Order, Words, & Voices 11.19.23

Order, Words, & Voices

11.19.23, Still Messy, Isaiah 5:1-7; 11:1- 5

Order

Pre Worship Music

Call to Worship – Song Lynn & Team

He Has Made Me Glad

House of the Lord

Call to Gather/Passage Pettys

Songs Lynn & Team

Is He Worthy

Holy Holy Holy

Prayers for our World & Jesus’ Prayer Mitch

Message Messy Still Rick

Music Gratitude Lynn and Team

Community/Peace Rick

Benediction/Closing Peace Rick

Post Worship Music

Music (slides) Lynn and Team

I will enter His gates
With thanksgiving in my heart
I will enter His courts with praise
I will say this is the day
That the Lord has made
I will rejoice
For He has made me glad

He has made me glad
He has made me glad
I will rejoice for
He has made me glad

We worship the God who was
We worship the God who is
We worship the God who evermore will be
He opened the prison doors
He parted the raging sea
My God He holds the victory yeah

There’s joy in the house of the Lord
There’s joy in the house of the Lord today
And we won’t be quiet
We shout out Your praise
There’s joy in the house of the Lord
Our God is surely in this place
And we won’t be quiet
We shout out Your praise

We sing to the God who heals
We sing to the God who saves
We sing to the God who always makes a way
‘Cause He hung up on that cross
Then He rose up from that grave
My God’s still rolling stones away

(‘Cause) We were the beggars
Now we’re royalty
We were the prisoners
Now we’re running free
We are forgiven accepted
Redeemed by His grace
Let the house of the Lord sing praise

Call to Gather (Slides) Pettys

We gather for a shared moment before God. We gather with countless others in our community, our nation, and around our world on our common path of Becoming.

We gather with those who are in struggles we cannot imagine and in places where suffering permeates to a depth we will never understand.

We gather with those who have rejoiced in victories as well as those whose pain is guarded with a vigilance that is excruciating.

We gather for a moment of rest in our struggles, a moment of refreshment before God, and a moment to remember the hope found in the empty tomb.

We travel a called and yet chosen path. A path of grace and a path of works. May we continue to move forward on our path of becoming as we gather before the God who is God.

Passage Pettys

Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. 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; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

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. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

Isaiah 5:1-7 (ESV)

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Isaiah 11:1- 5 (ESV)

Music (Slides) Lynn and Team

Do you feel the world is broken
We do
Do you feel the shadows deepen
We do But do you know that all the dark
Won’t stop the light from getting through
We do
Do you wish that you could see it all made new
We do

Is all creation groaning
It is
Is a new creation coming
It is
Is the glory of the Lord
To be the light within our midst
It is
Is it good that we remind ourselves of this
It is

Is anyone worthy
Is anyone whole
Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll
The Lion of Judah who conquered the grave
He is David’s Root
And the Lamb who died to ransom the slave

Is He worthy
Is He worthy
Of all blessing and honor and glory
Is He worthy of this
He is

Does the Father truly love us
He does
Does the Spirit move among us
He does
And does Jesus our Messiah
Hold forever those He loves
He does
Does our God intend to dwell again with us
He does

Is anyone worthy Is anyone whole
Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll
The Lion of Judah who conquered the grave

He is David’s Root
And the Lamb who died to ransom the slave
From ev’ry people and tribe every nation and tongue
He has made us a kingdom and priests
To God to reign with the Son

Is He worthy Is He worthy
Of all blessing and honor and glory
Is He worthy
Is He worthy
Is He worthy of this
He is

Is He worthy
Is He worthy
He is He is

Holy holy holy
Lord God Almighty
Early in the morning
Our song shall rise to Thee
Holy holy holy
Merciful and mighty
God in three persons
Blessed Trinity

Holy holy holy
Lord God Almighty
All Thy works shall praise Thy name
In earth and sky and sea
Holy holy holy
Merciful and mighty
God in three persons
Blessed Trinity

Prayer (Slides) Mitch

[Slide] Today, as we pray for Our World, we speak the words of St. Francis of Assisi asking God to show us our role in God’s response to a hurting world. (Leave I Tim slide until Lord’s prayer]

Lord make me an instrument of your peace, where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, let me sow pardon. Where there is doubt, let me sow faith. Where there is despair, let me sow hope. Where there is darkness, let me sow light. And where there is sadness, let me sow joy.Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned. And it’s in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

Please join me in voicing the words of Jesus’ Prayer

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, while we forgive those who trespass against us. And, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Message (Slides) Rick

* Final days os Northern Kingdom – Israel. 753-721 BC

*Israel conquered & exile, 721 BC.

