Build the correct alter

Welcome to the Cross Power Church podcast.

You're listening to a service from our church in Campbell, TX.

We pray this message strengthens your faith and points you to the

cross. Now let's join the service.

Swayze was doing school earlier. Anybody retired to teach 3 year

olds, Ashley 4 year olds. Every day she was.

She got tired. I was she got tired and was

drawing a letter number there three and she just kept on

getting tireder and tireder and she finally she tells my wife,

she says I can't draw that three and she said why can't you draw

that to the three? She said I'm super little.

So I begin to tell her after that I said you can't ride your

big horse, you're super little. You got to ride your settle and

I started teasing her about super little.

I said you're super little. And here in a minute she turned

around. She said I was just teasing

sassy. She's I was kidding her.

I said, why was you kidding her? So you didn't have to ride a

three. She said, yeah, so super little.

Well, I remember those days trying to get out of school and

I guess I said all that to say this.

You know, sometimes we're that way.

We got sometimes we're that way, but I found out it's a it's a

whole lot easier. Just go ahead and make yourself

do it when you don't feel like it.

Hey, man, kind of what I'm going to preach about tonight a little

bit. I'm going to probably finish

this Sunday. No way I'm going to finish it

tonight. If you have your Bibles going to

be in Judges chapter 6. Talk about some things here that

Judges 6 · chapter mention

that'll change your life. Some things that I've seen over

the years that work and don't work right.

Anybody ever found out that every time you approach the

Lord, every time you pray, every time you go to the altar?

I went to church for years. I've seen some of the same

people at the altar for years crying the same prayers for

years. Nothing wrong with it, but if

it's not working, I'd I like to try different angle.

I like to get God's take on it because if we serve an all

powerful God and we're stuck in the same situation, something's

not happening right. So I want to talk to you tonight

about this a little bit. And in Judges chapter 6, this

Judges 6 · chapter mention

was before kings were were appointed.

It was Judges that was over Israel and we all know the story

at you know that I went on up in Samuel when the when Saul became

king, Saul was not the one that that God wanted king wanted to

be king. He had already told, he had

already told that to go find a king and he would show him who

it was. But nevertheless, the people

wanted the king, so they appointed the king, right.

But this was a judge that God would appoint over Israel.

And many know the story about chapter 6 here about Gideon and

what all he did. And you know, the Gideons still

do a great work. I've been motel rooms all over

the United States and Canada and you can usually open the drawer

and find the Bible from the Gideons.

And we're going to talk about Gideon tonight.

There's a lot to talk about here in this chapter, but let's let's

read a little bit in chapter 6. Let's stand and go to the Lord

and prayer. Father, we come before you

tonight and we thank you for this time.

We pray that you would show us your word and that I could

preach this message and share it the way you showed it unto me.

Father, that there's a proper altar that we have to build

before you that false altars and false gods do not work in the

Kingdom of God. And we thank you for your love

and your mercy and your grace. It's in his your Son's name we

pray. Hey man, I'm gonna read chapter

6 and verse one. It says the children of Israel

did evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord delivered them

into the hand of Midian 7 years. Despite what Israel had seen

here and the the miracles that they had seen, they kept turning

back. There's 7 great apostasies in

this book about and seven sins that they did, but they it says

the hand of Midian prevailed against them and because the

Midianites and the children of Israel made them dens which are

in the mountains and the caves and strongholds.

So you have the people of God, the children of Israel that had

seen miracles that had been delivered, that Joshua had just

LED into a promised land to a place that God had promised

them, but yet they kept falling back into their old ways.

See the people of God here. They, they were in the caves.

They were supposed to be the strongest upon the face of the

earth, but yet they were reduced to living in caves and and

hiding out because of their fear, because their enemy had

grown so much bigger than they are.

Ever feel like that when you look around today?

And so it was in verse 3, when Israel had sown, that the

Midianites came, and the Amalekites and the children of

the East, and they even came up against them, and they encamped

against them, and they destroyed the increase of the earth.

And it says, Till you come unto Gaza, and left no substance for

Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor ass.

So the Israel was reduced here to starvation.

They were reduced to the wages of iniquity here.

And in verse 5 it says for they talking about the enemy came up

with their cattle in their tents, and they came as

grasshoppers for a multitude, for both they and their camels

were without numbers. So there was a lot of them,

right? And they entered into the land

to destroy it. See, the, the Lord had allowed

this to happen because of Israel's idolatry and the things

they were doing. And it's really no different

today under grace, I don't think.

