It's chapter 5, and the Bible reads,
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a building of God,
and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
For in this we groan, earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon with our house which
is from heaven.
If so be that, being clothed, we shall not be found naked.
For we that are in this tabernacle
do groan, being burdened.
Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon.
That mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God,
who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
Therefore, we are always confident,
knowing that whilst we are at home in the body,
we are absent from the Lord.
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
We are confident, I say, and willing,
rather, to be absent from the body
and to be present with the Lord.
Wherefore, we labor that, whether present or absent,
we may be accepted of him.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that everyone may receive the things done in his body,
according to that he hath done,
whether it be good or bad.
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.
But we are made manifest unto God,
and I trust also are made manifest in your conscience.
For we commend not ourselves again unto you,
but give you occasion to glory on our behalf,
that you may have somewhat to answer them with glory
in appearance and not in heart.
For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God.
Or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.
For the love of Christ constraineth us,
because we thus judge that if one died for all,
then we're all dead.
And that he died for all, that they which live
should not henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto him which died for them and rose again.
Wherefore, henceforth, know we know man after the flesh.
Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh,
yet now henceforth know we him no more.
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
All things are passed away.
Behold, all things are become new.
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us
to himself by Jesus Christ,
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
To wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them,
and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us,
we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
For he hath made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, we may be made
the righteousness of God in him.
Let us pray, dear Lord God,
thank you for this church you've given us, Lord.
Thank you for the King James Bible, Lord.
And so everything you've given us, Lord,
we pray that you bless pastor right now,
and fill him with the Holy Spirit
as he preaches unto us, Lord,
and that us in the congregation
could hold these truths that you have in your word, Lord,
and apply it to our lives.
We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
Okay, we're in 2 Corinthians chapter five,
and the title of my sermon this evening
is ambassadors for Christ.
Ambassadors for Christ.
An ambassador is essentially
representative of a foreign nation.
Another term for this would be a diplomat,
and the Bible says here in 2 Corinthians chapter five,
and verse 20, now then we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us,
we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God.
This is a concept that we see throughout the word of God,
of course in the Old Testament
when dealing with the nation of Israel,
and in the New Testament when dealing with all believers,
that we are God's representatives here on this earth.
We are his ambassadors for him here on this earth.
And in fact, the Bible says,
but ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a peculiar people,
that ye should show forth the praises of him
who hath called thee out of darkness
into his marvelous light, the Bible tells us.
It's saying here that we are his representatives,
and as his representatives,
we should seek to honor the Lord Jesus Christ,
and display the light of the
glorious gospel of Jesus Christ,
the light of God to a lost and dying world.
We are the ambassadors for Christ, his representatives.
The Bible also says in John chapter 20, and verse 21,
then said Jesus to them again,
peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me,
even so send I you, the Bible says.
You know, in my old church,
they used to say that Jesus Christ
was essentially the first missionary,
because he sent forth from heaven to this world
to reconcile the world unto himself.
And now that Jesus Christ is on the right hand
of the Father, he's sending us to go and represent him
to preach the gospel and reconcile this lost and dying world
back unto him.
Let me give you a couple points this evening
regarding being an ambassador for Christ,
a representative of the Lord,
and towards the latter end of the sermon,
I'm gonna give some real practical application
to this principle.
First and foremost, let me start off by saying
that as ambassadors for Christ,
we have diplomatic immunity,
meaning ambassadors often enjoy full diplomatic immunity
depending upon their rank.
They can all, excuse me,
they can also receive total protection
from local lawsuits and prosecution
depending upon how high ranking they are.
And if we're to apply this to spiritual means,
we actually have diplomatic immunity
from the wages of sin.
Why? Because we're saved, right?
This entire world is subject to the law
and the wages of sin, which is death,
meaning that every single human being in this world
who sins against God and they break God's commandments,
they will receive the full penalty of that sin
if they die without Christ.
And what does that mean?
It means that once they die,
they will go to hell for all of eternity
because of the fact that they don't have eternal life.
Now that is a message that is very much contrary
to the message that a lot of churches
are putting out there.
A lot of churches don't wanna step on people's toes
and portray that people are going to hell.
They like to make it seem as though,
hey, if you say you're Christian,
if you say you believe the Bible,
if you say you believe in Jesus,
then all of a sudden that gives you a free pass.
But really, what does the Bible say?
That we have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
exclusively for salvation.
And if you believe any other gospel,
which is not another,
then according to the Bible, you're cursed.
Meaning that you don't have eternal life,
you don't have salvation.
But even on top of that, the Bible says,
for sin shall not have dominion over you
for a year now under the law,
but under grace, the Bible says.
What then shall we sin because we are not under the law,
but under grace, God forbid,
know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants
to obey, his servant ye are to whom ye obey,
whether of sin unto death
or of obedience unto righteousness.
Meaning that even though we're not subject to the law
like people would be here in this world
who are unsaved, we still wanna obey the Lord.
We don't wanna suffer the consequences,
the earthly consequences of making the wrong decisions,
even though if we were to sin this side of eternity,
it doesn't affect our eternal life at all.
And the Bible tells us,
you hath he quickened who were dead
and trespasses in sin,
wherein in time past ye walked according
to the course of this world,
according to the prince of power of the air,
the spirit then now worketh in the children
of disobedience, the Bible says.
And so according to the Bible,
there was a time when we obeyed the laws
of the land, so to speak,
in regards to its philosophies.
Maybe you went to a public school
that taught you ideologies that are contrary to the Bible.
You might have grown up in a home
that is contrary to Christianity.
You might have been a part of a religion
that teaches contrary to the word of God.
We walked according to the course of this world,
but here's the major difference between them and us,
and there is a difference.
And that is that we're saved by our faith in Jesus Christ
and this world is not.
So even though you have, you know,
billions of people out there in this world
that, you know, essentially agree with one another
of what it takes to go to heaven, they're wrong.
And here is the flaw of the thinking of people
out in the world is they think, you know,
oh, well we have this many people that agree with us,
therefore it lends veracity to what we're saying
and what it takes to go to heaven.
Wrong, because at the end of the day,
we should see what God says
what it takes to go to heaven.
Well, God says what it takes to have eternal life.
And just because you have 1.5, 1.6, 2 billion people
in accordance with one another with the same mind
that they have to work their way to salvation,
repent of their sins, or keep God's commandments,
it just means that 2 billion people are going to hell.
Because wide is the gate and broad is the way
which lead it to destruction,
and many there be which go in there at, the Bible says.
And so as Christians, we are actually exempt from
the wages of sin, but let me say this,
just because we are exempt from hell
through our faith in Christ,
doesn't mean we can live like hell, right?
Just because you're exempt from hell,
doesn't mean you can live like hell.
And here's the common accusation from people
who wanna criticize, you know, what the Bible's doctrine
is on once saved, always saved.
They're saying, oh, what you're saying
is that I could just believe in Jesus
and just go rape and murder and steal.
Well, let me explain to you the flaw
and the weirdness of that statement.
Because I've been saved for, I don't know, 17 years or so,
and you know, because I believed on Jesus Christ,
and you know what, I've never had that thought.
I've never been like, I'm gonna go rape right now.
