Jacob

turn your Bibles to Hebrews chap 11 Hebrews chap 11 as you're turning over there I want to mention there's a car T tprr 591 that has this hazardous lights blinking I don't know if this can be a problem or not with your battery but I just want to let you know if you have that car um but Hebrews chapter 11 we're going to continue our series titled broken where we're talking about uh all of the broken people that God has used and how he heals broken lives as well from Hebrews chapter 11 and so today we're going to look at the life of Jacob Hebrews 11:21 the Bible says by faith Jacob when he was a dying blessed both the sons of Joseph and worship leaning upon the top of his staff let's bow for

prayer father we pray that as we open up your word that again you would open it to our hearts and to our lives we pray that you would challenge us with the life of Jacob and Lord that you would help us realize that we cannot just scheme our way through life but we have to trust in you in all things we ask that you show us that in Jesus name amen excuse me Hebrews 11: 211 is talking about Jacob as one of the heroes of the faith and there's a lot more to Jacob's life than just what we have right here in fact in some ways it kind of seems strange that the the the the thing that God would choose to highlight is the fact that he blessed both the sons of Joseph and and that was the end of his life

but I think the more important statement here is that he was leaning upon the top of his staff he was holding on to his Cane and that's because if you remember the story of Jacob at one point God touched his hip and he was limping from then on and God want to remind us of that and and so the story I want to take a look if you go back to Genesis chapter 28 Genesis chap 28 and verses 10- 22 Genesis chap 28 and beginning with verse number 10 down through verse number 22 the Bible says and Jacob went out from berseba and went towards Heron and he lighted upon a certain place and carried there all night because the sun was set and he took of the stones of the place and put them for his pillow and

lay down in that place to sleep and he dreamed and behold a ladder set up on the earth and the top of reached to heaven and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it and behold the Lord stood above it and said I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father and the god of Isaac the land wherein thou liest to thee will I give un thy seed and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth and thou shalt spread abroad to the west and to the East and to the north and to the South and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed and behold I am with thee and will keep thee in all places with soever thou goest and will bring thee again onto the land for I will not leave

thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee up and Jacob awak out of his sleep and said surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not and he was afraid and said how Dreadful is this place this is none other but the house of God and this is the Gate of Heaven and Jacob rose up early in the morning took the stone that he had put for his pillows and set it up for a pillar and and poured oil upon the top of it and he called the name of that place bethl but the name of that city was called L at the first and Jacob vowed a vow saying if God will be with thee with me and will keep me in this way that I go will give me bread to eat and reignment to put on so that I come again to my

father's house in peace then shall the Lord be my God and this Stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house and all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth onto thee so here's a Jacob's really his first encounter with God I'm sure as a child growing up that there were that Jacob talked that his dad Isaac talked about God and he learned about God from his mother but truly this is his first encounter that with God that we know of and and and he says there in verse 22 that I will that uh he said and this Stone which I give thee shall set for a pillar shall be God's house and all that thou shalt give me I will surely give a tenth on he made a a commitment to the Lord he

made a promise to the Lord he vowed a vow in verse number 20 but if you go back in verse number 12 it says he dreamed and behold a ladder set on the earth and top of reached to heaven and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it this is the the first Stairway to Heaven now those of you here in Hawaii you know about the other Stairway to Heaven uh perhaps you've been on that at some point how many have ever been on The Stairway to Heaven over there County how many ever climbed up that stairway to heaven or a few of you have and how many of you if you could you would climb up the stairway to heaven and how many of you say I would never climb that thing when there's a ladder on

the side of a mountain hanging out out off the edge there how many would never climb that all right so there's a variety here but uh The Stairway to Heaven uh is is something that originally started in the Bible but it's not a way to get to heaven the the question we want to ask this morning are you going to heaven but the way to get there is not by a stairway in for second Corinthians chapter 12 and verse number two it says I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth such a one caught up into the third heaven and so there's there three Heavens there's the sky around us there's the space above us and then

there's a third heaven which we commonly call heaven and that's where we go to be with God for eternity and you know what the Bible says you can know that you're going to heaven for sure in 1 John 5 and: 12 and 13 the Bible says he that hath the son hath life he that hath not the Son of God hath not life these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the son of God and so you can know for sure that you have eternal life you can know that you're going to heaven when you die you can know that your sins are forgiven it doesn't have to be a dream uh here Jacob had a dream and and

