HEAVEN CAME DOWN | Part 2 | I Woke Up At Bethel

Heat. Heat.

Oh,

heat, heat.

Praise. Praise the Lord.

How's everybody feeling today?

>> Man, it's so cold outside. It's nice and

warm in here, so we get to warm up the

atmosphere a little bit. Everyone say,

"Hallelujah."

>> Hallelujah.

>> Look at that, man. We're going to warm

it up today. Well, hey, if you're a

first- time guest with us, my name is

Ben. I have the opportunity to serve as

lead pastor here. And uh I got to tell

you, today God's kind of hit me. Um I

don't know if it's the Christmas music

or what. I'm feeling a little uh

sentimental, a little emotional today.

Is that all right? And uh I was just

thinking about uh this month we're uh

really kind of coming to the end uh of

two years of me being your pastor. And

uh in January we'll get to celebrate

kind of stepping into the third year. Uh

but I just want to say this. Thank you

for trusting me as your pastor and thank

you for allowing me the privilege uh to

lead you spiritually. And I appreciate

uh everyone in this house. Uh those that

have been with us from the very

beginning through the journey. Those

those of us that are new uh to their

journey, I say thank you. So you guys

ready for the word of God today?

>> Well, pray with me. Father, we thank you

Lord for your Holy Spirit. And Father, I

thank you for your grace and your mercy.

Lord, in my weakness, you're made

strong. And so, Father, I pray God that

I would be removed and that your word

would come through in supremacy and

authority and in grace. Father, I stand

here and resolve to know nothing except

Jesus Christ and him crucified. And so,

Father, you preach, we listen in Jesus

name. Amen.

We're in a series called Heaven Came

Down. And this isn't a typical week

before Christmas message. Uh but this is

a message that I believe God has uh put

on my heart for a time such as this.

Genesis 28 and verse 10 says this. It

says, "Jacob left Beerba and went toward

Haram and he came to a certain place."

Say a certain place.

>> And he stayed there that night because

the sun had set.

So, let me paint the scene a little bit

for you. And we're going to spend some

time uh just looking at Jacob and and uh

learning some lessons on his life. Uh

Jacob here is not on a vacation. Uh he's

not on a pilgrimage. Uh he's really more

like a fugitive on the run. Uh he's uh

had some situations at home and uh

forced him in such a way as to take off

running. Really running for his life.

And you have to understand that Jacob is

the son of Isaac and the grandson of

Abraham.

Now, that's a heritage. Amen. That's a

powerful family, a powerful uh line that

we're seeing here. And so, I really say

all that to say this, that Jacob is a

church kid.

I mean, he grew up in it. He sat in the

tents. uh he sat listening to his

grandfather Abraham tell the stories of

how he heard from God and how he led

God's people, right? His father is I

mean he he grew up right in the church

world.

And Jacob is a twin. He's the younger of

two brothers. Uh his older brother is

Esau,

which is the firstborn,

and Jacob comes out second. And then the

Bible says that he came out grabbing the

heel of his brother. That's a way to

enter the earth, isn't it?

The name Jacob means deceiver

or cheater, heel grabber.

Because of the way that he entered the

earth, that's where he got his name

from. And Jacob kind of caught a free

ride getting here. And I want you to

imagine his name Jacob

being called deceiver your whole life.

Anyone here have a nickname growing up?

Let me see your hand.

Oh man, nicknames can be fun. They can

be hurtful also, right? Uh I grew up in

a home. We had uh some nicknames. I'm

the youngest of five. I have three

sisters and one brother. One of my

sisters, uh, from as long as I can

remember, we've called her Bum.

And, uh, there's a a couple of, uh,

stories that go around and we'll dispute

on on where she got the name, but, uh,

one school of thought is that when we

were kids, she always just dressed and

looked like a bum, looked like a

homeless person sitting on our couch,

right? The other is that she always uh

would make ugly faces. She was one of

these kids, and she always looked like

life was just a bummer, right? And so we

call her bum. Uh my brother uh he's uh

uh I don't know if you guys have

noticed, you probably never looked that

close, but I got a nice gap between my

teeth. Very strong genetics. It comes

through my father's line. And my brother

got that same gap except for he had buck

teeth.

And he was a hefty kid. Nice little

chunky fell. And he had big buck teeth.

And everyone started calling him Bucky.

