Amen. It's an honor. Thank you. Praise the Lord. Amen. Well, I could leave already and say it's been good to be in the house of the Lord. I'm going to get this water or I start foaming like a ravaged dog. Amen. If you have your Bibles, go with me to the book of Genesis in chapter number 28 this morning. I want to get right into the message. Genesis in chapter number 28. When you find Genesis 28, put your finger there and then turn on over to Genesis and chapter number 1. Amen. Genesis and chapter number 1. And when you find your place there, I'm going to read a passage out of Genesis in chapter number 35, and then we'll jump right back down to Genesis chapter 1. But if you hold your places in those two, I'll be there shortly. I just want to read this passage. We'll tie it all in. Just a minute, Genesis 35, the Bible says, verse number 1, And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee, when thou fleddest from the face of Esau, thy brother. Then Jacob said unto his household, Put away, or put all that were with him, put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments, let us arise, and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the days of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hands, and all their earrings, which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the yoke, which was by Shechem. Now, I want you to look very quickly in Genesis and chapter number 1. We know it by heart, but the Bible says, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. I want to look at this word that is mentioned there and the name that God chooses in His creation. In the beginning God. In the beginning, God. You say, what is so significant about this name, God? What is there to be shown, Brother Jacob, about this word, God? And why would God choose this of His names? when he begins to speak it all into creation. Because you go through the Bible and there is the word LORD, which all caps capital L-O-R-D. There's capital L, little o, little r, little d. There's Jesus. But here he says in the beginning, God, which is the Hebrew name Elohim. And you say, well, what's significant about the Hebrew name Elohim? That word Elohim, it is the plurality of God. It carries the significance of this word. Elohim is the three in one, the triune Godhead that we believe in, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They were all present the day that God spoke this world into existence. It wasn't that God was in the Old Testament, Jesus was in the Gospels, and then when He ascended into heaven, the Holy Ghost came, beginning in the book of Acts, and followed out, and He dwells in us. No! From the beginning, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost were present when this thing was spoken to in existence, and there were times in the Old Testament when Jesus appeared Himself, in form. He did it with Joshua. He did it with Abraham. He did it with Jacob. But it's the plurality of the name God. But not only is the plurality mentioned in the creation, but we find evidence of not only them being plural in the God form of the word Elohim, but we find them present. For in the beginning God, the Father, And then if you notice, the Bible says, and I believe it's in verse 3 or 4, it says, and the Spirit of God moved. We have the Father and we have the Spirit. You say, well, where's the Son? Where's Jesus in the creation? John chapter 1. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, and the same There you find the Trinity in the creation. But this word Elohim, not only has a plurality of the Godhead, but the word means the supremacy of God. The magistrate of God. A God that is speaking and declaring. And in His speaking and declaring, things are set into motion. Worlds begin to spin in orbit. Why? Because of the sound of His voice. What a powerful thing. For you to be able to speak and things come into existence just by your speaking. He used words to create. Why is it that the thing that God used in our creating is the very thing that in return we give back to God as a form of praise. By our lips, by the words that fall from our lips. I just want to thank the Lord for His salvation. That is a form of praise. The thing that He spoke and gave to us is the very form in which we give it back to God. By the things. You cannot praise and you cannot worship without your lips. Words and articulation of an abstract thought is the very way in which you praise God and it's the very way in which God created man. What's interesting about His creation? He spoke it all into existence. Until the sixth day, He did not speak man into existence, but He reached down and He touched man. The only thing in creation that God touched was us. And from Genesis 1, where He touched us, all throughout Scripture, we see Him still laying His hands on us. We find in Jeremiah where He picks us up a broken clay, a broken pot, and He puts us back on the wheel. He doesn't start anew. He doesn't get new clay. But He takes the old clay and says, I'll make it anew. Hallelujah. I'm thankful he didn't throw the clay away. But he said, I gotta break it and make it anew. Oh, and then we get in the gospels and we see where Jesus is touching multitudes. And then August the 13th, 1999, he touched me. You might not remember the day, the hour. There's some people in here that could raise their hand and say, I remember the day. He touched me. Oh, He touched me. And oh, the joy that floods my soul. Oh, the day that He touched me. magistrate deity Daniel 1138 says it this way and we're on our way to Genesis 28 Daniel says it this way he says the God of forces Elohim of forces what a God to speak this into existence. Here we are in little Georgia. And so many times there's people that will never leave the state of Georgia. Some people will never leave their hometown to see the vastness of this world. There's people in Livingston, Louisiana, and all they know is Livingston, Louisiana. But for you to step back and look at this world, look at where we're at in comparison to the universe. And how small we really are, but how big He really is The word Elohim is the word of God But the word Elohim starts with two letters, E-L And beginning here in Genesis 1, it carries this thought throughout the entirety of Scripture. If you take notes, if you're marking your Bible, I'd encourage you to mark some things or write some things down this morning. You don't want to? That's fine. But this helped me, praise God. I want to look at God in the life of Jacob. That word, E-L, it comes in the scripture. Remember when Hannah was barren and she went to the, I went to Shiloh and she was praying and Eli saw her and marked her lips and said, you're drunk, you're a daughter of Belial. And she said, no, there is something grievous on my heart. And she prayed and God answered the prayer and she was with child. And she named that child Sam, U-L. For God has heard. Hallelujah. And there's some things in the Bible you come across a word that has this EL on it. Stop what you're doing. Find out what the EL is talking about, brother Josh. It's not coincidence or how we say in Louisiana, coinkydink. But there is a significance to why it's there. And I wanna look at this little EL in the life of Jacob. Genesis 28, you there with me? Now let me bring you to speed on this. Let me start my timer, we got a clock back there. Hey man, it don't mean nothing. Might as well pull out a calendar. But I am gonna try and be conscious of the time. All that simply means is know what time it is. Amen, help me Lord. My wife wasn't able to be with us today, and she hates it, and I hate that she couldn't be with us, but the Lord knows, and she wanted to be here and be a blessing and sing, but amen, we're thankful, thankful for what he's doing. But I said that to say she don't like it when I say that stuff, Jacob. Amen, Genesis in 28. We find leading up to this that Jacob has stolen his brother Esau's birthright. Just a few preceding chapters, Esau has looked at his brother and said, I'll kill you for taking that which rightfully belongs to me. Jacob has deceived Esau. Jacob has deceived his father Isaac. And he's stolen that and he's used trickery for his very name. It means heel grabber. And it means trickster. Jacob is a con-artist. Jacob is a con-man. Jacob is a liar. Amen. Well, we're just going to go on down to Imagetis and hit it down. Get on that altar and we'll pray for you, son. What I'm saying is, there's nothing good in Jacob. Notice what verse number 1 of chapter 28 says. And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Pen and Anoram, to the house of Bethuel. thy mother's father, and take thee away from thence, of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother. And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and thou mayest be a multitude of people. Now, if you know anything about your Bible and you know anything about the life of Jacob, here in chapter 28 is where he meets God. This is where he has the dream. He lays his head on a pillow of stones. He has a dream. He sees angels ascending and descending on a ladder, and at the top of the ladder is the Lord. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Who is at the top of the ladder? It is Jesus at the top of the ladder. And it changes his life forever. You remember the day that you met Jesus? What you don't realize is the day that you came to Jesus, angels were ascending and descending, and you looked up, you didn't see a preacher, you didn't see a singer, you didn't see somebody giving a testimony, but you saw Jesus in him lifted up. Or he said, if I be lifted up, draw men unto myself. You say, well, well, tell me preacher, Bethuel. What does that mean? That word there, Bethuel, means desolate of God or complete desolation. Jacob's on the run. His daddy tells him, you better flee. East Hall's going to get you. You've deceived me. You've deceived your brother. And Jacob is on the run. And he's on the run to a place of utter desolation. He's running from God. Up until this point, the only ones that know anything of the one true God is his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac. And God is using that bloodline to run right on through to bring out Jesus himself. But everybody else is considered a Gentile. They are not of the bloodline of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the patriarchs. the nation of Israel, the Jewish people, the Hebrews. And he leaves that which he knows, that where he should be, and he's running in desolation. He's running to a place desolate, desert place, a place that is barren, dry. God is not there. But on the way to a place of desolation, he meets somebody on the road. And there he has a dream. He lays his head on a pile of stones he uses for a pillow. It's interesting. Because this thing that he uses for pillows In a few verses, He turns that