10 July 2022 Sunday Morning Service
Bible
Isaiah 40:1-11
Luke 3:1-20
Isaiah
40:1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
40:2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.
40:3 A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
40:4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
40:5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
40:6 A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.
40:7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass.
40:8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
40:9 You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”
40:10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.
40:11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.
Luke
3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar–when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene–
3:2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert.
3:3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
3:4 As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.
3:5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.
3:6 And all mankind will see God’s salvation.'”
3:7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
3:8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
3:9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
3:10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
3:11 John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”
3:12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
3:13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
3:14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely–be content with your pay.”
3:15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ.
3:16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
3:17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
3:18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.
3:19 But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done,
3:20 Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.