The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz, Speaker 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).] "Now Hear This!" for June 6, 2016
I, Paul, want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the Gospel that I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.[Galatians 1:11-12]
In our message yesterday on The Lutheran Hour, I spoke about faith in Christ, its power, its purpose, its direction, its blessing, but I talked about "false faiths" too. The kind of thing that makes you feel like you are on the right track and then suddenly everything falls apart and you are left picking up the pieces from a misplaced trust or a misguided allegiance or confidence.
That's what life was like for Chuck Colson. You remember that name, right? He was Richard Nixon's bulldog, even hatchet man. If something needed to get done politically, he was the man to call because it would get done no matter the cost or even the collateral damage. That, of course, all came tumbling down in the Watergate fiasco of the Nixon administration and Colson went to jail because of it. But it was there where Colson met Jesus by grace through faith and his life changed forever because of it. He learned that when he was weak, in Christ he was strong. He learned the power of serving -- not just politically winning. He learned that there was an eternal life to be lived, and he thanked God no matter what price he paid this side of heaven. He thanked God he received this gift of life -- this forever eternal life just in time.
Now, some of you might be thinking, yeah, another jail house conversation just to look good for the parole board. But you couldn't be more wrong. As he was leaving prison, one of the inmates said to him, "So, Colson, you're leaving us, huh. I guess this means we'll never again see the likes of you in here again." Little did that inmate know he would be seeing much more of Colson in the days, months, and years to come. Colson had learned that God didn't abandon him in his need and now, as a Christian, he couldn't leave behind the men whom society had all but forgotten.
You see, when in prison, for whatever reason, an inmate suddenly realizes their life to people on the outside world is almost of no value. They are forgotten, even if they're forgiven. They are alone like they've never been alone before. Colson determined that no one in that prison would be forgotten if he could help it and so he began coming back to share the Word of God, to pray, to encourage, to counsel anyone in that prison who would have him. Prison Fellowship started with him, with a commitment to go back and give what he'd received, and the ministry Prison Fellowship has grown from that simple commitment to "love as he had been loved by Christ Himself."
When false faiths unravel, Paul teaches us to be ready to share the Gospel of Jesus: a Good News that only God could create, a Good News that only God could sustain, and a Good News of forgiveness, life and salvation that anyone can receive by grace through faith in Jesus. False faiths always give way. Only the things of Jesus hold. Let that hold you today too.
THE PRAYER: Dear Jesus, give us a humility to know what it means to receive Your grace as a gift and to be ready to share it either through our failures or our struggles or even our successes so that You might be glorified and our friends and neighbors blessed in Your Name! Amen!
Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz
Speaker of The Lutheran Hour
Today's Bible in a Year readings: Psalms 109-110, 138; John 16
Psalms 109:(0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
(1) God, whom I praise, don’t remain silent!
2 For wicked and deceitful men
have opened their mouths against me,
spoken against me with lying tongues,
3 surrounded me with hateful words,
and attacked me without cause.
4 In return for my love they became my accusers,
even though I prayed for them.
5 They repay me evil for good
and hatred for my love.
6 [They say,] “Appoint a wicked man over him,
may an accuser stand at his right.
7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
may even his plea be counted a sin.
8 May his days be few,
may someone else take his position.
9 May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.
10 May his children be wandering beggars,
foraging for food from their ruined homes.
11 May creditors seize all he owns
and strangers make off with his earnings.
12 May no one treat him kindly,
and may no one take pity on his orphaned children.
13 May his posterity be cut off;
may his name be erased within a generation.
14 May the wrongs of his ancestors be remembered by Adonai,
and may the sin of his mother not be erased;
15 may they always be before Adonai,
so he can cut off all memory of them from the earth.
16 For he did not remember to show kindness
but hounded the downtrodden, the poor
and the brokenhearted to death.
17 He loved cursing; may it recoil on him!
He didn’t like blessing; may it stay far from him!
18 He clothed himself with cursing
as routinely as with his coat;
May it enter inside him as easily as water,
as easily as oil into his bones.
19 May it cling to him like the coat he wears,
like the belt he wraps around himself.”
20 This is what my adversaries want Adonai to do,
those who speak evil against me.
21 But you, God, Adonai,
treat me as your name demands;
rescue me, because your grace is good.
22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart within me is wounded.
23 Like a lengthening evening shadow, I am gone;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees are weak from lack of food,
my flesh wastes away for lack of nourishment.
25 I have become the object of their taunts;
when they see me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, Adonai, my God!
Save me, in keeping with your grace;
27 so that they will know that this comes from your hand,
that you, Adonai, have done it.
