Made to Worship // Worship that Sends You

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Great job, Grasstail.

We're going to be in Isaiah chapter six.

And if this is your first time, we want to invite you to take something that we have here called the three-week challenge.

We don't think you can get the full FCC experience in less than three weeks.

So if you'll take this, we'd love to get you a hoodie at the next steps and information table.

Or if you're like me and you're like, it's way too hot to wear a hoodie right now, we would uh gladly get you guys a t-shirt out there.

So hope you will take that.

We're in week four of a series that we started a few weeks ago called Worship Finding Purpose in the Mundane.

And to kind of review where we've been and what we've talked about, the first week we said this.

We said that worship is ascribing worth to something and valuing that something above everything else.

So fundamentally, everybody is a worshiper.

You could say, no, actually, I'm not a worshiper.

I'm an atheist.

I don't worship God.

The reality is you may not worship God, but you do worship something.

In week two, we talked about worshiping God through song.

And we looked at the word praise and we broke that word down and we talked about how do we praise God.

Week three, last week we said worship is being a living sacrifice before God by laying ourselves on the altar and saying, God, like you can have all of me.

And today we're gonna see that worship is telling God, here I am, send me.

Worship means that we make ourselves available for God to use us.

And we go to an account in Isaiah chapter 6, where there is a guy that was very confident, very self-assured, very uh, how can we say this?

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

Maybe a little prideful.

You ever met somebody that's a little prideful?

Are you maybe a little prideful?

Just kidding.

And he goes into the presence of God, and immediately this man that's self-assured, and immediately this man that is strong is overwhelmed, and he's actually emotionally destroyed.

Because well, when we get an accurate view of God, we start to see that uh that we aren't as great as sometimes we like to think that we are, and we see something here in this text that really is a theme throughout scripture, and it's this is that God breaks us because God wants to use us.

That God breaks us because God wants to use us.

In fact, I I asked on my social media this week, I said, uh, who's ever had God breaking you break you before?

And a lot of you chimed in and you shared experiences that you've had that were hard and disorienting, times in your life where maybe you were very self-willed in a place, or maybe you were very like, this is how things should be, and and God took you to this place where He broke you down.

Well, some of you shared, and you said this in different ways.

Is before there was a breakthrough in my life, there was a breakdown where God broke me down.

And sometimes the breakthrough is on the other side of God breaking us.

Now, here's what's hard about this.

What's hard about this is nobody likes to admit that they're weak.

In fact, all of us, we like to think of ourselves as like self-reliant, like I can do this, like I don't need anybody, I'm strong.

I mean, after all, we are Americans.

We're not Americants until, let's be honest, until our phone dies, then we can't do anything, right?

We're no longer functional.

And the idea of us being broken down by God and being weak is something that's hard for us to fathom.

But in the kingdom of God, strength isn't the absence of weakness, strength is actually found in your weakness.

This is what Isaiah learned.

Because God broke him down, God built him back up, and Isaiah's response to this was, I want to worship you by saying, Lord, like send me.

Use me.

I'm available to be used by you.

And this is what we're gonna see today in Isaiah chapter number six.

If you're ready for it, would you say amen?

Isaiah chapter six, Isaiah writes, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple.

Seraphim, uh, if we can get verse number verse number two up there on the screen, verse two.

Seraphim, these are angels, they were standing above him.

They each had six wings, with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

And one called to another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of armies, his glory fills the whole earth.

It's like, hold on.

Why do they say holy three times?

Like, why do they just say, holy is the Lord of armies?

Like, we would get it.

In Jewish culture, they would repeat a word more than once for emphasis, and there's only one word that's mentioned three times to describe the character of God.

It's not love, love, love.

It's not kind, kind, kind.

It's right here.

Holy, holy, holy.

And this is what happens.

Isaiah in verse number one, he saw God.

And what did he see?

He saw holiness.

This word literally means to be set apart.

God is big, I'm small.

God is strong, and I'm weak.

Isaiah sees God, and what's gonna happen is Isaiah is gonna have this literally emotional meltdown because he's overwhelmed.

Look how this starts in verse four.

Isaiah has this vision, and he sees the foundations of the doorway shook at the sound of their voices.

The room is shaking.

And the temple was filled with smoke.

Smoke is filling the temple.

This is like the the place where, for our uh context, like the church where the people of God gathered.

