Untitled Sermon

The heavens, a shadow of the true and ultimate heaven. You think about this when you’re looking into the sky. How do you get to heaven?

Most people would say you get into heaven by doing good deeds.

Yes most religions would say that. If you do enough good works, if you avoid enough evil, if you master the discipline, if you end the self, if you were Tainy enlightenment, then you get into heaven. But is that the way?

You would say it’s not

If it’s based on what we do, then the source of our salvation as ourselves. And if we could save ourselves by ourselves, then we wouldn’t need salvation in the first place. How can the answer come from the one in need of the answer? It’s like telling a grounding man that if he would only swim well enough, he could save himself. If he could swim well enough, he wouldn’t be drowning, he’d be a lifeguard. So then what’s the answer?

The answer is that the problem can never answer itself. Only the answer can answer!

So the earthly can never attain the heavenly, but the heavenly can attain the earthly. What do you mean?

Salvation can never come from earth to heaven… but It can come from heaven to earth

All these paths are hands reaching up to heaven. But the answer is radically different. It’s a hand reaching down to earth. The answer must come from the answer. So salvation can never just end in heaven. It must begin there.

So it’s not so much about getting into heaven.

No, it’s about heaven getting into you.

Heaven coming down to us

The dissent of heaven… The heavenly visiting the earthly… The heavenly one becoming earthly… So that the earthly might become heavenly. So it’s not about attaining anything. No, it’s about receiving everything… Starting with heaven.

Make it your aim today not to strive for heaven, but let heaven, it’s love, it’s a blessing, and it’s joy Dash get into you.

Isaiah 45:8

Isaiah 55:10–11

John 6:51

If you need to get up to a high point or down into a hole the only choice you have is by using a ladder. Without a ladder we’d be stuck here at the bottom. And what if it only went halfway up to the top?

If it didn’t reach the top it wouldn’t do us any good!

If the ladder started from the top and only went halfway down?

If it didn’t reach the bottom, it wouldn’t do us any good either. We’d be stuck here either way.

What about getting into heaven? How high is heaven above the earth? How great is the distance that separates man from God, and sin from the most holy? How long would that ladder have to be… To get you into heaven?

As high and as long as the distance that separates man from God, a ladder between heaven and earth.

It was that ladder that Jacob saw in his dream, a latter from heaven to earth.

It was the shadow of Messiah, that which joins heaven to earth, and God to man. But he can only work if the ladder touches both ends, the highest height with the lowest depth. So the most high had to descend to the most low of deaths so that those in the lowest deaths could ascend to the highest heights. The most heavenly how to become earthly so that those who earthly could become heavenly. And the most holy had to join himself to the most unholy, the holy one join to the lowest of sins, the most sacred to the most profane… So God descended to the deepest depths of darkness, to the lowest wrong of degradation and judgment.

The bottom of Jacobs ladder that which joins earth to heaven.

Therefore no matter how low you find yourself, no matter how lost you are, no matter how sinful, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far from God you are… No matter how deep the pitch you find yourself in… Look for the latter… And it will be there to take you out. The latter will be there with it’s one and touching the bottom of your lowest stats, and the other and touching the most high.

Genesis 28:10 Dash 17

John

Our Messiah told us to pray, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Dust the two, having an earth, are to be in union. Messiah‘s redemption is the joining of heaven to earth, and earth to heaven. Therefore to live in redemption you must live in the joining of the two… Heaven in earth.

So we’re to live looking to live our lives heaven word

Yes but that’s not a secret. It’s much deeper than that.

On earth as it is in heaven, means it is to be on earth as it first is in heaven. Having his first, and then earth. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, not the earth and the heavens. Heaven is always first. Life and blessings proceed not from earth to heaven, but from heaven to earth and yet most live the other way, even those who seek God. Some people live from earth to heaven.

They seek to ascend, to become holier, more spiritual and godly, more pure, righteous, loving…, More heavenly.

They seek to rise higher… To ascend.

But the answer never comes from earth to heaven.

The secret is to live not from earth to heaven… But from heaven to earth.

Yes, the exact opposite of everything we’ve known and how were used to living and thinking. The answer is to live a heaven to earth life.

So we shouldn’t seek to be holy?

