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reconciliation here's kind of the resolution if you will or to be resolved in this idea it's the fact that God has moved toward us and now he helps us to move toward others Paul says in this passage and I find myself quoting this a lot that he has reconciled us to God and now out of that he's given us the ministry of reconciliation so God has moved toward us and so now I move toward others I want you to have that framework in your mind as we kind of work through the reality of this passage and really this message today centers on this reality of being reconciled to God through what we call the divine exchange right if you ever who's ever been to an encounter retreat at destiny life wave at me all right a lot of you okay so there may be some that haven't there's another one coming in September it's part of our discipleship pathway if you've not gone through one please go is a huge blessing but in one of those sessions on the cross we use this term a divine exchange in essence what we're doing and we use a nail oftentimes for that and and people do it a little bit different but the way I do it is we have this nail which there's nothing special about the nail other than just a point of contact and I'll have people come up in that session and they'll hold one part of the nail I'll hold one part of the nail and I'll ask them this question what is it that you're coming today to exchange right what are you laying from Christ right now for myself I remember many years ago when I came in that session I was at an encounter and I in essence every time that I do this it's some realm of this I'm laying down my own righteousness to pick up the righteousness of Christ that's the ultimate divine exchange I'm laying down that word righteous as a big theological word that means right standing for God in other words when I come forward or when someone comes forward in that session they're saying is I'm laying down all that I thought I can be that I think I should be that I'm trying to earn I'm laying all of that down so I can pick the same thing back up in Christ in other words Jonathan trying to get it right I spent a long time trying to earn my way to God to no avail nobody in this building or watching online can earn their way to God none of us even though we try it don't we how do we try it we try it by being on our best behavior by being a good Christian by saying the right thing by saying the right thing by saying the right thing by saying the right things acting right doing the right things and all of that is good but if I'm trying to do that to earn my place in God you're going to always fall short right I use a little one-liner that says I'm not working for a place I'm working from a place right that there's a huge difference in that so we make this divine exchange and Paul's going to talk about we bring that verbiage right out of the passage that we're going to talk about today because when you really grasp the reality of this it fundamentally shifts your perspective of everything you're going to talk about today in other words when I really make that divine exchange my perspective of life totally and completely changes that means that I see everything in life differently and I live differently right that means that I filter everything through what I'm going to call a kingdom worldview or a kingdom paradigm I can't look at the world the same anymore now if that has not affected you to that degree then I would ask you should ask yourself have I really been converted now here's the difficulty for us in the United States in kind of the church world that we've grown up in the west we have a lot of people that love Jesus with their heart and when they die they're going to go to heaven they're believers and yet they've not been transformed by the renewing of their mind so they still think like an atheist so you'll see believers who don't know doctrine who don't know their bible right you'll see them espousing ideas that are blatantly anti-christian ideas anybody ever ran out of that anybody ever done that right all of us probably done that at some point right so it has to change in other words I stop and Paul says this I stop seeing things from a human point of view at some point I've got my filter has got to shift right my filter has to shift into seeing things through the cross seeing things through the kingdom so it's not just Jonathan's reasoning now I'm very simplistic in my mind when I think of this when you boil everything down and you pull all the layers back we either start with the presupposition something I'm presupposing I'm starting with a presupposition of God or us there's no other starting place so I'm either going to reason from a presupposition of God or humanity and I'm going to say to you starting to reason from humanity has cost of millions of lives million still today million and you're just left with these two things I'm either going to reason from God as the beginning or humanity at the beginning right and Paul addresses this now I want to I want to start with this analogy I I need analogies they help me kind of grab truth I want you to think about an embassy I'm going to use the United States because we live in the United States I want you to think about a United States embassy in another nation right maybe even a nation that would be hostile to us right to us as a nation when you have an embassy when you go on to the property of that embassy in that other nation you were standing on sovereign U.S. territory in other words the laws that govern that nation outside of that fence are not the same laws that govern inside that fence because that's United States territory in other words as an ambassador and as an embassy there I'm living in a place that I'm not assigned to and I'm not assigned to that citizen of you with me so that's the same way that we as believers function in this world we are living in a place that we are not a citizen of ultimately my citizenship is heavenly if you will even though I live on this earth so when we think about that it's really most of our lives we kind of spend as locals right we sometimes think of ourselves as locals trying to make the best of a broken world but really we're not locals trying to make the best of a broken world really what we are is diplomats are ambassadors of grace from another world right so I want us to have that mindset as we think about so that means as a believer who Paul calls an ambassador of Christ a minister of reconciliation I can't operate like the world in which I live now there's a scripture that has been yanked out of context and it's been yanked out of context massively over the course of my life in the way that I grew up you probably heard this scripture they were to be in the world but not of the world now what that meant when I was a young kid was you couldn't have certain haircuts you couldn't swim on Sunday you got all of these crazy rules that made no sense to me you couldn't go out to eat on Sunday because somebody was working and I'm causing them to sin my dad tells a story I was probably maybe four years old I've always you know I've always been a sinner I've always been a sinner I've always been a sinner well I won't go into all that but anyway we were visiting my dad was preaching at another church away from our church and literally it was about 45 minutes at least 45 minutes away maybe longer we would drive over there because we were in the process of actually we're attending that church I think at that time went to that church my dad we would go to that church we would leave Sunday