Historical Landmarks 7-17-16
- Landmark to remember what God has done – remembrance and praise
12 Memorial Stones from the Jordan River – Joshua 4 (READ 1-3, 21-24)
- Landmark to meet God where He met you – return to the place you had a God encounter
Altar – Hebrew word “mizbeah” which means “to slaughter”, Greek word “thusiasterion” which means “a place of sacrifice.”
Altars are made with stone, earth, metal, and brick. The act of sacrifice moved the offering from profane to sacred.
The Temple had two altars, the Altar of Incense (gold-covered wood altar inside of the sanctuary in front of curtain at the Holy of Holies) and the Altar of Holocausts (bronze altar at the courtyard of the Temple). After the Exile, the first thing rebuilt was the altar.
People that built Altars:
- Noah (Genesis 8:20) – after he exits ark, 1stthing does is build altar
- Abraham(Genesis 12:6-9 MOREH) – Call of Abram, (13:18 HEBRON) – after Lot selects land and leaves then the Lord comes to remind
- Isaac(Genesis 26:25) – God appears to him at Beersheba
- Jacob– talk about later
- Moses(Exodus 17:15 THE LORD IS MY BANNER) – defeat Amalekites and God comes to him and says He will erase their memory
Altars are:
A place of encounter & transformation – After Jacob steals Esau’s blessing and runs for his life… Jacob has a dream – the Lord met Jacob – he built an altar at that place using stone he slept on called BETHEL (Genesis 28). This was a place where the divine and human worlds interact. An altar experience brings change. Something must be altered at the altar – there’s a price to pay. There’s transformation when you encounter Jesus.
A place of confession & forgiveness –The altar of the Tabernacle sacrifice was offered as a sin offering, and one day there would be a once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
A place of worship & communion–The most common altar was the altar of incensewhere priests would offer worship to the Lord on behalf of the people and themselves. This was a place of communion between God and His servant.
A place of covenant –A covenant is a promise / it’s relationship terms or boundaries. An altar was built where the covenant was made between the Lord and Abraham, and the land was sealed as a timeless promise to Abraham and his offspring (Genesis 15).
A place of testimony– An altar is a place of testimony to the one true God. Abraham built his altars unto the Lord – there he called upon His Name (Genesis 12:7-8).
A place of intercession –The prophet Joel called for intercession by leaders on behalf of the people (Joel 1:13)
Today our altar is in our heart
- 2 Corinthians 6:16 – We are temple of the living God
- 1 Peter 2:5 – We are like living stones who offer spiritual sacrifices to God
It takes broken things to build an altar.
- We can take the difficult things in life & arrange them before the Lord
- We can drag them through life & be burdened
- We can toss them at someone in anger.
What we are meant to do is allow the Spirit to alter us so we can pour our life out over the altar, presenting ourselves to the Lord.
Review time:
- Landmarks – remember what God has done. Remember. Praise Him.
- Landmarks – meet God where He met you – to return to your God encounters.
Remember: What God has done in the past is a model/promise of what He will do in the future BUT He is too creative to do the same thing in same way twice.
In less than two weeks, anniversary of DRCC. A landmark for DRCC. Some have been on the entire journey, some just recently joined along.
Remember what He has done.
Remember how He met you here.
- If you’ve been here awhile and you cannot think of something He’s done here, and you cannot think of how He’s met you here—the issue is a heart issue. You can only be altered if you open your heart, if you soften your heart to allow the Spirit to freely move.
- If you come here knowing all,
- if you come here angry or bitter,
- if you come here thinking you don’t need to be broken (that you are perfect),
- if you come here without love for your brothers and sisters,
- if you come here not open to hear the Word of God,
- if you come here trying to shine for yourself—to be seen,
- if you come here just to be entertained,
- if you come here just for the food,
- if you come here to point fingers at others,
- if you come here with a personal agenda— your heart is hardened and you need to allow the God of the universe to break it.
When we have prayer time, get down on your knees and beg Him to break it.
Let us remember what He has done over the past few years.
Let us remember how He has met us all here.
- We are not where we should be.
- We aren’t even close to where we should be.
- We have let Satan set up stumbling blocks.
- We have closed ourselves off to the Truth.
- We have fixed our eyes on other things.
- We have only listened when it was convenient.
- There are things we are meant to be doing, and we are not doing them.
- We have our hands closed when they should be open.
- We have ourselves busy with stuff that does not matter.
- We allow the world to enter these doors.
- We lose our focus often.
- We allow Satan to cause strife between us and our brothers.
- We do not always keep God first in our lives.
Now we will watch this special gift. The second gift I have for you—just not as sweet as Tim Tams. It’s a video of what God has done over the past three years. It’s a video that shows where God has met us.
Let us remember. Let us rejoice. Let us refocus ourselves.
He doesn’t want us to settle for good. He has greater things.
Let us rejoice at what He has done, and let us strive to allow Him to move in mighty ways these next three years.
He has so much for each one of us.
Are you ready?
Are you ready to let go?
Are you ready to be altered?
Are you ready to show up?
Are you ready to reach out?
Are you ready to allow God to use you? It is time.
Today is a landmark day at DRCC. Things will never be the same.
Tomorrow is a new day. God is doing something new.
Join together my brothers and sisters. It is time.
Amen.
Tania Gutekunst 