Vayetze 2020 - Jim Staley

All right Vayetze that’s a Torah portion for this week anybody knows what that means Vayetze very clever Vayetze and he left and who left well yeah cool we’re going to talk about yakov we’re going to talk about Jacob and uh Esau and just kind of catch you up here from last week into this week last week’s Torah portion talked about uh the famous Jacob and Esau a scenario where he stole the blessing and stole the birthright and stole the farm pretty much and all of that was encouraged believe it or not by who his own mother which was who by the students Rebecca okay so Rebecca just everybody put on your Bible head here we go Rebecca and Isaac had a son named Jacob they had two sons Jacob and Esau they are fighting it out for the inheritance and right after Jacob gives the blessing or excuse me Isaac gives the blessing uh to Jacob what happens Esau gets extremely angry and makes a statement out of anger uh like many people have is hey when dad’s done I’m killing you it’s over with I’m done with you bro you’ve been doing this your whole life it’s off with your head and when that word got back to Rebecca uh Rebecca began the process of protecting both of her sons really because they did she didn’t want to lose both of them in one day and and and have sibling rivalry where she loses her both sons because she really thought he was serious this time so let’s pick up that story and we’re going to start uh let’s back up here into genesis chapter 28. all right everybody there and let’s begin genesis chapter 28 bear sheep then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him and said to him you shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan now who’s listening to this conversation he saw us listening okay so he’s there listening to this conversation here’s a rise go to Padamaram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother or his uncle may God almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you that you may be an assembly of peoples and give you the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants with you that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger which God gave to Abraham so Isaac sent Jacob away and he went to Patamaram to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian the brother of Rebecca the mother of Jacob and Esau verse 6 Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to panama ram to take himself a wife from there and then as he blessed him he gave him a charge saying you shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to father morale also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father so before we go any further what is this little small section here from verse six and seven whose perspective is this being written from who’s thinking out loud huh right so Esau is thinking out loud so what I like to do is put myself back into the context and the culture of that period and this is quite amazing because the scriptures are detailing for us the thought process of Esau although we’re reading this if you think about it how do I write a book from the thought process of somebody else I don’t know what they’re thinking how could I know that this is part of the divine origin of the scriptures itself is is is proof that there’s a higher being that is influencing these writers to write this book because they’re knowing it’s whoever’s writing that is knowing the thoughts of Esau and Esau is thinking and he says that he saw his father bless Jacob he saw that he said I want you to take uh I want you to go take a wife from my uncle from your uncle and not from the daughters of Canaan in the presence of Esau and Esau is feeling a certain way about that why why is Esau feeling a certain way about that why is he saying that huh well no no not necessarily the context here is he says man I heard dad say that I don’t want you taken away from the daughters that came but doesn’t he already have a wife because Esau did this exact same thing Esau has got a wife from the tops of Canaan and this is a little bit you know what I’m saying like this is uncomfortable for Esau because jay uh Jacob excuse me Isaac in the presence of Esau is saying don’t do what your brother did that’s pretty much what he’s saying in his prayers one thing to do it when he says out there it’s another thing when Esau can hear his father say don’t take a daughter from the Canaanites okay and and he goes on to say Esau saw that the daughters of king did not please his father Isaac so Esau went to Ishmael who’s Ishmael who’s who’s Ishmael to Esau his uncle uncle with uncle Ishmael okay went to uncle-ish and took mahala the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son the sister of nabaa to be his wife in addition to the wives he had somebody talk to me what’s going on here what’s happening what’s going on in this mind of Esau I’ll be trying to win back his father’s blessing somehow okay he wants to try to win back he’s trying to win back favor a blessing of his father right what’s happening why is Esau doing this do you see there’s a conflict inside of Esau right now is as much as we say okay Isaac let’s just be be real okay as believers especially believers in Messiah we see Isaac’s the good guy Ishmael’s the bad guy Jacob is the good guy Esau is the bad guy right that’s just how we look back at the scriptures and we dichotomize them and set separate them in the camps but you have to remember these are brothers okay this is a family these are blood relatives and there are feelings that are all over the place uh sometimes you love your brother sometimes you love your sister sometimes you can’t stand them and you have thoughts that go through your head like man I wish mom would have just adopt them out you know what I mean I can’t stand my brother or whatever and uh you might feel away bad kids you might be the way your spouse sometimes but at the end of the day we all have this this this schism that’s inside of us but but what I want to point out here is that Esau wants to please his father do we see that Esau wants to please his father he’s not an evil kid he wants the blessing of his father but what’s the problem with Esau his mother okay there’s some problems there for sure mother’s not real handy with uh uh liking that liking him but it by the end of the day Esau wants to please his father but he also wants to do things himself his way he wants to please himself how do we know that do you think this is the very first time that Esau understands that oh dad doesn’t want me to marry a candidate no do you really think that this is the first conversation that they ever had about this gun no not at all we know that from the scriptures itself Esau knew that he was not supposed to go there his father told him not to do that he chose to do it anyway but in American lingua we would say that he wanted to have his cake and eat it too he wanted to have a wife from the Canaanites but he also wanted the the blessing from his father does anybody ever feel like that you live I’ve lived a life like that or that believers in Christ we as as believers sometimes we do that we say I want the blessing of God I want that favor but I also want what I want I also want to I want to I want to do it my way you know and I believe really for the past almost 1800 years now 19 maybe even 2 000 years since maybe the day after Christ died it all started going to literally to hell in a handbasket where man decides you know what we want the favor of God but we want to do it our way one of the most famous examples of this in all of the Bible is that’s a great example of Saul for sure but the example that I was thinking of is the golden calf I mean the golden calf is the epitome of man trying to please God his way where God says listen it’s idolatry he says from the top of the mountain with Moshe it’s get get out of my way I’m gonna kill everybody Mo get out I’m giving it all to you done with these people very idolatry but from the people’s perspective they were not an idolatry they were worshipping Yahweh they literally thought hey oh Aaron make this golden calf let’s have a feast unto the Lord and let’s worship God so a man tries to please God his way all the time how many times in scripture does that work zero it doesn’t work you know got it who invented science not a trick question God did very good okay you’re thinking no God invented science so if God embedded science in all the scientific principles that he invented gravity you know today we cannot figure out how gravity works we only know what it does like there’s no consensus on exactly how gravity works there’s theories but we don’t know but if you jump off of a house it’s a hundred percent that you’re going to hit the ground or whatever is at the ground that’s the way gravity works and why do I say that because in order to approach a living God there is certain protocols that you have to move towards in order to do that safely would you agree the two sons of Aaron did not do those protocols and so they became crispy critters at the temple right they went in and and they burned to death because they did not follow the scriptural principle they proverbially jumped off the building without understanding how gravity works now why am I saying this because this is what’s going on with Esau Esau wants a result but he’s not willing to do the work to get there he’s not willing to know what does the father absolutely want from me so that I can gain the full access to the father and all of his blessings and the answer is it’s quite shocking that Esau is actually the one uh who actually gives us the answer of how to get the blessings of the father in this case the blessings of God can anybody tell me in those two verses what is the answer of how to get the blessings of God it’s in verse 7. let’s read it together and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to patamaran what is the key to the blessings of God making the instructions obedience obedience is better than what sacrifice better than sacrifice now sacrifice is something that we say in in our modern day society you know oh I hate the sacrifice but no it’s not true we as Americans love to sacrifice we really do like we love to give gifts we love to sacrifice because it makes us feel good there’s a certain feeling that feels good about sacrificing but it’s not so much fun to play by the rules America was started off rebellion forget about that okay we are the rebellious country we broke away from England we became the rebellious stepchild if you will and we we become we invented cowboys like that we are the cowboy country and unfortunately Christianity developed in the western western world with the same mentality of doing things our way this is Esau and I want to just challenge each and every one of us that if we whatever it is in your life I don’t care what it is I have some things in my life that I don’t know about you but like I want to get over certain things in my life like I want to I have goals in my life that I want to get to and there are certain walls that keep coming up does anybody ever have a wallet that just keeps coming up in your life like like you don’t know where does this keep why is this wall keep coming up this frustrates me that wall might have a name on it it might be a real person it’s a wall but in my life there are certain things that keeps coming up I want to beat those things I want to get past those things so I can move on to greater things with what God has called me and my family to do and in order to do that this passage really spoke to me when I was reading this is that I can’t mix what I want to do with what God wants to do I can’t mix it I’ve got to I have to do things Bible things and Bible ways does that make sense hopefully that ministers to you as well it says in verse nine so Esau went to Ishmael and took uh we just read that right and he added that to the wives that he had this is absolutely um I’m just going to make one more point about this because Deuteronomy chapter 12 is coming to my mind where God warns the Israelites before they go into the land of kingdom he says look when you go do this and you see the amazing things that the pagans are doing and how they worship their Gods do not inquire into how they worship their Gods and take those and add them to how you worship me don’t do it I don’t want you to add things matter of fact the end of that chapter is a famous quote that says do not add or take away from how I taught you to worship me worship me then you move forward to John chapter four twenty-four winston say here are those who worship me those who worship me in spirit and in truth those are the only two things that