Thursday, November 17, 2011
Acts 22 (with text - press on more info.)
Acts 22 (New International Version)
Acts 22
1 "Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense."
2 When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said: 3 "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. 4 I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, 5 as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.
6 "About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, 'Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?'
8 "'Who are you, Lord?' I asked. " 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,' he replied. 9 My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
10 "'What shall I do, Lord?' I asked. " 'Get up,' the Lord said, 'and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.' 11 My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.
12 "A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. 13 He stood beside me and said, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And at that very moment I was able to see him.
14 "Then he said: 'The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. 15 You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.'
17 "When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw the Lord speaking to me. 'Quick!' he said. 'Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.'
19 "'Lord,' I replied, 'these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. 20 And when the blood of your martyr[a] Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.'
21 "Then the Lord said to me, 'Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' "
Paul the Roman Citizen
22 The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, "Rid the earth of him! He's not fit to live!"
23 As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. 25 As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn't even been found guilty?"
26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. "What are you going to do?" he asked. "This man is a Roman citizen."
27 The commander went to Paul and asked, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes, I am," he answered.
28 Then the commander said, "I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship." "But I was born a citizen," Paul replied.
29 Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.
Paul Before the Sanhedrin
30 The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews. So the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.
Psalm 79 (with text - press on more info.)
Psalm 79 (New International Version)
Psalm 79
A psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
2 They have given the dead bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.
4 We are objects of reproach to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us.
5 How long, O LORD ? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name;
7 for they have devoured Jacob and destroyed his homeland.
8 Do not hold against us the sins of the fathers; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.
9 Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name's sake.
10 Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" Before our eyes, make known among the nations that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.
11 May the groans of the prisoners come before you; by the strength of your arm preserve those condemned to die.
12 Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times the reproach they have hurled at you, O Lord.
13 Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
Today We Join With Operation World in Praying for the Republic of Tanzania, Africa
Tanzania
Republic of Tanzania
Africa
See Prayer Information
Geography
Area: 945,037 sq km
Comprising mainland Tanganyika and the offshore islands of Zanzibar and Pemba (2,460 sq km).
Population: 45,039,573 Annual Growth: 2.92%
Capital: Dodoma (official); Dar es Salaam (de facto)
Urbanites: 26.4%
HDI Rank: 151 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)
Peoples
Official language: Swahili, English; 2% speak only Swahili and no local African language Languages: 127 All languages
Religion
Largest Religion: Christian
| Religion | Pop % | Ann Gr | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christians | 24,352,897 | 54.07 | 3.7 |
| Evangelicals | 8,042,731 | 17.9 | 2.4 |
Answer to Prayer
Tanzania remains an “island of peace” amid many troubled nations. This not only allows positive inter-communal relations but also allows Tanzania to shelter over a million refugees who have fled from violence in their own lands and to function as an operation base for much regional ministry. For an additional 2 Answers to Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
For an additional 10 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
Challenge for Prayer
The delicate inter-communal balance and religious stability of the country cannot be taken for granted. The Muslim community is increasingly polarized between moderates and Islamists, the latter pressing for political influence and the establishment of separate Islamist courts. Witchcraft is widespread and permeates both Christianity and Islam. Spiritual superstitions and outright occultism incur great financial expense and often result in sexual abuse or even death for the victims of such practices. Pray that the government may be ruthless in uprooting evil and wise in fostering communal harmony and religious freedom.For an additional 10 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
More Information
The Operation World book, CD-ROM, and DVD-ROM provide far more information and fuel for prayer for the people of Tanzania.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Today We Join With Operation World in Praying for the Republic of Tanzania, Africa
Tanzania
Republic of Tanzania
Africa
See Prayer Information
Geography
Area: 945,037 sq km
Comprising mainland Tanganyika and the offshore islands of Zanzibar and Pemba (2,460 sq km).
Population: 45,039,573 Annual Growth: 2.92%
Capital: Dodoma (official); Dar es Salaam (de facto)
Urbanites: 26.4%
HDI Rank: 151 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)
Peoples
Official language: Swahili, English; 2% speak only Swahili and no local African language Languages: 127 All languages
Religion
Largest Religion: Christian
| Religion | Pop % | Ann Gr | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christians | 24,352,897 | 54.07 | 3.7 |
| Evangelicals | 8,042,731 | 17.9 | 2.4 |
Answer to Prayer
Tanzania remains an “island of peace” amid many troubled nations. This not only allows positive inter-communal relations but also allows Tanzania to shelter over a million refugees who have fled from violence in their own lands and to function as an operation base for much regional ministry. For an additional 2 Answers to Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
For an additional 10 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
Challenge for Prayer
The delicate inter-communal balance and religious stability of the country cannot be taken for granted. The Muslim community is increasingly polarized between moderates and Islamists, the latter pressing for political influence and the establishment of separate Islamist courts. Witchcraft is widespread and permeates both Christianity and Islam. Spiritual superstitions and outright occultism incur great financial expense and often result in sexual abuse or even death for the victims of such practices. Pray that the government may be ruthless in uprooting evil and wise in fostering communal harmony and religious freedom.For an additional 10 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
More Information
The Operation World book, CD-ROM, and DVD-ROM provide far more information and fuel for prayer for the people of Tanzania.
Acts 21 (with text - press on more info.)
Acts 21 (New International Version)
Acts 21
On to Jerusalem
1 After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Kos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara. 2 We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail. 3 After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo. 4 We sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. 5 When it was time to leave, we left and continued on our way. All of them, including wives and children, accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray. 6 After saying goodbye to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.
7 We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day. 8 Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. 9 He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.
10 After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'"
12 When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." 14 When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, "The Lord's will be done."
