Complete in Thee: Happy Reformation Day!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Reformation Day!

"Since then Your Majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason-- I do no accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other-- my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen." -Martin Luther

I tried to download the YouTube video clip from the 2003 film Luther, that contains Luther's speech at the Diet of Worms. So I will post the link to it instead. I highly encourage you to head over there and check it out. It really is stirring. Click here to watch.

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The following text is from Answers in Genesis.

The 5 Solas of the Reformation

Though widely known a generation ago, the five solas are frequently overlooked in the modern church. Each is a Latin phrase. When taken together, they summarize the teaching of the Reformation. They stress the positive aspect of the truth and how the medieval church distorted the truth.

Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone)

This sola expresses the conviction that all teaching of the church for doctrine and practice must be built upon that which is revealed in Scripture or deduced by good and necessary consequence from the Scripture. So the Word of God is the supreme and final authority. It alone has the power to bind the conscience.

Sola gratia (Grace alone)

Salvation comes by the free grace of God. Man cannot—and need not—do any work to earn God’s favor. Salvation is not based in any way upon human merit.

Solus Christus (Christ alone)

Christ is the only mediator between God and man. Thus an individual can go directly to God through Christ.

Sola fide (Faith alone)

Faith in the Person of Christ is the instrumental means of salvation. The Roman Catholic Church taught that, while initial grace was infused at baptism, the person had to cooperate with that grace until God accepted him as righteous.

Soli Deo Gloria (for God’s glory alone)

Salvation is exclusively God’s work, and so He alone is worthy to receive praise and thanksgiving. This sola expresses the highest motive for all the Christian’s deeds—the glory of God alone.

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HAPPY REFORMATION DAY!
Let us praise God for the light of His Word!

"The entrance of Thy words giveth light..." (Psalm 119:130)

3 comments:

Gaby said...: Happy Reformation Day!!! :D I did the same post on my blog. :P I did the 5 Solas.; October 31, 2009 at 11:31 PM
Amanda said...: AMEN BROTHER!!! I mean, SISTER!!! :D The five Solas are amazingly correct, and Luther's paragraph, "Here I stand" is so timely right now...; November 1, 2009 at 8:20 PM
Rebecca Ann said...: Amen! Yes happy reformation day! I can't believe I did not see this on reformation day! great post!; November 7, 2009 at 8:57 PM

PRAYER REQUESTS

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Ephesians 6:18)

PLEASE PRAY...

* That I would draw nearer to God every day and never allow my relationship to become stagnant ritual; particularly that I would grow in the area of submission, patience, 1 Corinthians 13 love, and wholehearted devotion

* That I might have wisdom as I edit "The Marquis' Daughter"; that the Lord would bless and work through it; and that I might find just the right publisher for it.

* That I would submit to the Lord's work in my life, whatever it may be; that I would take each opportunity He brings me (even the seemingly hard ones) to draw closer to Him and point others to Him

*That our Etsy shop might be successful and that it would be a means by which we can glorify God and share the Gospel

Ephesians 2:1-10

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 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-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

"The heart set to do the Father's will need never fear defeat. His promises of guidance may be fully counted upon. Does it make sense to believe that the Shepherd would care less about getting His sheep where He wants them to go than they care about getting there?"

"God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to."

"If God, like a father, denies us what we want now it is in order to give us some far better thing later on. The will of God, we can rest assured, is invariably a better thing."

"Obedience to God's will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to DO (obey) God's will that brings certainty."

"Victory over all the circumstances of life comes not by might, nor by power, but by a practical confidence in God and by allowing His Spirit to dwell in our hearts and control our actions and emotions. Learn in the days of ease and comfort, to think in terms of the prayer that follows, so that when the days of hardship come you will be fully prepared and equipped to meet them."

"And shall I pray, Oh, change Thy will, my Father,
Until it be according unto mine?
Ah no, Lord, no, that never could be, rather
I pray Thee, Blend my human will with Thine."

"A crucified life cannot be self-assertive. It cannot protect itself. It cannot be startled into resentful words. The cup that is full of sweet water cannot spill bitter-tasting drops, however sharply it is knocked."

"And as we rest our hearts upon what we know (the certainty of the ultimate triumph of good), leaving what we do not know to the Love that has led us all our life long, the peace of God enters into us and abides. And then we see our light."

[A Practicing Christian]...it means that every single act and feeling, every experience, whether pleasant or unpleasant, must be referred to God. It means looking at everything as something that comes from Him, and always looking to Him and asking His will first, and saying, "How would he wish me to deal with this?"

Christ says: "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you."

"I was not born to be free. I was born to adore and to obey."

"What is saving but taking us out of the dark into the light? There is no salvation but to know God and grow like Him."

"I will not try to convince you of anything about God. I cannot. You must know Him. I only tell you I believe in Him with all my heart. You must ask Him to explain Himself to you, and not take it for granted that He has done you a wrong because He has done what you do not like. Whether you seek Him or not, He will do you justice. But He cannot explain Himself unless you seek Him."

"Sometimes a thunderbolt will shoot from a clear sky; and sometimes into the life of a peaceful individual, without warning of gathered storm, something terrible will fall. And from that moment everything is changed. That life is no more what it was. Better it ought to be, worse it may be. The result depends on the life itself and it's response to the invading storm of trouble. Forever after, it's spiritual weather is altered. But for the one who believes in God, such rending and frightful catastrophies never come but where they are turned around for good in his own life and in other lives he touches."