God is looking for in worship is spirit and truth when we add other things to it it’s just gets bad so yes let’s talk about this for just a second because it’s a misnomer that Jacobs name means deceiver are we to believe that a mother would name her child deceiver no that’s not what his name means it means supplanter okay over time because of his actions subplanter got supplanted with deceiver and what it really meant originally was that Jacob it was a good prophecy he was going to supplant his enemies that’s what it meant okay was that Jacob wasn’t going to supplant his enemies but what ended up happening is Jacobs character ended up supplanting his brother which then turned into through deceit that he supplanted and so his name became kind of synonymous with deceiver yes so let’s talk about that so let’s talk about Rebecca for a minute Rebecca hears a word from the Lord and says Jacob is going to be the ruler he’s going to be the one that’s got the blessing right the mistake that Rebecca makes is the same mistake that Sarah made what’s the mistake that Sarah made make it happen make it happen right did God not give the same type of of promise to Abraham and Sarah you’re going to have a a son and through him the stars of the sky sands of the sea I’m going to build nations a nation through your son Isaac and it didn’t happen and so Sarah said listen man God gave us a promise he must want us to make it happen okay and so that’s exactly the mistake that brought about Ishmael to begin with okay which was never supposed to let’s just be honest and so I try to explain to my Islam friends in prison Ishmael was never supposed to be born he was never supposed to exist it was out of disobedience and a lack of trust in the oath of the promised something that was not supposed to be born to be born when we listen watch this because Galatians 4 is all about this when you take something holy and you have intercourse with something that is unholy out comes bondage every time this is the story or the allegory of Galatians chapter 4 when it says that Jerusalem okay that that that out of mount Sinai came bondage all right it did not say it said this it said the child of mount Sinai became bondage out of the law came bondage it did not say that the law was bondage it said that from the law came bondage how do we know that because he’s giving the allegory of Abraham and Sarah that Abraham went into something that was good Hagar was good she was a servant she was a blessing to Sarah before she became his wife and got pregnant but he took something that was good did something that he shouldn’t do and out of something good came something that caused bondage in Abraham and Sarah and the same way first century Jews over time took the law of God they went into it they they and through that intercourse out came the oral law and it was that lower law that came from the law that caused bondage to God’s people okay so the mistake that that that Sara made and Rebecca made is they took the law no pun intended into their own hands and they decided we’re going to make the promise of God come true now we will never know how God was planning on doing this okay we have no idea how God was planning on miraculously because you’re right if you’re Rebecca and you’re looking at your husband he’s fixing to give the blessing and the inheritance to Ishmael which you know God said was not supposed to go to him so you’re freaking out going the entire prophetic message that God gave me is going to be down the drain if I don’t do something right now but how do we know that God had a miracle planned up the sleeve to do something supernatural maybe down the road down the line who knows where the whole thing gets switched over to Jacob anyway because how many realize that God’s word always comes true 100 of the time if God says that the younger is going to rule over the older the younger’s ruling over the older there’s no way around it so even Isaac can’t mess that up and Rebecca is to blame she caused Jacob so much pain so much hurt uh and so much a character she taught him how to lie cheat and steal let’s just be honest and God in his infinite wisdom and mercy decides to choose Jacob anyway because of the calling that he had on his life and his father’s life and we’re going to see God’s grace here in just a moment but yes Rebecca because she did not trust in God 100 in his promises and let him do what he wants to do to fulfill his ways she created a golden calf and God had to get him out of that doesn’t Isaac though have any um you know I’m just trying to understand how he surely mean surely Rebecca you know told him what the Lord spoke to her when the two were in her womb and the fact that he’s practically on his deathbed and that he still you know that he never saw it like how how could he be a spiritual man I mean I’m not trying to eat well we were talking 40 years uh you know 40 plus years uh before um from the time that that happened for the time that it is now and he’s old and gray and perhaps he forgot we don’t know that’s an inference we just don’t know but it is an entire generation later where and and and it is their culture to bless the first-born period no matter what so all right let’s move on because we’ve got some good stuff we want to get into here verse 10 Jacob’s vow of Bethel now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went towards Haran 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 okay has anybody ever had issue with that like ever thought what the heck like he’s sleeping on a rock you’ve been that tired before okay just fall asleep when we’re kids you fall asleep anywhere it doesn’t matter right matter of fact uh uh Jason sent me a picture of his son last week that was so tired he took him on the job with him and he found him in the hallway sleeping on the wood floor you know I mean like I could never do that but kids can just crawl up and sleep anywhere it doesn’t matter where but I do want to share this bit of culture with you because it’s important to know this is not something that is not unique to the ancient world um even today in Africa they sleep on stones and they have and if I could draw this correctly but they actually have stone kind of looks like that um let’s put a leg on this side but basically it’s it’s a um it’s like a neck brace I mean they carry around with them it’s the size of a hand and when they’re tired they lay down and this cradles their neck and it’s made of stone or hardwood and they sleep on it so my point is is that in Africa they make these and they travel around with them and they have their own that’s kind of custom made but it is not uncommon for someone in the ancient world to take a stone and put it down and then they take like a map and kind of roll it up or fold it and put it on the stone and it becomes a pillow it’s just very very common so even though today for us it’s bizarre we would never we would want to sleep on something soft but most of the world even the Eastern world today okay even I remember one time going on vacation to Dominican republic and we went to feed some of the homeless uh or not peace on the homeless but to give gifts to some of the kids the poor kids brought some pencils and some dollar bills and different things that we were giving them out and they sleep right on the concrete like right on the the concrete floors of the little hut or the dirt floors there’s no nothing like this is just normal um for a lot of cultures to do that so Americans are very uh we’re spoiled in the way that we do this so this is not something that’s just out of on the ordinary and Jacob’s doing something that’s strange no he’s doing something that’s it’s fairly normal but God’s gonna use it for an incredible prophetic message so he took one of the stones a place under his head lay down asleep in that place then he dreamed and behold a ladder was set up on the earth and it’s top reached to the heaven and there were angels of God that were ascending and descending on what do you guys think about that probably a million times but we’ve got this this does this remind you of anything else in the Bible another story of the antithesis of this ladder that’s reaching up to heaven and by the way this is not really a ladder this is how it’s interpreted in English but really uh it was just an ascension he saw a I would imagine it would be more like this okay so and I’m gonna I’m gonna show you how I believe what I’m saying is absolutely true that it’s not a ladder but it’s actually stairs or what we would consider in the ancient world a ziggurat you guys know what a ziggurat is right okay like the ancient Aztec or the stairs came down on the other side right the priest went up okay and it was the holy ones that went up and down the stairs it was the priests they went up and down the stairs uh to communicate to the Gods that’s what it was um in the most famous story in the Bible in this context is the story of the tower of battles okay it is the tower of babel that is a giant ziggurat that is being created for the holy ones the watchers to to go up and down uh and communicate for them to get into the spirit world the priest of these watchers to get in the spirit world and to use divination to bring forth heavenly knowledge to crack the code if you will and this is where God says I can’t let that happen I got to come down there and confound their language because they’re going to crack the code if they get into the occult at this level they can crack the code and so I want to show you something else how many know that in the temple mount if this is the temple okay here’s the columns this is the door to the temple at the bottom of mount Moriah is a pool and that pool is the pool of silhouette to go from here to here is what stairs it’s an ascension lot and lots of stairs lots and lots of stairs curl you’ll fail there are stairs that go up and conveniently there are stairs that come down you do not use the same stairs that you go up in order to come down they’re separate stairs and it’s the exact same way with the ziggurat okay there’s something to this that I’m showing you right now because we have water down here on the other side of the water by the way this is where the blind man is healed remember when Yeshua spits the ground this is where this happens right here the Bible says that when the Messiah comes in the prophets that the blind will see the dead will raise again right and the lame will recover before they meet God before they actually connect with the creator so before you actually become mikved and immersed and baptized by the fire and the water of God first your eyes must be open this is the protocol your eyes must be open to the truth the scriptures there’s only one prayer and I recall and forgive me if I’m wrong but I don’t think I am there’s only one instruction in all of the Bible on how to pray against satan does anybody know what the prayer is the instruction is there’s only one prayer if I recall in all of the Bible where we are we are instructed on how to instruct the enemy there’s a certain instruction we’re to give the enemy to do you know what it is to remove the blinders from their eyes it is satan who blinds the eyes this is what causes everybody to be blunt if you ever talk to somebody and you go that person is blind how on earth do they not see this I am being so black and white you know Jeremy’s ever been in a sales medium you’re like one plus one is two and they go no it’s three and you’re like how on earth do you not see how good of a deal this is my competition wants to sell the same thing for seventy five thousand dollars I’m a hundred dollars how do you not see the difference between that right because their their eyes are blinded they have a certain vision and a perception that they’re seeing things through so the very first thing that can happen before you have any breakthrough in your life is you must have the blinders taken off let’s put this in a real context if you have marriage problems or you have a relationship problem with one of your kids your son your daughter whatever what is the problem before you can ascend in the relationship and deepen your walk with that person the first thing you got to do is see straight there’s blinders on there’s something you don’t see you’re blind in an area and when you have two people how many you think are blind there’s the other blind person both people are blind both of us have blinders on right I mean typically somebody’s blind in one area and another person is blind in another area you might see absolutely clearly in in in in let’s say you and angel have an argument you haven’t had one yet let’s just say on your first argument that you