Podcasts about castle church

In this episode of the Your Harrogate Podcast, presenter Pete Egerton speaks to Squadron Leader Paul Wise, Knaresborough-born and responsible for leading the VE Day flypast in London. Also, Knaresborough Town Women have been promoted! We hear from head of development, Ged Maloney.A former pupil of the long since closed Castle Church of England Junior School, Squadron Leader Wise, or "Ernie" as his colleagues call him, had the privilege of leading more than 20 military aircraft over Buckingham Palace on Monday (5th May).Sqn Ldr Wise remembers speaks to Pete about when his passion for aviation began, plus, the pressure of such an event, like the flypast on Monday.The flypast, which featured a mix of 23 current-day and historic planes, culminated with the spectacular Red Arrows. Paul says it is not until they have flown over the Palace, that they have time to take it all in...Meanwhile, Knaresborough Town Women have this week, secured a third promotion in as many years.They will now be assured of playing in the West Riding County Women's Football Premier League, but they may be able to go higher as Ged Maloney explains...

Shara Pathak never planned on owning a brewery, but her “soft heart” led her down this unexpected path. “I owned a building and had a tenant in there that was a microbrewery (Castle Church) and supported them through the infancy of their brand, which was approximately three years,” Pathak said. “In December of 2019, [the brewery's owners] decided that they were going to shelve it. So at that time, I actually was going to put the lock on the door and I was going to give it to a business broker and I the employees reached out to me and it was two weeks before Christmas.” Pathak agreed to let the employees keep the brewery going so they could at least sell off the remaining inventory and collect a paycheck through the holidays. She eventually decided to keep the brewery running. Originally, she was planning to rename it The City Beautiful Brewing, but eventually landed on the name Brewlando. “One of the reasons that I helped that brewery as much as I did was because I really felt like they had exceptional quality beer. You could just taste the difference,“ Pathak said. ”So I just felt like it would be a matter of time, if I helped them along and push them across that eventually they'd be able to forge ahead.” Part of the reason for that, according to Pathak, was because the previous owners had sunk a lot of money into high-end brewing equipment. Despite this, she did not believe she would maintain ownership of the brewery in the long term. “We were going to find another owner-operator and I was going to find another tenant. And in that search, we were introduced to a big conglomerate brand that actually originated from Trinidad, which is where I was born," Pathak said. She ultimately decided that was not the right move; however, the CEO of that company decided to join her team and help her helm Brewlando. “So [James Webb] came on board and built out a great team," Pathak said. Within a year, Webb had made connections with the head of ICON Park and got to talking about opening a new concept at the attraction. “It used to be a hookah bar and so we went in and we completely rented the entire space and decided that we were going to come out with a different concept,” Pathak said. “We thought, why not open a winery and a tasting room?” The Winery & Tasting Room by Brewlando was the first major expansion for the business, but not the last. Shortly after that opened, Pathak learned that Sanford Brewing Company was closing. She thought this could be an opportunity for a quick flip of the property. “Two days later, I got a call and they said, ‘Well, actually, it's not just the building, it's the building's equipment, it's the whole business,‘” Pathak said. She asked Webb to look into it further and see if this was an opportunity for expansion. “James calls me back an hour and a half later and he says, ‘I think that there is good potential in doing this,‘" she said. Her team is now in the process of reopening the two Sanford Brewing locations under the Brewlando name. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Pathak talks more about the future of Brewlando and what she hopes to accomplish with her expanding business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“They will roast a goose now, but after one hundred years they will hear a swan sing, and him they will have to endure.” These were allegedly the last words of a certain Jan Hus whose surname meant goose and who was burned at the stake on July 6, 1415. Almost exactly one hundred years later a spiritually tormented monk, frightened by a vengeful God who sought to damn him, was assigned to teach the book of Romans at the new university of Wittenberg. And 2 years later this monk by the name of Martin Luther did (or probably did not) nail his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church of that same town. As far as prophecies go, this must be one of the most accurate, assuming it was indeed true. But it wasn't just the foretelling of the next reformer that makes the trial of Jan Hus such a fascinating account. So much is foreshadowed in this tale, it is almost uncanny. The railing against indulgences, the wealth of the clergy, the pope, a promise of safe conduct, a trial, villains and archvillains, accusations upon accusations, defiance in the face of certain death and then the big difference to the diet of Worms, actual death. Have a listen, it is fun. The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.As always:Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.comFacebook: @HOTGPod Twitter: @germanshistoryInstagram: history_of_the_germansReddit: u/historyofthegermansPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/HistoryofthegermansTo make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season. So far I have:The Ottonians Salian Emperors and Investiture ControversyFredrick Barbarossa and Early HohenstaufenFrederick II Stupor MundiSaxony and Eastward ExpansionThe Hanseatic LeagueThe Teutonic KnightsThe Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356

Send us a textMartin Luther nailing his 95 Thesis to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, was just the beginning! A tidal wave of Reformers and followers who wanted the Roman Church to reform was released! But the Roman Church did not passively stand by while this Reformation took place. They answered back swiftly and sometimes brutally; but were still unable to stop the forces of the Protestant movement.  Join us as we look at the faceoff that occurred between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Reformers.Thanks for tuning in! Be sure to check out everything Proverbs 9:10 on our website, www.proverbs910ministries.com! You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Rumble, YouTube, Twitter, Truth Social, and Gettr!

Send us a textAs we've seen, the roots of the Reformation go back to the 3rd century! Many men and women fought to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but because of the church's intimidation and deadly tactics, these few and far between reformers were unsuccessful. But on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to the Castle Church door in Wittenburg, Germany, and it was the nail heard round the world!Thanks for tuning in! Be sure to check out everything Proverbs 9:10 on our website, www.proverbs910ministries.com! You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Rumble, YouTube, Twitter, Truth Social, and Gettr!

Happy Reformation Day! On this date in 1517, Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk and theology professor at the University of Wittenberg, posted his famous “Ninety-five Theses” protesting the sale of indulgences on the door of Wittenberg's Castle Church. Luther intended to reform the Catholic church from the inside. His critique of the church went beyond its corrupt practices to the bad theology underlying them, however. Over time, this critique led Luther and like-minded reformers to break with Catholicism and form new churches — Protestant churches. In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk with church historian Charlie Self about the Protestant Reformation, why there are in fact five Reformations, and what Pentecostals should make of the event. I'm George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Charlie Self, Ph.D., is visiting professor of church history at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri, an ordained Assemblies of God minister, and co-author with Johan Mostert and Jamé Bolds of Life in 5D: A New Vision of Discipleship. ————— This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with free curriculum for preschool, kids, youth, and adults, available in both English and Spanish. The curriculum library provides you with discipleship resources that transform lives and anchor your church in the Bible. Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to create your free account.

October 27, 2024 Reformation Service. The heart of the Gospel is the forgiveness of sins, purchased and won for us through the innocent death of Jesus Christ. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 statements for debate on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, German. This is the 507th anniversary of the beginning of the Lutheran Reformation.First Reading: Joshua 1:1-9.Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3:16-18.Gospel: John 15:1-17.Sermon Text: Psalm 46. Pastor Joel Heckendorf, President of the Arizona-California District

—Sermon text:Psalm 19:7–11 Download the discussion guide for this sermon here Reformation Sunday On Reformation Sunday, we celebrate the profound moment when a monk sparked a movement that changed the course of history. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, a German monk and professor, nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. This act was a call to debate leadership and a rebuke of the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly the sale of indulgences—a practice in which people paid for the forgiveness of sins.Luther's central concern was the question of salvation: Can we earn it through our works and gifts, or must it be received from God as a gift itself? Luther's study of Scripture led him to the truth that a sinner is forgiven and counted as righteous by God's grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9). While this doctrine of justification rested at the heart of what became the Protestant Reformation, the foundational issue was the authority of Scripture. Luther's courage to proclaim “Sola Scriptura” (Scripture alone) as the highest authority challenged centuries of tradition. He believed that the Bible—not the pope, councils, or tradition—was the ultimate authority in faith and practice.This rediscovery of the Gospel—rooted in God's Word—ignited a movement that brought the gospel to the masses, planted churches on every continent, and translated Scripture into the everyday language of people all over the world.On Reformation Sunday, we are not just remembering Martin Luther. We are celebrating God's work through his church, embracing Scripture as our ultimate authority, and preaching Christ alone as the only hope for sinners like us.

It's Monday, October 21st, A.D. 2024. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 125 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus British University issued “trigger warning” about reading Chaucer The University of Nottingham in England has issued a “trigger warning” to students studying various medieval literature, in part because of Christian themes in the texts, reports International Christian Concern. The Daily Mail on Sunday discovered the warning through a Freedom of Information Act request. The British university warned students that the course “Chaucer and His Contemporaries” contained issues of “violence, mental illness, and expressions of Christian faith.” Geoffrey Chaucer, most widely known for writing The Canterbury Tales, was a 14th-century English author and poet whose influence on English literature is on par with William Shakespeare. Chaucer, a Christian, is referred to by some as “the father of English poetry” and is said to have influenced C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. The warning seems close to censoring Christian voices altogether. 1 Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” Kamala: First presidential candidate to skip Catholic fundraiser in 40 years Former President Donald Trump was the only presidential candidate to appear at the prestigious 79th annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in Manhattan on Thursday, reports The Christian Post. Vice President Kamala Harris was repeatedly criticized during the event for being the first presidential candidate in 40 years to skip the dinner, which has been a staple of presidential campaigns for decades. She appeared instead in a pre-recorded video, which was not well-received by the audience. Comedian and emcee Jim Gaffigan, who is Catholic, offered scathing jokes against Harris and the Democratic Party, reports the New York Post. GAFFIGAN:  "You know, this event has been referred to as the Catholic Met Gala. Twenty-two percent of Americans identify as Catholic. Catholics will be a key demographic in every battleground state. I'm sorry, why is Vice President Harris not here?” (cheers, laughter) Gaffigan also mocked Democrats for calling Trump an existential threat to democracy despite ousting their own incumbent president without input from voters. GAFFIGAN:  "The Democrats have been telling us Trump's re-election is a threat to democracy. In fact, they were so concerned of this threat, they staged a coup, ousted their democratically elected incumbent, and installed Kamala Harris." Trump roasted Chuck Schumer and Tim Walz for leftist lunacy Trump roasted New York Senator Chuck Schumer and the Woke party that he represents which has embraced this unbiblical notion that a person can change his or her gender. TRUMP: “Chuck Schumer is here looking very glum. But look on the bright side, Chuck, considering how ‘woke' your party has become, if Kamala loses, you still have a chance to become the first woman president.” (laughter, cheers) Trump poked fun at Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for lying when he claimed that he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 when, in actuality, in Nebraska at the time. TRUMP: "Unfortunately Governor Walz isn't here himself, but don't worry, he'll say that he was.” By 2030, 16 million kids will exit public schools The current mass exodus from public schools suggests that only half of American students will attend them in 2030, according to a report entitled “The Future of K-12 Education. The Learning Counsel, an education research institute, said it expects the number of children in public schools to drop by 16 million over the next six years, leaving just 50.26% of students enrolled. Almost a third of American students will likely be homeschooled, reports The Liberty Sentinel. Drivers of this trend will include distrust of government, school choice legislation, and parental anger with sexually explicit indoctrination. How to finish global evangelization by 2030 And finally, too many believers do not have a sense of urgency to evangelize the lost. Dr. James Davis, the founder of the Global Church Network, explained to me how many people die every day worldwide without faith in Jesus Christ. DAVIS: “If we could imagine 132 plane crashes, which makes up 66,000 deaths, that's how many people die [each day], lost without Jesus Christ. And yet there's not a sense of urgency among some to do anything about it. There must be a paradigm shift that creates a sense of strategic urgency to evangelize, make disciples, plant churches, and help finish the Great Commission.” The Global Church Network has a vision to see the world evangelized by the year 2030.  Their website is www.Finish2030.com. DAVIS: “In 2015, at the graveside of Martin Luther at Castle Church, the Global Church Network, with distinguished leaders around the globe, set an ambitious and strategic goal to help complete the Great Commission by the 2000-year birthday of the church. That would be June 9, 10, and 11 in 2030 in Jerusalem at the International Convention Center. “On that day, we're inviting more than 3,000 distinguished leaders from around the world to convene at the convention center and honor the first 3,000 that came to Christ 2,000 years ago when Peter preached that very first sermon. This is why we call it Finish2030, the celebration of the 2000- year birthday of the church.” Dr. Davis explained that we need to move on from the paradigm of the West sharing the Gospel with the rest. DAVIS: “Over the last 200 years, North America has sent tens of thousands of missionaries from around the world, and we praise the Lord for that, but the church has grown up all over the world. The strongest churches in all of the world do not reside here in the United States of North America, or in particular, even in Europe. “No longer the West going to the rest, but the best around the world going to the rest of the world. We're moving from a mission field to mission force, from parenting to partnering, from not networking to networking.” The key to the strategy of the Global Church Network is creating global Christian hubs of influence worldwide. DAVIS: “Currently, there's more than 200 hubs in the Global Church Network. We call this the global hubs of Christianity. By 2030, we will have more than 800 hubs in the network. “Every hub does at least three things. Some do four. We all synergize the best relationships, tie those relational knots, face to face, in local churches. We systematize the very best training, and we strategize for unreached peoples. No one knows the neighborhood like the neighbors. In some hubs, we also Scripturalize new Bible translations for unreached peoples. “So, we want to strategically place those hubs around the world to help us get closer and closer to the unreached, so that we can finish the Great Commission.” In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus said, “All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Me.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Monday, October 21st, in the year of our Lord 2024. Subscribe by Amazon Music or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

It's Tuesday, October 31, 2023, and we're back with another exciting episode of "Another Great Day," brought to you by our pinchy but delicious sponsor, Lobsters! Join your hosts Aaron and Chris for a day filled with laughter, history, and thought-provoking discussions. First up is the "Word of the Day." We believe that knowing words can help you win Wheel of Fortune, so today's word is "clandestine." Learn its meaning and explore real-life examples of clandestine actions. In "This Day in History," we delve into a spooky historical event. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther is said to have nailed his 95 revolutionary opinions to the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, marking the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Chris, did Martin Luther have any long-lasting effects on the world? Share your thoughts! The "Question of the Day" presents a fun dilemma: Would you rather have the ability to sing perfectly or wake up with perfect hair every day? Make your choice and let us know! Of course, our Dad Joke Correspondent is on the scene, ready to bring more laughter to your day. To conclude, we explore Proverbs 24:30-34, emphasizing the importance of diligence and not falling into the trap of laziness. Our mission is to encourage interaction, creativity, and conversation, and we appreciate your support. If you enjoy the show, please share it with friends, rate and review us, and most importantly, join us every day for "Another Great Day"!

Check out The Jack & 'Chill Podcast here!http://atozenglishpodcast.com/episodeshttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jack-chill-podcast/id1709902691https://redcircle.com/shows/the-jack-and-chill-podcastOn October 31st, several significant events happened in history. Here are a few notable occurrences on this date:1517: Martin Luther, a German monk, nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. This event is considered the catalyst for the Protestant Reformation.1864: Nevada was admitted as the 36th state of the United States during the Civil War. It is known as the "Silver State" due to its significant silver mining industry.1926: Magician and escape artist Harry Houdini passed away in Detroit, Michigan. He was renowned for his daring escape acts and illusionist performances.1941: The famous Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota was completed after 14 years of carving the faces of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln into the mountain.1984: Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her bodyguards, leading to a period of political turmoil in India.1993: The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 827, creating the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to prosecute war crimes that occurred during the Yugoslav Wars.1999: EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 people on board. The cause of the crash remains a subject of debate and investigation.2011: The global population was estimated to have reached 7 billion people on this day, according to the United Nations.Halloween: October 31st is widely celebrated as Halloween in many countries, a holiday with origins in ancient Celtic and Christian traditions. It is a day for costumes, candy, and various spooky and fun activities.These are just a few of the events that have occurred on October 31st throughout history. This date has a mix of historical, cultural, and political significance.Podcast Website:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/a-to-z-this-day-in-world-history-october-31st/Social Media:Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. You can check it out here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aXaXaMY4P2VhVaEre5w7ABecome a member of Podchaser and leave a positive review!https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-a-to-z-english-podcast-4779670Join our Whatsapp group: https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7Intro/Outro Music: Daybird by Broke for Freehttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Directionless_EP/Broke_For_Free_-_Directionless_EP_-_03_Day_Bird/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcodehttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/eaters/simian-samba/audrey-horne/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-a-to-z-english-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This Sunday, we commemorate the 506th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, by exploring one of the most important texts of the Protestant reformers, Romans 3:19-28. What does it mean for sinners to be justified by faith alone? Justification isn't just a medieval problem. You, your friends, and neighbors are all looking for justification—a right standing before God and others. How do we get it and why does God graciously give it to us? Listen to find out.

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted the 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. This sparked the Reformation, a movement which directed people back to the Scriptures to realize that they were saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Jesus warned us ahead of time that his disciples would encounter the kinds of problems they faced at the time of Martin Luther. God's people endured them in the Old Testament, and they still take place in the lives of God's people today. We live as sheep among wolves, hated just like our Shepherd was, yet bringing his voice to those around us. In these end times, “Stand Firm on Your Salvation.” Our sermon today is from Romans 3.

