Ephesians chapter six, verse 19, we'll start. In this section, Paul has been talking about prayer and asking for prayer for different things, and he goes on in chapter 19, saying, and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly and make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Today we're going to look at the idea of Paul being an ambassador in chains as the main concept. Father, we come before you today looking into your word, the words that you have given the Apostle Paul. Help us, Lord, to understand. Help us, Lord, to appreciate the things you do for us, the love you have for us, and the many things that you've done for us in our Lord Jesus. And help us, Lord, all to understand that we all are, in some degree, ambassadors for Christ. And it's in our Lord Jesus' name we pray. You know, on the news, if you watch, it doesn't take long before you hear the word ambassador. There are many ambassadors all over the world. I think probably one of the most notable things in recent history concerning ambassadors is that we've moved the embassy for the United States in Israel into Jerusalem. We see this a lot on the news, communications about ambassadors. And these are men and women who act as messengers and advocates for our country or other countries in other countries. They represent their nations to other nations, other nations that they live in while they are ambassadors. And it can be a dangerous job. We remember Christopher Stevens in Benghazi, Libya, brutally murdered. Ambassadors are go-betweens between nations. And the apostle Paul here refers to himself as an ambassador. And the other apostles as well, he refers to as ambassadors. So we start out with Ephesians 19. He begins with, pray also for me. Here we have the Apostle Paul, the great Apostle Paul. Some people even think of him as rather superhuman, I guess, because he's written so much of the Bible. He has been so instrumental in the beginning of the church. It's almost like we would consider him to be some kind of superhuman, but he is merely a man. And like all men, he needs prayer. He's in prison at this point when he's writing this letter, but he's not asking any prayers about that. He's in need of supplies and food, but he's not asking for that. Rather, Paul's asking for prayer for his continued ministry. Yeah, he's in jail. But while in jail, he's having opportunities to witness and testify, to speak, and to preach. He'd not see himself as above it all. He was basically a Christian. And basically, as a Christian, he had as much need for prayer as we all do, and help in what we say to each other, what we say for the Lord. And Paul realized that everything he could accomplish was only and always because of God. He understood that we must pray and ask for his blessings on our work and our ministry. And it's the same for him. And without the help of God, nothing good can come of it. And Paul especially needed much from God because he was put in such a position with the handling of the beginnings of the church. The attacks against him would have been probably almost as strong as Jesus himself received in some points. And we see that he was beaten and abandoned and left for dead. And you know, the story goes on. He was eventually. beheaded. His circumstances that he's praying in are less than favorable in jail. He goes on to say that whenever I opened my mouth, God was using Paul to speak through and he saw it as important to preach wherever he went, even in jail, which is where he was when he wrote these verses. Paul certainly opened his mouth a lot and got himself in trouble a lot through his preaching. He traveled far and wide in order to speak all over his missionary journeys through the different countries he went through. And he needed the power of God received through prayer to accomplish this, whether it was traveling abroad or whether it was in the jail cell next to enrollment. Many opposed him, many enemies, many attacks, dangers, rejection, ridicule, arguments, false accusations, fake news. But he kept opening his mouth with a message from God. He says when he opens his mouth, he wants to be given words that he may, he says, let's try it again. Whenever he opens his mouth, he wants words to be given to him. Words that will be given him. When Paul preached the gospel, it was inspired by God. Paul preached with the power and authority of God. He looked to God to give him what to say and how to say it. He wanted to say it just the way God intended it. And he said, it was said by our Lord, the Holy Spirit. It was said by our Lord, that the Holy Spirit would give him what to say. In Mark 13, 11, it says, but when they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand what to say. Instead, speak whatever you are given at that time, for it will not be you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. And again in Luke 12, 11, when you are brought before synagogues, rulers, and authorities, do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say, for at the time, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say. Paul's preaching was Holy Spirit-inspired, as were his letters, but Paul relied on this word being given to him when needed. And that included speaking this gospel to the guards and the prisoners. I have a message from the Lord, thus says the Lord. Now consider also that he's writing a letter to the Ephesians, which in itself is Holy Spirit inspired scripture. And as he's writing, asking for prayer, that words would be given him. Words are being given him, just as he's writing this letter. It's kind of an interesting thought about that. He says, words will be given him that he may