The Daily Readings for SATURDAY, October 6, 2018

The Daily Readings

SATURDAY, October 6, 2018

Old Testament

Hosea 11:1-9
God’s Compassion Despite Israel’s Ingratitude
11:1 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
    and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 The more I called them,
    the more they went from me;
  they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
    and offering incense to idols.

3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
    I took them up in my arms;
    but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
    with bands of love.
I was to them like those
    who lift infants to their cheeks.
    I bent down to them and fed them.

5 They shall return to the land of Egypt,
    and Assyria shall be their king,
    because they have refused to return to me.
6 The sword rages in their cities,
    it consumes their oracle-priests,
    and devours because of their schemes.
7 My people are bent on turning away from me.
    To the Most High they call,
    but he does not raise them up at all.

8 How can I give you up, Ephraim?
    How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
    How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
    my compassion grows warm and tender.
9 I will not execute my fierce anger;
    I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and no mortal,
    the Holy One in your midst,
    and I will not come in wrath.

The Epistle

Acts 22:17-29
Paul Sent to the Gentiles
22:17 “After I had returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw Jesus saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ 19 And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. 20 And while the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing by, approving and keeping the coats of those who killed him.’ 21 Then he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

Paul and the Roman Tribune
22 Up to this point they listened to him, but then they shouted, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.” 23 And while they were shouting, throwing off their cloaks, and tossing dust into the air, 24 the tribune directed that he was to be brought into the barracks, and ordered him to be examined by flogging, to find out the reason for this outcry against him. 25 But when they had tied him up with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who is uncondemned?” 26 When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen.” 27 The tribune came and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” 28 The tribune answered, “It cost me a large sum of money to get my citizenship.” Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.” 29 Immediately those who were about to examine him drew back from him; and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

The Gospel
Luke 6:27-38
Love for Enemies
6:27 “But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Judging Others
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lessons are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.
Is it legal to flog a Roman citizen who is uncondemned?

The Morning Prayer for SATURDAY, October 6, 2018

Saturday morning prayer

Lord on this preparation day, I jump into all that You have given me. Might I embrace each part of this glorious time, enjoying the service, relishing in the challenges, engaging with the fun and celebrating with laughter.

Lord on this day, may I enjoy the beauty of the created world all around me. Might I run, drive, walk and sing in the freedom of this day! Thank you that right now I can feel Your love flowing through each vein of my being, causing me to pulsate with vision and life. Lord, on this day I jump into all that You have given me.

Lord, on this preparation day, I wake to live and give. May it be a worthwhile day, fill up to the brim. A day with service, laughter, work and play, a time to run and sing. May Saturday be a day I walk and breathe your goodness in, enjoy the beauty all around and freedoms joy within.

Amen

Verse of the Day for SATURDAY, October 6, 2018

Isaiah 55:6 (NIV) Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

Read all of Isaiah 55

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New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

Un dia a la Vez - ¿Qué declaras sobre ti?

¿Qué declaras sobre ti?

Dios nos ha entregado sus preciosas y magníficas promesas para que [...] lleguen a tener parte en la naturaleza divina.

~ 2 Pedro 1:4 (NVI)

Durante estos devocionales hemos analizado que las palabras tienen poder y nosotros somos el resultado de lo que hablamos y de lo que comemos en cuanto respecta a la salud.

Dios tiene trazado nuestro futuro, pero a veces no vemos esas cosas. A menudo, esto se debe a que estamos desenfocados o a que NO creemos en nosotros mismos para lograrlo. Es posible que pensemos que el éxito es para otros y cometamos el error más común y determinante en la parte espiritual: Hablamos sin pensar y decimos lo peor de nosotros mismos. Entonces, todo lo que declaramos sobre nuestra vida toma valor debido al poder que tienen las palabras.

Recuerda que el enemigo, Satanás, no quiere que tú triunfes. Al contrario, está interesado en tu fracaso. A mí me costó un tiempo entender este principio y mediante la Biblia comprobé que con nuestras palabras podemos declarar bendición o maldición.

Ahora te pregunto: «¿Qué prefieres?». Es hora de soltar todo tu pasado. Si en otra época te ataste con tus palabras, hoy Dios te da la oportunidad de ser libre y hacer lo opuesto.

A fin de alcanzarlo, empieza a declarar lo siguiente: «Soy un hijo de Dios. Soy un vencedor. Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece. Ninguna arma forjada contra mí prosperará. Soy sano. Soy libre. Soy una nueva criatura».

Un Día a la Vez Copyright © by Claudia Pinzón
¿Qué declaras sobre ti?

Standing Strong Through the Storm - HOPE FOR THE MIDDLE EAST

HOPE FOR THE MIDDLE EAST

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

~ Matthew 18:1-3 (NIV)

In the summer of 2011, Musalaha held an Israeli-Palestinian summer camp attended by seventy Palestinian and Israeli children from Christian families. A visitor shares poignant observations:

For me, after six months in the Land, this camp gave me real hope like nothing else I have experienced. There was hope in the Bible studies, in the competitions, in the craziness and laughter, and in the worship. There was hope as the children were creative with their crafts and reckless in their play. There was hope as they were just being girls and boys – having fun, making friends, getting a break from the pressures of their everyday environment…

When they arrived, many of the children found friends they had met at last year’s camp. A group of two Palestinian and three Israeli girls negotiated to be in the same room. Upon receiving permission, they pulled five bunks together to make one huge bed where they could sleep together…

At the camp I realized that I wasn’t noticing who was Israeli and who was Palestinian. I saw my brothers and sisters from both sides of the conflict demonstrate a love of Christ and each other above their love of sticking with their side. Leaders cared for kids, loving and instructing them regardless of where they came from. We were all there as believers in Jesus, and as should more often be the case, during camp no other identity really mattered.

One day after craft time, a Palestinian boy from the West Bank proudly pulled me aside to show me his pencil case. On it, he had painted an Israeli flag. I am not sure how his parents would feel about it, but it showed me how much more simple this situation is for the children. He loved his new friends and leaders and therefore had fond feelings about the place they are from…

As my coworker Tamara and I reflected on the camp, she said, “Innocence breaks down all this hatred that we have around us. You love the good things that you see in the other side. Like Jesus said, we should be little children.”

For them, the “enemy” will never be faceless, inhuman, or distant. For them, the situation will never be easy or black and white. That is good. With open eyes they can help bring change. They are the hope.

RESPONSE: Today I will look at the problems of our world through child-like eyes and see the challenges as Jesus sees them.

PRAYER: Thank You, Lord, there is HOPE for even the greatest challenges of our troubled world.

Standing Strong Through The Storm (SSTS), a daily devotional message by SSTS author Paul Estabrooks. © 2011 Open Doors International. Used by permission.

The NIV Couples Devotional - Conquering Regrets

Conquering Regrets

Genesis 19:1–29

“Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

~ Genesis 19:17 (NIV)

If only we hadn’t married so soon. If only we had more money. If only I had married Jake instead of John. Regrets in marriage are damaging. They keep our eyes fixed on the rearview mirror instead of on the road ahead. While reviewing the past and assessing what we’ve learned through mistakes can be a healthy exercise, regretting the past only serves to fuel discontentment and impede growth.

When Dan and I decided to close a three-year-old business, I struggled with regret. I had used up all of our nest egg to pursue a business venture I had believed in. When the business failed, I regretted so many decisions I had made, especially not listening to Dan’s advice along the way. My failure meant that we would be struggling financially again after having enjoyed several years of monetary comfort. Even though I knew God had walked us through this difficult time and taught us invaluable lessons, it was tempting to think, “If I hadn’t tried to start that new business, we’d be financially set right now.” Instead of keeping my eyes focused on God’s plan for my life, I chose to get stuck in my tracks with if-only thinking.

Lot’s wife had a similar problem. She and her husband were running for their lives from Sodom and Gomorrah, knowing that God had judged the culture they were living in and was about to decimate everything they had ever known. While Lot was running full steam ahead, his wife kept looking over her shoulder. Eventually, the distance between them became so great that Lot literally left his wife in the dust.

Regret is like that. We keep looking over our shoulder, wondering if what we’ve left behind might have been better than what we’re moving toward. God’s angel warned Lot and his wife not to look back, and it’s a warning for us too.

If you routinely catch yourself starting a sentence with “If only,” regret may be an issue you need to deal with. While dwelling on what might have been is never healthy, regret can be an important signal to stop and examine your emotions. For instance, if you catch yourself thinking, “If only I had married Jake instead of John,” it may be time to evaluate why John isn’t measuring up. In your private time with God, pray about the emotions you’re experiencing. Perhaps you’ll discover that your disappointment is springing from unmet needs. With these needs clarified, you can then have a forward-thinking conversation with your spouse about how to improve your relationship.

When I caught myself saying, “If only I hadn’t tried to start this business,” I realized that my fear of God’s inability to meet our needs in the future was driving my regret. Once I discovered that, I could stop looking to the past and begin focusing on a vision for what God might accomplish in our future.

Marian V. Liautaud

Let’s Talk

• What, if any, regrets do either of us have in our lives?
• What unmet need might those regrets indicate?
• How might we use regrets to improve our relationship with each other? What do we need to entrust to God to move forward in our marriage?

If only we hadn’t married so soon... If only we had more money... If only I had married Jake instead of John...

LHM Daily Devotions - Unashamed of the Testimony of Christ

"Unashamed of the Testimony of Christ"

Oct. 6, 2018

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

~ 1 Timothy 6:9-12 (ESV)

If St. Paul's jailer overheard the apostle dictate this farewell letter to Timothy, especially the deliberate appeal of its eighth verse, "Be not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord," that Roman guard doubtless shook his head in bewilderment. He must have wondered how anyone could demand loyalty for Jesus of Nazareth, who died on a cross as a criminal between two criminals. How could anyone not be ashamed of a creed that led to martyrdom!

Even as St. Paul weighed these words, "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord," he knew that some of his own followers had become ashamed of Christ. Tearfully, it seems, he writes, "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world." No one understood more intimately than he how insistent and penetrating is the appeal to leave Christ and follow the lure of human ambitions.

Here was Rome with its lavish display of wealth, the imperial palace and its chambers covered with pure gold; studded with costly jewels, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, its dome, which turned by day and night; and there, on a skull-shaped hill, near Jerusalem the unmarked spot where Jesus had died in abject poverty, robbed even in death, of His clothing. Here was Rome at the zenith of its power, its legions crashing through distant frontiers; Rome with its triumphal arches, its tributes wrung from the ends of the empire; and there, as the apostle's thoughts revert to his Savior's first and last days, an outcast Babe, for whom Bethlehem had neither room nor heart; there the thorn-crowned King with scourged back and blood-spattered face. Here in Rome, life to its whirling, dizzy, intoxicating fullness; the Coliseum and its gladiators, the theaters and their sophisticated plays, the schools with their get-what-you-can-out-of-life philosophies, the temples with their dancing girls, scribes from cold Britain, astrologers from distant Babylon, flaxen-haired warriors from beyond the Rhine; here, in short, a riot of color, pleasure, and vice dragged to Rome from beyond the outposts of civilization; and there -- it still rang in the apostle's mind after 35 years -- the stern ultimatum of Jesus, who said: "Take up your cross and follow Me" (Luke 9:23b).

THE PRAYER: Heavenly Father, the charms of this world are legion, and we are faced with them every day. Empower us against their taking hold of our lives and diminishing our trust in what Your Son has won for us -- a treasure of everlasting value. In His Name we pray. Amen.

From "Unashamed of the Testimony of Christ," a sermon excerpt from Walter A. Maier, the first Speaker of The Lutheran Hour. Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
If St. Paul's jailer overheard the apostle dictate this farewell letter to ...

Lời Sống Hằng Ngày - Hãy Chiếu Rạng

Hãy Chiếu Rạng

Đọc: Phi-líp 2:14–16 | Đọc Kinh Thánh suốt năm: Ê-sai 26–27; Phi-líp 2

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Giữa thế hệ đó, anh em hãy chiếu rạng như ánh sáng trong thế gian; hãy giữ vững lời hằng sống. Phi-líp 2:15-16

“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” (Những Vì Sao Nhỏ Lấp Lánh) là bài hát ru tiếng Anh. Lời bài hát bắt nguồn từ một bài thơ của Jane Taylor, nói đến vẻ đẹp kỳ diệu của cõi vũ trụ mà Chúa tạo dựng, là nơi mà các vì sao được treo “tít tắp cao vời vợt trên địa cầu này.” Trong những khổ thơ sau, vốn ít được biết đến, các vì sao đó được mô tả như tấm bảng chỉ đường: “Như những tia sáng lấp lánh soi rọi bước chân người lữ khách trong đêm tối.”

Trong thư Phi-líp, Phao-lô thúc giục các tín hữu Phi-líp nuôi dưỡng nếp sống thánh sạch, không chỗ trách được để họ “chiếu sáng… như những vì sao trên thế gian” (BDM) trong lúc chia sẻ tin mừng của Phúc Âm cho mọi người xung quanh (2:15–16). Chúng ta tự hỏi làm cách nào mình có thể chiếu rạng như những vì sao. Chúng ta thường cảm thấy mình kém thiếu và cố gắng nghĩ liệu “ánh sáng” của mình có đủ sáng để tạo nên khác biệt không. Nhưng các vì sao không cố gắng để làm vì sao. Chúng vốn dĩ đã là sao. Ánh sáng thay đổi thế giới chúng ta. Ánh sáng thay đổi chúng ta. Đức Chúa Trời ban ánh sáng tự nhiên cho thế giới chúng ta (Sáng. 1:3); và thông qua Chúa Jêsus, Ngài ban ánh sáng thuộc linh cho cuộc đời chúng ta (Giăng 1:1–4).

Là những người có ánh sáng của Đức Chúa Trời, chúng ta cần chiếu rạng để những người xung quanh thấy ánh sáng và được thu hút đến với nguồn sáng. Như các vì sao lấp lánh trên bầu trời mà chẳng cần nỗ lực gì, ánh sáng của chúng ta cũng tạo nên khác biệt vì bản chất của nó là sự sáng! Khi cứ chiếu sáng, chúng ta vâng theo chỉ dẫn của Phao-lô “giữ vững lời hằng sống” trong một thế giới chìm ngập trong tăm tối, và chúng ta thu hút người khác đến với nguồn hy vọng là Chúa Jêsus.

Lạy Chúa, nguyện xin ánh sáng Ngài chiếu rạng từ chính những đổ vỡ của cuộc đời chúng con khi chúng con trình bày Lời hằng sống cho người khác.

 Chúa Jêsus đem ánh sáng vào cuộc đời chúng ta.

 bởi Elisa Morgan

© 2018 Lời Sống Hằng Ngày
“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” (Những Vì Sao Nhỏ Lấp Lánh) là bài hát ru tiếng Anh.