I'm gonna go murder and pillage and steal
and just commit some of the most heinous crimes
known to mankind because I'm saved.
You know, it's kind of weird that a person
would bring up that illustration
and it kind of displays what's in their heart.
Because out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh.
So they'll often bring up this accusation
and say, what you're saying is that we just have
unfettered access to sin and nothing will ever happen.
But the opposite is true.
Because of the fact that the Bible teaches
that if we sin as Christians,
we will suffer the punishment of that sin,
but it's not an eternal punishment.
It's a temporal, earthly punishment here on this earth.
And so it's important for us to make the distinction
that just because we're saved, the Bible says,
use not your liberty, listen to this,
as an occasion to the flesh.
And in fact, as Christians, when we sin,
we have a heavenly Father that according
to Hebrew chapter 12, chastens us, punishes us,
and in fact can make our lives a living hell
if we live in complete rebellion against him,
unrepentant sin, he can destroy our lives.
Go to Hebrew chapter 10 if you would,
Hebrew chapter number 10, Hebrew chapter 10.
And so yeah, we're exempt.
We have immunity from the wages of sin, which is hell,
but that doesn't mean that we can just live
however we want as ambassadors for Christ,
and absolutely nothing will happen here.
And in fact, to the contrary,
if you're a Christian living in unrepentant sin,
just doing that which is contrary to the Bible,
and you receive no punishment,
according to the Bible, you're probably not saved.
Because one of the distinctive characteristics
of a saved person is that when they're involved
in unrepentant sin, God punishes them.
And in fact, the Bible specifically tells us
that if you are without chastisement,
chastisement is just another way of saying punishment,
then are you bastards and no sons.
What is a bastard?
It's basically someone who's born out of wedlock,
and from a spiritual perspective,
it's referring to the fact that you're not a son of God.
You are a bastard child, you think that you're saved,
but you're actually not,
because God chastens those who are his children, okay?
And so, you know, that's a good thing, right?
If you're involved in sin and you're backslidden,
and God's punishing you, it may be grievous to you,
no punishment seems joyous at the time,
but at least it's an indication,
okay, for sure I know that I'm saved
because God's whooping me right now,
he's punishing me,
I'm suffering the consequences of my sin,
therefore it is confirmation that I'm a son of God, okay?
Now, look what Hebrews chapter 10 says in verse 26.
It says here, for if we sin willfully,
after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.
Now, a lot of these workspace salvationists
will often bring up this particular verse here,
as proof texts that if we're involved
in unrepentant sin, then you could lose your salvation,
because it says there,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.
But, you know, they're obviously ignorant of the context,
they don't know what the context
is actually referring to,
because what this is actually talking about
is not the sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
it's actually referring to the animal sacrifices
of the Old Testament.
You see, what the Apostle Paul is saying here
in Hebrew chapter 10,
is that now that we're there in the New Testament,
the ordinance of animal sacrifices
is no longer existent, right?
And if you know anything about the Old Testament
sacrifices, in the Old Testament,
God expected his people to offer animal sacrifices
for their daily transgressions.
So if they committed sin,
if they did something that was displeasing,
they were commanded to bring an offering unto the Lord,
and place their sins upon that animal
to be sacrificed to atone for their daily sins.
Well, that's not a thing anymore,
since the Lamb of God,
who should take away the sins of the world,
came, was crucified in the first century AD,
and we have him as the ultimate sacrifice.
But what it's saying here is that
if you commit daily sins,
you're unrepentant of those daily sins,
well guess what?
You don't have the daily sacrifices
that can atone for those daily sins.
It goes on to say in verse 27,
but a certain fearful looking for of judgment,
and fiery indignation,
which shall devour the adversaries.
Now here's the proof that what I'm saying is true here.
It says in verse 28,
he that despised Moses' law,
meaning someone who just completely
transgressed against the law of Moses,
whether it was the dietary laws,
it was the Sabbath,
or just the moral laws of the day,
that obviously still exist today,
he says he that despised Moses' law
died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
Now what is that referring to?
It's referring to the death penalty.
Because if he's saying that they died without mercy
under two or three witnesses,
it's referring to the fact that there is someone
who was stoned to death by the children of Israel
under two or three witnesses
for a transgression that merited capital punishment.
That's what it's talking about, okay?
Now how is this confirming what I'm talking about here?
Well this is showing us that
just because you're a saved person
doesn't mean you can go and commit murder or steal,
you're gonna suffer the earthly consequences
because of that.
And I guarantee you,
there are saved people in Israel in the Old Testament
who transgressed, they broke the law of the land,
and even though they were saved,
they were stoned to death.
I mean we have plenty of examples of that
in the Old Testament.
Achan, for example, took of the accursed thing,
and he suffered greatly,
he was stoned to death and was killed.
Now his spirit still went to heaven,
but obviously he suffered shame,
he suffered pain and death here on this earth
for his earthly transgressions.
It goes on to say, verse 29,
of how much sore punishment
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy,
who hath trodden under the foot of the Son of God,
and hath counted the blood of the covenant
wherewith he was sanctified in unholy thing,
and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace.
What does that mean?
It's essentially saying that
if a person in the Old Testament was stoned to death
for breaking the law,
well how much more do you think we're worth,
how much more of a punishment
do you think we're worthy of
on this earth here in the New Testament
now that we have the entire Bible, okay?
You know, we have more knowledge
of God's standard of perfection,
we have more knowledge of the word of God,
we have the entire New Testament,
we have the words of Jesus Christ,
therefore we merit a much sore punishment
if we decide to willfully sin.
It goes on to say in verse 30,
for we know him that hath said,
vengeance belongeth unto me,
I will recompensate the Lord,
and I want you to notice this,
and again, the Lord shall judge his people,
showing us that, you know,
we're not exempt from being judged by God, okay?
And so yes, we're exempt from the wages of sin,
which is hell,
but we're not exempt from just suffering
the regular consequences of our actions
here on this earth.
Now, look at Hebrews chapter 11, if you would,
Hebrews chapter 11.
But you know, as ambassadors for Christ,
there are certain instances,
and I'm not encouraging you to do this,
I'm just saying that it's a principle in the Bible,
there are certain instances where Christians, believers,
do sin, but they receive mercy from God, okay?
And I think everyone can attest to a time
in their Christian life where they were not right
with God, and you did not receive
as much chastisement as you deserved, right?
That's called God's mercy, that's called God's grace.
So even though we're exempt from the wages of sin,
which is hell, and even though we're not necessarily
exempt from the consequences of our actions
here on this earth, there are instances
where God, in his grace and in his mercy,
he does not allow us to suffer
the full extent of our punishment.
We could all point to a time in our Christian lives
where maybe we weren't right with God in our hearts
and in our minds, maybe we did things
that were displeasing unto the Lord,
and we know for a fact that God
was being gracious to us, he was being merciful to us,
or we asked for his mercy, we feared God,
then the Bible says that as high as the heavens
are from the earth, so great is his mercy
towards them that fear him.
And so that is the exception to the rule
that there are instances where God is gracious to you,
he's merciful to you.
Now you don't wanna abuse that
because there's no indication in the Bible
of how much you can sin, how much you can
get away with before God punishes you,
it just says that the goodness and forbearance
of God leadeth us to repentance.
