But before we get there, I want to give somewhat of an
opening. If we if you were in the book of Isaiah around the fifty fifth chapter, you’re going
to see some promises that were given to the children of Israel of the future.
The prophet focuses on God’s invitation to experience redemption. It is here in the book
of Isaiah where he is saying, listen up, God’s deliverance is about to be revealed. Now we
know that this deliverance has been revealed for us, but this is a synopsis of spiritual
history.
When in chapter fifty six, Isaiah makes it he makes it something very abundantly clear
that the invitation will be extended far beyond just the bounds of the chosen people of
Israel. So when Messiah comes. He’s saying that people from every nation on earth will
be welcome to taste the goodness of God.
And the goodness of God’s salvation. Even at that time, those who were considered
excluded. God said, I will bring these even these unto my holy mountain and give them
joy in my house of prayer.
He says they’re burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar for my
house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. That’s Isaiah fifty six and seven.
And so when we think about the house of God, I wanted to bring that to your thought
pattern as we as we look at a story that I found very interesting when thinking about, of
course, what we’re celebrating here in the West.
What we’re celebrating here is is Palm Sunday. And we know that this is, according to
what we’re worshiping in Western society, we understand that this is the time that we
celebrate and remember that when Jesus went rode into Jerusalem on the donkey and
and they said, oh, Hosanna, Hosanna. Of course, you know, in a couple of days, we’ve
been going to they say crucify, crucify.
But I don’t want to preach that same message that we’ve heard over and over and over
again. But what I want to talk about is the connection between heaven and earth that
allows us to have the communication with God. And where we find the first mention of
this is with Jacob.
The first mention we find of this connection being established in such a way, or even the
foreshadowing of what was to come was with Jacob. And it’s such a beautiful connection,
because as we go back, we also can be propelled forward to understand how that that
connection is then made here also and what is to come. So if you would, if you have your
Bibles, which I pray you all do, and I’m pretty sure you do go to Genesis chapter 28.
Look at verses 10. We’re going to read 10 through 11. So it’s going to be a little reading
today, a little bit of reading, a little bit of reading, a lot of reading, a little bit of reading,
or a lot of listening, whichever one you want to do, read or listen.
Because there’s a blessing in the reading of the word. And there’s also a blessing of
those who hear the word. The bigger blessing is those who read and or hear, but do.
That’s where the big blessing comes in when you do. So it is blessed for those who read
it, is blessed for those who hear it. But I think it’s like a double blessing for those who do
it.
Genesis chapter 28 starting at verse 10. And I am in the New King James. It says, Now
Jacob went out from Beersheba and went towards Haran.
So he came to a certain place. Sounds familiar from the song, right? He came to a
certain place and stayed there all night because the sun had set.
And he took one of the stones that of that place and put it at his head. And he laid down
in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed.
And behold, a ladder was set up on the earth and his top reached to heaven. And there
the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood
above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac.
The land on which you lie, I will give to you and your descendants. Also, your
descendants shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall spread abroad to the west and to
the east, to the north and to the south.
And in you and your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with
you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. For I will not
leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.
Then Jacob, the Bible says, awoke from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this
place. And I did not know it. And he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place.
This is none other than the house of God. And this is the gate of heaven. Then Jacob
arose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put in his head and set it up
as a pillar and pour oil on top of it.
And he called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of that city had been Luz
previously. Then Jacob made a vow saying, if God will be with me and keep me in this
way that I am going and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on so that I come back
to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone set as a
pillar shall be God’s house.
And of all that you give me, I will surely give attendance to you. I thank God for ears that
were willing to hear his word. It is, it is very interesting that as we think about what was
going on with Jacob, the reason he was at that place is because he had just done
something pretty bad.
He had stolen birthright, betrayed brother. He had stolen birthright. He had betrayed
brother.
And he had ran away to be in a place. When Messiah comes, this second time, when he
came the first time, people all over were able to taste the goodness of God’s salvation.
Even to this day, even those who feel that they are excluded are able to taste the
goodness.
As he says, I’m going to bring this to these people to my holy mountain and give them
joy. We do all know that the temple was called the house of God. We know that now we
are considered the temple.
But if we go back to Ezra, because God in Ezra 5 2, he explains that the temple was his
dwelling place. It was his place in which he resided. It was the place where his people
would meet him in worship.
This is why prayer is so important. You know, prayer is so important because us
understanding that we are the temple, us understanding that we are the place where
God is supposed to reside. It is an important part of our worship, therefore to pray.
It closely resembles, therefore, the temple of old, because it resembles what was
associated with the temple back in the day of Ezra. In Isaiah 56, God looks forward to the
day in which we all get to dwell amongst him, even those who were at that time
excluded. He knew that some were being excluded, but he looks forward to the blessing
of those all being able to be included in the very salvation that he had promised all the
way back to Jacob.
Jacob’s running to Bethel and receiving salvation upon that rock and understanding it
through the dream is also similarly, I’m juxtaposing this, similar to us running away from
God and finding ourselves in that place. The only place we have is to lay our head upon a
rock. We have nothing but to lay our head upon the rock, upon the foundations of the
principles that the apostles got from the Messiah and then spread to us.
Laying our head upon the rock, then we know we were running afraid, but we get to the
place. We lay our head upon the rock, which technically should be very uncomfortable,
which if you think about a rock is very uncomfortable. Usually it’s jagged.
Sometimes you can find a nice smooth stone, but they’re generally not big enough to lay
your head upon. The big ones are rough, the big ones are not smooth, but it’s very
interesting that he laid his head upon this rock and was able to go to sleep. Sound
enough sleep that God was able to come to him in a dream, meaning his mind was not
wrestling with the fact that his brother’s trying to kill him.
God has chosen a dwelling place for each and one of us that he may be able to meet us,
his people, and in meeting us, this is where prayer becomes so important. Again, it’s
worship because it is closely associated. So the father is ready in Isaiah 56.
He is ready in Genesis 28. He keeps hinting to us all throughout to the coming of Messiah
that my salvation is close. My salvation is close at hand.
My salvation will soon be revealed. Those who are excluded are going to be included.
Those who are unusable are going to be usable.
Those who are dirty, ratchet, are going to be cleaned. He had to exclude for a time to set
in order the things that needed to happen, but he knew that those who were going to be
excluded were going to have a blessed day. That they too will be able to enter into his
temple when it was established, when it had gone through the growing pains.
There would be a house that was open for communication with the head of the house,
and it would be for all people and all nations and all backgrounds, irregardless of where
it started. So here in Mark 11 and 17, when Jesus drove the buyers out and the sellers
out, He repeated the words of the book of Isaiah. My house shall be a house of prayer for
all nations.
He said, but you made it a house and a den of robbers and thieves. It is a place where
the Lord is supposed to reside, but you’ve made it a den. Jesus is re-establishing the
house.
See, everyone wasn’t able to come in yet because the house was not in order, but God
kept telling us, we go back to look for the coming of Jesus. Soon, oh very soon, my
salvation will be for everyone. Soon, oh so very soon, even the foreigners will come and
worship me in this place, but the money’s change is going to have to leave.
So when we think about it, after Christ resurrected and ascended into heaven, the age of
church and the age of believers now called it the house of God. In Hebrews 3 and 6, also
in 1 Corinthians 3 and 9, we see that Christ is faithful. He is faithful as son of God.
A son over God’s house is his house. When you’re a son of a house, you get to call that
house your own, but another man cannot come in and call that house his, because if the
father’s not there, the son gonna fight him. This ain’t your house, this is my house, my
father’s house.
This is why we, why the Lord is so particular about you and I. If we are the temple of the
most high God, then the ruler of the house is the ruler of the house. If you are a temple
of God, then the head of your house should be the father.
The overseer of that house should be Christ, because Christ is the ruler over God’s
house. He’s the faithful one. And if we hold firmly to our confidence in the hope, which is
in Christ, which is the hope of glory, then he presides over us.
