Let us just magnify this dependable God, let us bless His name, let’s glorify Him, let us worship Him, brethren; He’s greater than the greatest, He’s higher than the highest, He’s better than the best, awesome God, glorious God, all-powerful, all knowing, all-sufficient God, fearful in praises, always doing wonders, the One who alone is worthy, He is God, He was God, He will be God forever. Dependable God, reliable God, intentional God, hallowed be Your name, Father we thank You, Lord we honor You, we exalt Your holy name, in Jesus wonderful name we worshipped.
Brethren, I just want us to – because as the choir was ministering, what came to my mind is this is the mood of thanksgiving, I want us to thank God for the good things that He has done for us, all the things that He has ever done, all the things that He is doing, let us thank Him.
Father, thank You; thank You Lord, thank You for all that You have done, all that You have done for us; as individuals, Lord we thank You, as a family, Lord we thank You, as a group of people, as a member of the body of Christ, Father we thank You, thank You for everything that You’ve done for us, Father, we thank You, glory be to Your name forever more, in Jesus mighty name we have given thanks.
Because He’s an intentional God, because He had done it before and He can do it again, so every other thing that we are trusting Him for, let us thank Him ahead, let’s give Him thanks because He’s going to do it, there’s going to be testimony over those things.
Father thank You for these things that I’m trusting You for, I put my trust in You Lord and in this trust Lord I’m assured that I will give thanks over these issues, let us give Him thanks, Father Lord, bless Your holy name, thank You heavenly Father.
Intentional God, dependable God, reliable God, the One who has never lost a battle, we thank you, we have come before You this morning to say thank You Lord Jesus, Father as we go into Your word, we ask You Lord that You speak to us, reveal Yourself to us in the name of Jesus. My God and my Father, I pray this morning, through Your word You will reveal who we are, our true worth, true value to us in the mighty name of Jesus. Father glorify Your name, manifest Your power, give us understanding, reveal unto us this day in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You heavenly Father, in Jesus mighty name we prayed. Praise the Lord!
The theme for the prayer chain tomorrow is ‘The All Powerful God’, talking about intentional God, talking about dependable God, Psalm 62: 11, once He has spoken, twice I have heard that power belongs to Him, so let’s come and experience that power, God will bless you in the name of Jesus.
This morning by the grace of God, our topic for today is Understanding Your True Worth/Value. Galatians 4:1-7 (NIV), what I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3So also when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. 4But when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. 5To redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.
6Because you are His sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out (and say), “Abba, Father”. 7So you are no longer a slave, (I am no longer a slave) but God’s child; and since you are His child, God has made you also an heir. Praise the living Jesus!
The topic this morning is understanding your true worth, brethren, what we call worth or value is different from people to people, but quickly what is worth? What’s your worth? The value you place on something or you place on someone measured by the qualities or by the esteem with which you hold it.
This value can be monetary, financial, can be moral and it can be a combination of these, and many times what we call value is actually also perceived, there’s perception that goes into value because the window through which you look into the world and see something is the value that you give to it. Your orientation in life, your stage in life, what a young man will look at and call value, an adult will look at it and say what is this?
For example now, if you call any of our daddies and bring those tattered jeans that you sag and you give it to one of our daddies, they say what is this rag? But if you give it to a younger person he’ll say thank you sir because it’s your stage in life. But there’s also something called self-worth, self-value, in 2 Samuel 9, we will talk about this a lot later, there’s a young man called Mephibosheth, even though he was the grandson of a king, grandson of King Saul, when David invited him to come over, first he described himself as a servant, somebody who used to live in a palace said he was a servant and then later he described himself as a lame dog – self worth, self value.
He didn’t know his value until David said to him, you are a son of the king, you belong here in the palace, you see this your father’s servant, the servant who had 20 servants is actually your servant and everything that he claims to own belongs to you because eni to l’eru (servant) lo l’eru (load), and then he gave everything to him. Praise the living Jesus.
There are many of us today, we do not know our worth, we do not know our value and is the reason a few things happen to us. My prayer is that after this day, the Lord Almighty will give us revelation of who we are and we’ll take what rightfully belongs to us in the mighty name of Jesus.
When I was preparing, something came to my mind; there’s a a country in this world, the citizens of that country anywhere they find themselves they behave as if they are the only ones there, we all know that country, they play like the big brother of the world, they bully everybody, it’s about selfworth. But you know we are a citizen of a country whose Maker and Founder is not a human being that’s on this world, so we should behave like we own the world. Hallelujah.
