I hope we're ready for our last group exercise session for strengthening the inner man today. Join me in Joshua chapter 4. Today is our final message in the series entitled The Quest for Inner Strength. We began with a call to the quest to strengthen the inner man. Then after that, we evaluated the prerequisites for inner strength, followed by studying how to maintain our inner strength. And that was a message that we really focused hard on the need for guarding against all forms of sexual impurity, whether that was with our words, our thoughts, our actions, whatever it might be. And then last week we examined the results of inner strength, which is what you always want to get to. You want to see that the effort that you put into something has actually reaped the harvest that you were hoping to reap, that all of that effort had a reward at the end of it. So today, we want to conclude this series by looking at a biblical practice that I believe should become a pattern in all of our lives, and that practice is to stop and reflect on all that the Lord has done. You know, in our lives, we're so busy. We move from one place to another place, and one task to the next task, without ever stopping to reflect on the progress made. It's no wonder we feel discouraged. It's no wonder we feel like giving up sometimes. Because we're constantly feeling the strain without stopping to take a look at what all God has done. I think this practice needs to be something we intentionally build into our lives. In the Old Testament, It was common for people to erect pillars of testimony to commemorate the great events that God did. They would memorialize these great events that could only be attributed to the power of God. Let's look at such an example from Joshua chapter 4. Starting in verse 1, it says, When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, take 12 men from the people, from each tribe one man, and command them saying, take 12 stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan from the very place where the priest's feet stood firmly and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodged tonight. A little background on that passage is that they've been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. A 40-year journey where the kids kept saying, when are we gonna get there? Are we there yet? Right? Okay, 40 years they were wandering through the wilderness. Many times disobeying God and getting punished. Other times seeing the hand of God protect them from enemies that overwhelmed them in numbers and in strength. And after 40 years, they finally get to this moment. The result, the end of the journey, the destination that they've been aiming for, they're there. It's time to celebrate. and not to celebrate what they did, but to celebrate what God did. And so God gives instruction, because the priests were the first ones to step foot into the river. And as soon as they do, the water parts. And then they stood right in the middle of the river while all of the people passed around them onto the other side. Now these 12 men, one from each tribe, go and pick up some very large stones to set up as a memorial. Verse four, so Joshua called the 12 men from the people of Israel whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe, and Joshua said to them, pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of tribes of the people of Israel. that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in the time to come, what do those stones mean to you? Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever. And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded, and took up 12 stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua. They carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and they laid them down there. And Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there. to this day. Let's pray. Father, as we reflect back on the events of other people's lives and how they commemorated your actions, as you worked in them and you worked through them, help us to be inspired to do the same. I pray that today we would intentionally take time to reflect on all that you have done in our lives. this past week, this past month, this past year, and all throughout our entire life, that we would be able to trace Your hand of provision and protection, and we would glorify You, we would worship You because of it. Help us to learn and be encouraged by what we see in Scripture today. We ask in Jesus' name, Amen. Today, the one idea that I hope will go with you from this place is that looking back at past milestones encourages us to press forward in our pursuits to strengthen the inner man. Because we're on a journey. We're not there yet, but we've made progress. And when you look at the milestones, the stones along the highway to mark the kilometers that you've traveled, they should be an encouragement, not a discouragement. They should be the thing that lets you see how far you've come, no matter how far you still have yet to go. Looking back at past spiritual milestones, past spiritual experiences, achievements, successes, it will encourage us to press forward in our pursuit to strengthen the inner man. Today, I would like to challenge us to look back on all that God has done. Have you ever been on an actual physical journey, and you got this feeling that maybe, just maybe, you'd taken a wrong turn? You were following someone, and you were just saying, I pray that they really know where they're going. A while back, we went out to the Sunken Lake, and right before we left, Rachel said, I think we remember how to get there. We definitely know at least how to get to the last turn. So we follow. And when we get to the last turn, you go quite a bit through a lot of dusty dirt roads