Lessons for June 11, 2006 – Holy Trinity Sunday The first lesson Isaiah 6:1-8 In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2Hovering around him were mighty seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with the remaining two they flew. 3In a great chorus they sang, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty! The whole earth is filled with his glory!" 4The glorious singing shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire sanctuary was filled with smoke. 5Then I said, "My destruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of a sinful race. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!" 6Then one of the seraphim flew over to the altar, and he picked up a burning coal with a pair of tongs. 7He touched my lips with it and said, "See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven." 8Then I heard the Lord asking, "Whom should I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go for us?" And I said, "Lord, I'll go! Send me." (NLT) Psalm 29 L. Give honor to the Lord, you angels; give honor to the Lord for his glory and strength. C. Give honor to the Lord for the glory of his name. L. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. C. The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea. L. The God of glory thunders. The Lord thunders over the mighty sea. C. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. L. The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars; the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon. C. He makes Lebanon's mountains skip like a calf and Mount Hermon to leap like a young bull. L. The voice of the Lord strikes with lightning bolts. C. The voice of the Lord makes the desert quake; the Lord shakes the desert of Kadesh. L. The voice of the Lord twists mighty oaks and strips the forests bare. C. In his Temple everyone shouts, "Glory!" L. The Lord rules over the floodwaters. C. The Lord reigns as king forever. L. The Lord gives his people strength. C. The Lord blesses them with peace. (NLT) The second lesson Romans 8:12-17 So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live. 14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family—calling him "Father, dear Father." 16For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children. 17And since we are his children, we will share his treasures—for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. (NLT) The Gospel Lesson John 3:1-17 After dark one evening, a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a Pharisee, 2came to speak with Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are proof enough that God is with you." 3Jesus replied, "I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God." 4"What do you mean?" exclaimed Nicodemus. "How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?" 5Jesus replied, "The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. 7So don't be surprised at my statement that you must be born again. 8Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit." 9"What do you mean?" Nicodemus asked. 10Jesus replied, "You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don't understand these things? 11I assure you, I am telling you what we know and have seen, and yet you won't believe us. 12But if you don't even believe me when I tell you about things that happen here on earth, how can you possibly believe if I tell you what is going on in heaven? 13For only I, the Son of Man, have come to earth and will return to heaven again. 14And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so I, the Son of Man, must be lifted up on a pole, 15so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life. 16"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. (NLT)