The Anabaptist view of Gelassenheit

Let's all stand for prayer. Father, we come before you and Lord we thank you for today. Father, we thank you for the opportunity to gather.

We thank you for brothers and sisters that are like-minded, that we can sharpen each other. Father, we pray that you would bless Jeremy as he brings this message and just anoint him. I pray that you would soften our hearts and I pray that you would speak to us Lord.

We also think of the Lindsay Mast family and we pray that you would comfort them, give them wisdom as they proceed. I pray that you would just bless that family Lord and also for Roger and Phoebe that you would bless their travels, help them to have some good quality time together and thank you for the blessing that they were able to minister Lord. We just thank you for this service, pray that you'd bless us now.

In your name we pray, amen. You may be seated. Well, good morning everyone.

Grace and peace be multiplied to you. That grieves me to hear about Lindsay Mast but we should all be praying for them. I think he has five children, right? If I'm not mistaken, but anyway let's pray for him.

Continue to pray. I'd like to open this morning with, I'm continuing on the series of Anabaptists. If you remember the first sermon I preached, we talked about what the environment was like up to when the Anabaptists, I don't know what to call it, a revolution or Reformation or what we want to call it, but when the Anabaptists began to have their message in the 1500s and the second message we looked at the slight confession.

We looked at, the label of it was true discipleship. We looked at how they wanted a voluntary church and how they wanted a church that was pure and what they believed about baptism. This morning I'd like to start off with a story out of the Martyr's Mirror.

How many of you have a Martyr's Mirror at home? Just curious. Okay, a number of hands. It's a huge book, a little bit daunting, not your everyday book that you want to just read but the purpose of this book, I think his name was, I won't even try to pronounce it, but he saw that the Mennonites were falling away, they were becoming acculturated, they were losing their love for the Lord and he went and put together, there's different sections of it.

Some are from the early church, some are from the time before the Anabaptists, there's a large portion from the time of the Anabaptists. The section here that's called the old book and a lot of stories, amazing stories. They're very moving, very inspiring to read about these people and their faith.

So I've been very inspired by these stories lately as I've been studying Anabaptists but I want to read a story here of Maria van Beckham and Ursula, her brother's wife, two ladies. In the year 1544 there was a sister in the Lord named Maria van Beckham whom her mother had driven from home on account of her faith. This became known by the bishop who sent servants to apprehend this maiden at her brother John van Beck with whither she had fled.

She was compelled to rise from her bed and accompany them and when she saw the great number of people, by the way these people were coming after her to take her because she was a Christian, when she saw the great number of people who had come on her account she asked Ursula, her brother's wife, whether she would go with her and keep her company. I want you to think about that a little bit. You've been expelled from your parents home because you became a Christian, you go to your brother's house, they come for you and or maybe you're the brother's wife, you're asked now to go with the one that most likely is going to die, which means you're probably signing up for a death sentence too if you say yes.

So she asked her, would you go with me? Ursula answered if John, which would be her husband, is satisfied I will gladly go with you and we will rejoice together in the Lord. When Maria put this request for her brother he consented. What if you were the husband saying yes to your wife? Yes you can go with her.

He consented and Ursula went with her. Her love was stronger than death and firmer than the grave. Ursula's mother and sister had come from Friesland to see her but this could not move her.

She took leave of them for she chose to suffer affliction rather than to have worldly joy. Hence she went with her sister Maria. When they got there the people questioned them about their faith and I'm gonna jump past all of that and I'm gonna move on to the latter part.

