Matthew 9:27-38 Acts 14 Psalms 22:12-31 Genesis 49

Matthew 9:27-38
Mat 9:27 As Jesus left the house, he was followed by two blind men crying out, "Mercy, Son of David! Mercy on us!"
Mat 9:28 When Jesus got home, the blind men went in with him. Jesus said to them, "Do you really believe I can do this?" They said, "Why, yes, Master!"
Mat 9:29 He touched their eyes and said, "Become what you believe."
Mat 9:30 It happened. They saw. Then Jesus became very stern. "Don't let a soul know how this happened."
Mat 9:31 But they were hardly out the door before they started blabbing it to everyone they met.
Mat 9:32 Right after that, as the blind men were leaving, a man who had been struck speechless by an evil spirit was brought to Jesus.
Mat 9:33 As soon as Jesus threw the evil tormenting spirit out, the man talked away just as if he'd been talking all his life. The people were up on their feet applauding: "There's never been anything like this in Israel!"
Mat 9:34 The Pharisees were left sputtering, "Hocus pocus. It's nothing but hocus pocus. He's probably made a pact with the Devil."
Mat 9:35 Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives.
Mat 9:36 When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd.
Mat 9:37 "What a huge harvest!" he said to his disciples. "How few workers!
Mat 9:38 On your knees and pray for harvest hands!"

Acts 14
Act 14:1 When they got to Iconium they went, as they always did, to the meeting place of the Jews and gave their message. The Message convinced both Jews and non-Jews--and not just a few, either.
Act 14:2 But the unbelieving Jews worked up a whispering campaign against Paul and Barnabas, sowing mistrust and suspicion in the minds of the people in the street.
Act 14:3 The two apostles were there a long time, speaking freely, openly, and confidently as they presented the clear evidence of God's gifts, God corroborating their work with miracles and wonders.
Act 14:4 But then there was a split in public opinion, some siding with the Jews, some with the apostles.
Act 14:5 One day, learning that both the Jews and non-Jews had been organized by their leaders to beat them up,
Act 14:6 they escaped as best they could to the next towns--Lyconia, Lystra, Derbe, and that neighborhood--
Act 14:7 but then were right back at it again, getting out the Message.
Act 14:8 There was a man in Lystra who couldn't walk. He sat there, crippled since the day of his birth.
Act 14:9 He heard Paul talking, and Paul, looking him in the eye, saw that he was ripe for God's work, ready to believe.
Act 14:10 So he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Up on your feet!" The man was up in a flash--jumped up and walked around as if he'd been walking all his life.
Act 14:11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they went wild, calling out in their Lyconian dialect, "The gods have come down! These men are gods!"
Act 14:12 They called Barnabas "Zeus" and Paul "Hermes" (since Paul did most of the speaking).
Act 14:13 The priest of the local Zeus shrine got up a parade--bulls and banners and people lined right up to the gates, ready for the ritual of sacrifice.
Act 14:14 When Barnabas and Paul finally realized what was going on, they stopped them. Waving their arms, they interrupted the parade, calling out,
Act 14:15 "What do you think you're doing! We're not gods! We are men just like you, and we're here to bring you the Message, to persuade you to abandon these silly god-superstitions and embrace God himself, the living God. We don't make God; he makes us, and all of this--sky, earth, sea, and everything in them.
Act 14:16 "In the generations before us, God let all the different nations go their own way.
Act 14:17 But even then he didn't leave them without a clue, for he made a good creation, poured down rain and gave bumper crops. When your bellies were full and your hearts happy, there was evidence of good beyond your doing."
Act 14:18 Talking fast and hard like this, they prevented them from carrying out the sacrifice that would have honored them as gods--but just barely.
Act 14:19 Then some Jews from Antioch and Iconium caught up with them and turned the fickle crowd against them. They beat Paul unconscious, dragged him outside the town and left him for dead.
Act 14:20 But as the disciples gathered around him, he came to and got up. He went back into town and the next day left with Barnabas for Derbe.
Act 14:21 After proclaiming the Message in Derbe and establishing a strong core of disciples, they retraced their steps to Lystra, then Iconium, and then Antioch,
Act 14:22 putting muscle and sinew in the lives of the disciples, urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit, making it clear to them that it wouldn't be easy: "Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times."
Act 14:23 Paul and Barnabas handpicked leaders in each church. After praying--their prayers intensified by fasting--they presented these new leaders to the Master to whom they had entrusted their lives.
Act 14:24 Working their way back through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia
Act 14:25 and preached in Perga. Finally, they made it to Attalia
Act 14:26 and caught a ship back to Antioch, where it had all started--launched by God's grace and now safely home by God's grace. A good piece of work.
Act 14:27 On arrival, they got the church together and reported on their trip, telling in detail how God had used them to throw the door of faith wide open so people of all nations could come streaming in.
Act 14:28 Then they settled down for a long, leisurely visit with the disciples.

