March 29 Reading through the Bible

 

DEUTERONOMY 11:1-12:32
LUKE 8:22-39
PSALM 70:1-5
PROVERBS 12:4

DEUTERONOMY 11:1-12:32
" You must love the LORD your God and obey all his requirements, laws, regulations, and commands. 2 Listen! I am not talking now to your children, who have never experienced the discipline of the LORD your God or seen his greatness and awesome power. 3 They weren't there to see the miraculous signs and wonders he performed in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his land. 4 They didn't see what the LORD did to the armies of Egypt and to their horses and chariots--how he drowned them in the Red Sea as they were chasing you, and how he has kept them devastated to this very day! 5 They didn't see how the LORD cared for you in the wilderness until you arrived here. 6 They weren't there to see what he did to Dathan and Abiram (the sons of Eliab, a descendant of Reuben) when the earth opened up and swallowed them, along with their households and tents and every living thing that belonged to them. 7 But you have seen all the LORD's mighty deeds with your own eyes! 8 " Therefore, be careful to obey every command I am giving you today, so you may have strength to go in and occupy the land you are about to enter. 9 If you obey, you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors and to you, their descendants--a land flowing with milk and honey! 10 For the land you are about to enter and occupy is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you planted your seed and dug out irrigation ditches with your foot as in a vegetable garden. 11 It is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain--12 a land that the LORD your God cares for. He watches over it day after day throughout the year! 13 " If you carefully obey all the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and soul, and if you worship him, 14 then he will send the rains in their proper seasons so you can harvest crops of grain, grapes for wine, and olives for oil. 15 He will give you lush pastureland for your cattle to graze in, and you yourselves will have plenty to eat. 16 " But do not let your heart turn away from the LORD to worship other gods. 17 If you do, the LORD's anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and your harvests will fail. Then you will quickly die in that good land the LORD is now giving you. 18 So commit yourselves completely to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. 19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. 20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors. 22 " Be careful to obey all the commands I give you; show love to the LORD your God by walking in his ways and clinging to him. 23 Then the LORD will drive out all the nations in your land, though they are much greater and stronger than you. 24 Wherever you set your feet, the land will be yours. Your frontiers will stretch from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north, and from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 25 No one will be able to stand against you, for the LORD your God will send fear and dread ahead of you, as he promised you, wherever you go in the whole land. 26 " Today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! 27 You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today. 28 You will receive a curse if you reject the commands of the LORD your God and turn from his way by worshiping foreign gods. 29 " When the LORD your God brings you into the land to possess it, you must pronounce a blessing from Mount Gerizim and a curse from Mount Ebal. 30 (These two mountains are west of the Jordan River in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Jordan Valley, near the town of Gilgal. They are located toward the west, not far from the oaks of Moreh.) 31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to occupy the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you are living in that land, 32 you must be careful to obey all the laws and regulations I am giving you today.12:1 " THESE are the laws and regulations you must obey as long as you live in the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2 " When you drive out the nations that live there, you must destroy all the places where they worship their gods--high on the mountains, up on the hills, and under every green tree. 3 Break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. Burn their Asherah poles and cut down their carved idols. Erase the names of their gods from those places! 4 " Do not worship the LORD your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods. 5 Rather, you must seek the LORD your God at the place he himself will choose from among all the tribes for his name to be honored. 6 There you will bring to the LORD your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your special gifts, your offerings to fulfill a vow, your freewill offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your flocks and herds. 7 There you and your families will feast in the presence of the LORD your God, and you will rejoice in all you have accomplished because the LORD your God has blessed you. 8 " Today you are doing whatever you please, but that is not how it will be 9 when you arrive in the place of rest the LORD your God is giving you. 10 You will soon cross the Jordan River and live in the land the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession. When he gives you rest and security from all your enemies, 11 you must bring everything I command you--your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your special gifts, and your offerings to fulfill a vow--to the place the LORD your God will choose for his name to be honored. 12 You must celebrate there with your sons and daughters and all your servants in the presence of the LORD your God. And remember the Levites who live in your towns, for they will have no inheritance of land as their own. 13 Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere. 14 You may do so only at the place the LORD will choose within one of your tribal territories. There you must offer your burnt offerings and do everything I command you. 15 " But you may butcher animals for meat in any town, wherever you want, just as you do now with gazelle and deer. You may eat as many animals as the LORD your God gives you. All of you, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat. 16 The only restriction is that you are not to eat the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water. 17 " But your offerings must not be eaten at home--neither the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, nor the firstborn of your flocks and herds, nor an offering to fulfill a vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor your special gifts. 18 You must eat these in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose. Eat them there with your children, your servants, and the Levites who live in your towns, celebrating in the presence of the LORD your God in all you do. 19 Be very careful never to forget the Levites as long as you live in your land. 20 " When the LORD your God enlarges your territory as he has promised, you may eat meat whenever you want. 21 It might happen that the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to be honored is a long way from your home. If so, you may butcher any of the cattle or sheep the LORD has given you, and you may eat the meat at your home as I have commanded you. 22 Anyone, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as you do now with gazelle and deer. 23 The only restriction is never to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. 24 Instead, pour out the blood on the ground like water. 25 Do not eat the blood; then all will go well with you and your children, because you will be doing what pleases the LORD. 26 Take your sacred gifts and your offerings given to fulfill a vow to the place the LORD chooses to dwell. 27 You must offer the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your other sacrifices must be poured out beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat. 28 Be careful to obey all my commands so that all will go well with you and your children, because you will be doing what pleases the LORD your God. 29 " When the LORD your God destroys the nations and you drive them out and occupy their land, 30 do not be trapped into following their example in worshiping their gods. Do not say, ` How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example.' 31 You must not do this to the LORD your God. These nations have committed many detestable acts that the LORD hates, all in the name of their gods. They have even burned their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods. 32 Carefully obey all the commands I give you. Do not add to them or subtract from them."

