wanted to bring your attention to verse number six there. First Samuel chapter 16
verse number six. And it came to pass when they were come that he looked on
Eliab and said surely the Lord's anointed is before him.
And so we have Samuel who goes to Jesse and he asks Jesse look bring out your
sons. I want to see your sons. The Lord has selected
one of your sons to become the king. And so Samuel
yeah looks at the elders which is Eliab and you know sees him as a mature
strong man a tall man and says surely this must be the king
that God has set in place. But notice what the Lord says in verse number seven
but the Lord said unto Samuel look not on his countenance or on the
heights of his stature because I have refused him for the Lord
seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance
but the Lord looketh on the heart. And so we notice something quite unique
about the Lord he's able to look at our hearts.
You know as humans you know it's not like Samuel's doing anything wrong.
He just looks at the man and you know that that's generally speaking we look
at we get our first impressions about someone
and I heard that some I heard somewhere that you know basically
you got your first five seconds to give your best impression upon someone else.
And so within five seconds someone's already got an opinion about you just by
the way you look just by the way you've conducted yourself
on that very first impression. Now of course Jesse understood that
one of his sons would become the king and the one if we understand the story
here is that he decided that David was
definitely not the son and so he left David looking after the
sheep because if you look down in verse number 11 it says and Samuel said unto
Jesse I hear all thy children and he said
there remain of yet the youngest and behold he keepeth the sheep and
Samuel said unto Jesse send and fetch him for we will not sit
till he come hither and he sent and brought him now he was
ruddy and with all of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to
and the lord said arise anoint him for this
is he and so notice that David was the one that God had selected
to be the king why because of his outward appearance no because the lord
looked upon the heart of David okay and so when you look at his
even the father Jesse and you look at you consider the prophet Samuel
they both had this idea of who the king should look like
who the king will be surely one of the older brothers would be the king
but actually it would be the youngest brother it was David
the title for the sermon this morning is delight
in your uniqueness delight in your uniqueness you see David was different
to his brothers he was the younger brother you know
from the outward yeah he was he was a handsome man from the outward you can
see that but really when it came to considering
what a king should look like or what a king should be David was far
removed from the opinions of both Samuel
and Jesse and I just want to bring your attention to this idea
that you are unique you've been created by God
you are the personality that God wants you to be
and this is important for us to cover as we go for the perfect man series
now why is this imperfect important to cover because
the last few sermons are basically covering the importance of you know
knowing your station knowing your your your dominion or your
authority right knowing where you belong within
your family but also where you belong within society
but I don't want you to just get lost in like I'm this cog
in the machine and look it's important to know
where you belong in the machine where you belong in God's creation
where you belong in God's society God wants things to be done decently in
order it's important to know what cog you are
in the machine absolutely but the going if you go too extreme in
this view you're going to think of yourself
I'm just another cog in the machine I'm just anybody you know I can
you know I'm just like I'm insignificant you know I'm just another cog
but really you are unique you're a unique cog in the machine
you know God has created you to be special unique person
have a unique personality there is no one on the earth like you brother
okay or sister there is no one like you and that's on purpose
you know we all feel that we're different in this world because we know
what we're like and we know what the world is like we
know what the world is trying to pump down our throats and what they
you know say the ideal man is or the ideal woman is well now
it's not the ideal man and woman anymore is it it's the ideal blending of the
genders they're trying to push our throats but
we all know that we're unique and I want you to understand that even though
you should know your station you should know where you belong
you're still very special in the eyes of God okay you're not just some other cog
in the machine and so while we all try to live godly
we all try to follow the words of God and try to live
righteously I've been talking about how it's you know we shouldn't be looking at
others you know we shouldn't be having our
tensions focused upon other people but understand that you are special
especially created by God and this is important because yes we're all part of
families yes we're all part of society yes if
you're part of this church we're Australians
okay but you have other aspects that make up
who you are you know that's your your background your experiences
your ethnicity you know your personal interest we all have first different
personal interests you know we all have a different
appearance we all look different one to another
and as I said we all have different personalities
and so because we all have such big differences
even our fingerprints prevent a difference you know God's created us to
be so unique and so special and I want you to be able to appreciate
that about yourselves you know I remember going to school and
generally speaking people did not like themselves
generally speaking the children they all wanted to be
like someone else and if I can admit something to you I
wanted to be like Michael Jordan growing up in in the 90s right the big
name the big sporting name was Michael Jordan
in fact I remember a song I don't know if it was a it was a commercial it was an
actual song it goes I want to be like Mike like Mike
I want to be like Mike or something like that I don't know if it was a Gatorade
commercial but it was like I want to be like
Michael Jordan and now yeah he was my idol
you know growing up that's not good it's not good it's for a child to have any
kind of idol but I love basketball and I would look
at Michael Jordan go man I want to be just like that
and that's not how it should be in life right and this is something you know
children they struggle with I was gonna saw this in in school you know you saw
the popular kids and people want to be like the popular kids
or you have the pretty girls and all the girls want to be like the pretty girl
and uh that's not how it ought to be because when you start having that kind
of mindset then you start hating who you are you
know and we live in a society where you know look at so many ladies they hate
who they are you know now they're all going to have
the big lips right that that duck lip you know and and take selfies I don't
know where that comes from like you know but anyway
they they change their faces to look like some celebrity
some star and people just hate who they are you know their appearance their
personalities and no god's created you to be unique
you are a creation of god you know you are exactly how god wanted
you to be and so this is what I want you to
appreciate to delight in your uniqueness yes you're a cog in
the machine yes you are but you're not just any other cog okay
you're a very special cog in the eyes of god so can you
please turn to jeremiah chapter one for me please turn to jeremiah chapter one
and let's just start off by just reminding ourselves that we are god's
creation we are god's handiwork and you turn to uh jeremiah chapter one
i'll read to you from psalm 139 verse 13 psalm 139 verse number 13 says
for thou has possessed my reins thou has covered me in my mother's womb
i will praise thee for i am fearfully and wonderfully made
marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well
we often read this passage when we preach against you know abortions
or we try to prove that you know the the the fetus
in the mother's womb is a child it's a living soul and yes that's what that
verse is saying in psalm 139 verse number 13
