Here Am I, Send Me

[0:00] I want to share a personal anecdote before I dig into Isaiah chapter 6 is where we're going to be today.

[0:21] ! But I just want to tell you what my call to missions my call to spread the gospel came at my conversion just like yours. But a wake-up call came and I'm thankful for the Lord's grace to bring these wake-up calls from time to time.

[0:39] When I was in college, there was an event that happened called Passion One Day. It was in Memphis. I went to college in northeast Arkansas so Memphis wasn't too far. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to the event.

[0:49] However, there was some sermons and things like that that were floating around. And one of the sermons that not only got to hear once or twice before I got married to Sarah, but many times after that because she had a CD of it, which I was very grateful for, was by a guy named John Piper.

[1:11] And it was a sermon called Boasting in the Cross or Boast in the Cross, something like that. But it was simply about a particular passage of Scripture from Galatians 6.14, God forbid that I should boast, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

[1:33] And simply he said to put that in a positive sense, boast only in the cross. And that's what it was called, boast only in the cross. Simply saying, any boast that we have needs to be going through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[1:48] Whether Paul boasted in his weakness, it was through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, or boasted in the Lord because of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that particular sermon, he gave an anecdote, a dichotomy of sorts, that has stuck to me for a long, long time.

[2:06] And if you ask a lot of people my age, or in the vicinity of my age, a lot of people know this sermon because it's been a touching sermon. But he shared a story of two ladies, Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards.

[2:22] They were missionaries. Ruby Eliason was in her 80s. She had been single all her life, and she served in missions in Africa. Her life, she gave her life to missions, mostly in Africa.

[2:34] And then Laura Edwards was nearing 80, and she was a widow and a medical doctor. And she came alongside and worked with Ruby Eliason.

[2:45] Well, just a couple months before one day happened back in 2000, they died in a very tragic accident in Cameroon where they were serving.

[2:57] And basically, they were driving on a pretty difficult road, and the brakes gave out, and they went right off a cliff. And it was terrible, terrible situation. However, he mentioned it in this way.

[3:08] Was this a tragedy? Is this considered a tragedy? And he submitted that, no, this is not a tragedy. It is a glory at what they gave. They gave their lives for the gospel.

[3:21] And he said, here's what a tragedy is. And this is a story that stuck with me. And you can have the Reader's Digest, or at least a digital copy of this one from February 2000.

[3:31] It said, Bob and Penny took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51.

[3:42] They live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball, and collect shells.

[3:55] And yes, there was a good laugh amongst the college students that were present when he read that. Yet, how many, even of those college students and of myself at that time, had that kind of hope someday?

[4:11] That yes, we're going to work in our working years, but eventually we want to retire, and eventually we want to be as comfortable as we can get in that retirement. Because we've given our all in those working years.

[4:25] And he says, that is a tragedy. That is a life wasted. There's a book he wrote from this sermon called Don't Waste Your Life, which I highly recommend to read.

[4:38] Probably the best book he has ever written. And that's saying a lot. And so this is an interesting thing. So these stories, you would think, one sounds like a pretty good situation, and the other one sounds very tragic.

[4:52] But the way he submitted it, it's the polar opposite of that. One of them is, the one of worldly success is the one of spiritual tragedy as well.

[5:06] And that has really been given, it's been ingrained in my life for many, many years now. Something that I think about, especially when it comes to missions, causes as well.

[5:19] Well, this is also something that kind of ties into the passage of Scripture that we are going to read today. It's from Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6, starting in verse 1.

[5:32] And I'll read the whole chapter. And let's all stand as we read from God's Word. This is the Word of the Lord. It says, It says, Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.

[6:44] 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?

[7:00] Then he said, Or then I said, Here I am, send me. And he said, Go and say to this people, Keep on hearing, but do not understand.

[7:13] Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes. Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.

[7:31] Then I said, How long, O Lord? And he said, Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste.

[7:41] And the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.

[7:59] The holy seed is its stump. And that is the word of the Lord. May the Lord be praised in the reading of his word. You may be seated. Something we need to understand in this passage of scripture, that there is a conversation going on, especially starting in verse 5.

