December 3rd, 2023 - "In Our Searching, God Shows Up"

Scripture Passage:  Genesis 28:10-22

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Advent
God Shows Up
Searching

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Our Story
Jacob the deceiver
Running, searching

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A long journey
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran.

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Nondescript and uneventful
 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set.

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Possible explanation for the dream
  Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.

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Not a ladder
  12 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.

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God shows up
13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord...

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Past - parents of promise
the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.

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Future - dusty descendants
 I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth,

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Present - presence
15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go

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You and everyone
All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.... I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

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Awoke ... Aware
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”

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Afraid ... Awesome
17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place!

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Monument
 Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel,

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Still Searching
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me ..., then the Lord will be my God

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And struggling
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

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A happy conclusion
 Gen 35:3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.”

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What is Jesus' role?
  John 1:51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

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Jacob was prophetic
 This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.

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God shows up in our searching,
meets us where we are,
and opens the way.