During the last two years of his life, Seneca wrote a series of letters to his friend Lucilius, in which he gave his friend moral counsel. They are often published as "Letters from a Stoic" today. Interestingly, Seneca was an advisor to Nero and very likely could see the pattern of untimely deaths among those …
Continue reading Saving Time: A Reflection on Seneca’s First Letter
I haven't seen Christopher Nolan's Odyssey. I don't know if I will. The internet seems divided. Some call it one of Nolan's greatest achievements; others call it a desecration of Homer. I suspect the truth is somewhere between those extremes. Great artists have always reimagined great works, and viewers have always been free to embrace …
Continue reading Whether You See the Movie or Not, Read the Book
The hope of eternal life is at the very center of the Christian faith. Christ said, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). Indeed, in John 17:3, Jesus says that eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. That is why Christ …
Continue reading Question 52: What Hope Does Everlasting Life Hold for Us?
Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace was my big reading project last year, and it was excellent. I loved the great epic journey of the book. Of course, any book that large is bound to drag in places, but the characters always kept me going. I enjoyed War and Peace so much at, at one point, …
Continue reading Why I Keep Coming Back to the Lord of the Rings
In both the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, which are the most widely confessed creeds in Christianity, a large portion focuses upon the person and work of Jesus Christ. And rightly so. We are Christians, after all. When we speak of Christ's work, we marvel at the incarnation, which Packer once claimed is the …
Continue reading Question 51: Of What Advantage to Us Is Christ’s Ascension?
The opening line beautifully captures the heart of the resurrection: Christ triumphed over sin and death by being physically resurrected. That final phrase physically resurrected is crucial. There are some who are fond of the Christ's teaching but deny the physical resurrection, saying instead that His resurrection was metaphorical. That is not the Christian confession. …
Continue reading Question 50: What Does Christ’s Resurrection Mean For Us?
Yesterday (February 1) marked the eleventh anniversary of my pastorate at Western Meadows Baptist Church. Here then are eleven thoughts from eleven years of pastoring. CLARITY FOSTERS UNITYTHICK SKIN; TENDER HEARTA SHEPHERD, NOT A CEOPASTORING TAKES TIMETEACH FIRST, AND MAKE BIG CHANGES SLOWLYORGANIZING SERMONS BY YEARTHE PRIMARY WORK IS LARGELY UNSEENREADING WIDELY AND DEEPLYLEARNING THE …
The ages before the birth of Christ are called BC, before Christ. The years after are called AD, which does not mean after death. Rather, it stands for a Latin phrase: anno Domini (the year of the Lord). We are now counting years since the arrival of Christ. And though He died, He did not …
This is not an easy question to answer, especially whenever we consider the church local or universal, visible or invisible. Thankfully, this answer applies to both. God chooses and preserves for himself a community elected for eternal life. Those opening words contain terms that can be uncomfortable for some Christians, but this is simply language …
My last sermon of 2025 was titled Why Did God Write Poetry? I attempted answering that question because most of us today treat poetry as unnecessary and purely intellectual, ornamental rather than essential. Yet roughly one-third of Scripture is written in poetry. Thus, if we lack a proper appreciation for poetry, we will also struggle …
Continue reading Soul in Paraphrase: A Treasury of Classic Devotional Poems | Leland Ryken
B. C. Newton 