Tuesday 11 March 2008 DAILY LECTIONARY

Tue Mar 11 02:00:00 EDT 2008

Tuesday 11 March 2008 
DAILY LECTIONARY

Email Evangelism, forward to a friend: http://www.dailylectionary.org

******************************************************************
Exodus 5:1-6:1

Afterwards Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, 'Thus says the
Lord, the God of Israel, "Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a
festival to me in the wilderness." ' 2But Pharaoh said, 'Who is the
Lord, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord,
and I will not let Israel go.' 3Then they said, 'The God of the Hebrews
has revealed himself to us; let us go a three days' journey into the
wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord our God, or he will fall upon us
with pestilence or sword.' 4But the king of Egypt said to them, 'Moses
and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get to
your labours!' 5Pharaoh continued, 'Now they are more numerous than the
people of the land * and yet you want them to stop working!' 6That same
day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, as well as their
supervisors, 7'You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks,
as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8But you shall
require of them the same quantity of bricks as they have made
previously; do not diminish it, for they are lazy; that is why they cry,
"Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God." 9Let heavier work be laid on
them; then they will labour at it and pay no attention to deceptive
words.' 
10 So the taskmasters and the supervisors of the people went out and
said to the people, 'Thus says Pharaoh, "I will not give you straw. 11Go
and get straw yourselves, wherever you can find it; but your work will
not be lessened in the least." ' 12So the people scattered throughout
the land of Egypt, to gather stubble for straw. 13The taskmasters were
urgent, saying, 'Complete your work, the same daily assignment as when
you were given straw.' 14And the supervisors of the Israelites, whom
Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and were asked,
'Why did you not finish the required quantity of bricks yesterday and
today, as you did before?' 
15 Then the Israelite supervisors came to Pharaoh and cried, 'Why do you
treat your servants like this? 16No straw is given to your servants, yet
they say to us, "Make bricks!" Look how your servants are beaten! You
are unjust to your own people.'* 17He said, 'You are lazy, lazy; that is
why you say, "Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord." 18Go now, and work;
for no straw shall be given you, but you shall still deliver the same
number of bricks.' 19The Israelite supervisors saw that they were in
trouble when they were told, 'You shall not lessen your daily number of
bricks.' 20As they left Pharaoh, they came upon Moses and Aaron who were
waiting to meet them. 21They said to them, 'The Lord look upon you and
judge! You have brought us into bad odour with Pharaoh and his
officials, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.' 
22 Then Moses turned again to the Lord and said, 'O Lord, why have you
mistreated this people? Why did you ever send me? 23Since I first came
to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you
have done nothing at all to deliver your people.' 
Israel's Deliverance Assured6Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Now you shall
see what I will do to Pharaoh: Indeed, by a mighty hand he will let them
go; by a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land.'
******************************************************************
1 Corinthians 14:20-33a, 39-40

Brothers and sisters,* do not be children in your thinking; rather, be
infants in evil, but in thinking be adults. 21In the law it is written,
'By people of strange tongues
   and by the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people;
   yet even then they will not listen to me,'
says the Lord. 22Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for
unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.
23If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in
tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you
are out of your mind? 24But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider
who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all. 25After the
secrets of the unbeliever's heart are disclosed, that person will bow
down before God and worship him, declaring, 'God is really among you.' 
Orderly Worship26 What should be done then, my friends?* When you come
together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an
interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. 27If anyone
speaks in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in
turn; and let one interpret. 28But if there is no one to interpret, let
them be silent in church and speak to themselves and to God. 29Let two
or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30If a
revelation is made to someone else sitting nearby, let the first person
be silent. 31For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn
and all be encouraged. 32And the spirits of prophets are subject to the
prophets, 33for God is a God not of disorder but of peace.
(As in all the churches of the saints, 39So, my friends,* be eager to
prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues; 40but all things should
be done decently and in order. 
******************************************************************
Mark 9:42-50

'If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who
believe in me,* it would be better for you if a great millstone were
hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43If your hand
causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life
maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell,* to the unquenchable
fire.* 45And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is
better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown
into hell.*,* 47And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it
is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have
two eyes and to be thrown into hell,* 48where their worm never dies, and
the fire is never quenched. 
49 'For everyone will be salted with fire.* 50Salt is good; but if salt
has lost its saltiness, how can you season it?* Have salt in yourselves,
and be at peace with one another.'
******************************************************************
Morning Psalms:  Psalm 121, 122, 123

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills-
   from where will my help come? 
2My help comes from the Lord,
   who made heaven and earth. 

3He will not let your foot be moved;
   he who keeps you will not slumber. 
4He who keeps Israel
   will neither slumber nor sleep. 

5The Lord is your keeper;
   the Lord is your shade at your right hand. 
6The sun shall not strike you by day,
   nor the moon by night. 

7The Lord will keep you from all evil;
   he will keep your life. 
8The Lord will keep
   your going out and your coming in
   from this time on and for evermore.

Psalm 122

I was glad when they said to me,
   'Let us go to the house of the Lord!' 
2Our feet are standing
   within your gates, O Jerusalem. 

3Jerusalem-built as a city
   that is bound firmly together. 
4To it the tribes go up,
   the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
   to give thanks to the name of the Lord. 
5For there the thrones for judgement were set up,
   the thrones of the house of David. 

6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
   'May they prosper who love you. 
7Peace be within your walls,
   and security within your towers.' 
8For the sake of my relatives and friends
   I will say, 'Peace be within you.' 
9For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
   I will seek your good.

Psalm 123

To you I lift up my eyes,
   O you who are enthroned in the heavens! 
2As the eyes of servants
   look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid
   to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
   until he has mercy upon us. 

3Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
   for we have had more than enough of contempt. 
4Our soul has had more than its fill
   of the scorn of those who are at ease,
   of the contempt of the proud.
******************************************************************
Evening Psalms:  Psalm 124, 125, 126

Psalm 124

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side
   -let Israel now say- 
2if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
   when our enemies attacked us, 
3then they would have swallowed us up alive,
   when their anger was kindled against us; 
4then the flood would have swept us away,
   the torrent would have gone over us; 
5then over us would have gone
   the raging waters. 

6Blessed be the Lord,
   who has not given us
   as prey to their teeth. 
7We have escaped like a bird
   from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
   and we have escaped. 

8Our help is in the name of the Lord,
   who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 125

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
   which cannot be moved, but abides for ever. 
2As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
   so the Lord surrounds his people,
   from this time on and for evermore. 
3For the sceptre of wickedness shall not rest
   on the land allotted to the righteous,
so that the righteous may not stretch out
   their hands to do wrong. 
4Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
   and to those who are upright in their hearts. 
5But those who turn aside to their own crooked ways
   the Lord will lead away with evildoers.
   Peace be upon Israel!

Psalm 126

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,*
   we were like those who dream. 
2Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
   and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
   'The Lord has done great things for them.' 
3The Lord has done great things for us,
   and we rejoiced. 

4Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
   like the watercourses in the Negeb. 
5May those who sow in tears
   reap with shouts of joy. 
6Those who go out weeping,
   bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
   carrying their sheaves.
******************************************************************