Psalm 139:1
1 You have
searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know
when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You
discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Matthew 10:26-31
26 “So do
not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be
disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the
dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the
roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are
not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground
outside your Father’s care.[b] 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all
numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Genesis 1:27-28
27 So God
created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God
blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the
earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and
over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Acts 17:24-28
24 “The God
who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and
does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human
hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and
breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they
should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in
history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would
seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from
any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[b] As some
of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[c]
Jeremiah 1:4-10
The Call of Jeremiah
4 The word
of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I
formed you in the womb I knew[a] you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the
nations.”
6 “Alas,
Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
7 But the
Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send
you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am
with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
9 Then the
Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my
words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to
uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Ephesians 1:11-14
11 In him we
were also chosen,[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who
works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order
that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise
of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the
message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were
marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit
guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s
possession—to the praise of his glory.
Psalm 139:13-18
13 For you
created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise
you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame
was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of
the earth.
16 Your eyes
saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written
in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How
precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to
count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Acts 17:24-28
24 “The God
who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and
does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human
hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and
breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they
should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in
history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would
seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from
any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[b] As some
of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[c]
Psalm 71:5-8
5 For you
have been my hope, Sovereign Lord,
my confidence since my youth.
6 From 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 splendor all day long.
John 8:42-47
42 Jesus
said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here
from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. 43 Why is my language not
clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your
father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a
murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in
him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the
father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46 Can
any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you
believe me? 47 Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do
not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
1 John 4:16-18
16 And so we
know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love.
Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is
made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment:
In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love
drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is
not made perfect in love.
1 John 3:1-3
1 See what
great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of
God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it
did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will
be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,[a] we
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in
him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Matthew 7:7-12
Ask, Seek, Knock
7 “Ask and
it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be
opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and
to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of
you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a
fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give
good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you
would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 5:43-48
Love for Enemies
43 “You have
heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[i] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I
tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you
may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil
and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you
love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors
doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more
than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your
heavenly Father is perfect.
James 1:16-18
16 Don’t be
deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from
above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change
like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth,
that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
Matthew 6:25-34
Do Not Worry
25
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or
drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and
the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or
reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you
not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a
single hour to your life[e]?
28 “And why
do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not
labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was
dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the
field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much
more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we
eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run
after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be
given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow
will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Jeremiah 29:11
10 This is
what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come
to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I
know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and
not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on
me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and
find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,”
declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[b] I will gather
you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the
Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into
exile.”
Jeremiah 31:1-6
1 “At that
time,” declares the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and
they will be my people.”
2 This is
what the Lord says:
“The people
who survive the sword
will find favor in the wilderness;
I will come to give rest to Israel.”
3 The Lord
appeared to us in the past,[a] saying:
“I have
loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.
4 I will
build you up again,
and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt.
Again you
will take up your timbrels
and go out to dance with the joyful.
5 Again you
will plant vineyards
on the hills of Samaria;
the farmers
will plant them
and enjoy their fruit.
6 There will
be a day when watchmen cry out
on the hills of Ephraim,
‘Come, let
us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.’”
Zephaniah 3:17
17 The Lord
your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take
great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”
Jeremiah 32:40-41
40 I will
make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them,
and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.
41 I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land
with all my heart and soul.
Exodus 19:5
5 Now if you
obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my
treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,
Jeremiah 32:40-41
40 I will
make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them,
and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.
41 I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land
with all my heart and soul.
Jeremiah 33:1-5
While
Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord
came to him a second time: 2 “This is what the Lord says, he who made the
earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: 3 ‘Call
to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do
not know.’ 4 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the
houses in this city and the royal palaces of Judah that have been torn down to
be used against the siege ramps and the sword 5 in the fight with the
Babylonians[a]: ‘They will be filled with the dead bodies of the people I will
slay in my anger and wrath. I will hide my face from this city because of all
its wickedness.
Deuteronomy 4:25-31
25 After you
have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if
you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of
the Lord your God and arousing his anger, 26 I call the heavens and the earth
as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land
that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but
will certainly be destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatter you among the peoples,
and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will
drive you. 28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which
cannot see or hear or eat or smell. 29 But if from there you seek the Lord your
God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your
soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you,
then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. 31 For
the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or
forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.
Psalm 37:3-4
3 Trust in
the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Take
delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your
heart.
Philippians 2:12-13
Do Everything Without Grumbling
12
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence,
but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear
and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to
fulfill his good purpose.
Ephesians 3:20-21
20 Now to
him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according
to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in
Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
16 May our
Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace
gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and
strengthen you in every good deed and word.
2 Corinthians 1:3-7
Praise to the God of All Comfort
3 Praise be
to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and
the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can
comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5
For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our
comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort
and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in
you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you
is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you
share in our comfort.
Isaiah 40:11
11 He tends
his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries
them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
Revelation 21:1-4
A New Heaven and a New Earth
1 Then I saw
“a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had
passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully
dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with
them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their
God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more
death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed
away.”
John 17:20-23, 25-26
Jesus Prays for All Believers
20 “My
prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me
through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are
in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe
that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that
they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be
brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have
loved them even as you have loved me.
25
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they
know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you[e] known to them, and will
continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in
them and that I myself may be in them.”
Hebrews 1:1-4
God’s Final Word: His Son
1 In the
past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in
various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he
appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The
Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,
sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification
for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he
became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior
to theirs.
Romans 8:31-32
31 What,
then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be
against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how
will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has
gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself
through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was
reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against
them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are
therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through
us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him
who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God.
1 John 4:10-12
10 This is
love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an
atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also
ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one
another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
Romans 8:31-32, 36-39
More Than Conquerors
31 What,
then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be
against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how
will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
36 As it is
written:
“For your
sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be
slaughtered.”[j]
37 No, in
all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I
am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither
the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor
anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 John 2:20-23
20 But you
have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.[e] 21 I do
not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it
and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever
denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the
Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever
acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
Luke 15:7
7 I tell you
that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who
repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
Ephesians 3:14-19
A Prayer for the Ephesians
14 For this
reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on
earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may
strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being
rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s
holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of
Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be
filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
John 1:9-13
9 The true
light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the
world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize
him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the
right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor
of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Luke 15:11-32
The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus
continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his
father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property
between them.
13 “Not long
after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant
country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent
everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be
in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who
sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the
pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he
came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food
to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my
father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19
I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired
servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while
he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion
for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son
said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no
longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the
father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put
a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and
kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and
is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he
heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what
was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has
killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The
older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and
pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve
been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me
even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of
yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill
the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My
son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead
and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
No comments:
Post a Comment