0:00 [Music] Good morning family. It's good to see you all again and some visitors and those of you online. I hope you know you're welcome. Not because we have anything good to 0:19 offer, but because Jesus is here. And I hope for our local church family, we never lose sight of that. We pray often that the presence of the Lord would be here. We confess every sin that he convicts us about, we know about, 0:37 and thereby cleansed and justified, we have peace with God through Christ, and he welcomes us into his presence. And so, it's the Lord Jesus himself who welcomes you all. Let's uh pray this week for the 0:56 conference that's coming up this week, this weekend. Um, and I'm just really challenged by the hungry souls who are taking time and spending considerable amounts of money to be here. And I believe that it's something that 1:14 they're after more than just listening to a message because nowadays you can do that online. You can listen to a message on any topic almost. But why would these people, hundreds of them that are coming this week here to 1:32 an unknown little church in Lovelin, Colorado of all places, not because we have anything good, but because they're drawn, I believe the Holy Spirit has drawn them. Most of them, many of them, I don't know what most of them, many of them have never 1:46 met us before. They've watched us online, but I believe it's the Holy Spirit that's drawing them for something. They're after a deeper experience with Jesus Christ. They're after a reality of life in the midst of a Christianom that's 2:01 full of hypocrisy and that's full of a poor representation of Jesus. Not to say that we are the best or perfect or anything like that. Far from it. In fact, the longer I've been here, the more I see how uncristlike I am and the 2:17 more I press on to be like him. But in that passion to be like Jesus, not for anything else on this earth except to be like Jesus, that by the time we reach the end of our lives, God must have been able to finish that work of making us like Jesus in nature. 2:37 That's what we preach. That's what we believe. And I believe that is what is drawing these dear friends, brothers and sisters and children coming with their families, driving hours and hours perhaps to get here, getting on a plane. 2:50 These days, flying is worse than driving. And uh coming here and spending money to get a hotel room and they're not here to go see the Rocky Mountains. That's what everybody else comes to Colorado for. I mean, if you had 3 days of vacation or 3:07 something like that, and I'm not against vacation. I take vacations, too. Please do. But here are some I wonder if among them are some who they get only a few days and they're like, "Kids, let's go to RLCF." And I watch these kids and they're so 3:23 excited to be here. They love it. They don't want to leave. This is not they're not going to Disneyland or all these other things that children of the world feel for. I'm sure that's exciting for the children. But to see the joy that these children 3:38 have just to be among God's people and I'm thankful that we have that in this church as well. I see that in you children that you're here Sunday and you're not in a hurry to leave. You're here till late in the evening. If if we 3:53 could stay all night together, you would be here too, children. I know that as we get older, it's easy for us to lose that. Uh yeah, I can afford to skip today. Not that important to me. Many who are last will be first and the 4:08 first will be last, Jesus said. And I more and more believe that to be true. I'm not here to judge anybody or think about anybody else except myself. And dear brother, dear sister, at RLCF and children, judge yourself in the light of 4:23 God. How much do you value what the Lord is doing in our midst? I'm not here to make it out into some big thing because we're nothing. We're broken. We're ashes that the Lord is bringing beauty out of. Many of you were here 7 years ago when 4:39 we had to walk through that. And I look at what the Lord's done and I just give him thanks. I hang my head in gr gratitude to the Lord and I say, "Lord, you've been so merciful to us. Now, let us be merciful to others." We have a 4:53 mission, brothers and sisters and children. We have a mission. We're not here on this earth just to receive and to say, "Thank you, Lord. Take me back to heaven when I die." We have a mission. We must be poured out for others. Otherwise, you'll regret it in 5:12 all eternity. If all God was able to accomplish in you was to save you from going to hell, if that's it, I want to tell you with all the love of God that's in my heart and in the name of Jesus, you will have regret in heaven 5:29 if all that God was able to is that you avoided hell. It means that you haven't seen just how much Jesus did for you. And I I I can't afford to judge anybody because I was one of them for many years who thought he knew how much Jesus loved 5:48 him and sang about how much Jesus loved me but didn't live that in a way that showed that I that Jesus had really loved me. And things changed some years ago when the Lord laid a hold of my heart and I cried out. And I say, Lord, why is it I'm still so 6:07 self-centered, still so full of the love of money, still so full of anxiety, still worried about tomorrow and all these things, still defeated in all these things. Why? It means I haven't seen how much you gave up for me. And as 6:18 he started to do that, he doesn't do that in an instant because I think that would blow us away. I would just want to die immediately. I still like, Lord, I don't deserve I deserve hell when I see your love. Do you have that response, 6:29 brothers, sisters? I tell you honestly, I'm not making it up. Sometimes when God gives me a sudden burst of revelation of his love, there's a part of me that says, "Lord, I just deserve for you to throw me into hell right now. That's it. 6:42 Why would you love a wretch like me?" But I'm thankful he doesn't do that. I know I can say that. And I'm not trying to be