The Theology of Altars (2nd service) - Pastor Trent Cargill (March 15, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

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hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

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see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. Come on, it's a joy

to be in the house of the Lord. Amen. Come on,

we love being in God's house, love being in His

presence. Amazing time of worship. Let me pray

for you. And then we will get into the nitty

gritty. As Nacho would say. Lord thank you so

much for your word. Lord we ask that you would

speak to us. Because your word is limitless and

it is boundless. Lord it says that I see all

creation and I see its limit. But your word is

boundless. Lord we ask for you to help us. See

Jesus in every page of scripture. Because Lord,

this is a book that is about your son, Jesus.

It testifies of his name, the name that is above

every name. God, help us see you. Lord, reveal

yourself to us so that we may better reveal who

you are to the world around us. In Jesus' mighty

name, everyone said, amen. Let's go to our main

topic. set up passages here. Galatians chapter

Galatians 2:20

2, verse 20. Galatians chapter 2, verse 20. We

Galatians 2:20

are discussing the altars, the theology of altars.

So essentially, the Lord put it on my heart to

study every altar in the Bible, and I am almost

done with Exodus. And I was told to start this

study about two and a half, almost three years

ago. So we are either, there's a lot of content

or I'm very slow. Either way, I'm willing to

accept both. But Galatians 2, 20 says this. I

have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer

I who live, but Christ who lives in me. In the

life I now live, I live in the flesh. I live

by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave

himself for me. Turn to your neighbor and say,

Jesus loves you. This I know. For the Bible has

told me so. Turn to your other neighbor, the

one you rejected, and tell them, God loves me.

This I know. For the Bible tells me so. He gave

himself to die for me. We understand that the

greatest act of love was that God the Father

sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for us.

That's what it says in 1 John. It says that this

is love made manifest that Christ came and died.

So the greatest act of love is giving of life.

And because of that giving of life, because of

the death of Christ, we also get to follow in

that same way of living. A life that is not I

who live, but Christ who lives in me. So let's

now go to Matthew chapter 16, verse 24, where

Matthew 16:24

Jesus is teaching his disciples, if you want

to follow me, this is what it really looks like.

Essentially, he is telling them, You said yes

to me and this is what you are saying yes to.

Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would

come after me, let him deny himself, take up

his cross and follow me. The first thing we have

to understand whenever you study the Bible is

you have to look for Jesus everywhere you read

because this is a book about him. The book is

about Jesus Christ. And when we look at the cross,

it is an altar. The greatest altar of all the

scripture is the altar of the cross. Everybody

knows when you look, well, I guess not everybody,

but when you look at the altar, what you look

at is you see that an altar is a place of sacrifice

that is at an elevated position. And Jesus...

took the cross up a hill, elevated position,

and was lifted up on the cross as the sacrifice.

That's why the Bible calls him the lamb. Because

in the Old Testament, the only thing that could

cover sin was a spotless lamb and its blood had

to be shed and its body offered on a altar. Not

a smoker. Or a barbecue. It was kind of like

a barbecue. The brazen altar literally had like

a grill, like a grate on the inside. But it was

a place of worship and it was a place of offering.

It was a place that was very bloody and it was

a place that God sets up in the Old Testament

to point to the cross of Jesus Christ. Because

even though the altar in the Old Testament had

fire, the fire that Jesus experienced was not

a literal fire, but the fire of God's wrath upon

sin. It was his judgment upon sin that he took

upon himself. Jesus was consumed in the things

of the Spirit. He was the perfect altar, or the

perfect sacrifice upon the altar of the cross.

And he died. and then rose again. Because this

is what's so amazing about Jesus, is that those

who give their lives actually gain life. That's

the beauty of the gospel, is that when you give

your life to Jesus, you actually get life in

return. You can't have resurrection life without

death. We talked about that last week. And he

says here, to follow me, for whoever would save

his life will lose it, but whoever loses his

life for my sake. We'll find it. So we have to

start with this premise before we go to the Old

Testament. That every altar in the Bible points

to the altar of the cross and to Jesus Christ.

So everything we read, we don't read it through

the framework of, oh, we need to make sure we

go grab a lamb and start some barbecue after

Sunday. No, we have to look at it in the spiritual

sense and it first must point to Jesus and then

apply to us. So the first thing that we're going

to do is we're going to look at the first implication

of an altar. See, when you study the Bible, you

have to follow a couple different rules. One

of the rules is that you have to look at first

mention. First mention means that if I were to

look up the word love in the Bible, I need to

start with the very first time it's mentioned,

not just go straight to John 3 .16. Because I

need to look at the full picture, not just the

parts I like. So when we look at an altar, we

have to go to the first time it's mentioned.

