Saturday 30 January 2010<!--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">Genesis 18:1-16<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord appeared to Abraham* by the oaks* of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, ‘My lord, if I find favour with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.’ So they said, ‘Do as you have said.’ And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, ‘Make ready quickly three measures* of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.’ Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They said to him, ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ And he said, ‘There, in the tent.’ Then one said, ‘I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?’ The Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, and say, “Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?” Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.’ But Sarah denied, saying, ‘I did not laugh’; for she was afraid. He said, ‘Oh yes, you did laugh.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Then the men set out from there, and they looked towards Sodom; and Abraham went with them to set them on their way.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hebrews 10:26-39</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For if we wilfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgement, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy ‘on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting. Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward. For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘in a very little while,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the one who is coming will come and will not delay;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">but my righteous one will live by faith.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">John 6:16-27</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, got into a boat, and started across the lake to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The lake became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles,* they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, ‘It is I;* do not be afraid.’ Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land towards which they were going.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the lake saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.* So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 55</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 55</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Give ear to my prayer, O God;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>do not hide yourself from my supplication.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Attend to me, and answer me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am troubled in my complaint.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am distraught by the noise of the enemy,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because of the clamour of the wicked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For they bring* trouble upon me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and in anger they cherish enmity against me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My heart is in anguish within me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the terrors of death have fallen upon me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fear and trembling come upon me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and horror overwhelms me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And I say, ‘O that I had wings like a dove!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I would fly away and be at rest;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">truly, I would flee far away;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I would lodge in the wilderness;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I would hurry to find a shelter for myself</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from the raging wind and tempest.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Confuse, O Lord, confound their speech;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for I see violence and strife in the city.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Day and night they go around it</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>on its walls,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and iniquity and trouble are within it;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>ruin is in its midst;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">oppression and fraud</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>do not depart from its market-place.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is not enemies who taunt me—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I could bear that;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I could hide from them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But it is you, my equal,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my companion, my familiar friend,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">with whom I kept pleasant company;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>we walked in the house of God with the throng.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let death come upon them;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let them go down alive to Sheol;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for evil is in their homes and in their hearts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I call upon God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the Lord will save me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening and morning and at noon</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I utter my complaint and moan,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he will hear my voice.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He will redeem me unharmed</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from the battle that I wage,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for many are arrayed against me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">God, who is enthroned from of old,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>will hear, and will humble them—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">because they do not change,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and do not fear God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My companion laid hands on a friend</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and violated a covenant with me*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">with speech smoother than butter,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but with a heart set on war;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">with words that were softer than oil,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but in fact were drawn swords.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cast your burden* on the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he will sustain you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he will never permit</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the righteous to be moved.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But you, O God, will cast them down</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>into the lowest pit;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the bloodthirsty and treacherous</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>shall not live out half their days.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I will trust in you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 138, 139:1-23</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 138</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>before the gods I sing your praise;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I bow down towards your holy temple</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for you have exalted your name and your word</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>above everything.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On the day I called, you answered me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you increased my strength of soul.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for they have heard the words of your mouth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They shall sing of the ways of the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for great is the glory of the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but the haughty he perceives from far away.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Though I walk in the midst of trouble,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">you stretch out your hand,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and your right hand delivers me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Do not forsake the work of your hands.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 139:1-23</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O Lord, you have searched me and known me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You know when I sit down and when I rise up;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you discern my thoughts from far away.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You search out my path and my lying down,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and are acquainted with all my ways.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even before a word is on my tongue,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Lord, you know it completely.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You hem me in, behind and before,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and lay your hand upon me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>it is so high that I cannot attain it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Where can I go from your spirit?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Or where can I flee from your presence?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If I ascend to heaven, you are there;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If I take the wings of the morning</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">even there your hand shall lead me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and your right hand shall hold me fast.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the light around me become night’,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">even the darkness is not dark to you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the night is as bright as the day,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for darkness is as light to you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For it was you who formed my inward parts;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you knit me together in my mother’s womb.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Wonderful are your works;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">that I know very well.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>My frame was not hidden from you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">when I was being made in secret,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>intricately woven in the depths of the earth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In your book were written</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>all the days that were formed for me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when none of them as yet existed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>How vast is the sum of them!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I try to count them—they are more than the sand;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I come to the end*—I am still with you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O that you would kill the wicked, O God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">those who speak of you maliciously,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and lift themselves up against you for evil!*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I hate them with perfect hatred;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I count them my enemies.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Search me, O God, and know my heart;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>test me and know my thoughts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">See if there is any wicked* way in me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and lead me in the way everlasting.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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