Overview
Rev. Michael Fort presents the ministry of reconciliation as an active sonship responsibility—a “sit, get, and go” calling. He explains that God reconciled believers to Himself through Jesus Christ, gave them the word of reconciliation, and equipped them to serve willingly, reject division, and live as ambassadors for Christ.
Transcript
The Ministry of Reconciliation Is a Call to Go
I'd say, after every teacher I go, there's more off of mine, there's more off of mine, there's more off of mine. After John finishes his morning, I'm like, oh, I've got five left. Each one has been so chock-full and just so exciting and so rich, it is such an honor to follow these four teachers, and I'd love to have a standing ovation.
I attend different conferences, and often I'm a speaker at them, and I'm often not the only speaker. And to watch the way other speakers sort of react, it's sort of like, oh, you should grow up when you're out there. I just love this group because it's all about God's Word, He's God's Word and how can we enrich your life, how can you be the best you that you can possibly be? Now I will say there will be some overlap, the way I teach into some things that you've heard, that's okay, I feel good about that.
I know repetition is one of the great keys to learning, so the more that you hear those great truths, the better it's going to be for you. Take your Bibles and turn to Romans chapter 6. This topic is our identity in Christ, the ministry of reconciliation. Need to let you know something right off the bat here, this is not a sit and get.
This is not a sit and get. What that means is that I go to meetings and often they're sit and gets. Which means you sit there, somebody blabbers up front, and then they leave and you get whatever you get.
This is a sit, get, go. When it comes to the ministry of reconciliation, it's all about going. So what you need to do, you need to do it if you've not already done it.
You take a little spot on your notepaper and you write down number one and number two. These are going to be action items that you are going to decide on and that you are going to do with this. It's not a sit and get.
I don't know if you know or not, but religion for centuries has been a sit and get. I had a friend who was a denominational minister for years, and he told me, he says, well you know my ministry is standing at the back of the church at the end of the service, and shaking hands. I said, no, I have no idea, not having been raised in the church.
He goes, it's their one opportunity to give back anything they may have received during the teaching. He says, every time I shook his hand, I was like, yep, they're giving it back, yep, they're giving it back, yep, they're giving it back. This is a sit and get and go is what we're going to do here.
Therefore, I need to get you to commit to engage with me during this teaching. I need to make sure that you're committed to not only sitting there, but you engage in your mind, if you want to capture those truths that you may not have already heard yet, or have them reestablished so that you can make a behavioral change of enhancement. Not just attitude change.
Attitude is terrific. I'm all for attitude. I got great attitude.
But you know what, that's only the start. It's all about finishing. It's all about taking action.
It's just like most people judge themselves by their intentions. Well, I meant to do it. I feel pretty good about that.
But then I have to realize that everybody else judges you by your results, not by your intentions. In other words, it ain't good enough if you just felt like you should have done it. It's in doing things that really works.
This is a challenge I'd like to put out for you here, and it's just a challenge. I'm not going to lecture you. Let's put it that way.
It's just like, how many of you still have the very first iPhone that came out? Oh, yeah. The more, the worse for it. So you're speaking in New York, you come down, what do people talk about? Oh, man, I've got to get that number.
I've got to get iPhone 8. Why? Well, it's 8. Who gives me better acceptance? I'm not really sure. I just know I need to get it. Well, we need to take a little bit of concern about ourselves.
And that is, how do I improve the version that I am? Remember, you aren't the only you. And God figured it out. That's all we need is one of you.
As long as you're talking about me, that doesn't help me. Oh, I see you guys in South Phoenix. We've got to work on that.
I'm not in the right place for that, okay? No, you're the best one of you that can be, so maximize it. The Ministry of Reconciliation will help you do that. We've had four tremendous teachings on four topics considered sonship rights.
So the fifth one, it's interesting. The Ministry of Reconciliation is the only sonship right I've ever heard a person associate combination with. I'm going to get it down.
God, it never works for me. Oh, and oh, great, God wanted me to have something that really would work that combination, actually. So obviously, there's some wrong teaching or misunderstanding of it.
Hopefully, we can clear some things up. If not, maybe I'm back, and we'll get into something else. One thing I will say about the two teachings this morning, and in verse 47, one of my favorite ones, after the teaching that Peter did on the Day of Pentecost, when thousands of people that heard it, not everybody, not everybody in the room, but thousands of them said, and that's what we do.
