Title At Bethel (Genesis 28:10-22)
Content Christianity views the history of mankind as 6,000 years. From 6,000 years ago to today, there is a question that remains unanswered in people's minds. It is the true existence of God. People are constantly curious about who he is if there is a 'Is there a God?'
In theology, the efforts of these people are called rationalistic theistic proofs.
It means an attempt to prove the existence of God through human rational thinking. There are four rational theistic proofs: first, bodyistic theistic proof, second cosmological proof, third teleological theistic proof, and fourth moral proof.
Among them, if we look at bodyistic theism, it says that whoever believes in Jesus or not, has the concept of God in his heart. In the process of being born and growing up, everyone is thinking about who and where the person called God is in their hearts. In this way, trying to find God by tracing the notion of God in people's hearts is a body-based proof of souls. Famous theologians such as Anselm and Descartes belong to this category.
Theologians such as John Locke, Thomas Aquinas, and Aristotle, who insist on cosmological theistic proofs, cosmological arguments are arguments based on the law of causality.
If you study the ancestors of a certain being, the first ancestors of mankind will appear, and you testify to God's creation by claiming that the first ancestors of mankind were created by God.
When we look at teleological theistic proofs, it explains that there is order and definite harmony in all three things in the universe. The order and harmony of the great natural world of the universe is not a coincidence, but there is someone who asserts it and thinks that He is God. Plato said so, and so was Kier Kegaard.
There is a final moral theism, which asserts that there is a conscience within man, which is God-given. Immanuel Kant argued that when we see that there is a conscience in the human heart, there must also be a God who made the conscience.
Atheism and theism =
The research efforts of the philosophers discussed above continue to this day along with history. However, the important thing is that the existence of God cannot be discovered by human methods. Those who seek to find God in a human way face three difficulties. The first is the idea that there is no God. Second, I think that God exists, but I cannot meet him. Third, doubts about God do not disappear. After all, the existence of God cannot be known through the laws created by man.
Are you sure you know and feel God's will, or do you have the same frustrating heart as if God exists or not?
Ladies and gentlemen, what we must pay attention to today is that if we do not feel that God exists and that God is with us, we cannot lead a proper life of faith.
There are countless religions today, and the reason why they create their own gods is because people are trying to find God somewhere. There is. In the end, those who did not discover God fall into atheism and live eating and drinking sin in the world.
An academic conference was held at Oxford University in England, attended by many theologians and clergy. Among the many theologians who attended, the atheist Francis Errols, a philosopher, published his thesis from an atheistic standpoint. He said, "In today's world of morals and ethics, humans can live without God." This meant that if we lived in the world based on ethics and morals, we could live without relying on God.
However, at the end of his dissertation he added the following remarks: “I cannot compete with your faith, for we have no hope.” In the above words of Francis Aerols, we can see the fiction of atheism.
Countless times the Bible emphasizes the existence of God. Psalm 14:1-3 says, "The foolish man says in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt and their deeds are abominable, and there is no one who does good. He wanted to see if there were any; they all turned aside, and together they became defiled, and there is no one who does good, not even one.” Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
I go to church, but is there really a God who accepts my worship? Am I really worshiping before God? Many people who think that it would be good to see a God if there is a real God can meet an opportunity to be convinced that God exists at this time. I hope
Lessons from Jacob =
The words of today's text show the process by which people who lived without knowing the existence of God come to know the existence of God.
Jacob is hated by his older brother Esau and runs away at night because of the sin of stealing his brother's birthright for a bowl of red bean soup and stealing his blind father's blessing. I ran away without a hitch with the cheap money my mother gave me, a bottle of oil, and some bread, and I was exhausted and slept miserable in the Russ field. Jacob, who was sleeping with a stone as his pillow, saw in a dream a vision of angels ascending and descending a ladder and hearing the voice of God. “Jacob, I am the God of your father Abraham, and the God of your father Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Wherever I go, I am with you, and wherever I go I will bring you back to this land, and I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” He woke up in surprise at Jacob, who had dreamed that enchanting, fearful, and brilliant dream. Then, in a deserted field, he says, "Surely the LORD is here, and I did not know." And Jacob anointed the stone he slept on and made a vow to God.
The above words show us the amazing religious experience of Jacob's feeling of God's existence even though he did not know it. Is there no power in faith? It's because we don't know that God is right there with us. The power of faith depends on whether you know or not know the existence of God. I pray that this wonderful event of Jacob will also happen to you.
Looking at Jacob, his life of faith was poor when he did not know God. I was born into a family of faith and received a good religious education, but I sinned a lot when I did not know that God exists. He committed the sin of greed by taking his brother Esau's birthright for a bowl of red bean soup, while wearing his brother's clothes and using the delicacies that his mother made to deceive and lie to his blind father. that made me choose .
Who Sins Even Today Whoever thinks that God is watching me now cannot sin. But if we think that there is no God, we fall into the sin of greed like Jacob. you will lie you will run away. is to sin.
Then, while Jacob slept in the field of Ruth, he saw, felt, experienced, and convinced the existence of God in a dream, and then a wonderful change took place in his life.
Verse 17 says, “Then he was afraid and said, ‘Awesome, this place is nothing else, but this is the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. It was the fear of God.
Those who believe in the existence of God have different words. You will speak God-centered words. Also, your life itself will change. In verse 18, Jacob set the stone he had cut and slept on and poured oil on it. Although this oil was a must for travelers, it was poured all over the stones. It is the image of Jacob who worshiped and devoted himself to God. Those who have a passionate heart for God will devote their time, material, and everything.
Also, those who feel the presence of God will pray. In verses 20-22, we find Jacob's vow prayer. "If God will be with me and will keep me on this road I am going, and give me food to eat and clothes to wear, so that I can return to my father's house in peace, then the LORD will And this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God's house, and of all that you have given me, I will surely give to God a tenth." Those who feel that God is with them, communicate with God through deep prayer. is.
Everyone, I pray in the name of the Lord that you all become people who feel the existence of God. There are two ways to feel the existence of God: the method of seeking for man to seek God first, and the method of revelation through which God finds man. In the text, God came to Jacob, who was in a desperate environment, through a dream. Therefore, Jacob had a dream that he had received a revelation from God. Today, it means the same as realizing the word of God.
Then, who can discover the true essence of God? Those who see and hear the Word. In verse 12 of the text, “I saw in a dream” and “I saw again”. “And I saw” three times. Everyone, read the Bible, look again, and look again. If you read the Bible and read it again and again, you will deeply experience the incredible work of blood that Jesus Christ died for and rose again for you.
A person who truly receives the Word has heat, repentance, and a strong spiritual feeling. Those who listen to, read, and fellowship with God's Word believe that amazing works will happen in which they can feel and experience the work of the existence of God in their hearts.