The Pillow & The Promise

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.320 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.040 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.600 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:15.400 Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:18.280 This week. 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:21.479 I'm working from Genesis chapter twenty eight, verses ten through 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:24.639 twenty two, and I want to visit Jacob and I 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:27.240 want to visit him from this perspective. I want to 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:30.479 talk about the Gate of Purpose and we'll look at 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:33.840 it together. Did you come to help me preach today? 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:38.519 I believe this is something that we do together. These 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:40.839 sermons do go out all over the world, and it's 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.640 the chemistry that we have together as the Word of 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:46.400 God goes forth from heaven and released into the earth 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:48.640 that makes a difference. And so I want to thank 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:51.440 you for your active participation, for your giving, for your service, 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.360 for your prayers, and for bringing people to church with you. 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:55.080 It makes a difference. 0:00:55.160 --> 0:01:00.240 Touch somebody say it matters, It matters. It matters how 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.360 you engage with the message. It matters if you lean in. 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:05.880 It matters that you're here and we are so grateful 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:06.920 for your presence today. 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:09.080 Genesis chapter twenty eight Amen. 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:13.800 Genesis chapter twenty eight, Verse ten. Jacob left Beersheba and 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:16.759 set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place, 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:20.720 a certain place. God can bless you anywhere, a certain 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:28.160 place where is. It doesn't matter. God can bless you anywhere, anytime, anyone, anywhere. 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.080 When he Jacob the Deceiver, reached a certain place, he 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:35.800 stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:38.319 one of the stones there, put it under his head 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:40.640 and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:44.280 which he saw a stairway resting on earth, with its 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:46.919 top reaching to heaven. 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:48.400 There's a lady that's sure. 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.520 All that glitters is gold, and she's no, that's another 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:54.240 thing that's not. The Bible and the angels of God 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:58.280 were ascending and descending on this stairway. There above it 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:02.040 stood the Lord. There above its stood the Lord. He's 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:05.880 always above it. He's always above the affairs of human men. 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:09.720 He's always above the plots and schemes and dreams and 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:12.960 dictates of humanity. There above it stood the Lord, and 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:14.520 he said, I am the Lord, the God of your 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:16.680 father Abraham, and the God of Isaac. In other words, 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:20.040 this did not start with you. This is a continuation 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:22.720 of aggressive revelation of who God is. And I will 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:25.920 give you and your descendants the land on which you 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.519 are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:31.320 the earth, and you will spread out to the west 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.040 and to the east, to the north and to the south. 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:36.520 What God is about to do is so big that 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:40.320 you cannot contain it, not with your mind, not geographically, 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:43.880 not demographically, it will not be contained. All the peoples 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:49.400 on the earth will be blessed through you. See what 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:54.240 God can do through you. And Jacob is seeing a 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:57.960 vision while he's sleeping on the ground in the midst 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:02.560 of a very difficult season in an uncertain time. So 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:05.560 he said, I'm gonna bless the earth through you and 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.400 your offspring, and I am with you. Here comes the promise, 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.639 and we'll watch over you wherever you go, and. 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:13.880 I will bring you back to this land. 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:16.760 I will not leave you until I have done what 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:18.480 I have promised you. 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:20.560 So if it's not done, it's not over. 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.760 If it's not good, God's not finished yet, give some time. 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:29.040 It will play out, and I will not leave you 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:31.760 until I have accomplished that which I've spoken concerning you. 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:32.120 Now. 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:37.720 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, surely the 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:43.800 Lord is in this place, and I was not aware 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:47.440 of it. And he was afraid, and said, how awesome 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:50.200 is this place? This is none other than the House 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:55.560 of God. This is the gate of heaven. This is 0:03:56.360 --> 0:04:00.600 the gate of Heaven. Early the next morning, Jacob took 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:03.320 the stone he had placed under his head and set 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:05.200 it up as a pillar and poured oil on top 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.600 of it. He called that place Bethel, So the city 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:13.880 used to be called Luz. Bethel means house of God. Okay, 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:16.840 like beth Lehem, house of bread, Bethel house of God, 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:20.600 l l yhon El Shadai Lohem l God beth L 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:21.160 house of God. 