Recorded December 29, 2024, with Rhonda Harrison.

It's time for the Champions in Christ broadcast

with Rhonda Harrison on 1017 Bay FN. Good morning

and welcome to Champions in Christ broadcast

and we're so happy you joined us today. This

morning we're going to talk about altars and

in the Bible altars were very meaningful and

in the Old Testament. there were different types

of sacrifices for different times. And we're

going to start in the Old Testament, we're going

to really focus on the new because that's where

we live today. And if we turn back to the book

of Genesis, the first time we see an altar is

when Noah built an altar. And he built an altar

after the flood. when he and his wife and the

and he has sons and their wives left the boat

and that starts in Genesis 8 18 and it goes on

and it says and so Noah his wife his sons and

their wives left the boat and all of the large

and small animals and Birds came out of the boat

pair by pair Then Noah built an altar to the

Lord and there he sacrificed burnt offerings,

the animals, the birds that had been approved

for that purpose. And the Lord was pleased with

the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself,

I will never again curse the ground because of

the human race. Even everything they think and

imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I

will never again destroy all living things. as

long as the earth remains there will be seed

time and harvest cold and hot summer and winter

day and night and the then god blessed noah and

his sons and told them to be fruitful and multiply

so noah did a thanks a sacrifice of thanksgiving

you know noah had been on that boat for a while

i mean everybody was destroyed except for him

his his sons, their wives. And so they were very

thankful. And they were very thankful to be out

of the boat, you know, because they were tending

to all those animals all those days. And so it

was, you know. It was a lot. It was a lot to

deal with. You know, it was like a hundred and

fifty days And so it was it was a heavy -duty

time I mean imagine being on Noah's Ark with

all those animals and you had to tend to them

and keep them alive and all the things that go

into that and There actually is a place in Virginia

called the Ark if you've never visited and they

made it In as much of the exact likeness as they

could have just as a side note, but let's continue.

So this is an opportunity. He created an altar

and sacrifice animals to give thanks, you know,

to give thanks. If we go further in Genesis to

Genesis 12, which is just a few pages over, we're

going to see another time when there was a sacrifice.

And this was Abram before his name was called

Abraham. And it's in chapter 12, verse 6, and

it says, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the

east and there he built another altar and dedicated

to the Lord and he worshiped the Lord and Abraham

continued to travel south to the stages towards

Negev. You know, here we see two different times

and he's stopping, he's deciding to build an

altar to give thanks and the second altar he

built was to worship. You know, altars are places

of humility where we come before God. we lay

down everything and we give thanks and we worship

him for who he is. He is the Lord God Almighty.

You know at the altar in the Old Testament the

sacrifices were of bulls and goats and animals

and it was the blood that made an atonement.

for sin at that time. There was what's called

the sin offering and so we have to come to an

altar in our heart and our lives at different

times. It's a good thing and the altar in the

New Testament is very different from that of

the Old Testament but we're going to look at

one more in the Old Testament and that's in Genesis

22. Okay this is where Abraham's faith gets tested

with Isaac. You know God, Abraham was childless

and when he came to God, he had asked him for

a child because God said, I'm going to bless

you with this and bless you with that. And he

said, how can that be when I go childless? You

know, he wanted a child, something from his own

loins, a person from his own loins to be able

to pass all this down to and his family be blessed.

And God told him because Sarah was barren. which

was his wife. So God promised him a son, but

it didn't come for 25 years later. But what Abraham

did, he did honor that promise that Sarah brought

forth the child after a lot of stuff that happened

in between. But they did have Isaac, and Isaac

truly came from the loins of Abraham and the

womb of Sarah. This time came as Isaac was growing,

the Lord said to Abraham, I want your son. It

starts in chapter 22. We're going to start in

verse one. Sometime later God tested Abraham's

faith. Abraham, God called, yes he replied, here

am I. Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom

you love so much and go to the land of Moriah

and go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering

on one of the mountains which I will show you.

The next morning, the next morning, see that

obedience? Abraham was so quick to obey. The

next morning, Abraham got up early, saddled the

donkey, took the two servants with him, along

with his son Isaac, and then chopped the wood

for the fire for the burnt offering. So he's

already trusting God. Even though God said, I

want to have back what you asked me for, he was

wondering, was Abraham willing to lay down what

was most important to him? for God, but Abraham

knew God so well that he just trusted him. So

he took, he got the wood, he told the two servants,

stay here with the donkey, Abraham said, the

boy and I will travel a little farther, we will

worship there, and we will come back. That's

where his faith was. He thought, okay, if God

wants me to sacrifice Isaac, he's gonna raise

him from the dead. He just knew God had a plan

and that's how much we can trust God. I mean

he was willing to lay down his child. Now in

this day that would be murder and people would

think you crazy but back then this is what happened.

