Ambassadors for all people
Series: For all People
Speaker: James Barnett
Date: 19th September 2021
Passage: Acts 25:1-27
00:00:00 --> 00:00:04 Good morning, church. My name is James, and it is good to be with you today.
00:00:05 --> 00:00:13 Brand ambassadors and now social media influencers have the tough job of trying to convince me and
00:00:13 --> 00:00:20 you to buy a product that they're selling. They often do this by showing that they love it and
00:00:20 --> 00:00:29 they use it, and we should too. When I think of the actor George Clooney, and I don't very often,
00:00:29 --> 00:00:36 but when I do, I just picture him with an espresso machine and a tiny cup of coffee in hand. You
00:00:36 --> 00:00:43 should be able to see him on screen. I fully expect that if I ever went to George Clooney's house,
00:00:44 --> 00:00:50 he would welcome me with a fresh espresso, and I'd walk in, and there'd just be a wall of coffee pods,
00:00:50 --> 00:00:54 and he'd have Nespresso machines, and he'd just be giving them out at his front door.
00:00:54 --> 00:01:01 Well, product ambassadors need to have authenticity to the product or the country
00:01:01 --> 00:01:08 that they represent. I would feel let down by this personal friend of mine, George Clooney,
00:01:09 --> 00:01:15 by this actor in TV with all of these ads. I would feel let down if I found out that he doesn't
00:01:15 --> 00:01:24 actually drink coffee. You've been lying to us for years. There was a Brazilian football player
00:01:24 --> 00:01:32 named Ronaldinho, and he was an ambassador for Coca-Cola, and he was being paid a million dollars
00:01:32 --> 00:01:40 a year to be a brand ambassador. That was until he turned up at a press conference drinking Pepsi.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:48 Gasp! I hear you saying. Here I was thinking that if I drank Coke like Ronaldinho, I could play football
00:01:48 --> 00:01:56 like Ronaldinho, and now all my hopes and dreams have been dashed. And Coke quickly dropped him to the curb.
00:01:57 --> 00:02:05 When an ambassador is seen to be untrustworthy, it makes us reconsider the product that we're selling.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:14 All Christians are ambassadors. Not ambassadors for a product or a country, but for a person,
00:02:15 --> 00:02:24 for Jesus. We represent Jesus to the world, to our families, to our friends. We represent him online
00:02:24 --> 00:02:32 with what we post on social media. Are we aware of the influence we have on other people's lives
00:02:32 --> 00:02:42 to how they view Jesus? This is really daunting. The way we live our lives actually influences how
00:02:42 --> 00:02:49 other people see Jesus. Will the way we represent Jesus encourage people to check him out,
00:02:50 --> 00:02:59 or will we send them away from him? What kind of ambassadors are we? Today, we're continuing in our
00:02:59 --> 00:03:08 series in Acts, and we're in Acts 25, and Paul is on trial. And in this situation, he is very much like
00:03:08 --> 00:03:17 a brand ambassador. He is standing in the place of Jesus as his ambassador. And Acts 25 is going to
00:03:17 --> 00:03:26 show us what happens when an ambassador is authentic, when he represents truly the one he is an ambassador for,
00:03:26 --> 00:03:34 and the influence that comes from being a gospel ambassador. The challenge for us today will be to
00:03:34 --> 00:03:39 understand what our lives look like, and to understand what we actually look like as ambassadors,
00:03:40 --> 00:03:49 so that we can use our influence so people can see Jesus. There'll be two points this morning. First of all,
00:03:49 --> 00:03:56 that we are gospel ambassadors, and secondly, the influence of ambassadors. So as we have a look at
00:03:56 --> 00:04:05 this part of the Bible, let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, and for this part of
00:04:05 --> 00:04:13 the Bible, reminding us that Paul was an ambassador for you. Help us, as we consider what our lives are
00:04:13 --> 00:04:20 like, to be aware of how people see Jesus in our lives, so that they would get to see him all the more
00:04:20 --> 00:04:29 clearly, Lord. Amen. First of all today, gospel ambassadors. At the start of chapter 25, we meet some
00:04:29 --> 00:04:38 new characters. First of all, we meet a new governor, Festus. He has come in and replaced Felix. The Jews
00:04:38 --> 00:04:47 were under the control of the Romans, and this region was very difficult to keep peaceful. And so when
00:04:47 --> 00:04:54 Festus became governor, one of the first things he did was go to Jerusalem. He'd only been in charge for
00:04:54 --> 00:05:01 three days when he went to Jerusalem, because he goes there, because this region has the chance of
00:05:01 --> 00:05:10 boiling over and having a lot of problems. So Festus, a high-ranking Roman official, is sent, and he goes to
00:05:10 --> 00:05:16 this volatile area. And he immediately seeks to build relationships with the key movers and shakers,
00:05:17 --> 00:05:24 and that's the Jewish leaders. He wants to bring peace and law and order, and the Jewish leaders,
00:05:24 --> 00:05:32 they bring their most pressing issue to him, Paul. Have a look with me at verse 3. This is the Jewish
00:05:32 --> 00:05:38 leaders. They requested Festus as a favor to them to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem,
00:05:38 --> 00:05:45 for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way. Come on, Festus, the Jewish leaders are saying,
00:05:45 --> 00:05:51 you've become our new ruler. Look, we'll follow you. We'll listen to you. Just do us this little favor.