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:25.479 Okay, Okay, we got that. Then Jacob made a vow saying. 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:28.599 If God will be with me and will watch over 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:31.240 me on this journey i am taking, and will give 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:33.599 me food to eat and clothes to wear, so that 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:36.080 I returned safely to my father's house, then the Lord 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:40.000 will be my God, and this stone that I have 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:42.080 set up as a pillar will be God's house. And 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:45.160 of all that you give me, I will give you 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:49.479 a tenth. Now listen closely rock Hill, because my focus 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:53.760 is on the following verses, verse seventeen. How awesome is 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.440 this place? This is none other than the House of God. 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:59.800 This is the gate of. 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:01.560 Early. 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:04.920 The next morning, Jacob took the stone he had placed 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.560 under his head and set it up as a pillar 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:10.440 and poured oil on top of it. So it's an 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:13.040 unusual title, but I want to speak to you about 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:19.480 the pillow and the promise. The pillow and the promise, 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:23.560 And I think this is one you'll never forget. You know, 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:26.920 when you're about to get married, you start having certain 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:29.840 conversations and you start trying to figure out are we're 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:33.640 on the same page, Like how many kids do you 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:34.159 want to have? 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:35.839 And I just want to. 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:37.880 Suggest have the first one and kind of see how 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:43.560 it goes before you go sett in a number, you know, 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:45.760 sample the product a little bit, you know, like they've 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:47.560 walked around Costco to eat a little bit of the 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:48.880 sausage before you buy the whole. 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:56.680 How many kids? Here's another one. 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:00.640 How many years do we want to be married as 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:09.480 just human beings before we become indentured servants and uber drivers? 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:11.760 How many years do we want to be married just 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:13.279 before we start having kids? 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:15.440 But here's one you never think of, and you need to. 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:17.200 If you're a man, you need to put this in 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:19.880 the conversation. When you're getting ready to bring that to me, Jonathan, 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:23.720 you need to ask how many. 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:36.039 He knows how many of these are we going to put. 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:41.839 On the bed that we are not allowed to sleep 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:49.680 on because God forbid we sleep on a pillow? We 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:54.880 are an eight throw pillow family. Just in case you're wondering, eight. 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:56.000 I counted them. 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:59.400 It's eight, bro eight, eight of these. 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:05.320 Eight ten minute routines for me to go through every 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:06.920 night before I get in my bed. 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:10.800 I'm serious. It took me. How long we've been married, 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:11.440 fifteen years. 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:14.640 It took me fourteen and a half years to come 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:19.560 to terms with the idea that there are pillows on 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:23.200 my bed for the sole purpose of taking them off 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:24.200 before I. 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:32.120 Get in it. I can't lie to you now. 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:35.440 I'm kind of into it now now Sometimes when Holly's gone. 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:37.200 Don't tell her I don't put them on or take 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:37.800 them off. 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:45.240 Wild and crazy when she leaves town. But now I 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:47.280 got it down. I know where every pillow goes. 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:47.800 I got it. 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:53.040 I know the configuration. I have been taught. I have 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.400 been taught I know which pillows. 0:07:56.040 --> 0:08:01.679 The karate chop you ever choughed the pillow you will. 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:11.360 It was just hard for me to realize that the 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:13.280 purpose of the pillow was not from my head. 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:17.280 I just couldn't understand it's decorative, it's a throw pillow. 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:24.200 I got an idea, let's throw it away. 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:25.840 Now I bring it up. 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:29.080 Obviously, I'm going to get in a little trouble in 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:30.680 my marriage because of this, but I think it'll help 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:35.520 me illustrate my point, because I was intrigued that Jacob 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.480 was sleeping on something that he wasn't supposed to sleep on. Now, 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:43.360 in his case, Jacob seventy seven years old, has to 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:47.400 sleep and spend the night on a rock, but it's 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:48.320 the closest thing. 