What do we do? What do we do? And the question we need to ask ourselves, what do we do from here? I'm here to answer, to give you some type of answer to that question. What do you do? What do you do? On your table, there should be a pile of rubber bands. I'd like for everybody to take a rubber band.
Mine is larger because I'm the speaker. No, I'm actually for illustration, and I'm trusting we have a relationship in this room that we will not… It's a rubber band to me. It's very utilitarian.
We understand what it's made for. It holds things together. But also, its real value comes because it is stretched.
It increases its capacity, and it actually becomes more valuable because the farther it stretches, the more it can handle. The ministry of reconciliation of the five sonship rites is the rubber band. It's the one that stretches, increases your capacity.
Because what you do is, it's when you operate your ministry of reconciliation, it's just not about you, you're taking in others. You're increasing your capacity for other people, to take them in, to help them get what you have. To get to the point that they can have a life the way your life is.
I forget most of the teachers this weekend brought it up, but remembering what it was like before we knew the word of God. Now, many of us have been doing this for an extended period of time, and we also, as you get new members, I don't know about you, often old members drop off. But the one thing I don't want to have drop off is remember how miserable I was until I knew who I was as a son of God.
Sometimes I'll just remind myself, or my wife does. In Romans chapter 6, verse 4, it says, Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. And one translation says, by the glorious power of the Father.
Movies, artwork, even I think the words written here, cannot clearly illustrate just how magnificent of a moment in the history of mankind that was, of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Certain things tell us, certain records tell us about how those Roman soldiers, hardened Roman soldiers, who were charged to kill anybody who tried to get to that tomb, were like dead men, just frozen in their tracks. And this stone, which took multiple people to roll over, and then tossed like it was a little feather.
How magnificent that had to have been. Now, as that's your frame of mind about power, look what it says. Even so, we also should walk in newness of life.
Think about the glory of that power to raise the dead, and take it now to that's how the newness of life should be for us. And that word newness is really simple. It just means different than the former, different than the former.
One translation we heard was it's fresh as opposed to stale. But perpetual freshness is what's available to us when we walk in that newness of life. The ministry of reconciliation is one of those great little nuggets that God has made available to us to help us make every day fresh.
Fresh. Perpetually fresh. Now, let's go to 2 Corinthians.
I think it's a wall that you have to read 2 Corinthians 5 with the ministry of reconciliation. I've not checked the books in Florida, but I believe in 46 of the 50 states it is a state wall. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Remember, this is a sit, get, and go.
Not just sit and get. Verse 18. Chapter 5. And all things are of God who hath reconciled… Who? Us! Let me tell you.
This is an us. Teach. This is an us.
Sunship rock. Tell her to raise her table. This is about us.
Go ahead. Now tell her, also tell her, leave me alone. I'm paying attention.
Alright. You might get tied in. You don't have to listen.
Reconciled to God Through Jesus Christ
Reconcile us to Himself by Jesus Christ as we've been taught. The agent of that reconciliation is Jesus Christ. Without Him, it wouldn't work.
None of us have the personality, none of us have the skill, natural skills to be able to accomplish any of that. None of us walk so perfectly in our own personal walk that we would have deemed reconciliation with God. It took the accomplishment of Jesus Christ.
As we've heard in the first teaching, maybe. Experientially, all the way. And have Him to who? Us! That's right, it's all about us.
Us, the ministry of reconciliation. To reconcile is very simple. I'll just use the illustration of this beautiful Holiday Inn pen that I had in my room.
I don't know if that may be special or if you also recently… Did you have one too? Alright, tell them it's all about me. But, this pen has a cap. And to reconcile means to bring back together that which has been separated.
I am the agent, and I have reconciled the pen and the cap. It's that simple. But what we're talking about is being separated from God, greater than the heavens and the earth.
Because the accomplishments of Jesus Christ was… Now, He is keeping it together. That's what we want to do. But we also want to help others.
Who here is the result of someone operating their ministry of reconciliation? Interested at all in reconciliation? Yes, that's something. That's what I always want people to go, well, you know, right? It just doesn't work. Oh, really? And how did you get here? Isn't it interesting how we will tend, if we don't think we're as good as somebody else, to go, well, you know.