We should, but not from ourselves. It must start with heaven. The only way you can become wholly is to live from the holy. The only way to become pure is to live from the pure. The only way to become good is to live from the good. The only way to become loving is to live from love. The only way to become truly giving is to give from the gift. And the only way to become godly is to live from God. You don’t attain heaven. You let heaven attain you. You live a heaven to earth life, where everything you do begins from heaven and proceeds to earth. You let heaven touch your life, and through your life, every part of your world… Is as it is in heaven.

The mission: learn a secret today of living a heaven to earth life. Live each moment from above, from the good, from the glorious, from heaven.

Isaiah 55:10–11

Matthew 6:10

Colossians 3:2

Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.

The place he has come to is Bethel.

The name literally means, “the House of God.”

Bethel is twelve miles north of Jerusalem and the home which Jacob left was probably twenty-five or thirty miles south of Jerusalem.

This means that Jacob covered at least forty miles that first day.

You can see that he was really hotfooting it away from Esau.

He wants to get as far from him as he can, but the farther he gets away from Esau, the farther he gets away from home.

Jacob is a man now, a pretty big boy, but I think he is homesick.

This is the first time he is away from Rebekah.

He has been tied to his mama’s apron strings all of his life, and now he is untied.

He is out on his own and this is his first time away from home.

Notice what happens.

He lies down and puts stones for pillows.

Bethel is a dreary place.

It has been described as highlands with large, bare rocks exposed.

It’s twelve hundred feet above sea level, in the hills.

Next, we are told that Jacob fell asleep…

Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Now God is giving to Jacob exactly what He had given first to Abraham; He had repeated it to Isaac, and now he confirms it, and He reaffirms to Jacob that He will do this.

Then God said, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

You can see that this would be comforting and helpful to a lonesome, homesick boy who really had to leave home in a hurry.

He is on his way to a far country, and this first night God says to him, “I’m going to be with you, Jacob, and I’m going to bring you back to this land.”

The vision that God gave to him in the dream was of a ladder that reached up to heaven.

What does the ladder mean?

The ladder is Christ.

The angels are ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.

The angels ministered to Him; they were subject to His command.

The Lord Jesus said, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me.”

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the ladder

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

When Jacob ran away from home, he had a limited view of God.

He thought that when he ran away from home, he was running away from God, also.

But he found that he had not left God at home.

He exclaimed, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”

Next we read…

Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously.

Now listen to Jacob.

He has a lot to learn, and this is evidence of it.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God.”

What is he doing?

He wants to trade with God.

He says, “Now God, if You will do this for me…”

But God has already told him that He is going to do every one of these things for him.

He already told Jacob, “I am going to keep you; I am going to bring you back to this land; I am going to give you this land; and I am going to give you offspring.”

Then Jacob turns around and bargains with Him, “If you will do it, then I’ll serve you.”

God doesn’t do business with us that away.

He didn’t do business that way with Jacob either.

If He had, Jacob would never have made it back to the land.

God brought him back into the land by His grace and mercy.

When Jacob did finally come back to Bethel, he came back a wiser man.

Do you know what he came back to do?

To worship and praise God for His mercy.

God had been merciful to him.

Now, here is the rest of his vow…

“And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

So Jacob erects this stone.

He is trying to make a deal with God!

And a great many of us are trying to make a deal with God.

But listen friends, He just wants to become your Father through faith in Christ.

That is the story of Jacob’s first encounter with God, and it changed the course of his life.

That is the background for today’s message.

I want to ask a question, “Do you find God or does God find you?”

In a sense it works both ways.

When an outstanding evangelist asked a young boy, “Have you found Jesus?” the lad replied, “Mister, I didn’t know Jesus was lost.”

Of course, Jesus is not lost.

But on the other hand, Jesus is lost to us if we don’t know Him.

Today’s scripture reading tells how a young man, away from home for perhaps the first time, discovered God for himself—an experience that surpassed any previous knowledge he may have had of the Lord.

Jacob may have made it all the way to Bethel his first night away from home.

Remember, he is fleeing from Esau and he is a young man.

He probably traveled light and fast.

The spot he chose to spend the night was the sight of an old Canaanite worship place.

God, however, used this location as a sanctuary for His glory.