00:05:51 --> 00:05:59 Bring Paul back to us. Let's try, let's put him on trial up here in Jerusalem. Do a little favor.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:06 You scratch our back. We'll scratch your back. But Festus needs to emphasize that he is the one who's in control.
00:06:06 --> 00:06:13 If you want to put this man on trial, come down to Caesarea where he is, and then you can bring your
00:06:13 --> 00:06:22 charges against him. And so the Jews come, and they bring their charges against Paul. And verse 7 says
00:06:22 --> 00:06:28 that they couldn't prove them. They actually had no evidence. They're trying to convince Festus because
00:06:28 --> 00:06:37 Festus' word is the law here. The Jewish leaders try and bring every accusation against Paul to win
00:06:37 --> 00:06:43 Festus over. But they couldn't get anything to stick. The Roman judicial process is actually working in
00:06:43 --> 00:06:50 Paul's favor here because you can't just bring baseless claims against a Roman. You actually need
00:06:50 --> 00:06:56 to have evidence. And so it's most likely that the Jewish leaders are arguing at this point that
00:06:56 --> 00:07:03 Paul has brought a Gentile person into the Jewish temple, that he was blaspheming against their God,
00:07:04 --> 00:07:10 and that he was claiming that there was another ruler, Jesus, that he was following, not Caesar.
00:07:11 --> 00:07:18 But again, for this, they didn't have any proof. In this situation, God is using Paul's Roman
00:07:18 --> 00:07:25 identity to protect him. And Paul briefly gets a chance to defend himself and share his side of
00:07:25 --> 00:07:32 the story. Have a look with me. Verse 8. Paul said, I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law,
00:07:33 --> 00:07:41 or against the temple, or against Caesar. Really simply, he says, I'm innocent. The Jews have attacked
00:07:41 --> 00:07:47 and slandered him with everything they've got. They knew they had to just make it more than just a case of
00:07:47 --> 00:07:53 difference of theology. They needed to make him out as someone who was against Caesar. This Paul guy,
00:07:53 --> 00:08:01 he's a rebel. He's a destabilizing power in Jerusalem. You know, Festus, if you want peace,
00:08:01 --> 00:08:07 you know, we really should get rid of this man. But they aren't able to convince Festus.
00:08:08 --> 00:08:15 Paul is on trial in a very similar way to the trial that Jesus had. In that situation,
00:08:15 --> 00:08:22 the Jewish leaders claimed that they had no other leader than Caesar. Paul, like Jesus, is innocent
00:08:22 --> 00:08:31 on trial. Jesus stood condemned. But in that situation, Jesus didn't defend himself. He knew that
00:08:31 --> 00:08:43 his purpose was to die, to be the innocent lamb sacrificed for us instead of us. Paul's purpose is
00:08:43 --> 00:08:46 different. He knows already, as we've seen over the last couple of weeks, that God was going to take
00:08:46 --> 00:08:56 Paul to Rome to preach the gospel. He was going to spread it even to rulers. And so when Paul defends
00:08:56 --> 00:09:04 his innocence here, he's being an ambassador for Christ and also for Christians. He is defending
00:09:04 --> 00:09:12 the credibility of Jesus and the credibility of Christians. He is highlighting before rulers and
00:09:12 --> 00:09:20 powers the purity of Christians. Christians aren't rogues and rebels who are going to start
00:09:20 --> 00:09:28 wars and try and destabilize powers, but they are godly people. Paul isn't seeking to defend himself.