And so it's better to just get right with God
right off the bat, get right with the Lord,
get sin out of your life, because you never know
what type of punishment he has in store for you,
he can destroy your life, and obviously
we don't want that.
Let's skip Hebrew chapter 11 for a minute,
and go back to 2 Corinthians chapter five,
2 Corinthians chapter five.
So as ambassadors for Christ, we are exempt
from certain punishments of this world,
we're obviously exempt from hell,
but we also, as ambassadors, we're also supposed
to maintain diplomatic relationships with this world.
How so?
Well, diplomatic relations is the arrangement
between two countries by which each
has representatives in the other country.
Now the only difference is that as an ambassador
for Christ, we're the only representatives here,
there are no representatives in hell,
or excuse me, in heaven, against what we're doing
other than of course, Satan himself, right,
who's the accuser of the brethren.
But the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter five,
and verse number 18, all things are of God
who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
So what's our main responsibility as ambassadors?
Our job is to be here on this earth
reconciling people back to the Lord Jesus Christ
through the gospel.
He's given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
And so if you're ever wondering like,
what's God's purpose for my life?
I wanna know what God's purpose is for my life.
Well if you're not saved, first and foremost
is to get saved, and if you are saved,
I'm gonna show you right now what God's will
for your life, and that is to lead others to Christ.
Lead others to the Lord Jesus Christ, get people saved.
Yeah, but what's God's specific will though?
I wanna know what God specifically wants for my life.
Well here's the thing, you will never find that out
if you don't do God's revealed will first.
So the way you even get to that specific
unicorn will that you want,
you gotta be fulfilling the revealed will of God, right?
And part of the revealed will of God
is to participate in the ministry of reconciliation.
And I'm not talking about street preaching,
I'm not talking about dropping comments on Facebook
and Twitter or X or whatever,
I'm not talking about putting verses
on your social media platform,
I'm talking about open your mouth boldly,
make known the mysteries of the gospel,
getting people saved, preaching the gospel.
And this is somewhat of a lost practice in churches today,
where people don't really do soul winning anymore.
Churches don't really do soul winning anymore.
You know, they either have evangelistic services,
where they bring people to church,
they have some sort of rock concert,
you know, you got the crusade that came out recently
was Greg Laurie and his Harvest Crusade,
where all they do is rock out,
they have all these types of denominations
and all sects of Christianity,
and just a very convoluted or a false gospel.
You understand what I'm saying?
That's not what the Bible means here
by a ministry of reconciliation.
That's just adding more confusion to a world
that has already perverted the gospel.
What God wants from us is to actually go to people,
face to face, and preach the gospel to them,
talk to them about the death, burial,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
be very specific about our doctrine.
The Bible tells us that we should know
that we're saved, right?
The Bible says that we can know for sure that we're saved,
and there's so much confusion and doubt out there,
even amongst Christian leaders,
where they're just like, well, I don't really know.
I think I know, but I'm not really sure.
I don't think anybody can know, of course we can.
That ye may know that ye have eternal life,
and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
God is saying that you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt,
no doubt whatsoever, 100% assurance,
confirmation that we're saved.
And you know what, it's time for churches
to start speaking with certainty, with assurance,
with confidence, and say, this is how you get saved,
this is how I got saved,
this is how people have to get saved.
There's only one way of salvation.
Not various ways, not the repent of your sins crowd,
there's the belief crowd, there's the this crowd.
No, there's only one way.
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me.
And the Bible makes it very clear what salvation is.
The message of salvation is very clearly laid out,
the ministry of reconciliation.
And so it's important for us to represent that.
We wanna be a church of ambassadors
where the church members, not just the pastor says,
I know for sure that I'm saved,
and this is how you can get saved.
Where just any regular Joe Schmo church member
could put an unsaved person,
and here's the challenge to some of you new people,
put an unsaved person before them and just say,
get this person saved,
can you give this person the gospel?
And you're just like, done.
It was like, let me just go to Romans real quick,
let me just show you, give me like 12 minutes,
15 minutes of your time,
and I can show you what the Bible says
on how to go to heaven.
And hey, let's kick it up a notch,
and let's just say this,
you should be able to just talk to a person
with no Bible in hand.
And just spit scriptures, amen?
Start spitting facts, and say,
you know what, I don't have a Bible,
but it's okay, because I got it right here.
I got it up here, I can just quote the scriptures
off the top of my head,
I can tell you what the Bible says.
And you know what?
You don't need four years of seminary to do that either.
You don't need to go to some cemetery,
university or whatever, to learn what the Bible says.
By the way, if you haven't been baptized,
you should be baptized,
and you don't need a five week class on baptism either.
A lot of churches will do that,
like you gotta take a five week course on baptism.
Folks, you go in the water,
you come out of the water, that's it.
Comes after salvation, any questions?
You know, I know swim classes exist,
but we don't keep you under for that long though.
We take you, we ask you,
have you trusted Jesus as your savior?
If you say yes, then we dunk you,
if you say no, we get you out of the water.
And be like, this ain't for you.
Because only people who are saved get baptized.
And you know how to hold your breath, okay?
And most of the work is done by the person baptizing.
It's me, saying, I baptize you now
in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit,
buried in the legs of his death,
raised to walk in newness of life.
You go dry off and you go live the rest of your life,
and that's it.
You don't need a five week class on how to do that.
You know, we have a class that we're offering on,
how much can you say about baptism?
Just listen to my sermon on baptism,
you'll get everything you need.
But even then, you don't need to learn
everything about baptism to be baptized.
The point that I'm making here
is that as ambassadors for Christ,
our message is supposed to be clear.
We are representing the Lord Jesus Christ,
more specifically, through the ministry of reconciliation.
Okay, we are bringing peace to this world.
And in fact, the Bible says that,
Bible says in Matthew 5, nine,
blessed are the what?
Peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
Jesus said, behold, I send you forth as sheep
in the midst of wolves.
Be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter five, if you would,
1 Corinthians chapter five.
The point that I'm making here
is that we do maintain diplomatic relations
with this world.
How do we do that?
By bringing the peace of the gospel.
But here's the thing,
the Bible tells us not to love the world though.
So even though we love the people of this world,
to the point we wanna get them saved,
we don't wanna cross a line
where we become like the world to reach the world.
Because the Bible says, love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him.
So God wants us to maintain Christian integrity
as we continue to reach the lost
with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Not be like these churches
that overstepped our boundaries,
transgressed the doctrines of the Bible
in order to reach people.
Understand what I'm saying?
No treason, amen.
No treason.
Hey, we're ambassadors in a foreign country,
but you don't have to be the country.
You don't have to live like the country per se
in order to reach them.
We live among them, we can't do anything about that.
But you don't have to be like the world
to reach the world,
because the power in salvation
doesn't rely upon your lifestyle,
it relies upon the message.
They don't have to believe in your lifestyle,
they have to believe in the message, right?
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter five,
here's a good example of this.
It says, I wrote unto you in an epistle
not to company with fornicators,
yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world
or with the covetous,
or extortioners, or with idolaters,
for them as he needs to go out of the world.
What is it saying?
You know, you don't wanna be such a holier than thou,
that you just can't be around any fornicator.
