More Power to You By: Pastor Calvin C. Hays October 30, 2014 Rightly we celebrate our independence on July 4 and the days of victory when wars cease and gallant troops come home again. Also, we celebrate worthy achievements and milestones often won at great sacrifice. Only rarely, however, do we stop to celebrate or even take notice that there are no chains hanging on our Bibles, no demands that we hush our prayers and make our appeals to God, if any, through some agency, institution, or so-called holy office. So few seem to appreciate the awesome truth of THE PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS, which was an astonishing dividend of the Great Reformation. It was then; in those corrupt days of the middle ages that there appeared “a going in the mulberry trees” that soon became a tornadic spiritual revolution. From the barren monastic quarters in Germany, the great light of truth burned into the heart of Martin Luther and hew “was not disobedient to that heavenly vision” as Paul before him had also not been. The demands and schemes of raw Romanism were exposed and rejected and a reformation process was set in motion that liberated God’s Word, opened heaven’s throne to all of us, and gave the lie to the cruel doctrine of “salvation by works.” Thus purgatory was emptied as clarity came and the doctrine of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone began to take hold. It was the Great Reformation that gave you a copy of the Bible though it can’t make you read it, study it, or proclaim it! It was the Great Reformation that provided you the liberty to come straight to God without the aid or intervention of any other, to confess your sins, seek the help of your God and present the needs of your own cherished ones directly to God…though it can’t make you say prayer! Yet, you are a priest unto God yourself, having been called, cleansed, ordained and welcomed into His holy kingdom…though it can’t make you act like a compassionate priest! We know that God delights to converse with all His children – anytime. We rightly celebrate this revolutionary day, and we also know that the process of reformation continues this revolutionary day, and we also know that the process of reformation continues until the total transformation is reached. Not yet! But the tools of transformation have been given to us. We have the Bible, the authentic Word of God and it is our only rile of faith and practice. We have access to God’s throne and power. We are all priests unto God who have fallen into the arms of a kindly providence and found redemption through the shed blood and endless life of our Lord Jesus Christ. The awesome discovery of SAVING GRACE can and yet will establish the eternal kingdom of our loving lord.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 14:48:30 +0000
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