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Your Forever Home
"Don't be a stranger!" Today we are joined by Pastor Nelson with a message about our Forever Home in Heaven.
1 Peter 1:1, 17-19
Don’t be a stranger. Maybe you’ve heard that when a neighbor says “don’t stay away, come in! Get to know us better. Let’s let’s make this relationship even better.” Yet, today in God’s Word we see Peter actually telling us it’s okay to be a stranger. He says in First Peter chapter 1:
Peter, an apostle of Christ Jesus, to God’s elect, strangers in the world. (1 Peter 1:1)
He says that we’re strangers. Now what does he mean? Does that mean that we should live like hermits or anti-social people and just stay away and keep to ourselves? Well no, God wants us to go and meet with people and share God’s Word with them. But at the same time, yeah, we’re strangers. We are temporary dwellers in this world.
Going through seminary and being a pastor. I’ve lived in quite a few different places and it reminds you that the Forever Home, it’s not here. So many times our struggles and sufferings and pain in this life remind us of that too, that this is not our Forever Home. This is a temporary dwelling, our citizenship is somewhere else.
And we can know that and we can even be strangers in this world because we’re not tied to it. We don’t have to hang onto it and hold on to it. But we can let go knowing there’s something so much better. Listen to how I know for sure that you can be a stranger in this world because you have a Forever Home in heaven. Peter would go on:
Since each of you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:17-19)
How can we live our lives as strangers not having to hold on to this world but look forward to heaven instead? You can because you know that heaven is your home because Jesus bought you. And not with these little things like silver or gold, no, but with His Holy Precious Blood. You’re worth whatever someone is willing to pay for you. Wow! God was willing to pay for you with the blood of his very own Son.
