Call stories in the Bible can be radically different. This week, we will look at two of these stories. The first is Isaiah’s story found in Isaiah 6:1-13 and the calling of Peter, James, and John found in Luke 5:1-11. As we hear these stories, pay attention to what was expected of each of these individuals – it’s probably not what you think! God may be calling you to do the unexpected! How will you respond to God’s call? The message will be titled “Willing Workers.”
See you Sunday.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jim
Isaiah: 6:1-13
A Vision of God in the Temple
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 The pivots[a] on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 The seraph[b] touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” 9 And he said, “Go and say to this people:
‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend;keep looking, but do not understand.’10 Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes,so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears,and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed.”11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said:“Until cities lie waste without inhabitant,and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate;12 until the Lord sends everyone far away, and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.13 Even if a tenth part remain in it, it will be burned again,like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains standing when it is felled.”[c]The holy seed is its stump.
Luke 5:1-11
The Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard
5 Let me sing for my beloved
my love-song concerning his vineyard:My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.2 He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines;he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it;he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,judge between me and my vineyard.4 What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured;I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.6 I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting;he expected justice, but saw bloodshed;righteousness, but heard a cry!
Social Injustice Denounced
8 Ah, you who join house to house, who add field to field,until there is room for no one but you, and you are left to live alone in the midst of the land!9 The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah.[a]
11 Ah, you who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink,who linger in the evening to be inflamed by wine,
9am Service:
10:30am Service:
