(Complete) Send Me (Use My Life)

I grew up in a fairly patriotic family / Grandpa was in the military / dad was in Navy / brother was in navy / I served in the Marines / I can remember as child going to ball games / always removing my hat / placing my hand over my heart / facing flag any time our national anthem would play

In thinking about history / one of my favorite presidents speeches I learned about was one given by John F Kennedy / At the time / he was youngest ever elected to that office (before I was alive) / he walked up to the podium / cold January morning / without a hat or coat / giving a speech that was less than 15 minutes long / he delivered a famous speech / challenging future generations with words that still bring chills down my spine when I hear them “Ask not what your country can do for you… Ask what you can do for your country.”

As a boy as I heard those / I felt inspired / Even now those words carry weight / a challenge / an invitation to be a part of something larger than myself / a plea to not only consume / but contribute

Now as a Christian / years later / they mean even more to me / as I consider my life before God / Rather than asking God to serve us / what if we would make ourselves available to Him?

Over years / I have had countless people come up to me / ask me to help pray for them for sickness / or for a lost child / help overcome addiction / healing from shame / its prayers filled with asking God to do something for them / for loved one / Underlying theme is often / God do something for me

Please hear me… we SHOULD pray this way / we should invite God’s presence / Power / Peace to intervene in our lives / We should ask God for miracles / seek Him for our needs.... but we shouldn’t stop there

In spirit of JFK / what if we paraphrase his words a bit “Ask not what God can do for you, but ask God what you can do for Him.”

It’s a dangerous prayer of self denial / of making ourselves available to God / surrendering our WHOLE future / beginning right now / to God / Telling God we are all His / on Call / beginning right now

Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

I. WHEN GOD CALLS

If I were to tell you someone called me the other day / you would probably assume friend or family / church member / tried to reach me (did you know you can still talk to people on phones? Yeah they can do more than text)

Long before phones / Biblical times / there was another kind of call / it was an invitation from God to serve Him / BEGINS WITH

A. COMPLETE SURRENDER

If WWIII broke out today / draft was underway / your phone started ringing / said US Government / it would be very easy to be tempted to not answer / if you did / then think of as many excuses as to why you are not qualified for the draft / for good reasons / unqualified for war / inadequate / unprepared

1. We often respond to God same way / we hear His call / but we make excuses

a. Let me help you out.... God NEVER calls perfect people

As I read WOG / filled with God calling imperfect / flawed / weak / men women / just like you & me

He is looking for people / who would just be willing to be vessels / to make difference for Him

2. We all battle with feeling inadequate / when I do / I remember

a. God called Moses (murderer) / David (adulterer) / Rahab (prostitute)

He also called unusual / insecure / inconsistent people / think about these...

b. Noah (got drunk) / Isaac (daydreamer) / Joseph (was abandoned) / Gideon (afraid) / Jeremiah (too young) Abraham (too old) / Elijah (battled depression) / Naomi (became bitter) / Martha (worrywart) / JTB (ate bugs!)

Not exactly Avengers! Far from super saints / Yet God used them / even though they were not perfect

3. God hasn’t changed / He calls imperfect people / He’s calling YOU

a. Inviting / nudging / prompting you to live beyond yourself / to go / to serve / build / love / fight / pray / give / lead

B. HOW DO YOU RESPOND WHEN GOD CALLS YOU?

1. OT we see 3 responses

a. Most common - Jonah / “here I am Lord, but I am not going”

God saw a need in city of Nineveh / God wanted to reach / sinful people / Jonah was the man!

Jonah was gifted / had power / ability / One problem he didn’t have availability

Jonah 1:2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

b. He tells God “NO”

Jonah 1:3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

I wonder how far he thought he would get!?

Or was he just living in the moment / head in sand / kind of denial to avoid truth

Ever feel like this? God calls you / you think if you ignore it long enough / God will forget / change His mind?

I think we are all guilty here at some point or another.... I can remember a time / driving / passing by elderly lady / most likely needed help / everything in me told me to stop / see if she needed help / no doubt God’s prompting / but I kept driving / Why didn’t I stop? Like we all do / I rationalized it / “I’m sure she is fine” / “She wasn’t waiving me down”

It’s moments like this that haunt me from time to time / Why didn’t I stop? Why didn’t I listen to prompting? For crying out loud I am supposed to be a pastor! But like Jonah its possible to take a selfish posture “Here I am Lord, I am not going”

b. Second response - Moses

Exodus 3:10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

Pretty clear! / No confusion here / couldn’t be more obvious

Rather than living in confidence of his calling / buried by his insecurities / not good enough / must be someone better

Exodus 3:11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

2. We do this / God challenges us to give / we say someone else can give more / we don’t have much ourselves / surely someone better

a. We can be quick to come up with with excuses / reasons

c. Last Response - More of a prayer than a statement (dangerous prayer) ISAIAH

Not safe / not self-centered / requires great faith / will move you to action / may lead you to things not natural or easy

a. Prayer of unreserved availability

God asked “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

Without knowing the details / the when or where / Isaiah said life altering prayer “Here am I. Send me!”

