Rooted & Unwithered

Blessedness is hearing the same voice that formed light, say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:23). For more resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit bcnewton.co

This is the first lesson from my 2021 teaching through the Secular Creed, An Appearance of Godliness . For more resources visit, bcnewton.co

Furthermore, we are not commanded to love our neighbor with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. That would be idolatry. Instead, we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves . That is, we are called to love them as fellow image-bearers of God, and especially of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to love them as those for whom Christ died. To read this article and other resources...

Dead Men Preaching is a monthly series aimed at bringing sermons from the past into the ears of the present. This month's sermon is by John Witherspoon, a pastor and American Founding Father, on Psalm 76:10: "Surely the Wrath of Man shall praise thee; the remainder of Wrath shalt thou restrain . ” For more sermons and other resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit  bcnewton....

I am calling this study  An Appearance of Godliness  because, I believe, that is exactly what the statements of the Secular Creed are. Paul warned Timothy of the godlessness that would crop up in the last days.  For more resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit bcnewton.co

What makes our pride so tragic is that God is joyous to exalt us so long as we are humble enough to bear His image rather than our own. Full submission to Him means becoming fully human and the earthly representative of God Himself. To read this meditation and other resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit bcnewton.co

Obedience without trust would indicate that we do not properly know God. As a father, I would grieve at my children’s suspicious distrust of me, even if they still obeyed what I told them to do. Such distrust would indicate that my children do not know or do not believe my affection and compassion for them. In the same way, our distrust of God is most fundamentally a failure to believe in His Fath...

More pride and self-esteem and affirmations and approvals are not the solution to our society’s divisive problem, for our elevating of pride into a virtue is precisely what foments divisiveness in the first place. For more rooted theology for Christ's unwithered church, visit  bcnewton.co

The present-day brand of Gnosticism is a variant that might be called Digital Gnosticism since it replaces the spiritual world with the digital one. Like our brothers and sisters of the early church, we must be prepared to resist the going appeal to transcend our physical bodies through ever advancing technology. God made all creation very good, and we ought to reject any attempt to be liberated f...

Where did all of this come from, and how did it escalate so quickly? How did things go so far off the rails? In asking such questions, we would do well to remember that fruit always begins as seeds. Or, to speak less cryptically, Pride Month did not happen overnight. To read this article and other resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit bcnewton.co

Only humility is wise enough to see fully how perilous each day’s path is. Only the humble may avoid destruction by acknowledging how easily they may fall. For more rooted theology for Christ's unwithered church, visit bcnewton.co

Being made in His image, it is right that we would seek to know Him, love Him, live with Him, and glorify Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength. In the end,  that  is what it ultimately means to be human and to be made in God’s image. To read this article and other resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit  bcnewton.co To read the full New City Catechism...

This is my discussion of the final two chapters of Thomas Watson's book,  Heaven Taken by Storm , from 2020. Visit  bcnewton.co  for more resources for knowing and loving God's Word.

The humble are humble precisely because they have a proper view of self. They know their sins, their failures, their shortcomings. Their self-understanding is not inflated and, therefore, is not likely to burst like a balloon at slightest prick of a pin. It is right, then, that the humble have wisdom. Their eyes are open to see the world as it truly is, for they have the resolve to see themselves...

Dead Men Preaching is a monthly series aimed at bringing sermons from the past into the ears of the present. This month's sermon is by Charles Spurgeon on Hebrews 4:12: "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of t...

How can three be one and one be three? There is the profundity and the grand mystery that must be received by faith. Of course, if God really is infinite, then we should not expect to be able to fully explain every aspect of His divinity. Rather, we ought to bow our heads in humble gratitude that He would reveal such a marvelous truth to us at all. To read this article and other resources for know...

This is my discussion of the seventeenth chapter of Thomas Watson's book,  Heaven Taken by Storm , from 2020. Visit  bcnewton.co  for more resources for knowing and loving God's Word.

For the next four Thursdays of June, I offer meditations upon four of  Proverbs ‘ references to pride in the English Standard Version. These verses are: Proverbs 11:2  | When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. Proverbs 16:18  | Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 21:24  | “Scoffer” is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who ac...

This is my discussion of the sixteenth chapter of Thomas Watson's book,  Heaven Taken by Storm , from 2020. Visit  bcnewton.co  for more resources for knowing and loving God's Word.

While each individual Christian certainly still has the freedom to shop at Target, would it not be best to abstain? What witness might your abstinence display personally, and what witness might Christians display collectively? After all, denouncement by refusal to participate can be a powerful cultural witness, just ask Daniel and his friends. To read this article and more resources for knowing an...

God is not merely the granter of eternal life; rather, knowing Him is eternal life. Also, by implication, to be ignorant of God is to be divorced and cut off from  life everlasting . What then could be more important than knowing God? And what better place to begin than with the question before us: what is God?  To read this article and other resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit ...

That day is swiftly coming. Indeed, even if Christ does not return for another millennia, each of us will surely see His face, in either grace or judgment, within the next century. To read this meditation and other resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit bcnewton.co

This is my discussion of the fifteenth chapter of Thomas Watson's book,  Heaven Taken by Storm , from 2020. Visit  bcnewton.co  for more resources for knowing and loving God's Word.

To belong to God’s people in this life is a visible testament that we will stand in the day of judgment numbered among those whom God has redeemed and made righteous. To read this meditation and other resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit bcnewton.co

This is my discussion of the fourteenth chapter of Thomas Watson's book,  Heaven Taken by Storm , from 2020. Visit  bcnewton.co  for more resources for knowing and loving God's Word. Note: Because this chapter is predominately a series of questions for self-reflection and self-examination, I will not be providing questions of my own.