Amen.
Good job.
All right, it is now time for children's church.
If we got any little tikes that want to head this way toward Mr. Sidney there.
The rest of you can turn to Isaiah chapter 58.
Isaiah chapter 58.
Just put a finger in there.
You're going to think I forgot about it, but we're going to get there at some point.
Isaiah chapter 58.
Stick your finger in there and we're going to get there.
All right, let's pray and we'll get started.
Father God, we come to you.
We thank you for the freedom we have in this country to come into this place today.
We thank you that you give us a heater to keep us warm on these cold days that we have.
We thank you for just being good to us and blessing us and letting us be able to come
together, dear Lord, in your presence and just to see the smiles on all the faces that
are here today.
We just thank you for this family that we call Enterprise Baptist Church.
I pray, dear Lord, that your spirit would be among us today.
That in the next few minutes that you free us of the worries and the distractions and
the things of this world that we may have brought in here, dear Lord, that we would
devote our ears and our hearts to you for these next few minutes, dear Lord, that the
devil wouldn't distract us and keep us from being blessed, but that, dear Lord, we would
be blessed by your word.
So I pray, God, that you would just help us to hear from you today, that you would help
me to be humble this morning as I preach, dear Lord.
You take away any fear that's within me this morning, that you would speak boldly through
me when I open my mouth.
And I ask these things in your name, all for your glory.
In Jesus' name I pray it.
Amen.
The Bible is full of different people, different names, some of which some of you have probably
heard many times.
But there are three people we're going to talk about briefly this morning.
One is Abraham.
You may have heard of him.
You see Abraham early on in the book of Genesis.
The next one is Jacob.
You'll see him a little later on in the book of Genesis.
And the next one is Moses.
Now maybe you've heard of these men or maybe not.
If you hadn't, you can go read about them.
They have some great stories about what they did in their lives.
But I discovered this week that there was one thing that these three men have in common.
Now I looked and I don't know if there are any others in Scripture that would meet the
criteria of having this in common as these men, what we're going to talk about.
But these three men have one thing in common.
And maybe some of you know what it is or maybe you've never noticed it before.
In the story of Abraham, there's one part of Abraham's story, and I'll go through these
quickly for time's sake, but jot them down and go back and read these stories this week
for yourself.
But there's a story in Genesis chapter 22 in which God calls Abraham and he calls Abraham
to do something that is very difficult.
He calls Abraham to sacrifice his son.
Now in this instance, what God is calling Abraham to is a test.
God is testing Abraham.
You flip a few pages over to Genesis chapter 31, you see another story.
In this story, you see a story about Jacob.
And Jacob had worked hard for his father-in-law and he had finally been able to obtain Rachel
and Leah as his wives.
And God had blessed him greatly during this time.
God was certainly with him and God had given him many flocks and much wealth.
And God had appeared to him in a dream and in Genesis chapter 31, Jacob recounts this
dream and this dream is simply reminding Jacob of the blessings that God had poured out on
him.
And in this story, God calls Jacob to bless him.
You flip over not too many pages and you arrive in Exodus.
And in Exodus chapter 3, there's a well-known story that if you've not read it, you really
should read it.
Moses is out in the wilderness.
He's kind of out by himself and Moses sees a burning bush.
Now a bush that burns is not that extraordinary, but there was something unique about this
bush and that was that this bush was burning and burning, yet it never burned up.
Now naturally, this piqued Moses' interest.
And so as he went to the bush, the Lord began to speak to Moses and the Lord called Moses
to serve him.
The Lord called Moses to be a deliverer.
The Lord called Moses and said, look, Moses, I know you escaped from Egypt some years ago,
but you're going to have to go back there.
I'm sending you back in the danger zone.
I want you to go and be my servant.
I want you to go and deliver my people.
Now in all three of these stories, God calls these men to something.
In Abraham's case, it was a call to be tested to see if his faith was going to be strong.
In Jacob's case, it was a call of blessing, a reminder of the blessings that God had poured
out on him.
And in Moses' case, it was a call to serve the Lord and to lead God's people.
And in every one of these instances, there's one thing that these men have in common.
