Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "A Truth Test" for Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Ephesians 1:13-14 (ESV) In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.Here's a three question test for you:
Question #1 - When you buy a food product in the grocery store and it has the word NATURAL on its label does it mean:
1. This food has no artificial ingredients, pesticides or genetically engineered organisms, OR
2. Does NATURAL mean absolutely nothing at all?
Question #2 - When you see a label which reads, "No Sugar Added", does it mean:
1. There are no added sweeteners in the product OR
2. There is no added "white sugar", but the company can still sweeten its product using brown rice syrup, agave nectar, molasses, steviaa, aspartame, and sucralose. Yes, those items have to be listed in microscopic print among the ingredients, but the front of the package can BOLDLY proclaim "No Sugar Added."
Question #3 -According to a recent Class-Action lawsuit brought against Nestle, when you buy Poland Spring Water
1. You are purchasing high-quality spring water which comes from an underground formation and is bottled after it has naturally made its way to the surface or
2. Are you being charged premium prices for water which has probably been taken from common, everyday, groundwater wells?
For those of you who really want to know, the answers to all of the questions are "2."
Disappointing, isn't it?
The bottom line is this: for many groups, companies, individuals, movements, political systems and religions, words are a means to an end, a way to manipulate and get people to trust them. Sadly, this manipulation of words can become so overwhelming and universal, many people despair of ever finding anyone, or anything in which they can place their trust.
They think the chances of actually coming face-to-face with truth is as likely as stumbling across a unicorn, bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster.
In contrast to the world's all-too-flexible version of the truth, I would have you take a look at the Lord's Word, the Holy Bible. There, with unbroken reliability and unswerving accuracy, it points to the Christ as being the Redeemer of the world.
From the first promise of a Savior made to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, to the Christ's fulfillment of that promise in a Bethlehem manger, on a Jerusalem cross and in a borrowed and empty tomb, God's word can be trusted. It will tell troubled and lost souls how the Lord has done everything necessary to forgive their sins and bring them to salvation.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I give thanks that while humankind feels free to manipulate the truth with their words, You do not. For giving me the truth of Scripture which leads me to the Redeemer, I give thanks. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by Arden Dier for Newser on August 17, 2017. Those who wish to reference that article may do so at the following link which was fully functional at the time this devotion was written, click here.
See also: this article.
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: 2 Chronicles 24-26; 2 Corinthians 11:1-15
2 Chronicles 24:1 Yo’ash was seven years old when he began his reign, and he reigned forty years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Tzivyah, from Be’er-Sheva. 2 Yo’ash did what was right from Adonai’s perspective throughout the lifetime of Y’hoyada the cohen. 3 Y’hoyada chose two wives for him, and he became the father of sons and daughters.
4 Some time later, Yo’ash decided to restore the house of Adonai. 5 He gathered the cohanim and L’vi’im and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Y’hudah, and collect money each year from all Isra’el to repair the house of your God. See that you do this promptly.” But when the L’vi’im procrastinated, 6 the king summoned Y’hoyada the chief and said to him, “Why haven’t you demanded that the L’vi’im bring in from Y’hudah and Yerushalayim the tax prescribed by Moshe the servant of Adonai and by the community of Isra’el, for the tent of the testimony?” 7 For the sons of that wicked ‘Atalyahu had broken up the house of God, and they had given all the consecrated things belonging to the house of Adonai to the ba‘alim.
8 Then, at the king’s order, they made a box and placed it outside the entrance to the house of Adonai. 9 They proclaimed throughout Y’hudah and Yerushalayim that the tax Moshe the servant of God had imposed on Isra’el in the desert should be brought in for Adonai. 10 All the leaders and all the people were glad to bring in their contributions and put them in the box, until it was full. 11 When the box was brought to the king’s officials by the L’vi’im, and when they saw how much money there was, the king’s secretary and the chief cohen’s official came and emptied the box; then they took it and returned it to its place. They did this daily, and they collected money in abundance.
12 The king and Y’hoyada gave it to those in charge of taking care of the house of Adonai. They, in turn, hired stone-workers and carpenters to restore the house of Adonai, also iron- and bronze-workers to repair the house of Adonai. 13 The workers got on with their tasks, so that the restoration progressed well, until they had returned the house of God to its earlier condition and strengthened it. 14 When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Y’hoyada, and it was used to make equipment for the house of Adonai — articles for ministry, buckets, fire pans, and utensils of gold and silver. So they offered burnt offerings in the house of Adonai regularly throughout the time of Y’hoyada.
15 But Y’hoyada grew old; and when he was full of days, he died. He was 130 years old when he died. 16 They buried him in the City of David among the kings, because he had served Isra’el, God and his house well.
17 After Y’hoyada died, the leaders of Y’hudah came and prostrated themselves before the king. Then the king listened to them; 18 and they abandoned the house of Adonai the God of their ancestors and served the sacred poles and the idols. In consequence of their guilt, [God’s] anger fell on Y’hudah and Yerushalayim. 19 In spite of this, he sent them prophets to bring them back to Adonai; they warned them, but they wouldn’t pay attention. 20 The Spirit of God covered Z’kharyah the son of Y’hoyada the cohen; he stood above the people and addressed them: “Thus says God: ‘Why are you transgressing the mitzvot of Adonai and courting disaster? Because you have abandoned Adonai, he has abandoned you.” 21 But they conspired against him and stoned him to death at the order of the king in the courtyard of the house of Adonai. 22 Thus Yo’ash the king did not remember the kindness which Y’hoyada, [Z’kharyah’s] father, had done for him, but put his son to death. As he was dying he said, “May Adonai see this and take vengeance!”
23 The following spring, the army of Aram came up against him. They attacked Y’hudah and Yerushalayim, slaughtered all the people’s leaders and sent all their spoil to the king of Dammesek. 24 Although the army of Aram attacked with only a small company of men, Adonai handed over a very great army to them, because they had abandoned Adonai the God of their ancestors. Thus they executed judgment against Yo’ash.
25 After they had left him — and they left him seriously wounded — his own servants conspired against him because he had shed the blood of the sons of Y’hoyada the cohen; and they killed him in his own bed. After he died, they buried him in the City of David, but they didn’t bury him in the tombs of the kings. 26 Those who conspired against him were Zavad the son of Shim‘at the ‘Amonit and Y’hozavad the son of Shimrit the Mo’avit.
27 As for his sons, the heavy tribute imposed on him, and the rebuilding of the house of God, they are recorded in the commentary of the Annals of the Kings. Then Amatzyahu his son took his place as king.
25:1 Amatzyahu was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Y’ho‘adan, from Yerushalayim. 2 He did what was right from Adonai’s perspective, but not wholeheartedly.
3 As soon as he had the kingdom firmly in his control, he put to death the servants of his who had assassinated the king his father. 4 But he did not put their children to death; rather, he acted according to what is written in the Torah, in the scroll of Moshe, as Adonai ordered when he said, “Fathers are not to die for the children, nor are the children to die for the fathers; every person will die for his own sin.”
5 Amatzyahu assembled Y’hudah together and put them in order by clans under captains of thousands and captains of hundreds — all Y’hudah and Binyamin. He registered everyone twenty years old and older, and found that there were 300,000 select troops able to go to war, capable of using spears and shields. 6 He also hired 100,000 strong, brave men from Isra’el for three-and-a-third tons of silver. 7 But a man of God came to him and said, “King, don’t let the army of Isra’el go with you; because Adonai is not with Isra’el or with any of the people of Efrayim. 8 And if you do go, then no matter how fiercely you fight, God will cause you to fail before the enemy. For God has the power to help and to cause failure.” 9 Amatzyahu said to the man of God, “But what do we do about the three-and-a-third tons [of silver] I paid for Isra’el’s army?” The man of God answered, “Adonai can give you far more than that!” 10 Then Amatzyahu separated out the battalion that had come to him from Efrayim and told them to go back home — which made their anger burn hotly against Y’hudah, and they returned home enraged.
