Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "Cancel That Reservation" for Saturday, 14 July 2018
John 14:2-3 - (Jesus said) "In My Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also."During our years of traveling for The Lutheran Hour, Pam and I had the opportunity of staying at many wonderful hotels, and a few that were stinkers.
* For example, there was a hotel in Texas where black mold put the shower off limits. We would have gone elsewhere, but this hotel was the only hotel in a 50-mile radius.
* Then there was the hotel in Cairo where Pam picked up one of our towels and uncovered a cockroach which was approximately 2 ½ inches in length.
* Most notable was the hotel in Turkey where we were given a key to a room that was already occupied by another couple.
Thankfully, we never had to stay at the Birmingham Best Inn at Oldbury, Wolverhampton, England. TripAdvisor reports that the Birmingham Best Inn is listed as Britain's worst hotel. It has achieved this questionable status because it has received 303 one-star ratings. That means that more than 300 guests have said the hotel was terrible.
In their descriptions, some guests have said that the hotel is smelly, has broken furniture, features graffiti on some of the guestroom walls and ceilings. Others have shared their accommodations had mold, stained carpets, collapsing curtains, and dirty bed linen.
Truth be told, I know about another place which is far, far worse than the Birmingham Best Inn at Oldbury, Wolverhampton, England. Understand, I have never stayed there personally, but from what I've been told, those who do can expect to find a place where there is
* darkness filled with weeping and gnashing of teeth (see Matthew 22:13);
* a fiery furnace (see Matthew 13:41-42);
* a lake of fire (see Revelation 20:14-15).
There is no doubt the people who end up staying there will give the place an even worse review than the folks have bestowed upon the Birmingham Best Inn. Indeed, they will tell you, "If you can avoid staying here, you are well advised to go elsewhere." The problem is, at one time, there was nowhere else for humanity to go. Because of our numerous, unforgiven sins, everyone in the human race was destined to spend a very lengthy time in hell.
Now here's the good news: hell, the place I've been speaking about, is a very bad place, but because of Jesus Christ nobody ever has to stay there.
You see, Jesus has, with His perfect life, His fulfillment of the Law, His victory over death itself, has done all that was necessary to cancel humanity's reservation in hell. Now, with Holy Spirit-given faith in Jesus as Savior, forgiven souls are rescued and find they have been given a permanent reservation in heaven.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord for cancelling my reservation in hell, I give thanks. For preparing a home for me in heaven, I praise Your Name. Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by Richard Spillet for Daily Mail on July 5, 2018. 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: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5920511/Britains-worst-hotel-gets-303-one-star-TripAdvisor-reviews.html
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Amos 7-9; Galatians 2
Amos 7:1 Here is what Adonai Elohim showed me: he was forming a swarm of locusts as the late crop was starting to come up, the late crop after the hay had been cut to pay the king’s tribute. 2 While they were finishing up eating all the vegetation in the land, I said,
“Adonai Elohim, forgive — please!
How will tiny Ya‘akov survive?”
3 So Adonai changed his mind about this. “It won’t happen,”Adonai said.
4 Next Adonai Elohim showed me this: Adonai Elohim was summoning a blazing fire to consume the great abyss, and it would have devoured the land too. 5 But I said,
“Adonai Elohim, stop — please!
How will tiny Ya‘akov survive?”
6 Adonai changed his mind about it. “This too won’t happen,” saidAdonai Elohim.
7 Then he showed me this: Adonai was standing by a wall made with a plumbline, and he had a plumbline in his hand. 8 Adonaiasked me, “‘Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A plumbline.” Then Adonai said,
“I am going to put a plumbline in
among my people Isra’el;
I will never again overlook their offenses.
9 The high places of Yitz’chak will be desolate,
Isra’el’s sanctuaries will be destroyed,
and I will attack the house
of Yarov‘am with the sword.”