So we’ll go through these in stages; the first one is who are you in Christ? Can you please ask yourself that question, who am I in Christ? We are not here to talk about your value because when I say what is your worth, some people will be saying ah, pastor is not going to ask about your bank balances, it’s beyond that, this morning our focus is on your spiritual worth, the worth of your spiritual person.
Your worth and your understanding or your knowledge of what it is determines the value that you extract out of life; what you are worth and your understanding of that and your mentality to that understanding is a determinant of what you get out of life. Hallelujah.
For example, if two people walk up to a car shop, one comes in a Uber, another one comes chaffeur driven in a Rolls-Royce and the receptionist brings them in and they said it’s a Range Rover shop, so brand new, they will first look at the man in Uber whether he accompanied the other one or not, but if that one says I also want a Range Rover, they’ll say okay, let me attend to this one first, you know why? Perception of value, so if one of them or either of them says I like this, let me test drive it, he will most likely give it to the one that comes in Rolls-Royce, go and test drive, sir.
But this other one, he will say please, we need someone to go with you, why? Perceived value. If that other person now comes and says I’m the son of the president, I’m actually here we need 50 cars for our next campaign and I can see you have only twenty here, can I have all twenty, what do you think will happen next? Attention will shift and then he will say oga sir, sorry, take your Rolls-Royce, we have closed for the day because somebody is taking out our stock.
Value – you are the son of a President, you are the son of the president of nations, so who are you in Christ? The knowledge and understanding of who you are in Christ is very important. In Matthew 16: 13 – 20, Jesus Christ asked His disciples, what do men say I am? You are the ones interacting with them, what do they say about me? Ah some say You are Elijah, some say You are Jeremiah, oh, some say You are John the Baptist, some say You are some prophet.
Jesus listened to all of them and then He said to them, what did you say, who did you say I am? I can imagine between when He asked that question in verse 15 and when the next answer came, there was a long period of silence, they said it’s true, who is this man? Apparently, they also didn’t know Him, because if they had known Him they would have told the people out there that He’s not John the Baptist, He’s Jesus Christ the Son of God. Then Peter answered, “You are Christ, the Son of the living God”, and what did He tell him? Flesh and blood did not reveal this unto you, it can only be revealed by my Father.
Brethren, the lesson from that is that the knowledge of who you are can only be revealed to you by God the Father, so my prayer this morning is that God will reveal Himself unto you in the mighty name of Jesus. And after that encounter from verse 21, Jesus Christ began to open up to them the greater things of life. From today by the grace of God, He will begin to open unto you greater things of life in the mighty name of Jesus.
In Galatians 4, our text, it started by saying when somebody is a heir, the one who is the owner of the asset, the throne, for as long as he is a child, nobody gives him that which is due to him because they think that he’s unable to handle it. Hallelujah! But a time comes, an appointed time when he transits from being a child then he gets what is rightfully belonging to him.
Brethren, the similitude of a child is somebody who still does not have that knowledge of he or she; many of us Christians walk about today, irrespective of our age – 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, but like a child, that child in Galatians 4:1, but by the power of the Lord Almighty this morning, this is the anointed day in the mighty name of Jesus, this is the day of appointment that He will handle that which belongs to us back unto us in the mighty name of Jesus.
So who are you in Christ? We are the sons and daughters of God, we are members of His kingdom. I will take this in a stepwise manner, let’s look at Matthew 11:9-11, then what did you go out to see? A prophet? (Jesus Christ was talking to His disciples), yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10This is the one about whom it is written: I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you (talking about John the Baptist).
11Truly I tell you, among those born of women there had not risen any greater than John the Baptist, (among those born of women up until that time, He’s saying all the prophets and all the people that lived in the Old Testament up until that time, John the Baptist was greater than all of them, now look at where it changes); yet whoever is a least in the kingdom of God is greater than he, saying anyone who is genuinely saved who is born of God is greater than John the Baptist. So I ask a question, who are you in Christ? Who is greater – Elijah, John the Baptist or you? Praise the living Jesus!
That’s what that scripture is saying, so who are you in Christ? Greater than John the Baptist, I’m greater than Elijah, and the only reason why we are greater than John the Baptist and Elijah is because we are a member of His family, we are born of God. Matthew 11:11, yet whosoever is a least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he – what qualifies you to be greater is being a member of the kingdom of heaven.Hallelujah!
