2 Corinthians 5:20 | Contagious Ambassadors

Sunday Morning | April 12, 2026 | Bob Russell | Louisville, KY

Guest speaker Bob Russell encourages us to be contagious ambassadors for Christ.

You can join us on Sunday mornings at 11 AM for worship.  We are located at 8911 3rd Street Road, Louisville KY 40272.

Transcript

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Well, good morning. Thank you. I want to begin by answering the question many of you are asking. I'm 82. And I know that's old. I had a guy at southeast recently. Say, Bob, I like the way you do funerals. Would you be willing to pre-planning my funeral? Would you be willing to do my funeral? I said I will, but you better hurry up. Another time. I want to thank your preacher, John Majors, for inviting me. And I really like him. And I appreciate the opportunity to be at Valley View. When I was a young man, I played many a softball game on your excellent facility. Then several years ago, when you were transitioning from a deacon led church to an elder led church, several of us from South East walked through that change with some of your leaders, and I understand that's gone well. And John says the elders are really a source of encouragement to him. I rejoice over that. But I've watched, the ministry of Valley View Church from a distance for nearly half century because we really need the churches of this area being strong. When I drove over here today, I drove by a number of churches that years ago were running 3 or 400 people, and now I kind of have 4 or 5 cars in the parking lot. And we need you to be on fire for Jesus Christ and make a difference in this area for him. That's why I want to talk with you today about being contagious ambassadors from Second Corinthians, the fifth chapter. If you get your Bible, turn to that passage, second Corinthians five. Surprisingly, the fields are ripening for harvest, for evangelism, for churches today. For some reason, in the last couple of years, spiritual interest has quickened, especially among Gen Z. The 18 to 30 age group. The young adults are kind of coming back to spiritual truth. We see that in the Asbury revival in their interest in spiritual podcasts and Christian concerts. George Barna says, in the last couple of years, church attendance among young adults has almost doubled. That's really good. Some suggest that the reason is our culture is becoming so wacky, so off the rails. The young adults are looking to the church or investigating the Bible for some reasonable solutions. So there's a sense in which the field is ripe for harvest, and the church needs to come awake and make the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil. If this church is going to reach its awesome potential, it's not going to be wholly determined by the preacher and the staff or the elders. It's going to take place as the members of this church, particularly those of you who are younger, get really serious about evangelism and aggressive about inviting others. I want to read from Second Corinthians, the fifth chapter, beginning verse 11. I'm going to read 11 verses of Scripture out of respect for the Word of God. I'm going to ask you to stand as I read the Bible says, give attention to the reading of the Scripture. And as I read this, you pay attention as we talk about being contagious ambassadors, and then we'll dig into it. Verse 11. Since then, we know what it is to fear the Lord. We try to persuade men what we are is playing the God. I hope it's also playing to your conscience. We're not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen, rather than what is in the heart. If we're out of our mind, it is for the sake of God. If we're in our right mind, it is for you, for Christ. Love compels us because we're convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died, and he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them, and was raised again. So from now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us this ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he's committed to us this message of reconciliation. And here's the verse. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. God, who made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. You may be seated. Thank you. We are therefore Christ ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. Several years ago, I took a trip to China. Now wasn't the mission trip. Several spiritual leaders from America went to China to talk with Chinese government officials, begging them to ease up on their persecution of Christians in that country. We're very successful at meeting with influential leaders, but we weren't very successful in persuading them to quit the persecution. But while we were there, we had dinner with the U.S. ambassador to China. It was at the U.S. embassy. It was a stately formal dinner. As you would expect in a country as vital to our national interest as China. But I grew up in the country, and I didn't want to make a fool out of myself. So before I went, I did some reading about what's the role of an ambassador? The ambassador is a representative of his home country, living in a foreign nation. He's not just visiting there. He settles down and that's his home. The ambassador is a diplomat who attends social functions with the intent of smoothing out relationships between nations. He doesn't hibernate in the embassy. He circulates among the people to be of influence. An ambassador is an emissary communicating the message that the State Department wants him to convey. He can't just say what the people want to hear or what he thinks. He's got to communicate the message that the president tells him to communicate. And the ambassador is a guardian protecting his country's interests in the host nation, no matter how much he loves China. He's still primarily loyal to the United States. Now we are Christ ambassadors sent out into an environment that is not always favorable to Christianity. We're to represent Jesus in our culture. We're to smooth out relationships so that people who aren't familiar with Christ would have their hearts soften toward him. And we are to communicate the message that Christ has given us to convey. We can't just say what itching ears want to hear. We've got to communicate God's message that God commands all men everywhere to repent so that they can be saved. We're therefore Christ ambassadors as though God were making his appeal to us. Paul told Titus, you tell that even the slaves, that they're to do everything they can to make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. One very unassuming young woman was asked in a small group what she did for a living, and she said, I am an ambassador for Jesus Christ. Cleverly disguised as a checkout girl at Kroger's. And that's the way we ought to see ourselves. However, so many Christians today don't see themselves as ambassadors to the world. They see themselves as illegal aliens trying to hide in the shadows, not be detected. And instead of making Christ attractive, they make him anonymous. But Jesus said, you're the light of the world. You're to be a city that is set on a hill that can't be hidden. So I'm going to give you four tips t I p s about how you can be the most effective ambassador for Christ in this culture, that you can be. The first is the word transparency. Be transparent about who you are and what you're trying to accomplish. Paul said, what we are is playing to God. I hope it's also plain to you. Be transparent about your own sins and your own failures. Paul, was he said, what you see is what you get. In Romans seven, Paul said, you know what the good that I want to do? I don't always do the evil that I shouldn't do, I sometimes do. I'm a wretched man sometimes. And there's something attractive about people who are authentic. One of the things I like about John, I feel like what you see is what you get. He's not trying to put on airs. We're a little suspicious of people who are secretive and guarded, but we gravitate to people who are transparent. You know what we say about them. He's comfortable in his own skin. She's for real. What you see is what you get. I spoke at the Cove, the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville, North Carolina, last fall, and Gigi Graham, Billy Graham's daughter, gave a greeting to the audience. And she said, you know, everybody always wants some insider information about Billy Graham and my mother. She said my mother was a wonderful person. She was fun to be with. She'd tell you what she was thinking. She was a hoot. Now my daddy, he's a good man. She said, Billy Graham's a good man, but he's not perfect. Don't put him on a pedestal. He said, a lot of people don't know that. Billy Graham, she said my dad was a hypochondriac, almost. He always said something wrong with him. He carried around the medical journal, and the pages were about as frayed as his Bible. And she said, in their older years, I asked my mother one night at the house how she was doing, and she briefly told me about some of her issues, but I made the mistake of asking my dad how he was doing, and she said he went on with a litany of problems and diagnosing what was wrong with them. And finally my mother interrupted him and said, why don't you quit complaining? And die like a Christian? I love that story because you know what? It made me feel like Billy Graham's real. If he's a sinner, just like me, and if God can use Billy Graham, maybe he can use me. You know, if you pretend to be perfect, people will admire you from a distance temporarily. But if you're authentic, if you're transparent about your own imperfections, people will love you up close permanently. Be transparent about your own imperfections and be transparent about what you're trying to accomplish your mission. Paul was. Since we know what it is, the fear of the Lord, we're trying to persuade men, he said. Paul didn't try to sneak up on anybody. He didn't bait and switch. He didn't worry about being seeker friendly. He was really transparent about what he's trying to accomplish. In fact, in the previous chapter, second Corinthians four two, Paul wrote, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We don't use deceptions. We don't distort the