Last Day of Unleavened Bread – Ambassadors for Jesus    April 15, 2020 

Why are we here today, is an interesting question.

How did it go this last week?  Did we make an effort to eat Unleavened Bread every day?  Are we already tired of the Unleavened Bread?  Are we ready for some real bread, like a hamburger, ice cream cone, and regular bread or hot rolls? 

• What are we going to do now as we move past the Days of Unleavened Bread heading to Pentecost.
• We are on the Last Day of Unleavened Bread.
• We ate unleavened bread through the 7 days of Unleavened Bread.
• We are recognizing that our Lord and Creator are unleavened, without sin,
• We are the Temple of the Holy Spirit and symbolically we do not want to put leaven, sin, into Temple during this time.

Remember, we already covered leaven which represents sin on the First High Day and we are to put sin out of our lives or out of the Temple.

2 Corinthians 6:16-18 What agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: “I will live and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

(17) Therefore, “Get away from them and separate yourselves from them,” declares the Lord, “and don’t touch anything unclean. Then I will welcome you. (18) I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters,” declares the Lord Almighty.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (17) If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. 

1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

Just a thought:

Matthew 21:13 “The Scriptures say my Temple is a place of prayer,” he declared, “but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

Are we not to put sin out of our lives, which is from our heart during these spring feasts. 

We are to come out from among the world and be separate and to be a light to the world.

Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. (15) Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. (16) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

We say good works, but it really how we live, treat others, be honest, etc. and so others may see  us and be moved to love and serve God likewise.  How many times have we heard others say, if that is how a Christian acts, I want no part of it. 

John 17:11-18 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. (12) While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

(13) But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. (14) I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Jesus has given us His commands and instructions. And the world hates us for them because they don’t fit in with Satan world view.  We have a choice, God’s commands or Satan moods.

(15) I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. (16) They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (17) Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. (18) As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

We are made pure and holy through the teaching Jesus Words of Truth.

Why, because we are ambassadors for Christ.  How we act, talk and respond is looked at by everyone, especially how we treat other individuals.  We imitate those who we respect and follow.

Ambassador is important because according to the Greek, act as a Representative, for Jesus to the world and we are to promote Him.

We need to learn 3 different Skill to be ambassador.

1. Knowledge:

• We need to know what we are talking about.
• We should know what Jesus character is like, His mind, His purpose.
• We need to know Him well.

Romans 10:2-3 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.  (3)  Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 

2. Wisdom:

• We need to know how, when, where to most effective use that knowledge
• This is what determines whether or not we are an effective diplomat
• Or a voice that just adds to the noise of the world.
• Did not Paul call it resounding gong or clanging cymbal {1 Cor 13:1}. 

Ephesians 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

3. Character:

• Knowledge and wisdom is all about talking the talk,
• but we have to be able to walk the walk.
• We are to live the very words that is coming out of our mouths,
• the message could be ignored or worse, damaged.

2 Peter 1:5-8 For this very reason, you must make every effort to supplement your faith with moral character, your moral character with knowledge, (6) your knowledge with self-control, your self-control with endurance, your endurance with godliness, (7) your godliness with brotherly kindness, and your brotherly kindness with love. (8) For if you possess these qualities, and if they continue to increase among you, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in attaining a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

These are the 3 things we need to continue to grow in as ambassadors.

2 Corinthians 5:20-21  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  (21)  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We representative Jesus to anyone we meet in life.  Jesus became for us, sin, our sin was put on Him, we are now righteous in the sight of the Father.

Ephesians 6:20 for whose sake I am an ambassador in chains, desiring to declare the gospel as boldly as I should.

We should speak out boldly for Jesus, since we are ambassador for Him. 

How are we living our lives, causing words against Jesus by our actions.

The Commandment of God:

Exodus 20:7 “You are not to misuse the name of the LORD your God, because the LORD will not leave the one who misuses his name unpunished.

This means far more than swearing or profanity, but ambassadorship.  If we are going to take the name of the King, we better be prepared to represent Him faithfully.

