Burning Ones - Send Me - Session 6

God saved you FOR something, not just FROM something.  Salvation is the prerequisite for the longing of God.  There is much more than forgiveness of sins, and the infilling of His Spirit.  What I mean by more, is that these things are unto something more.  Forgiveness and reconciliation lead to partnership with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, just as the wedding leads us into the marriage. 

The Love of God is always expanding.  And when we receive His love, it expands within us.  If we receive His love, expand.   His government is expanding, His Kingdom is advancing!  And if we receive it, it will expand within us.  His love cannot be contained.  Heaven can’t contain His love.  Love transcendent broke into time and space.  The universe is expanding at the speed of light!  His love goes on and on and on.  Everything points back to Him.  The mathematicians considered this truth of God and named it infinity.  The boundless nature of the love of our God!  Who can fathom and understand? 

We breathe Him in and we have to breathe Him out.  To live you have to inhale and exhale.  It’s not one or the other.  How could we choose which is more life giving for us, inhaling or exhaling?  To love we must breathe in and then breathe out.  This is how we live!   In Him we live, and move, and have our being!! 

I.  AND I HEARD THE VOICE OF THE LORD

Isaiah 6

[8] And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” [9] And he said, “Go…”

A.   Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord.  This is where our calling begins… It doesn’t begin in our minds.  It doesn’t begin with an assessment of our spiritual gifts and talents.  It begins in the heart of God.  Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord.  Our calling originates in the heart of God. 

B.    You must know by know that everything is competing for you attention.  There is so much noise coming at us.  So much input.  So many voices.  The there is only one thing that matters, and that’s whether you can hear the voice of the Lord.  We can skip conference to conference, and service to service, and tv program to tv program, or library book to library book, etc.  We can busy ourselves.  You’ve done it.  I’ve done it.  But the issue at hand is whether we can hear the voice of the Lord. 

What is the Word of the Lord?  What has He spoken to you?  Write it down.  Make it plain. 

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Jeremiah 29

[10] “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. [11] For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. [12] Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. [13] You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. [14] I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

C.    There are things in the heart of the Lord for you!  There are things He will speak to your heart and that ministry will literally be conceived within you.  The scriptures say the Word of the Lord is like the seed.  When we receive it from the Lord it’s as small as a seed.  But we receive it and treasure it and it begins to grow and expand.  We can’t make it grow. And we can’t make it come forth.  But we can treasure it.  By this same analogy we can abort it.  We can neglect it.  But not us!  No, we are those who receive and treasure!  The Lord will bring it forth! 

Ephesians 2

[10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

II.  THE LORD CALLS US

A.   The call of Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 1

[4] Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

            [5] “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

            and before you were born I consecrated you;

            I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

[6] Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” [7] But the LORD said to me,

            “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;

            for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,

            and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

            [8] Do not be afraid of them,

            for I am with you to deliver you,

            declares the LORD.”

[9] Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me,

            “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

            [10] See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,

            to pluck up and to break down,

            to destroy and to overthrow,

            to build and to plant.”

[11] And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond branch.” [12] Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

B.    The call of Peter and the disciples:

Matthew 4

[18] While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. [19] And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

C.    The call of Samuel:

1 Samuel 3

[8] And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy. [9] Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

[10] And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” [11] Then the LORD said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. [12] On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. [13] And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. [14] Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”

[15] Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. [16] But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” [17] And Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” [18] So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him.”

[19] And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. [20] And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the LORD. [21] And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD.

D.   The Lord initiates.  Our calling originates in the heart of the Lord.  Peter was not looking, but he was called.  Samuel was not looking, but he was called.  Jeremiah was not looking, but he was called by the Lord.  The Lord is searching the earth… He’s searching your heart.  He’s interviewing for positions!  He calls us.  We can’t appoint ourselves into positions.  He establishes us, we can’t establish ourselves.  The call of God is sovereign, but we steward the condition of our heart.

III.  WHOM SHALL I SEND AND WHO WILL GO?

Isaiah 6

[8] And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” [9] And he said, “Go…”

A.   To me, this is the aspect of God that just undoes me.  Jesus is the Head, the Captain of the volunteer army.  He knows what’s in His heart.  He knows the plans He has for us, and yet there is a question in His heart about who will say yes.  I don’t know about you, but this overwhelms me.  When we had our ministry school, the students who would get to year to would inevitably struggle with the doctrines of sovereignty and free will.  Late nights and Facebook debates would ensue, and always my counsel would be to stay within the tension of the Word.  The Lord… Omnipotent, Omniscient, Transcendent asks a question! 

Isaiah hears 2 questions: 

1.     Whom shall I send?

2.     Who will go for us?

The God of the Universe is in counsel with Himself.  The Trinity is conversing. 

2 Chronicles 16

[9] For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.

B.    Have you considered that the Lord is interviewing right now?

1 Samuel 13

[13] And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD your God, with which he commanded you. For then the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. [14] But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”

C.    Who was this man after God’s own heart?  David.  Do you know where He was when Samuel prophesied this to Saul?  On the backside of nowhere tending sheep.  Samuel had not even met him yet.  But the Lord knew Him.  The Lord has already searched Him out. 

D.   And then the Lord asks, who will go.  Our assignments from the Lord begin by drawing close, but they are not stagnant around the throne.  We are brought in to be launched out!   Beloved, you have just a few years to run the race that’s been marked out for you.  Don’t waste it.  Don’t be distracted from it.  Don’t lose heart in it.  Run the race that’s been set for you!

Luke 10

[2] And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

E.    The word send is from the Greek word ekballo… which means to to cast out, drive out, to send out with a notion of violence.  The Lord wants to know who will go!  We have messages that call us to come.  And there are servants that release the message to go.  But we need both. Our callings begin in beholding and hearing the Lord, but they don’t end there.  And our callings cannot begin with the send.  No, we must draw near to Him and come close, but there is an ekballo coming for all who will.

IV.  HAVE YOU SAID YES?

Isaiah 6

[8] And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

A.   I was recently with a friend, really she’s a mentor to me, and we were talking about the prophetic dreams over Resound and over my life.  And we were talking about the necessity to treasure the Word of the Lord.  And then she asked me a question.  She asked me if I had ever just said yes to the Lord concerning all of the things He has promised.   And the question just hung in the air…and I thought about it.   And sitting there I realized I had never given my yes to the Lord.  And so sitting there my friend and I prayed.  We established an altar right there in the car and I gave my yes to the Lord. 

B.    There are some of us who have never heard the Word of the Lord.  It’s not been clear to you what He’s saying, or maybe it’s been clear but we needed to be reminded.  I think there are lots of us who have heard, we are clear, but we have never just said yes.  When the angel announced to Mary that she would conceive a child even though she was a virgin, Mary asked, “How can this be?”  And many of us are stuck here.  We have heard the Lord, but we can’t figure out for the life of us how He will accomplish His Word.  Beloved, that’s the whole point.  He’s going to accomplish it.  In us.  Through us.  He’s going to do it.  He’s waiting for our yes. 

Matthew 4

[18] While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. [19] And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” [20] Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

C.    The Lord will accomplish His Word.  For our part, we say, “Here we are.  Send us!”  This is our role.  This is our joy.

2 Peter 1

[21] For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Prayer:

Father, carry me along by your Holy Spirit.  Open my ears to hear you.  Send me.  My answer is YES.