August 30th, 2026
by Skott Jensen
by Skott Jensen
More Than a Savior
There is a word that rolls off the tongue easily in Christian circles. It shows up on bumper stickers, in worship songs, in casual conversation. The word is "Lord." But how often do we stop and consider what we are actually saying when we use it? There is a profound difference between calling Jesus Savior and calling Him Lord, and that difference changes everything about how we live.
Most people who have walked through the doors of a church are comfortable with the idea of Jesus as Savior. And rightly so. He came, He died, He rose again, and through faith in Him, our sins are forgiven and eternity is secured. That is the most extraordinary gift imaginable. But the Christian life does not end at salvation. In fact, it is only the beginning. The deeper, more demanding, and ultimately more freeing invitation is to make Jesus not just Savior, but Adonai -- Lord.
A Glimpse of the Throne
In Isaiah 6, the prophet Isaiah is granted a vision that few human beings have ever experienced. He sees the Lord seated on a throne, high and lifted up, His glory filling the temple. Seraphim surround Him, covering their faces and their feet, crying out to one another in a continuous chorus: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:3).
Notice that the Lord is seated. He is not pacing. He is not anxious. He is not scrambling to manage the chaos of the world. He is seated on His throne because He is Lord. His authority is not threatened by circumstances, by public opinion, or by the doubts of humanity. The throne belongs to Him. It always has. It always will.
This is what Adonai means. Not Savior, not the God of peace, not the God who provides -- though He is all of those things. Adonai specifically means Lord. It speaks to His supreme authority. And when Isaiah encountered that authority, everything changed.
When We See the Lord, We See Ourselves Clearly
The moment Isaiah found himself in the presence of Adonai, his first response was not confidence. It was not pride. It was not a recitation of his accomplishments as a prophet. It was this: "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!" (Isaiah 6:5).
Isaiah was a man of God. He was a prophet. He was not a man living in obvious rebellion. And yet, standing in the presence of true holiness, he could only see his own unworthiness. That is what genuine encounters with God produce. Not a list of everything everyone else is doing wrong, but a clear and honest view of our own hearts.
There is a tendency in human nature to analyze the failures of others before examining our own. But Isaiah looked inward first. He said "woe is me" before he ever addressed the unclean lips of the people around him. When Adonai is truly Lord of our lives, that kind of honest self-examination becomes possible -- even necessary.
But here is the extraordinary grace woven into this passage. The story does not end at verse 5. A seraphim flies to Isaiah with a burning coal taken from the altar and touches his lips. "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for" (Isaiah 6:7). Isaiah recognized his condition, and restoration followed. That is the pattern of repentance. Not condemnation, which says you are hopeless and drives you away, but conviction, which says something needs to change and draws you closer.
Adonai is holy enough to expose our sin, but He is also loving enough to restore us. Both are true at the same time.
The Moment Everything Shifts
What happens next in Isaiah 6 is one of the most remarkable moments in all of Scripture. God speaks: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" (Isaiah 6:8). And Isaiah -- the same man who moments ago had declared himself undone, unworthy, and lost -- responds with complete abandon: "Here am I. Send me."
From "woe is me" to "send me." That is the trajectory of a life surrendered to Adonai.
Notice what Isaiah did not say. He did not ask where he was going. He did not negotiate the terms. He did not request a detailed plan before committing. He simply said yes. Because when you have seen the Lord seated on His throne, when you have experienced His holiness and His grace, trust is no longer the difficult part. Obedience flows naturally from encounter.
This is where so many of us get stuck. We want to call Him Lord, but we want the details first. We want to know the destination, the timeline, and the outcome before we commit. But Adonai does not operate that way. He asks for trust before understanding, not after. Proverbs 3:5-6 makes this clear -- trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will direct your paths.
The Question of the Keys
Here is a practical way to think about all of this. Imagine holding a set of keys. Each key represents a different area of your life -- your relationships, your finances, your future, your habits, your private struggles. Most of us are willing to hand some of those keys to God. The ones that feel safe. The ones we are ready to release.
But Adonai is not asking for some of the keys. He is asking for all of them. Every single one. And if we are honest, many of us have made duplicates. We hand over the ring and quietly keep a copy for ourselves, holding on to the illusion of control while calling Him Lord.
The invitation of Isaiah 6 is to release the duplicates. To stop sugarcoating the areas of life where God has not truly been given authority. To say, with full sincerity, "Here am I. All of me. Send me."
That is what it means to call Jesus Lord. Not just a name. Not just a title. A complete surrender of authority over every corner of your life to the One who is already seated on the throne.