Our Lord can always give new meaning to old things, and He delights in transforming the ungodly into something or someone that will bring praise to His name.

Jacob had a marvelous dream that night and awoke to find that his life had new meaning.

For perhaps the first time in his life, God was real to him.

This firsthand experience transformed him and sent him on his way to Haran with a new attitude toward life and changed goals.

Some great lessons come to us from this great experience.

The first lesson is that we often find God in unlikely places.

Moses found God in a burning bush, but Jacob found Him in an old Canaanite sanctuary.

We usually associate the occasion of being born again with a formal church meeting, a revival, or some other religious assembly.

Indeed, these are all good places.

On the other hand, people have also been convicted of their sins while they were at a place that was seemingly not conductive to spiritual encounters.

Of course, a previous experience at worship or a previous testimony by a friend may have paved the way for this experience occurring in an unlikely place.

The point is God can speak to anyone anywhere He chooses.

We cannot limit God nor rigidly define how He will do His work in the world.

The second thing that we can learn from this story of Jacob is that sometimes it helps to get away from home.

Jacob’s family environment was not the best.

His mother, as best as we can understand the biblical record, tried to do his thinking for him.

When this happens, a young person often needs to get away for a while and become his or her own person.

We should remember, of course, that leaving home is not necessary for all children because not all parents “operate” the same way.

In Jacob’s case, however, he needed to find out “who he was”; and what better way than a quiet place where God could speak to him.

Third, we can see from this story, that making a hasty commitment can be immature.

We generally don’t like to find fault with the great biblical characters, but the Bible presents them as they were, “warts and all.”

We must be honest enough to admit that Jacob’s vow was not a completely mature Christian commitment.

For instance, it was too “iffy” and was based on the fact that God would bless him.

He said, “If God will be with me, and will help me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God.”

Mature Christians know that you do not bargain with God in promising to be dedicated.

God does not always give us the things we want and think we need.

Our promise to be faithful to God should not be based on the fact that God gives us plenty.

Some great Christians have been called to suffer tremendously but have still maintained their faith in God.

If we take Jacob’s vow literally, he would not have been obligated to serve God or bring the tenth to Him until God brought him back safely to his father’s home, which did not happen until twenty years later.

We should be careful about what we promise God.

The last thing to see is that God accepts us as we are.

The glorious thing about Jacob’s experience and our own is that God is willing to receive us and bless us even when our understanding of Him is inadequate or immature.

Someone has said that becoming a Christian is surrendering as much of ourselves as we understand today to as much of Jesus as we understand today.

How true!

God blessed Jacob even though his understanding of divine things was far from perfect.

Jacob is probably just like someone you know with a Godless lifestyle. We can easily identify with Jacob. His name literally means, grasps the heel or figuratively deceiver. He tries to grab everything for himself not caring about others. Jacob is the second son born of Isaac and Rebecca’s twin sons. His brother is the rugged and hot-tempered Esau.

Genesis 28:10-17

10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. ”

16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” 18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.

20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth. ”

Jacob’s grandfather Abraham brought a tithe to Melchizedek hundreds of years before the law. Now we see the principle of tithing in his grandson, another patriarch. Jacob vows to tithe. He vows to give ten percent of everything to God. Jacob went from grabber to giver because he met the Lord. It is part of the story of Jacobs Ladder.

As the secular man he demonstrated the selfish, me first attitude. It was the get ahead at any cost mindset. The me first attitude that will step on people to get up the ladder of success. It is the same thing you would find in the secular man today. The world is filled with this.

In his own selfish interest Jacob took advantage of his brother’s weakness. He sold him a bowl of pottage (bowl of stew) for his birthright. Esau sold his birthright. Jacob enticed his brother to sell his birthright.

Later Jacob acts out the role of deceiver. He deceives his father Isaac when he is old and almost blind. He makes him think he is Esau and tricks his father into giving him the blessing he intended for Esau. He lies and takes the Lord’s name in vain to do it.

Up to this point there is no mention of God in the life of Jacob. No talk of his prayer life, nothing about worship or the altar of God. As a matter of fact, the only time Jacob up to this point of time has even mentioned God is to take the Lord’s name in vain. Jacob is the classic secular man.

