Do you know God as the
God of your mother or father
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or maybe the God
of your grandparents?
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Join us today on Issues and
Answers so that you can learn
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to know that God is a
very present and personal God.
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Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn
and welcome once again to
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Issues and Answers. Today
we are going to be continuing
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with Dr. Paul Ratsara,
who is not only a pastor,
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but he is the president of the
Seventh Africa India Division
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of the Seventh-Day-Adventist
Church, and it is amazing
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the schedule that this dear
man keeps, and he is a dear man
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particular to me. He is
my brother in Christ and
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a personal friend. -Yes! -
I am so glad that you are here
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again Paul. -Very
happy to be here Shelley.
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- You know, last time we
were here talking about Jacob
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feeling alone and abandoned
when he had to leave his home
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because his brother Esau wanted
to kill him. His father dies,
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he has to leave his mother
and he is out alone in the
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wilderness, worn out,
when God shows him this ladder
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and angels descending and
ascending on the ladder. -Yes
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- Yes. -God standing at
the top of the ladder. Uh Huh!
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Now, we talked about a little
of the business cards that you
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mentioned about God...There
is so many names for God
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in the Bible and He comes
sometimes and He would say
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I am Yahweh Rapha, Jehovah
Rapha, the Lord who heals you.
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Or the next card
might be I am Jehovah Jireh
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the Lord who
provides. - That's true.
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He has all of these
different names, but what you...
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I would like for you to
just summarize one more time for
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us before we get into
today's topic is that when He
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said to Jacob, "I am the Lord",
He was saying that it is the
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name of God Yahweh, "I am that
I am", the God of the present,
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the past, and the future.
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- That's true. When you
study the life of Jacob,
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it is just amazing, you
understand more of the love
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of God because this man
experienced the love of God
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and we can see the character
of God through the life of Jacob
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and you can learn a lot
from the life of this man.
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Yes, last week we talked
about God introduced himself
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and His introduction...This is
I call this as a business card.
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- Yes. -You know God has
more than one business card
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and God chooses according
to the message that He wants to
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convey. So here, God introduced
Himself as "I am the Lord God
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of Abraham, your
Father and the God of Isaac".
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Every time we read this, and
we know this from Exodus 3:15,
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that the meaning of this, that
the meaning of this is that God
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is the God of History.
That means God is the God of
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past, God of the
present, and God of the future.
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And we said then, that
the message that Jacob really
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needed then is that God needs
to show him that God can handle
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his past.
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- Because Jacob was feeling
forlorn, he felt separated
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from his parents, but he
also felt abandoned by God,
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or that there was a barrier
between him and God. -Yes.
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And that's why the ladder was
there to link, and the ladder
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is there as a bridge, and
the ladder is Jesus Christ
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and the angels represent the
family of God and God Himself.
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God Himself now introduced
Himself so God is the God
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of the past and we need to ask
for forgiveness and when God...
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When you ask for forgiveness,
we will be forgiven and our
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present and our future as well
should because God masters this.
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So, but when we think of
this, when we think of this,
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have you noticed that God
stopped right there with Isaac?
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- Do you think it's because
God was introducing Himself as
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the God that Jacob knew? In
other words, he knew he was...
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God was the God of
his grandfather Abraham,
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the God of his father Isaac,
but he wasn't really seeing Him
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as his God. -Yes and actually
we can see that in verse 21.
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Verse 21, it said that "So that
I come back to my father's house
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in peace, then the
Lord shall be my God.
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Shall be...- We're on
verse 21. - Shall be my God.
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- Ok. -Verse 21.
Ooh, I love that. -Yeah
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"Shall be my God". So It
is very possible that God
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was just the God of
Abraham and Isaac for Jacob.
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God yet was not
his personal God.
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Just a God of his father
and a God of his grandfather
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he knew about God but maybe
he did not know God personally.
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You know what we always
say, "God has no grandchildren,
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He only has children".
So it doesn't matter...
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You know sometimes I
will meet people who will say
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I am a fourth generation
Seventh-day Adventist Christian,
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or they'll say
Seventh-day Adventist,
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and I will say, "but
are you a Christian"?
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- Yes. -It doesn't matter how
many generations you go back,
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is God your God? This is good!
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- Yes, God is...- You
can see it right here.
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Yes, right here. But before
we will go back to that...
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But let's continue with
the dream, with the dream...
