And if you're watching us live, say hi to you and may the Lord bless you in a very special way that won't happen. I would like to announce to the church that yesterday, June or May, yesterday is the 12th death anniversary of our beloved missionary Reverend Schatz. So continue to pray for the family and pray for God's blessing upon the whole Schatz family. Brother Dean is leaving tomorrow, we will be praying for him. And not only him, we are remembering some of our seaparers, like Brother Paul Asenas. We also remember Brother Shimaringa. also by the Aliester. So be praying for these people who are traveling. Your Bible please, in the book of Genesis chapter 35, we are reading verse number 1. Kindly rise as we give reverence to the preaching of God's Word, the reading of His Word. Genesis 35, Verses number one, I'm asking a prayer. I have to solemnize two weddings this week and one a few weeks from now. So I'll be praying much for that. We will be going for the wedding of Brother Jonathan Prado. In Genesis 35, verses number one, to seven. 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, and to 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 thee an altar, there an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me in the way which I went. I like that. They gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand and in their earrings which were in their ears. And Jacob hid them under the ark, which was by Shechem. And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them. And they did not pursue after the signs of Jacob. And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is Bethel. He and all the people that were with him and verse seven, and he built an altar, there an altar, and called the place Ebelt, Elbitel, because there God appeared unto him when he fled from the face of his brother. Heavenly Father, gracious, loving Father, you are our God, as we have learned this morning. We come to thee, first of all, asking for forgiveness from all our sins, cleanse us through the blood of Jesus Christ and the Lord tonight we pray that the Holy Spirit would fill our hearts and minds with the blessings of the Word of God. Help us to find revival tonight in our individual lives, in our hearts. Help us to renew the vows that we have made, maybe long forgotten vows that we have neglected. Help us to remind those things which we have ones in our lives had committed to Thee, but now it seems we have forgotten them. But this message, Lord, will remind us that You will never forget what we have dedicated to Thee, what we have promised to Thee. Lord, tonight, help us to remember those vows that we have made and be true to it. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen. Kindly be seated tonight, Magalingo ng Tanan, I'm speaking a subject this evening entitled God reminding us of our long forgotten vows. God is reminding us of our long forgotten promises to God, our vows that we have made. You see in Genesis 28, you will find here that God met Jacob for the first time. Genesis 28, you can look at verse number 10 and verse number 11. Jacob went out from Beersheba, went towards Haran and he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was set and he took the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep. I can sympathize with Jacobobo was young. The first time he was out of his, you know, home. First time in his life to be off the ice of his mother, Rebecca. And all the time she just tried to, you know, treat him as a baby. And now he's alone in a place, Petit Mingawa, As he looks around, everything was dark. Anything can happen. And I can sense, I can feel the fear that was in his heart. And so he met God for the first time. And look at verse number 16. Verse 16, Jacob awake out. Sure the Lord is in this place and I knew it now. He was afraid and how dreadful. How terrible is this place that is none other than the house of God and he is in the gate of heaven. The gate of heaven. Jacob was not only running away from home, we have to remember he was also running away from God. In verse number 18 to 22, Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put for his pillows and set it for a pillar and poured oil upon it and he called the name of that place Bethel but the name of that city was called Luz at first and Jacob vowed a vow he made a promise to God and saying if God be with me I will be and will be with me in this way that I go and I will be I will give and give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I come again to my father's house. By the way, this was God's promise. He made the promise to Jacob and God has promised it to him. And in verse 13, behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth. There was the reaffirming, confirming of the promise made originally. God made the promise to Abraham and then to Isaac, and then now to Jacob. And God has promised that you'll be able to come back. You're not going to spend the rest of your life there. You're not going to die there, but you will come back to fulfill God's purpose for his life. And Jacob made a vow. Remember this in chapter 27, verse number 13 of 43 and 45. Listen to this in chapter 27. This is what his mother Rebecca thought. in 27 chapter 40 verse 43 to 45 and now therefore my son she suggested obey my voice and arise plead out to Laban my brother in Haran and tarry with him a few days a few days just a few days what she thought to be a few days lasted 20 long years before Jacob was created and came back after 20 years and let us follow the trend here of his life and I hope it will be a blessing to us tonight understanding the sequence of his life. 20 years Jacob left Laban's place and you know what happened? He met an angel and had a wrestling match with the angel in chapter 32. Jacob had a wonderful experience with God And God blessed him there. God changed his name from Jacob to Israel. And in chapter 32, look at verse 27. Chapter 32. This is after 20 years. Came back after 20 years. And look at 32, verse 27. And wherefore did thou flee away? 32, verse number 27. 