Every Member A Missionary

Most people associate the word missionary with someone boarding a plane to a foreign country, but Scripture tells a different story. The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19 is not a selective invitation. It is a command issued by Jesus, who holds all authority in heaven and on earth, to every person who calls themselves His disciple. Whether you work in an office, walk through a neighborhood, or gather around a kitchen table, that is your mission field. God did not save you to sit. He saved you to proclaim, to bless, and to reach the people around you in ways that only you can.

Paul describes every believer as an ambassador for Christ in 2 Corinthians 5:20, someone who represents their home country while stationed in a foreign land. As citizens of heaven, according to Philippians 3:20, this world is not our permanent home. We are here on assignment. Your job, your skills, and your relationships are not separate from your mission. They are the very ground your mission stands on. God uses what is already in your hands, just as He used Peter's fishing expertise to shape him into a fisher of men.

Living as a marketplace missionary is both practical and intentional. It means praying for the people around you by name, building genuine relationships, living with visible integrity, and staying alert to the doors the Holy Spirit opens. Daniel's consistency in prayer witnessed to an entire pagan nation. Jesus calls His followers to let their light shine so that others may see their good works and glorify God. The promise that anchors all of this is found at the close of the Great Commission, where Jesus assures every believer that He is with them always, even to the end of the age. You are never sent alone

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

So I want to begin by uh recalling last week and I think midweek or so, I sent out a group text on our WhatsApp page. And if you're not a member, if you haven't signed up yet, please let us know so that we add you to the group. That it's uh currently that's the group that we're using for announcements and every other thing that we're doing in the church. And so I reminded you that when we're leaving the service last week, there was a call to action. And so, but before we get there, I want to kind of remind refreshing memory just about what we left of last week. In the last week, we stood together on the truth that we are all witnesses. Amen. That everyone who was in service last week understood that God has called us to be his witnesses. So, simply put, every single person here carries a testimony the world needs to hear. Now we left again, the call of action was uh the action you to do three things. We said that you should write out your testimony, which you should be able to deliver under three minutes. Okay? The testimony simply being before you met Jesus, how you have been saved by God, and your after. So before, the how and the after, the life that you're currently living now. That in essence is your testimony, and that testimony should be delivered under three minutes. And we also said that you should look and pray for specific people, that you should pray for three specific people by name every single day this week. Okay? And we're also left with this call of action that we're supposed to ask God for a divine appointment this week to speak up about who He is. And I don't want to put anybody on the spot, but did anybody do this task at all? So we come to church and we listen to a message, and the whole idea is to put that message into action. Amen. And so please pay attention to your call of action because every week, as you put those things into action, you realize the benefits that come from the study from the previous Sunday. But I believe that today the Holy Spirit wants to take us into a deeper depth of that truth. Okay? And I want you to know that that was a beginning point of realizing that we're witnesses, but it's just not enough to be a witness. And today we are going to discover that every single member, every single person sitting here who has accepted Jesus as Lord and Person and Savior, it's a missionary. Okay? So I want to ask the congregation this morning, who is a missionary? Now, when you hear the word missionary, what comes to mind first? I mean, we are in Bible school, you can answer back. Uh, feel free to. Who's a missionary? What comes to mind? Who's a missionary? I don't know about you, but you know, most people hear the word missionary, and the first thing that comes to mind, it's a particular picture. Uh, someone who raises support. You say goodbye to your family, you board a plane, you go to a foreign land, they eat, speak a different language, and different meals, and that's the idea that we have about missionaries, okay? And that is right. You have not you have not thought wrong if you thought that a missionary is somebody who, you know, doesn't have a church as to where is probably affiliated to a church. Periodically they come to the church, they give a report, Dr. Gogodaza, the Lord. He goes out on mission fields, he comes back, and there always he gives us a report. He sends that information to every single person. And so a missionary is somebody who is always out and about and you know, abroad somewhere and preaching the gospel and planning churches and all that. So that's good. But what if I told you there was another kind of missionary today? Now, for the purpose of our study today, let's just say that that type, the second group of missionaries, we want to call them the market missionaries. Amen? The market missionaries. Now you have your handouts, so I would like you to take notes and follow along the service, please. Fill out those parts that need to be filled out so that you can always refer back to them. So, what you need to understand is this there's this couple of differences between somebody who boards a plane and goes to foreign land and somebody who is literally a market missionary. But it is the same commission. And that commission comes from the same verse we read in Matthew 28. Okay? And the person who is a market missionary and the person who travels abroad to do missions have access to the whole same Holy Spirit. There is no difference. Okay? Now, the only difference here is that one is heading to a different address. One sits across the ocean and the other across the hallway to a cubicle, to a kitchen table. Guess what? To your group chat. Every single person here has is probably part of a group chat. You're probably on social media, very active on social media. You connect with people all the time. Now, my goal today is to let you clearly explain to you that every single person here that you are a missionary. Now, your missionary is not supposed to board a plane. It's not everybody who's called here. Dr. Gogo is called here to board a plane periodically to Africa and Asia. He's always going somewhere, you know, to preach the gospel. And he goes through these villages and helps these people. That's his calling. But then it's not, we're not all not supposed to turn around and look at him. So he's the only missionary. Every single person who is not sent across the ocean, but sits here across a cubicle from somebody at work, okay? Sits on social media, interact with people on social media. Where your mission film, that's what we're going to be studying today, even across the kitchen table with your friends, you are also a missionary, and your group is called the kitchen missionary. So I have a question. Here's a question I want to sit with you as we go through it for the next few minutes. Here's my question: Do you see yourself as a missionary? Or you just see yourself as a good Christian or just somebody that goes to church? Because there's a clear difference between somebody who has accepted the call of a missionary that Jesus commanded in Matthew 20, and then somebody who is just a good church member. Okay? And guess what? God is not looking for good church members, God is looking for good kitchen missionaries if that makes sense. Okay. So do you see yourself as a good church member or as a missionary? Do you see yourself somebody sent by God on an assignment right where you are?