And we become not the stone that Jacob laid his head upon, but we become living stones
built into a principle of a spiritual house. That’s where the Bible comes and says we are a
holy priesthood. This is how it comes together.
But you can go all the way back again to Genesis to see the preparation periods. I call it
the preparation, I call it Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, first, second Kings.
Although I call them preparation periods.
This was all preparing the way, truth, and the life. See, God no longer lives in tents or
buildings constructed by human hands. But he lives, however, in the lives of those who
receive the overseer of his house.
We, you and I, should be God’s houses of prayer. So when he says, I’m going to make my
house a house of prayer for all nations, he’s telling, I want you to be my house. I want to
come and dwell there with you, that you may be a stone of life, living, breathing,
speaking.
God no longer wants the temple of brick and mortar, he wants the temple of you. So we
are God’s house of prayer. But when we look at it, we think about old Jacob, it’s not so
much that he feared his brother, because that’s why he was running, but he trusted God.
Now you and I have found ourselves in trouble. You and I have founded the obligation to
flee. But as he laid upon that place, God made him to dwell in safety.
This is what it means to be in the house of God, because where he fleed to, he did not
know he was going. That’s why the Bible says he came to a certain place. The place that
he went to already had a name.
But the Bible did not allude to all did not allude here in Genesis to the place that he had
went to until after the place was renamed, because the name of the place did not fit
what the place was. It was loose, but it should have been Bethel, because the place was
the house of God, the dwelling place of the Lord in which he stood. But those who came
before did not know.
So the author felt no need to recognize it before he recognized what the place really
was. And so here Jacob is recorded as going to this place, but he is fleeing, but trusting,
in trouble, but have the obligation. Unbeknownst to him, he went to a place, a certain
place, a protected place, a safe place, where even upon the rough and rugged stone, he
could lay his head down and get good sleep.
Some of you need sleep like that. I know some days I need sleep like that, where I can
lay my head on a jagged stone that technically should be piercing my skin and make me
stay awake and give me headaches, but I sleep like a baby because I’m in the safety net
of the Father. And so he lies down in the open air with his head upon a stone.
A true believer would be willing to take up Jacob’s stone and lay upon it, because if you
understood about taking up that stone and laying upon it, you would understand that
you are laying in the presence of the Lord, that what seemingly to human standards is
uncomfortable will be comfortable. His stone was like a pillow that we might, that a true
believer might have such a dream. God’s time of visitation to his people.
What a comforting dream it is. In the most desolate of places, you can find comfort.
Jacob saw what some say was not a ladder, but the Bible says a ladder.
I believe Jacob saw the representation of what Jesus was going to be on earth. He saw
the representation of his own fleshly descendant, who would bring forth the full physical
connection between earth and heaven. But he did not understand it.
What I believe is that he saw the scars on the back of his descendant. And because of
those scars, messages from angels will be able to come forth back and forth from
heaven to earth. That people will be able to have a conversation with the Father because
of the scars.
Because the only way to get to the Father is through Christ. And so Christ is the ladder.
He is way in which to reach the unreachable at the time.
But see, God was not reachable by everyone at that point. In Isaiah 56, not even the
average Israelite could reach, or the average Jew could reach God. There was only one
person who could reach God, and he was the high priest.
And he could only do it once a year on the Day of Atonement. We have such a high
priest, we have such a high priest, that we don’t have to wait to the Day of Atonement.
We can go to our high priest at any time.
And because he was without blemish, he was without spot, he was without stain, he has
liberty to go to the Father without request. So when we find ourselves in trouble and we
have the obligation to flee, we can flee to the dwelling place, the safety net of the house
of God. Wait, where’s that?
On your knees in prayer. Because you know upon the back of the ladder, which is Christ
Jesus, there lay scars which connect heaven with earth. I believe this is what Jacob was
seeing.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m reaching, but I see a connection. He saw angels ascending and
descending, because this represents the providence of God, the constant intercourse
between heaven and earth that was going on. This let Jacob know that he had both a
good guide and a good guard.
Hold on, this sounds like Jesus to me. This sounds like the giving of the Holy Spirit to me.