Now as Maria and Ursula regarded all the institutions of the Catholic Church as heresy they were brought into open court at Delden on the 13th of November before the children of Pilate and Caiaphas, the author likes to use metaphors of you know when Jesus was tried, where they were sentenced to death in which they rejoiced praising God. If you were sitting in court and they sentenced you to death for being a Christian would you would your first reaction be to rejoice and praise God? But when they were led to the stake many of the people seeing their steadfastness wept but they sang for joy and said weep not on our account of what is inflicted upon us we do not suffer said Maria we do not suffer as witches or other criminals but because we adhere to Christ and will not be separated from God hence be converted and it shall be well with you forever when the time of the suffering drew nigh Maria said she's saying this to Ursula her sister-in-law dear sister heaven is open for us for what we now suffer for a little while we shall forever be happy with our bridegroom I find that interesting the song we just sang I'll gladly come the heavens are low did you notice that song was actually translated by John overhaul and it says something in the tongue about a Dutch I think it has something to do with old Mennonite songs as I was reading at some point the heavens are open for us she says they then gave each other the kiss of peace and they prayed together to God that he would forgive the judges their sins since they knew not what they were doing then Maria fervently prayed to God and also prayed for those who were putting her to death whereupon she joyously arose and went with such great gladness to the stake that it cannot be told such joy going to the death on the stake that it cannot be told she said this to thee O Christ I have given myself I know that I shall live with thee forever therefore Oh God of heaven into thy hands do I commend my spirit the executioner swore because the Jane did not suit him he was so angry because he was he was upset that this chain wasn't the right length wonder how often you get upset about things during the week listen to what she said when he swore because the chain wasn't what he wanted she said friend consider what you were doing my body is not worthy that you should blaspheme Christ on account of it repent lest you burn for it in hell there was a preacher standing and he took Ursula not the one that's being killed right now and turned her around so she couldn't see Maria but she turned back again and said let me behold the the end of my sister for I also desire to receive the glory and to which she shall enter after Maria was burned they asked Ursula whether she would not yet apostatize no said she not for death I will not thus forsake the eternal riches then they said they would honor her with the sword it was an honor to be killed with the sword burning being burned they said they would honor her with killing her with the sword but she said my flesh is not too good to be burned for the name of Christ to one of her relatives she told them to bid her husband goodbye she began to say our father which art in heaven and the priest said yay there you will find him she said because I seek him there I must die this temporal death if I should confess him in the bread she's talking about the Catholic bread they would they would hold the bread in front of them and say this is your Lord in the cross this is your Lord and they would say that is bread and that's flour and water that cross is a piece of wood go warm yourself with it she said if I should confess him in the bread I might live longer when she stepped upon the wood her foot slipped and she said I think I'm falling off and they said stop cried the tyrant she means to apostatize no said she the block slips from under me I will not faint in the Word of God but constantly adhere to Christ thus both remain steadfast unto the end and seal the Word of God with their death in great patience and boldness leaving us a good example and I could only tell you I've only read to I've only read maybe this much so far and it's full of these kind of accounts I just keep writing I mean if I would spend this morning of the stories I wrote down to tell you we'd be here till 2 and I had to they're all at the end of my sermon here but I just had to cut them all out because I just couldn't tell you all the stories but that was one that was impressive in Matthew 10 let's quickly if you have your Bibles Matthew 10 Caleb read the verse in Luke which is parallel to this if any man hate not his father and his mother and his wife and his children and it goes on in Matthew 10 37 it says it a little bit different he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me and he that taketh not up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me he that find us his life shall lose it and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it you know Bollinger was a time at that time I he was in Zurich he wrote this is what he wrote about the Anabaptists he said that people were running after them as though they were living Saints whatever was happening during this time it was it was spreading like wildfire a contemporary writer said Anabaptism was spreading with such speed that there was reason to fear that the majority of the common people remember that first term we talked about the peasants and and how many of them were compared to the Lord's if I remember it was 80 to 90 percent the majority of the common people will you do night with the sect Zwingli over there in Zurich said he was so frightened by the power of the movement that he complained that the struggle with the Catholic Party was like quote child's play his struggle with the Catholics was like child's play compared to his struggle with the Anabaptists that shows you how much was going on with the Anabaptists so my question is what gave these Anabaptists power to die like they did what gave them the power to live like they did what was the secret of their strength now maybe in your mind you're immediately thinking well it was their faith but Luther had faith alone he preached it Zwingli had faith alone he preached it but something was different about these Anabaptists than