[8:17] And that's a conversation that is, that's between the Lord and Isaiah. And it is a conversation that is responding to a particular event. And that's what's going on.

[8:28] In verses 1 through 4. And now, basically, it gives us a good date of when this passage began, or at least when Isaiah's ministry began, at the year of King Uzziah's death.

[8:42] And that's an important idea, because King Uzziah had been around for a long, long time. He'd been the king of Judah for 52 years. And that's a long time.

[8:54] It's like Queen Elizabeth. When Queen Elizabeth dies, there's going to be a lot of people that are actually up there in age that are going to be shocked by that, because, yes, she's been the queen their entire life.

[9:05] And there are a lot of people, no doubt, that were shocked by King Uzziah's death, because that's a major change. In King Uzziah's life, in King Uzziah's career, as a king, if you want to call it a career, he was very successful in that position.

[9:23] He had strengthened the army. He had strengthened the economy of Israel, or of Judah. Judah. He had defeated lots of enemies, including the northern kingdom, unfortunately, but also other kingdoms surrounding Judah as well.

[9:38] And people paid tribute to him at the same time. So there was a lot of riches that were coming in there, a lot of wealth that was going on. And he looked back at that life, he looked back at his time going on there, and said, boy, I did really well.

[9:54] I mean, I am the man. I did really well. And he showed that he was the man very much, that he knew he didn't only have to be a priest, or didn't only have to be a king, he could be a priest as well.

[10:06] And he showed that in 2 Chronicles chapter 26, records that he had a downfall at the end of his life, at the end of his reign. He went into the temple, and he took incense from the altar, or from the place of incense there in the temple, something that is to be done by the priests, something that is to be done only by the people that are serving in that temple.

[10:31] And there were some pretty serious priests there that knew what Uzziah was doing was terrible, was very much against the Lord's will. And they stood up to him and let him know what was going on, let him know that he was going against God's word.

[10:45] Well, Uzziah, in his pomp and circumstance, decided to get really mad. And it said that Uzziah grew angry, and the Lord inflicted him with leprosy.

[10:56] And that was a leprosy that was fatal, killed him eventually. So, not immediately, but eventually. And so he had to go into quarantine, and his son Jotham led in his place as a regent, as a co-regent, and he pretty much lived the rest of his life quarantined because of this very contagious disease as well.

[11:24] So, terrible situation, a way to end it, but nevertheless, a good king. And what's going to happen with Israel? What's going to happen with Judah, with the life of Uzziah going under?

[11:37] I mean, yes, the things are still strong, but how long are they going to remain strong? And that was a real question, and that included a question with Isaiah as well. So Isaiah went to the temple, as you can imagine, and he was obviously in mourning.

[11:51] It was still very fresh on his mind, King Uzziah's death. Who's going to lead Israel? Who's going to be, you know, I mean, there is the king, certainly, Jotham, but nevertheless, who's going to be the true leader of Israel?

[12:05] And, you know, because this great man had passed away, and the Lord showed him who the great king of Israel was. And it was right here in verse 1. Right there on the throne of the temple, we're on the throne, right there in this temple in heaven.

[12:20] There is one sitting on the throne, and he is high and lifted up, and the train of the robe is filling the temple. Now that says mighty authority, that says ultimate authority right there, and you see that that is the Lord.

[12:34] You see that is, you know, this Adonai Lord, the sovereign Lord that is on the throne, and even eventually called the Lord of hosts, Yahweh, his true personal name, so we know who this Lord is.

[12:50] We know this is God, this is God the Father on the throne, and the omnipotent, and everything else, omni, God. And so this is a reality that Isaiah is seeing and coming back to the point of who the true leader of Israel is.

[13:08] So the temple is in heaven, and is surrounding the throne are seraphim. Now seraphim is an order that's only listed one time in the Bible right here, and it's called burning ones.

[13:24] So these guys were bright as day, bright as fire, and I imagine it had to be quite an incredible scene. However, as bright as they were, they had to hide their faces, hide their eyes from the one on the throne, from God on the throne, because, yeah, they could not, they could not see God directly.