morning drive 45 minutes home these two little kids now drive 45 minutes home do whatever we did eat at home because we couldn't eat at a restaurant we're forcing people to sin then we drive back that Sunday night and attend church and we would go to that church and we would go to that church then and then drive back so we got almost four hours of driving every Sunday with two young kids under under five and I remember one time my dad preached at that church he tells a story I don't fully remember this but he preaches at the church on Sunday morning and a couple in the church invite us out to eat Sunday lunch and I'm standing this is before car seats you know and I was standing on the back like in the middle back probably my head up on the seat and I'm saying to my dad I'm bothered because dad are we going to go to hell now because we're eating lunch at a restaurant on a Sunday afternoon we're forcing people to break the Sabbath that's what we thought that verse meant in the world and not of the world silliness right silliness I still remember I I could not swim on Sunday I don't know why that created such a wound in me I couldn't go swimming on Sunday there was times my dad say okay son you're either going to get grounded or you're going to take a spanking because I'm balding off I said give me the spanking right now I'm ready to swim bro give it to me right now I had great parents you know you always think your parents are old you know everybody thinks their parents are old my parents were so young and now I realize my parents are just young trying to figure it out too you know what I mean so anyway so today I want to talk a little bit about a new way of seeing and a new way of living all right so let me start reading in 2nd Corinthians 5 I want to talk about a resolved perspective a new way of seeing look at 2nd Corinthians 5 we'll start reading in verse 11 because we understand our fearful responsibility to persuade others God knows we are sincere and I hope that you know this too are we commending ourselves that you again remember Paul's writing to a group that had put a lot of emphasis on what he calls super apostles they look great on the outside but there wasn't a whole lot of depth to him he says are we commending ourselves to you again no we're giving you a reason to be proud of us so that you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart that tells me that two thousand years ago Paul's facing some of the most difficult things that we do today people out doing things for gain without a sincere heart he said if we seem crazy or we're crazy is to bring glory to God if we're in our right minds it's for your benefit either way Christ's love controls us some translations say compels us since we believe that Christ died for all we also believe that we all died to our old life he died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves instead they'll live for Christ who was who died and was raised for them so we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view at one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view how differently we know him now that means now this is a pretty famous verse here anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person or a lot of translations say a new creation the old life is gone and the new life has begun so let's talk a little bit about Paul talking about the old life and the new life has begun so let's talk a little bit about Paul talking about how we don't view others from a human point of view so to be resolved if you will in reconciliation we've got to change the way that we look at people Paul says we no longer evaluate them from a human point of view that means that I I'm not seeing that person that disagrees with me uh maybe theologically or politically or in any other way I'm not seeing them as sinners I'm not seeing them as beneath us it's really not seeing them as sinners I'm not a reality of seeing them through the cross I think in our society today this is massive because it's so easy to get swept away in our own frustration when we see sinful things and we see wrong ideas and we see the effects of sin and it's okay to be righteously angry at that but we gotta be very careful church to not see people through a lens that's based on humanity but to really see the image of God in them because every human being was created in the image of God and Paul tells us that our battle is not with people it's with principalities and powers even though those principalities and powers are often represented to our eyes by people so how then do I interact with somebody that I massively disagree with how do I do that Paul's telling me I can't see them through a fleshly eye I've got to see them through a fleshly eye I've got to see them through a fleshly eye I've got to see them through a God perspective and the only way I can do that is out of the the reality of what the cross has done in my own life I've been reconciled or made right with God now how do I minister reconciliation to others I mean think of any hot button issue today you know think about like abortion for example how do I stand strongly can I say to you the reason that a believer is against abortion is because there's a recognition of life and there's a recognition that God's bringing life and there's a recognition that we're created in the image of God so that's the foundational piece I'm not saying there's not other arguments for that and many have made other arguments for that and then you've got even though a vast majority of believers would be against abortion you do have a sect of people that try to use economic or other type arguments against that I'm saying I cannot reason from a human perspective if I believe in God I can't reason from a human perspective I can't reason from a human perspective if I believe that this is a life I have to start right there if I believe that this is this life was created in the image of God I gotta start right there okay now I'm preaching to the choir a bit when I say that in this room because I'm gonna venture to say that a vast majority of you here would disagree with abortion and believe that it's wrong but why don't I go to another hot button issue that maybe we might not see as much how do I interact with somebody who's transgendered or have come out and said that I am living in a homosexual lifestyle and I believe that God created me that way now you've got more of a divide within the church right now what I want to say to you I know there's long arguments for this and I'm not really preaching on this today other than to say how do I acknowledge the image of God in that person how do I acknowledge Christ how do I see them through a lens of Christ and at the same time blatantly disagree with their life choices and with sin I mean isn't that the tension that we walk in because even to even in this moment the way that the world functions in the world systems would be to push us in a corner to say if I disagree with your decision or disagree with your lifestyle you're a bigot and you hate me so how do we then as believers see people through the eyes of the mercy of God and yet not condone what they're actually doing that's interesting isn't it well I think Paul gives us the the secret sauce here here's what he says he said Christ's love compels us or controls us when you look at that word right there here's what it means it's like Christ's love is uh is narrowing us in it's it's corralling us if you will it's not just a nudge it's like skimmed in by his love I remember the first time I ever drove what I thought was a car I was at Disneyland y'all remember