(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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