Shownotes
You may wonder if your story is too messy, if the labels or wounds others have given you are just your lot in life. This message throws open the doors to all—no matter what you’ve carried or the battles you still fight.
Pastor Kevin doesn't shy away from difficult topics. He's experienced brokenness and confusion firsthand. What changed everything wasn’t wishing for a simple fix, but coming to the table with Jesus, again and again, embracing the daily process of letting His love wash away old pain and mistaken ideas about who you are.
When life tries to stick you with labels and expectations, remember that your worth is given, not achieved. Nothing anybody else has said or done, no wound or mistake, can separate you from the wholeness and acceptance at Christ’s table.
Kids running wild? Past hurts? Questions about belonging? There’s a place for you, just as you are. Here, you’ll find people who understand that growth isn’t instant, who walk with you as you discover that God truly doesn’t make mistakes.
Scriptures Referenced
Genesis 1:1, 1:27; 1 Samuel 17:38-40; Psalm 16:6, 139:14; Proverbs 3:5; Romans 8:38-39, 15:1-9; 2 Corinthians 5:17, 12:8-10
Key Insights
- Jesus didn’t die to fix you. He died to make you new.
- If you spend enough time around Jesus, you become like Jesus.
- Your identity is received, not achieved.
- Many of us want struggles removed from our lives. God wants maturity.
- God’s grace is sufficient.
Resources
Key Sections
00:00:00 - Welcome and Announcements
Join us June 6 for the Instruments of Joy benefit concert. Enjoy some excellent Nashville musicians and partner with Instruments of Joy in providing quality instruments to musicians in need all over the world.
00:03:04 - Anchoring in God’s Love
People struggle with feeling like they are mistakes or not good enough, but God makes us new, and nothing can keep us away from His love.
00:05:20 - The Power of Abide and Arise
Many people work hard to do great things for God but forget to let Him change them inside. The real journey is about living as who we are in Christ, not just seeking constant outside success.
00:10:10 - Owning Brokenness and Finding Healing
Childhood trauma, broken families, or abusive experiences affect how we view ourselves. Pastor Kevin shares his honest story and invites us to stop listening to those old thoughts. Instead, we should let Jesus’ words define us, bringing daily healing and freedom with Him.
00:18:42 - Becoming Who You Spend Time With
The people and places around us shape who we are. If we spend time with negative people or face criticism, we may become like them. But if we get close to Jesus, we start to show His love and truth instead of the hurtful labels from the world.
00:21:19 - The Process of Forgiveness and Releasing Blame
True faith means not letting past hurts or what others do control our present. Pastor Kevin shows that forgiveness is both a special gift and a helpful action. This helps those who hurt us to be free, so their choices don’t shape or restrict our future.
00:30:32 - Calling, Restoration, and New Life
Each person has a special calling from God and is given what they need. We should not try to take on someone else's problems or burdens. God's healing does not happen all at once; it is a journey. We find it by coming to Him every day for cleansing, accepting our weaknesses, and receiving the grace that helps us change and gives us hope.
https://springhouse.captivate.fm/episode/arise-in-who-he-created-you-to-be
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Gathering Times
- Sundays, 9:00 AM
- Sundays, 11:00 AM
- Thursdays, 6:00 PM
Contact Info
Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
CCLI License 2070006
Transcripts
So we thank you, Father, for the gift of your holy Spirit.
Speaker:We thank you, Lord, for tonight and the ability to be in
Speaker:your presence, not just in this occasion or in this moment,
Speaker:but at all times. Because you're omnipresent God. And we
Speaker:acknowledge that. We acknowledge your sovereignty and that you're holy God.
Speaker:And so we just ask that you would soften our hearts tonight, tonight for
Speaker:your word that we would lay what we brought in here down.
Speaker:You would purify our hearts, open our eyes and our ears and
Speaker:our hearts and our hands, Lord, to be in a posture to receive God. You're
Speaker:the giver of great gifts, including
Speaker:knowledge, grace, mercy,
Speaker:love. And we want to receive from you
Speaker:so clear our minds and our hearts so that we can receive it tonight.
