Be a Representative

Yesterday my pastor invited me to a Leadership Conference where those in attendance will learn 10 critical skills under the focus which was titled “Redemptive Leadership.”  That was my first time ever attending a conference spiritual in nature, and I must say I never knew what I was missing.  Anyway, the speaker told an amazing story about a man who was hired to be a church consultant.  This man is hired by some churches to survey the church, meaning that particular local assembly in all of its aspects.  He is known as the church guru.  He stated that whenever this man is hired, he would want to come 3 days before service to sort of get a feel of the community.  He and two partners would stand on the street corner where the church is located and speak to drivers while they are at the stop light.  So let’s say that particular church’s name is Full Gospel Church of Christ, he would ask the drivers if they passed by daily.  If they would confirm, he would ask what they thought about Full Gospel.  The answer he shared was shocking.  Although they were standing on the corner where the church was located, 95% of the drivers asked where the church was located.  You would assume since he was standing at the church’s corner that they would at least ask if that was the church they were referring to.  Nope, not the case.  So what you have is a church located in a community, but the community does not know them.

I shared with you in a prior lesson how I used to go witnessing and see so many churches located in a community, but the community does not reflect the church’s presence.  I then said to myself, in the case of Full Gospel, there is definitely a lack of an evangelical effort on their part, but more importantly how many of us are truly letting people know what God did in our lives by way of Jesus Christ, and how often are we sharing His gospel?  The bible says “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.” (2Co 5:20)  Amen!  An ambassador is a person sent from one sovereign power to another; and is supposed to represent the person of the sovereign by whom he is deputed.  Christ while on earth represented God.  His apostles and their successors represent Christ.  Christ declared the will of the Father in his teachings, and we are now his ambassadors.  We are to be a representative of the saving grace that God bestows on those who are faithful.  We are to be a representative of the evident power of the Holy Spirit.  We are to be a representative of the kingdom.  We are to show our representation by our walk.  Amen!

The Apostle Paul said “we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”  That is taken from the New King James Version.  The King James Version uses the word “beseech,” which was translated from the Greek Word “parakaleo” which means to make an urgent appeal.  The Apostle Paul was speaking to the Church of God at Corinth with an urgency for them to get it right, which implies that there may have been report that confirmed it.  Many of us were saved by someone speaking with that same passion and urgency for us to get things right with God.  Many of us were saved by someone’s awesome testimony.  Many of us were saved by someone being a representative of Christ.  Now that we are saved, it is our turn to share what was taught to us.  It is our turn to share how we were saved.  Let’s go out there and be ambassadors.  Let’s go out there and declare the awesome power of God.  It’s time that we become a representative.  Amen!