Gregory Dickow - Discovering Your True Worth - Part 2
Well, I'm Gregory Dickow, and are you ready to receive the power to change today? I know you are, and I want to ask you a simple question. How much do you think you're worth? Well, if you tuned in last week, you already know you're worth more than all the silver and all the gold in this world, all the natural resources of this world. Jesus said in Mark chapter 8, verse 36, "What shall a man profit if he gain the whole world and lose his soul"? The whole world, Jesus said. In other words, he's saying you're worth more than this entire world.
I know you can look at yourself sometimes and only see your past and see your mistakes and see where you've been and the mistakes you've made, the shortcomings you have, but Jesus doesn't look at you that way. He sees who you really are. And you're in him, and he sees your future, and he sees your purpose. You don't have to live in shame anymore. Today, we're going to break that thing off of you forever. You're much more than your past, your mistakes, your looks, your finances, your weight, your height, your color, your skin, your race. You're more than all of that. You're more than your guilt, your shame, or your fear. You are more, and you're going to walk in God's purpose for your life because you discover who you really are and how much true worth and value that you have. Check this out and you'll never be the same again.
Open your Bibles with me to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 11 and verse 12. I want to talk to you about discovering your true worth and purpose. Last week, we began to talk about your true worth, discovering your true worth, but today I want to talk about discovering your true worth and purpose. I really talked about four, I started to talk about four things that will cause you to discover your true worth and purpose. I only got through one of them and that was understanding your value, understanding your value. And we need to understand the value of your soul is how we put it, understanding the value of your soul. How many know your soul is worth more than anything in this world? Jesus said in Mark chapter 8, verse 37, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul"?
So, in other words, if you gain the whole world and forfeited your soul, you'd still be at a deficit because your soul is worth more than the whole world. That's why Jesus said it. He said, "What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul"? Because if he had the whole world, that's not nearly as valuable as his soul. You soul has so much more value than the whole world. In fact, if I were to tell you about your soul, if we went through how valuable your soul is, I might as well just tell you a couple things, your soul is so valuable. What is a man's soul worth? Well, in Matthew chapter 10, verse 29, he says, "Your soul is worth more than the sparrows, and God cares for each one of them".
In Matthew chapter 12, verse 10 through 13, he says, "Your soul is worth much more than a sheep, and yet your heavenly Father shepherds them and takes care of them". And the Bible says that your soul is worth more than an ox or more than a donkey in Luke chapter 11, verse 13. I almost said ass. But donkey in Luke chapter 11, verse 13 through 17, "Your soul is worth more than any animal on this earth. It's worth more than the combined wealth of this world," according to Matthew 16, verse 24 through 26. Your soul is worth more than the combined wealth of this world. You add up all the wealth of this world and your soul is worth more than that. You add up all the wealth, all the silver and all the gold, all of what is precious to this earth and precious for commodities and trading and buying in this world, doesn't even compare to how precious and valuable your soul is.
The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 18 and 19 that God did not redeem you with silver and gold 'cause silver and gold perishes eventually. But he redeemed you with the precious blood of his Son. You weren't bought with something that money can buy. You were bought by the blood of Jesus. Now, if that doesn't awaken you to your sense of worth and your sense of value, you have to understand how precious the blood of Jesus is. The blood of Jesus is so precious and so powerful that the blood of animals had to be shed every year in the Old Testament for people's sins to be atoned for. Every year, the high priest had to come into the temple and go into the holy place, and kill an animal and take the blood, and sprinkle the blood as the atonement, as a covering for mankind's sin once a year.
Let me tell you how precious and powerful the blood of Jesus is, that he only had to shed his blood once for all eternity and everybody's sins were paid for instantly the moment Jesus' blood was shed. Everybody's sickness was paid for instantly when Jesus' blood was shed. And everybody's curse, every curse that has ever existed in your life, in your family, in the earth, every curse was broken instantly the day that Jesus died on the cross. His blood is so precious that every sin, every sickness, every curse, every disease, every fear was broken, was paid for, was redeemed so that you could walk in victory. And you say, "Well, if all of it was paid for 2,000 years ago, why aren't I experiencing it today"?
Well, one reason is because of a lack of knowledge. We're ignorant about the blood of Jesus. Religion has told us, well, he forgives you for now, but you never know, you know, you can't, his blood isn't powerful enough to heal you. His blood isn't powerful enough to deliver you from that addiction. His blood isn't powerful enough, and all that kind of preaching is a lie because it's not based in Scripture. The Bible says that he who the Son sets free is free indeed. There's nothing that the Son of God does not free you from. Now, you may stay in prison, but even Paul and Silas as they were praising God, the prison doors opened, and the chains came off of their hands and feet. That's Jesus, that's the Son setting them free. And even though he set them free, they stayed in the prison.
