The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour in Saint Louis, Missouri, United States [Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).] "The One and Only" for Thursday, June 23, 2016
Jesus said to him, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."[John 14:6]
It's not often when the Lord and the political candidates come into agreement.
That being said, both our Creator and the candidates agree: the world is headed in a most perilous direction and has set its foot upon a most precarious path. On the other hand, we must admit they differ radically on how to correct humankind's sinful condition.
Some time ago at the St. Louis airport, I had a discussion with a man about heaven. Pointing at the board of arrivals and departures, he said, "If I want to get to Dallas from here, I can take United Airlines, or American or, well, I can go any number of ways. If I want to get to heaven, I believe I can follow any number of deities: Jesus, maybe. Buddha, possibly. Allah, perhaps. They're all going to get me where I want to go."
If that man was editing the Bible, I'm sure he would change Jesus' words to read, "I am one of the ways, part of the truth, and one kind of life. No one can get into heaven unless they have some kind of religion, are good and gentle and generous and sincere in what they believe."
My friends, lest you never hear it again, I want you to know, Jesus didn't say He was one of the ways to heaven or even the best way to heaven. Jesus said He was the only way to forgiveness, salvation and eternal joy.
Now if you're thinking that's not very open-minded, I couldn't agree with you more.
But I would add, open-mindedness can be grossly over-rated. The police aren't open-minded when you take a car that isn't yours. You can tell them that "One car is as good as any other," but I doubt if they -- or the judge who hears your case -- will find that to be an acceptable defense.
When your child goes to a birthday party and you, a few hours later, go to pick him up, does it make any difference which child you bring home with you? When some irate and worried parents show up at your door, will they buy into your open-minded statement: "I didn't think you would mind all that much since all children are basically the same."
Yes, there are times when open-mindedness is a good thing, and there are times when it is just plain wrong and ridiculous.
Demoting Jesus and making Him one of many paths to paradise is incredibly wrong and foolish.
Because of His fulfillment of the many prophecies that foretold His coming, because He did things only God's Son could do, because He lived a perfect life and gave Himself sacrificially for us, Jesus remains unique. Most importantly, Jesus rose from the dead and thereby has shown Himself to be all that Scripture claims: He is the Reconciler of God and man.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, send Your Holy Spirit upon the world so humankind may see how very foolish they are when they try to make Jesus less than He is. May they be brought to faith where they can proclaim Him as the Lamb of God who has taken away the sins of the world. This I ask in His Name. Amen.
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Today's Bible in a Year Readings: Song of Solomon 4-5; Acts 7:1-21
Song of Solomon 4: [He]
1 How beautiful you are, my love!
How beautiful you are!
Your eyes are doves behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down Mount Gil‘ad.
2 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep
that have just come up from being washed;
each of them is matched,
and none of them is missing.
3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread,
and your mouth is lovely.
Your cheeks are like a pomegranate
split open behind your veil.
4 Your neck is like the tower of David,
built magnificently,
on which hang a thousand bucklers,
each one a brave warrior’s shield.
5 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle grazing among lilies.
6 When the day’s cool breeze comes up
and the shadows lengthen,
I will get myself to the mountain of myrrh
to the hill of frankincense.
7 Everything about you is beautiful, my love;
you are without a flaw.
8 Come with me from the L’vanon, my bride,
come with me from the L’vanon.
Come down from the heights of Amanah,
from the heights of S’nir and Hermon,
down from the lions’ lairs
and the leopard-haunted hills.
9 My sister, my bride,
you have carried my heart away!
With just one glance, with one bead of your necklace
you have carried my heart away.
10 My sister, my bride,
how sweet is your love!
How much better your love than wine,
more fragrant your perfumes than any spice!
11 Your lips, my bride, drip honey;
honey and milk are under your tongue;
and the scent of your garments is like
the scent of the L’vanon.
12 My sister, my bride, is a garden locked up,
a pool covered over, a spring sealed shut.
13 You are an orchard that puts forth pomegranates
and other precious fruits, henna and nard —
14 nard, saffron and aromatic cane,
cinnamon and all kinds of frankincense trees,
myrrh, aloes, all the best spices.
15 You are a garden fountain,
a spring of running water,
flowing down from the L’vanon.
[She]
16 Awake, north wind! Come, south wind!
Blow on my garden to spread its fragrance.
Let my darling enter his garden
and eat its finest fruit.
