Smoking Altars and Standing Stones

When I was living in Mississippi, I came back to Pickens for a few days to help bury a dear friend.

I know he was a friend of many of you as well.

Oliver Neely was a strong example in this community and changed a lot of people's lives due to his influence for the gospel.

And one day I went on a ride to go to Old Stomping Ground, a little ride of nostalgia,

because my grandfather built a cabin a long time ago on the banks of the South Saluda River.

And when I was growing up, we used to go to that cabin in the back of that wagon on the other side of that cabin.

Much has changed since that place was sold after his death, but I was pleased to see the cabin was still standing.

That chimney is still there, and the rafters that he put, they've improved the home.

Quite a bit has changed now.

For one, they have indoor plumbing now.

That's it from another angle now.

When I was growing up and we went up there, we were kind of highfalutin.

We had a two-seater.

And you can always go to the bathroom with a friend, I guess.

But anyway, and I know what it is to sweep before you go, if you know what I mean.

If you don't know what I mean, good for you.

But even with all that, if you look behind that, you'll see the devastation that a tornado, I believe, in April 2020 caused in that area.

It was still pretty special.

I go back there sometimes and reflect upon what God gave us so many years ago.

Now, whether it's a literal spot or just a spot in your mind, we all need to go back like that spiritually

and reflect on the times God did a work in us or when we had a special time with the Lord.

Abraham did that.

And I want you to see what we need to do based on his example and some other biblical examples in the midst of our journey.

Genesis chapter 12, beginning in verse 4, it says,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him.

Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.

And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son and all their possessions they had gathered

and the people they had acquired in Haran.

And they set out to go to the land of Canaan.

When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to a place at Shechem,

to the oak of Moreh.

At that time, the Canaanites were in the land.

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said,

To your offspring, I'll give this land.

So he built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him.

From there he moved to the hill country of the east of Bethel

and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.

And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.

And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negev.

God told Abram to go.

And when he did go, God would show him where he was to go, what he was to do, and would work through him.

And we talked about in detail last week how he took a pit stop for too long in Haran.

But then he set out with his family, and verse 5 tells us,

the people that they had acquired in Haran.

In other words, those that he had led out of moon god worship

and into the worship of the Heavenly Father.

He stopped at the Oak of Moreh.

That's a popular spot in that day.

It is known particularly for the Canaanite shrines

and the lessons of the false religions that were taught in that area.

Abram stopped there, shared some of what God was showing him

and where God was taking him,

and then after sharing that with them,

brought those people along with him.

along on his journey.

God's not only giving him the land,

but he is making him a blessing as he goes,

just as God promised that he would do.

And Abram is changing the land in which he journeys through.

Due to the promises of God, Abram hung around,

but the Canaanites had the good land in that area.

Therefore, he moved on and journeyed through the Negev.

The Negev is a barren desert land.

It is hard traveling.

But I want you to notice what Abram learned in Haran,

the land of plenty,

at least in worldly thought.

But in reality, just like the meaning of the word,

it was a spiritually parched area.

He learned there that the promises of this world is not worth the focus.

Don't focus on what this world has.

Focus instead upon what God has.

And when he realized what God had for him,

his obedience went from a partial obedience

of staying in some places too long

and taking too many people with him

to a partial obedience,

to a full obedience,

or just pure obedience.

Not only is Abram now on the move,

but God was also on the move.

And notice what we do,

just like he did,

when God is on the move.

When God moves in your life,

first we need to recognize.

We need to recognize the movement of God.

Sometimes we miss the movement of God

because we just don't recognize it.

We're not spiritually alert to know what's going on.

We're not receptive to it.

We're not obedient to it.

The best way to recognize those things

is to get in on it.

Take God at his word.

Listen to what the spirit of God speaks to you

about the personal application

of God's word in your life.

Respond to it in obedience.

Respond when he speaks.

And we have a lot of hindrances along the way

because we sometimes don't recognize

when God speaks to us

and what he would have for us.

We see what others need to have in their life.

We see what changes need to take place

in other people's lives,

but we fail to acknowledge our own spiritual woes.

We fail to acknowledge what God wants to say to us

and we don't listen

when his leading invades our life.

Or we go to Heron and stop.

We go halfway.

We start on a trek,

but we just half obey.

Old boy told me not long ago,

you know, I believe in God and all that,

but I don't think we need to get so wound up about it.

Well, I think we need to get wound up about it.

I do.

I do.

I think he's worthy of us getting a little wound up.

