The funny thing about the church is when people start to go there the church gets in an uproar and says you shouldn't be there. This is nonsense. Creativity came from God, the church should be there. Government came from God, the church should be there. Education came from God, the church should be there. See, this is where the church needs to realise we've got a mandate to go into the world, a mandate. A mandate isn't a suggestion. A mandate is a directive from a king to his ambassadors. A mandate is a directive given by a king to his ambassadors. Every believer has a mandate to go, to go into the earth. Now for some that may mean we go out to nations and I love to get people from our church into nations, but for all of us we're called to go as an ambassador, as a representative of God and advance His business.
And whatever trade you're in, that's His business. Become great at it and become excellent at what you do, and influence people through it. Whatever your trade is, whatever gifts you've got, develop them and then become great. Become outstanding. Become excellent at it, and then people look and they don't see poverty, they don't see meanness. They see generosity, excellence and a serving spirit. They're really near to the kingdom of God, see? Those are the things that really count, and then when they see you pray for people and things happen, then they understand there is a God who is really different. See, so we're called to go, go to all the nations, teaching them not only to make - it says to make disciples of them, or to not just get people to come to the front and make a decision, but to radically alter their lifestyle so they also become ambassadors.
So our mandate is not just to have people come to meetings, or just have people make decisions. Our mandate is that people's lifestyle changes, they become a follower of Christ and begin to represent Him and establish His way. His way's better than any other way. In every area His ways are better than anything you'll find on the earth. It's just we need persuading of it sometimes. You have a look at when marriages are operated God's way, it's excellent. When families are raised God's way, it's excellent. When young people keep themselves for God, holiness is excellent. It's not a goofy thing, it's a good thing. See, when people do business well and God's hand is upon their life and upon what they do, this is excellent. It speaks - no corruption, something different about the way you operate. See, we're called to go out into all nations - I love it. Our mandate's global. It's not a suggestion; it's given by a king to His ambassadors, or a mandate is a command given by a superior Court to a lower Court. How about that?
So whatever way you look at it we have a mandate, not a suggestion. It's not a suggestion. See, it's a mandate. It's something for us to do. I love it - and so to believe the gospel means you actually align your life to do it and that's what Jesus is interested in. Now let's go and have a look at Matthew 16 where Jesus talked about the kingdom and the church. So the mandate of going forth, it's a purpose, not a preference. It's a command, not a suggestion. Let's have a look in Matthew 16. We'll go back to where we were last Sunday when the visiting speakers came, the Sunday before when I was speaking. Let's just go back again because there's a lot in there and we'll just pick up some aspects of it. I want to just talk a little bit about the kingdom and the church. Sometimes people get them confused and let's have a look what Jesus said. Jesus said in verse 13, He came to His disciples.