But before even you go to the first time it's

mentioned, you go into its first implication.

The first time it's implied, not specifically

mentioned. So let's go to Genesis 3, verse 21.

Genesis 3:21

It says here, And the Lord God made for Adam

and for his wife garments of skins and clothed

them. So the word altar is not used here, but

we have an implication. Because how did God get

the skins to clothe them? He pulled it from an

animal that had to die in order to cover the

sins of Adam and Eve. Where would have this taken

place? Well, we know that God In the Old Testament,

he wants the sacrifice, he wants the death and

the blood to be poured out in a specific place,

and that's at the altar. So what we see here

is that God himself chose the sacrifice, kills

the sacrifice, had an altar of some sort, and

used the skin from the sacrifice on the altar

and covered Adam and Eve with it. Because what

did Adam and Eve try to cover themselves before

the skin? Some leaves. They were trying to, you

know, George the Jungle it or, you know, Tarzan

in the Garden of Eden. And God says, this doesn't

work. Because the Bible says that without the

shedding of blood, there could be no remission

of sins. There could be no salvation. God also

makes it very clear that there has to be the

shedding of blood, that there has to be something

must die in order for it to be worship. When

we come to the altar of God, we have to understand

that God himself, this points to Jesus, and let

me explain how, that God chose his son before

the foundations of the world as the perfect sacrifice,

and we are covered not just with the This life

I now live in the flesh, I live by the life of

Jesus. It's because Jesus was the sacrifice,

I now get to live in resurrection life. The taking

of these leaves to cover their nakedness is essentially,

it did not require the death of anything. How

many times do we come to the altar of God where

we, offer something that doesn't actually cost

us and nothing actually dies. We come to the

altar and we have our sob fest and we have our

goose pimple moment and we're going, God, my

goodness, God is here. This is incredible. But

we understand that we can come to the altar time

and time again and actually not be changed. And

we can leave the altar. Having a moment with

God, but what we're really experiencing is God

pouring out on the sacrifice of somebody else.

Instead of actually being in a place of bringing

my own sacrifice to God, bringing something that

has to die in me. And we understand this principle

also in Cain and Abel. Let's look at the second

implication in Genesis 4, 4 -5. It says, and

Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock

and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard

for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his

offering, he had no regard. This means that God

can actually reject somebody's offering. Somebody's

worship. He says, I don't want it. I have no

regard for this. Because what you're giving me

doesn't really cost you anything. Cain was the

first religious person in the Bible that he thought

just the act of giving something was good enough.

It didn't come from his heart. It wasn't genuine.

It was just, I'm doing the job that I, just because

my mom and dad are doing it, my brother's doing

it, might as well just join in. I might as well

do this. And what happens? You see his heart.

I don't get what I want, and so I reject you

completely. I don't get what I want. You're giving

to my brother. What's so different between our

offerings? Well, a major difference is that Cain

was operating in the same heart and mindset as

their parents when they first sinned. Let's go

grab some leaves. And maybe that'll be enough

to cover us. Cain was operating in the same thing.

Let me grab some plants. But Abel understood

the heart of God. No, obviously that didn't work.

So what did God do? He actually had to kill an

animal and then cover them with those hides.

So Abel goes, I understand what God's heart is,

is that we have to go to God with a sacrifice

and something willing to die. Pastor Trent, are

you saying that we have to bring a sacrifice

that covers us from our sin? No, no, no, no.

I'm saying because Jesus is the ultimate and

totally sufficient sacrifice for salvation, we

in response, what did Jesus say? You have to

come and deny yourself, pick up your cross and

follow me. So this doesn't have to do with getting

salvation. has to do with what happens after

salvation. This is next steps. Step one, confess

Jesus Christ as Lord and repent. Step two, take

up your cross, deny yourself. You are carrying

an altar that requires something to die. Well,

you're asking, what should die? What's the sacrifice?

Me and you. Because God's life cannot live in

us if we are still living. We have to be dead

to self. We have to be dead to pride. We have

to be dead to lust. We have to be dead to jealousy.

