You Were Made by a Creator | Discover God's Purpose for Your Gifts and Calling

What if one of the greatest obstacles to your God-given purpose isn't failure, but distraction?

We live in a culture that constantly encourages us to consume more: social media, entertainment, news, sports, and endless content. But what if all that consumption is keeping us from the very purpose God created us for?

This message was originally shared during a Men's Breakfast gathering at New Life Community Church Cicero, where men came together to encourage one another and grow through God's Word. It is now being made available to encourage anyone seeking to live faithfully for the glory of God.

In this message, Omar Calvillo explores a powerful truth found in the opening pages of Genesis: the very first thing God reveals about Himself is that He is Creator. Because we are made in His image, He has entrusted each of us with gifts, talents, abilities, opportunities, and callings that are meant to reflect His character to the world.

Too often, we spend our lives consuming what others have built while neglecting what God has called us to create.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why being made in God's image gives your life purpose
• The difference between consuming and creating
• How Adam and Eve's first sin involved wrongful consumption
• Why God has entrusted every believer with unique gifts and abilities
• The importance of cultivating your marriage, family, faith, and relationships
• How faithful obedience builds God's Kingdom one step at a time
• Why God is calling ordinary believers to become builders instead of spectators

Whether God has called you to lead your family, mentor others, start a ministry, build a business, disciple believers, or simply become more faithful where He has placed you, this message will challenge and encourage you to take the next faithful step.

Key Scriptures

• Genesis 1:1
• Genesis 1:26-27
• Genesis 2:15
• Deuteronomy 8:17-18
• Proverbs 27:17
• Hebrews 10:24-25
• Proverbs 24:30-34
• Exodus 31:3-5
• Nehemiah 2:18
• Mark 6:3
• Matthew 25:21
• Philippians 1:6

Our mission is simple: Sharing stories of redemption that point people to Jesus Christ.

Through Jesus Christ, we can all go from darkness to light and from wrong to strong.