But, there are really good at that. Well, what I find, most people get good at things they practice on an individual basis intentionally. Intentionally practicing something you get very good at.
Practice makes perfect is not true. Practice makes you good. So what happens? If you want to get better at something, practice it more.
Ministry of reconciliation. The word ministry is great, too. You know, people love throwing that term around.
The ministry. The ministry. I don't know what they're really talking about.
Other than what it says right here. The ministry of reconciliation is the ministry for all of us. Not just in this room.
The ministry of reconciliation is for anyone who has confessed to the mouth of the Lord Jesus. Believing their heart God raised them from the dead. That's worldwide.
Isn't it amazing how people try to minimize and make smaller and smaller the greatness of God. So it just fits their own little cubicle. You know, right here in Tate.
You hear that on my knee? It's the quiet. The minimize the greatness of God. Let me tell you the difference between management and leadership.
Management puts their arms around things so they don't get any bigger. So they can just muffle anything. Leadership is this.
Open arm money to expand and grow. Jesus was a manager or a leader? No doubt about it. Peter, Paul, Apostles.
Managers were leaders. Where are you? Leaders! That's right. We're open arm.
When it comes to reconciliation it's like this. I had a school teacher. Mrs. Blue.
6th grade. So I'm this little guy. Every time I get mad.
Every time I do. And I'll get mad and I'll say to myself. Michael.
Michael. And I'd be that slump. And you have a picture of me.
I'd be 4 foot tall and maybe 30 pounds. And I'd walk over to Mrs. Blue. And she went in the middle.
But every time I was just. I'm so tired. I'm so tired.
That's reconciliation. Open arms. As we look at the mystery of reconciliation.
Remember it's not a question. It's open arms. Let's remember our heart is open.
And not closed. We're looking for points of bringing together. Not points to separate.
Let the critics be the critics. In life. In general.
If you have any means of communication. You'll find critics. Are quick to voice their opinion.
Opinions are like. Building models. You're absolutely right.
I'm in construction. Well let me be more honest. I work with a construction company.
I work in the office. We do construction. We have 1,200 employees.
Nationwide. We work in 30 states. Currently we're building 3 hospitals.
In the state of Florida. Right now we have an office out of Tampa. It's called Gaylord Electric.
I've worked there for 14 years now. And something has been consistent. In all 14 years.
And it doesn't matter what size our project is. It's the same thing. We need two things.
In order to be successful in building our project. Number one. We need willing workers to do the job.
Now you might think. Don't you need skilled workers? I tell you. We've had skilled workers who aren't willing to work.
They do you no good. It's all about willingness. If a person is willing.
Willing Workers and the Tools God Gives
It's amazing how quickly they can learn a skill. How long? I was talking to Sue. Being the accompanist.
I was telling her about song leading. I was always the example. Mrs. O was used as a blank slate.
No musical ability whatsoever. And I made up my mind. I was going to learn how to lead songs.
So I ended up being able to lead songs. In many variety of things in my life. And lead meetings.
But I was a willing blank slate. Who put in the effort. The word ministry.
It means the work of the service. It means you're willing to do the work. The other thing is.
You have to have tools in construction. You can have willing workers. Even skilled willing workers.
But if you don't have the tools. You're not going to build the building. They just can't get in there with their fingers.
They've got to have the tools necessarily. We're going to see this about the Ministry of Reconciliation. It says here.
It's given to us by the Ministry of Reconciliation. Quick question about that. What qualified any of us.
To be given the Ministry of Reconciliation? Just God decided to do it. That's part of the fact. That's the all inclusiveness.
Of the Holy Spirit. Oh by the way. There you go.
He also limited himself. To those who have the Ministry of Reconciliation. About reaching out with the word of God.
Let's just. We'll see this next week. Having a willing heart.
Is amazing what a person can accomplish. With a willing heart. Keep your finger here.
The first Corinthians chapter 9. A little bit about the Apostle Paul. Bringing up the challenges of being willing. Now he was certainly.
A great teacher of God's word. He had a ministry. But we see here.
Just evangelizing. Getting out and speaking the word of God. Could be challenging.
