With the season of Advent quickly approaching, I will be giving away two Advent devotionals. The first is my own, and the second is Jonathan Gibson's Advent follow-up to Be Thou My Vision called O Come, O Come Emmanuel, which I am overjoyed to be using this year here at the Newton household! All you …
Jonathan Gibson's book of liturgies for daily worship, Be Thou My Vision, was my first experience with bringing elements typically associated with corporate worship into my times of private worship, and I have not looked back since. Although devotional time ought to rightly be viewed as time that is explicitly devoted to the Lord through …
Let your steadfast love comfort meaccording to your promise to your servant. Psalm 119:76 ESV As we have already seen, the psalmist is clearly writing from a place and time of affliction. His enemies encircle him like wolves, taunting him. Yet, like Job, he has not cursed God; rather, he has pointedly declared his absolute …
Continue reading Let Your Steadfast Love Comfort Me | Psalm 119:76
Having confessed the Ten Commandments as the summary of God's law in Question 8, Questions 9-12 now aim to give us a concise synopsis of each commandment. Here the first three commandments are fittingly presented together, for these first commandments deal directly with how we are to worship and honor God as the only true …
Continue reading Question 9: What Does God Require in the First, Second, and Third Commandments?
https://open.spotify.com/episode/63MyuQ969pL3ZKh0Xp9QTp?si=bFxwGX6sQyieK1qUr3ejmA To understand the significance of the Ten Commandments, we must understand something of their context. After leaving the land Egypt, the Israelites set up camp in the Sinai wilderness; there God called Moses to ascend the mountain and receive His words, saying, Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the …
Continue reading Question 8: What Is the Law of God Stated in the Ten Commandments?
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Ahok8Vy1Rqvgz0tqQtKwg?si=IPMVJT8gT3GghsUyDfaHpw Since Question 2 affirmed that God is the Creator and Sustainer of all things, He is our Creator and Sustainer. Therefore, our present question addresses a subject of nearly supreme practicality (and notice the two-part structure of the question): How and why did God create us? The first sentence gives us the answer proper, …
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1DH2BhhQ6rjZ70Fo5Jk2c2?si=4q7zlQCLQxic9Dmxsrogcg After briefly defining what is God, we now come to the doctrine of the Trinity. To be honest, for several years the phrasing of Question 2 perplexed me (which reflects the fourth question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism). To ask what instead of who makes God seem impersonal. However, we must remember that God …
Continue reading Question 3: How Many Persons Are There In God?
their god is their belly Philippians 3:19 ESV What does Paul mean by belly here? The stomach or appetite, as some translations read, represents our instinctual and base-level desires, our hungers, cravings, and lusts. For the ancients, the belly was the most animalistic part of all humans, and we tend to agree with them, even …
Continue reading Their God Is Their Belly | Philippians 3:19
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” Genesis 15:1 ESV This is an interesting follow up to Abram’s militant exploits of the previous chapter. After coming into a decisive and miraculous victory from the hand …
Continue reading Fear Not, Abram, I Am Your Shield | Genesis 15:1
Your hands have made and fashioned me;give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. Psalm 119:73 ESV This week my daughter took for her class presentation a neckless that I brought back for her from doing some mission work in Mexico, and she explained to her classmates the great difficulty in making by hand …
Continue reading Your Hands Have Made and Fashioned Me | Psalm 119:73
B. C. Newton 