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Go back to that when we
deal with the following verses.
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- And we're in Genesis
28. - Yes, Genesis chapter 28.
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We have read verse 13 before
um, maybe it's good to read that
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now, "And behold, the
Lord stood above the ladder
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and said", "I am the Lord
God of Abraham", your Father
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and the God of Isaac".
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The land on which you
lie, I will give to you
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and your
descendants, and then verse 14:
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"Also your descendants shall
be as the dust of the earth.
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You shall spread up road
to the west and to the east,
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to the north and to the south
and in you and in your seed
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all the families of
the earth shall be blessed.
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But God is essentially
renewing the covenant they gave
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to Abraham. -Exactly, exactly.
Actually even further than that
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in Eden, when you talk
about the seed, the seed here
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reminds us of Genesis 3:15
when God promised the Messiah,
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the Savior. So, when Jacob
thought that everything was
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lost and God surprised him
through this, that look Jacob,
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you are the
Jacob of the Covenant.
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I am renewing my Covenant,
this is actually the Covenant.
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We show this in Genesis
12 when God called Abraham,
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you can see that he said and
in your seed all the families
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of the earth shall be blessed.
So, God revealed the future
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to Jacob and God made
the plan with you Jacob.
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I will have a nation, I will
have Israel and will come back
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to that later on.
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But out of this discouraging
outlook, discouraging situation
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God made it so beautifully
and as we said already,
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we said God is thriving
in mending broken things.
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- Absolutely! -And because He
is God, He is the creator God,
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not only created the universe
but He can re-create us.
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- Amen! -And He can re-create
us, He is our creator as well
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and you could see here.
Out of this man, this young man
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who was in
trouble. God is saying look,
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if you come back to me, if
you just give your life to me...
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- I know the
plans I have for you...
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- Yes, I have a
great future for you.
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I have this great plan for you,
with you we are going to form
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a nation and that was
the dream. Also in verse 14,
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and also your descendants shall
be as the dust of the earth
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you shall spread abroad
to the west and to the east
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and the north and the south and
you and them shall be blessed.
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Verse 15 is so good.
Verse 15 is actually the summary
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of what God had in
mind. "Behold, I am with you
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and will keep you wherever
you go." "That is the future
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now, and I will bring you
back to this land for I will not
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leave you until I have
done what I have spoken to you."
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So that is the promise,
that is the future. I will never
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leave you, I will be with
you. This is what we need.
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- Amen! -What we need
is the presence of God.
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You see, this life is
very uncertain indeed.
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We don't even know the future,
but we don't need to know
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all the details of the
future. What we need to know...
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Who we need to know is
God Himself. -Yes! Amen!
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God who is the Master of
the future and He said that He
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will never leave you
and then in verse 16:
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"Then Jacob, I awoke
from a sleep and said surely
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the Lord is in this
place and I did not know it."
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So here he was feeling alone
and abandoned and he had angels,
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a company of angels with
the Lord's presence was with him
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and he was not forsaken by God.
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- Yes and many times
Shelley... this is the problem,
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we think that we are alone
and we are tempted many times
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to carry our
burdens alone. - Hmmm! Amen!
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And we think that we can
do it ourselves and we forget
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that God is there.
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Many of our problems are
caused by the fact that we
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are not aware of the
presence of God. -That's good.
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The discouragement can be
caused by the fact that we are
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not aware that God is there.
Can you imagine being aware
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that God is there?
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The moment that you are
discouraged and you know
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for sure that God is present...
In the presence of God
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we can not be discouraged if
we are aware of that presence
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because we see Him as this
great God, as this loving God.
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He's just like a
Father, He is our Father.
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You see, you remember
when you were small and kind of
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frustrated and then the
father comes and all of a sudden
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maybe you are afraid and then
the father comes and that fear
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vanishes, and that
is the presence of God.
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We need to practice the
presence of God in our lives and
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even in temptation.
In temptation many times
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we fall into temptation.
We, because we are not aware
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that God is there. Can
you imagine that our Father
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is there? We love Him, we
don't want to disappoint Him.
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That presence is
also sanctifying presence.
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- Yes it is. That presence
is an encouraging, assuring
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presence. - And let me
explain what you were saying
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when it's a
sanctifying presence,
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to be sanctified is
just to be separated from sin
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and when we recognize
that God is in our midst
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we practice His presence, then
we understand we don't want to
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do this and hurt our Father.