And the Bible is very clear
that we should not be hanging around people
who are fornicators which are called brother.
In other words, they claim to be Christians,
they claim to be saved,
but they're involved in these very gross sins,
these transgressions.
If we know that they're believers,
the Bible says that we should have no company with them.
But here's the thing, if you're at your job,
and there's some like fornicator there,
a drunkard, someone who gambles, you know,
an idolater, you work with some Catholic
or something like that,
you can't be like, you know,
don't come near me for I'm holier than thou.
You understand?
That's an unchristian attitude to take.
We're obviously permitted to function in this world
amongst unbelievers.
And God is saying, you know what,
if I told you not to company with fornicators,
you would literally have to just leave planet Earth
because the world is just filled with sinners
who are involved in a lot of bad stuff, right?
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter nine.
You say, where do I find the balance then, you know?
Where do I find the balance of reaching people
but not really necessarily living like them to reach them?
Well, look at 1 Corinthians 9, 19.
For though I be free from all men,
yet have I made myself servant unto all,
that I might gain the more.
And unto the Jews, I became as a Jew,
that I might gain the Jews,
to them that are under the law as under the law,
that I might gain them that are under the law,
to them that are without law as without law,
listen to this,
being not without law to God,
but under the law of Christ,
that I might gain them that are without law.
So it's saying there, you know,
you can go up to that boundary to reach someone.
For example, when we go to Mexico,
we're not going there with American flags
on our like Bibles and stuff,
you know, just trying to like promote Americanism.
In fact, we go there speaking Spanish,
eating their food, loving Mexicans.
We're not like, hey, by the way,
you gotta make sure you stay over here, brother,
you know, just don't try to hop over that wall, amen?
Bless God.
What are we there for?
We're there to get them saved.
And so, you know, I think one of the last times we went,
we got kicked out of a park,
and the groundskeeper who was kicking us out,
he's like, you can't preach here.
I'm like, why?
He's like, the rules say so.
I was like, show me where that rule is.
And then he showed me outside, there's like a sign.
He's like, read number four or something.
It said nothing about what we're doing.
And I told him, I said,
we're bringing morality to this park and to Mexico.
I said, don't you agree with what we're saying?
I said, are you a Christian?
Do you believe the Bible?
He said, yeah, I believe the Bible.
I said, then let us preach.
He's like, you guys, all you do is bring alcohol
and you come to sleep with women here.
I said, no, we don't, we're Christians.
But obviously he's referring to like other Americans
that come to do that.
And I said, I'm against alcohol, I'm against fornication.
We come here to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ
to show them how to go to heaven.
You believe in Jesus, don't you?
And I kind of just turned the tables on him.
I said, don't you believe in God?
Don't you believe in morality?
That's what we're bringing.
And I was like, we're bringing the message of salvation,
how people can know that they're gonna go to heaven
when they die.
He's like, you don't even know that.
I was like, of course I did.
And then I just started spitting scriptures.
And then he began to gnash at me with his teeth
a little bit, you know.
And after a while, he just really had nothing to say.
But at the end of the day, you know,
we're not there to promote Americanism, political views,
because honestly, I don't even have any political views.
Let's just be honest.
You know, I don't really care about politics.
It doesn't make a difference to me
who's in the office or not.
You say, why?
Because I'm an ambassador for Christ.
I'm a pilgrim here.
We're all illegal here.
As believers, this isn't our home, you know.
I'm just the passing through.
And so, yeah, I love where I'm at.
I'm glad that, you know, God allowed me
to be born in America, because it is the greatest
nation on the face of the planet.
But at the end of the day, folks,
let me just say this, is that, you know,
this isn't my country.
Like, yeah, we know you're like from Mexico
or something, right?
You're from like Guatemala or something, right?
No, actually, I'm from the New Jerusalem.
That's my citizenship.
My citizenship is in heaven.
I identify as a Christian.
In fact, the Bible says that I'm an ambassador.
I'm here on work, okay?
I'm here to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
But wherever we go, if we're with Belizeans,
we're gonna be as into Belizeans,
to reach the Belizeans, but now without law
and to Christ, though.
So we never wanna cross a border
where it's just like, well, I wanna reach my friends,
so I'm gonna go ahead and go to the bar
and drink alcohol with them.
I'm gonna go smoke pot with them.
I'm gonna go do shrooms with them.
I'm gonna go to the club with them,
because I'm trying to reach them.
Folks, they're reaching you.
If you find yourself in that situation,
well, I'm trying to reach my family,
so that's why I didn't come to church,
because they got a barbecue going and a quinceañera,
and so we're just partying there,
and so I was hoping that I'd be able to reach them.
They've reached you!
So obviously, we understand that as Christians,
as ambassadors for Christ, we are to go to them,
preach the gospel to them,
tell them what the Bible says,
but not cross the boundary of the laws of Christ.
And that's important, because you have churches today
who's like, well, you know, Jesus was at the bar.
There's no example of the Bible,
in the Bible, where Jesus is at the bar
drinking with sinners.
He had a meal with sinners,
and they typically came to him.
But you know, there's no example in the Bible
of Jesus Christ going to a strip bar or something,
going to the bar to drink alcohol,
sitting with sodomites and freaks and weirdos
to try to reach them.
That's what you're inferring upon the text,
but it doesn't say that.
And here's the thing, folks,
our church is very much an evangelistic, soul-winding
church, and so in our experience, in my experience,
the best way to get people saved
is just go door-to-door.
Like, well, I have a friend,
he's just this close to getting saved.
Well, like, how long have you been witnessing
to him before, though?
Well, for like two years.
Okay, then he's not this close, then.
He's as close as far as he's from West.
But I find that a lot of times people say that
because they don't want to cut ties
with their worldly friends,
they don't want to cut ties with those associations,
and folks, it doesn't take two years
to get someone saved.
And obviously, I'm not saying to hell with your friend
or something like that,
but if they've rejected your presentation,
bring them to church so we can witness to them,
if they reject that,
then it's time to shake the dust off your feet
and move on, pray for them to be saved,
and Lord willing, sometime in the future,
they will be open to the gospel,
they will come to you, the ambassador, to get saved.
But for you to just make up this excuse of,
well, I just keep them around,
I'm just around them because, you know,
I feel like I'm this close,
you sound like one of those missionaries
that get like 2.5 people saved
every two years or something like that.
And they're always in their missions letters like,
pray for this guy,
we've been working with him for two years,
he's almost there,
it's just like, good night in the morning,
doesn't take that,
the gospel presentation should not take
more than 15 minutes or so.
But it's an excuse, my friends.
And so it's important for us
to represent the Lord Jesus Christ via the gospel,
and via an appropriate presentation of the gospel,
not lifestyle evangelism,
where you think that your life
is gonna get that person saved.
Yeah, you know, the Bible says
that we are his epistles,
known in red of all men,
but folks, the Bible actually says
we need to open our mouths boldly
to make known the mysteries of the gospel, okay?
The best way to get someone saved
is actually to show them from the Bible
how to be saved.
Go to 1 Peter chapter two,
1 Peter chapter two,
if you would,
1 Peter chapter number two.
The point that I'm making here
is that as ambassadors for Christ,
we make peace with those
who are here on this earth via the gospel.
