The Story of Martin Luther and the New Reformation

"I, a Poor, Stinking Bag of Dung"

Speaker

Dwight K. Nelson

Dwight Nelson served as lead pastor of the Pioneer Memorial Church on the campus of Andrews University from 1983 to 2023. During his time at Pioneer he spoke on the “New Perceptions” telecast, taught at the theological seminary and has written books, including The Chosen. He and his wife, Karen, are blessed with two married children and 2 granddaughters.

Offering

Saturday, October 14, 2017
Program: 
Praise
Bless His Holy Name • Blessed Be the Name of the Lord Medley • Breathe
Prayer
Sharon Terrell
Tithes & Offerings
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God • Max Reger
PMC Operating Expense • Sharon Terrell
Children’s Story
Dwight K. Nelson
Worship in Music
Fortress Variations • Jay Bocook
Sermon
"'I, a Poor, Stinking Bag of Dung': The Story of Martin Luther and the New Reformation" • Dwight K. Nelson
Connect Card
My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less • 522
As We Depart
Crown Him With Many Crowns • James Swearingen

More In This Series

"The Story of Martin Luther and the New Reformation:
'I, a Poor, Stinking Bag of Dung'"

www.newperceptions.tv

  • 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
    • Roland Bainton: "The man who thus called upon a saint was later to repudiate the cult of the saints. He who vowed to become a monk was later to renounce monasticism. A loyal son of the Catholic Church, he was later to shatter the structure of medieval Catholicism. A devoted servant of the pope, he was later to identify the popes with Antichrist. For this young man was Martin Luther" (Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther 15).
  • 4 Takeaways/Legacies for the New Reformation
    • #1—Only .
      • Luther: "I was a good monk, and I kept the rule of my order so strictly that I may say that if ever a monk got to heaven by his monkery it was I. All my brothers in the monastery who knew me will bear me out. If I had kept on any longer, I should have killed myself with vigils, prayers, reading and other work." (Bainton 34).
      • James Kittelson: "Anfechtung was what Luther later called this grinding sense of being utterly lost. By it he intended the idea of swarming attacks of doubt that could convince people that God's love was not for them. Later he considered this sense of being irredeemably evil to be the work of Satan, who sought to make a Christian's sins, doubts, and anxieties too much even for the grace of God. At such moments just the rustling of dried leaves in a forest sounded like the legions of hell coming to seize one's soul.” (Luther the Reformer: The Story of the Man and His Career 56)
      • Derek Wilson: "Certainly Luther went through periods of black depression when he retreated into himself and spoke to no one. He never fully shrugged off this particular demon and to the end of his days would retire into a room by himself when problems weighed heavily upon him." (59)
      • Luther: "I greatly longed to understand Paul's Epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, 'the justice of God,' because I took it to mean that justice whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust. My situation was that, although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience, and I had no confidence that my merit would assuage him. Therefore I did not love a just and angry God, but rather hated and murmured against him." (Bainton 49)
      • Luther: "Then [one day] I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole Scripture took on a new meaning, and   . . . now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul ['the just shall live by faith'] became to me a gate to heaven." (Bainton 49-50)
      • H. M. S. Richards once declared: "I have only one doctrine: I am a great —but I have a great ." And when asked “What is the Adventist message?" he replied, " only."
    • #2—Only .
      • Luther: "The wounds of Jesus are safe enough for us.” (Kittelson 99)
      • Ellen White: "The lower you lie at the foot of the cross, the dearer and more exalted will be your conception of your Redeemer." (Review and Herald 10-16-1888)
      • Ellen White: "The theme that attracts the heart of the sinner is Christ and Him crucified. On the cross of Calvary Jesus stands revealed to the world in unparalleled love." (Maranatha 99)
    • #3—Only .
      • Derek Wilson: "Within decades of Luther's death... all Europe was awash with Bibles in contemporary languages.... This was the richest part of Martin Luther's legacy. He bequeathed to the peoples of the world a collection of religious writings and invested them with supreme authority (or, as he would have said, recognized the supreme authority they manifestly possessed)."(363)
      • Luther: "God's word cannot be without God’s people, and God’s people cannot be without God’s word. . . . For it is the word of God which builds the Church. . . . [W]here that is heard, where baptism, the sacrament of the altar [the Lord’s Supper], and the forgiveness of sins are administered there hold fast and conclude most certainly that there is the house of God and that there is the gate of heaven." (Wilson 364)
      • Ellen White: "But God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of learned men, the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesiastical councils, as numerous and discordant as are the churches which they represent, the voice of the majority—not one nor all of these should be regarded as evidence for or against any point of religious faith. Before accepting any doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain 'Thus saith the Lord' in its support." (The Great Controversy 595)
    • #4—Only .
      • Proverbs 4:18
      • Ellen White: "The Reformation did not, as many suppose, end with Luther. It is to be continued to the close of this world's history. Luther had a great work to do in reflecting to others the light which God had permitted to shine upon him; yet he did not receive all the light which was to be given to the world. From that time to this, new light has been continually shining upon the Scriptures, and new truths have been constantly unfolding." (The Great Controversy 148-149)
      • John 16:12-13

"We are all beggars."