11 Amatzyahu took courage, led his people out and went to the Salt Valley, where he killed 10,000 of the people of Se‘ir. 12 The people of Y’hudah took another 10,000 away alive, brought them to the top of the Rock and threw them off the top of the Rock, so that they were all dashed to pieces.
13 Meanwhile, the men in the army that Amatzyahu had sent back and hadn’t allowed to join him in battle fell on the cities of Y’hudah, all the way from Shomron to Beit-Horon, killed 3,000 of them and took much spoil.
14 After Amatzyahu returned from the slaughter of the people from Edom, he brought the gods of the people of Se‘ir and set them up as his own gods, prostrating himself before them and offering incense to them. 15 As a result, the anger of Adonai blazed up against Amatzyah, and he sent him a prophet, who said to him, “Why have you sought out the gods of those people, when they couldn’t even rescue their own people from you?” 16 But as [the prophet] was speaking to him, he interrupted him: “Were you made an adviser to the king? You had better stop before you get yourself killed!” So the prophet stopped, but he added, “I know that God is planning to destroy you for having done this and for refusing to listen to my advice.”
17 Then, after taking counsel, Amatzyah king of Y’hudah sent a challenge to Yo’ash the son of Y’ho’achaz, the son of Yehu, king of Isra’el: “Come on, let’s have it out face-to-face.” 18 Yo’ash the king of Isra’el sent this reply to Amatzyah king of Y’hudah: “Once, in the L’vanon, the thistle sent a message to the cedar: ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ But a wild animal passed by the thistle and squashed it. 19 You say you defeated Edom, which is true; so you’re excited and itching for more glory. But now, stay home! Why provoke calamity, to your own ruin, yours and Y’hudah’s too?” 20 But Amatzyah wouldn’t listen. And this was from God, so that he could hand them over [to their enemies], because they had sought the gods of Edom. 21 So Yo’ash king of Isra’el went up; and he and Amatzyah king of Y’hudah had it out face-to-face at Beit-Shemesh, which belongs to Y’hudah. 22 Y’hudah was defeated by Isra’el, and every man fled to his tent. 23 Yo’ash king of Isra’el took Amatzyah king of Y’hudah, the son of Yo’ash the son of Y’ho’achaz, prisoner at Beit-Shemesh. Then he brought him to Yerushalayim and demolished the wall of Yerushalayim between the Gate of Efrayim and the Corner Gate, a section 600 feet long. 24 [He took] all the gold and silver, all the articles he could find in the house of God, with ‘Oved-Edom, and the treasures of the royal palace, together with hostages; then he returned to Shomron.
25 Amatzyahu the son of Yo’ash, king of Y’hudah, lived another fifteen years after the death of Yo’ash son of Y’ho’achaz king of Isra’el. 26 Other activities of Amatzyah, from beginning to end, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah and Isra’el.
27 From the time that Amatzyahu turned away from following Adonai, they formed a conspiracy against him in Yerushalayim. So he fled to Lakhish; but they followed him to Lakhish and killed him there. 28 They brought his body back on horses and buried him with his ancestors in the City of Y’hudah.
26:1 Meanwhile, all the people of Y’hudah had taken ‘Uziyahu at the age of sixteen and made him king in place of his father Amatzyahu. 2 He recovered Eilot for Y’hudah and rebuilt it; it was after this that the king [Amatzyahu] slept with his ancestors.
3 ‘Uziyahu was sixteen years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for fifty-two years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Y’kholyahu, from Yerushalayim. 4 He did what was right from Adonai’s perspective, following the example of everything his father Amatzyahu had done. 5 He consulted God during the lifetime of Z’kharyahu, who understood visions of God; and as long as he consulted Adonai, God gave him success.
6 He went out to fight the P’lishtim, breaking down the walls of Gat, Yavneh and Ashdod; and he built cities in the area of Ashdod and among the P’lishtim. 7 God helped him against the P’lishtim, against the Arabs living in Gur-Ba‘al, and against the Me‘unim. 8 The ‘Amonim brought tribute to ‘Uziyahu, and his fame spread abroad as far as the Egyptian frontier, since he kept growing stronger.