Transcript

0:15

From the city of Chicago, a city most recently known for its crime and violence. On this podcast, we will be sharing stories of redemption from individuals raised in the tough streets of Chicago Listen to my guests as they share their experiences, struggles, trauma, but also the strength, hope, faith and perseverance, these have developed in them to keep pushing and moving forward in life. Tune in to hear how their lives have gone from darkness to light and from wrong to strong. Yeah. So let's welcome Brother Omar. Omar, let me share about Omar. Omar Calvillo is a follower of Jesus Christ, a devoted husband and father, and an elder at New Life Community Church. He is the founder of From Wrong to Strong Ministries, a ministry dedicated to sharing stories of redemption that point people to Jesus Christ. Having experienced God's transforming grace in his own life, Omar has a passion for prison ministry, discipleship, and encouraging others that no one is beyond the reach of the gospel. And so please join me in welcoming Omar. Thanks, brother. Can I take it out? Yeah Good morning, brothers Good morning Yeah, I had to take this off the stand. If not, I won't be able to do all my back flips and everything that I'm gonna do up here, you know, as I'm preaching. No, but, but you know what? Before we start, let's give a round of applause to Arturo, Javi, David Brother George, all the... basically all the leaders, all the assistants. They just finished going through this, uh, season of small groups. And man, these are faithful men, men that love the Lord, and men that love you guys. You know what I'm saying? They... These men prepare, uh, messages, Bible studies throughout the week, and they, they sacrifice. That, that's a form of sacrifice that they give unto the Lord to pour into you guys, and also for, like, preparing this, you know? Uh, let's thank them for having this vision, not only to have food, but to have all of us gathered, you know? So let's give them another r- r- round of applause to these brothers. So, so this morning I wanna start you guys off with a question, and I'm gonna have a few questions as I speak to keep you guys from falling asleep on me, you know. Uh, I got a few brothers that are gonna be watching, man, you know, make sure you don't fall asleep. But, uh, quick question, just to keep it, uh, i- interactive. If I ask you to describe God in just one word, what word would you choose? Peace. Huh? Peace. Peace, okay. Amen. Love. Loving. Love. Okay. Good one Merciful, amen Anybody else? First word that comes to your mind when you think about God, and then the ne- next word comes to your mind. Abba. Abba. Abba? Ab- Father? Abba, Father, amen. Praise God. Forgiving. Amen. Forgiving. Forgiving? Amen. So basically, there's many things that could come to our mind, and we... Amen, and all those are true, right? And we'll, we will only experience the fullness of all these descriptions once we get to the other side of heaven. But, but what, what I want you guys to know is, um, have you ever stopped and think in how He first introduces Himself in the Bible? What does He describe to us about Himself? Any, of anything He could have led with, He led with something. And in the very first verse of the Bible, it says in Genesis, uh, chapter one, verse one, it says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." So stop and notice the first picture of God in all of Scripture is. It is not God as judge, it is not God as our Father, it is not God as Redeemer, it is not God as love or peace. He revealed Himself as God the Creator. What He does, He speaks, He designs, He forms, He separate darkness from light, and He brought order from chaos. He brings life where there is none, and six times He steps back and He says, "This is good," and one time He says, "It is very good." And then a few verses later, we read these incredible words in Genesis one, twenty-six through twenty-seven. He said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock, over all the animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created mankind in His own image. In the image of God, He created them. Male and female, He created them. So think about that for a moment. Let that sink in. We were created in the image of our Creator. So, but that doesn't mean that we create the same, the same way God does. None of us can just speak something or think something into existence, so I- I'm not saying that. But it does mean that He stamped on each and every one of us His image, and He has entrusted each and every one of us with gifts, talents, abilities, opportunities, callings that are meant to reflect His character back into this world. You were made by a working God, in the image of a working God, to do work, but work that matters. But yet I believe there is a problem in our generation, and it's a quiet one, one that doesn't even look like a problem on the surface. We have become incredibly good at consuming. We have become incredibly good at consuming. We consume news, sports, uh, social media entertainment, podcasts, all type of stuff, highlight reels. Think about an average week, how many hours you spend consuming. We consume what other people have created and never once steward or manage what God has entrusted to us. We can finish our whole life, our whole life. Think about that. We can finish our whole life as spectators only. Spectators of everyone else's purpose and never step, step into our own purpose And brothers, this is not a new battle. It is the oldest battle there is. Adam and Eve were given an entire garden to cultivate. What got them in trouble was not creating. What got them in trouble was consuming. They consumed the very one thing God told them not to touch. One forbidden bite, and everything changed. The first sin was not making something. The first sin was consuming something, eating something they should have never-- that, that they should have left alone. So that conviction got me thinking, and it is the title of