Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, we are so glad you're here with us today.
Speaker 1: On Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, Rick Warren continues with an
Speaker 1: inspiring news series called what does it Really Mean to
Speaker 1: Follow Jesus Now. In this powerful teaching, Rick dives into
Speaker 1: God's Word to explore how we grow spiritually represent Christ
Speaker 1: in the world and find our place in God's family
Speaker 1: through the church. It's a fresh look at discipleship, purpose
Speaker 1: and the life changing power of spiritual community. And now
Speaker 1: here's part one of a message called we Are Ambassadors.
Speaker 2: This weekend, I want us to look at the word ambassador.
Speaker 2: The Bible says in Second Corinthians five point twenty, we
Speaker 2: are Christ's ambassadors. If you're taking note, circle that word.
Speaker 2: We are Christ's ambassadors. Now, what is an ambassador. Well,
Speaker 2: an ambassador is a representative send out on a mission
Speaker 2: to build relationships. That's usually what an ambassador is, a
Speaker 2: representative send out on a mission in order to build relationships. Now,
Speaker 2: there are political ambassadors, there are economic and business and ambassadors.
Speaker 2: There are cultural ambassadors, there are goodwill ambassadors, and the
Speaker 2: Bible says there are spiritual ambassadors. And we are christ ambassadors.
Speaker 2: If you are a follower of Christ. The Bible says
Speaker 2: you are an ambassador for Him in the world. So
Speaker 2: what I want us to do this week in is
Speaker 2: three things. I want us to look at the role
Speaker 2: of an ambassador. I want us to look at the
Speaker 2: responsibilities of an ambassador. And I want us to look
Speaker 2: at the rewards for being an ambassador Jesus Christ. Let's
Speaker 2: get right into it first. What is my role as
Speaker 2: an ambassador? Well, what it means. Number one, It means
Speaker 2: that if I'm an ambassador, I am a representative of Jesus.
Speaker 2: I am an representative Jesus. I represent Jesus in the world. Now,
Speaker 2: to understand this, you need to understand the difference between
Speaker 2: your career and your calling. You need to know the
Speaker 2: difference between your job and your vocation. You might work
Speaker 2: at Taco Bell, but you're not called to taco bell.
Speaker 2: You might work as an insurance salesman, but you're not
Speaker 2: called to be an insurance salesman. There's a difference between
Speaker 2: your vocation and your job, between your career and your calling. Now,
Speaker 2: the word vocation comes from the Latin word vosay, which
Speaker 2: is the word for voice. We get the word vocal
Speaker 2: from it. Like a vocalist or a vocation. It means
Speaker 2: you're calling. It has to do with your voice. Now.
Speaker 2: I was talking to somebody a while back and I
Speaker 2: said what do you do? It's a person I just met.
Speaker 2: I said what do you do? And they said, well,
Speaker 2: I'm actually an ambassador for Jesus disguised as a businessman.
Speaker 2: I talked to a woman one time. She said, I'm
Speaker 2: an ambassador for Jesus disguised as a professional basketball coach.
Speaker 2: So what's your disguise? You are an ambassador for Jesus.
Speaker 2: If you're a follower of Christ, that's your primary calling.
Speaker 2: You're an ambassador for Jesus. But you may be disguised
Speaker 2: as a mom, as a nurse, as a truck driver,
Speaker 2: as a mechanic, as a realtor, as a salesman, or whatever.
Speaker 2: That's your job, that's your career, but that's not your calling,
Speaker 2: it's not your vocation. The Bible says this on the
Speaker 2: screen tewod Timothy Chapter one. God saved us and called
Speaker 2: us to be his own people, not because of what
Speaker 2: we have done, but because of his own grace and purpose.
Speaker 2: And now notice it says he has called us, He
Speaker 2: has called us what's your calling? This week, I looked
Speaker 2: up the phrase calling and what we're called to do
Speaker 2: in the Bible, and the Bible says this. In Romans
Speaker 2: one seven, and we're called to be His people. John fifteen,
Speaker 2: we're called to be God's friend. First Corinthians one, we're
Speaker 2: called to be holy, and we're called into fellowship. The
Speaker 2: Bible says in Second Corinthians five, we're called to speak
Speaker 2: for Christ. Galatians five were called to serve each other,
Speaker 2: and Colossians three were called to live in peace. Romans eight,
Speaker 2: chapter eight, verse twenty eight says we're called, in verse
Speaker 2: twenty nine, called to become like Jesus for God's purpose.
Speaker 2: Verse Peter two, we're called to suffer for him. In
Speaker 2: First Peter three, we're called to bless those who curse us.
Speaker 2: First Timothy one says we're called to eternal life, and
Speaker 2: second Thessalonians two says we're called to share his glory.
Speaker 2: That's your calling. It's not your career, but it's your calling.
Speaker 2: If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are
Speaker 2: a representative of Jesus Christ. You are an ambassador. You
Speaker 2: have an assignment, and your assignment is to build relationships. Now,
Speaker 2: if you're going to follow Jesus as an ambassador, it's
Speaker 2: going to have to affect the way you live. It's
Speaker 2: going to radically change the way you live. In fact,
Speaker 2: the Bible says this, Philippians one twenty seven, be sure
Speaker 2: that you live in a way that brings honor to
Speaker 2: the good News of Christ. Says, if you're going to
Speaker 2: be ambassador, you're going to be a representative of Jesus.
Speaker 2: You got to live like it. You can't just name
Speaker 2: the name without playing the game. You've got to back
Speaker 2: it up with your life. We need to remember that
Speaker 2: we represent Jesus. Many years ago, when I was a
Speaker 2: high school student, I was selected as one of eight
Speaker 2: students in this state in California to be ambassadors to
Speaker 2: the International Congress on Science and the Environment. And they said,
Speaker 2: it's going to be eight high school students and you're
Speaker 2: going for a week, all expenses paid, We're giving an
Speaker 2: unlimited credit line and no chaperones. What a life. And
Speaker 2: so I'm one of the eight ambassadors from the state
Speaker 2: of California as a high school student to go to
Speaker 2: this Congress. As I'm walking out the door, my dad
Speaker 2: says to me, son. Remember who you represent? Remember who
Speaker 2: you represent. I didn't just represent California. I represented the
Speaker 2: Warren name. And I didn't just represent the Warren name.
Speaker 2: I represented Jesus Christ. I think it's a good phrase
Speaker 2: we need to ask ourselves quite frequently as we get
Speaker 2: up in the morning. When you're going out for the
Speaker 2: day's Remember who you represent when you're out playing a
Speaker 2: pickup game of ball. Remember who you represent when you
Speaker 2: go into a grocery store or a theater, or you're
Speaker 2: in line with traffic. Remember who you represent when you're
Speaker 2: frustrated with a clerk and you want to chew them out.
Speaker 2: Remember who you represent. If you name the name of Christ,
Speaker 2: the Bible says, you are an ambassador of Jesus. Now,
Speaker 2: the Bible says in Ephesians chapter four, this live a
Speaker 2: life worthy of the calling you have received. And I
Speaker 2: have been called to represent Jesus in the world, and
Speaker 2: so have you. This is not just for pastors, it's
Speaker 2: for every believer. Now, Number two, an ambassador not only
Speaker 2: represents someone. Number two, I've been given a mission. That's
Speaker 2: the second thing an ambassador does. You're given a mission.
Speaker 2: Ambassadors are sent on diplomatic missions. In fact, the embassies
Speaker 2: where ambassadors work are called permanent missions. I've been in
Speaker 2: many of them around the world, in many capitals of
Speaker 2: different countries. I've been to the American embassy. And usually
Speaker 2: when we go into a major city, a major like
Speaker 2: a capital, we'll get invited to the embassy just to
Speaker 2: meet with everybody. And they're called the permanent mission, the
Speaker 2: permanent mission to China, the permanent mission to Australia, the
Speaker 2: permanent mission to Israel, the permanent mission, whatever. Because the
Speaker 2: word mission is what an ambassador does. Now, Jesus said
Speaker 2: this in John seventeen. He said, in the same way
Speaker 2: that you Father gave me a mission in the world,
Speaker 2: I give them a mission in the world. Did you
Speaker 2: know that you have a mission that the moment you
Speaker 2: step across the line spiritually and you become a follower
Speaker 2: of Jesus, God has a mission for your life, and
Speaker 2: that is to be his ambassador. Now, when you're on
Speaker 2: a mission, friends, that's all it matters. You're not there
Speaker 2: to see the scenery, you're not there to take pictures,
Speaker 2: you're not there to try the local As an ambassador,
Speaker 2: you're there on a mission. Now, of all of the
Speaker 2: missions in the world. The most important mission of all
Speaker 2: is helping people get to know God and settle their
Speaker 2: eternal destiny, because they're only going to be on earth
Speaker 2: for sixty eighty years, but they're going to be an
Speaker 2: eternity for trillions of years. And so our mission, the
Speaker 2: mission of ambassadors of Christ, is more important than any
Speaker 2: other mission, than a mission to the moon or a
Speaker 2: mission to some other country. The Bible says this. Paul says,
Speaker 2: I don't care about my own life. The most important
Speaker 2: thing is that I complete my mission, the work that
Speaker 2: the Lord Jesus gave me to tell other people the
Speaker 2: good news about God's grace. He says, my job is
Speaker 2: to complete my mission. At the end of his life,
Speaker 2: Paul said, I finished the race. He completed his mission.
Speaker 2: He said, I did what God told me to do.
Speaker 2: Are you going to be able to do that? One
Speaker 2: day when you stand before God, He's going to say,
Speaker 2: did you complete the mission I gave you? Oh? Oh,
Speaker 2: I didn't even know I had one? Well, yeah, you
Speaker 2: did you think I put you on earth just to
Speaker 2: live for yourself. No, I put you on earth for
Speaker 2: a mission. Now, the Bible says, not only am I
Speaker 2: given the responsibility of representing Jesus. And not only do
Speaker 2: I have a mission number three, this is really important.
Speaker 2: I have been given authority to speak. I've been given
Speaker 2: authority to speak. Now, sometimes, you know, we don't feel
Speaker 2: very confident in talking about God to other people, and
Speaker 2: maybe we feel a little insecure or a little unsure,
Speaker 2: a little timid, little hesitant. We go, who am I
Speaker 2: to talk to anybody about Jesus? And I don't know
Speaker 2: what to say. I don't know how to say it.
Speaker 2: I'm not a professional witnesser or whatever. I don't know
Speaker 2: what to do. But God says, nope, you're authorized. And
Speaker 2: he says, whenever I ask you to do something and
Speaker 2: I ask you to represent me, and I ask you
Speaker 2: to have a mission, and I ask you to speak
Speaker 2: for me, he said, I'm going to empower you to
Speaker 2: do it. And in Matthew twenty eight, Jesus said this,
Speaker 2: I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
Speaker 2: Circle the phrase all authority. I've been given all authority
Speaker 2: in heaven. Obviously, God has all the authority in the universe,
Speaker 2: and he says He's given it to his son Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: And he says, therefore, because I've been given all authority.
Speaker 2: He says, I'm going to authorize you. Therefore, go to
Speaker 2: all people everywhere and make them my disciples, baptize them
Speaker 2: in the name of the Father and the Son and
Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I've
Speaker 2: commanded you. And he goes, you can count on this.
Speaker 2: I will be with you always. Now that verse is
Speaker 2: called the Great Commission. It is our comission. It is
Speaker 2: our mission in life. And the Great Commission was not
Speaker 2: given to pastors, not given to missionaries. It was not
Speaker 2: given to priests or elders or professional evangelists. The Great
Speaker 2: commission Jesus gave to every one of his followers. It's
Speaker 2: your commission. And one day God's going to say, did
Speaker 2: you do the commission I gave you? Did you do
Speaker 2: the mission? Somebody gave you the good news because they
Speaker 2: represented me to you. Did you pass it on? Did
Speaker 2: you share it with anybody else? And he said, I
Speaker 2: have all the authority, and I'm authorizing you to speak.
Speaker 2: Now there's a word most of you have probably never
Speaker 2: heard of. It's the word plenty potentiary. Plenty potentiary is
Speaker 2: a diplomatic term. Some of you don't know that I'm
Speaker 2: a member of the Council of Foreign Affairs. And there's
Speaker 2: a term that's often used in foreign affairs called plenty potentiary.
Speaker 2: It's a Latin phrase that literally means full power. And
Speaker 2: what a plenty centiary is is it's somebody who is
Speaker 2: authorized to represent a government with offers without having to
Speaker 2: check back with anybody else. A plenty potentiary is someone
Speaker 2: who can negotiate on the behalf of a country without
Speaker 2: having to say I'll get back to you. During the
Speaker 2: Revolutionary War, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin where both plenty
Speaker 2: potentiaries to both France and to England, which means they
Speaker 2: were authorized by our young government to sign treaties will
Speaker 2: that haven't even be approved by Congress. That's how much
Speaker 2: power they were given. And they were saying, we give
Speaker 2: you the authorization to make the offer in our behalf
Speaker 2: without having to check back with us. Now, historically, the
Speaker 2: people who have this ability, there's a word for them.
Speaker 2: They're called ministers. Now when we think of minister today
Speaker 2: here in America, we think of pastors and we think
Speaker 2: of people in churches. But around the world, minister is
Speaker 2: often a potentiary. For instance, we talk about a minister
Speaker 2: of State, or a minister of Commerce, or a minister
Speaker 2: of foreign affairs or a prime minister. We don't use
Speaker 2: these terms in America. We use the term president. We
Speaker 2: use a secretary of State, secretary of commerce, secretary of
Speaker 2: foreign affairs, things like that. But most of the world
Speaker 2: uses the word minister. And a minister is somebody who
Speaker 2: has been authorized to act on behalf of somebody else. Well,
Speaker 2: that's really a cool thing because the Bible says that
Speaker 2: you you are authorized as a minister of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: Every Christian is an authorized minister of Jesus Christ. You're
Speaker 2: not a pastor, you're not a priest, you're not a
Speaker 2: full time Christian worker, but every believer is a minister.
Speaker 2: The Bible teaches this over and over, and he says,
Speaker 2: you are authorized to speak on my behalf. You don't
Speaker 2: have to go check with anybody else. You can talk
Speaker 2: in the name of Christ to other people. And he says,
Speaker 2: you represent me. I've given you a mission, and I'm
Speaker 2: giving you the authority to speak. Now, there's one other
Speaker 2: thing you need to remember as an ambassador at number four,
Speaker 2: and it's this, I serve in a foreign culture. You've
Speaker 2: probably never thought about this, but if you are a believer,
Speaker 2: a follower of Jesus Christ, your home is not on earth.
Speaker 2: Your home is in heaven. Your homeland is in heaven,
Speaker 2: and your identity is in eternity. Because you're only going
Speaker 2: to spend a few years here on earth. You're going
Speaker 2: to spend a few decades, five or six, maybe seven
Speaker 2: or eight day decades here on earth, but you're going
Speaker 2: to spend trillions of years in eternity. And God did
Speaker 2: not make you to spend eternity on earth. God created
Speaker 2: you to be a part of his family, and that
Speaker 2: film he's going to be on trillions of years in eternity.
Speaker 2: So he's saying, this isn't my home. And as an ambassador,
Speaker 2: I'm simply on a short term assignment. Now, where does
Speaker 2: an ambassador live in their home country or in a
Speaker 2: foreign country? They live in a foreign country. So, for instance,
Speaker 2: America's ambassador to China lives in China, and America's ambassador
Speaker 2: to Japan lives in Japan. They don't get to live
Speaker 2: in their home country. Ambassadors don't live in their home country.
Speaker 2: They live in somebody else's country. In fact, they often
Speaker 2: live in enemy territory. During the Cold War, American ambassadors
Speaker 2: lived in all the communist nations even though they were
Speaker 2: our enemies, and we're actually trying to bring us down.
Speaker 2: An ambassador will often live not just in a foreign
Speaker 2: country or culture, but in an alien or enemy culture.
Speaker 2: And he says, that's what you are as an ambassador
Speaker 2: of Jesus Christ. This world is not your home. You're
Speaker 2: just a passing through. He said, you were made for eternity,
Speaker 2: you were made for heaven. If you want to go
Speaker 2: out and read on this. In the first seven chapters
Speaker 2: A Purpose Driven Life, I talk about this in detail,
Speaker 2: and the Bible says this in one Peter chapter one,
Speaker 2: here on the screen. If you call God your father,
Speaker 2: he says, live your time as temporary residence on earth,
Speaker 2: an ambassador. And I've met a lot of ambassadors around
Speaker 2: the world. They don't buy a permanent home, whether they
Speaker 2: live in Paris or in you know, Rio Dejaneiro or
Speaker 2: anywhere else. They rent what because they know I'm just
Speaker 2: an ambassador. And when the next administration comes in there
Speaker 2: they're going to point a new ambassador. So they say,
Speaker 2: we're not going to stay here for the rest of
Speaker 2: our life. Nobody moves to a country and then lives
Speaker 2: there their entire lives. If they're an ambassador, you're there
Speaker 2: on short term assignment, and you're in a foreign culture,
Speaker 2: and you're not really in your home homeland. What Jesus
Speaker 2: is saying here is, don't get too comfortable living in
Speaker 2: this world. You're just an ambassador. You're just an ambassador.
Speaker 2: Don't get too comfortable. Don't think that this life is
Speaker 2: all there is here on earth. Don't get sucked into
Speaker 2: the myth that you know. All there is is the
Speaker 2: hearing now, And don't forget your role. Your role is
Speaker 2: not to create a little cushy pad and make your
Speaker 2: life as comfortable as possible. That's not your role. Your
Speaker 2: role is an ambassador. Your role is to represent me,
Speaker 2: to fulfill your mission, and to speak in My name
Speaker 2: with authority, and you're doing it in foreign territory.
Speaker 1: Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and
Speaker 1: listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are so glad
Speaker 1: that you've been with us today, and I hope that
Speaker 1: you were just as blessed as I was from today's broadcast. Hey,
Speaker 1: have you ever wished that you could hear from God?
Speaker 1: I mean, really hear his voice when you're facing a
Speaker 1: big decision, struggling with pain, or just feeling lost. Well,
Speaker 1: here's the amazing truth. The creator of the universe wants
Speaker 1: to be your friend. And that's not just in theory,
Speaker 1: but in a real daily relationship. And how does that
Speaker 1: friendship grow through conversation. The good news is God is
Speaker 1: already speaking. The question is are you tuned in? In
Speaker 1: this powerful new Bible study from Pastor Rix Hearing the
Speaker 1: Voice of God's series, you'll discover how to recognize when
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