Holding forth the Word of Life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ

Philippians 2:16


Trinity Reformed Baptist Church

Topeka, Kansas    66614

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 The Sovereignty of God and the Doctrines of Grace

When one reads the Scriptures carefully and prayerfully, he will notice two biblical doctrines which are so evident:  the sovereignty of God over all that He has made, and the accountability and responsibility of man before his Maker.  For example, notice Peter’s words in his sermon on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:22-23 “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:   Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.”  Notice that both the sovereignty of God (the Father ordained the crucifixion of His Son) and man’s responsibility (the people wickedly crucified the Son of God) are unapologetically placed together without any explanation on the part of God nor of Peter.

In this new series, I plan to address both of these key doctrines. Another aspect to this series will be the presentation of the Doctrines of Grace (foolishly termed “Calvinism”).  Not only are these subjects controversial, but they will challenge any honest inquirer who is willing to bow before the testimony of God’s Word.  For example, in the book of Psalms, David says in Psalm 65:4 “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.”  Notice it is God Who does the choosing and it God Who causes the sinner to come to repentance.  Additionally, the same verse demonstrates the transforming power of God’s free electing grace in the transformation of a sinner to a saint.

I hope and pray that you will enjoy this series.

–Pastor Bob Spagnuolo

For an excellent resource on the web on this topic, please see

The Five Points of CALVINISM by Frank B. Beck

Pastor Bob Spagnuolo has a Bible study entitled

A Biblical Review of the Absolute Sovereignty of God

in .pdf format which you may freely download and use.  


Note:  In our class, we used a workbook by Pastor Randy Booth entitled, “A Study of the Doctrines of Grace”.  The workbook is no longer in print or available anywhere, so Pastor Booth gave us permission to make our own copies from a scanned, used workbook.  

Doctrines of Grace   workbook by Pastor Randy Booth, used by permission

(Entire scanned workbook in one .pdf file)

Memory Verses in KJV (our own supplement)

Code     Sermon Title (Scripture Text)

SOV01   Introduction to the Series on Sovereignty–1 (Psalm 115)

SOV02   Introduction to the Series on Sovereignty–2 (Psalm 115)

SOV03   Doctrines of Grace According to John 6 (Gal. 5:6-12; John 6)

SOV04   Postscript to John 6 (Matt. 11:25-30)

SOV05   Sundry Texts Examined–1 (I Chron. 29:10-14)

SOV06   God Endures the Arrogant King (Eccl. 8:1-5; Daniel 1)

SOV07   God Saves the Arrogant King (Daniel 2--4)

SOV08   Praise to Our Sovereign God–1 (Psalm 135:1-6)

SOV09   Praise to Our Sovereign God–2 (Psalm 135:1-6)

SOV10   Praise to Our Sovereign God–3 (Psalm 135:1-6)

SOV11   Praise to Our Sovereign God–4 (Psalm 135:1-6)

SOV12   The Choice of the Son By the Father–1 (Matt. 21:33-39)

SOV13   The Choice of the Son By the Father–2 (Matt. 22:1-14)

SOV14   The Death of the Son of God Realized (Acts 2:22-24)

SOV15   Lo, We Turn to the Gentiles (Acts 13:44-49)

SOV16   My People, His People (Rom. 9:22-26, Matt. 1:18-25)

SOV17   Given Unto You–1 (Phil. 1:29-30)

SOV18   Given Unto You–2 (Phil. 1:29-30)

SOV19   The Grace and Joy of Suffering–1 (Phil. 1:27-30; 3:7-10)

SOV20   The Grace and Joy of Suffering–2 (I Pet. 5:10-11, II Tim. 3:10-13)

SOV21   Sons of Perdition–1 (Psalm 81:10-16, Rom. 9:19-24)

SOV22   Sons of Perdition–2 (Psalm 81:10-16, Rom. 9:19-24)

SOV23   What Does It Mean to Be Born Again–1 (John 3:1-21)

SOV24   What Does It Mean to Be Born Again–2 (John 3:1-21)

SOV25   Review of Workbooks (Ps. 33:6-12)


Pastor Bob Spagnuolo’s study on a A Biblical Review of the Absolute Sovereignty of God

was given out for personal study.


The series continues with another workbook:

Doctrines of Grace–section 1 (Lessons 1-6)

Doctrines of Grace–section 2 (lessons 7-13)