00:09:28 --> 00:09:34 He is seeking to defend Christians. He's not trying to do this to get himself out of dying. Have a look
00:09:34 --> 00:09:42 with me. Verse 11, he says to Festus, if, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death,
00:09:42 --> 00:09:52 I do not refuse to die. He is defending the one he represents. But he even says to Festus,
00:09:52 --> 00:10:01 if you find me guilty, I won't fight you. You put me to death. Paul here is on trial just like Jesus.
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 He's on trial as Jesus's ambassador.
00:10:07 --> 00:10:13 And this is why he argues for his own innocence, standing before the governor and the rulers just
00:10:13 --> 00:10:21 like Jesus did. They laid the same accusations against Jesus and Jesus was killed. But Paul,
00:10:21 --> 00:10:29 when faced with an unjust trial, shows the kind of ambassador that he is. He is authentic. He doesn't
00:10:29 --> 00:10:38 crumble and try and save his own life, but he is representing Jesus. Now, this situation would have
00:10:38 --> 00:10:43 been totally different if the Jewish leaders had any evidence. It's actually really interesting because
00:10:43 --> 00:10:49 they have no evidence. It actually makes Paul come across as a more reliable ambassador.
00:10:49 --> 00:10:56 Festus and Agrippa, who we'll see in a moment, are actually more likely to listen to him because
00:10:56 --> 00:11:01 the Jewish accusations are so strong and yet there is no evidence for it.
00:11:01 --> 00:11:13 Whether we like it or not, we too are ambassadors for Jesus. Every day I go out, every day you go out,
00:11:13 --> 00:11:19 whenever we do go out, we are ambassadors for whatever we're representing, whether it's the clothes
00:11:19 --> 00:11:26 that we wear, the sporting team that we wear, a hat, the country that we're from, but most importantly,
00:11:26 --> 00:11:34 the Lord that we follow. Paul would later write in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, he said,
00:11:34 --> 00:11:40 we are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
00:11:41 --> 00:11:46 I wonder if when Paul wrote that later on, he's remembering this situation here,
00:11:46 --> 00:11:53 where he is being Christ's ambassador to these rulers, to kings and to queens.
00:11:54 --> 00:12:03 Paul knew firsthand that God uses people like us to make his appeal to other people of the goodness
00:12:03 --> 00:12:12 of Jesus. It says something important about our role as ambassadors for Jesus. Just like Paul,
00:12:12 --> 00:12:20 we'll be scrutinized. Our words and our actions will be sifted. When people are trying to figure out
00:12:20 --> 00:12:26 who this Jesus is, they won't first turn to him and investigate, they will look to us. They will look
00:12:26 --> 00:12:34 to Christians. If it is easy to dismiss Christians because they're unloving, they're harsh and they're
00:12:34 --> 00:12:43 judgmental. Well, it is easier to dismiss this Jesus. But when we are quick to forgive, when we are
00:12:43 --> 00:12:53 patient and loving and gentle, God's appeal for Jesus can be made through us. We are ambassadors.
00:12:54 --> 00:13:01 What kind of ambassador are you? What picture of Jesus would people get if they were around you?
00:13:01 --> 00:13:10 If you're not a Christian, have you been judging your entire view of Jesus on other people?
00:13:10 --> 00:13:17 Now, Christians are ambassadors for Jesus. We do get to see a picture of Jesus through Christians,
00:13:17 --> 00:13:25 but small reminder, Christians are not Jesus. So let me encourage you, if you are still investigating
00:13:25 --> 00:13:32 this Jesus, go and investigating him directly. Go and read the book of Mark. Go and read part one of Acts,
00:13:32 --> 00:13:39 which is the book of Luke. Go and investigate this Jesus directly. That's our first point today,
00:13:39 --> 00:13:48 that we are gospel ambassadors and that we need to look like the one we represent so that people can see
00:13:48 --> 00:13:59 Jesus. Paul showed the importance of living out his faith as an authentic ambassador. There is wonderful
00:13:59 --> 00:14:08 benefit for us to having a saving faith in God, a faith that we live out, one that responds to God's love
00:14:08 --> 00:14:15 for others. I was so encouraged in this in the last couple of weeks as we've been raising money for Sam and
00:14:15 --> 00:14:23 Sally Lowe on the Gold Coast and their church plant. I have been so encouraged to see our church give so
00:14:23 --> 00:14:31 generously. It warmed my heart. It's been difficult in this season to see you, to feel connected to you
00:14:31 --> 00:14:39 because we are disconnected, but it was so encouraging to see how God is working on your heart to be generous
00:14:39 --> 00:14:49 because our God has been so generous to us. When we are good ambassadors for God, we look like him.
