What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the One who died -- more than that, who was raised -- who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.[Romans 8:31-34]
The mother of a nine-year-old boy got a call from his teacher. Most of us know such a call is not a good thing.
Preparing herself for the worst, mom listened as the teacher explained: "Today I saw something unusual, and I wanted to tell you about it."
Those opening words didn't make mom feel any better.
The teacher continued, "Today in our creative writing class, I shared Aesop's story about the hard-working ant and the lazy grasshopper. I told them how when winter came the ant had enough, and the grasshopper asked for a handout. Then I asked the children to finish the story. Their answers were divided up into two main groups:
* The first group wrote, 'The ant shared and both lived happily ever after.'
* The second group had the ant saying, 'Sorry, Mr. Grasshopper, I only have enough for myself. If I share, we will both starve.'
The whole class gave one of those two answers. The entire class did that, except for your son. Your son ended the story this way: 'The ant gave all of his food to the grasshopper, and the grasshopper lived happily ever after, but the ant died.'"
The teacher concluded, "At the bottom of his paper, your son drew a cross. I thought you'd want to know."
Great story, isn't it? That story is the unfinished story of every one of us. Obviously, we are the grasshoppers who have sinned and squandered our lives in pursuit of things trivial and trite. We realize the time is coming when we will pay for what we've done wrong.
The question is how will our story end?
ENDING 1: The first ending says you are on your own and you are going to die. That is the ending embraced by those who say there is no God, no sin, no condemnation, no heaven, and no hell.
ENDING 2: This ending is one embraced by most of the world's religions. They say if you work hard, if you try to do the best you can, maybe, just maybe, you might be all right. Of course, you can't be sure when you've done enough and when god is going to let you off the hook.
ENDING 3: This ending is unique to Christianity. Only Christianity says God came down and took your place under the Law. Only Christianity speaks of a Savior who endured hunger so we would be filled; went without an earthly home so we might have a heavenly home; suffered so we could be saved; died so we might live. Jesus took our place. Jesus gave up all so you might have all.
Only Christianity has the story end with us having our sins -- every one of our sins -- the worst, the most heinous, the most private and pathetic of our sins, forgiven. Only Christianity promises, with faith in the crucified and resurrected and ever-living Savior, we will live happily ever after.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I give thanks for the eternal security, which has been won for me through the life, death and resurrection of my Savior. May You be thanked for Your mercy, grace and sacrifice, which grant me eternal life. In His Name. Amen.
The mother of a nine-year-old boy got a call from his teacher. Most of us know such a call is not a good thing.
Preparing herself for the worst, mom listened as the teacher explained: "Today I saw something unusual, and I wanted to tell you about it."
Those opening words didn't make mom feel any better.
The teacher continued, "Today in our creative writing class, I shared Aesop's story about the hard-working ant and the lazy grasshopper. I told them how when winter came the ant had enough, and the grasshopper asked for a handout. Then I asked the children to finish the story. Their answers were divided up into two main groups:
* The first group wrote, 'The ant shared and both lived happily ever after.'
* The second group had the ant saying, 'Sorry, Mr. Grasshopper, I only have enough for myself. If I share, we will both starve.'
The whole class gave one of those two answers. The entire class did that, except for your son. Your son ended the story this way: 'The ant gave all of his food to the grasshopper, and the grasshopper lived happily ever after, but the ant died.'"
The teacher concluded, "At the bottom of his paper, your son drew a cross. I thought you'd want to know."
Great story, isn't it? That story is the unfinished story of every one of us. Obviously, we are the grasshoppers who have sinned and squandered our lives in pursuit of things trivial and trite. We realize the time is coming when we will pay for what we've done wrong.
The question is how will our story end?
ENDING 1: The first ending says you are on your own and you are going to die. That is the ending embraced by those who say there is no God, no sin, no condemnation, no heaven, and no hell.
