Bible Readings (Tuesday) – Not without reward is God loved, although He should be loved without thought of reward.

Dear Lord God, fragilely I walk as close to You as I feel I am to the lion. O that You would help me keep the lion at bay so that Your image will been seen in me even when I stumble. For it is not in stumbling that I reflect Your image but in rising from my fall. Dear Lord God take my hand lift me up. Use this time to unite and strengthen my family in faith, hope and love. For my house shall love, worship and server You even in times of tribulations; with eyes of faith focused on Your promise, filled with

Your grace and covered in Your mercy. In Jesus name I ask and pray for You to lift me up and place my feet on solid ground to serve You as You will, Amen.

 

Not without reward is God loved, although He should be loved without thought of reward.

— St Bernard

 

Acts 20:17-27

17 And from Mile’tus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. 18 And when they came to him, he said to them: "You yourselves know how I lived among you all the time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which befell me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance to God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, bound in the Spirit, not knowing what shall befall me there; 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 25 And now, behold, I know that all you among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom will see my face no more. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

Bible Study: [16-35] Apparently aware of difficulties at Ephesus and neighboring areas, Paul calls the presbyters together at Miletus, about thirty miles from Ephesus. He reminds them of his dedication to the gospel (Acts 20:18-21), speaks of what he is about to suffer for the gospel (Acts 20:22-27), and admonishes them to guard the community against false prophets, sure to arise upon his departure (Acts 20:28-31). He concludes by citing a saying of Jesus (Acts 20:35) not recorded in the gospel tradition. Luke presents this farewell to the Ephesian presbyters as Paul’s last will and testament.


Psalm 68:10-11, 20-21

10 thy flock found a dwelling in it; in thy goodness, O God, thou didst provide for the needy. 11 The Lord gives the command; great is the host of those who bore the tidings: 20 Our God is a God of salvation; and to GOD, the Lord, belongs escape from death. 21 But God will shatter the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways

Bible Study: [Psalm 68] Of David – The psalm is extremely difficult because the Hebrew text is badly preserved and the ceremony that it describes is uncertain. The translation assumes the psalm accompanied the early autumn Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth), which included the settlement in Canaan (Psalm 68:10-11); praise for God’s past help and for the future interventions that will be modeled on the ancient exodus-conquest (Psalm 68:20-24);


John 17:1-11

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee, 2 since thou hast given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom thou hast given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. 4 I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work which thou gavest me to do; 5 and now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made. 6 "I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them to me, and they have kept thy word. 7 Now they know that everything that thou hast given me is from thee; 8 for I have given them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from thee; and they have believed that thou didst send me. 9 I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine; 10 all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.

Bible Study: [1-26] Climax of the last discourse(s). Since the sixteenth century, this chapter has been called the "high priestly prayer" of Jesus. He speaks as intercessor, with words addressed directly to the Father and not to the disciples, who supposedly only overhear. Yet the prayer is one of petition, for immediate (John 17:6-19) and future (John 17:20-21) disciples.

 

 

/      raangulo

My status
   
Get Skype it’s free.

 

Check out my blog at http://raagroup.blogspot.com/ where daily readings and more are posted daily.

 

Leave a comment