Citizen | Week 1 | Bill Bush

Well, I remember remember I remember. Use English, Bill. Remember back when when we just started the church, we'd only been going for a couple years. This area was, you know, just starting to boom with housing. It still is. But and and you had all these housing developments that they're all new. So the trees look the same in front of the house. A lot of the models are exactly the same, but it hasn't been around long enough to know, oh, their tree is like this versus that. So that everything kinda looked the same. You could get lost. And we were having a leadership meeting at at one of my friends, someone on staff's house, and I was running late. So I came driving up, parked behind everybody else's car on the street, just grabbed my back, ran, and I, you know, I'm not even gonna knock on the door. I know all of them. I was just there two days ago, and I go running right into the house. And right when I go in the house, I immediately felt like something wasn't right.

The first clue was, did they paint all of their walls since Tuesday? Because this is not the same color. And then, I come in the peripheral, picked up on something, I started to turn, and where this

in the house I was supposed to be at, there's a hallway with a wall because there's a bedroom back there. One of the options is you don't have the wall and you have a den. So I sensed an opening, a disturbance in the force, I look, there's no wall. There's a den. So I'm like, did they remove a wall since Tuesday?

And then there's some eight year old kid, he doesn't see me. He's got head, so I was like, he's playing a video game in the den, and I'm like, did they get an eight year old since Tuesday?

And it's that moment, like, first you think you would obvious, but you have that brief moment where you're just confused. Right? You know something's not right, and it just hasn't sunk in yet. And then I heard a mom upstairs open a door in the bedroom and yell, Timmy. Timmy. Timmy.

And and she's like, did somebody open the door? Is somebody in the house? And and Timmy's not listening, and and so I'm like and then I hear footsteps. And I know that, oh, know, about 10 more footsteps, she's gonna see me. And so I did what any mature adult who made a mistake would do. I

ran. I just ran out in the street, and I said, now where am I? Oh, there's their house right there. And I and then I went and I ran into the house that's supposed to be at, ran and slammed the door and I was, I mean, what's wrong? And I go, hey, if one of your neighbors

because I didn't even close their door. I go, if one of your neighbors says be careful, someone randomly opened our door, we don't know if they came in the house, don't worry about it, and don't ask any more questions.

And I I realized that's like, there was something in me that just knew. It might have looked the same. It might have been like, my heart landed different because I wasn't in the right home. And I knew that. Well, that's what we're gonna start talking about today. We're starting this series called Citizen.

It's not a political series. It's not even but we are gonna talk about a citizenship, but but not here.

If you know Jesus, the Bible says that we are citizens of heaven. We are citizens of another country, another place, another world. And what does that mean? How does that impact how I live in this world? And we're gonna be looking at that. And today, kind of the opening big idea is simply this.

My homeland determines where my heart lands. Meaning my heart didn't settle when I walked in the house because I knew that wasn't the right home. And and it's the same thing for for us that that that we should have something that doesn't settle our hearts in this world because this isn't our homeland.

Our our homeland should settle our heart. And that's why our heart always lands where our home is. You know, home is where the heart is? I think heart is where the home is.

And I think that's what scripture says too. Our heart goes where our home is. And we need to understand that to know, so then what does it mean to be a citizen of heaven, but yet to live out our lives here in this world?

What is it supposed to look like? And that's what we're gonna be looking at. And we're actually gonna be in Hebrews chapter 11 for this this series.

And and what's if you're not familiar with the book of Hebrews, it's it's a pretty dense, lots of theology in it, kind kind of book. You can study and study and study it. But to suffice, Hebrews 11 carries a theme over that started in 10, and it's talking about what faith is.

What is faith? And we're gonna look here in a minute at verse one, and it defines faith. Because you've gotta get that definition right. If you don't understand the definition of faith, you're gonna misunderstand the rest of the chapter, which is a whole bunch of examples

of people in the Bible that says they lived by faith. By faith, they did these things. By faith, they did these things. And they're like some of the heroes. This has been known if you've been in church very long, it's called the Faith Hall of Fame.

And we're gonna look at them for a few. We're gonna take three of those stories leading up to Easter. We're gonna look at Noah next

We're gonna look at Jacob, and then we're gonna look at Abraham and Sarah, which are well known heroes of the faith. We're gonna look at what is it what did they do by faith? But what does faith mean? And how are they all agreed in this? And what we're gonna see is all of them, a key element is they knew where their homeland was, and so that's where their heart landed.

And that is critical for us, and we're gonna be taking that apart and looking at that, and we're gonna jump in. So today, I just wanna talk about what this means, and how do I even start living this way before we dive into these examples. Otherwise, we'll be confused.

And and and if you get one thing off, there's there's a few things we gotta understand going in. If I don't understand what faith really is, I'm gonna I misunderstand what the promises of God are all about, and then I'm gonna misapply what it means to be blessed.