that ride I might still have it at Disneyland where it's a it's a track with these old-timey cars and there's this huge metal beam right in the middle anybody else ever drove those boy you when you're a kid you just think you're driving right but they can't get you can't get off of that track because you're hemmed in by that metal piece now I remember the time that I actually drove a regular car I don't know why my dad did this he probably shouldn't if I was 11 years old driving on a country road I was so short I couldn't even reach the pedals driving my granddad's s10 pickup we shouldn't have done that dad you shouldn't have done that all right I'm just throwing this see it's a compound word there the greek word is a compound word sin is the first part echo is the second sin meaning together echo meaning to hold so it literally means to hold together or press together from every side is what the word means so really in the context of what Paul's saying he's saying Christ's love is not just a pleasant emotion it's a force that is narrowing my options right it's narrowing my options so that only one path remains and that is to be compelled to be a minister of reconciliation here's another couple of uh scriptures that give us a picture I want to have a picture of this word Luke 8 you might remember the story the woman the issue of blood Jesus on his way to heal someone and there's a crowd around him they're pressing against him and this lady who doctors have not been able to cure reaches out and touches his garment and she's healed and Jesus asked his disciples who touched me and and that is this the disciples without trying to just blatantly say it or kind of like Jesus you're how in the world could we know who touched you because the crowd is pressing in on us right we have no idea and then he goes on and says well life left from me so he knew it wasn't just a touch like this but the the point they use that same word there of the disciples uh describing how they were scrunched together everybody anybody ever been in a real crowd where you just kind of walking like this that's a picture of that word you ever got on a crowded elevator I always say that Elisha my wife she dogs me a little bit because I talk to people now on elevators I think it's it's like a rite of passage being an old man you got to talk to random people and so sometimes the door will open and somebody say oh y'all got room and then you tell them what there's always room for one more but really in your mind you're thinking bro this elevator is already packed could you not come in here because everybody is standing like this and elevator rides are the most awkward right because you know you got the music going everybody's quiet that's why I just talk a lot of time I don't want to talk to anybody I don't want to talk to anybody I don't break the silence let's talk all right so that's kind of what it would be Paul is saying they're basically like I don't have a choice in how I live anymore because Christ's love is moving me forward it's compelling me it's controlling me Luke 19 word this same this word is used again it's when Jesus is prophesying against Jerusalem he's talking about how Jerusalem is going to be destroyed and this is what he says your enemies will surround you and close in on you same word close in on you on everything it's like a military language or a term and what it means is that basically the city has been sealed up that every exit is is blocked so now I am trapped if you will in this city what that means for us in the context of this verse is I can no longer live out of my own opinions my own desires my own want my own will I can't do that anymore because Christ's love has corralled me and compelled me to be a minister of reconciliation are you getting a picture of that word it's like a we could get this here in Oklahoma it's like a cattle shoot you know you got to get that cow on the truck or on the trailer don't put him in your truck on the trailer right in that field that cow is just roaming around everywhere right but when you got to load that cow up what are you doing you're corralling them right you start wide they can move all around that field but you begin to corral them together and eventually you get them right to that shoot to go up in that trailer and they can only go one way that's a picture of our life in Christ I can only I Christ is him and me in I can't back up he's him and me in so that I can continue to move forward in the shoot of his love if you will I remember I had a friend one time that had this dog you ever been around any kind of dog that's a like a herding dog this was an Australian shepherd that dog changed my theology before that dog I didn't think an animal could have a demon but that dog had a demon I'm convinced and every time I'm in a time that I would try to walk and that dog was around he tried to herd me he tried to corral me he'd be brushing up on my leg right and I start moving this way and he'd run around here brush me this way I said stop corralling me dog right now I would not be cruel to an animal but I got to be honest with you there's a couple times I wanted to just bless that animal with my left foot glory to God I didn't do it right what was he doing corralling me and I think that's a good picture of Christ's love he's him and me and his mercy his grace his love is him and me and both sides because he's reconciled me to the father now he's given to me the ministry of reconciliation picture of that word and that connects us verse 14 it really connects well verse 15 it says he died for everyone so that those who receive this new life will no longer live for themselves if you're a believer here today church you can't live for yourself I know that's hard because we got my wants my will my opinion my this my that if you're a believer all that's dead all that's dead see the death of Christ is what it does it squeezes all that selfishness out of us I remember before I got married if you to ask me Jonathan are you selfish I mean no I don't think I'm selfish and then I got married boy I'm really selfish and then you have kids now it's a whole nother level and what does the Lord do he uses humanity and life to squeeze out of us and often he uses the people that are closest to us to get that junk out of us that's not of him premarital counseling by the way don't ever get married without going to premarital counseling if you're single in here please go to premarital counseling if you're married go to premarital counseling glory to God it'll help you even now and you know you just I'm not trying to crush anybody's dream you know what I'm saying it's young love and you you know but everybody's been married for more than five minutes you realize all of y'all are thinking that this is going to be no I mean it might get there eventually but it still ain't gonna look like what you think it's gonna look like now I'm a guy I'm a husband so I talk a lot stronger to the guys than I do the ladies and I just say to you guys if you're like them I'm gonna just sum up what being a husband is in one word you excited to get married oh I'm excited I'm excited for this and we kind of talk okay I'm gonna sum up being a husband in one word you ready for yeah I'm ready Jonathan what is it death right if you're being a good husband you know what you're doing you're laying your life down for your wife I'm not talking about there's a lot of dudes that say oh I jump in front of a bullet for you honey that's easy you're going to see Jesus that's not even like hard every day that you wake up and you are dying right to love and serve