Sunday, January 20, 2019

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Genesis 16

¹Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; ²so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said. ³So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. ⁴He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. ⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me." ⁶"Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. ⁷The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. ⁸And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered. ⁹Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." ¹⁰The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count." ¹¹The angel of the LORD also said to her: "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. ¹²He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers." ¹³She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me." ¹⁴That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. ¹⁵So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. ¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Psalm 18:31–50

³¹For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God? ³²It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. ³³He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. ³⁴He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. ³⁵You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. ³⁶You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn. ³⁷I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. ³⁸I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. ³⁹You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet. ⁴⁰You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes. ⁴¹They cried for help, but there was no one to save them-- to the LORD, but he did not answer. ⁴²I beat them as fine as dust borne on the wind; I poured them out like mud in the streets. ⁴³You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations; people I did not know are subject to me. ⁴⁴As soon as they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cringe before me. ⁴⁵They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds. ⁴⁶The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! ⁴⁷He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, ⁴⁸who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from violent men you rescued me. ⁴⁹Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD; I will sing praises to your name. ⁵⁰He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.

Matthew 10:26–42

²⁶"So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. ²⁷What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. ²⁸Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. ³⁰And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. ³²"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. ³³But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. ³⁴"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵For I have come to turn " 'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-- ³⁶a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.' ³⁷"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; ³⁸and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ⁴⁰"He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. ⁴¹Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. ⁴²And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."