silly because God's loved me so much and given up so much. But it certainly does this for me. It lights a fire. Say, "Lord, I 6:59 must what else am I holding back? How am I living in a selfish, self-centered way somehow even now? So, we have a mission and think about that with the brothers and sisters and children who come. I pray and make this your prayer, dear friends, that the Holy 7:18 Spirit will fill your heart Aresh this week with a fresh anointing for the power and the witness and the prophetic way in which God wants to use you. We're praying for brother Zach. Please pray for him too for health and energy and 7:31 the prophetic anointing. Pray for yourselves. Pray for your children. Pray for your wives, your husbands. Pray for each other that God will use us as his vessels. Cuz like I said, they're not coming here just to listen to a sermon. They can do 7:45 that online. They're coming here to taste of the goodness of God, of the power of God in our lives. And may it not be that even one of us is lacking. If you're the one that a hungry, thirsty visitor speaks to because they know 8:05 you're from RLCF and they're left leaving a little bit with a taste of this world because that's all you care about. What a tragedy would that be? Brothers, sisters, God has placed you in RLC for a reason, to be a witness of the kingdom 8:19 to come. Ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit this week. If never before, do it this week especially and say, "Lord, there's a bunch of people coming. I'm not going to be up there preaching the sermon, but somebody's going to talk to me and I 8:32 want to leave them with a little bit of the taste of heaven, a little bit of the taste of Jesus, not myself, not what going on in the sports world or the political world or the business world. Sure, we may talk about that some, but let it have the 8:46 taste of heaven in it, the taste of Jesus in it. That's what we are called to do. Do it, brothers, sisters. Let's do it. I believe we shall. Please turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. It's a verse that has challenged me for 9:10 a number of years and has motivated me to live my life in a way that's surrendered to the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:21, that is the father 9:31 made him that is Jesus his son. So the father made Jesus who knew no sin. He made Jesus who knew no sin. And as you think about this, as I as we read this together, just think about again, 9:49 like I was saying, what Jesus had to go through for you and I. That you and I could even be sitting here and have a hope of eternity. I hope you know that your eternal destiny is not in hell, but in heaven with Jesus Christ forever. If 10:05 you're a born again child of God, repented of all your sin, and his spirit dwells in you, you're his. And that's a hope you have, must have an assurance. But never lose sight of what it took for us to have that assurance. It took this. 10:20 The father had to make Jesus who knew no sin. Sin is the ugliest, filthiest, most horrible thing you can ever imagine. When you think of sin, don't think of the little sins that you commit every now and then. Yeah, we'll think about 10:35 that, too. But see, see see every sin, the little sin and the big sin, whether you call it little or big, as horrible. I mean, the world thinks of child molesters as the most evil thing. You do something so evil to a little innocent 10:50 child, hurt them. That sin is, it took Christ having to suffer the same amount of suffering for that sin as it takes as it took for him to suffer for your sin. the pride, the gossip, the complaining, 11:09 the uh bursts of anger, the lust, all of that. And he took all of that filthiness. Think of the horrible filth that sin is. The father took Jesus who knew no sin, who had nothing to do with sin ever. 11:27 He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. I I I don't think I can do this verse justice. I believe this is one of the most powerful verses in the Bible. I 11:47 really believe it. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I encourage you, dear brothers and sisters, as I am, as the Holy Spirit's been drawing my heart to meditate on 12:04 this verse much. What does it actually mean that the father made Jesus sin? He was actually sin. Think about that horrible, horrible thing. The most worst possible sin and your sin that it took it and put it on Jesus where he became sin. 12:24 Yeah, we we sing often of how he took our sin. But here it says that he actually became our sin is too fanciful for us to imagine. Amazing love. How can it be that thou my God should die for me? He made him who knew no sin to become sin. That's what 12:41 Jesus became. And it if not if he hadn't become that, you and I would never have had any hope. That's what it took. So now let's go back and begin reading in verse 11. Knowing this that he became sin who knew no sin 13:01 that we might become the righteousness of God there. Here's what he starts by saying in verse 11. Knowing the fear of the Lord. Does this bring a fear of you? Say how how much do you think the father loved Jesus? Oh, he loved him so much. 13:15 The father's love for the for Jesus his son was so much. And yet the father had to take all that filth and muck and put it on his son Jesus whom he loved so much. Why? Because sin is so horrible. And sin deserves a punishment, eternal 13:34 separation from God the father. And it took that for me now to not be eternally separated from the father. This should bring the fear of the lord into our heart. Say lord sin is serious. If it would, if the punishment of sin and the the 13:52 method and the means by which my sin could be forgiven and I could be justified from it was that Jesus had to become sin, then it must be really really serious. Sin is not something to play around with. Then I realize therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, 14:08 we persuade men. Let's skip down to verse 14. For the love of Christ. So here we see a balance of both the fear