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Ember Friday
First Lesson
Isaiah 61:1-9
1
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent
me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of
vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them
beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called
trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might
be glorified.
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the
former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the
desolations of many generations.
5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons
of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call
you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the
Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they
shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they
shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.
8 For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering;
and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting
covenant with them.
9 And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their
offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge
them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.
1st Lesson Questions -
Is the Spirit of the Lord (V. 1) upon me? If so, what am I to do with that gift? What AM I doing with the gift? Have the days described in this passage begun? RESOLVE.
Second Lesson
2 Corinthians 3
1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some
others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation
from you?
2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of
all men:
3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of
Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit
of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables
of the heart.
4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing
as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament;
not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth,
but the spirit giveth life.
7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones,
was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly
behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which
glory was to be done away:
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more
doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this
respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that
which remaineth is glorious.
12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness
of speech:
13 And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the
children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that
which is abolished:
14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth
the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament;
which veil is done away in Christ.
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon
their heart.
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall
be taken away.
17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty.
18 But
we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even
as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2nd Lesson Questions -
How can I change today, in order to more closely resemble the image of the glory of the Lord? (V. 18) RESOLVE.