But not just that,
let's just talk outside of the service of the gospel.
We're supposed to live honest among the Gentiles as well.
Okay, in other words,
you should be a Christian who lives,
who's just peaceably,
lives peaceably amongst the unsaved.
Not be some arrogant jerk
who is a holier than thou to your neighbors,
at your job,
you're back talking,
you're a boss
because he's not a fundamental Baptist
or something like that.
You think you're better than everyone
because you're a Christian because you're saved.
No, the Bible specifically teaches us
that we need to have a good testimony before the unsaved.
And obviously the unsaved could look at us
and the things that we believe and criticize that,
but I mean, we can't do anything about that.
God wants us to preach this,
he wants us to believe this.
We're talking about your conduct though, okay?
Look at 1 Peter two verse 11.
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers
and pilgrims,
abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul.
Having your conversation,
meaning your conduct, the way you behave,
honest among the Gentiles,
that whereas they speak against you as evildoers,
they may by your good works,
which they shall behold,
glorify God in the day of visitation.
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man
for the Lord's sake,
whether it be to the king and supreme
or into governors
or into them that are sent by him
for the punishment of evildoers
and for the praise of them that do well.
What does that mean?
It means you should be a law abiding citizen.
You should not be a criminal as a Christian.
That means that there should be no Christian anarchist
or Christians that are trying to usurp
the authority of the government.
Oh, let's take up arms against the government.
That's nonsense, that's against the Bible.
You know, I find it interesting that Christians
want to use the Bible as a means of their liberty,
but they never really quote this verse here
where it talks about that we're supposed to submit
to governors though.
And this doesn't mean like I'm just gonna do
every single thing that Gavin Newsom tells me to do.
Right?
Because that guy is wicked as hell, okay?
But here's the thing, the general laws
that are instituted, I'm gonna obey them.
And you know what, even some of the unjust laws,
let me give you an example, street sweepers.
That's an unjust law.
You know, the stupid camera at the light,
that's a stupid law made to put money
in the pockets of these bureaucrats or whatever.
You know, they're just finding new ways
to make more money.
Those are stupid laws.
But you know what, I'm still gonna obey those
because at the end of the day,
I got bigger fish to fry.
So I'm not gonna make a huge deal
about these dumb laws.
And here's a great example of this, okay?
You think it's right to pay taxes?
You know all these taxes that go to fund
abortion clinics and public schools,
things that we're against,
you think it's right to do that?
And I said yes, it's correct to pay taxes, absolutely.
And it blows my mind that they don't know that
and they call themselves Christians.
You say why?
Because Jesus paid taxes.
And he told others to pay taxes.
He said render unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's
and unto God which are God's.
And when he was called upon to pay taxes,
now albeit he's God so he can just make money
come out of a fish, which is what he did.
But he did it, you know what I mean?
Like if I could do that, I'd do it too, but I can't.
So you know.
The point is is that he paid his taxes
even as the son of God.
You know, he went and Peter took a coin
out of the fish's mouth and he paid for him and Peter.
And if the Lord can sometimes do that for us,
we would appreciate that.
No, I'm just kidding.
God's given us the ability to work
and to labor and to pay those things
and not to complain about it.
Because I don't remember that verse
where Jesus wept about paying taxes.
I know Jesus wept, but it wasn't about paying taxes.
And here's the thing, like yeah, but you know,
our government uses that stuff for so many wicked things.
Do you know Jesus was under the Roman Empire?
You think that they're like super righteous people
or something, you think they use it for unjust means?
Come on, conquest and all, okay?
It's nonsense.
The point that I'm making here is that God says
that we should submit ourselves into governors.
And you know what?
So much the more because we're ambassadors for Christ.
We don't wanna just say, well, because I'm not subject
to the laws of this land,
therefore I'm not gonna obey anything.
No, we're representatives here.
So even though we're not subject to them,
spiritually speaking, we're gonna still obey the laws
of the land because we want to be a good representation
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You wanna obey your boss because you wanna be
a good representation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You wanna obey your husband because you wanna be
a good representation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You wanna obey your unsafe parents because you should be
a good representative of the Lord Jesus Christ
because you're an ambassador for Christ in your home.
You're an ambassador for Christ at your job.
You're an ambassador for Christ at your school.
You're an ambassador for Christ everywhere you go.
So therefore, stop complaining about the little laws
that your parents put over you.
Oh man, I gotta do all this stuff.
He's making me pay rent or whatever.
He's making me throw out the trash
even though I'm paying rent.
Pay it!
Throw out the trash and make your bed.
Take a shower while you're at it.
If that's what your home boss wants you to do,
then do it!
And stop complaining about it
because you're an ambassador for Christ.
We've got bigger fish to fry, okay?
Don't just be cumbered about the rules of this land
to the point where it makes you
just completely incapable of being a good Christian.
Just take care of it so you can serve God
without distraction and God's hand
can still bless you, et cetera.
Look at what it says in verse 15.
For so is the will of God that with well-doing
you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men
as free and not using your liberty
for a cloak of maliciousness.
But as the servants of God, it says,
honor all men, love the brotherhood,
fear God, honor the king.
This is the default setting for every ambassador.
Because you could say, well, what about the reparations
of this rule?
Obviously we're not gonna honor them.
Come on, don't ask such a dumb question.
This is a default setting that in general
our attitude should be to honor all men, right?
To love the brotherhood, to fear God,
honor the king, honor whoever's in charge.
He's like, are you honoring,
you're gonna honor the president?
Well, here's the, I mean,
what does that really mean, though, for us?
Do we run into him every day or something like that?
You know?
And obviously there's exceptions to this rule
if the person is just a wicked person
who is evil, he's a pedophile,
that's the exception to the rule, right?
And in general, this is referring to the laws
that they institute,
not necessarily to the person themselves, okay?
Go with me if you would to,
go to John chapter 17, John chapter 17.
Let me read to you from Romans chapter 13.
Romans 13 and verse five says,
Wherefore you must be need to be subject,
not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
For for this cause pay tribute also,
for they are God's ministers
attending continually upon this very thing.
Render therefore to all their dues,
tribute to whom tribute is due,
custom to whom custom,
fear to whom fear,
honor to whom honor.
The point number three that I wanna make
as far as being ambassadors for Christ
is that as ambassadors,
we are the spokesman for our nation's interest,
policies and viewpoints.
Meaning that, yes, we're law abiding citizens.
Yes, we want to honor the king.
But that doesn't mean we just don't preach the Bible.
And that doesn't mean we don't uphold
the doctrines of the Bible.
That doesn't mean we become ashamed
of the doctrines of the Bible, okay?
Because our job as ambassadors
is to come to this nation known as the world
and express what God expects of the people.
To teach them how to fear God,
teach them the way of salvation
and teach them just every doctrine of the Bible.
Bible says, teach them all things whatsoever
I've commanded you.
And lo, I'm with you all the way
even into the end of the world.
And this is really, listen to me,
this is what really separates us from other Christians
is the Bible.
The determining factor that makes us distinctly different,
I'm not saying from other religions,
I'm saying from just Christians, period, is the Bible.
Okay?
Because the Bible's super offensive sometimes.
Especially for people who don't read it.
