1 00:00:01,880 --> 00:00:06,200 All right, starting at verse 10, Jacob left Beersheba and went 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:08,840 toward her. On he came to a certain place 3 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:11,600 and stayed there that night because the sun had set. 4 00:00:12,120 --> 00:00:15,680 Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head 5 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:17,880 and laid down in that place to sleep. 6 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:21,080 He dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the 7 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:23,760 earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. 8 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:27,280 And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on 9 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:30,000 it. And behold, the Lord stood above 10 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:34,280 it and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and 11 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:37,560 the God of Isaac. The land of which you lie I will 12 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:41,040 give to you and to your offspring. 13 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:44,760 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall 14 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:48,080 spread abroad to the West, and to the east, and to the north 15 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:51,200 and to the South. And in you and your offspring 16 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:53,840 shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 17 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:58,320 Behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and 18 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,480 will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you 19 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:03,640 until I have done what I have promised you. 20 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,800 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely the Lord is in 21 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:11,840 this place, and I did not know. And he was afraid, and said, How 22 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,160 awesome is this place? This is none other than the 23 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:17,840 House of God, and this is the gate of heaven. 24 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:21,600 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put 25 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:26,120 under his head and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on top 26 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:28,600 of it. He called the name of that place 27 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:33,200 Bethel, but that the name of the city was Luz at the first. 28 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:37,640 Then Jacob made of thou, saying, If God will be with me, and will 29 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:41,920 keep me in this way, that I go, and will give me bread to eat 30 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:46,120 and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house 31 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:50,120 in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone which I 32 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:54,480 have set up for a pillar shall be God's house. 33 00:01:54,920 --> 00:02:00,040 And of all that you will give me, I will give a full 10th to 34 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:01,600 you. This is the word of the Lord. 35 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:08,960 What's going on? Port City family and friends, 36 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:10,600 how we doing? Good. 37 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,920 My name is Tanner. It's good to be with you and 38 00:02:13,920 --> 00:02:16,760 y'all on Mother's Day. I can't think of something more 39 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:19,760 fitting than the story of Jacob and the chaos that is this 40 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:22,800 family. The need for us to be reminded 41 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,440 that God is a Redeemer. Y'all what that means He does 42 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,480 not recruit, sanitize, perfect situations. 43 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:32,760 He resurrects, rebuilds, renews from ashes. 44 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:36,440 OK, so all of us bring in a level of dysfunction here today. 45 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:40,080 All of you represent dysfunction from your family of origin, even 46 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:43,040 even the greatest household where the Bible is taught all 47 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:47,040 that y'all, We are not perfect people. 48 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:51,280 We are not building a movement that is based on how well we 49 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:53,520 just pass on our morality to the next generation. 50 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:55,800 Y'all. This is about Christ crucified 51 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:58,040 in our place. And no matter what you bring in 52 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:02,320 here today, God can redeem it. He can turn it around no matter 53 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,640 how far gone that kid feels or that community feels or how much 54 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:08,760 of a gap there feels like there is in your life for the 55 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:10,840 community. God can do it, y'all. 56 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:13,840 He can do it. So I want to pray just believing 57 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:17,000 the Lord that as we read His Word, y'all new worlds are built 58 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,840 through God's Word. OK, so let's go to the Lord and 59 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:24,680 prayer and then we'll dive in. Our Father God, I just, I just 60 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:26,360 continue to ask you for redemption. 61 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:28,480 Lord, we represent a lot of pain in this room. 62 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:30,960 There's so much we long for to see made new. 63 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,600 There's so much in our hearts, even on on our best day that we 64 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:36,360 long for you to fill up and change. 65 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:40,040 God, we ask you to just restore communities where families are 66 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:43,600 not whole, they're not intact. God that the family unit is 67 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,320 disrupted. And God, we have compassion for 68 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:47,960 them, but we just long for restoration. 69 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:52,000 We long for, for families to be restored, reunified, made new, 70 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,000 made whole. God, we long for peace and 71 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:58,040 families where there's just tons of pain, there's tons of, of 72 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:00,560 tension and bitterness where family members don't talk to one 73 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:02,480 another. God, we long for prodigals to 74 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:05,480 come home. We long for the, the, the day 75 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:07,480 where we get to see loved ones again. 76 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:10,000 And so, Lord, we lift up this day to you in a spirit of 77 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,840 sorrowful yet rejoicing God, just so grateful and so longing 78 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:15,800 at the same time. And Lord, that is the life of 79 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:18,360 redemption with you. We believe you that you want to 80 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,800 keep restoring and redeeming. And God, we thank you for the 81 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:22,560 mess. We thank you for kids. 82 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:25,840 We thank you for getting to be together and that you are 83 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,600 pleased by this gathering right now and that you are among us. 84 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:30,640 And we pray that you will breathe on this word something 85 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:32,480 fresh. So what we know not right now. 86 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:34,160 Would you teach us what we have not? 87 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:35,600 Would you give us who we are not? 88 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,360 Would you make us let the words of my mouth and the meditation 89 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:40,360 of my heart be acceptable in your sight? 90 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:42,720 Everybody agree with that said? Amen. 91 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:47,520 One of my least favorite house projects is cleaning the 92 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:51,120 gutters. Hello, At my house I have two 93 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:55,640 giant pine trees that rain out more pine needles than candy 94 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:58,800 from a pinata. OK, I could do the gutters every 95 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:00,200 week and it wouldn't be frequent enough. 96 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:04,000 And every time I do it I have to get out the long extension 97 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:06,000 ladder which gets rustier every time I use it. 98 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,280 OK, ladders, ladders connect was download up high. 99 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:15,040 OK, they're a connection thing. And in today's text, we have a 100 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:19,200 ladder that God is going to bring into Jacob's dream. 101 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,120 And this ladder reverberates through every page of the rest 102 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:24,960 of the Bible, OK? Because the way the Bible is 103 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:28,400 written by God through people was that every pattern, every 104 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,480 person, every theme converges on Jesus. 105 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:33,880 OK. So every time we see an image, 106 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:35,880 it echoes to him in some kind of way. 107 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:39,360 In today's image that connects to King Jesus is a ladder. 108 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:41,320 OK? This is the most famous ladder 109 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,520 of all time. Scholars will tell you that in 110 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:47,120 contrast to my example of a ladder like that, it's more like 111 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:50,640 what is known as a ziggurat, an ancient Near Eastern staircase, 112 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:53,280 if you will. But in either case, what our 113 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:56,600 minds think of when we hear ladder or staircase, we think of 114 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:58,160 climbing. Somebody say climb. 115 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,680 What you think of when I bring up the ladder or you think of 116 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:04,000 staircase, we think of us ascending. 