John Gray - One Way Ticket
God, are you sure I could play it safe right here? I got a nice house, everything's in here. Everything is good. Why are you disrupting my life? And the response is, it's not your life to live. Can somebody just take a moment and praise God that your life is not your own? Take comfort in the fact that you were created by God for his purpose, and that what he wants for you to do is his business. And so, I trusted the Lord but I was scared. I didn't say I was afraid. There's a difference between fear and being scared. Scared is when you're in the line at the amusement park and you see a roller coaster and you hear the people scream. A lot of white girls scream like that in scary movies and on roller coasters. Y'all are the ones went down the steps in the scary movie. Who is it? It's so dark. Who is that down there?
Well let me come down there. The lights aren't working. I'm gonna still come down there. What are you doin'? Why do you have that ax in your hands? Never see black people in scary movies. We smarter than that. You down there, help yourself, the whole house. I left the keys on the counter. Take care. I cried. I cried. But aren't you a preacher? Yeah, but I'm also a man, and this ain't easy. This is scary. I could do faith on my own, but now I got people counting on me. What if I didn't hear from the Lord right? What if, what if? And God is saying, exactly. That's the key to faith. There's an element of what if I'm wrong. That's the key to faith, because the other side is, what if you're right? What if you did hear from God on that business? What if you did hear from God on making that move? What if you did hear from God to apply for that position? What if you did hear from God to go after that dream? What if you did hear from God to reapply? What if you did hear from God, go back to school? What if you did hear from God, and what if he's waiting on you to trust a still small voice, not the voice of reason, because reason never never connects with faith because reason only moves by what it can see and touch and fear, but faith says, I don't see it, it makes no sense, but I trust him who spoke.
One-way ticket. Round trip is nice 'cause if it goes wrong, take care. Somebody drop me off at the airport. I can always go home. Now one-way ticket is final destination, terminating point, Houston, Texas. Abram found himself in a similar situation with a new God. See, you have to understand that Abram didn't come from a church background. I don't have no help in here. His father was from ur of the chaldeans, the city of ur was the central place for moon worship. They worshiped the moon, and God called him away from worshiping the moon in order to introduce the earth to his son. See, because it's through Abraham that all the families of the earth would be blessed. I don't have no help in here. You need to understand that God had to call Abram away from the familiar.
You really want to see the shift in your life, it's time to make moves away from the familiar. Stop living the safe life. You weren't called to live a safe life. You weren't called to live an ordinary existence. You weren't called to live within the fringes of society. You were called to maximize every moment. You were called to live on the edge. You were called to live with the wind in your face and the glory of God on your back. It's time for you to make some faith moves. It's time for you to dive into the faith life. You've got your salvation secured through Jesus, so you might as well understand what it means to live an overcoming life. Since you're still alive, you have an opportunity to shift into the miraculous move of God, the supernatural realm of God. This is that moment. Get out of your country, from your family, from your father's house, to a land that I've already shown you. No, that's not what it says. It didn't say it. It's not a land I've already shown you. That ain't faith. That's obedience. To a land I will show you.
So okay, you want me to leave. All right, I'm ready to leave. Where are we goin'? Leave. Now, you're God and you got all the directions you know right where I'm supposed to be. Yes. Where am I going? Leave. Why? Because I need you to trust my voice, not the place. Because many people want God to tell them the destination, assuming that the destination is gonna be excited that you're there. And you will think God left you when you get there and realize that some of the stuff there is there because you're sent to solve it. If they had what you carried where you're called to go, God wouldn't need to send you.
Now I'm preachin' better than you're shouting. To accept the Bible as the word of the Lord is a monumental faith step in and of itself. Even churches today are having debates on whether the Bible is mythical or was it just written by men. No, this is the inspired Word of God. 1500 years of prophecy, multiple writers, 66 books, all pointing in the direction of Yeshua, Hamashiach, Jesus the Christ, the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. This Bible is real. It's not a historical book exclusively. It is a living, active record of the work of God in the earth, past, present, and future. The Bible is alive and it is real and you cannot read it academically. You must read it with the eyes of faith. You need a one-way ticket.
