High up on the list of some of my life’s greatest ministry privileges has been the opportunity to serve at Placerita Bible Church for twenty-four years as a lay elder. During that time I have been allowed to share the pulpit ministry many times. Reformation Sunday 2021 (October 31) was the most recent such opportunity. With 1 Thessalonians 2:1–13 as my text, I preached on “The Supremacy of Scripture.” Both audio and video links to the message are available on the Sermons page of Placerita Bible Church’s web site. The video of the service is also available on YouTube. The message outline can also be downloaded.
In 2017, for the 500th anniversary of Luther’s act in nailing his 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg, I presented my paper about Balthasar Hubmaier at a conference in Wittenberg. Hubmaier remains my favorite among the Reformers because of his emphasis on Sola Scriptura. He also held strongly to three tenets not shared by Luther, Calvin, or Zwingli: (1) believer’s baptism by immersion, (2) the memorial symbolism of the Lord’s Supper, and (3) church membership for believers only. Zwingli used the state apparatus to put Hubmaier on trial for heresy and consented to putting Hubmaier to death by fire at the stake.
Click on the highlighted links in this post to access materials to which I have referred.