10 MAY 2017 · Wisdom 4:16-5:8 16 The righteous who have died will condemn the ungodly who are living, and youth that is quickly perfected* will condemn the prolonged old age of the unrighteous.  17 For they will see the end of the wise, and will not understand what the Lord purposed for them, and for what he kept them safe.  18 The unrighteous* will see, and will have contempt for them, but the Lord will laugh them to scorn. After this they will become dishonoured corpses, and an outrage among the dead for ever;  19 because he will dash them speechless to the ground, and shake them from the foundations; they will be left utterly dry and barren, and they will suffer anguish, and the memory of them will perish.  20 They will come with dread when their sins are reckoned up, and their lawless deeds will convict them to their face. 5Then the righteous will stand with great confidence in the presence of those who have oppressed them and those who make light of their labours. 2 When the unrighteous* see them, they will be shaken with dreadful fear, and they will be amazed at the unexpected salvation of the righteous.  3 They will speak to one another in repentance, and in anguish of spirit they will groan, and say,  4 ‘These are persons whom we once held in derision and made a byword of reproach—fools that we were! We thought that their lives were madness and that their end was without honour.  5 Why have they been numbered among the children of God? And why is their lot among the saints?  6 So it was we who strayed from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness did not shine on us, and the sun did not rise upon us.  7 We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction, and we journeyed through trackless deserts, but the way of the Lord we have not known.  8 What has our arrogance profited us? And what good has our boasted wealth brought us? 

21 APR 2017 · John 15:1-11 15‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes* to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed* by the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become* my disciples. 9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

20 APR 2017 · 1 Corinthians 15:29-41 29 Otherwise, what will those people do who receive baptism on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? 30 And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour? 31I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters,* as my boasting of you—a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32If with merely human hopes I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink,    for tomorrow we die.’  33Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’  34Come to a sober and right mind, and sin no more; for some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. 35 But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ 36Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.38But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. 41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.

20 APR 2017 · Acts 3:1-10 3One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. 2And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. 3When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. 4Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, ‘Look at us.’ 5And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6But Peter said, ‘I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,*stand up and walk.’ 7And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9All the people saw him walking and praising God, 10and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

16 APR 2017 · Isaiah 51:9-11 9 Awake, awake, put on strength,    O arm of the Lord! Awake, as in days of old,    the generations of long ago! Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,    who pierced the dragon?  10 Was it not you who dried up the sea,    the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way    for the redeemed to cross over?  11 So the ransomed of the Lord shall return,    and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;    they shall obtain joy and gladness,    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 

16 APR 2017 · Exodus 12:1-14 12The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. 4If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbour in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. 5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. 10You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. 12For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements: I am the Lord. 13The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

12 APR 2017 · John 12:20-26 20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ 22Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.

11 APR 2017 · Jeremiah 15:10-21 10 Woe is me, my mother, that you ever bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me. 11The Lord said: Surely I have intervened in your life* for good, surely I have imposed enemies on you in a time of trouble and in a time of distress.* 12Can iron and bronze break iron from the north? 13 Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory. 14I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn for ever.  15 O Lord, you know;    remember me and visit me,    and bring down retribution for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance do not take me away;    know that on your account I suffer insult.  16 Your words were found, and I ate them,    and your words became to me a joy    and the delight of my heart; for I am called by your name,    O Lord, God of hosts.  17 I did not sit in the company of merrymakers,    nor did I rejoice; under the weight of your hand I sat alone,    for you had filled me with indignation.  18 Why is my pain unceasing,    my wound incurable,    refusing to be healed? Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook,    like waters that fail.  19 Therefore, thus says the Lord: If you turn back, I will take you back,    and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,    you shall serve as my mouth. It is they who will turn to you,    not you who will turn to them.  20 And I will make you to this people    a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you,    but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you    to save you and deliver you, says the Lord.  21 I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,    and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.

7 APR 2017 · Jeremiah 26:1-16 26At the beginning of the reign of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, this word came from the Lord: 2Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord; speak to them all the words that I command you; do not hold back a word. 3It may be that they will listen, all of them, and will turn from their evil way, that I may change my mind about the disaster that I intend to bring on them because of their evil doings. 4You shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, 5and to heed the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently—though you have not heeded—6then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth. 7 The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. 8And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, ‘You shall die! 9Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, “This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant”?’ And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. 10 When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the entry of the New Gate of the house of the Lord. 11Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, ‘This man deserves the sentence of death because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.’ 12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, ‘It is the Lord who sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. 13Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will change his mind about the disaster that he has pronounced against you. 14But as for me, here I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. 15Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will be bringing innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.’ 16 Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, ‘This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.’

4 APR 2017 · John 6:60-71 60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’ 61But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, ‘Does this offend you?62Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?63It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But among you there are some who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65And he said, ‘For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.’ 66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67So Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’ 68Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.69We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’* 70Jesus answered them, ‘Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.’ 71He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot,* for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.