Chosen Text: Judges 4:4-10 The introduction of Deborah NRSV Version 4 At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. 6 She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. 7 I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’” 8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” 9 And she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up ...

  The Allegory of Hagar and Sarah 21 Tell me, you who desire to be subject to the law, will you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by an enslaved woman and the other by a free woman. 23 One, the child of the enslaved woman, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise. 24 Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia [ a ] and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written, “Rejoice, you childless one, you who bear no children,      burst into song and shout, you who endure no birth pangs, for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous      than the children of the on...

Lahoma Howard May 2023 Text - Matthew 25:14-30 The Parable of the Talents 14  “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them;  15  to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. At once  16  the one who had received the five talents went off and traded with them and made five more talents.  17  In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents.  18  But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.  19  After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.  20  Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’  21  His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and...