The Call To Exodus Has Come

 

Via An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings

What Is This-Bebe Winans, Marvin Winans, And Mary Mary

My Daily Bible Read-Luke 22

Luke 22

1 Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching,

² and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.

³ Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.

⁴ And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.

⁵ They were delighted and agreed to give him money.

⁶ He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

⁷ Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.

⁸ Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”

⁹ “Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.

¹⁰ He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters,

¹¹ and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹² He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”

¹³ They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

¹⁴ When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table.

¹⁵ And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

¹⁶ For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁷ After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you.

¹⁸ For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹ And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁰ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

²¹ But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table.

²² The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!”

²³ They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.

²⁴ A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.

²⁵ Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors.

²⁶ But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.

²⁷ For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

²⁸ You are those who have stood by me in my trials.

²⁹ And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me,

³⁰ so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

³¹ “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.

³² But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

³³ But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”

³⁵ Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered.

³⁶ He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.

³⁷ It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”

³⁸ The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.” “That’s enough!” he replied.

³⁹ Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.

⁴⁰ On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”

⁴¹ He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed,

⁴² “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

⁴³ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.

⁴⁴ And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

⁴⁵ When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.

⁴⁶ “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

⁴⁷ While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him,

⁴⁸ but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

⁴⁹ When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?”

⁵⁰ And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

⁵¹ But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.

⁵² Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs?

⁵³ Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”

⁵⁴ Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance.

⁵⁵ And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them.

⁵⁶ A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”

⁵⁷ But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.

⁵⁸ A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” “Man, I am not!” Peter replied.

⁵⁹ About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”

⁶⁰ Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.

⁶¹ The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”

⁶² And he went outside and wept bitterly.

⁶³ The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him.

⁶⁴ They blindfolded him and demanded, “Prophesy! Who hit you?”

⁶⁵ And they said many other insulting things to him.

⁶⁶ At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them.

⁶⁷ “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.” Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me,

⁶⁸ and if I asked you, you would not answer.

⁶⁹ But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”

⁷⁰ They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?” He replied, “You say that I am.”

⁷¹ Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.”

Jeremiah 18

Jeremiah 18

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

² “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”

³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.

⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me.

⁶ He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.

⁷ If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed,

⁸ and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.

⁹ And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted,

¹⁰ and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

¹¹ “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’

¹² But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.’”

¹³ Therefore this is what the Lord says: “Inquire among the nations: Who has ever heard anything like this? A most horrible thing has been done by Virgin Israel.

¹⁴ Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes? Do its cool waters from distant sources ever stop flowing?

¹⁵ Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols, which made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths. They made them walk in byways, on roads not built up.

¹⁶ Their land will be an object of horror and of lasting scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads.

¹⁷ Like a wind from the east, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them my back and not my face
in the day of their disaster.”

¹⁸ They said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.”

¹⁹ Listen to me, Lord; hear what my accusers are saying!

²⁰ Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember that I stood before you and spoke in their behalf to turn your wrath away from them.

²¹ So give their children over to famine; hand them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives be made childless and widows; let their men be put to death, their young men slain by the sword in battle.

²² Let a cry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring invaders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.

²³ But you, Lord, know all their plots to kill me. Do not forgive their crimes or blot out their sins from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.

Isaiah 23

Isaiah 23

1 A prophecy against Tyre: Wail, you ships of Tarshish! For Tyre is destroyed and left without house or harbor.
From the land of Cyprus word has come to them.

² Be silent, you people of the island and you merchants of Sidon, whom the seafarers have enriched.

³ On the great waters came the grain of the Shihor; the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre, and she became the marketplace of the nations.

⁴ Be ashamed, Sidon, and you fortress of the sea, for the sea has spoken: “I have neither been in labor nor given birth; I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters.”

⁵ When word comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report from Tyre.

⁶ Cross over to Tarshish; wail, you people of the island.

⁷ Is this your city of revelry, the old, old city, whose feet have taken her to settle in far-off lands?

⁸ Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are renowned in the earth?

⁹ The Lord Almighty planned it, to bring down her pride in all her splendor and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.

¹⁰ Till your land as they do along the Nile, Daughter Tarshish, for you no longer have a harbor.

¹¹ The Lord has stretched out his hand over the sea and made its kingdoms tremble. He has given an order concerning Phoenicia that her fortresses be destroyed.

¹² He said, “No more of your reveling, Virgin Daughter Sidon, now crushed! “Up, cross over to Cyprus;
even there you will find no rest.”

¹³ Look at the land of the Babylonians, this people that is now of no account! The Assyrians have made it
a place for desert creatures; they raised up their siege towers, they stripped its fortresses bare and turned it into a ruin.

¹⁴ Wail, you ships of Tarshish; your fortress is destroyed!

¹⁵ At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of a king’s life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

¹⁶ “Take up a harp, walk through the city, you forgotten prostitute; play the harp well, sing many a song, so that you will be remembered.”

