1 00:00:02,320 --> 00:00:06,280 Well, just a reminder, if any of these topics you've missed and 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:10,880 are of interest to you, they're available on Spotify and 3 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:11,920 Amazon. 4 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:14,560 Podcasts. 5 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:17,880 And maybe someday in the future you. 6 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:20,800 Want to come back to them so they'll be available long time. 7 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:23,440 But before we get started, I just want to ask you one favor. 8 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:27,730 If there are topics that, that in future semesters you would like 9 00:00:27,730 --> 00:00:31,130 me to address from chapel, I would love to hear your suggestions. 10 00:00:31,930 --> 00:00:35,130 Maybe something that's been meaningful to you, maybe question 11 00:00:35,130 --> 00:00:39,930 you have, maybe a passage that's been significant, maybe whatever 12 00:00:39,930 --> 00:00:42,650 it might be, maybe a theme of several messages. 13 00:00:42,890 --> 00:00:45,370 But if you have ideas, I'd love to hear from you. 14 00:00:45,770 --> 00:00:48,050 Real easy to get a hold of, just send me an email. 15 00:00:48,050 --> 00:00:51,070 It's PresidentElhaven, Eduardo. 16 00:00:51,220 --> 00:00:52,140 You can remember that. 17 00:00:52,140 --> 00:00:54,060 Real simple, PresidentBellhaven edu. 18 00:00:54,060 --> 00:00:55,100 And that comes to me personally. 19 00:00:55,100 --> 00:00:56,580 Nobody else ever reads that email. 20 00:00:56,820 --> 00:00:58,100 That's my personal email. 21 00:00:58,180 --> 00:01:01,060 So I'd love to hear from you if you have suggestions. 22 00:01:01,460 --> 00:01:04,180 Thinking about next year for Chapel. 23 00:01:04,820 --> 00:01:07,340 Well, today we're going to talk about. 24 00:01:07,340 --> 00:01:10,100 Listening for God in helplessness. 25 00:01:10,660 --> 00:01:14,820 It's going to be a story about helplessness turned into hope. 26 00:01:16,910 --> 00:01:21,350 Helplessness when we lose our support structures, those things 27 00:01:21,350 --> 00:01:25,550 in our lives that give us security, that hold us up that we 28 00:01:25,550 --> 00:01:26,510 can count on. 29 00:01:27,950 --> 00:01:32,110 When those things break and we feel. 30 00:01:32,110 --> 00:01:34,670 Helpless, how do we hear from God? 31 00:01:36,190 --> 00:01:37,550 Maybe a parent dies. 32 00:01:38,590 --> 00:01:41,990 Maybe the church that you've loved and grown up in has a conflict 33 00:01:41,990 --> 00:01:45,000 and you don't even recognize it. 34 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,240 Maybe your friend group has moved on and didn't include you or 35 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:49,600 you don't. 36 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:51,160 Want to be included with them. 37 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:53,520 But that structure is gone. 38 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:59,159 If our plans are built around vehicles of security, our world can 39 00:01:59,159 --> 00:02:05,760 be crushed when those structures change, especially unexpectedly. 40 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:11,650 Maybe your parents get laid off and you can't pay your school 41 00:02:11,650 --> 00:02:14,890 bill and you had it all planned out and now you can't. 42 00:02:16,330 --> 00:02:19,610 Maybe you applied for medical school and you got rejected and that 43 00:02:19,610 --> 00:02:20,410 was your whole future. 44 00:02:20,730 --> 00:02:23,050 Maybe you're going to get a job that you think is going to be 45 00:02:23,050 --> 00:02:25,690 your perfect career and you're going to get fired from it at some 46 00:02:25,690 --> 00:02:26,010 point. 47 00:02:28,090 --> 00:02:30,490 Maybe you're going to have sickness. 48 00:02:32,330 --> 00:02:33,530 That's overwhelming. 49 00:02:34,490 --> 00:02:35,730 Maybe it's going to be somebody in. 50 00:02:35,730 --> 00:02:38,770 Your family that you love more than yourself and you would do anything 51 00:02:38,770 --> 00:02:43,110 to get well and you can't do anything thing about it and you can't 52 00:02:43,110 --> 00:02:43,750 fix it. 53 00:02:44,790 --> 00:02:50,870 Even when you're a big guy university president and she suffers 54 00:02:51,750 --> 00:02:53,190 and you can't fix it. 55 00:02:55,110 --> 00:02:59,870 But maybe even when the worst doesn't happen, the people of the 56 00:02:59,870 --> 00:03:01,670 Structures around us are not perfect. 