God reminded, God showed Jacob something that was coming.
He reminded us with Isaiah, he reminded us with Jeremiah, he reminded us with Amos,
he reminded us with Micah, he reminded us with Malachi, he reminded us in 1st and 2nd
Kings, he reminded us in 1st and 2nd Chronicles, he reminded us all through the Bible, I
have a day of salvation coming for you. I’m preparing something for you. And he reminds
us even more now that he has gone, the person of salvation, the point of salvation has
gone now to another place that he may prepare a place that you and I, those who truly
believe in him will dwell in, not relative safety, but complete safety.
So this, Jacob’s ladder represents the providence of God, a constant intercourse, a
constant linking up between heaven and earth so that you and I, Jacob can know, you
and I and Jacob can know that there is a good guide and a good guard. Second, this is a
meditation of Christ. Again, the ladder, the ladder, the ladder.
One foot on earth being his human nature and the top of it being his divine nature. So
the top of Christ’s head is his divine nature and his foot is his human nature here on
earth. You can look at it like that.
Pastor, you’re stretching. Well, isn’t Christ the way? Don’t all God’s favor come to us by
Christ?
And all of our services go to him by Christ? In John chapter 1 and 51, there is something
that is going on in this verse. There’s something that’s happening here in John 1 and 51,
and I’m going to explain the story a little bit.
I’m only going to put one verse up there, but he says to him, most assuredly, I say to
you, hereafter you shall see open heaven. What is Jesus talking about? See, they had not
had hope in heaven.
Elijah saw heaven open, but the other people didn’t. Elisha saw heaven open. First John,
I’m sorry, John 1 and 51.
And other people didn’t. The prophets whom were called by his name, like Jeremiah saw
it, but he had to speak to them what he saw. See, Jesus is telling this individual here.
It’s such a beautiful story. He is telling Nathanael. If you look in the first chapter of John,
he’s telling Nathanael.
Because in Nathanael, you have to understand something about Nathanael. Nathanael is
a devout man. He’s a faithful guy.
He doesn’t go wrong by man’s standards. He’s an upright guy. He was talking to Philip,
and he heard about this Jesus.
He’s a good man. But he knows the reputation of Nazareth. So, a couple of verses
earlier, Philip is trying to say, come on, man, come with me, basically.
And this Nathanael dude is like, well, man, can anything good come out of Nazareth?
Can anything good come out of Waynesville? Can anything good come out of wherever
you’re from?
So, when Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, he says, behold, an Israelite indeed, in
whom is no deceit. Jesus calls him out. I love Jesus.
He said, he said, how you know me? Hey, Lord, how you know me? He said, before Philip
called you when you under the fig tree, I saw you.
Here’s a little stark warning. Before you see Jesus, Jesus sees you. Think about the story
of the prodigal son.
That boy didn’t see him before his daddy saw him. Where can you go to hide from his
presence? King David says, where can I go?
Where can I go? Jesus just tells him, man, I saw you. I saw what you was doing.
I saw what you was thinking. You were righteous, man. You were a true Israelite.
There ain’t no deceit found in you. See, now, at this point, when you get caught in your
mess, he’s like, oh, rabbi, teacher, teacher, you truly are the son of God. You are the king
of Israel.
Jesus said, because I said it to you and I saw you under the fig tree, you believe you’ll
see greater things than these. And that’s where we get to verse 51. Most assuredly, I say
to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open.
The angels of God, sound familiar? Ascending and descending. Where?
Upon the son of man. So my description of the scars being like the ladder that Jacob saw
is not so far off. The depiction and the imagery that I’m given of the scars from his feet
to his head, his feet being his human nature, his head being his divine nature, stretching
from earth to heaven is not far off.
We can find it right here. Upon the son of man, angels will be descending and ascending.
And in the book of Genesis, chapter 28, he’s seeing a dream, Jacob.
He lays his head upon the rock. He sees in the peacefulness of his dream, in the
presence of the Lord, in the house of God, angels ascending and descending in this way.
Why?
