Bonus: Your Home is an Embassy (Part 4) - A Christian's Mission

Barbara Rainey's Top 10 Interviews

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 1) - On Mission, Your Assignment as a Couple
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 2) - World Avoiders or World Changers?
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 3) - My Home, God's Embassy
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 4) - A Christian's Mission
Your Home is an Embassy (Part 5) - A Home For Hospitality

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript

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A Christian’s Mission

Guest: Barbara Rainey

From the series: Your Home Is an Embassy (Day 4 of 5)

Air date: August 25, 2016

Bob: As a follower of Jesus, you have been commissioned / you’ve been given an assignment. You’ve been called to be an ambassador, and you’ve been sent by God. Here’s Barbara Rainey.

Barbara: It’s not a mistake that God has put all of us where He’s put us—the neighborhood we live in / the schools we go to—all of those things—God has sovereign purposes for us. When we remember that we are ambassadors, and that we’re here on mission, and that we’re here for the purposes of God, then it helps us to see meaning in all of the circumstances around us and in the places where God has called us to live and relate to people.

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Thursday, August 25th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I’m Bob Lepine. So, how would you say things are going at your embassy? Are you living as an ambassador for Christ? We’re going to explore that subject today with Barbara Rainey. Stay with us.

1:00

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us.

Dennis: Looks like Snickers® is doing well. [Laughter]

Bob: Well! You know, that’s interesting—

Dennis: That’s not a dog by the way. That’s not a dog’s name—it’s a candy bar.

Bob: If you go to our website, FamilyLifeToday.com, because this kind of came off the cuff with Dennis this week—[Laughter]

Dennis: It was not off the cuff. We were talking about how Barbara kept herself from near starvation in Russia because she had the Lion bar.

Bob: Okay; so, here’s my question: “How long did you think about putting a straw poll on our website before you actually spoke that on the air?”

Dennis: Days, Bob—days. [Laughter]

Bob: Seconds!—off-the-cuff Dennis came up with the idea of putting a straw poll on. And here’s what is interesting—the other category, where people can write in their own candy bars—that’s what’s winning.

Dennis: It’s a long list.

2:00

Bob: There are people who—they’re—

Barbara: There are a lot more choices today than there used to be; right?

Dennis: You gave a local—

Bob: I did.

Dennis: —intravenous chocolate—

Bob: It’s awesome.

Dennis: —that’s 70 percent—

Bob: —72 / 72 percent—

Dennis: —to be exact.

Bob: —bean to bar. I’ll just put in a plug for Izard Chocolate, one more time, while we’re—

Dennis: Oh, wow!—shamelessly.

Bob: It is awesome stuff.

Barbara: Oh good!

Bob: Yes.

Dennis: But he does go to Bob’s church. So, you know—Bob’s asking him to tithe off of that.

Barbara: Oh. I love local. So, we’ll go local. [Laughter]

Bob: But our focus this week is not on candy as much as it is on recognizing that where you are and where you’re from may be two entirely different questions. Barbara, this has kind of been the meditation of your soul for a season now.

Barbara: And it was all sparked by a video—and I don’t even remember, now, who showed me this video or sent me the link to this video—but it’s a YouTube video about this person who lives in a former Communist country in Eastern Europe.

3:00

This person has on the outside of his home—we’ve been calling him, “him” because we’re not allowed to say the gender of this person because of security reasons—but this person has on the outside of his home a brass plaque that says, “Embassy of the King of Heaven.” He goes on to tell the story of how his home is an embassy for the King, and it looks like the home of the King—he thinks of it that way. He invites people in, and serves them, and listens to them because he is a representative of the King of heaven.

When I heard that, I thought: “Oh, that’s who I am. That’s who we are. That’s who all of us are, who belong to Christ.” But how often do I think of my home as an embassy? Well, until I saw that video, I really didn’t think about that too much.

Bob: And when you saw that plaque, you thought, “I want to make one—

Barbara: “I want one.”

Bob: —“of those plaques.”

Barbara: “I want one of those. How do I get one of those?” [Laughter]

Bob: And since you couldn’t find one online at Amazon—

Dennis: She created one.

Barbara: That’s right.

Bob: —you decided to make your own. In fact, you—

Barbara: That’s right.

Bob: —you’ve made a stainless steel one that can be screwed into the concrete, you’ve made a banner, you’ve got a framed plaque—