with a lot of rocks along the way. And I kept hearing her words echoing in my mind. I hope we remember that last turn. And you know what? She did. They did great. We got there. We had a great time. But there's nothing like that uncertain feeling, gnawing at the back of your mind of, well, maybe I took a wrong turn, or maybe I misunderstood the directions that I was given. Maybe I missed a road sign and kept going straight when I should have turned. I hate that feeling. Well, in Southern province, where we first ministered when we moved to Zambia, they have these wonderful things to mark the distance. It tells you on the top how many kilometers to your destination and then on the bottom how many kilometers you've already traveled. I loved it because when we were first there, I had no idea where anything was and nothing was on a map. But I knew as long as I saw these kilometer markers that I was on the right path. I love the fact that the engineers constructed those. And sometimes in our spiritual lives, we have that same feeling in the back of our minds. We start getting scared. Maybe I took the wrong turn. Maybe maybe I shouldn't have left home and moved all the way to Zambia. Maybe I should have stayed there in South Africa or or I don't know if I should have taken that job, but I prayed about it and it seemed God really wanted me to do it. Or maybe I shouldn't have gotten involved in this business venture or this relationship with this guy or this girl or whatever it is. There's there's moments where we've made a decision and now we look back and say, I hope that wasn't a mistake. Maybe I understood God's leading or God's directions. I feel like it's just taking too long to reach my destination. Maybe I missed a turn somewhere and I should have moved on from this place. Maybe now I'm out of the will of God. And as I look around the room and I see eyebrows perking up and people looking around, I have a feeling I'm not the only one who's experienced such questions in my mind. Well, in the Old Testament, God instructed people to set up these heaps of stone as landmarks, memorials of his presence to assure the people that they had not taken a wrong turn, but they were exactly where God wanted them to be. You see, shortly after they crossed over, they started engaging in battles. First Jericho and God did an amazing thing, but then sin entered into the midst of the Israelite camp. They go to Ai and they get defeated. And all the people after Ai started thinking, maybe we were wrong. Maybe we shouldn't have crossed the Jordan. Why didn't we just stay in the wilderness? Were we really supposed to do this? If this was God's will, then why are there the challenges I'm facing? but they were asking the wrong question. Not is this the right direction and is this God's will? They should have been looking at their life and saying, what have I done? Where did I get off? Not am I following God and he got off. So the people of Israel, they needed this reminder that they were exactly where God intended them to be, that this was the right time to enter the promised land. They ended up going into battle and over the next several years, they conquered over 35 kingdoms. And remember the last verse, verse nine, it says, these stones are still there to this day. Well, of course that was written a long, long, long, long time ago, but guess what? It is believed that these are these stones and they are still there to this day. This picture was taken and this is what they believe to be the stones that the people of Israel carried over that day. No way for us to be sure, But, what we can be sure of is this. Throughout the entire time that the Israelites were wandering through, and as the generations came behind them, they could look to this and say, we know we are where God wants us to be. Now, the Old Testament followers of God would set up memorials for three different reasons. And the Israelites here were not the only ones to do it. We're going to look at the fact that Jacob did it several times as well. But let's first think about the three reasons they would do it because I think they apply to us as well. Number one, they would do it to give glory to God because of all that he had done. They wanted everyone to see that he deserved worship. He deserved the praise for his work in people's lives. In other words, it was a witness of God's greatness and faithfulness. Number two reason. The person would sometimes set up these memorials to remind themselves of the greatness of God, because too often we would get scared and act in fear of the new challenges. So today, we often want to shrink back in fear and return back to our old ways of life, but it is in those times that we need a reminder like this of the past victories so we move forward in faith rather than retreating in fear. And of course, the third reason that Joshua pointed out was that these memorials would teach important truths about God to the next generation so that they would trust God in their own obstacles and then their own opportunities. The next generation would be inspired by the past victories because they could say we serve the same God who did all of this for our parents and God never changes. I can trust him to do great things in my life as I also surrender to him and engage in the quest to strengthen the inner man. Now, I find this message very fitting in light of the fact that we are observing Remembrance Day, honoring those who fought to preserve freedom around the world. So let's remember together today where the Lord has brought us from, because I believe we'll be surprised just how far we've come, and we'll be encouraged to continue on. As we look at Scripture, Perhaps no one person's life illustrates the journey of going from spiritual