Where are the Pillars?

Where are the Pillars? Gen. 28:10And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. 11And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. [Jacob is running from his brother, Esau, who has threatened to kill him. Jacob is exhausted and stops at this place in the wilderness to sleep. He took some stones and made a pillow on which to sleep.] 12And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. 13And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Jacob has an incredible moment and a clear, powerful vision which is followed by a tremendous promise from God. After he saw this VISION and received his promise he did something that would change his life forever 17And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. 18And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. 19And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. [Gen. 28:17-19] He made his pillow into a pillar He turned what he was comfortable with into a consecrated place The fact is that this was a sacred place. Jacob took the stones from his pillow, designed it into a pillar and poured oil on it which now made it a consecrated place. It is time that we get off our pillows and out of our places of comfort and become pillars in the church Connection Worship Center needs pillars Your family needs pillars PEVELY needs pillars Your co-workers need pillars Every time (Jacob) saw that pillar, he thought of God’s promise. At this very same place where a pillow became a pillar God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. It's not just the Pastor's job to be a pillar Its not just the leaderships job to be a pillar It's our job to be a pillar For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles. In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews. (Galatians 2:8, 9 NLT) Being a pillar did not mean they ran the show and everything was done their way and the where the only pillar It did mean that they were men whose presence strengthened the church, their faith encouraged others, their knowledge of scripture gave others direction, their walk with God was looked up to as an example for all to follow, their spiritual sensitivity respected. As pillars their presence held things together and kept it going in the right direction It is time to step up and become a pillar in this church and in the last day revival 2 Chron.3:1Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. [The beginning of the temple; the work begins. This chapter tells the time and place of the construction. The dimensions and very elaborate ornamentation are described. It is to be a very splendid work to behold with all the ornamentation, the gold, bronze. 10And the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid them with gold. [The author describes these gigantic works, each with a 15-ft. wingspan. They literally spanned the entire width of the holy place. 14And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon. 15Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high, and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubits. 16And he made chains, as in the oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars; and made an hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains. 17And he reared up the pillars before the temple, on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz. 2 Chron. 3:1,10,14-17] Flanking the entrance to the temple were two gigantic brass pillars (35 cubits = 50 feet) that Solomon had erected. These pillars were made of brass of the highest quality and they stood on stone footings and were topped by colossal capitals. The account in 1 Kings, chapter 7, indicates they were some 18-ft. in circumference and stood before the house of God. The account in 1 Kings, chapter 7, says they stood in the porch of the temple. A review of the accounts in both Chronicles and Kings reveals that Solomon named the two pillars. He named these pillars just as one today might name an automobile or boat. One pillar Solomon called Boaz, who was David’s great-grandfather. [It was Boaz who married Ruth and their son was Obed. Obed’s son was Jesse who was the father of David and grandfather of Solomon.] The name of the other pillar was called Jachin who is much less known today but was well known in the days of Solomon. Jachin was the head of the twenty-first division of priests and ministered at his post during David’s reign. He may have very well been dead by this time. One view is that Jachin was the first High Priest of the temple. What is known however, is that he was an individual of some quality or importance to merit having a pillar in the temple named for him. He was a man of great renown, great faith, great quality and integrity. Jachin had a reputation for truthfulness, godliness, integrity, stability and character. A pillar can be either a foundation or support to hold something up or it can be a memorial. Solomon names the two pillars Boaz and Jachin, godly leaders whose names actually meant something of significance. Boaz in Hebrew means strength or God is strength; Jachin means established. These pillars served as a memorial to Israel every time the people went to the temple. To look upon the pillars was a memorial to God’s strength and His promise of enablement. God promised to enable His people to endure and for as long as the people served Him, He promised that the temple would endure. The Purpose of a Pillar Load Bearing or Decoration? Today as in ancient times, pillars served multiple purposes. They could simply be ornamental monuments or they could be functional, i.e., designed to hold up or support something. Pillars in ancient times were integral to the support of buildings as the Bible indicates in the account of Samson pulling down the temple of Dagon. [The mainstay of the building was the pillars that Samson used to bring down the entire edifice.] Pillars Defined: a long, slender, vertical structure used to support a superstructure; column; a person who is a main support of an institution, movement, etc. Pillars in the church should be reliable. Pillars aren’t Christians one day and heathen the next; they don’t vary. Pillars are constant, reliable, trustworthy, solid, stable and faithful Jesus said that He would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it The cross Heaven --- Church “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia. This is the message from the one who is holy and true,the one who has the key of David. What he opens, no one can close; and what he closes, no one can open: “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me. Look, I will force those who belong to Satan’s synagogue—those liars who say they are Jews but are not—to come and bow down at your feet. They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love. “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name. (Revelation 3:7-12 NLT) When Sir Christopher Wren--architect for the rebuilding of London following the great fire of 1666--designed the inside of Windsor's Town Hall, his ceiling was supported by pillars. The building inspectors decided the pillars were insufficient, however, and Wren should add more. He protested, but to no avail. Therefore, Sir Christopher had the workers install four more pillars inside the hall, identical to the others but with one exception: these did not touch the ceiling. They only looked as though they did. The inspectors were fooled, and the four fake pillars still stand to this day. (Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes; Little, Brown and Company, 2000. p. 583) Sermon preached at CWC by Mark Tipton