Word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly, we commend ourselves to every one conscience in the sight of God. One of my one of my favorite stories about the Apostle Paul is in acts of 26th chapter. Paul's in prison, and then he's put on trial for his life, accused of being an insurrectionist and governor. Festus and his wife were there, and King Agrippa and his wife Bernice. Or. They're all the movers and shakers. It's a big trial, and Paul has to defend himself. And he said, I used to persecute the church, but I saw the risen Christ. I know he came back from the grave. And then Paul, right in the middle of his speech, singles out King Agrippa. He said, the king knows about these things. They were not done in a corner. And Agrippa said, Paul, do you think in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian? And Paul didn't say, oh, I'm sorry, King, I didn't mean to put you on the spot. I don't want to impose my values on you. You know, King one one religion just as good as another. No, Paul said. Yeah, I'm trying to persuade you to be a Christian. I wish everybody in this room were as I am, except for these chains. Paul was very obvious and open about what he's trying to accomplish. I think we could use a little more of that kind of honesty about who we are as Christians. What we do, we excuse our timidity and we say, well, I don't say anything. I just let my light shine. And I hope that people will not see Christ in me and they'll become Christian. You know, Saint Francis of Assisi said, preach the gospel and if necessary, use words. Well, the problem is words are almost always needed. When was the last time somebody came up to you? Said, you know, I've been observing your life and I'm really impressed with how good you are. Can you tell me how to become a Christian? It doesn't happen very often, and we don't have to be obnoxious. But we can make the teaching about God our Savior attractive and look for clever ways to talk about it. I like the fact that the quarterback for the Indiana Hoosiers, what's his name? Fernando Mendoza. By the way, are you winning the national championship in football? That's one of the signs of the Second Coming. I mean, that's just unusual. But Fernando Mendoza, Heisman Trophy winner, as every time he gets in front of a microphone, he's talking about his faith in Christ, and he does it smiling in an attractive way. Now he's got a platform we don't have. So we've got to find little clever ways to bring up the subject of Christ with the people around us and be transparent. We're trying to persuade you to become a Christian. Did you see in the NCAA tournament, there's a player by the name of Chase Johnson for High Point, North Carolina. That was their best three point shooter. And he wears in basketball number 99. And nobody wears 99 in basketball. So may I ask why 99. He said well my favorite Bible stories of the day. The shepherd who left the 99 the fold went out to look for the one that was lost. And I'm looking for lost people. Pretty clever. I met a guy in Louisiana, name of Don Robertson, who is kind of a man's man, but, I mean, he wear sandals and his toenails are painted and his toenails are painted. The color of the rainbow. And I said, did your grandchildren do that to you? He said, no, I did it myself because I was on a cruise and somehow it happened. And all the grandkids did paint the first time. And he said, everybody asked me about my toenails. And so I just say, no, my grandchildren and I painted them. And because that the color of the rainbow, you know, the real story of the rainbow, that God destroyed the world because of wickedness by a flood, and he put a rainbow in the sky to promise he wasn't going to do it again, but he's going to destroy the world someday by fire. And all of a sudden he's able to talk about his faith. I'm here to persuade men. Now, I wouldn't recommend you do that, but I'm just telling you, find some clever way. Charles Swindoll told about an ophthalmologist that was a outspoken Christian, and he did a lot of, critical surgery, eye surgery. And when people had their cataracts removed, or they could they could see he had an eye chart instead of a big E at the top. He's got a big F, and then the next line reads your g-o-d declining letters and they say, read it to each other. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. And then the doctor says, now I want. I'm glad that you can see physically. I want you to see spiritually. And he finds a way to say, I'm here to persuade men very transparent about who he is and what he wants to accomplish in their life. Transparency. The second word is the word intensity. Be passionate in your effort to represent the truth. Paul said, if we're out of our mind, as some say, it's for God. If we're in our right mind, it is for you. Christ's love compels us. We're convinced the one died for all. What? Paul was intense about evangelism ever since he met the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. He was on fire. In fact, in Romans the ninth chapter, verse three, he said, I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers. He saw blood, earnest, and