The Altars of Abraham
Pastor David T. Elms 4/8/2025
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45:20
Summary
Pastor Elms explores the four literal and spiritual altars Abraham built, tracing a journey from the initial call of conversion to the ultimate celebration of God’s provision through sacrifice. Highlighting the dangers of a 'dumbed down' faith, the sermon calls for a life marked by consistent, unselfish fires of worship.
Key points
- •Abraham's four altars serve as a spiritual roadmap from initial conversion to the profound test of sacrifice.
- •The preacher warns against 'kindergarten Christianity,' urging believers to move beyond simple milk into the deeper, sometimes rigorous dependencies on the Word of God.
- •Conversion is only the beginning; consecration and continuation are the grueling middle markers that define a true walk of faith.
- •The presence of God may not always be visible (as on the altar of continuation), but faithfulness in those moments leads to the revelatory 'Jehovah Jireh' experience of the final altar.
Scripture
Faithfulness
Sacrifice
Spiritual Maturity
Commitment
Life application
Commit this week to 'building an unselfish fire' by dedicating a specific time for prayer that is focused entirely on God's glory rather than personal needs or comfort.
Reflection questions
- Which of the four altars (conversion, consecration, continuation, celebration) best describes your current season of life?
- Are there 'selfish fires' in your life that are taking priority over your devotion to God?
- How do you maintain faithfulness during the 'altar of continuation' when you don't feel or see a grand vision from God?
- What is the 'Isaac' in your life that God might be asking you to lay on the altar of sacrifice?
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Full transcript
0:00on me in moments like that. And uh so I
0:00want to say good evening. It's a delight
0:01to be with you and we are going to
0:03invite you to join me with me in the
0:06book of Genesis the 12th chapter.
0:09And I am going to speak on the subject
0:11tonight, the altars of
0:14Abraham. And I want to assess the four
0:17altars that are mentioned that Abraham
0:21did build and see how it can impact us
0:25in our walk with God. Genesis the 12th
0:29chapter beginning at verse number one.
0:31Now the Lord had said unto Abram, "Get
0:34thee out of thy country, and from thy
0:36kindred, and from thy father's house,
0:38into a land that I will show thee, and I
0:41will make of thee a great nation, and I
0:43will bless thee, and make thy name
0:45great, and thou shalt be a blessing."
0:49Learn over, lean over your neighbor, and
0:51say, "You're a
0:53blessing. You're a blessing."
0:56Not only are you a blessing, those
0:58around
0:59you, those around you. See, listen, you
1:03don't know if you didn't participate in
1:05what I just asked you to do. Uh, you
1:07might want to think again because the
1:09next verse says something. I will bless
1:12those who bless
1:15thee. I don't know how many of y'all
1:17just got a blessing, but when you said
1:20to your neighbor, you're a blessing, you
1:23just walked into a whirlwind of
1:24blessing.
1:26I will bless them that bless thee, and
1:28curse him that cursseeth thee. And in
1:30thee shall all families of the earth be
1:32blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord
1:36had spoken unto him, and Lot, his
1:38nephew, and Lot went with him. And
1:42Abraham Abram was 705 years old when he
1:46departed out of Aon. And Abram took
1:48Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's
1:52son, and all their substance that they
1:54had gathered, and the souls that they
1:57had gotten at Haron. And they went forth
2:00and to go into the land of Canaan. And
2:03unto the land of Canaan, they came.
2:07There's a lot that goes in that
2:10semicolon. They went forth to go into
2:12the land of Canaan.
2:15Semicolon. and into the land of Canaan
2:17they
2:18came. See how efficient the Bible writer
2:22is? I've often said that the Bible is
2:25not a book of narrative. It's not a book
2:27of of of literature. It is a book of how
2:30to be saved. Where is your savior and
2:34how to get it? So it leaves out things
2:36that while might be very interesting,
2:39it's not critical to who we are. And so
2:42it says, "And into the land of Canaan
2:44they came. And Abram passed through the
2:46land unto the p place of Sckum or
2:49Sheckchum unto the plain of Mora. And
2:52the Canaanite was then in the land. And
2:55the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said,
2:59Unto thy seed will I give this
3:02land." And there builded he an altar
3:06unto the Lord, who
3:09appeared unto him. Lord Jesus, let these
3:14brief moments that we have gathered
3:15together through all the rain and
3:17through all the rain puddles that are
3:20everywhere on our roads, we've gathered
3:22in this place because there is a holy
3:25fire that we once set near us. For in
3:29you we move and have our being and live.
