WEBVTT - It's Always Been In You 0:00:02.160 --> 0:00:04.720 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:07.000 Church and this is our podcast and I wanted to 0:00:07.000 --> 0:00:09.960 thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:12.520 Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.320 to see God has moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:20.439 Welcome to all of our locations, and we trust that 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:24.759 God's presence will be powerful wherever you are. And I 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.360 really mean that, and that's kind of what my sermon's 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.600 about today as well. So listen to this. In Genesis 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:35.080 chapter thirty four, verse thirty then Jacob said to Simeon 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:40.240 and LEVI, you have brought trouble on me by making 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:44.760 me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Parisites, the people living 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:49.000 in this land. We are few in number, and if 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:53.080 they join forces against me and attack me, I and 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:59.360 my household will be destroyed. Now go to Genesis thirty five, 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:11.000 verse eleven, and God said to him, I am God Almighty, 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:18.080 be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:24.000 community of nations will come from you, and kings will 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:29.240 be among your descendants. The n IV eighty four says 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:34.600 kings will come from your body. So I want to 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:36.759 preach for a moment, and God told me to tell 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:44.679 you this. It's always been in you. It's always been 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:49.080 in you. God, what you showed me was so amazing, 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:52.480 and I asked for your help now that I could 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:56.600 share it with them, these people that you love, this 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:59.920 church that you're building. I pray, Lord, not that I 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:03.120 might just preach good, but that they would hear good. 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:07.160 Don't just annoint me to preach, anoint them to listen 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:13.720 with their heart. You have our attention, and we are 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:17.800 excited to see what the outcome will be. For the 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:20.360 grass withers and the flower fades, but your word, Lord 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:24.720 stands forever, and we thank you that the ingrafted word 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:28.160 is able to save our souls. And as the rainfalls 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:30.320 from the heaven and waters the earth and causes it 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:33.480 to butd and flourish, so shall your word be that 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:37.760 proceeds from your mouth, It will not return to you void. 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:42.040 This time will not be wasted. It will accomplish the 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:46.040 purpose for which you scent it. And we agree together 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:52.440 in Jesus' name, everybody say amen, Amen, may be seated. 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:56.880 I'd like to show you something before we get into 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:04.280 all this deep theological stuff from my oldest son's YouTube channel. Now. 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:06.680 One reason I'm doing this, it just makes me the 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:08.440 coolest dat in the world to be able to give 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.200 my son a YouTube shout out for thousands of people. 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:16.280 So I'm gonna take advantage of that. But he has 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.800 this YouTube channel, do the dash. He's a beat maker, 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:24.960 a producer. He's good. He's good. One of my friends, 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:27.600 who is a producer, said, you need to know his 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:30.280 beats actually slap because I grew up on rock music, 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:33.200 and I said they do. He said, they actually do. 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.280 And I was proud of him because recently he decided 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:39.680 he didn't just want to make beats, but he wanted 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:45.080 to do some tutorials. I thought that's cool, and you 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:46.720 kind of wonder will he do it or not, and 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:48.440 he's been doing it. I'm so proud of you. Man, 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:53.480 he's got He's done two tutorials now and I'm proud 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:57.040 of me. Check it out. I'll show you just a 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:03.760 little snippet of one of his tutorials. Copy that over 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:07.440 command be to do that. I'm gonna aut an open 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:09.080 eye real quick to give it a little bit more 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:18.800 bounce pan. It fixed the panting a little bit. I'm 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:20.840 gonna pull up the classic z A eight O eight 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:24.479 for my kid. All right, so I'm gonna reverse the polarity, 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:28.680 turn the EQ up, and then turn the out knob 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:40.200 up a little bit. Amazing. Let's do the dash on YouTube. 