Jesus Calls the First Disciples

John 1:35)  The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36)  and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" 37)  The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38)  Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39)  He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40)  One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41)  He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). 42)  He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter). 43)  The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." 44)  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45)  Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46)  Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47)  Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 48)  Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49)  Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50)  Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these." 51)  And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Restore Us, O God

Psalm 80:1)  To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Testimony. Of Asaph, a Psalm. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.

2)  Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might and come to save us!

3)  Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!

4)  O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?

5)  You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure.

6)  You make us an object of contention for our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves.

7)  Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved!

8)  You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.

9)  You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.

10)  The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.

11)  It sent out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River.

12)  Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?

13)  The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.

14)  Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine,

15)  the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.

16)  They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your face!

17)  But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!

18)  Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name!

19)  Restore us, O LORD God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Ronald Reagan’s Thanksgiving Day Address, 1985

“Good morning, everyone. You know, the Statue of Liberty and this wonderful holiday called Thanksgiving go together naturally because although as Americans we have many things for which to be thankful, none is more important than our liberty. Liberty: that quality of government, that brightness of mind and spirit for which the Pilgrim Fathers braved the seas and Americans for two centuries have laid down their lives.


“Today, while religion is suppressed in perhaps one third of the world, we Americans are free to worship the Almighty as we choose. While entire nations must endure the yoke of tyranny, we are free to speak our minds, to enjoy an unfettered and vigorous press, and to make government abide by the limits we deem just. While millions live behind walls, we remain free to travel throughout the land to share this precious day with those we love most deeply – the members of our families.

“My fellow Americans, let us keep this Thanksgiving Day sacred. Let us thank God for the bounty and goodness of our nation. And as a measure of our gratitude, let us rededicate ourselves to the preservation of this: the land of the free and the home of the brave.

“From the Reagan family to your family: happy Thanksgiving and God bless you all.”

Speech To American Heros Thanksgiving Day, 2003

President George W. Bush Speech - November 27, 2003


Thank you. I was just looking for a warm meal somewhere. Thank you for inviting me to dinner. Gen. Sanchez, thank you, sir, for your kind invitation and your strong leadership. Ambassador Bremer, thank you for your steadfast belief in freedom and peace. I want to thank the members of the Governing Council who are here, pleased you are joining us on our nation's great holiday, it's a chance to give thanks to the Almighty for the many blessings we receive.

I'm particularly proud to be with the First Armored Division, the Second ACR, the 82nd Airborne. I can't think of a finer group of folks to have Thanksgiving dinner with than you all. We're proud of you. Today, Americans are gathering with their loved ones to give thanks for the many blessings in our lives. And this year we are especially thankful for the courage and the sacrifice of those who defend us, the men and women of the United States military.

I bring a message on behalf of America: We thank you for your service, we're proud of you, and America stands solidly behind you. Together, you and I have taken an oath to defend our country. You're honoring that oath. The United States military is doing a fantastic job. You are defeating the terrorists here in Iraq, so that we don't have to face them in our own country. You're defeating Saddam's henchmen, so that the people of Iraq can live in peace and freedom.

By helping the Iraqi people become free, you're helping change a troubled and violent part of the world. By helping to build a peaceful and democratic country in the heart of the Middle East, you are defending the American people from danger and we are grateful.

You're engaged in a difficult mission. Those who attack our coalition forces and kill innocent Iraqis are testing our will. They hope we will run. We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq, pay a bitter cost in casualties, defeat a brutal dictator and liberate 25 million people only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins.

We will prevail. We will win because our cause is just. We will win because we will stay on the offensive. And we will win because you're part of the finest military ever assembled. And we will prevail because the Iraqis want their freedom.

Every day you see firsthand the commitment to sacrifice that the Iraqi people are making to secure their own freedom. I have a message for the Iraqi people: You have an opportunity to seize the moment and rebuild your great country, based on human dignity and freedom. The regime of Saddam Hussein is gone forever.