Psalms 22:12-31
Psa 22:12 Herds of bulls come at me, the raging bulls stampede,
Psa 22:13 Horns lowered, nostrils flaring, like a herd of buffalo on the move.
Psa 22:14 I'm a bucket kicked over and spilled, every joint in my body has been pulled apart. My heart is a blob of melted wax in my gut.
Psa 22:15 I'm dry as a bone, my tongue black and swollen. They have laid me out for burial in the dirt.
Psa 22:16 Now packs of wild dogs come at me; thugs gang up on me. They pin me down hand and foot,
Psa 22:17 and lock me in a cage--a bag Of bones in a cage, stared at by every passerby.
Psa 22:18 They take my wallet and the shirt off my back, and then throw dice for my clothes.
Psa 22:19 You, GOD--don't put off my rescue! Hurry and help me!
Psa 22:20 Don't let them cut my throat; don't let those mongrels devour me.
Psa 22:21 If you don't show up soon, I'm done for--gored by the bulls, meat for the lions.
Psa 22:22 Here's the story I'll tell my friends when they come to worship, and punctuate it with Hallelujahs:
Psa 22:23 Shout Hallelujah, you God-worshipers; give glory, you sons of Jacob; adore him, you daughters of Israel.
Psa 22:24 He has never let you down, never looked the other way when you were being kicked around. He has never wandered off to do his own thing; he has been right there, listening.
Psa 22:25 Here in this great gathering for worship I have discovered this praise-life. And I'll do what I promised right here in front of the God-worshipers.
Psa 22:26 Down-and-outers sit at GOD's table and eat their fill. Everyone on the hunt for God is here, praising him. "Live it up, from head to toe. Don't ever quit!"
Psa 22:27 From the four corners of the earth people are coming to their senses, are running back to GOD. Long-lost families are falling on their faces before him.
Psa 22:28 GOD has taken charge; from now on he has the last word.
Psa 22:29 All the power-mongers are before him --worshiping! All the poor and powerless, too --worshiping! Along with those who never got it together --worshiping!
Psa 22:30 Our children and their children will get in on this As the word is passed along from parent to child.
Psa 22:31 Babies not yet conceived will hear the good news-- that God does what he says.

Genesis 49
Gen 49:1 Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather around. I want to tell you what you can expect in the days to come."
Gen 49:2 Come together, listen sons of Jacob, listen to Israel your father.
Gen 49:3 Reuben, you're my firstborn, my strength, first proof of my manhood, at the top in honor and at the top in power,
Gen 49:4 But like a bucket of water spilled, you'll be at the top no more, Because you climbed into your father's marriage bed, mounting that couch, and you defiled it.
Gen 49:5 Simeon and Levi are two of a kind, ready to fight at the drop of a hat.
Gen 49:6 I don't want anything to do with their vendettas, want no part in their bitter feuds; They kill men in fits of temper, slash oxen on a whim.
Gen 49:7 A curse on their uncontrolled anger, on their indiscriminate wrath. I'll throw them out with the trash; I'll shred and scatter them like confetti throughout Israel.
Gen 49:8 You, Judah, your brothers will praise you: Your fingers on your enemies' throat, while your brothers honor you.
Gen 49:9 You're a lion's cub, Judah, home fresh from the kill, my son. Look at him, crouched like a lion, king of beasts; who dares mess with him?
Gen 49:10 The scepter shall not leave Judah; he'll keep a firm grip on the command staff Until the ultimate ruler comes and the nations obey him.
Gen 49:11 He'll tie up his donkey to the grapevine, his purebred prize to a sturdy branch. He will wash his shirt in wine and his cloak in the blood of grapes,
Gen 49:12 His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.
Gen 49:13 Zebulun settles down on the seashore; he's a safe harbor for ships, right alongside Sidon.
Gen 49:14 Issachar is one tough donkey crouching between the corrals;
Gen 49:15 When he saw how good the place was, how pleasant the country, He gave up his freedom and went to work as a slave.
Gen 49:16 Dan will handle matters of justice for his people; he will hold his own just fine among the tribes of Israel.
Gen 49:17 Dan is only a small snake in the grass, a lethal serpent in ambush by the road When he strikes a horse in the heel, and brings its huge rider crashing down.
Gen 49:18 I wait in hope for your salvation, GOD.
Gen 49:19 Gad will be attacked by bandits, but he will trip them up.
Gen 49:20 Asher will become famous for rich foods, candies and sweets fit for kings.
Gen 49:21 Naphtali is a deer running free that gives birth to lovely fawns.
Gen 49:22 Joseph is a wild donkey, a wild donkey by a spring, spirited donkeys on a hill.
Gen 49:23 The archers with malice attacked, shooting their hate-tipped arrows;
Gen 49:24 But he held steady under fire, his bow firm, his arms limber, With the backing of the Champion of Jacob, the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.
Gen 49:25 The God of your father--may he help you! And may The Strong God--may he give you his blessings, Blessings tumbling out of the skies, blessings bursting up from the Earth-- blessings of breasts and womb.
Gen 49:26 May the blessings of your father exceed the blessings of the ancient mountains, surpass the delights of the eternal hills; May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the one consecrated among his brothers.
Gen 49:27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; all morning he gorges on his kill, at evening divides up what's left over.
Gen 49:28 All these are the tribes of Israel, the twelve tribes. And this is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each one with his own special farewell blessing.
Gen 49:29 Then he instructed them: "I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
Gen 49:30 the cave in the field of Machpelah facing Mamre in the land of Canaan, the field Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial plot.
Gen 49:31 Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried there; Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried there; I also buried Leah there.
Gen 49:32 The field and the cave were bought from the Hittites."
Gen 49:33 Jacob finished instructing his sons, pulled his feet into bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.