Weekday Boost May 11

Weekday Boost

New Testament: Acts 2:16-36

16This is what is spoken of in the prophet Joel –

17‘It will come about in the last days,’ God says,

‘That I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity;

Your sons and your daughters will become prophets,

Your young men will see visions,

And your old men dream dreams;

18Yes, even on the slaves – for they are mine – both men and women,

I will in those days pour out my Spirit,

And they will become prophets;

19And I will show wonders in the heavens above,

And signs on the earth below –

Blood and fire and mist of smoke;

20The sun will become darkness,

And the moon blood-red,

Before the day of the Lord comes – that great and awful day.

21Then will everyone who invokes the name of the Lord be saved.’

22People of Israel, listen to what I am saying. Jesus of Nazareth, a man whose mission from God to you was proved by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God showed among you through him, as you know full well – 23He, I say, in accordance with God’s definite plan and with his previous knowledge, was betrayed, and you, by the hands of lawless men, nailed him to a cross and put him to death. 24But God released him from the pangs of death and raised him to life, it being impossible for death to retain its hold on him. 25Indeed he was the one David was referring to when he said –

‘I have had the Lord ever before my eyes,

For he stands at my right hand, so that I should not be disquieted.

26Therefore my heart was cheered, and my tongue told its delight;

Yes, even my body, too, will rest in hope;

27For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,

Nor surrender me, your holy one, to undergo corruption.

28You have shown me the path to life,

You will fill me with gladness in your presence.’

29Friends, I can speak to you the more confidently about the patriarch David, because he is dead and buried, and his tomb is here among us to this very day. 30David, then, prophet as he was, knowing that God had solemnly sworn to him to set one of his descendants on his throne, looked into the future, 31and referred to the resurrection of the Christ when he said that he had not been abandoned to Hades, nor had his body undergone corruption. 32It was this Jesus, whom God raised to life; and of that we are ourselves all witnesses. 33And now that he has been exalted to the right hand of God, and has received from the Father the promised gift of the Holy Spirit, he has begun to pour out that gift, as you yourselves now see and hear. 34It was not David who went up into heaven; for he himself says –

‘The Lord said to my master, “Sit on my right hand,

35Until I put your enemies as a footstool under your feet.”’

36So let the whole nation of Israel know beyond all doubt, that God has made him both Lord and Christ – this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Witness Thursday Story: Moroccans Who Secretly Converted to Christianity Demand the Right to Openly Practice Their Faith
Hymn for the Day: Our children, Lord, in faith and prayer

Author: Thomas Haweis

1 Our children, Lord, in faith and prayer,
we baptize in your name.
Let them your covenant mercies share
as we our faith proclaim.

2 Such children you did once embrace
while dwelling here below;
to us and ours, O Lord of grace,
the same compassion show.

3 In all their days their hearts secure
from sinful snares, we pray.
Throughout their lives let them endure
in every righteous way.