8 July 2018 - The Pillow and the Promise - Pastor Steven Furtick Sermon Notes - New Creation Church Guest SpeakerPraise and Worship songs performed:
Pastor Steven Furtick is the pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. Genesis 28:10-19 - It's ironic that the passage says Jacob was in a certain place. Jacob has never been more uncertain in his life - he was running for his life. Sometimes God will make you stop moving forward so that you can recalibrate your direction. God is above your situation. God doesn’t just want to do something for you - He also wants to do something through you. Jacob was sleeping on something and somewhere he wasn’t meant to be. Some of you are in a place in your life that you didn’t intend to be. You are at your own “Luz”. Jacob’s name means “tricky/deceiver”. But God called him something else (Israel). God uses our weaknesses to unlock our purpose in life. Jacob exchanged a bowl of stew for Esau’s firstborn blessing. Sometimes like Esau, we give up what we want most for what we want now. Jacob then tricked his father into giving him the firstborn blessing by pretending to be Esau by wearing hairy animal hide. God can only bless you - God can’t bless what you pretend to be. God won’t bless the false image or illusion that you put in front of others. Jesus died for you, not for your selfie. We live in a time where people want to appear being more happy than they really are. Social media (like Instagram) is a “highlight reel”. It only shows the moments we want the world to see. Sometimes we fight all the way to church on Sunday but the moment we step into church we smile and put on a perfect front for others to see. Later on Jacob worked 7 years and was tricked to marry Leah (represents the Law) and then worked 7 more years to marry Rachel (grace), the one he truly loved. We don’t work for love, we work from love. God didn’t show up - Jacob woke up. God was always there with him. Jacob just didn’t realize it. God is already busy working all things together for your good. Jacob did not receive the greatest revelation while he was running or manipulating people and situations. He received it while he was sleeping (at rest). In I Kings, Elijah thought that God would be in the earthquake, the wind, or in the fire. But God was not in them. God was in the still, small voice. God whispers because He is close to you. When you rejoice, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. God uses those uncertain and low places in your life to reveal His greatest glory. Even in your rebellion, God is working for you anyway. Jacob woke up from his dream and said it was awesome. It’s not the stone (pillow) that was awesome - It was the purpose that God revealed that was awesome. God will reveal His greatest glory in the hardest places of your life. It is not about the place you’re in. It’s about the perspective you have about the place you’re in. Point and anoint - Point at the hard place you’re in and anoint it as the gate of heaven - This is the place. God will meet you right where you are. The enemy wants to keep you occupied on a place called “there”, so that you miss out on the place called “here”. God wants to use you here and now. You’re not too young to be useful to God. There was nothing spectacular about the rock, it was the purpose that was revealed through the rock that was spectacular. God is doing work inside of you. He is also working on your situation - even when the progress doesn’t seem to be obvious. Angels are walking up and down going to work for you at God’s command. If you pray for patience, God is probably going to send you people that make you crazy. The things you prayed for may not show up in the prettiest packages. Paul was afflicted by a “thorn in the flesh”, a messenger of Satan. He prayed three times for God to take it away, before he realized that it was God’s plan to use that messenger of Satan, for his own good. God is going to use what the devil uses for evil in your life, to turn it around for your good. You don’t get to choose what you go through, but you get to choose what to call what you went through. Rachel named her last son “Benoni” (Son of my sorrow) before dying due to childbirth. Jacob renamed him “Benjamin” (Son of my right hand). Our Heavenly Father can rename what we’re going through to fulfill His own purposes. Jacob renamed “Luz” to “Bethel”. What if where you are now is right where you’re meant to be in this season of your life? God will use the hard places to work things for your good. “Now Jacob left Beersheba [never to see his mother again] and traveled toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed overnight there because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down there [to sleep]. He dreamed that there was a ladder (stairway) placed on the earth, and the top of it reached [out of sight] toward heaven; and [he saw] the angels of God ascending and descending on it [going to and from heaven]. And behold, the LORD stood above and around him and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your [father’s] father and the God of Isaac; I will give to you and to your descendants the land [of promise] on which you are lying. Your descendants shall be as [countless as] the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and the east and the north and the south; and all the families (nations) of the earth shall be blessed through you and your descendants. Behold, I am with you and will keep [careful watch over you and guard] you wherever you may go, and I will bring you back to this [promised] land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and he said, “Without any doubt the LORD is in this place, and I did not realize it.” So he was afraid and said, “How fearful and awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gateway to heaven.” So Jacob got up early in the morning, and took the stone he had put under his head and he set it up as a pillar [that is, a monument to the vision in his dream], and he poured [olive] oil on the top of it [to consecrate it]. He named that place Bethel (the house of God); the previous name of that city was Luz (Almond Tree).” (GENESIS 28:10-19 AMP) 
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Hi I'm Milton Goh,
31, from Singapore. I am married to a beautiful wife and have one adorable 8 year old daughter. I am a Christian writer/author and I blog on this website about Christian, Parenting and Lifestyle content. Thanks for reading!
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