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Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries
by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "The Impact of the Gospel" for Sunday, April 30, 2017
Romans 10:14-17 - How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
The salvation story of Jesus Christ reaches around the world. So that the readers of our Daily Devotion may see the power of the Savior on a global scale, we have asked the volunteers of our international ministry centers to write our Sunday devotions. We pray that the Spirit may touch your day through their words.
In Christ, I remain, His servant and yours,
Kenneth R. Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Billions of people around the world are living in the dark.
They are seeking some kind of light, but where should they search and for what should they look? These things they do not know.
In contrast to what they do not know we believers are fully aware these people are in urgent spiritual need. We also know we have a responsibility to them which comes from God. He has told us the Holy Spirit will save lives when we preach the Word and bring the risen Christ to all nations.
In Vietnam we are not afraid of hard work, unforeseen inconveniences, and many difficulties. The Savior warned us these things would come. Still, no matter what may be ahead, we rejoice in the opportunity to share the Savior through our lives as well as through our words. In the office or not, we try not to sound like bosses who bark out orders to underlings. No, our words about the Savior ought to be underlined by our sanctified lives in which we offer help and care, love and sympathy.
Some examples taken from our holistic ministry may help you see this point more clearly. Over the years, we have given milk to children at nursery schools and eye glasses to the impoverished elderly of our country. We do that because we want them to see and feel God's love through our sharing.
We do it because not only the children, but also their teachers, their parents, and their neighbors then see God's Word is being underlined by our actions. And the result? Hundreds of people from our holistic projects have been saved by the power of God's Spirit.
Truly we have seen many, many people come to know Christ and trust in Him as their Lord and Savior because they have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which has been preached to them. We know Paul was right when He was inspired to write that faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
THE PRAYER: Dear Jesus, please help us understand the real importance of evangelism so that we may want to share Your Word and love with the lost. Please help us make our witness in both word and works so the Holy Spirit may move them out of darkness and into the light of Jesus. In His Name I pray. Amen.
Biography of Author: Mr. Dinh Hai Au is the Director of Lutheran Hour Ministries-Vietnam, which is located in Ho Chi Minh City. "I was born into a Christian family but did not really understand who God is," Hai Au relates. Some personal crises led him to the Lord who answered his prayers in powerful ways. "Since then I have experienced countless blessings in my life and work," he says. Hai Au majored in English and worked as an English teacher for 12 years after his graduation. From 2003 to 2007 he worked for LHM organizing shows that shared the Gospel to non-Christian children and youth. Hai Au began work as the center's Director at the end of 2011. Under his leadership, LHM-Vietnam has experienced overwhelming responses and new or revitalized evangelism strategies.
Known in-country as Globalinks, LHM-Vietnam makes use of holistic ministry, sporting events, internet radio, and musical performances to create opportunities for Gospel presentations. In this country of more than 90 million people, staff and volunteers from LHM-Vietnam's ministry center conduct eyeglass clinics and children's nutritional programs to help foster community relationships. God's Word is shared through print media, puppet productions, films, drama and rallies, too. Both Bible Correspondence Courses (BCC) and lay Christian training provided through Equipping the Saints (ETS) workshops are effective in strengthening believers' faith and giving them instruction in witnessing and personal faith-sharing.
To learn more about our International Ministries, visit www.lhm.org/international
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: 1 Samuel 19, Psalms 23; Psalms 59; Luke 21:1-191 Samuel 19:1 Sha’ul told Y’honatan his son and all his servants that they should have David killed. But because Y’honatan was very fond of David, 2 he told him, “My father Sha’ul is out to have you killed. Therefore you must be very cautious tomorrow morning. Find a well-concealed place to hide in. 3 I will go out and stand next to my father in the countryside where you’re hiding. I will talk with my father about you; and if I learn anything, I’ll tell you.”
4 Y’honatan spoke well of David to Sha’ul his father and said to him, “The king shouldn’t sin against his servant David, because he hasn’t sinned against you. On the contrary, his work for you has been very good indeed. 5 He put his life in his hands to attack the P’lishtim, and Adonai accomplished a great victory for all Isra’el. You yourself saw it, and you were happy about it. So why do you want to sin against innocent blood by killing David without any reason?” 6 Sha’ul heeded Y’honatan’s advice and swore, “As Adonai lives, he will not be put to death.” 7 Y’honatan called David and told him all these things. Then Y’honatan brought David to Sha’ul to be in attendance on the king, as before.
8 War broke out again, and David went and fought the P’lishtim. He defeated them with a great slaughter, and they fled before him. 9 Then an evil spirit from Adonai came upon Sha’ul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. David was playing his lyre, 10 when Sha’ul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear. But he dodged it and moved out of Sha’ul’s way, so that the spear stuck in the wall. David fled, so that night he escaped.
11 But Sha’ul sent messengers to David’s house to watch for him and kill him in the morning. Mikhal David’s wife told him, “If you don’t save your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be dead.” 12 So Mikhal let David down through the window; and he left, fled and escaped. 13 Mikhal took the household idol, laid it on the bed, put a goat’s-hair quilt at its head and covered it with a cloth. 14 When Sha’ul sent messengers to capture David, she said, “He’s ill.” 15 Sha’ul sent the messengers to see David with the order, “Bring him up to me, bed and all, so that I can kill him.” 16 But when the messengers entered, there before them was the household idol in the bed, with the goat’s-hair quilt at its head. 17 Sha’ul asked Mikhal, “Why did you deceive me this way and let my enemy go and escape?” Mikhal answered Sha’ul, “He threatened me, ‘Let me go, or I’ll kill you.’”