WAUS Second Sunday Series: Peter Aglinskas

Award-winning guitarist and Harper Music Department faculty member Peter Aglinskas returns to the Sunday Music Series stage for a concert of his solo fingerstyle arrangements of Latin, Jazz, Soul, and Classic Rock gems. The concert will be held at the Howard Performing Arts Center on the campus of Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. FREE event - no tickets needed. This event is sponsored by WAUS 90.7 FM

Grow Groups are Ready to Join

Small groups for PMC, known as Grow Groups, are now beginning for the fall semester. Please text "JOIN" to 269-281-2345 to view the groups and choose one or more that interests you. If would would like to lead your own group, text "LEAD" to the same number, and complete and submit the form.

Offering for September 13, 2025

World Budget (Radio Ministries)

Imagine learning about God through a message in a bottle!

That’s exactly what happened to a devout Muslim in Israel, who found a bottle containing a flyer for Adventist World Radio’s video Bible study series. It made him curious, so he, his wife, and their 10 children decided to watch. His daughter Sarah gasped during one of the videos. She’d recently started having dreams where she was learning about the Bible, and she exclaimed to her family, “The woman in this video is saying exactly what the man in my dream told me!”

After watching these videos, the entire family decided to get baptized.

This wasn’t an isolated incident. AWR’s radio station in Nazareth has started broadcasting programs in Israel, the West Bank, Palestine, and beyond, and hundreds have been contacting the station and studying the Bible as a result.

But the Middle East isn’t the only supposedly “impossible” place being reached with the gospel! Last year, in Europe, 1,530 churches across 38 European countries participated in AWR and Total Member Involvement’s Christ for Europe initiative. Attendees included everyone from refugees in Ukraine to people who found out about the meetings during Coronation celebrations in London.

We encourage you to give generously to support all the radio ministries of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Stewardship Ministries. 

North American Division Stewardship Ministries

Thrive: Mental Health Symposium

This event runs September 11 to 14 and is open to the public at no cost. Please view flyer for details. AU employees and students should use the RSVP option to receive co-curricular and wellness credits, respectively. Contact 269-471-3470 or ctcenter@andrews.edu for any other information needed.

Pathfinder Registration

It's time for children in Grade 5-12 to register to be part of the Evergreen Pathfinder Club for this school year.  As we start our new year we hope you can join us as we have fun, learn about God and share the good news of salvation in a safe welcoming environment. Please text PMCEP  to 269-281-2345 to receive the registration form.  Questions please contact Errol.prentice@pmchurch.org

Sabbath School Lesson Overview on the Book of Joshua

Everyone is invited to the overview of the Fourth Quarter Sabbath school lesseon presented by Dr. Rahel Wells on the Book of Joshua. We hope you can join us on October 4 at 4:00 PM in the Pioneer Youth Chapel. For further information contact Melchizedek Ponniah, 269-876-7476, melponniah@gmail.com.

Hymnsing at The Old Rugged Cross Church

You are invited to the last a hymn-sing for 2025 at The Old Rugged Cross Church on September 20, Sabbath, 4:00 - 5:15 PM. The Old Rugged Cross Church is located at 61041 Vermont Street, Pokagon, MI 49047.  Please bring your Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal. A free will offering will help to maintain this historic church where the hymn, “The Old Rugged Cross,” was introduced to the public by the composer. For further information, please contact Melchizedek Ponniah, melponniah@gmail.com, or 269-876-7476.

Howard Center Presents: Heritage Singers

Heritage Singers October 4, 2025, 8:00 PM. $30 Reserved, $20 Students, $10 Children < 5yrs Heritage Singers is a non-profit gospel music ministry based in California with a goal to bring people closer to Jesus by praising Him through music. When founders Max and Lucy Mace began this ministry, they never thought they would still be doing this 54 years later. Heritage Singers has had the opportunity to travel to over 80 different countries, travel over two million miles, and perform over 7,500 concerts. Max Mace believed that “If there ever was a time to share the Good News about Jesus, it’s now.” 

Micro-tour of renovated pipes
Seminary Chapel

This coming Sabbath, there will be the opportunity to view some of the newly installed pipes and insulation. The micro-tours start at the double doors that lead to the central hallway under the church in the downstairs Welcome Center. The tours will last about 5-10 minutes and will begin immediately after first and second service. The tours will end 30 minutes after each service. Most of the new piping will be hidden by ceiling tiles and behind closed doors so this may be your only chance to see what all the fuss and expense is about. See you there!

Howard Center Presents... Cerus Quartet

Cerus Quartet - Fischoff Competition Winners September 28, 2025, 7:00 PM. $20 General Seating, $10 Students, $5 Children < 5yrs Cerus Quartet is dedicated to showcasing the dynamic and versatile sound of the saxophone quartet. They champion both new music and timeless repertoire. With a repertoire spanning contemporary compositions and transcriptions of classical masterworks, the quartet seeks to establish the saxophone quartet as a leading voice in 21st century classical music. Among many other awards, the quartet has recently received the Gold Medal in the 2025 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. 

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