Sister Teri Sunday School 6/10/12

Sister Teri Sunday School 6/10/12

Ambassadors for Christ

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

Mat 5:3  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 5:4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Mat 5:5  Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Mat 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Mat 5:7  Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Mat 5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

If we are to see God we must be pure in heart.  It is sin that breaks that connection.  As ambassadors we are to teach others how to get to God and that it is sin that will create a separation from God. 

Mat 5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

We need to have God’s wisdom to know how to bring the message so that we don’t offend by our method of delivery but portray it in a way that they may hear the message.  Sis Karen went to a soul with love, knowing that the soul might be offended.  She had to be willing to suffer that.  Her love caused her to go anyway because she knew that this one was dying and may die lost.

Mat 5:10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 5:11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Mat 5:12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

As ambassadors we are willing to suffer the loss of our own comfortableness or people liking us or just getting along, suffer so that maybe we can see a soul saved.  God will bless us for that.

Lifting this message up is sinner’s only hope.

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

2Co 5:18  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

2Co 5:19  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.

2Co 5:20  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.

2Co 5:21  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.

This is what we are, we are carrying Christ’s message of reconciliation to the world.  We are speaking on Christ’s behalf.  This is what an ambassador does:  carries a message on behalf of the leader of their country, not on their own behalf. 

God created everything for Himself.  Everything belongs to him.  We as humans rebelled against His authority and His kingdom.  Christ made a way for us to be restored back into the Kingdom of God.  Restored to being under His authority and rule; He never has given up His authority or rule. 

Christ made a way for us to be restored to His kingdom under His authority and rule.  If people continue in their rebellion then there is no way for them to be restored to the kingdom.

Five points that will be covered in this series:

1.        All sinners are at enmity with God.  This is not a message that Babylon is teaching.  We need to be clear on this.  We need to know where we came from; we were all sinners at enmity with God.  When we repented and forsook our sin then God made a change in us.  He made a way for us to be able to obey His word and live a holy life.

2.       Christ came to be an ambassador to supply the means for us to be reconciled to God.

3.       Having been reconciled we are given the commission to be ambassadors in Christ’s stead.

4.       We must represent God’s kingdom rightly.  Our human ambassadors may behave themselves as a reproach to our country because of their diplomatic immunity.  The law was intended to protect them from being accused as spies.  In time it became a license to do wrong.  They may run up traffic tickets or parking tickets and worse.  In a foreign country an ambassador should endeavor to live according to the laws of the land so they don’t bring a reproach to our country.

As Christians we can do the same by bringing a message of holiness and not living it.  Babylon is doing this by supposedly representing Christ but not living a standard of holiness.  It brings a reproach to the name Christian and to God.  We want to live up to a holy standard and not offend others and turn them away from God by our behavior. 

If one is offended by taking our actions and words in a way that we didn’t intend for them to be taken, we need to do our best to clear it up.  For if people are offended they will not keep their offense to themselves.  They will tell what happened to others and others will believe it as true and be offended as well.  We need to do all we can to be a good representative of Christ.

5.       We are carrying this message into enemy territory.  We have an adversary.  The enemy will try to twist what we say in the ears of those we are talking to.  We need to try to clearly speak the message from Christ.  We need God’s help to know how to express His word in a way that they can see that it is a Highway, to see that it is different than the message that false religion portrays.  God saves from sin so that we can live a holy life under His authority and rule.

We need God’s Spirit.  We can talk and talk, but if the Spirit isn’t backing up what we are saying in their heart and witnessing that it is true, then we will be speaking in vain.

Pro 15:29  The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.

The word, ‘hear’, means granting the request.  God does not grant the requests of sinners that get into a difficult situation and pray for prosperity in their lives while they are living in rebellion.  He doesn’t hear or respond to that type of prayer.

‘Wicked’ here means:  morally wrong, guilty of sin.  Every one of us was wicked.  We were not just ‘Lost.’  We were guilty of sin and rebellion; we were guilty of usurping the authority of God in our lives.  We were wicked.

I remember when God was working in my heart and I was beginning to turn from my sin.  God heard my prayers when I began to turn and seek Him.  He didn’t hear my prayers when I was out in sin and rebellion.  When I became repentant and turned from my sin then He heard me.

Isa 59:1  Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

Isa 59:2  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

It is not that He cannot grant the request, but your sins have hid His face from you that He will not hear.  He may hear their voice but as far as granting that request he will not do it.  Not until they turn with a willingness to respond to Him and have Him as lord in their lives will He hear.

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Sinners are spiritually dead, without power over the flesh, living according to the power of the spirit of rebellion.  We were all there.  We are no better than a sinner that is still there other than that God had mercy.  Our hope is that they will come along and accept God’s mercy so that they can be delivered from the power of sin and error.

1Co 6:9  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

1Co 6:10  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Some may not do all these things but if they are not living in obedience to the Word of God in their lives but having their own wishes above the rule of God then they are idolaters. 

Adam and Eve wanted what belonged to God.  They wanted to be equal with God and choose their own will even if it conflicted with What God wanted.  They became idolaters.  Idolatry is lifting up your own desires above what God would want. 

If there is any one thing that someone holds above God then it will keep them out of His kingdom. 

Gal 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

Gal 5:20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

The message of the world that we can ‘just accept Christ and His mercy and continue on in these things’ is not true.  It will not work.

Rom 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Sinners seek the things of the flesh and not the Spirit.  The carnal, fleshly inclinations are hostile to the will of God and cannot be subordinated or submitted to the law of God. 

The Spirit of Christ will not come and rule in a heart that is holding on to their own will and determined to hold onto their own fleshly lives.  He will not force His will on us or over power us.