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Sermon of the Week 
Tuesday, November 27 2018

Let me begin by saying that as much as possible, we find our value by seeing ourselves as God sees us, because people seldom progress and succeed beyond their own sense of self-worth…This tells me that our value is relational, and very much a part of our thinking process. If it is God who gives us worth, then we are worthless without giving Him proper place in our lives…

It is a mind blowing experience to read Hebrews 2:5 with an open, receptive mind….

“For unto the angels, He did not put in subjection the world to come. V6 So, what is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that You visit him? v7 You made him a little lower than the angels, You crowned him with glory and honor, and You set him over the works of Your hands. V8 You put all things in subjection under his feet”. Wow, that is about value!!!

The Mona Lisa is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.... In 2011 Leonardo’s painting of Christ, sold for $450 Million dollars and since the Mona Lisa is of greater value in the art world than that painting, it is now insured and appraised for $800 million because the sale of the one establishes the value of the other.... 

The original Bat mobile is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.... last year it sold for 4.5 million…..that now establishes it's value...!

So, if what someone is willing to pay for something is the most accurate measure of value…. Let’s take a look at you and me…. 

On the transplant market today, if all your organs were harvested, plus your blood, you are worth about 45 million dollars. (congratulations on being a millionaire. Even though you would not be able to spend it)… your family might find something to do with all that cash. But even more than that, your greater value is what God was willing to pay for you, and that was His only son..... What that says about you is that…. you are priceless!!!

What you need to know is that Satan knows how valuable you are. And he wants to do whatever he can to keep you from accepting your true value and living your life, based on your worth….

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in 

 the woodpile; only to see his sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, 'Sally, let's wash the dishes' But Sally said, 'Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.'?  

Then she whispered to him, 'Remember the duck?' So Johnny did the dishes. Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, 'I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper...' Sally just smiled and said, 'Well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help'. She whispered again, 'Remember the duck?' So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help. After several day of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's. He finally got to the place that he couldn't stand it any longer.

He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, Sweetheart, I know what you did. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.' 

Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done... And the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (how you could have, should have done it better, ... Whatever it is...the devil is trying to intimidate you with, condemn you with, and lay a guilt trip on you with….

You need to know that God was standing at the window of heaven, and He saw the whole thing. God has seen your whole life. God wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven. God is just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you, and trap you in a joyless cycle of beating up on yourself and selling yourself short of what you’re worth.

While he’s shouting for you to “remember the duck”… Christ is whispering, “I have redeemed you, I have ransomed you, It’s all forgotten in my grace”…. 

Remember that the Mona Lisa was painted on a common, ordinary piece of wood and not only that, it was painted over a couple of other paintings that were already there. God loves to paint his image and likeness on something common and even worthless and make it valuable. Not only that, He paints over what we have placed there and transforms it into something priceless!

John 3:16…For God so loved, the world (write your name in there) that He gave His one and only Son, (His priceless gift) that whosoever believes in Him, might have eternal life! 

Romans 8:31 “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? v32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things”? 

Why should we see ourselves as less than God sees us and is willing to give us…..knowing these things that He has done to make it so….

Perhaps the real problem is that we have put value on things that God doesn’t see as valuable at all….

When God adds up the things in each of our lives that He sees as valuable

1. HE won't care what kind of car you drove; He'll care about how many people you helped with your car. 

2. God won't care what the price or size of your house, He'll care how many people you welcomed into your home. 

3. God won't care about the clothes you had in your closet, He'll care about how many you helped to put clothes on. 

4. God won't care what your annual salary was; He'll care if you compromised your faith to obtain it, performed your job to the 

best of your ability and gave Him His portion. 

5. God won't care how many friends you had; He'll care how many people you were a friend to, by introducing them to the greatest friend. 

The story goes that one time when Pastor Moyers was spiritual advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson. He was asked to say grace before a meal in the family quarters of the White House. As Moyers began praying softly, the President interrupted him with "Speak up, Reverend,  speak up!" The minister, from east Texas stopped in mid-sentence and without looking up replied steadily, "I wasn't addressing you, Mr. President, I was speaking to your boss."      

