Father, quieten our spirit. Reveal Thyself to us. Father,
help us to remember that the touch upon our life was, and is, a
supernatural touch. And help us never to forget it. Father, we
don't belong to ourselves. We are bought with a price. And every
minute of our life belongs to Thee. Have Thy way tonight, Father.
O God, life is so realistic, and our life with Thee is so
serious, and so precious. As we are training for eternity. Holy
Spirit, take full charge tonight. Defeat Satan, that old enemy.
Father, we thank Thee for Calvary, where he was defeated for time
and eternity. We thank Thee for the empty tomb and for the empty
cross. And we thank Thee that Thou art here tonight. In Jesus
precious name. Amen

Shall we turn to the book of Isaiah, the sixth chapter ?
in the eighth verse of the sixth chapter. In the name of Jesus.

I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send ?
It says, Whom shall I send ? And who will go for us ? Then said
I, Here am I, send me.

When we speak of a call, we always almost nearly forget
the character of the One who calls. Now I come from a country
where we have lots of sea. And up there we very often speak about
the call of the sea. And we also speak of the call of the
mountains or the call of the Arctic. Special calls to these
special places. And it is always only a few that hear those kinds
of calls, because they live very close to those kind of nature.
See ? So they are in tune with the nature and are apt more than
ordinary people to hear that call. And they are all calls. You
don't get away from that. For instance, in my family, the sea is
calling, and we have it in our veins. My father, he was a
captain, near the sea. It runs in our veins. I like to be near
the sea. It is the call of the sea, see ? It is right there. And
the call of God, the call of God, is an essential expression,
essentially so, remember that, of the nature of God. And this is
what we very often forget. We talk about the call of God very
glibly, very lightly, and we forget the character of Him that
calls. And we suffer by doing so. It is His own words that speak,
and very very few hear his call. Because they are not in tune to
the nature of God. And they are not living in places where they
are open to His call. If there were, more would respond to the
call of Almighty God.

And here we have this young man, Isaiah. He heard this
call in a special way because his soul has been through a
tremendous crisis. So he was just in tune, his inner life was in
tune with Almighty to such a degree that he could hear God's
call. He had been leaning on the arm of flesh, and that was taken
away, and it brought him lots of grief. And now he was open. And,
so the call of Almighty God was recorded in his amazing soul.
Isaiah himself, he was amazed at the call of God, and amazed at
himself, the way he answered, the way he responded. Because he
was absolutely conscious of God Almighty, he saw Him, and he
heard Him. And so he was taken in with everything. And when the
call came, he said, I'm here, send me. He was prepared.
Tremendous. It really, really was. And God Himself didn't lay a
heavy hand or a compelling hand upon him. Not at all. He was there,
but he let him see and he let him hear. That was all. He was not
doing any special pressure.

Friends, if we could learn to let a person, when God is
moving upon that person, to let that person be alone with God.
And God Himself will know how to work in that person's life. And
bring forth His will. In due time, be sure of that.


So He knew one thing, only one thing. And that was this,
I'm in the presence of Almighty God. And another thing, I'm
undone, I'm unclean. I'm in the presence of holiness, pureness.
And what I am, I'm so unclean, I'm not worthy. See ? And you and I, we
really don't know ourselves before we see God. Then, and only
then, can we see how utterly undone we are. We have to see God
first. And he was so close, and then he picked up his ears, he heard
something. First, he saw the tremendous drama, and then he heard
something. That came straight out of eternity, from the (hall, whole)
of eternal eternity, there was somebody speaking. Just like God was
speaking to Himself. Just like he was having a great consertation
with Himself. Whom shall I send ? God was speaking to Himself.
And who will go for us ? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, plural.
And in a flash of a moment, just like a thunderclap, here's
Isaiah, I'm here, send me, for God's sake, send me. Almost before
he knew it, he had committed himself to that tremendous call.

