Back to Bethel

Amen praise be to God this afternoon I have a word to share with you and I'm

gonna invite you if you can join me I'll be reading from the book of Genesis

Genesis 31 · chapter mention

chapter 31 beginning a new series for a few weeks in preparation for our

upcoming revival this month God has laid some things on my heart that I want to

share with you and so we're going to for a couple of weeks whatever God will

allow getting into some things get into some principles into his word and so

this the series is called Road to Revival Road to Revival and I believe

that in preparation for what God is doing in our church and what he wants to

do there are some steps there are some things that we personally individually so

this message and those that are coming after it I want you to take every

message personally I want you to think and pray and consider what God wants to

do in your life because before we can expect God to move in a in a corporate

way or extend outside of these walls we need to line ourselves up with his will

and his purpose amen so Genesis chapter 31 verses 1 through 3 amen and then we're

Genesis 31:1–3

going to skip over to chapter 35 but where the Word of God says now Jacob

heard the words of Laban's son saying Jacob has taken away all that was our

fathers and from what was our fathers he has acquired all his wealth and Jacob

saw the countenance of Laban and indeed it was not favorable toward him as

before then the Lord said to Jacob return everyone say return return to

the land of your fathers and to your family and I will be with you now I'd

like us to look at Genesis chapter 35 and verse 1 Genesis 35 verse 1 then God

Genesis 35 · chapter mention Genesis 35:1

said to Jacob arise go up to Bethel and dwell there and make an altar there to

God who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother what

we see here in these passages is that Jacob had to go back to Bethel for a

personal revival renewal and sometimes friend brother or sister church

sometimes in the Lord you have to go back in order to move forward not back

to the things he delivered us from but back to our first love back to the heart

of worship back to faith back to the first works and so that's what this is

all about and today I'm gonna be preaching back to Bethel why don't we

pray right now Lord we love you we thank you for your presence that we feel so

tangibly here in this place and I ask God that for the next few moments that

we have Lord that as we expound on the word as we see what it has to say for us

Lord that you would open our ears our spiritual ears to understand so that we

can receive God have your way in our lives today Lord encourage edify

convict change challenge Lord this moment is yours God and anoint my lips

of clay put your word in my mouth every word I speak would be glorious in your

in your sight would be honoring to you father we ask this in Jesus name

everyone say amen amen everyone say man and then you can be seated in the

presence of God to understand our passage we need to look back 20 years to

Jacob's first encounter with God at Bethel so we're just going to rewind the

tape for a little bit and some of you don't even know what rewinding a tape

is you know it's just you know look it up Google it but we're gonna rewind the

tape a little bit back to a time in Jacob's life at that time Jacob was 20

years in the past a con artist on the run he was fleeing from Esau after

swindling him out of his birthright and also deceiving his father by means of

manipulation pretending to be his brother and lots of interesting details

there that if you care you can read but I think many of us here today are

familiar with those scenes in Jacob's life but after doing these things he

felt very alone afraid and uncertain about his future and it was in this dark

period that God appeared to him in a dream and in that dream Jacob saw a

ladder set up on earth that stretched from earth to heaven and this was a very

pivotal moment for Jacob he for the first time in his life had a divine

encounter with God and for the first time he got a glimpse of the invisible

nature of God's dealings saw the supernatural and this left an incredible

mark on him he realized in that very important time that that God was closer

than he had imagined and this was important because he was on the run and

feeling like perhaps that God had written him off but the fact that he has

this dream and he sees God or he sees these angels ascending and descending

send a very powerful message to him that God was not done with him and so this is

an important truth for all of us today and just to pause here to tell someone

today that that God is not done with you amen I said God is not done with you and