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:46.760 I have no idea what any of that that he 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:50.320 said meant. And I'm a musical guy, but different generation. 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:54.599 We did find something the other day. We had the 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:58.160 best time for this YouTube channel that we didn't know existed. 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:01.120 We're Holly ten years ago. I used to post videos 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:04.040 of the kids, and I don't know why we thought 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:05.760 that was a good idea for her to post some 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:08.440 of these because some of them are really just kind 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.000 of private. I mean not, it's just stuff that I'm like. 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:13.440 We posted this publicly, but we had the best time 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:16.560 watching it with the kids, just to show them stuff. 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:18.720 And here's here's one that we found. I want to 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:43.520 show you this from ten years ago. But job, I 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:46.159 went back to beat for a measure. I know you 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:53.520 figure and I went back into the beat for another measure. 0:05:55.200 --> 0:06:11.480 He was making tutorials. It's always been in you. It 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:16.039 was with you on that trash drum set, just like 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:20.719 it's with you on these trap beats. And the same kid. 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:27.200 That's the same kid that's wailing on this symbol and 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:30.640 now he's reverse polarizing a high hat or whatever the 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:32.599 crap he said about the eight oh eights. I don't know. 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:39.560 It's always been in you. And I joke a lot 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:42.320 about having kids, you know, and it's so hard, and 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.679 I'm trying not to kill them, and if when they're 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:47.240 old they will not depart from it. But if that 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:49.640 only happens if I don't kill him first Lord, you know, 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:51.960 I joke. I love it. It's my main job. I'm 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:53.640 a better I'm a way better dad than I am 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:55.839 a pastor. I promise you that's my number one job. 0:06:56.000 --> 0:07:03.520 But I showed you that because what often happens that 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:06.320 I think is one of my primary responsibilities as a 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:13.000 parent is to make sure that what's in him that 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:19.640 God put there gets out and that nobody puts anything 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:28.280 on him that causes him to forget or diminish what 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:34.360 God put in him. The rhythm has always been in you, 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:36.760 and what you do with it is up to you. 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:42.720 What you do with it is up to you. Getting 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:48.960 to watch Jacob grow up, the Bible character Jacob, you 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:54.120 get to see this is a rare thing, the sonogram 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:56.920 of the patriarch through which the whole nation of Israel came. 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:58.560 And I think that's a real gift that we get 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:04.400 to see that Jacob was even wrestling in his mother's womb. 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:09.040 And then we get to see him at age seventy 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:12.800 seven running from his brother Esau, who he had been 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:16.080 in competition with his whole life. We get to see 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:20.360 him reconcile with Esau at age ninety seven after twenty 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:23.480 years of hiding with his uncle Laybin, having a family. 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:26.320 It's a lot that we get to see. And he 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:32.080 has finally made it to Canaan. Let's clap for Jacob that, 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:37.480 after all he went through, he finally made it to Canaan. Oh, 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.240 come on, you clap better for somebody who lost five pounds. 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:44.080 He made it to Canaan. He made it to Canaan. 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:48.200 He made it to the Promised Land, that's what Canaan 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:52.160 has called. He made it all the way to Canaan, 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:56.440 which is really remarkable because of the fact that along 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:58.960 the way to Canaan, where God was bringing him back to, 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:02.720 he had to deal with so many I mean, Jacob 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:12.560 talk about pressure. Jacob is the grandson of Abraham, not 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:15.960 like the son of a pastor, the son of the 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:22.360 progenitor of the faith of multiple religions. Make something of 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:26.320 your self, kid. And from the time that he comes 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:30.160 out of the womb, named Jacob, because Jacob means to 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:33.800 grasp or to supplant, and he's trying to make sure 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:37.000 that he gets out ahead of his hairy