Satisfied in God’s Design – By Design

Brandon Werner   -   July 13, 2025

Satisfied by God’s Design

Together Church  |  Pastor Brandon Werner

July 13, 2025  |  Series: By Design

INTRODUCTION

This morning, I want to uncover one powerful lie the enemy has spun. A lie he’s using to hold millions in bondage. A lie so powerful that it can destroy your life. A lie that comes straight from the pit of hell.

What’s the lie?

Here it is:

My ultimate satisfaction can only be found in resisting God’s design.

This is a powerful lie in the hands of our enemy.

Think about its implications. Those who believe this lie must believe:

  • I’ll never be fulfilled unless I resist what God says.
  • I’ll never be satisfied unless I reject God’s design for my life.
  • I’ll never find purpose unless I look for meaning outside of God.

The person who believes that their ultimate satisfaction can only be found by resisting God’s design will fall prey to Satan and his schemes. Satan knows this lie makes people easy to manipulate because they are already looking for satisfaction apart from God!

But Satan also knows that this lie will never deliver on its promises. Instead of giving fulfillment, satisfaction, and purpose, this lie will leave its victims desperate, frustrated, and hopeless.

To combat this lie, we must stand in the truth!

And what is the truth? Here it is:

By design, true satisfaction is only found in God’s design!

Just take the first list and flip it!

If I believe the truth, I must believe:

  1. I’ll never be fulfilled unless I embrace what God says.
  2. I’ll never be satisfied unless I trust the Designer and accept His design for my life.
  3. I’ll never find purpose unless it is found in God’s sovereign plan.

That’s the truth, and those will be our three points for this morning.

Today’s message is designed to help you reject Satan’s deadly lie and embrace the truth that the fulfillment, satisfaction, and purpose you are looking for is ready to be found in God alone!

BODY

  1. I find fulfillment when I embrace what God says.

This is what I mean. God’s Word tells us that the fulfillment, the nourishment, the satisfaction we are looking for is found in His Word.

Matthew 4:4

4 But he answered, “It is written,

‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Psalm 19:9-10

The Word of the Lord is worth more than gold, even more than much fine gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey straight from the comb.

God’s Word is fulfilling and satisfies! But our enemy is always trying to convince us that God’s Word cannot fulfill or satisfy us. In fact, he wants us to question God’s Word constantly.

Go back to the garden. What was the serpent’s lie?

God is holding out on you! You can’t trust what He says. Did He really say that anyways? You won’t surely die! You’ll be like God!

Satan’s lied to convince Adam and Eve that God’s Word was not enough for them. And Satan is still spinning that same lie today.

Somewhere along the way, have you become convinced that something God says is not true? Something about yourself? One of His commands? Have you given yourself a pass to pass on the Word of God?

How is Satan spinning this lie for you?

  • Don’t forgive them for what they did to you.
  • Keep your sin in the dark.
  • You can’t live without that relationship that God calls sinful.
  • You’re not capable of sharing the gospel or making disciples.
  • Your life isn’t important to God.
  • You won’t be happy unless you continue in that addiction.
  • It’s not gossip and slander when you say it.
  • No one else can understand you or cares. Isolate.
  • You don’t need to be generous with your money and time.

There are even more. You know what it is in your life, don’t make me say it perfectly. Just be honest.

How is Satan spinning the lie in your life that your ultimate fulfillment will be found in resisting what God says?

Will you take the lie captive and proclaim the truth? Here’s the truth:

I FIND FULFILLMENT WHEN I FULLY EMBRACE THE WORD OF GOD!

It satisfies me. It is sweeter than honey, more filling than bread, and completely satisfies my longings.

You will find fulfillment when you fully embrace the Word of God!

  1. I find satisfaction when I trust the Designer and how He designed me.

When God made you, He was incredibly intentional. Before you existed for even a second, He saw your unformed being. By His power and through His sovereignty, He brought you into being. Before you were born, He was knitting you together in your mother’s womb. You were made with great purpose, intentionality, and love by the very hand of God.

Psalm 139:13-16

13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

When God made you, He made you by design.

