Near & Far: Life On Mission

[Music] [Applause] [Music] carefest is right around the corner on september 25th we will be taking part in a county-wide community service state with the goal of showing god's love in a practical way if you are able to lead a project or want to volunteer please head to our website alm.tv or the church center app to get registered today every second third and fourth sunday of the month we host discover track discover track is your way to get connected to the heart of alm and who we are this is also how you become a partner with us get registered for discover track at alm.tv or your church center app starting point takes place the first sunday of every month and it is your way to get involved at alm if you want to join our team starting point is the place for you get registered at alm.tv or your church center app today we believe life change happens in the context of relationships so we want to help you get connected to christ and other believers but more than that grow in your relationship with jesus christ small groups is how you can do that visit our website to find out more about our small groups if you would like to hear more from pastor anthony subscribe to the patriot pastor on youtube as he engages culture through the lens of scripture [Music] carefest is right around the corner on september 25th we'll be taking part in a county-wide community service state with a goal of showing god's love in a practical way if you are able to lead a project or want to volunteer please head to our website alm.tv or the church center app to get registered today every second third and fourth sunday of the month we host discover track discover track is your way to get connected to the heart of alm and who we are this is also how you become a partner with us get registered for discover track at alm.tv or your church center app starting point takes place the first sunday of every month and it is your way to get involved at alm if you want to join our team starting point is the place for you get registered at alm.tv or your church center app today we believe life change happens in the context of relationships so we want to help you get connected to christ and other believers but more than that grow in your relationship with jesus christ small groups is how you can do that visit our website to find out more about our small groups if you would like to hear more from pastor anthony subscribe to the patriot pastor on youtube as he engages culture through the lens of scripture [Music] carefest is right around the corner on september 25th we'll be taking part in a county-wide community service state with a goal of showing god's love in a practical way if you are able to lead a project or want to volunteer please head to our website alm.tv or the church center app to get registered today every second third and fourth sunday of the month we host discover track discover track is your way to get connected to the heart of alm and who we are there's also how you become a partner with us get registered for discover track at alm.tv or your church center app starting point takes place the first sunday of every month [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning you ready to worship today hey man stand to your feet [Applause] [Music] but the miracle that i just can't get over my name is registered in heaven i believe in signs and wonders [Music] is registered in heaven my praise belongs to you forever this is my testimony from justin because grace we wrote my story i'll testify but jesus christ the righteous i'm justified this is my testimony this is my testimony [Applause] to come together [Music] my story i'll testify [Applause] [Music] is oh this is my testimony from death to life as grace rewrote my story i'll testify this is [Applause] come on give him praise in this place today father god you're worthy lord god and we thank you god for the testimony that we have god because of you lord and your shed blood lord jesus we thank you father we glorify you we praise your name jesus we bless your name we thank you lord for freedom in this place today we thank you god [Music] the spirit of the lord is upon me i'm anointed to bring hope the promise fulfilled in alone still watching [Music] this liberty is [Music] [Laughter] [Music] look out for the woman shouting his farm and baby listen up for the season he's revealing everything for the people who shouted [Music] the spirit of the lord is upon [Music] proclamation [Music] he's delivered for the seasons [Music] in his freedom so open your heart and receive it there is a hope to believe in jesus is true jesus so open your heart and receive it there is a hope to believe in jesus jesus jesus [Music] jesus jesus me is the south this is is [Music] [Music] [Music] come on there's freedom in this place today and this is the south this is the south this is [Music] you delivered [Music] [Music] but you deliver me hallelujah come on who believes that god is still doing miracles in this place [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] you deliver me hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] and he's speaking [Music] jesus [Music] yes [Music] look out for the woman shouting his garment made me [Music] this is believe come on come on cena he is the king of kings and the lord of lords he is breaking strongholds right now in jesus name we thank you for your freedom [Music] there's a table that you prepared for me [Music] in the presence of my enemy [Music] it's your body and your blood you shed for me this is [Music] there's a table that you prepare for me [Music] this is [Music] [Applause] [Music] my this is how i find my battle singing ahead this is solid [Music] in the valley i know that you're with your me follow me [Music] and i will live [Applause] this is come on we're declaring to the enemy of our souls today that he has no hold on us because we know who we are we know and we're going to worship god because of who he is not because of how we felt walking into this service today all right all right let's hang it out help me look like i'm surrounded but i'm surrounded [Music] [Music] [Music] this is [Applause] this is this is this is how i find my [Music] this is [Music] we're gonna receive holy communion right now why want you to just lift your hands and thank jesus for the sacrifice that he made for us can you just lift your hands and honor as a symbol of honor and respect and just say words from your heart say something from your heart something like thank you god for dying for me thank you for going to the cross in my place something from your heart say something that you mean say something that you really mean like god i love you i thank you that you took my place [Music] thank you jesus [Music] praise god and one of the reasons why i'm able to sing songs joyfully and lift my hands is because i remind myself of what he's done if you're if you're not if you're not aware reminder i just spent time with my father in baltimore [Music] had so many memories great childhood great parents it's easy for me to tell my dad i love him when you remind yourself of everything that god has done for you it's easy for you to tell him how much you love him can you just tell them what you love right now can you just love on the lord can we just have an easy flow of love an easy fall of expression of thanksgiving expression of gratefulness man he's been so good to us louis thank you for all that you've done for us you've given us life you literally gave us life in our mother's womb you gave us life you breathe life into us gave us a heartbeat around 21 days you gave us we're here we it's a miracle that we're here you created that miracle you did that thank you for life god only that thank you