II. All Glory To God

I have heard many reasons people hold back from praying this prayer / over years / things like “I don’t want to end up in Africa, broke, no electricity going to bathroom in hole in the ground” / or / “I just know God will want me to marry some unattractive girl” / or / God forbid “God might want me to do something horrible like be a pastor!” / or / “How can you just tell God you will do whatever He wants, because He can ask you to do something you’d never want to do?”

A. Prayer of Submission is never easy

1. Even harder if you don’t trust God completely

a. Maybe we fail to surrender because we don’t know character of God

If we did / we would actually enjoy praying with such vulnerability

2. Isaiahs prayer was not said while things were going well / He saw God in midst of chaos

Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died… I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

a. Would have been easy to say / in year King Uzziah died / I saw time when all the people lost hope

But he didn’t / He saw God / He experienced God’s presence in mighty way / because He trusted God

It’s in God’s presence / Isaiah is shaken / stunned / as he tries to describe what he sees

Isaiah 6:2–3 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

3. When was last time you had encounter with God / that left you speechless? / Left you in awe of his glory?

a. Too often we treat God casually / familiar with concepts about God / taking Him for grated / unaware of His holiness

God is to AWESOME to treat casually / let His attributes / His grandeur / sink in for moment

Creator of heaven and earth (Gen 14)

Great I am ( Ex 3)

Righteous Father (John 17)

Our fortress of our salvation (Ps 28)

The eternal King (Jer 10)

God of all comfort (2 Cor 1)

God of all grace (1 Pet 5)

He is the Almighty (Gen 49)

Both compassionate / gracious (Ex 34)

A Consuming Fire (Deut 4)

I could go on and on / you need to know something / He is not just our God / He is MY God / If you are saved / He is Your God!

k. He is MY Rock / Stronghold / Comfort / Advocate / Strength / Confidence / Helper / Hiding Place / Refuge / Deliverer

b. If you don’t know God this way / you can!

James 4 / If you draw near to God / He will draw near to you / Jer 29 You will find God when you seek Him with your whole heart

Not a game of hide & seek / He wants you to Know Him

You may feel His presence in supernatural way / but even if you don’t FEEL Him / you can rest assured / He is with you (Faith)

B. Seeing Ourselves For Who We Are

1. When Isaiah was in the presence of God / His view of Himself changed

Always funny / people often go to church for a “feeling” / As a kid / came to church / wanting to see something supernatural / often just waiting for church to be over / get out of these dress clothes / leave get some lunch / Over time / I have figured something out / encounters with God are more than just tingles / warm fuzzy feeling you get when holding a new puppy!

a. Before we can encounter God / we must deal with sin our lives

Isaiahs experience is revealing / He see’s God vs 1-4 / recognizes His sinfulness vs 5 / gets right vs 6-7

Isaiah 6:5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Just saying we are sinners offends so many people today / this is rejected by our culture / just love / accept just way we are

One step further / if we need to change / we will come to that conclusion / do it on our own / no need for Jesus!

2. When we can see how good God IS / it’s when we see how good we are NOT

a. In Presence of God Isaiah did not cry out / How Amazing I am! Holy and perfect like God!

NO / He says I am ruined / I am a dead man / I am undone!

Similar to Moses’ response / when he hid his face

Like Peter / as he fell as Jesus feet / said depart from me / because of my sinfulness

Salvation always begins with an awareness of your need of salvation

3. Nothing will change your life / prayer life / more / than deep appreciation for God’s grace

(If you don’t have a prayer life.... it’s because you don’t recognize / appreciate / grace of God)

a. Isaiah got it / later he quotes God / the one who forgave him

Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.

C. Same God Who Forgives You / Calls you

1. Every day / He has appointments for you / people for you to bless / things to give / opportunities to serve

a. When you are truly surrendered / you will see where he is working

You will see people who need encouragement / He will even give you words to say

D. Daily Prayer

1. Just as Search Me / Break Me are daily prayers / so is Send me

a. Why are they so daily? Because daily we have a battle / between flesh & spirit / daily war wages within you

Paul speak of this battle

Your old nature wanting to do what is easiest / new nature wanting to do what Glorifies God

Galatians 5:17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

2. How do we stop living for ourselves? overcome self-centeredness? Easy… daily surrender / begin to feed the spirit

Anyone here own a pet? Anyone here own a fat pet? Want to know how it became fat? You fed it too much! / Whatever you feed.... will grow!