[He]
5:1 My sister, my bride, I have entered my garden;
I am gathering my myrrh and my spices;
I am eating my honeycomb along with my honey;
I am drinking my wine as well as my milk.
[Chorus]
Eat, friends, and drink,
until you are drunk with love!
[She]
2 I am asleep, but my heart is awake.
Listen! I hear my darling knocking!
[He]
Open for me, my sister, my love,
my dove, my flawless one!
For my head is wet with dew,
my hair with the moisture of the night.
[She]
3 I’ve removed my coat; must I put it back on?
I’ve washed my feet; must I dirty them again?
4 The man I love put his hand through the hole by the door-latch,
and my heart began pounding at the thought of him.
5 I got up to open for the man I love.
My hands were dripping with myrrh —
pure myrrh ran off my fingers
onto the handle of the bolt.
6 I opened for my darling,
but my darling had turned and gone.
My heart had failed me when he spoke —
I sought him, but I couldn’t find him;
I called him, but he didn’t answer.
7 The watchmen roaming the city found me;
they beat me, they wounded me;
they took away my cloak,
those guardians of the walls!
8 I charge you, daughters of Yerushalayim,
that if you find the man I love,
what are you to tell him?
That I am sick with love.
[Chorus]
9 How does the man you love differ from any other,
you most beautiful of women?
How does the man you love differ from any other,
that you should give us this charge?
[She]
10 The man I love is radiant and ruddy;
he stands out among ten thousand.
11 His head is like the finest gold;
his locks are wavy and black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves by running streams,
bathed in milk and set just right.
13 His cheeks are like beds of spices,
like banks of fragrant herbs.
His lips are like lilies
dripping with sweet myrrh.
14 His arms are rods of gold set with beryl,
his body polished ivory adorned with sapphires.
15 His legs are like pillars of marble
set on bases of pure gold.
His appearance is like the L’vanon,
as imposing as the cedars.
16 His words are sweetness itself;
he is altogether desirable.
This is my darling, and this is my friend,
daughters of Yerushalayim.
Acts 7:1 The cohen hagadol asked, “Are these accusations true?” 2 and Stephen said:
“Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to Avraham avinu in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran 3 and said to him, ‘Leave your land and your family, and go into the land that I will show you.’[Acts 7:3 Genesis 12:1] 4 So he left the land of the Kasdim and lived in Haran. After his father died, God made him move to this land where you are living now. 5 He gave him no inheritance in it, not even space for one foot;[Acts 7:5 Deuteronomy 2:5] yet he promised to give it to him as a possession and to his descendants after him,[Acts 7:5 Genesis 12:7; 13:15; 15:4, 7, 18–21; 17:8; 24:7; 48:4] even though at the time he was childless. 6 What God said to him was, ‘Your descendants will be aliens in a foreign land, where they will be in slavery and oppressed for four hundred years. 7 But I will judge the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and afterwards they will leave and worship me in this place.’[Acts 7:7 Genesis 15:13–14, 16] 8 And he gave him b’rit-milah. So he became the father of Yitz’chak and did his b’rit-milah on the eighth day, and Yitz’chak became the father of Ya‘akov, and Ya‘akov became the father of the Twelve Patriarchs.
9 “Now the Patriarchs grew jealous of Yosef and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But Adonai was with him;[Acts 7:9 Genesis 37:11, 28; 39:1–3, 21, 23] 10 he rescued him from all his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him chief administrator over Egypt and over all his household.[Acts 7:10 Genesis 41:37–44] 11 Now there came a famine that caused much suffering throughout Egypt and Kena‘an[Acts 7:11 Genesis 41:54; 42:5] 12 But when Ya‘akov heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. 13 The second time, Yosef revealed his identity to his brothers,[Acts 7:13 Genesis 45:1] and Yosef’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 Yosef then sent for his father Ya‘akov and all his relatives, seventy-five people. 15 And Ya‘akov went down to Egypt; there he died, as did our other ancestors. 16 Their bodies were removed to Sh’khem and buried in the tomb Avraham had bought from the family of Hamor in Sh’khem for a certain sum of money.
17 “As the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise God had made to Avraham, the number of our people in Egypt increased greatly, 18 until there arose another king over Egypt who had no knowledge of Yosef.[Acts 7:18 Exodus 1:7–8] 19 With cruel cunning this man forced our fathers to put their newborn babies outside their homes, so that they would not survive.
