Lets turn to Isaiah 6. While youre finding that, remember I spoke about Rich Mullins? He is the Christian artist who wrote Our God is an Awesome God, Step by Step, Sing Your Praise to the Lord, and a number of other songs. Ten years ago, he passed away in an untimely death. A car accident took his life ten years ago. He was a man who took a vow of poverty and gave every penny-every dime-of every record, every concert, every royalty, to the poor. He lived on an Indian reservation, having a meager salary from a small church on a Navajo Indian reservation when he could have been a pretty wealthy man. He was a young man who really captured my attention early in the ministry. I not only bought his music, but I really enjoyed what he had to say. I thought by way of introduction this week, we would play a little clip of Rich Mullins. Those of you who have never seen what he looks like can see him and hear his heart a little bit as he talks about the glory of God. Lets play a little clip, and then well get into the Word. At the close of the service this morning, were going to see Rich Mullins video called The Other Side of the World about missions. Youre going to see the setting as a dump in Guatemala City. If youve gone on any of our church missions trips to Guatemala City, you will recognize that dump. Its a place where our church has ministered on a number of occasions. Shelley and Jason Raddenbach, from our church-we send there as missionaries-live near that area and have been to that dump many times. So when that video comes up, some of you will recognize that scene that he sings in as a backdrop. We talked about the glory of the Lord and what that is. Isaiah is going to encounter that in the sixth chapter of his book that bears his name. Isaiah receives a vision from God. This is not a dream. This is not some sort of something that happens only in his mind. This is something Isaiah experiences, and he is trying to communicate to us the reality of what he saw in Heaven. He sees the Lord and the Lord is on His thrown, and he says this train filled the temple. He talks about the angels flying overhead. He talks about what they were saying. He speaks of how their voices shook the room. Thats the angels now, not God-just the angels voices shook the room. Now the room was filled with smoke and incense. Hes trying to describe this heavenly scene as best he can. He sees God and hears his response. He says in Verse 5 (of Isaiah 6, page 680 of pew Bibles), Woe to me! I cried. I am ruined! The word ruined means to be cut off, to be destroyed. What Isaiah is saying here is he encounters God in all of His holiness. The first thing he reflects upon is his own impurity, his own sin, and he says, I should just die right now because Ive seen God. He says, …I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips… If your lips are unclean, if what comes out of your mouth is unclean, its because what is on the inside is unclean. Jesus says out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. What Isaiah is saying here is I am unclean. I am impure from the inside out. There is nothing about me that should stand in the presence of the Holy God. Then an angel does something very symbolic. He takes a coal from the fire with tongs, and he comes over and touches Isaiahs mouth. The angel says, Your sin has been atoned for. Youve been forgiven. That fire represented Gods purity and His ability to cleanse from sin. Then, the Word of God says God speaks. Isnt it interesting that before Isaiah hears Gods plan and purpose for his life, he first must deal with the sin issue? If there are unconfessed sins in your life, dont expect to hear from God. Dont expect to know His plan. You first deal with the sin issue. Then, I can hear and then God will speak. God says (Isaiah 6:8, page 681), Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? He doesnt specifically call Isaiah. He doesnt say, Isaiah, will you go? He simply puts the question out there, Who can I send? Who will be my mouthpiece? Who will go to my people and share my message? Isaiah responds by saying, Here am I. Send me! Was Isaiahs confidence in himself? Not at all. He just said, I should just die right now because I am impure. Isaiahs confidence was in God because if God was sending him, God would equip him. Because God had touched him, he knew he could carry out whatever God had called him to do. So he says, Here am I. Send me! Just a few moments earlier, Isaiah was saying, Im a clinker brick. Im scarred. Im flawed. I have defects. Thats [the topic of] our series: a clinker brick, a brick that is damaged and tossed aside, not fit for construction. Whats more miraculous than Isaiah saying, Here I am. Send me! is God saying to Isaiah, Go! God is saying, In spite of your impurity, in spite of your fallenness and your sinfulness, Isaiah, I will use you. God will use us if we are broken, if we are humble before Him. God will use us in all of our defects, all of our impurities for His glory and for His purposes. Thats our introduction this morning. I notice some of you are tuning out when I introduce the series. I did it the same week every week, so I thought I would introduce it a little differently this week. So weve looked at a different example of a clinker brick, a different example in church history of a clinker brick, and then we talk about how it applies to our lives. This morning were talking about whether we are Excuse Makers or Difference Makers in the Kingdom. Id like you to turn, if you would please, to Luke 14. Speaking of excuses, I dont think anybody hears more excuses than police officers do. Police officers pull you over for speeding or going through a light. Theyve heard pretty much every excuse in the book when they pull drivers over. I heard a story about an officer who pulled a guy