Thursday, August 13, 2009

Why would a public school teacher choose to homeschool his children?


Why would a public school teacher choose to homeschool his children?

Many people have asked me that question since we recently decided to educate our children at home beginning this fall. AJ will be in 5th grade, Zach in 3rd and Olivia in kindergarten. Some of our dearest friends have asked us why we would not enroll our children in the very system in which I am employed. These are good questions and ones that deserve honest answers. This is not a decision that we came to impulsively. Rather it was one that we fervently prayed over and sought answers to within the Bible, while also seeking godly counsel. Over the years, as Christy and I have faced several life-changing decisions, the Lord has always been faithful to unite our hearts in agreement. In this post, I will be addressing the issue of “why” we decided to homeschool our kids. If you want the story of “how” we came to this decision, read Christy’s post here.

Writing this post has been a good exercise as it has caused us to examine our goals for our children and our motives for choosing to educate them at home. As a public high school English teacher, I understand the value of education. I work in a high quality system (one of the best in the state) committed to academic success. I have seen many students excel within this system and go on to be very successful in their lives and careers. As a teacher within this system, I honor my employer and community by striving to provide the best quality education I can to my students. I work with an outstanding staff who work hard to provide the best education possible to students. I have many close friends who are fellow teachers and staff in the school district.

So why homeschool? As a Christian, my source of truth and authority on all things is the Bible.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV).

The Bible is clear that parents should consider their children as a gift from God and we have the responsibility to give our kids a Christian education and to disciple them in the ways of Scripture.

And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18-20).

I used to think that education and discipleship could be done in two different environments by different groups of people, but the Bible is clear that education and discipleship are the same. One cannot be successfully completed apart from the other. The Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 is a command from Christ, not a suggestion, and our part of it begins (but doesn't end) in our own home. Our decision to homeschool is mainly about the discipleship of our children.

What dreams and desires do we have for our children and how are we helping them achieve these things? Do we want them to be financially successful in lucrative careers? Do we want them to have a bigger house than we have now and enjoy the “nicer” things of life? Do we want them to be powerful and influential in the world? Is it wrong to have nice things and pursue financial success? No, of course not, but Christ’s teaching of what is most important is repeated three times in Scripture:

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
” (Matthew 16:26)

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
” (Mark 8:36)

For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:25)

Christ also says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” Matthew 6:33.

Our greatest desire is for our children to fulfill the greatest two commandments, according to Jesus: “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39).

The reason any of us exist at all is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever:

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36).


Christ says we are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Christy and I have realized that it is very difficult to disciple our children and teach them a Biblical worldview when they are away at school for seven hours a day.

What does the Bible say about discipleship and education? The testimony of Scripture on education and discipleship is clear: teach the truths of the word of God because wisdom and knowledge of all things begins with God.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
 fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7).


For the LORD gives wisdom;
 from his mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6).


The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
 and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (Proverbs 9:10).


Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
 and do not lean on your own understanding.
 In all your ways acknowledge him,
 and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).


The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
 all those who practice it have a good understanding.
 His praise endures forever!” (Psalm 111:10)


If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5).


that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments” (Colossians 2:2-4).


Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:6-8).


For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness,’ and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.’ So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:19-23).


We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).


Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).


Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:13-18).


Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).


You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 18:4-5).


Scripture is clear that wisdom begins with God and should be taught from His perspective, not a worldly one that ignores a Biblical worldview. This makes our role as parents clear: teach our children the whole counsel of God from the only reliable source of truth in existence—God’s Holy Bible. That means we will teach all subject areas—math, science, literature, history, etc. from a Biblical worldview. The Bible is also clear that this isn’t to be done just on Sundays at church or to try to squeeze it in between school, activities, and life. Our entire home and lives should be immersed in the Scriptures so its truth permeates all that we think and do.

Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6: 1-9).


All your children shall be taught by the LORD,
 and great shall be the peace of your children” (Isaiah 54:13).


A disciple is not above his teacher; but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40).


Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).


Train up a child in the way he should go;
 even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).


for as he calculates in his soul, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).


But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Psalm 1:2-3).


This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8).


he said to them, ‘Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess’” (Deuteronomy 32:46-47).


“’You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth’” (Deuteronomy 11:18-21).


Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules” (Psalm 119:97-106).


My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching. Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way” (Proverbs 6:20-23).


Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Timothy 4:7-13).


If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3).


But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:14-15).


Another testimony of Scripture on home schooling/home discipleship involves having a multigenerational vision. We aren’t going to homeschool for our kids’ sake only—we are thinking about a multigenerational legacy of our grandkids and great-grandkids being brought up to love the Lord with all their hearts, souls, and minds and being taught all subject areas from a Biblical worldview.

’And as for me, this is my covenant with them,’ says the LORD: ‘My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,’ says the LORD, ‘from this time forth and forevermore’” (Isaiah 59:21).


Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob
 and appointed a law in Israel,
 which he commanded our fathers
 to teach to their children,
 that the next generation might know them,
 the children yet unborn,
 and arise and tell them to their children,
 so that they should set their hope in God
 and not forget the works of God,
 but keep his commandments;
 and that they should not be like their fathers,
 a stubborn and rebellious generation, 
 a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
 whose spirit was not faithful to God” (Psalm 78:1-8).


Tell your children of it,
 and let your children tell their children,
 and their children to another generation” (Joel 1:3).

Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children” (Deuteronomy 4:9).

This is an impressive testimony of Scripture of what our responsibility is to our children. We are so thankful to our Lord for speaking to us so clearly and for the desire and ability to home disciple our kids. We are doing this completely for His glory, not our own. We can’t wait to see what He has in store for us as we will rely completely on Him during this glorious adventure with our children as we educate them in His truth.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 1:4).


Sunday, August 2, 2009

Turning My Heart Towards Home



By the end of this week, I will officially be a stay-at-home-mom, and a homeschooling one at that. The story of how this came to be is a “blog-worthy” tale. It is one that must be told, to the glory of His name. The Lord has been preparing my heart for this for quite some time. My story goes something like this. I went from “rebellious teen living in flagrant sin” to “liberal feminist college student” to “young married self-righteous, religious, hypocrite.” After that - somewhere in my early thirties, God saved me by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). What grace the Father bestowed on me for no other reason than His own glory; I certainly didn’t deserve such a gift. Since then, my life has been a gloriously painful process of sanctification. One by one, the Lord has faithfully plucked the idols from my life. Whether it was a through a struggling marriage or a very sick child, He has shown me over and over again that power and steadfast love belong to Him (Psalm 62:12). Bringing me home from the workplace has been one of the most treasured ways I have seen Him at work in my life.

When I was a new Christian, I fully embraced and supported the traditional roles of husband and wife set forth in the Bible. However, it wasn’t until last summer that God showed me the cavernous shortcomings I had in the area of being a wife and mom. I was so over-involved in ministry with public speaking, evangelism, and Bible studies that I had neglected to give the time or energy to the role God speaks of the most for women. It is precious in His sight. Though I love my family and would call them precious, the way I was spending my time did not reflect that. Instead of focusing on my ministry at home – my husband and kids, I was cutting corners so that I could go out and do what I thought was “God’s work.” Somehow, I thought since these were “spiritual” things, I was doing God’s work and it was more important. How thankful I am for the change in perspective that I have had since then.

“What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow.”~Martin Luther

It was just over a year ago when I listened to the “Fulfilled Family” series by Pastor John MacArthur and found myself on my face (see my first blog –9/26/08). Praise be to God, who has continued to counsel and instruct me in His word and show me the path of life.




I will bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:7-11



Last fall, we started to consider the possibility of me staying home with the kids. At that point, homeschooling was not even a glimmer in our eye. We were just hoping to honor and obey God by having me devote more time and energy to the home and kids. But, no matter how many times Dave calculated our budget, we just couldn’t make the numbers work without my salary. So, we continued to pray and wait upon the Lord.



While waiting upon the Lord’s direction, we began focusing on family discipleship within our own home. Dave began to lead us in family worship through Bible reading, devotions, prayer and singing together. As we opened up the word with our kids, our home began to transform. We began to memorize scriptures together in attempts to frame a Biblical worldview. Over time, we began to see discipleship differently. Previously, we had viewed education and discipleship separately. By searching the scriptures and seeking godly counsel from books grounded in solid biblical doctrine, we began to see that education and discipleship are inseparable in scripture.




