WEBVTT 00:00:02.339 --> 00:00:05.259 Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We 00:00:05.259 --> 00:00:07.660 want to thank you for joining us today, and we 00:00:07.660 --> 00:00:10.179 hope you find today's sermon impacting as you 00:00:10.179 --> 00:00:12.699 listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk. 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:15.960 To find service times and watch messages online, 00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:20.120 see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now, 00:00:20.140 --> 00:00:24.660 enjoy this week's message. Come on, it's a joy 00:00:24.660 --> 00:00:27.940 to be in the house of the Lord. Amen. Come on, 00:00:27.940 --> 00:00:29.719 we love being in God's house, love being in His 00:00:29.719 --> 00:00:34.159 presence. Amazing time of worship. Let me pray 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:37.119 for you. And then we will get into the nitty 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:42.200 gritty. As Nacho would say. Lord thank you so 00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:45.100 much for your word. Lord we ask that you would 00:00:45.100 --> 00:00:49.619 speak to us. Because your word is limitless and 00:00:49.619 --> 00:00:52.920 it is boundless. Lord it says that I see all 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:55.719 creation and I see its limit. But your word is 00:00:55.719 --> 00:01:01.039 boundless. Lord we ask for you to help us. See 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:04.920 Jesus in every page of scripture. Because Lord, 00:01:04.980 --> 00:01:07.500 this is a book that is about your son, Jesus. 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:11.180 It testifies of his name, the name that is above 00:01:11.180 --> 00:01:15.420 every name. God, help us see you. Lord, reveal 00:01:15.420 --> 00:01:18.640 yourself to us so that we may better reveal who 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:21.680 you are to the world around us. In Jesus' mighty 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:28.900 name, everyone said, amen. Let's go to our main 00:01:28.900 --> 00:01:31.540 topic. set up passages here. Galatians chapter 00:01:31.540 --> 00:01:37.920 2, verse 20. Galatians chapter 2, verse 20. We 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:43.500 are discussing the altars, the theology of altars. 00:01:43.540 --> 00:01:46.519 So essentially, the Lord put it on my heart to 00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:53.260 study every altar in the Bible, and I am almost 00:01:53.260 --> 00:01:57.709 done with Exodus. And I was told to start this 00:01:57.709 --> 00:01:59.870 study about two and a half, almost three years 00:01:59.870 --> 00:02:04.030 ago. So we are either, there's a lot of content 00:02:04.030 --> 00:02:07.530 or I'm very slow. Either way, I'm willing to 00:02:07.530 --> 00:02:12.490 accept both. But Galatians 2, 20 says this. I 00:02:12.490 --> 00:02:15.430 have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer 00:02:15.430 --> 00:02:18.349 I who live, but Christ who lives in me. In the 00:02:18.349 --> 00:02:20.469 life I now live, I live in the flesh. I live 00:02:20.469 --> 00:02:24.469 by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave 00:02:24.469 --> 00:02:27.610 himself for me. Turn to your neighbor and say, 00:02:27.789 --> 00:02:35.569 Jesus loves you. This I know. For the Bible has 00:02:35.569 --> 00:02:41.229 told me so. Turn to your other neighbor, the 00:02:41.229 --> 00:02:48.210 one you rejected, and tell them, God loves me. 00:02:50.729 --> 00:02:57.349 This I know. For the Bible tells me so. He gave 00:02:57.349 --> 00:03:00.050 himself to die for me. We understand that the 00:03:00.050 --> 00:03:03.509 greatest act of love was that God the Father 00:03:03.509 --> 00:03:05.889 sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for us. 00:03:06.009 --> 00:03:09.050 That's what it says in 1 John. It says that this 00:03:09.050 --> 00:03:11.490 is love made manifest that Christ came and died. 00:03:12.069 --> 00:03:16.229 So the greatest act of love is giving of life. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:20.080 And because of that giving of life, because of 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:25.419 the death of Christ, we also get to follow in 00:03:25.419 --> 00:03:29.919 that same way of living. A life that is not I 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:33.460 who live, but Christ who lives in me. So let's 00:03:33.460 --> 00:03:37.020 now go to Matthew chapter 16, verse 24, where 00:03:37.020 --> 00:03:40.219 Jesus is teaching his disciples, if you want 00:03:40.219 --> 00:03:42.460 to follow me, this is what it really looks like. 00:03:43.020 --> 00:03:46.270 Essentially, he is telling them, You said yes 00:03:46.270 --> 00:03:48.550 to me and this is what you are saying yes to. 00:03:50.169 --> 00:03:52.569 Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would 00:03:52.569 --> 00:03:55.349 come after me, let him deny himself, take up 00:03:55.349 --> 00:03:59.750 his cross and follow me. The first thing we have 00:03:59.750 --> 00:04:01.830 to understand whenever you study the Bible is 00:04:01.830 --> 00:04:05.210 you have to look for Jesus everywhere you read 00:04:05.210 --> 00:04:09.360 because this is a book about him. The book is 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:12.900 about Jesus Christ. And when we look at the cross, 00:04:13.020 --> 00:04:17.860 it is an altar. The greatest altar of all the 00:04:17.860 --> 00:04:22.459 scripture is the altar of the cross. Everybody 00:04:22.459 --> 00:04:24.560 knows when you look, well, I guess not everybody, 00:04:24.680 --> 00:04:26.439 but when you look at the altar, what you look 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:30.019 at is you see that an altar is a place of sacrifice 00:04:30.019 --> 00:04:34.600 that is at an elevated position. And Jesus... 00:04:35.180 --> 00:04:38.660 took the cross up a hill, elevated position, 00:04:38.779 --> 00:04:43.300 and was lifted up on the cross as the sacrifice. 00:04:43.399 --> 00:04:46.279 That's why the Bible calls him the lamb. Because 00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:49.259 in the Old Testament, the only thing that could 00:04:49.259 --> 00:04:53.579 cover sin was a spotless lamb and its blood had 00:04:53.579 --> 00:04:58.879 to be shed and its body offered on a altar. Not 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:02.649 a smoker. Or a barbecue. It was kind of like 00:05:02.649 --> 00:05:05.569 a barbecue. The brazen altar literally had like 00:05:05.569 --> 00:05:09.110 a grill, like a grate on the inside. But it was 00:05:09.110 --> 00:05:13.269 a place of worship and it was a place of offering. 