over for speeding. It was the end of his shift, and he was in a pretty good mood. It was the last thing hed have to do for the night before he signed out. He pulled the guy over and said, Hey, listen. Tell me one I havent heard before, and Ill let you off the hook. The guy said, Well, officer, 20 years ago, a police officer took away my wife, stole my wife from me. I saw you in my rearview mirror with that siren, and I thought maybe you were bringing her back. Then the officer said, Well, have a good day, sir. He gave him his license back and left. We come up with excuses. Ive heard some duzies over the years as to why people have missed church, havent been in church for awhile, or stopped ministering. I wont say any of them because you might have said one to me, and I dont want to embarrass you. Right now, you guys are playing tape really fast and thinking of excuses you might have given. Excuses really are not so much lies as they are polite ways of not telling the truth. For instance, the Bears quarterback Rex Grossman loses to Green Bay. He speaks at the press conference, and he says, Yeah, I didnt prepare for the game. The game didnt mean anything. Its New Years Day, a lot of things going on. I should have planned; I should have been better. I wont do that next week. [He just gave] a bunch of excuses instead of getting up there and saying, The Packers played better. They played like a team on a mission. This could be Brett Favres last game, so those guys played like warriors, and we came out flat. They were a better team today. That was the truth, but thats not what he said. He gave excuses, right? Some of you cant believe your ears right now, but Im just speaking the truth. I remember a woman named Sandy Cane who was leading a church musical, a drama musical. She wanted a quote from me. I was just a young buck. I was in my early 20s, and I was thinking, Wow, somebody wants a quote from me. Somebody is actually going to get up in a drama and say, Pastor Jeff Williams says… Thats kind of cool. Then I promptly forgot about it until the day of the performance. She said, Remember I need that quote. I thought, Oh, yeah, the quote. Okay, now I have to write something down. I took out my pen and thought for a moment. I wrote down something profoundly stupid, something dumb like it had a youth theme to it. It was [something like], The youth of tomorrow or youth of today… It was something ignorant that was not in the slightest bit memorable. I handed it to her, and I said, Heres my quote. Hours later she came back. She said, Hey…yeah. Hey thanks for turning in that quote, but we did get a lot of quotes. The performance is going to go long, and we just dont have a lot of time, so were going to have to eliminate your quote. It was really good, and thanks for sharing that. I was thinking, Okay. I knew exactly what she was saying. Obviously my quote would have taken about three seconds to read. Why didnt she just come out and say, You know, you didnt put any thought into your quote. Your quote was very sub-par and not in the least bit memorable, so theres no reason to share it with anybody at any time-ever-in the history of the human race. But, she just did it in a nice way. Some of you, maybe in high school or more recently, somebody has asked you out on a date, and youve come up with a polite excuse as to why you cant go. We use excuses all the time. Were going to see some chart toppers right here in Luke 14. Were going to see some real excuse makers here. Jesus is staying at the home of a prominent Pharisee. The man is powerful; he is wealthy; and he has invited Jesus into his home as a guest. A lot of VIPs are there, and theyre not Jesus friends. Theyre watching Jesus with a skeptical eye. Theyre waiting for Him to slip up. Theyre waiting for a way to entrap Him with His words or His actions. They were talking about banquets and the Kingdom, and one of the men reclined at the table and gave this impromptu outburst. He said, Its going to be great! Were in the Kingdom of Heaven and partaking in the feast of God! Hes saying, Wont it be great at the end of the ages when we sit down in the messianic reign and share a meal with God? Jesus uses that outburst as a teaching moment and starts to talk about the Kingdom. We pick up the story in [Luke] 14:16 (page 1034 of pew Bibles), Jesus replied: A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. So these men and women had already received invitations. I dont throw many parties because I dont like the feeling of people calling and canceling at the last minute. Because of that, I only have one party a year, and thats for my staff-and they pretty much have to come. I know somebody is going to come. So he had already given out the RSVPs, regrets only. These are people who had already accepted the invitation and had put it down on their calendar to come to the banquet. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, Come, for everything is now ready. You said you were going to be there, so we bought food for you. Theres a spot on the table that has your name on the card. You committed to being there; youre expected to be there; we have prepared for you to be there; and Im sending out this notice, this invite that is like the courtesy phone call. This is like the reminder that says, Hey, remember, Friday night at 6 oclock. Be there! So the servant goes out and reminds people. Verse 18 says, But they all alike began to make excuses… Theyre not giving reasons, because sometimes there are valid reasons why we cant do something. Other times, there are excuses. Last Sunday, some of you came from far away and live on country roads where there was drifting. [And for others] it was dangerous and hazardous to drive, so you stayed home. That was a reason. Some of you who live two blocks away looked