Do you know there's a good deal of instruction, you can
learn a lot when you are together with people ? Say, the seashore
for instance. Here I am, talking about the sea again. Say, down
at the beach. And people are coming and going. And you study the
face of the people. Another place where you can learn a lot, and
that is up in an art gallery. Do you like to go there, to look at
arts ? I sure do. There's a couple of places I'm afraid to go,
and that is one of the places. Because I don't like to go out, I
just want to be there. And another place is a bookstore. If I go
in and have something in my pocketbook, I always come out with my
pocketbook just like Pharoah's seven kine, skinny and ugly. I
don't like to go in there. But you can see that. And then in a
meeting, you notice people, you can see at once, if they are
interested or not. If they hear the call. Look at those
paintings. Can you hear the call of them ? Or is it just a painting ?
Or are you so dead and so cold, that even in the most beautiful sunset
you are yawning. And want to go to sleep. Then you are stone
dead, my friend. If you cannot hear the call of a sunrise, sun
rising in the morning and setting in the evening, Wah ! Can you
imagine anything more beautiful, and those the Lord has given the
gift to put those things on canvas. Wah ! Do you hear the call,
do you see ? When you study those people, or do you see that they
are just themselves, that's all. Lots of people are like that.
Lots of people we meet, they don't think about anything else,
they don't see anything else but me. They don't hear anything
else but me. They don't live for anything else but me. That's
right. My, what a horrific manner of life to live, when me
becomes the center of everything. Hmmm.. and all you hear is the
voice of yourself, you don't hear anything else.

And, friends, that is the fact of the awakening soul. The
soul that has been asleep. But then that soul, when it awakes,
and responds to the call of Eternal God. Wah ! And that soul
begins to live, what a beautiful sight ! Tremendous. You cannot
explain it, you cannot.

The call of God is not concerned with the person, or the
personality, or the characters of the person. That's the amazing
thing. It's just like a person in love. When you love, you
can love a beautiful girl, and you can love another that is not
beautiful at all. That is, you and I don't see the beauty in that
person. But the one in love, they see nothing but beauty. See ?
Isn't that right ? I remember one time in Norway, I was traveling as
missionary always, more or less. I was traveling on a train, and
here at the station a couple comes in. A gentlemen, absolutely
perfect to look at, stately, a real he-man. Every move of that
man was perfect. And he was married, he was middle-aged. And
there come his wife. I don't like to say that a person is ugly.
You should never say that. Because they are God's creation. But
she was not attractive at all. And you was wondering, What in the
world did blind you, my dear sir, to hitch up with a hat like
that ? Wah ! How can you make it ? Get a fork and check it
out ! But we was together the whole day, and friends, before
evening came, that lady, she dominated the whole train, I mean
the compartment. Her beauty shone through the exterior. And we
was wondering, How in the world did you get her ? why didn't
others take her before you got at her ? Her beauty was perfect.
And he was extremely in love with his wife. She was a beautiul
woman. He loved, not because of the exterior, but he saw through
it all and into the very soul, that was tremendous.

So it is with the call of God. No, it has nothing to do with
temperment or character. God's call is supernatural. Yes. And blessed
is that man and that woman that has been called by God Himself.
And, so, when you and I, we are brought into the same condition
as Isaiah. And we call out, Here I am, send me. Let me go, let me go.
And we think we are ready to go right away.

So, friends...but first, there is what we call the
consciousness of the call. Let's turn to Ephesians, the third
chapter and the eigth verse.

To me, whom am less than the least of all saints, is this
grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ.

Yes. That was Doctor Paul
And then turn to Jeremiah, the first chapter and the fifth
verse.

Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and
before thou camest out of the womb, I sanctified thee.

There you have it, there you have it. Isn't that great ?
Do you know ? I tell you something. Before I was saved, I knew
that the Lord wanted me to be a preacher.

please turn to Amos, the seventh chapter. Amos 7:15, the
fifteenth verse.

And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the
LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

Yep. He took that boy from the flock. But he got the
call. He said, Go. You know, we are apt to forget the mystic
of the call. That's what we are. Yes. We want to figure everything
with our chicken brain. And that's why we cackle so much. Ah ! It's
God's supernatural touch upon us. And that's supernatural. We forget
that and mystical. We have to do with Eternal God, or rather He
has to do with us. And that supernatural touch comes with the
call of God into the life of the one that is called. Remember
that. Remember that, friends. And as I said before, that call may
come as a thunderclap, and it may come like the dawning of the
morning. But no matter how it comes, it always comes with a glow.
With a glow. Always. Yes. And, oh, how I praise God for the call.
I thank Him for it. I praise Him for it.

