Ministry Of Reconciliation

Reconciliation is the only ministry God gave us, and understanding this truth will transform how we view our relationship with God and others. 

• God has given us the ministry of reconciliation as our primary calling
• Reconciliation means restoration of relationship that began with God, not with us
• We don't reconcile people to God; we reveal that God has already reconciled Himself to them
• Grace removes barriers to relationship by not holding our sins against us
• Being an ambassador means representing heaven and speaking peace when there's division
• The cross wasn't just a transaction but a relational invitation welcoming us home
• Reconciliation extends to healing all divisions - spiritual, racial, social, and relational
• Our identity as reconciled children of God changes how we see ourselves and behave
• We don't have to work for God's love; it's unconditional and already given
• Waking up to our true identity in Christ allows us to live differently automatically

Chapters

• 0:00 The Foundation of Transformation
• 10:56 Understanding the Five-Fold Ministry
• 19:29 The Ministry of Reconciliation Explained
• 30:26 Not a Ministry of Being Right
• 39:51 Grace Enables Reconciliation
• 48:36 Announcing What Has Already Happened

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

I've talked about a lot of things in the last few months, probably over the last year but I think today is a message that everybody in this place can walk out of here with today, to walk out with something that can, an understanding that can transform some things in you. This is sort of like one of the foundational things that we go back to. We've talked about it before, but it was just on things that we go back to and we've talked about it before, but it was just on my heart to go back to this and and when I started looking and comparing uh, how does this, how does this compare with what we've been talking about? It's really a foundational thing, because if we don't understand this and really what it means, it's hard to really take in the other stuff. I mean, we can walk out and say, hey, that was profound or that was good or that was this. But if it don't mean nothing to me personally and I'm not walking out with anything that I can use daily, it was just another sermon, that's all it was. I don't want to preach sermons, I want to come here and teach life-changing messages that we can walk out with.

Speaker 1: 1:11

Last week we talked about a verse that I want to just touch on for just a minute and go back to is Ephesians 4, verse 11 and 12. We started talking a little bit about the five-fold ministry and there was one specific part in there that stood out and one of the reasons that I spoke on that verse and I'll show it to you in just a minute. But it talks about and he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. Now those verses right there, those roles right there, as some people call them, those gifts, what I call them those are all gifts that are given out. Jesus himself come and was every single one of these things while he was here and then he left and he sent these gifts back that we have access to now.

Speaker 1: 2:10

And I know some people, when we read this verse, it's easy for people to look and say, well, that don't really fit me, because I'm not an apostle or I'm not a prophet or I'm not an evangelist or a pastor and I don't stand behind a pulpit or whatever. So it's easy for us to exclude ourselves from this verse right here If we don't understand what he was really saying in it. But if you move on to verse 12 and look at what it says. This is the main key to it For the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry. I've been teaching on this for years Because I believe that we have turned church into something that just a pastor stands behind a pulpit, teaches, preaches, and you listen to it and you walk out and you come back next Sunday, you know, hopefully. But it's more than that. This is what it's talking about. That's the reason he gave these gifts was for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry. It's not for a pastor alone to do the work, it's not for an apostle alone to do the work. An apostle can't do anything without those other four gifts Prison. And it's the for an apostle alone to do the work. An apostle can't do anything without those other four gifts present. And it's the same with us. These are gifts of the working in the church and we've got to figure out which one am I and how do I utilize these things. So that kind of got me thinking when we read over that last week.

Speaker 1: 3:43

And one more verse, a couple of verses I want to read you here 2 Corinthians 5, 18-21. It says Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself and you're probably thinking, lord, we're going back to reconciliation again. We are Because I want to show you something right here again. We are Because I want to show you something right here he who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses against them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ. Some people say well, I don't know who. I am Number one, you are an ambassador of Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you, on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

Speaker 1: 4:50

Last one, verse 21. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. These four verses, or five verses, whatever it was, is so powerful and you can pull out one little. You can pull out verse 18 and find something in it. You can look at verse 19 and then verse 20 and they go great together and they tell a message. But you can pull them out and break them down and look at each one individually and say what is God really trying to say with this? I want you to think about this, because God didn't call us to fix the world, to judge the world and especially to withdraw from the world. He called us to reconcile the world. He has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

Speaker 1: 5:49

So here's the question what if, as a church as a whole, what if we missed the point? I didn't say wrong. What if we just missed the point? What if the modern church has has missed the one ministry that god actually gave us? In the church we have, we've become very, very good at developing ministry. We can turn out anything into a ministry, but we have focused on worship and leadership and children and youth and how to become a better man in a men's group and how to become a better lady in a women's group. We have turned everything into a ministry. And there's nothing inherently bad about any of those. They're all good ministries. But have we let those things distract us from the church's primary calling? And that's what we're going to talk about today. This is the primary calling of the church.

Speaker 1: 6:59

Paul says it plainly and really unapologetically that God has given us one ministry. So many people is walking around trying to figure out what am I supposed to do? And a lot of people won't attend church because they don't have the answer to that question. They don't know what God is leading them to do. They don't know what their purpose and their mission in life is. Paul says it here he's given us one ministry and that is the ministry of reconciliation.

Speaker 1: 7:32

Now, we've heard that before. I'm sure you've read that before. This is not a deep revelation to us, but what I want to be a revelation today to you is what does that really mean? It's easy to quote that verse. It's easy to quote Paul and say, well, this is what Paul said, but what does that really mean? It's easy to quote that verse. It's easy to quote Paul and say, well, this is what Paul said, but what does it mean?

Speaker 1: 7:51

Because Paul did not say that he's given us a ministry of being right, and that seems to be what it is. All these different denominations, who's right, who's wrong, who's reading the right Bible, the King James Version, new King James NIV, mirror Bible We've got all these different things that we challenge each other on of who's got it right and who's wrong. He did not give us a ministry of being right. He didn't give us a ministry of correcting other people. He didn't even give us a ministry of making the church bigger and we do that all the time. Every church wants to grow but he didn't even give us that ministry. He gave us the ministry of reconciliation, and reconciliation starts with God. It does not start with us, and that's one of the main things we've got to see out of this and we've got to understand.

Speaker 1: 8:44

Ronnie, can you go back to that verse 18 just a minute that we read out of 2 Corinthians, because this verse says something really good right here that I think we skip over sometimes. First few words. Now, all things are what Of God? All things are of God. Reconciliation did not, will not, did not. It did not start with you. Reconciliation did not start with any of us. It started with God. All things are of God.

Speaker 1: 9:27

So before we can talk about the ministry of reconciliation, we need to remember this. We are reconciled, every single one of us, and I've done a whole teaching on that and I'm not going to go back into it today, but I'll just say it real quick and you can look it up on your own. But if you look at that, that word reconciled to it means a lot of different things when you look it up in the Greek, but just to make it really simple, it means to restore relationship. To restore relationship. What does mean that means we were separated because of Adam. Humanity was separated from God and then all of a sudden Jesus went to the cross and we were reconciled. What happened? We were restored to relationship. This happened back then. So any person in today's church that says I'm separated from god is not talking bible, because you nor I was ever separated from him. We were reconciled from the very beginning. So there was no, there's never been any separation. We might have been unaware, and I believe that's where a lot of the church is. We're unaware of our status and of our relationship, but we've never been separated from Him. God didn't wait for us to move toward Him. He came all the way through the cross to reveal that we already belong. It's already done.

Speaker 1: 11:11

The ministry of reconciliation is not about making reconciliation happen and see, anytime we Think about what we've turned ministry into, ministry is all about doing something. Ministry from a pulpit is about teaching something. Ministry in a men's group or a women's group is about it's got a purpose behind it. Children's group ministry has a purpose behind it. So we have turned ministry into doing. What are we doing in that ministry? If we look at some people and we say, well, what is their ministry? What we're really asking is, what are they doing? When you really break it down, what are they doing? So we've turned it into something that is supposed to happen. What if it was about announcing what already has happened? What if that was as simple as the ministry of reconciliation is simply going out and announcing what's already happened? We're not trying to kickstart something. We're trying to bring people back into the remembrance of something that's already occurred.

Speaker 1: 12:25

Do we truly believe that grace begins with God? It said a while ago now all things start with God, all things are of God. Do we really believe grace begins with God, or are we still living like people have to get their act together before they're allowed to come in? Something to think about. This isn't about striving to earn some kind of peace. It's about waking up to the peace that's already been provided for. It's not about fixing a behavior. It's not about trying to get somebody to do right on the outside, and that's what we focus on so often. It's about transformation that starts from the inside and flows automatically to the outside. If I can change it on the inside, I don't have to worry about doing anything out here. It's going to take care of itself.

Speaker 1: 13:23

So why did I mention grace right here? Because I believe that grace and reconciliation are connected and really can't be separated. When you talk about reconciliation, you've got to understand what grace is, and when you talk about grace, you've got to understand what reconciliation is. Those two go together and they cannot be separated out. Now think about it like this Grace removes the barriers to the relationship. Okay, this is grace. Right here, in verse 19. It says I'm not holding your sins against you. Okay, actually, new King James says he's not imputing your trespasses against you. Okay, actually, new King James says he's not imputing your trespasses against you. But what he's saying there is I'm not holding your sins against you. I'm not holding anything you ever did against you. I would say that's grace, because a lot of people believe in that, because we say, well, I'm just not deserving of this, but God did it anyway. I don't deserve to have this, but God did it anyway. That is grace. I'm not holding your sins against you. See, that's what enables reconciliation.

Speaker 1: 14:44

How can you restore a relationship where there's no grace. You can't, you cannot. I say it all the time to couples when they come in and they do marriage counseling or whatever. Listen, I don't always have to agree with you, but if I can understand what's going on, I can have a grace for it. I may not like it, I may not agree with it, but if I can know why it's happening, then I can have grace for it. And if I can have a grace for it, then we can now reconcile. If I don't have a grace for it, we ain't bringing it back together. That's the same thing right here when we're talking about the separation that once happened with Adam, with humanity, and he reconciled us, he restored us back to relationship. So this enables grace, enables reconciliation, because true reconciliation, true bringing back together and restoration of relationship can only happen listen to this when there's nothing left to pay, when there's nothing left to prove and there's nothing keeping us apart.

Speaker 1: 16:05

If I owe you something, there's not being no grace provided there and this relationship is going to be, it's going to be messed up. If I owe you something or there's something there between us, if I've got to prove myself to you, it's not going to be a true relationship. It's not going to be a true relationship. It's not going to be true reconciliation. If I've got to prove myself so, grace opens the door. Reconciliation allows you to walk through it. Jesus says it's done because of his grace is done.

Speaker 1: 16:44

But now how do we reconcile this? And if you go back, kataloso is the Greek word for reconciliation and there's another word called apokataloso Both the same words. One is a Greek word for conciliation and one is a Greek word for reconciliation. Those are two different words. Okay, I don't need your approval to forgive you. I can choose to forgive you if you've wronged me in some way, and I don't need your approval to do that, apollosu. But to reconcile is when we both there's a mutual exchange. I forgive, you forgive, and we come back together. What he gave us was reconciliation. Okay, it started with Him. It wasn't just a decision that I made on my own. If God didn't wait for you to get it together before reconciling you, why do we focus so much on people getting it together before we accept them? We're given a ministry. When we talk about ministry here, get platform, podium and stage. Get that out of your head. We're given a ministry of reconciliation.

Speaker 1: 18:19

Notice what Paul again doesn't say. It's not a ministry of opinion, it's not a ministry of influence. It's not a ministry of influence, it's not a ministry of condemnation, and that's what it's turning into in a lot of places More of a ministry of condemnation. How bad can I make you feel so that you understand you need him? Can I just understand I need him, without feeling bad, without you beating me down and telling me how sorry I am? Can you just tell me he loves me, he's forgiven me, that he's given grace to me.

Speaker 1: 18:57

He gave us the ministry of reconciliation and that's not a suggestion, it's actually a calling. And it's a calling not just for pastors, it's a calling for every single person that's in this room, everybody that believes. So what if this calling isn't about what you do? Remember I said we've turned ministry into doing. What if this calling this ministry of reconciliation, what if it's not about what you do but about how you carry reconciliation everywhere that you go? So it's not about doing something, it's just about being something. Everywhere you go, they see this ministry. You don't have to open your mouth, they see the ministry.

Speaker 1: 19:46

If someone watched your life for one week, think about it. If they watched you for one week. Would they see you living out the reality that everyone belongs and everyone's included? Would they see you building bridges that welcome people, or would they see instead, you building walls that exclude people? If they watched you for a week, let's take a closer look. I don't want to leave this part right here.

Speaker 1: 20:19

Yet At verse 19. That says not imputing their trespasses against them. I'm going back to this because this is what we get hung up on. We cannot imagine a God, because what do we say? Well, he's an all-knowing God. Yes, he is. Well, he knows everything. So he knows every bad thing I've ever done. Yes, he does, but he's such a loving God that he says I know it and I'm still not going to hold it against you. But we can't wrap our minds around that. We think that he's holding every little thing over our heads and every time we slip up, it's all coming back and he's out to get it. That's the way we see the father. So the message here, what we're talking about isn't about sin management when it's saying that he's not imputing your trespasses against you. This is not about sin management. It's not about behavior management.

Speaker 1: 21:20

Paul says that part of our message is this, and it's our message when we're talking about the ministry of reconciliation. I'm here and I'm anointed with a message. You are anointed with a message and Paul says here's the message God isn't holding your sins against you. That's the message more people need to hear. He's not holding your sins against you. Now see, that might sound radical, that will sound really even offensive to some people, because they feel like we need to have that held over us to keep us accountable. But what if we just told people he's not holding your sins against you? Because that's the gospel, that is the good news of the gospel.

Speaker 1: 22:18

The cross absorbed the full weight of sin so reconciliation could be possible. The cross took care of everything else. And then he said because everything else has been taken care of, now this relationship is totally restored. You owe me nothing. Why? Because if I owe you something, it can't be totally restored. If I've got to prove something, it can't be totally restored. If I've got to prove something, it can't be totally restored. So he said I've done all of this. I've sent my son. He finished it on the cross. Why? So reconciliation can happen. Now I can totally restore our relationship, because you have nothing held over you and nothing to prove. We can't see that Because we are taught that we always have to do something. We always have to be proving how worthy we are and how righteous we are. And the other thing is he's not talking about someday, when he's talking about this reconciliation, that someday it could be possible. He's talking about right now, right now, today.

Speaker 1: 23:41

But my question is this have we preached a more of a message that beats people down rather than preaching a message that reconciles people? I think we have. I was guilty of that. I used to wonder, man, why are my messages so boom, just tearing people up? And I felt like when I first started preaching, that's what I was supposed to be doing. I mean, I truly I mean I would make people like crawl under the pews that's when we have pews out here Because that was, and I've done it with passion, and I'd make it with passion, and I've made people feel bad Because I felt like that was what I was supposed to be doing.

Speaker 1: 24:40

Don't take away from sin. Sin is real. Being turned away from our identity and not understanding who we truly are is real. Behaviors are real. Repentance actually does matter. We're not doing away with sin, we're not doing away with repentance, but the goal isn't to make people feel guilty. That's what we're trying to get away from. Our goal is to help them see that they are already restored in Christ and there's nothing that they could do more to make this happen anymore, because it's already happened. Or we're becoming more comfortable calling people out than calling people in. That's powerful, because that's what I was doing for years. I was calling people out and I would tell them before I done it listen, you better pick your feet up, because I'll fix a step on your toes. And that's just the way that I presented it and I thought I was doing. I mean, I thought, man, I thought I was preaching a message, and I was. I was preaching a message of condemnation, with a little bit of grace sprinkled in at the end.

Speaker 1: 26:01

The Bible says we're ambassadors. We read it a while ago. We're not enforcers. I'm not here to enforce certain things. I'm here as an ambassador. An ambassador doesn't push their own agenda. They carry the voice of the one who sent them. So what does it mean to be an ambassador of Christ? It means you represent heaven. When, anytime there's tension here on earth, you represent heaven. It means you speak peace when other people speak in division. It means you reflect Jesus in how you handle differences, how you handle conflict.

Speaker 1: 26:44

Everybody used to have the old signs. What would Jesus do? That's actually really important. Maybe we need to get back to that. Maybe we need to have those signs. What would Jesus do? That's actually really important. Maybe we need to get back to that. Maybe we need to start that again. Wearing the shirts and the bracelets and everything else what would Jesus do? So here's a question to ask yourself. If someone had never met Jesus and only knew Him through how you treat people, what picture would they get? They never read about Jesus, never heard of Him, they've never been to church. But you start talking about it and the only picture they get is how they see you treat other people.

Speaker 1: 27:27

See, we've got to see the cross as more than a transaction. The cross was a bridge back to Him, back to restoration of relations In verse 21. Go back to 21 just a second. Look at what it says right here. I've read it. But it says God made Him, who had no sin, to be sin For who? For us, that we might become the righteousness. This, right here, is the heartbeat of reconciliation. The cross was a relational invitation. I'm sending Him to the cross. He's going to become sin so that you can do what Become like Him and become righteous. Jesus became what we were so we could become who he is.

Speaker 1: 28:33

He didn't just pay our debt. That's what I meant by this is more than just a transaction. He did not just pay a debt for us. It was so much more than that. But we've got to see it as more than that. We sometimes just look at it and say Jesus went to the cross, he died, and because he died, I'm entitled to certain things. Yes, you are, but it's more. That's a transaction. That's like if I go out and I buy you something, you don't know about it, and I make a transaction and I come back to you and say, go get this that I bought for you. You didn't do anything. That's a transaction. I've done that and because of what I've done, you're entitled to this now. But what Jesus does? He said you're included in that. That's why I said reconciliation. But what Jesus does? He said you're included in that. That's why I said reconciliation. It means two come together and have an agreement. We are reconciled, we are restored to relationship. Jesus became what we were so we can become who he is. We got to see that he didn't just pay our debt. He welcomed us home. He said you're entitled now back to everything that God ever wanted you to be. Have we turned the cross into a contract instead of an invitation into it? Has the cross just become a contract? I think in some places it has. The goal isn't just heaven later, it's holiness right now. We're entitled to everything that he gives us on this cross. We're entitled to right now. We talked about this so many months now. We talked about this so many months ago. We talked about this, about the difference in looking at the finished work perspective and saying we're entitled to those things now, versus looking at it from a futuristic perspective and saying that, well, one day I'll get it. Listen, there's things I need that I don't need in heaven. I need now. There's a peace I need in my life. I need now. There's joy that I need in my life. I need now. I don't need it in heaven. And he said I've given you permission to have it now. That's what the cross was about, and we've turned the cross into nothing but getting to heaven. That's it, the transaction. He did this. You accept it, say a prayer and you go to heaven, and we've kind of cut it off right there, and it's so much more than that. So the goal isn't just heaven later, it's wholeness right now. Let me end with this question what ministry are you really living? I've already said that you have been given a ministry. We're all ministers. So what ministry are you living? If reconciliation is the only ministry that we're given, what are we doing with it? I gave these verses because I wanted you to see that, according to Paul, the only ministry that God actually gave you that's called a ministry is the ministry of reconciliation. What does that word mean? I hate to even use that word because some people keep saying what does it mean? What does it mean? The ministry of restoration, of relationship, and we're not just talking about the restoration of relationship between humanity and God that was ultimately it but we're talking about the restoration of relationship in everything. If I'm restored in relationship to Him, the good news is that I go out and share with people, that you are no longer separated. Brother, you don't know what I got going on in my life. I really don't care. I'm just going to give you the good news, no matter what you got going on in your life. You are still not separated from Him. Well, how do you know that? Because it says that we were reconciled, we were brought back into relationship, it was restored. Yeah, but I don't deserve it. It's not about what you did, it's about what he done. The problem is we always got to feel like if we're accepting something, then I had to do something to earn it. We're so used to that because why? That's the way our jobs work. You don't just get a paycheck just because the boss likes you. You get a paycheck because you worked that week and you earned it. So we are so used to this striving and working to be deserving. Listen, if you take a couple days off work and maybe you got a good boss and he just says I know you don't have no PTO left, but I'm going to pay you for the full week anyway, that's probably not going to happen Because you wasn't have no PTO left, but I'm going to pay you for the full week anyway, that's probably not going to happen Because you wasn't there working. So, from the standpoint of a job, you didn't deserve that pay for the entire week. You got to earn it, you got to do something and that's the mentality that we've taken into this, and it's so far off. He said there's nothing you have to earn, why? Because I reconciled you. There's nothing you have to prove to me why? Because I reconciled you. You are reconciled so much so that he says now I've given you every single one of you, I've given you the ministry of reconciliation. What does that mean? That means that what I've received because of what he done, now I go out and I'll tell everybody else yes, everybody. The one strung out on drugs out there, the one out there that you don't like, the one out there doing all the things that you don't want to talk about. They were reconciled as well. They don't know it yet, they're unaware of it. That's why they're still living life like they're living it. But it don't change the fact of what happened on the cross. He said we were reconciled, we were brought back into relationship. What is the purpose? What's the purpose of this ministry? Now that you've got it, now that you know that you have it, what is the purpose of this ministry? To reveal what God has already done. That's it. That's one part. See, we don't reconcile people to God. That's not what we're called to do. We do not reconcile people to God. We reveal that God has already reconciled Himself to them through Christ. The other thing is to invite people to live in the reality of it. That's what we do with the reality of it. That's what we do with the finished work. That's what we do with the, with inclusion. We talk about the, the ministry, or the, the uh, inclusion theology. That's what inclusion means. It means everybody's included in what jesus christ done. It don't mean that we're not teaching universalism. We're not saying that that means that everybody is just born again, saved and going to heaven. That ain't what we're talking about. We're saying everybody has been included with what Christ done on the cross. Some people's awake to it and they see it, they understand it and their life is showing it. Some people are still asleep to it. What about those folks? That's atheists and agnostic. Says he died for all. Is that including? Did it say he died for all except athe? That include? Did it say he died for all except atheists and agnostics and Muslims and Hindus? No, he died for all. Now, do they see it? They're asleep. Your role as a carrier of the ministry of reconciliation is to help wake people up, is to let them know, I don't care where your life's at right now, he loves you, you were included, he died for you and he has reconciled you. But you've got to wake up to it, you've got to see it Through. Reconciliation is done. Not everyone knows or lives from it. The ministry invites people to wake up to grace and walk in restored relationships. The other thing here is to embody reconciliation in the world. What world? Your world? We're not just talking about your job. Wherever you go into, if you go into a restaurant, you go into a grocery store, wherever you go, we don't just preach reconciliation, we live it. We have to live it as peacemakers, as bridge builders, as reconcilers. In our communities we model what God has already done. He was the pattern, he showed us how to do it and now our job is to do it. That's why we're ambassadors. We do what he said, not what we always want. Don't work that way. And the last thing is to heal division, not just spiritual but even social divisions, even things we see in communities, within our families, within our towns that we live in. Reconciliation through Christ tears down walls. The ministry extends to race and class and gender and all forms of division, because grace does what. It includes everyone. It don't exclude Reconciliation, don't exclude Grace. Don't exclude Reconciliation. Don't exclude Grace. Don't exclude people. The ministry of reconciliation is about declaring the good news that nothing separates us from God. I may be asleep to that fact, but when I wake up to it, it's done. Jesus completed the work on the cross. He said it is finished, and when I can understand that and begin to walk that out, it changes everything. I no longer have to work for His love. You ever tried to work for somebody's love? It don't work. I don't want to have to work for somebody to love me. That's not unconditional love. Unconditional love means you love me without conditions. You love me in my best times. You love me in my worst times Without condition. That's unconditional love. If I've got to do certain things to get you to love me, that's if love. I'll love you. If I'll love you if you quit acting like this, I'll love you. If you quit drinking, I'll love you. If you quit drinking, I'll love you. If you quit using, I'll love you. If you get a job that makes a certain amount of money, I'll love you. If that's if love. There's conditions attached to it. What he done on the cross he said there's no conditions. I'm taking all conditions out. I am reconciling you, I am bringing you back into relationship, to the one who loved you and chose you from the very beginning, to begin with, and I'm bringing you back into relationship. There's nothing that separates. There's nothing you have to do to prove yourself, there's nothing that you have to do to be loved by Him, to be accepted by Him. All of that I took care of. I am reconciling you back to relationship. But you have to choose to accept that, you have to choose to see that and too many people in today's church are not taught that. And that is the good news, that's the gospel. But what we're being taught a lot of times in the church today is you've got to do this and you've got to do this and you've got to do this. And if you do all these things, then God will be pleased with you. And some people get so frustrated. Why? Because they can't do all those things. And it leads people. The ministry that we're teaching in a lot of churches leads people out of church. We get so frustrated because we look around and we see all the people that's not in church and we get so mad we should be mad at ourselves, because our preaching is probably what kept them from coming. Because we condemn them, we beat them down, we tell them how bad they are, we tell them they need to get this right and that right. Then they can come back and they're just in a place where they can't do that. They can't see themselves that way. Yet why can't we just love on them and say you know, I don't care what you're going through, it don't matter what you're going through, it don't matter what you're doing, it don't matter what you got going on in your life. God has reconciled you. He has chose you. There is nothing that you've got to do except wake up to it. Wake up and realize it is truly finished. See, this is a scary message for some people, for some pastors, because they got it. Some people's got to have things to hang over your head. Keep you in check. That's control. Can we just say that? That's control? If I've got to have something to keep you in line, then I have something that's controlling you. Why can't I just tell you the truth? He loves you, he's forgiven you, he chose you and I'm not worried. He chose you before you were. He chose you while you were yet a sinner. He chose you when you had no idea who you were. He chose you from the very beginning. He said I'm going to create you in my image, after my likeness, and there's nothing you can do about it. You know why? Because he didn't ask your permission. He chose to do it and he chose to initiate it and it's available to every single person. He died for all. But all people don't see it. What is our job? Wake them up. But I don't know all the Bible Scriptures. All you have to do is know one word Reconciliation. It'll grow from there. If you can just understand reconciliation, to teach people that they are restored to relationship, that's it. Can you imagine how many lives you could touch if we went up and loved people and stopped preaching to them? And I'm saying preaching to them from the standpoint of preaching a condemning message, one of condemnation, because that's the style that we've developed in the church. Tell them what they've done wrong. Make them feel so bad that they know developed in the church. Tell them what they've done wrong. Make them feel so bad that they know they need a Savior. Why not just walk up and say you know the Savior. He chose you. You ain't even changed nothing yet, and he chose you anyway. You're still doing this, and he chose you anyway. All he wants you to do is wake up to it and just see it. He wants you to wake up and see and love Him as much as he loves you and all these things that we talk about in the Bible. Now we begin to manifest those things. Why? Because we start believing the Word, we start seeing ourselves in the same way that he sees us, and I'm no longer an addict and I'm no longer a user, and I'm no longer this or that. I'm a child of God, created in the image and the likeness of Him. I'm redeemed, I'm restored, I'm forgiven. I'm forgiven, I'm loved. When I see that and I see myself in that way, it changes the way I view Him, it changes the way I view myself. And if we could just tell people that message, I don't have to spit verses out at them. If they want verses, hey, sit down and y'all study the Bible together. But sometimes they just need to know that they're not condemned to hell, that God actually loves them. So the ministry of reconciliation is about declaring the good news that nothing separates us and inviting the world to live like it's actually true, because it is. You can live a different life, yeah, but I just enjoy this. Well, that's right, because there's pleasure in sin for a season. There's pleasure in not knowing my true identity. Why? Because when I don't understand my true identity, I can always act like something else. I don't know about you, but throughout my life I've acted like a lot of things. And then one day it hit me and I said you know that's not who I am, I. And then one day it hit me and I said you know, that's not who I am. I may be playing that out, I may be acting like that, but that's not who I really am. And through all of that mess that I was doing, he was still there when I decided to wake up. He'd been there the whole time. I could tell you stories, and I've told you all a few of them from the pulpit, and some people say I wouldn't say that from the pulpit. Listen, I've told you. I was driving back drunk from a party and lost on a dirt road and all of a sudden, this man it's crazy the things that happened. God was still there in the midst of all of that. God was still there in the midst of all of that. Why? Because he says I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. He's there, whether you see it or not. When it really hit me was years later, when I was still out partying and doing different things, and I realized, you know, every time I go in here he goes with me. I'm not leaving Him at the door and saying, hey, stay out here and I'll be back later. He goes with me. Why? Because he lives on the inside of me and, although I was doing wrong, he chose me before I ever chose Him. And it did not. The fact that I had not chose him yet, the fact that I had not awakened yet, did not change the fact of what happened. It never did. It just changed the fact that I didn't know it. I wasn't aware of it. I was acting like somebody out here. And what is that? That's a distorted mindset. What's distorted mindset? That's sin. It ain't behavior. Drinking the beer or doing whatever wasn't the sin. The sin was me seeing myself opposite of the way that he sees me A distorted image. I've said it so many times when you have a distorted image, when you live with a distorted image, you'll do distorted behavior. That's natural. The natural thing for an alcoholic is what To drink. The natural thing for a drug user is to want to use drugs. That's the nature of their identity, the nature of somebody who sees themselves as a new creation. Old things passed away. Behold, all things have become new. The nature of that person. The behavior has changed. Why? Because I see myself different. I ain't perfect. Ain't nobody in this room perfect, but the thing is, when you see yourself differently, you'll begin to do things differently, automatically, because that's the nature of it. The nature is always going to follow the behavior is always going to follow the nature of what I am, and I am a child of God. You are a child of God. You are a child of God. Let's wake up to that. Let's truly live out, walk out this ministry of reconciliation. That is the only one we're given. We work so hard on these other ministries. What if we just took a little while? I say that all the time, god is changing my perspective on things. Maybe that's why we're still in this place over here and we haven't been able to build the church yet, because maybe there's some things that we need to learn while we're here, because we don't have all the other ministries. You know what? There ain't nothing stopping us from walking out the ministry of reconciliation because we're not blinded by men's groups and women's groups and children's groups and teen groups and all these other ministries out there. Nothing wrong with them. I said it last week. I'm not bashing the churches that have them, nothing wrong with that stuff. But the only true ministry is the ministry of reconciliation that God had given us through the Word. So we've got to live that out, and then that other stuff. It flows out of that and then it's done the right way because it flows out of who I am. You can stand to your feet. I challenge you this week, not just this week but ongoing, but let it start. Let it start today. Let it start today realizing who you are. If you don't understand because I know just sitting there listening, sometimes it's hard to Let it start today realizing who you are If you don't understand, because I know just sitting there listening, sometimes it's hard to pick up on some things that I'm saying. Go back and listen to this, watch it. When it gets online, get the transcript, read back over it. Every single word of this will be online. You can read it. If we don't understand reconciliation and what it truly, truly means. Every single word of this will be online. You can read it. If we don't understand reconciliation and what it truly truly means, we can't walk it out. We're going to be stuck knowing we've got a ministry that we can't operate in if we don't know what it is. And it's hard sometimes to tell people. Show people who they are, because they look at you and say you're all radical and you're all. You're out there and this and that, okay, listen, I don't mind being out there as long as I can back it up with Scripture and as long as you can show the Scripture to back it up and support what you're saying, that's all that matters. So start it this week. Think about that. If somebody's watching you this week, take one week at a time. Somebody's watching you this week and the only relationship, only view of Jesus they're going to have is how you treat others. What's their view going to be? Father, god, we thank you for this day. We thank you so much for your Word. We thank you for what You're doing in this ministry, father, the opportunities that You're giving us to hear the Word, to dig down into the deeper things, to get understanding of our true identity in Christ, to understand the finished work, to understand the inclusion, and that we're not pushing people out, but we're included in this process, we're included in the cross, we're included in everything that Jesus went through. Father, I pray for every person in this room that as they go out this week, father, that even with all eyes on them, that they'll understand who they are, that they'll just love on people. We don't have to spit Scripture out to them all the time. Sometimes it's just loving on them, sometimes it's just being there for them, sometimes it's just giving them an encouraging word. So I pray that that door is opened up for every single person here right now, father, that You'll open up that door of opportunity, that You'll put somebody in their life this week that needs what they have, because we all have Christ living on the inside of us and we thank you for this opportunity to come and we just pray that you'll give us the words to say that you'll just guide us and direct us. And, father, we lift up Kelly right now. We continue to pray for him. We thank you, father, for the healing in his body. We thank you, father, for the manifestation that has already occurred, that happened on the cross. We thank you, father, for the manifestation that has already occurred, that happened on the cross. We thank you, father, and we decree your word that says by your stripes we are healed. We speak healing over Kelly right now. We speak wholeness over his body, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. Father, we speak to infection, we speak to cancer and we command. Speak to infection. We speak to cancer and we command it to go. In the name of Jesus and Father, we just expect a good report. We expect things to change, not in a month, in a year, but quickly, that things will turn around. And we decree it. We stand together in agreement right now. We decree it in the name of Jesus. So we thank you, father. We'll be careful to always give you the praise, the glory and the honor in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.