Ephesians 1:3-8 (NLT) 3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
Deserving vs Worth
Deserving: is based on merit.
Worth: is determined by what someone is willing to pay.
“From his love filled, holy, heart, He saw us as valuable.”
“He is a good steward, He doesn’t waste what is precious!”
1 Peter 1:18-19 (NLT) …The ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV) God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
“We could not come to him in our righteousness, so he came to us with his!”
Isaiah 53:3-6 (NLT) 3 He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.
Because of the Cross….
1. Our value is revealed.
2. We belong to God.
1 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV) 9 You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
James 1:18 (NLT) He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.
3. We carry value, so we live with values.
We carry value because we are his…
Ephesians 4:1 (NLT) I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.
“Because we are valuable to the King, we live with the Kings values.”
“You are Valuable, live like it.”
Matthew 13:45-46 (NLT) “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. 46 When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!
Communion/ministry
1 Corinthians 11:28(NLT) A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
Don't examine yourself because of a prayer that you prayed but because if a life that you are living.
2 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV) Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith...