Here I Am, Send Me: The Power of Availability

God, you are holy, and we thank you. We're humbled in your presence today.

Thank you, God, for calling us, for cleansing us, for inviting us to work in this world.

Today, Lord, we just lay down our need for control and our fear of the unknown.

Make us people today in this place who are available.

Hearts that are open, Lord. Hands that are ready.

Lives that are surrendered to you. And Lord, whenever you send us or wherever

you send us, Lord, may we go in faith and obedience, trusting,

Lord, that you are enough.

In Jesus' mighty name, we pray. And all God's people said, amen.

Have you guys ever noticed how much we love to know what's next before we say yes to anything?

Come on, right? We want the five-year plan before we commit to a job.

We want the itinerary before we book the trip.

We want the guarantee before we take the risk.

It's how the world trains us to think, right? Be cautious.

Gather information.

Protect yourself from uncertainty.

But I want you to know today, Eastwood, when it comes to following God,

he doesn't always hand out the blueprints.

He doesn't. More often, he just calls your name and waits for your response.

That's what happened to Isaiah in this passage in Isaiah chapter 6 that was read earlier.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

We find him called up in a moment of divine encounter.

He sees the Lord, right?

High and exalted, the train of his robe filling the temple.

Angels cry out, holy, holy, holy. And Isaiah, y'all, is completely undone.

He is overwhelmed by God's holiness and his own unworthiness.

But after God cleanses him, we saw in the passage, something incredible happens.

Isaiah hears the voice of the Lord saying, whom

shall i send and who will

go for us notice that god doesn't give isaiah any details does he there's no

description of the mission no explanation of how hard it's going to be no promise

even of how it's going to end just a question church a call.

And Isaiah's response is simple. It's powerful. It's immediate.

And as we see on this first slide, what is it? Here I am, send me.

He doesn't ask where. He doesn't ask how. He doesn't even ask why.

What does he do? He just makes himself available.

That's what this message is all about today. Being available to God.

And as we see in this next slide, because availability, y'all,

isn't about having all the answers.

It's about having a surrendered heart, amen?

A surrendered heart to God. Wherever you go, I'll go, Lord. I'm willing to do

whatever you want me to do. I am available.

And as we see, we'll see this more in this message.

God is not looking for your abilities as much as he's looking for your availability.

Just to say, Lord, here I am. just saying yes to God. We're going to see that this morning.

Maybe today you've been asking God for direction, for a plan,

a purpose, or a next step.

But what if God isn't waiting to give you more information?

What if he's just waiting for your availability?

In a world, you know, all of us, we crave control in this world.

God is looking for people who are going to trust him enough to say,

Lord, whatever you want, I'm yours. Here I am.

We don't have our own agenda. It's all God's agenda.

You know, Isaiah's availability, by the way, didn't appear out of nowhere.

It was born, if you notice in the passage this morning, out of a moment with

God, an encounter that actually changed everything.

Before he could actually say, here I am, send me, Isaiah had to see who God

truly was, recognize who he was, who he truly was, and experience God's transforming grace.

And that's where true availability begins, church, for every one of us.

And that leads us to point number one today.

Availability begins with an encounter. Isaiah 6, verse 1.

Isaiah 6:1

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted,

seated on a throne in the train of his robe, filled the temple.

You see, Isaiah's calling didn't begin with a task.

It began with a vision, as we see in this next slide, a vision.

Before he ever heard God's voice, he saw God's glory.

The setting is significant. In the year that King Uzziah died,

Uzziah's reign, by the way, had been long and prosperous, but guess what?

It ended in tragedy after his pride actually led to judgment.

We're going to see that in 2 Chronicles 26, verses 16 through 21. Listen to this.

2 Chronicles 26:16–21

But when he was strong, he grew proud to his destruction, for he was unfaithful

to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.

But Azariah, the priest, went in after him with 80 priests of the Lord who were men of valor.

And they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, it is not for you,

or not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests,

the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense.

Go out of the sanctuary for you have done wrong and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God.

Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense.

And when he became angry with the priest, leprosy broke out on his forehead

in the presence of the priest in the house of the Lord by the altar of incense.

And Azariah, the chief priest and all the priests looked at him and behold,

he was leprous in his forehead and he was leprous.

And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out,

because the Lord had struck him.

And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper,

lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord.

And Jotham, his son, was over the king's household, governing the people of the Lord.

So his death, I want y'all to see that today, Uzziah's death symbolized a moment

of national uncertainty.

Leadership was changing. The

throne was empty, and the people were fearful about what would come next.

Listen to this, though, in Psalm 93, 1 and 2. It says, but while the earthly

throne sat vacant, Isaiah saw that heaven's throne was still occupied.

Come on, kings rise and fall, he said, but the Lord reigns forever.

Well, that ought to get you excited this morning. I'm just saying,

come on. This encounter anchors Isaiah's entire ministry.

Before he could speak for God, he had to see God. Before he could represent

heaven on earth, church, he had to stand in heaven's presence.

And that brings us to our next point. Availability begins not with activity, but with awe.

With awe. Isaiah's eyes, y'all, were opened to the majesty and holiness of God.

The Lord seated on a throne, exalted, surrounded by seraphim,

calling out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty.

The whole earth is full of his glory. In verse three there of Isaiah six,

the cry of holy, I want y'all to get this today, wasn't just mere repetition.

It was emphasis, the ultimate declaration, if you will, of God's perfection,

his otherness. this encounter shatters our illusions of control and independence.

I mean, when we see God for who he truly is, like Isaiah did here,

holy, sovereign, glorious, guess what?

We can no longer live as though we are the center of our own stories, Wood. It can't happen.

That's where availability begins. when our hearts are captured by the greatness

of God, surrender becomes the only reasonable response.

Did you get it? When our hearts are captured, y'all, by the greatness of God.

Surrender just becomes the only reasonable response.

Isaiah was undone.

The apostle Paul, if you remember, actually experienced something very similar

on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter 9, verses 3 through 6.

Acts 9:3–6

Let's read that this morning. It says, now as he went on his way,

he approached Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him,

and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul,

why are you persecuting me?

And he said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,

but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.

Before he could be sent to the nations, he had to be blinded by the glory of the risen Christ.

Like Isaiah, his mission was birthed in an encounter with God Almighty.

And when we truly encounter God, our priorities realign.

Do you hear what God's word is saying here to us, y'all?

When we truly encounter God, our priorities realign.

It's not all about our agenda. It's not all about me. It's all about him. Amen?

It's all about him. You know what we do? We stop living for comfort,

for control, and for convenience, and we start living for the only one who is worthy. That's it.

Worship, as we see in this last bullet point on this slide, leads to willingness.

All leads to availability. Y'all, this is where God desires our hearts to be.

Just saying, Lord, I am available for you to do whatever you want to do in my life.

Lord, I'm available for you to trash my plans.

Lord, I'm available for you to wreck my life as far as a human would look at it. I'm available.

Whatever you want to do. because you see Isaiah here, he was totally undone

in the presence of God when he said, here I am, Lord, send me.

And that points us to number two today.

Availability, church, requires surrender. Let me just ask you off the cuff here.

Do you negotiate when you surrender?

No. What do you do? What do you do when you surrender?

Whatever you want, I surrender, right? You don't tell God about all the things

you're committed to. Nope.

You just surrender. You surrender it all.

Availability requires surrender. Look at verse five of Isaiah six.

It says, woe to me, I cry. This is Isaiah.

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.

As we see in this next slide, we see Isaiah's first response to God's holiness

was not excitement, it was conviction.

Conviction. The closer he came to God's presence, the more he became aware of his own sinfulness.

Church, the closer you move to God with your family and in your life and in

your walk with God, the closer you move to God, the more convicted you feel about your sin.

Because you see as we see in this next bullet point

in that moment Isaiah didn't compare

himself to others he compared himself to who to God and in light of God's holiness

in light of that holiness he realized church that even his lips his very instrument

that God would one day use to speak his word were unclean.