20 “It was then that Moshe was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. For three months he was reared in his father’s house; 21 and when he was put out of his home, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.
-------
The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour in Saint Louis, Missouri, United States [Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).] "Gorilla, Part II" Wednesday, June 22, 2016
When He (Jesus) opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before You will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.[Revelation 6:9-11]
NewsBusters is an Internet site which has dedicated itself to pointing out how our news is biased, unfair, inaccurate and, occasionally, idiotic. Recently, one of the NewsBusters' investigations had implications for the Christian community.
The story begins with a gorilla. Yes, you guessed right. We're talking about Harambe, the gorilla we spoke about last week in our devotion. You remember, Harambe who was shot when he started mauling a little boy who had climbed into the animal's enclosure.
Well, NewsBusters did a survey of the story as it had been carried by the major networks, you know, ABC, CBS and NBC. The total time dedicated to the telling of the gorilla's story came to one-hour, 28 minutes, and 17 seconds.
Remember that number.
Next, NewsBusters added up the news time which had been dedicated to the ISIS shooting of some 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians. The ISIS film footage showed how these Christians were forced to kneel and then they were murdered. Before they died most of these martyrs called out their confidence and faith in Jesus Christ.
So there we have two news stories.
One gorilla who was shot and 21 unarmed Christians, who were executed, mob style, by members of another faith. The only thing you don't have is how much time the networks were willing to dedicate to the telling of the believers' plight. Well, I am prepared to give you that number. Compared to almost an hour and a half for the gorilla story, the Christians got 14 minutes and 30 seconds.
No wonder the martyrs in heaven call out, "How long before You will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
Now, my dear friends, I know this devotion is not going to change those networks or the people who run them. That would be expecting far too much.
But I do hope this information will touch and move you to remember that we have brothers and sisters around the world who are being persecuted for holding fast to the Christ. Even without a reminder from the news media, please remember these sufferers in your prayers.
Ask the Lord to give them strength and confidence in the Savior who warned, "If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you" (see John 15:18-25). Ask the Holy Spirit to enfold these souls and keep them confident in the Christ, who gave His life so they might have life.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, Your Words have been true throughout the centuries. Grant that we may never forget what You have done to save us. May we hold fast to our faith with as much confidence as do those who are under persecution. This I ask in Your Name. Amen.
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Today's Bible in a Year Readings: Song of Songs 1-3; Acts 6
Song of Songs 1:1 The Ultimate Song, by Shlomo:
[She]
2 Let him smother me with kisses from his mouth,
for your love is better than wine.
3 Your anointing oils have a wonderful fragrance;
your name is like anointing oil poured out.
This is why young women love you —
4 “Take me with you. We will run after you.”
The king has brought me into his rooms.
[Chorus]
We will be glad and rejoice for you.
We will praise your love more than wine.
How right it is for them to love you!
[She]
5 I am dark tan but beautiful,
you daughters of Yerushalayim,
like the tents of Kedar,
like the curtains of Shlomo.
6 Don’t stare at me because I’m dark;
it’s the sun that tanned me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me
and made me look after the vineyards.
But I haven’t cared for my own vineyard.
7 Tell me, my love, where you pasture your flock,
where you have them rest at noon;
for why should I veil myself [like a whore]
beside the flocks of your friends?
[Chorus]
8 If you do not know,
you most beautiful of women,
then follow the footprints of the flock
and let your kids graze by the shepherds’ tents.
[He]
9 My love, I compare you with my mare,
pulling one of Pharaoh’s chariots —
10 your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with its strings of beads;
11 we will make you ornaments
of gold, studded with silver.
[She]
12 As the king reclines at table,
my nard gives forth its perfume:
13 to me the man I love is a sachet of myrrh
lodged between my breasts;
14 to me the man I love is a spray of henna flowers
in the vineyards of ‘Ein-Gedi.
[He]
15 Look at you, my love! How beautiful you are!
Your eyes are doves —
[She]
16 — Look at you!
So handsome, so pleasing, my darling!
Our bed is the greenery;
17 cedars are the beams of our houses,
cypresses the rafters.
2:1 I am but a rose from the Sharon,
just a lily in the valleys.
[He]
2 Like a lily among thorns
is my darling among the other women.
[She]
3 Like an apple tree among the other trees in the forest
is my darling among the other men.
