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Episodes
Friday Feb 28, 2020
Friday Feb 28, 2020
Partakers Friday Prayers!
28th February 2020
We pray together and when Christians pray together, from different nations, different churches and different denominations - that reveals Church unity! Come! Let us pray together!
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please You
does in fact please You.
And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this
You will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore I will trust You always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear,
for You are ever with me,
and You will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Amen
From Thoughts In Solitude by Thomas Merton
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Thursday Feb 27, 2020
Thursday Feb 27, 2020
PulpTheology Book
"Glimpses into the Gospels: Books of Good News"
Glimpses into the Gospels: Books of Good News
Glimpses into the Gospels of the New Testament - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The man we know as Jesus Christ, is the one whom Christian claim came in love. Jesus came into the world as their Saviour, to guide people into the Kingdom of God. In this little book of the Glimpses series, together we delve into some of the words of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
In doing so, we investigate what they meant when he spoke them and what significance they have for people today. People who are seeking to live out a life worthy of being called disciples of Jesus Christ. Christians being used by Jesus Christ to change the world one person at a time for the glory of God! Is that you? Come inside to find out more!
Come on in! “Glimpses into the Gospels: Books of Good News”. Available on Amazon and PulpTheology.
"Glimpses Into The Gospels: Books Of Good News" available on Amazon in paperback with ISBN: 978-1533147516
You can purchase this book at Amazon USA on this link:
You can purchase this book at Amazon UK on this link:
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Tuesday Feb 25, 2020
Tuesday Feb 25, 2020
Psalm 76 to Psalm 80
Often we hear the Psalms one by one, but today we offer you the chance to hear a group of Psalms read as a collection!
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Psalm 76
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph. A song.
1 God is renowned in Judah; in Israel his name is great.
2 His tent is in Salem, his dwelling-place in Zion.
3 There he broke the flashing arrows,
the shields and the swords, the weapons of war.
4 You are radiant with light, more majestic than mountains rich with game.
5 The valiant lie plundered, they sleep their last sleep;
not one of the warriors can lift his hands.
6 At your rebuke, God of Jacob, both horse and chariot lie still.
7 It is you alone who are to be feared.
Who can stand before you when you are angry?
8 From heaven you pronounced judgment, and the land feared and was quiet –
9 when you, God, rose up to judge, to save all the afflicted of the land.
10 Surely your wrath against mankind brings you praise,
and the survivors of your wrath are restrained.
11 Make vows to the LORD your God and fulfil them;
let all the neighbouring lands bring gifts to the One to be feared.
12 He breaks the spirit of rulers; he is feared by the kings of the earth.
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Psalm 77
For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.
1 I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me.
2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted.
3 I remembered you, God, and I groaned;
I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.
4 You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak.
5 I thought about the former days, the years of long ago;
6 I remembered my songs in the night.
My heart meditated and my spirit asked:
7 ‘Will the Lord reject for ever?
Will he never show his favour again?
8 Has his unfailing love vanished for ever?
Has his promise failed for all time?
9 Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has he in anger withheld his compassion?’
10 Then I thought, ‘To this I will appeal:
the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.
11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
12 I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.’
13 Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God?
14 You are the God who performs miracles;
you display your power among the peoples.
15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
16 The waters saw you, God, the waters saw you and writhed;
the very depths were convulsed.
17 The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder;
your arrows flashed back and forth.
18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and quaked.
19 Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters,
though your footprints were not seen.
20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
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Psalm 78
A maskil of Asaph.
1 My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth with a parable;
I will utter hidden things, things from of old –
3 things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their descendants;
we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children,
6 so that the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.
7 Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.
8 They would not be like their ancestors – a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him.
9 The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle;
10 they did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his law.
11 They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them.
12 He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand up like a wall.
14 He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night.
15 He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them water as abundant as the seas;
16 he brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers.
17 But they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High.
18 They wilfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against God;
they said, ‘Can God really spread a table in the wilderness?
