What Is It Worth?

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