Priceless | Donovan Rillion | Walking in Worth

You know, I felt the need to do this series because

in my young adult life, I have seen people, young

and old, fight to feel like they were worth something.

both in the physical world and in the digital

world. On social media, you get on Instagram

or Facebook or TikTok, and you see people doing

everything they can trying to get likes, trying

to get followers, trying to get subscribers.

You go into your job and you see people killing

themselves, working themselves literally to death,

trying to get a raise, trying to get the promotion,

trying to get just noticed by their boss. You

look on TV and you see ads for people trying

to be... in positions of power, trying to be

voted into offices so that they can have these

positions of acclaim. And you see all throughout

society, in social circles, in schools, in jobs,

in the digital spaces, people doing things even

if they have to compromise their morals and values

for the sake of having a place of value. You

even see people tear others down. So that they

can feel just a little bit bigger. As if tearing

people down doesn't make you look even smaller.

You see people compromising on what they believe

just so they can be accepted by somebody else.

Compromising on what they believe just in hopes

that it would finally make them feel like they

mattered. Only to be disappointed every single

time. So I felt like we needed. A series to say

that in the eyes of God, you don't have to chase.

You don't have to accomplish. You don't have

to achieve in order to have value. You don't

have to be better than anybody else in order

for God to see you as worthy. It is not a competition.

It is not a rat race. You know, you watch enough

ball games and you'll notice something about

how we hand out value. You know, we started the

college football season this past week. Regardless

of what people say, I enjoyed staying up till

1 a .m. last night watching UNLV versus Memphis,

and I would do it every time. Because we watch

these guys on a field, on a court, in a gym,

and we look at them and we say, if they win,

they matter. If they win, they're worth millions.

If they win, they're worth all of the notoriety.

They're worth the parade. But if they lose, then

who cares about them? If they lose, they're a

failure. If they lose, they don't matter. And

so we hand out worth based on achievement. And

I hope you know this morning, and I hope you

believe it to be true. And if you don't yet,

I hope you do by the time you leave here. And

if that doesn't work, please give me a call.

God does not define worth that way. He never

has. God does not define your worth, your value

by talent. He doesn't define it by achievement,

by income, by popularity. God does not care about

what you have built or where you rank on somebody's

list. He does not care about any of that. In

fact, the Apostle Paul tells the church, the

Colossian church to bury that mindset. If you

have your Bibles, turn to Colossians chapter

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

2. That is in the New Testament. It is one of

the letters from the Apostle Paul, Colossians

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2. We're just going to look at three

verses from this chapter at this moment, and

then we'll look at some more passages in a minute.

But Colossians chapter 2, starting in verse 8.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

Colossians chapter 2, verse 8, 20 and 23. See

Colossians 2:8

to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy

and empty deceit, according to human tradition.

according to the elemental spirits of the world

and not according to Christ. If with Christ you

died to the elemental spirits of the world, why,

as if you were still alive in the world, do you

submit to regulations? These have indeed an appearance

of wisdom, but they are of no value against the

indulgence of the flesh. Let me repeat that last

line in verse 23. They are of no value. Against

the indulgence of the flesh. Mind you, he doesn't

say they're of little value. He doesn't say they're

of less value. He doesn't say that. He says they

are of no value. Paul's not exactly being subtle

here. He's not being gentle here. And when you

think about it, he's very right. He is not saying

something that is questionable. He's not saying

something that is up for debate. Paul is saying

every system that the world... hands you to rank

yourself. Every measurement, every calculation,

all the rule keeping and tradition, the performance,

your image, all of that stuff, all of the accumulating

that you could try to do, all of the things you

could try to do to achieve status, none of it

can give you what it promises. And this is why

all of these people that are famous, all of these

people that are wealthy, all of these people

that have the power, they have the status, they

are not happy. They are sad. They are miserable.

They feel empty. And they would tell you that

there's still something that they're missing.

