What You Were, Where You Are & What You're Worth

As we seen an escalation in violence in our nation and around the world, it is important to keep things in proper perspective and to remember what the Lord has told us in His Word about the time we are living in and about people in general. I've wrestled with what to share with you on this first Sunday we are back together under "one roof" as members of the body of Christ, and it is my prayer that what is shared this morning will inform, encourage and inspire you, as well as help frame a proper perspective of the time we living in. Our Wednesday Bible Study has focused on the Book of Ephesians, and this past Wednesday we started our study in Chapter 2. Now, if you want to be challenged as well as chastised a little by the Lord, study this book of the New Testament, because it will not disappoint you. For those of you that join us on Zoom on Wednesday, this message will not exempt you from continuing to attend simply because my text is coming from the chapter we are studying. LOL! Let's read Ephesians 2:1-10. Would you stand in honor and respect of the reading of God's Word with me this morning? It would be extremely easy to have this message develop into multiple points and address several issues that are facing the church and our world today, but I'll save that for another time. Today, I want to focus on what these scriptures have to say about where you, those watching by Facebook Live, and myself stand in relation to God. My prayer is for encouragement to flow towards every individual like a refreshing stream, with the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit bringing healing, restoration, perspective and hope to all that hear. You may ask, why not a message on the Holy Spirit? After all, isn't today Pentecost Sunday? Yes, it is, but I follow where God wants to take us today, and we must remember that being Pentecostal is not an event, but a lifestyle. 1. WHAT YOU WERE The first thing I want to address this morning is where all of us who are Christians were before we came into a relationship with Jesus Christ. The first three verses of this chapter spell out very clearly what believers were, and where a lot of people are right now in this moment. Pay awfully close attention to what the Scriptures say concerning what we who are now believers, were: 1. We were dead because of our trespasses and sins against God's laws. 2. We at one time habitually walked in the course and fashion of this world. In short, we had no regard for God, His creation, His love, His message of hope. We followed and associated with those who were of the same mindset and nature - opposed to God through our lifestyles, language, and mindset. 3. We followed the prince of the power of the air. Who is that? Satan. The fallen one. The Liar and Father of Lies. The Adversary. The Deceiver. Oh, you and I may not have participated in Satan worship or been involved in ungodly rituals, but we belonged to Satan by default. Once the age of innocence had passed and we learned the difference between good and evil, we were on the side of evil. [Vs. 2] 4. We "lived and conducted ourselves in the passions of our flesh (our behavior governed by our corrupt and sensual nature), obeying the impulses of the flesh and the thoughts of the mind (our cravings dictated by our senses and our dark imaginings)." Amplified Bible verse 3 5. We were "by nature children of (God's) wrath and heirs of (His) indignation, like the rest of mankind." When we see the evil that is being manifested in the world today through the riots in our cities, the politicians who are in local, state and national platforms who openly show their disdain of Christ and Christians, then you should be reminded that is where you and I were. No, we may not have acted like they are acting, but if you want a clear-cut visual of what evil is, look around you, because it's being played out before our eyes today. And yes, there are good people who don't manifest evil like we are seeing, but they are dead souls residing in living bodies. That's what we were, until we met Jesus and asked him to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of all the unrighteousness that is within us. 2. WHERE YOU ARE This next point I think will make you want to shout and praise God every moment of every day. I believe that the realization of where we are as believers will open us up to understand not only from where we have come from, but to where we are going. Look at that first part of verse one: "And you hath he quickened..." Now, we need to understand what that word "quickened" really means in the context of this scripture. The Greek word is "zo�opoieo�" and it is defined as follows as a verb: 1) to produce alive, begat or bear living young 2) to cause to live, make alive, give life 2a) by spiritual power to arouse and invigorate 2b) to restore to life 2c) to give increase of life: thus, of physical life 2d) of the spirit, quickening as respects the spirit, endued with new and greater powers of life 3) metaphorically, of seeds quickened into life, i.e. germinating, springing up, growing Now think about what this word means when it's applied to the rest of the verse, which reads "who were dead in trespasses and sins;" It says to me, "When I gave my life to Jesus..." I went from being spiritually dead to becoming spiritually alive! I because a new creation...all the things in my past, all the rebellion, all the guilt, all the pain, all the penalty of sin, which is spiritual death, is GONE! Did you hear me? It is Gone, Forgotten, Forgiven! Where am I and who am I now? Look at verses 4 through 8. You and I are the object of his great and wonderful and intense love. We are alive in Jesus and because of Jesus. We have the life of Christ inside of us. We are the recipients of His love, mercy and grace. We are delivered from judgement and made partakers of Christ's salvation. We've been cleaned up and cleared of our past sins, we have the power of Christ in us to take care of any present sin, and one day...I said ONE DAY...we will be in the presence of Jesus and free from ALL