Come Follow Me: Genesis 28 Jacob's Ladder - EP 109

0:00heaven was active Jacob just didn't see it yet, but heaven was active for his good and Man, I love that image the heavens active for our good and that That line at the end of verse 15. I will not leave land until I have done what I promised you You're Welcome everybody to this week's episode of walking with a savior podcast. I'm your host John Merrill Kirkman Now on walking with a savior podcast. We talk about how awesome everybody is Hey, if you haven't heard me give you and you're awesome Just here's my chance. You're awesome my friend and first and foremost you got to understand

1:02I believe in you because Jesus Christ believes in you now walking with the savior podcast if your brand Know to this show walking with the savior podcast began as interviews of people on their journey with Jesus Christ and And I've interviewed over a hundred people from people all over the world All over the United States and England and different countries about their journey and walk with the Savior that began because I love talking to people and I love hearing people's story of Jesus Christ and they come from different face many are Members of the church of Jesus Christ. Well, I already say it's many are Christians of different face and the reason why is because So many we can we can all learn from each other in our our journey with Jesus Christ Now if you haven't caught any of my episodes Be sure to go check out walking with the savior podcast dot com and you can click on must listen to Us of episodes there. You'll find Becky Murney who runs the one by one organization saving thousands of children across the world Or you can find miracles are real

2:04Stories from Linda perks. I love her story and my one of my favorites Zahara McCoy Every child matters how her life would change by a twenty five dollar donation. I love Zahara Zahara Trista tremendous story, but today what I'm gonna do is a little come follow me Genesis twenty eight there we go Genesis twenty like Jacob's ladder or Jacob's stairway and We're gonna be talking about that and our covenant relationship with the Savior before we get going much for farther You are awesome my friend. Don't forget it. So let's start jump into Genesis 28 Hey, have you ever had a rock pillow season a rock pillow season? That's kind of an interesting thought No, no, not not a literal rock, but as a pillow a rock as a pillow, but the kind of life where Life is hard uncertain maybe even lonely Genesis 28 is the rock pillow chapter

3:05Jacob is fleeing for his life. He's got family conflict. He's got an unfutus certain future He's walking over a thousand miles to go find a covenant wife He's alone in the wilderness at least that's the way it's portrayed And he uses a stone for a pillow. This is this might be the lowest point of his life to this point in and And so have you had the rock pillow moment in your life? Of course we have and but here's the thing In the rock pillow moment is where heaven often opens and I see that throughout all my interviews with people From different walks of faith about Jesus Christ as they journey with Christ It's often in the rock pillows moments of their life that the heavens open and I wonder is that because We need to go through hard times to open our heart and turn towards heaven

4:06Or is it just part of the journey that stretches us and and makes us think about Christ more often? But today I want to talk about what it means to walk in that covenant relationship with Christ especially when life doesn't feel safe Let alone sacred and so in Genesis 28 we have Jacob's ladder or Jacob's stairway many translations use stairway But and before we ever get to the ladder before we get to the angels going up and down and it's Descending and ascending and before before Jacob says surely the Lord is in this place We need to understand Jacob's not in a spiritual retreat. He's running He is running and on a long Desert journey over a thousand miles Headed towards trying to find an eternal companion, but back in Genesis 27 Jacob and his mother Help him receive the birthright blessing remember that whole thing man Esau must have been some hairy dude if you know, hey, let's disguise you as east side by putting a fur on your shoulders and then dad

5:10I'll think it's Esau. Yeah, that was kind of a weird story, right and But I think Esau just didn't prove himself worthy and responsible of the birthright. And so that's why I think You know his mother Rebecca wanted him to have the birthright is because he's the Joseph wanted Joseph to have the birthright is because he's the responsible one and he's living a covenant life with Christ So he leaves his father eyes it could leaves his mother Rebecca He leaves familiarities security and inheritance. He leaves it all and heads towards Iran Thousands by well away to find safety and eventually a wife from extended family But this isn't this isn't a very confident journey. I don't think it's uncertain. It's lonely it's Wow, if you've ever been to Israel, Jerusalem that area around there. It just dry desert This is a long rocky journey and what a perfect metaphor for life You know, there are points in life where it seems like we're alone. We're in the desert. You know, no tent. No house. No pillow