Because this is to draw sinners to the throne of grace with acceptance. All this imagery is
to grow sinners close with acceptance. By faith, we can perceive this way.
And in prayer, we can approach in boldness to answer. In answer to prayer, we receive
needful blessings. In answer to prayer, we receive the providence and His grace.
And this why we can say this must be the house of God, because we have no way of
getting to heaven except for by Christ. And so that ladder is so prevalent for us when we
see the very nature of God upon our lives. When the soul by faith can see these things,
every place, irregardless of its ragged edges, seems pleasant.
Every prospect becomes joyful. We understand some very lasting promises and effects
of having the providence of God upon our lives. You can look at what Jacob came to
know, what Jacob came to know.
He came to know that the Lord would never leave him until his last promise was
accomplished. We have a promise of a place which is being prepared for those who
believe that everlasting happiness will be established for us. It’s being built.
It started upon the back of the Savior and He went away. It’s being built just as
comfortably as God spoke to Jacob when He showed him the ladder. It’s just as
comfortably as God is speaking to you and I right now when He shows us the head of our
life where we should receive glad tidings from heaven through the person of Christ Jesus.
The Messiah therefore should have came from Jacob, him being the great blessing of all
the world, even if the world chooses him not. All that are blessed are blessed because of
him, by him, and there is no family that cannot be blessed by him. There is no exclusion.
Any faith that excludes is not of God. He set it up so that everyone can be included who
chooses to walk through that door. Jacob had to fear danger from his brother, but if we
keep on reading, we know that God keeps his promises.
So, along the journey before him, God gave him a place, an unknown country, which was
named, that he could lay his head on and lay his claim to. Behold, I’m with you, Lord
says. My promises I will bring to your remembrance.
I will bring even my promises to your children’s remembrance, until their children’s
remembrance, until it has been established. This is constantly repeated over and over
throughout the Bible, because the promises that Jacob got was not his promises to him
alone, but they were spoke to his forefather. These were things.
Abraham was Jacob’s grandfather. He was his, wait, he was his great-grandfather. That’s
right.
Thank you. So, these were the things that were spoken to his great-grandfather and
reminded constantly down through the generations, David was reminded, until the
person of Christ came, until the Messiah came, the anointed one came. Oh, wow.
It was an invitation to salvation. That soon, also very soon, salvation is going to open up
and you can enter into. And it’s not just for a select few.
It’s for everyone, every nation. Everyone can have a personal relationship with God the
Father and the creator of the world. And that is through the person, the Messiah, Christ
Jesus.
And so, therefore, it tells us to pray. Talk to me, because it’s significant. We see Jacob
when he realizes where he is.
What does he start doing? He starts talking to God. God made himself known to him.
Behold, he says, I’m the Lord God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac. On this
land which you lie, I will give to you, you and your descendants. He said, whoa.
I didn’t know where I was. You ever been to a place and didn’t realize the significance of
it? Funny story, I was in the military.
I was in the head, you know, the not building one, because the headquarters is never
building one. Building one is usually a brick somewhere on a military base. It doesn’t
make any sense.
They’re numbering structure. Building one could literally be a stone in the middle of a
field. It’s the dumbest numbering system you can ever find.
But anyway, I digress. I was in the post headquarters building one day, and I’m, I know
I’m in the headquarters building, but I’m trying to go to a certain place in that building.
And I walked through a certain set of doors that apparently I wasn’t supposed to walk
through.
And I didn’t know the significance of the place that I had walked through until someone
reminded me of where I was. Well, they didn’t remind me. They kind of forcefully told me
where I was, and then I realized, whoa, this ain’t where I’m supposed to be.
But you ever walked into a place, and I’m saying this, and it was where you were
supposed to be, and you thought you weren’t supposed to be there. Same building,
different time. I walk into a place thinking it ain’t the right place.
I’m going to get directions to get to the place that I have authorization to be. And they’re
like, not only are you in the right place, but you early. Oh, oh yeah, and you got the
clearance this time.
