Fun fact about me, before we jump in, there was a drawing from when I was a little kid. I was given this prompt. When I get older, I want to be. And I had to draw a picture. Any guesses on what I drew or what I said I wanted to be? Professional wrestler. Professional wrestler. That's a good guess. I actually said this was, I think, first or second grade. I said I wanted to be a pastor. And I'm like, why did I ever do that? Like, I think as a kid, I grew up, I had a pretty dry church experience. Like most little kids. I, like, came and I sat in the pew and maybe, like, grabbed an activity bag from the back. But I had no real reason to think, man, being a pastor would be a great job. Maybe I thought they only worked one day a week, and that was where I was like, hey, that'd be a pretty sweet. But I said I wanted to be a pastor. And I think that that's pretty cool how the Lord has worked all of that out. But that was for a very short season. And then, of course, like most kids and teenagers and adults, that moved and shifted throughout time, right? I at one point, did want to be a professional athlete. I thought I was going to be a professional baseball player. That didn't work out. I at one point thought I wanted to be a doctor. And then I realized how much school they had to do, and I was like, yeah, that's not going to work out. And then I thought I wanted to be a collegiate strength and conditioning coach. That's what I went to college for. And by the grace of God, Jesus opened my eyes my junior year of college and called me into ministry. And that weird, strange, prophetic voice from first or second grade came true. And here I am today as a pastor, and it is a joy. But do you guys remember ever getting asked that question, like, what do you want to be when you get older? Like, what did you say? I think it's interesting now, like, having little kids. And typically the beginning of each school year now you see plastered all over social media parents with, you know, their kids on their first day of school pictures. And it's like, I'm going into this grade, and this is my teacher's name. And there's almost always a section that says, when I get older, I want to be blank. And you. You see a variety of responses. And there people who are like, I want to be a firefighter or a pilot. The adventurous. You have some people who are like, I want to be a mom or a dad. That would Be like, my kids, they're like, I just want to be a dad when I get older. And I think that's because they think then I get to be in charge. And then you always have a couple of the strange kids that, though they're still in second grade, they're like, I want to be a dinosaur when I get older. I'm like, dude, it's not going to work out right. You were not made to be a dinosaur. You were meant to be a human being. So we've wrestled with that question from a very young age. And if you're an adult in this room, let me ask the question, what do you want to be when you get older? That's probably a question that you're still wrestling with. I volunteered with Youth about a month ago, and this icebreaker question, like, what's your dream job? And of course, the kids had their answers, but even the adult leaders all said something different than what they're doing today, right? Regardless of their occupation, where they're at in life, it's like, man, I really wish that I could be doing X. Fill in the blank. You see, the reality is we are set on this journey of what Martin Luther, several hundred years ago called the search for calling. To answer this question, who am I ultimately and what am I made for? We are searching for significance, and we want to matter. And yet our calling can seem elusive if we're honest with ourself. It can feel tied strictly to a career, maybe to a company, a position of authority, or a relationship held. And yet, if any of those change, we can feel like our calling is up in the air. Because change is a constant in life. The reality of staying with the same company or holding the same career or living in the same place or maintaining the same relationships for the rest of your life is highly unlikely. And so if our calling is based upon one of these factors, we're left constantly searching for, man, what is my true calling? But the good news is it doesn't have to be that way. We can actually understand our calling in a way that it is sure and steadfast, that we can establish a calling from a very young age and yet keep it throughout the rest of our life. Regardless of where we live, what our career path is, what relationships we hold, we can keep this calling forever. And that brings a level of, like, security and significance and joy that all of us are desperately longing for. And the question we should be asking is, then what is this calling? What is this calling that is sure, that is steadfast, that holds True. Whether you are in elementary school or whether you are retired with a grandchild on your lap. What is this calling? That's where we're going to be today. If you would open with me to 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. I just have a few verses for us to look at this morning, but they are rich, they are deep, and they are significant. So last week, Taylor walked us through verses 16 and 17, ultimately helping us see how we struggle with how we see people. Right. We're often prone to grade people on the world standards. And Paul told the believers in Corinth and told us last week, that's not how it's supposed to be. Right. We're not supposed to regard people according to the flesh. We're not supposed to just see people at their surface value, because here's what's true. We don't see Christ at his surface value. We see spiritual realities now. And so as we begin to see Jesus rightly, this bleeds into our relationships. It bleeds into how we view other people. And so Taylor's big idea last week was seeing Jesus rightly makes us see people rightly. We can't just see people the same anymore. Every single person that we can lay eyes on, we can say they are created by God and they are created for God, and they are either a new creation in Christ, as the passage said, or we believe that they can be a new creation in Christ because of the Gospel. That's how we ought to look at people. But here's what the Word of God says next. Look with me at Second Corinthians, chapter 5, verses 18 and 19. The Word says this, all this, what we covered last week is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ. God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Now, the last couple weeks, Taylor and I have both stood up here and we've said, hey, here's a good Bible reading tip. Whenever there's a therefore, you say, what's it there for? Right? I'm not going to do that again for you this morning because I think you guys have figured that one out. You're. You're pretty smart. But I do want to give you another Bible reading tip. Anytime that you are engaging with the Scriptures and you read a passage, one thing you ought to do is look for repetition, to look for repeated words or phrases in the text, because it helps clue you in as to what the author is trying to primarily communicate. You guys happen to see any words or phrases that are repeated in this text. And. And that is a repeated word. There we go. Any other words? Reconcile. Reconcile. Reconciliation. Yeah. This word, reconcile, reconciliation in two verses is used four times. That's a lot, right? And if you read the entirety of the New Testament, one thing you should know is it's not a commonly used word in the New Testament. In fact, throughout the New Testament, it is only used in Paul's writings. And this could be one of the greatest passages about reconciliation that we have in the entirety of the New Testament. And so we should be asking this question, what does reconciliation mean? If that's one of the primary themes and thrusts of this text, what does reconciliation mean? A good definition for you is reconciliation is the restoration of a relationship to a harmonious state after a dispute. Or said another way, it is the bringing of unity out of discord between two parties. Have you ever had a reconciliation problem? Have you ever lacked reconciliation? Right. Words that mean the opposite of this. Have you ever experienced disorder in your relationships? Have you ever felt alienated in relationships? Sure you have, right? If you have a sibling, you've felt disorder. If you have a spouse, you've felt disorder. If you've ever had a friend, you've felt disorder. But as you consider disorder in relationships, it ranges everything from, like, small, petty arguments over, like, which sports team is better, right? Like Cyclones or Hawkeyes. And it's like, oh, my goodness, why are we so up in arms about this? The answer is obvious, right? We're not going to go there. I'm not trying to start disorder here this morning, but sometimes it's much more severe than that. As you consider heading into this holiday season, I believe there are people in this room who actually will not spend the holidays with their family because of disorder, because of a lack of reconciliation, because of something that has gone terribly wrong, where you can no longer sit across the table from someone who shares your DNA. There is such disorder in this world around us. But when you think about disorder and a lack of reconciliation, if we're honest with ourselves, it's primarily due to the fact that we are sinners, right? When you consider disorder, any disordered relationship that you have been a part of, I would argue it's because both sides have done something wrong, right? Of course, we would always say there's a primary player in the relationship, but anytime it involves two centers, I would say there's a high probability that both of us are in the wrong and both of Us need to in some way shape or form acknowledge the wrong that we've done and move towards the other party with humility and to seek forgiveness and to pursue reconciliation. But this text here is talking about not just horizontal reconciliation, but a vertical reconciliation that we need reconciliation with God. And I would ask this question, is this reconciliation two sided? Right? Are both sides at fault in our relationship with God? Is this a two sided problem? Church no, it's not. Right from the very beginning of time, when God created, He created us to be with Him. He has been perfect, pure, holy, set apart. He created us to enjoy intimacy with him forever. And then did he wrong us or how did that play out? No, we wronged him probably by the second page. In your Bible, you see that this reconciliation problem is not God's fault, but ours. He gave us very simple instructions which was primarily, hey, enjoy intimacy with me forever and do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That's an invitation to say, hey, we don't need to know what we don't need to know. Let's just listen to the voice of God forever and walk perfectly with Him. Wouldn't that be amazing? But what did we do? Right? As you look back at Adam and eve in Genesis 3, it's not hard to see how that is us. Rather than listening to and trusting God and submitting to him, we've taken matters into our own hands. We've questioned God's character. Is he really good? Is he really kind? Does he really want what's best for me? Is he restricting my freedom? You know what? What if we, rather than listening to God, what if we just became our own gods? What if we just did it our own way? And you see Adam and Eve sin. And if you look at your own life, it's not hard to look and see sin, as our text calls a trespass, crossing the line, missing the mark of God's holiness that we have sinned against a holy God. This is a one sided affair. And as you would see in Genesis 3, the natural response, God promised this in Genesis 2, he says, hey, if