The Isaiah Project: Calling, 7/26/15

Sermon July 26, 2015  The Isaiah Project- calling  Isaiah 6:1-8

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!”

Explain the series and topic for the day

          Come to the waters, dependence, my thoughts, your thoughts.

          Salvation.  A time when many nations would come to the mtn of the lord

To be called….What a difference one life can make.

Woods Chapel Church

John Woods started a  Presbyterian Church in 1861.

150 years later, it still stands, and there are 4 other woods chapel churches in the area.

150 year anniver of lees summit….

One person can make a difference.

We think that we cant, but we can.

Tell isaiah’s story

                Encounters god

       Feels unworthy – this is better than acting like you are gods gift

to the world…..

                God cleanes him – makes him worthy

                He goes out in the name of the lord

Explain that this is typical of a biblical pattern

                Adam and eve – called….. unworthy……hiding…

                Moses

                Jonah- called.  Ran away…. In a fish….used by god…

angry about it

                Mary – the virgin- called….unworthy….but willing…

                Paul

                Each encountered God

                Each felt unworthy/hid

                Out of their comfort zone

                God continued his call on each

                They went out to do his work

Outward focus

The Christian life is an outward life.  Inward yes, to learn and love.  Then outward. Indeed.

my story

                I am not adam, moses or the virgin mary, but we are all precious in gods site

                you encountered God

                you felt unworthy/hid

                God continued his call on each

                going out to do his work

and so for you in the pews

                you are not adam, moses, or the virgin mary

                but you are loved and precious

                maybe you feel unworthy – that is better than feeling like you are gods gift to the world

                god still calls you, cleanses you

                will we go out to do his work?

Excuses

I don’t want to hear the call because my life is about me

I am too young………. I am inexperienced……… I am insecure……… paul told timothy not to despise his youth.

We need young people

                I am too broken

                I am too old – betty perkins, bill carter

                I am too afraid

Explain that excuses don’t make it with god

He accepts only unconditional surrender……

But what about this instead…..

When overwhelmed by the presence of God, all excuses fall away

Lets shift gears for a moment.

If you have shut me out, come back in…….

Its not about going somewhere, not about going to Africa, not about going to Nicaragua, not about going to seminary….

It is about making yourself available….

God I give myself to you……..

For anything that you want, for what ever I can do….

What can you do?  Do it for God. Do it as unto the lord

Do you walk?

Walk and say thank you?

Do you listen?  Listen w a heart of love

Do you breathe?  Be aware of this miracle and say thank you god

Can you think? Then pray for others…

Do you write notes?  Write notes to others for the Lord - diane

Do you talk to people? then bring encouragement?  - phil accardo

There is something that every believer can do

Its not called to do something necessarily

It is called to willingly give your self to god

Do all the good you can to  all the people you can in all the ways that you can.

Missional entanglement

Redemptive entanglement

The story of the pony…………

Breaking us, makes us willing

What if they pony sees the master and loves the master and senses his purpose…………..

You aren’t called to be broken and crushed, tho that’s what it takes for some……

We are certainly invited to see the master and love him and find our purpose in him

 All are called, his hand is upon you

                Calling you

                Absolutely to everyone, everywhere

God is still calling

Please be one who will say, here I am, send me.

Connecting People to Jesus Christ, Isaiah 6:1-8, 9/29/2013

 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

Web |Twitter |Facebook |Prayer

You can read Jeff's blog at www.canyouhearthebirdssing.blogspot.com

Removing the Veil - Week 3 Isaiah 55:6-9 06/30/2013

June 30, 2013   Week three  “removing the veil”  Isaiah 55:6-9 mmm

Seek^(T) the Lord while he may be found;^(U) call^(V) on him while he is near. ⁷ Let the wicked forsake^(W) their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts.^(X) Let them turn^(Y) to the Lord, and he will have mercy^(Z) on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.^{(AA) 8} “For my thoughts^(AB) are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”^(AC) declares the Lord. ⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,^(AD)so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.^(AE)

 Continuing in the series – the pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer

The God shaped hole

Christian writers for years have talked about the god shaped hole inside of each person

This is echoed by St. Augustine who said

“You have formed us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in you.” 

- Augustine

This  is still being said today..... Chapter One / Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life.....”

 you were born by His purpose and for His purpose...,, ….focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life’s purpose.....you were made by God and for God-until you understand that, life will never make sense.”

REPEAT

The sermon could end right here

Our Chief end is to love God

Chief end is to love. Period

We know this is good.  We know it is right.

When we love,

We sense God’s love in our hearts.  We sense that we were created to love him

Revelation 4:11 (NIV)

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,    to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things,  and by your will they were created  and have their being.”

We sing the song………worthy is the lamb

One of my favorites

It is like you can feel your heart rushing up to heaven

This is worship

That’s how its supposed to work But sin entered in

“ [God] meant us to see him and live with him…”  but we have revolted and “broken with God.”

