Jacob's Ladder

I'm flying away

Okay, so it's Wacked Out Simple Stuff time.

So we've talked just briefly, we always talk briefly about something that makes us kind of unique or something we know from the Bible.

Today I want to talk to you about what's called our key verse.

So the church has a key verse, a verse that we chose in the early days when we first started to plant the church and what God led us to.

And the reference is 1 John 1 3, the moment of truth.

Can anyone say it from memory?

Take a stab at it.

Okay, RJ is going to try it.

Doesn't it follow fellowship with our fellowship?

Nope.

No.

Go.

No, it's 1 John 1 3.

Oh my goodness.

Okay, so tonight's entire lesson will be...

So what we have seen and heard...

That's what I forgot.

Who did?

Me.

Alright, go, let's hear it.

We have seen and heard that you also may have fellowship with us and with our Father and God and His Son Jesus Christ.

And our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

Very good, okay, so we got it.

Alright, so based on what she just said, I hope you were listening.

Were you listening?

Based on what she just said, what you have seen and heard, what are you supposed to do with it?

Tell people.

Okay, Erin said tell people, okay, to proclaim.

I had a funny instance one time when I had a lady asking me for a passcode and the passcode was proclaim and she said...

I said, I can't think of what it is.

And she said, well, let me give you a hint.

And I said, okay, I'm ready, give me a hint.

And she goes, it has to do with praying.

I'm like, praying?

And it pops in my head at that moment, I said, proclaim.

The password is proclaim and she goes, yeah, that's it.

And I said, what does that have to do with praying?

And it really kind of doesn't, right?

We pray, we talk to God, really proclaiming doesn't really...

But that's what we do.

With what we have seen and heard, we proclaim.

Why do we proclaim it?

Why do we tell people what we have seen and heard?

Yes, so they can have fellowship with us, alright?

A church is a fellowship.

This is people living together, a family.

Brothers and sisters in Christ caring about each other, right?

You pick up each other's burdens.

You help each other out.

We work together to do the things that we do.

Nobody can preach unless there are people doing all the other things to make that happen.

Nobody can teach.

Nobody can sing, right?

You can do all that stuff by yourself, but you would not be in fellowship,

which is what the church has called to.

So we preach so they might have fellowship with us.

But really we do that, we proclaim it so they might have fellowship with us.

Because why?

Because our fellowship is with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, right?

And if a person comes into fellowship with Jesus, then what happens to them?

Right?

What happens if a person comes into fellowship with Jesus?

What happens?

I don't know.

Born a friend?

No?

And he's asking about why?

Okay.

So if a person comes into fellowship with Jesus, that means they become a friend with Jesus.

That means they get saved.

Can you say that?

They get saved.

Okay?

So then they're going to spend eternity.

It's hard to go spend eternity at somebody's house that you don't even know

or that you've never had any fellowship with or friendship with the whole time you've been alive, right?

And so we fellowship with each other, yes.

But we fellowship most importantly with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

And we would like to see other people do that too.

Interesting thing about that, did it say you have to tell people a lot of Bible verses?

No.

No?

Did it say you have to tell people the exact story of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus?

No.

No.

Did it say you have to tell people how they should live?

No.

No.

What are you supposed to proclaim?

What we have seen and heard.

Your personal experience with God, what you learned yourself, what you know yourself.

A lot of times I hear people say, well I heard a preacher say, okay,

and that is kind of that because you heard the preacher say,

but then you go and talk about it, you say that, and then you talk for like two minutes about what the preacher said.

That's not the same thing.

Okay?

You've got to be able to tell what you know about God.

And everybody in this room is unique then.

You're a unique person, whether you're male or female, your culture, your background, your skin color,

your socioeconomic, your core, your rich, whatever, everybody's unique.

Right?

And so your uniqueness, you're going to be able to reach people with your story about what you have seen

that somebody else may not be able to hear from somebody else.

Right?

So you've been through things that maybe nobody else in this room has been through.

And then when you share and say, I went through that, this is what I saw God doing.

Remember from Psalm 78, the works of the Lord, this is what God was doing while that was happening.

And they can come in to fellowship and you go, you know what?

I resonate with that.

I'm like that.

I feel that.

I understand what you're talking about.

And then you say, but look at what God was doing.

And they're like, okay, I'm listening to you now.

I hear what God was doing when you said that.

I was at Myers.

I used this illustration that I'll close.

I was going through the cash register, talking to the lady.

And I said, hey, how you doing?

She saw I'm kind of down, I'm having some trouble.

And I said, oh, I'm so sorry.

I said, is there anything I can do?

I don't know this lady from Adam.

Is there anything I can do?

And she said, well, no, not really.

And I said, well, what kind of trouble is this?

Is it health, financial?

What is it?

She said, well, I'm having trouble with my schedule.

I said, they're really messing with my schedule.

They keep making me work on days when I'm not supposed to work and when I'm supposed to have off.

And I said, oh, I feel that.

I said, I worked in a restaurant for seven and a half years.

I worked in retail for almost seven years before that.