brother Esau, 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:42.080 his red brother Esau, this beat red beast of a man, Esau, 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:45.040 who is trained in the ways of warfare, but he 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:47.800 can't quite do it, so he comes out second, but 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:50.360 he tricks his way into being first. And I was 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:53.880 watching Tim last night. He's preaching a remix of some 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:57.120 sermons I did about Jacob back in twenty thirteen. Is 0:09:57.200 --> 0:09:59.560 so fun watching you preach him. I love it because 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.720 he's going to through all the stuff right. How Jacob 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:06.079 got Esau to give him is his birthright for a 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:09.800 bowl of stew. There are no beans in the world 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:13.800 that delicious. There's no beans in the world, but you'd 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:20.520 be surprised what you'll trade when you're tired. And Esau, famished, 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:22.800 came in from the field one day and as we 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:25.680 like to say in preaching terms, he gave up what 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:30.960 he wanted most for what he wanted. Now. The only 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:35.520 problem with Jacob's plan was that Esau was good with weapons, 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:40.199 and Jacob was good with an apron. The Bible says 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:43.040 that he was a good cook, but Esau was a killer. 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:48.880 So let's do a paper rock, scissors, sword beat spatula 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:54.160 every time. And and Jacob's mother said to him, you've 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:57.240 got to get up and go to Padana Ram and 0:10:57.280 --> 0:10:59.920 stay with my uncle. When Esau finds out what you'd 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:02.360 he's gonna kill you. Now, this is not the bowl 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:05.679 of beans. This this is the blessing that Jacob stole. 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:10.520 Because Jacob went into his father Isaac dressed up pretending 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:14.400 to be Esau, and he got a blessing from his father. 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:17.720 And when he got the blessing from his father pretending 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:20.679 to be Esau, it was the kind of blessing that 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:27.559 can come from people. But it leads something internal unsettled 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:33.000 and had sent him in the direction of running. For 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:36.560 twenty years of his life. While he was with his 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:41.840 uncle Laban, some interesting things happen. He tried to marry 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:48.520 a girl named Rachel, but Laban did a I guess 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:51.400 you would call it a switcher root and put Leah. 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:54.720 Now Leah is the sister of Rachel. She's the older one, 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.240 and she's the one with the good personality, as we 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:03.480 say in the sequels, and Rachel is beautiful and he marries. 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:05.520 I'm not going to preach on this because I've already 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:07.480 preached on this before, but I'm just trying to give 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.960 you some background of all that Jacob has been through 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:14.800 to get to this point, because he worked seven years 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:18.320 to have Rachel in marriage, ended up with Leah on 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:20.920 his wedding night, and then had to work seven more 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:25.920 years for Rachel and he did it. And then he 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.320 stayed six more years, So that's twenty years at his 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:34.520 uncle's house. And now God has called him back to 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:39.640 the land of Canaan, and against all odds, he made it. 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:44.000 He made it. Not only did he make it to Canaan, 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:48.160 but check this out, he has reconciled with his brother Esau. 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:53.600 In Genesis thirty two, Jacob realizes that before he can 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:57.680 go back to Canaan and really settle, he has to reconcile, 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:01.840 or in his mind, he has to pacified his brother Esau. 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.600 But it's the craziest thing because when he finally meets 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.920 up with Esau. Esau isn't even mad about it anymore. 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:15.600 Esau's like, come on, bring it in, let's hug it out. Jacob, 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:18.160 it's good to see you. Look how blessed I am. 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:22.599 Look how blessed you are. Because the real struggle of 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:29.719 Jacob's life was never with his brother. Now let's put 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:34.199 everything in context. He escaped from Laban, who was chasing 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:38.880 him because Laban was upset about Jacob outwitting him. He's 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:43.680 reconciled with Esau, and now he's finally made it to Canaan. 