But I'm offended at the person
who's offended at the Bible who calls himself a Christian.
I'm offended by people who claim to be believers,
they claim to say they believe in Jesus Christ,
they even claim to believe the Bible,
but they're offended at the Bible.
I'm offended at that.
Look what the Bible says in John 17, verse 17.
Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth.
Now, this can often be interpreted to mean
that we are cleansed by the truth, right?
Because another way of saying sanctify is to cleanse.
You understand what I'm saying?
So we can apply this and say,
when we read the Bible, we're being sanctified,
we're being cleansed, and that's definitely true.
But what this actually means is set them apart
from thy truth, with thy truth, thy word is truth.
In other words, make them different from everyone else
because of the Bible, because of the truth.
And let me say this, nothing will cause people
to leave or stop associating with you faster
than when you just start telling them
what the Bible says.
I mean, I was just talking to Brother Jacob outside
and he said, he started posting verses on his social media,
automatically lost 300 followers.
Why?
Because the truth isn't popular.
Truth isn't popular.
They don't like what the Bible actually says.
And let me say this, the people who like it the least
are other Christians, which is absolutely insane.
You know the people who get offended in my church
more than anyone are Christians,
or people who claim to be Christians.
You know the people who walk out of the services
are Christians because it's offensive to them.
It's typically people who are not,
they don't go to church, maybe they believe in God,
who actually stay and they actually like
what's being said, but people who already have
a preconceived idea of what the truth is,
when they actually hear the truth,
they get offended at the truth.
But you know what, folks?
Don't be ashamed of the Bible.
Don't be ashamed of the word of God says.
Don't be obnoxious about it,
but don't be ashamed about it either, okay?
And so as representatives, it's our job
to uplift the values of the Bible
and to express them, to show people what the Bible says,
what God's standard is of holiness.
Now let me just get a little practical here, okay?
And let me just talk about a couple things
before I finish off in the next couple minutes.
Let me say this, you know as ambassadors for Christ,
we're obviously supposed to represent God
by our behavior, by our affections,
but let's just get super practical, okay?
Let me just get super practical and say,
you know what, God expects us
to like look like Christians too, right?
You know what I'm saying?
Like an ambassador should look like,
oh, they're part of this country, you know what I mean?
Or they're sharp, they're just well dressed
or whatever, they look the part, right?
That's important.
And let me say this, obviously as Christians,
you know you have churches that preach against worldliness
and it's very much needed, right?
But if we're to be honest with ourselves,
worldliness is subjective based upon
like the era that you're in though.
You know what I mean?
Like what worldliness is to us
isn't necessarily worldliness 2,000 years ago.
Oh man, that guy has like a different kind of coat
on or you know, a cape or something.
We don't know exactly what the culture was back then.
We know what's worldly now.
But here's the thing, even though that's subjective,
there are certain things that are just set in stone
that it's always wrong or it's always right, okay?
Let me give you some examples, okay?
For men, you know, looking at feminine and sloppy
is a sin.
What is a feminine?
It means you look like a fag.
You look faggoty, your hair's faggoty,
you dress faggoty, that's a sin.
Why?
Well, because of the fact that it's faggoty.
But not only that, as an ambassador for Christ,
God wants us to dress as men to look like men,
not queer little sissies.
So let's get practical about this, okay?
That means dudes with long hair cut that thing off.
Why?
Because the Bible says, does not nature even teach you
that if a man have long hair, there's a shame unto him?
The Bible says even the nature should teach you this.
You should just go on Discovery Channel
and it should let you know this.
Take a lesson from nature itself.
And obviously, the Bible doesn't give us
a particular length that you should have
in order to look manly, but here's just a good marker
is if you look like a chick, cut that crap off.
Because you don't want people confusing you for a woman.
You should be offended at that.
And then go and go to the barber shop.
And look, I'm not saying you have to get a haircut like me,
although it wouldn't be a bad idea, though.
I prefer the crew cut, faded sides,
you'll never mistake me for a chick, okay?
You know, it's just my style.
I don't impose that upon anybody
other than my children every once in a while,
though my son, my oldest son,
he's up front and he doesn't have it.
But here's the thing is for the most part,
just have some sort of hair
that is indicative of a man, though.
But not just the hair, your dress,
the way your attire should be representative
of an ambassador for Christ.
Meaning you should not dress like a chick.
Your clothes shouldn't be tight, man.
No skinny jeans or whatever,
and you know, I don't know what faggoty dudes wear,
but just don't look like a queer.
If you have to ask, then you know.
What's wrong with wearing a shirt and tie to church?
What's wrong with wearing a suit to church?
Nothing, you know, but you know,
you have people in churches today
that yeah, they'll wear a suit to their job interview,
they'll wear a suit to an important event,
but what about the house of God, though?
Where the word of God is being preached,
the pillar and ground of truth.
Oh, I'll come in shorts and sandals.
Oh, I'll come, I'll just roll right out of bed.
God looks on the heart, brother.
Yeah, he looks on the heart,
but he could also see the outward appearance as well.
I don't know if you know that, okay?
And there's a reason God set forth
a specific standard in the Bible of how men should look,
because he wants to keep genders distinctly different.
Okay?
And you know, you have dudes today
that, you know, they just dress like girls.
They dress like, and I'm not saying they're queers,
I mean, they might be, but let me say this,
don't be painting your fingernails either.
Get that gay faggoty stuff out of here.
Girls have at it.
Dudes, take that crap off.
It's not right, it's not manly, it's against the Bible,
because that's something that is associated with women.
Can I get an amen?
Oh man, I don't really like that.
I know, I know you don't.
That's why I'm telling it to you,
because you need to know what God expects
of an ambassador for Christ.
And I'm not saying you have to dress like a CEO,
like a businessman, shirt and tie.
It wouldn't hurt though,
considering what's the alternative out there.
You know, if you really want to be different,
you would just dress in a shirt and tie,
because that's literally what's different
from what's being promoted out here.
And so, you know, as an ambassador for Christ, man,
look like a man, dress like a man,
conduct yourself as a man, cut off the hair,
take off the fingernail polish,
stop shopping at the thrift store,
where in the ladies section,
well those are the only clothes that fit me,
then gain some weight, get fat or something.
Start bulking or something.
Look the part, quit you like men.
Man, we're living in a society
where just like the men who are the most esteemed
are the most queer looking ones.
Sad, and you know what?
Churches are just following suit too.
That's why you have all these youth pastors
and youth leaders and youth directors
looking as gay as they are.
With their ripped up jeans, skinny jeans,
you have to paint on them to get them on.
Shopping in the women's section of the thrift store,
painting their fingernails, it's nonsense my friends.
And so, you know, obviously we don't have
a dress code here, and I don't have like,
oh you have to come in a shirt and tie,
you know that, okay?
You can come in a t-shirt if you want, I don't care.
But just don't come looking like a girl though.
And if you do, and you don't know better,
we're not gonna just like get on you and throw you out,
but you're gonna hear some preaching
and eventually you're gonna be like,
you know I think I probably should cut my hair.
Chop off the fag tag, the man bun, get rid of that,
because it's not honoring to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It doesn't honor God.
Well I just think God doesn't care about those things.
Of course he cares about those things.
