Surely the Lord Is in This Place

Devotional

Day 1: Stone Pillow, Heaven’s Ladder

Jacob fled his brother’s wrath, collapsing at sunset on desert ground. He shoved a stone under his head—a nomad’s pillow. As he slept, angels climbed a ladder between earth and heaven. God stood beside him, repeating promises first sworn to Abraham. Jacob woke trembling. He anointed the stone, naming the wasteland Bethel: “God’s house.” [34:21]

This dirt became holy because God chose to meet a runaway there. The ladder revealed creation’s thin veil—heaven’s traffic intersecting earth’s dust. Jacob’s stone marked where divine promises pierced human desperation.

You carry desperation too. What barren place have you labeled “godforsaken”? Take Jacob’s stone as proof: God claims unlikely ground. Where have you been sleeping on rocks, unaware of angels?

“He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the LORD, and he said: ‘I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.’”
(Genesis 28:12-13a, NIV)

Prayer: Ask God to open your eyes to His presence in your most desolate places.
Challenge: Write down one “rock pillow” situation where you need to recognize God’s nearness.

Day 2: Shaving in the Death Room

Jackie lathered the washcloth, shaving a dying man’s stubble. Beeping monitors framed her act. She clipped nails, combed hair, and sang “Amazing Grace” as lungs failed. Fluorescent lights revealed no stained glass—just a nurse preparing a saint for eternity. [42:55]

God hallowed that ICU through ordinary hands. Jackie treated broken flesh as sacred, anointing it for glory. Her service turned clinical space into holy ground.

Many of us avoid hospitals, funeral homes, and nursing facilities—places that smell of mortality. But what if these thresholds host heaven’s traffic? When did you last touch suffering as Jackie did?

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
(Psalm 23:4, NIV)

Prayer: Confess your aversion to hard spaces. Beg God for courage to enter them.
Challenge: Visit someone in a hospital or care facility this week. Bring lotion and offer to moisturize their hands.

Day 3: Colorado Calling on a Couch

A Virginia pastor tossed a church profile mid-page. Lightning struck—not in skies, but in his chest. He announced to his wife, “We’re moving to Colorado.” No burning bush, just a couch. Yet God rerouted a life through paper and upholstery. [44:12]

Divine calls still startle us in mundane moments. Jacob’s stone, Moses’ bush, Saul’s blindness—God hijacks the ordinary to redirect His people.

What mundane object might God use to reroute you? A text? A billboard? A bulletin? Stop dismissing “ordinary” as unspiritual. Where have you felt holy urgency while doing laundry or drinking coffee?

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
(Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV)

Prayer: Thank God for speaking through daily clutter. Ask Him to sharpen your attention.
Challenge: Circle three ordinary items in your home. Pray over each as potential “calling tools.”

Day 4: Sanctuary First Impressions

A pastor gasped entering this sanctuary—breath stolen by stained glass and timber beams. Then Jim popped up, wrench in hand, bleeding radiators. Holiness met humor as God hallowed a repair job. [45:42]

Buildings become Bethels when God’s people gather, not because of architecture. This room points beyond itself—a ladder saying, “Heaven stoops here.”

You’ve felt awe in spaces: forests, concert halls, or your childhood church. But have you let routine dull their wonder? When did you last enter this sanctuary expecting Jacob’s ladder?

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?”
(1 Corinthians 3:16, NIV)

Prayer: Thank God for physical spaces that train your heart upward.
Challenge: Sit in the sanctuary for 10 minutes today. Trace one beam or window with your eyes as you pray.

Day 5: Tiptoeing Sacred Ground

Young Fred tiptoed through the graveyard, terrified of stepping on sacred dirt. His mother said, “Treat it all as holy.” Pine needles, unmarked graves, even the red mule’s hoofprints—all bore God’s fingerprint. [53:44]

We divide life into secular and sacred, but God permeates both. Every inch of creation pulses with His presence, awaiting our notice.

Where have you labeled “common” what God calls consecrated? The break room? The DMV? Your Instagram feed? What if you stopped tiptoeing and started kneeling?

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
(Exodus 3:5, NIV)

Prayer: Ask God to strip away your categories of “holy” and “profane.”
Challenge: Take a walk today. Name three “ordinary” sights aloud as “sacred.”

Sermon Summary

Grace and peace open the gathering with warm hospitality, practical announcements, and an invitation to connect through welcome packets and La Puente health kits. The congregation pauses to recognize four high school graduates, celebrating their gifts, future plans, and a symbolic multi-tool that represents both practical support and the tools needed for the road ahead. A prayer of blessing and the Lord’s Prayer send the graduates out with hopes for wisdom, fidelity, and continued formation in everyday holiness.

The service shifts into a brief series exploring what church is, with a reading of Genesis 28:10–19a that recounts Jacob’s ladder and his waking declaration, "Surely the Lord is in this place." That text grounds a pastoral reflection on places where God appears: remote wildernesses, unexpected living rooms, quiet hospital rooms, and even crowded, ordinary spaces. Anecdotes range from an upcoming solitary fishing trip chosen as a place of encounter to the tender scene of a hospice nurse preparing an elder for death, each illustrating how God breaks into the ordinary.

Attention turns to the dual identity of the church. The first identity remains people gathered by God; the second holds that church also names a place that points from earth to heaven. The building and sanctuary serve as signposts rather than containers, reminding that God stoops down and offers connection. The sermon resists any notion that sacredness hides behind visible markers alone. Using Fred Craddock’s red mule and cemetery story, the teaching urges treating all ground as sacred; if every place receives reverence, then the presence of God will not be missed.