And that, what you just described, it was like that for me all the time.

I said, and I told her briefly, I remember in line for like two and a half minutes, I told her briefly a couple of my stories.

Like I told her about working on Christmas.

Even all my family was at my house.

And I couldn't get off work to go be there at my house.

I told her, I said, so I totally get what you're going through.

And she said, yeah, I see.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

You know what?

You know what I'm going through.

And I said, you know what changed everything for me?

It changed the way I looked at it, changed the way I felt about it, changed about what I was going through.

What changed everything for me was when I met Jesus.

Two and a half minutes.

Proclaim what you have seen and heard.

Bring them into fellowship with you.

And if your fellowship really is with God, the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, they just might get saved.

That's one of the reasons, maybe one of the main reasons why our church's key verse is 1st John 1, 3.

And let me encourage you to memorize that verse, because clearly we have not done that in a while.

You go back to that and remember the words and I'll do the same.

Let's pray together then.

And then we have another song of worship and we'll release the children to go to the classroom.

Father in heaven, we praise you and thank you for being in fellowship with us.

I think about how holy you are, how powerful you are, how you know everything,

how you'll go on and on beyond what I can understand or where I could ever go.

And even after my body breaks down, you'll still be going.

And you go all the way back.

Since before there was anything, you created everything out of nothing through your word.

That's, it's unfathomable to me.

That means it's really, really hard for me to wrap my mind around that you want to have fellowship with me.

But that is exactly the case.

Your word clearly testifies that we see it and I've seen you do it over and over and over again in my own life

and in the lives of others that you truly do want to have a relationship with us.

And then it is by your power and your knowledge, by your ability, by your desire, by your word,

by the miracles that you've done, by the goings and the comings and the stayings that you make that possible.

And so Lord we ask you to teach us how to tell people, how to proclaim what we have seen and heard

so that they might have fellowship with us.

And then we also ask you Lord to make it that our fellowship is always with you and your son Jesus Christ.

And then maybe if they come into fellowship with us, they'll come into fellowship with you.

And we know that latter part, that backside where they're in fellowship with you is more important.

They don't have to come to us.

Really Lord, everybody's got to come to you.

And so we praise you for that and for your willingness, for your desire, for all the power that you've put into it already.

We ask you to watch over us in this next 45 minutes to an hour as we delve into your word and try to learn a little something.

And even now as we praise you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

I forgot to make an announcement.

There is a youth choir for fifth grade and up meeting today at 730 in this room.

I forgot to make that announcement.

In the meantime, I need everybody to stand when I'm going to need some help with motions.

If you're a motioner, be motiony.

I'm going to fumble through it.

I'm going to be a friend.

I'm so glad you're in my life.

I'm so glad you came to save us, Jesus.

We came from land to earth to show the way.

From the earth to the cross, I did to them.

From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky.

Lord, I lift Your name on high.

We came from heaven to earth to show the way.

From the earth to the cross, I did to them.

From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky.

Lord, I lift Your name on high.

Good job.

Okay, at this time we'll release the children and their leaders to the classroom.

Thank you.

God has a drunkard's cry.

Soldiers need not to let him die.

Better than a hallelujah sometimes.

We pour out our miseries.

God just gives a melody.

Beautiful, the less we are.

The honest cries of breaking hearts.

Better than a hallelujah.

Women holding on for life.

Dying men living up to life.

Better than a hallelujah sometimes.

It's a shame when it's been done.

It's a silence when the words won't come.

Better than a hallelujah sometimes.

We pour out our miseries.

God just gives a melody.

Beautiful, the less we are.

The honest cries of breaking hearts.

Better than a hallelujah.

Better than a church bell ringing.

Better than a choir singing out.

Singing out.

We pour out our miseries.

God just gives a melody.

Beautiful, the less we are.

The honest cries of breaking hearts.

Better than a hallelujah.

Better than a hallelujah.

Alright, so you've got a worksheet coming around.

Pens coming around.

As soon as you get your paper, assuming you're willing,

you can write the reference anywhere in the middle of the ladder.

If I tell you that this is a story about a ladder, could anyone guess the book?

It is Jacob's Ladder, that's correct. Now can you guess the book?

Anybody?

It is Genesis, very good. Now can anybody get the chapter?

This will be really tough.

If you just kind of guess in the vicinity, I might give it to you.

27 is super close, it's 28. Well done. I'm impressed. Somebody got really close that fast.

You got lucky, we'll take it.

Okay, so the reference is Genesis 28 versus 10 through 22.

You can write it anywhere in the boxes of the ladder, just write it in the ladder.

Anywhere you want. Truth is you can write it anywhere on the paper that you want.

28 verse 10-22.

Those 12 verses. Some of us already know a little bit about this story.

Genesis 28, 10-22.

I'm going to read, as I read, you do what you can to fill in the boxes and I'll try to help you.

You're basically going to start in the middle of the page,

and then when they're speaking, those big bubbles are somebody speaking.

So here we go. I think you'll figure it out.

If not, I won't go fast until we make sure everybody's on the right page.