SPEAKER_03 6:49

Let's talk about the universal code. Now we read the main text.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Go therefore. Okay. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Spirit. What do you notice when you look at this verse? Things that we these lingos and these things that we adopt.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

You want to you tell somebody to do something, the first thing they will tell you is, I'm not led to do that. Somebody had before, I'm not led to do that. Or I'm not called to do that. If you take a closer look at this verse here that we study in Matthew 20, 19, Jesus did not say go if you are called. He's not telling us go if you have the gift of evangelism. You know, for many years before we planted this church, what I used to do, I used to kind of, I think I should have last, I used to travel a lot and host a lot of seminars teaching on this particular subject. And one of the things I was telling every pastor that I met was this don't have an evangelism team in your church because it doesn't work. And I'm coming from about 30 years of being in this field. Why am I saying that? Because in every church congregation, you have the worship team, you have the ushers, you have the prayer team, you have this, and you have a group of people outside who call themselves the evangelism team. And the whole church looks after them for them to go out and preach the gospel. But the transformation here, the mindset here should be that every single person here has that task or was being asked to do that. Okay? And so you are not saying, Jesus is not saying that if you have the gift of evangelism, then go and preach. That's not what he's saying. Now, he's saying, go there for now. It's interesting. For years I've been teaching this church this. Whenever you're reading or studying the Bible, and you come across the word therefore, you have to pause. Because there's something that was said previously that makes the therefore relevant. Does it make sense? Now, watch this now. In in theology, there's something called pretext, text, and post-text. Okay? So in this case, the text that we're looking at in John, in Matthew 20, 20, and 19, the text says go therefore. Now, what most of us do that we're sometimes in error is that we pick up text out of context, okay? Because when you say go therefore, it really scripture, so it makes sense, but it doesn't have that weight until you understand the previous statement before the therefore will come alive. Okay, so the word therefore is doing a heavy lifting here. Why? Because it's doing something very, very important. Now look again at Matthew 19. He says, Go therefore. Now, previously, if you just back up a scripture, look at the post text, and you look at the verse 18, as I put a Matthew 20, verse 18 on the script, it says, And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, Okay, all authority has been given to me in heaven and earth. Go therefore. So the go therefore is propagated on the fact that Jesus is standing on a different authority. Does it make sense? Now, I was I was thinking about it earlier this morning. There's a couple of ways you can take a look at this. Now, every time I've I've uh taught this subject, that word, and I can explain last week about what the word authority really means. Uh, authority means exusia. It really has different translations, but it means the due restriction. So you could look at it. The first way you can look at it is that Jesus is saying that because I have the due restriction on heaven and earth, nothing should stop us from going to make disciples. Does it make sense? Okay. There's another way to look at it as well. You see, in the Bible, especially when we look at the book of Revelations, there's a couple of titles that Jesus have. One of those titles are the commander of the host of the army of the Lord. You know, hearing me. One of his titles are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. So watch this now. Let's say you were in the military and your superior commander or someone was above you. Now, actually, let me back up for a minute. This actually happened, what's interesting. You remember, I'm if you remember this, that Jesus is going on one of his journeys, and uh a centurion sees him and he says, Come and heal my daughter for me. You remember that story? And Jesus said, I'm coming. The centurion said, Please don't, don't. He said, I'm also an a man at authority, you're not hearing me. I say to my servants, go and they go, come and come. In other words, what the man was saying was that I understand how authority works. If you have that authority, you don't need to physically do things, it's just a matter of speaking the word, and everyone around you obeys that authority. Okay? So Jesus comes in this text and says, All authority, you're not hearing me. All authority, there is no authority outside Jesus. Therefore, he has the right to instruct anyone who is a part of his army. Does it make sense? Because in the command, in the army of the Lord or in the army as well, if your superior officer issues an instruction, you have no right not to obey that instruction. And so Jesus comes and says, Now, watch this now. I'm not just telling you to go, I'm telling that the authority begins and ends with me. Okay? And so go, therefore, he says, so he explains that there's no restriction at all. There shouldn't be. Why? Because I am the center and I'm the beginning of authority, and I've issued an authority, and I'm telling you exactly what to do. Because wherever your feet shall tread, it belongs to me. And last week I think I made mention of having a delegated authority. You know what that means, don't you? When you are under delegated authority, you are you're operating under the authority of the person that sent you. Okay. And so for every single person to understand clearly, we are under delegated authority of Jesus because of the statement he made here. Go therefore, because there has there should not be any resistance at all in obeying what he's asked us to do. Okay? Now, I also want you to think about this. Go, therefore, is not go if you are called. Because that's why most of us don't do the work of the missionary. Because we feel not called. Maybe we feel to sink, we are called to clean, we are called to do something else. But your first responsibility, and it's interesting, if you read the preceding verses before the verse 18, the Bible says Jesus appointed a hill. If you look at Matthew 20, 16, where the disciples should meet. And it's it's critical you read it. It's not in it's not on the uh the projection, but if you have your Bibles open within Matthew 16, Matthew 20, verse 16, real quickly. Let me show you something. Matthew 16, verse 20. Matthew 20, verse 16. It said, then the 11 disciples. Okay, do you know in Jesus' ministry? We know that wherever he went, there was a big crowd that followed him. Okay. So even before the Oliver discourse, he the disciples, he there was a big crowd following him, and then he stepped aside and the disciples came to him. So this is after his resurrection. This is the last time he engaged with them before he ascended to heaven. And it's critical. You see, when you read the Bible, don't omit certain things because it sheds a lot of light to the preceding verses. The Bible could have easily said, and the crowd, or he appointed his followers, he could have either said that, but this was a specific instruction to his disciples. Look at verse 16. Then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee to a mountain which Jesus has appointed for them. Not a crowd, not the followers, but disciples. And so this instruction was given specifically to disciples. How many of you see yourself as disciples of Jesus today? Talk back to me. How many of you see yourself as disciples of Jesus today? Okay, so it's only let me count. It's only again this instruction we just read was given specifically, not to the crowd, not to the followers, not to church goers. Because Jesus had a lot of church goers. So he had a lot of church goers, but he had specific disciples. Okay. And the instruction was given solely specifically to disciples. That is important. Now watch this now. If you take a look at 1 Peter 2, verse 9, Peter repeats this instruction from a different angle, but saying the same thing to the Christian community. Watch this now. But you are a chosen generation. You know, we love this song. We are chosen generation, right? Okay. He said, You are a chosen generation. Look at listen to these words closely. You are royal priesthood. You are a holy nation, his own special people. You are a chosen generation. You are not God chose you, chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood. And has made us kings and priests unto his God. You are a royal priesthood, a holy people, his own special people. Now watch this now. Now the reason why Peter is giving all this accolades to these people is that he's drawn their mind to something, their responsibility for what God has given them. Look at the next verse. That you may proclaim. Somebody say amen to them. God has done all these great things for us, and we have a responsibility to proclaim the praises of him who called us from darkness into his marvelous light. So you won't need to notice the purpose clause here that you may proclaim. So Peter didn't say all these nice words about the readers just for them to feel special. Okay? You were chosen that you would declare to somebody else who he is. That's a responsibility of a believer. Now I'm going to give you a pattern of for every believer in this room, and hopefully, I think it's this are in your handouts. Here's a pattern that every believer in this room should know. And I want you to say this after me. Watch this. I am saved to be sent. God did not save you for you to sit where you are, He saved you according to Peter to proclaim. He saved you. The word proclaim means to speak out to Herald, to tell everybody about how awesome and what he's done for you. And so your responsibility as a Christian is not just to go to heaven, you are saved to be sent by him. Said I'm saved, to be sent. Okay. Say this. I'm blessed to be a blessing. You know when he called Abraham, he told Abraham that in blessing or blessings so that you become a blessing. Now, the blessing, especially in American Christianity, when we hear blessing, the first thing that comes to mind, how many cars do I have?

