Tuesday March 1, 2011

The Word of the Lord,

Psalm 2
 ¹ Why do the nations conspire^[a]
   and the peoples plot in vain?
² The kings of the earth take their stand
   and the rulers gather together
against the LORD
   and against his Anointed One.^[b]
3 “Let us break their chains,” they say,
   “and throw off their fetters.”
 ⁴ The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
   the Lord scoffs at them.
⁵ Then he rebukes them in his anger
   and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
⁶ “I have installed my King^[c]
   on Zion, my holy hill.”
 ⁷ I will proclaim the decree of the LORD:
   He said to me, “You are my Son^[d];
   today I have become your Father.^[e]
8 Ask of me,
   and I will make the nations your inheritance,
   the ends of the earth your possession.
⁹ You will rule them with an iron scepter^[f];
   you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”
 ¹⁰ Therefore, you kings, be wise;
   be warned, you rulers of the earth.
¹¹ Serve the LORD with fear
   and rejoice with trembling.
¹² Kiss the Son, lest he be angry
   and you be destroyed in your way,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
   Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
salm 2

Monday February 28, 2011

The Word of the Lord,
 
Exodus 24   12 - 18
 
 ¹² The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.”
 ¹³ Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. ¹⁴ He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”
 ¹⁵ When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, ¹⁶ and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. ¹⁷ To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. ¹⁸ Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Saturday February 26, 2011

  Matthew 6 25 - 34

Do Not Worry
    ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life^[b]?
   ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Friday February 25, 2011

Matthew 6  verse 24

  ²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

thursday February 24, 2011

1 Corinthians 4

Apostles of Christ

 ¹ So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. ² Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. ³ I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. ⁴ My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵ Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

Wednesday February 23, 2011

Psalm 131

    A song of ascents. Of David.
 ¹ My heart is not proud, O LORD,
   my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
   or things too wonderful for me.
² But I have stilled and quieted my soul;
   like a weaned child with its mother,
   like a weaned child is my soul within me.
 ³ O Israel, put your hope in the LORD
   both now and forevermore.

Monday February 21 and Tuesday February 22

The Word of the Lord

Isaiah 49   8- 13

Restoration of Israel

 ⁸ This is what the LORD says:
   “In the time of my favor I will answer you,
   and in the day of salvation I will help you;
I will keep you and will make you
   to be a covenant for the people,
to restore the land
   and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
⁹ to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’
   and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’
   “They will feed beside the roads
   and find pasture on every barren hill.
¹⁰ They will neither hunger nor thirst,
   nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them.
He who has compassion on them will guide them
   and lead them beside springs of water.
¹¹ I will turn all my mountains into roads,
   and my highways will be raised up.
¹² See, they will come from afar—
   some from the north, some from the west,
   some from the region of Aswan.^[a]”
 ¹³ Shout for joy, O heavens;
   rejoice, O earth;
   burst into song, O mountains!
For the LORD comforts his people
   and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
 
Tuesday
 ¹⁴ But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,
   the Lord has forgotten me.”
 ¹⁵ “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
   and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
   I will not forget you!
¹⁶ See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
   your walls are ever before me.

saturday February 19, 2011

The Word of the Lord,

Mattherw 5,

Love for Enemies

    ⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor^[h] and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you: Love your enemies^[i] and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Friday February 18, 2011

Matthew 5 

Eye for Eye

    ³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’^{[h] 39} But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. ⁴¹ If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. ⁴² Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Thursday February 17, 2011

^{1 Corinthians 3
16} Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
 ¹⁸ Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”^[a]; ²⁰ and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”^{[b] 21} So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, ²² whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas^[c] or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, ²³ and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

Wednesday February 16, 2011

The Word of the Lord

1 Corinthians 3

 ¹⁰ By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. ¹¹ For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Tuesday February 15, 2011

Psalm 119 33-40

the Word of the Lord

 ³³ Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees;
   then I will keep them to the end.
³⁴ Give me understanding, and I will keep your law
   and obey it with all my heart.
³⁵ Direct me in the path of your commands,
   for there I find delight.
³⁶ Turn my heart toward your statutes
   and not toward selfish gain.
³⁷ Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
   preserve my life according to your word.^[b]
38 Fulfill your promise to your servant,
   so that you may be feared.
³⁹ Take away the disgrace I dread,
   for your laws are good.
⁴⁰ How I long for your precepts!
   Preserve my life in your righteousness.

Monday February 14 2011

Leviticus 9

The Priests Begin Their Ministry

 ¹ On the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. ² He said to Aaron, “Take a bull calf for your sin offering and a ram for your burnt offering, both without defect, and present them before the LORD.