your wife and you're going to see Jesus that's not even like hard kids and that's right and proper not always easy but it's right and proper there's a lot we can say about that glory to God you may have heard this quote before I like this it says God loves you right where you are but he loves you too much to leave you there what does that mean that means he does love me exactly where I am but then he begins to work in me and that'd be the same as seeing people through the eyes of Christ God loves people right where they are right in their sin right in their bondage right in their confusion but when they're truly converted God begins to use that shifted heart to see those other patterns of behavior and the blindness of sin to fall off of them sometimes some of that happens in an instant but more often than not it's a lifetime of God continually working and sanctify his sanctifying work in our lives continually a new lens look at verse 17 this means anyone belongs to Christ has become a new creation or a new person the old life is gone the new one has begun I know I read that that verse for a long time this is real key these two next verses I want to talk about 17 and 21 are huge in Christian theology when we think about being a new creation I think for a long time I subconsciously thought what that meant was not a totally new thing but just the renovation of an old thing can I tell you it's not just the renovation of an old thing anybody ever been into a renovated house right and I think I would have that subconscious in my mind when I got born again it was a God renovated me it was a renovated house but can I say to you that's not a new thing it's not a new thing it's not a new thing it's not accurate I've lived in a flip house before and all they did was you know and this is how we think God works we just pull up the baseboards or whatever it is and sand them a little bit put a fresh coat of paint just kind of hide behind the wall anything any issues the electric might be shot but I'll just patch it up it's okay it's a flip house I don't have any investment in this I've lived in a flip house I know this sometimes we think that's what God does in our life I just stand a little bit off here and there and then slap a new coat of paint on it inside or all jacked up but boy you're looking you're looking the part more you're looking more like a Christian we think that's what it is that's not what that verse is what that verse is when he says new creation is a totally and completely new house tore the other one down and built a new one let me illustrate it like this sometimes we think of it in terms of like a car because it doesn't mean new in the sense of a time it means new in the sense of like quality so sometimes we think about it in terms of like maybe it's a new thing it's a new thing it's a new thing it's a new thing a newer model of the same car right like I've been driving this you know 2006 Toyota Camry and now I'm driving a 2026 Toyota Camry that's not it it's more like the difference between a candle and a light bulb right it's a totally and completely different system if you will it's not a it's not a newer or better version of the old it's important that you get this or you'll think that God is just you know he's just renovating me rather than totally making me new it's big a whole new creation a lot of scholars think that because we tend to think of this in our western mindset it's very individualistic so we think about me as an individual being a total new creation which is true but really it's even beyond that it's Christ reconciling the whole world all of creation to him all of creation is new even the earth itself being renewed by Christ you can write down Galatians 6 15 Colossians 1 13 read those later they're probably in your notes there I won't take time to go through it today how about the divine exchange I mentioned this at the beginning verse 18 and all this is a gift from God who brought us back to himself through Christ and God has given us this task of reconciling people to him for God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself no longer counting people's sins against them that's a great place to say hallelujah and he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation so we're Christ ambassadors God is making his appeal through us we speak for Christ when we plead come back to God verse 21 and this is the heavy theological verse here for God made Christ who never sinned to be the offering for our sin why so that we could be made right with God through Christ let me say it this way at the cross Christ took what was ours so we could receive what was his Christ took what was ours so we could receive what was his what is that Jonathan it's the divine exchange he says there he made him to be sin this is probably the most misunderstood part of the verse there it doesn't mean that Jesus became sinful in his character or his action if he would have become sinful he could not have been the perfect sacrifice because he would have not fulfilled the law of God and lived it out perfectly. So it's not saying that Jesus himself was sinful, rather he was treated judicially as the bearer of our sin, right? What does that mean? It means it was a legal action, if you will. Our criminal record was nailed to the cross and he stood in our place to receive the verdict that you and I should have received. Every single one of you and me and you watching online is guilty, period, before you did anything. And Christ stepped into that, the midst of that verdict, and he took the verdict that should have been meant for us. That is the gospel. It was a judicial swap. Christ took our criminal record so we could have his citizenship status. There's a lot of things at times that maybe a criminal record, even in the natural, would hinder you from doing. And Christ, and that would be true spiritually too, Christ said, I'm going to take that and I'm going to step in your place. Why? So that we could be made right with God. The theological term for that was or is imputed righteousness. Again, that word righteousness means right standing before God. So what that means is our sin was imputed or charged to Christ and his righteousness was imputed or credited to us. So my sin was charged to Christ and his sacrifice or his righteousness was credited to me. Not through effort, not through religious tradition, not through birth, but only by union with Christ are we made right with God. That's why when I talk to people and you'll ask them, tell me about your spiritual journey, and they'll say something along this regard. Well, I've been in church all my life. Well, I don't care if you've been in church all your life. That is irrelevant because coming to a church service, watching a church service online, that does nothing to impute the righteousness of Christ to you. You're just hanging around with a bunch of people that have had the righteousness of Christ imputed to them. It's not until I put my faith, hope, and trust, and I make that divine exchange. God, all that's of me, I give to you to pick up Christ all that's of you. That is the gospel, right? That is the gospel. It is the divine exchange. And here's the amazing thing about it. It's more than just the gospel. It's the divine exchange. It's the divine exchange. It's forgiveness, even though I'm so grateful for forgiveness. It's the imputing of a righteous, perfect record. That means when the father looks at Jonathan, he does not see my righteousness. He sees the righteousness of his son, Jesus. Again, that's a great place to say, hallelujah, are we being in big