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Can't touch me now.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

How many houses do I have? How much money do I have in the bank? When somebody says I'm going to bless you means it's literally going to give you something physical, something that'll make you feel that you've received something tangible. But what if I told you that the true blessing comes from when a person receives a blessing, is a person, it's not a thing. In you, all the families of the world shall be blessed. That's what God told Abraham. In you, it wasn't God, wasn't going to give every single family money, gold or silver, cars, or anything else. No, in you, all the families, in other words, Jesus is going to come through you, and because Jesus is going to come through your lineage, everyone that received Jesus is blessed. And so, again, I want you to understand something. I am blessed to be a blessing. You are blessed to release that blessing to somebody else. Does everybody understand that? Say this out to me, I'm reached so that I can reach others. If I look through the congregation now, I'm probably going from my left to my right. There are certain villages here that can't even pronounce their names. Alex, what village where did your father come from? It would be difficult for me to pronounce the names of some villages that people come from. Where's precious? The other precious just came back from uh what's it called? Nigeria. He says you had to go to a village to see a grandparents. I can't even mention that village's name. But watch this now. From that village, God dag you out. You're not hearing me. Move you forward and such you in America. And I want to tell you that he reached you, brought you here so that you can reach somebody else. Say this after me. I'm reached so that I can reach others. Now, the final point is this I am being discipled so that I can disciple others. Church of Jesus Christ, coming to church is not something that we do every Sunday just to do every Sunday. The purpose of the gathering is for us to be discipled so that we can disciple others. I look at the young ones, and it's just there are certain people who just come to church on a Sunday, they are Sunday Christians. Monday to Saturday, they are lost from the radar. That's no discipleship. Jason will come to church Sunday. I'm not see the camera today. When you hear the light blind, so you don't even see anything. He comes to church on Sunday, he does. He hops up and down everywhere. But that's all. Monday to Saturday, Jason is missing. Some of you here, especially the students. You got to go to school. You got to study. I get it. But remember that your Christian walk is something very, very important. You are supposed to be discipled. And discipleship is not something that you can just do habassadly, or you can just do when out of convenience. Discipleship is something that now, you students who know this better than I do, because you need to go to school, you need to study, you need to get your what's it called, your assignments in on time. You need to do these things to be able to pass. Now, God is taking you through the same workmanship as a disciple and involves work. And Sunday morning alone cannot cut it. And so again, I want you to understand that you are being a Christian, the goal of being a Christian is to be discipled. Amen. And then the reason why you're being discipled is not something personal. You got to be discipled so that you can disciple others. Does everyone understand that? Okay. So then Peter talks about priesthood. All believers, it's interesting. So in my time as a pastor, they are setting great scriptures that we like to read, and we encourage ourselves with those scriptures. And that's one of the scriptures that we read in Peter talks about we are royal priesthood, the chosen generation. But listen to the words carefully. God calls you a royal priesthood to Himself. Priesthood is a ministry. This isn't only referred to those that pick up the microphone every Sunday and stand behind here, or those are doing worship. No, no, no. Every single person. Again, go back to Revelations, and this Jesus' words is that I have made you a priest to myself. Do you understand? In other words, every single person has been given a ministry by Jesus. Now, Paul, Apostle Paul puts it very beautifully in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 18. Let's look at it closely. He said, Now all things are God's, you're not hearing me. Who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Uh-huh. You are telling somebody and say, I'm a minister. And if anybody asks you what's your ministry, your ministry is not singing. Your ministry is no, no, no. Your ministry is not ushering. That's not what your ministry is. God never called you to be an usher or to be a timekeeper. No, no, no, no, no. The only role that God called you, and clearly God made it clear to every single person in the Bible that we are royal priests. We are priests unto him. Do you know what a priest does? In the Old Testament, before the New Testament, what a priest did, the priest always ministered to God on behalf of the people. So the priest is like a actually the Latin word pentiphot, it's a bridge. Okay, that's the role of a priest. And so we bring it out into the New Testament, and God talks about royal priesthood. So what is our role in the New Testament? Still the same. It's a pontificate, it's a bridge role. In other words, we minister on behalf of God to people. Okay? And so God says that I have given you a specific, oh, you're not hearing me. A specific calling. And the calling that every single person has. Your ministry is not preaching, it's not evangelism, it's not apostleship, it's not, it's just every single person, including the biggest pope, you have a ministry of reconciliation. That's the call of God for every single person. So watch this now. That ministry is not just given to pastors. Now, unless you understand this clearly, and I believe that the reason why most of us are not actively involved in the call of God is because we don't see ourselves as part of the fivefold. So we've kind of relinquished the preaching and the service of the church and everything else to the fivefold. And if you are not part of the fivefold, that means that you are absolved from this. No, you are not. Because God Himself has called you and has given you a ministry. Preaching is not a ministry, man. You know, hearing preaching is not a ministry, it's not. Every single person has a capability, ability to pick up the microphone, read the Bible, and teach somebody. It's just grace. But what we're actually called to do is to represent Jesus. Says I want to say amen to that. So if we do understand that we are all missionaries, and again, this is not me putting words in your mouth. We are the marketplace missionaries. We are those missionaries who stay on social media, engage in chat rooms. We are those missionaries who go to our friend's house and on the table. We engage in Bible study. We have conversations about Jesus. We are the missionary that we look out for the souls of people, looking for opportunity everywhere to tell the story about Jesus. That's the kind of mission, okay? So the question now comes, where is our mission failed? Now I want to point three places. I think it's in the hand notes. The first place that you see, you're not supposed to go to, you know, go go go to uh what's it called there? Get online today. What do they call that place? Kayak and look for a ticket that you'll go to Indonesia tomorrow to preach the gospel. God hasn't called you to do that. I don't believe God is calling anybody here to get up tomorrow and go to Kay, that you're a missionary. No, no, no, no. But let me tell you what God is calling you to do. Tomorrow morning you're gonna get up and go to work. And that place, that work, huh? Which you have 40 hours, 40 hours with these people, built an influence that there's nobody here in your role. You have access to people that no other person has access to them. And guess what? You spend 40 hours a week with these people. Your workplace.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Take a look at your neighborhood that you live in. Your neighborhood, the whole neighborhood. That's your mission filled right there.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

Okay, you pass by people every day approximately. You know, it's the summer. Take a stroll in the evening with your family, with your dog. Check on your neighbors for a minute. Do something. Because that's your mission filled. We're gonna learn something very profound in a minute. And then the third thing is your relationships. So you're looking at an hour in a minute, and I'm gonna put you on the spot over here. And on the corner, that table, there are two beautiful young ladies joining an hour. Okay. Why am I saying this? She called me, but we could go and say, well, I've told my friend about church. She comes to church with herself, her friends. It's always inviting someone to church. Why is this relevant? Because your relationships are your mission field as well. And so you have the workplace, you have your neighborhood, and you have your relationships. Family, friends, network that you have access to than nobody else has. If Nana didn't bring her friends to church to the Judith, I would have never met Judith. Where am I going to meet her from? I remember many years ago, I want to mention her names. There was a young lady. Now I've never done that before. We were in Bolinbrook at the time, and I went to Starbucks, and the young ladies walked in, and I looked at her, and something in me told me, go, go, go, go talk to this girl. And I thought, man, you know these days, old man, you're going to talk to a young lady, think you're going to hit on me, right? My point is, if somebody's close to you, you can talk to them. But if an old man like man is approaching a young lady like that, and say, I'm about to hit on her. So your relationships are so profound. So I want to give you a place for your ministry, your missions, okay? Remember this. Your job, wherever God has placed you, is your pulpit. And your cubicle is your mission station. That's what you plan. And this is only possible if you truly see yourself as somebody called by God to do this. Now, I'm sure this was the first time you heard something evangelistic about going to preach the gospel. I'm sure we hear it all the time. But the point is, why does God repeatedly tell us the same things over and over again? Now, I want to tell you nobody else here has the assignment that you have. You see, my assignment is different from your assignment. And in God's eyes, no assignment is big or small. Whatever the assignment is from the Holy Spirit, it's your dedicated assignment. So somebody might have a 40,000-member congregation, that is their person's assignment, and God has given them the capability to do that. But whatever God has given in your hands, that is your assignment. Amen. That right there, people, God has placed you an assignment. And right there, God has given you a mission field.

