Podcasts about christ part

As soon as Lot's wife glanced back, she transformed into a pillar of salt. So, when we stray from what God wants for us, there are definitely some consequences to consider, huh? In today's message, Pastor Johnny is here to inspire you to embrace obedience to God's Word and follow His calling for your life!

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Cause of Christ Part 2. He will be reading out of Acts 25:1-19. Jesus is the only one that can deliver you from the slavery of sin. Jesus is the only one who can wash your sins away and take them and cast them as far as the […] The post The Cause of Christ Part 2 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Sermon by Jimm Nestoras. If you would like to contact us for prayer or for more information, please visit our website https://thelighthouse.org.au/Till Next time,God bless!

Preached By Prophet Kofi Oduro of Alabaster International Ministry on 13th July 2025 at the W3 Service.

"Restoring The Generations Identity in Christ Part 4"Scripture: Genesis 3:1-11Messenger: Apostle Suzanne M Howard

Learn about the 10 characteristics that we need to model if we want to be like Christ and we learn about these characteristics from His words in the gospels.

"As He Is So are We." What a thought! John says in I John 3 We shall be like Him because we see Him as He is. This is the key, to be like him you must see Him. Jesus says in John's Gospel, "I will go away, and the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me." How is that possible? Because He also says He will come and make his dwelling in you. You will see Him as He is revealed in you. Our turning to see Him needs to be internal. He is in you. When He appears in you, you are changed. Your mind, your heart, your being is changed. He is after His Image, His Nature, His character in you. This comes. This is formed in the light of His appearing. Glory to God.

When there's no room for God in your heart, you can bet that Satan will swoop in, filling that space with all sorts of deceit and temptations. In today's message, Pastor Johnny shares why cultivating a spiritual relationship with God is so essential. When He's by your side, every scheme of the enemy is destined to fall flat!

When Jesus opened the door to Salvation in your life, He gifted you the Holy Spirit as a sign that you're saved and that your sins have been taken care of. Today, Pastor Johnny shares how Jesus has paved the path to eternal life for you. When you believe in Him and repent of your sins, He gives you the stamp of righteousness!

Jesus has liberated us through His shed blood at Calvary. How can we receive and then continue to experience the liberty He has for us. Find out more in this short two part message.

Hello, and thanks for being here for today's Something Good Radio message with Dr. Ron Jones. In Acts chapter twenty-six, we find one of the Apostle Paul's longest recorded speeches. Appearing before King Agrippa, he defends not only his words and actions, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And as usual, the Apostle's presentation was truthful, but cheerful, gritty but gracious. Ron takes us to this dramatic confrontation next, as he moves ahead in his teaching series, “Paul: Surprised by Grace.” 

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Cause of Christ Part 1. He will be reading out of Acts 25:1-19. We know how it all ends, and we have the book of Revelation, and we're told in prophecy what direction the world's going, and we see it all unfolding before us, and we're excited about […] The post The Cause of Christ Part 1 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Preached By Prophet Kofi Oduro of Alabaster International Ministry on 6th July 2025 at the W3 Service.

Liberty Church

Jesus has liberated us through His shed blood at Calvary. How can we receive and then continue to experience the liberty He has for us. Find out more in this short two part message.

When we have a need – a real need – something we can't do or fix or resolve for ourselves – what we need, is a helping hand. And if we get that helping hand – the person who's attached to that hand, well, they go up in our estimation. They earn the right to say things that others can't to us.  Funny thing happens through a helping hand.   Healing with our Hands Well, welcome to the programme this week – the last message in a series that I've called, “Living Life as an Ambassador for Christ”. And today... today I would like to share with you how you and I can be real ambassadors ... ambassadors with a difference; ambassadors that really stand out from the crowd. Whenever there's a disaster somewhere in the world – a tsunami or an earthquake or a cyclone or a tornado – it seems to me that the wealthy countries like my own; the countries with the logistics and the equipment and the resources to help – it seems we take forever to mobilise. When people are buried under rubble, they only have days, perhaps only hours to live and what they need right then, is specialist search and rescue teams, with sniffer dogs and listening equipment and all that stuff. And the survivors, what they need, is medical help, food, water, shelter. And the last thing I want to do is be critical but it seems to take so long for the wealthy countries to mobilise their resources. We know that these disasters are going to happen every year – they just happen and I am always left kind of scratching my head as to why it is that it takes us so long to respond. What those poor people need, within the first twenty four hours, is a huge influx of capability to save lives. And these days, I mean, you can pretty much fly from anywhere to anywhere in not much more than twenty fours and yet, time and time and time again these disasters happen and it takes us weeks to mobilise. Does that kind of strike you as strange? You know, as a tax payer in a relatively wealthy country – all be it a smallish population, but never the less, a wealthy country – when I see the way public monies are spent, the last thing that I'd have a problem with is my government setting aside some money to establish and maintain some rapid response capabilities to help other nations when disasters strike. But as easy as it is to sit there and criticise a government, I wonder whether this lethargy in responding to need isn‘t something that you and I experience in our personal lives. I read about an extreme example of this in a newspaper recently. Have a listen to this short article. A South Korean couple addicted to online gaming, let their baby starve to death while raising a virtual daughter. Parents, Kim You-Chul and Choi Mi-sun, spent up to 12 hours a day at an internet café tending to their avatar child in the online game Prius. But they left their real baby home alone and fed her just one bottle of milk a day. Police have charged the couple with child abuse and neglect. Pretty bizarre, pretty extreme, one might think, "Got nothing to do with me; I'm not like that. I don't neglect my children like that." I would hope not but what about our friends; what about our family members; what about our neighbours; what about the couple next door whose marriage is falling apart? We hear them screaming and arguing but do we ever invite them over for a barbecue, to share in their lives and for them to share in ours? What about that person at church – you know the one – single; overweight; they're life's a mess, they talk a bit too much and no one ever invites them to their place on Sunday for lunch? What about that man at work – you see he's a workaholic; he's ruining his marriage, neglecting his children – ruining everything, all for want of a friend who can show him a better way of living? Where are we then, you and I? I'll tell you where: we are like ‘online' that Korean couple, watching TV! We're doing all the things we want to do in the comfort of our own lives and our own homes. And the more affluent we become the less we care for one another. But we justify that; we rationalise it away; we sit in our homes with more than enough – many of us – more than enough, telling ourselves, "We worked hard for it and now we need a rest." We are living virtual lives, watching TV shows about cooking, instead of cooking ourselves; watching TV shows about travelling, instead of travelling ourselves. Raising our virtual lives, our virtual gods and ignoring the real world. It sounds harsh doesn't it? Well, sometimes we need to be direct. Sometimes we need to call a spade a spade. God does that too. Have a listen to this – First John chapter 3, verse 17. If you have a Bible, open it up – towards the end – the First Letter of John chapter 3, verse 17: How does God's love abide in anyone who has all the world's goods and yet sees a brother or sister in need but refuses to help? Now, I know that's hard because there seems to be so much need out there in the world. Sometimes we look at the news and we see the misery and we just turn it off, you and I – we can't make a difference; it's too big. Okay, I kind of understand that, although we can always make some small difference, but there are so many people closer to home; sometimes even within our homes, that we have the opportunity to serve – to heal with our hands; to heal with what we do as well as with what we say. Speaking first hand here, there is nothing ... absolutely nothing that speaks more about God's love into someone's life than when we step in to help them with that one thing they need help with. Sometimes it's the smallest thing – just a word of encouragement; a meal to someone just out of hospital; a visit or a phone call. Sometimes it's loving them over the long run; being there with them and for them. Whatever it is, when we have a need and someone just meets that need, there is nothing that speaks more of the love of Jesus than that. Believe you me, I know. It was people doing just that in my life who played such a powerful role in me coming to faith in Jesus Christ. In fact, their investment in meeting my needs bears fruit every day, as I sit down behind this microphone. Listen again to what Paul writes about how he sees his role and ours in this world. Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 20: So we are ambassadors for Christ; since God is making his appeal through us we entreat you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. Imagine now, an ambassador of a wealthy country who has taken up his or her post in a poor country. And one day that poor country suffers a devastating earthquake and that ambassador from the wealthy country moves heaven and earth to quickly mobilise rescue and medical capabilities. They come quickly; they meet the desperate needs and then, when finally the crisis is over, what do you think the ambassador's actions have just said to the people of that poor country, about the wealthy country that the ambassador represents? That ambassador's actions will have spoken volumes into the poorer nation about how much the richer nation cares for them. It's simply not rocket science! Do you believe in Jesus? I do! And anyone who does is called to be an ambassador of Christ and as the Apostle Paul writes, it is through His ambassadors, dotted all over the planet, that God makes His appeal for people to be reconciled to Him. We don't have to look very far to find the need, do we? Often it's right under our noses. And we can spend time in prayer and at church and worshipping God and all those wonderful, good things while the babies starve; while the needs go unmet; while marriages next door fall apart and people right across the street are living in fear. Or we can go ... go and be ambassadors of Christ. For how does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or a sister in need and yet refuses to help?   Loving with our Hearts As I said at the beginning of today's programme, this is our last message in this four part series, “Living Life as an Ambassador for Christ”. And as we draw to the end I always find myself thinking of so many other things we could have talked about. Over the last three weeks I guess, what we have been doing is taking a look at the different aspects of the Apostle Paul's assertion that he and by implication, you and me - if we believe in this amazing, loving, compassionate, powerful Jesus – are ambassadors for Christ. Have a listen again to how he put it – Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 20: So we are ambassadors for Christ; since God is making his appeal through us, we entreat you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. We have talked a lot about what it means to be an ambassador through whom God would make His appeal to a lost and hurting world. We've looked a bit at the way Jesus was an emissary of God into this world when He became a man. How He communicated God's message of grace to the blind and the poor and the diseased and the needy and the outcast. And I wish we could spend weeks and months more, taking a closer look at that. Maybe we will come back to it in a little while because at the centre of everything ... EVERYTHING is Jesus, the Son of God; the Maker of the heavens and the earth. So, as we draw this series together today, with so much more left to talk about, I had to decide on just one thing – the most important thing – and that most important thing; the one thing that Paul, at the end of First Corinthians 12 calls, "the yet more excellent way", is this: love! That's what we are going to finish up with today. I had a friend who, several years ago now, was called into Christian ministry, out of Australia into the United Kingdom. Now the particular place where he went to live and to work was, well, it was a part of the U.K. that was particularly depressed at the time. His job wasn't to work directly with the people but when I went to visit him and I wandered around the local town, I could feel that ... that oppression. There were derelict factories, rusting, decaying remnants of the industrial age. There was high youth unemployment and I spoke with the people; there seemed to be a hopeless; a lost-ness; an emptiness in this part of the country. It really stood out. Now we Australians, by and large, are a pretty optimistic lot. We have in our National character this ‘can do' attitude that to other cultures sometimes, comes across as being a bit brash. And so when I was confronted with this sad community's spirit, it really struck me between the eyes. And as I chatted with my friend over coffee late one night, he too confessed that he was finding that really difficult – moving from one culture to another – it's never easy. But the sadness and the listlessness and the hopelessness all around, particularly, coupled with the long, grey, cold winters, was really getting to him. Now, please understand me, I am not knocking the Brits. I love travelling to England but there are parts of the country – any Brit will tell you this – there are parts of the country where there is high unemployment, particularly amongst the youth – and it's tough going. Anyhow, a year or so later I was chatting with this man over Skype and he's a great guy – I love keeping in touch with him – and so I assumed he was still doing it tough in this unfamiliar culture. I started empathising with him and his response ... his response shocked me. He said in effect, "Oh no; no, no, we love it here; absolutely love it here. This is where God means us to be and it's really great." That was quite a turn around, so I asked him, "What's changed? You've moved your position a long way from where you were and what you were feeling a few years ago." And as I listened to him talk, it clicked! I could hear it in his voice – he had fallen in love with the people. God had touched his heart and he had this real compassion for the people out there – the unemployed; the people with that sense of hopelessness. He'd become part of a local church and he was part of the community and he realised that the joy and the enthusiasm and the optimism that he had in his heart could be a light in that place. He had fallen in love with the people. Sometimes we Christians feel like misfits in this world. There's a reason for that. As Jesus said in His prayer, just before He was crucified – John chapter 17 – He said that, “... we are in the world but not of the world.” The Apostle Paul makes the point that “ ... we are citizens of heaven, not of this world.” We are misfits; just like my friend the Aussie felt – he was a misfit in his new surroundings. And when we are misfits, the easiest thing in the world is to kind of criticise and poke fun and belittle those around us and complain – "I know Jesus; I have my life sorted out; I know what's right and all those other people out there, whose lives are in a mess, well, they're somehow less that I am." We criticise, we argue, we demean – it's called, "religious superiority". You see it often between races and cultures – one race looks down on another because of their skin colour or their traditions or just who they are. And I've seen people get this wrong over and over and over again. I love it when the Apostle Paul says in First Corinthians 13, it doesn't matter what gifts or abilities or what you do or how much you give, if you don't have love, friend you are nothing. And the love that Jesus showed was more than just love – it was compassion, it was empathy, it was kindness and gentleness. There are two Letters in the New Testament – First Timothy and Second Timothy – they are written by Paul to Tim, his young protégée. And in the second one, the Apostle Paul writes these words – Second Timothy chapter 2, verses 24 to 26: And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, patient, correcting opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth, and that they may escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. The bit I love most in there is the bit about God perhaps granting that they will repent and come to know the truth; they may escape the snare of the devil and be set free. It's oh so easy, as someone who loves Jesus and is passionate about Him and who wants to see people's lives transformed, to start getting this idea that it's up to us. You know, we see many, many lives transformed through these radio programmes, all over the world but let me tell you this, with all that I am: nothing that I can do; nothing that I can say, can change lives! Just yesterday I received an email from a man in another country who wrote about a particular programme he'd listen to over the New Year period and he said, "One small thing you said, God took that and changed my life." He was an alcoholic and he'd stopped drinking. Now, I can't do that – only God can, by His Spirit when He takes His Word and brings it to life in our hearts. That bit is God's job. And when you or I become arrogant or pushy or superior in our attitudes we are working against God because, “God always opposes the proud but He gives grace to the humble.” And I don't care what gift you or I have, how hard we work for Jesus, how much of our cash we contribute to His work, unless we have love, my friend, we are enemies of God; enemies of our fellow men, women and children. “These three things remain”, writes Paul in First Corinthians chapter 13, “faith, hope and love. All really good but the greatest amongst these is love.” Whatever we do, however we do it, if we do it in love, God can use it – kind, gentle, patient – that's what Paul writes to Timothy. The wisdom of a man towards the end of his life after many, many years of very difficult ministry – bound in chains; about to be executed, writing to his young protégée, just starting out on his career - kindness, gentleness, patience and love.   A Price to Pay Now, I had the honour the other evening of sitting and having dinner with a man who heads up a large international ministry that touches young people with the love of Jesus Christ. They have a passion for seeing the lives of young folk transformed and they have missions and people kind of all over the world doing that – it's a huge organisation. Now this man happens to be an Australian and him and his wife and a couple of kids had to move from Australia to the U.S. for him to be able to take up the role as global president of this missions and ministry organisation. So, several years ago they received the call and off they went. Now you would imagine Australia and America – both English speaking; both Western cultures; pretty similar countries in many ways – you would imagine. But as someone who has travelled to the U.S. a lot and as someone who's just received an American into our ministry; a man and his family who immigrated the other direction – from the U.S. to Australia – I can tell you, there are some huge cultural differences between these two, apparently similar countries. Anyhow, I asked this man and his wife, as we were having dinner together, how did they find things when they moved their family to a large city in the U.S. several years ago. ‘Aw,' they said, ‘it wasn't easy. Oh, there were some big adjustments. Oh, that first twelve months was really tough going and we still missed those familiar things and the people and the culture that we grew up in.' So, I guess this is my point, is that it would be easy for you and me to sit and look at and listen to this man and think to ourselves, "Well, he's blessed; he made it; he's at the top of the heap in this large ministry, without ever seeing the cost. It cost him something, it cost his wife, it cost his children to uproot themselves and follow the call of God." Now, this guy is such a gifted leader – he is so the right man to head up that organisation but it cost him. You get it – it cost him. And these days he spends a lot of time flying around the world at the back of the plane – he's a tall man – and that's tiring and uncomfortable and as someone said to me recently, this guy could be the head of any large global corporation. He just has what it takes – he could be flying first class; he could be earning stacks of money but he's doing neither because his heart burns with a fire ... a fire; a passion to see peoples' lives changed. Not as they embrace some new religion or learn a new set of rules but as they meet and encounter Jesus Christ. As they discover His love and His power and His compassion and His vision for their lives – Jesus. This man; this leader is an ambassador for Christ. For two reasons – first is his soft heart; his passion and the second are his hard feet. In other words, he was prepared to go. I think it was Corrie Ten Boom who once said something along the lines that, God calls us to have soft hearts and hard feet. But the problem is that many Christians have the exact opposite – they have hard hearts and soft feet. My friend, whenever we are called to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ, there is a price to pay. Jesus said, “If anyone would be my disciple then he must take up his cross and follow me.” Count the cost – there is a cost and, “Unless you take up your cross and follow me,” said Jesus, follow me where I lead, “then you cannot ... you cannot be my disciple.” Being an ambassador of Christ is going to cost us something. It is not for the faint hearted; it is not for the hard hearted. It is for those in who burns a fire for Jesus; a passion to see hurting, needy people encounter this risen Saviour, Jesus, whether it's across the world or across the street – a passion to see lives transformed by Jesus. Does that mean we all have to immigrate to a foreign land and head up a ministry? Of course, it doesn't! But it does mean that each one of us, in some way, shape or form, wherever Jesus leads, has to go. Just as Jesus came to us, so we are called to go to the lost – to the sinners, to the outcasts, to those amongst our family and our friends and our work colleagues and our local football club and our neighbours and our enemies – even our enemies – to go and make disciples of all the nations – to go and be ambassadors ... ambassadors of Christ. My friend, if you believe in Jesus; if you have given your life to Him, I encourage you to do something today – I want encourage you to go to Him, in prayer, and say: Lord Jesus, I want to be Your ambassador. I want to be part of Your great plan for this world, of transforming lives; I want to carry You into this world, Lord, I want to see people meet You. Lord God, show me how ... show me how.

In Acts chapter nine, God said the Apostle Paul would one day appear before Gentile governors and kings. More than a quarter century later, that day was finally here. Today, Ron takes us to Acts chapter twenty-five, and to the Apostle Paul's appearance before King Agrippa. It's all part of our continuing series, “Paul: Surprised by Grace,” and it comes your way next.  

Evangelist Timothy Fleming concludes his series on the transformation of the Apostle Paul; this time looking at the legacy and lasting impact he had on the Church and how we too can leave a Godly legacy. 

Happy fourth of July! Whether you're in prison unjustly like the apostle Paul was, or you're hated and ridiculed for standing for the truth in today's world… suffering for the cause of Christ is not uncommon. But we can make the choice to rejoice at such times, for several reasons. And we'll lay them out for you today on a Daily Walk. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1368/29

The world as we know it today is full of turmoil and suffering. It would be easy for us to complain, argue and even question why! And many are. But today on a Daily Walk, we'd like to encourage you to make the choice to rejoice… just as the apostle Paul did in the midst of suffering. Pastor John Randall provides some reasons for doing so, as he returns to his study of Colossians. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1368/29

Evangelist Timothy Fleming continues his series on the transformation of the Apostle Paul; this time looking at the Confidence we can have in Christ as Paul did in his life. 

What is the significance of the resurrection? Listen to this message to learn that there is an order to the prophesied resurrections, beginning with Christ's, which occurred after His crucifixion. Hear the characteristics of His resurrection body, how He could talk, walk, eat, and perform amazing activities. Find out what He is doing now, including interceding on our behalf, controlling world history, and preparing a place for all believers in Heaven. As a believer, look forward to the day when you are face-to-face with the Lord and will receive your resurrection body.

A life that goes deep will go wide.

Sunday School | June 29, 2025 | The Return of Christ - Part 3 by Church of the Holy Spirit - Roanoke

29th June 2025 - Dundalk. Ministered by Pastor Jason Cooney.

Preached By Prophet Kofi Oduro of Alabaster International Ministry on 29th June 2025 at theF5 Service.

Preached By Prophet Kofi Oduro of Alabaster International Ministry on 29th June 2025 at the W3 Service.

Sunday School | June 22, 2025 | The Return of Christ - Part 2 by Church of the Holy Spirit - Roanoke

Anyone who believes in Jesus – is also meant to be an Ambassador of Christ. Now – that's not an easy role. Sometimes being Ambassador requires some tough talk. Other times it's about diplomacy – the question is, knowing when to call a spade a spade, and when to be more … circumspect.   It's Not a Shouting Match One of the most embarrassing things I've ever seen as a Christian – and I've seen it a few times – is some guy standing on a soapbox in a Mall or on a street corner, or as I shared a few weeks ago, at a Saturday morning market, screaming out the so called, "Good News" about Jesus Christ. Now, I'm a Christian and so I will sometimes stop and see if I can understand where they're coming from. And truly, most of the time, I just can't figure it out, but there they stand on their soapbox, with a Bible in their hands and surrounded by some pretty tacky placards normally, screaming the Gospel at people. Do I think God can use that? Sure – I mean, He seems to use the foolishness that I preach sometimes, in peoples' lives, so why not the guy on the soapbox on the street corner? Do I think, however, that it's the most effective way of dealing with the issue? Is it the best way to communicate the incredible love of God, the grace of Jesus Christ, the riches available to those who put their faith in Him? Is it the best way to share that Good News? Not by a long shot; not by a very long shot! And yet, it's easy ... it's so easy for us to imagine that telling people about Jesus is kind of like getting on that soapbox. That it's about two equal and opposite ideologies – God's and the world's – butting heads and locking horns. Over the last couple of weeks and again this week on the programme, we are having a chat about living our lives out as ambassadors of Christ; His emissaries, if you will. If I believe in Jesus; if you believe in Jesus, then one of the things that we have to do with our lives – one of the main things - is to communicate His love; to carry His love out into a lost and a hurting world. That's what the Apostle Paul said in writing to his dear friends at the church in Corinth – way back in the First Century. Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 20: So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. Each one in our own way, of course but otherwise, how can we possibly claim to be His ambassadors? How can God make His appeal to this world to be reconciled with Him through someone who looks nothing like Him; who sounds nothing like Him? Now, that presents us with something of a dilemma! Does me, anyhow, because what I see is that sometimes Jesus stood up and berated people – not too often, but sometimes He did. He called the religious leaders of the day "hypocrites", "a brood of vipers" and a whole bunch of other things as well. And yet other times, He dealt with people with such tender love and compassion, it kind of moves you to tears when you read about those times. Like the woman caught in adultery – you can read her story in John's Gospel chapter 8. I mean He pretty much puts Himself between her and the angry mob that wanted to stone her to death. Go figure that out!! So how do we reconcile that? How do you or I, if we want to be like Jesus, learn to speak into this world the way that He did? When do we speak with tender love and when do we stand up to be counted and call a spade and spade, no matter who it's going to offend? I guess that's kind of where we are going this week on the programme – looking at how we speak into this world like Jesus. How do we connect His message of love and forgiveness and a new and abundant life to the needs ... the often desperate needs in the lives of the people around us? Do we call a spade a spade and get right into peoples' faces or do we speak with compassion and love? And if it's both of those, how do I know when to use one and when to use the other? Now these questions, as you can imagine, are questions that I have mulled over a lot and as I look at how Jesus communicated, He only got upset ... really upset with people on a handful of occasions. In other words it was the exception rather than the norm. He didn't see His role as God in the flesh, as being one half of a shouting match most of the time. And so far as I can see, He reserved His anger for the people who should have known better; for the people who said they believed in God – the religious leaders. Have a listen – Matthew chapter 23, beginning at verse 12: All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and then when others are going in, you stop them. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross the sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. Or when He went into the temple, John chapter 2, verse 15: Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. See, the only time Jesus really got stuck in was when He encountered hypocrisy amongst the religious leaders. When they held themselves out to be clean on the outside but actually, they were filthy on the inside – when they oppressed the people who were looking for God; when the powerful stood over the weak; when the rich exploited the widow and the poor; when the judges were dishonest to the detriment of the ordinary people. You know, when Christians, at least here in Australia where I live, sometimes stand up to politicians and publicly speak out against injustice and wrongs and decisions being made and laws being passed that just aren't in the interests of the common people, like you and me, the most common response of the politicians is that Christians and church leaders should keep their noses out of politics. I couldn't disagree more! When we see wrongs and injustices – and can I say, especially when we see those things in the church; especially when we see hypocrisy amongst God's own people – I believe it's time to stand up and to say so. This isn't a clash of ideologies; it's not a slanging match or a shouting match; it's not some irrelevant joker standing on a soapbox on a street corner - because you know something? The truth … the truth rings out, clear as a bell. Sure, people with vested interests aren't going to like it. Sure, there's going to be a cost, but God's heart ... God's heart is for justice for the poor and the oppressed. And sometimes we are called to speak out. Next, we are going to have a look at the flip side of that coin – the gentle speech of the diplomat; the ambassador.   The Diplomacy of an Ambassador Let's take a look at the flip side of the coin – the diplomacy of an ambassador because Jesus used that much more than that other really direct and angry approach. Most of us, you and I, we have blind spots. In fact, the reason they are called, "blind spots" is that we can't see them. And when it comes to our own blind spots in life, what's amazing is how defensive and touchy we are about them. It's almost that we hold them to be sacred. Let's say that our blind spot is anger – that's the one we are dealing with in our lives - and we are prone to flaring up quickly and someone comes along and points it out to us. Well, they'd better watch out! Or if it's low self-esteem and someone tries to help us with it, we can crawl even further inside our shells. So how do you help someone with their blind spots? Because my blind spots – if I don't deal with them, will end up hurting you and stunting me and you know, my friend, your blind spots, if you don't deal with yours, will end up hurting the rest of us and stunting you. That's what sin does! And before we get all judgemental: Sin! Sin! What century is this guy coming from? Let me read out to you a succinct list of the sorts of things that I'm talking about – just so there's no mistake. Now, I'm reading from the Message translation which is a really contemporary translation of the Bible, written by a guy called Eugene Peterson. It's coming from Galatians chapter 5, verses 19 to 21. Have a listen to what God calls sin: "It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on,” writes Paul. “This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit the kingdom of God." Now, you don't have to be a rocket scientist here to figure out that the sort of things that God calls "sin", which Paul is talking about here – they are exclusively the things that cause us and other people pain. And the thing that we want to do when someone's sin is causing us pain is we want to give them what for – we want to tell them exactly what we think about them and hold them to account and, if needs be, have a shouting match with them and get our own way – we do! Because what we are driven by is desire to stop our pain. What we are driven by is "wanting" to win. But here's the thing: if what we want to do is to live our lives as ambassadors of Christ then we need to handle these incredibly difficult issues, with His wisdom. And time and time again, when Jesus encountered people whose sin was ruining their lives, He dealt with them with such incredible compassion. Tax collectors back in Jesus day were a really grubby lot – they were dishonest, they rorted the system, they applied extortion and this behaviour was sanctioned by the Romans who occupied Israel – so long as the Emperor got his taxes! So, by the common Israelite, they were despised; they were considered to be the worst sinners of all; they were traitors and turncoats. Let me read you some of Jesus wisdom and how He handled them. Matthew chapter 9, verses 9 to 13 – if you have a Bible, grab it, open it up – Matthew chapter 9, verses 9 to 13: As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And so, he got up and followed Jesus. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why is it that your teacher eats with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, Jesus said, “Those who are well don't need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but the sinners." See, you and I, when we see people whose sin offends us or hurts us; when we are on the receiving end of their sin, the thing we want to do, naturally – it's a natural human response – is to cut them off; to cut them out of our lives. That way we are protected; that way we don't have to deal with them; that way we don't have to deal with the pain that they cause in our lives. But what Jesus is saying here is that it was precisely for these people; these sinners; these rejects, that He came and so He went and ate a meal in that house. Here He was, this veritably rock star – huge crowds were following Him - He comes into town, He decides to go and eat with what – the Mayor, the Governor, the church leaders, the synagogue leaders, the bishops? No, no – the tax collectors! Do you see this huge ... huge symbolic act that was going on here? He knew that it would do two things. That He would draw vocal criticism from the religious leaders and He'd also confer honour upon the sinners. And by conferring honour on them, He was building a relationship with them. He was accepting them just as they were; without a word of condemnation or judgement. And my hunch is that that completely changed their attitude towards Him. You know something? They had their blind spots – they were rationalising away their extortion and dishonesty and if Jesus had come and berated them or condemned them or ignored them, nothing would have changed in their lives. Instead He came and ate with them and drank with them and listened to them and took the criticism that everyone else heaped upon Him for doing that – and He built a bridge by honouring them. And so powerful was this that one of them, Matthew, became one of His disciples. He wrote the first Book of the New Testament. You want to be an ambassador of Christ – then we need to learn the language of an ambassador? Being an ambassador, as we saw on last weeks programme, about building relationships and bridges, so that when there are difficult issues that have to be dealt with, there is already a connection of relationship and trust in place, through which to deal with the problem. Think about it – who are the people in your life to whom you give a licence to talk to you about your blind spots? I know who they are in my life – it's the people who have honoured me and stuck with me and who've proven themselves to be wise and trustworthy. They're the ones with that licence! And as I look back, it was through those people – people just like that; people who had eaten with this sinner; loved this sinner; coped with my sins – it was through those very people that I encountered the transforming love of Jesus Christ. They were His ambassadors in my life. They treated me the way He treated those tax collectors and friend, without them I wouldn't be with you here right now. It makes you think.   Preaching with our Ears Today and over these last few weeks on the programme we have been chatting about what it means to be an ambassador of Christ; to live our lives - if we believe in Jesus - as one of His ambassadors. Remember, the Apostle Paul – Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 20 writes: So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled to God. Now, one of the things that strikes me is how strong differences are across cultures. We've had a man recently join our team here at Christianityworks – his name is Gregory. Now you may or may not have known this but we Australians are fairly direct in the way we speak. Americans on the other hand, are less so – we often joke about that. Gregory will ask where the bathroom is, whereas I'll ask where the toilet is. So we Australians are much more direct. But even more than that, Gregory grew up; spent many of his childhood years in Japan, and so he has a lot of Japanese culture on the inside too – a culture that's very much about politeness and face. And even though we have known each other for a very long time, working together now every day has been a real learning experience for both of us. When I ask him what he thinks, I want him to actually tell me what he thinks. If he thinks I'm off with the pixies on some issue, I actually want him to tell me so. Forget hierarchies – I just want his direct, honest input because that's how we will get the right results. He, on the other hand, can find that just a bit confronting because that's not the cultural background that he's come from. It's just one simple example but it's a good one. Imagine if I, as direct as I am, were sent as Australia's ambassador to the U.S. or even more so, to Japan. I'd have to learn a lot about their cultures before I could communicate effectively on a diplomatic level with those countries. I'd have to find different ways of saying things I want to say. I'd have to listen carefully to what their diplomats were saying to make sure I actually hear what they mean to say. You know something? Sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with the people around us is no different to that. After fifteen years of walking with Jesus, I have a whole different perspective on what success is, what joy is, what happiness is, what sin is, what pain is – and all sorts of things, from someone who has never met Jesus – from someone who doesn't have that relationship with Jesus. Why would I ever imagine I could talk to them as though they have the same perspective as me? You know, for a long, long time in my life, I just wasn't ready for anyone to tell me about this Jesus. I mean, get lost! I couldn't stand those God botherers. I had a totally different perspective to theirs. I just knew that life was about making lots of money and being recognised in my field and being successful. I knew I'd find my pot of gold at the end of that rainbow. I had, back then, a whole bunch of misconceptions about life and where I wanted to be headed and what would make me happy. And I didn't need anyone to preach at me - least of all those God botherers telling me about Jesus. What I needed was someone to listen to me – what I needed was someone to understand me and help me to understand myself. I needed someone to preach to me with their ears – if that makes sense. An ambassador from one country who is about to be sent to another country has to learn about the culture and the language and the issues and the aspirations and the concerns of the country to which he or she is being sent. Someone who lives in one country and is going to be a missionary in another country, well, they have to do exactly the same. I believe the most important asset an ambassador can have are his ears and his eyes – to observe, to perceive, to listen, to see, to understand. Jesus grew up in the Hebrew culture of First Century Israel. He attended school in that culture. He knew how to speak and He had a lot of time listening. He spent time eating and drinking with tax collectors; with sinners. He spent time living with His disciples. He spent time getting to know the issues in peoples' lives. I remember when I was working in a retail buying group – quite some years ago. The chairman of our board was a man called Stan Brown – he owned a menswear store in Sydney. I remember him saying that a shop attendant who walks up to a customer and opens up with, "Can I help you?" well, he'd say it's like asking someone to marry you on the first date. First he said, you need to find out who they are, why are they here, why did they come into your store, what's their taste, what are they looking for? First you have to find a point of connection, he said, then ... then they'll be open to receive any help. As I look at people who God brought to me; the ambassadors whom He sent in my direction when I needed to meet Him, what I realise, is that they, for the most part, preached with their ears – they listened, they understood, they laughed, they cried with me and once they understood – once I really knew they understood – then I relaxed. Then I let them into my thoughts and into my heart – then they were allowed to influence me because they got me. Then they had the opportunity to show me who this Jesus really, really is. The stock-in-trade of an ambassador is diplomacy. It's about trust and communication and understanding and if you and I ... if you and I are going to be ambassadors of Jesus Christ, then that's something I believe we are going to have to learn. When I take the time to get to know you and understand you – whether or not I agree, I have just built a bridge into your life that honours you. When you feel understood, you feel secure and you experience trust and it's exactly the same back in the other direction. Friend, Jesus was an amazing communicator – He was prepared to confront the difficult issues when they needed to be confronted and He was prepared to show compassion because that's what flowed out of His heart to people in need. And it was that bridge of compassion that we can build with people. That's the bridge that, one day, Jesus will walk across. Trust me, that's the bridge and it all comes from preaching with our ears. Go figure!

There are so many things we allow to consume our lives. Our careers, our families and friendships, or even church events and programs. These things can consume all of our energy, time, and resources and become idols. As Pastor Terry continues our study in the book of John today, he'll remind us that our central focus needs to be on Christ. We are called and invited to abide in Him on a moment-by-moment basis. This requires intentionally placing the things of this world lower in our list of priorities.

Evangelist Timothy Fleming continues his series on the Transformation of the Apostle Paul. This episode he looks at the how we can learn to endure hardships from Apostle Paul.  

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Evangelist Timothy Fleming continues his series on the transformation of Apostle Paul; this time looking at the legacy of leadership he had on the early Church. 

In our world, things can seem very…ungodly and even feel like they're getting worse and worse every day. BUT, God has a plan!!! He has a plan for our world, our lives, and the lives of everyone on this Earth! In today's message, Pastor Bill will comfort you with that truth!!! The truth that Jesus is coming back, God has a plan, and the Holy Spirit is always with you! No matter what the world looks like, no matter what you're facing, you are never alone! God of the universe is with and for you!!!

Does the inside of your home reflect what Christ has done inside of you?

Preached By Prophet Kofi Oduro of Alabaster International Ministry on 22nd June 2025 at the W3 Service.

Pastor Wyatt Brown Listen Watch

Sunday School | June 15, 2025 | The Return of Christ - Part 1 by Church of the Holy Spirit - Roanoke

Evangelist Timothy Fleming continues his series on the transformation of the Apostle Paul. In this episode he focuses on the purpose Paul finds in his life through Christ. 

Support the showThis podcast is brought to you free of charge through the donations of generous people.If this content blessed you and you would like to help us reach more people, please take a few minutes to rate our podcast and leave us a review.If you'd like to support us financially, you can make donations hereIf you'd like to learn more about us you can visit our website.If you'd like to contact us directly follow this link. If you enjoyed this teaching, Pastor Jacob has another conversation-style podcast that we think you'd really enjoy. Check it out here!

Support the showThis podcast is brought to you free of charge through the donations of generous people.If this content blessed you and you would like to help us reach more people, please take a few minutes to rate our podcast and leave us a review.If you'd like to support us financially, you can make donations hereIf you'd like to learn more about us you can visit our website.If you'd like to contact us directly follow this link. If you enjoyed this teaching, Pastor Jacob has another conversation-style podcast that we think you'd really enjoy. Check it out here!