Jacob had no idea where he was going, but he walked into the right place at the right
time, had the clearance, was given access. And the Lord tells and says to you and me, I
want you all to have that access, an invitation that is opened up, not for just a limited
amount of people anymore, not for just his prophets, not for just his evangelists, his
preachers and teachers, his apostles, not just them, for you and I, not for Jew, not just for
Jews, not just for Gentiles, not just for Hebrew Israelites, not just for white, not just for
black, not just for pink, not just for purple, not just for blue. If there are Smurfs on earth,
two people laughed, three people laughed. Mama looked at me like, boy, you better
stop.
But for everyone, there is no creed, color, nationality that does not have a holy invitation
to salvation through the person of Christ Jesus. Any faith, anything, any doctrine that
tells you so is a lie. Yes, he wants you to come.
Don’t worry about what you look like. He gonna change that. The Bible, don’t worry
about it.
Just come. Come as you are. Bible don’t say come as you are.
It does, but not in the context that I’m talking. But Jesus wants you. Don’t care about
none of that.
We can go back to Isaiah 56 and find out that God was preparing a time in which even
the eunuchs, mutilated people, were going to be able to come into the house of the Lord
and worship in this house of prayer. Don’t let nobody tell you you’re not welcome. You
may not be welcome in that brick and mortar building, in that tent, but you’re welcome
in the house of God, because he wants you to communicate with him.
It’s an activity of worship and fellowship with him. There is no greater fellowship than
fellowship with the Father in heaven, because prayer is worship, and worship is prayer.
God’s house is a house of prayer.
You ain’t praying a lot, your house is in ruins, because this is how we approach the
presence of the Lord, through a one-on-one speaking relationship. You get to say, I got a
one-on-one speaking relationship with the Father through Christ Jesus, because I can’t
get to him unless I go up the ladder. I can’t get messages to him unless it comes down
the ladder, and they got to come through Christ Jesus.
So, I have one-on-one direct conversation with God the Father through Christ Jesus, and
now because I can approach him, and I have this one-on-one conversation, I can
approach his throne of grace with boldness and confidence that whatever I say, he
gonna hear and receive me. It don’t matter, it don’t mean that he gonna do it, but he’s
gonna help me in my time of need. Look, we take that whatever you ask the Lord, and
we leave out a section according to his will.
You just can’t take anything to the Lord. I won’t. I’m gonna use my brother and sister,
because they won’t kill me.
You know what? I don’t want her no more, Lord. I don’t want this woman.
I won’t marry. Wait, no, that is not the will of God. That’s wrong.
God is not gonna honor that. So, y’all understand the point I’m making, right? So, I can
say that because my brother, he won’t kill me because he know I’m not doing, that ain’t
what I’m saying.
You have to make sure on YouTube there’s no 15-second clips or anything. Children. So,
when we have the confidence to go to the throne of grace, right?
We have the confidence because not only do we know him, but we have conversation
with him, and because we have conversation with him, we understand him, and because
we understand him, we know what he will allow and what he will not allow. That’s what
happens when you have a relationship. I know, I can make an example or an idiot of
myself with my brother, and he’s gonna know, this dude ain’t talking for real.
He’s making a point. I can’t do that with other people because I don’t have a relationship
with them. I do not communicate with them.
There is not a one-on-one conversation that goes on. When you have a one-on-one
conversation, and you get to know someone, you get to know who they are and what
they’re about, and with God, you get to know, that’s called his will. I get to know who he
is and what he’s about.
There’s a lot of people running around talking about Yah, Yahweh, then they don’t know
who Yah, Yahweh is because they don’t have a conversation with him. They’re trying to
get to him without going up the ladder. You can’t get to him without going up the ladder.
I don’t know who you’re talking to. Some people just need to go ahead and carve out
some little figure on some wood and dip it in gold and call that their God, because what
they are worshiping is not the Father in heaven, because they’re not going up the right
way. By whatever name you give it, it is not Halle Hovay, it’s not Jehovah Jireh, it’s not
Jehovah Nishi, it’s not Elohim, it’s not El Shaddai, it’s not none of those names, because
you can’t get to him in no other way except for by Christ, but he has extended this
invitation to everyone, Jew, Gentile, Black, White, Smurf, come to me all you who are
weary and burdened.
