Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "Heed the Watchman" Friday, March 7, 2014

Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "Heed the Watchman" Friday, March 7, 2014
(The Lord said) "So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, you shall give them warning from Me."--Ezekiel 33:7
It was after dark when Police Chief Jerry Peralta pulled up in front of the oceanfront units of the Richelieu Apartments in Pass Christian, Mississippi. 
A man with a drink in his hand came out to the second-floor balcony and waved. Peralta yelled up, "You all need to clear out of here as quickly as you can. The storm is getting worse." But as others joined the man on the balcony, they just laughed at Peralta's order to leave.
"This is my land," one of them yelled back, "If you want me off, you'll have to arrest me."
Peralta didn't arrest anyone, but he wasn't able to persuade them to leave either. Sadly, the chief wrote down the names of the next of kin of the 20 partiers. They were amused as he took their names. Some even thanked Peralta, and then they shared, "I'm sure we will be just fine."
It was 10:15 p.m. when the front wall of the storm came ashore.
Scientists clocked Camille's wind speed at more than 205 miles per hour, at that time, the strongest on record. Raindrops hit with the force of bullets, and waves off the Gulf Coast crested between 22 and 28 feet high.
News reports later showed that the worst damage came at the little settlement of motels, go-go bars, and gambling houses known as Pass Christian, Mississippi.
It was there that 20 people were killed at a hurricane party held at the Richelieu Apartments. Nothing was left of that three-story structure but the foundation; the only survivor was a five-year-old boy found clinging to a mattress the following day. Those people died because they failed to hear the words of the watchman!
There is little doubt that many other people are going to die for eternity because they refuse to listen to the Lord's words, which are being shared by God's earthly watchman. All too often when the pulpit proclaims, "This is a sin" or "That is a transgression" people reply, "Maybe in the days of Moses and Ezekiel and Peter, but not now." When folks are encouraged to repent, they refuse. When they are asked by their church to remain faithful to the Word, many prefer to find a church that says, "You are okay just the way you are."
Understand, I am not saying every sentence spoken by a pastor, priest, professor or church leader is the Gospel truth.
Coming from a fellow sinner, we can be pretty sure that every once in a while errors, faults and flaws will creep in. But when a watchman shares the Word as it was given, when he condemns that, which our just God has condemned, and when He shares the forgiveness and grace that was won for us by Jesus on Calvary's cross, then it is time to pay attention.
If we do, God will be glorified, our watchman will be able to give a good account, and the listener will have the peace of knowing he has done as the Lord has asked.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, right now we pray for those we know who have disregarded the words of the watchman and the call of the Holy Spirit. There is great danger they will soon be swept away. For them I pray this: while there is still time let them hear and be brought to repentance and salvation. Let them hear and follow the Savior who gave Himself for us. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours, 
Pastor Ken Klaus 
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Leviticus 25:1 Yahweh said to Moses in Mount Sinai, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to Yahweh. 3 You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your vineyard six years, and gather in its fruits; 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to Yahweh. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap, and you shall not gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. 6 The Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you; for yourself, for your servant, for your maid, for your hired servant, and for your stranger, who lives as a foreigner with you. 7 For your livestock also, and for the animals that are in your land, shall all its increase be for food.
8 “‘You shall count off seven Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and there shall be to you the days of seven Sabbaths of years, even forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. 10 You shall make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you; and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. In it you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself, nor gather from the undressed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat of its increase out of the field.
13 “‘In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property.
14 “‘If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another. 15 According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor. According to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to you. 16 According to the length of the years you shall increase its price, and according to the shortness of the years you shall diminish its price; for he is selling the number of the crops to you. 17 You shall not wrong one another; but you shall fear your God: for I am Yahweh your God.
18 “‘Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and do them; and you shall dwell in the land in safety. 19 The land shall yield its fruit, and you shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. 20 If you said, “What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase”; 21 then I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bear fruit for the three years. 22 You shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits, the old store; until the ninth year, until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old store.
23 “‘The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me. 24 In all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land.
25 “‘If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold. 26 If a man has no one to redeem it, and he becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it; 27 then let him reckon the years since its sale, and restore the surplus to the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return to his property. 28 But if he isn’t able to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hand of him who has bought it until the Year of Jubilee: and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property.
29 “‘If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it has been sold. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption. 30 If it isn’t redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee. 31 But the houses of the villages which have no wall around them shall be accounted for with the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.
32 “‘Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. 33 The Levites may redeem the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, and it shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. 34 But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.
35 “‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you; then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident. 36 Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God; that your brother may live among you. 37 You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. 38 I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
39 “‘If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you; you shall not make him to serve as a slave. 40 As a hired servant, and as a temporary resident, he shall be with you; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee: 41 then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers. 42 For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves. 43 You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.
44 “‘As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have; of the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. 45 Moreover of the children of the aliens who live among you, of them you may buy, and of their families who are with you, which they have conceived in your land; and they will be your property. 46 You may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession; of them may you take your slaves forever; but over your brothers the children of Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with harshness.
47 “‘If an alien or temporary resident with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him has grown poor, and sells himself to the stranger or foreigner living among you, or to a member of the stranger’s family; 48 after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him; 49 or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or any who is a close relative to him of his family may redeem him; or if he has grown rich, he may redeem himself. 50 He shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale shall be according to the number of years; he shall be with him according to the time of a hired servant. 51 If there are yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. 52 If there remain but a few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according to his years of service he shall give back the price of his redemption. 53 As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him. He shall not rule with harshness over him in your sight. 54 If he isn’t redeemed by these means, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee, he, and his children with him. 55 For to me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.
Mark 11:1 When they came near to Jerusalem, to Bethsphage[a] and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, 2 and said to them, “Go your way into the village that is opposite you. Immediately as you enter into it, you will find a young donkey tied, on which no one has sat. Untie him, and bring him. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs him;’ and immediately he will send him back here.”
4 They went away, and found a young donkey tied at the door outside in the open street, and they untied him. 5 Some of those who stood there asked them, “What are you doing, untying the young donkey?” 6 They said to them just as Jesus had said, and they let them go.
7 They brought the young donkey to Jesus, and threw their garments on it, and Jesus sat on it. 8 Many spread their garments on the way, and others were cutting down branches from the trees, and spreading them on the road. 9 Those who went in front, and those who followed, cried out, “Hosanna! [b] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord![c] 10 Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
11 Jesus entered into the temple in Jerusalem. When he had looked around at everything, it being now evening, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
12 The next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came to see if perhaps he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 Jesus told it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” and his disciples heard it.
15 They came to Jerusalem, and Jesus entered into the temple, and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves. 16 He would not allow anyone to carry a container through the temple. 17 He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’[d] But you have made it a den of robbers!”[e]
18 The chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him. For they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching.
Footnotes:
a. Mark 11:1 TR & NU read “Bethphage” instead of “Bethsphage”
b. Mark 11:9 “Hosanna” means “save us” or “help us, we pray”.
c. Mark 11:9 Psalm 118:25-26
d. Mark 11:17 Isaiah 56:7
e. Mark 11:17 Jeremiah 7:11
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