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:47.320 And he arrives at this place called shake him. Everybody says, 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.000 sheck them. And when he gets there, he takes one 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:52.800 hundred pieces of silver and pays for a plot of 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:55.440 ground and puts up a tent so he can stay 0:13:55.800 --> 0:14:00.480 in Schhem. And no sooner can he make it to Canaan. 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:06.520 Then a tragedy strikes in his own family when day 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:11.480 his daughter Dinah, the one that he had with Leah, 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:16.199 goes out exploring in the town of Shechem, and one 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:17.960 of the men of the town, it was actually the 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:19.960 son of the leader. His name was Haymoor. This young 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:23.760 man's name was Shechem. He took her and raped her. 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:26.320 And when the news of this reaches Jacob, he doesn't 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:28.120 know what to do because he's in a strange place. 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:34.200 He's in a strange place, and I feel for him 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:37.560 in this moment because he's had to run from so 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:41.360 much to get here, and the Bible says he makes 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:46.920 it safely to Canaan, the place of the promise, only 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:52.880 to be struck by what I call a promised land problem. 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:58.000 The reason I call it that is because when he 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:01.960 arrives in Canaan, where God had ask him, something so 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:06.000 terrible happens within his own family. And this is where 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:08.120 I want to break away from the narrative and preach 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:13.560 to somebody, because often you get to a place, a 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:17.560 place that you imagined in your mind. Maybe it's an age, 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:22.320 a stage of life, a certain type of success, a 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:25.880 certain accomplishment, a certain achievement, something that you got to 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:29.720 that you worked really hard for. And no sooner can 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:32.240 you pay for it with a hundred pieces of silver 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:36.880 and put your tent up, than disaster strikes your very 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:40.800 own family and threatens to destroy what means the most 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:44.800 to you. Now, when Jacob's sons heard about it, particularly 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:48.360 his sons, Reuben and Levi, or Simeon and Levi. They 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:52.160 both decided to take matters into their own hands. Because 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:56.840 their sister had been defiled and because they were greatly outnumbered, 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.960 they decided that the only way for them to defeat 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:03.920 their enemy was to make their enemy vulnerable. So they 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:06.160 used something that was a part of their own covenant 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:10.240 with God called circumcision against their enemy. And they told 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:14.240 the men of the city, Okay, look, you can keep 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:18.760 Dinah and we'll settle with you, and we'll intermarry with you. 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:23.640 They were lying, and we'll share with you all the 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:26.120 sheep and all the flocks and all the herds, and 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:28.720 you can marry our women. But first you got to 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:31.640 do the thing that our people do to signify our 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:37.240 covenant with God, and be circumcised. And they did it 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:42.760 all the men of the city. I mean, Shechem must 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:45.080 have been very convincing because he got all the males 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:51.160 in the town to go through this procedure. Come on, y'all, 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:54.360 y'all wouldn't even join the church if I made you 0:16:54.400 --> 0:17:01.640 take a class. They got circumcised, and on the third day, 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:05.880 during their recovery, Simeon and Levi snuck in and killed 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:09.440 all the males of the city. And so now Jacob 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:16.919 is in Canaan, but he's still in danger. It's a 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:20.639 tricky thing because he's where God was leading him all along, 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:27.400 but he's not safe anymore. Or maybe we would say 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:31.159 this for our context. He's an adult, but he doesn't 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:37.360 feel very adultish. He's a leader, but he doesn't feel 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:40.000 very certain of his own direction. He's in the place 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:43.960 where God had promised not only him, but his father 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:47.399 and his father's father, and he's in great danger. So 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:49.440 then he says something to his sons. I want to 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:50.800 read it to you again, now that you know the 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:54.120 context what he said. Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:59.640 verse thirty, you have brought trouble on me. On top 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:03.600 of all of the pressure that Jacob has to be 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:06.760 the father of the tribes of Israel, to be the 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:09.439 one through which God would continue the seed of his 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.520 promise to bless the entire earth, on top of all 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:17.359 of that, now he is dealing with the consequences of 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:25.320 somebody else's decision. He's got a lot on him. In fact, 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:30.199 he says, you have put all this trouble on me. 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.359 Have you ever had somebody download their drama on you. 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:37.199 And this is tricky because did his sons do the 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:40.120 right thing? Did his sons do the wrong thing? Were 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:42.679 they right to fight back? Or were they dumb to 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:45.040 attack somebody they didn't have to strength to defend against. 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:49.000 And Jacob doesn't know. And he's in Canaan, but he's 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:52.560 not safe. And he's in the place God promised him, 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:55.399 but he's now in the greatest danger of his life, 0:18:55.880 --> 0:19:00.119 and he doesn't know what to do, and he's got 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:02.600 a lot on him. Not only is it the fear 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:05.080 of the Canaanites that they might hear about him and 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:07.800 attack him, but it is the decision of what to 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:09.920 do next. And I want you to see what God 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:11.840 told him to do in Genesis thirty five to one. 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:14.040 And I really want to start preaching my sermon now 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:16.800 because this is what God said to do. Then God 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:22.720 said to Jacob, go up to Bethel and settle there 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:26.840 and build an altar there to God who appeared to 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:31.159 you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau. So 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:34.160 Jacob said to his household and to all who were 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:37.040 with him, get rid of the foreign gods you have 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:41.960 with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. Then come, 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:45.719 let us go to Bethel, where I will build an 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:50.199 altar to God, who answered me in the day of 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:54.840 my distress, and who has been with me wherever I 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:58.480 have gone. So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:00.639 they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:03.920 buried them under the oak at Shechem. And they set out, 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:06.959 and the terror of God fell on the towns all 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:12.080 around them, so that no one pursued them. Jacob and 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:14.360 all the people with him came to us, that is Bethel, 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:18.359 in the land of Canaan, and there he built an altar, 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:23.439 and he called the place El Bethel. This means the 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:26.680 house of God, because it was there that God revealed 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:31.600 himself when he was fleeing from his brother. Now Deborah, 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:34.600 Rebecca's nurse, died and was buried under the oak outside Bethel, 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:38.879 so it was named Alan Bakouth. And after Jacob returned 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:41.280 from Padanna Ram God appeared to him again and blessed him. 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:48.280 God said to him, your name's Jacob, but you will 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:51.520 no longer be called Jacob. Your name will be Israel. 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:56.000 So he named him Israel. God said to him, I 0:20:56.040 --> 0:21:02.000 am God Almighty, be fruitful and increase in number. A 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:06.359 nation and a community of nations will come from you, 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:14.919 and kings will come from your body. What confused me 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:19.760 about this passage was that Jacob has been to Bethel before. 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:26.120 The First time he went to Bethel, he was running 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:31.080 from his brother. This time he's going back to Bethel 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:37.320 at the instruction of God. So it's different this time. 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:43.000 It's different this time. You know, we encourage you as 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:46.400 a pastor, when you're in an uncertain situation, go back 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:48.600 and revisit all the things that God already did for 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:53.600 you in previous seasons of your life. Maybe God brings 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:56.919 you back to Bethel sometimes just to remind you of 0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:01.440 when you killed it when you're struggling, and maybe God 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:04.399 brings you back to Bethel sometimes to remind you of 0:22:04.480 --> 0:22:08.320 things that you accomplished that really defy your educational background 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:09.840 or your pedigree, or anything that you were taught or 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:13.240 trained to do. Maybe God brings you back to Bethel 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:19.440 sometimes to remember all the ways that you even surprised yourself. Wow, 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:24.679 I didn't even know that I could do that. But 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:27.000 see the more I meditated on it, I realized that 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:30.600 that wasn't really what Bethel meant to Jacob because the 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:33.920 first time he went to Bethel, he was scared to death. 