out the window and saw the cold and wind and said, Im going back to bed. That was an excuse. Thats an example between the two: reason vs. excuse. He comes out and says, Remember, we have that banquet today. Youre invited! He comes to the first guy in Verse 18 and says, Yeah, that banquet. I wanted to go to that, see, but I just bought this field, and I must go see it. Please send my regrets. I must go see it. Is it going somewhere? The field that you just bought, why do you need to see it now? Has it changed since you bought it? Does it look the same? Why the urgency? Why the rush to go see this field you bought? Cant you eat first and then go see the field? We dont know what the behind-the-scene story is here. Maybe the guy just gives bad banquets. Maybe there is just a bad cook. Brenda had a family member that would invite us over to eat, and it was awful! It was horrendous! She could not cook a lick, not even a frozen pizza. Twice, we went over there for frozen pizza. The first time she burned it to a crisp, and the second time she burned it to a crisp. I think we ended up eating it the second time. You had to hammer and chisel. It was like Jell-O that would not come off the spoon, no matter how many times you shook it. When Aunt Blanch would invite us over, it was like, Aw, gee, Aunt Blanch, I have to clip my nails. How many of you have ever given a flimsy excuse to somebody and thought, They have to see through that. Thats pretty weak. Usually theyre just right off the top of your head. Thats what I understand some of these to be. The second person, in Verse 19, says, I have just bought five yoke of oxen… Yeah, that banquet sounds like fun, but Im on my way to try them out, so can you send my regrets? So you bought the oxen, and now youre going to try them out? Isnt that like saying, Hey, I bought a car, and I cant come to your house to eat because I have to go give it a test drive? Isnt the time to give the test drive before you buy it? Isnt the time to try out the oxen before you made the purchase? And where are the oxen going? Why is there such a big hurry that you have to check out the oxen you bought right now? The third guy, in Verse 20, said, Boy, yeah, that banquet, thats really good. I know I committed to go to it, but I just got married. I cant come. He didnt mean this was his wedding day. He meant he was a newlywed. Youre going to be together for the rest of your lives-can you spare a meal to go to this guys place who was prepared for you? No. Even though were going to be together for the next 40, 50, 60 years, I dont have time to go to your banquet because I have to… This is the only guy who is half-way legitimate. Maybe, his wife had laid down the law, right? Maybe there were things he had to do around the house that day. This guy could be legit. The other two…not a chance. We laugh at these guys, but the truth is, we are these guys. The truth of the matter is: Theyre clinker bricks. Every excuse they gave had to do with themselves. [They were] putting something [first] in their lives that was more important than the commitment they made to a friend. They didnt think about his feelings. They didnt think about the expense he had gone through in buying that meal or preparing that meal. They didnt think about how disappointed he would be when they committed to come and didnt show up because their needs were more important. Thats us. Were clinker bricks too. You and I have all made excuses as to why we cant do what God has called us to do; go where Hes called us to go; give what Hes called us to give; say what Hes called us to say; share what Hes called us to share. Were clinker bricks. Im painting a picture right now. After the service this morning, Im going to come back over here, and Im going to paint this entire canvas black. Im not going to take the time to do it right now, but you can watch me [later]. As soon as we say Amen, Im heading over here. Im going to cover this entire canvas with black paint. This represents the darkness thats in our souls. This represents this clinker brickness-this new word weve coined-that is a part of all of us. Next week, at some point during the service, youre going [to be thinking], That transformed into something good, something beautiful. We promise you… Ill be kind of glad because Im tired of getting paint all over my hands and my clothes. Thats coming up next week. That reminds us of who we are. That reminds us of our sin nature, of our fallenness-were clinker bricks. The question we pose is this: Are you an excuse maker or are you a difference maker? A difference maker says, It doesnt matter what the obstacles are, were going to overcome it. Were going to get it done. As we form our team for our new building, we want to have people who are difference makers saying, Yeah, we have obstacles. We have work, but were going to get this thing done. No matter what endeavor you entertain, no matter what endeavor you join together to accomplish, you want people on that team who are going to say, Were going to get this done. Were going to meet challenges, and were going to overcome those challenges. We may not know how, but we know we will. You dont want a team of excuse makers. Excuse makers, as soon as they run into conflict or obstacles, quit. We cant do it. Why? Because of that. If that werent there, we could do it. But because thats there, we better stop. If everybody in the world were excuse makers, nothing would get done. The same thing is true in the church. If were excuse makers, things arent going to be done because as soon as they get difficult, were going to quit. Were not going to try to think outside the box, go outside of the lines. Were just going to say, Oh, we cant do it. The great commission. Now, look at the servant here. The servant is sent out, but he doesnt make