Ambassadors for Christ (Part 2)

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the end for a rewarding experience. Let's dive

right in. Good evening, everyone. Welcome again

to our midweek service, and we thank God for

another opportunity. I thank the pastor for this

opportunity to be able to share. So we'll continue

with the teaching, Ambassadors for Christ. So

Ambassadors for Christ, and for those who are

probably just joining us, I'll just do a bit

of a walkthrough. The text is 2 Corinthians 5.

7 Corinthians 5 .20. I read from the New Living

Translation. It says, so we are Christ ambassadors.

God is making his appeal through us. We speak

for Christ when we plead, come back to God. So

we are Christ ambassadors. And what we did on

Sunday was to talk about who an ambassador is.

And in the world's perspective, an ambassador

is someone who is representing the president

of the country in a foreign land. And we know

that the person is doing it on behalf, standing

in on behalf, as a brother of Gabriel was leading

us in prayer, just emphasizing how the ambassador

is in a foreign land and is covered by the government

of the country that sent him or her. And what

we saw here is that Paul uses this imagery to

communicate. He uses this powerful imagery that

is very conversational, is a known position to

communicate our identity as believers. And I

said, our identity is very important because

if we don't know our identity, we will not be

able to carry out the responsibilities that are

tied to our identity. So it's very important.

And he goes on and on. And we understand that

this role or this identity is that of every believer.

It's not that of a selected group. of individuals

is that of every believer. And we looked at the

word and we say, we understand that that word

is, that word carries that notion of you being,

in fact, even the word in the world sense, you

are representing a government. You're representing

an entity. In our own case, we're representing

God's kingdom. Anywhere we go, we are representing

God. We are representatives of God. And I told

us that even in the world, you have brands. People

say I'm a brand ambassador. All of those things

carries the same notion. Where the person is

coming in and carrying the badge and standing

in or representing that particular company, that

particular entity, in this case, the kingdom

of God. So we are God's representatives here

on earth. We are God's representatives here on

earth. And it's a great privilege to be an ambassador.

It's not a small feat. It's not a small thing.

And it comes with a great responsibility. It's

not just the status. There's also the service,

the responsibility that is tied to that. And

we looked at Matthew 20. We just focused on 25

to 28, where we saw the situation with the two

of Jesus' disciples. And we looked at Matthew

20, 25 to 2, but Mark has his own account of

the same situation in Mark 10. But in Mark...

Mark just focuses on the two disciples, not mentioning

the mother. And we see something similar around

about that in Luke. But Matthew's account draws

our attention because we see that situation presenting

itself and we see how Jesus addresses the situation.

We see how Jesus addresses the situation, bringing

the attention of disciples to the fact that you

are struggling for a position. Mills, while you

are ignoring the service that that position comes

along, meaning that it's not just a title attached

to your name, it's the responsibility that comes

with that title and where he brings the attention

to how it's ultimately about service. And I said,

I think what was the first thing we looked at

when we were looking at the first word that starts

with an M? The motivation, right? We say for

everything there's motivation and... If your

motivation is wrong, every other thing will flow

from there. It will just be wrong going down.

But if your motivation is anchored on what is

right, and that's why Jesus Christ tells them,

look, the way the world does is different from

the way we do it here. Because the way the world

does, the way the world lords it over you, the

world operates. You see people acting very different

because they have a position. And that sometimes

is the person is showing you what their motives

are already in the action. And we say it is very

different for us in the kingdom. We are not in

positions because we want to lord it over people.

There's no way. The ultimate example for us is

Christ Jesus. And if he doesn't do that, you

can't be representing the person you're representing

different from the identity or the character

of the person. So we say that first is the motive,

right? The motive, that's the reason why. And

then the second was what? The message. And in

his... he communicates, he tells them, no, this

is not what it should be like. Because you can't,

in your action, you're trying to correct, you

have to put, you have to say, it's not like this,

this is it. You don't just correct someone and

just leave them in limbo. You correct them and

point them to what actually, or what it should

be like. And then the last one is what? Huh?

The means, right? The means, which is how to

go about. Because know that in all of this, he

points them to himself as a model. He points

them to himself as a model, and he shows us how.

Because in that last, that 28, he says he did

not come to be served, but to serve. And he gave

his life as a ransom for many. That's the ultimate.

He's not just telling you to do it. He's showing

you, like, his life exemplifies it. The life

of sacrifice. Meaning that as an ambassador,

you have to live that same life. And for the

work of ministry, for everything that we do that

we want to be effective in, we have to sacrifice

a couple of things. Sometimes you have to sacrifice

your time. Most times you have to sacrifice your

time if you really want it to work. You have

to sacrifice even your money. Sometimes there

will not be service, like the bus service. You

have to factor in, okay, I have to be here. And

I have to find a way. If I don't have the money,

I can pair up a group of people and we reduce

the cost. You have to sacrifice. You have to

have that consciousness because it's very important

for us to make progress. And what is our role

and our responsibility? We have the role and

responsibility as ambassadors to proclaim a message.

And that message is a message of reconciliation.