. ⁹ His sons brought the blood to him, and he dipped his finger into the blood and put it on the horns of the altar; the rest of the blood he poured out at the base of the altar. ¹⁰ On the altar he burned the fat, the kidneys and the covering of the liver from the sin offering, as the LORD commanded Moses; ¹¹ the flesh and the hide he burned up outside the camp.
 ¹² Then he slaughtered the burnt offering. His sons handed him the blood, and he sprinkled it against the altar on all sides. ¹³ They handed him the burnt offering piece by piece, including the head, and he burned them on the altar. ¹⁴ He washed the inner parts and the legs and burned them on top of the burnt offering on the altar.
 ¹⁵ Aaron then brought the offering that was for the people. He took the goat for the people’s sin offering and slaughtered it and offered it for a sin offering as he did with the first one.
 ¹⁶ He brought the burnt offering and offered it in the prescribed way. ¹⁷ He also brought the grain offering, took a handful of it and burned it on the altar in addition to the morning’s burnt offering.
 ¹⁸ He slaughtered the ox and the ram as the fellowship offering for the people. His sons handed him the blood, and he sprinkled it against the altar on all sides

Saturday February 12, 2011

The Word of the Lord,

Matthew 5 33-37

Oaths

    ³³ “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ ³⁴ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. ³⁶ And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. ³⁷ Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Thursday February 10, 2011 and Friday February 11, 2011

Thursday

The Word of the Lord

Matthew 5 21-26

Murder

    ²¹ “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder,^[a] and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother^[b] will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,^[c]’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
   ²³ “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
   ²⁵ “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. ²⁶ I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.^[d]

Friday

 

Adultery

    ²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’^{[e] 28} But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

Divorce

    ³¹ “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’^{[f] 32} But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.

Wednesday February 9, 2011

The Word of the Lord

1 Corinthians 3; 1-9

On Divisions in the Church

 ¹ Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. ² I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. ³ You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? ⁴ For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men?
 ⁵ What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. ⁶ I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. ⁷ So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. ⁸ The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. ⁹ For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Tuesday February 8, 2011

The Word of the Lord

Psalm 119

    א Aleph
 ¹ Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,
   who walk according to the law of the LORD.
² Blessed are they who keep his statutes
   and seek him with all their heart.
³ They do nothing wrong;
   they walk in his ways.
⁴ You have laid down precepts
   that are to be fully obeyed.
⁵ Oh, that my ways were steadfast
   in obeying your decrees!
⁶ Then I would not be put to shame
   when I consider all your commands.
⁷ I will praise you with an upright heart
   as I learn your righteous laws.
⁸ I will obey your decrees;
   do not utterly forsake me.

Monday February 7, 2011

¹⁵ See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. ¹⁶ For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
 ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, ¹⁸ I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
 ¹⁹ This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ²⁰ and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The Word of the Lord

Deuteronomy 30: 15 - 20

Friday February 4, 2011 & Saturday February 5, 2011

Friday,

The Word of the Lord

Matthew 5

Salt and Light

    ¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
   ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

 Saturday

The Fulfillment of the Law

    ¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. ¹⁹ Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven

Thursday February 3, 2011

The Word of the Lord

1 Corinthians 2

 ¹ When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.^{[a] 2} For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. ⁴ My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

Wisdom From the Spirit

 ⁶ We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷ No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ However, as it is written:
   “No eye has seen,
   no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
   what God has prepared for those who love him”^[b]—
 ¹⁰ but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
   The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³ This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.^{[c] 14} The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:
 ¹⁶ “For who has known the mind of the Lord
   that he may instruct him?”^[d]
   But we have the mind of Christ.

Wednesday February 2, 2011

The Word of the Lord

Psalm 112

 ¹ Praise the LORD.^[b]
   Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
   who finds great delight in his commands.
 ² His children will be mighty in the land;
   the generation of the upright will be blessed.
³ Wealth and riches are in his house,
   and his righteousness endures forever.
⁴ Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
   for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.^[c]
5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely,
   who conducts his affairs with justice.
⁶ Surely he will never be shaken;
   a righteous man will be remembered forever.
⁷ He will have no fear of bad news;
   his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
⁸ His heart is secure, he will have no fear;
   in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.
⁹ He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor,
   his righteousness endures forever;
   his horn^[d] will be lifted high in honor.
 ¹⁰ The wicked man will see and be vexed,
   he will gnash his teeth and waste away;
   the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

Tuesday February 1, 2011

The Word of the Lord

Isaiah 58 9b - 12

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
   with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
   and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
   and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹ The LORD will guide you always;
   he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
   and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
   like a spring whose waters never fail.
¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
   and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
   Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.