Is God with Me?

All right, starting at verse 10, Jacob left Beersheba and went

toward her. On he came to a certain place

and stayed there that night because the sun had set.

Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head

and laid down in that place to sleep.

He dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the

earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.

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

it. 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 of which you lie I will

give to you and to your offspring.

Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall

spread abroad to the West, and to the east, and 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 will keep you wherever you go, and

will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you

until I have done what I have promised you.

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely the Lord is in

this place, and I did not know. 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

Bethel, but that the name of the city was Luz at the first.

Then Jacob made of thou, saying, If God will be with me, and 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 a pillar shall be God's house.

And of all that you will give me, I will give a full 10th to

you. This is the word of the Lord.

What's going on? Port City family and friends,

how we doing? Good.

My name is Tanner. It's good to be with you and

y'all on Mother's Day. I can't think of something more

fitting than the story of Jacob and the chaos that is this

family. The need for us to be reminded

that God is a Redeemer. Y'all what that means He does

not recruit, sanitize, perfect situations.

He resurrects, rebuilds, renews from ashes.

OK, so all of us bring in a level of dysfunction here today.

All of you represent dysfunction from your family of origin, even

even the greatest household where the Bible is taught all

that y'all, We are not perfect people.

We are not building a movement that is based on how well we

just pass on our morality to the next generation.

Y'all. This is about Christ crucified

in our place. And no matter what you bring in

here today, God can redeem it. He can turn it around no matter

how far gone that kid feels or that community feels or how much

of a gap there feels like there is in your life for the

community. God can do it, y'all.

He can do it. So I want to pray just believing

the Lord that as we read His Word, y'all new worlds are built

through God's Word. OK, so let's go to the Lord and

prayer and then we'll dive in. Our Father God, I just, I just

continue to ask you for redemption.

Lord, we represent a lot of pain in this room.

There's so much we long for to see made new.

There's so much in our hearts, even on on our best day that we

long for you to fill up and change.

God, we ask you to just restore communities where families are

not whole, they're not intact. God that the family unit is

disrupted. And God, we have compassion for

them, but we just long for restoration.

We long for, for families to be restored, reunified, made new,

made whole. God, we long for peace and

families where there's just tons of pain, there's tons of, of

tension and bitterness where family members don't talk to one

another. God, we long for prodigals to

come home. We long for the, the, the day

where we get to see loved ones again.

And so, Lord, we lift up this day to you in a spirit of

sorrowful yet rejoicing God, just so grateful and so longing

at the same time. And Lord, that is the life of

redemption with you. We believe you that you want to

keep restoring and redeeming. And God, we thank you for the

mess. We thank you for kids.

We thank you for getting to be together and that you are

pleased by this gathering right now and that you are among us.

And we pray that you will breathe on this word something

fresh. So what we know not right now.

Would you teach us what we have not?

Would you give us who we are not?

Would you make us let the words of my mouth and the meditation

of my heart be acceptable in your sight?

Everybody agree with that said? Amen.

One of my least favorite house projects is cleaning the

gutters. Hello, At my house I have two

giant pine trees that rain out more pine needles than candy

from a pinata. OK, I could do the gutters every

week and it wouldn't be frequent enough.

And every time I do it I have to get out the long extension

ladder which gets rustier every time I use it.

OK, ladders, ladders connect was download up high.

OK, they're a connection thing. And in today's text, we have a

ladder that God is going to bring into Jacob's dream.

And this ladder reverberates through every page of the rest

of the Bible, OK? Because the way the Bible is

written by God through people was that every pattern, every

person, every theme converges on Jesus.

OK. So every time we see an image,

it echoes to him in some kind of way.

In today's image that connects to King Jesus is a ladder.

OK? This is the most famous ladder

of all time. Scholars will tell you that in

contrast to my example of a ladder like that, it's more like

what is known as a ziggurat, an ancient Near Eastern staircase,

if you will. But in either case, what our

minds think of when we hear ladder or staircase, we think of

climbing. Somebody say climb.

What you think of when I bring up the ladder or you think of

staircase, we think of us ascending.

OK. And maybe that's what you think

religion is or Christianity is that you come and get told how

to climb. Maybe that's what you assume

every sermon is. You hear today's topic is X and

you need to climb. OK, I can't tell you how often I

get told the following. I tell somebody I'm a pastor and

they go, oh, well, I've studied all religions and they're

basically the same. And I'm like, oh, please tell me

more, you know, in 10 seconds some up my whole life.

And they're like, well, they all basically just say, and you know

what they're saying, lots of different words.

Climb. If you live well enough, you

love people nice enough, you get some good religion in you and

you can make it to God. If the good outweighs the bad,

you're a good person and you'll make it.

Y'all. I did not become a pastor to

tell people to climb. And I can assure you that God

Almighty does not bring this into the dream to tell you or

Jacob or anybody else to climb. The reason God introduces a

ladder into the Scriptures that culminates in King Jesus isn't

to say climb up, but look out below because somebody is coming

down, OK. God unites heaven and earth.

We do not do that. We don't climb.

He comes down OK. And in Jesus who this ladder

image will converge on that we'll see y'all heaven and earth

has been united in him. Jesus don't have a ladder.

Jesus is the ladder. It's crazy.

And in him we can be heaven on earth people, heaven and earth

people. That's the goal.

So my prayer for us that we walk out of here living united to

Jesus who has united heaven and earth.

Does that sound good? To get there, we're going to

look at why the ladder? What does the ladder have to do

with Jacob? What does the ladder have to do

with Jesus? What does the ladder have to do

with us? If you're ready, let me hear you

say I'm ready. OK, why the ladder?

Let's read verses 10 through 17 one more time.

Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran, and he came to a

certain place and stayed there that night because the sun had

set. Taking one of the stones of the

place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to

sleep. And he dreamed.

And behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top

of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God

were ascending and descending on it.

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. Your offspring shall be like the

dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the West, and

to the east, and 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 will

keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this

land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I

promised you. 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.

OK, why the ladder? Two things we got to know first.

Anytime we hear a ladder like this biblically, you should be

thinking about the Tower of Babel.

OK, if you do not know the Tower of Babel story, I don't have

time to revisit it. But right now, Genesis 11 and

essentially the Tower of Babel is the culmination of humanity's

attempt to try to build heaven on earth themselves, to connect

heaven and earth and be God like in our our domination over the

earth without God. OK, so they literally say guys.

Let's build a tower up to. Heaven.

And they do it. They attempt to do it.

OK, what you've got to understand about that is it's

insane. That's my favorite phrase right

now, by the way. It's to say something's insane.

OK, so an example would be getting a hamburger.

Chick-fil-A is insane. You literally can't do it.

But if you could do it and you did do it, you'd be insane.

Does that make sense or? I don't know.

There's a lot of things that are just insane.

When you see it. You say that's insane.

OK, it's insane to try to build a tower to heaven.

But y'all, even though we weren't there physically doing

it, that picture is the human heart that is sinful.

It's the idea that I can build a life where God is irrelevant.

I have what I need, I am happy and content and didn't have to

go to him to get it. The God who made me in his image

means nothing to me and I am self-sufficient, independent, I

do what I want. That's insane.

But all of us are born into that posture.

We do not go to God, we do not run things by him, we do not

submit to him, we do not care for him.

We think I got this. We might have not built a tower

to heaven, but you think you can run your life and guess what,

you are insane. OK.

And. So that's the.

First thing is that the the the Jacob ladder is in contrast to

that Tower of Babel. God connects heaven and earth,

not us. Does that make sense?

Second thing, the the ladder shows that God wants to unite

heaven and earth. God.

Wants to unite heaven and earth even before the Tower of Babel.

I want you to think where is the 1st place that heaven and earth

are connected? Just think it in your head.

It's the Garden of Eden friends. You know the Garden of Eden was

where God created humanity in His image.

This was not God's side hustle family.

This was God's intention to create humanity in His image in

a place where He himself dwelt with them.

You remember in Genesis 2 it said that God would walk through

the garden in the cool of the day.

God and humanity were just vibing, people had jobs and and

relationship with one another and the goal was for us to Co

reign with God and spread an Eden like Co reigning with God

over all the earth. The idea was that it was always

intended to be interconnected between God and humanity.

It was when humanity fell in sin that we were exiled from the

garden and sin is exile and now we live disconnected, disrupted,

not in harmony with God. Are y'all tracking?

OK so God's goal though has always been united.

It's always been that heaven and earth are together, that we

dwell with him, but that's been disrupted.

So Tower of Babel is an insane attempt to recreate it without

God's help and to live like we're God ourselves.

And now God drops a ladder in to show this has always been what

God's been about and in some kind of way involves this dude

named Jacob. OK, but if you missed that, that

got that is God's heart, you will never read the Bible right?

If you don't read it as God started with him and people

together and it ends with him and people together.

You're going to interpret God as a curmudgeon, OK?

You're going to interpret him as doing a lot of stuff that don't

make a lot of sense and is unnecessary instead of he's

chasing down a people so he can get back where we once were.

Are y'all tracking? OK, so that's why the ladder.

What does the ladder have to do with Jacob?

What does the ladder have to do with Jacob?

OK, first thing is this, the image and the words go together.

The image of the latter and the words he speaks while he sees it

go together. So in verses 13 and on, this is

what God says. He says 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 into your offspring.

Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall

spread abroad to the West, and to the east, and 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 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 to you.

Has anybody ever tried to tell you something really important

while something really cool was going on behind it?

And you're like, I promise you, I'm trying to pay attention, but

I just can't. I always like I thought I would

have the discipline, the sitcom dad that's not paying attention

to the wife or the kids while the game's on.

I didn't think I'd be that person, but I know myself now.

Either we got to turn the game off or can we wait like 30

seconds to my man if he hits this three, I'm about to go

insane and I'm like, just wait. But they're telling me something

important. But all I remember is that.

Does that make sense? The latter is going on, but God

is saying something very important here.

OK. He's re restating the promises

to Abraham and Isaac in a new way.

There's nothing really new in these words.

They're kind of the compilation of what he told Abraham and

Isaac, that now Jacob will be the the vessel of carrying on

these promises that through you all nations on earth will be

blessed. OK, so the ladder and the image,

we can't disconnect it. This is what we got to get in

our brains in some kind of way. The covenant and the ladder are

like the same. Does that make sense?

The covenant is the means of the ladder.

Y'all tracking in some kind of way.

The way God is going to unite heaven and earth has to do with

this covenant with Jacob that started with Abraham, that

started with Isaac. Are you all with me?

So God responded to the Babel false tower with a ladder that

he's building through words, which is a covenant with Abraham

that now he's making more explicit with the picture to

Jacob. One thing you'll learn about God

is he doesn't do the way God does lessons.

He doesn't just all at once, but like, I'm going to tell you

everything you need to know right now.

Pay attention to this one time. He's just like.

Boop, boop, boop. And it's our job to tie it

together. Does that make sense?

So the covenant words are tied to the covenant picture in some

kind of way. How has God united heaven and

earth through a covenant with Abraham that goes to Isaac, that

goes to Jacob, which leads us to the second thing about Jacob is

that Jacob is the broken but chosen instrument of the

covenant. Jacob is the chosen one in some

kind of way. And as we've been seeing

throughout our series, that's kind of mind blowing because

Jacob got some issues. OK, I mean, this one is funny.

He doesn't do anything super sinful in today's story.

He just, it's just funny that he wakes up from the dream.

He kind of freaks out and he anoints a rock.

You know, he's like he, he takes out oil and dumps it on the

rock. He's like, this is the House of

God, you know? And in the ancient Near East,

they would do stuff like that at important spots.

They would build altars and anoint things.

So it's not that that's wrong. It's that his take away.

And as we read in the coming weeks, he doesn't seem gripped

by what God does here, OK. And it's going to take years and

years before he's really gripped by God's promises in his life.

But the idea is he anoints a rock and he's focused on the

place instead of the person who just gave him that dream and

made those promises. Are you with me?

And if you'll notice, he kind of does it.

If then conditional type conversation with God, he's

like, well, if the Lord will be with me, if you'll bring me back

here, if you'll protect me, then you will be my God.

And I'll give you a 10th of everything you give to me.

So Jacob is still just kind of this, this just, I don't know,

like a conditional. I love you, Lord.

Thank you Anoint. Iraq and we just think he's an

idiot. But for those of you who have

been walking with Jesus for a little while, you look back on

the previous version of you even following Jesus.

You're like, that person was an idiot.

Did I even believe in Jesus? You know, like you look back on

yourself and you're like, what was I thinking?

I wasn't trusting the Lord at all.

And when we get to the end of our lives, y'all, it's going to

feel like we lived a Jacob like existence with a God who is way

more faithful to us than we are to Him.

Amen. So it's easy to knock on Jacob,

but are you? Really going to vouch that

you've been perfectly falling the Lord every step of the way?

I don't think so. OK, so the latter unites heaven

and earth. Jacob is the the conduit through

the covenant some kind of way, but it leaves us longing for

somebody who is the one that will get to everybody.

But isn't busted like Jacob, Like we get it, God through the

one to the many. What you're doing for that one

you want to do for everybody. But this one is busted, which

leaves us longing for the person who's not busted, right?

What does the ladder have to do with Jesus?

What does the ladder have to do with Jesus?

Turn with me to John chapter 1. Turn with me to John one.

John 1 · chapter mention

We'll be there for a minute. So it's worth turning to John 1.

John 1. John 1 is a good one.

Y'all if you're using the Bible under our seat, because somebody

tell me the page number when you get there.

Thank you 833 for using our Bible. 833.

OK, I'm going to be starting in verse 43.

Here's the context you need to know.

Jesus's ministry just started, the first few people he's

calling to follow him, that kind of thing.

And the latter is going to come up at the end of these verses,

so the connection will be pretty plain.

But some dope stuff's going on. Y'all ready?

Start in verse 43. The next day Jesus decided to go

to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him,

follow me now. Philip was from Beseda, the city

of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathaniel and said

to him, we have found, I love the founds.

Isn't that funny? Who found who Jesus found

Philip? Philip found Nathaniel and

Philip tells Nathaniel we have found him of whom Moses and the

law and also the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of

Joseph. Nathaniel said to him, can

anything good come out of Nazareth?

Philip said to him, Come and see.

Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said of him,

Behold in Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.

Nathaniel said to him, How do you know me?

Jesus answered him before Philip called you, when you were under

the fig tree, I saw you. Nathaniel answered him, Rabbi,

you are the Son of God. You are the.

King of Israel. Jesus answered him, because I

said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe you'll

see greater things than these? And he said to him, truly,

truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened in the angels

of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

OK, three elements of this we got to break down.

We got to break down the scene, the point and the place.

OK, the scene, the point, the place first the scene.

You got Jesus and Nathaniel. OK, this is a dope interaction.

I love the found found found thing.

Y'all can go look look through that a little later, but it's

clear Jesus found Philip. Philip finds Nathaniel and tells

Nathaniel that we found Jesus. Isn't it funny when you tell

your story you think you know how it went?

I found the Lord. No, you didn't.

He found you might have been in your.

Bedroom or in a ditch somewhere or somehow, I don't know.

But Jesus found you and here's why that matters.

Y'all is, it's not. Just to so you could say you get

it right in some sort of like theological survey, It's because

if Jesus found you, he's not going to let you go.

If you found him, you can still blow it, but if He found you,

he's not going to let you go. He had a reason He got you.

Jesus is not someone you go find first.

He finds you. We love because He first loved

us. But it's just funny that we all

do what my man Philip does right here.

Tell Nathaniel we found Jesus and then he's like can anything

good come out of Nazareth? As y'all know Nazareth is a no

name town and Jewish culture. They would not think that

anything important is coming out of this town.

What Nazareth? You could have said Jerusalem,

you could have said you know you could have said somewhere else,

but you said Nazareth. No way.

Jesus sees him walk. He sees him and he says ah in

Israelite in whom there is no deceit.

Can we just, can we pause on that phrase?

OK, some of y'all know that Jacob at the end of his life is

going to get renamed. OK, at the end of the story, the

last sermon Pastor Ron's going to give, he going to tell you

that? Does anybody know what Jacob's

name gets renamed to? Israel.

OK, The word Jacob means grasper, you know, like like he

did Esau's heal and birth a grasper, A deceiver if you will,

taking striving for he gets renamed Israel once he wrestles

with God and loses. It's the idea that he went from

a grasper to a receiver. OK, so he goes from Jacob to

Israel. So he says to Nathaniel in

Israelite AKA converted Jacobite, right?

A new Jacob in whom there is no deceit, which Jacob is full of

deceit, and he's about to bring up the ladder that ties back to

the Jacob. Are y'all with me?

Like the Bible's just throwing all kinds of bread crumbs, that

there's a lot of continuity and what's happening in front of us.

OK, So in some kind of way, he praises him for his

authenticity. Can I speak to my real people

for a second? Those of y'all who know you're

real, You know what I'm saying? You like to keep it real.

I just want to be clear because I I used to be this person that

would vomit stuff that was inappropriate, but I'm just.

Keeping it real. Like it became like a badge of

honor brand. Like Jesus is seeing beyond his

realness and seeing there's something authentic about his

vulnerability, his transparency, his rawness, even his borderline

cynicism. So at some level God is saying I

see you, dude. You're a straight shooter, but

as a recovering I keep it real and saying what I shouldn't say.

Let me say the. There's no badge of honor and

just being a mean person who's leveraging, I keep it real.

Does that make? Sense like Jesus sees beyond

that and he's inviting him to see the truth because he's

wrong. He's saying you're keeping it

real, but guess. What I did come out on Nazareth,

baby, and watch this. I read your mind and I saw you

under that tree. So don't hear Jesus praising.

I keep it real for realness sake.

He's praising somebody who's wrong and in a way doing a

subtle rebuke to what you put your trust in as your.

Character. It's kind of like the woman at

the well of like, go get your husband and come here.

I don't have a husband. Yeah, you've had five, and the

one you're with right now ain't yours.

Jesus will point out the thing you go to as your source of

identity and invite you to recognize that that needs to be

transformed. Does that make sense?

It's his way of saying like that thing in you that in some kind

of way is right. I made but it's wrong because it

ain't in me and I'm inviting you in me to get it right.

Does that make sense? Whatever about you is God like

and made in his image, God put that in you.

He knows your story. He knows everything about your.

Tendency and personality and every single ounce of it needs

to be transformed. Does that make sense?

So he's not saying you are good enough yourself.

He's saying I see you, the real you, behind the fake you, and

the fake you has got to change. And Nathaniel's reaction to that

a little bit is to freak out. Did you notice in the text he

was afraid? Did you see that?

He's like, Rabbi, you're the son of God, you're the you're the

king of Israel. And then the Genesis story, when

Jacob wakes up from the dream, he's afraid.

Y'all can. I'm, I'm about, I'm about to

have a bit of a, a bit of a Tanner rant.

So y'all, y'all bear with me. Let's go to the point.

Let me get to my point first, then I'm going to do a Tanner

rant. OK, Jesus is the ladder.

OK, The point of him saying you will see greater things than

these. You will see heaven and open and

the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man.

Jacob's ladder isn't just Jesus's ladder.

The point is Jesus is the ladder that Jacob's dream pointed to.

Jesus connects heaven and earth. Jesus doesn't bring a connection

to heaven and earth. Jesus is the connection of

heaven and earth. They're not the same thing.

Jesus doesn't bring the connection.

He. Is the connection he used to

say, repent, the Kingdom of heaven is at hand and your mind

thinks, well, where is it? Did you bring it?

It's like it's me, I'm the guy, I'm the window, I'm the

connection, I'm the portal. I'm the one.

OK so I'm I'm getting closer to my rant.

Stay with me. How does Jesus connect heaven

and earth? It's in his presence.

He's God and he's man. He's born of a woman.

He's also fully God fully God fully man got tempted in every

way as we are. He slept like we did.

You know he is a true human, but he was God of God, man of man.

It's this idea that he had to be a man like us so that his life

could count for ours, but he had to be a God so that he could

save us. Y'all here's the idea is that

the cross is how God united heaven and earth in Jesus.

I'm this, I'm getting closer to my point.

Y'all in our culture right now, in our secular culture and our

spiritual but not religious mindset, what we think is

because the title of today's sermon is, Is God with me.

We are getting into a moment where everybody thinks God is

with them. Of course he is.

I'm spiritual but not religious. Of course God is with me.

Y'all, I need y'all to understand that Jesus unites

heaven and earth, not you. Y'all listen to me, Jesus

through the cross. There's this idea.

The biblical understanding is that exile happened, heaven and

earth are united and Eden exile happens because of sin, and God

has been on a rescue mission to reunite heaven and earth.

The latter points to it the. Cross is the place where Jesus

unites heaven and earth because in our sin we can't be with God.

If we could, we wouldn't have left Eden.

Are you with me? He had to remove us from His

presence and then chase us down. What's being lost when we

flatline in a spiritual but not religious headspace?

We think we default into Team God and y'all we miss so much

when we do that. We throw rocks at the holiness

of God, and we. Miss that God has done so much

to purchase us to himself. He sent Jesus to die the death

you deserve to die to bring us out of exile, back into Shalom.

We were out of the family. He's bringing us back in.

But when we. Assume we know God and bypass

the means of how you know God. You actually don't know him.

Notice in the text Nathaniel and Jacob are afraid.

Your first response when you start to see who the Lord really

is isn't like come on in homie. Jesus is not God is not your

invisible friend that you've always known.

He's not an imaginary friend. He's not just like a default

person. He is other he is transcendently

God created the stars, he's God almighty, He is the maker of

heaven and earth with a word we don't just default into like

best friend. This is my invisible buddy.

Does that make sense? And I think in our spiritual but

not religious climate, people think, well, I know God on my

terms when I want to what how I want to No, no like.

And it's throwing away the means by which God came and got us the

story of the scriptures where God came and dwelt among us.

That's how he united heaven and earth as he came and lived the

life we failed to live and it died in our place.

And that's how he overlaps the 2.

Does that make sense? It's in him on the.

Cross through his resurrection that we can know him but we

don't default into that. Are y'all with me?

I'm not done yet by the way. I think this is a real problem.

I remember I taught at A at a private Christian School for a

while. And y'all all the asterisks is

not true. Very private Christian School.

Private all the stuff. OK, I teach at summer camps with

lots of students from high Christian backgrounds and one of

the things that used to drive me utterly insane that happened

there that I see in our culture at large, that's why I'm

bringing it up. Not just knocking that

environment is that the kids got talked to Chapel after Chapel

after Chapel after Chapel like God is with you for you all the

time. Your dreams are about to come

true and like this one speaker came in and.

Talked to these. Jokers like they either were the

most reverent, repentant, walking with God holy people

ever and gave them these wristbands and I remember the

next class I was just hot like my spirit.

I was just like, Lord Jesus, I don't want to spaz on these

kids. And this one girl's like Mr. T

You seem upset. I'm like, do I?

She was like, yeah. And they tried to get me to say

what? I never told them.

What frustrated me about it. I never told them because I

didn't think I could do it in a Christ like spirit.

So I didn't say it. But this is what I felt.

I felt that they were talked to like of course God is with you,

and they were talking like, is God with y'all?

God is omnipresent, He's here and now.

God is everywhere present, but his relational presence comes

through Jesus and repentance and fear and reverence.

And what I sensed in that environment was this, of course,

guys, and your dreams are all going to come true.

And like, I think that's in the church, alive and well.

Like the second that we want to just be cool with God, he just

becomes your buddy. It's a therapeutic lens of how

we relate to God. Does that make sense?

He's primarily there to help you feel good about your life and

yourself. And y'all, God is so helpful, so

comforting. He's a refuge.

He has so many things. He's rest.

But y'all, when you first interact with the Lord, you are

afraid. You are seen to the bottom.

Nathaniel's like, yo, you are seen through.

Does that make sense? And that sends you running a

little bit. It doesn't make you be like, oh,

my invisible buddy, come on over, you join my life.

No, your life changes. Does that make sense?

And so in that environment, I just felt like I was about to

pull my hair out because only one in 20 speakers even said the

word Sinner repent. Does that make sense?

I'm like, this is not this is not it.

So the question of this sermon is, is God with you?

God is omnipresent. He is always present everywhere.

The way He is relationally, intimately present is through

the person of Jesus. OK.

And how you know you know Him is through repentance, is through

Him coming and indwelling you by the Spirit.

Hey, but it starts. With a reorientation that I did

not know you this way. It's not like, oh, you're

exactly like I thought you'd be and you're on my side and I knew

you always loved me. Your initial reaction is you.

You know everything about me. You're afraid.

In a healthy way. Does that make sense?

OK, point #4 what does Jacob's ladder have to do with us?

What does this ladder have to do with us?

First, let's read some verses. Back in Genesis 28, let's read

some verses. OK, 18 through 22 said this.

This is Jacob's response. The next day, so early in the

morning, Jacob took the stone that he put under his head and

set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.

He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city

was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow saying If

God will be with me and 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 a pillar shall

be God's house. And of all that you give me,

will give a tenth to you. OK, here's the first thing this

has to do with us. We don't climb to Jesus.

Jesus comes to us. Y'all want to make it abundantly

clear that nobody has ascended to heaven except he who

descended? The idea is that Christ had to

come down. You do not climb up.

Some of us walked into here with that religious mindset of I

climb if I put this away, if I keep coming to church, if I and

I'm just climbing a rung up the ladder.

And I'm telling you, you are no closer than when you first

started because it's not about you, it's about Jesus.

And he came down. That's why he lived among us.

That's why he died in our place. So the first thing we need to

hear today is that no, not all religions are the same, and

they're not all teaching you to climb.

And somewhat. You need to go listen to those

religions on their terms. Well, they even agree with that.

You know I. Don't know?

Go find those things out and talk to those people and ask

them questions about their religion.

I'm telling you that Christianity is different and

it's not about you climbing. It's about Jesus descending in

your place, doing for you heroically what you could not do

for yourself, dying for you when you need it.

He is not your coach to climb. That is not what this is.

We need to receive from Jesus. We do not need to climb to

Jesus. You know, the message of

Christianity is receive a gift, and when the gospel first comes

to you and you realize you're seeing through and this God

knows you and created you and all that, you are filled with

fear. And then there's this impulse in

you that in light of that, I feel the need to climb.

I feel the need to do something. But what's so?

Humiliating yet freeing at the same time is at that moment all

you have to do is receive, believe, take a gift, surrender.

It's not about you proving you're worthy of what he did.

He just did it because he's him. He's gifting you victory,

salvation. OK, so the IT starts with

repentance, which is just agreement and receive from God

what he wants to give you. There is no mission to climb.

It's just receive. That's the first thing.

Second, we don't conditionally follow Jesus.

We go all in. Jacob famously here hits God

with a three piece of if. Then based on what God promised,

he took each part and said if, if, if.

And then in the coming chapters doesn't seem to live super

gripped by God's promises to him.

See y'all, when we see Jacob do this, when we see him kind of

hedge his bet a little bit, we don't go, Oh well then I can

hedge my bet too. That's part of what we've been

walking through in this series is we don't use what Jacob is

doing as permission to do it ourselves is to realize his life

was a mess because he kept doing that.

Does that make sense? We get the the beauty of the

hindsight of that conversation of Nathaniel and Jesus, and we

go all in with the Lord. Does that make sense?

If you are hedging your bet with Jesus, if you're a believer who

thinks you're kind of getting the best of both worlds, hedging

your bet is the quickest way to lose, to waste your life.

Be with me. If you are hedging your bet, if

you're waiting to trust Him not going all in, you are in the

process of wasting your life. This isn't about earning things

from God, it's about entering what God has for you, and the

path to that is just trust. And it's radical trust based on

what he. Says you do it so I just for the

believers in the room who are following King Jesus, I just

want to call you. Where is God calling you to take

steps that you keep saying one day or you keep if then ING you

keep saying once I can see how it works out for me, I'll do it

wherever you are. Jacob and God.

This is another invitation to stop doing that.

I don't know if it's with really practical things like how you're

parenting in your house or living at your job or, or just

regular stuff of like, man, you're just not a very loving

person and you're like, man, that's just not how the world

works. It's a dog eat dog world.

You're full of gossip with your Co works.

I I don't know what it is. Maybe it's bigger like

stewardship. You sit like things like your

time and your money. You're just so gripping your

hands around them and you have not learned yet that God wants

you to open those. Or maybe it's just big like

mission of God stuff like share Christ with people, take risks,

just live your life for others, not for yourself.

God is inviting you to that and you're not getting both by just

holding your fists around those things.

The great irony that we see in Jacob is he loses both, right?

It's when we, when we trust, when we stop hedging our bet

that we actually get what God wants for us.

Third one, this one's a little. This one, this one, go take a

minute to set up. But y'all gonna like it OK?

We are little anointed ones heavenizing earth.

OK I'm going to explain that but write it down OK?

We are heavenizing earth with Jesus as little anointed ones.

Do you remember I told you what Jacob did when he woke up?

What do you do? He poured oil on the rock, OK to

an he's anointing the rock like he's literally pouring oil on it

saying you are like this location is the portal between

heaven and earth. OK?

Jesus is the Christ. His name is not first last name

Christ. Like it's not Jesus Christ.

It's not how he filled out his His name was Jesus OK of

Nazareth. He is the Christ.

The Christ means anointed one. OK, here's the idea.

Jesus is the one who is ultimately heaven and earth.

Like think about it. They were always anointing

kings. They were always anointing

priests. They were always anointing their

prophets. It represented that you are a

heaven on earth vessel. You are instituted by God to

fulfill this role. You're the king, you're the

priest, whatever it is. Well, Jesus is the capital, a

anointed one. Are y'all with me?

He is the king, He is the priest.

He is the prophet who fulfilled for all time all the things that

humanity failed to fulfill. OK, but it goes a little deeper

to be a Christian, quite literally.

Think about it. Christ, they were first called

that an Antioch you are a. Little anointed one, if you are

in Christ here today, the Spirit indwells you.

So in some kind of way the oil is being poured not just on

Christ who is the chosen one, but on you, you to rock.

Christ is the rock and in him you are a little R rock.

You are a little a anointed 1. You are a spirit filled one.

The idea is y'all, when God saves you, he doesn't get you

out here. Let me get you out of earth

buddy, and get you up to heaven with me.

He has united heaven and earth and He is building a people of

little anointed ones that every nook and cranny of society,

every city, they are little a anointed ones full of the spirit

heavenizing their location. Are you all with me?

The goal is in Christ. You live at the intersection of

heaven and earth. You are united to the one who

has united heaven and earth. You have been poured oil on.

You are a commissioned agent of the Kingdom of heaven living at

the intersection of heaven and earth, and you can see into

heaven through His word full of the Spirit.

And you're supposed to live according to that reality where

you are. Does that make sense?

And you'll be different than everybody around you because

you're living at the intersection of two worlds

amongst the people who just live like this.

Is it still building Babel? So at your workplace, you're not

building your legacy. You're living according to

Jesus. You can leave money on the

table. You can let your reputation be a

six out of 10 instead of 8 out of 10.

You could take some losses other people can't take.

And as you do it, people will be like, why are you doing that?

You can dress modestly, young people, because you're not

living to win here. You're living according to the

next Kingdom that you live at the intersection of.

And people will be like, why are you leaving that on the table?

And it's like, I'm not playing that game.

I am an anointed one. I'm full of the spirit.

I know Christ through the cross. Does that make sense?

So if you are a Christian, is God with you?

Yes, Everywhere you go. Here's the most.

Haunting phrase in this whole passage to me.

This blows my mind. Y'all y'all, y'all look at this

verse 17. And he was.

Afraid as to how. Awesome is this place, this is

none other than the House of God, and this is the gate of

heaven, the verse before it. Sorry. 16 Then Jacob awoke from

his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place and I did

not know it. Y'all may that not be said of

your life. Please Jesus, I hope you have

some kind of process at the end of your day.