In 1517, Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses and posted them to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg. What concerns drove him to do this? Today, R.C. Sproul navigates the controversy surrounding Johann Tetzel and the selling of indulgences. Get the Paperback Book and the Full 'Luther and the Reformation' Digital Teaching Series for Your Gift of Any Amount: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/2935/luther-and-the-reformation Don't forget to make RenewingYourMind.org your home for daily in-depth Bible study and Christian resources. A donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts

How much do you know about Martin Luther? Martin Luther is a monk turned Protestant Reformer. His nailing the 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517 is considered to be the spark that lit the Protestant Reformation. Now, Martin never intended to cause a schism in the church, but God used Luther to reveal the cancerous corruption that had grown in the Roman Catholic Church and brought the Scriptures to the common man through Luther's translation of the Bible into German, the common vernacular. Martin Luther's story is one of epic adventure and faith-building miracles as you see how God unfolded his sovereign plan for his glory and the good of his people. Join us as we discuss the story of Martin Luther's Life with Author Danika Cooley from ThinkingKidsPress.com. We will be discussing her book When Lightning Struck!: The Story of Martin Luther. Click here to read our written review. Resources Listed in this Episode: >> When Lightning Struck! The Story of Martin Luther by Danika Cooley >> Get Danika's ⁠Reformation Day Family Bundle⁠ autographed on SALE for a LIMITED TIME ONLY! >> Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible by Danika Cooley >> Bible Road Trip Bible Curriculum for Pre-K-12th - Get a FREE sample! >> Thinking Kids Press Crafts and Resources - TONS of FREE printables your kids will love! >> The Five Solas: Signs to Follow on the Narrow Path Family Bible Study >> Reformed Faith and Family OCTOBER FREEBIE: Ten Men Who Led the Protestant Reformation Lesson (Just use coupon code "ReformationDay" at checkout through 10/31/2023) Keep Up with Reformed Faith and Family in the Following Ways: Never miss an episode, article, or a new FREEBIE by joining our weekly newsletter here: https://reformedfaithandfamily.com/subscribe/ Build your library with our recommended resources: https://reformedfaithandfamily.com/recommended-resources/ Read the latest articles: https://reformedfaithandfamily.com/blog/ Download your FREEBIES in our store: https://reformedfaithandfamily.com/store/ Check out the Swag Shop: https://reformedfaithandfamily.com/swag-shop/ WE HAVE A FAVOR TO ASK! If you are excited about our mission at Reformed Faith and Family to guide men and women as they seek to learn more about Reformed theology and equip families as they disciple their children, then please leave our podcast a 5-star review and share it with a friend. We appreciate each one of our faithful listeners, but we also depend on you to help us get the word out. Thank you for your continued support! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/reformed-faith-and-family/message

1 John 1:1-4Rev. Erik Veerman11/06/2022Credible Witnesses of Credible FaithWe're beginning a new series this morning in the book of 1 John. You can find 1 John on page 1210 in the pew Bibles.I've been looking forward to our study and would encourage you to read through the book this week. It's 5 chapters. It will take us about 4 months to work through - four sermons this month and then after an advent break, we'll pick back up in January. It's highly likely that 1 John was written by the apostle John. John was one Jesus 12 disciples. His name is never mentioned in the book, but there's very compelling Scriptural and historical evidence that he authored it. We'll get into that today.We'll begin with chapter 1 verses 1-4.Reading pg 1 John 1:1-4PrayerFact or fiction? Genuine or in-authentic? Real or fake?We spend a lot of time these days trying to discern what is authentic and true.You would think, in our digital age where so many things are captured in images and videos, that it would be easy to determine what really happened versus what is made up. You would think that with all the information up there in the internet cloud, that we'd have all we need to know to figure out what is true and right versus what is false and wrong.But we don't. It's kind of the opposite, today. We're overwhelmed with the amount of stuff out there to sift through. Plus, everyone claims to know what is true and what is right.•            You see a picture of an event… but then later, someone claims it's just a deep fake - photoshopped by an expert graphic artist. •            Or you watch a video, but then someone claims it's been doctored with CGI. •            You hear a testimony of something that happened. But then you hear the other side – lies, they say. Fake news.How do you know what is true? Who can you trust?It's very unsettling. It's like the ground we are standing on is unstable and unsure. It affects our confidence in what we believe and know. Our souls are unsettled.A recent Barna survey found that 2/3 of Christians experience or have experienced spiritual doubts of some kind. 1/4 of Christians have ongoing doubts about faith and belief. That number is higher for younger generations. I've experienced it… uncertainty in my life, and many of you have or do as well.Doubt is part of the Christian experience. You are not alone. And the unsettledness of the world around us, the increasing plurality of views and beliefs only heightens the struggle.And you know this, it's more than just an intellectual exercise of figuring out what is right and wrong. It's personal. We ask ourselves, am I dedicating my life to something that is true? Or we ask, am I genuinely a Christian? How do I know?When you and I have these questions, we need to address them. If we bottle them up, that unsettledness is going to increase. And we need to come alongside of one another to think through and pray through those questions.And that is where the book of 1 John comes in. It's about discerning those things: what is true and right; what is authentic and credible; who to believe and what is faithful. 1 John is about you and me. It's about knowing and having assurance of our own faith. In fact, that word “know” comes up 32 times in these 5 chapters. Some instances are about having confidence in what we believe. Other uses are about knowing what is true faith verses what is not. Flip over to chapter 5. If you look at verse 13, it captures the purpose of 1 John: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” The author wants his readers to have confidence in their faith.My hope in this study is that we'll each come out of it with a solid foundation for our faith. That 1 John will help us have confidence in our faith… knowing what is right versus what is wrong, truth from error, and what can be trusted and what can't. I hope that it challenges and reinforces our beliefs and lives - not just individually but for us as a church. Is what we believe and practice faithful and true?Ok, let's spend a majority of our time this morning on two things. Authorship and situatuation.1. Authorship – Did the apostle John really write this letter?2. Situation – When and why did he write it?Does that sound boring? It may, but there are some really rich things in here for us. Understanding who wrote the book and why very much relates to knowing what is true and right and good.1. AuthorshipNow, one of the big differences between this book, 1 John, and other New Testament letters is that there's no opening salutation. The author doesn't say who he is and to whom he is writing. And that's the same for the ending. There's no final greeting; no concluding thank you's; no references to dear friends by name; and nowhere in the book does the author mention his name!We have all these unknowns in the letter, yet so many have attributed this letter to the apostle John.Why?Well, let me give you some answers. And I think you'll find them somewhat compelling and convicting.First, in the opening verses, the author basically tells us that he was a disciple of Jesus. He does that by describing Jesus and describing his interaction with Jesus. He doesn't name Jesus Christ until the end of verse 3, but he calls him “that which was from the beginning.” The author names him “the word of life.” He writes that this life “was with the father” and also “made manifest” which means, plainly revealed. All of that language is describing the son of God who came to us.And notice that the author uses the plural pronouns “we” and “us” to describe his interaction with Jesus. You're probably thinking, “Wait, wait, wait! You're telling me that there's one author to this book, and yet in the very opening verses there are 9 ‘we' and ‘us' references. It sure sounds to me like there are multiple authors!” I would agree with that, if all we had were these opening 4 verses. However, 10 times in the rest of the book, the author says “I write” or “I am writing.” The difference is, in these first 4 verses, the author is establishing his credibility. He's not just any other follower of Jesus who happens to be alive in the last decade of the first century. No, he was a disciple of Jesus. By using “we” he was emphasizing his identity as one of the 12 original disciples. “We” collectively witnessed Jesus personally. Multiple times: “we have heard,” “we have seen with our eyes,” “we looked upon and have touched with our hands,” “we have seen and heard and proclaim.” It's like the author was saying “My testimony about what is true and faithful (what you can believe!) comes from the word of life, himself, Jesus, and his message. We lived with him. We followed him. We were discipled by him. Even though these words are from my pen, they come from the credible testimony of all of us who were Jesus' disciples.”Beloved, these words that we will be studying are not just a letter from any old pastor to his congregation back in the first century. No, they are credible words from a credible source – a disciple of Jesus. It's why the church, through the Holy Spirit has recognized this book as authoritative and true. As Scripture.What I'm saying is that you can trust these words and believe them. Before moving on, let's go back to the specific question of authorship. You still may be thinking, “Ok, the author was a disciple of Jesus. I see that. But which disciple? Why John?” Well, that answer comes from two places. History and the content of the letter.On the history side, John was the longest living disciple of Jesus. Probably by 20-30 years. He lived into his mid-90s, which is incredible for that time period. Because of his age, he discipled many people. And John's disciples lived well into the second century. His most well-known disciple was Polycarp. He's considered one of the early church fathers. We have writings from Polycarp and other disciples of John. And they help answer our question. In their writings, they attribute this letter to John himself.But besides the history, the other thing that you may have noticed is the style and content. The wording is so similar to the Gospel of John. Earlier in the service we read the beginning verses of John's Gospel. The syntax and phrases are very similar… the word, life, in or from the beginning, made manifest. And the parallels continue throughout the book. Add to that, both books are less structured and more free flowing than other books of the Bible.This letter is beautifully composed with interwoven ideas. The author comes back around several times to earlier ideas, but adds further nuances and relationships. It's a work of art. It's like a John Williams symphony. You know, like Star Wars. The opening introduces the themes, and those melodies are highlighted throughout in different ways. Different instruments with different dynamics.The Gospel of John and this letter both have that style. As we work through 1 John, we'll see those repeated themes. I think you'll find it profound and compelling in different ways. There's a second content related reason why it makes sense for John to be the author. The book, in part, address the relationship between Jesus' humanity and divinity. It directly answers the question, was Jesus truly God? The way John answers that question indicates that some were teaching that Jesus wasn't fully God. Historically, those theological questions didn't begin to come up until the very end of the first century and in to the early second century. So, this letter was very likely written near the turn of the first century. And as I mentioned, John was the only disciple still living at that time.So, a letter written by a disciple of Jesus, a letter with very strong parallels to John's Gospel account, attributed to John by his own disciples, and a letter dealing with issues that John would have dealt with. I submit to you that this is God's Word given to us through the pen of the apostle John. It's credible. It's authenticate. We can trust it and believe it. It's not fake, but genuine. And it comes from a man who walked with Jesus. Who was one of Jesus' closest friends, called the disciple whom Jesus loved.The apostle John, disciple of Jesus, author of this book for us.2. SituationSo, that's the authorship question. Now let turn our attention to the situation.What was the occasion for this book? Why did John write this and to whom did he write?In a sense, we've already considered a couple of reasons. First, I mentioned the desire for John to give his readers assurance. To know whether their faith was authentic. Second, I mentioned that John addressed issues in the book related to Jesus' divinity and humanity – that he was God and man.But let me step back for a minute. Nowhere in the book are we told to whom John was writing. But what is really clear is that he knows them and he loves them. Something about 1 John is so endearing and personal. He loves this family of faith. He is so personally concerned about their beliefs, their love for each other, and how they are to live out their faith. He calls them children. Six times he calls them “beloved.” He knows them well.Now, I can't tell you for sure who specifically John wrote to, but I can say that he very likely wrote this after his exile on the island of Patmos. John had lived there for a few years. It's where God revealed the book of Revelation to him. Historical accounts indicate that after his exile, John lived the last years of his life in Ephesus. It's probable that he wrote this letter to the church in Ephesus, while he was living his final days among them. Ephesus was a very influential city in the region. The apostle Paul had planted a church there 40 or so years earlier. As an older man, it would have been a natural place for John to spend his final years in ministry.Now, we don't know for sure. And I don't think we will know who the audience is on this side of eternity.It's a good reminder that while yes, it was written by John to a specific people, yet we are also among God's intended audience. We can't lose sight of that fact. Yes, we have to understand it through the lens of the author and situation (and we're given some clues here). But God has also given us this word. It's for you and for me. It's for us to be challenged, and assured, and for us to know God in Christ.Ok, I have been thinking a lot about the occasion for John writing this letter and how it relates to us. While we don't know whether his audience really was the Ephesians, we do know the broader situation of the time. And I would say, challenges to Christianity at the end of the first century has some similarities to challenges that we face today, but from vastly different angles.Let's go back in time to sometime between the year 95 and 105 AD. And think about this: it had been 60-70 years since Jesus' death and resurrection. In those decades, Christianity had spread far and wide in the region. Also by that time, the Gospel accounts of Jesus life had been written, several letters were penned by different Apostles, but there was no complete New Testament yet. Copies of the different letters and historical accounts were still making their way around. Add to that, Paul had died 30 years earlier, and, as I mentioned, historical accounts indicate that all of Jesus disciples except John had also passed from this world. So they were in a precarious state. Different beliefs about Jesus and about Christianity began to emerge. Different teachers started teaching contradictory views. Imagine living in the early second century. And imagine hearing different teachings about Jesus, about your faith, about your living, about your relationships. Who do you trust? Where do you turn? How do you know what is right and wrong? How do you know if you are a Christian?The vacuum of authority was being filled by different views that contradicted one another. Do you see how that would be spiritually unsettling back then?And there's a similar spiritual unsettledness today. No, it's not a vacuum that's being filled, rather it's the opposite. It's a preponderance of beliefs and views and lifestyles out there. It's a similar struggle, but from the opposite side. We ask, how do I sort through it all? Where do I turn to find what's true and right and good? How do I know that I am following the right path?These are the very things that John is addressing in his letter.And you ask, where do I begin to get those answers?Well, in these opening verses, yes, John is establishing his credibility. Yes, he's telling them to listen to him. But the very center of his appeal is not himself. It's not him nor the other disciples who were with him that he's emphasizing. Rather, he is directing them to Jesus.Jesus is the overwhelming emphasis of these verses. He is where we should begin.John establishes the identity of Jesus as God in the flesh. He existed in the very beginning. Verse 1. And verse 2, he is the eternal life and he is with the Father. He has full fellowship with God the Father because, verse 3, he is God's Son. And John says his life was “made manifest.” He visibly and tangibly came to us. He became one of us.This Jesus, whom they saw, and touched, and with whom they had fellowship was God's very Son. He is God. Jesus is the one who makes their testimony credible. And all throughout this letter, John goes back to Jesus… to who he is and what he has done.And I want you to notice something in the very opening words. Notice the book begins with the word “that.” “that which was from the beginning.” Why didn't John begin with “who?” Why didn't he say, “he who was from the beginning?” That seems like it would be the more natural way to write about Christ.The reason is: John is not only speaking about Jesus (who he is), John is also speaking about Jesus' ministry and message. He doesn't just want them to know the person of Jesus. He also wants them to have fellowship with Jesus as well.He calls Jesus the “word of life.” That's very similar to the opening of John's Gospel. “In the beginning was the word” and a few verses later “and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Christ is eternal life and he brings eternal life. That is why he is the word of life. You see, John was affirming both the person and work of Christ. John was pointing to Jesus' ministry which would bring life to them. The desire of John's heart was that they also would have fellowship with God through Christ Jesus (that's verse 3). And verse 4 reveals that John longed for this. It would be the joy of his heart for them to also know and believe and have fellowship with God through Christ. For those of us here who have that fellowship, it would also be our joy, for you come to the one true God through Christ.ConclusionJohn begins his letter with the foundation upon which to set our spiritual feet. He wants us to know the true Jesus and have faith in him. Let me boil it down to this: the credible witness to which John and the disciples testified is Christ. He is the eternal God, the word of life, he came to give us life. It's through him we can know God, and through which we can know what good and right and true.With all the shifting sand below our feet, we can trust him. When doubts come about our faith, we can look to Jesus.When were not sure who to trust and what to believe, we can turn to the credible life and ministry of Jesus, who was from the beginning.When we question our faith, when we wonder if we have true faith, we can come to the one who has given us faith… the word of life who is the only giver of life.IntroductionOur sermon text this morning is from the book of Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 1-10. Page 1159. This letter was written by the apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus. Ephesus is on the western shore of modern-day Turkey. Paul spent about 3 years in Ephesus and he wrote this letter a few years after that time. The apostle's purpose was to encourage them in what they believed and how that belief should be worked out in their lives.The reason we're studying these particular verses, is that out of the entire New Testament, I think these verses capture the very heart of Salvation in Christ. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. That Biblical teaching was the center of the Protestant Reformation. So, since tomorrow is the anniversary of the Reformation, we'll be focusing on Ephesians 2.READ Ephesians 2:1-10PRAYWhy does the Protestant Reformation matter? Why take one of our Sunday morning worship services to focus on it?That question is very legitimate. You should be asking it. Many of you have probably wondered why. Well, I hope to answer those questions this morning with a little history and an analysis of these verses.And by the way, I don't intend this to be an annual thing. We just happened to be between sermon series, so I thought it would be a good day to focus on these reformation principles that Scripture teaches.And another important question is, what was the Protestant Reformation? I can't really answer why it matters without answering the “what.” And to do that, we need to begin with the early church. 2000 years ago Jesus commissioned his apostles to establish his church. As the New Testament describes it, the church includes the people of God throughout all time from every tribe, tongue, and nation, who believed in Jesus, God's son, as Savior. The book of Acts, which we studied last year, describes the explosion of growth of the church beginning in Jerusalem. It expanded throughout the Mediterranean region and began to go to the ends of the earth. That growth and expansion to every tribe, tongue, and nation, is continuing today.But even with the tremendous growth of the church over the centuries, the church has struggled in different ways. In the Roman Empire, Christianity spread all throughout. In the 4th century, civil leaders including the emperor became so sympathetic to Christianity, that it became the religion of the state. It was quite the turn of events, especially after the persecution of Christians in the first three centuries. Becoming the formal religion of the empire may sound good, but it caused a lot of problems. It mixed the civil authority and church leadership. When that happened, the church began to lose its focus and mission. The purposes of the state filtered into the church. The civil magistrates became leaders of the church because of the overlap. Wars were even fought in the name of Christianity. Besides the unholy mixture, it also led to many abuses involving power and money. That only increased over time. Men could buy their way into leadership in the church. That's how corrupt the church had become. And over the centuries, a separation grew between the people and the church authority. By the 14th and 15th centuries, Christianity didn't look anything like Biblical Christianity today. The people were not allowed to read the Bible for themselves. No, that was reserved for the clergy. The worship services were in Latin, not the language of the people. The church even taught and practiced that you could buy forgiveness of sins for yourself and even your deceased loved ones.You ask, how could all of that continue? Wasn't there anyone who understood what the Scriptures taught and could stand up for the truth? Well, yes! Many tried to, but they were burned alive for their teaching.On the outside, the Gospel had been lost, the Scriptures were obscured, and the church was corrupt.But God was at work. By the 16th century, God had begun to stir a revolution in the hearts and minds of his true people.On October 31st, 1517, a young Augustinian Monk, named Martin Luther, walked across town. He lived in the little town of Wittenburg in the northern part of Germany. He unfolded a parchment and nailed to the door of Castle Church. It included 95 statements or theses. Each highlighted a different abuse in the church that didn't align with what the Bible taught - 95 of them.There was no fanfare or press. At the time, if you had something to announce, you put it on the door of the church. Luther merely wanted to dialog about these abuses. But some of Luther's students took his 95 theses, copied them, and distributed them all over the region.The 95 theses were the spark that started the flame of the Protestant Reformation. Protestant meaning protest and reformation meaning a re-formation back to what the Scriptures taught.The reformation literally changed the world. Many have called the Protestant Reformation the most significant historical event of the last 2000 years, at least in western culture. And that Reformation is still continuing today. I think the further out we get from the reformation, the broader the impact that it has, not just in western culture, but all across the world. And it has impacted the world in lots of different ways… literacy and education, vocation and work ethic, the separation of church and state, seeing all people as being created in the image of God, to name a few.But what was and is the most significant impact of the Reformation?Well, the most significant impact of the Protestant Reformation was and is the recovery of the Gospel. God used the Reformation to restore to prominence the centrality of salvation by faith in Christ alone.We may take it for granted today, but back then, the Gospel had been hidden, bottled up, concealed. It was, in a sense, lost.And here is where Ephesians 2:1-10 comes in. It teaches the heart of the Gospel. These verses capture very well what was brought to light again. The phrase that summarizes it this: Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.This is what the reformers taught, but they didn't make it up! No, they were teaching what the Scriptures teach about salvation. Look at Ephesians 2 and jump down to verse 8. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”We could probably end right there, and we'd be good. But let's work some of these details. •            “by grace alone” point 1. •            “through faith alone” point 2. •            “in Christ alone” point 3.1. By Grace AloneSo first, by grace alone. That word grace is scattered throughout these verses. It means an undeserved gift. And I think if you had to come up with a full definition of what grace is, you would look no further than Ephesians 2:1-10. It doesn't just tell us that salvation is a gift from God. No, it also tells us why it is a gift.Verses 1-3 get to the problem – we were dead in our sins! This is talking about spiritual death. We may have been alive in our bodies, but we were of the devil. We had no capacity to know God, no capacity to believe, no hope for any kind of reconciliation with God, and no future with him. Not half dead. Spiritually dead as a doornail.But even though we were dead, we were made alive by God's grace. That's right in verses 4 and 5 “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.”The image here is not of God coming halfway down to us, and we coming halfway to him, meeting in the middle. No! We had no spiritual pulse. We were doomed. We had no ability in any way to come to God. It is all God's work. He fully comes down to us. “Grace alone” captures both the gift part and the undeserved part.There's a great quote about the reformation understanding of “grace alone.” I don't know who to attribute it to because it's been used so widely without reference. Grace alone means “grace at the start, grace to the end, grace in the middle, grace without fail, grace without mixture, grace without addition, grace that allows no boasting, and grace that precludes all glorying but in the Lord.”Salvation is all a gift of grace from God from beginning to end.When I was in college, a couple times we would go to the local community college and talk to people. Our desire was to share the hope of Christ. We used a survey to start the conversation – and one of the questions was this “why should God let you in to his heaven?” Almost every single person said this “because I am a good person.” That's our natural inclination, isn't it? To think that we're good enough for God to accept us. That we can reach out to God and then he'll reach out to us.The problem is, that's not what the Scriptures teach. Like it says in Ephesians 2, we're dead in our sin. We're children of wrath. There's nothing we can do to come to God or be acceptable in his sight. Rather, it's all his grace. The end of verse 8 into verse 9 captures it well. “…it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” When we see that salvation is all by God's grace, it humbles us and directs our gaze to him, seeking to glorify him.Romans 11 also captures it well. Verse 6 “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.”In salvation, God take our cold dead hearts that deserve nothing but hell, and he gives us a new heart. It's all by his grace. Nothing else. The Holy Spirit awakens us and brings us to Christ. God frees us from the penalty of sin, raising us from spiritual death, and bringing us to spiritual life. None of it is our own doing.Salvation is by grace alone. There's no merit in salvation. We were dead, and he made us alive.Grace alone.2. Through Faith AloneAnd second, salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone.Martin Luther lived on the eastern side of Wittenburg. The building was known as the Black Cloister. It was a three-story building, built earlier in the 16th century for the clergy – for monks. In 1517, it was where Luther and about a dozen other monks lived, who served the town. Eventually, that same building, the Black Cloister, would become the home where he and Katie would raise their children, and host their famous Tabletalk gatherings. In the front of the building was a spiral tower that rose above the structure. Up high in the tower was a study room. Luther spent a lot of time there studying, and thinking, and praying. In fact, at one point Luther locked himself in his tower study for a couple of days. He was so engrossed in his research and prayer that he tuned the world out. Well, Katie, it's said, got so fed up with it, so she took the hinges off the door, in order to break him out.But let's go back to 1517. I think it's true to say that Luther's 95 grievances sparked the reformation. But what brought Luther to that point? When did his heart change?Later in his life, Luther wrote about his “tower” experience. You see, earlier in 1517, he was in the Black Cloister tower… and he was thinking about God's righteousness. One of the things that haunted Luther up to that point was the idea of God's righteousness. It brought terror to his heart. Fear gripped him at the mere thought of the almighty God's divine justice. It angered him. Luther wrote that he “raged with a fierce and troubled conscience over it.” He wrote that he hated the righteousness of God, which punishes sinners.And as he grappled with God's righteousness in the Black Cloister tower, he was reading Romans 1:17. That was part of our assurance of pardon this morning. You can read it in the order of service. Verse 16 speaks about the Gospel, which it defines as “the power of God for salvation for those who believe.” And then in verse 17, it says, “For in it [in the Gospel], the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.'”And there in the tower in early 1517, God revealed to Luther justification by faith. The eyes of his heart were opened. All the lies from the church about merit-based salvation came crashing down. Luther came to understand that our righteousness is not a righteousness of our own based on works. Rather, he came to understand that it is a righteousness that comes from God through faith. It is a righteousness given to us, when we believe by faith. That faith itself also being a gift from God.Luther wrote of that day in the tower that he felt that he was altogether born again and “had entered paradise itself through the open gates.” He wrote later in life that, “there I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith.” And so it began. The gospel flame of justification by faith in Luther's heart, which God would use to spark the Reformation.It could be said that the Reformation started, not when Luther posted his 95 critiques of the church, but a few months earlier. In that Black Cloister tower, God brought him from a place of crisis to a place of believing in the righteousness of God through faith.But what is faith? As Hebrews 11 says, faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” That conviction and hope involves knowing, believing, and trusting in God. Faith is the means or the instrument, through which we participate in the righteousness of God. Let's go back to Ephesians 2 verse 8 again. “for by grace you have been saved through faith.” The prepositions are important here. We're saved “by” grace, “through” faith. The power of salvation come by God's grace. It's received, “through faith.” Through meaning faith is the avenue or channel. Faith is not the thing that does the justifying, rather it's the thing through which we receive righteousness from God in Christ. To be sure, it's fine to say “by faith.” The Scriptures use that description as well. We “walk by faith,” we “live by faith.” But here in Ephesians 2, it is defining the relationship between grace and faith. It helpfully says by grace, through faith. Our faith does not justify us. God does. We receive his righteousness through faith. In just a couple of minutes we'll consider the grounds of our justification, but faith is the channel through which God saves us. We are saved by the gift of grace alone, which we receive through faith alone.It's really important to understand that these three concepts cannot be separated. By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The unmerited saving grace of God is the gift of Christ. And the faith that God gives is a faith in Christ for what he has done. It's not works, it's not merit or any special status that someone has, rather it's a gift from God. In other words, the grace of God and the faith that God gives us is inseparable from the ministry of Christ. 3. In Christ Alone“In Christ alone” mean that the grace and faith are in Christ alone. In other words, God's grace comes to us only in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is the object of our faith. We believe by faith in Christ. You see, it's a package deal, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.Ephesians 2 makes that clear. •            Verse 5, “even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ.” Our spiritual deadness was remedied by Christ. We've been made alive with him. That is God's grace in Christ for us now.•            And Verse 6 – God “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” This speaks of God's future grace for us in Christ. Verse 7 verifies that. It says, “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” The immeasurable riches of God's grace is found in Christ.Our faith is in the grace given to us in Christ.When we say that salvation is in Christ alone, we are saying three things.•            First, the once-and-for-all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was the only sacrifice that could atone for sin. His ransom payment is the only payment sufficient to pay our debt. Nothing else. •            But also, and second, Christ is our only savior. No one else and nothing else can save us from death and damnation and give us eternal hope. He alone can save.•            And third, he is the only mediator between God and man. Jesus is the only one we need to go to for forgiveness and to be in communion with God. There's no one else.In the 16th century, the church was not teaching that salvation was found in Christ alone. In fact, much of the teaching was quite the opposite. The “mass” which was their worship service, included the idea of re-sacrificing Christ. That was part of their understanding of communion. In other words, Jesus' sacrifice was not a once-and-for-all sacrifice. Related to that, the church also believed that taking the Lord's Supper was necessary for salvation. It gave you saving grace, not just God's sustaining grace. Furthermore, they believed the priests played a mediatorial role. You had to go to a priest to confess and receive forgiveness. But Christ alone is our mediator. Even worse, the church taught that you had to pay for your sin and work for your salvation. That included paying money, called indulgences. You had to recite certain prayers and live a good life in order for God to accept you. You see, salvation wasn't a free gift. Christ's payment wasn't sufficient. In other words, Salvation wasn't by faith alone in Christ alone, it included faith plus a priest, faith plus taking communion, faith plus indulgences, and other types of faith plus works.ConclusionBut the fire of the Reformation had been started. As the Scriptures were being taught, all these false views of salvation were being exposed. God was on move in the hearts and minds of many. One of those was a young French law student, who at some point in the early 1530s came to an understanding of grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. His name was John Calvin. In 1533 he wrote a speech for one of the bishops of the church in Paris. In it were these words: “[the priests] teach nothing of faith, nothing of the love of God, nothing of the remission of sins, nothing of grace, nothing of justification; or if they do so, they pervert and undermine it all…. I beg you, who are here present, not to tolerate any longer these heresies and abuses.” As you can imagine, that speech, although true, caused an uproar. Persecution began to spread throughout France. Both the Bishop who delivered the address, and Calvin who wrote it, fled for their lives. Calvin, allegedly, had to dress up as a gardener and be lowered down by a sheet from a window to escape. He would flee to Switzerland and eventually ended up in Geneva. He became yet another pillar used by God, to bring about a true revival of what the Scriptures teach.The heart of the Gospel as Ephesians 2:1-10 teaches, would not and will not be repressed. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone.May we each know and believe in the love of God in Christ… that while we were dead in our sin, God made us alive in Christ, by his grace. We receive it not by works, not by merit, but through faith. It's the only hope we have. Amen.