And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Deuteronomy 6:6-7



It was about this time that we began to gain a deeper understanding of what homeschooling was all about. It wasn’t just doing school at home as we had previously thought. It was about home discipleship. We only had two problems now. First, I didn’t really have the desire to homeschool. Though Dave was fully on board for me to homeschool our kids, he knew it would take a work of God to get me there. The second problem was we couldn’t afford for me to quit my job and give up 40% of our income. The first problem obviously took precedence. There was no use praying about the money and the job if it wasn’t something I had a passion for. I don’t know which is more miraculous – the fact that He changed my heart or the fact that He made it possible for me to stay home.

You see, I thought homeschooling was a fine idea for some people, I just didn’t think it was for me. I desperately hoped it wasn’t something God was calling me to. There were several reasons I could come up with, but the biggest reason was that would mean my kids were home all day, every day. You see, I’m not one of those mothers who just naturally thrives on spending time with her children. I do love the little darlings, but I also love a day off when I can drop them at school and head to Starbucks for a mocha with the girls. I’m not one of the moms who dreads for the summer to end and the first day of school to come. I’m usually the one counting down the days to some “me time.” Yes, God had His work cut out for Him. This was not something I was going to come by naturally.

That’s one of the most amazing things about God – the power of His Spirit in the heart of man. I’m not sure exactly when or how it happened, but I began to have a deeper desire to just be with my children. The time I spent with them was somehow more precious and treasured. I found myself playing with them more and being enamored with them. I found myself amazed at how their little brains worked – my eyes were even tearing up over watching their little mouths move as they read new library books. I wasn’t sure what was happening at that point, but I was thankful for this new perspective of these precious little people in my life. At the same time, we were reading more and more about the importance of home discipleship. It wasn’t long and I was sold, “lock, stock, and barrel.” I wanted to homeschool. I had a new heart-felt desire that was not of myself – a desire to bring my kids home and teach them everything from a Biblical perspective.


What happened next was the final providential “deal-breaker”, or rather “deal-maker.” As Dave and I prayed about what to do, we both sensed God might be calling me to walk away from my job and trust Him to provide. We began to pray that if this were truly His will, that He would make it clear to us. In my own prayers, I told God that if He really wanted me to do this, He was going to have to do it for me. I didn’t have enough faith to walk away from this perfect job that I love. What if I was wrong? What if it didn’t work out? How would we make ends meet? As these doubts and questions swirled in my mind, I told God that if He really wanted me to walk away from this job, I wished He would just take it away from me. It was only a couple weeks before I received that call. My boss called me to tell me she was retiring early and closing the clinic. I was out of a job. As I sat there grinning on the other end of the line, I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt what we were being called to do. I could almost hear Him say,
"This is the way, walk in it."

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Isaiah 30:21

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Where I've Been



It has been almost five months since my last blog. The best way to describe where I have been during this time is with a picture like this one. No, I haven’t been in Colorado, but I have been at the top of a proverbial mountain – a spiritual mountaintop, if you will. To borrow an analogy from John Piper, I feel as though I have been standing at the top of the mountain, speechless with my mouth hanging open, gaping at the vastness that lies before me. God has shown me some remarkable things about Himself on this mountaintop. In so doing, He has greatly enlarged my view of Him and shown me how much more I have to learn and how many more wonderful peaks there are to climb.


Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. – Romans 11:33-36 (ESV)


I dare say the past five months has perhaps been the greatest time of spiritual growth I have experienced thus far in my walk with the Lord. Much of what God has revealed to me has literally left me speechless, which is quite a feat. Silencing this chatty gal is no easy task. However, silence and solitude were quite necessary for me to learn what the Lord had to teach me. For months, I simply could not find the words to articulate what He was revealing to me about Himself. My perception of the very nature and attributes of God was challenged and dramatically enlarged during this time. While I have found it almost impossible to blog about, it was equally impossible to blog about anything else because it spilled over into every other area of my life. As Paul Washer says, "a true Christian cannot bear or even survive a divorce between emotion and intellect or between devotion to God and the doctrine of God." The word "doctrine" is often perceived to be a cold, churchy and legalistic word. The word actually just means the truths taught in the Bible. So doctrine, a.k.a. truth taught in the Bible
matters....it matters a lot.

