February: My Mission—Why We Were Created
By: Pastors Rodney & Adonica Howard-BrownePublish date: 02/01/2020
Foundations of My Faith
February: My Mission—Why We Were Created
Foundation Scriptures:
So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:27 AMPC
Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being. Genesis 2:7 AMPC
1. Man Was Created by God.
a. God formed Man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
b. We did not evolve—the theory of Evolution has been thoroughly disproven by scientists, geneticists, and mathematicians.
c. Isaiah 43:1 AMPC — But now [in spite of past judgments for Israel’s sins], thus says the Lord, He Who created you, O Jacob, and He Who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you [ransomed you by paying a price instead of leaving you captives]; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.
d. Isaiah 43:7 AMPC — Even everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, whom I have made.
e. Isaiah 45:12 AMPC — I made the earth and created man upon it. I, with My hands, stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.
2. We Were Created by and for God’s Divine Purpose.
a. Isaiah 43:7 says, “I have created man for my glory.”
b. Man is a created being, purposed by God to bring Him glory.
c. God said, “Let us – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” make man in OUR image (Genesis 1:26).
e. Ephesians 1:4-6 AMPC — Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love. 5 For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]--6[So that we might be] to the praise and the commendation of His glorious grace (favor and mercy), which He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
e. 2 Timothy 1:9 AMPC — [For it is He] Who delivered and saved us and called us with a calling in itself holy and leading to holiness [to a life of consecration, a vocation of holiness]; [He did it] not because of anything of merit that we have done, but because of and to further His own purpose and grace (unmerited favor) which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began [eternal ages ago].
3. Six Things That Set You and I Apart from All of God’s Creation.
a. Man is created by God.
b. Man alone—of all created beings—received the very breath of God.
c. Man is formed in God’s image.
d. Man is created for God’s glory.
e. Man was planned and designed in a council of the triune God.
f. Man has been redeemed by the God-Man, Jesus Christ. (Jesus was all God and all man.)
4. Man Was Created in God’s Image.
a. Not a physical image—God is a Spirit.
b. A personal image—one who designs, plans and communicates, wills and feels (e.g. is pleased and displeased).
c. God saw everything He had made and behold it was very good (Genesis 1:31).
d. Man is a moral being—man was created with a sense of accountability to his Maker:
i. Man has a conscience.
ii. When man does right, his heart assures him—when he does wrong his heart condemns (convicts) him.
iii. Man has a social image—to love a wife, who is from his side, to be equal to him; near his heart, to be loved by him; under his arm, to be protected by him.
iv. Man was commanded to multiply and replenish the earth.
v. Out of the Ten Commandments—six concern our relationships with our fellow man.
vi. Man was made to have communion with God,his family, and his friends.
vii. Man is a living soul—a whole being—a spirit and a soul in a body. The body was fashioned to live forever, but when sin entered the world that changed, and death began to work in the body.
5. Ten Facts About The Body.
a. It is a mortal body that will return to the dust out of which it was fashioned (Genesis 3:19; Psalm 104:29).
b. Even though the body is made from the dust of the ground—it is wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14-16).
c. Man’s body is only a temporary tabernacle for man to live in (2 Peter 1:14; 2 Corinthians 5:1).
d. Man’s body will be glorified in the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:44a & 53).
e. The body of the born-again man is the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is why it should not be used as an instrument of sin (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
f. When you dedicate yourself to God, your body is a living and holy sacrifice (Romans 12:1).
g. The redeemed man’s body is a weapon against the devil (Romans 6:13).
h. Redeemed man enjoys certain benefits of Christ’s redeeming work in the Body even in this world (Matthew 8:16-17).
i. You will be judged at the Judgment Seat of Christ on what you have done in the body (2 Corinthians 5:10).
j. Man’s body of dust, which he inherited from Adam, bears the image of Adam as well as the image of God (1 Corinthians 15:45-49).