I. Introduction

Good day to all! Today, we continue on the theme of God's presence. Why talk about God's presence? Because God's presence is infinitely good! Today's topic is titled Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. This title is another installment in our series on God's presence. To date, I don't even know how many sermons I've preached on the presence of God. Is there anyone who can help me count how many there are in total?

In Singapore, if you ask a child what is indispensable during Chinese New Year, what do you think they'll say? New Year must have chicken! Because Singapore is a nation that eats chicken – McDonald's, KFC, all are chicken. What is indispensable during Christmas? If you go to America, Christmas must have turkey – still chicken. You know, when Chinese people prepare for the New Year, they prepare a pig's head. Does eating a pig's head make you smarter? Best not to become one. When we were young, New Year was very lively. Why? Because we usually ate coarse grains and vegetables, we were poor – Chinese cabbage, potatoes, turnips, with a bit of lard. During the New Year, my mother would buy a piece of fatty meat, render it into oil, and store it in a jar with some salt to prevent it from spoiling. When cooking, clack! Scoop a spoonful and add it in, and there's a hint of meat flavor. That was our life. During the New Year, we ate well, so Chinese people can't do without dumplings during the New Year, especially in the North.

People always think some things are indispensable. Look at people buying houses now, they must have schools and hospitals nearby. Today I tell you, we feel these are all very important. In this vast world, among the teeming masses, everyone has their own way of life, each has their own indispensable things that they must have. In the mad rush across the single-log bridge, some people think they must become civil servants, spend a lot of effort to pass the exam, and then earn two or three thousand in salary. I wonder, what kind of thinking is this? Then they are assigned to a remote county as a civil servant. Just do it! After five years of exams. Everyone values different things, but are the things you value important? Are the things you value okay? Correct? No one asks, they just think being a civil servant is great.

Some people crave beautiful love, but attract only love scammers, and slowly figure it out themselves. Some people crave quick riches, attracting quick-riches scammers – it's not to make you rich quickly, but for them to get rich quickly, don't get it wrong. They are all tightly controlled by others in matters they deem important. People who love the world are tightly controlled by the ghosts of this world, getting scammed! Some people are especially attractive to scammers, surrounded by them, all because of one reason: we value some things too much.

In the past, people risked everything to go abroad, some even smuggled themselves out. They suffered a lot, it's painful to watch – they call it painful even watching on screen! Just to live. You say, living is so strenuous. Some people attract scammers, some easily attract bullies. It's all because people value some things. Why don't you value the presence of God? Some people just don't know how wonderful the presence of God is. We can have all our needs met in Jesus Christ, but they don't believe. They just like attracting the presence of ghosts, attracting the presence of scammers.

Once we're really in the coffin, no matter how important things are, no matter how much you value them, they are no longer important! Once you lie in the coffin for a while, is it still important? It's all unimportant. Actually, I'm really puzzled, people live and live like this, why? I often like to study and ponder this. Later, I figured it out. People just want to live, that's the problem. How come no one thinks about dying? Everyone wants to live, so they are controlled. For example, suddenly one day I'm kidnapped by pirates. You say, why are you saying this during Chinese New Year? I'm just giving an example. It's okay, I'm not afraid, and I'm not afraid of people cursing me, they can't curse me either.

The pirates say: Go, tell your family to bring money! I say: No need! They say: Why no need? I say: I've wanted to die all these years, but I didn't have the courage. I have to thank you! Finally, someone wants to kill me. Ah! You say whether this robber or pirate thinks: Oh! We kidnapped the wrong person! They were dumbfounded. Amazing or not? Amazing! The pirate was furious, thinking, what do we do with such a person? Maybe the pirate would think, forget it, throw him away! Don't you know, he really salvaged his life. Why? Because people want to live, so many problems, once grasped, they are tightly controlled, pressed to the ground. So, all things in this world depend on one thing: people want to live. You say people want to live, but they have to die, isn't that a tragedy?