00:14:50 --> 00:15:00 And it doesn't just benefit us, it does benefit others too. And it's our second point today, the influence of ambassadors.
00:15:00 --> 00:15:11 After Paul met with Festus, he appealed to Caesar, as was his right as a Roman citizen. But before he would be taken to Rome,
00:15:12 --> 00:15:22 King Agrippa, the king of Judea, and his sister Bernice, it was actually a massive scandal in the Roman Empire at the time
00:15:22 --> 00:15:26 that Agrippa was living with his sister. You can investigate that on your own though.
00:15:26 --> 00:15:32 And these two come to hear from Paul after they meet with Festus.
00:15:33 --> 00:15:40 The impact of Paul's honest character, the fact that he had all of these accusations brought against him,
00:15:40 --> 00:15:46 but none of them would stick because there was no proof, meant that people would end up talking about Jesus.
00:15:46 --> 00:15:55 Not just people that knew him, not just those in the churches that he ministered to, not just their friends and families,
00:15:55 --> 00:16:06 not even just people in the streets hearing about Jesus, but kings and rulers of nations would see Paul and hear about Jesus.
00:16:06 --> 00:16:15 King Agrippa and Bernice came and they met with Festus and Festus explained this situation of Paul to them,
00:16:15 --> 00:16:18 seeking to get some understanding of the problem.
00:16:19 --> 00:16:23 It was urgent. It was something that Festus was taking very seriously.
00:16:24 --> 00:16:27 But Festus was clearly confused by all this.
00:16:28 --> 00:16:34 You can almost hear a puzzled tone in Festus' words as he explains the situation.
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 Have a look with me at verse 18.
00:16:38 --> 00:16:43 When his accusers got up to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected.
00:16:44 --> 00:16:50 Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus,
00:16:50 --> 00:16:53 whom Paul claimed was alive.
00:16:54 --> 00:17:00 It's a confusing set of theological debates outside of Festus' expertise.
00:17:01 --> 00:17:04 But Festus can see the heart of the matter.
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 It's all about this man Jesus.
00:17:07 --> 00:17:11 The Jews claimed that he was dead, but Paul claimed that he was alive.
00:17:12 --> 00:17:15 Paul claimed that he had been raised to life.
00:17:16 --> 00:17:21 This short conversation between Agrippa and Festus reveals two things.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:27 First of all, the Romans were mostly ignorant of the gospel.
00:17:27 --> 00:17:34 They may have heard about it like Festus had, but they didn't understand what it meant.
00:17:35 --> 00:17:41 The Jews saw Jesus and his followers as the leaders of the greatest scandal of their faith.
00:17:41 --> 00:17:44 But non-Jews, it just led to confusion.
00:17:44 --> 00:17:47 This is still true today.
00:17:48 --> 00:17:50 Many people have heard about Christianity.
00:17:50 --> 00:17:57 Maybe they've heard about the peripheral things, how Christians have laws and rules that they're trying to follow.
00:17:57 --> 00:18:01 Christians have strong views on sexuality and sexual ethics.
00:18:01 --> 00:18:07 But a lot of people, when they view Christianity, miss the heart of it.
00:18:08 --> 00:18:14 That it's all about this man Jesus and whether he was raised to life again,
00:18:15 --> 00:18:23 proving that he was God and that he has dealt with our sin and our shame on the cross, promising us eternal life.
00:18:23 --> 00:18:29 We can't assume that when we talk to people, that they are on the same page.
00:18:30 --> 00:18:33 They may be confused like Festus and Agrippa were.
00:18:34 --> 00:18:39 Many people I talk to these days don't understand the differences between religions,
00:18:40 --> 00:18:44 let alone that Christianity is all about a dead man who came back to life.
00:18:45 --> 00:18:51 We need to assume that people will have some understanding, but have missed the heart of it.
00:18:51 --> 00:18:55 That it all depends on the resurrection of Jesus.
00:18:57 --> 00:19:03 The second key part of this short conversation is that these two rulers talk about the resurrection.
00:19:05 --> 00:19:09 Even though they are confused, they ponder the good news of the resurrection.