The service culminates at the Lord’s Table where bread and cup make ordinary elements channels of presence, even at sites once marked by betrayal. A prayer asks for humility to host God in inner places so healing and redemption can take root. The closing ritual invites the congregation to stand, join hands, and sing as the community sends one another out to recognize God’s presence in the world. The final charge, "Go in peace," sends worshipers into daily life with an eye for sacredness in unexpected corners.

Key Takeaways

1. The church is people and place The church names both a gathered people and the places that point to God. People shape a living sanctuary by their shared life, while specific places act as signposts that remind the faithful of heaven’s nearness. Holding both realities together guards against treating buildings as divine or reducing faith to private feeling. This balance invites a posture of communal presence wherever believers find themselves. [50:40]
2. God shows up unexpectedly everywhere God’s presence breaks in outside predictable hours, in hospital rooms and remote rivers alike. Expectation narrows the vision; surprise widens it, compelling attention to moments that defy convenience, comfort, or schedule. Such appearances demand a readiness to receive and interpret ordinary events as places of encounter. Openness to surprise cultivates spiritual attentiveness in ordinary life. [39:47]
3. Treat every place as sacred When sacredness loses clear borders, the safe response is to treat all space with reverence. Practicing this habit avoids the futile work of trying to distinguish holy ground by sight or marker alone. Acting as if every interaction and location could host God trains the heart to notice and honor presence. That discipline makes everyday life a form of worship. [56:03]
4. Communion makes ordinary places holy The table consecrates common bread and cup into means of grace, transfiguring site and moment. Even a meal taken amid betrayal becomes a locus of presence, teaching that brokenness and holiness can coincide. Approaching the table with humility invites transformation of inner and outer spaces alike. Regular participation grounds the community in a sacramental vision of ordinary life. [59:34]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[05:10] - Guest Welcome and Info
[07:04] - La Puente Health Kits
[17:32] - Graduate Recognition Begins
[18:17] - Graduates Introduced
[25:23] - Gifts and Blessing for Graduates
[33:36] - Series: What Is Church
[33:56] - Reading: Genesis 28
[39:47] - Unexpected Places of God
[50:19] - Church as Place and Sign
[56:03] - Treating All Places as Sacred
[59:34] - Communion and Closing Song

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Genesis 28:10–19a (ESV)
10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 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.” 18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel.

Observation Questions

In Genesis 28:16–17, how does Jacob react when he realizes God is present in the place where he slept? What does he name the place and why?
The sermon describes a hospice nurse preparing a dying man for death by shaving him, trimming his nails, and singing Amazing Grace ([42:55]). How does this story illustrate finding God in unexpected places?
What does Jacob’s stone pillar (Genesis 28:18) symbolize about marking sacred spaces? How does this connect to the idea of church buildings as “signposts” rather than containers of God?

Interpretation Questions

Jacob was a flawed, fearful person on the run when God met him. Why might God choose to reveal Himself in such an ordinary, broken moment? How does this challenge assumptions about where holiness is found?
The multi-tool given to graduates symbolized “the tools you need” for life ([26:02]). How might this relate to Jacob’s story of receiving God’s promise in a wilderness? What “tools” does God provide in uncertain seasons?
Fred Craddock’s story about tiptoeing through a cemetery warns against trying to distinguish sacred ground ([55:40]). What happens when we treat all spaces as holy? How does this mindset reshape daily life?

Application Questions

When have you experienced God’s presence in a place or moment you least expected—a hospital, traffic jam, or conflict? What made that experience sacred?
The hospice nurse’s care turned a sterile hospital room into holy ground ([42:55]). What ordinary routines (e.g., washing dishes, commuting) could you approach with similar reverence this week?
Jacob anointed a stone to mark God’s presence. What tangible reminder (a object, habit, or prayer) could help you recognize God’s nearness in your home or workplace?
The sermon warns against treating church buildings as “containers” of God ([53:10]). How can you actively carry the truth of God’s presence out of Sunday worship and into your neighborhood?
Communion transforms ordinary bread into a “channel of presence” ([59:34]). How might sharing a meal with someone this week become an opportunity to reflect God’s grace?

Sermon Clips

67s

#GraceInTheRoom

“The time came, my mom and I stood up, I took my granddad's hand, my mom took his foot and as he took his last labored breaths, Jackie sang in her rich alto voice, through many dangers, toils and snares. I have already come. His grace has brought me safe thus far and grace will bring me home. And he was gone. Hospital room. Tubes, wires, beeping machines, fluorescent lights flickering overhead, the smell of death all around. And God showed up.”

28s

#GodBeyondWalls

“Don't be mistaken. The church is not a container. These four walls and this roof have no more power to contain God than heaven itself. All God has to do is poke a finger through the thin veil that separates heaven and earth and to drop a ladder down through someone's dream and God can be anywhere and everywhere God desires.”

63s

#GodShowsUpAnywhere

“There are places in this world where we know without the shadow of a doubt that god resides. Mine is in the middle of nowhere Wyoming. Shazia's god helper is in Las Vegas. That's the one that's harder for me to accept. That's the one where if God happened to show up while I was in Vegas, I would say, surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. There are places we expect God to show up and there are places we would never expect god to show up.”

45s

#SacredGroundEverywhere

“He says, I remember how ridiculous I must have looked tiptoeing, and then taking long steps, and then short steps again, as if to somehow not step on the sacred ground. What was sacred? What wasn't? He says, I went home frustrated with that mule, and I said, mama, I can't tell what is sacred. And she said, well, I know it looks all the same, but if you'll just treat it all as sacred, then you'll never miss.”

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Surely the Lord Is in This Place

Devotional

Day 1: Stone Pillow, Heaven’s Ladder

Day 2: Shaving in the Death Room

Day 3: Colorado Calling on a Couch

Day 4: Sanctuary First Impressions

Day 5: Tiptoeing Sacred Ground

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Surely the Lord Is in This Place

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