Open Hands and Open Hearts: Sent to Make Disciples

Easter preparation and a book recommendation opens the gathering and quickly moves into a clear statement of church identity: Jesus alone, Scripture as authority, a growing faith family, and a posture of open hands and open hearts. The value of open hands and hearts receives careful attention. Isaiah 6 provides the anchor: a vision in the year King Uzziah died, God enthroned, seraphim declaring “holy, holy, holy,” and Isaiah confessing his unclean lips upon seeing divine glory. The coal taken from the altar and pressed to Isaiah’s mouth dramatizes atonement and God's declaring of righteousness, showing how God credits sinners with righteousness across redemptive history.

The passage also exposes the pattern of salvation and sending. God first removes sin, then asks, “Who will I send?” Isaiah answers, “Here am I; send me.” That pattern frames evangelistic purpose: God seeks people to save and then to send. The sermon contrasts Old Testament forward-looking faith with New Testament access to the finished work of Christ—Old Testament saints received righteousness by promise; New Testament believers access what Christ has already accomplished. Practical discipleship flows from this theology. Openness requires pre-made decisions so impulses do not betray commitment; the congregation should choose ahead of temptation to hold resources and hearts loosely for God’s use.

Two specific areas test open hands and hearts. Money reveals idols and control; stewardship reframes ownership as stewardship under God’s lordship. The Great Commission summons the church to teach, baptize, and go, with the promise of Christ’s abiding presence accompanying obedience. The church’s mission history shows a pattern of sending and sacrificial giving, and contemporary commissioning of families models readiness to go. The invitation closes on the simple call to trust Christ: God saves from sin and then sends into mission, and every convinced life responds by opening hands, opening heart, and saying, “Here am I.”

---

Key Takeaways

• 1. Adopt open hands and open hearts A posture of availability places resources, plans, and preferences under God’s direction rather than personal control. Deciding in advance to release certain parts of life prevents crisis-time clinging and creates margin for obedience. Openness means receiving whatever God puts in the hands and heart, whether blessing, loss, or mission. [29:18]
• 2. Confession precedes faithful commissioning Recognition of personal impurity before God clears the way for honest service; confession exposes real dependence. The coal from the altar symbolizes God’s initiative to cleanse, reminding that commissioning follows divine atonement not human competence. Only the one declared righteous can truly answer the call to go without self-reliance. [36:27]
• 3. Steward money; don't own it Money reveals what governs the heart when treated as possession rather than stewardship. Choosing to view resources as entrusted by God strips money of ultimate authority and frees decision-making for kingdom ends. Generosity and trust reshape identity away from control toward reliance on God’s provision. [43:39]
• 4. Go and receive Christ's abiding presence Obedience to the Great Commission unlocks the promise of Christ’s nearness; presence accompanies the apostolic send. The command to go and make disciples carries an assurance: the mission context is not abandonment but companionship. Saying “here am I” invites both risk and the sustaining nearness of Jesus. [48:42]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [23:13] - Worship & Broadcast
• [24:20] - Opening Prayer and Context
• [25:16] - Don’t Google Your Soul
• [27:24] - Church Values Overview
• [29:18] - Open Hands, Open Hearts Value
• [30:04] - Isaiah 6:1–8 Read Aloud
• [33:55] - Vision of God’s Holiness
• [36:27] - Coal, Atonement, Justification
• [39:18] - God’s Call: “Who Will I Send?”
• [43:39] - Open Hands Applied: Money
• [47:51] - The Great Commission Explained
• [52:52] - Commissioning Missionaries
• [1:03:17] - Invitation to Trust Jesus

Bible reading: Isaiah 6:1-8 (ESV)
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

Observation questions

1. What was the specific historical and emotional context in which Isaiah received this vision? [32:12]
2. How did the seraphim physically position themselves before the Lord, and what was their continual declaration?
3. What was Isaiah’s immediate, visceral reaction to seeing the Lord, and what specific reason did he give for it? [35:26]
4. What was the sequence of events from the seraphim’s action to the Lord’s question and finally to Isaiah’s response?

Interpretation questions

1. Why is the threefold declaration of "holy" significant, and what does it reveal about the nature of God? [33:55]
2. The coal from the altar symbolizes God’s initiative to cleanse. How does this act of atonement in the Old Testament connect to the finished work of Christ that believers access today? [37:00]
3. God’s question, “Who will I send? Who will go for us?” follows the act of cleansing. What does this pattern reveal about the relationship between being saved by God and being sent by God? [39:18]
4. Isaiah’s response, “Here I am; send me,” seems to come without him knowing the details of the mission. What does this suggest about the nature of obedience and trust?

Application questions

1. A posture of open hands means deciding in advance to release control of resources, plans, and preferences. [29:18] What is one specific area of your life (e.g., career, finances, family) where you are currently holding on tightly, and what would it look like to open your hands to God concerning it this week?
2. Recognition of personal impurity before God clears the way for honest service. [36:27] What is a recurring sin or struggle you need to confess to God to experience His cleansing and be ready for His use?
3. Money reveals what governs the heart when treated as a possession rather than a stewardship. [43:39] How does your spending and saving reflect whether you see yourself as an owner or a manager of God’s resources? What is one practical step you can take to better steward what He has given you?
4. Obedience to the Great Commission carries the promise of Christ’s nearness. [48:42] Where is your “go”—your mission field—right now (your neighborhood, workplace, school)? What fear holds you back from engaging, and how can you rely on Christ’s abiding presence instead?
5. God is still looking for people to save and then to send. [40:08] If you have never fully trusted Christ, what is keeping you from doing so today? If you have been saved, in what way is God asking you to say, “Here I am; send me,” even in a small, first step?