God used dreams back in that day but it's not a dream it's not a fable it's not a story hold your place in Genesis chapter 28 but turn over to Second Peter chapter 1 second Peter chapter 1 and look at verses number 16-9 2 Peter chap 1 and verses 16-19 2 Peter 1 and verse number 16 the Bible says for we have not followed kindly devis fables when we made known unto you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eyewitnesses of his majesty for we receiv received from God the Father honor and Glory when there came such a voice to him from the from the excellent Glory this is my beloved Son whom I well pleased he's referring there back to the the mount where the voice of God spoke

from Heaven the kind of Glory came down and then verse 18 this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount we have also a more sure word of Prophecy see where unto you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in the dark place until the day Dawn Day star arise in your hearts you see folks we don't need a dream we don't need a fable or a story or Vision because we've got the word of God and in the word of God it tells us how we can know for sure we're going to heaven that we have eternal life in 1 John chapter 1 turn over there if you would 1 John chapter 1 and look at verses 1-4 1 John chapter 1 beginning with verse number one that which was

from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life for the life was manifest we have seen and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the father and was manifested unto us that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ and these things right wean that your joy may be full I'm so thankful that on Sunday morning I can stand up and say say to you the word of God says instead of saying well I had a dream last night because if I had a dream last night how do

you know where that dream came from was it the pizza with everything I ate right before I went to bed was it the fact that uh I I just had a a nightmare was it was it just something I made up uh but you have a more sure word of Prophecy we have the word of God that has given us the testimony of Salvation Jesus said in John 5:39 search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and they they which testify of me you see we can know we're going to heaven but what you need to realize if you're going to get to heaven your ladder is too short your lad is too short turn over to Romans chapter 3 and look at verse number 23 Romans chapter3 and verse number 23 the Bible says in Romans

3:23 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God every one of us comes short look at verses 9- 11 what then are we better than they know and no wise for we appr proov both Jews and Gentiles that all are under sin as is written there's none righteous no not one there's none that understand there's none that seeketh after God you see you may look at your life and say well my ladder to Heaven is higher than somebody else's ladder and maybe you're trying to climb the ladder of religion or maybe you're trying to climb the ladder of righteousness and good works or maybe you're trying to climb some other ladder to get to heaven but no matter no matter if you're better than somebody else

around you that's not the criteria because all fall short of the glory of God you see You' got two ladders up there and doesn't matter how far you go your ladder's taller I'm gonna ask brother Aaron and brother Tristan if you guys would stand up and you guys are about the same height I think Tristan's got them on the hair but they're about the same height I want you to climb up those ladders right by you if you would there all right so Tristan over here can get a little bit higher than Aaron can get but they still fall short they still can't reach all the way to the top and if we took those ladders and took them outside and put them next to this building there's no way either one of them

could get to the top of the building and that's only a two-story building thank you fellas and so your ladder is too short you can climb the ladder of works you can climb the ladder of righteousness but that's not going to get you to heaven you don't need a ladder to get to heaven you've got an elevator you've got Jesus Christ in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse1 17 it says therefore If any man be in Christ he's a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new you see you got to get in the elevator to go to the top of the building and you've got to get in Christ to go to heaven uh you can't get there by climbing up on your own now I realize that maybe you can try and

maybe you might even do it here in the Earth but you can't do it to Heaven how many have ever been to the Empire State Building raise your hand anybody ever been there how many have ever been to the the Sears tower now it's called the Willis Tower because Sears is bankrupt any anybody been there you know you go to a tall building like that and that's a long way up now has anybody ever tried on a tall skyscaper maybe 30 or 40 stories are above anybody ever tried going up the stairs all the way to the top anybody ever done that uh I don't know if you've done you've done it but not many people will do that and maybe you can climb to the top of the Sears Tower and people do that I think they

