Pastor Jon Burgess
April 23, 2017 - W1717

Welcome home. We are putting out the welcome mat for you. Whether this is your first time at New Hope or you’ve been coming for the 21+ years we’ve been here, welcome home.

If you came to us for the first time (or first time in a long time) at our Easter services last week, we are glad you are here. This is where we normally hang out. This is New Hope’s home, and we hope that you feel welcome here.

Whether it was last week or you’ve been walking with Jesus for a long time, when you say “Yes” to Jesus, you held out the welcome mat and you are saying, “Hey, Jesus, welcome home. I am opening the door and you can come in.”

When you and I welcome God Himself, we are welcoming the trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are welcoming in the work of the Holy Father, the Holy Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit to have His way in us.

What is it like for the trinity to work for us? Jesus got baptized and He provided a pattern or model for how we should live.

Matthew 3:13-14 says, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

Why was he saying that? Baptism is responsive repentance. It is saying, “I am a sinner and I need to be baptized. I need to acknowledge publicly that when I go under the water, I am dying to my sin. When I come out of the water, I’m rising again to Jesus Christ. But Jesus was pure. He was holy.” John the Baptist understood that, so he was saying, “You don’t need to get baptized. I need to get baptized.”

Matthew 3:15 continues, “Jesus replied, ‘Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.’” Then John was wise enough to consent and go with it. Jesus is fulfilling scripture by getting baptized, but He is also fulfilling all righteousness. He is providing a pattern of righteousness for everyone that would follow. When we come to believe, we show our belief and faith through water baptism. What happens to Him, we can expect will happen to us.

Matthew 3:16-17 says, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment, heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.’”

What Jesus just showed us is what it looks like when you and I open up the doors, when we say welcome home, God of the universe. Come on inside. What we experience is the fullness of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in our life.

I’ve been married for close to 20 years this June, and yeah, I married way out of my league. The proof of that is my wife still puts up with me even after doing really stupid things over the last 20 years. Over the years I’ve learned a couple of things that you just never do, so guys, young marrieds and single guys, pay attention. You might want to write these things down.

You never ask your wife who’s at home with five children, “What have you been doing all day?” You just never do that. You don’t ask her that. Okay? The second thing you never do is you never call her up and say, “Hey, honey, I’m bring some people over in ten minutes.” I didn’t see the look on Cyndi’s face when she demanded, “What did you say?! Did you really say what I think you said?!”

To make matters worse, it wasn’t just people or friends. It was a –- it was a video crew. It was a video crew that wanted to do an interview with me in my house. Lo and behold, Cyndi wasn’t all that thrilled about it.

Cyndi and I have different definitions of clean. As long as I can get from where I am to the refrigerator or to the front door, it’s clean, but to her, she feels like things need to be put in certain places. Like clothes go where clothes go, food goes where food goes, pillows have to be on the couch. You guys know what I’m saying? She’s got a different version of clean. So in my head I’m thinking the house is totally clean. It’s fine. I can have this video crew come over. And for some reason, she didn’t agree with me, not at all. It took a while for me to dig myself out of that one.

Isn’t that the truth, though? Whenever we’re having people come over to the house, we want to clean up, right? We want our house to look the very best it can and we don’t want them dropping by when it’s not. It’s not that nice. It’s not that pretty. It’s not clean.

That’s the way it is with normal people. It is not that way with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit actually says I don’t want you to clean up at all. I am coming over to help you clean up. When you say, “welcome home” to the Holy Spirit, you are inviting the anointing of the Holy Spirit to actually help you clean up what you would otherwise not even know needed cleaning.

1. You are anointed by the Holy Spirit.

“Now it is God who establishes and confirms us in joint fellowship with you in Christ and who anoints us empowering us with the gifts of the spirit.” (2 Corinthians 1:21) Anointing is empowerment for living that God through the Holy Spirit gives you power to do what you could not do on your own, or as Jeff Shortridge puts it, “He puts the super on your natural, and you begin to walk in the supernatural.” You cannot do that without the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

For Jesus, it was symbolized by the dove coming down upon Him, and then from that point on, He walked in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the same for you and I, not just to take care of power encounters, or demons and diseases, sometimes it’s just to start with what is in us.

You don’t have to put on airs with God. You don’t have to put on a show. You don’t have to hide things away in a closet somewhere, stuffing it all inside so He doesn’t really know how your house looks. In case you didn’t realize it, God already knows how your house looks. He knows everything. You are not hiding anything from God.

That’s why He came, to walk into our dirt, and our dust and our filth and our shame and clean it all out. He came to set us free. He has anointed us for that. It’s the anointing and empowerment not just for power, but also for purity.

There’s some of you walking around with stuff hidden in your closets, and the enemy has been telling you, keep it to yourself. The devil may be telling you he just wants a closet, but his plan is to take the whole house. You give him an inch, he’s taking the whole place.

That’s how it works with the devil. A little compromise here, a little sin here. I’m just going to ignore this stuff here. But when we walk in the power of the spirit, we say, “Hey Holy Spirit, you’re welcome here, come on in.” He says, “Good, now I can give you the power to face down all kinds of stuff.”

Maybe hoarding is not something you have an issue with, but I think all of us are guilty of hoarding something -hoarding sins, or secrets or shame, things that we don’t want anybody else to know about. If you have invited Jesus into your life, you welcome the anointing of the Holy Spirit and are saying, “Everything I have belongs to God.” And He wants the good, the bad, and the ugly. He’s not afraid of it. You don’t have to be ashamed. You don’t have to run around putting things in places. He already knows what it looks like, and He’s showing up at your house to help you be free, to help you be clear, to help you be clean, to help you understand who you really are in Jesus Christ.

I send a newsletter out every week and sometimes include what God’s been putting on my heart. This is a poem called “Welcome Home!”   I was talking about the three days that we celebrated last week, Good Friday, silent Saturday, Easter Sunday.

Welcome Home

Then, on Good Friday, You looked me in the face saying, “That’s not really living. Let me have the place.” Son, you have to give it all, not just a few rooms. I gave it all away to show you how to. I want the front door, back door—the keys to the place. The living room, the bedroom, and the ones you’ve defaced. I even want that closet where you hide all your shame. Let me have it all. I’ll take the blame. Step outside awhile. I’ll clean it all tonight. Saturday you’ll think, “This just can’t be right.”  Don’t worry, don’t run, just stay away from fear. Sunday is coming, and you’ll be welcome here! You’ll see the new life so fresh and so clean. You’ll finally understand what forgiveness means. Feel free to run out and tell everyone. What can you do? Son, it’s already been done!”

[End poem]

Isn't that good news? It's already been done. He said on the cross it is finished. It's been done. You see, it's not about what you and I can do to curry His favor, but it's through the power of the Holy Spirit.

2. You have been approved by the Father.

Before you did anything good, you already had God’s approval. You have been approved by the Father. Already been approved. You're anointed by the Holy Spirit. You're approved by the Father. How do I know that? Because Jesus heard His Father speak out of heaven on the day that He got baptized, "This is my beloved Son and whom I am well?pleased." Even Jesus had not done anything miraculous yet before His Father approved of Him.

You may have seen a van that is called the Kingdom Cab.   It says Youdeservehellsinner.com. Well thanks for that. You stop sinning. Follow Jesus. He’s got some more scriptures on the side. Repent.

I looked at that and wonder how anyone is ever going to come to know Jesus because of a van with bumper stickers. Literally and spiritually, it is the wrong vehicle to call people to Christ. But I do know how people are going to come to know Jesus, because they see Him in your life. We need more of you on the road. Why? Because relationship with the Holy Spirit is what brings us home.

Rather than condemning things on our car or Facebook, or being condemning to people around us, we need to go around and let everybody know that they are welcome here. This is home sweet home. I know this world is harsh and it’s hard but I have been changed by the love of God and I have been authorized by Jesus. I have been approved by the Father. I’ve been anointed by the Holy Spirit to tell you that no matter how far you’ve been gone in your sin, no matter how far away you feel from God, He is calling you by name, and He is calling you home.

3. You are authorized by Jesus to share Him with others.

That's why Jesus came. You've been anointed by the Spirit. You've been approved to the Father. And, finally, you've been authorized by Jesus. Authorized by Jesus. He has given you the stamp of approval. Now, why is that important? Well, you guys understand that it's important by law in our world.

We understood that most recently when our son Elijah decided that he was going to get his permit. He is now authorized to drive. Likewise, you are authorized by Jesus to share Him with others!

We can be one of those condemning cabs, or we can be a welcome mat for the kingdom of God where every time someone talks to us, they will want to know how we have joy in the middle of the pain that we’re going through, and that gives us the opportunity to introduce them to the One that has changed us when we opened our doors and He came in.

You know why you get to do that? Not because you’re perfect, but because you’ve been AAA certified. You are anointed, you are approved, you are authorized by the trinity of God saying I need you to go out into this world and let them know there is real love that’s calling them by name. It’s not condemning. It’s not hateful. It’s true and it’s pure and it loves them right where they are. Whether it’s from Halawa Prison or in the cubicle or desk next to you at work or school, He loves them. They just don’t know it yet.

That’s reactive love. That’s what God has called us to do. If you have been changed by the love of God, let us be a welcome mat for the kingdom of God.

Study Suggestions

1. Why should you welcome others to church?

2. Why did John the Baptist not want to baptize Jesus?

3. What happens when we welcome Jesus into our hearts?

4. What have you been authorized to do?