I often see people getting sick, with hope to live. There's always hope! Go to the hospital, insert one tube if it doesn't work, then insert two, three if two tubes don't work. Tubes above, tubes below. They become scientific experimental instruments, everywhere are tubes. Which tube doesn't hurt? Every tube is enough to give you a hard time! Just to live. Some people use this medicine, use that medicine. Do you want to use it? Can it let you live one more year, do you want it? How much? Ten thousand, ten thousand to buy one year. Then, one year later, they still die. You say, what's the difference? I've never understood it. What's the point of living one more year? Some people are paralyzed, but they still think it's better to live badly than to die. One of our co-workers had a paralyzed grandmother, her back was rotten, and she was still mumbling, it's better to live badly than to die. Live on! In pain.

Later I summarized it, but believe it or not, I said: How come I haven't died yet? You say, what kind of talk is this? You know, I was only forty years old at that time, I had all the symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. People advised me to get treatment, but I didn't want to, just die! Many people didn't understand, couldn't see it, but I didn't die. I had a friend about the same age as me, his child's age was about the same as my child's. He had the same symptoms as me. Upon examination, it was nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Ah, this treatment, after nine months he lay in a coffin.

I went to the funeral, I looked through that coffin, there's a glass window in front to see the person, treated until he was as thin as a rake, his face was deformed. I said: Old brother, how good it is to die, why want to live? Look at me, the one who wants to die, how come I can't die? You, the one who wants to live, how come you can't live? People say: You're too bad, still joking with the dead. I just like to go to the coffin and murmur a few words to the dead. They say: Aren't you afraid of ghosts? What's there to be afraid of? Ghosts should be afraid of me. I tell you, people who are not afraid of death, ghosts are afraid of you.

I summarized a truth, once people want to live, it becomes a problem. I'm not talking about God's presence today, but what do people really want? We'll connect later. Some people owe money, are sick and about to die. Once I pray, they live! Finished, like people have everything when they die, how much money can a dead person spend? Once this person lives, he says: Teacher, what about my debts? I have to make money. So worried! Once people want to live, problems come; once people want to die, problems disappear. You say, is this a very strange paradox?

So today I give you a suggestion, people dedicate their lives to God, which means I die doesn't matter, I give my life to God! I ask you, a person who doesn't care about death, what else will he care about? No one can blackmail me; no one can control me; no one can deprive me of my joy! I live one day, I'm joyful one day; I live one day, I dedicate myself to God one day; I live one day, I have God's presence! People are like this, I tell you, today you just treat yourself as someone about to die, you won't care about anything, anyway about to die what's there to care about? Hey, joyful!

Changing jobs, struggling to choose this job, choose that job; no job, worrying about money running out, that's upsetting! Today I'll give you another idea, okay or not? If you see, you have no job, money is running out, great! I dedicate my life to God, then fast and pray for eighty days, no money to spend. I call you, you don't need to answer anymore. Sometimes I tell my colleagues: Maybe I'm going to fast and pray for eighty days, they know what I'm going to do. Infinitely good! People don't care about death, what else can they care about? But these things are still relatively low level, I summarized it when I was seventeen or eighteen years old, I began to understand living at that time. But still a relatively low level, still very confused, but there's a higher level, not just die, but live forever, be immortal!

People with this hope not only don't care about death, but also live especially well, that's really good. People who seek this hope are all remarkable people! Only one in five hundred years, a prodigy. Who can understand this kind of person? Spiritual people see through everything! Today I want to untie your knot easily, just get rid of your hope of living, then get rid of your hope of dying, then bring you to eternal life. Spiritual people see through everything, but no one sees through them, you say isn't that a prodigy? Superman!