"Sound, biblical doctrine is a necessary aspect of true wisdom and authentic faith. The attitude that scorns doctrine while elevating feelings or blind trust cannot legitimately be called faith at all, even if it masquerades as Christianity. It is actually an irrational form of unbelief." - John MacArthur



But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Titus 2:1 (ESV)



The truths/doctrines revealed in the Scriptures must be the very foundation upon which we build our belief and behavior. Theology and reality are forever intertwined for the Christian. One cannot be separated from the other.



Through my study of the scriptures over the last several months, my eyes have been opened to some wonderful things about the sovereignty of God in all things, including salvation. It is no coincidence that God was simultaneously showing my husband the same things in his personal study of reformed theology and the historic doctrines of Christianity. It was everywhere we turned and there every time we opened our Bibles - God is truly Sovereign over
all and this truth has become an integral part of the very fabric of our beings. God’s electing love was never more evident than in His sovereign act of selecting Israel to receive His grace while withholding it from Pharaoh.



For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Deuteronomy 7:6 (ESV)


"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." So then He has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills. Romans 9:15-18 (ESV)

It is with great fear and trembling that I attempt to articulate what it is He has shown me by His grace. It is as though I have been shown the door to a room that I never knew existed. I have barely begun to explore all that is contained within, and already I am awestruck of the vastness of His sovereignty and glory. It is overwhelming, to say the least, to think that the only thing that has saved me from the wrath of God is His own good will and pleasure. He saved me because He saved me, not because I had great faith or merit or because I gave Him permission to enter my heart. He doesn’t need permission to do anything. He is the Lord of the universe. I am not sovereign over my own salvation…He is. The fact that He predestined me for salvation before the foundation of the universe has almost been too much to wrap my brain around.



Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:4-6(ESV)


As I look back over the last year, I realize now that He began to prepare my heart many months ago. In a post from October 2008 called “New Glasses”, He was beginning to teach me about spiritual blindness. He is now beginning to reveal the depth of that is greater than I thought. I used to think my salvation was 99% God and 1% me – that He did the grace part and I did the faith part – that I was “bright” enough to understand the gospel, and “humble” enough to repent and believe. What He has shown me has brought me to my knees in gratitude. I am beginning to understand that even my repentance and faith are gifts from Him. Apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, I would not have ears to hear or eyes to see the beauty and glory of the Gospel.



The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. I Corinthians 2:14 (ESV)

No one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father. John 6:65 (ESV)

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 8:7-8 (ESV)




How grateful I am that He lifted the veil and allowed me to see myself condemned under the Law. Without it, I would have never known my need for a Savior. He raised me from death to life, and brought me out of the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of the Son whom He loves. It is the grace of God, not my own strength or faithfulness, even less my righteousness that has saved me. Salvation is 100% of the Lord (Jonah 2:9) - achieved by the effectual call of the Father, the atoning work of the Son, and the new life through the Spirit. A friend of ours likens our spiritual condition apart from Christ to being dead at the bottom of the lake. When Christ saved me, I was lifeless, without a pulse in need of spiritual CPR. I wasn't just blind, I was dead. I wasn’t just drowning and scrambling for air near the surface of the water. Jesus didn’t throw me a life raft to grasp onto. I couldn’t have grabbed ahold of it if he did. It would have hit my cold dead corpse without a response. In the same way, I could no more choose Christ and be born again than Lazarus could have walked out of the tomb without Christ first resurrecting him. Before Christ saved me, I wasn’t just sick….I was dead - spiritually dead. He had to breathe life into me before I could even see Him as Savior and Lord. My repentance and faith aren’t what earned my salvation – that would give me some kind of merit and then grace wouldn’t be grace. My repentance and faith are gifts of the salvation He Himself solely and sovereignly accomplished for me.




And you were dead in the trespasses and sins. For by grace you have been saved, through faith. And this is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. It is a gift of God. Ephesians 2:1,8, 9 (ESV)

So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Romans 11:5-6 (ESV)




Our sovereign Lord is the only One who can remove the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh. The new birth in Christ is truly a miracle graciously wrought by God in converting the soul of man. May He receive all glory, honor and praise!
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. Ezekiel 36: 26-27