Introduction: Ill: Three block-buster movies in the early 90’s that followed a boy that seemed to always be easily forgotten everywhere he went, and usually had to face bad guys all alone.
Background
• Review Genesis 25; twins yet born completely opposite (lost/saved)
• Review the birthright and the blessing fiasco
• We are going to see this evening that you can have all the blessings, material benefits, and all the land and children, but if you do
not have God’s presence you are nothing!
• Jacob has been sent away by father and mother as a fugitive (500+ miles). Jacob has been blessed a second time (28:3-4), but
he carries no wealth, power, influence…He journeys alone, frustrated, depressed, weak (77 yrs old), anxious, homesick….He is
traveling through rough, dry, and rocky terrain. As he thinks about all that has transpired, it is safe to say that Jacob feels alone,
stressed, and abandoned. He has the blessing and birthright, but they seem more like burdens than a blessings. And so with
these thoughts, Jacob lays his head on a rock and goes to sleep.
• In his sleep he will have a personal encounter with God, and encounter teach him about the omnipresence of God, and truth that
he has failed to hold dear. It is in this encounter where he will confess his ignorance and commit to live a changed life!
How to Overcome Ignorance:
I. Have an Awareness of God’s Conviction. “Surely the LORD is in this place,…”
1. The Dream: (10-12)
• A 70 year old fugitive, who has never been separated from his family, is now on the run, going to a new place. It is
through a dream that God meets with a very needy, homesick, heavy hearted man. God comes to him, he does not go
to God. Man may have a mental “understanding” of God, but man’s nature does not seek after God, we know only what
God reveals to us. God chose the instrument of a “dream”
• The ladder, angels descending from heaven to earth, preparing for their Master to speak. The throne room of heaven
opened, and God met with Jacob.
2. The Promise: (13-15)
• In God’s reaffirming of His promises, He personal lets Jacob know that he has been chosen by God to carry his
blessing, despite his scheming.
1. I AM Jehovah….The God of your father & grandfather
2. I Am Owner of this land, and it will be yours
3. I Will bless your family to be large
4. I Am Always With You
5. I will bring you back to this land
II. Have the Humility for Personal Confession. “I did not know…”
• Ill: A little boy’s note at school “Take all the cookies, God is watching the apples”
• What would cause Jacob to admit this? Was Jacob a pagan? Jacob was a godly man, he believed in God. The trouble with
Jacob was not believing in God (mental), but rather he did not believe God could manage without his help.
• Jacob is not claiming to “ignore God” but rather was not aware of God’s abiding presence.
1. Common misunderstanding about God’s presence: (What Jacob may of thought)
• God is only in paradise – Look around, this is no place for God (God forsaken place)- desert, rocks, Beltashazzar’s
party, Neb. Fiery furnace, Jonah’s whale….
• God is present with those who have stuff – Jacob had no great wealth, possession…in a sense he was a homeless
man.
• God is at home, parents, homeland – Jacob may have thought he was leaving God’s presence with his parents.
• God is found at a particular location – at an altar, temple, building
2. Common hindrances for recognizing God’s presence:
• Spiritual deadness – as a result of moral failure, trickery, deceit, self gratification. Deadness is caused by sin,
moral failure. (Rom 8:13) Sin dims my vision of God.
• Spiritual dullness - Not having a continuous walk with God. G Cambell Morgan – “If a man’s spirit is dull, inactive,
or dead, he cannot find God.
• The unconsciousness of God sees only what is near (horizontal, not vertical). Whenever the people lose vision of
God, the people perish.
3. Application: When Jacob awoke, he did not shake off his dream as a bad meal, stress, or an overactive imagination;
God’s presence changed his life. God no longer was the “God of his fathers” but now “My God”.
• Do you experience God’s presence? Or do you limit God’s presence to certain places or activities? This is
common even with Christians.
III. Have the Determination For Radical Commitment. (28:18-22)
1. To be conscious of God is immediately to have a new interpretation of life.
• This is awesome! Life is worth living, a greater purpose for life. God breathed purpose into a soul whose purpose had
little to no meaning.
• “Purpose” does not mean finding out what you are going to be in college. Men long for purpose all their lives. Have you
lost your purpose?
2. To be conscious of God is immediately to have a new standard of action.
• Personal relationship with God (from God to my God)
• Personal worship of God (altar) All about obedience
• Personal giving to God. (tithe)
3. To be conscious of God is immediately to have a new enablement.
• Power and presence of God is with Jacob always. He will walk in the power of victory over sin, value of God’s
forgiveness and care; accept God’s love and calling.
• It will be 20 yrs before God speaks to Jacob again, yet Jacob promises to hold tightly to God.
Conclusion:
• We don’t deserve God’s presence, but thank God he gives it to us by His grace,
• It is one thing to hear and read about God’s presence and blessings; yet it is a totally different level of experience to personally
walk each day in the reality of God’s abiding presence in our life. This way of thinking will change the way we live life, and the way
we interact with people. It will change our focus of living, and will ensure a growing faith.
• How do I know I am walking in God’s presence today?
1. God’s presence reassures our Spirit
2. God’s presence motivates us to seek His guidance.
3. God’s presence convicts us of sin
4. God’s presence brings joy despite circumstances. Ps. 16:11