And we see that in the passage. It's reconciling

them, men, back to God because we have been reconciled

to the Father. Right? Because if you're not being

reconciled to the Father, you will not be reconciling

people to Him. Because you have to have a relationship

with the one you're representing. You have to

have some form of relationship for you to be

able to effectively do that. And we saw that

in the New King James. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians

5 .20. In the NLT, it says, back to God. In the

New King James, it says, you are be reconciled

to God, right? It ends with be reconciled to

God. And we talked about, when we came back to

this passage, we talked about the first thing,

the motive. We saw that the motive for everything

that we do, the motive for the thing that is

anchored in our love, is love, anchored in love.

Our motive for what we do, because it's love

that empowers us to do the work. Because it's

not... easy to go about doing stuff. One thing

that will help you to or compel you to do the

work and keep you at it is the fact that you

have something that is not externally motivated.

Something that comes from within. Because you

are making a decision to do this and it's not

the easiest thing to do, but love empowers us

to do it. It says in verse 14 of that same chapter.

He says, love compels us. God's love is what

compels us to do everything he instructs us to

do. God's love is what compels us to do everything

he instructs us to do. The same thing applies

to even Christ laying down, Christ giving his

life for us. It's love that compels him to do

that. Everything that we see here is tied to,

is very much centered on Christ, and that is

why he is the model that we live by. Praise God.

That's why he's a model that we live by. I was

saying that everything that we do in the kingdom

is for. We do all the things that we do for others.

And it's not selfish. It's not anchored on self.

It's anchored on selflessness. It's not anchored

on ourselves, but it's anchored on selflessness.

And it starts off from our relationship with

God. I want us to continue from... Pick it up

from there. I just did that because I know I

see a lot of faces that were not around on Sunday.

So let's look at 2 Timothy 2 verse 2. 2 Timothy

2 Timothy 2:2 2 Timothy 2:2

2 verse 2. 2 Timothy 2 verse 2. It says, and

2 Timothy 2:2

the things that you have heard from among, for

me, among many witnesses, commit this to faithful

men. who will be able to teach others. Meaning

that what has been received is committed to faithful

people and the faithful people are faithful.

So we see almost like a chain where it doesn't

stop at one point. It moves and it uses the word

faithful, faithful. The other translation would

say trustworthy, trustworthy, faithful. So as

you, whether you like it or not, it doesn't stop

at you. It shouldn't stop at you. It shouldn't

stop with you. What you have received has to

flow from you to others. Praise God. And that's

very key in our work. That's very key in our

assignment. That's very key in the tax that God

has given to us. It doesn't stop with us. As

we have received, we are entrusting to others

because we are weaknesses. And I want you to

mark the word weaknesses because we're going

to see that coming in again and again. So God

has entrusted us with this, the gospel entrusted

us with his word. When we look at the Great Commission,

he has entrusted us with this. And every one

of us, not just a specific group of people, every

one of us is entrusted with this assignment,

with this message. And this message has to be,

remember we talked on Sunday about the urgency

of the message. It's urgent, it's urgent and

it requires great attention. The message has

to be preached. And we are the ones that have

that responsibility and that tax to do it. And

we are ambassadors and our responsibility is

to proclaim it to the world. And when we say

the world, the world is the people around us

who have not come into the knowledge of the truth.

And we'll see in 1 Timothy 1 verse 11. Let's

1 Timothy 1:11

see something in 1 Timothy 1 verse 11. And we

1 Timothy 1:11

see Apostle Paul speaking of himself to Timothy.

And he says, According to the glorious gospel

of the blessed God, which was committed to my

trust. He's speaking of the glorious gospel,

which was committed to his trust. He was entrusted

with the glorious gospel and he didn't stop at

him. He ensured that it spreads. It ensured that

it spreads. And I want to challenge us. Are you

ensuring that what you have received goes to

someone else? Are you ensuring that what you

have received goes to someone else? Are you ensuring

that what you have received is passed on to someone

else? And I think today something happened. Because

that word, my trust, I'll read 1 Thessalonians

and I will go to it. It says, 1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 2:4

2 verse 4. Let's look at 1 Thessalonians 2 verse

1 Thessalonians 2:4

4. 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 4. 2 verse 4. It says,

1 Thessalonians 2:4

but as we have been approved by God to be entrusted

with the gospel, even so we speak not as pleasing

men, but God who tests our motive. I want you

to put an NLT. Put an NLT. NLT says, for we speak

as messengers approved by God to be entrusted

with the good news. Our purpose is to please

God. not people. We alone, it says he alone,

sorry, examines the motives of our hearts. God

alone examines the motive of our heart. And I

want you to pay attention to the part of we being

entrusted with those good news. And that word

entrusted means that we are in charge. We're

responsible. We're put in charge of doing the

work. We're put in charge of doing the work.

It means that we are... We're the ones that have

to do the work. Nobody else will be able to do

it. We are the ones that have to do it. Praise

God. We're the ones that are responsible. We're

doing that. And I think this perfectly illustrates

the point. I think this evening, this morning,

this morning, okay, this morning, I went out,

had my class, then got back home in the afternoon.

When I got back home in the afternoon, I think

this was very, because I learned a lot just by...

observing what had happened. I was in the house

and then all of a sudden I smelled smoke. And

we know that when you smell smoke, there should

be fire somewhere around. And then I was hoping.

And then I looked out the window. I saw like

a lot of smoke coming from the floor downstairs.