Luther and Zwingli's faith that he preached as I've been studying I believe it has much to do with the word that they used in German it's not in English I'll write it up here on the board anybody know well if I already told you can't say it anybody want to guess what it is if you hadn't heard me say it it's galos and height it's a German word the Mennonite quarterly review I don't know what years said that this word can't really be translated into English it's it would be take 15 words in English or thereabouts to get an idea of what galos and height is Chester Weaver there's a sermon out there you can go listen to and he gives these words I'll go through them and I want you to think about what this word galos and might means it means submission it means yieldedness it means humility calmness composure meekness detachment tranquility imperpetual ability it's our imperturbability that means you can't get perturbed very easily it means serenity like peace poise you think of somebody who has poise and they don't get moved very easy it leans letting be not not worrying about it just letting it be it means letting go it means sedateness relaxation it's the opposite of self-assertion it's esteeming others better than self a gentle spirit true resignation and submitting to God's will and the brotherhood and brokenness Chester Weaver said in his sermon that it it can only really be caught not taught so I can spend here the next whatever we have left trying to teach you what galos and height is and you're not going to get it by teaching we have to be taught it we have to see it we have to be we have to catch it we have to catch a glimpse of it we have to we have to see it in other people we're just see it by reading these martyrs he also went on to say it is the most compelling part of faith it was what was most compelling to the Anabaptist what people saw in them and said we want to be Anabaptists when they saw the galos and height they had to die like they did it takes supernatural experience controlled by Christ and yielding to God he went on to say that he called it the power of powerlessness we don't really think about that as much of a power do we but the power of powerlessness historian Robert Friedman by time I tell you about a very interesting story but he said that the Mennonites had lost what it meant this galos and height idea that the early Anabaptists had they'd lost what it meant by the early 1930s they see the Amish still have an understanding of it in fact he called an Amish man and asked him what does galos and height mean he said that well Jesus on the cross you know and was talking about the meekness of Jesus to yield to that and the Zurich Bible the German Bible it is in that Bible it's in Lamentations 2 sorry Lamentations 3 26 it is good for a man both to hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord that word quietly wait is the word galos and height Danny Kennison has a sermon I heard it years ago on galos and height back when he was preaching in his tent meetings and he said he gave three meanings a true letting loose of all my will and my desires a true letting loose of all my will and my desires number two a total abandonment and number three a melting down of my own will think about that a melting down of my own will it comes from the word in German galos and in the verb form lassen just L A S S E N means to leave behind to let or to allow so it has the idea of leaving something letting go of something forgetting it just letting it go and it also has to allow maybe some terrible thing happening to allow it to not to not stress about it that's in the verb form in the adjective form it means unhurried it means easygoing so how do they get unhurried how do they get easygoing because of their attitude of letting something go of leaving it be of not allowing things to stir them up and the height at the end here is like helpfulness this is ness like we would say helpfulness so it's the whole idea of somebody letting things go a whole idea of waiting on the Lord I want to read from you a little bit here of a tract from an early Anabaptist it was called the true soldier of Christ it was kind of neat I was able to take this old German tract I couldn't find it in English and just paste it into something I won't say what and it translated it all into modern so now you guys get to hear modern what it would sound like if he was talking to you today the true soldiers of Christ and he was saying in his tract that there are four weapons we Christians have number one our first weapon is faith I think we could all see that number two it was love the third one was hope and the last one he said as your weapon as a Christian is galos and height he said following Christ always requires galos and height when we truly realize the love of God we will be ready to give up for love's sake what God has given us did you hear that when we truly realize the love of God we will be ready to give up for love's sake what God has given to us when we comprehend God's love for us galos and height by which the Christian is first recognized as the tree is recognized by its fruits therefore the blind world will recognize the true disciple of Christ for the hypocrite cannot stand long the first thing that a true disciple of Christ the fruit that the world will see in his life is galos and I think of the people you know that you meet them and within very short amount of time you say that's a Christian I'm gonna say they probably have something to do with galos and height they've got something to do with giving up their life and their will to the Lord then he goes on and says therefore in the cross alone is the true touchstone of the Christian a touchstone is when a jeweler would you'd bring a piece of gold or a piece of silver into me as this real or not he would take something like a Jasper stone and he'd rub it on the gold or the silver and he would compare it to other samples he had done the same with and depending on the scratches that this stone would leave behind would tell him whether it's gold or silver so Hans is saying here the cross is the true touchstone of the Christian as the cross of suffering comes into your life and it scratches up against you how do you react it'll tell you whether