have a race to the top and maybe you can climb to the top of the the uh Empire State Building but folks there's no way you can climb all the way up to heaven there's no ladder that will get you there there's no good works there's nothing that you can do but what you can do is be in Christ you see when you get on the elevator you just get on push the button and go to your floor go to the top and and and Jesus Christ you got to get in Christ and when you get in Christ he's going to take you to top you don't have to hold your breath when you're on the elevator you don't have to jump up and down to keep the weight off the bottom of the elevator you just get in and go up and Jesus Christ that's

salvation you just get in Christ and you put your faith in him and he's going to take you to heaven he say it's not of yourself in Ephesians chapter 2: 8 and9 for by grace are you saved through faith then not of yourselves it's the gift of God not of Works lest any man should boast and so it's not our good works that's going to get us Heaven it's not climbing the ladder of works or religion or your own righteousness but it's a relationship it's being in Christ see when you die you're either going up or down you get an elevator you're either going to go up or you're going to go down in Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 27 is appointed men once to die but after this the judgment and if you die

without Christ you're going to go to hell if you die in Christ you're going to go to heaven in Genesis chapter 28 back in Genesis chapter 28 and verse number 13 Genesis 28 verse 13 behold the Lord stood above and said I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father and the god of Isaac the land wherein th liest to thee will I give it to thy seed you see not just your father's God not just your grandfather's God but he needs to be your God as we talked about last week in Romans chapter 10 10 and verses 9- 10 the Bible says that if Thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and Shall Believe in thine heart that God has raised from the dead Thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth

unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation in Romans 10:13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and you need to be in Christ in order to go to heaven you need to put your faith and trust in him and not in your latter of your good works but in Jesus Christ and so we need to make sure that we're going to heaven but you know in this life we also want to try to climb the ladder of success everybody is everyone in this room wants to get to a certain point you want to get to a certain level in your career or in your life uh look at Genesis chapter 28 and and we've read verse 13 look at verse 14 thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth and

thou shall spread abroad to the west and the East and the North and the South and in the and I seed shall all the families Earth be blessed and behold I am am with thee and will keep thee in the places with thou goest and I will bring thee again into this land for I will not leave thee until I've done that which I have spoken of thee and so uh God said Jacob I'm going to make you successful I'm going to bless your life now what is success what is success in many ways Jacob was successful he got the blessing you remember he did it by by cheating but he got the blessing from his parents and then he got the girl it took a little effort had to marry another girl before he get the one he was

actually in love with but he got the girl and he got wealthy now he kind of had to cheat his father-in-law a little bit with that process too but he got wealthy and he had success at least in the eyes of the world but what is true success in Joshua chapter 1 and verse number8 this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but Thou shalt meditate there in day and night that thou may have deserve as to do according to all that is written therein and for then Thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then Thou shalt have good success you see folks the more we're in the word of God and the more God blesses us that's what true successes in Luke 12 and verse number 20 it says but God said and

thou fool this night thy Soul shall be required of thee then who shall those things which thou provided here was a man that had all the riches you could imagine his barns were overflowing he had Wealth Beyond Belief and and then he died and and God said you're a fool because you strove for the success that does not last and I'm not saying it's wrong to be successful in this life I hope you do well in your career I'm not saying it's wrong to have money in the bank and to make good Investments and to have wealth I'm not saying it's wrong to do well in in in every area of your life but we need to realize that true success comes from the blessings of God so the question is how high will you go

how high will you go in that lad of success uh do you have a dream do you have a vision in Proverbs 29:18 it says where there is no vision the people perish but he that keepeth the law happy is he and I think the problem with a lot of Christians is we have no dreams no goals no direction for our life oh you may have plans for your career and you may have plans for your bank account but really what is your dream 20 years from now 30 years now I often tell people you ought to take the 20year backward look or the 30-year backward look and and step forward in your life 20 or 30 years from now as you look back what you're doing now is that is that what you want to remember is that what you want

