Rebuilding the Altar: A Call to Partner with God

Pastor Jonathan and myself and um he’s he’s we’re going to be sending out an email this uh probably later today just with some thoughts and and stuff

01:22:45 about this last week of prayer and fasting and when I read the email I was like man this will preach this is good job babe this is great and then when we shifted gears I was like okay I guess I’m gonna preach this um and so we’re really GNA talk today about effectual and fervent being effectual and fervent and I I know the Lord is asking us and it’s something that Pastor Jonathan said when he first preached the first Sunday of the year about being aware of God and this challenge this month that

01:23:22 we’re in is aligning our elves with Holy Spirit and being aware of his moving you notice we actually didn’t send out a bunch of like prayer topics and things like that and I know it’s frustrated some of us because we like our you know I like to pray about this I want Direction and things like that but we really felt that the the point of this time of prayer was to be aware of the moving of Holy Spirit to align ourselves to align ourselves with the heart of God and to begin to learn how to do that in a more significant way so

01:24:03 for some of us it’s been a challenge and that’s good it’s stretching us into these places so that we are aware and in tune with what the Lord is doing Pastor David preached last week on fasting it was great if you guys didn’t hear it go back and listen to it jeribi preached two weeks ago on prayer and it was amazing you guys we have amazing speakers in this house who are delivering the word of God with power and giving us perspectives on things that are so important Pastor David preached and he talked about how

01:24:39 fasting is the means of starving the things that numb us to God’s presence it really hit me that really hit me starving the things that numb us to God the word numb means to deprive of feeling or responsiveness to deprive of the power of sensation we put so many things in our lives that get in the way of us feeling and responding to the Lord we live in a culture that is so busy at all times that we have no idea how to shut it off I’m as guilty as anybody else we are double doing Duty everywhere

01:25:44 we’re trying to listen to something and checking our emails at the same time oh it’s making us more effective at work no it’s not we’re staying connected maybe or maybe it’s trying to distract us maybe it’s being used to put a barrier between us and what God is doing so fasting is an opportunity to starve out the things that numb us to God’s presence when we intentionally deny ourselves whether it’s food social media other distractions we gain clarity about what has been blocking our connection

01:26:33 with him he remind he reminded us that after a few moments of hunger or withdrawal Holy Spirit reveals what we need to address in our hearts if we’re willing to push past that place of hunger and withdrawal this spiritual discipline isn’t about earning favor with God it’s about making space to experience the mercy that he has already extended to us that’s what this time of prayer and fasting is about clearing away the things that distract and making space to experience what he’s already extended to us

01:27:26 he spoke so well about it sometimes it’s us God’s right there God’s right there but sometimes we don’t feel it we’re not feeling it we’re not in it this is our opportunity to realign our lives with him I want to go to Joel The Book of Joel chapter 2 I’m going to start I’m going to read in the Amplified it says therefore also now says the Lord turn and keep on coming to me with all your heart with fasting with weeping and with mourning until every hindrance is removed and the broken Fellowship is

01:28:12 restored this is the point you guys this is the god is saying to us turn to him and keep coming to him you know what that means is that turning around isn’t good enough me acknowledging that I’ve got some stuff going on and turning isn’t enough he said turn and keep on coming to me with your whole heart with fasting with weeping with mourning until this is a big word I think some of us like to say oh good January’s over I don’t have to fast anymore maybe keep on until every hindrance is removed and the broken Fellowship is

01:29:10 restored God is challenging Us in this season of this house to allow him to break down everything that hinders our walk with the Lord and to break down everything that hinders our fellowship with him and with one another continues rent your hearts not your garments and return to the Lord your God for he is gracious he is merciful he slowed anger and abounding and loving kindness blow the trumpet in Zion set aart a fast a day of restraint and humility call a solemn assembly gather the people sanctify the

01:30:12 congregation this is what it’s about restoration of unbroken fellowship with the father restor ation of unbroken relationship with each other removing every hindrance restoring every relationship God wants to remove the things that hinder a relationship with him he wants to bring Deliverance to places in our lives that we need freedom and that we need healing in it is a now time we don’t have to wait for some magic wand now is the day today now there are things in our lives that can only be dealt with when we intentionally