So, and then there was bangings. I think the

smoke wasn't what caught my attention. The bangings

and the smoke, all of them. And then I could

figure out that something was going on. And then

I went downstairs only for us to find out that.

the particular apartment downstairs was seriously

on fire. And it was seriously on fire, but that's

not the story. What caught my attention is the

fact that people that were managers, that were

placed in charge of the building, were willing

to find a way to get into the building. You know,

sometimes it can just mean like, oh, I don't

live here. Right? This is my work. They don't

pay me that much to go into a place that is burning,

or they don't pay me that much. So a couple of

the men, one of them got the wrong keys. He went

back, got the right keys, pushed. I think the

other guy, and the good thing about it is that

as God would have it, the guys that were working

were around. So they were able to spot that something

was off. And then they opened, they were able

to get back, open the door. And then I could,

from just standing on the side, I could see fire

coming from. The other guy got the fire extinguisher.

He saw that, oh, that one wasn't working. He

ran upstairs, got the, I was looking, I was like.

This guy is just walking. He just walks here.

But the way he was able to take on, went in,

not thinking about his life, entered into the

place, was using it. In fact, one of them got

in. He came out. He was choking because there

were several fire extinguishers they were using.

He was choking. He came out. He still went back

in again. The other one wrapped his head, going

just to put out the fire. And they were willing

to sacrifice themselves to put out the fire that

was happening in one place. And when the lady

that owns it, because they had to call her, she

rushed back. She came into the place and she

wanted to rush into the place. They had to calm

her down because we're thinking to ourselves,

okay, there are a lot of valuables, there are

a lot of things in the place where they had to

hold her back from going in. I didn't realize

what was happening. It was when I later saw that

she had her pet, her dog was inside the place

because they had to hold her back because if

she gets into the, it was going to be problematic

because she'll be looking for something that

she'll struggle to find. So she was able to do

that. And then the fire service people came along.

And then I was thinking to myself, how quickly,

how quickly that had happened. I was just thinking,

I say, if this were to happen in a place that

I know, if this were to happen in a place that

I know, given the timeframe, everything would

have, I think a lot of other houses would have

been, but just the fact that the people that

were placed in charge took it upon themselves

to do what needed to be done to ensure that.

more properties were not and they were able to

put I think the fire I think two fire service

truck came the other one needed wasn't needed

and then he left and then they had to use the

the one that came and then they put out the fire

and as they were doing it the cleaners were coming

and they were kind of responsible I was just

like wow like if you pass around there you might

not necessarily know something happened if not

for the left and I'm very sure that before you

know it every place will be clean and everybody

back to It just points to the fact that people

placed in charge of something that know what

their responsibility and their tax or what is

to be done, they will go out of their way. Nobody

needs to tell. The owner of the school didn't

need to call and say, you guys need to, you should

be up and running. He probably is in his house.

He probably will be informed of it later on.

But everything was sorted out because some people

were placed in charge and they did what needed

to be done. because it was urgent. It was very

urgent. It needed to be acted on. If not, we'll

have more than just one apartment on fire. Praise

God. I brought that out because I want us to

picture ourselves, put ourselves in a situation

where the gospel, like that fire, needs to spread.

Praise God. The gospel needs to spread, and God

has entrusted every one of us in this room with

the tax and the responsibility of doing that.

And failure on our part to do so will mean that

the other thing, which is not the fire, which

is not the fire that we want, will spread. Because

you can't, something will spread. If the gospel

is not spread, something else will be spread.

People are very bold to tell you what they want

to sell to you. I was walking to Ika's and then

the lady blocked me and she was like, do you

need a synth? I said, the one I have, I've been

using it for 13 years. She said, oh. So if I've

been using what I have for 13 years, you cannot

give me something new. I'm comfortable and okay

with what I have. But at least she tried, right?

For somebody else, if she does that for like

20 persons, at least one person will respond

and say, okay, it's true. This line has been

disturbing. I warned them. I told them. They

have been chopping my money and they will switch.

But she made the effort to reach out. And I think

that was today when I was passing the game was

the second time. But this time was two. So the

other one, I said I have the other line. Praise

God. So I want us to understand that what we

have been given, placed in charge of, is something

that is important and is something that needs

to spread. And we have the responsibility of

doing so. Right? We have the responsibility of

doing so. And Apostle Paul, in his communication,

clearly states that it has been placed in his

trust. And we know from the writings of Paul

that he did not hold back. He ensured that everyone

around, every place he went to, the gospel was

being preached, was communicated. And I know

some of us will be thinking, it's not that serious.

Whether you like it or not, the Word of God says

we have been given that responsibility. And for

the church to grow, this is a necessity for each

and every one of us, right? For us to see growth,

for us, as I keep saying, I said it on Sunday,

I said it previously, for the empty seats to

be filled up, every one of us, we have that responsibility

of doing our own role or playing our own part

in it. Praise God. And the little inviting someone,

the little preaching to someone, the little going

out of our way, going out of, because the uncomfortable

thing to do is to speak, right? Speaking is very,

it's not the easiest. If you're a quiet person,

you have more reasons not to. But know that,

as I often say, nobody is quiet when they are

in trouble or when they need help. Praise God.

Nobody, even the most, Say I'm shy. When you

need help, you will have to speak up. You'll

have to speak up. So it means that that whole

myth of saying I don't speak or I can't speak

goes out of the window because you need help.

