You’re Worth a Million
Ro 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will.
INTRO
(ill) A flock of wild geese was flying south for the winter when one goose looked down and noticed a group of domestic geese by a little pond near a farm. He noticed they had plenty of grain to eat. Life seemed relatively nice for them.
So he flew down and hung out with these geese until spring and enjoyed the food that was there. He decided that he would rejoin his flight of geese when they went north again.
When spring came, he heard them overhead and flew up to join them, but he had grown a bit fat from all of the seed. Flying was difficult, so he decided to spend one more season on the farm and then rejoin the geese on their next winter migration.
When the geese flew south the following fall, the goose flapped his wings a little, but he just kept eating his grain. He had simply lost interest.
I. Moral Decay
a. That is what happens in the subtle process of the world influencing our lives.
b. It is not necessarily dramatic, nor does it usually happen overnight
c. It is gradual,
i. Causing erosion in our lives as we begin to lower our standards.
ii. Soon, the things of God become less appealing,
iii. The things of this world become more appealing.
d. The Church then loses it power and authority
i. We have heard about great revivals of the past where community members were saved
ii. Today it is the church that needs revival
iii. We have lost tour identity as God’s chosen people that has the keys to the Kingdom
iv. We are living in a time of spiritual poverty
II. Most of today’s Christians live like they are poor
a. (ill) In the early 1900s, there was a woman named Hettie Green who was known for her miserly ways. So much so, that she was called America’s greatest miser. But Hettie Green was worth a lot of money.
When she died in 1916, she left an estate valued at $100 million. Still, Hettie Green lived as though she were poverty-stricken.
She would eat cold oatmeal every day to save the expense of heating water. When her son suffered a severe leg injury, she took so long trying to find a free clinic to treat him that his leg had to be amputated because of advanced infection. She even hastened her own death by not taking proper care of herself.
She lived like a pauper when, in reality, she was a multimillionaire.
b. In a spiritual sense, Christians can sometimes be a lot like Hettie Green.
c. We don’t realize how much God has placed in our spiritual bank accounts.
d. We can experience spiritual malnutrition because we have not taken advantage of the great storehouse of spiritual nourishment and resources at our disposal.
e. we will pray for things that God has already given us
f. We ask God to give us more power,
i. 2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (NIV)
g. It is not that we need more, as much as we simply need to utilize what we already have
h. The apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3)
i. Paul was seeking to convey that in Christ, we have everything we need.
ii. We are never lacking in spiritual resources.
i. No Christian has to be spiritually deprived, undernourished, or impoverished,
i. God’s heavenly bank account has no limitations or restrictions.
j. His resources are more than adequate to cover the cost of all of our past debts,
i. our present liabilities,
ii. And our future needs.
III. Christians live in two dimensions.
a. First, there is the spiritual dimension. As we walk in the Spirit, we know God in the Spirit. Yet we live on Earth. Therefore, we need to transfer what we have in the spiritual realm to the earthly realm.
b. You He still maintain citizenship as an American.
i. When you travel to a different country you are still US citizens.
ii. Although we were U.S. citizens and had our passports with us, we still had to adapt to that culture.
c. (ILL) Greg Laurie told of a trip to Israel
i. When we needed some local currency, we decided to use the ATM machine at the airport.
ii. It took my card and listed a choice of certain denominations in shekels.
iii. Because I didn’t know what the exchange rate was, the numbers looked very high.
iv. This made me very nervous, so I chose a number in the middle, not knowing how much I was withdrawing.
v. We spent our shekels in about four minutes and had to get some more
vi. I had withdrawn money from my bank account in the United States, but it had been converted into shekels in Israel.
d. In the same way, Christians have resources in heaven that God wants us to start utilizing here.
i. Some of us need to stop living like spiritual paupers
ii. And start laying hold of the resources that are available.
iii. We get so accustomed to the life of in America we forget that God has something far greater for us
e. As believers, we don’t need to doubt our salvation and feel beaten, defeated and unworthy.
i. It is not about being worthy.
ii. It is about Jesus and what He has done for us.
iii. We need to understand that and then let it impact the way that we live
f. Mt 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
