Sent by God – Walking In Power with Nate Ortiz

Everyone hope this message finds you well.

I am going to be talking about being sent by God.

Now in this life we like to think about our faith journey or just a quest that we might

be on in life for different things like that because there's something that speaks to

the greater part of our lives.

We just don't want to think that we live this life.

We work a job.

We make money.

We just buy things here and there and then that's the end of our life.

But God really has greater things for our lives.

And out of Isaiah chapter 6 is going to be our pastures that we focus on.

I want this to be a word of encouragement to people out there that are listening to

this.

You understand that in your life there are going to be things that God calls you to do.

And when God calls you to do something, he is going to be sending you to do that.

And we don't do it on our own strength.

We don't do it on our own skill.

But we do that in combination with God's grace upon our life and what he's calling us to

do.

And Isaiah chapter 6 is this passage of Scripture.

It's familiar.

But it's the word of the Lord comes to Isaiah and he's a prophet in this land.

And God is looking for someone that he can use to reach his people and to accomplish

his will.

And it gets to the point where Isaiah is just overwhelmed by the presence of God.

He's standing in the presence of God.

He's thinking to himself just like the word Scripture says.

He says I'm ruined.

I'm not good.

I'm undone.

I can't believe.

I'm in the presence of God because he knows that is in his own life.

I think for all of us, there's areas of our life that we're not proud of.

But in light of God's presence, we just feel like that's even more magnified.

But so this is where Isaiah is.

But it gets to this point where the angel of the Lord takes the coal and it's this image

you get that it takes this coal and cleanses his lips and it's signifying that Isaiah could

be in this space, the presence of God.

I want to focus on verse 8 in chapter 6 where Isaiah says, then I heard the voice of Lord

saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us?

Then I said, here I am, send me.

It's a powerful idea that God can use us to accomplish his will and serve.

He wants to partner with us that he said, I know this is imperfect people, but who will

say, despite of my imperfections, I want to be used by God.

And I always tell people this.

And the kingdom of God, the idea of being sent is always more appealing than actually

going.

We like to romanticize the things of God's kingdom where we feel like, oh yeah, well if

God wants me to do this, he's going to do this or he's going to give me a sign or he's

going to do this.

But there's times where God will speak it to you in your life and you have to move past

the idea of it, but the implementation of it.

And so for all of us today, it's my prayer that even after you listen to this word that

you take time to really sit and think about, what does God send me to?

What does God call me to do in this life?

Are you just falling into routine and rhythms that you're not really giving space for God

to speak or God to move in your life?

A large part of when we get to this mindset is that we just love our rhythms.

We love our routines.

We love not being interrupted.

We love moving quick, we love moving efficiently.

All those things and those things are great.

But my thought to you is that even in the midst of your own life, you're in the midst of

your own struggles or your own schedule, are you able to say, Lord, if you have to interrupt

my day to do something for you, so be it.

God might have you in lots of different spaces to be a blessing to someone.

Because when we think about God using our lives and as we have our own ideas of what that

looks like, what's going to look like this?

Or is it going to fit in this time schedule?

It's going to be this, but God doesn't move in our time constraints.

He doesn't move in our convenience.

But when there are needs around us, are we able to act on them?

When we think about our own life and how God uses us, sometimes we have our own perceptions,

our own ideas.

But God calculates that our strengths and our weaknesses.

We also often look at just our strengths, but I can tell you that people in the come-up,

they never have their failures on the come-up, right?

It's when they hit this level of success, this level of comfort.

I'm accomplished all.

I've done it all.

They begin to lose focus.

Their eyes begin to wander.

They begin to do questionable things.

But when you really submit yourself to God, say, God, whatever you have in front of

them, I'm just going to do it.

I'm not going to be caught up on it.

It's being comfortable.

I'm not going to be caught up on just my own selfish desires.

But I want to say, Lord, you know my strengths and your weaknesses.

You know the pace that I can sustain, my character and my integrity to all stay intact.

Some of you in this life, you might feel like I'm in this place of being ready to be sent

out to me by God.

