Mount Isa Baptist Church

How To Become Useful to God

Isaiah 6:1-8; Jeremiah 20:11-18

“Do you think that God can use you?” “Are you willing to be used by God?” What do you think of when you think of a person who can REALLY be used by God? Maybe you think of someone who has a dynamic personality, outgoing, cheerful, maybe a younger person, or an older person who is highly trained. Do you ever think of someone who cries regularly, who gets depressed? You may not think that this is the kind of person that God would use, but more often than not, those are the exact people God chooses. Ordinary people like Jeremiah, a fisherman, and even you, if you are willing. An old preacher used to say, “You don't have to pray, “Lord Use me.” If you will get useable, if you make yourself available, God will wear you out.” The number one problem is not that God won't use us, but that so often we're not usable. If God is not using you, ministering through you, it might be because at this point in your life, you're not usable for various reasons.

How does God make us usable? There are at least 3 things involved and probably more than these, but:

1st: To be useful to God, you must get right with God.

He needs to be the centre of our attention. Hebrews 12:1-3. If we want to be used by God, then He has to be our focus. There are so many things that compete for our attention that it is often hard to keep Jesus in the very centre of our life. But if we want to be used by God, that is exactly what we must do.

2nd: You must get right with others.

The Bible often reminds us that we can't claim to have fellowship with God if we aren't right with our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

3rd: You've got to be right with yourself.

There are lots of people who are not usable to God because they are not right with themselves. I want you to write down all the reasons you can think of that God COULDN’T USE YOU on this piece of paper. In other words, finish this sentence: God can’t use me because: ______.... Whatever comes to your mind, put it down. I would love God to use me, but… Do you notice a common thread as you write here? I am, I am, I am …. It’s all about you! “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary or lose heart.” I’m convinced that God looks for the ordinary person to use to do the extraordinary. Those who haven’t got it all together, those who on their own and in their own strength would fail hopelessly.

To be useful to God, you must get right with God.

What can focusing on Jesus do for us, and how can that help us be useful to Him?

When Jesus is the CENTER of ATTENTION in our lives, we can…

See our Sin Problem

If we aren’t focusing on Christ, we will never SEE our sin problem. Before Isaiah could respond to God’s call to be SENT, he had to understand the problem of His SIN. Isaiah saw his SIN PROBLEM, and because of his repentance, God provided forgiveness. Once Isaiah had SEEN his SIN PROBLEM, then he was ready to see His…POTENTIAL for SERVICE. Like Isaiah, once we see and address our SIN PROBLEM, then we can…

See our Service Potential

Jesus doesn’t save people to SIT; He saves them to SERVE! Is Jesus the CENTER of your ATTENTION? If so, then you should be SERVING Him.

I want to finish this morning by going back and looking at Jeremiah. He was a person who had little confidence, prone to mood swings, cried often, and suffered from depression. But guess what? God used Jeremiah, in the time of the greatest of national emergencies, God searched out the crier.

Why could God use Jeremiah?

1st: He was listening when God spoke.

What is God saying that you need to be listening out for? Is God putting an idea for ministry on your heart? Is God telling you to encourage a friend, a co-worker, or even someone we don’t even know? Could it be that God wants to tell you to witness or invite someone to church? You want to be used of God, listen for his voice!

2nd: Jeremiah was willing to be used if he was God’s choice.

Are you thinking of reasons why God can’t use you? I’m shy, I’m young, I’m old, I don’t know what to say, I don’t have training, I, I, I. God says: “Don’t say that.” You might say: But God said that to Jeremiah, not me!! You ARE God’s choice for ministry! Every member of his family is a minister of His grace! The question is: Since you ARE God’s choice, are you willing to be used?

3rd: Jeremiah saw what God saw.

What does God see that you need to be seeing? What does he see in your abilities? What does he see at the place where you work? What potential does he see in the people that you meet from day to day? What potential does he see in this church? What part does he see you having in this church as we move forward into 2026? If we can get on God’s page and see what He sees, we will be used by God, too! Because God used Jeremiah, that gives me hope that he will use me. What we call emotional baggage/scars, what we call excuses, God calls potential. What we call impossibilities, God calls opportunities. You’re ordinary, God delights in using ordinary people to do His work. Never consider yourself too ordinary for God to use.

Henry Blackaby once wrote, “When God was ready to judge the world with a flood, He came to Noah. When He desired to build a nation for Himself, He turned to Abraham. When He heard His children groaning under Egyptian bondage, He appeared in a burning bush to Moses. They were three of the most ordinary of men. But God had work to do, and He knew just who to do it with. God has always given His people assignments that are too big for them to handle alone, so that a watching world can see—not what we can do—but what God can do.”

Your name may not be Noah, Abraham, or Moses; it may be Billy, or Carol, or Christine, or Joseph. But there is still something—a great something—which God has for you—and me—to do. The key to it all is our willingness to be used by God.