Victory Life KY

Ambassadors III

Episode Summary

Remember, Jesus told us to put the Kingdom of Heaven first. He knows that when we do this, God will open doors and surround us with His favor. As His ambassadors, He will position us for influence.

Episode Notes

• 2 Corinthians 5:14-15,17-21,NKJV- For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 
• 15, and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
• 17,Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 
• 18,Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 
• 19, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 
• 20, Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 
• 21, For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

• Philippians reminds us, we are citizens of Heaven.

• I’m just wondering how many of us go through humanity, confident that Heaven is our destination, grateful Jesus made us righteous, but give little consideration to the world God says we’re currently citizens of.

• We get so consumed with this portion of what we call life but leave the Kingdom this distant, future reality.

• Remember, Jesus told us to put the Kingdom of Heaven first. He knows that when we do this, God will open doors and surround us with His favor.

• As His ambassadors, He will position us for influence.

• Psalm 18, He arms us with strength, gives us victory, enlarges our path, making us great. He will deliver us from the strivings of people, putting us in leadership roles in society.

• His original design was and is, “Let them have dominion.”

• 2 Chronicles 16:9,NKJV- For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. 

• Something I think we might still struggle with, God is Sovereign. Which means, “Let them have dominion” hasn’t changed, because He doesn’t change.

• This is why He’s constantly looking for His sons and daughters, heirs to the Kingdom to be His ambassadors in the earth.

• And I get it, putting the unseen world above what we see can be a challenge. And most definitely requires sacrifice.

• Romans 8:28-30,NKJV-  And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 
• For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 
• Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

• And I realize, because of our enemy’s constant distractions, vision drift can set in. Let’s face it, it’s just easier to accept Him as Savior than Lord.

• The enemy knows that if he’s even the slightest bit successful, this world will dictate our decisions and actions, limiting our authority and influence.

• This is why Ephesians makes it very clear, “Give no place to the devil”

• And even though Chronicles tells us God is looking for loyalty, without revelation of who Jesus actually is to us, that loyalty will be nothing more than religious practice. 

• Matthew 16:15-16,NKJV- He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

• And on Peter’s revelation of who Christ is, Jesus gave him the keys to the Kingdom.
• Keys represent, access, possession, and authority.

• Our ambassadorship hinges on this reality, who do you say that He is?

• You remember, Jesus told us us to pray, the Father’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven?

• As His church today, our role is to be an extension of the Kingdom. To exercise authority, demonstrating God’s government.

• The thing is, it was never His plan for it to be reduced to what we do within the walls of what we’ve concluded is the church.

• We come together for fellowship, unity, worship, inspiration, edification and equipping. But we actually become the church when we go out.

• Ephesians 4:11-16,NKJV- And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, 
• 12, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 
• 13, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 
• 14, that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 
• 15, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ,
• 16, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

• From God’s perspective, in our new nature, we are seated with Christ in Heaven, but in our humanity, just like Jesus when He was on the planet in a body, was our example, and now we’re assigned to finish what He started.

• This is why He gave us the keys to the Kingdom. But when we refuse to step into our role, not only do we undermine God’s government, we actually give place to the enemy.

• Let’s go back to what Jesus told us concerning His Kingdom.

• Matthew 6:24,33,NIV- No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
• 33, But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

• He knows that whatever we prioritize is what will shape how we live.

• Throughout Jesus' short time here He spend a large portion of His ministry teaching and revealing the Kingdom of God.

• But like most of us today, even His closest followers had issues with what many refer to as the "mysteries of the Kingdom."

• It was such as issue that after His resurrection, He came back and spent another month with them going over Kingdom realities.

• Acts 1:3,AMP- To these men He also showed Himself alive after His suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross, by a series of many infallible proofs and unquestionable demonstrations, appearing to them over a period of forty days and talking to them about the things concerning the kingdom of God.

• Something every disciple has to come to terms with concerning the realities of the Kingdom of God, and that is that we can only function to the level of our current revelation.

• Remember, who do you say that I am?

• But because of free will, not to mention the deception of our enemy, kingdom realities becoming a priority don’t always make the cut.

• Think about it for a second, it's our priorities that define us.

• When we neglect to put the things of the Kingdom first; Ephesians shows us that we remain children tossed in different directions.

• So the enemy works relentlessly from within the church, many times under the deception of religion, keeping us divided.

• I believe we're having this talk because God's raising up disciple that will dare to believe that all things are possible.

• That will make the choice to seek first the Kingdom of God.

• Let's remember, God told us if you seek Me you will find Me.

• And it's not like He's hiding.

• It's just that He's in a different Kingdom, a different world, what most believers call the spirit.

• And I get it, it's difficult to practice putting a world first that we can't see, when we're constantly putting the one we can first.

• And it’s absolutely understandable, there's a lot of Christians that just want to live a good life and go to Heaven.

• And because of God's amazing grace you can.

• But, what if our King is actually counting on us being ambassadors for Him while we're here?

• Colossians 3:17,MSG-  Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

• And God's plan from the beginning is for His government to be established in the earth through His body, the church.

• Luke 17:20-21,NKJV- Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, See here! or see there! For indeed, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU.

• Is it possible that God created a life for us where everything we need in this earth is independent of the current world we live in?

• What if Jesus is right?

• What if all we have to do is seek the Kingdom of God first?

• Christians need to realize Jesus isn't telling us we have to live a certain way out of some religious, legalistic obligation; 

• He's trying to get us to understand, kind of like a fish out of water, we can't live in two worlds.

• As He said, even though we're still in this one, we are no longer of it.

• What if this is the place God is talking about where all things are possible?

• Remember, as new creations, citizens of His world, ambassadors called by Him, we’re built to live a different way.