thing of pillows into a pillar and a place of a memorial. When you got saved, the Holy Ghost came to you and began to deal with your intellect. He began to show you that you are lost, that you've sinned against God, you've lived in rebellion against God, and you need Jesus or you'll die and go to a place desolate of God. When the Holy Ghost works, the Holy Ghost works on the mind. For faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. It's when you read the Word of God that the Word of God, brother Adlo, becomes light to you, and that which you lived in darkness is now light because you've looked at it, and the Holy Ghost has removed the scales from your eyes, and you see the Word of God. What it is, is the Holy Ghost dealing with your intellect. There is a triune Godhead. But the devil is a counterfeit. So God has three parts, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Well, the devil's a counterfeit. So what God has initiated in eternity past, the devil tries to create it so that he can be like God. Because that's all he's wanted to be, that's all he's ever wanted to do, was be God. Isaiah, if I be lifted up, if I, if I, if I, I want to be where God is so that people worship me. So the devil did the same thing. In the Old Testament, you see Lucifer. In the New Testament, you see Satan. And then you see something that is mentioned as devils. That is the father, the son, and the spirit of the satanic godhead of him trying to emulate Jesus and God himself. And just as the Holy Spirit deals with the intellect of man, the devils deal with the intellect of man. You say, what are you talking about? Remember when Jesus came off the Mount of Transfiguration? The disciples were at the bottom of the mountain, and they were trying to cast out a devil out of a little boy that threw himself in the fire, threw himself in the water, foamed at the mouth, and gnashed at the teeth. And they were trying, and Jesus said, O thou faithless generation, The Bible says that Jesus touched him. Then the Bible says this, and he was in his right mind. So what the devils were doing to him was they were altering his mind. These people that get strung out on dope and drugs, you know what you tell them? They ain't in their right mind. Why? Because there is an outside substance that is now controlling them and making them do something a normal human being wouldn't do. But because of the controlling, I believe that there is a satanic force behind that drug. I believe it is just as it is with liquor or anything else. There is a satanic spirit that drives them to do it. Why? Because they're looking for peace. They're looking for joy. They're looking for happiness. And you cannot fill that with anything other than Jesus Christ Himself. In His right mind. The Holy Spirit deals with the intellect of man. Jesus deals with the heart. And God deals with the will. The same with the Godhead, the triune Godhead. So it is with Satan's trinity. The devils deal with the mind. Satan himself deals with the heart. And then Lucifer deals with the will. Isaiah, I will, I will, I will. What did God tell them in the Garden of Eden? He gave them a free will, a free choice. He didn't say, if you do this, I'm going to kill you, and we're going to annihilate and start over. But He allowed them that choice. Eve was deceived, but Adam took the fruit willingly because he had a free will. I don't know why I said any of that. We're just going to give credit to the Lord on that one, amen? Bethuel, desolate of God. That's where I was at. The pillows. He lays his head on pillows. And when he lays his head, why does the Bible say that he laid his head? Because God is going to deal with him through some stones. How does God deal with us? Through some stones. And then the stones are revealed to us and the pillow becomes a pillar. What's the difference between a pillow and a pillar? A pillow is something you rest your head on. A pillar is something that is stationary, cannot be moved. The pillars that hold this building together, if you was to remove them, this building would cave in. But not only in the physical sense, there are some pillars spiritually in this church. One stood right here and he prayed and blessed the offering. A pillar, a staple in this church. He's not the only one. But these pillars are the things that hold this thing together. Brother Tate couldn't do this all by himself. But he needs some pillars. He has an encounter with Jesus himself. Now notice with me verse number 16. He has this dream and he wakes out of this dream, verse 16. And Jacob awake out of his sleep and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. I'm going to say this real quickly and move right on. It's not important that I'm here. It's not important that Brother Tate's here. It's not important that you're here. It's important that he shows up. Because if you're here, I'm here, and he's here, it ain't nothing more than a social gathering and a glorified country club. But what makes church church is when he shows up. All is vain unless the Holy One shows up. He said, I was in this place, the Lord was there, and I knew it not. It's a shame that we come to church and we miss that God was in our presence. We come in and we have the things of this world upon our minds and upon our back, and what we're worried about is what we got to do when we get home. I hope the preacher doesn't preach too long because I've got to roast, I've