Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.watermarkchurch.hk/sermons/15402/ambassadors-of-jesus/.

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[0:00] The scripture reading comes from 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and 6. Please follow along in your bulletins or on the screen. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.

[0:15] But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart.

[0:32] For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died.

[0:48] And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

[0:59] From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.

[1:12] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

[1:32] That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

[1:43] Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

[1:58] For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

[2:17] This is the word of God. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Great.

[2:38] Good morning. Oh, that's terrible. Good morning. Good morning. Great. That's much better. My name's Chris. I'm one of the leaders here in Watermark, and it's...

[2:51] I'm going to try and lower this. I'm not that high. Okay. Great to see you this morning. And if you don't know, we're continuing in a series that Kevin alluded to earlier, where we're looking at mission in the church.

[3:12] I don't know if any, how many of you know the story of Corrie Ten Boom. She was imprisoned in a concentration camp in the Nazi occupation in the Second World War.

[3:26] She saw her father and her sister die horrifically at the hands of the guards. And after the war, she became this speaker who traveled the world, telling people of the love of God and the forgiveness of God.

[3:40] And she tells the story of one day when a man, after a talk, a man approached her. And she recognized him. And he was a former SS guard, one of the ones who had stood mocking while her sister was led into the gas chambers to die.

[3:59] And as he came up to her, he held out his hand and said, thank you so much for your message. It's amazing that even someone like me could be forgiven. Corrie, at that moment, even though she'd been speaking about God's reconciling love, she says, I now felt and realized the anger and the hatred that was in my heart.

[4:26] Because at that moment, I couldn't forgive that guy. I couldn't reach out my hand to him. And she said, at that point, she also realized her own sin in her heart.

[4:39] And she cried out, God, please forgive me. Forgive me. I can't forgive him. Help me to forgive him. And she says, she reached out her hand to him.

[4:51] And she says this. She said, from my shoulder along my arm, through my hand, a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.

[5:05] She had discovered the power of reconciliation that only comes from God. Now, many of us may not have experienced the horrors of a concentration camp.

[5:19] But we live in a world, you just look around on the news, that is filled with division and hatred and tension. Just look at it in politics.

[5:32] Look at it in your office. Look at it in your families. Look at it. Just go on the comment section in YouTube. And you will see the division and the hurt that there is in this world.

[5:45] We live in a world that desperately needs reconciliation. And yet we're incapable of creating it ourselves. And so as a church, we have our three banners, our three values, gospel, community, mission.

[6:02] Because we believe that actually the starting point of all reconciliation is knowing Christ in the gospel. And that flows out into us being a community, who are then a community, which then go out on mission to the world around us.

[6:16] And so that's why over these four weeks, we're looking specifically at that last one, the issue of mission. And so a couple of weeks ago, we talked about salt and light, and how actually we're called to be light.

[6:30] And light doesn't have to try and be light. Light just is light. But what helps us to shine that light is if we have our hearts captured by who Jesus is. And then we saw last week that actually Jesus sends us out like sheep because we have a shepherd who is compassionate towards us.

[6:50] So we can demonstrate and have our eyes open to see the harvest field around us and see with his eyes. But today we're looking at the idea of being ambassadors of Jesus, those who are ministers, agents of reconciliation in Hong Kong and the world around us.

[7:08] So we're going to be looking at this passage in 2 Corinthians. And this passage is Paul writing in a context of division. because there have actually been a whole lot of very impressive, eloquent speakers who've come in.

[7:23] And they have, the Corinthian church there in Greece has got captured by their message because they think that godliness seems to look like being very impressive. And Paul doesn't look very impressive.

[7:36] And so he and his message have been looked down on by the Corinthians. And so Paul is writing this letter both to prove his credentials but also to say to the people here, don't get distracted from the gospel of Christ because this is the power for you to change and to be agents of change.

[7:58] So we're going to have two points, okay, today. First point that I want to look at is receiving reconciliation. And then we're going to look at ambassadors of reconciliation.

[8:09] So if you've got your bulletin with you, have it in your handout with you. Just have a look and we'll be going through that together. So receiving reconciliation.

[8:21] Verse 14 says this, for the love of God controls us because we have concluded this, that one died for all and therefore all died.

[8:36] And then verse 18, he says, all this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself. Now if you need reconciling, that tells you that there is a serious relational problem with someone.