a desire to evangelize. The. Some of some people didn't understand it. They thought Paul had lost it. In that trial I mentioned Festus, the governor said, Paul, you're much learning has driven you insane. Paul said, no, I'm not insane. What I'm telling you is true and reasonable. Intense Christians may seem to have lost it to the world. Well, doesn't mind lukewarm Christians, but you get too intense about your faith. They think you're out of your mind because we don't share the same values. We don't share the same goals. We don't share the same beliefs. We believe differently than that world out there believes now. We believe that we're here by divine creation, not evolutionary accident. We believe that life is sacred from conception, that God is forming the baby in the womb. We believe that God made man and woman is two genders. We believe that marriage is to be between a man and a woman, and it constitutes the basic building block of society. We believe the Bible is a source of absolute truth. Truth isn't fluid. We believe that every person inherits the sin nature of Adam, and we naturally gravitate to evil, regardless of how good the environment may be. We believe there's only one way to be forgiven of our sins, and that is through trusting Jesus death on the cross to save us. We believe there's only one way to go to heaven, and that is through Jesus Christ, who conquered the grave. And he said, I'm the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live even though they die. We believe there's a heaven. We believe there's a hell. We believe there's a hurry. Now, 60 years ago, when I first started preaching, almost everybody believe those basic things. But today, if you hold on to those tenants and you're intense about them, world things you've lost. You remember a joy bearer of the view said about vice President Mike pence. Mike Pence says that he practiced the Billy Graham rule. He never is alone with another woman other than his wife on the View. Joy Behar said, I think our vice president is mentally ill. Who's there? The ninth chapter, verse seven says to Israel, because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool and the inspired person a maniac. The world may accuse you if you're really intense of having lost your mind. They accuse you of being intolerant or a hater. Derek Johnson said truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth. Now we know that. So you know what we do as Christian people. We come to church and we sing about our faith, and we're so excited about our faith. And then we go out in the world and we circulate in the world, and we clam up so we don't offend anybody. We don't want anybody to think we're out of our mind. We don't want to make anybody feel uncomfortable so we can talk about our grandkids, and we can talk about sports, and we can talk about restaurants and movies, but we never bring up Jesus Christ and our values. So we get along with people and we got casual friends. We are spiritual isolationists. Professor Monty Smith of Hope International University in California did his doctorate a few years ago on evangelism, and he tried to figure out how most people today become Christian. He discovered that even in this age where we talk about missional churches versus the traditional churches, that most people become Christian because somebody in the church invites a friend to come to church with them, and they come and they kind of like it. They feel comfortable, and they come back and they hear the gospel, and slowly their hearts are turned, and months later they give their life to Christ and are baptized and become Christian. But man Smith went a step further in his survey, and he asked, who invited you to church? And the results were very interesting. I'm going to round the figures off, except the last one. About 40% of the people who were first invited to church were invited to the church by people who were a Christian for one year or less. About 30% were invited by people who were Christian for two years or less, and the percentages continued to decline until. Here's the alarming statistic. Less than 2% were invited to come to church by somebody who had been a Christian for six years or more. How many of you have been a Christian for six years or more on. Oh, good. High percentage of it. I'm not going to embarrass you, but I dare say that most of you who raised your hand, it has been a long time since you invited anybody even to come to church with you. We lose our intensity about evangelism. Oh, we excuse, I would say. Well, the new Christian has more contacts in the world. The new Christian has more enthusiasm. But the bottom line is we've lost our intensity about those who are outside of Christ. I taught at what we believe classes southeast for many years. And one night after the class. What is Christianity all about? A college girl came up and she introduced me to a friend she had brought to the lesson from the University of Louisville. She said, I brought my friend tonight in hopes that she would become a Christian the way I did a year ago, but she has some questions. I said sure. She asked me