for forgiving our sins thank you for giving us a purpose for living thank you for giving us a home in heaven [Music] thank you for giving us a roadmap to have an abundant life on this earth thank you for that we worship you in jesus name amen you should be seated right now and just grab the communion elements right in front of you and just say this attitude of reverence and i just want to tell you that this is only for people who are born again okay so do not participate unless you're absolutely sure that you are saved now let me just remind you of a couple things let me give you the gospel message in a few couple scriptures romans 6 23 says for the wages of sin is death for the gift of god is eternal life that jesus christ our lord romans 3 23 says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god another scripture says there is no one righteous no not one you can't you can't earn it first john 1 9 says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [Music] romans 10 verse 9 and 10 says if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that god raised jesus from the dead we will be saved if you are not in right standing with god you need to just confess your sins can sin mean lawlessness where you are ignoring the laws of god and you're choosing to go against them you're saying i'm sorry for ignoring you god and doing my own thing if you're truly sorry you confess that what happens is that god releases his grace which is his unmerited favor on your life he says you know what i see your heart i'm going to give you what you don't deserve i'm gonna give you life i'm gonna give you life on this earth abundant life no matter what the circumstances are you can have joy and peace and i'm gonna give you eternal life because you've decided to trust in me if that's you today just do it right now just say to yourself god i ask you to forgive me my sins i believe that you're a god son come into my life just say it just say it right now say it right now there's no reason why anyone should not participate because you can speak it reflect your heart hey man let's peel back that first layer [Music] i like to just keep referring to this story because when i was growing up no one that i remember received communion this way it was basically a reminder of first corinthians 11 about the last supper and that's really important we know what happened there but i'm sharing this version of communion because a lot of people don't connect the dots why did jesus have to die what is this and what is this why are we doing this so for me it made sense when i finally understood what happened in the garden of eden and i wanted to make sense for you so for me it's like okay what happened god placed god adam and eve in the garden of eden everything's great they're naked they're free they don't have to worry about buying clothes and all the guys said amen [Music] all the bills associated to buying all those new clothes and the fashion the chain is like every year and a half and you have to you thought you were cool and now what you have cool is no longer cool you have to buy new clothes there's no clothes they're naked they're happy everything's good everything is provided for them the food everything they have dominion over everything everything's good and then the satan said did god really say did god really say he's like what well you know did god really say if you eat of that you're gonna die come on it'll make you wise you'll be like god she's like yeah that lie is still being perpetuated today by satan so she's like okay yeah yeah let's try it she eats the fruit it's good tastes good here adam you want some at that point for the first time they felt guilt like oh we god said not to do this i feel uncomfortable uh i don't really i don't really feel comfortable being naked and i need to cover up a little bit i feel guilt and shame and embarrassment for the first time in my life and so they tried to cover themselves up and the foliage wasn't adequate and god saw it they were hiding from god god said innocent animal killed an innocent animal blood killed an animal took the skins to adequately cover their lawlessness and that started a process with moses sacrifices offering for sin remind people hey when you're lawless you've got to cover that shame with something here offer this lamb offer this goat offer this dove offer this animal to cover your shame until there came a perfect sacrifice first born male without spot or wrinkle lived 33 years never sinned jesus gave his life and he forgave all the past sins but because he rose from the dead he got the keys of death and hell and sin in the grave and he holds him in his hand he has the authority now to forgive every sin in the future when you believe on jesus christ and you receive his grace and mercy that sacrifice not only covers your sin it washes it away as far as the east is from the west somebody ought to say amen right there and so when we take a communion it's a reminder what jesus christ did for us somebody had to pay he paid the ultimate sacrifice that's why we call this holy communion when you go to a you teach a child at a funeral to be quiet be reverend at a cemetery why we're reverent because jesus gave his life it cost him everything what happened on the cross was gruesome other people have died worse deaths think about it other people have died worse death but no one came so far jesus is god he allowed his finite creation to kill him the only reason he did that is because of unbelievable love let's eat in remembrance of him [Music] thank you jesus for giving your life the life is in the blood you shed your blood it was poured out for us we drink it in thanksgiving for your sacrifice [Music] thank you jesus today we it's an exceptional day we get to [Music] receive communion the eucharist the last supper of the lord's supper we also get to baptize people for about two or three weeks now we've been just doing spontaneous baptisms god's doing something special about our life right now there's something going on there's a revival going on there's an awakening going on i don't know what all is going on but god's doing it if you want to get baptized right now you didn't plan for it but you just said you know i want to do it today i want to be like the first century like yes baptism is an outward symbol of an inward commitment it's like a wedding ring you made a commitment the wedding is like an outward symbol of that the wedding band is an outward symbol you've already been born again you've been saved baptism is saying i'm going public i'm not ashamed of jesus christ i'm a follower of jesus christ if that's you stand up right now we're going to baptize you right now let's give people a hand as they come right now just give them a hand they're going to come just come and get baptized right now come on come on give them a big hand as they're coming all over the building right now god is doing a revival there's a revival taking place in abundant life right now come on give her a hand give her a hand there's people that are coming to be baptized this is exciting [Music] this is awesome this is awesome come on praise god this is awesome i'm so excited about it let me have a microphone thank you amen who wants to get baptized first are you going to go first and your daughter's going to be baptized i love it come on in my brother is that watch good i'm about to get it wet all right we want you to die but not your watch [Laughter] just have a seat my friend slide forward a little bit so tell us real quickly about when you got saved and what happened how did it all happen i was born again i was born again when were you born again when did it happen you know i i died when i was 33 as well and i was brought back twice