you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, surely you will die. But when you look at what happens in Genesis 3, this death is not instantaneous physical death, it is separation. Adam and Eve are kicked out of the garden. It's this picture of this great chasm that we can no longer cross. We are separated from our Maker. We are separated from our Creator, who we are meant to experience life and love and joy and peace. And yes, our calling from. And we need reconciliation. And so you would think in this relationship, who should be the one pursuing reconciliation? You would think it would be us, right? We are the ones who have gone astray. We are the ones who have turned our back on the God who has loved us. We are the ones who have taken matters into our own hands. But what does our text say today in terms of who initiates the reconciliation? Do you see that it says, all of this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to Himself. Verse 19. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, the offended party, the holy, righteous, perfect party who has done nothing wrong in the relationship. God, he is the one that is pursuing us, not the other way around. That is absurd. You would think that we should have to climb our way back to God to see if all of our rights can outdo the wrongs, to offer up anything we can to say, God, please just welcome me back. But the good news of the Gospel is that's not how it works, Church. That is not about us earning our way to God, but God coming to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ, that he is the one who is pursuing reconciliation. And you might think, but do I have a role to play? Is it kind of like, okay, let me clean up my act and then come home so that I can at least show God that I have tried my best? No, that's not even how it works. Here's what Romans 5 says. One of Paul's writings to the church in Roman says, for if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. That is the very position in which you see reconciliation come to fruition. While we were enemies. We've talked about that time and time again in the good news of the gospel, Ephesians 2, that while we were dead, God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, he made us alive. He is the pursuer of reconciliation. And how does this reconciliation happen? Well, verse 19 would tell us that it was in Christ God reconciled the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. How does that work? Right, because we know that we're sinful. And if you're honest with yourself, there's sins in your own life that you can't even forget about that still loom and hang over your head, that still bring about, unfortunately, feelings of shame, condemnation, regret. And so how is it that if we, as a Fallen people who are in other ways quick to forget, cannot forget our own sin, that we would serve a God who would say, I do not count your trespasses against you. This all knowing, all wise God, how can that be? Well, Colossians 1, another text from Paul on reconciliation tells us this. Here's what the word of God says. Colossians 1. For in him Jesus, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. That is how reconciliation happens. By the blood of the cross that Jesus, though fully God, would put on human flesh. He would live perfectly, always obedient to the Father's will in the big things and the small things. And Philippians 2 would say that Jesus was obedient even to the point of death. Yes, on a cross he died a criminal's death, an excruciating pain, the worst form of execution known to mankind in that day. And it wasn't just the physical pain that Jesus took on his head. It was the very wrath of God, the punishment that we deserve, right? Romans says, the wages of sin is death. And what Jesus did on that cross by pouring out his blood and offering us peace, the only way that's possible is because he took our death. He took the wrath that we deserve. And praise God, he rose again three days later to show that death no longer gets the final word, that sin no longer has power, that we can be reconciled, we can have a right relationship with God, not because of our perfection, but because of Jesus. Perfection, not because of a death. We now have to die to pay the price, but because Jesus already died to pay the price for us. And the invitation is, would you believe that? Would you believe that? A little bit of a side note, looking at Colossians 1, there is this reality that though the word reconciliation is not used a ton in the New Testament, it is a theme that is spread throughout the entirety of Scriptures, right? That in Jesus he is here to reconcile all things on heaven and on earth, right? We've talked about in this tent we groan, right? Our physical bodies. We long to be reconciled to God, to have glorified, glorified bodies. Romans 8 talks about all creation. Groans like creation itself longs to be made new. And by the time you get to the end of your Bible, Revelation 21, you see, the dwelling place of God is with man, a new heavens and a new earth. That this world that has been tainted by sin, relationships that have been tainted by sin, our bodies that have been tainted by sin are going to be done away with. Because what God has done is his. He has reconciled everything together in Jesus. There is now therefore, no more pain, no more suffering, no more mourning. All creation is made new, we are made new. And in the meantime, we have reconciliation offered to us, yes, in the person work of Jesus, but it fleshes itself out in a very unique way. And I think it's important for us to notice this because we are a local church here, right today's day and age, there is a lot of talk about a personal relationship with Jesus. And I love that, right? Jesus did live, die, and rise again to know you intimately. But I think where we have gone wrong, especially in America, in a highly individualistic culture, is we