01:31:05 come and set apart our lives and consecrate ourselves to him that is the reality there are some hindrances and some breaches that can only be restored and healed by these times of unhindered fellowship with him meaning I’m putting away everything else that’s going to hinder me I’m going to fast I’m going to pray and then he can heal like I said earlier sometimes we have to be willing to deal with where we’re at and bring it to the Lord to let him bring the restoration to let him bring the fullness we must realize that as we step

01:31:56 into our calling we are taking Authority back and giving notice to the powers of Darkness we are giving notice to the powers of Darkness Isaiah 58 says is this not the fast that I have chosen to loose the bonds of wickedness to undo the heavy burdens to let the oppressed Go free and to break every yoke this is what we are doing it’s not just about denying ourselves food or coming on 6:30 on Tuesday Mornings even though we’re really tired or Worse on Thursday mornings after we’ve been at prayer on

01:32:42 Wednesday nights that one’s way harder maybe just for me I was like oh gosh who decided to do these Wednesday night and then Thursday morning prayer meetings it’s a really bad idea but it’s not just about it we have to take authority over the power of Darkness to loose the bonds of wickedness that is taking authority to undo heavy burdens that is taking authority to let the oppressed Go free to break every yoke that is walking in the authority of the lordship of Christ walking as an overcomer aligning ourselves to the

01:33:30 purposes of God aligning our hearts with his so has our prayer life grown in this time of fasting and in prayer the Lord gives us some instructions in James about our prayer in James 5:15 says is anyone among you suffering let him pray is anyone cheerful let him sing Psalms is anyone among you sick let him call for the Elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up and if he

01:34:29 has committed sins he will be forgiven confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much this is where I want to stay a little bit today the King James version of that that last verse says the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much see that word effectual means is cause to function I liked that cause to function to Grant the ability to do to produce fervent means in the dictionary having or displaying a passionate

01:35:30 intensity that word fervent prayer means to supplication to plea but it is out of great need there’s this implication in that word prayer there that puts the word fervent in front of it because it is directly correlating with this great need causing this fervency of Supplication to come up the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much are we being effectual are we causing things to function that did not function properly before are we calling out production where there was nothing going on in verse 17 it says

01:36:38 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours so back up the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and prayed fervent ly that he it may not rain and for 3 years and 6 months it did not rain on the earth then he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the Earth bore its fruit in First Kings we 17 and 18 it records the story of Elijah he was a this man that in in James is the example of the effectual fervent prayer right right so if we connect these scriptures the effectual

01:37:26 fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much Elijah was a man like us that prayed fervently that it wouldn’t rain and it didn’t and then he prayed again and the heavens gave rain so Elijah in First Kings 17 and 18 prayed for the rain to stop in the earth until the people repented you see the backdrop of Elijah’s prayer is that they were in the reign of King Ahab over Israel if anybody’s done any studies of the Old Testament he’s not a great guy King Ahab marked a period by profound religious and moral

01:38:17 decline that was his reputation that is what history remembers of him Ahab influenced by his wife Jezebel led the nation into worship of Baal a Canaanite deity associated with fertility and rain and Agriculture and productivity this departure from the worship of God the god of Israel represented a significant breach in the Covenant relationship of Israel with their God the Bible describes Ahab as one who did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to and to anger him than all the kings of Israel that were before him

01:38:59 that’s a pretty big deal because there were some pretty not so great kings that angered God and Ahab angered God more than all the rest the introduction and promotion of baale worship not only involved idolatry but also included practices that were abhorent to God such as ritualistic prostitution possibly child sacrifice this religiousness had given implications for the spiritual health of the nation and its covenantal standing before God Elijah emerged in this narrative as a prophet with a Divine mandate to

01:39:35 confront this idolatry and to call Israel back to the worship of Yahweh the worship of God when Elijah Elijah’s prayer for no reain must have been seen in this context of a Divine confrontation and judgment Elijah prayed for a drought and it was not merely an arbitrary act but a direct challenge to the authority of Baal in ancient near Eastern culture Bale was believed to control the weather particularly rain which was critical for the Agriculture and survival of the society so by praying for the ceasing of rain Elijah

01:40:23 demonstrated ated the impotence of Baal and affirmed the sovereignty of Yahweh the ensuing drought was lasted three years three and a half years and had devastating effects on the land and the people crops failed water sources dried up famine ensued this period of intense hardship served as a judgment from Israel upon Israel for their idolatry and a reminder of their dependence on Yahweh for Life the climax of this narrative occurs on Mount Carmel where I Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to a