And I'm not saying that was good or bad, I'm just saying as a picture in our life, the chains could be off of your hands and the prison doors could be open in your life, but you're still in the prison and you don't even realize it. There was this rare tiger that was brought over from India to an American zoo, but the habitat for his home was not prepared in time and the construction of it was not ready by the time he got over here. And while he was flying over here, he was put in this cage where he could just pace back and forth. It was like 30 feet by 30 feet, and he would just pace back and forth in this cage. And because the habitat was not finished, he ended up, they had to keep him in the cage even when he got to America. And this tiger, this rare tiger stayed in this cage at the zoo because his habitat was not complete.
And all that he did all day was he could pace back and forth, pace back and forth. They couldn't let him out 'cause his habitat wasn't complete, it was dangerous to let him out. They kept him in that cage, and he just kept going back and forth, and he just kept going back and forth, and he just kept going back and forth. And he kept looking at the cage around him, he kept looking at the bars around him, and he just kept going back and forth, and he just kept going back and forth. And guess what happened? The construction got delayed a little longer, and it was about 2 or 3 months or 4 months later that the construction was finally complete, and yet he had gotten used to walking around in that cage and seeing those bars around that cage all those months, just going back and forth and back and forth.
So, when they lowered the cage, finally when the habitat was complete, they lowered the cage into his habitat, a beautiful habitat, rivers and lady tigers and all sorts of beautiful things. You understand what I'm saying, right? But they lowered the cage into that habitat and lifted the doors out from each side, and as soon as they lifted the cage out from around him, guess what he did? He just kept walking back and forth 30 feet by 30 feet. He just kept walking as if he was in that cage. Why? Because even though he was free on the outside, he was still imprisoned in his mind on the inside. He still had, he had developed the mental image of bondage, and so he remained in bondage even though he was free.
And that is a picture of so many believers today. Even though Jesus has set us free, we still have a mental image from our past, a mental image of a cage around us because of how we look, a cage around us because of how we grew up, a cage around us because of what our addiction was, a cage around us because of how we saw ourselves defeated and how we saw ourselves limited and we saw ourselves sick. And maybe you grew up with sickness and your parents were sick. Or maybe your parents and grandparents were alcoholics, and so you became one. Or they had heart disease, so it got passed on to you and you just keep walking around your cage with heart disease even though Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for that disease, even though you keep saying, "Well, this is just my habit. I don't know, I'm just human. It's just my nature, I just fall in this area. I just have this problem with lust or pornography".
You might've had a problem with lust and pornography, but Jesus has set you free from that. And our job as believers is to discover our freedom, not to obtain it, not to pay for it. It's our debts are paid. The price is already paid. Our job is to discover what Jesus did for us and who he made us to be so that we would realize the freedom that we can now walk in, that you are no longer that addicted person. You were, but you're not that anymore. You're no longer that sick person that is going to carry that disease from generation to generation. You were that person, but you're not that person anymore. You're no longer that person that has that sense of depression that just carries around, you carry around with everywhere you go.
You had that depression, but Jesus has taken it away, and bore your grief, and carried away your pain, and by his stripes you're healed. You're no longer under the curse. You were under the curse, but you're no longer under that curse. You were in sin, but you're no longer in sin. You were defeated, but you're no longer defeated. You were conquered, but you're no longer being, you're no longer conquered, you're more than a conqueror. And the discovery of who you are, the discovery of your identity is what powers you into God's purpose for your life. If you lack purpose in your life, it's not because you're not creative, it's not because you're lazy, it's not because God's been holding out on you, it's not because you haven't searched hard enough.
If you lack purpose or a reason for living in your life today, if you lack that confidence that, "Man, I know why I'm here. I know why I'm on this earth," if you lack that, it's not because you're doing something wrong. The reason if you lack purpose, it's because you don't know who you are in Christ. When you know who you are, "I'm healed," it's easy to offer healing. When you know who you are, "I'm the righteousness of God," it's easy to offer grace and mercy to people. You see, when you know who you are, doing flows naturally from knowing who you are.
So, this is why I want you in the Scripture, Ephesians chapter 1, verse 11. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 11. And I want to read this to you. Well, in the New King James Bible, it says, "In him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to his power, his counsel of his will". And as great of a verse as that is in any translation, let me read it to you in the Message translation. And I apologize once again I can't put it on the screen for you right now, but if you have a Message Bible, you can look at it. But you'll remember this because it's really easy to remember. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 11 in the Message translation. It says this, "It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for".