I am one of these people, I also hope that everyone is this kind of superman, a transcendent person. These people are all seeking imperishable blessings! Don't look at me shouting for so long, doing the work of a preacher for so many years, shouting every day at the top of my lungs: Seek eternal, imperishable blessings! Looking around, there are only a few, just our small group of people. Ah, why don't they know this is a good thing? Why don't they know? I'm a little depressed in my heart. Later I thought, why be depressed? It's all destiny! I tell you, this feeling is too free, it feels like the heart is always bright! Nothing can control me; nothing can deprive me of my joy; nothing can force me to leave the presence of God. God, don't forsake me. So I often say God is not a God who forsakes us, how good, lacking no good thing!

Today I also confirmed one thing, that such people lack no good thing! Look at you busying there, tossing in that small shop, always wanting to live a little better, always wanting to make the small shop a little better, but tossing and tossing, you end up entangled, right? Actually, isn't living a very simple thing? My previous height was probably living and then dying, that's about it. Later, I didn't think that way, because before that was innate. Namely, I live and then die, this is my innate, I don't know why I think this way, I believe there must be some of you who think this way.

But later, pondering and pondering, after believing in the Lord, I learn from people. Learn from whom? Learn from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, among whom my favorite is Jacob this kid. You say you have a good relationship with him. If one day I go to heaven and see Jacob, I feel it should be a happy thing, he is a prodigy, a superman! You know, I learn from people, learn from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David these people. Learn what? Learn the presence of God! What we're learning today is this Jacob. People value what they crave. What should people crave? They should crave Abraham's craving, Isaac's craving, Jacob's craving! Where is God? God is in Jacob's place, is in your craving, that's extraordinary!

Jacob has always craved the presence of God. Today we'll tell his story. As a result, God actually spoke to him. After he woke up, he said: Wow! God is really here, I didn't even know it! How could I not know? Still saying: God, be with me! God is really with us, God is really here, but we don't know it. Where there is crisis, there is God's care, there is God's protection, there is God's presence! God is the God who saves us, but once the crisis passes, we seem to not see God's presence again. Do you know why? Because during the crisis we cry out: God! How enthusiastic. Once the crisis passes, pray? Pastor, why don't I have the feeling to pray? Are you relying on feelings? I see you haven't experienced enough crises, wait until you experience it again. If God uses you as a vessel to display His wrath, that's troublesome!

So never cry out during a crisis and say: God! Once the crisis passes, Sunday? No time! Bible study? No time! Some people have believed in the Lord for more than ten years, and haven't read the Bible once, you say is that hateful or not? Do they deserve a beating? I see people really haven't suffered enough. Sometimes I pray secretly, don't blame me, I really want you to crave the presence of God, may God tear down the worldly things inside you, let you go into despair, then you'll know what's called the presence of God, let you know the presence of God is infinitely good! Jacob wasn't like this, you slowly learn. A long introduction, actually talking about what you crave, what things you value? What things have value for you, what things have no value for you? Just such a simple thing. What's called no time? Other things are important, so this thing is not important, right?

II. Scripture

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” (Genesis 28:10-16)

III. Prayer

God, today open our eyes, let us know how precious Your presence is. God, today give us such a resolve, open our minds, let us know to imitate the path Jacob walked, let us begin to imitate the kind of longing Jacob had, imitate the heavy price Jacob was willing to pay, willing to pay in order to seek You. God, today we want to see Your presence, today we know You are here, we didn't even know it. God, open our minds, let us really know You are here. Look, how awesome this place is! This is the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. God, we are willing to offer ourselves on this altar, willing to offer ourselves completely to You, to let us stand before You and say, now it is no longer I who live, but Jesus Christ who lives in me! God, today give me courage, give me strength! Let me on this earth be able to imitate Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, to run the eternal path of eternal life on this earth. May You prepare a glorious crown for us in eternity, until we see Your face. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

IV. Scripture Background

Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it! This sentence is very interesting. Why say not aware? Because before they were not aware, but later they were aware. This passage is talking about Jacob hearing God speak to him for the first time, at this time Jacob was seventy-five years old. Seventy-five years! I admire this person, this person is too amazing! Although later he got four wives, Jacob didn't date or marry before he was seventy-five years old. His parents may have often urged him to marry, saying: Son, date, let us introduce you to someone, give birth to a son, or how will you be taken care of in old age? More than seventy years old, no dating, no marriage. Then we are very surprised, what did he do? He pondered this matter all day, how can I bring the presence of God here? Where is God? I tell you, such people are all remarkable people, remarkable in that they are like this from birth, we don't know why. What was he like when he was born? He felt that living without God was not good.

