Ambassadors of Christ Seek Only His Interests

Good morning family. It's good to see you all again and some visitors and those of you online. I hope you know you're welcome.

Not because we have anything good to offer but because Jesus is here and I hope for our local church family we never lose sight of that. We pray often that the presence of the Lord would be here. We confess every sin that he convicts us about, we know about and thereby cleansed and justified.

We have peace with God through Christ and he welcomes us into his presence. And so it's the Lord Jesus himself who welcomes you all. Let's pray this week for the conference that's coming up this week, this weekend.

And I'm just really challenged by the hungry souls who are taking time and spending considerable amounts of money to be here. And I believe that it's something that they're after more than just listening to a message. Because nowadays you can do that online.

You can listen to a message on any topic almost. But why would these people, hundreds of them, that are coming this week here to an unknown little church in Loveland, Colorado of all places. Not because we have anything good but because they're drawn.

I believe the Holy Spirit has drawn them. Most of them, many of them, I don't know what most of them, many of them have never met us before. They've watched us online.

But I believe it's the Holy Spirit that's drawing them for something. They're after a deeper experience with Jesus Christ. They're after a reality of life in the midst of a Christendom that's full of hypocrisy and that's full of a poor representation of Jesus.

Not to say that we are the best or perfect or anything like that. Far from it. In fact, the longer I've been here, the more I see how un-Christ-like I am.

And the more I press on to be like him. But in that passion to be like Jesus. Not for anything else on this earth except to be like Jesus.

That by the time we reach the end of our lives, God must have been able to finish that work of making us like Jesus in nature. That's what we preach. That's what we believe.

And I believe that is what is drawing these dear friends, brothers and sisters and children coming with their families. Driving hours and hours perhaps to get here. Getting on a plane.

These days flying is worse than driving. And coming here and spending money to get a hotel room. They're not here to go see the Rocky Mountains.

That's what everybody else comes to Colorado for. If you had three days of vacation or something like that. I'm not against vacation.

I take vacations too. Please do. But here are some, I wonder if among them are some who they get only a few days and they're like kids let's go to RLCF.

And I watch these kids. And they're so excited to be here. They love it.

They don't want to leave. They're not going to Disneyland or all these other things that children of the world feel for. I'm sure that's exciting for the children.

But to see the joy that these children have just to be among God's people. And I'm thankful that we have that in this church as well. I see that in you children.

That you're here Sunday and you're not in a hurry to leave. You're here till late in the evening. If we could stay all night together you would be here too children.

I know that. As we get older it's easy for us to lose that. Yeah I can afford to skip today.

Not that important to me. Many who are last will be first. And the first will be last Jesus said.

And I more and more believe that to be true. I'm not here to judge anybody or think about anybody else except myself. Dear brother, dear sister at RLCF and children.

Judge yourself in the light of God. How much do you value what the Lord is doing in our midst? I'm not here to make it out into some big thing. Because we're nothing.

We're broken. We're ashes that the Lord is bringing beauty out of. Many of you were here seven years ago when we had to walk through that.

And I look at what the Lord's done. I just give him thanks. I hang my head in gratitude to the Lord.

And I say Lord you've been so merciful to us. Now let us be merciful to others. We have a mission brothers and sisters and children.

We have a mission. We're not here on this earth just to receive and to say thank you Lord. Take me back to heaven when I die.

We have a mission. We must be poured out for others. Otherwise you'll regret it in all eternity.

If all God was able to accomplish in you was to save you from going to hell. If that's it. I want to tell you with all the love of God that's in my heart and in the name of Jesus you will have regret in heaven.

If all that God was able to do was that you avoided hell. It means that you haven't seen just how much Jesus did for you. And I can't afford to judge anybody because I was one of them for many years.

Who thought he knew how much Jesus loved him. And sang about how much Jesus loved me. But didn't live that in a way that showed that Jesus had really loved me.

And things changed some years ago when the Lord laid a hole in my heart and I cried out. I said Lord why is it I'm still so self-centered. Still so full of the love of money.

Still so full of anxiety. Still worried about tomorrow and all these things. Still defeated in all these things.

Why? It means I haven't seen how much you gave up for me. And as he started to do that. He doesn't do that in an instant because I think that would blow us away.

I would just want to die immediately. I said like Lord I don't deserve. I deserve hell.

When I see your love. Do you have that response brothers, sisters? I tell you honestly I'm not making it up. Sometimes when God gives me a sudden burst of revelation of his love.

There's a part of me that says Lord I just deserve for you to throw me into hell right now. That's it. Why would you love a wretch like me? But I'm thankful he doesn't do that.

I know I can say that and I'm not trying to be silly. Because God has loved me so much. And given up so much but it certainly does this for me.

It lights a fire and says Lord I must. What else am I holding back? How am I living in a selfish self-centered way somehow even now? So we have a mission and I think about that with the brothers and sisters and children who come. I pray and make this your prayer dear friends that the Holy Spirit will fill your heart afresh this week with a fresh anointing for the power and the witness and the prophetic way in which God wants to use you.

We're praying for brother Zach. Please pray for him too for health and energy and the prophetic anointing. Pray for yourselves.

Pray for your children. Pray for your wives, your husbands. Pray for each other that God will use us as his vessels.

Because like I said they're not coming here just to listen to a sermon. They can do that online. They're coming here to taste of the goodness of God.

Of the power of God in our lives. And may it not be that even one of us is lacking. If you're the one that a hungry thirsty visitor speaks to because they know you're from RLCF and they're left leaving a little bit with the taste of this world because that's all you care about.

What a tragedy would that be? Brothers, sisters, God has placed you in RLCF for a reason. To be a witness of the kingdom to come. Ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit this week.

If never before do it this week especially. Say Lord there's a bunch of people coming. I'm not going to be up there preaching the sermon but somebody's going to talk to me and I want to leave them with a little bit of the taste of heaven.

A little bit of the taste of Jesus. Not myself. Not what's going on in the sports world or the political world or the business world.

Sure we may talk about that some but let it have the taste of heaven in it. The taste of Jesus in it. That's what we are called to do.

Do it brothers, sisters. Let's do it. I believe we shall.

Please turn with me to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. It's a verse that has challenged me for a number of years and has motivated me to live my life in a way that surrendered to the Lord. 2nd Corinthians 5 verse 21. He, that is the father, made him, that is Jesus, his son.

So the father made Jesus who knew no sin. He made Jesus who knew no sin. And as you think about this, as we read this together, just think about again like I was saying, what Jesus had to go through for you and I. That you and I could even be sitting here and have a hope of eternity.

I hope you know that your eternal destiny is not in hell but in heaven with Jesus Christ forever. If you're a born again child of God, repentant of all your sin and his spirit dwells in you, you're his. That's a hope you have, must have, an assurance.

But never lose sight of what it took for us to have that assurance. It took this. The father had to make Jesus who knew no sin.

Sin is the ugliest, filthiest, most horrible thing you can ever imagine. When you think of sin, don't think of the little sins that you commit every now and then. Yeah, we'll think about that too.

But see every sin, the little sin and the big sin, whether you call it little or big, as horrible. I mean the world thinks of child molesters as the most evil thing. You do something so evil to a little innocent child.

Hurt them. That sin is, it took Christ having to suffer the same amount of suffering for that sin as it takes, as it took for him to suffer for your sin. The pride, the gossip, the complaining, the bursts of anger, the lust, all of that.

And he took all of that filthiness, think of the horrible filth that sin is. The father took Jesus who knew no sin, who had nothing to do with sin ever. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we could be free from sin.

So that we might become the righteousness of God in him. I don't think I can do this verse justice. I believe this is one of the most powerful verses in the Bible.

I really believe it. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. That we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

I encourage you, dear brothers and sisters, as I am, as the Holy Spirit's been drawing my heart to meditate on this verse much. What does it actually mean that the father made Jesus sin? He was actually sin. Think about that horrible, horrible thing.

The most worst possible sin. And your sin, that it took it and put it on Jesus where he became sin. Yeah, we sing often of how he took our sin, but here it says that he actually became our sin.

It's too fanciful for us to imagine. Amazing love, how can it be? Thou my God shouldst die for me. He made him who knew no sin to become sin.

That's what Jesus became. And if not, if he hadn't become that, you and I would never have had any hope. That's what it took.

So, now let's go back and begin reading in verse 11. Knowing this, that he became sin who knew no sin. That we might become the righteousness of God.

Here's what he starts by saying in verse 11. Knowing the fear of the Lord. Does this bring a fear of you? Say, how much do you think the father loved Jesus? Oh, he loved him so much.

The father's love for Jesus, his son, was so much. And yet the father had to take all that filth and muck and put it on his son Jesus, whom he loved so much. Why? Because sin is so horrible.

And sin deserves a punishment, eternal separation from God, the father. And it took that for me now to not be eternally separated from the father. This should bring the fear of the Lord into our hearts.