The the Saints of all used to call it the examine.

The idea was you. You as your head hits the

pillow. God, where were you today?

The omnipresent God was all up in your day.

If you're full of the spirit, he's actually personally present

in your day and even as you reminisce back.

Were you there when I got chewed out?

He was. Were you there when I changed

that diaper? He was.

Were you there when I just was bored?

He was and this, and I know it's hard.

Was he there when something evil happened to you?

Yes, that's. Tough.

Doesn't mean he's not capable of doing evil to you, but it

actually allows you to reimagine through the spirit, through his

word, through community. How was?

God in that. And you get to re narrate your

existence through God's presence because the anointed one has

anointed you and the whole point of you still living here is to

live with him heavenizing the earth while you're here.

Does that make sense? So yes, God is with you and it's

your life pursuit to figure out how and where and who and what

and why. And I can't speak with

definitive certitude about everything about yesterday and

where God was with me, but that's the fun part.

Does that make sense? That's the fun part, is to

reimagine. I look back through my day and

then it makes you that much better when you're walking.

Through the next day of God, What are you doing in this room

right now? What are you doing in my family?

What am I saying in the car ride home?

What question am I asking? That's literally the.

Joy of walking with God, that's why he saved you.

So with my I don't want y'all to think I'm beating up on my my

private Christmas school kids. I love them jokers.

I was a youth pastor. 1/3 of my kids forever have been those

kids. What I love is that I'm like

y'all, it's not that I don't want what that speaker was

saying. I want you to have it and I know

you don't. And you're not going to get it

if they keep assuming you got. It does that make sense?

So the beauty is the speaker wasn't the problem, you the

problem and I just think they assuming some things that they

shouldn't be. Does that make sense?

So the problem isn't what God wants in your life, is that the

way it's going to get there isn't just by him cheerleading

you and praising you all the time, which is what our culture

is. Doing to us, making us think

that God, if he exists, it's just a therapeutic person to

help you like yourself. No, he's not.

And the more you try to make them that, the less it's going

to happen. Does that make sense?

God is other and worship Him and through the cross.

He's different than you. He's not just a bigger, smarter

version of you. He's way kinder than whatever

you think kindness is. We need to be radically

transformed, and as we are that God is with.

Us. So my prayer for us is that we

look back on our days and our weeks and our months and say,

surely the Lord was with us and we know we can live what Paul

called salvation without regret. That doesn't mean you don't make

mistakes. It just means you left it all on

the field with God. You leverage everything you had.

But I think the most, the biggest travesty, is it tragedy

or travesty with AV? Thank you.

We've been talking in Group about things you say wrong.

That is one that I every time I say travesty, I'm like, it's

tragedy and they're looking at me crazy, but it is travesty.

So let my travesty prevent you from a tragedy.

Just kidding, OK? But the biggest travesty would

just be to hedge your. Bet, does that make sense?

It would be to get to the end of your life and like Jacob say, oh

the Lord was in my life all along and I did not know it.

That would be a travesty. Are y'all with me?

In Christ God is with. You, He loves you, He is for

you. Turn to Him and trust.

Let's pray our Father, we love you.

Thank you so much for your word God shake us up out of just

wanting a little pep talk and a little motivation.

God may we live lives with you. You told Jacob this scoundrel, I

will guard you. I'll be with you until I finish

what I promised to do for you. God, I pray my faith family

under the sound of my voice would live in that kind of

power. And God somewhat we don't know

exactly what all we can't say with.

Definitive certitude. What that means that you're with

us, but you are so God, may we actually grab.

Hold of you and live lives of faith and trust, not hedging our

bet. May we stop just kind of living

our days our way and then just we know to say God loves us and

we we. Want to be theologically

accurate? But no.

Power in our lives, No presence. We're just as anxious as

everybody else. God, we need your power and your

presence. So God, wake us up to the way

you do that. Help us to look at our lives and

see your hand at work, even in the pain.

God help us. And I pray for my friends who

aren't in Christ, who maybe you are drawing to yourself.

God would they see the way in is not to climb.

God is to receive what Christ has done.

They need a hero, they need a savior.

And God, I pray you. Would just buy your spirit send

fear into somebody that healthy fear Nathaniel fell of being

seen all the way to the bottom. God, you see them every sin.

Everything they've ever done, you see it, every inclination of

their heart and their mind. But God, you died for them.

So I pray even now, God, maybe you would save somebody, draw

them to yourself, gift them, surrender and faith.

May they not walk out of resolve to change themselves, but to

receive. Christ.

We love you, we need your help in Jesus name, Amen.