He got wound up enough,

thank God, to go to the cross for us.

Amen?

And so we ought to get wound up for him.

It could be because God seems to be speaking

sometimes too much to us.

What God says sometimes,

he digs into the closets of our lives.

He deals with stuff in our lives

that we don't want to touch

and we don't want to deal with.

Abram was in the land of the Canaanites,

in a place of the shrines,

in the place of pagan worship,

and God says,

your children and your children's children

will inherit this land.

Abram could have easily said,

how in the world is that going to happen?

I mean, do you see who's here?

And they're pretty mighty.

I mean, how's that going to take place?

There's strong people here.

Or he could have said,

what do you mean my children

and my children's children?

What about me?

What about me?

What's in it for me?

Because I want you to notice

that God was saying,

not saying that Abram would get the land.

He said his offspring would get the land.

Recognize that God speaks

and pay attention to what he says

because when God's on the move,

there's something else we need to do.

We need to recognize it,

but that's not it.

We also need to remember.

We need to remember it.

When God speaks truth to us,

I'm talking about personalized,

customized truth to us

by the Holy Spirit of God.

It is special,

and you need to archive it.

You need to hold on to it.

Notice what happens

as Abram is on the way

to the Lord's promises, okay?

He's on his way

to where God would tell him to go,

and the Lord speaks to him,

and he recognizes the presence of God,

and when he recognizes the presence of God,

he builds an altar there

as a testimony

to what God said

when he claimed that land.

Now, he left that land,

but he didn't take that altar with him.

He left that altar there.

He left it behind,

and when he moved again,

and he called on the Lord again,

he had a powerful time with the Lord.

He built another altar.

He didn't take that altar with him either.

He left it behind.

So I want you to think about this,

what happens.

After Abram's gone from the area,

and people come back to that,

when those Canaanites come back

to the Oak of Moreh

to worship their foreign gods,

they just see an altar there

to Abraham's God.

They see an altar there,

recognizing that he left his testimony there.

This is where God spoke to me.

He left a witness there.

He does the same thing

when he goes to Bethel,

and Beth in Hebrew is house,

and El is short for God.

House of God's what it means.

Abraham had a good day

in the house of God,

and he didn't forget it.

He left his testimony behind

along with that altar.

He remembered what God did for him.

That reminds me of a passage

in 1 Chronicles 21

when David was tempted

to get prideful about all he had.

God had blessed him mightily,

and so he started counting.

He wanted to see how much he had,

so he took a census.

Scripture says he was tempted

by Satan to take that census,

and so he took an inventory.

And when he tried to count up

all his strength,

he got filled up with pride

of his accomplishments,

and the cost of that sin

came upon his people,

and his guilt overwhelmed him

because of the cost

his people had to pay

because of his sin,

and so he looked for a flat,

clear place to build an altar.

There's no better flat,

clear place in that day

to build an altar

than the threshing floor.

He found a threshing floor.

The threshing floor

is a crucial part

of the harvest of wheat.

It was a raised area

that was floored with rock

or a hard surface,

hard-packed dirt surface.

It was on a threshing floor

where they would pound out the wheat,

and they would loosen it up

and separate the chaff

or the holes from the good wheat.

And in the same way,

David cleaned out that spot

on that threshing floor,

and it was on that threshing floor

that David built an altar,

and he laid it out

before the Lord.

It's appropriate

that it was on a threshing floor

because there he threshed it out.

He shook out the worthless

in his life,

and he let the good in his life

shine through right there

before the Lord.

It was there that God came to him.

It was there that the fire

fell upon him,

and it was there

in that very spot

that God told him

the promised temple of the Lord

was to be built.

And when they went back to build it,

he bought the land

to put it right where God spoke.

He found out that day

that he laid it out before the Lord,

and he realized

how desperate he was

and how much he needed God.

He recognized

that God had spoken,

and he remembered

that God had moved.

After Moses died,

Joshua was to be

the one to finally bring

the people to the promised land.

All that time in that desert,

and Moses was not the one

to carry him over.

And when they got to the Jordan

and they stepped into the river,

the water stopped flowing

and were cut off from the area,

and they all passed on dry land,

even though it was flood season,

and the river would be swelling.

And after they got through that river,

Joshua instructed them,

as God had told him,

to take a stone,

one representing each of the 12 tribes,

which made up all of the people

that came across,

and exactly where the Ark of the Covenant,

which represented the presence of God,

had crossed,

they were to set up 12 stones

of remembrance

on the banks of that river.

