God Wants You! to be an Ambassador of Christ - March 23, 2025

Well good morning everyone and welcome to the First Presbyterian Church of Mount Dora and welcome those who are worshiping With Us online it is so good to see you all on this beautiful spring morning little crisp makes you feel alive right it's good to see you all I hope that as you have enjoyed uh the coffee and the refreshments that have been provided for you this morning you've enjoyed some conversation around the tables that's why I love this service it's a time of really getting a chance to get to know

each other better one of the ways we can get to know each other is by registering that you are with us you may not have noticed there's a red book notice the red book on each of the tables these are called friendship pads and if you will please take this and sign your name to it so that we will know that you are here with us and if you have changed an address I know some of you have moved uh if you'll let us know your your new address and phone number or anything else that may have changed so that we

can stay in touch with you as well also you'll notice on the tables that there's a basket we will not have a formal offering during this service and so that basket is for depositing your offering of your ti or your offering often times we put those together tithes and offerings I always thought that was kind of funny when I was a girl learning about the church and then I found out that they're two different things that the tithe is from the biblical standpoint the 10% of what God has enabled you to have on a regular basis

and the offering is if you have come into a windfall something wonderful a bonus or whatever you would give a percentage of that offering as well so theas for your tithes and your offerings I also hope that you took a look at the back of your bulletin because this is a busy season this Lenton season and there are so many opportunities for you to take part uh first of all you'll notice that this Thursday the six avenuers has a special trip coming up of course Wednesday we continue with our Lenton soup and study

please feel free to come and join join us haven't already we are studying Max L's series on gra and it's been a wonderful time of sharing as well as enjoying some wonderful soup so I hope that you will come and join us for that and then you will also notice below the prayer request is spring concert Randy would you like to speak to that and something that I think you'll really enjoy is the Gospel Mass by the choir and the Welland so please join us April 6 4M also the handbell choir will be playing and there's always

cake let them eat cake cake so as you can see we've got a very busy spring schedule and everyone is invited and I hope that you will mark your calendar and please join us for this I'd like to begin our worship today with a prayer so if you will please join in pray God of all creation God of Light and life God of mercy and compassion God of Hope and kindness we call on you today to meet us in this place Embrace us with your love and allow us to see just a little of what you see grant us open ears and

hearts to hear your word and most of all to obey for we pray this in your name amen will you please stand and let's sing together [Music] I will call upon the isy praised shall I from my enemy I will call upon the Lord theck of [Music] ex will the isy to be praised so shall I be sa from my enemies I [Music] will blessed ex the and Bless The Rock of my salvation ex the Lord live and blessed be the rock of [Music] EX this is my to you Lord with all my heart I worship you all I have I give you praise all and I adore

is in [Music] you I give you my heart give you my soul I live for you alone every breath that I take every moment Lord your way [Music] to you with all my heart I worship you all I have within me I give give you praise all that I adore is in you Lord I give you my heart you my soul I live you alone every I take every moment I'm Lord have your way in me Lord I give you my heart give you my soul I live for you alone every that I take every moment I'm Lord have your way in me [Music] and you may be

seated this is a time in our service that truly is a precious time when we are invited to approach the throne of almighty God creator of everything do you realize what we are doing at this time how wonderful it is that our lord loves you and me so much that he wants to hear from us he wants to hear our prayers of Thanksgiving as well as our prayer requests and praying for those we love and care about as well as those we don't even really know so this is a special time and we would like to open it up if

any of you would like to share a special prayer of Thanksgiving perhaps or if you have a that you would like to invite your family of Faith to join you in praying Bob is here with a microphone we do need to ask you to please use the microphone even if you have that loud voice everyone says I've got a loud voice oh yes thank you so much Carol we will pray for Ray Harris service them it's so hard when both people are in need that's that's a scary situation thank you for letting us know like to ask for prayers for my

nephew Larry Lewis who in been in the hospital for a week and thank you please Larry also I was made aware that Stan um had a brief visit to the hospital but is back home with Co and so if you will please keep him prayers anyone else I know we all came here today with prayers in our heart and we will take a moment to lift those up to the Lord so I inv now to please join me in the prayers of the people of God let us pray we thank you oh lord for leading us your people we thank you for bringing us to

this place calling us to worship you we recognize that you have led your people throughout history our ancestors you led them to the promised land and we ask that you will be with us in this nation as well bless us that we might continue to be a beacon on the hill for the world that they might see you in our lives and the decisions that we make Lord we do thank you for being with us and we ask that you will lead those who are in positions of power that they will hear your still Small Voice that they will heed your

