Title: Meeting God
Contents
Where we meet God!
Genesis 28:12-22
ingress
If you exist, there are people who will believe in you once they appear in my eyes. Faith is an encounter with God. Faith is not a religion, but a personal experience. I've been to Catholic Mass. There were many religious ceremonies. There was no personal fellowship or encounter. Have you met God? If you can't meet God even after coming to church, where will you meet God?
God meets you on the wooden bridge of life
Humans are cunning. We do not seek God when it is convenient. Then, when we are in crisis, if we feel like we are going to die, we turn to God. Jacob did. Now, Jacob tricked his father to receive the blessing of the birthright instead of his brother, and he is fleeing from his parents' home to his maternal uncle's house in Paddan Aram. It was because his brother Esau did not leave Jacob alone and was about to chase after him to kill him. Laban, his maternal uncle, lived in a place called Paddan-aram in Haran, and he was on his way there. It is 600 km from Beersheba to Paddan Aram. Jacob is spending the night in a field about 100 kilometers from his hometown. However, there is an unexpected experience. God met Jacob through a dream. Look at Genesis 28:12!
He dreamed that *a ladder was standing on the ground, the top of which reached to the sky. And the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the LORD stood on it and said,
Jacob met God in a dream. Dreams are meant to be dreamed, not to be dreamed. God also reveals His will through the instrument of this dream. Not all dreams exist. However, some dreams are also a means by which God reveals His will and plans.
This is the dream story of the Shin Mi-kyung sisters who have been attending since last week. Sisters Mi-Kyung are doing Alpha Course, and two weeks ago, Sister Mi-Kyung confessed her sins and shed a lot of tears. I moved in my dream, but the house was so dirty that I said that I would not live in this house and I would leave. I asked my brother to buy me a soap bar, so my brother went out and Yeonjin came in and sprayed water with a hose. I think that God had shown the dream to Sister Mi-kyung to mean that their sins were completely forgiven.
What Jacob saw in his dream was a ladder. The angels of God were going up and down, and God was standing above them. And you said See 13-15!
I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham, the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you lie. Your descendants will become like the dust of the earth, and they will spread from east to west, north and south. Through you and your descendants, all peoples on this earth will be blessed. I will be with you and I will watch over you wherever you go. And I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you.”
Religion has revelation religion and action religion. Christianity is a revelation religion. God needs to publish Himself so we can believe it. God has revealed Himself through nature. However, instead of worshiping the living God in nature, people worshiped nature and made and served the image of an animal instead of God. God has given people a conscience so that they can understand and know God with their conscience. However, the more we sin, the more our conscience resembles us, and the more we sin, the less sensitive we are to sin. Finally, God revealed Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ. But not only did people not seek God, they crucified Christ. God's love was revealed on the cross.
Only when God appears to us can we meet God. God appeared to Jacob through a dream. And you promised unilaterally. Christianity is a religion of promise. God makes promises to mankind. The Bible is a book of God's promises. The Bible consists of the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament, written before Jesus, is the old promise, and the New Testament, written after Jesus' birth, is the new promise. Promises are possible in personal relationships.
What was God's promise to Jacob? First, he promised to give land to Jacob and his descendants. Second, he promised that his descendants would be blessed and that all peoples of the earth would be blessed through Jacob and his descendants. And in addition, God promised Jacob that he would be with him and protect him wherever he went, and that he would bring him to this land. He also promises not to leave until he has fulfilled his promise.
What an amazing promise. If you believe this promise, what are you worried about? What are you afraid of that God will bless you and your descendants, they will be channels of blessings, and will protect you wherever you go?
Seek God's Presence!
Look at Genesis 28:16,17.
Jacob woke up and said, “Truly, this is the place of the Lord, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “What a dreadful place this is! This is the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
Jacob experienced the presence of God. And I realized it. The fear Jacob felt was not fear, but a holy awe in the hearts of those who experienced the presence of the living God. Awe, this is a feeling that dominates the worshiping spirit. The essence of worship is to realize the presence of God. If you do not realize God's presence during worship, if there is no event of experiencing God's presence, you do not worship, but just come and go. They say that they went to church later and there was nothing. Everyone! God is present in us. There are places where the presence of God is strongly experienced, and there are places where it is not. If you meet God's us, you will experience the presence of the Holy Spirit. You feel it all over your body. As I listen to the Word, I feel a thrill, and it seems to me that he is speaking to me. Conscience is shaken, reason is awakened, emotions are twisted, and guilt is realized. This is what we realize when we strongly feel the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Jacob said, “Truly, this is the place of God, and I did not know it! How scary is this place? This is the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” confessed. When have you experienced God's presence?
So Jacob got up early the next morning, took the stone he had cut on his head, built a pillar, and anointed it with oil. And he called that place *Bethel. Bethel is an amalgamation of Bethel. ‘Beit’ means ‘house’ and ‘El’ means ‘God’. Therefore, it was called ‘House of God’. Everyone! Every time you enter this chapel, I hope you experience the presence of the living God, not just a formal worship service. Worship is a place to meet God.
Respond by making a decision!
Everyone! Do you know how people react when they meet God? It is making a promise to God. If you do this, I will do the same! This is what people who have met God look like. Look at Genesis 28:20-22!
Jacob made a vow and said, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey I am going, give me food and clothing, and allow me to return safely to my father’s house, then Jehovah will be my God, and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will become God’s house. will be And I will give to God a tenth of all that God has given me.”
God revealed God's will to Jacob through a dream, and Jacob made a promise to God through a vow. Jacob placed a condition on God. The condition was, “If you are with him, protect him on this journey, give him food and clothing, and return him safely to his father’s house.” Do we not do this in the face of some important test or major challenge? If you only allow me to overcome this difficulty, if I only allow you to pass, if you only solve this problem, in the case of Jacob, it is understandable enough because I am a weak human being. Then Jacob made three vows.
First, God will be my God. This confession means that you will put God first in your life. It is a decision to make God the most important person in his life.
Second, we will make this stone a place to worship God. As promised, Jacob returned later and built an altar there and worshiped God.
Third, I will tithe everything you give me. At this time, tithing was not yet established as a law. Some say that tithing is no longer valid because it is not the Age of Law. However, even before the Mosaic Law, they were moved by God's grace and love and voluntarily gave a tenth of what God had given them.
Everyone! Faith is a decision. Knowing how to be moved before God, how to make promises, how to make decisions, and how to make vows this is the attitude of a believer. Of course, there are people who make a vow and keep it. But I think people who have never made a vow are more problematic. A vow is the fruit of faith. A vow is also a sign of devotion. After meeting God, Jacob experienced a change in himself through this vow. Everyone! What promises would you make to God?