{"id":6931,"date":"2015-05-05T17:40:10","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T21:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=6931"},"modified":"2020-05-27T11:41:59","modified_gmt":"2020-05-27T15:41:59","slug":"stairway-to-heaven-5315","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=6931","title":{"rendered":"Stairway to Heaven (5\/3\/15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pastor Jim’s sermon on the account of “Jacob’s Ladder” as told in Genesis 28 led us to consider that the “Ladder” that Jacob saw in his dream was really a two-way escalator.\u00a0 God is with us!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Click the following Play button to start the recording, then scroll down to follow along (the following recording was from the 9:30 AM service).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The scripture was from Genesis 28:10-19.\u00a0 Open the “drop down” box to see the text.\u00a0 The version shown below is from the New Living Translation…<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t

Genesis 28<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
10 Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran.<\/p>\n

11 At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep.<\/p>\n

12 As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.<\/p>\n

13 At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants.<\/p>\n

14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions\u2014to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants.<\/p>\n

15 What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”<\/p>\n

16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”<\/p>\n

17 But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”<\/p>\n

18 The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it.<\/p>\n

19 He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although the name of the nearby village was Luz.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

In November 1971, the rock band Led Zeppelin released the song “Stairway to Heaven.”\u00a0 It probably wasn’t intended to give a Christian message, but its lyrics ring true with the Bible:<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t
There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold.<\/span><\/p>\n

And she’s buying a stairway to heaven.<\/span><\/p>\n

When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed.<\/span><\/p>\n

With a word she can get what she came for.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ooh, ooh, and she’s buying a stairway to heaven.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(Click Here<\/a><\/span> for more about this song)<\/em><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

The 1970s… things were a mess!\u00a0 Our soldiers were in Vietnam, and some buglers were in the Watergate hotel.\u00a0 We were unsure of where to go.\u00a0 We didn’t trust our leaders.\u00a0 We were trying to figure things out for ourselves (“to each his own”).\u00a0 We were trying to find heaven on our own terms, thinking that we could earn our way into God’s graces, not trusting that God gives His graces away!<\/p>\n

We tried to find that stairway to heaven by defining God in our own terms.\u00a0 But we couldn’t find\u00a0 it.<\/p>\n

In 1971 there was a search for spiritual truth much like there is today.\u00a0 Perhaps, this song has captivated countless millions of people of all ages throughout the world for 44 years because we human beings are- without exception- seeking a Stairway to heaven.<\/p>\n

\n

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Hebrews 11:6\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Jacob: A Man on the Run…<\/span><\/h3>\n

A few years after Led Zeppelin released “Stairway to Heaven,” Paul McCartney released “Band on the Run.”\u00a0 Thousands of years ago, Jacob was a man on the run.\u00a0 Much like us, he had tried to do things his own way, even stealing his brother’s birthright.\u00a0 And now he was on the run, fearing that his brother would kill him.\u00a0 Jacob listened to the culture, to the popular, to those who deceived him.\u00a0 Jacob lied and deceived others.<\/p>\n

He was trying to build his own stairway to heaven and happiness.\u00a0 But all the things he did didn’t get him the “stairway to heaven.”\u00a0 Instead it got him a rock for a pillow and put him on the run.\u00a0 He had to be angry,\u00a0 depressed; constantly covering up one\u00a0 lie with another.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jacob:\u00a0 Called by God’s Prevenient Grace<\/span><\/h3>\n

But out of the blue; even while sleeping on a rock for a pillow, God burst through and appears to Jacob.<\/p>\n

Notice that the Biblical description of this Ladder shows that it is not simply a way to get to heaven.\u00a0\u00a0 Verse 12 of our passage tells us that angels of God were “going up and down the stairway.”\u00a0 God isn’t just standing on the top of the stairway yelling to Jacob, “Ok,\u00a0 come on up!”\u00a0 This isn’t simply a porthole for us to get to heaven; it’s an active two-way escalator where God and humans interact with each other!<\/p>\n

Is there any doubt that God led\u00a0 Jacob to that time and place?\u00a0 Even though Jacob was messing things up, God comes down to tell him that He will keep His promises.\u00a0 Jacob was running, but God was always there.\u00a0 God remained in Jacob’s life, but he didn’t know it.<\/p>\n

\n

“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

God was here and I almost missed it!\u00a0 But God told me that He would stand by me and empower me so that His promises could be kept.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t
Have you ever been on the run or in an unsettling situation?\u00a0 Maybe you were having trouble with our faith; maybe you were going through a time when you thought to yourself, “I have gone too far, I have walked away from God for too long, surely God will\u00a0 not hear me\u00a0 or care for me.?<\/span><\/p>\n

Then suddenly- God made Himself known to you and you saw that, indeed, God was right there with you all along ready to forgive,\u00a0 to assist, and to love you! <\/span><\/p>\n

And then you think like Jacob, “Surely the Lord was in this place and I was not aware of it.”<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

Jesus- Emmanuel (God with us) has promised “I am with you.. I\u00a0 will\u00a0 not leave you…”\u00a0 and\u00a0 this is a promise we can\u00a0 all bank on!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Us: Trying to Build Our Own Stairway to Heaven?<\/span><\/h3>\n

In contemporary cultures, there seems\u00a0 to be a trend\u00a0 that all faith systems will eventually lead to the God of heaven.\u00a0 If\u00a0 you or I were asked\u00a0 by someone seeking God\u00a0 who believes that all religions are pretty much the same,\u00a0 would\u00a0 we be able to explain the major differences between Christianity and other faiths?\u00a0 Here are a couple of verses to consider…<\/p>\n

\n

1 Peter 3:15\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. <\/span><\/p>\n

Colossians 4:6<\/span><\/strong> \u00a0 \u00a0 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n