“GO WHERE YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN BEFORE”

The text is found in Isaiah 6:8, “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying whom shall I send and who will go for us?  Then said I, here am I, send me.”  Some theologians believe that this was Isaiah’s call to ministry.  At the end of this message, ask yourself this question, “Are you willing to go where you have never been before in the name of Jesus?”

I would like to share a thought about God’s formula for our success through meeting the needs of people.  God designed us beginning with Adam and Eve in His image and likeness.  God designed us so that we will multiply and become fruitful.  God designed us with a free will.  He designed us so that we need Him and each other.  God gave us dominion over the earth from the beginning.

Success requires people.  We will never succeed without networking with many different kinds of people.  They may not be accessible.  We may have to leave our comfort zone to reach them to achieve extraordinary success.  People need God, but people also need to meet the needs of people.

Jesus recruited his twelve disciples before He went on His earthly crusade.  He needed people to help him spread the gospel.  Jesus earthly life was successful, because He and His disciples were constantly on the move, constantly witnessing, healing, and teaching, constantly changing locations.  Jesus was in the wilderness, He was on the mountain top, He was on the high seas,  He went from village to village, He preached in the Temple, visited the sick, raised the dead, and walked on water, preached to the poor and to the rich alike.

Jesus went to where the people were, where they were lost, confused, sick and dead.  Jesus inspired us to believe in a God who we could not see.  He inspired us to believe in His word that we can be healed.  He inspired us to believe that if we could just touch the hem of His garment, that we would be healed.  God wants us to inspire others by teaching and preaching the words of God to others.  God wants us to walk as a living testimony that He can change us and that we can try to be Christ like.  He knows that it will be a struggle because none of us are perfect.

Jesus was constantly arising, departing and going to new places.  Jesus sought to be around new people.  Jesus discussed His teaching with many types of people of many diverse backgrounds and beliefs.  Jesus changed people by His actions and Jesus went where the action was.

We must be willing to go where we have never been before in order to create something we have never had.  Abraham (the father of Ishmael and Isaac), had to make geographical changes before his success began.  Genesis 12:1-2, “Now the Lord had said unto Abram (Abraham), get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.”  God wants to make each of us a blessing, not a curse.

Joseph found his incredible success in another country, Egypt.  Joseph was the son of Jacob and Rachael, a favorite son of Jacob.  Joseph was hated by his jealous brothers.  Joseph was a dreamer who could interpret dreams.  Joseph’s brothers sold him into bondage.  He served Potiphar, imprisoned by his master’s wife, and interpreted dreams of Pharaoh’s servants.  He was made great in Egypt, forgave his brothers when they were starving and gave them grain, brought his father Jacob and brothers to Egypt, blessed them and was blessed.

Ruth, a widow, was willing to leave here brethren family in Maob.  She went to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi, where she was shown favor, met Boaz a financial giant of the community and married him.  She bored Obed, ancestor of David, and in the lineage of Joseph who was husband of Mary the mother of Jesus, the Son of God.

Sometimes you have to go where you have never been before, in order to taste the extraordinary success that God wants us to experience.  Abraham, Joseph, and Ruth did.  Jesus left heaven so that God could restore a personal relationship with His creation.

Our success is directly linked to our success with people.  Jesus taught us to love one another and our success is found when we love each other enough to meet the needs of others. 

We must not assume that someone knows Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  As a disciple or follower of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we cannot assume that someone knows how to receive salvation.  Someone lost must confess that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior.  Then witness publicly that their old spirit must die through the submersion of the baptism of water, and then resurrected out of water with a new spirit.  When we are baptized, our submersion represents the old spirit dying and our resurrection represents our new birth accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and the following of His teachings.  It is our responsibility to witness and tell somebody about the goodness of Jesus and that He died so that we can live life more abundantly through serving others.  Jesus served as a final blood atonement for our sins and salvation.

It is only through the love of Christ that we can love people who do not love us.  As a disciple, we have to witness true love, unconditional love, and yes even for those who hurt us.  Brothers and sisters, this is tough love.  You have to be tough to serve in God’s Army.