this message: Don't let what you consume keep you from what God created you to create. Don't let what you consume keep you from what God created you to create. And this morning, I wanna talk to-- through three responsibilities that God has entrusted to each and every one of us. Three words only: create, cultivate, and construct. The first one is create. So we-- before we start even talking about creating, we have to settle one thing. Where does the ability come from? Where does the ability to create come from? Because this world-- what this world tells us, "I built this. I earned this. I made this happen. Look at why-- look at what I did." And in the words of Tony Montana, "Who put this thing together, man? Me, that's who." I don't know why that came to me, man, when I was listening to this. Thinking about a man who took credit. Sorry about that, man. We'll delete that later, you know what I'm saying? But yeah, that, that's how we could be, right? I, I did this. I put this together. The, these ideas were all my ideas. But listen to what God says to a, to a people who are about to walk into prosperity and forget who gave it to them. In Deuteronomy chapter eight, verses seventeen through eighteen, it says, "You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.' But remember the Lord your God, for it is he, it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth and so conf-confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors as it is today." Notice carefully what God says there. He doesn't say that He simply gives us the wealth. It says that He gives us the ability to produce it or, in a sense, to create it. He gives us what? The wisdom, the strength, the creativity, and the opportunity, and the skill. He gives you guys that mind that is quick to solve problems. He gives you guys the, the hands that do the work. The very breath in our lungs this morning, all of it, every bit of everything we have ultimately came from Him. Which means no one here can truly boast in what He has created because listen to this, because God created the Creator. God created the Creator. He made the Maker. Now, let's l-l-let's, uh, get this a little bit personal. As I look around this room, I see gifts that have been handed out all over this room. Some of you have the ability to teach. Some of you have the ability to lead, to encourage others. Some of you walk into the room, and the room already feels upli-uplifted because of your presence. Some of you have built businesses. Some of you mentor younger men. Some of you solve problems that no one else can solve. Some of you are good at organizing and bring order out of chaos. Some of you disciple quietly, faithfully, one person at a time. And, uh, those abilities are not accidents. They are not random. They are gifts from God on loan. They are gifts from God on loan for His purposes. So the question this morning is not whether God has given you something. The Bible is clear that He has given each and every one of us something. The question is: What are you doing with what God has given you? There's a quote that I love by C.T. Studd. He says in a poem that he wrote, "Only one life will soon be past, and only what's done for Christ will last." Amen. "Only one life will soon be past, and only what's done for Christ will last." The second point that I wanna talk about is cultivate. What does cultivate mean? It means to prepare, to develop, to improve, to nurture, and to care for something so that it reaches its full God-given potential. So if you picture a farmer, a far- a farmer does not create the seed. I had Brother David, each of you received a seed, right? Yes. The farmer doesn't create the seed, right? He can't. Only God makes the seed. And guess what? There's life inside of that seed. He put that seed in the hands of a faithful farmer. And watch what happens when it gets in the hands of a faithful farmer. He prepares the soil. He has to plant it. He has to pull the weeds out. He has to protect them when they're young. And then he does the hardest thing that is hard for each and every one of us. You know what that is? He waits. He waits. Some of us are impatient. Man, I, I, I want, man, I want the harvest now. But you know what he does? He waits, he works, and then he waits. But guess what? He keeps showing up and showing up long before there's anything to see or observe. That is what cultivation is. And the very first job God ever gave a man in Genesis two fifteen, the Lord took the man and put the man in the Garden of Eden to work it and to take care of it. God created that garden. Adam was called to work it and to watch over it. So before the fall, before sin, in a perfect world, God's design was already for a man to include work, responsibility, and stewardship, management. Cultivation is not a curse. It was a gift from God from the very beginning. Brothers, God has placed gardens, gardens in each of our lives. What are some forms of gardens in our lives? Your marriage is a form of a garden, your children, your ministry, your gifts, your testimony is a garden, and above all, your relationship with Christ is a garden. So So another thing that God has called us to cultivate is community, which is what we see here, brotherhood, relationships with other men who are pursuing Christ themselves. We were never called to build alone. Not, not in marriage, not in fatherhood, not in the, not in our fight against sin, none of it. God designed us for brotherhood. Proverbs twenty-seven, seventeen says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." Wow. You don't get sharpened sitting alone on the couch before a screen. You get sharpened shoulder to shoulder, which is what you guys are doing right now, by men who know your name, men who ask us the hard questions and won't let us fade out quietly. Hebrews ten verses twenty-four through twenty-five say, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit or doing, but encouraging one anoth- one another, all the more as you see the Day