Say, Lord, sin is serious. If the punishment of sin and the method and the means by which my sin could be forgiven and I could be justified from it, was that Jesus had to become sin, then it must be really, really serious. Sin is not something to play around with then, I realize.

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. Let's skip down to verse 14. For the love of Christ.

So here we see a balance of both the fear of the Lord and the love of Christ. This immense love of Christ and the fear of the Lord. This did something for Paul.

Paul had the fear of the Lord. And because he had the fear of the Lord, he persuaded men. If you really have the fear of the Lord, dear brothers and sisters and children, if you really have the fear of the Lord, there will be a desire in you to persuade others.

A longing to not just say, thank you, Lord, that I have the fear of the Lord. But you must have it too, co-worker, unsaved relative, neighbor, friend that I talk freely with. You must have that fear of the Lord too.

Knowing the fear of the Lord, I persuade men. And for many years, I tried to work up being an evangelist. Force myself to go and give the gospel to somebody or hand out a tract or if I'm sitting next to a plane, I try to work up the courage to talk to that person.

And it was my own work. And the more I received the fear of the Lord, I got what Paul got a little bit of. I'm now nowhere close to where he is, he was.

But I got a little bit more of this persuasive mentality. I must persuade somebody, everybody that I meet to fear the Lord. And verse 14, that the love of Christ, he was so filled with the love of Christ that it compelled him, controlled him, forced him, constrained him.

He said, I can't do this thing, I can't do that other thing, I must do this. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died. And if that's not your testimony, dear brother, dear sister and dear children, ask God to make it so.

Ask him to fill you with his love that it becomes a controlling love, a compelling love, a constraining love that forces you out of your shell. Forces you out of your pity part that you might be sitting on. Forces you out of just staying within the confines of your little circle.

Forces you out to draw others as well. The fear of the Lord and the love of God in Christ. And what is this love? What is this message that we're called to give? Verse 15, he died for all.

This is the message. Jesus died for you. Yes, you'll hear that, but that's not the whole message.

And unfortunately, what's being presented in much of Christendom is a half gospel. Jesus died for you. And it's being presented in a way where the rest of it is left uncertain or people come up with their own finish of that sentence.

Jesus died for you. So what? Most evangelists will say, so you can now go to heaven. But what does the Bible actually say? 2nd Corinthians 5 verse 15.

Jesus died for you so that you being still alive might never again live for yourself. That means never again do you have the right to do what you want to do. That's why Jesus died.

He died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves but live for him who died and rose again on their behalf. This is the gospel. And if the more we live it, dear family, the more we live this life of no longer living for ourselves, it becomes a life, a power within us that's like it's bursting.

It's kind of like you've got this balloon, if you will, that's filling it up with air, filling up with air, filling up with air, filling up with air. And it's reaching its limits and then it just explodes. That's what Paul had.

He had an explosive love, an explosive fear of the Lord because he was so filled up. I think many of you have tasted of the fear of the Lord and tasted of the love of Christ. But has it become an explosion? Has it become something that presses you on where you're like, no, I don't want to spend my money and my time on that thing.

I have to do what the love of Christ is compelling me to do. That's what Paul had. I long for that more and more and I pray that we will be such a church.

And so, what else? The consequence of that is from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh. That means that I no longer have an attachment to my friends or my relatives. You say, well, these are my relatives.

Yeah, sure. I want, I'm attached to them as long as I can draw them to Christ. And I want to interact with them because I have a desire for them to be drawn to Christ as well.

But I'm not going to choose my relatives over the kingdom of God and the people of God. I know no one according to the flesh anymore because I'm a child of God. And I've met many Christians who are still sort of held back from effectiveness for Christ because of attachment to their relatives.

In some way they're attached to their friends or their relatives. People they know according to the flesh and that attachment to their culture, to their people, to the people that they like to hang out with holds them back from going into areas that are outside their comfort zone, outside what they like to do so that they can be useful for God. From now on we recognize no one according to the flesh.

Verse 17, he says, all things have become new. If you're truly born again, if you've seen the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, if you've seen that he made him who knew no sin to be sin on your behalf, then, verse 17, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creature. That means the old things have passed away.

New things have come. The old relationships have passed away. The love for those old, the old love of things has passed away.

The old way of speaking, the old way of doing has passed away. New things have come. And then he goes on to say, now this is just what God has done for us and the life he's given us.

