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Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

Brian Hindman

Lets go Home

Well, our subject this morning, are you hungry for the Word of God?

You know, the Bible says in Matthew 5, right at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, "'Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.'" For what?

"'They shall be filled.'" Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness this morning, the righteousness that only Jesus can provide?

Well I want to begin with a tribute to mothers.

I know we've already said a few things but I just would like to share a few other remarks.

There's a person who was president of the United States back in 1861 to 1865 named Abraham Lincoln and he had the following comment to say about his mother, all that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.

How many of you can agree with that statement by President Lincoln this morning?

What an impact, what an influence mothers have on our lives in such a tremendous way.

In fact, mothers are a blessing from God.

And I just want to share a few comments here found in the Spirit of Prophecy about the value, the tremendous role and position that a mother holds before God.

Prophets and Kings says, "'The mother who trains her children for Christ is as truly working for God as is the minister in the pulpit.

I want you to feel affirmed and very much appreciated this morning because the work that you do is irreplaceable by anyone else on earth.

Just as important as the minister standing here in the desk this morning is the work of the mothers that oftentimes goes unknown, unnoticed by anyone but the mother and her children.

This is taken from Signs of the Times and it says, would that every mother, don't miss that, Would that every mother could realize how great are her duties and her responsibilities and how great will be the reward of faithfulness.

The mother's daily influence upon her children is preparing them for everlasting life or eternal death.

Now watch this, she exercises in her home a power more decisive than the minister in the desk or even the king upon his throne.

More decisive, more powerful than the minister in the desk.

Here at the desk of the pulpit this morning, or the king upon his throne, does the mother exert as she influences her children, either for eternal life or for eternal death.

And then finally, councils to the church page 144, paragraph 3, simply says, Next to God, the mother's power for good is the strongest known on earth.

Mothers, your influence and development of character upon your children is truly the greatest power for good on earth.

Don't ever be tempted to think that your work is unimportant or is of a lesser quality or value than your husband's or anyone else in the public workplace for that matter.

Always remember that God sees all of your toiling and all of your tears and all of your time that you invest in your children.

Thank you, mothers, for not only directing us to Jesus, but for helping us connect to Jesus and be transformed by His grace in our lives.

Thank you, mothers, I appreciate all of you.

Well, this morning our subject is entitled, Let's Go Home.

And before we begin, if you would just bow your heads with me as we pray, and we'll get into God's word.

Oh, Father in heaven, Lord, your people have come and gathered here in your house this morning on your Sabbath to hear a word, a message from you.

And Lord, I pray that as we open the scriptures, that our minds would be transformed, that our lives would be transformed as we come into contact with your word and the power of your Holy Spirit as an agency for change to apply these words to our lives.

Lord, revive us today is my prayer in Jesus' name, amen.

All right, simple question, where is your home located?

Maybe it's a different place than where you live now.

I have to say for me growing up as a pastor's kid and moving many different times, I tried to sit down and count that I'm pretty sure that I've moved 23 times and counting.

I'm 44, so that's an average of once every 2 years, more than that.

And moving around, home was where my parents were.

Since we moved fairly frequently, being assigned to different churches, my dad did call porter work in Greenville, South Carolina, Sumter, South Carolina, and Columbia, South Carolina, before he was called into the ministry and then served in Burlington, North Carolina, Raleigh, North Carolina, Hickory, North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina, and then Boone and Banner Elk, North Carolina, before he passed away 4 years ago.

Well, when he was pastoring in Greensboro, North Carolina, that's when I was finally old enough to grow up and move out of the house.

And 1 of the things my parents said to me is no matter where we go and where we move, we will always have a room in our house for you.

Even though you're grown and out of the house, we'll always have a room for you." And they said, we want you to have a key to our house.

And so even after moving out and starting my own home in my own family, I still was given a key to the house and I still have it, even though both of my parents have passed away and they don't live in a house here anymore, obviously.

But that is a special reminder that your parents always have a place for you.

And it got me to thinking, did you know that Jesus has actually given us a key to his house?

You know, in Matthew 16, Jesus speaking to the disciples says, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom.

It is the scriptures that tell us how to gain an entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

The way, the path, and opening the front door of heaven is found in the Word of God.

And God has given those scriptures or keys to all of his followers, all of his disciples.

So this morning we want to study and know what the key is to get to our home in heaven.

Well, there's a statement that's been said before.

Said by Pliny the Elder way back in the first century, this quote is that old.

I'm only kidding, even partially kidding.

We know, what does the scripture tell us about in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6?

Jesus says, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not break in or thieves don't break in and steal or corrode because where your treasure is there your heart will be also." So the same principle even goes back to the time of Christ.

Where your treasure is, That's where your heart will be also.

And so this morning, I'm just asking the question, what is our focus and where is our treasure as we consider our lives here on this earth?

And I would submit to you that our true home is actually not any place, any location here on earth.

The Scriptures give us the insight on this 2nd Corinthians 4 17 and 18.

The Bible says, for our light affliction which is but for a what?

Our affliction, our light affliction, is which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are what?

We have a focus by faith on things that are eternal and those are realities that God has revealed to us in His Word.

Well this morning I want to share with you a verse.

I'm gonna make you wait just a little bit for that verse, but when I truly realized where my home is, I had an overwhelming conviction that I needed to quit my current job, which was teaching history, and I needed to do something else to prepare and help others to prepare for where my true home is.

Would you quit your job for a Bible verse?

We want to follow the Lord wherever He leads us.

But there was a particular Bible verse that just really brought conviction to me and it grew and grew and built it to such a point that I had to quit what I was doing currently at the time and refocus my attention on doing something different.

And so this morning, I'll make you wait a little bit for that verse, but we're going to get to it as we consider, let's go home.

The question is, how did Jesus teach his disciples to pray?

You know, I've actually heard some say that, you know, we've got a lot of work to do and we do here on this earth that we should not be so focused on the second coming of Christ.

We should be more focused on just things here on earth.

I've even heard 1 speaker, he's not a pastor, but he stood up in the pulpit, not in this church and said that it was actually selfish to be looking for and talking about the second coming of Jesus.

Now I want to examine that idea in the light of Scripture and see what the scriptures tell us this morning and we're going to notice a few important points as we go along.

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Lets go Home

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