If you're a man and you're looking for a woman unleashed, come on by. You might find one. You might find one. Is that okay to say that, Angel?

That's okay.

Yeah, it's like asking for permission after you...

November the 15th, we have our children's bonfire. That evening, is that a Sunday as well? Friday, I'm so sorry.

Friday is 6 p.m. There's going to be hot dogs and all that good stuff. Bring supplies for s'mores.

All right, so that's November 15th. And the bonfire, we have five and a half acres out back, in case you guys didn't know.

There's a big fire pit out there, really beautiful. And Taylor will have it set up great for your kids out there.

And you'll get some more details in the near future, but it's Sunday, December the 15th, that evening at 530,

we're going to have a church-wide Christmas party. Just so you know, keep that in mind.

And we'll tell you what to bring in lieu of gifts and all that other good stuff. We're not doing that.

We're doing something different. You'll hear some more about that in the comments.

And real quick, before we dismiss the children, Caitlin, come on up here.

This one I'm going to use, I think this is Rob's mic here, Matthew. Try to turn it back on.

And I just want to give you guys a quick word of encouragement. I've asked Caitlin just two minutes. That's all you got, two minutes.

Yeah. We had some new families that joined us last Wednesday for our Wednesday night service.

It was good to see some new families come. Yeah. And so, we get our participants the old-fashioned way.

We guilt you into coming. And so, we figure if we guilt you to come once, you'll love it and come again. Amen?

Yeah. So, no, Wednesday's a powerful time. And we just had, this month, just a few people sharing a few things about Wednesdays.

Caitlin, go ahead.

Hey, good morning, everyone. First of all, I wanted to go ahead and apologize. My eyes are a wreck right now because I had the, like, beautiful privilege of being Peyton's teacher last year.

And I wanted to share, like, a testimony of the fact that Dad shared you don't know what kind of impact is going on in your life or in others' lives.

And it is a teacher's greatest prayer that that moment happens right there with their students.

And so, it was just a blessing to me to hear from one of my students and their mom that they have accepted Christ and that they are going to live that life now.

And so, praise God. That's how I feel this morning. That's just, I'm pumped. It's awesome.

But, anyways, so I am a teacher. And so, I'm going to teach you today.

And so, I tell my kids every day when we teach, I said, so, at the end of the lesson, this is what you're going to be able to do.

And it helps them learn exactly what they should be able to do.

So, today, I'm going to tell you that at the end of this, you should be convicted to come to Wednesday night service.

Yes. So, that is what I'm going to tell you.

So, anyways, I started coming about probably in March, maybe February.

And Taylor was like, hey, you should start coming with me. I was like, okay.

And the night that I came, it was like the Holy Spirit dropped in this room.

And I don't even know, but we were praying so, like, nonstop in this room.

And you could just feel the Spirit cover this room.

And I have never felt that in a group of believers before ever.

And it was incredible.

And I can't tell you how much, like, I walked away from that.

And I was like, gosh, God, I got to be there.

I got to, like, be part of that.

And we're called to be part of that.

That's why we come on Wednesday nights is because we're called to be part of believers.

So, that's why I started coming.

And now I want to tell you why we, as a whole, should be part of that.

I was reading in the book of Acts.

I'm going to open my Bible here.

And it talks about in Acts 4, it says,

For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus,

whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,

to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

And now the Lord took upon their threats and grant the servants to continue speaking your word with all boldness.

And then it goes on to talk about, like, why, and when they prayed,

the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were filled with the Holy Spirit

and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

So, I believe, like, in Acts it says over and over again how when believers come together,

the places were shaken and they were filled with boldness.

So, if you want to be part of that, because that's part of being part of the Holy Spirit,

then come on Wednesday nights because the more people we have, the more this place will be shaken

and the more that we'll be able to speak in boldness to people.

And if we want a church, be a church, that goes in the community and is bold,

then we need to start right here on Wednesday nights by praying for that boldness.

So, I challenge you to be part of that, because if you are,

then you're going to be part of the big things that are going on here.

So, it takes two hours out of your week to be part of that together.

And the last thing I want to say is, like, what can you do?

Just be challenged, talk to your family, talk to whoever it is, and say,

hey, this is something that I want to be part of.

Just as a reminder, as well, on Wednesdays, we have we have ministry for children that takes place. Taylor has a really good group of volunteers and we have children's ministry. And beginning in January, Angela is going to set us up with some nursery as well to giving our families a chance to be. I know we're always busy. We're all busy and we got stuff going on. But this is this is another opportunity for us to get together and be family and to.

hear each other's hearts and hear each other's hearts. And Miss Luanne and I are believing for 120 on Wednesday. We're going to get there one day soon. So there we go. 120, 120. It's a biblical number. So there you go. This time we want to dismiss our kids. K5 through fifth grade. If you guys will follow Mr. Foster. Wow. Wow. Mr. Foster has documents, lawyer documents for you all to sign. Yeah.