117 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,000 OK. And maybe that's what you think 118 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:12,080 religion is or Christianity is that you come and get told how 119 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:14,840 to climb. Maybe that's what you assume 120 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:17,680 every sermon is. You hear today's topic is X and 121 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:21,160 you need to climb. OK, I can't tell you how often I 122 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:23,240 get told the following. I tell somebody I'm a pastor and 123 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:25,280 they go, oh, well, I've studied all religions and they're 124 00:06:25,280 --> 00:06:27,480 basically the same. And I'm like, oh, please tell me 125 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:30,440 more, you know, in 10 seconds some up my whole life. 126 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:32,560 And they're like, well, they all basically just say, and you know 127 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:34,120 what they're saying, lots of different words. 128 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:36,800 Climb. If you live well enough, you 129 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:39,400 love people nice enough, you get some good religion in you and 130 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:41,680 you can make it to God. If the good outweighs the bad, 131 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:43,160 you're a good person and you'll make it. 132 00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:46,080 Y'all. I did not become a pastor to 133 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:49,720 tell people to climb. And I can assure you that God 134 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:53,200 Almighty does not bring this into the dream to tell you or 135 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:56,440 Jacob or anybody else to climb. The reason God introduces a 136 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:59,520 ladder into the Scriptures that culminates in King Jesus isn't 137 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:02,880 to say climb up, but look out below because somebody is coming 138 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:05,640 down, OK. God unites heaven and earth. 139 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:07,600 We do not do that. We don't climb. 140 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:11,640 He comes down OK. And in Jesus who this ladder 141 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:15,720 image will converge on that we'll see y'all heaven and earth 142 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:19,120 has been united in him. Jesus don't have a ladder. 143 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:20,960 Jesus is the ladder. It's crazy. 144 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:25,480 And in him we can be heaven on earth people, heaven and earth 145 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:26,640 people. That's the goal. 146 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:31,000 So my prayer for us that we walk out of here living united to 147 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:32,960 Jesus who has united heaven and earth. 148 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:36,080 Does that sound good? To get there, we're going to 149 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:38,840 look at why the ladder? What does the ladder have to do 150 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:40,680 with Jacob? What does the ladder have to do 151 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:42,400 with Jesus? What does the ladder have to do 152 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:44,840 with us? If you're ready, let me hear you 153 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:47,960 say I'm ready. OK, why the ladder? 154 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:50,760 Let's read verses 10 through 17 one more time. 155 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:55,840 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran, and he came to a 156 00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:58,480 certain place and stayed there that night because the sun had 157 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:00,440 set. Taking one of the stones of the 158 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:02,880 place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to 159 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:04,360 sleep. And he dreamed. 160 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,240 And behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top 161 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:09,360 of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God 162 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:11,880 were ascending and descending on it. 163 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,880 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the 164 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:19,880 God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. 165 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:23,120 The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your 166 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:24,960 offspring. Your offspring shall be like the 167 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:27,320 dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the West, and 168 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:29,000 to the east, and to the north and to the South. 169 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:33,039 And in you and your offspring shall all the families of the 170 00:08:33,039 --> 00:08:36,400 earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will 171 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:39,679 keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this 172 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:43,159 land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I 173 00:08:43,159 --> 00:08:45,840 promised you. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep 174 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:48,240 and said, surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know 175 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:50,120 it. And he was afraid and said, how 176 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:52,480 awesome is this place? This is none other than the 177 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:55,480 House of God, and this is the gate of heaven. 178 00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:00,080 OK, why the ladder? Two things we got to know first. 179 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:04,120 Anytime we hear a ladder like this biblically, you should be 180 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:05,640 thinking about the Tower of Babel. 181 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:08,840 OK, if you do not know the Tower of Babel story, I don't have 182 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:12,480 time to revisit it. But right now, Genesis 11 and 183 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:17,200 essentially the Tower of Babel is the culmination of humanity's 184 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:20,800 attempt to try to build heaven on earth themselves, to connect 185 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:25,440 heaven and earth and be God like in our our domination over the 186 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:28,200 earth without God. OK, so they literally say guys. 187 00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:30,280 Let's build a tower up to. Heaven. 188 00:09:30,560 --> 00:09:32,160 And they do it. They attempt to do it. 189 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:35,400 OK, what you've got to understand about that is it's 190 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:38,120 insane. That's my favorite phrase right 191 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:39,720 now, by the way. It's to say something's insane. 192 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,720 OK, so an example would be getting a hamburger. 193 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:44,840 Chick-fil-A is insane. You literally can't do it. 194 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:47,080 But if you could do it and you did do it, you'd be insane. 195 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:50,240 Does that make sense or? I don't know. 196 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:51,680 There's a lot of things that are just insane. 197 00:09:51,680 --> 00:09:53,200 When you see it. You say that's insane. 198 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:56,800 OK, it's insane to try to build a tower to heaven. 199 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:00,040 But y'all, even though we weren't there physically doing 200 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:03,120 it, that picture is the human heart that is sinful. 201 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:07,440 It's the idea that I can build a life where God is irrelevant. 202 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:11,000 I have what I need, I am happy and content and didn't have to 203 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:14,480 go to him to get it. The God who made me in his image 204 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:19,080 means nothing to me and I am self-sufficient, independent, I 205 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:21,080 do what I want. That's insane. 206 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:24,560 But all of us are born into that posture. 207 00:10:24,680 --> 00:10:28,040 We do not go to God, we do not run things by him, we do not 208 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:29,840 submit to him, we do not care for him. 209 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:33,360 We think I got this. We might have not built a tower 210 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,520 to heaven, but you think you can run your life and guess what, 211 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:38,080 you are insane. OK. 212 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:40,200 And. So that's the. 213 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:44,200 First thing is that the the the Jacob ladder is in contrast to 214 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:46,600 that Tower of Babel. God connects heaven and earth, 215 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:47,840 not us. Does that make sense? 216 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:53,320 Second thing, the the ladder shows that God wants to unite 217 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:54,440 heaven and earth. God. 218 00:10:54,440 --> 00:11:01,320 Wants to unite heaven and earth even before the Tower of Babel. 219 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:03,960 I want you to think where is the 1st place that heaven and earth 220 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:05,240 are connected? Just think it in your head. 221 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:10,400 It's the Garden of Eden friends. You know the Garden of Eden was 222 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:12,360 where God created humanity in His image. 223 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:14,600 This was not God's side hustle family. 224 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:18,520 This was God's intention to create humanity in His image in 225 00:11:18,560 --> 00:11:21,040 a place where He himself dwelt with them. 226 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:24,680 You remember in Genesis 2 it said that God would walk through 227 00:11:24,680 --> 00:11:26,200 the garden in the cool of the day. 228 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:30,440 God and humanity were just vibing, people had jobs and and 229 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:33,800 relationship with one another and the goal was for us to Co 230 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:38,040 reign with God and spread an Eden like Co reigning with God 231 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:41,200 over all the earth. The idea was that it was always 232 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:43,400 intended to be interconnected between God and humanity. 