Picked to Purposed

You are God’s lil pumpkin!!! haha

When our son was a little guy we used to call him Pumpkin man!!!

He was our little chosen one...

Ephesians 1:5 NLT

5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

This morning I want to remind all of us here today that God has picked, planned, prepped and purposed our lives!!!

Having Christ as our Savior is not an accident - but in many ways like our process of choosing a harvest pumpkin - Christ has chosen us for His harvest season.

So this morning, I may need some help from our kiddos as we look at how God works in our lives to accomplish His desire for us.

1. PICKED

What is the first thing you have to do when you want to get a pumpkin?

You have to choose it!

Whether that is out of a bin at the supermarket, or a pumpkin patch, we give great care to the pumpkin we choose, and so has the Lord when He choose us!

John 15:16 NLT

16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.

I need some help picking out a pumpkin up here… choose a child to help you

Now, a couple of things to remember

We want a REAL pumpkin

When God chooses people, he isn’t looking for fakes! Fakes can look perfect on the outside, but they are not real.

He understands that a REAL pumpkin is never perfect! Their shape, dents, broken stems are all part of their life and growing to the place i time when HE CHOOSES them.

A pumpkin is a living, growing thing, and it shows when you look at it, yet God still envisions what He can do with that pumpkin, just like we envision our masterpiece when we choose one ourselves.

Can you imagine trying to make a pumpkin pie, or roast pumpkin seeds from a fake pumpkin??? Yuck!

Always realize, that God wants to choose the real you! Even with your flaws, faults and misshaped ways - he chooses you just the way you are, but He doesn’t leave you that way...

2. PLANNED

He has a plan for your life!!! He has always had a plan for what He wants to do with you...

Here is the problem - people unlike a pumpkin sometimes don’t want the carving knife of the Master to carve out His plans - so they run away from what God wants to do in their lives, but if we allow Him to choose - He has a plan for each of our lives that will make something beautiful and useful for HIS GLORY AND HONOR.

Now if you look at these fake pumpkins up here, a few are already carved out. What is the image on the pumpkin

a human face

that is right - the image of man has been carved on this pumpkin --- but God has a different plan...

Romans 12:2 NLT

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Colossians 3:10 NLT

10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

He wants people when they look at our lives, not to see our faces, our image, our plans, but HE WANTS to be glorified through us!!!

So, our plan for this pumpkin is going to be something different...

We have chosen to carve out a CROSS on the front of the pumpkin, that way when people look at it, they see an symbol of Christ not an image of man!

Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

We might say, I don’t like that plan - I want to shine, but realize when others see Christ in us, and His plans are accomplished - it is a far brighter future and way!

3. PREPPED

Now, the Lord has to prep us...

It may seem scary to have the cutting tools of God perform his work in our lives, but rest assured the preparation is a good thing.

A pumpkin is more glorious when it has light shining through it, then just having a picture colored on it!

In order to have that happen, we have to allow to get into our lives, and clean us out of all the icky stuff inside of us.

Even pumpkin pie does not include the gooey stringy mess inside.

2 Timothy 2:21 NLT

21 If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.

So you see, we allow God to get into our lives, clean out al the sin, and impure thoughts, selfish desires and goals - to scoop them out, like we scoop out the mess inside the pumpkin… so it is clean inside and ready for His light to be placed in.

2 Corinthians 4:7 NLT

7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

4. PURPOSED

Now, He can use us for His purpose!!!

What is that purpose?

To place His light in our lives to SHINE so all can see HIM through us!!!

Matthew 5:14 NLT

14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

Ephesians 2:10 NLT

10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Yes, a masterpiece created by God for His light to shine in us so He is glorified in our lives.

CONCLUSION

This is why God picks us - because He has a plan for us, and he preps us to purpose us for His light to shine in us!!!

The question today is if you will allow him to do so????