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:49.880 He has to a pillow. 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:52.960 And I thought about calling this message between a rock 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:54.800 and a hard place, but I thought you would think 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.360 that was corny. You give me that polite little preacher 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:00.000 laughter that you give when your preacher's trying to be human. 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:03.520 I thought about saying that Jacob has made his bed 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:09.400 and now he has to lie in it, and certainly 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:14.319 the cliche applies here because he has manipulated his way 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:18.440 into a blessing from his father that has caused him 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:24.920 to have to hide from his brother and about sixty 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.880 miles into his journey, which probably would have taken a 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:32.360 few days from Beersheba to the place formerly known as 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:37.439 Luhs and now known as Bethel. After this stunning revelation, 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:41.679 which is the source of much theological speculation, and we 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:45.560 cannot cover appropriately in the time we have allotted here today. 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:47.599 But what he sees is spectacular. 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:53.400 And yet I think the context is significant because it 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:56.880 is not at his destination that God appears. 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:00.319 But it is along the way. 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:05.960 It's sixty miles outside of Beersheba. He is not yet 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:09.360 to Laban's house, where arrangements have been made for his 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:14.960 safety and provision, where he will ultimately meet Rachel and Leah. 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:16.959 And he loves Rachel, but he has to go through 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:19.520 Leah to get to Rachel. All of that is yet 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:21.719 to happen. But God shows up. And one time I 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:24.360 preached a sermon called when God shows up in the 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.679 middle of nowhere. But I was playing with it because 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:29.920 I took the word nowhere, and then I moved the 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:32.720 w over and spaced it, and it was then now here, 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:36.920 when nowhere became now here. You remember, and we talked 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:39.400 about when God shows up in the middle of nowhere 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:41.240 and he's laying on the cold ground and the. 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:41.720 Sun has set. 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.120 The Bible points out it's no longer safe for him 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:46.960 to travel. And sometimes God will arrange the conditions of 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:52.840 your life so that you have to stop. Some revelation 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:56.120 cannot be given while you are on the run, only 0:10:56.160 --> 0:11:02.440 when you have stopped running for long enough. And it 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:07.440 is significant that Jacob sees the activity of God, not 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:11.600 in his manipulation, but in his sleep. And in his 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:13.720 sleep he sees something that would have been very familiar 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:17.560 in Mesopotamian culture, because their gods were said to have 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.320 come down the staircases to the earth and. 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:22.560 Back up, and back down and back up. 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.000 Jacob's dream is a little different because if you'll notice, 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:26.560 this is just a little thing. It's not really going 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:29.839 to be on the final exam, but they were ascending 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:33.600 and descending. The order is important because it didn't start 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:34.000 in heaven. 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:34.959 It started on earth. 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:38.600 They went up and then they went down, and they 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.679 went up and then they went down. And so when 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:43.920 we pray, let your kingdom come, you will be done 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.400 on earth as it is in Heaven. Often God is 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:50.640 awaiting initiative on earth to release what Heaven has in store. 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:54.400 These messengers that ascended and descended. 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:55.960 The stairs were going back and forth. 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.920 And they were working. In the course of human history, 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.040 God is always on the move. The messengers, the angels 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:06.280 were going up and down. And Jacob saw it in 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:10.280 his sleep, not when he was stealing his brother Esau's blessing. 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:12.720 He didn't see it then because he was trying to 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:15.480 make it happen, Not when he was taking his birthright. 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:17.600 He didn't see it then because he was in a 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.559 mental space of trying to figure out how am I going. 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:21.280 To get the blessing. 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:26.400 Now, notice this, Isaac gave Jacob a blessing, but God 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:31.720 made Jacob a promise. People can give blessings, but only 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:37.320 God can make promises, And the promise is this. God 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:41.040 is illustrating through Jacob what Proverbs nineteen will later record. 