Encounters With God

Intro: I now have completed half of a century as part of a Pentecostal family. My grandfather was a Pentecostal Pastor, my roots go back to Pentecostal Assembly in Bangor whose Pastor was Clifford Crabtree, father of Charles and David Crabtree. I ate sawdust at camp meeting when I was a toddler. I have encountered the power of God in my life, but there is one problem I have witnessed among Pentecostal people, the desire to experience the power of God without the responsibility of carrying the power of God. Today, I would like to preach out of Isaiah 6:1-10, a message entitled: “ Encounters with God”

I. Revelation from Encounters—when you have a true encounter with God there are three basic revelations that come from the encounter. v.1-4

a. the holiness of God—He is pure, undefiled, absolutely Holy. When you see God, when you have an encounter with God, you realize his absolute perfection.

b. The power of God—when you see the smoke fill the room, when his voice shakes the building, you realize the earth is full of his glory. All power belongs to God, nothing man can do will be equal to God, God’s weakness is stronger than man.

c. The worship of God—when you have an encounter with God, there is a deep desire to praise and worship Him. If your encounter doesn’t cause worship, it isn’t a true encounter with God.

II. The Exposure of Encounter—v.5-7

a. you realize your sin, you realize your absolute failure to meet God’s holy standard. We realize how far we have missed the mark, how short we are of his glory.

b. We realize the hopelessness and the need of mankind in general. We look at God and we see how evil, and sinful man is in the eyes of God. We realize there is no hope in ourselves.

c. We find our hope is as he touches us, cleanses us. It isn’t by any human effort, but it is His grace and mercy that makes us clean. Makes us white as snow.

III. The Purpose of Encounter—v.8a

• Is to hear the voice of the Lord—God wants us to have an encounter with him, so we might know his heart for mankind. His longing for souls, His desire for people. An encounter that doesn’t reveal God’s heart for the lost, the hurting, the blind, those trapped in sin, tricked by Satan, bound by habit, is not a true encounter.

• To realize His plan—God has limited Himself to us. God has a divine plan that the world will be reached by those who love him.

IV. The Opportunity of Encounter—8b.-10

• Here am I, send me. Many are called, few are chosen. There are a lot of people who hear the call of God on their lives, but who will not step up to the altar and volunteer for the work for God. So many times people say, I can’t do it, or let someone more qualified then me do the work. Truth is, your encounters with God will mean nothing until you use them to glorify God.

• It is an opportunity to know victory, but also defeat, rejection, people who will not see your vision, not hear your word, not receive their salvation.

• The opportunity is always there, once you have an encounter, once you hear the call, you get to respond. Who will go for us, the call, Send me, the response. It is really as simple as that, some people think the call of God is so very mystical, but it is very practical. Jesus said, pray the Lord of the harvest will send laborers into the field.

Close: when I was 17 years old I felt the call of God on my life at a youth camp. With great excitement I told the D-cap’s wife about the call. She said something startling, the proof isn’t in hearing the call but doing it. I guess she had seen thousands of excited young people who stated they were called only to fall away. But 34 years later, I still hear the call, I still hear God saying who will go for us, and I still say, send me. Oh it isn’t always easy, there are battles and struggles along the way. But hearing God’s voice, and answering the call, is still the most exciting thing that can happen to anyone. Have you had an encounter with God. Cry out send me…