Valuable

y wife and I have some very bizarre comedy, people might call it dark humor or just weird. Like my wife, who celebrated her birthday, while at camp with the women, got to have a special birthday trip with me yesterday. We went to Sacramento and had lunch. I got some Doritos dust on my face, that wonderful dust, and she kept trying to figure out where to tell me to wipe. Google let her know, I had dorito dust on my

oral commissures.

Take that one to your staff luncheon. It’s where your lips meet. I needed to clean dorito dust off my oral commissures.

Before this horrific Doritos dusting, we were leaving the house and had to give final directions. So my wife said to our kids on the way out, “Hey we are leaving. If the house catches fire make sure to get your grandfather out, and the dogs. Not sure if the pictures are ok. See you guys in a little while.

She’s funny and amazing. I have known her since she was 19 and she is the second greatest blessing God has given me after a relationship with Him, my savior and my God. She is creative and wonderful. Smart, kind and very even keeled. She is valuable to me.

But it leads me to wonder, what is the most valuable thing to you. I imagine you know the right answer is Jesus, then people, you are in church after all.

But this is for your own thinking, I want you to really think, maybe outside of life, what do you think is the most precious thing you have?

I believe you would know what is the most precious because it is cared for the most. You know what the most precious thing on your body is. Even the Bible talks about this, it’s what we cover the most, even from the very beginning. Covered by our diapers. What is precious to us, we protect. We are careful with. Sometimes we hide it, in a bank, and sometimes we display it but it is the first thing we grab so as not to lose.

Is there anything you created, that you actually made, that is really special. My wife knitted a blanket called a temperature blanket. She used a color for each high temperature for the day. 365 lines. It’s a big, heavy beautiful blanket.

We have another object in our house that is so ugly it has become precious. My wife and I got a butter dish as a gift 29 years ago for our wedding. This butter dish is ceramic, and looks to resemble a pig, yet it’s body, sides and tops are all vegetables. It is bizarre. I have no idea why my great aunt gave it to us, but we kept it and only bring it out for thanksgiving, Christmas, the special dinners. It’s the only thing we are positive we have that we were given for our wedding.

Sometimes things become valuable because of how much was paid for them, sometimes because of the stories behind them, sometimes because of what they do.

Why are you valuable?

At men’s camp this week, we asked men to share answers to difficult questions. Like what is God speaking to you about right now. I was honored to have young men, high schoolers in my group, and one struggled during this time a lot. I knew why but I knew He didn’t. He struggled because he didn’t know what the right answer was. See in school we are given questions that have correct answers. But when it comes to our relationship with God, a relationship that moves out of what some might call the religious where “there is a right answer”. Than a young man is sitting there with only one answer. The most genuine and truthful answer of His young life,

I don’t know

And for some of you, you know the answer that people have told you about why you are valuable but in all honesty you don’t know.

Some of you might think of yourself because people love you, but you also know they don’t know all of you. They don’t know what you think, all of what you have done or why you did it.

What does God really think of you?

Some people think that what I think of them, me, a pastor, is what God thinks of them. They won’t say it like that, it sounds stupid, but they hide stuff from me. They change how they act and talk around everyone else when I am present. It might be out of a kind of respect but it also is a kind of thinking that if the pastor doesn’t know, than we will still be respected at church.

I tell you my friends I don’t know a lot. Thank you for not saying Amen.

But God does know you. He knows where the stuff is hidden and he knows the embarrassing and the disgusting,

Hebrews 4:13 (NLT) Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. For me, when I think of what God knows about me, I get to the embarrassing. The stuff you want know but you want no one else to know, but God knows who dealt it even when no one smelt it. God knows what you are even afraid to admit to your doctor.

Beyond the physical embarrassment, God knows when we were kind because we were manipulating and kind because we are obedient. God knows how and why.

God knows you.

Some of you might think that if someone really knew you, they would see you as worthless. Perhaps that is how you see yourself, your life has been less than others.

God knows you better than your doctor, parents, best friend, or your spouse.

So if God knows all of that what does He think of you?

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.

My wife tells me that she loves me. She even says she is attracted to me, and I think, I really need to get her to the eye doctor. Some of you also might think that the reason people care about you is because they do not know you. Maybe, but I can tell you for a fact that is not true about your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

He knows you. His whole story, the whole story of God’s Holy Word, the Bible, is the Redemptive purpose of who He is. God out of His love creates. God out of His love redeems.

He created you out of love.

