The Daily Lectionary for SATURDAY, July 11, 2020

The Daily Lectionary

SATURDAY, July 11, 2020

Psalm 119:105-112; Isaiah 2:1-4; John 12:44-50

(Revised Common Lectionary Year A)

Psalm 119:105-112

Your word is a lamp to my feet

105 Your word is a lamp for my feet,
       a light on my path.
106 I have taken an oath and confirmed it,
       that I will follow your righteous laws.
107 I have suffered much;
       preserve my life, Lord, according to your word.
108 Accept, Lord, the willing praise of my mouth,
       and teach me your laws.
109 Though I constantly take my life in my hands,
       I will not forget your law.
110 The wicked have set a snare for me,
       but I have not strayed from your precepts.
111 Your statutes are my heritage forever;
       they are the joy of my heart.
112 My heart is set on keeping your decrees
       to the very end.

Isaiah 2:1-4

Jacob collective name of Israel

2:1 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2 In the last days

   the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
     as the highest of the mountains;
   it will be exalted above the hills,
     and all nations will stream to it.

3 Many peoples will come and say,

   “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
     to the temple of the God of Jacob.
   He will teach us his ways,
     so that we may walk in his paths.”
   The law will go out from Zion,
     the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4  He will judge between the nations
     and will settle disputes for many peoples.
   They will beat their swords into plowshares
     and their spears into pruning hooks.
   Nation will not take up sword against nation,
     nor will they train for war anymore.

John 12:44-50

I have come as light into the world

12:44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

47 “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. 49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

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

The Daily Lectionary is a three-year cyclical lectionary. We are currently in Year A. Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent in 2020, we will be in Year B. The year which ended at Advent 2019 was Year C. 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 what they heard in worship. Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org
The Daily Lectionary for SATURDAY, July 11, 2020
Psalm 119:105-112; Isaiah 2:1-4; John 12:44-50

The Daily Prayer for SATURDAY, July 11, 2020

The Daily Prayer

SATURDAY, July 11, 2020

Benedict of Nursia (c. 480—c. 547)

Benedict was born in the town of Nursia, near Rome. At age twenty, he left home and lived for three years as a hermit in a desolate cave. There he practiced severe asceticism, maturing in both mind and character. Though he had little contact with the outside world, Benedict gained a reputation for his holy life and discipline. Eventually, he was asked to lead a monastery in a remote area near Monte Cassino. Drawing on older rules and the wisdom of experience, Benedict outlined in his rule a simple way of life for monks, centered on praying the daily office, studying Scripture, engaging in common labor for the good of the community, and performing works of charity. His vision of the holy life became the standard for Western monasticism and a model for how to live simply—in health, wholeness, and community.

Benedict of Nursia said, “However late, then, it may seem, let us rouse ourselves from lethargy. That is what scripture urges on us when it says: the time has come for us to rouse ourselves from sleep. Let us open our eyes to the light that can change us into the likeness of God. Let our ears be alert to the stirring call of his voice crying to us every day: today, if you should hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

God, make us bold enough to question tyranny, impassioned enough to submit ourselves to good teachers, and discerning enough to know when it is our turn to lead. Amen.

Verse of the Day for SATURDAY, July 11, 2020

Jeremiah 32:17

Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.

Read all of Jeremiah 32

Listen to Jeremiah 32

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 11 de julio de 2020

Semana de pacto con Dios: Mis oídos

La fe viene como resultado de oír el mensaje, y el mensaje que se oye es la palabra de Cristo.

— Romanos 10:17

El oído es el órgano de la audición que nos permite percibir los sonidos.

Mientras analizamos en esta semana todos nuestros órganos, vemos que nuestros sentidos se crearon a la perfección. En lo personal, le he dado gracias a Dios por todos mis sentidos y, en especial, porque todos me funcionan. Esa es una bendición.

Sin embargo, no nos quedamos solo en las definiciones, sino que hemos hecho un paralelo con la parte espiritual. Así que, ahora, debemos pedirle a Dios que también nos guarde por completo los oídos.

¿Qué estamos escuchando? ¿Qué permitimos que llegue a nuestra mente? ¿Qué tipo de música elegimos? ¿La música que nos deprime o nos pone melancólicos? ¿O escuchamos música que nos edifica y reconforta nuestro espíritu? ¿Prestamos nuestros oídos para el chisme o prestamos los oídos para escuchar cosas que desagradan a Dios?

Hoy te recuerdo que el Señor también hace referencia a los que escuchemos.

Por ejemplo, dice que la fe viene por el oír la palabra de Dios.

En cuanto a esto, quiero enfatizarles algo a las mujeres, sobre todo las que están solas, que no presten sus oídos a hombres que solo quieren endulzar con palabras y que, si no estás bien fuerte en Dios, te pueden hacer flaquear. A las mujeres se les conquista por el oído.