9 ‘Uziyahu built towers in Yerushalayim at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at the Angle, and fortified them. 10 He built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, because he had much livestock, likewise in the Sh’felah and the coastal plain. He had farmers and vineyard-workers in the hills and in the fertile lands, because he loved the soil.
11 ‘Uziyahu had a standing army of fit soldiers divided into units according to the census taken by the secretary Ye‘i’el and the officer Ma‘aseiyah, under the direction of Hananyah, one of the king’s officials. 12 The total number of clan heads over these strong, brave men was 2,600. 13 They directed a trained army of 307,500 fighting men, a strong force supporting the king in war against the enemy. 14 ‘Uziyahu equipped them, the whole army, with shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows and slingstones.
15 In Yerushalayim he built devices designed by experts for the towers and angles, from which to shoot arrows and lob large stones. His fame spread far and wide, for he was miraculously helped, until he became strong.
16 But when he was strong, he became arrogant, which caused him to become corrupt, so that he sinned against Adonai his God by going into the temple of Adonai to burn incense on the incense altar. 17 ‘Azaryahu the cohen went in after him, and with him were eighty of Adonai’s cohanim, brave men. 18 They stood up to ‘Uziyahu the king; they told him, “It isn’t your job, ‘Uziyahu, to burn incense to Adonai! The job of burning incense belongs to the cohanim, the descendants of Aharon, who have been consecrated. Get out of the sanctuary! You have trespassed, and Adonai, God, will not honor you for this.” 19 This made ‘Uziyahu angry as he stood there with a censer in his hand ready to burn incense; and in his anger at the cohanim, tzara‘at broke out on his forehead right in front of the cohanim in the house of Adonai beside the altar for incense. 20 ‘Azaryahu the chief cohen and all the cohanim stared at him — there he was, with tzara‘at on his forehead! Quickly they threw him out of there; and indeed, he himself hurried to get out, because Adonai had struck him. 21 ‘Uziyahu the king had tzara‘at until his dying day; he lived in a separate house because he had tzara‘at, and was not allowed into the house of Adonai. Meanwhile, Yotam the king’s son ran the king’s household and was regent over the people of the land.
22 Other activities of ‘Uziyahu, from beginning to end, were recorded by Yesha‘yahu the prophet, the son of Amotz. 23 So ‘Uziyahu slept with his ancestors, and they buried him with his ancestors in the graveyard belonging to the kings, because they said, “He had tzara‘at.” Then Yotam his son took his place as king.
2 Corinthians 11:1 I would like you to bear with me in a little foolishness — please do bear with me! 2 For I am jealous for you with God’s kind of jealousy; since I promised to present you as a pure virgin in marriage to your one husband, the Messiah; 3 and I fear that somehow your minds may be seduced away from simple and pure devotion to the Messiah, just as Havah was deceived by the serpent and his craftiness. 4 For if someone comes and tells you about some other Yeshua than the one we told you about, or if you receive a spirit different from the one you received or accept some so-called “good news” different from the Good News you already accepted, you bear with him well enough! 5 For I don’t consider myself in any way inferior to these “super-emissaries.” 6 I may not be a skilled speaker, but I do have the knowledge; anyhow, we have made this clear to you in every way and in every circumstance.
7 Or did I sin in humbling myself so that you could be exalted, in proclaiming God’s Good News to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other congregations by accepting support from them in order to serve you. 9 And when I was with you and had needs, I did not burden anyone: my needs were met by the brothers who came from Macedonia. In nothing have I been a burden to you, nor will I be. 10 The truthfulness of the Messiah is in me, so that this boast concerning me is not going to be silenced anywhere in Achaia. 11 Why won’t I ever accept your support? Is it that I don’t love you? God knows I do! 12 No, I do it — and will go on doing it — in order to cut the ground from under those who want an excuse to boast that they work the same way we do. 13 The fact is that such men are pseudo-emissaries: they tell lies about their work and masquerade as emissaries of the Messiah. 14 There is nothing surprising in that, for the Adversary himself masquerades as an angel of light; 15 so it’s no great thing if his workers masquerade as servants of righteousness. They will meet the end their deeds deserve.
-------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.
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