3:32And so that is why we come to you in
3:34Jesus precious name I pray. Amen. How
3:37many is going to help the preacher
3:38preach tonight? We're a Pentecostal
3:40church. That means you need to hear
3:42yourself while I'm preaching. So,
3:45somebody say, "Amen." Amen. Amen. It
3:48feels good. You may be seated in the
3:50name of the
3:57Lord. The
3:58altars of
4:01Abraham, we are a people of God that are
4:05called by God. And I would venture to
4:08say anyone who comes to church in the
4:10middle of the week in
4:12America already is in a special
4:14category. In fact, I I could say
4:17honestly that anyone who comes to church
4:19on a Sunday morning is a special person
4:22in America nowadays. But one of the
4:24dilemmas that I have had as a minister
4:27is that I am a I am a part of a a host
4:31of men that have been called by God to
4:33preach. And yet all of us who are called
4:36by God to preach, we are the Bible tells
4:39us that we are going to have a greater
4:42judgment. Now that's easy to read. It's
4:44harder to know it's coming. Uh and so
4:47it's one of those things that when I
4:49pray and when I preach and when I
4:50prepare, I un constantly have in my
4:54mind, is this up to the higher standard?
4:57One of the things that I've been
4:58concerned about in America is the
5:00dumbing down of Christianity. And I
5:03blame the preachers. I blame the pastors
5:06for this. If all the church ever does is
5:09lead people into a position of
5:11kindergarten Christianity, then we have
5:14failed in our duty to educate people
5:17with the desperation of the word of God.
5:19It has been a trick of the devil to
5:22cause people to think they're Christians
5:24without knowing their Bible. That is a
5:26lie from hell. But it has also been a
5:29strategy that has been perpetrated by
5:32preachers in times past. They at times
5:35there were times in history that they
5:38felt like no one that wasn't uh
5:40supposedly trained in the reading of the
5:42word of God should have access to the
5:45word of God. This is why people died to
5:48get this gospel message in the language
5:51of the common man. And there were
5:53dangers that they were concerned with.
5:55It's not just that they did not want.
5:57Some of them wanted the power of having
6:00the information. He who has the
6:01information has the power. And if you've
6:04ever been around somebody that has
6:06password access, maybe in the workplace
6:08or somewhere else, and and you uh have
6:10the right to get the password, but they
6:12don't want to relinquish the password
6:14because it's the only thing they have
6:16between you and what their job is. It's
6:19amazing how stingy they can get to share
6:21that moment of uh information with you.
6:24And uh that's the way it is in a lot of
6:26things. Well, it isn't just that way in
6:28life. It can be that way with the word
6:30of God. And what I would like to say is
6:33this. It is not just the fault of the
6:36preachers that the people of God don't
6:38know their Bible. It's uh many times
6:41it's the fault of the people because
6:43they don't have an appetite for it. They
6:45have an appetite to figure out their
6:46email. They have an appetite to figure
6:48out Facebook. They really know how to
6:50work Tik Tok. They have an appetite to
6:52figure out Instagram. They have a figure
6:54appetite to figure out the aperture on
6:56their cell phone camera. They have an
6:59appetite to understand software that can
7:01bring editing colors to the pictures
7:03that they take. They have an appetite to
7:05learn a lot of things. But when it comes
7:06to the hungry word of God, the word that
7:09changes your life, the word that you're
7:11going to be judged by, that appetite can
7:14be diminished. And so I blame the
7:16preachers. I accept the blame myself.
7:19The other thing is I'm concerned that we
7:21have allowed the kindergart I'm about to
7:24create a word. You ready? The
7:29kindergartenization said nature boy.
7:32That right there is a word that's a buck
7:3450 word. Uh cha-ching here. Here here's
7:37my point. If we allow our hunger for the
7:41deeper things of God to go by the
7:43wayside because we say I just want a
7:46something simple I can hold on to. Don't
7:48go too deep. Uh I I want to say I will
7:51not fall prey and I I don't believe you
7:53will. That's the reason you're here
7:54tonight. You will not fall victim to the
7:57idea that I'm just going to take simple
7:59things and just go on my way. I don't
8:01want it too complicated.
8:03Uh there are some things in life that
8:05need some complication. Like when you
8:07buy a
8:09house, you need some complication. You
8:12need to understand what goes into that.
8:14You need some processes that vet that
8:16this is not simple. You know, isn't it
8:18striking to me? I don't know how many of
8:19y'all How many of you guys are using
8:21Vinmo nowadays or Zel? Zel and Vinmo. A
8:25lot more people responded with the zel,
8:27didn't they? I'm not trying to promote
8:30either one, but you know, it was a
8:32really an amazing discovery for this
8:34very, very young 58-year-old that uh I
8:37could transfer money like that. And I
8:39mean, people look at me like, ju just
8:42sell me.
8:45Don't look at me in that tone of voice
8:47when you said Naomi. I don't appreciate
8:49the way you're giggling over there. I
8:51mean, I I can feel it in your heart.
8:53It's coming forth just because you're a
8:54registered nurse. Come on, back off.
