Monday 28 June 2010<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><!--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">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Numbers 22:1-21<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">The Israelites set out, and camped in the plains of Moab across the Jordan from Jericho. Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were so numerous; Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel. And Moab said to the elders of Midian, ‘This horde will now lick up all that is around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.’ Now Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. He sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is on the Euphrates, in the land of Amaw,* to summon him, saying, ‘A people has come out of Egypt; they have spread over the face of the earth, and they have settled next to me. Come now, curse this people for me, since they are stronger than I; perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land; for I know that whomsoever you bless is blessed, and whomsoever you curse is cursed.’</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam, and gave him Balak’s message. He said to them, ‘Stay here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, just as the Lord speaks to me’; so the officials of Moab stayed with Balaam. God came to Balaam and said, ‘Who are these men with you?’ Balaam said to God, ‘King Balak son of Zippor of Moab has sent me this message: “A people has come out of Egypt and has spread over the face of the earth; now come, curse them for me; perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out.” ’ God said to Balaam, ‘You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.’ So Balaam rose in the morning, and said to the officials of Balak, ‘Go to your own land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.’ So the officials of Moab rose and went to Balak, and said, ‘Balaam refuses to come with us.’</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Once again Balak sent officials, more numerous and more distinguished than these. They came to Balaam and said to him, ‘Thus says Balak son of Zippor: “Do not let anything hinder you from coming to me; for I will surely do you great honour, and whatever you say to me I will do; come, curse this people for me.” ’ But Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, ‘Although Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God, to do less or more. You remain here, as the others did, so that I may learn what more the Lord may say to me.’ That night God came to Balaam and said to him, ‘If the men have come to summon you, get up and go with them; but do only what I tell you to do.’ So Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the officials of Moab.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Romans 6:12-23</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments* of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments* of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations.* For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Matthew 21:12-22</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Then Jesus entered the temple* and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, ‘It is written,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“My house shall be called a house of prayer”;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but you are making it a den of robbers.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard* the children crying out in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’, they became angry and said to him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you have prepared praise for yourself”?’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, ‘May no fruit ever come from you again!’ And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, ‘How did the fig tree wither at once?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, “Be lifted up and thrown into the sea”, it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.’<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 106:1-18</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 106:1-18</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Praise the Lord!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Who can utter the mighty doings of the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or declare all his praise?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Happy are those who observe justice,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who do righteousness at all times.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Remember me, O Lord, when you show favour to your people;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>help me when you deliver them;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">that I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that I may glory in your heritage.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Both we and our ancestors have sinned;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>we have committed iniquity, have done wickedly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our ancestors, when they were in Egypt,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>did not consider your wonderful works;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but rebelled against the Most High* at the Red Sea.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so that he might make known his mighty power.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He rebuked the Red Sea,* and it became dry;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he led them through the deep as through a desert.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So he saved them from the hand of the foe,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and delivered them from the hand of the enemy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The waters covered their adversaries;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>not one of them was left.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they believed his words;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they sang his praise.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But they soon forgot his works;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they did not wait for his counsel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and put God to the test in the desert;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he gave them what they asked,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but sent a wasting disease among them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">They were jealous of Moses in the camp,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and of Aaron, the holy one of the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and covered the faction of Abiram.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fire also broke out in their company;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the flame burned up the wicked.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 106:19-48</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 106:19-48</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">They made a calf at Horeb</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and worshipped a cast image.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They exchanged the glory of God*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for the image of an ox that eats grass.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They forgot God, their Saviour,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who had done great things in Egypt,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">wondrous works in the land of Ham,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Therefore he said he would destroy them—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>had not Moses, his chosen one,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">stood in the breach before him,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to turn away his wrath from destroying them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they despised the pleasant land,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>having no faith in his promise.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They grumbled in their tents,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and did not obey the voice of the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that he would make them fall in the wilderness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and would disperse* their descendants among the nations,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>scattering them over the lands.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they attached themselves to the Baal of Peor,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and a plague broke out among them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then Phinehas stood up and interceded,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the plague was stopped.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And that has been reckoned to him as righteousness</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from generation to generation for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They angered the Lord * at the waters of Meribah,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and it went ill with Moses on their account;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">for they made his spirit bitter,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he spoke words that were rash.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They did not destroy the peoples</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>as the Lord commanded them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">but they mingled with the nations</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and learned to do as they did.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They served their idols,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>which became a snare to them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They sacrificed their sons</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and their daughters to the demons;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they poured out innocent blood,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the blood of their sons and daughters,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the land was polluted with blood.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thus they became unclean by their acts,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and prostituted themselves in their doings.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he abhorred his heritage;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he gave them into the hand of the nations,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so that those who hated them ruled over them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their enemies oppressed them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and they were brought into subjection under their power.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Many times he delivered them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but they were rebellious in their purposes,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and were brought low through their iniquity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Nevertheless, he regarded their distress</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when he heard their cry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For their sake he remembered his covenant,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and showed compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He caused them to be pitied</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>by all who held them captive.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Save us, O Lord our God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and gather us from among the nations,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">that we may give thanks to your holy name</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and glory in your praise.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from everlasting to everlasting.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And let all the people say, ‘Amen.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Praise the Lord!</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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