boldly. What is boldly? Other words that are close to boldly, fearlessly, with confidence, with freedom, outspokenly. Today we have the word boldly meaning rudely, but it's not necessarily rude that we're talking here. We're just talking about bravely saying what needs to be said. The apostle Paul desires this more than to be released from prison. Do you think maybe Paul may be tempted to be timid where he's at? Maybe Paul experienced some real fear. Even discouragement, maybe. He wasn't superhuman, as I said before. He needed help from being confident and fearless, just like we do, and more so. But what Paul had to say was not something to be spoken weakly, fearfully, or timid. He had a message from God of Christ. He says that he wants to make known the mystery of the gospel in boldness. The mystery of the gospel, what's the mystery in the gospel? We hear the word mystery today We think of shows like Murder, She Wrote and Columbo, all solving mysteries. And we're not talking about that kind of mystery here. We're talking about something that's been hidden, something that God hasn't made known clearly until this point. The gospel is in the Old Testament. And when you look back, you can see that. But the details aren't real clear. And God was working on something leading all the way up to Christ. But people were looking into this, angels and demons were looking into this, not knowing exactly what the Lord had planned. And when Christ came and told us what he was here for, he revealed a great mystery. And Paul wants to talk about this. Ephesians 3, verses 17 through 13, it says, I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given to me through the working of his power. Though I am less than the least of all saints, this grace was given me to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to illuminate for everyone the stewardship of this mystery which for ages has been kept hidden in God who created all things. His purpose was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities and heavenly realms according to eternal purpose he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through him, and through faith in him, We may enter God's presence with boldness and confidence. So I ask you not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. The big mystery is that we can enter God's presence because of what Christ did for us and that with boldness and confidence. So now he comes on to the part where he says, for which an ambassador in chains. For which is for the benefit of or because of his purpose, his reason for the cause of which. For which I am an ambassador in chains. It was his preaching. It was his teaching. It was him acting as an apostle as he should. that led to him being arrested and being in jail. But what is an ambassador? I've got three definitions for you. One's from the Encyclopedia Britannica. The highest ranking person who represents his or her own government while living in another country. Webster says an official envoy, especially diplomatic agent, for the highest rank accredited to a foreign government or sovereign as residential representative of his or her own government or sovereign were appointed for a special and often temporary diplomatic assignment. And vocabulary.com says an ambassador is an official representative for his or her country stationed in another country. So how's Paul? the Apostle Paul, an ambassador. Well, he was a Jew, and he lived in Israel. He was also a Roman citizen, we see in some places. He was a member of the human race on earth. But Paul had some, had become something else. When Paul was born again, he became a citizen of another nation. He had dual citizenship. Yes, dual citizenship, but one nation dominates. Paul was translated out of darkness and into Christ's marvelous light. Out of this world and into the kingdom of heaven. Colossians 1.13 says he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his beloved son. So we see that the apostle Paul is now part of a new kingdom, another kingdom. And Paul represented his true home, the kingdom of heaven, to the nations of earth, to those in Satan's kingdom. and Paul had a message from his king to those of another country, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. He represented King Jesus to the lost world of Jews and Gentiles. The message of the King of Christ is what we call the gospel, the good news, and the good news is from the king. The message contained terms of peace. All authority of Christ was behind this message. What a privilege. What a joy. Terms of peace with God himself and reconciliation. Paul lived on earth, but he represented heaven. Awesome. Yeah, not everybody thought that was awesome. Men love sin and darkness. Sinful men hate the light. They hate Jesus Christ, just like Paul used to. They hate God. And they hate God's chosen children, too. They see the gospel as foolishness. They see the gospel as a stumbling block. They see the gospel as offensive. Wicked men try to silence the gospel. Liberal evil people water it down and lie about it, even today. And in Paul's day, it was blatantly obvious the message was not welcome. Paul preached to many people who had no desire to hear it. And for his efforts, he was chased, he was beaten, and he was left for dead. Paul was jailed, and ultimately, Paul was beheaded. Paul wrote this letter, again, from prison. He was chained to Roman guards. He was chained to the walls. For what? 2 Corinthians 5.20 says, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. There's the rub. In order to be reconciled to God, you need to repent. One needs to acknowledge one's sin. One needs to swallow one's pride. One