8:56Back down. She's an RDNA, isn't she? M R
9:01N D
9:03A M R N D
9:07A
9:09R M P
9:12A R NP I'm an
9:16LTD made by Ford.
9:19No, I knew her when she was a high
9:21school
9:23superstar. I love I love her. But here's
9:26the thing, you know, you can pay that
9:28way fast. How many of you get frustrated
9:31though? I'm not saying it's me. It's I'm
9:35not saying I do. But every time I start
9:38to send somebody
9:40money,
9:42stop. Make sure this is a legitimate
9:47person. Wait just a minute. Is this a
9:52scam going on? I'm like saying, I their
9:55numbers in my phone. I know who I'm
9:57sending money to, but apparently a bunch
10:00of folks don't. Apparently, listen, if
10:02you the
10:0495491, you can sell me if you're not
10:06sure where you want to send your money.
10:08Trying to work on my my
10:11retirement. I need my retirement plan to
10:14be growing. Here's my point is that
10:17there is this understanding that you
10:19need to take this moment serious. You
10:22need to stop and consider, are you just
10:25sending this to somebody who has scammed
10:28you, who has talked sweet to you, who
10:30has just talked to you some kind of kind
10:32way that told you they're going to help
10:34you with something? Stop. Well, if
10:36they're going to do that with zel, is it
10:38not fair that in the house of God, we
10:40expect some people to apply some deeper
10:43lessons to their life to see that
10:46they're going to go where it you're
10:48supposed to go when the trumpet sounds?
10:50Because I want to tell you the size of
10:53the church is not the size of the number
10:55reported to the
10:58bank. And the most important number the
11:00church has. The reason attendance is
11:02taken is because the bank wants to know
11:04giving units. Giving units. If you don't
11:07have giving units, they won't even talk
11:09to you. And so every church that has to
11:12deal with the bank, you've got to have
11:13your giving units number. And so sister
11:16Pam and our team knows that our
11:18attendance is important. and then I got
11:20to match the attendance with the given
11:22units. Well, at the end of the day,
11:24that's an important number to the bank.
11:27But it's not an important number to
11:30God because the only size the church is
11:33is the size of those that are going to
11:36fly when the trumpet
11:37sounds. If the church grows to
11:4110,000, but only 1,000 are going to go
11:45to heaven, there might be a lot of
11:47clapping and a lot of praising and a lot
11:49of worshiping, but if there's not a lot
11:52of flying, then the size of the church
11:54was just
11:551,000. Lord, as a pastor, I want to say,
11:58am I building a crowd or are we building
12:01a church? Because just because a crowd
12:04might be on hand, doesn't mean because
12:06they give me nice little applause and
12:08like the band's modulation, they
12:10appreciate the soloist, they like the
12:12song choice and the atmosphere and the
12:14the the genre of church that they're in.
12:17They like all of that. That does not
12:19mean that when the trumpet sounds are
12:21going to fly.
12:23Oh Lord, my duty is not to tell you
12:26there's an amazing heaven smile a while.
12:29My duty isn't to tell you there's a
12:31place called hell you need to just come
12:33to church and sit and listen to me
12:35preach. None of that's going to change
12:37you going to heaven or you going to hell
12:39or even repeating out of me after me a
12:42prayer. I I wish I No, I don't. But
12:45there's so many preachers that just pray
12:47a prayer, repeat after me and say,
12:50"Let's all rejoice. That's it. You've
12:53made it." Of course, I would say most of
12:54them wouldn't say that's it, but that's
12:56how their actions say it.
12:59because that's about as far as you're
13:01going to get them to push. Beyond that,
13:03let's see what next Sunday will the next
13:05Sunday bring a push. No, it's the same
13:06little run up to kindergarten. And then
13:09you think, well, maybe this will be a
13:10conviction week. And you go in and when
13:12they push, they got the subject in their
13:14hand. They're dealing with spiritual
13:15warfare. They're dealing with all kinds
13:17of issues of the spirit. They get all
13:19the way to the end and they just say a
13:21prayer and that's it. Oh Lord, as a
13:24church, I want to tell you, I love those
13:27people that are fringe and looking in. I
13:29want a church full of them, but I also
13:32am very much going to be judged by God.
13:34If I've allowed that to be the final
13:36destination of what our church was to
13:38become, we need to have the kind of
13:40church that ever so often makes you
13:42realize just attendance doesn't get you
13:45saved.
13:48Just visiting the ark doesn't save you
13:50from the flood. just walking by and
13:53saying, "I love your preaching, Brother
13:54Noah. You got a nice style of bread work
13:57there." That doesn't get you on the ark.
14:00When God says, "Get on the ark." You got
14:01to bore the ark. You got to pray. You
14:04got to follow the gospel of Jesus
14:05Christ. You got to repent. You've got to
14:08be baptized in Jesus name. The only
14:11Bible manner. You got to be filled with
14:13the Holy Ghost, with the evidence of
14:14speaking in tongues. And you've got to
14:16live a life that is filled with
14:18repentance. And that's life change.
