PowerPoint

Jack Graham: God calls us and then having chosen us, He uses us. And it is an incredible experience to be used of God. Can I say that God wants to use every child of God to impact and influence people for Christ and our culture, to mark and make a difference in our world today?

Now it's true that God uses imperfect people and God uses unlikely people. The call of God means that we are all summoned to serve. Every call of God originates from Him. It was God who called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees and directed him to go to a place he had never seen. He didn't know the direction or how he was going to get there, but by faith Abraham responded to the call of God and God blessed him and made him father of a nation.

Moses on the backside of the desert, estranged at one point from God and isolated from his people, and yet one day he was drawn into the presence of God at a bush that continued to burn. And there the great I AM called him and commissioned him to deliver a nation. That was God's call.

David was a shepherd boy in the fields, an unlikely person to lead the nation of Israel. And yet he had a heart for God and God knew his heart. And so God called him, appointed, and anointed him for service. Nehemiah was living in comfort and had a responsible position of service to the King of Persia when God called him and gave him a burden for the people of Israel and the brokenness of their lives and of the walls of the great city, and God called this man Nehemiah and raised him up to lift up the walls and return the glory of God to the people of Israel.

Jesus called out those men, those disciples. Again, unlikely choices. Common men, every one of them. A number of them fishermen who he met along the Sea of Galilee. He called them according to the Scriptures to be with Him. That's the first call always. Not to go for Him, but to be with Him. And ultimately He sent those disciples to the ends of the earth to share the Gospel.

It was the Holy Spirit who set aside Paul and Barnabas to be the first missionaries. He called them and the church commissioned them and they went. You see all of these, we could go on and on, of men and women who were called of God and were greatly used of God. Not self-anointed, not self-appointed, but God-anointed.

God calls and uses people in various ways, but He wants you to be a volunteer. But to be a volunteer you must first have a great vision. And that vision we're going to talk about is a familiar passage to many of us this morning. It's one of my favorite passages in all of the Word of God. It's found in Isaiah 6, and we're going to read verses 1 to 9.

In 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 and above 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. And one called to another and said, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called and the house was filled with smoke.

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

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And then I said, "Here am I! Send me." And He said, "Go and say this to the people." God calls, God chooses and uses a certain kind of person. What kind? Number one: those who experience the presence of the Lord personally. Isaiah saw the Lord. It was first a vision and then a visitation in his own life.

How did he experience, how do we experience today the presence of God in our lives? Well, for one it's clear that we meet God in adversity. It was in the year King Uzziah died. Uzziah had served as king for 52 years and for the most part he had been a favorable king, a good king. But now the throne of Israel is empty and the nation is in an uproar. It is up-tight, concerned about the future.

Isaiah himself is burdened and so he goes to the temple and there in the temple, worshiping God in adversity, he discovers the presence of God in a powerful way, in a way that he had never experienced it before. Have you noticed as you read through the Scriptures this is often the case? It's when we come to a time of brokenness and personal pain in our lives, a crisis, whether it's a crisis in our finances, a crisis in our family, one of the kids is away from God or the marriage is broken, or perhaps it's a health crisis, an issue.

When we seek the Lord, unfortunately often when life is good and we're coasting we don't seek God the way we ought to seek God. But how many times are we brought to the end of ourselves and in our sorrow or in our brokenness, in our pain, we are brought into the presence of Christ when we seek Him. It happened when that prodigal son left his father's house, but it was his emptiness, it was his brokenness that caused him to rise up and say "I must go to the father's house."

How about that lady who had a blood disease and she had tried everything and she had spent all of her money on the doctors and every cure and nothing. And finally she was driven into the presence of Jesus. Over and over again we see it and we've experienced it in our own lives, haven't we? God uses broken people. In fact, I believe it is impossible for God to mightily use any of us until we're first broken in adversity, until we have experienced His living presence in our lives.

But not only in adversity but we experience the presence of God in the atmosphere. That's what happened to Isaiah. This visionary experience brought him into the very presence of God, into the throne room of God to the one sitting high on the throne. And all around him this atmosphere was super-charged, supernaturally charged with the presence and the praises of God.

In the atmosphere the temple was divided on earth in various sections, but in this holy temple above as Isaiah saw it, there was no division in the sense that the train of the Lord's robe filled the temple. It was everywhere. Perhaps you've seen in some of the celebrations and dedications of kings and queens, the train fills the house. And so it is as a sign of majesty and glory and power that the Lord's train, His robe, filled the temple.

