If we could get God’s perspective of people then we would win the world, but we see people through our own eyes. We like to keep records on people and hold the books.  We know who is a sinner and who is a saint.  God looks on the heart while we look on the outside, but we still think we know people better.  We look at a prostitute, an addict, or a hardened prison inmate and label them with a big sign that says, “Sinner.”

Have you ever asked how much that ‘sinner’ is worth?  How much God paid for him or her?  It was the price of His Son.  How much are you worth?  The same.

There is no difference in value between the criminal and the evangelist. The mafia boss is called of God as much as a pastor, and probably is a pastor but just doesn’t know it!

All are already paid for. The only difference between them and you is that they don’t know it and you do.  When we truly understand this, we will be motivated to tell them.

If people are not your purpose then you don’t have God’s plan.

People are God’s number one concern.  God not only put eternity in our heart but a burden to share that eternal life with others.  I remember in 1991 when we were preaching on the streets of St. Petersburg, Russia and two Muslims received Jesus with tears in their eyes.  Their first thought was for their Muslim brethren in the city of Baku. They proceeded to take out their wallets to buy us train tickets so that we could go and tell this Good News to Baku.

Their first thought was for others, they immediately felt the need to let others have what they had.  They truly understood the value of what they had received.

Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthian church and tried to capture the idea of what God has done for them.  He was grasping for the best idea to convey how God saw them in the earth today, and of all the ways he examined, he decided that the best description of a Christian would be that of an Ambassador (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Wouldn’t it be strange if the American ambassador to another country was afraid to stand up and say, “I represent America”?  What would the American government do if the ambassador was afraid to state its point of view?

An ambassador is the sent one of the U.S.A.  Do we think he or she is being arrogant if they declare that they are sent to a certain country on behalf of the U.S.A.? No!  That’s a good thing and we expect them to do that! So why do people in Christian circles accuse others of being proud or arrogant when they do the same thing acting as an ambassador of heaven?

As an ambassador I have a right to speak for the Kingdom as long as I am speaking the message of the Kingdom, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  These are the words of my country.

The devil knows you are an ambassador, and God knows you are an ambassador. When are you going to realize that you are an ambassador?  In Acts 19:15 the demon spoke to the seven sons of Sceva, “Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you?” The devil will know you if you take a stand.

An Ambassador does not have to pray to act as an ambassador.  He does not need to pray to exercise his or her authority.  All they need to do is act like who their government says they are.  They don’t need to pray to get their passports stamped or have their visits approved.  No, an ambassador has the power to act and they don’t wait around to do their job.  Don’t wait on heaven anymore.  Act today!

When your motive is love the world will listen to you. Love is the most talked about subject on TV.  Love is the theme of most movies in Hollywood.  Love is what the world is drawn to, yet they are looking in the wrong places. Jesus laid a foundation for our faith by saying it requires the right motive to get the right results.  Faith works by love.  Jesus said that if we love as He loved then all the world would be drawn to him.

He also said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all people know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34).

This type of love is not understood by the world, but the world is drawn to it because it comes full of forgiveness and acceptance.  This love believes in you and wants the best for you.

The world has forgotten what God is like, so God became flesh and dwelt among us and showed us what He is really like.  God needed flesh to show off His love.

Let’s give our flesh to God’s purpose—being examples of love.

Jesus came to reveal not only Who God is, but who we are! Here are a few revelations that the Scriptures give us about Who Jesus is and how much we—all of us—are like Him:

[Now] He [Christ] is the exact likeness of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible]; He is the Firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:15 Amplified).

Jesus began a new species of god-men. He is the first-born so we are born of His family and likeness in the image of His Father who is now our Father.

“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Romans 6:5). And when did our resurrection occur? The moment we were born again from death to life!

“…Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him” (2 Cor. 3:18 The Message).

We go from faith to faith, from love to love, from adventure to adventure!

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John yesterday, have now become the Gospel of you today. Christ in human flesh in the Gospels has become Jesus in your flesh today!

Much of the modern church would think this is an extreme goal that is too lofty for humans, but how does the unseen God reveal Himself to humanity? God is revealed in flesh.