10 Then Amatzyah the priest of Beit-El sent this message to Yarov‘am king of Isra’el, “‘Amos is conspiring against you there among the people of Isra’el, and the land can’t bear all that he’s saying. 11 For ‘Amos says: ‘Yarov‘am will die by the sword, and Isra’el will be led away from their land into exile.’” 12 Amatzyah also said to ‘Amos, “Go away, seer! Go back to the land of Y’hudah! Earn your living there; and prophesy there; 13 but don’t prophesy any more at Beit-El; for this is the king’s sanctuary, a royal temple.”
14 ‘Amos gave this answer to Amatzyah: “I am not trained as a prophet, and I’m not one of the guild prophets — I own sheep and grow figs. 15 But Adonai took me away from following the flock, and Adonai said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Isra’el.’ 16 So now, hear what Adonai says: ‘You say, “Don’t prophesy against Isra’el, don’t lecture the people of Yitz’chak.”’ 17 Therefore Adonaisays this:
‘Your wife will become a whore in the city,
your sons and daughters will die by the sword,
your land will be parcelled out with a measuring line,
you yourself will die in an unclean land,
and Isra’el will certainly be exiled from their land.’”
8:1 Here is what Adonai Elohim showed me: there in front of me was a basket of summer fruit. 2 He asked, “‘Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A basket of summer [Amos 8:2 Hebrew: kayitz] fruit.” Then Adonai said to me,
“The end [Amos 8:2 Hebrew: ketz] has come for my people,
I will never again overlook their offenses.
3 When that time comes, the songs in the temple
will be wailings,” says Adonai Elohim.
“There will be many dead bodies;
everywhere silence will reign.”
4 Listen, you who swallow the needy
and destroy the poor of the land!
5 You say, “When will Rosh-Hodesh be over,
so we can market our grain?
and Shabbat, so we can sell wheat?”
You measure the grain in a small eifah,
but the silver in heavy shekels,
fixing the scales, so that you can cheat,
6 buying the needy for money
and the poor for a pair of shoes,
and sweeping up the refuse of the wheat to sell!”
7 Adonai swears by Ya‘akov’s pride,
“I will forget none of their deeds, ever.
8 Won’t the land tremble for this,
and everyone mourn, who lives in the land?
It will all rise, just like the Nile,
be in turmoil and subside, like the Nile in Egypt.
9 “When that time comes,” says Adonai Elohim,
“I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your festivals into mourning
and all your songs into wailing;
I will make you all put sackcloth around your waists
and shave your heads bald in grief.
I will make it like mourning for an only son
and its end like a bitter day.
11 “The time is coming,” says Adonai Elohim,
“when I will send famine over the land,
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of Adonai.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
and from north to east, running back and forth,
seeking the word of Adonai;
but they will not find it.
13 When that time comes, young women and men
will faint from thirst.
14 Those who swear by the sin of Shomron,
who say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives,’
and, ‘As the way of Be’er-Sheva lives’ —
they will fall and never get up again.”
9:1 I saw Adonai standing beside the altar, and he said,
“Strike the tops of the columns until the thresholds shake!
Smash them to pieces on the heads of all the people!
Those who remain I will kill with the sword;
not one of them will succeed in fleeing,
not one of them will escape.
2 If they dig down to Sh’ol,
my hand will haul them out;
if they climb up to heaven,
I will bring them down.
3 If they hide themselves on the top of the Karmel,
I will search them out and capture them there;
If they hide from me at the bottom of the sea,
I will order the serpent to bite them there.
4 If their enemies herd them into exile,
I will order the sword to kill them there.
I will fix my gaze on them
for harm and not for good.”
5 For Adonai Elohim-Tzva’ot
is the one who can melt the earth with his touch,
and make all who live on it mourn.
It will all rise, just like the Nile,
and then subside, like the Nile in Egypt.
6 He builds his upper rooms in heaven
and establishes his sky-vault over the earth.
He summons the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the earth.
Adonai is his name.
7 “People of Isra’el, are you any different
from the Ethiopians to me?” asks Adonai.
“True, I brought Isra’el up from Egypt,
but I also brought the P’lishtim from Kaftor,
and Aram from Kir.
