Welcome Home" Pastor Jono Zantingh

Sep 13, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When Desert Wanderers Cry "You Alone Are Our Home"

Moses stood on the edge of unfulfilled promises, his people’s faithlessness echoing like wind through barren cliffs. Yet his raw lament carved a truth deeper than circumstance: generations rise and fall, but God remains the only dwelling that outlasts disappointment. This isn’t about physical stability but the soul’s anchor when life unravels. Home becomes not a place to possess but a Person who persists. Even in seasons of displacement, the cry “You have been our dwelling place” reorients fractured hearts toward eternal belonging. [48:54]

Lord, through all the generations you have been our home! (Psalm 90:1, NLT)

Reflection: When has disappointment or displacement revealed where you’ve anchored your sense of “home”? How might Moses’ lament reshape your prayer in current uncertainty?

Day 2: Screwdrivers, Drywall, and the Theology of Ownership

Renters calculate damage deposits; homeowners renovate with abandon. The difference isn’t financial—it’s the confidence of belonging. Too often, believers approach God like temporary tenants, hesitant to “mount anything permanent” for fear of overstepping. But grace grants full ownership rights: we’re heirs, not guests. Every prayer, act of worship, and messy surrender becomes a hammer strike declaring “This is my Father’s house—and I’m here to stay.” [54:44]

So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. (Ephesians 2:19-20, NLT)

Reflection: Where do you still live like a renter in your relationship with God? What would it look like to drill deeper, mount firmer, and settle into your inheritance today?

Day 3: When God Redecorates Your Soul’s Blueprints

C.S. Lewis imagined the Christian life as God renovating a cottage into a palace—a process that “hurts abominably.” We want leaky pipes fixed, not new wings added. Yet the Father’s remodeling always expands capacity for His presence. That awkward hallway of unresolved grief? The cramped room of self-sufficiency? He’s not tidying—He’s dynamiting walls to build throne rooms. Our job isn’t to approve the plans but to trust the Architect. [01:02:01]

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself. (1 Corinthians 6:19, NLT)

Reflection: What part of your “house” is God currently renovating that feels disruptive? How might His vision for your capacity outshine your current comfort?

Day 4: The Luxury of Bearing Holy Airspace

In a world starved for connection, carrying God’s presence makes believers walking sanctuaries. The Holy of Holies isn’t a distant chamber—it’s the space between your ribs. This changes everything: boardrooms become altars, school drop-offs become priestly duties, and conflict becomes worship when we remember whose air fills our lungs. Scarcity breeds fear, but abundance flows when we leak glory in grocery lines and staff meetings. [01:04:54]

And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. (1 Peter 2:5, NLT)

Reflection: Where do you most struggle to act as a “walking sanctuary”? What practical step could remind you today that you carry holy air?

Day 5: Porch Lights On in a Dark Neighborhood

“Welcome home” is both an invitation and a commissioning. The same table where we feast on grace has place settings for strangers. Our security in Christ’s embrace compels us to lean over fences, shouting neighbors toward the light. This isn’t about church programs but everyday postures—baking extra bread, noticing the lonely, speaking hope to despair. Every “come in” whispered to others echoes the Father’s voice still calling us deeper. [01:09:16]

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. (Matthew 28:19-20, NLT)

Reflection: Who in your orbit needs to overhear your “welcome home” story? How can you leave your proverbial porch light on for them this week?

Sermon Summary

Home carries weight because safety, comfort, family, love, food, smell, and rest shape what people mean when they say it. Yet isolation, broken homes, abuse, disappointment, and fragile community belonging reveal how scarce real human connection has become. Home is where the heart is, and the question lands hard: if the heart is in Christ, is the truest sense of home in him too?

Moses names the Lord as Israel’s home in Psalm 90, not from a place of easy comfort, but on the edge of massive disappointment. Moses stands with a faithless people facing the wilderness again and still declares, “Lord, through all the generations, you have been our home.” The Hebrew picture is dwelling, habitation, refuge. God remains home for the wandering faithless, the angry and disappointed, the anxious and weary, and those standing on the edge of what felt like a promise.