we're just pulling over to the to this little detour here for a moment just to

reflect on the fact that that God doesn't give up on us that easy amen he's

a patient God he's a patient God and he's long-suffering towards us and and

I'm so grateful to the Lord that he does not cancel our callings on him over a

season of disappointment and failure I'm so glad that God doesn't treat me or us

the way that humans treat one another in that he is so much more forgiving so

much more patient so much more willing to give us repeated chances to get it

right and so we see the grace of God at work in Jacob's life that God does not

cancel his destiny over a season of mistakes and failures in his life and so

it was that first visit to Bethel that not only saved his life but it reaffirmed

God's covenant with his grandfather Abraham it was a covenant to to bless

him to establish him to make him a great nation it was a covenant to bless him

with land with descendants and protection this was the Abrahamic

covenant and so God reminded him of that at that at that moment of seeing the the

staircase from earth to heaven it was so significant in his life there at Bethel

the first encounter at Bethel that he renamed Jacob renamed the place from

Luz which meant crooked to Bethel which means house of God that's how important

that's how significant it was that he changed the name of that place from

crooked to house of God and so for him this marked a moment this marked a time

that he would never forget in his life how God had visited him there however

that's not really what I've come to preach about today because as we

continue on in the pages of Jacob's life after Bethel shows us some interesting

things that took place and one of the things that we begin to understand is

that that it that having an experience with God is not the same as fully

surrendering to God because Jacob had a divine encounter with God he had an

experience with God but he was largely the same man he really didn't change

from that moment despite the fact that he had this great dream and vision

despite the fact that he renamed the place the fact is is that his name

wasn't renamed so you can rename a moment but until your identity gets

changed you're kind of the same person as soon as what happened here is he he

was the same person and so for the next 20 years he settled in a place called

Huron and we'll look at this this location a little closely here today but

he spent time there and he met his wife-to-be Rachel and and married the

love of his life and began to build for himself a life and began to strive there

and and so he stayed there for for 20 years and it wasn't until God began to

deal with him again did he start to reevaluate his life the whole time that

he was there God didn't want him there this wasn't where God ultimately wanted

him to be and yet he spent all of that time settling himself into that place

and he he really think I think that Jacob really believed that this is where

he was supposed to be this is where his life was meant to be lived this would be

the end-all be-all of everything I think Jacob since he had accumulated himself

wealth resources started his family got married and and began to really get

things going in his life that this was all that his life was meant to be and so

he probably figured that his future was tied to this place Huron that his family

was tied to this place his his income was tied to this place and so he settled

in but the fact of the matter remains is that this place was not the place that

God had called him to of Bethel that place of fullness that place where God

ultimately wanted to meet him and so what I want to tell somebody from the

get-go today is that you'll never be truly satisfied or effective until you

get back to that place called Bethel amen somebody you'll never be truly

satisfied or fulfilled in your walk with God until you get back to that place

called Bethel Huron it may offer some things it may have some appealing

attributes characteristics about it but it is far from where God wants you to be

in fact the name Huron means dry place dry place and you know sometimes God

has to dry up a place in order to push us into our purpose and push us into our

destiny but you know we're kind of stubborn let's just be honest and even

when God like literally dries up the ground underneath us spiritually because

we can be hard-headed stubborn stiff-necked in our ways we just refuse

to see the writing on the wall sometimes and so when dryness doesn't work God will

