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"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: 'Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me.'"
(Isaiah 6:8)
Over the last couple days, I have been expounding upon author Danielle Strickland's wonderful advice in her movement called Infinitum (Latin for boundless). Thousands of people have taken on this challenge to begin every day with prayer, kneeling before God and doing the following: surrendering to God, committing to be generous, and praying that God would use them to be on mission. The prayer is accompanied by hand postures. For surrender, the hands are lifted in the air, for generosity, the hands are simply opened up, and for on-mission, the hands are extended like you are about to hug someone. Isn't this cool?! So very practical and helpful. Thank you, Danielle Strickland!
In our scriptural text for today, the Prophet Isaiah has an amazing encounter with the LORD in the Temple. He ends this encounter being fully surrendered and ready to go on mission for the LORD. He says he is available and then prays this wonderful prayer that we should pray every day: "Here am I! Send me."
I am currently reading Robby Gallaty and Chris Swain's new book, Replicate. It is a great read on how followers of Jesus can make disciples the way Jesus did. (By the way, the most exciting thing happening in our church here in Austin, TX, is how our people are obeying the Great Commission of Jesus to make disciples. We call it the Disciple Path, and lives are being transformed!) In Replicate, Gallaty points out something I had never seen before in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20): there are actually two imperative verbs. I knew about matheteusate (make disciples), but the other imperative is in verse 20, translated "Lo". The Greek word is idou and is in the imperative mood in the Greek. I shared this with our staff last week in our staff meeting, and one of the staff said it was just for him. With emotion he shared how wonderful it was to be reminded that no matter what we are going through, Jesus is with us. That is so true. When you and I are on-mission sharing the Gospel with another person or serving another in Jesus' name, rest assured, Jesus is with you too!
Speaking of being on-mission, if you are in the Austin, TX area September 13-14, I invite you to our "Who's Your One?" evangelism conference, held at Great Hills Baptist Church (10500 Jollyville Road, Austin, TX 78759). Pastor Johnny Hunt will speak Sunday night at 6:00PM, and I along with three others will speak Monday morning on some practical ways we can share the Gospel with those who need the Lord. The conference is FREE! You just need to register, which you can do here at this link:
https://events.whosyourone.com/tour_stop/austin
Have a blessed weekend, and let's all be on-mission with Jesus today, sharing the love of God with everyone we meet.
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