There is too much wasted prayer for God to come down and reveal Himself. He will not. He is in heaven with many wonderful ideas, but He needs flesh to reveal those ideas. He needs a voice. Christ in you is what He needs.

As I travel the world and speak to multitudes who do not speak English, I need an interpreter. My ideas are without power until they are heard, received, and acted on. In that way I am like God. He needs a voice. This is an awesome responsibility that God has entrusted us with; the message that saves humanity! If we don’t do it, God can’t do it!

Matthew 18:20 promises that where two or three are gathered together in the name of Jesus —He is there in our midst. When the Word is preached, His presence is preached, and His presence fills the atmosphere around us.

In Luke chapter 4 Jesus says, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, to declare freedom for the prisoners…” Mark 16 says that He sends us to do the same thing!

Declare with me today, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for He has anointed me; His Holy Spirit is upon me.” When we speak His Word, His power and His incorruptible presence is in that Word.

When we are born again He dwells in us, His presence is in us, and we have the mind of Christ. He is there wherever two of us gather together. His presence is here in our midst and upon us, dwelling in us and surrounding us.

Now what does this mean to Christians? It simply means that we are not seeking to find a manifestation of God; we are living in the manifestation of His grace and His presence.

I no longer have to beg God for a miracle, because I am a miracle; He’s come to dwell in me! I no longer have to beg God to show up and present Himself, for I know the miracle of His presence exists in His Word!

The church has settled for a knowledge of the miracle worker without the miracles.

Years ago there was a Wendy’s Hamburgers commercial where a little white haired lady famously demanded: “WHERE’S THE BEEF??”  Where are the works?  Have we settled for a meatless hamburger?

If Jesus needed miracles to validate His ministry, how much more do you need miracles to validate your ministry?  Why should someone of another religion leave their religion and accept your Jesus as the way and the truth?  They have a black book and you have a black book.  They have morals and you have morals.  They have a history and you have a history. What do you have that they don’t have?

The answer is a living Jesus and the proof of that is miracles.  Christianity is the only form of worship in the world that can be validated by miracles that no witchdoctor or psychologist can duplicate.  The whole history of God’s intervention in the affairs of mankind as recorded in Hebrew scripture is that of miraculous intervention.

Jesus continued the tradition of miracles and we as His followers after Him continue in this same fashion!

Years ago I preached in a Bible school in Latvia. The first time l got up to speak the students started to clap and stomp. When I finished they clapped and stomped some more, and I was gratified that they appreciated my lesson.

A short time later I returned to the front to teach the second session amid more clapping and stomping. When I finished I received the same response, and was really pleased that they seemed to be getting so much from the teaching.

When I got up to teach the third hour they clapped and stomped as usual, only this time when I finished the clapping and stomping was louder than ever.

I was finished with my teaching sessions and sat down in one of the back rows. Another teacher stepped up to teach and the students once again began to clap and stomp. Finally I approached the director of the school and asked, “Why do your students clap and stomp so much? Did they like my lessons?”

He replied, “They’re all freezing. They’re allowed to clap and stomp between lessons to keep warm.”

Several years ago my husband and I preached the Gospel in Africa. Every day many people gathered together and eagerly listened to the Good News. From the first day, I noticed a young African man who was disabled. He moved around on his knees on a special small cart that he had made for himself. I cannot even call it a cart; it was rather a small board on wheels. Crawling on that board, he developed big blisters on his hands and knees. Every day he would crawl to our meetings with the hope of getting a miracle, and God did heal him! The Lord responded to that man’s faith, once again showing everyone that He has an immense love for all of us, and that He desires to change the life of everyone who asks Him!

A large crowd of people that was present at the meeting saw how that young African man, whose legs had been paralyzed for many years, ran up on the stage with a cart in his hands screaming, “Look! I can walk! Look at me! Look!! My legs are moving! Just a few minutes ago I had big blisters on my hands and knees that would never heal. And now, look, those blisters have completely disappeared!”

Full of joy, he knelt back on his cart and showed everyone how difficult it had been for him to move around in that cart for so many years. Then he stood up, pushed that cart aside and walked down the stage!

This is what the Lord does! He wants to heal all people, and He can!