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:44.960 Many are the plans in a person's heart, but is 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:46.120 the purpose. 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:49.520 Of the Lord that will prevail. This is a living. 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:54.480 Demonstration of how no matter how Jacob schemed and dreamed, 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:59.240 God met him in an unusual place and showed him 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:04.360 how determined God is to fulfill his purpose on the earth. 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:11.559 Purpose is determined. Purpose is determined. 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.560 God has made up his mind what he wants to 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:20.080 do and who he wants to do it through. And 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:24.320 purpose is determined. If you have a strong willed child, 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:25.920 just wave your hand at me. I'll know we're in 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:30.560 the same club. Purpose is more determined than your most 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:34.959 strong willed child. And when the purpose of God makes 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:38.320 up its mind to accomplish something in the earth, you 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:42.440 almost can't mess it up. You almost can't send it back. 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.800 There is no return to Sinder. For as the rains 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:49.160 fall from the heaven and water the earth, so shall 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.480 be his word that proceeds from his mouth. 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:58.920 I'm getting a little excited a little early is determined. 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:03.800 The gifts of God are without repentance, So something that 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:07.800 you did when you were seventeen cannot reverse what God 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:12.960 planned while you were still in your mother's womb. Purpose 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:17.360 is determined. Nobody can break up with you and cast 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:20.160 the purpose of God for your life to be interrupted. 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.120 Nobody can fire you and interrupt the purpose of God. 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:26.640 There is no stopping what God has started until it 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:35.400 is complete. He will see it through. He doesn't change 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:39.240 his mind. When Jacob blows it, He tracks him down 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:47.360 and meets with him in his sleep. Determined, determined. The 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:54.840 purpose of God is determined. A theological term would be predestined. 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:57.000 Yeah. 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:58.640 Yeah, all things work together for the good of those 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:00.440 who love the Lord and are called a chort to 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:05.000 his purpose for those he fore knew. He also predestined 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:09.320 that we might be the first born among many brothers 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:12.840 and sisters. And those he called he also justified, and 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:16.600 those he justified he also glorified, and those he glorified 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:19.280 he glorified to the end that his purpose might prevail 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.400 in the earth. To break it down into real simple language, 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:25.480 all I'm trying to say is God is still working. 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:29.240 God was working in the things you did wrong the 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:32.560 things you did right. The activity of God cannot be 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:35.880 stopped by human decision or mistakes. 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:37.360 In fact, some. 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.120 Of your greatest mistakes will be the seed of your 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:45.920 greatest miracles. It's called purpose, and it always prevails. And 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:48.520 God is so determined that he meets with Jacob in 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:52.920 a certain place when the sun is set because he 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.360 made up his mind. I am the God of Abraham, 0:15:55.480 --> 0:16:01.880 Isaac and Jacob. But when we say that purpose is determined, 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:07.760 I think it's important to make a distinction that purpose 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.240 is not only determined by God, but it is also 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:14.680 determined by us. The way I would put it is this. 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:20.880 This is point number two. Purpose is determined before it 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:26.800 is discover I'll explain that from the text. When Jacob 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:31.080 awoke from his sleep, he thought, surely the Lord is 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:36.120 in this place and I was not aware of it. Now, 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:40.200 God did not show up when Jacob woke up. Jacob 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:44.520 woke up to the fact that God was there all along. 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:47.760 Can I get you to hit your neighbor and tell 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:48.360 him wake up? 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:54.520 Wake up? Woke is not a new term. 0:16:55.200 --> 0:17:06.920 Jacob was woke, but God did not God. God did 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:12.560 not show up when Jacob saw it. He was waiting 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:18.919 to be seen in something very common. And I believe 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:23.520 that it's good to pray for God to be with us, 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:28.160 But I think it's better to pray that we could 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:33.360 see where He has already been, because He's been. 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:37.719 There all along. When you pray God be with us, 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:38.840 it's kind of redundant. 