15 After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples.
Paul's Arrival at Jerusalem
17 When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly. 18 The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. 19 Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 22 What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, 23 so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. 24 Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. 25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality."
26 The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.
For more text press: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+21&version=NIV
Psalm 78
Psalm 78
New International Version (NIV)
Psalm 78
A maskil[a] of Asaph. 1 My people, hear my teaching;listen to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth with a parable;
I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
3 things we have heard and known,
things our ancestors have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their descendants;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
5 He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach their children,
6 so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
7 Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.
8 They would not be like their ancestors—
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him.
9 The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows,
turned back on the day of battle;
10 they did not keep God’s covenant
and refused to live by his law.
11 They forgot what he had done,
the wonders he had shown them.
12 He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors
in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea and led them through;
he made the water stand up like a wall.
14 He guided them with the cloud by day
and with light from the fire all night.
15 He split the rocks in the wilderness
and gave them water as abundant as the seas;
16 he brought streams out of a rocky crag
and made water flow down like rivers.
17 But they continued to sin against him,
rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High.
18 They willfully put God to the test
by demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against God;
they said, “Can God really
spread a table in the wilderness?
20 True, he struck the rock,
and water gushed out,
streams flowed abundantly,
but can he also give us bread?
Can he supply meat for his people?”
21 When the LORD heard them, he was furious;
his fire broke out against Jacob,
and his wrath rose against Israel,
22 for they did not believe in God
or trust in his deliverance.
23 Yet he gave a command to the skies above
and opened the doors of the heavens;
24 he rained down manna for the people to eat,
he gave them the grain of heaven.
25 Human beings ate the bread of angels;
he sent them all the food they could eat.
26 He let loose the east wind from the heavens
and by his power made the south wind blow.
27 He rained meat down on them like dust,
birds like sand on the seashore.
28 He made them come down inside their camp,
all around their tents.
29 They ate till they were gorged—
he had given them what they craved.
30 But before they turned from what they craved,
even while the food was still in their mouths,
31 God’s anger rose against them;
he put to death the sturdiest among them,
cutting down the young men of Israel.
32 In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;
in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.
33 So he ended their days in futility
and their years in terror.
34 Whenever God slew them, they would seek him;
they eagerly turned to him again.
35 They remembered that God was their Rock,
that God Most High was their Redeemer.
36 But then they would flatter him with their mouths,
lying to him with their tongues;
37 their hearts were not loyal to him,
they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 Yet he was merciful;
he forgave their iniquities
and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger
and did not stir up his full wrath.
39 He remembered that they were but flesh,
a passing breeze that does not return.
40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the wasteland!
41 Again and again they put God to the test;
they vexed the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power—
the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,
43 the day he displayed his signs in Egypt,
his wonders in the region of Zoan.
44 He turned their river into blood;
they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent swarms of flies that devoured them,
and frogs that devastated them.
46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper,
their produce to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
48 He gave over their cattle to the hail,
their livestock to bolts of lightning.
49 He unleashed against them his hot anger,
his wrath, indignation and hostility—
a band of destroying angels.
50 He prepared a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death
but gave them over to the plague.
51 He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,
the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.
52 But he brought his people out like a flock;
he led them like sheep through the wilderness.
53 He guided them safely, so they were unafraid;
but the sea engulfed their enemies.
54 And so he brought them to the border of his holy land,
to the hill country his right hand had taken.
55 He drove out nations before them
and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;
he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.
56 But they put God to the test
and rebelled against the Most High;
they did not keep his statutes.
57 Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless,
as unreliable as a faulty bow.
58 They angered him with their high places;
they aroused his jealousy with their idols.
59 When God heard them, he was furious;
he rejected Israel completely.
60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,
the tent he had set up among humans.
61 He sent the ark of his might into captivity,
his splendor into the hands of the enemy.
62 He gave his people over to the sword;
he was furious with his inheritance.
63 Fire consumed their young men,
and their young women had no wedding songs;
64 their priests were put to the sword,
and their widows could not weep.
65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine.
66 He beat back his enemies;
he put them to everlasting shame.
67 Then he rejected the tents of Joseph,
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
68 but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loved.
69 He built his sanctuary like the heights,
like the earth that he established forever.
70 He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheep pens;
71 from tending the sheep he brought him
to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
of Israel his inheritance.
72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
with skillful hands he led them.
Footnotes:
- Psalm 78:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Today We Join With Operation World in Praying for the Republic of Tajikistan, Asia
Tajikistan
Republic of Tajikistan
Asia
See Prayer Information
Geography
Area: 143,100 sq km
Bordering on Afghanistan, China, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The Pamir and Tien-Shan Mountains are 93% of the surface area.
Population: 7,074,845 Annual Growth: 1.60%
Capital: Dushanbe
Urbanites: 26.5%
HDI Rank: 127 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)
Peoples
Official language: Tajik Languages: 33 All languages
Religion
Largest Religion: Muslim
| Religion | Pop % | Ann Gr | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christians | 73,578 | 1.04 | -2.2 |
| Evangelicals | 6,952 | 0.1 | 6.9 |
| Muslim | 6,645,402 | 93.93 |
Answer to Prayer
The birth of a Tajik Church, although a slow and painstaking process, is now reality. The Church among Tajiks is small, only a thousand, but growing. For an additional Answer to Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
For an additional 8 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
Challenge for Prayer
The civil war left an indelible mark on the nation, which is still recovering more than 10 years later. Hardship is widespread, with 83% of the population under the poverty line. The most vulnerable segments of society particularly at risk are prisoners, elderly, widows and orphans.For an additional 8 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
More Information
The Operation World book, CD-ROM, and DVD-ROM provide far more information and fuel for prayer for the people of Tajikistan.
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