14:21death, burial, resurrection. Well, we
14:23learn so much by following the stories
14:25of the Bible. And when I break down the
14:27altars of Abraham for you tonight, I'm
14:30doing it because there is a story from
14:34which we can measure our own life. We
14:37are the sons of God and the daughters of
14:40God. And we have before us a wild
14:44future. We are guardians of an
14:48untamed truth. All I know is that which
14:52is coming. Eye hath not seen and ear
14:54hath not heard. It hasn't even entered
14:56the minds of man what God has prepared
14:58for you. In other words, we don't know
15:01how much appeal there is ahead of us. We
15:05just know that it is the most appealing,
15:07awesome, grand thing we'll ever
15:09experience in all in all of our days.
15:12And uh we also understand that when God
15:14decided to establish a precedent, the
15:17original gangster of it all, of course,
15:19we could say it was Adam, he fell. Then
15:21we could say it was Noah. But really,
15:24when it come to the walk of faith, the
15:26original gangster, if if you don't mind
15:27me using that word, it was Abraham.
15:30We've heard it our whole life. Abraham,
15:32father Abraham had many sons. And I
15:35don't need to sing the song, even though
15:36many of you are wishing I
15:39would. But but but you know there's the
15:41Abrahamic accord. Why? Even religions
15:44that are not Christ followers claim that
15:47Abraham is the original gangster. And uh
15:50you know I'm using that word very
15:52loosely. Please, you know, I'm not
15:53talking about any bad things there. But
15:55Abraham, we have in the record, the
15:58biblical record, that he built four
16:01altars. He raised four piles of unhuned
16:05stone to God. And on those piles of
16:09stone, he lit a fire for God. Most fires
16:14he built in his life was for himself.
16:18Most people build a fire for themsel
16:21every day. Today, it's metaphorical. I
16:24understand that. But in that day, they
16:27built a fire for their warmth, for their
16:29eating, for their supply, for their
16:32fellowship. A fire uh encompassed all of
16:35those things. You want to hang out with
16:37the family, build a fire. You want to
16:39have some hot food, build a fire. You
16:41want to be warm when the cold wind
16:43blows, build a fire. You want to keep
16:45the wild animals away, build a fire.
16:48Those are selfish fires. But four times
16:52we read that Abraham built
16:56unselfish fires. Actually, not even for
16:59fires down here. It was fires built for
17:02God. And each fire tail tells a story
17:08that I want to tell tonight. Number one
17:10was the altar of conversion. We read
17:14about it in Genesis the 12th chapter.
17:17What an amazing verse. It is the
17:20signature verse of the church and that
17:23it says, "All of Abraham's children
17:26shall be a blessing to the earth.
17:29Through thee and thy seed shall all the
17:33world be blessed, and I will bless those
17:38who bless you, and I will curse those
17:42who curse you." That's powerful. That's
17:45That's frightening. It is scary. I'm not
17:49a preacher that likes to traffic in the
17:51horror and the terror. I don't like to
17:54traffic in that. But don't think for a
17:56moment that God is not the God that
17:58rained down Sodom, fire on Sodom. He's
18:02still that God. He's still the God that
18:04killed 185,000 soldiers of Sonakaribb on
18:07one night. He's still that God. He's
18:10still the God that sent down she bears
18:12on the boys that mocked the prophet.
18:15He's still that God. He's still the God
18:18that told Ananas and Safara, "Why lie
18:20you to the Holy Ghost?" and they fell
18:23down dead and was carried out. He's
18:25still that God. Just because we don't
18:28emphasize the judgment of God very often
18:30doesn't mean the judgment of God has
18:32changed. He's still the God. Just
18:35because it's not reported on as much as
18:37it used to be, doesn't mean it's not
18:39true. Had a young men man come up to me
18:42at men's conference this past week and
18:44he was telling me about messages he
18:46heard me preach. He said, "I wasn't in
18:47Florida, but I'll never forget and it,
18:49you know, it was heady stuff. It feels
18:51good to hear this stuff. But the thing
18:52that struck with me was the message he
18:55remembered. He said, "I
18:59backslid." He said, "I backslid after
19:01you preached that message." He said, "I
19:04went and did a bunch of crazy stuff." He
19:07said, "I ought to be dead." But he told
19:10me, he said, "The one thing I couldn't
19:12shake was your message everywhere I
19:15went. every time I was sinning. He said,
19:18"You preached a message nine miles to
19:21hell." And he said, "Everywhere I went,
19:24my brother died after you had preached
19:26that message, and so it made me spin out
19:28and go crazy." He said, "But even in my
19:31wildest days, I thought, nine miles to
19:35hell." Folks, I'm not here to try to
19:37make hell crackle and pop for you. But
19:40right now, we could be nine miles from
19:45hell. Look at your odometer on the way
19:48home. And after you've traveled nine
19:50miles, think you're in hell. I talked
19:54about how they drilled a hole to the sin
19:55of the earth. I I don't need to repreach
19:57the message, but sometimes, ladies and
20:00gentlemen, we need to stop and realize
20:03that God, behold the wonder and the
20:06terror of God. He's a God that's not
20:10going to accept your smile and your
20:12excuses and you talking your way out of
20:14stuff. If you're not clean and holy, if
20:17you're not righteous, he will not accept
20:19you. You can drop my name, it doesn't
20:22hold any power there. You can drop this
20:24church's name, it don't hold any power
20:26there. It doesn't matter who you knew or
20:29who you called a hero. If you had not
20:31obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ,
20:34nobody you knew is going to move
20:37anything on that day because you're
20:38going to have stand before a
20:43terrible
20:45God. Good sweet, brother
20:47Elms.
20:49Okay. He's wild. He's not tame.
20:54On that day, just as it pleased God to
20:57save eight by a flood, he ple he was
21:02pleased to save
21:04eight. You say, "Well, I don't want a
21:06god like that."
21:09Well, you can pick whatever god you
21:12want. Pick that picture as a god. Pick a
21:14coin as a god. There's only one
21:18god. There's not some multiple choice.
21:21And you say, "Well, I'm reading. I don't
21:23like this chapter. It's kind of rugged
21:24here. Let's go on. This one, the earth
21:26opened up and swallowed these men whole
21:28in front of their kids. Let's let's act
21:30like that's not there. This is the myths
21:32and legends of scripture. No, no, no,
21:34no. This is God. So, here's the point.
21:38The altar of conversion happens because
21:41first of all, you have a fear of God.
21:44Abram was living in of Calaldia, a city
21:47thick with idols. They had vote them in
21:50and vote them out kind of gods. God's to
21:52describe anything you want and God to
21:55look like anything you want. But there
21:57is only one God because idols do not
22:00have any power. They've got the spirit
22:01of demons backing them but they don't
22:04have the power of God. The God who said
22:07beside me there is no other
22:10that God and he was living in Calaldia a
22:13sick city thick with idols and the hum
22:16of a predictable usual life. And God
22:20comes and talks to Abraham and offers
22:22him a wild unshackled proposition. If
22:27you'll leave this land and go to a land
22:30that I will show
22:32thee. Now the Lord said to Abram, "Get
22:35thee out of thy country and from thy
22:36kindred and from thy father's house into
22:39a land that I will show thee." He didn't
22:41say that it's going to flow with milk
22:43and honey. He didn't say it's going to
22:44have uh grapes the size of grapefruits.
22:47He didn't say all that. He said, "You
22:48just go and trust I'm God." And there's
22:51a fear sometimes that you and I have got
22:53to learn to walk with God when we don't
22:55know what's ahead of
22:58us. I would like to always say it's
23:01always walls of jasper and gates of
23:03pearl and streets of gold. But sometimes
23:05it's valleys of struggle and mountains
23:08of fall and times of loneliness and cold
23:12and heat and abandonment. And sometimes
23:15it's not easy. But Abram said, "Because
23:17you're God." It's like Moses. He said,
23:19"Oh Lord, if you don't go, I'm not
23:21going. I cannot live without you. I
23:23can't breathe. I've encountered God.
23:26I've encountered him. I don't want to
23:28just find the love of my life and quit
23:30on God. I don't want to just find the
23:32love of my life and then have children
23:34and then quit on God. I don't want to
23:36have children then quit on God or have
23:39grandchildren. No, I don't want to quit
23:41on God. I'm going to have a conversion
23:43in my heart that holds me and drives me
23:47all the way through the wild and the
23:50untamed. There's a distance between the
23:52call and the move because I talked about
23:55that semicolon. It's so easy to just see
23:58it. Oh yeah. Go unto the land of
24:04Canaan and into the land of Canaan they
24:08came. There's a difference between the
24:11call and the move. First time you heard
24:15the call of God, I would imagine I could
24:18be accurate by saying you didn't move.
24:21But he comes back and knocks again. He's
24:25calling some of you all higher even
24:27tonight. There's a difference between
24:29the call and saying, "I hear, Lord. I'm
24:34coming." But into Canaan, the scripture
24:37says they came and when they get there,
24:40it's so stunning to me. The Bible says
24:43in verse 7, "And the Lord appeared to
24:47Abram." Oh, when God appears to you, I
24:50know no man had seen God at any time.
24:52And that was accurate even right then.