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:44.000 Tell you why he said, I will not leave you 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:49.879 nor forsake you. Surely I will be with you even 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:53.720 to the end of the age. Now, if it's not 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:57.600 over God is still here, so I don't have to 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:00.320 ask him to do what he already promised to do. 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:04.000 All I have to do is wake up to the. 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.600 Reality that he's been working all along. 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:12.120 Calm down. By the time you see it. 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:15.800 By the time you see it, it's it's already been 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:17.639 happening by the time you see it. 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:19.879 By the time you got to church today, we had 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.560 already done so much what you think we started when 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:24.120 you got here. 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:29.119 At some of our locations that meet in high schools 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:33.960 and theaters, and we don't own the building, they're portable locations. 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.040 And they're portable because as soon as we're done, we 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:40.320 have to take everything out. And they're portable because during 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:43.320 the week there's something else. But when we show up 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:46.800 in there, guess what it becomes a church. It's not 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:49.520 a church because we put a steeple on it. 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:50.080 It's not a. 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:53.720 Church because it says church on the sign. In fact, 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:57.560 when you say I'm going to church, you're not exactly correct. 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:01.080 You are bringing the church to a bill because that's 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:01.760 what you are. 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:05.840 You are a carrier of the presence. 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:16.560 Of Almighty God. Jacob is so funny to me. God 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:19.000 is here and I didn't know it. 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:21.760 How can you miss God? 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:27.359 How can God be in the actual place and you 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:31.160 didn't see it? But he could only see it when 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:33.840 he was asleep, and then he woke up to see 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:37.280 what God was doing all along. That purpose is determined 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:44.879 before it is discover he wakes up, okay, because remember 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:48.720 we got a rock and Jacob makes it a pillow. 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:53.400 So he is repurposing the rock to make it a pillow. 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:56.480 It's not exactly a temper pedic, but it will work. 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:00.920 Sometimes you can't be picky. Sometimes gotta take whatever you got. 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:02.280 You know what I'm saying. 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:04.359 It's not my favorite song, but I'm gonna worship. 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:06.680 To it anyway, because I don't need my favorite song 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:07.360 to worship God. 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:09.400 It'll work. It'll work. 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:12.280 It's not a lot of money, but I'm gonna make 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:15.639 it work. Okay, my husband isn't exactly okay, then we're 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:20.840 gonna skip that part. And he says, this will work, 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:23.760 this will work, And when he lays down, I'm gonna 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:25.800 do this for you. I'm gonna demonstrate this for you. 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:27.960 Not many preachers would go to this extent to bring 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:31.480 the point across. But if I gotta lay down on this, 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:35.280 this monitor to show you what Jacob did and the 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:36.360 situation he was in. 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:41.160 I will lay down on this monitor that's not even comfortable, 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:43.680 not even kind of comfortable. 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:56.680 But it'll work. It'll work, it'll work, and he sees 0:20:56.680 --> 0:20:59.359 some way. He sleeps and he wakes up and he goes, well, 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:04.840 that was awesome, that was amazing. 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:08.400 This is the house of God. 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:14.760 Well, first, the Bible says he was afraid because fear 0:21:14.920 --> 0:21:21.080 is the flip side of faith. Fear is what you 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:25.000 feel that enables you to open yourself to faith. 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:30.320 Fear is the sensation that leads you to something greater 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:32.840 than yourself, that causes you to have faith that God 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:33.320 is greater. 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:39.240 So first he was afraid. Then he was excited and 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:47.840 he said this is awesome, this is awesome. Wow, this 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:51.040 is lit. He would have said it who. 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:58.760 That's what Moses said it to burning bush. 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:04.440 Now this is the house of God. 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:08.280 Remember Now he took some oil, rubbed it on the 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:11.119 rock and said, this is the house of God. 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:11.800 Pointing at the rock. 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:18.840 God doesn't live in a rock, except that one verse 0:22:18.840 --> 0:22:20.400 that says that if we don't praise him, the rocks 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:21.000 will cry out. 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:25.200 See God can show up anywhere. That's the point. 