26

MAY

1 PETER 4:12-14, 5:6-11 SUFFERING FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN

12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

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25

MAY

ACTS 1:6-14 MATTHIAS REPLACES JUDAS

6. So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ``Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7. He said to them, ``It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8. but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." 9. And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11. They also said, ``Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." 12. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. 13. When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. 14. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

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24

MAY

JOHN 17:1-11 JESUS PRAYS FOR HIS DISCIPLES

1. Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, ``Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2. even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3. ``This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4. ``I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. 5. ``Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. 6. ``I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7. ``Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8. for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. 9. ``I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; 10. and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11. ``I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.

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23

MAY

PSALM 66:8-20 PRAISE BE TO GOD

8. Bless our God, O peoples, And sound His praise abroad, 9. Who keeps us in life And does not allow our feet to slip. 10. For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined. 11. You brought us into the net; You laid an oppressive burden upon our loins. 12. You made men ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water, Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance. 13. I shall come into Your house with burnt offerings; I shall pay You my vows, 14. Which my lips uttered And my mouth spoke when I was in distress. 15. I shall offer to You burnt offerings of fat beasts, With the smoke of rams; I shall make an offering of bulls with male goats. Selah. 16. Come and hear, all who fear God, And I will tell of what He has done for my soul. 17. I cried to Him with my mouth, And He was extolled with my tongue. 18. If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear; 19. But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. 20. Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me.

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22

MAY

ACTS 17:22-31 GOD COMMANDS PEOPLE TO REPENT

22. So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, ``Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23. ``For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, `TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24. ``The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25. nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26. and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27. that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28. for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, `For we also are His children.' 29. ``Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. 30. ``Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31. because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."

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21

MAY

ACTS 1:1-11 THE ASCENSION OF JESUS

1. The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2. until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. 3. To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. 4. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, ``Which," He said, ``you heard of from Me; 5. for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." 6. So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ``Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7. He said to them, ``It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8. but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." 9. And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11. They also said, ``Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."

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20

MAY

1 PETER 3:13-22 YOU ARE BLESSED

13. Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? 14. But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, 15. but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; 16. and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. 17. For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. 18. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19. in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20. who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. 21. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you--not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience--through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22. who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.

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19

MAY

JOHN 16:5-16 THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

5. ``But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, `Where are You going?' 6. ``But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7. ``But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8. ``And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9. concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10. and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11. and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. 12. ``I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13. ``But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14. ``He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15. ``All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. 16. ``A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me."

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18

MAY

JOHN 14:23-27 THE SPIRIT WILL TEACH YOU

23. Jesus answered and said to him, ``If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. 24. ``He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me. 25. ``These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. 26. ``But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. 27. ``Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

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