And Scripture says that

when you bring your children

back through here,

and tell them about

how we crossed over the Jordan,

and they see those

rough-hewn stones

erect out of the ground,

and they ask you,

what do these stones mean?

You tell them.

Tell them how God parted the waters.

Tell them how He moved you

to the other side.

Tell them how He paved the way

to claim your promises.

Parents, listen to me today.

Tell them how He brought you through.

I had a memory pop up.

It's on my phone.

It's in my calendar.

I know when it is.

I had a memory pop up this week

from eight years ago.

And I want you to see a video

for just a moment.

Just entertain me.

I opened it up.

It was addressing me.

I opened it up.

And it said,

I know I'm a sinner.

And I know that Jesus died

for my sins.

I know that He rose again.

I know that He's coming back.

And I want Him to save me.

Can we pray now?

She went to sleep

before she could give it to me

last night.

So when she woke up,

me and her had talked.

And then we got the family

in the room together.

And she prayed that

Jesus in her life.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm going to tell you,

can you sleep last night?

I'm going to tell you

hearing her comments

this morning,

having given her heart

and life to the Lord

Jesus Christ,

knowing what she did.

As a matter of fact,

when I let Abby read

the letter,

I said,

well,

you can't put in much

wine in her mouth.

It's true.

She wants to join our church

on that profession

and my baptism.

If you're happy,

she's coming.

Say amen.

Amen.

That is a precious,

memorial stone

in my life.

I've marked it down.

When Samuel was leading Israel,

the Philistines were bearing down

upon him.

And the people

grew very afraid.

They knew the ruthlessness

of the Philistines.

They were intense battlers.

And they called out to the Lord

and they fasted and prayed

and called out to the Lord.

And in 1 Samuel,

1 Samuel 7:10

chapter 7,

verse 10,

it says,

the Lord

thundered

with a mighty sound

that day

against the Philistines

and threw them

into confusion

and they were defeated

before Israel.

And when they won

that battle,

Samuel took a stone.

He called it

an Ebenezer,

which is Hebrew

for a stone

of help.

And he said,

till now,

the Lord

has helped us.

In other words,

when I look back

at how we got

where we are,

the Lord

has guided us.

He's helped us.

He recognized

that God

had done the work

and then he

remembered it

and laid it down.

And I'm telling you,

when God moves,

mark it down.

And then in the days

afterwards,

after the move

of God,

we reflect.

He said to Abram,

to your offspring,

I will give

this land.

Abram was trusting God.

He was following God.

He was obeying God

for bigger reasons

than himself.

We're going to talk

about the steps

of faith along the way

as we carve

through his life,

but this may be

why he is remembered

in Scripture the most.

because he was not

doing this

for himself.

Abram was not

going to get the land.

He was going to start

on a road

to better influence

later generations.

And it is my burden,

folks,

to instill

within my children

not only a love

for the Lord

so that I can rest

in that,

but also

that they can share

with their children

and that they can share

with their grandchildren.

Abraham died

in a cave

and he was buried,

Abraham died

and with only the cave

he was buried in,

but what he left

was so much more.

And it's ironic

that some folks

work so hard

to have so much here

to leave

to the next generation

generation

that they get

so busy

to actually

leave

what actually

counts

for all eternity.

Hebrews 11,

9 and 10

says this,

by faith he went

to live

in the land

of promise

as in a foreign land

living in the tents

with Isaac and Jacob,

heirs with him

of the same promise

for thank God

he was looking forward

to the city

that has foundations

whose designer

and builder

is God.

He had a bigger plan.

Abraham left a legacy

because he wasn't

concerned about himself.

He was concerned

about obeying God,

honoring God,

preparing the next generation.

And I want to be

very clear church,

we need to be concerned

about the very same thing,

preparing the next generation.

How do we do that?

Not by building cabins

on the river.

I mean I wish

I could have kept it.

When I went back,

that day when I went

and visited that cabin,

that man wasn't there,

I knocked on his door.

I took some family back

at spring break

in March of that year

and we knocked on the door

and he answered.

And he said,

come in,

I want to show you.

And when I looked up

and looked at the ceiling

in that house,

those rafters

that were up there

were the same rafters

my grandpa had put up there.

A lot of other things

wasn't recognizable.

Didn't have to prime

that pump

to get that kitchen sink

going anymore.

but I saw

what he had done

and that's special

but that's not

what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about

leaving some smoking altars

and leaving some standing stones.