So then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went down toward Haran.

He came to a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set.

He took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and laid down in that place.

He had a dream. And behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven.

So you see the ladder in the middle of the page? You see the H at the top?

I'm sure you can guess what that is. Yep.

I'll fill that in as heaven.

So we've got a ladder reaching from the earth up to heaven.

Verse 12 again.

He had a dream. Behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven.

And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

Okay, can you find the angels on your paper?

Yep. So the lines up and down next to the ladder. Does somebody else say that as well?

All right. Okay. Well, get ready.

Okay, good job.

Okay. So you should have on the lines next to the ladder going down the capital A and then N on the next line G-E-L-S going down.

And then on the other side of the ladder, you should have the A on the bottom and then N-G-E-L-S going up.

Why is it written like that? Was it going down and going up?

Because they were ascending. Those angels are ascending and descending.

The one with the A on the bottom is ascending. It's going up. A-N-G-E-L-S going up.

The one with the A on the top is A-N-G-E-L-S going down.

Funny story. Many years ago, very short story.

I was in the spelling bee in junior high and the word that I got knocked out on, I had two people left,

me and one other person to go to the final and the word I got knocked out on was angel.

Funny story. I spelled it A-N-G-L-E instead of E-L.

Anyway, that's pretty funny. I wasn't a Christian back then.

I hadn't spent any time in church or any time in the Bible, so I guess maybe that was part of it.

So we've got angels ascending and descending on the ladder.

Then it says, and behold, the Lord stood above it. So above the ladder.

And he said, and now we're in quotation marks.

If you'll look, you'll see the voice is coming down out of the clouds. You see that?

We're on the left-hand side.

So it says I-A-T is what you have. I-A-T.

Yes, I am the, keep going.

I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.

And so you can just fill those in. I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham.

And that A got cut off, but it's and the God of Isaac.

You can fill those in.

So that's the first thing that he said, that God said when Jacob was looking up and saw the ladder.

Before we go any further, why is that really significant?

Think about it. He's the God of those two men, right?

So not just those two men, but the people of their generation.

If he is the God of Abraham and Isaac, why is that really significant?

Where is Abraham at this time?

When he's speaking, where is Abraham?

He's in heaven, right? Abraham has already passed away by then.

So he's in heaven. But God was the God of Abraham when Abraham was alive.

So if he was the God of Abraham when Abraham was alive, and then at this time, probably Isaac is also dead.

But he's going to be the God of Jacob. And then when you get to Jesus's day, that I am statement tells them that God is always, he is present tense.

He is before everything and after everything. And he's always there.

So it's an I am statement.

When Moses is thinking about his being recruited to go back into Egypt, and Moses is kind of chickening out and saying, I can't do it.

I don't talk good. And God said, no, you're going to go do it.

He said, well, who will I say sent me?

And God said, tell them I am. I am the God of Abraham and Isaac.

Right. OK. All right. So you got to there.

You're going to follow down, stay, continue down the bubble.

And I forgot what verse I was on now. I got to find it again.

Thirteen. OK. So it says I am the Lord is in the middle of thirteen. Yep.

Up through Isaac. And then it says the land on which you lie.

I will give it to you and your descendants.

I will give it to you and your descendants. OK. So it's not word for word.

So if it says LFJ, what is it? Land for Jacob. Right. Land for Jacob.

And then it says and descendants land for Jacob and descendants.

OK. Now, 14, your descendants will also now we're still continuing down the bubble.

Just follow it down the bubble. OK.

Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth.

See it? Descendants like dust. That's pretty easy. OK.

You just follow along and I'll just go a little faster.

And if somebody gets stuck, quickly raise your hand. So I can stop.

OK. The descendants will also be like the dust of the earth.

And you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south.

And in you and in your descendants, show all the families of the earth be blessed.

So what is that at the bottom of the bubble there? BAF.

Anybody got it? Kashan, what would you put there at the bottom? It says and BAF.

What are those words? Families is F. So BA. What is it? Got it?

Jason, you got it? OK. Bless all families. Bless all families.

So basically, God was declaring what he was going to do for Jacob.

That's a promise. You could call it a prophecy. Right.

He was declaring what he was going to do for Jacob.

He's going to take his descendants and make them like the dust.

So here's the thing. If a person has kids, it doesn't matter if they have five kids or a thousand kids themselves,

which would be pretty unheard of. Right.

They have to have a dozen or probably 40 wives to be able to have a thousand kids.

And a person has kids that does not make them like the dust, even if they have a thousand kids.

And if they're thousand kids had a thousand kids, that does not make them like the dust, does it?

That'd be a million kids. And it's still not anywhere near the dust.

How much you know how much dust is in this room right now? Just this one room? Yeah.

In the probably trillions. Right.

You know, it's only that low because we vacuum in here all the time and we dust in here all the time and we clean the chairs all the time.

Right. So it's in it's very the numbers are very big.

So the dust of all the earth, you can't do that by normal multiplication.

So that's actually a prophecy about faith. Right.

That people who believe become children of Jacob.

Follow and Jacob will be called Israel. All right.

So now now we're going up to the other side because God is still speaking.

So you're going up to the right corner and you'll see a speech bubble coming down from the cloud on the right.

And it's got the little number two next to it.

OK.

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go.

And we'll bring you back to this land.

For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

Is there a teenager that can fill in the whole thing?

Let a teenager try first.

Can you do the whole thing, Caleb?

You think so?

First three. What are the first three?

No.

That is correct. Do you like cashews?

Well, you have to earn them.

I didn't even understand what it was.

Sorry, Caitlin.

OK.

All right.

So he will be with him. He will keep him. He will bring him back.

All that's those phrases.

And he would not leave him until I have done.

Now, in the verse, it actually said until I have what I have done, what I have promised you.

And the emphasis is on the promise because he promised it.

We know he'll do it because God keeps his promises.

Right. And that's part of the lesson that he was teaching Jacob.

And I submit to you that by the time all of this is done, Jacob does not have the lesson.

So Jacob's example may not be the best to follow because we don't necessarily get.

If we follow his example, we wouldn't necessarily get everything that God's trying to explain here.

But he does get a lot.

Verse 16 then.

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep, it says.

So he woke up. He had this dream and he woke up.

And he said, Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.

Now, if you'll notice right below the ladder down there, you'll see little Jacob standing.

And he's got a speech bubble going up to the right.

And we're going to have a little arrow coming down where we just got done filling out what God said.

And then we've got what Jacob said.

Let's have somebody else take a stab before Emily takes all the candy.

All right. Go. Haley, go.

Okay. Start with the Lord.

That's perfect. Do you like cashews?

All right.

Be a little careful with those because those things will knock you out, man.

Okay. All right.

So the Lord is in this place and I did not know it, which is a profound statement.

If you think about it.

If you were a Christian and you would counter the Lord, you should know.

But remember that in the Old Testament, we talk about Genesis and all those past times, all the way up to Acts chapter two,

the Holy Spirit did not live in people by and large or a few instances.

But usually it always says the Holy Spirit fell on them or was on them.

It doesn't say in them.

So the Lord was there and he dreamt about it and he looked up.

Now he saw the Lord standing in heaven above the ladder and speaking.

And then he wakes up and he says, Hey, the Lord is in this place.

And I did not know it.

Okay. And then he goes on.

He was afraid and said, How awesome is this place?

Exclamation point.

This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.

Fill in that next speech bubble.

I'm waiting to see if Kishan's going to get it and win cashews or not.

Going once.

Okay. I'll read the verse again.

Yes. How awesome is this place?

This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.

Now you can't show them your paper.

No, no, no.

All right. Who's got it?

I'm not going to wait for him.

All right. Natalie, go.

Very good. That is correct.

Do you like cashews?

Okay.

Okay. We're on verse 18.

So Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head.

Remember he was sleeping with a stone for a pillow when he had the dream?

He took that stone that he put under his head and he set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top.

Okay. You see the blanks there?

There are three blanks.

You've got the first two right now.

S and P. What are they?

Jason?

Stone and pillar.

That is correct. Stone and pillar.

Do you like cashews?

Okay.

So we've got stone and pillar.

Listen to what happens now and that last word will fill in.

He set it up as a pillar and he poured oil on its top.

He called the name of that place Bethel, however.

Previously the name of the city had been Luz.

Then Jacob made a vow or an oath saying, and we'll stop there for a second.

The last blank is?

Oath.

Okay.

So he set it up as a stone pillar or an oath.

Now you'll also notice that the word vow is there.

And I made you like, don't pick on me about it, but I made a little dot to dot.

You can connect those, their numbered, connect the numbered dots to make the explosion around the vow.

It was just for fun.

And I started it.

One is up in the upper left hand corner.

One, two, three, four, five.

I did.

Six is down.

Seven is up.

You see it?

Does it make any sense whatsoever?

Okay.

I thought it'd be fun.

Just thought it'd be fun.

Okay.

And then you'll see on your paper there's a circle three.

So now we're going over to the left side.

This is another quote from Jacob.

So we've got the lines from Jacob going down.

You'll see the circle three there, three arrows on the left hand side.

We're almost through the text.

Somebody help him.

There you go.

Man needs help.

All right.

Here we go.

So it said he called the name of that place Bethel.

However, previously the name of the city had been Luz.

We'll come back to that in a second.

Then Jacob made a vow saying, if God will be with me and will keep me on this journey I take, will give me food to eat and garments to wear.

And I return to my father's house in safety, then the Lord will be my God.

So it starts under the arrows with God with me and it goes all the way down to be my God.

Can anybody do the whole thing?

I'll give you a minute.

What?

Yes, ma'am.

I sure can.

So it says, if God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father's house in safety, then the Lord will be my God.

I can do it.

I have all the answers right here.

Caleb, you got the whole thing?

First thing, no.

The first thing is God with.

You got the top part?

Yeah, what do you got?

You got the top part?

Kashawn, give me what you got.

Start from the top and give me what you got.

