Tuesday 2 June 2009<br />
DAILY LECTIONARY<br />
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Email Evangelism, forward to a friend: http://www.dailylectionary.org<br />
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Deuteronomy 12:1-12<br />
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These are the statutes and ordinances that you must diligently observe in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to occupy all the days that you live on the earth.<br />
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You must demolish completely all the places where the nations whom you are about to dispossess served their gods, on the mountain heights, on the hills, and under every leafy tree. Break down their altars, smash their pillars, burn their sacred poles* with fire, and hew down the idols of their gods, and thus blot out their name from their places. You shall not worship the Lord your God in such ways. But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes as his habitation to put his name there. You shall go there, bringing there your burnt-offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations, your votive gifts, your freewill-offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks. And you shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your households together, rejoicing in all the undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.<br />
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You shall not act as we are acting here today, all of us according to our own desires, for you have not yet come into the rest and the possession that the Lord your God is giving you. When you cross over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is allotting to you, and when he gives you rest from your enemies all around so that you live in safety, then you shall bring everything that I command you to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name: your burnt-offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations, and all your choice votive gifts that you vow to the Lord. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you together with your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites who reside in your towns (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you).<br />
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2 Corinthians 6:3-7:1<br />
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We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honour and dishonour, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.<br />
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We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return—I speak as to children—open wide your hearts also. <br />
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Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we* are the temple of the living God; as God said,<br />
‘I will live in them and walk among them,<br />
and I will be their God,<br />
and they shall be my people. <br />
Therefore come out from them,<br />
and be separate from them, says the Lord,<br />
and touch nothing unclean;<br />
then I will welcome you, <br />
and I will be your father,<br />
and you shall be my sons and daughters,<br />
says the Lord Almighty.’<br />
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Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God.<br />
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Luke 17:11-19<br />
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On the way to Jerusalem Jesus* was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers* approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’* feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’<br />
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 45<br />
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Psalm 45<br />
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My heart overflows with a goodly theme;<br />
I address my verses to the king;<br />
my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. <br />
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You are the most handsome of men;<br />
grace is poured upon your lips;<br />
therefore God has blessed you for ever. <br />
Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,<br />
in your glory and majesty. <br />
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In your majesty ride on victoriously<br />
for the cause of truth and to defend* the right;<br />
let your right hand teach you dread deeds. <br />
Your arrows are sharp<br />
in the heart of the king’s enemies;<br />
the peoples fall under you. <br />
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Your throne, O God,* endures for ever and ever.<br />
Your royal sceptre is a sceptre of equity; <br />
you love righteousness and hate wickedness.<br />
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you<br />
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; <br />
your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.<br />
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad; <br />
daughters of kings are among your ladies of honour;<br />
at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir. <br />
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Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear;<br />
forget your people and your father’s house, <br />
and the king will desire your beauty.<br />
Since he is your lord, bow to him; <br />
the people* of Tyre will seek your favour with gifts,<br />
the richest of the people with all kinds of wealth. <br />
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The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes;* <br />
in many-coloured robes she is led to the king;<br />
behind her the virgins, her companions, follow. <br />
With joy and gladness they are led along<br />
as they enter the palace of the king. <br />
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In the place of ancestors you, O king,* shall have sons;<br />
you will make them princes in all the earth. <br />
I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations;<br />
therefore the peoples will praise you for ever and ever.<br />
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 47, 48<br />
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Psalm 47<br />
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Clap your hands, all you peoples;<br />
shout to God with loud songs of joy. <br />
For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome,<br />
a great king over all the earth. <br />
He subdued peoples under us,<br />
and nations under our feet. <br />
He chose our heritage for us,<br />
the pride of Jacob whom he loves.<br />
Selah <br />
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God has gone up with a shout,<br />
the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. <br />
Sing praises to God, sing praises;<br />
sing praises to our King, sing praises. <br />
For God is the king of all the earth;<br />
sing praises with a psalm.* <br />
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God is king over the nations;<br />
God sits on his holy throne. <br />
The princes of the peoples gather<br />
as the people of the God of Abraham.<br />
For the shields of the earth belong to God;<br />
he is highly exalted.<br />
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Psalm 48<br />
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Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised<br />
in the city of our God.<br />
His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation,<br />
is the joy of all the earth,<br />
Mount Zion, in the far north,<br />
the city of the great King. <br />
Within its citadels God<br />
has shown himself a sure defence. <br />
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Then the kings assembled,<br />
they came on together. <br />
As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;<br />
they were in panic, they took to flight; <br />
trembling took hold of them there,<br />
pains as of a woman in labour, <br />
as when an east wind shatters<br />
the ships of Tarshish. <br />
As we have heard, so have we seen<br />
in the city of the Lord of hosts,<br />
in the city of our God,<br />
which God establishes for ever.<br />
Selah <br />
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We ponder your steadfast love, O God,<br />
in the midst of your temple. <br />
Your name, O God, like your praise,<br />
reaches to the ends of the earth.<br />
Your right hand is filled with victory. <br />
Let Mount Zion be glad,<br />
let the towns* of Judah rejoice<br />
because of your judgements. <br />
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Walk about Zion, go all around it,<br />
count its towers, <br />
consider well its ramparts;<br />
go through its citadels,<br />
that you may tell the next generation <br />
that this is God,<br />
our God for ever and ever.<br />
He will be our guide for ever.<br />
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