but i just want you to be reminded that in your mother's womb
god puts you together this is why even a child that is born down syndrome
or some type of complication if they're born that way you know what that's how
god intended them to be on this earth okay and and people struggle with all
kinds of uh disabilities and and things that are
changing you must understand it's just part of the
the fallen sinful world we're part of this world has a curse
and our genetics are getting worse and worse and you know we're never intended
to live in these bodies forever and ever that's why god's
going to give us a new resurrected body one day but whatever way you are
at the birth of your mother's womb god that's how god created you
okay and that that's just how it is brethren you know the world says we are
fearfully and wonderfully made you know can you
look at yourself and say boy thank you god i'm i'm wonderful i'm a
wonderful creation that you've made me marvelous are thy
works lord i'm a marvelous work of your hands can you say that about
yourselves or do you hate yourself do you wish to
be like someone else do you look at another man or ladies you look at another
lady and wish you were more like them no god
wants you to appreciate you yourself exactly as you are look at
jeremiah chapter 1 verse number 4 jeremiah chapter 1 verse number 4 it
says then the word of the lord came unto me saying before i formed thee
in the belly i knew thee and before thou thou camest
forth out of the womb i sanctified thee and i
ordained thee a prophet unto the nations you see even before you're formed even
before you're created even before the man seed meets the
the mother's egg there you know god knew exactly who you are
right before i formed in the belly i knew thee
god knows your personality we all have different personalities i appreciate who
you are appreciate the person god created you
to be he already knew what you would be like before you'd be born
it's amazing right you came out of your womb we see here jeremiah already
god already had a plan for jeremiah you know plan a for jeremiah
is that he would be a prophet unto the nations and let me also say that god has
a plan for you absolutely he has a plan for you you
know sometimes we mess up plan a but you know what we mess up plan a he's
got plan b for jeremiah he had plan a to be a prophet unto nations
hey praise god for jeremiah he was able to fulfill his plan a
but you know what even if you mess up your plan a god has a plan b
and if you mess up your plan b god has a plan c for you and if you mess up plan
c he's got a plan d i can't say that god has a plan z for you
at some point you mess up your life bad enough that's it you're done for right
uh it's kind of like the salt lucid saver and it's got no use other to
to be trot on the foot of man okay but you know god has
where god understands that we are gonna make mistakes we're gonna mess up
our life we're gonna you know just mess things up because of this sin curse
world but god has a plan for you and he has
backup plans for you and whatever plan god has for you right
now brevin just delight that you have a unique plan
that god has given you jeremiah had a unique plan he's unlike other prophets
we've you know been going for the jeremiah series down here in sydney and
we're going for lamentations right now and he's a very different preacher very
different prophet to someone like the apostle paul very different to
someone like the apostle peter uh very different to someone like the
prophet jonah you know god uses all kinds of personalities to uh do a
different work for him to accomplish different tasks to
preach his word but they're all different
and that's how god intended it to be you know i
i i want to be pastor kevin to pulver i'm behind this pulver
i don't want to be a clone of some other preacher or
or you know have the pressures of expectations that i'm going to be like
this preacher or that preacher or you know whatever your favorite preacher is
that's not how it ought to be because i'm unique i'm different i have
a different personality and i'm going to present god's word a little differently
than than other people and so be it i don't
expect other preachers to be like me either
you know god has made us all to be different he's sanctified us
he's given us a plan he's given us work to do
another time that i'll just quickly read to you psalm 119
and verse 73 it says thy hands have made me
and fashioned me give me understanding that i may learn thy commandments and so
god has created us so we can have the fear of god that we
can come to god's word and understand you see god is not
willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance
you know we don't believe in calvinism where that where it teaches where
you know basically you'll reprobate from the time god created you
that you just have the you just have no ability if god did not select you to be
saved you just have no ability to come to know christ and his word no that's
not how god created us he's fashioned us he's given us
understanding that we can learn his commandments
you know even a little child is able to understand the simplicity of the gospel
and place their faith upon the lord jesus christ it keeps going by
saying in verse number 74 they that fear thee will be glad when
they see me because i have hoped in thy word
and so you know what else makes you very unique not only are you just uniquely
created by god for the moment you get saved you're
born again and now you're a child of god and the
whole earth wonders about you and says you're you're a unique person
there's something different about you okay uh you're uh you're different right
you're different it's a great testimony when the world is
able to say about you there's something different about you
now hopefully you're different not because you're some strange unusual
you know crazy fellow or something right but you're strange and unusual
because you just love god you love his word and you put the kingdom of god
first hey that's something great that's it's
wonderful to be recognized as someone that is unique in that sense
and yes you know when it comes to the people that are going to be the most
unique and special in this world is it's going to be god's people
god's children his sons and daughters and so i just want to show you that we
read those passages just to show you god's created you okay you're not an
accident all right even if you were born out
outside of wedlock or something right you were born
we're broken home god still created you in your mother's womb
you know to look like you look to give you the personality that you have
to give you your strengths and your weaknesses where your certain background
where your certain ethnicity is whatever it is
that you god has made you up with reverend you know that's something to
delight in you're special okay you're not just another human being
in this world of is it seven billion of us now i'm not sure
okay you're not just one of seven billion you're very unique
in the eyes of the lord can you please turn to galatians chapter
five galatians chapter five and verse number 19
galatians chapter five verse number 19 as i said you know me as a child i
wanted to be like michael jordan like mike okay uh and i i remember yeah
just in in schools yeah the people with kids wanted to be like the popular kids
they wanted to be like their favorite celebrity you know i remember
again i'm thinking back back 90s for those of you that grew up in the 90s you
know what i'm talking about i remember like you know the girls at
school would have posters of the backstreet boys
okay and then the boys are like man maybe i need to be like the backstreet
boys like maybe i need to dress like them so
the girls are interested in me and then and then the boys would come to
school and they'd have their favorite you know models or whatever
printed on their books and whatever and the girls look at that or maybe that's
what i have to become and that's the size of society that's
what society is pushing down our throats is to not be happy with who we are but
desire to be like someone else and that's not how it ought to be but look
at galatians 5 19. galatians 5 19 it says now the works of
the flesh are manifest which are these adultery
fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred
variants emulations emulations is here considered a work of the
flesh it is something wicked it is sinful
brethren to be an emulator what's an emulator
