The sermon by James Lundquist, titled 'Profile of a Godly Woman: Katharina von Bora,' highlights the life and impact of Katharina von Bora, the wife of Martin Luther. In 2017, marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Lundquist emphasizes Katharina's crucial role in the movement alongside her husband. Born in 1499 in Saxony, Germany, Katharina faced hardships, including the death of her mother and life in a convent, which shaped her resilience and character. Despite the prestigious status of nuns at the time, she escaped the convent after being influenced by Martin Luther's writings, which criticized monastic life. Katharina's marriage to Martin Luther in 1525 was founded on mutual respect and love, and she became integral in managing Luther's household and supporting his work. She was described as resourceful, prayerful, and a trusted counselor to Luther. They faced poverty and threats from enemies but remained steadfast in their faith. The sermon underscores the importance of prayer, Scripture study, and contentment in God's plan, as demonstrated by Katharina's life. Her legacy is a testament to how God can use individuals for His purposes, even amidst trials and societal constraints.

I built it up a little bit yesterday. Who? Who? I know there's a little girl right here that wants to tell everybody. Who was Katerina Bombora?

Martin Luther's wife. Martin Luther's wife. Now Who would guess why I would pick Katerina Bombora to talk about this year, the year 2017? This is Martin Luther's life. Yes.

Yes. 500th year anniversary of the Reformation. Right? And Rightly so, there will be a lot said this year, leading up to October 31st, of Martin Luther. Rightly so.

But, rightly so, we should talk about his wife. Because the Reformation would not have happened the way it happened without Katerina von Bohr becoming his wife. God made it very clear that he wanted the Reformation to happen in a way far surpassing what Martin Luther could do on his own. And together, the Reformation would continue and encourage us even to this day. Earlier, today we sang a mighty fortress.

Who wrote a mighty fortress? Martin Luther. So this is a study, as we did earlier in Mary, this is a study of hope and contentment in the life of a woman. But a woman, although 500 years ago, a little closer to today than 2, 000 years ago. And there's lots we can learn.

And I'm going to say a ton of good things about Catarina. But your takeaway should not be that she was a perfect woman. I'm going to say a lot of good things, but she had tremendous ups and downs, especially in the early part of her life. So before we talk about this lady that God saved, let's pray. Our God, thank you that you would save anyone.

Thank you Father that you would give us earthly examples even 500 years ago of your care for people, your care for this woman. You care for her, her hope, her contentment, her trust, her refuge was in you. You saved her out of tough circumstances and brought her to a life of freedom in Christ. Oh God, please help our time. It's a wonderful privilege to speak to you.

You might think, well, of course James, you're going to speak. You're expected that you would speak at this. But yeah, although that's true, it's a wonderful privilege that ladies, your fathers would entrust me, would entrust Jason, would entrust Michael to instruct you today and yesterday. This is a wonderful privilege and a wonderful trust that your fathers have put in our hands. So thank you.

They value you so much. We value you. We love you so much. We take this time very, very seriously. We pray it's a great help to you.

Let me start off with the early life, the first really half of Katarina's life. She was born in 1499 in Saxony, Germany, and at six years old, her mother died, Her father remarries, and this woman that he marries has several children, until they decide, hey, we don't have much money, let's send Katerina off to boarding school, which is a convent where nuns live. You would think that sending someone off boarding school was really for the rich people. No, really it was a lot of the poor people did it saying, they'll get a better life over here than I can provide for them. And yeah, it cost them some money and they would have to sell some land, give some goats, give some sheep, give some things to them, but they really thought they should have a better life over there, and that's what they did.

At ten years of age, her father transferred her to Marienthron Covenant, and that's where she would stay as a nun to the restaurant at 10 years old. That happened and at this place the emphasis really then was on schoolwork, on really an emphasis on prayer and I'm going to dig in on that throughout her life. Manual labor in a very very severe strict manner. Very strict manner is what they did. And we'll talk about it.

The convent, they owned a lot of land. It was like a tiny village. And they hired 40 or 50 people to support the 45 nuns that lived. People that did the manual labor out and about the convent, caring for the orchards and the fields and the animals and the barns and the blacksmithing and the carpentry and all that. So the nuns could focus the same way in the monasteries.

So they could focus on being spiritual inside this convent. And they had some labor. But their labor was they make candles. They had to care for the kitchen duty, clean the place. But in addition to that, they were really focused on prayer and studies and the things, the checklist they had to do to hopefully gain heaven some day.

