Bible Readings for December 10, 2020

Let's read the Bible together in the next year. Today our passages Amos 1:1–3:15; Revelation 2:1-17; Psalm 129:1-8; and Proverbs 29:19-20. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. 

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Amos 1-3:15 (The Message)

Amos 1

 ¹ The Message of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa, that he received on behalf of Israel. It came to him in visions during the time that Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam II son of Joash was king of Israel, two years before the big earthquake.

Swallowing the Same Old Lies

 ² The Message:    God roars from Zion,
   shouts from Jerusalem!
The thunderclap voice withers the pastures tended by shepherds,
   shrivels Mount Carmel's proud peak.
 ^3-5 God's Message:
   "Because of the three great sins of Damascus
   —make that four—I'm not putting up with her any longer.
She pounded Gilead to a pulp, pounded her senseless
   with iron hammers and mauls.
For that, I'm setting the palace of Hazael on fire.
   I'm torching Ben-hadad's forts.
I'm going to smash the Damascus gates
   and banish the crime king who lives in Sin Valley,
   the vice boss who gives orders from Paradise Palace.
The people of the land will be sent back
   to where they came from—to Kir."
      God's Decree.
 ^6-8 God's Message:
   "Because of the three great sins of Gaza
   —make that four—I'm not putting up with her any longer.
She deported whole towns
   and then sold the people to Edom.
For that, I'm burning down the walls of Gaza,
   burning up all her forts.
I'll banish the crime king from Ashdod,
   the vice boss from Ashkelon.
I'll raise my fist against Ekron,
   and what's left of the Philistines will die."
      God's Decree.
 ^9-10 God's Message:
   "Because of the three great sins of Tyre
   —make that four—I'm not putting up with her any longer.
She deported whole towns to Edom,
   breaking the treaty she had with her kin.
For that, I'm burning down the walls of Tyre,
   burning up all her forts."
 ^11-12 God's Message:
   "Because of the three great sins of Edom
   —make that four—I'm not putting up with her any longer.
She hunts down her brother to murder him.
   She has no pity, she has no heart.
Her anger rampages day and night.
   Her meanness never takes a timeout.
For that, I'm burning down her capital, Teman,
   burning up the forts of Bozrah."
 ^13-15 God's Message:
   "Because of the three great sins of Ammon
   —make that four—I'm not putting up with her any longer.
She ripped open pregnant women in Gilead
   to get more land for herself.
For that, I'm burning down the walls of her capital, Rabbah,
   burning up her forts.
Battle shouts! War whoops!
   with a tornado to finish things off!
The king has been carted off to exile,
   the king and his princes with him."
         God's Decree. 

Amos 2

 ^1-3 God's Message:
"Because of the three great sins of Moab
   —make that four—I'm not putting up with her any longer.
She violated the corpse of Edom's king,
   burning it to cinders.
For that, I'm burning down Moab,
   burning down the forts of Kerioth.
Moab will die in the shouting,
   go out in the blare of war trumpets.
I'll remove the king from the center
   and kill all his princes with him."
      God's Decree.  ^4-5 God's Message:
   "Because of the three great sins of Judah
   —make that four—I'm not putting up with them any longer.
They rejected God's revelation,
   refused to keep my commands.
But they swallowed the same old lies
   that got their ancestors onto dead-end roads.
For that, I'm burning down Judah,
   burning down all the forts of Jerusalem." 

Destroyed from the Roots Up

 ^6-8 God's Message:    "Because of the three great sins of Israel
   —make that four—I'm not putting up with them any longer.
They buy and sell upstanding people.
   People for them are only things—ways of making money.
They'd sell a poor man for a pair of shoes.
   They'd sell their own grandmother!
They grind the penniless into the dirt,
   shove the luckless into the ditch.
Everyone and his brother sleeps with the 'sacred whore'—
   a sacrilege against my Holy Name.
Stuff they've extorted from the poor
   is piled up at the shrine of their god,
While they sit around drinking wine
   they've conned from their victims.
 ^9-11"In contrast, I was always on your side.
   I destroyed the Amorites who confronted you,
Amorites with the stature of great cedars,
   tough as thick oaks.
I destroyed them from the top branches down.
   I destroyed them from the roots up.
And yes, I'm the One who delivered you from Egypt,
   led you safely through the wilderness for forty years
And then handed you the country of the Amorites
   like a piece of cake on a platter.
I raised up some of your young men to be prophets,
   set aside your best youth for training in holiness.
Isn't this so, Israel?"
   God's Decree.
 ^12-13"But you made the youth-in-training break training,
   and you told the young prophets, 'Don't prophesy!'
You're too much for me.
   I'm hard-pressed—to the breaking point.
I'm like a wagon piled high and overloaded,
   creaking and groaning.
 ^14-15"When I go into action, what will you do?
   There's no place to run no matter how fast you run.
The strength of the strong won't count.
   Fighters won't make it.
Skilled archers won't make it.
   Fast runners won't make it.
Chariot drivers won't make it.
   Even the bravest of all your warriors
Won't make it.
   He'll run off for dear life, stripped naked."
         God's Decree. 

Amos 3

The Lion Has Roared

 ¹ Listen to this, Israel. God is calling you to account—and I mean all of you, everyone connected with the family that he delivered out of Egypt. Listen! ²"Out of all the families on earth,
   I picked you.
Therefore, because of your special calling,
   I'm holding you responsible for all your sins."  ^3-7Do two people walk hand in hand
   if they aren't going to the same place?
Does a lion roar in the forest
   if there's no carcass to devour?
Does a young lion growl with pleasure
   if he hasn't caught his supper?
Does a bird fall to the ground
   if it hasn't been hit with a stone?
Does a trap spring shut
   if nothing trips it?
When the alarm goes off in the city,
   aren't people alarmed?
And when disaster strikes the city,
   doesn't God stand behind it?
The fact is, God, the Master, does nothing
   without first telling his prophets the whole story.
 ⁸The lion has roared—
   who isn't frightened?
God has spoken—
   what prophet can keep quiet?
 ^9-11 Announce to the forts of Assyria,
   announce to the forts of Egypt—
Tell them, "Gather on the Samaritan mountains, take a good, hard look:
   what a snake pit of brutality and terror!
They can't—or won't—do one thing right." God said so.
   "They stockpile violence and blight.
Therefore"—this is God's Word—"an enemy will surround the country.
   He'll strip you of your power and plunder your forts."
 ¹²God's Message:
   "In the same way that a shepherd
   trying to save a lamb from a lion
Manages to recover
   just a pair of legs or the scrap of an ear,
So will little be saved of the Israelites
   who live in Samaria—
A couple of old chairs at most,
   the broken leg of a table.
 ^13-15"Listen and bring witness against Jacob's family"—
   this is God's Word, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
"Note well! The day I make Israel pay for its sins,
   pay for the sin-altars of worship at Bethel,
The horned altars will all be dehorned
   and scattered around.
I'll tear down the winter palace,
   smash the summer palace—all your fancy buildings.
The luxury homes will be demolished,
   all those pretentious houses."
         God's Decree.

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Revelation 2:1-17 (The Message)

Revelation 2

To Ephesus

 ¹ Write this to Ephesus, to the Angel of the church. The One with Seven Stars in his right-fist grip, striding through the golden seven-lights' circle, speaks: ^2-3"I see what you've done, your hard, hard work, your refusal to quit. I know you can't stomach evil, that you weed out apostolic pretenders. I know your persistence, your courage in my cause, that you never wear out.  ^4-5"But you walked away from your first love—why? What's going on with you, anyway? Do you have any idea how far you've fallen? A Lucifer fall!
   "Turn back! Recover your dear early love. No time to waste, for I'm well on my way to removing your light from the golden circle.
 ⁶"You do have this to your credit: You hate the Nicolaitan business. I hate it, too.
 ⁷"Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. I'm about to call each conqueror to dinner. I'm spreading a banquet of Tree-of-Life fruit, a supper plucked from God's orchard." 