to have as your success in your life where do you want to be 20 30 40 years from now uh sometimes in life we hit a dry patch in in in Genesis chapter 28 and verse number 10 it says and Jacob went out from BBA and went toward Heron the word Heron means parsed and sometimes we get in those partch times in our lives where it seems like where are the blessings of God and where are the good things that are happening in my life go over to Psalms chapter 63 Psalms chapter 63 and look at verse number one Psalms chapter 63 and verse number one Psalm 63:1 the Bible says oh God Thou Art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for the my f My Flesh longth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where

no water is sometimes we feel like I'm in a dry place and that's the time that we need to to say God this is what I really need you we need to look for him we need to long for him we need to have our desire towards him uh and we need to have God and and sometimes that dry patch is because of sin go to Psalms chapter 32 perhaps there's sin in your life that is keeping you from being uh having the blessings of God in in Psalms chapter 32 and verses 1-6 it say blessed is he whose transgression Is Forgiven whose sin is covered blessed is a man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity in whose Spirit there's no guile when I kept silence my bones wax old through my roaring all the day long for day

and night thy hand was Heavy upon me my moisture is turned under the drought of Summer CA I acknowledge my sin unto thee and my iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and now forgave us the iniquity of my sin ca for this shall everyone that is Godly pray unto thee in time when now mayest be found surely in the floods of Great Waters they shall not come nigh unto him if you remember the story of Jacob at this time in his life Jacob is running away from his brother Esau running away from all the mess that he's made in his life and he's found kind of a dry patch where he's it seems where is God and all of this and when we get in that place in our life

where there's sin if we just confess that sin and get it right with God and Jacob really didn't do that here he did it partway but it wasn't until later on he really started getting his life right with God but you and I we need to get our life right with God when you're going through that dry patch when you're going through that time where it just seems there's a drought spiritually in your life that's when you've got to seek the Lord in Matthew Chapter 5 and verse number 16 verse number six it says blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled and you need to have a hunger and you need to have a thirst for God and I hope that you're here this

morning is saying I want to find God I want to find the answer for my life I want to get over this drought and this dry spot in my life now go back to Genesis but this time go to Genesis chapter 32 Genesis chapter 32 now this is later on in Jacob's story he after he had this encounter with God he went home uh uh to his to his relatives and and uh found a wife and if you remember the story he got kind of cheated a little bit there and got the wrong woman first of all and then got the right woman and then he also kind of got cheated with uh his what he was working for and he had to kind of scheme of how he was going to make that all work out and and uh and now he's on his way back home uh and

and he's got to make reconciliation with his brother Esau who he stole the blessing from and in Genesis 32 and: 24- 28 it says in Jacob was left alone and there Wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day and when he saw what that he prevailed not against him he touched the hollow of his thigh and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint he wrestled with him he said let me go for the day breth and he said I will not let thee go except thou bless me and he said unto him what is thy name and he said Jacob and he said he said thy name shall be called No More Jacob but Israel for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men and H has prevailed he he wrestled with God and uh

and and I titled this section of my message the King of the Hill because he was trying to be the King of the Hill he had to learn that I cannot be the king of my own life that only God can do that you know back in his first encounter with God it was the lad and the dream that happened but in this counter he's actually having a a battle with god a spiritual battle with god now at this point God changed his name from Jacob and the word Jacob means supplanter trickster and schemer and that's exactly what he was he was a schemer uh one of the reasons I I really enjoying this series on Hebrews chap 11 and I hope you've seen that as we G on through the series is that everybody we read about in

Hebrews chapter 11 uh they were not perfect in fact they were far from it every one of them had sin every one of them had messed up every one of them had problems in their life and yet God still called them great men and women of faith and and God gave them more credit than they deserved you know when you read Hebrews 11 then you go back and read the stories about him uh Jacob was not really a great man of Faith he was a schemer and that encourages me because I tend to be one of those schemers too maybe you're that same way you're always trying to figure out how to make things work and how to fit that square peg in the round hole you know what I'm talking about uh you know they say you can't

fit a square peg in a round hole folks I can fit it I can find a way to make it fit now I may break something in the process and I may I I I may not be right in the end but I can make it fit and and that you know what that has been good but bad in my life life because too often I'm trying to figure out how to make it work instead of trusting God to make it work and too often we are schemers who are trying to figure out life and trying to make everything work when when we need to trust God to make it work and that was Jacob's problem he schemed how to get the blessing he schemed how to get the wife he wanted he schemed how to get all the the sheep and the cattle and the wealth from from Laban

and his father-in-law and he schemed how to work things out with Esau and he was always trying to figured out on his own instead of trusting in God in Zechariah 4 and verse number six it says then he answered and spake unto me saying this is the word of the Lord onto zerubabel saying not by might nor by power but by my spirit sayith the Lord of hosts and if you take any lesson away today from Jacob is this you can't make it work only God can now that doesn't mean we need we should not do our part but we need to realize that I'm doing what God wants me to do not trying trying to make it work for God and and too often we are schemers in life trying to make the round Peg fit in the square hole

and and it's just the square peg fit in the round hole which is not going to happen the right way we may make it happen but then we've got the damage that's caused by it and I look back in my life and how many times I hurt my marriage and hurt my family and hurt the church ministry because I was going to make it work instead of trusting in God so God changed his name Jacob the schemer to Israel and the word name is Israel means may God Prevail you see in this passage he struggles with God and and God perseveres and and and and he's and and and and you know what so often we still struggle with God even after this point God strugg Jacob struggled with God and Jacob struggled with that old

scheme nature against God's uh leading in his life and and ultimately we need to let God Prevail and we struggle so often with what the Lord wants to do in our lives you see you can either fight God's blessings or you can submit you can either fight God's blessings or you can submit uh Jacob wrestled with God and uh sometimes that's what happened see Jacob spent his life trying to figure out how to make it happen he he he said I've got to make you know now remember God told his mom that J Jacob even though he was the second Bor was going to get the blessing but then Jacob and his mom schemed how to get that blessing that God had promised them you see all his life that's what Jacob did over

and over again he did that with his birth uh with his birth remember he grabbed Esau's ankle and try to pull him back in uh as twin borns and then later on with his Birthright later on with his wife all of his scheming and things and later on with Esau uh he's still scheming he's still trying to figure all this out look look at Genesis chapter 32 look at verses 1 and two it says and Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him and when Jacob saw them he said this is God's host and he called the name of that place manham n and now at this point he saw the angels of God he knew that God was there with him but what did he do in verses 3-8 he sends gifts to his brother and then he prays

first he sends gifts to his brother because I've got to make this work and then he asks God to work out the problem with his brother now there's nothing wrong when you've hurt somebody to to proed it with a nice gift many times when I've hurt my wife I've sent her flowers I've sent her candy uh I've sent her other things like that I've gotten her a gift because I'm trying to make up with her and that's not wrong but he was trusting in his scheming again instead of trusting in God even though he knew the Angels were there even though he knew his God was there he was still trying to do his own way so before he prays he sends gifts to Esau and then in verses 13- 21 uh he's the he's back to the

bribes again he's trying again he prays about it and he says I'll send more gifts I'll send more bribes and and then in in verse number 19 he figured he could talk his way out of it and uh he's figuring out so in verse 19 and so commanded he the second and the third and all that follow the drove saying on this manner shall you speak unto Esau when you find him so he wrote a script for everybody he sent his servants ahead and said you tell Esau this then you tell him that and again it's not wrong to Think Through what you're going to say uh again I find that when I'm in trouble for example my wife uh many times if I don't think about what I'm going to say I'm going to get in more trouble you

