October 7, 2027

13The Need to Serve God - Your words are too much for me, says the LORD. You ask, “What have we spoken against you?” 14You have said, “It is useless to serve God; what do we gain by observing God’s requirements, And by going about as mourners before the LORD of hosts? 15But we call the arrogant blessed; for evildoers not only prosper but even test God and escape.” 16Then those who fear the LORD spoke with one another, and the LORD listened attentively; A record book was written before him of those who fear the LORD and esteem his name. 17They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, my own special possession, on the day when I take action. And I will have compassion on them, as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. 18Then you will again distinguish between the just and the wicked, Between the person who serves God, and the one who does not.

1First Book—Psalms 1–41 Psalm 1 True Happiness in God’s Law I - Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers. 2Rather, the law of the LORD is his joy; and on his law he meditates day and night. 3He is like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season; Its leaves never wither; whatever he does prospers. 4II - But not so are the wicked, not so! They are like chaff driven by the wind. 6Because the LORD knows the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

14One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.

5And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ 7and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ 8I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence. The Answer to Prayer. 9“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? 12Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? 13If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?” Jesus and Beelzebul.