How to Overcome Shame with God’s Favor | Jonathan Evans

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 believed."

You look back at that place and you say, "That's where God found me." Has he not been faithful? He's worthy of the praise and the honor because I serve a God who keeps his promises. I serve a God who has all dominion and all authority. And I serve a God I'm so grateful that he shared his inheritance with me.

A wretch like me who can save me. Paul said, "Oh, he can." And he has. He has kept his promises through the ages. What makes you think he won't keep your promise through your days? So just bless him in the house one good time. I want everybody in the house to stand on their feet and bless him one good time.

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 >> I hope you came to worship today. Now, we're going to continue in God's word. Y'all all right with that? >> Genesis 28. Genesis 28 online. Genesis 28. All that worship. They didn't gave me 15 minutes. 
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 >> Take your time. I wonder if that's what the children's workers going to say.

We'll be all right. Genesis 28 starting at verse 10. >> Hallelujah. >> It says, "Then Jacob departed from Beerseba and went towards Heron. He came to a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. And he took a one of the stones in the place and put it under his head and lay down in the place.

He had a dream. And behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to 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." I'm going to skip down to verse 16. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place." >> And I did not know it. >> He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place?

This is none other than the house of God >> and the gate of heaven." Verse 18 says, "So Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on it." Last statement, he called the name of the place Bethl. >> Today I want to talk to you from the title, It's More Than a Dream. >> May be seated.

The setting is Jacob as a fugitive on the run. Yes, it says that he was going from Beersheba to Heron because he was going to find his wife there, but he was also running. I bet you he was >> because if you don't know Jacob's story, Jacob was a trickster. >> Up to this point, he had tricked some stuff off, if you will.

He's a trickster. It says in chapter 25 that Rebecca had two nations in her womb that were already going at it. It makes another great statement in chapter 25, one of my favorite statements. The older sibling will serve the younger. 
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 Let me leave the sermon right here for a second.

Any babies in the house? >> Hey, I'm just saying God love us because all through the Bible you'll see that God would say firstborn inheritance, double inherit, you know, all of that kind of stuff. But people don't real, it slides by them, that God would actually often use the baby. >> I'm just gloating for a second.

Moses was the baby. David was the baby. Joseph was the baby for a while till Benjamin came later, but he had already gotten his favor by then. Even when Jacob blessed Joseph's sons, he blessed Ephraim on the right and Manasse on the left. And Manassie was the oldest. and Ephraim was the baby.

All I'm saying is just for a second, God loved his babies. Okay, back to the sermon. Jacob was on the run because from the moment Esau and Jacob were born, Jacob would be grabbing on to Esau's heel. >> Esau went out one day to hunt, and when he came back in, Jacob had some stew.

And Jacob tricked Esau to trade his birthright to Jacob for some stew. So now Jacob has Esau's birthright. By the time you get to Genesis 27, now Jacob is tricking his own father, Isaac, to the degree that he put on some wool from an animal because his brother was hairy.

And he went to his father and cooked a meal that Esau would normally cook. And his father ate it. He felt on his son just to make sure it was Esau. But it wasn't Esau. It was Jacob. His mama was helping him. And so he ended up giving the blessing to Jacob. >> Esau came in from the field and cooked a meal for his father and went over to his father and he said, "Okay, father, here's your meal.

It's time for my blessing." And the Bible says Isaac shook because he realized at that realized at that moment that he had been tricked and he told Esau already gave the blessing to your brother. And it says that Esau wailed and he wept. He said, "Father, do you not have a blessing for me also?

Bless me also, father." But back then blessings were irrevocable. >> And he had already given it to Jacob. And Esau wept and he became angry. And the Bible says in chapter 27 round about 42 that Esau planned to kill Jacob. >> I bet you he did cuz Jacob had supplanted him twice.

Let me back up just a moment to say something about Esau. I just saw a young man crying out for his father's blessing. And because he didn't get it, he became angry. There is a whole lot of children in the room that still don't have their daddy's blessing.

And it has contributed to anger. It has contributed to broken relationships. It has contributed to all of these things. But I want you to I want you to know that just because you weren't blessed by your earthly father, you're blessed by your heavenly father. And he will never leave you nor forsake you.

And to the fathers who have children, you go one by one and you bless your kids. You say, "Well, I don't know how to do it." You know how to give some words of affirmation. Bless your kids in the name of God. >> Because that sticks with them and a lot of times is the reason for their progress or the reason why they are stuck is just the father's blessing.

And without that blessing being supplanted two times, he wanted to kill Jacob. And now you find Jacob in chapter 28:10. It says, "Now he's leaving Beersheba and he's headed to Heron." Let let me show you what that looks like. I want to put a map up cuz I want you to see what it looks like.

Let's put my map up so that the audience can see what it looks like. Let's put the map up. No, you go ahead. Keep it up there. In verse 10, y'all tripping. In verse 10, he's in Beeba. That is southern Israel. That is the land of Canaan. That is the land of promise.

It's saying he's on his way to Heron. Heron is in the tip of the northern sector of modernday Syria, the bottom of modern day Turkey. In other words, it's not in the promises of God. So here Jacob is he has a blessing but he's leaving the place of blessing with a blessing.

He's going out of God's will out of God's promises while holding it in his hands which lets me know that it is possible for you to be a blessed fugitive 
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 >> where you can have a blessing but be living and walking like you don't. you have salvation. That means if you've accepted Christ, you have what was that blessing?