On October 31, 1517, a German monk nailed his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, changing the world forever. In today's special edition, hear a discussion that R.C. Sproul shared with Chris Larson and Lee Webb about Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. Get R.C. Sproul's New Book 'Luther and the Reformation' plus the DVD Series for Your Gift of Any Amount: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/2393/luther-and-the-reformation Don't forget to make RenewingYourMind.org your home for daily in-depth Bible study and Christian resources.

Reformation Day is celebrated by Protestant Christians as the day to recognize and commemorate Martin Luther's nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517. What caused the reformation? What were the religious, social, and economic events that were happening in that day? On Monday's Mornings with Eric and Brigitte, President of Knox Theological Seminary, Dr. Scott Manor and Professor of Biblical Studies, Sam Lamerson join us to discuss how the church should think about reformation today, and are there parts of the reformation that the church has forgotten about and needs to be reminded of?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ephesians 2:1-10Rev. Erik Veerman10/30/2022By Grace Alone, Through Faith Alone, in Christ AloneIntroductionOur sermon text this morning is from the book of Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 1-10. Page 1159. This letter was written by the apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus. Ephesus is on the western shore of modern-day Turkey. Paul spent about 3 years in Ephesus and he wrote this letter a few years after that time. The apostle's purpose was to encourage them in what they believed and how that belief should be worked out in their lives.The reason we're studying these particular verses, is that out of the entire New Testament, I think these verses capture the very heart of Salvation in Christ. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. That Biblical teaching was the center of the Protestant Reformation. So, since tomorrow is the anniversary of the Reformation, we'll be focusing on Ephesians 2.READ Ephesians 2:1-10PRAYWhy does the Protestant Reformation matter? Why take one of our Sunday morning worship services to focus on it?That question is very legitimate. You should be asking it. Many of you have probably wondered why. Well, I hope to answer those questions this morning with a little history and an analysis of these verses.And by the way, I don't intend this to be an annual thing. We just happened to be between sermon series, so I thought it would be a good day to focus on these reformation principles that Scripture teaches.And another important question is, what was the Protestant Reformation? I can't really answer why it matters without answering the “what.” And to do that, we need to begin with the early church. 2000 years ago Jesus commissioned his apostles to establish his church. As the New Testament describes it, the church includes the people of God throughout all time from every tribe, tongue, and nation, who believed in Jesus, God's son, as Savior. The book of Acts, which we studied last year, describes the explosion of growth of the church beginning in Jerusalem. It expanded throughout the Mediterranean region and began to go to the ends of the earth. That growth and expansion to every tribe, tongue, and nation, is continuing today.But even with the tremendous growth of the church over the centuries, the church has struggled in different ways. In the Roman Empire, Christianity spread all throughout. In the 4th century, civil leaders including the emperor became so sympathetic to Christianity, that it became the religion of the state. It was quite the turn of events, especially after the persecution of Christians in the first three centuries. Becoming the formal religion of the empire may sound good, but it caused a lot of problems. It mixed the civil authority and church leadership. When that happened, the church began to lose its focus and mission. The purposes of the state filtered into the church. The civil magistrates became leaders of the church because of the overlap. Wars were even fought in the name of Christianity. Besides the unholy mixture, it also led to many abuses involving power and money. That only increased over time. Men could buy their way into leadership in the church. That's how corrupt the church had become. And over the centuries, a separation grew between the people and the church authority. By the 14th and 15th centuries, Christianity didn't look anything like Biblical Christianity today. The people were not allowed to read the Bible for themselves. No, that was reserved for the clergy. The worship services were in Latin, not the language of the people. The church even taught and practiced that you could buy forgiveness of sins for yourself and even your deceased loved ones.You ask, how could all of that continue? Wasn't there anyone who understood what the Scriptures taught and could stand up for the truth? Well, yes! Many tried to, but they were burned alive for their teaching.On the outside, the Gospel had been lost, the Scriptures were obscured, and the church was corrupt.But God was at work. By the 16th century, God had begun to stir a revolution in the hearts and minds of his true people.On October 31st, 1517, a young Augustinian Monk, named Martin Luther, walked across town. He lived in the little town of Wittenburg in the northern part of Germany. He unfolded a parchment and nailed to the door of Castle Church. It included 95 statements or theses. Each highlighted a different abuse in the church that didn't align with what the Bible taught - 95 of them.There was no fanfare or press. At the time, if you had something to announce, you put it on the door of the church. Luther merely wanted to dialog about these abuses. But some of Luther's students took his 95 theses, copied them, and distributed them all over the region.The 95 theses were the spark that started the flame of the Protestant Reformation. Protestant meaning protest and reformation meaning a re-formation back to what the Scriptures taught.The reformation literally changed the world. Many have called the Protestant Reformation the most significant historical event of the last 2000 years, at least in western culture. And that Reformation is still continuing today. I think the further out we get from the reformation, the broader the impact that it has, not just in western culture, but all across the world. And it has impacted the world in lots of different ways… literacy and education, vocation and work ethic, the separation of church and state, seeing all people as being created in the image of God, to name a few.But what was and is the most significant impact of the Reformation?Well, the most significant impact of the Protestant Reformation was and is the recovery of the Gospel. God used the Reformation to restore to prominence the centrality of salvation by faith in Christ alone.We may take it for granted today, but back then, the Gospel had been hidden, bottled up, concealed. It was, in a sense, lost.And here is where Ephesians 2:1-10 comes in. It teaches the heart of the Gospel. These verses capture very well what was brought to light again. The phrase that summarizes it this: Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.This is what the reformers taught, but they didn't make it up! No, they were teaching what the Scriptures teach about salvation. Look at Ephesians 2 and jump down to verse 8. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”We could probably end right there, and we'd be good. But let's work some of these details. • “by grace alone” point 1. • “through faith alone” point 2. • “in Christ alone” point 3.1. By Grace AloneSo first, by grace alone. That word grace is scattered throughout these verses. It means an undeserved gift. And I think if you had to come up with a full definition of what grace is, you would look no further than Ephesians 2:1-10. It doesn't just tell us that salvation is a gift from God. No, it also tells us why it is a gift.Verses 1-3 get to the problem – we were dead in our sins! This is talking about spiritual death. We may have been alive in our bodies, but we were of the devil. We had no capacity to know God, no capacity to believe, no hope for any kind of reconciliation with God, and no future with him. Not half dead. Spiritually dead as a doornail.But even though we were dead, we were made alive by God's grace. That's right in verses 4 and 5 “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.”The image here is not of God coming halfway down to us, and we coming halfway to him, meeting in the middle. No! We had no spiritual pulse. We were doomed. We had no ability in any way to come to God. It is all God's work. He fully comes down to us. “Grace alone” captures both the gift part and the undeserved part.There's a great quote about the reformation understanding of “grace alone.” I don't know who to attribute it to because it's been used so widely without reference. Grace alone means “grace at the start, grace to the end, grace in the middle, grace without fail, grace without mixture, grace without addition, grace that allows no boasting, and grace that precludes all glorying but in the Lord.”Salvation is all a gift of grace from God from beginning to end.When I was in college, a couple times we would go to the local community college and talk to people. Our desire was to share the hope of Christ. We used a survey to start the conversation – and one of the questions was this “why should God let you in to his heaven?” Almost every single person said this “because I am a good person.” That's our natural inclination, isn't it? To think that we're good enough for God to accept us. That we can reach out to God and then he'll reach out to us.The problem is, that's not what the Scriptures teach. Like it says in Ephesians 2, we're dead in our sin. We're children of wrath. There's nothing we can do to come to God or be acceptable in his sight. Rather, it's all his grace. The end of verse 8 into verse 9 captures it well. “…it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” When we see that salvation is all by God's grace, it humbles us and directs our gaze to him, seeking to glorify him.Romans 11 also captures it well. Verse 6 “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.”In salvation, God take our cold dead hearts that deserve nothing but hell, and he gives us a new heart. It's all by his grace. Nothing else. The Holy Spirit awakens us and brings us to Christ. God frees us from the penalty of sin, raising us from spiritual death, and bringing us to spiritual life. None of it is our own doing.Salvation is by grace alone. There's no merit in salvation. We were dead, and he made us alive.Grace alone.2. Through Faith AloneAnd second, salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone.Martin Luther lived on the eastern side of Wittenburg. The building was known as the Black Cloister. It was a three-story building, built earlier in the 16th century for the clergy – for monks. In 1517, it was where Luther and about a dozen other monks lived, who served the town. Eventually, that same building, the Black Cloister, would become the home where he and Katie would raise their children, and host their famous Tabletalk gatherings. In the front of the building was a spiral tower that rose above the structure. Up high in the tower was a study room. Luther spent a lot of time there studying, and thinking, and praying. In fact, at one point Luther locked himself in his tower study for a couple of days. He was so engrossed in his research and prayer that he tuned the world out. Well, Katie, it's said, got so fed up with it, so she took the hinges off the door, in order to break him out.But let's go back to 1517. I think it's true to say that Luther's 95 grievances sparked the reformation. But what brought Luther to that point? When did his heart change?Later in his life, Luther wrote about his “tower” experience. You see, earlier in 1517, he was in the Black Cloister tower… and he was thinking about God's righteousness. One of the things that haunted Luther up to that point was the idea of God's righteousness. It brought terror to his heart. Fear gripped him at the mere thought of the almighty God's divine justice. It angered him. Luther wrote that he “raged with a fierce and troubled conscience over it.” He wrote that he hated the righteousness of God, which punishes sinners.And as he grappled with God's righteousness in the Black Cloister tower, he was reading Romans 1:17. That was part of our assurance of pardon this morning. You can read it in the order of service. Verse 16 speaks about the Gospel, which it defines as “the power of God for salvation for those who believe.” And then in verse 17, it says, “For in it [in the Gospel], the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.'”And there in the tower in early 1517, God revealed to Luther justification by faith. The eyes of his heart were opened. All the lies from the church about merit-based salvation came crashing down. Luther came to understand that our righteousness is not a righteousness of our own based on works. Rather, he came to understand that it is a righteousness that comes from God through faith. It is a righteousness given to us, when we believe by faith. That faith itself also being a gift from God.Luther wrote of that day in the tower that he felt that he was altogether born again and “had entered paradise itself through the open gates.” He wrote later in life that, “there I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith.” And so it began. The gospel flame of justification by faith in Luther's heart, which God would use to spark the Reformation.It could be said that the Reformation started, not when Luther posted his 95 critiques of the church, but a few months earlier. In that Black Cloister tower, God brought him from a place of crisis to a place of believing in the righteousness of God through faith.But what is faith? As Hebrews 11 says, faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” That conviction and hope involves knowing, believing, and trusting in God. Faith is the means or the instrument, through which we participate in the righteousness of God. Let's go back to Ephesians 2 verse 8 again. “for by grace you have been saved through faith.” The prepositions are important here. We're saved “by” grace, “through” faith. The power of salvation come by God's grace. It's received, “through faith.” Through meaning faith is the avenue or channel. Faith is not the thing that does the justifying, rather it's the thing through which we receive righteousness from God in Christ. To be sure, it's fine to say “by faith.” The Scriptures use that description as well. We “walk by faith,” we “live by faith.” But here in Ephesians 2, it is defining the relationship between grace and faith. It helpfully says by grace, through faith. Our faith does not justify us. God does. We receive his righteousness through faith. In just a couple of minutes we'll consider the grounds of our justification, but faith is the channel through which God saves us. We are saved by the gift of grace alone, which we receive through faith alone.It's really important to understand that these three concepts cannot be separated. By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The unmerited saving grace of God is the gift of Christ. And the faith that God gives is a faith in Christ for what he has done. It's not works, it's not merit or any special status that someone has, rather it's a gift from God. In other words, the grace of God and the faith that God gives us is inseparable from the ministry of Christ. 3. In Christ Alone“In Christ alone” mean that the grace and faith are in Christ alone. In other words, God's grace comes to us only in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is the object of our faith. We believe by faith in Christ. You see, it's a package deal, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.Ephesians 2 makes that clear. • Verse 5, “even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ.” Our spiritual deadness was remedied by Christ. We've been made alive with him. That is God's grace in Christ for us now.• And Verse 6 – God “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” This speaks of God's future grace for us in Christ. Verse 7 verifies that. It says, “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” The immeasurable riches of God's grace is found in Christ.Our faith is in the grace given to us in Christ.When we say that salvation is in Christ alone, we are saying three things.• First, the once-and-for-all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was the only sacrifice that could atone for sin. His ransom payment is the only payment sufficient to pay our debt. Nothing else. • But also, and second, Christ is our only savior. No one else and nothing else can save us from death and damnation and give us eternal hope. He alone can save.• And third, he is the only mediator between God and man. Jesus is the only one we need to go to for forgiveness and to be in communion with God. There's no one else.In the 16th century, the church was not teaching that salvation was found in Christ alone. In fact, much of the teaching was quite the opposite. The “mass” which was their worship service, included the idea of re-sacrificing Christ. That was part of their understanding of communion. In other words, Jesus' sacrifice was not a once-and-for-all sacrifice. Related to that, the church also believed that taking the Lord's Supper was necessary for salvation. It gave you saving grace, not just God's sustaining grace. Furthermore, they believed the priests played a mediatorial role. You had to go to a priest to confess and receive forgiveness. But Christ alone is our mediator. Even worse, the church taught that you had to pay for your sin and work for your salvation. That included paying money, called indulgences. You had to recite certain prayers and live a good life in order for God to accept you. You see, salvation wasn't a free gift. Christ's payment wasn't sufficient. In other words, Salvation wasn't by faith alone in Christ alone, it included faith plus a priest, faith plus taking communion, faith plus indulgences, and other types of faith plus works.ConclusionBut the fire of the Reformation had been started. As the Scriptures were being taught, all these false views of salvation were being exposed. God was on move in the hearts and minds of many. One of those was a young French law student, who at some point in the early 1530s came to an understanding of grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. His name was John Calvin. In 1533 he wrote a speech for one of the bishops of the church in Paris. In it were these words: “[the priests] teach nothing of faith, nothing of the love of God, nothing of the remission of sins, nothing of grace, nothing of justification; or if they do so, they pervert and undermine it all…. I beg you, who are here present, not to tolerate any longer these heresies and abuses.” As you can imagine, that speech, although true, caused an uproar. Persecution began to spread throughout France. Both the Bishop who delivered the address, and Calvin who wrote it, fled for their lives. Calvin, allegedly, had to dress up as a gardener and be lowered down by a sheet from a window to escape. He would flee to Switzerland and eventually ended up in Geneva. He became yet another pillar used by God, to bring about a true revival of what the Scriptures teach.The heart of the Gospel as Ephesians 2:1-10 teaches, would not and will not be repressed. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone.May we each know and believe in the love of God in Christ… that while we were dead in our sin, God made us alive in Christ, by his grace. We receive it not by works, not by merit, but through faith. It's the only hope we have. Amen.