from that day on i showed the light instead of darkness and uh i was born i was reborn did you did you pray a prayer and ask god to forgive you of your sins and you're confident that you should die right now you go to heaven he's your lord and savior here's my lord proud of you man thank you what's your first name joshua let's celebrate joshua just hold your nose brother joshua upon the profession of your faith in an obedience to the great commission i baptize you now in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit come on somebody hallelujah [Applause] [Laughter] and his daughter is this your wife too now that's the way it's supposed to be the father leads the way and the whole family's getting baptized right now this is so awesome come on this is awesome praise god this is great this is crazy every sunday what's going on we're acting like the church we're acting like we got life we're acting like we got jesus come on have a seat here dear i'm so excited about this so tell me about when you got saved what happened well third time is a charm so no i uh i was born into the pentecostal church and i always believed in god and his light and his love and for the first time i can actually say i i feel it entirely so i am ready to bring my family into that hey man especially in this time i love it praise god we're excited what's your first name again i'm erica erica erica hold your nose erica erica upon the profession of your faith and in obedience to the great commission i baptize you now in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit [Music] praise god erica praise god amen amen amen hallelujah your children come on praise god now listen we had a good conversation sweetheart you understand exactly what this is all about okay how old are you baby eight i was uh going through uh all my family's photos going through my dad's stuff this week packing it up actually drove a truck a thousand miles friday and saturday brought him moved him in down here at pinellas park he's not here physically but through that process i'm telling you this come over here sweetheart and um i found my baptism picture i was eight years old i was eight years old i don't recommend you pushing your kids to get baptized too soon it needs to be an adult decision needs to be a decision from their heart if they're not old enough to make that decision for themselves you're robbing them of that decision i talked to this father last sunday and this mother i talked to them they said confidently we feel like our children really know what this is about and so i i say you know what i'm excited about it let's baptize them amen so we're excited about this sweet little girl amen kendra how old were you when you got baptized seven oh you wanted to beat me is that what that was okay all right she's more spiritual [Music] all right baby all right sweetheart so did you pray a prayer and you committed your heart to jesus christ you confess your sins and you're saved and born again amen [Laughter] what's your name baby jocelyn all right jocelyn upon the profession of your faith and in obedience to the great commission i baptize you now in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit praise god praise god hallelujah hallelujah i'm so proud of you jocelyn and now your sister comes praise god amen this is wonderful how old are you sweetheart 11. all right all right so what's your name madison madison all right madison when did you get saved you don't really know let's talk about it let's make sure you're absolutely ready do you like was it like a sunday or was it at home or you know when it happened home what happened i'm putting you on the spot but you know what it's important for you to be confident this is not some abstract like like fairy tale thing this is real so it's important that you know that you asked jesus to forgive you of your sins and the things you've done wrong and that you've asked him to come into your life and to save you of your sins to save you of that natural desire to do the wrong thing and to give you a new spirit to make you born again so you're confident that happened do you want to just pray a prayer right now just to make sure it's okay you're like i don't know what to say [Music] all right let's just do it just say dear god you're gone please forgive me please forgive me of every sin everything i've done wrong everything i'm truly sorry i want you to come into my life i want you to lead me and guide me for the rest of my life i give you my life in jesus name amen come on somebody praise god [Music] amen thank you proud of you we just want to make certain so now when someone asks you what's today's date fifth you could say i think it was before but i know on september 5th 2021 i definitely prayed to prayer and i gave my heart now you know september 5th write it down somewhere she says she will i like that i will she's a good kid you ask her to do something she says she'll do it praise god where do you get kids like this oh right there oh okay okay my daughter says right here so proud of you sweetheart hold your nose upon the profession of your faith in obedience to the great commission i baptize you now in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen amen amen hallelujah amen who's next this is great praise god [Music] come to church dry leaving wet man this is good it's a good day have a seat my friend so proud of you so tell me about tell me your name my name is joe joe when did you get safe i got saved as a young child young job so why are you here today why do you want to get baptized why i got baptized since a very young child and i didn't fully understand what i was doing i feel like now i'm ready did you hear what he said i got baptized as a young child i really didn't know what i was doing and now i really want to make a commitment see it's a perfect example this is big man i'm proud of you dude proud of you that's awesome did you rededicate your life recently to the lord i did that i did that right before communion today today today come on somebody the angels were rejoicing we should join them and celebrate it come on man whoa wow i'm telling you i'm starting to really like this church this is what the new testament was all about praise god hold your nose my brother upon the profession of your faith in an obedience to the great commission i baptize you now in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit praise god amen hallelujah say bye to you man that's awesome [Applause] wow anybody else one more one more your dad oh two more somebody keep count of all these people this is wonderful praise god praise god so your dad where's your dad dad mom dad listen dad he's been talking to me talking to me at the door about you last week all excited next week we're gonna give my son wants to get baptized let's do it he walked in the door he said he's got his clothes he's doing this i'm like let's do this man so tell me when you got saved well i've been going to church all my life and i was around middle school when i actually wanted to get baptized you know it was my own choice that's good it's good that was just recently yes that's big man that's big how old are you 14 14. your voice sounds like you're a man he started talking like there's a man right here there's a man that's awesome bro you know what i love about that as a as a male as a dominant now you become a you know full grown male you said i want to follow jesus that's big man probably what's your first name brady brady brady look at his jersey he's got it you know he's got the brady it's his jersey brady it's him this is him this is him all right man we're proud of you brady hold your nose buddy upon the profession of your faith in an obedience to the great commission i