Send Me
by Pastor Richard Thong
19 July 2026
Key Texts: John 1:6-7; John 3:17; Exodus 3:10; Exodus 12; Isaiah 6:8; Jeremiah 1:7; Jeremiah 16:16; Malachi 3:1; Malachi 4:5-6; Luke 4:18-19; Matthew 9:38; John 17:18
Theme: God's consistent pattern throughout Scripture is to send willing people into His mission -- from John the Baptist to Moses, from Isaiah to the disciples -- and the call of every believer is to respond as Isaiah did: Here am I, send me.
The Pattern of Sending: God Has Always Sent People
From the opening of John's Gospel -- "There was a man sent from God" (John 1:6) -- to the Lord's prayer in John 17 -- "As You, Father, have sent Me into the world, I also have sent them" -- the theme of divine sending runs through the whole of Scripture. God sent John the Baptist to bear witness of the light. He sent Moses back to Egypt after forty years in the wilderness, with a commission the reluctant shepherd did not feel equipped for. He sent an angel before His people to guard and guide them through the dangers of the wilderness. He sent Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi, and Elijah. He sent His own Son. He sent the disciples. The Hebrew word for sending -- shala -- and its Greek equivalent -- apostello -- appear throughout the biblical record as the primary language of God's engagement with the world. The consistent implication is clear: God does not act alone in this world. He chooses to work through people who are willing to be sent.
Application:
Ask God honestly this week whether there is a person, a community, or a need He has been placing before you -- and consider whether His invitation to you is the same one He gave to Isaiah: Here am I, send me.
The Lamb That Was Sent: The Heart of the Mission
John 3:17 is the companion verse to the more familiar 3:16: "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." The sending of the Son is the defining act of all mission -- it establishes the motive (love, not judgment), the method (sacrifice, not power), and the goal (salvation, not condemnation). The Passover lamb of Exodus 12 prefigures this sending with remarkable precision. The lamb selected on the tenth day was to be kept and examined for four days before being offered -- beautiful, unblemished, without defect. As John the Baptist declared: "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). The Lamb was sent to work, to be the sacrifice, to bear shame, and to shed blood that covers sin. This is the foundation of every act of sending -- believers go into the world not with a message of condemnation but carrying the same love that sent the Son.
Application:
Before engaging with someone outside the faith this week, remind yourself of John 3:17 -- God's heart is to save, not to condemn -- and let that shape both your words and your posture toward them.
Isaiah's Response: Here Am I, Send Me
Isaiah 6:8 records the moment God asked, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" -- a conversation within the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- and Isaiah's immediate reply: "Here am I. Send me." This is the response God longs to hear from His people. Too often the prayers that fill the church are of a different kind: here am I, heal me; here am I, bless me; here am I, do this for me. The challenge of this message is direct: if God were to respond to a request for blessing or healing with a question -- if I heal you, what will you do? -- would the answer be a willingness to be sent? The same God who sent fishermen and hunters to seek out the scattered and backslidden (Jeremiah 16:16), and who sent Elijah to restore broken relationships between generations (Malachi 4:5-6), is still looking for those who will stand in the gap and say, not send him, not send her -- send me.
Application:
In your next time of prayer, shift the posture from petition to availability -- and specifically tell God you are willing to be sent, even before you know where or to whom.
God Sends the Young and the Ordinary
Jeremiah 1:7 records God's reply to the young prophet's protest that he did not know how to speak: "You shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak." The instruction given to Jeremiah has never been withdrawn -- God still sends young and ordinary people into assignments that exceed their confidence and credentials. The preacher who shared this message described offering himself at age twenty-two, two years into his faith, to serve in a rehabilitation centre: no training, no qualifications for counselling hardened drug dependents, only a willingness to say, here am I, use me. That season of service became a season of formation. God is not waiting for believers to be fully prepared before He sends them; He prepares them in the sending. The parable of the vineyard workers reinforces the point: even those with only one hour left were told to go and work. Whatever the season of life, whatever the age or background, there is still assignment available for the willing.
Application:
If you have been holding back from a step of service because you do not feel ready or qualified, take the first available act of obedience this week -- and trust that God will meet you in the doing.
Sent as the Father Sent the Son: The Shape of the Mission
Luke 4:18-19 records Jesus reading from Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor... to heal the broken-hearted... to proclaim liberty to the captives... to set at liberty those who are oppressed." This is the shape of the sending. And in John 17:18, Jesus passes it on: "As You, Father, have sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world." The word used in Matthew 9:38 -- ekballo, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers -- is the same word used elsewhere for casting out demons: a forceful, urgent propulsion outward. The church is not designed to remain gathered and comfortable; it is designed to be sent. The mission field is the next-door neighbour, the Grab driver, the colleague, the homeless person on the pavement. Mission month is a reminder that the sending is not occasional -- it is the permanent posture of every believer who bears the name of Christ.
Application:
Identify one person in your immediate world -- a neighbour, a colleague, or someone you pass regularly -- and commit to one intentional act of kindness or witness toward them before the week is out.
Life Group Reflection Questions
1. God sent John the Baptist, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and ultimately His own Son -- each one chosen not because they were the most qualified but because they were available and willing. When you consider your own life right now, what is the main thing stopping you from saying, "Here am I, send me" -- and is that obstacle real, or is it a reason you have constructed to stay comfortable?
2. John 3:17 says God sent His Son not to condemn the world but to save it. Yet the message observes that believers often use words of condemnation, judgment, and blame in their daily lives. Think of one relationship or situation where you have been more inclined to condemn than to love. What would it look like to approach that person or situation with the same motive that sent the Son?
3. Isaiah responded to God's question -- "Whom shall I send?" -- immediately and without conditions. The message challenges the prayer of "here am I, bless me" versus "here am I, send me." Which posture more honestly describes your current relationship with God -- and what would need to change for you to move from one to the other?
4. The preacher shared how he gave himself to serve in a rehab centre at age twenty-two with no training or experience, and found that God prepared him in the doing. Think of a time when God asked you to step into something you were not ready for. What did that season teach you -- and is there a similar step He may be asking you to take right now?
5. Matthew 9:38 uses the word ekballo -- the same word for casting out demons -- to describe how laborers are to be sent into the harvest. The implication is that the church must be propelled outward, not simply gathered inward. In practical terms, what does being "sent" look like in your daily life -- your neighbourhood, workplace, or daily commute -- and what is one specific thing you could do this week to live more like someone on mission?
Closing Summary
From John the Baptist to the disciples in the upper room, this message traces a single unbroken thread: God sends people. He sent His Son not to condemn but to save; He sent Moses not when he was ready but when He was ready; He sent Isaiah the moment he said, send me. The question the message leaves with every believer is not whether God is sending -- He always is -- but whether the response will be availability or excuse. As the Father sent the Son, so the Son sends His church: into the neighbourhood, the workplace, the highway, and the byway. The harvest is ready. The laborers are needed. The call is still going out.