of the Lord and the love of Christ. This immense love of Christ and the fear of the Lord. This did something for Paul. Paul had the 14:26 fear of the Lord. And because he had the fear of the Lord, he he persuaded men. If you really have the fear of the Lord, dear brothers and sisters and children, if you really have the fear of the Lord, there will be a desire in you to 14:40 persuade others, a longing to not just say, "Thank you, Lord, that I have the fear of the Lord." But you must have it too. Co-orker, unsaved relative, neighbor, friend that I talk freely with, you must have that fear of the Lord too. Knowing the fear 14:57 of the Lord, I persuade men. And for many years, I tried to work up being an evangelist, force myself to go and give the gospel to somebody or hand out a track or if I'm sitting next to a plane, I try to work up the courage to 15:13 talk to that person. And it was my own work. And the more I received the fear of the Lord, I got what Paul got a little bit of. I'm not nowhere close to what where he is. He was, but I got a little bit more of this persuasive mentality. I must 15:30 persuade somebody, everybody that I meet to fear the Lord. and verse 14 that the love of Christ he was so filled with the love of Christ that it compelled him controlled him forced him constrained him he said I can't do this thing I can't do that 15:49 other thing I must do this for the love of Christ controls us having concluded this that one died for all therefore all died and if that's not your testimony dear brothers dear sister and dear children Ask God to make it so. Ask him to fill 16:07 you with his love that it becomes a controlling love, a compelling love, a constraining love that forces you out of your shell, forces you out of your pity pot that you might be sitting on, forces you out of just staying within the 16:23 confines of your little circle, forces you out to draw others as well. The fear of the Lord and the love of God in Christ. And what is this love? What is this message that we're called to give? Verse 15, he died for all. This is the 16:43 message. Jesus died for you. Yes, you'll hear that, but that's not the whole message. And unfortunately, what's being presented in much of Christendom is a half gospel. Jesus died for you. And it's being presented in a way where 16:58 the rest of it is left uncertain or people come up with their own finish of that sentence. Jesus died for you. So what? Most evangelists will say, "So you can now go to heaven." But what does the Bible actually say? 2 Corinthians 5:15. Jesus died for you so 17:15 that you being still alive might never again live for yourself. That means never again do you have the right to do what you want to do. That's why Jesus died. He died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves but 17:34 live for him who died and rose again on their behalf. This is the gospel. And if the more we live it, dear family, the more we live this life of no longer living for ourselves, it becomes a a life of a a power within us that's like 17:51 it's bursting. It's kind of like you've got this this balloon, if you will, that's filling it up with air, filling up with air, filling up with air, filling up with air, and it's it's reaching its limits, and then it just 18:01 explodes. That's what Paul had. He had an explosive love, an explosive fear of the Lord because he was so filled up. I think many of you have tasted of the fear of the Lord and tasted of the love of Christ. But has it become an 18:16 explosion? Has it become something that that presses you on where you're like, "No, I don't want to spend my money and my time on that thing. I have to do what the love of Christ is compelling me to do." That's what Paul had. I long for that 18:31 more and more. And I pray that we will be such a church. And so what what else the consequence of that is from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh. That means that I no longer have an attachment to my friends or my 18:48 relatives. And you say, "Well, these are my relatives." Yeah, sure. I I want I I'm attached to them as long as I can draw them to Christ. and I want to interact with them because I have a a desire for them to be drawn to Christ as 19:01 well. But I'm not going to choose my relatives over the kingdom of God and the people of God. I know no one according to the flesh anymore because I'm a child of God. And I've met many Christians who are still sort of held back from effectiveness for 19:19 Christ because of attachment to their relatives in some way. They're attached to their friends or their relatives, people they know according to the flesh. And that attachment to their culture, to their people, to the the people that 19:31 they like to hang out with holds them back from going into areas that are outside their comfort zone, outside what they like to do so that they can be useful for God. From now on, we know we recognize no one according to the flesh. 19:48 Verse 17, he says, "All things have become new." If you're truly born again, if you've seen the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, if you've seen that he made him who knew no sin to be sin on your behalf, then verse 17, if anyone is 20:03 in Christ, he's a new creature. That means the old things have passed away. New things have come. The old relationships have passed away. The love for those old the old love of things has passed away. The old way of speaking, 20:17 the old way of doing has passed away. New things have come. And then he goes on to say, now this is just what God has done for us and the life he's given us. The consequence of that, if we've really seen it, have really experienced it is this. Now all 20:35 these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and didn't just do that. Again, sadly, what happens in a lot of Christianom is that there's a half gospel, half verses, half-truths. A halftruth is not truth at 20:52 all. It's a lie. A halftruth is as much a lie as zero truth. And here's the whole truth. All