you're trying to be like someone else if if i as a pastor i'm trying to be like
another pastor that's emulation right if one girl
wants to look like her favorite celebrity
that's emulations it's the work of the flesh it's not the work of the spirit of
god okay it comes from this sinful flesh
it's it's a sin against god it's not being content with who you are
and how god's created you to be and you just want to be like whoever gets the
most attention in this world you know what whoever gets the most
attention in this world are generally generally going to be the most wicked
you know the more wicked you are the more ungodly you are
the more famous you can become in this world is that who you want to be
the the wicked person that's godless that doesn't love the lord
is that who you want to be of course not okay
but hey sometimes even brothers and sisters in the lord
can look at other people in church they might even look at their pastor
that you know wise men look at other women in the church and they want to
emulate they want to be like that person but no that's not how it ought to be
okay thank god that each one of us are unique
you know i don't want to be like anyone else and i don't want anyone else to be
like me you know i want my wife to be who my
wife is i don't want my any other ladies to be like my wife
and i don't want my wife to be like anyone else i chose i married my wife
i said this woman's going to be my wife because she was unique and special
why would i want every woman in this world to be just like my wife okay
i want my wife to be unique and special in my eyes okay and so
emulations is definitely a sin okay it's definitely
a work of the flesh but it's also let me just quickly read to you one of the 10
commandments it's exodus chapter 20 verse 17 thou
shall not covet thy neighbor's house this is the 10th
commandment of course thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife
nor his manservant nor his maidservant nor his ox nor his ass
nor anything that is thy neighbors whatever your neighbor has reverend
don't covet after it i want to look like him no
that's covetousness i want a wife like his wife no that's covetousness
i want to have his property i want to have his house that's coverage i want
to have you so i want to have his property i want to
have his wealth it's all covetousness reverend
it's one of the 10 commandments it's written in your heart
you know you know this is wrong you know that we should not emulate
or imitate other people you know love who you are god's created you to be
the way you are brethren you know you're unique you're special
and uh let me just introduce you to the english
standard version of the bible right now yeah the esv
yes we're still king james only church amen let me just show you what the esv
has to say now if you can please turn you turn to
first corinthians please turn to first corinthians chapter 11
turn to first corinthians chapter 11 for me please let's read it from the king
james bible first and then let's read it from actually no
i'll read it from the esv first and then we'll read it from the king james
bible but you go to first corinthians 11 verse
number one please first corinthians chapter 11 and verse
number one the bible reads the the king james
bible the bible the perfect translation in english says
be you followers of me even as i also am of christ i said i was
gonna read from the esv verse anyway mistake all right but it says here be
you followers of me even as i also am of christ
so what should we do paul is writing to the corinthian church
paul is saying look i'm sending an example of a believer here
please follow look i want to lead this church i want to lead this church to be
righteous and holy before the eyes of the lord
so please follow after me okay and we're following after paul so long as he is
also following after christ okay we don't
want to follow just men we'll make sure we're following men or being led by men
that are also following jesus christ so this is what the esv says the esv
translation on the same verse says be imitators of me as i am
of christ so let's say be imitators of me
so according to the esv paul is telling the church
imitate me be like me be my emulator okay change who you are
and become poor right that's what the esv teaches brethren
all right but what does it say in the in the king james be followers of me
it's good to be a follower it's good to have leaders it's good to have examples
that lead us unto jesus christ but the esv is asking us to sin to change
who we are and become an imitator of someone else
the king james bible also says in first peter chapter 2 verse 21
uh sorry sorry ephesians 5 verse 1 it says be
therefore followers of god as dear children but the esv says
therefore be imitators of god as beloved children are we to follow
the lord and follow jesus christ and follow godly examples
or we are to imitate people change who we are pretend to be
something that we're not you know hollywood
is made up of imitators they give them the name of actors
but they what they are imitators right they're imitating another character
they're playing another character it's not who they truly are
and then you have all your hollywood celebrities coming out and you know
they're fighting for their causes of your uh you know
women empowerment and and fighting for global warming
and they're you know they're giving their political opinions
i can't i don't know about you forever but i cannot trust a single hollywood
imitator because that's what they are they're professional imitators
how can i believe anything the same because they're probably acting right
there before the media anyway that's what
they that's what they're trained to be imitators
okay and as i've covered before these hollywood stars
they're all depressed they're all alcoholics and
and drug addicts they've got no purpose and no mean life
they've got all the money they've got all the wealth they've got the world at
their fingertips and they still hate their lives
okay because all they do is imitate they've never learned to appreciate
themselves for who they are they've never learned to appreciate the god
created them you know to become someone great in
something like hollywood you have to basically deny the lord
okay and so they end up with miserable lives but i'm just trying to show you
that the modern translations they try to get you to become an emulator
they try to make you become an imitator meaning that you lose
your personality you lose who you are rather we should be followers
hey set some good examples yes but we're not going to change ourselves to be like
another man change ourselves to be like another
woman that would be sinful the bible says in first peter 221 for
even here unto were you called because christ
also suffered for us leaving us an example
that we should follow his steps okay so we should follow the steps of
christ he set us an example and that's how we ought to live our lives
we have a good mentor we have good christian examples
i hope as a pastor i can be a godly example to you we have the example of
jesus christ and we're to follow after the steps
that god has given us but doesn't mean you need to change who
you are or change your personality change your preference change your
interests you know if i have certain interests and
someone else has other interests i'm not going to change my interest just
to get along with someone we ought to be able to appreciate each
other without different interests in fact i prefer making friends with
people that have completely different interests
than me because what's the point of me discussing the same things i'm
interested in because generally speaking if i'm interested in something
i already know everything to do with it but when i talk to someone with other
interests i actually can learn different things
it's actually more interesting to talk to people with other interests
so why would we want to copy other people or why would we want other people
to be just like us now in saying this i don't want to take another extreme
okay so one extreme is well pastor kevin says to know our station
i'm a cog in the machine i'm just another cog no that's that's
that's one extreme that you're just another cog in this seven billion world
that we live in right no you're unique and special
but then you've got the other extreme well pastor kevin's saying that i am who
i am and that's it right and uh you know it's
kind of like i've heard you know you hear this stuff
on tv but i even hear this stuff in church sometimes