Israelites have a culture of the firstborn son. His twin brother Esau was born five minutes earlier than him. Coming out one minute earlier also means he ranks second. Like people run the 100 meters, 10.1 seconds and 10.2 seconds are quite different. 10.01 seconds is the champion, 10.02 seconds is the second place. Second place doesn't sound good, so Jacob was entangled. Then he often sat on Abraham's lap. At that time, Abraham was still alive, quite old, until Jacob was in middle school, his grandfather was still alive. Abraham ah, God was actually with him! Jacob listened with great interest. Why? Because he felt that living was meaningless, without the presence of God, I live and then die, what's the point? He thought this way, this child is amazing!

I tell you, today you may not be this kind of person, maybe you are ten or dozen years old, or dozens of years old, and you still haven't seen through this small matter of living, then today you slowly learn to see through it. If you don't see through it, that's destiny. All day long you think: Pastor, pray for my child, let my child have another child; Pastor, pray for my child, let my child find a rich husband. Probably these things. I said I should open a marriage agency, I should open an infertility treatment room, that would be a cash cow. I feel these things are quite interesting.

This Jacob is quite interesting, Esau is the firstborn son. In principle, this matter would be given to the firstborn son Esau. Hey, Esau heard and said: What is this? Can that stuff be eaten? What's the use of that stuff? Meaningless. As a result, slippery! He ran away, went out wielding knives and guns, also quite powerful. A small slingshot, pop! Shot down a sparrow, and said to Abraham: Grandpa, I shot down a sparrow for you. Have you all eaten sparrow meat? A piece of meat smaller than a little finger. I'll interject, when we were young, we liked to eat sparrow meat. How did we eat it? We used mud to make the sparrow into a mud ball, threw it into the fire to roast. Then we peeled off the mud, and only the small piece of meat on the chest remained. Roasted sparrow is delicious. Esau said: Can that stuff be eaten? This sparrow is great. Pop! A slingshot shot down a crow, roasted crow. Pop! Shot down an eagle, ate eagle. Pop! Hit a rabbit, then eat rabbit. Ah, barbecue is absolutely first-class.

You say why would it be like this? We don't know. But Jacob had a hurdle in his heart, when can I get the right of the firstborn son? Why? It's not that the right of the firstborn son is so important, I want to get the presence of God. The covenant my grandfather Abraham made with God, the covenant my father Isaac made with God, I also want to make a covenant with God! Taking this drive, I tell you, dating, no interest; making a girlfriend, no interest; his mother brought a girl, no interest! His parents were worried, could there be something wrong with this child? You say were they worried? They were worried. As a result, this kid was amazing, he unknowingly got the right of the firstborn son. Had he seen God at this time? No. Later when his brother wanted to kill him, he still hadn't seen God.

Then he said every day: Where is God's presence? God, where are You? You spoke to my grandfather, why don't You speak to me? You spoke to my father, but not to me. Hey, would Jacob think this way? He definitely thought this way. He was worried to death! His brother wanted to kill him, so he ran quickly. His brother wielded knives and guns all day, so scary. That slingshot for shooting birds, if Esau shot Jacob, it would be enough to give him a hard time. As a result, Jacob ran with a stick, at this time Jacob was more than seventy years old. We are very impressed. He waited until he was seventy-five years old.