20 True, he struck the rock, and water gushed out, streams flowed abundantly,
but can he also give us bread? Can he supply meat for his people?’
21 When the LORD heard them, he was furious;
his fire broke out against Jacob, and his wrath rose against Israel,
22 for they did not believe in God or trust in his deliverance.
23 Yet he gave a command to the skies above
and opened the doors of the heavens;
24 he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven.
25 Human beings ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat.
26 He let loose the east wind from the heavens and by his power made the south wind blow.
27 He rained meat down on them like dust, birds like sand on the seashore.
28 He made them come down inside their camp, all around their tents.
29 They ate till they were gorged – he had given them what they craved.
30 But before they turned from what they craved, even while the food was still in their mouths,
31 God’s anger rose against them;
he put to death the sturdiest among them, cutting down the young men of Israel.
32 In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.
33 So he ended their days in futility and their years in terror.
34 Whenever God slew them, they would seek him;
they eagerly turned to him again.
35 They remembered that God was their Rock,
that God Most High was their Redeemer.
36 But then they would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues;
37 their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath.
39 He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.
40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the wasteland!
41 Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power – the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,
43 the day he displayed his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the region of Zoan.
44 He turned their river into blood; they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them.
46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper, their produce to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
48 He gave over their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning.
49 He unleashed against them his hot anger,
his wrath, indignation and hostility – a band of destroying angels.
50 He prepared a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death but gave them over to the plague.
51 He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.
52 But he brought his people out like a flock;
he led them like sheep through the wilderness.
53 He guided them safely, so they were unafraid;
but the sea engulfed their enemies.
54 And so he brought them to the border of his holy land,
to the hill country his right hand had taken.
55 He drove out nations before them and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;
he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.
56 But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High;
they did not keep his statutes.
57 Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless,
as unreliable as a faulty bow.
58 They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols.
59 When God heard them, he was furious; he rejected Israel completely.
60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,
the tent he had set up among humans.
61 He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendour into the hands of the enemy.
62 He gave his people over to the sword; he was furious with his inheritance.
63 Fire consumed their young men, and their young women had no wedding songs;
64 their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep.
65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine.
66 He beat back his enemies; he put them to everlasting shame.
67 Then he rejected the tents of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
68 but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved.
69 He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth that he established for ever.
70 He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds;
71 from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
of Israel his inheritance.
72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skilful hands he led them.
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Psalm 79
A psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
2 They have left the dead bodies of your servants
as food for the birds of the sky,
the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild.
3 They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem,
and there is no one to bury the dead.
4 We are objects of contempt to our neighbours,
of scorn and derision to those around us.
5 How long, LORD? Will you be angry for ever?
How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you,
on the kingdoms that do not call on your name;
7 for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.
8 Do not hold against us the sins of past generations;
may your mercy come quickly to meet us,
for we are in desperate need.
9 Help us, God our Saviour, for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake.
10 Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’
Before our eyes, make known among the nations
that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.
11 May the groans of the prisoners come before you;
with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die.
12 Pay back into the laps of our neighbours seven times
the contempt they have hurled at you, Lord.
13 Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will praise you for ever;
from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise.
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Psalm 80
For the director of music. To the tune of ‘The Lilies of the Covenant’. Of Asaph. A psalm.
1 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who sit enthroned between the cherubim,
shine forth 2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Awaken your might; come and save us.
3 Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
4 How long, LORD God Almighty,
will your anger smoulder against the prayers of your people?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears;
you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.
6 You have made us an object of derision to our neighbours,
and our enemies mock us.
7 Restore us, God Almighty;
make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
8 You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 Its branches reached as far as the Sea, its shoots as far as the River.
12 Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
13 Boars from the forest ravage it, and insects from the fields feed on it.
14 Return to us, God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see!
Watch over this vine,
15 the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself.
16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish.