Who here owns plants? Who here has killed a plant before? Most likely because you forgot to water it / you starved it to death!

a. Want to Feed your spirit / Reading WOG / prayer / fellowship with believers / find ways to serve

b. Starve your flesh / stop reading other “things” / hanging out with sinners

3. I think some people are afraid to say use me / because they think they will end up in a small village in Africa

a. Let me help you.... it’s more likely He is going to call you to be a missionary at your work

b. Sure He could say sell all you have… more likely He will begin to tell you to manage what you have more wisely (tithe / help someone / make difference a little at a time)

It’s often small things .... for others it may be larger things / new city / new nation / foster or adoption / start new ministry / launch new business to / its faith to realize your life is His!

When God uses your life / it’s addicting / you will want more!

Blessings come in our obedience / it’s a thrill to be used by God / but this only happens if you are willing

III. SINGLE ACTS OF FAITH

A. What send me looks like

1. Easy to get into routines / where one day looks just like the next / but God wants to add small things to your life / one by one / simple daily acts of faith

a. Maybe its seeing someone discouraged / instead of ignoring / or even just talking to ...

Maybe it’s writing down some verses / they can look back on / reflect on that will help them

b. Maybe it’s seeing single mom / carefully thumbing coupons / calculating costs on phone / placing things back as she can’t afford them

Wrapping up a few extra dollars inside a note “God cares about you and wants to meet your needs”

2. At first / small things may seem daunting

a. But as you pray Send me / begin to act in small ways / you will see / not only God do things through you

But you will begin to see a change inside of you as well

Look for opportunities to live out your faith

B. Use Every Part of Me

Next part may seem odd at first / but hear me out / Years ago / I would pray a generic / use my life / but after some time / I began to break that down / God use every part of me!

1. Lord I give you my mind / Guard my thoughts / renew it / help me think on things that are pure / excellent / direct it to your will

2. I give you my eyes / protect me from lusting after temporary pleasures of this world / see as you see

3. Guard my ears / help me not to listen to lies of devil / not to listen to voices distracting me from your plan for my life / give me ears to hear your voice

4. Guard my mouth / may every word I speak / have power / life / to point people to you

5. I give you my heart / purify my motives /

6. My hands / may they be your hands in our world today / to be productive / honoring you in work I do

7. My feet / direct them / lead me to place / people I can serve

a. Most days I pray versions of this prayer / I am not saying you need to repeat my prayer word for word

But I hope you will consider surrendering more / more / of yourself to God each day

Maybe start your day in prayer / saying “God may your will be worked through my life today”

No greater joy / to look back / see all the ways / God has worked through your life

2. How will your life change / with simple words “God use me!”

A pastor tells the story of standing at the back of his church / saying hello / goodbye to people as they left / when a guy name Matt / shook his hand / said “Pastor I want you to know my answer is yes!” / then he walked out the door / pastor was puzzled / same thing / Or almost same thing next week ““Pastor I want you to know my answer is yes… but what is the question” / then he walked out the door

Pastor more confused than ever / next week it started to happen again / when pastor wanting clarification grabbed him said “Can we gran coffee this week?” Man said yes of course / I told you my answer will be yes / man put his business card in pastors hand / walked out the door

Later in the week / met up / began talking / man had a life of regrets / pain / Said he was addicted to alcohol / porn / gambling / caused a lot of people a lot of pain / betrayed my wife / crushed my children / I was at rock bottom / when someone from your church invited him

He said at first / I would just come listen / but a few weeks ago / I asked Christ into my life / He changed me

He said thats why I want you to know / my answer will always be yes! / I am making myself available to God / to you / to the church! / If you need money to help single mom… I am your man / If you have a widow needing a ride… I am that driver / My answer is already yes… so just let me know the question.

C. A HEART GOD CAN USE

1. Once God touched Isaiah / his prayer was just as bold / ANYWHERE / ANYTIME / ANY WAY

a. Like signing a blank contract of availability / Telling God to fill in the details

Isaiah didn’t ask God for all the details / it’s why this prayer feels so dangerous!

It’s trusting God / because of who God is

2. If you are sick of safe prayers / tired of living for things that don’t matter / tired of lukewarm christianity… then this prayer is for you

a. Here I am Lord… send me.... use my life!