Holding a stick, he went to his uncle Laban's house, namely his mother's brother's house. As a result, he was still thinking halfway: God, where are You? I don't know. God, where are You exactly? Carrying this kind of craving, not one year, but seventy-five years! Seventy-five years, that's no joke, that's really a practice of faith! As a result, Jacob arrived at this place, took a stone to lie down. I think before he lay down, he looked and thought: Ah, there's no food, no drink, dry, thirsty, and hungry. He took a stone as a pillow and fell asleep. When he fell asleep, God spoke to him. When he woke up, he was thinking: Wow, God is actually here, I didn't even know it! Why? The thing he cared about was just this one thing, craving the presence of God!

He yearned for it for seventy-five years, and you have only yearned for it for a few years? You yearn for it for only a second? Many people like to eat fast food, but fast food is unhealthy, and spiritual fast food is not much better! In this place, the food is running out quickly, the drinks are running out quickly, and the money is running out quickly. The rich young masters have never suffered this kind of hardship. When have they ever used stones as pillows? Can you lie on that thing? Moreover, in the deep mountains and old forests, if a lion comes, they can't defeat it; if a tiger comes, they can't defeat it; if a black bear comes, they can't defeat it. What can they defeat? If a pack of wolves comes, it's even more deadly; if a pack of wild dogs comes, it's enough to give them a hard time! They say: God, may You protect me! As a result, he had a dream, and in the dream, Jehovah stood above the ladder and declared to him that the blessings God had declared to Abraham and Isaac had finally been obtained, and he was overjoyed!

Together, alas, God is actually here! Jacob cried out to God about what he was concerned about: God! You protect me on the road, give me food to eat, and give me clothes to wear. What are you asking for? Very simple needs, not daring to have extravagant hopes, as long as he can return to this land in the future, he will obtain this land in eternity. Jacob said: If God is with me. As a result, what did God say: I am also with you, wherever you go, I will protect you and lead you back to this land, and I will never leave you until I have fulfilled what I have promised you! Today, may these words be fulfilled in us, and our God also eagerly desires to see this group of people have the heart of Jacob. Today, all of us must have the ambition of Jacob. I think this matter must be sorted out from the beginning.

5. Living and Dying, Everything is Vanity

Today, brothers and sisters, you must deeply remember this sentence in your minds. Whether you are in charge of a project, managing a company, managing a small shop, or working a job, people live and die, and everything is vanity. All our problems today are that we take this matter of living too seriously, so our eyes are fixed on that place, only a foot away from the urn. One more step is the urn, but we take this trivial matter of living too seriously.

Today I tell you, you and I will have the same confusion: who will these things we have accumulated be given to in the future? People say: Teacher, you have a lot of money? Not a lot of money, it's meaningless to have too much money, and I don't know who to give it to. If it's too little, I don't know who to give it to, and if it's too much, who do I give it to? It's meaningless. Living and dying, everything is vanity. This is a fundamental logic. If people don't think this way, if they don't have this foundation, you will take this matter of living too seriously. Can you not love the world? If you take this matter of living so seriously, can you not cater to the flesh? You are living in the flesh, but it is the Spirit that gives life, and the flesh is useless, meaningless!

Until today, I tell you, wealth is meaningless, houses are meaningless, cars are meaningless, love is meaningless, family is meaningless, business is meaningless. What do you say is meaningful? Then you have to seek it! So I tell you, when a person knows that these are meaningless, he can stand on a correct foundation, and he will seek the incorruptible blessing in eternity, and he will seek the crown of glory that God has prepared for us in eternity. If you don't seek, how can you get it? That's how Jacob walked this path, not only Jacob walked this way, but Abraham also walked this way. Abraham sought after he had money, and Jacob sought when he had money, and he also sought when he was penniless.

It is difficult for us to understand that Jacob sought these things, he went to his uncle Laban's house, and then on the way he only had a stick in his hand. Many pastors say this: Look, he is cursed, right? If he is cursed, would God still speak to him? Have you ever seen God speak to someone who is cursed? I will be with you, I will curse you, is there such a thing? No! If God declares blessings to him, what does that mean? We have to know what this means! It means that God likes Jacob and likes his logic of seeing through the matter of living.