got to get out of the oven and I've got some grass I've got to cut and we've got our little list and we walk in and the list is paramount over Jesus himself. He said, surely the Lord was in this place and I knew it not. Verse 17, and he was afraid and said, how dreadful. Which is interpreted, how awesome is this place. He says, for I have seen the gate of heaven. And notice verse number 19. And he called the name of that place Bethel. Here's Jacob. He's deceived. He's robbed. He's cheated. He's lied. And now he's on the run. And he runs to a place where he meets God. On the run to desolation, but on the run to desolation, he runs right into God. You ever heard somebody give this testimony? I wasn't looking for God, but God was looking for me. That's the testimony of Jacob. He was on the run. He didn't know where he was going. He just knew that his life was turned upside down. How am I going to make it? How am I going to get out of this? Done made a mess of my life. Daddy's disowned me. Told me to go to my uncle's house. He so hates my guts. What's he going to do? If I ever show my face around the house again, I'm going to a place of desolation. Headed to a place of desolation. The sovereignty of God says, hang on son. And he runs into the house of God. Bethel. We're in verse 19, I believe it is, and the Bible says, which was Luz at the first. Luz means perverse. God took something that was perverse and made it his house. I'm reminded of Brother Barry Spears. Motorcycle gangster, drugs, alcohol. God turned his life around, called him to preach, and he said, God, that bar that I've lived in, that bar that I partied in, that bar that I got high in, Lord, would you give it to me so I can make a church out of it? And God answered his prayer. And you can walk into a place that was once perverse from the beginning. But God has worked in that thing. And now it's called a Bethel. A house of God. Now what's interesting is Abraham had a Bethel. But it wasn't the same Bethel that Jacob had. There's people all over this community that are going to a Bethel. But it's not South Haven. But you're here because this is your Bethel. I'm thankful for the Bethels in my life. I'm thankful for the places where God has done a work in me down at the house of God. When I got saved, I was saved at the house of God. I got married, I got married at the house of God. I met my wife at the house of God. Everything good that's happened to me has happened down at the house of God. Amen. Something that was perverse at the beginning. God said, we'll work it and make it anew. Make it my place. Oh, yes. Hallelujah. Bethel. I was going to say something else, but I forgot what I was going to say, so we're going to move right on. Jump on over to chapter number 29. Jacob leaves his place, he builds an altar, he gives a tithe. What about that? It's right there in verse 22. And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tent unto thee. Ain't that something? He's only been to church one time and he's already tithing. What about that? So he moves on, he builds an altar and he sets a memorial and says, this is Bethel. It goes on in chapter 29. Then Jacob went on his journey and came into the land of the people of the coast, of the east. And he looked and behold a whale in a field. I'm going to stop right there and say this very quickly. Aren't you glad that there's a whale in a field? Law of First Mentions in your Bible, anytime you read something for the first time, it sets a precedent that will run through Scripture. The first time you find the word field mentioned in the Word of God, you find it with Cain and Abel. Cain was a tiller of the field, and he brought the fruits of the field rather than bringing a lamb. Cain loved the world. Genesis chapter 4, number 4. It's biblical numerology for the number of the world. Everything in chapter 4 of Genesis is either dying or it's promoting the world. Go read it. Cain kills Abel. That's something they're doing in the world, ain't it? For nothing. Just for a little bag of dope, they'll kill somebody. For jealousy, they'll kill somebody. For money, they'll kill somebody. It's a picture of the world. But I'm glad that God set a whale in a field. See, if God did not put a well in the world, how in the world would we have been able to drink of that living water? He had to put a well in a field. And here Jacob walks upon a well that's in a field. And lo, there were three flocks. You say, where are those three flocks? I don't know. So I'm going to just say this, one for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Ghost. Amen. But we see a fourth flock coming. to the whale, and Rachel is leading the flock. We see in chapter 28, Jacob's on the run to Bethuel, desolation of God. He runs to Bethel, the house of God, and now he is meeting Rachel. A ewe, or can I say it this way, a lamb or a sheep of God. If you're born again, you're one of his sheep. Psalms 23 talks about a shepherd and his sheep. And if you're born again, you're one of those sheep. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. What's that talking about? He's talking about me leading me beside still waters. It's a relationship between a sheep and a shepherd. Jacob has ran desolate of God, he's met God, and now God has shown him a youth, a little lamb. Something about those little lambs is they're helpless. They can't defend themselves. They can hardly even eat by themselves, but they need somebody to protect them. Oh, I'm thankful that as small and as insignificant and as weak as I am, God watches over me. And there he met Rachel. Not only does it mean that, but this word Rachel means good traveler. Ain't that what we are? Just pilgrims passing through? My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. A good traveler. Oh, but we must go on. Go with me to Genesis in chapter number 32. Genesis in chapter number 32. We see that he left home, was headed to desolation of God, Bethuel. He met God. He named that place Bethel and said this is the house of God. Went on a little further and he realized he was a Rachel, a lamb of God. Notice chapter 32, verse number 22. And he rose up that night and took his two wives and his two women servants and his eleven sons and passed over the four Jabbok. Jacob's been with his uncle Laban in Pananaram. God has blessed him to the point where Jacob and his uncle Laban have had to say, we need to part ways because our flocks are mixing and we don't want a feud to break out. So Jacob decides to go home. Face his brother, face his father. On his way home, they get here to the fort Jabbok. It's interesting. Don't ever just read your Bible and look over these words that are hard to pronounce. But get you a study tool, get you a concordance. Look up these words. There's definitions. There's significance beneath the surface of what's just on the pages. This word Jabbok means he will pour out. And he took them, verse 23, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had, and Jacob was left alone. And there wrestled a man with him under the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, and he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. Here comes Jacob with his eleven sons, his wives, Rachel, Leah, and two maidservants. He comes to this ford, Jabbok. He has everybody cross over the ford, Jabbok. But he remains on this side. Jacob is fixing to enter into a thing of consecration between God and Jacob. And if ever you want to get to the other side of Jabbok, if ever you want to get something else in your life, you've got to cross this fort. He leaves his family, and this is my spiritual imagination, as he walks out in the late evening, a dense fog is settled, and the men, his guys that are guarding the family, as they watch him disappear across that ford, into that fog, they watch Jacob disappear. And he stays there all night, wrestling with the Lord. Here he is having another encounter with Jesus Christ himself. He wrestles and says, I will not let thee go till you bless me. And the angel touches the hollow of his thigh. He crossed the Jabbok church like this. They knew who he was. They saw how he walked. They saw his mannerisms. They knew that was Jacob. But in the early morning, as that fog begins to lift, and as the sun burns that off, here comes Jacob. But they look through that dense fog, brother Josh, and they say, that's not the man that crossed earlier. Who is this? And as he got closer, they realized by his face it was Jacob. But by his walk, something was wrong. He had been touched. The world looks at you as a Christian and says something's different about them or they should be able to. It's a walk. What looked like pain to some people was a blessing to Jacob. What looked like a halt was a blessing to Jacob because he had been with the Lord all night. Let me say something about this real quick. I mentioned Hannah and Samuel. Hannah, she was barren with God. She was barren in her womb. And this was the thing, the messianic prophecy, that there was going to be a child born of the woman's seed that was going to bring deliverance to Israel. And here's Hannah, she's barren. And she's thinking, oh, if I'm barren, how am I going to be able to, if the Lord visits me in my barrenness, I will not be able to carry the seed of the woman. It was a pride for those ladies. She's barren. So she begs and requests of the Lord to open her womb. The Lord hears her prayer, opens her womb, and she has Samuel. There's something interesting about a woman when she's carrying a child. I've seen my wife carry three children, so I know a little something about it. I'm not trying to be disrespectful. But when my wife was carrying child, she used to just walk like this, but when she had child, she walked a little different. Why? Because life was in her. Because something had touched her. Not only did it change her walk, but I remember one night she said, I'm hungry. I said, what do you want? She said, taco bell, blue bell ice cream, olives and pickles. I said, something's wrong with you. She said, it's the life inside of me. See, the things she used to crave, she didn't crave them anymore. She craved something different. Ain't that something? The things she used to talk about, She didn't talk about them things anymore. All she was worried about was the life inside of her. She wanted to talk about what we're going to name that life. She wanted to talk about, do we have the life's baby room ready? Do we have a crib for the baby? Everything was about the life inside of her. She no longer wanted to talk about LSU football. She never wanted to talk about anymore about going shopping. All she wanted to talk about was what was inside of her. You get life inside of you, it'll change everything you want to talk about. You'll forget about politics and all that junk. You'll forget about telling dirty jokes down at the job. All