That'd be kind of funny, wouldn't it? The rest of us, let's grab our Bibles and turn to Genesis chapter 35. We're going to continue in our in our series in the beginning, as we have done an expository study search through the book of Genesis. We finished up chapter 34.

Thank goodness. Chapter 34 is behind us now. Chapter 34 was a godless chapter. We say godless because the name of God wasn't even mentioned one time within within chapter 34.

And it's filled. Chapter 34 was filled with deceit. It was filled with lust. It was filled with murder, shame, and God was absent from chapter 34, both in in principle and in name. Nobody sought the Lord. Nobody sought the Lord's guidance or counseling.

But chapter 35, but chapter 35, we get to chapter 35, and today's message is, do we have it today? Yeah, there we go. First revival. The first revival. This is what I'm calling the first revival. As we get to 35, it's just the opposite. It is filled.

The name of God appears 11 times in Genesis 35, and then 11 other times when you look at terms like Bethel or El Shaddai, God Almighty. So another 11. So 22 times within chapter 35. So it's a huge departure from where we were last week.

And I also believe that chapter 35 is the first revival in the Bible, and it's a personal revival. It's a personal revival that begins with the heart of one individual, and that individual is Jacob.

And it trickles down to his household, spreads to the rest of his household. Now the word revive means to bring back from the dead, or to bring back to life, or bring back to consciousness.

And spiritually speaking, Jacob really, really, really needed to be revived. He had come to a place. I mean, I'm not going to rehash everything that we've gone through.

If you weren't here with us in chapter 34, just read it on your own. You'll understand what we're talking about.

But he had not obeyed God. He did not go back to Bethel, as he should have gone back to Bethel.

And he's lingering away from God until this chapter. And here, it's God that brings him back. God calls him back.

The great preacher, evangelist Charles Finney, once said that all that's necessary for revival, and all that revival really boils down to, is a new beginning of obedience to God.

A new beginning of obedience to God.

And I believe it was Charles Finney that said, hey, church, you want revival? Here's how revival starts.

And he stood on the stage, and he took a piece of chalk, and he drew a circle around the chalk, and he said, everyone do that.

And he said, pray for revival to start inside this circle.

And when revival starts inside this circle, then it'll reach the church and reach the masses.

It has to start with each individual deciding they are going to be obedient to God.

That's what these two young ladies did this morning.

In obedience to God, they made a testimony that they are giving their lives, walking with the Lord Jesus Christ.

So a new beginning.

I'm going to give my life to God.

I'm going to obey Him.

I'm awakened to the fact that I have sin in my life, and I repent from that.

And my desire is to obey God.

Does that mean you always get it right?

No, but that's your desire that I want to obey God.

And that's what happens in this chapter.

Do you ever find that to be true sometimes? That it's not until a crisis, until we really come to a breaking point where there's really revival in our relationship with God.

Sometimes it's at home. Maybe there's something that happens in our home. And it brings us back on track with God. And we ask God for help.

And chapter 35 begins with this verse here. God said to Jacob, Arise and go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.

So if you remember a few chapters back, the first time, you know, he recognized that God was doing something in his life, he named that place Bethel.

It was called Luz, L-U-Z. But he, but Jacob gives it a new name, Bethel, which means the house of God. Okay?

But remember, he also spoke a vow to the Lord after he made that altar back when he first ran, you know, ran into God and God met him at this place.

He said, if the Lord be with me, and if the Lord will bring me back to this place, Yahweh will be my God.

But he never came back. Jacob never came back. So he's got some unfinished business with God.

He's got some unfinished business. God orders him to go back.

And maybe this morning, maybe somebody here this morning has some unfinished business with God.

Maybe you've got some unfinished business with God. Maybe there's something that needs to be made, something between you and God that needs to be made right.

And hopefully within our study of chapter 35, as we go through this this morning, it'll give us a chance, as we see that God brings him back to Bethel, getting things right with God.

And there's a revival that takes place.

You know, listen, the first principle for revival, I'm just going to give you a couple.

The first principle is that revival came after a period of wickedness.

Revival came after a period of wickedness.

I've studied revivals and looked at it a long time.

How many of you ever really, how many of you ever really took a hard look at revivals and really studied revivals as they've happened throughout the ages?

Nobody, just me. Okay, that's okay. There we go.

It's intriguing. You look at, you know, Azusa Street, all these places where revival took place.

It was after a period of wickedness had taken place.

And so, you know, I see that as I look in our nation, in our country, in the world right now,

and all the wickedness that seems to be going on, you know, and I'll get to that in a second.

