2 Corinthians chapter 5
Today we are walking in: Citizens As Ambassadors
Jeremiah 49:14
I have heard a rumor from Yahuah, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle. YIRMEYAHU (JEREMIAH) 49:14 ×ת CEPHER
AMBASSADOR
Today we look to the word- AMBASSADOR- H6735- tsiyr- ambassador, hinge, messenger, pain, pang, sorrow
The Torah testifies……..
**************
The Prophets proclaim……..
Obadiah 1:1
THE vision of Ovadyahu. Thus says Adonai Yahuah concerning Edom; We have heard a rumor from Yahuah, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. OVADYAHU (OBADIAH) 1:1 ×ת CEPHER
The Writings witness………………
Proverbs 13:17
A wicked messenger falls into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health. MISHLEI (PROVERBS) 13:17 ×ת CEPHER
The Principle and Power of Kingdom Citizenship: Keys to Experiencing Heaven on Earth by
Chapter 12
CITIZENS AS AMBASSADORS
Everybody on Earth is looking for something. They do not know what they are looking for. They do not know how to describe it. They search everywhere. They drink liquor, smoke dope, go to parties and clubs. They change jobs, get a different spouse, or go back to school for more education. They read books and search the Internet for whatever it is that they are missing. What can satisfy this yearning? Those of us who have found the Kingdom know what it is-it is the King. Once you find Him, you know you have found your long-sought desire, and from the first moment, you want to share the good news with others. He is alive! He loves us! We can know Him! The more we learn about Him, the better it gets. We want to communicate to all of the other searchers what He is like. This King is both our Yah and our Abba; therefore He draws us into His Kingdom and His family circle at the same time. Most of us remain right where we started out, within the same human families, living and working with the same people. But we are not the same anymore. For one thing, we have become ambassadors. From searchers and seekers, we become, by some imperceptible means, representatives of our new King and His government, wherever we may reside. We may travel from place to place, or we may stay put for decades. Wherever we are, we bring a taste of Heaven.
Being Religious Is Not Enough
The goal of Yah was never religion, but rather something I call “rulership through relationship.” I have described His original plan to have Adam and all the people who followed him rule over and manage the planet, and the close association between the words “dominate” and “kingdom,” which you might call rulership. But rulership alone was never Yah’s goal, because it must be based on a relationship with Him. We come into the Kingdom of Yah exclusively through establishing a personal relationship with the King and His Son Yahashua. The Son opened up the way to this relationship when He became a man Himself. His Ruach comes to live inside each one of us, and we begin a lifelong process of growing more and more into His likeness. Not only that, we begin to carry the fragrance of Heaven wherever we go. The apostle named Paul summed it up best when he wrote: Therefore if any man be in Mashiach, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of Elohiym, who has reconciled us to himself by Yahusha Ha'Mashiach, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that Elohiym was in Mashiach, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their transgressions unto them; and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Mashiach, as though Elohiym did beseech you by us: we pray you in Mashiach's stead, be ye reconciled to Elohiym. For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of Elohiym in him. QORINTIYM SHENIY (2 CORINTHIANS) 5:17-21 את CEPHER
We have not been saved from our old, earthbound lives simply so that we could become nice-looking additions to the heavenly choir. We have also been given a task to complete- spreading the Kingdom across the globe. We have been commissioned to show the world what the Kingdom looks like. We have become diplomats for the department of Heaven that has colonized Earth. In short, we have become ambassadors for Hamashiach Yahashua. You cannot represent someone you do not know. So that is why being religious is not enough. You need an ongoing relationship with the One in whose name you carry out your day-to-day duties. With His Ruach inside, that should not be difficult to carry out, but we seem to need reminders. Books such as this one are helping people remember, “Yes, I am an ambassador for Hamashiach, and I know what that means.” An ambassador must be connected to the one he represents.
Other people represent their religions (or lack of religion) too, but they do not have this kind of a relationship. That is why they resort to rituals and secret practices, to moral codes and dress regulations. That is also why, sooner or later, they admit that they are still searching for something more. They are not connected with the King, and He created them to be connected.
More Than A Messenger
In diplomatic circles, although ambassadors often live in foreign countries, they keep in touch with their head of state back home. Almost without exception, they know that person well. Ambassadors cannot legislate. They do not create new governmental policies or declare war. Yet they occupy a special position, government-to-government. Their words carry weight. They are senior representatives who have been invested with authority from their governing authority. In the Scripture quoted above, the Greek word translated as ambassador is presbeuo, which means someone just like that. Paul uses the same word again in his letter to the church in the city of Ephesus:And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the Besorah, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. EPH'SIYM (EPHESIANS) 6:19-20 את CEPHER
Imagine that! Paul was locked up in prison without much hope of being released, and he still considered himself an ambassador of Hamashiach. Although his freedom of movement had been curtailed, he was able to write letters such as the one he wrote to the Ephesians, he was able to speak with visitors and guards, and he was able to stay connected to the King through prayerful attention to the Ruach within him.