We have to be dead to covetousness. And we have

to be dead to gossip and envy. We have to be

dead to those things in order for the life of

Christ to be in us. To live completely. And Paul

makes this very clear that you have to set your

mind on the things above and not on the flesh.

Our flesh is not just, you know, your meat and

bones here. The Greek word is the sarks. It represents

your sin nature. When Adam and Eve fell, what

happened? They were now tainted. They were now

compromised. They now had a nature contrary to

God's nature. Because they rebelled and chose

independence. So what do we do now in a life

following God? Is we are living a life of daily,

hourly, sometimes moment to moment death to self.

In order for the life of Christ to flourish in

and through us. The whole purpose is for God's

life to flow through us. We don't die just for

death's sake. It's for the sake of his life to

flow. And some of us sometimes we want God's

life without death. That's what Cain wanted.

I want God's approval without me having to die

to anything else. And that's what makes a religious

person. That's why Jesus rebukes them so much

and says, you appear righteous, but when no one's

looking, you're just as bad as Cain. You come

with offerings that I don't have. any love for,

because it doesn't come from a place of you actually

giving yourself to me. We understand that, just

like what I said in 1 John, it says that Jesus,

the greatest act of love is his death. We talked

about it last week. Which means that the greatest

act of love I can give to God is to die to myself.

So we look here in Hebrews 11, 4. By faith, Abel

offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than

Cain. Through which he was commended as righteous,

God commended him by accepting his gifts. He

commended him by accepting the gifts. Some of

us want, and we want, you know, we want the affirmation

and like some kind of reward for giving things

to God. That's what Cain wanted. Abel wasn't

in it for the reward. Him just having a pleasing

offering was a good enough reward for Abel. Just

think about that. The fact that I can even give

something that's pleasing to God is a reward

enough. I don't need him to give me anything.

I just want to give him everything. And the fact

he would accept it is the greatest reward we

could ever receive. That should be our goal in

worship. That should be our goal when we read

scripture. That should be our livelihood every

moment of every day. If this is just a moment

that's even acceptable to you, God, that is the

greatest reward. One of the things we then look

at here in the very first mention of the, so

those were the first implication of an altar.

Because if Abel was making a sacrifice, if Cain

was making a sacrifice, what do you think they

were sacrificing it on? An altar. It was being

sacrificed on an altar. When we come to this

place, this altar, we have to understand that

an altar is not just a singular place that's

represented by just being up here up front. The

altar is a place that God has designated for

something that you care for and value to die,

that you put to death. That means that that could

be in your living room. That could be in your

home. That could be in your garage. That could

be in your car, on your way to work. That could

be in your office, at your job. Any place that

you say, God, I'm willing to die, guess what

you are saying? This is an altar right here.

I carry the altar of the cross. That's what's

so beautiful about the cross. It's mobile. You

carry it with you. Every moment. You don't say,

well, man, I can't die to myself until I get

to the house of God, until I get to church on

Sunday. Oh, no, no, no. This is an every moment

thing. Of every day. That means that in every

moment of your life, you can experience resurrection

life. The first altar mentioned in the scriptures

is in Genesis chapter 8, verse 20. with Noah

Genesis 8:20

as the one who builds the altar. It says here,

and to give you a little context, this is after

he builds the ark. This is after all of the judgment

from the water. This is after the 40 days at

the water park where there's only eight people

that actually survive. This is Noah who is now

getting off of the ark. God opens the door. He

steps out onto what is the new earth. Because

essentially, God had to wipe the whole slate

clean. The world was different after the flood.

It represents, in the book of Revelation, the

new earth that is going to come after God comes

with not just water, he comes with fire. So we

understand that this is the first thing that

Noah does on this new earth is he builds an altar.

An altar to the Lord. And so that means my first

thing that I'm going to do now that God has saved

me from judgment and spared me is I'm going to

worship him. Every altar represents something

different. So I'm gonna give you some titles

of what these represent, but this altar right

here is an altar of worship and praise. Isn't

it beautiful that the first thing we're gonna

do in the new heavens and the new earth is worship

God? Not figure out what mansion we're gonna

be staying in. Not figuring out what's up on

the menu for the first feast. The first thing

we do is worship God. And Noah perfectly shows

this, how important it is when we worship God.

This is why I love theology and this is why it's

so present here is that this is an altar of worship

and praise in response. What is he building the

altar in response to? Why is he building the

altar? Because he just got word from God of the

rainbow of the covenant and the revelation that

who God is and how he's gonna relate to his people.