Señor, hoy me comprometo a guardar mis oídos y honrarte a ti.

Un Día a la Vez Copyright © by Claudia Pinzón
Mientras analizamos en esta semana todos nuestros órganos, vemos que nuestros sentidos se crearon a la perfección.

Standing Strong Through the Storm - Saturday, July 11, 2020

THE BEATITUDES

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.

— Matthew 5:1-2

For the next nine days, we’ll look at Jesus’ greatest training program—the Beatitudes. It is important to remember that each of the eight Beatitudes has a two-fold nature: a “knowing” and a “doing” response. We must not only know them, but we must also respond to what we learn from them.

Eight times in the Beatitudes it says, “Blessed are….” To understand the Beatitudes, we need to know the meaning of those words. Blessed are refers to Jesus’ evaluation of the kind of person He names in each Beatitude. Jesus was referring to His esteem for that kind of person. His meaning is, “I esteem highly any person who….” He was urging us to have that kind of attitude. His deeper meaning is, “All you who hear Me, choose to become like these kinds of people.”

One noted author calls the Beatitudes, “God’s radical reconstruction of the heart!” We must never consider that Jesus was promising happy conditions, as though He meant, “The one who is poor in spirit will feel good and always be joyful.”

The first four Beatitudes focus internally—that is, they speak to the heart of the one who wants to obey God. They can be viewed as four stepping stones to becoming an obedient servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are: humility, mourning, meekness, and hunger for righteousness.

The second four Beatitudes focus on the external behavior of the servant who follows Jesus. They are: mercy, purity, peacemaking, and persecution.

This teaching has particular relevance for Christians who live under Islam. Restricted, deprived, regarded as second class citizens, laughed at, despised, often living in fear, many times persecuted, the words of encouragement are precious and give fresh hope of another place and time when things will be put right.

While in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, there are greater freedoms and life is not so difficult, there are restrictions nonetheless. In others like Pakistan, Christians have suffered unjustly and are denied many basic rights. In Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Sudan, Nigeria, and Morocco, the story is similar though the extent of suffering may vary. To all, Jesus gives this important message. We will look at each of the eight Beatitudes individually.

RESPONSE: I will study Jesus’ Beatitudes so that I live the way Jesus lived.

PRAYER: Pray for Christians in Islamic countries that they will receive great encouragement as they seek to know and live the Beatitudes in their regions of restriction.

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 - Saturday, July 11, 2020

Growing Through Conflict

1 Corinthians 1:10–17

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

— 1 Corinthians 1:10

During the first year of our marriage, my husband and I were good friends with a young couple. They were at that do-we-break-up-or-get-married crossroads, and we did what we could to support them as they struggled with their relationship. One evening, they stopped by our apartment to tell us they had decided to get serious about marriage. “Thank you for helping us with this,” they said. “You’ve been a great example of people who fight all the time even though you really love each other.”

It sounded like a backhanded compliment. But they came from homes in which arguments escalated into shouting matches, and parents left in anger and didn’t come back. We had shown them a marriage in which two opinionated people managed to work through their differences—and differences are inevitable when two people try to make a life together—and still hold on to their connection.

A certain level of conflict in marriage means both partners feel free to speak their minds, can be honest about what they think and feel, and trust each other to stay committed despite occasional disagreements. First Corinthians 1:10 helps us understand the fine line between healthy conflict and hurtful discord.

Paul told the people in the church at Corinth to be perfectly united in mind and thought. But seriously, who could ever pull that off? It’s important to understand that Paul wasn’t suggesting that they agree on every detail of their lives. We see proof of that later in this letter; chapters 8–10 deal with gray areas such as whether or not it was OK to eat food that had been sacrificed to idols. Rather, Paul was talking about the big picture. “Look,” he was saying, “you’re never going to agree on all the details, but those details don’t matter as much as you think they do. What matters is that you love God and that you help each other follow the way of Jesus.”

Working out the details of married life naturally generates conflict. Why would we expect it to be otherwise? You take two people who grew up in different families with totally different sets of life experiences, expectations, hopes, ideas, and beliefs, and, well, eventually someone’s going to load the dishwasher the wrong way.

But the big picture of a healthy marriage is a different story. Two people, despite all the ways they differ from each other, have decided they want their lives to follow the way of Christ together. On that path, the details and differences fade into the background to reveal the beautiful mystery of two becoming one. It doesn’t mean their minds meld together. Or that only one person gets to have an opinion. Or that we pretend we don’t argue. Instead, our unity comes as we, in Christ, daily and persistently strengthen the common bonds of love, respect, and faith that make a marriage thrive.

Carla Barnhill

Let’s Talk

• What conflicts come up in our marriage? Which ones are big-picture issues? How do we manage those? Which are detail issues? How can we work together to avoid getting caught up in details that don’t really matter?
• Do people think of us as a unified couple or as a couple who constantly argue? Which perception is accurate?
• Do we have too much or too little conflict? Let’s talk about ways we might keep these things in balance. Could a Christian counselor help us develop better conflict management skills?