In verse six, so Abraham placed the wood on the

burnt offering. On Isaac's shoulder while he

himself carried the fire and the knife and the

two of them walked together and Isaac turned

Abraham his father and said father She and Abraham

replied. Yes, my son. He said we have fire and

wood the boy said but where's the sheep for the

burnt offering? And all Abraham said was, God

will provide his sheep for that burnt offering,

my son. Abraham answered, and they both walked

together. When they arrived at that place where

God had told him, Abraham built an altar, arranged

the wood, tied his son Isaac, laid him on the

altar on top of the wood. Abraham picked up the

knife to kill his son, a sacrifice. And at that

moment, the angel of the Lord called to him from

heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And Abraham

said, yes, here am I. And the angel of the Lord

said, Don't lay a hand on that boy. Don't hurt

him in any way. For now I know you truly fear

God. You have not withheld me, even your son,

your only son. And Abraham looked up and saw

a ram caught in the thicket, and he took the

ram, sacrificed it on the burnt offering in place

of his son. And Abraham named that place Yahweh.

your eye which means the Lord will provide or

Jehovah Jireh to this day people still use that

name and as a proverb on this mountain of the

Lord it will be provided you know here the Lord

you know the Lord will never ask you something

to do for him that he hasn't already provided

a reward for and because Abraham he wanted to

test his heart and so He tested that love Abraham

had for him at an altar. You know, sometimes

when we come to the altar of God, he will ask

you for something. There's something in your

life he wants you to give up. Maybe it's a bad

habit. Maybe it's lust. Maybe it's fornication.

Maybe it's pornography. Maybe it's Maybe it's

over eating, maybe it's who knows, but God will

sometimes ask us to give up something, but he

will turn around and bless you with something

else. He may ask you to give into the work of

God some large amount of money and you go, wait

a minute God, and what am I doing? but you can't

give to God, you can't out give him that he won't

bless you back just like he did Abraham. He was

so pleased, he was so pleased that he continues

in verse 15 and says, the angel of the Lord called

again to Abraham and said, this is what the Lord

says, because you've obeyed me and have not withheld

even your son, your only son, I swear by my own

name, I will certainly bless you. I will multiply

your descendants beyond number. Like the stars

in the sky and the sand and the seashore your

descendants will conquer the city of your enemies

Through your descendants all nations of the earth

will be blessed all because you have obeyed me

Yes, indeed. Hallelujah. God blesses and rewards

us when we obey Him. He's always got a reward.

Anytime you come to the Lord's altar with anything,

He has something for you. He has something for

you. We're going to go to the New Testament now,

and we're going to talk about altars in the New

Testament. The New Testament, because Jesus died

and rose again, he was the ultimate sacrifice.

His life on the cross was the ultimate altar

that there is and he laid down his life. They

didn't take it. He laid it down. He could have

called legions of angels to protect him or save

him but he came to die. He came to be that pure

lamb so we can have right relationship with God

and restored to that place with God that Adam

first had in Genesis before he sinned. But we

want to look at someone in the Bible that created

a sacrifice on the cross as well and go to Luke

Luke 23:32

23 verse 32. And it says, there were two others,

both criminals, led out to be executed with Jesus.

And when they came to a place called the skull,

they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals

were also crucified, one on his right and one

on his left. Jesus said, Father, forgive them,

for they know not what they do, as the soldiers

gambled for his clothing, throwing dice. The

crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. and said,

he saved others. They said, let him save himself

if he's really God, the Messiah, the chosen one.

The soldiers mocked him by offering him a drink

of sour wine. They called out to him and said,

if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.

A sign was fastened above him with these words,

King of the Jews. But one of the criminals hanging

beside him scoffed at him and said, so you're

the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself

and saving us too while you're at it. He had

a real attitude, even on the cross, dying. But

the other criminal protested and said, don't

you fear God even when you've been sentenced

to die? We deserve to die in our crimes, but

this man's done nothing wrong. And then he turned

to Jesus and he said, Lord, remember me when

you come into your kingdom." And Jesus replied,

I assure you today, you will be with me in paradise.