The Protestant Reformation was launched by Martin Luther on October 31, 1517 by posting 95 theses for debate on the community bulletin board, the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Saxony, Germany. These documents went viral and in a short time nearly everyone was aware that something was happening that would change everything. The rest is history. This action by Luther began a process that restored attention to the completed work of Jesus for us in the Cross and Resurrection, and underlined the biblical teaching of salvation by grace through faith alone. This is the issue on which the Church stands or falls. It is the core of what we preach and teach at Ablaze Church.

The Protestant Reformation was launched by Martin Luther on October 31, 1517 by posting 95 theses for debate on the community bulletin board, the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Saxony, Germany. These documents went viral and in a short time nearly everyone was aware that something was happening that would change everything. The rest is history. This action by Luther began a process that restored attention to the completed work of Jesus for us in the Cross and Resurrection, and underlined the biblical teaching of salvation by grace through faith alone. This is the issue on which the Church stands or falls. It is the core of what we preach and teach at Ablaze Church.

The Protestant Reformation was launched by Martin Luther on October 31, 1517 by posting 95 theses for debate on the community bulletin board, the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Saxony, Germany. These documents went viral and in a short time nearly everyone was aware that something was happening that would change everything. The rest is history. This action by Luther began a process that restored attention to the completed work of Jesus for us in the Cross and Resurrection, and underlined the biblical teaching of salvation by grace through faith alone. This is the issue on which the Church stands or falls. It is the core of what we preach and teach at Ablaze Church.

In 1517, on October the 31, a priest in a small town in Germany changed western civilization forever. As Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Castle Church door, the Protestant Reformation began. Five hundred years later, is the Reformation over? Or is there still work to be done? Join John Bradshaw on location for the first episode of "500."

In 1517, on October the 31, a priest in a small town in Germany changed western civilization forever. As Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Castle Church door, the Protestant Reformation began. Five hundred years later, is the Reformation over? Or is there still work to be done? Join John Bradshaw on location for the first episode of "500."

On October 31st, 1517, thirty-three-year-old priest and professor of theology, Martin Luther, nailed his academic disputes against the papal practice of indulgences onto the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg. The theses were originally written in Latin, the academic language of the day. Luther was excommunicated by pope Leo X in 1520, and declared an outlaw of the Holy Roman Empire by Charles V in 1521. This event has often been seen as the spark that set the Protestant Reformation ablaze, yet few today are familiar with the content of the 95 Theses. They are presented here in three installments to familiarize a new generation with these world-shaking propositions. If you enjoy our content, consider donating through PayPal via https://ko-fi.com/thechristianatheist https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com   For more great content, check out our other podcasts: Simple Gifts: where the written word is spoken for you … https://pod.link/1557528158 The Christian Atheist: where faith and reason fuse in the incarnation …https://pod.link/1553077203 #martinluther #95theses #castlechurchwittenburg #reformation #protestant #1517 #protestantism #lutheran #popeleox #holyromanempire #charlesv #excommunication #thechristianatheist #drjohndwise #drjohnwise #johnwise #christian #atheist #christianity #atheism #jesus #jesuschrist #god #bible #oldtestament #newtestament #nocompromise #rationality #faith #philosophy #philosopher #culture #society #hegelianism  #hegel #reason #incarnation #history#psychology #theology #literature #humanities #hardquestions #postmodernism #woke #wisdom #ethics #science #poetry #paradox #oxymoron

On October 31st, 1517, thirty-three-year-old priest and professor of theology, Martin Luther, nailed his academic disputes against the papal practice of indulgences onto the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg. The theses were originally written in Latin, the academic language of the day. Luther was excommunicated by pope Leo X in 1520, and declared an outlaw of the Holy Roman Empire by Charles V in 1521. This event has often been seen as the spark that set the Protestant Reformation ablaze, yet few today are familiar with the content of the 95 Theses. They are presented here in three installments to familiarize a new generation with these world-shaking propositions. If you enjoy our content, consider donating through PayPal via https://ko-fi.com/thechristianatheist https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com   For more great content, check out our other podcasts: Simple Gifts: where the written word is spoken for you … https://pod.link/1557528158 The Christian Atheist: where faith and reason fuse in the incarnation …https://pod.link/1553077203 #martinluther #95theses #castlechurchwittenburg #reformation #protestant #1517 #protestantism #lutheran #popeleox #holyromanempire #charlesv #excommunication #thechristianatheist #drjohndwise #drjohnwise #johnwise #christian #atheist #christianity #atheism #jesus #jesuschrist #god #bible #oldtestament #newtestament #nocompromise #rationality #faith #philosophy #philosopher #culture #society #hegelianism  #hegel #reason #incarnation #history#psychology #theology #literature #humanities #hardquestions #postmodernism #woke #wisdom #ethics #science #poetry #paradox #oxymoron

On October 31st, 1517, thirty-three-year-old priest and professor of theology, Martin Luther, nailed his academic disputes against the papal practice of indulgences onto the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg. The theses were originally written in Latin, the academic language of the day. Luther was excommunicated by pope Leo X in 1520, and declared an outlaw of the Holy Roman Empire by Charles V in 1521. This event has often been seen as the spark that set the Protestant Reformation ablaze, yet few today are familiar with the content of the 95 Theses. They are presented here in three installments to familiarize a new generation with these world-shaking propositions. If you enjoy our content, consider donating through PayPal via https://ko-fi.com/thechristianatheist https://www.youtube.com/c/TheChristianAtheist/featured https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com   For more great content, check out our other podcasts: Simple Gifts: where the written word is spoken for you … https://pod.link/1557528158 The Christian Atheist: where faith and reason fuse in the incarnation …https://pod.link/1553077203 #martinluther #95theses #castlechurchwittenburg #reformation #protestant #1517 #protestantism #lutheran #popeleox #holyromanempire #charlesv #excommunication #thechristianatheist #drjohndwise #drjohnwise #johnwise #christian #atheist #christianity #atheism #jesus #jesuschrist #god #bible #oldtestament #newtestament #nocompromise #rationality #faith #philosophy #philosopher #culture #society #hegelianism  #hegel #reason #incarnation #history#psychology #theology #literature #humanities #hardquestions #postmodernism #woke #wisdom #ethics #science #poetry #paradox #oxymoron

There are times in the course of history when streams of thought, new ideologies, and momentous events come together to form defining moments that affect and change the course of human history forever. The 16th century was such a time. A moment in history when a door for massive change opened. It was a time of religious awakening; it saw the invention of the printing press; it was an age of exploration and discovery. And, in a sense, it was all encapsulated in one pivotal moment on the 31st October, 1517, when a young German monk, Martin Luther, strode to the Castle Church in the town of Wittenberg and nailed 95 propositions on the front door.  These propositions, or questions, challenged the power and authority of the most powerful empire on earth – an empire that had ruled for a thousand years. His actions set in motion a course of events that would reshape Western civilization and change the world forever.  But this pivotal moment didn't happen in a vacuum.  Just as sunrise is proceeded by the morning star so Martin Luther and the Reformation were proceeded by an Oxford professor who laid the groundwork or foundation for the momentous events of the 16th century.  This is the story of John Wycliffe – the Morning Star.

October 31st is Reformation Day, a day commemorating when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517. Here is the sermon "A Brief History of Reformation" by Rev. Allen Kemp.

1517 The Flame Rekindled, you will be taken on a journey through the land of Luther. From his birth house in Eisleben to Castle Church in Wittenberg and beyond the borders of Germany, you will see the effects of Luther's courageous stand. Get 1517 The Flame Rekindled HERE https://www.swrc.com/1517-the-flame-rekindled-dvd.html

The Sermon for Sunday, October 31st, 2021, is based on John 8:31-36 Today's Focus: 504 years ago, an obscure monk and Doctor of Theology named Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Originally written to spur a private debate, the 95 Theses changed world history by igniting the Lutheran Reformation. The Reformation is still critical today. Each generation must hang on tight to its three central truths: We are saved by grace alone, and not because of our worthiness; we are saved through faith in Christ alone; we receive God's truth in Scripture alone. Sermon Given by: Paul Jenkins Trinity Lutheran Church is located in Woodbridge, VA, USA and is a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). If you would like more information about our congregation, please visit www.trinityofwoodbridge.org or www.facebook.com/trinityofwoodbridge Welcome! If you are a visitor, please consider joining us in-person at our worship services each Sunday at 9 A.M. If you would like Pastor Jenkins to contact you, please find our contact info here: https://trinityofwoodbridge.org/contact-us/ Download the worship folder here: https://trinityofwoodbridge.org/sunday-worship/ Podcasts of each sermon can be found here: https://trinityofwoodbridge.org/audio-sermons/ Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE, License 735256-A and Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI). All rights reserved.

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. This sparked the Protestant Reformation. The reformation was built on "5 Solas" of the faith... Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone as found in Scripture alone. The text that launched reformation in Luther's own heart was Romans 3:21-26, the passage that Pastor Derek Holmes looks at on today's episode.

How does the Reformation of 500 years ago help me today? A look at one of the most important statements of faith from the Reformation era will guide us. We will hear from President Mike Newman, of the Texas District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, as he helps us apply the Augsburg Confession to your life in Christ, (specifically Articles 4 and 5). About a dozen years after Martin Luther nailed his "95 Theses" against corruption to the Castle Church door (October 31, 1517, in Wittenberg, Germany), a powerful presentation was made to Emperor Charles V.

Readings* Psalm 46* Psalm 115* Deuteronomy 32:28–52* Matthew 20:17–34* Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Art. XXIV 22–26FestivalToday we celebrate the festival of Reformation Day. On 31 October 1517, an Augustinian monk nailed ninety-five theses, points for discussion, to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. Dr. Martin Luther did not, at the time, intend a break with the Roman church; rather, he sought only to address a number of pressing matters, among them indulgences. Rome, however, wanted nothing of Luther's suggested discussion, and would eventually excommunicate him, declare him a heretic, and seek his death. Refusing to compromise on the rediscovered Gospel, Luther would go on to translate the New Testament, publish numerous works, and, above all, spark a Reformation that would see the restoration of Christ's Church, over and against the heresies of Rome. We celebrate Reformation Day in remembrance of God's great mercy and His steadfast love, of His work through Martin Luther that rescued the Gospel, enabling us to stand and, with Luther, declare of the Truth:> “Hier stehe ich — ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir. Amen.”Or, in English:> “Here I stand — I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.”ReaderCorey J. MahlerCopyright NoticesUnless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations from the Lutheran Confessions are from Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, copyright © 2005, 2006 by Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission. All rights reserved. To purchase a copy of Concordia, call 800-325-3040.Support the show (https://confident.faith/donate/)

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. This sparked the Protestant Reformation. The reformation was built on "5 Solas" of the faith... Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone as found in Scripture alone. The text that launched reformation in Luther's own heart was Romans 3:21-26, the passage that Pastor Derek Holmes looks at on today's episode.

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. This was the 16th Century version of the church website or announcement board. But the symbolism is significant. The Theses were attacking the Church's teaching on indulgences; sin was not something that could be bought off, Luther was arguing. Indulgences, part of the whole system of ritual paybacks, turned the Christian life into a mechanical routine instead of a personal faith in the grace of God. Luther understood the difference between gifts and wages. This is what Paul was teaching in Romans 6. In Chapter 5, Paul declared our justification from sin through the righteousness of Christ. In Chapter 6, he goes on to speak of our sanctification in Christ; that as by the righteousness of Christ we have been delivered from the guilt and penalty of sin, so by the power and life of Christ in us we are delivered from the dominion of sin, so as not to live any longer in it. The Reformation took the Church, wandering in the desert of works, and threw us into the ocean of God's grace and mercy. This little verse reminds us that being reformed means we are dripping with grace, through which now our lives are characterized – by grace through faith.

In 1517, Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses and posted them to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg. What concerns drove him to do this? Today, R.C. Sproul navigates the controversy surrounding Johan Tetzel and the selling of indulgences. Get the 'Luther and the Reformation' 10-Part DVD for Your Gift of Any Amount: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/1909/luther-and-the-reformation Don't forget to make RenewingYourMind.org your home for daily in-depth Bible study and Christian resources.

It's been three years since Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg. Now the pope's envoy is knocking on Luther's door, and the message is dire. As season 2 of the podcast begins today, travel back to 1520 to witness why Luther was called to recant his teachings and what was at stake if he refused. A donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Donate: https://gift.ligonier.org/1438/luther-in-real-time If this podcast has been a blessing to you, try these other podcasts from Ligonier: Renewing Your Mind: https://renewingyourmind.org/ 5 Minutes in Church History: https://www.5minutesinchurchhistory.com/ Ask Ligonier: https://ask.ligonier.org/podcast Open Book: https://openbookpodcast.com/ Simply Put: https://simplyputpodcast.com/ The Westminster Shorter Catechism with Sinclair Ferguson: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/westminster-shorter-catechism/

500 YEARS OF REFORMATION 1517 - 2017 Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), Sola Fide (faith alone), Sola Gratia (grace alone), Solus Christus (Christ alone), Soli Deo Gloria (to the Glory of God alone) Series HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION with Pastor Kurt Piesslinger, M.A. 5.THE 95 THESES Martin Luther And The Reformation In Germany On the 31st of October 1517 ninety-five theses are fixed by Martin Luther on the Castle-Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The lies of the Roman-Catholic Church are made publicly. Indulgences cannot help a single soul. They only increase the finances of the Church. The doctrines of the Church of Rome are shaken. Jeremiah 23:29 - Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? (KJV) My God bless you today and always.