trouble? Let me just say it in a very practical way that we would grab hold of. It's not just our debts being canceled. It's I now have Christ's bank account. I mean, how many of you right now, without even praying, would trade your bank account for Elon Musk's bank account? You would have to pray about it. The answer is yes. Why? Because you recognize that his bank account looks a whole lot more healthy than my bank account. Put any other rich dude in there. And still, it doesn't compare to what we receive out of the righteousness of God. So it's a whole new way of seeing things. Let's talk about a new way of living. Let me try to finish up here. Verse 19, it says, He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's ambassadors. God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead. He doesn't just say it when he pleads. Come back to God. For God made Christ who never sinned to be an offering for our sins so that we could be made right with God through Christ. Chapter 6, as God's partners, we beg you. I'm going to come back to this in a minute, but two times in two verses, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God's kindness and then ignore it. For God says, at the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you. Indeed, the right time is now. What? Today is the day of salvation. See, I'm an ambassador of Christ, and I'm a minister of reconciliation. That means that I'm not just a recipient of peace today, but I'm actually a courier of it. Because out of me being transformed by Christ, now my gaze and my attention is to go to other people because I've been reconciled to God. That's why I like the way the cross represents that vertical axis. I've been reconciled to God, but now I'm reconciled to others. Can I just say this to you? I just pause here for a moment because I see this happen a lot in life, and I just think it's a good opportunity to talk a little about it. Not only does God reconcile you to him, but he reconciles you to others. If you're in a family or a situation where you just, maybe friendships or something that's been broken and there needs to be reconciliation, can I implore you today that as far as it concerns you, seek reconciliation? And do it now. I mean, there might be some where it's beyond your control. That's why I said as much as it concerns you, because the other person needs to be reconciled, right? They need to have that in their heart, and they may not. But if you could stand before God, this is a good filtering question for me. If I could stand before God, I've said this to people getting divorced before. Most of the time, it's the man. I say to him, dude, you should pursue your marriage. That other person has got to cooperate, okay? They've got a desire. That wife has got a desire. For the marriage to be reconciled, okay? But one day when you stand before God, have a clean conscience to say, Lord, I did everything I could do to be reconciled, as much as it concerns you. And if you can do that with a clear conscience before God, then you can do that with a clear conscience before God. I think that's a big deal. What is an ambassador? Well, an ambassador is an authorized representative sent by one ruler or government to another place to represent their interest. So again, back to that embassy analogy at the beginning. If you're an ambassador and you went to that embassy and you went on behalf of the United States, the government of the United States, you are representing the government of the United States in that place. And can I tell you, you don't have an opinion. The opinion is that of the sending ruler, or at least it should be. In ancient times, ambassadors were an extension of the king himself. If you were to disobey or harm that ambassador, it would have been just like you disobeying the king. Disobeying or harming the king or the sender of that, and it would be punishable by the same thing. They spoke on the king's authority and not their own authority. If the king said, I want peace, the ambassador didn't say maybe. The ambassador spoke exactly what the king said. By the way, the ambassador didn't rewrite the message, they just delivered it. I mean, how many times have we tried to make, probably out of good intention, but we've tried to make the gospel palatable? That's why you see us do all kind of gymnastics over maybe hard scriptures or things that challenge lifestyles, and we just, I call it the spiritual buffet. We pick out of the Bible what we want and leave the rest. We pick out Jesus as the savior, if you will, and we leave Jesus as the Lord. Why? Because that makes us uncomfortable. Now, you can't truly leave Jesus as Lord. You can't leave that, but we try to, don't we? Why? Because we feel like we have our own opinion. We feel like we have our own opinion. We feel like we have our own opinion. We feel like we have our own opinion. I, I, my, my, my. Over and over again, we say this stuff, and it's not the reality of the Christian experience. Let me just say this as well. We don't get to decide who's worthy of reconciliation. We preach the gospel, and we let the chips fall where they may. Can I say to you, sometimes there's people that it's difficult, we can't see past what we're seeing with our human eyes, but church, that's not a godly seeing. Someone came up to me between services of the church, and I said, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. And she said that one time there was a patient that nobody wanted. It was a shut-in, a man, and it was just a filthy, disgusting place. Nobody wanted to go. I guess they knew she was a Christian. They came here and said, hey, would you go and take care of this guy? She said, I'll do it. She went, she said the house was in disarray. It was terrible, you know, poop all over the place, and just a terrible environment. And she asked him this question, are you ready to meet Jesus? And he said, no, I'm not. And she, through the course of time, she led him to Christ. He called her that afternoon and said, hey, called her name and said, I made everything right with God. Church, it'd be easy to dismiss those assignments. It'd be easy to not go to places that are really comfortable, you know? We like comfort. I like comfort. I mean, the only thing I buy now probably is like things for comfort. I don't mind to be comfortable. But church, if we're allowing our comfort to supersede Christ's love compelling us, then we missed it. We missed it. Is there an area that the Lord is calling you to? Is there a person that, God's calling you to? And it's just, man, they're hard to love. Anybody met anybody who's hard to love? You might be hard to love. I might be hard to love, but sometimes we're blinded. We don't know it. Tell people at times, they said, man, everywhere I go, there's just drama. There's all these people, it's just drama. And I just went, if everywhere you go, I mean, there's a common denominator kind of, we don't see it about ourself, do we? We could be hard to love. And yet Christ, Chris, in all our filth and all our rebellion, in all of our accusation towards him, and he's this scripture on his way to a city to persecute, jail, kill believers. And Christ, in his mercy, appears to him, knocks him off his horse, radically changes his life, makes him a minister of reconciliation. For the rest of his life, Paul passionately, passionately preaches this. So here's a real hard question. Are we reconcilers or are we dividers? In your workplace or your family, are you known as somebody that draws lines or builds bridges? That's a hard question, isn't it? Hard question. See, a divider counts sins against