And I've been talking about. my goat the last

couple of weeks in Drew Brees, but I know there's

some people in this room that have a different

goat. His name is Tom Brady, and I don't care

what you think about him, but Tom Brady is considered

the greatest football player of all time. He

has all the accolades. He's won, what, six Super

Bowls. He has the MVPs. He has the records. He

has all these things to prove that he is worth

something. But would you know, Tom Brady was

doing an interview one time and he told the interviewer

that after all of the accomplishments, he still

feels a void. He still feels like he's missing

something. And I just wish somebody would grab

Tom Brady by his arms and shake him and say,

it's Jesus. It is Jesus that you are missing.

The reason there is a void when you have all

of this status, you have all of the money, you're

going to be in the record books, you'll be in

the Hall of Fame. The reason you still feel like

you are missing something is because you are

missing the fullness that only God provides.

All of the measurements of this world cannot

manufacture value. Only Christ has that ability.

And he's already done it. He's already given.

He's already proven your worth. And we need to

know, and I hope you do, that true worth comes

from God alone. And he says you are priceless.

We have to know it. We have to believe it. God

has gone to great lengths to prove. your value.

He's gone to great lengths to prove how much

we are worth to him. As we've discussed the last

few weeks in this series, God has proven time

and time and time again that his children, his

people, his creation, they are worth, we are

worth so much to him, even when we may not feel

it or see it. And so I tell you the truth that

our worth is not defined by what we can achieve

or accomplish. It's defined by what God achieved

when he purchased us with the sacrificial blood

of Jesus. And that truth changes everything.

I like to say that when you learn something to

be true, it demands a response. And so we've

learned this truth that God deems us to be priceless.

He deems us to be worthy of sending his son to

die for us, of doing these things, of fulfilling

these things so that we can have a chance to

be in his family again. And when we learn that

to be true, it demands a response. And God wants

you to not just see your worth, He doesn't want

you to just believe it. He sees you as a part

of his mission. And so I want you to think about

a guy like Moses. This guy spent 40 years trying

to hide from his mistake. He was trying to run

from what he had done, but then when he's called

by God, or then when he's called by God, he's

so convinced that he is not the man for the job

that he flat out tells God that he must send

someone else. And God still used him anyway.

He uses Moses to lead an entire people, God's

chosen people, from being slaves to being this

new chosen nation. Or think about a guy like

Zechariah. We talked about him a few weeks ago.

This old priest who has no real value. He has

no real reason to expect ever having children.

He's old. His wife's old. It's just not going

to happen. His wife was barren, as the scripture

says. But God chooses them to have a miraculous

child who would not just be a kid for their pleasure,

but this child would be the forerunner of Jesus.

You talk about using somebody who the world would

have seen as worthless to do something incredible.

Or last week, we talked about Peter, this ordinary

fisherman from this small little fishing town.

And Jesus comes to Peter despite all... his flaws,

despite all of his deficiencies. And he says,

I'm going to use you. to launch the church. I'm

going to use you to bring the gospel to the nations.

I'm going to use you to preach the first good

news sermon. I'm going to use you to no longer

fish for fish. You're going to fish for men and

you're going to bring them into the kingdom,

into the family of God. I want you to notice

something in all of those stories, in Moses'

life, in Zechariah's life, in Peter's life, that

God finds... these people. He keeps picking these

people that the world would have never picked,

that the world would have looked at and said

they are useless. They are not of value. They

are not essential to the mission. He finds these

people, not by accident, but intentionally so

that he can use them for a great mission, a great

cause. And when he uses them, no one will think

Peter is so awesome. Peter is so capable. Peter

is so talented. The only thing they'll think

is God. is so good to work through somebody like

Peter. And think about some of the stories we

love to tell in our society, these redemption

stories of people going from a nobody to a somebody.

You think about the guy that nobody would have

ever picked to be on the team, that nobody would

ever, it would not have been the first choice

for the job, but then he does the thing and he

does it so well that we make documentaries about

it and we tell stories about it and we write

books about it because it's so... incredible.

I think about like Easton, my five -year -old,

his favorite person in the world right now is

Michael Jordan. And we love to tell the story

about how Michael Jordan as a sophomore in high

school didn't make the varsity team. But then

he goes on to be the greatest basketball player

of all time, one of the most notable figures

of all time, which is why I can say Michael Jordan,

and everybody in the room knows who that is,

regardless of if you like sports or not. We tell

these stories because it shows something incredible.

But can I tell you, the truth of the matter is

that the human body, just in a general sense,

if you're kind of athletic and you work hard

enough, you can do that. But some of the things

that God has used people for in the past, it

is by no explanation of genetics or by working

hard. You talk about, like I love, we just talked

about Joshua. And I love that Josh said, well,

yeah, the recruitment for our army is a little

down. You think about the story of these battles

and how there is no way that they win these battles

if not for the hand of God. We tell these stories.

Because they show that it is only God's power.

And God does that through every one of us if

we let him. But we first have to believe that

he wants to use us. And he needs you to believe

that because there's more to your life than what

you have been doing. You know, I don't know if

you caught on, but when we had our three little

characters up here, I say little, they're all

bigger than me. When we had our three characters

up here, I said, you guys have been working.

You guys have been doing something. And there's

a reason we say working, because we weren't meant.

The kingdom of God was not about these chairs.

We weren't meant to just sit here and listen

to someone tell you how good you are. You weren't

meant to sit here and listen to someone tell

you how powerful you are or how qualified you

are, how capable you are, because the truth is

you're just like Peter. You're not qualified

for the job that you've been called to. You're

just like Zechariah. where it makes no sense

that you're going to do what you're going to

do. You are just like Moses where you've got

all the reason to feel ashamed. You have all

the reason to feel guilty. You have all the reason

to feel dirty. But guess what? God still can

use you and he will. He wants to for work. And

I don't care what anybody says. He wants to use

us for work because we've got a kingdom. to spread.

We've got a family to grow. We've got a job to

do. We've been put here for a reason. And so

the first step is believing that you are valuable,

that you have a place in the mission of God.

The second step is, as I said, when you find

something to be true, you have to respond. The

second step is walking in our worth. It's not

enough to just believe you have value. You have

to live it out. Like I said last week, you know,

you don't take an escalate through a mud hole

unless you have no idea what that escalate is

worth or you just don't care. Walking in worth

starts with how and what you think. Once your

view of God changes, you know, that's kind of

the easy part of getting someone to believe,

to become a Christian is getting them to believe

that God loves them. I say the easy part. I mean,

that's still a pretty difficult part, but that's

like the easy part of it if there was one. It's

getting people to believe that God loves them,

that God values them, that God treasures them,

that yes, God would send his son to die for them.

The hard part is getting people to understand

that that should change your view of yourself,

that that should not only change the view of

yourself, but that it should change the way you

live. You see, once you know that God doesn't

just see you as some worthless blob on a random

planet in a random period of time, you then have

to see yourself as he sees you, at least you

should, and then you have to live like he destined

for you to live. Let me not... leave room for

confusion this morning, it's tempting to think

that being used by God makes you worth more than

others. That if you are used by God, that if

you're accomplishing God's will, if you're fulfilling

the mission of God, that you're suddenly worth

more. You know, like we look at these offices

in the church, you know, I kind of, when people

say, like, you know, people will refer to me

as Pastor Donovan. And I'm like, no, no, no,

I'm just Donovan. I don't deserve a title. Because

I'm no different than you. I'm just trying to

do what God has called me to do, just like you.

I'm just trying to fulfill the mission, just

like you are. I'm just trying to walk in my worth,

just like you are. We're worth the same. The

only difference is our function. I do a little

bit different. You do a little bit different.

