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Word from Nairnshire
by Sandy Shaw
We hear little about Reformers these days. Pastors, church planters, praise leaders, and youth ministries, are frequently mentioned, but seldom Reformers.
The title Reformer is regarded with suspicion. Reformers can be considered as headstrong individuals who might divide, cause confusion, or even destroy what exists.
Zeal is certainly the mark of a Reformer, but not the only one, and zeal without wisdom and love can be very destructive.
Jesus Christ was Saviour and Lord and King, but also very much a Reformer.
A Reformer challenges the status quo, bringing about a new or second formation, and perhaps engages in new beginnings, or new departures.
When the New Testament pattern was all but lost, Reformers appeared and shook everything.
These early Reformers brought the Bible to Scotland, introducing John Knox to the ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The ‘theology’ taught at Oxford in these days was described as ‘almost dumb, poor, and in rags’. Theology is never that.
Theology is exciting and alive, and brings one closer to Jesus Christ.
One Reformer wrote, “The grace of God sought me and found me and showed me the truth, so that I bowed the knees of my heart to God that He would show the truth to all other men”.
A Reformer is a man who lives by faith in the Word of God.
The churches were so dark before the Reformation, because the Word of God was not there.
Faith that overcomes the world was not known, and worldliness reigned.
The living, present, saving, rescuing Christ, was hardly known.
Reformers embraced the Word of God, loved it, absorbed it, and lived it, and many lost their lives as a result.
The Bible gave, and gives, certainty and promises and purposes, which can never fail.
Sandy Shaw
Nairn Christian Fellowship
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Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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