Set Apart

By Pastor Bob Rasmussen

“Set Apart”

• Greet the congregation

• Greet those that are watching on-line – Facebook, YouTube, Roku, and Christian World Media.

• Welcome everyone to the new year, a happy new year each and every one of you.

• I want to echo my wife’s announcement of our daughter’s bread adventure. I am somewhat of a foodie, if you couldn’t tell. And honestly, that is some of the best bread I have ever had. And when it comes to the things we call messaging, and branding, this picture right here is fire. PIC

• The holidays are over, for some of us. We have our kids all coming next weekend, which I am very excited about – and I know some of you still have holiday get togethers as well.

• And so we come to a close of celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ – although we are grateful for it every single day, amen?

• We’re putting away decorations here at church today, including this amazing 12’ tree here. Thanks to everyone that helped decorate our church, it really is beautiful. It looked gorgeous at night for some of our soak services with the lights turned down. Just amazing. Thank you.

• At our house, well, when it is time for us to take down our tree, itwill not take long, and it will not be too difficult. PIC

• And so, many folks are starting the new year with resolutions about making changes in diet, or exercise, or reading books – a lot of self-help things that will make their lives better. And all of that can be good. 

• I for one, have felt something in my spirit to share, that there is something so much more important than a resolution in this coming new year. 

• Let’s pray –

o Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you for all that you have done in our lives and in the lives of our loved ones. You are so merciful that you made a way that we could have a relationship with you. You, who are holy, holy, holy and whom there is none greater. We thank you for Your Word Lord, we thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit, may it fill this place now as we declare your Word, right here and right now. Lord, bless all these folks in the coming weeks and the new year. Let us all get a fresh revelation of your goodness, of your greatness, and of your holiness. I ask all of this in the greatest Name, the holiest name, the matchless name of Jesus, amen.

• Our text is going to start in Isaiah 6. This is when Isaiah is a younger man, and there is a king, King Uzziah.

• By most standards, King Uzziah was a good king. He did a lot for the people of Israel. He had many victories, he built a lot of things, and he was right by the Lord for 50 some years, until he wasn’t.

• He got full of pride and trespassed into the temple and because of that – he got leprosy, was cut off from God and from everyone and died.

• So Isaiah says this:

• 6 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, 

• If we look at this statement with some background, we need to understand this statement is made during a time of political turmoil, a time of uncertainty of who would lead a nation. 

• This king Uzziah had been good for Israel, many would have idolized him. King Uzziah, man that guy was my idol – he was cool! But now, now what will happen? With all the things that are happening, what in the world are we going to do?

• Sounds a little familiar to me. But there is a revelation for Isaiah.

• 6 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

• Diana said this at soak on Friday, thank you Lord that in the end, it does not matter who is in charge down here, because God is on His throne in heaven, amen!

• God is the ruler of the universe. Jesus is the real King for all of us.

• That is something that we can all hold on to always, especially when there is confusion and there is opposition here in the world. Elections have no impact on King Jesus!

• And just the train of His robe filled the temples. I have been to a few weddings; I have never seen anything like that! Can you imagine?

• 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

• What Isaiah is describing are the same creatures that we find in Revelation 4 and they speak to how absolutely holy our Lord is.Their job is to constantly praise the Lord. I would show you a picture of what they look like, but we don’t know that. We have only what the bible says. There are a million pictures of what people think they are like, but I can only speak to what the Word says. I don’t know.

• 2 of their wings are to cover their face, I think because they can’t look upon the Lord directly, because of His holiness and His righteousness. 

• 2 cover their feet out of humility and reverance and 2 fly.

• I like how Charles Spurgeon puts it. “Thus they have four wings for adoration and two for active energy; four to conceal themselves, and two with which to occupy themselves in service; and we may learn from them that we shall serve God best when we are most deeply reverend and humbled in his presence.”

• 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

• They did not say holy is the Lord, they did not say holy, holy, is the Lord. They said holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

• Qadowsh – Kaw-dosheee is the Hebrew word for Holy. And that means Holy, Holy one or set apart.

