October 31, 2025 • 44 mins
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Jacob's story in Genesis 28 represents a decisive turning point in his life. He had swindled his brother for the birthright, deceived his father to steal the blessing, and created such hostility that he had to flee as a fugitive. Now afraid and depressed, Jacob was on the run from a brother who wanted him dead.
As a "quiet, home-loving kind of guy," Jacob found himself lonely, vulnerable, and uncertain about his future. Worst of all, he carried the guilt of knowing that his current situation was entirely his own fault. Have you ever found yourself in a difficult place with nobody to blame but yourself?
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Biblical Talks.
Sermon of the Week.
Jacob journeyed in Genesis 28,mark a critical crossroad in his
life.
He wasn't just running from hisbrother, he was running from
the consequence of his owndeception.
After scheming his way to boththe birthright and the blessing,
(00:21):
jacob had stirred up a storm,so frisked, so strong, that he
had no choice but to flee.
Now this Trister, that's whatthey call him.
This Trister was a fugitivewandering the wilderness with
nothing but a rock for a pillarand fear for company.
(00:42):
Have you ever been there beforeI have?
Jacob, a quiet man, more athome, with tense than trouble,
suddenly found himself exposed,isolated, uncertain and weighed
down by guilt.
He knew that this exile wasn'trandom, it was self-inflicted.
And, brothers and sisters, alot of our stuff is
(01:05):
self-inflicted, a lot of ourtrouble is self-inflicted.
Have you ever been there before?
Brother Russ Whitfield is goingto preach a sermon from Genesis
.
He's going to deal with Jacob'sdream, and this sermon is
called Jacob's Ladder.
Here's Russ Whitfield.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Morning, new City.
I am delighted to be here withyou this morning.
I stand on the shoulders ofthis congregation in the whole
history of the work I have donein this denomination, and there
are many people in this room whohave been a blessing to my own
personal life.
I'm going to thank Rev Kev,sister Sandy, for your
(01:48):
hospitality.
I want to give recognition tomy brother and sister Erwin Entz
, sister Kim Entz, the Ellis's.
God bless you, the plumbers.
I'm so thankful to be here andI want to invite you now to join
me.
As we hear from God's wordGenesis, chapter 28, verses 10
through 22.
This is God's word.
(02:11):
Jacob left Beersheba and wenttoward Haran, and he came to a
certain place and stayed therethat night because the sun had
set.
Taking one of the stones of theplace, he put it under his head
and lay down in that place tosleep.
And he dreamed and behold,there was a ladder set up on the
(02:33):
earth and the top of it reachedto the heaven.
And behold, the angels of Godwere ascending and descending on
it.
And descending on it, andbehold, the Lord stood above it
and said I am the Lord, the Godof Abraham, your father, and the
God of Isaac, the land on whichyou lie, I will give to you and
(02:55):
to your offspring.
Your offspring shall be likethe dust of the earth and you
shall spread abroad, to the westand to the east, and to the
north and to the south, and inyou and your offspring shall all
the families of the earth beblessed.
Behold, I am with you and willkeep you wherever you go and
(03:19):
will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until
I have done what I havepromised you.
Then Jacob awoke from his sleepand said Surely, the Lord is in
this place, and I did not knowit.
And he was afraid and said howawesome is this place?
(03:41):
This is none other than thehouse of God and this is the
gate of heaven.
So early in the morning, jacobtook the stone that he had put
under his head and set it up fora pillar and poured oil on the
top of it.
He called the name of thatplace Bethel, but the name of
(04:05):
the city was Luz at the first.
Then Jacob made a vow, sayingIf God will be with me and will
keep me in this way, that I goand will give me bread to eat
and clothing to wear so that Icome again to my father's house
in peace.
Then the Lord shall be my Godand this stone which I have set
(04:28):
up for a pillar shall be God'shouse.
And of all that you give me, Iwill give a full tenth to you.
The grass withers and theflowers fade, but the word of
our God stands forever.
If you would please join me fora brief word of prayer, father,
we are so grateful for yourgoodness to this church.
(04:51):
You love New City more thananyone in this room or in the
history of this church and youhave used the witness of this
church to extend your kingdom,to bring people out of the
darkness and into the light, totransform marriages and
parenting and working andresting.
Lord, you have borne so muchfruit through this church and
(05:15):
you have encouraged and educatedand directed and inspired so
many other congregations to livemore fully into the kingdom
because of their life together.
And I pray, lord, that thismorning you would do that work
you love to do by drawingstraight lines with crooked
sticks, by taking the meagerfive loaves and two fish of
(05:38):
preachers and blessing it andmultiplying it to feed many.
So we ask that you would feedus this morning, lord, with the
holy bread from heaven, the LordJesus Christ himself, and we
ask, lord, that you would helpus to not just be hearers of
your word but to be doers aswell.
We pray all these thingstogether in Jesus' name, and all
(06:00):
God's people said amen.
You may be seated in thepresence of the Lord.
Early Native Americans had apractice that they used for
marking the shift of a boy onhis way to manhood.
(06:20):
On the night of that boy's 13thbirthday, after he had learned
about fishing and hunting andscouting, he was put to one
final test he was blindfoldedand he was led out into a dense
forest to spend the entire nightalone.
(06:42):
Until then he had never beenaway from the safety of his
family, from the security of histribe, but on this night he was
taken several miles away,blindfolded, and when he took
off the blindfold he was in themiddle of a dark and dense
forest.
(07:02):
And dense forest.
He was terrified.
Every snap of a twig heimagined was a wild animal about
to strike out on him.
He visualized the most scarythings in that sense of
aloneness.
But as the night wore on, soonthe day would break and the
(07:24):
first rays of light would comethrough the forest and pretty
soon that young man could seesome flowers and he would notice
little animals dancing aroundthe forest.
And then, to his utter surprise, he would see the outline of a
(07:45):
man, and it was his father,armed with a bow and arrow.
You see, all that night he wasunder the impression that he was
alone.
All that night he was afraidthat he would have to defend
himself from attacks.
But the reality was that he wasnot alone.
His father was with him thewhole time.
(08:08):
He simply did not realize it.
Now, on the journey of faith, wesometimes come into seasons of
life, into situations in ourlife where we feel like we're
all alone.
Our life where we feel likewe're all alone, all security
(08:29):
seems to be taken away from usand the darkness surrounds us.
Our imaginations begin to runwild with all of the negative
possibilities that could creepinto our situations.
We have anxieties overwhelmingus.
We perceive dangers that may ormay not be there.
Fear clutters our minds, butthe story of God tells us that
(08:52):
even in these times we are notalone.
Our protector is present.
We simply have not realized it.
In our passage for this morning,we come to a turning point in
the story of Jacob.
It's a decisive moment in thelife of this father in the faith
(09:15):
and it's all about taking a newdirection by making a new
connection.
That's what I want you to walkaway with this morning.
If you came into this placethis morning and you're looking
for change, if there are thingsin your life that are not the
way you want them to be and youknow it could be more beautiful,
(09:37):
you know it could be morefaithful, you know you need to
take a new direction in life.
I want you to recognize thismorning that it's possible to
take a new direction in life.
I want you to recognize thismorning that it's possible to
take that new direction, but youhave to make a new connection.
So we're going to get into thispassage this morning by looking
at those two points taking anew direction and making a new
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connection.
So let's look at our firstpoint taking a new direction.
Now, if you are new to theBible or it's been a while since
you have been around thenarrative of Father Jacob, let
me just give you the high level.
Jacob, by this point in his life, had come into great difficulty
(10:22):
.
Why here's why into greatdifficulty?
Why?
Here's why he had swindled hisbrother for the birthright so
that he could be the true heirof all of his father's gifts and
wealth.
And in order to do that, he notonly swindled his brother for
the birthright, but he deceivedhis father to steal the blessing
(10:43):
.
Then he created hostility withhis brother and then he's
estranged from his family and heends up having to flee into a
sort of exile as a fugitive.