But guess what? The apostle Paul says that does

not matter because if the body was missing a

foot, how would it stand? If the body was missing

its ears, how would it hear? If it was missing

its eyes, how would it see? They all do different

things, but they are all equally valuable. And

so don't think that I'm saying working makes

you worth more, but also don't think that I'm

saying not working makes you worth less. In fact,

this is what the Apostle Paul says in his letter

to the Ephesian Christians. Here we are. For

by grace you have been saved through faith, and

this is not your own doing, it is the gift of

God, not a result of works, so that no one may

boast, for we are His workmanship, created in

Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared

beforehand that we should... Walk in them. We

were created not for or not to earn our salvation.

We were not meant to earn our redemption. This

was something that Jesus did for us. And we were

created not as better than. We were created handcrafted.

I love that word. It's his workmanship. Created

in Christ Jesus for good works. We were handcrafted

to do the good. that God put us here to do. You

notice in the garden, when God created Adam and

Eve, he puts them in this garden, and he gives

them what? Work. He gives them a job, and I've

mentioned it before, and if you haven't heard

this, I hope you take it and run with it, because

I love this. The first time I heard it, I was

like, oh my goodness, it blew me away. The word

work, there in the Hebrew, in the Garden of Eden

in Genesis, the word work is the word avoda.

And that word also is used to describe or to

translate worship. And so how do we worship?

How do we praise God in the work that we do in

this world? God put us here to accomplish some

good. And we're saved not as a result of those

works. Your worth isn't earned. It doesn't go

up. It doesn't go down based on what you do or

don't do. This isn't like a meritocracy. But

in verse 10, Paul turns right around and he says,

you were created. You were designed for this.

You have the things in this world that you can

tell they were created to do nothing. It's like

the designer dogs. And some of you have designer

dogs. And I'm not messing, like I'm not making

fun of you, but designer dogs, like the little

tiny things that you can fit in a purse and carry

around. Those dogs have no, like they don't do

anything. They just eat food and cost you a vet

bill every six months. But like if you've got...

a bloodhound, or if you've got a Doberman, those

dogs have a function, right? They're either for

hunting or for protecting. And we had a Chihuahua

when I was in like the ninth grade. It wasn't

mine. My aunt had it and I hated that dog because

you know what that dog did? It didn't serve a

purpose. It didn't do anything except bark. All

it did was bark. And I think a lot of Christians

are kind of like that, right? We just talk. We

just bark. But we're not working. We're not doing

what we were designed to do. We were designed

not to sit on a couch. We were designed not to

sit here and listen. We were designed not to

go out on a street corner and just talk. We were

designed to do good works. These works were prepared.

In our design, they were prepared ahead of time

for us to walk in. These two things aren't competing

with each other. This idea of work and faith

or accomplishing and salvation, they're not competing

with each other. Your worth, your value, it is

settled. There's no question about that. Before

you ever serve in a ministry, teach a class,

go on that mission trip or give the offering,

your worth has been determined. But settled worth

does not mean you sit on worth. It doesn't mean

that you just sit on the shelf. You were not

rescued to sit on the shelf. You were not redeemed

to occupy a pew. You were not put on the team

to sit on the bench. You were made to go and

do, to be a part of God's redemptive mission

in this world. There's a song called Made for

More. It's a really popular song right now. I

know there are some of our Christian colleges,

it's like their theme for the year. And I know

some churches, this is their theme song for the

year. It's made for more. And I think it talks

to this point. The idea that too many of us were

living this quiet, sidelined life where we're

content with just sitting on the bench and just

watching the game play out in front of us when

we were actually built for something bigger than

that. I want you to listen to these lyrics. I

know who I am because I know who you are. The

cross of salvation was only the start. I am chosen,

free, and forgiven. I have a future, and it's

worth the living. Because I wasn't made to be

tending a grave. I was called by name, born and

raised back to life again. I was made for more.

So why would I make a bed in my shame when a

fountain of grace is running my way? I know I

am yours and I was made for more. You see, that's

the tension there in Ephesians. It's this knowing

you're valuable, knowing that you are worth,

knowing that you were made for something great

and then doing absolutely nothing with it. Y

'all, that's not humility. It's not being safe.