00:05:13.410 --> 00:05:16.870 It was a place that was very bloody and it was 00:05:16.870 --> 00:05:21.410 a place that God sets up in the Old Testament 00:05:21.410 --> 00:05:26.310 to point to the cross of Jesus Christ. Because 00:05:26.310 --> 00:05:28.230 even though the altar in the Old Testament had 00:05:28.230 --> 00:05:31.889 fire, the fire that Jesus experienced was not 00:05:31.889 --> 00:05:34.470 a literal fire, but the fire of God's wrath upon 00:05:34.470 --> 00:05:38.629 sin. It was his judgment upon sin that he took 00:05:38.629 --> 00:05:43.490 upon himself. Jesus was consumed in the things 00:05:43.490 --> 00:05:46.269 of the Spirit. He was the perfect altar, or the 00:05:46.269 --> 00:05:48.949 perfect sacrifice upon the altar of the cross. 00:05:49.170 --> 00:05:53.509 And he died. and then rose again. Because this 00:05:53.509 --> 00:05:56.589 is what's so amazing about Jesus, is that those 00:05:56.589 --> 00:06:01.449 who give their lives actually gain life. That's 00:06:01.449 --> 00:06:03.389 the beauty of the gospel, is that when you give 00:06:03.389 --> 00:06:06.449 your life to Jesus, you actually get life in 00:06:06.449 --> 00:06:09.389 return. You can't have resurrection life without 00:06:09.389 --> 00:06:12.529 death. We talked about that last week. And he 00:06:12.529 --> 00:06:14.689 says here, to follow me, for whoever would save 00:06:14.689 --> 00:06:16.529 his life will lose it, but whoever loses his 00:06:16.529 --> 00:06:20.449 life for my sake. We'll find it. So we have to 00:06:20.449 --> 00:06:22.769 start with this premise before we go to the Old 00:06:22.769 --> 00:06:26.670 Testament. That every altar in the Bible points 00:06:26.670 --> 00:06:29.250 to the altar of the cross and to Jesus Christ. 00:06:30.209 --> 00:06:32.790 So everything we read, we don't read it through 00:06:32.790 --> 00:06:34.670 the framework of, oh, we need to make sure we 00:06:34.670 --> 00:06:37.610 go grab a lamb and start some barbecue after 00:06:37.610 --> 00:06:40.649 Sunday. No, we have to look at it in the spiritual 00:06:40.649 --> 00:06:44.110 sense and it first must point to Jesus and then 00:06:44.110 --> 00:06:46.860 apply to us. So the first thing that we're going 00:06:46.860 --> 00:06:49.740 to do is we're going to look at the first implication 00:06:49.740 --> 00:06:52.379 of an altar. See, when you study the Bible, you 00:06:52.379 --> 00:06:55.220 have to follow a couple different rules. One 00:06:55.220 --> 00:06:57.220 of the rules is that you have to look at first 00:06:57.220 --> 00:07:00.459 mention. First mention means that if I were to 00:07:00.459 --> 00:07:02.399 look up the word love in the Bible, I need to 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:04.759 start with the very first time it's mentioned, 00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:08.420 not just go straight to John 3 .16. Because I 00:07:08.420 --> 00:07:12.019 need to look at the full picture, not just the 00:07:12.019 --> 00:07:15.240 parts I like. So when we look at an altar, we 00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:16.639 have to go to the first time it's mentioned. 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:19.120 But before even you go to the first time it's 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:21.519 mentioned, you go into its first implication. 00:07:22.899 --> 00:07:25.779 The first time it's implied, not specifically 00:07:25.779 --> 00:07:29.180 mentioned. So let's go to Genesis 3, verse 21. 00:07:30.420 --> 00:07:33.259 It says here, And the Lord God made for Adam 00:07:33.259 --> 00:07:38.779 and for his wife garments of skins and clothed 00:07:38.779 --> 00:07:45.319 them. So the word altar is not used here, but 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:50.519 we have an implication. Because how did God get 00:07:50.519 --> 00:07:55.879 the skins to clothe them? He pulled it from an 00:07:55.879 --> 00:07:59.800 animal that had to die in order to cover the 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:03.800 sins of Adam and Eve. Where would have this taken 00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:07.209 place? Well, we know that God In the Old Testament, 00:08:07.370 --> 00:08:10.750 he wants the sacrifice, he wants the death and 00:08:10.750 --> 00:08:12.790 the blood to be poured out in a specific place, 00:08:12.970 --> 00:08:17.389 and that's at the altar. So what we see here 00:08:17.389 --> 00:08:24.009 is that God himself chose the sacrifice, kills 00:08:24.009 --> 00:08:28.509 the sacrifice, had an altar of some sort, and 00:08:28.509 --> 00:08:31.509 used the skin from the sacrifice on the altar 00:08:31.509 --> 00:08:35.809 and covered Adam and Eve with it. Because what 00:08:35.809 --> 00:08:37.649 did Adam and Eve try to cover themselves before 00:08:37.649 --> 00:08:41.070 the skin? Some leaves. They were trying to, you 00:08:41.070 --> 00:08:43.429 know, George the Jungle it or, you know, Tarzan 00:08:43.429 --> 00:08:47.090 in the Garden of Eden. And God says, this doesn't 00:08:47.090 --> 00:08:50.330 work. Because the Bible says that without the 00:08:50.330 --> 00:08:52.009 shedding of blood, there could be no remission 00:08:52.009 --> 00:08:57.740 of sins. There could be no salvation. God also 00:08:57.740 --> 00:09:00.360 makes it very clear that there has to be the 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:02.840 shedding of blood, that there has to be something 00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:08.059 must die in order for it to be worship. When 00:09:08.059 --> 00:09:10.519 we come to the altar of God, we have to understand 00:09:10.519 --> 00:09:14.299 that God himself, this points to Jesus, and let 00:09:14.299 --> 00:09:19.639 me explain how, that God chose his son before 00:09:19.639 --> 00:09:23.059 the foundations of the world as the perfect sacrifice, 00:09:23.240 --> 00:09:26.919 and we are covered not just with the This life 00:09:26.919 --> 00:09:29.960 I now live in the flesh, I live by the life of 00:09:29.960 --> 00:09:34.960 Jesus. It's because Jesus was the sacrifice, 00:09:35.179 --> 00:09:42.200 I now get to live in resurrection life. The taking 00:09:42.200 --> 00:09:46.440 of these leaves to cover their nakedness is essentially, 00:09:46.620 --> 00:09:51.600 it did not require the death of anything. How 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:54.480 many times do we come to the altar of God where 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:57.799 we, offer something that doesn't actually cost 00:09:57.799 --> 00:10:01.620 us and nothing actually dies. We come to the 00:10:01.620 --> 00:10:04.299 altar and we have our sob fest and we have our 00:10:04.299 --> 00:10:06.820 goose pimple moment and we're going, God, my 00:10:06.820 --> 00:10:11.139 goodness, God is here. This is incredible. But 00:10:11.139 --> 00:10:13.799 we understand that we can come to the altar time 00:10:13.799 --> 00:10:18.600 and time again and actually not be changed. And 00:10:18.600 --> 00:10:22.710 we can leave the altar. Having a moment with 00:10:22.710 --> 00:10:25.409 God, but what we're really experiencing is God 00:10:25.409 --> 00:10:28.309 pouring out on the sacrifice of somebody else. 00:10:30.690 --> 00:10:34.190 Instead of actually being in a place of bringing 00:10:34.190 --> 00:10:36.950 my own sacrifice to God, bringing something that 00:10:36.950 --> 00:10:39.330 has to die in me. And we understand this principle 00:10:39.330 --> 00:10:41.610 also in Cain and Abel. Let's look at the second 00:10:41.610 --> 00:10:45.549 implication in Genesis 4, 4 -5. It says, and 00:10:45.549 --> 00:10:48.169 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock 00:10:48.169 --> 00:10:50.870 and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard 00:10:50.870 --> 00:10:53.889 for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his 00:10:53.889 --> 00:10:58.409 offering, he had no regard. This means that God 00:10:58.409 --> 00:11:03.669 can actually reject somebody's offering. Somebody's 00:11:03.669 --> 00:11:07.529 worship. He says, I don't want it. I have no 00:11:07.529 --> 00:11:10.309 regard for this. Because what you're giving me 00:11:10.309 --> 00:11:14.019 doesn't really cost you anything. Cain was the 00:11:14.019 --> 00:11:18.000 first religious person in the Bible that he thought 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:20.799 just the act of giving something was good enough. 00:11:22.059 --> 00:11:25.279 It didn't come from his heart. It wasn't genuine. 00:11:25.460 --> 00:11:29.059 It was just, I'm doing the job that I, just because 00:11:29.059 --> 00:11:31.299 my mom and dad are doing it, my brother's doing 00:11:31.299 --> 00:11:33.659 it, might as well just join in. I might as well 00:11:33.659 --> 00:11:36.120 do this. And what happens? You see his heart. 00:11:36.259 --> 00:11:39.419 I don't get what I want, and so I reject you 00:11:39.419 --> 00:11:43.960 completely. I don't get what I want. You're giving 00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:47.480 to my brother. What's so different between our 00:11:47.480 --> 00:11:52.639 offerings? Well, a major difference is that Cain 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:55.679 was operating in the same heart and mindset as 00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:59.600 their parents when they first sinned. Let's go 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:05.159 grab some leaves. And maybe that'll be enough 00:12:05.159 --> 00:12:09.139 to cover us. Cain was operating in the same thing. 00:12:09.620 --> 00:12:13.259 Let me grab some plants. But Abel understood 00:12:13.259 --> 00:12:17.080 the heart of God. No, obviously that didn't work. 00:12:17.299 --> 00:12:20.940 So what did God do? He actually had to kill an 00:12:20.940 --> 00:12:22.659 animal and then cover them with those hides. 00:12:23.870 --> 00:12:26.809 So Abel goes, I understand what God's heart is, 00:12:26.830 --> 00:12:30.309 is that we have to go to God with a sacrifice 00:12:30.309 --> 00:12:32.450 and something willing to die. Pastor Trent, are 00:12:32.450 --> 00:12:34.190 you saying that we have to bring a sacrifice 00:12:34.190 --> 00:12:37.250 that covers us from our sin? No, no, no, no. 00:12:37.370 --> 00:12:40.350 I'm saying because Jesus is the ultimate and 00:12:40.350 --> 00:12:44.649 totally sufficient sacrifice for salvation, we 00:12:44.649 --> 00:12:47.870 in response, what did Jesus say? You have to 00:12:47.870 --> 00:12:50.090 come and deny yourself, pick up your cross and 00:12:50.090 --> 00:12:52.450 follow me. So this doesn't have to do with getting 00:12:52.450 --> 00:12:55.070 salvation. has to do with what happens after 00:12:55.070 --> 00:13:02.230 salvation. This is next steps. Step one, confess 00:13:02.230 --> 00:13:05.870 Jesus Christ as Lord and repent. Step two, take 00:13:05.870 --> 00:13:09.470 up your cross, deny yourself. You are carrying 00:13:09.470 --> 00:13:13.350 an altar that requires something to die. Well, 00:13:13.350 --> 00:13:15.769 you're asking, what should die? What's the sacrifice? 00:13:17.490 --> 00:13:23.940 Me and you. Because God's life cannot live in 00:13:23.940 --> 00:13:27.779 us if we are still living. We have to be dead 00:13:27.779 --> 00:13:30.320 to self. We have to be dead to pride. We have 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:33.340 to be dead to lust. We have to be dead to jealousy. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:37.860 We have to be dead to covetousness. And we have 00:13:37.860 --> 00:13:40.500 to be dead to gossip and envy. We have to be 00:13:40.500 --> 00:13:42.139 dead to those things in order for the life of 00:13:42.139 --> 00:13:47.840 Christ to be in us. To live completely. And Paul 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:51.259 makes this very clear that you have to set your 00:13:51.259 --> 00:13:53.879 mind on the things above and not on the flesh. 00:13:55.179 --> 00:13:57.960 Our flesh is not just, you know, your meat and 00:13:57.960 --> 00:14:03.860 bones here. The Greek word is the sarks. It represents 00:14:03.860 --> 00:14:08.149 your sin nature. When Adam and Eve fell, what 00:14:08.149 --> 00:14:11.629 happened? They were now tainted. They were now 00:14:11.629 --> 00:14:17.009 compromised. They now had a nature contrary to 00:14:17.009 --> 00:14:20.429 God's nature. Because they rebelled and chose 00:14:20.429 --> 00:14:23.830 independence. So what do we do now in a life 00:14:23.830 --> 00:14:26.990 following God? Is we are living a life of daily, 00:14:27.230 --> 00:14:32.549 hourly, sometimes moment to moment death to self. 00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:35.919 In order for the life of Christ to flourish in 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:39.059 and through us. The whole purpose is for God's 00:14:39.059 --> 00:14:42.539 life to flow through us. We don't die just for 00:14:42.539 --> 00:14:46.360 death's sake. It's for the sake of his life to 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:49.980 flow. And some of us sometimes we want God's 00:14:49.980 --> 00:14:53.059 life without death. That's what Cain wanted. 00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:58.480 I want God's approval without me having to die 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:03.669 to anything else. And that's what makes a religious 00:15:03.669 --> 00:15:05.950 person. That's why Jesus rebukes them so much 00:15:05.950 --> 00:15:09.309 and says, you appear righteous, but when no one's 00:15:09.309 --> 00:15:15.129 looking, you're just as bad as Cain. You come 00:15:15.129 --> 00:15:19.610 with offerings that I don't have. any love for, 00:15:19.710 --> 00:15:22.330 because it doesn't come from a place of you actually 00:15:22.330 --> 00:15:25.409 giving yourself to me. We understand that, just 00:15:25.409 --> 00:15:28.309 like what I said in 1 John, it says that Jesus, 00:15:28.490 --> 00:15:30.830 the greatest act of love is his death. We talked 00:15:30.830 --> 00:15:33.210 about it last week. Which means that the greatest 00:15:33.210 --> 00:15:35.710 act of love I can give to God is to die to myself. 00:15:39.789 --> 00:15:44.370 So we look here in Hebrews 11, 4. By faith, Abel 00:15:44.370 --> 00:15:46.710 offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than 00:15:46.710 --> 00:15:49.759 Cain. Through which he was commended as righteous, 00:15:49.860 --> 00:15:57.700 God commended him by accepting his gifts. He 00:15:57.700 --> 00:16:00.759 commended him by accepting the gifts. Some of 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:04.539 us want, and we want, you know, we want the affirmation 00:16:04.539 --> 00:16:07.500 and like some kind of reward for giving things 00:16:07.500 --> 00:16:11.200 to God. That's what Cain wanted. Abel wasn't 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:14.899 in it for the reward. Him just having a pleasing 00:16:14.899 --> 00:16:20.200 offering was a good enough reward for Abel. Just 00:16:20.200 --> 00:16:23.700 think about that. The fact that I can even give 00:16:23.700 --> 00:16:26.759 something that's pleasing to God is a reward 00:16:26.759 --> 00:16:31.620 enough. I don't need him to give me anything. 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:37.820 I just want to give him everything. And the fact 00:16:37.820 --> 00:16:40.759 he would accept it is the greatest reward we 00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:45.840 could ever receive. That should be our goal in 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:47.899 worship. That should be our goal when we read 00:16:47.899 --> 00:16:50.899 scripture. That should be our livelihood every 00:16:50.899 --> 00:16:53.960 moment of every day. If this is just a moment 00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:58.100 that's even acceptable to you, God, that is the 00:16:58.100 --> 00:17:04.980 greatest reward. One of the things we then look 00:17:04.980 --> 00:17:08.339 at here in the very first mention of the, so 00:17:08.339 --> 00:17:10.480 those were the first implication of an altar. 00:17:11.329 --> 00:17:13.829 Because if Abel was making a sacrifice, if Cain 00:17:13.829 --> 00:17:15.450 was making a sacrifice, what do you think they 00:17:15.450 --> 00:17:20.150 were sacrificing it on? An altar. It was being 00:17:20.150 --> 00:17:26.130 sacrificed on an altar. When we come to this 00:17:26.130 --> 00:17:28.230 place, this altar, we have to understand that 00:17:28.230 --> 00:17:32.009 an altar is not just a singular place that's 00:17:32.009 --> 00:17:36.890 represented by just being up here up front. The 00:17:36.890 --> 00:17:43.589 altar is a place that God has designated for 00:17:43.589 --> 00:17:46.849 something that you care for and value to die, 00:17:47.069 --> 00:17:50.009 that you put to death. That means that that could 00:17:50.009 --> 00:17:51.789 be in your living room. That could be in your 00:17:51.789 --> 00:17:53.930 home. That could be in your garage. That could 00:17:53.930 --> 00:17:56.250 be in your car, on your way to work. That could 00:17:56.250 --> 00:18:00.009 be in your office, at your job. Any place that 00:18:00.009 --> 00:18:02.190 you say, God, I'm willing to die, guess what 00:18:02.190 --> 00:18:04.430 you are saying? This is an altar right here. 00:18:05.990 --> 00:18:08.190 I carry the altar of the cross. That's what's 00:18:08.190 --> 00:18:12.759 so beautiful about the cross. It's mobile. You 00:18:12.759 --> 00:18:17.160 carry it with you. Every moment. You don't say, 00:18:17.180 --> 00:18:19.440 well, man, I can't die to myself until I get 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:21.299 to the house of God, until I get to church on 00:18:21.299 --> 00:18:24.500 Sunday. Oh, no, no, no. This is an every moment 00:18:24.500 --> 00:18:29.359 thing. Of every day. That means that in every 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:31.460 moment of your life, you can experience resurrection 00:18:31.460 --> 00:18:36.500 life. The first altar mentioned in the scriptures 00:18:36.500 --> 00:18:41.319 is in Genesis chapter 8, verse 20. with Noah 00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:45.099 as the one who builds the altar. It says here, 00:18:45.259 --> 00:18:48.859 and to give you a little context, this is after 00:18:48.859 --> 00:18:52.240 he builds the ark. This is after all of the judgment 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:56.940 from the water. This is after the 40 days at 00:18:56.940 --> 00:18:59.839 the water park where there's only eight people 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:04.079 that actually survive. This is Noah who is now 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:08.259 getting off of the ark. God opens the door. He 00:19:08.259 --> 00:19:12.819 steps out onto what is the new earth. Because 00:19:12.819 --> 00:19:15.359 essentially, God had to wipe the whole slate 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:19.420 clean. The world was different after the flood. 00:19:20.519 --> 00:19:23.359 It represents, in the book of Revelation, the 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:26.519 new earth that is going to come after God comes 00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:31.150 with not just water, he comes with fire. So we 00:19:31.150 --> 00:19:34.170 understand that this is the first thing that 00:19:34.170 --> 00:19:37.849 Noah does on this new earth is he builds an altar. 00:19:39.849 --> 00:19:44.230 An altar to the Lord. And so that means my first 00:19:44.230 --> 00:19:47.049 thing that I'm going to do now that God has saved 00:19:47.049 --> 00:19:52.710 me from judgment and spared me is I'm going to 00:19:52.710 --> 00:19:57.509 worship him. Every altar represents something 00:19:57.509 --> 00:19:59.930 different. So I'm gonna give you some titles 00:19:59.930 --> 00:20:02.170 of what these represent, but this altar right 00:20:02.170 --> 00:20:07.490 here is an altar of worship and praise. Isn't 00:20:07.490 --> 00:20:08.890 it beautiful that the first thing we're gonna 00:20:08.890 --> 00:20:10.950 do in the new heavens and the new earth is worship 00:20:10.950 --> 00:20:15.450 God? Not figure out what mansion we're gonna 00:20:15.450 --> 00:20:19.069 be staying in. Not figuring out what's up on 00:20:19.069 --> 00:20:22.390 the menu for the first feast. The first thing 00:20:22.390 --> 00:20:29.430 we do is worship God. And Noah perfectly shows 00:20:29.430 --> 00:20:33.369 this, how important it is when we worship God. 00:20:33.509 --> 00:20:35.890 This is why I love theology and this is why it's 00:20:35.890 --> 00:20:39.269 so present here is that this is an altar of worship 00:20:39.269 --> 00:20:41.950 and praise in response. What is he building the 00:20:41.950 --> 00:20:43.990 altar in response to? Why is he building the 00:20:43.990 --> 00:20:47.730 altar? Because he just got word from God of the 00:20:47.730 --> 00:20:51.170 rainbow of the covenant and the revelation that 00:20:51.170 --> 00:20:53.529 who God is and how he's gonna relate to his people. 00:20:55.470 --> 00:20:58.990 We understand that this is worship that comes 00:20:58.990 --> 00:21:03.789 from the revelation of God's covenant. I'm just 00:21:03.789 --> 00:21:06.049 telling you, whenever you study the Bible, this 00:21:06.049 --> 00:21:08.569 is what's so beautiful. We understand we should 00:21:08.569 --> 00:21:11.069 worship to get in the right mindset to take our 00:21:11.069 --> 00:21:13.450 minds off of ourselves before we read the Bible. 00:21:13.730 --> 00:21:16.769 Then once you're done reading the Bible, it should 00:21:16.769 --> 00:21:22.000 lead you to worship. You should worship. There 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:24.359 should be even a greater level and magnitude 00:21:24.359 --> 00:21:27.240 of worship and purity to your worship after you've 00:21:27.240 --> 00:21:31.619 read scripture. Because we go to the book, worshiping 00:21:31.619 --> 00:21:34.160 God, declaring that he is worthy. Then Jesus 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:36.640 comes and the Holy Spirit comes, breaking the 00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:39.140 seal that we would actually receive from the 00:21:39.140 --> 00:21:42.079 word. And the word then brings purity to the 00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:44.779 heart and to the mind that makes our sacrifice 00:21:44.779 --> 00:21:49.869 of praise something beautiful. The Bible comes 00:21:49.869 --> 00:21:54.250 to cause us to worship God. That's why theology 00:21:54.250 --> 00:21:57.970 is worshiping God. This is what's so interesting 00:21:57.970 --> 00:22:03.130 here is that he took 33 clean animals. Some of 00:22:03.130 --> 00:22:05.109 every clean animal and some of every clean bird. 00:22:05.170 --> 00:22:07.549 That would be 33 different types. Do you know 00:22:07.549 --> 00:22:09.970 the 33rd time Noah's name is mentioned is right 00:22:09.970 --> 00:22:15.519 here? Which means that whatever you come and 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:20.200 sacrifice to God should be a part of you. Should 00:22:20.200 --> 00:22:23.559 be linked to you. Not something that is just, 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:28.220 sure, yeah, I'll offer somebody else's car as 00:22:28.220 --> 00:22:33.799 a sacrifice to God. No. You give of your own. 00:22:33.900 --> 00:22:38.660 Something connected to you. This is the thing 00:22:38.660 --> 00:22:43.579 that when we come to God, sometimes we are, We 00:22:43.579 --> 00:22:47.039 have to come to God and go, Lord, examine me 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:50.380 and find anything in me. Lord, whatever must 00:22:50.380 --> 00:22:56.140 die in me, I come and I'm ready to give it. And 00:22:56.140 --> 00:22:58.579 some of us think God is just gonna, he's gonna 00:22:58.579 --> 00:23:00.880 take all the bad stuff. That's what we, when 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:03.079 we come to the altar, and I know we think this 00:23:03.079 --> 00:23:04.299 because I thought this for many, many years. 00:23:04.380 --> 00:23:06.420 I come to God and I just give him all the stuff 00:23:06.420 --> 00:23:11.319 I don't want. But he says, offer a clean animal. 00:23:12.539 --> 00:23:16.279 Clean things. Listen, I come to offer my family. 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:20.940 I'm preaching to somebody. I come to offer my 00:23:20.940 --> 00:23:23.839 job. I come to offer my reputation. I come to 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:27.299 offer my name. I come to offer my own life. I 00:23:27.299 --> 00:23:29.859 come to offer the things that I have seen as 00:23:29.859 --> 00:23:33.799 precious and dear to me. I offer this relationship. 00:23:34.019 --> 00:23:37.640 I offer this person. I offer these things. I 00:23:37.640 --> 00:23:42.400 offer whatever God you require of me, I give 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:48.599 it to God. We understand in Exodus chapter 29, 00:23:48.700 --> 00:23:52.180 in the consecration of the priests, it says that 00:23:52.180 --> 00:23:55.259 take the skin and the dung and take it outside 00:23:55.259 --> 00:24:01.049 of the camp. In other words, We think, okay, 00:24:01.109 --> 00:24:03.329 I'm going to come with my surface level stuff 00:24:03.329 --> 00:24:09.450 and my crap and give it to God. If you can't 00:24:09.450 --> 00:24:10.890 get over the word crap in church, you're not 00:24:10.890 --> 00:24:12.210 going to last long. I'm just telling you right 00:24:12.210 --> 00:24:19.109 now. We have to be able. To come to God and say, 00:24:19.210 --> 00:24:21.809 God, I'm not just giving you the stuff I don't 00:24:21.809 --> 00:24:25.069 want and surface level. What was offered that 00:24:25.069 --> 00:24:27.569 was actually consumed on the offering? It was 00:24:27.569 --> 00:24:30.589 the fat, the innards, the liver, the things considered 00:24:30.589 --> 00:24:35.410 the inward parts of man. The liver represented 00:24:35.410 --> 00:24:38.769 the inward parts of your personality. It represented 00:24:38.769 --> 00:24:41.819 temperament and character. Pagans would take 00:24:41.819 --> 00:24:44.079 the liver of the animal and actually interpret 00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:47.079 it and come up with battle strategies and come 00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:49.980 up with different ideas for how to conquer cities 00:24:49.980 --> 00:24:52.319 through interpreting the liver. God says, you're 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:54.079 going to give me the liver because it represents 00:24:54.079 --> 00:24:56.599 your personality. Listen, your personality is 00:24:56.599 --> 00:25:00.079 not off the table. Because this is how I am, 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:03.299 this is how you made me. No, it's not. It's not 00:25:03.299 --> 00:25:07.200 how I made you. Are you actually wanting to be 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:11.240 how I made you? I can't give it to you unless 00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:14.339 you're willing to give me that. And actually 00:25:14.339 --> 00:25:17.880 recognize it for what it is. I was called into 00:25:17.880 --> 00:25:21.480 the ministry at eight years old. When I gave 00:25:21.480 --> 00:25:23.279 my life to the Lord, my dad led me into salvation, 00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:25.960 called in his bedroom, and I remember I had a 00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:29.140 vision. At eight years old, the Lord took me 00:25:29.140 --> 00:25:30.960 and he showed me the thing. He showed me that 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:33.359 I would prophesy and that I would preach. And 00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:38.509 ever since then, God has essentially Been revising 00:25:38.509 --> 00:25:47.690 what I thought that meant. What I thought it 00:25:47.690 --> 00:25:51.069 was at eight years old changed when I was 12. 00:25:51.829 --> 00:25:53.769 What I thought it was at 12 changed when I was 00:25:53.769 --> 00:25:57.750 16. And so on and so on and so on. See, the thing 00:25:57.750 --> 00:26:00.470 is, is we can pick up so easily things that are 00:26:00.470 --> 00:26:03.309 not actually us. And we think that they are. 00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:06.259 When God is actually going, if you're willing 00:26:06.259 --> 00:26:09.359 to be humble and receive, I will show you who 00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:13.859 you are. In me. But before you can even receive 00:26:13.859 --> 00:26:17.960 that, something has to die. Whatever it is, you 00:26:17.960 --> 00:26:22.819 have built up. Moving on. So now we see that 00:26:22.819 --> 00:26:26.220 Noah has built something to God. He's built this 00:26:26.220 --> 00:26:29.759 altar, his sacrifice to God. His first priority 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:35.019 was not his family. His first priority was not 00:26:35.019 --> 00:26:40.119 his business. His first priority was the worship 00:26:40.119 --> 00:26:45.640 of God. So he, what does he do? Because if I'm 00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:47.960 getting off into the new, if I'm stepping off 00:26:47.960 --> 00:26:50.519 this boat with my family, I'm thinking, where 00:26:50.519 --> 00:26:52.740 am I going to live? What am I, how am I going 00:26:52.740 --> 00:26:55.240 to survive? Because I mean, they didn't have 00:26:55.240 --> 00:26:58.019 just a bunch of Ubers to take them places. How 00:26:58.019 --> 00:27:00.299 am I going to get somewhere? How, like, where 00:27:00.299 --> 00:27:02.279 am I? You know, they're on top of a mountain, 00:27:02.339 --> 00:27:04.380 which is like, you don't build, you don't start 00:27:04.380 --> 00:27:07.000 farms on a mountain. What is the thing that takes 00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:10.200 place on a mountain, on an elevated place? He 00:27:10.200 --> 00:27:16.579 builds an altar of worship. And he says, listen, 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:19.480 I'm gonna give this thing to God because he deserves 00:27:19.480 --> 00:27:23.740 worship first. Let's move on to the next mention. 00:27:27.319 --> 00:27:30.079 In Genesis chapter 12, verse eight, it says this. 00:27:30.779 --> 00:27:32.900 This is speaking of Abram. It says, from there 00:27:32.900 --> 00:27:36.059 he moved to the hill country. Or excuse me, no, 00:27:36.140 --> 00:27:39.460 that's not the one. Genesis chapter 12, verse 00:27:39.460 --> 00:27:42.500 seven. This is the first mention. Go back one 00:27:42.500 --> 00:27:45.829 verse. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, 00:27:45.890 --> 00:27:47.930 to your offspring, I will give this land. So 00:27:47.930 --> 00:27:50.549 he built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared 00:27:50.549 --> 00:27:54.309 to him. Once again, this is an altar of worship. 00:27:56.690 --> 00:27:59.690 And it's built in response to covenant revelation. 00:28:01.609 --> 00:28:04.529 What is the covenant of Abraham? That I will 00:28:04.529 --> 00:28:07.049 be with you and your descendants. That there 00:28:07.049 --> 00:28:09.890 is a land connected to your family. There is 00:28:09.890 --> 00:28:12.470 this land called the land of Canaan, which we 00:28:12.470 --> 00:28:15.250 know that is representative in the New Testament. 00:28:15.289 --> 00:28:19.650 It's the presence of God. The presence of God 00:28:19.650 --> 00:28:22.690 is our Canaan. And this is what our inheritance 00:28:22.690 --> 00:28:26.619 is, is his presence. And I will give you my presence 00:28:26.619 --> 00:28:29.720 from your offspring and on. I will be with you 00:28:29.720 --> 00:28:32.140 from generation to generation. What does God 00:28:32.140 --> 00:28:34.880 do? What does Abram do in response to that revelation? 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:40.140 He builds an altar. And he worships God. This 00:28:40.140 --> 00:28:45.779 is before he had Isaac. This is before his family 00:28:45.779 --> 00:28:48.549 was really beginning to grow. This was just him 00:28:48.549 --> 00:28:52.789 with his wife, and this is what God does. This 00:28:52.789 --> 00:28:56.130 is how God works. He loves to promise you something 00:28:56.130 --> 00:28:59.849 that is almost like it doesn't exist, and it 00:28:59.849 --> 00:29:02.470 doesn't even look like it's possible, but what 00:29:02.470 --> 00:29:05.650 we do in the midst of impossible promises is 00:29:05.650 --> 00:29:11.269 we should worship and build an altar to God immediately. 00:29:11.589 --> 00:29:17.519 It should be our response to revelation. Once 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:20.480 again, we see here that this is an altar where 00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:23.599 no sacrifice is directly mentioned, but it's 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:25.960 implied. Because wherever there was an altar, 00:29:26.119 --> 00:29:32.339 there was a sacrifice. Now the thing is, is we 00:29:32.339 --> 00:29:34.059 understand that of course in the Old Testament, 00:29:34.460 --> 00:29:37.740 He's sacrificing probably an animal, but more 00:29:37.740 --> 00:29:40.160 than that, he was probably sacrificing his future, 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:44.099 his expectations, his plans, and all the things 00:29:44.099 --> 00:29:46.059 that he thought of where he was going to live. 00:29:46.180 --> 00:29:48.460 God completely overrides all of that with that 00:29:48.460 --> 00:29:54.019 one sentence. And so what does he sacrifice? 00:29:54.140 --> 00:29:59.680 He sacrifices all the things he thought was right. 