That's the paradox, if you will, of encountering God.

His holiness exposes our sin, but his mercy invites us to stay. Hallelujah.

Amen. I mean, his holiness exposes our sin, but his mercy invites us to stay.

Because Isaiah cries out here, he says, woe to me, I am ruined.

That's the language, church, of surrender. Not defiance, not denial, but humble confession.

There was no defiance here. There was no denial of his sinful state.

He just humbly confessed it before God. And by the way, let me just say that

it's the posture God always responds to, by the way.

Psalm 51, 17, listen to it. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.

You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

Isaiah confesses. Get this, church.

He confesses, and immediately grace moves toward him.

One of the seraphim flies to him, as you see in that passage,

with a live coal taken from the altar, a symbol of sacrifice and atonement, and it touches his lips.

And the angel actually declares, don't miss this today.

Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.

That's the gospel in a single verse. Well, come on.

Your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for.

Before God calls Isaiah to speak, He purifies, again, the very thing that will

carry the message and carry his message.

Before God can send us out, Eastwood, he wants to heal what's within.

This is the divine pattern as we see here on this next point.

Confession leads to cleansing and cleansing leads to calling.

Got to make this clear today. Isaiah didn't earn God's favor. He received it.

He received it. Isaiah didn't earn God's favor. He received it.

The altar coal here represents what Christ would ultimately fulfill.

The once for all sacrifice that cleanses every sinner who comes in faith.

Listen to this. Hebrews 10 verses 10 through 14 says this, it says,

Hebrews 10:10–14

and by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of

Jesus Christ once for all.

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices,

which can never take away sins.

But when Christ had offered for all time, a single sacrifice for sins,

he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemy

should be made a footstool for his feet.

For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being

sanctified. Hallelujah.

Through Jesus, we don't just get a clean slate.

We get a new heart, one that's free to love, one that's free to serve,

one that's free to obey God without fear.

If we confess our sins, it reminds me of this verse in 1 John 1, 9.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive.

He'll forgive us as our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

As we see on this next slide, I want y'all to get this today.

Surrender is not about groveling. It's about grace.

It's all about God's grace. That amazing grace, y'all.

When we confess our sin, we make space for God's transforming power.

He takes what's unclean and he makes it holy. In other words,

let me put it this way. He turns our shame into service.

Y'all, but as long as we stand to the side as long as we're shaking our fist

and just getting all upset in God's face and what God's doing.

If we learned in Sunday school this morning, men have dark and evil hearts and we run from the light.

And the fact we don't like the light so much that if we're around anybody who

actually shares the light, we run from them, right?

In whatever way we can come up with. But you don't need to run from the light of God.

You need to run to him, to his open arms.

And here's the key let me share this before God could

send Isaiah again he had to first heal

Isaiah before Isaiah could speak words

of truth his lips had to be touched by fire before

he could hey God can use us publicly many times he has to purify us privately

before he uses our words he redeems our hearts that leads us to the last point

point number three today Availability is a daily commitment.

I could even say it this way, a daily surrender. Isaiah 6, 8, listen to it again.

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

And I said, Here I am, send me.

Isaiah's moment of calling comes after cleansing.

Only when he's been purified, Eastwood, does he hear the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send.

It's a godly invitation that he receives. And y'all, I want you to know today,

as you're sitting here today at Eastwood Baptist Church in the pews that you

came and sat in today, that God's call goes out to you, a godly invitation.

When you are before his throne, when you are there, and when you let God touch

you, this godly invitation, whom shall I send?

God doesn't command Isaiah here. He simply asks.

And Isaiah, think about it for a moment, freshly forgiven and deeply transformed.

Remember, he was undone.

You know, it flew the coal. The angel flew the coal, cleansed him.

He was forgiven. Grace came calling. Amen.

Freshly forgiven and deeply transformed here, as we see in this next slide,

he responds with immediate willingness.

Here I am. Send me.

I want to challenge this today. Is that going to be your response?

