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I will never forget my sixth grade year of schooling because it was in that year of my life, the ending of 1986 and the beginning of 1987, that I learned for the first time what it was like to be a stranger. Before that year I had lived in a neighborhood with 7 other boys who were just like me: same background, same culture, same church, same interests. But at the end of 1986, my father was voted in as pastor of a church in South Louisiana, in an area my mother would come to jokingly call "a foreign country," and within those first four months, I changed schools twice, became a part of a youth group where everyone was at least 3 years older than me, and found my little "world" of what I considered normal completely shaken up. I'll never forget the first time one of the "natives" told me "Oh, you are a 'come here person'." We found out later that it didn't matter if you had been in the area 40 years, if you had not been born there, then you were forever referred to as a "come here person" to be regarded with suspicion, to be viewed upon as a potential threat, you were a "stranger."

Everyone likes being around people with whom you are well acquainted and in a familiar setting. We like going to restaurants and shops where people know us by name. There is comfort in knowing that everyone in a particular group has some similarities or something in common with you and no major issues, and whether you realize it or not, all of your life has been spent "fitting in." We learn at an early age that to "be different" brings attention and usually criticism. People attack others who are different. America supposedly applauds uniqueness but as the little boy who becomes the first in his class to wear glasses soon finds out: being unique requires a tough skin because it seems to be human nature to attack someone who is different. A "stranger" is much easier to pick on than someone like you.

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In our text, we read about the "father of faith," Abraham. He was raised in the land of Ur of the Chaldees. It was an idolatrous land; it was an ungodly land, but it was home to Abraham. His father had lived there all of his life, and everybody was somebody that he knew. But then came the day that God spoke to Abraham and said "I have something better for you. I want to take you and form a great nation out of you. I want to turn your offspring into a lineage of kings and priests and a holy nation that will reveal my power to the world. But if you want it Abraham, you've got to leave home. You've got to leave the environment in which you are comfortable. You've got to separate yourselves from your heathen friends and go to a place that I will show you. You've got to follow my leading, and I will take you to a "promised place" that at first you will be a stranger in. But if you will obey me, I will give that land to your descendants as their home and it will be the idolater that will be a stranger then."

And so Abraham obeyed and found out what it was like to be a stranger. He lived the rest of his life journeying around seemingly in circles in a foreign land that God had promised to him. He didn't know the people, he didn't know the culture. No doubt, sometimes he missed his old friends and family, but at the same time he knew that -- even though he couldn't see it yet -- God was doing a great work. In fact, God was because if you take a map and trace Abraham's wanderings today you will see that God was using him to actually mark the boundaries of the future land of Israel. The Promised Place guidelines were laid out by Abraham's life while being a stranger for God.

But eventually everything changed. Abraham died never having seen the fulfillment of the complete plan of God, but his descendants eventually found themselves slaves in the foreign land of Egypt. God had told Abraham that this would happen and in Genesis 15 told Abraham these words about the coming nation of Israel:

Did you catch that? Before, Abraham had been considered a stranger when he was in the promised land, but now the children of Israel are in Egypt and God said "they are strangers there because their home is the promised land." Somewhere Abraham's family went from being strangers in the Promised Place of God to being "at home" there! This is what God had promised him at first:

You and I are born strangers to the things of God. I got an email from someone in another church the other day and was amused to see that their screen name was "thanksaloteve." Because of the sin of Adam and Eve we all were born into the generational curse. That's why the Bible declares that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Our natural nature is one of fleshly desires and sinful wills. We are born fitting in to the life of sin of this world, and we are strangers to the holiness of God. We are strangers to righteousness. You don't have to teach a kid to lie, but you do have to teach them to be polite and obey. And this world is filthy and getting worse by the day. Man, left to his own devices and thoughts, only gets progressively worse and worse.

And when I think of how holy our God is. How that He is perfect, and good and that there is not an area of fault within Him. Then it should be no surprise to say that when we are born the first time, we are born strangers to the ways of God. When you came to God, you didn't even come close to thinking like God thinks. You probably had very little knowledge or desire to learn nevertheless obey His word. Like Abraham, at home with the idolaters in Ur, you were to some extent comfortable in your lifestyle: after all you were no stranger to sin or the ways to sin, but you fit right in!