233 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:47,760 It was when humanity fell in sin that we were exiled from the 234 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:53,240 garden and sin is exile and now we live disconnected, disrupted, 235 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:55,640 not in harmony with God. Are y'all tracking? 236 00:11:56,160 --> 00:12:00,400 OK so God's goal though has always been united. 237 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:03,760 It's always been that heaven and earth are together, that we 238 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:06,200 dwell with him, but that's been disrupted. 239 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:09,680 So Tower of Babel is an insane attempt to recreate it without 240 00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:12,480 God's help and to live like we're God ourselves. 241 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:17,720 And now God drops a ladder in to show this has always been what 242 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:20,120 God's been about and in some kind of way involves this dude 243 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:22,320 named Jacob. OK, but if you missed that, that 244 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:25,240 got that is God's heart, you will never read the Bible right? 245 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:28,680 If you don't read it as God started with him and people 246 00:12:28,680 --> 00:12:31,000 together and it ends with him and people together. 247 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:34,120 You're going to interpret God as a curmudgeon, OK? 248 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:36,320 You're going to interpret him as doing a lot of stuff that don't 249 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:38,640 make a lot of sense and is unnecessary instead of he's 250 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:42,440 chasing down a people so he can get back where we once were. 251 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:45,480 Are y'all tracking? OK, so that's why the ladder. 252 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:47,240 What does the ladder have to do with Jacob? 253 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:49,680 What does the ladder have to do with Jacob? 254 00:12:50,680 --> 00:12:56,400 OK, first thing is this, the image and the words go together. 255 00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:01,560 The image of the latter and the words he speaks while he sees it 256 00:13:01,560 --> 00:13:06,360 go together. So in verses 13 and on, this is 257 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:08,840 what God says. He says I am the Lord, the God 258 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:10,720 of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. 259 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:13,720 The land on which you lie I will give to you into your offspring. 260 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:16,680 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall 261 00:13:16,680 --> 00:13:18,760 spread abroad to the West, and to the east, and to the north 262 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:21,160 and to the South. And in you and your offspring 263 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:23,440 shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 264 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:26,720 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and I 265 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:30,240 will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I 266 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:31,480 have done what I promised to you. 267 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:35,120 Has anybody ever tried to tell you something really important 268 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:37,160 while something really cool was going on behind it? 269 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:41,160 And you're like, I promise you, I'm trying to pay attention, but 270 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:43,600 I just can't. I always like I thought I would 271 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:46,120 have the discipline, the sitcom dad that's not paying attention 272 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:47,640 to the wife or the kids while the game's on. 273 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:50,280 I didn't think I'd be that person, but I know myself now. 274 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:53,360 Either we got to turn the game off or can we wait like 30 275 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:55,520 seconds to my man if he hits this three, I'm about to go 276 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:58,120 insane and I'm like, just wait. But they're telling me something 277 00:13:58,120 --> 00:13:59,840 important. But all I remember is that. 278 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:02,960 Does that make sense? The latter is going on, but God 279 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:04,800 is saying something very important here. 280 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:08,280 OK. He's re restating the promises 281 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:10,120 to Abraham and Isaac in a new way. 282 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:12,480 There's nothing really new in these words. 283 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:15,200 They're kind of the compilation of what he told Abraham and 284 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:18,960 Isaac, that now Jacob will be the the vessel of carrying on 285 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,640 these promises that through you all nations on earth will be 286 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:25,000 blessed. OK, so the ladder and the image, 287 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:26,800 we can't disconnect it. This is what we got to get in 288 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:31,240 our brains in some kind of way. The covenant and the ladder are 289 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:32,480 like the same. Does that make sense? 290 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:34,880 The covenant is the means of the ladder. 291 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:37,760 Y'all tracking in some kind of way. 292 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:41,520 The way God is going to unite heaven and earth has to do with 293 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:44,400 this covenant with Jacob that started with Abraham, that 294 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:45,560 started with Isaac. Are you all with me? 295 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:51,320 So God responded to the Babel false tower with a ladder that 296 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:54,200 he's building through words, which is a covenant with Abraham 297 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:56,440 that now he's making more explicit with the picture to 298 00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:58,680 Jacob. One thing you'll learn about God 299 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:00,800 is he doesn't do the way God does lessons. 300 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:02,360 He doesn't just all at once, but like, I'm going to tell you 301 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:03,600 everything you need to know right now. 302 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:05,200 Pay attention to this one time. He's just like. 303 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:09,680 Boop, boop, boop. And it's our job to tie it 304 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:10,920 together. Does that make sense? 305 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:14,960 So the covenant words are tied to the covenant picture in some 306 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:17,120 kind of way. How has God united heaven and 307 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:21,800 earth through a covenant with Abraham that goes to Isaac, that 308 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:25,520 goes to Jacob, which leads us to the second thing about Jacob is 309 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:29,640 that Jacob is the broken but chosen instrument of the 310 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:32,880 covenant. Jacob is the chosen one in some 311 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:34,840 kind of way. And as we've been seeing 312 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:37,640 throughout our series, that's kind of mind blowing because 313 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:42,360 Jacob got some issues. OK, I mean, this one is funny. 314 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:44,640 He doesn't do anything super sinful in today's story. 315 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:47,520 He just, it's just funny that he wakes up from the dream. 316 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:50,320 He kind of freaks out and he anoints a rock. 317 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:53,280 You know, he's like he, he takes out oil and dumps it on the 318 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:55,200 rock. He's like, this is the House of 319 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:58,680 God, you know? And in the ancient Near East, 320 00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:00,600 they would do stuff like that at important spots. 321 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:02,440 They would build altars and anoint things. 322 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:05,880 So it's not that that's wrong. It's that his take away. 323 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:09,160 And as we read in the coming weeks, he doesn't seem gripped 324 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:12,240 by what God does here, OK. And it's going to take years and 325 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:15,200 years before he's really gripped by God's promises in his life. 326 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:18,320 But the idea is he anoints a rock and he's focused on the 327 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:20,800 place instead of the person who just gave him that dream and 328 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:22,200 made those promises. Are you with me? 329 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:24,920 And if you'll notice, he kind of does it. 330 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:28,640 If then conditional type conversation with God, he's 331 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:32,600 like, well, if the Lord will be with me, if you'll bring me back 332 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:35,360 here, if you'll protect me, then you will be my God. 333 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:37,600 And I'll give you a 10th of everything you give to me. 334 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:42,080 So Jacob is still just kind of this, this just, I don't know, 335 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:43,800 like a conditional. I love you, Lord. 336 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:46,040 Thank you Anoint. Iraq and we just think he's an 337 00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:47,680 idiot. But for those of you who have 338 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:50,080 been walking with Jesus for a little while, you look back on 339 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:52,720 the previous version of you even following Jesus. 340 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:54,440 You're like, that person was an idiot. 341 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,880 Did I even believe in Jesus? You know, like you look back on 342 00:16:57,880 --> 00:16:59,600 yourself and you're like, what was I thinking? 