The contrast between renter and owner exposes how cautiously many people approach the Father. A renter worries about the damage deposit, holds back, and treats the space as temporary. A son or daughter receives access, inheritance, and the invitation to approach the throne of grace with boldness. No chair, snack food, cozy room, physical address, rented space, or owned space can carry the weight of identity, peace, safety, and emotional strength that belong in God alone.

Psalm 91, Deuteronomy 33, and Psalm 46 declare that God alone is refuge, safety, strength, and ever-present help in trouble. Christ then brings the stunning reversal. Revelation 21 says God’s home is now among his people, and through Jesus, God makes himself at home in redeemed people. Grace breaks down the walls of sin, shame, and distance, restoring children to the Father.

Ephesians 2 calls the church God’s house, carefully joined together with Christ as the cornerstone. The temple language reaches even deeper: believers are not merely near the holy place, but become the holy of holies, the dwelling where God lives by his Spirit. C. S. Lewis’s living-house image makes clear that God does not settle for repairing a decent little cottage. God rebuilds, expands, tears down, and refashions lives into a palace because he intends to live there himself.

The Father’s welcome becomes both refuge and mission. God calls his people to find home in Christ and then to carry his presence into homes, workplaces, relationships, cities, and every part of the world. The holy of holies does not stay hidden behind a curtain. Christ sends it out, brick by brick, stone by stone, for his name and glory.

Key Takeaways

1. God alone is the truest home. Moses calls God home while standing in grief, frustration, and wilderness, not after everything works out. Refuge in the Father does not deny the pain of a broken address, family, or season. God becomes the dwelling place that remains when every other place feels unstable. [50:39]
2. Stop relating to God like a renter. A renter holds back, fears loss, and assumes access is temporary. Jesus gives sons and daughters something far deeper than a religious damage deposit: belonging, inheritance, and bold access to the Father. Shame may whisper that the relationship is conditional, but grace says Christ has brought his people home. [54:23]
3. Jesus makes believers God’s dwelling place. Revelation 21 turns the picture around: God does not merely offer a home to his people, but comes to make his home among them. This is not earned by moral performance or denied by yesterday’s failure. Jesus reconciles broken people to the Father and makes real fellowship possible. [59:33]
4. Believers carry the holy of holies. Ephesians does not describe detached individuals trying to be spiritual enough for God. Christ joins his people together into a holy temple, with his own presence dwelling within them. Work, marriage, parenting, friendship, and mission all change when ordinary life is carried out as the holy of holies. [64:26]
5. Home in Christ leads to mission. The Father’s welcome is never an excuse to settle into private comfort. God sends those who have found refuge in him to invite others into that same home. The church holds both truths together: receiving his presence and pouring out life as a living sacrifice.

## [69:16]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[40:04] - Welcome Home
[41:08] - God’s Home Among His People
[43:12] - What Makes a Place Feel Like Home?
[44:14] - The Fragility of Home and Belonging
[45:33] - Human Connection Has Become a Luxury
[47:54] - Is Christ the Truest Sense of Home?
[48:14] - Moses Declares God as Home
[51:30] - Running to False Comforts
[54:23] - Renter or Owner with God?
[55:36] - Refuge for the Broken and Weary
[59:33] - God Makes His Home in His People
[61:00] - Built Together as God’s House
[62:01] - God Rebuilds the Living House
[64:26] - The Holy of Holies at Work
[69:16] - Welcome Home and Live on Mission
[70:30] - Jesus Invites People Home
[72:05] - A Prayer of Surrender

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Psalm 90:1
“Lord, through all the generations you have been our home!” [48:11]

Revelation 21:3
“I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them

Sermon Clips

32s

#TempleWithin

“We do not just go to the Holy of Holies. We are the Holy of Holies. That takes my breath away, Daryl Johnson says. It takes my breath away too, Daryl. This is stunning. This is undeserving. This is grace. This is undeserved favor. Walls broken down. Access has been granted. He's building his temple, his naos, his holy of holies, and he's making himself at home in us.”