have that you see the perspective your perspective you see another perspective you’re right about your perspective but you’re wrong about this perspective you understand what I’m saying so you fight about the area that you know you’re right in and then you realize at the end of the day that you weren’t as right as you thought you were and the other person if they’re as humble as they should be they realize they weren’t as right as they should be and somewhere in the middle the eyes are open both eyes are open point being made this once our eyes are open then we get mikved in the water of the word the instructions of the water the word once you understand the Bible the way that it was written then you can ascend the mountain of God I’m going to submit to you that this right here is the most critical section of the Bible that we are reading right now of showing us how to reach God it’s showing us how to reach God what is the stairs this vision is a strange vision you have angels ascending up and down on stairs called a ladder Jacob’s ladder we called it up and down from heaven to earth and it’s on earth that we’re blind so from blind to complete glory there are two things that separate us from where we really want to be and I don’t care what it is it’s a relationship or salvation with father God it doesn’t matter these two items that are in between the top of mount Moriah the temple mount and the water excuse me and the earth where we’re blind is the pool of Silhouem and these stairs and I’m going to submit to you that this week’s Torah portion has given us the answer of exactly how to ascend these stairs what are you leaning on Jacob the stone what are you leaning on for my promise to come true in your life because right now you’re leaning on your mother who is not leaning on me she’s leaning not on the stone that the builders rejected but she’s leaning on her own mind will and emotions the Bible says to trust in the Lord with all your might and what’s the next word mean not only but in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path so let’s go back to the text and let’s let’s see where we go from here so it says in verse 12 that he dreamed and behold a ladder was set up on earth and its top reached heaven and there are angels of God were ascending and descending on it behold the Lord stood above it and said I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac the land in which you lie I will give to you and your descendants also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth you shall spread abroad to the west to the east to the north and the south you and your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed 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 spoken to you this is a peculiar passage for multiple reasons number one do you think that God saw the deception of both Rebecca and Jacob in taking the blessing and the inheritance from Esau do you think he saw it do you think that he approved of it absolutely not there’s never a time where deception only when life is involved by the way where God is ever going to approve that but yet God shows up at literally his doorstep and blesses him and confirms the covenant for this next generation dads this is really important this is not the principle I want to talk about but it’s a great principle for us to understand did you know that your kids our kids will not take the covenant until they experience the covenant for themselves I don’t care how Godly that you think they are I don’t care how many times you take them to church how many times you need to tell you speak in tongues and have a gift of prophecy and all these things all these great things they may do but they will never carry on the covenant until they experience the covenant themselves 74 of young people deny Christ at the end of their first year in college they call themselves Christians be when they went in that’s fact you know why because their parents experienced God but they never did they didn’t see it they never experienced it they were around it that’s why you have parents that have kids and one of them becomes an atheist how is that possible I’m not saying it’s all on the parents fault at all but I’m saying our job is not to teach our kids what we know that is not our job only our job is to teach our kids how to take the knowledge of what we know and experience the creator with that knowledge because once you experience something you can’t turn back there’s no way to turn back this is what it’s meant when the scriptures say train your children in the way that they will go and in the end they will not depart the way is not knowledge to train somebody in a way is not knowledge only I should say it is experiential knowledge it’s epignosis in Greek gnosis is knowledge epignosis is experiential knowledge you can learn all about plumbing but until you actually work with a master plumber and he teaches you how to plumb and you actually do it yourself you don’t know it and that’s what God is trying to say this is the idea behind what God is doing with Jacob so getting back to the story I want you to turn with me to another scripture because there’s some cool stuff I want you to see John chapter one turn there this is when Nathaniel is called to be a disciple one of the disciples John chapter 1 and verse 43. says this the following day Yeshua wanted to go to Galilee and he found Philip and said to him follow me now Philip was from the theta and the city of Andrew and peter Philip found Nathaniel and said to him we have found him who Moses in the law and all the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph and Nathaniel said to him can anything good come out of Nazareth okay Nazareth was not it’s like saying can anything good come out of down-town uh east saint Louis Messiah is for me St Louis right nobody like Philip said to him come and see now watch this pay very close attention Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said to him behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit no what no Jacob right Nathanael said to him how do you know me Jesus answered and said to him before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree I saw you what’s going on what just happened what just happened Yeshua just used supernatural knowledge and said listen I wasn’t there when Philip called you but