The Journey to Another Level

For the last few weeks we have been looking at the church and what makes a church. The church does not exist without the Resurrection. The resurrection gives us hope. Every step that we take on this spiritual journey should move us to another level. Today, I am concluding this series called The Easter Challenge. Today’s sermon is called The Journey to Another Level. Let’s pray.

If you have your bibles with you this morning, turn with me to the book of Genesis. For those of you that don’t know, Genesis is the first book of the bible. I want to read from chapter 28, beginning at verse 10.

Genesis 28:10–22 NIV

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.”

The story that I just read to you was the beginning of Jacob’s spiritual journey. Jacob was about 57 years old when he left his father’s house and went in search of a wife from his mother’s brother Laban. From scripture, we don’t have any knowledge of any conversations that Jacob had with God. What we do know is that Jacob was very mischievous. He swindled his brother out of his birthright and he stole his brother’s blessing from their father Isaac. And now because of stealing his brother’s blessing, his parents have sent him on a journey to find a wife from his mother’s brother Laban, so that his brother Esau won’t kill him. And that is where our story picks up. This is the first encounter with God that we read about for Jacob.

I believe that we can find something for each of us in this spiritual journey of Jacob.

The Journey Isn’t Always Easy

Our text is the first stop on Jacob’s journey. We know that he is running from his brother Esau. Because he stole his blessing, Esau was angry with Jacob. He was so angry with Jacob that he wanted him dead. He wanted to kill him.

Genesis 27:41 says Esau held a grudge against Jacob...

This was something that Esau wasn’t going to forget.

Not only was he running away from home to save his own life, but it also was a short journey either. They didn’t have any motorized transportation back then. All of their travels was on foot. The journey from Beersheba to Haran was 457 miles. That would be the equivalent of walking from Fort Smith to San Antonio or from Fort Smith to New Orleans.

I went to San Antonio this past Spring Break and it was an 8 1/2 hour drive if we did not make any stops by car. And unlike the trip to San Antonio where it is pretty much a straight flat drive, the trip to Haran was a mountainous trek. Not an easy journey.

God never said that you would have a perfect journey in your Christian life. He never said that it would be easy. He never said that you wouldn’t have difficulty.

This journey will have its ups and downs. You will have those spiritual highs and there will be times that you may question whether or not God is still with you.

On this entire journey Jacob was met with many moments that were great, but he also had some hard moments as well. That is when you have to learn when to rest and let God restore you.

Your Journey Will Bring You to a Place of Rest.

Genesis 28:11 NIV

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.

This was a special place. The bible doesn’t tell us if he chose this place on purpose. It was about 50 miles from Beersheba. This was also the place that his grandfather Abraham had built altars to Yahweh years earlier.

Genesis 12:8 NIV

8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

But it is Jacob’s encounter with Yahweh that establishes it as a place of significance for the Israelites.

Jacob was alone. There were no servants. He had made this trip all by himself. He was at a moment of fear. He was at a moment of abandonment in his life. No family, no friends and in his time of rest God shows up.

Look at what tells him in his dream in verse 13.

Genesis 28:13–15 NIV

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.”

In your moment of weakness, when you feel like you are all alone, God will give you a promise that you are not alone. God will show you that He will not leave you.

All throughout scripture God promises His people that He will never leave them nor forsake. And just as He did that for the people of the Bible, He will do that for us. He never leaves us. He is always by our side.

It was on this journey that Jacob became closer to God.

Your Journey Will Bring You Closer to the Father

As Jacob goes to sleep, God speaks to him in a dream. It is in this dream that Jacob sees a ladder or stairway as our translation tells us. This ladder makes its way from earth to Heaven. And he sees the angels of God going us and down this ladder. And then God tells him that his descendants will occupy this land and He will be with them till the very end.

This was a sign to Jacob that he had access to the throne room of God. Jacob now knew God was closer than ever and there was real access and interaction between heaven and earth.

When Jesus came to this earth, He made it clear to us that He is the access to heaven.

John 1:51 NIV

51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

When Jesus died on the cross, the veil that was covering the holy of holies was ripped into and now you and I have access to God the Father.

As you continue on this spiritual journey and you stay in tune with God, you will grow closer with the father.

That dream changed Jacob’s life forever. When he woke up that place was different to him. There was something special about that place because that was the place where he met God for the first time.

Sure he had heard the stories. He knew about his grandfather Abraham. I’m sure that his father told him about the time that his grandfather was going to sacrifice him but at the right moment God provided another sacrifice. He heard the stories. He probably knew them frontward and backward. But it wasn’t until that moment that he truly experienced God.

This morning, have you truly had an encounter with God. Do you remember your moment? I do.

There is 3 significant times that I remember in my life that I knew God moved in me. The day I got saved. I was about 4 or 5 years old and I said the prayer during a revival service on a Monday or Tuesday night. I can even take to the place where God began a work in my life.

The second one was when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. I was at camp. Camp number 7 in the month of July at Mountain Valley Retreat Center. It was the night that God knocked me to the ground and I was forever changed.

The third was a night in my bedroom at the house I grew up in. I was watching an evangelist on tv and I felt God call me into full time ministry.

After each one of those experiences, my life was never the same. That was my Bethel moment. Do you have a Bethel moment? If not, God wants to wreck you like you’ve never been wrecked before.

Jacob’s moment was so significant that He changed the name of that place. The city used to be called Luz. But Jacob changed the name to Bethel which means, House of God.

And as you continue on your journey, there will be times that God will ask you to go back to your Bethel.

On Your Journey God Will Bring You Back to Bethel

Over the next several chapters we read about Jacob’s life after this moment in Bethel. He works for Laban his uncle and eventually marries both of Laban’s daughters. And through those two daughters and their two servants Jacob has 12 sons and each tribe is named after one of Jacob’s sons.

He is also reunited with his brother Esau. So, there was a lot of good things that took place after that encounter with God at Bethel.

But there were also dark moments for Jacob. His daughter Dinah is raped and two of Jacob’s sons go and slaughter every man in their village.

But it is in chapter 35 where we see God tell Jacob to go back to Bethel. I want to begin reading at verse 1

Genesis 35:1–6 NIV

1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. 5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them. 6 Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.

There may come a time when this world will get to you. You will be struggling. You will feel lost and hopeless. That is when God will tell you to go back to your Bethel.

God told Jacob, do you remember that time that met you in that special place? You were running from your brother Esau. You family had sent you away and I met you in Bethel. Go back to that place and let me meet you there again. There is something about that special place that we get alone with God.

Some of you here today need to go to your special place again. You have gotten complacent in your walk with God. You have gotten use to your routine. Sure, God has done some wonderful things in your life. But this world has been dragging you down.

Maybe it’s a bad report at the doctor’s office. Maybe it’s a child that has walked away from the faith. Maybe with the gas prices rising and the grocery bill increasing and all the wages not, you are finding that the two ends don’t meet anymore. Maybe your spouse has left you. Maybe your kids don’t want to have anything to do with you. Maybe you just don’t know where to go. God is telling you to go back to Bethel. Go back to that special place where the journey began and let God do it again.

God wants to take you to new heights. He wants to take you to places that you have never been. God told Jacob in a dream that he had access to Heaven. Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead giving you access to heaven. It is time to go to a higher place. God back to your Bethel and let God refresh and renew you. Don’t let the things of this world get you down any more. but let God renew you. Go back to Bethel and God is going to take you to new heights.