It's one thing to believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. It's another to live your life with the Bible as your foundation. That's a rarer feat indeed. God said, Abram, it's time for you to go out of your country, all the familiar things. Who wants to leave familiar? Who wants to leave the safe place? God is saying, that's why you don't hear about faith stories that much because most people only want to be safe. Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name thank you Jesus and they're always glad you came you want to go where you can know people are all the same you want to go where everybody knows your name but God says that's the safe place. You need to go to a place that doesn't know my name because you're carrying my name where you're going.
The one-way ticket is not about your name. It's about His name. He's gonna establish your name as long as you establish his name. The Bible says that God spoke to Abram. The Bible also says Lot went with him. There's always a Lot. Somebody say amen. Always a Lot close by. L-O-T, Lot should stand for leave out trouble. I'm speaking to you. There's always somebody that will attach to your faith promise. They don't know how to get access to God on their own, so they just hold on to you 'cause they see what God is doing in your life. They don't know how to pray on their own. They don't know how to get revelation on their own. So they hang on to you because it's safer to just hang on your coattails. I don't have to have my own anointing. I don't even have to have my own blessing. You so blessed I get your residual.
Bible says that Lot went with him, but God said, leave your family. Why? Because God knew that what I'm doing in you, Abram, is different from what I'm doing in the rest of your family. I can trust you with where I'm going. Lot became so blessed that in Genesis 13 it turns out that they had to separate. Abram saw the tension mounting. He said, listen man, you go one way, I'll go the other. Let's not have any drama. We're family. The Bible says Lot pitched his tent in the plains, all the way to the border of Sodom, which shows you that God knew what he was doing all along. Why would you pitch your tent on the border of flesh when God had Abram moving on faith? The difference between flesh and faith is the difference between your family and you. God called you. That's why even in your best desire sometimes everybody can't go with you.
Now I'm not talking about your children and your husband or your wife. They've got to go, so don't go home talking about, pastor John said you got to get out. I knew you wasn't the one. Get out. You're a Lot. No, you married Lot. Now you in covenant. You mrs. Lot. The reason why Lot pitched his tent on the border of Sodom is because he wanted to look over and see what it used to be like. I'm walking with this faith walker but I ain't really ready to go all the way, so I'd rather just be close enough to still hear it, to still see it, the stuff I came from. Abram said, it's time to separate. This is a one-way ticket. I don't want a round-trip back to the past. And the problem Lot wanted a round trip and so did his wife, and she's still somewhere salty. You like that.
See, what Abram was saying to Lot is, I don't need faith spectators. I need faith participators. I know that's not a proper word, but you get my point. I don't need somebody that's simply looking at what I'm doing. I need somebody to stand with me. Find the people in your life that will celebrate your faith steps, that will celebrate the fact that you're going after the unbelievable, the exceeding abundantly above, the one-way ticket.
See, there's a difference between faith walkers and tire kickers. Church, people who just come to church, sometimes they're just tire kickers. Yeah, I'll worship. I'll give $5. I'll come back in a few months. But a faith walker says, no, to really invest and seek the return, I'm gonna have to make a one-way investment. I'm gonna be here on Wednesdays and Sundays, and I'm gonna be here and I'm gonna sow and I'm gonna serve and I'm gonna give of my time and my talents and my gifts and I'm gonna fight traffic and I'm gonna fight my schedule, and I'm gonna make God a priority and I'm gonna do the things that other people won't do, because this is not just about coming around and seeing familiar faces. This is about getting closer to God and unlocking my destiny and doing the thing that I was created to do, and I need the word of the Lord active in my life in order to do it. This is a one-way ticket. I'm investing everything.