I was in the spirit realm I saw when he called you and I saw where he called you you were under the fig tree you see this now I’m telling you right now Nathaniel is freaking out he doesn’t understand how is it possible for him to know me and how does he know where I was and how does he even know that Philip called me to come here this is what’s going on in Nathaniel’s mind now watch this and by the way what kind of tree was he under a fig tree you know the fig tree all throughout scripture as a representation both olive tree and the fig tree represent Israel so there’s something going on with this fig tree he’s underneath this fig tree and that’s why he says he says a true Israelite that is without deceit Nathanael answered and said to him rabbI you are the son of God you are the king of Israel Yeshua answered and said to him because I said to you I saw you under a fig tree do you believe you will see greater than these and he said to him most assuredly I say to you hereafter you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man does this sound familiar this is pulling right from where genesis 28 Yeshua is pulling from genesis 28 he’s literally bringing up the story of Jacob at bethel sleeping on a stone having a dream of a ladder where the angels are going up on a ladder and it and Yeshua defines what the latter is what is the letter what is the letter word it is the son of man and who is the son of man it is Yeshua himself well she is the temple Yeshua is the staircase to heaven he is the gate this is what Jacob says Jacob goes on to say this let’s read what he says Jacob awoke from his sleep in verse 16 and said surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it and he was afraid and said how awesome is this place this is none other than the house of God which is what bethel means and this is the gate of heaven this is the gate of heaven right here where these stairs are has anybody ever read the scripture where Yeshua is the gate he says I am the gate for the sheep so Yeshua right here in John chapter 1 is saying not only is he the gay he is the stairs he was what Jacob dreamt about the angels were going up and down on Yeshua what does that tell us about Yeshua what is he if you have heaven here and you have blind children here on earth what is Yeshua he is the gateway he is the original ziggurat he is the opposite of the tower of babel all knowledge all goodness all greatness whatever is pure whatever is holy whatever is good rapport it comes through him what was man trying to do they were trying to build a back door to temple to where we know that if this is Yeshua as the original ladder of heaven and he is the gate into the supernatural realm of holiness then these stairs on this backside is not stairs either this is also an individual this is also an identity this is the spirit of the antiChrist this is the luciferian race this is the haSatan clan if you will this is the backside of the temple of God that no one is supposed to go up see how this looks just like a ziggurat this is where God is it’s through Yeshua God decides to interact with man through Yeshua and it’s only once you accept that he is the Messiah that your eyes are open immediately you are washed by the water of the word and then there is only one way the truth and the life and it’s through Yeshua so I’ll ask the question what are you leaning on because it is not coincidence that Jacob is sleeping and resting on a rock is that rock in Hebrew at eben that is very similar and linguistically connected to the word sun which is Ben and in Hebrew especially ancient Hebrew it was a play on words this is why it says that the stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and the ancient rabbis understood this that it was it was talking about David it was the sun that the other sons the builders rejected that became the chief son because David was the bastard eighth bastard child right of Jesse and it was that son that the other sons rejected that became the very cornerstone of the entire empire Yeshua was the stone that the the sun that the other stuns rejected that became the chief cornerstone unless you are resting in him and by the way the whole body is built on the head according to first Corinthians right Christ is the head and it upon the head that the husband is the head of his household and then the wife and so on and so forth right your whole body is supported by the knowledge that you have and your whole brain is giving instructions to the rest of the body and the Bible tells us prophetically and symbolically that your head is actually supposed to be resting on the rock it is the rock that you’re pulling your information from it is the rock and it’s pulling your your promises from that when you stand on the rock the oats and the promises of God he miraculously can make things happen period no other time unfortunately what man tries to do is say okay I’m blind life is not working my job is not working my marriage is not working my relationship my kids aren’t working whatever’s not working I’m going to build a back door this is what I’m going to do I’m going to figure this out how do I get from here to here God says there’s no other way even though the message is so simple the answer is that simple there’s only is anybody remember the old term back in the 80s one way Jesus one way Jesus it was a uh well I won’t go into he’s a missionary an apricot and taught this African tribe about one way Jesus it was the only thing that they knew they would point and say one way Jesus one way Jesus I’ll try is the only thing that we should know is there’s only one way and that’s through Yeshua so whatever you’re dealing with I can promise you it’s not about learning more Bible knowledge although that’s fantastic it’s not more about being smarter although that’s great in the natural it’s about your faith and the promise of God and doing Bible things in Bible ways which is why we’ve got to know the word and then rest in Yeshua he’s the only one that can take you higher you cannot go higher the water the word is simply the water it’s the pool and there’s so many people in this movement that want to learn more and learn more and learn more that’s great you know what they’re doing and oh we want to go to the deep into the pool that’s great but I don’t want to go in the deep end pool and swim