So if you can imagine what thatmust have been like for Jacob,
it's completely reasonable toappreciate the idea that at this
(11:07):
point he is afraid anddepressed because last he heard
his brother, whom he hadswindled, had put a hit out on
him and his mama had to figureout a way to protect her
favorite boy, and so they senthim away and he's on the run.
He's a man on the run, so he'safraid, and we were told earlier
(11:31):
that he was the quiet,home-loving kind of guy.
So this is particularlydifficult for him.
He's feeling lonely, vulnerable, unsure of the future and
probably a little bit guilty,because he knew that everything
he was experiencing at thismoment was because of decisions
(11:54):
that he himself had made.
He knew it was his fault andnow he has to live with the
consequences.
Has anyone out there foundthemselves in a place at some
time that was tight on you, butyou knew you had nobody else to
blame but yourself?
That's where Jacob finds himselfright now, and this scene here
(12:16):
in Genesis 28.
Is his first night Away fromhome.
He can't find anyone that willextend that common, ancient Near
Eastern hospitality, nobody tooffer him a bed for the night.
So he's forced to sleep underthe stars, surrounded by the
(12:36):
darkness, and after laying therefor a while, his mind racing
with regrets, his mind racingwith regrets, racing with fears,
he falls asleep.
And it's in his sleep that hehas a surprising and completely
unexpected encounter with God.
(12:57):
God reveals himself to Jacob ina dream, and it's at this point
that we need to hit pause for aminute and realize that this
story of Jacob is in God's wordfor a reason, and one of the
major lessons that we need topay attention to is the fact
(13:18):
that this is a picture of theentire journey of faith.
This is the beginning of a newdirection for Jacob, and it all
begins with a bold revelation ofGod.
Now I know that if you go out toBarnes and Nobles and you go
over to the DIY section, thedo-it-yourself.
(13:40):
You can find some ways that youcan do certain things in your
life by yourself.
You might be able to do somecarpentry by yourself, you might
be able to do some plumbing byyourself, but there is no DIY
plan for raising someone fromdeath to life.
There's no DIY plan fortransforming the heart of a
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sinner to make them moreresemble the saint.
This takes a power that exceedsevery human power and it begins
by encountering the God of all.
That power.
This, at the high level, iswhat we see because you got to
recognize if you read throughthe story.
Up to this point in Jacob's life, he has tried to do life his
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way, and one of his primary waysof trying to do life was
manipulating everyone around himto try and seize control of
things.
He manipulated people to getwhat he wanted.
He was taking matters into hisown hands, but guess what
happens?
That always ends badly.
Y'all.
Look, there are a thousandthings in this world that show
(14:48):
you that you cannot have controlof all things.
I can't control what otherpeople say about me.
I can't control the weather.
I can't control who comes inthe doors of the church and who
doesn't.
There are all kinds of thingsthat reveal how little control I
can't control who comes in thedoors of the church and who
doesn't.
There are all kinds of thingsthat reveal how little control I
can have.
But there are all kinds ofthings in our lives that reveal
how little control we shouldhave.
(15:09):
I shouldn't have control of thecockpit on my next flight
because ain't nobody going tomake it to the destination.
They're going to be like snakeson a plane crash right.
I shouldn't have control ofanybody's open heart surgery
because they're never going tomake it up off that table.
I shouldn't have control of theAtlanta power grid because
(15:30):
pretty soon everybody's going tobe in the dark.
And if I shouldn't have controlof any of these things, what
makes me think I should havecontrol over my life?
Control over other people,control over institutions?
We find ourselves gripping andgrasping why?
Because we often feel like ifI'm not controlling it, it's not
(15:50):
going to go well.
We often feel like, lord, thiswhole thing would be much better
if you just took your hands offthe wheel and let me put my
hands on it.
And the Lord said you sureabout that?
No, no, the Lord loves you toomuch to let you crash your own
life.
He would rather bring you intotemporary discomfort rather than
(16:13):
to allow you the long-termdevastation of a.
It's a fiction of being able tocontrol things, but that is how
Jacob lived his life.
But you know what I once had aprofessor tell me?
That the dynamic in life is notjust about you being a sinner
but about being sinned against.
(16:34):
Thank you, doc Ellis.
Thank you, doc Ellis.
Jacob had inherited ways ofliving from the family system he
was a part of, and he had neverexamined the ways in which he
was shaped.
But if you look carefully, itlooks very much like his mama
and the way that she handledthings when life got stressful
(16:56):
and uncertain.
And so he is a sinner himselfwho wants to manipulate, but
he's also been formed tonavigate life in that way.
But this text is showing us thatall of our coping mechanisms
eventually fail us.
When you try to live life onyour own terms, out of your own
(17:20):
strength, eventually that doesnot work.
And then you turn to copingmechanisms in order to soothe
the wounds and the hurt withinwhen it doesn't work out.
But we see in this text aninvitation to take a new
direction.
And it all begins with thissurprising encounter with God,
(17:42):
because what God does for Jacobin this revelation of himself
for Jacob it was revelation in adream.
For us it's revelation in theWord.
And what God does for him is hebrings an alternative future
into view when he thinks he'sfacing a dead end.
As one commentator put it, thisdream is not a morbid review of
(18:05):
his shameful past.
It's the presentation of analternative future with God.
I want you to look at this andlisten carefully.
He is on his way into a type ofexile as a result of his
relationally damaging decisions,but it's in this place that
Jacob meets the Lord, where heleast expected him.
(18:27):
He meets God in a place thatseems ordinary and mundane too
ordinary for anything divine tobe going on.
He meets the Lord in the placeof vulnerability.
He meets the Lord in the placeof loneliness, solitude.
He meets the Lord in the placeof vulnerability.
He meets the Lord in the placeof loneliness, solitude.
He meets the Lord in the emptyand desolate place.
He meets the Lord in the placeof heartache.
(18:50):
He meets the Lord in the placeof family crisis and dysfunction
.
He meets the Lord at a timewhere he has no spouse and no
children.
He meets the Lord in a timewhen he's really corrupt and
morally bankrupt.
He meets the Lord in a timewhere he's experiencing the
consequences of his own decision.
(19:11):
I know I'm preaching to somebodyin here, because it's in these
times that we often do notexpect the Lord to be at work.
When we're getting beat up bylife, when our enemies seem to
be prevailing, when our wholelife seems to be chaotic, we
conclude that the Lord is nothere and the Lord is not working
(19:32):
.
But the Lord knows how to workthe midnight shift.
He knows how to step into thedarkness and shine the light.
He knows how to work themidnight shift.
He knows how to step into thedarkness and shine the light.
He knows how to step into thedarkest of situations and bring
new hope.
That is a uniquely Christiangift of a uniquely Christian
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gospel.
But we're going to get there ina little while.
I know y'all see what'shappening in this text.
You and I often think that thosetimes and seasons in our lives
are like a no-fly zone for theLord.
But he puts this in His Word sothat we can have confidence
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that it's precisely at thesetimes that the Lord does some of
his best work.
But if you needed any evidenceof that, you only have to fast
forward to one Friday that wasdark and full of terror.
It was a Friday that was filledwith the greatest evil you
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could imagine in this world, andyet it was on that day that the
Lord proved his presence.
It was on that day that theLord proved that even when it
looks dark to you, even thedarkness is light to him.
The gospel is the verificationthat even in the darkest moments
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, even in the darkest times,those who have the eyes of faith
should be able to see that Godis working, that God is good,
that God is powerful.
Faith expects to encounter Godin the unexpected places and in
the unexpected times.
(21:20):
On the journey of faith, youcan enter into the mundane and
realize with Jacob surely theLord is in this place.
Now, I grew up a preacher's kidand my pops told me son, there
are two words in church thatought to make you shout surely,
and early, right, okay, Surelythe Lord is in this place.
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You can battle with yourheartache and your loneliness
and say surely the Lord is inthis place.
You can have a rough marriageor you can have a difficult time
parenting your kids and stillsay surely the Lord is in this
place.
You can have conflict in yourlocal church, you can have
issues with your co-workers andyet say surely the Lord is in
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this place?
I may not understand what he'sdoing in these places.
I may not understand this stopon the journey, but I can know
with confidence that thedestination is glory and joy.
The narrator wants us to adapt.
(22:34):
Now, those of us I'm sure youknow, you're many of you may be
aware there is a tool that helpscross-cultural communities to
gain intercultural competence.
It's called the IDI and thistool basically shows a continuum
of how much or how littlefacility you have with adapting
in circumstances where you'rerelating to people across lines
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of difference.
And it begins with a denial ofthe idea that there is some kind
of difference or relationalpossibility.
I think this tool actually mapson to how we understand our
relationship to God, becausedenial is a denial of the
distinctions and many peoplelike to take God's job instead
of taking God's perspective.
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Right, that's denial of what'sgoing on.
But then there's polarization inus versus them and some people
in their spiritual journey theyhave come into a place where
they feel like it's them versusGod.
Like God is just dangling thecarrot.
Like God is not their lovingheavenly father.
Like God is out to get them.
Like God is disappointed withhis arms folded rather than his
(23:39):
arms open wide.
You go from denial topolarization.
But then, some people, it'sminimization which is a
conflation, a confusion.
Right, everything's all good.
We're basically the same.
No, we are not the same.
God is holy.
His ways are not our ways.
His thoughts are higher thanour thoughts.
But as you begin to grow,ultimately the goal is to get to
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adaptation.
You have a clear sense of whoyou are and a respect for who
the other person is and you areable to adapt for the sake of
that relationship.
I think there's an invitationhere for us to adapt our minds,
to adapt our practices, to adaptin the way we engage
relationships more and more tothe Lord, to index every action
and impulse of our souls to whoGod is and what God has done.
(24:29):
In the gospel, the narratorwants us to adapt because if you
don't realize that the Lord isin these places and in these
situations with you, you willeither turn to your coping
mechanisms and your pain, or youwill grasp for control.
You will wear yourself out thebest you'll be able to do.
(24:53):
Y'all.
You'll spin your wheels and ifyou're trying to clean up your
life, you will do what childrenoften do when you tell them to
go clean their room.
They don't clean the mess, theyjust shift it around.
No shade to the Whitfieldchildren.
They've been raised right.
They're going to do it right.
(25:13):
Amen, hallelujah.
Yeah, y'all heard that.
Come back in and hear it.
You see, that's often whathappens Without the gospel of
grace.
All you ever do in your life isshift the mess around.
You might be able to conceal itin this corner of the room, but
it's going to be piled up overhere.
You need to make a newconnection in order to take this
(25:38):
new direction, and we're allinvited to embrace this new
confession, no matter whatyou're facing.
I don't know what you got goingon right now, but I want you to
just think for a minute with me.
What is that thing that isburdening your heart?
What is that thing that'skeeping you up late at night?
(26:01):
What is the thing that isproducing the anxiety in you
during the day?
I want to invite you, from thistext, to look that thing
straight in the eyes and saysurely the Lord is in this place
.
And then do one more thing forme, for you, for the Lord is in
this place.
And then do one more thing forme, for you, for the Lord.
(26:23):
Instead of looking at those hardthings in life and saying, what
are you doing God?
Like I say to my kids, watchyour tone.
Instead of saying what are youdoing God, you say what are you
doing God?
I know you're up to good, Iknow you're working out
(26:44):
redemption in the world.
I know you're extending yourkingdom.
So, lord, help me to have graceand a redemptive curiosity
about what you're doing in mylife that shifts the way in
which you experience yourtroubles.
Because what we're ultimatelyinvited into in the Christian
faith is not just to have atheology of suffering that
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allows us to intellectuallyreconcile the fact that God is
good and bad things happen.
No, you need a missiology ofsuffering so that you continue
working on the mission of Godeven while hell is breaking
loose in your life.
I don't know any other way toexplain the apostles ministry.
We're troubled on every side,yet not distressed.
(27:30):
I'm perplexed but never indespair.
I'm persecuted but not forsaken.
I'm struck down but neverdestroyed, always carrying in my
body, the death of Jesus, sothat the life of Jesus may be
revealed in you.
That is a missiology ofsuffering.
That is knowing how to liveinto your sentness, even when
(27:52):
your heart is broken and tearsare filling your eyes, because
you got the hope that you knowthe one who's going to dry those
tears.
Ultimately, surely, the Lord isin this place, and if you get
this, then you begin to make anew connection.
(28:13):
That's our second point makinga new connection.
I had a very simple illustrationof the big idea of this point
when we were trying to getourselves packed up and moved to
our new location in Atlanta.
I was fooling around trying tofigure out what am I going to
throw away and what are we goingto keep?
I don't want to travel nothingbroken down.
So I'm fooling around with thislamp in our house.
(28:35):
I take the lamp apart, I messaround with the light bulb, I'm
looking at the base, I fool withthis thing for like 10 minutes
and then I look out and I seethe thing is unplugged.
Now listen, I don't mean toinsult you with such a simple
illustration, but how often inour lives do we find ourselves
(28:56):
fooling around with thisparticular thing in our life.
You know I'm fooling aroundwith my mental health, I'm
fooling around with my diet andexercise, I'm fooling around
with this, that and the otherthing, but I have not attended
to my connection with the Lord.
You can fool with it all youwant, but until you get
connected to the Lord, until youlive into that connection,
(29:17):
nothing else will work.
And in this text we see Jacobmake that connection.
It's a personal connection,y'all.
It's a personal connection toGod.
Listen, jacob was plentyreligious already, and so were
all the people of his day.
(29:37):
Jacob knew his parents' faithand he was surely taught about
the things of the Lord from hisparents.
But I want to tell yousomething you cannot really have
that kind of relationshipdelegated.
You can't rely upon the faithof your relative.
That's like sending your friendto the restaurant for you and
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expecting to get full.
That's like sending your friendon a date for you and expecting
to get full.
That's like sending your friendon a date for you and expecting
to fall in love.
That's like sending your friendto the weight room for you and
expecting to get healthy.
You cannot delegate arelationship with the Lord.
The Lord wants you to make itpersonal.
Though he was close to religion, though he had observed faith
(30:22):
his whole life, he had not yetexpressed personal faith, not
until this night, not until thisdream.
And it's kind of mysterious,isn't it, this passage?
What's going on here?
The narrator tells us that inthis dream, jacob sees a ladder
(30:42):
or a stairway, and what he seeson the ladder are angels
ascending and descending on it.
Now, we all probably know thatin the Bible, angels are
servants of God's plans on earth.
They're often dispatched toprotect God's people.
Dispatched to protect God'speople.
(31:05):
But even more importantly, weneed to observe here that the
Lord makes this place a portalbetween heaven and earth.
This place where he did notexpect to encounter God.
The Lord opens up a portal inthe most ordinary moment, in the
most ordinary place in thedarkness.
The Lord opens up a portalbetween heaven and earth.
And the only reason why Jacob'slife is transformed is because
(31:30):
he sees the Lord cross the linebetween heaven and earth to
confirm his promise.
In other words, heaven came tohim.
We should also say that it'sclear from this text that the
ladder was not there for Jacobto climb.
It was there for God's servantto descend In this vulnerable
(31:52):
place in this fearful and lonelyplace.
God shows Jacob that he is withhim, that he is protecting him
and that he is working out hisplan in Jacob's life.
And when God speaks he confirmsthe old promise by speaking it
over Jacob's life.
He promises his presence, hisprotection and he commits to
(32:15):
bringing Jacob back home onceagain.
Do you see the sequence of thepassage?
Once Jacob sees God connectingheaven and earth to confirm his
promise, jacob makes a personalconnection to God.
God was no longer a distantabstraction.
God was no longer way up there,far off and away.
(32:37):
No, god had come near.
God had crossed the bridge.
God had closed the gap.
And it's once he sees Godclosing the gap that he makes it
personal.
He says if God makes good onhis promises, then the Lord
shall be my God.
That personal pronoun isimportant.
Do you see, jacob's life takesa new direction at this point
(33:00):
because he makes a new personalconnection with God.
He realizes that the Lord hasbeen there all along and that
he's never been alone.
But the rest of redemptivehistory, the rest of God's story
, shows us that Jacob'stransformation is just a down
payment on what God would oneday do for all of Israel and
(33:24):
through Christ, for the wholeworld.
Do you see where this text isleading us?
Turn to the gospel of John,chapter one, and you see this
encounter that Jesus had with aman named Nathaniel.
Nathaniel's friend, philip,came running to him and he says
quote, we have found him, ofwhom moses in the law and also
(33:45):
the prophets wrote jesus ofnazareth, the son of joseph.
And nathaniel's response cananything good come out of
nazareth?
And philip says come see.
That's the Russ WhitfieldInternational Interpretation of
the Tone.
Just bring yourself, come see.
(34:07):
And as Nathaniel was approachingJesus, jesus says quote, behold
an Israelite in whom there isno deceit.
And Nathaniel says how do youknow me?
Then Jesus reveals somesupernatural insight into
Nathaniel's life and the manexclaims Rabbi, you are the son
(34:27):
of God.
Then Jesus says to him you willsee greater things than these.
Watch this, listen Truly, truly, I say to you.
You will see heaven opened andthe angels of God ascending and
descending on the son of man.
Do you see what Jesus is saying?
He's saying, nathaniel, I amJacob's ladder, I am God's
(34:53):
connection between heaven andearth.
That confirms the promise I canmake any place and any time in
your life a portal for glory tobreak in.
It's in me that God'sprotection and God's plan and
God's promise have come to earth.
I am the God who meets you inthe place where you least expect
(35:15):
it, because I am the God ofincarnation, I am the God of all
grace.
I show up in your morning andturn it to dancing.
I show up in your weakness andreveal my power.
I show up in the desert andturn it to a fruitful garden.
I show up in your exile and Igive you a homecoming.
(35:38):
I show up in the storm and Igive you my peace.
I show up in the valley of drybones and I pronounce life.
I show up at the tomb and Icall out resurrection.
You don't have to know what'sgoing on, just know that he's
here.
You don't have to have it allfigured out, just know he's here
(35:58):
.
You don't have to have it allclear, just know that he is here
.
Surely the Lord is in thisplace.
I wouldn't have planned it thisway, but he's here.
I don't understand it, but he'shere.
(36:18):
I might be at the end of myrope, but now I'm at the
beginning of true faith.
He's here, he's working, he'sin control, he's good.
The gospel, friends, is notabout you climbing the ladder.
It's about the one who bridgedthe gap to make that unnecessary
.
It's about God's servant Jesusdescending.
(36:42):
And when he descends he drawsnear to the brokenhearted.
He draws near to those who areconfused.
He draws near to those who areuncertain about life.
He loves to impart his peace.
He will keep your mind inperfect peace if you keep your
mind stayed on him.
So I want to invite you to shiftyour expectations about what
(37:07):
the Lord will do and where theLord is at work, instead of
waking up in the morning lookingat your schedule and be like oh
man, I got this thing and thatthing and I know it's going to
be bad and it's going to beconflict and it's not going to
work out.
You know what that sounds like.
That sounds like the reflectionof somebody who don't know
anything about resurrection.
That sounds like the reflectionof somebody who doesn't know
(37:29):
that God is everywhere.
God is good, god is at work andhe is going to bring all things
together for good for those wholove him.
But those whose eyes have beenshaped by resurrection hope,
those whose hearts have beenfilled with the love of God in
Christ Jesus, expect good fromyour good father.
You know what that meeting.
(37:50):
It may be hard, but God isgoing to be at work in that
meeting.
You know what God is likely tobring us to reconciliation.
You know that ministry outthere in that tough part of the
neighborhood.
You know what God.
He shifts the heart of thewater in his hand.
He can work with anybody thatwe're out here trying to serve
and love in Jesus' name.
I expect good from this goodGod and he's given me warrant
(38:11):
for that expectation.
Shift your expectations aboutyour life.
Expect good from your father.
He loves you.
He clings to you more tightlythan the ivy clasped to the elm.
One old school cat said hethinks on you as if you were the
sole occupant of a boundlessuniverse.
(38:32):
He is your father.
He loves you, he cares for you.
Expect him to be at work andexpect that any pains, trials or
sufferings are a kindness thatyou can't fully grasp, by which
he is going to form you moreinto the likeness of Jesus.
Everybody says they won't belike Jesus until God gets to
making them like Jesus.
Right?
(38:52):
Everybody loves everybody.
Until they got somebody to love, right, that's good.
Don't lose the good intentions,but expect more of your God.
The last thing too.
I want to give you this category.
It really blessed me, the oldCeltic Christians.
They used to have this categorythat they called the thin
(39:12):
places.
The thin places where the veilbetween heaven and earth seemed
to get thinner, almost like theycould peer into eternity, peer
into glory.
And what they would oftenremark is that those thin places
were often the times of thegreatest suffering, the greatest
heartache, the greatest feltloss.
He said those are the times ofthe thin places and I have
(39:36):
experienced that personally inmy own life and the way that I
have made sense of it is that itis a fellowship with Christ and
his sufferings.
Everybody wants to know Christand the power of his
resurrection.
Thank you, yes, but then youkeep on going in that verse and
to fellowship with him and hissufferings you'd be like wait,
(39:57):
hold up Jesus, what?
No?
But that is one of the waysthat you more deeply access the
love that he has for you,because when you suffer like
Christ, you begin to appreciatemore and more how much you're
loved by Christ, because hewillingly embraced that kind of
suffering for us and for oursalvation.
But I just want this word to bein your ears this week and
(40:20):
evermore.
Surely the Lord is in this place, amen.
And if you make that confession, you will also find yourself
with Jacob when he said this isnone other than Bethel.
God is humble.
He can make his home in anycircumstances, with any person.
(40:40):
So let's receive that presence,acknowledge that presence, rely
upon his presence and livefully as his beloved.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much foryour word.
We thank you so much that youare present in all of the
various trials and circumstancesof our lives.
Even when our eyes grow dim andwe cannot see you, you are
(41:04):
still with us, and the gospel isthe certainty of guarantee that
your promise is true, that youwill never leave us or forsake
us.
Lo, you are with us, even tothe end of the age.
So we ask now, holy Spirit,that you would convince our
hearts of these truths and thatyou would animate our lives with
(41:27):
the riches of the beauty ofyour kingdom and your gospel.
And may our lives bear witnessto the fact that Jesus is alive.
Hear our prayers, lord, andcontinue to shape our lives.
We ask in Jesus' name Amen.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
Hello, my name is Michelle Tolliver and Biblical
Talk's book offer for the monthof October is Free at Last.
The Gospel and the AfricanAmerican Experience by Dr Carl
Ellis.
The words of Martin Luther KingJr's I have a Dream speech have
become enshrined in US history.
But after the end of King'sgeneration of leadership, what
happened to the African-Americanstruggle for freedom?
(42:08):
Like the ancient Israelites,the African-American community
has survived a 400-yearcollective trauma.
What will it take for them toreach the promised land that
King foresaw to be truly free atlast?
King foresaw to be truly freeat last.
In this classic historical andcultural study, dr Carl Ellis
offers an in-depth assessment ofthe state of the African
American freedom and dignity,stressing how important it is
(42:30):
for African Americans to reflecton their roots.
He traces the growth of theblack consciousness from days of
slavery to the 1990s, notingespecially the contributions of
King and Malcolm X.
Ellis examines elements ofblack culture and offers a
distinctive perspective on howGod is active in culture more
broadly.
Free at Last, concludes with acall for a new generation of
jazz theologians and culturalprophets to revitalize the
(42:53):
African American church andexpand its cultural range.
The book also includes ahelpful glossary of people,
events and terms.
Ellis writes it is my prayerthat the principles contained in
this book will play a role inbuilding bridges of
understanding and facilitatingreconciliation where there has
been alienation.
