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Sermon of the Week 
Tuesday, April 14 2015

What Is Your Shape? By Pastor Charles Elliott

Murat ildan wrote, “Be as soft and pliable as possible, if something good and wise wants to shape you…but be as hard and resistant as possible, if something bad and foolish wants to shape you!”

Israel Avor, wrote “Your bread assumes the shape of the pan you use to bake your flour. Therefore know that you can’t use a rounded pan and ever get squared bread. Change the thing that influences you and you change the shape of your outcome!”

And one more….lity munshi wrote, “if I could see the future, I wonder what I would do differently to give shape to my life today.”

I am told that Once upon a time, some animals started a school for animals. They decided the courses would be running, climbing, swimming, and flying.  They decided further that all the animals had to be tested on all four areas.  That’s when problems began.  The rabbit could outrun them all, but he couldn’t swim, so he got so upset, he dropped out.  The duck outswam them all, but he was absolutely no good at running with his webbed feet, so he dropped out.  The squirrel could climb better than all of them, but was terrible at flying class, in fact after a really bad experience, he dropped out…The eagle excelled in flying, but he refused to even attempt to swim, so he dropped out. It wasn’t very long before the school had to shut down.

The same principal applies to us – We can’t do many things, but we were made to be ourselves, with unique gifts and talents, that God has used to shape us in order to fulfill our purpose and calling.

2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “For we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (We are a God-idea)

God is shaping us through our spiritual gifts, through our heart’s desires, through our abilities, through our personality, and our experiences of life. When you put them all together, you spell “SHAPE”.

Our purpose here today, is to lay the groundwork, which will cause us to begin to focus on our particular, unique and individual “SHAPE”….

Do you know what your spiritual gifts are?  Every one of us has been gifted in some way to serve God and those around us. Likewise, all of us have deeply heartfelt causes and passions… What do you have a heart for?  What are you truly enthusiastic about?  All of us have been given

Abilities – what are you naturally good at where do you excel and what life skills have you developed?  All of us have a uniquely individual Personality – are you an introvert or extrovert… are you emotionally or cerebrally driven…. are you good with the details or do you gravitate to the big picture?

And then, all of us have our unique Experiences – God never wastes anything in our lives.  What has God wired you to do and to be, with the wisdom and knowledge you have acquired, through the multitude of experiences you have encountered?

The famous Scottish runner Eric Liddell, in the movie “Chariots of Fire”, said, “When I run, I feel God’s pleasure!”  God has shaped each one of us in a unique way.  And the important thing is to understand, harness, and deploy all these areas that shape us, into who we are and to be busy in the work God has given us to do. Sometimes we make the process of discovering and knowing where we fit in the flow of the thing we call ministry, a lot more difficult than it really is ….

All of us immediately recognize the difference between a circle and a triangle, or the difference between a square and a star and so on. Their shape is unique and distinguishable like each of us are….

On one occasion, as Jeremiah entered the prophetic ministry, God told him to go down to the potter’s house and watch. He could see the skilled craftsman get the potter’s wheel going, round and round, then, he watched as they put a lump of clay on the wheel, and then by hand formed the spinning lump of clay into a pot, a bowl or a dish.

Jeremiah 18:3 “So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw Him working at the wheel. v4 But the pot He was shaping from the clay was marred in His hands, so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to Him. v5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, v6 “cannot I do with you as this potter does with the clay, says the LORD?” Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand…”

Our shape is determined by the things we allow to mold us…. Each one of us are uniquely fashioned by all the God ordained instruments that have come together to shape us….Your unique shape is where your power is! God has shaped you to have power, authority and dominion in the earth…. When you struggle with it, and you’re confused about your unique shape, and uncertain about how you fit and where you can function at your best, then you fail to understand the authority which you have been given….And to fail to understand, or to deny, or to not like who you are, is to forfeit and give away your power!

For example, a liquid has substance, but no definite shape, since it takes the shape of the container it is in. Therefore, be careful about the container you allow yourself to be identified by and the things you choose to be molded by.

Samson was anointed by God, to deliverer Israel from the oppressive and brutal occupation by the Philistines in their country and their lands. Samson didn't decide the things that shaped him into what he was, but Samson could deny who he was and misuse and abuse who he was and give away his power….. Samson became disconnected and distracted from his calling, because he allowed his immediate gratification to block his long term destiny. He also allowed his personal desires to take priority over the needs of those he had been called upon to minister unto and to deliver.

Listen, child of God, Satan will send many Delilah’s to throw you off track, and cause you to miss your purpose and underestimate who you are! Don’t confuse gratification with fulfillment! Delilah gratified Samson, but left him feeling unfulfilled, manipulated and used!

One key to maximizing your potential is to be done with the situations and people that restrict, limit, stifle and stand in the way of reaching your God given potential. Remember, you will never change anything that you are willing to keep on tolerating, and accommodating and enabling. The Delilah’s will show up to take from you... your self-expression, your unique perspective, your knowledge gained through experiences… and your God given strength.

The Need to Please and belong, is also referred to as Co-dependency, when you enable another person or yourself to avoid the changes they need to make so they can continue in self-defeating and self-destructive cycles…. Many times, the need to be accepted and please everyone, can cause us to fail in being who God shaped us to be… We want to fit in and be liked by everyone…(Tell someone…You’re accepted in the beloved) If we waste our energy and abilities and time trying to find our value and identity in the approval of others, we are headed for a lot of disappointment and unfulfillment. This kind of need to always be liked and accepted, will leave you empty. And No one or No thing, can keep an empty person full who is always leaking. Your Job can’t do it, your spouse can’t do it, your possessions can’t do it, or your bank account, or your buying a new outfit, or your friends, or your church…None of these can do it, only in Christ, can we fill our emptiness and give us purpose as we are true to our unique “SHAPE”.

To fail to give to God what is His, will cause you to lose your Power. You see, God doesn’t need anything we give Him, but the power and authority which He delegates to us, is based on trust and faithfulness. We wouldn’t give someone authority in our finances, or our personal affairs, that we didn’t trust! We give so the blessings of God can find us. We give so that the cycle of harvest can be completed. Jesus said, it is more blessed to give than to receive! Because there are things that are more valuable than money! God is a giver, Jesus is a giver, the Holy Spirit gives and pours out constantly….The givers find out that God is a blesser!

There was a woman in the church, who was deeply dedicated to Christ and served faithfully in the Church wherever she could. She had never married. But she was always working and serving others. She gave more to Missions work than anyone else in the church. She was asked by her pastor about her deep love for missions. She told him that years earlier, when she was a teen, she heard God calling her to be a Missionary. She ignored it at first but said it was "something that burned deeply in her soul." She said she felt that call throughout her life. There was both passion and regret in her voice as she spoke. So the pastor asked her the obvious questions. Why didn't she answer the call? Why didn't she become a Missionary? She told him that she was afraid God would send her to Africa and she would have to work in the terrible, unsanitary, dangerous conditions. She buried her talent so that she would not have to confront her own fears. And it robbed her of her power. Oh, she was involved in Missions but she failed to invest and spend herself in the Kingdom. She failed to answer God's call in her life and she lived with that regret and deep sense of unfulfillment all her life.

Matthew 16:25 Jesus said: "Those who want to save their life will lose it, but those who lose their life for my sake will find it."

William Barclay said, “There are two great days in a person’s life— the day we are born and the day we discover why.” ~ We can all be encouraged by the example of Caleb in the book of Joshua.

Joshua 14:7 “I was forty years old when Moses the servant of GOD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. And I brought back an honest and accurate report. v10 Now look at me: GOD has kept me alive, as He promised, and here I am today, eighty-five years old! v11 I’m as strong as I was the day Moses sent me out. As my strength was then, even so is my strength now, I’m as strong as ever in battle, whether coming or going. v12 So give me this mountain, that GOD promised me. You yourself heard the report, that the giant Anakim were there with their great fortress cities. If GOD goes with me, I will drive them out, just as He said.”

Caleb, was true to the God who had shaped him for such a time and such a ministry, as he was prepared before he ever faced Jericho….The master Potter knew what he was doing with the clay! Who you have been fashioned by God to become, needs 3 deminsions….

1. It takes a good start (not just I want to, but I will) A trip around the world begins with one step….start where you are and stop waiting for a better time or a more convenient season….The easy path won’t take you there….and Mon-yana won’t get it done….

2. It takes a good follow through… (gain all the knowledge and preparation you can, do your homework) I know when we built WJIR radio, from nothing, I spent a year, studying the FCC manual, and getting to know the guidelines and regulations….Stop saying I can’t and let God add to you line upon line, precept upon precept and measure upon measure. What you immerse yourself in is what you will become. What you follow after and pursue, is what you will find…

3. It takes a strong finish (you discover that you can keep moving forward even when it feels like you’ve hit the wall) He renews our strength as we mount up, not as we give up! If God be for us, what and who, can stand against us!?