weakness to spiritual fitness. more than the life of Jacob. So turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 28. Today, let's briefly examine four instances when Jacob built a memorial by setting up pillars that marked key moments of his journey in becoming a spiritual iron man. These were moments of great discovery as he was coming to truly know and love and obey God. Let's look at pillar number one. Pillar number one. We see in his life it represents the spiritual desire that he had but a confidence in his own ability to produce growth. Genesis chapter 28 we're gonna read verse 1 then we're gonna skip down to 5 and then down to verse 10 it says this Then Isaac called to Jacob and blessed him and directed him, you must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. Verse five. Thus, Isaac sent Jacob away and he went to Paddan Aram to Laban, the son of Bethuel, the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau's mother. So he goes to his uncle Laban's house. Jumping down to verse 10. Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and he stayed there that night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and laid down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go. And I will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep 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. And this is the gate of heaven. So early in the morning, Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head, and he set it up for a pillar, and he poured oil on the top of it, and he called the name of that place Bethel. But the name of the city was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow saying if God will be with me and will keep me in this way That I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear so that I may come again to my father's house in peace Then the Lord shall be my God and this stone which I have set up for a pillar shall be God's house and All that you give me I will give a full tenth to you Now, as we read through passages like this, I want us to remember the same points that I brought out last week, because we're always looking for application. As we go through these passages today, I want you to ask yourself, as you inspect your own life, is there a sin that was mentioned in this passage that I need to confess because it's also in my life? Is there a promise for me to claim? Is there an error to avoid? Maybe there's an example to follow. maybe a command to obey, but certainly no matter what the passage says, there's always a truth to believe. As you think about those questions, let's just examine what we read. Jacob As we see him here, he has a spiritual desire. I mean, he was moved with a sense of awe and fear that God's very presence had been there that day, there in his dream that night, as he sees God at the top of this ladder and speaking down, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham and Isaac, his father. and I will be with you." He was moved with a sense of awe. He was moved with a sense of fear. It created with him a spiritual desire. Prior to this, he might not have had such a spiritual desire. It might have just been, that's my dad's religion. But now it created within him a desire to know God more. And yet, we're gonna see his confidence was in himself, not in God. Meaning, he had the right actions, but the wrong motives. Jacob had been raised hearing about this God, but not really knowing Him. Sounds like some of us, right? Raised in church, knowing of God, but not really knowing Him. That was Jacob. Prior to this, we don't really see him ever really having any spiritual interest. But it was by faith in this invisible God that Jacob's grandfather Abraham had left his homeland in Ur of the Chaldees and followed God to the land that was promised to him. God had repeated the same covenant, the same promise to his father Isaac. Now, that's nice. It's getting passed down from generation to generation. So Isaac had followed God too and had obeyed him. But remember Jacob and his father Isaac, they didn't have the closest of relationships because there was favoritism in this household. You see, Isaac favored Esau. He didn't really care as much about Jacob as he did Esau. Meanwhile, Rebecca, the mother, favored Jacob. So he's been growing up getting called mama's boy and all of those things. He's feeling maybe a little displaced by his father, a little unloved. And so to hear that this is the God of my father, Isaac, might have made him say, well, I don't want anything to do with that God. Me and my father, we're not that close. Up to this point, no real spiritual interest in Jacob's life. He had chased after material wealth and worldly blessings. Now perhaps that was because of the relationship with his father. Maybe he had felt some resentment towards this God of his father. But all that is about to change. Have you ever wondered why sometimes the Bible gives us all these names of places that seem irrelevant to us? It gives us the names of places today, and there's a reason behind it. The names of these places have meaning to them. As Jacob now leaves the promised land to go find a wife in Paddan Aram, where his uncle Laban is at, God personally initiates a relationship with Jacob by extending to him the same promise, the same covenant that he gave to his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac. Jacob is about to receive an invitation to join God in the heavenly enterprise to redeem man, which is the very thing that Jacob himself needs. He needs to be redeemed. But he doesn't even know that yet. He needs redemption to be bought back out of his own sin, but he's not even aware of it yet. That's one of the beautiful things about this promise that from your offspring, all the nations of the