And I will get it all off. And I could come to church faithfully week after week after week and totally misunderstand the whole thing, and miss the whole point. And that's what we're gonna be talking about. So Hebrews chapter 11.

Get this door to this side. And we're gonna start in verse one, and it says this.

Faith shows the reality of what we hope for. It is the evidence of things we cannot see.

There you go. Definition of faith. Faith shows the reality of what we hope for. It is the evidence of things we cannot see. What is that talking about? If you have your Bibles, you're gonna run reality and evidence. I wanna get back to that. But let me kinda just take this verse and give you a a basic definition that says, what is this saying? And and so the definition of faith

is simply this. True biblical faith is not an emotional kind of wishful thinking.

I'll talk about that in a second. It is an inner conviction based on the word of God. Let me let me take this apart. So so this first thing, true biblical faith is not an emotional kind of wishful thinking. See, here's the problem when we say faith that most of us get it wrong. If you say what you're talking about, hey, I just you know, I I I gotta have faith. I need faith. I if you know, I need more faith for this, or I wish I had faith for that, or my faith needs to be stronger, my faith you realize that for and and and when I say we,

I mean me too. I struggle with this as well. I think we all do. And that is, if you talk about the way we talk about faith most of the time, you could literally take faith out of that sentence and put feelings in there. And feelings actually fits the sentence better by what you just said. Faith is.

We think of faith as wishful thinking, as feelings, as this hope, and that's why we won't do certain things. We said, I just need more faith. I need this. We're acting like faith is a feeling. We're saying, when I feel like it, I just need more motivation. I need more I need more more inspiration.

And then the outside world, when we embrace that, well, they look at our faith and they think, you know what faith is for you Christians? It's just wishful thinking. You're just hoping in the in the the sky wizard there to give you what you want, and it looks stupid. And a lot of times, we buy into that same definition,

but that's not what faith means. It's it's not emotional wishful thinking. It's an inner conviction based on the word of God. It's truth, and it gives you a conviction of truth based on the word of God. That means you need the word of God empowered by the spirit of God.

That's what the Holy Spirit does. He takes the word of God, and he gives us the conviction. Shows us the truth. Shows us the reality. And that's why we need to spend time in the word

and trusting the Holy Spirit. Because it's only that faith only comes from the spirit of God. Faith is not something you psych yourself up for. It's not about feelings. It's about facts.

And what does that conviction do? What does he do? That's why I said, underlying reality of what we hope for is the evidence of things we cannot see. So reality. It means it's showing you a reality that the Bible says is true, and it gives you the evidence when you can't see it.

In other words, that word for evidence there in the in the Greek means proof. It gives you proof. It's not a feeling. It says the Holy Spirit will illuminate God's word, and what it's saying is you will see the reality that we don't see.

We'll see beyond the surface reality. You'll see the world. It'll be like Neo in the matrix when all of sudden he's what he's doing? And he doesn't see what he sees anymore. He sees all the numbers and all all the things. You guys see that movie? If you haven't, spoiler alert, it's like 30 years old almost. But

and and that's what the holy spirit does. It gives us the ability to see beyond what we think is reality, below the surface.

If if you're a conspiracy theorist, you know what mean, it lets you see beyond what you think is truthful in front of you. Matter of fact, think we tend to gravitate towards conspiracy theories because of the God given image he built into us, to want to see reality and see the spiritual realm, which is more real than the physical realm. But since we don't trust the Holy Spirit for that, our outlet is we start to believe in every governmental conspiracy. We love to research these. We love you know why? Because we're designed to try to look beyond what we just see.

And then saying that, what the Holy Spirit will do with the word of God, it'll let you seeping on the veil. So if you look at your life, you look at this issue, and you go, on the surface, this is what this world's issue is. But there's something beyond that, that I can't see.

But now I can. And that's incredibly important when it comes to the promises of God. Because God's promises aren't meant to just be for the here and now, and His blessings are not all about just what I want. So I get confused. Matter of fact, Oswald Sanders, he's one of my favorite writers on leadership and theology.

He he he described it this way. This is what this verse means. Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen. We can treat the future, what God promises out there. We can now treat that as now.

So it's an already not yet. We can already live out the kingdom and the promises of God even though the full kingdom of God is not yet. We have this already not yetness to to our faith. And that's only provided by the power of the Holy Spirit through the word of God. If you disconnect

from the word of God. If you study the word of God just to win arguments. If you study the word of God just to know the list of doctrinal accuracies. If you study if in other words, if you don't let the word of God study you, you'll never develop this faith.

You won't be able to see beyond this moment, this world, this country, and then you will see promises of God applying only to this world, and you'll see the blessings of God only apply to the things you really, really want.