allow discomfort and pain to get our attention and this brings me to my first

very important point today which is that discomfort someone say discomfort

amen discomfort is a doorway discomfort is a doorway dryness didn't work and

other things that God had allowed to happen and Jacob wasn't getting the

message it just wasn't dawning on him that it was time for a change it was

time to spiritually reboot his faith and get back to the first things so when

Genesis 31 Jacob finds himself in a conflict probably that he never he never

first saw coming with his own father-in-law Laban mmm hallelujah

hallelujah it was a family term and turmoil between a son-in-law and the

father-in-law and this man Laban he once had a very cooperative relationship

with it wasn't always bad from but but it kind of went off the rails from not I

guess from the beginning I mean there was like a short season where things are

okay but then from the very beginning after a few years of being settled

there with Laban things took a turn for the worse and as time went on tension

continued to brew between Jacob and Laban and things got worse and until

finally it got to the point where Laban's sons his sons began to complain

and they went to their father Laban and they started to complain to Laban it

said you know dad whatever they call them you know Papa let's have we need to

talk about what's going on here because we've been looking a lot at what's

happening over there with Jacob and we've been paying attention to this guy

and what we don't like is the fact that that he's accumulating all of this

wealth you know he he's got like all of these herds and and wealth and and we

just something doesn't see this is this is not right this is not fair this is

not equal and so what they were sort of insinuating is that Jacob had achieved

these things through dishonest means that was the insinuation that that you

know this guy can't be trusted you know this guy's crooked he's a con artist

and and so he probably cheated to get what he had and so they painted Jacob as

as a thief you know oh there's got to be something wrong even though check this

out they had no proof that he was conning his way or that he was a schemer

they just had a hunch and I think their hunch was driven by their own jealousy I

think their hunch was driven by the fact that that he was blessed and they just

could handle the fact that this Jacob character was blessed and so they just

had a problem with it now I don't know these guys names because the Bible

doesn't tell us in the text but I can tell you I definitely know their type

because Jacob's sons are excuse me Laban sons are the types who will stir up

things stir up a strife or or drama or controversy simply because they are

dissatisfied with their own lives instead of celebrating what God is doing in

someone else's life instead of celebrating someone else's success

someone else's advancement they try to find ways to tear it down or to cast

down or say yeah you know but but there's just some of the smells it

doesn't pass the smell test you know they're always looking for for something

to catch that's wrong or or looking for something to find you know I bet you

they're guided through dishonest means they just can't handle the fact that

maybe God has just been good and God has blessed them sometimes opposition

doesn't come from our enemies it comes from people who can't handle the fact

that God has blessed you or God has raised you up or God has anointed you

but let me tell you those people cannot stop but God has destined for you to be

well no come on I wish I had a witness today and so Laban sons they got there

they got their dad's attention say there's something wrong with him and and

they made him out to be a bad character and so suddenly Laban turned on Jacob

from one night to the next their relationship soured and the next day

Jacob was met with cold stares and whispered complaints something had

shifted probably the moment he greeted him he said that that greeting felt a

little icy you know it's not quite the same love or warmth that I once felt

with Lee you know they started maybe giving him the cold shoulder and and

icing him out and he felt that there was something that has shifted there was

something different in the air and so he definitely did not make him him

comfortable and and he realized that something is everything has changed I'm

no longer in good favor now with with with Laban and and and all of this

discomfort in his life started causing him to reevaluate where he was and and

it was a pivotal moment and the Lord spoke to him going back to Genesis 31

and verse 3 the Lord began to speak to him and he said return everyone say

return he said return to the land of your fathers and and to and your family

and I will be with you what God was trying to do listen we've kind of wake

up Jacob and understand the reason why I'm allowing you this frustration and

pain and discomfort is because you were never meant to dwell here this was not

your final destination this was not my will just because you got settled there

doesn't mean that that was in it just because I blessed you there that's just

because I'm a good God and I love you and so I'm gonna bless you because of

who you are and because you're my child but but I've always had more for you

than that I've always had greater things but in order for you to see that I had

to allow some holy friction in your life some divine disturbance in your life for

you to awaken to the fact that there was more in store for you and so sometimes

God will allow discomfort and pain and frustration and offense and all sorts of

things that bring about bad feelings and wrongness in our life why so that he can

break us out of where we've been and lead us into his holy purpose I've come

to tell you today that discomfort is not a dead end it's a doorway

hallelujah it's an invitation if you've got some discomfort in your life if you

been experiencing a season of discomfort if it's internally if it's externally if

it's on the job if it's in the church if it's in your own mind or spirit it could