It's not being cautious. It's waste. And it's

poor stewardship. And the Bible talks about stewardship.

And I don't think any of us want to be poor stewards.

We don't want to be wasteful with what God has

entrusted us with. And it's not. It's not that

sitting on the bench makes you worthless. I don't

want that to come across because we need the

sixth man, right? We need the extras. We need

the people that are ready to go whenever one

of us can't. That's why I love Aaron and I love

Chad and Phil and Greg and the people that are

here that are willing to preach when I can't.

It's why I love that we have a song leader rotation

so that when one of us loses our voice, guess

what? Somebody's ready to go. It's why I love

that in our ministries, like our deacons are

developing people that can come behind them,

that can work alongside them. The way I would

put it is we are discipling people to take our

jobs. We need that because the quarterback gets

the flu sometimes. And sometimes you need a guy

to sub in because I just can't go all the time.

And so what I'm not saying is that sitting on

the bench makes you worthless. If you were worthless,

I would tell you you are perfectly fine. You

are in the perfect spot on the bench. It's because

of your immense value that I say we need you

ready to go in the game. We need you prepared

and ready. And let me just say this. Honestly,

I don't consider being a backup. I don't consider

that sitting on the bench because it's more of

like in a war, right? There's no bench. This

isn't a game. I guess we should do this. Okay,

in a war, you have your front line. But guess

who's still in the fight with you? The people

behind you and the people behind them and the

people behind them and the people in the command

center and the people that are offering air support.

And so we're all in the fight. There are no bench

players here. Let me just go ahead and correct

that bad illustration that I used. We're all

fighting. There's no sideline in God's army.

And so I ask the question, are you using what

God gave you? Are you using the life that he

has designed you for? Are you using it or are

you wasting it? Are you walking in worth or are

you sitting in your own self -doubt, your self

-pity, in your shame, in your fear, in your cautiousness?

And here's another thing. It doesn't stop with

how you see yourself. Like I said, walking in

worth changes how you see yourself. It changes

how you view yourself, but it also changes or

it should change how you see other people too.

I want you to think about maybe you had a friend

growing up or maybe you have a friend like this

now that was more like family to you than a friend.

My best friend growing up in the fourth grade

we met, his name was Ty. And Ty, he was awesome.

He was the best friend you could have as a kid.

He's still a great friend now. But so my friend.

He invited me over one day after school. And

so I go over to his house and I hang out with

him. And I think we like played with lightsabers.

And so it was awesome, right? He had woods behind

his house. And so we went in the woods. We were

like Star Wars. There's no woods in Star Wars,

but you know what? Who cares? It's our own fiction,

right? And so we go in the woods, we're playing

everything. And we come back to the house and

I didn't ask for anything to eat. My grandma

was going to, well, no, his mom was going to

drop me off back at home, and I thought I was

going to eat dinner at home. But his mom, she

made dinner, and she invited me to sit at their

table and eat dinner. And this friendship progressed.

And next thing I know, everything they did, it

seemed like I was doing. They'd go to the water

park, and I'd get a call. Hey, do you want to

go to the water park? Yeah, but I don't have

any. Don't worry about money. We have season

passes and my little sister isn't going to go

so that you can go. Or do you want to go to a

movie? Well, don't worry about it. And so it

was like this thing where I became a part of

their family and they treated me like one of

their kids. I didn't bring any value to them

other than maybe like giving them laughs because

I was so chaotic. I didn't bring any value to

them, but they treated me like I was one of their

own. Or maybe you were blessed to marry into

a family that treated you just like one of their

kids. I was. My in -laws are the best in -laws

I could have ever asked for. And they treat me

like I am genuinely their son. Like if they do

something for one of their children, they do

it for me too. And it's the coolest thing. And

I'm super grateful. And I hope to do the same

thing for my in -law. What do you call that?

I don't know. My kid's wives one day. Like I

hope to be that type of father -in -law. And

the same is true in God's family. When God sees

us, he looks at us and he says, you've got a

seat at my table. You've got a seat in my living

room. We're going to the water park. Come on.

