We begin our foray into the New Testament with the Gospel of John; not the first gospel in most English Bibles, but the one that most closely parallels the beginning of the Bible in Genesis. What is different about John’s version of Jesus’s story, and what does he emphasize more than the other authors?
(Preaching on the gospel. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on September 28, 2025.)
Any Gospel parallels will be limited by John’s Gospel. A list of events common to Matthew, Mark, and Luke would be much longer than the following list. John acknowledges this (John 20:30-31), and by including John in our examination, we can dig toward the very core of the Gospel story. Even so, remember that everything mentioned by any of the gospels is important to the Christian message.
For a word that carries such importance in modern Christianity, the word “Messiah” appears astonishingly little in the Bible. Why is that? Aside from the quirks of translations and transliterations, why is this such an important prophetic title, and how did the intertestamental Israelites begin to think about it, leading to the arrival of Jesus?
(Preaching on the intertestamental period. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on September 21, 2025.)
As we begin our read through the New Testament this year, I will begin to publish some charts that I hope will be helpful in placing what we read in context. First, an overview of the New Testament, and a map of locations in the gospels.
While there are no narrative parts of the Bible that describe the 400 years between Nehemiah and Jesus, the Bible is not silent about that era of history; Daniel had a string of visions describing that time. How do Daniel’s visions guide us through this era and bring us to the arrival of the “Son of Man”?
(Preaching on the intertestamental period. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on September 14, 2025.)
As we wrap up our reading through the Old Testament with 2 Chronicles, it is important to consider if God still interacts with the world, nations, and geopolitics today in the same way that the Chronicler emphasizes. Even though God isn’t as explicit or clear with us today in how he is working, how can we be confident of his sovereignty in the world today?
(Preaching through Chronicles. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on September 14, 2025.)
The turn from 1 to 2 Chronicles focuses on David’s and Solomon’s efforts in building the temple, but during this process both David and Solomon recognize a puzzling aspect to their work; God doesn’t actually need a temple, everything that they used to build it came from him, and a temple can’t contain him anyway. So why build the temple? This question is a microcosm of a much larger question: why did God create anything at all? What is the point of our existence? David’s and Solomon’s prayers provide a good foundation from which to explore this deep question.
(Preaching through Chronicles. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on September 7, 2025.)
A simple way to study a book of the Bible is to make note of repeated words or phrases; this is often the easiest way to identify the theme of a book! In Malachi, that phrase is “but you say”, which appears frequently in just four chapters. Why does the prophet use this phrase so often, and what does it signify for the modern reader?
(Preaching on the return from exile. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on August 31, 2025.)
The return from exile involved a lot of rebuilding; the temple in the book of Ezra, the wall in the book of Nehemiah, and generally they would have had to rebuild homes, farms, roads, etc. But perhaps the most important rebuilding was the people’s relationship with God’s word. How did Nehemiah help restore Israel’s knowledge of the law, and how should his efforts apply to us?
(Preaching on the return. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on August 24, 2025.)
Zechariah, like most of the post-exilic prophets, urged Israel to return and repent by reminding them exactly why they had been sent into exile in the first place. What can we learn about God’s desire for repentance by considering how God dealt with people in times past?
(Preaching on the return from exile. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on August 17, 2025.)
Watts in the Word 