It’s More than a Dream Part 2

Guest (Male): Today with Jonathan Evans.
Jonathan Evans: His promises all through the Bible that he has got you. He's holding you from earth all the way to heaven and he'll never let go. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Promises upon promises upon promises. It's embedded in the blessing that you have. So don't be a fugitive because in the blessing is your purpose, your provision, your peace, your pardon, the promises of God, your protection, your perspective, your progress, your purity, your perseverance. It's all in the It's all embedded in it.
Guest (Male): You're listening to the Faith Walk with Jonathan Evans. In a moment, Jonathan will continue today's message. But first, to thank you for your support of this ministry, Jonathan has two gifts for you. The first is the audio series that you're currently hearing called All Eyes on Jesus, helping you refocus on the one who changes everything. The second part of this gift is a book by Dr. Tony Evans called The Power of Jesus Names. Discover how the names of Jesus reveal his character, his purpose, and his power in your life today. How can knowing him more deeply transform your faith? I'll tell you more about these later in today's program or you can call right now at 1-800-800-3222 or visit tonyevans.org to learn more. Now here's Jonathan with part two of this message. It's more than a dream.
Jonathan Evans: You got a birthright of Isaac and Abraham, which means you got money. That's what that means. And you somewhere but nowhere depressed and you got a stone as your pillow. In other words, what he's saying is his head space was in a hard place. You got people out here who are blessed and depressed. People out here that are blessed and burdened. People out here where God is meeting your needs and he's showing up and you still somewhere but nowhere. We must have took the blessing the wrong way. Jacob took it as a schemer. We took the blessing with a lack of faith and expectation in our redeemer. We took the blessing thinking that salvation was only for heaven. And because you took salvation wrong, in other words, it's not just for heaven. The Bible says I've given you life and life more. The Bible says that when you accept Christ, the old is gone and the new has come. That you have been crucified with Christ. It 's no longer you that lives but Christ that lives in you. The life that you now live is not like the life you used to live but by faith in the son of God. In other words, you have been made new. All of that stuff that Jacob did, that you did, he cut it off. That 's why Jeremiah 31 says I will remember your sins no more. So if a perfect, unblemished, righteous, holy God can forgive you of your sins and remember them no more, how can God forgive you but you can't forgive you? You tie a rope around my waist. I wish I would have brought it but I just thought about this. You tie a rope around my waist. There's the promise. I'm trying to get to the promise but I 'm fatigued and I can't get there because I feel like I'm tethered to something that's holding me back. And then when you look to see what's holding you back, it's you. I'm not talking about your feelings. Feelings are hard to manage. Feelings don't have intellect. So it's hard to not feel different. I'm calling you to walk based on what you really have. My dad would often tell me that it's not about feelings. You have to demand that your heart follow the truth. You put it on a leash and you drag it alone because what's true is I'm a saint. What's true is I've been delivered. What's true is I've been redeemed. What's true is I'm saved. What's true is he has washed my sins away. We cannot continue to wait on heaven. We certainly took our salvation the wrong way. Yes, that's true but it's not the only true part about our salvation and your blessing that God sees fit to take care of his children and that you have been brought into the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through to your salvation and he continues to tell Jacob I know you took it the wrong way. I know you made a mistake. No, I didn't authorize what you did. No, you shouldn't have done it. You shouldn't have done that and you shouldn't have done that. Okay. But you still have the blessing and I'm still going to use you and I still chose you. And the reason why you're sitting in that seat is because I am not done with you. Your new identity has been embedded. It's in there. You cannot just be somewhere but nowhere letting fear trump your faith when you see what God is telling you to do. This is me. When you see what God is telling you to You have the blessing of the son of God. And God backs his blessings and his promises because when he blesses, there is no sorrow with it. Well, if it's the right blessing, I must have taken it the wrong way. So Jacob is down and out, depressed with a blessing, burdened with a blessing. Doesn't think he's going to make it with a blessing. He's haunted with a blessing. He's fleeing and a fugitive with a blessing. And then when he finally goes to sleep on the stone that he put under his head, God gives him a dream. Now I 'm going to give you his dream while you awake so we going to call it a day dream. This is more than a dream. It says in verse 12 he had a dream and behold a ladder was set on the earth with its with its top reaching the heaven. And behold the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold the Lord stood above it and said I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie I have given it to you and your descendants. He's in a hard place. His head space is in a hard place. He's depressed. He's somewhere but nowhere and then God shows up. I don't know if anybody's ever had God show up when you're somewhere but nowhere. When you're depressed, when your head space is in a hard place, God shows up and gives him a word. There is a ladder. There's angels streaming up and down the ladder. This is 24/7. It don't close. There's angels streaming up and down the ladder. The ladder stretches from heaven to earth. The Lord is on top of the ladder speaking promises down the ladder. All of this is happening in a dream. And Jesus interprets the dream in the New Testament when he had a conversation with Nathaniel. And because not only was Jesus noticing good things about Nathaniel, he would teach him something about something that happened two years earlier. So I've got to take you, if you don't mind, a quick Bible study to John chapter one. And I want to take you back to the conversation he had with Nathaniel. John chapter one verse 47 through 51 says Nathaniel said to him can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him come see. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him and said to him behold an Israelite indeed whom there is no deceit. Nathaniel said to him Jesus He said to Jesus 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. Nathaniel answered him Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. Jesus answered and said to him because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these. Verse 51 says and Jesus said to him truly truly I say to you watch this you will see the heavens open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man. Oh. Oh Nathaniel, that's a good dude right there. Nathaniel say how you know me? I saw you under the fig tree, bro. Then after that he said oh man, you the son of God. I don't know how you would know that. Jesus said oh you going to see much greater things than these. You're actually going to see the heavens crack open and you're going to see angels ascending and descending on the son of man. Wait a minute. In the dream it says the angels were ascending and descending on the ladder. He said the angels are ascending and descending on the son of man. So all we got to do is think real quick. He's telling Nathaniel oh Jacob's dream, he was dreaming about Jesus because Jesus is the ladder. He is the one that the angels are streaming up and down on. In other words, because the ladder was touching heaven and touching earth, it was saying that there is only one God and one mediator between God and man and it is the man Christ Jesus. And just because you feel disconnected doesn't mean you're not connected because if you have the blessing and you have Jesus, that means the heavens are open to you 24/7 and the angels are coming to you 24/7. You are connected. You have the blessing of God always. It never closes because you have the blessing. And he's letting Jacob know I am with you when you're depressed. I am with you when you feel disconnected. I am with you when you feel alone. I am with you with you when you feel disenfranchised. I am with you and I am touching heaven while you're on earth. That means you have a portal to it.
Guest (Male): More of the Faith Walk with Pastor Jonathan Evans in a moment. When life leaves you feeling spiritually dry, pressured by culture or unsure of your purpose, All Eyes on Jesus will help you refocus on the one who changes everything. Today with the gift to support the ministry of the Urban Alternative, Jonathan wants to give you a copy of his eight-part audio series All Eyes on Jesus. What could happen if you fixed your eyes on Jesus in every area of your life? Also included with your gift is a book by Dr. Tony Evans The Power of Jesus Names. Discover how the names of Jesus reveal his character, his purpose, and his power in your life today. Both the book The Power of Jesus Names and the eight-part audio series All Eyes on Jesus are a gift for you to thank you, to show our appreciation for your continued support. It is listeners like you who make this program possible. Our 24-hour resource request line is open at 1-800-800-3222. Let one of our team members help you. 1-800-800-3222 or get all the details at tonyevans.org. How can knowing him more deeply transform your faith? Now let's get back to Jonathan with the rest of today's message.
Jonathan Evans: You have the blessing of God always. It never closes because you have the blessing. And he's letting Jacob know I am with you when you depressed. I am with you when you feel disconnected. I am with you when you feel alone. I am with you with you when you feel disenfranchised. I am with you and I am touching heaven while you're on earth. That means you have a portal to it. He says the angels are ascending and descending. What were the job of angels? The two primary jobs of angels were perspective, messaging, and protection. Protection and perspective. The Bible talks about protection and Psalm 91:11 it says I have sent my angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. Don't you know in the blessing is protection of God's angels? And they're streaming 24/7 all the time. So here he is somewhere but nowhere, totally depressed. His head space is in a hard place and God is letting him know I have sent angels concerning you. That is embedded in your blessing. When you feel insecure, you are more secure than you've ever felt. Not only did Jacob and you have the protection of God and I have stories in my Okay, I just got to I was driving in college. I was at a party. Yeah, Tony Evans son went to parties in college. I was out a party. I left the party at 2:00 a.m. This was um It's now called Texas State. Texas State is south of Austin. I was driving at 2:00 a.m. to get back to Waco, Baylor at 2:00 a.m. with with Melvin and Marcus, two of my boys. I'll never forget it. They'll never forget it. I'm driving and my eyes are getting heavy. Y'all know how that is, real heavy cuz it's 2:30 3:00 a.m. and I'm just trying to get back to my bed. I didn't know my bed was that powerful but your bed can call you. I wanted to get back to my bed and all I remember is that Melvin and Marcus fell asleep and I was trying to stay awake but I couldn't. And I ended I know I would fell asleep because of the shock. I ended up falling asleep behind the wheel. And we all simultaneously heard a boom. All three of us popped up. I swerved a little bit. I pulled over because it sounded like somebody hit the car with a shotgun. So Melvin said what was that? Marcus I mean they got up. They were looking around. We got out of the car and looked down on the highway because we thought well maybe they're doing construction and I hit one of the those little bucket things. What do you call them? A barrel. I hit one of those barrels but there was nothing on the highway. I looked back at the wall that split this side from that side. There was no scratches on the wall. We walked around the car and we didn't see nothing on the car. And I said what was that? Melvin said what was that? I said that was the Lord's angels, bro. There's no sign of anything touching the car because on the ladder was an angel that came down and struck the car and said get up. I'm still not finished with you. You can't tell me God's not real. He's already saved my life. He sent his angels to protect. He does the same thing to you. Matter of fact, my friends were like they said man we know you know God. We were glad we riding with you. Because in that moment because they were we were together they were experiencing They said that I blew my mind. We struck something too hard for there to be no damage and nothing on the road anywhere down the ladder. Get it. And God is so great that he can do that with millions of people simultaneously. And not only for protection and he's telling Jacob in this dream it's not only for protection, it's also for your perspective because angels were messengers of God. Wasn't it Gabriel that came to Mary? They would have gotten a divorce if it wasn't for Gabriel. Letting them know where this baby is coming from. He's giving them perspective on what's going on. Wasn't it them when they went to the tomb, the angels came and showed up and they had to let the Marys know that hey, he's risen. He's not here. Let me give you perspective on what you're seeing. Wasn't it the ascension in Acts chapter 1:11 when the disciples were looking up and an angel showed up and said what y'all looking at? He going to come the same way he leaving. Get to work. Giving them perspective on what they were looking at. And so he in this dream and he in this church is giving you perspective. You're not alone. You're not what you feel. You're not the depressed that you feel. I know your head space is in a hard place but heaven is touching earth. I got you. This is the blessing that you carry. I got you. And in the dream he goes from the ladder which is the son of man. He goes from the angels that were giving him protection and perspective. And at the top of the ladder was the Lord speaking down the promises that the promises of God are also embedded in the blessing that he has. These promises of God, he has protection, he has perspective, he has promises where God says I'm going to give you a great nation through you. All the families of the earth will be blessed. I'm going to bring you back to this place and bless you like I got you. The same promises that let you know there's neither height nor depth nor life. There's no death. There's no angels nor principalities. There's nothing that can separate you from my love. That if it's not good yet, God's not done yet. His promises all through the Bible that he has got you. He's holding you from earth all the way to heaven and he'll never let go. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Promises upon promises upon promises. It's embedded in the blessing that you have. So don't be a fugitive because in the blessing is your purpose, your provision, your peace, your pardon, the promises of God, your protection, your perspective, your progress, your purity, your perseverance. It's all in the It's all embedded in it. And Jacob has this dream. The son of God, angels, the Lord's promises in my life. Verse 16 says he woke up. I bet you he did. We have to wake up. We're living in the last days. Time is running out. We can't be living like fugitives. We're the church of Jesus Christ. We can't be living as those who are not healed or those who are not forgiven. But those who are saved and set free never again return to the yoke of slavery. We have the son of God. We have the angels on our side. We have the promises of God. We have to wake up to that reality. Jacob woke up from his sleep. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said surely the Lord is in this place because in trouble God is very present. You have time in your life or test in your life that became testimony. That's when you realize that God was there when you didn't think he was. When you have a testimony of what God has done, the hardest places is where he loves to show up the most. He woke up and said man surely my God is in this place. Verse 17 says he says how awesome is this place. How did this place become awesome? The place where he was depressed, the place where he had something but nothing, the place where his head space was in a hard place. It became awesome because he found the revelation of God in the place where he was sunken down the most. This is where you find the revelation of God. Many people are trying to run from the very place where God is going to use you. That's why my mind would say your greatest ministry will come right out of your greatest misery. That's why it says here that God will bring you back to this place. And he said Lord, I didn't know you were here. How awesome is this place? And then he took the stone pillow. Oh, y'all not with me. Then he took the stone pillow. The Bible says in verse 18 the stone pillow he was laying on, he turned it into a stone pillar and poured oil on it. That means he made that place some memorial that I'm going to remember that God can do it then, he can do it tomorrow. That if God did it yesterday, he can do it again. Is there anybody that has a memorial in your life where you look back at that place and you say that's where I met God? You look back at that place and you say that's where I believe. You look back at that place and you say that's where God found me. He said this is a memorial to me. And so he named the place Bethel. Bethel means the house of God. Bethel means the place of worship. He named the place that was somewhere but nowhere where he was depressed, where he was out and he had a dream of the faithfulness of God, the provision of God, the purposes of God, the promises of God. And he made a memorial to say I will no longer live as if I'm unforgiven. I'm going to live out the blessing of God and I'm going to name this place Bethel, the house of God, the place of worship. Is there anybody that's in the house of God today? Is there anybody that's in the place of worship? Do you not have a memorial? Can you not think back on the goodness of God? Do you not remember what he's done? Did he not save your life? Did he not bring you out of the hospital? Did he not bring your family out? Did he not bring your child back? Did he not give you your marriage? Did he not mend your heart? Did he not make you right in your mind? Like did he not do anything for you? Do you not have a memorial? If you do have a memorial, you'll stand up and give him praise and call the place Bethel because he's worthy to be praised. No matter what you're going through, he's worthy. No matter what you're dealing with, he has promises. No matter what you're struggling with, he still has a perspective for you. And I want us just for a moment to act like it's Bethel because it is for us. And to act like this is a memorial and worship God in the building. Stretch out your hands and say thank you. Thank you, Lord, for all that you've done. Thank you, Lord, for all you're going to do.
Guest (Male): That was Pastor Jonathan Evans. Before you go today, I want to remind you that we have a couple of gifts for you, an eight-part audio series All Eyes on Jesus and a book The Power of Jesus Names. How can knowing him more deeply transform your faith through Dr. Evans book The Power of Jesus Names? You'll discover how the name of Jesus reveals his character, his purpose, and his power in your life today. We are also including Jonathan Evans All Eyes on Jesus audio series, helping you refocus on the one who changes everything. Discover how to deepen your faith, stand firm in difficult times, and live with confidence in God's calling. What could happen if you fixed your eyes on Jesus in every area of your life? Both resources are a gift to you to thank you for your donation to help support the ministry of the Urban Alternative. It's our way of showing appreciation for the continuous support of listeners like you who make this program possible. Call 1-800-800-3222 anytime or get all the details online at tonyevans.org. Again, that's tonyevans.org or you can call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members help you. That's 1-800-800-3222. Thank you for listening to the Faith Walk with Jonathan Evans. The Faith Walk is produced as a part of the Urban Alternative, a ministry of Dr. Tony Evans.