Rick Warren - We Are Ambassadors - Part Two

Hey, everybody, we are so glad you're here with us today.

On Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, Rick Warren continues with an

inspiring news series called what does it Really Mean to

Follow Jesus Now. In this powerful teaching, Rick dives into

God's Word to explore how we grow spiritually represent Christ

in the world and find our place in God's family

through the church. It's a fresh look at discipleship, purpose

and the life changing power of spiritual community. All right,

and now here's part two of a message called we

are Ambassadors.

The Bible says this in Philippians chapter three. Here on

the screen, comparing believers and unbelievers, he says, all the

other people think about is life on earth. They're not

thinking about eternity. They're not thinking about what's after this.

They're just thinking about here and now. Get all you can, can,

all you get, sit on the can and all the rest.

You know, the one where the most toys wins. Now

the one with the most toys still dies. And your

valuable and your value is not have nothing to do,

and your self worth and your net worth have nothing

in common. Life is not about the acquisition of things.

So he says don't don't get caught up in the

thing that you think that life is all about things.

The greatest things in life aren't things, he says. Other

people they're always thinking about what life is like here

on earth. He said, you are citizens in heaven. We

are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives.

You know, I really have thought that sometimes we ought

to offer Christians green cards because our citizenship really is

in heaven. He says, That's where your home is. That's

that's God's family, and you're just here on earth. We

get a green card right now. You know, when I

was thinking about this message, I nearly brought my diplomatic passport.

I actually have the Nation of Ruan because I've been

there so many times, has given me a diplomatic passport,

which is really doesn't mean a whole lot except when

you're in New York, because it means that you cannot

get fined for parking violations. So that's a really good

thing because in New York, if you're within twenty five

miles of the United Nations, if you have diplomatic passport,

you have diplomatic immunity from all of parking violations. So

thank you God, you know, but it really is a

diplomatic passport. It's not that helpful. And other places hadn't

got any out of any bad message yet. But the

Bible says that life is a test, and life is

a trust, and life is a temporary assignment. And we're

in foreign culture and we've got a green card, and

this really isn't our ultimate home. We really our ultimate

home is in heaven. You're only going to be here

for eighty years. You're on temporary assignment. Now what am

I supposed to do while I'm here? Have you ever

thought about this? After you become a believer, after you

accept God's salvation, once your sins are forgiven, and you

know you're going to heaven, why didn't God just take

you on right then? Have you ever thought about that?

I mean, once you're saved, why didn't God just kill you? Yeah?

I mean, because ultimately you're going to heaven anyway, why

should He leave you here for another twenty thirty, forty

or however many years? It is with all its sins, suffering, sorrow, sadness, depression, despair, discouragement, problems,

you know, pressures and difficulties and trials and tribulations and tears,

And if you're going to go to a perfect place anyway,

why doesn't he just take you there the moment he

knows for sure you've accepted the invitation. Once you're in,

why does he leave you here on earth to be

an ambassador? That's why? To be an ambassador. You see,

there's only two things things you can't do in heaven.

You can have fun in heaven. You can sleep in heaven.

You can rest in heaven. You can fellowship with other

people in heaven. You can pray, you can worship, you

can be creative in heaven. You can eat in heaven,

and no calories. All right, there are only two things

you cannot do in heaven. One of them is sin

because it's a perfect place, and the other is be

an ambassador to unbelievers, tell people who don't know the

good news the good news. So there's two things you

can't do in heaven, sin and share your faith. Which

of those two do you think God leaves you here

to do? Hmm, let's just think about that one for

a minute. Why does he leave you here on earth?

He leaves you here to tell somebody else you're going

to go to heaven because somebody told you. Have you

been an ambassador to anybody else? Now, that's the role

of an ambassador. I'm a representative, and I am I'm

authorized to speak, and I've been given a mission to

tell the good news to other people. And I got

to remember that it's just a temporary assignment and this

really isn't ultimately my home. So what am I supposed

to do? Well? The Bible says three things. Let's look

at it. As an ambassador. You have three responsibilities here

on earth, and these are the things that God wants

you to do as an ambassador. Number one, I must

be an example. I must set an example for other people.