We'll talk about that in a little bit. They learned nursing, how to care for it's sick, how to sew, how to do a lot of things that we'll talk about that really helped Catarina later. They had seven church services a day. It started at 1 or 2 a.m. Is where their day started and after that first service they can go back to the room and stay there maybe sleep till 6 a.m.

And then get up and for the rest of the day they have six more services. They have learning how to sing, learning their prayers, learning how to sew, and a lot of not talking. Quiet was what they were commanded to do most of the time. And then they'd get to bed around 8 o'clock and started all over. At age 16, in 1515, she officially became a nun.

Now, Part of the vows of becoming a nun are vows of obedience and poverty and never to marry. Here are some, I read several sources, several things, Like many older than 500 years ago, we're going to learn the most is in the writings of the husband in many ways. And Martin Luther wrote a ton about his wife, completely different than the times that day. But let me read a little bit about what they thought about their life. In those days the life of a nun was more prestigious than that of a married woman.

They thought it would provide protection, security against poverty and illness, premature death from multiple childbirth, and that they could not be forced to marry a man she did not love. So they said it was better to be single, it was more prestigious than being married. It was held at a higher spiritual level than that of being married. Because childbirth, well there's a lot of dangers in childbirth. You might die, but also during that time, I mean, it was a way of, some ladies would voluntarily go in, so they'd say, hey, I'm gonna be a nun, instead of marry this person that my parents forced me to marry Well being singles there's nothing wrong with being single right nothing wrong being single Which wrong is taking a valentine knows that this is better than those married ladies.

Right? That is the simple. If God has you single, fine. But to take a vow saying, I'm going to be single because this is better, this is more spiritual, and going against God's word of saying, be fruitful and multiply, not desiring that, going against God's Word and saying I will not go out and tell the world about Christ, the Great Commission, saying this is better and that I can be safe here. No, that was the life of a nun and a monk like Martin Luther was in many ways.

But Rita was a good nun. She was good. No records of any issues or anything. And then 1517 is when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses in Wittenberg, Germany, which was only about 55 miles from this convent. In the 1520s Luther's teachings started to make its way into that convent illegally.

Illegally. Some writing, some talking, started getting into that convent. And in 1521, Luther writes a paper attacking nuns and monks. Listen to what he says. I'm going to say some things.

They're hard. People back then said what they meant very plainly. No beating around the bush. Did not waste words at all. This is what he said.

It is certain that all convents and monasteries where supposedly devout people live and where their spiritual estate is to make them devout and blessed are worse than common brothels, taverns or dens of thieves. It is obvious that such human commandments, such as forbidding marriages of priests, are nothing but dictates of mere humans and the devil. So if you have a daughter or friend who has fallen into such an estate, and you are sincere and faithful, you should help her to get out, even if you have to risk your goods, body, and life for it." He also says in another place, There is no cloistered lock, cloister is the convent where the nuns live. There is no cloister lock so tightly, no tyrant so powerful as to separate Christ from His own. Ladies, take much hope in that.

There is nothing. If you are Christ, or if you have not proclaimed Christ yet, but you will be someday, there is nothing that can separate you from God. When He claims you as His own, He is yours no matter where you are. You can be in the worst reaches of Nigeria, where Bacchus of Rome is kidnapping ladies, where he could be here in the nice, quiet comforts and think of what you think you must be, but there is nothing that will take you from Christ. When he wants you, he will take you.

And he will have you. And he will give you that hope and that contentment for all of your life. These nuns really believed that being a nun was a surest way to heaven. They had no direct access to scripture to realize they were wrong. It wasn't their works.

Well, the secret influence of Luther and others caused 12 nuns to want to leave. Their leaders in the convent didn't know that. And they secretly sent a letter to Luther through Leonard Cope, who was an authorized person to deliver herring, fish, to the convent. They secretly sent a letter. Luther believed he owed it to them to rescue them.

He's the man that wrote, be willing to give all your possession, including your life, to save them. Here he gets a letter. He has to. Hey, ladies, ladies, this is why, This is why we must help people with the abortion clinic. We stand out there at that mill and say, repent, and say we will help.

We say these are precious gifts of God. If we are not willing to give our resources and our life to save them, what do we believe? That's why we must be willing to do it. And it has nothing to do really with whether they're a Christian or not. Caterina may not have been a Christian at that time.

He didn't know. He didn't seek out what their spiritual state. He just knew that where they were, they weren't being fed the gospel. And they needed saved. Their hearts were being turned and they needed saved and they wanted out of here.

He said, we must do it. So Leonard Cope did. Leonard Cope went on Easter Eve, 1523, the night before Easter, went and held 12 nuns escape. And Luther loved the imagery of picking them to do that. Easter was coming, where it's celebrated.

Christ is raising today, conquering the last enemy of sin and death to give complete freedom to his people and these nuns were going to take his freedom for the first time. And he loved that imagery. Three immediately returned to their families. Others came to Wittenberg where Luther lived. Katerina stayed with a couple of families.

First one, where she learned to care for a large house with a lot of activity. Come back to that. Very demanding home. That family described Katerina as graceful. Not a beauty, but divisive, with a kind face, not flirtatious, and a no-nonsense person that could be trusted.

Then she moved in with the Kranick family. The Kranick family is very critical here to where Caterina was going. The Crannock family knew Luther very well, very good friends. He became the publisher of all of Luther's writings. So that meant Caterina was around these writings all the time, being talked by Luther, at least indirectly, but probably directly a lot because Luther spent a lot of time in his house.

Luther did not give up on these other ladies. There were seven, so three went with families, seven. He found husbands four, and that only left Katerina as the last one. Here's Katerina. She's 26 years old.

In those days, that is an old maid. That was an old maid in those days. Where was her hope? Where was her containment gonna be? I'm the only one.

She didn't grasp at straws. She wasn't trying to force anything. She was thankful for where she was. Luther did not give up on finding Katerina's husband. One named Jerome wanted to marry her and Katerina wanted to marry him.

The problem was she's an actually nun. That is just awful history to have, one. And he was from a very wealthy family and his parents said, you will not do that. He did not. There was another gentleman, Dr.

Glantz, G-L-A-T-Z, that wanted to marry her. And Luther and another friend of Luther's, Nicholas Amstor, really wanted Katerina married but she wouldn't. She said, I don't love him. I don't love him. He's a Christian man, good man, but I just don't love him.

And as she was being pushed by Luther's friend, Katerina said, I'm willing to be married. She's like, are you just holding over old things still? You're not really wanting to? No, no, I would love to be married. There's only two people I'd be willing to marry.

You, Mr. Amsdorf, or Martin Luther. And she was very bold saying, there's two men, I'm willing to marry. Well, Debra really wanted to marry her. But she wasn't grasping for that.

She had learned streamed patience in the convent and she had learned how to pray. She learned how to commune with her God, and she was a praying, praying, praying person. She had gone from a person that, yeah, learned how to pray evil, wicked prayers, praying a lot, to now they've been transformed. New scripture, she had access to scripture, now she knew who the true God was, and who her trust was in, and who to pray for. And her prayers were changed tremendously.

And that changed her and gave her tremendous hope. Well, Martin Luther didn't want to marry anyone for a couple reasons. One, he thought he could do more for the Reclamation on his own, and he put it separate. And the other big thing was lots of people hated Martin. The Pope wanted him killed.

All the people in Catholic Church, people there, people in his own town, wanted him dead. So he expected to be murdered any day for his whole life. Since 1517, he expected death any day. Every day. You wouldn't have been surprised if he was murdered.

And he just said, I don't want to put that on a wife and maybe children. But there were some things that changed his mind about that. One was his father, who really wanted an heir. Okay, he wanted to honor his father in that. The other was he was doing a lot of teaching on marriage.

He was not just reforming the church doctrine on justification, on the sovereignty of God, he was reforming the church in every aspect, how to treat women, how to value women, how to care for women, and about marriage. And he was thinking, maybe if I got married, I could validate if my teaching's right, if it's good, if my counsel's right. So he started thinking through that. The final straw happened when an enemy of his said this. Enemy of his said, if this monk were to take a wife, then all the world and the very devil would laugh, and Luther himself would ruin everything that he created.

Luther, go ahead and get married. We're going to laugh at you when you fail at this. When we see that a nun and a monk, ex-nun and a monk, you're going to be cursed. That's what he's saying. Luther then said, if I can arrange it, I will marry Kate in defiance of the devil and all his adversaries.

Amen. Now, he ended up not marrying Kate because just out of spite of people he married Kate because he loved her and that's what I want to get into on I want to spend the rest of time on their marriage and some key points and June 13, 15, 25 Martin at the age of 41, and Catherine at the age of 26 were married. And in their marriage, there was a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord that the Lord had brought them together as a gift to each other. Takes me back to what Jason said at the Miller's wedding, at Rowan Candace's wedding, to exactly that. The Lord was demonstrating his goodness to them.

The Lord is demonstrating that he was good by giving them a gift of each other, and that's the way they viewed it. That wasn't a marriage of convenience, wasn't a marriage to really prove anything. God grew their love to one another and then encouraged that love even more and more. So early in their marriage, turn to Psalm 31 please. Turn to Psalm 31.