57 00:03:02,630 --> 00:03:05,830 They will let us down at times they will disappoint us. 58 00:03:06,150 --> 00:03:09,110 They won't be there maybe when we need them the very most. 59 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:15,320 And in that helplessness, whatever form it takes, that's when 60 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:17,240 we need to learn to listen to God. 61 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,720 And it's hard to listen to God during those times. 62 00:03:22,640 --> 00:03:24,800 And so that's why I want to talk to you about a story. 63 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:30,640 A story that happened 800 years before Jesus was born. 64 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:34,720 It's the story of the prophet Isaiah. 65 00:03:35,550 --> 00:03:38,350 And prophet is another explanation. 66 00:03:38,350 --> 00:03:43,870 He was a preacher, he was a minister, he was an evangelist, however 67 00:03:43,870 --> 00:03:44,870 you want to define it. 68 00:03:44,870 --> 00:03:48,830 But in those days, they were called a prophet and a king. 69 00:03:49,710 --> 00:03:53,750 A king who ruled the land, a king who controlled, a king who had 70 00:03:53,750 --> 00:03:55,870 been there a long time, 52 years. 71 00:03:55,950 --> 00:04:00,630 He was a good king and he followed after a long line of bad 72 00:04:00,630 --> 00:04:00,990 kings. 73 00:04:00,990 --> 00:04:02,615 And so he was a very welcome king. 74 00:04:02,615 --> 00:04:03,670 And he wasn't perfect. 75 00:04:04,310 --> 00:04:07,750 In fact, he disobeyed God and God was disappointed in him. 76 00:04:08,790 --> 00:04:14,310 But for the most part, he was a king that this prophet Uzziah could 77 00:04:14,310 --> 00:04:14,950 count on. 78 00:04:15,830 --> 00:04:21,910 And excuse me, Isaiah king was Uzziah prophet's Isaiah. 79 00:04:22,470 --> 00:04:26,310 Isaiah had great dreams of what was going to happen. 80 00:04:27,110 --> 00:04:32,390 Isaiah had these dreams of what he and Uzziah the king could 81 00:04:32,390 --> 00:04:33,110 do together. 82 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:38,320 Because Isaiah felt like the people needed to turn back to God. 83 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:40,800 They had been following idols again. 84 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:44,520 It was a very typical thing in ancient times that they would follow 85 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:47,680 God and then when things got tough, they'd go back to their old 86 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:48,200 ways and. 87 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:49,440 They would follow idols. 88 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:54,280 The people needed to fulfill the best for their land, and they 89 00:04:54,280 --> 00:04:55,200 weren't getting that. 90 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:59,760 And the people needed to live in God's design that God had laid 91 00:04:59,760 --> 00:04:59,920 out. 92 00:04:59,920 --> 00:05:01,040 And they weren't doing that. 93 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,330 And Isaiah had this plan. 94 00:05:03,970 --> 00:05:09,330 If he could team with this popular king, Uzziah, they could 95 00:05:09,330 --> 00:05:10,210 make stuff happen. 96 00:05:10,850 --> 00:05:12,530 They could change this world. 97 00:05:12,610 --> 00:05:14,450 And so Isaiah had a plan. 98 00:05:14,450 --> 00:05:17,330 He could see it, God gave it to him. 99 00:05:17,490 --> 00:05:23,650 And it was all built around Uzziah giving the prophet the platform 100 00:05:23,890 --> 00:05:26,450 and the credibility to speak to the nation. 101 00:05:28,380 --> 00:05:29,580 It was going to be perfect. 102 00:05:31,260 --> 00:05:36,100 This was the only king that everybody really only knew, and the 103 00:05:36,100 --> 00:05:38,060 only king that Isaiah knew. 104 00:05:38,860 --> 00:05:41,540 And Isaiah was really close with Uzziah. 105 00:05:41,540 --> 00:05:45,340 Uzziah was kind of a mentor to him and an encourager of him. 106 00:05:45,340 --> 00:05:48,540 And Uzziah again, for the most part, was a godly leader. 107 00:05:48,780 --> 00:05:52,180 And Isaiah was focused on following Uzziah. 