And Isaiah was on holy ground. Now we know that the whole earth is full of His glory. That's what the Scripture says. And when you experience the glory of God, when you see the glory of God and are seized by the glory of God, you see that glory everywhere. You look at life through a different lens. Everywhere you go it's glory, glory, glory, glory.

Rather than living mundane monotonous lives we see the glory of God everywhere. And certainly the glory of God is everywhere, but there is a unique sense when we gather in His name, when we prayerfully come seeking His presence, that He inhabits the praises of His people, that He responds to the prayers of His people. And it is in the atmosphere.

That's what happened to Isaiah that day. He went just to worship in the midst of his dark cloud and depression over the loss of the king. And yet he found in the atmosphere the presence of God. I know this: if you seek Him, you will find Him. That's God's presence and His promise.

But not only do we experience the presence of God in adversity and even in the atmosphere as did Isaiah, but in adoration. Around the throne of God Isaiah saw these angelic beings called the seraphim. We're told that they had six wings, two which they covered their face, two covering the feet and two to fly. The two covering the face speaks of reverence before the presence of God.

The two wings covering their feet speaks of humility before God, just as God in His holy presence said to Moses, "Take the shoes off your feet. You're on holy ground." They covered their feet and the wings of course speak of their fervent and feverish service around the throne of God. As they were around this throne there was activity. The entire place was shaken with power and the presence of God. It was shaking and by now Isaiah is shaking as well. He's in the presence of God. And these angelic beings are crying out, "Holy, holy, holy!"

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Jack Graham: Three times holy. This is a rare literary device in the Scripture. It was a literary device used to obviously give emphasis to take it to the superlative. Sometimes Jesus doubled up words. He would say "Truly, truly" or "Verily, verily, I say to you". That meant "Listen, what I'm about to say is very, very important." Of a truth, of a truth. Listen up.

In the book of Revelation we see this device used when those birds of prey are flying over Armageddon and they are plucking the flesh of those who had died. And these birds are singing or saying, "Woe, woe, woe!" I don't want to be there when those birds sing. Judgment, judgment, judgment.

But here in the presence of the Lord it was not "Love, love, love" or "Faithful, faithful, faithful" or "True, true, true". God is all of that. But Isaiah was taken back by the holiness of God. He is thrice holy, which means uniquely and totally separate and distinct from sin. He is of pure eyes and to behold iniquity. God is perfectly good and perfectly righteous. When we say God is holy, it speaks of His greatness and it speaks of His goodness. There's none like Him.

And Isaiah in the midst of this praise to God is all caught up and he sees the holiness of God. And having seen God, then he sees himself. And the person that God uses is the person who has embraced the forgiveness and grace of God. When Isaiah saw the holiness of God manifest that day, he said one word. It's not a word we use too much today. It sounds archaic, but it's a powerful word.

Isaiah said, "Woe!" This is a word which describes judgment. He says, "Woe is me! For I am undone." The ESV as we read it gives it "I am lost". His life is coming apart. He is coming apart at the seams. His life is unraveling before him. There's no place to run and no place to hide in the presence of a holy God.

He saw himself really for the first time. Now Isaiah was an educated man, he's known as the prince of the prophets. He was of the aristocracy of that day. He was a pious man, a religious man. But now in the presence of God it is "Woe!" He is humbled and broken in his sin. He sees himself in contrast to the glory and the greatness of God.

It reminds me that God uses humble people who have not only been broken by their situation in life and sorrow as was Isaiah but now broken by his sin. He's breaking down. He's melting in the fire of God's holiness. Now in contrast to God, I hope you see this of yourself because if you don't, either you have a dimmed diminished view of God or else you have a massive ego.

In the presence of God the contrast of that presence is real to us. And He is now responsive to the angel who as he confesses his sin, takes a coal live hot off of the altar. Notice it comes from the altar and touches his lips with the fire of God's presence and purity. And so in confession of his sin, "I am undone", he is cleansed.

I learned a number of years ago that God doesn't grade on the curve. When I was a student in high school and college, I'm not recommending this, but I tried to get to know the professors. And the reason I wanted to know the professors as early as possible is I had a question I wanted to ask: "Do you grade on the curve?"

Because if we could negotiate that early on, I knew I only had to do so much. All I had to do was beat the guy next to me and around me in the class. If we were grading on the curve. And so there were a number of times when my grades weren't that good but it ends up a pretty good grade because it's on the curve. There were other times it really helped me a lot because I had no clue what they were talking about in 10th grade geometry. They graded on the curve.