people. A reconciler carries this wonderful message that God isn't counting those sins anymore when they accept him, been forgiven. This proves that reconciliation is a settled fact from God's perspective. It's settled. Reconciliation with the Father is already settled on earth. Now, he's given me the job, the responsibility to be a minister of reconciliation to others so that they hear that message. That they hear that that's what it is. Now, I don't know if you've ever thought about this. This scripture in Matthew 5, this is a pretty challenging scripture. Let me read it. You might have heard this before. He says, therefore, verse 23 and 24, therefore, if you're offering your gift at the altar and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, first go be reconciled to them. You see what Jesus just said there? He just put reconciliation above worship. He just said, I don't even want you worshiping until you're reconciled. That's pretty strong, Jonathan. Well, I'm glad Jesus said it, not me. As much as it concerns us. Now, I always try to put this caveat in when I'm talking about this in a very practical sense. If there's somebody that there's been a fractured relationship and they don't know it, in other words, you maybe have harbored bitterness toward them or frustration, anger towards them, or maybe they wounded you and you've been separated from them, but they don't know it, just take care of that between you and God. Go out and talk to a tree or something if you need it. Go out and talk to a tree or something if you need it. Go out and talk to a tree or something if you need it. Something to talk to, right? I remember I used this story about Tom. One time we have an encounter and then oftentimes at a gathering that night we would have testimonies. I remember one guy went to the encounter and God had done a wonderful work in his life and he was giving a testimony that night and he said to Tom Williams, he said, Tom, I've hated your guts for six years, but the Lord healed me this weekend and set me free. Don't do that, okay? Tom was like, oh, I didn't even have any idea. I had no idea that he was mad at me. Now, fortunately it was Tom and he was okay, right? But most folks don't do that. But if you know, if you know there's a fraction, a fracture, then go and be reconciled with that person, right? If they don't know, then deal with it. Now, you might have to talk to a close confidant that, you know, don't gossip, but you might need to process through that, but go and find a tree and talk to a tree. That makes it that old thing, talk to the hand. Y'all remember to talk to the hand. How does it say talk to the hand? Because what? It's not listening? The face. Talk to the hand because the face ain't listening. Now, what a great say. I'm going to bring that back. Talk to the hand. Talk to the hand. Pretty good. Talk to the hand. Let me say this one last thing about this. We're reconcilers. This is key for the church, very practically. We're reconcilers, not enforcers. Jonathan, what do you mean by that? An ambassador's job is to plead with people, not to police them, right? Many Christians, we act like enforcers in the sense that we're running around trying to enforce, like we're the sin police. We got to stop being the sin police. I'm not saying that we don't address things in the proper manner and on the proper authority and all those things, but we're not the sin police. That's up to God. Let God police it. Let's us plead to people, come back to God, right? Let that be our part. An enforcer is looking for violations. An ambassador is looking for connection. I think about an enforcer. Can I say this? If you're looking for faults, it's going to be easy to find them. It's going to be like that egg hunt we had last week at my house. My little granddaughter, she's not quite two, basically the egg hunt was in the backyard and it was just eggs sitting on the grass. There wasn't any hunt about it. It was just picking up eggs. But that's where she is, right? She's two. But when you're looking, there was a lot of, it was easy to find them. And if you're looking for faults, it's going to be just like that. Very easy to find those eggs, if you will, when you're just looking for faults. Let me finish with this. This is the real true one. I think I've said that three times. This is the true one, okay? Look at Paul. He makes this plea two times in just a couple of verses. I'm going to say here, he's saying, don't waste the grace. You know, he says, don't waste the grace. He says there in verse 20, he says, come back to God. We plead with you. Chapter 6, verse 1, we beg you to not accept this marvelous gifts of God's kindness and ignore it. Today is the day of salvation. As I was studying for this, I found this story. I'd never heard of this story. It's this guy named, I think I'm pronouncing his name right, Iru Onoda. He was a Japanese lieutenant in World War II. This is a crazy story. Anybody ever heard this story? You've ever heard this guy's name or heard the story, if you weren't in first service? Anybody heard it? Basically, in 1944, he was a second lieutenant. His commanding officer sent him to this island, Lugang, I believe is the name, Lubang, in the Philippines. And he gave him this order. He said to him, you are to continue to fight no matter what happens. He says, we're going to come back for you, but you're forbidden to surrender or to take your own life. So he sends him there in 1944. The next August, August 1945, the war ends. They sign up, peace treaty, and the conflict is legally and officially and globally over. World War II is officially over, right? But for this guy, Iru Onoda, I'm going to call him Onoda, that's easier to say. For Onoda, really the war was just beginning for him. He retreats into the dense jungle. Him and three other soldiers retreat into this dense jungle in this island, Lubang, Philippines. And for 29 years, that's almost three decades, as like a ghost there. He's stealing rice and food. And he's still kind of on his combat mission because his commanding officers told him, you can't quit and you can't surrender and you can't take your own life. So they start dropping leaflets and trying to let him know, hey, Onoda, the war is over. But he just thinks it is propaganda, right? He just thinks it's propaganda. It's not true. And so he just stays after it. After a little while, they get his family members. His family members come. He says, Iru Onoda, Iru Onoda, Iru Onoda, Iru Onoda, Iru Onoda, Iru Onoda, Iru Onoda, starts calling over the loudspeaker to let him know. And then he starts thinking, well, the United States captured my family and they have just brainwashed them. And it's just a ploy to get me to quit. So he's just got this in his mind totally. Finally, after 29 years, they find his commanding officer, which at this time, obviously is well up in age. He's a book writer, a seller, and they get him. And he literally goes to the Philippines, comes to the, I don't know how they but basically gets him there. And in 1974, the world war ends in 45. In 1974, his commanding officer comes there and personally reads the ceasefire order to Onoda. And he puts his gun down, salutes him or lays down his sword. And he realizes that the war has been over for half his life. Isn't that crazy? And on the one hand, I got to praise a guy like that because I'm saying, if we could all follow orders, I mean, my goodness, what would the world look like if a Christian could really follow orders like that from Christ, right? Amazing. But I think that, I think that, maybe I'd go to that last slide, would