But God spoke to you, or will speak to you, and made you a deal. He said "you can choose to die in Ur in your sinful comfort and be lost for eternity, or you can have something better in your life. I can show you a better way to live. I have a higher calling for you than to just be a slave to sin. I have a higher purpose for you because I want to make you into a man or woman of faith that will show my power to the world. You have a calling and a destiny far beyond just hanging out with the 'good ol boys' and living your life and dying. But to embrace this destiny. To get this higher calling and receive the fulfillment of my promises, you must leave where you are. You must separate yourself from the world of sin in which you are so comfortable and journey into my 'land of promise' that I will show you. And at first you will be a stranger in that land of promise. At first you will feel like an outsider. At first everything will be different. But if you keep walking by faith and obeying my direction, eventually that blessed place of promise will be your home and will be your eternal inheritance."

And so when you first stepped into an Apostolic church you probably felt weird. You probably felt like an outsider. You'd had never seen church people act like they were at a concert or a football game over Jesus! You'd never felt the presence of God in such a mighty way. And as you began to learn about the promises of God and step out upon them, you began to experience things that you had never experienced in the world. You learned that the Holy Ghost was a "high" that was higher than any spirit you can find in the carnal world. You learned what it was like to be clean when you repented of your sins and had them washed away in the waters of baptism in His name. And then you began to experience the supernatural power of God putting your marriage back together, healing broken dreams, and restoring joy that you thought you would never have for yourself! And now I'm preaching to some of you that the foreign land of God's promises that at first seemed so distance and so weird has now become your home! Now you look around at your life a year later, six months later a few weeks later, and despite having spent years in this world, yet God has done such a change within you that you couldn't imagine not having Jesus! You couldn't imagine having to face this world without the Holy Ghost! The strange land of promise that you at first approached timidly has become your true home and now this world of sin seems so far removed and alien from your life!

I could never go back to my old lifestyle because the work of Jesus in my life has caused me to now be at home only when I am in the presence of His holy presence! Forgive me for being a "holy roller" or "bible thumper" or whatever you want to call me, but the things of this world don't satisfy me any more! Only feeling His presence. Only knowing that all is right with the God of Creation. Only allowing His Spirit to take control. Only lifting up His name in His house. Only being with other blood-bought people of the same passion makes me feel at home anymore! Why? Because the promised place that God has brought me into is now my true abode. Hallelujah! I'm no longer a stranger to the blessings and power of God!

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Even after the children of Israel became God's chosen nation, God still was concerned with the welfare of strangers in their midst. When you read the word "stranger" in the days of Moses on, it referred to a "Gentile;" a "non Jew;" someone who was born not serving Jehovah God. But God went out of His way to make sure that strangers had a place in the kingdom that He was setting up. In fact, the proper treatment of strangers in Israel was mentioned over 100 times in the law of Moses. In his farewell speech before he died, Moses charged the children of Israel:

In other words, "don't get so into the promises of God and this blessed place that He has brought you that you forget about how it felt to be an outsider." "Don't get so carried away with your new life that you start thinking that 'I'm the only one that God wants to bless this way'." Perhaps this is your first time here with us. Perhaps you still feel a little strange in an Apostolic Church service. We're glad you're here. We remember what it felt like to experience such a service the first time also. But we want to tell you: God is no respecter of persons, and if He totally transformed our lives and blessed us beyond measure and answered our questions and filled us with the Holy Ghost, then He will do the same for you! Perhaps you feel a little strange being around us because we act and look a little different and don't use the language that you are used to hearing. Maybe it seems a little strange to hear people that don't have to sit around and debate whether or not the Holy Ghost is for us today, or whether or not God still does miracles. Maybe it's a little different to be among people that are totally convinced that God still moves mightily today, because we've already experienced it. Maybe it's somewhat strange, but listen to the call of God today! Answer it! Keep walking in His direction, and you will find yourselves one day looking around and realizing the land that you first felt alien within is now your eternal inheritance! God is still calling strangers to a new home in Him!

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Realize that although "strangers" or "Gentiles" were treated nicely in Israel, they still could not enter into the temple or offer sacrifice or own land or houses. Those rights and privileges were reserved for the "children of Abraham," the Jews. The Jews tended to look down upon the Gentiles as "lower" because of these promises and privileges. You could have a good life in Israel as a Gentile or "stranger," but you could not have the relationship with God that the Jewish people did. You were a stranger, therefore you could not even offer a prayer up in the house of God!

But as the time grew closer and closer to the life of Jesus Christ; as Israel's history moved toward the date of destiny where the precious Lamb of God would die and fulfill all of the law and usher in a new age of Grace and Holy Ghost power; God began to utter some "strange" prophecies from the lips of His ministers.

Well into law and getting closer to Jesus Christ, the prophet Isaiah said this about strangers to Israel:

Did you catch that? God said that there was coming a day when even the sacrifice and prayer of the "stranger" would be accepted if the stranger "joined themselves to the Lord, served Him, and loved the name of the Lord, and took hold of His covenants!" The Jews probably thought that Isaiah was crazy when he prophesied this. To think that God would change the rules so that a "stranger" could enter into the temple, and offer up sacrifices of praise, and receive the blessings of God!?"

In our other text, the prophet Ezekiel went even further and prophesied that the promised land be divided up again and one day parts of it would be given to the stranger that lived within the promises of God:

This is a remarkable passage because it never physically happened. Gentiles were never ever in history willingly given a portion of the literal land of Israel. But when you read the first part of this chapter about a stream of water that began to flow from Jerusalem into all nations and got bigger and bigger as it went, and you began to realize that the stream represented the living water of the Holy Ghost which began to flow at Jerusalem and then continued to flow filling every nation and growing stronger and stronger the further it got away from Jerusalem, then you begin to realize that these are prophecies about the new age that Jesus Christ was going to usher in, the age of Grace! In other words, there was coming a day that God was going to open the doors to His providence and blessings to ALL people; not just the natural Jews!

With all of that in mind, listen carefully to the conditions that Ezekiel prophesied would be the terms for the "stranger" to enter into the presence of God:

To enter into these promises, the stranger would have to undergo a "two part" process: circumcision of the flesh, and circumcision of the heart. If you flip over to the New Testament, you will find that Water Baptism in Jesus' name and the infilling of the Holy Ghost are referred to as a process of spiritual circumcision:

Water Baptism is a "circumcision of the flesh" because our sinful past is cut away from our body, washed away in the blood of Jesus, never to return again, when we are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ! The Baptism of the Holy Ghost is a "circumcision of the heart" because God takes your heart that before longed after this world and the things of this world and cuts it away from those desires and places within it a desire for the things of God! That is why the Apostolic Church preached Repentance, Water Baptism in the name of Jesus, and receiving the Holy Ghost just like they did on the Day of Pentecost: it is the entrance into God's glory. It qualifies you to no longer be a "stranger" to the working of God that used to be reserved only for Israel, but it causes you to be "child of God." You are being "born again" into a new life and into a new home through the work of the blood of Jesus and His holy Spirit!

That's why Paul, writing to the church in Ephesus which were Gentiles that had already received the Holy Ghost and been baptized in the name of Jesus wrote:

He then continued on with:

Through the mercy and power of God, you and I who were born "strangers" to the ways of God, can now walk boldly into the throne of Grace! We can now experience the power of God closer than even the High Priest of Israel felt, because he could only feel the presence of God once a year, but now we can have the presence of God within us! And when the Holy Spirit comes, it takes someone who was a stranger to the holiness and working of God and they become "at home" within His blessings!

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Grab your Bibles and turn to Hebrews chapter 11 and listen to this preacher as I head for the "runway." We read our first text here in this chapter, which is the "hall of fame of faith" which lists the champions of history who obeyed God and stepped out of their comfort zone and became "at home" in the promises of God. It lists such people as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Samuel, and the list goes on and on. To pass my Hebrews final in Bible College, I had to memorize this entire chapter and I'm glad I did, because it is probably the most important chapter in scripture. If you can understand and identify with this passage of scripture, then you can make it living for God.

After naming all of these great heroes, the scripture makes this statement in verse 13:

After stepping out in faith on God's Word, these people all realized that they would never fit into this world's society again. They would never be one of the "good ol' boys" again. They would never be "normal" as the world defines "normal" again. Because God had so touched their lives and transformed their faith, people could just tell by being around them that they were a little different. And, because of their differences, they were going to be misunderstood; mistreated; even persecuted.

If you ever want a good Bible study, study out the uses of the word "stranger" in the Old Testament and see how many of these people of God, people of faith, felt like they were strangers in their world of sin. You will find that Abraham, Jacob, Job, Moses, Ruth, David, Ezra, and even Jesus Christ were referred to as "strangers" in their time. These men and women were different from the average person. Their goals were different. Their dreams were different. They didn't follow after the normal dreams of their societies. They were often ostracized and ridiculed because they stood out. But they confessed that they were "strangers in this world." They were citizens of a heavenly country, and so they didn't mind being a little different. They were just not driven by the same things that most people are consumed with.