And it says here. Verse 16 of chapter 9. For though I preach the gospel. I have nothing to glory of.
For necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe unto me. If I preach not the gospel.
Now is that God putting that on him? Or is he expressing his heart? He's trying to talk about. How much he wants to be able. To hold forth the word of God.
And woe unto him if he doesn't do it. Then he goes on and says. For if I do this thing how? Willingly.
I have no reward. But against my will. A dispensation or a stewardship of the gospel.
Was committed unto me. In other words he said. I'm going to do it.
But I really get blessed when I do it willingly. And that's the whole thing. Doing things willingly.
I think someone brought it up. How many of you were forced to be here this weekend? But adults. Or you willingly came.
And you realize. There could be a cost incurred. On that.
But you still willingly did that. You've been blessed so far. You know.
I'll hold you by the judgment until I'm done. But you've been blessed so far. Yea.
Because of a willingness. If you have to be drugged into it. Dragged into it.
You're not going to do it. Nearly as much. Willingly.
What is my reward then? Verily that when I preach the gospel. I make the gospel of Christ without charge. Why don't we just freely speak that word of God.
Let's go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. So he's given us this ministry. Of bringing back together. That which has been separated from God.
It says in verse 18. And all things are of God. Who has reconciled.
Who? Us. All about us. To himself by Jesus Christ.
And has given to who? Us. You're not alone. You're not alone in this.
You're not the lone wolf out there. You've got this big wooden staff. You've got this robe.
And you're walking out there. And you've got a fan blowing in your face. Making it look like you're really struggling.
We're in this thing together. And it's committed unto us. The work of reconciliation.
That's the tool. And the key about a tool. Is using a tool wisely.
For instance, if you're a carpenter. Or going to do the work of a carpenter. And you use a hammer.
And you have that hammer. And you don't hold it up towards the head. And tap it.
You hold it down the handle. And you allow the tool to do the work. If you use a wrench.
You don't hold it up by the screw. And you try to get up. But you hold it at the end.
And use that torque. It becomes very easy when you use a tool correctly. For us in the Ministry of Reconciliation.
Using the Word of Reconciliation Wisely
When we use the word of reconciliation. That's the right tool. Just use it wisely.
I'll give you an example. When I say use it wisely. I'll just use it.
I'm an expert on one thing. Me. I've been with me from the very beginning.
I've seen the stuff that no one needs to know about. For real. I'm trying to forget it.
But a lot of times when I was immature with the word of God. I would use the word of God. Improperly.
Basically to beat a person down. Being argumentative. I sort of had that kind of personality.
Rubbing. You know. Getting into arguments and stuff.
But that's using it wrong. When we use it out of that love of God. A renewed mind.
When we just want to help people. Use that tool correctly. It's amazing how the word does the work.
It's like the handle when you hold it. Boom. The chainsaw.
You don't hold it by the end of the handle. It's about spinning. Use the tool correctly.
Verse 20. Now then who? Me. Like us.
Me. Let me tell you. This is sort of a hidden secret.
A lot of people don't know. I'll tell this story. It says now then.
They can't hear me. Now then. Now is always now.
Alright. What I was telling you. Now is always now.
So if it says now then we're ambassadors. When is that? Now. Now then we are ambassadors.
For Christ. Notice the trick. It's a Bible that's been given to us.
It's something that we did not earn on our own. But God wanted us to realize the importance that he saw of what we do. We represent.
I think most people know. If you don't know what an ambassador is you just go to dictionary.com poke it in there and tell me. And the word ambassador means that you're a representative of another organization or something like that.
I did what we did in my work. We were having trouble with people staying in the construction field at 36 and 98. So what we did is we hired away from the high school a counselor who worked with a lot of these younger people that were coming in.
Very good with the younger people. So we gave her a title and the title was onboarding ambassador. And she would go around to all the new employees as the onboarding ambassador and she would always tell her title to everybody.
Because people would go oh my gosh she's the onboarding ambassador. And her whole job was I'm here to ask you for anything that I can do for you. And can our company help you with anything? And there's amazing people who go most people go oh these are great.
But for those who didn't ask they got immediate answers. So she'd walk around and in that we were able to decrease the number of people leaving our company by 75% in a six month period of time. Why? The ambassador went out and did her job.