But I also think back in the scriptures, you know, think about you had the period of judges.

The period of judges was coming about when the scriptures tell us that every man did what was right in his own eyes, right?

And it says that there was no king in Israel, as the scripture tells us.

But it was a very dark time.

It was a very dark period.

Even in the priesthood, even in the tabernacle, there was corruption.

You had Eli, who was a priest, and Eli has two sons.

And his two sons were doing wicked, terrible things within the priesthood.

And Eli, like Jacob, was very passive as a dad.

He knew they were doing wrong and did nothing about it.

Did nothing about it.

And so, all this has taken place.

And then Samuel was born, you know, right in the middle or right after all this darkness.

And God uses Samuel to bring a revival to the nation after a season of wickedness that has taken place.

After a period of darkness.

And so, a lot of times when I see what's going on in the world today, in our community, everything else.

All the darkness, all the hard stuff.

Man, that just makes me want to get on my knees and pray.

God, maybe you're this much closer to revival now.

Maybe you're this much closer to awakening the people of God.

Awakening the church to be the church.

You know, we pray.

Maybe we pray as the prophet.

Oh, Lord, please revive your people.

Revive your people.

That's the first principle of revival.

The second principle of revival this morning is that God always initiates revival.

Man doesn't do it.

Man doesn't do it.

God initiates it.

It was God who ordered Jacob to go back to Bethel.

God ordered it.

You know, it's not like Jacob woke up and said, man, I'm going on the wrong path.

I need to go back to Bethel.

He had a chance to do that before.

He didn't do any of that.

You know, he should have, but he didn't.

God initiates that.

Why is that important?

Why do I want to share this with you this morning?

Because you can pray for revival, absolutely, but you cannot program revival.

You can pray for revival, and we should, but you can't.

So I guess that means you can live like however you want to until Friday at 7, because Friday at 7, that's when we're all going to be unearthed from our craziness and the way we live our life. But the sign said that revival began Friday at 7, and ends at Sunday night at 10. And I thought to myself, I scratched my head, you know, if that was really revival, why would you want anything that glorious to end? You know? This is revival, God's doing a revival, but we're going to end it at 7 o'clock.

Sunday at 10. You know, first of all, you can program and you can strategize, but it begins with God. It begins with God speaking to the heart of an individual. It begins with God speaking... I pray for revival in our church all the time. I don't even know what that looks like sometimes. We say that, and I don't know what that looks like.

Because if revival broke out here, right? A true revival, biblical revival, I would be a mess on the floor. You would be a mess on the floor. You would be... I'm undone. I am undone.

Because you would see the glory of the Lord for all that He is, the sovereignty of the Lord, the hand of God, the love of Christ, all those...

You would see God for who He really is, and you would have nothing to bring to the table except a broken and contrite spirit.

True revival.

We'll talk a little bit more about that in a second.

We're going to get through this chapter, and we're only on verse 2. Holy cow, I've got to go.

So Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him,

Put away your foreign gods who are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments.

Okay, listen. God tells him to get up.

Get up and rise and go to Bethel.

Jacob goes the extra mile.

God didn't say anything about idols and all this.

No, Jacob says, everybody, let's get the idols out of here.

Where do these idols come from?

Where do these idols come from?

Well, again, Jacob and his family have been living among all the pagan people for quite some time.

I'm sure some of it has filtered in.

But also, remember, do you remember back when they were getting ready to go from Paddan Aram to Canaan?

It was Rachel who goes and steals her dad's idols.

Remember, she's mad at her dad, Laban.

She steals her dad's idols.

She's sitting on them in the tent, and he comes in looking for his idols.

And she says, hey, I'd love to get up and greet you, Dad, but I'm in the way of women right now.

And it's my time of the month.

I can't get up.

So please forgive me if I don't say, hey.

He can't find his idols, okay?

These idols have been with him the whole time.

They've been in the household, okay?

And again, Jacob knew it.

He hasn't done anything about it.

He's been passive.

He's been passive up to this time.

Up to this time, there's a revival taking place, okay?

And, you know, I want to say this, too, because we talked a little bit about it on Wednesday night.

During our service, Tom gave a really strong message for us as he was teaching through one of the psalms.

But when we think of idolatry, our minds usually go to Old Testament mindset, right?

To a little trinket, a little this, a little that.

And where somebody's bowing down to this, they've made something a deity or a god or this, that, and the other.

And that's what we think, that we're making something into a god.

But you remember, when John writes his epistle in 1 John, he says,

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

That's a New Testament book, by the way, in case you didn't know that, okay?

Little children, keep yourselves from idols, okay?

So it's not just an Old Testament thing where there's statues or anything like that.