And there is a undercurrent in that life that has been touched
by the supernatural in that way. You may live a careless life after
the call has come upon you. There are so many things that compete
in your life for your strength. Yep. And if you are not watchful,
and prayerful, as very often you are not, the call may dim. And
you may think it is dead. And you want it to die. You want it to
die quickly. But, then, suddenly, the wind of Almighty God blows
across your life, and that call is revived again. Because you are
under the supernatural power, the almighty hand of God. Before
you were born, before you were in the mother's womb, I called
you. Did you ever think about that ? That's tremendous. I certainly
tried to kill it. But, praise God, He revived it. Because I was
called and the supernatural in my life was very very real. And
remember, dear friend, if you are called, keep that atmosphere to
follow the call when it came upon you. Keep it. It's so precious.
It is. You cannot buy it for money. Before I formed thee, I knew
thee. Trememdous.

And there are supernatural engineered forces in the life
of the man that God has called. Isn't that right, brother ? It
is. And you may try to run away from it, but you can't. You are
not your own. You are not. And there are times that you may not
be conscious of it, but He knowest. In Norway, we had an old
sailor. His name was Sven. And he invented the harpoon. By which
we kill the big sea whales. When you shoot a whale, this project
is connected with a line and it goes right to the whale. And as
soon as it hit the target. And no matter how many tons that fish
weighs, he can never get away from it. He runs and runs just like
a chinook or steelhead.. the line.. and there in the top of the mast
up in the Arctic there is a bow ..just like a steel bow
And he sees far off. He has field glasses. And he sees where it
runs, the hit whale. And then he gives a signal to the men...
Reel her in ! And they give the order to the machine room.
open the throttle..give it all the power..Because it is a big one.
And by and by, the water is turning red of blood. And that big fish
is pulled alongside the vessel. And there it lays. Didn't have any way
to escape. And so it is with the man and the woman that God Almighty
has called. You may run and you may run but you can never run away
from the call of God. He is sitting up there, and He knows your way.
And when you have run far enough, far too far, He says, Reel him in !
And He has power to do it, my friend, don't you worry. And when he
puts the harpoon in you, and you try to run away, I pity you.
You better give in, and say, Here am I, send me. Do you get that?

There is a supernatural power that has gotten hold of
that life, my friend. In the meantime, you have gotten hard. You
have gotten untouched by His Spirit. Yes. Absolutely out of touch
with God Almighty. And you should have been living in John 14:1
the whole time. But because you tried to run away and go your own
way, you have been dry, you have been cold, you have been
indifferent. And whatever you have done during these intervening
years, friends, in God's sight it is just dung. And when God
comes upon you, He will brush it all aside. It isn't worth
anything. It's worthless. And because of that, you are brought to
your knees of confession. And you need to. But because of your
stubborness, your hardness of heart, He had to do it. That wasn't
His plan. He wanted to train you, you wanted to run away,
you wanted to have your own way. To get out of touch with God is
dangerous, you know that ? It's dangerous. And do you know why ?
Because we let other things come in between us and God. Those things
that was competing for our strength the whole time, and we gave
in. And they got the upper hand, and we began to lose it, see ? And
the whole time you knew God's call was upon you. Friends, I have
met people, many of them, who was called of God to serve Him
singleheartedly. But they looked around, and they said they
couldn't do it. So they went into business. And every time we was
home on furlough and these people came to us in our meetings and
into our homes, they wept and wept and wept and wept. There was
no end of weeping ! They had beautiful homes, every thing was
tops, but inside here it was a big big cry. They settled for the
second best. Oh, if we just obeyed and went ! That was the cry.
Friends, they had been feeding on husks. Yes. Unless you and I
work for God, directed by that supernatural call, friends, we
shall meet disaster and havoc. And I say it from the bottom of my
heart, we shall meet disaster and havoc. Yes.

May the Lord have mercy upon us.

well, I thought I was going to cover it all tonight but I
haven't covered half. Will you please excuse me ? We have to
have prayer. But this is a subject I have been working with and
have been working with myself. And as I go into the Word of God,
I just praise Him more and more. Because He conquered me, He
conquered me, and made me obedient to the call, and so did my
wife. And there is nothing in our lives so beautiful and so rich
compared to this...to be the servants of the Lord. Having
fellowship with Him and with one another. See ? So, God willing,
if He hasn't raptured us, in another week we will meet again. And
if He has raptured us, it will be ok.