We as ambassadors, this is the real point of permission. You got the permission now. God made us ambassadors which means we speak for him.
We are ambassadors. We are ambassadors. We go out and have been given permission according to God to speak in behalf of his work.
To use the tool that he gave us. To do the work willingly that he set before us to do. Well that's a great sexual assaulter.
We see that great term outreach has been used in the ministry of reconciliation. I like to change it around to reach out. Reach out.
And there's two types of reaching out. One is for a person to extend out to offer help. That's reaching out.
And then the other aspect of reach out is a person reaching out to receive help. I'm going to give you an illustration just meant for the work. But that's two types of reaching out.
In other words most people all the time reach out. One way or the other. The difference from the person who is stretching out to offer aid in some way is that number one they're not waiting on things and if they're not waiting they're usually not so disappointed.
Those who are sitting there like this extending their hand for somebody to reach out to them often are just waiting for things to happen. And often when it comes to that kind of attitude disappointment sets in. Because they wonder why isn't it changing? And a person who's like this is now initiating the change.
Two different kinds of reaching out. I'll show you more. Acts chapter 3. We are the ones who are able to now reach out.
Eliminate disappointment in people's lives by giving them the truth of the word of God like we have received it. Acts chapter 2. This is the day I went across a memorable time. I'm trying to picture myself in the robes of Peter Joplin.
You know we're sort of hashing things out at the end of the day. Probably have a glass of wine, enjoy ourselves and then go. And we're discussing the events of the day.
And it's sort of like, I don't want to go to sleep. I won't stay up. I don't want to go to sleep.
Because this is just the tune of the day. It's like, how could you not sleep? Did we recall that earlier in the day? And they go to sleep and what happens? It's amazing. Every day the sun comes right up and it's a brand new day.
Brand new day. And they didn't spend a lot of time talking about it. Yesterday was so great.
I love when you see people get together and all they talk about is the past. And it's sort of like, I'm missing something right there. Like the present and the future.
But right here it says here, this is what they did. It says, Now Peter and John went up together, verse 1, into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. A certain man lay from his mother's womb.
Peter and John: Boldness in Newness of Life
It was character. Upon whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, the astons of that entered into the temple. Here's a guy that wasn't willing to settle for things the way that they were.
Now a lot of people go, well, it is what it is. And it is what it is. This lame man was carried every day, put in the same position where he could ask for prayers and acts of mercy to be for his life.
In other words, he never gave up on what he wanted in his life. Others probably gave up on him, but he didn't give up on himself. Though he was the one with the outstretched hand, go up here, go ask for mercy here.
Peter and John, new people. Here's four things about Peter and John in this day. Newness of life.
That's one thing right there. Newness of life. They were willing, because now they're up and at it.
They've been born again. They received something. They are willing.
They are out where they need to be. They've got the tool. They've figured out what works.
And they're letting it do the work. And then the fourth thing is they were carrying themselves in a new way than they had carried themselves before. Even on the morning of the day of Pentecost when they went into Temple White, they walked in with much confidence, with much strength.
Days before, behind closed doors for fear of the Judeans, they did not know this was the day. They hadn't gotten to the point yet that they saw the sign of what they were supposed to do. They're still fearful men who are just sort of like going into the temple like this.
Nobody notices. This is before hoodies came in. You say, Shirley, back to work.
Don't write that down. Don't write that down. I love when they go on a little side-convent and become a new doctor.
They walk with newness of mind, of life. They walk with a willing heart. They knew they were ambassadors and they knew they had a tool that worked.
Look what it says here. Verse 4. Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked it not. And Peter fastened his eyes upon him and John said, look on us.
This is the first key that a person who is looking for an outreach, looking to receive something must do. First of all, look to the person who's offering to it. And then we've got to draw attention and look on them.
Peter and John in many ways demand this. I've seen this in movies where they try to, you know, look at us. I guess it's like that.
It's just like how they talk. Look on us. Do you want our attention? Give me your attention.
Then it goes on and says, and he gave heed unto them, which is the second thing is they've got to look and they have to pay attention and it says expect him to receive something out of them. This is a terrific record of the two reaching outs coming together. Peter and John have the willingness.