On this week's episode we make our second stop on the 2021 Summer Brewery Tour at Castle Church Brewing Community in Orlando. We sample and review five of their current beers and then talk brewery history and philosophy with the taproom manager, Daniel.  Help Support the podcast and Buy Us a Pint: www.buymeacoffee.com/drepandstone We'd love to hear from you! https://linktr.ee/DrepandStone  Don't forget to subscribe! Music by @joakimkarudmusic

This week we dive into Castle Church Brewery in Orlando FL. This was one of the most produced episodes we have ever made and it was a blast recording it. We are slowly finding our stride and thank you for following us while ride the podcast wave. Make sure you go to our website and sign up for our email list so we can keep in contact and you can now use discount code: freetalkos for a 5% discount on a Hop Passport.  Instagram: freetalkos Beers we tried on the show: Katie's Kolsch (Kolsch) Bangor Abbot (Irish Red) Mackand-Ale (American IPA) Brut of Vipers (Champagne IPA) Agape (Amber Ale) Indulgences (Double IPA)

Readings* Psalm 8* Psalm 126* Psalm 32* Genesis 1:20—2:3* Mark 1:14–28* Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, Summary, Foundation, Rule, and Norm ¶¶ 1–8CommemorationToday we commemorate Martin Luther, Doctor and Confessor. Born on 10 November 1483 in Eisleben, Germany, Martin Luther originally studied law. After a close brush with death during a storm, Luther switched to studying theology and entered an Augustinian monastery in 1505, when he was twenty-one years old. Luther received his doctorate in theology in 1512. Teaching at the newly established University of Wittenberg, Luther began to question some of the doctrines of Rome. Luther’s investigation of the Scriptures and of Roman doctrine led to the posting of the *Ninety-Five Theses* on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg — the spark that started the Reformation.Although Luther had not intended a real break with Rome, the Roman church had other ideas. Luther was excommunicated in 1521, and was forced into hiding in Wartburg Castle, where he translated the New Testament into German. We remember and honor Luther for his dedication to the Scriptures and to the teaching and preaching of right doctrine, regardless of threats and oppression, primarily, at the time, from Rome. Although he died on 18 February 1546, Luther’s work, in rescuing the Gospel, lives on in every church where Christ crucified for sinners is preached with fidelity and where the Scriptures are taught with faithfulness.ReaderCorey J. MahlerCopyright NoticesUnless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations from the Lutheran Confessions are from Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, copyright © 2005, 2006 by Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission. All rights reserved. To purchase a copy of Concordia, call 800-325-3040.Support the show (https://confident.faith/donate/)

Ask Angelika Season 3 Episode 31 - Wittenberg In this episode we learned a few things about Wittenberg. As always Steven got to read some German sentences about it and tried to translate them into English. Here are the sentences again: Wittenberg ist eine Stadt in Sachsen-Anhalt. Wittenberg is a town in Saxony-Anhalt. Die Stadt liegt an der Elbe, etwa 70 Kilometer von Leipzig entfernt. The town lies on the Elbe, about 70 kilometres from Leipzig. Die Stadt blickt auf eine lange Geschichte zurück. The town looks back on a long history. 1996 wurden vier Gebäude in Wittenberg zum UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe ernannt. In 1996, four buildings in Wittenberg were designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Das älteste Gebäude der Stadt ist die Stadtkirche St.Marien, die 1187 das erste Mal urkundlich erwähnt wurde. The oldest building in the town is the town church of St. Mary, which was first mentioned in a document in 1187. Die anderen Standorte sind die Schlosskirche, das Lutherhaus und das Melanchthonhaus. The other sites are the Castle Church, the Luther House, and the Melanchthon House. Am 31. Oktober 1517 nagelte Martin Luther 95 Thesen an die Tür der Schlosskirche. On the 31st October, 1517 Martin Luther nailed 95 theses onto the door of the castle church. Seit 1938 heißt Wittenberg amtlich Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Since 1938, Wittenberg has officially been called Lutherstadt Wittenberg. In der Lutherstadt Wittenberg sind nur etwa zehn Prozent der Menschen evangelisch. In Lutherstadt Wittenberg, only about ten percent of the people are Protestant.

In 1517, on October the 31, a priest in a small town in Germany changed western civilization forever. As Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Castle Church door, the Protestant Reformation began. Five hundred years later, is the Reformation over? Or is there still work to be done? Join John Bradshaw on location across europe in the opening program of It Is Written’s 500 series.

On this day in Tudor history, 31st October 1537, Lord Thomas Howard, second son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, died while imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was about twenty-five years of age at his death.  How did this son of the 2nd Duke of Norfolk and brother of the 3rd Duke of Norfolk end up dying in the Tower? Well, he fell in love with the wrong woman? He had become secretly betrothed to King Henry VIII's niece, Lady Margaret Douglas. Find out more about Lord Thomas Howard, his relationship with Lady Margaret Douglas, and what happened to them both, in today's talk from historian Claire Ridgway. Oh, and Margaret really didn't learn her lesson! Also on this day in Tudor history, 31st October 1517, Reformer, priest and professor of theology Martin Luther is said to have posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, although all we know for definite is that he posted them to Bishop of Brandenburg and the Archbishop of Mainz.His actions on this day had a huge impact on Europe and were the catalyst of the European Reformation. Find out more about Martin Luther's 95 Theses and what happened next, in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/yGzHmCmLVBU  Today is also Halloween and you can find out about how Hallowtide was celebrated in Tudor times in Claire's video Halloween and Hallowtide - https://youtu.be/hgWHj_wVOFI Claire is the founder of the Tudor Society, an online membership site for those who love Tudor history. There, you can learn from Claire and many other expert historians and authors, enjoy Tudor-focused magazines and live Q&A sessions with experts, and have access to all kinds of talks, articles, quizzes, virtual tours and more. Try it with a 14-day free trial - https://www.tudorsociety.com/signup/ Claire has written some bestselling Tudor history books: On This Day in Tudor History - https://amzn.to/3oceahHThe Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown - https://amzn.to/3m8KaSiGeorge Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier and Diplomat - https://amzn.to/2TdwyZrThe Anne Boleyn Collection - https://amzn.to/3kiQc1TThe Anne Boleyn Collection II - https://amzn.to/3o9LUwiThe Anne Boleyn Collection III - https://amzn.to/3kiQc1TThe Life of Anne Boleyn Colouring Books - https://amzn.to/3jkJ5Vz Claire has also done an online history course, The Life of Anne Boleyn, for MedievalCourses.com - https://medievalcourses.com/overview/life-anne-boleyn-mc06/ You can find Claire at:https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com https://www.tudorsociety.comhttps://www.facebook.com/theanneboleynfiles/https://www.facebook.com/tudorsociety/https://twitter.com/AnneBoleynFiles https://twitter.com/thetudorsociety https://www.instagram.com/tudor.society/ https://www.instagram.com/anneboleynfiles/

It's been three years since Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door at Wittenberg. Now the pope's envoy is knocking on Luther's door, and the message is dire. Today, travel back to October 10, 1520, to witness why Luther was called to recant his teachings and what was at stake if he refused. A donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Donate: https://gift.ligonier.org/1438/luther-in-real-time If this podcast has been a blessing to you, try these other podcasts from Ligonier: Renewing Your Mind: https://renewingyourmind.org/ 5 Minutes in Church History: https://www.5minutesinchurchhistory.com/ Ask Ligonier: https://ask.ligonier.org/podcast Open Book: https://openbookpodcast.com/ Simply Put: https://simplyputpodcast.com/ The Westminster Shorter Catechism with Sinclair Ferguson: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/westminster-shorter-catechism/

"Castle Church" from Fighting Fire With Fire

Naomi and Austin welcome Jared Witt from Castle Church Brewing in Orlando, FL to the podcast. They share a Kolsch together; Jared enjoying Castle Church's Katie's Kolsch and Naomi and Austin enjoying a Gateway Kolsch from French Broad River Brewery in Asheville.They talk with Jared about what it means to be a congregation and a brewery, how they have been doing in Florida through this time of spiking Covid-19 numbers in the state, and what it means to be a Reconciling in Christ congregation.Pastor Naomi is the senior pastor at the Lutheran Church of the Nativity in Arden, NC. Pastor Austin is starting a new faith community called Wild Faith - Asheville. If you have any questions or requests you can email Naomi and Austin at whatjesusdrink@gmail.com .

Readings* Psalm 105* Job 13:13–28* John 6:22–40* Smalcald Articles, Part III, Art. XIV–XVCommemorationToday we commemorate Martin Luther, Doctor and Confessor. Born on 10 November 1483 in Eisleben, Germany, Martin Luther originally studied law. After a close brush with death during a storm, Luther switched to studying theology and entered an Augustinian monastery in 1505, when he was twenty-one years old. Luther received his doctorate in theology in 1512. Teaching at the newly established University of Wittenberg, Luther began to question some of the doctrines of Rome. Luther’s investigation of the Scriptures and of Roman doctrine led to the posting of the Ninety-Five Theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg — the spark that started the Reformation.Although Luther had not intended a real break with Rome, the Roman church had other ideas. Luther was excommunicated in 1521, and was forced into hiding in Wartburg Castle, where he translated the New Testament into German. We remember and honor Luther for his dedication to the Scriptures and to the teaching and preaching of right doctrine, regardless of threats and oppression, primarily, at the time, from Rome. Although he died on 18 February 1546, Luther’s work, in rescuing the Gospel, lives on in every church where Christ crucified for sinners is preached with fidelity and where the Scriptures are taught with faithfulness.ReaderCorey J. MahlerCopyright NoticesUnless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations from the Lutheran Confessions are from Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, copyright © 2005, 2006 by Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission. All rights reserved. To purchase a copy of Concordia, call 800-325-3040.Support the show (https://confident.faith/donate/)

We are celebrating 502 years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 These to the Castle Church door in Wittenburg (Germany). There are many faithful men that contributed to the Protestant church in its infancy. However, there are just as many women that were used of God to help shape and the early Protestant church. This short series aims to highlight some of those women that were instrumental in helping to shape this new church. This series is based off the book "Reformation Women: Sixteenth-Century Figures Who Shaped Christianity's Rebirth" by Rebecca VanDoodewaard. You can, and are strongly encouraged to pickup this book from Reformation Heritage Books.

We are celebrating 502 years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 These to the Castle Church door in Wittenburg (Germany). There are many faithful men that contributed to the Protestant church in its infancy. However, there are just as many women that were used of God to help shape and the early Protestant church. This short series aims to highlight some of those women that were instrumental in helping to shape this new church. This series is based off the book "Reformation Women: Sixteenth-Century Figures Who Shaped Christianity's Rebirth" by Rebecca VanDoodewaard. You can, and are strongly encouraged to pickup this book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Readings* Psalm 46* Psalm 115* Deuteronomy 32:28–52* Matthew 20:17–34* Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Art. XXIV ¶¶ 22–26FestivalToday we celebrate the festival of Reformation Day. On 31 October 1517, an Augustinian monk nailed ninety-five theses, points for discussion, to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. Dr. Martin Luther did not, at the time, intend a break with the Roman church; rather, he sought only to address a number of pressing matters, among them indulgences. Rome, however, wanted nothing of Luther’s suggested discussion, and would eventually excommunicate him, declare him a heretic, and seek his death. Refusing to compromise on the rediscovered Gospel, Luther would go on to translate the New Testament, publish numerous works, and, above all, spark a Reformation that would see the restoration of Christ’s Church, over and against the heresies of Rome. We celebrate Reformation Day in remembrance of God’s great mercy and His steadfast love, of His work through Martin Luther that rescued the Gospel, enabling us to stand and, with Luther, declare of the Truth: “Hier stehe ich und kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir. Amen.”Or, in English:“Here I stand and cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.”ReaderCorey J. MahlerCopyright NoticeUnless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.Support the show (https://confident.faith/donate/)

We are celebrating 502 years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 These to the Castle Church door in Wittenburg (Germany). There are many faithful men that contributed to the Protestant church in its infancy. However, there are just as many women that were used of God to help shape and the early Protestant church. This short series aims to highlight some of those women that were instrumental in helping to shape this new church. This series is based off the book "Reformation Women: Sixteenth-Century Figures Who Shaped Christianity's Rebirth" by Rebecca VanDoodewaard. You can, and are strongly encouraged to pickup this book from Reformation Heritage Books.

We are celebrating 502 years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 These to the Castle Church door in Wittenburg (Germany). There are many faithful men that contributed to the Protestant church in its infancy. However, there are just as many women that were used of God to help shape and the early Protestant church. This short series aims to highlight some of those women that were instrumental in helping to shape this new church. This series is based off the book "Reformation Women: Sixteenth-Century Figures Who Shaped Christianity's Rebirth" by Rebecca VanDoodewaard. You can, and are strongly encouraged to pickup this book from Reformation Heritage Books.

On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed the Ninety-Five Thesis to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. That set off what has come to be known as the Reformation of the Christian Church. Today we celebrate that momentous event by continuing our study of the fruit of the Spirit with a look at patience. Patience is the ability to remain poised, even when life is not going the way you want and expect it to go. It is not simple stoicism, which is only a human determination to turn off one’s emotions and not allow anything to bother you. The one who is patient feels frustration and anger but has learned that God’s ways are not our ways, neither are his thoughts, our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8).

On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed the Ninety-Five Thesis to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. That set off what has come to be known as the Reformation of the Christian Church. Today we celebrate that momentous event by continuing our study of the fruit of the Spirit with a look at patience. Patience is the ability to remain poised, even when life is not going the way you want and expect it to go. It is not simple stoicism, which is only a human determination to turn off one’s emotions and not allow anything to bother you. The one who is patient feels frustration and anger but has learned that God’s ways are not our ways, neither are his thoughts, our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8).

This week is the 502nd Anniversary of Martin Luther nailing the 95 Theses to the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. In this light, David Taylor brings a message at Bethlehem United Methodist Church in Mount Hermon, Kentucky about the boldness… Continue reading →

Halloween has been controversial for decades and it's roots entirely in paganism. So the question is, "Should we be celebrating Halloween?" Many in the church today say you shouldn't celebrate Christmas, because of the verses in the Old Testament about sacrificing to idols "under every green tree". 95 Reasons to Celebrate Halloween This has nothing to do with ghosts and goblins and ghouls. Halloween has its roots back in the 3rd century A.D., in Ireland the New Year started on November 1 and the spiritualists believed that October 31 was the night when all of the spirits would roam around. The Roman Catholic Church picked it up and changed November 1 to All Saints' Day. The pagans would build bonfires to keep the spirits away. But, while Satan has the dark side of Halloween to propagate darkness and paganism, there is another side to Halloween that we need to look at. Fast forward from the 3rd century A.D. to 16th century A.D. Martin Luther was a Catholic monk and a preacher of the gospel, ordained in a very backslidden church. By this time the church was a thousand years in an era when many men had tried to bring revival back to the church. The Waldensians - Printed the Bible in the language of the general public Francis Assisi John Hus Girolamo Savonarola All of whom, besides Francis Assisi, were martyred for preaching the gospel. In Martin Luther's search for God began studying the book of Romans and discovered that salvation is by grace alone. By this time the Church was selling people's salvation by way of indulgences. They could drink, be immoral, be evil and wicked, and participate in every kind of darkness, but if they came and paid the church their sins would be forgiven. This is the scene into which Martin Luther made his appearance and he picked a very interesting day to launch his protest. He wrote a document with 95 reasons why the church was not preaching the true gospel. He took them and walked to the door of the church and nailed them to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. And the date he picked to do this was October 31. The day that Satan established as his holy day, Martin Luther captured and brought back as a day of revival and reformation! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider leaving us a review. This helps the Foundational podcast reach more listeners.  Be sure to tell a friend about the Foundational blog and podcast, and share with them about the free Bible Reading Challenge journal they will receive when they subscribe to receive my newsletter! Resources Mentioned in this Podcast: Is Christmas a Pagan Holiday? More Resources:  Luther

FRIDAY 05.10.2019 When you get a chance show appreciation. Radio days. Monster Jam. Military Spouse's day. RRR - Stern Apology? Game Of Thrones. Favorite MOM moment. To The Top with Carlos - Shout Out to Moms. Angel on the 1s & 2s. Jon Anderson from the band YES calls the show. Listener email. Monster Sports. K.O.D. BOTW - Sanford Brewing & Castle Church.

12/19/18 - Edition of The Mike Kara Radio Show - The Central Florida Buzz. Today we present our Central Florida Craft Brewery Showcase. We are featuring Castle Church Brewing Community, which is a great Craft Brewery & Evangelical Lutheran Church. We have an interview with Aaron Schmalzle who is co-founder & President and Jared Witt who is co-Founder & Pastor. The websites are https://www.castlechurchbrewing.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/CastleChurchBrewing/. The Brewery is located in Orlando, Florida.

In this episode, we were blessed to be able to visit Castle Church Brewing Company. And yes, blessed is exactly the right word. We had the chance to have some great beer and speak to the owners of Castle Church, Jared and Aaron. This was a great show. Music by Wajeed (Better Late Than Never); Freelance (Your Love); Sango (Mateo 2:19).

Yes you read that correctly. Church and brew in the same title. I know it may be hard to get your head around this concept but that is exactly why we sat down with my pal, Pastor Jared Witt to talk about this incredible “new” concept for church. The Castle Church Brewing Community.Jared, an ordained Lutheran Pastor is creating an atmosphere based more on action than religious dogma. His partner, Aaron Schmalzle has been brewing for years in the original Castle Church Community of his garage. The product was so well received and the community so strong they needed to expand. The concept dates back to the days of Luther when the community pub was also the place for discussion on all topics but especially theology. Using this concept Jared wants to offer a place where people can sit down, have a beer and more importantly a conversation and an opportunity to work through whatever issue may ail them. Still confused? I was too until we had chance last week to dig into the concept and find out straight from the horse’s mouth. The brewery is in the part of Orlando they are calling the Gateway in a beautiful new building right by the intersection of Goldenrod and Hoffner. The atmosphere is contemporary and laid back. A very inviting place to congregate. Offices and cooler alike have been created with old shipping containers and throughout you will find an emphasis on the environment and staying as green as possible. Regular services will be help Sunday mornings and the brewery is open 7 days a week. Head to their web site and be sure to download the app as well. The brewery offers Old World inspiration and New World innovation on a rotating selection of year-round, seasonal, and special batch releases.Castle Church is all about community and they want me to make sure to tell you all that they have space available for corporate and personal events. A private conference room, a yoga room and other quiet spaces are tucked away and ready for use. They are also interested in being a part of your company and community events. If you are looking for sponsors be sure to connect with them through their website. The more I ramble the more I realize that I am probably not doing much to explain so be sure to check out the episode and visit the web site. Welcome to the neighborhood Jared and thanks for creating a place where everyone is welcome and love is the main entree. Details for the December 1st grand opening can be found on their website here. Thanks as always to my brother Carlos for his dedication and help. He travels the Metro Orlando vicinity mic in tow at a moments notice to bring us this show and we appreciate you!

Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church on this episode of This Day In History! On this episode of This Day In History, Tony and Armand are here to tell us about Martin Luther’s 95 Theses. On this day in the year 1517, Martin Luther speaks out against the... The post October 31 – 500 Years of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses appeared first on This Day In History.