Commandments and your guidance as we live out our Liv in this world surround us with your peace amidst uncertainty and comfort us amidst our grief we ask for your healing touch to be with those who are in need of of your healing and comfort having lost a loved one we pray that you will be with those who are in the hospital or those who are facing surgery or those who are even Cal recover from illness or also from a procedure we know that you seek to make our bodies whole and we thank you because we are truly beautifully and

wonderfully made Lord God be with those who are taking care of those we love those in the health care industry doctors nurses technicians we thank you for the giftedness that you have given to them and we pray Lord that each of us will realiz even though we may not be a physician that we represent your love we represent your power and your care may we reach out to those who are in need every one of us dear God you know brought prayers in our heart this morning when we came here for this worship and we know that your Holy

Spirit has already searched our hearts and our minds and that you are praying on our behalf and we thank you for we pray that we will all every morning wake up with a prayer of Thanksgiving on our lips and dear God we pray that you will be with us guide us help us to reach out to those who are in need and may we all be instruments of your peace for we pray all of this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus the one who taught us how to pray by saying Our Father who in heaven HED be thy name thy

kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debors and lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen and let's stand and sing there is [Music] Redeemer there is redeem Jesus God Son preious Lamb of God Messiah oh Holy One thank you oh my Father for giving us your son and your spirit your work on Earth is done Jesus My Redeemer name above all

Nam prous Lamb of God Messiah oh sin thank you oh my Father for giving us your son and your spirit the work on Earth is done when I stand in glory I will see his [Music] face there I'll serve my king forever in that Holy thank you oh my Father for giving us your son and leing your spirit Earth [Music] orep [Music] th my vision Lord of my [Music] heart be all to be save the my Lord by day or by night [Music] wence my will you guide me when I can seee Lord me you're all that I need will you guide

me when I Lord you're all that [Music] IES I empty praise now my inheritance now and the [Music] in of Heaven my Tre will you guide me when I see will you me you're all that I need will you guide when I can see please Lord me you're all that I need be th my vision oh lord of my heart our scripture this morning is taken once again from Paul's letter to the Church of Corinth and I will be reading from second Corinthians chapter 5 vers 16- 21 and you will find that this is actually printed in your bulletin if you would

like to follow along Sil as I so I ask you to hear now the word of the Lord so from now on WE regard no one from a worldly point of view though we once regarded Christ in this way we do so no longer therefore if anyone is in Christ the new creation has come the old has gone the new is here all this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ not counting people's sins against them and he has committed to us the message of

reconciliation we are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us we implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God this ends God's holy word may God add to our understanding and application of its amazing truth in each of Our Lives will you join me in a prayer of preparation God of all times and places we pray that you will be with us here and now we read from the scriptures and

reflect on its message and we pray that your holy spirit will move Among Us that we might hear your word aresh and understand its meaning for each and every one of our lives for we pray this in Christ's name amen and amen well the message title this morning is that God wants you and me to be an ambassador now an ambassador what are we talking about there are many ways that we use that word Ambassador I mean some of you may have seen that there are product ambassadors I know I've seen hoe Mandel on my

television and slipping into his Sketchers no tie shoes and he informs us that in order to get a disc account he said that he was an ambassador and and actually became an ambassador for Sketchers and now is on television and commercials I mean think about it there's Joe Montana Snoop Dogg even Martha Stewart who have been ambassadors for various products for those of you who are tuned into the history of Unicef you have seen ambassadors of Goodwill Danny K being one of them he pioneered the role as Ambassador at

