As we begin 2016, we remember that each of us are called to do a work for and with God. But are we really qualified? Are we capable?

<p>As we begin 2016, we remember that each of us are called to do a work for and with God. But are we really qualified? Are we capable?</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Dalton SDA Church

Chester Clark

Here I Am

In Isaiah chapter 6, we find the story of Isaiah's calling.

And here he has this vision where he sees that God is seated on the throne, he's high and lifted up, the train of his robe is filling the temple, above it it says stood 2 seraphim, each had 6 wings, with 2 he covered his face, with 2 he covered his feet, and with 2 he flew.

And he cried, 1 cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.

And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

And this was Isaiah's response, he says, Woe is me, for I am undone, because 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 1 of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.

And he touched my mouth with the verse 7 and said, Behold, this has touched your lips, your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged.

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us?

Then I said, Here am I, send me." Now this is what happens in Isaiah's call.

Isaiah realizes there is a God on the throne in heaven.

Isaiah had a burden for his people, and I think that's appropriate.

But Isaiah's problem is he thought he was the 1 that was going to fix the problem.

And what Isaiah is trying to be taught here is that what's important is not to have a burden for the people, it's not just to have a burden for the people, what's important is to realize God's the 1 who's in charge.

God's purposes know no haste and no delay.

God is the 1 who, although Sometimes we may not feel that he's working as we think he ought to be working in our nation, in our church, as Isaiah would have thought.

And it's our job to remember that He is God.

He sends us when we remember the right relationship between us and Him.

We notice that Isaiah reminds us that the calling is not based upon our own righteousness.

Our calling is not based upon our own righteousness.

If it were, I don't know who God would call.

Because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

And here Isaiah, as he comes closer to God, he becomes more aware, as he sees the glory of God, he becomes more aware, As he's taken away in vision, he realizes, I am not worthy to receive a call like this from heaven.

And I think, friends, if we do think we're worthy, there's probably a problem.

And probably we'll be needing to have some learning before God can really call us and use us.

I wanna look at a second call that we find in Jeremiah.

Isaiah, it's just the next book, so it's easy for you to find.

Isaiah and Jeremiah are right next to each other.

We've studied Jeremiah recently, so some of this is just a review and very fresh in our memory.

Jeremiah chapter 1, and this is the call of the prophet Jeremiah.

"'The word of the Lord came to me, ' verse 4, "'saying, ' Jeremiah chapter 1, "'and now we're at verse 5, "'before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

"'Before you were born I sanctified you, or set you apart is what that means, I ordained you a prophet to the nations.

Here we find a fascinating truth, and I believe this is true not only of prophets, it's true of every single 1 of us.

God who is omniscient, God who knows all things, who knows the future before it becomes reality, God foreknew every single 1 of us.

White mentioned, sometimes we haven't lived our lives exactly in the way that he has in mind for us to, but God is also a God of grace, is he not?

And God already knew even the mistakes that we would make.

This is what he says to Jeremiah, I knew you and I ordained you a prophet of the nations.

Jeremiah says, oh Lord, behold, I cannot speak for I am a youth.

Jeremiah says, you've made a mistake, God.

They're not going to listen to me and all the rest.

What does, What does God say in response to Jeremiah's remonstrance?

He says in verse 7, the Lord says, do not say I am a youth, for you shall go to all whom I send you and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord." Do you understand, my friends, that it's not so important how old you are?

It doesn't matter how much influence you have or you don't think you have, because in reality, it's not your influence that matters anyway.

1 of the things that I have realized as I have looked forward to 2016, reflected on 2015, I have realized that too often in my ministry I look at what I can do and hope it will be helpful instead of realizing it's only what God can do that matters at all.

What I can do is really trivial and insignificant.

Only God working in the lives of this community can have any eternal impact.

My best efforts are but feeble in the eyes of him who can do all things.

So he says, do not be afraid of their faces.

And verse 9 it says, then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth and the Lord said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant." It's interesting, there was a work of, in a way a work of destruction before there would be a work of construction in the work of a prophet in Jeremiah's life.

Our third passage and final passage we'll look at this morning, then we'll think about them a bit, is found in the call of Moses.

Exodus chapter 3 and beginning in verse 4.

Now, Moses also illustrates the fact that God does not just call perfect people, doesn't it?

The call of Moses illustrates that God has a plan for our lives, God had a plan for Moses to be the deliverer, but he made some major mistakes along the way, and now, 40 years after his first attempt to deliver Israel, Moses is no longer thinking about delivering Israel.

He knows that his best efforts will not help but only hinder the plan of God and he's content to tend sheep in the wilderness.

They have what they need and here God has a message for him.

Out of the blue, you might say, Moses receives a call from God.

And this is the story, it's found in verse 3, we'll start at verse 3.

Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, the bush that was burning, and why this bush does not burn.

So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses, and he said, Here I am.

Then he said, Do not draw near this place.

Take off, take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

He says, Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you will bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

Now this is what God had planned for Moses to do all along.

40 years ago, God had tried, or Moses had tried I should say, to fulfill God's plan.

But listen, we do get in trouble, don't we?

God wanted to bring his people out of the promised land.

He would have used Moses to bring his people out of the promised land.

But too often, we focus upon what we can do instead of what God can do.

Too often we focus on what I think I should see changed, what I think is the standard for which this should be progress, what I think needs to happen, and instead of focusing upon what God is going to do and simply allowing ourselves to be vessels to be used in His hand.

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Here I Am

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