unknown 31:18

Oh God.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

And the truth is, you do not need uh what's it called? Uh you don't need uh a title to be able to do this. You know, there's what people call medical uh missionaries, right? They they they they they they take this boat and they go somewhere to heal people, you know. They they do these messy operations and all that. But they don't just do the physical, they pray for people, right? So they pray for people, but then they heal people through if if it's a surgeon or something, they perform you know operations on people to heal them. So what's happening here? It's not just about the prayer, but it's about the skill that God has given them, right? So they use the skill to heal people on top of the prayers they do. So whatever skill God has put in your hands, it's your trademark, man. You know what I mean? It's like, watch this now. Everybody does something here, right? That's a skill. There are people who have, you know, who are parents here, people who have there are people that are mindsome, people have the gift of listening. It's not everybody that can be quiet and listen to somebody ramble on, but somebody has a gift to listen. That's a skill that God has given you, right? You're a tradesman, God has given a specific skill, and so your your skill is not separate from your mission. People don't understand that. Your skill is not separate, it is the very ground your mission stands on. Because you know what? Your skill is what brings you in front of people. So you are a driver in this place, you drive and you meet people all the time. That's your skill. You remember when God called, when Jesus called Peter? You remember what he told him? He said, You are a fisherman, but I'm gonna make you fish as of men. God didn't tell Peter I'm gonna make you a carpenter. Because Peter would have messed up. He tells him the skill that you know, he knew on this, he knew how to catch fish. He says, Okay, that's what I'm gonna let you become because you have the skill already. Okay? And so you you we there's so many times when we meet people, we come into communication with people, we have the God has given us specific skills. You work in a nursing home, your skills, you you meet people, you are a nurse, you are a doctor, you are a driver, you're a business person, you you got trade skills, you're a carpenter, you are you you you are something that brings you in front of people all the time. I'll never forget when I was in Fifth Third Bank in Oak Park, I think. My office was in Oak Park, and there's something at the time called, you're looking for a center center of influence, like people who refer businesses to you. And I went to meet this accountant, this high, really, high, you know, highly respected accountant in Oak Park. So I sat in this office and very nice man, but bro, I mean, sat down, and within two minutes, the conversation was about Jesus. That guy, two minutes, man, that guy's managed to turn a conversation about Jesus. And I was listening to him, and I was, I was so highly impressed. This is a high, one of the high-end accountants in Oak Park. And every single person that entered the man's office is doing your books for you by talking to you about Jesus. And let's assume that every single person here understood that task. You leave your home, and your job is not just to put money in your pocket, your first job is to represent Jesus. Like, we're gonna learn this in a minute about being an ambassador. That's the first job. I don't need to convince you. If you're a Christian, you don't understand that that's your job, man. You have a problem, and so you just don't work to put money in your pocket. Your work is a skill, the means what God has given you to bring you in front of people to tell them about how he is. Do you get it? Okay, so Paul talks about watch this now. Let's be go a bit deeper into our identity, okay? So we understand that doesn't mean a pastor is just ramping on. Go meet again to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 20. Now, watch this now. Now then we are ambassadors. He didn't say you will be an ambassador, we are ambassadors for Christ. It's as though God was pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. Now, watch this now. This is a progression, right? In the previous verse, he said that we are we have a ministry of reconciliation, right? You remember that? Paul says that we have a ministry of reconciliation. In other words, every single person is a minister called by God, and he explained to us what reconciliation is and what God is doing. And so in the verse 20, he says, Now, now, now, because of what I told you in verse 19, now understand that you're an ambassador, okay? For Christ. So you are not just a churchgoer, you are not just a Christian, you are not just somebody who's been saved, passing on to heaven. Today we've learned that we are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation of holy people unto God, right? And we've learned that God has chosen us so that we proclaim what is done for us. And Paul is taking Peter is taking it at different levels now. Peter is saying, okay, now watch this now. He has made you ambassadors. You are now ambassador of Christ. Now, watch this now. Who's an ambassador? You gotta understand something. The Bible is not making a suggestion to us this morning. Are we all clear on that? We're clear that when we read the scriptures, it's not making this not a recommendation or suggestion. Bible is telling us exactly who you are. Now, the problem is whether you agree and accept that I am this supposition. God says that you're a chosen generation of royal priesthood. Do you accept the fact that I'm chosen by God and I'm a royal priesthood? If you accept it, then I'll work for you. Now, Paul says that you are an ambassador. He didn't say you will be, he said, we are ambassadors. We mean in every believer, every disciple of Jesus, everyone who has come to the fold, it's an ambassador. Does it make sense? Now watch this now. So now you want