01:41:07 contest to determine the true God of Israel we’re going to open up to First Kings 18 starting in verse 19 and I believe that God has some things for us to learn In this passage about partnering with him and aligning with his purposes this is Elijah speaking he says now summon all of Israel to join me at Mount Carmel along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of asera that were supposed by Jezebel supported by Jezebel so Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to mount

01:41:53 Carmel then Elijah took stood in front of them and said how much longer will you waver hobbling between two opinions in the Amplified it says how much longer will you Halt and Limp between two opinions if the Lord is God follow him but if Baal is God follow him and the people were silent that word falter means to Halt or to skip or become lame and that word halt is different than what I thought it meant it means to indicate as lame uncertain gate it’s actually like a dance a dance thing going in one direction for now and then

01:42:38 another Direction with a frenzy of wild leaping is the definition of halt uncertainty chaotic this way that way have no idea where we’re going here then there I’m going to be turned around upside down inside out how much longer will you hobble and Halt and skip over and jump around in all sorts of crazy directions between two opinions Elijah is making a marker if God is God follow him but if Bale is God follow him stop hopping between two things stop chasing opinions stop chasing what feels good stop

01:43:25 wanting both stop wanting both and I believe that is a message to the church today stop wanting both how long will you falter between two opinions chasing the best feeling chasing the thing that makes the most sense to me if God is God follow him if he’s not go over there stop trying to do both it doesn’t work then Elijah said to them I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left but Baal has 450 prophets he was the only one left because Jezebel killed them all by the way now bring two bulls the prophets of Baal

01:44:27 may choose whichever one they want and they can cut it up and lay it on their wood and their altar but don’t set fire to it I will prepare the other bowl and lay it on the wood on the Altar and I will not set fire to it then call on the name of your God and I will call on the name of my God and The God Who Answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God and the people agreed then Elijah said to the prophet a bale you go first for there are so many of you choose one choose one of the Bulls prepare it call on the name of your God

01:45:03 but just don’t set fire to it they prepared one of their bulls and placed it on the Altar and they called to the name of Baal among from morning till noon shouting oh Baal answer us but there was no reply of any kind and they danced and they hobbled around the altar that they had made to call forth to the power of Baal and about noon time Elijah began to mock them just kind of see this you’ll have to shout louder guys for surely he is God perhaps he is daydreaming or is relieving himself or maybe he is away on a trip or is asleep

01:45:44 and needs to be awakened so they shouted louder and they followed their normal customs and they cut themselves with knives and with swords until their blood gushed out I mean come on guys they raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice but there was still no sound no reply no response then Elijah called to the people says come over here and they crowded around him as he prepared the altar of the Lord that had been torn down and he took 12 12 Stones to represent each tribe of Israel and he

01:46:28 used the stones to rebuild the altar in the name of the Lord there have been altars that have been torn down I believe in our families I believe in our churches and God is calling us to rebuild the altar to rebuild the altar of God and he used the stones to rebuild the altar in the name of the Lord and He dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold about three gallons and He piled wood on the Altar and he cut the bowl into pieces and he laid him on the wood and he said fill four jars with water and pour the water

01:47:24 over the offering and the wood and they had done this and he said do it again and when they were finished he said do it a third time they did it again and the water ran around the Altar and filled the trench and he soaked the wood and the offering he soaked it so that there could be no qu question when the fire of God consumed it there was going to be no room for human explanation and at the usual time for the offering the evening sacrifice Elijah the prophet walked up to the Altar and prayed said oh Lord God of

01:48:21 Abraham Isaac and Jacob prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant prove that I have done all of this at your command oh Lord answer me answer me so these people will know that you oh Lord are God and that you have brought them back to yourself simple and immediately the fire of the Lord FL lashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up all of the water in the trench and when all the people saw it they fell face down at the ground and

01:49:08 cried the Lord he is God yes the Lord is God and Elijah commanded seize all the prophets of Baal don’t let a single one escape and They seized them and Elijah took them down to the valley and killed them there and Elijah said to Ahab go get some to drink for I hear a mighty rainstorm coming and Ahab went away and Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and bowed low to the ground and prayed with his face between his knees and then he said to his servant go and look to the Sea and his service went servant went