Is that your response every day? It's a daily surrender, a daily commitment. Lord, here I am, send me.

Doesn't hesitate here. He doesn't ask for the destination, the timeline, or the reward even.

Hey, here's a concept, church. He just says yes.

I mean, God's looking for your yes. He's looking for my yes. Just yes, Lord.

Whatever you want, send me, Lord. I want to be available.

I don't have to know every little way something's going to work out.

I'm just available for you, God, to use me and however you see fit,

Lord. I want to be available.

Isaiah's obedience here, y'all, is powerful. You want to know why?

Because it's relational.

We see on this first point here, he's not obeying for the sake of success.

He's responding out of love. The one who cleansed him now calls him.

And you know what? That's enough. That's enough.

In fact, 2 Corinthians 5.14 tells us the love of Christ compels us.

Isaiah's mission, yes, will be difficult. It will be difficult.

In the verses that follow, in fact, in verses 9 and 10 that Sharon read earlier,

God tells him that the people will hear but not understand, see but not perceive.

His ministry, y'all, would be marked by rejection.

Yet you know what? Isaiah doesn't flinch one bit. Why?

Because his obedience isn't dependent upon the response of others.

It's rooted in faithfulness to the one who sent him. Amen.

That's it. That's it. That's what true availability looks like.

That's what it looks like.

Brother Ronnie, faithfulness, even when the fruit isn't visible.

That's what it looks like. Faithfulness, even when the fruit isn't visible.

It's the kind of obedience that Jesus demonstrated, y'all, in the Garden of

Gethsemane when he prayed this in Luke 22, verse 42.

Luke 22:42

He said, not my will, but yours be done.

You see, availability is not a one-time declaration.

It's a daily posture, as we see in this last point on the slide.

It's not a one-time declaration. It's a daily posture that we're in.

Every day, God still calls, maybe not with a booming voice from heaven,

but with quiet nudges in your heart.

Think about it for a moment. Will you forgive that person?

Will you speak a word of encouragement?

Will you trust me with your future.

And every day, guess what? We get to respond, here I am, Lord, send me.

9.23 says this. It says, if anyone would come after me, Jesus said,

let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

You notice that word daily that I emphasize there?

Following Jesus isn't just a one-time yes at the altar.

It's a continual yes in the ordinary rhythms of life.

When God gives us a task or when God lays on our hearts and says, will you follow me.

Will you come? Who am I going to send? And we say, yes, Lord,

every day, every day, a continual yes, Lord. That's surrender.

That's availability, Eastwood.

Isaiah's here I am becomes a model for how we live, right?

Not for a single moment of calling, but for a lifetime of surrender. A lifetime, y'all.

When we wake up each morning and place our day in God's hands,

whether the power's on or the power just went out, we are practicing availability.

When we say yes to small acts of obedience, church, unseen and uncelebrated, we're living sent.

Sent. That's how I want to live. When we trust God's plan, even when it leads through hardship,

through tarred waters, rough waters, whatever it is, we are echoing God's words

here through Isaiah, here I am, send me.

Here I am, Isaiah says, send me. You see, Isaiah's moment in the temple was

more than a personal encounter.

It was a turning point, y'all, that reoriented his entire life.

He came in as a prophet, burdened by the chaos of his nation, and guess what?

He left as a messenger, burdened with the heart of God Almighty.

That transformation began with one simple phrase, here I am, send me.

And those words still echo this morning. They're the heartbeat of every person

who's ever chosen to follow Jesus.

And I just got to say this today, as we see up here on the screen,

every time we say yes to God,

even when the path is unclear, even when the cost is high, we step into the

kind of life we're made for, y'all. That's it.

Trust and obey. For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Isaiah didn't have all the answers. He didn't know how difficult that his calling

would be, as we said, and where it would lead.

But he trusted that if the same God who revealed himself in holiness was the

one that was sending him, then that was enough.

And the same should be true for every one of us sitting here today,

because I want y'all to know something. We live in a world that is obsessed

with knowing the plan, like I said, to start with.