Why did Jacob please God? Not because the things he did pleased God, but because his foundation was built on the fact that everything is vanity, and living and dying into an urn, what is the meaning? So today, let's not make the work pressure so great. Some people say: Teacher, I have a lot of work pressure; Teacher, I have a lot of pressure to study for college, I am about to collapse! I said: Then collapse, it's better to collapse sooner than later, why haven't you collapsed yet? Some people think I'm telling a joke, but this is not a joke. Can you do it if you don't collapse? You have to collapse early, know that these are vanity, meaningless, know that these are vanity, what are you collapsing about? It's not collapsing.

So, people value beautiful love, and love scammers come; people value beautiful families, and families become your bondage. I thank God that God has broken these for me. Value your business, and the business becomes your control. All the time, they say: Teacher, look at my business, and then they talk a lot; Teacher, my job; Teacher, look at my resume, I'm going to an interview. They say: Teacher, why is your reaction so despairing? It's meaningless. I am serving you, but you have to see if you are a bit silly? Alas, it's all these things.

When people see through all these things, what pressure is there? Doesn't living become a super simple thing? Everyone slowly understands. So I was searching and searching, and I came to a point of despair. I came to a point of despair and then I knew God. If it weren't for despair, where would I have the opportunity to know God? Some people seek a more beautiful homeland, a glorious homeland in eternity; some people start to give up, and enjoy themselves to the fullest. After you see through it, you feel that life is meaningless, so enjoy it to the fullest. Enjoying is also meaningless, what is there to enjoy? Can you enjoy it? Enjoying and enjoying is being controlled.

6. Start Yearning to Seek God

If a person lives to be thirty years old and you don't experience the spiritual world, it is almost impossible. A person in their thirties, starting to support themselves, starting to make a living, you will observe that living in this world is a very spiritual thing. Those unlucky, very powerful people, a chairman, died in a car accident as a result. Can't the chairman have a car accident? Even the chairman's father can't stop a car accident, nothing can stop it! So, living and living in this world, you start to yearn to seek God, like the path Jacob took. So where is God on this path Jacob took? God, where are You? God, how can I make a covenant with You? God, can I make a covenant with You? God, can You declare in front of me the blessings You gave to my grandfather Abraham, and declare the blessings You gave to my father Isaac? God, I want that too!

As a result, seeking and seeking, Jacob reached the age of seventy-five, and God finally spoke to him, still speaking to him in a dream. Some people had a dream, and God said to them in the dream: I will bless you, and I will surely be with you, wherever you go, I will protect you, and I will never leave you until I have fulfilled what I have promised you. After he woke up, he thought: What kind of dream is this? What do I want that thing for? Can that thing be eaten? God, give me a million or eight million. People's minds are all on this. Even if a person's kidney is broken, if you have that million or eight million to find a kidney, you are suffering enough. What do you say you want that thing for? I don't know why. So today, brothers and sisters, let's start seeking God, whether we can find the meaning of living in this vain life, that is the key!

Jacob persisted in seeking for so many years, how much have you persisted? You say: Teacher, I prayed for a week, why hasn't anything happened? I said: The bean sprouts haven't sprouted yet. Start yearning to seek God, and you will find it as you seek, and the door will be opened to those who knock. When you are seeking, something not so good will happen, that is, he is walking with a stick, and besides that stick, he has nothing. And in the wilderness, he may be eaten by wild animals at any time, so he found a stone and lay down to sleep. He was so sleepy and tired that he didn't know it after he fell asleep, and then he opened his eyes and saw a tiger with two eyes staring at him. Don't say that a tiger is staring at him with two eyes, even if a wolf is staring at him with two eyes, a black bear is staring at him with two eyes, or a brown bear is staring at him with two eyes, that would be scary to death. Wouldn't you become its lunch, dinner, or breakfast? It's this kind of situation.

