"Home Is Where the Heart Is" By Jesse Rairdon March 23rd,
2014 Remain standing for prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to the time to
hear Your message, Your Word, Lord Jesus, and I pray that You would bless Your servant. Lord, forgive the sins that he has committed,
and, Lord, touch his lips, Lord, that the anointing would come from You and
flow really deep to our hearts, that we all may grow and learn and be, more, a
better Christian, a more Christ-like person, a better person to be the example
to those around us, Lord Jesus. So,
touch our hearts, correct us if we need to be corrected. Lord, encourage us if we need to be
encouraged, and, Lord, save us if we need to be saved. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Good morning. Welcome.
What a blessing this series has been, hasn’t it? The theme of the month is ‘The House of God,’
and our Scripture for the month is: 2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this
tabernacle were dissolved... (Being our body) …we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in
the heavens. So, today we’re going to talk about
us being the Pastor Paine started us off in the
series, he preached on “In This House.” He talked about, in this house we do love; in
this house we do correction; in this house we bear one another’s burdens. Sometimes it gets ugly when we bear one
another’s burdens, but, in this house, we bear one another’s burdens. In this house we do humility. We’ve got to be humble in this house. It’s not about me, it’s about God, and what
God is doing through us. Amen? In this house we do responsibility. Yes, there’s time when we have to bear our
own burdens. There are things that God
has for us to do and nobody else to do. In
this house we do forgiveness. I could
share a lot about that one, but we’ll save that for another time. Forgiveness is very key in the house of God. In this house we do invitations. We invite people into this house. Amen? Parish
talked about “God’s House.” He talked
about the Tabernacle that was built when the Israelites were told to wander in
the wilderness. They built a house for
God, a Tabernacle, a tent. Wherever God moved,
and the Children of Israel moved, that house went with them. So, it was a mobile house. It kind of represents that wherever we go,
today, we take God with us. There were
certain things in that house that God had put in order, and put in that
house. Things for cleansing, things
for—an altar to make an offering for God, things for—specifically, that had to
be lit, things that had to be kept in order in that house. When they settled in the promised and, the
pace that God had told them that He was going to give them, they built a Last week, Chris talked about “Jesus
Is the So, now we come today with us being
the temple of the Holy Ghost. Home is where
the Heart is. We all have our states and our
places and our memories of where we’re from.
Some places, like maybe the 1. God Wants To Make A Home Where There Is
Humility. Isaiah 66:1-2 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and
the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where
is the place of my rest? For all those
things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but
to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and
trembleth at my word. You can’t be a know-it-all and make
a home for God. You’ve got to be humble
when you come to learn from God. It
starts with humility; we have to admit that we’re wrong. God’s not going to make a home in somebody
that’s already right. The home’s already
established, and God can’t come in and make His own rules. It starts with humility. Why did Jesus use the example of a little
child—of such is the 2. God Has House Rules. When God moves in, there is a
different set of rules. We don’t learn
all these rules at once; it’s over time.
When I went from a dysfunctional family to a foster home; there was a
different atmosphere. All of the sudden,
when I came into the house, I had to take my hat off, and my shoes off. There was no foul language when you went inside
that house. everybody pitched in
together and did the dishes, clean the house, and did the laundry. Those things were different for me, so it was
kind of an adjustment at first. There
was love in that home. My foster mom was
a big Irish woman, and she would grab me and hug me. I would try to squirm out of it at first,
because I didn’t know what love was. No
one had loved me before. I was shown
love; I was shown respect. I was shown
how to talk to people; I was shown how to listen to people. The bedrooms were always clean and in order;
very neat. You could have a lot of stuff
in your room, but it had to be neat and in order. You couldn’t have a lot of junk on the
floor. I didn’t have these kinds of
rules before, but there was love in that house.
The same as with God; He has a certain set of house rules. John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man
love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come
unto him, and make our abode with him. God desires to dwell with you, in
you. God wants to live with you, but the
condition is, you keep His rules; you keep His words. That’s the condition; there’s no way around
it. He’s not going to live in a place
where you make up your own rules, and then, maybe, decide to follow God’s
rules. It’s his house; He’s the Master
of the house. Sometimes, we guys, we sit
in our throne, or our lazy-chair, or maybe our couch, and we’ve got our scepter
(the remote), and we’ve got all these little people entertaining us, like
little jesters; I’m the king of the castle.