The United States and our coalition will help you, help you build a peaceful country so that your children can have a bright future. We'll help you find and bring to justice the people who terrorized you for years and are still killing innocent Iraqis. We will stay until the job is done. I'm confident we will succeed, because you, the Iraqi people, will show the world that you're not only courageous, but that you can govern yourself wisely and justly.

On this Thanksgiving, our nation remembers the men and women of our military, your friends and comrades who paid the ultimate price for our security and freedom. We ask for God's blessings on their families, their loved ones and their friends, and we pray for your safety and your strength, as you continue to defend America and to spread freedom. Each one of you has answered a great call, participating in an historic moment in world history. You live by a code of honor, of service to your nation, with the safety and the security of your fellow citizens. Our military is full of the finest people on the face of the earth. I'm proud to be your commander in chief. I bring greetings from America. May God bless you all.

"BLESSINGS OF FRUITFUL FIELDS" Abraham Lincoln

Thanksgiving was first celebrated by the settlers at Plymouth in the Massachusetts colony in 1621 under the leadership of Governor William Bradford. Washington and Madison each issued a Thanksgiving proclamation once during their Presidencies. It was not until 1863, however, when Lincoln issued his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation that the holiday was established as a national annual event, occurring on the last Thursday of November. The first observance of the national holiday came one week after the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg. The language of the proclamation is beautiful and marked by a rare felicity of expression.

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the everwatchful providence of almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the most high God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United Stated States to be affixed.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S THANKSGIVING DAY PROCLAMATION, OCTOBER 3, 1863.

Some Will Depart from the Faith

1Timothy 4:1)  Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2)  through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3)  who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4)  For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5)  for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

God Himself Is Judge

Psalm 50:1)  A Psalm of Asaph. The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

2)  Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.

3)  Our God comes; he does not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire,

around him a mighty tempest.

4)  He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:

5)  "Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!"

6)  The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge! Selah

7)  "Hear, O my people, and I will speak;

O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.

8)  Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.

9)  I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds.

10)  For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.

11)  I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.

12)  "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.

13)  Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

14)  Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High,

15)  and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

16)  But to the wicked God says:

"What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips?

17)  For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.

18)  If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers.

19)  "You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.

20)  You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son.

21)  These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.

22)  "Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart,

and there be none to deliver!

23)  The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;

to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!"

Paul’s Visions and His Thorn

2 Corinthians 12:1) I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2) I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 3) And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4) and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 5) On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— 6) though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. 7) So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8) Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9) But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10) For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

O God of Our Salvation

Psalm 65: To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

1) Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion,

and to you shall vows be performed.

2) O you who hear prayer,

to you shall all flesh come.

3) When iniquities prevail against me,

you atone for our transgressions.

4) Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,

to dwell in your courts!

We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,

the holiness of your temple!

5) By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,

O God of our salvation,

the hope of all the ends of the earth

and of the farthest seas;

6) the one who by his strength established the mountains,

being girded with might;

7) who stills the roaring of the seas,

the roaring of their waves,

the tumult of the peoples,

8) so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.

You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

9) You visit the earth and water it;

you greatly enrich it;

the river of God is full of water;

you provide their grain,

for so you have prepared it.

10) You water its furrows abundantly,

settling its ridges,

softening it with showers,

and blessing its growth.

11) You crown the year with your bounty;

your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

12) The pastures of the wilderness overflow,

the hills gird themselves with joy,

13) the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,

the valleys deck themselves with grain,

they shout and sing together for joy.

Manasseh’s Repentance

2Chronicles 33:10)  The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. 11)  Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. 12)  And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13)  He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God. 14)  Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. 15)  And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. 16)  He also restored the altar of the LORD and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. 17)  Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the LORD their God. 18)  Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, behold, they are in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 19)  And his prayer, and how God was moved by his entreaty, and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites on which he built high places and set up the Asherim and the images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the Chronicles of the Seers. 20)  So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his house, and Amon his son reigned in his place.

