Today's Readings and Stuff -- Sunday, 20 July 2014

Dear Wife is still in bed and she's hurting.  Looks like a bladder or kidney infection in addition to the other matters.  I found an old package of Azo, which she takes for her occasional bladder infections that come when she has to take antibiotics for one of the other maladies.  So off to doctor in morning.
So I was at church services alone this morning, again. 

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The Old Testament reading is Psalms 31, 32, and 33.

Psalm 31 

1	In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.
2	Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.
3	For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.
4	Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.
5	Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.
6	I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD.
7	I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;
8	And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.
9	Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.
10	For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.
11	I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.
12	I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.
13	For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.
14	But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.
15	My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.
16	Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake.
17	Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.
18	Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
19	Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!
20	Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
21	Blessed be the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city.
22	For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.
23	O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.
24	Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

Psalm 32

1	Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2	Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
3	When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
4	For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
5	I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
6	For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
7	Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
8	I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
9	Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
10	Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
11	Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

Psalm 33

1	Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.
2	Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.
3	Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.
4	For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.
5	He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
6	By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
7	He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
8	Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
9	For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.
10	The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.
11	The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
12	Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
13	The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.
14	From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.
15	He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.
16	There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
17	An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.
18	Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;
19	To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
20	Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.
21	For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.
22	Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.

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The New Testament reading is verses 15-40 of Acts 21.

Acts 21:15-40

15	And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem.
16	There went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea, and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge.
17	And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.
18	And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.
19	And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.
20	And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
21	And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.
22	What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come.
23	Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them;
24	Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law.
25	As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.
26	Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.
27	And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him,
28	Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place.
29	(For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.)
30	And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: and forthwith the doors were shut.
31	And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
32	Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them: and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul.
33	Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was, and what he had done.
34	And some cried one thing, some another, among the multitude: and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle.
35	And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people.
36	For the multitude of the people followed after, crying, Away with him.
37	And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek?
38	Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?
39	But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.
40	And when he had given him licence, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,