June 15, 2008

• Raising Godlly Altars Part 2 by Pastor Danquah

  Here are a few more pictures of praise and worship before Pastor Danquah spoke, I am at the mercy of what pictures my husband edited and supplied for me.

  Jessica Spradling sang beautifully with two others from our youth group,

  

  And our little ones come up to the altar during praise and worship. Our church has even made little flags and streamers for them to use to worship, we are so blessed to watch them dance with unabated joy of the Lord.

  

  

  More pictures follow at the end of this teaching.

  Pastor Danquah continued on about altars.

  THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ALTAR

  1. ALTARS ARE RAISED TO AVERT CALAMITY.

  2 Samuel 24:25 And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

  David made a mistake by having the Children of Israel numbered. This angered God. David was given a choice of punishments, and ultimately chose – 2 Samuel 24:14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. God caused a plague to come upon the nation of Israel, and David prayed to God: 2 Samuel 24:17 And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house.

  God heard David’s prayer and sent an angel to tell David to build an altar and sacrifice to avert a calamity. David was offered the land and a place for free, but He chose to pay because 2 Samuel 24:24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

  The land was bought the land and the oxen for fifty shekels.

  A sacrifice of value costs. Joseph was sold for 20 pieces of silver, Jesus was sold for 30 pieces of silver.

  In each of these cases the sacrifice was made and averted calamity. When we come to the altar, whether we are pagan or Christian, a priest (or pastor) speaks on our behalf. We, as Christians, also have the ability to speak on our behalf, and avert our calamity. As we believe, so we speak.

  The Moabites were fighting Judah and were losing the battle, the King of Moab:  2 Kings 3:26-27 And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom: but they could not. Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.

  The heathen king understood that sacrifice averted calamity.

  2. ALTARS ARE RAISED TO APPRECIATE GOD. We have to thank God, to be happy, rejoice, testify, and raise an altar for all the good that God has done in our lives.

  Genesis 8:20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

  When the waters abated, Noah built an altar to God in appreciation of God saving Noah and his family, and the animals on the ark.

  Genesis 8:21-22 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

  Noah’s sacrifice and altar pleased God, and he received a blessing from God, that never again would God flood the earth, and that seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

  The Lord smelled the sacrifice on the altar and it pleased God. When we appreciate God, God will also honor you.

  With Cain and Abel, Abel’s sacrifice pleased God, and God heard him. Cain’s sacrifice was not pleasing to God. When we offer our sacrifice to God, there is no sacrifice that comes without blessing.

  3. THE ALTAR IS RAISED AS A PLATFORM FOR DECLARATION. The voice of the altar declares the people’s destiny. Balaam was hired to curse Israel. Before he spoke he had Balak build seven altars and sacrifice on them. Balaam was only permitted to speak the words that God told him to speak, and he spoke blessings over Israel.

  As a child of God we can bring our petitions before God, or talk with our pastor and he can agree in prayer with us, bringing our petitions before God. Our pastor declares things to us, and speaks blessings over us. But to do something, we need the hand of God. If we so sparingly, we will reap sparingly. We have the authority to control how much God blesses us and to move God’s hands in a negative or a positive direction.

  Idol worshippers go to the altars to have the priest of the altar speak against a person. That priest often makes a sacrifice and speaks against the person, and evil happens. The demons of the world are moved by sacrifice, and since demons imitate what God does. God also is moved by sacrifice (whether it is a sacrifice of praise, a tithe, an offering, a dying of self), and what is declared from the altar means that we will never be the same.

  When Isaac was going to die, he asked Esau to go and kill venison, preparing it as a stew, and then Israel would bless Esau. Jacob’s mom got wind of this plan, and had Jacob kill a lamb and prepare the lamb as a stew to get the blessing. An animal had to be sacrificed, Isaac ate, and then he declared his blessing.

  If we say that we are blessed, we are blessed. Remember Jabez asked God to enlarge his territory.

  4. ALTARS ARE PLACES FOR DIVINE ENCOUNTERS. A place to meet with God. People who are idol worshippers go to altars to hear from spirits and demons, witches use altars. We raise an altar when we want an encounter with God. Remember when Jacob as running from Esau, he laid down with a stone for his pillow and had a vision,

  Genesis 28:12-16 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.

  The angels are ascending up with news and down with blessings. The Heavens were opened and angels were going down and up. Here in church and wherever we are worshipping God there are angels. And this can change our destiny, can alter our lives.

  When your heart is right with God, God is obligated to move you to people and places where your destiny can be changed, we receive favor that can alter our destiny. We can become free of the devil, ancestral curses. Remember John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

  The place where God met with Jacob, he called “Bethel” which means house of God.

  He came back to the same place again. Genesis 35:6-7 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

  5. ALTARS ARE PLACES TO FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD, WHERE GOD IS IN THE HOUSE.  An altar is raised to remember the blessings and favor from God.

  2 Chronicles 1:6 And Solomon went up thither to the brasen altar before the LORD, which was at the tabernacle of the congregation, and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it.

  We come to the altar to offer and serve God. When we have a drunken husband, we come to fellowship with God, when we have a need to be healed, or saved. Solomon offered 1000 burnt offerings, that cost a lot, even in Solomon’s day. But Solomon was generous out of love for the Lord.

  2 Chronicles 1:7 In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee.

  When Solomon offered his sacrifice to God, God was pleased and asked Solomon what he wanted. Solomon’s reply touched the heart of God. Solomon asked for wisdom, and God gave him not only wisdom, but above and beyond that riches.

  What do you need? If we ask according to the heart of God, God will give to us abundantly. God will give us what is needful for the kingdom. Some things we want, are not needful, and God may not give those to us, but God has no problem with us living abundantly.

  Even the demons understand these biblical principles, Kingdom principles, for they operate for the saved as well as the unsaved. We Christians are seeking to destroy the devil and to destroy the devil’s kingdom. God’s children are not fully embracing what we are entitled to within God’s kingdom.

  6. ALTARS ARE RAISED TO ENHANCE OBJECTIVES AND CAST DOWN OPPOSITION.

  Pastor Danquah told us that we are facing political elections, and people are getting worried about who will be elected, but we are of God, and we do not have to worry about the outcome of the election. God is sovereign. When we connect ourselves to the altar and present our case to God, we know that God listens. God is our spiritual father.

  Pastor Danquah reminded us that we are not to go church hopping from church to church, that we are to let our spiritual father, Pastor Don, know where we are going when we go to other places. When we are under Pastor Don’s covering, he need to know what we are doing for our protection. Some people feel that they can live outside the boundaries of a church, having no church home. But if they are doing that, when the enemy strikes, they have no protection. Satan is happy when people choose to leave the church, for they are then unprotected. We need our shepherd and the people around us, as we walk the walk.

  8. ALTARS ARE RAISED TO MONITOR ACTIVITIES.  The demon world imitates the spiritual world, and the altar is a monitoring system that allows us to see everything that is going on in the rest of the world. In the spiritual world there is no distance, so the demons and the spiritual beings of God can see things that are occuring 1000 miles away. To be true just to be alive on this earth means that there is probably someone against you, and demons want you to be blind to the energies that are coming your way. We need to raise our voice and talk to God, to let God know what is going on because the demons want to see our downfall. You can always come to God, and He will help you to rise up. We are to be the light that we are. Isaiah 60:1-2 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

  We are to arise and stop the foolishness that is going on in the world, to advance the Kingdom of God. We are not to stay only in the church, but to be sold out for God, reach the lost for God. To have our dry bones come to life, and discipling others in the house of God. We are to be eating the meat of the Word of God, not coming to Pastor Don for every little thing, but to be reaching out and helping someone else. When people look at us they should be seeing the glory of Jesus on our lives.

  Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

  We are not battling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places.

  Pastor Danquah told us that in professional wrestling, the two wrestling often make moves that another person doesn’t see coming. We need to realize that satan does not fight fair and we have to keep on our spiritual armor. We have an edge though, for we are under the blood of Jesus, and Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

  HOW DO WE RAISE ALTARS?

  BY SACRIFICE. No altar is built without sacrifice. David raised an altar, but would not accept free land, he knew that an altar needed to cost something. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son on Mt. Moriah, the same place that David bought the land to build his altar, and the same place that Solomon built his temple, and the place that the muslims claim is now their temple mount. Solomon sacrificed 1000 animals for a burnt offering.

  We need to ask God what He wants us to do with our lives.

  BY BREAKING DOWN OLD ALTARS. Gideon was told to break down the idolatrous altar of his father, and build a new altar to sacrifice on. Sometimes we have to break old altars to raise new altars, and gain the liberty.

  THE WEIGHT OF THE SACRIFICE DETERMINS THE GRAVITY OF THE BLESSING.

  David bought the property to build the altar. In this day and age money is our blood, sweat and tears, and when we raise an altar to God, we sow a seed to God’s kingdom.

  God is breaking down our old altars and helping our lives to turn around. Often our turn around is not manifested on the physical level, but in the spiritual first. It is in the spiritual realm before it becomes physical.

  We then prayed and healings occurred.

  After he spoke Pastor Don shared some words with us and here he led us in a song, Pastor Danquah was sitting after ministering for many hours. This service lasted from 7 PM until almost 11.

  

  We have a tradition in our church when we have been blessed that we give the visiting pastor a group hug, Yes, Pastor Danquah is there in our midst.

  

  We then prayed.

   

  And at the end my husband snapped a picture of me with Pastor Danquah.

  

  I pray your Sunday is blessed!

  Heather

  • 8:27 am
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