Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour from 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).] "Two Short Sentences" for Saturday, July 30, 2016
(The angel said) "He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay."[Matthew 28:6]
Years ago, while I was making a hospital call, I saw a fellow dressed in street clothes burst out of one of the patient's rooms. Not only was the man not following proper, sedate hospital protocol, he was also shouting.
A doctor and a few nurses were right behind him, trying to catch up, trying to call him back, trying to have him turn down his volume. But the man couldn't be caught, and he wouldn't be silenced.
He saw me and came running down the hallway, directly toward me.
Truth be told, I found the sight of this man's wild-eyed charge a little bit frightening. It would have been a lot frightening if the man hadn't been grinning from ear-to-ear. He came up to me and, looking me directly in the eye, said six words. Those words were, "The baby is going to live!" Then, wishing to explain a bit further, he added, "The doctor said, 'The baby is going to live.'"
And then the man disappeared down the hallway.
I could track his progress by the faintness of the wonderful message he had shared with me and with all who could hear. As the doctor passed me, he smiled and said four words: "He got good news." Altogether I had heard 19 words. I didn't know the man's name or that of his baby. I never found out what the problem had been. I knew none of the participants, but I knew all I needed to know.
* I knew darkness had been replaced by light.
* Fear had been moved aside by hope.
* At that moment, nothing could mar that man's joy.
Over the years as I've thought about that man, I have concluded he was the happiest man I have ever met, and I've often wondered why there aren't more who are behaving the same way.
You see, there was a time when we, and everyone we know, were destined for hell. On our own there was nothing we could do to change things. We had sinned and the punishment for our transgressions was eternal punishment.
But then, on Resurrection Sunday, the angels at Jesus' borrowed tomb said two short sentences. They said, "He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay."
With that announcement the temporal and eternal lives of those who would be brought to faith were changed -- wonderfully -- for the better. This is news so good that we, like my hospital man, ought to be shouting so all can hear, "We are going to live! The Father says, 'We are going to live!'"
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, forgive me for all the times I have allowed the insignificant minutia of life to rob me of the joy that comes to all who acknowledge Jesus as their Savior. Let my morose attitude be replaced by one that shows others the joy which comes to those who, because of Jesus, are going to live. This I ask in the Savior's Name. Amen.
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Psalms 113-115; 1 Thessalonians 3
Psalms 113:1 Halleluyah!
Servants of Adonai, give praise!
Give praise to the name of Adonai!
2 Blessed be the name of Adonai
from this moment on and forever!
3 From sunrise until sunset
Adonai’s name is to be praised.
4 Adonai is high above all nations,
his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like Adonai our God,
seated in the heights,
6 humbling himself to look
on heaven and on earth.
7 He raises the poor from the dust,
lifts the needy from the rubbish heap,
8 in order to give him a place among princes,
among the princes of his people.
9 He causes the childless woman
to live at home happily as a mother of children.
Halleluyah!
114:1 When Isra’el came out of Egypt,
the house of Ya‘akov from a people of foreign speech,
2 Y’hudah became [God’s] sanctuary,
Isra’el his domain.
3 The sea saw this and fled;
the Yarden turned back;
4 the mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like young sheep.
5 Why is it, sea, that you flee?
Why, Yarden, do you turn back?
6 Why, mountains, do you skip like rams;
and you hills like young sheep?
7 Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Ya‘akov,
8 who turned the rock into a pool of water,
flint into flowing spring.
115:1 Not to us, Adonai, not to us,
but to your name give glory,
because of your grace and truth.
2 Why should the nations ask,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
4 Their idols are mere silver and gold,
made by human hands.
5 They have mouths, but they can’t speak;
they have eyes, but they can’t see;
6 they have ears, but they can’t hear;
they have noses, but they can’t smell;
7 they have hands, but they can’t feel;
they have feet, but they can’t walk;
with their throats they can’t make a sound.
8 The people who make them will become like them,
along with everyone who trusts in them.
9 Isra’el, trust in Adonai!
He is their help and shield.
10 House of Aharon, trust in Adonai!
He is their help and shield.
11 You who fear Adonai, trust in Adonai!
He is their help and shield.
12 Adonai has kept us in mind,
and he will bless.
He will bless the house of Isra’el;
he will bless the house of Aharon;
13 he will bless those who fear Adonai,
great and small alike.
14 May Adonai increase your numbers,
both yours and those of your children.
15 May you be blessed by Adonai,
the maker of heaven and earth.
16 Heaven belongs to Adonai,
but the earth he has given to humankind.
17 The dead can’t praise Adonai,
not those who sink down into silence.
18 But we will bless Adonai
from now on and forever.
Halleluyah!
1 Thessalonians 3:1 So when we could no longer stand it, we agreed to be left in Athens alone 2 and sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker for the Good News of the Messiah, to make you solid and encourage you in your trust; 3 so that none of you would let these persecutions unsettle him. For you yourselves know that these are bound to come to us; 4 even when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were about to be persecuted; and indeed it has happened, as you know. 5 That is the reason why, after I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your trust. I was afraid that somehow the Tempter had tempted you, and our hard work had been wasted.
6 But now Timothy has come to us from you, bringing good news about your trust and love, and telling us that you remember us well and are always longing to see us, just as we long to see you. 7 Because of this, brothers, in spite of all our trouble and distress, we were comforted over you — because of your trust; 8 so that now we are alive; since you continue to stand fast, united with the Lord.
9 Indeed, how can we thank God enough for you or express to our God all the joy we feel because of you? 10 Night and day we pray as hard as we can that we will be able to see you face to face and supply whatever shortcomings there may be in your trust. 11 May God our Father and our Lord Yeshua direct our way to you.
12 And as for you, may the Lord make you increase and overflow in love toward each other, indeed, toward everyone, just as we do toward you; 13 so that he may give you the inner strength to be blameless, by reason of your holiness, when you stand before God our Father at the coming of our Lord Yeshua with all his angels.
-------CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
Share this email:
The Lutheran Hour Ministries
660 Mason Ridge Center Drive
Saint Louis, Missouri 63141, United States
---------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment