Our series this month will deal with the thought of remembering, memories, and memorials.
Have you ever tied a string around your finger to help you remember something?
This and other memorization strategies help us to remember things.
Talk about something you may have lost, misplaced, or forgotten. Also, what things have you done to try to remember?

As we think of remembering, memories, and memorials we can look at what the Old Testament had to say about these subjects. From Exodus to Joshua, God told the Israelites dozens of times to remember WHO God is and WHAT He had done for them.
An example of this can be found in Numbers 15:37-41 [NLT]

Often in the Old Testament people used stones as objects to help people remember specific people, places, events, and moments.
Today there are technical differences between the word stone and rock even though the words are often used interchangeably.
For the sake of our series, stones will be understood as moveable and manageable pieces of rock. In Israel, stones were everywhere and used for so many things.

A stone referred to as a pillar is usually a rectangle piece that is placed in a vertical position so that you could see it better.
The usage of pillars in the Bible were always used to communicate something of importance...what God wants us to remember.
God and people used stones to commemorate or memorialize a vow, a historical event, a relationship, and even as a representation of a person or group of people.
Exodus 24:1-4 speaks of the Twelve Pillars for the Twelve Tribes.
In the book of Genesis, we see Abraham's son Jacob placing several pillars during his lifetime: identifying places of revelation, separation, transformation, and affection.
Each week this month we'll look at one of these pillars, explore it's significance and gain some insights for our life.

#1 - The Pillar of REVELATION
Genesis 28:10-19

Jacob had left his family in southern Israel to return to his family's homeland. He was on a mission to find a wife from his own ethnic group.

Genesis 28:1-9 gives us some of the necessary background.

In verses 16-17 we see that this revelation from God really impacts Jacob's life and creates a sense of wonder. God's revelation is always for the purpose of our obedience to His will.

This leads to verse 18 where Jacob responds with a sense of worship. He poured olive oil on top of the pillar as an anointing. This was a cultural practice to acknowledge God and His divine favor. It was a symbol of submission and sacrifice. This is the first time something is anointed in the Bible.

In verse 19 Jacob calls the place Bethel (meaning the House of God) even though the city used to be called Luz. Abraham had an encounter near Luz in Genesis 12:8.

In later years, the city of Luz was forgotten, and the new name of Bethel became predominant. The spiritual replaced the carnal and temporal.

If we really dig in to this section of scripture, there are numerous insights, principles, lessons and things to remember. Here are a few:

1. God wants us to remember who He is and what He has done.
Deuteronomy 8:10-14, 19-20

2. God will get our attention through a variety of ways.
Proverbs 4:20-27

3. God’s revelation is for obedience and application to our life.
James 1:22; 4:17