00:19:10 --> 00:19:16 God has started to work in them, sowing seeds of the heart of the matter.
00:19:16 --> 00:19:21 Jews say that Jesus is dead, but Paul says he is now alive.
00:19:21 --> 00:19:26 God often works slowly in people's lives.
00:19:27 --> 00:19:31 Very rarely do people hear the gospel preached and then convert straight away.
00:19:32 --> 00:19:40 Far more often it takes many times of hearing the gospel before someone will realize their need for Jesus
00:19:40 --> 00:19:42 and turn and follow him.
00:19:42 --> 00:19:47 This can often come from a number of different faithful ambassadors for Jesus,
00:19:48 --> 00:19:52 over years reflecting the love of Jesus to a person in their lives.
00:19:53 --> 00:19:57 But as these leaders consider the resurrection of Jesus,
00:19:58 --> 00:20:02 they're investigating Paul as his ambassador.
00:20:02 --> 00:20:06 The Jewish leaders attacked Paul with little to no evidence,
00:20:07 --> 00:20:12 whereas Paul was willing to face trial, even if it meant his death.
00:20:13 --> 00:20:19 The baseless attacks of the Jews made Paul look like a more reliable ambassador for Jesus.
00:20:19 --> 00:20:27 He stands up under unfair attack and he is given an opening for people like Agrippa and Festus
00:20:27 --> 00:20:29 to hear him preach the gospel.
00:20:30 --> 00:20:38 At the end of chapter 25, we saw that Agrippa was keen to hear Paul preach.
00:20:39 --> 00:20:46 Now at the end of 25, there's a whole congregation of eager people willing to hear him preach the gospel.
00:20:46 --> 00:20:49 They all come ready to hear the gospel.
00:20:50 --> 00:20:52 And you can read what happens in the next chapter.
00:20:53 --> 00:20:54 That's for next week.
00:20:55 --> 00:21:01 What the rulers do to Paul's life, people will continue to do to Christians today.
00:21:02 --> 00:21:08 They will peer into our lives and watch and consider our actions
00:21:08 --> 00:21:11 to see if this Jesus is worth investigating.
00:21:11 --> 00:21:18 The behaviour of a Christian's life can either bear fruit for Jesus' claims
00:21:18 --> 00:21:22 or it can harm the witness of the gospel.
00:21:24 --> 00:21:30 Hypocrisy in a Christian's life is one of the best ways to kill any credibility that we have.
00:21:30 --> 00:21:33 If we want to stop people investigating Jesus,
00:21:33 --> 00:21:36 Christians should say one thing and do another.
00:21:36 --> 00:21:41 Just like that football player Ronaldinho did with the Pepsi.
00:21:42 --> 00:21:47 Coke stopped their relationship straight away because he was not an authentic ambassador.
00:21:48 --> 00:21:54 This is why we value authentic Christian faith here at St. Paul's.
00:21:54 --> 00:21:59 Lives that reflect our faith in Jesus.
00:22:00 --> 00:22:03 When we say one thing, we do the same thing.
00:22:03 --> 00:22:08 Peter in 1 Peter chapter 2 speaks to this.
00:22:09 --> 00:22:10 He says,
00:22:10 --> 00:22:23 Paul is under attack.
00:22:23 --> 00:22:26 They are accusing him of doing wrong.
00:22:26 --> 00:22:29 But Festus can see that he is innocent.
00:22:30 --> 00:22:33 And his innocence is pointing people to the resurrection.
00:22:35 --> 00:22:42 Paul being an authentic ambassador is causing people like Agrippa to want to hear more about this Jesus.
00:22:42 --> 00:22:46 They are primed and ready for the gospel to be preached.
00:22:46 --> 00:22:52 So what does that mean for us as Jesus' ambassadors?
00:22:54 --> 00:22:59 Let me just briefly move from talking about brand ambassadors to a country's ambassador.
00:23:00 --> 00:23:05 Imagine the ambassador for Australia who was living in New Zealand.
00:23:05 --> 00:23:11 I actually don't know if we have one, but let's just say Australia has an ambassador and they're living in New Zealand.
00:23:12 --> 00:23:14 They have certain responsibilities.
00:23:14 --> 00:23:17 They must get a message right.
00:23:17 --> 00:23:21 They don't get to make a message nice or pretty.
00:23:21 --> 00:23:23 They just have to deliver it.
00:23:24 --> 00:23:31 Now imagine the ambassador from Australia had to deliver some bad news to their counterpart in New Zealand.
