Sister Teri Sunday School 7/22/12
Ambassadors for Christ.
All sinners are at enmity with God and Christ. Christ came with the purpose of
reconciliation. We are given the
responsibility of following Christ and continuing His work here as
ambassadors. We are to live holy and be
an example to others. We are to be a
witness to others following the Spirit and act as the second witness to the
Spirit in the heart. We need to carry
this message to those that are outside the kingdom of God and into enemy
territory.
July 15th
The
point of spiritual honour
I am debtor both to the Greeks, and
to the barbarians. Romans 1:14
Paul was overwhelmed with the sense
of his indebtedness to Jesus Christ, and he spent himself to express it. The
great inspiration in Paul’s life was his view of Jesus Christ as his spiritual
creditor. Do I feel that sense of indebtedness to Christ in regard to every
unsaved soul? The spiritual honour of my life as a saint is to fulfil my debt
to Christ in relation to them. Every bit of my life that is of value I owe to
the Redemption of Jesus Christ; am I doing anything to enable Him to bring His
Redemption into actual manifestation in other lives? I can only do it as the
Spirit of God works in me this sense of indebtedness. I am not to be a superior
person amongst men, but a bondslave of the Lord Jesus. “Ye are not your own.”
Paul sold himself to Jesus Christ. He says—‘I am a debtor to everyone on the
face of the earth because of the Gospel of Jesus; I am free to be an absolute
slave only.’ That is the characteristic of the life when once this point of
spiritual honour is realized. Quit praying about yourself and be spent for
others as the bondslave of Jesus. That is the meaning of being made broken
bread and poured-out wine in reality.
If we have this sense of indebtedness to Christ and the
weight of the responsibility to carry on the work that He started, it will help
us to live the way we should and willing to suffer wrong gracefully without
retaliation for the sake of being faithful ambassadors for Christ.
Literal ambassadors have a diplomatic immunity to the laws
of the land. We don’t go into this with
this liberty. The reconciliation that we
are trying to work is not the same as the reconciliation that nations try to
have: they try to get along and have peace with one another. We are trying to rescue those that are
subject to the enemy and get them out of his control.
The enemy will not give us any leeway. We want to make sure that any accusation that
is brought against us is false and maintain a good reputation.
The king’s favor is toward a wise servant. We want to be in the favor of our king so
that we have His anointing and approval on our lives.
Heb 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot
be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence
and godly fear:
‘Grace’ means graciousness or godliness. In the spiritual realm, godliness needs to be
our primary thought when we think of graciousness. The purpose of having grace is that we might
serve God acceptably. It is only by the
influence of His Spirit on our heart are we able to represent God rightly and
reflect Him.
The times that I have represented God badly are when I
failed to avail myself of the grace of God in the way that I needed it. We need that infilling. We need to take the word in, in a way that it
becomes part of us.
Our children were raised up under the doctrine yet it seems
Greek to them. The enemy will rob us of
our understanding if we don’t get before God and empty out and ask His Spirit
to fill us. Our morning devotions and
our evening need to be more than just a rush to get through them.
We need grace in order to have God’s approval and
anointing. For others to have confidence
in us and us maintain that confidence we need the Spirit of God.
2Co 6:1 We then, as
workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in
vain.
2Co 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time
accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
2Co 6:3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the
ministry be not blamed:
2Co 6:4 But in all things
approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions,
in necessities, in distresses,
2Co 6:5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in
labours, in watchings, in fastings;
2Co 6:6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering,
by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,
2Co 6:7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by
the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
2Co 6:8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and
good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
We don’t want to claim to possess faith without the fruits
of faith. We want that grace filling us
so that our labor produces fruit. God
has promised to help, (succor), us. It
is a part of the grace in our lives, His help.
We don’t have to do it in our own strength. If we do it in our own strength then we will
fail.
Offense is something that causes others to stumble. We don’t want to be a hindrance to others or
cause them to stumble. ‘Minister’, in
this scripture, means deacon. It is more
than just the pastor; it is all of us carrying the message out.
It is our task to proclaim this salvation to others. I don’t want to bring an offense that
reflects on all of you by my life. We
need to make sure that we as an individual don’t cause an offense that affects
badly the work of God.
A poor testimony, of for example letting our temper get the
best of us, will hinder all of the testimony of the saints. This is why it is so important that we get
before God and heed the checks of the Spirit.
If we do handle things wrongly then we need to do our best to make it
right. Don’t make a spot for the accuser
to work.
Sin is willful wrong, the world will label all as sin. They will accuse us as wrong when we have
made a mistake. We need to make things
right in every situation.
