Orphans and Ambassadors

Last week, Grace's Watershed Youth did work at the Presbyterian Home for Children. Many of the kids there are orphans-- children without parents waiting for adoption. Remember the musical Annie? Annie just wanted to be adopted. In fact, that was the hope of all the children in the orphanage.

The fact is that we are all orphans. We are looking for a home. Like Annie, we wait hopefully that our parents will come back and adopt us. The truth, however, is that we are already adopted. God is kinda like Daddy Warbucks. But he not only promises to adopt us, he promises us the inheritance of his kingdom. I imagine that if Bill Gates promised me a small inheritance of his fortune, I would immediately jump at it. And how much more valuable is the kingdom of heaven?

I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. - John 14:17

In his great mercy he has given us new birth... and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-- kept in heaven for you.
- I Peter 1:3-5

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One career I always thought I would like to be is an ambassador for the State Department. Being able to represent my country in foreign nations would be really neat. It is a very important job, which is why ambassadors are usually the pick of the litter in the State Department.

Josiah Bancroft stated in a sermon a few weeks ago that an ambassador does not have the freedom to say whatever he or she wants. An ambassador represents a higher power. The ambassador of the United States in Russia is only priviledged to state on behalf of the United States, not for himself.

In the same way, we are ambassadors. Our message is not our own. We represent something bigger and more important than us. If we fail to communicate that message, then we fail as ambassadors.

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
-II Corinthians 5:20

Ambassador Apartments- 5th Ave, Hendersonville, NC