Speaker:We love you, God. Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
Speaker:Well, you may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Welcome.
Speaker:Tonight tonight concludes our
Speaker:series that Pastor Jonathan. Has it not been a rich series
Speaker:with Pastor Jonathan? He's done fabulous job. I encourage you to go
Speaker:back and watch. If you haven't been here,
Speaker:it will really bless you. But tonight also not
Speaker:only concludes our series set apart, but it concludes our midweek gathering
Speaker:for the next little stint. We'll pick back up on July 30th.
Speaker:We're actually gonna do a launch party for celebrate recovery that
Speaker:night. And that will kick us off into the fall
Speaker:regiment for midweek gathering. And so we will be taking the summer off.
Speaker:Guys, mark your calendars for July, June
Speaker:5, the instruments of Joy concert. Come and be a part of that. We
Speaker:have also some other wonderful summer activities for
Speaker:kids and for adults. Check the church app to find out
Speaker:about always believing that God is saving
Speaker:the very best for right now. Smitty. Right? Saving it for right now.
Speaker:And so I believe that he's done that with Pastor Jonathan. So would you guys
Speaker:welcome my brother as he brings the word
Speaker:greetings, you wild and crazy elect exiles of
Speaker:Smyrna. I had to get one more. Just one more in.
Speaker:My hope for these sessions has been that they would be
Speaker:encouraging and strengthening in our identity,
Speaker:individually and collectively in Christ. We've
Speaker:discussed what it means to be the chosen people of God who are
Speaker:set apart to declare his praises in the midst of
Speaker:every trial, every circumstance, all suffering. We've
Speaker:discussed what our identity is as the royal priesthood who have
Speaker:been imprinted with the image of God that go out and
Speaker:offer these spiritual sacrifices to him. And we've talked about our
Speaker:identity as to be coal called, to be holy
Speaker:like he is holy in a world. And A culture that is so
Speaker:vastly distant from him and his heart. We share and
Speaker:represent his heart in that. And tonight we'll be looking at our
Speaker:identity as God's treasured and special possession,
Speaker:which I'm very excited to dive into. And the more I've
Speaker:prayed and studied for this, the more I have come to believe
Speaker:and realize that truly understanding the gift of
Speaker:this identity, identity and the value of it as
Speaker:his treasured possession, is critical to living
Speaker:a life that proclaims his excellencies
Speaker:in word and deed, treasuring him above all. So
Speaker:let's look at our familiar scriptures, Starting
Speaker:with Deuteronomy 7. 6. For you
Speaker:are present tense, a people holy to the Lord.
Speaker:The Lord your God has chosen you, spoken to Israel at the time,
Speaker:out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, to be his people,
Speaker:his treasured possession. And coming to 1 Peter 2:9. But
Speaker:you are also present tense, a chosen people now,
Speaker:the elect from every nation, a royal priesthood, a
Speaker:holy nation, God's special possession that you may declare the
Speaker:praises of him who called you out of darkness into his
Speaker:wonderful light. We are familiar with these verses by now. Yes.
Speaker:Okay. I've probably read them several dozen
Speaker:times up to this point. And this past week, a single
Speaker:phrase, an idea in it stood out to me
Speaker:more intensely than it has before. Have you ever been reading scripture
Speaker:and been like God? When did you put that in there? I've read this
Speaker:so many times. Did you sneak that in there? This happened to me. And
Speaker:one of these verses are also. The
Speaker:language of them is also in Exodus 19. So I'm going to start there. I'm
Speaker:going to read it. It has all the same language. It says that we will
Speaker:be his treasured possession, although the
Speaker:whole earth is his. Okay. We will be his treasured
Speaker:possession, although the whole earth is his. Deuteronomy
Speaker:7 doubles down on the point, saying, out of all the people,
Speaker:we are his treasured possession. Psalm 24:1.
Speaker:The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all
Speaker:who live in it. So this wrecked me.