* End of the Northern Kingdom thus end of Divided Israel

*Diaspora is in initial stages

*United Israel will not have self governance again until after WW2 when they have a place again.

*Judah will be conquered by Babylonia in 170 years, 597BC. *Between now and then there will be 10 more Kings, 4 G, 6 E.

*Ch 1-5 God spoke/explained to Isaiah (ch 6 Isaiah called/commissioned, – in 7 Isaiah speaks to rulers & the people). Ch 5 – before good King Uzziah dies – Isaiah says “Here am I, Send Me”.

*Isaiah in south/north begins the same call as Hosea/Amos had in North. ‘Turn back..’

*11 OT prophets still left incl. Isaiah. All speak ‘Turn Back’ message, some before, during, after exile. Isaiah speaks to all 3 time periods.

*Judgement & Hope

* Ch 5 is just before exile of Israel, ch 11 is during/after

We begin our look at Isaiah by beginning with the moment he found himself in the presence of God at a moment of grief as the good King, his relative and Friend, King Uzziah, had died. In his grieve Isaiah himself describes this moment, and God’s calling,

“I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were yelling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’

(imagine the irony of this moment of grief for Isaiah to hear that the whole earth is full of God’s glory. Angels see what we cannot see and cannot understand why we are unable to see)

At the sound of seraphi’s voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. I cried, ‘Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a sinner, and I live among a people of who are also sinners, and here I am in the presence of the Lord, looking at God.’

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

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!’”

Now this moment, this calling, was not out of the blue for Isaiah. God had been preparing him for this moment as seen in the first five chapters of Isaiah. God enlightened the prophet Isaiah about what the job would entail, and the obstinateness of the people he would be called to go to – his own people. Chapter 5 is the climax of God’s description of these people, it is the final lesson before Isaiah signs on the job contract. We see Isaiah’s dramatic and emotional response as he fully grasps the painful reality ahead of going to his own people, people who were just like him. People seldom welcome messages of correction and correction from one of their own – just ask Jesus.

This final lesson for Isaiah is presented in a story of a gardener who built, cared for, and loved his vineyard. The vineyard had been built on the best location possible which provided all the best soil, water and sun. The gardener hoed the soil, pulled the weeds, and planted the very best vines. He provided security to protect the vineyard, he built a winepress for the grapes. His vineyard was a vineyard that was to be the envy of all other vineyard keepers. However, when harvest time finally came the gardener went into his majestic, perfect looking vineyard, he picked the grapes which were expected to be the best of grapes of any vineyard anywhere, instead, he found that the grapes were bitter, useless, they were trash.

This was not the fault of the soil, the soil was the best possible, it was not a problem of unhealthy seeds, these were seeds of the best pedigree, it was not a result of invasive weeds nor it was not a problem with damaging insects or animals trampling the crop – the watchtower had kept a constant and vigilant eye over the vineyard. The garden had been given everything required to produce perfect grapes – and yet the perfect seeds in the perfect soil, located in the perfect location that provided the perfect climate, rainfall, and sun, did not produce the perfect grapes.

The gardener burnt the bad grapes, tore down its fence and let the vineyard go to ruin. He knocked down the gate allowing the garden to be trampled. He permitted it to become a unruly patch of weeds, untended, uncared for, and soon, it became a useless pile of thistles and thorns that would destroy all the grade A provisions invested in the garden. The rains even refused to pour out the nourishing waters.

God explains to Isaiah that the garden, this vineyard, is a honest picture of the people, Isaiah’s people, that the prophet would be speaking to. An unclean, a messy, people just like Isaiah.

You would thinks that is an easy analogy, the failed and messy garden is a representation of the people of the Kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem…however, if you really dive in and attempt to break apart the concept that the garden is at fault, that the garden itself is the villain, it become anything but simple and easy to understand. We tend to think of the garden as being an inanimate being, a perfect piece of earth where the perfect elements are put together to produce the perfect produce, the perfect grapes.

Ask yourself, if every element of the garden, including the location, was perfect, how, in the end, was the garden the villain. It’s a 1 + 1 = 2 question – how can 1 + 1 = equal 3.