¹⁷ At the end of seventy years, the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will return to her lucrative prostitution and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.

¹⁸ Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the Lord; they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the Lord, for abundant food and fine clothes.

Philippians 1:9-10

Philippians 1:9-10

⁹ And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,

¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

Ten Encouraging Things To Say By Weekend Fisher

 

As Christians were suppose to say encouraging things. Here is a start by Weekend Fisher.

Ten Encouraging Things To Say by Weekend Fisher, Heart, Soul, Mind, And Strength

Along the thoughts of The Gentle Art of Lifting Up Your Neighbor, here are some encouraging things to say to people who don't quite understand about their own talents.

1. Wow. You are so good at that. 
2. You are better at that than I am. 
3. I'm sure you can handle it. 
4. I really love the way you handled that. 
5. I know I can count on you. It means a lot to me. 
6. I trust you.
7. You make that look so easy. 
8. I could never have done that. 
9. You've always been good at that. 
10. That was so [kind / helpful / friendly / good-natured]. 

Defend The Faith

 

It is time to speak up.

Defend the faith by Verna Davis, The Herald Bulletin

It was a hot Friday night in 1982, the last night of church camp for high schoolers and a lot of tired camp counselors. I was tired, a bit cranky, and more than ready to go home to my family.

The evening had progressed from loud Christian rock music and personal testimonies to in-your-face challenges to surrender all to Christ. All was going well till the camp dean, Bible in hand, took a deep breath, leaned into the microphone and said, “Listen! I tell you the truth, now, guys.” He raised his Bible, and instead of reading from it, he used it as a pointer. He jabbed the air, aiming at the faces of his rapt audience. “It says in Hebrews, ‘Remember your leaders. Consider the outcome of their lives and imitate them.’ ” Then he showed a 10-minute recruiting video for his Bible college alma mater!

When the film was over, he asked if anyone had anything else to say. I looked around, suddenly realizing I was the only adult there who had not gone to the aforementioned Bible college. I couldn’t get my feet to move. There was so much I wanted to say, but what if all the other counselors laughed at me? What if they decided they didn’t like me and wouldn’t ask me back? So, I said nothing. My silence has haunted me for 30 years.

Read More

Stand-Bebe And Cece Winans

My Daily Bible Read-Luke 21

Luke 21

1 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.

² He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.

³ “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others.

⁴ All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

⁵ Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said,

⁶ “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”

⁷ “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”

⁸ He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.

⁹ When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”

¹⁰ Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

¹¹ There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

¹² “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.

¹³ And so you will bear testimony to me.

¹⁴ But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves.

¹⁵ For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.

¹⁶ You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death.

¹⁷ Everyone will hate you because of me.

¹⁸ But not a hair of your head will perish.

¹⁹ Stand firm, and you will win life.

²⁰ “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near.

²¹ Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city.

²² For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written.

²³ How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people.

²⁴ They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

²⁵ “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.

²⁶ People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.

²⁷ At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

²⁸ When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

²⁹ He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees.

³⁰ When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. ³¹ Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

³² “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

³⁴ “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.

³⁵ For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth.

³⁶ Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

³⁷ Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives,

³⁸ and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.

Jeremiah 17

Jeremiah 17

1 “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point, on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.

² Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles beside the spreading trees and on the high hills.

³ My mountain in the land and your wealth and all your treasures I will give away as plunder, together with your high places, because of sin throughout your country.

⁴ Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have kindled my anger, and it will burn forever.”

⁵ This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

⁶ That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.

⁷ “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.

⁸ They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

¹⁰ “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”

¹¹ Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay are those who gain riches by unjust means. When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end they will prove to be fools.

¹² A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.

¹³ Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.

¹⁴ Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.

¹⁵ They keep saying to me, “Where is the word of the Lord? Let it now be fulfilled!”

¹⁶ I have not run away from being your shepherd; you know I have not desired the day of despair. What passes my lips is open before you.

¹⁷ Do not be a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster.

¹⁸ Let my persecutors be put to shame, but keep me from shame; let them be terrified, but keep me from terror.
Bring on them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction.

¹⁹ This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰ Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates.

²¹ This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.

²² Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.

²³ Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline.

²⁴ But if you are careful to obey me, declares the Lord, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it,

²⁵ then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.

²⁶ People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord.

²⁷ But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.’”

Isaiah 22

Isaiah 22

1 A prophecy against the Valley of Vision: What troubles you now, that you have all gone up on the roofs,

² you town so full of commotion, you city of tumult and revelry? Your slain were not killed by the sword, nor did they die in battle.

³ All your leaders have fled together; they have been captured without using the bow. All you who were caught were taken prisoner together, having fled while the enemy was still far away.

⁴ Therefore I said, “Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.”

⁵ The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a day of tumult and trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision, a day of battering down walls and of crying out to the mountains.