The consequence of that, if we've really seen it and really experienced it, is this. Now all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and didn't just do that. Again, sadly, what happens in a lot of Christendom is that there's a half gospel, half verses, half truths.

A half truth is not truth at all. It's a lie. A half truth is as much a lie as zero truth.

And here's the whole truth. All things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and did something else. Gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

This is the whole truth. If you've been reconciled to God, it doesn't stop there. Now he's given you the ministry of reconciliation.

So now you must be one, verse 19, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself through himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. So if God has reconciled you to himself, now he says, now I'm going to send the message of reconciliation to somebody else to you, through you. Verse 20, therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us.

We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. This is the mission. Why? Because he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf.

Therefore we are ambassadors. Is there that cry within your heart, dear family, as you interact with the world around you? As you see a sinful world around you? As you see people acting out in sin, whether they're religious sinners or worldly sinners? Is there an appeal within your heart? We beg you. Not God hates you, pointing a finger at them, but this, we beg you, be reconciled to God.

Relative, that's unconverted, parents, brothers, sisters, children, whoever it might be. We beg you be reconciled to God. Now that must be a prayer that begins in secret.

That must be a prayer that because you love your loved ones or love those unconverted relatives so much, you spend nights, staying up night, fasting, skipping meals, giving up pleasures that you would choose to have, saying, Lord give me this ministry of reconciliation. It must be more than just a, oh here you need to be saved, or even here's a track now, it could start there. But before you hand out that track, before you seek to be a witness and ask God to give you something to share with somebody else, pray.

Ask God to fill you with the ministry of reconciliation. We are God's ambassadors. Now, what is an ambassador? We have ambassadors in this country, most of them are in Washington D.C., and they are people who are citizens of another country.

The ambassador from India, let's say, the ambassador from Brazil, the ambassador from Mexico, the ambassador from South Africa, the ambassador from Japan, wherever it might be. There's an ambassador who's a representative of that country, living in this country. He's not a citizen of the United States, even though he's relatively permanent residence is here, he'll have a home, and his kids may go to school here and such, or her kids may go to school.

But they're citizens of that other country. Their interests are the other country's interests, and they are here to seek the interests of that country while here. And countries in the world engage, allow for such things.

And they recognize that the ambassador from France, let's say, is not here to promote America's interests. They're here to promote France's interests while living here in the U.S. through diplomacy. That means we'll talk nicely, have meetings.

How can we encourage relationships here in the United States between the U.S. and France? That's what they're here. Now, you're an ambassador. That's what we're just told.

Because you've seen the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. You've seen that he made him who knew no sin to be sin on your behalf. And now he says he's given you the ministry of reconciliation.

He's made us ambassadors, which means what? What happened then when all things became new, the old things passed away. I was a citizen of this world when I was born, and so were you. Whatever country, you're citizen of this world.

These days it's a big topic of conversation. Citizenship and naturalized citizenship and all that stuff. You know, that doesn't matter.

What country you are a citizen of this earth absolutely doesn't matter. The fact that you're a citizen of any country on this earth needs to change. And when it says that verse 17, that all things have become new, if you're truly in Christ, now you're a citizen of heaven.

That's a different kingdom. Every kingdom, every country here on this earth is of one citizenship. We'll read a verse in Philippines 3, I'll show you shortly, that speaks about the same thing.

But we're citizens of heaven. That's what ought to have become new. If that's not the case, perhaps you're not even born again, brother, sister.

I'm not here to tell you something else or question your salvation, but you examine your heart. Are you really somebody who's a citizen of heaven? Then you're born again. That's what's become new.

You're a citizen of heaven. That means now you're still here on this earth. Why does God not take you out from this earth and take you up to heaven? If you're a citizen of heaven, you say, Lord, just take me up to heaven.

My citizenship is there. He says, no, you're a citizen of heaven, but I have a purpose for you. I've placed you on this earth to be my ambassador.

That means I'm going to, I made you a, I've given you citizenship by heaven, but now you're here on this earth to further my interests here on this earth. And your goal is not to further your own interests, not to make more money. No, that's a corrupt ambassador.

And there are some of those. They'll take bribes and they'll, they'll be spies perhaps. They'll pretend to be ambassadors for France, but the US brings them over, let's say, and this goes on.

But in the world, there's no such thing. You're not a part of this earth. You have no desire to further the interests of this world or your own interests because your citizenship is in heaven.

This is what it means to be an ambassador. And it's not an on and off thing. It's not that you're an ambassador here for a couple of hours when we're together on a Sunday morning and then the rest of this week you live for yourself, live for your own interests.