01:49:43 and looked and said to Elijah I don’t see anything and seven times he told him to go back and finally the seventh time the servant told him I saw a little cloud the size of a man’s hand raising from the sea and as soon as the sky was black with clouds a heavy wind brought a terrific rainstorm I love that set of scriptures I hear a mighty rainstorm coming I don’t see anything yet I don’t see anything I can’t see anything with my natural eyes but I hear what God has promised and I’m going to go to the top

01:50:33 of the mountain and I am going to pray and I’m going to pray and I’m going to send Watchmen out and they’re going to watch for the Fulfillment of the promise of God and even when I don’t see it once and I don’t see it twice and I don’t see it three times seven times I’m still going to go to my knees and pray and say you God said it’s so so I believe it to be so and I’m going to continue to press until I see all that you have promised and then it came and it was small at first the size of a fist and then it was there a

01:51:14 rainstorm a torrential storm the Fulfillment of the word of the Lord the Fulfillment of the word of the Lord you see Elijah he had to partner with God this wasn’t something that just happened one day this happened in deep relationship with God I don’t believe that one day he just got up if you read the whole story Ahab had tried to find Elijah many times to kill him and the Lord protected him so all of a sudden one day the Lord tells Elijah to do this can you imagine he’s like dude this guy’s been after me for years

01:52:00 if I show my face I’m done Jezebel’s crazy she’s gonna have my head but he was willing out of the relationship he had with the Lord to pray for the needs of the people to pray without ceasing to partner with Holy Spirit to to see the Fulfillment fulfillment of what God had he didn’t just come up with this out of nowhere God led him and directed him and that is what he is challenging us to do will we partner and align our lives with him will we agree with what he is saying and say even when I don’t see it I know what

01:52:42 your word says and I know you’re going to protect me and I know you’re going to protect my family and I know that all this stuff going around even when it is contrary to what I know I’m going to be faithful in my time of prayer and relationship with you until I see the Fulfillment of what you have promised he saw the wickedness of the people but God saw the hearts for them to repent he affected change in a nation because he was willing to partner with God God how are we going to partner with God

01:53:27 in this season you know I believe there’s many things around us that seem like they’re spitting in the face of God just like the people of Israel in the time of Ahab Rebellion witchcraft sexual perversion all sorts of things flying around situations that are devastating broken situations that are hopeless but God wants to partner with us to bring his heart and love that leads to Hope and repentance God wants to bring wholeness and fulfillment we are stepping into the call of God to partner with him to be effectual in our

01:54:13 prayers to be effectual in our homes to be effectual in our lives to bring things back into full function of how God ordained them this is what the father is saying he’s asking us will we engage with him will we separate all the things that numb us the world that tries to buzz around us distract us and will we know him will we find him we cannot move Beyond The Challenge of knowing him we cannot move beyond that we have to focus on knowing him first and foremost and that doesn’t happen by leaving things as they

01:55:13 are that only happens by aligning Our Lives stripping everything away and aligning with him so our challenge for this last week of prayer and fasting is that we want to ask those who can to remove one more meal or item from their world and beginning tomorrow to notch up our prayer Focus we need to pray for our families for our church for our community but most importantly that we would accept the partnering with God and finding him in prayer cannot overemphasize this fasting challenge for January is less about

01:56:06 getting answers and more about finding the heart of the father so we want to ask you family sit down with your kids this week pause some of the business restore the dinner table spend some meals talking together about this invite into relationship pray into it see how God moves I believe that God will show you how to pray for your family God’s going to show us how to pray for our church for our community so that we can finish strong so this week we have a few we have a few prayer points for you scripture points

01:56:53 Monday tomorrow read that passage in First Kings go back to 17 if you want 18 and read Matthew 721 and 23 and we’ll send this out in an email as well Tuesday focus on reading Isaiah 58 then we also have morning prayer together at 6:30 join us it’s our last week let’s hit this hard Wednesday night 1 Corinthians 12 and don’t miss our corporate prayer I believe that God’s going to move this Wednesday night in this time of prayer and worship Thursday we’re going to also be meeting again bright and early 6:30 in

01:57:35 the chapel want you to be reading second Corinthians 10 and Friday read Revelation chapters 2 and 3 Let’s be part of that overcoming church amen and I want to challenge you like like Pastor Selen announced Pastor David and jeribi meet every day at noon during the week there’s other times to pray and like I said at the beginning don’t be done if you’re not done does that make sense till every hindrance is removed and the broken Fellowship is restored amen Church amen see you Wednesday for prayer