February 2, 2010
TEXT: Isaiah 6:8 - “HERE AM I SEND ME”
PREACHER: SIS. GRACE SINTIM ADASI
The theme suggests that our Lord needs people to send and our response to His call must be the same as Isaiah “Here I am send me”.
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Moses etc. were all called by God into his ministry. But as humans, we focus on our frailties and inabilities instead of depending on God’s strength and ability.
Isaiah when called said “woe unto me for I am a man of unclean lips”. (Is. 6:5)
Moses said “I am nobody, .....” (Ex. 3:11)
Gideon’s response was “My tribe is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh” (Judges 6:15)
Thus our first reaction to the call of God is to give excuses. But, whoever God calls he equips.
For God to send us there are certain conditions we have to meet, some of which are:
i. Availing ourselves to him.
ii. Asking him for forgiveness.
iii. Being prepared to serve him.
iv. Leaving all we have to follow Christ.
Isaiah had his lips touched and he was used of God. Moses though he was a stammerer became an instrument God used to redeem the Israelites from the hand of Pharaoh. Jonah after he repented was given a second chance.
Again when we confess our shortcomings to God, He is able to purge us and strengthen us for His service. And when we miss our routes God is able to redirect us to his calling.
In the second reading, –Paul even though he persecuted the church of God became an apostle and was mightily used by God to preach to the Gentiles the message of the cross and the resurrection from the dead. In the same way, our message to lost souls must be as it was handed down to us; about Christ and him crucified. (1 Cor. 15:3)
In the 3rd reading Jesus used Peter’s boat as a pulpit to preach to the multitude; after which there was bumper catch. Peter again like others realised his human weakness (Luke 15: 8) but he received the assurance of God and became a vessel for Christ. On the day of Pentecost, he preached and about 3000 souls were saved. (Acts 2:41)
God is interested in our daily lives, just as Peter left the bumper catch to follow Christ, so are we to forsake all that we have – the riches of this world – and follow Him.
The Preacher concluded the sermon with the words in Asempa Hymn 297:
Hear the voice of Jesus crying
“”who will and work today?
Fields are white and harvest fading:
Who would bear the sheaves away?
Loud and strong the master calls you,
He’ll reward you certainly
Who will answer, gladly saying,
“Here am I; send me, send me”?
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