All right. Good morning, Agape. Good to see you this morning. As Mr. Copley said, I am Jack Holbrook, pastor of New Testament Baptist Church. It’s good to be with you guys and gals. This morning, I have been assigned the subject of an ambassador. As a foreigner in a foreign land. An ambassador is a foreigner in a foreign land. I want to invite you to open your Bibles. If you have one, you should have one, right? All right. Are they supposed to have their Bibles? Is that a rule? If anybody doesn’t have their Bible, nobody’s going to confess. Are they? Hebrews 11 is the chapter we’re going to read from verses 13 through 16. Hebrews 11, verse 13 through 16.

If you’re familiar with this chapter, it’s commonly referred to as a chapter that deals with faith and heroes of the faith, you might have heard of that at some time. This chapter deals with a lot of the Old Testament saints and how they trusted the Lord. We want to look in verses 13 through 16. It says, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them. Embrace them and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had the opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country.

Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Let’s pray once again. Our Father, we thank you for the opportunity to share your word this morning with the students here at Agape. We thank you, Lord, that they have come and assembled. And I pray that their hearts have been prepared, Lord, through the music and the worship and praise. And I pray now that they would have their hearts ready and open to hear from your word. I pray that you would give me the words necessary that can help them, encourage them, Lord, as they walk in this world, that they might serve you better, know you better as a result of being here this morning. In Jesus name we pray and amen.

We, as a people of God, those who know the Lord Jesus Christ and have faith in him, the word of God teaches that as we walk in this life, we walk by faith. When we walk by faith in this world, we are referred to as the Old Testament saints were here as strangers and pilgrims. Now, when you look up that word for pilgrims, it’s very interesting, but it can also speak of being a foreigner. You know, when the pilgrims crossed the country. They were originally from another country, and so they were originally foreigners. However, we know that they were seeking to make this country their home. And so we are not pilgrims in that respect. We’re not trained to make this world our home.

We are foreigners, but we are pilgrims in respects that we are traveling on, moving forward through this world, through this country, but onto the country before us that God has prepared for those that are his children. We are not making this country, or should we say this world our home. That should not be our chief concern in life, is how much we can be comfortable in this life and achieve things in this life. Listen, we walk by faith as a people of God and know that we belong to another country. We need to know that. And we belong to a heavenly country. And we are to walk in this world as pilgrims just passing through, or as foreigners who are just visiting here a little while until we finally get to our eternal country or our eternal home.

As ambassadors of Christ, we are sent here by King Jesus. And this world is not our home, for heaven is our country. Ambassadors, as you may know, they live in the country that they are sent to, but it’s not their home. We send ambassadors to other countries, and there are foreigners while they’re in that country. So there are foreigners in the country they are sent to. This world, ultimately, is not our place of citizenship. You know, when Jesus was praying to our Heavenly Father on our behalf In John chapter 17, I want to look at that. In verses 14 through 18, John 17, 14 through 18, Jesus prayed this. And know this, that when you go to John 17 and read the Lord’s intercessory prayer, that he’s praying for us. And he says this.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, he says, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world. He was referring directly there to his apostles at the time, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. And then he said this. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. You may have heard it said many times that we are in the world, but we are not to be of the world. So what does that really mean, to not be of the world? That’s very simple.

Jesus said, we are in the world, but we’re not to be of the world. Meaning that the world is not to be in us. We are in it, but it is not in us. You know, the world. Regarding when we say the. I’m saying the world, I mean this world’s philosophy, this world’s system, the way the world thinks, the things that the world would teach us to love, the things that the world would teach us to value. The way that the world would teach us to act is not to be the same as the way a Christian should think, the way a Christian should love, or the things that a Christian should value, or the things or a way that a Christian should act. We’re different. We’re supposed to be different. Were supposed to stand out. An ambassador that goes to another country.

Suppose you were an ambassador to Russia. Do you think that you would look different to the people of Russia? Well, you look different, wouldn’t you? Do you think you would talk different? Yeah. Do you think you would possibly act a little different than them? This may be a very small analogy, but I can definitely feel this a little bit still today. Whenever I first moved here from where I was at in Kentucky and moved to Northeast Ohio, I kind of felt like a foreigner because everywhere I went, people would say, you’re not from around here, are you? Now why would they say that? Well, why would they say, anybody know my accent, right? I talk different. You got. Well, I talk different than you guys, but you guys talk funny. And I never realized how different I spoke.

I had some clues when I would go different places and I knew that I talked different, but I mean, everywhere I went. I remember going through the Burger King drive through. I hadn’t been here probably a couple weeks and. And all I said at the drive through was, all I want. I said, I want a cup of coffee and a biscuit. I pull up to the window and the first thing that woman said was, you’re not from around here, are you? I said, you got that from a biscuit. She said, yeah, you sound different. See, you sound different when you’re from a different place of the country. Right. Well, you know, that’s the way it is with Christians. We should sound different. You go to another country, you should look different. You’re going to look different because our styles are different, right.

Than what we may wear here. Everything about you is going to be different. You’re going to stand out. I went to a big gathering not too long ago. It was all Amish, and were the only ones not Amish that I could see. And it gave me a little bit of a clue as to sometimes how they may feel when they’re the only Amish in the room. Boy, I really stood out. You know, when. When an Amish person comes around a big group, maybe like this, they would look different, they would sound different. They would stand out, right, because they look different, they sound different. Well, I experienced what they experienced when I had nothing but Amish all around me and there were hundreds of them. I’m like, wow, I sound different and I look different.

So, in essence, I was a foreigner in their community at that time. Now, as an ambassador to a foreign country, one of the things you have to do is you have to learn how to live in a different country, but still be known as an ambassador from the country that has sent you there. In other words, you can’t blend in so much as an ambassador so that nobody can tell that you’re an ambassador. So you had to maintain some identity that would connect you to the country whereby you were sent from. An ambassador is not to lose their identity before the people or the country that they’re sent to. And likewise, we too, as Christians, citizens of our heavenly country. We should bear the identity of that country, of our heavenly country, and of our king, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In other words, we should walk in this world in such a way where people would see that we are not of this world. We are in it, we move around it. We are here, we work. We’re with everybody else. But there’s something about us that says that we’re different. And the difference should be very well noted. It should be something that people can see, something they can hear. Because you talk different. You don’t talk like the rest of the world. You don’t use the foul language that the world uses. You look different. The way you dress. You dress modestly. Just what you do. Where you go is different than where the rest of the world would have you to go. We as Christians are citizens of that heavenly country, and we’re called to be soldiers of King Jesus. Soldiers are very identifiable.

You can tell who they are fairly quickly. And we should be recognizable because this world is not ultimately where we belong in this world. And what it values is not what we value. What it loves is not what we love. We are not to lose our identity as Christians as we walk in this world. And it’s so important that you know who you are in Christ, because the world will try to tell you other things regarding who you are. In Christ, you are loved in. In Christ you are adopted. In Christ you are redeemed. In Christ, you are holy. In Christ, you have been bought with that precious blood of himself. And you have been made to be a child of the most High God. Our identity is in Christ.

The world will try to make us to conform to its identity through all kinds of various means. And I want to encourage you to be willing to stand out, not in arrogance, but in humility and following Christ, being willing to be marked as different. Because, listen, as a child of God, you are different. As one who walks by faith and trusts the Lord, you are different. But how do we maintain this separation? How do we maintain this difference? And how can we grow in regard to being in the world, but not of the world? When that one passage we read in John chapter 17, where Jesus was praying, he said this that we read, Sanctify them through your truth. Your Word is truth. Sanctify means to set apart.

You see, we are to be set apart from the world and set apart from the way that our flesh would have us to go. And how do we do that? By being in the Word of God and by the Word of God being in us. You see, we spend so much time putting the world in us. The world’s music, the world’s entertainment, all the things that the world would want to have us inside. And we spend very little time sometimes allowing the Word of God to be in us. That’s why things like this are so important. We’re to be in the world, remember, but not of the world, meaning the world is not to be in us. Now we have to be in the world.

But let us make sure that the Word of God is in us significantly and that it is preeminent in our life and that daily we are putting the Word of God in. Because the Word of God is what will help you, will strengthen you and guide you to be different than the world. Does that make sense? If we are to be sanctified and set apart from the world, listen, we can’t do that on our own. We need the Lord’s help. We need the Holy Spirit. We need to be born again. And then we need the work of the Word of God in our life all day, every day, as much as possible. Let. Let it be your meditation day and night, as Psalms 1 teaches. Because this world is hard, it’s tough.

And there’s so much temptation to be drawn in through social media, through peers that maybe aren’t a good influence on you or whatever it may be that the movies or the type of music are so much pressure. How do we combat that? Well, we need to make sure that we are having the Word of God in us. When the Word of God is in us, and the more we are in the Word, we will look less and less like the world and look more like Jesus, whom said that he is not of the world. We will look different than the world. We will talk different than the world, we will act different than the world, because we will begin to not think like the world. Because the Word of God will help us to think when we put it in our hearts and minds.

And then it changes the things we do on the outside. So when the Word of God gets in us and it changes how we think, it changes how we see. And we realize more and more as we mature in the faith that this world just isn’t what we are ultimately made for. You see, as you grow in sanctification and becoming more like Jesus, you feel more and more separated and distant from the way the world is. And that’s. If you’re feeling more and more like that as a Christian, that’s a sign of spiritual growth. If you’re feeling like you’re becoming more a part of the world, then you’re not coming out of the world and you’re not being more like Christ. As a people of God, were made for a world much better than this one.

As we all know this world, as we should know, this world is hostile to Christ and hostile to the followers of Christ. As we’ve been reminded of the killing of Charlie company this past week, and many have even been glad that he’s gone. As strangers and foreigners in this world, we must understand that because we are not like the world. We’re not like the world, as we just mentioned, that the world will not like us. And you have to be ready for that. You have to think about that because, listen, all of us want to be liked. And we live in a society that’s driven by how many likes that somebody can get. We have to be willing to not be liked. The more we become like Jesus and less like the world, actually, the more the world will hate us.

But the reason the world will hate us is because the world does not love Jesus. It’s important to remember that in John 15:18, 19, John 15:18 and 19, Jesus said this. If the world hates you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world would love its own. So when the world doesn’t love you, listen, that’s a good thing. He said, if you were of the world would love its own. In other words, we should not be seeking after the love of the world, he says, yet, because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. You see, the world and its system hates Christians as they look like Jesus, talk like Jesus, and walk like Jesus.

The people in the world that hate Christians hate like Charlie company hated him, because they also did not love Jesus, meaning they do not follow Christ and want Christ. And when we realize that all the hate we see in the world is the absence of the love of Jesus Christ, because that’s the problem. If they love Christ, they would love Christians. When we realize that all the hate we see in the world is the absence of the love of Christ, then maybe we can and we will respond better to the hate that we see in the world. Because what the world needs to see is the love of Christ, no matter how much they currently hate it. The world hates its enemies, but the world needs to see a better way, a different way.

You see, the world would teach us to hate our enemies. The world shows us how to hate our enemies. But you see, we should be different. We’re from a different country. Jesus is our king, and he teaches us something totally radical, totally opposite than what the world would have us to believe. Jesus said in John 5:44, 46. John 5:44, 46, I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spotfully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, for he makes His Son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you do? Not even the tax collectors do the same.

He’s saying, people who don’t know me, that’s what they do. They love people who love them. And that’s it. He said, I’m teaching you to love people who hate you. See, one of the things that should stand out the most about us as Christians is that we love people that hate us. And that’s how we had to respond to the hate. And that’s hard, isn’t it? But, boy, will you stand out. You will stand out as somebody strange, like you’re from a different country. When we learn to love like Jesus and not hate like the world, we will stand out as those strange foreigners, as someone who seems like they just don’t belong. And I know that this is so difficult for us on so many levels because we’re tempted to just fit in with the world. We don’t want to be different.

We don’t want to talk different. It’s so tempting to just talk like everybody talks and laugh at what everybody laughs at and watch what everybody watches. We have a fear of rejection from the world. But let me encourage you to be bold, to be strong, to walk with Jesus, to walk in his word, to have His Word in you and allow it to work in your heart and life to change how you think. Meditate upon it as much as possible. Put down your phones. More. Turn off the tv. More. Get in the word of God. Let the Word of God get in you. That’s the only thing that’s going to help you be sanctified and set apart from the world as ambassadors and foreigners for this world. We must not live like we are staying here forever. An ambassador eventually goes back home.

An ambassador does not keep its riches in the country that they are sent to. This would not be wise because they would eventually be called back home at any time. And we, as ambassadors, strangers and pilgrims and foreigners in this world, let us make sure that we are laying up treasures in heaven where moth and rust does not corrupt. Do not be living for this world, for all the things of the world are temporal and will one day be all gone. Live for your eternal King and live like you are on your way to your eternal country. When you see this world, I hope that you desire something better. Well, that’s what pilgrims to this world should desire. In Hebrews 11, and I’ll close with reading again of these verses.

Verse 16, it says, but now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country. When we are not ashamed and we openly confess that we are strangers to this earth, pilgrims passing through, foreigners to a world that we do not belong to. And we are taught there that then God is not ashamed to be called our God, for He has prepared a city for us. And that’s all that we’re waiting on as Christians. We’re waiting for the day when Jesus Christ comes back and takes us home. Because this world is not our home. Now, I hope that you know Jesus Christ this morning because he is the only way into heaven. He is the way, the truth and the life. May we, as his children, followers of him, be willing to be different. Because we are foreigners. We do not belong in this world.

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, I pray that you would use this lesson this morning touch our hearts and to help each of us here today to understand that we have a high calling. You have sent us as ambassadors to this world and we are in it, but we are not of it. And help us, Lord, to be in the word of God, and the word of God to be in us, that we would be sanctified and set apart from this world unto your service and be willing to stand out for the namesake and for the glory sake of Jesus Christ, our king.

And I pray, Lord, that you would encourage each one of the young people here, Lord, that they would have courage and faith in you to know, Lord, you’ve called them to a high calling to be in this world, to reach this world with the message, with the gospel, until you call us home forever and ever. In Jesus name we pray. And amen. Thank you very much.