How would you know if you haven't read the Bible?
And I'm tired of people telling us as Christians,
I don't think God cares about that.
How do you know you've never read the Bible?
You've read like a devotion about the Bible.
You've read a few verses of the Bible.
How do you know what it takes to fear God?
How do you know the standard of God
if you've actually never read the Bible yourself?
So go read the word of God and come back to me
once you've found the answer,
because you'll come to the conclusion
that every Bible-believing Christian does,
and that is that men are supposed to look like men,
and that it's sin to be effeminate.
All right, now let's talk about the women.
You guys ready or what?
Hey, we're talking about being ambassadors for Christ.
And so we talked about the men,
they need to stop dressing effeminate,
take off the fingernail polish, cut the hair,
but you know what, the women stop dressing like a whore.
Oh man, I can't believe you said that.
Well let me say it again, stop dressing like a whore.
In case you thought I mispronounced whore or something.
The Bible says that there are women
who dress with the attire of a harlot.
That's not representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's representative of a stripper or a hoe on the street.
That's representative of someone
who's selling their body for money.
That's not indicative of an ambassador for Christ.
So let's get specific here.
First of all, let me read from 1 Timothy 2, verse nine,
it says, in like manner also
that women adorn themselves in modest apparel.
With shamefacedness and sobriety,
not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array.
Well, you know, that's out of context.
No, that's in context.
That's just the verse, I just read it to you.
And the context says that he wants women
to adorn themselves in modest, meaning humble apparel.
So aside from the fact that God wants you
to be modest though,
he also wants you to cover your nakedness.
This is why I said don't dress like a whore.
Like a hoe, like a whore, whatever you want to call it.
What does that mean?
Well, number one, how about you cover up your cleavage?
Because I don't want my son looking at that.
I don't want the young men in our church
to just see that at church.
I mean, out of all times,
when we come to the house of God,
we should expect to be joined to an oasis of holiness
where dudes don't have to worry about cleavage coming out.
Amen?
Don't be scared now, man.
Cover up your boobs.
Put those things away, unless you're feeding your child.
You know, but if you're doing it to attract attention,
put them away, this is God's house, have some respect.
Hey, how about this, you know,
stop wearing such tight clothing.
Where everyone can see your rear end and your form,
that's for your husband and your husband only.
Why promote that to everyone else?
Amen.
It's called modest apparel.
You're like, well, I'm covering up my nakedness.
Well, kind of though, kind of.
Why, because it's so tight
that we can basically see everything.
Oh, I know this is offensive,
but folks, you came to church tonight though.
What do you expect to hear when you come to church?
Like, well, I was expecting to hear like not the Bible.
And you know what, you don't have to come back.
We don't have some sort of strict rule
that you have to come back.
This is the right church for you to be at.
Folks, if you can't handle it, it's all good.
Go somewhere else where they let you dress like a fag
and a whore, and they don't say anything about it.
There's churches out there
that are cool with you dressing like a fag
because the pastor looks like a fag.
You guys can be fags together.
And his wife dresses like a whore.
Get the two for one special.
Form-fitting dresses is not modest.
Showing your cleavage, not modest.
Can I say this?
Wearing skirts with a slit that goes like all the way up
where when you sit down
or where you do a roundhouse kick or something,
you basically show your nakedness, not modest.
I don't want my children looking at that.
And you know what,
I'm trying to like think of the people in our church,
and you know what?
I'm like, well, a man shouldn't be looking at that.
What do you mean?
You're like exposing for everyone to see.
And it's not just the men who are looking at it,
it's the women too.
Because you're showing it to everyone.
The babies, the boys and girls,
freaking YouTube and Rumble, everyone can see it.
This is too hard.
Well, you know, I'm trying to help you out here
and trying to remind you
that we're supposed to be ambassadors for Christ,
representatives.
And the Bible specifically tells us
that you're supposed to have shame facing this.
And what this means is that the apparel of a woman
should attract the eyes of a person to their face.
Call attention to their face, not the other parts
that are designated for only your husband to see.
Plain and simple.
You know what, husbands help your wives out with this.
You know, if you feel like I'm talking about your wife,
maybe I am, I don't know.
Go fix it then.
If you don't want me to say anything
behind the pulpit about it, fix it.
And you're like, well, I like the way she dresses
and I'm okay with that.
Okay, then the next sermon's coming in three months,
then you're gonna hear it again.
You're gonna keep hearing it.
And if you're okay with men just gawking at your wife,
looking at your wife's goods or whatever,
then that's your fault.
But you know what?
You're a bad representation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You're a bad representation of what ambassador is.
And let me just say this,
no one gets to choose
whether they're an ambassador or not.
You just choose whether you're a bad one or a good one.
Plain and simple.
What's wrong with long flowing dresses?
I like the long flowing dress, it looks beautiful.
I love when my wife wears long flowing dresses.
Looks great.
Amen.
Why?
Because well, the world promotes nakedness and modesty,
slits showing the thigh,
which is the nakedness according to the Bible, cleavage.
And let me just say this,
while we're at it, cover up your tattoos too.
You know, I get it.
This is a first generation church.
I'm first generation.
We all made mistakes in the past,
things that we didn't know about, right?
Past is behind us.
But does that mean we're supposed
to flaunt our past though?
Amen.
Cover them up.
The Bible specifically says in Leviticus 19, 28,
not to make any prints or markings on your body.
That's what the Bible says.
Well, that's Old Testament.
Well, I'm glad you know how to find things in the Bible.
I'm glad you know Leviticus is in the Old Testament.
Thank you for educating me on that.
But you know what also is in Leviticus?
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Well, that does apply.
Moral laws apply.
God's standard applies.
And you know what?
If you have a tattoo on your arms or on your back,
cover it up.
Don't just flaunt your old bad mistakes before everyone.
Obviously, if you have a tattoo on your face,
you can't really do anything about it, right?
And like young people, hey,
don't get tattoos on your face
like these mumble wrappers.
I mean, that's like a thing now.
I mean, back in the day, it was just like
the only people who put tats on their face were gangsters.
Now you got these like mumble wrappers
and just any Tom, Dick, and Harry
that just wants to put cursive writing
on their eyebrow or whatever.
It's ugly, it's stupid.
You're not gonna be able to find a job,
and even if you do, you look ugly
for the rest of your life.
You look like an idiot.
Hey, if you wanna walk around looking like an idiot,
go get tattoos on your face, yeah.
Plain and simple.
But you know what?
If you have sleeves, cover them up.
Because I know, folks, I know this,
that some people, they know it's wrong to get tattoos,
but they already got it.
And so they kinda still wanna show them off though.
You know?
They're not ashamed of their artwork or whatever.
Folks, you know what?
If you got a back tattoo, cover up your back.
You got a tramp stamp on your back,
cover up that pterodactyl.
Cover up that moth.
Because that's exactly what it's gonna turn into
once you're 70.
It's gonna go through a state of metamorphosis
from a butterfly to a moth.
To a pterodactyl.
Cover it up.
Well, it's a religious tattoo.
There's no such thing.
There's no such thing as a religious tattoo.
Well, what if I get Leviticus 1928 as a tattoo?
Then you're just an idiot.
You obviously didn't read the reference.