Do you know that uh 40 years later we

still call him Bucky? And even like uh

you know the kids they call him Uncle

Buck, right? That's not his name, but

that that's his nickname. And friends

call him Buck and and uh so I mean

nicknames uh kind of catch on because of

uh different attributes that we have.

And Jacob uh wasn't his nickname, it was

his real name.

Deceiver.

Imagine every time someone says your

name,

they're calling you what might be your

worst tendency.

Deceiver, manipulator, cheater. That's

Jacob. And really, that becomes his

whole life. As we study the life of

Jacob, we see him grabbing and scheming

and and kind of deceiving his way

through to get ahead by any means

possible. And Esau, his older brother,

the firstborn, Esau is kind of a an

outdoorsman. He's a hunter. He's a He's

a man man's man. He's he's a hairy guy,

the Bible says, you know, very furry. Uh

almost the way the Bible describes him,

it's almost like too much hair. He's

just a very hairy dude. And uh so he's

he's the firstborn. And and I just

picture Isaac, the father, kind of

gravitating them. He's that man's man.

And Jacob uh was different. Jacob was a

little bit softer. He stayed closer to

the tent and he stayed close to his

mother. Look at your neighbor and say,

"Mama's boy."

Even by appearance, comparing Jacob to

Esau, Jacob looked soft.

In their culture, the firstborn gets the

blessing,

the inheritance, the leadership role. I

mean, talk about missing it by this

much.

I mean, he came out grabbing the heel

and he misses that that that firstborn

inheritance and blessing and and all

that comes with that anointing upon your

life just by that much. Have you ever

missed something by that much?

Jacob has lived with that his whole

life.

Living in the shadow of his brother and

the blessing that's bestowed upon him,

Jacob is fighting for his identity

and fighting for acceptance.

Have you been there?

And remember, Jacob's a church kid. He

grew up in church. He knows all the

stories. He's been around the altars,

the sacrifices, the prayers

his whole life.

All right, let me bring this home for

you a little bit. He's at at Jacob's

house. They prayed around the dinner

table. Jacob was in youth group, right?

He had all the memory verses. He knew

the scriptures. And he was around church

all of his life. the presence of God.

Being around God is not the same thing

as belonging to God. Somebody needs to

hear that.

I'll say this. You can grow up in the

house of faith and still not have a

heart of faith.

You can't ride the coattails of your

parents' coat into heaven. You have to

have your own relationship with God. You

have to have your own faith in God.

Amen.

So, Jacob grew up knowing the language

of faith,

but he still lived the life of a

deceiver.

We would call him a church kid with a

crooked heart.

Have you met one?

Have you been one?

Yeah.

Church kid with a crooked heart.

So, we pick up here in Genesis 28 and

Jacob is on the run. There's two reasons

why Jacob's on the run. The first is

what I call the birthright hustle.

Jacob's a hustler, man. He's working it.

So, Esau comes in one day and he's

starving uh from being out in the field.

And Jacob's cooking some food. And this

is typical brother stuff. Jacob says to

Esau, he says, "Hey, uh, sell me your

birthright for some of this stew." And

Esau, like an absolute idiot, agrees.

And picture these two brothers, right?

And so Esau sells his birth, right, for

a bowl of stew. And uh man, I don't

know. Uh Jacob must have been a pretty

good chef because that had to have been

some pretty amazing stew, right, for

Esau to even consider something. And he

probably said it more flippantly than

anything. Yeah, sure, Jacob. Whatever.

Just give me the bowl. Right?

You know there's power in your words.

How many know if you want to mess a man

up, mess with him while he's hungry?

Amen.

Our our uh stomach growls a little

louder than you girls sometimes.

I get hangry. The older I get, the more

hangry I get. Like, all right, I need

food. I need it like now. Yeah.

Something something stirring on the

inside down in my sha na. I need me a

bowl of soup or something.

Yeah,

especially in this weather, man. Bowl of

soup don't sound too bad.

Jacob

the deceiver,

he turns a moment of need into a moment

of manipulation.

And that's really what deceivers do.

They see you're hungry and instead of

feeding you, they use you.

The birthright hustle. The the second is

the blessing scam. So, their father

Isaac uh is old and almost blind

and uh Isaac sends Esau, the older

brother, out to hunt uh to bring him

some food uh so that Isaac can give him

the firstborn blessing.