But anything that you ascribe worth or value, anything that is a replacement for God,

that takes up the worship of God, can be considered an idol.

An idol.

You know, keep yourselves from idols, he says.

You know, it's a good word for us this morning, you know.

Anything that takes away from our devotion to God.

There are a lot of people who, people's style of worship and style of religion is,

I'm going to worship idols six days a week, and I'm going to come in on Sunday,

and I'm going to worship the one through God.

And then you come here on Sunday, and you wonder why your worship is dead.

You wonder why it's lackluster.

You wonder why there's no brokenness in your life.

You wonder why you get through three or four songs,

and then you maybe start to connect.

I know we got kids. I know everything's in disarray in your household. It's this, that, and the other. But we so often do not put God in his proper place. Man, my whole world is turned upside down right now because I got a I got a almost three year old who's just wired for sound. Okay, my little girl wired for sound. And we have a foster baby that's seven months old. Okay, we've had him for a few months now. We're gonna have him probably till about

March or so. But the whole thing. But the whole thing. I'm stressed out because I walk in. I'm not being gross. But my whole house smells like dirty diapers. And I'm talking not the clean dirty diapers either. And I'm like, is this gonna be the new scent? For how long? This is the new normal. So I can get so wrapped up in just stuff.

God says, I thought you were providing a home for these little ones. I thought you were caring for the least of these. But God, the smell! The smell! And listen, I want to just touch briefly on what we were

looking at last week at this and tie the theme in just a little bit. Because notice that Jacob, this is the first time he gets his children actively involved. He admonishes them to get rid of something that wasn't right. Up to this point, he's just been like, whatever. You know, whatever works. He was very passive. But here he tells them to get rid of stuff. And they did. Verse 3.

Let us arise and go to Bethel so that we can make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I've gone.

So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had in the rings that were in their ears. And Jacob hid them under the terebeth tree that was near Shechem.

Okay? So you see that he is revived. Okay? He has a revived commitment to God.

And so they give Jacob all these things in. They bury him under the tree. And see, the kids are following their spiritual father.

They followed him in his waywardness. We saw it in the conniving hearts of the boys to make this plan, right?

But now they're following their spiritual father. That's why I tell you, men, men, if you're going to be passive,

you know, it will not bode well with your kids. As you raise your sons and daughters, you need to be active in their lives.

I promise you, they may kick against you at first, but they will follow you as a spiritual man.

They will follow you. And that's what Jacob's kids are doing. They are following him.

Let's move on a little quicker. Verse 5.

And they journeyed, and a terror from God fell upon the cities around them, so they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

Now, what's that all about? The terror of the Lord right there.

Now, remember what just happened? The sons of Jacob just killed all the men in Shechem, right?

And so now, are all the Canaanites dead? No.

There are Canaanites in other surrounding areas, and you know the talk is going around.

Hey, what happened? These guys made these guys get circumcised.

Three days into it, they wait till they're sore. They can't move. They killed everybody.

So these guys are all wanting vengeance.

And so what's happening is, this is God's divine protection.

God's working behind the scenes, and they don't even know it.

The terror of the Lord fell upon the other community, so these people wouldn't touch them.

How crazy is that? God is helping them and blessing them. They don't even realize it.

They're just going about their way thinking, wow, nobody's coming after us.

That's kind of cool.

It was John Nelson Darby that said, God's ways are behind the scenes, but he moves all the scenes he's behind.

And I believe that wholeheartedly.

And that's what's taking place here.

Verse 6.

And Jacob came to Luz, that is Bethel, which is in the land of Canaan, and he and all the people who were with him,

and he built an altar and called the place El Bethel.

Because there, God is in the land of Canaan, and he built an altar and served in their dead.

Amen.

Amen.

house of God. House of God. Okay. Now why does he change the name from, from, from the house of God to God, house of God? Because he's come back, and he's no longer impressed with the place. Now he's impressed with the God of this place. You see what's happening? At first he was just in love with this place. Because I met with God. I didn't know he was there, but he's there. Man, this is a special place. But now he says, no, it's not just the place. It's the God of this place. That's the important thing.

El Bethel. God, the house of God. You know, sometimes we get so hung up on the house of God, we forget the God of the house. You know, I, I can't, I can't tell you. When I was a kid, I heard this over and over. And I've even heard it as I've been on staff serving under some other pastors, where people have said to me, when I was a little, little bitty guy, and, and other pastors have heard him say, hey, you, little boy, little girl, stop running in the church.

This is the house of God. Let me tell you something. As long as it's not during the message, your kids can run all day long. I don't care. I love to see Jasper and Ethan. I love to see Caroline running. They're chasing Abigail all over the place.

They're chasing the kids. I love it. I absolutely love it. It should be something that, uh, there is nothing sacred. We are blessed to have this place. We are blessed to have what God has given us. But this, this is not where God dwells.