In each of these stories, God calls them by name.
Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Moses.
And in every instance, the same three words follow that call.
Every single one of these men, the first thing that they say is, here I am.
Here I am.
God speaks to us.
God calls to us in a variety of ways.
And it may be that God has been calling to some of you today, some of you that God has
looked at and they know that you're His and they know that you are a righteous man or
a righteous woman.
And it may be that you've even heard it before you come here today.
You may have heard it for the last few weeks or the last few months or the last few years.
God speaks to us.
And if we really listen and we read His word and we really seek Him, we can hear Him speak.
Maybe not in an audible voice or maybe in an audible voice.
And it's really even hard to explain.
But some of you know what I'm talking about.
You just know when the Lord speaks to you.
You know that the Lord is calling you to something.
I remember I was but a teenager when I felt the Lord calling me to preach and I didn't
want to have anything to do with it.
But I felt the Lord calling.
I felt the Lord speaking to me.
I didn't want to be a preacher.
That was going to be hard.
You're not going to make much money.
Who wants to be a preacher, right?
There are no cool preachers out there.
I wanted to be cool.
I was young.
I wanted to be hip.
I wanted to make money.
I didn't want to preach.
And sometimes what God calls us to is not what we want to do.
Sometimes we are not so unlike Abraham that the things God calls us to, that the things
God is calling you to right now, are a test.
And those tests, as hard as they may be and as much as they don't make sense, those tests
are used to strengthen our faith.
Those tests can prove what's there or maybe what's not there.
Maybe God calls us to a test and we fail that test.
Maybe we think we are one that's walking in faith and we find that we don't have faith
at all.
So if God's calling you today, if God's put a test in front of you today, don't give up,
but let your faith shine in that.
Trust God all the more.
If God is calling you to test you today, then let our response be, here I am.
Let our response be, here I am, Lord.
Maybe today our story is not so unlike that of Jacob.
God had blessed Jacob tremendously.
And in Genesis 31, God reminds him of that.
God says, look, didn't I tell you that I was going to give you all these speckled and spotted
and striped sheep from Laban and I've blessed your flocks?
And Rachel and Aaliyah said, man, look at this.
Jacob, he's already got all our father's wealth.
He's a wealthy man.
And God appeared to Jacob in that dream and the angel of the Lord spoke to Jacob and said,
Jacob.
And Jacob said, here I am.
God, you have blessed me.
Here I am.
What do you have me do?
Maybe God's calling some of us in our blessing today.
Maybe today God's saying, I have blessed you.
Maybe God's calling us to use our blessing to bless someone else.
Maybe today we are like Moses.
Maybe God's calling your name today.
Maybe God wants you to serve in some way.
Maybe you're just as afraid of that call as I was.
God may not be calling you to preach, but he still may be calling you to serve.
He may be calling you to lead.
He may be calling you to deliver a person or a people.
It might be somebody you know that just needs a call, that just needs a hug, that just needs
some help.
Maybe God's calling you to serve today.
Maybe God's calling you to go back somewhere you don't want to be, somewhere you left in
the past and you never thought you'd be back there.
But yet he called Moses and he said, I know this is going to be hard, but I want you to
go back there.
I want you to go back where you came from.
I want you to go back and help these people.
Maybe God today is calling you to serve in some way.
And maybe today what he's calling you to serve in is very, very difficult.
God calls us in a variety of ways.
But the question we must answer today is how will we respond?
Sometimes God calls us and we say not I.
Some times God calls us and we have selective hearing.
Yeah, we hear him call and we know it's him, but we don't want to do what he says.
But maybe today we could learn from these guys.
Maybe today our response could be here I am.
There's some other honorable mentions that almost meet the criteria.
In Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 3, God calls out to Samuel when he's a boy.
He doesn't know it's the Lord calling out to him.
He finally discovers that's what it is and is told that next time the Lord comes to respond.
And so Samuel responds, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.
Perhaps that needs to be our response today.
God here I am.
Speak for your servant is listening.
God wants to speak.
Maybe sometimes we don't even recognize God's voice.
That's okay.
Some of you might be saying, I don't know.
How do I know if God's speaking to me?