[8:53] Here it is God. God doesn't think that we're basically cute and he just needs to knock off a few kind of rough edges on our sides.

[9:03] The whole of the self-help industry is based on the idea that basically you're fundamentally good with a few flaws. That if you just work hard enough, you can overcome.

[9:14] The gospel says, no, that's not the situation. Paul says, one has died for all because therefore all have died. He's saying the reason that Jesus died for, on behalf of, in the place of, as a substitute for, or every person is because all people were dead to God.

[9:36] We don't want God to interfere in our lives. We don't want God to tell us what to do in our lives. We don't want him to tell us to reconcile with that annoying colleague or spouse.

[9:49] We don't naturally want to follow his ways at all. None of us do. One commentator said this about this passage.

[10:00] He said, the New Testament never speaks of God being reconciled to men and women, but always of men and women being reconciled to God. The whole process of salvation takes its beginning from him.

[10:14] It was because God so loved the world that he sent his son. It is not that God is estranged from human beings, but that they are estranged from him. God's message, the message which Paul brought, is an appeal from a loving father to a wandering and estranged children to come home where love is waiting for them.

[10:33] Do you get what he's saying? What he's saying is, he's not saying God doesn't mind about our sin. He's actually saying God hates sin. He will not tolerate sin. Those who persistently refuse him will end up in a hell apart from him forever.

[10:50] There won't be second chances after you die. But God is not cold and distant with his kind of back turned needing to be persuaded to reach out to us.

[11:04] He wants to reach out to his estranged children, alienated from him. People like you and me. You know, I first met Jim.

[11:17] He was a homeless guy when I was at university selling magazines just to get by. We chatted over a period of weeks and months. I got to know him. I heard his story. I heard how he needed an address to find a home to be able to get a job.

[11:32] So a friend of mine offered to have him stay with him temporarily until he could get a job and afford to pay the rent himself. Two days after he arrived, my friend came back home to realize that 500 pounds was missing from his new colleague's coat pocket who'd been staying with him.

[11:52] Jim had disappeared. We phoned the police. They weren't very interested. So I went to look for Jim. I knew where to go, so I went straight down to this local kind of homeless shelter and there he was.

[12:06] As I walked in, you should have seen the look on his face. It was the ultimate look of a guilty look. He hung his head in shame. I told him that we'd call the police, but I also told him of the love of Christ and the offer of forgiveness and I invited him to come back to our house for a meal.

[12:27] Two weeks went past. Jim never showed up. I was cycling through a completely different area of town. I was taking a kind of shortcut through a back alley, completely off the beaten track.

[12:41] when who was sitting there on the bench? But Jim, you should have seen the look on his face. He said to me, I've been trying to get away from you and this was the one place in the whole city of half a million people that I thought could have escaped from you.

[13:01] I guess God is on my case. That's what he said. I invited him to come to our place. We studied some scripture together. I invited him to stay a couple of days while we fixed up accommodation for him.

[13:13] We found him a place and while I was, I ran out, I had to run out the door for an appointment and a few hours later I got a call from my housemate saying that his PSP and his guitar pedals had been stolen.

[13:28] Eventually he got arrested. He got to prison for a short time. He came out. He stayed at my parents for a night and he stole some more money from another friend. And then he went out and he robbed some people on the streets.

[13:42] He was an addict. He got back in prison for a while longer. Every week I went to visit him. I talk of the love of Christ. I tell him to go and see the prison chaplain.

[13:53] Every week he promised he would. Every time I went back he never had. Eventually he moved prison and we saw each other much less. 18 months went past.

[14:04] I kind of gave up on Jim because he never seemed to change. And then one day I received a letter from Jim.

[14:17] He said, it went something like this, Chris, I just wanted to tell you I got baptized last week. I'd been brewing some beer in prison. Yes, you do.

[14:30] And I got caught. And I got put in solitary confinement. And when I was there I remembered all the grace that had been shown to me and all you had told me about Christ.

[14:43] And at that moment I confessed my need of Christ as my Savior and I repented of all that I'd done. He said, the next day the prison chaplain came around. And he said, it's Saturday.