For any amount of donation toBiblical Talks, we will send you
(43:14):
the book.
Please go to biblicaltalkscomand click the donate here tab.
Thank you for listening toBiblical Talks.
Welcome to Biblical Talks.
Sermon of the Week.
Jacob journeyed in Genesis 28,mark a critical crossroad in his
life.
He wasn't just running from hisbrother, he was running from
the consequence of his owndeception.
After scheming his way to boththe birthright and the blessing,
(00:21):
jacob had stirred up a storm,so frisked, so strong, that he
had no choice but to flee.
Now this Trister, that's whatthey call him.
This Trister was a fugitivewandering the wilderness with
nothing but a rock for a pillarand fear for company.
(00:42):
Have you ever been there beforeI have?
Jacob, a quiet man, more athome, with tense than trouble,
suddenly found himself exposed,isolated, uncertain and weighed
down by guilt.
He knew that this exile wasn'trandom, it was self-inflicted.
And, brothers and sisters, alot of our stuff is
(01:05):
self-inflicted, a lot of ourtrouble is self-inflicted.
Have you ever been there before?
Brother Russ Whitfield is goingto preach a sermon from Genesis
.
He's going to deal with Jacob'sdream, and this sermon is
called Jacob's Ladder.
Here's Russ Whitfield.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Morning, new City.
I am delighted to be here withyou this morning.
I stand on the shoulders ofthis congregation in the whole
history of the work I have donein this denomination, and there
are many people in this room whohave been a blessing to my own
personal life.
I'm going to thank Rev Kev,sister Sandy, for your
(01:48):
hospitality.
I want to give recognition tomy brother and sister Erwin Entz
, sister Kim Entz, the Ellis's.
God bless you, the plumbers.
I'm so thankful to be here andI want to invite you now to join
me.
As we hear from God's wordGenesis, chapter 28, verses 10
through 22.
This is God's word.
(02:11):
Jacob left Beersheba and wenttoward Haran, and he came to a
certain place and stayed therethat night because the sun had
set.
Taking one of the stones of theplace, he put it under his head
and lay down in that place tosleep.
And he dreamed and behold,there was a ladder set up on the
(02:33):
earth and the top of it reachedto the heaven.
And behold, the angels of Godwere ascending and descending on
it.
And descending on it, andbehold, the Lord stood above it
and said I am the Lord, the Godof Abraham, your father, and the
God of Isaac, the land on whichyou lie, I will give to you and
(02:55):
to your offspring.
Your offspring shall be likethe dust of the earth and you
shall spread abroad, to the westand to the east, and to the
north and to the south, and inyou and your offspring shall all
the families of the earth beblessed.
Behold, I am with you and willkeep you wherever you go and
(03:19):
will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until
I have done what I havepromised you.
Then Jacob awoke from his sleepand said Surely, the Lord is in
this place, and I did not knowit.
And he was afraid and said howawesome is this place?
(03:41):
This is none other than thehouse of God and this is the
gate of heaven.
So early in the morning, jacobtook the stone that he had put
under his head and set it up fora pillar and poured oil on the
top of it.
He called the name of thatplace Bethel, but the name of
(04:05):
the city was Luz at the first.
Then Jacob made a vow, sayingIf God will be with me and will
keep me in this way, that I goand will give me bread to eat
and clothing to wear so that Icome again to my father's house
in peace.
Then the Lord shall be my Godand this stone which I have set
(04:28):
up for a pillar shall be God'shouse.
And of all that you give me, Iwill give a full tenth to you.
The grass withers and theflowers fade, but the word of
our God stands forever.
If you would please join me fora brief word of prayer, father,
we are so grateful for yourgoodness to this church.
(04:51):
You love New City more thananyone in this room or in the
history of this church and youhave used the witness of this
church to extend your kingdom,to bring people out of the
darkness and into the light, totransform marriages and
parenting and working andresting.
Lord, you have borne so muchfruit through this church and
(05:15):
you have encouraged and educatedand directed and inspired so
many other congregations to livemore fully into the kingdom
because of their life together.
And I pray, lord, that thismorning you would do that work
you love to do by drawingstraight lines with crooked
sticks, by taking the meagerfive loaves and two fish of
(05:38):
preachers and blessing it andmultiplying it to feed many.
So we ask that you would feedus this morning, lord, with the
holy bread from heaven, the LordJesus Christ himself, and we
ask, lord, that you would helpus to not just be hearers of
your word but to be doers aswell.
We pray all these thingstogether in Jesus' name, and all
(06:00):
God's people said amen.
You may be seated in thepresence of the Lord.
Early Native Americans had apractice that they used for
marking the shift of a boy onhis way to manhood.
(06:20):
On the night of that boy's 13thbirthday, after he had learned
about fishing and hunting andscouting, he was put to one
final test he was blindfoldedand he was led out into a dense
forest to spend the entire nightalone.
(06:42):
Until then he had never beenaway from the safety of his
family, from the security of histribe, but on this night he was
taken several miles away,blindfolded, and when he took
off the blindfold he was in themiddle of a dark and dense
forest.
(07:02):
And dense forest.
He was terrified.
Every snap of a twig heimagined was a wild animal about
to strike out on him.
He visualized the most scarythings in that sense of
aloneness.
But as the night wore on, soonthe day would break and the
(07:24):
first rays of light would comethrough the forest and pretty
soon that young man could seesome flowers and he would notice
little animals dancing aroundthe forest.
And then, to his utter surprise, he would see the outline of a
(07:45):
man, and it was his father,armed with a bow and arrow.
You see, all that night he wasunder the impression that he was
alone.
All that night he was afraidthat he would have to defend
himself from attacks.
But the reality was that he wasnot alone.
His father was with him thewhole time.
(08:08):
He simply did not realize it.
Now, on the journey of faith, wesometimes come into seasons of
life, into situations in ourlife where we feel like we're
all alone.
Our life where we feel likewe're all alone, all security
(08:29):
seems to be taken away from usand the darkness surrounds us.
Our imaginations begin to runwild with all of the negative
possibilities that could creepinto our situations.
We have anxieties overwhelmingus.
We perceive dangers that may ormay not be there.
Fear clutters our minds, butthe story of God tells us that
(08:52):
even in these times we are notalone.
Our protector is present.
We simply have not realized it.
In our passage for this morning,we come to a turning point in
the story of Jacob.
It's a decisive moment in thelife of this father in the faith
(09:15):
and it's all about taking a newdirection by making a new
connection.
That's what I want you to walkaway with this morning.
If you came into this placethis morning and you're looking
for change, if there are thingsin your life that are not the
way you want them to be and youknow it could be more beautiful,
(09:37):
you know it could be morefaithful, you know you need to
take a new direction in life.
I want you to recognize thismorning that it's possible to
take a new direction in life.
I want you to recognize thismorning that it's possible to
take that new direction, but youhave to make a new connection.
So we're going to get into thispassage this morning by looking
at those two points taking anew direction and making a new
(09:59):
connection.
So let's look at our firstpoint taking a new direction.
Now, if you are new to theBible or it's been a while since
you have been around thenarrative of Father Jacob, let
me just give you the high level.
Jacob, by this point in his life, had come into great difficulty
(10:22):
.
Why here's why into greatdifficulty?
Why?
Here's why he had swindled hisbrother for the birthright so
that he could be the true heirof all of his father's gifts and
wealth.
And in order to do that, he notonly swindled his brother for
the birthright, but he deceivedhis father to steal the blessing
(10:43):
.
Then he created hostility withhis brother and then he's
estranged from his family and heends up having to flee into a
sort of exile as a fugitive.
So if you can imagine what thatmust have been like for Jacob,
it's completely reasonable toappreciate the idea that at this
(11:07):
point he is afraid anddepressed because last he heard
his brother, whom he hadswindled, had put a hit out on
him and his mama had to figureout a way to protect her
favorite boy, and so they senthim away and he's on the run.
He's a man on the run, so he'safraid, and we were told earlier
(11:31):
that he was the quiet,home-loving kind of guy.
So this is particularlydifficult for him.
He's feeling lonely, vulnerable, unsure of the future and
probably a little bit guilty,because he knew that everything
he was experiencing at thismoment was because of decisions
(11:54):
that he himself had made.
He knew it was his fault andnow he has to live with the
consequences.
Has anyone out there foundthemselves in a place at some
time that was tight on you, butyou knew you had nobody else to
blame but yourself?
That's where Jacob finds himselfright now, and this scene here
(12:16):
in Genesis 28.
Is his first night Away fromhome.
He can't find anyone that willextend that common, ancient Near
Eastern hospitality, nobody tooffer him a bed for the night.
So he's forced to sleep underthe stars, surrounded by the
(12:36):
darkness, and after laying therefor a while, his mind racing
with regrets, his mind racingwith regrets, racing with fears,
he falls asleep.
And it's in his sleep that hehas a surprising and completely
unexpected encounter with God.
(12:57):
God reveals himself to Jacob ina dream, and it's at this point
that we need to hit pause for aminute and realize that this
story of Jacob is in God's wordfor a reason, and one of the
major lessons that we need topay attention to is the fact
(13:18):
that this is a picture of theentire journey of faith.
This is the beginning of a newdirection for Jacob, and it all
begins with a bold revelation ofGod.
Now I know that if you go out toBarnes and Nobles and you go
over to the DIY section, thedo-it-yourself.
(13:40):
You can find some ways that youcan do certain things in your
life by yourself.
You might be able to do somecarpentry by yourself, you might
be able to do some plumbing byyourself, but there is no DIY
plan for raising someone fromdeath to life.
There's no DIY plan fortransforming the heart of a
(14:03):
sinner to make them moreresemble the saint.
This takes a power that exceedsevery human power and it begins
by encountering the God of all.
That power.
This, at the high level, iswhat we see because you got to
recognize if you read throughthe story.
Up to this point in Jacob's life, he has tried to do life his
(14:26):
way, and one of his primary waysof trying to do life was
manipulating everyone around himto try and seize control of
things.
He manipulated people to getwhat he wanted.
He was taking matters into hisown hands, but guess what
happens?
That always ends badly.
Y'all.
Look, there are a thousandthings in this world that show
(14:48):
you that you cannot have controlof all things.
I can't control what otherpeople say about me.
I can't control the weather.
I can't control who comes inthe doors of the church and who
doesn't.
There are all kinds of thingsthat reveal how little control I
can't control who comes in thedoors of the church and who
doesn't.
There are all kinds of thingsthat reveal how little control I
can have.
But there are all kinds ofthings in our lives that reveal
how little control we shouldhave.
(15:09):
I shouldn't have control of thecockpit on my next flight
because ain't nobody going tomake it to the destination.
They're going to be like snakeson a plane crash right.
I shouldn't have control ofanybody's open heart surgery
because they're never going tomake it up off that table.
I shouldn't have control of theAtlanta power grid because
(15:30):
pretty soon everybody's going tobe in the dark.
And if I shouldn't have controlof any of these things, what
makes me think I should havecontrol over my life?
Control over other people,control over institutions?
We find ourselves gripping andgrasping why?
Because we often feel like ifI'm not controlling it, it's not
(15:50):
going to go well.
We often feel like, lord, thiswhole thing would be much better
if you just took your hands offthe wheel and let me put my
hands on it.
And the Lord said you sureabout that?
No, no, the Lord loves you toomuch to let you crash your own
life.
He would rather bring you intotemporary discomfort rather than
(16:13):
to allow you the long-termdevastation of a.
It's a fiction of being able tocontrol things, but that is how
Jacob lived his life.
But you know what I once had aprofessor tell me?
That the dynamic in life is notjust about you being a sinner
but about being sinned against.
(16:34):
Thank you, doc Ellis.
Thank you, doc Ellis.
Jacob had inherited ways ofliving from the family system he
was a part of, and he had neverexamined the ways in which he
was shaped.
But if you look carefully, itlooks very much like his mama
and the way that she handledthings when life got stressful
(16:56):
and uncertain.
And so he is a sinner himselfwho wants to manipulate, but
he's also been formed tonavigate life in that way.
But this text is showing us thatall of our coping mechanisms
eventually fail us.
When you try to live life onyour own terms, out of your own
(17:20):
strength, eventually that doesnot work.
And then you turn to copingmechanisms in order to soothe
the wounds and the hurt withinwhen it doesn't work out.
But we see in this text aninvitation to take a new
direction.
And it all begins with thissurprising encounter with God,
(17:42):
because what God does for Jacobin this revelation of himself
for Jacob it was revelation in adream.
For us it's revelation in theWord.
And what God does for him is hebrings an alternative future
into view when he thinks he'sfacing a dead end.
As one commentator put it, thisdream is not a morbid review of
(18:05):
his shameful past.
It's the presentation of analternative future with God.
I want you to look at this andlisten carefully.
He is on his way into a type ofexile as a result of his
relationally damaging decisions,but it's in this place that
Jacob meets the Lord, where heleast expected him.
(18:27):
He meets God in a place thatseems ordinary and mundane too
ordinary for anything divine tobe going on.
He meets the Lord in the placeof vulnerability.
He meets the Lord in the placeof loneliness, solitude.
He meets the Lord in the placeof vulnerability.
He meets the Lord in the placeof loneliness, solitude.
He meets the Lord in the emptyand desolate place.
He meets the Lord in the placeof heartache.
(18:50):
He meets the Lord in the placeof family crisis and dysfunction
.
He meets the Lord at a timewhere he has no spouse and no
children.
He meets the Lord in a timewhen he's really corrupt and
morally bankrupt.
He meets the Lord in a timewhere he's experiencing the
consequences of his own decision.
(19:11):
I know I'm preaching to somebodyin here, because it's in these
times that we often do notexpect the Lord to be at work.
When we're getting beat up bylife, when our enemies seem to
be prevailing, when our wholelife seems to be chaotic, we
conclude that the Lord is nothere and the Lord is not working
(19:32):
.
But the Lord knows how to workthe midnight shift.
He knows how to step into thedarkness and shine the light.
He knows how to work themidnight shift.
He knows how to step into thedarkness and shine the light.
He knows how to step into thedarkest of situations and bring
new hope.
That is a uniquely Christiangift of a uniquely Christian
(19:55):
gospel.
But we're going to get there ina little while.
I know y'all see what'shappening in this text.
You and I often think that thosetimes and seasons in our lives
are like a no-fly zone for theLord.
But he puts this in His Word sothat we can have confidence
(20:16):
that it's precisely at thesetimes that the Lord does some of
his best work.
But if you needed any evidenceof that, you only have to fast
forward to one Friday that wasdark and full of terror.
It was a Friday that was filledwith the greatest evil you
(20:37):
could imagine in this world, andyet it was on that day that the
Lord proved his presence.
It was on that day that theLord proved that even when it
looks dark to you, even thedarkness is light to him.
The gospel is the verificationthat even in the darkest moments
(20:59):
, even in the darkest times,those who have the eyes of faith
should be able to see that Godis working, that God is good,
that God is powerful.
Faith expects to encounter Godin the unexpected places and in
the unexpected times.
(21:20):
On the journey of faith, youcan enter into the mundane and
realize with Jacob surely theLord is in this place.
Now, I grew up a preacher's kidand my pops told me son, there
are two words in church thatought to make you shout surely,
and early, right, okay, Surelythe Lord is in this place.
(21:47):
You can battle with yourheartache and your loneliness
and say surely the Lord is inthis place.
You can have a rough marriageor you can have a difficult time
parenting your kids and stillsay surely the Lord is in this
place.
You can have conflict in yourlocal church, you can have
issues with your co-workers andyet say surely the Lord is in
(22:12):
this place?
I may not understand what he'sdoing in these places.
I may not understand this stopon the journey, but I can know
with confidence that thedestination is glory and joy.
The narrator wants us to adapt.
(22:34):
Now, those of us I'm sure youknow, you're many of you may be
aware there is a tool that helpscross-cultural communities to
gain intercultural competence.
It's called the IDI and thistool basically shows a continuum
of how much or how littlefacility you have with adapting
in circumstances where you'rerelating to people across lines
(22:57):
of difference.
And it begins with a denial ofthe idea that there is some kind
of difference or relationalpossibility.
I think this tool actually mapson to how we understand our
relationship to God, becausedenial is a denial of the
distinctions and many peoplelike to take God's job instead
of taking God's perspective.
(23:17):
Right, that's denial of what'sgoing on.
But then there's polarization inus versus them and some people
in their spiritual journey theyhave come into a place where
they feel like it's them versusGod.
Like God is just dangling thecarrot.
Like God is not their lovingheavenly father.
Like God is out to get them.
Like God is disappointed withhis arms folded rather than his
(23:39):
arms open wide.
You go from denial topolarization.
But then, some people, it'sminimization which is a
conflation, a confusion.
Right, everything's all good.
We're basically the same.
No, we are not the same.
God is holy.
His ways are not our ways.
His thoughts are higher thanour thoughts.
But as you begin to grow,ultimately the goal is to get to
(24:07):
adaptation.
You have a clear sense of whoyou are and a respect for who
the other person is and you areable to adapt for the sake of
that relationship.
I think there's an invitationhere for us to adapt our minds,
to adapt our practices, to adaptin the way we engage
relationships more and more tothe Lord, to index every action
and impulse of our souls to whoGod is and what God has done.
(24:29):
In the gospel, the narratorwants us to adapt because if you
don't realize that the Lord isin these places and in these
situations with you, you willeither turn to your coping
mechanisms and your pain, or youwill grasp for control.
You will wear yourself out thebest you'll be able to do.
(24:53):
Y'all.
You'll spin your wheels and ifyou're trying to clean up your
life, you will do what childrenoften do when you tell them to
go clean their room.
They don't clean the mess, theyjust shift it around.
No shade to the Whitfieldchildren.
They've been raised right.
They're going to do it right.
(25:13):
Amen, hallelujah.
Yeah, y'all heard that.
Come back in and hear it.
You see, that's often whathappens Without the gospel of
grace.
All you ever do in your life isshift the mess around.
You might be able to conceal itin this corner of the room, but
it's going to be piled up overhere.
You need to make a newconnection in order to take this
(25:38):
new direction, and we're allinvited to embrace this new
confession, no matter whatyou're facing.
I don't know what you got goingon right now, but I want you to
just think for a minute with me.
What is that thing that isburdening your heart?
What is that thing that'skeeping you up late at night?
(26:01):
What is the thing that isproducing the anxiety in you
during the day?
I want to invite you, from thistext, to look that thing
straight in the eyes and saysurely the Lord is in this place
.
And then do one more thing forme, for you, for the Lord is in
this place.
And then do one more thing forme, for you, for the Lord.
(26:23):
Instead of looking at those hardthings in life and saying, what
are you doing God?
Like I say to my kids, watchyour tone.
Instead of saying what are youdoing God, you say what are you
doing God?
I know you're up to good, Iknow you're working out
(26:44):
redemption in the world.
I know you're extending yourkingdom.
So, lord, help me to have graceand a redemptive curiosity
about what you're doing in mylife that shifts the way in
which you experience yourtroubles.
Because what we're ultimatelyinvited into in the Christian
faith is not just to have atheology of suffering that
(27:07):
allows us to intellectuallyreconcile the fact that God is
good and bad things happen.
No, you need a missiology ofsuffering so that you continue
working on the mission of Godeven while hell is breaking
loose in your life.
I don't know any other way toexplain the apostles ministry.
We're troubled on every side,yet not distressed.
(27:30):
I'm perplexed but never indespair.
I'm persecuted but not forsaken.
I'm struck down but neverdestroyed, always carrying in my
body, the death of Jesus, sothat the life of Jesus may be
revealed in you.
That is a missiology ofsuffering.
That is knowing how to liveinto your sentness, even when
(27:52):
your heart is broken and tearsare filling your eyes, because
you got the hope that you knowthe one who's going to dry those
tears.
Ultimately, surely, the Lord isin this place, and if you get
this, then you begin to make anew connection.
(28:13):
That's our second point makinga new connection.
I had a very simple illustrationof the big idea of this point
when we were trying to getourselves packed up and moved to
our new location in Atlanta.
I was fooling around trying tofigure out what am I going to
throw away and what are we goingto keep?
I don't want to travel nothingbroken down.
So I'm fooling around with thislamp in our house.
(28:35):
I take the lamp apart, I messaround with the light bulb, I'm
looking at the base, I fool withthis thing for like 10 minutes
and then I look out and I seethe thing is unplugged.
Now listen, I don't mean toinsult you with such a simple
illustration, but how often inour lives do we find ourselves
(28:56):
fooling around with thisparticular thing in our life.
You know I'm fooling aroundwith my mental health, I'm
fooling around with my diet andexercise, I'm fooling around
with this, that and the otherthing, but I have not attended
to my connection with the Lord.
You can fool with it all youwant, but until you get
connected to the Lord, until youlive into that connection,
(29:17):
nothing else will work.
And in this text we see Jacobmake that connection.
It's a personal connection,y'all.
It's a personal connection toGod.
Listen, jacob was plentyreligious already, and so were
all the people of his day.
(29:37):
Jacob knew his parents' faithand he was surely taught about
the things of the Lord from hisparents.
But I want to tell yousomething you cannot really have
that kind of relationshipdelegated.
You can't rely upon the faithof your relative.
That's like sending your friendto the restaurant for you and
(29:58):
expecting to get full.
That's like sending your friendon a date for you and expecting
to get full.
That's like sending your friendon a date for you and expecting
to fall in love.
That's like sending your friendto the weight room for you and
expecting to get healthy.
You cannot delegate arelationship with the Lord.
The Lord wants you to make itpersonal.
Though he was close to religion, though he had observed faith
(30:22):
his whole life, he had not yetexpressed personal faith, not
until this night, not until thisdream.
And it's kind of mysterious,isn't it, this passage?
What's going on here?
The narrator tells us that inthis dream, jacob sees a ladder
(30:42):
or a stairway, and what he seeson the ladder are angels
ascending and descending on it.
Now, we all probably know thatin the Bible, angels are
servants of God's plans on earth.
They're often dispatched toprotect God's people.
Dispatched to protect God'speople.
(31:05):
But even more importantly, weneed to observe here that the
Lord makes this place a portalbetween heaven and earth.
This place where he did notexpect to encounter God.
The Lord opens up a portal inthe most ordinary moment, in the
most ordinary place in thedarkness.
The Lord opens up a portalbetween heaven and earth.
And the only reason why Jacob'slife is transformed is because
(31:30):
he sees the Lord cross the linebetween heaven and earth to
confirm his promise.
In other words, heaven came tohim.
We should also say that it'sclear from this text that the
ladder was not there for Jacobto climb.
It was there for God's servantto descend In this vulnerable
(31:52):
place in this fearful and lonelyplace.
God shows Jacob that he is withhim, that he is protecting him
and that he is working out hisplan in Jacob's life.
And when God speaks he confirmsthe old promise by speaking it
over Jacob's life.
He promises his presence, hisprotection and he commits to
(32:15):
bringing Jacob back home onceagain.
Do you see the sequence of thepassage?
Once Jacob sees God connectingheaven and earth to confirm his
promise, jacob makes a personalconnection to God.
God was no longer a distantabstraction.
God was no longer way up there,far off and away.
(32:37):
No, god had come near.
God had crossed the bridge.
God had closed the gap.
And it's once he sees Godclosing the gap that he makes it
personal.
He says if God makes good onhis promises, then the Lord
shall be my God.
That personal pronoun isimportant.
Do you see, jacob's life takesa new direction at this point
(33:00):
because he makes a new personalconnection with God.
He realizes that the Lord hasbeen there all along and that
he's never been alone.
But the rest of redemptivehistory, the rest of God's story
, shows us that Jacob'stransformation is just a down
payment on what God would oneday do for all of Israel and
(33:24):
through Christ, for the wholeworld.
Do you see where this text isleading us?
Turn to the gospel of John,chapter one, and you see this
encounter that Jesus had with aman named Nathaniel.
Nathaniel's friend, philip,came running to him and he says
quote, we have found him, ofwhom moses in the law and also
(33:45):
the prophets wrote jesus ofnazareth, the son of joseph.
And nathaniel's response cananything good come out of
nazareth?
And philip says come see.
That's the Russ WhitfieldInternational Interpretation of
the Tone.
Just bring yourself, come see.
(34:07):
And as Nathaniel was approachingJesus, jesus says quote, behold
an Israelite in whom there isno deceit.
And Nathaniel says how do youknow me?
Then Jesus reveals somesupernatural insight into
Nathaniel's life and the manexclaims Rabbi, you are the son
(34:27):
of God.
Then Jesus says to him you willsee greater things than these.
Watch this, listen Truly, truly, I say to you.
You will see heaven opened andthe angels of God ascending and
descending on the son of man.
Do you see what Jesus is saying?
He's saying, nathaniel, I amJacob's ladder, I am God's
(34:53):
connection between heaven andearth.
That confirms the promise I canmake any place and any time in
your life a portal for glory tobreak in.
It's in me that God'sprotection and God's plan and
God's promise have come to earth.
I am the God who meets you inthe place where you least expect
(35:15):
it, because I am the God ofincarnation, I am the God of all
grace.
I show up in your morning andturn it to dancing.
I show up in your weakness andreveal my power.
I show up in the desert andturn it to a fruitful garden.
I show up in your exile and Igive you a homecoming.
(35:38):
I show up in the storm and Igive you my peace.
I show up in the valley of drybones and I pronounce life.
I show up at the tomb and Icall out resurrection.
You don't have to know what'sgoing on, just know that he's
here.
You don't have to have it allfigured out, just know he's here
(35:58):
.
You don't have to have it allclear, just know that he is here
.
Surely the Lord is in thisplace.
I wouldn't have planned it thisway, but he's here.
I don't understand it, but he'shere.
(36:18):
I might be at the end of myrope, but now I'm at the
beginning of true faith.
He's here, he's working, he'sin control, he's good.
The gospel, friends, is notabout you climbing the ladder.
It's about the one who bridgedthe gap to make that unnecessary
.
It's about God's servant Jesusdescending.
(36:42):
And when he descends he drawsnear to the brokenhearted.
He draws near to those who areconfused.
He draws near to those who areuncertain about life.
He loves to impart his peace.
He will keep your mind inperfect peace if you keep your
mind stayed on him.
So I want to invite you to shiftyour expectations about what
(37:07):
the Lord will do and where theLord is at work, instead of
waking up in the morning lookingat your schedule and be like oh
man, I got this thing and thatthing and I know it's going to
be bad and it's going to beconflict and it's not going to
work out.
You know what that sounds like.
That sounds like the reflectionof somebody who don't know
anything about resurrection.
That sounds like the reflectionof somebody who doesn't know
(37:29):
that God is everywhere.
God is good, god is at work andhe is going to bring all things
together for good for those wholove him.
But those whose eyes have beenshaped by resurrection hope,
those whose hearts have beenfilled with the love of God in
Christ Jesus, expect good fromyour good father.
You know what that meeting.
(37:50):
It may be hard, but God isgoing to be at work in that
meeting.
You know what God is likely tobring us to reconciliation.
You know that ministry outthere in that tough part of the
neighborhood.
You know what God.
He shifts the heart of thewater in his hand.
He can work with anybody thatwe're out here trying to serve
and love in Jesus' name.
I expect good from this goodGod and he's given me warrant
(38:11):
for that expectation.
Shift your expectations aboutyour life.
Expect good from your father.
He loves you.
He clings to you more tightlythan the ivy clasped to the elm.
One old school cat said hethinks on you as if you were the
sole occupant of a boundlessuniverse.
(38:32):
He is your father.
He loves you, he cares for you.
Expect him to be at work andexpect that any pains, trials or
sufferings are a kindness thatyou can't fully grasp, by which
he is going to form you moreinto the likeness of Jesus.
Everybody says they won't belike Jesus until God gets to
making them like Jesus.
Right?
(38:52):
Everybody loves everybody.
Until they got somebody to love, right, that's good.
Don't lose the good intentions,but expect more of your God.
The last thing too.
I want to give you this category.
It really blessed me, the oldCeltic Christians.
They used to have this categorythat they called the thin
(39:12):
places.
The thin places where the veilbetween heaven and earth seemed
to get thinner, almost like theycould peer into eternity, peer
into glory.
And what they would oftenremark is that those thin places
were often the times of thegreatest suffering, the greatest
heartache, the greatest feltloss.
He said those are the times ofthe thin places and I have
(39:36):
experienced that personally inmy own life and the way that I
have made sense of it is that itis a fellowship with Christ and
his sufferings.
Everybody wants to know Christand the power of his
resurrection.
Thank you, yes, but then youkeep on going in that verse and
to fellowship with him and hissufferings you'd be like wait,
(39:57):
hold up Jesus, what?
No?
But that is one of the waysthat you more deeply access the
love that he has for you,because when you suffer like
Christ, you begin to appreciatemore and more how much you're
loved by Christ, because hewillingly embraced that kind of
suffering for us and for oursalvation.
But I just want this word to bein your ears this week and
(40:20):
evermore.
Surely the Lord is in this place, amen.
And if you make that confession, you will also find yourself
with Jacob when he said this isnone other than Bethel.
God is humble.
He can make his home in anycircumstances, with any person.
(40:40):
So let's receive that presence,acknowledge that presence, rely
upon his presence and livefully as his beloved.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much foryour word.
We thank you so much that youare present in all of the
various trials and circumstancesof our lives.
Even when our eyes grow dim andwe cannot see you, you are
(41:04):
still with us, and the gospel isthe certainty of guarantee that
your promise is true, that youwill never leave us or forsake
us.
Lo, you are with us, even tothe end of the age.
So we ask now, holy Spirit,that you would convince our
hearts of these truths and thatyou would animate our lives with
(41:27):
the riches of the beauty ofyour kingdom and your gospel.
And may our lives bear witnessto the fact that Jesus is alive.
Hear our prayers, lord, andcontinue to shape our lives.
We ask in Jesus' name Amen.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
Hello, my name is Michelle Tolliver and Biblical
Talk's book offer for the monthof October is Free at Last.
The Gospel and the AfricanAmerican Experience by Dr Carl
Ellis.
The words of Martin Luther KingJr's I have a Dream speech have
become enshrined in US history.
But after the end of King'sgeneration of leadership, what
happened to the African-Americanstruggle for freedom?
(42:08):
Like the ancient Israelites,the African-American community
has survived a 400-yearcollective trauma.
What will it take for them toreach the promised land that
King foresaw to be truly free atlast?
King foresaw to be truly freeat last.
In this classic historical andcultural study, dr Carl Ellis
offers an in-depth assessment ofthe state of the African
American freedom and dignity,stressing how important it is
(42:30):
for African Americans to reflecton their roots.
He traces the growth of theblack consciousness from days of
slavery to the 1990s, notingespecially the contributions of
King and Malcolm X.
Ellis examines elements ofblack culture and offers a
distinctive perspective on howGod is active in culture more
broadly.
Free at Last, concludes with acall for a new generation of
jazz theologians and culturalprophets to revitalize the
(42:53):
African American church andexpand its cultural range.
The book also includes ahelpful glossary of people,
events and terms.
Ellis writes it is my prayerthat the principles contained in
this book will play a role inbuilding bridges of
understanding and facilitatingreconciliation where there has
been alienation.
For any amount of donation toBiblical Talks, we will send you
(43:14):
the book.
Please go to biblicaltalkscomand click the donate here tab.
Thank you for listening toBiblical Talks.
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