And if y'all like me, you like those spreadsheets, you like all those plans,

you try to meticulously plan out and do things that goes against your grain.

Like I said, where security is found in clarity, but not in the calling of God,

because God isn't asking for control.

He's asking for availability. of the week.

Availability. And I just got to say this today, because some of y'all may be

sitting out there thinking to yourself, would God ever use me?

You don't know my past. You don't know things in my life.

Would God ever use somebody like me? You just don't know.

He's asking for your availability. You see, as we see up here on this next slide,

he's not looking for people.

I want y'all to get this today. He's not looking for people with perfect resumes or flawless faith even.

He's looking for people who will simply say, here I am.

That's it. Aren't you thankful for that?

Praise God. I wouldn't meet the qualifications otherwise. You know what I'm saying?

He's not looking for people with perfect resumes or flawless faith.

Just people who say, here I am, Lord, send me. What are we going to be today?

What are you going to choose to do today?

That's what makes a Christian life so beautiful. It's not about doing great

things for God. it's about saying yes to the next thing he puts before you.

Sometimes that's big, public calling, sometimes a new ministry,

a bold step of obedience, but often it's the quiet, hidden moments of availability

that actually shape us the most.

Think about it for a moment. When you stop to listen to somebody who's hurting

instead of rushing by them, that's availability.

When you forgive someone who's wounded you deeply, that's availability.

When you offer what you have, even if it feels small or insignificant, that's availability.

When you say, Lord, I don't understand what you're doing, but I trust you anyway, that's availability.

You going to be available? Are we going to be available? Are we going to say,

Lord, I am available. Here am I.

Lord, send me. Every here I am becomes a doorway, church, for God to move in

your life, in your family's life,

in your church, and in your world, ultimately.

So maybe today, as we wrap this up on this next slide, maybe today,

the question isn't, what does God want me to do?

Maybe the question truly is, am I available?

Am I available? Because God still calls.

His voice still goes out. Whom shall I send and who will go for us?

And he's not looking for the most talented or the most confident even,

or the most qualified. he's looking for hearts that are surrendered,

that are ready to trust and willing to go.

So wherever you are today, whatever season you're in in life today,

whatever questions may remain unanswered, even where you sit today.

What if your response again today was just simply this?

Here I am, Lord. I'm yours.

Send me. Send me. this world needs an army of believers church who is willing to be available.

To be sent. Is that you?

Or do you have your list of reasons why you can't follow God?

Do you have the excuses about, Lord, I can't do it because I got to bury my

father. Remember that in the scripture?

I can't do it because of this. I can't do it because of that.

Lord, I can't do it because I'm living the American dream.

Do you have your excuses or do you just have your availability?

That's what God's looking for.

Are you running from the light or are you running towards the light.

Are you living for this world and for the treasures of this world?

Because where your treasure is, your heart's going to be there.

Are you living for things that are eternal, that will never fade away,

that will never rust, that will never corrode, that will never decay?

Is your treasure in heaven or is it here on the earth?

Are you available? That's the question. Let's stand as we pray this morning.

Father God, we truly thank you for your word. God, I thank you that Isaiah made himself available.

But Lord, truly, after he was undone in your presence, Lord, he surrendered.

And God, he received grace. God, I pray today, Lord, as your Holy Spirit moves

in our midst, Lord, whether it's someone who may need to step out in faith,

possibly for the first time to maybe surrender to you, to say,

I want Jesus as the Lord of my life.

I want to repent of my sin and put my faith and trust in him for my salvation.

Or whether it may be somebody who says, hey, I feel that I need to join Eastwood

Baptist Church. I want to serve God here.

And whether it's somebody else that says, you know what? I want to step out.

I want to follow God in believers' baptism today. I want to be available for

his use. I want to serve him in every way possible.

Maybe somebody else today that maybe just needs to come to the altar,

Make yourself available.

Lord, I pray right now as your spirit moves that we'll respond in obedience

and faith. In Jesus' mighty name we pray.