Sinless angels, they're covering their faces, and then Isaiah suddenly realizes something.

Verse 5: I said, Woe is me.

Let's all say the word woe is me together, ready?

Woe is this phrase.

This is what it means.

I'm cursed.

What he says, for I am ruined.

What does that word ruin means?

He's like undone.

So he's like emotionally and psychologically breaking down.

Like this is all too much for him.

You've been in a time, in a place, gotten a call, experienced something where it was just too much for you.

And literally, like your body, you just like start breaking down, you start crying uncontrollably.

But this is what's happening here.

He's he says, I'm ruined, I'm undone.

Why?

Because I'm a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.

Because my eyes have seen the king, the lord of armies.

Isaiah first of all saw God.

Now, number two, in verse number five, here, Isaiah sees himself, and in light of who God is and God's holiness, he begins to emotionally unravel.

And he says here that his lips are unclean.

Now, of all the things Isaiah says are unclean, the fact that he says it's his lips is unique because Isaiah is a prophet, he's a preacher, he's like a communicator, he uses his lips all of the time.

This is where he finds his strength.

Like Isaiah's not like a marathon runner where he's like running all the time.

Isaiah's not like a scientist.

Isaiah's he's a preacher.

His lips were a place where he found his strength.

And in the presence of God, he realized the thing that was his strength was actually inadequate.

The thing that Isaiah trusted the most collapsed in the presence of God.

And when your identity rests on anything smaller than God, eventually it cracks.

It could be the place where you're gifted at.

So you'll discover it was never strong enough to hold you in the first place.

So I want to ask you a question.

And I don't want you to give the church answer, okay?

What is the thing that's holding you together?

What is it that you look to for meaning and for self-worth?

Is it the career?

Is it that you're a parent?

Is it this hobby that you have?

The thing that that gives you meaning that tells you that I'm alright.

Sometimes what God will do is God will shake those things up.

God will break those things down.

God will cause you to lose your job.

God will cause your kids to not be doing as well.

God will cause something to happen over here.

Why?

To reveal the fact that your identity is in that, and that thing is not strong enough to hold the weight of your identity.

And Isaiah says this.

And when he comes to this place where he's broken down, when he comes to this place where he's like, even the very thing that was my strength is actually a weakness.

That's when God steps in and God's gonna build him back up.

Look what happens in verse number six.

It says, Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs.

And he touched my mouth, and he touched my mouth with it, and said, Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed.

Your sin has been atoned for.

Sometimes what God's grace does, God's grace will show you that you are not enough in your own strength.

Sometimes what God's grace does is God's grace shows you that, hey, you are being prideful in this place, and I'm gonna break you to the place where you realize it.

Sometimes what God's grace does is God's grace will come to you in the form of a friend that says, hey, you're walking this path, but there's a different way you need to be walking on.

And you're like, don't talk to me like that.

That's God's grace in your life, trying to get you on the right path to follow him.

Sometimes what God's grace looks like is God's grace comes into your life in a form of a trial, in the form of tribulation, in the form of difficulty, in the form of an emotional breakdown.

When it's we're at that place at the lowest of low, where we're like, what is happening to me where we can look up and we can understand that it's only God's love and it's only God's identity that He gives us, and it's only who God says that we are that's strong enough to sustain us in our life.

Sometimes God loves you enough to break you.

And you think that God's mad at you, God ain't mad at you, bro.

God's not upset with you.

You don't have to stop denying your inadequacies.

You don't have to keep acting like you're strong.

You don't have to keep acting like you have everything together.

Because strength is not found in yourself, strength is found by realizing that inside of yourself there is no strength, there's weakness, and God is my strength.

Sometimes God confronts us.

And sometimes what God is going to do is God's gonna show us that we are not enough.

But in God, there is more meaning and there is more self-worth.

And in God, we are more than enough, but it's not because of us, it's because of Him.

So now we don't have to try to prove ourselves to everybody.

Now we don't have to try to appear like our life is perfect.

Now we don't have to act like I'm some perfect guy and I'm the best this and I'm the best that.

No, actually, I can be messed up, but God still loves me.

Because I'm a child of God.

I don't have to act like I'm I don't have to compare myself to everybody else and have to say, well, I I guess I'm kind of I guess I'm not at the place in my life where where I should be, because that person that sees on social media, they do all that.

I guess I'm not the best parent.