baptize you now in the name of the father another son and of the holy spirit praise god brady proud of you man so proud of you praise god hallelujah ah this is great this is great braden right thank god jerry langford's daughter practically practically grew up in our church and we're proud of you so tell me about when you dedicate your heart to christ i think i was like 13 and i had been going here for about a year and a half then um i've gotten baptized before but like i was younger i knew what i was doing but i still wasn't like like i didn't understand my life then now that i'm older i have a son and everything i'm starting a new path and going a different way this time and i need god more than ever and i want him to be the light of my life i want to be by me and i don't let go this time and i'm just ready to let him guide me and protect me and my son i'm ready to start now praise god let's stretch your hands towards brayton right let's stretch your hands towards her let's pray for god we thank you lord for the sincerity of your heart god we know she's had some tough patches but god she's totally surrendered god we sense the sincerity and the genuineness of our heart god we pray lord may the angels of the lord and can't run about her and her son lord god i pray that she will come into covenant relationship with other believers and be connected to the body of christ so she can be sustained she can be nourished she can be part of the body of christ and god we pray that you'll walk in victory pray that you'll be an overcomer lord jesus we pray that you'll do exceedingly abundantly above all that she asked or thank the lord god may she pray according to your will because we know that you hear us and you grant us the petitions that we have asked of you first john 5 14 15. lord god in jesus name we thank you oh no the holy spirit appeared at your baptism i pray the holy spirit would fill her lord in this tub as she gets up out of this water in jesus name let's hold your nose upon the profession of your faith and in obedience to the great commission i baptize you now in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit praise god hallelujah hallelujah in jesus name in jesus name somebody give the lord praise in this place this is a day of victory hallelujah [Music] nothing but the blood of jesus oh precious is [Music] i know [Music] nothing but the blood [Music] everyone say thank you jesus thank you god for the life that you're breathing into this congregation seeing people saved and baptized oh we give you glory for that it is you you are the life-giver jesus said amen amen i know i'm aware of the time i'm going to preach 30 minutes maybe less so here's let's give an offering okay let's give our tithes and offerings right now i normally don't receive the offering but i just want to tell you we want to be responsive to hurricane ida and what's going on so your tithe is something you don't have to pray about that's 10 of your income if you're a follower jesus christ you give 10 if you haven't been doing that start with five percent start six percent start somewhere but begin to give the tithe the offering is something you pray about for example you say okay lord what should i give to help the the the people in louisiana i'm planning on taking a team um to do disaster relief i want you to go to our website and register there because i'm gonna i'm gonna everybody that signs up i'm gonna plan a meeting for this week and i don't know what time it is but we're gonna plan a meeting this week sometime not tomorrow and i'm gonna meet with you guys we're gonna put together a basic strategy we're gonna take a team to do physical labor to to probably fix up a church or some big need down there in louisiana how many like that idea and we've gone about i think about 37 trips maybe more i'd say it's either 37 or 47 i can't remember 56 is kicking in it's right around 40 at least we've done disaster release and construction so let's give let's give towards that and then let's go everyone say give and go amen lord we thank you god that you're the one that gives us all the power to gain wealth we gladly give back to you we've given us everything we have we want to be a cheerful giver we honor you with these gifts in jesus name we pray and everybody said amen we believe that god has a plan and a purpose for your life and he wants to use you to make a difference in this world and our mission at abundant life ministries is to lead people into a growing relationship with jesus christ and we want to invite you to discovertrex at discover track you'll learn how you can connect to other believers grow spiritually and serve whether it's your first time you've been coming for a while we invite you to take your next step and sign up for discover track which happens the second and third and fourth week of the month we look forward to seeing you there soon [Music] every year around this time we start planning for christmas we save what we have to add a little joy to the lives of our loved ones we make plans with family we think about giving and a little about getting we unpack our decorations and start thinking about buying a christmas tree our community is coming together to help children globally and locally when you purchase a christmas tree you provide education mentoring care food and housing to children in some of the most challenging places in the world and right here in our own community we will nurture support restore and change the lives of these children this christmas in the midst of all the shopping preparation and planning buy a tree change a life learn more at buyatreechangealife.com we are so excited to be partnering with buy a tree change a life for the first time this christmas if you would like to partner with us this year as we help change the lives of children please consider becoming a sponsor you can find more information by visiting alm.tv or your church center app in order to keep distractions to a minimum and to be courteous to those around you we ask that at this time please silence all cell phones in addition if you have to exit once the message begins please join us in the cafe for the remainder of the service follow along with pastor anthony's message and take notes by downloading the youversion bible app lastly if you chose to forego or provide a child care we want to invite you to join us for service in our family room with your little one now please join me in welcoming our lead pastor pastor anthony mcdaniel good to see you this morning we had a great nine o'clock service i don't know how many people baptized just now did anybody count seven i like people that count so we had one in the first service so that's eight today that means we've baptized 28 people in the last two weeks can somebody give the lord praise for that isn't that great 28 people wow wow wow wow wow so one one one last reminder uh by the way buy a tree change your life the video you just saw that will start right around thanksgiving uh half the money that we raise goes to metro world child pastor bill wilson the other half stays in our local outreaches we're always trying to make a difference some people who don't really get the kingdom of god they think oh the church is about money yes in fact it's worse than that god wants you to die and give your entire life to him so let me some people they try to water it down now we want to dunk you and hold you under like you know we don't want to water down because really it's the truth what it boils down to is a divine exchange you say god i don't think i don't really know how to do this life i'm going to give my life to you and trust you because you made me you created me you give me life i'm going to surrender my life and when you surrender