There's great things coming for you on the horizon.

That's amazing.

Some of you feel like, have already been sent.

I'm in the middle.

I'm a tough spot for me to be in.

And that's your heart.

It's always hard no matter where you are.

But what I like to tell people is the most important thing is God is with you.

You understand that.

It's not just you just being a great person, but that God is with you.

His grace is sufficient for you.

So whatever God is going to send you, wherever God has sent you, you have to realize that

your mindset changes, your frame groups change, your habits change.

You can't go to new levels with old habits.

That's just the reality.

You can't hit new levels.

If you just say, well, I'm just staying the same in town.

You got to move in different circles to grow, to learn, or else you just form what's

called groupthink.

Or you just say, well, I'm just keeping the same thought that everyone else has around

me, right?

Even for me, as a pastor, I have to get around people who are business minded, happy around

people who are pastors who are further down the road than I am.

I always like to tell people, no one's better than you in this life.

It's not like, well, this person is more close to the God or this or that.

I say, no one's better than you, but there are people who are further than you.

And you have to realize that there are people who are further than you, and who can you

learn from that's further down the road from you.

So when you think about this, when you're being sent by God, it was that look like the

two things I like to say, they need to be have a, you decide your level of commitment

and consistency.

No one else can determine those things for you.

There's lots of other things out of your control, but you can determine your level of commitment

and your level of consistency.

How committed are you to the things of God?

Not insane.

I know God spoke to me this one need to move in.

How consistent are you on that commitment?

So when you're sometimes a type of, you're committed to the idea of it more than the implementation.

You're committed to the idea of a fallen God and going to church and being involved and

growing yourself.

You're committed to that idea, but not the implementation because when you think about

the implementation, what does it look like to be a person who's growing close to God?

What does it look like to be a trusted friend?

You have to make those decisions and think through that and how you implement that daily

because those are the things that you naturally do that you're going to have to undo.

That you're the way I think or this is why I always move, but you have to stop and pause

and really undo that kind of thought process.

The other thing is, are you consistent enough just to be associated with a church, just

to be associated with God?

You said, well, I read my divos and that's devotional in the morning and that's about

it.

I go church when I can, but are you someone who's really committed to what God is doing

in your life?

And so that's something you really need process and think about yourself.

So I like to think about it this way.

Anytime that you have taken a trip and you floss them where you're going, you're traveling,

you're being sent for work or whatever it might be, the airport is one of those places

that it's just not really a super comfortable place to be in.

Right?

I also have the lounge passes, all those kinds of things and even those things.

They're comfortable and they're nice, but it's not meant for you to stay there.

You're in between the spot you left and the destination you're supposed to be going.

So I tell people, in this life, there are many times where you feel like you're just stuck

in a place where it's just the middle.

It's not home, it's not super comfortable.

There's things to get you by, but that's not home.

It's not where you're meant to be.

And if you're in that space today, I want to encourage you that God is always going to get

you where you need to go.

And in that journey, in that process, I'll never be afraid to be used by God, never be

afraid to say, well, what if God doesn't come through like I think He's going to be?

It's going to make me look foolish for believing in God.

It's God who will look foolish, so to speak.

But I want to tell you this, that in your journey, I always just had the mentality that

Isaiah had.

And I won't unpack this whole story, but the message that he had to give to God's people

wasn't, you know, it was a hard message to bring.

It was not to people who wanted to hear it.

And maybe God is asking to do things that are going to be hard for people to hear, or

it's going to be difficult for people to understand this life change that you're making.

But I want you to know that God is with you and He is for you in these life changes,

in these choices you make.

So go forward with that commitment, that consistency to say, Jesus, I want to be sent by you.

I know not perfect.

But why I could promise is that I'm going to live my life, just live my life honoring

you and giving glory to your name because you're worthy of it all.

So let's pray your blessed.

I hope you have an amazing rest of your week.

And I just stay close to God.

Stay in your word, stay committed, stay consistent.

And you'll be amazed that the shifts and changes that God will make in your life.

And God bless, I'll talk to you guys soon.