Matthew 8:23-34 Acts 12 Psalms 20 Genesis 44-45

Matthew 8:23-34
Mat 8:23 Then he got in the boat, his disciples with him.
Mat 8:24 The next thing they knew, they were in a severe storm. Waves were crashing into the boat--and he was sound asleep!
Mat 8:25 They roused him, pleading, "Master, save us! We're going down!"
Mat 8:26 Jesus reprimanded them. "Why are you such cowards, such faint-hearts?" Then he stood up and told the wind to be silent, the sea to quiet down: "Silence!" The sea became smooth as glass.
Mat 8:27 The men rubbed their eyes, astonished. "What's going on here? Wind and sea come to heel at his command!"
Mat 8:28 They landed in the country of the Gadarenes and were met by two madmen, victims of demons, coming out of the cemetery. The men had terrorized the region for so long that no one considered it safe to walk down that stretch of road anymore.
Mat 8:29 Seeing Jesus, the madmen screamed out, "What business do you have giving us a hard time? You're the Son of God! You weren't supposed to show up here yet!"
Mat 8:30 Off in the distance a herd of pigs was browsing and rooting.
Mat 8:31 The evil spirits begged Jesus, "If you kick us out of these men, let us live in the pigs."
Mat 8:32 Jesus said, "Go ahead, but get out of here!" Crazed, the pigs stampeded over a cliff into the sea and drowned.
Mat 8:33 Scared to death, the swineherds bolted. They told everyone back in town what had happened to the madmen and the pigs.
Mat 8:34 Those who heard about it were angry about the drowned pigs. A mob formed and demanded that Jesus get out and not come back.

Acts 12
Act 12:1 That's when King Herod got it into his head to go after some of the church members.
Act 12:2 He murdered James, John's brother.
Act 12:3 When he saw how much it raised his popularity ratings with the Jews, he arrested Peter--all this during Passover Week, mind you--
Act 12:4 and had him thrown in jail, putting four squads of four soldiers each to guard him. He was planning a public lynching after Passover.
Act 12:5 All the time that Peter was under heavy guard in the jailhouse, the church prayed for him most strenuously.
Act 12:6 Then the time came for Herod to bring him out for the kill. That night, even though shackled to two soldiers, one on either side, Peter slept like a baby. And there were guards at the door keeping their eyes on the place. Herod was taking no chances!
Act 12:7 Suddenly there was an angel at his side and light flooding the room. The angel shook Peter and got him up: "Hurry!" The handcuffs fell off his wrists.
Act 12:8 The angel said, "Get dressed. Put on your shoes." Peter did it. Then, "Grab your coat and let's get out of here."
Act 12:9 Peter followed him, but didn't believe it was really an angel--he thought he was dreaming.
Act 12:10 Past the first guard and then the second, they came to the iron gate that led into the city. It swung open before them on its own, and they were out on the street, free as the breeze. At the first intersection the angel left him, going his own way.
Act 12:11 That's when Peter realized it was no dream. "I can't believe it--this really happened! The Master sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's vicious little production and the spectacle the Jewish mob was looking forward to."
Act 12:12 Still shaking his head, amazed, he went to Mary's house, the Mary who was John Mark's mother. The house was packed with praying friends.
Act 12:13 When he knocked on the door to the courtyard, a young woman named Rhoda came to see who it was.
Act 12:14 But when she recognized his voice--Peter's voice!--she was so excited and eager to tell everyone Peter was there that she forgot to open the door and left him standing in the street.
Act 12:15 But they wouldn't believe her, dismissing her, dismissing her report. "You're crazy," they said. She stuck by her story, insisting. They still wouldn't believe her and said, "It must be his angel."
Act 12:16 All this time poor Peter was standing out in the street, knocking away. Finally they opened up and saw him--and went wild!
Act 12:17 Peter put his hands up and calmed them down. He described how the Master had gotten him out of jail, then said, "Tell James and the brothers what's happened." He left them and went off to another place.
Act 12:18 At daybreak the jail was in an uproar. "Where is Peter? What's happened to Peter?"
Act 12:19 When Herod sent for him and they could neither produce him nor explain why not, he ordered their execution: "Off with their heads!" Fed up with Judea and Jews, he went for a vacation to Caesarea.
Act 12:20 But things went from bad to worse for Herod. Now people from Tyre and Sidon put him on the warpath. But they got Blastus, King Herod's right-hand man, to put in a good word for them and got a delegation together to iron things out. Because they were dependent on Judea for food supplies, they couldn't afford to let this go on too long.
Act 12:21 On the day set for their meeting, Herod, robed in pomposity, took his place on the throne and regaled them with a lot of hot air.
