Larry Siegle · Psalm 139:13-16
Link to sermon video: Awesome by Design – L Siegle
God’s Positioning System III
“AWESOME By Design”
(Psalm 139:13-16)
Thesis: God has created each of us with a purpose
INTRODUCTION
1. The title of the message today is, “AWESOME By Design”
2. This is the last installment in our series: God’s Positioning System
3. There is no randomness with God—He has a purpose that is manifested by intentional design.
THE FOCUS OF OUR ATTENTION IS ‘NEGATIVE’
1. There is a tendency that all of us have in life that our central focus of attention always points in the direction of ‘negative’ characteristics rather than what is ‘positive’
a. We are never satisfied with the way we are as people.
1) We think we are too tall, or too short.
2) We are too skinny, or two large as to what we weigh.
3) Our complexion is too light, or too dark.
4) Our hair is too curly, or too straight.
5) We are too young, or too old.
b. The list of things we become negative about is nearly endless.
2. We are never satisfied with the ‘things’ we possess, how much money we make, the size of our house, how old or how new our car happens to be, whether we have the latest iPhone, Pixel, or Samsung phone. Our internet
connection is never quite fast enough, our PC is Windows and we wish we had a Mac.
3. The job we have is “okay” but not necessarily our “career choice” or the job of our dreams. We wish we could be better at whatever our favorite sports happens to be, we wish our voice was better for singing, or that we had learned
to play some musical instrument (America’s Got Talent will happen someday). We wish our health was better, that we were stronger, had more energy, could do some of the ‘things’ we used to could do.
IN THIS SERIES
1. Over the past few weeks we have come to see the magnificence of God in all of His knowledge, in His presence, and today we explore His design of “who we are” and “what we can become”
2. Science and Biology teaches us that each of us in unique in our DNA and everything about us at this very moment in time has come from the tendencies contained in the very intimate parts of our being.
a. Physical characteristics, Health Predispositions, Personality traits, Behavioral tendencies, our Ancestry and Ethnicity—all of this information is contained within our DNA.
b. The psalmist David had never heard of DNA, but understood the “divine factor” both in who we are (from the time of our conception) and also what we will become (until we take our final breath)—these things are
attributed to God’s own personal touch in our hearts and lives.
3. We also realize that the PROCESS that God uses to shape our lives also factors in the various element of our
“environment” (where we were both, where we grew up, what we have learned and how we have developed).
THERE ARE TWO GREATEST DAYS IN OUR LIVES
1. Someone once said, “There are two great days in our lives. The first is when we were born. The second is when we know the reason why we were born”—LIFE and PURPOSE.
2. There is something in life that is unique about us—sets us apart—in a special way.
PSALM 139
1. God is given the glory by David who recognizes Him and the very Source of His existence (139:13).
a. At the moment of his conception God is pictured as the one who “forms” (ESV) or “creates” (NASB) his “inward” (or “innermost parts” of who he is and what he will become)
1) God is pictured by the prophet Isaiah as the “potter” who carefully ‘shapes’ and forms the “clay” (Isa. 64:8)—the people of Israel were seen as God’s redemptive “masterpiece” (the work of His hands).
2) God’s desire for His people is that of becoming “vessels of honor” for God (II Tim. 2:14-16, 19-21).
(a) We need to be “reminded” of who were are “in Christ” and strive to become “vessels” who reflect the nature of God in everything we think, say, and do.
b. David said that while he was in his mothers “womb” that God was at work to shape him into the one who would become “a man after God’s own heart” (I Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:21, 22).
2. David pauses to reflect on God’s “hand” and that he was a “masterpiece” of God’s own creation (139:14)
a. Whatever weaknesses each of us has, we remain God’s magnificent “masterpiece” in the making each day of our lives.
THE ISSUE OF SOVEREIGNTY AND FREE MORAL AGENCY
1. God’s desire for the nation of Israel was to become His “special treasure” (Deut. 7: 6-9).
a. The nation did not “keep” God’s “commandments” and faced judgment for their conduct.
2. The “church” is the manifested “fulfillment” of the promises God had made in the OT (Rom. 15:8) and were to become His “chosen generation” (I Pet. 2:9, 10)—the identity of the ‘church of the Lord’ is that we are “God’s own
possession” created to fulfill HIS purpose for our lives.
3. The fact that God has entrusted people with the ability to choose and to respond is a testimony to the greatness of God’s sovereignty.
4. God made a covenant with His people (Israel), but they had forgotten their Maker (Rom. 9:1-6; 10:1ff).
a. Old Covenant Israel could have become “vessels of honor” for God and a “light to the nations” around them, but instead, by their rebellion and disobedience transformed themselves into “vessels of wrath” headed to “destruction” (Rom.9:20-24)
b. Jesus is “the vine” and WE “are the branches” (John 15:1-6)—God’s desire for our lives is that we grow into fulfilling the purpose He has for our lives.
5. The purpose of our lives in bringing honor and glory to God was His desire from the beginning (139:15-17)
a. When we question every aspect of who were are, where we are from, what we look like, what we have etc, we call into question God’s wisdom for being what He created us to be.
b. The kindest comment someone ever made about me was, “Larry, you really do have the heart of a Minister”
1) That was my desire, my goal, and my calling in life.
2) Find out what it is that you can do with a sense of passion with all of your heart and energy, and God will bless that as the work of your hands.
CONCLUSION
1. Not a single person in this room today is perfect, has made all of the right decisions in life, but you are here today.
2. Before we launch into some “new” project, the first step each of us needs to take is to ‘go to God in prayer’ (James 4:13-17)—Do we pray before we ‘leap into something’ or purchase something, or more somewhere, or whatever
touches our daily lives?
3. This series of messages has been designed to increase our spiritual sensitivity to each and every situation of our lives.
4. God offers the “gift of eternal life” to those who “obey Him” (Heb. 5:8, 9)
5. If you are already a child of God, reignite that sensitivity that God wants us to have in our daily service for Him.
Outline (Word document): AWESOME_by_Designa.docx