Speaker:What does it mean to be treasured as a possession? When you
Speaker:own all the possessions, you own all the things, right? That's
Speaker:crazy. We exist as his treasured possession within the
Speaker:context of knowing that he possesses everything.
Speaker:We are uniquely set apart to receive
Speaker:his attention and affections in a way
Speaker:that are distinct from his other possessions. I feel like
Speaker:we can best understand this through the biblical model
Speaker:context of marriage. I am called as a Christian, as a
Speaker:believer, to love the world but my bride will always
Speaker:have my eyes, my attention, my affections, access
Speaker:to me and access to all that I own in a
Speaker:way that is unique to her and only her.
Speaker:And when the bride of Christ is secure in
Speaker:that and understands the gift of his love for us and
Speaker:how deeply it cost him, I believe what is produced in that
Speaker:is faithfulness, honor, singing his praises,
Speaker:glorifying him, the heart there is, I am my
Speaker:beloved's and he is mine. I am my
Speaker:beloved's and he is mine. And that
Speaker:truth has wrecked me this week because
Speaker:I don't think I've allowed that to stir in my heart and in my
Speaker:mind as often as I should. This is. This should
Speaker:be an everyday waking up, middle of the day
Speaker:when something happens, just going, God, thank you.
Speaker:I'm my beloved's and he is mine. I want to treasure you in all
Speaker:things, in every moment. So when we talk about
Speaker:being treasured among all people, I suspect that will
Speaker:bring questions to your mind, because it brought questions to me. First
Speaker:question may be, why me? Why me,
Speaker:Lord? Out of all people? What did I do to deserve this? And
Speaker:Deuteronomy gives us the clearest answer on this I can offer.
Speaker:Deuteronomy 7, 7 through 8. The Lord did not set his
Speaker:affection on you. Yeah, the Lord did not set his
Speaker:affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than
Speaker:other people, for you were the fewest of all people.
Speaker:But here's the answer. But it was because the Lord loved
Speaker:you. So why does the Lord set His affection on us?
Speaker:Because. Just because.
Speaker:Because he loves us and that's who he is.
Speaker:And that's important to know that. Because when we know that we're
Speaker:loved by the living God, that could cause us to be puffed up with
Speaker:pride. Yet we know that we are supposed to be clothed with humility.
Speaker:1st Peter 5. 5. Humility in that passage means to have
Speaker:a deep sense of moral littleness.
Speaker:What better way to be humble than to understand that this is a gift
Speaker:that we could not afford in millions of
Speaker:years, in our best efforts, in our wildest dreams, couldn't afford it.
Speaker:So God gives the best gifts to his bride just because
Speaker:he loves her. And that is such good relationship
Speaker:advice. Okay, I was thinking about this. As a married man, I have
Speaker:learned that there are two kinds of gifts, at least that you can give your
Speaker:wife. You got because gifts and just because
Speaker:gifts. Okay, because gifts are, it's your birthday,
Speaker:so I got you this because of that, or I got you this gift because
Speaker:it's Valentine's day. They're special, right? Okay. A just because gift
Speaker:is, man. I was driving home and I was, I love her so
Speaker:much. I'm gonna stop by Starbucks and get that drink that she loves. And then
Speaker:I'm gonna go to Panda and get those spring rolls that she really likes. I'm
Speaker:gonna take it home. And I get home, she's gonna go, why? And I'm going
Speaker:to just because I love you. And those,
Speaker:those gifts, in my experience, those unconditional
Speaker:gifts express love
Speaker:and value it in a much different, special kind of way. Earlier today,
Speaker:I was telling my wife about this revelation that God had given me about these
Speaker:just because gifts and how I was going to tie in Deuteronomy 7. And I
Speaker:said, can I tell people basically that you love spring rolls? You know, I got
Speaker:to run these things by my wife. And she said, yeah, that's fine. And a
Speaker:few moments later, I get this text, this verse, now that you know these
Speaker:things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Speaker:And I love this woman. This is.
