(Genesis 1:11-12)
Then he commanded, “Let the earth produce all kinds of plants, those that bear grain and those that bear fruit”- and it was done. So the earth produced all kinds of plants, and God was pleased with what he saw.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Saturday, December 12, 2009
24.5 Lord, You Are My Friend
(Psalm 55:13-23)
But it is you, my companion,
my colleague and close friend.
We had intimate talks with each other
and worshiped together in the Temple.
May my enemies die before their time;
may they go down alive into the world
of the dead!
Evil is in their homes and in their hearts.
But I call to the Lord God for help,
and he will save me.
Morning, noon and night
my complaints and groans go up to him,
and he will hear my voice.
He will bring me safely back
from the battles that I fight against
so many enemies.
God, who has ruled from eternity,
will hear me and defeat them;
for they refuse to change,
and they do not fear him.
My former companion attacked his friends;
he broke his promises.
His words were smoother than cream,
but there was hatred in his heart;
His words were as soothing as oil,
but they cut like sharp swords.
Leave your troubles with the Lord,
and he will defend you;
he never lets honest men be defeated.
But you, O God, will bring those murderers
and liars to their graves
before half their life is over.
As for me, I will trust in you.
But it is you, my companion,
my colleague and close friend.
We had intimate talks with each other
and worshiped together in the Temple.
May my enemies die before their time;
may they go down alive into the world
of the dead!
Evil is in their homes and in their hearts.
But I call to the Lord God for help,
and he will save me.
Morning, noon and night
my complaints and groans go up to him,
and he will hear my voice.
He will bring me safely back
from the battles that I fight against
so many enemies.
God, who has ruled from eternity,
will hear me and defeat them;
for they refuse to change,
and they do not fear him.
My former companion attacked his friends;
he broke his promises.
His words were smoother than cream,
but there was hatred in his heart;
His words were as soothing as oil,
but they cut like sharp swords.
Leave your troubles with the Lord,
and he will defend you;
he never lets honest men be defeated.
But you, O God, will bring those murderers
and liars to their graves
before half their life is over.
As for me, I will trust in you.
24.4 The Lord Remains A Faithful Friend
(2 Timothy 4:16-18)
No one stood by me the first time I defended myself; all deserted me. May God not count it against them! But the Lord stayed with me and gave me strength, so that I was able to proclaim the full message for all the Gentiles to hear; and I was rescued from being sentenced to death. And the Lord will rescue me from all evil and take me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.
24.3 Abandoned By Other Friends We Still Hope In the Lord Our Friend
(Job 19:14-19, 25)
My relatives and friends are gone.
Those who were guests in my house have forgotten me;
My servant girls treat me like a stranger and foreigner.
When I call a servant, he doesn’t answer –
even when I beg him to help me.
Children despise me and laugh when they see me.
My closest friends look at me with disgust;
Those I loved most have turned against me.
But I know there is someone in heaven
Who will come at last to my defense.
My relatives and friends are gone.
Those who were guests in my house have forgotten me;
My servant girls treat me like a stranger and foreigner.
When I call a servant, he doesn’t answer –
even when I beg him to help me.
Children despise me and laugh when they see me.
My closest friends look at me with disgust;
Those I loved most have turned against me.
But I know there is someone in heaven
Who will come at last to my defense.
24.2 Comfort Is Suffering
(Job 2:11-13)
Three of Job’s friends were Eliphaz, from the city of Teman, Bildad, from the land of Shuah, and Zophar, from the land of Naamah. When they heard how much Job had been suffering, they decided to go and comfort him. While they were still a long way off they saw Job, but did not recognize him. When they did, they began to weep and wail, tearing their clothes in grief and throwing dust into the air and on their heads. Then they sat there on the ground with him for seven days and nights without saying a word, because they saw how much he was suffering.
24.1 Together Until Death
(Ruth 1:16-17)
But Ruth answered, “Don’t ask me to leave you! Let me go with you. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried. May the Lord’s worst punishment come upon me if I let anything but death separate me from you!”
Saturday, November 21, 2009
23.4 Prayer For Deliverance
(Psalm 141)
I call to you, Lord; help me now!
Listen to me when I call to you.
Receive my prayer as incense,
my uplifted hands as an evening sacrifice.
Lord, place a guard at my mouth,
a sentry at the door of my lips.
Keep me from wanting to do wrong
and from joining evil men in their wickedness.
May I never take part in their feasts.
A good man may punish me and rebuke me
in kindness,
But I will never accept honor from evil men,
because I am always praying against their evil deeds.
When their rulers are thrown down from rocky cliffs,
the people will admit that my words were true.
Like wood that is split and chopped into bits,
so their bones are scattered at the edge of the grave.
But I keep trusting in you, my Sovereign Lord.
I seek protection; don’t let me die!
Protect me from the traps they have set for me,
from the snares of those evildoers.
May the wicked fall into their own traps
while I go by unharmed.
I call to you, Lord; help me now!
Listen to me when I call to you.
Receive my prayer as incense,
my uplifted hands as an evening sacrifice.