things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and did something else. Gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 21:06 This is the whole truth. If you've been reconciled for God, it doesn't to God, it doesn't stop there. Now he's given you the ministry of reconciliation. Says, "Now you must be one." Verse 19, um that God was in Christ reconciling 21:22 the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. And he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. So if God has reconciled you to himself, now he says, "Now I want I'm going to send the message of reconciliation to 21:37 somebody else, to you, through you." Verse 20, therefore we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were making an appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. This is the mission. Why? Because he made him who knew no sin 21:56 to be sin on our behalf. Therefore, we are ambassadors. Is it is there that cry within your heart, dear family, as you interact with the world around you, as you see a sinful world around you, as you see people acting out in sin, whether they 22:15 are religious sinners or worldly sinners, is there an appeal within your heart? We beg you, not God hates you, pointing a finger at them, but this we beg you be reconciled to God. Relative that's unconverted, 22:34 parents, brothers, sisters, children, whoever it might be. We beg you, be reconciled to God. Now, that that must be a prayer that begins in secret. That must be a prayer that because you love your loved ones or love those 22:45 unconverted relatives so much, you spend nights staying up night fasting, skipping meals, giving up pleasures that you would choose to have saying, Lord, give me this ministry of reconciliation. It more it must be more than just a, oh, 23:03 here you need to be saved or or even here's a track. Now, it could start there. But before you hand out that track, before you seek to be a witness and ask God to give you something to share with somebody else, pray. Ask God 23:16 to fill you with a ministry of reconciliation. We are God's ambassadors. Now, what is an ambassador? We have ambassadors in this country. Most of them are in Washington DC. And they are people who are citizens of another 23:34 country. The ambassador from India, let's say, the ambassador from Brazil, the ambassador from Mexico, the ambassador from South Africa, the ambassador from Japan, wherever it might be. Um, there's an ambassador who is a 23:46 representative of that country living in this country. He's not a citizen of the United States, even though he's relatively permanent residences here. He'll have a home and his kids may go to school here and such or her kids may go to school but they 24:01 are citizens of that other country. Their interests are the other count's interests and they are here to seek the interests of that country while here and countries in the world engage allow for such things and they recognize that the 24:17 ambassador from France let's say is not here to promote the America's America's interests they're here to promote France's interests while living here in the US through diplomacy that means we'll talk nicely have meetings how can 24:31 how can we encourage relationship ships here in the United States between the US and France. That's what they're here. Now, you're an ambassador. That's what we're just told because you've seen the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. 24:44 You've seen that he made him who knew no sin to be sin on your behalf. And now he says he's given you the ministry of reconciliation. He's made us ambassadors. Which means what? What happened then? When all things became 24:56 new, the old things passed away. I was a citizen of this world when I was born and so were you. whatever country you're citizen of this world. uh these days it's a big topic of conversation citizenship and uh naturalized 25:09 citizenship and all that stuff you know that doesn't matter what country you are a citizen of this earth absolutely doesn't matter the fact that you're a citizen of any country on this earth needs to change and when it says that verse 17 that all 25:25 things have become new if you're truly in Christ now you're a citizen of heaven that's a different kingdom every kingdom Every country here on this earth is of one citizenship. We'll read a verse in Philippians 3. I'll show you 25:38 shortly that speaks about the same thing. But we're citizens of heaven. That's what ought to have become new. If that's not the case, perhaps you're not even born again, brother, sister. I'm not here to tell you something else or 25:51 question your salvation. But you examine your heart. Are you really somebody who's a citizen of heaven? Then you're born again. That's what's become new. You're a citizen of heaven. That means now you're still here on this earth. Why 26:05 does God not take you out from this earth and take you up to heaven? If you're a citizen of heaven, you say, "Lord, just take me up to heaven. My citizenship there." He says, "No, you're a citizen of heaven, but I have a 26:16 purpose for you. I've placed you on this earth to be my ambassador. That means I'm going to I made you I've given you citizenship by he but now you're here on this earth to further my interests here on this earth and your goal is not to further your own 26:34 interests not to make more money. Now that's a corrupt ambassador and there are some of those. They'll take bribes and they'll or they'll be spies perhaps. They'll pretend to be ambassadors for France, but the US brings them over, 26:47 let's say, and this goes on. But in the world, there's no such thing. You're not a part of this earth. You have no desire to further the interests of this world or your own interests because your citizenship is in heaven. This is what 27:02 it means to be an ambassador. And it's not an on andoff thing. It's not that you're an ambassador here for a couple of hours when we're together on a Sunday morning. And then the rest of this week, you live for yourself and live for your own 27:18 interests. Don't think about the kingdom of heaven. That's how many Christians live. Turn it on on a Sunday morning, act like they're ambassadors of heaven. Sing, "Here I am, Lord, send me." But when it comes Monday morning time to be 27:30 actually sent, and it's going to cost them some sacrifice, and they're tempted with the things of this world and the things of eternity, they choose the things of this world. It's not an on andoff thing. Old things have passed away. They're 27:44 dead. You know, when it says verse 17, the old things have passed away. That's a phrase you use for people who have died. He's passed away. She's passed away. Has the old things passed away, dear friend, in your life. Have the old 27:58 things passed away? Then you're truly a child of God. All things have become new. So, this is what it means to be an ambassador. I'd like to turn to Isaiah 6 now. And we as we think about in the remaining time as I share 28:17 what it means to be an ambassador. We sang that song here. I am Lord. Is it I Lord? And actually the answer is yes. It is you. Every one of us. According to 2 Corinthians 5, every one of us have 28:34 that mission. It is you that God is sending Isaiah chapter 6. We we read this uh the phrase is in verse 8 Isaiah 6:8. Then I heard the voice of 28:53 the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send and who will go for us?" And Isaiah said, "Here am I. send me and he said go he sent him but I want you to understand to to know the context in which this was happening 29:12 because it's easy for us to think oh you know he went may a lot of people today when they go they go to Bible school they go out to practice they get an apprenticeship at a church they get practice in being a pastor and then they 29:24 get eventually get appointed to a pastorship this is the world's way of trying to do God's work and the church has sadly copied God's way what What did Isaiah have? What qualifications did he have? He was broken man. He um and I want you to see 29:40 the the setting in Israel briefly. See, it says in verse one, it was in the year of King Uzziah's death that this happened. That's significant. Before that, Isaiah was preaching. This is not Isaiah chapter 1. This is chapter 6. For 29:55 the first five chapters, Isaiah was preaching. verse one Isaiah 1 vers1 it says that a vision came to him and um he preached from that vision he got visions and there was five chapters we don't I don't know exactly how many years this 30:13 was a number of years that he had these visions and he was preaching and he had a prophetic word and then something changed when he saw a true vision in Isaiah chapter 6 but it happened in the year of King Uzziah's death and you read a little bit more 30:29 about King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles chapter 26. 2 Chronicles is the last of the historic well yeah historical books. There's Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. Before Ezra, 2 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles chapter 26, 30:48 we read about this man Uzziah who when he died, Isaiah got this vision. And this I want you to just briefly see the setting in which Isaiah got this vision in to which he replied here am I send me. Isaiah 2 Chronicles 26 verse4 31:07 we read about Isaiah that Uzziah even though there was a history of many most of the kings of Israel were bad most of them 99% I forget the exact percentage was certainly a high percentage of them were bad a few of them were good and one of them was 31:22 Uzziah he was actually a good king at least started out that way it says in verse 4 Isaiah sorry 2 Chronicles 26:4 he did write in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done. His father Amziah was also a 31:37 good king and he continued to seek God in the days of Zachchariah the prophet who had understanding through the vision of God. And as long as he sought the Lord, God prospered him. And then he went out to war. Verse 7, God helped him against the hel 31:55 philistines and against the Arabians who lived in Garbal and the Monites etc. the Ammonites. These are all the enemies of God. God gave him victory. So here's somebody who a picture of somebody who did was pleasing to the Lord. Came to a 32:11 life of victory. But then something happened in verse 16 when all this victory when he experienced all this victory and he came to a a steady life and he saw all his enemies around him defeated. Verse 16, when he became strong. Perhaps that's 32:28 where some of us are. God's brought us to a a life of victory, a life of stability and and things are going well in your marriage. Maybe things are going well with your children and maybe yeah, there are needs you have, but there's 32:39 there's a strength in you perhaps when he became strong and it's a strength from the Lord. Nothing wrong with that. But here's the danger. His heart was so proud that he acted corruptly. He went outside the boundary that God had drawn 32:54 around him. And he was unfaithful to the Lord his God. What did he do? He he didn't go out and do something wicked. All he did was he thought, you know, he was the king and back then the king couldn't be the priest. They couldn't 33:09 off come into the temple and offer a sacrifice. God had forbidden it. Even David, the original king of Israel and Judah never did that. All the kings after that. But Uzziah thought, "Well, God's blessed me. Look, I'm so blessed. 