So, their mother,

uh, another deceiver we could say, helps

Jacob, uh, dress up like Esau

and, uh, get the food like Esau would

have got, so that Jacob can sneak into

Isaac's tent and receive the firstborn

blessing, even though he's not the

firstborn son. Say, deceiver.

>> Deceiver. So, Jacob walks into the tent

wearing his brother's clothes with his

brother's smell, holding his brother's

food to steal his brother's blessing.

And it's interesting when I read it, I

see that he stood and lied straight to

his father's face.

Deceiver.

I want you to hear me. He's not

faithless.

He's a church kid. He has some some

faith in God. He has this faith in the

blessing that that that he knows is

coming from God through Isaac that if I

could I mean he has faith but he has

faith plus manipulation.

Faith plus deception. Can I tell you the

two don't mix real well.

So Esau finds out and is absolutely

livid.

Rightfully so. He comes back and he

thinks, "Man, this is going to be a good

thing, good day." And he finds out his

brother snuck in and received the

blessing. And what he says, he looks at

Jacob and he says, "Man, when dad dies,

I'm going to kill you." He gives that

vow.

So, Jacob heads for the hills, man.

He says, "You're the you're the hairy

hunter guy. You're the I'm not messing

with you, buddy. You're threatening to

kill me. So, I'm out of here." And so,

Jacob takes off. One man said this. It

said that he left home with the words of

God over his life and the threat of

brother the threat of his brother over

his life. So we pick up in Genesis 28

and verse 10. It says Jacob left

Beerseba and went towards Haron. And he

came to a certain place. Say a certain

place.

>> And he stayed there that night because

the sun had set. Taking one of the

stones of that place. He put it under

his head and lay down in that place to

sleep.

I would have to assume that Jacob's

having a rough night.

Having a rough night.

Verse 12.

And he dreamed. Say dreamed.

And behold, there was a ladder set up on

the earth and the top of it reached to

heaven.

We're in a series called Heaven Came

Down. So, so he's in this dead of night

and he makes this takes this stone and

makes it a pillow and falls asleep. And

he might even be having the anxiety and

the fear of the circumstances that he's

in. Uh not even knowing what's about to

fall upon him. But as he falls asleep,

he begins to dream. And he sees this

ladder set up on the earth, and the top

of it reaches to heaven. And behold, the

angels of God were ascending and

descending on it.

Verse 13. And behold, the Lord stood

above it and said, "I am the Lord, the

God of Abraham your father, and the God

of Isaac.

The land on which you lie, I will give

to you and to your offspring."

M verse 14. Your offspring shall be like

the dust of the earth, and you shall

spread abroad to the west, to the east,

to the north, and to the south, and in

you and your offspring shall all the

families of the earth be blessed.

Behold, I am with you, and I will keep

you wherever you go. And I will bring

you back to this land, for I will not

leave you until I have done what I

promised.

Look at your neighbor and say, "Heaven

came down."

Not because Jacob deserved it.

Not because he earned it. Not because he

was doing everything right, but because

God had an agenda for Jacob's life.

Verse 16, then Jacob awoke from his

sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in

this place,

and I did not know it.

and he was afraid and said, "How awesome

is this place? This is none other than

the house of God, and this is the gate

of heaven." So early in the morning,

Jacob took the stone that he had put

under his head and set it up for a

pillar and poured oil on top of it. He

called the name of that place Bethl,

but the name of the city was L at the

first. Then Jacob made a vow, saying,

"If God will be with me, will keep me in

this way that I go, and will give me

bread to eat and clothing to wear, so

that I come again to my father's house

in peace. Then the Lord shall be my God.

And this stone which I have set up for

the for a pillar shall be God's house,

and all that you give me, I will give a

full tenth to you."

Title of the message today is I woke up

at Bethl.

I woke up at Bethl. Jacob is not on a

spiritual retreat.

He's on the run. And it's interesting,

Jacob isn't even seeking God, but God is

seeking Jacob.

He's really trying to escape

consequences,

running on empty.

And that's where the latter shows up.

It says that he's between Beerisha,

what he's leaving, and Haron, where he's

headed.

But he has no idea who he is. And it's

interesting that Jacob is not looking

for God. He's looking for an escape.

He's not seeking a fresh anointing. He's

simply trying not to get killed.

Sometimes

God does his best work

when we're standing right between where

we've messed up and where we have no

idea what's next.

>> Have you been there?

We call it a dead end. Heaven calls it

an opportunity.

Number one in your notes, Bethl. The

place you didn't pick.

Bethl,

the place you didn't pick. Genesis

Genesis 28:10

28:10, it says, "Jacob left Beerba and

went toward Heran and he came to a

certain place." Say, "A certain place."

>> It's funny now that we know the story,

how he comes to a certain place when

Jacob's life is steeped in uncertainty.

He came to a certain place

and that certain place was originally

named Lo, but by the end of it, Jacob

calls it Bethl,

the house of God.

I'll say this. When the ladder comes

down and the grace of God shows up, no

matter where you are in life, whether

you were raised in church or raised in

hell,

when brokenness and uncertainty,

touch the grace of God and heaven begins

to pour into you. That place that you

knew as L,

which meant random place in the desert

is what Lo means.

That place that felt so random and

you're standing in uncertainty now

becomes the house of God, the sanctuary

of God, a holy place. When the grace of

God shows up, when the ladder comes down

and God stands over your life and you

become conscious of what God is doing,

everything changes.

And this isn't where Jacob planned to

meet God, but it is where God planned to

meet Jacob.

And let me put it to you this way. Uh,

Bethl was not on Jacob's vision board

for the year.

It wasn't a New Year's resolution. Man,

I'm really hoping to get closer to God

this year. I start reading my Bible. It

wasn't on his vision board. Can I say

this? You can be in the wrong place at

the wrong time with the wrong motives

and God will show up.

>> Well, you've got to do disciplehip.

You've got to do this. You've got to do

that if you really want God to bless

you. Can I tell you when I got saved, I

was in the wrong place at the wrong time

with the wrong motives.

I went to church to stay out of prison.

Wrong place, wrong heart, wrong mindset,

wrong motives.

And heaven opened up and God spoke over

my life and I received salvation. Amen.

And that wasn't just at that moment of

salvation, but time and time again in my

life at the wrong place at the wrong

time when I least expect it, when

uncertainty is steeping in my life, God

shines down and shows up and this ladder

comes down and the blessings of God come

through.

In my weakness, he's made strong.

This isn't a place that

Jacob was planning on.

It's just a place. The Bible calls it a

certain place. It happens to be the

place where Jacob ran out of strength

from running from his past

and he had to lie down. Have you been

there?

I think about the prodical son that had

to come to the end of himself before he

caught the revelation of going back to

the father's house. See, when I'm weak,

he's strong.

Sometimes we just have to get to the end

of ourselves before heaven will show up.

We have to get to the end of ourselves

before heaven will show. Somebody needs

to hear that. Sometimes we just have to

get to the end of ourselves that I'm

sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I'm done making the decisions. I'm done

calling the shots. I I I'm at the very

end of myself.

And the quicker I allow myself to get

there is the quicker that God can step

in and bless me. Because I've too many

times tried to put my hand to the plow.

I've too many times tried to get myself

injected into the situation. Well, well,

I think this is a good idea. I think we

should do this and go there. And you

know how many times I've done that and

epically failed because it was me.

But what I found is when I get to the

absolute end of myself and say, "I have

no idea

what to do next," God shows up.

The certainty of heaven shows up when

I'm absolutely uncertain in myself. And

that's where we walk by faith and not by

sight.

It's where Jacob is at the end of

himself

having no idea

what to do next.

We have this idea sometimes we bring

into Christianity that we have to get

everything right before we can hear from

God.

Well, Jacob got it all wrong, and God

showed up. Bethl wasn't the place that

he chose.

Wrong place, wrong time, wrong reasons,

and God showed up.

Sometimes in Christianity,

I'll just speak for myself, I like

things in a straight line.

And we hear the testimonies, don't we?

You've ever been at a testimony service,

heard somebody share their testimony and

and they and they share it almost like

it was a like a straight line type

thing. Well, I gave my life to Jesus

Christ and then I got baptized and then

I found the love of my life. God just

brought him into my life and then we had

four wonderful kids. Wait, we're the

only weirdos that have four kids. We had

two kids

and all my kids are serving God and I

got the great job. And we hear this

linear thing and I go, "Man, I remember

early on in Christianity like serving

God a few years and I've been like a

like a bouncy ball that got loose in the

sanctuary,

you know, and I got saved and I

backslid. I went to Bible college and I

dropped out of Bible college. I've been

all over the map and I'm I mean I'm all

I mean my life was just a a big bouncy

mess

disciplehip.