you'll want to talk about is the life inside of you. And here comes Jacob. He's walking different. Why? Because somebody had touched him. And there was something new inside of him. And everybody looked at him and said, that's just painful to look at. Jacob said, oh, what looks like pain to you is a blessing to me. Because of who I've been with. In order for, the Bible says it's the brook Jabbok. I got to go, I got to go. The brook Jabbok. That means he will pour out. In order for me to pour that glass of water, which I'm not going to do. But in order for me to pour it, what I have to do is I have to touch it. See, we want God to pour us out, but we say don't touch me. Because I like my swag. I like my groove. Why? Because we're walking according to the course of this world. And we're saying, I want the glory without a story. But God says you can't have no glory unless you have a story. A preacher said it like this, there has to be a crushing. For that which is inside to come out of the olive, there must be a crushing. What does it cost for there to be a crushing? It costs the olive everything. for that which is inside of it to flow out. Toothpaste, a tube of toothpaste. You know how you get that toothpaste out? Brother Josh, you know how you do it? You look at it and you talk to it. Come on little toothpaste, come on out of there. Be alright, we'll put you on this little toothbrush. No. You shake it, get it out. By applying pressure to the vessel that the toothpaste is contained in. The more pressure applied, the more that's on the inside comes out. So it is in our life. If I was allowed to, I'd take out a whole cup and I'd just crush it. So that you could see what's in the inside of that vessel to break forth. That's what God was doing to Jacob. He was squeezing that vessel. What was on the inside, what God had put on the inside at Bethel was now oozing out. They said, Jacob, you look different. You're acting different. He said, oh, I've been with somebody different. And oh, oh, oh, oh, I stopped a little early there. Hang on now. Verse 28. And he said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. Prince We got a lot of people that have been to Bethel and they are a Rachel but they still have a hold of that old flesh and they ain't willing to cross no brook Jabbok to be called a prince of God. Everybody wants the title but nobody wants to go down to the brook and the ford to get the title. So what we got is a lot of people playing Christian. Paul said it this way, that I may know Him in the power of His resurrection. Glory to God! Hallelujah! I want to see the power of His resurrection. But you know what takes place for something to resurrect? It's got to die. Oh no, no! I don't want to die! What Paul said, crucify my flesh daily. Nevertheless, yet not I, Christ liveth in me. I messed it all up, but you know what I'm saying. Amen. You try and remember all them verses, and you go read it for me. We'll get it right. Israel. You've got to go past the Fort Jabbok to stand there. Everybody likes to talk about the power of His resurrection. Nobody wants to talk about the fellowship of His suffering. This is our problem. We've got a lot of churches with congregations that shout over the resurrection. But nobody's willing to live the sufferings of Jesus. But if you want the glory of Him, you're gonna have to walk with Him a little ways. They rejected Him, came in His own, His own receipt did not. They'll reject you. They'll look at you and say you're fake, you're phony, you're a Bible thumper. They'll say all kind of things about you. But what did Jesus say? If you want to be one of my disciples, take up your cross and follow me. Israel. Oh, but it doesn't stop there. It doesn't stop there. Notice what he says, verse number 30. And Jacob called the name of that place Penuel. For I have seen God face to face. Everybody wants to see Him face to face. But you've got to cross the Ford Jabbit. You've got to get your name changed from Jacob, conman, trickster, liar, to Israel, Prince of God. There's been times in my life where I've seen God face to face. I've been in some of the sweetest services, some of them here, in years gone by, where I've seen the manifested presence of Jesus Christ. Seen the face of God. Services, revivals are playing over in my mind. where I've seen God face to face. Some we shouted the glory down, some we sat in silence for hours. But yet it was the same God. And we saw His manifested presence there. Oh, probably something's running through your mind of an incident where you've seen that, a pniel in your life. Go with me to Genesis in chapter number 35. Hang on, hang on real quick. Hang on. Chapter 33. Just want to make mention of this. 33 verse 20. He's there, he sees Peniel. Chapter 33, he meets Esau. That thing is rectified, made good again. In verse number 20, he builds an altar. And he erected there an altar and called it El Elo Yisrael. God, the God of Israel. It was Bethel, the house of God. It was God, the God of Isaac. God, the God of Jacob. But now Israel is saying, it's not just daddy's God, and it's not just granddaddy's God, but it's my God! for what He's done in my life. You can't live off of Daddy's God and Mama's God. You can't live off of Momo and Popo's Jesus. You've got to have Jesus for yourself. El, Israel. God, the God of Israel. Go to chapter 35. With the Lord's help, I'll be done in 10 minutes. I read this at the