We understand that this is worship that comes

from the revelation of God's covenant. I'm just

telling you, whenever you study the Bible, this

is what's so beautiful. We understand we should

worship to get in the right mindset to take our

minds off of ourselves before we read the Bible.

Then once you're done reading the Bible, it should

lead you to worship. You should worship. There

should be even a greater level and magnitude

of worship and purity to your worship after you've

read scripture. Because we go to the book, worshiping

God, declaring that he is worthy. Then Jesus

comes and the Holy Spirit comes, breaking the

seal that we would actually receive from the

word. And the word then brings purity to the

heart and to the mind that makes our sacrifice

of praise something beautiful. The Bible comes

to cause us to worship God. That's why theology

is worshiping God. This is what's so interesting

here is that he took 33 clean animals. Some of

every clean animal and some of every clean bird.

That would be 33 different types. Do you know

the 33rd time Noah's name is mentioned is right

here? Which means that whatever you come and

sacrifice to God should be a part of you. Should

be linked to you. Not something that is just,

sure, yeah, I'll offer somebody else's car as

a sacrifice to God. No. You give of your own.

Something connected to you. This is the thing

that when we come to God, sometimes we are, We

have to come to God and go, Lord, examine me

and find anything in me. Lord, whatever must

die in me, I come and I'm ready to give it. And

some of us think God is just gonna, he's gonna

take all the bad stuff. That's what we, when

we come to the altar, and I know we think this

because I thought this for many, many years.

I come to God and I just give him all the stuff

I don't want. But he says, offer a clean animal.

Clean things. Listen, I come to offer my family.

I'm preaching to somebody. I come to offer my

job. I come to offer my reputation. I come to

offer my name. I come to offer my own life. I

come to offer the things that I have seen as

precious and dear to me. I offer this relationship.

I offer this person. I offer these things. I

offer whatever God you require of me, I give

it to God. We understand in Exodus chapter 29,

Exodus 29 · chapter mention

in the consecration of the priests, it says that

take the skin and the dung and take it outside

of the camp. In other words, We think, okay,

I'm going to come with my surface level stuff

and my crap and give it to God. If you can't

get over the word crap in church, you're not

going to last long. I'm just telling you right

now. We have to be able. To come to God and say,

God, I'm not just giving you the stuff I don't

want and surface level. What was offered that

was actually consumed on the offering? It was

the fat, the innards, the liver, the things considered

the inward parts of man. The liver represented

the inward parts of your personality. It represented

temperament and character. Pagans would take

the liver of the animal and actually interpret

it and come up with battle strategies and come

up with different ideas for how to conquer cities

through interpreting the liver. God says, you're

going to give me the liver because it represents

your personality. Listen, your personality is

not off the table. Because this is how I am,

this is how you made me. No, it's not. It's not

how I made you. Are you actually wanting to be

how I made you? I can't give it to you unless

you're willing to give me that. And actually

recognize it for what it is. I was called into

the ministry at eight years old. When I gave

my life to the Lord, my dad led me into salvation,

called in his bedroom, and I remember I had a

vision. At eight years old, the Lord took me

and he showed me the thing. He showed me that

I would prophesy and that I would preach. And

ever since then, God has essentially Been revising

what I thought that meant. What I thought it

was at eight years old changed when I was 12.

What I thought it was at 12 changed when I was

16. And so on and so on and so on. See, the thing

is, is we can pick up so easily things that are

not actually us. And we think that they are.

When God is actually going, if you're willing

to be humble and receive, I will show you who

you are. In me. But before you can even receive

that, something has to die. Whatever it is, you

have built up. Moving on. So now we see that

Noah has built something to God. He's built this

altar, his sacrifice to God. His first priority

was not his family. His first priority was not

his business. His first priority was the worship

of God. So he, what does he do? Because if I'm

getting off into the new, if I'm stepping off

this boat with my family, I'm thinking, where

am I going to live? What am I, how am I going

to survive? Because I mean, they didn't have

just a bunch of Ubers to take them places. How

am I going to get somewhere? How, like, where

am I? You know, they're on top of a mountain,

which is like, you don't build, you don't start

farms on a mountain. What is the thing that takes

place on a mountain, on an elevated place? He

builds an altar of worship. And he says, listen,

I'm gonna give this thing to God because he deserves

worship first. Let's move on to the next mention.