I mean, a lot of people say, well, you know, it's God just

loves everybody and he, he prospers everybody.

And yet there's no trials. And yet we just preach all the

love of God. But yet God gets our, he gets

our attention through trials. He gets our attention through

throwing things our way. And that's what he was doing

here because he had just LED these these blessed people into

the land flowing with milk and honey, but yet they were going

back to their old ways over and over again.

And Israel was greatly impoverished.

Verse 6 because of the Midianites and the children of

Israel cried unto the Lord, They cried unto the Lord because they

had fallen and because they, they knew that they weren't

doing what was right. And in verse 7, it came to pass

when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of

the Midianites. And I just have a question and

I've always kind of had this question because I I've seen it

over and over in my life with people from the work site to the

rodeo world to now even in the church world is I have a

question and maybe y'all can chime in here and give me some

answers. But why is it that so many

believers that's I said believers, people that know

Jesus, people that that know that he died on a cross.

But why is it so many times that that as I preached Sunday, the

great falling away that we're seeing from the church world and

the ages, you know, of the of the middle a even the not middle

age, but even younger. I don't remember all the

statistics I give Sunday, but it's astronomical.

Those that are just dropping out of church that was raised in an

evangelical church, a Bible believing church, and they're

not returning in young adult to it.

But why is it that so many believers have to come of to a

place of utter defeat and humiliation?

You know, if I look around tonight, I, I could probably get

some testimonies about how we came to a place.

Some people did that, that they, they would just, they knew

better, but yet they were in that place.

But why do we have to come to that place before we cry out?

Because so many do. I know when I did rodeo schools

and Bible camps, I would try to teach kids that you don't have

to get on drugs and alcohol and you don't have to have a

pregnant girlfriend in high school and struggle through.

You don't have to do all those things if you'll just cry out to

God. Hey, man, He can take you around

so much. And that's kind of my life

testimony. God has taken me around so much

because when I didn't feel like it, I kept praising.

When I didn't feel like it, I kept worshipping because I know

so if I don't, I can become impoverished, Amen.

With sin was may be stricken of the things of the world, but if

we would just cry out to the Lord and I like this at all

times, Amen. No matter what's going on, just

keep crying out, crying out. But yet what happens?

And I'm preaching to you tonight about building an altar in your

life. There's there's all kinds of

altars today, you know, you and we to Google things.

I told you all that last week, but you Google, you Google an

altar. And I'm one of them said that

it's a table in a church that the bread and the wine set up

on. That's what Google thinks an

altar is. And I, you know, we do call

that, I guess in some churches, that's an altar.

I've been to some churches. They, they have the, they have

the place for the, the communion, but yet there's no

altars over here. But I want to, I want to read to

you a little more here. What happens?

But why is it that that's one can approach an altar and be

changed forever in a moment and in an instant?

I've seen it. Addictions fall, things in their

life begin to change and turn around.

But yet another approach is an altar and nothing happens only

to find them there again and again.

Come on, somebody preach with me.

And again, so that tells me there is a proper altar that we

can approach and we have to build the altar.

And that's what Gideon, that's what a lot of this story is

about here and I'm going to read some more.

In verse 8 it says the Lord sent a prophet under the children of

Israel, which said unto them, thus says the Lord God.

I'm in verse 8, I brought you up from Egypt, and I brought you

forth out of the House of bondage, and I delivered you out

of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who

oppressed you. So they knew that God could do

it right. We know that God can do it.

And I drove them out from before you and gave you their land.

And I said unto you, I'm the Lord your God.

Fear not the gods of the Amorites in whose land you

shallow to will, but you have not obeyed my voice.

And there came an Angel to the Lord, and he said under the oak,

which was an Oprah, and it pertained to Joe Ash.

Somebody want to pronounce that word?

I got one wrong last week. I'm going to give somebody a

chance right here. Anybody want to try?

They got on to me last week. What did?

How do you say that? Say it for me.

We're going to call him Asburat. How's that and his son Gideon

and he threshed wheat by the Ryan press to hide from the

Midianites. So he was pressing why Gideon is

at the wine press. We know the story and in verse

12 the Angel of the Lord, you know, in fact, people have done

some scholars say that this could be a pre Incarnate of the

Lord Jesus Christ. But he appeared unto him and and

he said the Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.

Think about that. He wasn't a mighty man of valor.

He was at the wine press and his relatives were in the caves.

They'd made strongholds and they were hiding in the caves.

But yet God comes to him at the lowest point and he says, look,

you're a mighty man of valor, Gideon.