1 Corinthians 2:14

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Jacob has done everything the selfish way. His stealing Esau’s blessing has Esau threatening to kill him. On the advice of his mother, he flees. He heads to his original homeland to find a wife. He had everything going for him, but because of his selfish actions, now he is empty with nothing and divided from his family.

His selfishness has brought him to the point where he has no possessions but the clothes on his back. He has no home, no security and is living like a fugitive. He is alone and homeless. He uses a stone for a pillow.

Jacob the selfish man, whose life without God led him to desperation, reached a point where he needed the Lord. Often that is when God breaks through to a person. God spoke to Jacob through a dream. We call that dream, Jacob’s ladder.

Genesis 28:12-13

12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the LORD, and he said: “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.

God himself stood at the top of the ladder. The gulf between secular man and Holy God was bridged by the grace of God. Jacob the selfish man who was lonely and destitute experienced the grace of God. That lonely place was suddenly surrounded with angels. God was in that place.

In John 1:51

51He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Jesus uses the phrase, heavens opened about himself. The same way angels were ascending and descending at Jacob’s Ladder others will find in Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace through faith. Jesus is the only bridge, stairway or ladder where a sinful selfish man can be brought into fellowship with the Holy and righteous God. Jacob met the Living God and he was transformed. Like a person today with faith in Jesus Christ.

Genesis 28:14

Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

Now Jacob is a changed man. Transformed, Jacob receives the promises of God made to Abraham and Isaac. Jacob is promised descendants, land, God with being with him and blessing and the coming Messiah (Genesis 28:14b).

God addressed himself as the God of Abraham and Isaac. Jacob is aware of God’s presence and his whole life is changed. From now on He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

When you find yourself in the pit of despair, stricken with grief and tragedy if you meet the Lord, if you are aware of the presence of the Lord your whole perspective will change. Jacob met the Lord and his whole life was redirected.

There is a now a devotion to God for Jacob. He made a vow, a pledge of faith to the Lord. We ought to respond when God by his grace redeems us. Now Jacob plans to honor God with faithfulness. He built an altar to God. The house of God is now important to Jacob. Now he knows as you and I know as Christians, wherever he goes God goes with him. It is awesome. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

Another result of Jacob meeting the Lord is a vow to tithe. Here is the stewardship part of his meeting God. Our response to what God has done in our life impacts our stewardship. Jacob in response to God’s grace vows to tithe.

Jacob the selfish, me first man has now changed. He leaves his family a selfish man with nothing. He is running for his life. That is what the selfish, me first, grab what you can way of life did for Jacob.

Years later he leaves Haran with untold wealth, twelve children blessed at every turn. God did it. That’s what Jacob’s ladder did. God’s provision in Christ. (John 1:51)

The selfish man who grabs everything he can for himself puts his wages in a bag with holes. But like Jacob the transformed know the blessing of God. Jacob no longer lives for himself, but for God. That is the blessing.

Jesus is the only mediator between man and God. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).

Do you feel like Jacob? He found God was there all along. Reach out to him by faith. Trust in Jesus Christ. Jacobs vow to tithe was a matter of his heart. It was out of devotion to God. Not part of the law. Let Christ have the complete devotion of your heart.

Jacob's Ladder - A Powerful Encounter With The Presence Of God.

The Wisdom and Power of Ancient Stories – first story is Jacob’s Ladder found in Genesis 28. The context of the story is that Jacob has just tricked his older twin brother out of the birth right blessing and Esau now is seething mad and out to kill Jacob.

The bible records

Gen 27:41

41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

So Jacob’s mother packs him off to go to her brother’s house “for a few days” which turns out to be 14 years.

From a commentary

“It may not have been his choice to leave home. He may have preferred to stay home with his mother. If he doesn’t go he is a dead man. This leaves me with the feeling that Jacob’s mind and emotions are swirling like a newly disturbed beehive. He feels uprooted. His comfort zone has definitely been invaded. His future is uncertain. He may have scores of questions with no answers. This could make for a very restless night. It could be a night of tossing and turning even if he could lay his weary body and raw emotions on the softest pillow. It was not to be. Instead, he lays his head on a rock.”