be that God is using that discomfort to break you out of the mold of where you

are discomfort is not meant to destroy you it's meant to redirect you it's

meant to call hallelujah this is what God allowed to the first century church

as they got comfortable in the within the confines of Jerusalem they were

having comfortable church they were having comfortable gatherings and they

begin to forget about the mission that God had for them to reach outsiders from

their Jerusalem so what did God allow to happen he allowed persecution he allowed

pain he allowed offense he allowed problems and not force the people of

God outside so that they could get back to doing what God has called them to do

don't sit there and blame the devil don't sit there and blame your neighbor

blame the pastor blame no if you're gonna blame anybody blame God because

he's the one that is orchestrating the events of your life and bringing it to

you your promise and your destiny God wants us to go into revival but we won't

have revival if we're in our comfort zones and we've accepted whatever has

been handed to us we've got a break out of that and sometimes it's discomfort

ask yourself today what is the discomfort in your life come on ask

yourself be real with yourself today could it be that God is calling you back

to something instead of resisting it instead of resisting it instead of

grieving it and turning back oh it must not be for me how do you know what's not

for you you got an a bag ask yourself these questions my friend today and step

through that door and trust that God is leading you to a greater purpose I can

tell you that every great thing that God has done in my life it started with a

place of discomfort started with some something or someone that went sideways

or went wrong or hurt or pain or just restlessness sometimes it's just a

season of restlessness and unsettling God is trying to awaken us hallelujah

but once you have made up your mind that you're ready to respond to the message

that God is sending you respond to the writing on the wall respond to the word

that God is trying to deliver to your life the message he's trying to make as

clear as day something I mentioned me my wife are talking the other day I said

you know what there's this one language that everyone understands is pain I

don't care who you are what you are where you live what you make and who I

could tell you it doesn't matter who you are language the one language that

everyone speaks is pain and when God needs to get our attention he'll use

pain to do that and if it breaks us out of where we are great because when you

have decided hey I'm ready for change I've got good news for you today number

two is that God accepts returns you know something that bothered me recently that

I read and for those of you who ever have like have retail therapy you know

when you just yeah I need to go buy something I don't know what it is I'll

find out when I get there you guys are so holy you never do these things praise

God you know it's just but something's calling my name you know and do I got

any people here that that you'll just buy something you know I haven't made up

my mind yet but but I'm just gonna buy I'm gonna take it home I'm gonna try it

on and see how that but as long as I can return it how many of you ever change

your mind to return something huh you ever change your mind to return something

yeah so you know what I I don't like this after all isn't it nice that you

can return something and then get your money back huh do you know what I read

the other day that a lot of retailers are changing their return policies you

better read the fine print on the back of that receipt because now there's a

lot of retailers that don't allow they're not allowing returns anymore or

check this out they're charging a fee for you to return the devil is a liar

hallelujah but I thank God today because God's got the most gracious return

policy policies of all time because it doesn't matter how far you've drifted

how much time has passed how uncertain you feel God accepts all returns he

accepts all returns and he will welcome you with open arms you can return back

to your first love you can return back to to surrender back to service back to

giving back to faith God says come back but there's a cat someone say there's a

catch oh hallelujah I gave you a chance to praise God I give you a chance to

clap but now there's a catch and the catch is this that returning to God the

place he wants you requires leaving behind your old self so there is a catch

God accepts all returns but the catch is that if you're going to return to that

place it requires shedding that part of you that you need to leave behind

shedding that part of your life shedding that part of your identity that needs to

change for Jacob you know what that meant shedding his identity as a schemer

that was his biggest character flaw and God is saying for you to step into this

new place for you to return back to Bethel Jacob you can't just come and

stay the way you are you can come but you've got to be willing to change mmm

hallelujah somebody got to be willing to repent someone say repent you got to be

willing to change and something interesting happened during his years in

Huron Jacob you know what happened Jacob got a taste of his own medicine he got

a taste of his own medicine you know why because the trickster got tricked he got