The first thing God wants you to do is help

other people know what God is like by being example

of his character qualities love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, kindness, meekness,

self control. Now, the Bible says this in one Peter

Chapter two. People who do not believe are living all

around you. That's kind of obvious. People who do not

believe are living all around you, and they might say

you're doing wrong. So live such good lives that they'll

see the good things you do, and we'll give Glory

to God. What's he saying there? The first job of

an ambassador, whether it's of a country or of Jesus,

is you set a good example. You set a good example.

Every summer I take part of our team and we

tour one particular continent to see how the peace plan

is progressing with all of our churches and all of

our network in that particular area. A year ago in

the summertime, I took a team to Latin America and

we went to Colombia and to Brazil, and to Uruguay

and a bunch of different places. One of the places

we went to was Argentina. And while we were in Argentina,

we were in Buenos Aires, and the US embassy heard

that the team from Saddleback was in town, and they

asked us to come over and meet the ambassador who

wanted to meet our team. So we went over to

the embassy in Buenos Aires, and the guy was quite

a nice guy. He had been an ambassador to several

different countries in his lifetime and stationed at different missions,

and so I was asking about what it was like

to be an ambassador, and I said, what is the

most difficult part of being an ambassador. He said, the

fact is, you're never off duty. You're always being watched.

Everywhere I go, people look at me. And for many people,

I'm the only American they know, so they look at me.

And he said, if I had an eight hour job,

I can go home at night. And but he said,

if after work, I go out to a restaurant, people

are watching, say, isn't that the ambassador of the United States,

And they see if I'm cranky to the waitress, if

I'm an ugly American and I'm demanding and I'm grouchy,

or if I'm egotistical or act like a prima donna.

He said, We're always on, We're always being watched. We're

always representing our country. What if you lived your life

like that, that you realized that you're always on as

an ambassador of Jesus Christ, then no matter where you go,

you are the only Christians some people will ever know

that the people around you, you're the only Bible that

they will ever read. You are a living Bible, and

as a representative of Jesus Christ, as an ambassador of Jesus,

you're either a Bible or you're a libel. You either

make God look good, or you make God look bad.

And there's plenty of Christians who make God look bad?

Would you agree with that? And they say stupid things,

and they're dogmatic, and they're mean and they're cranky, and

that's not a good day. See, there are two reasons

why people don't know the Lord. One of them is

they've never met a Christian and the other is they

have and they say, if that's what a follower of

Jesus is, no, thanks God. And so you need to

realize that your life is to be an example in

everything you do. When my kids were growing up, particularly

in the teenage years, it used to bug them that

I greeted everybody no matter wherever we went. You know,

they said, Dad, do you always have to smile at everybody?

I mean, you're in the grocery store and you're talking

to people, and you're greeting people, and it doesn't matter

if we're at the theater or we're at a baseball game,

or you know, we're driving on the street, or you

smile at everybody. Dad, you have to always smile. I said,

I'm an ambassador. That's true. I'm an ambassador not because

I'm a pastor, but because I'm a follower of Jesus Christ,

and there are people out there in the community go

I know who that guy is, that's Rick, and they

want to know. Does his walk matches talk? Is he

two different ways? One way at church and another way

in the community. Is he genuinely kind to everybody? Is

he friendly? Is he compassionate? Is he merciful? Is he polite?

Does he take it into consideration other people's feelings. I

am an ambassador of Jesus Christ, and so are you.

And people are watching you all the time, so you

must set an example. So my question is how well

does your daily life represent Jesus? Can anybody tell from

your example what God is like? I mean, if they

look at you where they say, you know what, Jesus

must be very kind because that guy's kind or she's kind.

