No Place Like Home

pray with me right now lord we are thankful for the work that can be done all over the globe thankful lord jesus for the anointing of the lord that touches and moves and delivers and sets free today right now we're going to your word lord and we are thankful for the word i make myself available to you lord i need you today in the name of jesus i need you today somebody say in jesus name turn to your neighbor and say i'm sure glad we're worshiping together have you ever had your your heart set on something your heart set on something whatever that something was or is maybe even right now it just permeates your mind and your desire you think about it maybe waking up in the morning when when i get that thing or when i receive or i i'm exalted to this place you're working through the day maybe and it's on your on your mind you think about it in so many ways maybe when you were a child you would spend hours thinking about that thing whatever it was because as children adults listen carefully as children you have what's called an imagination and then it kind of changes as you get older right because when you begin to think about it as a child the imagination would take over and if you had the thing there were endless possibilities how fast you could run how how good you could be and how professional you could act and all of that stuff because the shoes the jersey the bicycle whatever it was it would add to you and your mind and your heart was set on it whatever that was your life took on new meaning right now i'm not saying you got that or received that or somebody gave that thing to you i'm simply saying the anticipation was huge and a lot of your daily life was spent thinking about it i've had those things in my life i've i've thought of things and i thought man if i just had that this morning i laid my eyes on a little red one that i'm certain that i could probably drive and probably look good in it because it's a ferrari now how am i saying brother drawn if i was driving a a ferrari anybody have any idea how much those cost yeah a lot's a good word a bunch i'd probably look really good in it i mean come on i might not offer a lot to the car but that car could sure offer a lot to me you know what i'm saying i saw one this morning ladies i laid eyes on i thought man that thing is clean that thing is sharp and i bet the tires cost more than my truck so guess what i ain't getting one of those that's reality you know what i'm saying that's reality come on as you draw older and you you get a little wiser and the hair gets a little grayer and things begin to take shape in different forms you wonder about things i probably couldn't get in the car truth be no dad told me once that that i could i could get that thing maybe for christmas we'll see maybe a birthday i don't know maybe and then that thing that i wanted and i desired when it came to me i was that different person that i all had anticipated i would be for a moment and then i'd kind of forget about it how can something so unnecessary something so fabricated how can that possess you so powerfully how is it possible that a single thing can drive you to do crazy things just at the chance the possibility that you could have it listen to me carefully friend there is a power and there is a force in the simple word desire it forces and pushes you to do the desire by definition and of itself is to wish for to long for to crave have you ever had a desire for something and it kind of forced you to move along a powerful dry that makes you want that thing entire kingdoms have fallen because of desire entire nations have risen because of the one word called desire homes have have been crushed if you will because desire forced somebody to want something else families have been blown apart if you will to to have nothing left but remnants because somebody had a powerful desire for something else when something sets into the heart and the mind of a person it can force you into places where you never thought you would be why because desire is stronger than a simple wish desire is something more passionate than a than a simple craving but it is a fixed point that gets within your heart and in your mind and a focus that cannot be blurred nor deterred from anything going on around you i'm talking about the desire to have there's a determination that comes with a desire everybody say desire a determination that says i want to possess him i am sure that most of us here in this place have had things opportunity situations come up into our hearts and into our minds that have caused us to desire something has anybody here ever been on the right road but a desire to come in and begin to pull you off of that right road you begin to make dumb choices and decisions that make no sense to no one but desire and passion push you into that place there are stories that you can read of heroism written by folk that never gave up but they continued to move forward they had a desire and a passion at the time that that that person though was in the midst of their situation i know beyond the shadow of a doubt they were not thinking to themselves one day there's a movie going to be made about me and all my struggles they probably weren't at all thinking wow this situation that's falling apart in my life man one of these days somebody's gonna write a song about it it's gonna be good no they're trying to simply move work move forward advance if you will and the passion and the desire is doing things in them that they may or may not truly comprehend nor understand the fact is they probably were simply surviving through the situation trying to make it through but hear what i'm telling you when others hear their story of tenacity and their desire to hold on to the persevere all of a sudden there's a great story there and then there's it gets glamorized and people begin to look at you know hear what i'm saying today so all of us know hollywood actors or sports figures or or people of prominence if you will that they they came and they didn't have anything and they rose to the top and then they spin it all wasted it all fell to the bottom and then only to find out years or months or whatever later that they figure it out and they start up the scale again and we know these names and we see their faces and we can identify with them hollywood has a great way of painting a beautiful picture of just about anything but stay with me for a moment please the desire that the passion that burns within the heart of a person that is god-given what if we could take that passion that desire that drive and we could somehow some way connect it with the king of glory and his purpose in our life what if somehow some way we could wrap it together one end to the other and say lord i want to be what you want me to be my desire says i'm moving forward my hunger says i'm going up i'm not letting this nor that nor them nor those to distract me lord i've got heaven on my mind and i'm going through there was a story written stay with me 1902 anybody alive then all right we have no first-hand experience okay there was a book written by lehman frank baum it was a child a kid's book if you will and it had a rather strong list of characters of that day that were written into this book here's the gist of the story there was a young girl from kansas that had a real cute little dog and one day this girl with her dog were carried away in a tornado that swept across the plains of kansas huh and in in this book that was written by mr bronbon is this young lady now finds herself out of kansas into a a far away land and in this far away land she meets a scarecrow she meets a tin man and she meets a cowardly lion oh some of y'all know where i'm at right now hear me she encounters different groups of people that are attempting to help her to return to her kansas home in fact in the story there's mention of different types of wizards and witches and things that happen in little folk and yellow things and walls and curtains and and all of the conversations that go on in this particular story does anybody know what i'm talking about today it's simply named the 1939 hollywood version was called the wonderful wizard of oz y'all didn't know did you you didn't know did you stay with me i'm only mentioning this reference today because many of us have heard this story many of us perhaps even have have laid eyes upon the the the motion picture if you will let's go old school um the fact of the matter is in the 1940s this shaped an entire generation this story did in fact fact in the 1940s this particular movie that was made was one of the very first movies made that came out in color now it was done originally in black and white but then they quickly redid it to enhance it and do it in color stay with me hold on to me the bright colors the screen that lit up dorothy and toto were on a journey trying to get back to kansas they they made choices with the people they encountered it caused her journey to take her places to where she did not know about didn't want to go and was simply trying to get back to her home i wonder here today y'all hold on to me if there's anybody that can identify with that character in that book has your life caused you a series if you will of ups and downs of right turns and left turns of disappointments and even moments of joy of rights and wrongs of the goods the bads and the uglies unsure of how things were going to come together i would say that there are some of you sitting under the sound of my voice watching online however it is that you have simply drifted from one thing to another and as life has happened with you you find yourself in a place that you're trying your best to get to something that one more time begins to make sense to you hear me in 2021 there are thousands of things going on in our world that's cause questions and concerns that that's caused you and i to be upset that's caused heart rate to go up that's caused blood pressure to go up because we're worried about our world we're concerned about the outcome of what decisions are being made for the politicians and the school teachers and the systems of our world and the fact of the matter is simply this is that some of us in this room are so distracted and we're so determined to not be distracted that we're getting more and more distracted and the fact is is you are right now as i'm speaking from this podium you are simply following the yellow brick road you just want to get through it you're not sure what's going on and the more characters begin to jump out in your world you scratch your head you wonder about it you say lord where are you how is this possible that this is happening to me i am drawn to this fact and this week while i was working at a town i was over and over and over and over in my mind was rolling this particular story and i'm hearing in my heart and in my mind that the choices that some of us in the church are making causing us to walk paths of the good the bad and the ugly and we're being distracted and pulled aside from what's going on around us and the fact of the matter is simply this the life that you are living in friend is not a fairy tale it's not a story from a man in hollywood it's a day in and a day out and up out of bed and working and living your day coming to the place at the end of the night saying did i do what i was supposed to do am i still able to lay on the pillow and say that i fought a good fight that i did what i was supposed to do hear me the choices that you make the rewards that you receive all things are done in your life day in and day out to bring you to a position to where you can make choices and decisions that lead you to where you're desiring to go listen to pastor john reads or wrote about it in chapter 14 verse number one let not your heart be troubled you believe in god believe also in me in my father's house are many mansions ah if it were not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you unto myself that where i am there you may be also and whether i go you know and the way you know in his house a place for all of us in his place a a place where we can connect a place where we can know a place that we are knowing for assuredly it is prepared for each of us but in our mixed up and confused world that we live in it's very easy for us to get stressed out for us to forget about the blessings of god and our hearts become troubled and in a tizzy and in an uproar come on i don't mind telling you i've had to turn off some new sources because all i was doing was getting mad i could feel in myself my my spirit raring up saying who in the world they give me one minute in the office of that person and let me tell them one thing or another and what i've found myself doing over the last several months is being more frustrated and being more upset and distracted by the things going on in this world hear what i'm saying because when the writer in john when he continued in verse 5 thomas said to him lord we know not whether thou go wisdom how can we know the way verse 6 jesus saith unto him i am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me if you had known me you would have known my father also and from henceforth you know him and have seen him a logical question that young thomas asked him where are you going we have no idea we don't know and jesus says of course you know because i'm the way that you're going i'm the truth you're looking for i'm the life that you're hungry for and what jesus was proclaiming to them at that moment was this in his presence is his plan if you'll ever get into the presence of jesus christ his plan is present with you but pastor i'm looking for somebody to come up tap me on the shoulder and say go do this this and that that's not how it works you get in the presence of god and god will meet you there and things will begin to happen in you and you'll know beyond any question the lord god is telling me to do the right thing to make the right come on you already know how life is unfolding and you're living in the middle of that somebody got to hear the pastor today they're going through the situations you are and you feel like sometimes you've lost your mind you feel like sometimes everybody else has lost their minds the fact of the matter is this if you'll get in the presence of jesus christ he is the way he'll breathe into you what to do now i don't mind telling you there have been times in my personal life that i've scratched my head and wondered where are you god where are you god and the whole time the old cliche come back i'm right here i'm right here i'm right here but yet i had some deceitfulness and things across my eyes and blinders where i couldn't find him and i had to push it out of the way and i'd have to get into his presence and simply say if you are the way and you are the truth and you are the life and if i stay in you then you'll lead me you'll guide me will open doors you'll make a way you'll do things god that'll push things aside and i found out the more i stopped worrying about me and i was more concerned about loving him things would begin to happen in my life i want to know him i want to fall in love with him i want to have a personal relationship with him i want to know his voice when he speaks i don't want for somebody to have to get up and shake me hard and throw me to the ground to get me to a place to where i'll finally raise my eyes to heaven no but with a willing heart i want to come into the presence of the lord knowing god you're here therefore i have found the way the bride and shining way therefore god you're leading me and where i put my foot next lord you're going to help me know that i'm on proverbs 3 and in all my ways i'll acknowledge you and you'll direct my path i don't want to get sidetracked i don't want to get pushed to the wayside but instead i want to be found doing the will of god every day of my life is there anybody hungry for the perfect will of god for your life when you lift your voice in worship and adoration what you are saying to yourself self move god's here yes lord yes lord i'm not looking for a place here on earth to build or i can stay this this place we call a sanctuary is a temporal place look around you the chairs the paint the carpet the instruments the things all this will burn with a fervent heat it won't matter anyway will you allow me to get up next to you a minute the house you're living in the cars you're driving all the effort and energy you're putting in the things of this world they're not going to matter anyway but what's going to matter is what the way the truth and the life i'm not sure if if we truly understand the power of living forever in his presence i i will today stand at this podium and i will tell you that i want to walk on streets of gold one day that i am looking for a heaven whose builder and maker is not the hand of man but of god i'm hungry for an eternity with jesus christ him forever in his presence loving him serving him and trusting him he has a place for us we can live with him it's a place that is made for those that are looking for him listen to me in all of life's choices that you make and all of life's things that you go through there is a place that is still there and it's still called heaven this past week i was compelled one more time to remind us as a church heaven is still our eternal home heaven is still our eternal home heaven remains the final goal when dorothy and toto had made their journey through all of the life's decisions and choices and things and witches and short people and tall people and great and small and ugly and pretty and all the things that she had come up against when she did that she came into contact with what they called a good influence what they called a positive influence she was called in the book in the in the story the good witch whatever that means and this good witch began to instruct her and help her and to try to get her from where she was in oz into back to her home where the things were there that she was looking for and there was one thing if you will that she was told to do and if she would do it and believe it with everything within her something would happen and we all know the story put on these slippers that you've got on your feet put your feet together and tap your heels three times and simply say beyond the shadow of any doubt there is no place like home there is no place like home there is no place like home and in the midst of that something transpired in the story to where young dorothy and her dog were removed from that place and she was put back into the familiar place of her home in kansas i don't mind telling you over the last several days i've been working by myself in a room and the only thing i could do is begin to say there's no place like home i don't mind telling you i'm an old-timer in a lot of things and i'd sit there soldering or working on something and i began to sing it brother gibson this world is not my home i'm just passing through my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue there's no place like home i wasn't speaking about 3036 weatherwood trail but i'm talking about a place prepared for me that i didn't build i'm never gonna have a leak never gonna have a bad electric bill never going to have to be repaired there's no light bill there there's no sewer bill there it's a place called heaven i wish some apostolic today would decide within themselves let happen on earth what happens as for me i'm going to a place called heaven this world is not my home there's no place like home i want to go where jesus is i want to walk on streets of gold the place that he's prepared for me this world is not my home there's no place like home and home is where i desire to be come on is heaven such a distant thing for some of us that we've forgotten the whole passion of living for jesus it's become a chore it's become a place of simple fairy tale if i can get to church then i can get some advice from somebody to help me get through my problem or my situation if i can get there then i'll rub shoulders with everybody else who's struggling with everything like i am with no desire within us to truly change i have said times past and i've thought of this often why is it that many saints will call the pastor a resource of help a resource of books or knowledge or things that he can give but they won't consider the pastor to be a source instead he's just a resource and i am observing with my own young old eyes however you want to look at it in the generation in which we live the respect and the honor for the things of god people are putting on a judgment seat well i used to believe but now they're just man and nobody needs to lead me and i worship men and so therefore i'm not i'm just going to love jesus do what i do and make it to heaven and i declare to you that is not at all what your bible says hear me today's religion may say that but religion never got anybody to heaven it has always been relationship and if you don't know jesus you're not going i didn't say that he said that i don't write your name in the lamb's book of life he does i don't establish in 2021 what's good bad ugly right or wrong all i know is he has gone to prepare a place for me and there is no place like home there is no place like home you mean i can go and be there with you for now i don't mind saying this last week again i'm singing those songs and the more i sing about them the more my heart begin to leap in me and the more i begin to think now i don't it's been a long time since i've laid eyes on my dad been a long time since i've seen my grandma and grandpa it's been a while been a while been many years been a while since i've seen some of those elders of old that i thought lost their minds because they shout and worship it's been a long time since i've seen those elders if you will who gave literally everything they had to the work of god and when they died they didn't have two dimes to rub together but the smile was on their face because they gave to the things of god and god honored them many of you sitting under the sound of my voice today you are direct recipients of what god has done through others and shame on you if you sit down in this hour and say yeah yeah i'll be ready for heaven because all i got to do is believe right anybody here still believe in heaven it's okay to identify you still believe in heaven anybody else as much as then as you believe in heaven you've got to believe in a hell but not one of you want to lift your hand to that one there's no place like home there's no place like home if you're sitting here today or you're watching online and you're saying well preacher how do i get home peter said to them you repent you'll be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the remission of sins you shall receive the gift of the holy ghost there's a promise unto you your children all that are far off as many as the lord our god shall call and with many other words did he testify and exhort saying save yourself from this son to ward generation that generation was untoward what in the world is our generation it wasn't saying to them you can save yourself by just simply he was saying to them make the choice to say if heaven is in my future it's going to be because i made myself ready every single one of you that has the gift of the holy ghost active in your life right now more than ever before you need to be praying every single day god don't let me lose it many of you if i may have lost your receipt for the price paid for calvary you don't remember the value of what jesus paid and as you're looking at your life and you're trying to develop your plan and your system you haven't understood completely the value of the blood of jesus receipt you mean i gotta have a receipt the receipt's already written because he paid the price now what value was put on that receipt your soul he paid it so i'm gonna ask you today anybody ready for home is anybody ready to go home is anybody ready to go into the presence of the lord i'm not jim jones i don't have kool-aid for you all to drink that ain't gonna happen but i'm telling you this there are things transpiring in our world right now that if you've ever ever ever doubted you better get that past you plant your feet in the church the church is what's getting out of here the trumpet's going to sound and guess who's going to leave those who have readied themselves every one of y'all before you go to bed tonight you need to say it to yourself there's no place like home if you need to put on the proverbial red slippers click your heels together fun fact the original movie those were silver those were silver but you couldn't see them in the first black and white movie so when they revamped it quickly they made a ruby red so the attention would be drawn to the journey home you may ready to go home i wish you'd lift your hand right now to the master in your house lord there are many many mansions you you made it for those who were ready themselves your hand your plan your purpose if it weren't so you would have told us but you've gone to prepare a place and it's going to be home for us oh there's no place like home today lord i'm asking you to speak to the hearts and the lives of men and women and children let a passion and a hunger lord a desire raise up within each one of us god that we would say we want heaven would you stand with me all over the place this altar is open right now for those who will make yourself ready come to an altar would you lord i'm gonna turn loose at what's around me i'm going to and often i'm going to realign some things in my life lord i'm going to let my vision my purpose and my passion be adjusted today so that i may know you and i may have fellowship with you so that i will serve you all the days of my life there's no place like home heaven is there come on make your call in your election sure lord i i know daily god that i'm going to walk with you if you need the gift of the holy ghost right now it's your day lift your hand to the lord come on lift your voice to the lord jesus i'm sorry lord i love you lord wash my heart and my mind forgive me jesus come on let the power of the cross of calvary work right now there's a reason that he died on a cross for your sin he loves you he's got a plan for you he's got a purpose for you jesus i i love you come on how long has it been mom and dad since you prayed through your problems and your dilemmas and got up close to the lord and simply let him wrap his arms around you there's no place like fall there is no place like home come on it's prayer time at corners don't pray if you're online watch and pray right there where you are jesus i'm hungry for heaven you're the way you're the truth you're the life it's all in you come on pray church come on frank i need you lord i need your lord that's right yes come on let hallelujah lord in your life right now i need you lord i need you i need you come on pray reach to heaven lord i'm calling on your name there is no other name i'm reaching lord for you right now no one else can no one else can walk like you can i want to know you jesus would you get a hold of somebody close to you maybe cross over the room and just pray with them come on we all need somebody praying with us we need people interceding for us come on that's right pray one for another get a hold of one another jesus jesus jesus lord i'm trusting in you i don't know what else to do lord but reach for you reach for you reach for you i want to go to heaven lord my desire is to be in heaven there's no place like home jesus jesus i honor you jesus i want to know you jesus i want to know you jesus i want to know you i want to be close to you jesus come on that's right that's right come on pray pray for somebody close to you lord help us oh god as a church body we need you lord go out of your spirit in this altar today jesus pour out of your spirit in this altar today jesus come on heaven is in view it's right there it's right there it's right there jesus jesus i need you lord i need you all i need you jesus i need you you're thankful to know his name would you lift your hands to him one more time i i love you lord you're the way you're the truth you're the life everything about you is perfect everything about you is perfect today blessed be the name come all pray with me together lord we love you for our time together we thank you today lord jesus a lot of choices being made a lot of determination lord heaven dear god that's a place you're preparing for us so that where you are we can be pray lord you would move in every heart and every life that every circumstance and situation that we go through let it bring honor lord let it draw us closer to you today lord i plead your blood over the church over every family every heart every individual in this place pour out of your spirit lord i pray anoint us oh god for the journey ahead ahead of us let us pursue you lord with hunger and diligence the name of jesus the name of jesus no place i'd rather be lord but in your presence