Speaker:This is great. The best relationship advice comes from the
Speaker:Lord. Another question we may
Speaker:have is, if we are his treasured people, out of all the
Speaker:people, does this somehow suggest that God loves
Speaker:some more than others? To which I would answer the question with
Speaker:certainty and confidence. No, I don't think so. Because John 3:16 tells
Speaker:us, For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.
Speaker:But here's something interesting that we could actually put right
Speaker:on top of Exodus 19 and Deuteronomy 7, that
Speaker:whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Speaker:So the pattern is there. There is a love that he has for the whole
Speaker:world that's undeniable. But there are certain blessings,
Speaker:certain affections, and preserving effects of his love
Speaker:that are reserved for his bride, for those who believe in
Speaker:him in faith. All of these truths, I believe, should lead
Speaker:us to deeper humility, because God,
Speaker:I believe, here, is assigning value to us that we are
Speaker:totally unworthy of. I mean, there's nothing more special
Speaker:about us than anybody else. This is such a gift,
Speaker:such a gift of grace. So let's look deeper into these scripture
Speaker:scriptures, see if we can determine where this value
Speaker:comes from and why it's important for us to consider Exodus 19
Speaker:becoming God's treasured possession is spoken of in the future
Speaker:tense, and it uses conditional language. If you obey
Speaker:me fully and keep my covenant with me, then you will be
Speaker:my chosen treasured possession. However,
Speaker:in the context of Exodus 19, God has already
Speaker:chosen Israel at this point, he's already rescued
Speaker:them out of Egypt at this moment. So their
Speaker:obedience was not a requirement for election.
Speaker:It's unconditional in that way. It's truly a gift.
Speaker:So I think with that in mind, what these
Speaker:verses in Exodus are speaking of is when we
Speaker:treasure what he has done for us and the value of the gift,
Speaker:then what will be produced in us is obedience
Speaker:and covenant keeping. And therefore we would be
Speaker:fully operating as his treasured possession,
Speaker:enjoying fully the blessings and rewards of
Speaker:intimacy with Him. But we know
Speaker:all throughout history, all throughout the Bible, his people
Speaker:are not good at this. We mess it up
Speaker:time and time again. We are unable to satisfy
Speaker:our side of things. So knowing that
Speaker:God's people have failed time and time again
Speaker:at being faithful to him, how is it that we can fast forward
Speaker:1500 years from Moses to first Peter?
Speaker:And now Peter is telling the Gentiles in
Speaker:full confidence, you are are God's
Speaker:special possession. In the present tense. The
Speaker:blessing that belonged to Israel, you can have assurance
Speaker:now belongs to you as well. How has the
Speaker:value and richness of that blessing been
Speaker:secured and expanded to all these
Speaker:believers, all these from all these nations? And I believe the
Speaker:answer lies uniquely in one small detail
Speaker:that I found between Exodus and First Peter. Exodus says,
Speaker:let's see if I can put it back. No, here I'll use Deuteronomy.
Speaker:Deuteronomy and Exodus say treasured possession. First Peter says,
Speaker:special possession. So they're closely
Speaker:connected, but powerfully different in one important way.
Speaker:Both words mean a valuable, peculiar
Speaker:possession that is stored up and preserved. Both
Speaker:words mean that you're valuable, you're weird,
Speaker:God possesses you, you're being preserved. However,
Speaker:special in the Greek and in the context of First Peter means
Speaker:purchased. So we
Speaker:have been given value that we didn't have before
Speaker:because we have been purchased by the precious
Speaker:blood of Jesus. So how did God demonstrate the depth of his love
Speaker:for his treasured people among all people? He
Speaker:sacrificed his son Jesus in order to
Speaker:purchase back what he already owned
Speaker:and preserve, in hopes that his
Speaker:bride might see the depths of his love and
Speaker:mercy for them and
Speaker:stay with him, be
Speaker:faithful to him, honor him. First Peter
Speaker:17 through 20 and if you call on him as Father, who judges
Speaker:impartially according to each one deeds, each one's deeds,
Speaker:conduct yourself with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing
Speaker:that you were ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from your
Speaker:forefathers. So those Israelites, not with perishable
Speaker:things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. So
Speaker:Peter's drawing our attention to the fact that through Jesus
Speaker:blood a substantial transaction
Speaker:has been made on our behalf. It satisfied
Speaker:our debt in a way that no amount of
Speaker:sacrifice since the time of Moses has been able to
Speaker:accomplish. He effectively says that if we truly
Speaker:understand this and the value of what we have been given, the debt that has
Speaker:been given and paid in full, then the conduct of our lives
Speaker:will be completely transformed.