excuses. This guy gets the job done. He comes back with the news, and the owner of the house is very angry. He says, Go out quickly into the streets and the alleys of the town. Bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame, folks like Rich Mullins was talking about in this clip earlier. He says, Sir, the servant said what you have ordered has been done. There is still more room. This guy didnt say, Well, what if they dont come? Look at the success weve had in the past. What makes us think its going to be any better? He doesnt do any of that. He does what he is told. He comes back and he says, There is more room. The master told his servant, Go out into the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet. Theologically speaking, Jesus is talking here, but the invitation was first given to the Jews. Many of them received, and many rejected. Jesus said then the message will be taken to all people, and all will be invited. It was a servants job to go out into the world and take that message, that invitation of the king, and say, You are invited. Friends, that servant is the church. You and I have been called by God to take this message of the Gospel to the world-no excuses. No excuses. Every generation has had its challenges in church history, in the Gospel, as far as carrying out the great commission. It seems like God always raises up some people who refuse to make excuses and say, Lets get the job done. I want to tell you this morning about a man by the name of William Carey. William Carey lived in the late 1700s, early 1800s. William Carey was born in England, and he was a shoe cobbler. While he would perform his vocation, he would learn. He was a multi-tasker, so he would learn languages [while he was working on shoes]. In fact, he became the master of many languages. God would use that when He would send William Carey to the country of India. In India, William would labor for seven years before he lead the first person to Christ. He would translate the Bible into 40 different languages and dialects. Can you imagine that? This man had a brilliant mind. He was also a clinker brick. He became so consumed with his ministry and translation and pastoring that he neglected his family. He had four small boys. What were told in church history is they were obnoxious, rude, had no manners, no structure, and no discipline at all. It was co-workers on the field in India who literally raised William Careys boys because he didnt do it. He was a clinker brick. He was a bad parent, but he was an incredible missionary. He is called the Founder of Modern Missions-a very important person in church history. There were a lot of excuses being told as to why we werent getting the job done around the world. People were saying things like you know, it costs a lot of money. Its very dangerous. You have to sail the oceans to get to some of these countries. When you get there, the indigenous people are often hostile not only to our message, but to us. Besides that, there are language barriers. Sometimes we dont speak their languages. They dont have the Bible in their language. Some climates are cold; some climates are hot. There are all these problems and difficulties we have to overcome, so its much easier to just not go. But William Carey was a difference maker and not an excuse maker. His response to the one who said, Well, they dont have a Bible in their language was Well, write one. If they talked about that climate being unsafe or that group of people being hostile, hed say, What about Paul? What about the groups he ministered to? What about the times he was in riot and shipwreck? Well, its expensive. Sometimes its cold and its hot… William Carey wrote a book. The book was entitled, in 1792, this catchy little title-easy to remember. It was called An Inquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. Easy, thats what it was called. That was literally the title of the book. In the book he says something very poignant. He says, Listen, you Christian merchants out there who have money, how did you get that money? Some of you put your life at risk to cross treacherous seas. Some of you faced hostile people to mine for gold. Some of you went into unfamiliar climates in Africa, for instance, and faced heat to sell, to trade, and to buy into a choir. If youre going to go all around the globe and go to all different kinds of cultures and all different kinds of languages for the sake of a buck, how much more should we do it for the sake of a soul and the God who has called us to do it because Hes given us that command? He laid down His life for us. Whoa! Ive read the book. Its not a long read. He talks about the history of missions, how we go about missions. He talks in one chapter about charts, all the countries, all the people groups who havent heard, where the Gospel has been preached. Here are how many people who are not Christians? Then in Chapter 4, he blows out all the excuses. In Chapter 5, he talks about using their culture, their languages, to get the job done, just like as a church we believe and practice. He says, Use their culture. Use their language. Love them. Heres how you reach them for Christ. William Carey became the Father of Modern Missions. Ive been talking a lot about Pastor Sean Christensen lately. I said I hope our staff doesnt get jealous because Ive talked so much about him lately. Just to let our staff know, should you ever choose to go overseas full-time to a place like Haiti, Ill talk about you a lot too. Look at the things Pastor Sean has to do. Number one, look what he is giving up. Hes selling his home. He is leaving his job, his family, and his friends, and his country. Hes taking his four children and his wife, and he is going to a completely different culture-the voodoo capital of the world, Haiti. [This