Well, God’s the King of the castle, and He’s going to rule on His
throne, and that’s your heart. So God has
rules. Because we have these house
rules, you can’t just bring anybody over, and they can do anything in your house,
too. So, I’m talking about your friends,
today, too. You can’t just let your
friends affect you like you used to, because you have a new Master; you have
new house rules. It’s a little different
now. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 Be ye not
unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or
what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the If I brought my friends over to this
new home, and they didn’t take their hat off, they didn’t take off their shoes,
they started to curse, how long would that friendship last before my foster parents
would say, “You know what?” They would
give them some warnings; they would love them, but, after awhile, it was like,
“You need to pick some new friends.” It
talks about we re the temple of the Holy Ghost, and sometimes we let people in
our lives that don’t need to be in our lives, at least, not too deep into our
lives. I’m not saying don’t have friends
out there; I’ve got a lot of friends out there in the community, and I have
supper with them, but I don’t let them into my house, and let them set up their
idols in my house. Not in God’s house,
because God has rules, and I’m not going to le them come in and take control
and put things that God doesn’t want in that house. Before I was a Christian—before I let
God take control of this house—I was in the Navy. At the time, I was a second class petty
officer, so I had some leadership responsibility; I had been in for some
time. I had a little understanding of
how the world went. I had a lot of
friends in the world, and I had one particular friend and our goal was that we
were going to get orders to Italy, open up a bar, marry a couple of Italian
women, and settle down and retire there.
that was my whole goal at the time.
Okay? Along the way, my friend
went over there ahead of time—we got orders to the same ship. God met me, and said, “I’ve got different
plans for you. I have plans to make you
a new life; to make you a new creature.”
On February 4th, 1996, I got baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord moved in, and He
set up the house the way He wanted to.
My friend didn’t hear from me for a while, and he came back to visit
before I went over there. We used to go
to bars, and drink all night and do things that people like that do, but I was
a different creature; I had a different set of rules; I had a different
house—God was living in my house. He
kept trying to get me out to the bar, and I kept trying to get him to church—we
met in the middle, at Wendy’s. we had a
serious discussion, and he said, “Why don’t you want to do the same things that
you wanted to do before?” because I am a new creature. I don’t think like that any more; even the
music I listened to before became disgusting.
It wasn’t the same; I was a new creature. Now some people—Bob and I were talking before
church, we were having some good fellowship, so, Bob, this is your part in the
message, okay?—Some people, they don’t totally give up some things when they
come to get their house cleaned up. You have
some baggage, and it takes a little time to grow through those things, to move
through those things. When I first got
married, and, me and my wife, we established a house, there were some things
that kind of bothered her, you know? At
first, she maybe didn’t say something, but after a while, she started giving
little hints, like I’d wash my hands, and dry my hands on my pants. That’s a no-no. every once in a while, she still catches me,
“There’s a towel over there.” we’ve made
a home together; there’s certain things you don’t do, so I respect that in my
wife. It took a little time to kind of
grow and learn those things. When we
first come to God, there’s some thing some people still struggle with—some
people it’s smoking, some people it’s music, some people it’s some of the
friends that they may have had. So, my friend
went on back ahead of me; he realized, “No way, I’m not going to convince Jesse
that this is the path we’re going to go on anymore.” He became one of my worst enemies, because he
made everyone think that I was going to judge them—that they were all going to
Hell. So, before I got there, everybody
had this in their mind who I was, you know? I had a lot of battles that I had
to fight and pray through because people saw a different Jesse than what this
guy saw. After awhile, God changed them,
and they came to me for questions, and for prayer. This gentleman, I don’t know what happened,
but, all of the sudden he got sick, really sick. They couldn’t explain it; he had to leave the
ship and go back to the states. I still
pray for him, you know, but he’s chosen his path, and I’ve chosen my path. I don’t go try to look him up. He chose not t receive what God had for
him. Now? who knows, God could save him
where he’s at. The difference was, I
have a different set of rules. God has a
different set of rules that I live by, and what you bring into your house, what
you watch on TV, what you look at on the internet, matters to God. It talks about idols in here. What are idols? something that takes the
place where God’s supposed to be. You
saying, “This idol is going to meet my need when I’m lonely, not God.” So you take those idols out, and replace it
with something that God wants there. 3. God Will Not Live In A Dirty House We moved to Proverbs 20:9 Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure
from my sin? So the question is, who can really clean
like God can clean? I can’t get up here
and say, “Well, I’m clean.” No I’m
not. Only God can really clean us thoroughly,
and clean out those deep, dark places. Another point I want to make,
too—I’m going to back from the other point—when we have friends in the world that
are trying to pull us, especially as a young Christian, that have been around,
maybe two or three years, find a good mentor.
