Open Word

FIRST READING

Numbers 21:4-9

Verse 4. Then they set out from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, in order to bypass the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient on the journey Verse 5. and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!” Verse 6. So the LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died. Verse 7. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so He will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses interceded for the people. Verse 8. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.” Verse 9. So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. If anyone who was bitten looked at the bronze snake, he would live.

PSALM

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.

Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy

and gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

Fools, in their rebellious ways, and through their iniquities, suffered affliction.

They loathed all food and drew near to the gates of death.

Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress.

He sent forth His word and healed them; He rescued them from the Pit.

Let them give thanks to the LORD for His loving devotion and His wonders to the sons of men.

Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing.

SECOND READING

Ephesians 2:1-10

Verse 1. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, Verse 2. in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Verse 3. All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath. Verse 4. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, Verse 5. made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! Verse 6. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, Verse 7. in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Verse 8. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, Verse 9. not by works, so that no one can boast. Verse 10. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

GOSPEL

John 3:14-21

Verse 14. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, Verse 15. that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. Verse 16. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Verse 17. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Verse 18. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. Verse 19. And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. Verse 20. Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. Verse 21. But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.”