Women of Reformation - Argula von Grumbach

A "walking bible", Argula von Grumbach was the first woman who publicly campaigned for the Reformation in 1523. A significant and memorable act from Argula was her challenging the faculty of the University of Ingolstadt on the teaching of the Bible.

On a day in the late summer of 1523, a young woman courageously takes hold of quill and paper in her study. With determination, she writes a letter to the faculty of the University of Ingolstadt. Her name is Argula von Grumbach, aged 31, of noble descent, educated, mother of four. Her bold action, with which she wanted to support a follower of Luther, who had got into trouble, did not remain without consequences. Argula von Grumbach makes history as the first female Protestant lay theologian.

With a letter, a single woman challenges the whole faculty of the university of Ingolstadt: Argula von Grumbach requested that the professors ought to enter a public dispute with her about the exegesis of the Holy Scripture. While they rubbed their eyes when faced with this audacity, the sender knows exactly what she wants: to contribute theological arguments to the case of the young follower of Luther, Arsacius Seehofer, and ultimately to the cause of the Reformation itself. She confidently ends her letter with the words: "I  have not written women's gossip to you, but the word of God, as a member of the church."

God gave His people the courage to carry out His Will at appropriate time, and Argula von Grumbach is certainly an instrument of God in this monumental times.

Taken from: http://www.luther2017.de/en/18681/argula-von-grumbach-i-have-not-written-womens-gossip-you

Enrich Your Life

Our Hope to an Enriched Life

John 10:7. Why did Jesus come to earth? He came to give us an abundant life. Without him there is no hope of an enriched life. He is the only door that leads to God's blessings. This is exclusively provided by the Salvation of God. There is no way we can work towards an abundant life unless through Jesus Christ.

"All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them."John 10:8. Who are the thrives and robbers of our life now? Those that pulled your life away from Jesus and our faith. Your work, your friends, anyone and anything that casted doubt in your faith. We may do well in this world, we will still fail in God's eye.

What then, is an enriched life? It is a life of spiritual growth. John 10:9 " I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." Surrender our lives to Jesus and find the door to an enriched life.

Our Responsibility to an Enriched Life.

John 10:9 "...shall go in and out.." Labour in the work of the Lord and feed on the Word of God as the pasture of our life. With that we can have spiritual growth and endless opportunities in God's kingdom. This is the process of sanctification that gives us an abundant life gradually and naturally in God.

Start the day with God, and ask Him for power and strength for the day. The quiet time is the most important part of the day, start your life with this.

Enrich your life and be accountable for it.

Unholy Division

1 Corinthian 1:10-17

A little leaven can corrupt the church and divide the church.

Paul beseeched the people of the Corinthian Church, the brethren of The Lord Jesus Christ. They were backsliding at that time, hindered by sin and pride. External elements can further add to the the division. Division in the church is destructive, bring people down and tear us away from The Lord and His Word.

Perfect 100% unity in the church is possible. We have the perfect reference point, our Lord Jesus Christ, so long as we have the mind of Christ and be Christ like, and be perfectly joint together in the same mind, same doctrine. We can have the same doctrine so long as we prevent foreign thinking from influencing us. Grow in the truth of God and we will think like Christ and the same doctrine with the rest of the brethren.

There were contentions in the church where people fought and debated among themselves. Debates are outward appearances for people with the gift of the gab, with the purpose of winning the argument. Such arguments are unhealthy. Personal pride needs to be taken out of all argument in search of the truth in doctrine, then the arguments will be holy and God centred.

When Apostle Paul preached the Word of God, he preached in Spirit and truth, not because Paul was eloquent in his speech. Do we follow Christ or the speaker just because he spoke so well? Paul's ministry was to preach simply and truthfully Christ and salvation. When he preach, the people see The Lord Jesus Christ and hear the good news, not Paul himself.

Submit to the church and His Word and we will have unity.