343 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:00,840 I wasn't trusting the Lord at all. 344 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:03,240 And when we get to the end of our lives, y'all, it's going to 345 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:06,760 feel like we lived a Jacob like existence with a God who is way 346 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:08,920 more faithful to us than we are to Him. 347 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:11,760 Amen. So it's easy to knock on Jacob, 348 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:13,720 but are you? Really going to vouch that 349 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:17,160 you've been perfectly falling the Lord every step of the way? 350 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:22,280 I don't think so. OK, so the latter unites heaven 351 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:24,560 and earth. Jacob is the the conduit through 352 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:27,520 the covenant some kind of way, but it leaves us longing for 353 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:30,320 somebody who is the one that will get to everybody. 354 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:33,080 But isn't busted like Jacob, Like we get it, God through the 355 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:35,320 one to the many. What you're doing for that one 356 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:38,040 you want to do for everybody. But this one is busted, which 357 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:40,480 leaves us longing for the person who's not busted, right? 358 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:42,480 What does the ladder have to do with Jesus? 359 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:44,920 What does the ladder have to do with Jesus? 360 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:47,840 Turn with me to John chapter 1. Turn with me to John one. 361 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:54,400 We'll be there for a minute. So it's worth turning to John 1. 362 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:59,000 John 1. John 1 is a good one. 363 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:02,040 Y'all if you're using the Bible under our seat, because somebody 364 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:03,200 tell me the page number when you get there. 365 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:09,840 Thank you 833 for using our Bible. 833. 366 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:11,880 OK, I'm going to be starting in verse 43. 367 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:13,120 Here's the context you need to know. 368 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:17,880 Jesus's ministry just started, the first few people he's 369 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:19,480 calling to follow him, that kind of thing. 370 00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:22,240 And the latter is going to come up at the end of these verses, 371 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:23,840 so the connection will be pretty plain. 372 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:25,360 But some dope stuff's going on. Y'all ready? 373 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:30,240 Start in verse 43. The next day Jesus decided to go 374 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:34,720 to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, 375 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:37,640 follow me now. Philip was from Beseda, the city 376 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:40,400 of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathaniel and said 377 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:43,440 to him, we have found, I love the founds. 378 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:47,360 Isn't that funny? Who found who Jesus found 379 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:51,160 Philip? Philip found Nathaniel and 380 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:55,600 Philip tells Nathaniel we have found him of whom Moses and the 381 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:58,360 law and also the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of 382 00:18:58,360 --> 00:19:01,080 Joseph. Nathaniel said to him, can 383 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:02,680 anything good come out of Nazareth? 384 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:04,840 Philip said to him, Come and see. 385 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:09,560 Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said of him, 386 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:13,160 Behold in Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit. 387 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:15,480 Nathaniel said to him, How do you know me? 388 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:18,720 Jesus answered him before Philip called you, when you were under 389 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:23,320 the fig tree, I saw you. Nathaniel answered him, Rabbi, 390 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:24,520 you are the Son of God. You are the. 391 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:27,520 King of Israel. Jesus answered him, because I 392 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:30,720 said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe you'll 393 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:32,840 see greater things than these? And he said to him, truly, 394 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:36,240 truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened in the angels 395 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:40,120 of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. 396 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:44,600 OK, three elements of this we got to break down. 397 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:48,840 We got to break down the scene, the point and the place. 398 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:50,800 OK, the scene, the point, the place first the scene. 399 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:54,600 You got Jesus and Nathaniel. OK, this is a dope interaction. 400 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:56,120 I love the found found found thing. 401 00:19:56,120 --> 00:19:58,640 Y'all can go look look through that a little later, but it's 402 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:03,440 clear Jesus found Philip. Philip finds Nathaniel and tells 403 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:06,240 Nathaniel that we found Jesus. Isn't it funny when you tell 404 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:08,200 your story you think you know how it went? 405 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:09,920 I found the Lord. No, you didn't. 406 00:20:10,120 --> 00:20:12,320 He found you might have been in your. 407 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:15,880 Bedroom or in a ditch somewhere or somehow, I don't know. 408 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:18,360 But Jesus found you and here's why that matters. 409 00:20:18,360 --> 00:20:21,120 Y'all is, it's not. Just to so you could say you get 410 00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:24,760 it right in some sort of like theological survey, It's because 411 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:27,120 if Jesus found you, he's not going to let you go. 412 00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:30,640 If you found him, you can still blow it, but if He found you, 413 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:33,680 he's not going to let you go. He had a reason He got you. 414 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:37,240 Jesus is not someone you go find first. 415 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:40,800 He finds you. We love because He first loved 416 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:42,800 us. But it's just funny that we all 417 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:44,400 do what my man Philip does right here. 418 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:47,360 Tell Nathaniel we found Jesus and then he's like can anything 419 00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:50,920 good come out of Nazareth? As y'all know Nazareth is a no 420 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:53,880 name town and Jewish culture. They would not think that 421 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:55,600 anything important is coming out of this town. 422 00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:58,280 What Nazareth? You could have said Jerusalem, 423 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:00,920 you could have said you know you could have said somewhere else, 424 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:02,840 but you said Nazareth. No way. 425 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:08,120 Jesus sees him walk. He sees him and he says ah in 426 00:21:08,120 --> 00:21:10,400 Israelite in whom there is no deceit. 427 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:13,000 Can we just, can we pause on that phrase? 428 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:16,640 OK, some of y'all know that Jacob at the end of his life is 429 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:19,960 going to get renamed. OK, at the end of the story, the 430 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:21,920 last sermon Pastor Ron's going to give, he going to tell you 431 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:23,360 that? Does anybody know what Jacob's 432 00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:26,320 name gets renamed to? Israel. 433 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:31,280 OK, The word Jacob means grasper, you know, like like he 434 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:34,760 did Esau's heal and birth a grasper, A deceiver if you will, 435 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:38,840 taking striving for he gets renamed Israel once he wrestles 436 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:41,040 with God and loses. It's the idea that he went from 437 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:44,240 a grasper to a receiver. OK, so he goes from Jacob to 438 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:46,720 Israel. So he says to Nathaniel in 439 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:50,040 Israelite AKA converted Jacobite, right? 440 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:55,040 A new Jacob in whom there is no deceit, which Jacob is full of 441 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:57,440 deceit, and he's about to bring up the ladder that ties back to 442 00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:58,440 the Jacob. Are y'all with me? 443 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:01,200 Like the Bible's just throwing all kinds of bread crumbs, that 444 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:04,360 there's a lot of continuity and what's happening in front of us. 445 00:22:04,360 --> 00:22:07,920 OK, So in some kind of way, he praises him for his 446 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,160 authenticity. Can I speak to my real people 447 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:12,680 for a second? Those of y'all who know you're 448 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:15,160 real, You know what I'm saying? You like to keep it real. 449 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:21,120 I just want to be clear because I I used to be this person that 450 00:22:21,120 --> 00:22:23,280 would vomit stuff that was inappropriate, but I'm just. 451 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:25,640 Keeping it real. Like it became like a badge of 452 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:28,840 honor brand. Like Jesus is seeing beyond his 453 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:31,680 realness and seeing there's something authentic about his 454 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:34,760 vulnerability, his transparency, his rawness, even his borderline 455 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,320 cynicism. So at some level God is saying I 456 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:41,560 see you, dude. You're a straight shooter, but 457 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:44,240 as a recovering I keep it real and saying what I shouldn't say. 458 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:47,600 Let me say the. There's no badge of honor and 459 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:50,720 just being a mean person who's leveraging, I keep it real. 460 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:53,640 Does that make? Sense like Jesus sees beyond 461 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,840 that and he's inviting him to see the truth because he's 462 00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:58,960 wrong. He's saying you're keeping it 463 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,600 real, but guess. What I did come out on Nazareth, 464 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:04,840 baby, and watch this. I read your mind and I saw you 465 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:07,960 under that tree. So don't hear Jesus praising. 