A few weeks ago I got my father-in-law talking about old men of God that he knew in his youth. He began to tell me of such men as elder Matt Holland who lived in the Mississippi/Louisiana area and whose ministry and life were closing as my father-in-law's ministry was just beginning. Bro. Holland was a true prophet of God and there are some wonderful stories of his life. One such story was that once Bro. Holland was on a bus headed to a revival in a distant state. They were in the middle of nowhere with no houses, or cars, or anything and it was in the middle of the night, when the Lord spoke to Bro. Holland and told him to get off the bus. For a few minutes he argued with God and then finally walked up to the bus driver and told him that he had to get off the bus right then. The driver thought he was crazy but finally relented and pulled over after Bro. Holland had signed a waiver saying that he would not sue the bus company and was getting off of his own free will. The bus drove off leaving Bro. Holland standing alone with his small suitcase in the middle of nowhere. A few minutes went by and finally he asked God "okay, God. I'm here in the middle of nowhere just as you said and I haven't any idea what to do next." God spoke to him and said "stay were you are and be patient." Time began to pass by slowly. After a couple of hours had gone by, Bro. Holland saw a vehicle in the distance. The lights slowly grew closer and closer until finally a car with a lone man as a driver pulled up. The man got out and said "are you Bro. Holland?" When Bro. Holland nodded, the man said "sorry I'm late but my wife thought I was crazy: God woke me up and said to come to this spot and that you would be waiting for me. I'm a pastor, and I've been praying for a Holy Ghost revival to break forth in my church and God told me that you had a message for us." I don't have to tell you that they did have some kind of revival!

Another story of Bro. Holland's was the time when he was supposed to go preach a revival at a distant town and he only had enough money to feed his family for the week and no money to buy gas. God told him to give what money he had to his family and to get in his car and drive and that He would take care of him. Bro. Holland got into his car with only a little gas in it and took off on the trip not having money for food or even the gas to get there. After a few miles out of town God spoke to him to stop the car and walk. As we tend to do, Bro. Holland doubted for a little while and then finally about a mile later stopped the car. God then said "walk back the way you came." After he had walked a little ways, to Bro. Holland's surprise he saw a $20 bill. Then another, then another. He kept following the trail of money, picking it up until he reached the spot where God had first told him to stop where the trail ended. God had mirculously provided him with over $500!

I don't have time to tell you of all the stories and things that Bro. Matt Holland and many of these other "old timers" experienced and saw. But as my father-in-law finished telling me some of the stories, he made a statement that has been burning in my heart every since. He said, "you know the thing about these men was that most people didn't like to be around them." They were humble and gentlemen but they were "different." They didn't talk about the things that most people talked about. They were not consumed with what most of humanity was consumed about. My father-in-law then said this: "it was like they were from another country and that they were continually thinking about the other place." They lived their lives in this world with the same problems and same concerns and yet it was as if this world was really not their true home. They were continually focused on somewhere else!

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The "faith chapter" talks about some of these people and then makes this statement:

In other words, when have become a citizen of heaven, then you are a citizen of a much better place! God is looking for some people who will step out in faith and become "at home" in His will and His Word. When you do, you will have to lay down some things. You will have to separate yourselves from this world. You will experience some persecution and some trials and some isolation. Because when you get close to God, you can't help but be "different" than this world. You can't help but become a stranger walking through and living within a world in which you do not belong. As long as you follow Jesus Christ, you will never belong to this world as it is right now. You will never be completely comfortable living your day to day life in such a sinful place as this world. But I've got a promise from God for you:

When this life ends, you've got a promise that if His Spirit is alive and burning within you, that Jesus Christ will come back and will take you to heaven to a "marriage feast" and you will be given a glorified body in which to live forever within. But go read your Bible in Revelation chapter 19 on, and you will find that you don't stay up there forever floating around on the clouds and playing harps or whatever nonsense that people errantly teach. But my Bible tells met that we shall return with Jesus Christ, and He will conquer the world. He will set up His rule and throne upon the earth, and we will rule and reign with Him for a thousand years. After that, the Old Earth and Old Heaven will pass away, and there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth. Upon this New Earth will be the New Jerusalem in which will be streets of gold and gates of pearl and walls of jasper! There will be no tears upon this new earth and no heartache, and the scripture says "we will ever be with the Lord!"

What are you saying preacher? I'm giving somebody hope today. In this life, you will never be completely comfortable with this sinful world, because you are "strangers" here. But God is going to come and turn this world into a paradise in which there will be no sin, heartache, or sorrow! Just like Abraham, the place that we sojourn in as strangers today will one day be recreated by the hand of God into a place of promise and into a place where we are no longer aliens!

Hang in there! Don't let the ups and downs and the failures of this life get you too down or too distracted that you forget about your true purpose: serving Jesus. Don't get too caught up in this life: it is not your final destination. Your final destination is a place of promise in which you will forever be "at home." Get your eyes off of the disappointments of this life and remember that if you are faithful to Jesus Christ, then you are just a stranger and a pilgrim in this world!