“SOMETHING SPECIAL”
Jeremiah 1:4-5 Psalm 139:1-6, 13-17 51:10-1
Schools are soon to go through their Graduation exercises.
And all over America there are thousands of young people asking themselves the same questions.
1. “Well, I’m through with school, so what’s next?”
2. “What am I going to do with the rest of my life?”
Many people get discouraged when they leave school and enter what we call the real world because they are no longer the star football player, or head cheerleader, or the class president. Now, they’ve become just another working guy or girl trying to survive. And oftentimes in “the real world” we become just a name and number and we no longer feel “special.”
3. Many people get discouraged ask, “What is the purpose to life anyway?”
4. Others get even more basic by asking themselves, “Just who am I anyway?”
If you find yourself asking any or all of these questions, I believe God has a Word for you today.
I believe this morning that God wants you to know that you are “Something Special.”
Jeremiah 1:4-5 4 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
You know, we live in a world today that is cold and uncaring. It’s oftentimes a world of gloom and despair and a place where many of us feel totally unloved and just one of the crowd. I want you to know today, though, that you are SOMETHING SPECIAL, a special treasure to God.
I believe the text this morning shows us 3 reasons for us to realize how special we truly are.
1. GOD KNOWS YOU!
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you”
You know, it is a special time when a husband and wife are expecting a child. I remember when Lana and I were looking forward to the birth of our 1st child, Matthew. I remember back then I would come home from work and find Lana laid out on the couch asleep surrounded by a half a dozen candy bar wrappers and 2 empty quart containers of ice cream.
I’d wake her up and I would always ask the same 2 questions, 1. How do you feel?, and 2. Has the baby been kicking much? Then I would sit beside her and start talking to her belly and it seemed like every time I did that Matthew would start kicking and twisting around and turning. I’d push on her tummy and Matthew would push back. I promise you that I truly believe he knew my voice before he was ever born. It truly seems that we already knew each other before we had ever laid eyes on one another. It’s a special thing to have a father to love and a father that loves you.
** Today, though, thousands of children all over America don’t even know who their father is.
** Oftentimes maybe the mother got pregnant and never married the father of the child and he was never around.
** For some, Daddy abandoned the family and is rarely, if ever, in the picture.
** For others, Daddy lives in the same house but never spends time with the children so they grow up feeling isolated and alone.
I want you to understand something about your Heavenly Father, though, GOD KNOWS YOU!!
I don’t just mean he knows about you. I mean that He knows every detail of your life. He knows all of your good points and all of your secret sins. And you know what? He still loves you anyway.
Here’s what the psalmist David had to say about it in Psalm 139......
Psalm 139:1-6 1 O Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
5 You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
The 1st Reason that you can know that you are Something Special is because God knows you. So whenever you feel that no one else in this world understands you or cares anything at all about you, I want you to realize that God knows you, and He wants you to know Him.
2. GOD SAYS YOU ARE SPECIAL!
“before you were born I consecrated you....”
To consecrate means to set apart or to make special. God wanted Jeremiah to know that he was special. I believe that God wants you to know that you, too, are special.
We live in a world today where kids are pushed and pushed by their parents to be “The Best.” Now, there is nothing wrong with encouraging your children to do their personal best. But there is something dreadfully wrong with demanding that they be THE BEST. Parents push their kids to be the best soccer player since Beckham, the best baseball player since Micky Mantle, or the best mental giant since Einstein.
And, when their kids just don’t measure up to their parents’ standards, they feel unloved and unimportant.
Friends, I want you to know something very important. Your parents may tell you that you’ll never amount to anything, The people at school or at work may say you’re a loser, and the world may say you’re a nobody..But your Heavenly Father loves you and He wants you to know that YOU ARE SPECIAL.
Read Psalm 139:13-16 13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.
Notice that you were special to God even before you were born. You do not have to do anything “special” for God to notice you or to think that you are special. You see, He doesn’t determine your value to Him based on what you do, but on WHO YOU ARE. You are a unique special creation that He loves very much and He began loving you before you were ever born. Before you could have possibly ever done anything at all for Him.
How much does He love you? Romans 5:8 tells us that While we were yet sinners, God sent Jesus to die for us..
You see God does not wait for us to get good enough before He allows us to come to Him. On the contrary, Jesus came and gave His life on the cross to pay the price for your sins so that you could have eternal life before you were even born. He knew that we would all become sinners which makes us lost and doomed to Hell.
How special are you to God? Enough so, that He sent His only Son to die for you.
3. GOD HAS A PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE!
“I have appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”
God’s purpose for your life is to have an eternal life and He desires an intimate, personal relationship with you that will last forever. But we cannot have a relationship with Him and have eternal life if there is sin in our life.
David was a great man of God, but at one point in his life he committed 2 horrific sins that hindered his relationship with God. David’s life was a shambles until one day he repented of his sins and got right with God. God forgave him of the sins of murder and adultery and He lovingly accepted him back and I want you to know that God is ready and willing to forgive you of whatever sins you’ve committed, also.
Now I don’t know what you’ve done in your life and I don’t need to know. But if you are searching for peace and joy in this morning, if you want to realize how special you are to God, if you want to finally realize your purpose in life...... Then I would ask you to come and give your heart to Jesus Christ and He will purify you and make you clean and give you the gift of eternal life.
I want you to also know that as a Christian, God not only has a purpose for your life but He also has a special plan for your life.
Psalm 51:10-13 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirt Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.”
When David repented of his sins God gave him a special job to do.
Christian, you will never know true fulfillment in your life until you are following Jesus Christ on a daily basis and doing His will. True joy and peace come from that intimate, personal relationship with Jesus. This morning, more than anything else, I want you to realize that you a special, unique treasure to God.... You are SOMETHING SPECIAL.