guys ever had that problem you go to apologize you go to get things right and it just makes it worse and uh so there's nothing wrong with thinking through where he can say but again can't you see how he's scheming again instead of trusting in God and then in verses number 22 through 23 you know what he does he sends his wife and his kids ahead of him he says he won't hurt the girls he won't hurt women and children and and so he sends them ahead and he's going to like Rachel so much that he's going to fall in love with her and he'll forgive me because he likes her as a sister-in-law and and all the rest of that you see what he's doing he's scheming and he just keeps scheming even after this

wrestling with God look at verse chapter 33 look at verses 1 and two and Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked and behold Esau came and with him 400 men and he divided the children unto Leah and onto Rachel onto the two handmaids and he put the handmaids and their children for for most and Leah and her children after and Rachel and Joseph hindos he just fought with God God says I will bless you I will take care of all this and what does he do he goes right back to that old nature and scheming again I got to get the girls in front of me because he won't hurt them you know I look at my life how often I've done that instead of truly trusting in God I've got to figure out how to make it work for

God I I I I I can't fully trust in God so I've got to make this work myself and folks we got to stop doing that we need to do the right thing and there's nothing wrong with giving gifts there's nothing wrong with asking forgiveness there's nothing wrong with thinking through what you're going to say I'm not saying those things are wrong but too often we're trying to do God's job for him instead of trusting in Him don't be a schemer you know Jacob wrestled with God and he paid the price for it again like I mentioned back in Hebrews chapter 11 God talked about him being leaning on his Cane his whole life he limped because God had to touch the hollow of his hip he had to he had to hurt him in

order to get him to do what was necessary to be done Jacob had to learn the power of Prayer of repentance and submission in hoseah 12:4 it says he had power over the angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication unto him he found him in bethl and there he spake with us that's talking about Jacob he he had power over the Lord now how could Jacob be beating God how could Jacob be beating God why why would God let him win you know when I when my boys were little we used to wrestle all the time and and uh when I'd wrestle my boys I would basically win because I was bigger than them and and so there's three reasons there's only three reasons why I would lose uh sometimes it was chemical

warfare it's when you got your head in the middle of their armpit or they uh during the wrestling they lit gas out uh you had to just say I give up sometimes chemical warfare sometimes it was just laughing so hard you ever been wrestling with somebody you start laughing so hard that you can't even fight them anymore and they can beat you that way and sometimes it was that way or you know sometimes it just because I didn't want to hurt him my wife would always get on my case you're going to hurt those boys and and she say you give up quit because I didn't want to hurt them and I think that's really what it came down to is God didn't want to hurt Jacob look at Proverbs chapter 3 verses 4

through 7 Proverbs chapter 3 and verses 4-7 says so shall thou find favor and good understanding the sight of God in man trust in the Lord with all thine heart lean not onto thine understanding and all thy ways acknowledge Him and He Shall direct thy paths be not wise in thine own eyes fear the lord and depart from evil God let Jacob win because he needed to show Jacob wait a minute when he's not everything trust in me is what you need and folks when Jacob wrestled with God at the end he made a vow in verses 20- 22 he says moreover Behold thy servant Jacob is behind us I'm sorry uh Genesis chter 28 I'm sorry back in Genesis chap8 made a vow to God and he made a vow again here in Genesis

chapter 32 in 2 Corinthians 85 the Bible says and this they did not as we hoped but first gave their own selves unto us by the will of God and uh uh their own self oners by the will of God and folks Jacob promised to give his tithe and I do think that we should give our tithe unto the Lord we should be making a commitment but more important than that Jacob said I'm going to give you my life I can get you to give your tithe but that doesn't mean you give God your life but if you've given God your life you're going to give him everything else see when I give myself my wallet's in my pocket and if I've given myself my wallet goes with it and we need to realize that we need to give ourselves to