Life is lived in separation from God

Seek^(T) the Lord while he may be found;^(U) call^(V) on him while he is near. ⁷ Let the wicked forsake^(W) their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts.^(X) Let them turn^(Y) to the Lord, and he will have mercy^(Z) on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.^(AA)

Ahh, the joy of pardon, the joy of forgiveness

There's a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father. On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.

DAVE YOU ARE FORGIVEN

Redemption- remedy

God has worked.  there is a remedy

Through Christ

            Our Sins are disposed of satisfactorily

            We are Fully reconciled

            The Way is opened for us to return again into conscious communion w God

            We are  able to Live again in his Presence

Essentials of faith.  Pretty good short list

Tabernacle illustration

“This interior journey of the soul from a life of self to the enjoyed presence of God” is wonderfully/beautifully illustrated in the OT tabernacle......and the veil.

This journey from sin to fellowship with God is well illustrated by the Old
Testament tabernacle

Veil separated the holy of holies.  The place where God’s presence dwelt. 

The priest could only go in once a year

They kept a rope tied to his leg in case it didn’t Go well

           

When Jesus died, the veil is torn

³⁷ With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.^{(AD) 38} The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.^{(AE) 39} And when the centurion,^(AF) who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died,^[c] he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”^(AG)

Mk 15:38

Gods Presence is now open to all

God’s Presence is not a theory but an actuality to be experienced 

It is more than a doctrine to be held, it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of every day

You can know this presence

but .....We are satisfied to rest in doctrines and lists of beliefs,

in our intellectual Christianity and,

we often ignore the opportunity for a personal relationship with God to our detriment

and the years pass...and we grow old and tired and feel guilty as if something were amiss…..

and it is

No fire in the life of a christian

Simple doctrine or belief in christ does not make you sweeter

Churchliness has replaced the deep love, appreciation and a savoring of God

Fire starter story

There was a man who invented the art of making fire. He took his tools and went to a tribe in the north, where it was very cold, bitterly cold. He taught the people there to make fire. The people were very interested. He showed them the uses to which they could put fire—they could cook, could keep themselves warm, etc. They were so grateful that they had learned the art of making fire. But before they could express their gratitude to the man, he disappeared. He wasn’t concerned with getting their recognition or gratitude; he was concerned about their well-being. He went to another tribe, where he again began to show them the value of his invention. People were interested there, too, a bit too interested for the peace of mind of their priests, who began to notice that this man was drawing crowds and they were losing their popularity. So they decided to do away with him. They poisoned him, crucified him, put it any way you like. But they were afraid now that the people might turn against them, so they were very wise, even wily. Do you know what they did? They had a portrait of the man made and mounted it on the main altar of the temple. The instruments for making fire were placed in front of the portrait, and the people were taught to revere the portrait and to pay reverence to the instruments of fire, which they dutifully did for centuries. The veneration and the worship went on, but there was no fire.

Leaving a life that is centered in ourselves only happens when we love another

Selfishness is only challenged by a love for another person

I should be nice to cathy brinkman…….its the right thing to do

But when I fall in love with her, katie bar the door what I will do for her.

Jon cundiff

Charles the desert man

The veil in our hearts

The title of chapter three is removing the veil

Just as there was a veil in the tabernacle, tozer says there is a veil in our hearts

Our selfish paragidm

 “self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-                           admiration, self-love and a host of others like them.”

Jesus invites us to die to self

-WE must invite the cross to do its deadly work within us

Dying to self is painful

-WE must prepare ourselves for an ordeal of suffering

To rip thru the the part of life that is about me

Not my will but thine be done

That is when the veil is removed and we are resurrected to a joyfilled life with God

Core of Christianity is the presence of God, not church tradition or doctrine

Abraham has no church, no pastor.  Moses has no church.

How do you sense His presence

Be determined to eradicate self

It is difficult, it is sneaky.

Everyone needs someone to help them do this……..

          A counselor, a friend, someone to challenge what you think you are

To see in yourself what you don’t see

Then we can Open our eyes

When we stop looking at all the wrong things

          Bad news, how someone did me wrong

When we stop looking at all the wrong things

Our eyes are open and we can see the good

Its an awakening

Awake…the awakening chorus

Suddenly I am alive to something that I had never known or

Alive to something that I had forgotten about

To swim in, to dive in, to bask, to linger with God

To see him for what he is

Not a rulemaker or a mad grandpa

But to see him as the indescribable, uncontainable, eternal, all loving, filled with mercy

My favorite characteristic of God?

He is reaching out for you

Dave, God is reaching out for you

Prayer

Lord, how excellent are your ways, and how sinful are the ways of man. 
Help us to die to self, so we may be reborn in you and draw near in full assurance of our faith. 
Help us to seek you so that we can behold your glory every day.
In Jesus name