approaching." That's exactly what this morning is. That's exactly what these tables are. This, th-this breakfast, the conversations that you guys already had this morning, that's what it's all about. So don't let it stop once we walk out those doors. Find two or three men before you leave and show up for them. Let l-- And let them show up for you. I think that's the hardest for us. I know it's the hardest for me, that God's been dealing with me. I'm, I'm very good at just doing things. You know what? I'll do it on my own. But God didn't call me to, to walk this walk a-alone. He's called us to let other people come and help us do the work that He's called us to do. He's calling right now. It's a good one. It's a good one All right. And, and that got me distracted, man There we go. A-and, and here is, uh, and here's what every farmer knows. Anybody of you that, that plant, that have worked in your garden, this is what every garden, uh, uh, um, gardener knows. Healthy things do not grow by accident. A neglected garden does not stay the same. It grows weeds. A neglected ground does not sit still. It goes wild. A ne- a neglected marriage produces distance. A neglected friendship produces isolation. A neglected child produces a stranger under our very own roofs. Neglected gifts produce buried and unrealized potential. A neglected faith produces a man who was once on fire for the Lord, and now is, in a sense, just like sizzling out, going through the motion. Nothing good ever coasts. Everything good gets cultivated or it gets choked out. So this is where this, uh, ties in this morning. So after I finished reading this-- So I'm at, I'm on my couch. I got my, uh, uh, my, uh, music going, my instrumental music. I'm going through my lesson, and I get to the part about neglecting marriage, you know, the, the neglect, uh, neglecting things. And I'm like, "Man, cultivate. Gotta cultivate your marriage." So at, at, at this, uh, point, my wife comes out of the room, right? And at that moment, as I'm reading this, I'm like, you know what? My wife's been asking me in the mornings for only one thing: just to give her a hug. She's like, "Man, just hug me for like thirty seconds. That's it." "Hug me for thirty seconds, and then tell me you love me. That's it." So I'm sitting there, I'm reading this. I'm like, you know what? I put my, my, my, my pad down. I get up, and I give her a hug, and I told her, "I love you." And then you know what I... In my, in the infinite wisdom, you know what I said? I, I gotta cultivate this She's like, you know what she told me? "What does that mean?" Oh, like, like cultivate, you know, I gotta work, I gotta work at this. Oh, then do you know what she told me? "Oh, so, so now I'm a project, huh?" So, so, so now, so now I'm a work you have to do. I'm like, "Man, let me go sit back at the couch," you know what I'm saying? A- And I gotta share this. She, she, she didn't give me permission to share this, man, so I just wanna say that it's been nice knowing each and every one of you guys, you know what I'm saying? But you, you, you know what that spoke to me? When we're cultivating, when we're tending the garden, not everything's gonna go our way, you know? That- that got me thinking too about this, about cultivating working? Proverbs 24 in verses thirty to thirty-four sa- it says it very clearly. This is what it says. He said, "I went past the field of a sluggard," a sluggard, a, a, a lazy person, "past the vineyard of someone who has no sense. Thorns had come up everywhere. The ground was covered with weeds and the stone wall was in ruins. I applied my heart to what I, uh, to what I observed and I learned a lesson from what I saw. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on you like thief and scarcity like an armed man." Now, when you think about poverty and scarcity, right away we probably go to finances. But think about the scarcity, the poverty of just in relationships and communication, how this could affect us if we don't put in the cultivation and put in the work. So potential is God's gift to each and every one of us. Cultivation is our stewardship back unto God. So I'm gonna say this plainly. Too many of us are praying for the harvest and we are not willing to cultivate. It's like God gi- giving us a seed. He's giving you the seed, but guess what? You're not happy with just the seed. You want the harvest also. But you know what God's giving you with that gift, with that talent, that ability? He's asking you to put it to work. He's asking you to cultivate those things. So we, we want the marriage without the work. We want the kids to turn out well without spending time with them. We want brotherhood without showing up to gatherings like this. We want spiritual depth without not wanting to spend time in the mornings or in the evenings in our pr-- in, in, in the Word and in prayer. So brothers, we cannot neglect the garden and expect a harvest. Amen. Point number three Praise God. Construct. Here is a pattern you see all throughout scripture. God gives the vision and faithful men pick up the tools and begin to build. God gave Noah instructions. The Bible tells us one simple and staggering sentence. Genesis six twenty-two: Noah did everything just as God commanded him Think about that. Noah did everything just as God commanded him. Imagine if that were to be said of you and me, that we did everything God commanded us. And you, you know what Noah did? Then he built the ark for decades before a single drop of rain. God filled a man named Bezalel with skill to build the tabernacle. This is in Exodus chapter thirty-one, verses three to five, and it says, "I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge, and with all kinds of skills to make artistic designs for work in go- in, uh, gold, silver, and bronze, and to cut stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts." Did you catch that? God filled the man with His Holy Spirit. This is the first man that the Bible tells us was filled with the Holy Spirit. He