HERE I AM LORD SEND ME

PROCLAMATION

“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 6:8 (NIV)

EXPLANATION
In chapter three Isaiah predicts the judgement which will fall on Jerusalem and Judah because of their sins against The Lord. (Isaiah 3:1-26)  Chapter four presents the prophecy of Jesus, The Christ, in which He is described as “The Branch of The Lord.” (Isaiah 4:2-6)  Chapter five is a parable of a vineyard which is presented as a song that details the destruction of the Jews and their land. (Isaiah 5:1-30)  In chapter six Isaiah presents a vision which he had of The Lord in the year that King Uzziah died. (Isaiah 6:1-13)  In the vision he saw The Lord seated on His throne and he cried “Woe is me” because he had unclean lips, and an angel came to him and placed a piece of hot coal on his lips to atone for his sins. (Isaiah 6:5-7)  Then he heard the voice of The Lord as who could He sent to deliver His message to the people.  Isaiah answered Him and said, “Here am I.  Send me.”

APPLICATION
We do not have to be perfect in order to do the work of The Lord.  As long as we believe in Him and confess our sins, He can use us to deliver His word to His people.  We can be pardoned of our sins, but we still have to be willing to work for The Lord.  The Lord qualifies whomever He chooses.  Remember, He told Moses that I will help you speak and tell you what to say. (Exodus 4:10-12)  However, He does not force us, we must come to Him and obey His word of our own free will.  Whosoever will, let them come. (Revelation 22:17)  The question is, when The Lord God calls us, how will we answer Him?  Here I am, Lord, send me.

OBEDIENCE SACRIFICE AND BLESSINGS

Proclamation:

“Some time later God tested Abraham.  He said to him, ‘Abraham!’ … Then God said, ‘Take you son, you only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah.  Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.’  Early the next morning … he took his son … When they reached the place … Abraham built and altar … he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar … and took the knife to slay his son.  But The Angel of The Lord called out to him … ‘Do not lay a hand on the boy’ … Abraham looked up and there in the thicket he saw a ram, caught by its horns … he took the ram and sacrificed it … The Angel of The Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said ‘… I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.  Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed Me.’”  Genesis 22:1-18 (NIV)

Explanation:

The Lord God appeared to Abraham and made a covenant with him. (Genesis 17:1-7)  God kept His promise and Abraham was an old man when his son, Isaac, was born. (Genesis 21:2)  When The Lord God called to him and told what He wanted him to do, Abraham was obedient and took his son to the mountains to offer him as a brunt offering unto The Lord.  Before he actually slayed his son, The Angel of The Lord stopped him and showed him a ram that was caught in the bush.  Abraham called that place “The Lord Will Provide”. (Genesis 22:14)  Because he was willing to sacrifice his son to please God, The Lord promised to bless him and his descendants, who would be too numerous to count. (Genesis 22:16-17)  He promised that through Abraham’s descendants all nations on the earth would be blessed, referring to Jesus, The Christ. (Genesis 22:18)  The genealogy of Jesus can be traced back to Abraham. (Matthew 1:1-16)

Application:

Abraham passed his test of faith in God by showing his obedience to God.  He was willing to give up the son that he loved in order to obey God.  What sacrifices are we willing to make to obey The Word of God?  All too often we choose to please ourselves and our lustful, sinful nature instead of sacrificing our personal wants, wishes, and desires in order to please God.  We offer excuses when we are presented with the opportunity to choose to obey The Word of God and we give in to pleasing ourselves.  Abraham is often referred to as the father of the faithful.  He was truly blessed, God even used his enemies to be a blessing to him.  If we want to be blessed more in the future than we already are, then maybe we should be more obedient to God's word and His will than we are currently.  God gave us a free will and He allows us to choose to be obedient or not.  Following Him requires some personal sacrifices.  However, with obedience and sacrifice comes some special blessings.  Remember, some blessings are conditional.

WE HAVE GUARDIAN ANGELS

Proclamation:

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones.  For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven.” Matthew 18:10 (NIV)

Explanation:

These are the words of The Lord Jesus, The Christ, which were recorded by the Apostle Matthew as Jesus was speaking to His disciples.  "These little ones" refers to believers.  Here Jesus makes it clear that each believer has a guardian angel, although it is not clear if an angel has more than one charge or if we have more than one guardian angel.  Because we have our own free will, we like sheep occasionally wander off and stray from The Word of God.  It is not the desire of God that any should be lost.  Jesus was sent to earth to save the lost sheep. (Matthew 18:12-14)  Each of us is important to Him, and there is rejoicing when a "lost sheep" is found. 

Application:

We should be encouraged to know that each of us has a guardian angel.  God loves us and has made provisions for our care and protection.  The birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was for our salvation from the penalty of our sins.  It does not matter what it is that we have done, we can be forgiven and welcomed back into the sheepfold.  Just because we are lost in sin, we do not have to stay that way. We all fall down, but we do not have to stay down.  If we want to get up then we have to accept His help in order to get up and out of sin.  Not everyone who is living in sin wants to stop.  There are those who are living in the darkness of sin that actually love what they are doing. (John 3:19-20)  But for the believer who has stumbled and fallen back into sin and is now lost in darkness, there is an angel waiting to show them the way.  There is joy in heaven when one of us, like the "lost sheep" is "found" and returns to the sheepfold and follows of The Word of God.  However, our guardian angels can only help us if we want to be helped because we have the free will to choose darkness or The Light. (Joshua 24:15)