• That God is Divine and all of His glory fills the earth. A proclamation of the pure holiness and perfect holiness of Yahweh and if you want to see his greatness, just look at what He has done. He created everything just by speaking it into existence.

• Psalm 19 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

• Isaiah continues

• 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

• Hallelujah – may our praises shake the foundation of all the world. We have so much more to be grateful for than some angel or cherubim, we are God’s very own sons and daughters, adopted into a royal family paid for with the precious blood of Jesus. 

• And Isaiah seeing all of this shaking, is shaken to his core, as we all should be, when we understand the absolute holiness of God. We see His glory all around us, and it should bring us to a sense of humility before God. And that is exactly what happens to Isaiah.

• 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips,

• You know, even before I came to God, before I was baptized, before I was going to church, when I was living for who I thought was the greatest person on earth – myself. I knew there was something wrong in my behavior and actions. I knew there was something wrong in how I treated people and how I spoke to them, deep down – I knew. But I chose not to care.

• And maybe because of some folks praying for me and most definitely from God allowing some things to happen in my life. I think for a lot of reasons I finally considered myself and my life compared to Him, to Jesus. And I felt that soul crushing condemnation for all the wrong I had done in my life – it was palpable, or something that I really felt – not just in the spirit but even physically. It was super humbling and like Job, I might ofthought “I am undone”.

• and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

• Now Isaiah may have thought for a moment that he was about to die, because anyone who looked upon God in the Old Testament, things did not go their way – they died. And for those of us that read the Word, we know that none of us is worthy. No matter how well we live our lives, we are not worthy.

• Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

• And in this moment, he realizes how for apart he is from God, and he confesses that he is a man of unclean lips, that he is unworthy, but then something happens, something miraculous.

• 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

• Thank God that for us we do not have to wait for a Cherubim to appear and fly down and drop a hot coal on our lips. Althoughsometimes the things that come out of our mouths they should – be honest now. We don’t always speak the things we should, and it would be nice to have my own angel, just flying on my shoulder and when I am about to say that wrong thing – pop sizzle sizzle, right?

• But thank God, praise the Lord, we have Jesus and have a path to salvation and forgiveness of sin. Thank you Lord, hallelujah and amen!

• But God is not done, Isaiah hears this.

• 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.

• Now granted, Isaiah has just been cleansed, so he is most assuredly excited.

• I don’t know about you, but after I was baptized and freed all I wanted to do was serve God in some capacity. I remember the first ministry I was in, it was a very glorious and glamorous ministry if I have to be honest. 

• Can you guess what it was? 

• It was a chair ministry, I know – I know, sweet!

• I was responsible for putting the chairs out as people came in in the back of the room, in the balcony area. And then when service was over, I had to stack them back up.

• I was so excited. I’d get there early! I was doing the work of the Lord!

• I was super friendly to those that were coming in and said goodbye to those that were leaving. “Hey, how are you doing! Jesus loves you”. “Nice to see you, be blessed this week!”

• Again, I was super excited. At least for the first couple months, but then it became more of a job than a mission. Get the chairs out, get the chairs in. Greet hello and say goodbye. Over and over, but I did not see any fruits of my labor. Move the chairs out, move the chairs in. But it can be that way sometimes. We share the gospel, we help at church, we shared tracts, lead bible studies, we preach – come on now – and the Lord knew that even when He was talking to Isaiah that there might be dry times in whatever we ministry or work we do for the Lord.

• 9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. 11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,

• If you like to read commentaries, there is a lot to unpack and consider. However, I see it like this. God is saying that we are to go and share His Word, we are to share His message and some people will not hear. Some people will even reject it. Some people will fall asleep and even appear deaf to do it. We should not be surprised.

• But whether people receive it or not, what are we supposed to do – we are supposed to do until the end times. Utterly desolate is a pretty good description of what things may be like towards the end of man. But we are not to tire, we are not to be weary, or grow faint.

