Ministry of Reconciliation

Good morning. As many know from my post in Groupme I was able to get my MRI yesterday down at Carthage Hospital. The nice lady showed me the images and it was clear there is damage but to what extent is not known yet. She said they should have the images read and to the drs at the walk in ortho clinic in Joplin early part of this week, maybe by Tuesday.

I thank you for the prayers and ask they continue it has been a long week and a half.

Praise report. Sheryl and Becky agreed to take care of the rent for the building in Kenya for the year and they got that money sent to Ian on Tuesday and Wednesday he called me and let me know he had received it and the hope was to be in the building this morning. Praise God for the wonderful things He is doing for our brothers and sisters in Kenya

As soon as I hear more from Ian about the building I will update hopefully with pictures

This morning is Father’s Day. Happy Father’s Day and thank you to Stephanie for getting the nice Father’s day gifts together for our fathers. You are a blessing to all of us!!!!!

Father’s I will challenge you to be a godly father to your kids and grandkids and any child God brings into you sphere of influence! Be Jesus to the wold!

Most of the time when we are in a sermon series and a special day comes up I stop and do a message related to that special day.

Today I did not feel called by God to do that. This message is not specifically for fathers but applies to fathers as this world needs men who realize they have the ministry of reconciliation and make that a focus of their lives

Lets Pray

START RECORDING

This morning we will continue on with our Living Unashamed for Jesus sermon series with the message Ministry of Reconciliation. This is the third week of this particular series and if you missed the first two weeks or want to listen again they are on our website cccnevadamo.org under sermons and Living Unashamed For Christ media series. The sermon notes are also attached to those messages for your study

This morning is a huge topic

You and I as Christians have a ministry of reconciliation

We all understand broken

we all understand hurt

we all understand a longing for and the need to be reconciled

Humans are sinful by nature so therefore our relationships cause pain and hurt and brokenness

We hurt each other

Sometimes intentionally but we all hurt each other

This can take many forms

Miss an opportunity to edify or encourage

miss an opportunity to rebuke or correct

miss an opportunity to fellowship

miss an opportunity to love

Maybe we tried to edify

maybe we tried to encourage

maybe we tried to rebuke or correct

maybe we tried to fellowship

maybe we tried to love

and messed it up like we often do as humans

Said something wrong or hurtful

made it all about us

just dropped the ball and hurt someone else in the process

Maybe you are the one who is hurt

We have in the past

you may be in the middle of

or you will in the future need reconciliation

That reconciliation is the fleshly, human reconciliation and is important but we must also be reconciled to God through Jesus

Spiritual reconciliation is the most important reconciliation of all and many times God used physical reconciliation to lead to spiritual reconciliation

That is exactly what we are going to look at this morning

Ministry of Reconciliation

Church if we will truly carry out our ministry of reconciliation

If we would truly be ambassadors for Christ Jesus

If we will truly live our lives unashamed for Jesus the world would change

Revival would sweep over Nevada like never before!!!!

But it starts with you and your heart relationship with Jesus

Everyone wants revival but few are willing to pay the price to receive it

revival always starts with repentance

Revival broke out at Camp Galilee last week.....why.....kids were repenting in obedience to the Holy Spirit!!!!!

If you want revival you must have a repentant heart

I bought an A W Tozer daily devotional book which I am excited about and in it on Saturday it talked about the fact that most Christians miss how Holy God truly is......when we repent we repent for what we have done not who we are

You and I are sinful by nature

evil by nature

fleshly full of fleshly desires and wants and cravings that all are sinful

We are to repent of what we do.....the sins we commit but we must also repent of who we are…fleshly

evil

sinful

selfish

our sinful fleshly nature

When we look at ourselves and then to the perfect Holy loving God we must repent of who we are!!!!!!