33:21 I'm pleasing to the Lord. God's proven his pleasure over me by all the victory he's given me. I know I'm not supposed to go to the temple, but yeah, I'm just going to do it anyway. You know, I I have a prophetic ministry, straight 33:34 outside his boundary because his heart was lifted up. And then the the priests came in and says, "What are you doing here?" Thank God they were bold priests. They opposed him. verse 18 and said, "It is not for you to burn incest to the Lord, but for 33:49 the priests, because you've been unfaithful, and you'll have no honor from the Lord God." But Uzziah refused. He was angry at them. How dare you oppose me? He thought the anointing of God was on him. And while he was enraged with the 34:06 priest, leprosy broke out on him forehead. And Azariah verse 20 looked at him and behold he was lepous on his forehead and they hurried him out of there, chased him out and he also ran away. He realized he was lepous and you 34:21 know what they did to lepers? They cast him out. King Uzziah verse 21 was a leper to the day of his death. He never got cured from that leprosy and he lived in a separate house being a leper. After all the success, after all 34:36 the blessing that God had given him, his heart was lifted up. He refused to repent from that pride and he became a leper and remained that and I think he remained a leper because he refused to repent of that pride until the end of 34:48 his life. What a sad story. And he was cut off from the house of the Lord. And Jotham, his son, was over the king's throne, king's house judging the people of the land and the rest of the acts. Verse 23, Oziah slept. Now this is the 35:04 year when Isaiah gets this vision. Uzziah slept with his fathers and they buried him with his fathers not in the same tomb but in a field of the grave which belonged to the kings even in his death because he was a leper. It says 35:18 for they said he is a leper he was buried this way and this is the condition. This is the state of things in Israel at that time. Let's go back to Isaiah 6. I wonder what it was like for Isaiah in the midst of this confusion and turmoil. 35:34 And maybe he was excited when Uzziah was doing well and God was blessing Israel. And then there came a time of hardship and a time of God's disapproval because of the king and what he had done. And in the midst of this, I I imagine that 35:48 Isaiah was broken. Isaiah Isaiah had counseledled Uzziah. You read in chapter 1 vers1 that he prophesied in the reign of Uzziah. I'm sure that Isaiah was often in Uziah's palace. Uzziah loved the Lord and so he invited Isaiah to 36:03 come and speak to him. They had fellowship and here this man falls away and Isaiah is burdened. He's heavy. Now let's read verse one. Isaiah 6:1. In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on the throne and saying, 36:18 "God, you're in control of all of this. There's turmoil here. Maybe it's in your job situation. Maybe it's with children in their health situation. Maybe it's um some some uncertainty like I was saying last week even unshake shakable things 36:33 that in your life there's something that's shaky in your life. Something that's not settled in the midst of that Isaiah was in the temple. Isaiah was in some place. I don't know if he was actually in the physical temple but it 36:45 was the spiritual temple that he saw and he opened his eyes and he saw the Lord and everything changed when he saw the Lord. He didn't look at circumstance. He didn't say, "Oh Lord, why why did Uzziah give up like that?" or "What's going on 36:59 with Jonathan, the new king?" In midst of all of that, he lifted up his eyes and saw the Lord lofty and exalted with the train of his robe filling the temple. He saw the seraraphim in verse two. And then one called out to 37:13 the other, saying, "Holy, holy, holy." Verse four, the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out. And then I said his first response, he who had preached for five chapters, whatever number of years 37:27 that represented, "Woe is you. Woe is you. Turn to the Lord. Turn to the Lord." The first thing that came upon him was, "Woe is me." I picture him putting his hand over his mouth saying, "Woe is me. For I am ruined because I am 37:41 a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and God has allowed me to see the king. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. I believe that this is the true response when we get a revelation of God. It's 37:55 not, oh, I got a vision and I go and tell everybody about it. It was this shutting his mouth. I dare not open my mouth anymore cuz I've seen the king in all his glory. But immediately when he says, Lord, I I recognize the way I've 38:09 been using my lips with pride or self-seeking, the way I've been using my life thinking only of myself. I'm sorry. I repent of it. Woe is me. I'm ruined. He repented of it. And immediately one of the angels flew with a burning coal 38:23 in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongues. And he touched my mouth with it. Verse 7. And said, "Behold, this has touched your lips and your iniquity, your sin is taken away. Your sin is forgiven." Thank God for 38:37 that immediate forgiveness. And as soon as he's forgiven, now God knows this man who has seen his own sin first, who seen his own un Christlikeness first, I can send him now. And that's the problem. God is the world is Christianom is full 38:53 of people who have gone to Bible school or they've got some idea and they're they feel like they have some gift and they want to go and God says, "No, before you go, I must show you your own sin. I must show you your own 39:04 uncristlikeness." But then he says verse 8, 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. Here am I, send me." And before I close, I just want to, if you'll turn with me to Philippians 39:22 chapter 3. It's important, dear family, for us to understand that this call to be ambassadors of Jesus Christ is not a call to go out into the mission field far away. And that's often how the devil leads people astray. They hear a call, 39:38 come to the mission field. They they hear missionaries who say, "We're doing all this in Africa and South America and in these far off countries." And I praise God for people who are doing that. But that's not what God is 39:50 necessarily speaking to us this morning. He may call some of you to a faroff country perhaps. But so many people have been misdirected through false teaching or to unwise teaching into some outward ministry without God calling them there. 