6:17Life is not going good And it is so bad. He puts a stone under his head to go to sleep and That's what but but that's when it happens That night he dreams of a ladder or a staircase as many translations use and I kind of like the image of a staircase A little bit better because Multiple people can be walking up and down that staircase a ladder is kind of like hey get out of my way How's that gonna work? You know, so but this staircase is reaching from earth to heaven and angels are moving up and down it And at the top my favorite the Lord Right Jesus Christ Hover the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob That's Jehovah and he repeats the you know to Jacob the the covenant promises of land posterity blessings numerous blessings and most importantly Presence sometimes we talk about the

7:19Abraham a covenant and we talk about land posterity preisted power um but maybe the most important is Presence like Christ is going to be with us On this journey and though we may be feeling like it's lonely and hard and rocky and up and down That Christ promises to be with us and he says you know in the story I am with thee and I will not leave thee so Jacob wakes up stunned He didn't know this place was sacred and long behold now. It's a sacred place to him He didn't know heaven was that close He didn't realize God was that near And he says you know surely the Lord is in this place. I knew it not and that's an interesting phrase I knew it not then then he does something important. He takes out the stone and he he uses a pillow and He sets it upright as a pillar and they names the place Bethel or Bethel

8:23House of God and in other words to him this place now instead of a rocky desert lonely place becomes a place of God a place where God dwells and in the midst of our rocky moments we often can find Jesus Christ. I just interviewed a man yesterday Who was in his episodes coming out in the future in four or five weeks, but he was literally shot in his head by and the bullet went straight through his temples both temples and He He said I'm so glad it happened Because I found God I found Christ. Isn't that amazing? Like our rocky moments are often where we find God This the stony place becomes a Bethel And it's a sacred journey that we are all on

9:26And that's the journey to understand our covenant relationship with the with the Lord the the covenant isn't restrictive It's relational, you know, and it's all about him We got to connect to him if we're talking about just going to church and then you know, keep it in the commandments We're missing it. It's relational And the wilderness our wilderness can become holy ground our our horrible stories can become sacred stories Through the covenant relationship with Jesus Christ the runaway in this story becomes A covenant air and the place of fear becomes a place of revelation So let's jump into a few versions I like the new international version. So I'm going to read a little bit of it from this Jacob left bershiba his home and set out for her on thousands of miles away a thousand miles away or 1200 or so depending on route and all that hot dry

10:27110 degrees. Maybe he's got a camel Verse 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 to lay down to sleep I don't know if I've ever had a rock for a pillow, but man that's low that's low He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth with its top reaching to heaven now the king James version calls it a ladder Jacob's ladder But I like stairway. I love that and in multiple multiple translations have stairway So I like stairway and the angels of God were sending and descending on it They're above it stood the Lord I just can't imagine what would it be like to see the savior? I just oh I long for that day and he said I am the Lord the God of your Father Abraham the God of Isaac I will give you in your descendants the land on what you are lying. Oh wow

11:28That's that's a covenant promise And our day sometimes I hear people say how will kids ever afford a house And I just want to say covenant promises man Christ Christ just just look to Christ There's a way he's not going to leave you homeless Just walk with Christ and you know some things are going to work out But look at verse 14 we'll continue on Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth You will spread out to the west and the east and in the north and the south And all people's on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring And so here he is on this journey. What's he worried about? Am I ever going to find a wife? How's this going to work? You know you can just imagine the fears going through his head I'm walking a thousand miles to go find a wife. Is this really going to work? God's like

12:28Yep, it's going to work out. You're going to have posterity the dust of the earth in other words He's going to have eternal posterity talking about Raising the sites here eternal. Think celestial. This is going to be this is going to work out not only going to find a wife You're going to have quite the posterity And then the covenant promise all people's on our on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring And I just think as a covenant descendant of Jacob israel i I just want to be a blessing to this earth. I just want to do good Hopefully this podcast touches one person, you know And then he says oh my favorite is verse 15. You got to mark verse 15. It's incredible Jesus says I am with you And we'll watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you Until I have done what I have promised you Whoo

13:28Now at the end of this episode, I'm going to give you your revelatory relationship writing activity It don't worry. It's short But I will give you that at the end of the lesson using these four phrases from Verse 15 So he sees this ladder connecting to heaven or I like the stairway. He sees the stairway connecting to heaven angels going up and down God says and Jesus Christ says the covenant promises Jesus didn't show up when Jacob had it all together He showed up when Jacob was in the rocky place He showed up when he was in a rock bottom place His pillow was a rock God meets us in ordinary places God meets us in temples and he can meet us in ordinary places Because he loves us And I think one truth we can take from this is that heaven is closer than you think

14:33The angels were already moving before Jacob noticed them And that's why I like the stairway This is the idea of the angels going up and down the stairway And you know working and maybe they're like I like to imagine Jesus is like hey angel go do this You know the angel walks down he stands next to Jacob or and or next to me, you know and And he says in scriptures that angels will be around about us. They will walk with us And obviously Jesus does too, but I love that image of maybe they're they're they're reporting back to Jesus that And heaven was active Jacob just didn't see it yet But heaven was active for his good and Man, I love that image the heavens active for our good and that That line at the end of verse 15. I will not leave land until what I've done Until I have done what I promised you Like some I think we get our blessings of patriarchal blessings When you know, I know I have I start wondering wait a minute

15:35I get up there in the agent. I'm like wait a minute. Why isn't this blessing come to he's like He's not stopping the work for us. He's still working in the background Heaven is closer than you think All right, I love that and as we think about the covenant relationship It's ongoing connection We're not alone. It's not just keeping rules. We get so stuck on commandments It's not just The temple recommend worthiness This relationship it's friendship and covenants Like I said, they're not about rules, but it's about relationship and every healthy relationship has rules and boundaries And you know, I'm married and I have an amazing covenant relationship with my wife. We have an amazing marriage I'm so blessed to have my wife in my life so blessed But there's obviously relationship rules and boundaries that we have And it's not that I can't go out and um You know

16:36Break Relationship rules and go out with another woman and do things. I'm not supposed to be doing It's not that I can't I can at any moment But it it would destroy my covenant relationship with my wife And so I choose not to do those things And the rules and boundaries protect protect my covenant relationship with my deeply cherished Covenant relationship with my wife so I want those rules And choose to live those rules But at any time either one of us can choose to break those rules. That's our choice And sometimes in covenant relationship with Christ we get so stuck on on rules, you know um In commandments now they're there to preserve my covenant relationship with him And so that's why I choose to live those covenant Relationship rules or commandments wherever you want to talk about them Now I think another truth to talk about it has is the latter and the symbolism of the latter or the stairway and I

17:42I think the latter or the stairway is Christ um, you know, he's the mediator between heaven and earth. I love that and um The the the stairway isn't just steps upward It's a person. Oh, I love that The latter isn't just steps upward. It's a person. Jesus Christ is the connection point When we walk in a covenant relationship with him we're not climbing toward heaven alone We are not climbing towards heaven alone It's not like Okay, you do this is this and this and then you can meet me It's like he meets us where we're at and he wants to walk and climb that To heaven with us and he is the way But I love that right he is the way and he's climbing with us

18:44And I like to imagine that you know, he's got a I got the broken legs Metaphor where I got the broken leg is I got my arm around his shoulder and I'm limping along and he's pulling me up those stairs We're gonna get you to heaven John Merrill Kirkman We're walking with the one who already bridges the gap So what if Christ is closer than you assume right now in your life What if the angels are moving in your story and my story What if you think what if what if the place you think right now is ordinary Is actually holy and is About to be a miraculous story for you That someday you'll look back and say I'm so glad that happened even though it was the hardest part of my life That it could become holy That it could become a Bethel to us. You know, you look back and say it's sacred ground Even though it's horrible ground