That repentance leads to revival and must be present before revival can happen

you must look for ways to repent.....be quick to repent

be quick to be a doer of the Word as you listen to the Holy Spirit lead and guide you everyday

I pray revival comes

I pray our hearts are right or we repent and get our hearts right for the Holy Spirit to move in a mighty way here today and going forward

Back to this morning

2 Corinthians 5:16–21

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“From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

For you to truly understand your ministry of reconciliation you must truly understand verses 16 and 17

2 Corinthians 5:16–17

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“From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

You and I

the western church

miss so many opportunities because we don’t live according to the scriptures

We focus on the flesh

what we see

what we hear

what we smell

what we feel

what we think

what we experience

Most of our concerns are fleshly as well

When you meet someone or run into someone you know what are a few of the questions everyone asks?

How are you? Physical question for the most part

Where do you work?

Do you have a family?

What are your hobbies? etc

Church shame on us

Now hear me…relationship is important and those questions can help lead to relationship but how in the world do you know what relationship to form if you have no idea where the person truly stands spiritually?

These guys in Corinthians knew Jesus in the flesh but not any longer

Flesh doesn’t matter

I can’t make this more clear

Your flesh

your fleshly desires

your fleshly wants

your fleshly emotions

none of them matter

Your flesh doesn’t matter

You and I as Christians must be dead to the flesh

All that matters is spiritual!!!!!!!

The only thing that matters is spiritual

Church if you

If I

lived like the new creation we are in Christ the

world

religion

the lost

would look at us like we had two heads

You and I would be so radically different anyone we crossed paths with would see it and see Jesus!!!!!

How do you regard people?

Do you regard people according to the flesh?

Now before we go any further I want to be clear because Jesus was clear we are to meet fleshly needs.....we can’t ignore the needs of the flesh and claim to be living spiritually

Matthew 25:35–40

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“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”

Notice Jesus didn’t say when you feel like it or have the time

He didn't say go to church and give your money and let someone else handle these things

No He said YOU did it for me

You should go

You should feed

you should give drink

you should clothe

you should visit the sick and those in prison

YOU

Now should you go to church absolutely

should you tithe absolutely

Those are disciplines that God expects from His children but if you are doing that instead of going you have to question do you know Jesus!!!!!!!!!

You and I are to

feed the hungry

give drink to the thirsty

clothe the naked

visit the sick and those in prison

Let me pause here for a moment. One of the things I have heard as pastor by those who have gotten upset and left our congregation whether permanently or for a short time is this

No one visited me when I was sick or hurt or gone

First shame on me and shame on you

I get the isolation of not being able to do things you once could do

It sucks not being able to drive but God is showing me that I must be dependent upon Him and one way He is doing that is by taking my independence away

I love my bride so much. She is a wonderful nurse and helpmate

I feel terrible asking for everything but when I do too much I hurt quite a bit so again God is showing me that it is okay to be dependent on others.....it is growing our relationship

That is the thing about missed opportunities.....maybe you going and visiting that person or reaching out and calling someone you notice isn’t at church is exactly what God is going to use to help them understand a conviction in their lives

Shame on us for missing that....

GO

Forget the flesh and regard only the Spiritual

Jesus cares very much about the least of these because they need Him

You meet physical needs to open the door to the spiritual

Ministry of reconciliation

Helping someone get back on their feet is an awesome opportunity to share the Gospel

When was the last time you went?

Go

Regard only the Spiritual and follow the Holy Spirit’s call and lead in your life!!!!!!

Anytime you meet someone you should want to know if they know Jesus

Why because nothing matters except the spiritual and because the spiritual is the only thing that matters you ask them if they know Jesus

If only the spiritual is important to you as the scriptures says why wouldn’t you want to know where they stand?

You are to be dead to sin

dead to self

dead the the world and living as a new creation

that new creation is solely focused on the spiritual

You are to no longer regard anyone according to the flesh

It may not be a straight out question Are you saved? Do you know Jesus?

It could just be talking about what God has done in your life....testify.....maybe bringing the truth of scripture into the conversation and from there you can start to tell where someone stands.

Pray to God for the Holy Spirit to give you wisdom as you discern how to interact with those He brings you in contact with everyday!!!!!

Why

Why does all of that matter

Because if you are saved you have been reconciled back to God through Jesus!!!!!!!!

