Testing for Sept 13 - New Life Church

Isaiah 12-14

Songs of Praise

12 In that day you will say:

“I will praise you, LORD.
    Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
    and you have comforted me.
²Surely God is my salvation;
    I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense;
    he has become my salvation.”
³With joy you will draw water
    from the wells of salvation.

⁴In that day you will say:

“Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name;
    make known among the nations what he has done,
    and proclaim that his name is exalted.
⁵Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things;
    let this be known to all the world.
⁶Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
    for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

A Prophecy Against Babylon

13 A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

²Raise a banner on a bare hilltop,
    shout to them;
beckon to them
    to enter the gates of the nobles.
³I have commanded those I prepared for battle;
    I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath—
    those who rejoice in my triumph.

⁴Listen, a noise on the mountains,
    like that of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,
    like nations massing together!
The LORD Almighty is mustering
    an army for war.
⁵They come from faraway lands,
    from the ends of the heavens—
the LORD and the weapons of his wrath—
    to destroy the whole country.

⁶Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;
    it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
⁷Because of this, all hands will go limp,
    every heart will melt with fear.
⁸Terror will seize them,
    pain and anguish will grip them;
    they will writhe like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each other,
    their faces aflame.

⁹See, the day of the LORD is coming
    —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land desolate
    and destroy the sinners within it.
¹⁰The stars of heaven and their constellations
    will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened
    and the moon will not give its light.
¹¹I will punish the world for its evil,
    the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
    and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
¹²I will make people scarcer than pure gold,
    more rare than the gold of Ophir.
¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
    and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the LORD Almighty,
    in the day of his burning anger.

¹⁴Like a hunted gazelle,
    like sheep without a shepherd,
they will all return to their own people,
    they will flee to their native land.
¹⁵Whoever is captured will be thrust through;
    all who are caught will fall by the sword.
¹⁶Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
    their houses will be looted and their wives violated.

¹⁷See, I will stir up against them the Medes,
    who do not care for silver
    and have no delight in gold.
¹⁸Their bows will strike down the young men;
    they will have no mercy on infants,
    nor will they look with compassion on children.
¹⁹Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms,
    the pride and glory of the Babylonians,
will be overthrown by God
    like Sodom and Gomorrah.
²⁰She will never be inhabited
    or lived in through all generations;
there no nomads will pitch their tents,
    there no shepherds will rest their flocks.
²¹But desert creatures will lie there,
    jackals will fill her houses;
there the owls will dwell,
    and there the wild goats will leap about.
²²Hyenas will inhabit her strongholds,
    jackals her luxurious palaces.
Her time is at hand,
    and her days will not be prolonged.

14 The LORD will have compassion on Jacob;
    once again he will choose Israel
    and will settle them in their own land.
Foreigners will join them
    and unite with the descendants of Jacob.
²Nations will take them
    and bring them to their own place.
And Israel will take possession of the nations
    and make them male and female servants in the LORD’s land.
They will make captives of their captors
    and rule over their oppressors.

³On the day the LORD gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you,⁴you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:

How the oppressor has come to an end!
    How his fury has ended!
⁵The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked,
    the scepter of the rulers,
⁶which in anger struck down peoples
    with unceasing blows,
and in fury subdued nations
    with relentless aggression.
⁷All the lands are at rest and at peace;
    they break into singing.
⁸Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon
    gloat over you and say,
“Now that you have been laid low,
    no one comes to cut us down.”

⁹The realm of the dead below is all astir
    to meet you at your coming;
it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—
    all those who were leaders in the world;
it makes them rise from their thrones—
    all those who were kings over the nations.
¹⁰They will all respond,
    they will say to you,
“You also have become weak, as we are;
    you have become like us.”
¹¹All your pomp has been brought down to the grave,
    along with the noise of your harps;
maggots are spread out beneath you
    and worms cover you.

¹²How you have fallen from heaven,
    morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
    you who once laid low the nations!
¹³You said in your heart,
    “I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
    above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
    on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
¹⁴I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.”
¹⁵But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
    to the depths of the pit.

¹⁶Those who see you stare at you,
    they ponder your fate:
“Is this the man who shook the earth
    and made kingdoms tremble,
¹⁷the man who made the world a wilderness,
    who overthrew its cities
    and would not let his captives go home?”

¹⁸All the kings of the nations lie in state,
    each in his own tomb.
¹⁹But you are cast out of your tomb
    like a rejected branch;
you are covered with the slain,
    with those pierced by the sword,
    those who descend to the stones of the pit.
Like a corpse trampled underfoot,
²⁰    you will not join them in burial,
for you have destroyed your land
    and killed your people.

Let the offspring of the wicked
    never be mentioned again.
²¹Prepare a place to slaughter his children
    for the sins of their ancestors;
they are not to rise to inherit the land
    and cover the earth with their cities.

²²“I will rise up against them,”
    declares the LORD Almighty.
“I will wipe out Babylon’s name and survivors,
    her offspring and descendants,”
declares the LORD.
²³“I will turn her into a place for owls
    and into swampland;
I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,”
    declares the LORD Almighty.

²⁴The LORD Almighty has sworn,

“Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,
    and as I have purposed, so it will happen.
²⁵I will crush the Assyrian in my land;
    on my mountains I will trample him down.
His yoke will be taken from my people,
    and his burden removed from their shoulders.”

²⁶This is the plan determined for the whole world;
    this is the hand stretched out over all nations.
²⁷For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?
    His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?

A Prophecy Against the Philistines

²⁸This prophecy came in the year King Ahaz died:

²⁹Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
    that the rod that struck you is broken;
from the root of that snake will spring up a viper,
    its fruit will be a darting, venomous serpent.
³⁰The poorest of the poor will find pasture,
    and the needy will lie down in safety.
But your root I will destroy by famine;
    it will slay your survivors.

³¹Wail, you gate! Howl, you city!
    Melt away, all you Philistines!
A cloud of smoke comes from the north,
    and there is not a straggler in its ranks.
³²What answer shall be given
    to the envoys of that nation?
“The LORD has established Zion,
    and in her his afflicted people will find refuge.”

2 Corinthians 13:1-13

Final Warnings

13 This will be my third visit to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”²I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time. I now repeat it while absent: On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others,³since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you.⁴For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you.

⁵Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?⁶And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.⁷Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not so that people will see that we have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed.⁸For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.⁹We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is that you may be fully restored.¹⁰This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.

Final Greetings

¹¹Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

¹²Greet one another with a holy kiss.¹³All God’s people here send their greetings.

Daily Devotional

by Larry Stockstill