where people say you know what i'm gonna find uh when i find a wife or find a
husband you know this person has to love me for
who i am and i'm not gonna change for anybody
and like you know you're just like you're just like unrefined
you have poor character you know you you've just got bad
practices and bad habits and you're like this is just who i am
and i'm not going to change for anybody well that's another extreme as well
because the whole reason we have this big book here is to help us change
to help us be different okay now you're not you're not going to change your
personality you can't change your appearance okay
but yeah can you become a better person yeah absolutely can you become a better
character yeah you know can you overcome your sins
in your life absolutely can you be more loving can you be
more careful with people can you be more more appreciative of
other people around you of course you can
can you be more like jesus of course you can be more like jesus
you know so i don't want you to take the other extreme well this is just who i am
and you know that's you know if you don't like it then that's your problem
no the whole point of church the whole point you're here today
uh this morning brevity so you can change something so you can identify
there's something in my life where i'm just i'm just like uh you know
i'm stubborn and rebellious and prideful and i just don't want god to
touch this part in my life and no you know the purpose of preaching
god's word is it touches your heart and it causes you to change something
even if it's just one little thing praise god and the preaching is
effective so we don't want to take this you know
this is who i am i'm not going to change for anybody
that's like me you know pretend i'm unsaved
and like yeah i'm a sinner i recognize i'm a sinner and
what you're telling me that jesus christ came to die for me you know what if god
wants me to go to heaven he should just accept me for who i am
i'm a sinner this is what i am he should just let me to heaven if he's truly a
loving god you just let me to heaven for who i am
that's the same kind of attitude no to be safe you need to change
right you take down the pride and say well i'm a sinner
i guess i'm not acceptable to god then i i do deserve to go to hell
i need a savior i need to humble myself and accept the salvation that god has to
give me we need to make a change to be saved
yes it's a change in our beliefs it's changing whatever it is where we thought
we were trusting before to be saved okay we no longer have confidence in his
flesh we have confidence 100 on what christ
has done for us that's salvation if you don't change that
brethren then you're doomed for hell okay so god is all about changing us
but it's about molding us to be more like jesus christ okay
not to change your personality that cannot be changed you are who you are
god knew you before you know you were but you know what if you've got
wrong attitudes you've got bad character that's the job of the parents
as the child grows to develop that to help that child become a better person
in time but hey maybe now you're an adult and
doesn't matter you still have a parent god the father
who's trying to change you in accordance to his work
okay so let's not take either of those two extremes i'm just a cog in the
machine nothing special nothing unique and then
well i'm not going to change it all for anybody because this is how god made me
to be you know both of those are two extremes
always the truth is found somewhere in the sound middle okay now when we talk
about changes and we talk about how you know we
think about who we are and learning to appreciate what we are
again we live in a generation that is so preoccupied about appearance
okay now listen am i a little bit preoccupied about my parents
yes okay i've got my nice jacket on i've got a tie on i want to be presentable
when i preach god's word i don't want to look like a sloppy you
know just in my pajamas coming out here or in my ripped jeans or whatever right
i want to show you that i take god's word seriously i take god's church
seriously so i don't come looking like a slob
all right so yeah i do care i do wash my face in the morning
i do put a little bit jelly my not right now because my hair is short
okay but i do try to fix myself a little bit so i look presentable for you right
uh but also just to honor the lord's house and to honor
the station that he's giving me to preach uh his word but
that's not what i'm talking about you know there are there are
there are so many uh medical procedures that people take simply because not
because they're sick okay not because something has
happened and they need to change something for their
for the betterment of their health okay or as a
life-saving surgery but people now are taking surgery just to
change what they look like okay we know what
women try and change their nose their chest even their behinds
i mean there are so many changes that people are trying to make in their lives
even men are doing this now even men are trying to change their appearance
but you know god has made you to look the way you are
you know i never now i can't say i never did this
because i'd be lying but you know as it is now reverend
and as it will be for rest of my life i never mocked someone's appearance
no matter how unusual someone looks because when someone's mocking someone's
appearance even if it's a false prophet you know
even if it's someone that is wicked as hell i still don't mock their appearance
because god created them to look that way you know i don't i don't mock
someone's voice because god's given them that voice
like i'm not talking about someone that makes themselves
disfigured okay and makes himself look ugly and disgusting whatever right
they change themselves or whatever then yeah okay you can mock them then
i'm talking about just how god made someone i never mocked their appearance
and uh but you know even when it comes to our appearance as i said
god's given us fingerprints it's just amazing you know not
we all have unique fingerprints you know every finger has a different
fingerprint to the other finger you know even your toes you know we
don't we don't think of toe prints but even your toes
they're all unique and different and you know what even right now in our seven
billion population there is no one on this earth
that has the same fingerprints or toe prints as you
okay why i mean to be honest with you okay
it's a good identifier but why you know what i think every time we look at our
fingerprints god wants us to be reminded that we're
special and unique in the eyes of god okay there's something different about
us each one of us and i'm just talking about the seven
billion on the earth today what about every single human being that's ever
lived and will live you still have different fingerprints
of them you still have different footprints from them
you have different dna there are many things that are different about
appearance even your eyes iris is different to anybody else you know we
have different designs in our eyes and that's how god created us to be and we
don't even notice that you know we talk to people we don't even notice all the
little patterns in their eyes in the irises and etc but god created us
all to be very unique and please appreciate
that you're a special handiwork of god okay you don't need to change your
appearance god's made you to look exactly how he
wants you to look please turn to first peter chapter three
turn to first peter chapter three
and while you're turning to first peter chapter three i'll read to you from
matthew chapter six just a very familiar passage
which says matthew 6 26 behold the fowls of the air
for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns
yet your heavenly father feedeth them are you not much better than they
which of you by taking thought can add one cubit
unto his stature you know our height is fixed
god's created us with our height if you think man i just want to be taller
or some tall people say i wish i was shorter you can't change it brethren
now god's made you exactly the way he wants to make you
this was important for me as i said i wanted to be like michael jordan i
wanted to be a basketball player but i wasn't tall enough to really
compete okay okay i was decent but i wasn't good enough to compete in some
high level game praise god for that praise god you know i can compete behind
the pulpit amen i can i can compete preaching god's word
you know uh teaching people god's word and and
