Youth rally October 20, 2017
What is it worth?
I brought my little friend Valentino with me tonight
Ya’ll know all about beanie babies
Right
Some of you have some
Some of you want some
The rest just know about them
This one’s name is Valentino
He was made to celebrate Valentine’s day many years ago
I got him along with several other beanie babies
In an auction not long ago
And I began looking up what he was worth
I found many listings on ebay and craigslist
And the value of this particular bear
Went from 12,000 all the way down to 1.67 cents
That started me thinking
Something is only worth what someone is wilingl to give for it
Right
So
I began researching what made one beanie baby worth more than another
And came up with a few ideas
Tags, condition, rarity
But at the end of the day
I came back to
It is only worth what someone is willing to pay
How many of you would give me a dollar for this bear?
I see a lot of hands
How about 5 dollars
Still a few hands
How about 100 dollars
Not so many now
How about 12,000 dollars
I don’t see any hands now
Let me go ahead and ask
How many of you would give up your freedom for this bear?
How many would allow someone to spit in your face
Or beat you with a whip for this little bear?
How many of you would give your life for this bear?
What someone is willing to give determines it’s value
Let me go ahead and do something weird now
Valentino
Is perfect
He has never been played with
He has nothing wrong with Him
And we saw that he has value in this room and in the world from anywhere from a dollar to 12,000
And his value is based on his condition
But what if
I removed his tag
How much is he worth now
A lot less right?
How about if I remover his tush tag
Those who said they would give something for him just diminished
How about if I dropped him on the floor and stepped on him
Spit on him
Got him dirty and scuffed up a bit
His value just became less
What if I took my knife out and ripped him open and spilled out all of his beans?
I am pretty sure now
Nobody would give even a nickle for poor little Valentino
Let’s get off of beanie babies and toys
And let’s talk about us
You and me
What are we worth?
Just like the little bear
We are worth what someone is willing to give right
Let me tell you what you are worth
Jesus Christ
God’s one and only son
Gave everything he had to buy you back from sin
He left the beauty and majesty of heaven for you and me
He endured pain
And hardship for you and me
He took the spit in his face
He took the insults
The whip
And he died on a cross to redeem us
That means buy us back
He gave everything he had
Willingly
Because he loves us
And because to him we are worth everything told you condition has everything to do with value on the beanie babies remember?
And when I pulled his tags
His value went down
And when I got him dirty
His value went down
And when I hurt him his value went down
But for Jesus our value never goes down
You may have been hurt in this world
I know many of you come from broken homes
I know sometimes you may feel you have little or no value
That no one loves you
That no one cares for you
I get it
I have had those same feelings my self
But here is the really cool part
Jesus loves you even when you think no one else does
He loves you when you feel sad and when you feel glad
When you are clean or when you are dirty
He loves you when you are bruised and when you are perfect
He loves you no matter what
And even better than that
He Gave everting
Everything
To buy you back from the penalty of sin
He gave his freedom
His safety
His heart and souls and his very life
For you
Because he loves you
And he made you
And he wants to spend the rest of eternity with you
Ya’ll all know this verse
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son so that everyone who believe in him will not perish but have eternal life”
Everyone who believes
That includes you and that include me
You see when we accept Jesus as our savior
The scuffs and tears and imperfections become invisible to him
He sees a perfect child of God standing before him
Who is now perfectly forgiven
The bible says that you are his prized possession
It says that he paid the highest price possible for you
And that because of that
You will always have great – great value
Close from the heart
Pray