And Gideon said it to him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us,

why then is all this befallen us?

Why is this happening? Anybody ever had that question?

And where be all the miracles which our fathers told of, told

us of saying, did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt?

But now the Lord has forsaken us, and delivered us in the head

of the into the hand of the Midianites.

See, the truth was, God had not forsaken Israel, but Israel had

forsaken God. And the Lord looked upon him and

he said, Go on your might. I'm sure Gideon thought, man, I

don't have any might. I don't have any strength at

this point. But yet God still came to him.

So quit telling yourself at the state and the weak place that

you're at spiritually in your life that God can't come to you

and pick you up and use you. Why didn't God go down to the

Tabernacle that day? If Jesus come back, would he,

would he go to Joel Osteen's church or would he go to Robert

Jeffers church and say, come on, I want you to lead my people?

Would he? It would be different than

anything he had done in the Bible if he went to a big

high-powered church that we look at today.

It would it would be totally out of God's character from what he

did all through Scripture, wouldn't it?

It'd be totally out of his character.

He looked for someone that was at at a weak state.

Why? Because when he was at a weak

state, he was willing to listen. You really you want me to go in

what street to have? I don't have any.

God says good, I can give you some.

That's what he does to us today if we listen.

But when we're in a weak state, we have to be listening.

And he said unto him, O my Lord, verse 15, where we shall I save

Israel? Behold, my family is poor, the

poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.

This was at least see one of the reasons that the Lord chose

Gideon I believe because he could use him.

He could hear what was going on because meekness and lowliness

are necessity for Christ. We read this all through

scripture in Matthew 11 and 28. He says come to me, all who are

all, all who are laboring, all who are heavy laden, and I will

what give you rest. Take my yoke up on you because

my yoke is easy and my burdens are light.

So we read on. I'm going to read this and I'm

going to back up and, and teach on a little bit in verse 17.

And he said to him, he said unto him, if now I have found grace

in your side, then show me a sign that you talk with me.

Verse 18 Or yeah, verse 18 Depart not hence, I pray you,

until I come unto you, and I bring forth my present, and I

set it before you. And he said, I will tarry until

you come again. And Gideon went in, and he made

ready a kid, a young lamb here, and unlaven cakes, and an

Ephraim of flower. The flesh he put in a basket,

and he put the broth in the pot, and he brought it out unto him

under the oak, and presented it. And the Angel of God said unto

him, Take the flesh and unlaven cakes, and lay them up on this

rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.

So what happened here? Gideon knew that he knew how God

operated. He knew that he had to bring a

sacrifice. He knew that he had to have the

proper kind of altar to approach God.

And the Angel of the Lord put forth the end of his staff that

was in his hand, and he touched the flesh and the unlavened

cakes, and then and then rose up fire out of the rock and

consumed the flesh and the unlavened cakes.

Then the Angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

See, this was a type here of a judgment of God which which

would fall upon the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross when he

died. It was the same type of

sacrifice here. And see, faith in the toning

work of Christ in the cross is what we miss many times today.

And regrettably, it's missing in the church many times.

But I want to look at this altar here.

You see there the altar is actually there to do some things

for us, but we have to be willing to lay some things on

the altar. Does that make sense?

Many have the altar all wrong. It's not just a place to lay

what's wrong in your life. You know when you go to an altar

and you go wherever it is, it may be by the old tree, wherever

the place is, you get a hold of God and you pray can become like

this rock was to Gideon, and you OfferUp a sacrifice of what

pray? See, many come to the altar with

not even a sacrifice in mind, but only a receiving right.

It's to lay what's wrong with us down and lay our problem down

and pray that God fixes it right.

That's what they alter people think is for.

We have been taught I'll come to the altar and God's going to fix

everything. I'm not always found that to

work in my life. It can.

But when I come to the altar, with the right attitude, when I

come to the altar, Gideon, he could have left all this stuff

out and said, OK, God come to me, told me I'm a mighty man of

valor. I don't have to do anything

else. But he knew under the law, he

knew that he had to sacrifice these things and he had to build

an altar so many times. See, when we come to the altar,

we've got it all wrong. It's not just a place to lay

what's wrong in your life? Write that down before the Lord

and expect him to fix it. He can.

But you see, when the altar is a place that we come to change our

the characteristics and the things that are distinguishing

us, it can become a place that we change, right?