3227 and he said unto him, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob. God blessed Jacob there to make the story short. And after meeting with Esau, remember he was afraid that Esau could have killed him. And Esau was still angry with him, but somehow the Lord has changed the heart of Esau. And they were reconciled. And after that, after that meeting with Esau, after things were patched up or simply settled, they parted. In 33 verse 16, look at this please. Chapter 33, look at verse number 16. And Esau said, let me now live with the son of the folk that are with me. So they said goodbye, nothing nothing bad happened actually but Jacob knew the intention it could it could have it could have killed him and some members of his family if not all of them so let me now live verse 15 with some of the folk that are with me and he said what needed it let me find grace in thy sight oh my lord and Esau returned that day on his way to Seir Mount Seir. And verse 17, Jacob journeyed to Saqqot, 20 years after they met, built him a house and made booth for his cattle. Therefore, the name of that place is called Saqqot. Jacob came to Shalem. This is where he decided to stop and build a house. The city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan and he came from Padat Aram and built or pitched his stand before the city. He bought a parcel of land there. So now this is the sequence. He left his home and then finally slept that night. In what is called Bethel, the Lord appeared to him. And through the appearance of God, revelation of God, he knew God as his Savior. I believe it was the time, personal encounter, that he got saved. And then made a vow, and if God would fulfill his promise, said, I'm coming back and serve you. You will be bringing me back, and said, safely, as God has promised, and I will serve the Lord. So 20 years, Nastax is a layman. And remember the story, he worked for Rachel seven years, and then he was deceived another seven years. So, whatsoever man saw it, that shall also he reap. So, he had the consequences, he suffered the consequences, and he has been wronged by his father-in-law, Laban, for not giving him the right wages that he ought to receive. So, 20 years after he left, And now he's back meeting his twin brother. And instead of going back to where the promise that he had made before, remember that, and then I will come back to the altar where I had made the promise. He went to Sialim, bought a place, a parcel of land there, built his house, and had completely forgotten what he had promised the Lord. And that stay in Shalem lasted 10 years. 10 years! So 20 years plus 10, all in all, 30 years. I wonder if tonight we can still remember the vows that we have made to God 30 years ago. I wonder if you can still recall 30 years ago we made a promise to God and some of them have been forgotten and neglected. And maybe some of us are hoping that God somehow has forgotten it. But I'm here to tell you God hasn't forgotten anything. As far as your vow is concerned God will collect it. And so let us look at chapter 35 now. And you see I would like to say this Jacob made a mistake for for he, you know, he totally came back, or not totally, coming back to better. He simply made a tragic move, and as a result, he stayed there in Shalem, and if you know the story, his daughter was raped, and his two sons have killed the people there. It could have been avoided. Kung Mi Drek Susha, back to better. And you know, some people said, well, I may be backslidden at a certain level, but I'm not that bad. At least I am now living in Shalem. It's not far from where I'm supposed to be, meeting God and serving God and renewing my vow. And I'm not as bad as, you know, what you think I am. So like Peter of old, when Jesus Christ was apprehended by the enemies to be crucified, Peter followed the Lord, but the problem was he followed the Lord not far, not near enough. He followed the Lord far off, at a distance. Yes, he was still there. You don't totally blame him. You say, well, at least he was there. But God says the way God described it, he was following afar off. What does it mean? There was a lack of commitment in serving the Lord. Lack of fire and devotion in serving the Lord. I always remember this, delayed obedience is disobedience and disobedience is sin. Whatever the Lord wants you to do right now, do it. It was a tragic thing for Jacob to stop in a certain place and you cannot come back to God little by little. It's what I have learned. Now, you may be saying, I'm trying my best, step by step, but you cannot do that as far as the Bible is concerned. You cannot come back to God little by little or in a slow motion, so to speak. Slow motion in coming to God will always bring some tragic thing in your life. Look at what happened to Jacob. Anyhow, it's not that far compared to Haran, and it's still near. But because of lingering around, you know what happened? A young anak nababayi, the only daughter recorded in the Bible, was raped by those people. And in retaliation