competing against the sinfulness and the wickedness and the
and the flesh that that that we struggle with praise god for that
but you know what i have to i had to learn to be content that this is my
height i have to be content you know and this
is one of the one of the things with my kids you know both my wife and i were
not very tall our kids likely aren't going to turn out
very tall either okay and they just have to appreciate
that appreciate who they are that's just one aspect you know there are
many aspects of people's appearance that people want to
change or be like someone else you're in first peter chapter three
verse number three first peter chapter three verse number
three this is for the ladies it says who's adorning
let it not be the outward adorning of plating of the hair
and of wearing of gold or putting on of apparel
but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible
even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight
of god of great price what's great what's a great price in the eyes of god
that meek and quiet spirit ladies that you ought to have
within yourself it's found within that inner man okay
the person that god created you to be and especially when you are saved
you receive that you man that spirit of god that's in touch with with the lord
god that's who god wants you to be okay yes
is it wrong to fix your hair no is it wrong to put on gold no is it
wrong to put on apparel of course not you're gonna dress yourself but that's
ought not to be your focus in your your main attention in life the main focus of
your life is also understand how god's created you to be okay who you
are in the eyes of god who this new man is that god has given
you to be uh you are actually not to be but who you
are you know the new man walking that new man
that is of great price to god and uh you know again if this happens
in church you know we're not a very large church
but i've seen i've been in larger churches where you've got 100 or 200
people and you know you see girls looking at
each other i mean it's like man i thought this was
i thought this was like high school like worldly high school things
but it happens in churches where girls look at another girl have their dress
they look at their dress and their shoes and their whatever and they're like i
wish i was like that or critical i can't believe she's like
this or like that you know what you be focused in the
inner man that god has given you be someone that is of great price in the
eyes of god you know you're unique you've been
created by god to serve him to please him
and as i said you can't change your appearance
you know the amount of people are just again just in high school and
school that just didn't like what they look like okay
and uh i feel i feel sad for these people number one i feel sad because
they end up having such a low self-esteem about themselves right they
just think of themselves as rubbish but more
sad because they just don't know how to appreciate
the uniqueness that they are the how god created them to be
and i don't care what you look like brethren you're special in the eyes of
god you're you're the handiwork of god okay
and i i think you're beautiful honestly you know i've learned this
i think every human being is beautiful because you're created by god
okay before you start messing up your life and this you know someone that gets
on drugs right and and they shrivel up and they
destroy the the outward appearance because of the sin
i'm not talking about that person i'm just talking about in general you know
i look at my church i look at here at blessed up at the church i look up there
at new life at this church i think you're all beautiful i think
you're all special you know i listen to different languages sometimes just uh
uh people speak a different language i think every language is special and
beautiful and unique you know what i i don't go around like
just making fun of you know uh jing jong jiang wa you know
asian people something right i mean what for god created languages
it's you know languages is something that man could not create
okay yes it's got it's evolved over time with man
but it's god that put down the fundamentals of language
it's his language i love i love all languages i love all appearances of
people because that's how god created you to be
but listen i wasn't always like that i too was a child
i too was immature i too once made fun of people
okay yeah you know what i too once didn't like
who i was i too once wanted to be like michael jordan
okay so this is something we just need to grow up and understand and appreciate
yeah and i want to quickly read to you from isiah 53 verse 1
and uh isiah 53 verse 1 begins by saying who hath believed our reports
and to whom is the arm of the lord revealed
now if you understand that passage you know that this also uh gets repeated in
the book of romans when it comes to preaching the gospel who
believed believed our report so when we go preach the gospel
we're bringing the report of jesus christ what he's done for us who's
believed that we want people to believe the report
so they can be saved right but then he says in verse number two
for he that's the one who gives salvation of course jesus christ
for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant
and as a root out of a dry ground and then says this about jesus he have no
form nor comeliness and when we shall see him
there is no beauty that we should desire him you know when christ came to this
earth he wasn't like that's a beautiful man
come no comeliness the word commonly means again beauty
okay when jesus christ came to this earth he
looked like anybody else he looked like your average
jew he looked like just a normal jew right it didn't look like some
superstar right i mean if jesus christ was just
walking the earth with a bunch of other people you would not be able to just
look at him go that's that must be jesus there was nothing about him right there
was no halo shining on his head right he didn't have
like the uh german catholic paintings he didn't
have the blue eyes and the blonde hair and differentiate him from every other
jew there no he looked just like some normal man you would have walked if
you were living on that time you would have walked past jesus and not even
recognize that that was the son of god okay there was no beauty there was no
commonness with jesus christ and i love that we have this passage
here in the bible because that's how much god cares about
good books he doesn't care about it okay you know god's created us all to be
unique and different and jesus christ was not
focused on beauty i mean god's creating here bringing
christ into the world a body has been prepared for christ i'm
sure if we were god thinking okay we've got to bring a body
for my son uh the lord god of the creator of the universe we need to make
sure he looks amazing we're going to make sure
he looks muscular he's going to be really tall
he's going to be really handsome just like he's going to have this charisma
about him where people just they just whoa who's this guy that must be the son
of god no it wasn't that way at all okay christ
did not want people focused on his appearance
okay and this is why it's crazy why we have so many religions trying to
paint images and make pictures of christ when christ didn't care about it
okay what was important about christ the works his words
his his message of salvation the example that he's left us to walk after
those are the things that were important to christ okay
fixing and changing our character not our appearance
okay making ourselves to be better people fallen after jesus christ
can you please turn to uh matthew chapter four turn to matthew chapter
four verse number 18 matthew chapter four
and verse number 18
matthew chapter four verse number 18 the other thing that i love about jesus not
only was he not caring about what he looked like
okay that was not his focus but also when he came to
putting together his disciples his 12 disciples
you know christ did not have this like ideal um
fixation on an individual person and that everybody needs to be alike
as i said we all have different backgrounds we all have different
interests and you may feel this morning that you
know what i'm so different even god can't use me because i'm just
too different i'm just too unique you know well if you look at you
hold hold your finger there in matthew chapter 4
but i'll quickly read to you from luke 5 27 it says and after these things he
