The Essence of Reformed Theology; Spurgeon Speaks

May I invite you to read Ephesians 2:1-10 very slowly and carefully:

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

 It is a good thing to understand we have nothing to do with our salvation because we were incapable, considering we were DEAD.  Totally, spiritually "DEAD"... as a doornail. Apart from God we cannot produce ANYTHING of eternal profit as stated by Noah Webster:

 8.  Unemployed; useless; unprofitable.  A man's faculties may lie dead, or his goods remain dead o his hands. So dead capital or stock is that which produces no profit.

As I comprehend how dead I was, can I more fully appreciate what God has done in my life.  He has raised me from the dead.  He moved me. He opened my blind eyes which could not by their own power see His provision for me.


How can I describe it more... Glory to God alone.

Hear Spurgeon and Piper speak in this short video, The Essence of Reformed Theology:

Teaching Scriptural Doctrines

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I know I have blogged about this before, but I feel it is important.

It is never too early to teach biblical doctrines to our children.

Arnold Pent in 10 Peas in a Pod explains how we talk to our newborns before they can understand.  Before long, they are participating in the conversation.  This is how they learn verbal skills and communication.  Just so it is with biblical doctrines.  If we talk to them about what the bible teaches, even before they can understand, within what seems like no time, they are asking inquisitive questions and contributing to conversations concerning biblical matters.

Here are questions kids commonly ask:
  
a) What is my purpose?
b) How do we know there is a God? 
c) Who/What is God?

Before you read further, test yourself to see how you would have answered the above questions.  I am sure you wouldn't respond with self-centered and humanistic jargon we commonly hear these days like...

a) Your purpose is to make the best of yourself.  Be as successful as you can be and make a name for yourself.  You'll need to search deep inside to find out who you are and what you need to do to fulfill your dreams using your passions as your guide.

or with an answer that's true but oversimplified and unsatisfying like...

b) We know there is a God because the Bible tells us so.

or with some absurdity like...

c)  God is the dude in heaven who makes it thunder when he rearranges his furniture.

2 Timothy 1:13 says, "Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus"

Our answers MUST accurately explain biblically sound doctrines like these I have taken from tried and true catechisms linked below:

 a) Your main purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  Is. 43:7  The word of God directs us how we may glorify Him and enjoy Him.
b) The light of nature in man, and the works of God, plainly declares that there is a God; but his word and Spirit only, do effectually reveal him unto us for our salvation.  Romans 1:18-20
c) God is the first and best of beings and/or God is a spirit and does not have a body like man. Is. 44:6 and John 4:24

Catechisms are extremely beneficial in helping us answer our children's questions with consistent and precise truths.  Here are tools I have found to be helpful:

For my two preschool children I use The Catechism for Young Children, An Introduction to the Shorter Catechism.

The littles ones love listening to the pleasant music arrangements by Dan and Karen Vitco called Teach Them the Faith during quite times.  I purchased this from iTunes for $9.99.

The Catechism for Young Children prepares them nicely for when they are older and ready to tackle the Shorter Westminster Catechism or others patterned or revised by this particular catechism.  One I recommend is found here.