God will be with me and will keep me on this journey.

Okay, it's keep me.

The K got cut off.

On this journey.

Yep.

Food to eat.

Yep.

You can't do that next part?

Are you sure?

Look at it now.

He said food to eat and what else?

Starts with a G and garments to wear.

Garments are clothing.

It's a weird word.

We don't use it very much anymore, but it means clothing.

Garments to wear.

And then you got H and S. Jason?

I've got the whole thing.

Okay, go from where it left off.

So, H and S.

H, S is what?

Home safely.

Yep.

The Lord will be my God.

That's right.

Okay.

So, notice that he's kind of a bargain.

It's like a trade off.

He says, well, if God will do, just keep me on this one journey.

God promises a lot more than that, right?

But he says, if God will keep me on this one journey, take me there and back, give me food to eat, garments to wear, bring me home safely, then God will be my God.

So, he's kind of making a deal.

That make sense?

Even though God made a promise, this is sort of his test of God as to whether or not God will keep his promise.

Years ago when I was at East Toledo, there was a young man.

He came from a Muslim family.

His family was devout Muslims.

And he had been, but he was a teenager, and he had found his way into Vacation Bible School.

And we had stories about God and Jesus.

And afterwards, we were all sitting around the table.

We had pizza that night at the end of Vacation Bible School.

There was about 12 teenagers and myself.

And I wound up sitting strategically, perhaps, across the table from him.

And I started sharing with him, asking him about what he believed, did he believe in God, and so on.

And he said he did believe in God, but his interpretation of God was Allah, right?

And then I asked him about Jesus, and he said, no, Jesus was the grand teacher, but he didn't believe what we believed about Jesus.

Ultimately, he said to me, if God would send somebody to tell me that this is true, then I would know.

And I kind of joked, and he said, what am I, chopped liver?

I'm sitting right here, I'm telling you about it right now.

He goes, no, no, I have to know.

And he said, I need a sign.

I need to know for sure that God is who he says he is.

I need something to happen.

And I said, well, let me tell you this.

If you will trust in the Lord, if you will accept God's promises,

if you will accept that God will do what he says he will do, then immediately something will happen.

But it's kind of like, okay, I'll put the keys in the ignition, but I'm not going to turn it.

I just expect the car to start.

That's kind of where you're at.

And so I told him, trust in the Lord right now in this moment.

I guarantee you something will happen.

And he couldn't do it.

He wouldn't do it.

And then he left, and he did not, as far as I know, at any time in that near future, accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

And he also was going to have to be making a big choice between his human family, right, because they would have disowned him.

He would have had to have probably find a place to live.

I mean, it would have been really rough.

And he was only like 14 years old because they're pretty volatile about that kind of thing.

Okay.

So Jacob is kind of already on a journey.

He's already lost his safe home.

That's why he left, because his brother was going to kill him.

Okay. And so it was kind of like that.

And so if you would, what are we doing?

Are we good?

Focus. Thank you.

All right. So if you want to make a deal with God, here's your deal.

God says, trust me, and I'll take care of it.

That's the deal.

You got some other kind of deal.

You need God to do a miracle.

He's already done them.

He's done hundreds, thousands, millions, and people don't believe just because God does miracles.

I can rattle off a half dozen miracles.

I personally have seen right now.

One of them is standing before you today because when I got saved, there was no way I could have ever stood up here.

I couldn't go to a restaurant and order a sandwich without condiments because I was afraid of what the minimum wage worker behind the counter would think of me.

I missed 38 days in my junior year of high school because I never wanted to give an oral report.

And I did get stuck giving one, but I missed every other one.

I'd stay out of school until they were past me so far they wouldn't go back.

And the one time I went back and just said, oh, you're back.

You can do your report. And I got stuck doing it.

But every other one I missed.

And the truant officer was hunting me down because I was afraid to ever speak.

I couldn't speak to a stranger.

I was afraid of what people thought of me, except when I was in my uniform at Kroger's and then I knew I wasn't it wasn't me.

I was representing the company and I was just doing what I didn't want to lose my job, wanted to get paid.

And so then I could do it.

But any other time, I couldn't do it.

And now I'm teaching this lesson.

And it's been like that almost from the beginning.

God flipped a switch and so you got to do what I tell you to do and I'm going to take care of everything.

And that's how it's been.

OK. All right.

If you look to the left before we go into the conclusions, we're going to fill out a couple of things to take care of real quick.

OK. So the first one, you'll notice there are two signs.

See two signs.

One sign is pointing toward Jacob where he's standing at the bottom of the ladder and the other one is laying on the ground.

Two signs, one's pointing toward the bottom of the ladder and one's laying on the ground.

There's a little hammer nails there.

OK. So the sign that's pointing toward Jacob, the ladder, should say what?

This is hard because it goes all the way back to the beginning.

Does anybody remember what it what he changed the name of it to?

Trina's got it. It's Bethel.

OK. Bethel B E T H E L.

That's what he changed the name of it to.

Now, does anybody know what that means?

It means house of God. That is correct.