world will be blessed. That's talking about Jesus someday coming through the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And through him, all the people of the world have been blessed. If we put our faith in him for the salvation of sin, that's what that promise is all about. And God is inviting Jacob to join him in this task. Jacob is about to go into the world And although he wants to return back to this promised land someday He fears his brother perhaps that fear will keep him from returning and so God now gives him this promise of assurance I will be with you and I will bring you back into this land You see, God intends to remind him there is something far greater than just worldly pleasures, and that he must return for this spiritual work to take place. And there's a principle that we all need to understand from this passage. The principle is this, when a natural person hears a spiritual truth, they do not understand it fully or accurately at first. They just don't. Jacob hears this promise, but he doesn't understand it fully. He hears the promise, but he doesn't understand it accurately. And we can see it in his response. You see. I've got a chart here that we're going to refer to today that I think might help us figure out where we are on our own spiritual journey. This is called the steps of conversion. When a person first hears the gospel, well, prior to that, they were unaware. They did not know of their lost condition. They said, be saved. Saved from what? I'm a good person. We all come into this world thinking we're good when in reality, our hearts are filled with sin and wickedness and we need to be saved. And when a person hears the gospel for the first time, it shocks them because they were unaware. It's like coming up to someone and saying, I have the cure for the sickness you have when you don't think you're sick. It doesn't make sense. You say to the person, are you crazy? Look at me. I'm the picture of perfect health. But if that person was a doctor and said, oh, but actually, I've done this blood test on you at your most recent appointment, and it's revealed you have cancer. You will die unless you get this treatment. Suddenly, it doesn't sound crazy anymore. You'll sell whatever you have to to get the medicine for the cure for the disease that you now are convinced you have. Well, all of us start with an unawareness. So we're at negative five, right? Now, as we hear the gospel, the first time we hear it, we're made aware of our lostness, our sinful condition, our need for a savior. But when we first hear the gospel, we usually misunderstand it because we're so self-centered. We're only looking at the benefits in this temporary life. We start thinking, oh, okay, I'll earn it. Thank you for giving me that. I'll start cleaning up my life to pay you back for the forgiveness you're offering me, God. That's not accurate. That's not what the Bible teaches. It's a misunderstanding. And Jacob at this point is having a misunderstanding. Next. As they keep hearing the gospel, they start testing it out. Well, maybe I didn't understand. They're going to start asking some more questions, showing that now they're getting to a point of genuine interest. They're still not totally convinced that they need this, or maybe they're convinced they need it, but they don't know how to apply it. Have you ever gotten one of those medicine containers and on the box, it's written in all these other languages and you don't know how to read it. You don't know what you're supposed to do, what dosage you're supposed to take. You take too much, you're going to get sick or even die, but you take the right amount and you'll get better. That's kind of how it is for a lot of people when they hear the gospel. They have a misunderstanding and then they start trying to test it out and get a genuine interest to figure out, what do I actually have to do? And then finally they get to the point of a positive response where they say, I understand and I need it and I'm receiving it by grace. God is giving me a gift that I do not deserve. He's withholding the punishment that I do deserve, meaning he's gonna give me mercy and all I have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, turn from my sin and trust in him. That's it. That's the moment of conversion. Then from that point forward, you're like a new baby. You're like little Dimitri back there. Little baby needing to grow. So first you have to get established. Established, rooted and grounded in truth, like we looked at four weeks ago in this very series. Then from there, equipping to go out and live life for the glory of God, like we looked at last week in our workplaces. And then finally, leading others to do the same. That's the overall scope of the Christian life. There's the journey. There's the roadmap. Now, I don't know where you are on that journey. Some of you might be visiting with us for the first time, and you've never heard the gospel. You might have known about God, but you've never been confronted with the reality of your sin, and you were unaware, and now you're saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm confused. Some of you might have a misunderstanding. Some of you might have been hearing this and starting to understand, but you're testing it out because you just don't know if you can believe it and accept it. Others of you might be so close, might be at the genuine interest level, but you've never made that decision. You've never put on the parachute and jumped out of the airplane and said, Jesus, I'm trusting you and only you for my eternal salvation. Others of you might already be a Christian, and you're saying, I've been a Christian for 20 years, and yet I'm still only getting established. I didn't have good