Isaiah 51
1 “Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness and seek the Lord. Look to the solid rock which you hewed, and to the hole of the pit which you dug.†
2 Look to Abraham our father and to Sarah who bore you, for he was first, and I called and blessed him, and loved and multiplied him.
3 And now I will comfort you, O Zion, and I comforted all her desert places; and I shall make her desert places like the Garden of the Lord. In it they shall find gladness and exceeding joy, and thanksgiving and the voice of praise.†
4 Listen to Me, listen, O My people and kings, give ear to Me, for law shall proceed from Me, and My judgment as the light of the Gentiles.
5 My righteousness draws near quickly, and My salvation will go forth as light, and the Gentiles will hope in My arm, and the coastlands shall wait for Me and hope in My arm.†
6 Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look to the earth below, for heaven is solid as smoke, and the earth will grow old like a garment; and the inhabitants of the earth shall die, as do these things. But My salvation shall be forever, and My righteousness will not fail.†
7 Listen to Me, My people who know judgment, in whose heart is My law. Do not fear the reproach of men, nor be overcome by their contempt.
8 For as a garment will be devoured by time, and as wool will be devoured by a moth, so shall they be devoured. But My righteousness shall be forever, and My salvation from generation to generation.”
9 Awake, awake, O Jerusalem, and put on the strength of your arm. Awake as in the beginning of days, as in the generations of old.
10 Are You not He who dried up the sea, the abundant water of the deep, and made the depths of the sea a road of passage for those who were delivered and redeemed?
11 For with the Lord’s help, they shall return and come to Zion with gladness and everlasting joy; for exceeding joy. Praise and gladness shall come on them, and pain, grief, and sighing shall depart from them.
12 “I Am, I am the Lord who comforts you. Know who it is you feared, for you were fearful of mortal man and the son of man, those who wither like grass.†
13 You forgot the God who made you, who made heaven and laid the foundations of the earth, but all your days you feared the angry face of him who oppressed you. For he plotted to take you away, but now where is the anger of him who oppressed you?
14 For when you are saved, he will not stand still nor tarry.
15 For I am your God who troubles the sea and causes the waves to roar. The Lord of hosts is My name.
16 I will put My words in your mouth, and protect you under the shadow of My hand, with which I established heaven, and laid the foundation of the earth. I will say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’
17 Awake, awake, rise up, O Jerusalem, who drank the cup of anger from the Lord’s hand, for you drank the cup of destruction, the drinking-vessel of My anger, and emptied it out.†
18 There was no one to comfort you from all the children you bore, and there was no one to take hold of your hand, not even from among all the children you reared.
19 These two things are against you. Who will sympathize with you in your grief? Misfortune and affliction, famine and sword! Who will comfort you?
20 Your sons are at a loss, and they lie asleep at the end of every street like a half-boiled beet, full of the Lord’s anger and forsaken because of the Lord God.
21 Therefore listen, you who are humbled and drunk, but not from wine.
22 Thus says the Lord God who judges His people: “Behold, I took the cup of destruction, the cup of My anger, from your hand, and it shall no longer be imposed on you to drink from it.
23 I will put it into the hands of those who wronged and humbled you, those who said to your soul, ‘Bow down as we pass by.’ So you put your back parallel with the ground to those who passed by.”
Psalms 93
16 Who will rise up for me against evildoers, Or who will side with me against the workers of lawlessness?
17 If the Lord had not helped me, My soul would have almost sojourned in Hades.
18 If I said, “My foot slipped,” Your mercy, O Lord, helped me.
19 O Lord, according to the abundance of grief in my heart, Your encouragements consoled my soul.
20 Shall a throne of lawlessness be present with You, A throne that frames trouble by an ordinance?
21 They shall hunt for the soul of a righteous man And shall condemn innocent blood.
22 And the Lord has become a place of refuge for me, And my God, the helper of my hope;
23 And repay their lawlessness to them, And according to their wickedness, The Lord our God shall destroy them.
Proverbs of Solomon 20
11 A portion gained hastily in the beginning Will not be blessed at the end.
12 Do not say, “I will avenge myself on the enemy,” But wait on the Lord, that you may be helped.
13 A weight, great and small, and a double standard, Both are also unclean before the Lord.
14 And the one who uses these things in his pursuits will be entangled; But a young man with holiness, his road is straight.
15 The ear hears and the eye sees; Both are also works of the Lord.†
1 Timothy 1
Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope,†
2 To Timothy, a true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
Opposing Speculations with Faith
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.†
5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,
Opposing Legalism with Grace
6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk,
7 desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.†
8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully,†
9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,
11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
Paul’s Example: Salvation by Grace
12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,†
13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.†
16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.
17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Timothy Called to Faithfulness
18 This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,
19 having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck,
20 of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.†
Book and Reading Club
Join us as we read: Ordinary Wonders: Stories of Unexpected Grace by Olesia Nikolaeva
Tuesdays and Thurdays at 7pm starting November 2
Here’s the link to join us: https://meet.google.com/fct-uhjo-jwq
If you are joining us on a smartphone or tablet, you will need the Google Meet app. From your computer, just click the link. Hope to see you there!!!
You can get the book at: https://store.ancientfaith.com/ordinary-wonders-stories-of-unexpected-grace/
And if they are out, you can find it at https://www.amazon.com/Ordinary-Wonders-Stories-Unexpected-Grace/dp/0884654230