went forth as christ went forth and saw a publican
named levi sitting at the receipt of custom and he said unto him follow me
and he left all rose up and followed him levi of course is matthew okay one of
his disciples one of his apostles but notice
that before he left his workplace and followed the christ
he's known as the publican right he's sitting at the receipt of
custom he's exchanging money he's a tax collector
he's collecting taxes from his fellow jews for the romans
okay that's his occupation he's a paper pusher he's a money collector
people don't like tax collectors right because then you're left with more less
money in your pockets look at matthew chapter
four you're there matthew to the four verse number 18
matthew to the four verse number 18 and jesus
sorry and jesus walking by the sea of galley saw two brethren
simon called peter and andrew his brother casting a net into the sea
for they were fishers these are fishermen and he's safe unto them
follow me and i will make you fishers of men
and they straightway left their nets and followed him
so that's how christ is putting together his group his 12 disciples that are
going to be he's going to be teaching mentoring
they're going to be the guys well 11 of them anyway
they're going to be the ones that go and start the new testament churches that
lead the churches after the ways of christ and you know
what god says all right you know here we have a tax collector
we'll take him obviously he's good with money he's good with numbers
he's got a brain he's been educated and then i've got some other guys here just
doing a a blue-collar fisherman job two
brothers they're good enough as well why because
god looks upon the heart god looks at our unique personalities
our unique characters and as you read for your new testament you know all the
disciples were very different okay and yet they were special in the
eyes of jesus he trained each one of them to serve in
his ministry and if christ is able to appreciate the
uniqueness of difference of different people
different backgrounds different interests then we should too
okay god's created you to be different to serve him
you're going to serve god differently than someone else
i just quickly read to colossians 4 14 which says look
the beloved physician one of one of paul's helper was look
and he's a doctor a beloved physician you know right now we're not fans of the
physicians are we because they want to inject us with all
kinds of poisons right but here we have luke and i don't think he was one of
those physicians but listen at the end of the day
this was his job again a very well-educated person
well respected in society the beloved physician but even he
was someone that god could use in his ministry
we all have different backgrounds different interests
different occupations and god can use each one of us why
you're unique for him you've been created by god for him
please don't be like someone else please not be like i wish i had this person's
job you know because christ wants to use you
in your current workplace god can use you the skills that you've developed
over your lifetime over your experiences in your family that you've had
please appreciate every opportunity sorry every um
every situation that's created you to be who you are
okay please turn to one of my favorite passages in the bible
it's first corinthians chapter 12 first corinthians chapter 12 and verse number
14 first corinthians 12 14 this is
definitely one of my top favorite bible passages
the reason it's one of my favorite is because i once felt
that i could be nothing for god you know i once felt
i could never go soul winning you know i once felt god you can never use me to be
a pastor i want to be a pastor but i can't do it
like i don't think i cannot do it god you know and you know i once still
thought i'm probably never gonna get married
you know i once thought who would be interested in me like that's what i want
so i thought what kind of father would i be i don't think i can be a good father
you know i i once had all these doubts about who i am
all right because i just thought i was different i was unique and yes i'm
unique but so are you we're all unique and then
you know these are just lessons you have to learn through life and
i hope you learn them you know sometimes we learn them young sometimes we learn
them older but we got to learn them okay and understand god's medicine be very
special for himself but first corinthians 12 14
first corinthians 12 14 for the body is not one member but many the body he is
reference to the church the church is the body of christ it says in
verse 15 if the foot shall say because i am not the hand i am not of
the body is it therefore not of the body so the
foot is different to the hand right the foot's looking at the hand i i'm
not the hand then i must not be important in the body
i you know because i guess generally speaking when we do our work
we do with our hands but listen to do to get to work
to do anything for the lord we need our feet to get in the first place
we need the foot yes the foot is down low
it's kind of insignificant to the rest of the body but it's important as well
you don't have your feet brevin you can't get anywhere
okay the foot is different to the hand verse 16
if the ear shall say because i'm not the eye
i am not of the body is it therefore not of the body
the ear thinks well you know what the eye is so much better light can enter
into the eye you know and you and it gives you vision
i i can't see the ear thinks that therefore i'm not part of the body
of course you're part of the body the ear is different to the eye just like
the foot is different to the hand look at verse number 17 if the whole
body were an eye let's say you're an eye you're an eye in
the church and you say you know what i wish everyone in church
was just like me you know i'm an eye i wish everybody in church was an eye it
says if the whole body were an eye where were the hearing then no one can
hear okay if the whole we're hearing if you're
all ears where were the smelling then what are the nose nose is important as
well but now have god set the members every
one of them in the body as it have pleased him and if they were
all one member where were the body and now
and sorry but now are they many members yet but one body
and the eye cannot say into the hand i have no need of thee
nor again the head to the feet i have no need of you
okay and and that's that's what happens you know we're unique
because god has a need for us to serve him
and if you're part of a church and you are because in your life breathless
church then god has a unique purpose for you
in the house of god and you need to find what is that
what does god want me to be in his house in his service
in his kingdom and the best place he has to serve god is in the house of god
find out where you where you fit in what can you do for this place
you know and we're all different you don't have to be like me i don't have to
be like you okay praise god for that we're all
unique but you know what we're part of one body
we're part of one body we can't say there's one part of our body that we
need less than others it's all important to function
properly you know what if you don't come to
church inside i'm going to quit church you might be the leg you know we lose
one leg can we still survive of course we can still survive
but now we're going to need a crutch all right it's going to be harder to get
around it's going to be harder to do the works of god
without you there you might be the mouth you know you might be that part you know
and if you decide to leave the church or not to serve god then yeah we can work
we can do things but we can't speak you know we we and we all play an
important part and i guess in many ways i'm the mouth
that mouthpiece you know because i do most of the
preaching right but now i look at other people who i
have the capability of preaching praise god for you as well you know
we can serve in different ways it's not necessarily that's just one way that we
can serve we can serve in many ways you might be
part nose part mouth part eye part foot part feet part legs
part knee you know we're all important in the
house of god and so when i come to church and i preach god's word
i'm not hoping man i hope people become more like me
you know because i don't want you to be like me i have weaknesses too
i have problems too why do i want you to have my weaknesses my problems
i'd rather you find your strengths how god has created you
