Saturday 28 February 2009<span style="mso-spacerun:
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<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>
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<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Deuteronomy 7:17-26</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">If you say to yourself, ‘These nations are more numerous than I; how can I dispossess them?’ do not be afraid of them. Just remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. Moreover, the Lord your God will send the pestilence* against them, until even the survivors and the fugitives are destroyed. Have no dread of them, for the Lord your God, who is present with you, is a great and awesome God. The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to make a quick end of them, otherwise the wild animals would become too numerous for you. But the Lord your God will give them over to you, and throw them into great panic, until they are destroyed. He will hand their kings over to you and you shall blot out their name from under heaven; no one will be able to stand against you, until you have destroyed them. The images of their gods you shall burn with fire. Do not covet the silver or the gold that is on them and take it for yourself, because you could be ensnared by it; for it is abhorrent to the Lord your God. Do not bring an abhorrent thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You must utterly detest and abhor it, for it is set apart for destruction.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Titus 3:1-15</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarrelling, to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to everyone. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, despicable, hating one another. But when the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water* of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is sure.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I desire that you insist on these things, so that those who have come to believe in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works; these things are excellent and profitable to everyone. But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. After a first and second admonition, have nothing more to do with anyone who causes divisions, since you know that such a person is perverted and sinful, being self-condemned.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Make every effort to send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way, and see that they lack nothing. And let people learn to devote themselves to good works in order to meet urgent needs, so that they may not be unproductive.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Grace be with all of you.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">John 1:43-51</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you,* you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 30, 32</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 30</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and did not let my foes rejoice over me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and you have healed me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and give thanks to his holy name.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For his anger is but for a moment;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>his favour is for a lifetime.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Weeping may linger for the night,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but joy comes with the morning.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As for me, I said in my prosperity,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘I shall never be moved.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By your favour, O Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you had established me as a strong mountain;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">you hid your face;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I was dismayed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To you, O Lord, I cried,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and to the Lord I made supplication:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘What profit is there in my death,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>if I go down to the Pit?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Will the dust praise you?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Will it tell of your faithfulness?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Lord, be my helper!’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You have turned my mourning into dancing;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you have taken off my sackcloth</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and clothed me with joy,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">so that my soul* may praise you and not be silent.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you for ever.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 32</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>whose sin is covered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and in whose spirit there is no deceit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While I kept silence, my body wasted away</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>through my groaning all day long.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my strength was dried up* as by the heat of summer.</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">Then I acknowledged my sin to you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and I did not hide my iniquity;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and you forgave the guilt of my sin.</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">Therefore let all who are faithful</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>offer prayer to you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">at a time of distress,* the rush of mighty waters</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>shall not reach them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You are a hiding-place for me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you preserve me from trouble;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you surround me with glad cries of deliverance.</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 will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will counsel you with my eye upon you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>else it will not stay near you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Many are the torments of the wicked,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 42, 43</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 42</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As a deer longs for flowing streams,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so my soul longs for you, O God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My soul thirsts for God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for the living God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When shall I come and behold</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the face of God?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My tears have been my food</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>day and night,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">while people say to me continually,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘Where is your God?’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These things I remember,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>as I pour out my soul:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">how I went with the throng,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and led them in procession to the house of God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a multitude keeping festival.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why are you cast down, O my soul,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and why are you disquieted within me?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my help and my God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My soul is cast down within me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>therefore I remember you</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from Mount Mizar.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Deep calls to deep</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>at the thunder of your cataracts;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">all your waves and your billows</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>have gone over me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and at night his song is with me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a prayer to the God of my life.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I say to God, my rock,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘Why have you forgotten me?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why must I walk about mournfully</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because the enemy oppresses me?’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As with a deadly wound in my body,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my adversaries taunt me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">while they say to me continually,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘Where is your God?’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why are you cast down, O my soul,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and why are you disquieted within me?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my help and my God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 43</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>against an ungodly people;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">from those who are deceitful and unjust</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>deliver me!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For you are the God in whom I take refuge;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>why have you cast me off?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why must I walk about mournfully</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because of the oppression of the enemy?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O send out your light and your truth;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let them lead me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">let them bring me to your holy hill</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and to your dwelling.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then I will go to the altar of God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to God my exceeding joy;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and I will praise you with the harp,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O God, my God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why are you cast down, O my soul,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and why are you disquieted within me?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my help and my God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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