We're going to the beach. Let's go. We're going

to do something cool. We're going on a mission

to do something way greater than whatever you

had planned with your life. You're invited. And

he expects us. To do just like my friend Ty did.

And look at other people and say, you're invited.

We don't care if you can't afford it. We don't

care if you're good enough. We don't care what

value you think you bring to the team or don't.

We don't care. Let's go. It should change the

way we see others. That's the picture. that I

think scripture uses for God, for what God did

for me and you. He looked at us despite all of

our flaws, inadequacies, deficiencies, and honestly,

sometimes our uselessness. And he said, I can

use you. I want to use you. I want you in my

family. And we, as Jesus said, we forgive because

we've first been forgiven. We treat others the

way we have been treated. We do for others what

God has done for us. And I know that can be uncomfortable

sometimes. This idea that we have to look at

the outcasts. We have to look at the person that

is less than. We have to look at the person that

we wouldn't necessarily associate with. We have

to look at these people and we have to say, hey,

you can be a part of our family too. But guess

what? That's biblical. And so I don't care if

it's uncomfortable. I don't care if it steps

on my own toes because it does. I have my people

that I like to gravitate towards, but guess what?

That's not what I was called to do. I was made

for more. And so we go and we reach the people

that aren't like us. We reach the people with

the different sin issue than us. We reach the

people from the other country, from the other

religious background, from the other socioeconomic

status. We reach the people that, as Jesus would

call, the least of these. And we love them because

what Jesus says is, as you have done for the

least of these, you've done for me also. And

I want to glorify my God. I want to worship him

in everything I do. I want him to know that I

love him. I want him to know that I value him,

that I honor him, that I treasure him. And so

what do I do for the least of these? I honor

them. I value them. I treasure them. I show them

love and grace and compassion. And I got to say

it. We live in a world right now in this day

and age, especially in this country, where it

has become very easy to look at people that are

not like us, that think different than us, that

are from different places than us, and say you

are not worthy of being around us. You do not

belong here. Go somewhere else, somewhere that

fits you better. That is not biblical. And it

is not the way of the early church. I've read

to you before the letter to Diognetus, and I

love in this early first century letter the way

that he writes to Nero, and Nero wants to know

what the deal is with this church, why the Christian

church is able to take over a nation. And Diognetus

writes back to Nero, and he says, they treat

the outcasts like he's a brother, and then they

treat the immigrant. Like he belongs. And if

there's somebody among them that's hungry, they

fast so that they can feed him. And if there's

somebody who doesn't have clothes, they take

off their own to put clothes on him so he's not

cold. If there's somebody who needs a home, guess

what they do? They house him in theirs and they'll

sleep on the floor if they have to. And the way

that he explains this, because Nero wants to

know why, why are they able to do this? He says

there's something divine among them. There's

something supernatural about them, something

godly that's changing the way they see people.

And what it is, is it's a people, it's a church,

it's a family, a community of believers who have

learned what God says about them, and that is

that they are valuable, that He loves them, and

that He has done what needs to be done to redeem

them. They learned it, they believed it, and

then they lived it. And that's what we've been

called to do. In Acts 10, I was going to go through

this, but we are running low on time because

I've ranted a little. In Acts 10, Peter has this

vision and it's from God and God comes to Peter.

He says, Peter, what I've made clean, don't call

uncommon or don't call common or clean or unclean.