and work toward that work toward serving god with the strengths the interests
your desires your personality that you have and serve god at the fullest
you know i i spoke about how i wanted to be like michael jordan all right
a lot of people think soccer was my main sport but it wasn't soccer came much
later in my life i was really into basketball okay the
chicago bulls michael jordan yeah even the trading cards back then
right it's got all the cards of different players
and that was a big thing in my time and i i loved basketball my dad
uh brought us um yeah put in our backyard
not a basketball hoop but like a netball hoop so netball hoops even smaller
and i would practice every single day with my older brother i i would probably
play one or two hours every day i'd come
home from school and i'd be shooting hoops straight away
all right just in the backyard and then when i got older and my parents let me
out of the house i would go shoot hoops you know outside with my
friends or whoever i'm even just strangers i just find strangers playing
basketball i'd be out there playing basketball with them
and i i really i wanted to be like michael okay
and uh you know i i you know obviously practicing every day i develop skills
i've got pretty good at it right and i'm not good at it now i'm
talking over 20 years ago now brevin okay so
that's more than half my life in the past okay when i was a teenager
young adult i'd play and even um i'd play in teams i played
competitive uh basketball as well and i was always one of the shortest but it
didn't matter because practicing on that netball hoop
i became a very good shooter okay and i could just i i was really i was i was i
won't say i was really awesome but i was that was decent i was i was a decent
player and i remember going to some of these
basketball games with the team that i had
and i'm just watching my players my teammates play
and i'd see them shoot when they shouldn't shoot i see them pass when
they shouldn't pass i see them make mistakes i see them lose
the ball to the other team and i'd be frustrated i remember so i
might have been about 18 years old at this point right and i'm just going man
i wish this team was just made up of kevins
like i was like i was just looking at him come here look at all the mistakes
we're making like how are we going to win games like
this you know i remember we got together as a team and i said to the team i said
look these guys might be better trained than
us they've got coaches we don't have a coach
i said but there's no reason why we shouldn't lose the game
as long as we shoot when we should shoot as long as we pass we should pass
as long as we play like kevins support guitar we'll do fine
and look obviously you know this is this is a
something i'm not happy about like this is this is one of my weaknesses
i thought it was one of my strengths but it's actually one of my weaknesses
anyway i remember we were playing one game and that there was there was a real
a well developed well rehearsed like rehearsed team okay tall players
i wouldn't surprise if some of these players went on and became
professionals okay they were well coached they had team
not only did they have a team but they had like subs
like like a whole bunch of subs instead of one or two subs they had a whole team
of subs right and i don't you know that i i didn't
start the game but my friends were playing and we were just
getting destroyed i mean these guys were just so
good were being utterly destroyed i'm just thinking man
why can't they be more like me i wish this team this possible team was just
five kevin supporters running the court right now and then
eventually i went on the court i started to play
i knocked in my shots you know i think we were like 10 down
and then i got us back like 10 or something like that right and they're
all my shots okay and i was like yeah look at me anyway
the other team calls a timeout and uh they they change the tactics and
the coach on the other team got one of his team members to
basically mark me the whole game so this guy he would not
get the ball he would not shoot he would do nothing all he would do
is stay on me like a bad smell for the rest of the game he would not leave me
alone he was faster than me he was stronger
than me he would not leave me alone brethren
and there i was thinking man i wish everyone was like kevin support
this guy marks me he stops me i can't shoot
i try to get past him there's another player that stops me i cannot play
anymore i'm done i'm finished and then i we got destroyed our team got
absolutely destroyed i can't remember how badly we got destroyed
but i'm glad i went for that experience because i learned this lesson
i learned the lesson i was thinking man if all of us were like kevin support
because we would win this game no you know what
that coach had better techniques he would just get everybody to mark you
know me just the way they were and then we'll just still be destroyed anyway
and i can't remember what happened i don't know if and this again i was 18 so
this was like 22 years ago so forgive me my memory's not 100 but i
remember the lesson i just don't know exactly how it came to be
i don't know if it was the coach of the other team or one of the other team
members but i remember someone saying to me you're
a good player but you're not a team player you're a
good player but you don't appreciate the rest of your team
you know you thought you could beat us we shut you down we showed you
you know just how how weak you really are okay and i just remember thinking
man what did i what happened there yeah if
this team was all kevin supporters we would have been we already got
destroyed but we would have got destroyed even more
and i started to realize oh i don't appreciate my team my team has strengths
that i don't have okay i have weaknesses too
you know it's not about everybody being like me
it's me learning how to play with different people if i just learned their
strengths and they learned their weaknesses and
they knew my strengths we would be able to work as a team and play better
now i don't remember exactly how i learned that but i learned that i can't
remember who said it to me but it it's something that got absorbed
into me and i said this must be a life lesson this is something
that i'm going to learn for the rest of my life okay
and i wrote then eventually as i got older i got into the workplace
and i started to learn to appreciate teams people that i didn't really like
some people that didn't really get along but i found out we're all different
and if we just work together we're stronger as a team than we are as
individuals all right so this was a a lesson that i
learned and this is still something i take with me and i look at our church
and say well everyone's unique everyone's different i don't want to
be people be like me i don't want them to i don't want to be
like them because then we're just going to get destroyed okay
everyone has different strengths and weaknesses
we all need to play to each other's strengths you've got certain interests
you've got certain abilities and you need to learn to apply them
even if you're applying them differently to someone else
okay and this is partly why i hate so much how some people and you know
it's just how it is some people want to influence this is why i've been
preaching the other sermons in the past they want to be so influential in
someone else's life where they they want to change someone to be more like them
they want to change a family to be more like their family i hate it brethren
because then you lose your uniqueness you lose your individuality
you know as much as we are all different so is every family difference
okay but as long as we make every family in every individual stronger
then our church is going to be stronger then we can do more for the
for the cause of christ then we can play to each other's strength
and not be wiped out we can't all be kevin support leaders
and i had to learn that at 18 years old okay but i learned it here's the thing
i learned it so now i appreciate everybody's uniqueness
have you learned it maybe you've not learned it yet maybe you're willing to
age and you still not learned it well learn it now okay because god has
made you to be different and uh i'll just read can
you please go to first peter chapter four go to first
peter chapter four
go to first peter chapter four i'm going to read to you from acts chapter 10
verse number 34 so on basketball court i thought i was
something i thought i was good okay i thought i was special and uh you