Jesus must be very patient because Jesus is in his

life and he's patient. Jesus must be very forgiving because

that guy doesn't hold it against you. He's forgiving. He

returns good for evil. What does your life say about

God to the people around you? You may not like it,

but if you claim to be a follower of Christ,

you are an ambassador you may be a lousy one

or you may be a good one. But you are

an ambassador. You represent Jesus in everything you do, whether

you like it or not. So the first thing is

I must set an example. Second responsibility of an ambassador,

I must share the message. I have a message that

God has given me, and he wants me to share

it with other people. That's interesting that in politics or

in diplomacy, ambassadors are often used in history to end wars.

Ambassadors are sent to negotiate the peace. Ambassadors are sent

to sign the treaties. Ambassadors are sent to bring a

reconciliation between warring entities and conflicting groups. And it's not

an accident that God shows that term to refer to you.

Where to help people make peace with God? Where to

help people reconcile their relationship to God? Where to help

people make their peace with Him? Now, God is very

clear about the message he expects you to share. So

let's read it. Two Corinthians five, verses seventeen to nineteen

says this, anybody, anyone who is joined to Christ becomes

a new person. The old is gone, says you know,

all your past is wiped out. Forgive and forgotten. You

get a clear conscience, he says. You get a chance

to start over. And most of the world is hungry

for that. They want to know, how do I get

rid of guilt? How do I get rid of shame?

How do I get rid of regrets? He says. Anybody

who is joined to Christ becomes a new person. You

get a fresh start in life. It's like being born

a second time. In fact, the Bible calls it being

born again. It's like getting a fresh start. All this

is done by God. In other words, you don't do it,

who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends

and gave us the task of making others his friends. Also,

that's our task as ambassadors, to make others the friends

of God. Our message, here's the message, is that God

was making all human beings as friends through Christ. That's

why I sent Jesus. God did not keep an account

of their sins. You forgave it all, and He's given

us the message which tells how he makes them his friends.

If this passage just fill with spiritual truth, so let

me point out a couple things. Number one, the first

part of our message is this Jesus offers everybody a

new life, so that anybody's joined the Christ becomes a

new person. This is the message of regeneration, the message

of a new birth, or message of you get a

brand new life. Would you like a chance to start over?

Ever been halfway through painting a room? He said, wish

I could start over, halfway climbing up a mountain. Wish

I could start over? Halfway through life? Go wish I

could start over? God says, you can. I'll give you

a brand new life. Jesus offers everybody a new life.

Second part of our message is Jesus ends our war

with God. Did you know that you're at war with

God until you make peace with him? Where's the war?

The war is the conflict in your soul on who's

going to be God? You? God? And the Bible says

every human being and all of humanity is in rebellion

against God because I want to be God. I don't

want God running my life. I want to run my life.

I want to make my decisions. I don't want God

telling me what to do. I want to do what

I want to do. That is the attitude that got

Satan kicked out of heaven. It's pride, the middle letter

of pride is I, and the middle letter of sin

is I. And he's saying, it is I that causes

my problems, and that rebellion against God puts me at

war with God. You may not realize it, but you're

at war with God until you accept what Christ has

done for you. And that conflict causes all of the

problems in your life. This unknown stress, the subconscious pressure,

the guilt, the fear, the anxiety, all those different things

come from being out of whack with your creator. And

so he says, we're at war with God. But God

says God wants us, says as friends. That's the message

of reconciliation. And then he says the third thing here,

all of our war crimes have been forgiven. God just

wipes him out. That's salvation. How does God do this.

He does it through Jesus, and he does it out

of love. Look of the next couple verses. God was

in Christ making peace between the world and himself. That's

what Jesus died for. In Christ, God did not hold

the world guilty of its sin. That's good news. And

he gave us this message of peace, which is, by

the way, why we call it the Peace Plan. Saddleback's

you know initiative all around the world, which we call

the Peace Plan, is based on this verse. And the

pea in peace stands for plant churches and promote reconciliation.

Why God has said, we have a message of reconciliation.

We have a message of peace. We have a message

that says the warring parties are being brought together. God

did not hold the world guilty of its sin, and

he gave us the message of peace. So we have

been sent to speak for Christ. It is as if

God is calling to you through us. We speak for Christ,

be talking about every believer when we beg you to

be at peace with God. Christ had no sin, but

God made him become sin so that in Christ we

could become right with God. In other words, God took

all of our badness. God took it out of us

and poured it on Christ. And he took of all

of good God's good, Christ's goodness and poured it into us.