17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore us, LORD God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
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Monday Feb 24, 2020
Monday Feb 24, 2020
Think Spot – 24 February 2020
Behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. Matthew 15:22-23.
Christ like a hunter exercises and chases faith in his followers in order that it may become strong and firm. When the woman follows him upon hearing of his fame and cries with assured confidence that he would according to his reputation deal mercifully with her, Christ certainly acts as he would let her faith and good confidence be in vain and turn his good reputation into a lie, so that she might have thought: Is this the gracious, friendly man? Are these the good works that I have heard spoken about him? It cannot be true. He might at least speak a word and tell me that he will have nothing to do with me.
Behold, this is a hard rebuff, when God appears so earnest and angry and so utterly conceals his grace, as those know so well, who feel and experience it in their hearts. But what does the poor woman do? She turns her eyes from all this unfriendly treatment of Christ; all this does not lead her astray, neither does she take it to heart, but she continues firmly to cling in tier confidence to the good news she had heard and embraced concerning him, and does not give up.
We must also do the same and learn firmly to cling to the Word, even though God with all his creatures appears otherwise than his Word teaches. But how painful it is to nature and reason that this woman should strip herself of self and forsake all that she experienced, and cling to God's bare Word, until she experienced the contrary. May God help us in time of need and of death to possess like courage and faith!
This gospel is to us a true example of firm and perfect faith. For this woman endures and overcomes in three great and hard fought battles, and teaches us in a beautiful manner the true way and virtue of faith, namely, that it is a hearty trust in the grace and goodness of God as experienced and revealed through his Word. Without doubt the good news which she had heard about Christ that he was a pious man and cheerfully helped everybody, made her run after him. Such good news about God is a true gospel and a word of grace, out of which sprang the faith of this woman.
(An excerpt taken from "Devotional Readings From Luther's Works For Every Day Of The Year" By Rev. John Sander, L.H.D.) in the Public Domain.
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Saturday Feb 22, 2020
Saturday Feb 22, 2020
Saturday Story
People meeting Jesus
The story of Milly from the USA...
We continue apace into the twentieth century and hear the story of Milly... She is from Mississippi in the USA... So come and listen to her story about her Christian journey and the relevancy of Jesus Christ to her life today...
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Friday Feb 21, 2020
Friday Feb 21, 2020
Partakers Friday Prayers!
21st February 2021
We pray together and when Christians pray together, from different nations, different churches and different denominations - that reveals Church unity! Come! Let us pray together!
Almighty God,
Today we desire to worship You and want to live for you alone.
May Your strength steer us,
Your power uphold us,
Your wisdom guide us,
Your eyes control our vision,
Your ear govern our hearing,
Your word counsel our speech & thought,
Your hand protect us,
Your pathway be before us,
Your shield be our shelter.
May Your angels guard us from ambush of devils,
from vice's allurements and traps of the flesh,
from all who wish ill,
whether distant or close,
alone or in hosts.
Today we put on a terrible strength,
invoking the Trinity,
confessing the Three,
with faith in the One who is our Maker:
Father, Son and Spirit.
Amen
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Thursday Feb 20, 2020
Thursday Feb 20, 2020
PulpTheology Book
"Glimpses into Song Of Songs: A Book of Relationship"
Glimpses into Song Of Songs: A Book Of Relationship
Ahhh the Song of Songs, which you may know by its other name, the Song of Solomon. The Jewish people call it the “Greatest Song of All Songs”. Martin Luther described it as “the noblest of all songs”. Yet it is rarely read or preached from today. When was the last time you read this fascinating book in its entirety or heard a sermon based on it? Some people, even today, are aghast at some of the very frank and provocative language which it conveys.
However, this should not stop us in the 21st century from reading it, studying it and learning from it. It is after in the Bible, it is in the Canon of Scripture, and is therefore part of what we claim to be God’s Written Word. After all, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would have read the book during Passover – as would His Disciples and the early Church. Come on inside and let us explore together just a glimpse of what is a compelling and fascinating piece of literature. You may just surprise yourself as part of your walk with God. This book is part of the series 'Glimpses Into...'