Act 12:22 The people played their part to the hilt and shouted flatteries: "The voice of God! The voice of God!"
Act 12:23 That was the last straw. God had had enough of Herod's arrogance and sent an angel to strike him down. Herod had given God no credit for anything. Down he went. Rotten to the core, a maggoty old man if there ever was one, he died.
Act 12:24 Meanwhile, the ministry of God's Word grew by leaps and bounds.
Act 12:25 Barnabas and Saul, once they had delivered the relief offering to the church in Jerusalem, went back to Antioch. This time they took John with them, the one they called Mark.

Psalms 20
Psa 20:1 A David psalm. GOD answer you on the day you crash, The name God-of-Jacob put you out of harm's reach,
Psa 20:2 Send reinforcements from Holy Hill, Dispatch from Zion fresh supplies,
Psa 20:3 Exclaim over your offerings, Celebrate your sacrifices,
Psa 20:4 Give you what your heart desires, Accomplish your plans.
Psa 20:5 When you win, we plan to raise the roof and lead the parade with our banners. May all your wishes come true!
Psa 20:6 That clinches it--help's coming, an answer's on the way, everything's going to work out.
Psa 20:7 See those people polishing their chariots, and those others grooming their horses? But we're making garlands for GOD our God.
Psa 20:8 The chariots will rust, those horses pull up lame-- and we'll be on our feet, standing tall.
Psa 20:9 Make the king a winner, GOD; the day we call, give us your answer.

Genesis 44-45
Gen 44:1 Joseph ordered his house steward: "Fill the men's bags with food--all they can carry--and replace each one's money at the top of the bag.
Gen 44:2 Then put my chalice, my silver chalice, in the top of the bag of the youngest, along with the money for his food." He did as Joseph ordered.
Gen 44:3 At break of day the men were sent off with their donkeys.
Gen 44:4 They were barely out of the city when Joseph said to his house steward, "Run after them. When you catch up with them, say, 'Why did you pay me back evil for good?
Gen 44:5 This is the chalice my master drinks from; he also uses it for divination. This is outrageous!'"
Gen 44:6 He caught up with them and repeated all this word for word.
Gen 44:7 They said, "What is my master talking about? We would never do anything like that!
Gen 44:8 Why, the money we found in our bags earlier, we brought back all the way from Canaan--do you think we'd turn right around and steal it back from your master?
Gen 44:9 If that chalice is found on any of us, he'll die; and the rest of us will be your master's slaves."
Gen 44:10 The steward said, "Very well then, but we won't go that far. Whoever is found with the chalice will be my slave; the rest of you can go free."
Gen 44:11 They outdid each other in putting their bags on the ground and opening them up for inspection.
Gen 44:12 The steward searched their bags, going from oldest to youngest. The chalice showed up in Benjamin's bag.
Gen 44:13 They ripped their clothes in despair, loaded up their donkeys, and went back to the city.
Gen 44:14 Joseph was still at home when Judah and his brothers got back. They threw themselves down on the ground in front of him.
Gen 44:15 Joseph accused them: "How can you have done this? You have to know that a man in my position would have discovered this."
Gen 44:16 Judah as spokesman for the brothers said, "What can we say, master? What is there to say? How can we prove our innocence? God is behind this, exposing how bad we are. We stand guilty before you and ready to be your slaves--we're all in this together, the rest of us as guilty as the one with the chalice."
Gen 44:17 "I'd never do that to you," said Joseph. "Only the one involved with the chalice will be my slave. The rest of you are free to go back to your father."
Gen 44:18 Judah came forward. He said, "Please, master; can I say just one thing to you? Don't get angry. Don't think I'm presumptuous--you're the same as Pharaoh as far as I'm concerned.
Gen 44:19 You, master, asked us, 'Do you have a father and a brother?'
Gen 44:20 And we answered honestly, 'We have a father who is old and a younger brother who was born to him in his old age. His brother is dead and he is the only son left from that mother. And his father loves him more than anything.'
Gen 44:21 "Then you told us, 'Bring him down here so I can see him.'
Gen 44:22 We told you, master, that it was impossible: 'The boy can't leave his father; if he leaves, his father will die.'
Gen 44:23 "And then you said, 'If your youngest brother doesn't come with you, you won't be allowed to see me.'
Gen 44:24 "When we returned to our father, we told him everything you said to us.
Gen 44:25 So when our father said, 'Go back and buy some more food,'
Gen 44:26 we told him flatly, 'We can't. The only way we can go back is if our youngest brother is with us. We aren't allowed to even see the man if our youngest brother doesn't come with us.'
