Sermon Central
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Do You Want To Be Used?
Contributed by Carlos Castaneda on Aug 3, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: We all need an experience with God to realize that God wants to use us. There are no barriers that can block God's purposes, but we need to hear his voice, and to hear his voice we need to dwell in His presence.
Do you Want to be used?
Message by Pastor Carlos Castaneda
Grace Church - July 18, 2010
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)
This morning I want to share with you what God taught me through that special encounter that Isaiah had with Him.
The main thing I learned from this passage is that He wants to use me. The question comes to mind this morning:
Do you want to be used?
There are some requirements to be used the most important one is to be willing to obey His commands.
We also need to understand that there are no barriers in order to be used by the LORD!
There’s no cultural barrier, no language barrier, no age barrier
In other words it doesn’t matter where are you from, what language you speak, or what is your age?
If you want to be used by God the only thing you need TO DO IS OBEY.
There are many passages in the Word where it teaches about being used but this passage in Isaiah in particular really impact my life because it teaches that wee need to be in the presence of the Lord in order to be used.
The major factor here is to be in His presence.
Let’s look at Isaiah 6:1-6
We know this passage, we have probably heard preaching about it many times.
We are familiar how Isaiah was in the temple and was transported or received the vision to be before the throne of the Lord. We also learn that he is cleaned with a coil from under the altar and how he hears the voice of the Lord and how he offers himself to be used.
The first thing that we need to approach in regard to this passage is the encounter that Isaiah has with God.
This is an experience with God. I don’t know if you’ve had an experience with God.
I don’t know if you had an encounter with God.
The encounter with God is the principal factor that we need if we want to be used.
Now let me explain.
Probably you would say I am already a Christian. I come to church every Sunday.
Well I not saying that you are not a Christian, I’m not saying that you don’t have Jesus in you.
What I’m saying is that you and me need an encounter with God if we want to be used the same way Isaiah had that encounter that day in chapter six.
Chronologically as well as logically the book of Isaiah begins with this chapter.
Prior to this we don’t have no information about Isaiah, but for sure we know he was a Jew.
We know that he went to the temple before. As Jews costumes, he probably attended many sacrifices in the past before this episode.
So we know that Isaiah knew about God already and he attended on Saturday to the temple.
But at this precise moment in this chapter we found Isaiah having an experience with God the same as Moses, Abraham, or Ezekiel. He is having a special encounter with God.
Well if you want to be used, if I want to be used we need that special moment. Although I already know him, although I trust Him, although I’m saved, although I have eternal life, I need to have that special encounter.
A moment in my life where I can experiment the presence of the Lord in front of me or better put; me being able to dwell in His presence, to live constantly before the Lord.
This has to be a constant action. This has to be a lifestyle. It is necessary to prolong that moment in our life so we continually, constantly live in His presence.
In other words if you want to be used by the Lord the first requirement that we need is to live in the presence of the Lord.
Someone would say: How do we do that?
Well as Ephesians 5:18 says: “Be filled with the Spirit”
The Spirit is in us for more than to give us gifts is also in us to enable us to live in the presence of our Lord.
Remember the first requirement is to have that encounter with God and to maintain that relationship that constant communication, that constant life in the presence of the Lord is essential for our lives when we want to be used and when we want to work in His kingdom.
See Christianity is more than a religion; well I don’t even like to call it a religion because Christianity has to do with the relationship that you and I have individually with our Lord.