you're a Christian whether you're gold like that the jeweler would say therefore the cross must be born for the sake of righteousness as Christ bore it not in hypocrisy with the world but in openly reproving it and it reproving its evil works Ephesians says this have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them you know sometimes I wonder we look at our own lives and we say we don't have much suffering we don't have much persecution but I wonder how much we would if we would open our mouth and we would speak and reprove like if with Ephesians I was sitting at a job all these bigwigs took over Western interlock and there were all the big guys like in this lunchroom and I was just starting I had been reading the martyrs moon I thought what if they was go down a road of something that I would need to speak up would I have the strength to look at them and say you all need to repent Jesus Christ came to save this world from wickedness you are headed for hell what I have what I have the what I have the fortitude to speak that or what I use some kind of excuse in my mind to say oh you know the Lord will work on them in their time and quietly you know that all I'll win them by my quiet testimony that's not how the Anabaptists were they when you read their trials when you they sat there before the Lord's they could have said things that would so easily have given them a chance out in fact there were times they would say this will cost you your neck and they would turn around and say it just straight to them of the sin they would tell him you need to repent the Bible says to openly reprove them and so therefore Han says here the cross must be born not in hypocrisy with the world but in openly reproving evil works now let us hear what Golosinite is Golosinite is nothing else than to forsake for God's namesake everything which is of the creature everything of this earth and to let oneself be led by the hand of God such Golosinite we could use the word resignation yieldedness is called by Christ in Luke a hate where he says he does who does not hate his father and mother and renounce everything which he has is not worthy of me Golosinite is nothing else than a true mortification of our flesh and a true new birth listen to this next line but since the whole world wants to have Christ but misses it its desire the true goal in that this it wants to have Christ as a gift that it wants to have him as a gracious and only mediator for while the world now wants to have Christ and calls itself Christian it nevertheless misses the true purpose because it wants Christ only as a gift and not in suffering you know we want the grace of Christ we want Jesus to forgive us we want to think of him as a mediator but do we want the suffering Christ like the early Anabaptists would say the crown of thorns precedes the halo of glory or another Anabaptist writer the bitter Christ must precede the sweet Christ the Anabaptist talked a lot about the bitter Christ the Lutherans talked about the sweet Christ but the Anabaptist talked about the bitter Christ the suffering we must go through as Christians and embracing that suffering this was core to their theology they fall short in this they receive him only as a gift and not in the way of suffering for the same Christ who says come to me all you who weary and burdened and I will give you rest also says whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me we can't have two Christ's we can only have one whoever wants to follow Christ must also follow him in the way of suffering either otherwise it is nothing but an empty illusion and a terrible deception for this reason it is only a fancy and a matter of delusion when one says we believe that Christ has redeemed us but does not wish to live like he lived Golosanite consists of two sections so this is how they're going to define Golosanite the first one overcoming ourselves and that is sometimes quite some suffering right to overcome our own sin nature to overcome our own thoughts to overcome our own lusts but then he goes on and the second of enduring the persecution by others two things the fight the cross with our own selves the fight the cross when other people come against us there's a we'll talk about this probably in another sermon but there's a whole movement the spiritualists the the pietists and they love the part about overcoming ourselves but the part about speaking out the part about reproving the world the part about receiving persecution because of them speaking out they didn't go there that much but the Anabaptists did they believed in preaching I have another story here from the martyrs mirror page 439 I'll just give you some of the brief of the brevity of it seven brothers were sentenced to death by the way how many of here are 16 years old anybody one two I want you to think of yourself in this story and I want you to think where are you at compared to this whose second sentence to death one was 16 years of age and when they got to the place of execution he turned to the people the 16 year old turned to the people and what did he say forsake your sins turn to God he's gonna die and he's caring more about telling them about forsaking their sins forsake your sins turn to God since there was no other way to heaven at this moment a nobleman rides up on a horse and he says my son why do you allow yourself to be convinced of this spare your young life I will take you a home with me I will take care of you you shall enjoy good things with me all of your life if you obey me he said the 16 year old God forbid that this should ever come to pass if I should keep this temporal life and lose the eternal I would act foolishly I will not do it your wealth can help neither you nor me I expect one that is far better if I persevere to the end I will surrender my spirit to God and commend it to Christ then that his bitter suffering which he endured on the cross may not may in my case not be in vain think about that he was saying I don't want the suffering of Christ to be in vain I will I will surrender myself I will die at this because I want to be with him and I don't want his sacrifice to be in vain before they beheaded Leonard Shimer Shimer you know Shimer he wrote in 1527 he said there were three gifts from God