GENESIS 8: 1 – 19

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and tame animals with him in the boat. God made a wind blow over the earth. And the water went down. The underground springs stopped flowing. And the clouds in the sky stopped pouring down rain.

The water that covered the earth began to go down. After one hundred and fifty days the water had gone down so much that the boat touched land again.

It came to rest on one of the mountains of Ararat. This was on the seventeenth day of the seventh month.

The water continued to go down. By the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains could be seen.

Forty days later Noah opened the window he had made in the boat. He sent out a raven. It flew here and there until the water had dried up from the earth.

Then Noah sent out a dove. This was to find out if the water had dried up from the ground.

The dove could not find a place to land because water still covered the earth. So it came back to the boat. Noah reached out his hand and took the bird. And he brought it back into the boat.

After seven days Noah again sent out the dove from the boat. And that evening it came back to him with a fresh olive leaf in its mouth. Then Noah knew that the ground was almost dry.

Seven days later he sent the dove out again. But this time it did not come back.

Noah was now six hundred and one years old. It was the first day of the first month of that year. The water was dried up from the land. Noah removed the covering of the boat and saw that the land was dry. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the land was completely dry.

Then God said to Noah, “You and your wife, your sons and their wives should go out of the boat. Bring every animal out of the boat with you — the birds, animals and everything that crawls on the earth. Let them have many young ones and let them grow in number.”

So Noah went out with his sons, his wife and his sons’ wives.  Every animal, everything that crawls on the earth and every bird went out of the boat. They left by families.

PSALM 31: 1 - 5  

1 In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;

    do not let me ever be put to shame;

    in your righteousness deliver me.

2 Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily.

   Be a rock of refuge for me a strong fortress to save me.

3 You are indeed my rock and my fortress;

    for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,

4 take me out of the net that is hidden for me,

    for you are my refuge.

5 Into your hand I commit my spirit;

    you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit;

as it was in the beginning is now,

and shall be for ever.   Amen

Acts 7:55-end

55 Filled with the Holy Spirit, Stephen gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

56 ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’

57 But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him.

58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

59 While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’

60 Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice,  ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died.*

JOHN 14:1-14

14 ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe* in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?* 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4And you know the way to the place where I am going.’* 5Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ 6Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you know me, you will know* my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

8 Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ 9Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If in my name you ask me* for anything, I will do it.