One Sunday morning the Preacher preached a sermon about using your giftedness for God’s Kingdom. After the service, one of the men took the preacher aside and said. "Preacher, I'm not a very gifted person. I can't teach Sunday school, my singing voice isn't good enough for the choir, and I'm too shy to visit new people. But I do have one talent that might be of some use to the church." "And what is that?" the pastor asked him. "Well," said the man, "God put me here to be the church critic. I can criticize the choir, I can criticize the church council, and you know very well, how I criticize your sermons. What do you think I can do with that talent?" The Preacher thought for a minute and then said: "Do you remember what the man in scripture did, who had only one talent? He took it and hid it in the ground, didn't he? Well, I'd suggest that you do the very same thing with your one talent. Believe me, the Lord and the Church will both be very pleased."

If you want increase, you must invest….Mary invested her alabaster box filled with precious ointment to anoint the feet of Jesus….The disciples saw it as a waste, but Jesus saw it as an investment….

God has made a huge investment in each of our lives…He has given His only Son, that we might become all that we were destined to become! The teaching that is found all through the bible, on sowing and reaping, is about increasing through investing….It begins in the book of Genesis and runs throughout the scripture….

Genesis 8:22 “As long as the earth remains, there shall be seed time and harvest…” The Prophet Samuel’s mom invested her son in God’s kingdom, to be raised in the temple, as a voice for God, and history was changed because of one mother’s investment!

Whatever your “SHAPE”…invest it in the kingdom….(tell someone, “you’re in pretty good shape, for the shape you’re in”)

You can’t hide what God has fashioned for His purposes and expect an increase….

I know a doctor, who is retired now, who got most of his office staff, nurses and partners involved in mission work in Africa. Once a year, the office would be closed for a week. The entire staff loaded up, food, drugs, instruments and themselves and offered their services to villages in Africa. For five days, they worked sixteen to eighteen hours a day doctoring the sick and afflicted. The office staff kept records, took care of children, and set up a Vacation Bible School. They had teams that helped distribute food to the hungry. When he was asked how much money he lost during that week the office was closed. He grinned and said "We lost absolutely nothing, because you can’t lose what you give away, in Jesus name. We come back exhausted and sometimes sick but we get much more back than anything we are privileged to invest in these lives.”

Matthew 13:8 “The seed which fell on good ground, then brought forth a harvest, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold and some one hundred fold”.

To fail to invest what God has shaped us to become, causes us to not only fail to increase, but it prevents what God has planned for us in our future from coming to us…..

There are two places in the bible that Jesus shared this truth in parables….The first is in the parable of the talents…. Matthew 25:29 “For unto every one that has (used what he has) shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that has not (used what he has) shall be taken away even that which he (does not) have”.

The second is in the parable of the sower, planting seed in the field for a harvest…..

He begins in Matthew 13:3 And He spoke many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow…. And He ends with Matthew 13:12 “For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance, but whosoever has not (or has nothing with what he has), from him shall be taken away even that which he does not (yet) have”.

If we follow this principal of investing who we are in God’s kingdom, we can’t help but be blessed….I came across this little story ..          

A good Christian woman was sitting on her second-story balcony opening her mail. As she opened a letter from home, a crisp, new, twenty-dollar bill fell out. She was pleasantly surprised, but as she read the letter her eyes were distracted by a shabbily dressed, homeless man, on the street below, as he leaned against the flag pole in front of the building. She couldn't get him off her mind. Thinking that he might be in greater financial need than she was, she slipped the bill into an envelope on which she quickly scribbled the words, "Don't despair." Then she threw the envelope down to the street below…The stranger below picked it up, read it, looked up, smiled, and waved as he went on his way. The very next day the woman was about to leave the house, she found the same shabbily dressed man smiling as he handed her a roll of hundred dollar bills. When she asked what they were for, he replied: "That's the thousand bucks you won, at the races lady, after my cut. 'Don't Despair' paid out on 20 to one odds." (now that’s what I call grace!)

One of the greatest motivations for recommitting ourselves to investing what God has shaped us to be in the kingdom, is found in Deuteronomy, … I want you to receive this by faith today….

Deuteronomy 28:1 “Now if you will obey the voice of the Lord your God, and be careful to keep His word which He gives you today, then the Lord your God will honor and exalt you, v2 And all these blessings will come on you and overtake you in the way you go, if your ears are open to the voice of the Lord your God. (skipping to verse12) He shall open His store-house in heaven, and send rain on your land at the right time, blessing all the work of your hands. Others around you will benefit from your blessings, and you will have no need of them as your source. v13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail; and you will have a place of honor, if you obey the word of the Lord your God which He gives you today, to keep them and to do them.”