A one-way ticket says there is no going back. I'm not going back I'm moving ahead I'm here to declare to you my path is over in you all things are made new surrender my life to Christ moving moving forward when you start moving forward, you don't have time to look back. When you have put yourself on a one-way ticket, you're saying, God, it's either you or nothing. I'm trusting you like never before. I'm gonna do what is required to walk out the faith life. The one-way ticket is a faith ticket. I need you to understand that faith is the currency of the earth. Worship is the currency of heaven. But when you mix your faith with your worship, heaven invades the earth. When you take a faith step, God I trust you and I bless you, you take another one. God, there's nobody greater than you. God, I thank you. And you're taking faith moves and you're adding worship to it, God sees that your character is being developed. Your integrity is being developed. And what is also being developed that you cannot quantify is now you have a knowledge of God, because I heard anthony fisher say this. Once you know something, you cannot un-know it. You are being invited into a place that very few people venture, to know God in all of his glory, to see him in all of his fullness.
And I'm overtime but I have to get this word out to the faith walker and one-way ticket holders to let you know I know it looks crazy, but what else you gon' do? What else we gon' do but trust the Lord? What's better than going after God? Ain't nothing behind us worth it. Every relationship let us down. All the jobs let us down. We might as well put our trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not into your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path. Abram, get out. Step out and be great. We're still talking about Abraham right now. Notice we're not talking about Abram. We're talking about Abraham. His name was Abram, but then he took the faith journey and got a name change.
You need to write this down and I'll be finished. Faith always changes your name. I feel the Holy Ghost right there. Old tent revival rising up in me, and I ain't even never did one. Faith always changes your name. It adds a texture and a substance to your walk. When you step out and trust God for the impossible. And I know it may sound crazy, but from the perspective of the flesh, sometimes when you make a faith step it does not immediately produce results, and though it may not immediately work it will always work out for your good. Romans 8:28 says, what? All things, everything, once you make the declaration Jesus is Lord, everything in your life is beginning to work out for your good.
So faith always changes your name. Faith always costs more than you have. Why? 'cause the root of faith is crazy belief. God'll always ask you for something you don't have. He'll say, trust me with your future. I don't know what it is. Exactly. I don't have that. Then it makes it easier for you to trust me 'cause you don't even know. He'll always ask you for something you don't have. But that's the currency of the kingdom. Faith, faith is the only way you can see the Lord. Faith is a one-way ticket. There is no going back. The Bible says, no man having put his hand to the plow and going back is fit for the Kingdom of God. I want you to know that Abram and Lot were going in different directions.
Tonight I want you to identify anybody around you that has a round-trip ticket back to their old life, round-trip ticket back to depression. You know how they were depressed, then they're excited and they believe God, then somehow they end up back where they started? You need some one-way ticket holders around you saying, I was here, but I'm never going back there. I used to do that, but I'm not doing that again. I used to be that, but I'm not that anymore. I've been renewed. My mind's been transformed and my flesh has been defeated by the blood of the lamb that was nailed on the cross. It's time for you to get out your one-way ticket. God is saying, I need somebody in this church tonight or at home to trust me with your everything. One-way ticket. One-way ticket. How do you purchase it? Your confession. I'd like to buy an extraordinary life. That'll be one confession in Jesus Christ.
Once I do that, is there anything else? Yes, if you'd like to buy the extraordinary overcoming life, you want to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Now you also have to make him Lord. Savior is salvation. That's a free gift. Lord is submission of your will. You want to see faith? Faith is stretch it, touch it, walk on it. Stretch it, touch it, walk on it.
I heard minister Demarcus Hill out of Atlanta, Georgia, say something significant about faith. He said, Moses had to stretch his hands the first time for the water to part. Then if you look in Joshua three when the ark of the covenant was at the Jordan, they had to walk in before the water parted. But then when Jesus was walking on the water, Peter said, hey, tell me to come to you. And he walked on it. But first you've got to stretch it, then you touch it, then you walk on it. God is saying, I want you to know that I got all power the first time. All you've got to do is just stretch your hands. I'll do it. Next time I'mma take you to another place of faith, from faith to faith, then I want you to touch it and see that now what I did then I'mma do something else different, but it's gonna have the same result. You're still crossing over. And then, finally, if the water never moves you can walk on it. You can stand up. My sermon is over. You can give God a praise. I'm only talking to one-way ticket holders tonight. One-way ticket!