Highlights from Sunday's Sermon

Yesterday's sermon was from Genesis 28 and Jacob's "Stairway to Heaven" dream. Rick pointed out that Jacob's "ladder" was not really a ladder but more like a staircase. And according to John 1:51, Jesus himself is the staircase through whom God's revelation to man is made.

But I was challenged by this statement from the sermon:

Our temporal happinesses are not as important as God's plans for my life.

When Jacob dreamed this dream, he was not exactly "happy"--he had to use a stone for a pillow! But it was precisely at this time of spiritual darkness that God revealed to Jacob the plans he had for Jacob's life.

So God's plans for my life often exclude temporal happinesses. God's plans include suffering and pain and death. These things do not exactly make us "happy." But happiness is fleeting, and God is more interested in our abiding joy.

And thanks be to God that he is.