A Missionary or a Mission Field

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If you are really a disciple, you will be a missionary because what you know about God will captivate you, what you experience with God will motivate you, and what you hear from God will activate you

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ATTN
Slide - C. H. Spurgeon
It was the famous 19th century preacher, C. H. Spurgeon who said that a Christian is either a missionary or an imposter. J. D. Greear updated that phrase like this: You’re either a missionary or a mission field. A church planter named Ethan Welch says of that phrase, “Let that sink in for a minute. Is that true? Why would Spurgeon say that every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor? Seems odd to me. Is he saying that every true follower of Christ should pack up their bags and move to Africa and become a missionary? That’s what a missionary is, right?
I grew up going to church all the time. I remember every few months, a missionary would show up at church. They were always kind of weird and looked odd. There names were usually something like Herb and Martha. They always had slides with them. Not PowerPoint slides, but clear, translucent slides that were shown on an overhead projector. An overhead projector was basically this huge box that weighed about fifty pounds and sat on a table and had a bright light in the bottom of the box that pointed up at a mirror that displayed the slides on the wall.
Missionaries were varsity Christians. They traveled overseas, usually to Africa. We paid them money to keep up their missionary work. The rest of us were basically losers because we worked normal jobs here in the States, but we always made ourselves feel better by contributing a few dollars in the love offering. No, I’m not sure why it was called a love offering.
Unfortunately, this is the only thing that comes to mind when we talk about missionaries. However, in Spurgeon’s mind, the essence of what it means to be a Christian is that you live your life as a missionary, regardless of where you live, or even what career you may choose. No matter what, you are either a missionary or a mission field.
NEED
And right about now some of you are probably thinking, “O brother, here we go. It has to be mission’s month. Why else would I be hearing a message which brings a lot of pressure for me to do something I never have been and don’t think I will ever be able to do.” You know, as I was preparing this message, I thought about that. I also remembered all the messages I have heard during missions month and in the various classes on missions I took in college and seminary. Quite honestly, they can leave you feeling guilty and gun-shy when someone brings up the topic.
So let me encourage you not to run for the exits this morning—either with your feet or in your mind! Please listen! I tell you that there is hope. God would never command you to do something you just are not able to do with His help. I think that we have felt like failures when it comes to being missionaries because we have had the wrong idea and the wrong approach. Listen because you NEED HOPE . . .
And please listen because you NEED JOY. The kind of Christian life that really produces evangelism has to flow out of a heart of joy, not some emotion that is worked up like the wild-eyed frenzy of a sales rep who just finished his morning sales meeting. No! It is a calm confident expectation that everything the Bible says about life now and in eternity is absolutely true.
BACKGROUND
And just in case this “missionary or mission field concept” sounds a little over the top to you, let me show you clearly where the Bible teaches what Spurgeon preached. He was just repeating what the Apostle Paul said in his second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 5. Read with me beginning in v14:
2 Corinthians 5:14–21 NKJV
For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Now if you read the first five chapters of this book, you discover that the Apostle Paul is talking about his own calling to ministry and why it is that the Corinthians should listen to Him. When he gets to chapter five, he talks about what motivates him to preach the gospel and he really gives us some clear reasons for saying that every disciple of Christ is also a missionary for Christ. Why is that true? Well, first, its because if you are a real disciple:
D1 –

WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT GOD WILL CAPTIVATE YOU

EXP
I really believe that the fundamental problem in evangelism is not a lack of courage, but a lack of understanding. When a person grasps at a heart level who God is and what God has done, his heart is so captivated, he must speak.
You see that in these verses. Paul implies here that we are in a battle with the God of the universe. This battle rages because of who we are and because of who God is. God is absolutely holy, righteous, and perfect. He is the only God of the universe. He hates sin and made man perfect so that a perfect God could have a genuine relationship with a perfect man. But God also knew that to have a real relationship of love required that man have freedom. Man had to freely choose to love God or reject God and we all know what man did. The saga of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit tells the story of the creature who denied the creator and attempted to rob His glory. As a result, he plunged himself into ruin.
Imagine the audacity of a created thing telling it’s own creator to get lost. What arrogance! What foolishness! What danger! He brought us into the existence and He can surely take us out. We went to war with God and we had no idea what jeopardy we were in. We became the enemy of God because of who we are and because of Who He is!
Now, usually in a relationship, if you are the offended party, it is the one who has committed the offense who must move first if the relationship is to be restored. If you are a husband and you cheat on your wife, you would not expect her to seek restoration first. But that’s what God did. You see, He knew we’d never seek Him. Sin had so messed up our hearts and our minds that we would never reach out to Him, so He reached out to us.
There is a word that occurs five times in these short eight verses. It’s the word, reconciliation. It means to restore a good relationship between two people who have become enemies. That describes you and me. We had become the enemy of God because our rejection of Him had created sin in us and since God is a completely Holy God of justice, that sin was something that God had to punish. And God could not get rid our sin by just magically snapping His fingers like some cosmic magician. No! That sin had to be paid for.
That’s why the last verse of this chapter is so amazing. Will you just look at this verse phrase by phrase with me?

