You're not just somebody on their way to heaven if you've accepted Christ.
You're somebody God wants to use on earth. Dr. Tony Evans talks about the divine assignment believers have been given. Our job is to represent a king and his kingdom in a culture that is collapsing. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. We're in the world for a reason, and today Dr. Evans points out that when believers start paying more attention to their role as ambassadors for Christ, they'll begin to see the Lord move more definitively in their lives.
Let's join him as he explains. When Peter writes these Christians, he calls them beloved, that is fellow saints. He wants to talk to them about their responsibility and their role as kingdom representatives. Jesus said in Luke chapter 22 verse 29, he said, my father has given me the kingdom and I give it to you. So kingdom responsibility was handed to Jesus, which is why when he was on earth he said the kingdom of God is at hand. Then he took his disciples and he prepped them to become kingdom representatives, and so they set the stage for the building of the church of God's people so that there would be this legacy, this transfer of kingdom representatives in the culture. And so he first of all wants you to know who you are.
I mean, notice the language he uses in verse 9. He says you are a chosen race. In other words, you have been especially selected for this duty.
God didn't just save you for heaven. He saved you for a duty on earth, and you have been chosen, selected, elected as kingdom disciples to function as kingdom servants. He says not only that, but you are a royal priesthood.
He brings together two concepts. Royalty has to do with kingship. Just in case you didn't know it, once you came to Christ, royal blood is now flowing through your veins because you're a child of the king.
He writes the Philippians. He says that you are a special people. You are an elected people. You are a royal people. You are a priestly people.
You're under new management now. Now what the culture wants to do is keep you in church as long as you don't promote it out there. Our job is to represent a king and his kingdom in a culture that is collapsing. And so he says you need to know who you are. You're not just somebody on their way to heaven if you've accepted Christ. You're somebody God wants to use on earth. You're supposed to be a kingdom disciple who is a kingdom servant who is going to make a kingdom impact.
So how do you do that? He says, I tell you, first of all, your job is to proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness, verse 9 says, into his marvelous light. Luke 16, 16 says that the gospel of the kingdom is to be preached, not merely the gospel of conversion, that is to accept Christ for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life, the good news of conversion. He says, I want you to preach the gospel of the kingdom and I want it to go everywhere. The gospel of God's rule. I want the good news of the rule of God to go everywhere.
It's not just for the Sunday morning service. You are to be a proclaimer, a declarer, let's use the more contemporary term, an influencer. You are to be an influencer to serve notice on the culture that Jesus Christ is here, that his kingdom is alive and well, and I am his official rep. I have been duly authorized to represent the king in the culture, for the gospel of the kingdom is to be declared everywhere. In fact, you have a specific title. Let me tell you your title from 2nd Corinthians chapter 5.
2nd Corinthians chapter 5, Paul writing to this church that was in this secular idolatrous culture. He says to them in verse 16, therefore we now do not recognize anyone according to the flesh. Let me say that again. We don't start with how folk look. We don't start with how folk, their background. We don't start with their culture.
We don't start with the physical. He says, even though we've known Christ according to the flesh, we knew him physically when he was on earth. Yet now we know him in this way no longer because he's gone to heaven. Now all these things are from God, therefore if any man is in Christ, he's a new creature. 2nd Corinthians 5 17 says, old things passed away, behold all things have become new. Now all these things are from God who's reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. So we supposed to be talking. Verse 20, therefore we are ambassadors for Christ.
As though God was making an appeal through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God. Did you know you an ambassador? Look at your neighbor and say you an ambassador. All right, so let's talk about what an ambassador is. An American ambassador is a citizen of the United States that's been duly deputized to go to another country and represent the United States in the foreign land. They have an official title and an official responsibility to not represent the nation they've been sent to, but to represent the nation they've been sent from. So an American ambassador sent from America is not promoting the culture of the foreign land.
They're promoting the values of the United States of America. He just called you an ambassador. You are somebody because your job is to take the values of the kingdom of heaven and promote them in the culture that you live in, on the job you work in, in the neighborhood where you reside, to your family members to whom you are connected.
You are an ambassador of the kingdom of God. You're not an ambassador of the culture unless it agrees with God. The moment the culture disagrees with God, you must disagree with the culture.
You didn't hear that. The moment the culture disagrees with God, you must disagree with the culture because you're not an ambassador of the land you're in. You're an ambassador of the place you're from, and you are a citizen of heaven. So heaven's values is to inform your words. It is to inform your politics. It is to inform your view of race. It is to inform your view of sexuality. It is to inform your view of marriage. It is to inform your view of right. It is to inform your view of wrong. It is to inform every aspect of life because you are a citizen from up there, you're not a citizen from down here.
And we've got churches and pastors and people acquiescing to the culture. Do you know what they do with an ambassador who no longer is representing them the land they're from but starts getting too friendly with the land they're in? They recall them. They recall them because they are useless, because they're not doing the job that they were sent to do.
