Genesis 35:1-13
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Return To Bethel
Return To Bethel
Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
God called Jacob to return to Bethel. The word Bethel means the house of God. Not only did God want Jacob to return to Bethel physically, He wanted him to return spiritually. Jacob had lived in the land of the pagans for far to long. He had lived in a pagan land and worked for a pagan man for the 20 years. This will influence the way you live. We see in verse two that his household had been persuaded to follow foreign gods. God wanted to bless Jacob by fulfilling the promise that He gave Abraham and Isaac.
Jacob needed to return to Bethel in order to receive the blessing of the Lord. The Lord would not bless Jacob as long as his desire was for the things of a foreign land. God wanted Jacob to change his desire from the things of this world to the Lord. The Lord would have to be the priority of Jacob’s life. It could no longer be the desires of his wives, the success of his livestock business, or to win the favor of his brother Esau. Jacob needed a physical and spiritual reset.
Return to church
Return to church
Recent data from 2024 and 2025 indicates a continued decline in overall Christian church attendance in America, with roughly 30% of U.S. adults attending religious services weekly or nearly weekly. This is down from 42% two decades ago.
General Attendance Statistics (2024-2025)
Weekly/Nearly Weekly Attendance: About 30% of U.S. adults report attending religious services every week or almost every week.
Monthly Attendance: Approximately 41% of Americans attend services at least once a month (combining weekly, almost weekly, and once a month attendance).
Seldom/Never Attendance: More than half of Americans (56%) report seldom or never attending religious services.
Post-Pandemic Recovery: On average, American congregations are at about 85% of their pre-pandemic attendance levels.
Attendance by Denomination (2021-2023 Averages)
Among major Christian groups, the frequency of regular attendance varies:
Mormon/Latter-day Saints: 67% attend weekly or nearly weekly.
Protestant/Christian: 44% attend regularly (weekly or nearly weekly).
Catholic: 33% attend regularly.
Generational Trends
A notable recent trend is the increase in attendance among young adults, as reported by Barna Group:
Millennials: 39% report attending church weekly as of a 2025 report, a significant increase from 21% in 2019.
Gen Z: The typical Gen Z churchgoer attends an average of 1.9 weekends per month in preliminary 2025 data, a steady upward shift since the pandemic lows.
Gender Shift: In 2025, men (43%) are reporting higher rates of regular weekly attendance than women (36%), reversing a long-standing trend where women attended more frequently.
Key Statistics for the Southern Baptist Convention (2024 data)
The following data points are from the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention's Annual Church Profile, as compiled by Lifeway Research:
Average Weekly Worship Attendance: 4,304,625 people. This is an increase of over a quarter-million from the previous year and the highest number since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Total Membership: 12,722,266 members. This number marks the 18th consecutive year of decline, bringing the total membership to its lowest point since 1974.
Weekly Small Group/Sunday School Attendance: 2,567,048 people, an increase of nearly 6% over 2023.
Total Baptisms: 250,643, a more than 10% increase over 2023 figures and the highest total since 2017.
So why do only 3 in 10 people attend church on a regular basis? I believe they have been consumed by a pagan culture that robs them of their desire for the Lord and His church. I see a desire for wealth, sports, and social acceptance replacing the desire for the Lord. These have replaced church attendance for working seven days a week, skipping church for kids sporting events or professional athletic competitions, and doing other social activities with family and friends. Corporate worship has become secondary to the desires of those who choose other things above God. The Lord will not bless those who do not have a desire for Him or his church.
One may say that they do not need church to have a desire for the Lord. This is not Biblical according to Hebrews 10:23-25
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
This passage of scripture says that we should not forsake the assembling together. We are to gather together and encourage one another because living through Christ in a dark world is difficult. We need one another to help.
For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Everyone has a place of service in the church. Our service is based on the giftedness God has given us. We are unique in our gifts and personhood. God uses this uniqueness to build His church.
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.
Jesus went to church on the Sabbath “as was His custom”. Jesus is the example for us.
Church attendance is important both for the individual and the church. For the individual, corporate worship is a place to gather with other believers and worship, be encouraged, be discipled, and learn the Word of God. For the church, the church needs you because you are a vital part of the body!
What do you desire? Are you satisfied with your church attendance?
Purify Yourselves
Purify Yourselves
So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments;
Put way foreign gods
Put way foreign gods
As we mentioned before the house of Jacob had been corrupted by foreign gods. They had allowed the culture to persuade their worship. Their gods were ones that catered to desires of their hearts. Household Gods (Teraphim): These were small idols, often seen as protective or symbols of prosperity, common in ancient Near Eastern homes, and Jacob's family had acquired them from Laban. Jacob required that his household give up their false gods and pursue the One true God. God reminded the people of Israel of this in Deut. 6:4-6 and Deut. 6:13-15
“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
“You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. “You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.
As we learned in last weeks sermon regarding our spiritual assessment we must love the Lord and have a healthy fear of Him. The Lord is consistent in His commands for relationship with Him. It is in the Love and fear of the Lord that we can live a life that we experience the fullness of the Lord as Paul states in Eph. 4:11-13
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
The Lord desires us to live a full and wonderful life. We are unable to do this when we have foreign gods in our life.
Jacob made his household give up their idols. They did and he hid them under the oak in Shechem. The things that they believed would bring them peace and satisfaction in life were purged and hid in a place where they could not go back to them. This is what we need to do in our life! It will be difficult because false gods give the promise of a better life. However this is false. Only walking with Christ can bring the abundant life that Christ desires to give. John 10:10
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Remove sin
Remove sin
Not only did Jacob tell his household to give up foreign gods, he told them to purify themselves and put on new garments. Jacob’s family were living in sin. They had adopted the cultural behaviors of their day. Lying, sexual immorality, jealousy, and even murder were things that plagued his family. Laban lied to Jacob about his daughters and Jacob’s marriage to them. Jacob’s son Reuben slept with his father-in-laws concubine. Rachel and Leah were jealous of one another because of Jacob. Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi killed the men of Shechem after they defiled their sister Dinah. AS you can see there was a pattern of sin that needed to be removed from the family before they could return to Bethel.
Are their pattern’s of sin in your life that need to be removed? They may not be as obvious or severe as Jacob’s family but the undertones of them are in your life. They could be things like anger, pride, and jealousy. These things are areas of struggle for you. Perhaps they are more obvious like immorality, drunkenness, addiction, gossiping, or lying. These are areas of our life were we need to purify ourselves.
We do this by repenting of our sin. This requires confessing it as sin to the Lord, asking for His forgiveness, and allowing him to replace these sins with righteousness. 1 John1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Change your garments
Change your garments
This was representative of beginning a new life. They were to put away the old way of living as a pagan and begin living following God. This is what we must do as well.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
When we are in Christ our old lives are put to death and Christ gives us new life in Him. Though we have new life, we must make decisions daily on what garment we will put on.
that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
We are instructed to lay aside the old self and put on the new self.
Col. 3:9-10
Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.
We must decide every day if we are going to put on the garments of the flesh or put on the garments of Christ The garments of Christ are Col. 3:12
So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;
These should define our character as followers of Christ.
Live In the Blessing of God
Live In the Blessing of God
Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him.
When Jacob repented and changed his household and returned to the Lord, the Lord blessed him by changing his name from Jacob to Israel and make a nation from him and give the promised land to his descendants.
Jacob returned to the house of the Lord (Bethel), purified himself and his family, and recieved the blessing of the Lord. This is the gospel!
We are all sinners that serve false gods. God desires for us to return to Him. He gave His Son Jesus so that we can be purified from sin. In this purification of sin we can live in the blessing of God.