00:23:31 --> 00:23:34 Imagine that as the borders start opening up,
00:23:34 --> 00:23:38 a hundred people from Sydney had flown to New Zealand and they had COVID.
00:23:38 --> 00:23:43 The situation of the ambassador, they've been told this by the Australian government.
00:23:43 --> 00:23:48 They need to share this terrible news with the New Zealand government.
00:23:49 --> 00:23:52 But imagine the ambassador got the message wrong.
00:23:53 --> 00:23:58 Instead of saying there was a hundred cases of COVID, there was only one case of COVID.
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 It's a very different situation.
00:24:00 --> 00:24:07 Or imagine the ambassador being worried about the New Zealand government's response.
00:24:07 --> 00:24:08 I don't want to upset them.
00:24:09 --> 00:24:12 Maybe I'll try and make the message a bit nicer.
00:24:12 --> 00:24:14 We've got great news.
00:24:14 --> 00:24:17 We've got a hundred people who are coming to share.
00:24:18 --> 00:24:21 They're coming to share with you a disease.
00:24:21 --> 00:24:26 Can you imagine the ambassador trying to make the message nicer or prettier?
00:24:27 --> 00:24:33 Or imagine the ambassador not wanting to share the message at all because they were worried about it.
00:24:34 --> 00:24:41 They have responsibilities to share their message and get it right to save lives.
00:24:43 --> 00:24:47 Brothers and sisters, we are ambassadors for Jesus.
00:24:48 --> 00:24:51 We are not at home here.
00:24:51 --> 00:24:53 Our home is in heaven.
00:24:53 --> 00:24:57 We are on foreign soil as we wait for Jesus to return.
00:24:58 --> 00:25:09 And while we wait, we have an opportunity to share the message of Jesus with our words backed up by authentic Christian lives.
00:25:10 --> 00:25:14 It's not up to us to try and make the Christian message a bit nicer.
00:25:15 --> 00:25:20 Maybe we don't want to share the gospel with people because we're worried about their response.
00:25:21 --> 00:25:25 When we need to tell them that our lives are lost without Jesus.
00:25:26 --> 00:25:30 That we're doing things that God doesn't want us to do and it grieves him.
00:25:32 --> 00:25:34 But this is a message that we must deliver.
00:25:35 --> 00:25:42 We do not need to sugarcoat the gospel because the gospel of Jesus is so sweet already.
00:25:42 --> 00:25:47 This is a message that we must deliver.
00:25:47 --> 00:25:52 And we must have our lives look authentic so people can hear it.
00:25:53 --> 00:26:00 By God's grace, he is making us more like Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit day by day.
00:26:00 --> 00:26:04 Making us to be more authentic ambassadors.
00:26:04 --> 00:26:17 So this week, as we go online, as we post things on social media, as we engage in meetings with family and friends and work over Zoom,
00:26:18 --> 00:26:21 let me just ask you to stop and think.
00:26:21 --> 00:26:23 How am I representing Jesus?
00:26:23 --> 00:26:33 If I post this negative message, this criticism of somebody on social media, what are they going to see of me?
00:26:34 --> 00:26:37 More importantly, what are they going to think of the one I represent, Jesus?
00:26:38 --> 00:26:42 When I'm on Zoom, should I just turn off my camera and my microphone?
00:26:42 --> 00:26:47 Or should I actually engage and love the ones that I am meeting with?
00:26:47 --> 00:26:55 How am I representing Jesus here so that when people see me, they can see more of Jesus?
00:26:56 --> 00:26:56 Let me pray.
00:26:58 --> 00:27:03 Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the good news of your Son.
00:27:04 --> 00:27:06 That he died for us.
00:27:06 --> 00:27:10 And that he was raised to life so we could be part of your family.
00:27:10 --> 00:27:16 Heavenly Father, it is very strange that you choose to make us your ambassadors.
00:27:17 --> 00:27:18 But you do.
00:27:19 --> 00:27:23 Help us to look more like you.
00:27:23 --> 00:27:29 Help us to continue to check our lives so that people would see Jesus.
00:27:30 --> 00:27:35 Because God, you love us and you are for all people, Lord.
00:27:36 --> 00:27:41 Help us to look like Jesus so that people would get to know Jesus more and more.
00:27:42 --> 00:27:43 We ask this in your Son's name.
00:27:44 --> 00:27:44 Amen.