Vested With Authority
Elsewhere in the New Testament, another Greek word for ambassador appears. The word is Kerux and it is commonly translated “preacher,” “herald,” or “proclaimer.” Sucha messenger has been vested with authority to convey the official messages of kings, magistrates, princes, military commanders to authorities in other places, and to perform duties on behalf of their sending ruler. Throughout the New Testament, Yah’s kerux ambassadors are proclaiming the divine Word.They were vested with authority by Yah the King to deliver messages and perform duties on His behalf, wherever they went. It did not stop after the New Testament times. You and I have been vested with the same authority. Yahashua was speaking to us when He said, “And I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as my Father has appointed unto me; LUQAS (LUKE) 22:29 את CEPHER. His meaning is clear-messengers and ambassadors of the Kingdom carry the authority of the entire country as they go from place to place. They do not carry only a set of diplomatic rituals or social niceties. Their words have weight, and they know it. Dr. Munroe says, I never thought deeply about the word “confer” until it was used over me in a ceremony. Some years ago, I received the OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) from a representative of the Queen of England. I had to bow and he put this thing over my neck. Then the governor pinned something on my suit coat, speaking as he did it, “By the authority of the Queen of England, I confer on you the British Empire.” He conferred a whole nation on me. Now when I go to England and they see “OBE” on my passport, everybody jumps to attention. “Yes, sir, Dr. Munroe; is there anything we can do for you?” Those simple initials carry the weight of authority. Everytime someone becomes an official ambassador of a country, the same phrase is used: “I confer on you the Commonwealth of the Bahamas,” using the name of the ambassador’s country. Thus, that individual personifies the whole country. We are official ambassadors of the Kingdom of Yah because Yahashua has conferred the Kingdom on us.
Ambassadorship
You will never see an ambassador in a club or a disco. You will never hear that he got drunk and walked around in public inappropriately dressed or participated in some scandal. Such behavior does not befit the dignity of the office. Ambassadors choose their words carefully, and you will never see them explode in anger in public. Whatever an ambassador does, the global community will impute to the country he or she represents. The ambassador is the country. This should be no less true for Kingdom ambassadors. We should be asking ourselves, “Am I representing Heaven?” as we walk around the food store, go to the gas station, or walk across the street. I think one reason we are not very disciplined in our lives is because we do not understand that we are carrying the weight of the country of Heaven. Yahashua said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Abba” (John 14:9). In essence, he was saying, “If you have seen Me, you have seen my source.” Can You say that? Why or why not? Do people have an idea of what Heaven is like when they meet you? You might be the only Kingdom believer in your workplace. Those people around you have only one source for their information about Heaven; you may be the only “heavenling” they know. How you act and react will represent your citizenship. Remember that you have been appointed as the local ambassador of the Kingdom in that workplace.
Benefits of Ambassadorship
If you turn it around, you can see that when you represent another country, it is a good situation to be in. Yes, you must behave yourself with dignity as befits your office. But you will be permitted to enjoy all the benefits of your citizenship with additional benefits added. For example, have you ever seen an ambassador driving an old jalopy with holes in his shirt? No, because the government pays all of his bills. If he needs something he just asks. “No problem, sir. “You are the ambassador.” Dr. Munroe says, Not too long ago, I went with a few others to Haiti. The Bahamian ambassador picked us up at the airport and we drove through the streets in an air-conditioned SUV. All around us was rubble. People were sleeping on the streets in the muck, just as you have seen in all the pictures. We just drove through all of that in air-conditioned comfort, sipping on cool drinks. The Bahamian flag was fluttering from the front of that beautiful SUV. I am sure that the people we passed were wondering what country that flag represented, thinking to themselves, Wherever that flag comes from, I want to go there. We arrived at the ambassador’s house in the hills. I said, “Wait a minute. Are we still in the same country that had the earthquake?” Yes. We walked into the house and someone served us a big breakfast of bacon, cheese, and grits, right there in the middle of all that poverty. The ambassador took me to my bedroom and it was as big as a house. He said, “You can sleep here tonight” I asked if he meant me and the brother who was with me or me alone. “Oh, he has his own room. This is all for you.”And he opened a curtain and showed both of us a big swimming pool full of blue water. I said, “Don’t you feel guilty sometimes, your Excellency?” He said, “No. When you step into my car and drive through my gate, you enter the Bahamas.” The property of an embassy is the same as the country it represents. It will always be as rich as the country the ambassador comes from. It will never have to be as poor as the country in which the embassy and the ambassador’s house are situated. As we sat eating at that breakfast table, the ambassador had said, “Do you want more?” and we said yes. So the cook came in with another big plate of food. We could have had even more if we had asked. There was no end of food-in Haiti, after an earthquake. The ambassador never had to fly to the Bahamas for his bacon and eggs. He received it every day in Haiti. He did not need to go back to the Bahamas to enjoy a nice, air conditioned house with a pool. He was experiencing the Bahamian lifestyle in a country away from the Bahamas. The Kingdom lifestyle- clean living, love-filled, and truly joyful- is ours wherever we may be stationed on the globe. The King is taking such good care of His citizens that they are living like the Bahamian ambassador in a ruined world. He is at work inside us, making us look more and more like Him. His goal is to bring us to a place where we will have no corruption, no sickness, no pressure, no difficulties. He gives us a big taste of it now. This is a culture of plenty, and it makes people want to come to Yah.
Every Citizen Of The Kingdom Is An Ambassador
As you go to work tomorrow morning or stop to buy something that you need, remember that you are a citizen of Heaven and an ambassador for the Kingdom of Heaven. This is important, because you will not be able to be much of an ambassador for the King if you forget your identity. He has conferred His authority on you, and He has given you an assignment, to represent Him wherever you go and to spread the truth about the Kingdom you represent. Can you do that? I pray that you will be able to connect with the King on a daily basis, and that you will hear what He is saying to you. Your assignment may seem insignificant to you, but the way you complete it is very important. May your citizenship in the Kingdom equip you to be a true ambassador, and may the King commend you for your service when its time is over. “His adoniy said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things: enter into the joy of your adoniy. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 25:21 את CEPHER
No comments:
Post a Comment