MAC KIRK

  The First Lesson (Second Set of Propers) Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32 The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying, What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions

  Times of Testing   * Isaiah 58   Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that

 The Way of Love OT- Deuteronomy 10:12-15,17-11:1; I Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 18:31-43 Quinquagesima ( Pre Way of the Cross which begins WED or Lent)  I Corinthians 13  A More Excellent Way     This chapter of Scripture hardly needs any introduction.  Its uses are practical right now in our lives.  We need to be exhorted and encouraged to follow this way of doing things for in the end we will feel better about ourselves and God will be pleased.     Luther summed it up well when he said on this passage, “ Justification of necessity precedes love.  One does not love until he has become godly and righteous. Love does not make us godly, but when one has become godly love is the result.”    We learn first that “ nothing beats love.”  Vs 1-3  The Apostle starts out with a series of hypothetical impossibilities.  “ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass , or a tinkling cymbal.”  And having the tongues things will not impress

  2 nd Sunday before Lent – Patience   with   God, Ourselves & Others The Epistle 2 Corinthians xi. 19. YE suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heath