Don't think about the kingdom of heaven. That's how many Christians live. Turn it on on a Sunday morning, act like they're ambassadors of heaven, sing here I am Lord send me.

But when it comes Monday morning, time to be actually sent and it's going to cost them some sacrifice. And they're tempted with the things of this world and the things of eternity. They choose the things of this world.

It's not an on and off thing. Old things have passed away, they're dead. You know when it says verse 17, the old things have passed away.

That's a phrase you use for people who have died. He's passed away, she's passed away. Has the old things passed away dear friend in your life? Have the old things passed away? Then you're truly a child of God.

All things have become new. So this is what it means to be an ambassador. I'd like to turn to Isaiah 6 now and we as we think about in the remaining time as I share what it means to be an ambassador.

We sang that song here I am Lord. Is it I Lord? And actually the answer is yes it is you. Every one of us according to 2nd Corinthians 5, every one of us have that mission.

It is you that God is sending. Isaiah chapter 6, we read this. The phrase is in verse 8. Isaiah 6 verse 8, Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And Isaiah said, Here am I. Send me.

And he said, Go. He sent him. But I want you to understand, to know the context in which this was happening.

Because it's easy for us to think, Oh, you know, a lot of people today when they go, they go to Bible school. They go out to practice. They get an apprenticeship at a church.

They get practice in being a pastor. And then they get eventually get appointed to a pastorship. This is the world's way of trying to do God's work.

The church is sadly copied God's way. What did Isaiah have? What qualifications did he have? He was broken man. And I want you to see the setting in Israel briefly.

See, it says in verse 1, It was in the year of King Uzziah's death that this happened. That's significant. Before that Isaiah was preaching.

This is not Isaiah chapter 1. This is chapter 6. For the first 5 chapters, Isaiah was preaching. Verse 1, Isaiah 1 verse 1, it says that a vision came to him. And he preached from that vision.

He got visions. And there was 5 chapters. I don't know exactly how many years this was.

A number of years. But he had these visions and he was preaching. He had a prophetic word.

And then something changed when he saw a true vision in Isaiah chapter 6. But it happened in the year of King Uzziah's death. And you read a little bit more about King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles chapter 26. 2 Chronicles is the last of the historical books.

There's Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. Before Ezra, 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles chapter 26.

We read about this man Uzziah, who when he died, Isaiah got this vision. And I want you to just briefly see the setting in which Isaiah got this vision. To which he replied, here am I, send me.

2 Chronicles 26 verse 4. We read about Uzziah that Uzziah, even though there was a history of many, most of the kings of Israel were bad. Most of them. 99% I forget the exact percentage.

Certainly a high percentage of them were bad. A few of them were good. And one of them was Uzziah.

He was actually a good king. At least started out that way. It says in verse 4, Isaiah, sorry, 2 Chronicles 26 verse 4. He did right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

His father Amaziah was also a good king. And he continued to seek God in the days of Zachariah, the prophet who had understanding through the vision of God. And as long as he sought the Lord, God prospered him.

And then he went out to war. Verse 7, God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived in Garbiel and the Mionites, etc. The Ammonites, these are all the enemies of God.

God gave them victory. So here's somebody who, a picture of somebody who did, was pleasing to the Lord, came to a life of victory. But then something happened in verse 16 when all this victory, when he experienced all this victory, he came to a steady life and he saw all his enemies around him defeated.

Verse 16, when he became strong, perhaps that's where some of us are. God's brought us to a life of victory, a life of stability. And things are going well in your marriage, maybe things are going well with your children.

And maybe, yeah, there are needs you have, but there's a strength in you, perhaps. When he became strong, and it's a strength from the Lord, nothing wrong with that. But here's the danger.

His heart was so proud that he acted corruptly. He went outside the boundary that God had drawn around him. And he was unfaithful to the Lord, his God.

What did he do? He didn't go out and do something wicked. All he did was he thought, you know, he was the king. And back then the king couldn't be the priest.

They couldn't come into the temple and offer a sacrifice. God had forbidden it. Even David, the original king of Israel and Judah, never did that.

All the kings after that. But Uzziah thought, well, God's blessed me. Look, I'm so blessed.

I'm pleasing to the Lord. God's proven his pleasure over me by all the victory he's given me. I know I'm not supposed to go in the temple, but yeah, I'm just going to do it anyway.