And in this case, God is calling out, God is

instructing and the gospel has to be. And it

says here, our role, our responsibility is to

please God. And in our pleasing God, It might

not please man, right? The person you're trying

to speak to might not be pleased with what will

come out of your mouth, but you have the responsibility

to do so. When the disciples were flogged and

asked not to preach, they had made a decision.

They did not make the decision while they were

being flogged. They had made the decision already

before that situation presented itself that no

matter what we do, we'll rather obey God than

man. Praise God. We would rather obey God than

man. And in this case, the good news has been

entrusted onto us, each and every one of us in

this room, and we are asked to go about doing

the Lord's will, which is preaching the gospel.

And the message has to be proclaimed, and the

message will be proclaimed to us. And think of

it like this. A medical doctor is in charge of

whoever the patient that comes in. his life in

the hands of the doctor. And the doctor, if the

doctor is careless, the result will be the death

of the patient. If the doctor is careful and

is diligent, if the doctor is faithful to his

art and the craft and all he had learned in medical

school, the person will be able to survive, right?

And there's a responsibility on the part of the

doctor to do his work with accuracy, do his work

with precision to be able to save the life of

that person. The same way we have the responsibility

of giving. share with people the life -giving

word of God to be able to bring them back. And

we want to communicate it in its wholeness, right?

We want to be able to communicate the word of

God in its wholeness, communicate the gospel

or give that gospel in its wholeness. And we

see the basic ingredients that has to be part

and parcel of our communications when we go out

to preach, when we go out to teach. 1 Corinthians

15, 3 -4. 1 Corinthians 15. 3 to 4. It says,

For I delivered to you, first of all, that which

I also received, that Christ died for our sins,

according to the Scriptures, that He was buried,

and He rose again on the third day, according

to Scripture. We see that He died, He was buried,

and that is the message that we preach, that

He died for our sins. He died for our sins, and

we know that that is according to the Word. He

died for our sins. He was buried. And he rose

again on the third day. And we all have believed.

We believe that he died for our sins. We believe

he has resurrected. And we are all, as I said

from the previous verse, we are witnesses, right?

We are witnesses. I said we are ambassadors.

We are witnesses. We are representing him. We

are telling people of him. We are proclaiming

the message. We are proclaiming the message.

And it's not about how the people feel about

the message. It's about... the instruction that

we're given to proclaim the message. And we do

that with everything because that's the mandate.

We've been given that. We've been instructed

to do so. We're doing the prayers. We went to

Matthew 28. We saw that even in Mark 16, 15,

it says we should go into the world and preach

the gospel to every creature. We should preach

the gospel to every creature because preaching

the gospel has the power to save. Because in

the communication, if you don't speak or you

don't communicate the gospel, there is no being

saved. There's no being delivered from sin. There's

no being delivered from all of those things.

So we're placed in charge of doing that, and

we have the great privilege to go out and do

it. And we are doing it not because we know.

You know, some people say, I have to be an expert

before I do it. Well, you can't be an expert

if you don't even give it a try. You know, many,

many times we are scared. I think I was speaking

to someone today. I think yesterday, I think

yesterday when I was speaking to someone, the

person came into my office and then he came for

the English exam that was happening at the, he

came to actually ask about how he would register

and what he would do for the English exam. So

he was, he actually was speaking to me in, he

was speaking in English, but not like proper

English. He was just saying words like English,

Turkish. He was just trying to mumble. So most

of the times when I, When that happens, I just

want to get them to do it a lot more further.

Not because I think Pastor Emmanuel will remember

this a lot of years back when we went to report

the case and then the man was feigning like he

didn't know any word of English. We were struggling

with our Turkish at that time. We struggled,

struggled, struggled, and then all of a sudden

the guy now spoke. prim and proper English. And

I didn't know which one was making me offended.

Is it the fact that I had a problem that I needed

to communicate to you and then you feigned like

you didn't understand what I was saying until

then you now say, okay, you can go ahead. It's

like the guy was like, these guys are butchering

this thing, so just go ahead. So when he came

into the office, I was like, I was like, okay.

I said, okay, I don't understand what you're

saying. I just feigned I don't understand what

you're saying. So when I saw that he tried and

tried and tried, so I now replied to him in Turkish.

I was like, okay, what do you want? Then he was

like, why did I figure? I said, okay, I'm not

here for the English exam. So if you're here

for the English exam, it means that you need

to do some more practice and practice to help

you. So I had to explain to him why I had to

do it so that he can be able to. So he said,

it's hard. English is hard. I said, everything

is hard. Like if you want to do anything at all,

it's hard and requires practice. And if you don't,

if you spend less time, because notice that you

had the hard way and you had the easy way. And

you chose the easy way because you were believing.

So if I had not been able to communicate to you

in this life, we would just be doing the hard.