God has got a lot of folk keeping the title who he wants to recall because they're useless for the job. They're not representing the kingdom of God in the culture of men. Their values have acquiesced to the culture. Their worldview has acquiesced to the culture.
And rather than repenting and returning, they have gotten comfortable in the culture rather than representing the kingdom and being an influencer for the kingdom of God. You are an ambassador. So the question is are you a good one or are you a bad one?
Because you are one. He says I saved you not just to go to heaven when you die but to represent me while you live. You are an ambassador of Christ bringing healing and reconciliation and of course that starts with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And so he says you are an... In other words, you and I are God's advertising agency. We're his ad agency because we are proclaiming him who has called us out of darkness into the marvelous light. Well you say but I still feel like I'm in darkness.
Maybe that's because you're not doing your job as an ambassador. In other words, the question on the floor is, is your Christianity visible? If on your job tomorrow, if they accuse you of being a follower of Jesus, would you be found guilty or innocent of all charges? More on that when we return to Dr. Evans in just a moment. Before we do though, I want to let you know that today's message is the final installment in a powerful series Tony preached earlier this year called Unleashing the Kingdom. In this series, Dr. Evans has taken us deep into scripture to help us recognize that the kingdom of God is waiting for us to access all it has to offer when we live life as it ought to be lived. You can receive all 12 of the full-length messages in this two-volume collection on either CD or digital download when you make a donation to help keep this Bible-based teaching here on this station. We rely completely on the generous support of listeners like you to allow us to carry these messages to a world desperately in need of God. And as our way of thanking you for that support, we'll send you the Unleashing the Kingdom audio series along with an added bonus, One Kingdom Under God, a powerful paperback Dr. Evans has written that embodies the central theme of these messages. All the details are waiting for you at TonyEvans.org or you can call our resource center any time of the day or night at 1-800-800-3222.
But today is the final day for this package offer so contact us right away. That's TonyEvans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222. Well Dr. Evans, we'll come back with more of today's lesson right after this. If you're like most Christians, there are people in your life who know you but may not know Jesus. You really want to do something about that but don't feel equipped to share your faith effectively.
In other words, maybe if you knew more, you could do more. Well that's where the Tony Evans Training Center comes in. It's an online Bible school with classes that will take you deep into the most important core concepts of the faith. You can start with our free introductory course on evangelism then move on to subjects like spiritual warfare, marriage building, maturing in the faith, and many more. The content is challenging but you can move through it at your own pace anytime you're online. There's also lots of custom content from Tony and an online forum where you can get your specific questions answered.
Go to TonyEvans.org and follow the link to the Tony Evans Training Center. It's like having a seminary on your smartphone. It should be absolutely clear that we're not ashamed of the God who saved us, took us out of darkness, placed us in light, gave us eternal life, and walked with us in the journey of life. He goes on to say that they should see your good works and when they see your good works glorify God in the day of visitation. They should see your good works.
In other words, there's verbalization and then there's demonstration. Good works are biblically authorized activity that brings the benefit to others in the name of the Lord. So they're beneficial acts that you use to help other people but you do it in God's name. Now sinners can do good things. People who are atheists can be nice people, nice neighbors, good people. That's a good thing.
That's not a good work because a good work in the Bible always has the Lord's name attached to it. It's never just done because you're a nice person, although that's a good reason. It's done, I'm a nice person, but I'm doing this in the name of the Lord so that they will glorify God in the day of visitation. In other words, we're not doing it's easy to talk in church and be spiritual in church and be nice in church because there's no competition here.
No competition here. Everybody basically agrees with everybody else and if you don't agree you're gonna be quiet because you know there's no competition here. God is looking for a CIA, Christians in Action. The Christians who are demonstrating so that they don't just hear us talk and they see us walking. They see that there's a benefit to these Christians. These Christians are good people. They're kind people. They're not out here acting a fool and and cussing like sailors and and abusing and they're not that's not who they are and they repent when they are confronted with it. That is who we are.
We are representatives of the kingdom. I think you know our culture is in trouble. Every day, every week, every year as things become more secular things are getting more out of control.
Now with artificial intelligence becoming the new thing, you know, this is a whole nother ballgame of operating. So you and I are looking at something that's gonna change the very trajectory of life. This is the time when Christians can't be silent. You're either gonna be a representative of God or the representative of a culture that is in desperate need of God. You know, Sodom and Gomorrah were two cities pretty close to each other.
Dallas and Fort Worth, okay? God said, I'm gonna destroy those two cities. Now He destroyed them for three reasons, not one. We know one, the moral decay. Two, the violence. Three, according to Ezekiel, the oppression of the poor, injustice. So there were three reasons Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed, not one.
Moral decay, violence, and oppression, injustice, okay? So God says, I'm gonna destroy them. Abraham said, if I can find 50 righteous, will you save the two cities for the sake of the 50?