The question worth sitting with today is simply this: Is He the Lord OVER and IN your life?
There is a word that rolls off the tongue easily in Christian circles. It shows up on bumper stickers, in worship songs, in casual conversation. The word is "Lord." But how often do we stop and consider what we are actually saying when we use it? There is a profound difference between calling Jesus Savior and calling Him Lord, and that difference changes everything about how we live.
Most people who have walked through the doors of a church are comfortable with the idea of Jesus as Savior. And rightly so. He came, He died, He rose again, and through faith in Him, our sins are forgiven and eternity is secured. That is the most extraordinary gift imaginable. But the Christian life does not end at salvation. In fact, it is only the beginning. The deeper, more demanding, and ultimately more freeing invitation is to make Jesus not just Savior, but Adonai -- Lord.
A Glimpse of the Throne
In Isaiah 6, the prophet Isaiah is granted a vision that few human beings have ever experienced. He sees the Lord seated on a throne, high and lifted up, His glory filling the temple. Seraphim surround Him, covering their faces and their feet, crying out to one another in a continuous chorus: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:3).
Notice that the Lord is seated. He is not pacing. He is not anxious. He is not scrambling to manage the chaos of the world. He is seated on His throne because He is Lord. His authority is not threatened by circumstances, by public opinion, or by the doubts of humanity. The throne belongs to Him. It always has. It always will.
This is what Adonai means. Not Savior, not the God of peace, not the God who provides -- though He is all of those things. Adonai specifically means Lord. It speaks to His supreme authority. And when Isaiah encountered that authority, everything changed.
When We See the Lord, We See Ourselves Clearly
The moment Isaiah found himself in the presence of Adonai, his first response was not confidence. It was not pride. It was not a recitation of his accomplishments as a prophet. It was this: "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!" (Isaiah 6:5).
Isaiah was a man of God. He was a prophet. He was not a man living in obvious rebellion. And yet, standing in the presence of true holiness, he could only see his own unworthiness. That is what genuine encounters with God produce. Not a list of everything everyone else is doing wrong, but a clear and honest view of our own hearts.
There is a tendency in human nature to analyze the failures of others before examining our own. But Isaiah looked inward first. He said "woe is me" before he ever addressed the unclean lips of the people around him. When Adonai is truly Lord of our lives, that kind of honest self-examination becomes possible -- even necessary.
But here is the extraordinary grace woven into this passage. The story does not end at verse 5. A seraphim flies to Isaiah with a burning coal taken from the altar and touches his lips. "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for" (Isaiah 6:7). Isaiah recognized his condition, and restoration followed. That is the pattern of repentance. Not condemnation, which says you are hopeless and drives you away, but conviction, which says something needs to change and draws you closer.
Adonai is holy enough to expose our sin, but He is also loving enough to restore us. Both are true at the same time.
The Moment Everything Shifts
What happens next in Isaiah 6 is one of the most remarkable moments in all of Scripture. God speaks: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" (Isaiah 6:8). And Isaiah -- the same man who moments ago had declared himself undone, unworthy, and lost -- responds with complete abandon: "Here am I. Send me."
From "woe is me" to "send me." That is the trajectory of a life surrendered to Adonai.
Notice what Isaiah did not say. He did not ask where he was going. He did not negotiate the terms. He did not request a detailed plan before committing. He simply said yes. Because when you have seen the Lord seated on His throne, when you have experienced His holiness and His grace, trust is no longer the difficult part. Obedience flows naturally from encounter.
This is where so many of us get stuck. We want to call Him Lord, but we want the details first. We want to know the destination, the timeline, and the outcome before we commit. But Adonai does not operate that way. He asks for trust before understanding, not after. Proverbs 3:5-6 makes this clear -- trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will direct your paths.
The Question of the Keys
Here is a practical way to think about all of this. Imagine holding a set of keys. Each key represents a different area of your life -- your relationships, your finances, your future, your habits, your private struggles. Most of us are willing to hand some of those keys to God. The ones that feel safe. The ones we are ready to release.
But Adonai is not asking for some of the keys. He is asking for all of them. Every single one. And if we are honest, many of us have made duplicates. We hand over the ring and quietly keep a copy for ourselves, holding on to the illusion of control while calling Him Lord.
The invitation of Isaiah 6 is to release the duplicates. To stop sugarcoating the areas of life where God has not truly been given authority. To say, with full sincerity, "Here am I. All of me. Send me."
That is what it means to call Jesus Lord. Not just a name. Not just a title. A complete surrender of authority over every corner of your life to the One who is already seated on the throne.
The question worth sitting with today is simply this: Is He the Lord OVER and IN your life?
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