But God doesn't grade on the curve. He has one high and holy standard. Be perfect even as the Father is perfect. Who will ascend unto the hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. And none of us have clean hands or pure hearts in ourselves. We've all sinned and broken God's commandments.

And God can use anyone and any kind of a vessel, but God won't use a dirty vessel. And so Isaiah is humbled by the holiness of God. The Scripture says, remember 1st John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

In this powerful beautiful picture of the fire taken from the altar, He touches Isaiah's mouth. Because Isaiah had a problem with his mouth but he really had a problem with his heart because the heart and the mouth are connected. What did Jesus say? "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."

Jesus went to the cross, the altar of sacrifice for us. And the fire of God's wrath and holiness fell upon Christ at the cross. And there at the cross the price was fully and finally made for our sins. And it is at the cross that we are saved, that we are forgiven and therefore we are humbly grateful for the rest of our lives to say, "Lord, my life is now Yours." And God uses people who understand that fact and that force in our lives. Knowing that we have been so greatly forgiven. Knowing that we cry out "Holy, holy, holy", but His grace is greater than our sin.

And because of our embracing of His grace, we are then given the opportunity to be used of God. Truly amazing. Truly amazing. The fact is you can't truly fully understand grace until you've understood holiness, God's holiness and God's purity.

Well, one final word. God uses people who have experienced His presence personally, dynamically, have experienced His presence, who have embraced His grace and who are engaged in God's mission on earth. What did God say in verse 8? "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And he said, "Here am I. Send me." He didn't say like some apparently want to say today, "Here I am!"

Unfortunately we have too many today who see the ministry as a career rather than a calling. Thinking they're God's gift for the church or God's gift for the ministry. "Here I am!" But Isaiah said, "Here am I. Lord, I'm yours." God uses people who have availability. There was surrender here. "I'm yours, Lord."

Have you said that? Have you said, "Lord, I'm yours, lock, stock and barrel, all of me for all of you"? I remember a song we sang at youth camp years ago: "I take hands off my life, it is no longer mine. I take hands off my life, let it be forever thine. Help me to walk each day just for Thee, all the heart of me, every part of me, just for Thee."

God uses available people. And then God uses expendability, expendable people. Their sacrifice. "Lord, send me." Not just my money, but me. Not only my prayers, but my presence. "Lord, send me!"

And today we have so many open doors and opportunities for God to use people like you and me around the world. Mission fields are open, partnerships are available, ministries within our community. Over and over again God is calling, God is commissioning, God is saying, "Who will go for me?" May you now say, "Lord, here am I, send me."

You see, Isaiah is moved from a vision and a visitation to now volunteering. I mean, how can you be in the presence of God? How could you be shaken to the core and moved by the grace and the atonement of God and just sit in a pew and wait for the next bus to heaven? God has called us, every one of us. Availability, expendability, that's surrender, that's sacrifice, and then responsibility. That's service. To say, "Lord, my gifts, my family, my life, my finances, my future, Lord, I give it to your service. I go in your name."

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Jack Graham: To this day it really amazes me that the God of the universe would use people, people like you and me to accomplish great and mighty things for Him. I mean, I've been walking with the Lord for most of my life and I still can't get over that truth. God uses people and He wants to use you. But you may say, "Well, you don't know my past. You don't know what I've been dealing with, struggling with. How can God ever use someone like me?"

Well, I'm here to tell you that God can and will use you. And how do I know that? Because His word is chock-full of men and women who would have never thought God would use them. People like Noah, when God called him to build the ark, we might have heard him say, "Do what, God? Build an ark? That is impossible."

Or what about Nehemiah? When the call came upon his life, he might have said something like, "Well wait a minute, God, I'm comfortable as I can be right over here in Persia doing my own thing. I've got a great job. Why would you want someone like me to give up everything to rebuild a wall?"

Or think about Paul the apostle. When Jesus called him, we might have heard him say, "Wait a minute, Lord, I'm your chosen instrument? Do you know my past? Do you know what I've done?" And yet God called each of these men to do great things for Him. And not only can He call them and did He call them, but God equipped them to do what He called them to do.

And you know what? God will do the same for you. Philippians 2:13 is a great verse. It says, "It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." So let me ask you right now, are you willing to let God use you? If you are available and if you are usable, I assure you God will use you. So I urge you to say the words of Isaiah who said to the Lord, "Here am I, Lord, send me."

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