28 Let them go on cursing;
but you, bless!
When they attack, let them be put to shame;
but let your servant rejoice.
29 Let my adversaries be clothed with confusion,
let them wear their own shame like a robe.
30 I will eagerly thank Adonai with my mouth,
I will praise him right there in the crowd,
31 because he stands alongside a needy person
to defend him from unjust accusers.
110:(0) A psalm of David:
(1) Adonai says to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies
your footstool.”
2 Adonai will send your powerful scepter
out from Tziyon,
so that you will rule over
your enemies around you.
3 On the day your forces mobilize,
your people willingly offer themselves
in holy splendors from the womb of the dawn;
the dew of your youth is yours.
4 Adonai has sworn it,
and he will never retract —
“You are a cohen forever,
to be compared with Malki-Tzedek.”
5 Adonai at your right hand
will shatter kings on the day of his anger.
6 He will pass judgment among the nations,
filling it with dead bodies;
he will shatter heads
throughout an extensive territory.
7 He will drink from a stream as he goes on his way;
therefore he will hold his head high.
Psalm 138:(0) By David:
(1) I give you thanks with all my heart.
Not to idols, but to you I sing praise.
2 I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your grace and truth;
for you have made your word [even] greater
than the whole of your reputation.
3 When I called, you answered me,
you made me bold and strong.
4 All the kings of the earth will thank you, Adonai,
when they hear the words you have spoken.
5 They will sing about Adonai’s ways,
“Great is the glory of Adonai!”
6 For though Adonai is high, he cares for the lowly;
while the proud he perceives from afar.
7 You keep me alive when surrounded by danger;
you put out your hand when my enemies rage;
with your right hand you save me.
8 Adonai will fulfill his purpose for me.
Your grace, Adonai, continues forever.
Don’t abandon the work of your hands!
John 16:1 “I have told you these things so that you won’t be caught by surprise. 2 They will ban you from the synagogue; in fact, the time will come when anyone who kills you will think he is serving God! 3 They will do these things because they have understood neither the Father nor me. 4 But I have told you this, so that when the time comes for it to happen, you will remember that I told you. I didn’t tell you this at first, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to the One who sent me.
“Not one of you is asking me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Instead, because I have said these things to you, you are overcome with grief. 7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I don’t go away, the comforting Counselor will not come to you. However, if I do go, I will send him to you.
8 “When he comes, he will show that the world is wrong about sin, about righteousness and about judgment — 9 about sin, in that people don’t put their trust in me; 10 about righteousness, in that I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 about judgment, in that the ruler of this world has been judged.
12 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. 13 However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own initiative but will say only what he hears. He will also announce to you the events of the future. 14 He will glorify me, because he will receive from what is mine and announce it to you. 15 Everything the Father has is mine; this is why I said that he receives from what is mine and will announce it to you.
16 “In a little while, you will see me no more; then, a little while later, you will see me.” 17 At this, some of the talmidim said to one another, “What is this that he’s telling us, ‘In a little while, you won’t see me; then, a little while later, you will see me’? and, ‘I am going to the Father’?” 18 They went on saying, “What is this ‘little while’? We don’t understand what he’s talking about.”
19 Yeshua knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you asking each other what I meant by saying, ‘In a little while, you won’t see me; and then, a little while later, you will see me’? 20 Yes, it’s true. I tell you that you will sob and mourn, and the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she is in pain; because her time has come. But when the baby is born, she forgets her suffering out of joy that a child has come into the world. 22 So you do indeed feel grief now, but I am going to see you again. Then your hearts will be full of joy, and no one will take your joy away from you.
23 “When that day comes, you won’t ask anything of me! Yes, indeed! I tell you that whatever you ask from the Father, he will give you in my name. 24 Till now you haven’t asked for anything in my name. Keep asking, and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
25 “I have said these things to you with the help of illustrations; however, a time is coming when I will no longer speak indirectly but will talk about the Father in plain language. 26 When that day comes, you will ask in my name. I am not telling you that I will pray to the Father on your behalf, 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
28 “I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and returning to the Father.”
29 The talmidim said to him, “Look, you’re talking plainly right now, you’re not speaking indirectly at all. 30 Now we know that you know everything, and that you don’t need to have people put their questions into words. This makes us believe that you came from God.”
31 Yeshua answered, “Now you do believe. 32 But a time is coming — indeed it has come already — when you will be scattered, each one looking out for himself; and you will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone; because the Father is with me.
33 “I have said these things to you so that, united with me, you may have shalom. In the world, you have tsuris. But be brave! I have conquered the world!”
-------CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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