Wow. In the last moments of this man's death,

he made an altar on the cross. He's being sacrificed.

And here he is crucified on that cross. And here

he is turning to Jesus. And he admitted his sin,

which is what we have to do. It meant we're a

sinner. And then he said, and we have to acknowledge

Jesus as Lord and ask him and he asked him and

Jesus replied he didn't have his eyes shut he

wasn't in a church guess what you can make an

altar anywhere with God you can come to him at

any time in your car you can stop in a parking

lot bow your head and say Lord I humbly come

before you You can pour out your heart to him

an altar is also a place you come broken You

bring those broken pieces and the Bible says

he will give you beauty for ashes He will give

your you will give him your sin because he took

it on the cross anyway And if you repent and

acknowledge him as Lord He's not only gonna clean

you wider than snow the Bible says you're gonna

be redeemed Those sins aren't gonna be covered

by the blood of bulls and goats like the Old

Testament. They're gonna be washed away, you

set free. There is no waste at the altar, no

waste, but to come to the altar you have to humble

yourself. You have to be honest with yourself

and God. You have to have a heart of surrender

and give it all to him. You know when we go to

Romans, we're going to go to Romans chapter 12

Romans 12 · chapter mention

and God tells us exactly He says, and dear brothers

and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies

to God as a living sacrifice. Let them be a living

and holy sacrifice, the kind you will find acceptable.

This is the truly way to worship Him. Don't copy

the behavior and customs of the world, but let

God transform you into a new person by changing

the way you think. Then you will learn to know

God's will for you, which is good and pleasing

and perfect. Because the privilege and authority

God's given me, this is Paul talking, don't you

think are better than who you really are? are,

be honest in your evaluation of yourself, measuring

yourself by the faith God has given us. Just

as our bodies have many parts, and each part

has a special function, so it is with Christ's

body. We are many parts of one body, but we all

belong to each other. In His grace, God has given

us different giftings for doing certain things

well. So if God has given you the ability to

prophesy, speak it as the faith He's given you."

And then he goes on and on about the gifts, and

then he drops down in verse 9 and says, don't

pretend to love others. Really love them, hate

what is wrong, hold tight to what is good, love

each other with genuine affection, take delight

in honoring one another, never be lazy, work

hard, serve the Lord exciting and enthusiastically,

rejoice in our confident hope be patient in trouble

and keep praying when God's people are in need

be ready to help them always be eager to practice

hospitality bless those who persecute you uh

-oh don't curse those Pray for them that God

will bless them. Be happy with those who are

happy and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony

with each other. Don't be too proud to enjoy

the company of ordinary people and don't think

you know it all. Never pay back evil with more

evil. Do the things in such a way that everyone

can see you are honorable to God. Do all that

you can to live peace with everyone. Dear friends,

never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous

anger of God. For the scripture says, I will

take revenge and I will pay them back, says the

Lord. instead if your enemies are hungry feed

them if they are thirsty give them something

to drink in doing this you heat burning coals

of shame on their head don't let evil conquer

you but conquer evil with good that is the chapter

12 in romans and that is exactly he not only

tells us in the first verse to to offer our bodies

a living sacrifice he tells us how And that's

what our life is. Our life is a living sacrifice

before God for all that he's done. And at that

place of sacrifice, giving, receiving, worship,

there's so much we can do. We're gonna go to

a couple songs here. And I want you to think

about that. There's no waste at the altar. And

I'll come back at you in just a bit. There's

nothing worth more That could ever come close

No thing can compare where my heart becomes free

and my shame is There is no waste at the altar.

Why don't you make an altar right now? An altar

is a place where God intervenes and he gets involved

in your life. Altars are important and you can

do that anywhere. Yes, in a church at an altar,

but also in an altar at your home, in your car,

anywhere. Let's come before the Lord. Father,

we just thank you for this day. We come before

you humbly. We want to be honest with you and

say we are a sinner. and we release and give

away our sin to you. We lay it at your feet and

we take up your righteousness. Lord, we welcome

you in our heart. We wanna love you and serve

you with our whole heart. We thank you for it

in Jesus' name. You know, if you prayed that

prayer, you've been redeemed. God has a new life

for you. Get in a word. Get in a good church

that preaches the whole council of God. Lift

up the name of Jesus and praise his name. Every

day you can walk with God, just like Abraham

did. We want you to go out and make it a great

day. Please know, you can contact us at championsinchrist3atgmail

.com. Remember, God loves you, we love you, and

you are a Champion in Christ.