Wednesday 14 October 2009<!--StartFragment-->
<p class="MsoNormal">DAILY LECTIONARY</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Email Evangelism, forward to a friend: http://www.dailylectionary.org</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Jeremiah 37:3-21<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah saying, ‘Please pray for us to the Lord our God.’ Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison. Meanwhile, the army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah: Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: This is what the two of you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: Pharaoh’s army, which set out to help you, is going to return to its own land, to Egypt. And the Chaldeans shall return and fight against this city; they shall take it and burn it with fire. Thus says the Lord: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, ‘The Chaldeans will surely go away from us’, for they will not go away. Even if you defeated the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men in their tents, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Now when the Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh’s army, Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to receive his share of property* among the people there.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">1 Corinthians 14:13-25</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unproductive. What should I do then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also. Otherwise, if you say a blessing with the spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say the ‘Amen’ to your thanksgiving, since the outsider does not know what you are saying? For you may give thanks well enough, but the other person is not built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you; nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Brothers and sisters,* do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults. In the law it is written,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘By people of strange tongues</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and by the lips of foreigners</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will speak to this people;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>yet even then they will not listen to me,’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">says the Lord. Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers. If, 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? But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all. After 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.’</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Matthew 10:24-33</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.* Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 119:1-24</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 119:1-24</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Happy are those whose way is blameless,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who walk in the law of the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Happy are those who keep his decrees,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who seek him with their whole heart,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who also do no wrong,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but walk in his ways.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You have commanded your precepts</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to be kept diligently.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O that my ways may be steadfast</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in keeping your statutes!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then I shall not be put to shame,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will praise you with an upright heart,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when I learn your righteous ordinances.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will observe your statutes;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>do not utterly forsake me.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">How can young people keep their way pure?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>By guarding it according to your word.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With my whole heart I seek you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>do not let me stray from your commandments.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I treasure your word in my heart,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so that I may not sin against you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Blessed are you, O Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>teach me your statutes.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With my lips I declare</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>all the ordinances of your mouth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I delight in the way of your decrees</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>as much as in all riches.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will meditate on your precepts,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and fix my eyes on your ways.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will delight in your statutes;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will not forget your word.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Deal bountifully with your servant,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so that I may live and observe your word.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Open my eyes, so that I may behold</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>wondrous things out of your law.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I live as an alien in the land;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>do not hide your commandments from me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My soul is consumed with longing</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for your ordinances at all times.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who wander from your commandments;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">take away from me their scorn and contempt,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for I have kept your decrees.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even though princes sit plotting against me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your servant will meditate on your statutes.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Your decrees are my delight,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they are my counsellors.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 12, 13, 14</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 12</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Help, O Lord, for there is no longer anyone who is godly;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the faithful have disappeared from humankind.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They utter lies to each other;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the tongue that makes great boasts,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">those who say, ‘With our tongues we will prevail;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>our lips are our own—who is our master?’</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">‘Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will now rise up,’ says the Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘I will place them in the safety for which they long.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>silver refined in a furnace on the ground,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>purified seven times.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">You, O Lord, will protect us;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you will guard us from this generation for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On every side the wicked prowl,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>as vileness is exalted among humankind.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 13</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>How long will you hide your face from me?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How long must I bear pain* in my soul,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and have sorrow in my heart all day long?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and my enemy will say, ‘I have prevailed’;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I trusted in your steadfast love;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will sing to the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because he has dealt bountifully with me.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 14</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>there is no one who does good.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to see if there are any who are wise,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who seek after God.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>there is no one who does good,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>no, not one.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who eat up my people as they eat bread,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and do not call upon the Lord?</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">There they shall be in great terror,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for God is with the company of the righteous.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You would confound the plans of the poor,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but the Lord is their refuge.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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