You see in this verse the Incarnation.

In the first phrase, you see INCARNATION. It says For He made Him to be sin for us. That’s the first reality of how God reconciled us. It began with Jesus emptying Himself and becoming a human being like you and me.

You see in this verse Christ’s Perfection.

Yet there was something very different about Jesus’s humanity. Look at the second phrase: For He made Him to be sin for us WHO KNEW NO SIN. That speaks of Christ’s PERFECTION. In order to redeem us, Jesus, the “second Adam” had to pass the test the first Adam failed and He passed it! Jesus lived a perfect life.

You see in this verse Christ’s Substitution.

And His perfection made possible His SUBSTITUTION. Look at the next phrase. For He made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin (watch!) TO BE SIN FOR US. That’s the third reality. On the cross, Jesus took our sin—literally became sin for us. Don’t just blow by that truth! Can you imagine what it would be like to suddenly take on your own conscience the murder of six million Jews like Hitler or the murder of 3000 Americans on 9/11? He BECAME sin for us! The cup Jesus drank at the cross was so much more than the horrors of crucifixion, as awful as they were. Because of His infinite nature, He suffered all the punishment for all of our sin in those six hours on the cross. He became sin for us.

You see in this verse our Transformation.

Why? Well it was because of TRANSFORMATION. Look at the verse one more time: For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us THAT WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM. Because He died, we can live. Because He took our sin, we have been set free from it. I love the Chris Rice Christmas song, Welcome to Our World. It says
dWELCOME TO OUR WORLD
Fragile finger sent to heal us,
tender brow prepared for thorn
Tiny heart whose blood will save us, unto us is born [Repeat: x1]
Tiny heart whose blood will save us, unto us is born
So wrap our injured flesh around You,
breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sins and make us holy
perfect Son of God
And when you truly comprehend what God has done for you in Christ, it captivates your heart. V15 puts it like this:
2 Corinthians 5:15 NKJV
and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
And that he died for all (notice!) THAT THOSE WHO LIVE SHOULD LIVE NO LONGER FOR THEMSELVES, BUT FOR HIM WHO DIED FOR THEM AND ROSE AGAIN. This verse makes a huge assumption: If you come to understand just what Jesus did your you and internalize that truth by His Spirit, you will have a spiritual knee-jerk reaction. You won’t even BE ABLE to live for yourself anymore. When you are fully reconciled with Christ, your desires change forever. In the context of this new relationship, everything changes.
ILL
Pic - FWBBC
At the little Bible College I attended I met a guy named David. David was kind of famous, actually, because his dad was the chairman of the board of trustees of the college. David, however, didn’t take himself too seriously. As a matter of fact, he took almost nothing seriously.
The school had a lot of rules and one of those rules was that you were required to go to breakfast. David considered all rules as mere suggestions, especially the breakfast rule, so when other guys went to breakfast he, being fairly short and skinny, just crawled inside his foot locker and hid until the hall monitor had checked the rooms. When he was caught, he got so many demerits he almost had to leave school for not attending breakfast. I could tell you many other stories about David, but I think you get the picture. He wasn’t an axe murderer or anything like that; he just wasn’t very serious.
Until . . . Until he met her. She was a beautiful blonde haired girl who’s father was also on the board, but she was pretty serious. Sometime I believe in David’s sophomore year they started dating and it was amazing what began to happen to David. He started going to breakfast. He started dropping a lot of the foolishness that had characterized his life. He got serious and it all flowed out of a change of relationship. When his heart was captured by her heart, things were different.
APP
You see, that’s what has to happen to people who follow Christ. They don’t become missionaries out of gut-wrenching obedience. They become missionaries because their hearts have been captured. Salvation is not a transaction between you and God where you promise to stop sinning and He promises not to send you to hell. Salvation is the capturing of a heart by grace and the beginning of a relationship of love. You see, if you are a real disciple, what you know about God will captivate you and your captivated heart will lead you to something else. You see, not only is it true that, if you are a real disciple what you know about God will captivate you, but if you are a real disciple:
D2:

WHAT YOU EXPERIENCE WITH GOD WILL MOTIVATE YOU.

