Spread the Word

Prepare to Launch  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  31:06
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As we prepare to launch this fall, the final step in making this kickoff the best it can be, we need to spread the word.

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Opening Service
Welcome to OneChurch
So glad you are joining us this morning
let us know in the comment section where you are watching from
couple quick announcements
We are going into a time of worship. Sit, stand, kneel, whatever position helps you experience God’s presence.
Let’s pray
Sermon
Intro
We are wrapping up our series on Prepare to Launch
We’ve talked about prayer and fasting and how great things require spiritual work
We talked about how in order to accomplish the great things God is calling us to is going to require everyone doing their part, no matter how big, small, or outside the box it might be. Everyone doing what it takes to make a huge impact on our families and our communities
To get us started this morning, I want you to think about something you’re passionate about. Not necessarily a person, but a thing or an idea. Some people are passionate about the kind of phone they use. Some people only wear a certain brand of clothing or drive a certain kind of car. Some only watch certain sports leagues or cheer for certain teams. Some are even loyal to certain pops.
To simplify things, lets call these things brands. For the first question this morning:

Question 1: What ‘brands’ are you loyal to? Why are you loyal to those brands?

Growing up, one of the things we were loyal to was Pepsi. Coke was almost a swear word in our house.
Obviously, being a Sask boy, we bleed green, Rider pride all the way.
One of the great debates in the OneChurch staff is Samsung vs Mac. Darren and I frequently go back and forth, and seeing as he’s on the computer hosting this morning, I won’t say anything else about that debate.
One of the interesting developments in recent years is the idea of being a brand ambassador. Companies are now hiring people to endorse their brands. Because word of mouth is the most powerful and effective forms of advertising, the best way to get your brand recognized is to get it in the hands of actual people.
Golf companies pay professionals huge amounts of money to use their clubs, balls, clothing
The catch is that only certain people can be brand ambassadors. If an individual is going to be brought on, their character and conduct will be included as part of the gig. Companies can’t have ambassadors who misbehave; that would reflect poorly on their product and standing. Again, this is why professional athletes will lose endorsement deals. If they say the wrong thing on Twitter or some public misconduct could ultimately cost them their endorsement.
Now let’s take this idea of the ambassador, and apply it to the church and our life as disciples of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:16–21 CSB
From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Let’s unpack this a bit. Paul says that now that you are a believer, a disciple of Christ, everything has changed. And so it should. Jesus humbled himself, became a man, lived a sinless life, and died on a cross. Jesus died a sinner’s death so that everyone could live free of sin and have a relationship with God the Father. Jesus opened the door to eternal life for each and every one of us. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and accept the forgiveness of our sins, that should change everything.
This is what Paul is talking about. Because Jesus died and came back to life, sin and death were conquered and all of creation is being reconciled or brought back into a right relationship with God.
As someone reconciled to God, you are made new, and all the old ways are dead and gone. You don’t see people or the world from the same perspective, but you get a new perspective, God’s perspective.
With this new perspective, we are now tasked to be ambassadors, Christ’s representatives, carrying out the message of reconciliation.
In the Old Testament, they didn’t use the word ambassador, but instead they said messenger or delegate. Different role, but the responsibility is the same.

Question 2: What kind of an ambassador have you been for Christ?

this is a tough question and it requires a little honesty. But I don’t ask this question to shame or to lay a guilt trip. I ask this question because in order for us to grow, we need to know how well or not well we’ve been doing. We need to acknowledge areas of weakness, not to beat ourselves up, but to be aware of the areas that need growth.
If you declare yourself a disciple of Christ or a Christian, people are watching to see what that means, and if it has any significance to them. So if you are a part time Christian, what kind of message does that send to people? If you only believe the parts of the bible that make you feel good or you agree with, does it really have any significance in your life, and more importantly, the lives of anyone else?
How we live, what we talk about, how we spend our time, what we post on our social media, all of it gets tied back to what you represent; the thing you are being an ambassador for
Are you going to be perfect? No, you aren’t going to be perfect. No expects perfection out of you, not even God. That’s why Isaiah says that God’s mercy is new every morning. We need fresh mercy everyday cause we get it wrong regularly.
The thing about being an ambassador, and representing Christ well to the world around us falls on two things:
we never settle. Paul says we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The way I understand fear and trembling is nervousness. Every time I step on this stage or I go speak somewhere else, I represent God and I represent the church family. I should be nervous because I want to represent well in all that I say and all that I do. The same applies when I have coffee with people or message on Facebook. I want to represent Christ well, and so I get nervous every time.
We need the Holy Spirit’s help. The best part of being a new creation is that we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. That means all of God’s wisdom, strength, power, and character is right here with me. It means stopping, taking a breath, saying a little prayer, and letting go of my agenda so Christ can lead us into conversations or moments that have eternal impact.
We represent well, and we have a message to share. Be reconciled to God. Why? Because when we enter into a right relationship with God, it is entering the sweet spot of life. Does it mean everything goes your way all the time? Not necessarily, but our heavenly perspective helps us appreciate those times that don’t go our way, knowing God is bigger then our circumstances.

Question 3: Do you believe that following Jesus can or has made your life better?

before you answer, I want to set the stage a bit for this question. Back to the brand ambassador idea. Some of the easiest things for us to talk about are the things that make life better. It’s easy to talk about my phone because it has cool features that make life easier and more organized. It is easy to talk about the new speakers at the church because they are better then the old ones in every way imaginable.
It is that premise that makes being a brand ambassador easier; my life is better because this product or this idea has enhanced life in some way.
One of the reasons being an ambassador for Christ can be difficult is because we don’t always see the benefit. Like a weight loss program or a class in school, we only get out of it what we put into it, and often our relationship with Christ slips to the back burner, and the longer it sits there, we start having a tough time seeing the blessings and benefits that we did when we first believed.
Like a good relationship, it takes time and effort to develop our relationship with Christ, and when that connection is strong, there is more peace, more joy, more love, more goodness, more freedom. It is easy to share how Christ has enhanced our lives when it is front and center.
But there comes a time, and everyone goes through it, where the blessing and the enhancement is not so evident to us, and so it starts becoming harder to share. We know we should, and if someone asks, we always say that Christ has made life better because its the right thing to say. But has my relationship with Christ really made that much of a difference?
When we recognize that we are at a crossroads, and that question hits a little harder then it did in the past, it doesn’t mean something is wrong. It means we have an opportunity to really dig in and make our discipleship real again. When we do that, and start down the road of working on that relationship, we end up discovering a deeper, more meaningful relationship then we have ever known, and it creates a longing to keep going deeper. Soon all the goodness and blessing of God is so evident that we cannot help but to share.
Here’s why I ended the series with a talk on being an ambassador. You are not only an ambassador of Christ, but you are also an ambassador for his body the church. That means this church. As we prepare to launch, and step into a new season for our church full of new adventures, new normals, and new opportunities, it is up to each and everyone of us to get the word out. OneChurch is here is help, it is a place to be challenged and grow in our faith. We believe in equipping people to live an effective life with bold faith.
If telling people about your faith in Christ is tough, or you’re in this season of struggling to see the fruit, then tell them about the church, get them watching online or showing up when the doors open, and let us tell them. And if you’re not sure OneChurch has made your life better, let us know what we can do differently to help. If it has made life better, tell us how so we can double down on the things that are working.
Let’s pray.
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