiving? What will make the perfect Christmas day? On the first Christmas […]

The Greatest Christmas Gift

“The Greatest Christmas Gift” John 6:37, 39 December 24, 2017 This might be the most extravagant, unexpected gift given this year. Two weeks ago a man walked into the “5 & Diner” restaurant in Scottsdale, AZ for a Saturday morning breakfast. He ordered an ordinary bacon and eggs breakfast with coffee. The bill came to […]

What will you see at Christmas?

The word “Christmas” elicits many sensory responses: the vanilla, buttery smell of spritz cookies baking, the sounds of excited children whispering with giggling anticipation about gifts and Christmas songs at church, in the car, on iTunes, and at the mall and Home Depot, the sights of houses lit up in various kinds of splendor every […]

Sermon: The Story of Jesus

“The Story of Jesus” 1 Timothy 3:16 December 17, 2017 Christmas is full of surprises. But one of the surprises about Christmas in Scripture is the brevity of the NT narrative of Christ’s first advent. For instance, the four gospels tell the story of Jesus Christ, yet two of the four gospels do not mention […]

Why was Jesus Christ made flesh? Part 2

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 [continued from last week]. Use one: Of instruction. See here, as in a glass, the infinite love of God the Father; that when we had lost ourselves by sin, God, in […]

What Christ gained through His incarnation

What follows is a manuscript of my message at this morning’s Christmas worship service. What’s the best Christmas present you’ve ever received? When I was a child, it was a table game called, “Pro Draft.” It was a 1974 game that simulated being a general manager of a pro football team and it came with […]

What Christ gave up in His incarnation

What follows is a manuscript of my message at tonight’s Christmas Eve service. Christmas always comes with such anticipation. For children it’s about presents and a holiday from school and special events. For adults it’s about time with friends and family, and perhaps a few vacation days and a slower pace of life, and maybe […]

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. Why was Jesus Christ made flesh? (1) The causa prima, and impulsive cause, was free grace. It was love in God the Father to send Christ, and love in Christ […]

How Christ resisted temptation

The New Testament is clear that our Savior did not sin (cf. Mt. 5:17-18; Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 2 Cor. 5:21). However, the question is how did He not sin? Did He rely on His deity and use His divine power to keep from sinning? If so, it is hard to conceive that such obedience can […]

Sermon: The Son of God Has Come

“The Son of God Has Come” Selected Scriptures from 1 John December 18, 2016 What gift are you going to give to that special person in your life? Five years ago Alan McCutchen ended his relationship with his girlfriend, Mary Jo Smith, and he thought the relationship was completely over. Not quite. Two weeks ago […]

A godly man is a lover of the Word

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. ‘O how love I thy law’ (Psa. 119:97). A: A godly man loves the Word written. Chrysostom compares the Scripture to a garden set with knots and flowers. A godly […]

He came with peace

The following is a manuscript of the Christmas Eve message I gave tonight. You may also download a PDF, video, or audio of the message. Perhaps you heard about the massive headline on the front page of the New York Daily News the day after the shootings in San Bernardino, CA. A page-long headline surrounded […]

Learn humility from Christ

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, and is a meditation on the incarnation of Christ. See here the wonderful humility of Christ. Christ was made flesh. O sancta humilitas, tu filium Dei descendere fecisti in uterum, […]