Sermon: Saved for Good Works

Saved for Good Works Ephesians 2:10 October 27, 2019 Five hundred and two years ago this week, a lone monk posted 95 topics of debate for the church of that day (what we now know as the Roman Catholic church). He didn’t want to bring down that church; he simply wanted to reform it. His […]

Sermon: Semper Reformanda

“Semper Reformanda: Always Needing Reformation” Romans 12:2 December 10, 2017 On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted 95 theses for theological debate in an effort to transform the Roman Catholic Church. He hardly anticipated when he posted and printed those 95 topics that he was lighting the fuse that would create the dynamic explosion that […]

Sermon: Sola Gratia

“Sola Gratia: a Pillar of the Reformation” Ephesians 2:8-10 November 19, 2017 In late November of 1988, a 19-year-old woman fell asleep while driving shortly after midnight on a Los Angeles freeway. The car went through a guard rail on an overpass. But the left rear wheel got trapped by that guard rail and left […]

Sermon: Solus Christus

“Solus Christus: the Center of the Reformation” Colossians 1:15-20 November 12, 2017 Rowland Taylor was a Reformer living in England who died on February 9, 1555. He was identified as a Protestant, questioned, imprisoned, and then taken from London to his hometown of Hadleigh “where to his great delight [he was] to be burned before […]

Sermon: Sola Scriptura

“Sola Scriptura: the Foundation of the Reformation” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 November 5, 2017 The passage before us this morning is well known to us: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good […]

The Reformation isn’t over

The fire of the Reformation was lit by the match of Luther’s 95 theses in 1517, even though the kindling of change had been established centuries before through the ministries of men like Augustine, Anselm, Wycliffe, and Hus. Some might think that following the separation of the Protestants from the Catholic Church that the Reformation […]

The spiritual value of reading history

When I was in school, one of my least favorite subjects each year was history. Each history lesson just seemed to be a tangle of confusing names and random dates. If there were any compelling stories to be found in history, it didn’t seem that any of my history teachers knew them. And then in […]

It’s Reformation Day, Not Halloween

When I went to get a sandwich for lunch today I was greeted by an employee at the shop with, “Happy Halloween!” I immediately responded to her with, “HAPPY REFORMATION DAY!” to which I received a quizzical look akin to “who is this lunatic who just came into my restaurant?” So I queried, “Do you […]

The hymn for the day: A Mighty Fortress

HT: Kevin DeYoung

Sermon: Luther, the Reformation, and You

“Luther, the Reformation, and You” Selected Scriptures October 29, 2017 You might say that the Reformation began because a church building program went awry. Pope Leo X wanted to paint the church ceiling, but he wanted a man named Michelangelo to paint it, and because of Leo’s other art expenditures, he couldn’t afford the project. […]

Grab bag

Some helpful articles I’ve bookmarked: Monday is Reformation Day — the 499th anniversary of the day that Martin Luther posted his theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. Here are 10 things you should know about the Reformation. Andy Naselli and J. D. Crowley wrote an excellent book on the conscience. Now […]

Reformation from the inside out

On this date, 498 years ago, a little-known monk in Wittenberg, Germany started a “little” controversy. He posted 95 declarations of debate on the door of the church in that town, intending to start a discussion with the Roman Catholic Church to transform her. Instead, he started the Protestant Reformation. Some of the theses he […]

It’s Reformation Day — lots of treats and no “tricks”

Today is what is commonly known as “Reformation Day,” the 497th anniversary of the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenburg Church. Those brief theses were written in the manner of the day as topics for debate; Luther saw a great many failures and unbiblical works in the […]

eBook deals

Here are a couple of current eBook deals that look good. First, Shepherd Press has redesigned and relaunched their website with 99¢ deals on all their eBooks (but this deal is only good through Nov. 5). A couple of the books that I’ve really appreciated are When Sinners Say, “I Do” (by Dave Harvey), and […]

Grab bag

Some helpful articles seen recently: John Newton, writing his troubled friend William Cowper, notes the hardness of the Christian life — and the grace of Christ: “For every day shows us some new thing in the heart, or some new turn in the management of the war against us which we were not aware of; […]