INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
- They say that one way to set goals in life is to think of a title for your autobiography
- Now I know most of us will write an autobiography
- But if you did- what would the title be?
- Mine would be I'm Not As Neurotic As My Wife Thinks I Am
- See- Pam thinks I'm odd. Sometimes she calls me-
- ‘Felix Unger' from The Odd Couple
- And other times- ‘Bert' from Sesame Street
- Look- just because I have a few obsessive habits and tendencies doesn't make me neurotic!
- I think Pam's autobiography would have to be entitled They Tell Me I Had A Life
- Pam amazes me. She can remember the most exacting details of Matthew & Stephanie's life
- But she can't remember half of the things that happen in her own life!
- Jackie- your book would be called: Don't MESS With Me When I'm Tired!
- Normally- Jackie's one of the easiest to get along with people in the world
- Until she gets tired
- Then I pity the pastor who questions her about say...the staging for a children's Christmas musical
- Oh yeah- that would be ME! I'll never make THAT mistake again!
- Ben McCorkle's book would called Turn It Up! Turn It Down! (My Life In A Church Sound Booth)
- Ben- are soloists or choir members ever satisfied with the sound they hear coming out of the stage monitors?
- (Turn to choir) I didn't think so
- I could go on like this all day
- But it's time to get serious
- If Jacob had written an autobiography it's title would be My Long Road Back To Bethel
BIBLICAL BACKGROUND
- Jacob's journey began after he stolen his older brother Esau's birthright, and tricked his father into giving him the blessing Isaac intended to give to Esau
- His brother was so angry he vowed to kill Jacob wherever and whenever he found him
- To escape Esau's rage Jacob had to leave home and go live with his uncle in Paddan Aram
- During the 20 years Jacob lived in Paddan Aram God...
- Gave him wives and children
- Made him fabulously wealthy
- Protected him from harm
- Vowed to make him a blessing to all nations
- And promised that He would give Jacob and his descendents a country of their own
- Eventually God told Jacob it was time to go home
- For Jacob's family it was a long trip filled with danger
- But as He'd always done in the past- God blessed and protected Jacob every step of the way
- Finally- after having a joyous reunion with Esau-
- Who welcomed him with love and forgiveness
- Jacob moved on to the land of Succoth- where he found more trouble
- Hamor tried to explain that his son genuinely loved Dinah and wanted to marry her
- But Jacob's sons were bent on revenge
- So they began to make very specific demands
- Hamor and Shechem quickly agreed to the conditions
- They were circumcised
- And encouraged their fellow townsmen to be circumcised as well
- Now here's the thing-
- If a grown man's just been circumcised- he doesn't feel very good
- Which was all the break Jacob's sons had been waiting for
- Jacob's sons had exacted their revenge-
- But Jacob realized his family had just become Public Enemy Number One in their new homeland
- Once again the threat of destruction hung over his family
- And that's where we pick up the story today...
PREPARE TO MEET GOD
- The word Bethel literally means ‘the house of God'
- Bethel had special spiritual significance for Jacob
- Because it was the place he'd first become aware of the unique presence of God in his life
- If you're a born-again child of God- you have a Bethel in your life
- It's the place where you-
- First became aware of your need for God
- Received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord
- Followed the Lord in Believer's baptism
- Now your Bethel may be-
- Here at Sunset Road
- It could be at another church
- It could be a summer camp- a Billy Graham Crusade- a youth retreat- your grandparents house-whatever
- But here's the thing:
- No matter where God takes you in life
- I can assure you:
- You'll always remember and treasure your Bethel
- Like Jacob you'll always say: How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.
- During their time in Shechem- Jacob's family had accumulated a lot of idols and religious artifacts
- Now this doesn't mean Jacob's family had abandoned the worship of the One True and Living God
- But they'd allowed other things to damage their relationship with the Heavenly Father
- Rather than focusing their attention solely on God
- They'd let other things distract them
- Folks- when you came into the Sanctuary this morning where was your mind at? Was it focused on...