In other words, will you accept the 50 of the down payment on saving the 500,000 or however many lived in Sodom and Gomorrah? God said, if you find me 50, I'll spare the city. Abraham came back and said, what about 40? He couldn't find 50. He came back and said, what about 30? Because he couldn't find 40. He came back and said, what about 20? Because he couldn't find 30.
He came back said, what about 10? Because he couldn't find 20. So let me tell you why Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed. It was destroyed because of the decay. It was destroyed because of the violence.
It was destroyed because of the oppression. But it was also destroyed because the righteous couldn't be located. God's people were nowhere to be found. Maybe they were in church. Maybe they were worshiping. Maybe they were saying Amen. Maybe they were waving their hands in the air like they just don't care. Maybe they were just having a great time listening to the sermon or listening to the choir. But they were nowhere to be found in the culture.
Sunday morning is only designed to get you ready for a week of ambassadorship on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, so that all week long God has representatives in the culture with good words and good works. The Cowboys have a different kind of fans. They have casual fans. That means they can take it or leave it. They can watch the game or not watch the game.
Okay? So they're casual. Then they have committed fans. These are people who gonna they're gonna they're not gonna miss the game. They gonna come to eight o'clock service if it's a twelve o'clock game cuz they they're not gonna they're not gonna miss the game.
Okay? They're gonna be there cuz they're committed on Sunday to be in front of the game. Then they're fanatical fans. These are people they want they want season tickets. They want to be at the game and they will pay the price to be at the game. They will trade in their tithe for their ticket. They don't want to miss the game and they will tell you the stats of which player did this and which player did that and they can tell you all the details cuz they are fanatical about their team. The Cowboys have different kind of fans. The kingdom has different kind of fans. God has got some casual Christians. They can make it or not make it.
Now come on Easter and Christmas a few times in between. They're casual about it. They're not gonna make a big deal about it.
Then he has committed Kingdom representatives. They're gonna be there. They're gonna be Sunday morning. They're gonna they're gonna be a church. They're gonna they're gonna be a church. They're gonna they're gonna give some money. They'll maybe serve a little bit. They're committed.
You can you can count on them to be engaged at the gathering. But then they're those radical kingdom representatives cuz they just getting started when the benediction is given. When the benediction is given they it's gonna be Jesus in the morning, Jesus at noontime, Jesus when the sun go down. Everybody at work gonna know they are follower of Jesus Christ. Their family members are gonna know that they love the Lord and that they serve the Lord. The people in the neighborhood gonna know we operate differently in our crib cuz that's for me in my house we will serve the Lord.
At the benediction they just getting started cuz they're fanatical followers of Jesus Christ. Look, if you travel anywhere you have a passport. You have a passport. That passport no matter where you go says I'm an American citizen. No matter what country you go in once you show that passport that tells them who you are. I'm a citizen of the United States of America.
Here are my credentials. They're in my passport. Passport clearly identifies you and gives you the right to be in a foreign land as a citizen of the United States. But when you get in trouble with the law, they revoke your passport. They take your passport. They don't want you traveling outside because you're not operating as you should. So they take your passport.
Do me a favor. Don't let the devil take your passport. Don't let Satan carry your passport and rob you of your identity so that when you leave this building today and go home carry your passport with you. When you go to work tomorrow carry your passport with you.
When you go to the gym carry your passport with you. When you go to the grocery store carry your passport with you so that no matter where you go everybody knows that you are a visible verbal follower of Jesus Christ and you are a representative of the kingdom of God. Of course if you've never taken the step of actually identifying yourself as a follower of Christ, there's no better time than right now to do it.
Here's Dr. Evans once again on why that's so crucial. You only have two options to get to heaven. One, you can be as good as God. That's perfect, because God is perfect and He only accepts perfection. But if you can't do it that way, He has another way, and that is grace. He will give you salvation free of charge by your accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. He will give you perfection and credit it to you.
Learn more about what that means and why it's so important. Visit tonyevans.org and follow the link that says Jesus. Tony's posted a video that explains God's plan of restoration and you'll find some additional follow-up resources there as well. That's at tonyevans.org. And while you're on the website, don't forget that this is your final chance to take advantage of our current resource offer, the complete Unleashing the Kingdom audio series, along with the One Kingdom Under God paperback from Dr. Evans.
We'll send the entire collection to you as our gift in appreciation for your contribution to the alternative broadcast. Just visit tonyevans.org to make your donation and request today. That's tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222, where members of our resource team are always ready to help.
Again, that's 1-800-800-3222. While the author of the book of Hebrews remains unknown, its central theme is crystal clear, don't give up. Tomorrow Dr. Evans reveals the key to avoiding spiritual stagnation and defeat. It's a timeless biblical message that will encourage you to press on to spiritual growth and victory. I hope you'll join us.