[13:46] They had to hide their feet as well. Why? Well, because God is holy, because, you know, Moses had to take his shoes off right there on the mount.

[13:59] You know, you're on holy ground, that's what happens. You know, those feet, that, you know, that's the way it is. I mean, that's what's signifying, holy God. And it's not only just holy. We sang it this morning.

[14:11] He's holy, holy, holy. And if you really look at what is being said here, they're calling out one to another, clearly more than one seraphim.

[14:21] Seraphim's a plural word anyway. There's probably well more than two or three as well. They are speaking in an antiphonal way. So, as someone is, as one of the seraphim is saying holy, another one is saying holy right after.

[14:36] Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. As they go into this, into the throne room, they are speaking one after another, after another, and it is going through, and so there's a lot more than even three holies that's going on here.

[14:51] so, so this, this, they are speaking to the great holiness of God and righteousness and perfection that is going on here, and even to the point that heaven, this throne, this temple, shakes, and the foundations quiver, and the place fills with smoke.

[15:13] This holiness, this righteousness is so great that it causes that to happen, and that's the righteousness of the law, the fact that the Lord perfectly keeps that law, the fact that the Lord perfectly executes justice, the fact that all these things are happening, and there's this country, his chosen people, that does not do that at all.

[15:38] Matter of fact, even just recently, their great king chose to blaspheme the name of the Lord by going to the temple and acting like a priest something he was not called to do.

[15:52] So Isaiah looked at that, saw that reality, and Isaiah was a really good man. He was a very fine prophet, and yet, he saw something real, and he saw his call to being on mission for the Lord, to do his work, to do his will.

[16:17] Now the fact is, we can look at verses 1 through 4 and say, I wish we can have that experience still. You can. Every day. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

[16:30] Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that's the reality of something that we can, we can have that glorious experience, experience. And yet, even in that glorious experience, we've got to understand that God is holy, and I'm not holy.

[16:48] No one here is holy. No one anywhere is holy but the Lord. And that is a truth that needs to feed our evangelistic costs.

[17:00] That's a truth that needs to feed our work in missions, our work in any form of ministry at all. God is holy, we are not. So the main idea of God is holy, we are not, is this.

[17:15] According to God's word, all believers are called to do the work of a missionary every day. The first year I was here, we had this missions month, I got to preach a sermon called Every Day on Mission, and that was the theme of that particular year.

[17:35] And honestly, it's still pretty much the theme because we need to be on mission every day. This is not just something we do when we go overseas, or we go and do something special, or go to a meeting for missions purposes.

[17:53] We are on mission every day. Whether we're going to China or going to the Chinese restaurant, we need to be on mission. mission. That's the reality of it.

[18:05] And we need to be bold in presenting the gospel every place we go on mission, everything we do in missions. So the commitment to mission service always takes this route, this process that's being brought up here in this passage of scripture.

[18:20] We are to confess sin. We are to confess sin. We are to surrender to the Lord's will. And we are to persevere to carry out the mission.

[18:32] And we see that in Isaiah's words and in everything following the responses that come from it. We are to confess sins. We are to surrender to the Lord's will. And we are to persevere to carry out the mission.

[18:46] So let's talk about confessing sin in preparation for missions. Confessing sin. We have to respond to God's holiness.

[18:59] And the only way to respond to God's holiness is to see that we're not holy. And there's something that is keeping, that's taking place of holiness in our life.

[19:09] And that is definitely called unrighteousness. That is definitely called depravity, sin, and blasphemy. We have to understand that.

[19:19] Now I've been reading a book called The Pilgrim's Progress. It's a wonderful book. I recommend anyone to read this. At the beginning of this book, the pilgrim, named Christian, aptly named, is going through a great process and leaving the city of destruction in order to go to the celestial city.