Early in their marriage, Martin Luther, this is so key, Martin Luther encouraged and had Katerina memorize Psalm 31. It's not one that necessarily any of us would just all say, oh yeah, I know this verse in Psalm 31. There's a Psalm in this scripture and it's very helpful in their merit. I'm not going to read the whole thing, I'm going to come back to bits and pieces to the rest of the talk. I want to read verses one through five to get us going in this psalm.

This is to the chief musician of Psalm of David. In you, O Lord, I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in your righteousness. Bow down your ear to me.

Deliver me speedily. Be my rock of refuge, a fortress of defense to save me. For you are my rock and my fortress. Therefore for your name's sake lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, for you are my strength.

Into your hand I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth." You probably recognize the first half of verse five as words of Christ later on. But this Psalm, she clung to. Knowing Scripture was very new to her. Reading it was very new to her.

Having it very new to her. She memorized this. She clung to it. She knew Scripture and used this to base her hope and trust in the truth of Scripture, that God's promises are true. And Amen.

Ladies, you've heard it a lot, you hear it every year, but it is so true. Claim to the God of Scripture by knowing Him, knowing Him and trusting Him. See it, look at it, it's all throughout this. Oh Lord, I put my trust, be my rock, my refuge, a forge of the defense, you are my rock and my fortress, you are my strength. Oh Lord, God of trust, I trust in the Lord.

Over to verse 14, I trust in you, oh Lord. You are my God, my times are in your hand. In verse 19, I trust in you. In the end, be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart all you who hope in the Lord her strength her trust for years to come we're pursuing this God that she could completely trust, have all of her hope wrapped up and all of her contentment wrapped up in this. That's what her trust was.

They were poor. Martin and Caterina were poor. They always were. They were poor with lots of enemies that wanted them now both dead. Caterina inherited his enemies.

They are now one. His enemies had no bones about Kilton. I didn't care about Kilton. Yeah, we'll kill her too. We're fine with that.

Look at verse 7 and 8. I will be glad and rejoice in your mercy, For you have considered my trouble. You have known my soul and adversities, and have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in wide place." See, you would be crushed if your hope was like, this is great. But the enemies come, right?

The rubber meets the road. Oh, wait, OK, it was OK. So I love this, man. I heard about the enemies. I didn't really see it.

Oh, wait, oh, well, I now see it. I now understand the words of the pope. I now understand the words of the Pope. I now understand the words of these other people and how much they say, oh, they mention my name now. Wow.

Their trust had to be in the Lord. Their trust had to be in the Lord. And their contemplating God's will includes not being ashamed of being poor or being despised. Look at verse 17. Do not let me be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon you.

Let the wicked be ashamed. Let them be silent and great. Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. Oh, how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have prepared for those who trust in you. Don't be ashamed.

It's not talking about being ashamed. I'm being ashamed because I have little. They're saying, no, I'm not ashamed because I have a lot. I have Christ. I have His goodness.

He is protecting me. I trust in Him. He's strengthening me. He's defending me. He's uplifting me.

He gives me courage. He's my strength. I'm not ashamed because I have Christ. I have God. It has nothing to do with how many possessions I have.

My shame has nothing to do. In fact, I'm not ashamed of having these enemies. That's a great thing, they're my enemies. Because I'm on the Lord's side. I'm on the right side.

Their home was a former monastery where Luther was living. Alright, he gets rid of the monks. What do we do with these places? Let's use these places. He got a good deal for it.

Got a good deal for it called the Black Cloister in Wittenberg. It wasn't fancy, it was very run-down, there was a lot of work to make it a home. Martin Luther I had been living there, but he was not one for home making necessarily. It says that his bed was a bed of straw and he hadn't made it in a year when he got married. I'd most likely be in his place, probably.

But they were content in the good and providing God. So I want to start off the rest talk on three tieres. First one is hope and contentment with children. Hope and contentment with children. We easily, easily, even me, easily look for hope and contentment through having children.

And in our children, find our hope in them. And that leads to great disappointment. If that's what I hope and contentment, ladies, please don't pin your hopes and contentment on, oh, when I get married, or just when I get married, And then when I get children, if that's what you're paying your hopes and intentment on, you may be sorely disappointed just from that standpoint that God may not have either of those happen for you. May not. Most likely you'll get married.

I have no idea if you'll have children or not. You don't either. Most likely you will. But still, we all know people that can't have children, couldn't have children. It happens.

We know people that haven't been married. There's no guarantees. And if you do have children, there's no guarantees how they're going to turn out. No guarantees. That little baby thinks so cute, right?