number one the first gift from God is the Word of God it's the light inside of us all men have this light but all men don't avail themselves of this light the Word of God the second light he said was Christ and the righteousness of Christ but then he went on to say this statement he said the first light which is the Word of God in us is a guide to the second light Christ the righteousness but he said this but there is only one way to get to the second light it is through the melt oven of Golosinite the only way to get to Christ the righteousness of God is through the melt oven of Golosinite Hans Dink said that the highest thing we can choose with our freedom of choice is to choose to give our freedom of choice back to God what a paradox the highest thing we can do with our freedom of choice is to choose to take our freedom of choice and give it back to God that's Golosinite he said no other way to blessedness there is no other way to blessedness than to lose one's self will completely this for the Anabaptists was the way to Golosinite a true letting loose or surrender and it led them to community with Christ and his body even in material things there was a group of Anabaptists and the authorities were questioning them they said hey may a Christian own property I did you know I didn't say this yet I don't think but most of the early Anabaptists had a form of all things in common the Hutterites took it to the most extreme but the Swiss Brethren still had a form of it so they asked him can Christians own property I own property I'd ask everybody to raise hands but maybe we won't do that but can Christians own property this is what they said they asked the heads of home this a Christian may have property but in such a way that he has it not and not one should call property his own holders of property yet owning nothing Christians use property only as long as it pleases God then when a neighbor or when God needs it they let it go Christians may have property but they should remain Golosin unattached Arnold Schneider which is another historian that I was reading said that the Anabaptist view of salvation would start the way they looked at people becoming Christians would first start with a person that was convicted they would come under conviction of God and recognize the power of God and come under the fear of God the sinner would then feel remorse and repent of his sins he would feel an utter despair of being powerless and from there they would call to God and helpless in a spirit of genuine need and humility the next step on this path is a thoroughgoing spirit of Golosinite so the Anabaptist saw when a person was true disciples of Christ would go through this period of seeing their need seeing their helplessness and then coming to an end of themselves giving it all up to God and saying I I can't do this without you Golosinite being ready to yield one's will and one's life to God in an attitude that not only defines true repentance but also needs to shape the entire Christian walk to the moment of death so they didn't see it as a one-time thing they saw it as a moment day by day Jesus said if any man would come after me let him take up his cross daily and follow me they saw it as somebody that would day by day give up their will back to God they went on he goes on to say that sin is a matter of the will and our will freely chooses to sin right each day we we make choices whether we want to sin it follows that our will must also be involved in the remedy of sin okay so sin is a matter of the will we make choices every day to sin so it follows that our will has to do something we don't believe in election our will has to do something to remedy sin but human beings have no power to provide a remedy for sin what can be done that's the question that it goes on to say we must learn to stop doing Pilgrim Markipek which was an early Anabaptist said it like this it does not depend on our willing or running but rather on the mercy of God he gives the will we must simply in all of our actions stand idle as dead in ourselves we must stand idle in our all of our actions learn to trust and yield our lives to the living power of God in Christ Colossus and I is the key to true repentance and overcoming sin so if you're here this morning you're saying you know I don't I'm not finding I'm not finding freedom in sin I'm not finding the righteousness of God the question might be this very thing right here it's not that you need to stop doing or it's nothing you need to start doing something okay you need to start start you know living reading your Bible more or you need to start praying more those things can help but really what needs to happen is you need to stop the cessation of works you need to stop relying on yourself you need to start letting God lead surrendering coming to him in a spirit of helplessness that's what this key to the Anabaptist was yielding our will to God's will means removing the greatest impediment to the presence of God in our lives the greatest impediment the greatest thing blocking God's power is our will and until we can yield it it blocks his power in our lives so listen to this Galatian height is paradoxically a surrender of doing a surrender of control how many people like to control your own lives I mean how many people like to control other people's lives yeah nobody wants to raise their hand but sometimes it's there right Galatian height it's a surrender of control it's a surrender to God it's a surrender saying your will Lord whatever your will is not mine but yours be done the effort your effort what you wake up every day and put your effort towards what is directed entirely to the cessation of works think about that this is that cessation means to cease like the verse says we must labor to enter into his rest think about that your effort is put into dying to self and asking God to live through you so the Anabaptist the way they had such strength to die like they did was they had to get to this place of first laboring to die putting effort in to stop Colossum light plays a key key role in the Anabaptist understanding of the Christ's Atonement now that would be interesting to study out Atonement how did Christ and his Atonement work but to the Anabaptist Colossus and I had a