all day I want to get out and ascend the mountain of God I want to be where he’s at and that only happens through ascending the character of Christ it’s coming together and saying you know what I blew it you blew it I’m blowing it whatever but the only answer is Christ let’s invoke him into the situation you know what’s fascinating this very place that that Jacob has this experience is called what bethel which means what the house of God right you know what it was called before it was called Bethel lose okay which is you know what that is an almond tree that’s interesting so the very place where the house of God exists was called basically the place of all this do you think that’s a coincidence no it’s not a coincidence at all you know why turn with me to Exodus chapter 25. I want you to see this because there’s a reason why bethel the house of God is in the place of the almond tree there’s a reason why Aaron’s staff when that challenge went down and they took all the stabs and said whichever one buds is the one that’s going to be the high priest right that’s the one that God’s going to anoint and and whose staff ended up budding it was Aaron’s and what did it but was it a dandelion was it a lemon tree it was an almond tree do you think it’s coincidence or God just said you know let’s just choose an elementary it’s kind of cool not at all go back to exodus chapter 20 excuse me 37 and verse 31 and I want you to see why the almond tree is so important to God that it shows up and he speaks the latter in the very gateway to heaven and earth happens at the place of the almond tree the house of God bethel it says you shall also make a lampstand of pure gold the lampstand shall be hammered work its shaft its branches its bowls its ornamental knobs and flowers shall be of one piece six branches shall come out of its sides three branches of the lampstand out of one side and three branches of the lamp stand out of the other side the three bowls shall be made like what blossoms almonds almond blossoms on one branch with an ornamental knob and a flower so there’s three parts to the bowl the bowl the ornamental uh blossom the ornamental knob and a flower and three bowls made like almond blossoms on the other branch with an ornamental knob and a flower and so for the six branches that come out of the lampstand on the lampstand itself four bowls with three pieces each she’ll be like almond blossoms each with their ornamental knob and the flowers so what you have is this you have a single step a stem with a bowl and the flour okay I’m gonna do this two three four so there’s four of these four times three is what four times three is twelve it’s twelve pieces on the center stand then you have one two three one two three two three worst manure picture of all time but the Lord will forgive me one two three one two three one two three each one of these has a bowl a knob and a flower how much is that three three times three is what nine nine nine nine nine nine nine nine times three is what see this is where math comes in handy I keep telling my kids it comes in handy eventually 27 okay 27 on this side what’s 27 and 12 39 39 so the center candlestick is 39 with the left and the right is 27 for a total of what 66 pieces on the menorah do you think it’s interesting that we have 66 books of our Bible and it just so happens to be divided with 39 books in the old testament and 27 in the new now you might say well that’s not fair you manipulated the numbers and you put 12 with the old testament where do you think the 12 or the foundation of the entire word of God is with the foundation of the word be with the new testament no the foundation the 12 tribes of Israel are found supporting all of the prophets and the Torah as the foundation of God and it’s the new testament that is added to it that brings about the full symbol now why do I go through all this to show you that in in judaism and and messianic uh Christianity and messianic Judaism all of us together see this this if this is almond blossoms what does this symbolize it’s an almond tree this is called coincidentally in Judaism the tree of life this is where the light of God comes from if this is the tree of life then we know exactly what the tree of life was in genesis it was an almond tree now why do I say all that is if you go back here to luz toulouse that the very city of Bethel is built on the idea that the tree of life where it’s which is the presence of God that brings eternal life is found in the almond tree which is the menorah which is represented of Yeshua himself which is the staircase to heaven the gateway the only one that anybody can go to to get to heaven is through the tree of life and it’s all in the symbols in our in our Bibles that the very light of the world is the almond tree that brings life it’s the fig tree that represents Israel in its debauchery and it’s disobedience do you remember what happens when you Yeshua comes up to the fig tree and it’s not bearing any fruit two days later the whole thing is completely from the roots up it’s burnt up disciples are in awe what’s really happening what’s prophetically going on is you just that cruel that things not producing fruit and some of your commentaries will tell you oh well because the scriptures does say it’s not in season and you know Yeshua shouldn’t even been mad at it because it’s not in season but then they don’t know anything about the [ __ ] fig tree because the fig tree has multiple seasons it has a main season and then it has other harvest like two other harvests that it has okay and so it wasn’t the main season but because the leaves came out on the fig tree if you know anything about figs when the fig tree leaves come out there should be fruit that the leaves don’t come out without fruit so he’s expecting there to be fruit because the leaves are in full bloom if the leaves are in full bloom that is a sign that God made that there is fruit underneath the leaves that there’s something organic that is coming from that tree so when Yeshua is going up he sees the leaves the fig tree is expressing to the world I am mature and I have fruit and Yeshua comes up to the fig tree and says I’m not seeing any fruit I see that you are expressing that you have fruit and that you are portraying that you have fruit but I don’t actually see the fruit so therefore I’m going