EXP
V 16 says, (NKJV)
2 Corinthians 5:16 NKJV
Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
Now, before Christ knocked Paul off his horse on the Damascus road, Paul didn’t have a very good opinion of him. Paul was a very devout Pharisee who considered Jesus another run-of-the-mill charlatan and blasphemer. What’s more, his crucifixion proved him to be specially cursed by God. I’m sure Paul must have raged at anyone who thought Jesus, the crucified criminal, to be the Messiah. That’s how Paul regarded Jesus according to the flesh.
16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Now, before Christ knocked Paul off his horse on the Damascus road, Paul didn’t have a very good opinion of him. Paul was a very devout Pharisee who considered Jesus another run-of-the-mill charlatan and blasphemer. What’s more, his crucifixion proved him to be specially cursed by God. I’m sure Paul must have raged at anyone who thought Jesus, the crucified criminal, to be the Messiah. That’s how Paul regarded Jesus according to the flesh.
But then Paul met Jesus face to face on the road to Damascus and there was something about that very real experience of seeing Jesus in His glory that forever changed Him. That’s why he says in v13 of this chapter:
2 Corinthians 5:13–14 NKJV
For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;
2 Corinthians 5:13
13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. 14 FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST COMPELS US, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;
It was Paul’s experience of Christ’s love that compelled him to love and it is your own experience with Christ’s love that will compel you to love. O, don’t blow me off here. Don’t put that statement into the “I’ve-heard-it-all-before” category. What I am talking about is a supernatural think that happens only through the power of the Holy Spirit! When you supernaturally experience the love of Christ deep within, everything changes.
That’s why Paul goes on to say in v 17,
2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he IS a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Meeting Christ changed things for Paul:

It changed Paul’s motivation.

Meeting Jesus that day changed everything for Paul. It CHANGED HIS MOTIVATION. Now he doesn’t just serve Christ because he feels guilty. No! He is compelled to love. That word “compel” means to be continuously constrained and held on track. Paul is constantly constrained and held on track because of this great love he experienced.

It changed Paul’s purpose.

And this love CHANGED HIS PURPOSE. He had desired to climb the Pharisaical ladder so that he would be recognized. Now v15 redefines his purpose:
2 Corinthians 5:15 NKJV
and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Paul’s life is no longer about Paul! It’s about Jesus.
Paul’s life is no longer about Paul! It’s about Jesus. But not only did this love change his motivation and change his purpose,

It changed Paul’s understanding.

But not only did this love change his motivation and change his purpose, IT ALSO CHANGED HIS UNDERSTANDING. Paul had seen Jesus as a blasphemer, but now he sees him as the Messiah.
IT ALSO CHANGED HIS UNDERSTANDING. Paul had seen Jesus as a blasphemer, but now he sees him as the Messiah.
And where does all of this change come from? It came from Paul’s experience of the love of God.
APP
And that’s the point for us. Experiencing Christ’s love will change our motivation. Where we once were motivated by the approval of others or by avoiding embarrassment, we will be motivated by the real knowledge we have of Christ.
And experiencing Christ’s love will change our purpose. Where we used to be enamored with career and personal advancement, really knowing Jesus will turn our job from our focus to the means we use to do our real job: telling others about Jesus.
And all of this will happen because we experience His love and understand Him for Who He really is. Old things will pass away and all things will become new. We will be compelled by love.
ILL
One pastor wrote about it like this. He said that when he was dating his wife, Anna, one thing he admired about her was her love for sports. He said he loved sports too, but there were two sports he didn’t like.
Pic - Bowling
The first, he said, was bowling. He said he could not understand it. You pick up this cannonball and throw it on this beautiful maple floor that's tilted. And it goes down and disappears, thank goodness. All of a sudden shwump! it comes back again. You throw that thing down again, and it goes down and disappears. All of a sudden shwump! it comes back. You spend all night trying to get rid of it. Finally when you're done and you try to leave, they make you pay for throwing that ball down on the ground. That's just dumb, he said.
Pic - Roller skating
The other sport he said he despised was roller-skating: four wheels, none of them turn, and they expect you to go around in circles.
So wouldn’t you know it, on the first date he knocked on Anna's door. He was so excited. He said, "Where would you like to go tonight?" She said, "Do you like bowling?" And she picked up her own bowling ball. She had her own bag. Now, he was in love, so when she asked if he liked bowling, his answer was, "I love bowling." So we went bowling all night. They had a great time.
Next week, he knocked on her door. "Where would you like to go this week, he asked?" She picked up her skates. She said, "Do you like skating?" He said, "I've been waiting for months for someone to ask me go skating. I love skating." So they skated all night.
He looks back on it now and thinks, What made it easy for me to change? Did I have to work up this thing to change my desire for bowling and skating? No. It was because of his relationship with that girl. Because of the love that he had in relationship with her, change was easy.
The power to change when it comes to being a missionary is predicated upon your relationship with God. If you’re hearing this message today, don’t think I’m calling you to grit your teeth and just make up your mind to be an the next Billy Graham. No, I think the Lord says, "why don't you just come closer to the cross? Why don't you let me restore and renew my relationship with you? Then, you will be motivated to be a missionary.
You see, this whole missionary or mission field thing gets down to captivation. When you are a real disciple what you know about God will captivate you. And it gets down to motivation. When you are a real disciple what you experience with God will motivate you. But there’s one more important reality for a true disciple. When you are a real disciple:
D3