‘In all things approving ourselves’: In every difficult situation we need to show
ourselves approved to God. How we do
this is by pureness, by knowledge - know the Word and what it says, by
longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost - have the spirit in your lives,
by love unfeigned, by the word of truth…
1Th 2:10 Ye are
witnesses, and God also, how holily and
justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:
1Th 2:11 As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and
charged every one of you, as a father doth
his children,
1Th 2:12 That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath
called you unto his kingdom and glory.
Paul’s example of living holy gave him authority to be able
to exhort others.
Pr 13:17 a faithful messenger is health
Health – curative, medicine, healing. We want to promote spiritual health between
God and man. We don’t want to cause
offense and hurt.
Mat 5:14 Ye are the light of
the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Mat 5:15 Neither do men light
a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light
unto all that are in the house.
Mat 5:16 Let your light so
shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
which is in heaven.
We need to live in such a way that people will see that holy
life demonstrated in us and that God will get the glory. We are the way we are because of God and His
power working in us. They can have the
same blessed life.
We need to carry this message to those that are outside the
kingdom of God and into enemy territory.
Mat 10:7 And as ye go, preach,
saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mat 10:8 Heal the sick,
cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received,
freely give.
Mat 10:9 Provide neither gold,
nor silver, nor brass in your purses,
Mat 10:10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two
coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
Mat 10:11 And into whatsoever
city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till
ye go thence.
Mat 10:12 And when ye come into
an house, salute it.
Mat 10:13 And if the house be
worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace
return to you.
Mat 10:14 And whosoever shall
not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city,
shake off the dust of your feet.
Mat 10:15 Verily I say unto
you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day
of judgment, than for that city.
Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you
forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and
harmless as doves.
Mat 10:17 But beware of men:
for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in
their synagogues;
Mat 10:18 And ye shall be
brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them
and the Gentiles.
Mat 10:19 But when they deliver
you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you
in that same hour what ye shall speak.
Mat 10:20 For it is not ye that
speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
Mat 10:21 And the brother shall
deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children
shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated
of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be
saved.
Mat 10:23 But when they
persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye
shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
Mat 10:24 The disciple is not
above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25 It is enough for the
disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have
called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of
his household?
Mat 10:26 Fear them not
therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid,
that shall not be known.
Mat 10:27 What I tell you in
darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the
housetops.
Mat 10:28 And fear not them
which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him
which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Mat 10:29 Are not two sparrows
sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
Mat 10:30 But the very hairs of
your head are all numbered.
Mat 10:31 Fear ye not
therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Mat 10:32 Whosoever therefore
shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is
in heaven.
Mat 10:33 But whosoever shall
deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 10:34 Think not that I am
come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
We can have this same power today, we can go out and take
these same promises to souls and pray with souls that souls can get the help
that they need.
“The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty to
pull down strongholds.” One of the
greatest strongholds is unbelief. We
need God’s help with our faith. We need
to go forward in faith when God encourages our faith.
We are just the messenger; it is God that does the
work. We need to go forth in faith and
not wait for all the circumstances to be ready.
Don’t worry about the means or the open doors, go and trust God to open
the doors and supply the needs. He will.
‘Shake off the dust of your feet’, shake off the
discouragement that would come. Don’t
let that rejection discourage you from going on to the next person. If those that came to me had let
discouragement cause them to sit down and be quiet then I would not be
here. We need to go on and not allow
anything to quiet us.
We are going into enemy territory and face opposition, the
enemy will be angry and will work to hinder and discourage us. Be aware of it and cautious but keep an
attitude of innocence and peacefulness.
Keep going on in the midst of opposition.
God can turn difficult situations into places where we have
access to those that we would not have been able to speak to otherwise. Think of them as an opportunity for God to
turn it for good. “He meant it for evil
but God meant it for good.”
Let’s trust God to give us the words to speak, let God speak
through us. Let the Spirit of God work
through us in every act and word that we speak.
We will suffer persecution if we let Christ’s life shine
through us. Don’t get discouraged or
sidelined, just move on. Some that
persecute us may be those that are close to us.
They can undermine our testimony and reputation by going out and saying,
“I was mistreated.” We must go on and
keep a right attitude, stay sweet and demonstrate the testimony and the love of
God.
If they found fault with Jesus Christ Himself, we can expect
no less. Speak as God leads and speak
with confidence. Don’t give into fear;
God will take care of you. We have
something eternal that is of far more value than anything that we may face in
this world. He can deliver us from what
we face or He can take us through it to the other side.
We are going to receive from God according to our
faithfulness to our responsibilities as ambassadors of Christ. We need to not put too much value on the love
and acceptance of people. We will have
enemies and sometimes they will be among those that we care about.
[1]Chambers,
Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand
Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. July 15
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