[14:56] Saturday you're going to get baptized. Jim was a little confused because he hadn't talked to the chaplain at all. And so he said, oh, okay. Saturday morning came the chaplain came around and said, hell, I'm really sorry I got the wrong person the other day.

[15:13] It was another guy who was meant to be getting baptized, not you. But would you still like to get baptized? And he said, yes. And he said, I shared my testimony in front of all the inmates of how God had chased after me and he brought me home to himself.

[15:36] You see, as I've thought about that, I often wonder, were we irresponsible in the way that we kind of kept inviting him back?

[15:47] Was it stupid? And I think there'd be one or three things I would change, but I'd do it all again, not because I'm great or do anything like that because I'm not.

[15:58] I gave up on Jim, but actually because I realized that I am just like Jim and so are you and me. You see, how often does God bless us with so many things, calling us to himself and yet we steal from him for ourselves?

[16:18] We steal his glory wanting it for ourselves. And we run and hide in hilt and shame. And in chasing after Jim, it cost us some money.

[16:29] We had to compensate the people who were robbed. But when Christ chased after us, our sin and selfishness cost Jesus not just some money, but his very life.

[16:44] He died for all. the one who had no sin, completely blameless, took the full cost of all my running away from God, all my stealing his glory for myself.

[16:57] He took it on himself so that my debt to God may be paid. How irresponsible, knowing exactly what I'm like, that I'm a sin addict, self-glory addict, who throws his kindness back in his face so often.

[17:16] And yet, at no point did Jim ever take the initiative to walk in repentance towards us. In fact, he was running away from us. At no point have you and I taken the initiative to run towards God because we were dead to God.

[17:37] But it's always God who is reaching out to us who are like orphans, homeless, running away from him. And he calls us back again and again and again.

[17:48] This is the reconciling love of God. Do you see that? That's what Paul's talking about. And reconciling is not just about God kind of wiping our slate clean, hoping we don't mess up again.

[18:06] Do you know the word reconcile originally means to exchange? Just as you know when you go on holiday, some of you have been on holiday recently, and you know when you exchange Hong Kong dollars for Japanese yen.

[18:22] You know, Hong Kong dollars don't have currency in Japan. So if you have come to Christ, you've come with all your anger, all your bitterness, all your self-centeredness, even the good deeds that you think make yourself feel good about yourself, you come to them and you give them to him because they don't have currency with him.

[18:43] And God instead gives you his currency. He gives you his righteousness. That's what he says in verse 21. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin.

[18:55] The sinless one became our substitute, took our penalty, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Do you see what he's saying? He's saying he gives us his patience for our anger.

[19:09] He gives us his mercy for our unforgiveness. He gives us his selflessness for our selfishness. He gives us his grace for our judgmentalism. He gives us his right standing with him in close, intimate relationship with him.

[19:25] His righteousness. And Jesus is the only currency that God accepts. Nothing you've ever done unless it's done through the trusting work of Jesus has currency with God.

[19:40] And if you're not a believer this morning, this passage has amazing urgency. Paul is saying, we implore you. That's like, we beg you.

[19:50] We beseech you. Urging you, stop running away from God like a homeless orphan relying on yourself. Be reconciled. Come back to your father who is reaching out because eternity is at stake.

[20:05] Your life is at stake. And God's currency is only Christ. But if you are a Christian, Paul says this, and this is just very challenging.

[20:18] He says, the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded, we have come to a place of settled conviction that this message about God's reconciling love with the creator of the universe is true.

[20:38] It is true. And when we get that and that sinks into our hearts, he says, it means you no longer live for yourself but you live for Christ.

[20:50] In other words, Christ's love now drives you more than your GPA drives you. more than your grades drive you. More than your bonus drives you.

[21:02] Christ's love is shaping every single facet of your life as the gospel goes deeper into your heart. I mean, just think. No longer live for yourself but for the one who loved you with my time.

[21:18] What would it mean for me to say the love of Christ is going to shape the way I'm thinking about my time? What would it mean as I look at the finances and the resources that I have and I say the love of Christ is now going to shape the way I view every single penny, every single cent that I own because it's his and his love.

[21:39] Now, it's not for just myself. It's going to shape who you hang out with. It's going to shape your holidays. It's going to shape how you do your social media. Every part of your life shaped by the love of Christ and where it's not doing that, this is where the gospel needs to go deeper into us because this is why the reconciliation of Christ is something we need again and again to go deeper.