SIN! CAN I GET A WITNESS IN THE HOUSE THIS MORNING? Look where else we are right now if we belong to Jesus: We are raised up together with Him and we are seated with him, in a spiritual sense, in the realm of the heavenly sphere. We are in Him, He is in us, and we are with Him in the Father. I don't completely understand it, but my, my, my I accept what He has to say about my position in Him! If we are in Him and He is in us, and since that is a truth that we cannot ignore, it is only reasonable to understand that the power for the spiritual gifts God has given us should be fully functional and operational in us. If we are in Him and He is in us, then the "signs and wonders that follow them who believe" should be manifested, demonstrated, actively operational in our lives right now. CAN I GET A WITNESS AGAIN? The world wants to know what it means to be a Christian. Guess what? You and I are the book they read; we are the representatives in which Christ is to be emulated. 3. WHAT YOU'RE WORTH The third item I want to address today, and as a reminder, the things that have been stated this morning do not comprehensively cover and address the truths of the Scriptures we have read and expounded on. We've seen where we were...and where some are today. Separated from God because of sin, which is the transgression, the rebellion against, the opposition to God's Word and law. For those in this house this morning and for those watching by FaceBook live who had made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, received his forgiveness of sin and become a part of His family, the past is in the past. Paul said in Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." When the devil reminds you of your past, you remind him of his future. Secondly, we looked at where you are now. You are the righteousness of God. You are His child. You are, as the Bible says, a stranger and alien in this world. You are in this world but no longer of this world. You are the anointed of God. You are kings and priests in his administration. You are blessed and highly favored. You are A NEW CREATION! There's a story I read recently of where an individual went to a horse auction in New Mexico. He overheard an individual telling someone that he got $2500 for a two-year-old filly from a kid even before the auction started. However, an hour later this same person was in dismay because the "kid" sold the same filly for $4500. Clearly the man had not recognized the horse's true worth. Jesus recognized true worth. When he looked at Mary Magdalene, he did not see an adulteress, but a human being capable of profound love. When he looked at Peter, he did not see a fisherman, but a leader of tremendous potential and power. (Jesus in Blue Jeans, pp. 113,114) I've been told that the next major crises we as a nation, and even a world, is going to experience on the heels of this virus crisis is that of a mental health crisis. We're seeing the beginnings of this crisis in the expressions of hatred, anger and general frustration that has built up in people not just over the past few weeks, but for years. Let me sidebar for a moment and say this - the horrible death of George Floyd this week was simply the fuse, and I say this with absolutely no disrespect to this man who should not have died the way he did. I am not trying to downplay any of what we have seen happen over the past few days. But you must here me this morning because this is where we are now. We are in a war, not with one another although that is exactly what Satan wants. We are in the war between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, and it's spilling into the realm of the natural. There will be a one-world government one of these days. It's been prophesied and it will happen. But you don't have to be here when that happens. Now then, what you're worth. One aspect of business is knowing the true worth of a product or service and marketing it at the appropriate price. 1 Samuel 16:7 is one of several scriptures that address the aspect of how God looks at each of us individually; "But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart." You may be looking at yourself this morning and all you see as you look in the mirror or examine yourself with the "eyes" of your mind and all you see is your failures, your shortcomings, your struggles. You're possibly overwhelmed this morning with the cares and concerns of this life that are pressing down on your mind and body like too many weights on a bar at the gym. It may be that you see what's going on around us today and wondering if anything even matters anymore...if you even matter anymore. I've got great news for you today. Your perception of yourself is not God's perception of you. 1 Corinthians 6:20 says, "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." That price was the sacrifice Jesus made some 2000 years ago just outside of Jerusalem, on a hill called Golgotha, or Calvary. It was the shedding of his blood, His willingness to give his life for humanity, so that there is a means of forgiveness and deliverance of sin. You are His treasure. You are his choice. He only created one of you. If you or I were the only ones on earth who needed a savior, He would have died even for you. You are worth eternity to Him because he died for you and rose from the dead so that you can live with Him forever. So, don't downplay your value. Don't downplay your worth. What you have in this life does not define you. Where your work (or don't work) doesn't define you. How much education you have...anything this world uses to measure what we call value or success does not make any difference in the eyes of God. You are worth everything to God, and He wants you to be in a relationship with him today. There's no need to delay, no need to "feel worthy" before you ask Jesus to forgive you of your sin and restore to you the relationship He's had ready for you since before you were born. The decision is yours today. No one is forcing you to make this decision, but if you're ready right now, let me lead you in a simple prayer that will transform you into a true child of God.