108 00:05:52,180 --> 00:05:55,510 If Uzziah will push the people, Isaiah could come behind 109 00:05:55,510 --> 00:05:58,510 with the message of God and things would be changed. 110 00:05:59,470 --> 00:06:05,630 And because of Uzziah God would make Isaiah's ministry flourish. 111 00:06:06,750 --> 00:06:10,110 And it was all planned out and it was ready to go. 112 00:06:12,990 --> 00:06:13,630 But then. 113 00:06:15,790 --> 00:06:16,830 It was in the key. 114 00:06:16,830 --> 00:06:21,590 Year that King Uzziah died that it all changed. 115 00:06:22,150 --> 00:06:26,710 And in the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah's dreams died 116 00:06:26,710 --> 00:06:30,230 with the king in his helplessness. 117 00:06:30,710 --> 00:06:35,350 Something remarkable, though, happened when he listened to God. 118 00:06:36,710 --> 00:06:41,590 Because he said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. 119 00:06:42,230 --> 00:06:47,520 In the year that King Uzziah died, not before Isaiah had been 120 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:48,320 follower of God. 121 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:51,840 Before Isaiah had been trying to do the right things, before Isaiah 122 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:54,640 knew who God was and worshiped him. 123 00:06:54,960 --> 00:07:01,359 But it wasn't until his king died that Isaiah could really see 124 00:07:01,359 --> 00:07:02,000 the Lord. 125 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:04,400 High and lifted up. 126 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:06,720 The Lord has already been there. 127 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:15,170 But until Isaiah was helpless, he never could see the fullness of 128 00:07:15,170 --> 00:07:16,130 who God is. 129 00:07:17,410 --> 00:07:18,850 Until his king died. 130 00:07:21,010 --> 00:07:25,330 I use this scripture as a benchmark in my life. 131 00:07:25,970 --> 00:07:29,490 I always want to make sure the Lord is central and not the kings 132 00:07:29,490 --> 00:07:34,450 of my life, not the structures of my life, not the things that make 133 00:07:34,690 --> 00:07:37,490 me effective in my work and ministry. 134 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:40,080 But really, the core of who God. 135 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:42,200 Is is central to everything. 136 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:47,880 I always ask the campus, quite often with faculty and coaches and 137 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:51,880 others, if we took away all the structures that made us Christian. 138 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:55,840 Okay, we take away chapel, we take away Bible studies, we take 139 00:07:55,840 --> 00:08:00,760 away the structures that make us a Christian college. 140 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:02,840 How Christian are we? 141 00:08:03,810 --> 00:08:08,050 Because that's the real measure, not the structures. 142 00:08:09,650 --> 00:08:15,170 So whether we are helpless or we are whole, this concept to me 143 00:08:15,170 --> 00:08:18,450 is a critical barometer of our faith. 144 00:08:20,530 --> 00:08:25,410 In the year our kings die, we see the Lord high and lifted up. 145 00:08:26,370 --> 00:08:30,590 And if we start seeing our kings more than we see the Lord, 146 00:08:31,230 --> 00:08:31,550 we. 147 00:08:31,550 --> 00:08:32,990 Miss God's best for us. 148 00:08:33,790 --> 00:08:36,590 Well, Isaiah at this point was helpless. 149 00:08:38,030 --> 00:08:41,990 Everything was planned and built on this, and it wasn't going 150 00:08:41,990 --> 00:08:42,430 to happen. 151 00:08:43,870 --> 00:08:48,510 And in that moment, three remarkable things happened. 152 00:08:49,310 --> 00:08:50,430 The first is this. 153 00:08:51,310 --> 00:08:54,830 Isaiah saw the Lord like never before. 154 00:08:56,490 --> 00:08:58,170 Now, this is a remarkable picture. 155 00:08:58,170 --> 00:09:00,090 It was read to us in the Scripture today. 156 00:09:00,570 --> 00:09:01,970 And thank you for reading that. 157 00:09:01,970 --> 00:09:04,810 But I want to go through that scripture a little bit more because 158 00:09:05,290 --> 00:09:07,770 I want you to picture what is happening. 