[19:43] There is a man, aptly named Evangelist, that showed him the way to that city, that he was to go toward the wicked gate, which represents justification by grace through faith, and he is to go through that path and go along the path, and there's all kinds of places that he can go off the path, and there's all kinds of places on the path that are not really the easiest places in the world to go, even though the places off the path look a lot easier from time to time.

[20:10] Well, this is his first difficult situation. He left the city of destruction. There were two men that followed him. One of them, the name of Obstinate, tried to get him to turn back around, but he wouldn't budge.

[20:22] He's obstinate. He wouldn't budge. He'd go right back when Christian saw that he was not able to be turned back. But the other one, his name is Pliable, asked Christian about some wonderful things.

[20:35] What of this celestial city? What have you heard? And he talked about wonderful things in the celestial city, even brought up this passage of scripture from Isaiah 6, 1-4, talking about the seraphim, talking about the throne of heaven and the holy God that is on that throne.

[20:51] And it was beautiful thoughts and they were looking through this and they were speaking about these great, great heavenly things. And lo and behold, they stepped into this bog, this muddy bog that John Bunyan called the slough of despond.

[21:08] Words that we don't use anymore. But the swamp and the bog of despair. And I want to read a little portion of this and this is from a man who actually helped Christian out, Pliable, had to turn around because he couldn't take the fact that there was ever going to be any kind of difficulty on this road.

[21:27] So he turned back around and went back to the city destruction. But help helped Christian, these names, that's you know, pretty much they are named what they are in this book.

[21:38] It's kind of fun. But he says the miry slough is a place that can't be repaired. It is a low-lying place where the scum and filth that comes with the conviction of sin drains and collects as the traveling sinner becomes aware of his lost condition.

[21:58] It is the fears, doubts, and discouraging apprehensions about oneself that arise in his soul. Now this happens before the point of conversion for Christian but yet there are many times that we find ourselves bogged down in our sinfulness in our Christian life.

[22:20] There are times that we find ourselves in a difficult situation, at least in our mind's eye. The Lord has saved us thankfully but we can't escape certain things going on.

[22:33] And the reality is we have to see, woe is me. We have to scream out, really as Christian screams out, who shall deliver me from this bondage of sin?

[22:44] Which is exactly what Paul said in Romans chapter 7 when he was confronted with his own sin and the fact that he just can't stop sinning. I've been confronted with that myself and it's a difficult confrontation.

[22:59] Well Isaiah says the word woe. Woe is me. And that word is a tough word, it's a curse. He pronounced judgment on himself.

[23:11] And that's a reality of it. He is a man of unclean lips. And that's important here because he's being called to share God's word.

[23:26] To prophesy. And it's hard to prophesy without speaking. And here's a man that knows that he is inadequate to do that. And that's pretty sad.

[23:41] So he sees that and he understands that he is a man of unclean lips. He also understands that he dwells in a people also of unclean lips as well.

[23:53] And that's an important thing to recognize as well because this is not the first time in the book of Isaiah that he used the term woe. Now this is a passage of scripture that's probably the first in chronology going on.

[24:05] Nevertheless back in chapter 5 he brought up the people of the land of Israel. Not just Judah but all the land of Israel. And he said some woes about them.

[24:18] And those woes were important to understand. There was a woe of greed. Men of Israel who were greedy with their lands and with their money.

[24:31] And it says woe to those who join house to house and add field to field. Basically they're hoarding lands and they are exploiting people out of their land and their property for their personal gain.

[24:44] There was also another woe of drunkenness. Verse 11 it says woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may run after strong drink.

[24:55] There's another woe of deception. And I think we've heard this one many times before. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. And then there's also one of pride.

[25:07] A couple of pride actually. But one of them is woe to those who are wise in their own eyes. Who think that they're wiser than they really are. And so this is he understands that this is a people of unclean lips.

[25:21] This is a people who need to desperately be cleansed. As he needs to desperately be cleansed. Before he pronounced woe on others. He pronounced woe on himself.

[25:33] And that's something that's understanding. The Lord calls us to do that. Jesus calls us to do that. I mean the reality is when we go to our brother who is in sin. We need to take the log out of our own eye first.