And it is cute. And we love the little baby. That little baby does cry a lot at night, and could turn into a rebellious, rebellious child at any time. In 1526 though, the Luther's had the first child named Hans. Boy, the first child.

In 1527, the bubonic plague struck. There were a lot of times of plague in Europe in those times and 1527 was one of those. And with the bubonic plague you generally died within four days of hitting it. Very, very quick. Well, during this time you would think who wants to get pregnant during this time?

Well, God said, you're going to get pregnant, Katerina. And she was pregnant well before the plague struck. Oh man, what bad luck then. Now you're pregnant, you might die, your baby might die. What bad luck for you, Katerina?

No, her trust, her hope, back to Psalm 31, was in God. I trusted in you, God. You're gonna do what you're going to do. And the Lord gave them a little baby girl in December of that year named Elizabeth. Now they had two children.

Great! Wow! The Lord, how good you are! You kept Katerina alive. She didn't die from the plague.

And we even had a daughter. And she was healthy and fine until eight months later when she died. Where's your hope and contentment now? God, you saved us through the plague just to have her die now? Where is their hope and contentment now?

Well verse 21 and 23, 22, Blessed be the Lord, for he has shown me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before your eyes. Nevertheless, you heard the voice of my supplications when I cried out to you. Jason said in his message earlier when when a mother outlives her children, It's a pierce to her soul. And it's true.

There are people here that that's happened to, where mothers have outlived their children. But how are you going to be sustained? When trials happen, One of the things that happens, you know this is true when you've been through trials or hard trials, one of the things that's going to happen is you will pray more. She already had a great pattern of prayer. Martin Luther did too.

He's got a great history on his prayer, even to his detriment in some ways. But in the amount of time, the hours and hours he has been praying. But anyway, sidebar, but she prayed. These trials will cause, if you are looking at these trials and you're hoping you're contemplating right, it is going to spur more prayer than you think you would ever have. You should be thankful for that.

That God would use any kind of circumstance to cause me to know Him more, to get to know Him more, trust Him more, to see Him lift me up, defend me, sustain me, strengthen me. In 1529, their third child, second daughter Magdalene was born. In 1531, their second son, fourth child Martin was born. And you read what he said at his birth here, on the birth of Martin. Listen to this as he's looking at his son nursing, eating.

He says this, this child has as enemies the pope, bishops, Duke George, Emperor Ferdinand, and all the devils. Yet he is not afraid of any of them, but rather nurses away with joy. He doesn't care about his enemies, is of good cheer, and lets them be angry as long as they want to. Indeed, Christ said, become like little children. Let your enemies rile at you.

Let them be as angry as they want. Let them rage, Psalm 2. Let them rage. God will turn their hearts how He wants, He will use them how He wants. Can you be content like that little Martin, like the little babies that you see around here, that have no idea, you might say, oh, ignorance is bliss, they just have no idea of how tough it's going to be.

No! God says be like little children. There's one way. Completely trusting here in the parents that God had given him, a mother to feed him in this case, you completely trust and content that God is caring for you. Or you look at that rushing river, do you look at the rushing river of life around you, you're fearful of the things you hear, the stories you hear, the stuff that your parents bring to you and tell you what's going on in the world because we want to prepare you.

Not to cause fear, but may it drive, but your hope is here and take you to scripture and this is where your hope and your contentment is. Their last daughter, or sorry they had another son, then another daughter, son Paul, and a son and a daughter Marguerite. Then in 1542, at the age of 13, Magdalene died. So they had two daughters die. The Luther's hope was only in God.

They saw that their hope could not be in that they would see their children married, their grandchildren through them. He said, they taught him catechisms and a prayer on how to read the Bible. That was all new, brand new, teaching your children catechisms and the Bible, to read the Bible? To read themselves? And how to pray?

That was all new. But he said, Luther says, our children, with God's help, will conduct themselves in a God-fearing manner. They understood Luther, who was teaching on justification, salvation through Christ alone, by faith alone, understood, hey, we can't, much less can we save them from death, we can't save them from salvation, we can't do this. God, our trust is in you, our hope is in you, that's the only thing we can trust and we will do what we can but our trust is in you. Their contentment was in God.

They knew God was good. And trust was built in ways that only suffering can do. And Jason brought this up yesterday in Romans 5, 1 through 5, on tribulation, building that hope. It really does because then you see how God is caring for you. The next point is that they were greater married than single.

They were greater married than single. So part of reforming doctrine, as I said, was not just reforming the people and the church on what to think about, justification, salvation, what scripture really says, but they also is reforming part of it, right? It's all throughout scripture on marriage. Hey, scripture includes your marriage and how you think about one another, man and woman, especially men towards women and also women of themselves. That your value is way more than just birthing children to help in the fields and to cook and to sew.