It was the covenant. If you accepted Christ, you have the new covenant. And in that covenant are blessings. It's it's embedded into the covenant that you hold. You have salvation and hope and restoration and redemption. You have adoption. You have been chosen. You have eternal life. Death can't even stop you.

Like, you have all of that that's embedded in your blessing. And yet, you're on the run. Why is it? What would make Jacob walk this way? Simple. He knew something from his past was after him. Oh, you don't get it. Many of you are not living out your blessing because you're so jaded from your past.

And so, you're not walking like you're forgiven. You're walking like a fugitive. You're holding on to a blessing, but you're walking right off the field of faith. >> Why? Because you're running away from your past. Okay? Some of you have gotten divorced in the room and you still have not forgiven yourself.

So, you're saved with the blessing, the grace of God, the hope. Your sins have been washed away, but you are still living like you're unforgiven. >> Okay? Some of you ladies in the room, you may have gotten an abortion and you're living with that in your mind and your heart >> and you're hurting and you're in pain because you're thinking, "They would have been one or 16 or 21.

I shouldn't have done that." And that regret and that shame is eating you alive as if your sins were not washed away. as if you're not holding on to the blessing here. You may have been incarcerated, but you're still living like a felon even though you have the faith. >> Because just because a job wouldn't accept you, you feel like God won't accept you. >> And so now you're living like the unforgiving while you're holding on to the blessing of God.

Or maybe you didn't raise your child and now they're older and you can't get those years back. And so now you're hard on yourself. You're bleeding internally as if you have not been saved and been totally forgiven and washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ. >> Okay.

In in this in this blessing, Jacob is going to get a name change. His name going to be Israel. Jacob is going to have a heritage. He's going to have a legacy. He's going to have a great nation in this in this blessing is already coming. His son Judah through which Jesus would arrive because Jesus is the lion of >> Judah.

All of this is going to come with this blessing. And he's still living like he's haunted. Yes, it's true what he did was wrong, but it's also true that that blessing makes it right because God would still move forward with him. Um, the blessing means that your shame is canceled by the salvation. >> The blessing means that grace cancels the guilt.

The blessing means that your faults have been cancelled by God's favor. The blessing means that your tomorrow is better than your yesterday. The blessing means that you're not supposed to live like the unforgiven and a fugitive when you have the salvation of God. >> Um, David was an adulterous murderer. >> God gave him an everlasting kingdom.

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 >> Moses was a murderer, exiled to Midian for 40 years. And God still found him at the burning bush and made him the greatest savior in the Old Testament. Peter denied the faith three times. He denied Jesus. That is denying the faith. Jesus is the faith. And Peter denied it.

And Jesus still came to him and said, "Feed my sheep and tend my lambs." You're still How you going to make Peter the pastor? >> He denied the faith. And Jacob is a trickster and God is still going to bless him because when I say that God can do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that you can think. >> So yes, some of us are adulterous and some of us are revilers and swindlers or affeminate or homosexuals or all of these different things.

But you were washed. You have been sanctified and justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. That means it's gone. >> And if you don't realize that, >> you'll be walking like a fugitive even when you're forgiven. >> So good. >> Why was Jacob dealing with this? because he took the blessing the wrong way.

He took it the wrong way, it doesn't negate that it's a blessing. He just didn't take it right. So, when he took the blessing the wrong way, let me read to you how he felt. I want you to see how he felt in the verse. Not just read the words.

It's communicating how he feels in this scene. Verse 11 says, "He came to a certain place, spent the night there because the sun had set and he took a stone of the place and put it under his head and laid down in the place." >> Okay? He's at a certain place.

He's got a blessing, but he's in a certain place. You know what that means? He's somewhere, but nowhere. >> It's like when you ask somebody, "How you doing?" "I'm all right." "What you doing with yourself?" "I'm just trying to make it." >> Wait a minute. You got a double inheritance of the father.

You got the inheritance of Jesus Christ. You're a son and daughter of God and you're just trying to make it. >> You must have took the blessing the wrong way. >> It says the sun has set. That didn't It's not just telling you what time of day it is, even though it is.

It's telling you it's setting in his life. That it's dark in his life. That he's depressed. He's somewhere but nowhere. He's totally depressed. And he finds a stone in the place and uses the stone as a pillow. 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 headspace 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're 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 light 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. 
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 >> 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." Amen. >> So if a perfect, unblenmished, 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? 
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 >> You tie a rope around my waist. I wish I would have brought it, but I've 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 along 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 family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob >> due 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 that, 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 daydream. 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 e 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 headspace 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 talk remember last week when he had a conversation with Nathaniel. Remember last week he was talking to Nathaniel. We going to go back to that conversation 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 1. And I want to take you back to the conversation he had with Nathaniel. John 1 verse 47-51 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."

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 Um, >> 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 latter. He is the one that the angels are streaming up and down on. In other words, because the latter 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 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. In 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 headspace 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 Evansson went to parties in college. I was at a party. I left the party at 2 am. 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 up 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." 
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 Matter of fact, my friends were like, they said, "Uh, man, we know you know God.

We were glad we riding with you 
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 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? Then 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 111 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 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. >> There's 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 pro, 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. >> OCBF, 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 headspace 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 mom 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 a 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 believed.

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 Bethl. Bethl means the house of God. Beth Bethl means the place of worship. He named a 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 Bethl, 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 men 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 Bethl. 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 Bethl 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.