I guess I'm not the best husband.

No, no, I'm not worried about that.

You know why?

Because I am who God says that I am.

And when I know who I am because of who God says that I am, I can rejoice in what they're doing.

I don't have to compare myself to them.

I don't have to like throw shade at them.

I don't have to secretly cheer and wish for their downfall.

Because I know my identity is secure because of who the father says that I am.

Because I know who my father is.

It's uh it's it's interesting.

I I sometimes do some things for the Fairfield Police Department, and my dad served as a chaplain for the Fairfield Police Department for many years, and sometimes I'll go there and and every now and again somebody will introduce me to somebody else as Rick Stone Street's son.

Now, before that, you know, the person they're doing like the courtesy, like, hey, how you you know.

But when they say this is Rick Stone Street's son, they kind of like stop, look at me, want to have a conversation.

Like the chief of police, for example, the chief of police, he's like, let me give you my phone number.

He's like, call me if you need anything.

I'm like, I ain't calling you, man.

Like, keep the city safe.

Like, I'm like, don't answer my calls, but don't worry, I'm not calling you, I'm not texting you.

He's like, no, no, I'm serious.

He's like, this is like my personal cell phone number.

I'm like, why are you giving me your personal cell phone number?

Like, this is weird.

Like, I'm a random dude.

I'm a why are you doing this?

Here's why they're doing that.

Here's why they like they like treat me a certain way and view me a certain way.

Not because of me, but because of who my dad is.

And friend, if you will see yourself in light of who your heavenly father is, it will change how you see yourself.

This is why we say here that the gospel doesn't just save us, it shapes us, strengthens us, and guides us.

And what some of us need in our life is for God to break us.

What some of us need is to come face to face with who God is, and in light of that, who we're not.

Because when God breaks us down, it's only then that God can rebuild us.

And then look at the result of this in verse number eight.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking, Who will I send and who will go for us?

And I said, This is Isaiah.

I said, Here I am.

Send me.

In Isaiah.

Is there anybody that I can use?

Is there like is there anybody that like wants to advance my kingdom?

Is there anybody that like would be willing to let me use them in a mighty way?

And the person who said woe is me became the person who said send me.

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

How does this bro go from having an emotional breakdown where you're like, he needs to see a doctor right now?

We're like, give this guy some water.

How does he go from here to saying, Lord, send me?

This is what happened.

God rebuilt his identity.

He understood who he was, that he was forgiven.

And when God rebuilt Isaiah's identity, fear's not being in charge of his life.

Fears not being in charge.

You realize that God wants to use you.

He wants to use every single one of us.

But for so many of us, what's happened is fear is getting in the way of us saying yes to God.

We fear what people are going to think about us.

We fear, am I going to mess up?

We fear, do I have enough?

Like, can I actually do this?

Guys, fear has to stop having the final say in our life.

Because fear is preventing Jesus followers from doing what God's put on their hearts.

Fear is preventing some of us from saying, Hear my send me.

You might say, you don't understand.

Like, I'm just like little old me.

Like, I can't do a lot.

No.

The Spirit of God lives in you.

The Spirit of God lives in you.

And it's in your weakness.

And it's in your humility.

That God can show Himself strong.

The people that are used by God are not great people and strong people and powerful people.

They're people that are humble enough to realize that apart from God, they can do nothing, but they're willing to say, Here am I, send me.

And can I just be a messenger?

To some of you to say, stop letting fear control you.

Stop letting fear be the thing that dictates what you do.

Stop letting fear be the thing that dictates what you don't do.

Some of you can be mighty weapons for the kingdom of God.

If fear would no longer have the final word in your life.

We live in a culture that's driven by fear.

It's on our social media, it's on our news.

Fear sells, it's all around us.

The people of God need to stand up and say, Greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world.

Like, I'm not gonna live my life in fear.

I'm not gonna live my life in fear.

Jesus, he had a prayer request and he was on earth.

His prayer request on earth was Matthew chapter 9.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

It says, He said to his disciples, the harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.

Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.

In other words, if we will just volunteer, if we will say, Here I am, send me, God will use us to be workers in his harvest field.

I was reminded of the power of this the other day.

I was uh a little while ago, I was I was talking to a a couple in Connect.

And if you've never been to Connect, Connect is for anybody that's newish to our church.

It's the first Sunday of every month.