466 00:23:08,120 --> 00:23:10,160 I keep it real for realness sake. 467 00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:13,520 He's praising somebody who's wrong and in a way doing a 468 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,840 subtle rebuke to what you put your trust in as your. 469 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:18,600 Character. It's kind of like the woman at 470 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:20,160 the well of like, go get your husband and come here. 471 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:22,400 I don't have a husband. Yeah, you've had five, and the 472 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:23,760 one you're with right now ain't yours. 473 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:27,680 Jesus will point out the thing you go to as your source of 474 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,600 identity and invite you to recognize that that needs to be 475 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:31,920 transformed. Does that make sense? 476 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:35,600 It's his way of saying like that thing in you that in some kind 477 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:37,960 of way is right. I made but it's wrong because it 478 00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:40,320 ain't in me and I'm inviting you in me to get it right. 479 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:45,360 Does that make sense? Whatever about you is God like 480 00:23:45,360 --> 00:23:47,560 and made in his image, God put that in you. 481 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:50,080 He knows your story. He knows everything about your. 482 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:53,280 Tendency and personality and every single ounce of it needs 483 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:54,840 to be transformed. Does that make sense? 484 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:57,520 So he's not saying you are good enough yourself. 485 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:01,080 He's saying I see you, the real you, behind the fake you, and 486 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:05,280 the fake you has got to change. And Nathaniel's reaction to that 487 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:09,840 a little bit is to freak out. Did you notice in the text he 488 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:11,640 was afraid? Did you see that? 489 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,840 He's like, Rabbi, you're the son of God, you're the you're the 490 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:19,160 king of Israel. And then the Genesis story, when 491 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:21,520 Jacob wakes up from the dream, he's afraid. 492 00:24:22,360 --> 00:24:24,480 Y'all can. I'm, I'm about, I'm about to 493 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:26,360 have a bit of a, a bit of a Tanner rant. 494 00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:28,280 So y'all, y'all bear with me. Let's go to the point. 495 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:30,280 Let me get to my point first, then I'm going to do a Tanner 496 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:32,760 rant. OK, Jesus is the ladder. 497 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,520 OK, The point of him saying you will see greater things than 498 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:38,040 these. You will see heaven and open and 499 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:40,440 the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man. 500 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,960 Jacob's ladder isn't just Jesus's ladder. 501 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:48,320 The point is Jesus is the ladder that Jacob's dream pointed to. 502 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:53,280 Jesus connects heaven and earth. Jesus doesn't bring a connection 503 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:55,640 to heaven and earth. Jesus is the connection of 504 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:57,080 heaven and earth. They're not the same thing. 505 00:24:57,880 --> 00:24:59,200 Jesus doesn't bring the connection. 506 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:00,520 He. Is the connection he used to 507 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:05,280 say, repent, the Kingdom of heaven is at hand and your mind 508 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:07,000 thinks, well, where is it? Did you bring it? 509 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:10,840 It's like it's me, I'm the guy, I'm the window, I'm the 510 00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:13,800 connection, I'm the portal. I'm the one. 511 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:20,600 OK so I'm I'm getting closer to my rant. 512 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:25,680 Stay with me. How does Jesus connect heaven 513 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:27,520 and earth? It's in his presence. 514 00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:29,440 He's God and he's man. He's born of a woman. 515 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:33,240 He's also fully God fully God fully man got tempted in every 516 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:35,120 way as we are. He slept like we did. 517 00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:38,600 You know he is a true human, but he was God of God, man of man. 518 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,720 It's this idea that he had to be a man like us so that his life 519 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:45,160 could count for ours, but he had to be a God so that he could 520 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:47,240 save us. Y'all here's the idea is that 521 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:52,280 the cross is how God united heaven and earth in Jesus. 522 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:54,560 I'm this, I'm getting closer to my point. 523 00:25:55,360 --> 00:25:59,480 Y'all in our culture right now, in our secular culture and our 524 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:03,280 spiritual but not religious mindset, what we think is 525 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:06,000 because the title of today's sermon is, Is God with me. 526 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:09,040 We are getting into a moment where everybody thinks God is 527 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:10,240 with them. Of course he is. 528 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:13,440 I'm spiritual but not religious. Of course God is with me. 529 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,320 Y'all, I need y'all to understand that Jesus unites 530 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:21,200 heaven and earth, not you. Y'all listen to me, Jesus 531 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:23,200 through the cross. There's this idea. 532 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:27,000 The biblical understanding is that exile happened, heaven and 533 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,960 earth are united and Eden exile happens because of sin, and God 534 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:34,080 has been on a rescue mission to reunite heaven and earth. 535 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:38,800 The latter points to it the. Cross is the place where Jesus 536 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:45,080 unites heaven and earth because in our sin we can't be with God. 537 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:48,240 If we could, we wouldn't have left Eden. 538 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:50,760 Are you with me? He had to remove us from His 539 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:54,200 presence and then chase us down. What's being lost when we 540 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:57,160 flatline in a spiritual but not religious headspace? 541 00:26:57,160 --> 00:27:02,000 We think we default into Team God and y'all we miss so much 542 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,120 when we do that. We throw rocks at the holiness 543 00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:09,400 of God, and we. Miss that God has done so much 544 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:13,920 to purchase us to himself. He sent Jesus to die the death 545 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:18,760 you deserve to die to bring us out of exile, back into Shalom. 546 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:21,720 We were out of the family. He's bringing us back in. 547 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:25,120 But when we. Assume we know God and bypass 548 00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:28,440 the means of how you know God. You actually don't know him. 549 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:32,880 Notice in the text Nathaniel and Jacob are afraid. 550 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:37,200 Your first response when you start to see who the Lord really 551 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:41,880 is isn't like come on in homie. Jesus is not God is not your 552 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:43,920 invisible friend that you've always known. 553 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:47,960 He's not an imaginary friend. He's not just like a default 554 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:51,320 person. He is other he is transcendently 555 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:57,840 God created the stars, he's God almighty, He is the maker of 556 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:01,440 heaven and earth with a word we don't just default into like 557 00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:03,400 best friend. This is my invisible buddy. 558 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:05,840 Does that make sense? And I think in our spiritual but 559 00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:08,680 not religious climate, people think, well, I know God on my 560 00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:13,880 terms when I want to what how I want to No, no like. 561 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:18,160 And it's throwing away the means by which God came and got us the 562 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:22,280 story of the scriptures where God came and dwelt among us. 563 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,520 That's how he united heaven and earth as he came and lived the 564 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:29,040 life we failed to live and it died in our place. 565 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:31,600 And that's how he overlaps the 2. 566 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:34,400 Does that make sense? It's in him on the. 567 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:38,000 Cross through his resurrection that we can know him but we 568 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:40,480 don't default into that. Are y'all with me? 569 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:44,400 I'm not done yet by the way. I think this is a real problem. 570 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:47,840 I remember I taught at A at a private Christian School for a 571 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:49,600 while. And y'all all the asterisks is 572 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:50,920 not true. Very private Christian School. 573 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:55,280 Private all the stuff. OK, I teach at summer camps with 574 00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:58,360 lots of students from high Christian backgrounds and one of 575 00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:01,080 the things that used to drive me utterly insane that happened 576 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:03,640 there that I see in our culture at large, that's why I'm 577 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:05,160 bringing it up. Not just knocking that 578 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:09,000 environment is that the kids got talked to Chapel after Chapel 579 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,600 after Chapel after Chapel like God is with you for you all the 580 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:14,040 time. Your dreams are about to come 581 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:17,160 true and like this one speaker came in and. 582 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:18,800 Talked to these. Jokers like they either were the 583 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:22,080 most reverent, repentant, walking with God holy people 584 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:25,040 ever and gave them these wristbands and I remember the 585 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:27,320 next class I was just hot like my spirit. 586 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:29,320 I was just like, Lord Jesus, I don't want to spaz on these 587 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:32,160 kids. And this one girl's like Mr. T 588 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:33,600 You seem upset. I'm like, do I? 589 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:37,320 She was like, yeah. And they tried to get me to say 590 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:38,440 what? I never told them. 591 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:40,200 What frustrated me about it. I never told them because I 592 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:41,760 didn't think I could do it in a Christ like spirit. 593 00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:44,240 So I didn't say it. But this is what I felt. 594 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:49,800 I felt that they were talked to like of course God is with you, 595 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:52,520 and they were talking like, is God with y'all? 596 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:54,280 God is omnipresent, He's here and now. 597 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:58,600 God is everywhere present, but his relational presence comes 598 00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:02,240 through Jesus and repentance and fear and reverence. 599 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:06,040 And what I sensed in that environment was this, of course, 600 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:08,560 guys, and your dreams are all going to come true. 601 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:11,840 And like, I think that's in the church, alive and well. 602 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:15,160 Like the second that we want to just be cool with God, he just 603 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:17,760 becomes your buddy. It's a therapeutic lens of how 604 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:19,280 we relate to God. Does that make sense? 605 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:23,080 He's primarily there to help you feel good about your life and 606 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:26,680 yourself. And y'all, God is so helpful, so 607 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:28,480 comforting. He's a refuge. 608 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:30,760 He has so many things. He's rest. 609 00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:35,080 But y'all, when you first interact with the Lord, you are 610 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:38,320 afraid. You are seen to the bottom. 611 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:43,120 Nathaniel's like, yo, you are seen through. 612 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:45,360 Does that make sense? And that sends you running a 613 00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:47,200 little bit. It doesn't make you be like, oh, 614 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:50,960 my invisible buddy, come on over, you join my life. 615 00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,560 No, your life changes. Does that make sense? 616 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:56,520 And so in that environment, I just felt like I was about to 617 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,160 pull my hair out because only one in 20 speakers even said the 618 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:01,640 word Sinner repent. Does that make sense? 619 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:04,400 I'm like, this is not this is not it. 620 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:08,160 So the question of this sermon is, is God with you? 621 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:12,360 God is omnipresent. He is always present everywhere. 622 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:15,960 The way He is relationally, intimately present is through 623 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:19,240 the person of Jesus. OK. 624 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:24,080 And how you know you know Him is through repentance, is through 625 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:26,400 Him coming and indwelling you by the Spirit. 626 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:29,960 Hey, but it starts. With a reorientation that I did 627 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:31,840 not know you this way. It's not like, oh, you're 628 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:34,600 exactly like I thought you'd be and you're on my side and I knew 629 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:37,640 you always loved me. Your initial reaction is you. 630 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,680 You know everything about me. You're afraid. 631 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:43,360 In a healthy way. Does that make sense? 632 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:50,720 OK, point #4 what does Jacob's ladder have to do with us? 633 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:52,480 What does this ladder have to do with us? 634 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:58,080 First, let's read some verses. Back in Genesis 28, let's read 635 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:01,640 some verses. OK, 18 through 22 said this. 636 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:04,280 This is Jacob's response. The next day, so early in the 637 00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:06,480 morning, Jacob took the stone that he put under his head and 638 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:09,280 set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 639 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:12,080 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city 640 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,200 was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow saying If 641 00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:17,480 God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go 642 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:19,640 and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I 643 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,760 come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be 644 00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:25,480 my God, and this stone which I have set up for a pillar shall 645 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:27,600 be God's house. And of all that you give me, 646 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:32,120 will give a tenth to you. OK, here's the first thing this 647 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:35,040 has to do with us. We don't climb to Jesus. 648 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:37,920 Jesus comes to us. Y'all want to make it abundantly 649 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:42,400 clear that nobody has ascended to heaven except he who 650 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:45,040 descended? The idea is that Christ had to 651 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:46,800 come down. You do not climb up. 652 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:50,360 Some of us walked into here with that religious mindset of I 653 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:54,080 climb if I put this away, if I keep coming to church, if I and 654 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:55,680 I'm just climbing a rung up the ladder. 655 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:57,920 And I'm telling you, you are no closer than when you first 656 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:02,400 started because it's not about you, it's about Jesus. 657 00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:04,760 And he came down. That's why he lived among us. 658 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:07,320 That's why he died in our place. So the first thing we need to 659 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:10,720 hear today is that no, not all religions are the same, and 660 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:12,320 they're not all teaching you to climb. 661 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:14,240 And somewhat. You need to go listen to those 662 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:16,360 religions on their terms. Well, they even agree with that. 663 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:17,240 You know I. Don't know? 664 00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:19,400 Go find those things out and talk to those people and ask 665 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:20,560 them questions about their religion. 666 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,000 I'm telling you that Christianity is different and 667 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:26,960 it's not about you climbing. It's about Jesus descending in 668 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:29,680 your place, doing for you heroically what you could not do 669 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:32,520 for yourself, dying for you when you need it. 670 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:37,600 He is not your coach to climb. That is not what this is. 671 00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:41,440 We need to receive from Jesus. We do not need to climb to 672 00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:43,160 Jesus. You know, the message of 673 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:49,520 Christianity is receive a gift, and when the gospel first comes 674 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:51,560 to you and you realize you're seeing through and this God 675 00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:54,040 knows you and created you and all that, you are filled with 676 00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:56,880 fear. And then there's this impulse in 677 00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:59,400 you that in light of that, I feel the need to climb. 678 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:02,200 I feel the need to do something. But what's so? 679 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:06,760 Humiliating yet freeing at the same time is at that moment all 680 00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:12,040 you have to do is receive, believe, take a gift, surrender. 681 00:34:12,199 --> 00:34:15,040 It's not about you proving you're worthy of what he did. 682 00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:19,679 He just did it because he's him. He's gifting you victory, 683 00:34:19,679 --> 00:34:22,480 salvation. OK, so the IT starts with 684 00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:26,040 repentance, which is just agreement and receive from God 685 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:29,080 what he wants to give you. There is no mission to climb. 686 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:30,840 It's just receive. That's the first thing. 687 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:34,719 Second, we don't conditionally follow Jesus. 