“Zion Signal” – a call to the faithful wherever they are scattered.
Order of Worship
“Let all things be done decently and in order.”
– 1 Corinthians 14:40
Welcome & Call to Worship
Psalm 145:1-12
A psalm of praise of David.
1
I will exalt you, my God and King,
and praise your name forever and ever.
2
I will praise you every day;
yes, I will praise you forever.
3
Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!
No one can measure his greatness.
4
Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts;
let them proclaim your power.
5
I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor
and your wonderful miracles.
6
Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue;
I will proclaim your greatness.
7
Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness;
they will sing with joy about your righteousness.
8
The Lord is merciful and compassionate,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9
The Lord is good to everyone.
He showers compassion on all his creation.
10
All of your works will thank you, Lord,
and your faithful followers will praise you.
11
They will speak of the glory of your kingdom;
they will give examples of your power.
12
They will tell about your mighty deeds
and about the majesty and glory of your reign.
Scripture Reading
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Matthew 3:4-12
4 John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey. 5 People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John. 6 And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.
7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. 9 Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”
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Isaiah 6:1-8
Isaiah’s Cleansing and Call
1 It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!”4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”
I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
Prayer of the People
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Prayer of the People ~
Responsive prayer and intercession for our community, nation, and world.
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried.
The third day He rose from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Church Universal,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.Amen.
Announcements & Testimonies
Updates from the Empowerment Temple family. Share what the Lord is doing in your life.
Offering & Giving
Benediction
Beloved, the Lord still asks, Whom shall I send?
And the answer still requires fire.
Isaiah’s coal touched lips; John’s fire tested hearts.
We cannot preach repentance with unclean mouths or hollow fruit.
But when the Spirit cleanses us, when the ax cuts what is rotten, when the coal burns what is false, then we too can rise to say:
Here am I. Send me.
May our lips be purified, our lives bear fruit, and our witness blaze with holy fire.
Amen.
Prayer Works
Submit Prayer Request for this who are sick, shut in or simply in need of prayer.
Preamble
Isaiah’s vision unfolds in the shadow of a king’s death. In the year Uzziah fell, Isaiah saw the Lord rise. Smoke filled the temple, seraphim cried holy, and the prophet collapsed under the weight of his own unclean lips. Only a burning coal could cleanse him; only then could he rise to answer, Here am I. Send me.
Centuries later, John the Baptizer thundered by the Jordan. His cry was as sharp as Isaiah’s vision: repentance is not a ceremony but a life that proves itself in fruit. Heritage is no shield, titles are no refuge. The ax is already at the root, the winnowing fork already raised.
Together, Isaiah’s coal and John’s fire remind us that holiness is not a sentiment but a searing reality. Lips must be purified, roots must be judged, fruit must be gathered. Only then can we carry God’s message into a broken world. And yet—even in the midst of fire and coal—God gives sweetness to replace bitterness, as when a child is born and named for what the soul longs for. In my own life, the gift of that truth: sweetness breaking through sorrow, a reminder that God still turns bitter waters sweet.