Because we have to as an individual, we have to bring

things before the Lord. But the altar, it will or should

be like Gideon. It should be done in a proper

way that God can recognize it because it's a sacrificial

offer. God can change everything at the

altar, He can alter our problems, but more than just an

alter the problem, you know, I found if the problem is just

fixed and if that's my goal in life is just to fix that problem

that I walked down there for, I found that pretty soon it

returns. Hello, it's OK, we've all done

it. But more than just alter the

problem, as I said that we'll just return again if I don't

sacrifice that which is causing the problem.

Hello. And most of the time we think

it's somebody else, but we have to look at our self.

See, the altar should alter you. Gideon built the proper kind of

altar. I'm going to give you some

proper kind of altars tonight and some things that an altar in

your life should have. An altar is a place of laying

down what we have. We fail, don't we?

Many go altar never never really want to lay anything down, just

want to receive something. But when I go to the altar, it

should be a place of laying down something in my life and picking

up what God has for me. I like to call it the proper

kind of altar is accepting the call.

See, that's what Gideon had to do.

God came to him. He called him.

He said even though you hide out in caves, your relatives, even

though you're scared and hiding down in the threshing floor on

the wine press, I can still use you, Gideon.

But he accepted the call. See, the many times we go to the

altar, maybe we hear something from God, but we don't accept

the call. We have to build an altar of

acceptance in our life. I may be hiding in a cave.

I may be scared. I may have heard the call.

I begin to think of people that heard the call.

Lazarus was dead, but what did he hear?

Lazarus come forth. He heard the call right.

Many times in our life, our dreams, our hopes, things may be

dead in our life, but if we build the proper kind of all

altar and we accept the call. So the the first thing we have

to do is build an altar of acceptance in our life.

Accept the call that God has placed on you.

You know, many people, they don't want the call that God's

placed on them. I never wanted to be a preacher.

I never wanted to be a pastor. I like going around and giving a

testimony. But I heard the call, Amen.

And I had to accept it. And there was not going to be

any other call that God changed in my life until I accepted that

one. What are we not accepting?

We have to accept what God has put on us because if we don't,

we go around trying to change something and it could be God's

very plan and purpose for our life, right?

So we have to accept at the altar.

The second thing, to build the proper kind of altar, you will

have to sacrifice just as Gideon did.

It's no longer a lamb. It's no longer a goat or a bull.

I've, I've laid a lot of things on the altar over the years.

How about you? Some things that, you know,

people say, well, I don't have to get rid of that.

It ain't really sin if God said get rid of it.

You do. Hey, man, because it'll keep you

from your destiny. Laid a lot of things on the

altar. But you know, I, I begin to

think about this today, the hardest thing that that I've

ever had to put on the altar. Think about what's the hardest

thing. You know, I hear people all the

time they, they get to talking about their former live boy.

I had to lay alcohol on the altar.

I had to lay this on the I had to lay that.

You know, I wish God would have called me to lay one thing on

the altar. It would have been a lot easier.

Maybe two things. How many has God called you?

Come on y'all, help me tonight. How many things has God called

you to lay on? Now you know what He really

calls each and every one of us? The hardest thing that we ever

have to put on the altar. And still for me, the hardest

thing is to lay down my life. That's what he's called us to

do. And when you lay down your life,

you don't, you have to look at all that other stuff.

You just lay down your life, like the apostle Paul said, and

crucify the flesh daily. And you lay it all on the altar,

right? Because he knows anyway.

But we like to separate it. You know, I want to lay this

over here and I want to come up here for this day.

I want, I'm telling you how to approach an altar, right?

But many times we don't put ourself on the altar.

That's the hardest thing that you'll ever do is to lay

yourself down every day to lay down my life.

But if you want to build the kind of altar that works, if you

want to see the altar build you, you got to do it right.

You got to accept things at the altar.

You got to sacrifice things at the altar.

And the third thing we have to do many times and we we can read

the rest of this is there has to be a tearing down, man, We need

a tearing down today of the things that we've been thought

taught through religion and through church denominations.

We can't, we can't even approach an alter many people because

they they've been taught so much stuff that's that's not even in

the word of God, or maybe it's twisted in the word of God.

There has to be a tearing down. Some things got to go, and you

must rebuild the altars that the enemy is built in your life.

Because see, Satan is really good at building altars that

don't work in our life and making us blame it on God,

right? And it's not God's fault at all.

It's us. It's built the improper altar

because we haven't accepted the call of God.

We haven't sacrificed anything at the altar.

We just asked for blessings and things from God at the altar,

but we have to accept, we have to sacrifice and then we have to

tear down. Let's read a little more of

this. In verse 22 it says, then Gideon

perceived that it was an Angel of the Lord in verse 22.

And he said, Oh, oh Lord, God, for because I have seen an Angel

of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said unto him,

Peace be unto you, fear not, you shall not die.

Then Gideon built an altar unto the Lord, and he called it

Jehovah. Shalom, which is Lord, is peace.

And to this day it is there. Now in verse 25 it says, it came

to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, He said,

take your father's young bullet, see his father worship the God

about. He had a whole different altar

than Gideon had just built. He was worshiped worshiping a

Pagan God, his family, even the second Bullock of seven years

old and throw down the altar of bow that your father has and cut

down the Grove bite in verse 26 and build an altar unto the Lord

your God upon the top of this rock.

So see immediately when when Gideon had accepted the call of

God, he had sacrificed what he knew God required at the altars

is making sense. Then he had to tear down the

other altars that wasn't working in his life.

They even his family was worshipping at the old altar

that he had been taught that to worship at the God about, he had

to go tear it down. Amen.

And I'm telling if you want to see God move at the place that

you're trying to alter your problems, you're going to have

to tear down some things. He tore down the altar.

You can go home and read the rest of this.

There's no way I can cover it all tonight.

And he built another one in the order and the and the place.

And he took the second bullet in verse 26 and offered a burnt

sacrifice with the wood in the Grove, which you shall cut down.

Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord

said unto him. So it was because he feared his

father's household in the middle of the city, that he could not

do it by day. So he did it at night.

And then the men of the city arose early in the morning.

Behold, the altar of Bow was cut down, and the Grove was cut

down. That was bite.

And the second bullet was offered up on the altar.

And they said one to another, Who has done this thing?

And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon, the

son of Joash has done this thing.

Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out your son,

that he may die, because he has cut down the altar of Bow,

because he is cut down the Grove by which it was set.

And Joash said unto all who stood against him, Will you

plead for Bow? Will you save him?

He will plead for him. Let him be put to death while he

is yet, while it is yet mourning.

If he be God, let him plead for himself, because one has cast

down his altar. Therefore, on that day he called

him, they called Gideon Jera Bible and it said it isn't idol

anything. It's what this meant.

Let Bao plead against him because he has thrown down his

altar. You know many times when you do

these things, when you accept the call of God, when you

sacrifice and then you begin to tear down, they begin to call

you things, right? Holy roller, preacher, man,

whatever it is they call you today.

But it didn't affect Giddy and he knew that God had called him

to do something. See, there's some things that's

got to go. There's some things that we got

to rebuild when we're doing a proper altar.

The fourth thing for a proper altar, it will have a fast and a

prayer. Matthew 1714 through 21, Jesus

spoke of his disciples when they when they couldn't accomplish

something, he said this kind of power.

When they couldn't cast out the demon, What Jesus say, he said

this kind of power only goes out except by prayer and fasting.

Joshua one and eight, it says, giving up for God, meditating on

His word day and night, due according to what is written

therein. For then thou shalt make thy way

prosperous, and then thou shalt have good, good success.

So see, a proper altar will also have after you accepted the call

of God, after you sacrifice that which God has asked of us,

right? Which is what?

Ourself, we got it messed up. We think it's the habit.

Just sacrifice yourself and habits take care of their self,

right? So when we sacrifice that, then

we tear down the old altars and the old way of thinking in our

life. We have to fast and pray #5 a

proper altar. We'll have a question.

I like that, don't you? It's impossible to come to an

altar and sacrifice yourself and sacrifice the things in your

life and accept the call of God. It's impossible to do that not

have a question. I heard these priests say, well,

don't question God. I do many times.

I didn't say that question is wisdom.

I question his direction of where I'm the going.

Why? How do you want me to the Gideon

question When we read all the great people of the Bible,

Gideon had a question, Lord, how can I do this?

I'm the least among all the people.

The disciples help me had a question.

Jesus had a question when he was going to the cross.

But you see, without a question, you get no answer, right?

So the proper kind of altar will have a question, you will have

some questions, and then God doesn't expect our questions to

go unanswered. Amen.

But when we sacrifice and we do the right things and build the

proper kind of altar, he answers right.

Ask Elijah. He called fire down from heaven

at the same cap a deal. I could have preached on that

tonight. He he was tearing down the

altars of who bow The sixth thing.

A proper altar will give you signs, wonders and miracles.

Let's back up and look at this because we don't see a lot of

this at the altar anymore today. It seems that many people come

to an altar only to be untouched in their life, only to have the

same things going on in their life over and over again.