If a person encounters this kind of situation, what will he do? What blessings? Still, my father gave me blessings, and today it has become like this. Do you understand? Still taking the matter of living too seriously. If a person doesn't have the idea that living is vanity, seeking is a fallacy. Your seeking is a fallacy, and you will be at a loss when you encounter problems, and you will lose faith. As a result, Jacob continued to seek, without giving up. He said: God, You have to be with me, I want to make a vow to You, anything is fine! Isn't this the song we sing today I am willing, God, I am willing to offer my life as a living sacrifice!

7. In Times of Crisis, God Will Surely Be with Us

Three full meals and two sleeps a day. Three full meals means eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner; two sleeps means sleeping twice, once at night and once at noon. I tell you, a person cannot see God in three full meals and two sleeps, nor do you need God very much, nor are you so yearning for God. So Jacob used to cook red bean soup, but he didn't cook out God's presence; he cooked green bean soup, but he didn't cook out God's presence; he cooked two-rice porridge, but he didn't cook out God's presence; he snuggled in his mother's arms and discussed God's presence with his mother, but he didn't discuss out God's presence; he discussed God's presence with his father and his grandfather, but he didn't discuss out God's presence.

When does God speak to people? It is a great blessing for a person to still trust God in times of crisis! It is an even greater blessing for a person to still trust God when there is no crisis! At this time, Jacob encountered a crisis and asked: God, where are You? He must have done this before going to bed. Looking at his hand, he only had a stick left. The water was drunk, the food was eaten, and he didn't know how many days he would have to walk the road ahead, maybe half a month or a month, which was deadly! He was very desperate in his heart. Remember, when you cry out to God in despair, God will surely respond to you, because God is with us in our times of crisis. Amen!

I have encountered crises before, and those were very difficult days. I looked up to God, and who else could I trust besides trusting God? God is faithful. In fact, God has never abandoned us over the years. Chinese Mingding Destiny has been established in this way, through one crisis after another, one hardship after another. Although tears can flow, sweat can flow, and even blood can flow, we cannot lose faith in God, even if it is a dying faith. Later, I saw the presence of God, and then I said in amazement: I didn't even know! It's so amazing.

In the past few years, on the road of expelling demons, some people gave me a book called The Sacred Challenge, written by Pastor Cook of England. When I read it at the time, I felt so envious! I said in my heart, when will we be able to reach this level? As a result, when that day came, I suddenly realized that we had experienced everything written in that book, and we had overcome everything that should be overcome. A year later, when I picked up that book again, I said: God, all this has come so quickly!

Actually, I tell you, the lesson of faith is too important. When I lead people to pray, sometimes a day passes, and it is still the same; two days pass, and it is still the same; a month passes, and it is still the same. But I don't give up. When his problem is suddenly solved, I feel that everything has come so suddenly, so quickly, and God's presence is so real. In fact, God is always with us, and God is exercising everyone's faith. No matter what kind of crisis you face, no matter what kind of desperate situation you face, do not be afraid, do not be alarmed. How God was with Moses, so He will be with you. God will never abandon you until He fulfills what He has promised you. Amen!

Let's raise our faith. Our God is a faithful God. Tell God: God, I am Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of this generation. I am seeking You. Looking in the mirror, how old are you this year? More than thirty years old, it doesn't matter, Jacob was seventy-five years old. God, I will still seek, I will still recognize that these things in life are vanity, and I must live out God's presence while I am alive. God, I want to seek You, even if the worst thing has happened, I still want to seek, yearn for Your presence, and yearn for You to declare to me the covenant You gave to Abraham, the covenant to Isaac, and the covenant to Jacob. God, You must be here, what a wonderful declaration!

