AME Zion Universal Reading October 3rd 2021

Psalm 100:title–5 (NLT): A psalm of thanksgiving.

1 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!

2 Worship the Lord with gladness.

Come before him, singing with joy.

3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God!

He made us, and we are his.

We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;

go into his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 For the Lord is good.

His unfailing love continues forever,

and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Psalm 9:1–12 (NLT): 1 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;

I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.

2 I will be filled with joy because of you.

I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.

3 My enemies retreated;

they staggered and died when you appeared.

4 For you have judged in my favor;

from your throne you have judged with fairness.

5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;

you have erased their names forever.

6 The enemy is finished, in endless ruins;

the cities you uprooted are now forgotten.

7 But the Lord reigns forever,

executing judgment from his throne.

8 He will judge the world with justice

and rule the nations with fairness.

9 The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed,

a refuge in times of trouble.

10 Those who know your name trust in you,

for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.

11 Sing praises to the Lord who reigns in Jerusalem.

Tell the world about his unforgettable deeds.

12 For he who avenges murder cares for the helpless.

He does not ignore the cries of those who suffer.

Monday

Ecclesiastes 3:16–22 (NLT): The Injustices of Life

16 I also noticed that under the sun there is evil in the courtroom. Yes, even the courts of law are corrupt! 17 I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all their deeds.”

18 I also thought about the human condition—how God proves to people that they are like animals. 19 For people and animals share the same fate—both breathe and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless! 20 Both go to the same place—they came from dust and they return to dust. 21 For who can prove that the human spirit goes up and the spirit of animals goes down into the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is our lot in life. And no one can bring us back to see what happens after we die.

Tuesday

Psalm 7:8–17 (NLT): 8 The Lord judges the nations.

Declare me righteous, O Lord,

for I am innocent, O Most High!

9 End the evil of those who are wicked,

and defend the righteous.

For you look deep within the mind and heart,

O righteous God.

10 God is my shield,

saving those whose hearts are true and right.

11 God is an honest judge.

He is angry with the wicked every day.

12 If a person does not repent,

God will sharpen his sword;

he will bend and string his bow.

13 He will prepare his deadly weapons

and shoot his flaming arrows.

14 The wicked conceive evil;

they are pregnant with trouble

and give birth to lies.

15 They dig a deep pit to trap others,

then fall into it themselves.

16 The trouble they make for others backfires on them.

The violence they plan falls on their own heads.

17 I will thank the Lord because he is just;

I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.

Wednesday

Amos 5:21–27 (NLT):

21 “I hate all your show and pretense—

the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.

22 I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings.

I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings.

23 Away with your noisy hymns of praise!

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

24 Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice,

an endless river of righteous living.

25 “Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, Israel? 26 No, you served your pagan gods—Sakkuth your king god and Kaiwan your star god—the images you made for yourselves. 27 So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of Heaven’s Armies.

Thursday

Matthew 12:14–21 (NLT):

14 Then the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus.

Jesus, God’s Chosen Servant

15 But Jesus knew what they were planning. So he left that area, and many people followed him. He healed all the sick among them, 16 but he warned them not to reveal who he was. 17 This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning him:

18 “Look at my Servant, whom I have chosen.

He is my Beloved, who pleases me.

I will put my Spirit upon him,

and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

19 He will not fight or shout

or raise his voice in public.

20 He will not crush the weakest reed

or put out a flickering candle.

Finally he will cause justice to be victorious.

21 And his name will be the hope

of all the world.”

Friday

Psalm 9:13–20 (NLT): 13 Lord, have mercy on me.

See how my enemies torment me.

Snatch me back from the jaws of death.

14 Save me so I can praise you publicly at Jerusalem’s gates,

so I can rejoice that you have rescued me.

15 The nations have fallen into the pit they dug for others.

Their own feet have been caught in the trap they set.

16 The Lord is known for his justice.

The wicked are trapped by their own deeds.

Quiet Interlude

17 The wicked will go down to the grave.

This is the fate of all the nations who ignore God.

18 But the needy will not be ignored forever;

the hopes of the poor will not always be crushed.

19 Arise, O Lord!

Do not let mere mortals defy you!

Judge the nations!

20 Make them tremble in fear, O Lord.

Let the nations know they are merely human.

Saturday

Luke 4:14–21 (NLT): Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

14 Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about him spread quickly through the whole region. 15 He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

16 When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. 17 The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,

that the blind will see,

that the oppressed will be set free,

19 and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

20 He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. 21 Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”