God to make a vow onto the Lord we talked about last week in in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 and verse number five it says better is it that thou should not vow then that thou should us not should vow and not pay in Genesis CH 31 and and verse number 13 Genesis 31 and verse number 13 the Bible says I am the god of bethl where thou anointest th the pillar and where thou vow us a vow unto me now arise get thee out from the land and return onto the land of thy Kindred he said me I remember you made a vow and I'm holding you that vow and again as I talked about last week there's some of you here you made a vow to give your your life to God but you kind of pulled back on that or some of you here you

made a vow to be faithful to church and you pulled back in that maybe some made a vow to give your tithe and you're no longer doing that or maybe you made a vow in your marriage and and you're not committed to that vow anymore and not loving your spouse like you ought to folks when you make a vow before God you better keep that vow you better keep that vow because God remembers he doesn't forget you know the Bible talks about Jacob in the ladder I'm glad we don't have to climb a ladder to Heaven because I'm a scared of heights I'm one of those guys would never climb that Stairway to Heaven I I don't think my heart can handle it hanging off there's Parts in that where you're basically

climbing on a ladder on the side of the mountain hanging off with thousands of feet below you I I just don't do well with Heights I have a fear of heights in Proverbs 1:7 it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom instruction folks we need a fear of God we need to have a fear of God in our lives and that's what God was trying to teach Jacob is you need to have a Godly fear fear of disappointing God of failing God not keeping your vows to God then talked about the Jacob calling this place bethl bethl means the house of God that's why you hear a lot of church is like bethl Baptist Church it means the house of God in 1 Timothy 3:15 says but if i tar long

that thou mayest know how thou oughtest behave thyself in the house of God which is the Church of the Living God the pillar and the ground the truth you know a lot of times we get this idea that I don't need the church the church isn't that important I can take or leave the church but you know what God says the church the house the house of God is the pillar under the ground of God's truth and we need the house of God we need to be in the house of God but we also need to take care of the temple of God in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 17 it if any man defile the temple of God him shall God destroy for the temple of God is Holy which Temple you are you know Jesus the one time he got angry

that we know about in the Bible is when they defiled the temple and he was reminded us when you defile the temple of God which you are that God will judge us let me ask you a question are you wrestling with God maybe there's some of you here today you're wrestling with this idea of Salvation you know Jesus died was buried and rose again but you just haven't made that decision to trust him as your savior and you don't know for sure that you're going to heaven maybe you're struggling I how can you really know I'll tell you how you can really know cuz God says you can and God says you could know something you could know something and he said clearly you can know that you have eternal life and

you've got to stop wrestling with decision you've got to decide you know what I'm going to trust Jesus as my savior and stop trying to climb this ladder and thinking I'm going to get to Heaven by having all my good works and my religion all the rest of it but just put my faith and trust in him or maybe you're wrestling with some basic decisions like getting baptized talking to somebody the other day and the he saidwell why do I need to get baptized because it's the first thing Jesus said to do he said' when you get saved you need to get baptized but why is this so important I can give you some reasons but basically it's important because Jesus said to do it so why aren't you doing it why

aren't you getting baptized church membership I I believe the Bible is clear about not forsaking the Assembly of ourselves together and be committed to a local body of Believers and why are you wrestling with this why are you fighting this you need to just sub submit to God and say you know what I need to do that what about serving I don't know if I could teach a class I don't know if I could do this through that quit wrestling with God because God says I will give you the power to do what I want you to do what about dedication this where Jacob struggled with truly giving his life to the Lord truly keeping his vows to God I don't think his vow was wrong don't get me wrong I don't think it

was wrong I think it's good to make promises to the Lord but don't make them lightly you make a promise whether it's a wedding vow or whether it's a spiritual vow or whether it's a promise to anybody else your your word ought to be yay and nay and you ought to keep your promises you ought to keep your vows and especially to God what about Sin are you going through that drought and that dry patch in your spiritual life because there's sin you're not willing to get right with God you're wrestling with this and fighting it in the flesh and you're being defeated every time because you'll never beat sin in the flesh you can only win by submitting to God it's like a tag team wrestling you got to

tag out and say God I can't fight this battle anymore what is it you are wrestling with today in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12 it says for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and Powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high plac say what are you wrestling with today