In Genesis chapter 12, verse eight, it says this.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

This is speaking of Abram. It says, from there

he moved to the hill country. Or excuse me, no,

that's not the one. Genesis chapter 12, verse

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

seven. This is the first mention. Go back one

verse. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said,

to your offspring, I will give this land. So

he built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared

to him. Once again, this is an altar of worship.

And it's built in response to covenant revelation.

What is the covenant of Abraham? That I will

be with you and your descendants. That there

is a land connected to your family. There is

this land called the land of Canaan, which we

know that is representative in the New Testament.

It's the presence of God. The presence of God

is our Canaan. And this is what our inheritance

is, is his presence. And I will give you my presence

from your offspring and on. I will be with you

from generation to generation. What does God

do? What does Abram do in response to that revelation?

He builds an altar. And he worships God. This

is before he had Isaac. This is before his family

was really beginning to grow. This was just him

with his wife, and this is what God does. This

is how God works. He loves to promise you something

that is almost like it doesn't exist, and it

doesn't even look like it's possible, but what

we do in the midst of impossible promises is

we should worship and build an altar to God immediately.

It should be our response to revelation. Once

again, we see here that this is an altar where

no sacrifice is directly mentioned, but it's

implied. Because wherever there was an altar,

there was a sacrifice. Now the thing is, is we

understand that of course in the Old Testament,

He's sacrificing probably an animal, but more

than that, he was probably sacrificing his future,

his expectations, his plans, and all the things

that he thought of where he was going to live.

God completely overrides all of that with that

one sentence. And so what does he sacrifice?

He sacrifices all the things he thought was right.

He gives everything up that's contrary to that

one sentence. Anything that's not going to help

me walk in that promise, it's given. I give it

to God. I surrender it to him. It's not mine

anymore. Everything that I thought I was going

to use to get me somewhere else, okay, I'm not

going there. I don't need it. I give it to God.

This altar was built at a place called Shechem

at the Oak of Moriah. This is very significant

because this is the exact same place that years

later he would come and offer Isaac. This is

the same place. So Abraham builds four altars

over his life, but two in the same location.

The first one and the last one. He begins, because

this is what's so incredible, is that as he's

getting ready to sacrifice Isaac, he's in the

place that he built an altar where God promised

him he would give things to his offspring. And

he's literally going, okay, I'm going to sacrifice

even the promise of God. Because this is the

temptation whenever we receive a prophetic word

and whenever we receive a promise from God. We

hold it. Too close, and we call it ours. We call

what God promised us now what he owes us. And

now we get into a place of entitlement and saying,

God, you can't ask me of that because you promised

it to me. God says, I gave this to you in the

first place. It's mine. And it's not really mine

until you're dead to it. Parents, this should

really hit us. Our kids are not ours. They're

a gift from God that we are now stewards of.

My daughter is the Lord's. And this should lead

us to making decisions for their life because

Our children are God's first. And that should

also put the fear of the Lord in us when we get

annoyed with them. Am I gonna treat God's gift

in a way that is less deserving because of my

impatience and my lack of self -control? Same

thing with wives, husbands. The Bible says that

a wife is a gift. Wives, same thing with your

husbands. To honor your husbands as unto the

Lord. Anyways, it's not on my notes. I just felt

like someone had to hear that, or maybe it was

just for me. But I gotta end here soon. There's

a connection between the altar and the land.

God tells him, I'm gonna give a place. To your

offspring. And he builds an altar in that place.

In the Old Testament. In ancient culture. To

build an altar to a deity. In a location. Means

that the deity owned that location. The altar

owns this land. The altar is the sign. That represents.

This land belongs to the God. Whom this altar

was built for. So that means. That in order for

God to establish ownership, he has to establish

worship. I establish my kingdom where I am worshipped

in the way that I desire. I establish ownership

of a region because they worship me in the way

that I have commanded them to. Abram sets ownership

that this is God's land. Which is so crazy because

it was owned by the Canaanites. Physically, the

Canaanites were there, but Abraham building that

altar there, it was like, listen, they don't

know yet, but they're going to get evicted. They

are now on owned property and they're the intruders

now. That's what's supposed to happen when worship

takes place. That anything that thinks it owns

this land is then evicted. And there's a notice

that says, this is God's land. This is his property.