To Smyrna

 ⁸Write this to Smyrna, to the Angel of the church. The Beginning and Ending, the First and Final One, the Once Dead and Then Come Alive, speaks:  ⁹"I can see your pain and poverty—constant pain, dire poverty—but I also see your wealth. And I hear the lie in the claims of those who pretend to be good Jews, who in fact belong to Satan's crowd.
 ¹⁰"Fear nothing in the things you're about to suffer—but stay on guard! Fear nothing! The Devil is about to throw you in jail for a time of testing—ten days. It won't last forever.
   "Don't quit, even if it costs you your life. Stay there believing. I have a Life-Crown sized and ready for you.
 ¹¹"Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. Christ-conquerors are safe from Devil-death." 

To Pergamum

 ¹²Write this to Pergamum, to the Angel of the church. The One with the sharp-biting sword draws from the sheath of his mouth—out come the sword words:  ¹³"I see where you live, right under the shadow of Satan's throne. But you continue boldly in my Name; you never once denied my Name, even when the pressure was worst, when they martyred Antipas, my witness who stayed faithful to me on Satan's turf.
 ^14-15"But why do you indulge that Balaam crowd? Don't you remember that Balaam was an enemy agent, seducing Balak and sabotaging Israel's holy pilgrimage by throwing unholy parties? And why do you put up with the Nicolaitans, who do the same thing?
 ¹⁶"Enough! Don't give in to them; I'll be with you soon. I'm fed up and about to cut them to pieces with my sword-sharp words.
 ¹⁷"Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. I'll give the sacred manna to every conqueror; I'll also give a clear, smooth stone inscribed with your new name, your secret new name."

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Psalm 129:1-8 (The Message)

Psalm 129

A Pilgrim Song

 ^1-4 "They've kicked me around ever since I was young" —this is how Israel tells it—
   "They've kicked me around ever since I was young,
      but they never could keep me down.
   Their plowmen plowed long furrows
      up and down my back;
   Then God ripped the harnesses
      of the evil plowmen to shreds."

 ^5-8 Oh, let all those who hate Zion
      grovel in humiliation;
   Let them be like grass in shallow ground
      that withers before the harvest,
   Before the farmhands can gather it in,
      the harvesters get in the crop,
   Before the neighbors have a chance to call out,
      "Congratulations on your wonderful crop!
      We bless you in God's name!"

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Proverbs 29:19-20 (The Message)

 ¹⁹ It takes more than talk to keep workers in line;
   mere words go in one ear and out the other.

 ²⁰ Observe the people who always talk before they think—
   even simpletons are better off than they are.

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Thought for the Day

“Instead, he will choose one of your own people to be a prophet just like me, and you must do what that prophet says.” (Deuteronomy 18:15 - Contemporary English Version) For us, God chose his son to offer guidance and direction. And it's our responsibility to do what he says.

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Quote for the Day

English dramatist, miscellanist, poet and translator, Thomas Holcroft wrote, “Love and a red rose can't be hid.”

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A Joke for Today

An old blind cowboy wanders into an all-girl biker bar by mistake?

He finds his way to a bar stool and orders a shot of Jack Daniels.

After sitting there for a while, he yells to the bartender, “Hey, you wanna hear a blonde joke?”

The bar immediately falls absolutely silent.

In a very deep, husky voice, the woman next to him says, “Before you tell that joke, Cowboy, I think it is only fair, given that you are blind, that you should know five things:

1. The bartender is a blonde girl with a baseball bat. 2. The bouncer is a blonde girl with a ‘Billy-Club’. 3. I’m a 6-foot tall, 175-pound blonde woman with a black belt in karate. 4. The woman sitting next to me is blonde and a professional weight lifter. 5. The lady to your right is blonde and a professional wrestler.

“Now, think about it seriously, Cowboy?. Do you still wanna tell that blonde joke?”

The blind cowboy thinks for a second, shakes his head and mutters, “No, not if I’m gonna have to explain it five times.”

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A Prayer Request

As Christians, we can offer specific daily prayers for our community, nation and world. Below is the need that we're laying before God today.

That those in positions of power might exercise their authority with humility and love.