Sunday, August 4 | St. Andrew's Anglican Church

Psalm 34

¹ I will bless the Lord at all times;
    his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
²My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
    let the humble hear and be glad.
³Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
    and let us exalt his name together!
⁴I sought the Lord, and he answered me
    and delivered me from all my fears.
⁵Those who look to him are radiant,
    and their faces shall never be ashamed.
⁶This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
    and saved him out of all his troubles.
⁷The angel of the Lord encamps
    around those who fear him, and delivers them.
⁸Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
    Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
⁹Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,
    for those who fear him have no lack!
¹⁰The young lions suffer want and hunger;
    but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
¹¹Come, O children, listen to me;
    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
¹²What man is there who desires life
    and loves many days, that he may see good?
¹³Keep your tongue from evil
    and your lips from speaking deceit.
¹⁴Turn away from evil and do good;
    seek peace and pursue it.
¹⁵The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
    and his ears toward their cry.
¹⁶The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
    to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
¹⁷When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
    and delivers them out of all their troubles.
¹⁸The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
    and saves the crushed in spirit.
¹⁹Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
    but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
²⁰He keeps all his bones;
    not one of them is broken.
²¹Affliction will slay the wicked,
    and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
²²The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
    none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Psalm 93

¹The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty;
    the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt.
    Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
²Your throne is established from of old;
    you are from everlasting.
³The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
    the floods have lifted up their voice;
    the floods lift up their roaring.
⁴Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
    mightier than the waves of the sea,
    the Lord on high is mighty!
⁵Your decrees are very trustworthy;
    holiness befits your house,
    O Lord, forevermore.

Psalm 96

¹ Oh sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth!
²Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
    tell of his salvation from day to day.
³Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous works among all the peoples!
⁴For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
⁵For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
⁶Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
⁷Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
⁸Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering, and come into his courts!
⁹Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;
    tremble before him, all the earth!
¹⁰Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!
    Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
    he will judge the peoples with equity.”
¹¹Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
    let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
¹² let the field exult, and everything in it!
    Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
¹³ before the Lord, for he comes,
    for he comes to judge the earth.
    He will judge the world in righteousness,
    and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Judges 6:1-24

¹The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. ²And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. ³For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. ⁴They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. ⁵For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in. ⁶And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord. ⁷When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, ⁸the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. ⁹And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. ¹⁰And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.” ¹¹Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. ¹²And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” ¹³And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” ¹⁴And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” ¹⁵And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” ¹⁶And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” ¹⁷And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. ¹⁸Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.” ¹⁹So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. ²⁰And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. ²¹Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. ²²Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” ²³But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” ²⁴Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

⁶The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ⁷Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. ⁹As it is written,
“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”
¹⁰He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. ¹²For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. ¹³By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, ¹⁴while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. ¹⁵Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Mark 3:20-30

²⁰Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. ²¹And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.” ²²And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” ²³And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. ²⁷But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. ²⁸“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, ²⁹but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”