God told Isaiah that the vineyard is the men and women of Israel and Judah, ‘God looked for a crop of justice from those he created and saw them murdering each other. God looked for a harvest of righteousness and heard only the moans of victims. And, the worst thing is that these people who God created produced this garbage and they are actually proud of themselves – they are proud of their garden, they are proud of their fruits.’ (Isaiah 5:7)

So what happened to all these perfect elements that produced an imperfect harvest after they were put together. I think the response was…the problem was, the problem is, that each element took their perfection and ran to their own corner of the garden space. They ceased to care about anyone but themselves, they failed to listen to the voices of others. They abused others for their own gain, they failed to live out acts of acceptance, respect, and cooperation with these other elements of the garden. Instead, they became selfish, self-centered, and arrogant in their own self worth.

They had allied with other nations, instead of the other nation of their own promise, they failed to keep watch on the provisions God had given, they failed to try, to make the effort.

The perfect elements of the garden were worthless if they did not recognize the orchestration of the gardener.They dismissed the fact that the gardener had not just put them in the garden, but also, he had added other elements which could, and should have perfected and increased their harvest. But, staying in their own spaces, staying away from those who could improve even the perfection present in their shared space, seeing the others as an element of that could be used and abused, they all became worthless, unproductive, dangerous and shameful. They were all destined for death because their arrogance made them deaf to God’s correction.

God’s response to worthless garden was to proclaim, Doom to you!

God says that, much like the gardener who choses to destroy the garden, God will do the same to the people. BUT, remember that God is a willing God, willing to redeem even when the people have rejected his redemption.

God is the God of Judgement. God is the God of the pronouncement of judgement. God is the willing God of rescue.

But the judgement of God is only a portion of God’s message voiced by Isaiah.Isaiah returns to the garden analogy in chapter 11 we find that the garden is not done, its potential still remains – actually, hope is currently under the surface waiting until the time comes to rise up from the soil.

‘In the garden there shall come forth a shoot, a plant stem, from the stump of Jesse, the father of David, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him (the garden, the Messiah, Jesus), the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.’

Isaiah 11:1-5

There is still life, it just cannot be seen because of the self-inflicted destruction and messiness that is seen on top of the surface. Under the soil, however, life it still there, life is still growing, life is waiting, it is not gone or hopeless. We cannot always see hope even though it is there. We see destruction, we see hatred, we see rejection, we see brutality, we see loneliness, we see isolation – but the hope is there.

The people have or are about to experience war and exile, but the God they had rejected is still pronouncing hope.They could not see it but it was there. The time between hopeless and hope, the time between slavery and freedom, was time that God would use to prepare them to be the garden where a new stem was about to sprout. The nations that conquered them and taken them into slavery would eventually be conquered, the Israelites would be free to return home. There would be reconstruction, there would be community, there would be hope. There would be the Messiah.

May our thanksgiving be the beginning of our looking for the hope that we are missing in our own messiness.

Music (Slides) Lynn and Team

All my words fall short
I got nothing new
How could I express
All my gratitude

I could sing these songs
As I often do
But every song must end
And You never do

So I throw up my hands
And praise You again and again
‘Cause all that I have is a hallelujah hallelujah
And I know it’s not much
But I’ve nothing else fit for a king
Except for a heart singing hallelujah
Hallelujah

I’ve got one response
I’ve got just one move
With my arms stretched wide
I will worship You

Come on my soul
Oh don’t you get shy on me
Lift up your song
‘Cause you’ve got a lion inside of those lungs
Get up and praise the Lord

Community (Slides) Rick

Next Sunday, 1st day of Advent (week early) 11.26.23 @ 10:30am Luke1:1-23, Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19…Devo books available today, Insert with Calendar for devotionals and other resources
Thanksgiving Dinner, Today following morning worship
Christmas Eve, December 24, 4:40pm/5:00pm, No morning worship that day

Benediction (Slides) Rick

We leave this place dependent on the hope proven through the resurrection. We have embraced this path because of God’s extravagant grace. This path connects us to creation as well as the pursuit of becoming the righteousness of the Holy God. We will face the struggles because that is the reality of faith.

We move forward even when we cannot see, we dive in even when the waters appear difficult, we hope even when our despair threatens to consume us, we love because that is the path laid before us.

And, when our faith seems worthless, when hopelessness rules our reality, and when hatred seems to consume our world, we still choose to move forward in trust, to hope in the empty grave, and to love as God loves.

Closing Peace (Slides) Rick

Leader: May the Peace and Hope of the Lord go with you.

Response: And also with you.

Leader: Go in the Peace and Hope of the Lord.

Order, Words, & Voices 11.19.23

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