So he leaves Beesheba and heads toward Haran – Haran was the place where Abraham;’s Father Terah stopped on his journey to the promise land in Gen 11

Jacob had travelled about 80 km’s of the 650km trip to Haran

I did some research and found out the generally horses can travel about 50 kms a day

Out of interest

The Tevis cup is a 100-mile-in-one-day competition which goes over some quite rugged and mountainous trail terrain in the western states of USA… but they do it on very special Arab horses, with little or no baggage and even the winning times are usually around 17 hours

Jacob – being from the middle east – was on an Arabian horse.

As evening of the first day falls, Jacob finds himself near the city of Luz. He knows the city gates will close at sundown therefore he is content to spend the night in the open field, “and he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep” (vs. 10 NKJV).

Genesis 28:10-22

Its clear to see that Jacob feared for his life.

Most scholars interpret Jacob’s ladder as a connection between heaven and earth, with God taking the initiative to reach out to man. The perfect “ladder” is Jesus Christ, who was God come to earth to save humanity. Jesus refers to himself as this ladder in John 1:51: “And he (Jesus) said to him, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.'”

Here are some points from the story

1) He took a stone from that place – and it became touch point for the supernatural V 11

In THAT PLACE you desire comfort but comfort is denied. But there are plenty of rocks.

In THAT PLACE you desire companionship but companionship is denied. Still, there are plenty of rocks.

In THAT PLACE you could use a friendly voice, an understanding voice, but friendly and understanding do not exist here. Rocks exist here, and plenty of them.

The hard times of our life can be amazing touch points for the supernatural

It’s amazing that in that hard place – he meets God

God is near to those with a broken heart

Gen 35:3 – Jacob describes this event – as the day of his distress

Ps 34:18

18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;

he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

If you are going through a hard time, know that God is near you. I have found that in the hard times, this is where I most meet God.

2) He lay his head on a rock

The Rock speaks of Christ

Ps. 61:2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Speaks of changing your thinking

See when our heart is overwhelmed because things are going wrong in our world, we need to not let our emotions make decision, but rather get our thinking right by aligning it with the word of God.

Romans 12:2 NKJ

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Romans 12:2 AMP

2 Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

Phil 4:4

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

3) So he dreams of a ladder

Scholars sometimes contrast Jacob’s ladder, God’s outreach from heaven to earth, with the Tower of Babel, man’s grasping from earth toward heaven. Are you trying to climb to heaven on a “ladder” of your own good works and behavior, or are you taking the “ladder” of God’s plan of salvation, his Son Jesus Christ?

Interesting that people still want in their own efforts to get to heaven – rather than resting on the Christ – who is the outreach of heaven.

A ladder takes you to the next level.

Gen 28:11-12

The divine ladder

Jacob needed a ladder. On his own, he was unable to bridge the gap between the human and the Divine. As a scoundrel, liar, and cheat, he was not able to enter into clear and constant communion with God. He was isolated on the desert floor, without hope of divine guidance in his life. Yet, precisely at his point of need, Jacob has a strange dream, consisting of a ladder, angels ascending and descending the ladder, and God’s voice speaking forth from heaven.

Begins to breath vision and life into his future

God Says

I am going to give you this land

And descendants

And lots of them

I am going to be with you

And you will be blessed

And I will stay with to see that this word comes to pass

Jacob has just deceived his father, fled from his brother who wants to kill him

His future is looking bleak.

And in the hard place – as he takes a stone from the hard times and engages with the supernatural

God begins to speak into his future

Maybe as you read this you need to know that God is beginning to speak into your future.

That he wants you to engage afresh with him

An example is the The vision of Dry bones

Ez 47 – Can these bones live. And the breath of the Holy Spirit begins to blow on what was dead and they rise up a great army

Why is it that hard times seem to produce something in our life that is then useful for the kingdom

Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies – it cannot bring forth life.

The outer hard husk of the wheat grain must died and be broken in order for the life to germinate

It’s the same in our life

But it is up to us on how we react to the tough seasons of our life.

5) Jacob sees God at the top of the ladder

He learned via the vision of a ladder that communication between heaven and earth was possible. Angels ascending and descending between heaven and earth shows him that God’s “messengers” are plying God’s business constantly. But, to me, this is the best part: “And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God . . . I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest…I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of” (Gen 28:12-15 KJV).

