The 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).] "Complete Dedication" for Tuesday, July 19, 2016
The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.[2 Timothy 4:18]
There's probably nothing more refreshing than a dip in cooling Lake Michigan on a scorching summer's day. On the other hand, there's probably nothing more dangerous than a dip in Lake Michigan when the weathermen are warning of "life-threatening waves and dangerous currents."
Unfortunately, on July 9th, both of those statements were in force.
The danger was all theoretical until word spread down Gary, Indiana's, Wells Street Beach that a child was -- figuratively and literally -- in over his head. Seeing the danger to the youngster, four people went in to make a rescue. One of the four said, "We had a purpose. We decided this kid's coming back to shore, no matter what."
By the time the emergency crews from the fire department arrived, there were five people in trouble. One of the men involved passed out, but was revived and rescued. A woman was taken to the hospital where she was listed as being in stable condition. The child and a third rescuer walked away from the beach, without a problem.
And two of the rescuers tragically and heroically died trying to save a child they didn't know.
Two thousand years ago, according to divine prophecy, the Son of God came into this world to bring about a rescue for sinners. Like the folks in our news article, Jesus also had a purpose and His entire life was dedicated to that purpose of seeking and saving the lost.
Of course, while there are similarities between Jesus and those folks at the Wells Street Beach, there are also some significant differences. For example,
* when those folks began their mission, they had every intention of surviving. Not so for Jesus. From the start He had known He was going to give His life as a ransom for many.
* there are other differences between the Savior and those Gary folk who died to save someone else. The child they tried to save was a stranger to his rescuers. In contrast the Lord Jesus knew each of us intimately and thoroughly. Not only did He know us, He also knew our manifold sins.
* we dare not forget the different reactions to these acts of self-sacrifice, which are separated by these many centuries. The people who died in Gary, Indiana, are being called "heroes," while the world has continued to vilify and malign the Christ for His substitutionary work, which has saved us.
Now Christians can leave that injustice stand, or we can do our best to let the world know that what Jesus has done was a great sacrifice, which came from the heart of a caring and gracious Lord. We can do our best to let them see, as we have seen, that faith in Jesus can change a person's outlook on the Lord as well as the wonderful and blessed work He has done.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, it is difficult to understand how and why the world hates the Savior for all He has done. Grant we may bear witness to how Jesus' action has changed us, our present lives, and our eternities. This I ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: 2 Kings 22-23; Galatians 6
2 Kings 22:1 Yoshiyahu was eight years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for thirty-one years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Y’didah the daughter of ‘Adayah from Botzkat. 2 He did what was right from Adonai’s perspective, living entirely in the manner of David his ancestor and turning away neither to the right nor to the left.
3 In the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyahu, the king sent Shafan the son of Atzalyahu, the son of Meshulam, the secretary, to the house of Adonai after instructing him, 4 “Go up to Hilkiyahu the cohen hagadol, and have him total the money that has been brought into the house of Adonai, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people. 5 Then have them give it to the supervisors of the work being done in the house of Adonai; they in turn are to use it to pay the laborers in the house of Adonai to repair damaged places in the building — 6 the carpenters, construction-workers and stonemasons — and to purchase timber and worked stone for doing the repairs on the building.” 7 However, they did not require an accounting from the supervisors given the money to spend, because they dealt honestly.
8 Hilkiyahu the cohen hagadol said to Shafan the secretary, “I have found the scroll of the Torah in the house of Adonai.” Hilkiyah gave the scroll to Shafan, who read it. 9 Then Shafan the secretary went back to the king and gave the king this report: “Your servants have poured out the money found in the house and handed it over to the people supervising the work in the house of Adonai.” 10 Shafan the secretary also told the king, “Hilkiyah the cohen hagadol gave me a scroll.” Then Shafan read it aloud before the king. 11 After the king had heard what was written in the scroll of the Torah, he tore his clothes. 12 Then the king issued this order to Hilkiyah the cohen, Achikam the son of Shafan, ‘Akhbor the son of Mikhayah, Shafan the secretary and ‘Asayah the king’s servant: 13 “Go; and consult Adonai for me, for the people and for all Y’hudah in regard to what is written in this scroll which has been found. For Adonai must be furious at us, since our ancestors did not listen to the words written in this scroll and didn’t do everything written there that concerns us.” 14 So Hilkiyahu the cohen, Achikam, Akhbor, Shafan and ‘Asayah went to Huldah the prophet, the wife of Shalum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harchas, keeper of the wardrobe — she lived in the Second Quarter of Yerushalayim — and spoke with her. 15 She told them, “Adonai the God of Isra’el says to tell the man who sent you to me 16 that Adonai says this: ‘I am going to bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants, every word in the scroll the king of Y’hudah has read; 17 because they have abandoned me and offered to other gods, in order to provoke me with everything they do. Therefore my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.’ 18 But you are to tell the king of Y’hudah, who sent you to consult Adonai, that Adonai the God of Isra’el also says this: ‘In regard to the words you have heard, 19 because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before Adonai when you heard what I said against this place and its inhabitants — that they would become an object of astonishment and cursing — and have torn your clothes and cried before me, I have also heard you, says Adonai. 20 Therefore I will gather you to your ancestors, you will go to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see all the calamity I am going to bring on this place.’” So they brought word back to the king.