I am in the Father

John 14:8-11

Man recognise and acknowledge that Jesus existed, as a great teacher, prophet. However this is not enough to describe Jesus, grossly insufficient. He is fully God, and only when you recognise this fact, then would you truly appreciate who Jesus is. His disciples saw the miracles He did, their belief was based on physical demonstration. Only when Jesus taught them the teachings of God and shared his resurrection then they would believe these teachings by faith. For us, we need to have faith to believe in all things.

"He that hath seen me hath seen the Father". Jesus is in the Father, and we just need to believe in His words and we will be able to see the Father. Walk by faith and by faith we will see the Father.

Christ Our Security

Zechariah 10:4
Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail,
out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.

The Lord is our cornerstone - the foundation of our faith. In Eph 2:19-22, we are part of the household of God, the citizen of the city where Christ is the cornerstone. Strengthen our faith on the word of The Lord, and take our step in faith towards Him. God's word is also the perfect reference point in our faith, where all doctrine and moral values are measured against. We need to know more about His word to understand God's will for us.

The Lord is our nail - the nail that held all things together, the nail that strengthens the faith in our hearts. He was on earth and he went through it all. He knows our pain, needs and wants. He is very near us so long as we plead with him. Man can fail us, but God cannot fail us!

The Lord is our battle bow - he fights for us! He fought for his people throughout the history. Deut 3:22 - The Lord your God shall fight for you! God always win. He is our sure and certain security! He is our safe heaven.

Where else in the world would you wish to be? None else but the Lord's.

Who is this?

Palm Sunday, we celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, the week before his death and resurrection. Could we imagine the agony of our Lord, knowing what lies ahead and yet willingly followed what was needed to be done.

What a sight to see! Our humble Lord on a colt, walking through the gate of Jerusalem and people waving palms to welcome him. His colt trotted on palm leaves, while His heart pained to see the very people that welcomed him would also crucify him 5 days later. And yet, with all the sins and transgressions in the evil hears of men, He still willingly and lovingly die on the cross for our salvation. On the third day, He conquered death and resurrected, securing our own resurrection from our own sin and death, so long as we believed in him.

May we always remember what our Lord has done and always cherish our salvation by following our Lord Jesus Christ till the end of our days.

 

Matthew 21:1-11

21 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,

² Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.
³ And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
⁴ All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
⁵ Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
⁶ And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,
⁷ And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
⁸ And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.
⁹ And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
¹⁰ And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?
¹¹ And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.


"Ride on, ride on in majesty!
In lowly pomp ride on to die;
O Christ, thy triumphs now begin
O'er captive death and conquered sin" - Henry Hart Milman

Let's Grow

Hebrew 6 1:8

Are you alive or are you dead? And we are not referring to physical condition. You are alive spiritually? Are we dull of hearing? (Verse 11) Are we sensitive to God's work in our lives? We are truly dead if we hear nothing, felt nothing.

"Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God" (v1) We need to leave the foundation of salvation and works and grow with faith unto holiness in Christian living. Our lives must change and people around us must see the change. We must continuously strive to live a sanctified life, centered on Christ,with the word of God as our guiding light.

Saved from Satan and Sin

Zachariah 3:1-7

This is Zachariah's 3rd vision, a passage of comfort. God will deliver His people from sin and Satan.

Verse 1 - Joshua the high priest was one of he 50,000 that returned from the exile to the promised land. He represent his nation in this passage. The angel of The Lord is The Lord Jesus Christ in his pre-incarnated self. He is the judge, Joshua was the accused, and Satan was the accuser.

While Satan may accuse Joshua for his sin, Israel is not innocent as well, for the nation did sin against God.

Verse 2 - "The Lord rebuke thee". The Lord here refers to the covenant God, that chose his own people.

Verse 3 - 4 - "clothed with filthy garment" refers a life full of sin. The Lord took away the sin and clothed him with a change of raiment. The Lord did so with the shedding of His own blood and clothed us with a righteous garment of God.

Verse 7 - To continue to have privileges from God means to walk in His ways and keep His commandment.

Once God chose us as His child, Satan will not be able to take us away, so long as we follow God and keep His commandment.

Peace, Prosperity and Protection

Zachariah 2:1-13

True peace, prosperity and protection comes only from God. This is the third vision from the book. God remembers hHis promise. God is jealous of His people, and protects them. This third vision is a prophesy of comfort.

