Living as Ambassadors of the Kingdom of God

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
1. **Matthew 6:10** - "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
2. **Revelation 22:13** - "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End."
3. **Daniel 6:3** - "Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom."

#### Observation Questions
1. What does it mean for the Kingdom of God to extend from heaven to Earth? How is this reflected in Matthew 6:10? [48:33]
2. How does Jesus describe Himself in Revelation 22:13, and why is this significant for understanding His role in the Kingdom of God? [49:19]
3. What are some characteristics of the Kingdom culture as described in the sermon? [53:37]
4. How did Daniel's "extraordinary spirit" influence his position in the kingdom, according to Daniel 6:3? [01:08:00]

#### Interpretation Questions
1. How does the concept of being both a citizen and an ambassador of the Kingdom of God influence a believer's daily life, especially in the workplace? [50:19]
2. What does it mean to carry the culture of the Kingdom into every sphere of life, and why is this important? [51:11]
3. How can the spiritual gifts given to each citizen be used to serve the King's mission in practical ways? [56:51]
4. In what ways does the character of the King need to be evident in the lives of believers, and how does this validate the message they carry? [54:34]

#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on your current mindset. Do you see yourself more as a citizen or an ambassador of the Kingdom of God? How can you shift your perspective to embrace both roles more fully? [50:19]
2. Think about your workplace. How can you bring the culture of the Kingdom—values like integrity, excellence, and character—into your daily work environment? [51:11]
3. Have you ever hesitated to share your faith or pray for someone at work due to concerns about appropriateness? How can you overcome this hesitation and be a more effective ambassador? [58:56]
4. Identify one specific way you can honor others in your daily interactions this week. How can this act of honor reflect the culture of the Kingdom? [53:37]
5. Consider the spiritual gifts you have been given. How can you use these gifts to serve others and advance the King's mission in your community or workplace? [56:51]
6. How often do you pray for your workplace, including your bosses and coworkers? What specific prayers can you start incorporating into your daily routine to bring the Kingdom's culture into your work environment? [01:02:31]
7. Reflect on the story of Daniel. What steps can you take to cultivate an "extraordinary spirit" of excellence and integrity in your own life, regardless of your job title or position? [01:08:00]

Day 1: Embrace Your Kingdom Citizenship
Citizenship in the Kingdom of God is an invitation to live with a heavenly perspective in every aspect of life, especially in places where influence can be exerted, like the workplace. As citizens and ambassadors, there is a responsibility to carry the culture of the kingdom wherever one goes, transforming environments with the values of heaven. This is not a passive status but an active role in manifesting God's will on Earth as it is in heaven. [51:11]

Matthew 5:13-16 - "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden."
Reflection: How can you be 'salt and light' in your workplace or community today, actively bringing kingdom values into those environments?

Day 2: Authority Beyond Earthly Titles
In the Kingdom of God, authority is not based on earthly titles or positions but on one's identity as a member of the king's delegation. This understanding empowers believers to live confidently, knowing that their value and authority come directly from the King, regardless of their societal status. This divine authority is meant to be exercised with humility and service, reflecting the character of the King in every interaction. [01:06:42]

1 Peter 2:9 - "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."
Reflection: How does understanding your heavenly authority change the way you view your role in your family, job, or community?

Day 3: Cultivating Kingdom Culture
The culture of the Kingdom of God is characterized by worship, honor, forgiveness, grace, and mercy, with an emphasis on integrity and excellence. These values are not just spiritual ideals but practical expressions of the King's character in daily life. Believers are called to embody these values, thereby attracting others to the transformative culture of the kingdom. [54:34]

Colossians 3:12-14 - "Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."
Reflection: What is one way you can demonstrate kingdom culture, such as grace or forgiveness, in a challenging situation you're currently facing?

Day 4: Prayer as Kingdom Influence
Prayer is a powerful tool for kingdom ambassadors, allowing them to bring the reality of the kingdom into their workplaces and beyond. By praying for those around them, believers can address spiritual issues and demonstrate the kingdom's power to heal and transform lives. This spiritual discipline is a means of extending the kingdom's influence in the most practical areas of life. [01:03:10]

James 5:16 - "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."
Reflection: Who in your workplace or community can you commit to praying for this week, asking God to work in their life in a specific way?

Day 5: Reflecting the King's Character
The true mark of a kingdom ambassador is the reflection of the King's character in their life. This goes beyond spiritual expressions to include practical integrity and excellence in all things. By living out the character of the King, believers validate the message of the kingdom and draw others to its reality. The authentic reflection of the King's character is what distinguishes kingdom ambassadors. [01:09:38]

Ephesians 4:1-3 - "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
Reflection: In what area of your life can you better reflect the character of the King, and how can you start making those changes today?

King, today we are going to celebrate our King, who is this King of glory with all power in His hands. Thank you, God.

Said death, where is your sting? They tried to take Him. He said, "No, you're not taking my life; I'm laying it down. If I wanted to call 10,000 angels, I could." This is our King, and I'm telling you, the devil is chirping, but we must know who this King is and what this Kingdom is to us.

We are citizens, woo! Citizenship comes with rights and privileges. It comes with access. This Kingdom is not just a physical place; it is a domain that reaches from heaven and comes to Earth. He said, "Let this Kingdom come; His will be done on Earth, that's right, as it is in heaven."

We are citizens of a God who has a Kingdom that is unmatched, unlimited. He showed me throughout the week that there is no way 30 minutes of a sermon can capture all of what this Kingdom is. A three-week series is not sufficient to capture what this Kingdom is. It is just as robust as God Himself.

This is how Jesus described Himself in Revelation: "I am Alpha and I am Omega; I'm the beginning and I am the end." Jesus is the Lion and the Lamb. He was 100% man and 100% God when He walked this Earth. How can I capture all of that? This is our King.

But the Kingdom of God is this perspective of life too; it's a mindset. You have to have a Kingdom mindset where you see yourself as a citizen and an ambassador. You have the backing of Heaven behind you in a foreign territory. We are in the world, but we're not of this world. We are in a foreign territory, and so He wants us to have this ambassador mindset, this ambassador identity, this Kingdom way of life, this culture that He wants us to take to this foreign territory.

Now, it only makes sense that we take our Kingdom culture into the marketplace. Think about it: we work 8, 9, 10 hours away from home. We spend more time at work than we do at home, so why wouldn't the King send His ambassadors to where they spend the most time? Our job as ambassadors is to be messengers of the King, that's right, representing our nation, the Kingdom of God, a spiritual Kingdom that is meant to touch Earth, to let people know His power, His glory, the culture that He wants to give them. That is our job.

The Kingdom must be at work at work. We're citizens, right? You're not being an ambassador when you're in the embassy. [Applause] This is the embassy where the King's culture is already accepted. We already get it; it goes unsaid. We're not being ambassadors in the embassy. Sunday morning is the embassy, so Monday through Saturday, that's when we're being ambassadors.

He wants us to give Him culture. What is the Kingdom culture? This is important. Here's the definition of Kingdom culture: let me give it to you like this. It's the beliefs and practices passed down in a society from generation to generation. It includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, art, etc. It's the way of life for an entire society.

Here is what happens in our Kingdom culture: daily dependence on the one true King, Jesus Christ; a lifestyle of worshiping this King and worshiping our Heavenly Father; a culture and lifestyle of honoring others. Okay, I'm going to pause right there—honoring others, loving your neighbor as yourself. Forgiveness is in this culture.

I see y'all want me to preach prosperity, and your name is coming up in rooms. Forgiveness is the culture of the Kingdom. Grace and mercy from God—the culture is in this Kingdom. That is the culture of the Kingdom.

Jesus, I'm going to skip to this point. It's hard to give the culture of the Kingdom when you don't have the character of the King, right? I sense that I need to get straight to the fact that if we don't reflect at work the character of the King, they don't want the culture of the King.

See, our King wants people to know that He comes that we might have life and life more abundantly, but if you don't reflect an abundant spirit, generosity, why would they want the culture of the King? But here's what else is in this culture: it's a lifestyle where we can be bilingual. That's right! So whether it's language that is earthly or even a heavenly language, when we need to reach Heaven, we can reach Heaven, and when we need Heaven to reach Earth, it can be done in this culture.

Sure, we believe in the buddy system because the King said this: "If two of you agree here on Earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in Heaven will do it for you." And the buddy system says, "If two or three of you are gathered in my name, yes, I'm going to show up too. I will be in the midst."

When your culture of the King is present, and in this Kingdom culture, everybody gets a gift. Pastor Soul said everyone loves gifts, right? Well, our King is handing out gifts. Every citizen gets a gift in this Kingdom culture—a spiritual gift that we are supposed to show and use while we are at work as ambassadors, teaching the culture of the King.

Now, I'm going to admit to you, one time one of the biggest mistakes that I made is that I separated church life from work life. I was a great citizen, but see, citizens can be citizens at home. You can stay to yourself, and you just focus on your own rights and your own privileges, making sure that the constitution of this Kingdom works for you, making sure that no one violates what I'm supposed to have.

I'm just showing up here to do my 40 hours because actually, I keep my culture on Sundays. My God! I'm just here to exchange my work for this paycheck, and that's it. That's all you're getting out of me—citizenship.

But one day, my job needed an ambassador. So I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business, and a coworker walked up to me and said, "Hey, one of our coworker's mothers is sick. Can you pray for her mother?"

Sure! Father God, we thank You in this moment. You're so good to us; You're so kind. Heal her. She says, "No, no, no, no, no! Follow me."

"Where are we going, Jason? Just follow me."

And I began to walk with her, and I'm walking slow, and I get to the room, and it's about 10 people standing in a circle. She said, "Jason, I've seen you preach. I know you go to church, but her mother is sick, and she's in another city. Is there something you can do about it?"

I had to make a decision: am I going to stay a citizen, come on now, or am I going to be an ambassador? Am I going to stay to myself about my rights and privileges, or am I going to bring the King's culture of healing into the room? Am I going to bring the King's language of prayer into the room?

And I began to tiptoe in. I said, "Are you sure we can pray up in here? I mean, is HR around here? 'Cause I need this job. I got a bunch of kids. I need this good job."

I had to make the decision whether to be a citizen or an ambassador. And so I started my little feeble praying: "Oh God, we thank You." And the Spirit of God came in and said, "Sir, you need to pray through. You need to intercede. They are looking for the Kingdom to come on Earth as it is."

And I began to pray, and I'm praying past the nervousness. I'm being honest with you. I'm praying past the hesitation because I want God to get glory. I was sent to this job for a reason, and even if it was that one reason, I needed to fulfill my role as an ambassador.

So I began to pray, and it's folks that I ain't even know they knew Jesus' words. They just knew "Hallelujah." I mean, I'm just hearing stuff like, "When did you learn the word hallelujah?"

But I began to pray, and I prayed, and I prayed. I said, "Amen." And a couple of days later, they said her mother recovered. They didn't know that she was going to make it, but she recovered.

Something that you said in that room worked. They needed the Kingdom culture to come. They needed someone who can get to Heaven. I didn't do the work; it was the Spirit of God that met that woman wherever she was in the hospital. I couldn't go there; they couldn't go there, but I was an ambassador representing my nation in a foreign territory.

And I know that's, you know, that's an extreme situation, and all of you maybe are saying, "Listen, I'm not in that kind of environment."

"Jason, that sounds good, but you know we can't do that."

Let me give you something you can do as an ambassador with the language of the Kingdom, which is prayer. Get there a little early. Prepare yourself on the way in. Play some worship music, whether you're in the car or you put them in your airpods. Begin to worship on your way and get there early.

Then begin to walk around, and maybe you act like you're going to the water cooler or whatever. You begin to pray: "Father, in the name of Jesus." You ain't have to be loud; you don't have to scream, but you bring the culture through that language of prayer.

"Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray for my boss. Touch his body. Touch my coworkers. Bless their family."

Can I tell you the truth? We spend so much time complaining about the job that we forget to pray for it. Come on! And you're complaining about your boss, but you're supposed to be praying for your boss. Pray for their mind; pray for their soul to be saved. Pray that they are kept in their emotions.

Begin to pray for your coworkers. Yeah, I know they get on your nerves. I know they're a problem, but see, you're the one that's supposed to bring the Kingdom in. And it's not just them getting on your nerves; it could be a spiritual problem, and you have a spiritual solution to a spiritual problem.

That's good! You are the ambassador, and the King has given you rights to pray, language to pray. He's given you access to healing, but you need the Kingdom confidence to know that.

You need to know that it's not about us. See, no ambassador goes in with their own opinion about anything. An ambassador goes into that foreign territory with the mind of the King. That ambassador goes in saying, "There are things that the King wants to accomplish here. Just send me the message, King. What is it that you want to offer in this space?"

I had the privilege of being a part of a dinner with a head of state from a foreign nation, and it was so interesting because we were in this waiting room, and they were allowing us to get something to drink and some peanuts and stuff like that.

And then all of a sudden, they said, "The Prime Minister is on his way." And I was like, "Okay, tell him to come on in. Why are you telling me? We in here; he can have peanuts too. Tell him to come in."

But what I noticed was that everybody else understood what happens when the King comes in, when the Prime Minister comes in and his cabinet comes in. So I saw them stand up in a line, and I said, "Oh, we okay."

And the Prime Minister comes in, and he begins to shake hands down the line, and I see them bow to him. I see reverence to him. And then the next person comes in. I don't even know who I knew—the Prime Minister. Who is that? It's somebody in the cabinet. It doesn't matter. The honor that goes to the King goes to everybody else who's in his delegation.

Y'all got to understand what I just said. The Prime Minister was first, but everybody else in his delegation got the same honor, respect as the Prime Minister.

Here's what I found out at dinner: I was shaking one man's hand, and I'm like, "Oh, praise God." Well, I didn't say praise God, but he was the bodyguard. He was someone I was shaking hands with, and bowing was just a personal assistant.

But guess what? Regardless of the job, listen to what I'm saying: just because you're not a preacher or a teacher and you don't work in ministry, regardless of the job, as part of that delegation, they got the same lobster and steak that the Prime Minister was getting. They got the same honor as the Prime Minister was getting.

And I learned a lesson: when you're dealing with a Kingdom, power and authority is based upon who the King is. You don't even have to be a Prime anything or Secretary of anything, but when you're in the delegation, there are rights and privileges and honor that comes with it.

And you still have to do what you're supposed to do. That's right! Don't get caught up on whatever your job title is. You are an ambassador with rights and privileges, and you have a job to do.

That's right! Let me finish up here. So good! You walk around and pray, but you have to have the character. Remember, you can walk around and pray; you can rebuke; you can do whatever you want to do. But after you get there and you sit down with folks, the character of the King needs to come through.

Daniel is a good example of this, and I don't have time to go through Daniel, but just know here's what the Bible says about Daniel in the sixth chapter. Now, Daniel had a good government job. He wasn't a priest; he had him a good job, probably some good benefits.

Usually, okay, that's sorry, Jesus, that was me. I'm sorry. So we can't use the excuse that if he, you know, he was a preacher. No, no, no, no, no. Here's the part that we can learn from Daniel.

Chapter 6 says, "Then Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners because he possessed an extraordinary spirit." And because of that extraordinary spirit, the King intended to appoint him over the entire Kingdom.

Extraordinary spirit—it translates to spirit of excellence. That's not about title; it's not about how big the company you work for is; it's about excellence. What does excellence look like? It means I work with integrity, whether someone's looking or not.

That's right! Character! I am trustworthy. I do what I said I was going to do, and if I said I was going to do it, I'm going to do it. Ambassadors work with integrity. Work as though the boss is looking, even though they are not.

Ambassadors don't take reams of printer paper from work. They don't take reams of printer paper from work to use in their personal printer. The 60-minute lunch hour is actually 60 minutes.

Integrity, folks! It's integrity! It's character! It's character that stands out more than your gifts and speaking in tongues and all that when we're at work. Yeah, that character of the King needs to stand out.

1) "In this Kingdom culture, everybody gets a gift. Every citizen gets a spiritual gift that we are supposed to show and use while we are at work as ambassadors teaching the culture of the king." [56:51] (Download)

2) "Integrity folks. It's character that stands out more than your gifts and speaking in tongues and all that when we're at work. That character of the king needs to stand out." [01:09:38] (Download)

3) "You're the one that's supposed to bring the kingdom in, and it's not just them getting on your nerves; it could be a spiritual problem, and you have a spiritual solution to a spiritual problem." [01:03:10] (Download)

4) "When you're dealing with a kingdom, power and authority are based upon who the king is. You don't even have to be a prime anything, but when you're in the delegation, there are rights and privileges and honor that comes with it." [01:06:42] (Download)

5) "We are citizens of a God who has a kingdom that is unmatched, unlimited. He showed me that there is no way 30 minutes of a sermon can capture all of what this kingdom is." [49:19] (Download)

6) "We are in the world but we're not of this world. We are in a foreign territory and so he wants us to have this Ambassador mindset, this Kingdom way of life, this culture that he wants us to take to this foreign territory." [51:11] (Download)

7) "I was sent to this job for a reason, and even if it was that one reason, I needed to fulfill my role as an ambassador. I begin to pray and it's folks that I ain't even know they knew Jesus words." [01:00:30] (Download)

8) "The kingdom must be at work, at work. We're citizens, right? You're not being an ambassador when you're in the embassy. Monday through Saturday, that's when we're being ambassadors." [52:54] (Download)

9) "Here is what happens in our kingdom culture: daily dependence on the one true king, Jesus Christ, a lifestyle of worshiping this King and our heavenly father, a culture and lifestyle of honoring others." [53:37] (Download)