688 00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:38,520 We go all in. Jacob famously here hits God 689 00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:41,440 with a three piece of if. Then based on what God promised, 690 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:43,760 he took each part and said if, if, if. 691 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,600 And then in the coming chapters doesn't seem to live super 692 00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:49,440 gripped by God's promises to him. 693 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:53,679 See y'all, when we see Jacob do this, when we see him kind of 694 00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:57,280 hedge his bet a little bit, we don't go, Oh well then I can 695 00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:58,920 hedge my bet too. That's part of what we've been 696 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:02,200 walking through in this series is we don't use what Jacob is 697 00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:06,120 doing as permission to do it ourselves is to realize his life 698 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:08,120 was a mess because he kept doing that. 699 00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:10,880 Does that make sense? We get the the beauty of the 700 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:14,560 hindsight of that conversation of Nathaniel and Jesus, and we 701 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:16,560 go all in with the Lord. Does that make sense? 702 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:20,280 If you are hedging your bet with Jesus, if you're a believer who 703 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:22,440 thinks you're kind of getting the best of both worlds, hedging 704 00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:25,400 your bet is the quickest way to lose, to waste your life. 705 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:28,480 Be with me. If you are hedging your bet, if 706 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:31,920 you're waiting to trust Him not going all in, you are in the 707 00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:36,040 process of wasting your life. This isn't about earning things 708 00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:39,160 from God, it's about entering what God has for you, and the 709 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:42,440 path to that is just trust. And it's radical trust based on 710 00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:45,440 what he. Says you do it so I just for the 711 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:48,400 believers in the room who are following King Jesus, I just 712 00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:50,280 want to call you. Where is God calling you to take 713 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:54,000 steps that you keep saying one day or you keep if then ING you 714 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:57,880 keep saying once I can see how it works out for me, I'll do it 715 00:35:57,880 --> 00:35:59,440 wherever you are. Jacob and God. 716 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:01,320 This is another invitation to stop doing that. 717 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:07,000 I don't know if it's with really practical things like how you're 718 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:10,480 parenting in your house or living at your job or, or just 719 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:14,280 regular stuff of like, man, you're just not a very loving 720 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:16,480 person and you're like, man, that's just not how the world 721 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:17,800 works. It's a dog eat dog world. 722 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:19,560 You're full of gossip with your Co works. 723 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:21,520 I I don't know what it is. Maybe it's bigger like 724 00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:23,200 stewardship. You sit like things like your 725 00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:25,640 time and your money. You're just so gripping your 726 00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:28,800 hands around them and you have not learned yet that God wants 727 00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:31,240 you to open those. Or maybe it's just big like 728 00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:35,840 mission of God stuff like share Christ with people, take risks, 729 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:38,960 just live your life for others, not for yourself. 730 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:42,880 God is inviting you to that and you're not getting both by just 731 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:44,400 holding your fists around those things. 732 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:47,680 The great irony that we see in Jacob is he loses both, right? 733 00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:51,040 It's when we, when we trust, when we stop hedging our bet 734 00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:53,520 that we actually get what God wants for us. 735 00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:57,240 Third one, this one's a little. This one, this one, go take a 736 00:36:57,240 --> 00:36:59,080 minute to set up. But y'all gonna like it OK? 737 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:04,400 We are little anointed ones heavenizing earth. 738 00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:06,520 OK I'm going to explain that but write it down OK? 739 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,640 We are heavenizing earth with Jesus as little anointed ones. 740 00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:11,960 Do you remember I told you what Jacob did when he woke up? 741 00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:16,320 What do you do? He poured oil on the rock, OK to 742 00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:20,280 an he's anointing the rock like he's literally pouring oil on it 743 00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:23,320 saying you are like this location is the portal between 744 00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:24,280 heaven and earth. OK? 745 00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:29,560 Jesus is the Christ. His name is not first last name 746 00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:31,320 Christ. Like it's not Jesus Christ. 747 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:34,640 It's not how he filled out his His name was Jesus OK of 748 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:36,120 Nazareth. He is the Christ. 749 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:39,800 The Christ means anointed one. OK, here's the idea. 750 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:43,000 Jesus is the one who is ultimately heaven and earth. 751 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:44,720 Like think about it. They were always anointing 752 00:37:44,720 --> 00:37:46,160 kings. They were always anointing 753 00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:47,640 priests. They were always anointing their 754 00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:50,640 prophets. It represented that you are a 755 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:53,840 heaven on earth vessel. You are instituted by God to 756 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:56,440 fulfill this role. You're the king, you're the 757 00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:59,640 priest, whatever it is. Well, Jesus is the capital, a 758 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:00,960 anointed one. Are y'all with me? 759 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:02,920 He is the king, He is the priest. 760 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:06,600 He is the prophet who fulfilled for all time all the things that 761 00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:10,840 humanity failed to fulfill. OK, but it goes a little deeper 762 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:15,320 to be a Christian, quite literally. 763 00:38:15,720 --> 00:38:18,280 Think about it. Christ, they were first called 764 00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:22,160 that an Antioch you are a. Little anointed one, if you are 765 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:25,080 in Christ here today, the Spirit indwells you. 766 00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:29,560 So in some kind of way the oil is being poured not just on 767 00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:33,880 Christ who is the chosen one, but on you, you to rock. 768 00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:36,800 Christ is the rock and in him you are a little R rock. 769 00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:40,320 You are a little a anointed 1. You are a spirit filled one. 770 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:44,160 The idea is y'all, when God saves you, he doesn't get you 771 00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:45,480 out here. Let me get you out of earth 772 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:46,880 buddy, and get you up to heaven with me. 773 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:52,080 He has united heaven and earth and He is building a people of 774 00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:55,720 little anointed ones that every nook and cranny of society, 775 00:38:55,720 --> 00:39:00,120 every city, they are little a anointed ones full of the spirit 776 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:02,520 heavenizing their location. Are you all with me? 777 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:06,120 The goal is in Christ. You live at the intersection of 778 00:39:06,120 --> 00:39:08,880 heaven and earth. You are united to the one who 779 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:12,760 has united heaven and earth. You have been poured oil on. 780 00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:17,200 You are a commissioned agent of the Kingdom of heaven living at 781 00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:20,000 the intersection of heaven and earth, and you can see into 782 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:22,160 heaven through His word full of the Spirit. 783 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:25,520 And you're supposed to live according to that reality where 784 00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:26,920 you are. Does that make sense? 785 00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:30,400 And you'll be different than everybody around you because 786 00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:32,440 you're living at the intersection of two worlds 787 00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:34,240 amongst the people who just live like this. 788 00:39:34,240 --> 00:39:38,160 Is it still building Babel? So at your workplace, you're not 789 00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:41,720 building your legacy. You're living according to 790 00:39:41,720 --> 00:39:43,240 Jesus. You can leave money on the 791 00:39:43,240 --> 00:39:46,000 table. You can let your reputation be a 792 00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:47,600 six out of 10 instead of 8 out of 10. 793 00:39:47,720 --> 00:39:50,000 You could take some losses other people can't take. 794 00:39:50,240 --> 00:39:52,920 And as you do it, people will be like, why are you doing that? 795 00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:56,480 You can dress modestly, young people, because you're not 796 00:39:56,480 --> 00:39:59,800 living to win here. You're living according to the 797 00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:02,600 next Kingdom that you live at the intersection of. 798 00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:05,000 And people will be like, why are you leaving that on the table? 799 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:07,080 And it's like, I'm not playing that game. 800 00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:09,840 I am an anointed one. I'm full of the spirit. 801 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,360 I know Christ through the cross. Does that make sense? 