It sounded like a backhanded compliment. But they came from homes in which arguments escalated into shouting matches, and parents left in anger and didn’t come back.

LHM Daily Devotions - July 11, 2020 - "Intolerant Fears"

Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries

"Intolerant Fears"

July 11, 2020

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

— 1 John 4:18-21

We don't need any sociologists to tell us that intolerance is causing a lot of trouble in the world today. If the personal tolerance of some people for other people is low, acrimony, hate, and strife—together with open conflict—are bound to result, with the consequences we see all around us in the world today.

At the bottom of this whole business is fear: a deep-seated, corrosive fear clamming up the heart of humanity. The results of this are man's many hurts and inhumanities to man. When it comes to man's inner fears, drastic action is required.

Fear without faith in God is a killer. It does things to a man that shouldn't happen to a beast. It turns him into a demon, unsure of himself and suspicious of everyone else. This is life for an awful lot of people these days. It's a continuing torment—on the inside and the outside. The root of the weed of intolerance is fear.

Sadly, much of modern life is dominated by fear. This then fuels intolerance and, in the end, is incapable of self-giving, self-forgetting, self-sacrificing love which marks the best man or woman in any age. But, though we may have forgotten how to love, God never does.

That's right. God loves. He puts up with our weakness and cowardice. His love is tolerant and ever-patient with us, as He forgives all who penitently seek and accept His good grace in Jesus Christ.

In Jesus, we can learn to live and love in life's most trying situations. We can learn to appreciate and deal with people whom we would likely never make the effort to understand otherwise—all because "He first loved us." As God works in us, we can learn to love with patience, tolerance, and sensitivity. We can thrust out all that old, cold intolerance and let in the life-saving, healing qualities of love to take its place.

Do this, then, for Jesus' sake. Do it through the love that God's Spirit is working in your heart. It's a love that's being perfected in you, a love that casts out fear, intolerance, and deep-seated ill-will for others. It's a love that should mark all our lives as God's people.

"Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (1 John 4:11)

THE PRAYER: Heavenly Father, helps us love our neighbor, every one of them. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Reflection Questions:

1. Would you consider yourself biased to any considerable degree?

2. Did Jesus deal with bias issues in His ministry? How can perfect love cast out fear?

3. If one has deep-seated prejudices, is there a healthy way to work through them?

From "Intolerant Man, Tolerant God," a sermon excerpt from Rev. Dr. Oswald Hoffmann, former 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).
Would you consider yourself biased to any considerable degree?

Хліб Наш Насущній - Парад кольорів

Парад кольорів

Читати: Об’явлення 5:7-14 | Біблія за рік: Псалми 1–3 ; Дії 17:1-15

Завантажити MP3

Кров’ю Своєю Ти викупив людей Богові з усякого племени, і язика, і народу, і люду.

— Об’явлення 5:9

Лондон десятиріччями залишався одним із найбільш космополітичних міст у світі. В 1933 році журналіст Глін Робертс написав про велику англійську столицю такі слова: “Я досі вважаю, що найкращим в Лондоні є парад народів, кольорів та мов”. Цей “парад” і досі помітний у змішаних запахах, звуках та поглядах світової громади. Краса розмаїття є складовою захоплюючої краси одного з найвеличніших міст світу.

Однак в Лондоні, як і в будь-якому місті, населеному людьми, є свої проблеми. Зміни приносять виклики. В культурах іноді виникають протиріччя. Це одна з причин, чому жодне місто, побудоване людьми, не може зрівнятися з дивом нашої вічної оселі.

Коли апостол Іван перенісся у Божу присутність, різноманіття було однією зі складових небесного поклоніння, під час якого відкуплені співали: “Ти достойний узяти цю книгу, і розкрити печатки її, бо Ти був заколений, і кров’ю Своєю Ти викупив людей Богові з усякого племени, і язика, і народу, і люду. І Ти їх зробив для нашого Бога царями, і священиками, – і вони на землі царюватимуть” (Об. 5:9-10).

Уявіть небеса, парад усіх народів світу, які разом радіють диву бути дітьми живого Бога! Віруючі в Ісуса, прославляймо Бога за це різноманіття вже сьогодні!

Що є найкращим у різноманітті церкви? До яких труднощів іноді може це призводити?

Отче, дякую, що ніхто не усунений від Твоєї великої любові. Навчи нас по-справжньому любити один одного – так, як Ти полюбив нас.

Автор Білл Краудер

© 2020 Хліб Наш Насущні
В 1933 році журналіст Глін Робертс написав про велику англійську столицю такі слова: “Я досі вважаю, що найкращим в Лондоні є парад народів, кольорів та мов”.