And when you look at it that way, when you put all three of those together, church becomes a game where I do the things that god wants me to do. So, I'm in a position for him to give me the promises and part of that promises is give me the blessing and then the only thing that Jesus really matters for the future is once I punch my ticket here, I have a ticket to heaven, and you imagine heaven as just the ultimate retirement place. You've

misunderstood the whole thing if you don't understand what faith is. Does that make sense? Alright.

So now what we're gonna do is we're gonna jump past these examples that we'll be in. These are all examples of it is by this type of faith. These people trusted the Holy Spirit, knew the word of God, and they saw past what was right here in this world.

So you jump to verse 13, and it sums up. This is what made them different.

It says here in verse 13, and here's this first part I'm gonna read. If you don't understand what faith really is and what promises and blessings really are, you're gonna be freaked out by what we're reading right here.

It says, all of these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised.

What? Then why am I following God? Is He a promise breaker? Should there be promise breakers, not promise keepers as that men's movement used to be? What does that mean? It means this. God's promises are not tied just to this world. They're tied to a much, much, much, much bigger thing called eternity.

And if you don't understand that, you're confused by that. You think the faith hall of fame didn't even get the promises? But I'm holding on to this promise.

I believe if I have enough faith that God's gonna give me the spouse I want. God's gonna give me this I want. God's gonna give me that because you think that faith is this

optimistic, wishful thinking that if I do the right things, that God will keep his promise, and his promise is to bless me. And the promise and the blessing is all about what I get in the here and now. That sets you up for a lot of anxiety, a lot of legalism,

a lot of frustration when God doesn't do what you thought he was supposed to do.

I mean, this sounds kind of sad if you don't understand it. I mean, think about it. In any sport, there's a hall of fame. And the most tragic figures in those hall of fame, and there's very few of them cause you usually can't get in, but if you have stats that are so phenomenally good, those still might slip you in, but they're the most tragic figures, is the guy in the hall of fame with incredible stats but never won anything.

The quarterback that never got a Super Bowl, Dan Marino. One of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Everyone knows it. Pure passer. Never won. That's sad. And that's what you think that passage is saying. No. It's saying you are gonna have all the promises.

But the biggest promise isn't in the here and now. Now part of the context of that for anyone who wants to just dive into the Bible is part of what they didn't get promised is they didn't see Jesus. They didn't see the Savior. Like, know His name.

His name's not Jesus anyways. That's a transliteration of the word. His name was Yeshua, which is Joshua. So there you go. There's something else you didn't know. It was Josh that went to the cross for us.

It's weird, isn't it? Some of you think that almost sounds sacrilegious that I called him Josh.

So what this is saying is they didn't get the promises because there's more to it than that. There's more to it than that. Let me read where does it go? Let's keep reading. It says, But they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. What does that mean? They had the they saw the reality

of what they hoped for in the promise and the evidence that they couldn't see.

By the power of God they saw where they were going to end up. They saw the end game of it all. And they welcomed that anyways.

They agreed. Here we go. This is the big part. So they agreed. This is what makes them different. Why are these people in the Faith Hall of Fame? What did their faith take them to that helped them embrace and do this? Because as we look at these characters, it wasn't playing the game of being perfect. Every one of them is very flawed. Every one of them did stuff that was probably more knuckleheaded than any of us have done.

But yet they had this kind of faith. They agreed on this one thing, and here's what they agreed on. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.

They foreigners, nomads. In this culture, if you're from another country, it's kind of rough, especially if you're supposed to you're trying to keep the cultures from back home. You're trying to embrace home. You're just here. Nomad means you're a foreigner, but you're not planning to move there. You're just passing through. You're on a work visa. You're coming there for a time. Well, in the Old Testament, especially, to be a foreigner was a humiliation.

Because you'd be mocked, you'd be ridiculed, you they knew you were different. I mean, it still happens today,

but for them it was big time. That's why the Israelites, when they got sent into captivity, why did the Babylonians spread them out, take them away from Israel? Because that's how you humiliate the enemy. You didn't just leave them there and rule over them like like the Romans would. The Babylonians actually scattered you. They made you a nomad. They made you a foreigner.

Which meant they knew that wherever you lived, you were always gonna feel out of place. Your heart was never gonna be there. Your heart was gonna be somewhere else.

And it meant you're gonna look different, you're gonna be treated different, and that's what it's saying. We as followers of Christ have got to understand that we, yeah, we have to live in this world. We'll get to that in a minute, But we're not supposed to look like this world. And so the issue is we should be treated different. We should look different. We should look God, and we should be okay with that.

Because this isn't home. This isn't where we're gonna land. He says they welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads. And he says, obviously, people who say such things why? They're looking forward to a country they can call their own. They're looking to the new country.

Their heart is landing where their home is. But he says, if they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. That's the mistake we make.

None of these guys turned back. Even with their flaws, they weren't perfect, but they never turned back from where God sent them because they agreed this wasn't home. They embraced their true homeland.

He says if they hadn't, they would have wanted to go back. It's ironic that we didn't plan these service, these series from the last series of this series to be right next to each other. Just we moved some stuff around. I don't know if you know last year was weird.

And it's interesting that when you read they could have gone back. We just got out of a series called True North where we looked at how God guided his people from slavery to a promised land. But as he freed them from slavery and took them through this wilderness,

does any you remember what was their constant whine that they wanted to do every time it was hard? Go back to Egypt. You know what that showed? Their heart

was still in Egypt, which is weird. They didn't like being slaves. They don't wanna be there, but it kinda shows that what they wanted God to do was free them from slavery, but not take them out of Egypt.

It almost gives this connotation that what they really wanted God to do was, let us not be slaves. Can't your power come in here and turn the tables and make us the masters?

We wanna rule here in Egypt. We wanna be blessed here in Egypt. We wanna eat the foods and enjoy the stuff we've come accustomed to here in Egypt. We just don't wanna be slaves. And since they had that heart, their homeland never left Egypt. They're like, God, we want you to free us, but we want it to be about here,

not there. And that's the problem that most of us make as Christians. God, I want you to free me from the slavery. I want you to free me from the stuff. But what I really want you to do is give me all the success and all the things that everybody in this world goes after.

I want to look and be just like my successful friends that don't know Christ. But I want your power to make it possible. And I wanna know I go to heaven when it's all done. We fall into the same trap.

God calls us to go into an uncomfortable wilderness, calls us to something else, calls us to live this way, calls us to trust. He goes, don't worry. The promise I have for you is bigger than anything you can get in this world, and we give up, and we want to run back to Egypt.

That's the struggle. That's that that is the struggle we all carry, is to not look back to Egypt. He says, But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to call be called their God, for He's prepared a city for them. See, they embraced the idea that this wasn't their homeland.

So their heart landed in their true homeland. And then they were able to move forward in this world trusting,

seeing what you can't see, having that hope and that faith that understood that the promises of God go way beyond this world. It's bigger and it's more powerful. And my job is not to sit here and expect all the same things that this world expects and just hope God will give it to me if I obey Him enough. Is to reject that. Enjoy the blessings He does give you here, because He does give us some of the desires of ours. He does bless us. He does He's not saying we should shun any blessing we have, but he's what He's saying is don't focus on that. Because when you focus on that, you'll miss out on the real promise and the real blessing of what God wants you to focus on. And we'll spend all of our time trying to invest

in a forever home that's really a rental world. And and we shouldn't do that. And the truth is when we do that, we end up very confused. You know, says in

well, me show you a quote from C. S. Lewis first in Mere Christianity. A great book defending the faith of of Christianity from a real logical point of view. He says, if I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

I did a series a while back called More where I went through this book of Ecclesiastes

where King Solomon was asking this question, why do we want more? I'm always pursuing more. And he went after everything that we run after. More money, more riches, more sex, more parties, more work, more achievements, more this. And you know, this is thousands of years ago, and he was so wealthy, they say in today's dollars he would have been worth $3,200,000,000,000

He could take the top 10 richest guys. Jeff Bezos was like a peasant to him. And so we always say, well, if I had more money, more time, more this, more influence, I could do more. There's nobody that's had more of anything than him. And he leaned into all of it and realized in the end, you should trust God.

And one of the things he realized is why do we get more and more and more? See, the problem, and you've probably heard sermons say the problem with us and Christians, the sin is that we want more.

That's not what Solomon realized by the wisdom of God when he wrote by the power of the Holy Spirit. As he wrote in chapter three of Ecclesiastes,

God planted eternity in the hearts of men and women, but yet we don't understand what he's doing from one moment to the next. What he was trying to say is the desire for more isn't the problem.

The desire for more, more this, more that, more that, springs from our desire for eternity. When he said he planted eternity, that means God built us to be eternal billing beings. God built us to desire eternal relationship. God built us for all of eternity,

but we're stuck in a temporal world right now. We're living in a temporal world. So that our desire for more isn't the problem. It's the fact that we continually try to fulfill an eternal desire with temporal things, and it never works.

You always need more and more to get less and less, and we keep falling for that. And that's why we wanna go back to Egypt, and then we just misunderstand faith. And he said, well, if I have enough faith and I follow God and I trust him, then he's gonna make his promise to give me the blessings. But what you think the promise is, he's gonna promise to give you everything you wanted in the here and now because all you believe in is the here and now because you think this is home.

Does that make sense? And that's why we get all messed up. Because we have to understand where our home really is, and that's what they understood.

So what do I do with this? How should my heart land if I embrace where my homeland is? Two things. There's two simple things we're gonna talk about today. The first one is this.

The first decision, the thing I need to do is I need to embrace the idea that my future destination decides my present determination. My future destination decides my present determination. Meaning where I'm going to live in the future, where I'm really from, should be making the decisions that I'm determined to make now.

My decisions based on now should be based on where I know I'm going.

It's kind of obvious. Like back before there was GPS and Google this, you could say, hey Siri, tell me how to get to someplace, and it tells you, and and your phone will even talk to you, turn right. And then if you miss the turn, it reroutes and starts telling you how to get back.

I'm old enough that they didn't have those things. You had to get a map out, And you had to trust and try to figure it out. And when you used a map to get somewhere, did you start from where you're at and start drawing a line to where you're going? That would be stupid. What's the first thing you had to do?

Find where you're going, and then work backwards the steps you're gonna take. That's how we should be living life. See where God says our homeland is, and then let our heart land the decisions we make for every day, what we do should be made out of the destination,

not in the moment. In other words, I've said it this way. We need to have then and now thinking, not when and then thinking. See, then and now thinking says, based on where this is gonna end, where I'm gonna be then where I'm gonna be then is the filter in which I make any decision I'm making now.

So what do I do with my time? Well, where am I gonna be then? Heavenly kingdom, all this? I should make sure I spend my time the way God said to spend my time.

Where am I gonna how am I gonna invest my money? Yeah. Enjoy some of the blessings, but first, it should be where I'm gonna be then should determine what I do now.

What when and then thinking says is, when this happens, then I'll do that. And that's where faith is when we think faith is a feeling, it's like, when I feel it, then I'll do it.

And we'll say stuff like, when I get more money, I'll start giving. When I get more we start treating the will of God to be a citizen of heaven, to be a part of the kingdom. What does it mean to be a Christian here on this earth? We start saying, I'll do that when.

And and it usually is when I feel it, or when I have the resource, when I see it. And the reason we usually say more money, more time, or this, is because we're spending all of our time and money and everything on the here and now to try to build that life we want now. And so when you say, God, I can't do this, you're being ridiculous, because why wouldn't you give me more money? He goes, I gave you plenty of money to do what I've asked you to do. You just want to spend it all on here.

And we use that as an excuse. Even spiritual growth. I mean, how many of you in this room, you know Jesus, but you haven't got baptized?

That's one of the first acts of obedience. God just said it's an obedient thing. But we we're like, well, not ready. And a lot of times it's because you say, I will get baptized when I feel mature enough.

Because you actually got it all wrong. You think that if you get in the water and you're unholy, lightning from heaven's gonna come and strike you on the forehead. And the truth is, every one of us probably deserves that.

But that's the whole point. Baptism is saying, but I don't have to have that experience because Jesus died for me and I'm identifying with You don't wait. You don't say, when I'm mature, then I'll get baptized. It's when you get baptized that just made you more mature because you just trusted God.

Another one, when I have more time, then I'll serve. You know what? This is an incredible blessing. Look at how many people. Our church has grown. We had so many last week was the most amount of kids we've had in, like, since before COVID. Ain't that incredible?

But we have a number of Christians that you're willing to say, this is my church. I love Jesus, but you're not serving. You're willing to come back and sit in here, but you're not willing to use the gifts God gave you to serve the body, which is kingdom mentality.

It's kingdom thinking. You realize we're not just gonna have the eternal retirement plan. We are gonna use our gifts in the way God wired us when we're in heaven. I don't think you realize that. You will still have something to do. We're supposed to start living that now. And I'll be honest.

We don't have enough people serving in children. There are people in this room that you have been called to do that, and you won't do it. You know who you are, the holy spirit will

And some of you, the ones that are gonna get the most mad at me for saying that, it means you really know it. But you just don't wanna do it.

Because I know how God works. If he called us to have this much outreach, I know there's enough people he's called to serve with the kids.

So I'm not trying to force someone. The worst thing I can do is say, we're not moving an inch forward till five people volunteer. Because you know what? The only five people who volunteer are the people with the gift of service, and they just feel guilty. So you volunteer for everything. I'm not talking to you.

I'm not talking to you that already serve.

I'm talking to you Christians that know this is your church, and you know you have a gift to serve in that area, and you just won't do it. You know why? Because you say, when I have more time, when I have the feeling, when it feels good, when my busy life, because I'm running after everything else except the kingdom of God, calms down,

then I'll go after the kingdom of God. That's who I'm talking to. I know who you are. Don't make me call you. No, I actually don't know who you are. God knows who you are. But that's the point. But if you go, I know now, then what would I make a decision to do now? That's what the world needs to see in the church.

We don't need to see that we have all these political arguments or biblically we do this and you're a bunch of jerks because you don't do it. We don't stand on the other side yelling at everyone that they're acting wrong. We need to act in the love that God's called us and show them and love them

and show that we're different. We should be swimming upstream because this isn't home. This isn't home. And God has so much more for us. And you know what, when I don't understand that, I make one of two decisions that are extremes. I either think of what this world is as a prison or a vacation.

I either I either I either think it's a prison, like I'm stuck here. I know this isn't my home. This isn't my world, but it's a prison. It's terrible. And you know what? I'm just gonna keep my head low, do my own time, take care, try to get points knocked off so I can have parole and have better access. Give me library privileges. Give me this. Let me get on the Internet. I'm gonna do whatever I can, and I'm gonna stay away from people. I'm not gonna engage because I don't wanna get shanked out in the yard. So I just wanna do my thing and and make it all about me and my personal thing, and then get the heck out of here and go to heaven someday. The

other extreme is, you know what? It's just a vacation. I don't live here. It's no big deal. But when I go on vacation, I don't live there either. I'm just passing through. So what do you try to do? I'm gonna have as much much fun, experience as much cool stuff, experience as much of the culture I've experienced there as I can, and be like them, and see what it's like when in Rome, you know, kind of an idea, and just enjoy it, and eat, drink, and be merry till I die. Because you know what? Jesus loves me, and he'll let me into heaven anyways.

You know what's funny about those two extremes?

They're actually about the same thing. Escape. Prison wants to escape from this world. The vacation wants to escape into this world.

But God didn't call us to do either. He didn't call us to be a prisoner. He didn't call us to be a tourist. He called us to be a missionary. We have a mission.

I mean, have you heard the words of Jesus when he was praying for the disciples and he's and he included all of when he says, and I pray for all of those who will ever believe in me?

Before he got crucified, he does his prayer with disciples and he includes us. That's the coolest verse in the Bible. I'm including everyone who will ever believe in me in this prayer, father. Which means if you put your faith in this, before Jesus got crucified, he literally prayed for you. And what did he say?

Have you heard the terms, you know, he said, you're gonna be in this world but not of it. You guys know the world, in this world not of it? Jesus never said that.

Jesus never said, you're in this world not of it. Not one time. People are like, I'm going go in my Bible and read it. You know what he actually said? Father don't take them out of this world. Meaning because they believe in me don't just take them out. He said, because they're not of this world,

but I'm sending them into it. Do you realize that says something very different? In this world but not of it is what creates the prison and and the vacation mentality.

It means I'm just stuck in here, but I'm not of it, so I might as well make the best of it. One, I'm gonna lock down and get out of this stinking prison. And that way you you just care about being right. You don't care about helping other people know Jesus, and it's all about make it as pleasant as you can while in prison. The other one makes it party as much as you can while you're here. Because I'm in this world, but I'm really not of it, so I'm just gonna do what I wanna do. They're both about escaping. We're not supposed to escape. We're supposed to engage. It means we gotta live in this world, just not look like this world. But we still gotta live in it, and he sent us on a mission. He said what did he say? He said, don't take them out. The reality is most of us, if you think of prisoner vacation, it's confusing of what God's doing. And you go, God, why would you allow this stuff to happen? Why are you challenging me to do this when I don't have enough money? Why are you making me be be uncomfortable? Why do want me to do this, and why are you doing that? Because you would think the the way God's thinking, if you think that way,

then why wouldn't God just say, hey, Saint Scotty, beam him up the second you become a Christian? I mean, if it's really about what you think life's about, it does make sense. God would just say, hey, another one. Beam them up, Scotty. And we just disappear. And now we're in heaven. But he's saying, don't do that, God,

because I'm sending them on a mission.

You realize every one of us in this world that knows Jesus is we're just here on a work visa. We have a job to do. Could you imagine if your company sent you to another country to do a job, and you did the prison mentality? You just sat in your room and didn't go to work and didn't do anything?

Or if you went there and did nothing but party and used the credit card they gave you for business expenses and said this is supposed to be used to do your job and all you did was spend it all on you're not gonna have a job anymore. You're gonna be in trouble. And my fear is that's what too many of us do.

Because we misunderstand what our faith means. And ultimately you think you can't trust God because it would be too hard. When reality is the thing you're not trusting is where home really is. Said, kid even knows. Screaming, don't you guys get this? She goes, this ain't home.

And here's what happened. When we don't engage and we just try to escape, most of the time we end up just looking like everybody else. I mean, think about it. If you have any non Christian family, friends, coworkers that you hang out with and talk to, ask yourself, do all of our goals in life match?

And if you're a Christian that wants the exact same thing as someone who's not a Christian, some of them are gonna match.

