10.15.12 - Value & Worth Devotional

1.    How much is this watch worth to you? (ex: Coach Wysong’s watch)

Answer: How ever much a person is willing to spend on the item

Example: Mark McGwire’s 70^th Homerun in a season sold for $3 million.

2.    What does the word “WORTH” mean to you?

Dictionary: (n)
     1) The quality that renders something desirable, useful, or valuable. 
     2) Quality that commands esteem or respect; merit (a person of great worth)

3.    What does the word “VALUE” mean to you?

Dictionary: (n)
     1) An amount, considered to be a fair and suitable equivalent for something else  
     2) The principle, standard or quality considered worthwhile or desirable

4.    Rhetorical Question:  What do you think about more than anything else on a daily basis?

o   Point 1: What you think about most is what you value most at that specific moment in time.

o   Point 2: What you value is what you will subconsciously think about without even trying.

§  Example 1: Music – poor language, sex, drugs, etc

§  Example 2: Friendships – values, interests, beliefs, actions, etc

o   Quote: When you squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out – because that’s what’s inside.  When you are squeezed, what comes out is what is inside of you. – Wayne Dyer

§  Mark 7:20 – What comes out of a man is what makes him “unclean” NIV

§  Mark 7:20 – And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. NLV

·         Defiles = corrupt something: to corrupt or ruin something

5.    God’s Thoughts:

o   How much does God think about You: 

§  Psalms 139: 17-18: “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God!  They are unnumberable!  I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!  And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!

o   How much does God love You / What are we worth to God:

§  John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.

§  Ephesians 2: 4-8: “But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—“

o   Does God value you enough to spend time with you:

§  1 Thessalonians 5: 17: “Pray without ceasing”

·         Is communication Monologue or Dialogue?

·         If I wave to a person, what is their normal response?

·         Is prayer communication?

·         In the same way, as we pray without ceasing, God wants to communicate without ceasing.

6.    How do we value and give worth to God

o   What does Worship mean?

§  (n) – reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage

§  (v) – To render reverence and to acknowledge one’s worth and value

§  (v) – To give worth and praise

o   John 14:6 “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

o   John 4:23-24 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

§  Truth – God’s word (Bible)

§  Spirit – Prayer

o   Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

o   Matthew 22:37-40: Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^{[a] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[b] 40} All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

o   Enter into His gate with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.  Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Isaiah 41:10

Isaiah 41:10-11

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

¹⁰ So do not fear, for I am with you;
   do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
   I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Christ Followers - Devotional

Christ Followers
by Courtney Brown

Christian: a person who exemplifies in his or her life the teachings of Jesus Christ

1) Jesus unconditionally loved everyone

John 15:9-15
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

1 John 4:16-19
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.

2) Jesus put others’ needs before His own

John 13:3-7
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand."

Philippians 2:3-8
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

3) Jesus was a light in the darkness

John 1:4-5
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

1 John 1:6-7
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

4) Jesus was passionate about His Father’s work, and persecuted for who He was

Matthew 27:20-23
Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release for you?" And they said, "Barabbas." Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said, "Let him be crucified!" And he said, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Let him be crucified!"

Matthew 5:10, 10:22-23
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.



Radical: of or going to the root or origin; fundamental

If Jesus is the center of our religion, and we claim to follow Him, then we are radicals. Our lives should look drastically different than the lives of unbelievers.

Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

CHRISTIAN = CHRIST FOLLOWER = RADICALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE WORLD

The Salt and Light

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
   ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

-Matthew 5:13-18