Lessons                                                                       Bread of Life                                                          8 February 2025

Isaiah 6:1–8

         ₁In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ₂Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ₃And one called to another and said:

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!"

₄And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. ₅And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"

         ₆Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ₇And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."

         ₈And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."

Psalm 138

₁I give you thanks, O Lord, with | my whole heart;*

         before the gods I | sing your praise;

₂I bow down toward your holy temple

         and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your | faithfulness,*

         for you have exalted above all things

         your name | and your word.

₃On the day I called, you | answered me;*

         my strength of soul | you increased.

₄All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, | O Lord,*

         for they have heard the words | of your mouth,

₅and they shall sing of the ways | of the Lord,*

         for great is the glory | of the Lord.

₆For though the Lord is high, he regards the | lowly,*

         but the haughty he knows | from afar.

₇Though I walk in the midst of trouble,

         you pre- | serve my life;*

you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,

         and your right hand de- | livers me.

₈The Lord will fulfill his pur- | pose for me;*

         your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.

         Do not forsake the work | of your hands.

1 Corinthians 14:12b–20

         Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

         ₁₃Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. ₁₄For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. ₁₅What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. ₁₆Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say "Amen" to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? ₁₇For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. ₁₈I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. ₁₉Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

         ₂₀Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

Luke 5:1–11

         ₁On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on [Jesus] to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, ₂and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ₃Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. ₄And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." ₅And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." ₆And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. ₇They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ₈But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." ₉For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, ₁₀and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." ₁₁And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.