2024-07-28PM- Ambassadors for Christ

The speaker begins by reading a passage from 2 Corinthians and discussing the ministry of reconciliation. They emphasize the importance of being ambassadors for Christ and representing the principles of Christ in all aspects of life. They express gratitude for their personal relationship with God and the ability to worship and communicate with Him. The speaker highlights the need to maintain a holy and separate life from the world while demonstrating love and compassion to others. They share a poem about desiring a small amount of God without any transformative change. Overall, the message is about the responsibility of believers to represent God and His kingdom in their everyday lives. All right, let's read together 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 18 is where I want to begin. All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We pray with me, thank you so much for our service. Thank you for heartfelt testimonies, songs being sung from the heart, Lord, not just out of routine and knowing the words. It's good to be in this atmosphere. I thank you for the moving of your Spirit, and I'm asking that you'll move on me. Anoint me to preach that the church may be edified, souls may be helped today, and you know what's needed in the future. I pray you prepare us for it. In the name of Jesus, amen. I want to take my title from verse 20. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, and that's what I want to preach on tonight, being ambassadors for Christ. There's everything that is about us. The relationships that we have in this world, conversations that we engage in, the way we walk in our lives, all of our intentions, all of our motives, our inward attitudes, and our outward appearance, all of this should convey the principles that Christ portrays. That we should be a people that when somebody reads this Bible, that is who Christ is. That they can look at us. Everything about us should show forth who Jesus Christ is. And I'll tell you tonight, my relationship with God Almighty is absolutely amazing. It's wonderful to me to think that the Creator of all things would take time and would meet with me where I am right now, standing in this place. God knows where I am, and He cares about me. And later on when I go home and I get rest in my house, I have confidence that God Almighty is going to be watching over me and over my house. When I go into my prayer closet and I close the door, I have an audience with Almighty God. Just me and Him. That's an amazing thing to me. I can sing, sometimes off key. I can sing the melodies because I can't sing the harmonies. I can sing and God loves to hear me sing. I can lift up my hands and I can worship God and He desires to have me worship Him. And He accepts my worship. That is just an absolute amazing thing. The psalmist said this, I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. I've got an understanding that God is great and He cares about me. But I also have this understanding that my private relationship with God, when I get all alone in secret with God, I'm building a closeness with Him. But I'm not always alone with God. I live in this world. I work a job and I work with other people. I shop in the stores that other people shop in. I eat at restaurants that other people eat in. I have relationships, from small relationships to deeper relationships with people in this world. And while it's great that I have this personal relationship with God, I've got relationships with a lot of other people. And I've been called, you've been called, we've all been called, to portray an accurate description of who God is and what He's like. That's our job. He has called us to be ambassadors for the kingdom of God. That's somebody who represents the kingdom of God. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 here, this chapter begins with an acknowledgement that we're not always going to live in this world. This is simply a temporary place. We're not always going to be here. But by the grace of God, the Bible says that we have a building of God. Not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And it's our desire, we sing about it, we testify that we're going to go there one of these days. And He says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. These are good news. This is what the Apostle Paul was writing to this church. He continues on and reminds us all that we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ and we're going to give account. And we're going to receive of the things which we have done in this body, whether they be good or whether they be bad. And with all of this in mind, knowing that there's a home in heaven, knowing that there's a place that we have to look forward to, I can only think of the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Romans chapter 12 and verse 1. He says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, keeping this in mind that there's a heaven, there's a holy God that we're all going to answer. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Through Jesus Christ, we all have the opportunity to have a direct, close relationship with God. And in our relationship with God, God has requirements. Don't let anybody tell you, don't be convinced by any smooth talker, that God has no requirements for a relationship with Him. There is an acceptable way to serve God. Which means there's an unacceptable way to serve God. There are ways that are holy. And there are ways that are profane. There are ways that we can live in a way that God accepts. And if we're going to live a good life, acceptable life, the perfect will of God, we cannot be conformed to this world. Now, that means we're different. It's not just that we had a relationship with God. Our sins are all forgiven. Our past is behind us. Now we keep on doing all the things that we've done before. But we're not to be conformed to this world. And this, the Bible says, is our reasonable service. Not asking more than what he should. This is reasonable after all that he has given to us. God expects this kind of life. And it was right there before we started reading. Because if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. When we have a personal relationship with God, all things are passed away. Remember, that's what we were asking forgiveness for. All that way that I was living before and all the sins, that's what I was trying to get rid of when I came into an altar of prayer and laid it all down. But there is another aspect of the Christian life. And what it has to do with is personifying heaven itself. Heaven's that place that's way out there. God is, to some people's eyes, the big man upstairs. He's the way out there, the cosmic God that's separated from all of us. But we have been called to personify heaven and the holiness and the ways of it. We should be demonstrating the beauty of holiness. The world thinks it's awful. The world thinks how restrictive. The world thinks that people in the church think it's a hard thing to live a holy life. But it's our responsibility to demonstrate to this world that there is a great beauty in holiness. There is a great way that we can live that shows exactly who God is and the type of God He is. God has called us to be ambassadors. Ambassadors for Christ. When the world doesn't know Him, somebody's got to talk about Him. Somebody's got to be an example of who He is and what He can do. When we have a fear of God, a true fear of God, according to the Scriptures, it demonstrates to everyone else, if you're going to have a relationship with God, you should have a fear of God. If you will be consistent in your prayer life, it demonstrates to your family and to those that know you that they should have a consistent prayer life too. It doesn't bother me at work. And I don't feel like I'm bragging when I tell them that I go home and I shut myself in a room and I pray. I mean, that's what they need to know. That's what people should be doing. And when I work around people who say that they're Christians and they haven't a prayer life, I'm an ambassador. I'm showing them this is what the Christian life is supposed to be like. And that is what I want to do. It's what I want to be. And so when we demonstrate love for other people, Brother Michael was talking about it a little bit in Sunday school this morning. Some people may be a little bit more difficult. Sometimes we might think we're compromising it. We show a little bit of love to somebody. But if I'm going to be a good ambassador to God, of Christ, for Christ, I'm going to love people. I'm going to love murderers. I'm going to love drug addicts. I'm going to love alcoholics. I'm going to love those who are in the prison and those who should be in the prison. I'm going to love blasphemers. I don't approve of any of these lifestyles. I'm going to love adulterers. I'm going to love homeless people. I'm going to love an illegal alien. Because that's who God loves. And if I'm going to be like Him, I want to read to you this little book that I have. My wife got this for me when I had COVID in the hospital. I had longed for this book. I had wanted this book. She finally found it and ordered it. You can't find it now. There's one copy I found online. It's $1,600. She didn't pay that for it. But I want to read this. This is a poem, or really a little meditation point that came into my life several years ago. And I got to find the resource here. This fellow, Wilbur Rees, he's gone now. But I want to read this to you. And the book is called Three Dollars Worth of God. And that's the first little meditation that's in here. And here's what he says. I would like to buy three dollars worth of God. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of Him to make me love a black man or to pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper bag. I would like to buy three dollars worth of God, please. And when we're not acting like God, that's what we're saying. Well, I want to have God, but about this much. I don't want a life that's transformed. I don't want to love people that are undesirable in my eyes. And I know that that's outdated. I mean, for somebody to say, not something to make me to love a black man, I know that that's back in the early 70s when this was written. But if that's a problem, that's a problem. All right? So when we're approached by somebody and we can't show love or demonstrate love, or really have love in our hearts, it would be fair for that individual to look at us and say, is this the Christ of whom you speak? If you can't forgive someone, if you're holding on to something and you've got unforgiveness in your heart, it's going to make them believe that maybe God won't forgive me either. If you can't demonstrate love to somebody else, then maybe this world thinks, well, maybe God doesn't love me either. Maybe He chooses some because some people are telling that kind of thing. But we are ambassadors for Christ. We are representatives of who God is. And if we're going to live loosely, if we're not going to live according to biblical standards, then we give this world the impression that God is unconcerned with holiness. And I know according to my Bible, God is greatly concerned with holiness and for holy living. If we have a disregard for others, it gives the impression that God doesn't love everybody. And He wouldn't just take anybody. The lives that we live are indicators of who God is. Our actions, you've heard this many times, your actions do speak much louder than the words that come out of your mouth. It's been said many years, it's been mentioned here a few times, and I've heard it most of my life, that you may very well be the only Bible that some people will ever read. So I've got to ask you tonight, does this bring a sobriety to you? I mean, does this make you feel a little nervous now? Hold on here. If this is somebody's impression of what the Bible says, how well am I presenting it? How well am I giving it? What are our lives? The Bible says the Apostle Paul told this church, he said, you are our epistles. Written, you written epistles is what you are. And he said, not with ink, not with stone, but he said, in the fleshy tables of the heart. Where when the Word of God is so much in us, I want to ask you tonight, what version of God's holy Word is being presented by the life that you live? What version? I mean, go to the Bible bookstore, pull one out, pull another out, and see which one matches the way that you're living. I would say tonight the Bible should not line up to what we are, but we should be lining up to what this holy Bible says. Joshua chapter 9. The Bible tells us, Joshua, that great leader, he's heading up the children of Israel. They're conquering. They're getting in the land and settling down, and everything is going great. But in Joshua chapter 9, the Bible tells us that there were citizens of another land who came to visit. The inhabitants of Gibeon. Here's what the Bible says. They did work wildly. Went and made as if they had been ambassadors. They made as if they had been ambassadors. Took old sacks upon their asses. Wine bottles old and rent and bound up. Old shoes and clouded, patched upon their feet. Old garments upon them, and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. They went to Joshua under the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him and to the men of Israel, We become from a far country. Now therefore, make ye a league with us. These men were false representatives. You see, the clothes that they were wearing were not the clothes of Gibeon. The speech that they had was not the speech of Gibeon. They were saying we're from some place far off, and they felt it necessary. You know why they thought? Because they were intimidated by Joshua and the children of Israel. And so therefore, they said, I can't act like I'm from my hometown. I can't act like I'm from this country. I've got to pretend like I'm from somewhere else. And brothers and sisters, if we get to the place where we're representing something far away from our heavenly home, we are false citizens. We are false ambassadors. We're not really showing. When we get intimidated by this world, and we can't say who God really is, we're in trouble. We're just like those men. We're faking it. We're coming in and we're saying, well, I know that we're holding the spokes, and I know that we live different. I know that we believe in the baptism of the Holy Ghost, but that's not real popular, so I'm not going to talk about the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That's a false ambassador. That's trying to be acting like somebody that isn't really of them. You know, if somebody had met up with them, they'd look at them and say, wait a minute, aren't you men of Gibeon? Shouldn't you look different than that? Your clothes aren't that old. You don't come from that far away. You shouldn't be talking like you're talking from the country that you're in. It's different from that from what I see you right now. And so when somebody sees us, and we're not holding up standards that are scriptural, and in this Bible, and when we're so attached to this world and the things of this world, people are going to fall into doubt with us when we say this world is not my home. I'm only passing by. And somebody says, well, you look awfully comfortable here. It sure looks like this is the place. You look just like I do. You act just like I do. You talk like I do. You listen to the same jokes. You watch the same things. You go to the same