⁶ Elam takes up the quiver, with her charioteers and horses; Kir uncovers the shield.

⁷ Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the city gates.

⁸ The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah, and you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest.

⁹ You saw that the walls of the City of David were broken through in many places; you stored up water
in the Lower Pool.

¹⁰ You counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.

¹¹ You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.

¹² The Lord, the Lord Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.

¹³ But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!”

¹⁴ The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

¹⁵ This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, says: “Go, say to this steward, to Shebna the palace administrator:

¹⁶ What are you doing here and who gave you permission to cut out a grave for yourself here, hewing your grave on the height and chiseling your resting place in the rock?

¹⁷ “Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you and hurl you away, you mighty man.

¹⁸ He will roll you up tightly like a ball and throw you into a large country. There you will die
and there the chariots you were so proud of will become a disgrace to your master’s house.

¹⁹ I will depose you from your office, and you will be ousted from your position.

²⁰ “In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

²¹ I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah.

²² I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

²³ I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honor for the house of his father.

²⁴ All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.

²⁵ “In that day,” declares the Lord Almighty, “the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The Lord has spoken.

Exodus 22:24-26

 

Exodus 22:24-26

²⁴ My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.

²⁵ “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest.

²⁶ If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset,

Jeremiah 16

 

Jeremiah 16

1 Then the word of the Lord came to me:

² “You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place.”

³ For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers:

⁴ “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like dung lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.”

⁵ For this is what the Lord says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people,” declares the Lord.

⁶ “Both high and low will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, and no one will cut themselves or shave their head for the dead.

⁷ No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn for the dead—not even for a father or a mother—nor will anyone give them a drink to console them.

⁸ “And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink.

⁹ For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in this place.

¹⁰ “When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?’

¹¹ then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.

¹² But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors. See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying me.

¹³ So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

¹⁴ “However, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’

¹⁵ but it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors.

¹⁶ “But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks.

¹⁷ My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.

¹⁸ I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.”

¹⁹ Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, “Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good.

²⁰ Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!”

²¹ “Therefore I will teach them— this time I will teach them my power and might. Then they will know that my name is the Lord.

Matthew 6:31-34

 

Matthew 6:31-34

³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

My Daily Bible Read-Luke 20

 

Luke 20

1 One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him.

² “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”

³ He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me:

⁴ John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

⁵ They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’

⁶ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”

⁷ So they answered, “We don’t know where it was from.”

⁸ Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

⁹ He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time.

¹⁰ At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

¹¹ He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed.

¹² He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.

¹³ “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’

¹⁴ “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’

¹⁵ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

¹⁶ He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!”

¹⁷ Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’?

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

¹⁹ The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.

²⁰ Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor.

²¹ So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.

²² Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

²³ He saw through their duplicity and said to them,

²⁴ “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied.

²⁵ He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

²⁶ They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.

²⁷ Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question.

²⁸ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.

²⁹ Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless.

³⁰ The second

³¹ and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children.

³² Finally, the woman died too.

³³ Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage.

³⁵ But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage,

³⁶ and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.

³⁷ But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’

³⁸ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

³⁹ Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!”

⁴⁰ And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

⁴¹ Then Jesus said to them, “Why is it said that the Messiah is the son of David?

⁴² David himself declares in the Book of Psalms: “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand

⁴³ until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’

⁴⁴ David calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

⁴⁵ While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples,

⁴⁶ “Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.

⁴⁷ They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

Isaiah 21

 

Isaiah 21

1 A prophecy against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.

² A dire vision has been shown to me: The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot. Elam, attack! Media, lay siege! I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.

³ At this my body is racked with pain, pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor; I am staggered by what I hear, I am bewildered by what I see.

⁴ My heart falters, fear makes me tremble; the twilight I longed for has become a horror to me.

⁵ They set the tables, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink! Get up, you officers, oil the shields!

⁶ This is what the Lord says to me: “Go, post a lookout
and have him report what he sees.

⁷ When he sees chariots with teams of horses, riders on donkeys or riders on camels, let him be alert, fully alert.”

⁸ And the lookout shouted, “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post.

⁹ Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses. And he gives back the answer: ‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!’”

¹⁰ My people who are crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the Lord Almighty, from the God of Israel.

¹¹ A prophecy against Dumah: Someone calls to me from Seir, “Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?”

¹² The watchman replies, Morning is coming, but also the night. If you would ask, then ask; and come back yet again.”

¹³ A prophecy against Arabia: You caravans of Dedanites, who camp in the thickets of Arabia,

¹⁴ bring water for the thirsty; you who live in Tema,
bring food for the fugitives.

¹⁵ They flee from the sword, from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow and from the heat of battle.

¹⁶ This is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a servant bound by contract would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end.

¹⁷ The survivors of the archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.

Through It All-Bebe Winans