43s

#OwnYourInheritance

“Will you courageously, boldly count the cost and say yes to taking your part in this vital temple that the Lord is building, Ephesians, brick by brick, stone by stone. Will you say yes to being included into that holy of holies that the father's building? Or maybe this question, how can you stop approaching your relationship with God like a renter when you're supposed to be a confident owner? You're a son, you're a daughter. You've been given an inheritance.”

56s

#HomeInChristNow

“Because of Jesus. For starters, our truest sense of home isn't something we have to wait for. It can be experienced here, now, in full, every moment of every day. Regardless of how we show up, he shows up faithful. And these feelings of being regulated emotionally or deeply satisfied or at peace with family, truest sense of worth, identity, they can never come from a geographical location or a physical address. They don't come from anything that I could own, rent, or borrow. The one who holds my truest sense of self, the one who created and designed my emotional strength, the one who alone is my peace, the one in whom I find my real identity. We can be neither separated or distanced from his presence.”

43s

#SpiritDwellsInYou

“and this message simply and abruptly disrupts everything you've believed to be true about God. You had no idea that in the father you could find your truest sense of safety and rest and refuge and healing and forgiveness and home. And you had no idea that the God of the universe knows you by name and has given you gifts and strengths and wants to pour out his holy spirit to make himself a home in you so that you could live with purpose, live on mission as a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ being made known in our lifetime.”

64s

#GodOurRefuge

“And so to the wandering faithless, welcome home. And to the angry and disappointed, welcome home. To the anxious and weary, welcome home. And to those on the edge of what feels like a promise, welcome home. May we, as people of faith, find our truest sense of home in a deep understanding that God alone is our refuge. God alone is our strength. God alone is our safety. God alone is our ever present help in times of trouble. And then through Christ Jesus, this great reversal where God says, but I also wanna find myself at home in you. Would you live set apart? Would you live holy? Would you live righteous for my name's sake? Would you become a part of the holy of holies, the naos, the temple that I'm building for my name's sake, for for my glory, says the Lord.”

58s

#ChildrenOfGodIdentity

“And these scriptures, keep in mind all this beautiful truth and imagery and declaration about home and refuge occurred before Jesus came. Before Jesus was born, before Jesus showed us how to really live, before Jesus ushered in a new kingdom, a new home, a new way of living and being in this world, before Jesus was crucified, buried, and raised to life, before Jesus reconciled all of humanity, our brokenness, our sin, our shame, with his blood poured out, which we celebrated today, he restored us back into relationship with the father. A new identity as children of God, welcome home. The father's heart and priority was always for his people to find their truest sense of home in him.”

68s

#GodNotComforts

“So let me ask in seasons of great stress, in seasons of hardship or massive disappointment, who or what do you run to for home? Sometimes when things are hard, I just I just wanna run home. I just wanna get into my chair in the corner of my living room. I don't want anybody to talk to me. I wanna eat chips. Even this morning on my knees early, back in my hot tub after surgery. Yes. On my knees. The Lord spoke to my heart. As I'm in this journey right now of just physical healing and a renewed sense of stewardship over my physical body, the Lord reminded me that he's he's my home. No comfort, no snack food, no chair can replace the home that I have in the father.”

49s

#MaonOurDwelling

“This Hebrew word, maon, means home or dwelling or habitation or refuge. And in the anger and frustration of the people's lack of faith and lack of trust, Moses cries out, you alone are our home. On the edge of this failed promise about to cross over into a new home with lament and pain in his voice. He says, still, Lord, you alone are our home. On the cusp of heading back into the desert for forty years so that a faithless generation can die off. Moses prays, Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. You have been our home.”

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