The lame man has the willingness to make this great connection that is so important of bringing back together. So I don't know who you want to be, the cat and who you want to be, the pen, but we are seeing a conversion take place right here of reconciliation coming back. And it says here that Peter said, I love this, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee.
Did you ever hear, have you ever read the gospel that Jesus Christ ever said silver and gold have I none? No, no, no, no, no. He thought of this case on the fly. He's in this situation and the guy's asking himself, he's clarifying actually this is what you're going to get.
This is what I have to offer. It says, but such as I have give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Christ of the Lord, the tool, the tool, he used the tool well. And then he says this is what I have to offer.
This is where reaching out really comes in. And he took him by the right hand. He reached right out and took that hand.
He used the tool and he reached right out. And he says and lifted him up. I just love that.
Grabbed him by the hand. You've had people sit down across the way or whatever and you helped them up. You know, it's not all you.
You're not you know, there's a teamwork that's going on there. It says immediately his bones and ankle, his feet and his ankle bones received strength and he lifted up, stood and walked and entered with them into the temple walking and kneeling and praising God. So we know there's a lot going on.
That is the result of reaching out. Reconciling. Not living off of yesterday's victories but taking each day fresh and new.
When they woke up that morning they went, yeah yesterday was great but today's a brand new day. What can we get into? So what they did is they started living their life. They started living their life is what they did and in the happening of living their life, what happened? Hey, you need a little help here? Yeah? Such as I am, give I to you and make you strength for nothing.
Rise up and fall. God you bought it. The rubber band.
All of a sudden they've had it. Because you would have thought about 3,000 folds ago but we're full. Bodies full no more.
We don't need anymore help. The ministry of reconciliation places your personal capacity and influence. It enables you to show and demonstrate really your righteousness, your justification, righteousness, sanctification or redemption.
It puts in the practicality that living to where you are stretching yourselves and expanding that influence that you have to be able to bring in others as you have been brought in the great body of Christ. That's an organization. It's the body of Christ.
It's what available all around the world. My wife and I witnessed a couple on a ship in the Adriatic Sea one time. And I went, oh this is awesome.
First of all I was on a ship in the Adriatic Sea. Second, oh this is awesome. And the second thing was, I was sharing the grace of God wherever we were believed.
And I went, this is unbelievable. God has not got it down to just a little group. Every single person out there he's interested in that.
And we were providing them the words of reconciliation that were needed in order to reconcile with that. Did I do anything with respect to that? I said God bless you. They hugged me, thanked me and I was lost.
So we adopted. We adopted. I adopted.
We adopted. Meaning did I have to get a ring from my house or anything? Nope. Nope.
Do I feel bad about that? Nope. Nope. You know what? I helped them get born again.
I helped them receive a work out. Still in communication with them. My first friend and second friend.
Amen. The lame man looked. He rose up and he walked.
That right there really describes what we're after with the ministry of reconciliation. It's what took place with us. In Acts chapter 18 verses 1-18 you see a description of what Paul put up with in Corinth during his trip there.
That is the 18 verses end up being two epistles about his trip in Corinth and what he put up with. Just all kinds of infighting that's going on. Chapter 3 verse 1 says, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal men as unto babes in Christ.
By the way, that's reproof right there for a second. It is not complimentary anyway. Verse 2, I have fed you with milk and not with me.
For hitherto you were not able to bear it. Neither yet are you able. Once again, this is a reproof to these Corinthians.
For you are yet carnal. He's making a point. For whereas there is among you envy and strife and divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men? And this just means that bodies fall men.
Don't you walk just like bodies fall men? The best version of you is walking fully aware, fully enabled, fully willing to believe those ten five century rights about yourself. Not minding what the world says about you, but really believing what the word of God has to say about you. And the word right here, it gives you three things.
Rejecting Envy, Strife, and Division
Envy, strife, and division. Whenever that comes up in any aspect of your life, you've got to ask yourself, is that spiritually right? Or is it carnal? And then take a step back and just go, hmm. In construction, we have the five by five rule in safety.
And that is, if you have a question about an installation or something, you take five, you step back five feet, and you pause for five seconds and examine it before you take any action whatsoever. Five by five. Step back five feet, five seconds of staring and really concentrating on there.
