#449 Ambassadors for Christ

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all.

Genres to share your unique gifts with the world.

We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelli Hitz. This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

Welcome to the Kingdom Writers Podcast. My name is Shelly Hitz, one of your hosts. This episode is an excerpt from our virtual writing retreat we host every month inside our membership Christian Book Academy. You can join us with a special coupon code just for podcast listeners and this will get you 50% off your first month. Use the coupon code podcast and this way we can help you take a step of faith and finally finish your book. So go to ChristianBookAcademy.com and enter the Coupon Code Podcast at checkout for 50% off your first month. Come join us at our retreats and all the other things that we offer throughout the month. And I pray that the encouragement from this episode blesses you.

Okay, well, welcome to the May virtual Retreat Writing Retreat Kickoff Selling. Shelly and CJ are off doing family things. That's great for them, and they ask me to fill in. So I will be doing.

Everything today, which is a little weird for me, and admittedly I am a little bit nervous. Shelly and CJ do such a great job, so I want to be sure to bring you the same great encouragement that they bring every month. We always start out with a theme, and the theme for this weekend is ambassadors. I want to share with you what it is, what it means to be an ambassador for Christ.

Being an ambassador is a lot more than what we think it is. A couple of months back, I got to thinking about this and wondered, you know, what does it mean to be an ambassador? And what does that look like in my life? You know, do. Do I represent my nation? So I did a little bit of study and I did some comparison work and came up with what it looks like, you know, what. What a US Ambassador does and what we as Christ ambassadors do. And I'd like to open up with this scripture from First Corinthians 5, verses 19 through 20, For Christ, for God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's ambassadors. God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ. And many of those things we've already mentioned in the comments that we had this morning. So I want to look at specifically five Things that involve ambassadors, we all got this one right? We represent a nation. In, in our case, we represent the kingdom of God.

A u. S. Ambassador has to be a citizen of the U.S. that kind of goes without saying.

They are nominated by the president and they have to be confirmed by the Senate. But that ambassador can be dismissed at any time by a word from the president. Right?

We as ambassadors for Christ have to be citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Philippians 3:20 tells us that we are. It says we are citizens of heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ lives.

We speak and act on behalf of the kingdom of God, not on behalf of Earth.

Number two, an ambassador is always stationed in a foreign territory, doesn't stay in the US and.

You know, be an ambassador for France. Now if he's an ambassador to France, he lives in France.

As Christ's ambassadors, we, we're living in the world, the world. This earth is.

Our foreign nation, our home is heaven. So the whole world is our ambassador ship. You know, it's our territory. We represent Christ wherever we are. We don't have to pick up and leave the United States and go represent Jesus in Kenya, unless that's what God calls us to do to be a missionary in Kenya. We are ambassadors 247 wherever we're living. And the wonderful thing about it is is that God's not going to tell us, you're fired. Right? We're ambassadors, and our job is not to blend in to the society that we live in. It's to be salt and light to that world that desperately needs us. Right?

When an ambassador from the US Goes to another country, he does not adopt the culture, the dress, the speech, you know, he. He does not adapt himself to the culture that he's living in. He brings the culture of the United States to the country that he's living in. So anyone in that nation that sees that man or that woman, they are going to know that that person is not from there, right? For number one, they may not immediately know that they're an ambassador unless they're wearing of sash or medals or something, some kind of uniform that might.

Indicate that. But they will know when they see them that that person is not from Egypt or from France or wherever the case may be.

We need to be able to do that same thing. When people look at us, they need to see something that's different. They may not be able to figure it out, but they need to say there's something different about her, there's something different about him, and they want to find out what it is. It piques their interest.

So don't adapt to the culture that you're living in. Be become the image of Christ.

Third, the job of an ambassador is to build relationships, to help influence the relationships from one country to another. Right?

Ambassadors that cultivate those kind of relationships and to help promote peace between the US and whatever nation they are serving in. As ambassadors of Christ, we're building authentic relationships with the people around us to show them the love and truth of Jesus and to help reconcile them to God.

We don't strong arm people into the kingdom. Doesn't work, not at all. We invite them in with love and grace. The world needs the words that we have to share. And that's the message that God has given us, those words for us to share. God wants all of his children to share the gospel, but he's given each of us a unique message that's unique to us, that only we can share. Because we only we have experienced all of the things that we have experienced. So we each have a unique message. Whether we share it through speaking engagements, blog posts that we might write, social media memes that we might create, and the books that we write, we have a specific message that God wants us to share that will show the world who God is.

Ambassadors are the highest ranking diplomat in the diplomatic corps and they have the full authority of the US behind them. This is the one that I think a lot of us often forget, though I know that there was one person that mentioned the authority in the chat.

An ambassador never acts on personal opinion. They always follow the policies of their government. So when they speak, they're not speaking personal opinion, they are speaking the policies of the US government.