159 00:09:07,770 --> 00:09:12,530 Don't just hear the words, okay, but get a mental picture of 160 00:09:12,530 --> 00:09:17,690 what's happening when John, the disciple of Jesus, who was closest 161 00:09:17,690 --> 00:09:23,830 to Jesus, John, talks about Isaiah's moment here 800 years before, 162 00:09:24,950 --> 00:09:29,510 where John says he got a heavenly view of who Christ is. 163 00:09:30,550 --> 00:09:33,430 And so that's what Isaiah was recounting,. 164 00:09:33,750 --> 00:09:38,190 That God opened up a view of who he is to Isaiah that he'd never 165 00:09:38,190 --> 00:09:38,870 seen before. 166 00:09:39,990 --> 00:09:43,270 So look at the Scripture and kind of picture this. 167 00:09:43,350 --> 00:09:45,510 It was in the year that King Uzziah died. 168 00:09:45,510 --> 00:09:47,990 I saw the Lord high and lifted up. 169 00:09:48,820 --> 00:09:52,980 He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe 170 00:09:52,980 --> 00:09:54,100 filled the temple. 171 00:09:55,620 --> 00:09:59,500 Attending him were seraphim, each having six wings. 172 00:09:59,500 --> 00:10:02,220 With two wings, they covered their faces with two, they covered 173 00:10:02,220 --> 00:10:03,620 their feet with two, they flew. 174 00:10:04,660 --> 00:10:09,100 They were calling out to each other, holy, holy, holy is the Lord 175 00:10:09,100 --> 00:10:10,180 God Almighty. 176 00:10:10,180 --> 00:10:13,300 The whole earth is filled with his glory. 177 00:10:14,590 --> 00:10:18,590 Their voices shook the temple to its foundations, and the entire 178 00:10:18,830 --> 00:10:21,150 building was filled with smoke. 179 00:10:22,510 --> 00:10:24,670 And then I said, it's over. 180 00:10:24,830 --> 00:10:27,710 I'm doomed, for I'm a sinful man. 181 00:10:28,510 --> 00:10:32,350 I have filthy lips, and I live among a people of filthy lips. 182 00:10:32,510 --> 00:10:35,870 Yet I have seen the king, the king of heaven's armies. 183 00:10:37,470 --> 00:10:40,950 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he'd taken 184 00:10:40,950 --> 00:10:41,710 from the altar. 185 00:10:41,770 --> 00:10:46,560 And with a pair of tongues, he touched my lips and said, see, this. 186 00:10:46,560 --> 00:10:48,320 Coal has touched your lips. 187 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:54,160 Now your guilt is removed and your sins are forgiven. 188 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:01,160 Isaiah saw a vision of who God. 189 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:03,920 Is that he'd never seen before. 190 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:09,130 But he couldn't see it until his king died. 191 00:11:09,450 --> 00:11:12,570 He couldn't see it until he was helpless. 192 00:11:12,810 --> 00:11:17,850 He couldn't see it until he was only dependent on God and not 193 00:11:17,850 --> 00:11:18,570 dependent. 194 00:11:18,650 --> 00:11:23,370 On everything else in his life that he thought was his structure. 195 00:11:24,330 --> 00:11:28,410 He saw the Lord high and lifted up. 196 00:11:28,410 --> 00:11:33,530 It says he saw God above all rulers, above all nations, above 197 00:11:33,530 --> 00:11:34,330 all powers. 198 00:11:34,630 --> 00:11:35,670 High and lifted up. 199 00:11:35,670 --> 00:11:36,710 There's nobody higher. 200 00:11:37,430 --> 00:11:41,910 And it said the seraphims, which were angels representing purity. 201 00:11:41,910 --> 00:11:46,790 The seraphims were there, and they cried out, holy, holy, holy. 202 00:11:47,830 --> 00:11:52,230 In Jewish literature and in ancient literature, repetition is 203 00:11:52,230 --> 00:11:56,070 always given to say that this is really, really important. 204 00:11:57,030 --> 00:11:58,350 They didn't just say, holy. 205 00:11:58,350 --> 00:12:01,770 There's a holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. 206 00:12:01,770 --> 00:12:06,890 Repetition uses that form to emphasize the holiness of God. 207 00:12:07,050 --> 00:12:11,930 Unlike the human rulers, unlike Uzziah, who was a great king 208 00:12:11,930 --> 00:12:16,250 but not a perfect king, unlike that, God was holy. 209 00:12:16,410 --> 00:12:20,410 God is perfect, exalted above all comparison. 210 00:12:21,930 --> 00:12:25,210 And it said the seraphims, they had two sets of. 211 00:12:25,860 --> 00:12:32,020 They had six wings, two wings covering their faces, showing the 212 00:12:32,020 --> 00:12:33,380 humility before God. 213 00:12:33,380 --> 00:12:35,460 So often we see in the scripture. 214 00:12:35,460 --> 00:12:40,100 When Moses saw God and when John. 215 00:12:40,260 --> 00:12:43,500 Sees God on the isle of Patmos, they cover their faces. 216 00:12:43,500 --> 00:12:47,140 They can't even look at God because it's so powerful, so bright. 