You know, I have a prophetic ministry straight outside his boundary. Because his heart was lifted up. And then the priests came in and said, what are you doing here? Thank God they were bold priests.

They opposed him. Verse 18, it said, it is not for you to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests. Because you've been unfaithful and you'll have no honor from the Lord God.

But Uzziah refused. He was angry at them. How dare you oppose me? He thought the anointing of God was on him.

And while he was enraged with the priest, leprosy broke out on him forehead. And Azariah, verse 20, looked at him and behold, he was leprous on his forehead. And they hurried him out of there, chased him out.

And he also ran away. He realized he was leprous. And you know what they did to leprous? They cast him out.

King Uzziah, verse 21, was a leper to the day of his death. He never got cured from that leprosy. And he lived in a separate house, being a leper.

After all the success, after all the blessing that God had given him, his heart was lifted up. He refused to repent from that pride. And he became a leper and remained that.

And I think he remained a leper because he refused to repent of that pride until the end of his life. What a sad story. And he was cut off from the house of the Lord.

And Jotham, his son, was over the king's house judging the people of the land. And the rest of the people of the land. In Acts, verse 23, Uzziah slept.

Now this is the year when Isaiah gets this vision. Uzziah slept with his fathers and they buried him with his fathers, not in the same tomb, but in a field of the grave which belonged to the kings. Even in his death, because he was a leper, it says, for they said he is a leper, he was buried this way.

And this is the condition, this is the state of things in Israel at that time. Let's go back to Isaiah 6. I wonder what it was like for Isaiah in the midst of this confusion and turmoil. And maybe he was excited when Uzziah was doing well and God was blessing Israel.

And then there came a time of hardship and a time of God's disapproval because of the king and what he had done. And in the midst of this, I imagine that Isaiah was broken. Isaiah had counseled Uzziah.

You read in chapter 1, verse 1, that he prophesied in the reign of Uzziah. I'm sure that Isaiah was often in Uzziah's palace. Uzziah loved the Lord and so he invited Isaiah to come and speak to him.

They had fellowship and here this man falls away. And Isaiah's burdened, he's heavy. Now let's read verse 1, Isaiah 6, verse 1. In the year of king Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on the throne and saying, God you're in control of all of this.

There's turmoil here. Maybe it's in your job situation. Maybe it's with children and their health situation.

Maybe it's some uncertainty like I was saying last week even. Unshakeable things in your life. There's something that's shaky in your life.

Something that's not settled and in the midst of that, Isaiah was in the temple. Isaiah was in some place. I don't know if he was actually in the physical temple, but it was the spiritual temple that he saw.

And he opened his eyes and he saw the Lord. And everything changed when he saw the Lord. He didn't look at circumstance.

He didn't say, oh Lord why did Uzziah give up like that or what's going on with Jotham, the new king. In the midst of all of that, he lifted up his eyes and saw the Lord. Lofty and exalted with the train of his robe filling the temple.

He saw the seraphim in verse 2 and then one called out to the other saying, holy, holy, holy. Verse 4, the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out. And then I said, his first response, he who had preached for 5 chapters, whatever number of years that represented.

Woe is you, woe is you. Turn to the Lord, turn to the Lord. The first thing that came upon him was, woe is me.

I picture him putting his hand over his mouth saying, woe is me for I am ruined. Because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips. And God has allowed me to see the king.

For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. I believe that this is the true response when we get a revelation of God. It's not, oh I got a vision.

And I go and tell everybody about it. It was this shutting his mouth, I dare not open my mouth anymore. Because I've seen the king in all his glory.

But immediately when he says, Lord I recognize the way I've been using my lips with pride or self-seeking. The way I've been using my life thinking only of myself. I'm sorry, I repent of it.

Woe is me, I'm ruined. He repented of it and immediately one of the angels flew with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongs. And he touched my mouth with it, verse 7, and said, behold this has touched your lips.

And your iniquity, your sin is taken away, your sin is forgiven. Thank God for that immediate forgiveness. And as soon as he's forgiven, now God knows this man who has seen his own sin first, who's seen his own unchrist-likeness first, I can send him now.

And that's the problem, God is, the world is, Christendom is full of people who have gone to Bible school or they've got some idea and they feel like they have some gift and they want to go. And God says, no before you go I must show you your own sin. I must show you your own unchrist-likeness.

But then he says, verse 8, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, here am I, send me, here am I, send me. And before I close I just want to, if you'll turn with me to Philippians chapter 3. It's important dear family for us to understand that this call to be ambassadors of Jesus Christ is not a call to go out into the mission field far away. And that's often how the devil leads people astray.