1. “The Lord stood above it.” He is standing “above” our circumstances, problems, cares, our “pillows of stone.”

2. He is “the LORD God.” He is the Ruler of everything. There is no match to his power and might to save.

6) We need to wake v 16

Wake up the mighty men

May we “awake” from our complaining.

May we “awake” from our whining.

May we “awake” from feeling sorry for ourselves.

May we awake from making excuses.

May we “awake” from blaming others.

May we “awake” to a full awareness of God’s promise, provision and presence!

7) He then starts to say – Surely the lord is in this place. V16

How awesome is this place

In the hard times – we have to challenge ourselves about what we say.

What is the vocabulary of our life. Often in hard times, the words we speak become very negative.

8) Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not. V16

God is in the hard times – But we so often don’t know it.

He anoints the hard place and calls it the gateway of heaven

That just amazes me. Think about that. That the hard season that you are in right now – just may be the gateway to heaven for you

Luz – a place of deviation

Most scholars assume that the town Luz was named Almond Tree because the almonds that grew in its environs. There is no proof of that, however, and Luz may very well have been named after a “crooked and perverse generation” that lived there.

Hard times are an opportunity to deviate from the will of God or an opportunity to deviate toward the will of God.

From the plan that God has for your life. But we can turn these opportunities for deviation into a gateway into heaven.

9) He takes the rock and anoints it with oil

Olive oil has been a staple food in the Mediterranean for thousands of years, and some olive trees which are hundreds of years old still bear fruit. The process for making olive oil is relatively simple,.

The olive harvest is the first step in making olive oil. Traditionally, olive trees were beaten by hand to release the fruit, Once the olives have been picked, the clock starts ticking: they must be brought to an olive mill as soon as possible, or the acidity level will climb too high, ultimately affecting the flavor. After being brought to the mill, the olives are picked through to remove large branches and leaves, and then sent through a cleaner which removes dirt, leaves, and twigs, leaving plain olives behind.

The cleaned olives are run through a mill which turns them into a paste. Traditionally made olive oil still uses a stone grinder to mill olives,. The resulting paste is subjected to the malaxation process, which means that it is slowly mixed so that droplets of oil begin to adhere to other droplets in the mixture.

After being mixed, the olive paste is put under pressure to extract the liquid oil along with water from the fruit, leaving the paste or pomace behind. The olive oil is separated from the water, usually in a centrifuge, and the olive oil is bottled while the water is discarded. The resulting olive oil is called virgin, because it is made through a purely mechanical technique. Olive oil with acid levels measured at less than 1% is considered “extra virgin” and usually has a particularly rich and intense flavor. Olive oil with a higher acid level (1-3%) is labeled “virgin.”

Jacob pours out over the rock – the resultant oil of being olives being crushed and beaten

As we processed through life – the result of our life – if we allow the supernatural around our life – is that we will be oil for the use by the master.

I found the information about the acidity levels interesting. If we don’t come to God and allow him to work on us, then we become acidic

Toxic in the way we do life.

I want to be like extra virgin olive oil.

My life scripture is this

Ps 45:1 – My heart overflows with a good theme

9) Look at the change in attitude – How awesome is this place v 17

I want to look back at the tough times in my life and be able to say. – wow how awesome was that time as I met God and he took me to another level

He allows the presence of God to fashion his reaction

10) God was not his God at this stage

V 13

And v21-22

Notice too what it is that the Lord says, “I am the Lord the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac…” Notice that He is not yet Jacob’s God, but He is about to be when we get down to verse 21 (Gen 28:21).

I point that out because it displays how we normally come to God. Nobody chooses God – but that God comes first to them. 1 John 4:19 “We love, because He first loved us.” John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him…” John 6:65 “… No one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

Jacob, though he had grown up in the tents of his father Isaac had not taken Isaac's God as his own. So there is another lesson here. While we need to train our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren if we live so long – in the faith they must of their own accord make a decision to believe in and obey Jesus

11) He sets up a place – that he can look back on this hard place and see that that is where he met God

12) He then commits himself to God and commits to giving God a tenth of all he will possess in his lifetime.

I hope this Sermon has been helpful

Peter

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