to what they have done, his sons have killed those men, the villagers. So I ask you this, and maybe, what did God tell him? Well, 30 years earlier, Jacob made a vow. But he seems to have forgotten about it and God is now calling him to fulfill it. 20 years that he had spent with Laban were all wasted years. I said, Pastor, how did you say that? How come you say that? 20 years he spent with Laban are all wasted years. And here's another 10 years at Shalem, which was almost at battle. Those are wasted years. Wasted years. Now you will notice that for 20 years he was with Laban, you will never see Jacob building an altar. You'll never see him, you know, communicating with God. You do not see God appearing to him. Why? Because those are backslidden years of his life. 20 years plus 10 years. God is looking for a true commitment in our lives. And like the prodigal son, in Luke chapter 15, like Mr. Lot, who eventually lost his material possession in the fire of God. There are several lessons tonight, several things we can learn, we can glean from the forgotten vow of Jacob. And I hope by the grace of God, we can easily apply it into our service as Christians. Number one, 30 years before. We say 30 years ago, Jacob made a vow to God. Let's look at the vows we made 5 years ago, 10 years ago. 5 years ago, you have promised to read the Bible. 5 years ago, you have promised to win souls. Five years ago you have promised to do this, to support your church, to love your church. Five years ago, ten years ago, I don't know exactly your personal encounter with God, but they seem to be forgotten. And so Genesis 28, verses number 10 to 15, in this dream God promised to be with him. 28 of Genesis, verse number 10, after verse number 15. There, God says, and Jacob went from verse 7, he lighted upon a certain place, in verse 12, and he dreamed, and behold, the ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold, the angels of God descending, ascending and descending on it. You know, Jacob was running away from God, Jacob was running away from his home, but the Lord amazingly was still with Jacob. Why? Because God has a purpose for his life. And many times we think we're done, we're finished with God, but God isn't finished with us yet. And so they, and behold, the Lord stood above him, verse 13, and said, I am the God of Abraham, and in thy seed, God made all those promises to Jacob. And in this dream, God promised to be with him, that he will safely return to his home. The dream prompted Jacob to make his vow to make, and the Lord is God, if God carries out His promises. If the Lord fulfills His end of the covenant. You know, having a covenant with God is like holding a stick. You have your end and God is holding the other end. If God fulfills what He has said, then I will serve the Lord. Many times God fulfills his end but the problem is we forget our side. That is what happened to Jacob actually and to sanctify the stone upon which he had rested. Can you imagine? Which he has set up as a pillar to give God. He said you know I give God the tenth of all. God will give him and will give him, you know, whatever he gets, whatever blessing comes to him, and he will always, I will surely, surely give the detentable. Those were years before Moses wrote the law And those were years, you see, tithing was practiced before the law. You cannot say, well, we're no longer under the law, so I stopped tithing. And can you still remember the place where you were converted? Can you still remember the place where you made a vow to God to serve Him? And many of us can recall this place as our bedroom. Thank God our church has provided us an altar where we can deal with the Lord. And for the next 20 years, he dwelt in Haran for 30 years. Now 20 years, I mean, you do not see an altar. Jacob yet in spite of that God protected him God prospered him and God protected him from Laban remember he was pursuing Jacob and I can imagine Mr. Laban was really determined to kill Jacob but the Lord somehow intervened and Esau was also determined to kill him but the Lord intervened The Lord protected him because God has a purpose for his life. Jacob had been living in Canaan for 10 years now. In chapter 33, look at verse number 18, 33 and verse just to follow the sequence of his life. Chapter 33, let's look at verse number 18. There it says, and Jacob came to Shalem, the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan. And he came and prompted Aram and pitched his tent before the city. Jacob says, I tried to live here, settle down here. He had settled near the city of Shechem. But he had never bothered to go back to Bethel. And not until the Lord reminded him. the Lord where said where the Lord had appeared to him and where he had made a vow and so let us now go back to our text in 35 verse number one after all of this I hope you got the explanation of what happened to his Jacob and to his life and God said to Jacob after 20 years after 10 years total 30 years all in all And Jacob thought that he was already settled in Shalem. God said to Jacob, verse 135, verse 1, arise. Go up to Bethel. This is where you're supposed to live and dwell there. And then secondly, make an altar. Go back there, Jacob. Make an altar. God told him. God commanded him to return to Bethel. What lessons or principles of truth can we learn from this? Number one, we look into, go into the application of the lesson tonight. Listen to this. God expects us to give the vows we have made. It's an amen to that. Amen. It does not take vows lightly, neither and neither could we. You cannot just ignore it lightly. Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 2, please in your Bible. Before the book of Ecclesiastes, you have the book of Proverbs and then the Psalm, Proverbs and then you have the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 5, look at verse 2 to 5. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be few. And then for a dream cometh through the multitude of business and A fool's voice is known by multitude of words. Verse 4, when thou bowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it. Do not forget it. Do not just say it lightly. Be serious about it, for he hath no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou hast vowed. Look at verse 5, it is better that thou shouldest not vow than thou wouldest vow and not faith. Some people would look at verse 5 and say, I don't want to promise on the faith promise card. You know, you have to understand it as a whole. You know, you cannot serve God unless you make a vow. I wish we can just serve God without making a vow, but you have to. You have to. Whatever we have made, whatever promise we have made, committing to God. Remember this, God will expect, He expects us to keep the vow. He does not take vows lightly. The years that pass could not blot out, it could never obliterate the vows you made to God. And God is not like an old man forgetting things. God keeps perfect record. And maybe, I don't know how many years you have made a promise. You promised to read your Bible. You promised to serve the Lord. You promised that you will continually help support the work. You will continually be part of a soul reading. And the mission endeavor of the Bible Baptist Church. Where are those promises now? Circumstances can change, people can change, but God still remembers. The vows that we have made, the promises that we have made. And maybe, like Laman, like Jacob I mean, you have forgotten your vows. And time has not blocked out your vows. The many years that have passed cannot cause God to forget what you have promised. So remember this. And God requires us. We are, you know, we are always, we are prone to forget, you know, what we're about. Some people, they hope that God would somehow no longer require them to pay what they had promised. And look at the life of Jonah, for example. Jonah, there's something I'd like to share with you here. In the book of Jonah. Jonah was hoping that God has forgotten his call. And somehow God has forgotten calling him to go to Nineveh. And look at Jonah. Amos, you have the book of, where's Jonah? Sometimes you bring it down to Jonah. Haggai, Rehoboam, Zechariah, and Hosea, Joel, Amos. Where's Jonah? Help me out here. Yeah, here. In Jonah 1 verse 1. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the scroll of God. The call was clear. Arise, go to Nineveh. that great city and cry against it for their wickedness has come up before me but Jonah Jonah the Bible says rose up to flee from unto Tarsus from the presence of the Lord how foolish we are to think that we can hide ourselves from the presence of the Lord and I always think of this because the Bible is a narrative Every book is a narrative and the Bible as a whole is narrative. Sometimes one verse apart and just one verse in between two verses there are hundreds of years that took place. For example, Genesis 1 verse 1, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. But if it's a verse 2 it says, and the earth was without form and void. and darkness from the face of the water. I want you to know that we believe in Gabchuri. Meaning to say between verse 1 and verse 2 there are unknown number of years that took place. And I can go back to Jonah as an example. God called Jonah and somehow Jonah was hoping... So he, one day he decided to move his ship to Calimto. But you know what? God will not forget. You signed up a faith promise card to support. This faith promise card is pitiful. I promised the Lord that I will solve this. This is pitiful. And that is what exactly. To the passing of time, I cannot tell The gap, the distance between verse 2 and verse 3 in the book of Jonah. But I believe he was hoping. And then in verse 5, he went down into the ship and slept. He was fast asleep. You see, we are prone to forget vows when God has fulfilled this side of them. As I've said, Now God, you and God are holding a stake. And the other end, you need to know, and you are holding your side. God fulfilled his promise, his vows to Jacob, his side of them. You see when, and we see where God has fulfilled his, you know, we are prone to forget our vows and when God has fulfilled his side, Jacob had not, had forgotten. Remember this God, this forgetfulness seems to occur most open when vows are made in times of trouble, in times of sickness, in times of examination, in times of, you know, medical needs or whatever. And they say, well, Lord, if you just allow me to pass and give me a degree and if you just allow me give me a title and I will promise Lord I will serve I will serve you Lord if I become an engineer if I become a lawyer if I become a doctor and Lord I will I will serve my I will serve you but where are those promise now Lord if you spare my life with this sometimes on an airplane when there's turbulence and uh The airplane said, Lord, please let us land safely, Lord. Lord, I will give my tithe. Lord, I will reconcile with the church. Lord, I will do this. You just had landed in Bangui International Airport. Welcome to Davao City. Just remind the passengers that