They hear a call, come to the mission field, they hear missionaries who say we're doing all this in Africa and South America and these far off countries and I praise God for people who are doing that. But that's not what God is necessarily speaking to us this morning. He may call some of you to a far off country perhaps.

But so many people have been misdirected through false teaching or to unwise teaching into some outward ministry without God calling them there. And so the message today is, ask God to show you where he's calling you. Not come up with some idea of where you want to go.

It may not be where you choose to go, but it's where God wants you to go. Ask God to show you where he's calling you and for most of us, I'll tell you, for most of us it is right where he places us. You know that most of the apostles, many of the apostles stayed in Jerusalem.

A few went to Judea, Samaria, the outermost parts of the world. Thomas we know went to India. Other disciples went to other parts, but the most of them stayed in that area.

And God took them here, took them there, took them to different places to be witnesses of his kingdom. They were ambassadors. And how are you going to be an ambassador? I want to tell you, tomorrow, well some of you children, you're not going to go to school yet, but in a few weeks you're going to go back to school.

Whether you school at home or you go to a school somewhere, you're going to interact with others your age. God wants you to be an ambassador for them. If you can pull up that picture, that I want to show you a picture.

I want to see if you can guess what this picture is. You see it? What is it? It's an upside down world. I don't know if you've seen it.

I'm fascinated, I can't see it on there yet, but you can see it. It's a picture of the world, it's a world map upside down. Keep your finger on Philippians 3, I'll come back to that.

But there's a phrase in Acts 17 that I want you to see. When God took Paul to Thessalonica, and it wasn't that Paul went to Thessalonica, God took him there. And it's because God took him there that he could be an effective witness.

But when they went there, you read in verse 1, they were in Thessalonica, they were in the synagogue of the Jews, and Paul went down, verse 2, for three weeks. Three Sundays he spoke to them, the scriptures, explaining and giving them evidence that Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead and saying, this Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded, verse 4, and joined Paul, along with a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women.

But the Jews, interestingly, the religious people, who thought they were the chosen people of God, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar, and attacking the house of Jason. This is a person who lived there. See, Paul came as a missionary.

But here was a man named Jason who lived there in that town, who was an ambassador. And all he did was open his home for Paul to come and witness, and they were having meetings in his home. And they came attacking the house of Jason.

They were seeking to bring them out to the people, and when they did not find them, they began dragging Jason, the man who lived there, they couldn't find Paul, so they dragged him out, and some brethren before the city authorities shouting, these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. And Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar. These are Jews, trying to get their fellow Jews in trouble, and other people in trouble, saying that there is another King Jesus, and they stirred up the crowd.

And I thought about that, dear children, I'll start with you children. As you think about this picture of the world upside down, you're going to interact with the world, and you should know that everything that you see around you is upside down. If you're born again, if you're a child of God, God has put you right side up now.

You're the one that's right side up. And everything around you, sports, winning, money, pleasure, success, accomplishments, beauty, handsomeness, good looks, all that's given. But the world is pursuing those things, and it's the pursuit of those earthly things that's upside down.

And as you interact with that world, anytime you see somebody doing something, and you think, nope, that's not right. Little children. You see somebody looking at a picture on their phone, or they say, hey, here, let me show you this little video.

You say, nope, I don't think that's right. That's upside down. I'm right side up.

They start to have a conversation, maybe behind somebody else's back, they speak about somebody, or they tease somebody, or they make fun of somebody. That's upside down. You're right side up, dear children.

If you're born again, if you're a child of God, God has made you right side up. Now, for the rest of us, adults as well, young people, teens, you'll interact with the world that's upside down. The way the things they talk about, and how they look for success in the things of this world, that's upside down.

Whether you get that success or not, leave it up to the Lord. But you're right side up, that means you're part of a different kingdom. You're part of something else.

Your interests are different. Let's go back to Philippians 3. Paul had this mentality. Actually, let's back up a little bit.

He talks, first of all, about Timothy. Paul had this mentality. We'll read what he said in chapter 3. But before that, he says in Philippians 2 verse 19, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition.

For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. This is Paul's co-workers.

The other people who worked with Paul, even they had a little bit of the love of this world. Their own interests. Well, I can do that, but what's it going to cost me? How much is it going to inconvenience me? No, I can't give that up, it's too much.

No, I can't do that. That's self-interest. But Timothy was like, Lord, whatever you ask of me, I'll give it all.