We must understand that we are connected to something much larger, and greater than ourselves! We are invested in something so big, so certain, so guaranteed, so eternal, that it cannot fail…..

Little is much when God is in it….Small seeds produce great things…It was a little stone in David’s hand that brought down the giant….It was a little mustard seed, that produced a great tree in Jesus’ parable on faith… It was a widows little flask of oil and meal that sustained her family and neighbors through the time of famine….It was a boys little lunch, that fed the multitude…..and it was a little virgin girl, through whom the Messiah came into the world, for she had allowed herself to be shaped for great things, as she said to the angel of the Lord, “So be it unto me, as you have spoken”…..

This is so powerful, because it tells us that until we invest ourselves in God’s kingdom purpose, we have not and cannot complete our purpose, and our calling…Jesus said in John 12:24 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a (little) grain of wheat fall into the ground and die (apo'…complete it’s purpose), it abideth alone (men'-o….remains dormant, it’s power is never released) but if it die (completes it’s purpose), it brings forth much fruit”. The comedian, Flip Wilson was asked about his religion once and said: "Oh, I'm a Jehovah's Bystander. They asked me to be a Jehovah's Witness, but I didn't want to get involved."

In the parable of the talents, each servant was given a different amount, but it was not about how talented they were, it was about how faithful they were with what they had been given…. It has been well said that our abilities, giftedness, and resources are God’s gifts to us, how we use them, is our gift to God…. God never looks at the amount, but He always looks at the heart.

Dr. Myles Munroe reveals six keys to releasing your potential. 1. Know, and be confident in your source. God is our creator and our Master potter, and he knows us better than anyone else. 2. Learn to function by looking beyond what you now see, to what is yet possible. We will be tomorrow what we believe about ourselves today. 3. Understand your purpose. No matter how much our potential, by attaching ourselves to the wrong things, we buy into the illusion that life is only about feeling good, and gratifying ourselves. 4. Be Confident in Your Calling. If you have accepted Christ, you are not a lump of coal you are a diamond. Don’t sell yourself cheap! God has already seen us as successful, and has spoken over all the places and circumstances of our lives. 5. Keep yourself in the right environment. Create and sustain a God-centered, success oriented environment. Fill your mind with positive input which is in harmony with your dreams and goals. Watch what you listen to, guard what you focus your thoughts on. Be careful what you let into your spirit. 6. Know that your dreams will require determined, disciplined effort…So be clear about your boundaries and values. Dreams, without discipline, simply expose your lack of priorities and guiding principles.

We are a “Can do” people, because our God is a “can do” God, who has never been defeated, and He has never failed or been mistaken!. Our life manual, the bible, tells us that we were created with dominion and authority. We are imbedded with incredible abilities and talents. We are encouraged to believe that we can do all things through Christ who indwells us and who has given us The Holy Spirit to be our daily guide and counselor.

The starting point of unlocking our potential, and accomplishing more than we ever have before, is for us to be honest and transparent with ourselves and challenge our self-limiting beliefs. We choose to be honest with the person in the mirror! (be careful that the mirror isn’t distorted)

You can be so busy looking for Superman that you walk right past Clark Kent every day without recognizing who he really is…..

Imagine for the moment that you have no limitations on your abilities. Imagine that you could be, or do, or have anything you really wanted in life. Imagine that yur potential is unlimited, and free of all self-limiting beliefs. Imagine that you could set and achieve any goal you put your mind to.

It is then, that you have discovered what Christ meant, when He said….that you could do all things, through Christ who is strengthening you….This is how you begin changing your thinking and changing your life. What a person thinks in their heart, is who they are. The way you think, is in reality, how you will live, because your own thoughts are what you believe at your deepest level.

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

James 1:2 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations v3 “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. v4 “So, let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting in nothing”.

May we let the Lord set us free, to reach our God given Potential, because the world is waiting to marvel at what God can do, when we invest ourselves in His Kingdom….

I would like everyone to tell someone the following… (go ahead…find one person, and get ready to repeat after me…)

“You are a thoroughly redeemed and transformed person. You are honest, decent, truthful, and hardworking. You treat other people with courtesy, respect, and warmth. You are dedicated to your family, friends, and your work. You are strong, confident, and responsible. You are knowledgeable, intelligent, and experienced. You are important not only to the people closest to you, but also to your community. You were born for a special reason, and you have a great destiny to fulfill. You are an excellent person, created by God for every good work”.

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