Last month I talked about the realities of the new covenant and one of the realities of the new covenant that we learned was that you are a child of God, so I pick up from that, there are at least two reasons or two steps to becoming a child of God; one is that there’s going to be a redemption, there must be redemption and secondly there must be an adoption.
So what is redemption? Redemption simply is to pay the price for something so that you can own it. Something that is held by somebody else, you pay the price and then you can own it. Hallelujah! I put here, to redeem is to pay the price to acquire something or someone; in the Bible in the old days, a slave can be redeemed. What do you do to redeem a slave from his master? Just pay the price of that slave and take him, the slave if he has enough money can actually redeem himself, that’s what redemption is about.
But what makes us a member of the family of God? First is redemption, somebody has paid our price, how did this happen? Jesus Christ paid our price. Now in Psalm 51:5 (KJV), the Bible tells us that we were shapen in iniquity and were conceived in sin, it means everyone that is born of a woman comes out a sinner, and the Bible also tells us that the devil is the father of all sins, so everyone who is a sinner belongs to the devil rightfully.
So up until redemption takes place, everyone is a slave of the devil, then somebody comes and says I want to buy all this your slaves and then pay the price, and then because He paid that price, He collected all the slaves and set them free. Praise the living Jesus! So it’s redemption that makes us a part of that kingdom.
And the second thing is that after you have been redeemed, there must also be an adoption, somebody must say welcome to our family; the Son has gone out to buy slaves but the Father says ‘welcome home to my family’. So what makes us greater than John the Baptist and Elijah is first redemption and secondly adoption. Hallelujah!
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another person. Many of us have heard the word adoption, a woman in the clime where white people live, they say we don’t want to have children, let’s go and adopt a child, so adoption is he’s not our child but we’ll legalize everything and make him or her our own, we adopt and he becomes a member of our family. So that’s what God did for us. Praise the living Jesus.
In Galatians 3:13-14, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, because He was made a curse for us: it is written, everyone that hangeth on a tree is cursed. 14That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. So, we’re redeemed and then adopted. Ephesians 2: 8-9, we didn’t have a hand in it, it came because God loves us; for by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, you didn’t have a hand in it. Praise the living Jesus.
But there’s what is called the spirit of adoption, Romans 8:15, the Bible tells us that we are received by the spirit of adoption and that’s what gives us the ability to say Abba, Father. So putting it together, ordinarily we belong to the devil because of sin, then somebody redeemed us, He paid the price and then a step further, we were not hanging after redemption, we were adopted into the family of God and that makes us Romans 8: 14, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, and because we became the sons of God, then we were adopted into the family and the Spirit to be able to call Him Father was given unto us. Praise the living Jesus.
So two things happened through those two processes; the first one, the redemption, we were redeemed by a price. I defined the redemption as paying for something so that you can own it, you take it over from the owner, what was the price that redeemed us? It was the blood of Jesus, and the Bible describes it as the precious blood of Jesus. Hallelujah!
Now what is the precious blood of Jesus? I want you to have an idea; last month also from the teaching, we said that they could kill how many goats, how many bulls, how many cows, but none of it was enough to redeem anyone, but the blood of Jesus was able to do that. Now look at how many years before Jesus Christ, 4,000 5,000 years, imagine how many bulls were killed every day by one person, by one family, by the whole nation over 5,000 years, what is the value of all of those, yet none of it could redeem, none of it could make anyone free from sin except that blood of Jesus, that’s why it is precious.
Now the second thing is what value can you place possibly on that blood? How much is it? What’s the cost? How much is the value? It’s priceless. It’s invaluable, brethren, so the price that paid your cost is invaluable. Now if you go to a place, you want to buy a bottle of coke and they say you could pay 5,000 naira, even if you are making guy, you will take time to go out to say it has not reached like that, coke is 400, 500, you pay for what you attach value for, and the price you pay for something is its value.
So if the blood of Jesus paid for our lives and the blood of Jesus is priceless, what is your value? I’m priceless, I’m invaluable, no price can pay for me, nobody can pay my cost. Brethren, that’s the way I need us to carry ourselves from today, I am priceless, there’s nobody that can pay for me, they don’t know my worth. Brethren, the reason why we go about doing some things is because we do not know our true worth, your real worth is that you are priceless. Hallelujah.