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:28.119 The point is he took some oil is symbolic of 0:22:28.119 --> 0:22:30.600 the Holy Spirit, of the joy of the Lord. But 0:22:30.680 --> 0:22:33.919 it's also when something special was being consecrated, like a 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:36.520 king or a priest, they would pour oil on it. 0:22:36.520 --> 0:22:39.760 It was a part of the consecration. And the rock 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:44.320 is something common. And so Jacob consecrates something that is 0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:49.520 common and says, this is the house of God, pointing 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:50.000 at a rock. 0:22:50.720 --> 0:22:54.639 This is where God lives. No, he doesn't. God doesn't 0:22:54.640 --> 0:23:00.879 live in a rock, but he can't. He can't notice this. 0:23:01.280 --> 0:23:05.040 When Jacob says this is the gate of heaven. He 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:08.920 didn't say that because God said it. God didn't say 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:11.720 this is the gate of heaven. Jacob said, this is 0:23:11.760 --> 0:23:12.439 the gate of heaven. 0:23:13.600 --> 0:23:18.439 So apparently I have the ability to be in a 0:23:18.480 --> 0:23:24.560 common situation. You hear me an uncertain situation and put 0:23:24.600 --> 0:23:28.040 some oil on it, and put some holy ghost. 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:31.760 On it, and put some purpose on it. And if 0:23:31.760 --> 0:23:35.760 I say it's a gate, it'll be a gate. And 0:23:35.840 --> 0:23:38.960 if I say it's a blessing, it'll be a blessing. 0:23:39.720 --> 0:23:43.000 And if I say God isn't it, God isn't it. 0:23:43.760 --> 0:23:46.960 And if I say it's a church, it'll be a church. 0:23:47.680 --> 0:23:50.600 And if I say it's a setup, it is a setup. 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:54.359 And if I say it's an opportunity, it is an opportunity. 0:23:55.880 --> 0:23:59.280 Try it out. Somebody shout, this is the gate, this 0:23:59.359 --> 0:24:02.480 is the gate. He wakes up, He goes, this is crazy. 0:24:02.560 --> 0:24:05.600 This is awesome, this is awesome, this is awesome. It's awesome. 0:24:05.760 --> 0:24:07.919 It's awesome something. 0:24:08.080 --> 0:24:11.120 So he takes the rock that he made the pillow, 0:24:11.280 --> 0:24:13.600 and he takes the pillow and makes it a pillar. 0:24:14.720 --> 0:24:17.879 The rock became the pillow, the pillow became the pillar. 0:24:18.680 --> 0:24:23.280 It is what you make of it. If you say 0:24:23.400 --> 0:24:27.119 it's a gate, it will be a gate. If you 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:30.720 point to your pain and say, this pain is a 0:24:30.760 --> 0:24:35.000 portal to the glory of God, and something that is 0:24:35.040 --> 0:24:37.879 going to come through this pain is going to bring 0:24:37.960 --> 0:24:41.720 me deeper joy. It will bring the joy of the 0:24:41.760 --> 0:24:43.760 Lord into your situation. 0:24:44.400 --> 0:24:47.760 So point to your pain and say, this is the gate. 0:24:50.520 --> 0:24:51.400 This is the gate. 0:24:53.000 --> 0:24:56.520 I can look at something that seems so ordinary, a 0:24:56.640 --> 0:24:59.919 moment that seems so trivial, a job that I had, 0:25:00.280 --> 0:25:01.679 can become the gate. 0:25:01.760 --> 0:25:02.840 If I point at. 0:25:02.720 --> 0:25:09.160 It and annoy it. God didn't call it the gate. 0:25:10.240 --> 0:25:16.840 Jacob did, and it became what he called it. This 0:25:16.920 --> 0:25:22.200 is the gate. This is the gate. Shout it out. 0:25:22.240 --> 0:25:23.040 This is the gate. 0:25:24.200 --> 0:25:24.800 This is the. 0:25:24.800 --> 0:25:27.520 Moment, this is the time, this is the season, this 0:25:27.600 --> 0:25:29.719 is the day that the Lord has made. 0:25:29.840 --> 0:25:31.840 I will rejoice and be glad in it. 0:25:32.080 --> 0:25:35.000 If the enemy had his way, I'd be so focused 0:25:35.040 --> 0:25:37.800 on tomorrow and what it holds that I would miss 0:25:37.840 --> 0:25:40.240 the provision of the strength that God wants to bring 0:25:40.320 --> 0:25:41.160 while I am. 0:25:41.000 --> 0:25:45.199 In in Bethel. But this is the gate. This is 0:25:45.240 --> 0:25:47.720 I'm sorry, y'all. I just thowt some made me laugh. 0:25:47.720 --> 0:25:51.159 I pictured you're going to work, and I pictured the 0:25:51.160 --> 0:25:53.199 person that annoys you so much coming up to you, 0:25:54.480 --> 0:25:56.399 and I picture you not saying it out loud, but 0:25:56.520 --> 0:25:58.360 just smirk a little bit and say to yourself, this 0:25:58.400 --> 0:26:02.439 is the gate. Because God is gonna use the people 0:26:02.440 --> 0:26:07.480 that I can't stand to make me patient. You've been 0:26:07.480 --> 0:26:11.840 praying for patience. It's gonna come through the gate of Pete. 0:26:12.280 --> 0:26:14.960 You know, Pete at work, Pete with the bad breath, 0:26:15.080 --> 0:26:16.560 Pete who takes all the credit. 0:26:16.840 --> 0:26:17.720 Pete is the gate. 0:26:22.320 --> 0:26:26.439 He missed the whole point too, He missed the whole point. 0:26:26.680 --> 0:26:29.000 This is the gate. I'm gonna come back here. 0:26:29.080 --> 0:26:31.879 God, if you bless me if you give me a car, 0:26:32.080 --> 0:26:34.720 and if you watch over me. He's trying to negotiate 0:26:34.800 --> 0:26:38.480 something God already told him he was gonna do. Anyway, 0:26:39.680 --> 0:26:42.399 One time, Pastor Mickey took me to visit a businessman 0:26:42.760 --> 0:26:45.359 and I was asking him for money because I wanted 0:26:45.359 --> 0:26:48.560 to bring in some preachers for the Fellowship of Christian. 0:26:48.240 --> 0:26:49.919 Athletes for our high school. 0:26:50.600 --> 0:26:52.560 And he taught me something as a seventeen year old. 0:26:52.680 --> 0:26:55.320 Because Eugene Oliver started writing the check and I had 0:26:55.359 --> 0:27:00.200 only said three words, we're trying to and he said 0:27:00.240 --> 0:27:00.640 how much. 0:27:02.560 --> 0:27:04.320 The first thing I didn't know is put a few 0:27:04.320 --> 0:27:06.400 more zeros on it. If somebody asked that question. Because 0:27:06.400 --> 0:27:08.119 I asked him for five hundred dollars, I wish I 0:27:08.119 --> 0:27:08.640 would go back. 0:27:11.760 --> 0:27:13.480 But while he was writing the check, I kept talking, 0:27:13.480 --> 0:27:15.959 we're gonna take the money we're gonna use, and Pastor 0:27:16.000 --> 0:27:17.800 Mickey put his hand on my LIGs. 0:27:17.920 --> 0:27:21.439 It squeezed me. He looked at me. He didn't say 0:27:21.480 --> 0:27:22.640 anything till we got out of there. 0:27:24.760 --> 0:27:31.120 He said, I'm gonna teach you something right now when 0:27:31.119 --> 0:27:32.040 he's writing the check. 0:27:33.320 --> 0:27:39.199 Shut up, shut up. 0:27:41.720 --> 0:27:43.479 I don't know, but maybe you could look at your 0:27:43.520 --> 0:27:50.480 neighbor and say, shut up, it's already done. 0:27:52.560 --> 0:27:55.160 It's already done. 0:27:56.119 --> 0:27:58.000 Trying to strike a bargain with God, who already said 0:27:58.000 --> 0:28:01.960 he'd be with you. Well, if you will, then uh will? 0:28:02.240 --> 0:28:06.159 God is not an if then God. The promises of 0:28:06.160 --> 0:28:11.520 God are yes and amen. He's already done. That's what 0:28:11.600 --> 0:28:14.040 he saw sleeping on that rock. This is the game, 0:28:14.800 --> 0:28:19.040 so it means I can go into any situation, even 0:28:19.960 --> 0:28:25.040 the uncomfortable ones. Isn't it crazy that God used the 0:28:25.040 --> 0:28:27.760 place of Jacob's discomfort to give him his greatest revelation. 0:28:29.760 --> 0:28:32.040 Don't you think that seventy seven year old man woke 0:28:32.119 --> 0:28:35.000 up with a sore neck after sleeping on a rock, 0:28:35.040 --> 0:28:38.600 But he said, it's awesome not because of how it felt, 0:28:39.400 --> 0:28:40.200 but because. 