6. God won't care what neighborhood you lived in, He'll only care how you treated your neighbors. 

7. God won't care about the color of your skin, He'll care about the content of your character. 

8. God won't care how sinful you were, He’ll only care whether or not you accepted and acted on His sacrifice for your sins. 

Bill Hybels is quoted as saying, “If the request is wrong, God says, "No." If the timing is wrong, God says, "Slow." If you are wrong, God says, "Grow." But if the request is right, the timing is right and you are right, God says, "Go for the gold!" 

There’s a huge difference in spending and investing… The bible asks the question, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul”?   If you spend your life on eternal things, it is an investment that never fades away…. Those things are save guarded where thieves cannot break in, and they never depreciate…. If you know deep down, that what you’re doing is not getting you where you need to be…. You need to ask yourself, “Is it worth the price I’m paying and the sacrifice I’m making”?  

A person, looking back over their life, may spend their time wishing they had done things differently. But if you convinced just one person to wake up and really live, to understand what’s really important, and helped someone release their God given potential, and by doing so, set in motion a force as powerful as a tidal wave or as contagious as an epidemic of viral proportions it would be worth that one... What if we influenced just one person who in turn influenced thousands... 

Instead of waiting for a better time, or a more convenient season….. BEGIN INVESTING WHERE YOU ARE, AND DO WHAT YOU CAN NOW!

Scripture tells us that how we deal with and respond to life’s challenges and trials we go through, has great value In God’s eyes….. 

Job 23:10 But he knows the way that I take: when he has tried me, I shall come forth as pure gold. 

Hebrews 11:35 “Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: v36 And others had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, yes, they were in bonds and imprisonment: v37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented…

(you thought you had a bad week?) v38 (Of whom the world was not worthy) That sounds like priceless to me!!!

So, how you respond to your tests and trials in life is declaring your value…..and it is releasing the favor of God on your life. Job was the wealthiest man in the land and when the test was over, he received 100 times what he had before….

What amazing words God spoke about Job….. “Consider my servant Job”…. God was bragging on Job…. Is He bragging on you?

It was the very trials and tests that Joseph went through that brought him before the throne of Pharaoh and elevated him to the second most powerful person in the land of Egypt….

It was hardships and trials that the new and improved Paul went through, that caused him to become one of the most important apostles of the New Testament and allowed him to plant churches in the midst of Satan’s very seat of power! 

Listen to his list of challenges…2 Corinthians 11:23 “in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. v24 Of the Jews five times I received 39 stripes. v25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep. v26 In journeyings often, in perils (in certain destruction) of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. v27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness”. (I guess it is true that if there is no pain, there’s no gain)

In all of this, Paul says, “I will glory in the cross”…..

Stop rehearsing the past and reverse it, don’t rehearse it! Continuing to live with regret, remorse, and condemnation will diminish your value… It will lock you into a downward cycle of diminished returns in your life….  

You need to believe and demand that your trials start working for you, and stop working against you. If God is for us then what can stand against us!!! 

All through the bible we see that there were good and bad, faithful and flawed people that God used to accomplish His plan. As someone has said, "God can draw straight lines with crooked sticks." 

Jeremiah 33:3 “Call unto Me, and I will answer you, and shew you great and mighty things, which you could not even imagine”! (What we call Him, and how we know Him, determines a lot about how we see ourselves and our life purpose…..                     

Someone wrote….”If I had my life to live over again…"I’d spend more time counting my blessings rather than my blemishes…I’d spend more time enjoying what I have, less time thinking about the things I don’t have. If I could live my life again, I’d walk in the rain more without an umbrella and listen less to weather reports that tell me to stay inside. I’d spend more time fully involved in the present moment, less time worrying and anticipating things that never happened anyway. I’d smile more, frown less. I’d be less likely to sit in my chair objecting, that "I don’t feel like it." I’d be inclined to jump up and run out the door, next time, and say, "Yes, I can!" Although I can’t live my life over, I’m still going to live a new way every day anyway. I’ll never have all the moments I’ve missed, but I do have all the time remaining, and it’s all just ahead, waiting for me to arrive." 