needs to give up on those sins. You can't love God and love your sin. Sure, it's good news with an ultimatum, repent or perish. The message goes down sideways. Do we remember that when we heard the message? Some of us really didn't want to hear that. Men love darkness rather than light. They need Jesus, but they hate him. Put your trust in Jesus. Foolishness, they say. Wicked people think they are just fine. Evil mankind has no desire to come to God. And Paul, representing God to them, well, that was unacceptable, offensive, and divisive. It was true in Paul's day, and it has been true ever since. And don't we see this in the present? Every attack against the church, every attack against the message, any attack against Christ is being leveled. Even in our own free government, free home, we see so many attacks against truth and against Christ and against his followers. Our peers are uncomfortable around us when we speak. Our family wants nothing to do with what we say. Our government won't defend us. Our schools forbid us to speak. The news media vilifies us. Hollywood mocks us. Sinful groups work us woe and give us trouble. Coworkers turn us into HR. Other nations People are in jail for this message and worse. In other nations, people die for speaking these things. It's a terrible in Paul's day. Paul didn't water down the message. Paul didn't try to make it sugar coated. Paul conveyed the message exactly as it was given to him. He paid the price for it, too, willingly. His home nation was his great goal. His king was worthy. You remember where he said that to remain is more fruitful for him, but to depart and be with the Lord is more desirable to him? It was an honor to suffer for Christ. to be in chains, a pilgrim, a stranger in a foreign land, a sojourner. Yes, but with a message, an ambassador. He goes on to say, pray that I may proclaim it fearlessly as I should. Again, here, the Apostle Paul is asking for prayer. He's not superhuman. He had weaknesses and temptations. He had many enemies. And we asked for, from prison, is for people to pray for him. Other prisoners were around him. Roman guards were with him. He saw this as an opportunity to preach, to testify. He could have asked them to pray that he would be released. But instead, he asked prayer for his ability to spread the gospel message. He says that he might proclaim it fearlessly, as he should. Proclaiming it, it's the gospel mystery, the hidden message. to those that are perishing. A hidden message in the times past, the message of the cross of Jesus, again was a stumbling block. It was foolishness to the Gentiles, but the message that was certainly included in the Old Testament and has brought more clear and revealed in Jesus and preached by his apostles. It was a mystery, a hidden fact. But now the mystery is being proclaimed everywhere. It's for the whole world to hear. The Messiah has come. He's lived according to the law blamelessly. He's been rejected by the Jews. He was tortured and killed by the Romans. He was buried. He rose again the third day. He died not for his own sins, but those of his people. He paid their sins on that cross. Now he lives. He's ascended to the Father. But he's coming again. And if you put your faith in him and turn from your sin, you can have forgiveness and salvation in him. It's the mystery. Salvation is by grace through faith in him, not according to our works or merit. faith in a killed and risen substitute. The final sacrifice, a righteousness he provides as cover for us. The Lord, our righteousness. And Paul was proclaiming all this. Paul was sent as an ambassador into foreign lands to proclaim this message, to preach it, even in jail. He goes on to say, fearlessly, was there a reason to fear to not be bold? There certainly was reason to fear. Paul wanted to preach and shout out the gospel clearly and without fear. He had every right to herald forth the gospel. But he was usually encountered some form of opposition. Beaten, left for dead, shipwrecked, flogged, arrested, as we said before. Arguments everywhere, angry crowds, synagogue rulers angry, gentiles mocking, gentiles complaining. All these were the normal things happening when the gospel was rightly proclaimed. But there's more. Again, Paul is in jail, a prisoner. Jail tends to mellow people out. Being arrested in jail may be, being in jail may have a taming effect. One might feel defeated, want to give up. Maybe you think you better behave yourself, you're in jail. Get out of line and beatings may follow. Roman guards to keep him in line and other prisoners mocking him. Yeah, there's a reason to fear. Maybe temptation was there just to lay low. Surely the thought crossed his mind. Surely the temptation was presented to Paul, just keep your mouth shut, you'll get out of trouble. But Paul realized he was still in the Lord's service. He was still an ambassador. He was an ambassador to the Gentiles, he was an ambassador to those in jail with him, even the guards he was chained to. Different location, jail, same mission, gospel preaching. And Paul wanted to bravely and clearly present the message even in jail. And he asked prayer for this. This is what he wanted. He did not ask. They pray for him to be released. He didn't even ask for prayer that they would go easy on him. Paul knew that God was well aware of where he was and that God had his good reason for Paul to be there. This is where Christ wanted him for now, in jail. There were elect there that needed to hear what Paul had to say. A divine appointment, we could say, for the ambassador. And Paul was making a prayer for help, for him to fulfill his mission and get on with it. How often do we find ourselves in positions we want to get out of very badly? We don't consider our opportunity for the gospel witness. Oh Lord, get me out of this. And the Lord would say, just be faithful. He goes on to say, as Paul should. Fearlessly and boldly as he should. We're admonished many times to be brave, bold, confident throughout the whole scripture. Jesus even told us that what is whispered in the ear should be shouted from the rooftops. Matthew 10, 26 through 28 says, so do not be afraid of them, for there's nothing concealed that will not be disclosed and nothing hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight. What's whispered in your ear? Proclaim from the housetops. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Acts 520 says, go stand in the temple courts and tell the people the full message of this new life. Acts 524. Look, the men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people. Well, that took guts. Acts 5, 29 through 32, but Peter and the other apostles replied, we must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his right hand as prince and savior in order to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses to these things. So is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. It's the Apostle Peter with great bravery. and boldness, putting his finger right on their nose. You crucified him, now you need him. As one person said, that guy you killed, well, he's back and now he's sheriff. And he's looking for you. You have the power of the Holy Spirit in the gospel. They are the words of God. that you proclaim. All of God's authority is sent along with those words, the gospel. And there's no reason to shrink back from proclaiming the message of God that he gives us in Christ. God's words will accomplish all that he has sent them out for every time. To save a soul, to bring repentance, to make a sinner's damnation hotter, to make them more accountable. When you are an ambassador, you speak the words given to you by the king. They aren't your own words, they're not your own ideas. And when God sends you with a message, you can be sure he will attend that message. He will go with you, shout it loud and clear. Don't cower. Don't fear. Yes, you'll be opposed. Yes, you may be injured or hurt. You may be jailed. You may even be killed. It's happened in the past. It's happening in the present day in a lot of places. But the Lord gave you a message to be given to the people. You speak for him faithfully, his words, true words. When you speak the gospel, you are right and they are wrong. Be bold as you ought. It's not a message to be embarrassed about or to fear giving. Isaiah 41, 10 through 11 says, do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will surely help you. I will uphold you with my right hand of righteousness. Behold, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced. Those who contend with you will be reduced to nothing and will perish. It's true in Isaiah's day. It's true in Paul's day. It's true in our day, maybe not in the moment, but in eternity, it all works out. And the rewards are given to the ambassadors, and hopefully to those that the ambassador has spoken to. It's a little bit short today, but some closing thoughts. Christians are all ambassadors. You see yourself as an ambassador for Christ? I mean, I understand it's not up to the same level the Apostle Paul was. He was instrumental in starting the church, but you are the church. And you have the same message he had. Have you been doing your part as an ambassador for Christ? When you speak the gospel, do you speak it fearlessly and boldly? What we talk about is a mystery to those around us, it's hidden. Until God reveals it to them, they can't appreciate what we're telling them. We need that prayer to attend it, that we're given the right words to say when we talk to somebody. In this day and age, could you see yourself jailed for Christ? Imagine yourself in jail because you gave out the gospel. I'll tell you what, I think it's coming here. I think in this country we're gonna see people put in jail just for speaking the gospel. You're not allowed to say anything about the LGBT community or you get in a lot of trouble. And they're making it more and more illegal to speak truth, even against blatant lies. But when you center on the gospel, that's the crux of the thing. Will you speak for the kingdom, for your king, fearlessly? Is he worth going to jail for? Everything that you have, that you own, the relationships that you have with your family and friends and neighbors, the comforts that you have at home, your nice soft bed, the food that you eat, the warmth of your heating system, the television that you watch, is it worth giving all that up for him? Have you ever asked for prayer for the right words to say? You know, you're gonna meet somebody and maybe they've been contrary or maybe it's just somebody you care about and you have no idea how it's gonna be received, but you have this burning to tell them about Jesus, about the gospel. I've heard it here, I gotta talk to my father, I gotta talk to my brother, I gotta talk to my coworker. Please pray for me that I have the right thing to say, that I can get the gospel to them and that they'll believe. We can ask for prayer to go along with us from others. And believe me, when you have somebody praying that you When you hear somebody asking you to pray for them, to speak the gospel, you ought to pray for them. If the Apostle Paul needed prayer in all this, we certainly do. Have you asked for prayer for boldness and confidence? You know, you can, You can speak the message to somebody while you're trembling