8 Look, the eyes of Adonai Elohim
are on the sinful kingdom.
I will wipe it off the face of the earth,
yet I will not completely destroy
the house of Ya‘akov,” says Adonai.
9 “For when I give the order,
I will shake the house of Isra’el,
there among all the Goyim,
as one shakes with a sieve,
letting no grain fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners among my people
who say, ‘Disaster will never overtake us
or confront us,’ will die by the sword.
11 “When that day comes, I will raise up
the fallen sukkah of David.
I will close up its gaps, raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as it used to be,
12 so that Isra’el can possess
what is left of Edom
and of all the nations bearing my name,”
says Adonai, who is doing this.
13 “The days will come,” says Adonai,
“when the plowman will overtake the reaper
and the one treading grapes the one sowing seed.
Sweet wine will drip down the mountains,
and all the hills will flow with it.
14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Isra’el;
they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities;
they will plant vineyards and drink their wine,
cultivate gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them on their own soil,
no more to be uprooted
from their land, which I gave them,”
says Adonai your God.
Galatians 2:1 Then after fourteen years I again went up to Yerushalayim, this time with Bar-Nabba; and I took with me Titus. 2 I went up in obedience to a revelation, and I explained to them the Good News as I proclaim it among the Gentiles — but privately, to the acknowledged leaders. I did this out of concern that my current or previous work might have been in vain.
3 But they didn’t force my Gentile companion Titus to undergo b’rit-milah. 4 Indeed, the question came up only because some men who pretended to be brothers had been sneaked in — they came in surreptitiously to spy out the freedom we have in the Messiah Yeshua, so that they might enslave us. 5 Not even for a minute did we give in to them, so that the truth of the Good News might be preserved for you.
6 Moreover, those who were the acknowledged leaders — what they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by outward appearances — these leaders added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the Uncircumcised, just as Kefa had been for the Circumcised; 8 since the One working in Kefa to make him an emissary to the Circumcised had worked in me to make me an emissary to the Gentiles. 9 So, having perceived what grace had been given to me, Ya‘akov, Kefa and Yochanan, the acknowledged pillars of the community, extended to me and Bar-Nabba the right hand of fellowship; so that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the Circumcised. 10 Their only request was that we should remember the poor — which very thing I have spared no pains to do.
11 Furthermore, when Kefa came to Antioch, I opposed him publicly, because he was clearly in the wrong. 12 For prior to the arrival of certain people from [the community headed by] Ya‘akov, he had been eating with the Gentile believers; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he was afraid of the faction who favored circumcising Gentile believers. 13 And the other Jewish believers became hypocrites along with him, so that even Bar-Nabba was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not walking a straight path, keeping in line with the truth of the Good News, I said to Kefa, right in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Goy and not like a Jew, why are you forcing the Goyim to live like Jews? 15 We are Jews by birth, not so-called ‘Goyishe sinners’; 16 even so, we have come to realize that a person is not declared righteous by God on the ground of his legalistic observance of Torah commands, but through the Messiah Yeshua’s trusting faithfulness. Therefore, we too have put our trust in Messiah Yeshua and become faithful to him, in order that we might be declared righteous on the ground of the Messiah’s trusting faithfulness and not on the ground of our legalistic observance of Torah commands. For on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands, no one will be declared righteous.[Galatians 2:16 Psalm 143:2]
17 But if, in seeking to be declared righteous by God through our union with the Messiah, we ourselves are indeed found to be sinners, then is the Messiah an aider and abettor of sin? Heaven forbid! 18 Indeed, if I build up again the legalistic bondage which I destroyed, I really do make myself a transgressor. 19 For it was through letting the Torah speak for itself that I died to its traditional legalistic misinterpretation, so that I might live in direct relationship with God. 20 When the Messiah was executed on the stake as a criminal, I was too; so that my proud ego no longer lives. But the Messiah lives in me, and the life I now live in my body I live by the same trusting faithfulness that the Son of God had, who loved me and gave himself up for me. 21 I do not reject God’s gracious gift; for if the way in which one attains righteousness is through legalism, then the Messiah’s death was pointless. (Complete Jewish Bible).