[25:45] Before we go get the speck out of his eye. And that's. And that. So that is a calling that is on us as well as believers. In this New Testament age. And so.

[25:55] And this is also a reality of other men of faith in scripture who have spoken. They have seen Lord. They have seen his holiness. They have seen the fact that they do not measure up very well.

[26:10] Job thought he did measure up in his own eyes. He understood as his three friends were telling him. He's not perfect. He's a terrible guy. And it's.

[26:20] And yeah. They were definitely getting it wrong in many ways. However Job didn't feel like he had done anything wrong. At least in his words that he was. That he. It must have been something else.

[26:31] And he was partially right. However. He was getting self-righteousness. Righteous. And the Lord confronted him at the end of that book. Who are you? Where were you when I did this?

[26:43] Where were you when I created that? Where were you when I moved all these big beasts that you couldn't even. Even. Even touch. touch. And the.

[26:55] And as Job. Recognized the perfection of the Lord. That last chapter he said I had heard of you. By the hearing of the ear.

[27:07] But now my eye sees you. Therefore I despise myself and repent. In dust and ashes. The apostle John said the same thing when he was about to write the book.

[27:21] of revelation. As he's presented with the exalted Christ. He fell at his feet as though dead. Prophet Daniel.

[27:35] Saw a terrifying vision. It was a vision where he was with other people that didn't see it but were terrified. Nonetheless. It terrified him. He said my radiant appearance was fearfully changed.

[27:49] And I retained no strength. As he gave narration to that. Paul. Talking about why he could be confident in the flesh.

[28:02] He says but whatever I had gained. Philippians 3. 7. Whatever gain I had. I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. And then when Paul is confronted with his own sin as I talked about before.

[28:15] In Romans 7 he says for I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want. But I do the very thing I hate. Wretched man that I am.

[28:27] Who will deliver me from this body of death? The very next verse which is the first verse of the next chapter. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who walk according to the flesh.

[28:40] Or not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. There is his relief that is going here. The interesting thing here is that there is a relief going on here as well.

[28:53] It is not a relief that would be fun to live up to. But there is an expiation. That is a biblical word that simply means or a theological word that simply means forgiveness of sin.

[29:09] There is a cleansing. And so let's read about that. Verses 6 and 7.

[29:21] 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.

[29:37] Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. See Isaiah responded to the Lord's holiness with his depravity.

[29:52] And God responded to him with forgiveness. With a cleansing of sin. We're called to do the same thing. If we confess our sin he is faithful and just.

[30:06] To forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So God took a life coal. Remember they are in the temple.

[30:17] So went to the altar of incense. Or the altar where they burn sacrifices. And took a life coal from that and touched the lips of Isaiah.

[30:30] And if you notice he is a man of unclean lips. That is exactly what needed to be cleansed. Have you had a life coal touch your lips before? I hope not.

[30:41] I haven't. I don't want one either. That sounds painful. Yeah. That just sounds painful. But it's a representation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[30:56] It is a representation of the forgiveness that he offers from his death on the cross. Isaiah talked about it in chapter 53 of his book starting in verse 5 he says but he was pierced for our transgressions.

[31:11] He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.

[31:22] We have turned everyone to his own way. That would be our depravity. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Another explanation of his forgiveness of his cleansing of sin when we repent and trust in him.

[31:40] So it touches his lips directly applying to him. So we are to confess sin.

[31:52] That is one preparation for missions. That's one preparation for evangelism going out and spreading his word. We need to be confessing our own sin before we do his work. We need to be going back to him and confessing.

[32:04] And I want to read a quote from J. Vernon McGee that suggests something that is important as well. Living for God can only be accomplished by divine grace. Man's responsibility is to confess his sinfulness and his inability to please God.

[32:19] Therefore we need to have the redemption of Christ applied to our lives again and again and again. This is something that continues in our life.

[32:30] We have to continue to repent of sin. When we sin we need to go and confess that sin. I read 1 John 1.9 that's not just something about justification.