Speaker:I remember a few years ago when our daughter Michaela was
Speaker:born. Through that hospital stay we racked
Speaker:up somewhere, I think between 10 and $15,000
Speaker:worth of debt. It was substantial. It was not something that we were going to
Speaker:be able to pay off quickly. We would probably still be paying it off today.
Speaker:And one day I was driving home, I got home, and my wife
Speaker:Brittany was waiting in the driveway, kind
Speaker:of jumping up and down. And when I rolled down the window, she said, the
Speaker:hospital forgave our debt. Paying off a
Speaker:debt feels really good. Somebody else paying off a
Speaker:debt and forgiving it causes you to do things like,
Speaker:you know, dance around, show his glory
Speaker:gives you reason to testify that. The idea of Jesus
Speaker:purchasing back what he already owns reminded me of the story
Speaker:Hosea story. In Hosea, who was called to be a
Speaker:prophet by God during a time when Israel had
Speaker:turned their affections away from him and towards other idols,
Speaker:Hosea was uniquely called to share
Speaker:in the sufferings with God by rescuing and marrying
Speaker:a prostitute named Gomer, who would herself turn from him,
Speaker:return into bondage and into the arms of other men, to which God
Speaker:instructed him in this way. Hosea, buy back your
Speaker:wife.
Speaker:Buy back your wife. Don't count her sins against her.
Speaker:The Lord said to me, go show love to your wife again.
Speaker:Though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress, love her
Speaker:as the Lord loves the Israelites. Though they turn to other gods.
Speaker:God's mercy was working to redeem
Speaker:and reconcile Gomer us
Speaker:while she was living, while we were living
Speaker:unfaithfully. What a gift.
Speaker:So I bought her back. I purchased her
Speaker:back, my bride, for 15 shekels of silver
Speaker:and about a homer and a lithec of barley.
Speaker:Then I told her, you are to live with me. Stay with me, stay
Speaker:with me. These are.
Speaker:They're incredible things about this story that just point
Speaker:to Jesus in our redemption story so clearly. Firstly,
Speaker:that payment there, 15 shekels of silver
Speaker:and then the barley. They believe that when that is
Speaker:added up, it equals 30 shekels of silver.
Speaker:Which brings my mind to the price that our Savior was Betrayed for
Speaker:and died for us. And
Speaker:that price of 30 pieces of silver, or 30 shekels of silver, the
Speaker:law demanded that be paid for a slave that was in
Speaker:bondage. Barley was considered a
Speaker:cheaper grain and often associated with offerings that
Speaker:poorer people would make. Which suggests to me that Hosea
Speaker:most likely was not a wealthy man. So
Speaker:the picture this paints is this Hosea scraping together
Speaker:all that he possibly could to pay a debt
Speaker:and purchase his bride back out of his love
Speaker:and mercy, bankrupting himself
Speaker:to get his bride out of bondage. What a gift
Speaker:this is. 2nd Corinthians 8, 9. For you know the
Speaker:grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that through that though he was rich,
Speaker:yet for your sake he became poor, so that you, through
Speaker:his poverty, might become rich for just.
Speaker:Romans 5, 18, 19. For just as through the disobedience
Speaker:of one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the
Speaker:obedience of one man, the many will be made
Speaker:righteous. So how can it be that many will be made
Speaker:righteous through the obedience of one man?
Speaker:Because the life of that one man is infinitely
Speaker:more valuable than all of creation,
Speaker:and Jesus gave it freely.
