¥ I use everyday life illustrations because I want us to understand that God is trying to communicate with us everyday! There is a message from God in almost everything that we see, touch, taste, smell or feel. God is everywhere just waiting for His creation to cry out for its Creator!
Psalms 19:1 - The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
1 Corinthians 3:9b - …ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
¥ Today we will talk about how God has designed each of us in our own unique way. We will discover that sometimes we have to search for purpose before we can live it and we will talk about “Playing in the Sand”.
I. Uniquely You
John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
A. Every Seashell has it’s own story
1. Some are beautiful, Some are broken, some are hidden…
2. Each one serves it’s own purpose
3. Each one testifies of God’s intricate design and attention to detail
B. God created you to be “Uniquely You.”
1. When we endeavor to be something other than what God created us to be we are dishonoring God’s creation…
2. Say, “I am who God says I am… I can have what God says I can have… I can be what God says I can be… I can do what God says I can do…”
Romans 9:20-21
20 But who are you, a mere man, to criticize and contradict and answer back to God? Will what is formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?
21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same mass (lump) one vessel for beauty and distinction and honorable use, and another for menial or ignoble and dishonorable use?
Isaiah 29:16 [Oh, your perversity!] You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be considered of no more account than the clay? Shall the thing that is made say of its maker, He did not make me; or the thing that is formed say of him who formed it, He has no understanding?
Isaiah 45:9 Woe to him who strives with his Maker!—a worthless piece of broken pottery among other pieces equally worthless [and yet presuming to strive with his Maker]! Shall the clay say to him who fashions it, What do you think you are making? or, Your work has no handles?
II. Sifting Through the Sand
A. Sometimes we have to look on purpose in order to see the good in our lives. Especially in times of casualty, grief and pain…
1. Some people can only see the rain but there’s a rainbow somewhere…
B. There are great treasures along the seashore… Some are hidden under the sand, water and seaweed.
1. I encourage you to sift through life’s clutter and find the interaction of God in your life…
Isaiah 55:6-9
6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
C. Sifting through the Sands
1. There will always be things we don’t understand.
2. The hard questions…
¥ What about world poverty?
¥ Why do bad things happen to good people?
¥ Couldn’t God have stopped that???
Humanity should never blame God for something we have brought on ourselves or for something satan has done.
Sin is Serious… but so was Calvary
III. Playing in the Sand isn’t Just for Kids
A. Imagination, Creativity & Fun
1. When we Imagine things, Create things and Enjoy life we are being like our Creator!
Psalms 8:1-9
8:1 To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
B. Questions to ask Yourself
1. What is God imagining about me? (He will create it if you let Him)
2. Am I so busy maintaining the “status quo” that there is no room for “the new”.
God said, “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” - Isaiah 43:19
IV. Surf it Up, Trust God and Go for It!
A. You are “Covered With Favor”
Psalms 5:12 For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.
B. Say it like this…
1. Listen for the Wind…
2. Wait for the Wave
3. See the Open Door
4. Seize the Moment
5. Take Advantage of the Opportunity
Joshua 1:9
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Altar Call:
¥ God we will relax and flow with You…
¥ God I’m gonna believe again…
¥ We “Cast all of our cares upon You and trust in You”
