Sunday 4 September 2016

13For what man will know the counsel of God?Or who will conceive what the Lord wills?14For the thoughts of mortals are unstable,and our plans are prone to fail.15For a corruptible body weighs down the soul.The earthy tent burdens a mind that is full of cares.16We can hardly guess the things that are on earth,and we find the things that are close at hand with labor;but who has traced out the things that are in the heavens?17Who gained knowledge of your counsel, unless you gave wisdom,and sent your holy spirit from on high?18It was thus that the ways of those who are on earth were corrected,and men were taught the things that are pleasing to you.They were saved through wisdom.”

3You turn man to destruction, saying,“Return, you children of men.”4For a thousand years in your sight are just like yesterday when it is past,like a watch in the night.

5You sweep them away as they sleep.In the morning they sprout like new grass.6In the morning it sprouts and springs up.By evening, it is withered and dry.

12So teach us to count our days,that we may gain a heart of wisdom.13Relent, Lord!How long?Have compassion on your servants!

14Satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness,that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.17Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us.Establish the work of our hands for us.Yes, establish the work of our hands.

9yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you,being such a one as Paul,the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.10I appeal to you for my child Onesimus,whom I have become the father of in my chains,· · · verse 11 is not read12I am sending him back.Therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,13whom I desired to keep with me,that on your behalf he might serve me in my chains for the Good News.14But I was willing to do nothing without your consent,that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will.15For perhaps he was therefore separated from you for awhile that you would have him forever,16no longer as a slave,but more than a slave,a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much rather to you,both in the flesh and in the Lord.

17If then you count me a partner,receive him as you would receive me.

25Now great multitudes were going with him.He turned and said to them,26“If anyone comes to me,and doesn’t disregard his own father,mother, wife, children,brothers, and sisters,yes, and his own life also,he can’t be my disciple.27Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross and come after me,can’t be my disciple.28For which of you, desiring to build a tower,doesn’t first sit down and count the cost,to see if he has enough to complete it?29Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundationand isn’t able to finish,everyone who sees begins to mock him,30saying, ‘This man began to buildand wasn’t able to finish.’31Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war,will not sit down firstand consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet himwho comes against him with twenty thousand?32Or else, while the other is yet a great way off,he sends an envoy and asks for conditions of peace.33So therefore, whoever of youwho doesn’t renounce all that he has,he can’t be my disciple.