Creating a Home For the Divine Presence

(Sermon Outline)

1)      Do we dare to dream that justice and righteousness can prevail in the nations of the earth?

a)      How do you answer that question?  What source do you look to for your information?

b)      Who we really need to hear an answer from is God.

2)      Life Springs is a Church that Prioritizes God’s Word for a reason

a)      Life Group – Unashamed Promotion

b)      John 1:1–3 (NKJV) — 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

c)      John 1:14 (NKJV) — 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

d)      John 1:16–17 (NKJV) — 16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

e)      Micah 7:20 (NKJV) — 20 You will give truth to Jacob And mercy to Abraham, Which You have sworn to our fathers From days of old.

f)       In connection with Jacob… the prophet Micah speaks of truth. This does not imply truth in a cognitive sense (What are the facts? What is ultimately real?), but rather truth in an existential sense (Who am I? To which story do I belong and what part am I called on to play?).[1]

g)      The Jews have a dream of the story they belong to

h)      Nikolai Berdyaev –Originally a Marxist that became disillusioned with the false messianic movement was a critic of Jusiasm and became a gnostic Christian (something we will look at in the future)

i)        Berdyaev believed that Jews and Judaism were “obsessed by the passionate idea of justice and its terrestrial fulfilment.” They believed that redemption could be achieved on earth. The “intense Jewish striving after truth, justice and happiness” was responsible for the perennial restlessness of the Jewish spirit and its often revolutionary expression.[2]

j)        Judaism is not an escape from the world, but an engagement with the world. It does not anaesthetise us to the pains and apparent injustices of life. It does not reconcile us to suffering. It asks us to play our part in the most daunting undertaking ever asked by God of mankind: to construct relationships, communities, and ultimately a society, that will create a home for the Divine Presence. And that means wrestling with God and with men and refusing to give up or despair.[3]

3)      Jacob – the man who wrestled with the world and with God

a)      Called before birth to inherit the covenant and promises of God – his whole journey was wrestling with the world that sought to abort the purposes of God – but God was with Him.

b)      Genesis 47:9 (NKJV) — 9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”

c)      Bethel – Fleeing from Esau

i)        Genesis 28:10–12 (NKJV) — 10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. – then God speaks to him.

ii)      Genesis 28:16–17 (NKJV) — 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

iii)    The house of prayer – synagogue – the church – an encounter with God

iv)    PRAYER CHANGES THE WORLD BUT CHANGES US BECAUSE WE ENCOUNTER THE PRESENCE OF GOD

d)      Laban – 20 years

i)        Jacob fled for his life from his uncle After an encounter with his Uncle Laban that turned out differently because Laban had an encounter with God in a dream:

ii)      Genesis 32:1–2 (NKJV) — 1 So Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp.” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

e)      Esau

i)        Genesis 32:24–30 (NKJV) — 24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” 27 So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” 28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

ii)      I will not let you go until you bless me: These words of Jacob to the angel lie at the very core of surviving crisis. Each of us knows from personal experience that events that seemed disappointing, painful, even humiliating at the time, can be the most important in our lives…We mature and grow strong and become more understanding and forgiving through the mistakes we make. A protected life is a fragile and superficial life. Strength comes from knowing the worst and refusing to give in. Jacob has bequeathed us many gifts, but few more valuable than the obstinacy and resilience that can face hard times and say of them: “I will not let you go until you bless me.” I will not give up or move on until I have extracted something positive from this pain and turned it into blessing.[4]

iii)    To be complete we do not need Esau’s blessings of wealth and power. Ours is another face, an alternative destiny, a different blessing. The face we bear is the image we see reflected in the face of God when we wrestle with Him and refuse to let go.[5]

4)      Grace and Truth through Jesus Christ

a)      Romans 8:2–4 (NKJV) — 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

b)      Creating a Home for the Divine Presence