The Berthoud Bugle: "Here Am I. Send Me"
- berthoudfoursquare
- Aug 1
- 8 min read
Updated: Aug 10
Volume 2025: Edition 40
Food for thought: The Calling of Isaiah
Hello everyone. We thank you for your love and support for our Church and our family. Please continue to pray for our church, our pastor and his leadership, and our church leaders that we may continue to share the word of God. We are so blessed and grateful for the growth in our church, the ability to share our messages and newsletters with our viewers, and the strengthening of our church family and viewers as a congregation and as individuals. We strive to bring encouragement and connection through this newsletter, which we will continue to post every 1st of the month. So, we hope you will continue to learn and grow in God's word with us.
Last month, we talked about the freedom we have from sin as a result of Christ's sacrifice, mediation, and reconciliation for us. If we are to have true freedom in Christ, though, we must confess and leave our sin at the altar of the Lord and allow Him to transform us. We must learn to obey His calling and to do His will for the glory of His kingdom.
"You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love."
(Galatians 5:13)
Consider the great prophet Isaiah. Isaiah was a Judean husband and father of two sons -some scholars believe he may also have been a priest. He lived during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh and he saw the fall of the Northern Kingdom (Israel).
When Isaiah was called to bring God's word to the people of Judah, he saw a vision of the Lord on His throne, as John would later see and write about in Revelation, and the temple began to shake and fill with smoke. Isaiah, full of fear that He would surely die for having seen the Lord in his vision, cried out and confessed before God that he was a man of "unclean lips" living among people of unclean lips. Upon his confession, an angel (seraphim) took a hot coal from the altar of the temple and pressed it to Isaiah's lips and told him that his guilt had been taken away and his sin atoned for. The Lord then asked, " Whom Shall I send? And who will go for us?" and Isaiah answered and said," Here am I. Send me!".
"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
(Isaiah 6:1-8)
The Lord then gave Isaiah His words to warn the people of Judah for their idolatry, and Isaiah asked, " For how long, Lord?", asking how long he should minister to the people of Judah- God's chosen people.
"And he answered: 'Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.'"
(Isaiah 6:11-13)
This all sounds very simple when we read a book that's thousands of years old and based in a time and place far removed from our current day and age, but just put yourself in Isaiah's shoes for a moment. Imagine the visceral terror you would have if God appeared before your very eyes while sitting in the middle of church and the ground began to shake and the room filled with smoke. Anyone would believe, with that happening, that the time of judgment had come, just as Isaiah had thought. Then, in the middle of you crying and confessing every wrong thing you had done, not only that day, but every day of your life, and all the bad you had been around, an angel presses hot coals to your mouth and tells you that your uncleanliness, your sins, have been removed and atoned for. That you have now been made clean; a new person with no history of wrongs. What's amazing about this moment is that God has already offered to do this in OUR lives yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Every day is a chance for us to be shaken to our core, to be entranced in the fullness of God, and confess, be cleansed, and transformed before Him. Christ gave us freedom, as the angel had with Isaiah, through His blood to unchain us and atone for our sins so that we may have the opportunity to become new creations before the Lord. However, with new creations come new works. If you continue in the story of Isaiah, the process didn't end with Isaiah receiving atonement for sin. God then called Isaiah to minister to His people, and Isaiah answered with gumption: "Send me!" (The exclamation is used in the original text). He didn't pause to look at his calendar for ideal times to start his ministry, he didn't speak with his family and friends and consider what this would entail for everyone, he didn't begrudgingly agree; He didn't hesitate. He was all in right then and there, and when He asked how long, the Lord told him until judgment comes.
This is the second part of our process in becoming free. If we are truly to be transformed by the Lord and accept His molding of us into a new vessel, then naturally we should fall into obedience to His word and His calling upon our lives. We should use our newfound freedom to live by and pursue the will of the Father, and to love and serve one another in all we do.
"So, in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully."
(Romans 12:5-8)
So, I ask you in conclusion, have you answered the Lord's calling with "send me"? Have you confessed, believed, and accepted that Christ has provided the atonement for your sins, and given yourself as a living sacrifice that the Spirit of the Lord may dwell in you? You don't need credentials, wealth, popular vote, looks, talent, or anything else. You only need a heart set on doing the will of God.
"He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace."
(2 Timothy 1:9)
That does not mean that doing so is easy and will come without difficulty or pain, but our heavenly Father cares for us deeply and is there with us through all trials and joys. He will be there to equip us, to guide us, to comfort us, to encourage us, to strengthen us, to heal us, to shelter us, to provide for us, to intercede for us, and to empower us to do His will.
As this newsletter continues to grow and expand, please don’t be afraid to let us know if you are in need of prayer or support. And feel free to share your stories, your testimony, or just a quick question in the comments section below any of our links. We truly want to hear from you and do what we can to help because we are meant to be here to love, encourage, and support one another.
We are grateful to have you with us as readers, church members, and interested guests and we are always open to any suggestions and volunteers for our website, newsletter, and future activities. We hope to see you at our Sunday service and stay tuned for our coming newsletters and updates at church, at bible study, on Facebook, on our YouTube Channel, on the Wix App, and on the website.
Upcoming Events:
Special Prayers:
Pray for Sasita for comfort and peace after the loss of her Husband Phil
Continued prayer for the Salazar Family
Pray for our Newsletter that we can continue to write through the Holy Spirit
Pray for our Pastor and our church that we may be blessed to continue to grow and share the word of God
Weekly Devotional: No Good Apart from God
Begg, Alistair. Truth for Life- Daily Devotions
Verse of the Week:
"Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, that is, Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen."
(Hebrews 13:20-21)
Announcements:
It is Burrito sale season! Please join us in our efforts to fundraise for the church by bringing 2 dozen burritos or baked goods to sell. Weather permitting, we will have a burrito sale every other week from 9 AM to 1:00 PM. For further details, updates, and future dates, please follow us on Facebook.
The fellowship meeting for this month will be outside- picnic style - and is taking place on the third Sunday, August 17th, after service. This meeting is an opportunity to have fun together, break bread together, and get to know one another as a church family. Please sign up to plan and lead a fellowship meeting on the Church Bulletin board.
Get Involved! There are many ways you can support our church inside and outside of service and help us reach out to our community here in Berthoud. You can help us with the newsletter, plan a fellowship meeting, lead a church activity, help keep the church clean, join in on decorating the church seasonally, design and build church floats in the winter and summer parade, play with and teach the little kids that come in, participate in bible studies, sing or play in worship, lead a bake/ craft sale, make burritos for our Burrito Sales, help maintain the church property, etc. " “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” (Colossians 3:23)
We would love to send out the newsletter personally to every member and pray for and celebrate birthdays and anniversaries together as a church family. We are asking all of our members to fill out the member information card either in church or through the mail after they've received their mailed newsletter
We have been printing and mailing our newsletters to our subscribers for the past couple of months. If you haven't received the newsletter physically and would like to join our mailing list, please sign up below.
Questions?
For any questions or suggestions regarding our newsletter please email berthoudfoursquarechurch@gmail.com
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