large Paving the way for Audrey heurn and many others today you may also remember Princess Diana was considered an ambassador of good will for the United Kingdom as she took on Royal duties and ventured into places that many Royals had not gone before as she she um shared her work with various Charities and social causes among them being HIV AIDS many of us were very touched as Princess Diana held an infant who had AIDS and then of course we saw her with her her helmet on as she was bringing attention to

landmines as they were trying to discover where those were and remove them there are many kinds of ambassadors I mean uh you may not may or may not know that uh little Shirley Temple remember her from the 1920s and 30s she was an American actress dancer she started out when she was very young I think she was just about three or four when she first performed and became the sweetheart they said of the American Screen Shirley Temple as she grew up became very interested in politics in making a difference in this world and

she actually became a United States ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia her film career was from 1931 to 1934 but it was in 1969 she was appointed to represent the United States of America at a session of the of the United Nations General Assembly and she was appointed by President George Bush to be our ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 I think there's a message there for many of us when we have Representatives like that people who have had a an illustrious very popular career in their life and you realize God

is not through with you yet yet if you are drawing a breath in this life God has something for you to do for Shirley Temple her life did not end on the Silver Screen or she did not retire Into Obscurity as many who were very popular in Hollywood but she knew that her life as long as it existed needed to count for something and she wanted to make a difference in this world now us ambassadors represent this nation they represent the president of the United States all throughout the world and some

of what they must do is to become very familiar with the customs and the ways the culture of the country in which they are an ambassador when we are told that we are to be ambass bassadors for Christ I think we can learn something by looking at the examples that I have just mentioned as well first of all what qualifications does it take to become an ambassador for God but that's really what we're talking about you and I according to the Apostle Paul have been asked to be an ambassador for Christ for God

incarnate so what qualifications do we have that enable us to be this Ambassador for god well first of all we have to have had the experience of being brought to our knees to realize that we are sinners in this life that we have come before God and said I cannot live this life without you no matter what the world says about being self-sufficient I am not that self-sufficient I keep sinning over and over just as the Apostle Paul mentioned in his letter to the church at Rome we have all sin and fall short of what God

expects of us in this life and so by admitting our sin confess confessing our sins before almighty God the Lord opens his heart to us when we say I cannot live without you I need you in my life the Holy Spirit of almighty God the creator of everything comes to live within us so the Apostle Paul shares with this fledgling Church in Corinth that when you confess your sins and when you receive Christ into your life life there is a new creation the old is gone and the new has come this is true I know many of you

have experienced this you are a new person you are a new creation in Christ Jesus doesn't matter what your old life was Sinners that we are we all have things in our past that we're not PR out of but Jesus has forgiven us he who was sinless took our sin upon himself as the sacrifice on the cross now we are in this season of Lent which is a preparation for our Holy Week beginning with Palm Sunday that continues to the celebration of Easter when Jesus was resurrected from the dead by almighty God and now sits on the right hand of

God the Father Almighty and we my friends have been given this power we have been given this commission we have been asked to be ambassadors of this very same Christ God incarnate so what does this require of us well first of all we have have to know who we report to and who we represent if you are a United States Ambassador you are representing the United States of America and specifically the president of the United States of America if you are an ambassador for Christ you are a representative of the kingdom of God you

are a representative of Jesus Christ God incarnate so it it helps to have a a relationship with the one that you are representing right how can you represent one that you do not know so it's important that an ambassador maintain that relationship with the one that they are representing you are a citizen of the kingdom of God when you turn your life over to Jesus Jesus wants to come and live within you and to help you in in this ambassadorship so you're not going it alone so please take heart and know that

you are equipped in every way as the Apostle Paul told these wonderful people at the church of Corinth you you and me we have been equipped by God to be these ambassadors so how do we do this we do this by living the life that God called us to live our very life becomes the E example for those around us now this sounds so simple doesn't it but it's not is it think of it think of the the turmoil that we find ourselves in occasionally if not quite often perhaps with those that are our neighbors or

perhaps people we work with or perhaps even people in our own families it is not an easy thing to be an ambassador for Christ especially when your sister is criticizing every decision that you make you find it's not easy to be an ambassador when your mother or your father is telling you that's there you go again you were like this your entire life it's not easy to be an ambassador to share the love of Jesus with those who are perhaps unlovable and yet that is what we are called to do now here's the