This, this is where God dwells in the heart of every believer that carries the seal of Jesus Christ and has been sealed with the Holy Ghost.

You know, I even see it. We're not as bad as some places, but I even see it happen where, dude, I know we're in Bethel, the house of God here, but you're in my seat.

We sit, if anybody sits on the third row on the end right here, you might have some, some Bobby Henderson right there. That's it. That's, that's my boy spot.

Because he might get called out to the mill. He, he's explained to me, Hey, look, if I can have him walk out, it's not your sermon, man. I'm, I'm on call to the mill. Okay.

Because I, he told me that because about two weeks in there, we were, I was giving a sermon and I said something real poignant. I look up and Bobby's walking out. I'm like, what did I say?

What did I say? And then he, and so anyway, but yeah, so, so what, what's happening is what you're saying is that, uh, God can't speak to me anywhere else.

But in this seat right here, God's so big, God's so big, but he can't bring a revelation into my life from any other seat. So you're in my seat.

I mean, we, we think it's funny, but you know, we, we, we do that. Oh, oh, we, oh, we grow, oh, we grow in ministry with somebody.

Somebody has, has spoken to our lives or evangelized us. And we have put that person on a pedestal.

We have put them in an improper place. We have made an idol of that person, whether you realize it or not, you have made an, it is not the place.

It's the Lord of the place. It's not the preacher. It's the Lord of the preacher.

I will not tell you to follow me. I will tell you to follow the Lord as I try to follow him to the best of my ability.

All right. And then, then it just seems like out of the blue, out of the blue.

If you're writing a book, you're telling a story that verse eight just doesn't fit in because going through all this stuff.

And then it says, boom. And Deborah, Rebecca's nurse died and she was buried under the Oak, uh, under an Oak, uh, below Bethel.

So, so he called this name Alam Bakuth, which is the Oak of Weeping.

Now, why does it seem out of place?

Well, it seems out of place, but it's important because you have to understand this was, this was, uh, his mom's nurse.

And so he was, this is somebody close to him.

Outlived his mom. She's still been around.

And so it's devastating for Jacob.

It's devastating, but that this death has taken place.

Verse 9. God appeared to Jacob when he came from Paddan Aram and blessed him. And God said to him, your name is Jacob. No longer shall you be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.

So he called his name Israel. And God said to him, I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.

Okay, we've seen this before. When he says, I am God Almighty, that's our first, that's El Shaddai. Okay, he gives us another name for himself, El Shaddai.

But we've seen this before. When Jacob was wrestling with the angel of the Lord, he says, well, your name's not Jacob. Your name's Israel.

And now the Lord appears to him and says something to him that he already knows. That your name is not Jacob. It's Israel.

You know, it's not new information, right? Not new information. But I think it's noteworthy that he didn't get any new information,

but he got a reconfirmation of old information. Okay? And I'm mentioning that because sometimes you meet someone who just,

you know, you need to have a new revelation, brother. You need to have a new revelation.

And I got some new, I got a new word from the Lord. I got a new experience from God.

You know, I believe what we need more than anything else is just a reminder of what God has already said.

A reminder of what he has already, within the context of his scriptures. Okay?

Because I don't know about you, but I read the Bible an awful lot, but I forget stuff.

I forget stuff. And I'm like, oh, oh yeah. Holy cow.

Like on Wednesday night sometimes we'll be having this dialogue and somebody will say something.

I'm like, wow, I totally got, I forgot that. I forgot about it. He's right. He's right. She's right.

He's right. You know, we, we need those reminders, you know?

And that's exactly what Jesus did with the two, with the two guys on the road to Emmaus, right?

He brings them along. He's walking along with them.

It says that he began to tell them about, about everything beginning with Moses and the prophets.

And he expounded on all things that were written about him.

Okay. Did he give them any new information? No, they were Jews. They knew all this stuff.

He, and they said how our hearts burned inside as when he was, when he was speaking with us.

Okay. They were taught these things in the synagogue, but it was a fresh application of old revelation.

And sometimes that's what we need is a fresh application of old revelation.

And it makes our hearts burn inside.

We get a fresh, fresh look at the word of God. Okay.

It's not a new revelation.

But you, you were Jacob. Now you're Israel, not new information.

I mean, the, it's, it's an affirmation of the old.

I mean, the Bible says that we are, we are, we're blessed with all blessings and all riches in Christ Jesus in heavenly places.

And, and we, we go, we always say, Oh Lord, I need more of you. I need more.

No, you don't need more of him. You got him.

You got him. Okay.

What you need to do is, is tie into, into that.

You've got God. God, God says in, in second Peter,

he says that all things pertaining to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who has called us by glory and virtue.