life he gives you the best life you've ever thought about having the guy who wrote the book the best life now it's actually true maybe the pathway there might not be the same pathway i don't want to slam the book the point is is that in dying we find life amen so thank you so much for giving when you understand that you want to give to help other people receive life so praise god care fest is coming up the last saturday in september we need you to sign up uh you don't have to do carefest the world is great people in this area know the lord politics are great race relations are great we should just hang out and everything's good right we should just come in and celebrate jesus and go home and live a selfish life watch those netflix videos well just binge don't give any money to the church because the world is going great right all right no it's not we do care fest to show god's love in a practical way to people who are far from god the people who don't have a relationship with jesus christ that person who's been burned out the person who has heard the the neighbors who watch you go into that house they talk every time we show up like who are these people what are they doing who pays them who funds that oh they're from a local church really how much for free these people are doing this for free every year how do i sign up [Music] we mess with people it's a curious thing why would we show up and serve people we don't even know why because we want to show god's love in a practical way jesus came and give gave his life for people he never met face to face that's why we do it carefest last saturday in september please sign up we need a team leaders team workers and we also need people if you have a project submit a project you know someone that's in need we'll help them out minor house repair painting or yard work we do this because the new sermon series tells us we should be bearers of the gospel bearer of the good news and to expand the kingdom near and far so in september i'm going to talk about expanding the kingdom of god and really doing evangelism or sharing the good news of jesus christ locally near and then internationally far october we're going to talk about far those those regions you know some people think i'll pastor anthony i don't know why we're going around the world there's kids right here in america that are starving i know i've talked to that dude like 100 times with different accents and different attitudes and whatever point is jesus said go after all the spheres at the same time go after your jerusalem your judea your samaria the undermost parts of their abundant life if we're really going to be a new testament church we hit all the rings we hit all the different sectors okay so we're not going to wait to save largo in fact there were people in largo that will never accept christ we will never they will never they will reject christ that's why there's a place called hell now everybody feels when i do funerals nobody's going to hell nobody uncle so-so he was a jerk but man he did you know that one day back in 1973 he was a good guy people actually go to hell folks and that's why we do what we do so near and far my focus today is talking about you are an ambassador help us to understand a couple kind let me tell you what i'm going to say and then i'm going to tell you what i'm going to say and i'm going to tell you what i told you here's what i'm going to tell you you are when you become a follower jesus christ a citizen of heaven you are living as an alien in another world and while you are here you are an ambassador of that kingdom and you are telling people about how wonderful that kingdom is and you're inviting them to know the king so that you can come and be part of that kingdom that's the way it rolls you are the ambassador that's a simple message let me read the text for you in fact if you don't mind just read it with me ready so we are christ's ambassador god is making his appeal through us we speak for christ when we plead come back to god let's read it again ready so we are christ ambassador stop you are christ's ambassador you represent him you represent the kingdom of god when you cuss out somebody you represent the kingdom of god when you are a jerk to your neighbor you make god look bad when you gossip about that other person that other lady who lost 30 pounds and looks really good and your jealousness can be and you run her down you are representing the kingdom of god very poorly when you come to church and raise your hands and you act like a jerk outside these four walls you are representing god very poorly when i do that i represent god very poorly here's the deal we are representatives of the kingdom every day so we are christ ambassador let's go the next phrase god is making his appeal through us to us we speak for christ when we plead come back to god when we are christ we become citizens of the kingdom of god according to philippians chapter 3 verse 20. if you don't mind read this with me nice and loud ready for our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait for a savior the lord jesus christ our citizenship is in heaven that's what the bible says we are not from this earth we are passing through we are aliens if you think about that way everything starts to make sense in fact the conversation is the way we approach ministry the way we approach problems if we start thinking about well that's the way it's done yes in a fallen world we have different expectations in the body of christ in the church of jesus christ because we are from another country with different laws when somebody talks to me about the way things are done and how that's normal i'm thinking yeah normal in a fallen world like when somebody called to sue the church a couple years ago and my staff was freaking out this has probably been 12 15 years ago staff is freaking out this lady is suing the church is that good i said what's her number get get her on the phone let me talk to her hi man how you doing this is pastor anthony yes so you're suing the church let me get this straight the church who gives all their money people work their jobs they give 10 of their income we build this building we hire staff your son comes to our youth event has an accident there's no real culpability on our part we didn't really have any negligence and you think that people owe you money i just want to make sure i got the story straight well i thought she's speaking in dungeons so i just want to make sure i get this right so you think it's okay to take money away from people who gave their hard-earned money to advance the kingdom of god and you think that's okay i just want to make sure i got it right well i said well what because that's exactly what's happening shame on you she dropped the suit she's coming at us the body of christ with a whole different value system oh there's an opportunity i fell i need some money from the insurance company what is that that is the lying the deceiving the cheating the lack of integrity the lack of character from this world we are not of this world we have a standard of honesty and character and integrity and treating people right do unto others that you'd have them do unto you that is wrong there's actually such thing as right and wrong can i get an amen here and we need to live by that the world is either attracted to us or they're repelled from us and either represent god well or not don't call yourself a christian if you're gonna act like a jerk just call yourself something else like a muslim or a buddhist or a hindu or a scientologist or whatever you know just just have a little fun we gotta laugh a little right all right it is no coincidence that when jesus was prophesied about isaiah 9 6 about the coming messiah it was said of him that the government shall be upon his shoulders the kingdom of god is not hard to relate to because we can see governments leadership and kingdoms of this world play out before our very eyes these same kingdom terms a kingdom is incomplete without citizens but what then happens when you live in a land that is not yours satan is the prince of the world in john chapter 12 31 john chapter 40 and verse 30 ephesians chapter 2 he talks about who satan is the prince and power of the air when we got kicked out of the garden of eden because of eating other fruit and we were pushed out then guess what god put an angel there with a flaming sword the garden of eden is still there today if you could get into the garden of eden and eat of the tree of life you'd live forever in the physical form that you're in god did not want man in a fallen state with a fallen nature a propensity for evil to live forever so he kicked us out of the garden and now we live into a world that's very different we have to deal with weeds and pestilence and bugs and things that are not good we live in a state of uh entropy which means everything is unraveling all the time and so that's where we're at everybody dies we deal with disease and sickness and all these things that's the nature of things and satan is the prince and the power of the air it's a fallen world that we live in but our citizenship is somewhere else and i got a great point to make about that oh man just oh i got so excited about it when i put those things together in my head the lord really revealed something to me so another of the governmental term used in the bible in relation to the kingdom of god is the word ambassador everyone say ambassador the name of the sermon is you are an ambassador this term is used by paul in 2nd corinthians 5 20 and already read it to you so we are christ's ambassador god is making his appeal through us we speak for christ when we plead come back to god who therefore is an ambassador the world defines an ambassador as an accredited diplomat sent by a state as its permanent representative in a foreign country an ambassador is also someone who is a representative or promoter of a specified activity and understanding your role as an ambassador for christ one needs to first understand the roles the rights and privileges of an earthly ambassador i'm going to look at seven facts of an ambassador in real life representing a country and help you and i remind ourselves that that's who we are and that's what we're supposed to do i want to tell you what your identity is in christ in this area and what we should be doing the first thing is an ambassador does not live in his or her own country you got to get it through your head that we are citizens of heaven we are not of this earth if you think you're weird you're on the right track really seriously i mean we have a little fun with this everyone says you're weird well that's good that's a comment because i'm actually not a citizen of this place you're like what what are you like some sci-fi person no i'm a christian seriously and what that means is that we genuinely are adapting we're part of another kingdom another king different rules and laws and authority structures and so we live by a different value system in fact right now christians were called terrorists by certain media outlets in the last two weeks seriously seriously we're being attacked christians are being attacked the spirit of antichrist has ramped up christians are being killed in afghanistan systematically right now my heart breaks if you're not breaking and praying for afghanistan please do it this week our family our family i'm a scots irish german cherokee person i'm proud of my heritage but i am a child of god above my natural identity and our family other believers are being killed by islamic extremists and we should be upset about it can i get an amen in this house today i don't care if you're asian or black or white or latino if you're a child of god galatians 3 28 applies we all became one in jesus christ there is no race problems in the body of christ because we are one somebody needs to get a hold of that today that's the hope for america that's the hope of this world being one in jesus christ a father god that makes us secure we're not insecure we're not fearful we're not worried about threats we are secure we are confident we can extend love and kindness and grace and compassion to others why we are secure when people do stupid stuff because they're insecure pointing the finger and attacking other people people who are secure take ownership say i'm sorry i'll take responsibility for what i did i did wrong that's what secured people do you should be secure in christ when he has given his life and he's given all that he had that you might have life you need to remind yourself of that when you feel like the enemy's trying to cause you to be fearful and insecure remind yourself hold on just a second my brother i know it's awkward but the bible refers to jesus christ as our brother god as our father our brother gave his life that we might live when you feel intimidated remind yourself my father exhausted all the resources of heaven to save me i don't need to be afraid of anything anybody anytime they can take your body they can take your life on this earth but nobody can take your spirit and your soul except your father and he gave you eternal life and nobody can take you out of his hand praise god praise god i'm excited about that we're an ambassador does not live in his own country the bible says in john 15 19 if you belong to the world it would love you as its own as it is you do not belong to the world but i have chosen you out of the world that is why the world hates you that's why the world hates you john 17 6 this is the lord's prayer matthew 6 records the disciples prayer we call it the lord's prayer but this is actually the prayer that jesus prayed when he was crying out to the father he says i have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world he's talking to his father those who gave me you gave me out of the world they were yours you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word when you accept and follow jesus christ you are now a citizen of heaven you are now christ you are sealed praise god you have security in him john 18 36 jesus said my kingdom is not of this world if it were my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the jewish leaders but now my kingdom is from another place over and over and over let me remind you the bible tells us we are in a living in another country an ambassador does not live in another it does not live in its own country all right number two about an ambassador ambassador is paid by his home country an ambassador is paid by his home country in the world we live in today the finances of the ambassador is paid by his home country as christians don't expect the world to pay you are like you because of the world doesn't like you believe that your finances are from above let me tell you something right now we will never get paid adequately for what we do in laying up treasures for heaven let me just make it real practical how many have children let me see your hand all right how many would say you have spiritual children there's people in your life who have you poured into and they're your spiritual children let me see here that is the most important investment of your life because those people will outlive you especially your your biological children usually they do unfortunately it happens sometimes when children are taken it's a sad day but most the time our children outlive us our deposit into them our discipling of them our mentoring of them i just gotta pause and tell you i'm