We know we are ambassadors, and then we call ourselves Christians or Believers, taking the name of Christ upon ourselves.

If we claim to be Christ’s disciples, and yet we don’t live as one who has taken the name of Christ should, then we’re in violation of this commandment.

Why do I say this, because the Apostle Paul tells us:

Romans 2:24 As it is written, “God’s name is being blasphemed among the gentiles because of you.”

If our actions are in the Way of Death (which are the works of the flesh), then we will be blaspheming the name of God. 

If our actions are in the Way of Life that Jesus taught, lived and instructed, then the way we live our Lives will shows the fruit of the Spirit. 

Yes, we are Ambassadors, Lights to the World and the Temple of the living God and how we act and react to people in the world will reflex on the Creator God. 

Paul tells us that God has entrusted His Servants with the gospel:

1 Thessalonians 2:4 Rather, because we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, we speak as we do, not trying to please people but God, who tests our motives. 

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, (2) by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you–unless you believed in vain. (3) For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (4) and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

As an ambassador, we are: 

Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Paul tells us we are unleavened and we are to keep the feast with sincerely and truth.

Why again are we here, because we are to hear meat in due season. This is why we cover the meaning of the feast day we are celebrating.

As Servants, we are to cover Meat in due season. But what is this ‘meat?‘ And what is the ‘due season’ in which this meat is to be given? Let’s find out:

Matthew 24:44-45 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (45) “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?

Luke 12:42-43 And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? (43) Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

These passages tell us exactly what this meat is, both in a general sense, and in detail. In general, this meat can be seen in the following verses:

Psalms 104:27 These all wait for You, That You may give them their food in due season.

Psalms 145:15  The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time.

Proverbs 15:23 A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, And a word spoken in due season, how good it is!

1 Timothy 4:6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.

In these verses, we see immediately that this meat in due season is something that comes from our Heavenly Father, even though it is done by His servants.

Hebrews 5:12-14 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. (13) For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. (14) But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

• A word spoken in due seasons refers to the spoken words of Jesus the Creator and the God of the Old Testament.
• Jesus, the Messiah spoke to Israel and Moses wrote at Sinai on what Jesus gave him.  Paul explains: 

1 Corinthians 10:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, (2) all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,

(3) all ate the same spiritual food, (4) and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.

Jesus, the Messiah gives us His words, which become our meat as we feed upon His Word. We then become “DO-ers” of His word, as we walk in obedience to His words.

2 Peter 3:18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

Our Lord Jesus from the scriptures calls it “Way of Life” or “Way of death”.  

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. 

Where did the term “Way of Life” come from?

**Proverbs 10:17 He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, But he who refuses correction goes astray.

Jesus gives us a direct statement to live our lives in a certain Way.  

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

How we live a Christian life, shows how bright or dim our light shines.

Jesus tells us there are two different Ways we can live our life.

Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

There are consequences for our actions in our Life.  The decisions we make today will affect us and our families later on in our life. 

We are to give all Glory to God by the way we live our lives. 

Do we really believe the Churches who claim to be Christian, have not water down Jesus teachings, and now, religious beliefs and actions from the Scriptures really no impact on how Christians are to live their lives. 

On church day, on a whole, Christians live one way and on the other six days, live another way.  

When we as individuals or as a nation choose the “Way of death” instead of the “Way of life”, then the Judgment of God will be on the individuals and nations. 

So we are to study His words to grow in grace and knowledge and to learn the Way of Life that Jesus instructed us to learn. 

Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.

Finally, we are commanded to:

Mark 16:15 Then he told them, “As you go into all the world, proclaim the gospel to everyone.

As we go out to the world, what we say, how we react, where we go reflex’s on Jesus, since we say we are a follower of Him.

This is what we should be doing as Ambassadors of our Lord and Creator, proclaiming the Gospel, but mainly by letting our light shine as we go forward to the next feast day and High Day, Day of Pentecost.