God's Faithfulness: Finding Light in Our Darkness

1) "During this vision, the Lord spoke to Jacob, offering him three promises that would change his life forever. What was the first promise? First, God promises presence. And we talked about this a couple weeks ago. Just like his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac, God revealed himself in the moments that they needed God the most. God revealed himself to Jacob when he was in the middle of this barren place when Jacob needed God the most. God promises that no matter how dark or overwhelming our lives can be, He promises His presence in our present. See, in our darkness, God shines. Because in this darkness, when we're surrounded by darkness, God shines His light and this light of God overshadows that darkness. And when you have Christ, darkness may surround you. It may feel like it's suffocating you, but it's not because God's life, when you're a believer, the light of God will never allow darkness to overwhelm you." [32:06] (71 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "Second, God promised his blessings. God promised Jacob blessings for the present and blessings for the future. Jacob didn't deserve this at all. In fact, he was a deceiver. He was a conniver. He was selfish. He was self-centered. Yet God was gonna fulfill this covenant that was made to his grandfather Abraham and then to his father Isaac, and Jacob was blessed to be a part of that. But God's promises of blessings are more than just worldly blessings. They are spiritual blessings. And this is how it applies to our lives. Because when God says no to us, he's actually blessing us. Not every yes that we receive from God results in material blessings. God also says no to these things, and when he's saying no to these things, results in blessing us as well." [34:44] (57 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "Third, God promises faithfulness. God promised that he would be faithful to Jacob with whatever he encountered. I will go with you. I will never leave you. I will stay with you. I will be faithful. And what does that mean? That God will never, never abandon us. Never abandon us. His goodness and his graciousness and faithfulness is always there and it's always present. See, God had already developed a faithful track record for Abraham and Isaac, and now the Lord would do the same for Jacob. He would do this very same. See, we never have to go alone in life. We never have to go it alone because God is constantly there, and he is faithful. And we may not see or experience it at the given moment, but he is there, always faithful." [37:27] (57 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "Jesus was saying that he is the ladder between heaven and earth now. Jesus is serving the connection from earth to heaven. Jesus is the connection through which the angels ascend and descend to heaven. Jesus is the pathway to heaven. Jesus is the only ladder to heaven. So Jesus connects heaven and earth. Now there's two things I want you to hold onto here. First, in Genesis, Jesus told Jacob, trust me and walk by faith. I know you are in a bad situation and a bad circumstance, but I promise you I will be with you. You will be blessed and I will be faithful, Jacob. And John, Jesus told Nathanael, with the small bit of faith you have, you have an experience of anything yet. Yet you will see great things because I will be faithful." [49:01] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "Jesus descended the ladder so we can experience him and see him at work, in our world. But here's the thing that's gonna stop that. We will only seek worldly blessing when our minds are set on the world. You can't have both. You can't be searching for worldly blessings while searching for Christ. Jesus descended this ladder so that we will seek his blessings, not worldly blessings. When our minds are set upon Christ, we will experience heavenly blessings. God promises us his presence, his blessings, and his faithfulness. But we have to look at this world through the lens of Christ. Often we get caught up and we feel that God loves us if he gives us and blesses us with worldly blessings. Sometimes he chooses to, but many times he doesn't because he's doing a work in our heart." [50:41] (62 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "See, as believers, our lives don't revolve around our desires. Our lives revolve around Christ. And that's where our lives need to be focused. So what do we do? We must ask God to expand our spiritual vision, which extends beyond material blessings and anything this world can offer us. We have to see our daily lives through the lens of God. And when you commit yourself to that, you will see God at work. You will see God doing some amazing things. But when your mind is connected to the things of this world, that's all you're going to be searching for. And you're going to be disappointed. It's never going to be satisfying." [52:40] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "Jesus descended the ladder, sacrificing his safety to rescue us, to save us from judgment and eternal separation from God. Because that's who God is. Jesus descended the ladder so we can see God's amazing and excellent work in our dark and distressing world. Jesus descended that ladder so our lives would be transformed so that others can see God's handiwork and God's working in our life and changing our lives and changing the lives of other people. And that's what it is. Jesus with Jacob, he was on top of the ladder. Jesus with Nathaniel was now the ladder who descended the ladder to be with us, who ultimately gave his life, who resurrected, who's gone up to heaven. But guess what? Whatever goes up is gonna come down. God's gonna come down. New heaven and new earth, they're gonna be all together again." [56:43] (62 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)