"Here Am I - Send Me"
Fearsome Faith • Sermon • Submitted
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Imagine
Imagine
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and His robe filled the temple.
Seraphim were standing above Him; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
And one called to another:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts;
His glory fills the whole earth.
The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.
Then I said:
Woe is me for I am ruined
because I am a man of unclean lips
and live among a people of unclean lips,
and because my eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of Hosts.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs.
He touched my mouth with it and said:
Now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed
and your sin is atoned for.
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:
Who should I send?
Who will go for Us?
I said:
Here I am. Send me.
The New Testament want ad:
The New Testament want ad:
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
1. “All authority….” The power of the King’s command.
1. “All authority….” The power of the King’s command.
2. The command is in the plural - “You all.”
2. The command is in the plural - “You all.”
3. Basically summed up as, “You all make more disciples and expert disciples.”
3. Basically summed up as, “You all make more disciples and expert disciples.”
“But...”
“But...”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs.
He touched my mouth with it and said:
Now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed
and your sin is atoned for.
The 85/10/5 rule
The 5% - a simple call
The 5% - a simple call
While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Later...
Later...
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The 10% - Just a bit more direction.
The 10% - Just a bit more direction.
In the church that was at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen, a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
As they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work I have called them to.”
Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off.
The 85% - with a bit of a push
The 85% - with a bit of a push
Saul agreed with putting him to death.
On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria.
Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him.
Saul, however, was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison.
So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the message of good news.
Caution: it is not just about doing...
Caution: it is not just about doing...
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Larry is the forty-one-year-old founding pastor of a rapidly growing church. He and his wife, Rebecca, have been married for twenty years and have four children. In his eighteen years leading the church, the congregation has grown from a core group of a hundred to more than four thousand, with thirty-five staff members. Larry is friendly, easygoing, and loved by his team. Things with the church and his life seemed to be going well until the day he abruptly submitted his resignation to the personnel committee. He said he was burnt out from the last few years, especially after completing a recent capital campaign for a new worship center. It turned out, however, that there was much more to the story. A recent visitor to the church had encountered Larry with another woman at a hotel in a nearby city. And it was not a random encounter, but a three-year, on-again-off-again affair. Larry seemed to think his resignation would somehow prevent the news from being discovered by the church, but it was too late for that. Later, it was also discovered that Larry had accumulated a sizable financial debt in recent years. Larry resigned. His marriage ended. The church was left to pick up the pieces. It’s a sadly familiar story, isn’t it? But there is another aspect to this story that raises issues every Christian leader needs to grapple with. During the three years that Larry’s life was going off the rails, the church was thriving. Attendance increased by seven hundred, many people came to faith in Christ, the giving and the ministry budget increased, and the church’s impact on the community expanded. Larry even preached a popular series on biblical marriage and family life for six weeks during that time. Somehow, the church experienced short-term “success” even when something was terribly wrong at the leadership level. But after Larry’s resignation, the church swiftly spiraled downward. People felt betrayed and deceived. Fingers were pointed. Resources and energies once devoted to outreach were redirected to helping people within the church grieve and heal. The budget was slashed by 40 percent. This meant that ministries both locally and internationally were discontinued or radically cut back.
Scazzero, Peter. The Emotionally Healthy Leader (pp. 115-116). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
People do extraordinary things by being inspired.
People do extraordinary things by being inspired.
Why we love moms
Why we love moms
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy,
fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal.
Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.
Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,
who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
as something to be used for His own advantage.
Instead He emptied Himself
by assuming the form of a slave,
taking on the likeness of men.
And when He had come as a man
in His external form,
He humbled Himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—
even to death on a cross.
For this reason God highly exalted Him
and gave Him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow —
of those who are in heaven and on earth
and under the earth —
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.
Do everything without grumbling and arguing,
so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world.
“Here am I! Send me.”
“Here am I! Send me.”
Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons approached Him with her sons. She knelt down to ask Him for something.
“What do you want?” He asked her.
“Promise,” she said to Him, “that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right and the other on Your left, in Your kingdom.”
But Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?”
“We are able,” they said to Him.
He told them, “You will indeed drink My cup. But to sit at My right and left is not Mine to give; instead, it belongs to those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”
When the 10 disciples heard this, they became indignant with the two brothers.
But Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and the men of high position exercise power over them.
It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave;
just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many.”