We can overcome the temptation,
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we know that He
will give us the way out.
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I do also want to comment...
you know you were saying
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that He's the perfect
Father and how for many people
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when they were small you were
frightened, you were discouraged
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and the father was
there. Not for all of us,
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there's, of course my father
died when I was a small child
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and there are some
people who have had fathers who
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um, unfortunately did not follow
the model that God gave them
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in the instructions. But the
thing that we want to point out
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is that God is the perfect
Father. -He is! -You don't
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need to look at what your
earthly father...if you suffered
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abuse or neglect by your earthly
father, don't try to paint your
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picture of God by your
earthly father because the best
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of earthly fathers make mistakes
but God doesn't make mistakes.
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- God doesn't make mistakes,
He's our perfect Father.
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He's a loving Father and
He is encouraging us and the
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mere fact that we
see that He is there,
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that alone will help us
just to not disappoint Him
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because He loves us so
much and we want to honor Him
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and not only we do this because
He is present but the good news
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is that He gives us the
power, the power to obey Him.
00:16:12.10\00:16:18.57
- Through the
power of the Holy Spirit.
00:16:18.61\00:16:20.44
- If we decide just to
put our lives in His hands,
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then all His
biddings are enabling.
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When He asks us to obey Him,
even gives us the power to obey.
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That is amazing, not only
said to this but He gives also
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the power, the
strength to do it.
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Paul, I actually, what I
teach when I'm teaching on Grace
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is that even obedience is by
Grace it is only as God gives us
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the power. He gave
us the gift of the Son,
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He gives us the gift of
the Holy Spirit and the gift of
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the word. He's the one that
works in us to change our will
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to line our will up with
His. He's the one that works
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in us to do His good pleasure
the Bible says, so we can't even
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obey Him in our own strength,
it is only by grace as He gives
00:17:08.62\00:17:14.50
us that power. -What we need
to do is respond to His love.
00:17:14.53\00:17:19.07
- Yes! -To respond to His
love and to open our hearts
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said God, you love me so
much here I am and then God
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can give us the strength through
the work of the Holy Spirit
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to obey Him
through His presence.
00:17:33.82\00:17:36.69
So the presence of God is
the key and that was a problem
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of Jacob here himself, he
admitted, it said in verse 16,
00:17:41.42\00:17:47.86
"Surely the Lord is in this
place and I did not know it."
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I did not know it. So all the
troubles, maybe not only here
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but even before when
he was doing what he did
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cheating the father,
cheating the brother.
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He forgot that God was
there and here he had this
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encounter with God, a
personal encounter with God.
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God became his personal
God through this experience,
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this is the turning point in
his life, he had to pass through
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this crisis for him
to hear the voice of God,
00:18:31.77\00:18:35.98
for him to have that
genuine experience with God.
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And you know, I'm looking
at verse 16 that, or excuse me,
00:18:39.95\00:18:43.59
verse 19, where
is it? I lost it.
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Where he says that he took
the.. Oh, here it is, verse 18.
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Then Jacob rose early in
the morning and took the stone
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that he had put at
his head, this hard place,
00:18:54.00\00:18:58.20
it represented the trial,
his mind could have no rest,
00:18:58.23\00:19:01.80
it was uncomfortable,
"and he set it up as a pillar
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and poured oil on top of
it." So the very experience
00:19:05.57\00:19:11.61
that he went through, the
pain he went through became
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his testimony,
his memorial to God.
00:19:15.32\00:19:18.12
How often Paul, I know
you've seen it so often,
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I see it in my life and
in others that when we are
00:19:22.96\00:19:25.79
walking through the
Valley of the Shadow of Death
00:19:25.83\00:19:28.03
as it were, it's the
darkest of dark times
00:19:28.06\00:19:30.73
but when we recognize
that God is there with us
00:19:30.77\00:19:35.97
and He turns this around and
He sets our feet on a different
00:19:36.00\00:19:39.11
path, that very thing that
we disdained going through,
00:19:39.14\00:19:44.05
that experience becomes our
joy, it becomes our testimony,
00:19:44.08\00:19:48.65
it becomes our praise.
00:19:48.68\00:19:50.19
Definitely. I call this from
T to T, from trial to testimony,
00:19:50.22\00:19:56.52
So here, this is the
trial and when God is present
00:19:56.56\00:20:04.17
all our trials will
turn into testimonies.
00:20:04.20\00:20:08.10
- Amen! -And all of our trials
they are called to prayer.
00:20:08.14\00:20:12.74
So when you pass
through difficult times,
00:20:12.77\00:20:16.28
that is not the time to give up,
00:20:16.31\00:20:17.65
that is not the
time to look down,
00:20:17.68\00:20:21.98
that is the time to look up.
00:20:22.02\00:20:24.89
That is the time to ask God
to intervene in a mighty way
00:20:24.92\00:20:30.69
and through the experience
of Jacob, we can see that God is
00:20:30.73\00:20:36.70
more than willing to do
that. - Amen! -And it's true,
00:20:36.73\00:20:40.34
we are His
children, we are His children,
00:20:40.37\00:20:43.77
He want to bless us, He
wants to do these mighty things.
00:20:43.81\00:20:47.78
So and in verse 17 He said,
"And he was afraid and said
00:20:47.81\00:20:53.18
how awesome is this place?
00:20:53.21\00:20:56.18
This is none other
than the house of God.
00:20:56.22\00:21:00.96
We will elaborate more on
the change that took place,
00:21:00.99\00:21:06.23
took place after
the encounter with God.
00:21:06.26\00:21:10.63
But I want just to go
back into this personal God.
00:21:10.67\00:21:17.37
You see for Jacob,
he only knew of God,
00:21:17.41\00:21:27.08
- He knew about
God. - About God.
00:21:27.12\00:21:29.55
But, it's very possible
that his knowledge of God was
00:21:29.58\00:21:37.09
like the head knowledge.
-Yes! - Kind of theoretical,
00:21:37.13\00:21:41.70
intellectual knowledge, and
many times that is the problem.
00:21:41.73\00:21:46.74
We know a lot about
God, we know the Bible,
00:21:46.77\00:21:51.27
we know verses, we
know many things about God
00:21:51.31\00:21:54.18
but the question is,
do we know God personally?
00:21:54.21\00:21:57.91
You see, we have plants
and flowers, I like flowers,
00:21:57.95\00:22:03.79
but I have observed that
there are two kinds of flowers
00:22:03.82\00:22:08.02
when it comes to
decoration, the plastic ones
00:22:08.06\00:22:12.63
and the natural one.
00:22:12.66\00:22:14.80
You know when you look
from afar, you don't really know
00:22:14.83\00:22:18.60
the difference, they
look alike, of course the bees
00:22:18.63\00:22:23.91
cannot be deceived. Bees
know exactly which on is plastic
00:22:23.94\00:22:29.24
and which one is the
genuine one or the natural one.
00:22:29.28\00:22:33.01
And it is possible that
there are also two categories of
00:22:33.05\00:22:38.19
Christians, the
plastic Christian,
00:22:38.22\00:22:40.46
and the natural or
the genuine Christian.
00:22:40.49\00:22:43.76
When they are seen
from afar, they look alike
00:22:43.79\00:22:48.46
but when it comes to real
life, then we see the difference
00:22:48.50\00:22:56.27
between the plastic
and the natural one.
00:22:56.30\00:23:01.24
In the real world we
cannot change, we cannot change
00:23:01.28\00:23:07.78
from plastic flowers to a
genuine one, or natural ones,
00:23:07.82\00:23:12.42
but I have good news for us,
in spiritual life conversion,
00:23:12.45\00:23:18.03
change can take place.
The plastic Christian can
00:23:18.06\00:23:22.40
become a genuine one and
you can have that instantly.
00:23:22.43\00:23:28.50
The very moment you said I
surrender my life unto God,
00:23:28.54\00:23:32.44
here I am, make me
a genuine Christian.
00:23:32.47\00:23:36.41
- And it's all about
making God a personal God.
00:23:36.44\00:23:40.78
Jesus said in John
17:3, "This is eternal life
00:23:40.82\00:23:45.45
that you would know
God the Father and the one
00:23:45.49\00:23:49.29
whom He sent." But the word
know there is in an intimate
00:23:49.32\00:23:53.93
way, a personal way,
like a husband knows a wife,
00:23:53.96\00:23:58.73
so this is where the
change began for Jacob and for
00:23:58.77\00:24:03.51
any of us going from just
maybe a plastic Christian,
00:24:03.54\00:24:07.74
or even a non-Christian
to becoming a true Christian
00:24:07.78\00:24:10.05
is when we understand
God wants to be a personal...