roots set early on, and I need that. Others of you might be at the equipping or leading stage. Wherever you are, identify it, because we want to take our, all of us, all of us, we want to keep going to the next level. Even if you're already a leader, we want to increase our influence to lead other people more. With that in mind, notice Jacob's confusion, his misunderstanding. He's trying to bargain with God. You see it in verse 20. He says, then Jacob made a vow saying, if, if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and if he gives me food to eat and clothing to wear, and if he lets me get back to my father's house in peace, then I will serve him. He will be my God. Notice the order that he says it in. He shall be my God. I'm the boss, but I possess him. He's my God. If he does that for me, I will accept him. I'm taking applications right now for a God. Okay, which one's gonna do me the best good? All right, I'll take this one. That's basically where he's at at this point in his spiritual understanding. And I think we've all been there, haven't we? Well, I'll worship God if he does this. If you do that, God, as if somehow we have a bargaining tool, like he needs us. Like, okay, God, I know you're wanting to have a lot of people following you and you wanna be the most famous one out there, so let me just tell you what I'll do. I'll do you a favor. If you take care of me and give me all that I want, you can be my God. Now, we wouldn't say it that way, but a lot of times it's how we live our lives, isn't it? That's what Jacob's doing here. He sees the value of the spiritual things, but it's a selfish value. He isn't concerned about the glory of God. He's concerned about his own glory. He bargains with God, but there's more. You see, when a person first gets spiritually minded, they also fall prey to the misunderstanding that being spiritual means keeping rules and regulations. See, I told you about the names of all these places. Jacob went out from Beersheba, we saw in verse 10. Beersheba means the well of the oath. The promise was made there at Beersheba to Abraham. And now he's going to Haran, which means mountaineer. We have a picture of Jacob going out from the presence of God, from the presence of God's blessing, the well of God's oath, to go and live in the mountain, the mountain of law keeping. So this is where Jacob is. He's been confronted with the word of God. He's enticed to pursue spiritual fitness. But his journey began with two fundamental misunderstandings. First, he thought he could bargain with God for a blessing. And second, he thought he could earn spiritual salvation through good works. Now, this is a sign of immaturity. A sign of immaturity. Nevertheless, it's an important pillar that marked his progress from his previous condition. Remember, this is pillar one. It's a step toward spiritual fitness, but it's not the final goal. The final goal is still very far off. And Jacob tried to live this way. He never kept his promises to God here in verses 20 and 21, 22, never did. He failed. We don't ever observe him giving one-tenth to God. But God's promise was not conditional. There was no if involved on God's side. He said, I will be with you and I will bring you back into this land. Not by the works of Jacob, but by the works of God. That takes us to pillar number two. Turn with me to Genesis 31. Pillar number two, Genesis 31, 45 to 55. Here we see another big moment in his life that marks a new step in his maturity. This marks the end of the confidence in self. Now, he'd been working for Laban for 20 years. God had blessed him. But Jacob had not been following God. There had been no internal change in Jacob's life. He had lived a life of striving with man and with God, which is what his name means. And now he's weary and he's tired. And he remembers the night in Bethel. he longs to return home. He wanted the promise that he had heard from God to finally become a reality. He wanted to change from being weary to being a sheep under the care of a kind shepherd. Interestingly enough, during this time of serving Laban, he ends up with two wives, both of Laban's daughters. He didn't want the one, he wanted the other. So Leah Leah was the one that Laban gave to him first through trickery. And interestingly enough, Leah's name meant weary. And that's exactly what Jacob is right now. He's weary. But Rachel's name meant sheep or lamb. Now, we don't want to read too much into this, but I can see how God would even use the meanings of the names of his wives to be a gentle yet strong reminder of God's call in Jacob's life to live for God rather than self. You see, Jacob never wanted to marry Leah. He wanted to marry Rachel. And perhaps every time that he spoke their names, he was reminded, I don't want to keep living this weary life that's characterized by striving to earn my salvation. Some of you, I've heard you say it. You've said to me, I'm miserable. I'm miserable, I keep trying to live for God and I'm failing and I'm miserable. You know what I'm talking about? That was Jacob. Jacob was miserable because he kept trying to live for God in his own strength and he's weary. But he's not yet humble enough to make himself the sheep submitting to the authority of the shepherd, but he's almost there. He's saying, I'm tired of bargaining with God. I want to be the sheep in this flock that's cared for and protected by God. Have you reached that point in your life? I want to be a sheep protected by the master. So Jacob finally makes this decision to go back to the promised land, the decision to pursue God, not just worldly blessings like money and livestock and reputation. Notice what it says here in Genesis 31, verses 45 to 55. He said, so Jacob took a stone and it set up set it up as a pillar. And Jacob said to his kinsmen, gather stones. And they took stones and made a heap and they ate there by the heap. Laban called it Jegarsaradutha, but Jacob called it Galiad. I like Galiad better. It's a lot easier to say. Laban said, this heap is a witness between you and me today. Therefore, he named it Galiad and Mizpah, for he said, the Lord watch between you and me when we are out of one another's sight. Laban says, If you oppress my daughters, or if you take any wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, God is witness between you and me. Then Laban said to Jacob, See this heap in the pillar which I have set between you and me? This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over it to me to do harm. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judged between us. So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. And Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat the bread. They ate bread. They spent the night in the hill country. And then early in the morning, Laban arose, kissed his grandchildren and his daughters, blessed them. And Laban departed and returned home. And then Jacob goes on back to the promised land. This marks a momentous occasion of obedience and returning in faith, despite the fear he has of his brother Esau coming to kill him. From here, Jacob obeys and returns. Now, even in his returning, there's still a journey here, right? Remember, there's steps along the way. He's not yet putting his full faith in God. He hasn't had a conversion experience, but he's definitely at the genuine interest and positive response level. He's kind of testing out God. But at first, he even tries to handle things the same way that he used to in the past. He tries to trick Esau. He divides his whole family into different camps. He doesn't like Leah that much, so he puts her in the front. That way, if anyone gets killed, it's her. Okay, then he's got Rachel and the kids there, and then finally he comes along afterward. And what we see here is that he's still trying, with human wisdom and logic, with cleverness and manipulation, to take matters into his own hands, rather than trust the Lord who said, I will be with you and bring you back. It's so good that he put up another pillar to remind him of this day. Because it was a day, once again, he's not arrived at the destination, he's not fully mature, but he's taking the next step. And here's where we see God coming to confront him. to bring all of this to an end. In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles with God himself. I'll just summarize it for you. We won't read it, but this was the climactic physical moment when Jacob wrestled with God. And it's a symbol of what he had been doing for his entire life. Spiritually, he's been wrestling with God from birth, trying to take matters into his own hands to be the master of his own destiny. Does that sound familiar to you? That certainly has characterized my life. There's been times where I just, I couldn't trust God. I should have, but I couldn't. I wasn't mature enough. I wasn't ready. I can think back to these milestones in my own life when I had such moments. I wasn't yet a Christian. I wasn't yet saved, but something clicked and I started seeing more of what I needed to do. Now, it's at this point in Jacob's life, he finally understands, and he makes the change to stop pursuing worldliness, and he really pursued godliness. His entire life is transformed from this encounter with God where he wrestled with Him that night. And his name is changed from Jacob, which means deceiver, To Israel, which means strives with God, but it also means God strives. And guess who won? God. He always does. He had striven with God and he learned that no one can overcome God's will, so he chooses to surrender and submit, and this encounter marks an end of a lifetime of struggling with others. Jacob now finally came to realize the importance of being blessed by God for God's glory, to surrender to God for God's glory, and to follow God with all of his heart. This was his conversion moment. The God of his father and grandfather had now become his God. But more importantly, he had become a follower of the God. He is totally different. And we'll see that in the next pillar. Because now if we go to Genesis chapter 35, we get to the third pillar he sets up. And this one shows confidence in the living God. True trust in God, not trusting in self at all. He has returned to the same place where he erected that first pillar. He's returned to Bethel. Read with me starting in verse 1, Genesis chapter 35. God said to Jacob, arise. Go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau. He's going back to the place where he was 20 years ago. That's a long time. Kids, it's like being on the long car journeys and saying, are we there yet? Are we there yet? Right? There's a lot of times Jacob was thinking, are we there yet? He's finding out we're there. Verse two, so Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves and change your garments, then let us arise and go up to Bethel. You can sense the excitement in him, can't you? Remember, he said that night as he stood in awe and fear, God is here, this is the house of God, this is the entry to heaven. Let us arise and go to Bethel so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone. So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had. His family, his servants, they're carrying with them idols, foreign gods. They're getting rid of them. This is a sign of true growth. Remember, he's gone through the awareness, misunderstanding, testing, genuine interest, positive response. He's been converted. Now he's going into the next stages, establishing, equipping, and he's even leading others to give up their false beliefs. So they gave up all their foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon all the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. And Jacob came to the city of Luz, that's now called Bethel, which is in the land of Canaan. He and all the people who were with him. And there he built an altar and called the place El Bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Alan-Bakuth. God appeared to Jacob again, and he came to Padan-Aram and blessed him. And God said to him, Your name is Jacob. No longer your name shall be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name. So he called his name Israel. And God said to him, I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply, just like he told Adam and Eve in the garden. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall be from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you. Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him, and Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel. Then they journeyed from Bethel. Now, once again, keep asking yourself these application questions. Is there a sin to confess, a promise to claim, an error to avoid, an example to follow, a command to obey, or a truth to believe? Because this is where I think a lot of us are. We're Christians, and yet we struggle to take the next step of obedience. Bethel, the word Bethel means house of God, but do you know what the word Luz means? Because both of them were mentioned in the passage. Luz means separation. You know what other word means separation? The word death. What once was a place of separation has become the place that is known as the house of God because the presence of God was there. These two go closely together. For there to be any true appreciation of the house of God, there must be separation from everything else. We must die to self, die to sin, and live for the Lord. The house of God stands absolutely alone. Nothing else can approach it. It is that which is absolutely perfect and pure. And God wants every believer to be that place. Because today, what are we told? Don't you know that your bodies are the what? Temple of God. You need to be separate from all of the world, separate from all the immorality, separate from all those things that the worldliness that hindered us, the weights that slowed us down. That's what this whole series on strengthening the inner man has been about. We're on a quest for inner strength, and we've got to lay aside these things. There must be a separation from the old man so that the new inner man can reign in us. In Genesis 32, Jacob builds this altar, and he called that altar Elohi Israel, meaning God, the God of Israel. That was what he did whenever he had wrestled with God. Basically, he said, God is my God. But now in Genesis 35, when he says, I'm calling this altar El Bethel, he's saying it's the God of the house of God. And I'm worshiping there. I'm worshiping God in the house of God. And he's recognizing a very important truth. God is bigger than me. He's taken a new step of maturity. He's saying, yes, although God is my God, more importantly, I belong to God. He's not my possession, I'm his. Let's put things in the right order. He's the Lord, I'm the servant. He's the potter, I'm the clay. He's the savior, I'm the sinner that he made into a saint. Jacob's recognizing this. Have we recognized it? Have we gotten to the point where we say, this isn't my story. My life is just one short chapter in the eternal story of the almighty God. He does not exist for me. His job is not to make me great or happy. No, I exist for Him. I exist to show the world how intrinsically great He is. He's great without anything being added to Him. He's great whether I let people know it or not, but I get the privilege of, in my life and in my words and in my actions, showing people just how great He is. Have you arrived at that point? Have you reached that level of maturity? Have you been established? Are you equipped to live that way? And are you leading others to do the same? That was pillar three. And now we finally reach the last one, pillar number four. Pillar number four. This one shows us that he finally reached maturity. There's a single minded focus on the final goal. It happens also in Genesis 35. Pick up with me in verse 16. It says, then they journeyed from Bethel. And when they were some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, do not fear, for you have another son. And as her soul was departing, for she was dying, she called his name Ben-Onai. But his father called him Benjamin. So, Rachel died and she was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem. And Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb, the final pillar we see him set up. It is the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day. This pillar signifies a lesson we must all learn. And that lesson is this, life is temporary. We brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing with us when we die. But remember, this was a hard lesson for him to learn. He worked for 14 years to be able to have the right to marry Rachel. And now she's gone. At that time when he was working for her, she was his life. She was his idol. He wasn't worshipping God, he was worshipping Rachel. But all that has changed and she's gone now. And as he looks back over his life, probably coming to the conclusion, yes, she was worth all the sacrifice, but she was a temporary blessing in this life. She was not life itself. God is life itself. Remember what Jesus says later in John 14 verse 6, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the father except through me. Jacob finally recognizes God is life. He's all I need. And you can see because. You would think after all the