You and I were sinners

dead in our sin

completely deserving of hell and eternal separation from God Himself

We deserved to be left to our own desires and evils but God loves us too much for that

He sent Jesus to become your sin and my sin on the cross

to die in your place and my place

pay your debt and my debt

God reconciled you and me to Him through Jesus

Not because you apologized

not because you deserved it

not because you earned it

no He reconciled you to Him through Jesus when you and I hated Him

we were His enemies

Don’t you get it

You and I have the ministry of reconciliation because we have been freely and completely reconciled to God through Jesus

God through Jesus set you free

Colossians 1:19–20

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“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Get this

It pleased God to reconcile you to Him through Jesus

It pleased Him

So many of us only forgive because Jesus said so

Most are far from pleased that through forgiveness the person who hurt us is reconciled back in right standing with us again let alone reconciled back in right standing with God

Fathers and men what would your house

your workplace

the place you carry out your hobbies

the store

what would Nevada look like if you truly lived out your ministry of reconciliation

Wives and ladies what would your house look like

your workplace

the place you carry out your hobbies

the store

what would Nevada look like if you truly lived out your ministry of reconciliation

Kids same to you

your house

your school

your friends

What would Nevada look like if you truly carried out your ministry of reconciliation

Die to your flesh and carry out your ministry of reconciliation starting TODAY!!!!!!

2 Corinthians 5:20

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“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

God is making His appeal to the lost through YOU!!!!!!!

That should floor you

That should hit you like a ton of bricks

That should be encouraging and edifying if you get it

If not it should break you

God is making His appeal to the lost through you!!!!!!

Think of the lost souls that never heard God’s appeal because you were too ashamed to tell them about Jesus

It is time to get out of the kiddie pool and climb up to the high dive

God makes His appeal to the lost through you

through me

I don’t care if you are in the 5th grade or 100 years old

God makes His appeal to the lost through you....He just said so

What is stopping you from living unashamed for Christ and being an ambassador for Christ that God uses to appeal to the lost He brings you in contact with everyday

Again doesn’t have to be words. I love Christian T-shirts....Melody and I went to Mardels after her appointment at KU.....Praise the Lord everything looked perfect!!!! God is good.

I bought several shirts because I view them as ministry opportunities

conversation starters

I wore one yesterday that on the front said I am not the man I ought to be

and on the back But thank God I am not the man I used to be and then it has

Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

I was drawn to that shirt because of the opportunity for conversation when someone asks me about the shirt and I can point to what Jesus has done in my life!

So many Christians want someone else to do it

The pastor

the youth pastor

the worship leader

the missionary

So many people think this....they may never say this but so many Christians think the following about outreach

You guys go

you are qualified

you are Gods people

I support you

Here is some love and a little money Go

They are also to go but God didn’t say send them.....He said YOU are the ambassador of Christ.......you are the minister of reconciliation

So many of us miss it....we demand someone else go.....

All while you are refusing to forgive someone who hurt you feelings

despite the fact that you are fully reconciled to God through Jesus but refuse to attempt reconciliation with someone who made you upset

Church this is where the rubber meets the road

You are either Christ’s ambassadors and God is making His appeal to the lost through you

You either carry out the ministry of reconciliation actively in your life

or

You are standing in direct opposition to the scriptures and God Himself

I love you all so very dearly

It is time we be who God created us and saved us to be

Ministers of reconciliation

Go

Look for those who need reconciliation

Spiritual first

Look for the lost and share the Gospel

Meet needs if Holy Spirit leads you to do that but speak the truth

share the Gospel

How many of you could come up right here and right now and give your testimony?

Prepared in season and out of season

You should have the word of what God did in you and for you ready to go at all times

If not get it written down....quit making excuses and be a minister of reconciliation

One of the most powerful things you can do is to be open and honest and vulnerable with people and freely talk about what God has done in you and for you

Church people all around us are dying and going to hell and we never once stopped to share an ounce of the Gospel with them

How in the world can the be reconciled to God through Jesus if they never hear????????

It is time

clear your stage so all that matters is spiritual and reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ!!!!!!!

STOP RECORDING

Clear the Stage

STOP STREAMING