And he says, I need you to understand that things

are different now. And when this happens, this

other guy named Cornelius, this Roman, he's a

Gentile, Peter was a Jew, this Roman centurion,

a guy with a lot of status in this world that

Peter, quite frankly, conflicted with. And so

Cornelius has a vision and he's been praying

to God and Cornelius, he fears God. He loves

God. He wants to honor God. Well, God says, Cornelius

sends some men to Peter. Cornelius does. He sends

some men to Peter. Peter goes to Cornelius. He

preaches the gospel. Guess what? Those people

are saved. These people who were once outside

of God's chosen race are now welcomed into the

family of God. And what I mean to say by that

is. There is nobody in this world that is not

worthy of saving. There is nobody in this world

that is not worthy of our fellowship, worthy

of our relationship. There is nobody in this

world that is unworthy of God's family. Peter

looks at these people, he says, you yourselves

know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate

with or visit anyone of another nation. But God

has shown me that I should not call any person

common or unclean. See, God was flipping the

script on how people saw each other, how the

Jews saw everybody else, and how everybody else

would see the church. And I love what the Apostle

Paul says to the Gentile Christians in Galatia

in Galatians 3 .28. There is neither Jew nor

Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There

is no male. You see, in God's kingdom, a fisherman

is worth just as much as a high priest. In God's

kingdom, the awful Gentile is just as good, well,

not as good, but just as valuable as the Jew,

the chosen people of God. In God's kingdom, everybody

is worth. something. In fact, God would say everybody

is worth everything. You see, that wasn't just

a nice thought to the religious establishment

back then. This was groundbreaking. It was earth

shattering and it was earth world changing. And

so I asked the question, how do you look at other

people, the people that you disagree with, the

people that are not like you? Do you see them

with the worth that God sees in them? Or do you

see them with the worth the world has defined

them with. I want you to imagine how different

our life would be and how different the world

would be if the church, if God's people, Christians,

disciples of Christ, whatever you want to define

us as, imagine how different the world would

look if we started looking at other people the

same way God does. Because your worth believed

and lived out isn't supposed to just affect you.

It is supposed to change the world because it

sends you and it puts you to work. And this means

that you are someone who helps set other people

free from the prisons they're living in. It means

you get to carry and deliver the good news. You

don't go with a self -help message. You don't

go with something to put people in a better mood.

You go with life -changing information about

a Christ who lived, died, and rose again and

caused us to follow him through the waters of

baptism into a brand new life and to keep walking

from there. It means you get to invite the very

people that you would normally overlook. I get

to invite the people that I would normally overlook

into this family. And so God is asking us to

walk in a way that says, I am valuable. I was

made for more than this comparative rat race

of a life. And I was made to bring people into

that same place, that same sense of worth. We

weren't made to sit this mission out. We weren't

made to believe we were worthless. We weren't

made to sit on the sidelines and pout. We were

made. for a life -changing, a world -saving mission.

And so I need you, I want you, and I need to

believe that to be true and then go live like

it. And so today, maybe you've never believed

it was true for you. Maybe you've never taken

God at his word. Maybe you've never given your

life to the one who redeemed you. But today,

you're ready to, or you're at least questioning

it, you're considering it. I'd love to talk with

you about that. Or maybe you've accepted the

redemption. You've been baptized. You've given

your life to Christ, but you've been living on

the bench instead of in the game. No matter where

you're at today, whether it's you've never given

your life to Christ or you have, but you have

not been walking in that worth, wherever you're

at, please do not walk out of here still living

like that because you weren't made for it. And

I believe that when we live against God's grain,

it makes life really uncomfortable. And we sit

there and we wonder why our life feels the way

it does. It's because we're not living in accord

with what we were designed for. If I use a fork

to eat soup, I'm going to be pretty disappointed.

And if I use a spoon to eat spaghetti, I'm going

to be pretty disappointed. But when I do, when

I use something the way it was designed to be

used, it's so fulfilling. The same is true for

our lives. God is not looking at us as forks

and trying to eat soup. And when we try to do

that, we mess up the will that God has. Now his

will is going to be done, but we mess up if we're

going to be a part of it. And so this morning,

I pray and I hope that you will not walk out

of here still living like that. If you need anything,

if you need prayer, conversation, if you're ready

to be baptized, whatever it is that you need

today, please know that the invitation is open.

We really do love you and want you to feel that

love and that welcome because we see you as priceless.

And I hope you do too. If you need anything,

please come as we stand and as we sing.