23:1 Then the king summoned all the leaders of Y’hudah and Yerushalayim, and they assembled with him. 2 The king went up to the house of Adonai with all the men of Y’hudah, all those living in Yerushalayim, the cohanim, the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing everything written in the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the house of Adonai. 3 The king stood on the platform and made a covenant in the presence of Adonai to live following Adonai, observing his mitzvot, instructions and regulations wholeheartedly and with all his being, so as to confirm the words of the covenant written in this scroll. All the people stood, pledging themselves to keep the covenant.
4 Then the king ordered Hilkiyahu the cohen hagadol, the cohanim of the second rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the sanctuary of Adonai all the articles that had been made for Ba‘al, for the asherah and for the entire army of heaven; and he burned them up outside Yerushalayim in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Beit-El.
5 He deposed the idolatrous priests the kings of Y’hudah had ordained to offer on the high places by the cities of Y’hudah and in the places surrounding Yerushalayim; he also deposed those who offered to Ba‘al, the sun, the moon, the constellations and the whole army of heaven.
6 He took the asherah from the house of Adonai to Vadi Kidron outside Yerushalayim and burned it in Vadi Kidron, stamped the ashes to powder and threw the powder onto the burial-ground for the common people.
7 He smashed the houses of the cult prostitutes that were in the house of Adonai, where the women also wove garments for the asherah.
8 He removed the cohanim from the cities of Y’hudah; then, from Geva to Be’er-Sheva, he desecrated the high places where the cohanim had been making offerings. He also smashed the High Places of the Gates that were at the entrance of the Gate of Y’hoshua the governor of the city, on the left as one enters the city. 9 But although the cohanim who had been at the high places did not come up to the altar of Adonai in Yerushalayim, nevertheless they did share matzah with their kinsmen.
10 He desecrated the Tofet fire pit in the Ben-Hinnom Valley, so that no one could cause his son or daughter to pass through fire [as a sacrifice] to Molekh.
11 He confiscated the horses which the kings of Y’hudah had given to the sun, at the entrance to the house of Adonai near the room of the officer N’tan-Melekh, in the side-courtyard; and he burned up the chariots of the sun.
12 The king smashed the altars on the roof of the upper room of Achaz, which the kings of Y’hudah had made, and the altars which M’nasheh had made in the two courtyards of the house of Adonai. He broke them into pieces and threw the rubble into Vadi Kidron.
13 The king desecrated the high places facing Yerushalayim south of the Mount of Destruction, which Shlomo the king of Isra’el had built for ‘Ashtoret the abomination of the Tzidonim, K’mosh the abomination of Mo’av and Milkom the abomination of the people of ‘Amon. 14 He smashed the standing-stones, chopped down the sacred poles and covered their remains with human bones.
15 He smashed the altar that was at Beit-El and the high place made by Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, who caused Isra’el to sin. Yes, he smashed that altar and the high place; he burned the high place, stamped the ashes to powder, and burned up the asherah. 16 Then, as Yoshiyahu was turning around, he noticed the burial caves that were there on the mountain; so he sent and had the bones taken out of the burial caves and burned them on the altar, thus desecrating it, in keeping with the word of Adonai which the man of God had proclaimed, foretelling that these things would happen. 17 Then he asked, “This monument here that I’m looking at, what is it?” The men of the city told him, “It marks the burial cave of the man of God who came from Y’hudah and foretold the very things you have done to the altar of Beit-El.” 18 He replied, “Let him be; no one is to move his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed, along with the bones of the prophet who had come from Shomron.
19 Yoshiyahu also removed all the shrines of the high places in the cities of Shomron, which the kings of Isra’el had made in order to provoke [Adonai] to anger, and treated them the same as in Beit-El. 20 He put to death all the priests of those high places on the altars there, then burned human bones on them. Finally he returned to Yerushalayim.
