Blog | Life Church St Louis

Understanding How God Created You

Church, Message / By Pastor Dan Walker / September 12, 2006

Today I am going to talk about “Understanding How God Created You.” Why would you want to understand how God created you? The answer is that when you understand how God created you, you are much closer to figuring out what you were created to do. And when you are doing in life what you were created to do, you couldn’t live a better life.

As a human being, you are the pinnacle of God’s creation on earth. You are not just a better monkey, God created man in a class of it’s own, you were created in the very image of God. To better understand how God created you with a unique divine design, we are going to use the acronym SHAPE. S – Spiritual gifts, H – Heart, A – Abilities, P – Personality and E – Experiences. Each of those five aspects makes you who you are and makes you completely different than anyone else who has every lived or who will ever live.

God created you to use your unique SHAPE to serve Him in the various parts of your life. You use your SHAPE to serve God in your family. You use your SHAPE to serve God in your work. You should use your SHAPE to serve God in your church. Using your SHAPE to serve God in your church is called ministry. My ministry as a pastor is to equip you as a believer to fulfill your ministry. NRS Eph. 4:11-12 Pastors and teachers equip the saints for the work of ministry building up the body of Christ.

If you are a believer, you are a saint, according to the Bible, and your ministry is to serve others in the church and build them up. Being a believer is not a spectator sport, just sitting and listening to someone else teach or preach. Being a believer is a participatory sport, you get involved in helping others. Now some of you are thinking, I really don’t have the SHAPE or ability to help someone else in the church. I can’t teach, I can’t speak in public, I can’t sing, what could I do?

Let me briefly tell you my story. I became interested in science and chemistry in grade school. I pursued that passion, eventually receiving a doctorate in organic chemistry from University of California, Berkeley. While working at Monsanto as a research chemist, I felt God calling me to serve Him as a pastor. Imagine what thoughts went through my head: “God, I think you’ve made a big mistake. I don’t think the church needs any chemicals mixed. I get petrified with public speaking, just leave me in my lab mixing chemicals.” Then God began to show me some of the abilities and spiritual gifts he had given me: abilities of organization, administration, studying, communicating in writing and faith. He began to help me overcome my fear of speaking and to get better at it and here I am today, no longer mixing chemicals, but serving as a pastor.

If God can turn a chemist into a pastor, don’t count yourself out. God may not be calling you as a pastor, but He is calling you to minister. Begin to ask God to show you how the SHAPE He has given you can be used to minister in the church. Your life will never be the same. So how can you use your SHAPE to minister to others and serve God?

To hear more about this topic, listen to my September 10, 2006 message entitled Understanding How God Created You

Why Was I Created As I Am?

Church, Message / By Pastor Dan Walker / September 4, 2006

Currently we’re in a message series I’ve entitled “Created To Do What?” You were created by God with a purpose in mind, you were created with an assignment to carry out. Many people never figure out what God created them to do and they live miserable, unfulfilled lives. Other people have an idea what God created them to do but they’re afraid to do it or they don’t want to do it, so they too live miserable unfulfilled lives. To live a happy, fulfilled life, you have only one option, to do what God created you to do.

This morning some of you may think that it’s too late for you, that you’ve gone off track from God’s plan and you can’t get back on. I want to tell you this morning that it’s never too late to get back onto God’s plan for your life. God can take you from wherever you are and help you to get on track to exactly what you were created to do from this day forward.

Today I want to talk about the question “Why Was I Created As I Am?” Why do I look the way I do? Why do I have the set of abilities and gifts that I have? Why do I live in St Louis and not in China? Why do I like the things I like? Why have I gone through the things that I’ve gone through in life? T]Part of the answer to all those questions is that you were created to help others, you were created to minister. God shaped you in a special way because He has a special task, a special ministry for you.

NIV Isaiah 64:8 O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. God is the potter, you and I are the clay. God has shaped and formed you exactly the way that he wanted, you are the work of His hand. There are many different kinds of pots, each to serve a different function. So too God has created each one of us differently, because He has a different function, a different ministry for each person to fulfill.