You have to be stuck with it. But because I was

able to at least learn what you do your own,

you are now able to communicate easy. So it means

that for everything that you want to set out

to do, there's always the trying and failing,

the trying and failing, but you keep at it because

you need to, because he opened up and he was

talking. He said, He had failed the exam before

and he just needed to pass with 50 points. I

was like, over 100, you need to pass with 50

points. It's not even like, you just need to

pass with 50 points. So I asked him again, I

said, okay, what course are you studying? He

said, he's studying psychology. So I was like,

wow, you're studying psychology and you just

want to be treating patients in Turkish. Like

you have a broader clientele if you expand or

you learn the other language. So I just, just

trying to. motivate him to do. And the same applies

to anything that we want to do. If you want to

go out, there's always the first time. There's

always the doing it and doing it until you get

better. There's the fear, but we don't let fear

hold us back. We push past the fear and believe

that we're doing God's work, right? We're doing

God's will. We're not allowing ourselves be a

limitation to what God wants us to do. We're

pushing past the hurdle of, the difficulty, and

we're saying, I'll do it regardless. And doing

stuff when you're afraid, you'll make mistakes,

right? You make mistakes and you might be scared,

but you do it anyways and believe God for it

because the disciples themselves had those phases,

right? They had times where they messed things

up. We can read it. And the good thing about

the word of God is that it doesn't, there are

instances where people messed up that you can

read. and learn how not to mess it up, right?

Because the problem is that we don't learn. We

read God's word and we probably just make the

same mistake, but we look at it and we see that

the disciples themselves had times where there

was a struggle, where they moved past that. And

then we see examples of individuals that opened

their mouth and proclaimed the gospel and we

see 3 ,000 people. are saved, right? We see even

people like Philip, right? Philip is not even,

like Philip was just appointed to serve tables,

right? He was a minister, he was a deacon, was

appointed to serve tables. We see him not allow

himself, I'm not part of the elite, I'm not a

part of it, but he went into a city and he still,

he did what was instructed. And every one of

them have this. that this thing that we have

been given, we have to ensure that others come

to the knowledge of it. And I'm challenging everyone

of us here that you want to go in with that same

mindset, that consciousness, that in the little

way. I shared on Sunday that the woman at the

well, in closing, I shared on Sunday with the

woman, I'm closing now, in closing on Sunday,

I shared because I heard somebody saying, oh

yeah, he's closing already. In closing Sunday,

I shared that the woman didn't have much, she

didn't have much training. But with what she

knew, she did what she could. And a lot of people

showed up, right? A lot of people showed up.

It means that with what you know, you can be

able to, the main thing is that your motives

are right. You have, you know what the message

is, right? You know what the message is. It just

means that, and the means to go about it is there.

You have been taught, you have been explained

to. You just go out. and do it. So let's read

Acts 2, 14 and 41. Yeah, 14. It says, But Peter,

standing up with eleven, raised his voice and

said to them, Men of Judea and all who dwell

in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and heed

my words. Just keep it here. Note that he says,

this is him opening his mouth and proclaiming.

During the course of the prayer, he sounds, he

knows what he's saying, right? He has been given

the instruction. He knows that, okay, this is

how we need to do it. He didn't say, he didn't

stand up and then he was quiet. He stood up and

raised, Scripture says he raised his voice and

said to them. He didn't just pray in his heart

for them, right? He didn't write their names

down and say that we're praying for them. He

went ahead to speak to them. He raised his voice

and said to them, and he says, men of Judea and

all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known

to you and heed my words. And he goes on and

on. And in 41, now we see what happens as a result

of that. In 41, we see that, you see, then those

who, gladly received his word. So he had spoken,

and we see the result. We're baptized, and that

day, about 3 ,000 souls were added to them. 3

,000 souls were added to them. So we see that

he spoke, and the good thing about it, as I said,

you see that he says, and he spoke to those who

gladly, so there are those who gladly received,

right? You have instances where some people will

sadly walk away. Right? They will sadly not respond.

I said, if you invite 10 people and then two

people respond, glory to God, you continue. Right?

We continue because more people need to hear,

more people need to hear the word. It says, and

then 3 ,000 happened. And we see subsequent chapters,

we see that different things happens. If you

have more, 5 ,000, you have all of that were

saved. And then we see the example of Philip

as well. We see another example, Philip. Acts

8. Let's just look at 5. Let's look at 5. Just

8 verse 5. Let's just look at 5. We see different

examples. Then Philip went down to the city of

Samaria and preached Christ to them. So he went

to a whole city. And, you know, we're in the

city of Nicosia, right? In the city of Nicosia.

And for most of us, we have, like, this is one

person going and doing. Like going and you can

say, okay, probably, what was he doing? He has

a lot of time in his hands. Praise God. But know

that you have the same opportunities that you

have when you interact with people to communicate.

And then for you to do the work of communicating,

some will agree, in fact, some will look like

they don't agree, but the seed of the word has

been sown. And what will happen is that when

you do... speak to the individual. Somebody else

comes, does the same thing. Somebody else comes.

What will keep happening is that the word will

continue to wear and then the person will respond.

Praise God. The person will respond. And we take

time. When we go out, we take time to also pray

for the individuals that you have spoken with,

that the word will continue to take root in the

hearts of the individual and they respond. But

know that we will not fail to do our responsibility,

right? Of opening our mouths as Peter did. as

Philip did. Because if they had not done that,

you will not have seen the result or we will

not have seen the response. So our challenge

as a church is that when we have programs, take

for instance, we have in October, that's coming

month in October, we have the different meetings

that are announced to us. We have our workers

meeting on the 3rd. We have the outreach we have

on the 5th. We have the open air concert on the

night, right? Yeah, that's the time on a Friday,

Monday and a Friday. And what you have the, like,

asides when we come here and pray, you want to

have times where it comes to mind. You write

them down. You pray for the meetings that we

have. You pray for the services that we have

and pray that people will be, the gospel will

meet people. Praise God. That people will hear,

people that are just wandering around. It will

look like a coincidence, but it was perfectly

and divinely orchestrated that they show up around

there. That they will hear something, right?