18 David fled and escaped, then came to Sh’mu’el in Ramah and told him everything Sha’ul had done to him. So he and Sh’mu’el went and stayed in the prophets’ dormitory. 19 The news reached Sha’ul that David had been seen at the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah. 20 Sha’ul sent messengers to capture David. But when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, with Sh’mu’el standing and leading them, the Spirit of God fell on Sha’ul’s messengers; and they too began prophesying. 21 When Sha’ul was told, he sent other messengers; but they too began prophesying. Sha’ul sent messengers a third time, and they also prophesied. 22 Then he himself went to Ramah. When he arrived at the big cistern in Sekhu, he asked, “Where are Sh’mu’el and David?” Someone answered, “They’re at the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah.” 23 While on his way to the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah, the Spirit of God fell on him too; and he went on, prophesying, until he arrived at the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah. 24 He also stripped off his clothes, prophesied in Sh’mu’el’s presence and lay there naked all that day and all that night. Hence it continues to be an expression, “Is Sha’ul a prophet, too?”
Psalm 23:(0) A psalm of David:
(1) Adonai is my shepherd; I lack nothing.
2 He has me lie down in grassy pastures,
he leads me by quiet water,
3 he restores my inner person.
He guides me in right paths
for the sake of his own name.
4 Even if I pass through death-dark ravines,
I will fear no disaster; for you are with me;
your rod and staff reassure me.
5 You prepare a table for me,
even as my enemies watch;
you anoint my head with oil
from an overflowing cup.
6 Goodness and grace will pursue me
every day of my life;
and I will live in the house of Adonai
for years and years to come.
59:(0) For the leader. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” By David; a mikhtam, when Sha’ul sent men to keep watch on David’s house in order to kill him:
2 (1) My God, rescue me from my enemies!
Lift me up, out of reach of my foes!
3 (2) Rescue me from evildoers,
save me from bloodthirsty men.
4 (3) For there they are, lying in wait to kill me.
Openly they gather themselves against me,
and not because I committed a crime
or sinned, Adonai.
5 (4) For no fault of mine, they run and prepare.
Awaken to help me, and see!
6 (5) You, Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot,
God of Isra’el,
arouse yourself to punish all the nations;
spare none of those wicked traitors. (Selah)
7 (6) They return at nightfall, snarling like dogs
as they go around the city.
8 (7) Look what pours out of their mouth,
what swords are on their lips,
[as they say to themselves,]
“No one is listening, anyway.”
9 (8) But you, Adonai, laugh at them,
you mock all the nations.
10 (9) My Strength, I will watch for you,
for God is my fortress.
11 (10) God, who gives me grace, will come to me;
God will let me gaze in triumph at my foes.
12 (11) Don’t kill them, or my people will forget;
instead, by your power, make them wander to and fro;
but bring them down, Adonai our Shield,
13 (12) for the sins their mouths make with each word from their lips.
Let them be trapped by their pride
for the curses and falsehoods they utter.
14 (13) Finish them off in wrath,
finish them off, put an end to them,
and let them know to the ends of the earth
that God is Ruler in Ya‘akov. (Selah)
15 (14) They return at nightfall, snarling like dogs
as they go around the city.
16 (15) They roam about, looking for food,
prowling all night if they don’t get their fill.
17 (16) But as for me, I will sing of your strength;
in the morning I will sing aloud of your grace.
For you are my fortress,
a refuge when I am in trouble.
18 (17) My Strength, I will sing praises to you,
for God is my fortress, God, who gives me grace.
Luke 21:1 Then Yeshua looked up, and as he watched the rich placing their gifts into the Temple offering-boxes, 2 he also saw a poor widow put in two small coins. 3 He said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 For they, out of their wealth, have contributed money they could easily spare; but she, out of her poverty, has given all she had to live on.”
5 As some people were remarking about the Temple, how beautiful its stonework and memorial decorations were, he said, 6 “The time is coming when what you see here will be totally destroyed — not a single stone will be left standing!” 7 They asked him, “Rabbi, if this is so, when will these events take place? And what sign will show that they are about to happen?” 8 He answered, “Watch out! Don’t be fooled! For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time has come!’ Don’t go after them. 9 And when you hear of wars and revolutions, don’t panic. For these things must happen first, but the end will not follow immediately.”
10 Then he told them, “Peoples will fight each other, nations will fight each other, 11 there will be great earthquakes, there will be epidemics and famines in various places, and there will be fearful sights and great signs from Heaven. 12 But before all this, they will arrest you and persecute you, handing you over to the synagogues and prisons; and you will be brought before kings and governors. This will all be on account of me, 13 but it will prove an opportunity for you to bear witness. 14 So make up your minds not to worry, rehearsing your defense beforehand; 15 for I myself will give you an eloquence and a wisdom that no adversary will be able to resist or refute. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends; some of you they will have put to death; 17 and everyone will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will be lost. 19 By standing firm you will save your lives.-------
Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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