Some of you today feel like you have gotten a raw deal in life, that the potter did not know what He was doing when he created you and placed you in your life circumstances. NIV Isaiah 29:16 You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pot say of the potter, “He knows nothing”? If you as the clay tell the potter that He doesn’t know what He is doing, you will remain miserable. But today, God wants to do something new in your life. He wants you to acknowledge that God created you and He did a good job. God wants you to know deep down in your heart that you were created just as you are to do something special.

To hear more about this topic, listen to my September 3, 2006 message entitled Why Was I Created As I Am?

Your Assignment From God

Church, Message / By Pastor Dan Walker / August 28, 2006

You and I were created by God, you are not the product of evolution. If you and I were the product of evolution, then life would have no meaning. We would have no purpose except to live and die. However, you were created by God. Therefore your life has purpose, but what is that purpose? What are you and I supposed to do with our lives?

Today I begin a new message series called “Created To Do What?” That’s one of the most important questions anyone can ask. Doesn’t matter if your 9 or 90, you need to ask and find answers to the question “What Was I Created To Do?” As I was pondering that question I was reminded of an old song by Bob Dylan called “Gotta Serve Somebody.” You were created to serve somebody, you were created to accept an assignment for your life from somebody. You have a choice to make, who are you going to serve? The song says there are two choices of who you’re going to serve, the devil or the Lord. Dylan is right about that.

NIV Romans 6:13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as instruments of righteousness. That’s the choice, offer yourself to serve sin and the devil or offer yourself to serve God. Now, most people think there are three choices in life: serve God, serve myself or serve the devil. Few people think they serve the devil, most just want to do what they want to do. The truth of the matter is whatever you don’t give to God, you give to the devil. Serving yourself, the big I, is the same as serving the devil. Only two choices in life, serving God or the devil. Both God and the devil have a plan for your life. God has an assignment for you and Satan has an assignment for you.

Today I want to talk about “Your Assignment From God.” Only by accepting God’s assignment for your life will you be doing something significant. Only by accepting God’s assignment for your life will you be part of making a difference in the world for good. Only by accepting God’s assignment for your life will all the pieces of your life fit into place. So don’t fight it any longer. This morning I want to encourage you to offer all of yourself to God, accept your assignment from God. In future messages, we’ll be talking more about what your assignment is. Today I want to answer the question, “Why accept your assignment from God?”

To hear more about this topic, listen to my August 27, 2006 message entitled Your Assignment From God

Investing In Growth For Life

Life, Message / By Pastor Dan Walker / August 22, 2006

Americans don’t like to wait, we want what we want now, instantly. We don’t like to wait in lines, we don’t like to wait in traffic. We buy our foods frozen and pop it into the microwave, instant dinner. We used to have to wait for a certain TV show to be on the air, but now you can download it instantly on the internet. Email too slow for you, use instant messaging. Instant coffee, instant oatmeal, instant credit and the list goes on. Young couples want the affluence of their parents instantly and so they buy it on credit and eventually the bill comes due. Some things are better prepared from scratch, some things take time. When you insist on having everything instant, what happens when something just doesn’t come instantly?

Life is not a ten second 100 yard dash, life is an eighty year marathon. The elements that make for a good marathon runner also make for a winner in the race of life. God wants you to be a winner in the race of life, but not everyone will win. In fact, the Bible tells us that there are more losers than winners in the race of life. NIV Hebrews 12:1-2 Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus. You have a race marked out for your life by God. God wants you to finish that race to be a winner, just as Jesus was. However, just as a winning marathon runner is not produced instantly, so a winner in the race of life is not produced instantly. A winner in God’s race of life must grow to maturity.

Today I’m going to talk about “Investing In Growth For Life.” To be a winner, you must invest yourself in spiritual growth for life. You can invest yourself in a lot of different ways, but only by investing God’s way will you end up a winner. A lot of people invest themselves in the wrong things and end up being losers in the race of life. But when you invest in growth God’s way, you become more and more like the all-time champion, Jesus Christ. You learn from Him about the race of life, you practice His training habits, you have the same attitudes that He had. Make Jesus your hero, your model, your example and finish life a winner. Invest your life to become like Jesus and you’ll be a winner. So what should you invest your life in?