Thanksgiving

1 Corinthiasns 1:4) I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5) that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6) even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7) so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8) who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9) God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Who Is like the LORD Our God?

Psalm 113:1)  Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD,

praise the name of the LORD!

2)  Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and forevermore!

3)  From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised!

4)  The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens!

5)  Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high,

6)  who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?

7)  He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap,

8)  to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.

9)  He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children.

Praise the LORD!

God’s Provision

Philippians 4:10)  I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11)  Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12)  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13)  I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 14)  Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. 15)  And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. 16)  Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. 17)  Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. 18)  I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. 19)  And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20)  To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Restore Our Fortunes, O LORD

Psalm 126:1)  A Song of Ascents. When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.

2)  Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."

3)  The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad.

4)  Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negeb!

5)  Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!

6)  He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

God Is King over All the Earth

Psalm 47:1)  To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!

2)  For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.

3)  He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.

4)  He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah

5)  God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.

6)  Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

7)  For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!

8)  God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.

9)  The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!

I Am the Bread of Life

John 6:22) On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23) Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24) So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
25) When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" 26) Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27) Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." 28) Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" 29) Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." 30) So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?
31) Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ " 32) Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33) For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34) They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."
35) Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36) But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
37) All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38) For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39) And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40) For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
41) So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42) They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?" 43) Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. 44) No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45) It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—
46) not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47) Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48) I am the bread of life. 49) Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50) This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 5)1 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
52) The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat 53) So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54) Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55) For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56) Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57) As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.
58) This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." 59) Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

Lead Me to the Rock

Psalm 61:1)  To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. Of David. Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer;

2)  from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I,

3)  for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.

4  Let me dwell in your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Selah

5)  For you, O God, have heard my vows; you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

6)  Prolong the life of the king; may his years endure to all generations!

7)  May he be enthroned forever before God; appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!

8)  So will I ever sing praises to your name, as I perform my vows day after day.

The Temple of the Living God

2 Corinthians 6:14) Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15) What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16) What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

"I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,

and I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.

17) Therefore go out from their midst,

and be separate from them, says the Lord,

and touch no unclean thing;

then I will welcome you,

18) and I will be a father to you,

and you shall be sons and daughters to me,

says the Lord Almighty."

O LORD, Do Not Delay

Psalm 70:1)  To the choirmaster. Of David, for the memorial offering. Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O LORD, make haste to help me!

2)  Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life! Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt!

3)  Let them turn back because of their shame who say, "Aha, Aha!"

4)  May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, "God is great!"

5)  But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay!

The Message of Salvation to All

Romans 10:5)  For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.  6)  But the righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) 7)  or "'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8)  But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9)  because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10)  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11)  For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." 12)  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13)  For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." 14)  How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15)  And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" 16)  But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?"  17)  So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.  18)  But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for "Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." 19 ) But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, "I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry." 20)  Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, "I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me." 21 ) But of Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people."

Send Out Your Light and Your Truth

Psalm 43:1)  Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me!

2)  For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

3)  Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling!

4)  Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.

5)  Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

The Servant of the Lord

Isaiah 49:1) Listen to me, O coastlands,

and give attention, you peoples from afar.

The Lord called me from the womb,

from the body of my mother he named my name.

2) He made my mouth like a sharp sword;

in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow;

in his quiver he hid me away.

3) And he said to me,

"You are my servant,

Israel, in whom I will be glorified."

4) But I said,

"I have labored in vain;

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my right is with the Lord,

and my recompense with my God."

5) And now the Lord says,

he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him;

and that Israel might be gathered to him—

for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,

and my God has become my strength—

6) he says:

"It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to bring back the preserved of Israel;

I will make you as a light for the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."

7) Thus says the Lord,

the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

to one deeply despised,

abhorred by the nation,

the servant of rulers:

"Kings shall see and arise;

princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

Come, Bless the LORD

Psalm 134:1)  A Song of Ascents. Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!

2)  Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!

3)  May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!