They will hear something. That the words in the

song, the words in the song will minister to

them. That the things that will be said will

minister to them. And the opportunities that

we have when we're hanging around, when people

are asking questions, we'll have opportunities

to minister to them. Praise God. I have heard

stories of where even the, and sometimes we are

the ones that place a limit as to how God is

able to meet people, right? The people that we

have instances where people will see a flyer

and they're just drawn, see a flyer and something

changes, something shifts. In fact, see a flyer

and even get healed, right? See a flyer and even

get healed. And as we're using our flyers to

do publicity, we're using our flyer, we know

that it goes beyond the flyer. It's the instruction

that we obey of God that God will, because it's

in our actions that we see response, right? Our

opening our mouth are speaking. The flyer is

also speaking, right? When someone reads the

flyer, when someone looks at the flyer, all of

those things are opportunities that God will

be able to use and cost life and draw and pull

people to himself. Praise God. But we don't want

to be inactive. We want to actively engage and

actively believe that God will be able to use

us to do the work. I want us to see something

in 1 Corinthians 3, 5 -6. 1 Corinthians 3, 5

-6. I'll go back to Acts again, but let's just

do 1 Corinthians 3, 5 -6. Yeah, it says, Who

then is Paul? And who is Apollos but ministers

through whom you believe as the Lord gave to

each one? Right? Six. I planted, Apollos watered,

but God gave the increase. I want us to see something.

It says, but God gave the increase. Aside the

fact that we see that God gave the increase,

you know, some of you say, oh, it's God now.

It's God that does the work. But understand that

They are ministers that did the groundwork, right?

They are ministers that did the groundwork. He

talks about Paul. He talks about Apollos, right?

He talks about Apollos. He says, I planted, Apollos

watered, and God, you see that different individuals

were responsible for what God later does. And

the responsibility says, Apostle Paul is saying

he planted. Someone else waters. And then we

see an increase. Just imagine if Paul did not

plant. Apollos did not water. Would we be talking

about an increase? Praise God. Would we be talking

about an increase? What it means is that there

has to be a planting. There has to be an action.

There has to be the word that is communicated

to the individual. There has to be a seed that

is sown. There has to be... the watering of that

seed. There has to be different paths coming

to play, right? As I was saying earlier, you

spoke to the person, the person heard it for

the first time. And we know that the person probably

might not fully comprehend it the first time.

Sometimes they comprehend it very quickly, but

you don't even know the background work that

has been done previously by other persons. What

the person's response is what you're looking

for to that response. You're looking for to them,

as we saw on the previous, texts where we read,

we see that those people gladly responded and

they were baptized. And for some of us, when

we see that, we're like, why is my own not like

that? Why do I always leave discouraged after

I have tried? No, what you have just done is

that you have tried, right? You have tried and

we all will keep trying. Praise God. We all will

keep trying because God, I love the fact that

it says, God gave. Praise God. God gave. I know

you'll be thinking, yeah, he's talking about

it in the past, but God does give the increase.

But other things are tied to that. He does give

the increase, meaning that it's sure. It's sure.

I don't know about you, but it's sure. Because

if there's anything, we are the ones that can

fail to plant. We are the ones that can fail

to water. Praise God. But God never fails. When

everything has been done to give the increase,

meaning that if you speak to someone, God doesn't

fail to cause that thing to work in the hearts

of that person. Praise God. When we go out of

our way and do the things that is needed for

increase to happen, we'll see increase. Praise

God. But when we sit down and say, going back

to what had happened today, I said, those people

had this consciousness of the fact that I am

part of this. I am responsible for this place.

If anything bad happens, I will take responsibility

for it. Not the owner will take responsibility

for it. I will take responsibility for it. And

they went out of their way to do all that they

did to address the situation. Praise God. I want

us to have that same consciousness, that same

urgency. Don't look at it and say, it is God's

church. It is the church of NECF. It's the pastors

that will be responsible. Have that consciousness

that, It is every one of us here that puts our

hands together to see it work. You know, sometimes

you just think, you'll be like, how can people

see something not going right and have the means

to resolve it and then act like it's not? You

know, that thing can happen over and over again

where you're desensitized to. the way things

should be. Because you have seen it a lot of

times that way, and then you feel like, my impute

will not do anything. The one or two persons

that I reach out to will not do anything. Right?

Because you are hoping and expecting that, yeah,

every other person is doing something. But just

imagine a situation where every other person

is doing the work faithfully. Apostle Paul is

talking about how Apollos is watering. He is

planting. He knows that he is planting and he

keeps planting. And there is a list of many other

people that are planting, right? You know, if

every one of us is planting, you can imagine

what will happen when we need to harvest, right?

Every one of us is planting faithfully, right?

Because you know when you plant, you don't even

see anything, right? You just, you have to have

faith, right? And you know that there's something

that is on that ground. And then you keep watering

and watering. At some point in time, something

happens to make you understand that, yeah, we

didn't waste our time, right? We didn't waste

our time. But if you are looking at it for the

first few weeks, you'll be like, are you sure

this was the spot I planted? Praise God. But

we don't stop because we know that seed has been

sown in this particular area. We keep at it.