I love to sit in his shadow;
his fruit is sweet to my taste.
4 He brings me to the banquet hall;
his banner over me is love.
5 Sustain me with raisins, refresh me with apples,
for I am sick with love.
6 [I wish] his left arm [were] under my head,
and his right arm around me.
7 I warn you, daughters of Yerushalayim,
by the gazelles and deer in the wilds,
not to awaken or stir up love
until it wants to arise!
8 The voice of the man I love! Here he comes,
bounding over the mountains, skipping over the hills!
9 My darling is like a gazelle or young stag.
There he is, standing outside our wall,
looking in through the windows,
peering in through the lattice.
10 My darling speaks; he is saying to me,
“Get up, my love! My beauty! Come away!
11 For you see that the winter has passed,
the rain is finished and gone,
12 the flowers are appearing in the countryside,
the time has come for [the birds] to sing,
and the cooing of doves can be heard in the land.
13 The fig trees are forming their unripe figs,
and the grapevines in bloom give out their perfume.
Get up, my love, my beauty!
Come away!”
[He]
14 My dove, hiding in holes in the rock,
in the secret recesses of the cliff,
let me see your face and hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.
[She]
15 “Catch the foxes for us,
yes, the little foxes!
They are ruining the vineyards
when our vineyards are in bloom!”
16 My darling is mine, and I am his,
as he pastures his flock among the lilies.
17 Before the daytime breeze rises
and the shadows flee,
return, my love, like a stag or gazelle
on the hills of Beter.
3:1 Night after night on my bed
I looked for the man I love.
I looked for him, but I didn’t find him.
2 “I will get up now and roam the city,
through the streets and the open places,
I will look for the man I love.”
I looked for him, but I didn’t find him.
3 The guards roaming the city found me.
“Have you seen the man I love?”
4 Scarcely had I left them,
when I found the man I love.
I took hold of him
and would not let him go
until I had brought him to my mother’s house,
to the bedroom of the woman who conceived me.
5 I warn you, daughters of Yerushalayim,
by the gazelles and deer in the wilds,
not to awaken or stir up love
until it wants to arise!
6 Who is this, coming up from the desert
like a column of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
chosen from the merchant’s crushed spices?
7 It is Shlomo’s litter,
escorted by sixty valiant men
chosen from Isra’el’s finest;
8 all of them wield the sword
and are expert fighters;
each one has his sword ready at his side
to combat the terrors of night.
9 King Shlomo made himself a royal litter
of wood from the L’vanon.
10 He made its columns of silver,
its roof of gold, its seat of purple cloth;
its inside was lovingly inlaid
by the daughters of Yerushalayim.
11 Daughters of Tziyon, come out,
and gaze upon King Shlomo,
wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him
on his wedding day, his day of joy!
Acts 6:1 Around this time, when the number of talmidim was growing, the Greek-speaking Jews began complaining against those who spoke Hebrew that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution. 2 So the Twelve called a general meeting of the talmidim and said, “It isn’t appropriate that we should neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables. 3 Brothers, choose seven men from among yourselves who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will appoint them to be in charge of this important matter, 4 but we ourselves will give our full attention to praying and to serving the Word.”
5 What they said was agreeable to the whole gathering. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Ruach HaKodesh, Philip, Prochoros, Nikanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas, who was a proselyte from Antioch. 6 They presented these men to the emissaries, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 So the word of God continued to spread. The number of talmidim in Yerushalayim increased rapidly, and a large crowd of cohanim were becoming obedient to the faith.
8 Now Stephen, full of grace and power, performed great miracles and signs among the people. 9 But opposition arose from members of the Synagogue of the Freed Slaves (as it was called), composed of Cyrenians, Alexandrians and people from Cilicia and the province of Asia. They argued with Stephen, 10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by which he spoke.
11 So they secretly persuaded some men to allege, “We heard him speak blasphemously against Moshe and against God.” 12 They stirred up the people, as well as the elders and the Torah-teachers; so they came and arrested him and led him before the Sanhedrin. 13 There they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and against the Torah; 14 for we have heard him say that Yeshua from Natzeret will destroy this place and will change the customs Moshe handed down to us.”
15 Everyone sitting in the Sanhedrin stared at Stephen and saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.
-------CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
Share this email:
Lutheran Hour Ministries660 Mason Ridge Center Drive
Saint Louis , Missouri 63141, United States---------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment