You Sound Like God
February 1, 2026 Service. Join us for worship with Faith Worship Arts, followed by Week One of Ambassador series with Pastor Johnnie Wilson.
In this message, Pastor Johnnie centered our hearts on 2 Corinthians 5:16–20, reminding us that as believers, we don’t just speak about God—we represent Him. We are Christ’s ambassadors, sent with the authority and responsibility of the King Himself, carrying the message of reconciliation to a broken world. God is making His appeal through us, calling people back to Himself, and that truth removes both intimidation and self-reliance—we speak not in our own name, but in His. This message also highlights the call to live mission-focused lives, reflecting the character of Christ while boldly sharing His gospel. As we step into the Year of the Seeker, we were invited to be like Jesus—seeking and saving the lost—and to engage practically through initiatives like Neighborhood Ambassadors, trusting that God will use our obedience, our voices, and our lives to draw others back to Him.
Would you stand to your feet? How many of you are grateful for the love of Jesus today? Amen. Let's sing about it today. ♪ Or something happened when I first met Jesus ♪ Put your hands together. ♪ He forgot my sins and showed me love ♪ ♪ And all it took was saying yes, then trusting him to do the rest ♪ ♪ That's what happens when you live for Jesus ♪ Let's testify as we sing. ♪ You see I'm different now, new day, new mercy found ♪ ♪ Old ways are in the past, I can't doubt it ♪ ♪ I'm shot, I'm changed, and nothing is the same ♪ ♪ I'm changed, my God saves, his grace gave me a better way ♪ ♪ I'm shaking off the chains of yesterday, changed ♪ ♪ And nothing is the same, I'm changed, my God saves ♪ ♪ His grace gave me a better way ♪ ♪ I'm shaking off the chains of yesterday, changed ♪ ♪ Something happened when my shame lost power ♪ We declare. ♪ Perfect love drove out my every fear ♪ ♪ Now I can live completely free ♪ ♪ Cause Jesus gave his life for me ♪ ♪ I can't help but tell the world about him ♪ You see I'm different now. ♪ You see I'm different now, new day, new mercy found ♪ ♪ Old ways are in the past, I can't doubt it ♪ ♪ I'll shout I'm changed, nothing is the same, I'm changed ♪ ♪ My God saves, his grace gave me a better way ♪ ♪ I'm shaking off the chains of yesterday, changed ♪
♪ And nothing is the same, I'm changed, my God saves ♪ ♪ His grace gave me a better way ♪ ♪ I'm shaking off the chains of yesterday, changed ♪ Come on we celebrate. ♪ Oh come and see what he did for me ♪ ♪ How deep his love can be ♪ ♪ I don't walk the same, I don't talk the same ♪ Come on that's our story. ♪ Oh come and see what he did for me ♪ ♪ How deep his love can be ♪ ♪ I don't walk the same, I don't talk the same ♪ ♪ Jesus changes everything, I'm changed, nothing is the same ♪ ♪ I'm changed, my God saves ♪ ♪ His grace gave me a better way ♪ ♪ I'm shaking off the chains of yesterday, changed ♪ ♪ Nothing is the same, I'm changed, my God saves ♪ ♪ His grace gave me a better way ♪ ♪ I'm shaking off the chains of yesterday, changed ♪ Come on, praise the Lord for it. Hallelujah. Come on, we sing. ♪ You're the first glimpse of you ♪ ♪ Left me feeling a way that I could shake ♪ ♪ So I'm sticking with you ♪ ♪ You knew and now I'm feeling brand new ♪ ♪ All the things of my old self are gone ♪ ♪ Cause you took the weight I feel enough ♪ ♪ So I'm cutting all ties, lean back to previous days ♪ ♪ And I'm running straight for you, I'm locked in ♪ ♪ I'll finish the race ♪
Come on, we declare this, we say. ♪ Fresh start, new heart ♪ ♪ Fresh start, I'm living new now, new heart ♪ ♪ It's all for you now, fresh start, new heart ♪ ♪ New heart, fresh start, I'm living new now, new heart ♪ ♪ It's all for you now, new heart ♪ Come on, hands together. ♪ Enough of everything I know ♪ ♪ Didn't answer the questions I had so I left in the past ♪ ♪ All I know, come on, we say, you're true ♪ ♪ You're undeniably true ♪ ♪ So I'm building my life on you ♪ ♪ Because you are the way and the truth ♪ Come on, we declare. ♪ Fresh start, new heart, fresh start, new heart ♪ ♪ New heart, new heart ♪ ♪ Fresh start, I'm living new now ♪ ♪ New heart, it's all for you now ♪ ♪ Fresh start, new heart ♪ ♪ Fresh start, I'm living new now ♪ ♪ New heart, it's all for you now ♪ Come on, we leave our past behind and we declare. So I'm cutting my ties to lead back to previous days. And I'm running straight for you, I'm locked in, I finished the race. ♪ Fresh start, new heart ♪ ♪ Fresh start, I'm living new now ♪ ♪ New heart, it's all for you now ♪ ♪ Fresh start, new heart ♪ ♪ Fresh start, I'm living new now ♪
♪ New heart, it's all for you now ♪ ♪ It's all for you now ♪ ♪ It's all for you now ♪ Hallelujah! Well, who is excited to be in church this morning? Amen! We're so glad you're here at Faith Church Orlando. We're gonna put 60 seconds on the clock. Feel free to get out of your seat, shake someone's hand, hug somebody's neck, tell them you're excited they're here on this cold Sunday today. Amen. All right, all right. Good morning, Faith Church. Are you feeling good this morning? Isn't it nice just to be inside? Is it still terrible outside? Oh my goodness. Who else yesterday was wrapping their pipes with blankets? All right, just to feel this. Okay, I felt like a real goose doing that, but that's all right. Florida life, we're not used to this kind of cold, but it's good to see you here this morning. Hey, we're gonna have such a great day in our church today, but we always like to take a moment in our services to acknowledge anyone who might be visiting us for the very first time. So if that's you,
if you're here at Faith Church for the first time, can you lift up your hand and give us a wave if it's your first time? Amen, we can see you, we love you guys. Keep your hand up. Our ushers are gonna put something in your hand. That'll tell you a little bit about us as a church. Now, what you can also do is you can actually take out your phone, and if you unlock it, there's a button on the back of the seat in front of you, and you can actually tap that and that'll take you and tell you a little bit about our church. But also to all our new friends, we wanna meet you. So make sure you come say hi to us just outside these doors, behind the grand staircase. We'll be there and we wanna connect with you and hear a bit about your story, amen? Beautiful, all right, guys, it's time for the best news of the week, church news. Let's turn our eyes to the screen. Welcome to Faith Church Orlando. Here's a look at upcoming events. They're gonna throw, and complete. Millions gather to watch the Super Bowl. For most of us, it's just another Sunday. But every year, people walk through these doors searching for something real. We have a close friend, she invited us to Super Sunday, decided to take her up on it,
so we ended up going to Red Bug. I prayed that I need some direction, and I really wanted to hear from God that day, and I still remember the message that Pastor Johnny was preaching that day, and it was almost like he was describing me in that moment. Year after year, people encounter Jesus, lives are changed, and families are restored. Think about the people in your life, your friends, neighbors, family members, co-workers. Your invite can change everything. The time that I actually gave my life to Jesus is the day of Super Bowl, and from that point, so much has changed. We even got baptized in here, in the church. I'm glad we came to this church, because I can feel truly God's power. Presence this isn't about football. It's about using a day like this to help others take a step toward Jesus If we didn't get that invite, where would you be right now that one invite? You can plant that seed and then it just grows they'll find God you'll find healing I just say take a leap of faith and know that God will do something So invite a friend and join us for Super Sunday on February 8th during our regular service times Because one invitation can change a life forever Exciting things are happening at faith. Here's a look ahead We encourage you to connect, grow, serve and reach here at faith. So stay connected through the faith app or our website. Have a blessed week All right. All right. Amen. All right. Everybody say the next two weeks All right, come on a little bit more than that. I know it's cold. What's going on? We're in church. It's exciting All right. Everybody say the next two weeks. That was so much better. You're nailing it today. I love it Hey, the next two weeks we actually have next Sunday, Super Sunday Just like that video said one invite can change somebody's life. Okay
So this week you need to grab some of these cards on your way out and you need to be inviting as many people as you can to next Sunday Trust me, they're going to come, right? If you're going to bring them to a Sunday service, next week is going to be the best Sunday They're going to come and you'll be like, this is church. I thought church was boring This is the greatest thing I've ever seen. They're going to love it. Okay Invite your co-workers, your neighbours, even invite your mother-in-law. Okay Make sure they're there. All right. Next Sunday. Now the Sunday after is our Better Marriage Conference Who's already registered for the Better Marriage Conference? Amen. I love it All right, if we're going to clap for it, you can't do that clap. All right So if you're going to clap for the Better Marriage Conference, we can clap for it There you go. That was so much better Hey, this is a moment in our church where as a church, we believe in the covenant and what godly marriage is So much so that we are going to take time out of our services, take time out of our year And we are going to dedicate it to the discipleship and the spiritual formation of what God calls a godly marriage to look like Okay, so if you haven't registered for the Better Marriage Conference, today is your day to do that Husbands, this is the best Valentine's Day gift you can get. All right Valentine's Day weekend, honey, we're going to a conference together. It's amazing Bring some flowers, some chocolates. It's going to be great. All right So make sure you register for the Better Marriage Conference Now for anyone here and you're like, hey, Pastor, we want to come, but we can't afford it Come talk to me after. We don't want anyone missing out because of finances So come chat to me after and we can start to figure it out. Does that sound good? All right, for a bit of a sneak peek of what our Better Marriage Conference is going to look like Let's turn our eyes to the screen I believe that God wants to give each and every single one of your marriages more Ask the question, okay, Dan, big Chinese man who obviously does a lot of upper body work, but not as much on his legs Okay, Dan, how do I actually take hold of this? I believe the Holy Spirit told me to tell you there is more joy ahead for your marriage In the name of Jesus, he has got more in store for you Doors open at 5.30 p.m. with childcare and dinner provided for kids 10 and under So take this simple, intentional step towards a godly and better marriage
Amen. Well, church, I want to invite you to stand to your feet We're going to go into another time of worship And I love that we get to come together each week and worship under one name because of what it says in the word Where God tells us where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them Come on, the presence of God is in the room With us, He is near to us. Can I invite you all across this place? Would you lift your hands in surrender? Would you acknowledge the Lord's presence in this moment? Lord, we are here to worship you. We are here to encounter you, Jesus. As we draw close to you, Lord, we know you are drawing near to us. We lean in, we sing to you. When I feel distant, you close the gap. Nothing can come between us. No hide, no death can separate. There is no life apart from you. In the morning and evening, you're reminding my soul that you're closer than ever, never far, cause I know there's nowhere I can run, but you won't be. There's nowhere I can hide, but you won't find me. Even at my worst, you'll never leave. Everywhere I go, you're right beside me. There's nowhere I can run, but you won't be. There's nowhere I can hide, but you won't find me. Even at my worst, you'll never leave. Everywhere I go, you're right beside me. Come on, would you lean into His presence
right here in this moment? As I draw near, you're drawing closer. This is my confidence in you. Cause you won't relent, you have my heart. All that I am, I give to you. In the morning and evening, you're reminding my soul that you're closer than ever, never far, cause I know there's nowhere I can run, but you won't be. There's nowhere I can hide, but you won't find me. Even at my worst, you'll never leave. Everywhere I go, you're right beside me. There's nowhere I can run, but you won't be. There's nowhere I can hide, but you won't find me. There's nowhere I can hide, but you won't find me. Even at my worst, you'll never leave. I'm thankful, Lord. Everywhere I go, you're right beside me. Oh, your presence all around me. I'm drawing closer to you. Cause I wanna be near. Close to your heart, wrapped in your arms, near. Tuned into your voice, through all of the noise, near. Your presence is where I know who I am. I never wanna leave your side, knowing you changed my life. I wanna be near. That's my cry, Lord. Close to your heart, wrapped in your arms, near. Tuned into your voice, through all of the noise, near. Your presence, your presence is where I know who I am.
I never wanna leave your side, knowing you changed my life. I wanna be near. We wanna be close. Close to your heart, wrapped in your arms, near. We wanna hear your voice. We wanna hear your voice. Tuned into your voice, through all of the noise, near. Your presence is where I know who I am. We declare. I never wanna leave your side, knowing you changed my life. I wanna be near. It's all we're asking for. Close to your heart, wrapped in your arms, near. Tuned into your voice, through all of the noise, near. Your presence is where I know who I am. I never wanna leave your side, knowing you changed my life. I wanna be near. It's all I want, God. It's all I need, Lord. To be close. Cause we know this, there's nowhere I could run that you won't be, there's nowhere I could hide that you won't find me, even at my worst you'll never leave, everywhere, would you lift your voice and declare, there's nowhere I could run that you won't be Lord, cause even at my worst you'll never leave, everywhere I go you're right beside me, oh Jesus, you're always with us God, you are pure and holy, merciful and true, none compare to who you are, you're perfect through and through, you deserve all glory, from earth to heaven so, worthy of all power and honour, all to you alone, it's all about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, everything bows before your name, it's all about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, forever and ever you will reign, you will reign, yes you will, you are the Messiah, the bright and morning star, salvation reaches every soul, who welcomes all you are, you are welcome in my heart, it's
all about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, everything bows before your name, it's all about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, forever and ever you will reign, it's all about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, everything bows before your name, it's all about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, forever and ever you will reign, oh we praise you Lord, come on lift your voice to our King today, oh you are holy, you are worthy Lord, oh there's no one like you, there's no one like you Lord, you are holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, reigning on heaven's throne, you hold the world in your hand, still there in my heart, I bow before you Lord, you are holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, reigning on heaven's throne, you hold the world in your hand, still there in my heart, I bow before you Lord we honor and glorify you Jesus, because we know this, you will reign forever, the soon and coming King, and every knee will bow and all the earth will praise your name, come on, Jesus Christ we proclaim, just one name, it's all about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, everything bows before your name, it's all about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, forever and ever ♪ Forever and ever you will reign ♪ ♪ It's all about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Everything comes before your name ♪ ♪ It's all about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Forever and ever you will reign ♪ ♪ It's all about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Everything comes before your name ♪ ♪ It's all about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Forever and ever you will reign ♪ Come on, he's holy, what do you say? ♪ Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Reigning on heaven's throne ♪ ♪ You hold the world in your hand ♪ ♪ Still carry my heart ♪ ♪ I'm proud before you, Lord ♪ I'm proud before you, Lord. You are holy, God. Church, I don't think, I don't think, I don't think that I have to remind this church of this, but just in case, let me remind you. It's all about Jesus around here.
We didn't gather here so that you could encounter a worship team, no matter how many, how talented they are, how many gifts they have. You didn't come here to encounter some pastors. You are here to encounter Jesus. Come on, when Jesus shows up, come on, everything changes. Would you just, if you'll just join me in this, come on, across every location. Why don't you lift up your hands to heaven and say, God, we are here for you. We want to encounter you. Oh, God, I pray for those that need to be encouraged today by your presence. Oh, Father, would you just help us to encounter you today? Those that are outside of relationship with you, Lord, help us to encounter you today. God, we invite you into this environment. We invite you into this service. We invite you into our life right now, God. We want you. We make no mistake about it. We're not distracted away from that point, God. We want you today. So God, be worshiped and be praised and be present, we pray. In Jesus' name. Come on, one more time across every location. Let's, let's lift up the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.
You can be seated. And man, I mean that. Like, we're here for Jesus today. Somebody say amen. Oh, come on, you can do, someone, across every, we're here for Jesus today. Because when Jesus shows up, I mean, it's gonna happen. When he doesn't show up, it doesn't matter how many cute songs we sing. It's just not gonna be worth that much. If Jesus doesn't show up, doesn't matter how many cute stories I tell. It's just not gonna be worth much, right? But when God shows up, come on, somebody. When God shows up. And so, I'm so glad that you are here and we're gonna be encouraged by one another, but we're gonna encounter Jesus, amen. And so, I wanna welcome our locations right now real quick. Our Michigan Street Campus joined this service. Our Red Bug Lake Campus joined this service. Our Narcoossee Road Campus joining this service. Today's service streamed at the Correctional Facility, our Central Florida Reception Center. And I wanna welcome also our online campus today. Because there are some people that felt a special call from the Holy Spirit to the online campus today, amen. Had nothing to do with the weather at all. But anyway, we just wanna welcome everybody. Now, let's come on and put our hands together
across all those locations, amen. And if you are joining on the screen somewhere else, listen, I invite you to lean in to what God is doing. Be a part of what God is doing in every aspect of this service. And we do look forward to being with this in person. Again, very, very soon. And so, yeah, so glad that you're here. And we're gonna do something else that we usually celebrate around here. But we're gonna honor God in our giving through God's tithe and our offering. Come on, now we can put our hands together and we can give God praise that we can be a part of something like that. And let me tell you real quick, before we honor God in our giving, we are trying an experiment today. And we've been teaching on tithing and on generosity. And so, there's a lot of people that are jumping out to that journey of tithing, maybe for the first time. And they're trusting the Bible and trusting God in this area. And so, we kind of deem today being like the all tithing. We just dreamed and said, what would it look like if the whole church tithed on one week of their income on the same day, on February 1st? So, that's today. And so, you can be a part of that if you,
some of you already came planning to be a part of that. Some of you regularly tithe, but you maybe timed it where today was gonna be that, or maybe a lot of you it's gonna be maybe the first time you've ever tithed, and we want you to be a part of this today where it's gonna see what happens if we do this all together. And if you're on a screen somewhere, you can do it through our app. You can be a part of this moment. I encourage you to do so. Maybe you're out of town even, and you wanna be a part of this moment with us. You can do that on our church app, or you can go just to the browser, faithassembly.org, and you can find us there and give that way as well. But we're gonna get ready to give of that tithe and that all-tithe moment for our church. And also, we have a second kind of step in our giving journey. We talked about tithing, but we also talked about generosity and kingdom builders. And a couple weeks ago, I taught on what kingdom builders is and what it means to be a kingdom builder and what support to kingdom builders makes happen across the world. And one of the projects, one of our new projects for this year
is the Bible College, I mean, I'm sorry, the Christian school in Jerusalem. And so we wanna show you a little bit of that Christian school and what our efforts through kingdom builders are gonna help make happen there. And so check this video out. This is one of our new kingdom builder partners. For generations, the Holy Land has been marked by tragedy. meditation. Division and conflict have shaped everyday life for Jewish and Palestinian communities for centuries. And sadly, the next generation is born into that reality. But in the midst of this chaos, God is doing something incredible. Children from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and religions, both Jewish and Palestinian, are receiving a Christ-centered education side-by-side at the Jerusalem School of Bethlehem. They began with just 39 students, but by God's grace and the dedication of the founder, Ms. Grace, the Jerusalem School of Bethlehem has flourished into something unimaginable. I'm Ms. Grace. I'm the founder of... I'm Ms. Grace. I'm the founder of... Amen! CHEERING AND APPLAUSE For generations, the Holy Land has been marked by tragedy. Since 1998, the first year, we got 39 students.
But in the midst of this chaos, the next generation is born into that reality. Children from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and religions, both Jewish and Palestinian, are receiving a Christ-centered education side-by-side at the Jerusalem School of Bethlehem. They began with just 39 students, but by God's grace and the dedication of the founder, Ms. Grace, the Jerusalem School of Bethlehem has flourished into something unimaginable. The first year, we got 39 students, and one of the parents, he said, I would like to support your vision to enlarge the school because your purpose and your goal is to spread God's words. Now we are almost 800 students from kindergarten up to high school. But the school's vision has outgrown its walls. Many more families in the region want to send their children here, but the classrooms and facilities cannot hold them all. Many people are interested to send their kids to the school, but because of our facilities, we can't accept more students. The owner of this building, he's between God's hands. He promised when we have money to sell it to us. That's why we are going to keep this building and continue with a new building. Church, we're partnering once again with Builders International to support the expansion of the Jerusalem School of Bethlehem.
Together, we've committed $150,000 to help secure the property and begin construction on a new school campus. This new facility will expand the school from 800 to 1,200 students, making room for future generations to learn in a Christ-centered environment. So thank you for being a Kingdom Builder. As you give, you're helping create a place where students and families can know Jesus, bringing healing to a divided community and helping mend relationships that have been broken for generations. Amen. Yes. And we get to be a part of raising up Christian leaders in that part of the world through our giving to Kingdom Builders. And so that's why we do that. Listen, we have a Christian school here at our church that's also outgrown its space. And so we can take all... all of our extra money and put it towards that and not be a part of something like that. But I just believe that it would be the heart of God for us to sow into a school in that region that's raising up Christian leaders. And we're gonna let God kind of help us on our endeavors as well at the same time and God's gonna bless that obedience. And so today with this being our All Tithe Day
and then that's, if you give to that, it fuels the ministry and vision of the local church. And of course, when you give above tithe to kingdom builders, it makes a difference in missions projects just like that. And so we're gonna pray and we're gonna all be involved in this moment of worship to God. And so let me pray with you as we get ready to honor God through our giving. I'm gonna pray that the promises of God's word just come into your life in full effect as you trust him in this area of your life. Father, thank you for your word. And I do pray, God, for an accelerated, the promises of your word. Lord, may they be accelerated in our life as we trust you and God, as we walk in obedience even in our resources, in our finances and God, as we step into a greater level of generosity than we've ever known. And so God, I just pray that your word would come to pass and that Lord, every promise that you have made to us would be in full effect in our lives. We need you, we love you, we thank you that we have something that we can give. Today, we honor you, we bless you in Jesus' name and everybody said, amen, amen. Well, God bless you as you give. I'm gonna ask Pastor Alex to come on up. And so would you make Pastor Alex welcome
as he comes up to help me today? Amen. Pastor Alex, you are looking great today. Thank you, Pastor. Yes, glad that you're here. Y'all are looking great too. But if you remember, I have Pastor Alex up here because back in October on our Vision Week, we launched and talked about a ministry that we were going to lean into this year. And that ministry is called Neighborhood Ambassadors. And so we announced it back in October. I think today's probably our official launch of it where it's really gonna take traction and make a huge difference in our city. But just give us a refresher course on what Neighborhood Ambassadors is. Yeah, back in October when you were sharing what God had laid in your heart for the vision for the church, we talked about what would it be if our church was an outward-facing church. And one of the things that we have is an opportunity that every time we leave church, we go back into our communities, we go back into our neighborhoods, and there we can be light. We can actually represent Jesus and have the opportunity to encounter or help encounter people with Christ.
And so Neighborhood Ambassadors was an initiative where our church would start praying for their neighbors by name. And it's an amazing opportunity. We mentioned back then that we were gonna use the tool, the Bless app, to help us find the neighbors, our neighbors' names, based on our addresses. And intentionally across all of our campuses, we want to pray for each and every neighbor. Yeah, that's what I love about it. So, you know, it's not a matter of just us going, hey, let's pray for our city, which is great, and pray for the nations, which is awesome, and do those things. This is a little bit unique in that we're talking about praying that you are praying for your neighbors by name. And that's just a different level of ownership. It's a different level of burden. I think you'll sense something different in your life, and you'll sense a greater responsibility, a greater calling on your life as you do that. And so this tool kind of helps that happen. So how do we sign up, or what does it look like to engage in this? What's the steps that somebody would take? Yeah, for sure. It's really simple. We're gonna be utilizing the app called the Bless app. There's gonna be a QR code on the screen
that you can actually click on with your phone. The beautiful thing about this is that once you sign up and register with the Bless app, and you'll see on the screen how that's easy can be done, is just put your name, your address, and create your own password, and instantly you'll start getting notifications. And you can even set the notifications too, but you will get notifications of who your neighbors are and how to start praying for them by name. The beautiful thing about it is is that it's part of a rhythm. Like we had mentioned this past Wednesday, Pastor Cody mentioned, what would it look like if we all had a rhythm of prayer? I use it every day, and on a 12 o'clock I set up the notification when I go to lunch so that I can pray for my neighbors by name. It's very simple to sign up. It's not something that you have to do extra or take out time of your day. It's just part of your normal prayer rhythm. I've been getting those notifications too, and it'll say, don't forget to pray for five of your neighbors, and it'll have them listed there, and you can take that opportunity right then when you get that push notification. to pray for your neighbors, which is awesome.
And that's really just the first step of it. We recently got word of a couple in our church, Jessica and Russell, they'd moved into a new neighborhood. God really opened up some cool doors for them to get in the neighborhood that they were in. And they just felt like God stirred their heart to do something so that they could get to know all their neighbors and reach out to them with the love of Christ. And so it was around Thanksgiving when this happened, so they had the idea, well, let's maybe plan a neighborhood Thanksgiving get-together around Thanksgiving. And so they made these cookie bags and made cookies and put them in bags with a little invitation and went and knocked on everybody's door and introduced themselves and gave everybody cookies and they said, hey, we're gonna do this thing. And they didn't know how it was gonna turn out and some of the neighbors kinda jumped on board and one of the other neighbors started helping and put together a group chat for it and started helping spread the word. And they ended up having 18 adults plus kids all come to their house for this get-together and all got to know each other, hanging around, hanging out most of the day. Nobody wanted to leave, they said. And since then, they've already had two or three families that came to that that have attended our church since then.
I think there's some pictures there of the gathering. So that's just a cool idea, like I'm in this neighborhood for a reason. Now, maybe not everybody is gonna do this type of a thing. So I could kinda maybe sense that some people would think, well, I don't know if I can be a neighborhood ambassador because I don't know if I have the time or I don't know if I know how to do it. So what am I signing up for if I say yes to this and if I sign up on the app? What we're saying yes to is, yes, I wanna pray for my neighbor. It's really following the great commandment is love your neighbor. And the way we start loving people is by praying for them by name. And the beautiful thing about it is it's not something extra. It's not something that's gonna take an exorbitant amount of energy or time to do. It's, again, part of our prayer rhythm where we can just start praying for our neighbors and praying to God for opportunities for conversation so that we can have the opportunity to invite them to church or even pray for a need that they may have. And God can use us right there and then in engaging and connecting with our community and showing the light and love of Christ. I love it.
Thank you, Pastor Alex. He's helping kind of head this initiative up. Give him a hand and thank you for your help today. Amen. And so I'm gonna kind of share today around this same idea as we launch this neighborhood ambassador of what it means to be an ambassador, not just for the church, but ultimately an ambassador for Christ. And so 2 Corinthians chapter five, if you have a copy of God's word, 2 Corinthians five, and we're gonna read verses 16 through 20. The New Living Translation says it this way. Verse 16. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time, we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now. Come on, somebody say amen to that. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone. The new life has begun. Can I get a witness in the house of God that when Christ comes, the old is gone. Has anybody experienced that for your life? The new has come.
Okay, verse 18 says, and all this is a gift from God who brought us back to himself through Christ, and God has given us the task. Oh, it gets good right here. God has given us the task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against him, and then look, he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. God gives us this wonderful message of reconciliation. Verse 20 is what we'll focus on today. So we are Christ's ambassadors. God is making his appeal through us. Oh, I gotta say that one more time. We are Christ's ambassadors. God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, come back to God. I'm gonna preach a message today just entitled, you sound like God. You sound like God, and so let me pray and ask God's anointing on this word one more time. Father, thank you, God, for your word, and I do pray a fresh anointing on this word right now. God, give us ears to hear what you are saying to us. Lord, help me to say what you would have me say. Lord, I thank you for a prophetic anointing that you'll speak to us exactly where we are, and it's in your name that we pray, and everybody said, amen, amen.
Well, as most of you know, we, My wife and I, we had five kids, and we had one daughter and four sons. And when the kids were little and growing up, and our daughter was kind of a second mom to all her brothers. She had one older brother, and then she had three younger brothers, but even with the older or the younger, she was kind of a second mom to all of them. Sydney was just up here a moment ago at this campus helping lead in worship, and I can remember her just, she was kind of a little bit of an additional moral compass for her brothers, you know what I'm saying? She would pray for them, and she'd give them counsel, and she would encourage them to come pray with her. Sometimes we'd come up there and interrupt them, and she'd have all her brothers in her room for a little prayer meeting and stuff like that. So she was kind of a bit of a moral compass, and sometimes she liked that maybe a little too much. Okay, there would be times when she'd be upstairs, and those boys must be starting to get into something, and she would say, you better stop doing what you're doing. She'd try to provide some counsel for them, and they didn't always receive it so well. I'd hear some of that going on upstairs, and then I'd hear those pitter-patter
of her footsteps coming downstairs, and she'd come to me, and she'd say, Dad, they're up there doing, and she'd list off whatever they're doing. And so I would look at her, and I would say, Sydney, I want you to go back upstairs, and I want you to tell those boys that Dad said they better knock it off or I'm coming up there. And the countenance in her face would change. Her shoulders would go back. She may have been coming down those stairs a little bit defeated because they weren't listening to her, but now she was heading up those stairs with a different level of authority. She was heading up those stairs with a different swag on her life, and she'd get up there now with those brothers, and she'd say, listen to me. Dad said, and when she said, Dad said, also now they were listening a little bit more to what she had to say. When she said, Dad said, you better knock it off or he's coming up here, it was amazing. Now they'd start to kind of pay attention a little bit different. Now, what was the difference between Sydney before she came downstairs and after she went upstairs? I'll tell you what the difference was.
Now she was not just representing herself. No, now she was representing someone else with a different level of authority. Now she's walking up those stairs as an ambassador of the Father saying, hey, the Father said this, and when you come with that kind of authority, it kind of changes the teeth with which the message you're bringing has. And this is what it means for us to be Christ ambassadors. Maybe you've made the mistake of thinking that your interactions and your relationships and the people that you do life with and the people that you live next to and the people that you work with, maybe you thought that that was just some random cosmic, well, I don't know why I sit by them in my class. I don't know why they're in my school. I don't know why I work with them. I don't know why they're in my neighborhood. Can I tell you why that they are in your neighborhoods? Because God is making His appeal through you. God ordained this so that you could not go home and not go to work and not go to school just representing yourself. You don't even go to home and work and school just representing your church. No, you are representing Jesus. Come on, somebody, what an incredible calling this is that God has chosen to use us.
How could we ever be intimidated? How could we ever be ashamed? How could we be anything but bold and burdened? That's one of the things I'm praying for us as a church, that we would just get a new level of boldness, a new level of burden. Praying it for my life. And so as we think about what it looks like to be an ambassador for Christ, which Paul says here in 2 Corinthians 5, we are called to be. I wanna kind of talk about what that looks like for us. And so I think the first thing I would ask you to do is we consider what it looks like for us to be an ambassador of Christ. Is first of all, I would ask you this, to consider your position. Like consider like where you are, why you're where you are, who you are in Christ. Consider your position. So simply in verse 20, Paul just says it this way. We are Christ's ambassadors. And in the Roman world, when Paul is writing this, ambassadors were official representatives. It was a big deal. They were sent by a sovereign, sent by a ruler, sent by a government, sent by a king to convey messages and to negotiate on behalf of the ruler. And so Paul uses this imagery of saying, you're an ambassador not of a country,
you're an ambassador not of a particular earthly king, but he's saying, you're an ambassador of Christ. And he's emphasizing the duty that's on each Christ follower to not just live our own life, not just represent ourselves, but know there's a duty on our life because we are representing Christ. We are an ambassador of Christ. I read recently about the Secretary of State during the Reagan presidency. His name was George Shultz, and this would. It would have been, I guess, back in the 80s if it was the Reagan presidency. And so he, as the Secretary of State, he would meet with all of the ambassadors of the U.S. And so he would meet with new ambassadors when they were assigned a country, and he would also meet with ambassadors when they have come home from an assignment in a country. And every time he would meet with these foreign ambassadors of the U.S., as part of that meeting, he would walk over to the globe, and he would spin the globe, and he would say, okay, now you have to go over to that globe and prove to me that you can identify your country. And so they would walk over, and most without fail, all of them, as he tells the story, all of them would point to the country that they were assigned to without making a mistake and say, this is my country, this is my country. When they were getting ready to go,
he would make them, yep, this is my country. Well, it came time for his friend and former Senate Majority Leader, Mike Mansfield. He was now appointed to be the ambassador to Japan. And so George Shultz is doing the same thing he had done with the other ambassadors. He tells Mike Mansfield, he says, go over to the globe, and I want you to prove to me that you can identify your country. And Mike Mansfield did something that no ambassador had done up until this point. He spun that globe, and he put his finger on the United States, and he said, this is my country. He said, no matter what country I go to, he said, this is the country that I represent. And it so moved George Shultz that from that point on, subsequently, every ambassador that he met with, he changed the story. He said, I want you to never forget your country. I don't want you to never forget the country that you are being sent by. You represent the United States. You are there, no matter where you're going, you are there to represent us. Can I just remind some Christians who maybe have started to think that you are from this world, or that somehow you are representing this world, or somehow, listen, you are not representing this world. You are not representing the United States of America
or any other country. You are representing heaven, come on. You are here as an ambassador to a lost world, and I don't want you to ever forget the country that you're representing. I liked how Philippians chapter three, verse 20 says it. But our citizenship is in heaven. Oh, that'll change the way you live. It'll change the way you think. My citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. That title, that title of ambassador carries with it a dignity, and I am sent everywhere I go. I am sent by the king of kings. I am sent by a king that's above all other kings. I am sent by heaven itself to represent heaven to this world. So what does that mean as an ambassador? That means I don't speak my own message. It means I speak the king's message. Oh, some of you can blow up, you can melt down social media with all of your thoughts and all of your opinions, and let me just give a piece of my mind. You're not called to give a piece of your mind. You're called to give a piece of heaven. You're called to represent the king's message, which is a message of reconciliation.
It's a message of come to Christ. It's God, as Paul said, God's making his appeal through us. No, we're called to carry the king's message. We're called to maintain the king's character. We're called to live in such a way that nothing that we do or say conflicts with the message that Christ is trying to bring through our life. In other words, if my lifestyle is different from Christ's message, my message now is tainted. My message now is weakened. If I'm gonna talk to somebody about, man, you know what, God can set you free, and I'm bound by the same things that they're bound by. If I'm gonna talk to somebody, well, God can change the way that you talk, and I talk like everybody else. God can change the way you live, and I live like everybody else. No, my life has to be on the standards of the king that I represent. I'm maintaining the king's character. That's what 1 Peter 2, verse 11 is talking about. Dear friends, I urge you, look at the motivation here. I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from sinful desires which wage against your soul. Let's make sure our message, our methods, our motives are right so that we are in a position.
I want you to consider your position in Christ because your position affects your presentation. That's the second thing I'll pull from verse 20 is I want us to clarify our presentation. We're always presenting. We're always communicating. Everything communicates. How does Paul say it? He said, God is making his appeal through us. God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, come back to God. Our position is important because it affects our presentation. Everything communicates. All right, let me say it this way. A couple weeks ago, probably a couple months ago now, I was in the Target parking lot, and this girl was having car problems. And I saw her, and she was kind of standing, she was a college girl, she was new in town, and she didn't know who to call. And I walked up, and I started to try to act like I knew what was wrong with her car because I was trying to help. And she was so desperate that she was taking my help, or whatever, so I was like, looking around, I'm like, it won't start? She's like, no. I was like, probably that lug nut might be loose. I think that might be the problem.
It looks like the trunk is a little crooked. That could be part of it, too. I'm just like trying to. And so, you know, you walk up to somebody who's got car problems, and you want to pretend like you know something. They're looking at you like, I don't know if I can trust what this guy has to say. But if I walk up in my Firestone jacket, all right, if I come up on somebody with car problems, and I got my Firestone jacket on, and my name tag says Victor, because you know, if somebody's got a name Victor, they probably know how to fix a car. You know what I'm saying? I walk up with my Firestone jacket on, and now I can say, I think it's your flux capacitor. They're gonna be like, it probably, he knows cars. I mean, look at his, like, why is that? Because everything communicates. Like, it's all part of it. If I'm walking around the emergency room in some shorts and a T-shirt, and I'm walking up to people going, you know, they're sitting there with some massive injury, I'm like, I think it's probably a broken, I can't even think of a bone name, you know, like, I think you have a broken patella tendon. I think that's what it is, like, they're gonna be like, get out of here.
But if I walked up to that same person in the emergency room and I got my, I got my lab coat, I don't even know what this is, I got my coat on, and I got my, I'm not even gonna try to pronounce this. We were having fun this week with me trying to pronounce these, stethoscope. I got that on. Now I walk up to that same person who's in that emergency room, and I say, look, I think I know what the problem is. They're gonna be all ears. Why? Because everything communicates, because now it's a different level of authority that I carry when I have this on. If I walk up to two guys, and they're fighting out in the street, and they're just, like, going after each other, and I walk up and say, hey, y'all need to knock it off. You know what they're gonna do? They'll say, let's just team up together and beat him up. They'll just come after me. But if I walk up to those same dudes with this on, I got this on over my sweater, they're like, uh, I don't know if it's good. I got this on, though. I walk up to those same people and I say, hey, knock it off. I carry a different authority because everything communicates.
Now hold on, whether you thought of it or not, and whether you've decided to accept the title of ambassador or not, I gotta tell the church something. You walk around with a giant C on your chest, you walk around with a giant C on your back because you are a Christian. You know what that means? It's a Christ person. It's a Christ follower. And you walk around with a different authority on your life. You walk around with a message of reconciliation. That can probably be argued that that was Paul's primary message is reconciliation. And so what does it mean, reconciliation? It implies that there are people that are in broken relationship with God. Reconciliation presupposes a quarrel. It presupposes a breach in the relationship. And so sin has created this breach in relationship between the creation and the creator. And this breach of relationship now puts the creation as enmity against God. Like, watch this, church. You're either for God or you're against God. And so people, some don't even realize it, and they're walking around as an enemy to God. And what is God gonna do about this problem? Who is God gonna send? He sends you.
He has given you the ministry of reconciliation. You walk into those situations. You walk into that job. You walk into that grocery store. You walk into that restaurant with a server who's an enemy with God and may not even realize it, with a big C on your chest, with a big C on your back. And it's as if Christ is making his appeal through you, which, guess what, takes all the pressure off of you. Christ making his appeal through us kinda takes away all the self-doubt. I don't have to know everything. Christ making his appeal through us kinda takes away all the self-importance. Well, look how important I am, because God talks through me. Oh, it's God who's talking. It's not you. So self-importance or self-doubt, neither one really matter when it's Christ making his appeal through you. And we may ask the question, but what gives me the authority? What gives me the authority to put on the Christian outfit, the Christian uniform and represent Christ? What gives me the authority to have a message of reconciliation? Let me tell you what it is.
It's because you have experienced reconciliation. And when you have experienced reconciliation, you can express reconciliation, right? Like, because you know that if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. The old is gone, everything's made new. You know that. Christ can use that in your life. I wanna tell one story that's just an encouragement, but Jonathan and Cassandra Diaz are in our church. And recently they started a business, a coffee shop in St. Cloud. And this is what they wrote. They said, mine and my husband's prayer, the day before we opened the store was Lord, if we can just lead one person to you and we have to close after that, it would be worth it. What a prayer to pray at the launch of a new business. So they did and they launched this business and it's already helped fund missions efforts and help all kinds of needs around the world. But also it says that they wrote that Faith Church has become home for many of our customers through hundreds of invites to attend church. Several who are now members of our church who got invited through their coffee shop, especially at the Narcoossee campus. It says just last Sunday, seven customers attended Faith Church for the first time that we had invited at the coffee shop.
One Sunday, about a year ago, over 30 of our customers attended Faith for the first time on the same day. Come on, is this somebody deciding that they don't just represent themselves, but that they represent Christ? Can I, let me say this would also encourage you, some stats that'll encourage you. 82%, 82% of unchurched people say they would at least, they would be at least somewhat likely to attend church if a friend or family member invited them. See, the enemy wants to whisper this lie in your ear that everybody's gonna punch you in the face if you invite them to church. And yet statistics tell us that 82% of Americans say, well, if my friend or family member invited me, yeah, I'd be somewhat likely to go. We got next week, which is our super Sunday. And of course, that's one of the reasons why we're sharing this today, because next week, and I already looked at the forecast next week, a high of 73 next Sunday. All right, perfect church-going weather. Come on, somebody, you know what I'm saying on that, right? Yeah. Ain't no problems, come on, come back. But isn't it wild that we're so timid and so scared to invite, and yet 80 plus percent are going, yeah, I'd come. Actually, seven out of 10 unchurched people
report that they've never personally been invited to a church service. 70% have never even been, hey, you should come. 48% of churchgoers have not invited anyone in the last six months, and the statistics tell us that one out of three churchgoers have never invited anyone to the church that they attend. Even though, so we got one out of three that never even done it, even though 80% are like, yeah, I'd consider it, I'd probably come. I don't know how this happens. As we think about what it means to be an ambassador, let me close with this, and then we're gonna pray together. This is a couple years back, me and Manny, who's in our church, and then my son, one of my sons. We went to play golf at this very exclusive and elite country club in Winter Park. It's one of the most exclusive and elite golf country clubs in our state, and I'm sure it's a great, I mean, it is a great, it's beautiful, and we got to go because someone worked there at the country club, and so they got us on, and when we pulled up in the parking lot to go to this swanky, high-level, elite country club, we pulled up, and we were getting our stuff out of the car, and there was a couple guys that were members, and again, not everybody's like this at that country club, but we just happened to run into some that were a little bit like this,
and so they were kind of like giving us the side-eye from a distance, you know? We're getting our stuff out, and they're kind of like doing this thing, and then somebody kind of pulled up, and they're like, can I help you? You know how somebody can ask, can I help you, and they don't mean, can I help you? They mean more like, what are you doing here? Like, what, you know? So it was one of those. It's like, can I help you, and I was like, well, you don't really want to help me, obviously, the way you just said that, and obviously, I got a Titleist hat on, and I got golf clubs, so you can probably, let's deduct what we're gonna do here. We're here to play golf, and I said, yeah, well, what are you guys doing here? And he goes, oh, man, and so we finally get everything figured out, and the whole time we were there, it just, it just felt. felt like we were being looked at as outsiders. We felt like the whole time that we were being looked at, like we didn't really belong and we didn't officially belong to the club. And I remember getting in the car, driving home from there, and I remember thinking, man, God, I hope our church never becomes a country club. I hope we never start to have this attitude with people because God will send them.
What are we going to do when God starts to send people that don't think like us and don't look like us and don't vote like us and don't act like... How are we going to act when people start to fill in this place? God, help us not to become a country club. God, help us not to on a day when we're going to say we're going to invite everybody and mean parking lots are going to be full and people are going to be in your seat. God, help us not to become a country club and walk up to somebody, give them a side eye, kind of like, well, what are you doing here? Why are you here right now? No, God, help us to be more like a hospital because a hospital says, come one, come all, come if you're hurting. We're here to help you. We're here to take care of you. That's really what the church is called to do. God, help us never to become a country club. Help us to be ambassadors of heaven on earth. God wants to use you. God is, he has equipped you. You've experienced reconciliation so that you can express reconciliation. I want us to pray. And I want to say, be specific. I want us to all pray together at every location. I want you to think of two or three people in your life.
They're there on purpose. Like you sit by them in class for a reason. It's not accidental. You live near them, it's God put you there on purpose. You work with them on purpose. You run into them on purpose. And so I want you to think about two or three people. And I want us to pray for those people as we close out this service. That this week, when we get ready, maybe to invite them to Super Sunday, that we're gonna pray that schedules will be cleared and that people will be open. We know they are. Statistics tell us they're gonna be open to this invitation. How could we ever be ashamed or intimidated? No, we're gonna be burdened and we're gonna be bold. We said this year, we're gonna be a church that seeks. We're gonna join Jesus in his mission to seek and save that which is lost. So let's pray right now, God help us. God help us, we pray, to be burdened and to be bold. And we pray right now for individuals. Come on, I want you to whisper their names right now. Lord, for those neighbors that we live near. God, those people that we work with, those family members that have yet to say yes to you. God, those people that we're in class with. God, we pray for them by name right now.
Come on, call somebody, whisper somebody's name to the Lord. Say, God, use me as an ambassador. God, let your message flow through me to them. We pray in Jesus' name. Lord, this week, I just thank you for that schedules will clear. I thank you, God, for those people that we are mentioning, those people that we're thinking about, those people that we are praying about. God, I thank you that they are saying yes to you. They're saying yes to an invitation, and God, next Sunday, they're saying yes to you as their Lord and Savior. And we thank you for a great harvest as you use us as your ambassadors, and it's in your name that we pray and believe. And with every head bowed and every eye still closed, I just am burdened enough to not be able to leave this service while some of you are still in that enmity with God. I know you didn't plan on it when you woke up this morning to be an enemy with God, but if you're not for him, you are against him, and if he's not your Lord, he is your enemy. And I want you just to have an opportunity to make that right. You're here today, and you need to get saved. You need to say yes to Jesus. You need to make him your Lord.
You need to believe on him. You need to turn away from following after your own plan and your own will and surrender and submit your life to his will, to his word. You know it. You know who you are. I don't have to beg. I don't have to twist your arm, but I will pray for you as we conclude this service. So if you're here today, and you just be honest, nobody's looking around, you'd be honest. Say, pastor, pray for me, because I do. I need to make Jesus Lord of my life today. If that's you, nobody's looking around. If that's you, let me do it this way. Just hold up your hand. I'll see it. I need Christ today. Yeah, yeah, and who else? I need Christ today. Thank you. And the risers, anybody I need? Yeah, thank you. On the floor, I need Christ today. Hold up for just a second so I see it, amen. Thank you. God bless you. God bless you. Let's pray together as our whole room. And if you didn't raise your hand,
and you feel like you needed to, but you didn't have the boldness to do so, you can pray this prayer with us. And at the close of this service, I also invite you to. to come forward and we'll be people here at the front that will be glad to pray with you and kind of set you on this path of living for God and what that means. So why don't we stand to our feet, pray this with me, everybody in the room. Pray it out loud, say Jesus, I believe on you and I invite you to be the Lord of my life. I surrender my will to your will. I pray that my old would be gone and that everything would be made new today. I love you, I give my life to you. Thank you for saving me, thank you for loving me. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. Can we give God praise for what just happened in this place? Like I said, if you need prayer today, you can feel free to come forward. Pastor Jesse's gonna come and bring some closing thoughts. God bless you. Amen, hey, can we thank Pastor Johnny for that word this morning? Amen, amen. All right, have a great week, church. Don't forget to grab a Super Sunday invite on your way out there just outside in the foyers.
And if you need prayer, if you accepted Jesus into your life today for the first time, our altar team is here, our prayer team is here. We wanna pray with you. If you need prayer, make sure you join us down the front. We would love to pray with you. If not, have a great week and we'll see you next Sunday. Hey, if you're watching online, it's been so great to have you join us for this service. If God did something in your life today, you can put that in the chat. We would love to journey that with you and to pray with you. And if you accepted Jesus today as your Lord and Saviour, you can actually scan the QR code or click the link and that'll take you to some next steps on what you need to do next and any way we can help you with that. If you're ever in Florida or the Orlando area, we'd love to see you at one of our services. All right, be blessed. We'll see you next time.
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