Sermon Illustrations

Illustration: Take out and hold up a $20 bill. Ask, “Who would like this $20 bill?” Crumple the $20 bill up, and then ask, “Who still wants it?” “What if I do this?” Drop it on the ground and start it grind it into the floor with your shoe. Pick it up, crumpled and dirty. “Now, who still wants it?”

There’s a valuable lesson here. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.

Many times in our lives, we have been dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make, and the circumstances that come our way. Eventually, we feel worthless.

But no matter what has happened or what will happen, God still desires you and loves you- grace means that there is nothing I can do to make God love me more, or make God love me less.

“Grace without forgiveness is like a car without a steering wheel.”

“Jesus is the key to the car with a steering wheel.”

Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to God.

In God’s eyes, our worth comes from who we are- priceless treasures.

God thought we were so valuable that He gave His Son, Jesus Christ.

There was no amount of money or goods works for us to do that could have changed our hopeless and helpless state (remember our status from vs. 1-3?).

He paid the price we could not because He considers us PRICELESS.