0:28:39.880 --> 0:28:41.080 Of what I saw. 0:28:42.440 --> 0:28:45.120 Not because of what I felt, but because of who 0:28:45.160 --> 0:28:45.400 I know. 0:28:46.720 --> 0:28:52.680 This is awesome this place. How awesome is this place? 0:28:52.720 --> 0:28:56.120 You know? You can say that anywhere, not just in Hawaii, right, 0:28:57.360 --> 0:29:01.720 not just in church. This is the game and it's. 0:29:01.600 --> 0:29:03.680 The gate because I gave it a purpose. Purpose is 0:29:03.720 --> 0:29:06.560 what allows you to see that. Let me say it 0:29:06.640 --> 0:29:12.480 like this, In every place there is a purpose. In 0:29:12.600 --> 0:29:17.080 every place, there is a purpose. But before it is discovered. 0:29:17.200 --> 0:29:19.960 It must be determined, and God will allow you to 0:29:20.080 --> 0:29:23.400 determine the purpose of the place you're in. So you 0:29:23.440 --> 0:29:27.440 can simply survive it, or you can be strengthened by it. 0:29:28.720 --> 0:29:32.000 You can resent it, or you can be like John 0:29:32.160 --> 0:29:34.840 who on the island of Patmos wrote the Book of Revelation. 0:29:35.360 --> 0:29:37.440 You decide the purpose for the place. 0:29:38.320 --> 0:29:40.280 Is this going to be the place where you become 0:29:40.320 --> 0:29:44.040 bitter and lay down and die from your disappointment, or 0:29:44.120 --> 0:29:46.360 is this going to be the place that you discover 0:29:46.520 --> 0:29:49.640 a dream, a deeper source to drink from all the 0:29:49.680 --> 0:29:58.000 good grasses in the valley. You can only get strength 0:29:58.040 --> 0:30:02.120 from certain places. This is something that Jacob could not 0:30:02.360 --> 0:30:06.960 get anywhere else but here in this place. The Lord 0:30:07.040 --> 0:30:10.920 is in this place. Remember he still got four hundred 0:30:10.960 --> 0:30:14.240 and ninety miles to go before he gets to his destination. 0:30:14.360 --> 0:30:19.080 But the Lord is in this place. It means that 0:30:19.200 --> 0:30:23.160 he is with me on the way. He's with me 0:30:23.840 --> 0:30:27.080 on the way, and any time I want to, I 0:30:27.120 --> 0:30:30.720 can open a gate to the revelation of his goodness. 0:30:31.000 --> 0:30:31.840 This is the gate. 0:30:32.640 --> 0:30:34.880 Difficult time with your teenagers, I get it. 0:30:35.200 --> 0:30:39.160 This is the gate. This is the gate. They got 0:30:39.240 --> 0:30:40.960 quiet on that one. I must have hit a nerve. 0:30:42.680 --> 0:30:45.880 Just just walk around pointing to stuff, winking and stuff. 0:30:46.080 --> 0:30:49.680 This is the gate. Make it a gate, Make it 0:30:49.720 --> 0:30:53.440 a gate, Make it a gate this season. This is 0:30:53.480 --> 0:30:56.400 the gate. I'm not waiting this is the gate. 0:30:57.240 --> 0:31:00.600 I'm not waiting for a relationship before I feel significant. 0:31:00.920 --> 0:31:01.720 This is the gate. 0:31:02.560 --> 0:31:05.200 I'm made in the image of God, all by myself. 0:31:05.520 --> 0:31:08.280 This is the cat. This is the season. This is 0:31:08.320 --> 0:31:10.840 the time. That's just the year. Now when I'm. 0:31:10.680 --> 0:31:13.240 Forty five, not when I get the debt paid out. 0:31:13.560 --> 0:31:17.280 This is the day I will rejoice anthy glad in. 0:31:17.400 --> 0:31:23.200 It, enter his gates with thanksgiving. You hear this word 0:31:23.240 --> 0:31:27.200 God gave me. This is the gate. 0:31:27.920 --> 0:31:35.240 This is the gate, and it is determined before it 0:31:35.360 --> 0:31:38.600 is discovered. So Jacob decides, I guess this rock is 0:31:38.640 --> 0:31:40.560 as good as any I'm making a monument. 0:31:40.680 --> 0:31:41.880 It was a very common. 0:31:41.600 --> 0:31:44.440 Practice, he said, I'll set this up to remember how 0:31:44.480 --> 0:31:45.760 God met with me. 0:31:46.240 --> 0:31:49.960 Here. After he was sleeping on something. 0:31:51.560 --> 0:31:55.840 That he wasn't supposed to sleep on, After he was 0:31:55.840 --> 0:31:59.800 sleeping on something that he wasn't supposed to be sleeping. 0:31:59.520 --> 0:32:06.800 On, after he was sleeping on something. I'm asleep on 0:32:06.880 --> 0:32:15.520 this thing. After he was sleeping after he wait a man, 0:32:15.600 --> 0:32:16.280 Jesus did this. 0:32:17.720 --> 0:32:23.720 This is not just a Jacob thing. Let me see 0:32:23.720 --> 0:32:27.040 if I can find it, Mark four thirty five. I 0:32:27.080 --> 0:32:27.600 found it. 0:32:30.720 --> 0:32:35.440 When Jesus was sleeping in something that he wasn't supposed 0:32:35.440 --> 0:32:36.200 to be sleeping at. 0:32:37.440 --> 0:32:41.680 And there's a commonality. There's there's a common threat. I 0:32:41.720 --> 0:32:42.400 wonder do you see it? 0:32:42.440 --> 0:32:45.720 In verse thirty five, it says that when evening came, 0:32:48.080 --> 0:32:50.400 Jacob breasted on the rock when the sun went down. 0:32:52.320 --> 0:32:58.200 Jesus is on a boat as evening approaches, and he 0:32:58.240 --> 0:33:05.080 said to his disciples, let's go over to the other side. 0:33:05.400 --> 0:33:08.000 Next verse, leaving the crowd behind. 0:33:08.600 --> 0:33:12.440 They took him along just as he was in the boat. 0:33:12.680 --> 0:33:16.840 There are also other boats with him. A furious squall, 0:33:17.800 --> 0:33:20.719 not a word we often use, just a raging storm 0:33:21.480 --> 0:33:24.920 came up and the waves broke over the boat so 0:33:24.960 --> 0:33:28.080 that it was nearly swamp. Now we're going to see 0:33:28.080 --> 0:33:31.520 a contrast between what Jesus did and what. 0:33:31.440 --> 0:33:32.400 The disciples did. 0:33:33.280 --> 0:33:36.880 Because Jesus, in the middle of a life threatening storm 0:33:36.880 --> 0:33:40.760 where the survival of the mission was at stake, was 0:33:40.800 --> 0:33:41.920 in the stern. 0:33:48.160 --> 0:33:56.840 Sleeping in the storm. Jesus found a pillow. Somewhere in 0:33:56.840 --> 0:34:00.000 that boat he found a pillow, and he laid it, 0:34:00.080 --> 0:34:07.400 said down and went to sleep, and the disciples woke him. 0:34:07.560 --> 0:34:14.000 The disciples were awakened by their fear, and Jesus was 0:34:14.040 --> 0:34:19.799 asleep in his purpose. I'll show you, And they said 0:34:19.800 --> 0:34:20.440 to him. 0:34:21.120 --> 0:34:24.759 Don't you care if we tried watch wrong with you? 0:34:28.440 --> 0:34:29.200 Don't you care? 0:34:29.719 --> 0:34:32.640 The only way for us to understand the meaning of 0:34:32.680 --> 0:34:37.480 this passage is to contrast what they thought with what 0:34:37.560 --> 0:34:39.319 he knew. 0:34:39.960 --> 0:34:41.359 But first watch what he did. 0:34:41.520 --> 0:34:46.680 He got up, rebuked the wind for disturbing his rim cycles. 0:34:47.880 --> 0:34:52.120 And said to the waves, shut up, be still. 0:34:53.600 --> 0:34:57.320 I think you need to say that sometimes to your thoughts, Hello, 0:34:58.400 --> 0:35:01.919 to your monkey mind, to you're amigdal. Sometimes the most 0:35:01.960 --> 0:35:06.440 spiritual thing you can say is shut up. And the 0:35:06.480 --> 0:35:09.200 wind died down. It was completely calm. He said to us, 0:35:09.200 --> 0:35:10.879 dec that was why he's afraid. He said, no faith, 0:35:12.520 --> 0:35:16.359 And they were terrified, like Jacob, because the flip side 0:35:16.400 --> 0:35:19.279 of faith is always fear. And they were terrified and 0:35:19.360 --> 0:35:20.200 asked each other. 