beginning. And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel. Dwell there, and make there an altar unto the God that appeared unto thee, when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. And Jacob said unto his household, And all that were with him, Put away the strange gods. What strange gods is he talking about? The ones that Rachel stole from the house of Laban, his father-in-law. Remember, she hid them. They came looking for them. Couldn't find them, them strange gods. But there was something there because the boys of Jacob now, eleven sons, has watched Jacob from walking like any other man, but now walking a little differently. Daddy, tell us a story about when you was down there at that forge Abbott. What was it like? Tell us about that angel that you keep on talking about. Well, boys, it don't start there, but it starts when I was on my way to a place of desolation of God, Bethuel. And I met Jesus for the first time in a place called Luz. Perverse! But now it's a place called Bethuel. And now, boys, God wants me to take y'all there. The first thing He wants us to do is get rid of the strange gods of this world. See, we come into church, Brother Tate, with baggage. We come into church dragging the world with us. And then we wonder why we can't have church. Because we've got too much of the world in the church. Put away the strange gods that are among you and be clean. And change your garments. Now, ain't that interesting? There's a big thing going on now where It don't matter what you wear when you get in the pulpit. You can wear what you want to wear. Now I understand, I've lived on a foreign field. I grew up as a missionary's kid in Papua New Guinea. Where during the hot days, 114 degrees with 100% humidity, you ain't gonna wear a certain tie in Papua New Guinea and preach. You will die. But yet, what daddy would do when he preached, he'd wear something. different than what he'd wear any other day of the week. He'd wear his best garments. You come to church, you ain't got to dress up in a shirt and tie to come, but I would recommend that you wear your best. Not that you can prove to everybody else how good you are and how wealthy you are. No, but you're bringing your best to Him. It ain't nothing about your status. Because I can sit by a man that's wearing overalls and not think twice about it, look down at him, but I say, praise God that he's my brother. But that might be the best that he's got. I sat in Papua New Guinea where they came in with rags. I'm talking about rags. Holes in their shorts, holes in their shirts, but it was all they had. But I didn't look down at them. I said, thank God that you're here. But here, Jacob, it's funny, we come out with this new thing in 2017 and 18 and 19 that I can just do what I want to do. Go ahead, do what you want to do, but it won't be long and the glory of God will be removed from you. It's not that this carries power in it. It's not that this carries some type of clarification that I'm somebody or that God's going to manifest Himself on me, no. But it's me presenting myself. The priest didn't enter into the holy places with anything. He had to wear the garments of the priest. Or they'd be dragging him out by their feet with a rope tied to it because he had desecrated the things of God. He said, here, before the church was ever started, change your garments, be clean. What we do is we come in dirty, saying, well, God's going to take me how I am. God will take you how you are. But He will clean you up and change you. It's not a thing as come as you are, go as you leave, go as you came. But it's come as you are, let God change you so that you'll be a difference. In the world. That's the problem with this whole show, this light show thing we got going on. Hey, look at me, look at me, look at me, I'm great, I'm great, I'm great. And there is no glory in it because we are taking the glory from God, putting it on ourselves. We don't need to turn the lights out. When I go to them places, which I've been in sometimes, on accident, got there and realized where I was at, they turn the lights off, I grab my wife and I grab my wallet. That's what you do in them places, right? Some of y'all been in them places. I ain't never been in a nightclub. But that's what they said. Watch your wife and watch your wallet. They'll steal both those in a nightclub. I like it to turn the lights off. We're supposed to be a light set on a hill. Why don't we turn the lights off in here? Come on now. Men of darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. I just don't like it. It's just too bright in here. What do you think heaven's going to be like? He's the sun. He's shining forth. I got tied up. I'm sorry. Said be clean. Now watch this. Verse number 4. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ear. Now they come out of the world. And that day an earring showed that you were a slave and you were owned by somebody. And they had earrings in their ears. So we come in now spiritually with earrings in our ears. It's all the things that we've accumulated from the world. And God is trying to get through the ear gate to the mind to renew the mind so that we can be a better Christian, Josh. But what we've got is we've got baggage on our ears God cannot get through because of the things that we're slave to. Be careful what you listen to. Careful who you listen to. We've got five senses, right? Sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch. Of the five, there's only four that you can sin with. You can look at the wrong things, you can say the wrong things, you can hear the wrong things, you can do the wrong things. There's no sin that you can do with your nose. Genesis 1, when God created man, what did he do? Breathed into the nostrils of man, the breath of life. It's the same breathe that is talked about when they're in the upper room and the Holy Ghost breathed on them and they were filled with the Holy Ghost. It's the same breath. Don't look at me funny. He breathed into something and it's holy. The Bible says, talks about the priest, talks about their nose. It's a thing of discernment. discerning the spirits see whether they're of God or not. It's a discernment. I've got to go on. I've got to go on. I'm sorry. Strange gods, get rid of their earrings. Now notice this, verse 4. Which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak. He took all them things from the world, and he hid them under a tree. Now there's something about the oak in the Bible. Anytime you read where there's an oak, something's dying. Something always dies at an oak. Absalom, he's got that long beautiful hair of the son of David. He's riding that donkey in that war and he runs up under an oak and his hair gets tangled in. And they shoot a dagger through his heart and kill him. He dies under an oak. Go look it up. And here Jacob is burying the things of the world under an oak. Which is by Shechem. That word Shechem carries the definition and the connotation of burying a load. What did Jesus do? He buried a load of a tree. to a hill called Calvary. There, if you bring the things of this world and you bury them under that oak, He'll forgive you of it all. Let me say this one story and I'll be done. Let me read this verse and I'll say this story and I'll be done. Brother Jacob, why don't you come give us a verse of invitation. Verse number 7 He built there an altar and called the place El Bethel God the God of Jacob It was no longer about the place but it was about the God of the place Charlie Plumb was a fighter pilot that flew in the Vietnam War. Flew 72 successful missions. 73rd one, they shot him down. Ejected out of his plane and landed behind enemy lines. And he was a POW for over six years. Trying to pull information out of him. The war finally got over. He came home. What they did, Brother Tate, was they asked him to speak, to be a motivational speaker for not only just the military, but for people alike. I believe he was in California and he was making an appearance and speaking. And when he got done, him and his wife went to eat, sitting there in a Little restaurant. Man was looking at him, kind of funny-liking. Kept on staring at him, made him uneasy. Charlie Plum said, this guy's looking at me easy, uneasy. I don't like how he's looking at me. And so his wife said, well, let's get our stuff. We'll go somewhere else. So as they were picking their food up and getting ready to leave, Charlie Plum looks up. There's the man standing at his table. The man looks down at him and says, sir, are you Charlie Plumb? He says, yeah, that's me. He said, you don't know me, but I know you. And he began to give him details of the aircraft carrier that he was deployed from and things about secret missions that nobody else would have known about. It made him very uneasy now. He said, who are you and how do you know these things? He said, sir, he said, I was on that aircraft carrier too. He said, you would never know me. He said, but I was the one that packed your parachute before you'd ever fly off that thing. Charlie Plum realized that if it wasn't for that man, he'd have never made it home. But he'd have landed with that airplane somewhere in that jungle of Vietnam in Paris. But because of a man that he had no idea who he was, had packed it right, he made it home. Here's Jacob with eleven boys. He's already visited Bethel by himself, but now he's going back. But he's not going back alone. But he's got some kids with him. And yes, Jacob hasn't done everything right. He hasn't done it all like he should have done. And his boys are going to mess up, and they're going to not do it right. but he's trying to pack their shoes. And he says, boys, let's go show you where it all started from. Come on now with me. We're going back to Bethel where I saw Jesus. He took them back. What he was doing, he was packing their shoes. Because of God in the life of Jacob had done something for them. He's now trying to instill it into 11 boys. that are gonna live this world. I'm thankful for the men that have packed my sheep. My father, my grandfathers, preachers that have no idea what they've done for me, but in standing behind a pulpit and preaching it straight, they've packed my sheep. Thank God for my mama that prayed for me, that packed my sheep. You say, what you talking about, preacher? There's some young people in this church And whether you know it or not, you have an opportunity to pack their shoes. To bring them back to Bethel, to a place where they can see God. Are you going to pack your shoes? Are you going to allow the things that God has allowed you to go through in your life to just die with you? Are you going to say, hey, let me tell you, young person, let me tell you, daughter, let me tell you, son, God's faith. God's faith. Let's all stand as the invitation's given. You come do business with God as you see fit. you