Genesis 28 Day 1
Joy’s Notes:
Gen 28
Gen 28:1-9
“so Isaac called for Jacob, and blessed him.” ( He told him to go to his mothers brothers home (Laban) to find a wife)
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The blessing that didn’t fulfill:
• Jacob FINALLY received his dads blessing (with no mask)
• But still wandered in the rocky wilderness all alone, in fear, afterwards!!!
The one thing he thought would finally fill his orphan heart — DIDN’T.
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Gen 28:10-11
“Jacob left Beersheba (the well of oath/Abraham) and set out for Harran. 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.”
Beersheba to Harran= 400 Miles (Jacob’S uncles house in Harran)
• Jacob was a homebody, and didn’t stray from his house very much. He must’ve been scared, lonely, and shaken.
“ he stopped, because the sun headset.” (60 miles into his journey he stopped to rest for night)
What Jacob thought was just a natural occurrence, was actually a divine appointment!
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(RUTH STORY- Lisa Teurkest conference)
• he finds a ROCK for a pillow.
• a rock for a pillow represented poverty.
• The ROCK represented ROCK-BOTTOM
David said in psalm 40:17 “ but as for me, I am POOR
(Hebrew word: HUMBLE) & needy— may the Lord think of me, for you where my helper & my deliverer, you are my God do not delay!”
The stone represented:
A break-down.
A humbling.
A rock bottom.
👉what if that ROCK ON THE BOTTOM you’re laying on is the very thing God uses to reveal His glory to you?
Prov 18:12 “Humility precedes honor”
• Maybe it’s not satan trying to HARM you, but God trying to HUMBLE you to : HEAL & HONOR you!
• maybe it’s LESS about Satan against you & MORE about God being for you
🔥We pray for GROWTH — God sends RAIN.
🔥We pray to be an OAKTREE— God sends ACORNS.
(Break down leads to break through )
“ROCK BOTTOMS become a solid foundation to rebuild your life!”
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Gen 28.12-15
“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.
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.
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.
I am with you and
I will watch over you wherever you go, and
I will bring you back to this land and
I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
• God COMES TO JACOB in the dream!
God gives Jacob the TRUE BLESSING he’d been longing for his entire life!!!!😭 (“I am with you. I will watch over you, I will not leave you...”- see 28.13-15)
• He received it— WHEN he hit rock bottom
👉He didn’t have to dress up to be someone else.
👉He didn’t have to manipulate to be someone he wasn’t.
👉He didn’t have to work to earn love.
God found him at his worst— when he hit ROCK bottom
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just to make certain there was absolutely NOTHING Jacob could do to EARN Gods favor, blessing & love!
… God found Jacob (like a lost sheep)
👉Anchors only work when they hit ROCK bottom
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Gen 28:16
“Then Jacob AWOKE from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”
• Bethel was no lush pasture — it was an extremely rocky, barren, desolate place
⁃ Jacob was alone, scared, running from fear
⁃ Elijah was alone, scared, running from fear (1 kings 19)
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Both men didn’t know this wasn’t a DESOLATE land, but a DIVINE land.
• God isn’t just in the church’s, conferences, worship events:
• Matthew 6:6 “When you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your father in private. Then your father, who sees everything in secret, will reward you.
My home office was my “The Lord is in this place & didn’t even know it.”
Are you in a barren, rocky, desolate season?
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Perhaps God is in THIS place & you didn’t even know it.
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Gen 28:17 “He was AFRAID…
Hebrew meaning: amazed & fearful
• fear of God accompanies the presence of God
Psalm 51:17
“ my sacrifice, oh, God, is a broken spirit. A broken and CONTRITE (Hebrew: we-nid-keh) heart you will not reject.’
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CONTRITE: “to collapse!” & “to crush.”
⁃ Abram collapsed when God spoke to him. Gen 17:3
⁃ Joshua collapsed when he experienced the presence of the Lord.
⁃ Ezekiel collapsed when the glory of the Lord appeared to him.
⁃ Daniel collapsed on the ground when he encountered the glory of God
⁃ Peter, James, and John, all three of these men collapsed to the ground on mt of transfiguration.
⁃ Paul collapsed to the earth when he saw Christ on the road to Damascus.
⁃ John collapsed at the feet of Jesus at the beginning of his vision on the island of Patmos.
Psalm 34:9
“ those who fear God lack NOTHING!”
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Gen 28:17 cont… “
and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the GATE of heaven.”
• the “home of El-ohim.”
• John 10:9 “Yes, I am the GATE”Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.”
SUMMARY OF GEN 28.16-17 :
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Jacob: (gen 28:16-17)
1. Awoke spiritually
2. Given eyes to see
3. Reverent/ humble Heart(both amazed & scared)
4. Grave (rocky desert) turned into garden
5. Becomes House of God
6. Becomes Gate of Heaven
👉 AND none of this was Jacobs doing. All UNDESERVED!!!!
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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.”
• EARLY THE NEXT MORNING! (Discuss)
Jacob turned his STONE into his SANCTUARY
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Don Siwek story- lonely at his home.. “turn your home into your sanctuary!”
The ROCK he tried to find human rest on —
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Became the ROCK he found His true rest on
• Jacob TOOK the stone & MADE it an alter of thanksgiving.
1. set it up as a pillar
2. poured oil on top of it!
• OIL USED TO symbolize HOLINESS (which leads to joy)
OIL ON ROCK: (a foreshadow of Jesus’ death!!)
WHY THE OIL?
The oil Represents:
JESUS IS IN THIS PLACE!!!
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• Jesus had the weight of our sin crushing/pressing Him so that I could receive the THIRD-PRESSING OIL = for SOAP & LIGHT
• Jesus was crucified on a ROCK (the rock of Calvary) of GOLGOTHA
He takes our stony hearts & because of His pressing, His OIL makes my heart CLEAN so I can be the LIGHT of the world!
Ez 36:26
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh- a responsive & tender heart.”
Isaiah 61:3 “to receive an OIL OF JOY, for mourning. (The oil REPRESENTS the JOY!!!!)🙌
Psalm 45:7 “my God anoints me with the oil of joy!”
The joy of the Lord is my strength!
• God turned Jacobs BURDEN (rock) into a BLESSING (oil over rock)
• This was the 7th altar of gratitude in the book of Genesis.
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• the FIRST use of oil to anoint. (Because it was the 7th ??🤯)
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Gen 28:19
“He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.”
• Bethel =“the house of God.
• Luz = “separation”
• Jacob was previously separated from God because of his orphan heart— until God brought Jacob back into His house.
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Gen 28:20-22
“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 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God , 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.”
FROM ASHES TO BEAUTY (Gods house)
FROM MESS TO MESSAGE (Gods house)
FROM MISERY TO MINISTRY (Gods house)
⁃ your STONE, when anointed with the Holy Spirit (from the “crushing” of a contrite heart)— becomes GOD’s HOUSE!!!