To hear more about this topic, listen to my August 20, 2006 message entitled Investing In Growth For Life

Overcoming Your Temptations

Life, Message / By Pastor Dan Walker / August 15, 2006

Today my message is entitled “Overcoming Your Temptations.” Jesus had temptations, I have temptations, you have temptations. Temptations are part of life, you can’t get away from them. Temptations come in all sorts of sizes and flavors. The traditional seven deadly sins are: pride, envy; anger, laziness, greed, gluttony and lust. Those cover a lot of our temptations.

Temptations come at us in an instant. We often don’t take time to think things through, we just react and give into temptation. Someone says something sharp to us and we speak back in anger. We compare our house to the neighbors and envy theirs. We come home from a hard day at work and turn into a couch potato, giving in to laziness. There’s a Veggie Tales movie in which temptation is represented by chocolate bunnies. In this case, the temptation was gluttony. One chocolate bunny was not wrong but eating chocolate bunnies for 30 minutes was.

What is the chocolate bunny in your life? Something that appears good, something that is pleasurable to give into, yet in the end it will make you sick. People get addicted to the chocolate bunnies they are offered in their lives. I’m convinced that most of the sins in our lives are things that we are addicted to. They’re not one offs, they are habits that we have developed habits of going after our own chocolate bunnies. Some chocolate bunnies are OK in moderation, others are wrong no matter the dose.

What are the chocolate bunnies the temptations in your life that you can’t seem to overcome? This morning I want to talk about overcoming your temptations, learning how to say “No” to your chocolate bunnies and walk free. NIV 2 Timothy 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. The evil desires of youth don’t just remain in youth but they are there with us all our lives. You will never outgrow temptation. In order for God to use you, you have to have a pure heart, a heart that overcomes temptation. In order to see God, you have to be an overcomer of temptation. In order to overcome temptation, you need to work with God to change your life. Whatever temptation you’re battling in your life, here are the keys to overcoming.

To hear more about this topic, listen to my August 13, 2006 message entitled Overcoming Your Temptations

The Purpose Of Temptation

Life, Message / By Pastor Dan Walker / August 7, 2006

Currently we’re in a message series called “Growing In Life’s Journey.” God uses a number of tools to help each person grow during their lives. God has a plan and purpose for your life and the only way that you’re going to accomplish that purpose is for you to continue to grow. Growth is a lifelong process, it takes work, you’ve got to stick with it, but the results will last forever. People who are growing are people who are learning to love and serve God and others. People who don’t want to change are stuck in the rut of life, not a great place to be.

Last week I talked about how God uses trouble to bring about positive change in our lives. Today my message is entitled “The Purpose of Temptation.” God uses temptation as a tool to help you grow. God doesn’t tempt anyone, but He able to use temptation as a means to bring about growth in our lives. Most people think of temptation as some sort of opportunity to do something wrong. That’s true, but it is more helpful to think of temptation as a choice. When you are tempted you have a choice to either give in to the temptation or to reject the temptation.

A temptation is like coming to a fork in the road. You can go down the right fork or the left fork. One path will lead you further away from God, the path where you give into temptation. But the other path will lead you closer to God, the path where you refuse temptation. Even the most heinous of crimes began way back when someone made a wrong choice and gave into temptation. One wrong choice follows another and the final destination will be tragic. Let’s watch a clip of an interview with David Berkowitz otherwise known of Son of Sam who was a serial killer in New York. See how his wrong choices to get involved in the occult had disastrous consequences. David Berkowitz went down the wrong path when faced with temptation. God wants you to make the right choice.

NCV James 1:12 When people are tempted and still continue strong, they should be happy. After they have proved their faith, God will reward them with life forever. God wants you to pass the test of temptation. He has a purpose in allowing temptation to come into your life. Don’t be misled into thinking that your temptations aren’t dangerous, that your little sins aren’t giving anyone any problems. This morning think about your biggest area of weakness, your biggest area of temptation and let God show you his purpose in it.

To hear more about this topic, listen to my August 6, 2006 message entitled The Purpose Of Temptation