tricked you know what Jacob found out you ain't the only one that knows how to

scheme buddy because his father-in-law was like the schemer of schemers Jacob

found out that Laban he was a masterful schemer and he's scheme him he got him

good because he was supposed to marry the love of his life ended up with Leia

instead poor Leia my god and then he's scheme them again and again and he just

kept scheming but you know this this was good for Jacob you know why because

Jacob was having he was being forced to confront things about himself oh my god

he met his match with Laban and and Laban did these things to him and it

hurt Jacob and it was hard for him and it forced Jacob to confront his own

reflection looking at Laban was like looking in the mirror because he was

looking at the trade that he himself had to overcome in his own life you see at

some point church you're gonna have to face who you are at some point you're

gonna have to face who you are and confront yourself and come to terms so

Jacob finally has got to confront himself and realize there are things

about me that needs to change and that means facing a situation what does that

mean for someone today it could mean facing a situation hallelujah or a

person who is mirroring or reflecting your own behavior maybe you've heard

this saying that we dislike most and others what we see in ourselves and

Jacob was having a hard time dealing with Laban because Laban was exactly like

he was just an older version of him and and and this is what begins to happen in

our life as God is accepting returns as God is working in our life preparing us

for a greater revival we're not gonna have greater revival in the church a

great revival in us and seeing souls being saved which I am believing church

that God's gonna do in our midst but how can we save others when we are our own

salvation is hanging in the balance how can we rescue others from the world when

we've got one foot in and one foot out how can we convert how can we evangelize

the world that has converted us how can we reach people unless we've allowed

God to reach us God change the things about me that need to be changed so that

I can get back to being that force in your kingdom so that I get back to being

hallelujah that lover that giver that that surrender her God that a worshiper

that prayer warrior that intercessor God that loving thy neighbor type of person

God make me who you want me to be Lord so let me ask what patterns of behavior

or thought defined your old self that God wants you to shed from your life what

is it what patterns of behavior and thought for Jacob it was deception it

was deception for him but for us for us for someone today it could be it could

be pride it could be it could be fear self-reliance and it could be rebellion

you know it could be rebellion and or disobedience and and so and so what what

pattern of behavior what attitude you know sometimes come on come on sometimes

we need an attitude adjustment sometimes we just need got to fix that thing it's

just it's it's hurting us we're hurting ourselves we are like our own worst

enemy and Jacob had to shed that part about him because guess what Jacob

you're called to Bethel you're called to the land of promise but but you can't

come in with that old mentality you can't come in with our old way of thinking

that old way of living that old no no no no that's that that that's got to end

and it's got to end here and it's got to end now so Jacob by the time he gets to

Bethel again he's a changed man he's a changed man he things have happened in

his life he's got a give me a couple more minutes here he's got a different

perspective now you know the thing about experiences we go through life they give

you perspective help you see things differently and then you know what starts

to happen over time the people that you didn't like you start to feel sorry for

them how bad it must be to live that you start to feel sorry and then you start

praying for them yeah that's when you know you've changed that you start

praying for the people that you were secretly wishing would fail you start

loving the people that you're struggling to love forgiving the people you

struggle to forgive that's when you know start praising like you've never you

used to praise him only when you were in the mood but now you praise him all the

time that's when you know who you would only pray when you were in the mood but

now you get up every morning and you set your prayer time aside with the Lord and