***
The Lutheran Hour Ministry in Saint Louis, Missouri, United States Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour Daily Devotion - Saturday. July 14, 2018 "A Matter of Taste"
Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "A Matter of Taste" for Saturday, July 14, 2018
John 11:25-27 - Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.""The Impossible Burger: The Vegan Burger That Bleeds." How's that for an article title?
Well, it was intriguing enough to make me read the original article and follow up by getting some support information from the Impossible website. There the company told me it had gone ahead and created a burger which was made for people who love to eat meat.
Their burger, they said, was five years in development. During that time, they investigated "taste," most certainly, but they also took a look at meat's sizzle, smell, and first-bite juiciness. Then, using a combination of wheat, coconut oil, potatoes, and their magical, mystical ingredient "heme," they created the Impossible Burger, the vegan burger that bleeds.
Now you might think that if this Impossible Burger really is all the company says, the world would rejoice that we no longer have to depend on cows to make its burgers. Now if the company, or anyone else thought that, all they need do is go to New Zealand, and they will be enlightened.
Why New Zealand?
Simple, Air New Zealand is offering the Impossible Burgers to its business-class passengers on some of its flights. And what has been the reaction? Well, I haven't heard from anyone who has eaten an Impossible Burger. On the other hand, some of the New Zealand politicians seem to have made decisions. For example,
* one leader has said the Impossible Burger was an "existential threat" to the beef industry;
* Prime Minister Winston Peters went on record saying that he was "utterly opposed to fake beef";
* another member of the ruling party maintained the airline's choosing to serve the vegan burger was a "slap in the face" to the country's $6 billion-a-year-red-meat sector."
In reply, the company which has created the Impossible Burger says, "We can't be all bad. Not when the making of our 'meat' takes 96 percent-less land and creates 87 percent-less greenhouse gas emissions." As for me and my house, I guess, like most folks, the choice will be a matter of taste?
Of course, a matter of taste is not true when it comes to belief in a Savior. Over the centuries, many have come forward to claim they could bridge the sin-created gap between God and man. Yes, they made the claim, but the reality showed they could not keep the Law perfectly, reject Satan's temptations perfectly, and resist the world's enticements perfectly.
Indeed, there has been only One who was able to prove Himself worthy of being the Savior. The third-day resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead says His sacrifice has been completed, and now there is salvation for all who acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, when it comes to the salvation of my soul, grant that I may separate the real Redeemer from the self-acclaimed impostors. In Jesus' Name, I ask it. Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by Lucia Binding for Sky News. 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: https://news.sky.com/story/bleeding-vegan-burger-is-an-existential-threat-to-beef-industry-warns-new-zealand-mp-11426830
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Amos 4-6; Galatians 1
Amos 4:1 “Listen, you [lovely] cows of Bashan,
who live on Mount Shomron,
who oppress the poor and grind down the needy,
who say to their husbands, ‘Bring something to drink’:
2 Adonai Elohim has sworn by his holiness
that your time is surely coming.
“You will be dragged away with hooks,
the last of you with fishhooks.
3 You will leave through breaks in the wall,
each woman right behind the next,
and be sent off to Harmonah,” says Adonai.
4 “Come to Beit-El, and commit crimes;
to Gilgal, and commit more crimes!
Bring your sacrifices in the morning
and your tithes after three days;
5 burn leavened bread as a thank offering;
brag in public about your voluntary offerings;
because that’s what you love to do, Isra’el!”
says Adonai Elohim.
6 “I made your teeth clean of food in all your cities,
left you nothing to eat in all your villages;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.
7 “I withheld the rain from you
three months before the harvest.
I made it rain on one city
and not on another —
one field had rain,
while another with no rain dried up;
8 from two or three cities they would stagger to one city
for water to drink, but there wasn’t enough;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.
