Devotions: Ps 102; 107:1-32; Isa 65:17-25; 1 Tim 5:17-22; Mk 12:28-34
Lord, hear my prayer! Let my cry come to you! Don't hide Your face from me in the day of my distress. Listen to me, Father! Answer me in the day I call to You, please. My days drag by like smoke; my bones grind; I am like a vulture or an owl in the wilderness. I lie awake. I live in idle circles, eating ashes like bread and mingling tears with my drink. I wither away like grass in the burning sun. But You, my God, are enthroned forever in majesty; let all praise our God; let the prisoners go free. God has broken my strength, but His strength endures. And your children will be established before you. God is good; His steadfast love endures forever. He brings His children home from the four corners of the world, and provides them a place to live in His presence—from deserts, from darkness, from prisons, from sickbeds, from sojourns on sea and land, from storms and plagues, from depression and sorrow. God is good and cares for His children!
God had Isaiah announce: 'Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth! Former things will pass away and not be remembered. I make Jerusalem a haven of celebration and rejoicing. No more weeping, no more infant mortality, no more premature death—those who live only a century will be pitied. Their labor will be productive. The wolf and lamb will feed together; the lions will eat straw like oxen; but the serpent shall still eat dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all My holy mountain', says YHWH.
Let the church doubly honor those elders who lead well and preach and teach effectively. As scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain, ' and 'the laborer deserves his wages.' Never allow any charge against an elder to stand, except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. Those who persist in sin, rebuke them before the congregation, so that they may experience public influence, and the group may be warned. In the presence of God and of the Messiah Jesus and the elect angels, I charge you to keep these rules impartially. Be careful in choosing to lay hands on men to consecrate them for service; be certain the individual is worthy, and don't participate in another man's sins. Keep yourself pure.
A scribe came up and heard Jesus disputing with the Sadducees. Seeing Jesus' success, one of them asked Him, 'Which commandment is first of all?' Jesus answered, 'The first is: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." And the second is this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Thre is no other commandment greater than these.' The scribe answered 'You are right, Teacher; You have truly said that He is One, and there is no other than He; and to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbors as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.' When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to the man, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.' After that, no one dared to ask Jesus any leading questions.
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