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Here Am I — Send Me

(From the series: From West End to World’s End)
Isaiah 6:1–8

For the past four Sundays, we have turned our eyes toward the great work of missions. We have seen God’s heart for the world from before creation. We have acknowledged that the American church, being abundantly blessed, carries a greater responsibility to make Christ known. Last week we looked at the ministry of the Holy Spirit — the power behind all true evangelistic work. But today, as we conclude this missions emphasis, we must turn the focus inward. Jesus said, “Lift up your eyes on the fields,” and we have done that. We’ve looked to God, to His power, and to the opportunity before us — but now we must look to ourselves.
Missions cannot be spelled without two “I’s” — and missions cannot be accomplished without personal involvement.
Isaiah 6 shows us how a heart becomes truly usable for the work of God.

1. Personal Missions Begins with Seeing God’s Glory

(Isaiah 6:1–4)

Isaiah begins by telling us this vision took place “in the year that King Uzziah died.” Uzziah had become more than a ruler — he had become the object of the nation’s confidence. Under him, Israel enjoyed strength, success, and prosperity, but prosperity blinded them to their spiritual need. When the king died, the nation suddenly stood vulnerable, unsettled, and spiritually exposed — perfectly primed for revival.

At that very moment, Isaiah sees the real King seated on a throne “high and lifted up.” The train of His robe filled the temple as if to declare that religion and ritual have no authority here — only God does. The seraphim cried, “Holy, holy, holy,” and the very posts of the door shook at the sound. The temple filled with the smoke of God’s glory…

…and Isaiah cried, “Woe is me.”

This is where personal missions always begins. Before we see a world in need, we must see a God who is holy. Many Christians today seldom see God in His glory — therefore His commands do not move us. When He is no longer glorious to us, His mission no longer feels urgent to us.

Isaiah — the prophet, the preacher, the morally upright man — suddenly sees himself in the light of God’s holiness and says, “I am undone…unclean.”

2. Personal Mission Continues With Sinfulness Cleansed

(Isaiah 6:5–7)

The next moment is vital: Isaiah confesses his sin before he ever speaks of a nation’s sin. Revival always begins in the heart of one person before it ever spreads to the land.

A seraphim takes a live coal from the altar and touches Isaiah’s lips — not the lips of the crowd, not the lips of the nation — but Isaiah’s lips alone. This was personal. God was not cleansing a people yet — He was first cleansing a messenger.

God still works the same way today:
He does not prepare the field before He prepares the worker.

He does not first cleanse the nation — He first cleanses the servant.

What would you say today is the “unclean place” in your life that keeps God from using you fully? Is it the lips? The eyes? The ears? The hands? The feet?
Where does God need to apply the coal of cleansing so that He can send you?

3. Personal Missions Involves a Surrendered Life

(Isaiah 6:8)

Then God speaks:
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

He does not ask because He lacks the power — He asks because He desires surrendered servants. Kings had failed. Government had failed. Religion had failed. Prosperity had failed. The people had nowhere left to look… except to God.

And Isaiah answers with the greatest missionary statement in Scripture:
“Here am I; send me.”

He does not say, “Send someone.”
He does not say, “When I’m ready.”
He does not say, “If it’s convenient.”
He says, “Send me.”

Today, we fear that God will send us to another continent — but the truth is, He often sends us across the street before He sends anyone across the sea. The mission field may already be where you stand:
your workplace, the school hallway, your neighborhood, your town.

The question is not, “Is there a field?”
The question is, “Will there be a messenger?”

Conclusion

Before God can send us out, He must draw us in — into His presence, into cleansing, into surrender.
Missions is not first about where we go…but who we are before God.

May we stand where Isaiah stood and say with the same surrendered heart —
“Here am I; send me.”