This past Sunday I introduced the passage of study with a quotation from N. D. Wilson about how life gets progressively more and more difficult, regardless of how much you have actually matured. It seemed to capture the essence of Israel's sudden battle with the Amalekites. Ready or not, battle was thrust upon them. And …
You may have noticed that Sunday's sermon had significantly less quotations than normal. That is because I ended up going in a different direction with the sermon than I typically do. Rather than focusing upon the centurion, the women, and Joseph in detail, I decided to largely focus on the three together as example of …
I frequently tell others that one of the most difficult parts of sermon preparation is deciding what to leave behind. Since God's Word is infinitely profitable, no one can ever mine the full depths of even one passage or one verse. Thus, after spending time in study, I have never come away wondering if I …
Over the past two Sundays, I preached two fairly well-known texts, Jesus calming the storm and Jesus healing the demoniac. While studying for the first sermon, I began to think about all the possible applications that could be made from that passage, yet increasingly, I became even more rooted in my conviction that Mark particularly …
Last Sunday, I preached about Paul’s fourfold command to stand in Ephesians 6:10-14. In that sermon, I presented three large implications for standing firm against the schemes of the devil and for withstanding the cosmic powers over this present darkness. Within the second of those points, I cited Hebrews 10:11-14, which presents pointed contrast between …
This past Sunday I preached from Ephesians 4:17-24 where Paul exhorts us to cling to Christ and the truth that is in Him by putting off our old selves, renewing our minds, and putting on our new selves, which are made in Jesus’ image. The apostle says roughly the same thing in a few other …
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While writing about the immutability of God, I entirely intended to address this question: Does Jesus becoming man mean that God changed, that He became mutable? My word count limit, however, came a lot faster than I realized, so I have decided to write a follow-up article addressing this question. Although my answer is a …
The overall tone of Haggai 1:2-11 is communicated via the first two words of God’s message: these people. They imply strain, tension, a fractured relationship. If the LORD so desired, He could have called them my people, as He often does through the Scriptures. Yet He distanced Himself instead, calling them these people. It reminds …
Leaving pieces behind, in my opinion, is the most difficult aspect of sermon preparation. Yet for the sake of clarity and precision, some must be left on the cutting room floor. The following is one of those. While preparing to preach on the incarnation, I wanted to show how God becoming flesh proves that our …
B. C. Newton 