Sons Of Thunder Series

Well, we should care because there’s somebody else in Scripture who has a NEW NAME. Do you know who that somebody else is? Well… let’s take a look: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a NEW NAME written on it, known only to him who receives it.” Revelation 2:17

Do you know what that means? That means that you’ve got a NEW NAME! When you became a Christian, you joined an elite group to whom God has given “nicknames”. And because God has given you a nickname – God has declared that you have value. HE BELIEVES IN YOU.

Ephesians 2:10 says (now that we’re Christians) “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared in advance for us to do.” God has something designed just for you. He has a task ONLY YOU can do.

But in spite of the fact that God believes in them, many Christian don’t. They don’t believe in themselves. Too many Christians don’t think they’re worth very much. They look at their lives and their abilities and they think “even God couldn’t do much with me.” And because they don’t think they’re worth much… they don’t try very much. I mean, why risk the embarrassment of failure. Why try if all you’re going to do is mess it up?

ILLUS: Back in the 1930s there was a power hitter who the crowds loved. And because he was so well liked, he was hired by a semi-pro team for $45,000 a year – in a day when a new car sold for around $800. But his first year for the league he performed miserably. At the end of the year he was called into the manager’s office for a talk. They talked about his disappointing season, and the manager asked him to write down on a piece of paper what he thought he should make the next year, and the manager said he’d put the amount he thought the player was worth on another piece of paper. The baseball player thought long and hard about it… and he finally wrote down $36,000 ($9000 less than he’d been making). He felt that was appropriate considering how badly he’d been batting. He folded his paper and pushed it over the table to the manager. The manager also wrote down a number and pushed it to him. On that piece of paper was the amount of $45,000. The player was shocked & asked why. The manager replied: “Do you want to play for what you think you’re worth… or for what I think you’re worth.” “For what you think I’m worth,” replied the player… and he did. His name was Joe DiMaggio and he was later hired by New York Yankees. And in the 13 years he played for the Yankees, DiMaggio set a franchise record for rookies by hitting 29 home runs in 138 games – a record that stood for 80 years.

But DiMaggio ALMOST settled for less because he didn’t believe he was worth that much.

And that’s the problem for too many Christians. Too many Christians settle for less because they don’t think they’re worth that much. But then... they believe that because they've forgotten who it is they serve.