olivia god it's really just all my kids man they're walking a greater anointing olivia alexa abby my three kids i'm so stinking proud of them they're walking in the authority of the holy spirit beginning to to to extend themselves and believe god for great things and to me if i died today i could have peace that my children are going to carry on the gospel of jesus christ and that is the most important thing in my life no other success no other thing i've ever worked on no other dream i've ever had can take the place of that i just want to praise god for three kids that love god proud of you what you pour into your kids is the most important thing if you have to make less money less accolades less praise from the world do it your children are the most important investment of your life the biggest problem in any community the black community right now especially is the breakdown of the home but any community when there's a breakdown in the home there is problems a father who leads the family of baptism there is great hope for those two girls right there why i'm going to get baptized i'm going to leave my family my wife's going to get baptized our kids are going to be baptized we're going to follow the lord joshua 24 as for me and my house we will serve the lord you all make up your mind i've made up my mind who i'm gonna serve and who i'm gonna be praise god when the home is strong the community is strong the school is strong the church is strong the house is strong it's the number one investment then you're spiritual children you know what jesus didn't try to win thousands upon thousands he said i'm going to pick these 12 and i'm going to pour into them and they are going to change the world there's we've had enough of little superficial discipleship we've had enough of it it's time for you to pick one other person and pour your life into them maybe two maybe a few i don't know the point is is do it thoroughly do it thoroughly pray with them teach them the word of god model for them how it is what i do here is not enough what we do structurally here in this church is not enough it happens one-on-one discipleship happens one-on-one we can't structure enough we can't organize enough if you have the heart to be a disciple maker you will be a disciple maker when you understand that you are from another kingdom and you are an ambassador of the kingdom of god you are going to do it whether you get paid or not this point is saying an ambassador is paid by the home country when we get to heaven god is going to get the score right and there's some people who nobody knew in china probably seriously there's you know what we have the men and women discussion about women in ministry let me just give you some facts my dad and i started to have a conversation about women in ministry and how that works and the headship in the church you know what his response was he skipped the whole theology he said let me just tell you about women in china anthony if it wasn't for the women in china literally millions of people would not be saved and what he was trying to say is anthony let's not get caught up in the theology of it and the western interpretation god chooses who he wants to choose and uses who he wants to use and let's let god be god and let him use who he wants to come on somebody get a hold of that that's good preaching we get to all caught up in all this crazy theology and it's important but sometimes we miss it his ways are higher than our ways of course i want to get the theology right but i am finite we are an ambassador is paid by the home country you will be paid you will be paid in heaven seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you you will get paid in heaven number three an ambassador resides in the embassy the embassy is like a country in another country if a citizen of a particular country runs into his own embassy he is no longer the rule under the rule of the land of that country how many remember julian assange the wikileaks guy what did he do he's on the run he took a lot of people off he dumped some serious information ticked all big money and big power so he runs into i think ecuador embassy right and they're like oh man we can't touch him no you can't because as long as he in that embassy he's like in another country another rule you cannot go in there isn't that interesting an ambassador resides in the embassy we are privileged to have the church it is our embassy within the world we live today when you come and be a part of the body of christ it's like wow that's why i get excited that's why i feel the joy of the lord that's why i live my hands that's why i look around that's why i cry a lot because i see the joy of the lord i see people being baptized i see my family i see people who love god who value the word of god i'm in another country i'm under different law laws i'm on a different rulership thank god we don't elect a new god every four years god is god he's the same yesterday today and forever praise god because there's some four-year times i'm like when is this going to be hope they don't mess it up too bad make your own application as you will praise god and navigation resides in the embassy the church is like an embassy in the world today it's a sanctuary for us also the word of god is a sanctuary for us it's an embassy the jesus said in john chapter 15 abide in me and i abide in you basically you abide in his words when we abide in him we fellowship with him it is a sanctuary for us it is a place of safety for us the word of god if you are not in the word of god if you're not meditating in the word of god you will be living under the rules and the laws and the lingo of the society you live in you know what you are you are dealing with a fallen life when you don't feed on the word of god it's like if i go to germany right now if i'm there just for one month i'll be rattling off a lot of german why i took german in high school two years i just go to puerto rico for about a week i'll start saying como se llama llama antonio you know que pasa you know i just started ralling off i got like 10 phrases i come back and i'm spanish man yeah taco bell you know burrito throw in the r roll the r makes you sound like you know what you're talking about you know what i'm saying so what happens we speak the lingo of this earth death and destruction doubt unbelief and if we don't we don't saturate our mind in the language of heaven we're not going to experience the supernatural you've got to get in this book you've got to walk in faith you got to pray in the spirit you got to worship and i'm going to tell you you begin to act like a citizen of another kingdom gonna get amen in his house today praise god all right number four an ambassador has diplomatic immunity an ambassador is not under the laws of his host nation therefore he lives according to the laws of his own country therefore as christians we are not under the weather of the economy under the laws of physics and so on but we are under the laws of jehovah a great illustration is when jesus came in the night time walking across the water they're freaking out there's a storm on the sea of galilee and jesus comes walking across the water why because he's from another kingdom the law of physics don't apply he is god he starts walking across the water if you oh who is that it's a ghost peter says it's jesus i recognize that gate have you ever seen anybody walking you where can i have their gate the way they walk you see even the odds ah i mean you know i can see tyler i know his gate i could see him the lights could be off i'm like that's tyler i see his legs swing you know peter peters we've been with close friends best friends with jesus oh that's jesus he's walking on the water he's