Verse 1 - man in red horse is the Messiah, the angel of Jehovah. Zach 6:12 "name is the BRANCH". This is prophetic. Jesus as the son of God, son of man, our Saviour. The measuring line is to measure the city, so as to rebuild the city and the temple. God is our architect of our salvation and life. He will protect and provide for us.

Verse 4 - there will come a time where Jerusalem will be without walls, and have peace. The multiple of men and cattle will stay in this city, there will be prosperity.

Verse 5 - God will be in the midst of his people when He comes again. The wall of fire is for our protection and warmth, similar to the one that protected the Israel people when they come out of Egypt.

Verse 8 - God will protect the apple of His eye. He is jealous and zealous for His people.

Verse 12 - God will still choose Jerusalem even though the people has sinned against Him again and again. Once God has chosen us, He will still choose us again even though He will chastise us for our sins.

We are saved purely by God's grace and we should avoid sinning because we love Him. In return, He will be faithful to provide us with peace, prosperity and protection.

Women of the Reformation - Anna Reinhard Zwingli

Faith, Quiet but Strong as Steel



Ulrich Zwingli, the great forefather of the Reformation, addressed her as his dearest housewife, and such she was, a useful helpmeet in his work. She was a model minister's wife, the foster mother of the poor, and the visitor of the sick. She was called "the apostolic Dorcas." Her care for her husband was greater even than for the parish. She brightened his cares and sympathized with him in his sorrows. When her husband, with the other ministers of Zurich, began translating the Bible (1525) and published it (1529) complete several years before Luther's complete Bible appeared (1534) it was his custom to read to her its proof sheets every evening before retiring. She afterwards spoke of the eager interest she felt in the story of the gospel as it was thus translated into her own Swiss tongue by her husband. When it was published he presented her with a copy of it. The Bible thus became her favorite book.

The most prominent scene in her life, and also the most impressive, is at the time of her husband's death on the battlefield at Cappel. Bullinger says that at the news of that awful defeat there arose in Zurich a loud and horrible cry of lamentation, and tears, bewailing and groaning. But her weeping was greater, her sorrow was deeper. The greater her husband, the greater her grief. She had had sorrows before, but this eclipsed them all. For his death was not her only sorrow then. With her husband there died on the battlefield her bright, beautiful son, Gerold. Nor was this all her sorrow. With her beloved husband and son there lay dead on that battlefield her brother and her brother-in-law, while a son-in-law was wounded unto death. The sadness of death compassed her about in all directions. And then came the news that her husband's body was quartered and burned and its ashes desecrated. Was there ever sorrow like hers? Yes, there was One, of whom the prophet speaks: "Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow." To that Savior from sorrow she went in her sorrow, and He comforted her soul and raised up helpers to her.

Excerpts taken from:
Leban, a Journal of Reformation Life
http://leben.us/index.php/component/content/article/46-issue-01-02/114-anna-reinhard
 

New Year Study - Zechariah

Zechariah 1:1-6

Jehovah Remembers

Zechariah means Jehovah remembers, it is a good name. It is very comforting to know that God remembers us.

Verses 2-4: God remembers to punish His people. He is a holy God; He punishes the evil and the unjust. It should cause fear in our hearts, and yet we should rejoice, for this lead us to holiness. God chose the people of Israel to bless them if they follow Him. Verse 3 - Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. God will bless so long as the people turn towards Him. However He must punish and judge if the people disobeyed Him (Deut 8). In the history of the kingdom of Israel, the kingdom flourished when there were godly kings to lead the nation to God. The nation declined when they turned away from God.

God will also keep His promise; He sent His words to the nation through His prophets. he promised to restore Israel and He did when He lead His people out of Babylon after 70 year. His prophet Jeremiah had prophesied on God's good word to the nation. God's promise was very precise in the boom of Isaiah, including the number of years and the name of the King that will release the people to go back to their land. This prophesy was delivered 150 years before the events happened.

How can we take God's words lightly? Should we not have the highest regard for His words, and study it diligently?