to curse you and that was the prophetic utterance out of his mouth that 40 years later would actually happen when the temple was destroyed when Israel would cease to exist as a capital nation for another 2000 years in the same way and by the way the olive trees now we’ve learned about three different trees we’ve got a lot of stuff we learned in tonight we have the almond tree which represents what tree of life Yeshua himself eternity we have the fig tree representing disobedient Israel that is supposed to have fruit but is is not actually producing fruit and then you have the what what’s left we have the olive tree the olive tree is the actual symbol that Zechariah gives of the two olive trees uh that are on both sides of guess what the menorah the menorah is in the center and it shows two olive trees the house of Israel and the house of Judah these are the two olive trees that are the menorah that is flanked by two olive trees that are in obedience to the word of God that’s why the oil is being poured uh into the the menorah from the olive trees because they are producing oil they are producing olives they are in 100 obedience so when the olive when the tree is in obedience it becomes an olive tree bearing fruit and worthy of the symbol of the Messiah and the connection to the Messiah the light of Messiah bright is shines brightly through those who produce fruit when you do not produce fruit you are like the fig tree that is supposed to produce fruit but does not produce fruit it’s a mockery and so it is cursed this is really the three different types of people that are out there or two I really should say that one that is the Messiah and you have an olive tree and unfortunately we have a fig tree in the Bible gospels they’re called wheat and tears and how many people do you know especially even on tv that that portray maturity they portray the knowledge of the word of God but if you look deeply into their walk there’s no fruit it’s fraudulent but the point that I want to make is this in our lives what we want to do when Yeshua comes and inspects your life I would hope that you have organic fruit that is being produced in your life that we’re not just I don’t want to be this I don’t want to be a Torah teacher a Bible teacher that expresses maturity but deep down I am not protruding the the the real fruit of God in my life I want to have the fruits that God and that the people of God can eat from and be satisfied because that fruit comes from him have you ever wondered why it’s such a thing called the fruit of the spirit it’s not what a fruit come from a tree so we are supposed to produce fruit Jacob and his walk with God when he lays down and he goes to sleep he’s having a dream and that dream is literally uh forecasting the way to God is through Yeshua and the fruit of a person’s life is what’s going to get him there the rest of Jacob’s life and I’ll cross close with this because there’s just too much to go into because he goes into j uh layman’s house and he the very person that is deceiving then gets deceived and it cost him seven years of his life you know to have to go through all this mess and then he has to end up having multiple wives and and the very thing that he didn’t want to happen happens and he gets deceived himself and he goes through all his pain and then he has to go through to face Esau and he’s scared and all these crazy things are happening it doesn’t have a past excuse me it does not have to happen that way but what God is trying to show Jacob is this is how you produce fruit in me you rest upon my promises and then you follow me in what I tell you to do and I will make the way so in your own way in your own journey in my journey it behooves us to learn from from Jacob that Jacob is a man who listens to authority that’s great but the instructions that his that his peers his mum gave him he never matched it up with the actual promise that God had and God has to he wasn’t mad at Jacob disappointed he’s just like man I’ve got to teach him the hard way I know that feeling uh my name is actually Jacob in Hebrew I know the feeling of having to God have to take you in a detour to teach you something deeper so that you could actually accomplish what he wants you to accomplish I know that feeling it doesn’t have to be that way but unfortunately many of us eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil we don’t truly understand to rest a hundred percent in Yeshua in doing Bible things in Bible ways and that can be simply just by faith is stop trying to make it happen and actually trusting him to make it happen that’s a daily decision that we make you know one of the things that blesses me through this whole story more than anything is to know that Jacob’s life was a mess like their family was not perfect man are you kidding me I mean Rebecca make I I’we skipped over this part but Rebecca makes a comment saying I am weary of the daughters of of hef okay and remember that who the who the sons of hell were they remember they were the ones that tried to sell Abraham the the uh the the place the burial place for Sarah all right at the field of mec uh macbook nicolette or whatever it is it’s a crazy name um but they tried to deceive Abraham they were trying to set him up and here these are the daughters of hef and these are the ones that married to uh to Esau and it’s driving Rebecca so this this family is in in constant turmoil and there’s constance craziness going on I don’t know about you but sometimes I feel like there’s craziness in my family oh yeah I mean we’re not normal by any stretch of imagination you know I mean we’re not I mean we I you know what encourages me God uses craziness he uses chaos can anybody else say amen or yeah perfect you know you know amen these people fight these people argue these people have stress and strife in their own family you got you know wife versus husband and you know they’re supplanting this and check doing this and deceiving this I mean there’s so much stuff going on and God is so above it because he has a plan and not to say that God wants to use chaos it just blesses me that he does that he sees past all of our deficiencies and our liabilities to take us where we need to be anyway and that his oaths and promises are true regardless there’s hope for our kids amen all right can we stand and pray tonight. .