I Am An Ambassador Series

[This sermon is adapted from sermon by Craig Groeschel, LifeChurch.TV in the series Who Do You Think You Are?]

Who do you think you are? I am an ambassador for Christ.

• If you are taking notes, you need to write this down: When you know WHO you are, you’ll know WHAT to do.

• You can say I'm a student, I'm a Christian, or I'm a Pastor. When you know you are a student, it affects the way you behave.

• I am a pastor; I know what I had to do. Not always, not everything, but at least the most fundamental or important responsibilities of a pastor.

• When you know WHO you are, you’ll know WHAT to do. But that is not always true for many of us.

Who Do You Think You Are is the name of this message series.

• The problem for many Christians is this - they don't know who they really are in Christ.

• They are not sure, or they are not convinced of it, and hence, because they don’t know who they are, they are unable to act like one.

• Because if you do not know who you are, you’ll not know how to behave or what to do.

This comes out in the little actions we have – like getting someone to lead in prayer.

• For example, at Christmas dinner or some big events, almost every time when someone says, “Let’s say grace for the food”, everyone eyes will to the pastor.

• And if I turn around and say, “I’ll be happy to, but why don’t you do it?”

• You’d probably be shocked. “I’m just an ordinary member, or ‘normal’ Christian, you’re the pastor!”

• What goes on in the mind usually is: “You’re the pastor, I am just a worker, or a housewife, or just a student. You are the pastor; I am just a _________.”

“I am just a _______”. Reckon that there is a difference in roles and responsibilities, yet this train of thought does reveal something that is not true.

• I’ve heard people say, “I’m just an ordinary member, or normal Christian.”

• This phrase is an oxymoron, because the fact that you are a Christian, there is nothing ordinary about you.

• We are all equally precious and special in the eyes of God. We are saved by Christ, and filled with the same Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the grave. Every one of us has the same power when we pray in the Name of Jesus.

If you have access to the very throne of God, anytime, then you are not ordinary.

• If you have the authority to use the Name of Jesus, and move mountains, then you are not ordinary.

• If you are a Christian, there is nothing ordinary about you actually, according to the Scriptures.

When you know who you are, you'll know what to do.

• So in this series, we want to know who we are in Christ, so we will know what to do.

• Today, we are going to remind ourselves – we are ambassadors for Christ!

• 2 weeks later (next Sun: DVD session on WHEN GOD’S PEOPLE PRAY), we are going to see ourselves as the Masterpiece of God, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.

• In June, you are going to talk about being an OVERCOMER in Christ

• In July, you are the SALT of the earth and the LIGHT of the world.

• And finally we are going to end with being a DISCIPLE of Christ.

2 Cor 5:16-21 16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Paul says if anyone is IN CHRIST, then what is he? He is a NEW CREATION.

• The old - what happened to it? It has GONE, the NEW has come!

• Therefore Paul says we regard no one from a worldly point of view.

• Don’t bring anything old with you, because in Christ, we are all new creation.