country is] the poorest of the poor. Then he has to face the challenge of raising the support; $5,400 a month is what he has to raise. Thats a lot of money. You say, Why does it cost $5,400 to live in Haiti? Its the poorest country in the world. You can live there for $2,000 a year. Right, you could if you wanted to live on a dirt floor with no air conditioning, no electricity, no plumbing, no running water, no car, all of that. Hes already giving up a lot. Lets not put him in that kind of a situation. Lets have him at least have electricity, plumbing, running water, a refrigerator, and a car for goodness sakes. So not only does he have the financial challenges, but he has to learn two languages: Creole and French. He has to learn them, not just to communicate the basics to function in society. He has to learn French well enough to teach local pastors the Bible. Thats going to be his job. Hes going to be teaching the Haitian pastors, so they can teach their congregation. Many of them could not go to school. What you could hear from Sean is a lot of excuses, couldnt you? I cant go… You could think of any one of those things, and you could run with it, but he is saying, Im going to get it done. With Gods help, the help from my family and friends, the church, were going to get this done. Hes at 10 percent, so he has 90 percent to go. Hes just starting out here. It puts some of our excuses to shame, doesnt it? He wants to make a difference in the world for Christ. Do you want to make a difference in the world for Christ? We are either-we talked about this a few weeks ago-the ones sent, or we are senders. We have to recognize this is our mission. Were going to watch a song [video clip] by Rich Mullins called The Other Side of the World as he sings in Guatemala City (lyrics can be read at http://www.kidbrothers.net/wohsoe.html#tosotw). Its a song you might not be as familiar with, but I want you to listen to the lyrics as he talks about it being an ominous job. There is so much to do, yet there is optimism in his voice. There is a can-do spirit behind his words. Lets listen to the song, The Other Side of the World. We as a church want to be difference makers in our world for Christ. We shared several weeks ago about World War II, how it was a very different war than the one we are facing now. We tend to just listen on the news, watch, or read articles, but unless we have somebody [we love] in the war, other than the price of gas for instance, our lives are not affected in a personal way. There is no sacrifice we are making unless we have somebody in the war. World War II was not like that. World War II was seen as everybodys war. The home front was just as important as the front line. The conservation, the sacrifice, the war bonds, Rosie the Riveter, woman going back to work-converting factories into places that made weapons, financing the war: that was vital to the success of what America was doing in Europe in fighting Hitler and the Nazis and imperious forces. We saw this as our battle. We couldnt have won it without the home front. In regards to missions, we have to see it as our fight. It is a fight; it is a battle, but its our battle. We have to say to Pastor Sean-more than just patting him on the back-Hey, good luck with that! Youre leaving everybody you love and going off to Haiti! Best of luck to you! We have to do more than that. Parents in our church, Jim and Lita Powers, their son went off to Thailand, left a prominent church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to go and minister to the orphans in Thailand. Now he is giving 100 percent of his time and energy to reach the people of Pakistan. Talk about dangerous missions. Talk about a land that needs the Gospel. He is there ministering. We have to do more with Todd Powers than say, Hey, good luck Todd! Our D.R. team: we have friends and some people in church we know, maybe even some family members, who are taking a week of their time this summer. Theyre leaving their jobs, leaving all of you, boarding on a plane and going off to an unknown country to minister and love people in the name of Christ. [They are] going to minister to lepers, orphans, and children. Theyre sharing the love of Christ to the people who are hurting. We have to do more than just say, Hey, good luck to you. We have to be behind them in our prayers, our giving, and any way we can use our talents and resources to make it happen. This team, as I met with them last week in our meeting, we dont know how were going to get everything we need. We dont know how were going to do everything we need to do, but its a journey of faith, and were not offering any excuses. Were saying, Were going to get it done, but we need your help to do that. Every two years, our church embarks on a major missions outreach. This year, its the Dominican Republic. Every two years, we take an offering to benefit missions. This is not giving to an agency. This is not giving to a nameless, faceless group or something where we put money into a pot and really dont know whats done with it. This offering will benefit Pastor Sean Christensen and his ministry to Haiti. It will benefit Todd Powers in Pakistan. It will benefit our church, the folks who are going to the Dominican Republic. Im going to ask our ushers to come forward at this time, and well receive that love offering for missions. If youre not ready or not prepared, just let us know if you want to bring something by on Monday or Tuesday. We just want to bless these people we know and love in a tangible way. This is not the be-all end-all, but it is part. It is a practical way we can participate in world missions. These dollars will send people you know and love to people you dont know. I hope even though you dont know them, you still love them and reach them for Christ.