And, in God’s sovereignty, when He made you, He made certain determinations for your life. He ordained at least 10 things, 10 unchangeable, that reveal His love, His purposes, and His design for you.

(GOD VS SATAN)

These are 10 unchangeable God determined for your life:

  1. He made you one of a kind.
  2. He gave you your mental and physical capacities.
  3. He determined your parents.
  4. He determined your siblings.
  5. He determined your birth order.
  6. He determined where you would be born.
  7. He determined when you would be born in history.
  8. He made you male or female.
  9. He made your body age.
  10. He appointed that you would die.

All 10 of these things are God’s sovereign choices in your life. You didn’t and don’t get to determine any of these. God determined them all based on His love, His purposes, and His plans for you.

Satan wants you to believe that you’ll never be satisfied by the Designer and His design for your life. He wants you to feel convinced that you must resist or even outright reject God’s design to be content.

But Satan is a liar. He knows his promises are empty. Looking for satisfaction outside God’s design will lead you to feel frustrated, confused, and hopeless.

Here’s the truth:

I FIND SATISFACTION WHEN I TRUSTE THE DESIGNER AND HIS DESIGN FOR ME!

  1. I find purpose and meaning in my life within God’s sovereign plans.

When God determined those 10 unchangeables for your life, He did so in His sovereignty and according to His purpose and plans.

Everything in His design for your life was intended to first and foremost accomplish this one, singular, big purpose:

To conform you into the image of His Son, Jesus.

To help you become more like Him.

That is God’s universal plan for us all. This was His plan in all His choices in your life – from the way He made you, to the family you have, to the place you live, to your aging and death. Everything in His design is about pointing you to Him and conforming you into the image of Jesus.

This is God’s plan in the trials and struggles you’re facing. Whether your trials and struggles were caused by others, by God, or by your own failures and mistakes, God is using them all to accomplish this purpose of conforming you into the image and likeness of Jesus.

We know this is God’s plan because God reveals this purpose in His Word…

Romans 8:28-29

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Once you embrace that this is God’s big plan, you begin to see how all the little details are being used by God to accomplish that plan. How His design for your body, the capabilities He gave you, the family you have, the place you live, the time in history you’re alive, your current age, and even your inevitable death are all tools in God’s hand to help you become more like Jesus. And not only that, but you start to see the unique purposes and opportunities God made you for that are uniquely suited for you – and you begin to be satisfied in God’s design as God’s purposes are being fulfilled in your life.

True satisfaction is found within God’s design! But Satan is going to lie to you and tell you true satisfaction through meaning and purpose can only be found apart from God.

One of our greatest tendencies is to latch on to some purpose other than God’s purpose for our lives. We look for purpose…

  • By using what God has given us to get what we want.
  • In causes that are not the cause of Christ.
  • In the pursuit of worldly success achievement instead of pursuing Christ’s character.
  • In looking for recognition from others instead of living to please Jesus.
  • In reserving the right to define ourselves instead of allowing the gospel and who we are in Christ to define us.

But none of those can ever truly satisfy you.

Here’s the truth:

I FIND PURPOSE AND MEANING WHEN I EMBRACE GOD’S DESIGN AND SURRENDER TO HIS PLAN!

You don’t need to resist God to find purpose.

You were designed with purpose in mind.

And when you live within His design, that’s where you find it. And the truth is, only God’s purposes can satisfy you.

CONCLUSION

We’ve seen the lie that Satan uses to control us:

Your ultimate satisfaction can only be found outside God’s design.

And we’ve seen the truth that counters that lie:

Real satisfaction is only found in God’s design!

Now, what happens to someone who is a genuine believer and they turn to God and believe that this is true? That only He can satisfy. That His Word will fulfill them. That His design for them is loving and good and is enough for them? That real meaning are found in His purposes and plans?

The person who genuinely believes the truth responds with gratefulness!

ILLUSTRATION: Joseph

Joseph is an incredible example of someone who was fully satisfied in God despite his difficult circumstances to the point where he gave thanks to God for the extremely difficult and painful circumstances of his life.

