Postmodernism & The Stairway To Nowhere

"POSTMODERNISM: & THE STAIRWAY TO NOWHERE"

REV. BILL BOWDLE 01/05/97

Scripture: Genesis 28:10-22

Gen 28:10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.

Gen 28:11 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.

Gen 28:12 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.

Gen 28:13 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.

Gen 28:14 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.

Gen 28:15 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."

Gen 28:16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it."

Gen 28:17 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."

Gen 28:18 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.

Gen 28:19 He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.

Gen 28:20 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

Gen 28:21 so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God

Gen 28:22 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."

INTRODUCTION:

Can you remember the fun you've had on favorite stairways?

As growing infant,

you loved to crawl up stairways

to places only adults could go.

As a child,

you sat on pillows,

and bounced down stairway steps

with shouts of joy?

Stairways led you to rooms with

hidden treasures from long ago.

Beyond your home,

stairways led you up high places

to view scenery below.

Stairways are built

to take us to special places.

God gave Jacob a vision

of a special stairway.

(One of our songs calls it a ladder)

That special stairway

climbed from earth to heaven.

That stairway

stretched from man to God.

After seeing that stairway

and hearing God's message,

Jacob was astounded.

"Gen 28:16 "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it."

Gen 28:17 "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."

God is using your life experiences

like stair steps

to lead you closer to him!

I pray you'll meet God

& sense his presence

and with Jacob, you'll know..

Gen 28:16 "Surely the LORD is in this place...

Gen 28:17 "How awesome ... This is none other than the house of God...

Before that day,

Jacob stumbled around in the darkness.

His life was a miserable mess.

Jacob plotted with his mother

to deceive his blind father.

Jacob conspired to cheat his brother, Esau,

and stole his birthright and blessing.

Esau's disappointment

flashed into murderous rage.

So to avoid bloodshed,

Jacob, the deceiver

was sent away from home.

He deserved to be doomed,

but Isaac sent him away

with words of blessing

ringing in his ears...

"May God almighty bless you,

and make you fruitful..." Gen. 28:3

Parents, let's touch our children

with kind words of blessing!

Give them hope!

Give them hope for what God can do

on the far side of difficult days.

Jacob left home

as a dishonest manipulating deceiver.

He had his father's blessing,

but he'd not yet found his father's God.

Have you found God yet?

You've come to church.

Are you coming to God?

The day after Christmas,

we traveled to my oldest brother's house.

The food was fantastic,

but I must confess,

"I let too much of it go to 'waist.'"

We talked about many things....

You know how conversations go,

We leapfrogged from one topic to another,

and eventually we started talking about stairways.

One stairway in particular.