I'm talking about

speaking of how God moved,

laying down a spiritual marker

and then going back

and reflecting on that.

Not only will that strengthen you

in the times of trouble

that's coming

because we all got more coming

but it'll also strengthen

those before you.

my grandfather,

the one that built that cabin

often shared with me

the stories of the blessings

of the Lord.

I remember the exuberance

that he shared

when he shared Christ

with somebody.

He sold tools

for somebody else

at Anderson Jockey Lot.

Anytime we went

to Anderson Jockey Lot

and saw him

he'd always be

with a hammer in hand

or a screwdriver in hand

he'd be sharing his faith

with somebody

who was walking

through that area.

He shared stories

of the blessings of God

and how the Lord

had watched over him

and I don't remember

those stories.

Man, I wish I did.

Wish I could hear his voice.

We were in the military

and moved around

and so some of the communication

that family had

was reel to reel

audio

and they'd mail

and you could hear

each other talk

and I asked mom

what happened to that?

They're gone.

I don't remember

those stories.

I wish I did

but you know

what I remember?

I remember that man

giving God praise.

I remember the times

and the places

that I saw him

praise the Lord.

I remember him

testifying to God's goodness.

I remember him

leaving spiritual markers

for me to go back to.

What gives me hope

for tomorrow?

What gives me hope

for tomorrow

is the same God

that brought me

through the dilemmas

of yesterday.

The same God

that's guiding me

through the obstacles

of today

is the same God

that's already

in my tomorrows.

He's the same God

that's already laid

my path.

He's the same God

that's already

straightened my path

and leveled my path

and lit the path

I walked.

And I'm going

to make a point

for the rest

of my days

to tell the younger

generations

about the God

that came to me

and that changed me

and that meets me

every morning

and is already

in my tomorrows.

and church

I'm just asking you

will you make

the greatest investment

that you could ever

make

in anything

will you just join me

because I think

there need to be

some altars

that are left smoking

and some stones

that are left set

for us all

to be encouraged

and for the next

generations

to be encouraged

by how God

has walked before us

and taken care

of us.

We serve a great

God don't we?

Let's don't keep

it to ourselves.

Let's share it

with others.

With every head bow

and every eye closed

what are you doing

with what God's

given you?

For one

he's given you

an opportunity

today

to surrender

your life

to the Lord

Jesus Christ

and if you've

never done that

I want you to know

the greatest decision

you'll ever make

in your life

is to give your

heart and life

to the Lord

Jesus Christ.

You just need

to confess

your need of him

the sin

that so separates

you from him

and ask him

to cleanse you

and to change you

and I thank God

he'll save you

today.

Today's the day

of salvation.

He's the same

yesterday,

today and forever.

You can rest in that.

You come down

this aisle

and we begin to sing

and I promise you

we'll lead you

in how to have

a relationship

with Christ.

Maybe you have

done that

but your life

your life's not

marked by the

right stones.

There's things

in your life

that are missing.

First step

of obedience

after giving your

heart and life

to the Lord Jesus

is to follow him

through public

confession

by baptism.

There may be

folks here today

who've never

done that.

There's a hindrance

in your life

spiritually

because you've

not followed

through with that

as God's

instructed

and I want

to encourage

you to just

be obedient

to that.

Follow him

in that.

Trust him.

Maybe God's

leading you

to be a part

of this church.

God's blessed

us.

2022 was a

wonderful year

in the life

of this church

and God's

blessed us

in many ways

and I'm

thankful for that

and I know

that God's

speaking and

leading others

as well

and so if

God's leading

you I encourage

you to come

just be obedient

to follow God.

We'd love to

have you

and explain

whatever we

need to explain

to you

and help you

along the way.

First step

is just to let

us know.

But most

particularly

today

Christian

what are you

doing

to mark

your path

for the Lord

Jesus Christ?

How are you

doing that?

For yourself

and for others

as well.

let's leave

some altar

smoking

because we

we made a

point to talk

about what

God did

in our

presence.

Let's leave

some memorial

markers in

our lives

so folks

know

so we can

be reminded

because we

need that

reminder

what God's

done in our

lives.

I don't know

how God's

speaking to you

today but I

encourage you

to commit your

life to him

completely

wholeheartedly

trust him

he's worthy

of it.

Lord Jesus

I love you

and thank you

dear God

for the

opportunity

you give us

today.

Lead us

right now

I pray

in Jesus

name.

Amen.