Gen 44:27 "Your servant, my father, told us, 'You know very well that my wife gave me two sons.
Gen 44:28 One turned up missing. I concluded that he'd been ripped to pieces. I've never seen him since.
Gen 44:29 If you now go and take this one and something bad happens to him, you'll put my old gray, grieving head in the grave for sure.'
Gen 44:30 "And now, can't you see that if I show up before your servant, my father, without the boy, this son with whom his life is so bound up,
Gen 44:31 the moment he realizes the boy is gone, he'll die on the spot. He'll die of grief and we, your servants who are standing here before you, will have killed him.
Gen 44:32 And that's not all. I got my father to release the boy to show him to you by promising, 'If I don't bring him back, I'll stand condemned before you, Father, all my life.'
Gen 44:33 "So let me stay here as your slave, not this boy. Let the boy go back with his brothers.
Gen 44:34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? Oh, don't make me go back and watch my father die in grief!"
Gen 45:1 Joseph couldn't hold himself in any longer, keeping up a front before all his attendants. He cried out, "Leave! Clear out--everyone leave!" So there was no one with Joseph when he identified himself to his brothers.
Gen 45:2 But his sobbing was so violent that the Egyptians couldn't help but hear him. The news was soon reported to Pharaoh's palace.
Gen 45:3 Joseph spoke to his brothers: "I am Joseph. Is my father really still alive?" But his brothers couldn't say a word. They were speechless--they couldn't believe what they were hearing and seeing.
Gen 45:4 "Come closer to me," Joseph said to his brothers. They came closer. "I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5 But don't feel badly, don't blame yourselves for selling me. God was behind it. God sent me here ahead of you to save lives.
Gen 45:6 There has been a famine in the land now for two years; the famine will continue for five more years--neither plowing nor harvesting.
Gen 45:7 God sent me on ahead to pave the way and make sure there was a remnant in the land, to save your lives in an amazing act of deliverance.
Gen 45:8 So you see, it wasn't you who sent me here but God. He set me in place as a father to Pharaoh, put me in charge of his personal affairs, and made me ruler of all Egypt.
Gen 45:9 "Hurry back to my father. Tell him, 'Your son Joseph says: I'm master of all of Egypt. Come as fast as you can and join me here.
Gen 45:10 I'll give you a place to live in Goshen where you'll be close to me--you, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and anything else you can think of.
Gen 45:11 I'll take care of you there completely. There are still five more years of famine ahead; I'll make sure all your needs are taken care of, you and everyone connected with you--you won't want for a thing.'
Gen 45:12 "Look at me. You can see for yourselves, and my brother Benjamin can see for himself, that it's me, my own mouth, telling you all this.
Gen 45:13 Tell my father all about the high position I hold in Egypt, tell him everything you've seen here, but don't take all day--hurry up and get my father down here."
Gen 45:14 Then Joseph threw himself on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.
Gen 45:15 He then kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Only then were his brothers able to talk with him.
Gen 45:16 The story was reported in Pharaoh's palace: "Joseph's brothers have come." It was good news to Pharaoh and all who worked with him.
Gen 45:17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Tell your brothers, 'This is the plan: Load up your pack animals; go to Canaan,
Gen 45:18 get your father and your families and bring them back here. I'll settle you on the best land in Egypt--you'll live off the fat of the land.'
Gen 45:19 "Also tell them this: 'Here's what I want you to do: Take wagons from Egypt to carry your little ones and your wives and load up your father and come back.
Gen 45:20 Don't worry about having to leave things behind; the best in all of Egypt will be yours.'"
Gen 45:21 And they did just that, the sons of Israel. Joseph gave them the wagons that Pharaoh had promised and food for the trip.
Gen 45:22 He outfitted all the brothers in brand-new clothes, but he gave Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver and several suits of clothes.
Gen 45:23 He sent his father these gifts: ten donkeys loaded with Egypt's best products and another ten donkeys loaded with grain and bread, provisions for his father's journey back.
Gen 45:24 Then he sent his brothers off. As they left he told them, "Take it easy on the journey; try to get along with each other."
Gen 45:25 They left Egypt and went back to their father Jacob in Canaan.
Gen 45:26 When they told him, "Joseph is still alive--and he's the ruler over the whole land of Egypt!" he went numb; he couldn't believe his ears.
Gen 45:27 But the more they talked, telling him everything that Joseph had told them and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him back, the blood started to flow again--their father Jacob's spirit revived.
Gen 45:28 Israel said, "I've heard enough--my son Joseph is still alive. I've got to go and see him before I die."