19:47Now Jacob's situation didn't immediately change. He's still away from home He's facing uncertainties on the run from his brother is angry brother. He saw And he says this phrase Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not I knew it not nothing changed except Jacob And revelation can reframe our situation. Ooh, whoa, that kind of came out nice Revelation can reframe our situation Forgive me, I get excited A covenant relationship gives us that strength, you know, and um Awareness of covenant relationship creates courage I Think this moment gave him confidence to keep pressing forward on this long journey Covenant relationship creates confidence covenant relationship creates courage

20:49Ooh That reminds me of flip the switch and if you haven't heard flip the switch It's basically a quick breath in, you know, like in for six Hold for two out for eight. You just take a couple of those long breaths Hold And then you just imagine yourself sitting with the Savior And you say to yourself, what do you want me to do in this moment And some thoughts will come I just did this yesterday with my granddaughter Is that with my granddaughter and Did a few activities took her to see some ponies took her to see As a store I need to go to and then we had to go to Costco and by the time that all wound down She was getting a little grumpy. She's three years old nearly four Camilla. I love you some day. You'll get to listen to this and But she was getting a little grumpy and I was in the front of the car

21:49And I flipped the switch and I just Took a deep breath in imagine Jesus Christ is in the seat next to me in the pasture seat I was like what do you want me to do in this moment? He's like just be patient be calm be loving And I was able to do that in that moment now. I'm not perfect at it. No judgment That's just flip the switch, but that kind of reminds me in this moment Here he is on this long road rocky journey and you know covenant relationship gives him confidence to press forward And some of you are in that rock pillow season right now you may not and and Maybe flip the switch could help Not that it gives all the answers, but maybe it gives us the next step And maybe we could try to act and respond from the perspective of Jesus What do you want me to do right now? And we always say JWWJD, you know, but but we say it's so flippant

22:51We kind of got to put ourselves in a calm down state state and say Okay, Jesus. What do you want me to do right now and then listen and feel So after this, you know as it was we continue to the story after this Jacob woke from asleep he thought surely the Lord is in this place and I knew I was not aware of it as it says and then and ivy and He was afraid and said how awesome is this place? Yeah Joseph is my guy. I mean Jacob is my guy. He how awesome is this place This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven. He said this is this he calls it Bethel And which means house of God and it says in verse 18 early the next morning Jacob took the stone and he placed it that he had placed on his head his pillow and set it up as a pillar I'm poured oil on top of it in other words he consecrated this place

23:52As a house of God and he's called the place Bethel Which means house of God and This ordinary place now is a sacred place to Jacob and How awesome is this place this former rocky place this former desert dry place How awesome is this place and I don't know if we ever look back at our horrible rocky place and go man That was awesome. We may not do that, but maybe the results were awesome Maybe the covenant relationship was awesome. Maybe the covenant growth was awesome And so now we can recall those experiences awesome So verse 20 continues then Jacob made a vow If God will be with me and we'll watch over me on this journey I am taking and we'll give me food to eat and close to where So that I return safely to my father's household Then the Lord will be my God and I'll come back to that, but my God

24:54I love the when the scriptures when prophets are Apostle take ownership of their relationship with Jesus Christ. This is my God And this stone that I've set up as a pillar will be God's house And of all that I you give me I will give you a 10th And I love that covenant relationship there for context for Tithing like when we're in the covenant relationship tithing is like God you're gonna give me so much You're gonna give me so much If the blessings are so rich surely I will give you a 10th And so he he makes a vow in a commitment and so the spiritual experiences should lead to personal commitment and change in our lives And maybe not big changes just like one percent changes like what could I do different to connect more with the Savior today and walk with him And meet conscious of him like flip the switch maybe practice that today flip the switch

25:59Is your your buttons get pushed by your kids for example flip the switch And and maybe we maybe we should set up some stones As reminders of work Christ showed up in our lives Or or maybe we should write them in a journey or something like that right but This kind of As he commits his life to God here in this moment, you know, and gives a vow it kind of reminds me that Walk in with the Savior isn't passive. It's participatory Oh, I like that walk in with the Savior isn't passive. It's participatory like he could have just Made his future wife just come to him, but no he had to go that thousand mile journey and find him find her and he he could have God wants us to participate and Work, it's not passive So I love that phrase walking with the Savior isn't passive. It's participatory

