# Top 10 Reasons that God Loves You ### Sunday Morning // 201412.7 ## 10.] He created you in his image. Genesis 1:27 (NIV) *27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.* Do we look like God? It sure sounds like it. People look at this passage all the time and say that. "Wow! We look like God!" But just like we are as humans, we tend to look at the physical rather than the spiritual. God designed our minds. He designed our souls. He created us with the ability to see past ourselves. He created us with the ability to love, to create, to cry, to laugh - something no other intelligent being on earth can do. Think about it - your dog can't love. Or write a song or create a work of art. He can't design a building. God designed us as unique individuals, created in His own image. Which also means that if one of us is created in God's image, then all of us are. We should always be looking at others and saying, "They are created in the image of God!" If we looked at people like that, how would that change our perspective? ## 9.] He chose you even before time began. Jeremiah 1:5 * Before I formed you in your mother s womb I chose you. Before you were born I set you apart. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations. * Ephesians 1:4-5 (NIV) *For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.* It feels great to be chosen for something, doesn't it? I know it's hard to believe, but I wasn't exactly a superior athlete when I was a kid. I didn't get picked first for a game. In fact, I was usually picked next-to-last, and I celebrated silently, because there was usually always that one kid who was always worse than I was. God picked you first. In his infinite wisdom, Ephesians 1 says he chose YOU before THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. Wow. That means God chose YOU for His purpose. He chose YOU for His church. He chose YOU for His mission - to seek and save the lost. ## 8.] You are his masterpiece. 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.* The Mona Lisa is the the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world. It was painted in 1506 by Leonardo Da Vinci and as of 2012, has an estimated value of $760M. It is a masterpiece of art, detail, and simplicity. When we look ourselves in the mirror...do we really see a Masterpiece? Do we really see what God sees in us when he looks at us? For some of us we cring and shy away from looking in that mirror because of the things we have going on in our lives...when we look into the mirror we see the sin that is there...we see how gross sin has made us look...we just don t feel like a masterpiece do we? You might not feel like a Masterpiece, but how you feel doesn t change who you are! God s sees you as a one-in-a-trillion priceless Masterpiece created in His Own Image. The Mona Lisa has got nothing on You. 1 Peter 2:9 -- But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation..." 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. -- Ephesians 2:10 God says...i don't make trash. I don't make anything worthless. You Are my Masterpiece!!! ## 7.] You are salt. Matthew 5:13 *13 You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless."* I'll never forget the time when someone played a prank on me and replaced the salt in the salt shaker with sugar. To this day I still taste the salt before sprinkling it all over my food. It was a quite a shock to me when my corn was very sweet instead of salty. Mark 9:50 50 Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other. What does Jesus mean when He says this? He means that we should never lose our purpose. When he's talking about salt here he's talking about our attitude towards the world. It is not easy to be a Christian. Society is not kind to us. Media doesn't agree with us. Popular personalities lie to us and make us out to be something we are not. We need to be reminded - Those are not our people. Like it or not, if you profess to be a Christian and hold to Christian ideals, there will be conflict in between you and the world. Why? Because we are different. Salt is all about purity and preservation. Jews were not allowed to put leaven or honey in their sacrifices, but they were required to use salt (Leviticus 2.11, 13). The disciples were God's salt.
