Happy Reformation Day!
Today is a day Protestant people and churches like Calvary remember and give thanks for the Reformation. On October 31, 1517, a law student-turned-monk called Martin Luther nailed 95 “theses” to the announcement board on the door of the church in Wittenberg (Germany). For many years, he had been struggling to understand God and how he, Martin, could be rightly related to Him. After years of intense, agonizing spiritual struggle and serious study of the Bible, these 95 Theses were Luther’s points of disagreement with the Holy Roman Catholic Church based on what he had read in the scriptures. He put forward his theses hoping to see Bible-based reforms in the doctrine and practices of the Church (which was the most powerful and wealthy institution in the world at that time). But God had other plans. Those 95 Theses became the starting point of a movement we now call the Reformation because it led to reforms in Christian doctrine and worship based on God’s Word, the Bible. And it also reformed European society, splitting Western Christianity into two branches: Catholic and Protestant. God worked through Martin Luther to change the world forever.
God worked through Jonah, too, to bring truth to darkness, and that is the subject of our sermon today, brought to us by Pastor Bodner. May we cherish the truth of God’s Word and seek Him for the courage to live boldly by it.
First Song: A Mighty Fortress is Our God
Offering
Online giving information is available here.
Message
Scripture readings
Proverbs 7
Colossians 2
Jonah 1:1-16, focusing on 4-16
You can watch our service livestreams at 11 AM on Sundays on our Facebook page. The sermon will later be uploaded to YouTube and available on this page.
Second Song: Whate’er My God Ordains is Right
Closing thought
This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.
Martin Luther