24:54What does the Bible mean when it says,
24:56"And the Lord appeared unto Abram." When
24:58the Bible also says, "No man had seen
25:00God at any time." I can't tell you what
25:03he appeared as or what it was, but when
25:06you know you've had a
25:08visitation, it's it's like brother Mike
25:11said, he was talking at the men's
25:12conference and talking about that moment
25:14when he was in the process of uh going
25:17through this crisis with the with the
25:18massacre at at Stman Douglas High School
25:21and and he said at that moment you just
25:24know there's something powerful and then
25:27later on God spoke to him and that's
25:29when the Holy Ghost just swept through
25:30that entire place And Mike couldn't
25:32contain his tears and he had to stop and
25:34try to reather himself. But the Holy
25:37Ghost moved in that men's conference
25:39like a rushing mighty wind. Why? It
25:42wasn't his emotions at that moment. He
25:44was acknowledging that when you see him,
25:46when you encounter him, when you come in
25:49touch with him, when you get in the
25:51proximity of God, ah you won't see him,
25:54but you will know he hath appeared.
25:59Oh God, let us have church where he
26:01appears. Let us have worship where he
26:04appears to the musicians. Let us have m
26:07music where he appears to the singers.
26:09Oh Lord, I want to be a preacher that
26:12when I walk into this pull pit, it's
26:14clear you have appeared unto
26:22me. And there the Lord appears. Was it
26:24blazing? I don't know. But it was real.
26:27It shattered all the shadows out of his
26:30mind. It shook him to the very marrow of
26:33his bone. So what does Abram do? First
26:37thing he does, he builds an
26:41altar. This is what I call the altar of
26:45conversion. When the soul wakes up and
26:49you realize you've made moves with God
26:52and now you have the encounter with God.
26:55First real encounter. There's a lot of
26:57encounters, but I'll never shall forget
27:00the day all the burdens of my heart go
27:03away. I'll never forget the day he
27:05filled me with the baptism of the Holy
27:07Ghost. I couldn't stop smiling for three
27:09days. I know I was a kid, but don't
27:11diminish what I had. Don't write off my
27:15experience as a kid experience. Here I
27:18stand at 58. Had the Holy Ghost since I
27:21was six. I'm telling you, I never shall
27:23forget the day when he filled me with
27:25the power of the Holy Ghost and I knew
27:28eternity just took a heart part of my
27:31heart and I was now the tabernacle of
27:35God. The altar of
27:37conversion when the soul wakes up. When
27:40you decide, I'm rejecting the chains of
27:42the world. When you decide, I'm going to
27:45defy the old life that used to define
27:47me. I will no longer fit marching to the
27:51beat of its drum. You heard about the
27:54guy who swallowed five pennies so he
27:57could experience a change in his
28:02life. Listen, when you encounter
28:05God, things change. Is do I have a
28:07witness in the house?
28:09I don't need you loud. I just need you
28:12present. All
28:13right. Did things
28:16change? Was it something that got down
28:19deep
28:21inside? Did it shake
28:24you? Did it drive you to your knees? Did
28:28it press you into a place where earthly
28:32food wouldn't
28:33satisfy? Oh Lord, you have built this
28:37altar. You have left the old life. You
28:40have left your sins. I'm not saying
28:42you're perfect and you don't fall, but
28:43you've decided no matter if I fall, I'm
28:45getting back up. And I will not make
28:47room for the devil. I will not have a
28:50secret closet where I've hidden all my
28:52sins. I'm not going to make any space
28:55where the devil says he can claim it.
28:58I've left my smallalness of spirit and
29:00I've stepped in with trembling into the
29:02furnace of God. Pentecost is not a
29:05whisper. It's a mighty rushing wind.
29:07Pentecost isn't just coming in and
29:09giving a golf clap. No. Pentecost is
29:12being shaken to the very core. The Bible
29:14said, "And a mighty Russian wind filled
29:16all the room where they were sitting.
29:18And there appeared unto them cloven
29:19tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon
29:22not 10 of them, not a few of them, not
29:25just the females and two men. No, every
29:28one of them had the fire fall on
29:32them." My heart was distressed, ne
29:35Jehovah's dread frown, and low in the
29:38pit where my sin dragged me down. I
29:42cried to the Lord from the deep my
29:45clay. He tenderly brought me out to
29:48golden
29:50day. He brought me out of the miry
29:54clay. He set my feet on that rock to
29:59stay. He put a song in my soul to
30:04stay. A song of
30:07praise. Hallelu.
30:11I'll sing of his wonderful mercy to me.
30:15I'll praise him till all men his
30:18goodness shall see. I'll sing of
30:22salvation at home and abroad till many
30:27shall hear the truth and trust in God.
30:33You want to sing
30:34it because you have an altar of
30:39conversion in your history.
30:47Don't forget that altar after the altar
30:50of conversion is the altar of
30:51consecration.
30:53Yeah, there's stuff in struggle and
30:56strug and strife and onward Abram
31:00marches and he the Bible says he got to
31:03a place where he pitched his tent
31:05between Bethl and Ai and the Old
31:08Testament spelled H AI but it's really
31:10Ai that old Ai remember where they would
31:12lose a battle. So Bethl is over here.