to understand who an ambassador is. Now, watch this now. What does an ambassador actually do? In this country, we have so many ambassadors. We have ambassadors in in Israel, we have American ambassador in Ghana. We're going to embassy in Ghana, there's an embassy in Ghana, there's an embassy in Nigeria, there is embassy everywhere that we've got diplomatic relationships with, and the State Department is responsible for those things. So a government comes and the government picks an ambassador and says, okay, I'm going to I'm an American citizen, but I'm going to send an ambassador to Ghana to represent America. Does it make sense? Okay. So the ambassador does something, represents their home country while stationed in a foreign land. Take note of that. Number two, an ambassador speaks with authority of the one who sent them. In other words, when the guy, the ambassador to Ghana, American ambassador to Ghana is in Ghana, and he stands and makes a proclamation, he's speaking on behalf of the American government. Okay? He's not speaking on his own defense, his own authority, his own position. He's speaking on behalf of the government. Okay? So whilst we're going through this, just keep abreast with me here now. Paul says, so you are an ambassador. Okay? So you are in a foreign land, okay? Now you speak on behalf of your government. Now watch this. An ambassador builds critical relationships in order to advance the nation's agenda. An ambassador does not go native, they keep their distinct identity even while fully present in the culture around them. So watch this now. So America decides to send an ambassador to Nigeria now, okay? The person who's going to Nigeria is not going to become a Yoruba. Okay? He remains in Nigeria, even though he lives in a distinct culture of Yoruba culture. Okay? And he has a specific purpose for doing that. His job is to advance the agenda of America, not to become a Nigerian. Okay. Number four, an ambassador provides access. This is so critical. In your notes, please make sure you you take note of this. They provide access. The embassy itself is treated as a piece of home country planted on a foreign soil. And so wherever you are being chased, let's say I'm an American citizen, I remember during COVID, Fred got locked up in Ghana. You know what they did? They sent an aeroplane all the way to Ghana to pick up one American citizens and brought them back. Because when you run to the embassy in that country, you are in your home country. That particular part of land is treated as your home country. Okay? And so wherever the ambassador provides, and because of the embassy there, it provides access to the natives of this place to be able to relate to America. Does that make sense to everyone? Okay. Now I want us to bring this home. Paul says that you are an ambassador. So let's bring this home so we understand this. Okay. Number one, as Christ's ambassador, what do we do? We represent heaven on earth. So Paul says in Philippians 3.20 that we are citizens of heaven. You can make reference to that. Citizens of heaven. Read it. I'm not lying. I'm not just saying on the top of my head. Paul called you a citizen. In other words, your citizenship is not American, it's not Ghanaian, it's not Nigerian. Your home country, your government is stationed somewhere called heaven. And so what Paul is charged to child the church in Corinth is that God has sent you in Corinth, but you are actually as an ambassador means that you're representing your kingdom, which is in heaven on earth here. And so is every single person under the sound of my voice. You are not from America. You are from a different government in a different country, and you are here as an ambassador representing your government. Number two, an ambassador never speaks of what he thinks, he always speaks the message of his country. So every single one of us here, we have a unique message that we are supposed to speak on this world. And guess what? Paul told us the message was the message of reconciliation. That's the only message that God has given us. Number three, we live as citizens of another kingdom. As already explained in Philippians 3:20, our citizenship is not here, we are of a different citizenship. And so no one here should feel very comfortable living here on planet Earth. That's a problem. Unless Paul made a mistake by calling us ambassadors, because if we are ambassadors, this is not our home. To advance the cause of our king. Nobody here was created to make money, to look for money, to look for education degrees. You were created, God saved you for one reason. Those things you do, yes, are important, but they grant you access to do that one specific thing, to speak on behalf of your government. I didn't say it, Bible said it. If the Bible did not use the word ambassador, then I couldn't have said none of the things I just said to you. But if you're an ambassador, then that's what you do. Okay. Now the most important part of this call is the access that we provide. We provide access to God. You see, without an embassy in a foreign land, the citizens of that foreign land have no access to the home country. This is why when America gets angry with another country and decides that they are going to cut diplomatic relationship with the country, that country is isolated from America. You have no access. So the embassy there tells you that you have access to what the home country is. What we do as ambassadors is to give this world access to God. Without you, the unsafe person have no access. Some of you get it after I have to finish preaching. Anybody who is outside the covenant of Jesus, without you sitting here, that person doesn't have any access. And the access the person has, you know how the person has access when we keep praying for them. When we introduce them to the king, that is the only They have access to God. So, ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you that your role is a little bit more important than you think it is. You think God saved you to be a part of a church and go to heaven?

