It is important for us to be in position to hear from Him. In His presence, we go from being undone to being ready to move in His call. Let us cultivate our concentration in holy thinking and commune with Him constantly. (Isaiah 6:1-8)

Speaker(s): Pastor Thomas Schaller, Pastor Kim Shibley Sr.
Sermon # 11402
6:30 PM on 1/14/2018

P. Shibley

Bible college registration is this week. That is exciting. Bible college is great because that’s where we learn to think with God, not just theology or knowledge but learning to implement it in our lives and have it be part of who we are and determine the decisions we make and how we fit into the purpose of God for our lives.

I’m excited to be a member of this church and part of the work of God in Montgomery County in Silver Spring in North Kensington. That’s an upgrade. It’s on the edge of Kensington…I am really excited about Bible college for you who are registering. I can say Silver Spring or the church would never have happened had I not gone to Bible college and some of the many who partnered with our team. They were there because they were motivated to be here.

This verse is in Is. 6 concerning this and is about Isaiah.

vs. 1. Seraphim are six wing angels.

vs. 2…smoke. Here is Isaiah and he is not a new prophet but something happened in his life. Uzziah the king died. He was one of the most amazing kings of the southern kingdom of Judah, Israel. He reigned 52 years. He was 15 when he became king. He designed weaponry to defend Israel. He did good generally except for the incident at the end of his life when he offered incense in the temple. He never went back because he had leprosy. Other than that, he lived a pretty good life. All of a sudden the king is dead and I am the prophet. I have been prophesying and now what do I do? Isaiah was called by God and had a position already. When you think of the vision he had it wasn’t random. No offense to you in the back row but he wasn’t sitting in the back row. It wasn’t that kind of vision or life he lived either. No offense to the folks in the back row. He lived his entire life putting himself in a position for this very thing. When the heavens would open and he would see God high and lifted up. I can’t imagine what that was like. When I see his reaction, I say that’s what I would do. I would freak out. When imperfection sees perfection it is shocked, amazed. Imagine looking in the eyes of the Father on the throne knowing he knows everything about you, every thought, every perverted way of thinking, every deed you’ve done, every wrong thing you’ve done. No hiding from his holiness. You are completely exposed. This is the position of Isaiah. He is there completely exposed. He’s seeing seraphims and holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, heaven and earth are filled with your glory. Woe is me he says. I am undone. Have you ever felt undone? You’ve never felt undone like Isaiah. He was completely undone. Ruined. He saw his imperfection. I am a man of unclean lips. He was a prophet speaking the words of God, writing them down. God used this time of change to bring a new vision to his life. I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts.

vs. 6. That’s a rock or stone by the way. The altar being the heavenly altar in heaven. The true holy of holies where God is and the eternal sacrifice is. He touched his lips with the sacrifice. Your iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged. Imagine that. Here is a man that moments ago standing in the glory of God being completely undone and discombobulated has been given this hot coal and declared to be pure, purged and having his sin taken away. It’s amazing, isn’t it? This foretelling of the sacrifice of Christ where Isaiah’s sin is purged and sees the future of what God would do. You see it again and again in the book of Isaiah.

Now instead of being a man undone and incomplete, Col 2:10, he is a man complete in Christ. Maybe Bible college is a change in your life, something God wants you to do so you can be in a place where you can receive a vision. You’re here on Sunday night hearing from the Lord and learning how to be in a place to hear from God. It doesn’t happen by accident. You have made yourself available to God and put yourself on purpose in a place where you can receive a vision, a plan where God will use you in his plan. I heard a voice he says. The voice of the Lord and it says who shall I send and who will go for me. I imagine this voice is going out in all the world but only one man is in a position to hear it, and that is Isaiah. He looks out and says Lord here am I. Send me. We don’t know what we will say either, except we talk about Jesus and go forward with the Gospel. We are now in a position where we can hear from God. We can receive a vision. We can do something or have something done, work, like Pastor spoke this morning, by being available to learn and pray and attend worship as you are right now. All these things put you in a position more and more to hear this heavenly vision. It’s so much better to be in God’s plan than the world’s plan.

Ps 84:10, I would rather be a doorkeeper, position, in the house of the Lord than dwell in the tents of the wicked. Position. It’s where you were. It’s how you position yourself to be where God was so you can hear what God says and do what God would have you do in your life.

Let’s go to Bible college and hear the word and never give up. Let’s find out what God wants for us in these days.

