Wherever our journey leads, our true destination is God.
Sermon Title: STONE PILLOWS IN THE HOUSE OF GOD
Sermon Text: GENESIS 27:46; 28:1-5 NIV
Sermon Series: IMPERFECT FAITH
Guest Speaker: PTR. TOM TRONO
Sermon Notes:
Genesis 28:10-22 (NIV)
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”
Genesis 28:10-11 (NIV)
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
Genesis 28:12 (NIV)
12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
Genesis 28:13 (NIV)
I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.
Genesis 12:2-3 (NIV)
I will make you into a great nation…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
“faithfulness”
Genesis 28:13-14 (NIV)
I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
Genesis 28:15 (NIV)
I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.
Genesis 28:16 (NIV)
Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.
Genesis 28:17 (NIV)
How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.
Bethel: “the place where God lives”
Genesis 28:20-22 (NIV)
20 If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.
Wherever our journey leads, our true destination is God.
God speaks to us in times of silence and solitude.
We are children of God through election and calling.
Romans 9:8 (NIV)
“children of promise”
Galatians 3:9 (NIV)
Those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
The greatest blessing in life is the presence of God.
Matthew 28:20 (NIV)
Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
“Our holiness does not depend upon changing our works, but in doing that for God’s sake which we commonly do for our own.”
Brother Lawrence