unknown 44:13

No.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

Paul did not spend time in prison writing these letters to us that we may know who we truly are. We're not just called to come to church. Clap our hands and sing hallelujah. Praise the Lord. We're called to represent our King and His kingdom. And you are so relevant that without you granting people access, they have no access. If the embassy doors are closed, that's the end of it. How do you get a visa? Let's say I'm somewhere in Timbuktu. There's an American embassy. And I want to come to America. How do I get access here? I need to go to the embassy to get a visa. You're not hearing me. What exactly is the message of the ambassador? Verse 19 tells us. That is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed. Somebody says has committed. The word committed means he has given me. The reason why people we come to church, the reason why we do these things is so that we equip ourselves and understand the call so that we will in turn put into action what God has told us to do. So we are not called to sell product. I'm not called to sell product. I'm not pitching to your program, three-point program. I am not announcing we what all I'm doing this morning is announcing the good news already settled in heaven. Our job is to deliver the message. That is why God picked you up. He says you are a chosen generation. God chose you. That's the Muslim chose. I'm chosen, man. Out of all the people in the family, God picked you up, chose you. And God did not choose you just because you're special. He chose you because he had a job for you. And the job was simply to tell everybody how awesome he is. Let's look at Ephesians chapter 6, 19 to 20. We run it this down, running this up. 10 minutes to do this. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 9 to 20. Listen to the heart of the apostle Paul, and for me, the offerings may be given to me. Paul is pleading for the church in Ephesus to pray for him. And he's praying that they give him offerings. Okay? That he may open his mouth and speak the word. He said, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in change. That is, it may speak bold. That it's I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Now, there's a couple of ways you can look at this verse. You can take it literally, because Paul was always in prison, right? So you can take it literally that he was, he realized his ministry as an ambassador, okay? And that he was literally in chains for you know restricting him from doing what he has to do. So he says, pray for me. So that's one way of looking at it. The other way of looking at it is understanding Paul understood the call of ambassadorship so much that he was bound in chains to fulfill the message that God has given him. Does it make sense? Whichever way we look at it, it's either he's literally in chains and pleading for prayer, or he's literally understands the depth of the call and the weight on him as an ambassador and is seeking for prayer so that he'll be able to open his mouth and speak boldly. Either way, this is a man in prison or a man in chains, and man understands the call of his mothership. Now, one day if anybody here understands the weight of what God has called you to do. And that brings me to a thought. One day I was in Bible school in London, and I think I shared this here before. There was this guy from Zimbabwe. This is a guy from Zimbabwe. Now, over the years I've always been like this. Uh actually, me growing, I'll be more reserved now as I'm growing. But initially, I'll be sitting in church like this, and I'll get up and take the bath and go to Seven Sister Station to preach the gospel on a Sunday. So I've always been able to, I always want to talk to someone about Jesus. But this guy was very reserved, very, very reserved, very quiet, but very, very uh, what's it called? Very, very nice guy. So he came to share a testimony one day in Bible school that um he was working in London Underground. He was doing uh some jobs to be able to pay school fees in Bible school. And he said there was a bit of a flood on the underground and he was mopping. And the way he was mopping, he had so much joy in his face that he was singing and just celebrating. And so one of his coworkers came to him and said, Man, what is it about you, man? Why are you always so happy? And that was his entry point that he was able to share who Jesus was. So you I want you to think about your workplace. What we call workplace witness. A coworker simply watches how somebody handles pressure, right? With peace, week after week, until one day, what is different about you is a question the person asks you. You know, people, you know, I tell whenever I have the the opportunity to uh cancel people, one of the things I tell them is this, especially those with kids, man.