and fearful and not wanting to step on their toes and walking on eggshells. And the Lord can use that, I'm sure. But it's even better if he takes away that fear from you and gives you that braveness and that fearlessness to rightly proclaim it with authority. Because as Christians, we have authority to preach that gospel and to speak that gospel to people. That's how other Christians are born. Have you prayed for boldness and confidence for your brother when they ask you to pray for them? Do you pray for them? Before we close, anybody have questions or comments? What about it? His embassy? Where was he? He was an ambassador from an embassy. His embassy was wherever he was at in the nations that he was preaching. And in this case, the jail itself was his embassy. I thought it was Christ in heaven where he communicated. No, that's the kingdom he represents. That's the sending nation. Yeah. But his embassy would be in the place where he is stationed, which would be Ephesus, or Rome, or wherever he ended up. A lot of ambassadors are dispatched to a nation from an embassy. I don't know, maybe I'm mixed up. An embassy in a nation? Yeah, the sending nation is not the embassy. The location where they go is the embassy. But Christ was his dispatch. Christ dispatched him. Yes. The kingdom of God. He represented him. Yes. Yes? You had said that at the end he had his head chopped off. How did you know that? Church tradition. It's church tradition. It's not fact. It's pretty much solid. I didn't hear what you said. It's pretty much solid in church history. Oh, OK. Yeah, the Bible doesn't tell us that, but history does. Yes, Mike? The mystery, that's very interesting, was part of that mystery, I know there's lots to that, the unveiling of the gospel to the Gentile world through Paul. Yes. Yep. The idea that the gospel was for the Gentiles to the Jews was the mystery, part of the mystery, because they did not expect that the Gentiles would be blessed by the gospel. They should have, but they didn't. Yeah, Mike. It seems like the only person that took the gospel far and wide was Jonah, and reluctantly. I don't know if that's right or wrong. He took it to Nineveh. Yeah. But the Israelites did not do much at all in taking the good news to other nations. No, they didn't. They kept it to themselves, which was one of the things they're chastised about. Well, actually, didn't the early church do the same thing? It wasn't until the dispersion that things got moved out, forced out. Yep, they were forced to go out and go. Yep, and in answer to Mike, I think Jesus touched on it a little bit when he was talking about the temple, that it was a place of worship for all nations. And they made it more than the thieves. I think in keeping with what we've been looking at in Colossians 1, Paul was an ambassador of the kingdom of God's son. And his embassy was the kingdom of darkness. The kingdom of darkness. Wherever he was in the world, that was the kingdom of darkness. And he was there to represent Christ. Yeah, exactly. He was the ambassador to the lost world. Anything else? Yes? I like the fact that you brought up about someone in jail had a divine appointment. I was thinking that when you were talking. Yeah. There's a reason why he was there. I mean, God could have prevented him from going there, but you know, Jesus knew he was going there and Paul had something to fulfill when he was there. And don't you think Satan, who was his purpose to put them there to try to shut the gospel down? Yeah, absolutely. Plus we don't know how many people were actually converted in the jail personally or how many guards or how far up the chain it went that they heard the gospel from him so it's like a dual purpose. The scripture writing which You want to write something undisturbed. You want to write something without a lot of distraction. Well, where more can you do that than a jail cell? It's like there's nothing around you that's going to be much of a distraction, so you can write like crazy. Except for the Romans that might be attached to you. Yes? No. Oh. Shirley had a question. Shirley. I had. I was thinking Paul preached in Thessalonians the mystery of the rapture of the church. Yes. That's all part of the gospel message, is that Christ is returning again. Yep. Mystery in scripture is something hidden at one point, but revealed. And that's what the New Testament word mystery involves. now revealed. Now still, it can still be not known. There's still, we don't know everything about it, but it's something that was hidden before and now revealed. Right. Anybody else? Yes, Mike. Sorry, but we see that Paul Quibna died before his time. I think of that snake that bit him. That was a satanic attack. But God didn't allow it to harm him in any way. Until the right time. Yes. Yep. Not only was he an ambassador, but he was a protected ambassador. Yeah. But not protected so much as he didn't suffer. No. Anything else? Paul, would you close in prayer, please? Yes. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the message this morning from this wonderful book of Ephesians. We thank you for the life of the Apostle Paul and for the testimony that he had to the world around him. And yet, he being dead, still speaks. And we have his letters, and we see in this your word to us in bringing to us the injunction to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ wherever we are, to be his ambassadors, to be witnesses, to do what the Lord Jesus has commanded, to go and teach all nations concerning him. We pray that you help us to do that. Give us the courage, the fearlessness of the Apostle Paul to do that as well. And we pray this in Jesus' name.