But if it's identical,

You believe in Jesus, but you just don't want to listen to Jesus. You want to believe in Jesus, but you want your home to be here. Because if all your goals are the same, that means your heart is here. And you're gonna get really confused when God doesn't answer all the promises.

Because most of those promises you're confused by is because you think all the promises involve the blessing in the here and now instead of the mission. Part of the blessing is God allows us to be a part of His mission.

But we don't see it that way. We're trying to be Christians that embrace this as our home.

And we just start looking like everyone else. I was in Scotland a couple years ago doing some ministry. And we're at this place where we're meeting some interns, a program that people come over The United States and do internship. I'm talking to this one couple. They're married, and and the guy obviously was from America. He had an American accent. I don't know what that means. He wasn't from the South. Was probably non regional diction like me. Newscaster voice. But we're we're sitting there, and we're talking, and and he's like, oh, where are you from? Ohio. And and and his wife, she's like total Scottish accent.

She's like, Scotland. You know? And you're like, okay. You're talking to her. And I go I go, where are you from? And she goes, Ohio. Oh, did you come over from Scotland and meet him in Ohio and get married and come back? She goes, no. We we we were high school sweethearts. We met in Ohio. I grew up there.

But she said it like I'm like, wait. Wait. Wait. You're You're not from Scotland, but you have a Scottish accent. I go, maybe she'd been there a long time. So I go, how long have you been here? Same length as him. We got here three months ago. I

didn't say it to her face, but I'm like, then why are you talking like Braveheart? Why are you like, they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom? I'm like, why are you talking like that? I don't get it. How did you learn it so fast? I mean, she must have been looking in the mirror and practicing.

She didn't just wanna work and do some ministry in Scotland. Every ounce in her, she wanted to be Scottish. I'm, like, thinking she's not Scottish. I actually am Scottish, and I don't have that accent because I didn't wasn't born in Scotland. And and it was so weird. Who would do that?

I think a lot of people in this room are doing that. You've got the world's accent. You talk like the world, but you're not supposed to be from here. Look at what Paul said in the book of Philippians chapter three.

Now you gotta set this up. Because sometimes you read these things, you don't understand the audience. He's gonna say some things that break his heart. He is not talking about the world out there. He's talking to a church. He's talking to people in the church. He's talking to people that claim Christ. Okay?

That's who he's talking to when he says these words. Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine and learn from those who follow our example. For I have told you often before, and I say it again, look, with tears in my eyes. It's a broken heart this pastor has, Paul.

That there are many whose conduct shows they're really enemies of the cross of Christ. Their conduct shows they're enemies. Who is he talking to? People sitting in the service.

That the way they're actually living their life shows they're not living like their destination, their homeland is Christ. You're living like your homeland's here, and that makes you actually live like an enemy of Christ. He says they are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite. Whenever it says appetite,

that means your desire is only for the worldly things. And you'll even use your spirituality to try to get God to give you the worldly things. He goes, they brag about shameful things. I don't know what that means, like being a, I don't know, Steelers fan or something.

You thought I was gonna go a different team, didn't you? We'll leave them alone. And they think only about this life here on earth. See what it says? The problem with these people that come to church is they only focus on the life on earth. Let's keep going. It says, but we are citizens of heaven,

where the Lord Jesus Christ lives, and we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own. See, there's he's talking about these promises that this isn't gonna happen this side of heaven.

And he goes, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. Meaning most of the promises of God, the most eternal promises, the things that our heart longs for, but we run after, you know, the true forever home is never gonna happen in this rental world.

But we run after it. We run after it, and we try to spiritualize it, and we miss the whole point. And you know what? I gotta be honest. Paul was a pastor

who was called to speak this prophetic word. Prophecy is not about just weird future things. It's very little about that. It's about taking God's word and knowing God's people and being a shepherd and being willing to tell them the hard truth. It's the throat punch.

Tough truth, right time, right way. So take this from a pastor's heart who only wants what God wants for all of us, including myself.

My heart is broken for how many people in this room that passage describes.

You're missing it. And when he says destruction, it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to hell. Hell. It means your life is just gonna never work the way you wanted it. But it also does imply that some are not even Christians.

You've never truly embraced Jesus as your home.

And so I'm not trying to be a downer or mean. I love you too much. And I do have to stand before God and answer for the mission he gave me. And that is to lovingly and as honestly as I can

speak the truth.

Speak the truth. So in other words the second point. Is really the whole point of this all is decide where my home lands. This is what I'm asking you. Decide where your home lands. For some of you you've never decided to put your faith in Jesus. That's what it means to be a Christian.

To turn from the brokenness of this world, the brokenness of my own actions, the fact that I run after the things that I think are gonna save me and make me happen in this world, and own the fact that I don't trust God, but Jesus came and died on the cross for me and I can put my faith in Him.

