Pastor Jason BauerJanuary 6th 2018
1'Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. 2See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 4'Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm. 5Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. 6Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.
1Of Solomon. Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. 2He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. 3The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. 4He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor. 5He will endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations. 6He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. 7In his days the righteous will flourish; prosperity will abound till the moon is no more. 8He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. 9The desert tribes will bow before him and his enemies will lick the dust. 10The kings of Tarshish and of distant shores will bring tribute to him; the kings of Sheba and Seba will present him gifts. 11All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him. 12For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. 13He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. 14He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight. 15Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him. May people ever pray for him and bless him all day long.
1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles-- 2Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. 7I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. 8Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.' 3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5'In Bethlehem in Judea,' they replied, 'for this is what the prophet has written: 6''But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'' 7Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 'Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.' 9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.