Remember when I first got saved they

were doing base path for spiritual

growth and they had the baseball

diamond. So, I ran the bases and it was

like, man, you you do step one, this is

your your disciplehip, and then and then

you come back next week, we'll do we'll

do step two and then step three. And

it's like, man, when do we get home? I

thought I had to thought I had to die to

get the home base here, right?

And it sounded some kind of way. Can I

say this? That most of my disciplehip

has been ra making the wrong decision

and then repenting and learning from my

mistakes.

Ah, you guys must be better than me. You

must have figured it all out.

Disciplehip didn't come in a classroom

for me. Disciplehip came from surrender

and heartbreak and hardship. It came

from failure after failure after failure

after failure.

I asked my wife, I fail a lot.

True disciplehip is when we get to the

end of oursel and finally hear from

heaven.

Finally hear from God.

Coming to the end of myself,

surrendering

and finally realizing

that God was right.

Most of our Christianity and

disciplehip,

we serve God like we're teenagers.

Mom and dad don't know anything. I'm

going to do it my way.

Anyone else go through that teenage

stage? Yeah. I stayed there a little

longer than I should have.

Yeah.

But we'll serve God for 20, 30, 40 years

and we'll still have that same teenage

mentality.

Well, I think this is what we should do

with our money. Well, have you prayed

about it?

Have you have you sought the Lord? Have

you heard from heaven on it? Or are you

just going with your good idea? because

my righteousness is as of filthy rags in

the eyes of God in in my best day with

my best thinking and my best decision. I

will epically fail every time.

And it's designed that way because God

loves us so much that he desires for us

to lean on him. Amen. To come to him,

cast all your cares upon him because he

cares for you.

The steps of a good man are

ordered by the Lord.

We walk in his way. So, Jacob

left home in a crisis that he created.

He's out here in the wilderness in this

town named L. Just this random place in

the desert. There's no tent. There's no

altar. There's no choir. There's no

priest. Just dirt, darkness, and his own

bad decisions. Have you been there?

>> Probably feeling like he missed it.

Our own decisions have a way of doing

that to us.

Sometimes the results of our life can

make us feel like we've absolutely

missed it.

Spent a lot of time with a lot of people

over the years in ministry.

Sometimes when life happens, people

start thinking that they're in the wrong

marriage,

the wrong job,

wrong ministry, wrong city.

They start to lose that honeymoon

feeling of when things first started.

And and they start to get in this place

like, man, I I made these choices. I'm

going down this road and I just don't

feel like God's I feel like I missed it.

And sometimes from those feelings,

people make the worst decisions that

they've ever made.

Feeling like you've missed it. The

beautiful thing is that God invades

wrong places all the time.

You might say, "Man, I think I'm in the

wrong marriage." That doesn't mean get

out. That means invite God in.

>> Amen.

>> Preaching to somebody this morning.

Let me say this. God doesn't wait for

you to get to the right place. He makes

the place you are in right.

That'll preach right there.

Number one is Bethl, the place you

didn't choose. Number two is the latter,

the grace you didn't choose.

Let me say this, and we're back to that

linear testimony thinking. The latter is

not some spiritual promotion system.

I have watched individuals go through

what we call disciplehip. They they've

learned the scriptures. They've gone

through this process. They've gone

through that and they still are so far

from God that they are not qualified to

serve.

I've watched others with no formal

biblical education, no real formal

disciplehip somehow be in this place of

constant surrender and leaning upon him

that there's an anointing and a grace

upon them that you can look at them and

know that God is on them.

The kingdom of God is not well if I do

this then I get this.

It's forget everything you knew and

depend on him.

The latter is not a spiritual promotion

system.

It's a picture of a God who refuses to

stay distant from his creation.

The gospel is not climb until you're

good enough.

It's Christ came down because you never

would be.

That's the gospel.

John chapter 1 and verse 51.

John 1 · chapter mention

And Jesus said to him, "Truly, truly, I

say to you, you will see heaven open and

the angels of God ascending and

descending on the Son of Man."

That sound familiar?

That sound uncanny similar to Genesis

Genesis 28 · chapter mention

chapter 28?

I think Jesus knew the scriptures. I

think the men that he was speaking with

knew the scriptures. And I think what

Jesus is saying here is that I'm the

ladder that connects heaven and earth.

You'll see heaven open and the angels of

God ascending and descending

on the son of man.

Jesus is saying, "I'm Jacob's ladder."

Jesus is the connection between a holy

God and a messy human.

He came to seek and to save that which

was lost.

He came for the sick.

Too often

we get in a self-manipulation that we

think we're okay.

And to really receive of God this ladder

from heaven to earth, we have to be able

to recognize how sick we are.

In humility, we have to recognize what

an absolute mess we are.

Can I just preach? I'm preaching my own

experience to you.

The latter is not self-improvement.

The latter found Jacob. Jacob didn't

discover the latter.

Many times the testimony is I didn't

come to church looking for God.

God came looking for me.

Grace is not a staircase you climb. It's

a savior who descends.

Say heaven came down.

Psalm 40 is a psalm of David. It's

beautiful. David said this. He said, I

waited patiently for the Lord. He

inclined to me and heard my cry.

David, what are you crying about?

It says that he drew me up from the pit

of destruction

out of the miry bog and he set my feet

upon a rock, making my steps secure. He

put a new song in my mouth, a song of

praise to our God. Many will see in fear

and put their trust in the Lord.

I don't know what your testimony is, but

the latter came down into my muck and

mire.

Amen.

The real shock in this story isn't that

Jacob saw heaven. It's that heaven saw

Jacob and still spoke to him.

You can write that down.

Jacob doesn't qualify for this

encounter.

We don't qualify to be in the presence

of God.

We don't qualify to make heaven our

eternal home. Only through the latter.

Only through Jesus Christ do we gain

access to the father do we gain access

to an eternity with him.

Not of works lest any man should boast.

Nothing that you did, nothing that I

did,

nothing that we did. We cannot earn it.

All we can do is through humility

receive it.

I'm preaching the gospel to you this

morning.

Jacob's resume

is liar, manipulator, deceiver, runner.

And heaven's response is loved, chosen,

pursued,

forgiven.

What's your resume?

Well, it doesn't matter. I can tell you

heaven's response.

Forgiven,

loved, pursued.

I love the reality that I didn't choose

God, but God chose me.

Number three is I woke up.

I woke up from unaware to awaken.

I'll say this. The turning point in this

story isn't God arriving.

It's Jacob awakening.

Jacob doesn't say, "God just showed up."

He says this. He says, "Surely the Lord

is in this place and I did not know it."

Do you know that God is omnipresent?

That means he's everywhere all at one

time.

No matter where you're at in life, no

matter what you're doing, God is there.

What changed is Jacob's awareness of

God's presence. But God's presence has

always been there.

I woke up at Bethl.

Look at your neighbor and say, "Wake

up."

You're not waiting on God to arrive.

God's waiting on you to wake up,

to be aware,

to be conscious.

Let me dispel some wrong thinking this

morning. Your next level doesn't start

when your situation changes. It starts

when your awareness of God changes.

Revival begins when sleepers become

seers.

When I can wake up and see that God's

actually in this thing. And at Bethl,

the scenery doesn't change. It's still

just a rock in a desert. What changes is

Jacob's awareness.

The place didn't change. The perspective

did. Paul prayed this in the New

Testament. He said, "I pray that the

eyes of your heart would be

enlightened."

I pray, in other words, I pray that

you'd wake up and see what God's up to.

That the eyes of your heart would be

enlightened.

Time to wake up. That's my prayer for my

own life. The ploy of the enemy, even

after we've been awakened and walking

with God,

is to slowly lure us back to sleep.

Have you felt it?

Have you felt the draw, the pull to to

bring you back down and put you back to

sleep?

The Bible says, "Wake up, oh sleeper.

Wake up."

And what I've learned serving God is

that if I'm unwilling to uh get myself

to be awake to his presence, that God

will sound the alarm clock.

God loves me too much to let me drift

off.

And there's times that the bells start

ringing in my life that God gets my

attention.

I like it a whole lot better when I wake

myself up because when God wakes me up,

it's usually something pretty loud and

pretty serious.

God's already here. I want to be more

conscious of God's presence. I want to

be more awake and alert to him. Here's

the reality. God is already here. He's

already at your job. He's already in

your marriage. He's already in your

commute. He's already in your crisis.

The question is not is God here. The

question is, am I awake?

Awake to God's presence.

Also, my prayer over my own life is to

be awake to God's purpose.

God, what are you doing? Number four in

your notes, the vow

from consumer to covenant.

Bethl is not just a moment of encounter.

Really for Jacob, it becomes a marker of

commitment. He takes a stone and he uses

a pillow and he set it up as a pillar.

Can I say this? The test became the

testimony.

He pours oil on it. He names the place

Bethl. Then he makes a vow. God, if

you'll be with me,

then you will be my Lord and I will give

you a tenth. He says, "Because you've

given me everything, I want to give 10%

back." Remember, this is a church kid.

He knows that's the right thing to do.

I don't know why when I got saved, I

didn't understand theology or doctrine

or anything. I just I had this moment

that that I walked in a sinner and and

an atheist and all this thing and God

showed up. I I identified with the story

of the latter and God I mean God really

wrecked my life in a in the best way.

And somehow in that revelation I just

saw that the church people they they

tithe. I didn't know what that meant.

It's like they take the offering and

it's like oh I guess I'm I'm going to do

this too because I'm so grateful. I knew

that everything I had came from God.

That it was a privilege and an honor to

give something back.

>> See, I know what I am without him.

And I know what God's blessed me with.

And that awareness gave me a heart of

gratitude to give back to him. Jacob

catches the same revelation.

When the grace of God falls on you,

listen, grace doesn't just comfort.

Grace empowers for commitment.

A real encounter with God turns consumer

people into covenant people.

That I'll do what God's asking me to do

even when I don't feel it, even when I

don't see it, even when I don't think

it. Because I know that God said it.

That's why I do. I am no longer a

consumer.

Well, the church, this doesn't really

meet my needs. I don't know if I'm going

to keep giving

consumer Christian.

Consumer Christian.

I've had seasons in my life, this isn't

in my notes, and I wasn't planning on

preaching on tithing. Stick with me,

folks. If you're new, we don't talk

about money all the time. H, now I

forgot what I was going to say.

Stick with me, folks.

I've had seasons in my life that I've

been in a situation where the man of God

leading,

I didn't fully trust.

I I didn't wasn't real sure what they

were doing with my money when I gave.

I've had seasons like that. And the

enemy would come and put a thought in my

mind, well, you shouldn't give. man, God

will check me and say, "You give because

of covenant, not because you trust in

man."

Amen.

I said, "Well, I guess I'll give

because I'm giving to God, not to them.

And what they do or don't do with those

resources, that's between them and God.

That has nothing to do with me. But I

I'm in covenant with God. And I gave my

peace." Amen.

Now, if they want to mess with God's

money, they get to deal with God.

>> And I'll tell you this, you do not want

to be on the wrong end of that.

I better get back to my notes.

Real encounter with God turns consumer

people into covenant people.

And Jacob's vow isn't set up as a deal

or a condition he sets for God.

It's a response to the unconditional

promise God just gave him.

God says, "I will five times before

Jacob says,"I will" once.

When God shows up and you understand the

great blessing and the great grace and

the great mercy that he pours out upon

us, I go, "Man, I'll follow you

anywhere. I'll give you anything. I'm in

love with you."

Number five, the promise fulfilled.

When you follow the life of Jacob

and the blessings that came, the

promises fulfilled,

we really begin to understand what the

grace of God can do.

And God changes Jacob's name,

thankfully, from deceiver.

I'm sure that's the first thing God

stepped in and said, "Okay, the name's

got to go because it reminds me of a guy

I kicked out of heaven, right?"

Changes his name from deceiver to

Israel.

And do you know that Jacob had 12 sons

and those 12 sons became the 12 tribes

of Israel and they became the people of

God that God could bless? Do you know

that all of uh God's people are of the

lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and

Jacob?

What the grace of God can do

from deceiver

to Israel. Can I say this? Your label

does not get the final say. God's grace

does.

God's grace does.

It's the ultimate evidence that God's

grace is stronger than your nature.

Thank God.

12 sons became the 12 tribes of Israel,

which became the people of God.

Do you know that your single moment of

surrender

can have generational implications

beyond calculation?

years ago, we were in Michigan and

had a group of men. We had the 15

passenger church van,

another vehicle following us. We had a

group of men from our church and we

traveled all the way down to this

foreign land called Indiana.

We went to Indianapolis for this men's

conference. It was quite the conference.

There were over 12,000 men present in

this arena. Absolutely amazing. And uh

I'm I'm this guy. If I go to a vet, I

don't want to be in the back. We got

there early and fought through the

12,000 humans to get to the front row

cuz you they didn't have assigned seats.

You get there, you go, man, we ran right

up there and we got the front row and

saved some seats for the old guys that

were taking their time to get in.

And one of the meetings with 12,000 men,

just hearing 12,000 voices worship God

alone changes the atmosphere. In one of

the meetings, they gave a call for

salvation and they counted over 3,000

men walk the aisle and come forward to

pray salvation. Can I tell you this? I'm

standing in the front row and I'm

watching hundreds

and I watch a thousand. I look back and

I see the sea of men responding to that

moment to give their life to Christ. and

the hair on my arm stood up.

Powerful move of God. In one of the

sessions, the man of God was he brought

out a chain

onto the platform with him. And he was

talking about the generational curses

and how it acts much like a chain. And

he was asking us what what's in your

generational line? Is it addiction?

What did your fathers pass down to you?

Is it anger? Is it manipulation? Is it

fear?

What is it that you've inherited?

Talks about our father and then our

grandfather, our great-grandfather keeps

going back in this line and it almost

starts to feel depressing like, man,

you're right. This stuff's just coming

down the line.

He says, "The beautiful thing through

Christ is that today the chain can be

broken

and the generational curse can stop with

you."

And that you today can be the first link

in a new chain of generational blessing

and promise.

Your single moment of surrender can have

generational

implications.

Your awakening isn't just for you.

It's for generations.

Let's stand to our feet all over this

house.

I'm going to ask the worship team to

come.

Today is the day of salvation.

Today is the day of awakening.

The title of the message is I woke up at

Bethl. Excuse me. Which means the house

of God.

I want you to hear me. No matter what

circumstance your life is in, God is in

it with you.

We're not praying for God to change the

circumstance of your life, but we're

praying for an awakening to happen that

you see what God's up to in the mess.

>> I believe this, the mess can become the

message.

>> Amen.

>> The mess can become the message.

I'm a mess. I know I am.

I was before he found me. I'm just a

mess.

But the mess got surrendered to the

lordship of Jesus and became the

message.

I want to ask this. What's in your

generational chain that needs broken

today?

What's been coming right down through

the line?

And a lot of times we're back to this

nickname thing. A lot of times uh we

have this subconscious name that we

spoke over oursel

and you might not even know where it

came from.

There's something looming in the

subconscious that says failure.

That says you're afraid.

Something that says you'll never get it

right.

addict,

divorced,

disqualified,

what's your nickname?

What do you call yourself

today? God wants to change your name

from deceiver

to Israel.

Father, we thank you, Lord, for your

Holy Spirit.

I thank you for your grace and your

mercy.

Lord, I'm thankful that we don't have to

stay.

Father, I've got to tell you, I'm so

thankful for Jesus, the ladder of

salvation

coming down. And Father, we're thankful

that even in this moment as the latter

is here in this place over our lives,

God, that you are smiling down from

heaven and looking upon your children

and and and having a heart to make

covenant with us.

Father, we're thankful that heaven came

down.

It's a miracle, Father,

that you would even speak to us. And

Father, I thank you for this day.

So Lord, I pray nothing in this moment

would hinder one soul in this room from

receiving freedom and salvation,

from receiving their new name.

Lord, I'm thankful.

God, get your band of angels ready

because a new name will be written in

heaven on this day.

Praise you, Jesus. We're going to

continue in the heart of prayer with

eyes closed. If that's you this morning,

you're saying, "Man, I I need a new

name. I need I need to surrender my life

to Jesus."

With all eyes closed, would you just

lift your hand and say, "Pastor, pray

for me."

Thank you.

Praise you, Jesus.

Thank you, Lord. Father, you've seen the

hands,

Lord. I pray

a blessing over their hearts and over

their lives.

Praise you, Jesus.

Thank you, Lord.

Saints, could we just pray together and

pray a prayer of salvation and

rededication in this moment? If you

lifted your hand, pray this prayer. It's

really what happens in your heart, not

necessarily the words that you say. I

want to give you a template of salvation

today. Would you follow me in this

prayer? Would you say, "Father in

heaven, Father, I receive you now. I

receive you

>> as savior

as Lord. Father, I receive

>> a new name. Your name for me.

Father, I confess

that I'm a mess. And you're my savior.

Let my mass become your message.

I receive salvation now

in Jesus name. Amen.