[32:41] That's sanctified life. That's the life of sanctification. It's someone who is saved. That's what they do. And it's not something they do once. It's something they do over and over again. I know many people I wish I said I was one of them but I know many people that every day they start their day have I had unconfessed sin in their day have I had unconfessed sin.

[33:01] I have to confess I don't do that every day. A lot of days maybe but not every day. And that's unfortunate because I always have unconfessed sin.

[33:12] Every day. That's for sure. And so we are to confess sin we are also to surrender to the Lord's will. As we confess our sin we are to understand what the Lord's will for our life is.

[33:27] As Isaiah says in verse 8 responding to the Lord's call is saying here I am send me or here am I send me as it says on the board.

[33:38] That would be the King James way of saying here am I send me. Alright. So that's the reality. The response is what God is asking here in verse 8 as well.

[33:50] Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Hear the word us that's a little aside here. Holy, holy, holy us.

[34:01] God's triune. That's a suggestion. Not a great proof. We need to go to other scriptures to really prove that. You're not going to force an atheist to believe in the triune God by reading that but it's a great it's great evidence nonetheless that the triune God didn't just you know come into existence at the birth of Christ.

[34:23] He's always been. Amen. Okay so responding to that whom shall I send and who will go for us and so that's a call that's specifically given to Isaiah and with the understanding that Isaiah is going to be the one that speaks here.

[34:43] You've got to remember he's not you know the Lord is not calling here to a multitude of people he's calling to one who will go for us hey you that's what's going on right here so there's a lot of calls in scripture Abram's call sounds very similar to that as the Lord comes straight to Abram and he says go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you and I will make of you a great nation I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing I will bless those who bless you and whom who dishonors you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed that's a covenant that the Lord you know that began with Abram right there and continued on in other places and a covenant of grace at that it's a wonderful thing the disciples were also called the first disciples some of the first here Simon who was called Peter and Andrew they were walking by the Sea of Galilee a place they go to all the time because they're fishermen casting a net into the sea and he said to them

[35:51] Christ said to them follow me and I will make you fishers of men and immediately they left their nets and followed him and that was the calling that was given right there and our call we are given a call as well we're given a call as well it says but you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light from first Peter 2 9 and then from Romans 10 that's more evidence of calling verse 14 and 15 how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed and how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard and how are they to hear without someone preaching and how are they to preach unless they are sent you see the progression there the process for those who are sent are going to go to preach so people can hear the good news as it's written how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news and there's a promise that comes with this calling as well we'll get to more promises as well maybe some that you could think of as well but this is one that's very important for us to understand that as we witness according to his word it says in Isaiah chapter 55 verse 10 and 11 for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth making it bring forth and sprout giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth it shall not return to me empty but it shall accomplish what I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it when we bring the word of God to people the Lord uses it according to his will that's a great promise that we need to hear and should have us to be going out there and serving him in that promise come what may and God's response to Isaiah's call

[37:58] Isaiah's commission or at least Isaiah's commitment is to give him a commission and his commission is interesting it's even kind of scathing in some ways sarcastic to begin with you look at it and it says keep on hearing but do not understand it's talking about the people of Israel people of Judah that Isaiah's going to be speaking to keep on seeing but do not perceive make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and blind their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and return and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed so saying basically that's their call their call is they're going to that's the demise of the people of Judah they are going to be desolate eventually that is the Lord's will for them and Pastor Mike has shared some of that through the book of Hosea because Hosea and Isaiah are contemporaries and so that's the interesting calling given there and we'll get more to what more of that calling looks like and it looks like bad news it really does look like bad news but eventually it gets good it really does you know we have a calling as well and that calling can be a tough calling too it says that as we are going out and preaching his word and we are going out and doing his will there's going to be trouble even Jesus tells us that in this world you will have tribulation take heart

[39:41] I have overcome the world and you know there's tribulation going on here in the United States but there's tribulation even more so going on overseas and has been for centuries and so that's that can be a very difficult thing and we know people and stories of people who have even died for their faith and have been persecuted greatly for their faith so you study Richard and Sabina Wormbrand a great example of that but we do have a commission and a calling that whatever the season we're in whatever situation circumstance we're in we are to go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you and no matter what the situation is we are given a promise with that that Jesus Christ is with us always to the very end of the age and then one that we talk about here on these on these banners Acts 1-8 you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be witnesses in Jerusalem in Judea and Samaria and to the other most parts of the world where are they to be witnesses?

