In the last passage we looked at, Jesus had just called his first disciples. Remember, Simon and Andrew, James and John were at the Sea of Galilee, plying their trade as fishermen, and Jesus issues a compelling call: ‘Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once, they drop what they…
Mark 1:14-20 To be a disciple
When Christmas descends on us, as it seems to do so suddenly every year, it presents us with a picture of life. And Christmas now doesn’t look much different than it did at the first Christmas 2000 years ago: Bethlehem was a bustling town, buzzing with commerce. The announcement of a census brought an influx…
Why this blog?
My name is Ken VanderMeulen and I am passionate about the Scriptures as the Word of God, and preaching Jesus accordingly. A few years ago I had a brain tumor and the impact of the treatment meant that I had to resign from my post as pastor. But my passion remains: to get the gospel…
Mark 1: Prologue
Over two thousand years ago, in a land on the Mediterranean Sea, a king was born. His name was Alexander, heir to the throne of his father, Philip of Macedon. Philip had unified the Macedonian people under his rule, and had gone on to conquer the other Greek speaking people in Greece. When he was…
Introduction
But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (Romans 10:14 ESV). The Bible is like a forest. A forest is a beautiful, living thing, filled with…
Before I preach
Before I begin to prepare for preaching, even before I approach the text, I must hold certain convictions. These include: a) the text, in some way, points to Jesus, b) the text is part of the context of the book of which it is a part, and so on. Until I hold these convictions, it…
Jesus in Romans
In Romans Paul presents Jesus as a conduit, the one through whom God has effected forgiveness for his readers and the subsequent realities they enjoy. Jesus is relatively passive here. Elsewhere in the New Testament he plays a more active role (see, for example, 1 Corinthians 1:17, 2 Corinthians 3:3, Galatians 2:20, etc). In Romans,…
Romans in the meta-narrative of Scripture
The Scripture is not a string of stories, poems and genealogies arranged like beads on a necklace. Rather, it tells a single story with each “book” serving as chapters related to each other and contributing a necessary element to the meta-narrative of the whole Scripture. This is indicated in Romans (and many of Paul’s other…
Paul’s Reason for Writing Romans
When asked to state the theme of Romans most pastors and theologians would answer, ‘The Gospel’. They would cite as Paul’s “theme statement” verse Romans 1:16 ‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for everyone who believe, to the Jew first and also the Greek.’ Therefore, Paul…