Any saved people in the building today? God wants to speak into your life a word of encouragement and challenge. Today's message has the potential of changing your life for the rest of your life on this earth.

There was an event in the life of the ancient patriarch, Jacob, that was life-changing. It is recorded in Genesis 28:10-19. Join me there today.

There is no record in the Bible that Jacob had up to this point ever sought God. It seems that at this stage of Jacob's life that he knew about God but didn't know God personally. In the terms of the New Testament, we would say he was lost. His father and his grandfather were men who knew God personal, but for Jacob, it was all merely stories. It is possible he appreciated what his grandfather Abraham and father Isaac believed, he may have even known the value of spiritual things-like worship, surrender, praying, seeking, obeying God-but those were not realities for him. As far as we know, before this time Jacob had never had a single conversation with God or a single conversation to someone else about God. It seems that even securing the family's birthright and his father's blessing had no spiritual significance to Jacob.

Then God's steps in. Be sure of this, when God steps into a person's life it is unusual, undeniable, and unforgettable. Try as you might, you cannot ignore God. On this occasion God invaded Jacob's subconscious, dream-world. You can't get God off your hands, and you can't keep God out of your mind. Ultimately, no one can ignore God!

Read Genesis 28:10-22

When the Lord appeared to Jacob in this dream He did so with a series of assurances. "And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." (Genesis 28:16) This is the covenant God made first to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:18), then to Isaac (Genesis 26:2-5), and now to Jacob.

Jacob had been completely unaware of a reality he had missed. He had slept through this whole thing. "And Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not...How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." (16-17)

So many of us are like Jacob with it comes to recognizing and responding to God's presence. "Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not..." Like Jacob, we look back on events in our lives and regretfully say, "The Lord was in that place, and I didn't know it until now. How could I have missed Him?"

Think of one of the great judges in the OT-Gideon. "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, "The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. And Gideon said unto him, Of my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us?..." (Judges 6:12-13)

Do you recall what the Bible says about Samson.? Of all the judges who ruled Israel, the one of whom it is said God's Spirit came upon, Samson was the most blessed (Judges 13:24; 14:6, 19; 15:14). "And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not (he knew not) that the LORD was departed from him." (Judges 16:20) Samson did not recognize that God's Spirit was departed from him until he found himself to be a blind, bound, laughingstock of his enemies.

With God's help and with your prayer for me I want to speak to you today this message: Awake Up to God's presence.

What if you began living consistently in the conscious awareness of God's presence?

• " Do you think that would begin to change you today, tomorrow and beyond?
• " Would you admit with me that we are not always thinking about God's presence in us and around us?
• " For too many, often God is not in our thinking...our planning...our living...our finances...our family...until after the fact...like Jacob?
• " And would you also admit that we are not consistent.... We are hit and miss...hot and cold...in and out...up and down....in our awareness of God.