lot to do with this the Atonement the blood of Jesus that comes down it cleanses us it forgives us but they didn't believe it forgave and cleansed you if you weren't walking in this listen to this it says only those who yield to the living power of God will in fact inherit the merits of Christ's sacrifice salvation is granted to those who are personally being transformed by the power of the living God that's why they focused on discipleship they wanted true Christians and true Christians found the power of God when they did this right here when they lay down their own lives here's a statement discipleship is not doing the best you can by your human power but rather is the outworking of spiritual regeneration and a continued attitude of gloss tonight so tomorrow morning you wake up you need that you cannot be a true disciple of Christ unless the Spirit of God is regenerating you the only way to get that spirit work is to gloss and height so you die you take up your cross the Spirit of God works in your life Tuesday you wake up you need the spirits to work in your life again you gloss and height throughout the whole day it's a walk it's a path and that's the only way to be a true disciple of Christ and it can't be done by human power and sometimes I feel like we Anabaptists start preaching that it can be done by human power just go love your enemies there's no way to do it unless we come here first we first get out of the way and realize we can't do it that God has to help us and we surrender our will at the heart of Anabaptist spiritual life is a continuous active yielding to the Living Spirit of God to the point that the divine nature becomes our nature according to the image of the Son of God in the measure that grace provides so as we walk this out day by day the grace of God comes in it gives us the divine nature so baptism according to the Anabaptist was the first and foremost profound spiritual surrender to God which is then proclaimed outwardly in water have you ever read the verse there are three that bear record in heaven the Father and the Word and the Spirit however it goes in the next verse says there are three that bear record on earth though anybody remember how it goes spirit water blood you know how the Anabaptist interpreted that spirit you first when you come to Golosinite and you read the scriptures on your own and you hear a tract you read something and you become convicted and you start crying I need God and you surrender and you say that 16 year old says I mean I read about 16 year olds who are studying night and day the scriptures they were excited about God you come to Golosinite the Spirit of God has now baptized you now we go and we get water baptized what that means is I'm saying to my whole brotherhood I am now committed to Christ to the rule of Christ and I'm saying I want to be bound with you to to hold me to the rule of Christ water what do you think the blood is what's that somebody say something willingness to die the blood willing to suffer willing to come to the end of yourself all the way to the cross if it means death they believed in those three witness they witness on earth that you're a Christian they testify have you found the Spirit of God through Golosinite have you been baptized in water showing that that's what you did and are you surrendered to the cross it starts at a personal level then the water it becomes public and a communal matter in which each members visible walk of discipleship is tested by brothers and sisters in the faith and that the Anabaptist they had this idea they believed that it was Golosinite went two directions it was between God and man and it was between brother and brothers many want to do this to the cross right they don't want that part I think and I'm I mean I can understand we've seen a lot of abuses here right we've seen a lot of abuses here especially for those of you come from certain settings this part can be abused for sure we're not gonna say that it can't be but the Anabaptist saw this as a whole system together the binding together of the brethren is an essential for the disciple as is dedication to the obedience to God the binding together of brothers is the same and and it cannot be in set it cannot be separated from man's obedience to God it's a package deal together there's a there's a quote I read somewhere if I could find it I'm not maybe it is here no man can come to God except together with one's brother that was an Anabaptist concept I don't know if we can do this I hope so but I really want to read you this story Wankin a widow daughter of Kloss on the 15th of November 1527 Wankin daughter of Kloss was brought prisoner from the castle of Warden to the Hague with her on the 7th day of the same month came also the count I won't even try to say it governor in Holland on the 18th the aforesaid Wankin was arranged before the governor and the full Council of Holland the governor the full Council of Holland is sitting there this lady there's a woman asked her have you considered the things which the Lord proposed to you she said I abide what I have said if you do not speak differently and turn from your error you will be subjected to an intolerable death she said if power is given from above I am ready to suffer do you then not fear death which you have never tasted this is true but I shall never taste death for Christ says if a man keep my sayings he shall never see death the rich man tasted death and shall taste it forever what do you hold concerning the sacrament I hold your sacrament to be bread and flour and if you hold it as God I say that it is your devil can you imagine being that bold ladies that bold in court what do you hold concerning the Saints I know no other mediator than Christ you must die you must die if you abide by this I am already dead you can hear the Spirit of God talking to this lady if you are dead how can you speak the Spirit lives in me the Lord is in me and I am in him will you have a confessor or not I have Christ to him I confess nevertheless if I've offended any listen to this nevertheless if I've offended any I would willingly ask them to forgive me she's on trial and she's asking people to forgive her if they've offended her who has taught you this opinion and how did it come