Psalm 139:13–14 NLT

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

God gave opportunity for true love between God and humanity by giving humanity a choice of obedience. Humanity failed, eating of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. When the relationship is broken, sin enters existence. From that point on, God spends all of history showing the power of Right, power of Mercy, power of Justice, and God’s gift of redemption. OF creating a new relationship when one was broken.

You see out of God’s mercy He did not make us eternal to deal with this sinful world, disease, heart ache, evil, forever. He gave us an end. Our of God’s righteousness, He showed us what it means to be Right and Holy. Perfectly right. The true impossible standard. It is why historians can always criticize the work of every person in history because even if the person a long time ago did everything they thought was right and good, they could still end up completely wrong.

Justice demands that wrong is punished. So God gave the ability to pay for what was done. Through sacrifice of life given at the temple - money and life.

Hebrews 10:10–12 NLT

For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

Understand this, God is a forgiving God, but what Jesus did, by coming as God into human form, living the perfect life, and sacrificing himself for us. That is what is meant when James writes, “His true word.”

He fulfilled the need for justice in our world.

John writes it this way, using the Christ, God that would come in human form as Jesus, He calls the Word.

John 1:1–5 NLT

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

John 1:10–14 NLT

He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

The Word, the logos, the greek word meaning word, but also meaning, all knowledge, the Hebrew understanding would be the Messiah, God himself, God came to us not just to forgive us, but to redeem us. To make a relationship again where there wasn’t one.

See I can forgive you and never talk to you again. I’m not going to punish. Not going to think about it.

But Jesus goes beyond forgiveness, He gives relationship.

To all who believe in Him, we become the children of God. His Glory is part of his redemption.

Forgiveness is allowing the punishment to be paid, Redemption, that is about beginning a whole new relationship with us.

Titus 2:14 CSB

He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works.

Anyone who follows Jesus Christ as their Lord Savior, who confess that Jesus is God, died for their sins, rose again, and lives! That He is their God, They are a new being. They have a new relationship with God.

For many of us we went to camp and got to spend some time remembering that truth. We are made for more than waking up and going to work, more than just coming home, and keeping ourselves and others alive. We are God’s and He loves us and finds us His prized possession.

I have prized possessions but I could never do what He has done.

My wife is a prized possession for me. Our marriage is vital,

Yet, God did something I never could do for my wife, He forgave her sin and gave her purpose in life.

You are important to me, but God finds you more important than I ever could.

He knows all of you. He made a way for you to be right with Him. Choose to follow or reject it. That is your choice.

For most of you here, you made the choice to follow Jesus. Never, ever forget that you are God’s and He is yours. You are His prized possession.

What difference does this make?

What if I told you

God is coming after you.

God is coming to get you.

There is an old joke that male comedians tell and it goes something like this. I was going to catch a subway late in the city one night. It was late and kind of spooky. Not the worst part of town but not the greatest. I probably shouldn’t have been there but I had to work and I had to get home. I felt a little better because there was a smaller lady in front of me. She looked nice, so if she could brave it I could to. No matter how scary this part of town is, I could do this. We were walking to the subway and so far so good, not a big deal. I figured if I got in trouble at least she would be able to call out to help me, so I didn’t want to let her out of my sight. As we got to the subway station I saw that she started to hurry down the steps. I was like, oh no, what did she hear, is the train almost here? I got to get there. So I sped up and as I sped up she sped up. I was like oh no, maybe its not a train, maybe there is somebody after us. I was totally freaked out. I started running! I couldn’t see them but that’s how it is, you don’t see them until the last second. As we got to the platform, I was completely out of breath, To my horror, . There wasn’t a train anywhere. I hit the floor only to see a panicked woman her pointing her pepper spray at me.

And that’s when I learned I actually scare people.

My friends if you hear God is coming after you, and you are afraid than you don’t understand who God is.

Last weekend at Men’s camp, I saw men remembering and learning that God loves them. God is not afraid of them. God loves them. God loves them so much that they do not have to destroy others to make themselves appear important. God loves them so much that they can live generously because God blesses those He loves. That they don’t have to fear missing out because God is what matters.

John 3:16 NLT

“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.

When I went to camp I was reminded of what God did and the fact that He is all powerful. I didn’t say much at camp. I didn’t do much. But I saw God work mightily in the lives of the men and that is the truth.

I know God worked in the lives of the women at their camp and I know that God is at work here. God loves us.

I was asked what is happening at New Day by another Pastor. I answered honestly, “I don’t know, but God is moving.”

Folks that is all that Matters. God the redeemer is worshipped and we join Him in doing good to God and others.

God is coming after us and I’m so excited!