SPEAKER_00 49:56

Man, you can tell your kids all you want to pray, they're watching what you do.

SPEAKER_01 50:04

Your kids are gonna end up exactly like the way you are at home. Not the way everybody sees you in church, but the way you really are. Because kids don't listen to what you say, they observe what you do. And human beings do observe what others do. And so you're in the workplace, and there's something about you. You are always joyful, always not part of gossip, always careful about the things that come out of your mouth, always not drama queen. When there's chaos going on in the in the office, you are always the wisdom, the voice of wisdom. You think people are not watching you? One day somebody's gonna come up to you and ask you the question: why is it that you always behave like this? Oh, you're not hearing me. Listen, watch this now. We want to talk about practical living as a missionary now. And I'm gonna give you seven things. Seven things. How do you actually live? So we've we've re-established we are missionaries. We understand that missionary doesn't mean just get a plane and go somewhere. Wherever you are, where you find yourself right now, the work you do, the your family, wherever you are, that's your mission failed. Okay? We talk about relationship, family, work. That's your relationship. Now, let's I want to talk briefly about how we live our lives so that our lives become an example. Number one, write this down. Pray for your mission failed. Pray for your mission failed. So, we're gonna find out how to identify a mission failed. We're gonna talk about that. After you've identified the mission failed, it's your responsibility to pray for the mission failed. That means that you are gonna pray for your co-workers, you are praying for your neighbors, your family members. If your mission failed is your family, you begin to pray for them from today. From today, you pray for every single person by name. That's your mission failed, right? Number two, this is what you do. After prayer, you build authentic relationships, not fake, authentic. People are not projects. Love them for who they are, authentic, love them. Listen, Paul says, remember, remember, remember where you came from, remember where God found you, and don't don't start putting up your nose to people. Build authentic relationships with people, man, genuine relationships. Number three, live life visibly different. Now, when you come to church and everybody thinks that you are the biggest pope and the biggest bishop, and your friends at work know I was going to say something about safety. Let integrity, kindness, and peace be the thing people notice about you. It's not what you're saying, it's what you're doing. Amen. Live life visibly. Number four, listen for divine appointments. The Holy Spirit open doors, stay alert enough to walk through those doors. The Holy Spirit opening for you. Number five, whenever God gives you the opportunity, share naturally. Amen. Not forced, not rehearsed like a script, but be ready the moment that door opens. Share your story naturally. Okay? Number six, this is critical that we don't do. And if you do it, kudos to you. Invite to church and events. Sometimes your invitation is to breach someone's needs into a community. Invite. I always use Angela as an example. Angela came to this church two years ago. How did Angela find herself in this church? Her friend Precious invited her there. We're having a church event, a Valentine Banquet. And she came. Now she's in charge of children's ministry. Her invitation was her bridge to, you know, your invitation someone's bridge her community. Does it make sense? Okay. Now, number seven. This is critical. This is critical. I hope you got off seven steps. Follow up persistently. This part here, most of us lose this part, persistent follow-up. Why? Because you call them once and invite them to church, and they found an excuse. And every time you're gonna go and pick them up, there's an excuse. Remember that you're supposed to disciple them. Okay? And remember, you know, the the you see, we think at times that warfare is when we are praying, I break demons, I cast you out. No warfare. That's not warfare. You know what warfare is? Warfare is you trying to get somebody liberated from the force of darkness. That's warfare. Because every demon that a person is subject to, every cares in their generations are going to fight you for trying to bring the person to Christ. And so follow up persistently. Sowing takes time before it becomes a harvest. How many of you will plant a tomato seed today and go up tomorrow and harvest it? It doesn't work. It takes time to harvest, okay? Don't quit after one conversation because imagine that's your job, that's your project. Well, don't take it as a project because never a project, but that's what God has given you. Are you going to quit after one conversation because the person has resistance? No. Paul puts all this into one couple of verses for us. Colitions chapter 4, verse 5 to 6. Listen to the advice of Apostle Paul. I've got a couple of minutes. Watch this. Let your speech, he said, walk in wisdom towards those who are outside. What it means to are outside, he's not talking about outside means those who are not in the covenant of Jesus, right? Those who are in the family of Jesus. That's what reference to. So he said, walk with wisdom. Wisdom with those who are outside. Then he says, Redeem the time. This is so critical. Why is Paul saying redeeming the time? Because the time is of the essence. You are not aware. Today we came in, we woke up this morning. Lindsay Graham is dead. I just came to church. India says her uncle died. Just like that. You see, we are walking as if we have tomorrow. There is no sense of urgency in every single Christian today. Your sense of urgency is I want to finish college, I want to get a job, I want to make money, I want to live well. That's your sense of agency. So I come to church to pray that God will bless me. But ladies and gentlemen, when that is happening, people are dying. The first question I ask, Gloria, I hope this man knew Jesus. We hear people dying every single minute of the day. And the first thing that comes to mind, I hope they knew Jesus. Because the moment you take a last breath, that's the end, it's over. And we