Welcome
to our services today and a special welcome to any who are worshipping with us
for the first time. It was an invitation to prayer in the ten days from the Day
of Ascension to the Day of Pentecost. But that invitation to prayer carries on.
Thy Kingdom Come. It’s right at the heart of the prayer Jesus taught us to
pray. There is something very down to earth about that prayer. Thy kingdom
come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The next time we pray that
prayer let’s be specific in our mind’s eye. Let’s not just think of ‘the earth’
in general. Let’s think of a specific place. Let’s try praying the opening
words of the Lord’s prayer with that place in mind. It could be our nation. It
could be our town. It could be our street. It could be our work place. It could
be our school. It could be our hospital. It could be our house. It could be the
room where I am sitting. It could be beside a particular hospital bed. Thy
kingdom come, thy will be done, here in this place as it is in heaven. This week
we arrive at some of the great passages in the book of Isaiah as we move from
chapter 7 to chapter 9 to chapter 11. His words show what it’s like when God’s
will is done on earth as it is in heaven. It’s in the life and teaching, in the
death and resurrection of the one who taught us that prayer that we can see
what that’s like better than anywhere else!
Welcome
and Call to Worship
457
All hail the power of Jesus’ name
Prayer
and the Lord’s Prayer
Thy
Kingdom Come
A
Hy-Spirit Song
Reading:
Matthew 28:16-20
Hymn:
We shall go out with hope of resurrection
Activities
for all over 3
Thy
will be done
Reading:
Isaiah 9:2,6,7 and 11:1-9
241
Isaiah the prophet
On
earth as it is in heaven
Prayer
and Worship with Hy-Spirit
Prayers
of Concern
456
Christ is the world’s true light
Words
of Blessing
It’s
great to have a focus. The year of the child. The decade of solidarity with …
Maybe
I have taken my eye of the ball. Not been quite so aware of the year of …
recently.
The
problem is at the end of the year the issue is still there. The focus is still
needed.
There
was an invitation to prayer in the ten days from the Day of Ascension to the
Day of Pentecost. But that invitation to prayer carries on. Thy Kingdom Come.
It’s right at the heart of the prayer Jesus taught us to pray. There is
something very down to earth about that prayer. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven.
Extreme
praying – some challenging thoughts from our young people. Interesting places
to go to.
The
next time we pray that prayer let’s be specific in our mind’s eye. Let’s not
just think of ‘the earth’ in general. Let’s think of a specific place. Let’s
try praying the opening words of the Lord’s prayer with that place in mind. It
could be our nation. It could be our town. It could be our street. It could be
our work place. It could be our school. It could be our hospital. It could be
our house. It could be the room where I am sitting. It could be beside a
particular hospital bed. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, here in this place
on earth as it is in heaven.
A
time to share. What place comes to your mind?
Where
in your mind’s eye would you go to pray that prayer?
What
is the prayer we make?
Thy
kingdom come, thy will be done.
What
is God’s will in that place? What does God’s rule look like in that place?
In
some ways the wonder of the Lord’s prayer is that it is all embracing. It
invites us to put that place, those people, those concerns into God’s hands,
trusting that God’s will be done, God’s kingdom come.
The
prophet Isaiah shared his vision, his insight, his prophetic words at a
specific time in the 8th century BC, in a specific location Jerusalem
and the small area around known as Judah, the Southern Kingdom of a divided
Israel.
This
week we arrive at some of the great passages in the book of Isaiah as we move
from chapter 7 to chapter 9 to chapter 11.
He
was speaking at a specific moment, in a specific place powerful words that
speak into a very specific situation. But there was something about those words
that had about them the inspiration of God in a
much wider sense.
Isaiah’s
vision of God’s rule, God’s kingdom, sketches out what God’s rule looks like
when it happens.
This
is what it takes to rule in God’s way for Isaiah.
Some
passages stand out as they go to the heart of the matter and, as it were, map
out what it takes to rule in God’s way.
They
caught the eye of Jesus as he from a young age was steeped in the Scriptures.
He
came to usher in God’s kingdom, God’s way of ruling, the prayer he invited his
followers to pray, the prayer we pray to this day.
It’s
these passages that inspired his ministry. It’s these passages that inspired
his followers. It’s these passages we see brought to fulfilment in Jesus.
This
is what in Isaiah’s view it would take for Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and then Hezekiah to rule as God’s
anointed in a kingdom that would be God’s kingdom in a way that was according
to God’s will. This is what should shape their rule.
This
what shaped Jesus’ whole ministry as he came to bring in God’s kingdom in God’s
way.
Here
in these words we can be on the lookout for what it takes to exercise authority
and power in God’s way as we pray God’s kingdom come
His
words show what it’s like when God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.
It’s in the life and teaching, in the death and resurrection of the one who
taught us that prayer that we can see what that’s like better than anywhere
else!
And
his words are an inspiration in our place in our time.
Again
the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep
as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put
the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too
little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord
himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall
bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the
time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child
knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two
kings you are in dread will be deserted. The Lord will bring on you and on your
people and on your ancestral house such days as have not come since the day
that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.’
God
with us.
A
sense of the strength and the calm,
The
justice and the peace
the
grace and the mercy
…
of the presence of God – in a little child.
And
in Christ it was that presence of God that was so real in him.
As
a young woman gave birth and Jesus was recognized as Emmanuel, God with us.
A
sense of the presence of God with us in the darkness of the world around us.
The
people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those
who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.
For
a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority
rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful
Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His
authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace
for
the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with
justice and with righteousness
from this time onwards and for evermore.
The
zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
That’s
what it takes – that’s what Isaiah’s vision was …
Peace
and Justice and righteousness
A
shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The
spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the
Lord.
His
delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He
shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
but
with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the
earth;
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 around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
The
wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the
calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The
cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The
nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on
the adder’s den.
They
will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for
the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Think
of each location, each place
What
does God’s kingdom look like – the presence of God there
Wonderful
counsel
Peace,
Justice, righteousness
God on the side of those who are vulnerable
Bringing
together those at enmity with each other.
As we turned to prayer we played the artists' for Grenfell single, Like a Bridge over troubled water and then shared a time of prayer together.
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