OK. I thought I was going to put you on the spot, but you were ready.

OK. Now, how about the one on the ground?

Go, Emily. That is correct. L U Z.

All right. So formerly called Luz, this place will now be called Bethel.

All right. Now, if you look all the way over on the right hand side, down under the stone on the ground and the bedroll that's laying there,

you'll see some blanks that we haven't filled out yet.

They're pretty much the only blanks that we haven't filled out yet.

And it says, it says the S slash P. I'm going to take a stab at it. Stone slash pillar. That's right.

So what he did was he took that stone that he was laying his head on and he built a pillar and he put the stone on the top of the pillar.

And then he poured oil on it to represent the spirit of God.

That's what anointing is. You know, somebody represents the spirit of God coming.

You say God is in this place and he will go on to make a commitment that when he worships God, he'll come back to that place to worship God.

He does say that. He calls it Bethel.

And as we said, Bethel means Jason. Caleb. Luz.

No, Luz is the other name. God's house. That's right.

Got to listen. Even if I'm not the one speaking, somebody's given answers. You got to listen.

The stone pillar, God's house. And let's finish up the text.

It says, then Jacob made a vow. If God will be with me, will keep me on this journey that that I take and will give me food to eat and garments to wear.

And I returned to my father's house in safety, then the Lord will be my God.

Twenty two. This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God's house.

And of all that you give me, I will surely give a tenth to you.

Catch that? And so a tenth is a tie. The old word for tenth is tie. T-I-T-H-E.

Now, he's not the first one to ever give a tie. The church doesn't even exist yet.

The temple doesn't exist yet. But why would he say, I'll give a tithe to you just because God promised that he would do what he promised he would do?

He said, if you take care of it, you'll be my God and I'll give a tithe. Why would he say that?

What is the point of the tithe in that case? Does God need money or sheep?

Okay, so that's true. It would be that as well. Yep. Yep.

So, but the question is, why does he need to give God anything?

R.J. said it's giving back to God what God gave to you. And that's true. But why do you do that?

Anybody ever seen a horse and carriage? So when the driver sits on a horse and carriage,

and the driver is going to go down the road in the horse and carriage, he says, yep, yep, or he snaps the whip.

And the horse just goes down the road, right? And then when he gets to the corner and he wants to turn, he says to the horse, turn the corner, horse.

Right? What, that doesn't work? How does he make the horse turn the corner? With the reins.

Okay, so the tithe is a reminder. It is a statement, as R.J. said, that everything that he has he's getting from God.

God's provided. The food, the clothing, the safety on the journey. But he doesn't commit to just tithe on the journey.

He's going to tithe the rest of his life to remind himself that everything that he's getting, he's getting from God.

When he gives that tithe, that other 90% of the money, he remembers that other 90% came from God or that other nine out of ten sheep.

It came from God. So you get control. You put your money where it belongs and get control by giving the tithe.

And that's why he did it. He's not the only one to ever do it. Does anybody know in the Bible,

so you have a cool Bible scholar thing, who the first person to ever give a tithe was in the Bible?

Take a stab at it, Jason? It was not. It was not mentioned that far back. Abraham. Abraham.

And there's a specific incident in his life. No, it wasn't then. So what happened was Abraham and Lot split up.

They went to two different parts of the land. Then Lot's part of the land got overrun. And Lot got captured.

So then Abraham heard about it and said, I'm going to go save my nephew. I can't just let him rot.

So he gets all his hired men together and he goes out and saves them. He defeats the kings that had captured them and took all those stuff.

And he got real wealthy from that. He was already super wealthy. He didn't really need any money at all.

God was already taking care of him. And he got a bunch more money. And then on the way back, he ran into a guy named Melchizedek.

Melchizedek was a high priest, a very famous high priest. And he worshiped God, the God of heaven.

And Abraham gave him 10 percent of everything he took. So he set that standard.

And basically what he was doing, he put a rein on it. He put a handle on it.

You ever try to walk through a door without turning the knob first? Yeah.

If the door is shut and you don't turn the knob and the knob is not cranked down somehow, you'll hit the door.

And people get lost up in the false god of money and a lot of other things.

You've got to get control of the things that would get control of you. You have to.

And the way to do that is to submit them to somebody who is stronger than you are because you already know they've screwed you up.

You've already know that you've made mistakes. You already know that it's going to be hard for you to control everything.

Sometimes it comes on you unawares. Sometimes it ambushes you or whatever.

And so he's saying, I will not be ambushed. I now know.

I will never be in the same place I was where I was in the presence of God and didn't know it.

So now I'm going to put a rein on everything I ever get.

That will always be a reminder to me that God is everywhere and I get everything I get from him.

That's what that's all about.

All right. So if you look right in the middle, there is a square and it says Jesus offers more.

What was the deal that God gave? What was the offer that he made?

Just give me a brief summary like one second. What did he say he would do for Jacob?

You can get it. Most of it's on the page. What did he say he would do? Say it again.

Yeah. What would he do for Jacob? God said, I'll do this. What was it?

Just give me a basic. You don't have to read it. The whole thing is going to be basic.