31:15It's the uh this this is a place where
31:18he built his altar. had to be tough to
31:21be parked west of promise and east of
31:24struggle. In between the promises of
31:27what shall be and the struggle of what
31:30will be, he's built this altar of
31:34consecration. Now, what's
31:37consecration? It means I'll serve you in
31:41good and bad. Anton Lang played the part
31:44of Christ in a famous passion play up in
31:47the Midwest and they ask him about his
31:50part and what it was like to play it and
31:53as they were preparing the props for him
31:55to play it and they give him a cross
31:58that wasn't heavy enough in his mind and
32:02he said I made him go and I had to have
32:04a heavy large cross and they asked him
32:09why he said if I cannot feel the weight
32:14of the
32:15cross. I cannot play his
32:18part.
32:20Consecration is recognizing the cross
32:23isn't patent
32:25leather. The cross isn't velvet and
32:28satin. The cross comes with difficulty
32:33and weight. The wind howls with
32:36loneliness. And the stars seem to be out
32:40of their orbit.
32:41And here Abram builds another altar. And
32:46the Bible says there he calls on the
32:48name of the Lord. But this time it's
32:50different. There's no appearing of God
32:53to him. This time he's just somewhere
32:55between Bethl's promise and Ai's
32:58burdens. Somewhere between Bethl's
33:01goodness and Ai's
33:04uh struggle. And there he builds an
33:07altar and calls on the name of the Lord.
33:10No grand vision, no booming voice, just
33:13a lonely man alone with his stones and
33:17his wood and his fire. Not a fire to
33:22warm his body. Not a fire to cook his
33:26food. Not a fire to win some fellowship
33:30with fellows. No, this is an allin fire.
33:35This is a fire of
33:37consecration, consecrated to the will of
33:39God. The grit and the grind of the call
33:43is with him. I haven't had an appearance
33:46lately. I haven't felt this breath on my
33:50heart lately, but I'm just building an
33:53altar whether I feel it or not. I may be
33:57within eyesight of promises, but I also
34:00am not out of eyesight of the struggle,
34:03but I'm just here with breath and bone.
34:07And here I've already had a conversion.
34:10That's what got me started. But it's
34:13consecration that keeps you going. Do
34:16not neglect the altar of consecration.
34:19Abraham leaves the altar of
34:21consecration. Read about it. the famine
34:23come to the place where he was and he
34:26leaves it and goes down to Egypt. And if
34:28you track Abram's trail in Egypt, he
34:31never builds an altar down there. Gets
34:34in a lot of trouble. He lies on his
34:36wife. He goes through problems and
34:38struggles. And after a while underneath
34:40that time, he was there. When he finally
34:44escapes his blunder, the first place he
34:47goes back to is the Bible says he goes
34:50back to that altar of
34:53consecration. And he made sure that
34:56altar had a fresh fire on it. In other
34:59words, you may go sometimes that you
35:01think about going back to Egypt. You may
35:04even go back to Egypt. You may even do
35:07things in Egypt that is embarrassing to
35:10your own self. But I want to proclaim to
35:12you that if Abraham can go back to the
35:16altar of consecration after he's left
35:18it, then so can the people of God. Go
35:22back to the altar of consecration and
35:25keep that one going. Build that altar
35:29and never leave
35:31it is the altar of
35:33conversion, the altar of consecration.
35:37But here is a a third altar that's
35:40stunning to me. It's the altar of
35:44continuation. I've told you many times
35:47that there are three major trials that
35:51people go through. There's the trial of
35:55adversity. There's the trial of
35:58prosperity. And I've proclaimed in these
36:0038 years or 33 years I've pastored here
36:03that the greatest trial of them all is
36:05probably the trial of
36:07monotony. I'm sure you would have liked
36:10to think that Abraham had a ark building
36:12convention to go to. I'm sure that
36:15Abraham, you would have liked to think
36:16that he could stop and find a new way to
36:19shape the wood. But let me tell you
36:21something. Building the ark was just the
36:23same thing again and again and again.
36:26Get the wood, put it together, pitch it
36:29within and without with tar, and then go
36:32get some more wood. Put it together,
36:34shape it, pitch it with and without tar.
36:38And maybe the most poignant message I've
36:41ever preached in this church was the
36:43message I preached, are you building an
36:46ark? Because many people want the fancy
36:49new shiny object. And they want some new
36:53kind of inspiration when building an ark
36:56is just art building
36:58business. It's not it's not that
37:01difficult to figure out. It's just built
37:04in a continual press forward. The tw
37:08trail twists now and after this altar of
37:11continuation, it's built because Lot's
37:14flocks jostle against Abraham's herds.