In addition to being priceless, the Spirit of adoption that brought you into the family of God now gave you also two things; first made you a son of God and made you a heir to the throne of God. What that means is that everything that the Father has, you then have it also and also makes you a joint heir with Jesus Christ, so whatever Jesus Christ has you also have.
The Bible says that He’s seated in the heavenlies far above principalities and power, do you know where you also belong? In the heavenlies far above principalities and power, anytime principalities come again, you say you are below me because I’m seated far above with Christ. Hallelujah.
So our true value is that we are priceless through the redemption, and we are sons and daughters of God through adoption by God. If you put these two together, the implication is that there’s one big impostor that goes about saying to people they have things they do not have. In Matthew 4: 8 – 11, he went to Jesus Christ and said, look at the whole world, I own it, if you will bow down and worship me, I will give it to you; now, Psalm 24:1 tells me that the earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof, and the Bible also tells me that everything was made for Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.
Now somebody is coming to say I will give you what you own, who is that person? The devil is an impostor, he cannot give you what you own, but that’s what the devil does to us many of the times, what you already own because you are priceless, because you’re a child of God, he comes and says I will give you promotion only go and sleep with your boss, he’s an impostor. You tell him promotion does not come from man, it comes from heaven, it comes from my Father and I’m a son of the Father, so my promotion is in waiting.
The next time the devil tells you go and join a cult so that your business can prosper, you will say to the devil, no I belong to the greatest family in heaven, if there’s anything my Father cannot do, it’s not because He cannot do it, it’s because He doesn’t want to do it. Praise the living Jesus!
So the devil knew that Jesus Christ owned the whole world and yet he went to offer Him. Like in those days when young men want to toast girls, they say look at barbeach, my father owns barbeach, how many of us did that thing? They say my uncle owns national theater. The next time that you are in need of money and the devil comes to give you an offer to steal money from your boss, you will tell him that I am priceless because according to 2 Corinthians 8:9, Jesus Christ died, He became poor so that I might be rich, there’s no money you can offer me, Satan.
The next time the devil says you have stayed too long on this position or you must be promoted, go and sleep with your boss, you will tell him like I said earlier, Psalm 75: 6 & 7, promotion does not come from man it comes from my God and He gives it to anyone as He wants it, praise that living Jesus! The next time the devil comes to you and offers you things – a brand new car, all you need to do is to sleep with dogs, all you need to do is to come to a party, you will tell him and say devil you don’t know who I am, I am priceless, 1 Corinthians 3:16 tells me that my body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Praise the living Jesus!
Any offer from the devil is a bad offer, it is worth less than your true worth, so if the devil asks you to go and do something, just know that his ministry according to John 10:10, that’s where he operates – steal, kill, and destroy, he’s going about to do one of the three but because you are far above you will tell him that this is not for me. Praise the living Jesus.
If the devil tells you that you cannot be healed except you come to one shrine, except you come to one baba, you will tell him that he’s a liar, because in Daniel 3:15 – 18, even when it seemed impossible for the three boys to escape from what the king had set for them, God came through for them, that God will come through for me in this also in the mighty name of Jesus. If the devil tempts you or tries to lure you with anything that is contrary to the will of God, you must be able to say to the devil that this amounts to asking me to bow down and worship.
The devil is asking you go and steal, go and kill, go and do this contrary to the will of God, say this is not me, you cannot use this for me because Ephesians 2: 4-7 says with Christ I sit in the heavenly places, I cannot bow down to you Satan. Anything the devil asks us to do amounts to asking us to bow down, but today that you know you are priceless, you are invaluable, no longer will you bow down to the devil in the mighty name of Jesus
As I try to round up, the implication also of being a heir of God, that’s the implication of being priceless, first, materially, Matthew 6:31-33 says all these things will be added – material wealth, houses, clothing, good jobs, it shall be added. God has already told me that it will be added, He’s my Father, He doesn’t lie and it will be added in His own right time. Hallelujah.
What about the other ones – emotional things that money cannot buy – freedom. John 8:36, the Bible says he who the Son shall set free shall become free indeed, when you are heir of God, you are entitled to freedom. Hallelujah. Good health, you are entitled to good health as a heir of God. Third John 2 says beloved, my desire is that you are well in your body, soul, and spirit. Praise the living Jesus!