Go, Caleb, go.

Okay. Say that part again. Yep.

You give him clothes. Now you're kind of reading from what Jacob said to God, right?

Let's go back a little further and go to what God actually said.

What did God say he would do? On my worksheet it says.

What? We're not. We're in the conclusion now.

Okay. We've already written it. All right.

So he said, I will give you the land that you're sleeping on or were sleeping on.

I will make your descendants as many as the dust.

Right. I will. You will spread out and you will cover the earth from the north to the south, the west to the east and be a blessing to all families.

That's what God said he would do. And for that, what would Jacob do?

What did God say Jacob would do?

Nothing. God didn't say, if you do this, I'll do this.

Right. You know what that's called when there's no payment for it.

Nothing is required of you. You get it for free.

It's called grace. Right. It's called grace. He was going to.

Would Jacob a good guy?

What does Jacob mean?

Does anybody know what his name means?

Deceiver or liar.

And actually, if you look at his history, what did he do?

He stole his brother's blessing. He stole his brother's birthright.

And he did the last part of it all by a grand, grand crafted deception where he dressed as his brother, even putting fur on his arm.

So when his, his, when Isaac would reach out and try to touch him, he'd think it was his rough skin of his brother.

And he deceived his dad completely. Is Jacob a good guy?

So does grace come to good people?

No. Grace comes to messed up people.

Right. And then the messed up people become followers of God and God does what he promised he would do.

That's what is happening in this story. So God was promising that he would deliver grace and he would give.

He would take care of it.

Jacob does come back with, as Caleb was pointing out to us, he comes back with, well, that means God will protect me and he'll provide clothes for me and food for me on this journey.

And he'll bring me back home safely because he was scared because his brother was trying to kill him.

So he's leaving home without much.

And I was going to go to a foreign land, find a wife and maybe come back someday, maybe not.

So it's kind of a scary time for him.

So he's not what God will protect me and he'll bring me home safely.

And if he'll give me food to eat and he'll give me clothing and all that, then he'll be my God for the rest of my life.

See how he he brought it down to the things of his life.

Does that make sense?

So now it becomes about if God will take care of this problem for me, this thing that I see, what was the problem?

He was hungry. So if God gave him food, fine, you can be my God.

What else is a problem?

Well, you need clothing.

He didn't pack his bags before he left.

So I need clothing.

Fine. If you'll give me clothing, you can be my God.

See how you did that? And that's what people tend to do.

God wants to give you grace.

God doesn't want to just give you food or clothing or safety.

Right. He wants to come and live in you and live with you and take you through.

He wants to be with you through the worst of it.

That's the goal.

And that's what he was promising for Jacob.

So as I said in the beginning, Jacob's not the best example here because he kind of doesn't get it at that point.

Now, he will get it as his life goes on.

He'll understand what we're talking about today.

And you could go on to read more of his story if you want.

But Jesus says it very clearly.

He says things like, and though I'll be with you even under the end of the age.

Right. And he says, you want me to go back to my father because when I go back to my father, I'll pray my father and he'll send you another comforter, one who will come and live with you and teach you everything that I have tried to teach you.

Right. And so we have the promise of Jesus.

Jesus offers more. Jacob saw a pillar with a rock and some oil and came back there to worship.

He made a vow.

He's not quite getting it.

Okay.

He's not getting the deal that God wants to make, which is God's.

God's deal is this.

I will take care of it all.

I will do it.

I am God.

You are not God.

I am God.

I will take care of it.

I am God.

When you're willing to do that and get a rein on those things in your life that will not submit themselves to God and you say, no, this is a problem for me.

I recognize it's a problem.

I'm going to submit that thing to God.

Right.

When you're willing to do that, then God will do what he has promised.

He'll be there with you always and he'll see you through it.

You may get sick and die someday.

Guess what?

That's how bodies work.

We're living in a fallen creation.

Right.

You may die if you die from being sick or a bullet to the head or a car ran you over.

After you die, you'll be with God forever and eternity if you let God do what God desires to do, which is give you grace.

Okay.

I have written some verses here.

We're not going to go and read them all, but I'm going to paraphrase a couple and then we'll read a couple and then we're going to be done.

Okay.

So Jeremiah 32, 38, you see it's already written on your page down to the right from the box.

So here Jeremiah says in the future, he's forecasting hundreds of years into the future, and he says they will be God's people and God will be their God.

Okay.

And I'm paraphrasing, obviously.

And then several of these New Testament, 1 John 4, 15, for example, he says that if you commit yourself to the Lord, he will come and reside in you.

He will live in you.

Okay.

I'm going to read Hebrews 3, 6.

So if you're following your bobbing flip there real quick if you want.

We are almost done.

Hang tight with me.

Hebrews 3, 6 says, but Christ was faithful as a son over his house, whose house we are, not a pile of rock with some oil on it or even a sacred place where you had an awesome vision.

Right.

We are, but Christ was faithful as a son over his house.

The his is capitalized because it's God over God's house.

Whose house we are.

We are God's house.