ENDING 2: This ending is one embraced by most of the world's religions. They say if you work hard, if you try to do the best you can, maybe, just maybe, you might be all right. Of course, you can't be sure when you've done enough and when god is going to let you off the hook.
ENDING 3: This ending is unique to Christianity. Only Christianity says God came down and took your place under the Law. Only Christianity speaks of a Savior who endured hunger so we would be filled; went without an earthly home so we might have a heavenly home; suffered so we could be saved; died so we might live. Jesus took our place. Jesus gave up all so you might have all.
Only Christianity has the story end with us having our sins -- every one of our sins -- the worst, the most heinous, the most private and pathetic of our sins, forgiven. Only Christianity promises, with faith in the crucified and resurrected and ever-living Savior, we will live happily ever after.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I give thanks for the eternal security, which has been won for me through the life, death and resurrection of my Savior. May You be thanked for Your mercy, grace and sacrifice, which grant me eternal life. In His 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:
Psalms 92:(0) A psalm. A song for Shabbat:
660 Mason Ridge Center Drive
St. Louis, Missouri 63141 United States
1-800-876-9880
www.lhm.org
____________________________
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Psalms 92:(0) A psalm. A song for Shabbat:
2 (1) It is good to give thanks to Adonai
and sing praises to your name, ‘Elyon,
3 (2) to tell in the morning about your grace
and at night about your faithfulness,
4 (3) to the music of a ten-stringed [harp] and a lute,
with the melody sounding on a lyre.
5 (4) For, Adonai, what you do makes me happy;
I take joy in what your hands have made.
6 (5) How great are your deeds, Adonai!
How very deep your thoughts!
7 (6) Stupid people can’t know,
fools don’t understand,
8 (7) that when the wicked sprout like grass,
and all who do evil prosper,
it is so that they can be eternally destroyed,
9 (8) while you, Adonai, are exalted forever.
10 (9) For your enemies, Adonai,
your enemies will perish;
all evildoers will be scattered.
11 (10) But you have given me
the strength of a wild bull;
you anoint me with fresh olive oil.
12 (11) My eyes have gazed with pleasure on my enemies’ ruin,
my ears have delighted in the fall of my foes.
13 (12) The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar in the L’vanon.
14 (13) Planted in the house of Adonai,
they will flourish in the courtyards of our God.
15 (14) Even in old age they will be vigorous,
still full of sap, still bearing fruit,
16 (15) proclaiming that Adonai is upright,
my Rock, in whom there is no wrong.
93:1 Adonai is king, robed in majesty;
Adonai is robed, girded with strength;
The world is well established;
it cannot be moved.
2 Your throne was established long ago;
you have existed forever.
3 Adonai, the deep is raising up,
the deep is raising up its voice,
the deep is raising its crashing waves.
4 More than the sound of rushing waters
or the mighty breakers of the sea,
Adonai on high is mighty.
5 Your instructions are very sure;
holiness befits your house,
Adonai, for all time to come.
94:1 God of vengeance, Adonai!
God of vengeance, appear!
2 Assert yourself as judge of the earth!
Pay back the proud as they deserve!
3 How long are the wicked, Adonai,
how long are the wicked to triumph?
4 They pour out insolent words,
they go on bragging, all these evildoers.
5 They crush your people, Adonai,
they oppress your heritage.
6 They kill widows and strangers
and murder the fatherless.
7 They say, “Yah isn’t looking;
the God of Ya‘akov won’t notice.”
8 Take notice, yourselves, you boors among the people!
You fools, when will you understand?
9 Will the one who planted the ear not hear?
Will the one who formed the eye not see?
10 Will the one who disciplines nations not correct them?
Will the teacher of humanity not know?
11 Adonai understands that people’s thoughts
are merely a puff of wind.
12 How happy the man whom you correct, Yah,
whom you teach from your Torah,
13 giving him respite from days of trouble,
till a pit is dug for the wicked!