Speaker:Aw Tozer said, the only sin Jesus ever
Speaker:had was ours, and the only righteousness
Speaker:we could ever have is his.
Speaker:If we don't treasure and understand the value of Jesus's life
Speaker:and what he's done for us, then we, like Gomer, will continue
Speaker:to put ourselves into hands of things that
Speaker:seek to abuse us, seek to destroy us. If
Speaker:we treasure and understand the value of his life and what he's done for us,
Speaker:we will understand just how much has been
Speaker:imputed to us and joyfully remain in his hands
Speaker:and shine for his glory. And Peter's reminding these
Speaker:Gentiles and reminding us today, remember what
Speaker:it cost to make you treasured.
Speaker:Remember what it costs to make you treasured. A
Speaker:massive transfer of wealth has happened.
Speaker:You inherited the kingdom and Jesus took the
Speaker:wages of sin on himself. Massive
Speaker:transfer of wealth. One of the reasons that I get excited about
Speaker:the top this topic, treasured possession, is because I have
Speaker:developed a passion for all things related to treasure and
Speaker:treasure hunting. So when I see treasure mentioned or
Speaker:used metaphorically in scripture, I just get really into it. I'm like, yeah,
Speaker:let's talk about it. And it's because my wife several years ago got me a
Speaker:metal detector, which I'm well aware is an old
Speaker:man hobby. Okay? I can't explain it.
Speaker:One night you go to sleep, cool. The next day you wake up, you're
Speaker:frustrated that people are walking on your Lawn when they shouldn't be. I
Speaker:don't. Things happen, old man. Things sneak up on you.
Speaker:Okay? But there are several things about treasure that just
Speaker:connect so deeply to our relationship to God, which is why
Speaker:we see it all over scripture. So every
Speaker:item that I have ever found has a unique story
Speaker:about how it was lost. Has a unique story
Speaker:about the depths I had to go to find it.
Speaker:And it has a unique value that is assigned to it
Speaker:when it is found and put back into the hands of
Speaker:someone who treasures it.
Speaker:This is a picture of me finding a
Speaker:silver coin. My first silver coin. This is a
Speaker:mercury dime from 1928.
Speaker:It's almost 100 years old by the time I found
Speaker:it. And I found it around the base of this really old tree.
Speaker:And I remember scanning, and my metal detector was going crazy. And I get on
Speaker:my hands and knees and I dig it up. But I don't find that.
Speaker:I find a bunch of nails, which is not uncommon for
Speaker:an old home site. But I'm disappointed cause this is trash. And, you know,
Speaker:that's not really fun. So I discarded it, discard it for safety. Cover
Speaker:up the hole. I stand up, scan it again. Metal detector
Speaker:is going crazy. Get on my knees, uncover it. This time, I start
Speaker:finding barbed wire, of all things. Because there was
Speaker:an old. Like. Anyways, there was barbed wire there. I don't know what I'm trying
Speaker:to say. So I discard that, Cover the hole up. I'm like,
Speaker:okay. I feel like I hear the signal that I want to hear,
Speaker:and I scan it again, and it's so faint, but I hear it. And I
Speaker:get down, and this time I dig a little bit deeper.
Speaker:And you see it. It's so beautiful. Like in the dirt, this
Speaker:muddy dirt is this ridge
Speaker:of a silver coin. And the beautiful thing about silver and gold,
Speaker:it's just as shiny the day it comes out of the ground
Speaker:as the day it falls into the ground, the day that it falls away.
Speaker:And when it's brought into the light, it shines just
Speaker:as brightly. So you could see that. I'm very
Speaker:happy to have found this coin. My first
Speaker:silver coin. Probably two years of metal detecting. I had been chasing after
Speaker:this thing. Okay, so every lost item that is
Speaker:found has a unique story for how it's lost. I don't
Speaker:always get to know that story because you're digging in old sites where
Speaker:the people aren't around. The owner of this property
Speaker:was here. He was in his 80s, and he came out to meet me.
Speaker:And he had lived at this property since he was a little boy.
