THE WAY TO HEAVEN

Text- Genesis 28:10-22

Introduction

There is a story told about a little boy who was entering school for the very first time. His mother packed his lunch and told him to go straight to school. As the boy walked up the road he crossed over a bridge where he saw a fish in the stream below. He laid down his lunch and went down to catch the fish, but along the way he saw a butterfly and began running after it to catch it. As the butterfly got farther away the boy also got farther and farther away from the road. When he finally gave up chasing the butterfly he looked around and realized he was lost. At that moment he decided to pray. He only knew two prayers. The first one was, "Now I lay me down to sleep;". Since that one didn't fit the occasion he decided to pray the other- the Lord's prayer. As he knelt down he said aloud, "Our Father." Immediately he heard a voice behind him.  It was his own father, who had followed him because he knew it was his first day at school and he might need help.

Perhaps this morning you are like this little boy and are searching for help, so you decided to come and check us out.  Or perhaps you are already a Christian and have wandered off the spiritual path in your walk with God.  Or perhaps you don't have the assurance of God's presence in your life. Whatever your circumstance this morning, the word of God tells us that God is present to help you.

This morning our text is found in Genesis 28:10-22 and the title of my message is, "The Way To Heaven”.  This is the story concerning Jacob’s ladder.

Before we look at our text I would like us to consider several things that had occurred in Jacob's life before this.

Jacob was the son of Isaac and Rebekah and had an older brother named Esau.

Between Jacob and Esau there was a great amount of bitterness and animosity, which arose because of two things.

    A.    First, because Jacob cheated Esau out of his birthright.- Genesis 25:27-34
    B.    Second, because Jacob deceitfully stole Esau's blessing from their father Isaac.(genesis 27:18-29)

As we examine our text I would like us to focus on four aspects of Jacob's dream.