But when we build the say it with me, so I know y'all are

here tonight, the proper kind of altar will have a sacrifice.

I'm accepting. I'm sorry.

It will have a sacrifice and it will have a tearing down.

It will have a fast and a prayer and it will have a question, and

it will give you signs, wonders and miracles, just as it did

Gideon, Elijah, Joseph, Moses, David, Peter, Paul, the list

goes on and on. It will heal the sick.

It will and can raise the dead. Amen.

Spiritually, it can't open blinded eyes, it can calm your

troubled sea when we have the proper kind of altar in our

life. But when an altar is not

properly built, many times there's no change in the

situation and nothing happens. I've seen this, have y'all?

Have you ever seen it? But yet people don't approach

the altar and build the proper kind of altar.

It's then that we must tear down Proverbs 15 and eight.

It says the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination.

That's powerful. The sacrifice of the wicked is

an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his

delight. See, that's that's what happens.

People come and they're still, they're still wickedness in them

because they never laid their self on the altar, right?

They have unrepented sin because they just want this problem

fixed without getting rid of this in their life that they

know God's calling to get rid of.

So therefore the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination.

Or we can go around say, well, God hears everybody's prayer.

We'll hold that, go out in that crazy and do all those things

and tell me how many prayers get answered.

Samuel 15 and 22, it says obedience.

I like this. I'll never forget the day I read

this years ago. Samuel 15 and 22, it says that

obedience, You read through the whole testament of how all that

God had required under the law. There was a lot of sacrificing

that went on just like it getting in there.

Don't have time to talk about all of it and what all it

required was a big deal. But Samuel says here that

obedience, just obeying God is better than a sacrifice.

Wow. He places a lot on obedience

right there. But we place very little on it,

right, Christians today we just throw it on grace.

So I don't have to obey because of grace.

Well, you know, the children of Israel had just been LED from in

from slavery to a desert where generations died and then

stepped into a land that was flowing with milk and honey.

So they went from one place to a great place, back to a

impoverishment and hiding in a cave.

Why? Why did they do all that

obedience? Because they was thinking the

sacrifice was better. No, obedience is always better.

And you know, the thing about obedience is, you know, pay.

I heard someone say, well, I still know I need to obey.

God told me they obey. All right, we have to obey

because obedience is always right.

It's just like forgiveness. Obedience to God is always

right. Isaiah 111 through 13, God

declares he He is full of burnt offerings and does not delight

in them when accompanied by sin. Wow.

So a proper altar. The sixth thing, and I like

this, it will have an answer. It will have an answer.

Moses stretched out his arms and what happened?

The Red Sea parted. David prayed and did what?

Slayed a giant. Jesus prayed and it sent him to

a cross. But oh, how it brought victory.

Never thought about that. Jesus prayed.

Let this cup pass for me. But nevertheless, I'm going to

obey you. Nevertheless.

It's not about my will, Father, but it's about your will.

Jesus prayed and sent him to the cross.

So to recap a proper altar we'll have what an accepting accepting

the call of Christ. It will have a sacrifice of our

self require us to lay some things down.

But this makes you makes me look at altar different.

I wonder how people look at an altar.

I wonder how they look at it. You know, when you when the

heat's on at the end of the service and I've had people come

here and say I've never, I've never been to a church that I,

that I felt at the end of that church that that I could go up

there and something could happen to me.

I've never been in it, never been.

I'm not really. I grew up in that stuff, man.

I always know you. You might want to stay away from

up here if you don't want to change and some conviction to

fall upon you, you know, but but some people has has never

experienced that. Why?

Because they've never even approached an altar.

It's a sad thing, but a proper altar will have an accepting.

It will have a sacrifice as we stand our feet tonight.

It will have a tearing down or a laying down.

It will have a prayer and a fast.

Well, I've got questions. That's OK.

The proper altar, I believe has some questions, but most of all,

it will have an answer. Thank God.

Maybe this will change the way we pray.

Maybe this will change the way we approach the altars in our

life many times, but you know, it just, it gets old sometimes

seeing people approach the altar the wrong way and not A and and

and not letting God accomplish what He can accomplish in our

life. But as your heads are bowed, I

challenge you just lay yourself on the altar every day.

Thanks for listening to the Cross Power Church podcast.

May you know that true hope, peace, and salvation can only be

found in Jesus. If you're near Campbell, TX, we

would love for you to join us in person.

You can find service times at crosspowerchurch.com.