Willing to be Sent

As I sit down to write this I am packing my last things for a preaching road trip. I will preach Wednesday night for a youth group and then all weekend for their winter camp in the Houston area. I will be gone for a solid week.

Last night before we went to bed, Brenda commented how she does not like it when I am gone. While gone I will miss Turner's UIL meet that had to be rescheduled due to bad weather. I will miss his basketball game on Saturday. I will miss Tucker playing in a basketball tournament this weekend. I will also miss Taylor and Tanner at a powerlifting meet this Saturday as well. Why would I do this? Why would I pack a suitcase and my Bible to head down to a place I know very few people outside the youth minister to preach?

Because this morning my quiet time was from [Is 6:8] "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Who shall I send? Who will go for us?' I said: "Here am I send me."

I have prayed that prayer often over the years. God has seen fit to choose me to send me preach youth camps, winter camps, retreats, and revivals all over the United States. On a couple of occasions God has seen fit to allow me to preach revivals in foreign countries. I gave God my "yes" many years ago and I still mean it. When he chooses to send me to preach to other churches I go. When he chooses to give me a new assignment as a pastor I pack my things and move. When he chooses to send me to the hospital to minister I go. When he chooses to send me to grieving in death I go.

Over the years there have been times when God has chosen to send me to other churches to serve. Obediently I have followed that call and been willing to be sent wherever God led. To this day I have never asked a church search committee how much the salary for the position would be. One guy on a search committee asked me if I wanted to know the salary they could pay. I replied, "It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters to me is does God want me to come here. If he does the money is inconsequential. He is my provider." That is still my attitude.

I go where God sends. He calls the shots for my life. He determines the direction and future for me and my family. I yield to his leadership and accept the assignments he sends my way. Even if that means leaving my family for a few days which I do not enjoy. I follow even if it means from time to time leaving precious people I love to follow a new assignment. Even when it means the path leads to hardships I still have to follow. I am a man sent. God does the sending and I do the going. God lays out the path and I walk down it. God has a plan and adjust my life accordingly.

God is always in the sending position. I recall after preaching a message on [Is 6:8] in a revival in one church, a lady made the comment as I walked out the door after the service, "I am praying God will send you here." I did not reply but in my heart I laid the matter before the Lord. I have been willing to be sent to churches of every size to preach one day, to preach to students, adults, and even some senior adults. I have to be open to God relocating my life and ministry if he chooses. I have to live my life willing to be sent for him no matter the personal sacrifice to me, my family, and others around me. I have watched God call multitudes to salvation over the years and bring many others to repentance at those camps and revivals. On a few occasions I have seen and tasted genuine revival.

Day after day I come before the Lord to receive my assignment from him. Today, that includes traveling down south where I will preach numerous times over the course of the next several days. That is where he is sending me this week. Next week I will be back at Faith Community Church ministering his word on Wednesday evening and Sunday as well as the weeks in the foreseeable future.

Where is God sending you? Are you available? Will you accept his invitation to be sent? Will you accept his assignment and follow? If you are truly his disciple you have to at least with complete openness pray with a yielded heart, "Here I am. Send me."