Your value is far those are valuable things, those are great things that you can do and some things you can learn, but you're not property. You're not treating you like property. Your value far surpasses than just saying, oh, you better have children where you're not blessed of God. You better make sure I have a meal and I need to have clothes. We need to look good.

Make sure the children are learning something. See how tough a place that would be. So he's reforming marriage as well. She was a central partner in all in all of Martin Luther's activities. I'm gonna go through some things.

The Reformation, we would not know the Reformation is today if God didn't have Martin Luther. Yeah, he could have done it many ways, but the way he did it, her influence on this was tremendous. He could not achieve close to what he did without Katerina. Katerina supervised all the printing and distribution of Martin's writings, every one of them. She supervised all that.

Katerina was the central messenger of everything when Martin traveled. He would write letters. What we know most about Katerina is not from people just taking history notes of her. No, it's through what Martin said about her. That's how we know the most about her.

And he, when he traveled extensively, he would send news back to her in great, wonderful letters that she was trusted with disseminating properly and telling people the news, what was happening in the Reformation. Katerina was trusted with all the business of the household, including the selling of land and houses and renting rooms in this monastery to help with income. She had great vision for that. Hey, we got all these rooms. If We don't have a lot of money.

Maybe we can rent these out and get some money. People there weren't willing to pay Martin for what he was doing. And Martin's chatteling was not cheap. He didn't make any money off his writings. That was his choice, kind of like what John Piper does.

That was his choice. Catarina never read anything, never read anything that said that she pushed him on this note. She said, all right, find a way. And she was content with that. Catarina was a primary counselor in every area of life.

She was his primary counselor. See the value here? You see that? Ladies, we do value your input now. We do.

Here's one. One time when Martin was deeply depressed and none of her counsel was helping, that happens. Who's been there? Yeah, I know you're talking to me, but you don't understand how bad I've been there. All right, well, what Katerina did, she put on a black dress.

She said, if you won't listen to me, maybe I'll do a visual thing here. Put on a black dress and Martin trash are you going to a funeral she replies no but since you act as though God is dead I wanted to join you in mourning well Luther got the message He repented and recovered of his sinful depression. Alright? He had the, the woe is me, right? That's because of a loving wife.

That I don't know what happened right after that or what he wrote right after that. No telling how helpful it's been to us. Right? Katerina helped Luther get back on track with his Christian hope and contentment. Katerina at the convent learned how to be a nurse.

Who wants to guess if Martin Luther tended to be a healthy person or a sick person? Want to take a wild guess? What do you think? He tended to be a very sick person, often very sick. Who did God give him?

Katerina, who learned how to be a nurse at a convent. God can take your sinful circumstances, that it was a sinful place to be, a horrible place to be, and a place where she wasn't even learning the She didn't learn scripture at all. She learned horrific, evil prayers. And here she is. God uses that part of her life to care for this man that tended to be very sick.

Not only was she sick, she wasn't worried about his death at all. Listen to what she said. She said, My dear doctor, that's Dr. Martin Luther, my dear doctor, if it is God's will, I would rather have you with our Lord than here." Better be with the Lord. She says this, but I am not thinking just of myself and Hans, so this is early in their marriage.

There are so many people that need you, But don't worry about us. God will take care of us. She believed the scripture. It's better to be with the Lord. So dear doctor, dear husband, I'm fine if you die because it's better to be with the Lord and I am with you.

But then in doing that, Who does she care most about? She cares most about Martin Luther, better view of the Lord, and others. But, but, there is so much work to be done if the Lord would have you be healthy through my care of you so that you could spread the truth of the gospel fantastic. But if not, don't worry about us. The Lord is going to take care of us.

She had memorized Psalm 31, probably many other scriptures by this time, as she devoured it for the first time in her life. But she knew Her trust is in the Lord. Her trust that God would be her rock and a fortress of defense for her, that she would not be put to shame, but God is true in all his ways. The Loosters hosted what became known as Table Talk. You might recognize that from Ligonier Ministries, their magazine, that's where they get it from, where Catarina was in charge of bringing people into their home several times a week.

She would do the guest list, where they sat, where they ate, and they would come in and they talked about the events of the day They definitely talked about scripture theology the non Christians and Christians of life coming in and she participated in these conversations and their home and these writings are preserved. Why? She takes notes. These writings, a lot of these are preserved of their talks and their place was known as the place of news for the area but she arranged all that. Luther's message got out farther and wider because she arranged all these things.