802 00:40:12,720 --> 00:40:15,000 So if you are a Christian, is God with you? 803 00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:18,840 Yes, Everywhere you go. Here's the most. 804 00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:21,440 Haunting phrase in this whole passage to me. 805 00:40:21,840 --> 00:40:23,960 This blows my mind. Y'all y'all, y'all look at this 806 00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:27,560 verse 17. And he was. 807 00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:30,040 Afraid as to how. Awesome is this place, this is 808 00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:31,880 none other than the House of God, and this is the gate of 809 00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:35,080 heaven, the verse before it. Sorry. 16 Then Jacob awoke from 810 00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:38,320 his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place and I did 811 00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:40,440 not know it. Y'all may that not be said of 812 00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:45,240 your life. Please Jesus, I hope you have 813 00:40:45,240 --> 00:40:47,040 some kind of process at the end of your day. 814 00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:49,120 The the Saints of all used to call it the examine. 815 00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:51,480 The idea was you. You as your head hits the 816 00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:55,320 pillow. God, where were you today? 817 00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:58,600 The omnipresent God was all up in your day. 818 00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:02,240 If you're full of the spirit, he's actually personally present 819 00:41:02,240 --> 00:41:04,160 in your day and even as you reminisce back. 820 00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:05,880 Were you there when I got chewed out? 821 00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:09,240 He was. Were you there when I changed 822 00:41:09,240 --> 00:41:10,640 that diaper? He was. 823 00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:12,840 Were you there when I just was bored? 824 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:15,920 He was and this, and I know it's hard. 825 00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:18,040 Was he there when something evil happened to you? 826 00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:21,280 Yes, that's. Tough. 827 00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:26,000 Doesn't mean he's not capable of doing evil to you, but it 828 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:30,520 actually allows you to reimagine through the spirit, through his 829 00:41:30,520 --> 00:41:32,800 word, through community. How was? 830 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:35,600 God in that. And you get to re narrate your 831 00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:40,040 existence through God's presence because the anointed one has 832 00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:43,360 anointed you and the whole point of you still living here is to 833 00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:46,600 live with him heavenizing the earth while you're here. 834 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:50,320 Does that make sense? So yes, God is with you and it's 835 00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:53,240 your life pursuit to figure out how and where and who and what 836 00:41:53,240 --> 00:41:55,280 and why. And I can't speak with 837 00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:58,280 definitive certitude about everything about yesterday and 838 00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:00,360 where God was with me, but that's the fun part. 839 00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:02,960 Does that make sense? That's the fun part, is to 840 00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:05,400 reimagine. I look back through my day and 841 00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:07,400 then it makes you that much better when you're walking. 842 00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:10,840 Through the next day of God, What are you doing in this room 843 00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:12,760 right now? What are you doing in my family? 844 00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:14,080 What am I saying in the car ride home? 845 00:42:14,080 --> 00:42:16,160 What question am I asking? That's literally the. 846 00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:19,960 Joy of walking with God, that's why he saved you. 847 00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:24,040 So with my I don't want y'all to think I'm beating up on my my 848 00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:25,920 private Christmas school kids. I love them jokers. 849 00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:28,600 I was a youth pastor. 1/3 of my kids forever have been those 850 00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:30,520 kids. What I love is that I'm like 851 00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:33,960 y'all, it's not that I don't want what that speaker was 852 00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:36,440 saying. I want you to have it and I know 853 00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:38,120 you don't. And you're not going to get it 854 00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:40,600 if they keep assuming you got. It does that make sense? 855 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:44,640 So the beauty is the speaker wasn't the problem, you the 856 00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:48,680 problem and I just think they assuming some things that they 857 00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:50,280 shouldn't be. Does that make sense? 858 00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:53,480 So the problem isn't what God wants in your life, is that the 859 00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:56,080 way it's going to get there isn't just by him cheerleading 860 00:42:56,080 --> 00:42:59,280 you and praising you all the time, which is what our culture 861 00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:00,640 is. Doing to us, making us think 862 00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:03,240 that God, if he exists, it's just a therapeutic person to 863 00:43:03,240 --> 00:43:05,760 help you like yourself. No, he's not. 864 00:43:09,240 --> 00:43:11,080 And the more you try to make them that, the less it's going 865 00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:12,080 to happen. Does that make sense? 866 00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:16,080 God is other and worship Him and through the cross. 867 00:43:16,080 --> 00:43:18,760 He's different than you. He's not just a bigger, smarter 868 00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:21,880 version of you. He's way kinder than whatever 869 00:43:21,880 --> 00:43:25,160 you think kindness is. We need to be radically 870 00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:28,160 transformed, and as we are that God is with. 871 00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:32,520 Us. So my prayer for us is that we 872 00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:34,840 look back on our days and our weeks and our months and say, 873 00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:37,600 surely the Lord was with us and we know we can live what Paul 874 00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:42,400 called salvation without regret. That doesn't mean you don't make 875 00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:44,280 mistakes. It just means you left it all on 876 00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:47,720 the field with God. You leverage everything you had. 877 00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:52,600 But I think the most, the biggest travesty, is it tragedy 878 00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:56,280 or travesty with AV? Thank you. 879 00:43:56,400 --> 00:43:59,640 We've been talking in Group about things you say wrong. 880 00:43:59,640 --> 00:44:02,800 That is one that I every time I say travesty, I'm like, it's 881 00:44:02,800 --> 00:44:05,160 tragedy and they're looking at me crazy, but it is travesty. 882 00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:08,680 So let my travesty prevent you from a tragedy. 883 00:44:08,680 --> 00:44:12,400 Just kidding, OK? But the biggest travesty would 884 00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:14,840 just be to hedge your. Bet, does that make sense? 885 00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:17,840 It would be to get to the end of your life and like Jacob say, oh 886 00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:20,280 the Lord was in my life all along and I did not know it. 887 00:44:20,800 --> 00:44:23,240 That would be a travesty. Are y'all with me? 888 00:44:24,240 --> 00:44:27,960 In Christ God is with. You, He loves you, He is for 889 00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:30,280 you. Turn to Him and trust. 890 00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:32,800 Let's pray our Father, we love you. 891 00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:36,360 Thank you so much for your word God shake us up out of just 892 00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:39,000 wanting a little pep talk and a little motivation. 893 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:43,800 God may we live lives with you. You told Jacob this scoundrel, I 894 00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:46,600 will guard you. I'll be with you until I finish 895 00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:50,680 what I promised to do for you. God, I pray my faith family 896 00:44:50,680 --> 00:44:52,840 under the sound of my voice would live in that kind of 897 00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:55,480 power. And God somewhat we don't know 898 00:44:55,480 --> 00:44:57,480 exactly what all we can't say with. 899 00:44:57,480 --> 00:45:00,280 Definitive certitude. What that means that you're with 900 00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:03,800 us, but you are so God, may we actually grab. 901 00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:07,160 Hold of you and live lives of faith and trust, not hedging our 902 00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:09,480 bet. May we stop just kind of living 903 00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:12,800 our days our way and then just we know to say God loves us and 904 00:45:12,800 --> 00:45:14,440 we we. Want to be theologically 905 00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:15,400 accurate? But no. 906 00:45:15,400 --> 00:45:18,200 Power in our lives, No presence. We're just as anxious as 907 00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:20,160 everybody else. God, we need your power and your 908 00:45:20,160 --> 00:45:22,880 presence. So God, wake us up to the way 909 00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:25,440 you do that. Help us to look at our lives and 910 00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:28,560 see your hand at work, even in the pain. 911 00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:31,200 God help us. And I pray for my friends who 912 00:45:31,200 --> 00:45:33,840 aren't in Christ, who maybe you are drawing to yourself. 913 00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:36,680 God would they see the way in is not to climb. 914 00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:39,320 God is to receive what Christ has done. 915 00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:41,440 They need a hero, they need a savior. 916 00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:45,200 And God, I pray you. Would just buy your spirit send 917 00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:48,080 fear into somebody that healthy fear Nathaniel fell of being 918 00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:51,720 seen all the way to the bottom. God, you see them every sin. 919 00:45:51,720 --> 00:45:56,120 Everything they've ever done, you see it, every inclination of 920 00:45:56,120 --> 00:45:59,760 their heart and their mind. But God, you died for them. 921 00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:04,280 So I pray even now, God, maybe you would save somebody, draw 922 00:46:04,280 --> 00:46:06,800 them to yourself, gift them, surrender and faith. 923 00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:09,720 May they not walk out of resolve to change themselves, but to 924 00:46:09,720 --> 00:46:10,680 receive. Christ. 925 00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:13,760 We love you, we need your help in Jesus name, Amen.