If we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

God says, I will do it for you.

You say, okay, God, I will let you do it for me and I'll get a rain on everything in my life that's not submitted to you and I'll just keep submitting it to you.

And every time I'm screwing up, every time I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I'll just keep giving you that.

I'll keep putting that back under your control.

You're saying, but you're not doing anything.

You're doing nothing.

You're doing nothing.

You're doing your own stupidity, basically, is what you're saying.

And then God does what he says he'll do and he takes you through all the way through to the end.

In fact, you become the house of God.

It's not a rock, not a pillar, not a building.

You become the house of God.

That's Jesus's deal.

First Corinthians has two verses and then I think we're done.

First Corinthians 3, 16 and 17.

Almost there.

Okay, here we go.

First Corinthians 3, 16 says, Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

So this is written to Christians and written to the church.

But then in 17, he says, If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him.

But the temple of God is holy and that is what you are.

You are the temple of God.

And if you are saved, you're a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you accept Jesus as Lord, that means he tells you what to do and you do it.

And Savior, that means he's paid the price for your sins and he's going to take care of everything.

In other words, you're going to get a reign on what's in your life and submit it to God.

If you'll do that, then you are the temple of God and you should take care of yourself.

God expects you to do that because you belong to him.

And that's what that verse is all about.

And the last one is First Corinthians 6, 19.

I probably could have done 50 of these, by the way.

The New Testament is all over the place.

First Corinthians 6, 19 says, Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,

whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

For you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body.

You may want to say, well, there's a certain place or a certain thing that I'm expecting God to do.

Or eventually I'll get around to doing what I know I'm not doing that God wants me to do.

You may want to say that.

But the bottom line is this.

God says, I will take care of everything if you will let me take care of everything.

And how do you take care of everything?

You submit it all back to him, stop making deals, stop asking for certain things, no requirements.

If you'll save me, I'll follow you.

If you'll do this, I'll follow you.

If you'll give me this, I'll follow you.

None of that.

Get a rein on everything in your life and submit it to God.

At that point in time, there's nothing to hold God's promises back.

Until you do that, your worship may be, your relationship with God may be

going to a pillar of stone, going to a place, going to talk to somebody, or even reading it in a book.

There's nothing wrong with reading the Bible.

But God's not in this Bible.

This Bible is about God.

God is in heaven.

God the Holy Spirit is in every believer.

God is omnipresent.

So he's everywhere that he wants to be at all times.

He's not contained to written pages.

And we see the failing of that a little bit when we realize that this is not the original language.

So the book was written in Hebrew and then translated to English, and it doesn't translate perfectly.

But the meaning carries through, enough that we can find God and know about God and know what to do.

And what do you do?

Submit yourself to the Lord and everything that's in your life, get a rein on it and give those reins over to God.

They belong to him.

The other 90%, not just the 10%, but the other 90% also belongs to God.

Okay.

Are there any questions?

I'm going to ask a few so I can throw candy at the teenagers for a second and then we're going to be through.

Okay.

All right.

We're going to be through.

Raise your hand.

And if you know the answer, if I call on you and you get the answer wrong, you're out.

If I don't call on you and your hand's still raised because you say you know the answer, then you'll still be in.

So if you know the answer, raise your hand.

Don't shout it out.

Teenagers only.

All right.

What was the reference, the whole reference for today's lesson?

If you know the answer, get your hand up.

Okay.

I see three hands.

I'm going to go with it.

Are you ready?

Going once.

Okay.

All right.

Caleb, give it to me.

That is correct.

Okay.

So all four of you get something there.

All right.

Okay.

So immediately, you ready?

Just raise your hand.

Don't shout it out if you know it.

Immediately after Jacob woke up, he spoke this sentence.

Okay.

I see one hand.

Immediately after he woke up, this is the first sentence he said.

Going once.

Going twice.

Caleb's not sure.

His hand's halfway up.

Okay.

Kashawn, go.

Nope.

Put your hand down.

All right, Jason, go.

That's it.

You got it.

The Lord is in this place is the whole sentence.

Yeah.

Stop there.

The Lord is in this place.

All right.

I'm going to give you one really hard one.

I don't know.

It's really hard.

It's probably not really hard.

Okay.

And then we're going to call it.

And it's just the first hand I see.

It's going to be the first hand I see.

All right.

This is the reference for the New Testament verse that I read that says, I want to say

it right.

Hold on.

I've got to look at it so I don't say it wrong.

It's right here.

Do you not know that you are a temple of God?

I see one hand.

Haley's not sure.

Okay, Haley, do you know it?

1 Corinthians.

Keep going.

Yes.

3, 16, 17.

That's right.

Do you like cashews?

Okay.

Give me my last cashew today.

All right.

We're going to pray at this time.

There are snacks in the cafeteria.

Hang around.

Say hi to some folks.

Shake somebody's hand.

We are a fellowship.

Maybe proclaim a little bit of the Lord's love.

RJ, would you close us in prayer and we'll pray along with you?

Dear Heavenly Father, I want to thank you for today.

Amen.