9 “I struck your crops with hot winds and blight,
your many gardens and vineyards;
the cutter-worms devoured
your fig and olive trees;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.
10 “I sent a plague on you like that of Egypt,
put your young men to death with the sword;
let your horses be captured;
and filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.
11 “I overthrew some of you,
as when God overthrew S’dom and ‘Amora;
you were like a burning stick snatched from the fire;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.
12 “This is why I will deal with you in this way, Isra’el;
and because I will deal with you in this way,
prepare to meet your God, Isra’el —
13 him who forms mountains and creates wind,
who declares to humankind his thoughts,
who turns the morning to darkness
and strides on the heights of the earth —
Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot is his name.”
5:1 Hear this word that I take up against you
in lament, house of Isra’el:
2 The virgin of Isra’el has fallen;
she will not rise again.
She lies abandoned on her own soil
with no one to lift her up.
3 For thus says Adonai Elohim:
“The city from which a thousand marched
will be left with a hundred,
and the one from which a hundred marched
will be left with ten
from the house of Isra’el.”
4 For here is what Adonai says
to the house of Isra’el:
“If you seek me, you will survive;
5 but don’t seek Beit-El, or enter Gilgal
or pass on into Be’er-Sheva;
for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,
and Beit-El will come to nothing.”
6 If you seek Adonai, you will survive.
Otherwise, he will break out against
the house of Yosef like fire,
devouring Beit-El,
with no one to quench the flames.
7 You who turn justice to bitter wormwood
and throw righteousness to the ground!
8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who brings deathlike shadows over the morning,
who darkens the day into night,
who calls for the water in the sea
and with it floods the earth —
Adonai is his name —
9 he flashes destruction on the strong,
so that destruction overcomes the fortress.
10 They hate anyone promoting justice
at the city gate,
they detest anyone who speaks the truth.
11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor
and extort from them levies of grain;
although you have built houses of cut stone,
you will not live in them;
and though you have planted pleasant vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.
12 For I know how numerous are your crimes
and how outrageous your sins —
bullying the innocent, extorting ransoms
pushing the poor aside at the gate.
13 At times like these a prudent person stays silent,
for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil, so that you will survive.
Then Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot will be with you,
as you say he is.
15 Hate evil, love good, and uphold justice at the gate.
Maybe Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot
will take pity on the survivors of Yosef.
16 Therefore thus says Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot, Adonai:
“In all public squares there will be lamentation,
in all the streets they will cry, ‘Oh, no!’
They will summon farmers to mourn
and professional mourners to wail.
17 There will be wailing in every vineyard,
for I will pass through among you,” says Adonai.
18 Woe to you who want the Day of Adonai!
Why do you want it, this Day of Adonai?
It is darkness, not light;
19 as if someone were to run from a lion,
just to be met by a bear;
as if he entered a house, put his hand on the wall,
just to be bitten by a snake.
20 Won’t the Day of Adonai be darkness, not light,
completely dark, with no brightness at all?
21 “I hate, I utterly loathe your festivals;
I take no pleasure in your solemn assemblies.
22 If you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
nor will I consider the peace offerings
of your stall-fed cattle.
23 Spare me the noise of your songs!
I don’t want to hear the strumming of your lutes!
24 Instead, let justice well up like water,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25 Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
in the desert forty years, house of Isra’el?
26 No, but now you will bear Sikkut as your king
and Kiyun, your images,
the star of your god, which you made for yourselves;
27 as I exile you beyond Dammesek,”
says Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot —
that is his name.
6:1 Woe to those living at ease in Tziyon
and to those who feel complacent on the hills of Shomron,
renowned men in this foremost of nations,
to whom the rest of Isra’el come.
2 Travel to Kalneh and see;
from there go on to Hamat the great;
then go down to Gat of the P’lishtim.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Is their territory larger than yours?
3 You put off all thought of the evil day
but hasten the reign of violence.