217 00:12:47,540 --> 00:12:50,700 And the seraphim had two wings covering their faces, and they had 218 00:12:50,700 --> 00:12:53,500 two wings covering their feet, which is a sign of respect. 219 00:12:53,740 --> 00:12:56,620 You know, even in the Middle east now, you don't show the bottom 220 00:12:56,620 --> 00:12:58,860 of your feet, that's a, that's a terribly. 221 00:12:58,860 --> 00:13:01,260 Disrespectful thing for you, covering that. 222 00:13:01,420 --> 00:13:04,780 And then two wings that could fly, indicating their service for 223 00:13:04,780 --> 00:13:05,180 God. 224 00:13:05,740 --> 00:13:08,900 And then that part of that picture, as I said, the train of 225 00:13:08,900 --> 00:13:14,940 his robe filled the temple, symbolizing the overwhelming presence 226 00:13:14,940 --> 00:13:16,940 and majesty of God. 227 00:13:18,940 --> 00:13:22,380 It's a picture of Jesus we often. 228 00:13:22,380 --> 00:13:25,980 Think of that's very different. 229 00:13:26,860 --> 00:13:31,740 You see, the picture of Jesus we think of is him healing the sick 230 00:13:32,220 --> 00:13:35,020 and teaching and saying to the little. 231 00:13:35,020 --> 00:13:36,380 Children, come to me. 232 00:13:39,260 --> 00:13:40,060 You see Christ. 233 00:13:40,300 --> 00:13:43,260 And this is a hard concept, but you've got to understand, Christ 234 00:13:43,260 --> 00:13:47,170 was all human, but he was also all God. 235 00:13:47,250 --> 00:13:48,450 At the same time. 236 00:13:49,250 --> 00:13:53,890 And the picture we see of Jesus where he was teaching and healing 237 00:13:54,930 --> 00:13:58,610 and being with the disciples and the children, that's the man's 238 00:13:58,610 --> 00:14:00,370 side, but he was. 239 00:14:00,370 --> 00:14:02,530 Just as much the God's side. 240 00:14:02,610 --> 00:14:11,900 And so the true picture of who Jesus is, Isaiah saw, and it mirrors 241 00:14:11,900 --> 00:14:17,780 the picture that John saw some 2,000 years later when he was exiled 242 00:14:17,780 --> 00:14:18,980 to the island of Patmos. 243 00:14:18,980 --> 00:14:20,860 And he writes about it in Revelation. 244 00:14:21,260 --> 00:14:25,260 Not the picture of Jesus that we think of sitting around a campfire 245 00:14:25,260 --> 00:14:28,780 with the disciples, but who Jesus really is,. 246 00:14:28,780 --> 00:14:33,260 If we could understand and even grasp his power. 247 00:14:34,540 --> 00:14:39,170 And in Revelation, John gives this picture of Jesus. 248 00:14:39,650 --> 00:14:43,810 I saw seven gold lampstands standing in the middle of the lampstands 249 00:14:43,970 --> 00:14:46,450 with someone like the Son of man. 250 00:14:47,330 --> 00:14:50,610 He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash around his chest. 251 00:14:50,610 --> 00:14:55,010 His head and his hair were white as wool, as white as snow. 252 00:14:55,570 --> 00:14:57,810 And his eyes were like flames of fire. 253 00:14:57,890 --> 00:15:01,650 His feet were polished bronze, refined in a furnace. 254 00:15:01,650 --> 00:15:05,800 And his voice, thunder thundered like a mighty ocean waves. 255 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:10,600 He held seven stars in his right hand and a sharp two edged 256 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:12,200 sword came from his mouth. 257 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:15,800 And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance. 258 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:19,400 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. 259 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:23,880 But he laid his right hand on me and said, don't be afraid. 260 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:26,280 I am the first and the last. 261 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:28,280 I am the living one. 262 00:15:29,220 --> 00:15:33,100 I died, but look, I'm alive forever. 263 00:15:33,100 --> 00:15:38,900 And ever and I hold the keys to death and the grave. 264 00:15:40,740 --> 00:15:46,100 John saw this picture of Jesus as purely God. 265 00:15:46,740 --> 00:15:50,900 And he was overwhelmed, just like Uzziah was overwhelmed. 266 00:15:51,620 --> 00:15:58,600 Isaiah saw the full picture of God, and when he did, he had to respond 267 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:00,920 in the only way he could. 268 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:03,640 And that's to see himself in comparison. 269 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:06,800 And that's where the second part of. 270 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:09,800 This comes in that Isaiah realigned his. 271 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:14,400 Priorities when he was in his helpless moment and he finally see 272 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:14,840 God. 273 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:18,880 See, he was a Follower of God before, this wasn't new. 274 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:20,240 He was a follower of God. 275 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:21,800 He wanted to follow God. 276 00:16:22,450 --> 00:16:25,810 But he had moved from dependency on his earthly stability 277 00:16:26,530 --> 00:16:30,450 to understanding the eternal kingship of God. 278 00:16:30,930 --> 00:16:34,450 He was no longer just a citizen of Judah. 279 00:16:34,930 --> 00:16:39,290 He was sent to call the people of Judah to repentance because he 280 00:16:39,290 --> 00:16:39,650 saw. 281 00:16:40,450 --> 00:16:43,570 The holiness of God like never before. 282 00:16:46,050 --> 00:16:51,100 Too often, we build our Christian life on our structures. 283 00:16:51,740 --> 00:16:53,660 We build our Christian life on our. 284 00:16:53,660 --> 00:16:55,100 Work and our calling. 285 00:16:55,580 --> 00:16:58,940 We build a Christian life on the good things we do for God, and 286 00:16:58,940 --> 00:16:59,900 those are important. 287 00:17:00,860 --> 00:17:05,340 But in doing all that, too often we can miss the majesty of 288 00:17:05,340 --> 00:17:05,740 God. 289 00:17:07,020 --> 00:17:11,940 And sometimes we have to let our kings die, or at least put them 290 00:17:11,940 --> 00:17:15,270 aside so we could see who God really is. 291 00:17:16,710 --> 00:17:21,350 But more than that, Isaiah didn't just see the sin of the people. 292 00:17:21,510 --> 00:17:23,790 He needed to point out, because he'd been doing that. 293 00:17:23,790 --> 00:17:24,710 This wasn't new. 294 00:17:24,790 --> 00:17:26,870 He'd been pointing out the sins of the people. 295 00:17:27,030 --> 00:17:31,870 All of a sudden, when he saw the real holiness of God, his thoughts. 296 00:17:31,870 --> 00:17:33,830 Weren't to the people sin. 297 00:17:34,150 --> 00:17:35,350 It was to his own. 298 00:17:36,470 --> 00:17:37,670 It was to his own. 299 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:40,160 His own sin. 300 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:42,000 He said, look at me. 301 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:44,720 I'm broken. 302 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:49,320 You know, so often in the Christian life, we want to focus 303 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:50,720 on everybody else's sin. 304 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:53,440 So we want to talk about this. 305 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:55,440 Sin and that sin and how that's a terrible thing. 306 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:56,240 That's a terrible thing. 307 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:57,720 We talk about everybody else's sin. 308 00:17:57,720 --> 00:17:58,480 Why do we do that? 309 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:01,560 Because if we're grading on the curve,. 310 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:02,360 We look pretty good. 311 00:18:02,360 --> 00:18:03,040 That's why. 312 00:18:04,410 --> 00:18:07,850 If we can talk about their sins, then mine don't seem so bad 313 00:18:08,250 --> 00:18:09,450 and I'm doing okay. 314 00:18:12,490 --> 00:18:14,090 God is the only standard. 315 00:18:14,810 --> 00:18:20,450 And for Isaiah, who had, I'm sure, compared himself to Uzziah 316 00:18:20,450 --> 00:18:23,410 the king, and Isaiah thought, well, I'm doing a lot. 317 00:18:23,410 --> 00:18:24,970 Better in my walk with God than. 318 00:18:25,050 --> 00:18:26,170 Even the king is. 319 00:18:26,250 --> 00:18:27,450 So I'm doing pretty good. 320 00:18:27,530 --> 00:18:27,850 No. 321 00:18:27,850 --> 00:18:31,090 When all that went away and only he could see the holiness of 322 00:18:31,090 --> 00:18:31,450 God,. 323 00:18:32,730 --> 00:18:34,490 Isaiah said, I am lost. 324 00:18:36,010 --> 00:18:39,050 I am absolutely lost. 325 00:18:40,410 --> 00:18:42,730 Because the contrast was so enormous. 