the city of Davao prohibits smoking and you know, when you go out of the gate of the airport, you have forgotten everything. You have forgotten everything. Lord, if I survive this operation, Lord, I tell you, I will serve the Lord. Lord, if you just be with me during this time of crisis, I will serve you, Lord. I will serve you, Lord. Number two, we are prone to forget our vows when things are going well. Prosperity can cause us to forget God. And money can cause us to forget God. And positions can cause us to forget God. This man had settled down in his country home. Well, and so, said, anyhow, why are you staying here? I thought you're supposed to go back where God wants you to be. You're supposed to dwell in the house of God, Bethel, but why are you here? He said, well, at least I'm not as far, really, he's not as far as compared to Hiram. God wants you to commit your life. If we have forgotten our vows, we need to go back to the beginning and we notice that Jacob was told to go back to Bethel. Jacob, whatever reason you have, God listened to Jacob's excuses. God has one thing dealing with Jacob because Jacob somehow is the third major person in occupying the godly line leading to the Messiah. Abraham, Isaac, not Esau, but Jacob. And to be placed in that godly line leading to the birth of the Messiah is a great honor. You need to go back, Jacob. In a similar way, Jesus told the church at Ephesus to go back to the beginning. They had left their first love. They did not forget it. They left it intentionally. And they were told to remember, God says, from where you have been, you have fallen and repent and do the first work, God says. For us individual Christians who have left our first love, we need to go to the first, to the basic things, the fundamental things, like maybe you are still present, but you're not, you're no longer reading the Bible. You spent a lot of your time on social media. You're no longer praying to God. You have black time that you spend with God. Go back, God says. Jacob, go back to Bethel. Go back to the basics of your life. Go back to... You cannot have revival, Jacob. Trying to make excuses here. Go back. Go back to Bethel. It's where you need to grow in the faith, you need to read the Bible, you need to pray, you need to win souls, remember these things. Finally, when we fulfill our forgotten vows, there's an assurance, there's a great amount of peace and fulfillment that will be restored, and you will experience God's blessing in your life. And there are renewed blessings, of course, In chapter 35, verse number 9, God renewed his promise. Those promises have been forgotten, seemingly have been forgotten by Jacob, but God was reminding Jacob, that I have not forgotten Jacob. My purpose for your life, chapter 9, verse 9, God appeared to Jacob again. I like that, again. Again means revival, again. He has forgotten God. He had missed the altar. He had missed the presence of God, but God, the Bible says God appeared to him again, again, when he came out of the day room and blessed him. What a blessing. God said unto him, I am the God, almighty God, be fruitful and multiply a nation and a company and nations that will be of thee and kings shall come out of thy loins. And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac to thee will I give it and I see after thee will I give the land God went up from him in the place where he talked with him and Jacob Jacob he said that set up a pillar on the place where he talked with him even a pillar of stone and poured drink offering their own And he poured oil thereon. It is a picture of pouring your life. You cannot have revival unless you come back to where God wants you to be. You seek God, and once you do that, you will feel the presence of the Lord, and renewed blessings will fill your life. so it can be with us tonight. We must humbly accept, we need revival. Unless and until you accept the fact, we need revival. We have forgotten our commitment, our original commitments. You have first obeyed the gospel and then you at first seem to be serving God, But somehow along the line, you have forgotten. You have forgotten. Now is the time to go back. Now is the time to renew. God is always the God of second chance, the third chance, and the fourth chance. God is the God of a million chance. God will never get tired of taking us in. There is a need for us to bow before God. Humbly bow before God. and renew our commitment. Let us all stand up, please. Heavenly Father, we cannot extend invitation as usual, but Lord, You know the hearts of Your people. We humbly, Lord, we humble ourselves before You tonight. Pour the blessing and allow us to go back to bed, so to speak, in our lives. The place where we have made a commitment, the place where we have been saved. Tonight, we know, I know that you are hearing us. I know that you extend your grace to us. We claim it tonight. As heads are bowed and eyes are closed, some of you watching at home, I wonder how many of you would say, Pastor Ingai, God was talking to me like he did to Jacob. I wanted to go back to my battle in life. Raise your hand, please. Amen. God bless. I see those hands. I see those hands. Heavenly Father, Lord, save the lost. Heavenly Father, help us to humbly come to Thee, seeking for Thy forgiveness and seeking for the revival of our souls. And Lord, help us to be committed. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for allowing us to feel the presence of God in our services tonight and this morning. Blessed Lord, in Jesus' name, amen and amen.