And I was talking to a couple at Connect, and and the husband had recently gotten baptized, and they have a small child, and I was thinking about where they were in their faith journey and all the people that brought them to this place.

Now they're getting involved in the church, they're getting connected.

And I was thinking about the first time they came to a service here.

How many of y'all know going to a church service for the first time is scary?

Scary.

I mean, I'm it's still scary for me, and I'm the pastor.

Scary.

That family came here and they were met by people in the parking lot that were waving at them, greeting them.

They were met by people at the front doors that were greeting them.

They came into a building that was clean because there are people that come here during the week and clean the building.

They came into a service where the worship team was well prepared, where there's a media team where there's sound, that's right, shout out media team.

There's a place for their there's a place for their small child to have a safe environment.

And now this family, which many of you have never met, now, now they're gonna be raising up their child in the ways of the Lord.

Now their child is gonna learn how to pray.

Now their child is gonna learn about scripture.

Now their child is gonna see that following Jesus is the best way.

Now that child is gonna see that they don't have to look uh for love in all these different places because they are loved by a God unconditionally.

Now that family and that child's trajectory is gonna be changed.

Why?

Because a bunch of people in our church said, Here my send me.

I'll wake up early on a Sunday morning and I'll go out in the parking lot and serve.

I'll come here during the week and I'm willing to clean the building.

I'll I'll schedule teams, I'll do this, I'll do that.

And what has happened is volunteers weren't just holding doors for people, they were opening doors for people to meet Jesus.

And I wonder what would happen in our church if all of us just said this Lord, here am I send me.

How would he send you?

How would he send you?

Right now, I want to give you an example of this.

Um we have a we have a food pantry community group.

Jessica leads that up over there.

And and families that have a food shortage in our ch in our church can now get food like for free.

Why?

Because one person said, Here am I, send me.

God put this on our heart, and now she's doing this, and now families can be fed.

Isn't that amazing?

Can we put it up for Jessica?

God might be putting something on your heart on the screen here.

There's a button on sassoonchurch.com under community groups, leading a community group.

Man, fill that out, but we would love to empower you to do what God wants to do through you.

I have two questions, and then I'm gonna invite us to pray a prayer this morning.

Here's my first question Have you told the Lord, here am I, send me?

Have you said, Lord, here I am, send me?

How would God use you?

Maybe God might use you to minister to somebody else in our church.

Maybe God might use you to join a serve team.

Maybe God might use you to start a community group.

Maybe, maybe God might use you to go to the nations.

Man, we have a uh a Jeremiah's leading a missions trip in June, going to Mexico, nine people taking nine people.

That's amazing.

What what what might happen?

What might happen if we said here my Lord send me?

There are stories of families and lives being changed here in our church.

Because we have so many people who said, Hear my, send me.

We're in a unique place in our church.

We have more people serving than ever before in our church.

We also have more needs and more opportunities than ever before in our church.

With more people comes more needs and more opportunities.

We need some people that say, Hear my, send me.

Hey, I'm willing twice a month on a Sunday to wake up a little earlier and serve.

Hear my, send me.

And here's my second question to those of you that are making a difference, you're serving on a serve team.

Have you considered how your serving makes a difference?

I I only ask this question because as a pastor, sometimes I can forget that I'm actually making a difference.

Like sometimes I can think, I'm just being honest.

I just asked sometimes.

I'm like, does what I do even matter?

I preach, pray my guts out, I try to lead the best I can.

And I'm like, I feel like sometimes it's in vain.

People I pray for just kind of walk away.

People that look at me in the face, like, Pastor, love this church, I want to serve this church.

Six months later, I'm like, what happened to them?

And that wears on me.

Pray.

I'm like, Lord, does it even matter?

And then I hear stories and think of stories like the one I just told.

And I'm like, it makes it worth it.

Like God is using me, even though sometimes I don't realize it.

Can I say for you that you're on a serve team, that God's using you?

That what you're doing matters.

Be encouraged by that.

And I want to invite us all to pray a prayer as we close this morning.

Here's the prayer.

I want you to pray this to God.

In light of your character and my identity in Him, if we can get it up on the screen here.

Here I am, Lord.

Send me.

Here I am, Lord.

Send me.

Can we do this?

Can we just open up our hands with this posture right now?

All of a sudden.

Say, Lord, here's my life.

Send me.

Let's power.