Beggars at the Gate

Matthew Barrett, an author & theologian we've learned much from, just announced he's leaving the SBC and becoming Anglican as well as teaching at one of their seminaries. We thought this would be a good opportunity to discuss some of our distinctives as Reformed Baptists, such as our church government (Congregationalism), the regulative principle of worship, and why we're firmly credobaptists and not paedobaptists. Though we disagree with Dr. Barrett in the reasons he gave, we appreciate him and wish him and his family all the best.

How important is the doctrine of creation? There have been many debates over this doctrine, so what should we believe about it? We talk about this and more, including how the doctrine of creation relates to the doctrine of God and what we can learn from creation.

We cover the final three paragraphs of chapter 3 in the 1689, Of God's Decree. God's people are predestined to life, through means, for our comfort, assurance, and worship of God. This doctrine is a high mystery but of immense comfort for the believer.

Maybe a little late to do a recap of the conference as it happened a month ago but we thought it would be helpful and enjoyable discussion looking back at a fantastic time gathering with our fellow network churches. For more information on GRN go to gracereformednetwork.com

**We apologize for the recording cutting off at the end. We ran into some computer issues. Thankfully we only lost a few minutes and nothing of significance.**

We continue looking at God's decree as we work through chapter 3 of the 1689. In this episode we look at the doctrine of predestination, and, particularly, double predestination.

What is God's decree? How is it different from God's providence? This doctrine is a deep and difficult one at times involving questions about God's will, our will, and the problem of evil. We attempt some biblical answers as we look at our confession's statement on the decree of God.

Jesus and the apostles talk a lot about the unity of the church and how important that is. But sin is pervasive and seeks to destroy what God has created. With that in mind we look at the sin of division. We'll look at 13 causes of division written by Benjamin Keach in his excellent book, The Glory of a True Church, add a couple modern examples, and then look at what the Bible says about unity.

Perhaps you've heard the question asked "how do we keep the next generation in church?" There are a number of studies that look at how many of our young people leave the church after they graduate high school. How should the church address this?

We finish our discussion of the doctrine of the Trinity by looking at what is called the eternal relations of origin and how we have communion with this God.

The doctrine of the Trinity is at the heart of our faith and is often the subject of attack. What does the Bible say about it and what should we believe? How does this doctrine affect us as believers? We discuss this and more as we begin our discussion of this great doctrine of our faith.