And it's amazing how often it avoids hazardous things to think about. When we conduct ourselves in such a way, step back. When we see envy, strife, division, just take a step back and go, alright.
Is that how God would have me conduct myself? Remember, under control of yourself, you're not nobody else. Nobody lives for you. Is that how God would have me conduct myself? Usually the answer is no.
I encourage you to follow the safety rules. First of all, for a while I said I am a Paul and another I am a Paul, so are you not carnal? See, what was happening was people would go out and inquire, oh, everybody Paul, oh, everybody Paul. Then Peter Hanigan would go, I don't like to do this.
You know, I like homework. First five. Who then is Paul and who is a Paul but ministers by whom you believe, even as the Lord did to every man? I have plain a Paul's water of God daily increase.
You see the great emphasis on God daily increase. This whole plain water thing. Again, early in my life as a Christian, I had a couple incidents that really gave me an understanding that it doesn't matter who plants, it doesn't matter who waters.
Often you don't know if you're the one who planted or if you're the one who watered. I won this first, I won this first, oh really, okay. The thing is that I was at a Christian festival held in Ohio a number of years ago and this young person walked up to me and says, you don't remember me, do you? I said, no, I'm sorry, I don't.
He said, you used to live on Ruckle Road in Akron, Ohio. I said, yes, I did. When my wife and I first got married, we lived on Ruckle Road, Akron, Ohio across from East High School which was the toughest high school in Akron.
And in front of our house was a little wall and a group of, I called them hooligans, would come down before school and they would sit there, drink beer and smoke cigarettes. I also parked my car on the road, on that road right in front of that wall. So I started going down in the mornings really for the idea of protecting my car, but I would end up teaching them the word.
I would just share the word with them. You know, they'd switch. He goes, I so enjoyed you coming down and speaking every morning.
Of course I never let on that I was paying attention because nobody else liked it. He goes, I always remember what you said. He said, three years after I left, he said, someone came up and shared the word with me and I went, oh, that's just like that guy.
And he ended up becoming a Christian. So, really, when did the process start for this guy? When I started talking, I planted. Somebody else watered.
But who got the increase? God. And then, the very next year, at this same Christian festival that I attended, a young girl comes up to me and says, do you remember me? I was, I'll just say, by the way, I had the attention span and memory of outliers. I can remember mostly him.
That's why everything seems so new to me. Which is exciting. She said, do you remember coming in the summer of 1976 and teaching at that camp for the state of Ohio? I volunteered to teach a Sunday morning non-denominational service at a camp for troubled teens for the state of Ohio.
One of the people in my fellowship was a counselor there. And he arranged for me to be there. And I would go to, and I tell you, I taught them everything I knew that summer.
Because nobody from the camp showed up other than these kids who were forced to be there. And I would just, I gave it, I gave everything I had at those things. And at the end of the summer, I said, and here's a contact address.
That girl said, I was 16 years old and my parents never let me call until I was 18. She goes, I held on to that address for two years. And she said, as soon as I turned 18, I'd call and she says, and of course she was this wonderful, beautiful, young Christian girl.
Again! All I did was just, what the hell? There you go! Out the door! But I was part of the process. I thought about this with myself. I had good thoughts about this.
And I always thought the day I was witnessed to was the first time I ever heard God's word. No, it was the first time I believed God's word. I had a friend in high school named Mike.
We were 15 years of age. He's the only Christian I knew growing up. He'd go to church all, like, three or four times a week.
This guy, and they had this rally to bring people to, and you got a reward if you hit 50 points. So I met, and I thanked him. I didn't really, it meant a lot, but it didn't really catch me.
But he planted the seed, so that when I wasn't on his throne, yeah, that's what I want! And I didn't believe it. Planting, watering, giving to Jesus, we're part of it. The thing is, just be willing to be part of the process.
Don't be worried about, well, they didn't seem to believe. You got the seed in there, guess what the nature of the seed is? Germinate and grow. Some don't grow very far, but I tell you, it takes off part of the process.
Why, I tell you, when you know your righteous, when you know you're sanctified, you know you're redeemed, when you know your rights like that, you get out there, you utilize your ambassadorship, and you freely speak the greatness of God's Word. I'd like to end in, well, two things. First, that's Romans chapter 2. In light of that, sowing the seed, planting, watering, I realized that I was water with Miracle Row.