40:09 And so the message today is ask God to show you where he's calling you. Not come up with some idea of where you want to go. It may not be where you choose to go, but it's where God wants you to go. Ask God to show you where he's calling 40:25 you. And for most of us, I'll tell you, for most of us, it is right where he places us. You know that most of the apostles, many of the apostles stayed in Jerusalem. A few went to Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the world. Thomas 40:40 we know went to India. Other disciples went to other parts. But the most of them stayed in that area. And God took them here, took them there, took them to different places to be witnesses of his kingdom. They were ambassadors. 40:54 And how are you going to be an ambassador? I want to tell you tomorrow, well, some of you children, you're not going to go to school yet, but in a few weeks, you're going to go back to school. Whether you school at home or 41:04 you go to a school somewhere, you're going to interact with others your age. God wants you to be an ambassador for them. If you can pull up that picture, um, that I I want to show you a picture. I want to see if you can guess what this 41:17 picture is. You see it? What is it? >> It's an upside down world. I don't know if you've seen I I'm fascinating. I can't see it on there yet, but you can see it. It's a picture of a world. It's 41:37 a world map upside down. Keep your finger in Philippians 3. I'll come back to that. But there's a phrase in Acts 17 that I want you to see. when God took Paul to Thessalonica and it wasn't that Paul went to Thessalonica, God took him there 41:56 and it's because God took him there that he could be an effective witness. But when they went there um you see you read in verse one they were in Thessalonica when they were in the synagogue of the Jews and Paul went down 42:13 verse two for three weeks three Sundays he spoke to them the scriptures explaining and giving them evidence that Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead and saying this Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ 42:28 and some of them were persuaded verse four and joined Paul along with a large number of the god-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women. But the Jews, interestingly, the the religious people who thought they were the the 42:40 chosen people of God, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar and attacking the house of Jason. This is a person who lived there. See, Paul came as a 42:52 missionary. But here was a man named Jason who lived there in that town who was an ambassador. And he all he did was open his home for Paul to come and witness. And they were having meetings in his home. And they came attacking the house of Jason. They 43:08 were seeking to bring them out to the people. And when they did not find them, they began dragging Jason, the man who lived there. They couldn't find Paul. So they dragged him out. And some brethren before the city authorities shouting, 43:20 "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also." And Jason has welcomed them. And they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar. These are Jews trying to get their fellow Jews in trouble and other 43:37 people in trouble, saying that there's another king Jesus. And they stirred up the crowd. And I thought thought about that, dear children. And I'll start with you children. As you think about this picture of the world upside down, you're 43:50 going to interact with the world and you should know that everything that you see around you is upside down. If you're born again, if you're a child of God, God has put you right side up now. You're the one that's right side up. and 44:03 everything around you. Sports, winning, money, pleasure, success, accomplishments, beauty, handsomeness, good looks. All of that's given. But the world is pursuing those things. And it's the pursuit of those earthly things that's upside down. 44:21 And as you interact with that world, anytime you see somebody doing something and you think, "Nope, that's not right." little children, you see somebody looking at a picture on their phone or they say, "Hey, here. Let me show you 44:33 this little video." You say, "Nope, I don't think that's right. That's upside down. I'm right side up." They start to have a conversation. Maybe behind uh their somebody else's back, they speak about somebody or they tease somebody or 44:46 they make fun of somebody. That's upside down. You're right side up, dear children. If you're born again, if you're a child of God, God has made you right side up. Now for the rest of us adults as well, young people, teens, you'll interact 45:00 with the world that's upside down. The way the things they talk about and how they look for success in the things of this world, that's upside down. Whether you get that success or not, leave it up to the Lord. But you're right side up. 45:13 That means you're part of a different kingdom. You're part of something else. Your interests are different. Now go, let's go back to Philippians 3. Paul had this mentality. See, he um 45:41 actually let's back up a little bit. I wanted you to see he talks first of all about Timothy. Paul had this mentality. We'll read what he's said in verse in chapter 3. But before that, he says in verse chapter 2, 19, Philippians 2:1 19, 45:53 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to your to you shortly, so that I I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition, for I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. For they all 46:11 seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. This is Paul's co-workers. The other people who worked with Paul, even they had a little bit of the love of this world, their own interests. Well, I can do that, but what's it going to cost me? 46:28 How much is it going to inconvenience me? No, I can't give that up. It's too much. No, I can't do that. That's self self-interest. But Timothy, it was like, Lord, whatever you ask of me, I'll give it all. And that's why Paul