how did you come to it the Lord who calls all men to him I am also one of the sheep by the way they always tried to get who are your brethren they would torture them on racks and rip their arms and put thumbnails until their blood squeezed out and hang them I mean crazy stuff to try to get them to say Abe's my brother you can find him at this address and they wouldn't they would not give up names and they asked her who has taught you this she just says the Lord has taught me this are you alone called no for the Lord calls to him all that are heavy laden after many like words wanking was led back to prison during the two following days she was entreated and tempted by various persons namely by monks persons priests sorry women and her nearest friends among others a woman came to her prompted by sincerity who commiserated after this manner to your mother now I'm sure she was sincere but listen to the devil in this can you not think what you please and keep it to yourself how tempting can you just think your thoughts about Jesus and just keep it to yourself then you will not die wanking replied dear sister I am commanded to speak and I am constrained to do so hence I cannot remain silent about it then the woman said I'm afraid they will put you to death she said though they burn me tomorrow or put me into a bag they still put ladies in the bags and just throw them in the water and drown them I'd be scary I care not as the Lord has ordained it listen to the gloss and hide in that as the Lord has ordained it so it must be and not otherwise I will adhere to the Lord then the woman said if you have done nothing else I hope you will not die as for me it matters not but when I come down from the hall I cry bitterly and it grieves me to see that these good men are all so blinded I will pray the Lord for them she's talking about the governor's the noble then two Dominicans came and they were trying to harass her she they were showing her the little crucifix of Jesus here is your Lord and your God she said this is not my God the cross by which I have been redeemed is a different one this is a wooden God throw him into the fire and warm yourself with it the other asked her in the morning of the of the time when she was to die whether she would not receive the sacrament they would they were trying to force Catholic stuff on him she said what God what God would you give me one that is perishable or is sold for a farthing and to the priest or monk who rejoiced that he had mass that day she said that he had crucified God anew he said it appears to me that you have fallen into error she replied I cannot help it my Lord and my God to whom be eternal honor praise and thanksgiving has thus given it to me what do you concern what do you hold concerning the holy oil she says oil is good for salad or to oil your shoes with that's that's incredibly bold like that just I mean that's the kind of stuff that's gonna cost her her life but she's surrendered she's already given her life for the Lord in the middle of the week she was brought before the court and when she came into the hall the monk went up to her and held the crucifix before say faith saying do recant before sentence is passed when Rankin turned from the crucifix saying I adhere to my Lord and God neither death nor life shall separate me from it as she stood before the judge the monk whispered into her ear fall down upon your knees and ask the Lord to forgive you she replied be still I did not tell you that you should not did I not tell you not to draw me from the Lord then they read her sentence in Dutch and then they delivered her to the sacred arm of the government and then the sacred arm the sorry the secular arm came out and said that they they would definitely kill her she's gonna be burnt to ashes when he said that he read the punishment that she should be burnt to ashes and all her property would be confiscated she said I beg you all that if I have harmed or offended any you will forgive me the monk said to her now for once kissed your Lord and God he wanted to kiss the little crucifix she answered this is not my Lord as they were leaving the council chamber the monk said to her that she should call it fall upon her late upon her Our Lady in a seed for her she replied Our Lady is well content in God call upon her she said we have Christ who sits on the right hand of the Father he prays for us they got to the scaffold where they were going to kill her still trying to get her to say holding the crucifix trying to get her to say it was her God and she was saying stop the monk said do you not fear the sentence which you must suffer in the fire she said no for I know how I stand with my Lord she stood on the scaffold there and one said to her mother turn to the people and ask them to forgive you if you had offended any then she did that she then assisted the executioner to put the powder into her bosom they would kill these Anabaptists they put gunpowder in a bag hanging over their neck so when the fire would come up it would blow up I guess maybe it'd kill him and she helped him she helped him put the bag into her dress or whatever it was here the monk again tempted her with a cross but she pushed it away with her hand turned around and said how you tempt me my Lord of my God is above she then went gladly as though she were going to a marriage she went gladly and her face did once betoken it never once betoken fear of the fire they said the monk said will you not always and firmly adhere to God she said yes indeed now you have to go into the fire do recant she said I am well content in the Lord the Lord's will must be done the monk said this is not the will of the Lord the will of God is your sanctification the executioner said mother cleave to God and do not suffer yourself to be drawn away from him in the meantime this pious hero went alone undauntedly to the bench stationed herself at the stake at which she was to be born saying is the bench firm will I not fall the executioner then made ready the ropes with which he was to strangle her the woman took off her neckerchief or veil and put the strap around her neck then the monk explained mother Wankin will you gladly die as a Christian she said yes I will do you renounce all heresy she said I do