You've got you. You've got all things.

What else do you need? I just need more of, no, you need less of you.

Jesus has already empowered you.

The reason why we don't tap into the Lord as deeply as we could or should at times is because we get in the stinking way.

And we begin to make idols out of stuff.

And Jesus says, all right, when you're done with the idol, call me.

Well, how do I call you? Just say Jesus.

How about that?

You may not have to go this incantation.

Well, no, just say Jesus.

That's good enough.

I'll meet you.

I'll meet you.

You know, and God appears to Jacob.

But keep this in mind because this is the last occasion that such a thing like this is going to happen.

OK, it doesn't happen anymore in the book of Genesis like this, because when he meets with Joseph, it's not going to be like this.

He's going to meet with him in a dream.

OK, this is the last time in Genesis that God physically is going to meet.

OK, it's a burning bush thing later.

But this is God appears.

This is the this is the last time this this is this is happening in here.

It's important.

Verse 12.

I think that's where we left off.

The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I give to you and I give you the land of your offspring after you.

Just just real quick.

When we read that, I'm not going to.

Ishmael and Isaac. God didn't promise the land to Ishmael. He promised the land to Isaac, okay? And then Isaac has a couple boys, Esau and Jacob, okay? He didn't give the land to Esau. He gave the land to Jacob, the 12 tribes of Israel. You know, God decided that. But that's pretty important because God's going to reiterate the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as to occupy this land, okay? That's who is to occupy this land. Again, I don't want to get political, but there you go.

But it says he gets to decide who has the land. Verse 13, then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken to him.

And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him and a pillar of stone.

And he poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.

So Jacob called the place, the name of the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel, okay?

I want to mention to you, this is the first time in the Bible that a drink offering is mentioned, okay?

Later on when you get to Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, if we ever study the rest of those other books of the Pentateuch, you know,

you'll read about drink offerings.

But those are different.

Those are regulated by the law of Moses.

Those are going to be different.

This is a drink offering or a libation offering, which is the oldest type of offering that you can have and that we find in history.

And it's just as simple as taking a drink from a jar or cup of water or wine or whatever you have

and pouring it out either on a stone or an altar or on the ground.

And it was a symbol of being poured out.

It's symbolic of being poured out or pouring one's life over or out or into the Lord, okay?

It's the same picture that Paul paints when he writes, when he says that my life is being poured out like a drink offering.

My life is being poured out to the Lord.

It's the same thing that's in a sense that the picture gives us in Psalm 22 when the prediction is made that the Messiah would be poured out like water, okay?

Same thing when Isaiah 53, when it says that the Messiah would be poured out for our sins, okay?

That's what it's talking about right here.

And it's basically saying everything I have is yours.

I'm totally yours, Lord.

I'm giving everything over to you.

This is total commitment.

This is revival.

This is revival.

I'm poured out.

I'm being poured out as an offering up to you.

Yet, in the midst of these blessings, in the midst of this revival, notice what happens.

Verse 16.

Then they journeyed from Bethel.

When they were some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor.

When she was in labor, and when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, do not fear, for you have another son.

And as her soul was departing, for she was dying, she called his name Benoen, which means son of disaster or son of my sorrow.

But his father quickly called him Benjamin, being son of fortune, or son of my right hand.

But this is heartbreaking for Jacob.

Rachel is the one that he deeply loves.

So, we have another death taking place right here.

Verse 19.

So, Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem.

And Jacob set up a pillar over the tomb, and it is the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day.

So, this is the first mention of Bethlehem in the scriptures, Ephrath.

There was two Bethlehems, one in the south, one in the north.

And this is the southern Bethlehem that Micah 5.2 talks about.

You, Bethlehem, O Ephrathah, from you will come the Messiah, blah, blah, blah, etc., etc.

It's prophesying the Messiah.

But this is the first mention in the scriptures of this place, the Bethlehem.

Verse 21.

Israel, so he's not called, he's going to be bounced back and forth.

calling Jacob and Israel. Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it. Just another statement, like out of the blue. It's like, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

By the way, this is going on. You know, this is a different time. And the concubines were there for, they were property of the men, and they were to provide sexual favors. And so she was property of Jacob, and Reuben goes in and sleeps with her. Now, we don't know why. We don't, it doesn't tell us why. But it just says, and Israel heard of it.

More than likely, he is trying to usurp Jacob's authority right here. He is trying to take Jacob's place, or just to make sure that he is set up to be in that birth line to be, to inherit next. And so, and we find out that it doesn't work later on. I mentioned Genesis 49 last week. We'll get to Genesis 49 and unpack that. But later on, it's Jacob's on his deathbed, and he's speaking prophecy over all his sons.