We are greatly blessed, highly favored and deeply loved….

Ephesians 2:4 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which He loved us, v5 Even when we were without Spiritual life and in our sins, He has quickened us together with Christ, (for by grace you are saved;) v6 And He has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus”.

Don’t listen to the lies and discouraging words of the enemy. Realize that God still has the final word! See things from the Father’s perspective. Incline your ear and hear it today…in the midst of your challenges and life trials…. “BUT GOD!”

Let me give you a few BUT GODS for this time in your life…. A “But God” is when God interjects Himself in your outcome! 

Genesis 50:20 – “But as for you, you thought evil against me, BUT GOD meant it for good, to bring to pass the salvation of many people”.

Psalms 73:26 – “My flesh and my heart may fail BUT GOD is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever”.

1 Corinthians 1:27 – “BUT GOD has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and He has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty”.

May we get a fresh look at the God who interrupts Satan’s plans, and who is our problem solver before we even had a problem!                                                            

Our Lord is going to have the final “BUT GOD”… when this earth is under assault by Hell, like it has never been before…. When Satan seems to be unstoppable and his power invincible…. The one who is truly unstoppable and irresistible is going to step forward and show who’s in charge and has always been. 

Who else BUT GOD could take a cross that represented defeat – and turn it into a symbol of victory?

Who else BUT GOD could take a cross that represented guilt – and turn it into the symbol for grace?

Who else BUT GOD could take a cross that represented condemnation – and turn it into a symbol of freedom?

Who else BUT GOD could take a cross that represented pain and suffering – and turn it into symbol of healing and hope?

Who else BUT GOD could take a cross that represented death – and turn it into a symbol of life?                                                                  What we spotlight, is what we will perpetuate…… Psalms 112:7 “They shall not be afraid of evil tidings, their heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD”.

The Spirit of the Lord is here to do what no other power can do…The Spirit of the Lord is here to fix what you cannot fix… He knows the answer, before you ask the question, but He’s waiting for you to ask…. Knock and it shall be opened, seek and you shall find, ask and you will be given….

We can make a difference as we put our faith in action…. making a difference, one person at a time, one act of compassion and service at a time, around the world... What if we started a kindness epidemic and from our acts of kindness it reached viral proportions and swept throughout Florida....

One with God is not the loneliest number. One with God is the majority!!! 

2 Corinthians 10:3 (NIV) "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does." 10:4 "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."10:5 "We demolish arguments and every pretense that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we capture every thought and make it obedient to Christ."

Closing Prayer….

Lord, I speak soundness into my mind and body, in Jesus name and I speak now to every enemy that has come against my life in your all powerful name! Let every attack against my spiritual life be frustrated.  I command the spirit of harassment to leave now. I command the spirit of judgement to depart now.  Every negative gathering against me physically or spiritually, be scattered.  Every evil report brought against me in the kingdom of darkness, I cancel you….               

I bind every power blocking or compromising the anointing of God in my life. I cancel out every dream thief that would try to snuff out the God given vision. Any negative transaction currently affecting my life, be cancelled. Every power working against the peace in my life, be defeated. That which hinders me from greatness, begin to give way now, in Jesus’ name. Every hindered, hidden potential, come forth now. Let every spiritual weakness in my life be terminated. 

Let every financial loss or failure in my life be overwhelmed and turned around . Let every sickness in my life be terminated. I break every generational curse  working against my life, in Jesus name. Let every good thing, that has been closed to me, open, now, and let the anointing that prospers fall mightily upon me, in the name of Jesus. Let my breakthrough appear and let my destiny begin to turn and transition for the better. I receive every good and perfect gift that comes now from my heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name….. AMEN!

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