Speaker:And I showed him what I had found, and I showed him where I had
Speaker:found it under the base of this tree. And we stood there and he looked
Speaker:up and he said, there used to be a tree house right here that
Speaker:I would play in with my baby brother.
Speaker:And in that moment, easily, I could just imagine
Speaker:it. They're playing up there, they're hanging upside down. And the
Speaker:force of gravity pulls this coin, making it fall away,
Speaker:much like how we found ourselves before Christ, pulled
Speaker:by other desires. Falling away caused us to fall away from God. And
Speaker:I imagine that losing this coin for this child, it
Speaker:was probably a pretty significant loss.
Speaker:I researched how much a dime could buy in between the
Speaker:1928 and 1950s and when it was lost, most likely.
Speaker:And I learned that depending on the year, it could have probably purchased an entire
Speaker:loaf of bread, a couple candy bars
Speaker:or a couple hamburgers, or even a movie ticket is a big deal.
Speaker:For the owner. The dime had significant value that
Speaker:was intended to be used for a significant purpose.
Speaker:When the dime fell away and was lost and buried, the
Speaker:owner was sad because he still knew it had
Speaker:value and purpose. But unless it was in
Speaker:the hands of the one who valued it, its purpose couldn't
Speaker:be actualized. The dime never
Speaker:lost its value to the owner simply because it was buried
Speaker:and fell away. Its condition changed. Its
Speaker:ownership never did. Here's what's crazy to me.
Speaker:The value of a 90% silver
Speaker:dime from 1928 is no longer worth
Speaker:just 10 cents. Now, if I take that silver dime
Speaker:to Kroger and try to buy something with it, it's in the wrong. I'm putting
Speaker:it in the wrong hands. They don't understand the value of it. They'll treat it
Speaker:like a dime. But
Speaker:the value that is imputed to that dime, meaning assigned value
Speaker:that it did nothing to earn, if it's a pristine
Speaker:Mercury dime from 1928 is eleven hundred
Speaker:dollars, eleven thousand times more
Speaker:than what it was originally exchanged for.
Speaker:What was once exchanged casually for 10 cents
Speaker:in its fallen state can now be recognized as thousands
Speaker:of times more valuable in a redeemed state,
Speaker:securely in the hands of the one who treasures it.
Speaker:That's what grace does. So the only
Speaker:thing that I've really tried to communicate here tonight is
Speaker:the good news of the Gospel. It's a gift.
Speaker:And the value of it, it's
Speaker:unfathomable. It's more valuable than we could possibly
Speaker:imagine. Now, for those of us in the room who have walked with
Speaker:Jesus for a while now, the good news of the Gospel is not
Speaker:necessarily revelatory. Okay, but
Speaker:here's what occurred to me while I was preparing this message. Peter
Speaker:in this letter is constantly sharing
Speaker:the good news of the Gospel, the gift and the value of the Gospel to
Speaker:those who have already heard it, believed it, and received
Speaker:it.
Speaker:1st Peter 1:3, 4 Praise be to the God and Father of
Speaker:our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given us new birth
Speaker:into a living hope that through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
Speaker:and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
Speaker:This inheritance is kept in heaven with you. First for you. First
:18 through 19. You were not redeemed with perishable
:things like silver or gold from your feet, always of life
:inherited from your forefathers. 1st Peter 2:24 he
:himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we
:might die to sins and live for righteousness. Why is
:he sharing the gospel with people who believe the gospel?
:It's because we're forgetful people.
:If we weren't forgetful, then why would God constantly need to say,
:remember the Lord your God, remember my covenant,
:remember my law. As often as you do this, remember me. Three months
:after he pulled them out of Egypt, he says, I am the Lord your
:God who saved you from Egypt. Three months
:we're forgetful. Although
:we have received and believed the Gospel as God's
:treasured people, we should remind ourselves
:often of the value of the treasure we have given
:been given because remembering to treasure God
:above everything else is key to living a
:life of worship that sings his greatness.