Just think about it…

  • In the 10 unchangeables…
    • Joseph was born an Israelite and eventually became ruler over Egypt, second only to Pharoah himself.
    • He was born into a big family, second to last in birth order, with a father who adored him and brothers who hated him.
  • When God spoke to Joseph in a dream as a young man, his family rejected him for it; but Joseph believed this dream was from God.
  • Joseph’s older brothers hated him so much that they assaulted him and sold him into slavery to Egyptians!
  • When Joseph landed in the house of a master called Potiphar, he trusted God. Despite his circumstances, he served that master so well that he gained extreme favor with him.
    • And Joseph saw how God’s blessing was on his life despite his difficult circumstances.
  • Then, Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph. But Joseph was satisfied in God’s Word, God’s design, and God’s plans. He would not compromise.
  • So, Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph. As a result, Joseph was unjustly thrown into prison.
  • What did Joseph do? He trusted God and His sovereignty. He maximized his effectiveness in that prison by serving the jailkeeper. Eventually, Joseph rose to leadership even in the prison and was trusted with authority.
  • Joseph continued to seek God’s voice. While in prison, he interpreted some dreams.
  • God used the interpretation of those dreams to eventually give Joseph the opportunity to serve Pharoah by interpreting a dream for him.
  • With God’s help, Joseph pleased Pharoah and was appointed ruler – second in command only to Pharoah himself!
  • God allowed Joseph to be appointed to that role to accomplish His purposes. A severe famine was coming, and Joseph had the responsibility to prepare.
  • Eventually, the famine brought the brothers of Joseph back to Egypt. Through a series of events, Joseph was reunited with his brothers and his father.

Over and over, Joseph was fulfilled by God’s Word and what God had said concerning his life. Instead of growing bitter towards his family and towards God, Joseph embraced God’s design for his life and was satisfied in God’s purposes and plans in every circumstance.

Joseph was satisfied with God’s design. As a result, God used Joseph to…

  • Facilitate reconciliation between him and his family.
  • Become a godly leader in a powerful nation.
  • Save many peoples from severe famine.
  • Set the stage for His providential plans in the story of Moses, the Exodus of Israel, and the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham.

What about Joseph? What was his heart concerning all these difficult things that God had allowed in His life according to His design?

Joseph revealed his heart when his brothers realized who Joseph was and he was reconciling with them…

Genesis 50:18-21

18 His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Joseph trusted God! He was grateful to God for His sovereign plans.

This response to God’s design SATISFIES. Joseph resisted the lie that he would be better off outside of God’s plan; instead, Joseph was consistently fulfilled by God’s Word, satisfied by God’s design for his life, and found meaning in God’s purposes.

And this produced GRATEFULNESS in Joseph.

1 Thessalonians 5:15-18

15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

The attitude of a true believer, a person who finds satisfaction in God’s design, is the attitude of gratefulness.

Joni Eareckson Tada gave thanks to God for her paralysis, saying, “I would rather be in this wheelchair knowing Him than on my feet without Him.”

Fanny Crosby, who wrote over 8000 hymns, including “Blessed Assurance” gave thanks to God for her blindness. She said, “If I had a choice, I would still choose to remain blind… for when I die, the first face I will ever see will be the face of my blessed Savior.”

After her husband, Jim, was killed on a missionary endeavor to the Waodani people in Ecuador, Elisabeth found peace and purpose in God’s plans and continued to minister to the very people who killed her husband. God used her to see that tribe come to faith in Jesus.

David gave thanks to God while fleeing for his life from Saul.

Daniel gave thanks to God even when facing the lions den.

Paul and Silas gave thanks to God while they were bound in chains.

Jesus gave thanks to God before breaking the bread and sharing the cup just moments before He was betrayed to death by Judas.

INVITATION

What about you? Where have you been looking for satisfaction?

Has it been in God’s design?

Or can you see ways in your life that you’ve turned to something outside God’s design, hoping it would satisfy?

  • You are fulfilled as you embrace God’s Word.
  • You are satisfied when you trust the Designer and His design for your life.
  • You find meaning and significance in God’s purposes and plans.

This morning, the invitation is simple. The alter is open. What or who have you been looking for satisfaction in apart from Jesus?

Will you come lay it at the alter? Will you give it to God? Will you remind your soul that you can only be satisfied in Him?

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