says, I want 46:41 to send Timothy to you. What a commendation to receive from the most the the godliest man alive on that earth. This is a man I can send to you cuz he's not after anything for himself. He'll spend and be sent. He'll give 46:54 himself up fully for you. She'll give herself up fully for you. I can send them. And the Lord is looking for such perhaps everybody in this room saying, "Yeah, here am I, Lord. Send me." But God is saying, "No, I'm sorry. I can't 47:09 send you. I see that I've watched your last week and last month. I've been watching you and I see that you really only care about your own interests, how much more money you can make and how you can be successful in this and your 47:21 family and that's all you care about. I don't see that you have a passion for my interests, my kingdom. But I pray that he will find at least at RLCF every one of us saying, "Here am I, Lord. Send me." And he says, "Yes, I 47:35 can. You're not perfect. I know you're still defeated on some areas. I know you're still fighting. I know you still have a long way to grow, but you have an interest in my kingdom alone. That's what pass that's what you're passionate 47:47 about. Brothers and sisters, God's not looking for perfect people. He's not waiting for you to come to complete victory over sin before he sends you. Fight battle, but have an interest in the kingdom of God alone over everything 48:00 else. And then he can use you. Then when he takes you into that place, he will use you. Then he goes on in chapter 3 to say, "I have counted all things as lost." Verse 8 and 9 and 10. Not that I've already obtained, but I 48:19 press on. Verse 12. I count all things as worthless dung manure compared to knowing Christ. That's why God could send Paul. That's why God could send Timothy. And that's why God can send you if he does. Cuz everything else, 48:33 literally 100% of everything else is dung manure. your job, your marriage, your your success, your how much money you have, your house, your car, the the things you do, you spend your time on, all of that, Lord, nothing it's done 48:49 compared to you. And then he says in verse 20, for our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his 49:05 glory by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself. Recently, my family and I had an experience where we saw this played out in a beautiful way. I won't go into the details, but the thing that the Lord 49:20 showed us and as a family, we were talking about it even on the drive-in this morning to the church meeting here that we've prayed for years. Lord, use us as a family. Use us as individuals. Use us as a church. And I've seen the 49:34 Lord do this in a beautiful way that he doesn't he didn't he he sent us all as missionaries here. But as he takes us into different circumstances, sometimes it could be while you're on on vacation or while you visit family or you hang 49:48 out with friends or you go on a work trip, while you're there following his leading exactly where you he has led you to be even on vacation. Why not? Sure. You recognize, Lord, I'm here to be a witness. I'm here to be an ambassador. 50:03 I'm here to be an ambassador. And while you're there, you'll find that he opens doors. But he did that for us over the last few weeks because we were praying. Say, "Lord, you're taking us here and we sense that you're taking us here to be a 50:15 witness, to be bold witnesses. You just open the door. We won't have to force our way through it." And in a beautiful way, as we got to wherever he he was taking us, a door opened. We didn't have to bang down the door. We didn't have to 50:28 break through it. The door opened. But the door opened because we had asked before. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you. Now, I want to tell you brothers and sisters, there is a 50:41 door that God is going to open a few weeks from now or a few months from now that you must be knocking on now. Most Christians are knocking once they're in the situation and they're like in a panic. Remember, one example 50:56 of that is when a man brought his son to be cast for the demon to be cast out from him and the disciples couldn't do it. Why could Jesus do it? He had been asking. He'd spent nights in prayer saying, "Lord, there's a situation 51:13 that's awaiting me a few days from now or later today or a few weeks or a few months from now that I must be ready for. I'm asking for you now, Lord, for your authority, for your power. I'm seeking Lord for your presence. I'm 51:27 knocking Lord for you to use me as an ambassador. And I'm knocking and I'm knocking. I'm knocking. I'm asking and I'm seeking. And one day you'll find yourself there equipped for the need in front of you because you've been asking. 51:40 So let's spend time in prayer this week. Let's as we've got the conference coming up, I urge you brothers and sisters, open your heart. Spend much time. If it means fasting, I know if you were asked to preach the sermon, you would be the one. You would 51:55 be fasting and praying. But how about just because God wants you to be an ambassador? A little smile, a little somebody you sit with at lunch, somebody that happens to sit next to you in the meeting and you have a short 52:06 conversation with be an ambassador. God is looking for ambassadors. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray you'll send us because you see us as ones who are only interested in your kingdom, not interested in ourselves and in not having our own interests, but 52:25 having your interests. Give us your interest, Lord. Help us to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. And out of that, I pray that you will send us. Here we are. Send us. You will feed. You will prepare the feast. You will 52:39 give us your word. You will strengthen us. You will give us the power. We seek you for that, Lord. We believe you're going to use that. Use us in this week, in the weekend conference, and in the days to come more and more. In Jesus 52:52 name we ask. Amen. Amen. [Music]
