Sermon
Series: Connecting
People to Jesus Christ mnb
Today’s
Message: Sending
Scripture:
Isaiah
6:1-8 NIV
Closing the series-
Invite nurture send
Today we find Isaiah- he’s dropped off
his kid at soccer practice. He has run some errands for his wife.
He
is back at practice sitting in his car and he has this vision.
I
say this because we think people that hear gods call are special. They
are not. They are just like you and just like me.
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. 2 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. 3 And they
were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is
the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and
thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 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.” 6 Then
one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken
with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and
said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin
atoned for.” 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!”
Isaiah is
Going
about his business and he gets a gift……….to see God
His
sins are forgiven
It
changes him
He
wants to help
Do
you know that your sins are forgiven? How does that make you feel?
Man
when I think about that, I want to hug you. I want to hug everybody.
God
is still forgiving sins
God
is still revealing himself
Still
asking the question, who will go in my name?
Last week we talked about sit soak,
sour
The
problem in the church – It’s not that we do not love God,
we’ve created a God that is largely about our comfort.
We
want to sit in church and pray that god solves our problems
Personally, I have gone thru quite a
metamorphosis
in regards to missions. When I wss a kid
·
San
jose rescue
mission
[PICTURE]
·
2
canned food drives
But
the rest of my life, our lives, and this is key
Were
left for us to direct as we saw fit
We
had done our bit for god and now we can just do whatever we want
But we have been learning- we have been
changing
That
true spirituality turns us toward s god and each other
story -I’m
out there – God
[PICTURE]
we
are invited to join in God’s mission
The
story of the good Samaritan-
If
jesus told it to us, the people passing by would be a Methodist preacher
The
second might be the Methodist lay leader.
The
religious forget the needy. Does that bother you?
The
kingdom is brought to the table by someone outside of our faith family.
Does
that bother you?
They
must have been in a hurry to get to the temple to pray
Easy
for us to fall for a life of comfort, and shy away
from God’s call.
Good
Samaritan – what must I do to eternal life – the answer is a way of life
Parable
of talents – about how we live and choose to use God’s resources
Zacchaeus – salvation because
he’s changing the way he’s going to live
Story
of the rich young ruler –
Believes all the right stuff
Give your stuff away
Matthew
25 – the sheep & the goats – it’s a story about how we live – I was hungry
and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink
Not
I was hungry and you preached to me, but I was hungry and I fed you
When
you do it to the least of these, you did it unto me
Mission is not just something that the
missions
department does. It is something that all Christians do.
Spiritually
developed people are those who have set aside comfort and personal preference
for the sake of your mission.
Prayer takes us past our needs to the
needs of others
True
spirituality takes us to the heart of god where we learn to forget ourselves
The
kingdom is not about me getting a fair share of God. Kingdom work is out
there, it is investing in others.
Peter Rollins quote – begin to think of
it as believing in a way
Living
your faith out
The church should never be an end in
and of itself, it is a launching
pad
Every
Christ follower is invited to follow Christ
Receiving
new members…have you noticed that we are pretty clear about expectations?
Salvation
is for me, but not just me
Love
extends beyond our heart to our community and the world- god loved the world
John
3:16
16 For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes
in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
We are sent
Now entering the Mission field sign –
[PICTURE]
Mike
Stachura – says
“The
mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity.”
–we
are sent into the world, not just on international trips, but in our everyday
life.
The
Holy Spirit calls us to places we’ve never heard of. The Holy Spirit
lives beyond the edge of our comfort zone.
Isaiah’s
sins were forgiven. Do you know that your sins are forgiven?
Each of us need moments of conversion
First
toward Christ, secondly toward the needy
Mine
began in Russia in 2000
Meeting
kids with one shirt.
Wanting
to eat your food
Collecting
sausage and bread for the kids on the ride home.
Pulled
into my driveway and cried
Never
looked at a plate of food the same.
This
is where our members start to feel guilty
Not
guilty, but responsible
Began
to think of the faith less as something internal more as something external
True prayer turns us from our will to
Gods.
I
think Jesus said that in the garden…..
Not
my will but thine be done
We
sit around praying for direction, for purpose when Joplin is flattened. When the prisons
are full; when children in our towns are hungry.
As if In the American version of
Christianity;
Jesus gets married, buys a house in the suburbs; has a family; serves as PTA
president for a stint; has good health care; has a fat 401K; lives a long life
and dies quietly in his sleep.
True
Prayer gives us a heart of compassion for all people but especially for the
broken and wounded on the side of the road.
We
can no longer sit by, we can no longer pass by
All human hearts desire comfort.
Some human hearts desire greatness. Friends, these are a contradiction.
These
are Two things that cannot abide together.
You
wish to be brave? Courageous for God? Then you must enter the danger
zone.
We must be willing to cross the road
and stoop
down to reach for the broken. We must be willing to get our clothes
bloody and dirty for the cause of Christ.
At
a time when the influence of the church is waning, at a time when the
reputation of the church is tarnished, at a time when everyone out there is
looking for hope, it is time for the church to rise, but the kingdom always rises one person at a time
A
ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.
there
is a load to be carried and a destination to be reached.
The
open seas are sometimes rocky, but We are called to a purpose.
We
Christ followers are to follow him, into the mission field to be his
hands.
Not my will but your will be done.
Isaiah
knew he was forgiven.
It
meant so much to him that he wanted to go.
God
is still asking. Who will go in my name……….
As
St. Teresa of Avila prayed 500 years ago- lets pray together.
Lord
Christ, you have no body on earth but ours,
No
hands but ours,
No
feet but ours.
Ours
are the eyes through which your compassion must look out on the world.
Ours are the feet by which you may still go about doing good.
Ours
are the hands with which you bless people now. Bless our minds and
bodies, that we may be a blessing to others. Amen.
Jeff
Brinkman
Pastor
Woods Chapel United
Methodist Church
You
can read Jeff's blog at www.canyouhearthebirdssing.blogspot.com
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