21 The king issued this order to all the people: “Observe Pesach to Adonai your God, as written in this scroll of the covenant.” 22 For Pesach had not been so observed since the days when the judges ruled Isra’el — not during the times of any of the kings of Isra’el or of the kings of Y’hudah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Yoshiyahu this Pesach was observed to Adonai in Yerushalayim.
24 Yoshiyahu got rid of the mediums and the people using spirit guides, as well as the household gods, the idols and all the disgusting things spotted anywhere in Y’hudah and Yerushalayim. He did this in order to establish the words of the Torah written in the scroll Hilkiyahu the cohen had found in the house of Adonai.
25 No previous king was like him; because he turned to Adonai with all his heart, with all his being and with all his power, in accordance with all the Torah of Moshe; nor did any king like him arise afterwards. 26 Nevertheless, Adonai did not turn away from his fiercely raging, furious anger that burned against Y’hudah because of all the things M’nasheh had done to provoke him. 27 Adonai said, “Just as I removed Isra’el, I will also remove Y’hudah out of my sight; and I will reject this city, which I chose, Yerushalayim, and the house concerning which I said, ‘My name will be there.’”
28 Other activities of Yoshiyahu and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah.
29 During his time Pharaoh N’khoh king of Egypt went up toward the Euphrates River to attack the king of Ashur. King Yoshiyahu went out to oppose him; but at Megiddo, Pharaoh spotted Yoshiyahu and killed him. 30 His servants carried his dead body from Megiddo to Yerushalayim in a chariot and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Y’ho’achaz the son of Yoshiyahu, anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.
31 Y’ho’achaz was twenty-three years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for three months in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu from Livnah. 32 He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, following the example of everything his ancestors had done. 33 Pharaoh N’khoh imprisoned him at Rivlah in the land of Hamat, so that he would not be able to rule in Yerushalayim. He also imposed a penalty on the land of three-and-a-quarter tons of silver and sixty-six pounds of gold. 34 Then Pharaoh N’khoh made Elyakim the son of Yoshiyahu king in place of Yoshiyahu his father and changed his name to Y’hoyakim. He also carried Y’ho’achaz off to Egypt, where he died. 35 Y’hoyakim remitted the silver and gold to Pharaoh; but in order to pay the money Pharaoh demanded, he had to levy a tax on the land. He taxed the people of the land, each according to his means, to pay the silver and gold to Pharaoh N’khoh.
36 Y’hoyakim was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Z’vudah the daughter of P’dayah, from Rumah. 37 He did what was evil from the perspective of Adonai, following the example of everything his ancestors had done.
Galatians 6:1 Brothers, suppose someone is caught doing something wrong. You who have the Spirit should set him right, but in a spirit of humility, keeping an eye on yourselves so that you won’t be tempted too. 2 Bear one another’s burdens — in this way you will be fulfilling the Torah’s true meaning, which the Messiah upholds. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is really nothing, he is fooling himself. 4 So let each of you scrutinize his own actions. Then if you do find something to boast about, at least the boasting will be based on what you have actually done and not merely on a judgment that you are better than someone else; 5 for each person will carry his own load. 6 But whoever is being instructed in the Word should share all the good things he has with his instructor. 7 Don’t delude yourselves: no one makes a fool of God! A person reaps what he sows. 8 Those who keep sowing in the field of their old nature, in order to meet its demands, will eventually reap ruin; but those who keep sowing in the field of the Spirit will reap from the Spirit everlasting life. 9 So let us not grow weary of doing what is good; for if we don’t give up, we will in due time reap the harvest. 10 Therefore, as the opportunity arises, let us do what is good to everyone, and especially to the family of those who are trustingly faithful.
11 Look at the large letters I use as I close in my own handwriting.
12 It is those who want to look good outwardly who are trying to get you to be circumcised. The only reason they are doing it is to escape persecution for preaching about the Messiah’s execution-stake. 13 For even those who are getting circumcised don’t observe the Torah. On the contrary, they want you to get circumcised so that they can boast of having gained your adherence. 14 But as for me, Heaven forbid that I should boast about anything except the execution-stake of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah! Through him, as far as I am concerned, the world has been put to death on the stake; and through him, as far as the world is concerned, I have been put to death on the stake.
15 For neither being circumcised nor being uncircumcised matters; what matters is being a new creation. 16 And as many as order their lives by this rule, shalom upon them and mercy, and upon the Isra’el of God!
17 From now on, I don’t want anyone to give me any more tsuris, because I have scars on my body to prove that I belong to Yeshua!
18 The grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
-------CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
The Lutheran Hour Ministries
660 Mason Ridge Center Drive
Saint Louis, Missouri 63141 United States
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