I tell you, in all your places, on all your roads, in all the time of a person's life, God will surely supply you, and you will lack nothing! Not by your arm, not by your ability, but by God's grace. What is there to be afraid of? Behold, the road before us is the road of promise, and what is before us is the promised land! Go in and take possession of the land, God will never abandon us until He accomplishes what He has promised us. Today, brothers and sisters, you must know that Jacob's height is not too high. When you read his words, you feel that they are extremely LOW. No matter how LOW, God still values us.

Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” (Genesis 28:20-22)

Doesn't this sound very impressive? Brothers and sisters, what do you think? Is it very high-end? You don't think it's high-end, and it's not very good. Because at this time he saw the stick in his hand, and his faith was that God would give him clothes to wear and food to eat. It was like eating a meal, he treated God's presence as a meal, and then he could return safely to his father's house, just such a simple request. In fact, God doesn't care about your height, God cares about your faith, a very simple faith. For the time being, it is this height, it doesn't matter. I tell you, the difficulties that Jacob experienced in his life were many, not a joke. He practiced faith throughout his life, until he reached Egypt and met his son Joseph, the old man had reached the point of perfection!

Today, brothers and sisters, don't think that you need a high-end vow, you don't need it! Just such a simple pursuit, but God doesn't care about what we say wrong? God is still the faithful God. We have insulted God and blasphemed God, what does it matter? Today, God is still the faithful God, because God is the God who saves us! We are individuals, and people must know that they are individuals in this life, which is very important. Knowing that you can't control many things, you can't even say when you can poop or pee, it's just such a simple little thing that you can't say. When you can eat, drink, or sleep, you can't say, it's a simple logic. God has already destined a thing in eternity, that He will accomplish in us what He has promised us, and our God is such a God!

8. Conclusion: God Will Surely Be with Us Until He Fulfills What He Has Promised!

Remember, do not establish your own righteousness, trust in God, and you will surely lack nothing in your life! Put down what you used to value, and only value God's presence, and yearn for the crown of glory that God has prepared for us in eternity. When running this road in the world, always carry the death of Jesus Christ on our bodies, so that the power of Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead can be manifested in our bodies. Nothing counts for anything, and nothing can hinder the accomplishment of God's will, and that is the heart to trust Him. Amen! Let us declare together: God will surely be with us until He fulfills what He has promised us! I tell you, a person who builds a holy temple will surely have all his promises fulfilled. No matter how many promises God has, they are all faithful in Jesus Christ, and He will surely fulfill them! Amen.

Let's sing a hymn to prepare for today's offering. If you do not understand the meaning of offering, please do not offer. Jacob said: I will offer a tenth to You. I once met a person who said: Teacher, I want to offer ninety percent. I looked at him and said: Then what will you eat and drink? He was almost like me fasting and praying for eighty days. I was telling a joke, and I felt that this was not right. Jacob said one-tenth, and we said to God: I will take one-tenth of what You have given me and offer it to You. It doesn't sound like a high-end thing, but this is a simple truth. Today, offering ourselves is the best choice. One-tenth or nine-tenths is not important, what is important is that we build His glorious temple together and see God's presence, and a person's life will be infinitely good!

Never boast and say: Teacher, look, I have already offered nine-tenths. I said: You better stop it! The best thing is to offer your life to God and be used by God to build His glorious temple. I hope that our brothers and sisters will come out of the heart of loving the world and become people who love God, imitating Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, until all this is vanity of vanities, cultivating the habit of loving God. With God's presence, even if you don't have a job, God will create a job for you. Amen!

Follow me in a prayer: God, I want to imitate Jacob, I want to seek the crown of glory that You have prepared for me in eternity; God, I want to imitate Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I want to walk the path they walked! God, may You make a covenant with me, may You also declare on me what You declared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; God, I yearn for Your presence, I yearn to build Your glorious temple, God, may You continue to manifest Yourself among us, may our faith in You grow day by day; God, help us, remove all our worries and anxieties and let me trust You throughout my life. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for the kingdom, the power, and the glory are all Yours, forever and ever. Amen!