Well ask God to help you to know.
Ask God to speak so clearly and in such a way to help you to know for sure that that
is him, to affirm that to you in whatever way that he can.
But I think most of the time we probably know if we just stop and listen to that still small
voice, we can probably tell what things are of God and what things are of the enemy.
And Isaiah, at the beginning of the book of Isaiah, God calls the prophet to speak to
the people.
And God acknowledges that things are not good there.
And Isaiah in this vision is before the Lord and as we probably would be too, Isaiah says,
Woe is me.
I'm an evil man.
I'm a wicked man and here I am in the presence of God.
And the Lord is having this conversation with the other beings around and he says, Who are
we sinning?
Who can we send to these people?
Who can I send to speak my message?
Who can I send to my people that I have called that just they're abandoning me?
They're not following me.
They're not listening to me.
And after Isaiah is made clean in that vision and his lips are made clean and God says,
Who can go for us?
Isaiah says, Here I am.
Here I am.
Send me.
So we see lots of examples in scripture of people that God called to serve in a variety
of ways, of people that God wants to speak to.
And if we would just listen, if we would just surrender ourselves, if we would just humble
ourselves and say, God, here I am.
Here I am, God.
I'm a sinner.
I'm not worthy of your grace.
Go to me for I'm a man of unclean lips.
God I'm not capable to do what you call me to on my own, but God here I am.
God here I am.
Speak for your servant is listening.
And there's one more person that's important for us to consider in this passage that spoke
these very words and that's found in Isaiah chapter 58.
In Isaiah chapter 58, God is speaking of his people and they're soon going to be handed
over to the Babylonians for their disobedience and God's people.
They they kind of think that they're doing good.
If you read the first part of those verses, they're they're really going through all the
all the outward stuff.
They're they're kind of doing some of the religious practices.
It sounds like and and it's really focusing on fast.
No, they're really doing all this fast and and they're they're they're they're covering
yourselves in ashes and sackcloth and all these things you're supposed to do when you
have a repented heart.
And they're they're going through all these motions and doing all these things.
But their heart is just not right.
Their heart is so far from him that they are they are they're in a bad place and they think
they're in a pretty good place.
But God says you're not doing so good.
So what God does is through Isaiah, he calls them to what he really desires for them to
do.
And Isaiah chapter 58 verse six Isaiah chapter 58 verse six.
Here's the kind of fast that God really desires of his people.
Isn't this the fast excuse me isn't the fast I choose to break the chains of wickedness
to untie the ropes of the yoke to set the oppressed free and to tear off every yoke.
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry to bring the poor and homeless into your house
to clothe the naked when you see him and not to ignore your own flesh and blood.
Then your light will appear like the dawn and your recovery will come quickly.
Your righteousness will go before you and the Lord's glory will be your rear guard.
So here's what God says to his people.
This is throughout the whole scripture.
If you'd have been in Sunday school this morning we talked about this.
What God really desires more than everything is not us going through the motions not us
just come in the church not us dressing nice not us singing loud on the songs.
What God really desires is our heart to be in those things and for our heart to be in
service to him.
God says what I really want from you is not the outward stuff.
He says what I really want from you is to turn away from your wickedness.
What I really want for you is to break free from that yoke of sin and slavery.
What I really want for you is to love other people.
What I really want for you is to help those who are hungry and clothe those who are naked.
What I really want from you is to help the widows and to help the orphans and to do things
out of love and to care for your neighbors and to care for one another.
And then God says once you do these things then your light's going to shine.
Then you're going to see a difference in your life.
Then you can be delivered.
Then I will come quickly to you if you would only do what I really call you to if you would
only just really seek me with all of your heart and quit going through the motions.
Then, then your deliverance would come.
And listen to what he says in the next verse in verse 9.
At that time when you call the Lord will answer when you cry out.
He will say here I am.
Here I am.
The Bible is full of some examples of those that God calls who respond and say God here
I am.
And here to God's people he says look you've not been living right.
You've not been doing right.
But if you would just turn to me and if you would seek me with all of your heart.
If you would come to me right now I would be here with you with open arms saying here
I am.