That's step one. But I think it's not just a once and for all. It's a once and for all to be saved by Him and have your home. But I think we're supposed to continually reflect on have I let myself start getting a Scottish accent?

Because King David said it best when he was reflecting in Psalms 139, twenty three and twenty four, it says it this. This is what I mean we should do. He says this, Search me O God, and know my heart. Where's my heart landing? Test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you

and lead me along the path of this temporary life. No. Which path does he want to be back on? The everlasting life. Lead me on the path that understands what all of eternity is, and that's where the blessing is. And let that decide what I do now.

I gotta embrace that. I have to always be asking God to do this. I always have to reflect and go, hey, where where am I letting the anxious thoughts? Because it's interesting how he describes a Christian, someone that knows God that embraces their their their homeland in heaven, but lives like their home is here,

is gonna be filled with anxieties. Now I know there's physical reasons why people get anxieties and you need medication. I'm not saying that. But I know this. A Christian that won't live with eternity in mind in the here and now is always gonna be anxious. You're always gonna be frustrated.

You're always even when things are going well, you're gonna wonder if God's gonna take this away if I do bad things. You're gonna think because you're focusing on the wrong thing. And that's what David is saying is take away those anxieties

that are in my heart because you know why they're in my heart is because I'm not focusing on the everlasting path. I'm focusing on the path that's right here. So I have to decide where does my home land?

Otherwise, I'm going to live a life that makes no sense in light of eternity. I have a friend who's semi retired. It's really weird when I have friends my age that are like retired and semi retired. I'm like, at my pace, I'll have enough savings to retire five years after Jesus comes back.

But he does cabinet work. And he was telling me this last week, he did this work for a guy that he came in and he wanted all this stuff done. He's like, sure you wanna do that in this house? Goes, yeah. And he goes, it was like $25,000 worth of work.

And so as he was doing it, he's like, I'll do it. But as he's doing it, he's like, okay. Well, if you're gonna do all of this he goes, well, my wife really wants it this way and likes that. He's like and he goes, but if you're gonna do this, what do you do with the rest of the house?

I mean, are you gonna do more stuff? Are you are you thinking about resale value? What are you trying to do? And when my friend said resale value, the guy looked at me and he goes, oh, I don't own the house. I'm just renting it.

Who does that? Shannon, who does that? Real estate friend of mine. You would tell someone to never do that. That would be stupid. Why would someone spend $25,000 on a rental house? Who's the only person that's gonna score off of that deal? The owner. The owner. So all you did was enrich his kingdom.

Well, you know the scripture says there's a prince of this world during this broken season of life. There there's Satan and his minions, and he kinda controls the world's way of thinking. And so he'll take things and do these half truths, half lies. He takes good things and twists them just enough to make an idol out of them for us. Then that's what he wants to do. He wants to attack God's plan by attacking God's people and twisting the minds so no one will find Christ because he really wants to be God. So he gives us these idols that are really is you can take anything, including often a good thing, but you make it the God thing, and then that becomes the only thing, and that's a bad thing. And that's what we tend to do. And then when we do that, we actually put a forever home

resource into a rental, And he's the only one that wins by that. And

then he's tricked us enough that some of you in this room, I am loving you more than you've ever been loved. I am challenging you to take a step that's gonna bring you to a freedom and a hope and a faith that'll take you so far beyond any stupid thing you're facing in this world. Then I'm giving you that truth, and you are getting mad at me right now in your heart because I told you what to do with your money and your time.

Guys, snap out of it. Snap out of it. Let the Holy Spirit call you out it. That's my frustration. I can holler at this all the time. Sometimes I get worked up. It's passionate. And the guy on my staff says, Bill, yelling at the problem is not gonna take it away. So I yell at him instead, and then I feel good. I'm

not trying to yell this problem away. My heart is broke because I know only the Holy Spirit can change you right now. But you have to put your faith in that. And faith isn't a feeling. Faith is a choice.

So what I wanna do is do what King David did. We're gonna close simply here. I'd hope that you'd all stay in here and reflect. Don't take this, oh, there's a song. I'm bolting. Don't do that because then I'm gonna judge you in my heart. And then I gotta talk to God about that, and I don't want to.

Five minutes isn't gonna kill you. And what we're gonna do is we're singing this song called First Love. Because really to have your homeland be heaven is you gotta decide, is Jesus really home?

Is he your first love? And what you gotta remember is he loves us so much. It says in the Bible, we can only have him be our first love because he first loved us. And you gotta embrace that.

So reflect on that right now. But what we're gonna do is I'm gonna ask you to stay seated and not sing at first. Listen to the words. Let God talk to you. And then the band will invite you in to finish it off, and that'll be our closing prayer. Amen? Amen.