And he said that made the peace. And we are

workers together with God. Now, once you circle the phrase

we've been sent to speak for Christ. That's the second

thing we do as ambassadors. We share the message. Anybody

bought a car in the last two or three years,

because see your hands. Okay, everybody's bought a car a

probably some point. Do you know this game that they

play where you go to like a car dealership and

you find the car you want, and the young you know,

salesman is there, and then they take you inside and

you sit down in the showroom and you start the

deal and how much you're going to give me for

my car and how much you're going to cut off

the price of that car, and you think you got

a deal, and all of a sudden, the salesman goes,

excuse me, I have to go check with the manager,

you know I'm talking about. And they play this game

and it's good cop, Bad cop. I really want to

give it to you like this, but I got to

go check with the manager. So they go back into

the inner sanctum where you can't go, and they're there

for a little bit, and they wait along for a while,

you know, And then they come back out and say, well,

you know, I'm sorry, but my manager won't let me

give this. We're all good. Well, then I'm going to

go and win it. You're not authorized to close the deal.

Then I don't want to talk to you. I want

to talk to the manager because I don't want to

play this game of good cop bad cop of I'd

really like to help you, but the bad guy won't

let me. So let me just talk to the manager.

And and this this little game of give and take.

There means that I say, if you're not authorized to

close the deal, why am I talking to you? Let

me talk to the guys is authorized to close the deal.

Here's the amazing thing when it comes to offering the

deal of salvation. You you, you are authorized to close

the deal. You don't have to go to the manager

in the back office. You you can say to anybody,

I'm an ambassador of Jesus Christ and i am a

plury potent potentiary, which means I'm authorized to make the

offer in Jesus' name. And I don't have to go

check with anybody else. And here's the offer. All your

sins and your past can be forgiven. You get a

purpose for living, You get a home in heaven, and

God promises to take care of your life here on

earth until he takes you home to heaven. If you

put your trust in faith in Jesus Christ, that's the deal.

And you don't have to go check with anybody else.

You are the ambassador. God has authorized every one of

his children to speak on his behalf and to make

that offer, and to not have to go say, well,

let me go get my priest's opinion, or let me

go get my pastor's opinion, let me go get somebody

else's authority. No. No, you have been given the authority

to close the deal, to make the offer of the

message of peace to anybody out there. Would you like

to have your sins forgiven? I can offer that to

you to Jesus Christ. Would you like to have a

home in heaven. I can offer that to you in

Jesus Christ. And I don't have to check with anybody

else because you are an ambassador. Wow.

Some powerful words from Pastor Rick. And now this really

is one of my favorite parts of the broadcast. Letters

from our listeners.

Here's Rick. Hi, everybody today, I want to share a

note that we receive from Darren. He wrote me. He

calls daily Hope his morning cup of God because it

helps him stay focused on God throughout the day. Darren

wrote me this, he said, Pastor Rick, I thank God

for daily Hope. I support daily hope because Christ Hope

is for me and in me, and I support it

because it sends Christ's message to people all over the world.

He wrote, you know, I've dealt with my share of

demons in my life. I've had cancer, huge financial losses, addictions,

permanent disability, chronic pain, and depression. But Daily Hope gets

me going in the morning. It's a cup of coffee

for me. But if I haven't had my cup of

God in the morning, then I feel like I'm less

able to pass on the good news to others. So

thank you, Pastor Rick. You know, daily Hope helps people

like Darren get their lives back on track because it

connects them not just with God, but with God's Word.

And it is so important for each of us to

spend time with God and in God's Word every day.

So I want to encourage every one of you to

make a daily habit of opening the Bible. Sit down

and open the Bible. You may open it on a

iPad or on your phone, but open the Bible to

see what God says about how we're meant to live.

God bless you everybody.

To sign up for Rick's free daily devotional, go to

Pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com. Be sure to

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