don't have the sense of egg and saying we see Paul calling the church out, redeeming the time. Time is of the essence, Paul is saying. So walk with them with wisdom because time is of the essence. Understand the call, have a strategy, breakthrough because time is of the essence. This is the life of people. Okay. Then it says, verse 6 is let your speech always be with grace. We all need prayer. Season with salt that you may know how you ought to answer each one. This is a life of strategy, man. Look, man. When you do something consistently over time, do you know what it does? It builds credibility. Okay. Love and actions validate the verbal gospel you eventually get to share. We do things, it builds credibility constantly. Now, there's a story in the Old Testament. Man, five minutes. There's a story in the Old Testament. We go back to Daniel chapter 6, verse 10. How many of you know remember the story? I'm going to read it quickly because our time is fast back. He said, When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home in the upper room with windows opened towards Jerusalem. He knelt down on his knees three times that day. And he prayed and gave thanks before his God. As was his custom since early days. A decree was passed for those of you who are not familiar with the story. That nobody should pray in Babylon. Daniel waited till the decree was passed. And the very same day he goes home, he opens up his window the same way his tradition was, and he began to pray towards the East. Now, why is this relevant? That consistency witnessed to an entire pagan nation. Look, one of the things that we lack so much is consistency in things. And over the years, even as pastor in this church, we start something great, a couple of months, it falls down because people, Satan knows how to deflate people, he knows how to diverse people's attention. And with that consistency, you can never gain any solid ground with the things of God. Even at risk to his life, because he had a custom, a decree was passed, and he said, I'm not going to relent on it. Why? Because with God, consistency is everything. So you take an approach to me, someone witnesses somebody. So Jesus says in Matthew 5 and 6, he says, You had a light. Look at Matthew 5, verse 16. He said, Let your light so shine before man that he may see your good works and give glory to the Father who's in heaven. Yesterday, I don't know, I went to do a bit of grocery shopping. I like Whole Foods. And you go on a spice rock and you see a salt and you see pepper. How many of you did you hear the salt calling your name? Come and buy me. Are you grass-fed? How many of you had this pepper, pepper calling you? Come and buy me, come and buy me. You see, you know the relevance of salt, you know the relevance of pepper. Jesus says that you are salt, you are light. So, what does the salt do? You preserve, you flavor, you create tests for something more. That's what you do. What does light do? Does light exposes, light guides, light warms? Salt and light do not argue for usefulness, they simply do what they were made to do, and the world notices it. So if you choose to be salt today that Jesus called you, choose to be light, and you are simply doing what God has called you to doing what you were called to do, the world will notice you. The reason why the church grew so much in the years of persecution, because they saw something in them. The love that they saw. I asked a simple question. How that church grow? We all have this thing that God grows church. Of course he does. You refer me to Acts chapter 5, and I'll tell you something interesting happened before God grew the church. The Bible says God added to the church daily, but it did something. They met every day in the community, breaking bread, meeting one another, taking care of one another, and God added to the church daily. You go to uh what's it called? Apostle Paul in the book of Corinthians. What did he say? He said, I planted, somebody did the work. I pulled a water, but God gave the increase. God never gives increase unless there's somebody planting, somebody watering. And guess what we're doing here? We are watering. We are planted. But we need to participate, do the work of first of all reaching out to those that need access to the king before God brings the increase. Does that make sense to everybody? So we are concluding today. Let us bring this to your feet this morning, this afternoon. So I want everybody here to take an honest assessment. What is your primary mission field right now? Leaving service today. Is it your job? Is it your neighborhood, your streets, or your own family at the dinner table? Identify your mission field right now because I'm about to give you a call to action this week as we run up. After you've identified your mission field, step out this week. Number one, I want you to identify three to five people in that mission field this week. Number two, I want you to commit to praying for them daily by name. Number three, look for one concrete way to serve or bless one of them this week. Do something, man. If it's your neighborhood, go cook some cookies, knock on their door and put some cookies and say, Oh, God laid on my heart to bless you. Do something. Take a mower and go mow their garden for them. They are bushy. Do something, a blessing. A blessing is do something for them after you prayed for them. And then finally, be ready. Not anxious, but ready to share when the opportunity comes. Here's your challenge. Stop waiting to go somewhere. You are already there. You are not boarding a plane with Dr. Gogo to go to Uganda tomorrow. You are ready on your mission field. Look at what look at my face. You are already on your mission field. Unless you say that I'm called to go to the ends of the world with him, where you are, it's your mission field. The mission field is not the plane to get away, it is a room you are going to walk in tomorrow morning. That's your mission field. And here's a promise straight from the mouth of Jesus. These are the last words of our main text. Matthew 28, verse 20. Teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of your age. You are never sent alone. The same Jesus who gave you the assignment gave you his presence to go with it. Somebody say amen to that. In closing, can we please stand, please?