{"id":69724,"date":"2025-11-12T11:08:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T16:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/?p=69724"},"modified":"2025-11-12T11:08:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T16:08:29","slug":"jimmy-scroggins-be-ambassadors-of-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/jimmy-scroggins-be-ambassadors-of-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Scroggins: Be Ambassadors of Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jimmy Scroggins.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ORLANDO\u2014 Jimmy Scroggins, pastor of Family Church<\/a> in West Palm Beach, delivered a bold message during the closing of the morning session of the 2025 Florida Baptist State Convention annual meeting at First Orlando.<\/a><\/p>\n

Preaching from 2 Corinthians 5:11\u201321, his sermon, titled Call Up Ambassadors, reminded pastors and churches of their ultimate mission, to represent Jesus Christ and call people to be reconciled to God.<\/p>\n

Scroggins began by reflecting on his lifelong connection to Florida, expressing gratitude for the pastors and churches spread across the state, from large cities like Miami and Orlando to small towns like Chiefland and Arcadia. \u201cFlorida Baptists are everywhere,\u201d he said, before posing a convicting question: \u201cWhat business are we in? What are we really doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n

He quickly answered his own question. \u201cWe\u2019re not primarily a political movement, although politics matters. We\u2019re not primarily a conservative movement, although being conservative matters. We\u2019re not here to save Western civilization, though that matters too,\u201d Scroggins said. \u201cWe are ambassadors for Christ\u00ad\u2013working to see men and women, boys and girls, from every neighborhood and every nation reconciled to God by faith in Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drawing from Paul\u2019s description of believers as ambassadors in 2 Corinthians 5:20, Scroggins explained that Christians live as representatives of another kingdom. \u201cAn ambassador doesn\u2019t set the policy,\u201d he said. \u201cHe articulates it. He carries the authority of his home government while living in a foreign land.\u201d All believers, he added, represent not just their church or family, but ultimately Jesus and His kingdom. \u201cYour church is a little embassy,\u201d he said. \u201cYour family is a little embassy. Every Florida Baptist is a little embassy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scroggins outlined four ways believers must live out their ambassador calling:<\/p>\n

Call people to be reconciled to God<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not ambassadors for conservatism or political ideology,\u201d Scroggins said. \u201cOur job is not to implore people to vote for someone. It\u2019s to implore people to be reconciled to God.\u201d<\/p>\n

He made clear that both liberals and conservatives alike are lost without Christ. \u201cA Democrat without Jesus and a Republican without Jesus will both spend eternity apart from God,\u201d he said. \u201cTheir greatest need isn\u2019t political reform; it\u2019s peace with God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expounding on verse 21, he explained the concept of double imputation: \u201cOur sin was charged to Christ\u2019s account, and His righteousness was credited to ours,\u201d Scroggins said. \u201cThat\u2019s what makes reconciliation possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Call people to love people like Jesus<\/strong><\/p>\n

Turning to verses 14\u201316, Scroggins emphasized that \u201cthe love of Christ\u201d compels believers to evangelize. \u201cYou can\u2019t be a good ambassador if you hate your mission field,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not sent with a message of resentment; we\u2019re sent with a message of reconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n

He acknowledged how difficult it can be to love people in a polarized world but reminded listeners that it\u2019s not their personal love that sustains them. It\u2019s Christ\u2019s love implanted within them. \u201cWe are not about pushing people down or pushing them out,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are here to pull people in and lift people up and point them to Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Call people to live as new creations<\/strong><\/p>\n

Quoting 2 Corinthians 5:17, Scroggins declared, \u201cIf anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; the new has come.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described the transformation that follows salvation is not perfection, but genuine change. \u201cI\u2019m not the man I want to be, but I\u2019m not the man I used to be,\u201d he said. Sharing a story from Family Church Jensen Beach, he recounted how a teenage girl named Ruby came to faith through student camp, led her father Ryan to church, and eventually saw him surrender his life to Christ after realizing that \u201cJesus is the answer to all the brokenness in the world and in me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Call people to implore others to choose Christ<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scroggins closed with urgency. \u201cWe are ambassadors who beg people to be reconciled to God,\u201d he said. \u201cHeaven and hell are at stake.\u201d He shared how legendary Jacksonville pastor Homer Lindsay embodied this truth, pleading with people to be saved because he truly believed eternity hung in the balance.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrothers and sisters,\u201d Scroggins concluded, \u201cwe are ambassadors for Christ. Let\u2019s not forget what business we\u2019re in. Let\u2019s implore people young and old, conservative and liberal, near and far, to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO\u2014 Jimmy Scroggins, pastor of Family Church in West Palm Beach, delivered a bold message during the closing of the morning session of the 2025 Florida Baptist State Convention annual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":69725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2894,38,2617,19,45,25],"tags":[2097,1058,199],"class_list":["post-69724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2025-annual-meeting","category-annual-meeting","category-featured","category-news","category-statewide","category-stories","tag-family-church","tag-fbsc25","tag-jimmy-scroggins"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69724"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69727,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69724\/revisions\/69727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}