a question about evolution. I tried to answer it. She asked me a question about why God permits so much suffering. Try to answer that. She asked me a question about why so many different denominations, and I could tell she was asking questions, not because she had intellectual doubts. She was asking questions because her heart wasn't ready yet. And I recognized that. And I said to her, I'll tell you what, I want to give you a book called A case for Christ by Lee Strobel. How would you read the book? And then let's talk. She said, okay. I turned to the college girl who had brought her with her. And I'm telling you, folks, tears were streaming down her face and she looked away, embarrassed, and she said, I'm sorry. I just want her to become a Christian so bad I can taste. Every one of you in this room have relatives and friends and coworkers and fellow students who are so lost. You can't judge people. That's God's job. But you can tell by their lifestyle and their habits and their language. They don't know the Lord and they're lost for eternity. When is the last time you wept over them? Or you prayed for them or you invited them to church? I want to challenge you at Valley View. So many people out there don't know the Lord and you know them. You find some way to invite them. Be in. Paul says, don't lose your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. T is transparency, ie is intensity, and P is perceptive. Be perceptive about the spiritual potential in people. Paul says from now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view. We once regarded Christ in that way. We do so no longer. Therefore, anyone, anyone is in Christ. He's a new creation. You see, the world out there evaluates people by externals. If you're rich, if you're attractive, if you've accomplished something of significance, then you're of value in that world. And if not, not so much. And Paul says the world takes pride in what is seen rather than what is in the heart. He said, I used to look at Christ that way. I dismiss Jesus because he didn't have worldly credentials, but I don't do that. Do that anymore. If we're going to be contagious ambassadors, it's important. We see the potential in people. We see the people can be transformed. That was so what was so great about Jesus? He saw people's hearts. He saw what they could become. Who have ever guessed that the vacillating personality, Simon Peter could become a rock like leader in the church, or the the hateful persecutor, Saul of Tarsus would become an evangelist, and the Apostle Paul could never guess that Mary Magdalene, who had seven demons in her, would be the first to witness the resurrected Christ. But the woman at the well, who was divorced five times and living with a man she wasn't married to, that she would become the evangelist of Sacre, a follower of Jesus. The world saw her as a degenerate. Jesus saw her as an evangelist. What do you see in the hearts of people you associate with regular? You put him in to put them in a box, categorize them and dismiss them all. There is foul mouth, intellectual snob, drunken slob, Wheeler dealer, liberal, progressive, fraudulent, Somali obnoxious UK fan. You can dismiss people for all different kinds of reasons. Be perceptive about what God can do in them and through them. If anyone is in Christ, new creature. We've got a guy in our church and Kent Evans, businessman, five boys and Kent is intense about his faith and he decided he wanted to evangelize his own sons. So he's going to read the Bible, study the Bible with his boys. But he couldn't find any literature, so he began to write his own literature. Here's how you can study the Bible with your children. And other people asked for that literature. And that led to him starting a church organization called Manhood Journey. And the literature became more and more popular. And eventually, several years ago, Kent quit his secular job and he became a the director of Manhood Journey. He told me that a couple of years ago, he got a telephone call from a guy who said, my name is Ben Roethlisberger. I live in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, and I've been reading your material, and I'd like to have a personal meeting with you, because I'm thinking about starting a camp for boys to disciple them in Christ. And when he told me that, my jaw dropped because I grew up in Pennsylvania, I was a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. I knew Ben Roethlisberger, the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, had a terrible reputation. He'd been a Playboy in college, and he got suspended in the NFL for abusing women. And now Ben Roethlisberger once manhood journey material. You know why somebody invited Ben Roethlisberger to Church of God or the small group somewhere? And he came to know Christ. And if you saw his last interview after the Steelers were defeated when he retired, the reporter asked him, what are you going to do in retirement? He said, I'm going to do whatever I can to advance the kingdom of God. You don't know who may respond and who won't. The sower goes forth to seed and he just scatters seed everywhere. And you go out in that culture as an ambassador, and you invite as many people as you can to come to know the Lord and come share in his church. All right. The last word is the word service, transparency and intensity, perceptively and service. We have this ministry of reconciliation. Let's say you you have a couple friends and you discover that they are deeply in debt. Their car is about to be repossessed, their house about to be foreclosed on, and you discover their $250,000 in debt, hopelessly in debt. And you're not a person of resource. You'd like to help them, but you can't. But you got a wealthy friend who hears about it. He comes to you and says, I've heard about your friends. I want to help them. Here's a check for them for $500,000, $250,000. Pay off all their bills, $250,000 to get them a jumpstart in the next chapter of life. How long would it take you to get that check to them? You couldn't get there fast enough because they can be reconciled to their and their debtor, and they can have a jumpstart in the next chapter. Now, the people in the world out there are hopelessly in debt to God because of their sin. We cannot repay that debt. But Jesus came in all of his riches, and on the cross of Calvary he paid the price in full. And when he died he said, it is finished, is paid in full. And not only that, when we accept Christ and give our life to him, and we're baptized into him, he imputes to us his righteousness. The Bible says, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. And Christianity becomes contagious when we see ourselves as reconciled, as ministers of this new covenant, as servants to other people. We're not prima donnas on a platform trying to get applause. We're not like Westboro Baptist people. I went to the Kentucky Derby a few years ago here in Westport Road. Baptist people out there, from Kansas with signs of the wicked will be cast into hell. Well, where's the grace? You know what I'm saying? You're not winning anybody by that. That's not where we're not high pressure salesmen twisting people's arms. We are contagious ambassadors, servants, ministering to people, loving people, caring for people. And when you serve other people, it is amazing how that humble spirit can soften hearts. I've got a son who's a preacher in a place called Port Charlotte, Florida, and he's been there now for 15 years. And, he got involved with the high school football program in Port Charlotte. And high school football was big in Florida. I went to one game, 5000 people. But he is not just a chaplain of the team. He's on the coaching staff and, is paid part time. I said, rusty, how did you get so involved in the football program when you didn't play a day of high school football in your life? He said it was pretty easy there. I just went to the coach and said, is there any way I can help you? And about second time, he gave me a list of things that he wishes volunteers would do. And one of the hardest things on the list was we need somebody to launder the uniforms every week. The coaches every Saturday spend all the London uniforms. Rusty said, we'll do that. So after every game, he goes and collects all the dirty uniforms, puts them in his car, takes them to his house, puts them in the vestibule of his house after fumigate the house. But some people in church come and help him out. And he told me after ballgames. Hey. Hey, dad. Come on with me. So I go with him into the locker room after the high school football game. Have you ever been in the high school football locker room after I'm tell you, it is putrid. You burn the hair out of your nose. And here I am, here I am. I'm a megachurch preacher. Been to them, picking up these wet, sweaty uniforms. Stuff them in a sack, carrying 50 pound bags up of the car coming back from the second stack. And we're getting the next load in the. The high school football coach walks by the doors. Thanks a lot, Pastor rusty. See you in church Sunday. There you go. It's amazing how people soften when you wash feet or uniforms. And over a period of time, he's got four coaches from the team in his church and number of football players filtered in. He lifts weights with these kids, serves them. They come to church and two years ago, suddenly, a 27 year old coach who was just married one month died of a heart attack. Shocked the team, shocked the school, shocked the community. They had a huge funeral at my son's church and after the funeral, some of the young men on the team began asking questions about what happens when we die. Where is God in all of this? And Russ, you just start answering questions. And so the boy said, I want to become a Christian. And they had 30 some players. Here's a picture of. They go to the ocean and they they are baptized into Christ because of the influence of what happened. I wonder some of these empty seats. Whose life could be transformed, whose marriage kept together, whose kids kept off drugs. Whose life was filled with hope? Because you invited somebody and they came in and found the Lord. Therefore we are Christ ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. Thank you.