52, 250, 08:22-35

Response Reading: 52. Psalms 119
How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees.
I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.
I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.
If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life.
Save me, for I am yours; I have sought out your precepts.
The wicked are waiting to destroy me, but I will ponder your statutes.
To all perfection I see a limit; but your commands are boundless.
Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.

hymnal 250
1 Down at the cross where my Savior died, down where for cleanisng from sin I cried;
There to my heart was the blood applied; glory to His name
Glory to His name! Glory to His name!
There to my heart was the blood applied; glory to His name!
2 I am so wondrously saved from sin, Jesus so sweetly abides within;
There at the cross where He took me in; Glory to His name!
Glory to His name! Glory to His name!
There to my heart was the blood applied; glory to His name!
3 Oh, precious fountain that saves from sin! I am so glad I have entered in;
There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean; Glory to His name!
Glory to His name! Glory to His name!
There to my heart was the blood applied; glory to His name!
4 Come to this fountain so rich and sweet; Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's feet;]
Plunge in today and be made complete; glory to His name!
Glory to His name! Glory to His name!
There to my heart was the blood applied; glory to His name!

Judges 8:22-35
22  The Israelites said to Gideon, "Rule over us--you, your son and your grandson--because you have saved us out of the hand of Midian."
23 But Gideon told them, "I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you."
24 And he said, "I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder." (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.)
25 They answered, "We'll be glad to give them." So they spread out a garment, and each man threw a ring from his plunder onto it.
26 The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels, not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels' necks.
27 Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.
28 Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon's lifetime, the land enjoyed peace forty years.
29 Jerub-Baal son of Joash went back home to live.
30 He had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives.
31 His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech.
32 Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33 No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and
34 did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.
35 They also failed to show kindness to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) for all the good things he had done for them.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors,
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. amen.