WHAT YOU HEAR FROM GOD WILL ACTIVATE YOU

EXP
Simply put, God has something to say to those who receive His grace. He calls and gifts His disciples for a very specific mission. You see this in the vv 18-20. They read:
2 Corinthians 5:18–20 NKJV
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

(NKJV)
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

What is God’s Call like?

We are called to a new position.

V20 tells us that we have been called to a new POSITION. This is a PERSONAL calling. He has individually called you and me. And this is a POSITIONAL calling. We are “ambassadors.” An ambassador is an authorized messenger sent on behalf of a sovereign ruler. God, the ruler of this universe authorizes you to be His messenger. That’s your new position. He has called you to a new position.

We are given a specific mission.

And He gives you a specific mission. V19 is truly amazing when you really understand it. It begins,
2 Corinthians 5:19 NKJV
that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
It begins, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. This is a powerful statement of God’s GLOBAL intention. His desire is to reconcile the whole world to Himself through the sacrifice of Christ and to forgive all of their sin. It is global.
2that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. This is a powerful statement of God’s GLOBAL intention. His desire is to reconcile the whole world to Himself through the sacrifice of Christ and to forgive all of their sin. It is global.
that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. This is a powerful statement of God’s GLOBAL intention. His desire is to reconcile the whole world to Himself through the sacrifice of Christ and to forgive all of their sin. It is global.
And it is COOPERATIVE. V19 goes on to say that He
2 Corinthians 5:19 NKJV
that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
has committed TO US the word of reconciliation. Think of what we are being told here. God, the maker of the universe suffered the fall of man and gave His own Son to redeem us. That is amazing news, but the most amazing thing is WHOM He has entrusted this news TO: You and me! You and me who are often scared, lazy, distracted and selfish. You and me who would rather make excuses than obey. You and me who try to use our personalities as excuses for not being engaged with others. This precious message depends on you and me!
has committed TO US the word of reconciliation. Think of what we are being told here. God, the maker of the universe suffered the fall of man and gave His own Son to redeem us. That is amazing news, but the most amazing thing is WHOM He has entrusted this news TO: You and me! You and me who are often scared, lazy, distracted and selfish. You and me who would rather make excuses than obey. You and me who try to use our personalities as excuses for not being engaged with others. This precious message depends on you and me!
Now if that is the case, I don’t know about you, but I need something that I do not have. I may be an ambassador. I may have a great mission but I need something. I need to become absolutely passionate about this calling and this mission. I am so thankful that not only does God give me a position and give me a mission, He also provides the passion to carry out this mission if we will just trust Him for it! Will you look at v 20 one more time. It says,
2 Corinthians 5:20 NKJV
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ (Watch this next phrase) as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ (Watch this next phrase) as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
The passion for this task comes from an awareness we receive in this verse. Whenever we share the gospel, it is not us who speak, but God Himself PLEADS THROUGH US. Don’t miss what that is saying. Listen! If you are His disciple, you never open your mouth to speak for Christ alone. He is there PLEADING THROUGH YOU. Do you know what that means? It means that He’ll give you the words to say! It means that if you get rejected, and you will sometimes, that you have not been rejected at all. They are rejecting God not you. He is pleading through you.
That means you can stop worrying about the perfect words or the perfect time and just go for it. It means that you can not just speak, you can, as this verse says, “implore” others to be saved. That is a very strong word. It means to beg; it means to have great emotion and great intensity.
And here’s the point. When you realize your position and you realize your mission and your receive the passion that comes from knowing that God is speaking through you, you will be excited to share this message. You will become a missionary!
ARG
And maybe about now some of you might want to check out on me. You’re thinking, perhaps, something like this: That’s great, and all, Rusty, but if all that you are saying were really true, wouldn’t more people be coming to Christ? Wouldn’t more people be sharing their faith? Wouldn’t more people be involved in discipleship?
You don’t have to look very far before you realize that most Christians, by and large, are not ambassadors. In fact, George Barna found in 2018 that a growing number of Christians do not see sharing the gospel as their personal responsibility. Now that just flies in the face of everything we just said, but we have to admit that this is true. Why?
Well, the truth is that most Christians are busy with other things; their day-to-day “normal lives”—jobs, kids, budgets, sports, weather, Netflix—all things that remain disconnected from their faith and from their witness. Added to that is a culture that is increasingly more secular and which considers sharing your faith to be “over-the-line” socially.
APP
So, in that kind of a culture, how are we supposed to swim upstream and be missionaries? Recently I was doing a hear journal in and read v5. It says:
2 Timothy 4:5 NKJV
But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Paul is about to be martyred for his faith and leave the work of being an ambassador to people like Timothy. He gives him four commands in this verse which I give you now as applications.