14 For Adonai will not desert his people,
he will not abandon his heritage.
15 Justice will once again become righteous,
and all the upright in heart will follow it.
16 Who will champion my cause against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against evildoers?
17 If Adonai hadn’t helped me,
I would soon have dwelt in the land of silence.
18 When I said, “My foot is slipping!”
your grace, Adonai, supported me.
19 When my cares within me are many,
your comforts cheer me up.
20 Can unjust judges be allied with you,
those producing wrong in the name of law?
21 They band together against the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death.
22 But Adonai has become my stronghold,
my God is my rock of refuge.
23 But he repays them as their guilt deserves;
he will cut them off with their own evil;
Adonai our God will cut them off.
95:1 Come, let’s sing to Adonai!
Let’s shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation!
2 Let’s come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let’s shout for joy to him with songs of praise.
3 For Adonai is a great God,
a great king greater than all gods.
4 He holds the depths of the earth in his hands;
the mountain peaks too belong to him.
5 The sea is his — he made it —
and his hands shaped the dry land.
6 Come, let’s bow down and worship;
let’s kneel before Adonai who made us.
7 For he is our God, and we are the people
in his pasture, the sheep in his care.
If only today you would listen to his voice:
8 “Don’t harden your hearts, as you did at M’rivah,
as you did on that day at Massah in the desert,
9 when your fathers put me to the test;
they challenged me, even though they saw my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation;
I said, ‘This is a people whose hearts go astray,
they don’t understand how I do things.’
11 Therefore I swore in my anger
that they would not enter my rest.”
Philippians 4:1 So, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown, my dear friends, keep standing firm in union with the Lord.
2 I beg Evodia and I beg Syntyche to agree with each other in union with the Lord. 3 I also request you, loyal Syzygus, to help these women; for they have worked hard proclaiming the Good News with me, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow-workers whose names are in the Book of Life.
4 Rejoice in union with the Lord always! I will say it again: rejoice! 5 Let everyone see how reasonable and gentle you are. The Lord is near! 6 Don’t worry about anything; on the contrary, make your requests known to God by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving. 7 Then God’s shalom, passing all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with the Messiah Yeshua. 8 In conclusion, brothers, focus your thoughts on what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable or admirable, on some virtue or on something praiseworthy. 9 Keep doing what you have learned and received from me, what you have heard and seen me doing; then the God who gives shalom will be with you.
10 In union with the Lord I greatly rejoice that now, after this long time, you have let your concern for me express itself again. Of course, you were concerned for me all along, but you had no opportunity to express it. 11 Not that I am saying this to call attention to any need of mine; since, as far as I am concerned, I have learned to be content regardless of circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in want, and I know what it is to have more than enough — in everything and in every way I have learned the secret of being full and being hungry, of having abundance and being in need. 13 I can do all things through him who gives me power.
14 Nevertheless, it was good of you to share in my trouble. 15 And you Philippians yourselves know that in the early days of my work spreading the Good News, when I left Macedonia, not a single congregation shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving — only you. 16 Indeed, in Thessalonica when I needed it, you sent me aid twice. 17 I am not seeking the gift; rather, I am looking for what will increase the credit balance of your account. 18 I have been more than paid in full: I have been filled, since I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent — they are a fragrant aroma,[Philippians 4:18 Genesis 8:21; Exodus 29:18] an acceptable sacrifice, one that pleases God well. 19 Moreover, my God will fill every need of yours according to his glorious wealth, in union with the Messiah Yeshua. 20 And to God our Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
21 Greet each of God’s people in the Messiah Yeshua. The brothers with me send their greetings to you. 22 All God’s people send greetings, but especially those in the Emperor’s household.
23 The grace of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with your spirit.
____________________________
The Lutheran Hour660 Mason Ridge Center Drive
St. Louis, Missouri 63141 United States
1-800-876-9880
www.lhm.org
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