Lord, place a guard at my mouth,
a sentry at the door of my lips.
Keep me from wanting to do wrong
and from joining evil men in their wickedness.
May I never take part in their feasts.
A good man may punish me and rebuke me
in kindness,
But I will never accept honor from evil men,
because I am always praying against their evil deeds.
When their rulers are thrown down from rocky cliffs,
the people will admit that my words were true.
Like wood that is split and chopped into bits,
so their bones are scattered at the edge of the grave.
But I keep trusting in you, my Sovereign Lord.
I seek protection; don’t let me die!
Protect me from the traps they have set for me,
from the snares of those evildoers.
May the wicked fall into their own traps
while I go by unharmed.
23.3 Christ Feed Us For Liberty
(Galatians 5:1-6)
Freedom is what we have – Christ has set us free! Stand, then, as free people, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again.
Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, it means that Christ is of no use to you at all. Once more I warn any man who allows himself to be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the whole Law. Those of you who try to be put right with God by obeying the Law have cut yourselves off from Christ. You are outside God’s grace. As for us, our hope is that God will put us right with him; and this is what we wait for by the power of God’s Spirit working through our faith. For when we are in union with Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor the lack of it makes any difference at all; what matters is faith that works through love.
Freedom is what we have – Christ has set us free! Stand, then, as free people, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again.
Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, it means that Christ is of no use to you at all. Once more I warn any man who allows himself to be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the whole Law. Those of you who try to be put right with God by obeying the Law have cut yourselves off from Christ. You are outside God’s grace. As for us, our hope is that God will put us right with him; and this is what we wait for by the power of God’s Spirit working through our faith. For when we are in union with Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor the lack of it makes any difference at all; what matters is faith that works through love.
23.2 Freedom Of The Children Of God
(Romans 8:14-17)
Those who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God’s children, and by the Spirit’s power we cry out to God, “Father! my Father” God’s Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God’s children. Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him; for if we share Christ’s suffering, we will also share his glory.
Those who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God’s children, and by the Spirit’s power we cry out to God, “Father! my Father” God’s Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God’s children. Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him; for if we share Christ’s suffering, we will also share his glory.
23.1 Years of Liberty
(Leviticus 25:8-10)
Count seven times seven years, a total of forty-nine years. Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement, send a man to blow a trumpet throughout the whole land. In this way you shall set the fiftieth year apart and proclaim freedom to all the inhabitants of the land. During this year all property that has been sold shall be restored to the original owner or his descendants, and anyone who has been sold as a slave shall return to his family.
Count seven times seven years, a total of forty-nine years. Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement, send a man to blow a trumpet throughout the whole land. In this way you shall set the fiftieth year apart and proclaim freedom to all the inhabitants of the land. During this year all property that has been sold shall be restored to the original owner or his descendants, and anyone who has been sold as a slave shall return to his family.
Friday, November 13, 2009
22.5 Sincere Prayer
(Psalm 69:30-36)
I will praise God with song;
I will proclaim his greatness by giving him thanks.
This will please the Lord more than offering him cattle,
more than sacrificing a full-grown bull.
When the oppressed see this, they will be glad;
those who worship God will be encouraged.
The Lord listens to those in need
and does not forget his people in prison.
Praise God, O heaven and earth,
seas and all creatures in them.
He will save Jerusalem and rebuild the towns of Judah.
His people will live there and possess the land;
the descendants of his servants will inherit it
and those who love him will live there.
I will praise God with song;
I will proclaim his greatness by giving him thanks.
This will please the Lord more than offering him cattle,
more than sacrificing a full-grown bull.
When the oppressed see this, they will be glad;
those who worship God will be encouraged.
The Lord listens to those in need
and does not forget his people in prison.
Praise God, O heaven and earth,
seas and all creatures in them.
He will save Jerusalem and rebuild the towns of Judah.
His people will live there and possess the land;
the descendants of his servants will inherit it
and those who love him will live there.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
22.4 What Counts Is Not Circumcision But God’s Commandments
(1 Corinthians 7:17-19)
Each one should go on living according to the Lord’s gift to him, and as he was when God called him. This is the rule I teach in all the churches. If a circumcised man has accepted God’s call, he should not try to remove the marks of circumcision; if an uncircumcised man has accepted God’s call, he should not get circumcised. For whether or not a man is circumcised means nothing; what matters is to obey God’s commandments.
Each one should go on living according to the Lord’s gift to him, and as he was when God called him. This is the rule I teach in all the churches. If a circumcised man has accepted God’s call, he should not try to remove the marks of circumcision; if an uncircumcised man has accepted God’s call, he should not get circumcised. For whether or not a man is circumcised means nothing; what matters is to obey God’s commandments.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
22.3 Against Lip Service
(Matthew 15-6b-9)
In this way you disregard God’s command, in order to follow your own teaching. You hypocrites! How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you!
‘These people says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me. It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach man-made rules as though they were my laws!’
In this way you disregard God’s command, in order to follow your own teaching. You hypocrites! How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you!
‘These people says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me. It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach man-made rules as though they were my laws!’
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