They were in danger of losing their flavor. We don't have to worry about our salt today because it's purified and doesn't lose it's flavor, but salt back in the day didn't have that same purity. It would lose it's flavor over time. In the same way, if you were ever to lose your Christianity, how would you go about finding it again? If we lose our "saltiness", we become useless to God. We are the salt of the earth - we can't lose our flavor. ## 6.] You are light. Matthew 5:14-16 *14 You are the light of the world like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.* Just as we are called to be salt, we are also called to be a light. Think about what a light does. It illuminates our path. It makes it so we can see. If you've ever found yourself in a dark place wishing you had some sort of light, you know what I'm talking about. The way we shine our light is very important. No one wants you to shine a bright flashlight in their face - that's annoying. But that's what some people do with the light of the Gospel. They beat people over the head with it and shine the light right in their face saying, "Look at me! Look at me! I'm a Christian and I do what's right!" I think we should be more like lighthouses. We don't know much about lighthouses here in Tennessee, and even on the coast they don't have as many lighthouses as they used to because of things like GPS now. But you think about 50 years ago, in a blowing storm or thick fog, how useful a lighthouse would have been to you if you were the captain of a ship approaching the coast. That lighthouse would have been a lifeline. It would have saved your ship from otherwise hitting land. As lights of the Gospel, we need to be lighthouses. We need to show people what being a Christian is all about. We need to be cognizant of what we do, how we act, how we react, and what we say. Because people are using you as a lens for Christianity whether you like it or not. What kind of light will they see? ## 5.] You are his temple. 1 Corinthians 3:16 *16 Don t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?* 1 Corinthians 6:19
*19 Don t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself.* + When we read passages like this, we need to make sure we remember where these ppl were coming from + Most Christians were coverts from Judaism, most we former Jews (ritualistic, by-the-numbers) + There is nothing special about this church bldg + The Holy Spirit used to exist in a physical place - now it exists in US! (don't know how, but it does) ## 4.] You are plan A. Jeremiah 29:11 *For I know what I have planned for you,ʼ says the Lord. a ʻI have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope.* + Ever make plans? I make plans. + Ever make plans that don't work? Or don't go your way? + God has plans too - and we don't know what they are, but we can read the instructions + Imagine God has given us His plans on one sheet of paper. Perfectly printed on one side, and all we do is turn it over and scribble with crayons + Our plans look like foolishness compared to God's plans + And let's not forget - we are plan A! + If we don't bring the Gospel to the world, there is no one else! God doesn't have a plan B + God knows our plans, He knows what He has in store for us - a future with hope! ## 3.] He is your father. 1 John 3:1 *See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.* 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 *3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.* + Some of us may not like the terminology here - that we are children and God is the father + Tell this to teens: "He looms over us with a belt ready to give us a spanking when we are bad" + No, the reason so many authors use this term is because God is like a loving Father, He IS our loving father + A father will do anything for his children + No father would think twice about not giving his life up for his child + I was fortunate enough to grow up with loving father - he was only baptized 4 years ago + God is our loving father and we are his children - we are Children of God
## 2.] He gave you His world. Psalm 8: 4-6 *4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? 5 Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority...* + God's 'chain of command', so to speak: God / Angels / Us + We are stewards of this world - God has given it to us + We are the top of the food chain, the most intelligent beings on the planet + A horse cannot write a symphony, your dog a work of art + God gave us minds to to create art, to solve problems, to prosper + He has crowned every one of us with glory and honor, and put us in charge of his creation ## 1.] He gave you His son. John 3:16-18 (NLT) *16 For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 18 There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God s one and only Son.* + It's the gift-giving season + One of the advantages of being a YM is getting a lot of gifts + There's no way I could reciprocate all that + Anyone ever given you a gift that you were just amazed by? + God has given us an amazing gift that we can never repay + That gift is his Son + He has given that gift to you, your parents, your grandparents, your brother, sister, aunts, uncles, everyone you know! There are a lot more than 10 reasons that God loves you. In fact, there are a lot more than 10,000. God loves you unconditionally. God loves you fully. God loves you without reservations. And He asks that we love him in return. If we truly love the Lord, we will make the sacrifices that are necessary to be here at worship. We will show kindness to all others, even when they don't deserve it. We will follow the ultimate example, Jesus Christ, and endeavor every day to be more like him. Tonight, you need to know that God loves you. He wants every person to come into a right standing with Him. If that means that you have strayed from your Christian life and need to get back on track, then you can ask for prayers tonight. If that means you need to obey the Gospel and be baptized for the remission of your sins, then you can do that tonight. Come forward, while we stand and sing.