THE ALTAR IS THE MEETING PLACE, WHERE GOD MEETS MAN: HOW IS THE ALTAR IN YOUR HEART?
- Pastor E. A. Adeboye at RCCG Special Sunday Service. Going Higher (Part 28)
‘Prepare Your Altar’
1 Kings 18:30-35
Here we find Elijah demonstrating to everyone that he was a man of great faith. He was about to offer a sacrifice to God, he was going to ask God to send fire to the sacrifices and it looks as if he was going to make the situation absolutely impossible for God by making sure that there was plenty of water round the sacrifices. Why did he do this?
- So they will not say there was fire under the sacrifices.
- Because he is a man of great faith.
-Some people say when God wants to be wonderful, He starts with a problem and when He wants to be miraculous, He starts with an impossibility. the bigger the problem, the greater the glory that God will get out of it.
I am saying to those of you who think you have a big problem, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, your testimony shall be big.
I want to focus on the issue of the Altar because the Bible says he built a new Altar because it was badly damaged.
What is the Altar?
The Altar is the meeting place, where God meets man.
Genesis 12:7, we hear about Abraham suddenly finding himself in contact with God, he built an Altar.
An Altar is where man calls on God. Abraham called on God, Genesis 12:8.
An Altar is a place you return to again and again when you want to call on God, Genesis 30:1-4.
An Altar is a place where God receives offerings and makes covenant with man. Genesis 8:20-22, when Noah came out of the Ark, he built an Altar, offered an offering to God, God received the offering and made a covenant and said I will no longer wipe out the world with water. He made a covenant, he said as long as the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, day and night, hot and cold will not cease. It was at an Altar.
That is why anyone who has any sense at all will give priority to the Altar.
Genesis 13:14-18
There is a physical Altar but the Altar God is interested in the most is the Altar in your heart, an Altar you carry about
Joel 2:13, God says the Altar I am interested in is the one in your heart.
Matthew 5:8, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Psalms 108:1, David said my heart is fixed within me, I will make an Altar inside where I can praise God.
When David went astray in Psalms 51:10, he cried to God, create in me a clean heart, help me repair the Altar that is in my heart.
How is the Altar in your heart? Today you are going to do some serious checking. Is the Altar in your heart in good condition?
2 Corinthians 13:5, the Bible says check, are you still in the faith.
1 Corinthians 10:12, says if you think that you stand, the Altar is strong, take heed.
You need to check this day as it is written in Revelation 1:1-4, are you sure you have not left your first love? Is your altar still okay because according to Revelation 3:15-16, am I as hot as I used to be, or am I now lukewarm because you need to check that the Altar in your heart is good.
Judges 16:1-21, you know how Samson slowly lost complete contact with God and when he decided that, I will go out with God he discovered that the Altar had been destroyed, he couldn’t go out as before because the One he used to meet at the Altar had gone
Several years ago I taught you about how the enemy will destroy a strong man, he won’t come direct or face to face, he will want to come from behind. I gave the illustration of a leaking tank, you fill the tank of your car, enough fuel to go at least from Lagos to Ibadan and then there is a little hole in the tank and as you are driving just one little drop of fuel and all of a sudden you get halfway and you discover that your tank is empty.
You used to pray nonstop for one hour and then you now pray for fifty-nine minutes, then it becomes fifty-eight and fifty-seven, before you know it we are talking of twenty-seven and seventeen, then seven. Where are you in your relationship with God, check your Altar because you will need to repair the Altar before you can pray the prayer that will bring fire down.
The moment you discover after a thorough self-examination that the Altar in your heart is no longer as it used to be, restitute urgently.
(Study Joshua 7 and Joshua 8)
In Joshua 1, God promised Joshua that nobody will be able to stand before him all the days of his life. Then came Joshua 7, Isreal fled before the enemy, Joshua fell on his face and said what is going on? That is what you should do, check, what is causing the problem in my life?
God said there is a problem with your Altar and unless you restitute, I will not go with you anymore, immediately, Joshua restituted and then in Joshua 8, he went ahead and conquered just like God promised.
God made a promise in Jeremiah 3:22, He said if you will return to me I will heal your backsliding.
Hosea 14:4, He said I will heal your backsliding, I will love you freely, if you are willing to repair the Altar of the Almighty God, we can come back together and begin to have fellowship as we used to. That is the first thing to do.
Then, put something on the Altar, Elijah repaired the Altar, then he put something on the Altar.
The issue of restitution, many of you don’t seem to understand restitution again but if you find that you are not making progress, it is most likely because you need to restitute your ways. I told you I went to the University of Ibadan to minister, when we got to Ibadan that evening, we branched at a petrol station to buy fuel so that I can wake up early and go to Lagos, the following morning I started the car, when I did, the car engine will move and stop, to cut a long story short, when the engineers at the campus took a look, they said sorry sir, there is water in the carburettor, apparently where we went to buy fuel, they were selling fuel mixed with water. What do I do? He said sorry sir you are not going anytime soon, we have to put down your tank, drain every bit of fuel in the car and then separate water from the fuel, put the fuel back and then you will be on your way. Until they did that, I was stuck.
Is there water mixed with the fuel of your life?
Have you something in your possession that is not yours? You must restitute your ways unless the engine will not start.
After you have repaired the Altar, you will put something on the Altar because, from the Scriptures, the fire of God never fell on an empty Altar.
When God’s fire fall, there must be something the fire will fall upon
- Genesis 18:23-24, the fire of God fell on Sodom and Gomorrah, there were people for the fire to consume.
- Leviticus 9:18-24, Aaron made an offering to God and the fire of God fell on the offering
- 1 Chronicle 21:26, David presented an offering to God and fire fell.
- 2 Chronicles 7:1, Solomon presented an offering to God and fire fell.
- 1 Kings 18, Elijah presented an offering to God and fire fell
- 2 Kings 1:9-12, Elijah was sitting on a hill and the King sent soldiers to go and arrest him when they got there, they said man of God come down, he said you know I am a man of God? You want to arrest me, I make you an offering to God and fire fell thrice in one day and each time there was something for the fire to fall upon
- Acts 2:1-4, on the Day of Pentecost, when the Apostles gathered together in the Upper Room, the fire of God fell on every one of them.
The fire will not fall in an empty Altar.
Will you love to have a taste of heavenly fire? All you have to do is simple, according to Romans 12:1, you present yourself as a living sacrifice to God, then you can experience the fire of God.
We sing a song,
Holy Ghost Fire,
Fire fall on me,
As the Day of Pentecost,
Fire fall on me.
I am sure when we sing the song the Almighty God will sit down in heaven and smile. You want the fire to fall on you are you ready for it?.
If the fire falls on a sinner, it will consume the sinner, ask those of them in Sodom and Gomorrah, they will tell you but if it falls on a true child of the Living God who has surrendered, power comes, ask the Apostles.
Today if you are not a true child of God please don’t pray that the fire falls because if it falls and there is sin in your life, there is trouble. If you are a child of the Living God and you are hungry for His power, prepare the Altar of God in your life, restitute your ways then lay yourself on the Altar and call on Him and His fire will fall.
Those of you who are not sure of your salvation or you are not sure that the Altar in your life is properly prepared but you want to call unto Him for salvation or for restoration, where ever you are now if you cry unto him for salvation, restoration or restitution, I am willing to join my prayers with yours and the Almighty God will answer us. If you want to give your life to Jesus please bow your heads and pray to Him.
God bless you!
As for those of us who are true children of God and you know that you have some restitution to make, I hope you cry to God today and ask for the grace to restitute so that your fellowship with God will be fully restored again.
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