Well, it's a cross or whatever.
Folks, it's a marking on your body, cover it up.
And obviously, there's some markings
you just can't do anything about.
If you got them on your hands or whatever,
and on your face or on your neck.
But it should be that you try, though.
Because you're an ambassador for Christ.
And you know what?
I don't want to represent to my children,
I don't want people to represent to my children
that it's okay to have tattoos,
and you look cool having tattoos,
because it's straight disobedience against God's word,
and we don't want to glorify sin.
And let me just say this,
don't get piercings either, dudes.
That's part of marring your body.
Now, obviously, the Bible talks about women
wearing earrings and all that,
but you know what?
It could be taken to an ungodly extent, too, though.
Where you look like a freaking swine and a pig,
because you put it through your nose.
I mean, the Bible does talk about that.
Right?
Be modest.
Not having a ring over your nose
or on your face or whatever,
where it's just like, what happened to that person?
Obviously, modest apparel means
that you're not calling attention to yourself.
And dudes definitely should not have piercings.
Plugs, piercings, just marring your body.
Can the thing form, say to him,
that form that why hast thou made me dust?
God didn't make you with piercings.
We're fearfully and wonderfully made, amen?
We're good as is!
How God made us is how he wants us to be.
Now, given some are more skinnier or fatter,
for whatever reason, sometimes we gain weight,
sometimes whatever, that can change,
but you know what?
Don't destroy your body for the sake of,
well, I think this just looks nice,
it looks cool, it looks better.
If it's against the Bible, don't do it.
Be a modest person.
Cover up your flesh.
Well, you know, the reason I wear a tie
is because I don't have no other clothes.
Then come talk to me, we'll buy you some clothes then,
if that's really the case.
Because more often than not, it's not that.
It's just that you wanna show off your body
to attract people, and it's wrong.
This is a house of God, my friends.
This is a church.
This is not a runway.
This is not some sort of runway.
This is not a strip club.
This is not a bar.
This is not a club.
This is the house of God.
Dress accordingly.
And look, obviously I'm not saying
that you should dress like this
Monday through Saturday or Monday through Sunday.
But obviously, this is an important place.
You know, you come to church,
and you're like, we're going to the house of God.
I'm gonna wear my Sunday's best.
And if your Sunday's best is a pair of jeans
and a nice t-shirt or a polo, amen to that.
But if it's not your Sunday's best,
you should put on your Sunday's best
because you would put on your Sunday's best
for that interview.
You would put on that Sunday's best
for some important meeting that you're having.
Well, this is the important meeting.
I'm done.
The only reason I wanted to preach this sermon
was because of that point.
So I had to come up with other points.
Hey, as the pastor of this church,
I have the responsibility to remind people,
because people forget sometimes.
People forget.
And so, you know, cover up your tattoos.
Cover up your breasts.
Sorry to be so explicit.
Cover up your rear end.
Cover up your thighs.
Take off the nail polish, dudes.
Cut your hair.
Gain some weight.
Look masculine.
Act masculine.
Don't have limp wrists.
Right?
Be manly.
Ladies, be womanly.
Well, I'm gonna go to my husband
and see what he has to say about that.
Well, I hope he agrees with me
because I just showed you.
And you know what?
There's any dude in here that would disagree with me.
I mean, as far as I know, I don't think so.
If you do, then you've just been tainted by the world.
You've just been tainted by the world,
the world's philosophies, plain and simple.
All right, last point that I had to make up.
Stop, just kidding.
But this is true, though.
This is true.
Ambassadors provide refuge for its citizens in an embassy.
They provide refuge.
And you know what?
As ambassadors for Christ, we provide refuge,
which is the church.
We get people saved, and here's a place,
which goes along with my previous point,
where you can get away from the world.
You can get away from the philosophies of this world.
Most of you work in a very secular job
where all kinds of godlessness happens.
People say ungodly things, have ungodly conversations.
You know, they just do weird stuff, say weird stuff.
You're around unsaved people all the time.
It's a breath of fresh air to come to the house of God
and experience some holiness.
Experience godliness, preaching, a breath of fresh air
so you can make it through to the next week again.
And that's what an ambassador is.
We bring them to the embassy,
which is the church of the living God,
the pillar and ground of truth,
so that you guys can be exhorted
to continue in the faith, to be reminded of things,
and to be reminded, hey, we are in this world,
but we are not of this world, okay?
Bible says in Psalm 122, verse one,
I was glad when they sent him to me.
Let us go into the house of the Lord.
And so, what's the sermon tonight?
The sermon's simply this.
Don't forget that you're a representative of Jesus Christ.
None of us will represent him perfectly,
and that's not what I'm asking for,
and that's not what the Bible's asking for.
But be aware of what God's standard is, though.
And don't think that just because you come to a church
where we don't teach, a workspace salvation,
you can just come dress however you want.
You know, and let me just say this.
You know, I wouldn't accept someone
coming with a pentagram on their shirt.
I wouldn't even accept anyone
coming with a yarmulke in our church.
They bring a shofar to our church.
I'll pick them up and throw them shofar.
They'll hit the railroad tracks
because that's ungodly.
That's against the Bible.
And most people would agree with that.
I'm not gonna, I wouldn't accept someone
bringing a New World translation
to put on the pulpit for me to preach from.
That goes in the trash.
I wouldn't accept someone preaching
a false gospel in our church.
But you know what?
We're supposed to uphold all standards of the Bible.
I'm just reminding us as Christians
that we are representatives.
And so tomorrow, when you wake up,
just remember, I'm an ambassador for Christ.
I need to represent him well
to the best of my abilities.
And when you come to church,
I'm an ambassador for Christ.
Amongst other ambassadors,
I need to represent him appropriately and correctly.
Amen?
Amen.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
And thank you for these great reminders
from the word of God.
And this might be hard for some, Lord,
but this is the house of God
where believers come to hear what the Bible says.
And I pray that you'd help us, Lord,
as your people to receive the word of God
with readiness of mind
and not to be offended,
but rather to conform our minds to the word of God.
And I pray that you bless us as we go on our way.
Give us a great week to follow.
We love the fact that the house of God
is getting filled up, Lord.
And I pray that you'd provide, Lord,
extensively for that wall that we need taken down
so we can continue to expand and grow
and train more laborers for the harvest.
We love you.
We thank you.
Pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
It's a shelter in the time of storm.
Psalm number 146.
On the first verse.
The Lord's our rock and him we hide.
A shelter in the time of storm.
A cure whatever will be tied.
A shelter in the time of storm.
Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land.
A weary land.
Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land.
A shelter in the time of storm.
A shade by day, by night.
A shelter in the time of storm.
No fears alarm, no foes affright.
A shelter in the time of storm.
Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land.
A weary land.
Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land.
A shelter in the time of storm.
The raging storms may round us beat.
A shelter in the time of storm.
We'll never leave our safe retreat.
A shelter in the time of storm.
Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land.
A weary land.
Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land.
A shelter in the time of storm.
And alas, oh, rock divine.
Oh, refuge dear.
A shelter in the time of storm.
Be thou our helper ever near.
A shelter in the time of storm.
Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land.
A weary land.
Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land.
A shelter in the time of storm.
Great singing, the artist's name.