Come on in! “Glimpses into Song Of Songs: A Book of Relationship”. Available on Amazon and PulpTheology.
"Psalms: A Book Of Life" available on Amazon in paperback with ISBN: 9978-1507841686
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You can purchase this book at Amazon UK on this link
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Tuesday Feb 18, 2020
Tuesday Feb 18, 2020
Psalm 71 to Psalm 75
Often we hear the Psalms one by one, but today we offer you the chance to hear a group of Psalms read as a collection!
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Psalm 71
1 In you, LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me;
turn your ear to me and save me.
3 Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go;
give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.
5 For you have been my hope, Sovereign LORD,
my confidence since my youth.
6 From my birth I have relied on you;
you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
I will ever praise you.
7 I have become a sign to many; you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendour all day long.
9 Do not cast me away when I am old;
do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
10 For my enemies speak against me; those who wait to kill me conspire together.
11 They say, ‘God has forsaken him;
pursue him and seize him, for no one will rescue him.’
12 Do not be far from me, my God; come quickly, God, to help me.
13 May my accusers perish in shame;
may those who want to harm me be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14 As for me, I shall always have hope; I will praise you more and more.
15 My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds, of your saving acts all day long –
though I know not how to relate them all.
16 I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign LORD;
I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.
17 Since my youth, God, you have taught me,
and to this day I declare your marvellous deeds.
18 Even when I am old and grey, do not forsake me, my God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your mighty acts to all who are to come.
19 Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens, you who have done great things.
Who is like you, God?
20 Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter,
you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up.
21 You will increase my honour and comfort me once more.
22 I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God;
I will sing praise to you with the lyre, Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you –
I whom you have delivered.
24 My tongue will tell of your righteous acts
all day long, for those who wanted to harm me
have been put to shame and confusion.
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Psalm 72
Of Solomon.
1 Endow the king with your justice, O God,
the royal son with your righteousness.
2 May he judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice.
3 May the mountains bring prosperity to the people,
the hills the fruit of righteousness.
4 May he defend the afflicted among the people
and save the children of the needy;
may he crush the oppressor.
5 May he endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations.
6 May he be like rain falling on a mown field,
like showers watering the earth.
7 In his days may the righteous flourish
and prosperity abound till the moon is no more.
8 May he rule from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 May the desert tribes bow before him
and his enemies lick the dust.
10 May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores
bring tribute to him.
May the kings of Sheba and Seba
present him with gifts.
11 May all kings bow down to him
and all nations serve him.
12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help.
13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy
and save the needy from death.
14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.
15 Long may he live!
May gold from Sheba be given to him.
May people ever pray for him
and bless him all day long.
16 May corn abound throughout the land;
on the tops of the hills may it sway.
May the crops flourish like Lebanon
and thrive like the grass of the field.
17 May his name endure for ever;
may it continue as long as the sun.
Then all nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.
18 Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvellous deeds.
19 Praise be to his glorious name for ever;
may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.
20 This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.
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Psalm 73
A psalm of Asaph.
1 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.
5 They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity;
their evil imaginations have no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.
11 They say, ‘How would God know?
Does the Most High know anything?’
12 This is what the wicked are like –
always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.
13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
and have washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been afflicted,
and every morning brings new punishments.
15 If I had spoken out like that,
I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.
21 When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterwards you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
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Psalm 74
A maskil of Asaph
1 O God, why have you rejected us for ever?
Why does your anger smoulder against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember the nation you purchased long ago,
the people of your inheritance, whom you redeemed –
Mount Zion, where you dwelt.
3 Turn your steps towards these everlasting ruins,
all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary.
4 Your foes roared in the place where you met with us;
they set up their standards as signs.