Luther's love for Catarina was true and grew. Listen to these greetings to her from these letters. Here, this was she after. My most beloved lady of the house, beloved Kate, gracious lady, my true love, my sweetheart, even humor at times, dear Kate Luther, judge at the pig market. She was in charge of picking out pigs.

She could judge a good pig for the feast. Right? I'm assuming that's what that is. It's not just the fair necessarily. But she did these things.

Let me read to you Luther's praise of his cape. I would not trade my cape for France and Venice for three reasons. Because God has given her to me and me to her. That's the gospel. Christ holds on to you because you are his and he is yours.

Two, I have seen time and again that other women have more faults than my tape. Men, we know this. The world lies to us on saying, well, that woman's not as bad as my wife. Right? But God gave him eyes to see, no, no, this is my bride.

This is my bride and I'm looking for the good and the great in her and how God's using her. Number three, She is a faithful marriage partner. She is loyal and has integrity. He loved her. He loved her.

Another long title, my friendly and dear lady of the house, Katerina Von Borah Luther, a preacher, Don't think of me, think of someone that told the gospel to people. A beer brewer, gardener, and whatever other talents she may have. Now when you think of these other talents, it's not just the tag lines, because she had a ton and It would take a lot in that lot of room in that letter to write out all of these things. A gardener, fruit grower, land care, you know, we know about the pig market. She did all kinds of things, very hospitable and a very resourceful administrator, especially with a lot, the large house and lots of guests.

She could stretch a dollar. Ladies, she was prepared for all of this, how to handle all of these circumstances in this convent. She had no idea what God had for her. Ladies, you don't know what God has for you, do you? I don't know.

Your parents don't know what the Lord's good plan is for you. So here's all you can do. Take advantage of what's right in front of you. Take advantage of what's right in front of you and do it with all your heart. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Lean on His understanding. It will go well with you. Trust in the Lord has given you the parents he wants for you. My daughters, as much as I love Jim, he'd be a horrible father for you right now. That's what God said.

I'm the best father for you. You're stuck with me. But I'm the best. Take advantage of this in your home, in your church, in your community, and trust using your parents to prepare you for his purpose. Be very careful at grasping things, grasping for this or that, or saying, but I need to go do this, I need to go do that, I need to go do this, I need to go do that, I need to go do this, I need to go do that, because I might, because you'll Christianize and say, well I don't know what the Lord has for me, so I might as well learn this and this and this, and go here and go here and go there, outside the counsel of your parents, outside the counsel of people of your parents' respect, and you're grasping.

Don't do that. Take advantage of what's right in front of you and your parents counsel. You have no idea. I have no idea. So let's do what the Lord has put in front of you.

With counsel. There are things they can go do. And there are older ladies here doing it very, very well. There are. Younger ones, seek them out.

There are ladies here doing lots of different things outside their home and in their home under their father and mother's authority that are tremendous. There's lots you can learn from them. Learn from them. Now older ladies, they're going to learn from you. You need to take advantage of what's in front of you and help them and instruct them.

We do a fantastic, fantastic job around on a Sunday morning, older ladies, younger daughters with one year olds. Six month year olds, right? Six month olds. Right? Wonderful job.

I can't, I'm an elder and I can't break into that line. Can I hold? No, someone says there's a line. Here's a line that I can break into very easily. There's not a line for this.

The 18 year old with the 12 year old. 16 year old with the 10 year old. Where's that line? Where's that line ladies? There are those here, you know, there are those here that have a lot to tell the younger ones about not grasping and encouraging them in their parents' home and listening to their counsel.

And you can counsel them on what true hope and contentment is. You can tell them the gospel. You can tell them, talk to them about the sermon and how you listen, how you participate in your home and direct them towards godly lives. There's a line I'd love to start seeing. The last area is, contentment and hope in widowhood.

In February, February 1546, Luther's last words were from this Psalm. Were from this Psalm that he and Katharina had memorized from verse 5. Into your hand I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. And he died at 62 years old and Katerina was Katerina was I forget how old she was but anyway but here she is with with children still in the home the children had not had not all left home yet she still had some And it happened while Martin was away.

He died not at home and Caterina wasn't there. Almost 21 Years of marriage. This is a very sorrowful time. Very sorrowful time. This...

What does Caterina's hoping now? She said all these things. She said all these things about the Lord take his baby with the Lord. Don't worry about us. Okay, all right now.

You're a widow with children and Martin's enemies are still out there that are your enemies and the culture of the time does not treat widows well. The inheritance didn't go to the widows. The home, the children were part of the inheritance. She had to fight to keep the children. What did Martin do as part of his last thing on reforming marriage?