0:35:20.239 --> 0:35:23.520 Who is this? Oh, I thought you knew now. 0:35:24.239 --> 0:35:28.560 It took an uncomfortable situation to show them the revelation 0:35:28.600 --> 0:35:29.200 of who was. 0:35:29.160 --> 0:35:32.200 With them all along, and they were not aware. Do 0:35:32.200 --> 0:35:32.640 you see it? 0:35:34.320 --> 0:35:38.080 Even the wind and the waves obey him. 0:35:38.239 --> 0:35:39.439 Who is this now? 0:35:39.680 --> 0:35:43.200 What started as a storm turned into a sermon, and 0:35:43.320 --> 0:35:45.879 Jesus preached who he was, not by what he said, 0:35:45.920 --> 0:35:49.319 but by what he did. He took a pillow and 0:35:49.400 --> 0:35:52.520 laid his head down because he knew something that they 0:35:52.560 --> 0:35:57.640 did not know, that in every purpose there is a promise. 0:36:00.120 --> 0:36:04.400 Every purpose there is a promise. I will not leave. 0:36:04.239 --> 0:36:07.600 You until I have accomplished everything that I have created you. 0:36:07.680 --> 0:36:10.200 For in every purpose there is a problem. In every 0:36:10.200 --> 0:36:13.040 place there is a purpose. But in every purpose there 0:36:13.120 --> 0:36:14.400 is a promise. 0:36:15.480 --> 0:36:19.680 Because this is Mark chapter four, And in Mark chapter five, 0:36:19.800 --> 0:36:23.120 Jesus is going to meet a man who is possessed 0:36:23.160 --> 0:36:25.960 with so many demons that he simply calls himself legion, 0:36:26.000 --> 0:36:30.319 which means many, so overcome by issues and oppression that 0:36:30.360 --> 0:36:34.120 he doesn't even know his identity anymore. And he'll meet 0:36:34.120 --> 0:36:36.840 the man and free the man, and cast the demons 0:36:36.840 --> 0:36:38.600 out of the man, and send the man back into 0:36:38.640 --> 0:36:39.360 the capitalists. 0:36:39.960 --> 0:36:41.000 And when the man goes. 0:36:40.840 --> 0:36:43.680 Back into the capitalist to tell the people Mark five 0:36:43.840 --> 0:36:47.520 twenty how much the Lord has done for him. The 0:36:47.560 --> 0:36:51.000 Gospel enters a whole new region, and the mission is born. 0:36:51.239 --> 0:36:56.080 That was pronounced in Genesis when God told Jacob, I'm 0:36:56.080 --> 0:36:57.520 gonna bless the whole earth through you. 0:36:58.280 --> 0:37:01.560 That happened in Mark chapter So. 0:37:01.680 --> 0:37:07.800 What Jesus knew was I can't drown in Mark chapter four. 0:37:12.400 --> 0:37:19.960 So I'm gonna get a pillow because I got a promise. 0:37:21.800 --> 0:37:24.240 You hear me, Church, I might. 0:37:24.080 --> 0:37:26.279 Be lying down, but that doesn't mean I'm not preaching. Heart. 0:37:27.719 --> 0:37:31.040 When you've got a promise from God, let me tell 0:37:31.040 --> 0:37:34.560 you what to do when God gives you a promise. 0:37:34.600 --> 0:37:36.160 How many of you have a promise. 0:37:35.760 --> 0:37:38.000 From God and you really believe it that He will 0:37:38.040 --> 0:37:38.600 be with you? 0:37:39.120 --> 0:37:41.000 Come on, how many of you have to promise from God? 0:37:41.920 --> 0:37:45.520 How many of you have a promise from God that. 0:37:45.560 --> 0:37:50.360 He will not fail you? When you've got a promise, 0:37:51.360 --> 0:37:52.359 let me show you what to do. 0:37:52.600 --> 0:37:56.000 When you got a promise, sleep on it, Touch the 0:37:56.040 --> 0:37:56.719 person next you. 0:37:57.000 --> 0:37:57.640 Sleep on it. 0:37:58.840 --> 0:38:01.240 I'm not going to stress about it. I'm not gonna 0:38:01.239 --> 0:38:04.400 weep about it. I'm not gonna expend any more energy 0:38:04.760 --> 0:38:08.479 trying to manipulate it. I'm gonna do what Jesus did. 0:38:08.760 --> 0:38:12.080 I'm gonna find a pillow because I got a promise, 0:38:12.320 --> 0:38:15.880 and I'm about to sleep on it. And while I sleep, 0:38:16.400 --> 0:38:20.920 God is strategizing, And while I sleep, the angels are coming. 0:38:21.239 --> 0:38:24.759 And while I sleep, the provision is being made. And 0:38:24.800 --> 0:38:28.400 while I rest, the promise of God is coming to pass. 0:38:28.760 --> 0:38:36.799 In my situation, this is the game. Come on, three 0:38:36.920 --> 0:38:41.520 two one. 0:38:42.360 --> 0:38:49.960 You got a promise, it's your pillow. What good is 0:38:49.960 --> 0:38:53.960 the promise if you're not gonna believe it. When you 0:38:54.080 --> 0:38:58.120 got a promise from God, you can rest your soul 0:38:59.040 --> 0:39:04.520 and rest your and rest assord that in every purpose 0:39:04.640 --> 0:39:05.720 there is a promise. 0:39:07.520 --> 0:39:11.799 And he said in Mark four thirty five, let us 0:39:12.280 --> 0:39:17.719 go to the other side. It was the proof that 0:39:17.800 --> 0:39:22.239 we cannot die in the storm because there is a 0:39:22.400 --> 0:39:28.919 purpose on the other side. How I make it through 0:39:29.040 --> 0:39:31.840 this season, in this storm, in this valley. 0:39:32.440 --> 0:39:37.040 Is that I know there's something on the other side. 0:39:38.200 --> 0:39:43.879 Every valley is between two mountains, there is something on 0:39:44.400 --> 0:39:45.440 the other side. 0:39:46.120 --> 0:39:46.799 Sleep on it. 0:39:48.800 --> 0:39:53.319 Sleep on it. Gostor cares upon him. He cares for 0:39:53.440 --> 0:39:57.640 you to sleep on it. I feel so awkward up 0:39:57.640 --> 0:40:04.240 here showing how Jesus was the promise. 0:40:06.160 --> 0:40:13.120 A pillow and the promise. Hey, you know what, I 0:40:13.239 --> 0:40:18.120 just realized I'm He wasn't sleeping on a pillow. He 0:40:18.239 --> 0:40:19.280 was sleeping on purpose. 0:40:22.400 --> 0:40:25.920 He knew that no matter what storm I go through, 0:40:26.640 --> 0:40:31.560 no matter what season I'm in, the purpose of God 0:40:32.239 --> 0:40:32.920 will prevail. 0:40:33.840 --> 0:40:36.400 Sleep on it. Sleep on it. 0:40:37.480 --> 0:40:40.680 Therefore, since we have this promise of entering into His rest, 0:40:41.200 --> 0:40:41.680 let us. 0:40:41.640 --> 0:40:43.759 Take heed that we do not fall short of it. 0:40:45.640 --> 0:40:49.279 There is a purpose that produces rest, and there is 0:40:49.320 --> 0:40:51.520 a promise that produces peace. 0:40:52.960 --> 0:40:56.680 To sleep on it. It was a rock, it became 0:40:56.719 --> 0:41:00.600 a pillow. It was a pillow, it became a pillar. 0:41:01.560 --> 0:41:04.120 And what you're going through right now is going to 0:41:04.120 --> 0:41:09.319 be the foundation of the revelation of who God really is. 0:41:10.120 --> 0:41:10.719 Sleep on it. 0:41:14.239 --> 0:41:20.319 Sleep on it, and I'll give you the ground you're 0:41:20.360 --> 0:41:25.560 lying on, and I will not leave you nor forsake 0:41:25.640 --> 0:41:29.800 you until I have done everything I promised you. I 0:41:29.840 --> 0:41:32.680 can lay my head on that, I can bang my 0:41:32.719 --> 0:41:36.439 life on that I can trust my children to God, 0:41:36.560 --> 0:41:37.320 knowing that. 0:41:39.760 --> 0:41:47.160 The Lord is in this place, the storm, the valley, 0:41:47.440 --> 0:41:49.560 the wilderness, this place. 0:41:51.400 --> 0:41:53.520 We all have those places in our lives where we're 0:41:53.520 --> 0:41:57.000 passing through and we wonder what is the purpose of this? 0:41:58.239 --> 0:42:04.360 But faith declares what Jacob declared. Surely the Lord is 0:42:04.400 --> 0:42:11.719 in this place, and I I was not aware, but 0:42:11.800 --> 0:42:15.799 now I am. I see it now. Thank you for 0:42:15.920 --> 0:42:16.480 joining us. 0:42:16.800 --> 0:42:19.239 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:42:19.320 --> 0:42:22.800 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:42:23.280 --> 0:42:25.440 You can click the link in the description to give 0:42:25.560 --> 0:42:29.680 now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more 0:42:29.719 --> 0:42:33.520 information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:42:33.800 --> 0:42:35.120 You can share it with your friends. 0:42:35.400 --> 0:42:37.680 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:42:37.719 --> 0:42:39.839 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:42:39.880 --> 0:42:40.719 Elevation Church. 0:42:40.800 --> 0:42:47.400 Thanks again for listening. God bless you