In times of trouble, as a child of God, you are entitled to peace, peace like a river. In John 14:27, the Bible says peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Praise the living Jesus! What about joy? The Bible says the joy of the Lord is my strength. Praise the living Jesus. What about divine protection? Psalm 46: 1 says that God is our strength and refuge, a very present help in trouble; divine provision, John 6, 5,000 people including women and men were fed, they didn’t have anything but God provided, if God who provided is my Father, He will provide for me.
In summary as we conclude, brethren, your true worth is not in the assets, it’s not in the material wealth, it’s not in your vehicles, it’s not in the houses, it’s not in the position that you hold, your true worth stems from the fact that you are a son of God, your true worth gives you a place that is above John the Baptist, that’s above Elijah. Your true worth places you in the heavenlies sitting together with Jesus Christ far above principalities and powers; your true worth makes you a heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ.
The reality is that brethren, you are priceless, you are invaluable, you are unshakable, you are unmovable, once you know this, don’t negotiate with Satan, for anything don’t negotiate with the devil over any subject whatsoever, don’t offer yourself cheap anytime from today again, it amounts to robbery anytime Satan makes you an offer and you accept it because there’s no money that can pay for your value.
Judas Iscariot was a disciple, he didn’t know the value of disciplehip; a disciple of Jesus Christ, they offered him 30 pieces of silver for somebody who is priceless, 30 pieces of silver was an insult, was a scam on him. Anything the devil gives you from today and you accept is a scam, they defraud you, don’t take it anymore, your true worth is not in the physical assets, never doubt your worth anymore, you may not see it now, it may not materialize today but it is intrinsic, it’s in there inherent in you because you’re a child of God.
As we close, there’s a parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16; the rich man had everything and he felt that the true worth was about the material wealth, but when he got to where it mattered, he realized that he had nothing. But Lazarus who appeared to have nothing when he got to where it mattered, Lazarus was obnobing with Abraham.
Your true worth is about being a child of God, your true worth is the right from being a member of the family of God, therefore brethren, ift there’s anyone here this morning, Satan has been cheating you, he has given you a different definition of value, of worth and you have bought into it, today please you can decamp.
In John 8:34, the Bible tells me that whosoever committed sin, whosoever belongs to the camp of Satan is a servant of sin, is in shackles, is in bondage, but once Jesus Christ pays the price for you, you get into another realm of life.
So if you are here this morning, before we go to pray you would like to surrender your life to Jesus Christ, you want to benefit, you want to have this true worth, it can only come when you are a son of God…
[Altar call]
Brethren let’s rise up, let’s begin to give that. Father, I thank You, I thank You because of who I am in You; Father, I thank You because in You I am priceless, I thank You because I am a heir of the throne of heaven, I thank You because I’m a joint heir with Christ, Father Lord I thank You, Lord, I thank You, glory be to Your name forever more, in Jesus mighty name we prayed.
In Ephesians 1: 18 – 23, (I’ll just paraphrase it), the Bible says the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of glory of his inheritance in the saints; we are going to pray two prayers from that, say Father this morning, please enlighten the eyes of my understanding to know the hope of my calling in the mighty name of Jesus. Father please enlighten the eyes of my understanding, let me know the hope of my calling in You in the mighty name of Jesus. Let me understand my true worth in You in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You heavenly Father, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
We are going to pray also and say Father Lord, enlighten the eyes of my understanding, let me begin to experience the riches of Your glory in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You heavenly Father, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
When king David called Mephibosheth, his appointed time came and that day he ceased to be a child, he transited from being a child to being the real heir who owned what belonged to his father, before then it was a servant. Imagine a servant had twenty servants, that’s a big servant, but one day all of it moved back to Mephibosheth.
We’re going to pray, Father, today is my appointed time, everything that belongs to me that is in the hand of the devil somewhere, I recover them all this morning. Everything that is held in trust for me by anyone, Father, I recover them now, I recover them now in the mighty name of Jesus, I recover them all in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You heavenly Father, in Jesus mighty name we prayed.
We’re going to pray one more; when you know your true worth, some of the nonsense that the devil had given you before which you bought, you no longer buy them going forward, but what happens to the ones that you have lost? You are going to make a demand and say, I am priceless, everything that I’ve given away cheaply by ignorance, I recover them all, I recover them all in the mighty name of Jesus. Everything that I’ve given away before now cheaply through ignorance, I recover all in the mighty name of Jesus.
And in addition to that, you are going to ask going forward because I am priceless, I now know my true worth, everything that is due me in Your kingdom, I possess them. Everything that is due me as a child of God, I possess in the mighty name of Jesus.