[40:52] only where they want to go? no only what's cool with them? no everywhere and to who? to whom I should say to the Jews?

[41:05] people like them? no to everyone we are to preach the word as it says in 2 Timothy 4 this is not just to preachers by the way this is for all of us we are the church we are to preach the word we are to be ready in season and out of season we are to reprove rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching it says be ready in season and out of season why would we need to be ready in all of those seasons?

[41:36] it says in verse 3 for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but have itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths I'm not saying that every preacher on TV is this way but a lot of them sure are unfortunately and why are they there?

[42:02] well because we want them there that's why maybe not we but our world does the ones paying the bills they want them there because they don't want to endure sound doctrine they want to have their ears tickled they want to hear what they want and so we are to confess sin yes we are to surrender to the Lord's will and finally we are to persevere to carry out the mission Isaiah asks a question to the Lord after his commission to him he says how long oh Lord how long should I give this message it's not going to be fun I mean that's not going to be a you know a great time for him necessarily he might actually get jeered at with the message that y'all are going to be destroyed you know people like hearing that and so what what does the Lord say well more bad news until cities lie waste without inhabitant houses without people and all this the Lord removes far away they are going to be exiled their place is going to be desolate their cities are going to be taken over first the northern kingdom by the

[43:20] Assyrians then 100 plus years later the Babylonians to the Judeans and it's going to be rough but there's a hope there's a promise one hope is right there in the last verse verse 13 it says and though a tenth remain in it it'll be burned again that doesn't sound like good hope there but that tenth brings hope that tenth is a remnant there is a people that has been protected by the Lord to be faithful to his word that is a wonderful thing and that faithfulness is going to be going down into the generations and he gets into further prophecy he comes to chapter 7 verse 14 and he says some ugly things to king Ahaz Ahaz was Uzziah's grandson and was a terrible king an idolater but he says to him nevertheless behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son will call his name Emmanuel

[44:25] God with us there is hope there is hope in the Messiah goes further on even when the Assyrians are going to go and destroy the northern kingdom he says for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulders that's great news there's going to be a child born to save the people to save the people of God and that's a beautiful thing what about us where do we persevere how do we have the strength to persevere well like I've already said the Lord has promised to be with us but also in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 starting in verse 21 it says so let no one boast in men for all things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future all are yours and you are

[45:31] Christ's and Christ is God's we are held we have a shelter we just sang about that in the storm in the difficult places of life we have a shelter in the Lord because we are Christ and Christ is God's so to close out being empowered by the Holy Spirit according to Acts 1 8 we are through that power to go and tell where are we to go the people of Bartlesville yes just to the people we like in Bartlesville ignore our neighbors that we don't care for no we have to tell everyone the good news we need to people that speak different languages are we to tell the good news to them yes we are people in different places as us maybe different backgrounds different cultures of course everyone we are to tell the good news to and we had already said this a couple times but it's still worth mentioning the Lord will be with us to the very end of the earth we're going out on

[46:45] April the 20th to engage our community the Lord will be with us a group of us will be going this summer to Latvia the Lord will be with us and all the other things that will be going on that we talk about in this brochure as we go with the word of the Lord as we go with the gospel ready to preach ready to share the word of God with them to bring our testimony the Lord will be with us that is our call it's never changed ever since the inception of this church it's been the same call might say a different way now but it's the same call we are to engage we are to encourage we are to equip and we are to enlighten with the word of God and that's something that has never changed so we are to confess sin we are to surrender the Lord's will and we are to persevere to carry out his mission and we are to do this and continue to do this in commitment all the time why because every day every hour of every day we are called as believers to do the work of a missionary we are called to missions every day of our life so we've got to commit ourselves to that call every day you