have been so prone to turn this reconciliation into solely a vertical thing, into personal, quiet times, and not just a personal relationship with Jesus, but a private relationship with Jesus. And I would argue from the Scriptures that that is not what you're made for. You are reconciled. Ephesians 2, one of the greatest gospel texts in the entirety of the New Testament, right? That while we were dead, God made us alive in Christ, it's by grace you have been saved through faith. It's not your own doing. It is the gift of God. It's not a result of work. So that no one may boast. And all the church, everybody says amen, like, give me some of that. But oftentimes what we don't talk about is how Paul continues. Ephesians 2. He's not primarily only talking about a vertical reconciliation, though he is talking about that. He is talking to a local church in Ephesus. And he says, yes, we have been vertically reconciled to God, and here are its implications. There is horizontal reconciliation that is to be present. Jews and Gentiles who once were alienated, they were separated. They had no reason to be together in one room. Paul says, that's changed. Because if Jesus is who he says he is, if he has reconciled all of us under the banner of the Gospel, here's what needs to be true. We are made to be reconciled to one another. In a local church. We're made for this. Here's what he says. Ephesians 2. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who made us both one, right, both people groups. He has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in the ordinances that he might create in himself. One new man in place of the two. So making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And so I would argue if you are not a member of a local church, you are made for that right as a follower of Jesus, you are made to be reconciled into one body, to see reconciliation in this earth. While we await our ultimate reconciliation of heaven, we get this little slice of heaven called the local church, where you would see people from a variety of ages, socioeconomic statuses, a whole variety of backgrounds and upbringings coming together and saying, we are united in Christ. Look at the reconciliation that we have. We get a taste of that as members of a local church. And so we have been reconciled to God. I love that past tense language, right? Paul looks back 2,000 years. We have been reconciled. We've been reconciled by the blood of Christ. Jesus has already died. We can't undo it. He already rose again. We can't undo it. But you would know this from personal relationships, that reconciliation actually necessitates change, Right? To experience true reconciliation, there needs to be change. And I would say, what is the change in our reconciliation with God? Because we know that he doesn't change. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. Amen. But as God pursues reconciliation with us, the reality is we change. We change. We are given this new purpose. Paul uses these two different words here, these two phrases, given. We are given the ministry of reconciliation, and we are entrusted with the message of reconciliation. We are given a new purpose. That is where you look for calling, Right? We're made new in Jesus. Okay, why? For what? What are we called to? Well, God has given us this great gift, this ministry, and this message of reconciliation. As a reconciled people, we now get to live out a reconciling message. And it is worth noting in verse 19 when it says that we are entrusted with the message of reconciliation. That word primarily means speech. Speech, though. Yes. I hope we would live in such a way that people could look at our lives and see Jesus. We are also called to speak the name of Jesus. This is the purpose that we have been called to. And here's how Paul kind of sums it up for us this morning. The tail end of this Morning's text, verse 20. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. This is amazing. This is one of the most rich texts. Maybe, I would argue next week's text is the most rich in the Bible. We'll get there you gotta come back next week for that one. But when it comes to your calling, your purpose, this word ambassador is one of the highest titles you could ever claim as a Christian. Now, what does the word ambassador mean? I think it's a word that has been, like, lost in translation for quite some time. It's kind of made a comeback with social media in marketing, right? Brand ambassadors, right? Like use Caps lock Jordan for 20% off your order. You guys know what I'm talking about. You guys probably have, like, Facebook friends who are brand ambassadors and you're like, hey, I wish you would post less often. I've muted you from my feed because I get it. No, maybe you are a brand ambassador. And guess what? You get sweet discounts. That's great. Whether it's for Christian apparel or young living essential oils. Like, we're somewhat familiar with this term ambassador. It's like a representative, right? But in this text, it's a much more rich meaning, this word ambassador, because Paul wasn't thinking about social media marketing or young living essential oils, right? This word ambassador means to speak on behalf of a king in a land that is not your own. Think about that. To speak on behalf of a king in a land that is not your own. That is the title that God has given you and me, if you call yourself a Christian, that you now get to speak on behalf of the High King of Heaven who has sent you on his behalf to represent him and speak for him in a broken world that is in need of reconciliation. How incredible is that, man? I've just thought about this, talked with the elders this week, that God, though all wise, all powerful, ever present, he could choose to minister to a broken world in any way that he would so choose. He wants to make an appeal to a broken world. And how does he do that? Through us. Through us. That