Exactly five centuries after Martin Luther posted his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Christians continue to debate the best approach to the reading of their sacred book. The Reformation and the Right Reading of Scripture (Baylor University Press, 2017) the latest book by Iain Provan, who is the Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College, Vancouver, advises readers on how to balance the competing claims of tradition and modernity. Provan's work proposes a “seriously literal” reading of Scripture. But what does that mean, and how can it be defended? Provan is leading a study tour called “Walking Where Luther Walked” from 29 April to 8 May, 2019. For more information, click here. Crawford Gribben is a professor of history at Queen's University Belfast. His research interests focus on the history of puritanism and evangelicalism, and he is the author most recently of John Owen and English Puritanism (Oxford University Press, 2016). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exactly five centuries after Martin Luther posted his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Christians continue to debate the best approach to the reading of their sacred book. The Reformation and the Right Reading of Scripture (Baylor University Press, 2017) the latest book by Iain Provan, who is the Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College, Vancouver, advises readers on how to balance the competing claims of tradition and modernity. Provan’s work proposes a “seriously literal” reading of Scripture. But what does that mean, and how can it be defended? Provan is leading a study tour called “Walking Where Luther Walked” from 29 April to 8 May, 2019. For more information, click here. Crawford Gribben is a professor of history at Queen’s University Belfast. His research interests focus on the history of puritanism and evangelicalism, and he is the author most recently of John Owen and English Puritanism (Oxford University Press, 2016). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exactly five centuries after Martin Luther posted his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Christians continue to debate the best approach to the reading of their sacred book. The Reformation and the Right Reading of Scripture (Baylor University Press, 2017) the latest book by Iain Provan, who is the Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College, Vancouver, advises readers on how to balance the competing claims of tradition and modernity. Provan’s work proposes a “seriously literal” reading of Scripture. But what does that mean, and how can it be defended? Provan is leading a study tour called “Walking Where Luther Walked” from 29 April to 8 May, 2019. For more information, click here. Crawford Gribben is a professor of history at Queen’s University Belfast. His research interests focus on the history of puritanism and evangelicalism, and he is the author most recently of John Owen and English Puritanism (Oxford University Press, 2016). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exactly five centuries after Martin Luther posted his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Christians continue to debate the best approach to the reading of their sacred book. The Reformation and the Right Reading of Scripture (Baylor University Press, 2017) the latest book by Iain Provan, who is the Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College, Vancouver, advises readers on how to balance the competing claims of tradition and modernity. Provan’s work proposes a “seriously literal” reading of Scripture. But what does that mean, and how can it be defended? Provan is leading a study tour called “Walking Where Luther Walked” from 29 April to 8 May, 2019. For more information, click here. Crawford Gribben is a professor of history at Queen’s University Belfast. His research interests focus on the history of puritanism and evangelicalism, and he is the author most recently of John Owen and English Puritanism (Oxford University Press, 2016). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pastor Mike Anderson -- On October 31 of 1518, on the eve of All Saints Day, Martin Luther posted 95 theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The theses were a public declaration of Luther’s opposition to what was happening in the Catholic Church. Specifically, the church was charging indulgences for one to obtain the forgiveness of sins. For Luther this was antithetical to the gospel, which Paul summarizes quite succinctly by saying, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” As we conclude our sermon series, “Growing a servant’s heart”, at the heart of the transformation of our lives is when new discover we are saved by grace, through faith, based on God’s Word. And God’s Word was revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ setting us from free from the law of sin and death to serve him alone. We are saved to serve. We serve not to get God’s approval but because we have God’s approval.

Exactly five centuries after Martin Luther posted his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Christians continue to debate the best approach to the reading of their sacred book. The Reformation and the Right Reading of Scripture (Baylor University Press, 2017) the latest book by Iain Provan, who is the Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College, Vancouver, advises readers on how to balance the competing claims of tradition and modernity. Provan’s work proposes a “seriously literal” reading of Scripture. But what does that mean, and how can it be defended? Provan is leading a study tour called “Walking Where Luther Walked” from 29 April to 8 May, 2019. For more information, click here. Crawford Gribben is a professor of history at Queen’s University Belfast. His research interests focus on the history of puritanism and evangelicalism, and he is the author most recently of John Owen and English Puritanism (Oxford University Press, 2016). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exactly five centuries after Martin Luther posted his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Christians continue to debate the best approach to the reading of their sacred book. The Reformation and the Right Reading of Scripture (Baylor University Press, 2017) the latest book by Iain Provan, who is the Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College, Vancouver, advises readers on how to balance the competing claims of tradition and modernity. Provan’s work proposes a “seriously literal” reading of Scripture. But what does that mean, and how can it be defended? Provan is leading a study tour called “Walking Where Luther Walked” from 29 April to 8 May, 2019. For more information, click here. Crawford Gribben is a professor of history at Queen’s University Belfast. His research interests focus on the history of puritanism and evangelicalism, and he is the author most recently of John Owen and English Puritanism (Oxford University Press, 2016). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exactly five centuries after Martin Luther posted his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Christians continue to debate the best approach to the reading of their sacred book. The Reformation and the Right Reading of Scripture (Baylor University Press, 2017) the latest book by Iain Provan, who is the Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College, Vancouver, advises readers on how to balance the competing claims of tradition and modernity. Provan’s work proposes a “seriously literal” reading of Scripture. But what does that mean, and how can it be defended? Provan is leading a study tour called “Walking Where Luther Walked” from 29 April to 8 May, 2019. For more information, click here. Crawford Gribben is a professor of history at Queen’s University Belfast. His research interests focus on the history of puritanism and evangelicalism, and he is the author most recently of John Owen and English Puritanism (Oxford University Press, 2016). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Righteous, Righteous Righteousness of God…For You The Righteous, Righteous Righteousness of God…For You Isaiah 6:1-8 Romans 1:16-17 Matthew 9:9-13 Rev. Roger Dykstra-Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Iowa City, Iowa This sermon was prepared to be preached at Gloria Dei on August 19 and at the Castle Church in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany on August 25.

On the 500th anniversary since Martin Luther supposedly posted his Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg - effectively ushering in what would become known as the protestant reformation – Rev Canon Steve Chalke is launching the new ‘Chalke Talk’ video web series. Through a weekly succession of videos, Steve will focus minds on ninety five burning questions that he believes the Church needs to face up to as part of a radical rethink of its theology, engagement and role in society.

Churchwardens from Castle Church, Stafford, St Helen's Bishopsgate, and St Paul's Banbury talk to Ros about what the role entails and why it's such an important way to serve a church.

Considering the apparent increasing darkness swirling across the land, many church people are talking about the need for another Great Reformation. This has been a good year to talk about the Reformation. It was 500 years ago this year that it began. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg Germany noting the issues he had with the corrupt Roman Catholic Church. Historians mark that date as the beginning of a move of God that eventually affected the whole world, especially Western Civilization. There is good fruit beyond measure. But, it was tumultuous. Blood flowed down the streets of many European towns. Hundreds were beheaded. Men, women, and children were killed. People were boiled in oil, burned at the stake, drowned, and thrown off high cliffs. Kings were dethroned. Empires fell. It was not a gentle reformation. Do we want a new reformation?

Martin Luther's posting of the 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on 31 October 1517 is one of the most famous events of Western history. It inaugurated the Protestant Reformation, and has for centuries been a powerful and enduring symbol of religious freedom of conscience, and of righteous protest against the abuse of power.

A Martin Luther impersonator, a pastor, and an artist on an event that changed the world. --- "Martin Luther's idea of the freedom of the Christian set up a certain understanding of freedom of the people. We are individuals, we have the right for freedom, and we are equal children of God like our prince, or like the emperor - they are not better at all than we are." When Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the doors of The Castle Church in Wittenberg, little did he know that it would be the beginning of an event that would change the world. His idea was simple: "That we are justified by God, only by grace, and not by our own deeds," explains Hans Kasch, Director of the Lutheran World Federation Centre in Wittenberg. "We can pray as much we want, we can be as good as we are, and we can do as much as we are able to do - but this doesn't help us in God's eyes. That was his discovery, and the starting point for the Reformation." From this idea came the birth of the Protestant church, the foundations of modern democracy, the priority of the individual, education for the masses (including women) … and this idea continues to inspire people five centuries on. In this episode of Life & Faith, we travel to Wittenberg, the birthplace of the Reformation, to speak with a Martin Luther impersonator, a Lutheran pastor, and more, about the far-reaching and long-lasting impact of the Reformation on our world. "For many people, Martin Luther was a hero of faith, a great professor. I want to show he was a man like you and me - in another time, of course, with other problems," says Bernhard Naumann, Church Master at the Town Church in Wittenberg, and Martin Luther impersonator. "Maybe we can learn not to say 'the times are like the times are', but we can change the things around us. Because Luther was at first a small monk only, and then step-by-step he became that great reformer." Then, join us on a tour of 'The Luther Effect' exhibition in Berlin by the Deutsches Historisches Museum. It showcases the effect – and counter-effect – of Protestantism around the world, including in Sweden, the US, Tanzania, and Korea. "We choose Korea for several reasons: one is that it's the 'boom land' of Protestantism, and the other is that Korea missionised itself. The first translation of the Bible into the Korean language was not made by European missionaries." "In the beginning, Protestantism played a very important role in the national identity of Korea," says Boris Nitzsche, an historian and press officer at the Deutsches Historisches Museum. "The Bible was translated into Korean at a time when the Korean language was in decline, and it introduced education for the masses, especially for women - they learned to read and write because they wanted to read the Bible." --- Watch ‘The Story of Martin Luther' (Playmobil Animation): www.youtu.be/tox2TflUH90 Visit ‘The Luther Effect' Exhibition in Berlin: www.dhm.de/en/ausstellungen/the-luther-effect.html Find out more about the Luthergarten project: www.luthergarten.de/welcome.html Read Barney Zwartz's article in The Age: www.bit.ly/2ydJ0Ar 

Thanking God for the Reformation Part 3 - Luther's 95 Theses  G’day and welcome to our series, Thanking God for the Reformation, where we are looking at and celebrating that momentous event in history, and including in that, Church history. These are extracts from the book “Heroes And Heretics Abound” available on Amazon sites. As we saw yesterday in Part 2 of this series, on 31st October 1517, Luther nailed his 95 Theses, statements against indulgences, to the Castle Church door at Wittenberg. Here are the opening 3 statements of Luther’s 95 Theses… Download the audio mp3 using the link below to hear them all… They may not be as you think!   1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent” (Matthew 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. 2. This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy. 3. Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh.    These are extracts from the book “Heroes And Heretics Abound” available on Amazon sites. Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file ~ You can now purchase our Partakers books! Please do click or tap here to visit our Amazon site! Click or tap on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!

Thanking God for the Reformation Part 2 - Reformation Is Born   The Church before the Reformation G’day and welcome to our series, Thanking God for the Reformation, where we are looking at and celebrating that momentous event in history, and including in that, Church history. These are extracts from the book “Heroes And Heretics Abound” available on Amazon sites. Change is gathering apace and we now see a great split. A split from within the Roman Catholic Church – the beginnings of the Protestant Church. Our main person we will look at is Martin Luther – one of the very giants of Church history.Martin Luther (1483-1546) Luther was the Professor of Biblical Studies at Wittenberg University in Germany. Luther tried to find God as an Augustinian monk but he was unable to come to terms with God's righteous demands. He eventually realised through prayer and reading the Scriptures, that he could do nothing of his own to fulfil or satisfy God’s righteous demands upon him. He came to see that justification before Almighty God was by faith alone, through grace alone, which was a gift of God. Included in the aftermath of this discovery, were these key dates and events as the Reformation of Christianity and the Church gathered pace. 1517: Luther’s 95 Theses, statements against indulgences were nailed to the Castle Church door at Wittenberg on 31st October He rapidly gained a following in Germany, and was aided by the advent of the printing press. 1519: Luther publicly denied the supremacy and infallibility of the Pope and Church. 1520: Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X 1521: Diet Of Worms. Luther was outlawed by Emperor Charles V of Spain. He was hidden by friends for 8 months, during which he translated the New Testament into German. 1528: Diet Of Spruger. A change in German law allowed each German State to follow the religion of its reigning prince. Once announced, change of religion was forbidden. 1529: Diet Of Speyer. Decides the Lutheran states were to remain Lutheran and the Catholic states to remain Catholic; not allowed to change. Evangelical princes protested at the restriction and the name Protestant was given to this movement. 1530: Diet Of Augsburg. Protestants submitted a statement of belief which was rejected, but became the basis of Lutheran doctrine. 1547: war broke out between Catholic and Protestant states. This war was won by the Catholics, but Protestantism was finally recognised legally in 1552.Core Truths There were 3 main truths resulting from this Reformation which we hold fast today in general in large parts of the Church, particularly Protestantism: Final authority of God's Word Justification by faith, a gift of God's grace The priesthood of all believers. Lutheranism spread from Germany to Denmark, Norway and Sweden. However, having said that, it should be noted that, wrongly or rightly, Luther still accepted as truth the following theological standpoints: Consubstantiation - a 'real presence' of Christ's body with bread and wine though not that the bread actually became His body. As opposed to transubstantiation held by the Roman Catholic Church which says the bread and wine becomes the flesh and blood of Jesus. Infant baptism as necessary for salvation. We may get the idea that this man was dour and humourless. However, he maintained a sense of humour and obviously like laughing. An indication of that, is in this quote attributed to him: “If you are not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don't want to go there.” Tomorrow in part 3, we will look at Luther's 95 Theses...   Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file ~ You can now purchase our Partakers books! Please do click or tap here to visit our Amazon site! Click or tap on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!

500 years ago today, it all started at the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. Recorded on location, Dr. Stephen Nichols concludes his discussion on the significance of the Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses.

On today's episode, recorded on location at the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, Dr. Stephen Nichols discusses Martin Luther's Theses against indulgences.

On October 31, 1517, a thirty-three year old priest named Martin Luther nailed 95 questions and statements to the door of The Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.  The “theses” were designed to spark discussion about some of the practices and theology of the Church...but they did more than that. Luther's action ignited a movement called The Reformation. The "Five Solas" summarize this important historical period.

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, setting in motion a revolution within Christ's church.  On this, the 500th anniversary of that event, our pastors and seminarians draw from...

Did you know that this year marks 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg? October 2017 is a huge month for major anniversaries. On today's program, Shawn and Jean talk about three big historical events in the world of Christendom.

Did you know that this year marks 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg? October 2017 is a huge month for major anniversaries. On today's program, Shawn and Jean talk about three big historical events in the world of Christendom.

This shorter version contains just the talk with no introduction or Q&A. Martin Luther is undeniably one of the people who made the modern world. He risked his life to challenge the corruption and complacency of the late medieval church, and in doing so both changed the political face of Europe and liberated believers to pursue their faith based on scripture and conscience. On the 500th anniversary of Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Peter Stanford examines this complex, often charismatic man of God, his legacy, and the myths that have grown up around him. Recorded 1 October 2017.

Martin Luther is undeniably one of the people who made the modern world. He risked his life to challenge the corruption and complacency of the late medieval church, and in doing so both changed the political face of Europe and liberated believers to pursue their faith based on scripture and conscience. On the 500th anniversary of Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Peter Stanford will examine this complex, often charismatic man of God, his legacy, and the myths that have grown up around him. Peter Stanford is a writer, journalist and broadcaster. Formerly Editor of the Catholic Herald, his books include Judas: the Troubling History of the Renegade Apostle (Hodder 2015) and Martin Luther, Catholic Dissident (Hodder 2017). Recorded 1 October 2017.

This month marks the 500th anniversary of the start of Protestant Reformation, a key movement in the history of the church. Begun by reformers across Europe, it gathered steam when the monk Martin Luther posted ninety-five complaints against the theology taught by the Catholic Church on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. At root was the issue of Sola Scriptura, or “Scripture Alone.” A reaction against the Church’s use of tradition as an authority, Scripture Alone teaches that the Bible itself is sufficient and complete revelation from God.

Weand're talking to an expert on the Reformation dating back to 1517, just off the plane from a Conference in Wittenberg Germany, where Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door 500 years ago. Rev. Dr Graeme Chatfield is joining us and will be happy to answer questions and discuss thoughts on the Reformation. Help Vision to keep 'Connecting Faith to Life': https://vision.org.au/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

BEER! ...Do we have your attention now? This week the guys welcome two, count 'em, two special game-changing guests to talk about a community of faith and craft beer that they are heading up in Orlando, FL. Raise a toast! To Castle Church Brewing and a new vision of a church community they are working towards. Featuring- Brewmaster, Aaron Schmalzle and Pastor, Jared Witt Rate! Review! Share! Subscribe! Buzzwords: Hitting the charts, Alex's entourage, Many horses, A "tent-making" ministry, Luther's favorite beer, A new model, Learning from Jeff Goldblum, Resurrecting a beer, The hidden God, Living out faith in everyday life, Creating organic community, Doing stuff the long way Check out tohellwiththehotdish.com for show notes, to subscribe to the e-mail and more!

On 31 October 1517, a 33-year-old Theology Professor at the University in Wittenberg nailed to the door of the Castle Church 95 Theses condemning the corruption of the Christian Church. That day marks the beginning of the “Protestant Reformation,” a movement that has inspired countless students of Scripture.

Defiance is an impassioned refusal to conform to some form of expectation, typically a social one. This point is well illustrated by John Bender in The Breakfast Club, who, among other feats, earns himself eight more detentions by arguing with the principal during detention. Many great historical moments also provide beautiful examples — take Rosa Parks sitting in a banned bus seat or Martin Luther’s nailing of his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door. It’s hard to get more straightforward than that. These acts of rebellion — large or small — may be considered disruptive, shocking, reprehensible, inappropriate, or even heroic. The commonality across contexts is that they are essentially guaranteed to evoke an equally intense response. But intense doesn’t necessarily mean counterproductive. In fact, sometimes it’s necessary. Defiance can possess a great degree of social utility. It allows us to protect our rights and what we value most. But to use it in a purposeful manner, we must first see the problem and then decide how to achieve its solution. For example, as detention progresses, we learn Mr. Bender comes from a violent home where self-assertion only provokes more violence. He also lives in a society that largely turns a blind eye to his experiences or calls him a degenerate for them. His behavior, as do most acts of defiance, screams, “things must change now!” When the school authorities meet his act of defiance with a discipline that focuses on changing his behavior, instead of looking at what is motivating him to act out, they miss the opportunity to address the larger system of disenfranchisement that is at the root of his defiant behavior. So next time you witness defiant behavior, in your 15-year-old or on the news, asking yourself, “What is the motivation here?” might be productive. Changing behavior is one thing, but changing minds and systems is quite another.

This is from an interview with Der Buddler from the German archeological podcast Angegraben... except translated into English. October 31st Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg. Or did he? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

October 31 provides more to celebrate than just Halloween. It also marks the anniversary of the day in 1517 when an obscure German priest and professor of theology named Martin Luther wrote a list of critical points about the doctrine of the Church and nailed it to the door (bulletin board) at the Castle Church of Wittenberg University. Luther's Ninety-Five Theses were written in Latin and meant for scholarly discussion, but friends soon translated his arguments into German and other modern languages, and with the aid of the newly invented printing press, the work quickly circulated throughout Europe. Almost overnight, the monkish scholar had become unwilling leader of a massive uprising to reform the Church. The Protestant Reformation shook the Christian world, and it is probably fair to say that other reform movements, like Unity, would not be here without that innocent act of scholarly inquiry by Doctor Luther. In our time, retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong has called for a “New Reformation” in Christian thought. Is he right? What needs to be reformed, and what will a new Christianity updated for the 21st century look like? Join Rev. Dr. Thomas Shepherd and his panel as they wrestle with questions about a New Reformation on Let's talk About It.