P. Schaller

P. Shibley is on fire. What did he say?

Go to Bible college. Or he said let’s say I get in a position where I am available to hear from God. I don’t know where it brings me. P Shibley became a pastor in Silver Spring. It wasn’t like he woke up one morning and he was the pastor. It happened over here. The ministry of the unnoticed from Oswald Chambers. The ministry of behind and God sees little Samuel and his mother before he was born. His mother – I love this, before he was born his mother prayed to God and gave him. She couldn’t have children. She wanted to have. She prayed and in her heart this resulted way over here. Samuel was a prophet who anointed David as king. This man, where did he come from? Way back. The ministry of the unnoticed. There is a lot of that happening here in your life, our lives, in ways only God knows. We make decisions in our hearts.

The second thing I love what was said, I like the phrase what is God doing? What is man doing? We read that in the newspaper. We are quick to speak of the things we are doing but behind, in life, we want to know what is God doing? What is happening from heaven’s viewpoint? Silver Spring church, pastor said to me on the phone I’m so happy I’m the pastor there. We had more salvations today. We’re on the road. There is joy. There is messages like the one we just heard. I want to put myself in a place that is so close to God. I want to be close to God. That’s why we come to church. I don’t want to mention any names. Whoever was here was so close to God and did not fear man. This person whoever he is, and I was sitting here, I would love to be there if he does not fear man. He’s not afraid of offending people. He’s not afraid of the day and age we are living in. He’s a man of God and saying it like it has to be said. I want to get in there and be part of that. That is where I would say I am undone. My whole life flashes before me and I see it as pride, foolish, empty. I could never bear fruit. I am not glorifying God. I am filled with myself. I am undone. I collapse before God in the presence of God. I love that. How about you? You know what I mean. It’s good for me to be there in the house where that is happening. This is where then we can say God visits us and touches us with fire and we become clean and we’re holy. More satisfied than a thousand restaurants. A name of a good restaurant, Stony River. A thousand Stony Rivers. A million Cheese Cake Factories. What about movies and entertainment and recreation and wind surfing. A million of those can’t touch what it means when the Spirit of God makes us holy. We are holy like God. I need a man of God in my life. I need a word of God in my life. I need a ministry in my life. I won’t make it to finish my course with joy without the Holy Spirit baptizing us with fire. Isaiah said send me.

I blew out the speakers! Finally that happened. It took years!

The ministry of the unnoticed is good for me. Nobody knows what I’m doing or what is in my heart. It doesn’t matter. I’m not living before people. God is knowing this. The Lord says I can trust that man or woman. I’m going to pour out more on them. I’m going to give them gifts and use them. I can’t use the flesh of people. They will quit and give up on the things. They will not keep focus.

This is from Oswald Chambers. He said regarding the ministry.

This morning we preached on work and many of you are in Federal Hill or other places. P. Wright is here. We love Pastor Wright and pray for you. Why don’t we have the people we are praying for come up on the stage?

Here’s a couple words for these folks and us. Oswald Chambers said and this is for Bible college and later in the ministry all of us pastors. It doesn’t matter.

“Cultivate mental habits. In secular things we concentrate. Why should we be less careful in the work of God? Cultivate mental habits.

2) Aim at the highest. Preaching is God’s ordained method of saving the world. Take time before God and find out the highest ideal for an address. Never mind you don’t reach it. If you fail as a preacher, keep working at it and walk before God. By work and steady application you’ll find the power to do with ease what first seemed difficult. Avoid the temptation to be lazy in your mind.

3) Concentrate on your gifts. In immediate preparation don’t call in the aid of other minds. Call on the Holy Spirit and your own resources from God he has selected for you….all you have assimilated will come back. Keep yourself full to the brim in reading but the first grade resource is the Holy Spirit….” Mission work is work. Keep your heart and mind sharp. “

4) Constrain yourself to be spiritually minded. You can have a saved and sanctified experience and a stagnant mind. Learn how to have you mind awake and once awake, don’t let it go to sleep. The brain doesn’t need rest. It needs a change of work. The intellect works best when it works with greatest intensity….keep it trim for God. Clean off the rust and keep it bright by use. Last, commune with God continuously….don’t wait for ecstasy. …my one aim is to preach Jesus by lip and life and I will allow no other interest to dominate.”

That’s a good word. That’s what we are here for. The last thing regarding Bible college, we can keep our mind in the subject. Keep in it. Keep in it. Then we have our jobs and family life and work. We come back to that and aim for the highest. We cultivate it by habit. We become able ministers of the New Testament.

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.