00:30:00.440 --> 00:30:03.779 He gives everything up that's contrary to that 00:30:03.779 --> 00:30:09.019 one sentence. Anything that's not going to help 00:30:09.019 --> 00:30:12.940 me walk in that promise, it's given. I give it 00:30:12.940 --> 00:30:16.480 to God. I surrender it to him. It's not mine 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:18.259 anymore. Everything that I thought I was going 00:30:18.259 --> 00:30:20.599 to use to get me somewhere else, okay, I'm not 00:30:20.599 --> 00:30:24.059 going there. I don't need it. I give it to God. 00:30:26.250 --> 00:30:29.130 This altar was built at a place called Shechem 00:30:29.130 --> 00:30:32.569 at the Oak of Moriah. This is very significant 00:30:32.569 --> 00:30:35.230 because this is the exact same place that years 00:30:35.230 --> 00:30:40.650 later he would come and offer Isaac. This is 00:30:40.650 --> 00:30:44.710 the same place. So Abraham builds four altars 00:30:44.710 --> 00:30:47.990 over his life, but two in the same location. 00:30:49.269 --> 00:30:54.480 The first one and the last one. He begins, because 00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:56.339 this is what's so incredible, is that as he's 00:30:56.339 --> 00:30:58.519 getting ready to sacrifice Isaac, he's in the 00:30:58.519 --> 00:31:01.680 place that he built an altar where God promised 00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:05.059 him he would give things to his offspring. And 00:31:05.059 --> 00:31:09.099 he's literally going, okay, I'm going to sacrifice 00:31:09.099 --> 00:31:15.359 even the promise of God. Because this is the 00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:17.539 temptation whenever we receive a prophetic word 00:31:17.539 --> 00:31:19.460 and whenever we receive a promise from God. We 00:31:19.460 --> 00:31:25.650 hold it. Too close, and we call it ours. We call 00:31:25.650 --> 00:31:31.309 what God promised us now what he owes us. And 00:31:31.309 --> 00:31:34.069 now we get into a place of entitlement and saying, 00:31:34.109 --> 00:31:36.930 God, you can't ask me of that because you promised 00:31:36.930 --> 00:31:41.589 it to me. God says, I gave this to you in the 00:31:41.589 --> 00:31:49.900 first place. It's mine. And it's not really mine 00:31:49.900 --> 00:31:56.900 until you're dead to it. Parents, this should 00:31:56.900 --> 00:32:02.700 really hit us. Our kids are not ours. They're 00:32:02.700 --> 00:32:06.279 a gift from God that we are now stewards of. 00:32:08.200 --> 00:32:13.440 My daughter is the Lord's. And this should lead 00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:16.339 us to making decisions for their life because 00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:20.839 Our children are God's first. And that should 00:32:20.839 --> 00:32:22.640 also put the fear of the Lord in us when we get 00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:28.420 annoyed with them. Am I gonna treat God's gift 00:32:28.420 --> 00:32:34.240 in a way that is less deserving because of my 00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:39.740 impatience and my lack of self -control? Same 00:32:39.740 --> 00:32:43.759 thing with wives, husbands. The Bible says that 00:32:43.759 --> 00:32:47.430 a wife is a gift. Wives, same thing with your 00:32:47.430 --> 00:32:50.789 husbands. To honor your husbands as unto the 00:32:50.789 --> 00:32:54.730 Lord. Anyways, it's not on my notes. I just felt 00:32:54.730 --> 00:32:56.529 like someone had to hear that, or maybe it was 00:32:56.529 --> 00:33:05.250 just for me. But I gotta end here soon. There's 00:33:05.250 --> 00:33:08.190 a connection between the altar and the land. 00:33:12.329 --> 00:33:16.210 God tells him, I'm gonna give a place. To your 00:33:16.210 --> 00:33:18.849 offspring. And he builds an altar in that place. 00:33:19.190 --> 00:33:22.549 In the Old Testament. In ancient culture. To 00:33:22.549 --> 00:33:26.150 build an altar to a deity. In a location. Means 00:33:26.150 --> 00:33:31.869 that the deity owned that location. The altar 00:33:31.869 --> 00:33:35.910 owns this land. The altar is the sign. That represents. 00:33:36.490 --> 00:33:39.690 This land belongs to the God. Whom this altar 00:33:39.690 --> 00:33:44.539 was built for. So that means. That in order for 00:33:44.539 --> 00:33:47.359 God to establish ownership, he has to establish 00:33:47.359 --> 00:33:55.079 worship. I establish my kingdom where I am worshipped 00:33:55.079 --> 00:33:59.240 in the way that I desire. I establish ownership 00:33:59.240 --> 00:34:03.200 of a region because they worship me in the way 00:34:03.200 --> 00:34:09.280 that I have commanded them to. Abram sets ownership 00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:12.659 that this is God's land. Which is so crazy because 00:34:12.659 --> 00:34:19.960 it was owned by the Canaanites. Physically, the 00:34:19.960 --> 00:34:22.659 Canaanites were there, but Abraham building that 00:34:22.659 --> 00:34:24.559 altar there, it was like, listen, they don't 00:34:24.559 --> 00:34:27.820 know yet, but they're going to get evicted. They 00:34:27.820 --> 00:34:30.760 are now on owned property and they're the intruders 00:34:30.760 --> 00:34:33.889 now. That's what's supposed to happen when worship 00:34:33.889 --> 00:34:37.110 takes place. That anything that thinks it owns 00:34:37.110 --> 00:34:40.429 this land is then evicted. And there's a notice 00:34:40.429 --> 00:34:46.170 that says, this is God's land. This is his property. 00:34:46.389 --> 00:34:50.909 This is his place where he is worshipped. And 00:34:50.909 --> 00:34:55.789 this is where his authority is revealed. That's 00:34:55.789 --> 00:34:57.550 why the Israelites, the moment they crossed the 00:34:57.550 --> 00:35:03.809 Jordan, what did they do? All the Bible scholars 00:35:03.809 --> 00:35:08.849 should know. They built because they were declaring 00:35:08.849 --> 00:35:18.150 this is our land. This is God's land. And it's 00:35:18.150 --> 00:35:21.050 so interesting here that this is an altar not 00:35:21.050 --> 00:35:23.570 only about the land, it's about the generations 00:35:23.570 --> 00:35:26.349 who will own that land. Same thing with the Israelites. 00:35:26.690 --> 00:35:29.250 There was a new generation who actually inherited 00:35:29.250 --> 00:35:32.829 the place where the altar was built. Listen, 00:35:32.929 --> 00:35:36.349 we're building altars right now that generations 00:35:36.349 --> 00:35:39.230 from now, they will be the ones to inherit the 00:35:39.230 --> 00:35:43.449 worship and the sacrifice offered on it. We should 00:35:43.449 --> 00:35:46.230 never stop sowing the seed of offering of worship 00:35:46.230 --> 00:35:49.710 because one day a generation will inherit it. 00:35:51.659 --> 00:35:53.780 Every time I come to this altar, I'm not just 00:35:53.780 --> 00:35:56.500 thinking about my personal time with God. I come 00:35:56.500 --> 00:35:59.639 to worship God and to bring an offering because 00:35:59.639 --> 00:36:01.679 it's his authority that is being poured out. 00:36:01.719 --> 00:36:03.780 It is a declaration that I'm gonna worship God 00:36:03.780 --> 00:36:10.860 because he owns this. He owns this. He owns everything. 