We want to speak the words of God and he's given us the Bible so that we know what God's message is to spread to the world. We don't follow our own preferences. John 14:15 says, if you love me, obey my commandments.

We can conduct our lives with boldness because we know we have the authority of God behind us.

Just like when a policeman directs traffic. I think that's the best analogy that there is to show this comparison. That policeman has no physical ability to stop a car or a truck that might be coming toward him when he is standing in the middle of the street conducting traffic.

But he's wearing a uniform and people recognize the uniform and they recognize the authority behind that uniform. So when he puts his hand up to stop, those cars will stop because they recognize the authority. We have God's authority behind us now. Yes, the world may not recognize that authority. But we can stand boldly and speak boldly and write boldly because we know that we have God's authority behind us.

Number five, Ambassadors are protected but accountable, right? US Ambassadors are protected by diplomatic immunity. Pretty sure we all understand that diplomatic immunity means that that person is not subject to the jurisdictions and laws of the country that they're serving in. So technically, yes, they could do something wrong in that country but not be able to be brought to justice because they're not accountable to that country's laws. They are accountable only to their own government.

We are protected by God's grace and backed by his power. When I think about this protection, I think about the fact that we're living in a world of darkness.

But we have God's protection around us. We have angels around us. 24:7 Psalm 91 is all about the protection that God has for us in this dark world. He has sent us out into this world to bring a message, whether, like I said, whether it's through speaking or through what we write.

But he has his hand around us. We're still called to accountability and to integrity. In other words, we can't go out there and do whatever we want. Right? It wouldn't be right for us to go out and break the law. That is not a good model of the kingdom of God. We are still accountable to the laws of God. Romans 14:12 says, yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. That really makes you stop and think. Doesn't.

Does me.

Protected Again, the US does not send ambassadors to another country and expect them to pay their own way. They're paid a salary, they're given housing oftentimes they're given a cost of living allowance. They're given health and life insurance. Their needs are provided for.

Imagine if you would. Again, here's an analogy that we often don't think about, but it's just is so obvious.

What would it say to the country that we sent our ambassadors to if we just sent them and said, okay, you go represent us in France, but you're going to have to find a job and you're going to have to pay your own way to do it. We're not going to provide you with anything.

It wouldn't say very much good about the United States, would it? Well.

Would God do that? We don't stop to think about that. But God has sent us as ambassadors into this dark world. He will provide for our needs. Over and over again it tells us in the Bible, God supplies all of our needs. But I think we tend to let doubt and fear creep in too often and we. We forget that we have to remind ourselves that God sent us here for a purpose. He wants us to succeed. And he's going to do everything in his power to help us succeed.

We are his children. He is not going to abandon us by any way. So we do not have to worry about anything.

As a final thought, a U.S. ambassador serves for a limited time.

As Christ ambassadors. Guess what? We get to serve a lifetime. We serve as his ambassadors until he takes us home to heaven.

And our goal is to reflect Jesus so clearly that others want to know the King. We represent.

Our words that we send forth in whatever form.

Need to represent Jesus clearly. So people who read those words want to know the Jesus that we're talking about.

Throughout the Bible, God tells us to be strong and courageous.

If I had to pick a favorite, I would probably pick the Book of Joshua as one of my favorites from the Bible. Not really sure why it's my favorite, other than I can just really identify with Joshua in a lot of ways. And in the Book of Joshua, I haven't counted them, but God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous. A lot of times he is taking over for Moses. So yes, he's got big shoes to fill. And I'm kind of feeling that way right now because I'm trying to fill CJ's shoes. I understand how Joshua could feel.

In chapter one alone. God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous three times. Sometimes he even adds an extra adverb in there. Be strong and very courageous.

He's saying the same thing to us. And I want to end with Deuteronomy 31:6. So be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not panic. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you. I'm getting goosebumps from that this morning. Let me give us a closing prayer. Heavenly Father, thank. Thank you so much for your watchful care over us. Thank you that you have given each of us a unique purpose and a unique message, and you have sent us out into the world to be your ambassadors. Let us be ever mindful of that mission, Lord, to represent you in a true and faithful way. Help us to grow to be more Christlike every day, in our actions, in our words.

In everything that we do. Lord, let us be cognizant of your presence, cognizant of our purpose, cognizant of the mission that you have given each of us to represent Christ to a dark and needy world. Lord.

I thank you and praise you that you have given us your word as our daily guide.

Help us to take it in, to understand it as we read it each day. Thank you and praise you Lord for who you are and all that you do in our lives. Strengthen us. Help us to be strong, Lord and courageous as you have commanded so often in the Bible. We have absolutely no reason not to be strong and courageous because we know that we have you right there to call on right there supporting us right there with all the authority that we need.

Thank you and I praise you Lord, in Jesus name, Amen.

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Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, as a Christian.

Writer, have a specific role to play.

In the Kingdom of Heaven to impact lives for eternity. And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom writers.