Wednesday 26 January 2022

1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God,according to the promise of the lifewhich is in Christ Jesus,2to Timothy, my beloved child:Grace, mercy, and peace,from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3I thank God, whom I serve as my forefathers did,with a pure conscience.How unceasing is my memory of you in my petitions, night and day4longing to see you,remembering your tears,that I may be filled with joy;5having been reminded of the sincere faith that is in you,which lived first in your grandmother Loisand your mother Eunice and,I am persuaded, in you also.

6For this cause, I remind youthat you should stir up the gift of Godwhich is in you through the laying on of my hands.7For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear,but of power, love, and self-control.8Therefore don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,nor of me his prisoner;but endure hardship for the Good News according to the power of God,

1Sing to the Lord a new song!Sing to the Lord, all the earth.2Sing to the Lord!

2Bless his name!Proclaim his salvation from day to day!3Declare his glory among the nations,his marvelous works among all the peoples.

7Ascribe to the Lord, you families of nations,ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.8Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name.Bring an offering, and come into his courts.

10Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”The world is also established.It can’t be moved.He will judge the peoples with equity.

1Again he began to teach by the seaside.A great multitude was gathered to him,so that he entered into a boat in the sea and sat down.All the multitude were on the land by the sea.2He taught them many things in parables,and told them in his teaching,3“Listen! Behold, the farmer went out to sow.4As he sowed, some seed fell by the road,and the birds came and devoured it.5Others fell on the rocky ground,where it had little soil,and immediately it sprang up,because it had no depth of soil.6When the sun had risen, it was scorched;and because it had no root, it withered away.7Others fell among the thorns,and the thorns grew up and choked it,and it yielded no fruit.8Others fell into the good ground and yielded fruit,growing up and increasing.Some produced thirty times,some sixty times, and some one hundred times as much.”9He said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

10When he was alone,those who were around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.11He said to them, “To you is given the mystery of God’s Kingdom,but to those who are outside,all things are done in parables,12that ‘seeing they may see and not perceive,and hearing they may hear and not understand,lest perhaps they should turn again,and their sins should be forgiven them.’”

13He said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable?How will you understand all of the parables?14The farmer sows the word.15The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown;and when they have heard,immediately Satan comes and takes away the wordwhich has been sown in them.16These in the same way are thosewho are sown on the rocky places,who, when they have heard the word,immediately receive it with joy.17They have no root in themselves, but are short-lived.When oppression or persecution arises because of the word,immediately they stumble.18Others are those who are sown among the thorns.These are those who have heard the word,19and the cares of this age,and the deceitfulness of riches,and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word,and it becomes unfruitful.20Those which were sown on the good ground are those who hear the word,accept it, and bear fruit,some thirty times,some sixty times, and some one hundred times.”