work he went through and how much he loved her and the amazing story that it is, you would expect to have this horribly long, lengthy mourning, maybe even getting to the point of suicidal, if something had not changed inside of him. But we don't see any of that. Never. Oh, Rachel's death was certainly one of the most painful lessons that Jacob had to learn. It went deep into his soul. And yet, in his history, nothing is said about how he felt about it. He mentioned a long time later to Joseph, in Genesis 48, he says, That's it. That's the only commentary that Jacob ever gives on that event. And yet, he felt it. I think in Jacob, we now have a submission of heart that recognized that this blessing of Rachel had come from the hand of God and he was subject to it. He learned this lesson to submit to God, to accept the blessings, but also worship the Lord even when blessings are taken away. What about us? Too often we latch on to the blessings of God and we worship them as idols, rather than worshiping the giver of those good gifts. An idol doesn't have to be an image made of stone or silver or gold. It can be a house, it can be a car, it can be family. Maybe like my wife and I, some of you have buried a child. That tests what you really worship. I remember carrying the casket of our daughter to the graveside, and I remember there's a defining moment. Are you going to let that grief, that mourning define you from that point on? Or are you going to be thankful for the blessing that God gave you and reflect on that? And I see here now, that's exactly what Jacob does. Oh, he didn't get to have her as long as he wanted her, but he did have those years with Rachel. And rather than letting the sorrow drive him to an early grave, I believe he chose to reflect on the blessing and be thankful for that. I think he learned the lesson that Job describes in Job 1, 20 and 21. Remember, Job lost all of his children and all of his houses and his fields and his livestock. And it says, then Job arose and he tore his robe and he shaved his head. So there's the sign of grief and mourning. But notice what he did next. He fell to the ground, not in grief, but in worship. And he said, naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. It takes a certain level of maturity to be able to say that from your heart and mean it and then live it out. Job did it. And as we read on, even though Jacob never makes a comment like this, the reason that I believe that he reached that level of maturity is because we see his next actions. He served the Lord faithfully till the day he died. Do you have an idol that you need to let go of so that you can serve the Lord with your whole heart until the day you die? Have you learned this lesson? You see, Jacob, after Rachel's death, he's now not even Jacob, his new name is Israel, and he's again setting up a stone as a memorial, but this time it is to commemorate the gift of his wife that God had given him. He learned the lesson he needed to learn. He has achieved the quest of inner strength, and he's experiencing the results. Even in times of sorrow, When it seems like he has lost what he loved most, he now has the joy and confidence that he is not alone. He still has everything he needs because he has a vibrant, thriving relationship with God. Because he has this relationship with God, he can now go on to live a life of fruitfulness as he fulfills his purpose of glorifying God. Which, by the way, once again, why is it that they're not just calling it Bethlehem? Why is it that he keeps saying, well, it was Ephrath then, but it's called Bethlehem now? Guess what the word Ephrath means? Fruitfulness. The last pillar that we saw when he put his faith in God, and now this pillar, they're so closely linked together. Efrath means fruitfulness. After one has come to the house of God and has received salvation, when you become the temple of the Holy Spirit who's dwelling inside you, there is going to be fruitfulness. If there's not fruitfulness in your life, then you might want to ask yourself, Have I truly experienced salvation from the Lord? Because it's a natural step. If you're going to have conversion, you're going to get established, equipped, and lead others. It's just the natural course of things. And that is why I believe we need to follow the example of Jacob in setting up pillars, milestones of spiritual discovery in our spiritual lives today. Let's make this practice a pattern in all of our lives. Let's together agree to make it an intentional effort that we would regularly stop and reflect on all that the Lord has done. Because looking back at the past spiritual milestones encourages us to press forward in our pursuit to strengthen the inner man. When we do it, what happens? We're a witness to those around us in the moment of God's greatness and faithfulness, so we can lead them to salvation. When we do it, it reminds us that we are in the center of God's will. As I said before, many times in our journey of faith, we get scared and we second-guess ourselves. We think, maybe I misunderstood God's will. Maybe I just did all these things foolishly or out of selfishness. But I thought I was serving God. But when we stop and reflect back on these milestones, it removes those fears. They cause us to move forward in faith. And lastly, when we... erect these memorials of God's faithfulness. It teaches our children, the next generation, to trust in God for victory in their own obstacles and success in their own opportunities. I hope that they will be inspired and that one day my children can say, I can trust God to do great things in my life as I surrender to him and engage in the quest to strengthen the inner man because I saw it in my mom and my dad. And I hope that's your prayer as well.