37:19And the land cries out for space and
37:22strife bruise into a storm. And the
37:26herdsmen of Lot and the herdsmen of
37:28Abraham start fighting and fussing. And
37:31Abraham stepped up and said, "Let there
37:33be no strife." Lot, you can choose
37:36wherever you want to go. And Lot chooses
37:39the green lush valleys of Sodom. And he
37:42leaves Abram the rugged hills of Hebrin.
37:46There wasn't much to drink and wasn't
37:48much to grow in Hebrin. But there under
37:52Mey's oaks, that's where Abram goes and
37:55builds the altar of continuation.
37:59Steady, he builds it. Unbounded, he
38:02builds it without the lush valley
38:06profitabilities of Sodom. Without the
38:09market reports of the marketplace of
38:13Sodom, without the fast lane of those
38:16who live on the express lane in Sodom,
38:19he just goes to the country road where a
38:22rugged trail goes. It's just the out of
38:25the way place, but there he builds an
38:27altar to God. And I'm calling it the
38:30altar of continuation where the easy
38:33when the easy road calls. When life
38:36isn't all visions and glory. When it's
38:39sweat and its blood and it's trudging
38:41on. When the promise feels far away.
38:44When old friends drift slowly away. When
38:48the green valley calls you close. Raise
38:52the altar of continuation and say,
38:55"Lord, if I have blessing or if I don't
38:58have blessing, I'm going to build a fire
39:00that's not for me. I'm building a fire
39:03for God. And here I'll be. And that
39:07altar, Sister Elms, Come is where you
39:10sing songs like, I'll go where you want
39:13me to go, dear
39:15Lord, or mountain or plain or
39:19sea. I'll say what you want me to say,
39:24dear
39:26Lord. I'll be what you want me to
39:32be. the
39:34altar of
39:40continuation. And the last altar, you
39:42all know what it is. You've been waiting
39:44for this. This is the altar that we know
39:48the most
39:49about. I am calling it the
39:53altar of
39:55celebration. But you know better. You
39:58Bible readers know it doesn't start out
40:01that way.
40:03You know, it looked like a trip to an
40:09amputation. It looked like a trip to
40:13build the altar of
40:15alienation. Abram, take thine
40:19son. Thine only
40:23son. Don't say his
40:30name. His name means
40:37laughter. Take thy
40:40son, thine only son
40:45Isaac, and offer him as a
40:48sacrifice. It looked like a a
40:53trip to the breaking of hope.
40:59Yeah, this altar is quite a few years
41:02after those other
41:04three years had rolled by. The promise
41:08had
41:09come. The promise grew into little
41:11pitterpatter of feet and
41:13laughter. The promise, this son of
41:16laughter born to Abraham and Sarah in
41:19their weathered
41:22years. Abram has built a altar.
41:28continuation altar
41:31consecration, altar of
41:35conversion. But Abraham rises silent as
41:38a stone, saddles his beast, goes to
41:42Mount Mariah with Isaac at his
41:44side. He builds an
41:47altar. An altar that maybe it looked
41:50like was going to sever the laughter
41:52from his life. It would spit split him.
41:56the love of his
42:02life tells Isaac what's
42:05required. Isaac's bigger than
42:08him. Isaac's stronger than
42:11him. Isaac is no we
42:14lad. Isaac is well over 20 years of
42:18age. Isaac's in the flower of his power.
42:24Abraham said,
42:26"Isaac, put your hands
42:30behind
42:38him. Don't hurry
42:43me. I know you want to get to the altar
42:45of sep celebration." We all want to
42:48close every sermon with the altar of
42:50celebration. Can I take just a
42:55moment? He tied him
42:59up. He laid him on top of that
43:03altar. He got out his
43:08knife. I don't know how many rocks he
43:12kicked before he walked up to that
43:17altar. Hold that knife.
43:26And when it was
43:27up, boys cried out, "Stop. Lay not a
43:31hand upon
43:33him." And there was the sound of a
43:36bleeding ram
43:43caught. Now I know.
43:50You're not just Jehovah to
43:53me. You're Jehovah
43:58Gyra. You're the God that
44:03provided. I went through that story way
44:05too
44:08fast because it took a lot longer than
44:10that to walk that lonely road.
44:15what looked like
44:20loss turned into Jehovah Gyra. You who
44:24faced loss and despair, you who face the
44:27end of
44:29dreams, build this altar.
44:34Drag your feet, kick your
44:37rocks maybe
44:39even have some mumbling while you
44:44go. Abraham named it the place the Lord
44:46will
44:47provide. Life from death, joy from
44:50ashes, celebration from
44:52alienation. So Abram's
44:54altars, while it might be simple,
44:57they're not museum pieces to put
45:00together a four-point sermon on a
45:02Tuesday night. The story of our walk
45:05with God. Conversion wakes us.
45:09Consecration binds us. Continuation
45:12drives
45:15us. But the
45:17celebration is what crowns