Fearfully And Wonderfully Made

Vic Rossi
07/24/22 - Sun AM

Link to sermon video: Fearfully And Wonderfully Made - V Rossi

Fearfully and Wonderfully

Made

I remember an interview with Bob Hope after he had gotten up in years. He commented about how he finally has a lot of time to read. He said he was amazed to discover that

my heart beat today 105,000 times

my blood traveled 168,000 miles

I breathed 23,400 times

I inhaled 438 cubic feet of air, ate 3 lbs. Of food, generated 450 tons of energy

I spoke 4,800 words, gave off 83.5 degrees of heat, I perspired 1.43 pints of fluid, I moved 750 major muscles

and I exercised 7 million brain cells

(pause) no wonder I’m tired!

Augustine once said: People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at long & wide rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars – and they pass by themselves without wondering!

Augustine was right!

Most of us don’t consider how wondrously made our own bodies are.

Just consider 1 sq. inch of our skin: you will find:

20 blood vessels, 65 muscles, 78 nerves, 78 sensors for heat, 13 for cold, 160 for pressure.

650 sweat glands, 1,300 nerve endings and 19,500,000 cells.

The skin serves several purposes including providing a protective shield against bacteria and viruses and the absorbing of bumps and bruising that might otherwise damage our bones and internal organs.... and in that inch of skin, our sweat glands do double duty, helping to eliminate waste and cool our bodies.

Then there is our brain that weighs about 3 lbs. But stores 100 trillion bits of information over the course of 70 years. That storage capacity is roughly equal to 500,000 sets of the Encyclopedia Britannica ( which, if stacked, would stretch out over 442 miles!) Our brain does all this and yet uses less power than a 100 watt light bulb.

Our brain is serviced by about 45 miles of nerves that send impulses throughout our bodies as rapidly as 325 miles per hour. Our nervous system is so sensitive we are able to feel on our finger tips or face a pressure that depresses our skin no more than 4 thousandth of a lb. per sq. inch! About the weight of a bee’s wing falling on our cheek.

Then there is our ears, a piano has 88 keys, our ears have a keyboard in each ear that has 1,500 keys.

Our eyes are capable of seeing a small candle flame from 30 miles on a clear dark night. And can distinguish between 300,000 different color variations.

(Pause) David wrote, “I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalms 139:14

Just think, David didn’t know all the facts that we just covered, and yet he was still amazed at God’s works. How much more should we be amazed than David?

David goes on in the next verse (15) My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

David was so impressed with God’s gift of life that he spoke of it as being, “woven together” and here he was using the imagery of a craftsman who skillfully weaves a beautiful & colorful tapestry.

What David is basically saying is this: I just didn’t happen, ,,I am not an accident,,,I have value,,,I have worth!

II. David arrives at this conclusion...because he first focused on God!

Read Psalms 139:1-6

Now, remember.. David arrived at his conclusion (that he was a valuable

individual), because he recognized the he was created by God. Is was God that gave his life value. It was God who gave him worth!

And without God, his life had no value

(Use a $20 bill - ask who would take it if I offered - Rip it - now? - crumple it - now? - toss it on the ground and stomp on it - who would still take it?

Think about it, Why do you still want it? This torn wrinkled stepped on piece of paper. ( ans. Because it’s still valuable)

And why is it still valuable? Because the US government which created it says it’s worth $20!

And that is the only reason this piece of inked paper has any value.

III. Now here is where the application sets in: If God didn’t create you and me, or if you believe that God did not create us.. Then you would have a problem.

Because if God didn’t create us or if we believe that He didn’t then we have no more value than anything else on this planet. Not even a rock.

Genesis 1:27 tells us, “God created us in His image, in the image of God He created man. Male and female He created them.”

And Genesis 2:7 declares that God created us from the dust of the ground and breathed life into us!

For that reason God values all people.

You see... to God all human life has value!!

And that’s especially true of you and I who belong to Jesus Christ.

Our lives are a gift of God

And only you have your kind of abilities

Only you have your kind of skills

Only you have the kind of potential that God has built into you.

IV. Now there are those who say, Yeah... I understand this idea that I am fearfully & wonderfully made.. My body is a biological wonder and that God created me..but, you know.. I don’t feel so valuable. Haven’t all of us felt that way from time to time?

Have you ever thought to yourself, I don’t know, as if - in this gift exchange of life - I got such a great gift. I mean - look at me!

I’m too old

I’m too poor

I’m not smart enough

I’m not talented enough

I’m not...(well, you fill in the blank)

I don’t feel that I have abilities or skills that are going to make a difference.

I feel... short changed

I understand that kind of thinking. I mean.. Some are old, weak, intellectually challenged. But that kind of thinking fails to take into account that our value doesn’t depend upon our strengths. Our value depends upon our creator!

Our worth is increased in direct relation to how much we allow God to use us.

God says that when He wants something done it’s going to be done “Not by might or power, but by My spirit,” Says the Lord Almighty. (Zac. 4:6)

Throughout scripture, when God wanted something done, He “Chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one could boast before Him. Sound familiar? (1 Cor. 1:27-28)

Have you ever bought a toy for your child for x-mass with all the bells and whistles. You sat there watching the child open the present and glare at it and then you realized you didn’t get any batteries. Without batteries the toy just sat there. And your child looked at you and then turned to look for another present!

The power for us as Christians.....(that which gives us value and worth) is attained upon the simple act of putting His power inside our lives.

We put the power inside us by:

Spending time in prayer

Spending the time to seek out His will in Bible study.

Deliberately deciding to put God at the center of our lives

And,,, believing that when God is ready, He will use us to make a difference.

You see...God isn’t finished with you yet!

He has created you to do something special

He designed us with a unique purpose in mind

BUT - It is only when we lay hold of His power and wait patiently for His guidance that we realize our full potential

We need to remember that some of the greatest heroes of scripture were flawed...

Jacob was a liar

Miriam was a gossip

Moses stuttered

King David had an affair

Elijah suffered from depression

Naomi was a widow

Abraham was to old

David was too young

Thomas was a doubter

And Lazarus...Pause....Well,,He was dead!

If God could do great things with men and women like these, what do you think He could do with you?

Especially since... When you became a Christian you became “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do!” (Ephesians 2:10)

God has given each one of us a great gift in this life that we live, and He intends to give us even greater gifts in the potential that our lives can have.