Reuben ain't, Reuben's not going to go well for Reuben. Okay? Making this move doesn't work for him. Verse 23.

Now, the sons of Jacob were 12. The sons of Leah, Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, the sons of Rachel, Joseph, and Benjamin, the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant Dan, and Naphtali, the sons of Zilphah, Leah's servant Gad, and Asher.

These were the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram. So, Reuben does a bad thing, and he's scratched from the Christmas list, right?

He doesn't get a card anymore. He doesn't really do anything. Reuben is relegated the rest of his life for making sandwiches.

And so, he's, come on, man. Come on, man. Nobody got that? Okay, how about this one? Reuben is relegated for the rest. He's going to be the manager for the Partridge family.

That's what Reuben's going to do. Yeah, is anybody? No, no. Where's Avery on the drums when I need him, man?

My goodness. All right, I digress. Let's wrap this up. Verse 27. See, some of you wouldn't be brave enough to stand up here and embarrass yourself like that, okay?

And Jacob came to his father Isaac. Isaac's still alive? What the heck? Does anybody else not read this and go, what? This guy's a million years old, or what?

His father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath Arba, that is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.

Now, the days of Isaac were 180 years. Remember he said, when he was 100 years old, I don't know how long I have on this earth, right?

Oh, poor me. You got another 80 years, you whiner.

For 180 years, and Isaac breathed his last breath, and he died. He was gathered to his people, old and full of days, I'll say.

And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Now, let's wrap this up. Isaac dies. You know, he's been like nowhere in the story, but he dies.

Look how far we've come in this story so far in Genesis, okay? We have Abraham, who's the father of Isaac. Abraham was a wandering Mesopotamian, right?

Okay? And God makes a covenant. He makes his covenant promises with Abraham.

And Romans tells us that this is the first picture of justification by faith. He believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness.

And then his son Isaac, you know, is still alive in this text, okay? But now Jacob has 12 sons.

And so Isaac's son, Jacob, has already been renamed Israel, as we get to this point right here.

He's got 12. The 12 tribes are visible to Isaac. Isaac gets to see the 12 tribes. This is pretty cool stuff.

And so he gets to be revealed. And so he lives the 80... He thought his... Isaac thought his role was done when he got a wife for his son.

Remember? Okay, I'm done. No, you got another 80 years. Another 80 years. But there's a burial that takes place. Isaac dies.

There's a lot of burying in this chapter. There's a burying of false gods that needs to take place.

There was the burying of Rebekah. Rebekah's nurse, I mean.

Then there's the burying of Rachel. Then there's the burying of Isaac.

But something interesting happens. And this is why we do a study verse by...

Isaac and Ishmael that bury him. Okay? And so, where did Ishmael come from? You know, he comes from nowhere, out of the picture, but he comes to bury him. And notice something else. You know, it happens here in 29. That when Isaac dies, his last breath, you know, and his sons Esau and Jacob bury him. Okay? Esau wanted Jacob to go with him and be one people. But Jacob goes a different way. He doesn't do it. We haven't heard from Esau at all. But he shows up at the burial.

He shows up at the burial. Okay? And he's going to play a very important part of the next chapter. But what we need to see now is when Abraham died, Isaac and Ishmael bury him. He was buried by two peoples who opposed one another. They opposed one another. Though both of these sons of God, kings and princes will come from them. And in the biblical narrative, Ishmael becomes the ancestor to the Arabic peoples, which includes kings and princes.

Jesus. And it's going to be, they are an issue for Israel until this very day. Okay? And then Isaac dies and Jacob and Esau are reunited.

And most Christians don't realize that Esau too is the father of a nation. The Edomites. And the Edomites are a problem for Israel for a very, very long time.

And so, but I want you to imagine on Isaac's deathbed. All these names floating around. You got to get your mind straight sometimes before you say that.

But on Isaac's deathbed, recognizing the 12 tribes of Israel. They're there. But there's another people. There's Esau.

And so, and I always think back. Remember what Rebecca said when she's, she's, she's complaining. And she says, you know, talking about the wives of Esau.

How are we going to survive these Hittite women? How are we going to survive this? But they're, so, so Israel is not alone.

They're there in all their glory. Israel is established. The covenant's established in all of its glory. But they are not alone.

Israel was not alone when Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham. And Israel is not alone in this case with Jacob and Esau.

But this chapter is a very, it's a very key transition in the age of the patriarchs because we have one left and that's, that's Jacob.

And flows into the, to the history of Israel. But, and so we have a patriarch that we're going to deal with.

But the central character of the story from here on out is not going to be this patriarch. It's going to be Joseph.

From this point on to the end of the chapter. And so we have four deaths, really three family deaths here in this.

But at the same time, great, great blessing comes in the midst of great revival.