walking on the water and for a moment there he he transcended the earthly kingdom he started acting like he's from a city of heaven jesus can i join you yes walking on water and that's the way we live our lives we're able to transcend the natural laws of this earth we're a transcendent oh the doctor gave this bad report i know this doesn't look good in our marriage you believe the kingdom of the stuff that's fine but unless you remind yourself i'm a citizen of heaven and the rules are different here and god can do anything if you don't saturate your mind in this you will see death and destruction all around i don't know about you i'm choosing to live by the laws of heaven if he needs us to walk on water we'll walk on water if god can do a miracle he'll do a miracle i'm telling you right now i don't want to be bound by the faithlessness of this world i am from another kingdom how about you i am from another country i am from another king praise god when the natural mind cannot understand how a natural law is broken extraordinarily it is tagged a miracle kingdoms this is one of the most powerful statements i just want to tag it here it is here don't miss this kingdom citizens are distinct and our lives should reflect testimonies here it is we are therefore not surprised when these things happen because where we come from there is no more crying or mourning or death or sickness or disease where we come from where god is king and his kingdom is honored you see jesus came as a suffering servant he's coming back as a conquering king and some people think that he's hippie jesus just smoking a reefer and saying just love everybody and don't judge i'm telling you right now he's coming back on a white horse and he's going to kick some tail and every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that jesus christ is lord he's not coming to lay his life he's already laid his life down and he's gathering up all of his subject of his kingdom to be with him and he's going to defend us and have our back praise god and ambassador number five an ambassador is known in his or her host nation i love this the host nation has to be aware of who the ambassador is therefore the world has to know you are an ambassador for christ in the world we live in it is hard to hide an ambassador the kingdom of satan has to be aware that you are the kingdom of you are from the kingdom of heaven therefore rendering you untouchable the bible says in psalm 105 15 do not touch my chosen people and do my prophets no harm when you are busy about the father's business don't walk in fear understand that god has got your back you may deal with difficult circumstance in the natural but he will cause you to be effective ephesians 3 26 ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 says he will do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think by the power that works within us that power is the holy spirit and when you are clothed with power you don't have to worry about anything you can speak with authority there are some of you do not have the author of the spirit you may have spoken in tongues but you don't have the authority of the kingdom it's time that you walk in the authority of the kingdom the keys of the kingdom when you get a new job and they give you keys they give you passwords guess what you have now been kind of anointed say okay you've been empowered now to do a job and jesus christ god almighty gave you the keys to the kingdom and you have authority some of you walk around intimidated and fearful people are pushing you around spiritually i'm not talking about being uh aggressive or being unkind i'm talking about being confident of who you are in christ we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places against the rulers of the darkness of the world what that means is that there's ideologies there's there's thoughts that come across as attitudes that you're dealing with and a lot of times you're being intimidated instead of bringing that thought into captivity to the mind of christ and say wait a second i will not be intimidated i will stand on the word of god i will respond kindly and lovingly but i shall not be moved on what i know is the truth can i get an amen in this house today we've got to walk with authority praise god number six an ambassador offended is a nation offended ambassadors are not to be offended as offending an ambassador is like offending the whole country itself luke 17 1 then he said to the disciples it is impossible that no offenses should come but woe to him through whom they do come let me just tell you right now you will have opportunity to be offended you will have opportunity to be hurt you will have opportunity to be smashed walked on abused taken advantage of and you got a choice will i remain a good ambassador of the kingdom of heaven or i'll be a whiny baby and react and be sucked into it that's what the enemy wants you know what really helps me is just don't say anything for a little while if you don't have anything good to say get some duct tape just be quiet which is really hard for people like me how many people have some great comebacks like you are a slicer and dicer and you like that you can do that you are a shredder i've actually said to my wife i'm going to shred so and so i'm going to shred them i have very fleshly tendencies i literally have to pray jesus help me to shut you know carry underwood jesus take the wheel man i have him driving most of the time i just i'm in the backseat [Music] because either we represent god well or not we either take the offense you know what ask myself you know what ted haggard said something years ago that really made a lot of sense he said before you do something big like that schedule it for three months later and if it's still an issue then deal with it most of the time it's just the enemy of our souls trying to get us wrapped up into an offense and get sucked up into it be caught up into it being taken off mission causing problems in relationships where the lord teaches us long-suffering and temperance and patience and love and kindness it takes a lot of jesus for that to happen and if you're not there we're not all kidding aside this is why we're in the word this is why we pray this is why we humble ourselves before the lord and say lord help me to be like you amen all right i'm out of time number seven is my last one an ambassador is the link between the host country and his country second corinthians 5 19 the few scriptures right before our texts today it says all this is from god who reconciled us to himself through christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that god was reconciling the world to himself in christ not counting people's sins against them and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation all right so let me get let me remind you just let me give you a summary of the whole sermon right now when you receive christ you follow christ you become a citizen of heaven he asked you to get to become an ambassador of the kingdom of god for what purpose to reconcile people back to god the quote the altar call to this sermon is this will you accept your role of being an ambassador of heaven and will you be involved in the ministry of reconciliation of people back to god if you want that for your life and you accept that mission i want you to stand on your feet right now turn your neighbor and say you chose well i feel like i'm an avengers movie or something here this is what gives us purpose in life everyone say i am an ambassador of another kingdom

Channel: Abundant Life Ministries

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Id: LddUbXlcLgg

Length: 89min 52sec (5392 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021