places. Just exactly what's the difference? That is a poor ambassador. Somebody would have seen them and knew them. That is not, this is not who these people say they are. An ambassador. An ambassador is from one country, and he's living in another country. Okay? He's got a task to do while he's there. He's in a place where his customs are different from the surrounding people. But while we live in this world, and an ambassador may go to a foreign country and be an ambassador and live among those people, he cannot forget, I'm different from these. There is a distinction between me and the people that are around me. Now being an ambassador for the United States of America, there's a job that he has to do. He's to introduce the American culture to these people in a positive light. He's there representing the entire country, the Constitution. He's there to represent the President, the Congress, all of the people to this foreign land. He is to be representing the country, and it is his obligation to represent this country accurately. He can't go in there with his own ideas and making his own personality the highlight of his work. He's not there to get famous. He's not there to be liked. He is there to represent his country, to stand up for America. Sure, he's got to gain understanding of the culture that's around him. He's got to know what's going on there. But he is to be a promoter of this country. Even though he's in a foreign country, he is to be a promoter of this country. And you know when somebody decides in that country that they want to defect, and they say, I'm not happy in this country. Can I go to your country? They would go to an ambassador. And now the ambassador can't make him a citizen. But they say, I can put you in the right steps, and I can put you in the right contact with people. And that's the way we are. When we come up to somebody and they decide that, hey, I don't like this life that I'm living. I don't want to be like this. I don't like where I'm headed. I don't like the way life has gone. I can't save them. But I've got connections. I've got somebody that they can talk to. I can open up this Bible, and I can tell them what the Bible says. Where it says, these things write I unto you that ye sin not. But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. I can tell them that the Bible says there is one mediator between God and man. The man Christ Jesus. I can tell them that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I know the steps. I can get them in contact with the One who can make them a citizen. And you do too. You know how to get somebody in contact with Christ. And when it happens, when conviction comes upon somebody, and they get to the place like they told Peter in Acts chapter 2, men and brethren, what must we do? We've got to have an answer. Because we're representing Christ in this world. Now you know that the United States flag is very distinct. And one of the most recognized things in all of the world is the United States flag. We've got our 50 stars on a field of blue. Our 13 stripes alternating red and white. And it represents this country wherever it flies. Now if an American ambassador goes to another country and flies another flag, well, he's being disloyal to his country. What if he says, you know, well, this is kind of what I'm into. It's my embassy. I'm here to take care of things. I'm going to hoist up my own flag. Well, that kind of thing was happening. So in March of this year, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, he pushed through a bill that said, you can't fly any other flag at a U.S. embassy. No other flag but the United States flag. We're limiting it to that. It passed through Congress. President Joe Biden signed it. I think he had to because of all the other things that were connected to it. But what this basically means is if you're an ambassador, an American ambassador to another country, and you really love the Confederate flag, you can't fly it. If you really like the Black Lives Matter flag, well, you can't fly it because you can only fly the flag that represents the entire country here. This bill was introduced in response because our embassies had decided on their own that they were going to fly flags that celebrated lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, queers, and put the plus on the end. And so this country says, wait a minute, we want the flag that represents this entire country and all of the people. They were sending a message to the ambassadors. This isn't about you. This isn't about what you think. This isn't about how you feel. And God has given us His Word. We have got this precious Bible. I'm glad everybody's got an opinion. I'm glad everybody's got feelings and habits and interests that they're into. But you know what the Apostle Paul told the Corinthian church? We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. Paul did not come to promote his own ministry. He did not come to set up a Bible study or a Bible college that bore his name. Paul the Apostle, a seminary school for people that want to learn about God. He did not come through preaching his own ideas. And when we get tempted, that we say, well, this