- Meeting God- or speaking to someone in the adjacent pew?
- Feasting on the riches of God's Word- or where you're going to eat lunch?
- Worshiping the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your spirit- or on something you'll face when you go to work tomorrow?
- Sometimes I'll hear someone say: I didn't get anything out of worship this morning
- When you leave feeling that way:
- The problem isn't with God- or the worship hour itself
- The problem is with YOU!
- You've come into this place focused on something other than God
- Next Sunday you need to do what Jacob instructed his family to do:
- Get rid of anything that pulls you away from God
- And come prepared to spend an hour in intimate and focused communion with Him
- Notice that Jacob speaks of the God who answered me in the day of my distress
- He could just as easily have said: the God who answered me during my LIFE of distress
- See- one of the recurrent themes in Jacob's life is that-
- He constantly found himself in times and places of danger and distress
- And God always provided relief and victory
- A lot of Christians think that being a child of God means you enjoy stress-free, sorrow-free, pain-free living
- Look- I don't know where they got that idea
- But it certainly didn't come from the Bible
- When Peter says though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials
- He's not talking about a few days- a few months- or even a few years
- He's talking about a lifetime of grief and sorrow- of trials and tribulations
- See-
- There's nothing about being a Christian that will protect you from the challenges and difficulties of life
- BUT- as a child of God you can KNOW that your Heavenly Father will always be there providing the grace and strength you need to face each day
- Read how 1 Corinthians 10:13 puts it.
- A lot of people misunderstand this verse
- They think it means God will never put more on them than they can personally handle on their
- But the emphasis here...
- Is not on what you can handle
- Is on what you can handle with the power and presence of the Almighty God!
- Iin other words:
- Jacob's family had removed all the clutter from their life
- They were fully prepared to meet God
RETURN TO BETHEL
- The word terror means ‘fear or reverence'
- People in the towns and villages near Shechem recognized the awesome power and presence of God
- They didn't dare attack Jacob and his family
- El Bethel means: ‘the God of the House of God'
- Now Jacob isn't implying that God is limited to this one place
- Jacob's life experience had taught him that God is omnipresent
- That means He has the capacity for being in all places at all times
- What Jacob means is that Yahweh/Jehovah- the Creator of the Universe- will be truly worshiped in this place
- You know- as members of this church we call this building the house of God
- It's the place where we come together for worship
- The question is: Is the One True & Living God the God of this house of God?
- Well- it depends
- If we boldly profess our love and devotion to Him- God is the God of this house of God
- If we unashamedly proclaim salvation in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ- God is the God of this house of God
- If we seek His face and submit to His Will for our church- God is the God of this house of God
- If we aren't afraid to sing His praises- or lift up our hands in worship- God is the God of this house of God
- And if we love and forgive one another in the name of Jesus- God is the God of this house of God!
- The idea here is that once again God has restated the covenant promise He made with Jacob
- I am going to give you a great posterity
- I'm going to make you a blessing to all nations
- I'm going to be with you wherever you
- And I'm going to give you a home to call your own
- The question is: Why does God keep repeating Himself?
- This is the fourth or fifth time God had made these promises to Jacob
- Now obviously-
- It wasn't because God needed to be reminded of what He'd said
- God kept repeating this promise because JACOB needed to hear it!
- Think about this in terms of what it was like when you first became a Christian
- If you were like most new Christians you were so-
- Pumped up
- Excited
- Filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit
- That God's presence was like a burning fire in your life
- The problem is that inevitably some of that passion begins to cool
- It's not that you stop loving God- or quit coming to church- or that you've fallen from grace
- It's just that over time you've lost some of the immediacy and intensity of your relationship with Him
- When that happens- you need revival
- See the primary purpose of a revival isn't to get lost people saved- although that usually happens during a revival
- The primary purpose of a revival is for the people of God to fall in love with their Heavenly Father all over again
- Read how 2 Timothy 1:6-7 puts it.