LUKE 8:22-39
One day Jesus said to his disciples, " Let's cross over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and started out. 23 On the way across, Jesus lay down for a nap, and while he was sleeping the wind began to rise. A fierce storm developed that threatened to swamp them, and they were in real danger. 24 The disciples woke him up, shouting, " Master, Master, we're going to drown!" So Jesus rebuked the wind and the raging waves. The storm stopped and all was calm! 25 Then he asked them, " Where is your faith?" And they were filled with awe and amazement. They said to one another, " Who is this man, that even the winds and waves obey him?"26 So they arrived in the land of the Gerasenes, across the lake from Galilee. 27 As Jesus was climbing out of the boat, a man who was possessed by demons came out to meet him. Homeless and naked, he had lived in a cemetery for a long time. 28 As soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell to the ground before him, screaming, " Why are you bothering me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please, I beg you, don't torture me!" 29 For Jesus had already commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. This spirit had often taken control of the man. Even when he was shackled with chains, he simply broke them and rushed out into the wilderness, completely under the demon's power. 30 " What is your name?" Jesus asked. " Legion," he replied--for the man was filled with many demons. 31 The demons kept begging Jesus not to send them into the Bottomless Pit. 32 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside nearby, and the demons pleaded with him to let them enter into the pigs. Jesus gave them permission. 33 So the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the whole herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake, where they drowned.34 When the herdsmen saw it, they fled to the nearby city and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. 35 A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, for they wanted to see for themselves what had happened. And they saw the man who had been possessed by demons sitting quietly at Jesus' feet, clothed and sane. And the whole crowd was afraid. 36 Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 And all the people in that region begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them. So Jesus returned to the boat and left, crossing back to the other side of the lake. 38 The man who had been demon possessed begged to go, too, but Jesus said, 39 " No, go back to your family and tell them all the wonderful things God has done for you." So he went all through the city telling about the great thing Jesus had done for him.

PSALM 70:1-5
For the choir director: A psalm of David, to bring us to the LORD's remembrance.
1 Please, God, rescue me!
Come quickly, LORD, and help me.
2 May those who try to destroy me
be humiliated and put to shame.
May those who take delight in my trouble
be turned back in disgrace.
3 Let them be horrified by their shame,
for they said, " Aha! We've got him now!"
4 But may all who search for you
be filled with joy and gladness.
May those who love your salvation
repeatedly shout, " God is great!"
5 But I am poor and needy;
please hurry to my aid, O God.
You are my helper and my savior;
O LORD, do not delay!

PROVERBS 12:4
A worthy wife is her husband's joy and crown; a shameful wife saps his strength.