you get into prayer and that's when you know things are changing when you see

someone God raising up where they're in the workplace or whether it's in the

church whatever instead of instead of your initial reaction thinking well they

must have done something to cheat to get that it must be you know be a teacher's

pet or something instead of doing you say well praise God for them I'm happy

for them good for them that's it you know you start to change when you see

these things happen but here's here's the next step here's the next step

because now Jacob has decided I'm gonna go but he's not there yet and this

big is my third and final point which is don't settle for Shechem don't settle

for Shechem hmm when Jacob returned to the land of Canaan unfortunately it was

not a straight line unfortunately it was not a straight path even though he was

on his way we see some things about him that tell us that he was still a work in

progress he was changing he was improving he was getting better getting

closer but he still wasn't everything that he needed to be he still hadn't

completely gone through his change and so unfortunately he didn't go all the

way to Bethel and he settled in a place called Shechem now on the surface let me

tell you I'm gonna preach about this for a little bit here on the surface Shechem

seemed like a good place to just camp out why because Shechem was

geographically speaking in the land of Canaan which means that Shechem was in

the promised land okay it was in the promised land so on the surface Shechem

seems like a good place to to settle down it's in the promised land after all

it's in the land that is flowing with milk and honey it's it's this must be the

place and so technically speaking Shechem was it was an improvement from

Haran because Haran if Haran is you know way out there in the world then then

Shechem is it's at least like in the vicinity of God's here in fact he was so

convinced that this is where God wanted him you know he built himself an altar

there he said this looks like a good place for an altar he built an altar you

know what he did he even named his altar he called it El Elohim Israel it sounds

so spiritual you know what it means it means God the God of Israel he was

convinced this is where God wanted him but we got to be very careful when we

start building altars in places that God didn't call us to I don't care what you

call it you can call it first best apostolic Church of Mountain View put an

altar put a pulpit put a sign on you can call it whatever it is you want to call

it but if that's not what where God called you to be what he's doing is he's

he's kind of doing things on his own terms he's like okay this looks good

right here except for the fact that even though it was in the geographic

vicinity of Canaan it was still not Bethel Shechem was not the destination

it was a detour it was inside so this is what can happen it was inside of Canaan

but it was still outside of Bethel you see you can be in the church but the

church not be in you I'm gonna help somebody right now you can be somewhere

in God but God not be in you in me well I got the Holy Ghost I speak in tongues

I'm talking about in your decisions I'm talking about in your relationships and

in your attitude and in your worship you can be in the in the covering of hey I'm

in the land of promise I'm here aren't I

piano player come on up hallelujah I'm in the right place you know I'm in the

right place hmm but it was a place of compromise it wasn't a place of full

obedience where God had called it hear me today church hear me friend brother

sister give me you cannot consecrate what God calls compromise care what you

call it how you dress it up how it makes you feel you cannot sanctify something

that God has not ordained and while it may serve a purpose maybe for a season

and while it may give you some level of validation for wherever you're at

spiritually it is not and you know it and God knows it where you really need

to be

don't be deceived you know why because with God it's all or nothing and I'm

seeing this more today's world it's not a new problem I guess it's been around

since Jacob's time here they settled in Shechem and they and you know what they

say they say well at least it's not her on at least I'm not as bad as they are

at least I'm like mostly apostolic pastor at least I'm still here don't let

the devil deceive you and a thinking and settling into a false sense of

spiritual security by comp by by consecrating an area of compromise we

think compromise just looks like you know dressing worldly on Saturday and

coming to church on so yeah those are there's a lot of different facets of

compromise and sometimes we could be compromising areas in our life that that

are hidden from you my question today is are you back at Bethel if her on let me

picture and I promise I'm gonna wrap it up I promise but but but if her on is is

is the world and Bethel is the church of the will of God then Shechem is

somewhere in between if her on is no and Bethel is yes then Shechem is maybe

like maybe you see me maybe you won't maybe maybe not if her on is cold and

Bethel is hot what is Shechem Luke warm would you stand with me today

hallelujah Shechem may seem like an improvement

but God's not interested in just improving your life friend God's

interested in change oh hallelujah I feel the Holy Ghost here right now oh

thank you Jesus you can build an altar in Shechem you could even sacrifice there

you can even worship there dare I say you can even have church there but God

is still calling you all the way back to back to the way you used to worship

hallelujah Shechem