That's why Paul says, I want to send Timothy to you. What a commendation to receive from the Godliest man alive on that earth. This is a man I can send to you, because he's not after anything for himself.

He'll spend and be sent. He'll give himself up fully for you. She'll give herself up fully for you.

I can send them. And the Lord is looking for such. Perhaps everybody in this room is saying, yeah, here am I Lord, send me.

But God is saying, no, I'm sorry, I can't send you. I see that, I've watched your last week and last month. I've been watching you and I see that you really only care about your own interests.

How much more money you can make and how you can be successful in this and your family. And that's all you care about. I don't see that you have a passion for my interests, my kingdom.

But I pray that he will find, at least at RLCF, every one of us saying, here am I Lord, send me. He says, yes, I can. You're not perfect.

I know you're still defeated in some areas. I know you're still fighting. I know you still have a long way to grow.

But you have an interest in my kingdom alone. That's what you're passionate about. Brothers and sisters, God's not looking for perfect people.

He's not waiting for you to come to complete victory over sin before he sends you. Fight, battle, but have an interest in the kingdom of God alone over everything else. And then he can use you.

Then when he takes you into that place, he will use you. Then he goes on in chapter 3 to say, I have counted all things as lost. Verse 8, 9, and 10.

Not that I've already obtained, but I press on. Verse 12. I count all things as worthless, dung, manure compared to knowing Christ.

That's why God could send Paul. That's why God could send Timothy. And that's why God can send you if he does.

Because everything else, literally 100% of everything else is dung, manure. Your job, your marriage, your success, how much money you have, your house, your car, the things you do, you spend your time on. All of that, Lord, nothing is dung compared to you.

Then he says in verse 24, our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself. Recently, my family and I had an experience where we saw this played out in a beautiful way. I won't go into the details, but the thing that the Lord showed us, and as a family we were talking about it even on the drive in this morning to the church meeting here, that we've prayed for years, Lord, use us as a family, use us as individuals, use us as a church.

And I've seen the Lord do this in a beautiful way, that he sent us all as missionaries here, but as he takes us into different circumstances, sometimes it could be while you're on vacation, or while you visit family, or you hang out with friends, or you go on a work trip. While you're there following his leading, exactly where he has led you to be, even on vacation, why not, sure, you recognize, Lord, I'm here to be a witness, I'm here to be an ambassador, I'm here to be an ambassador, and while you're there you'll find that he opens doors. But he did that for us over the last few weeks because we were praying, saying, Lord, you're taking us here, and we sense that you're taking us here to be a witness, to be bold witnesses, you just open the door, we won't have to force our way through it.

And in a beautiful way, as we got to wherever he was taking us, a door opened. We didn't have to bang down the door, we didn't have to break through it, the door opened. But the door opened because we had asked before, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.

Now, I want to tell you brothers and sisters, there is a door that God is going to open a few weeks from now, or a few months from now, that you must be knocking on now. Most Christians are knocking once they're in the situation and they're like in a panic. Remember one example of that is when a man brought his son for the demon to be cast out from him and the disciples couldn't do it.

Why could Jesus do it? He had been asking. He'd spent nights in prayer saying, Lord, there's a situation that's awaiting me a few days from now or later today or a few weeks or a few months from now that I must be ready for. I'm asking for you now, Lord, for your authority, for your power.

I'm seeking, Lord, for your presence. I'm knocking, Lord, for you to use me as an ambassador and I'm knocking and I'm knocking and I'm knocking and I'm asking and I'm seeking. One day you'll find yourself there, equipped for the need in front of you because you've been asking.

So, let's spend time in prayer this week as we've got the conference coming up. I urge you, brothers and sisters, open your heart, spend much time, if it means fasting. I know if you were asked to preach the sermon, you would be fasting and praying.

But how about just because God wants you to be an ambassador, a little smile, somebody you sit with at lunch, somebody that happens to sit next to you in the meeting and you have a short conversation with, be an ambassador. God is looking for ambassadors. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, I pray you'll send us because you see us as ones who are only interested in your kingdom, not interested in ourselves. And not having our own interests, but having your interests. Give us your interests, Lord.

Help us to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. And out of that, I pray that you will send us. Here we are.

Send us. You will feed. You will prepare the feast.

You will give us your word. You will strengthen us. You will give us the power.

We seek you for that, Lord. We believe you're going to use that. Use us.

In this week, in the weekend conference and in the days to come, more and more in Jesus name we ask. Amen. Amen.