in any way possible. I'm like, man, you would think that God could just like, write it in the sky, right? Flashes of lightnings. He could do whatever he wanted to get the message through to a broken and lost people that they need to be reconciled to God. But how does he choose to do it? Through you and me. Through people like us. This is insane, right? And it's not hard to see that as you just look at Jesus words in the Great Commission, right? He says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And then what does he say to the eleven disciples? Go, therefore, and make disciples wait. Whose authority is it? Jesus? How is he going to make his authority known? Through his disciples. Romans 10 man, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can people call on him in whom they've never believed? And how can they believe on him of whom they've never heard? And how can they hear unless someone preaches the good news of the gospel to them? And how can the good news of the gospel be preached to them unless they are sent right? God is making his appeal through us. I think it's incredible that God, though all powerful, could do this any way he wants. Is so kind to invite you and me into a miracle, to give us incredible purpose. Right again. I think you see this time and time again throughout the scriptures that God could do whatever he wants, however he wants. But he looks at a man like Moses and he's like, hey, I'll perform some miracles. Here's how I'm going to use it. With your shepherd's staff, it's like, what a stick? Like that's how you want to do it? Yeah, I want to give Moses a front row seat to the power of God. How about John 2, right? Wedding @ Cana, they run out of wine and Jesus could have done whatever he wanted. But what does he do? He tells the servants, hey, see those jars over there? Go fill them to the brim with water. What? He's inviting these servants in to have a front row seat to the miracle of God. How kind is he that he would invite us in and say, hey, I want to not just do it on my own. I want to use you to see other people be reconciled to God. But if our job is to be a messenger and a representative on behalf of King Jesus, we have to ask the question, what is our message? What is our primary message? Verse 20 says it is this. Be reconciled to God. To be reconciled to God. That is our primary message. Because here's what's true. The gospel is the greatest cure for all of our needs, every single need in your life. The gospel is the greatest cure. Everything else we try is simply symptom management. And so as we look out at a broken world, who is looking for advice, self help? Who wants symptom management? They want relief. What we do is we don't move towards them and say, hey, you should take more vacations. Hey, you should get out of that friendship for the sake of your mental health. No. What do we say? We say, have you been reconciled to God? Do you know the good news of Jesus Christ? Have you heard about how God has come to offer you all that you're looking for, the peace, the joy, the Purpose, the acceptance, the belonging. You fill in the blank, ultimately, that your greatest need is to be reconciled to God. That is our message. And we do it with a sense of urgency. Right. Paul here uses this word, implore. I'm positive nobody in this room has used the word implore in the last five years. Okay, what does the word implore mean? It means to beg. To beg or to plead earnestly, like, be reconciled to God, please. And if you understand the overflow of what has happened in your own life as someone who has been reconciled to God, that should be our only natural response as you consider, what would life be like if I was not reconciled to God? You would like me look, and you say my life would be a disaster. And so, as you look out at friends and family members, people you love and care about, if they have not been reconciled to God, you can see their trajectory. And it is not on a path to life. It is on a path to destruction. And it ought to warrant within us this urge to plead and to say, I beg you, avoid the disaster that is out ahead of you. Here's how you can do that. Be reconciled to God. And the best news in that be reconciled to God is it's not another chore or to do list, not another thing that they ultimately have to do, but something that has been done for them. You get to share with them how reconciliation is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ. That is your message. And this message never changes. Though the Gospel is a multifaceted diamond, it's beautiful no matter which way you look through it. Whether you present the Gospel in form of acceptance and belonging or eternal security. Right? The message of the Gospel never changes. Which is, we are sinners who have been separated from God. We cannot earn our way back to Him. But God sent Christ on our behalf. He lived the life we couldn't. He died the death we deserve. He rose victorious. And now he has offered us a restored relationship with our Maker that we have been made for from the very beginning. Would you believe that? Would you stop trusting in yourself? And would you trust in the God who made you? The message never changes. Which also means our calling never changes. As ambassadors for Christ, we get to speak for and represent King Jesus wherever He has placed us. Whether you're a stay at home mom, whether you're a supervisor with 15 direct reports, you get to be an ambassador for Christ. Whether you are at school or hanging out with your friends on the weekend, you get to be an ambassador for Christ. Whether you are in second grade or are A grandparent with a child on your lap, you get to be an ambassador for Christ. And whether you are in the comfort of your own home or you are on the road this week for a Thanksgiving holiday, you get to be an ambassador for Christ wherever God has you that you get to represent and speak on behalf of