secret when we talk to God about this ambassadorship and we accept it yes sure Lord I'm willing to go through my life as your Ambassador but I need you and I need your eyes Lord I need your eyes to be able to see people as you see people the potential that they have for this life just as you saw me before you came into my life Give me your eyes dear God that I might be able to see the potential in others it's amazing how God does this in our life so that we can reach out in love so that we can truly love our enemies Those Who

attack us so that those who come to us with skepticism we can listen patiently and then still love them this is the role of the Ambassador reconciliation forgiveness we have been told that we love because God first loved us in first John joh you can find this it's the most beautiful passage we are able to love others because God first loved us and it is that love that unconditional love of God that God had for each of us that we are able to take out into the world as well how wonderful it is that we can

serve others that we can help others become the the very best that they possibly can be that we can Overlook faults that we can have patience with each other and most of all we will forgive others now this isn't I have people come up to me periodically and say you know I would forgive them but they never asked for forgiveness well my friends that's not in the Bible what is in the Bible is forgive because we must forgive because God has forgiven us you see we don't have to wait on people to say please

forgive me if I hurt your feelings or because I I wronged you in whatever action I have done I can tell you're upset so just please forgive me you know how it is no your response should be I have already forgiven you because I love you think how powerful that is think how powerful it is to truly share the love of God with one another share your time share what God has given to you the gift of this day truly I think we're getting to the age at least looking around I think I can say this honestly that every one of

us has had some kind of physical issue that we've had to deal with or get through or perhaps are continuing to deal with but in so doing we are brought to our knees and realize the total Reliance that we have Upon Our Creator and we should also have empathy for others who are going through these struggles as well how we can share the love and hope and encouragement that Christ brings to This World by simply being Christ in the presence of others this is our ambassadorship it's not for slip on shoes it is for a life filled with love

and forgiveness and hope and joy that is what we bring as Christians to the world Jesus first sermon The Sermon on the Mount should be one that we have perhaps hanging on our refrigerator or on our wall or certainly in our heart and that is that we God's children we are the light of the world the world you see the Bible describes lives has been wandering in darkness but Jesus came to this world bringing the light to the world and that light lives within you and lives within me and shines the way for others to find

love to find peace to find forgiveness in their life reconciliation with the Lord God Almighty how how wonderful is this this my friends that you and I may be the ambassadors for Jesus Christ Our Lord will you pray with me dear Lord we thank you for this call upon each of Our Lives we pray that we will seek your guidance every day as we gratefully open our eyes and realize that you have a place for us in this world may we be your ambassadors for peace and joy and most of all for your hope that you bring to this world the

hope of reconciliation the hope of a future in relationship with you for we pray this in Jesus name amen and we can be ambassadors for Christ by showing people our love let's stand and sing we are in the spirit we are in the Lord we are in the spirit we are in the Lord and we pray that all Unity May one day be restored and they know we are CHR by our love our they are Christians we will walk with each other we will walk in we will walk with each we will walk in and together we'll spread the news that God in our land and

they'll know we Christians by our love our are [Music] chrans we will work with each other we will work side by side we will work with each other we will work side by side and guard human dignity and save human pride and they'll know we are Christians by our love by our love yes they'll know we are Christians by our love all praise to the father from whom all things come and all praise to Christ Jesus [Music] his and we praise to the who makes us and we know we are Christians by our love by our love they know we are

[Music] CHR as I look out at each of you you should have a Big Bright Beautiful smile on your face because you have been chosen by almighty God to be an ambassador to build the kingdom here in this place and this time time in history what a privilege what a joy so as we go out that door today may we all contemplate how we may serve the Lord in our lives so let us go not alone but together in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit [Music] amen we are one in the spirit we are are one in the Lord we are one in the spirit

we are in the Lord and we pray that all Unity May one day be restored and they'll know we are Christians by our love by our love they we are Christians by our praise to the father from all things come and praise to Christ Jesus his only son and we praise to the spirit who makes us and they'll know we are Christians by our love.