Maybe even a group of members, maybe three or four people, get their
phone numbers in the church, who are strong in the faith that you can call and
you can pray with, that you can meet with on a regular basis, maybe have some
coffee, maybe go over to their home. If
you’re a young couple maybe do that with an elder couple that have been around
and maybe been married for a little while, because, like we said earlier, the
devil is like a roaring lion, and he’s seeking out there to destroy us and to
divide us, and he goes after the young ones first. You’ve got to prepare yourself and get some
wisdom from people that have been around for a little bit. That comes from fellowship, that comes from
getting advice, that comes from encouraging people, amen? Okay, back to the message (I stepped
out for just a moment). God will not
live in a dirty house. So, we’re walking
around, and we’re living in this tabernacle, and God has made this His home;
sometimes we’re going to make mistakes. All
have sinned, and come short (Romans 3:23); am I the only one in that boat? Raise your hand if you’re with me. Not any perfect people in here? Just checking. So, David found himself in a place
where he basically had slept with another man’s wife. Not only did he sleep with that man’s wife,
he killed the man to cover it up. That’s
a dangerous place to be, so we’re going to read his attitude, when he finds out
about what he did. Psalms 51:1-13 (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when
Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.) Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the
multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and
cleanse me from my sin. For I
acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and
done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou
speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward
parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean:
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken
may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins,
and blot out all mine iniquities. Create
in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take
not thy holy spirit from me. Restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and
sinners shall be converted unto thee This wasn’t just a simple, quiet
little prayer. “God, I’m wrong! Forgive me!
I realize what I’ve done! I’ve
sinned against You, and You alone! I
need Your forgiveness! Purge me with
hyssop!” Do you know what it means to be
purged with hyssop? When you take
rubbing alcohol, and you take something that stings to cleanse a wound, or
salt, and you beat on that wound, that’s not a joyous feeling. “Clean me thoroughly! I’m sorry, God; I’m wrong! I want You to come and make my heart Your
home again! I can’t serve with others
unless I have it right!” Do you hear that
prayer of David? Do you hear that? We’ve got to have that same attitude. We can’t just say, “Cleanse me, God,” and go
on about our way. We’ve got to be
sincere with God. We’ve got to be real
with God, because God is real, and God is dealing with our hearts. 4. What’s On The Inside Is More Important
Than What’s On The Outside We’re in the process of looking at
homes, and sometimes, you just kind of glance at the outside, but what’s really
important is what’s on the inside; how’s the kitchen? how’s the bathroom? is
everything running good? is there heat and electricity? The same as with God; you can come to church
and look really, really good, smell really clean—and I’m glad you do (I took a
shower today, and I hope you did, too—but if the inside of our heart is full of
idols, and issues that we haven’t resolved with God, if we haven’t forgiven
somebody, we’ve got to get that clean.
We’ve got to get that revived.
What you’re really supposed to be on the inside: Proverbs 24:3-4 Through wisdom is an house builded; and by
understanding it is established: And by
knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. God desire to make your home a
wonderful place, His home a wonderful place, your heart a wonderful place. He desires to fill it, and put things that He
wants in there. That could come from
some study and some prayer time, and some listening to God, and some fellowship
with one another. I know if I bring
something home, a piece of furniture, and my wife doesn’t like it—she might not
say something right at first, but I notice it gets moved to someplace not out
in the open, first, and then it just disappears. “Hey, where did that shelf that I bought and
brought to the house go? It’s
gone.” She says, “I know, I didn’t like
it. It disappeared.” Sometimes we’ve got things in our lives that
God doesn’t like. You ever see that
show, “Hoarders?” People have all kinds
of junk in their house. My wife watched
that with me one time, and she said, “I’m never watching that show with you
again.” It gets pretty bad; it’s a
disease that people have, and sometimes people are spiritual hoarders. They hoard things in their lives, and carry
them, and build them up. They think it’s
important to them, and they can’t let go of them until they’ve got all these
things stacked up—things that are rotting, things that are disgusting, things
that don’t need to be in your house.
Sometimes we get like that spiritually, we hoard things, we hold onto
things. Jesus deals with the Pharisees: Matthew 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites… That’s a nice way to greet somebody,
huh? Sometimes we’re like that, though,
we’ve got to get the hard message. Matthew 23:27 …hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres,
which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones,
and of all uncleanness. You look good on the outside, but on
the inside, you’re full of dead men’s bones and uncleanness. Matthew 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men,
but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. So, we come to God, and He cleans
us, and He’ll challenge us on those things.
Sometimes, after we’ve been around awhile, we start to become a
Pharisee. We start to look at others and
say, “They’re so wrong. Oh, dear Lord,
help brother Arman; I’m glad I’m not like him.
Dear God, look at me; I’m so holy, so pious, so religious.” Oh, dear God, help us. Help me.
we don’t want to get that spirit. 5. God Desires To Have Supper With You. God desires to have supper with
you. I grew up in a home where there was
twelve kids and two adults. If you
didn’t come home for supper on times, you might not get supper. Mom didn’t have to yell out the door,
“Suppertime!” you knew what time suppertime was, you were hungry, you went home
and you ate supper. God desires to sup
with us. So, in this home, it’s
suppertime. Wouldn’t it be a shame if
the only time you had supper with God was Sunday morning? What if you only came to feed your body once
a week? Wouldn’t you be pretty
hungry? I know there’s times you fast,
but if I only ate once a week, I’d be pretty hungry. Don’t make suppertime be only one a week; He
wants to dine with us. Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear
my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and
he with me. God’s not rude; he doesn’t bust down
the door. He stands at the door and He
knocks. He said, “We’re going to have
supper. It’s time. It’s time to pray. It’s time to get into My Word. Time to come and dine. Time to have some fellowship.” I know sometimes we work hard, and, during
the day, we get a little tired, and we realize that God will remind us,
“Ladies’ prayer meeting tonight,” or, “Sister so-and-so’s having coffee
tonight, and she invited you.” You might
not feel like going, but, I tell you what, when you go, when you dine, when you
have that fellowship, it’s encouraging.
God’s the same way; He wants us to have that fellowship. supper. From the beginning of time, God wanted to
have communion with Adam and Eve, but sin separated us. We separated ourselves fro God. So, since then, He’s been trying to get
back. He did it through the Tabernacle;
he did it through the At this particular time, Jesus had
already risen from the dead, He already told Peter what he should be doing, but
he decided to go fishing. He not only
went fishing, but he took some others with him, and they all went fishing. So, Jesus went and met them where they were
at, and He said unto them: John 21:12 Jesus saith unto them, Come
and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing
that it was the Lord. So, He didn’t sit there on the
shore, and have this big beaming light and start yelling at them and screaming
at them. “Come and dine. It’s time for supper. It’s time to sit down, and let’s talk about
this. Let’s talk about what I have for
you. You’re not doing the right
thing.” You can read a little further
on, and Peter even had to be asked three times, “Do you love me?” So, it’s time for supper. How’s your house? How’s the love? How’s the encouragement? How are the things that are in the
house? Something me and my wife started
doing recently, before we go to bed—about an hour before, sometimes a little
less, sometimes a little more —we shut off the TV and everything else, stop the
noise, put away our headphones, and we’ll read the scriptures. Sometimes we’ll go over the message from last
Sunday, sometimes we’ll call somebody up and we’ll pray with them, or we’ll fellowship
with somebody. So, the last thing before
we go to bed is not the news, or some spy show, or something that’s really not
important to God. The last thing before
our head hits the pillow is we’re encouraging, we’re discussing about things of
God. I encourage you to do that. I’m not going to tell you that you have to do
that, but, if you take some time and rest on the Word of God, you’re going to
be so much better. There’s a song that we used to sing
in the ministry years ago, “I’ve Got a Brand New Sign.” I know this is kind of short notice for the
musicians, but if we could close with that song, I’d appreciate it. I don’t know all the words; I could kind of
struggle through it. Probably some of
the guys—they’ll help me out? good. So,
this song, there’s a message that talks about there’s somebody in here,
Devil. Somebody more important, you’re
not welcome in here anymore. It’s got
big red letters. So, if you would like
to stand and sing this song with us, you’re more than welcome. I've got a brand new sign, with bright red letters, Hanging on the door of my heart. Since the Lord moved in, I have never felt better My life has changed, I've made a new start So I'll let the devil know, he isn't wanted anymore When he comes calling on me Oh, how mad he's gonna be, when he begins to read, Full up, no vacancy! I've got a brand new sign, with bright red letters, Hanging on the door of my heart. Since the Lord moved in, I have never felt better My life has changed, I've made a new start So I'll let the devil know, he isn't wanted anymore When he comes calling on me Oh, how mad he's gonna be, when he begins to read, Full up, no vacancy! Full up, no vacancy! Full up, no vacancy! Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
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