:1 2. Therefore, I urge you, brothers
:and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies
:as a living sacrifice. Our worship depends on
:constantly reminding ourselves of his mercy and
:what it costs and the value of it. So if I could do
:a flyover at 30,000ft of
:First Peter, the things that we've covered in the previous three sessions
:and maybe topics I didn't have enough time for, but related
:to God's treasured possession as God's
:treasured possession when you are in the midst of suffering.
:Remember and treasure how Jesus suffered for you.
:Let him bring you rest when you are alone at night
:with lustful desires that could be satisfied
:within the reach of a phone. Remember and treasure
:how Jesus died for you and let him be your ultimate
:satisfaction when governing authorities of the world are
:hostile, drive you crazy. Remember and treasure
:how Jesus died for you and
:responded to those same hostile authorities with
:honor. When you find yourself in a
:job situation or in a friendship or in a relationship with people that treat you
:unjustly or call you names
:or slander you. Remember and treasure how Jesus died for you
:so that you can endure with patience and
:respond with kindness. There is power when
:God's treasured people. Remember the value of what
:has been gifted to us. Our call is to share that
:value to the world.
:Worship Team Michael and Brittany. Can you come up please,
:to close? I just want to share two of my all time favorite
:Levi stories with you. Levi is my son, okay? He puts
:me in some very tricky situations because he is
:the biggest extrovert of all time. And I'm not so.
:But I think it articulates this point
:well. Several years ago I was in a pool with Levi trying
:to teach him how to swim. And let's see, he was
:probably four at the time and pretty close to
:us. There was a woman, an older woman, who was watching us, watching me
:try to teach him how to swim. And she was smiling
:and I could tell that she was probably thinking back on
:memories of trying to teach her kids how to swim, possibly. And
:Levi noticed that she was looking at us. And
:Levi asked her two questions. He said,
:hi, I'm Levi. What's your name? That's the first question he
:asked. The second question he asked is, do you know that God's going to make
:a new heaven and a new earth one day? Are you going to be there?
:And she said something that I have not stopped thinking about
:since that moment. She said, I don't think so. I'm from Louisiana.
:Are you from Louisiana? Well, you're here now, right? You
:got into the kingdom, right? So. But I just knew I had to pray for
:her. But, but my son knew the value
:of what he had. And he said, I gotta,
:I gotta share this.
:And that makes his father proud.
:The second story. We were
:in a grocery store here in Smyrna
:as a family and we were going through the aisles and there was a mom
:there who had her young boy about Levi's age in
:the cart. And when they crossed paths, Levi, same thing. Hey man,
:what's your name? Do you go to a church?
:If you come to my church, we could be friends. And
:we were like, haha. And walk away, you know, but we, every time we
:came back, hey man, you could come to Springhouse. We could be friends.
:Really, we could be. He's doing this so much that eventually the mom,
:we have to stop. We can't avoid it anymore. And the mom's like, where you
:guys? Where do you guys go to church and yada, yada, yada. Turns out she's
:been invited here multiple times and has never come.
:So a couple days later. So she
:exchanges numbers with my wife, a couple days later, sends
:a voice memo that says, I have been praying
:for my son to have a friend,
:and here your boy comes.
:Saying, you could be my friend. Come to church with me. It's
:because he knows the value of what he has calls him
:to walk in. The values of what he knows.
:Values of the kingdom, to love, to be friends with.
:He wasn't walking around going, man, I wonder. I'm
:gonna say this, but if they say this, I've got this rebuttal planned.
:It was just naturally flowing from him, this treasured
:possession that he had. And that makes his
:father proud. When we do that,
:when God's treasured people understand
:truly the gift and the value of what we've been
:given, we will shine and
:radiate the glory of our Father in
:heaven. And our Father is so proud
:when we do that. So
:I just wanted to take a few moments to kind of end
:this series where we started it. And
:Brennan and Michael are going to lead us in a song. And I would just
:say, take this time to
:reflect on the gospel again,
:to remember the power of it, the cost of it,
:so that we can treasure him as his treasured people. Let's
:worship.