[22:08] That's the first point. We are those who have been reconciled to Christ. Secondly, because of that, we are ambassadors of reconciliation.

[22:25] He says this, Jesus didn't just bring you to yourself, bring you to himself just for yourself.

[22:36] Did you know that? Half a person knows that. Okay. Did you know that? You were not saved if you're a Christian just for yourself. Verse 18, he says this, he reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

[22:57] And then later on, he says, and he entrusted to us the message of reconciliation. Do you see what he's saying? He's saying, if you're a believer, you've been reconciled, brought close to Christ, and you've been given a ministry, do you know you have a ministry?

[23:18] Do you know it doesn't matter where you're serving, you have a ministry and your ministry is the ministry of reconciliation. Did you know that? Say, I'm a minister of reconciliation. That's good.

[23:31] Okay. We're ministers of this because we live in an angry, divided world. And the privilege that we spoke of last week of being involved in the harvest is what chapter 6, verse 1 says.

[23:47] He says, we work together with God in his work of reconciling people to himself. And just think, this is what we said last week, but it bears repeating.

[23:57] Just think what an insane idea it would be if it's not in scripture. That the God of the universe actually wants to partner with you. Have you ever thought about how crazy that is?

[24:10] That God has headhunted you to be on his team and he looked at your CV and it was bad. And then he looked at your references and they were even worse.

[24:22] And yet he still chose you to be on his team. And he brought you to himself and he gave you a ministry. Because it's about him and his glory, it's not about you.

[24:34] C.H. Spurgeon once said, without God we can't. Without us he won't. You hear that?

[24:45] Without God we can't. We can't do his mission. But without us he won't. He has chosen to partner with us. Which is why Paul then says, therefore we are ambassadors for Christ.

[24:59] God making his appeal through us. What is an ambassador? Well in the Roman Empire of the time the emperor was the supreme ruler of the vast Roman Empire.

[25:12] Because his empire was so large what he would do he would send out representatives to deliver his proclamations to speak and act on behalf of him.

[25:25] And here Paul is saying what is the message that we have been sent as his representatives it's the message that God is in the reconciliation business. And he's saying that to every believer you've been entrusted with this message about a savior who has died as Colin was saying earlier you've been entrusted with that as his ambassadors.

[25:52] What does that mean? There's a few things that I think that means. Firstly it means we speak on behalf of God.

[26:03] That's a crazy idea. It says it is God who is making his appeal through us. Do you see that?

[26:15] That means I don't need to be embarrassed by the message because it's his message it's not my message. And it also means I don't need to make it so that it never I'm so worried about what everyone else is thinking and I just don't want to offend anyone so I'm going to change the message to make it sound alright for everybody else because it's not my message to change it's his message.

[26:40] It also means that if I'm lovingly sharing the message of reconciliation with people just like Colin's friend did if others reject it they're not rejecting me they're rejecting God himself.

[26:53] God doesn't need us to make excuses for his reconciliation plan. An ambassador doesn't change the message to suit his hearers because his message comes direct from the emperor himself from God himself.

[27:10] So what does that mean? That means when you sit down with your friends and maybe the nature of the conversation turns to a spiritual topic or you're talking about something of division that's going on or there's tensions and you can speak there's an opportunity to speak of God's restoring love into that.

[27:26] There is a direct line from the throne room of heaven right down to you right there for you to speak with God's authority into that situation and represent what he would want you to say at that moment.

[27:43] Do you remember when Jesus sent out the twelve last week? He said I give you authority to preach and to heal and to drive out unclean spirits. I remember the beginning of the great commission in Matthew 28 where he says all authority in heaven and earth is given to me therefore you guys go.

[28:04] You go in my authority not in yours. And so instead of going when you're in those situations I hope I can get away without saying anything right now.

[28:16] We go if you know you're an ambassador sent with his authority you're going thank you father that you've entrusted me with the privilege right now of being able to speak and to share this incredible good news with my friends and my colleagues.

[28:34] God what do you want me to say right now because I have no idea. And maybe you just ask have you ever thought that God actually wants a living relationship with you? You're an ambassador.

[28:45] And ambassadors don't just speak his message we speak on behalf of him but we don't just speak it we also embody his message intentionally.