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:40.240 So now Jacob is in a place in his life 0:22:40.320 --> 0:22:43.719 where he's never been more uncertain, and God leads him 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:47.440 back to a place where he had never been more uncertain. 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:51.320 And when he is in need of the greatest faith, 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:55.879 God takes him back to the place of his greatest fear. 0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:00.720 The first time that Jacob went to Bethel, he had 0:23:00.840 --> 0:23:05.359 no idea what would happen next. His brother wants to 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:08.520 kill him. His uncle is someone that he has never 0:23:08.560 --> 0:23:12.240 been exposed to. He's only heard about. Jacob is seventy 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:15.639 seven years old the first time that he goes to 0:23:15.680 --> 0:23:20.320 Padonna Rahm and stops through a place called Bethel. Bethel 0:23:20.440 --> 0:23:24.520 was not a place where Jacob shouted and danced. Jacob 0:23:24.760 --> 0:23:28.719 was not in Bethel feeling goosebumps. Jacob was not in 0:23:28.760 --> 0:23:34.040 Bethel singing praise songs. Jacob was in Bethel wondering will 0:23:34.080 --> 0:23:37.840 I make it? And so now God says, in the 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:40.760 season of your life, and I'm appreaciing to somebody where 0:23:40.800 --> 0:23:45.640 you have no idea how you have enough to defend 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:49.480 yourself from the attack. That's happening, cause you've got a 0:23:49.480 --> 0:23:52.040 lot on you right now. You've got a lot on you. 0:23:52.359 --> 0:23:55.320 Some of it is your fault, some of it is 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:58.040 decisions that others have made, and none of it is 0:23:58.080 --> 0:24:01.320 anything that you have ever experienced. Because you are the 0:24:01.440 --> 0:24:05.040 oldest that you've ever been, and you have never progressed 0:24:05.040 --> 0:24:08.480 through this season of your life, this stage of your development. 0:24:08.720 --> 0:24:12.000 You have never been through this emotional place before. So 0:24:12.160 --> 0:24:15.200 now what does God do? He doesn't call you back 0:24:15.240 --> 0:24:19.160 to the place where you felt the greatest faith. He 0:24:19.240 --> 0:24:22.159 calls you back to the place where you felt the 0:24:22.200 --> 0:24:30.800 greatest fear. But you made it anyway to remind you 0:24:31.200 --> 0:24:35.000 what it really felt like when God revealed himself to you, 0:24:36.000 --> 0:24:43.480 because we whitewash our understanding of what it means to 0:24:43.600 --> 0:24:47.080 remember what God did you know? I wonder, do you 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:51.199 remember how it really felt at certain stages in your life, 0:24:51.359 --> 0:24:52.960 like close your eyes, let's go to Bethel, because we 0:24:52.960 --> 0:24:54.239 can't go to a place. We're not going to load 0:24:54.320 --> 0:24:55.959 up the church vans or anything like that. There's too 0:24:55.960 --> 0:24:57.560 many of y'all in your two spread out, so close 0:24:57.560 --> 0:24:58.960 your eyes. We got to go to Bethel, but we 0:24:58.960 --> 0:25:01.800 got to go in our imagination remember the time, anytime 0:25:01.840 --> 0:25:03.800 you want. I got enough to choose from. I've got 0:25:03.800 --> 0:25:05.960 an entire cafeteria of times to choose from. When you 0:25:05.960 --> 0:25:09.560 thought you wouldn't make it, I'm not gonna make it 0:25:09.600 --> 0:25:12.240 another day, I'm not gonna I'm not There's no way 0:25:12.280 --> 0:25:16.280 forward for this. Okay. Remember, I'm not gonna make it. 0:25:17.560 --> 0:25:19.200 I'm not gonna make it. I'm not gonna make it. 0:25:19.280 --> 0:25:20.359 Like to me, I'm not going to make it. Up 0:25:20.400 --> 0:25:22.520 to the pulpit, I have nothing left to say. I'm 0:25:22.520 --> 0:25:24.560 not gonna make it through this. Uh, through what I 0:25:24.560 --> 0:25:26.919 feel right now, I think i'm losing. Okay, right, you 0:25:26.920 --> 0:25:29.679 got it. You got it. And I know that for 0:25:29.760 --> 0:25:31.280 some of us it's a hard place to visit, But 0:25:31.320 --> 0:25:33.040 I want you to go there for just a moment. 0:25:35.000 --> 0:25:39.199 I'm not gonna make it. That's how Jacob felt the 0:25:39.200 --> 0:25:45.120 first time in Bethel, and he saw a vision while 0:25:45.119 --> 0:25:46.960 he was asleep, and he saw a ladder resting on 0:25:47.000 --> 0:25:49.120 the earth and reaching to the heaven, and the angels 0:25:49.119 --> 0:25:53.960 of God ascending and descending. Twenty years later, God calls 0:25:54.000 --> 0:25:59.159 him back to that same place called Bethel where he 0:25:59.160 --> 0:26:03.159 thought he wouldn't make it. And you thought you wouldn't 0:26:03.200 --> 0:26:08.000 make it. On the inside, everything was telling you you're 0:26:08.040 --> 0:26:10.639 not going to make it. You're not going to make it. 0:26:12.040 --> 0:26:18.879 Open your eyes. You did. No, no, no, no, no, 0:26:20.680 --> 0:26:26.800 you did. And Jacob is now instructed to build an 0:26:26.840 --> 0:26:33.800 altar in the place of his greatest fear. And that's 0:26:33.880 --> 0:26:40.720 where God calls you to build an altar and to 0:26:40.800 --> 0:26:49.440 believe him, to believe him in Bethel. In fact, one 0:26:49.440 --> 0:26:53.840 time the scripture calls God the God of Bethel. I'm 0:26:53.880 --> 0:26:58.359 not sure if I like that, because Bethel is scary. 0:26:58.960 --> 0:27:02.920 Bethel is when you don't though. Bethel is the place 0:27:02.920 --> 0:27:04.760 where you can't figure it out and all you have 0:27:04.840 --> 0:27:12.040 is faith. God said, I'm the God of Bethel. That's 0:27:12.040 --> 0:27:17.320 where my house is. That's where my habitation is. That's 0:27:17.359 --> 0:27:19.520 where I live, That's where I reveal, that's where I 0:27:19.520 --> 0:27:22.000 show myself. That's where you get to know me. I'm 0:27:22.000 --> 0:27:28.520 the God of Bethel. And Jacob is afraid, and God says, 0:27:28.560 --> 0:27:31.480 I want you to go back to the place you 0:27:31.520 --> 0:27:38.760