the monk said this is well are you sorry for what you've aired she said I formally did air indeed and for that I am sorry this however is no error but the true way and I adhere to God when she had said this the executioner began to strangle her with which when she felt it she cast down her eyes closed them as though she had fallen into a sleep and gave up the ghost on the 20th day November 18 1527 so as we close here the Anabaptist had an idea of submission Donald Martin says he could in a book called the joy in submission he says to the Anabaptist it was a virtue or a principle which became their walk of life submission as a walk of life is motivated by love self has been displaced Robert Friedman I quoted from her earl him earlier he said the disciple has to learn one thing above all the art of self-abandonment the man and he said in German it's called the loss tonight the man who through yieldedness seeks to follow Christ along the narrow path has to overcome all self-centeredness and has to open his heart to a loving and subsequential usually suffering attitude so my question is to bring it to down to earth when you're going through your day and something goes wrong doesn't go according to plans you have an accident this is what Chester Weaver said if you have gloss in height you'll think okay yes Lord what are we doing you'll think about God you'll think about God is at work if you don't have gloss in height you'll tend to blame you'll tend to blame others you'll tend to blame your boss you'll tend to blame this you'll tend to blame that but the proof that you have a loss in height is when you say okay God what are we doing this is your work the second way we have gloss in height we can have it in our brotherhood here we can yield to one another we can we can surrender and do things for the sake of each other we were talking about this yesterday out of the youth doing things for the sake of each other that's an Anabaptist concept you can have it with your husband and wife galahs tonight yielding one to another you can have it when your police officer stops you you have gloss and height you're gonna thank him you're gonna not argue with him they said Chester Weaver was talking about in Ghent Belgium they used to crucify or they used to kill Anabaptists outside the castle but so many people would become Christians because of their because of their way of dying that they started killing him inside the castle walls there's a story in the martyrs mirror they have these people they even they did such cruel things they took a woman they just took off her whole dress in front of everybody can you imagine the shame they took these people up there they kill them and they said do you see your brethren out there and they said I can see 20 of them I'm not gonna tell you who they are and then he went on to make this comment he said though I could count 20 I would not mention a single one you think that by killing us you can suppress the Word of God but of those that hear and see this hundreds shall come forth when people see true galahs tonight in your life it is a way that brings people to Christ it is the way the early martyrs got it said I think Tertullian said the seed of the church is the blood of the Saints it is the way the Anabaptist brought people into the church was through galahs tonight you know we can go out and pass out tracks and we can go out and hold signs and we can go out and do all kinds of neat nifty things but if we're not walking in galahs tonight you know at the end of the day we're gonna stand before God and he's gonna say I told you to go out and make disciples and I don't know just the track is gonna make a disciple it might but what I'm saying is we need we need to have galahs tonight among each other among our relationship with God so that when others see us they they they they see our good works they glorify God Jesus was the ultimate picture of galahs tonight think of a sheep led to a slaughter what a sheep do sheep don't have much much things to say and so are we we're also sheep so here's some opposites I wrote down to close of galahs tonight you're running late on time you're stressed you're upset on how you look because you have a pimple on your face I know this sounds kind of silly but I mean this is true life like think about it how yielded are you to God and surrender to God if you're worried about something on your face I mean yeah maybe pop it but move on you're you you want to win the argument is that galahs tonight I read it I think I must have skipped over but Phillips finger said that galahs galahs and I is the nemesis or the nemesis of argumentation when you have galahs tonight you're not looking to argue with people your idea is best you have to be heard you shoot down others ideas you need to be in control talking negatives of others can't follow a suggestion you're upset the situation has to change here's just some one-worders frustration this is opposites of galahs tonight impatience anger disappointment being proud self-love agitation stubbornness harshness complaining argumentative controlling anxious stressed and worried resentful or bitter envious and jealousy fearfulness I wrote this one perfectionism people-pleasing this is all the opposites of galahs tonight self-assertive domineering overbearing defensive entitlement harsh judgment in a critical spirit so how do they have the power to die like they did what was the secret of their strength I believe it was their absolute surrender but you think they only may be surrendered at death I would say the Anabaptist had a lifestyle had a moment by moment of surrendering it was part of their theology from their new birth through their entire Christian walk to the point of death I'd like to close with if you're not experiencing victory over sin the righteousness of God that God provides maybe this is a key in your life you haven't come to that place of self-abandonment to complete surrender Michael Sattler said they threatened us with bonds then with fire and sword but in all this I surrendered myself completely into the will of the Lord together with all my brothers and my wife and prepared myself to die for his testimony thank you and God bless you and may we learn as a church to grow in this attitude