Mr. Jaffrey saw the world through God's eyes. He went on to pioneer for God in China and in South East Asia. He planted the first churches all over Vietnam. What would you have done? How do you see the world? How do you see yourself? How do you see God? Please turn with me to Dr. R.A. Jeffrey, a number of years ago graduated from Yale University with a PhD. And God called him to go to China with his wife and family. He learned the Chinese language very quickly. He became a very effective missionary. Back in those days he only earned about $50 a month and ate only two meals a day. But he never complained. About that time the Standard Oil Company from New York opened up in China. They were looking for a man fluent in both English and Chinese. And so they came and said, "Mr. Jaffery, why don't you join us? Your starting salary will be $5000 a year. That was almost ten times what we was making. He turned it down. They came back, "$10,000." He said, "No." They came back, "$15,000" Again, he refused. They wired a telegram to N.Y. City. N.Y. City wired back "Buy Jaffrey at any price." They brought him the cable. He laughed at them and said, "What does that mean?" They said, "$20,000, $25,000, you name it." They came back and said, "Will you take the ck and said, "Will you take the "Why not?" He said, "You are offering this great big salary with a little job. I may have a little salary BUT I have a great big job." Mr. Jaffrey saw the world through God's eyes. He went on to pioneer for God in China and in South East Asia. He planted the first churches all over Vietnam. What would you have done? How do you see the world? How do you see yourself? How do you see God? Please turn with me to Isaiah 6:1-9 Isaiah 6:1-9.

1. HE SAW THE LORD
In verse one Isaiah writes,

Isaiah 6:1

"In the year the king Uzziah died I saw the Lord."

Many of us have forgotten who God is. He is

Isaiah 6:1,3

"high and lifted up . . . Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. The whole earth is full of His glory."

He is an Almighty God. He is omnipotent - all powerful. He is omnipresent - He can be in all places at the same time. He is omniscient - He knows everything. He is a great God and is worthy of all our praise. Many of us put our eyes on people, on organizations and on denominations. We need to see the Lord. Have you ever been in God's presence? Have you ever seen how awesome He is?

Arturo Toscanini, the master symphony conductor, had given a masterful performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The audience was alive that night. When the master laid down his baton the response was spontaneous. They rose to their feet and clapped and clapped. The roses were brought out. The orchestra bowed. Toscanini bowed. Finally, Toscanini hung his tired body over the music stand, rapped his baton and said, "Gentlemen! Gentlemen!" Then in a whisper he said, "Gentlemen, I am nothing." Then he rapped the baton again and said, "Gentlemen! You are nothing." They sat there in silence before the great master. Then with atone of adoration he said, "Ah, but Beethoven, he is everything . . . Everything! Everything!"

My friend, Jesus Christ is everything! Everything! When we come into His presence nothing else really matters.

2. HE SAW HIMSELF
Now this man not only saw the Lord. Look at verse 5,

Isaiah 6:5

"Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips."

He saw himself. When Isaiah saw God for the first time in his life he saw himself for who he really was.

A true vision of God and His holiness always makes us realize our own sinfulness and failure. Job saw God and repented (Job 42:6); Peter cried out, "I am a sinful man" (Luke 5:8). Saul saw that his own righteousness was but "garbage" next to the glory of Christ (Acts 9 and Philippians 3). Most of us have a wrong impression of our self. We see our self, not for who we really are, but for what we would like to be.

Many years ago the missionaries went out into the interior of Africa. They don't do this now but back then these people would take a shell or stone and cut fancy designs on their faces. They would then take and smear dirt into these cuts and let them get infected as sores. After they healed they had design-shaped scars still on their faces. Now they did this to make themselves beautiful.

One of these missionaries came to one of these people and said, "Forgive me for saying this but you are ugly." And the man said, "I'm not ugly. I'm beautiful." He couldn't convince the man. Do you know why? He'd never seen himself. The missionary got out a mirror and said, "Take a look." When the man looked in the mirror, he believed the missionary. And do you know what He did? He threw the mirror on the ground and broke the mirror. Because he thought, if I break the mirror, it will change what I've seen.

Friends, let me tell you this, the Word of God is the mirror. It shows us who we really are. And we need to bow our heads to God. We need to say, "God, You are right. You are holy. I am sinful. I am undone. I have unclean lips." That's what this man said here in Isaiah. He saw the Lord. He saw himself.

3. HE SAW OTHERS
And when the Lord spoke to him, in verse 8, he said,

Isaiah 6:8

"I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom will I send and who will go for us. Then said I here am I send me."

He saw the Lord, he saw himself. And he saw the need of others. He said, "Lord, here am I. Send me."

Do you see the need of others? Did you know that every ten seconds twenty-six people die in our world? Of these twenty-six people, two are Buddhist, four are Hindu, five are Moslem, eight are secularists, seven are of the Christian religion, of which three are Protestant. Every ten seconds at least twenty individuals die without Christ.

When Isaiah walked out of the temple that day, he was no longer a mourner he was a missionary. He was not merely a spectator; he was a participant. God had equipped him to do the job: Isaiah had seen the Lord, he had seen himself, and he had seen the need. Knowing that God was on the throne, and that God had called and commissioned him, he was ready to preach the Word and be faithful unto death. What an example for us to follow today.

by Steve Nicholes
LINKS TO . . . Other Bible Messages Genesis Esther Daniel Philippians James Complete Discipleship Topics