[29:00] That's the next thing that an ambassador does. You know an ambassador doesn't stay in his home country. An ambassador always goes to another place another culture where there's another language where there's different customs and different ways of doing things right?

[29:17] If all the ambassadors are in their home country they're doing something wrong right? And so ambassadors you have to intentionally think and Paul does this all the time through Acts you have to intentionally think how to communicate and how to represent your nation's values in this foreign environment right?

[29:40] That's why Paul says in verse 16 verse 17 he says we don't judge people any longer according to the flesh everybody else judges it according to the world standards according to race according to appearance according to your intellect according to how much education you have that's how everybody else judges people but he says we have come to know Christ we're seeing Christ differently now and if anyone is in Christ he's a new creation the old has passed away and the new has come he's saying he's saying you're part of a different world a different kingdom that works and is embodied in a different way and so as ambassadors we're going to do things differently we're going to be thinking intentionally in a place of division a place where people are so segregated we're going to think how can we embody that message of reconciliation reconciliation last week we talked about praying for God to open our eyes to see the people around us how many of us have actually been praying that this week because God wants us to start all ambassadorship starts in that prayer it starts in the prayer to God knowing we cannot do this by ourselves but it's not just that we pray it's also ambassadors are putting in the effort just as Paul has put in all the effort with reaching out the gospel to intentionally think and plan of how to represent your king and display his goodness to the people around you you know in my building no one talks to each other maybe your building is a friendly building mine is not so here's a place where people are alienated from each other how can we bring

[31:38] God's goodness into that place so I tried taking around chocolates to my neighbours didn't work everyone's thinking are you trying to sell me something or now I've got to owe you something so just shut the door right doesn't work so then instead of just getting discouraged you go how can I God show us some ideas of how we can do this so instead my wife made some dessert one day there was some left over and so we actually ended up just taking it round to the neighbours it was amazing everyone just opened their door and we started chatting with them and there was this openness because we were trying to demonstrate the restoring power of God and actually was I sharing the gospel at that moment no I didn't but actually what I was doing we were providing the context we were setting the table of demonstrating a glimpse of the goodness of God and so through that actually one guy he said oh come back to my place come and you can have some dinner with me and so I came back to his place and then we had a drink and over that that was the context in which we were able to talk about how the gospels at work in my life and how it's shaping just the way do ordinary decisions like speaking to playing football with a whole load of Nepalese kids on a Thursday night and then from that you're able to talk about Jesus do you see ambassadors embody so that we might be able to share and I don't know what your context is but how often and I just thought

[33:04] I was convicted even about this for myself how often in our CGs or with your spouse with your friends do you ever intentionally sit planning and thinking and praying about where do we see alienation in my office in my family in my neighborhood and then thinking how can we bring the reconciling love of God into that context how often do we think about that and we're doing it not as a project but out of love you know this week I want to challenge us in your community group take 15 minutes in your community group to actually intentionally think and pray and plan and say God where are the places that I'm rubbing up against where I see alienation and division and how can I bring how can we bring your love into that place because if we're doing that as a community I mean just think how much how much time do we spend planning and thinking all the stuff that we want to do for our kingdoms and our work and our careers right but he says when the gospel gets into you we're not just living for ourselves we're living for him who loved us what an amazing community it would be if all of us are thinking like that think how much the light would shine in your office in your workplace wherever you go as together sometimes I don't have ideas

[34:27] I'm like I have no idea what to do so you come together and you talk about it and God will use you in amazing ways because ambassadors embody their king and their reconciliation does that make sense okay we're nearly there two other things ambassadors they don't just speak on God's behalf that message of reconciliation they don't just embody the message you know ambassadors are also held accountable Paul says he says in verse 10 which is not in your passage but it just comes before he says we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he's done in the body whether good or evil and then he says knowing the fear of God we seek to persuade men see Paul is saying that the evaluation of my life is not based on what everybody else thinks this way it's based on what God thinks this way and he's saying what God thinks matters more to him than what other people think and that's what fear means here it's that sense of his opinion of me has so much more weight than anybody else's and he says there's going to be a judgment at the end of the time for some that's going to be a judgment where salvation is at stake for believers salvation is not at stake but what's at stake is the reward of the joy of pleasing our king he's saying if you're an ambassador for China in the US and you spend all of your days in Florida on a luxury yacht fishing others may look at you in envy and wish they had your lifestyle other people may respect you for having such a place that you can do that but when Beijing rings up and says how are diplomatic relations going with the Americans and you say well not so good but I just caught an amazing tuna the other day that's not going to get you a bonus right because at the end of the day what God thinks about us is more important than living just for myself or what anybody else thinks and he says don't receive the grace of God in vain that's 6 verse 1 you don't want to get to the end of your life and see that the very mission God has called you to you missed because you were so wrapped up in your comforts in your investments in your kingdom and he says we have a judge he's a loving judge he's our savior so we don't live in crippling fear wondering what he's going to think about us but we don't want to get to the end of the lives like a 70 year old that I once taught who came to me and he said

