Thursday 3 December 2009<!--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">Amos 4:6-13<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and lack of bread in all your places,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">yet you did not return to me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">says the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And I also withheld the rain from you</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when there were still three months to the harvest;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I would send rain on one city,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and send no rain on another city;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">one field would be rained upon,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the field on which it did not rain withered;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">so two or three towns wandered to one town</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to drink water, and were not satisfied;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">yet you did not return to me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">says the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I struck you with blight and mildew;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I laid waste* your gardens and your vineyards;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">yet you did not return to me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">says the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I killed your young men with the sword;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I carried away your horses;*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">yet you did not return to me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">says the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I overthrew some of you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and you were like a brand snatched from the fire;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">yet you did not return to me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">says the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Therefore, thus I will do to you, O Israel;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because I will do this to you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>prepare to meet your God, O Israel!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For lo, the one who forms the mountains, creates the wind,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>reveals his thoughts to mortals,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">makes the morning darkness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and treads on the heights of the earth—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">2 Peter 3:11-18</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening* the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Matthew 21:33-46</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watch-tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They said to him, ‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“The stone that the builders rejected</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>has become the cornerstone;*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">this was the Lord’s doing,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and it is amazing in our eyes”?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.* The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.’*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 18:1-20</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 18:1-20</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I love you, O Lord, my strength.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so I shall be saved from my enemies.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The cords of death encompassed me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the torrents of perdition assailed me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the cords of Sheol entangled me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the snares of death confronted me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In my distress I called upon the Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to my God I cried for help.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">From his temple he heard my voice,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my cry to him reached his ears.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then the earth reeled and rocked;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the foundations also of the mountains trembled</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and quaked, because he was angry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Smoke went up from his nostrils,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and devouring fire from his mouth;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>glowing coals flamed forth from him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He bowed the heavens, and came down;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>thick darkness was under his feet.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He rode on a cherub, and flew;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He made darkness his covering around him,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>his canopy thick clouds dark with water.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Out of the brightness before him</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>there broke through his clouds</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>hailstones and coals of fire.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord also thundered in the heavens,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the Most High uttered his voice.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then the channels of the sea were seen,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the foundations of the world were laid bare</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">at your rebuke, O Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He reached down from on high, he took me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he drew me out of mighty waters.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He delivered me from my strong enemy,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and from those who hated me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for they were too mighty for me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They confronted me in the day of my calamity;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but the Lord was my support.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He brought me out into a broad place;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he delivered me, because he delighted in me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 18:21-50</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 18:21-50</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For I have kept the ways of the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and have not wickedly departed from my God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For all his ordinances were before me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and his statutes I did not put away from me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I was blameless before him,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and I kept myself from guilt.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With the loyal you show yourself loyal;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>with the blameless you show yourself blameless;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">with the pure you show yourself pure;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and with the crooked you show yourself perverse.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For you deliver a humble people,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but the haughty eyes you bring down.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is you who light my lamp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By you I can crush a troop,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and by my God I can leap over a wall.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This God—his way is perfect;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the promise of the Lord proves true;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he is a shield for 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">For who is God except the Lord?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And who is a rock besides our God?—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the God who girded me with strength,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and made my way safe.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He made my feet like the feet of a deer,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and set me secure on the heights.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He trains my hands for war,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You have given me the shield of your salvation,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and your right hand has supported me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your help* has made me great.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You gave me a wide place for my steps under me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my feet did not slip.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I pursued my enemies and overtook them;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and did not turn back until they were consumed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I struck them down, so that they were not able to rise;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they fell under my feet.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For you girded me with strength for the battle;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you made my assailants sink under me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You made my enemies turn their backs to me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and those who hated me I destroyed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They cried for help, but there was no one to save them;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I beat them fine, like dust before the wind;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I cast them out like the mire of the streets.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You delivered me from strife with the peoples;*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you made me head of the nations;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>people whom I had not known served me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>foreigners came cringing to me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Foreigners lost heart,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and came trembling out of their strongholds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and exalted be the God of my salvation,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the God who gave me vengeance</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and subdued peoples under me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who delivered me from my enemies;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>indeed, you exalted me above my adversaries;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you delivered me from the violent.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For this I will extol you, O Lord, among the nations,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and sing praises to your name.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Great triumphs he gives to his king,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and shows steadfast love to his anointed,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to David and his descendants for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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