wasn't empowered to preach. He wasn't empowered to raise the dead. He wasn't empowered to heal the sick. He was empowered to what? To work with his hands. Think about that. Fir- very first person. So your craft can be holy. God burdened Nehemiah's heart over a broken down city. Nehemiah rallied the people, and scripture says in Nehemiah, Nehemiah two eighteen, "They replied, 'Let us start rebuilding.'" So they, as a community, as a whole, began this good work, and against every bit of opposition, they started rebuilding the walls. And do not miss this. Before Jesus ever preached a sermon, before He ever healed a single person, He spent years you know what? Working with His hands. The people in His hometown asked, just listen to this verse, uh, Mark six thirty-three, "Isn't this the carpenter?" Think about that. When Jesus began his ministry, Mark 6:3, "Isn't this the carpenter?" Imagine, imagine looking at the Son of God, Jesus in the flesh, and just pointing at Him and saying, "Man, isn't this the carpenter?" Our Lord knew what it was to measure. He knew how to cut, He knew how to build and to finish a job. The Savior of the world was a builder. Brothers, here's what I want you to know this morning. Ideas are wonderful, and dreams are gifts to us. But dreams alone have never changed one single thing. A vision you never obey is just a daydream. Vision without obedience is only imagination. Vision without obedience is only imagination. It is God who gives the vision, but faithful men pick up the tools. If God's given you a vision, pick up the tools. So let me ask you this morning, what ha- what has God been nudging you to start? Maybe it's a Bible study. Maybe it's mentoring relationship with a young man you see in church who you know doesn't have a father. Maybe it's a ministry. Maybe it's a business that God has placed in your, in your mind and in your heart that will bring glory and honor to Jesus Christ. And don't overlook this one. Maybe it's just the daily simple work of discipling your own children, your sons, your daughters. We can't wait for per-perfect conditions, 'cause guess what? They're, they are not gonna come. Noah didn't have them, Nehemiah didn't have them, and none of us will either. So let us stop waiting for perfect, and let us just take that next faithful step. So brothers, I'm gonna, I'm gonna wrap it up. One day, every single one of us is going to stand before the Lord, every single man in this room. And I have to come to believe He's not gonna ask us how many games we watched, how many reels we watched, how many seasons of a show we, we completed. He's gonna ask us, in scripture it's clear, that he will gi- hold us accountable for how we stewarded what he entrusted to us. Jesus told a story exactly about this. A master gave his servant different amounts, and they went away. To the ones who took what they were given and put it to work, the master said this in Matthew twenty-five, verse twenty-one: "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in your master's happiness." Notice what he wasn't commended for. He wasn't commended for what he consumed. He was commended for what he did with what, what was given to him. He was faithful, he worked, and he put it to use. That is the word that I want us to leave here with, faithful. So I want you-- I want to leave you with three questions as I get ready to wrap up. Maybe you... I, I, I forgot to send them to Arturo, but I will send them to him afterwards. I think we're gonna be, like, discussing them. But three questions to think about even today or even as, as you go forward this week. What has God called you to create? And what ha- what gardens has God entrusted you to cultivate? And what is God asking you to construct through simple, faithful obedience? Those questions are not meant to leave you guys walking out of here feeling more burdened. Man, now we got something else to do. Like I got to climb another mountain on my own. That's not the heart of this message. In Philippians 1, 6, it says, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. The same God who gave you the ability has not walked away from you. The same one who started that work in you will carry it through to completion. And guess what, brothers? We don't have to walk this walk alone. He has surrounded you with brothers right here, right at these tables. To do what? To create, to cultivate, and to construct right alongside you. Because here's where we started, and here's where we will end. God is the creator, and he made you in his image. Think about that seed I gave you guys. That seed has life in it But what are you guys gonna do with it? You have to plant it in order to see the harvest. You know what that is? That is a mammoth sunflower. I think they grow up to like eight, nine feet, very tall. When you look at it in your hand like, "Man, what, what is this?" Some of you guys are gonna throw it away, gonna lose it, eat it. That, you, you know the one thing I told David to tell you guys when he handed it to you? Don't eat it." Why? 'Cause what do we do with sunflower seeds? We eat them, right? You know what God told them in the garden? They could eat of any type of tree, any type of fruit. You know what he told them? "Don't eat it." So that, that is why I passed it out. There's life in it, but if we consume something we shouldn't be consuming, it's gonna consume us. So, uh, this is what I wanna end with. God is the creator. He made you in His image. He has filled you, just like Bezalel, with His Holy Spirit, with the abilities to create for His glory. He has g- uh, given you gardens to tend, walls to build, and people to disciple. So don't let what you consume keep you from what God created you to create. So I want you guys to go from here challenged yet encouraged. You are not alone. You are not without help. I pray that you guys be filled with hope, ready to create, cultivate, and construct, all for the glory of God. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, brothers.