Wanted
Notes
Transcript
Introduction by Zenetta
Introduction by Zenetta
How the Lord gave Zenetta the word WANTED
What Comes To Mind When You Hear “WANTED”?
Want Ads
Old West Wanted Poster
Uncle Sam “I Want You”
David
David
Understanding the word WANTED
The earliest definitions of the word “want” mean “lacking something.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
In the King James Version, the word “want” is used 44 times, and almost every time it refers to someone lacking something.
So it is no wonder that we often associate the word “want” with “need.”
But over the centuries, we have learned to distinguish between a want and a need.
Mamas, how many times have you heard your children crying, sobbing, screaming because they need something.
If they don’t get it, they’ll die!
And what is it that is such a matter of life and death?
Some new game.
An outfit.
Something that they are going to lose interest in almost as soon as they get it.
And what do you tell your kids when they come begging for these things?
That’s a WANT, not a NEED.
You see, over time, we have learned to associate the word WANT with DESIRE rather than purely needing something.
Most of us are practical people. When we say we want something, it is usually something that is useful to us.
We want something because we need it.
But just because we need something doesn’t mean we want it.
Like a visit to the dentist.
What Do We Want?
We want things that are going to be useful to us.
It will make my life easier
It will affect how others perceive me.
We also want things that bring us pleasure.
Jewelry
Toys
We usually combine these aspects
I need a vehicle to get around, so I’m buying a Ferrari.
In Relationships
We think about what qualities we want in our mate.
Especially if you were raised up in a Christian home, you were probably taught how important it is to find the right person.
Women, you most likely grew up being taught about the Proverbs 31 woman as an example of the kind of wife and mother you need to be.
An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.
She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.
She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar.
She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.
She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.
She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.
She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.
She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant.
Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.
Impressive, isn’t it?
So many pastors make this their theme verse for Mother’s Day.
It seems so inspiring, doesn’t it?
When you read that description of what a godly wife and mother is like, how does it make you feel?
Somehow we take this passage that is meant to help men look for the right qualities in a woman, and we turn it into a to-do list for Christian women.
For some, it feels like an unfair, unattainable ideal thrust upon them in order to be considered a good wife and mother.
I heard one woman say, “I’d like to meet that Proverbs 31 woman and slap her silly!”
Women begin to think their only worth is in what they can do for their families.
Their families only want them around because they need them.
Being Wanted
Everyone wants to be wanted—to be valued.
More specifically, everyone wants to be valued just for themselves.
Some of the most famous people are also the loneliest.
You hear them say things like, “People don’t want me. They want things from me.”
A mother can easily feel this way.
Sure, you are appreciated for all the things you do.
Well, that might not get expressed as often as you would like.
But you begin to wonder how they would feel about you if you suddenly couldn’t provide for them anymore.
As much as we want to be wanted, it is so easy to become disconnected from others.
Ironically, this most often happens because we get so busy doing things for others.
We push ourselves to provide for others because we love them.
But then we get so busy that we forget to take time to just be with those whom we love.
And then we begin to think that they don’t care because they aren’t spending time with us, when really it is us who are missing opportunities to spend time with them.
Zenetta: The story about the little boy asking how much his daddy earned an hour.
Wanted by God
In our search for someone to want us, it’s important to realize that God WANTS you.
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?
And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?
So here is the image we have of how God feels about us.
He’s got you tattooed on his hands.
He can’t keep his eyes off of you.
He is your biggest cheerleader.
He’s your strong shoulder when you are upset.
He notices every single tear you shed.
When we hear that God loves us, we often think of it as some different of love that somehow doesn’t quite count.
I know God loves me, but I want REAL love!
It’s like we think that God only loves us in the most basic way because he is obligated to do so.
“He’s God, so he has to love me.”
But what we just read says that God doesn’t just sort of love us.
He is CRAZY about us.
He WANTS us. He DESIRES us.
And it’s not just because of what He can get from us.
Like the Parable of the Lost Sheep.
That sheep wasn’t any use to the shepherd being off somewhere on its own.
But that shepherd went after that sheep because he WANTED it.
It was precious to the shepherd.
If the Lord wants you so much, then why do you feel so unwanted?
Like we said earlier, we get so busy that we fail to spend time with God so that we can hear how much he wants us.
That lost sheep didn’t start out lost.
But it got so caught up in its own little world that it failed to notice that it wandered away from the shepherd.
We miss opportunities to draw closer.
COVID-19 and Stay-at-home order
So many people have felt so depressed and disconnected during this time.
I heard so many people talking about how frustrated they have been.
But with all this time that we have had at home during these last two months, how did we spend it?
Binge-watching TV?
Catching up on household projects?
Staring blankly at the wall trying to figure out what to do next?
How many of us took advantage of the opportunity to spend more time in prayer and studying God’s word?
I don’t believe God sent COVID-19 as a judgement on the earth.
It is a result of living in a fallen world.
But I believe God intended to use this as an opportunity to get us to slow down and spend more time with him.
He wants to spend time with you!
He WANTS you!!!
If you are feeling unwanted—unappreciated—God wants you to know that you are valuable to him in ways you can never comprehend.
It has nothing to do with what you do, although he does appreciate when you willingly give of yourself.
My niece, Lacee, is a teenage girl who was born missing a certain chromosome.
This affected her development.
She can’t walk. She doesn’t even crawl.
She can’t talk.
She seems to only understand the most basic concepts.
She will wear diapers her entire life.
She is basically a teenage infant. One that is going through puberty!
Lacee can do nothing to contribute to the family’s needs.
Her whole life is dependent on others caring for her.
But Lacee is WANTED.
She’s wanted by my brother, who picks her up as soon as he gets home from work and loves on her until bedtime.
She’s wanted by her mother, her brothers and sister.
She’s wanted by her aunts and uncles.
AND she is definitely wanted by GOD.
You are wanted.
God wants you here and now.
He values you. He treasures you just as you are.
He wants you. And he wants you to want him too.