[37:29] I wasted it I wasted it I wasted my life and we don't want to get to God and say man all I gave him was a tuna fish but instead we say the gift of God that you entrusted me this reconciliation this grace that you gave me and it was meant to be brought to the people around me I don't want to be more interested in my computer games or my retirement than that do you see what he's saying ambassadors are evaluated and judged by him not by and appraised not by just what we want or what other people want so we speak on God's behalf we embody his message we're evaluated and appraised by God himself not what anyone else thinks our great savior the last thing ambassadors need Christ if you're a Christian who here is an ambassador every Christian is an ambassador that means there's never a time when you're not an ambassador when you're walking down the street you're an ambassador when you're playing football you're an ambassador when you're on the phone you're an ambassador ambassadorship is a 24-7 thing right because this is scary actually because that means sometimes people are watching you right and if you act unkindly and harshly and impatiently what do people think about your king and your country you know isn't the behavior of Christians sometimes the number one reason why many people say they don't believe and that puts a lot of pressure on right and sometimes many of us would prefer not to share the gospel with people not to not to even say that we're a believer because we don't feel we're a very good ambassador anyone ever feel like that the problem is if you're a

[39:48] Christian you're always an ambassador so if you're trying to pretend that you're not one kind of disguising yourself putting on dark glasses a false beard whatever it is and then somebody finds out that you actually go to church that's even worse because you're a true fraud right so instead rather than saying oh I'm not a very good ambassador therefore I'm not going to be an ambassador can you not see that when people around you maybe point out things that you are not doing as an ambassador should that that is grace to you it is grace because people are inadvertently encouraging you to grow as an ambassador it is grace to you because they're pushing you back to repentance and to come back to your savior who has loving arms which are welcoming you opening his heart to you so you may experience grace just like with Jim

[40:49] God is persistently calling you back to himself even sometimes through other people so evangelism and being an ambassador is a spur to being more godly it will help you to hold your tongue more I can promise you but it's a spur to see how much more you need the gospel in your own life that you need to see this amazing sense of reconciliation so that if a colleague ever points out but I thought you were a Christian you can go without defensiveness without embarrassment you can go man yeah I really did mess up I'm sorry because I didn't live out who I should be but you know I have an amazing savior who takes even people like me and he demonstrates incredible grace to me who is walking with me and persistently again and again he runs after me and God's love for you becomes so much more real and that then encourages you to then share the gospel even more because you see how great a savior we have you know

[42:05] Paul was willing to give his life for this mission of evangelism because he knew he was the worst of sinners and yet God had made Christ who knew no sin to be sin for him so that in him he might become the righteousness of God and that's the same for every single one of us let me pray father you have called us you have called us first to yourself thank you so much for your reconciling love love I pray right now for those of us who are here who don't know you I pray as in Colin's testimony for those who maybe have heard this message many many times but I pray today would be the day of salvation

[43:08] I pray today that you would speak into their hearts and lives and show them your incredible love so they turn in repentance and find a God who wants to welcome them home I pray for those of us who are believers I pray for those of us who think we're inadequate those of us who even the thought of doing evangelism and sharing our faith is something that just scares us I pray that you would show us your incredible love the incredible privilege the incredible way that you have called us together to be partners with you in this I pray right now you would be putting on our minds people that we should be reaching out to I pray we'd be a church that is not just so focused on our own things but we're actually taking time to think about the people around us in our offices in our neighborhoods and to begin to say

[44:15]  God how can we show your amazing reconciling love to them change us we pray in your amazing name amen love to kind