00:36:16.920 --> 00:36:24.949 Can you give me two minutes? Pastor Brad nodded 00:36:24.949 --> 00:36:26.889 his head yes, so I don't need any of your approval 00:36:26.889 --> 00:36:32.670 anyways. Listen to this. Genesis 12, 8 says here, 00:36:32.750 --> 00:36:36.070 this is the next altar that Abraham built. It 00:36:36.070 --> 00:36:38.210 says, from there he moved to the hill country 00:36:38.210 --> 00:36:41.710 on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with 00:36:41.710 --> 00:36:46.989 Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there 00:36:46.989 --> 00:36:49.010 he built an altar to the Lord and he called upon 00:36:49.010 --> 00:36:51.170 the name of the Lord. This is an altar of prayer 00:36:51.170 --> 00:36:55.219 and seeking. Where every other altar was worship, 00:36:55.380 --> 00:36:58.139 now it's an altar of prayer and seeking. Same 00:36:58.139 --> 00:36:59.719 thing with the brazen altar and the altar of 00:36:59.719 --> 00:37:04.639 incense. That's another sermon for another time. 00:37:05.400 --> 00:37:07.599 It was built between these two major cities. 00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:11.719 Bethel, which represents house of God, and Ai, 00:37:11.960 --> 00:37:17.500 which means the ruin. Between the house of God 00:37:17.500 --> 00:37:21.610 and ruin is where he begins to seek God. And 00:37:21.610 --> 00:37:23.750 he builds an altar and prays and seeks the Lord. 00:37:25.269 --> 00:37:29.889 He's in between decisions. He's in between faith 00:37:29.889 --> 00:37:34.349 in God and the fear of famine. He builds an altar 00:37:34.349 --> 00:37:37.630 and he calls on the name of the Lord. Where do 00:37:37.630 --> 00:37:43.889 I go, God? And this is what happens. After crying 00:37:43.889 --> 00:37:48.429 out to God, there is no record of the Lord answering 00:37:48.429 --> 00:37:54.210 Abram's call. And no specific sacrifice is mentioned. 00:37:54.329 --> 00:37:58.489 But of course we know when there's an altar there's 00:37:58.489 --> 00:38:03.449 a sacrifice. But God is not said to respond. 00:38:06.010 --> 00:38:11.929 The past two altars Abram has built he's built 00:38:11.929 --> 00:38:14.150 in worship but now he calls on the name of God 00:38:14.150 --> 00:38:17.429 representing prayer and seeking and encounter 00:38:17.429 --> 00:38:19.670 from the Lord because he needed to know what 00:38:19.670 --> 00:38:22.719 to do next. I need to know where to go because 00:38:22.719 --> 00:38:26.059 I'm in between God's presence and ruin. And I'm 00:38:26.059 --> 00:38:30.480 freaking out. So what does Abram do? Well, what 00:38:30.480 --> 00:38:32.760 happens is he moves before he gets an answer. 00:38:36.500 --> 00:38:43.519 He goes to Egypt. And what ends up happening? 00:38:43.579 --> 00:38:45.840 The next altar, he comes back. He comes back 00:38:45.840 --> 00:38:49.699 to the altar of decision because he moved on 00:38:49.699 --> 00:38:53.679 too quickly. Well, I'm not getting an answer, 00:38:53.800 --> 00:38:56.400 but I need to do something. And so he moves. 00:38:56.480 --> 00:38:58.900 And guess what happens? He goes down the path 00:38:58.900 --> 00:39:05.380 to Egypt, place of ruin, through ruin to Egypt. 00:39:05.719 --> 00:39:09.139 And then he comes back. See, some of us, we've 00:39:09.139 --> 00:39:11.420 moved on too quickly from a place of seeking 00:39:11.420 --> 00:39:17.179 God. And you're going, God, I feel stuck. This 00:39:17.179 --> 00:39:20.059 is something that I love it when Raylan says 00:39:20.059 --> 00:39:23.429 this. Because I'll hold her, and Raylan's like, 00:39:23.570 --> 00:39:25.550 Daddy, I'm stuck, I'm stuck. I go, no, no, no, 00:39:25.550 --> 00:39:31.409 I'm holding you. How often do we think that we're 00:39:31.409 --> 00:39:38.010 stuck when God's holding us? Taking us back to 00:39:38.010 --> 00:39:41.869 the place where we never should have left. But 00:39:41.869 --> 00:39:45.550 because we didn't get the answer in time, we 00:39:45.550 --> 00:39:50.699 moved. That's why I was so... Imperative to Moses. 00:39:50.900 --> 00:39:57.199 If you don't go, we don't go. I'm not going to 00:39:57.199 --> 00:40:03.599 leave the altar until I've heard from God. Remember, 00:40:03.679 --> 00:40:06.199 the altar is in your home. It's wherever you 00:40:06.199 --> 00:40:10.119 build it. Where you say this land, this house 00:40:10.119 --> 00:40:14.179 is God's. How do you prove that? If you worship 00:40:14.179 --> 00:40:17.059 here more than your own home, something's wrong. 00:40:20.170 --> 00:40:24.409 If the only altar you come to is here, something's 00:40:24.409 --> 00:40:30.170 wrong. Build an altar in your home. Give to God 00:40:30.170 --> 00:40:33.030 what is clean and his. Something that costs you. 00:40:33.329 --> 00:40:40.110 And don't leave until God speaks. But I have 00:40:40.110 --> 00:40:49.940 work. Wake up earlier. We don't. Fit Jesus into 00:40:49.940 --> 00:40:53.699 our life. We make our lives fit around Jesus. 00:40:55.980 --> 00:41:00.199 I want the altar of my life to be at my house. 00:41:00.500 --> 00:41:02.960 It's what I loved about the prophet Samuel. The 00:41:02.960 --> 00:41:05.539 only altar he ever built himself was the one 00:41:05.539 --> 00:41:08.139 in front of his own home. He offered sacrifices 00:41:08.139 --> 00:41:14.000 to God daily. It was in front of his house. He 00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:19.460 gives to God. Let's build altars. that truly 00:41:19.460 --> 00:41:23.480 give a pleasing aroma to God. Let me pray for 00:41:23.480 --> 00:41:29.000 you. Father, we thank you for the wonderful presence 00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:36.519 that is the presence of your son, Jesus, given 00:41:36.519 --> 00:41:42.019 to us by the Holy Spirit. Lord Jesus, we thank 00:41:42.019 --> 00:41:48.940 you. Help us, Lord, teach us. to build altars, 00:41:48.940 --> 00:41:54.119 not that give soulless worship that is just focused 00:41:54.119 --> 00:41:58.519 on what's easy and about self, but altars where 00:41:58.519 --> 00:42:02.860 a sacrifice of what is truly precious and clean 00:42:02.860 --> 00:42:07.320 is given to you and it becomes a pleasing aroma 00:42:07.320 --> 00:42:13.389 to God. Let our homes be claimed territory by 00:42:13.389 --> 00:42:16.909 God, not just through having a sign over our 00:42:16.909 --> 00:42:19.650 door, but because we've built an altar in our 00:42:19.650 --> 00:42:23.570 bedrooms. Altars full of praise and worship. 00:42:24.630 --> 00:42:29.530 Let our children see us worship before you so 00:42:29.530 --> 00:42:33.110 that they may see and learn and become apprentices 00:42:33.110 --> 00:42:38.610 of worship. We love you, Jesus. Your precious 00:42:38.610 --> 00:43:04.500 name, everyone said. Amen. Lastly, if you are 00:43:04.500 --> 00:43:07.480 in need of prayer send us a text message at 541 00:43:07.480 --> 00:43:12.360 -625 -1365. We would love to pray with you.