Praise God. And my encouragement to us is that

you don't go out of your way to speak to people.

and not take the time to water, right? And watering

can come in the area of where you're praying

for that person that you've spoken to, right?

Because many of us take the time and we just

do the work and check it, like check it. And

then we don't take time to pray particularly,

specifically for the individuals that, in fact,

we don't even do it for our people in church.

Like you're not necessarily praying for them,

it's the ones that are here. You know, we don't

have that consciousness of the fact that, okay,

I've not seen a brother. I've not seen a sister.

And these people, I kind of know them or they're

close. And you don't even have to be in a relationship.

You don't have to know them personally. You want

to be conscious of the fact that I've not seen

this person. How about I reach out to them? Because

that is also you watering the person, right?

That's also you encouraging the person. That's

also you going out of your way to ensure that

the person that is here doesn't go away. Praise

God. And that is part of the things that, and

you know, when we read from Thessalonians where

it was talking about motives, you know, people

will say, oh, I go out of my way to do this.

Know that your motives is seen, like, many times

we can't tell what's in your heart. But the way

you act or your actions will communicate to us

what exactly is going on in there. Because we

can't see, right? We can't see what's going on

inside. But we know that when we see you act,

we can know what... Exactly, we can deduce from

your action. So if you are here and you don't

even care about the people that we can see here,

we don't need anybody to put two and two together

to help us understand that what's happening around

doesn't really concern you, right? What's happening

around doesn't really concern you. But the challenge

or the encouragement is that God does give the

increase, right? God does give the increase as

we put in the effort to labor, put in the effort.

to reach out to others, put in the effort to

see to it. And I want to see that, I think, 6

and 7 in the NLT of this particular chapter,

6 and 7. So it says, I planted the seed in your

hearts, and Apollos watered it. But it is God

who made it grow. And 7, it says, it is not important

who does the planting or what does. or who does

the watering. What is important is what God makes.

What is important is that God makes the seed

grow. And it's, then it just brings into light

the fact that God is the one that takes the center

stage. He was just, because he's addressing a

situation that happens where people are trying

to, but we understand that our responsibilities

are important. But what is greatly important

is the fact that God causes it to grow. God causes

every seed, God causes every labor and every

work that is put in to grow. And we said that,

just going back to that area of our responsibility,

in Acts 1 .8, just go to Acts 1 .8 in the New

King James. Acts 1 .8 in the New King James.

It says, But you shall receive power when the

Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be

witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and all Judea and

Samaria. and to the ends of the earth, and to

the ends of the earth. So we see that in 1 .8,

it says, you shall receive power when the Holy

Ghost comes upon you, and you shall be my witnesses.

Witnesses are individuals that are your witness.

You are telling of something that happened. So

witnesses, remember from the previous, we said,

you can't be a witness that doesn't open your

mouth to speak. You can't be a witness that doesn't

sow seed. You can't be a witness that doesn't

water the seed that you sow. because it's like

anytime I see this passage, you have received

something and then you do nothing about it. And

as I said previously, you can get used to receiving

stuff and doing nothing about it. And for many

of us in church environments, you just hear something,

hear something, hear something, do nothing about

it. And my charge and encouragement is that let's

do something about it. And what you can do is

the little things. Remember what I told us about

the... The guy that came to the office and then

he was asking. Then he ended up asking me one

thing. He says, so what do I advise him to do

to improve? I told him, I said, it's the little

things. Very little things like ensuring that

when you have a movie to watch, watch it in English,

not Turkish. When you have a song to listen to,

listen to it in English, not Turkish. Because

even if you don't listen to Turkish or if you

don't speak Turkish for the longest of time,

you'll still speak, right? Any language you know

how to speak, that's ticked, it's done. But any

language you want to learn, you have to put in

the work, which is apply yourself to see if you

can. Praise God. And in this case, you have received

the next thing that should happen because you're

witness, right? You're taking the work and then

you witness. And in this place, they are witnessing

to Jerusalem, in Judea, Samaria, and to the end

of the world. So you're going far and wide. And

we see... We see Philip going to do that. We

see the instruction given. We see them acting

on instruction. And as I said, we can get used

to listening, not doing anything about it. And

what you can do after this is making the effort.

And some of us, we know this very well because

you'll be sitting down somewhere or you'll be

at a place and then you hear the Holy Spirit

prompt you to speak to someone. And then you're

like, it's a beautiful idea. And then you'll

be asking for more other signs. If the person

just smile at me. If the person says hi, you'll

be like, you'll be doing fleas. And most of the

times God is very precious. And sometimes you

will find yourself meeting that person a couple

of times. Praise God. So this is an encouragement

to us that we should go out of our way and share.

We have opportunities in the church. Evangelism

happens on a Saturday. Go out of your way to

work with other people and watch them. Praise

God. Because you're paired in two. You say, oh,

I've not done this before. You'll do it and then

you get better at it. You are in your classroom.

You have someone sitting next to you before the

class starts. You just ask a question. and then

it starts up a conversation. You'll be amazed

how many people are interested in hearing you

speak. But if you don't, you keep quiet. And

once you do, if the person tells you they're

a Christian and you ask them, okay, what church

do you attend? They say, okay, I've not found

a church yet. You have an opportunity to invite

them to yours. Praise God. But if you had not

started the conversation in the first place,

you wouldn't have gotten there. If you don't

speak, nobody knows. Praise God. If you don't

speak, Nobody will know what exactly it is that

you have to say. And we have a solution, right?