- You want to know how revival can come into your life- into the life of our church?
- Go home- draw a circle on the ground- stand inside of that circle
- And pray: Lord- send a great revival. And let it begin right here- in the middle of this circle!
YOUR NAME WILL BE ISRAEL
- Now this is the second time God has changed Jacob's name to Israel- He who struggles with God
- The first time took place after he wrestled with an angel along the shore of the Jabbok River
- Now Jacob is enjoying a time of peaceful, intimate fellowship with God at Bethel
- The point God is making is the same:
- I will ALWAYS be with you
- But you must trust and obey Me with radical faith at all times
- One of the odd things about being a Christian is that sometimes it's...
- Easier to have an intimate relationship with God when things are tough
- Than it is when things are going well- when things are easy
- See- when times are tough
- You HAVE to cry out to God- you HAVE to depend on Him
- Because you really have no other choice
- But when things calm down- when God removes the stress- it's easy to forget about Him
- You feel like you don't His strength to face each day
- So you wind up taking Him off the shelf every Sunday morning- and spending an hour or two going through the motions of worship
- But that's not the kind of radical faith God will honor
- He is a jealous God
- He expects you to seek His power and presence no matter what
- As Jacob worshiped God at Bethel he probably thought this was the end of his journey with God
- It had taken a long time
- But God had fulfilled all the promises that could be fulfilled in his lifetime
- God had...
- Blessed him with a large family
- Made him fabulously wealthy
- Protected him wherever he went
- And brought him back to Bethel- back to his home
- See Jacob understood that the other promises God had made-
- The ones involving blessing his descendants- and making him a blessing to all the nations on earth
- That would have to wait for tomorrow- Jacob knew he'd be with the Lord LONG before those things happened
- And Jacob was at peace with all of this
- In his mind he'd struggled with God- and with men- long enough
- Now he just wanted to spend the rest of his life in quiet fellowship with His Heavenly Father
- But that's not the way things worked out
- Today may mark the end of our sermon series on Jacob's life
- But it doesn't mark the end of Jacob's journey with God
- In the future Jacob would have to endure still...
- More pain- more struggle- more joys- and more sorrows in his life
- And when he died-
- He wasn't living in his home country
- He was living in Egypt- under the protection of his son- Joseph
- So what's the lesson here? Your journey with God doesn't end just because you get old and tired
- Each day of life will bring new challenges- new struggles- new opportunities for growth
- But if you live by radical faith and trust- the one constant will be God
- The fact is- God will never fail or forsake you
- He will ALWAYS be there for you
- He will ALWAYS give you the power and strength to live each day as it comes
CONCLUSION
- During Stephanie's trip to Africa she visited a woman who is doing an incredible thing
- By our standards she's desperately poor- barely able to provide for herself
- But she has 25 children living under her roof
- See- several years ago she started noticing children were wandering the streets of her hometown
- They were AIDS orphans
- Their parents were dead- they had no one left to feed or clothe or protect them
- So she decided to do something
- She went out into the streets and found these kids- and brought them back to live with her B) IOW:
- They didn't come looking for her
- In love- she went looking for them
- Like those AIDS orphans
- Jacob never had to go looking for God.
- In love- God always came looking for him.
- If you know Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord the same thing is true
- When times are at their most difficult- when the struggle is greatest- when faith seems almost impossible
- You don't have to go looking for God- in love He will come looking for you.
- And when He finds you-
- He will...
- Embrace and comfort you
- Encourage and strengthen you
- Empower and protect you
- And give you a peace that passes one understanding
- In John 14:18 Jesus makes this promise: I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
- When you're ready to live by radical faith and trust in the Lord
- Jesus will ALWAYS come to you.
- Are you ready to claim this promise? Let us pray
0 comments:
Post a Comment