Going back to Bethel – Part 3

Text: Genesis 28:1-22; Genesis 35:1-12

Key Verse: Genesis 35:2, “Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments” (KJV)’

Bethel is a place of purification. We cannot make it with God unless we clean up ourselves. Where the church is going in our days is that some people of having failed to realise that God is of purer eyes than to behold evil. God sent His Son into the world to free us from the yoke of sin. God hates sin. God hates evil, and everyone who wants to worship God must understand that and must remove himself from evil. It is possible through Jesus; it is possible through the Blood; it is possible through the Word of God and it happens through the Holy Spirit.

Jacob said to his household to put away the foreign gods among them because they were returning to Bethel. Jacob was to return to the place of his spiritual beginnings and needed to put off impurity before coming into God’s presence. They took with them foreign gods while they lived in Succoth and Shechem and now had to get rid of them before going back to Bethel. Jacob purified himself and his entire household, no one was left out. In Acts 10:24, after God had appeared unto Cornelius, he brought out his entire household so that they would listen to the Word of God. When they listened to the Word of God, they were saved and baptised in the Holy Ghost, as God moved in his household.

Where is your household? Where are thy children? Put away the foreign gods among you and purify yourself. What are the gods you have today? Jacob and his household put away the foreign gods they gathered in the course of their travelling. But remember Jacob’s background. Remember he was the son of Isaac; remember that Isaac was not an idol worshipper; remember Jacob encountered God in a special way in Genesis 28, where he had a vision and saw the angels as humans ascending and descending, and then he entered into special agreement with God. But now, idols have filled his house and foreign gods have filled his house.

What about your family? What about your house? Do you have foreign gods in your house? Have you abandoned the only true and living God? God said only Him is God (Isaiah 45:5). There are people who are involved in idol worship today. There are people who have become idols today and they want people to worship them. There are people who want to receive worship today and don’t want the glory to go to God anymore. Some of them are pastors, members, and leaders. They want to take the glory that belongs to God, but if you don’t give them that glory, they will be angry with you. They want to exalt themselves to be worshipped because of the gifts and grace that God Has poured upon their lives.

Jacob’s household gave to Jacob all the foreign gods and their earrings, which were on their ears, but these earrings were not ordinary earrings. They were earrings that had idolatrous connections. There may be something in your life, which is a mark of your relationship with the devil. Everything that is a mark of a man’s relationship with the devil must be gotten rid of. Jesus said the prince of this world cometh and he has nothing in me (John 14:30).Today’s Nugget: Bethel is a place of sanctification

Prayer: Lord, sanctify my life and that of my household
Prayer lines: 08054477940.
E-mail: servantofgod111@yahoo.com
Rev. Pastor Ejikeme Ejim, General Superintendent, Assemblies of God Nigeria.