4 You lie on beds of ivory
and lounge sprawled out on your couches,
dining on meat from lambs in the flock
and from calves fattened in stalls.
5 You make up wild songs at your parties,
playing the lute and inventing other instruments —
[imagining that you’re] like David!
6 You drink wine by the bowlful
and anoint yourselves with the finest oils,
but feel no grief at the ruin of Yosef.
7 Therefore now they will be the first
to go into exile with those being exiled,
and the revelry of those who lounged,
sprawling, will pass away.
8 “Adonai Elohim swears by himself,”
says Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot,
“I detest that Ya‘akov is so proud,
and I hate his palaces.
I will hand over the city,
along with everything in it.”
9 When that day comes, if ten men remain in one house, they will die. 10 And if a [dead] man’s uncle, coming to bring the corpse out of the house and burn it, finds a survivor hidden in the inmost recesses of the house and asks, “Is anyone else there with you?” — then, when he receives the answer, “No,” he will say, “Don’t say any more, because we mustn’t mention the name of Adonai.”
11 For when Adonai gives the order,
great houses will be shattered
and small houses reduced to rubble.
12 Do horses run on rock?
Does one plow there with oxen?
Yet you have turned justice into poison
and the fruit of righteousness into bitter wormwood.
13 You take pleasure in worthless things.
You think your power comes from your own strength.
14 “But I will raise up a nation against you, house of Isra’el,” saysAdonai Elohei-Tzva’ot, “and they will oppress you from the entrance of Hamat to the Vadi of the ‘Aravah.”
Galatians 1:1 From: Sha’ul, an emissary — I received my commission not from human beings or through human mediation but through Yeshua the Messiah and God the Father, who raised him from the dead — also from all the brothers with me
2 To: The Messianic communities in Galatia:
3 Grace and shalom to you from God our Father and from the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, 4 who gave himself for our sins, so that he might deliver us from the present evil world-system, in obedience to the will of God, our Father. 5 To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.
6 I am astounded that you are so quick to remove yourselves from me, the one who called you by the Messiah’s grace, and turn to some other supposedly “Good News,” 7 which is not good news at all! What is really happening is that certain people are pestering you and trying to pervert the genuine Good News of the Messiah. 8 But even if we — or, for that matter, an angel from heaven! — were to announce to you some so-called “Good News” contrary to the Good News we did announce to you, let him be under a curse forever! 9 We said it before, and I say it again: if anyone announces “Good News” contrary to what you received, let him be under a curse forever!
10 Now does that sound as if I were trying to win human approval? No! I want God’s approval! Or that I’m trying to cater to people? If I were still doing that, I would not be a servant of the Messiah.
11 Furthermore, let me make clear to you, brothers, that the Good News as I proclaim it is not a human product; 12 because neither did I receive it from someone else nor was I taught it — it came through a direct revelation from Yeshua the Messiah. 13 For you have heard about my former way of life in [traditional] Judaism — how I did my best to persecute God’s Messianic Community and destroy it; 14 and how, since I was more of a zealot for the traditions handed down by my forefathers than most Jews my age, I advanced in [traditional] Judaism more rapidly than they did.
15 But when God, who picked me out before I was born and called me by his grace, chose 16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might announce him to the Gentiles, I did not consult anyone; 17 and I did not go up to Yerushalayim to see those who were emissaries before me. Instead, I immediately went off to Arabia and afterwards returned to Dammesek. 18 Not until three years later did I go up to Yerushalayim to make Kefa’s acquaintance, and I stayed with him for two weeks, 19 but I did not see any of the other emissaries except Ya‘akov the Lord’s brother. 20 (Concerning these matters I am writing you about, I declare before God that I am not lying!) 21 Next I went to Syria and Cilicia; 22 but in Y’hudah, the Messianic congregations didn’t even know what I looked like — 23 they were only hearing the report, “The one who used to persecute us now preaches the Good News of the faith he was formerly out to destroy”; 24 and they praised God for me. (Complete Jewish Bible).
***
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.
Share this email:
No comments:
Post a Comment