Jesus is echoing God’s call in Isaiah 55 and 1, come all who are thirsty. Jesus says in
Matthew 11 and 28, come to me all who are weary and burdened. I’m going to take you
to the one who has called you already, because you were thirsty.
Come to the one who is able and willing to take you to the one who created you. You, my
ancient temple, the one that was in Jerusalem, is gone, but now you, the temple of God,
can approach him in prayer through Christ Jesus, in reverence, in awe of his holy
commands. You’re able to do it, and it becomes accessible because of the sacrifice of his
son.
Therefore, this Christ that we know is able to completely take those who are with him to
God, because through him we know that there is intercession for us all, and so pray
earnestly to keep that connection with God’s presence, that you may see that ladder in
your own life so that whenever you worship God, you recognize his presence, and you
see that ladder in your life, whether you are in a building, a tent, small group, alone in
your prayer closet, driving in your car, sitting on your toilet, you’re observing the things
of God, being in his house, all who have accepted Christ’s invitation to enter into the
relationship with him are people of prayer, are people of his house, and since prayer and
fellowship is so important to the operations of the worship of the house, God has placed
prayer and worship to the things that delight him. You want to please God, talk to him.
When Jesus came to earth and sacrificed his life on the cross, he opened that way. That’s
why he is that ladder. The salvation for every nation, all peoples who accept him.
Consequently, you are no longer strangers. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners.
Miraculously, through grace, mercy, and love, you’ll become citizens with God, members
of his household, built on the firm foundations of the apostles and the prophets, as Christ
Jesus himself being the cornerstone, and the whole time being joined together as joint
heirs with Christ, that you’re able to rise and become the very holy temple that he has
designed you to be, from the beginning of the foundations of the world, what God truly
intended for you and I to be, his holy temple.
He is creating a place and a space that when it is finished, those who believe and
entered into the salvation of God through Christ Jesus will stand in that perfect harmony
and peace of being that holy temple. And in that way, you too are being built. The place
he’s preparing is you.
The place he’s preparing for you is you. He’s preparing you to be that temple, to be that
place in which he can dwell forever. You and I are being built together as a dwelling
place where God’s spirit will live.
You are part of the family. So what if you were dirty? So what if you are a little dirty?
He is preparing. No house is built and it’s clean at first. Go and look at construction.
I don’t know, God telling me to shut up or somebody doesn’t mess with the thing. Shine
my light, there you go, that all may see. I think I, oh, I pressed the button on the wrong
button on the, oh, yeah.
So somehow I managed to get proclaimed to sync up with these lights and I have no idea
how I did that. I found some new features out last night or this morning. You know what
happens when I find some new stuff.
I start playing with it 20 minutes before, yeah, the video chat. 20 or 30, maybe two hours
before service start, then stuff starts acting crazy. You and I are part of the family of
God.
Not only are you his household, but you are his house of prayer.
[Speaker 3]
This is, when I say this, I’m talking about you. This is the house of God.
[Speaker 1]
Jesus is the gate to heaven. So when you go through Holy Week, as we do in the West,
and when we get into April and we go into Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
won’t you remember who he is, who he is, what he’s done, what he’s doing, and what
you have great expectation that he constantly reminds you of. If God, if history serves as
an example, if history serves as an example, God gives plenty of confirmations and
warnings and things before it comes.
Several, several hundred years before Christ came, he told Abram, he told Isaac, he told
Jacob, he told David, he told Samuel, he told David, he told Elisha, he told Elisha, he told
Micah, he told Amos. I’m missing a whole bunch of them in there. He told them three
Hebrew boys that he was on the way.
Then he who was on the way told Matthew, told Mark, told Luke, told John, told
Bartholomew, told Paul, through Paul, told Titus, through John, told the elect lady,
through John tells us that I’m on the way, I’m coming back, receive me. And now we get
to tell others that it is true. He is on the way.
He’s preparing you and I in the place. Stay in prayer and stay his house.
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