you? There's, I think three things there. I'm going to say there's three kinds of people. Maybe there's more. Maybe there's three kinds of people here this morning. The first one would be this. You need to come out of the jungle. You need to recognize that if you're here today or you're watching online and you're not a believer in Jesus, you've never placed your hope, faith, and trust in Christ. You are supposed to be a still fighting a battle that God has already won. You are still at war with God and God's not at war with you. And if you think this way, then every believer that shares with you, you're going to think that's propaganda. You know, you'll allow trickery from the enemy. Ah, those guys only want money. Oh, I'm not into organized religion. I mean, we say all kinds of crazy stuff, but really what we're saying is I'm just living in the jungle. So maybe you're here, you're watching online, you're here and you say, Jonathan, I'm in the jungle. I want to say to you today, church, come out of the jungle. God has made peace with you. How do I make peace with God? The way I make peace with God is by accepting the peace that he's already made with me. So maybe there's some here and you say, Jonathan, I never put my faith in Christ. I will pray for you at the end. And we'll have our prayer teams come up too and pray over you. Maybe you're like this. Maybe you haven't really accepted the exchange. You know, you're viewing things through kind of a faulty lens. You're viewing things from a faulty lens of the flesh and not the lens of the new creation. See, uh, uh, Oh nada. He, he saw everything through a war lens, you know, because that was his last context. So every leaflet was propaganda, everything from his family. And they're pleading with him that the war is over, but he just can't see it because his lens is off. And maybe I live like this for a long time as a believer that my lens was off in the sense that I felt I had to really earn my way to God. Like I knew I was born again, but I couldn't really fully accept the reality of who Christ was and what he had done. So I felt like I had to kind of make up the difference through my good actions, make up my difference to try to make up the difference, but try to earn my way to God. So maybe here today, you said, Jonathan, I'm a believer. I've accepted Christ. I'm gonna go to heaven when I die. I love Jesus, but man, I need revelation of really the father's love. I really need revelation of my identity in Christ. I, I need to recognize I'm operating from a place and not for a place. Or lastly, maybe you say, Jonathan, I got that. I think the Lord's really, I'm in, I'm in the faith. And I believe the Lord's helped me in that. I really have, I really have accepted him. And I really see what God's done here. Here's what I want to challenge us with today. Could we be a reliable ambassador? You know, could we be that commanding officer to come back and say, Hey, the war's over. You know, we've been reconciled to God. Can we now be ministers of reconciliation? Can, can we see people that may be in frustrate us? Maybe people that were radically different than maybe people that have propagated wickedness. Can we see them through the cross? Can we see them? Through the lens of God and not the lens of Jonathan, right? It's hard to do that at times because we do get frustrated in it, you know, but Paul is saying today is the day of salvation. This is why God gave us the, the ministry of reconciliation, if you will, because we're commanders, if you will, sent out into the jungle to see people reconcile to God. Three things there. Jonathan, I need to come out of the jungle. I need revelation of my identity in Christ. Or Lord, would you help me be a reliable ambassador? Would you stand with me today? I want to pray over you. Just bow your heads with me if you would. If you fall into any of those three categories, I'm going to pray over us today. Any of those, either I need to come out of the jungle. I need to really know God or Lord, I really need revelation of my identity in you. I've been trying to earn my way. I don't want to earn my way anymore. Or Lord, would you empower me to be a reliable ambassador? I recognize that I've been reconciled to you now. Lord, you've given me the ministry of reconciliation. If any of, if you fit in any of those, we just lift both hands to heaven. I want to pray over us today. Father, I pray over your people and I pray over those that come into the kingdom today. Those that need you. I thank you that today is a day of salvation. Lord, there's some that have been running. They've retreated into bitterness and shame. There's no peace in their life. And Lord, what they need to do is make peace with you because you've made peace with them. Would you help them? Lord, there may be some here today that they're born again. They know you, but they are really trying to earn their place in you. Would you give us a fresh revelation of who you are? Would you help us today? Lord, I pray over you. For every believer in this room, you've reconciled us to you. You've given us the ministry of reconciliation. Would you help us to be great ambassadors? Would you help us to be reliable, to preach the gospel, to make disciples, to minister to the brokenhearted, to serve one another? Would you help us for the rest of our lives in this? Would you show us the ways to do it? I thank you for it. Lord, thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your grace. Thank you that you've made us a totally, totally new creation. Even when we don't feel like it, that's the reality of what you've done. Thank you that you're corralling us with your love, guiding us with your love. We bless you for it. In Jesus' name, believe that I say a good amen. Give the Lord a great big hand clap. You can be seated. Eslik is going to come and lead us in a few more things. At the end, we're going to have our prayer teams come. If you're here today, you need prayer for any reason, we'd love to do that. If you accepted Christ in your life, please come and let us pray over you. Come on, Jonathan. I'm thankful that part of who we are as Destiny Life is so relational in nature and the idea that we truly believe that every member is a minister and that a message like this, looking into the weight of specific calls, the ministry of reconciliation itself, that that's something that we all walk in. And so at the end of service, when the prayer teams are up here, this is how we end every single... You'll hear me say this. We're going to hear it in just a minute when we watch the announcement video. But we say we want to pray with you. And we would not want anyone to leave and not have an opportunity to stand together to receive prayer for anything going on in your life. And if it is your first time here, we really are a church that believes in connection. And right in front of you in your seat is a welcome card. Looks just like this. You can fill out just a couple of simple things on the back, your name and your number and email. And our office will reach out to you this week. You can drop it in the buckets as you go. And we'll see you next week. If you leave in the back, you'll see a bucket there. You can just put it right there and we'll get in touch. And if you have a need and something practical that might be able to help connect you with some folks, or if you've got a prayer need, we'd be able to partner with you in that. And then also, this is kind of new, but we also have our DLC groups and our serve team card there as well. I just want to encourage you, if you haven't found a life group or a group to be a