Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for our nation’s freedoms. Help us to teach our children about the men and women who have sacrificed their lives in service to our country. Amen.
Devotions
Jesus is taken up into Heaven
They (the two disciples who saw Jesus on the road to Emmaus) got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
Luke 24:33-53 (NIV)
Notice from Living Hope
Sunday School at Living Hope is postponed until further notice. 10:00 AM Sunday Worship Services have resumed under new safety guidelines. View our YouTube channel for online Worship Services and Sermons. We are praying for all those who are affected by the Covid-19. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. ~ Romans 15:13 NIV
Posted in All Posts, Dates & Reminders, FYI
Mother’s Day Prayer
Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of life you gave us through our mothers. Bless mothers everywhere with love, patience, wisdom, understanding, and strength so that they can raise their children to love and honor you.
On this Mother’s Day weekend, some people yearn for their mothers who have died. Others’ hearts are broken because of the loss of a child. Give them strength to focus on you, keeping you first in their hearts. Your love alone can satisfy all their longings; be with them and comfort them.
We thank you that you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, to be born of a human mother in order to save us, making us your dear children forever. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Posted in All Posts, Family Devotions
The story of Ruth
Even though God had given the People of Israel the land of Canaan, they often sinned by worshiping false gods. For this, God would punish them.
As a punishment, God did not send any rain to the land of Israel. For a long, long time it did not rain and nothing could grow. Soon there was no food for the people and the animals to eat. Some of the people had to go to other lands to live. One man who lived in Bethlehem took his wife Naomi and his two sons to a strange land.
In this land there was enough food but the people there did not love God. They prayed to other gods. But the man and his wife prayed to the Lord God, and they taught their sons to worship him too.
Some time later the man died in this strange land. His wife Naomi and his two sons were left there alone. But the sons had found wives in this land. One of the wives was named Orpah and the other was named Ruth. Ruth learned to love and serve God.
After about ten years, the sons also died. Now Naomi and Orpah and Ruth were all alone. They had no one to make a home for them.
Then Naomi heard that the Lord had once again sent rain to Canaan. Now that there was enough food for the people to eat, Naomi wanted to go back to her home. Ruth and Orpah said to Naomi, “We will go with you to your home in Canaan.”
As they were on the way, Naomi said to Orpah and Ruth, “Go back to your own land, and live in your mother’s house again. I hope that God will be as kind to you as He has been to me.” Orpah kissed Naomi goodbye, and she went back to her own people. But Ruth stayed with Naomi.
Naomi said to Ruth, “Orpah has gone back to her people. You should go back too.”
“Oh, do not ask me to leave you,” Ruth answered. “I will go wherever you go and live with you there. I will be a part of your family and worship your God. I will die in the same land that you die in and be buried there. We will stay together as long as we live.” So Ruth stayed with Naomi, and they both went back to the land of Canaan together.
They came to Bethlehem just when the grain was ripe in the fields. Workers were cutting the grain and putting it into the barns.
Ruth went into the fields to pick up the grain that the workers had dropped. She used this grain for food, so that she and Naomi would not be hungry. The field Ruth worked in belonged to a rich man named Boaz.
One day Boaz asked one of his workers, “Who is the strange young woman who is working in my field?”
The worker said, “Her name is Ruth. She is the girl who came back with Naomi.”
Boaz went to talk to Ruth. He said, “Stay and work in my field. When you are hungry or thirsty, you may eat and drink with my workers.”
“Why are you so kind to me?” asked Ruth. “You don’t even know me.”
Boaz answered, “I have heard how kind you were to Naomi. You left your father and mother, and you left your own land to come to this strange land. You trust in the Lord, and He is blessing your work.”
When Ruth had gone back to work, Boaz told his workers, “Be very kind to Ruth. I want her to have more grain than she is getting now. Let more of it fall to the ground, so that there is more for her to pick up.”
Every day Ruth worked in the fields that belonged to Boaz. He learned to love Ruth, and he married her. Ruth and Boaz had children and grandchildren. King David came from their family and many, many years later, Jesus, the Savior, was born of David’s family. (WELS.net)
I am Jesus' Little Lamb
I am Jesus’ little lamb,
ever glad at heart I am;
for my Shepherd gently guides me,
knows my need, and well provides me,
loves me every day the same,
even calls me by my name.
Day by day, at home, away,
Jesus is my staff and stay.
When I hunger, Jesus feeds me,
into pleasant pastures leads me;
when I thirst, He bids me go
where the quiet waters flow.
Who so happy as I am,
even now the Shepherd’s lamb?
And when my short life is ended,
by His angel host attended,
He shall fold me to His breast,
there within His arms to rest.
by Henrietta L. von Hayn, 1724-1782
Posted in All Posts, Family Devotions
The risen Jesus cooks breakfast for his disciples
Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.
When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.”
None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
John 21:1-14 (NIV)
Doubting Thomas
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:19-31 (NIV)
The road to Emmaus
What was Jesus doing on that first Easter afternoon?
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
“What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
Luke 24:13-35 (NIV)
Jesus is alive again!
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”
Then they remembered his words.
Luke 24:1-8 (NIV)
Good Friday ~ Jesus dies on the cross
Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with Jesus to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”
The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”
Jesus before Pilate
Jesus stood before Pilate the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied. When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.
Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.
Now it was the governor’s custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.
While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”
But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.
“Barabbas,” they answered.
“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!”
“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”
Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
Jesus is betrayed and arrested
The teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money. He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.
(After Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsame) a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”
Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest.
Luke 22:2b-6, 47b-54a (NIV)
Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane
They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.
Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!
Mark 14:32-42 (NIV)
The Last Supper
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”
“Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.
He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”
They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”
After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Luke 22:7-20 (NIV)
