Only The Altar, Will Alter Our Course

1 King 18:14-30

Ahab comes at Elijah with this question, “Art thou he that troubeleth Israel?”

The people and King Ahab had drifted so far away from God, that Elijah’s commitment, consecration, and love for God caused so much agitation that Ahab called him a troublemaker.

If you’re going to live for God when most of the country has decided to live for themselves and do what is right in their own eyes, then you better know this: When you are serious about serving God, when you consecrate yourself to live a holy life, and when you refuse to be sit silently by when the choices people are making around you are wholly ungodly then you, like Elijah, will be viewed as a troublemaker.

Why?  Because most people are satisfied just living in the vicinity of the altar.  What does that mean?  Most people are satisfied just being religious.  They want to look Christian and sound Christian, but they don’t want to live a surrendered life; they don’t want to be “living sacrifices.”  When you choose to live on the altar and to make your life a living sacrifice, you upset this worlds system and you will disturb religious people.

Romans 12:12:1-2

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

In 1 kings 18 Elijah called the nation of Israel back to the altar.  Elijah is not known through the scriptures as a great preacher, but when the bible shines the spotlight on Elijah, we see him on the ground with his head between his knees praying.  He was showing us what the altar looks like.

The great need of our day is for men and women who will rebuild the altar: I'm not talking about a wooden piece of furniture.  That long piece of wood in the front of most churches cannot save anyone, or heal anyone, or deliver anyone; it cannot pick you up when you get knocked down, or carry you when you're too weak to walk, It can't mend a broken heart or restore a ship wrecked marriage, it can't break the power of drugs over your life or drive cancer out of your body!  It’s just a piece of wooden furniture, separated and set apart for sacred purposes, but still just a piece of furniture.

The altar I am referring to is the altar of the heart.  A heart that is humbled before God, surrendered to God, consecrated to God, and faithful and obedient to God.  The altar I'm speaking of is a life that has been laid down in sacrifice to fulfill the will of God.

Where there is no altar, your faith will falter!

What does falter mean?  To falter is to move hesitatingly as if you are about to give way, to be unsure or weak, to walk unsteadily or stumble, or to lose faith and abandon the cause.

This is the message I want to get across to you, so many in the church are faltering; because they have forsaken the altar.

Jeremiah 2:13

“For my people have committed two evils; they have (forsaken) me the fountain of living waters and they have hewn them out cisterns, broken cistern's that can hold no water.”

Let me ask you a question: what good is it to have a new house, a new car, a great retirement, money in five different banks, and lose your soul?

The greatest need of the world we live in is not natural, or physical, our greatest need is not financial prosperity, its spiritual prosperity.

Mark 8:36 – “For what doth it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his soul?”

I believe God wants to prosper us in every way including financially, but the danger is when we substitute natural prosperity for spiritual prosperity.

3 John 2 – “Beloved I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth.”

The bible says that the children of Israel lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert, then it says: that God gave them their request but sent leanness to their souls.  That means they were physically and naturally satisfied, in other words they were fat and happy, but their souls were starving to death.

This is happening today to people all over America in our modern politically correct churches.  Church members are getting fatter and fatter engorging themselves on the natural, the carnal, the desires of the flesh, and their souls are starving to death.

Many churches today do not even have an altar. Many of the ones that do are mostly covered with dust because they're hardly ever used. They're just for looks.  Again, I know that the altar is just a piece of furniture made up of a few pieces of wood, but it is often the place where we meet God.  The altar is where we climb our Mt. Moriah and give our Isaac's up to God.  The altar is a place of sacrifice, it is where self is put to death

The altar is where the sinner comes to find a savior, where the broken come to find a healer, where those in bondage come to find a deliverer, where the prisoner comes to be pardoned, where the weary come to find rest, and where saints come to find power.

Why is there such a low state of spiritual power in the church today?  Because so many have forsaken the altar.

You may attend a church with great programs, with great worship, and great preaching, but if you as an individual do not have an altar, your life will falter!  It will be unsteady!  You will be unsure and weak, you will stumble, and ultimately you will lose faith and abandon the cause.

And let me say also that without the altar, the Church will falter

God said: my house shall be a house of prayer!  He did not say it would be a house of magnificent entertainment, or a house of awesome fellowship, or a house of dynamic preaching, but it is to be A HOUSE OF PRAYER.

No prayer equals no power!

I want you to know that the only hope for America today is to come back to the altar: There's no president, no politician, no legislation that can turn this country around.  The only hope for change in America is God!  We need God back in our homes, we need God back in our schools, we need God back in the White House, and this may offend but to a great deal, we need God back in the church house.

The only way we will ever get America back to God, is to get Americans back to the altar!

Malachi 3:7 – “Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.”

The structure that needs to be rebuilt in America is not the world trade center, it’s the altar!

It wasn’t torn down by terrorists, there is no terrorist that could destroy the altar.  It was torn down through neglect, through decay, and through rejection.  It was torn down in favor of a more comfortable, less sacrificial, and more self-pleasing way. 

The Greatest sin of America is not homosexuality, it’s not abortion, and it’s not racism; the greatest sin of America is pride.  It’s not national pride that we need in America today; we need national humility and total dependence upon God.

Without the altar, America will falter!

2 Chronicles 7:14

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

I know there are wicked and evil things happening in the world, but God is not speaking to the world, God is speaking to the church.  He is speaking to “my people,” to those who identify themselves with God, those who go by His name.

Revival comes because we rend our hearts and not just our garments, Revival comes because we break up the fallow ground and seek God till he comes and rains righteousness down on us.