326 00:18:43,930 --> 00:18:46,130 And so the seraphim took a coal. 327 00:18:46,130 --> 00:18:49,290 From the altar and touched his lips. 328 00:18:49,290 --> 00:18:51,690 With it, which is a symbol of. 329 00:18:51,690 --> 00:18:55,370 Purification, and said, you're forgiven. 330 00:18:58,900 --> 00:19:00,420 Now, you know, I think there's a. 331 00:19:00,420 --> 00:19:04,380 Lesson here that's awfully important, because so often we're 332 00:19:04,380 --> 00:19:06,180 trying to change everybody around us. 333 00:19:06,740 --> 00:19:10,140 We're trying to push to their sins will be better. 334 00:19:10,140 --> 00:19:12,220 They would address this, or why don't they do this? 335 00:19:12,220 --> 00:19:14,740 And we're trying to change everybody around us. 336 00:19:14,980 --> 00:19:17,980 Last week, when I told you about conflicts, you can't change 337 00:19:17,980 --> 00:19:19,020 anybody but yourself. 338 00:19:19,020 --> 00:19:20,940 And that's so true in our faith. 339 00:19:20,940 --> 00:19:23,460 We can't change anybody but ourselves. 340 00:19:23,460 --> 00:19:28,000 And until you see yourself in contrast to the holiness of God, 341 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:28,800 you won't change. 342 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:38,960 But when Isaiah said that he was lost and he knew it was about 343 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:43,680 him, it wasn't about what he was trying to get others to do. 344 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:47,800 You know, as a side note, it's. 345 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:49,840 Not our responsibility to convert anybody. 346 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:52,830 You know that we were never called. 347 00:19:52,830 --> 00:19:55,670 To convert people to Christ. 348 00:19:56,390 --> 00:19:58,470 We were called to live for Christ. 349 00:19:58,790 --> 00:20:00,190 We were called to honor Christ. 350 00:20:00,190 --> 00:20:01,510 We were called to lift him up. 351 00:20:01,510 --> 00:20:03,790 We were called to tell the truth. 352 00:20:03,790 --> 00:20:08,710 We were called to be people of grace and live out Christian faith 353 00:20:08,710 --> 00:20:09,430 before people. 354 00:20:09,590 --> 00:20:14,350 But whether or not they come to God is between them and God. 355 00:20:14,350 --> 00:20:15,350 It's not about you. 356 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:20,920 And once you realize the Holy Spirit is just as active in the world 357 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:23,280 as Jesus was in the world when. 358 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:26,800 He lived for those years, remember he. 359 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:28,560 Said, I have to leave so the. 360 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:30,000 Holy Spirit can come. 361 00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:32,960 Whom we realize. 362 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:36,160 That it's the Holy Spirit's responsibility to convey. 363 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:41,240 Living a Christian life gets a whole lot easier because we're not 364 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:43,930 trying to carry the weight to convert everybody. 365 00:20:43,930 --> 00:20:49,050 How about we just focus on us in comparison to the holiness of 366 00:20:49,050 --> 00:20:49,490 God? 367 00:20:52,610 --> 00:20:56,850 Well, Isaiah went on to tell the story. 368 00:20:56,850 --> 00:20:59,890 He said, then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning 369 00:20:59,890 --> 00:21:02,010 coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongues. 370 00:21:02,010 --> 00:21:05,170 He touched my lips, said, see, this coal has touched your lips. 371 00:21:05,170 --> 00:21:08,610 Now your guilt is removed and your sins are forgiven. 372 00:21:10,060 --> 00:21:14,540 Then I heard the Lord asking, whom shall I send as a messenger 373 00:21:14,540 --> 00:21:16,780 to the people who will go for us? 374 00:21:18,060 --> 00:21:20,460 I said, here am I. 375 00:21:21,340 --> 00:21:22,060 Send me. 376 00:21:23,180 --> 00:21:26,220 You see, Isaiah saw God in his hopelessness. 377 00:21:26,220 --> 00:21:27,740 He saw God like never before. 378 00:21:27,740 --> 00:21:31,180 When his king died, he realigned his priorities. 