In The Presence Of The Lord Series

In The Presence of the Lord

Text: Gen. 35:1-15

Introduction

1. Read Gen. 35:1-15

2. Illustration: If I could ask the Lord for just one thing,

One request from my heart, the favor would be

To dwell in his house forever, in his house forever,

I want to see his face all my days.

In the presence, in the presence of the Lord.

To gaze upon his beauty

In the presence of the Lord all my days.

To gaze upon his beauty

In the presence of the lord all my days.

To gaze upon his beauty

In the presence of the Lord all my days.

3. Ps. 27:4 One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

4. One day we will be in his presence forever. However, we can experience his presence now if we will seek after it.

Proposition: If we will seek after it with all of our hearts, we can experience the transforming presence of Christ.

Transition: Being in his presence...

I. Takes Preparation (1-4)

A. Go Up to Bethel

1. When Jacob got to Schechem, he fulfilled the first part of his promise to God and set up an altar declaring Yahweh as the one true God.

a. However, he delayed in keeping the second part of the promise to go back to Bethel.

b. So God sent him a gentle reminder.

c. When you forget a promise that you’ve made to God, He has gentle ways to remind us.

2 He told Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother."

2. First, he told him to go up to Bethel.

a. He had to literally go up there because Schechem is only 1,880 feet above sea level, but Bethel is about 2,890 feet above sea level.

b. This was the place that God first appeared to Jacob, and Jacob had promised to go back there.

c. A promise being made must be kept.

3. He was to build an altar at Bethel.

a. Altars are a common feature in the Book of Genesis.

b. They consisted of "earth or unhewn stones."

c. It had no fixed shape, but varied with the materials.

d. It might consist of a rock (Judges 13:19) or a single large stone (1 Samuel 14:33-35) or again a number of stones (1 Kings 18:31f). —International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

4. Jacob knew that this was a place of anointing. He knew that this was a place to encounter God. He also knew that preparation was need to come face to face with a holy God.

5. So he told his family "Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments."

a. They needed to put off the old way of life.

b. They needed to leave the past behind them.

c. An encounter with the living God meant a change of heart, attitude, and mind.

B. In the Presence of a Holy God

1. Illustration: At an intersection, the green light changes to yellow; At the theater the house lights flash;

In the Battalion Tactical Operations Center a Warning Order comes down from Brigade;

At the airport terminal the boarding call comes over the intercom;

At a railroad crossing the lights begin to flash;

In a small Midwestern town the tornado siren screams;

On the football field the two minute warning sounds;

In the cargo bay of a C-140 a red-light comes on;

In the Desert of Judea, a voice of one calling in the wilderness is heard declaring, "Prepare the way of the Lord."

What do each of these have in common? They are signs or warnings that we need to prepare ourselves for what is about to happen.

2. An encounter with the living God takes preparation.

3. Every time we come to church we should expect an encounter with God, so every time we come to church we need to prepare ourselves to meet Him.

4. I’m not talking about external preparation.

a. God is not very concerned with what you wear as long as it is modest.

b. God is not very concerned with how much or how little make up you wear (unless you’re a man, then we’re all a little concerned).

c. God is not very concerned with what your hair looks like.

5. God is not as concerned with what is outside of a person as He is what is inside.

a. Matt. 15:17-19 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.