People have problems. We have the solution. And

we have the solution in God. We have the solution

in his word. We have the solution in prayer.

We want to exercise our authority. Praise God.

Because remember, with the responsibility that

has been given unto us, we have on the authority

that we exercise, right? We have the authority

that we exercise in God. to get things done or

to help people or to minister to people's situation.

Praise God. So the very key things is that all

of these individuals, the same way the instruction

was given, they were reliable and available for

the instruction to take place. Praise God. Because

in Philip's case, he was very much reliable and

very much available to do the work that was called

to. And the challenge or the encouragement to

us is that we have to be available. We have to

be people that are reliable to see or to get

the work done. And I saw something I would love

to share. It says, growth comes from a Christ

-centered focus, which produces a Christ -centered

life. When our work and our passion and our life

is centered on Christ, Christ -centered, when

our focus is on Christ, and we know that that

is in His Word and the teaching and the training,

what will happen is that the life that comes

as a result will be bettered from Him. Remember,

I said an ambassador doesn't represent himself.

Ambassador represents the one who has sent them.

The moment your focus is representing Him and

pleasing the one who has sent you, it means that

every other thing you will do will be in line.

with what the instruction or what the person

that sent you is. And know that when we give

ourselves to staying in God's word, we give ourselves

to training, the end result is that we see growth

in our lives. We see growth in the lives of people

that are around us. Praise God. So it means that

we have this consciousness to always center.

And when we are doing that, we're doing it for

ourselves. We're doing it with the end goal of

people being blessed. People will be impacted.

And as I talked about the meetings that we're

having, I said, you want to put before you the

fact that in this meeting, you want to see it

marked with miracles, signs, and wonders. You

want to see God move mightily in the hearts of

people. You want to see the supernatural. You

want to see God empower. You want to see God

minister to people like never before. You want

to see people come and experience God's power.

You know, that is a prayer that you can pray

every day. until the different events and you'll

find yourself not stopping. Praise God. Because

after you see God move mightily in such a way,

you'll know that really He does meet the needs

of His people when they open their mouth and

they speak or they pray to Him about it. So what

we want to do is we want to, first and foremost,

desire to see God walk in and through us because

His walk in us will result in an expression or

a manifestation of His power through us. And

as ambassadors, We're empowered to do God's work.

We are not going to get the power because we

said for growth to happen, he causes growth.

He causes growth. When we have made everything

available for him to do, everything available

for him to cause growth, we will see growth and

we will see increase. And we have to be reliable.

We have to be available, right? We have to be

reliable and available and we have to make ourselves

available for the things that will cause the

forbearance of the kingdom of God. We're making

ourselves available. When we say, okay, we're

meeting to go out and we make ourselves available.

When we say, okay, there's a concert that's going

to happen and we need everybody to be there.

Because we are people that want to see God made

manifest or see God made manifest in the lives

of people, we will show up there because we know

that God is interested in that and we want to

be there to be part and parcel of what God is

doing. Praise God. The same way in the church,

you want to be part and parcel of what God is

doing. And you want to make out time to say,

okay, I've learned this. I want to share with

this. I want to talk to somebody about what I've

learned. And that is how we actively make progress

in our work, make progress because as you're

saying, okay, I've learned this. You know, I

was thinking about this. Let me say this in closing.

You know, when you're praying and you're believing

God, okay, for this and this to happen, you know,

we'll pray and say, okay, God should deliver

us. You know, you are praying that prayer, and

sometimes you fail to understand that there are

people around you that can make it work or can

frustrate it. You yourself can be what will make

it work and frustrate it, and there are people

around you that can. Imagine you're doing the

hard work of doing it, and then someone close

to you, you have a housemate. That housemate

is frustrating. In fact, the housemate is testing

your love work. Your housemate is testing your

love book and you're trying to make progress.

Do you know that if you spend time praying for

that housemate, your own growth will happen because

you are dealing with a challenge that will help

you grow. Praise God. I don't know whether we

understand what I just said because you are taking

time to say, okay, but when you take time and

pray for that individual, pray for that person

that you know that India You will be on the next

level. Praise God. It will shift. It will pull

you. It will stretch you, but you will see yourself

learning something in that process that will

help you to build. And many of the times we neglect

the fact that when we see God move in a certain

kind of way, because we believe God for that,

it helps us to exercise ourselves, our faith

for even something greater. Praise God. He helps

us to excite our fear for something greater.

And God's word is powerful. God's word is able

to help us, meet us at the very point of our

need. And we don't want to put ourselves in a

bind or put ourselves in a fixed world. We put

a limitation on what God is able to do in and

through us. Because God is able to empower us.

God is able to cause growth in us that result

in growth in the lives of others. God is able

to help members, help friends. And when I mean

members, I also mean family members. to come

to the knowledge of the truth. And it just takes

you taking the time and praying and saying, I

want to see God made manifest in and through

the life of this person. And we'll see God faithfully.

Sure, because he always gives the increase. Praise

God. I want us to open our mouths and just pray

for ourselves. Pray that we'll continue to be

effective representatives of God. We appreciate

you being here today. We hope you carry this

word with you throughout your week. Don't forget

to check the show notes for additional insights.

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Until next time, stay blessed.