379 00:21:31,260 --> 00:21:34,620 And then he responded to God's call. 380 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:40,120 Whoops, let me get the right slide there. 381 00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:40,680 There we go. 382 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:42,120 He responded to God's call. 383 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:46,600 This is where his prophetic mission began. 384 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:51,720 When he got rid of the structures in his life that he never 385 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:53,720 would have gotten rid of if he hadn't. 386 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:55,880 Been in a place of hopelessness. 387 00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,720 He called Judah to come back from judgment. 388 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:04,410 And he began to tell the story of of the Messiah that was yet to 389 00:22:04,410 --> 00:22:04,650 come. 390 00:22:04,650 --> 00:22:06,690 800 years in the future. 391 00:22:08,290 --> 00:22:14,290 It was tough duty to go into this culture and to speak God's truth. 392 00:22:15,010 --> 00:22:17,810 But Isaiah said, here am I. 393 00:22:19,170 --> 00:22:19,810 Send me. 394 00:22:21,170 --> 00:22:21,930 I'll do it. 395 00:22:21,930 --> 00:22:26,690 Because now I've seen the power of God and I'm not helpless 396 00:22:26,930 --> 00:22:28,210 because God is with me. 397 00:22:28,700 --> 00:22:33,100 He went from helpless to hero, giving people the Hope of a Messiah 398 00:22:33,100 --> 00:22:34,220 that was yet to come. 399 00:22:34,540 --> 00:22:40,140 And we see that him telling that story 800 years before that. 400 00:22:40,380 --> 00:22:44,180 And let's see what Isaiah said about Jesus. 401 00:22:44,180 --> 00:22:45,260 It's pretty remarkable. 402 00:22:45,260 --> 00:22:47,900 Now remember, this is 800 years before it actually happened. 403 00:22:48,140 --> 00:22:50,700 Isaiah said Isaiah 9, 6. 404 00:22:52,780 --> 00:22:57,320 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. 405 00:22:57,400 --> 00:22:59,800 And the government shall be upon his shoulders. 406 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:04,520 And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, 407 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:09,160 Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 408 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:12,600 Scripture that we quote often during Christmastime. 409 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:18,120 Isaiah said in chapter 53, I was despised and rejected by men. 410 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:20,680 A man of sorrows acquainted by grief. 411 00:23:21,580 --> 00:23:23,740 He was pierced for our transgressions. 412 00:23:23,900 --> 00:23:25,820 He was crushed for our iniquities. 413 00:23:26,460 --> 00:23:29,660 Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. 414 00:23:30,140 --> 00:23:33,420 And with his wounds we are healed. 415 00:23:34,700 --> 00:23:37,259 800 years before it ever happened. 416 00:23:38,060 --> 00:23:41,020 And then Isaiah said, this. 417 00:23:41,260 --> 00:23:45,660 Jesus read this one in the synagogue, talking about himself. 418 00:23:46,060 --> 00:23:48,060 Jesus read Isaiah 60:1. 419 00:23:49,050 --> 00:23:52,410 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed 420 00:23:52,410 --> 00:23:54,810 me to bring good news to the poor. 421 00:23:55,370 --> 00:23:56,930 He has sent me to bind up. 422 00:23:56,930 --> 00:24:02,330 The brokenhearted and to proclaim liberty to the captives. 423 00:24:04,090 --> 00:24:07,610 Your helplessness is not your breaking point. 424 00:24:09,450 --> 00:24:14,050 Listen, in those moments of helplessness, whenever. 425 00:24:14,050 --> 00:24:22,180 They come, if your kings are dying, that is what it may take for 426 00:24:22,180 --> 00:24:24,140 you to see Jesus like never before. 427 00:24:25,740 --> 00:24:28,020 And when we listen to God in. 428 00:24:28,020 --> 00:24:31,660 Our helplessness, he will turn it into hope. 429 00:24:33,100 --> 00:24:37,820 He promises that, and that's the promise of our benediction. 430 00:24:38,140 --> 00:24:39,420 And say it with me. 431 00:24:39,820 --> 00:24:44,340 No eye has seen, no ear is heard, no mind is conceived. 432 00:24:44,500 --> 00:24:47,460 What God has prepared for those who love him. 433 00:24:48,100 --> 00:24:48,780 God bless. 434 00:24:48,780 --> 00:24:49,620 Have a good day.