And so, as the worship team comes this morning, I just want, and we, and we wrap it this morning.

What does revival mean to you?

Have you, have you even thought about it?

Sometimes we think of revival and it's just, I'm revived for that moment.

You know, just that moment.

What does true revival mean for you?

I mean, when I think of, when I think of Haley, and I think of Peyton coming out of the waters.

Man, I, I, I thought, I thought this morning when we'd have people just, we had people cheering and all that good stuff.

Yeah, but I mean, just blowing the roof off of the place this morning.

And I, and I think about the tenderness of little Peyton as she, as she just tries her best to live her life out for the Lord.

And I look over and I see my daughter crying and crying, broken, because she knows the path that Peyton is walking.

And she's so proud of her.

And, what does it take, what does it take really to revive your heart and your life?

Signs and wonders?

Signs and wonders?

Is that, is that what it is?

If we had, I'll get with the elders this week, we'll stage a few miracles.

And, and, and in that, we'll believe in the signs and wonders and that'll bring about true revival in your life, right?

Is that what it takes?

Signs and wonders.

break in from the roof. Come on, people. They break in from the roof. And they lower him down. And Jesus looks at him. He says, son, your sins are forgiven. How cruel is that? No, I need to walk. I need to walk. Can't you see this is why we brought him? He can't walk. He is crippled. He can't take care of himself. He can't do anything like that. No, no, no. You don't understand. It's a deeper, there's a deeper problem.

I can fix his legs. I can fix his legs. And he'll, he'll be, God, he'll go out of here joyous, screaming, praising the Lord, giving thanks and praise to God. But whether it's six minutes, six months, six years, time has a way. He's moving. How powerful that moment was and how glorious that was. And you see, he'll still be crippled here because he hasn't made right what needs to be made right.

That should bring about revival in you. Think back to how God has radically saved you. The grace of God has washed over you. The work of Jesus Christ has made you new.

That should excite you. Never grow weary of that. Never grow tired of telling. I love how Bobby is never too ashamed. I followed the Muslim faith because I thought that's what I needed to do. What was going to be best for me.

You see, so many of us, we depend upon that event to change us. And not the person of the Holy Spirit. And as you move away from that event, the warm and fuzzy kind of doesn't feel as warm and fuzzy anymore.

And I'm not as convicted as I used to be. Anybody with me? Yeah. Let's stand up. Let's stand up.

Everybody, take your imaginary piece of chalk and draw a circle on yourself this morning. That's right.

God, let revival begin within this circle today. Let revival, that your holiness would lead me to a place of repentance and your holiness would wash me clean in this snow.

And Father, we just come before you in the name of Jesus. Thank you and praise you again for just being able to celebrate with Haley and Peyton today.

God, I don't pray for these people. I pray for myself that you would begin a revival in me today.

And I encourage each of them to do the same.

Bring about conviction in my life to the things that I've made idols.

Rid me of these things, Lord.

God, wash my hands, Lord.

Purify my heart, Lord, as only you can.

That I may ascend to the hill of the Lord.

That I may gaze upon your beauty.

That I may gaze upon the glory of the Lord.

Please, Lord, work in people's hearts today.

Please, Lord Jesus,

that today be a day of renewing.

That today be a day of

restoration as only you can do, Lord.

We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

I love you, Lord.

All your mercy never fails me.

All my days

I've been there

Oh, I will sing For the goodness of God Oh, I will sing For the goodness of God Oh, I will sing For the goodness of God

I love your voice I love your voice You have led me through the fire And dark as the night You are close like no other I've known you as a father I've known you as a friend And I have lived in the goodness of God

Oh, I will sing For the goodness of God Oh, I will sing For the goodness of God All my life You have been so, so good Every breath I have made Oh, I will sing For the goodness of God

Your goodness of God Your goodness of God Your goodness of God Your goodness is running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after You're running after

It's running after me

Your goodness is running after

It's running after me

Your goodness is running after

It's running after me

My life lay down

I surrender now

I give you everything

Your goodness is running

It keeps running after me

Because all my life

You have been faithful

And all my life

You have been so, so good

With every breath that I am able

I will say

You are the goodness of God

Because all my life

You have been faithful

And all my life

You have been so, so good

With every breath that I am able

Oh, I will sing

Of the goodness of God

I am going to sing

Of the goodness of God

I will sing

Of the goodness of God

Lord, we just thank you

For your goodness

Thank you for the message

That was brought today

And the new lives

The two new lives

That have found revival

Again in you

And we just pray, Lord

That all of us

Will leave here

With that revival

In our heart

And that we will check out

Our own chalk circles

This week, Lord

And hopefully

We will find you there

With us

Thank you, Father

Just keep us safe

Until we meet again

In Jesus' name

Amen

Amen