The Daily Lectionary for SATURDAY, September 21, 2019

The Widow’s Offering
Mark 12:41-44

The Daily Lectionary

SATURDAY, September 21, 2019

(Revised Common Lectionary Year C)

(Semi-continuous Reading Plan)

Psalm 79:1-9

Plea for Mercy for Jerusalem
A Psalm of Asaph.
1  O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
     they have defiled your holy temple;
     they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2  They have given the bodies of your servants
     to the birds of the air for food,
     the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of
     the earth.
3  They have poured out their blood like water
     all around Jerusalem,
     and there was no one to bury them.
4  We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
     mocked and derided by those around us.

5  How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?
     Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?
6  Pour out your anger on the nations
     that do not know you,
   and on the kingdoms
     that do not call on your name.
7  For they have devoured Jacob
     and laid waste his habitation.

8  Do not remember against us the iniquities of
     our ancestors;
     let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
     for we are brought very low.
9  Help us, O God of our salvation,
     for the glory of your name;
   deliver us, and forgive our sins,
     for your name’s sake.

Jeremiah 8:14-17; 9:2-11

8:14 Why do we sit still?
   Gather together, let us go into the fortified cities
     and perish there;
   for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish,
     and has given us poisoned water to drink,
     because we have sinned against the Lord.
15 We look for peace, but find no good,
     for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.

16 The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan;
     at the sound of the neighing of their stallions
     the whole land quakes.
   They come and devour the land and all that fills it,
     the city and those who live in it.
17 See, I am letting snakes loose among you,
     adders that cannot be charmed,
     and they shall bite you,
       says the Lord.

9:2  O that I had in the desert
     a traveler’s lodging place,
   that I might leave my people
     and go away from them!
   For they are all adulterers,
     a band of traitors.
3  They bend their tongues like bows;
     they have grown strong in the land for falsehood,
     and not for truth;
   for they proceed from evil to evil,
     and they do not know me, says the Lord.

4  Beware of your neighbors,
     and put no trust in any of your kin;
   for all your kin are supplanters,
     and every neighbor goes around like a slanderer.
5  They all deceive their neighbors,
     and no one speaks the truth;
   they have taught their tongues to speak lies;
     they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent.
6  Oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit!
     They refuse to know me, says the Lord.

7  Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
   I will now refine and test them,
     for what else can I do with my sinful people?
8  Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
     it speaks deceit through the mouth.
   They all speak friendly words to their neighbors,
     but inwardly are planning to lay an ambush.
9  Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord;
     and shall I not bring retribution
     on a nation such as this?

10 Take up weeping and wailing for the mountains,
     and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness,
   because they are laid waste so that no one passes
     through,
     and the lowing of cattle is not heard;
   both the birds of the air and the animals
     have fled and are gone.
11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
     a lair of jackals;
   and I will make the towns of Judah a desolation,
     without inhabitant.

Mark 12:41-44

The Widow’s Offering
12:41 He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Optional parts of the readings are set off in [square brackets.]

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.

The Daily Lectionary is a three year cyclical lectionary. We are currently in Year C. Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent in 2019, we will be in Year A. The year which ended at Advent 2018 was Year B. These readings complement the Sunday and festival readings: Thursday through Saturday readings help prepare the reader for the Sunday ahead; Monday through Wednesday readings help the reader reflect and digest on what they heard in worship. Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org
Things are not always as they appear. Little can be much, and much can be little. The Lord knows the desires of our hearts and the motivation behind our gifts.

The Daily Prayer for SATURDAY, September 21, 2019

The Daily Prayer

for SATURDAY, September 21, 2019

Henri Nouwen (1932-1996)

Henri Nouwen was a Dutch Catholic priest who became an esteemed professor at both Yale and Harvard, but then followed the path of “downward mobility” in his pursuit of Jesus. He left the public eye to work among those struggling to survive in Latin America and then joined the work of L’Arche Daybreak Community in Canada. He was a “wounded healer” whose restless seeking for God has left a legacy to the world through prolific writings on the spirituality of brokenness and vulnerability. He died suddenly on this day in 1996.

Henri Nouwen wrote, “Praying is no easy matter. It demands a relationship in which you allow someone other than yourself to enter into the very center of your person, to see there what you would rather leave in darkness, and to touch there what you would rather leave untouched.”

Lord, we bring to you our vulnerability, our wounds, our pain, and our growth. By the power of your forgiving love, help us also to become wounded healers. Amen.

Verse of the Day for SATURDAY, September 21, 2019

2 Corinthians 13:14 (NIV) May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Read all of 2 Corinthians 13

Listen to 2 Corinthians 13

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Un dia a la Vez - Sábado 21 de Septiembre de 2019

¿Quiénes son los bendecidos?

El Señor nos recuerda y nos bendice [...] bendice a los que temen al Señor.

~ Salmo 115:12-13 (NVI)

Los bendecidos son esos cuya vida está dirigida por la ley de Dios.

El mismo Señor nos enseña lo que debemos hacer y no hacer. Así que las bendiciones son para todos, aunque no todos las hagan suyas. En realidad, les cuesta creer que Dios tiene grandes planes con nosotros.

Ver el triunfo en los demás, es conformismo. Es no comprender que todos somos hijos de Dios y que la ley es para todos, al igual que las bendiciones.

Claro, hay personas que son más comprometidas en las cosas de Dios y guardan de verdad sus mandamientos. Tienen una relación intima con Él en oración y sacan de su tiempo para congregarse y escuchar su Palabra. De ahí que podamos ver que a ellos les llegan más rápido las bendiciones.

Otros hemos sido más cabezas duras y hemos tomado malas decisiones. Por lo tanto, hemos alejado esas bendiciones.

Si queremos recibir bendiciones, debemos ser obedientes a Dios.

Recordemos también que los tiempos del Señor son perfectos y que hay oportunidades en la vida que no podemos dejar pasar.

¿A quiénes bendice Dios? ¡A todos sus hijos!

Un Día a la Vez Copyright © by Claudia Pinzón
¿A quiénes bendice Dios?

Standing Strong Through the Storm - Saturday, Sept 21, 2019

SINGING IN THE SPIRIT

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

~ Colossians 3:16 (NIV)

Our Open Doors colleague, Ron Boyd-MacMillan, shares the following insight from his teaching, “Why I Need to Encounter the Persecuted Church.”

Once I spent a week in the company of a famous female Chinese evangelist. Many characteristics that made her stand out; her courage, her long hours on her knees, her carefully cultivated simplicity of faith. But at the time, these were not the features that stuck with me and ended up transforming my faith. What actually impressed me about her was the same thing that impressed me about everyone else around her too. They were always singing. Singing hymns!

Three features of the singing were striking. First, the hymns themselves were not in the least profound. In terms of content, they lacked theological depth and poetic phrasing. Wesley or Newton would not have been proud of these offerings.

Second, they couldn’t sing very well. Chinese are not renowned for their harmonic skills in any case. They warbled, croaked, and droned and screeched...all with a complete disregard for the tune.

Third, they sang primarily to themselves. Oh sure, they sang in groups and to each other, but the most of their singing was done by themselves, to themselves. But all this did not matter. The songs worked.

Traveling around with these persecuted believers made me realize I had forgotten how much Christians sing praises. For me, the only time I sang was in church or an occasional chorus at a home group. I had never really sung hymns to myself, or seen singing to another as a ministry. I didn’t have a terribly good singing voice, and felt like I should leave it to those who were good at it. But after hearing everyone in the persecuted church of China singing virtually all the time, and seeing the difference it made to them spiritually, I wondered, Why do I not sing by myself, to my own spirit, or see singing as a ministry of encouragement?

So when I came back, I picked my seven favorite hymns. Ones like, “We rest on thee, Our Shield and Our Defender,” and, “Breathe on Me Breath of God.” I learned them, and during my quiet times, I sang to my spirit. And I found it to be true. A song lifts the spirit like nothing else. And as I read the Bible, I saw how central singing was to the practice of faith. The Israelites sing all the time in the temple; prisoners Paul and Silas sing in the cell; the early house churches sing to each other, and the scriptures climax in the great throne visions of John in Revelation, and what is going on in that most hallowed place but the singing of a “new song”.

Thank you persecuted church, for restoring a lost but key component of my quiet time.

RESPONSE: Today I will sing to the Lord in my spirit and gain encouragement for service to Him.

PRAYER: Lord, I ask You to help me be one who is always singing Your praises with my spirit.

Standing Strong Through The Storm (SSTS), a daily devotional message by SSTS author Paul Estabrooks. © 2011 Open Doors International. Used by permission.
Our Open Doors colleague, Ron Boyd-MacMillan, shares the following insight from his teaching, “Why I Need to Encounter the Persecuted Church.”

The NIV Couples Devotional - Saturday, Sept 21, 2019

How True Love Behaves

1 John 3:11–24

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

~ 1 John 3:18 (NIV)

Television personality Art Linkletter once asked a little girl if she knew what true love was. She thought for a moment and then said, “Love is when your mommy reads you a bedtime story. True love is when she doesn’t skip any pages.”

The apostle John would have agreed. It’s easy to pledge love in the heat of passion or during the quiet intimacy of a Valentine’s Day dinner. But true love has to deal with short fuses, tired bodies, overextended commitments and inconvenient interruptions every day. And yet it keeps on giving.

The church at the end of the first century was wrestling with a philosophic aberration of Christian doctrine called Gnosticism. Gnosticism played up the spiritual nature of humanity and downplayed its physical nature. Some select people believed they had a spark of divinity trapped in their flesh. Only the religious elite had the secret information (gnosis means “knowledge”) that would help them transcend their evil flesh. To them, Jesus was a heavenly visitor who came to this world like a ghostly apparition; he never actually became flesh and blood, for all flesh is evil and a divine spirit would never become human. Salvation consisted of secret chants and rituals that prepared one for release into the transcendent world. Gnostics ignored the physical needs of others and disdained those who did not share their secret inspiration.

John wrote about the true Spirit of God, who helps us know that Jesus actually came in the flesh. The “true love” of God put Jesus into our world, not just to float around like a ghostly figure with meaningless chants and rituals, but to struggle with the world’s problems and difficulties as a person of flesh and blood. Such true love helped those who were cold and hungry and in need of shelter. True love dug in and got dirty.

So it is in marriage. One couple I used to know never figured that out. The wife was addicted to romantic novels and TV soap operas. For her a constant flow of romantically charged passion was the only sure sign of love. When her husband came home from a hard day at his job too tired to court her, or when hours of cleaning or cooking took the fairy-tale bliss out of her week, she couldn’t take it. Eventually she filed for divorce. She’s probably still looking for that make-believe kind of happiness.

The apostle John urged the church to believe in a God who physically came into our world to be with us in our struggles. Furthermore, he calls us to imitate God’s love by investing our energy in the day-to-day messiness of the real lives of others. We need to see others—especially our spouses—with our Father’s eyes, touch them with our Savior’s hands and be inspired by the Spirit’s passion as we act out true love.

Wayne Brouwer

Let’s Talk

• What is the romantic temperature of our relationship? Hot? Lukewarm? Frosty? How does each of us feel about that? Why?
• How do we express our love for one another in words? How do we express it in deeds and actions?
• What do we need to keep in mind in those times when we don’t feel like loving? How can actions move our relationship forward when words become meaningless?

Television personality Art Linkletter once asked a little girl if she knew what true love was. She thought for a moment and then said ...

LHM Daily Devotions - Sept 21, 2019 - He Staggered Not

"He Staggered Not"

Sep. 21, 2019

No unbelief made him (Abraham) waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised.

~ Romans 4:20-21 (ESV)

In fulfilling His promises, God often lets us wait. When we become impatient and doubtful, let us not struggle in unbelief, but exult in the faith of the prophet: "For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay" (Habakkuk 2:3). God's time is always the right time.

You know that a mushroom grows overnight, while it takes years to produce a sturdy oak that can weather hurricanes. The firmer trust in God does not usually come from a passing emotion or pious feeling at a revival, but from long acquaintance with God who protects, ennobles, and strengthens our hearts. Lenses for eyeglasses are made in a quick process, but do you recall that it took the great lens of the Pacific Coast telescope two years to cool? And if we would look deep into our lives and high into God's mercies, this clarifying of our vision often requires years.

You can draw hasty, sketchy lines in a moment, but Ghiberti worked more than 40 years on two medallioned baptistery doors at Florence, doors that Michelangelo pronounced beautiful enough to be the gates of paradise. So if God would make masterpieces of our lives, why should we seek to ruin His artistry by demanding haste?

No modern violin can produce the rich tones of the Stradivarius, made of aged, seasoned wood and completed by painstaking craftsmanship. Similarly, the heart that best sings the new song of faith bears the stamp that the Savior's love has repeatedly placed upon him in long years of blessing faith.

No synthetic pearl made in the speedy processes of artificial culture has the luster of the natural gem that has been years in the making, and when you experience a postponement of the answer to your prayers, remember, Abraham, who during a delay of 25 years did not waver concerning the promise of God. Therefore, forget not the words of the psalmist: "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His Word I hope" (Psalm 130:5).

Finally, we recall that Abraham's faith was sustained, though his conscience accused him every time his weak, selfish, sinful human nature gained the upper hand. Still, even then he did not waver. We have a golden passage from his life, which I offer you as the evidence that your salvation is sealed in the love of Christ, without any contribution or compensation on your part. "And he (Abraham) believed the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6).

That faith which justified Abraham before God gave him the assurance of the cleansed soul, of sin removed and canceled, a pardon spoken by God and sealed by Christ. And it is this same Christ, who at the end of time will come in the clouds with His angels of glory, and will fulfill the last of His promises for this earth, taking His own, with all sins forgiven and all stains removed, and drawing them to Himself and the glories of heaven.

THE PRAYER: Heavenly Father, send us Your Holy Spirit, so in triumphant faith we may believe the timeless promises of Your Word. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

Reflection Questions:

• Do you feel like you manage your time effectively? What are some strategies you use?
• Trusting God can be difficult. How do you hold on to the promises of God in faith when the situation looks doubtful?
• What can we do in a practical way to deepen our faith in the promises of God?

From "Undaunted Faith in God's Promises," a sermon excerpt from Rev. Dr. 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).
Do you feel like you manage your time effectively?

Хліб Наш Насущній - Ім’я над іменами

Ім’я над іменами

Читати: Вихід 6:1-8 | Біблія за рік: Еклезіястова 7–9 ; 2 Коринтян 13

Завантажити MP3

Тому й Бог повищив Його, та дав Йому Ім’я, що вище над кожне ім’я. — Филип’ян 2:9

Ім’я Антоніо Страдіварі (1644–1737) стало легендарним у світі музики. Його скрипки, віолончелі та альти настільки цінуються за майстерність і чистоту звучання, що багато з них отримали власні назви. Один з інструментів, наприклад, відомий як “Месія-Салабу Страдіваріус”. Коли на ньому зіграв скрипаль Йозеф Йоахім (1831–1907), він сказав: “Я знову і знову згадую звучання цього унікального інструмента, з його мелодійністю і величністю”.

Втім навіть ім’я і звучання інструментів Страдіварі не можна порівняти з працею набагато величнішого Майстра. Упродовж усієї історії Бог богів називає Себе Ім’ям, яке вище за всі інші імена. Він хоче, аби ми визнавали, цінували і прославляли Його мудрість та діла під звуки музики (Вих. 6:1; 15:1-2).

Однак цей вияв сили у відповідь на благання страждаючого народу був лише початком. Хто б міг передбачити, що одного дня через слабкість розіп’ятих рук Бог залишить спадщину вічної і безмежної цінності? Хто б міг провістити дивовижу і велич музики, яка звучатиме в Ім’я Того, Хто помер, понісши покарання за наші гріхи і провини, щоб показати, як сильно Він нас любить?

Яким чином рука Майстра формує ваше життя, аби ви носили Його Ім’я? Що Він сьогодні робить, аби нагадати вам, що ви Його дитя?

Прочитайте брошуру “Обітниці Божі”.

Отче Небесний, будь ласка, працюй в нас і через нас, аби інші побачили, що ми усім завдячуємо Тобі.

Автор Мартін де Гаан

© 2019 Хліб Наш Насущні

Ім’я Антоніо Страдіварі (1644–1737) стало легендарним у світі музики. Його скрипки, віолончелі та альти настільки цінуються за майстерність і чистоту звучання, що багато з них отримали власні назви.