5 They behaved like men wielding axes to cut through a thicket of trees.
6 They smashed all the carved panelling with their axes and hatchets.
7 They burned your sanctuary to the ground;
they defiled the dwelling-place of your Name.
8 They said in their hearts, ‘We will crush them completely!’
They burned every place where God was worshipped in the land.
9 We are given no signs from God;
no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be.
10 How long will the enemy mock you, God?
Will the foe revile your name for ever?
11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!
12 But God is my King from long ago;
he brings salvation on the earth.
13 It was you who split open the sea by your power;
you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.
14 It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan
and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert.
15 It was you who opened up springs and streams;
you dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
16 The day is yours, and yours also the night;
you established the sun and moon.
17 It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;
you made both summer and winter.
18 Remember how the enemy has mocked you, LORD,
how foolish people have reviled your name.
19 Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts;
do not forget the lives of your afflicted people for ever.
20 Have regard for your covenant,
because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
21 Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace;
may the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Rise up, O God, and defend your cause;
remember how fools mock you all day long.
23 Do not ignore the clamour of your adversaries,
the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually.
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Psalm 75
For the director of music. To the tune of ‘Do Not Destroy’. A psalm of Asaph. A song.#
1 We praise you, God, we praise you, for your Name is near;
people tell of your wonderful deeds.
2 You say, ‘I choose the appointed time;
it is I who judge with equity.
3 When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm.
4 To the arrogant I say, “Boast no more,”
and to the wicked, “Do not lift up your horns.
5 Do not lift your horns against heaven; do not speak so defiantly.”’
6 No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt themselves.
7 It is God who judges: he brings one down, he exalts another.
8 In the hand of the LORD is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices;
he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth
drink it down to its very dregs.
9 As for me, I will declare this for ever; I will sing praise to the God of Jacob,
10 who says, ‘I will cut off the horns of all the wicked,
but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.’
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Monday Feb 17, 2020
Monday Feb 17, 2020
Think Spot – 17 February 2020
Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Matthew 4:1.
Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, that he might there fast and be tempted; but no one should imitate Christ's example of his own choice and make it a selfish and arbitrary fasting; but instead wait for the Spirit, who will send him enough fastings and temptations. For whoever, without being led by the Spirit, wantonly resorts to the danger of hunger or any other temptation, when it is truly a blessing of God that he can eat and drink and have other comforts, tempts God. We should not seek want and temptation, they will surely come of themselves ; we ought to act honestly, and always do our best. The text reads: Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness; and not: Jesus himself chose to go up into the wilderness. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." God gives his blessings that we may use them with thanksgiving, and not that we let them lie idle, and thus tempt him; for he wishes us to fast by the Spirit or by a need which we cannot avoid.
This narrative is written both for our instruction and admonition. For instruction that we should know how Christ has served and helped us by his fasting, hunger, temptation, and victory ; also that whosoever believes on Christ shall never suffer need, and that temptation shall never harm him, but that we shall have enough in the midst of want and be safe in the midst of temptation; because his Lord and Head triumphed over all these in his behalf, and of this he is assured. "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
This is written for our admonition, that we may in the light of his example also cheerfully suffer want and temptation for the service of God and the good of our neighbour, like Christ did for us, as often as necessity requires it, which is surely accomplished if we learn and confess God's Word. But we have practiced fasting as a good work, not to bring our flesh into subjection, but as a meritorious work before God to atone for sins and obtain grace. This has made our fasting a stench, a blasphemy, and a disgrace.
(An excerpt taken from "Devotional Readings From Luther's Works For Every Day Of The Year" By Rev. John Sander, L.H.D.) in the Public Domain.
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Saturday Feb 15, 2020
Saturday Feb 15, 2020
Saturday Story
People meeting Jesus
The story of Adele from Australia...
We continue apace into the twentieth century and hear the story of a friend of mine. Her name is Adele and she is from my home country, Australia. Come on in, and listen to her story about her own Christian journey and the relevancy of Jesus Christ to her life! Come and listen to her story of faith...
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