Maybe today you're already a child of God and maybe today he's calling you to something
and maybe today you need to say here I am to God.
And maybe today some of you need to know that God is calling you.
Maybe you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
Maybe you've been living a religious life like these these folks here in Isaiah chapter
58.
You go on through a lot of the motions but your heart's not really in it.
You're not really seeking God.
And maybe today you need to know that God is calling out to you and God today says here
I am.
If you would only seek me if you would only repent of your sins if you would only put
your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
Here I am.
Would you respond to the Lord today.
Maybe you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ today.
Hear the words of the Lord today.
Here I am if you would only come and repent.
Perhaps today you've already put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
And maybe you're a man or a woman and it doesn't seem like it to you but in God's eyes he says
that's the one I want to use.
That's the one I'm calling today.
Is God calling you today?
Is he calling you to test you?
Is he calling you to bless you?
Is he calling you to serve him in some way?
I don't know the answer to that but you do.
And if God is calling you today our response needs to be here I am.
Let's pray.
God we come to you we thank you for your good word and we thank you for these good examples
of these men that we looked at dear Lord that they were those that were faithful to you.
That were faithful to respond in the right way dear Lord that God when you spoke they
said here I am.
God we thank you for your word.
We thank you that God even though we're pretty rotten and we are sinners just like these
folks in Isaiah 58 dear Lord we do a lot of stuff and sometimes we fool ourselves with
our religion dear Lord we kind of go through the motions but our hearts not really in it.
We're not really doing anything for you we don't we don't really seek you dear Lord we
don't really live for you we just we just kind of go through the motions.
But I pray today that if there is one in this room that does not know Jesus Christ that
today that they would know that your word is true to them God.
That if we would only turn from our wickedness and seek you dear Lord that today the invitation
is here that God you are saying here I am.
God I pray that if there are some that do not know you today that they would hear you
call to their hearts right now that they would hear you calling to them saying here I am
God and I pray that they would come to you that even in this moment that they would begin
to repent to pour out their sins before you dear Lord.
Maybe there are some of us in here today and maybe we are yours God maybe we hadn't been
living like it.
I pray that we would we would hear these these commands of scripture that we would feed the
hungry that we would clothe the naked that we would take care of the poor and the needy
dear Lord.
That is our call.
God if we're not doing that we we need to stop and take a step back dear Lord if we
don't start there then God we have started in the wrong place.
So I pray dear Lord that you would help us as individuals to be faithful to carry out
those commands that you would help us as a church dear Lord to be faithful to carry out
those commands.
Dear Lord maybe there are some in here today and they are yours and maybe you've been working
on maybe you've been working on them for for some time now maybe there's something you
call on them to God maybe there's some in here today and they are being tested and they
just don't know if they can make it dear Lord.
I pray that you give them the strength that their faith in you would hold tight God that
they would not give up but after the test dear Lord they would experience your blessing
just as Abraham did.
Dear Lord maybe you are calling some in here today to serve in some way.
God I pray that you would help us to be obedient to that whatever it is no matter how big or
how small it may seem dear Lord I pray that if you call us in any way God that we would
not leave this this this room today without responding properly to you.
God is not turning deaf ear to you dear Lord let us not make excuses but I pray today that
we would simply humble ourself before you that today we would hear your response your
call God as you say here I am and that we too dear Lord would respond to you and say
God here I am in Jesus name I pray it amen.
As we stand and sing the day of God has spoken to you in some way if you need prayer I will
be glad to pray for you if today you have accepted God's invitation if you put your
faith in Jesus Christ come share that with us so we can pray over you and pray for you
and baptize you maybe today God has called you to something now is your chance to respond
to the Lord.
Take up thy cross and follow me I heard my master say I made my life to be a blessing
I heard my master say I made my life to ransom me surrender you all today wherever he needs
I'll follow wherever he needs I'll follow wherever he needs I'll follow wherever he
needs I'll follow he drew me closer to his side my soul is willing to go and in that
I will follow him wherever he needs I'll follow wherever he needs I'll follow wherever he
needs I'll follow wherever he needs I'll follow wherever he needs I'll follow wherever he