We are to love God the father, through Jesus Christ the Son, through the love and power of the Holy Spirit.  We need each other to be successful in God’s kingdom here on earth.  We must go outside our comfort zone to be successful.  As Christian disciples, we can do all things and God will supply the needs of His people.

Go to a neighbor who won’t speak to you, go to someone who is down and out, go to a love one who is suffering because of substance abuse, pick up the phone, write a letter, don’t be shy, don’t be timid, don’t feel inadequate.  Just do it!  Show them the love of God through your love.  Get out of your comfort zone.

We will only succeed in life, if we are connected to people.  God has given us a formula that allows us to serve Him through people.  We all need love and should give true love according to the Word of God.  Not hypocritical love, but true unconditional love.  Remember, God knows what is in the inside of your heart.

We cannot assume that everyone knows love.  I have met people who have never known or seen love, because they were raised in a family who did not know love or know how to display it.  Se we have to be sensitive and determine how we can show someone love who has never been loved.

This is where God steps in and the power of the Holy Spirit works.  We must pray for and with the individual that God will come into their heart and they will receive the love of God so that he God can transform their spirit.  Love is a powerful tool that is necessary in order to enjoy life.

Success involves people.  People who help us to succeed may not always come to us.  In fact, they rarely do.  We must go to them, connect with people and develop a personal relationship with them.

Successful people are accessible.  We will never possess what we are not willing to pursue.  Our success and rewards are determined by the problems we solve for others.  Jesus taught us this.

Jesus did not set up a throne in the middle of town and say this is my throne, come to me.  He did not say this is the only place you can find or see me.  No, he went where the people were to the marketplace, to the seashore, to the synagogue, to the homes of people.  Jesus went where they were hurting, dead, and buried.  Jesus went everywhere.  He went through the towns and village, preaching, teaching, and healing everyone who had enough faith to believe.

Jesus is reachable.  Remember you will never possess what you are not willing to pursue.  What is keeping you from reaching out for others?  Is that inner fear of being rejected?  Are you intimidated in anyway?  Do not let Satan bind you up and keep your paralyzed.  Pray in the name of Jesus to release you for service.  There is something far more important that rejection.  It is building God’s kingdom here on earth.  We can only build a mighty Christian Army of disciples through people.  We will succeed in meeting the needs of others through people.

Jesus left the comfort of heaven.  He left the presence of angels and the comfort of his heavenly Father.  Jesus walked into an atmosphere that was unholy and imperfect.  He stepped out of a perfect kingdom and into a world that was confused, stained, and deadly.  Jesus stepped into the lives of those who needed Him, and still does.  Jesus went where the people were.  Our dreams are connected to people.  Success is as collection of relationships.  Without clients, a lawyer has no career.  Without patients, a doctor has no future.  Our service to others is connected to people.

Jesus went where the people were hurting, went to heal the blind, to the poor and wealthy alike.  He raised the dead, and he talked to the ignorant, the hungry and thirsty, alike.

God designed it so that people needed people to live and live forever more abundantly.  Let us convert from being a member to being a disciple who tells somebody about Jesus, tells somebody about the goodness of the Lord and what He has and is doing in our life.

There’s a law of relationship that says everyone is only four to six people from any human on earth.  Think about it.  We are networked to the entire world through people who know people.  We also have the internet that can shorten our contact but we still need people to assist us doing the will of God.  We still need that personal touch and relationship of people.

A God who loved His creation so much, that he sowed His seed into earthly flesh and blood.  Jesus came as a Godly man, who dwelled among us to teach us and show us how to live life more abundantly, who became the light in the dark and deadly world.  Jesus loved us so much that He died and became a final atonement for our sin.  Yes, Jesus died a terrible death for you and I, and they stretched Him high on a hill called Calvary.  Jesus died for our sins, sickness, disease, and the grave.  Jesus death and resurrection became a final atonement for sin and we no longer have to fear death because God gave those who believe in His son the gift of eternal salvation.  The good news is that Jesus is coming back again.

Go out and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Tell someone about how the study of God’s word will meet one’s physical and spiritual needs and through ones testimony, we will help connect and meet the needs of others.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is meeting the needs of people one person at a time.  We can all make a difference in the needs of others.  Are you willing to go where you have never been before in the name of Jesus?