30

MAY

PSALM 68:1-10, 32-35 GOD HAS ASCENDED

1 May God arise, may his enemies be scattered; may his foes flee before him. 2 May you blow them away like smoke – as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God. 3 But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. 4 Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him – his name is the Lord. 5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. 6 God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. 7 When you, God, went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, 8 the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. 9 You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance. 10 Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, God, you provided for the poor. 32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord, 33 to him who rides across the highest heavens, the ancient heavens, who thunders with mighty voice. 34 Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the heavens. 35 You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!

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29

MAY

HEBREWS 12:1-3 LET US FIX OUR EYES ON JESUS

1. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2. fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

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28

MAY

HEBREWS 1:1-4 AT THE RIGHT HAND OF MAJESTY

1. God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2. in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4. having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

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27

MAY

EPHESIANS 4:8-10 ASCENDED ON HIGH

8. Therefore it says, ``WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN." 9. (Now this expression, ``He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10. He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)

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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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