• Isaiah 40:28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching ofhis understanding. 29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

• Thank you Lord for your Word, that encourages us. It reminds us that we need to keep going. That You renew our strength.

• You know we started doing soak again this past Friday. What soak about is not filling seats. It is about talking an intentional time to pray and praise and declare God’s word. It’s about making a sacrifice of our time to give to Jesus. It’s about taking some time to let God speak to us.

• I’ll be honest, I got here Friday with 15 minutes to spare after a long day of dealing with some frustrating issues, running cable, and feeling a little bit sick. 

• Yeah, I have what everyone has now. It’s not covid, I have tested every day since before I came here. But when I got here Friday, and as soon as Jeff prayed to open things up – man, I was right there in His presence. My voice was fried, but I didn’t care. I wanted to praise his holy name.

• And this world, there is so much junk out there. You give someone a cell phone and an email address – all of a sudden they are throwing the word of God out there, twisting it. 

• There are churches that have decided that what God said isn’t what God meant to say – but they know what He meant to say. 

• So we have openly gay pastors, male and female, that are leading congregations of people. Taking down a path that is evil, adorned in the cloth of the ministry.

• We have churches that say you can identify any way that you want. They are saying God did not know what he meant when he crated a man and a woman. What, did He forget all the pronouns from His Word intentionally?

• Jude 16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. 7 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. 

• Pastor Jeff is the end times expert here, but that mockers in the last time scripture, that tells me He’s coming soon. And people don’t have much time.

• Never has there been such open mockery of Jesus and His people. Never has their been such radicalization of sin in churches that pretend to believe in Him.

• A lot of churches had some pretty big productions for Christmas, and I get it. But it seems to me that people want to play Jesus like elf on a shelf. A little bit here, a little there – without the full revelation of who He is, all of His holiness and ALL – ALL – ALL of  His Word and commandments.

• Jude 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

• And as I think of Isaiah and when the King died, who was an idol to many. I start thinking to myself as this new year starts, what king or idols or things need to die in my life so that I am reminded of the holiness of God, the goodness of God, the full glory of God – and how to have more of Him in my life. How do I set myself apart from this crazy world?

• Matthew 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

• I am not saying I have to wake up every day and say Woe to me, I am awful and I suck – but I can wake up everyday grateful for my salvation, grateful for all the blessings in my life, and know that I have a purpose in serving Him, amen?

• And so as we start this new year, what kings or idols need to die for you to have a fresh revelation of God?

• I think all that is between you and God, amen? I am certainly not going to tell you what it is. 

• What I can tell you is that we can pray to God to show us what needs to come down so that He be more. All we have to do is ask and give God a minute to answer. Make some more time in your prayer closet and earnestly seek that answer.

• One other thing we can do is fast. I don’t talk about fasting much, on purpose. Because my flesh does not like it. But it is something that has been in my heart to do more of.

• I won’t tell you what it is I am fasting from, and don’t tell me or theworld what yours is. 

• We are not supposed to be fasting from, let’s say food – and maybe you are at work or a friend call and says let’s have lunch and your like – Glory to God, no! I can’t – I’m fasting for the Lord, I’m soooo hungry, but I can’t – hallelujah!

• Fasting should be done in humility to God.

• In fasting we are reminded that we are blessed with provision, we a fed by grace to serve the Lord, and the hunger we have reminds how much we depend on God and His Word. We lean on His Word.

• Jesus said this in Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

• WORSHIP TEAM

• Listen, this world is getting crazier by the minute. And we know from the last time when somebody know became president there was some very horrible and evil things that happened.

• Make no mistake, there are forces at work that are spiritual in all of that, and we have to be ready. There is spiritual warfare that is constantly trying to diminish God and His Word. We see it every day.

• And we need to be set apart – and to do that I think it is important that we stay focused and the Word of God. That we make Jesus the most important focus each and everyday. And that we let whatever idols in our lives die so that we have that clear vision of holiness. So that we can continue to do the work of the Lord Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,

• The altar is open