00:24:10.08\00:24:13.31
- That is the key, that
is the key and it is said
00:24:13.35\00:24:15.65
in our text here, "And God
then the Lord shall be my God"
00:24:15.68\00:24:22.96
in verse 21. My God. Yes
He's the God of the universe,
00:24:22.99\00:24:28.30
He's the God of my father,
He's the God of my grandfather,
00:24:28.33\00:24:31.83
He's the God of the church, but
He should be my personal God,
00:24:31.87\00:24:37.47
that personal
experience with God.
00:24:37.51\00:24:40.61
Someone said I know God exists,
I talked to Him this morning.
00:24:40.64\00:24:46.25
So we need to have this personal
God, and the question is,
00:24:46.28\00:24:52.42
how do we do this?
00:24:52.45\00:24:54.72
Um, you know a relationship
with God, it takes time.
00:24:54.76\00:25:01.56
Any relationship that
can grow, it takes time
00:25:01.60\00:25:05.87
and -Communication.
communication and time
00:25:05.90\00:25:07.24
and the devil knows this and
that's why he's doing everything
00:25:07.80\00:25:14.64
for us not to have time or
not to communicate with God
00:25:14.68\00:25:18.01
because if he can just
make us too busy, to be too busy
00:25:18.05\00:25:24.99
to talk to God or
to spend time with God,
00:25:25.02\00:25:28.12
then he will win because we
will not have this connection
00:25:28.16\00:25:33.50
with God. So,
quickly, first, we need to look
00:25:33.53\00:25:41.47
how is our prayer life?
Are we reading the Bible
00:25:41.50\00:25:48.18
on a regular basis?
00:25:48.21\00:25:49.64
Are we sharing our
faith? How is our faith?
00:25:49.68\00:25:55.18
We need to go back
to that, to the basic,
00:25:55.22\00:25:59.45
we need to spend time with God.
00:25:59.49\00:26:02.96
Don't ever be too busy to pray,
00:26:02.99\00:26:06.03
don't ever be too
busy to read the Bible
00:26:06.06\00:26:09.86
because that is our lifeline.
00:26:09.90\00:26:12.30
We cannot have a
strong relationship with God,
00:26:12.33\00:26:16.20
we cannot have God as our
personal God if we don't have
00:26:16.24\00:26:21.34
time to pray. Um, and
here, later on when Moses was
00:26:21.38\00:26:31.05
called by God to
deliver the children of Israel
00:26:31.09\00:26:36.22
and then when Moses
said, when they asked me
00:26:36.26\00:26:40.70
about the God who is sending
me, what shall I tell them?
00:26:40.73\00:26:47.47
Then God said in
Exodus chapter 3, verse 15,
00:26:47.50\00:26:57.78
and He said here
moreover God said to Moses
00:26:57.81\00:27:02.05
Exodus 3:15:
00:27:02.08\00:27:04.19
- Um hum! So God put
Jacob in His business card.
00:27:19.60\00:27:26.01
He said before when
He introduced Himself
00:27:26.04\00:27:30.05
Jacob was not
there, but now God said,
00:27:30.08\00:27:33.98
"I am the God of Jacob also."
00:27:34.02\00:27:36.32
So God would like to be
very proud to introduce Himself
00:27:36.35\00:27:39.99
to our neighbors, to
say I am the God of Shelley,
00:27:40.02\00:27:43.09
I am the God of Paul and
that is our personal God.
00:27:43.12\00:27:46.83
So, we need, we
need to know God.
00:27:46.86\00:27:49.30
Oh, thank you so much
for sharing this Paul and
00:27:49.33\00:27:52.13
we are inviting you back
to be with us again next week.
00:27:52.17\00:27:56.37
I just believe that you, God is
using you to touch some people
00:27:56.40\00:28:01.31
at home right now. I
don't care what your name is,
00:28:01.34\00:28:04.78
God wants to put your
name on His business card,
00:28:04.81\00:28:07.58
He wants to be
your "Personal God",
00:28:07.62\00:28:10.39
He wants you to know
that He will never leave you
00:28:10.42\00:28:14.72
or forsake you and
that He is with you always.
00:28:14.76\00:28:17.43
Our prayer is that
you respond to God's call.
00:28:17.46\00:28:21.60
Thanks' for joining us.
00:28:21.63\00:28:23.37