Because it was certainly needed in my life, but there's a quote I came across this week that I thought was really terrific. You've all heard of the novel Treasure Island, written by Robert Louis Stevenson. A little side note for you, a little side note for you, Robert Louis Stevenson, credited with indenting the sleeping bag in 1869.
You ever see that? We'll consider it too. But he had this great quote, he said, Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant. Now, that is a great ministry of reconciliation quote.
Don't judge your day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant. That's a doable thing for each one of us. Might even be a knife action, but I don't know.
First Thessalonians chapter 2. This is how we do it. It says in verse 4, But as we are allowed with God, if we put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak. And that's what we speak.
Not as we put in to God who strives our heart. That's our permission. If we wait on the road to give us our permission, we will wait a long time because they will try to scream us down for making the truth available.
We don't have to respond in kind, but we respond kindly with the word of God. Ephesians chapter 6 is where I like to close. Well, this portion of Ephesians I like to get into the other section.
My introductory remarks are almost complete. I like to get into the daily topic. Ephesians chapter 2. Thanks for being so patient.
I gotta tell you, if I wasn't standing, I'd probably take a nap. Ephesians chapter 2. Chapter 6. I tell you what I'll do. I'll commit to do this when I think of you, and you'll commit when you think of me.
It says here in verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching the air after you with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And for me that utterance may be given unto me, that I may what? Open my mouth boldly. I will picture you with a wide-open, bold mouth.
Speaking of wonderful, loving word of God, which is the tool necessary for us to fulfill that great, or operate that great, great ministry of reconciliation. To bring back those who are separated from God. Give them that rich, a-enriched, full life that is available to those who believe.
Living as Ambassadors for Christ
To make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am a what? Ambassador in bonds. And for him, he literally was behind prison doors, but we're not. We're not.
If he wanted that while behind prison doors, what should we want? Being free. We certainly want anything less than what he desired. To be able to boldly speak that wonderful word of God.
And it says, and therein may I, that I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. There's things that we should do, and there's things we ought to do. And ought is more important than should.
We ought to be speaking the greatest of God's words. Number one, personal blessing. The great joy.
The great joy. I picture in my mind, when I believe, the face of the guy who witnessed to me, you know, the one who watered me, I guess you could say, and I finally believed. It was like the proudest moment when I spoke in tongues.
And you've all experienced that. You've all experienced that. You've either been the one who brought that joy on a person's face, or you've also seen that.
You've had that joy on your face. There's little that the world can ever do to supplement that, or to replace that. So what we can decide to do is continue having that in the living heart.
To make up our mind that we use the tool that God has given us, and we use it wisely, the way it was designed to be used with great love. And that we view ourselves through the lens that God sees us as ambassadors for Christ. Empowered to have the freedom to speak in His behalf so that we can win those who are laying or sitting or standing, reaching out, waiting in great disappointment, and we can bring them to the life that God has called all of us to live.
God bless you. Thank you. How wonderful.
Key Takeaways
- The ministry of reconciliation is for believers to act on, not merely hear about.
- God reconciled believers to Himself through Jesus Christ and entrusted them with the word of reconciliation.
- Willingness and faithful use of God’s tools are central to serving effectively.
- The word of reconciliation should be used wisely, with an open heart that seeks to bring people together.
- Believers represent Christ as ambassadors and should reject envy, strife, and division.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the ministry of reconciliation?
It is the ministry God gives believers after reconciling them to Himself through Jesus Christ, enabling them to help others be brought back into relationship with God.
Why does the teaching call this a “sit, get, and go” message?
The phrase emphasizes that believers are not only to receive the teaching but also to act on it by going, serving, speaking, and practicing the ministry of reconciliation.
What tools are given for the ministry of reconciliation?
The teaching emphasizes the word of reconciliation, a willing heart, spiritual ability, and the believer’s role as an ambassador for Christ.
Scripture References
Romans 6:4; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20; 1 Corinthians 9:16-17; Acts 2; Acts 3–4; 1 Corinthians 3; Ephesians 6:19-20
This text was prepared from the source transcript. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