He had a will different than anybody else. My wife will get these things. She will. And I know a lot of you will take this time to hate on her and you'll show your true colors, but in his will he said, you better not. You will not do it.

You will love her and you will care for her. For all the things you liked about me, look at her." That's what he was saying. And there were people that listened and loved her and cared for her, and she got to keep her children. During her time as a widow, there were wars. She had to flee her home three times because of wars and every time she came back the house was in complete disarray.

It wasn't wrecked. It was a complete disarray as armies come through and do what they want but the land and the animals just completely destroyed, gone. Every time, hey Lord, you're my defense, you're my sure foundation. My hope is in you, not in the cattle, not in this. Our lives will preserve, I'm thankful for that.

If they weren't, you would take care of my children. And she built it back up three times. Three times. With no grudging. Lord, alright.

We've got a place to live. She kept going. Hope that Timma was not wrapped up in possession. She kept praying. She just kept on praying, communing with her God, knowing her God, and only knowing him to be faithful.

And December 1552 at the age of 53, five years after Martin Luther died, she died. So some applications here. I'll map this up. Martin's testimony was that Catarina, quote, was his godly, faithful wife who studied the Bible, learned and taught the catechism, instructed their children to pray, paused for daily family devotions, and regularly participated in the life of the church. How did that happen?

How did that testimony of Martin Luther about his life happen? Well, one, she was a woman of prayer. He mentioned that. Ladies, Fathers, be women and men of prayer. Lots of prayer.

There's nobody here that says they're prayed out. There's nobody here that's like Martin Luther, especially who was in the convent, that they were saying, You pray too much, Martin. Get to work. Anybody want to raise their hand and say that to you? It's not me.

I'm not in danger of that. So, cultivate prayer. She learned how to pray a lot as a nun and that never changed. What changed was her prayers. They had a prayer saturated house.

If not now, if you want to cultivate now, when? Not when I'm married. When I have children. When a child comes. As Jason just talked about, no, now is the time to prepare.

Now is the time to prepare for when that child comes, the overflow of your heart will be trust in the Lord. He is your refuge. He is your sure foundation. He will defend you. He will set you up on high.

He will never leave you nor forsake you. No one will snatch you from the Savior's hand. Now is the time to cultivate that. Why now? Because this afternoon may be the time of trial.

Tomorrow, you don't know when. Number two, study the Bible. Not just read it, study it, read slowly, pray through it, and memorize it. The memorization of Scripture is what sustained Katerina through her life. That she knew it and had it.

She didn't die with not being able to read or anything, but she had it at her fingertips when she's fleeing. There's not a Bible on every corner, not a bookstore, not on Amazon.com. It was here. It was here. And she had it with her wherever she went.

Number three, instruct others. Instruct others of this. Older to younger, younger seek it out. Catarina, use her life to instruct others. Train her children.

Be a chief counsel to Martin. Number four, where it says she regularly participated in life of the church, be active in Sovereign Redeemer Community Church. Be active in it. You may not have a choice on where you go to church, but you do have a choice on whether you're going to be active in it. What can I do?

I'll never preach in front of the church. I'll never lead up front with prayer and recitation, the sermon text. I'll never be involved with extended teaching, but you can still participate. How do you prepare for Sunday? When there's prayer, are you participating in silent prayer?

When there's preaching, are you actively listening to the preaching of God's Word and seeing how it affects your life and how to apply it to your life? Memorize the recitation text. Do it! Memorize it. It'll serve you all the days of your life.

Sing with all you have. You will never lead singing in church, but sing with all you have. When you can talk, sing. You are not going to preach, you are not going to read the sermon text, you are not going to lead prayer. Here is your...

Sing! Sing with all you have. With much worship. Seek out afterwards in fellowship, older ones, seek out the younger ones that may be by themselves. Don't be afraid to break up a little game here or there, or encourage them.

Seek out an older lady that may be by themselves. Seek out one of our wives if they're by themselves. Not just because they're by themselves, but it's an opportunity. You have great opportunities in the last and everything. Face your hope and contentment in the Lord.

You don't know what God's good plan is for you and how we'll leave in the history maybe 500 years later. To a husband, to a family member, through your life, you don't know. But be content with whatever God gives you. Have hope in Christ alone. Let's pray.

But God, thank you that you would give us these examples, because they give us great hope on God, how you can take sinful people and change them with new hearts and give new desires, that the first half of a life can be completely different than the last half of life. Full of hope, full of trust, full of contentment. Thank you God that you would save anyone, anyone at all. You are a good God, a righteous God, and you we trust. We thank you.

Amen.