Monday 13 October 2008<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><!--StartFragment-->
<p class="MsoNormal">DAILY LECTIONARY</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Email Evangelism, forward to a friend: http://www.dailylectionary.org</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Micah 7:1-7</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Woe is me! For I have become like one who,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>after the summer fruit has been gathered,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>after the vintage has been gleaned,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">finds no cluster to eat;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>there is no first-ripe fig for which I hunger.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The faithful have disappeared from the land,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and there is no one left who is upright;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they all lie in wait for blood,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and they hunt each other with nets.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their hands are skilled to do evil;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the official and the judge ask for a bribe,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and the powerful dictate what they desire;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>thus they pervert justice.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The best of them is like a brier,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the most upright of them a thorn hedge.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The day of their* sentinels, of their* punishment, has come;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>now their confusion is at hand.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Put no trust in a friend,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>have no confidence in a loved one;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">guard the doors of your mouth</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from her who lies in your embrace;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">for the son treats the father with contempt,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the daughter rises up against her mother,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your enemies are members of your own household.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But as for me, I will look to the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will wait for the God of my salvation;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my God will hear me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Acts 26:1-23</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You have permission to speak for yourself.’ Then Paul stretched out his hand and began to defend himself:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defence today against all the accusations of the Jews, because you are especially familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews; therefore I beg of you to listen to me patiently.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, a life spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I have belonged to the strictest sect of our religion and lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand here on trial on account of my hope in the promise made by God to our ancestors, a promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship day and night. It is for this hope, your Excellency,* that I am accused by Jews! Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘Indeed, I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth.* And that is what I did in Jerusalem; with authority received from the chief priests, I not only locked up many of the saints in prison, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death. By punishing them often in all the synagogues I tried to force them to blaspheme; and since I was so furiously enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘With this in mind, I was travelling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, when at midday along the road, your Excellency,* I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew* language, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.” I asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord answered, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me* and to those in which I will appear to you. I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘After that, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place: that the Messiah* must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Luke 8:26-39</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes,* which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn* no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me’— for Jesus* had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Legion’; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons* begged Jesus* to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes* asked Jesus* to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus* sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Psalm 1, 2, 3</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Happy are those</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who do not follow the advice of the wicked,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">or take the path that sinners tread,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or sit in the seat of scoffers;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">but their delight is in the law of the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and on his law they meditate day and night.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They are like trees</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>planted by streams of water,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">which yield their fruit in its season,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and their leaves do not wither.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In all that they do, they prosper.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The wicked are not so,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but are like chaff that the wind drives away.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but the way of the wicked will perish.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 2</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why do the nations conspire,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the peoples plot in vain?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The kings of the earth set themselves,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the rulers take counsel together,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>against the Lord and his anointed, saying,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Let us burst their bonds asunder,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and cast their cords from us.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He who sits in the heavens laughs;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the Lord has them in derision.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then he will speak to them in his wrath,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and terrify them in his fury, saying,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will tell of the decree of the Lord:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He said to me, ‘You are my son;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>today I have begotten you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the ends of the earth your possession.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You shall break them with a rod of iron,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now therefore, O kings, be wise;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>be warned, O rulers of the earth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Serve the Lord with fear,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>with trembling kiss his feet,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his wrath is quickly kindled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Happy are all who take refuge in him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 3</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O Lord, how many are my foes!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Many are rising against me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">many are saying to me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘There is no help for you* in God.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But you, O Lord, are a shield around me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I cry aloud to the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he answers me from his holy hill.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I lie down and sleep;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am not afraid of tens of thousands of people</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who have set themselves against me all around.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rise up, O Lord!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Deliver me, O my God!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you break the teeth of the wicked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Deliverance belongs to the Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>may your blessing be on your people!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Psalm 4, 7</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 4</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Answer me when I call, O God of my right!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You gave me room when I was in distress.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How long, you people, shall my honour suffer shame?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for himself;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the Lord hears when I call to him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When you are disturbed,* do not sin;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>ponder it on your beds, and be silent.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Offer right sacrifices,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and put your trust in the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are many who say, ‘O that we might see some good!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You have put gladness in my heart</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>more than when their grain and wine abound.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will both lie down and sleep in peace;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 7</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O Lord my God, in you I take refuge;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">or like a lion they will tear me apart;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O Lord my God, if I have done this,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>if there is wrong in my hands,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">if I have repaid my ally with harm</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or plundered my foe without cause,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">then let the enemy pursue and overtake me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>trample my life to the ground,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and lay my soul in the dust.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rise up, O Lord, in your anger;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>awake, O my God;* you have appointed a judgement.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered around you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and over it take your seat* on high.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord judges the peoples;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and according to the integrity that is in me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O let the evil of the wicked come to an end,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but establish the righteous,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">you who test the minds and hearts,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O righteous God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">God is my shield,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who saves the upright in heart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">God is a righteous judge,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and a God who has indignation every day.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If one does not repent, God* will whet his sword;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he has bent and strung his bow;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he has prepared his deadly weapons,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>making his arrows fiery shafts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">See how they conceive evil,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and are pregnant with mischief,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and bring forth lies.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They make a pit, digging it out,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and fall into the hole that they have made.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their mischief returns upon their own heads,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and on their own heads their violence descends.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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