King. This is your calling. Christian. You could sum it up this way. If you have been saved by Jesus, your calling is to live sent for Jesus. To live sent for Jesus. And hear me when I say this, we need to consider, where am I being sent to? Right? There is a global great commission from Genesis to Revelation that people from every nation, tribe and tongue should be worshiping our great God and King. And when Jesus commissions his disciples, make disciples of all nations. That should be something that we wrestle with. But the question is, if you're not hopping on a plane to Zimbabwe today, who is God sending you to? Because living sent is not simply overseas missions, though we ought to wrestle with that. It is that and more. Who is God sending you to today, tomorrow, this week? And will you live sent as an ambassador for Christ to them? Because just like God commissioned Abram in Genesis 12, he says, I will bless you. He says, I will bless you and I will make your name great so that you will be a blessing to others. And maybe you've heard me quote this before, but I'm going to quote it again. And I'll probably do this again and again and again. Pastor and author by the name of Robbie Galady says it this way. The gospel came to you because it was going to someone else. The gospel came to you because it was going to someone else. That's a profound statement. And what would it look like if we actually believed that? That this reconciliation is not meant to be hoarded and kept to me in my private personal relationship with Jesus? It's meant to actually pour out of me, spill into my family, my home, my community, my workplace, my sports team. Fill in the blank. What would it look like if we actually believed that we would live out our calling significantly different? And I want to give you just a few questions that you can ask yourself this week to better live out this calling. The first question is, who am I being sent to? Think about that. Who am I being sent to? Who has God strategically placed me near or around to move towards with the good news of the gospel? Question number two. How is the gospel good news to them? As you think about the relationships in your life and the people that God has strategically placed you near, how is the gospel good news to them. Think about that, be intentional about that. Right. Like, what thread of the Gospel, what beauty of the good news of Jesus Christ does that individual need to hear this week? And question three. How will I speak as a messenger and representative of Jesus? How will I speak as a messenger and representative of Jesus? Yes, in your conduct, hear me when I say that to be full of grace and truth, but also in your gospel presentation. How will you speak the Gospel this week? As an ambassador for Christ. It's our greatest calling. And if we miss this, what's going to happen is we're going to end up on the treadmill of calling like the rest of the world around us, constantly searching for what's next because our eyes are just down. We're only thinking about our earthly impact. And if we're honest, it gets exhausting because we're always left wanting more. We were made by God, for God. We were made to have an eternal impact. And so when you settle for an earthly impact, it only makes sense that you are discontent in your calling. But if, if you would say, wow, my primary calling is to be an ambassador for Christ, that God, though any way he could, could make his appeal to a broken world in need of reconciliation has said, I want to speak through you. You would find purpose and calling no matter where you're at. And the worst thing that you could do, the worst thing you could do as a faithful ambassador for Christ is you could speak to please the king and not the crowd, and he would say, well done, good and faithful servant. Because that's what an ambassador does. They speak to please the king, not the crowd. And that your king would say, well done, you faithfully represented me, regardless of what people do with that message of reconciliation that you would hear, well done, good and faithful servant. That's the worst case scenario. But you know what the best case scenario is? That God would give us a front row seat to the miracle of reconciliation. That as we would be faithful to obey him, open our mouths, boldly, plead with other people, beg for them to be reconciled to God, that we would get to see people around us, those we love and care for deeply, no longer settle for symptom management, but have their eternity changed forever. And that God would give you a front row seat ultimately for his glory and praise. Amen. Let's pray to that end together this morning. God, I just thank you that you are God, that we are not, and that this great plan of reconciliation and redemption is not primarily about how we can make right our wrongs. No, quite the opposite. God it is about how you have moved towards us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ, you died for us while we were enemies of God. We have been reconciled by the blood of Jesus. Jesus, thank you for the reconciliation that you have pursued. And God, I pray that as a reconciled people veritas church would be a church that understands that this is not meant to stop with us. This message, this ministry of reconciliation is not meant to simply come to us, but is meant to spread through us. Lord, help us to see people rightly as we talked about last week and from that place. Give us the faith, give us the courage, give us the confidence to live out our calling and to speak on behalf of the King in a land that is not our own. We know that heaven is our home. And while we wait for our final reconciliation, where every wrong is made right, where every broken thing is made new, we want to be found faithful, to plead with others, to be reconciled to God. Help us do that this week and get all the glory. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.