27:01Oh God reveals and we respond that's kind of the idea from this The part where he makes his vow and commitment So I want to give a study challenge a revelatory relationship writing experience And I just love all the R's as I was like what could I call this revelatory relationship writing and I do this with my students and I just Students love it high school students love it And so I want to give you this challenge and this can be a five-minute challenge. It could be a ten-minute challenge It could be an hour challenge But it could be a revelatory challenge if you put yourself in a space of connecting with God So here's the idea on a piece of paper at the top You write down my god and that comes from verse 21 where Jacob takes ownership of my god And you can write my gods last my Jesus my Jesus Christ my Redeemer and this morning. I wrote some things

28:04About my god and I want to share those with you Here we go. Just pull out my journal and I like to do this. This is just a my Jesus journal and I I will Just open up some mornings. I try to do it often, but you know how that goes. I'm working on consistency I just open up and write whatever my thoughts are about the Savior and It just changes the feeling and builds relationship and connection and love for him. So this morning I wrote my Jesus my Jesus walks with me inspires me to do good It comforts me when lonely. He stands with me and as I look back on moments in my mind Of that we're hard and image comes to my mind of him comforting of him walking With me of him weeping with me. I'm not alone because at any moment. I can imagine him by my side and He is he is there to assure me is there to speak encouraging words to me. He says walk with me

29:11No business partner. Just God partner and so The activity to Starts with just writing my Jesus at the top of your page and Then I have the four-flee phrases in verse 15 and you can use whatever translation you like I like the new international version you can use just go to the Bible gateway And you can find different translation or the Bible did org the bible dot org and you get like five or six translations open side by side and look at verse 15 Verse 15 is I'm with you. I will watch over wherever you go I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised Now what you do is you write down one phrase at a time I am with you and then you write whatever thoughts and feelings Come to your heart and my challenge to you is just to write stop thinking about it Don't worry about being right just write the pen can become an antenna to personal revelation

30:15And writing leaves direct leads to revelation So you write I am with you and then start writing your thoughts Then write I will watch over you wherever you go And write whatever your thoughts and then write I will bring you back to this land And write whatever thoughts come to your mind And I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised And write whatever thoughts come to your mind I will create a little PDF that you can go in the show notes and you can Download that and print that up if you want and it will just have on the top it will have my god or my Jesus And then it will have space to write it will have I'm with you space to write I will watch over you wherever you go space to write I will bring you back to this land space to write I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you space to write And I promise you as you do this And don't worry about what's right what's wrong and just worry about writing

31:17That you will feel a connection with your saver and inspiration and when you're done um Go back and read it from the beginning and you will be surprised at how revelatory that sounds now Last I just want to testify that Covenant relationship isn't about climbing faster Don't worry about doing more than you can do It's about walking closer Covenant relationship isn't about climbing faster It's about walking closer to Christ He is with you the angels are moving in our life And instead of saying I have to do this let's say I get to do this I want to do this because I'm walking With the saver and Jacob thought he was alone, but he wasn't You might think heaven is silent, but it isn't you might think this season isn't sacred, but it is

32:22And you know, I love I love ending my class sometimes with hashtags. So I come up with some hashtags hashtag heaven is moving Hashtag angels are active hashtag closer than you think Hashtag look up. There's a ladder hashtag already here lord Hashtag wander what excuse me hashtag walk don't wander Hashtag covenant connection Hashtag stay on the stairs Hashtag walking with him Hashtag relationship not rules Christ is the stairway heaven is active Covenant's connect us to him and our wilderness can become a Bethel Well, that's what I got to say this week. Thank you everybody for joining me on this week's episode We'll walk in with the saver be sure to check out my upcoming episode where I interview Christopher and his journey about being imprisoned

33:23For a crime he did not commit Seventeen years in his testimony of finding Christ is so powerful And walking with the saver relationship you guys are awesome. Please hit subscribe And share this podcast with your friend and most of all This week enjoy your walk with the saver have a great day everybody You are love my friend and you are awesome Bye-bye Your future is bright when you walk with Christ