know everyone's going to be like me all right and then it says here in acts
1034 then peter opened his mouth and said of a truth i perceived that
god is no respecter of persons but in every
nation hear that fear of him and work of righteousness is accepted
with him god is not a respecter of persons i
don't care how good you are at something whatever your strengths are however good
look you know you might look good you might have the good looks praise
god for you if you've got the good looks okay that's how god's created you to be
you know what whatever strengths you have whether they're inward whether
they're skills whether they're outward appearance or
whatever it is brethren the bible says here that i perceive that
god is no respecter of persons god does not
highly elevate you just because you have certain strengths
why it's not not that you're special it's that god has made you that way
god has given you those strengths so instead of becoming prideful and lifted
up about who you are and your different
abilities we need to be thankful that god has given us those abilities
and those abilities are not to be like michael jordan those abilities
are to be more like jesus christ to serve him to follow after
his footsteps that's why we created differently you're in first peter
chapter 4 first peter chapter 4 verse number 10
first peter chapter 4 and verse number 10
as every man have received the gift you know everyone has a gift all of you
have been given different gifts by god some have more than others but we all
have different gifts you have at least one
okay you say no i'm not gifted you have at least one okay find out what it is
as every man have received the gift even so minister
the same one to another so use your gifts to serve one another
as good stewards of the manifold grace of god
now notice verse number 11 if any man speak
that's kind of like me i'm the preacher let him speak as the oracles of god
i'm not here here's the wisdom of pastor kevin to pulvera
let me preach about how smart i am no i'm here to speak the oracles of god
the wisdom of god if any man minister let him do it
as look at this let him do it as of the ability
which god giveth so god gives you your abilities
don't become prideful about all your strengths okay god's giving you that
look at this that god in all things may be glorified through jesus christ
to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever
amen you see whatever strengths you've been given
whatever gifts whatever makes you unique as far as your strengths go
it's not for you to become prideful it's for you to glorify god
through jesus christ by using those gifts to serve god in his kingdom
to serve god in his house to serve one another reverend
that's why you're unique so you can serve each other
differently than the next person can you please turn to first corinthians
now turn to first corinthians chapter one
first corinthians chapter one
you know if you desire to be like someone else then you're not going to be
able to use your abilities your uniqueness your
strengths to serve jesus christ okay you're really just serving into the
pride and ego of the person that you're trying to
become but first corinthians chapter one for
summer 26 please because there's always someone and i
have these conversations with people that say well i'm really nothing
i have nothing to offer i'm not special i just have no abilities
no one likes me you know i don't get along with anybody well
maybe it's a character flaw that you need to change that might be it okay
but you know what if you say look i am really
nothing i hope what you're saying is not that god's created me to be a failure
because that's not the case god's giving you gifts god's giving you
abilities okay but rather when you compare yourself to god yeah
we are nothing that's true we are nothing when we compare ourselves to god
all right let's have a look at first corithians chapter 1 verse number 26
it says for ye see your calling brethren how that look at this not many wise men
after the flesh not many mighty not many noble
are called you know those that glory in their flesh
those those those that glory in their wisdom those that glory in their
strength those that glory in their status the
nobles of life they're they're the highest status in society very few of
these people actually get saved very few of these
people actually go on even if they do become saved
go on and serve god because they're so puffed up about who they are
okay puffed up in their flesh rather than recognizing that god's made me
unique and i'm unique to serve god all right
look at verse 127 but god have chosen the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise and god have chosen the weak things of
the world to confound the things which are mighty
you say pastor kevin i'm not very strong i'm very weak then god can use you
god can use you and will use you to confound even the mighty that are in
this world okay you can do the works of god verse
number 28 and base things of the world base things
are basic the lower things okay base things of the world and things
which are despised people don't like you okay people think
you're you're nothing they think you're lowly
they think you're insignificant or they just despise you
all right it says have god chosen god will choose you
you know god's god's major that way god's major unique god's major
difference all right you might look at yourself i'm
weak i'm despised well god's gonna going to use you because
god's giving you abilities he's giving you gifts and this is the
right way to humble yourself and say god what can you do for me it
says yay the things which are not to bring to not
things that are look at this why verse 29 that no flesh
should glory in his presence but of him are ye in christ jesus who is
who of god is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption that according as it is written
he that glorieth let him glory in the lord god much prefers to take
someone that is despised much rather take someone that is that
is seen considered to be talentless someone that is considered to be
nothing in this world god would much rather take that person and make him
someone great in the kingdom of god because then that person will say well
it's not about me i know it's not about me
i know i'm weak in the flesh i know i i i'm nothing lord but
i'm going to give all glory to you anything that i can accomplish anything
that i can do i'm going to give you full glory god i'm
going to give you thanks for helping me become something in your kingdom that's
what god wants okay so if you're so unique that you're
even hated by the world god can still use you because you've
been created by him for his purpose to serve him
please appreciate who you are stop doubting yourself
god wants to use you all right god's got work for you
get busy find out what that is all right all of us have been called to
preach the gospel okay all of us have been called to
lead someone to jesus christ to give him the message of salvation praise god
that's the least we can do brethren okay but how much more can you do for the
lord you know how are you considering your
uniqueness are you considering yourself being
thankful for god for what god has made you
and so brevin i'm going to end the sermon sermon on that passage
so the title for the sermon once again was delight
in your uniqueness you're different you're special
okay you're you're you're you're beautiful in the eyes of god
you look exactly the way that god wants you to look
the personality that you have is exactly the personality that god wants you to
have your strengths and weaknesses are
exactly the strengths and weaknesses that god wants you to have
okay now does god just want you to stay in your weakness oh he wants you to
strengthen your weakness and he wants you to strengthen your
strength okay but all at the same time giving glory to jesus christ
you know god wants to get busy in his kingdom
and please don't look at other people and say i wish i was more like them
yes set good examples hey yes set some good leaders
that will motivate you that will encourage you that will get you serving
the lord but please don't desire to be that leader
don't desire to be that individual person because you're unique in the eyes
of god and so reverend once again thank god
for who you are don't desire to be like anyone else
but also be willing to change be willing to change and conform yourself
to be more like the lord jesus christ okay let's pray