This episode of CS is titled, Martin's List.In the summer of 1520, a document bearing an impressive seal circulated throughout Germany in search of a remote figure. It began, “Arise, O Lord, and judge Your cause. A wild boar has invaded Your vineyard.”The document was what's called a papal bull—named after that impressive seal, or bulla bearing the Pope's insignia.  It took 3 months to reach the wild boar it referred to, a German monk named Martin Luther who'd created quite a stir in Germany. But well before it arrived in Wittenberg where Luther taught, he knew its contents. 41 of the things he'd been announcing were condemned as à “heretical, scandalous, false, and offensive to pious ears; seducing simple minds and repugnant to Catholic truth.” The papal bull called on Luther to repent and publicly repudiate his errors or face dreadful consequences.Luther received his copy on the 10th of October. At the end of his 60-day grace period in which he was supposed to surrrender, he led a crowd of eager students outside Wittenberg and burned copies of the Canon Law and works of several medieval theologians. Included in the paper that fed the flames was a copy of the bull condemning him. That was his answer. He said, “They've burned my books. So I burn theirs.” That fire outside Wittenberg in December of 1520 was a fitting symbol of the defiance toward the Roman Church raging throughout Germany.Born in 1483 at Eisleben in Saxony to a miner, Luther attended school at Magdeburg under the Brethren of the Common Life. He then went to university at Erfurt where he learned Greek, graduating w/an MA in 1505. His plan was to become a lawyer, but the story goes that one day he was caught in a thunderstorm; a bolt of lightning knocked him to the ground. Terrified, he cried out to the patron saint of miners: “St. Anne, save me! And I'll become a monk.” To his parents' dismay, Luther kept the vow. 2 weeks later he entered the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt where he became a dedicated brother. Some years later he said about his being a monk, “I kept the rule so strictly that I may say that if ever a monk got to heaven by sheer monkery, it was I. If I had kept on any longer, I should have killed myself with vigils, prayers, reading, and other work.” Luther pushed his body to health–cracking rigors of austerity. He sometimes engaged in a total fast; no food OR water, for 3 days and slept without a blanket in winter.In the Erfurt monastery he did further theological study and was made a priest in 1507. When he transferred to Wittenberg in 1508, he began teaching moral theology, the Sentences of Peter Lombard, and the Scriptures. A visit to Rome on Augustinian business in 1510 opened Luther's eyes to the corruption so prevalent among the higher clergy there. When he returned to Wittenberg in 1512 he earned his Doctorate in Theology and was appointed to the Chair of Biblical studies which he occupied for the rest of his life.But throughout this time, Luther was consumed by guilt and the sense his sinfulness. While the majesty and glory of God inspired most, it tormented Luther because he saw himself as a wretched sinner, alienated from an unapproachably holy God.While performing his first Mass, Luther later reported, “I was utterly stupefied and terror-stricken. I thought to myself, ‘Who am I that I should lift up mine eyes or raise my hands to the divine majesty? For I am dust and ashes and full of sin, à and I am speaking to the living, eternal and true God?'” No amount of penance nor counsel from his peers could still Luther's conviction he was a miserable, doomed sinner. Although his confessor counseled him to love God, Luther one day burst out, “Love God? I do not love Him - I hate him!”Luther found the love he sought in studying the Word of God. Assigned to the chair of biblical studies at the recently opened Wittenberg University, he became fascinated with the words of Christ from the cross, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”  Luther found an odd solace in the idea that that Christ was forsaken. Luther was a sinner. Christ wasn't. The answer had to lie in Christ's identification with sinful humans. Luther began to ponder the possibility that Jesus endured estrangement from God for us.A new and revolutionary picture of God began to develop in Luther's restless soul. Finally, in 1515, while pondering Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Luther came upon the words of Ch1v17 “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”This was the key that turned the lock and opened the door to everything else that would follow. He said, “Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that ‘the just shall live by his faith.' Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise.”Luther saw it clearly now. Man is saved only by his faith in the merit of Christ's sacrifice. The cross alone removes sin and save from the grasp of the devil. Luther had come to his famous doctrine of justification by faith alone. He saw how sharply it clashed with the Roman church's doctrine of justification by faith and good works—the demonstration of faith through virtuous acts, acceptance of church dogma, and participation in the sacraments.The implications of Luther's discovery were enormous. If salvation comes through faith in Christ alone, the intercession of priests was unnecessary. Faith formed and nurtured by the Word of God, written and preached, requires neither monks, masses, nor prayers to the saints. The mediation of a Church magisterium crumbles.At first, Luther had no idea where his spiritual discovery would lead. It took a flagrant abuse of church finances to move him to the center of rebellion in Germany, and into a revolutionary position regarding papal authority.The sale of indulgences, introduced during the Crusades, remained a major source of church income, especially that destined for Rome. The theology behind indulgences is rather complex and a subject we could spend considerable time on, but the upshot is this:  Jesus and the saints have done far more good than they need for themselves and have lived lives that produce an excess of righteousness others can draw upon. The Church hierarchy, specifically the Pope and his agents, are able to open what's called the “Treasury of Merit” all this excess goodness has gone in to, and assign it to less worthy individuals. So, in exchange for a meritorious work—like, making a pilgrimage, going on a Crusade, or making a financial contribution—the Church offered the sinner exemption from acts of penance.All too often, the peddlers of indulgences made them seem a sort of magic—as though a contribution automatically earned the one seeking it a reward, regardless of the condition of their soul. Sorrow for sin was conveniently overlooked. And some even implied you could buy permission to sin before committing it. All this deeply troubled Luther.So, armed with his new understanding of faith, he began to criticize the theology of indulgences in his sermons. He ramped things up in 1517 when the Dominican John Tetzel was preaching throughout Germany on behalf of a Vatican fund–raising campaign to complete the construction of St. Peter's basilica in Rome. In exchange for a contribution, Tetzel boasted, he would provide donors with an indulgence that would even apply beyond the grave and free souls from purgatory. Tetzel was a clever sloganeer who understood the power of marketing. He came up with the catchy ditty - “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”To Luther, Tetzel's preaching was more than bad theology, it bordered on blasphemy. Irked by Tetzel's fleecing of the common people and provoked by his studies in Scripture, Luther drew up 95 propositions for theological debate and on October 31st of 1517, following university custom, posted them on the Castle Church door at Wittenberg, the place people put public notices. Among other things, Luther's list argued that indulgences can't remove guilt, do not apply to purgatory, and are harmful because they create a false sense of security. Little did anyone know that the spark had just been lit that fired the Reformation.Within a short time, Tetzel's fellow Dominicans in Germany denounced Luther to Rome as guilty of preaching dangerous doctrines. A Vatican theologian issued a series of counter-theses to Luther's list, claiming that anyone who criticized indulgences was guilty of heresy.At first, Luther was willing to accept a final verdict from Rome. But he quickly shifted to the position that his critics show him in Scripture that he was wrong. As his appeal to the Bible grew, he began to question the doctrine of purgatory. During an 8–day debate in 1519 with Church theologian John Eck at Leipzig, Luther said, “A council may sometimes err. Neither the Church nor the Pope can establish articles of faith. These must come from Scripture.”Luther had moved from his first conviction—that salvation was by faith in Christ alone to a second. Scripture, not popes or councils, is the standard for Christian faith and behavior.John Eck didn't miss Luther's spiritual resemblance to Jan Hus. After the Leipzig debate, he asked Rome to declare Luther a heretic. Luther put his case before the German people by publishing a series of pamphlets. In his Address to the Nobility of the German Nation, Martin called on the princes to correct abuses within the Church, to strip bishops and abbots of their wealth and worldly power, and to create a national, German Church.In his work titled, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church Luther spoke not to the Papal Schism of a century and a half before but how the doctrine of justification by faith had reformed, get this, his doctrine of the Church. He argued that Rome's sacramental system held Christians “captive.” He attacked the papacy for depriving individual Christians of their freedom to approach God directly by faith, without the mediation of priests. He said that in order for a sacrament to be valid, it had to be instituted by Christ and exclusively Christian. By these tests Luther could find no justification for five of the Roman Catholic sacraments. He retained only Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and placed even these within a community of believing Christians, rather than in the hands of an exclusive priesthood.All this had sweeping ramifications for the Church.  It brushed aside the traditional view of the church as a sacred hierarchy headed by the pope and returned to the early Christian view of a community of Christian believers in which all believers are priests called to offer spiritual sacrifices to God.In his 3rd pamphlet published in 1520, The Freedom of a Christian Man, Luther set forth in a conciliatory but firm voice his views on Christian behavior and salvation. This work is probably the best introduction to his central ideas. He wrote. “Good works do not make a man good, but a good man does good works.”On the eve of his excommunication from the Roman Church, Luther removed the necessity of monasticism by stressing that the essence of Christian living lies in serving God in one's calling whether secular or religious. All useful callings, he said, are equally sacred in God's eyes.In June of 1520, Pope Leo X issued his bull condemning Luther, giving him 60 days to turn from his heretical course. The bonfire at Wittenberg made clear Luther's intent, so his excommunication followed. In January of 1521 the pope declared him a heretic.The problem now fell into the hands of the young emperor, Charles V, who was under oath to defend the Church and remove heresy from the empire. Remember that all Church hierarchy can do is examine those suspected of heresy and declare them innocent or guilty. Punishment was not the duty of priests or monks. That was for the civil magistrate to carry out. So when Luther was declared a dangerous heretic and booted from the Church, it fell to the Emperor to carry out his execution. He summoned Luther to the imperial assembly at Worms, called a Diet, to give an account of his writings. Charles V understood how highly charged the political situation around Luther was since he'd become the hero for a good part of the German nobility Charles desperately needed in his contest with France and the Turks. The emperor wanted to make sure Luther was a verifiable heretic and not just someone Rome wanted to be rid of.While the exact record of the Diet at Worm s is a little cloudy, it seems one day, as Luther was shown a table full of books purported to be his, wherein his radical ideas were expressed, when asked if they were indeed his, and if he stood by all that he had written in them, he hesitated and showed some uncertainty. Whether his hesitation was due to his concern that maybe there were books there he'd NOT authored, or that some of his earlier writings may not have been as accurate in reflection of his present views – or that with the Emperor watching him he was being faced with a potentially life-ending challenge – we don't know. In any case he was allowed to retire for the day where he reflected on what he was really being challenged by and emerged to stand before the assembly on the morrow were he once again insisted that only Biblical authority would sway him. In a famous and oft quoted line he stated, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither honest nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.”Bold. Courageous. But Charles V was not impressed. He declared Luther an outlaw. He pronounced, “This devil in the habit of a monk has brought together ancient errors into one stinking puddle, and has invented new ones.” Luther had 21 days for safe passage to Saxony before the sentence fell. It never came. Luther was saved from arrest and death by Duke Frederick the Wise, the prince of Saxony whose domains included Wittenberg. The Duke gave Luther sanctuary at his lonely Wartburg Castle. Disguised as a minor nobleman, and given the alias Junker George, Luther stayed for a year. He used the time to translate the New Testament into German, an important first step toward reshaping public and private worship in Germany.

By necessity due to time, we ended the last episode in the middle of recounting Luther's great conversion experience, where he realized the righteousness  God requires isn't one borne of good works, but is the righteousness of God Himself, which He gives freely to those who put their faith in the atoning work of Christ.Luther later wrote that he realized he wasn't he first person to believe that. Many of the saints of yore had come to that realization. So it wasn't salvation by grace through faith that initially set him at odds with the Roman Church. What got Luther in trouble was what came through the crack in his thinking made by that realization. If the Church was wrong about something as central and important to the Faith as how to be saved, what else might it be wrong about? The more he studied Scripture, the more he realized the Church had gone off the rails in many ways. The most obvious and egregious, to Luther's mind at least, was the sale of indulgences which at that very moment was going on in Germany.Since we covered the idea of indulgences in Season 1, we'll skip it here. Suffice it to say Luther regarded the sale of indulgences as a prime example of the abuse of spiritual authority. It seemed criminal to him that church officials would hold out the false hope to poor & illiterate peasants the idea that by buying a script of paper they'd have their time or a deceased loved one's time in purgatory lessened.Luther was so incensed he went on a campaign in Wittenberg to make sure no papal rep ever came there to offer indulgences to the citizenry. But when they set up shop in a nearby town and the people of Wittenberg headed there to secure their script, Luther ramped up his complaints.Where things took a decided turn is when he decided to go public with his criticism by posting them on the Castle Church door. Church officials and the pope stood to lose a lot of money if indulgences were nixed. They couldn't have some firebrand German monk running around poking holes in the theology of indulgences. Of course, it wasn't the monk that was running round, it was his words, widely reproduced on the new printing press, some of which seemed to be devoted to churning out Luther's prolific writing.It didn't take long before the Church realized it had to answer Luther's growing list of charges. His assault began by attacking indulgences but quickly morphed to far more weighty theological matters. Luther proved himself an erudite and persuasive writer. Luther first made the case for evaluating Church teaching based on the authority of Scripture rather than Tradition. Tradition was valuable, he argued, only in so far as it was a faithful witness to God's Word. When popes and councils take positions manifestly contrary to Scripture, as they sometimes did, necessitating a follow-up council, it was God's Word that was to regarded as the final court of arbitration. And while the learned, teaching authority of the Church was to be regarded with respect, it was up to each individual believer to determine for him/herself what God's Word said. If John Ploughman read in the Bible that there is One God and He alone is to be worshipped, no church official, no matter their title or how big their hat, could command him to believe something else.Roman apologists tried to poke holes in Luther's positions but found it difficult when all they could do was keep appealing to a Tradition Luther had moved many to distrust.And his ideas just kept coming. 1520 was an especially productive year. Beside a flurry of pamphlets, he produced 5 books. A Treatise on Good Works showed how faith in Christ was, in the narrow sense, the only good work God expected from repentant sinners. Any additional work the believer could do that God esteemed as good was enabled by God's grace. The Papacy of Rome claimed the pope was Anti­christ because, instead of leading people to Faith, he obscured the Gospel. His Address to the Christian Nobility of the Ger­man Nation was an ap­peal to throw off the spiritual, economic, and political tyr­anny of Rome. Babylonian Captivity of the Church declaimed the entire sacramental system of the Roman Catholicism. Luther could find only 2 sacraments commanded by Christ in the Gospels - baptism and Communion.These 4 books were polemics aimed at the Roman Catholic practice of Christianity. The 5th work he produced in 1520 was titled, The Freedom of a Christian. It's tone was very different. It was an attempt to explain how believers were saved apart from works, but for them. Everything Luther wrote was immediately in demand. So the presses kept pumping out book after book. That's what found their way to that table in that hall in Worms when Luther stood on Trial before the Emperor a year later.The Pope & Emperor's official rejection of Luther's ideas at Worms meant they thought,  the end of that troubling chapter. Obviously! I mean, that's what history had proven time and again.But not this time. All Worms did was to give birth to a movement that took of from Rome. Prior to that, the Western Church had shown a remarkable flexibility to keep reform movements within itself. Luther and his supporters broke that mold.Not long after Worms, while in hiding at Wartburg castle,  Luther came up with a new order for a church service. Then he translated the New Testament into common German. In 1525 he married the ex-nun Katherine von Bora & he railed against rampaging peasants who confused spiritual freedom meant permission for social anarchy.Luther, drawing heavily n the 4th C Church Father Augustine, put together some thoughts on the human will to refute those being promulgated by the humanist scholar Erasmus, whose recently completed Greek New testament was re-making Biblical studies.  Luther's ideas of what the church was and should look like slowly took shape. It no longer needed a priestly caste to aact as mediator between God and man since Jesus had already served that role. The veil had been torn. Priests only served to sew it back up.The final 20 yrs of Luther's life were not as packed with drama as the first 8 after he posted his 95 theses. It's safe to say, Luther was both the most re­vered and most hated in Europe. He continued to write, mostly sermons and Bible commentary. His favorite work was the 1529, Small Catechism. Using a simple Q&A format he ex­plained the Ten Commandments, Apostles' Creed, Lord's Prayer and several principles for Christian living.Also in 1529, Luther engaged in a debate with the Swiss Reformer Ulrich Zwingli at Mar­burg, in SW Germany. They agreed on most points, but fell out on the meaning of the Communion. Luther held fast to the idea that Christ was truly present in the elements while Zwingli regarded them as merely symbolic. Inability to resolve that issue in a belief and practice that would unite the two, it became Clear there'd not be a single Protestant Church to offer Reform in the West. There'd be several Protestant churches.In 1530 Luther's col­league, the brilliant but less loquacious Philipp Melanchthon, presented a list of Luther's theological convictions to special court at Augsburg. A document was drafted form it that was signed by several of the princes in attendance. This Augsburg Confession became the constitution for the Lutheran church throughout Europe.Four yrs later & after a decade of work, along with help from other scholars, Luther finally finished his translation of the entire Bible. That Bible, rendered in the common German of the time, became more important to Germans than the King James Bible was in England.  It became the standard for modern German.Because Luther was revered by so many, watched closely as a pattern for how a soul set free lives, something as simple as his marriage and family became a new template for human relations. Martin and Katie, as he called his wife, often had students and guests at their table for meals. They'd eat and hold forth on all sorts of topics, Katie contributing her keen intellect and wit as oft as Martin. The ease with which husband and wife communicated with each other, and the mutual respect they held each other in transformed many people's ideas about what a happy home looked like.Church historians find Luther an unstoppable dynamo who single-handedly reshaped the Church and his time's conception of Christianity. Roland Bainton, one of the best of Luther's biographers, said Luther did in Germany by himself what in England it took William Tyn­dale, Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, Isaac Watts, & decades of theologians to do. On average, Luther pub­lished a treatise, sermon, lecture, or commentary every 3 weeks.But listen, Luther's story isn't all roses and peach pie. The man cannot be regarded as a model for deco­rum. Once he felt safe behind a row of supporting German princes, Luther was often blunt to the point of being crude. He oft penned things that embarrassed his supporters as much as enraged his opponents.Hey, sounds a bit like a modern national leader on Twitter!For example, when parents began withdrawing their children from school because they no longer trusted the church to educate them, Luther wrote such parents were, “shame­ful, despicable, damnable parents who are no parents at all but despica­ble hogs and venomous beasts, devouring their own young.” On more than one occasion, Martin counseled civil rulers with troubled marriages to go ahead take a second wife. He justified that by pointing to kings of ancient Israel.We'd also have to say Luther was a troubled soul. He was constantly harassed by emotional turmoil, doubt, & depression. A modern might wonder if Luther was a manic-depressive. His rapid shifts of mood were legend. And gauged by his writings, he was something of a hypo­chondriac. He commented often on digestive problems.While there were times when Luther exhibited deep compassion & a profound humility, there were other times he readily admitted his desperate need of grace. He pretended to be no saint. Nowhere was on that more on display than in his grievous episode with the Jews in 1543, 3 yrs before his death. In the most extreme language, Luther called for the rulers of Germany to confiscate Jewish wealth, then expel them. His words were resurrected by an out of work Austrian artist nearly 400 yrs later and used to justify the Holocaust.Luther was certainly a flawed vessel through which truth flowed, but there was no gainsaying the power of that truth. More than anything, it was Luther's vision of God & his grasp of The Gospel that turned history into a new course.The moment of Martin's actual conversion was a long time coming, but once effected it had a remarkable impact. Those who were able to follow Luther's chain of reasoning out of a works-based system of religion into an intimate relationship with God based on His grace, discovered what he had – God's eternal “Yes” for those who come to the end of themselves and cast themselves utterly on Him. Luther put it this . . .Where man's strength ends, God's begins, provided faith is present and waits on him. When the oppression comes to an end, it becomes manifest what great strength was hidden under the weakness. Even so, Christ was powerless on the cross; and yet there He performed his mightiest work and conquered sin, death, world, hell, devil, and all evil. That's how all the martyrs were strong and overcame. So too, all who suffer and are oppressed overcome.Luther remembered the words Barnabas and Paul spoke to the Chris­tians in Antioch in Acts 14: “We must through many hardships enter the kingdom of God.” He often repeated the reminder, “We are Christians and have the Gospel, which neither the devil nor men can abide, in order that we may come into poverty and lowliness and God may thereby have his work in us.” He penned in the words of his best-known hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God:“And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us; We will not fear, for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us."Luther's last written words summed up the es­sence of his vision of God. Closing out a brief essay he moved from Latin to German: “We are beggars. That's the truth.” But Luther penned that not in despair. He knew the cross meant God heard the beggar's cry.