is how I see it. We're poor ambassadors for the Kingdom of God because it's up to us to say this is what God says. We do not preach ourselves. Now, ambassadors, part of their job, they would talk to people. They would meet with groups and they would get people, maybe high-ranking officials, into a room and they would talk to them about the things of America. But an ambassador isn't always in a speaking role. I recognize. When I step out of this pulpit, I'm not sitting silent somewhere. I'm being around other people. I am living my life. An ambassador, his job doesn't stop just because he's not speaking. Preachers, your only job is not to preach. There is a life that is to be lived. Hallelujah. We need for ourselves to get a hold of this and live a life that is a good representation of God. And let me tell you this, you don't have to pretend that God is someone other than who He really is. You don't have to say, well, yes, God's holy, but calm down here. I know some people think He's got His requirements because we don't want people to stay away from God. But you don't have to apologize for God being who God is. You can feel free to... That's what He's asking us to do. You be a true, accurate representative of the Kingdom of Heaven. We cannot blend into this world. This is not our homeland. If an ambassador goes to another land, he can live there for years, but he'll tell everybody, my citizenship is in the United States of America. And I can say tonight, this is not my home. I'm not going to blend in here. I am glad to say that I'm a child of the Most High God. And yes, that makes me different in a lot of ways. These are not my people. These are not my gods. These are not our customs. The Apostle Paul said we don't have to apologize for what we know to be right. He wrote to this very church in 1 Corinthians 11, he said, Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? I didn't bother Paul to write that. He continued, But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering. But if any man seem to be contentious, we don't have those customs. We have no such customs, neither the churches of God. He was addressing a church that was in the midst of pagan land. I mean, these people got saved and established a church. The world was the same all around them. They were continuing in their customs. They were continuing in their habits. And when the church says, Well, we look kind of odd around here. So the Apostle Paul writes a letter, and he says, If anybody gives you trouble about it, if anybody wants to cause trouble, you say that's not our custom. And it's not found within the churches of God either. So they said, There's no apologies for it. There is a way that we are to live. These worldly customs are not ours. We're a different people. The church has got to deal with the environment that we're in, but we have got to remember we are different. Paul said the precedent has already been set. When you have to wonder, Is this okay? Is that okay? The precedent has already been set. God has already written it down in His Word. Stop making excuses. Stop letting other people make excuses for you. Simply do what the Bible says. Paul said he had already dealt with these issues before. And he said, We're still standing by them. So we're going to have to live in this world. Shop in this world. We eat in this world. We work in this world. We're different. But not simply for the sake of being different. Here it is. We're ambassadors for another country. Hebrews 11 and 16 says it's a better country. That isn't heavenly. Wherefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city. It's a better country. That's my home. That's my home. Our ambassadors don't have to be ashamed that they're from America. I mean, this ain't a perfect land by far. But they can go somewhere and say, But that's mine. That's where I'm from. I don't have to be ashamed in this world to stand up and say, I'm a Christian. I've been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. I have a better country than this that is unheavenly. And God Himself is not ashamed that I would call Him my God. And for us to live holy, it's a great way to be a representation of God because He is holy. This world does not need another religion that keeps them the way they are. There's plenty of that. Yeah, I've got religion. You can have the same religion. You don't have to change a thing. You just keep on living the way that you are. But we need to live a life of holiness in line with God's Word. So when they look at us as ambassadors for Christ, what do they see? Are they seeing you? Are they seeing you watching out for you? Are they seeing you trying to get ahead for your sake and for your family? Are they seeing somebody who's a lot like they are, but religious too? That's not an accurate depiction of the God of heaven. What they ought to see is someone who says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. That's what this world needs to see is Christ in us. So think about it tonight. What is it that you're representing? Are you demonstrating who God is? And so I'm going to ask us all tonight to take some time here and evaluate. There needs to be a