part of in the church, man, if you haven't found a life group or a group to be a part of in the church, what a great way to connect with one another. I'd really encourage you to check that out. Look at the list of the groups that meet, what they meet about, and there's all kinds of different options there. And then also the serve team. If you have a desire to serve in any particular way, there's room for you. And we believe that's an important part of the life of a believer, but also we just want to make sure that we're able to grow together in that way. So make sure if you get a chance to check that out. This is also the time in our service, if you look at the screen, you'll see our text to give phone number here. If you're bringing an offering or a gift today for any reason, if it's for missions, if it's your tithe, if it's a gift over and above for a specific purpose, we just want to say thank you for your generosity and your faithfulness. Me and my family, we do the smart giving. We send it in text, but you can also, there's envelopes in the seat back right in front of you. You can give online and we really do just want to honor the faithfulness of God. The house. So let me pray. And as you get your gift together, I'll pray and then we'll watch the announcements. God, thank you that your provision for us is complete and that everything that we need, you provide. I thank you for jobs, for income, for financial provision in whatever way you bring it to us. We thank you for your generosity to our lives. And we thank you for the generosity that you allow us to participate in. And moments like this, as we bring our tithe to the church house, but also the generosity of life one to another inside your body. I pray today that you would encourage us and strengthen us as we are faithful to you and to one another, as you've called us to be in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Let's watch these announcements together. What's up DLC family. My name is Teddy. We are so glad that you're here with us today. Let's take a quick look at just a few things coming up here at DLC for you and your family. The meet the family dinner is tonight on the Owasso campus at 6 p.m. You can register by scanning the QR code on your seat flyer or going to dlc signup.com. You know what next Sunday is? That's right. Sunday, April 19th is third Sunday. This month will be a DLC together night. This is a time for both campuses to come together for a time of worship and ministry. It will be at 6 p.m. on the Claremore campus. We can't wait to see you there. Don't miss our upcoming ladies fiesta. Friday, April 17th from 7 to 9 p.m. There'll be a delicious taco bar. Some samples of authentic dishes from Venezuela. And so much fun celebrating our Hispanic sisters. Les enseñaremos a bailar merengue. We're going to learn to do the merengue. Salsa. And the salsa. Y el costo es de cinco dolares. The cost is $1,500. Eso es todo, solo cinco dolares. Just send $1,500 to me. Se ofrece cuidado de niños para menores de 10 años. Childcare is provided for ages 10 and under and we're going to let your kids run wild. Jenny. I don't care. Si. You are translating Spanish correctly. Well, my Spanish is a little rusty. Use the QR code to register or vote to DLCsignup.com. Hope to see you there. Espero verte allí. ATI Summer Conference is less than two months away and we're getting excited. As we prepare to host, we'd love your help in making this conference a great experience for everyone. We're currently looking for host homes and volunteers. There are so many ways for you to be a part and we truly couldn't do it without you. Sign up by scanning the QR code on your seat flyer. Well, that's all for this week. We look forward to connecting with you whether it's at 9 or 11 in Claremore or Owasso. And as always, if you have a prayer need, please let us know. We would love to be in prayer with you. With that being said, have a good week, DLC. Yeah, that was great. Obviously, that was a ton of information. If you don't have our app, I would really encourage you to download it. And if you go to the events portion, it's got the time and the details for everything, even links to sign up. Make sure to check that out. And we've got some of the information on your seats today, too. One additional announcement that we want to make sure you're going to see more and more information about this. But we are making a major change to ATI Kids this year. So if you've ever been a part of the Summer Conference, you might have had your children. Grandchildren. Maybe you yourself have participated. During the night services, that's when we basically have our Vacation Bible School. So we pair it with ATI Kids. We pair it with ATI, and we literally write our own curriculum to align with what's happening during the conference. And the kids get a chance to participate and play and learn and be activated into the same things that the adults are. And this last year. We had 120 elementary students. That does not include the nursery. Just those participating in the VBS style event. We had 50 student volunteers. That would be junior high and high school age. And we had adults on top of that. Nearly 200 people every night of the June conference meeting just on the other side of that wall right there. As we've grown, we found a greater need to make sure that that experience is really high level. And so this year. We're making a change. Rather than having that during the night services. We're going to do it during the daytime while the day sessions for ATI are happening. And we're going to take over the entire Owosso campus. So the day sessions of ATI happen here in Claremore. But from 9 to noon every day. We're going to have a full blown VBS style experience where with a greater amount of time. A greater amount of space. And from a scheduling standpoint. We think it is going to be awesome. The theme will match the conference theme. It will be incredible teaching. Really, really exciting. We're going to decorate the whole place there in Owosso. And for the first time in a long time. There is going to be a cost associated. But the reason is that we're going to have t-shirts for the kids. And things to send them home with. And it really level up across the board. So there's going to be more announcements. You're going to see more details. But if you have a student between the ages of about 6. 5 or 6 years old. And then just finished 5th grade. This summer. Then they're the ones that will participate. And if you have junior high. Middle school. Junior high. High school students. If you yourself want to be a part. We would love for anyone to be a part. But it will be that same week as the June conference. On Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday morning. At our Owosso campus. Would you stand with me. And I'll pray as we leave today. God thank you so much. For your love. And your grace. And your mercy. That hymns us in. And compels us. In the direction that you are taking us. I pray God today. That the ministry of reconciliation. The truth of your gospel. That work in our lives. Would resonate in our heart. That there would be freedom. And encouragement. And strength. That comes from it. But also action. That lives would be changed. Because of movement toward reconciliation. That families would be impacted. Because of what was spoken today. We thank you that you are in control. That you are leading us. And we can trust you. In Jesus name. Amen. Prayer teams. If you would come. Be available. And anyone that would like prayer. Come forward. And there will be someone here to pray with you.