Four steps to become a missionary:

Sober up:

First, he says SOBER UP. “Be watchful” means to be alert and self-controlled. There will always be competing pleasures, temptations, and time wasters that will present distractions from our mission. To “sober up” means to let go of all the distractions and focus on what we are to do. Primarily it means that I take control of two things in my life: I take control of my desires. I focus myself on what God wants and not what I want.
It also means that I take control of my TIME. The number one reason people give for not being involved in discipleship is time. By the way, do you know the way to take control of your time? Realize that, just like your money, GOD OWNS YOUR TIME NOT YOU! I become a missionary when I sober up.

Suffer up.

Then I become a missionary when I SUFFER UP. Paul tells Timothy, But you be watchful in all things ENDURE AFFLICTIONS. Paul is simply telling Timothy that there will be some suffering and sacrifice involved in fulfilling his calling. If you and I are to be ambassadors, we will be called upon to sacrifice—to give ourselves discomfort or even pain so that others may hear the gospel. We are called to sober up and suffer up and then we are called to:

Speak up.

SPEAK UP: Paul tells Timothy that he is to do the work of an evangelist. By the way, I don’t think that “speaking up” was something that Timothy did naturally. I think that Timothy may have been an introvert, which was why Paul had to tell him not to be timid in . But here Paul tells Timothy, “do the work of an evangelist”; Timothy SPEAK UP. Share your faith! Tell others what God has done for you!
Can I just interject here that this is the definition of being an ambassador! An ambassador does not succeed if the other country agrees with his country; no, the ambassador succeeds if he simply delivers the message from his own country. It’s the same way with you. Success is not found in you getting the person you are speaking with to agree with you; success is you simply giving them a witness of what God did in your life. If you want to be a missionary, you have to sober up, suffer up, speak up and last you have to:

Step up.

STEP UP: Paul ends by saying to Timothy, fulfill your ministry. That is, Timothy, don’t let any excuse stop you. Make your call to witness who Jesus is and what He did for you the number one thing in your life and fulfill your calling. Timothy, sober up, suffer up, speak up, and step up.
VIS
Pic - Tokyo Subway
On January 26, 2001 Seiko Sakamoto, a plasterer working in a Tokyo subway station, fell into the path of an oncoming train. Lee Su Hyun, a Korean student in Japan for language studies, leaped down on the tracks to save Sakamoto. Both Hyun and Sakamoto were unable to exit the path of the oncoming train and were killed.
Now you have to see this act in the context of the Japanese and Korean culture. Strong feelings of distrust between the two countries go back to World War II atrocities inflicted upon Koreans by the Japanese. This selfless act by the Korean student on behalf of the Japanese laborer, however, has caused many people in Japan to reconsider their long-held prejudices directed toward Koreans. Many Japanese people, including the Prime Minister of Japan, openly expressed sorrow over their previously held stereotypes of Koreans and began to talk about reconciliation. Nobuaki Fujioka, a 62- year-old Japanese said, "I felt a kind of shame. A young foreigner sacrificed his life for a Japanese. This is not an easy thing to do."
You see, the sacrifice of this young Korean brought reconciliation and it teaches a truth about it. That truth is this: Reconciliation rarely occurs without sacrifice. You certainly see that in the gospel: by giving his one and only Son, God took the initiative in healing our broken relationship with him. He made the supreme sacrifice for us that we might be reconciled to him. But we cannot sit on this blessing. He has called us to become ambassadors—to bring the whole world the message of reconciliation. In short, He has called us to be missionaries. Which just leaves us this question: Are you a missionary or a mission field?
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