self-evaluation. Not just walk away and it's like, okay, well, we had another message tonight. But to say, am I living by this Bible? And if you don't know what this Bible says, it's kind of hard to know whether you're living by it. So we should study this Word. Find out what it says. Live without excuse. Just what it says. Consistent with holiness. Showing this world who God is. My text says now then, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you. And I want to ask you tonight to be a true ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. Michelle, would you be able to come please? So thinking about your own life and your own work here in this world, what is it that people can presume about God by watching you live? Do they get the impression He's angry? Do they get the impression that God is selfish? Do they get the impression that God really doesn't care about people a whole lot? Do they get the impression that God's people are other than what this Bible says? Let it not be tonight. Stand with me tonight. Lord, thank You so much for Your mercy on us all. Thank You for the opportunity to be ambassadors. What an honor. Lord, our country only sends those who it trusts. Only those people that are trusted get put into those positions of ambassador. I thank You tonight that You've entrusted every one of us. And I pray that You'll work on us that we give a fair, honest, accurate description of who You are by the lives that we live. Meet with us, I pray, in this altar and help us to examine ourselves that we find who we are. Come on into this altar and let's talk to the Lord tonight. Who am I? What does the world see in me? What do they think about God when they find out that I'm a Christian? Impatient? Uncontrollable? Is it truthful? Oh God, help us to be truthful. I'll dare to be different in a world of compromise. I'll stand for You, Jesus, though I might be criticized. For me, You were ridiculed, mocked, and crucified. I'll dare to be different, set apart, and sanctified. I may not be famous, my name may never be. Bright lights and bold letters for all the world to see. But I can hold my head up high, no different I may be. For I know when my teeth is touched, it's forever in loyalty. I'll dare to be different in a world of compromise. I'll stand for You, Jesus, though I might be criticized. For me, You were ridiculed, mocked, and crucified. I'll dare to be different, set apart, and sanctified. I'll dare to be different in a world of compromise. I'll stand for You, Jesus, though I might be criticized. For me, You were ridiculed, mocked, and crucified. So I'll dare to be different, set apart, and sanctified. I'll stand for You, Jesus, though I might be criticized. For me, You were ridiculed, mocked, and crucified. I'll stand for You, Jesus, though I might be criticized. So I'll dare to be different, set apart, and sanctified. Oh, I'll dare to be different in a world of compromise. I'll stand for You, Jesus, though I might be criticized. For me, You were ridiculed, mocked, and crucified. So I'll dare to be different, set apart, and sanctified. The world has much to offer to each of us today. They say, just do your own thing. Oh, it's your life anyway. Oh, but God has told us plainly that we must come out from them. Oh, and be a separate people if we're gonna live for Him. So I'll dare to be different in a world of compromise. And I'll stand for You, Jesus, though I might be criticized. For me, You were ridiculed, mocked, and crucified. So I'll dare to be different, set apart, and sanctified. I'll stand for You, Jesus, though I might be criticized. For me, You were ridiculed, mocked, and crucified. So I'll dare to be different, set apart, and sanctified. My name may never be bright like sandals letters for all the world to see. But I can hold my head up high, though different I may be. For I know when my Jesus comes, I'll live forever in royalty. I'll dare to be different in a world of compromise. I'll stand for You, Jesus, though I might be criticized. For me, You were ridiculed, mocked, and crucified. So I'll dare to be different, set apart, and sanctified. I'll dare to be different in a world of compromise. I'll stand for You, Jesus, though I might be criticized. For me, You were ridiculed, mocked, and crucified. So I'll dare to be different, set apart, and sanctified. In a world of compromise. I'll stand for You, Jesus, though I might be criticized. For me, You were ridiculed, mocked, and crucified. So I'll dare to be different, set apart, and sanctified. For me, You were ridiculed, mocked, and crucified. So I'll dare to be different, set apart, and sanctified. For me, You were ridiculed, mocked, and crucified. For me, You were ridiculed, mocked, and crucified. I'll make this promise, He will supply. We'll walk together, the Lord and I. I'll stand for Jesus, and let the world go by. I'll stand for Jesus, and let the world go by. I'll claim His promise, He will supply. We'll walk together, the Lord and I. I'll stand for Jesus, and let the world go by. I'll stand for Jesus, and let the world go by. I'll claim His promise, He will supply. We'll walk together, the Lord and I. I'll stand for Jesus, and let the world go by.