Finger
Prints
(5-02-04)
1Cor.12:12-20
1Cor.12:18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19
If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. As it is, there are many parts. God has done a wonderful
thing in bringing into existence His Church, the body of Christ. I know that this whole text of the body is a familiar one.
Anytime someone wants to talk about church unity, this becomes their proof text.
Step away
from that perspective for just a minute and look at something else – the
hand of God. “…God has placed…as
He desired…” Lets put things in order. Who is the builder of the Church? Who is the one who adds to that
Church? Who does the calling? Who does the cleansing? Who does the gifting? What does this say about our place in the process?
1CO 12:4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but
the same God works all of them in all men. It is a work of God that each of us has entered into. Just as there are
no two snow flakes the same or no two sets of fingerprints the same there are no two Christians the same. Each and every person
in the Church has been prepared by God to be uniquely different than anyone else in the body.
One of
the challenges of leadership is to be a facilitator of that uniqueness and an enabler of the special calling that God has
called each of you to His Kingdom for. Everyone in the Kingdom has been specifically prepared for what you alone are called
to do and be. Any time we fail to cooperate with our God given uniqueness we fail in what He has called us to be for Him and
for His Church.
I would
want to impress this upon your minds and hearts today – you are a champion. No one else has your abilities. No one else
has your background of preparation. No one has your insight and angel of perception. No one else has been called by Jesus
in the way that your heart was called and for the reasons to which He did call you. You are the soul proprietor of your life
and its destiny. No one else can do what you have been called By our Lord to accomplish for His own glory the way you can.
NO ONE!
We are
not all called be a John the Baptist, or a Stephen the Martyr, or a Paul the Apostle or a Barnabas the Encourager, but we
each are called to be a ________ the servant of the Almighty God and His Son Jesus. Each of you is a David with your own Goliath
to slay. Like David, you too are being prepared for your Goliaths by God’s own hand delivering you from the bear and
the lion.
We may
never reach the notoriety that these people did and that’s Ok. Do you know why? Because none of them became famous for
the sake of being famous. They did so for the Glory of God and the spreading of His Kingdom and the fulfillment of His purposes.
David needed to honor those moments of preparation by God. The only way to honor his training and trainer was for him to be
what he was called to be – the giant slayer!
God has
called you into His Kingdom and this Church for a reason. You alone can accomplish what Jesus has designed for you to do –
you are His champion for His glory. You are encouraged by this pulpit to be the finger print of God on these moments in time
we now share.
