Thursday 16 December 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>
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<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Isaiah 9:18-10:4<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For wickedness burned like a fire,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>consuming briers and thorns;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">it kindled the thickets of the forest,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and they swirled upwards in a column of smoke.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the land was burned,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and the people became like fuel for the fire;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>no one spared another.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They gorged on the right, but still were hungry,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and they devoured on the left, but were not satisfied;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they devoured the flesh of their own kindred;*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and together they were against Judah.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For all this, his anger has not turned away;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>his hand is stretched out still.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who write oppressive statutes,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">to turn aside the needy from justice</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and to rob the poor of my people of their right,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">that widows may be your spoil,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and that you may make the orphans your prey!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What will you do on the day of punishment,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in the calamity that will come from far away?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To whom will you flee for help,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and where will you leave your wealth,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">so as not to crouch among the prisoners</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or fall among the slain?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For all this, his anger has not turned away;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>his hand is stretched out still.\<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">2 Peter 2:10b-16</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">—especially those who indulge their flesh in depraved lust, and who despise authority.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bold and wilful, they are not afraid to slander the glorious ones,* whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not bring against them a slanderous judgement from the Lord.* These people, however, are like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed. They slander what they do not understand, and when those creatures are destroyed,* they also will be destroyed, suffering* the penalty for doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, revelling in their dissipation* while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! They have left the straight road and have gone astray, following the road of Balaam son of Bosor,* who loved the wages of doing wrong, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Matthew 3:1-12</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’* This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Prepare the way of the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>make his paths straight.” ’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘I baptize you with* water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with* the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 50</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 50</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The mighty one, God the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>speaks and summons the earth</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from the rising of the sun to its setting.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>God shines forth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our God comes and does not keep silence,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>before him is a devouring fire,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and a mighty tempest all around him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He calls to the heavens above</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and to the earth, that he may judge his people:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Gather to me my faithful ones,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The heavens declare his righteousness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for God himself is judge.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Hear, O my people, and I will speak,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Israel, I will testify against you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am God, your God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your burnt-offerings are continually before me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will not accept a bull from your house,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or goats from your folds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For every wild animal of the forest is mine,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the cattle on a thousand hills.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I know all the birds of the air,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and all that moves in the field is mine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for the world and all that is in it is mine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do I eat the flesh of bulls,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or drink the blood of goats?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and pay your vows to the Most High.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Call on me in the day of trouble;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But to the wicked God says:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘What right have you to recite my statutes,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or take my covenant on your lips?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For you hate discipline,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and you cast my words behind you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You make friends with a thief when you see one,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and you keep company with adulterers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘You give your mouth free rein for evil,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and your tongue frames deceit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You sit and speak against your kin;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you slander your own mother’s child.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These things you have done and I have been silent;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you thought that I was one just like yourself.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Mark this, then, you who forget God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honour me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to those who go the right way*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will show the salvation of God.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 33</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 33</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Praise befits the upright.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Praise the Lord with the lyre;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>make melody to him with the harp of ten strings.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sing to him a new song;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>play skilfully on the strings, with loud shouts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the word of the Lord is upright,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and all his work is done in faithfulness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He loves righteousness and justice;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and all their host by the breath of his mouth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he put the deeps in storehouses.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let all the earth fear the Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For he spoke, and it came to be;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he commanded, and it stood firm.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he frustrates the plans of the peoples.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The counsel of the Lord stands for ever,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the thoughts of his heart to all generations.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord looks down from heaven;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he sees all humankind.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">From where he sits enthroned he watches</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>all the inhabitants of the earth—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he who fashions the hearts of them all,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and observes all their deeds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A king is not saved by his great army;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The war horse is a vain hope for victory,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and by its great might it cannot save.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>on those who hope in his steadfast love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">to deliver their soul from death,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and to keep them alive in famine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our soul waits for the Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he is our help and shield.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our heart is glad in him,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because we trust in his holy name.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>even as we hope in you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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