Simple stuff, right? And then look at what the next verse says, I'll read to you verse 12 of Ephesians 1 in the Message translation. It says, "Long before we first heard of Christ, long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, he had designs on us for glorious living". Who's ready for some glorious living? He said, "Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes us, he had his eye on us, he had designs on us for glorious living," part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
You see why our faith does not need to be in ourselves, our faith needs to be in God. Our faith is in him, that he picked me before the world began, he knew me before the world began, he loved me before the world began, he chose me before the world began. And listen, when did you screw up? You didn't screw up before the world began, you screwed up after you were born, right? You didn't screw up by being born, I got good news for you. You didn't screw up by being born and your parents didn't screw up by you being born. You're not an accident. God went to great lengths to make sure you were born. It doesn't matter how you got here, it doesn't matter who you got here through, it doesn't matter when you were born. What matters is God made sure that you got into this earth because he designed you with his purpose in mind, with his destiny in mind, with his design in mind.
And so, when we all screw up is when we grow up, as we're growing up, we make bad decisions. We grow up and we make bad decisions after that. We make bad decisions 'cause of our fears, we make bad decisions because of our worries, we make bad decisions because of our desires or our lusts, we make bad decisions because we're not taught well. Maybe our parents don't know how to raise us. We make bad decisions because we're human, we make mistakes. But see, every bad thing you've ever done, this is what you need, this is what will encourage you. Every negative thing that you've ever done, every bad thing...see, we take and we look at our lives and we say, "Oh, look at what I did there. That disqualifies me". And, "Man, I really screwed up there when I ended up in prison, that disqualifies me". And, "I really screwed up there where I ended up divorced, and that disqualifies me". And, "I really screwed up there where I did those drugs, that really disqualified me". And, "I really messed up there where I cheated or committed adultery or did this or did that".
And I'm not encouraging anybody to go out and do those things, 'cause most of us have already done some of those things, or all of them yesterday. But the point is, the point is that God knowing that he knows the beginning from the end. God knew that you would do those things, but yet still chose you. He still picked you. He still destined you because he wanted you to know your destiny is not determined by never making a mistake in this life, your destiny is determined by God. Your discovery of who you are will result in your destiny. You will end up taking your rightful place as the person you were created to be when you know what your rightful place is.
But most people don't know their rightful place, therefore they never take their rightful place. But one you know your rightful place, you end up taking your rightful place. And the best way, as silly as what I'm about to describe, as silly of an illustration as I'm about to describe, maybe as corny or as old of an illustration I'm about to describe, it is a very accurate and effective description. Even though it's fiction, it couldn't be more true and it couldn't be closer to the truth.
But if you ever... and this is all in the Bible, and it's in a movie that emerged from it called "The Lion King". Anybody ever heard of "The Lion King"? In "The Lion King," young Simba, the son of Mufasa, Mufasa is the king of Pride Rock, right? And Simba is his child, Simba is his young lion, and the young Simba runs away from home after the death of his father, Mufasa, remember? He thought it was his fault that his father died. And begins to associate, once he runs away, he begins to associate with lower creatures in the animal kingdom who teach him two things. They teach him to eat slimy things and they teach him to live a life of pleasure-seeking irresponsibility. Eat slimy things and live a life of pleasure-seeking irresponsibility. Sounds like when you send your kids to college a little bit, doesn't it?
Eat slimy things and live a life of seeking pleasure and irresponsible living, right? But so, here he's living like that, but in a moment of truth, the monkey Rafiki, remember him? Rafiki comes and clobbers him over the head with his staff, and in that moment, Simba gets a vision, he sees a vision of his father saying, "Simba, you have forgotten who you are, so you have forgotten me". Remember, come on, it's all in the Bible. "Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become. You must take your place in the circle of life". He says, "You are more than what you have become".
I got news for you today, good news for you. Every one of you, every one of you watching, every one of you that's in here, you are more than what you've become. I don't care what you've become. You might've become a mess. You might've become a rich person. You might've become a successful person. You might've become a failure. You might've become an addict. You might've become a loser. You might've become an adulterer. I don't know what you become, but I got news for you, you are more than what you become. Whatever you have become and whatever you walked in here with, you are more than that, you're bigger than that, you're greater than that. And my job is not to tell you, "Stop doing this and stop doing that and stop doing this". My job is to awake you to know who you are.