This is his place where he is worshipped. And

this is where his authority is revealed. That's

why the Israelites, the moment they crossed the

Jordan, what did they do? All the Bible scholars

should know. They built because they were declaring

this is our land. This is God's land. And it's

so interesting here that this is an altar not

only about the land, it's about the generations

who will own that land. Same thing with the Israelites.

There was a new generation who actually inherited

the place where the altar was built. Listen,

we're building altars right now that generations

from now, they will be the ones to inherit the

worship and the sacrifice offered on it. We should

never stop sowing the seed of offering of worship

because one day a generation will inherit it.

Every time I come to this altar, I'm not just

thinking about my personal time with God. I come

to worship God and to bring an offering because

it's his authority that is being poured out.

It is a declaration that I'm gonna worship God

because he owns this. He owns this. He owns everything.

Can you give me two minutes? Pastor Brad nodded

his head yes, so I don't need any of your approval

anyways. Listen to this. Genesis 12, 8 says here,

this is the next altar that Abraham built. It

says, from there he moved to the hill country

on 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 he called upon

the name of the Lord. This is an altar of prayer

and seeking. Where every other altar was worship,

now it's an altar of prayer and seeking. Same

thing with the brazen altar and the altar of

incense. That's another sermon for another time.

It was built between these two major cities.

Bethel, which represents house of God, and Ai,

which means the ruin. Between the house of God

and ruin is where he begins to seek God. And

he builds an altar and prays and seeks the Lord.

He's in between decisions. He's in between faith

in God and the fear of famine. He builds an altar

and he calls on the name of the Lord. Where do

I go, God? And this is what happens. After crying

out to God, there is no record of the Lord answering

Abram's call. And no specific sacrifice is mentioned.

But of course we know when there's an altar there's

a sacrifice. But God is not said to respond.

The past two altars Abram has built he's built

in worship but now he calls on the name of God

representing prayer and seeking and encounter

from the Lord because he needed to know what

to do next. I need to know where to go because

I'm in between God's presence and ruin. And I'm

freaking out. So what does Abram do? Well, what

happens is he moves before he gets an answer.

He goes to Egypt. And what ends up happening?

The next altar, he comes back. He comes back

to the altar of decision because he moved on

too quickly. Well, I'm not getting an answer,

but I need to do something. And so he moves.

And guess what happens? He goes down the path

to Egypt, place of ruin, through ruin to Egypt.

And then he comes back. See, some of us, we've

moved on too quickly from a place of seeking

God. And you're going, God, I feel stuck. This

is something that I love it when Raylan says

this. Because I'll hold her, and Raylan's like,

Daddy, I'm stuck, I'm stuck. I go, no, no, no,

I'm holding you. How often do we think that we're

stuck when God's holding us? Taking us back to

the place where we never should have left. But

because we didn't get the answer in time, we

moved. That's why I was so... Imperative to Moses.

If you don't go, we don't go. I'm not going to

leave the altar until I've heard from God. Remember,

the altar is in your home. It's wherever you

build it. Where you say this land, this house

is God's. How do you prove that? If you worship

here more than your own home, something's wrong.

If the only altar you come to is here, something's

wrong. Build an altar in your home. Give to God

what is clean and his. Something that costs you.

And don't leave until God speaks. But I have

work. Wake up earlier. We don't. Fit Jesus into

our life. We make our lives fit around Jesus.

I want the altar of my life to be at my house.

It's what I loved about the prophet Samuel. The

only altar he ever built himself was the one

in front of his own home. He offered sacrifices

to God daily. It was in front of his house. He

gives to God. Let's build altars. that truly

give a pleasing aroma to God. Let me pray for

you. Father, we thank you for the wonderful presence

that is the presence of your son, Jesus, given

to us by the Holy Spirit. Lord Jesus, we thank

you. Help us, Lord, teach us. to build altars,

not that give soulless worship that is just focused

on what's easy and about self, but altars where

a sacrifice of what is truly precious and clean

is given to you and it becomes a pleasing aroma

to God. Let our homes be claimed territory by

God, not just through having a sign over our

door, but because we've built an altar in our

bedrooms. Altars full of praise and worship.

Let our children see us worship before you so

that they may see and learn and become apprentices

of worship. We love you, Jesus. Your precious

name, everyone said. Amen. Lastly, if you are

in need of prayer send us a text message at 541

-625 -1365. We would love to pray with you.