https://storage.googleapis.com/communio-sanctorum/500Years-Part05.mp3As we come up to the 500 year anniversary of Reformation Day, when Martin Luther tacked his revolutionary list of exceptions to current church practice and belief to the Castle Church door in the German town of Wittenberg, we're faced with the realization that the Reformation embraced many more people than the popular telling of history enumerates. Many more.Who do we think of when we think of the Reformation? Martin Luther & John Calvin are the first two most would name. Then with a bit more searching of the gray matter, maybe Philipp Melanchthon & Ulrich Zwingli. There are, of course, dozens more notables who played important roles in the drama that was the Reformation. One of them is the focus of this episode – a man and name that ought to be as prominent in our knowledge of this period as Zwingli or Melanchthon –> Marin Bucer, the Reformer of Strasbourg.Before we get in to his story, a little background on the situation in Germany is a good idea.As moderns, we're used to thinking of history in terms of nation-states. Even as we think back to ancient times, we tend to cast the dominant empires as just very old versions of nation-states. That, despite the fact the modern nation-state of Western civ is a relatively recent invention. We must exercise caution as we review the history of Renaissance Europe and the period of the Reformation because it was this period of time that helped set the political climate for the eventual emergence of the modern world with its nearly ubiquitous carving up of the globe in nations with clearly defined borders.Voltaire once said, “The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire.” Yet, that's what we call that collection of principalities that formed a loose political collection from the 9th to the 17th C. In the 16th C, the Holy Roman Empire was politically centralized in name only. It was composed of several politically different regions that put a significant check on the Emperor's power. It was this division of power that made the Reformation possible, and helps explain why it took root in Germany rather than France or Spain. As the series we did in Season 1, The Long Road to Reform makes clear, there had been many attempts at reform of the Church prior to Luther and the early 16th C, but none had the Reformation's success precisely because they usually took place in areas that were governed by a single monarch dedicated to Rome.  The HRE Emperor Charles V was also Rome's guy, but he only held his office due to the endorsement of 7 German prince-electors, who regularly differed from him on various issues. These powerful Electors and the noble-houses they were scions of had debated for years about the desirability of breaking with Rome. Martin Luther was able to succeed where others failed precisely because he arrived at a time when enough of these Electors had grown fed-up with Rome's meddling, the Emperor was politically weak, and the common people universally recognized the corruption of the Church's upper echelon.Martin Luther's political region was Saxony, ruled by the powerful and well-regarded Elector Frederick III, known as Frederick the Wise. His successors, both named John followed Frederick's support for Luther. The powerful Landgrave, Philip of Hesse, nestled West of Saxony & East of the Rhine, was another avid supporter of the Reformation. That support will play a key role in later developments for both Bucer & Luther. The Emperor walked a political tightrope as he sought to balance the demands of his these tetchy electors, dozens of lesser principalities, and the growing number of politically powerful free imperial cities ruled by councils that often acted as sovereign governments. As if that wasn't enough, Charles V also had war on multiple fronts to deal with, France in the West, the Ottomans in the East, and Italy to the South. The Reformation leaders realized the time was ripe for them to sever ties with Rome since the Emperor needed their support to deal with the external threats. It was a political perfect storm for a religious movement to emerge.Martin Bucer was born in  the French region of Alsace, next to Germany, in the free imperial city of Schlettstadt. His family were coopers by trade – barrel-makers. Nothing's known of Martin's mother. His hometown boasted a well-known school where families of the Bucer social class sent their children. He graduated there in 1507 then, at his grandfather's insistence, became a monk-novice in the Dominican Order. A year in, he was made an acolyte in Strasbourg where he took vows as a friar. By 1510, he was ordained a deacon.Bucer then began studying theology in the Dominican monastery in Heidelberg 5 yrs later. A brief trip to Mainz saw him taking a course in dogmatics and ordination as a priest. In 1517, he returned to Heidelberg to enroll in the university. It was there that Bucer began to be influenced by the ideas of Erasmus and the humanists. It was also there at Heidelberg that everything was to change for him. In April 1518, Johannes von Staupitz, an Augustinian vicar-general, invited an upstart Augustinian monk named Martin Luther from Wittenberg to debate that monks increasingly troublesome views. This debate is known now as the Heidelberg Disputation. It's where Bucer met Luther for the first time. In a long letter to his friend, Bucer recounted what he learned, commenting on several of the theses Luther had posted, where then printed up and spread all over Germany. They were the points Staupitz wanted to dispute. But Bucer found himself intrigued by them, doubly so after hearing Luther's defense. He agreed & found in Luther's points much to connect with his emerging humanist ideas. The following year, Bucer received his degree, and while giving his disputation before the faculty of  Heidelberg, made clear his theological break with Aquinas and Scholasticism.Bucer's next step in joining the Reformers was his departure from the Dominicans. That story is interesting and reads like a novel.The Grand Inquisitor of Cologne was the Dominican, Jacob van Hoogstraaten. He launched an inquiry into the teaching and views of the famous humanist scholar Johann Reuchlin. Now, in some places, like Spain, once the Inquisition set its sights on someone, everyone else beat a hasty retreat, lest suspicion fall on them as well. Not in Germany. Things were different there precisely because of the much weaker political structure. So when Reuchlin fell afoul of Hoogstraaten, several German nobles took Reuchlin's side, forcing Hoogstraaten to back down. Thwarted, he now was compelled to prove his title of Grand Inquisitor was deserved ad set his sights on Bucer, who he felt was an easier and more vulnerable target. When word reached Bucer he was now in the Inquisition cross-hairs, he decided to leave the Dominicans. Friends in the Order expedited the annulment of his vows, which were officially severed in April 1521.Though the Inquisition was now technically not able to go after him, it could work to see the annulment of his vows reversed. So over the next 2 yrs, the nobles who'd back Reuchlin came to Bucer's aid as well. He went to work as a chaplain in the court of the Elector of The Palatine and lived in the city of Nuremberg, the most powerful city of the Empire. The city government was a major supporter of the Reformation and the city became something of a magnet for Reformers. It was there Bucer met many who shared his views. In the Fall of 1521, Bucer accepted an offer to become pastor at Landstuhl. The next Summer, he met and married a former nun named Elisabeth.The city of Landstuhl was the center of one of Bucer's noble defenders, Franz von Sickengen, a German knight of confused reputation. Sickengen seems something of an opportunist who sided with commoners when it served to increase his wealth and prestige, then to back nobles for the same reason. He was something of a political pragmatist who saw in the Reformation a way to both advance his personal agenda while giving vent to his loyalty to the German people. He'd built himself a virtually impregnable castle at Landstuhl; at least impregnable by medieval styles of siegecraft. It became the scene of his ultimate defeat in 1523 when in a battle with other German nobles artillery was used for one of the first times.Wanting to advance the Reformation in his capital, Sickingen sent Bucer to Wittenberg for further study with Luther and his assistant Melanchthon. He stopped in the town of Wissembourg on the way and was persuaded by the local reformer, Heinrich Motherer, to stay and work for a time as chaplain. Bucer went to work preaching sermons each day calling for immediate reform. His special focus was abuse in the monastic orders. He was an ardent advocate of the Reformation solas; Sola Scriptura & Sola Fide. He decried the Mass as a recapitulation of Christ's saving work. He lambasted the monasteries as turning the Gospel into a system of salvation by works. Summing up his ideas in six theses, he called for a public disputation with his opponents, of which there were not a few. But the Franciscans and Dominicans ignored his challenge. Bad move on their part because it seemed to say to the local townspeople that they were afraid of not being able to refute Bucer's charges of corruption. Those townspeople, further agitated by Martin's sermons, began threatening the local monasteries. That was too much for the bishop at Speyer who then excommunicated Bucer. In a sign of the way things would go across Germany in the decades that followed, the town council decided to support the now persona-non-grata Bucer, rather than jail or exile him, thereby serving Rome it no longer aligned under its leadership.  Events beyond the Wissembourg town-limits put Bucer in peril. His benefactor, von Sickingen, was defeated and killed during the Knights' Revolt I just mentioned. The Wissembourg council urged Bucer to leave. He fled to nearby Strasbourg. It was May 1523, and it's there that Martin Bucer had his greatest impact.Though Bucer arrived in Strasbourg as a political refugee with no visible means of support and no legal rights as a citizen, within 3 months he'd become a settled fixture and influential voice there. Upon his arrival, Bucer immediately wrote to Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich, asking for a post there were he could help the burgeoning Reformation cause. Before he heard back, the reformist-minded Strasbourg city council asked him to assist their local pastor by serving as his chaplain. Bucer began teaching Bible and was so effective one of the local guilds appointed him as the pastor of St Aurelia's Church. Strasbourg couldn't have the pastor of one of its most influential church not be a citizen, so citizenship    was granted.Bucer was joined in Strasbourg by a team of capable minds all united by the Reformation Cause. Matthew  Zell, Wolfgang Capito, & Caspar Hedio. Early on, Bucer called for a debate with Thomas Murner, a monk who'd attacked Luther with biting satire.Though Strasbourg's council leaned toward the reformist camp, like so many German political leaders of this time, it tended to vacillate on installing Reformation ideas. They wanted to reform the Church but balked at implementing changes to the civil sphere that would set them at odds with the Emperor and his allies. Because Bucer and his Reformer pals had the ear of the masses, hostility toward the civil magistrates grew apace with their hostility toward the Roman clergy.That hostility boiled over when a local Augustinian leader denounced the Reformers & Strasbourg city council as heretics. Furious mobs broke into and looted local monasteries. Opponents of the Reformation we re arrested, including that Augustinian leader. That proved the crisis that moved the Strasbourg council to realize if could not longer vacillate. They asked Bucer to produce an official statement clarifying for all what their theological position was. He drafted twelve articles outlining Reformation doctrine. Missing were such things as the Mass, monastic vows, veneration of saints, and purgatory. He specifically rejected the authority of the pope but emphasized obedience to civil government. The opponents to the Reformation who'd been arrested were released and exiled, ending any and all hurdles to the Reformation in Strasbourg. And all this before the Fall of 1523, the same year Bucer arrived there.Strasbourg's reformers then set about to build a new order of service for their churches. As their basic template, they adopted the order already in use in Zurich by the churches influenced by Zwingli, then made some tweaks. In an ambitious move, they suggested that ALL churches of the Reformation adopt the same order and presented their proposal to the luminaries at both Wittenberg & Zurich.Before we carry on with Martin Bucer's story, we need to pause for a narrative sidebar . . .THE central debate Reformers carried on among themselves, and the cause that ended up producing several different Reformation streams, was the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, Communion, the Eucharist. Early on, a rift appeared between Martin Luther and the Swiss Reformers led by Zwingli.Avoiding an overly technical dissertation, let me summarize the 2 positions by saying that Luther adamantly affirmed a real presence of Christ in the bread and wine of communion, while Zwingli regarded the elements of Communion as symbolic memorials to Christ and His work.For long time listeners to CS, these views were rooted in the Christological debates of the 4th & 5th Cs we spent so much time on in both Season 1 and the Creeds series of Season 2. Luther emphasized the unity of Christ's person, saying His human attributes were infused by His divine attributes, so He was present everywhere, including in the elements of the Lord's Supper. Zwingli emphasized Christ's dual nature as God and Man and that His body, while real, was resurrected and sat at the right hand of the Father in Glory.At the Marburg C olloquy where Lutherans and the Swiss met to seek concord, they were able to agree to 13 articles, but when could not achieve agreement on the last, detailing this issue of the presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper. It's been told that in the discussions between Luther and Zwingli, as Zwingli waxed long on a philosophical treatise supporting his position, Luther took a piece of chalk and wrote on the table in front of him, “This is my body.” As Zwingli kept talking, Luther just tapped the table beneath the words.As one biographer on this says, at Worms, Luther had announced that his conscience was held captive by The Word of God. There at Marburg, he clung to the same conviction. He would not allow himself to be swayed from Christ's simple statement “This is my body” by the erudite and reasoned position of Zwingli.So intractable was Luther on this issue, and so suspicious did he become of Zwingli attempting to dissuade him, Luther went so far as to suggest the Swiss weren't Christians. But that wasn't something he regarded very long. Indeed, as the Marburg Colloquy wrapped up, Zwingli asked Luther to draw up a list of the things they agreed on as a standard for all Reformed churches. Luther and Melanchthon, really it was mostly the latter's work, produced a total of 15 articles that became the standard accepted at Schwabach in 1529. Lutherans and the Swiss agreed on all but the last dealing with the Lord's Supper. It reads thus . . .Regarding the Last Supper of our dear Lord Jesus Christ, we believe and hold that one should practice the use of both species as Christ himself did, [by “both species” is meant both bread & wine. Remember that the Roman Catholics only used the wafer. Reformers advocated using both bread & wine] and that the sacrament at the altar is a sacrament of [and here we see the distinct Lutheran doctrine of the real prese nce] the true body and blood of Jesus Christ and the spiritual enjoyment of this very body and blood is proper and necessary for every Christian. Furthermore, that the practice of the sacrament is given and ordered by God the Almighty like the Word, so that our weak conscience might be moved to faith through the Holy Spirit. [Then Melanchthon adds verbiage acknowledging the differing opinions of the Reformers] And although we have not been able to agree at this time, whether the true body and blood of Christ are corporally present in the bread and wine [of communion], each party should display towards the other Christian love, as far as each respective conscience allows, and both should persistently ask God the Almighty for guidance so that through his Spirit he might bring us to a proper understanding.This theological division not only caused massive theological problems, it produced a plethora of political problems. Those German princes who'd supported the Reformation had hoped for a religious harmony to support their break with both Rome and Emperor. A fractured Protestant church was both   weak. Bucer recognized this and worked feverishly to affect a compromise that would unite the Lutherans and Swiss. His efforts resulted in several important documents. His views of the Lord's Supper influenced Calvin, who also sought to affect a compromise between the two groups.Bucer's work toward that end began just a year after arriving in Strasbourg and continued for several years.  Bucer himself had abandoned a belief in the real presence of Christ in the elements after his own study. What troubled Martin was the insistence by both Luther and Zwingli on maintaining their positions in peril of their unity and the disharmony it engendered, allowing a rift that weakened them in the face of hostile parties. He asked for their unity to be based on what they agreed on, rather than disunity based on where they differed.Bucer's story goes longer, but unfortunately, not this episode, so let's wrap it up . . .He ministered in Strasbourg for 25 years, and while his attempts to reconcile the Swiss & Lutherans was unfruitful, he did achieve a shot-lived concord in 1536. But Bucer's reputation was dealt a terrible blow by his support of The Count of Hesse's bigamy that we've talked about in other places. It was Bucer who persuaded Luther to  support Philipp's secret marriage of a second wife. Along with Melanchthon, Bucer took part in the unsuccessful conversion of the Archbishop of Cologne in 1542.When the Protestant princes lost the Shmalkaldic War, the victorious Charles V convened a meeting at Augsburg to draw up articles known as the Interim. Bucer was “invited” to attend and be a voice for the drafting of the articles. When his edits were rejected, he was arrested and eventually coerced into signing them. But when he returned to Strasbourg, he attacked the Interim and continued his calls for reform of the church. The city council, now under close watch by imperial authorities asked Bucer to zip it. When he showed no sign of doing so they told him to leave.Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in England was watching events on the continent with interest. He invited Bucer & his pals who'd been booted from Strasbourg to come to England and help with the Reformation cause there. They arrived in April of 1549 and within days were introduced to King Edward VI. Bucer was given a position as a Professor of Divinity in Cambridge.In going to England, Bucer had great hopes of spreading the influence of the Reformation's objective of simplifying the church's liturgy. His reforms made little headway against the magisterial nature of the Church of England. His greatest influence is likely to be found in the second edition of the Book of Common Prayer which Cranmer asked him to review and edit.England proved to be an unhealthy environment for the now aging Martin. In 1551, his health finally broke and he died on the last day of February at the age of 59.In eulogy, one of his scholarly friends wrote of Bucer, “We are deprived of a leader than whom the whole world would scarcely obtain a greater, whether in knowledge of true religion or in integrity and innocence of life, or in thirst for study of the most holy things, or in exhausting labor in advancing piety, or in authority and fullness of teaching, or in anything that is praiseworthy and renowned.”Two yrs after his death, when Mary 1, AKA Bloody Mary came to the throne, as part of her effort to restore Catholicism, she tried Bucer posthumously for heresy. His casket was dug up, his remains burned, along with copies of his writings. When Elizabeth ascended the throne, she restored Bucer's legacy. A brass plaque now marks the original location of his grave.

Welcome to Episode 20, two weeks before the big move over to the Florida Podcast Network! Today we head to Orlando and check out some of the big things happening on there!First, we speak to Jared at Castle Church Brewing near Orlando International Airport. Jared is the pastor at this 20 BBL brewery and Lutheran church, and we talked about the incredible confluence of beer, history, and the Lutheran church.From there, we head close to International Drive and Half Barrel Beer Project, in the middle of the attractions area. I sat down with Josh and Scott about brewing and keeping a continuing lineup of great craft beer in a non-traditional craft beer area.If you like us, please subscribe, tell your friends, rate us, and Drink Florida Craft!