Altars, Wells and Encounters | Jentezen Franklin

the following program is sponsored by friends and partners of Kingdom connection I want to talk to you for a few moments today on altars whales and encounters altars whales and encounters there are three generations that are talked about over and over in the Bible the God of Abraham the god of Isaac the God of Jacob three generations the first generation Abraham got everything that he received from God he started out with nothing he became my until he blessed in amazing ways but he got everything that he received from God by prayer by an altar Isaac the next generation received everything that he received from God by inheritance it was given to him by his father but he had to learn to read igg the whales that his father Doug and then finally the third generation Jacob the generation of Jacob received everything that he got in a different way he tried to take shortcuts his name means schemer and he was using his own intellect he thought that he knew more through his intellect he could get to where he was supposed to be by his mind not by building an altar or digging a whale the first generation represented by Abraham was a generation of Prayer the great outpouring in the book of Acts was not born in a planning committee the great outpouring of Acts chapter 2 was born out of a prayer meeting were 450 days men and women gathered in the upper room they did not plan and scheme and come up with visions and marketing they got in a room and they prayed and they salt God in a prayer meeting for 50 days and they waited on the Lord they prayed until the heavens were moved they prayed until the rain began to pour in that upper room and it would move across the earth Abraham built seven altars in his lifetime it would not have been hard to follow Abraham because everywhere that he stayed any amount of time he built an altar in that place and then he would move on and live in another area and build an altar and in his life he left seven altars those altars to me speak of four things an altar speaks of four things first of all an altar speaks of sacrifice it was on one of those sat on one of those altars that Abraham laid his son Isaac and raised the GNAT knife and was willing to sacrifice his boy in obedience to what God was calling him to do God stopped him from doing it but he had to reach the point of ultimate sacrifice that sacrifice was so real in the history of the early church and I'm saying to you that at some point your relationship with God has to go beyond what God can do for you and you develop an altar and the altar speaks of sacrifice where Christianity to you means more than one day out of seven it means more to you than one dollar out of ten it means more to you than an occasional sacrifice but it begins to alter the way that you live because an altar requires sacrifice this generation must reach a point where we stop sacrificing sacrifice out of our Christianity and assuming that it's only what I want to do when I want to do it for the Lord is all that I offer God but the very theme of sacrifice is I don't do what I feel like doing I do this as a sacrifice of my time in my life in honor to my king that's what is developed out of an altar secondly an altar speaks of cleansing Abraham came to the altar to make sure everything was clean between him and God he understood that through the shedding of the blood of an animal his sins under the Old Covenant could be rolled over and they could be removed from his life temporarily I heard a story about a man who wanted to he was feeling job insecurity and he wanted to check up on his condition of his job and whether or not he was going to be fired he felt insecure he felt like his boss was going to replace him for whatever reason so one day he called in disguised his voice and asked for the boss the boss came on the line and he said in a disguised voice I'm looking for a job and the boss said what kind of job and he began to describe every detail of the things that he said he was skilled in and it fit perfectly the job he was presently holding and doing for that boss and then he ended by saying his little resume that he gave he ended by saying I heard that you weren't happy with the man you've got in that position over there and I'd love to feel it and the man said oh no that's not true I have a good man there and I want to keep him and then he was so excited he lost his fake voice and he said it's me boss and I was just wanting to call and check up to see how I was really doing that is what prayer is prayer is calling up heaven and it's saying god I don't want anything in the in the relationship I want you to cleanse me prayer is cleansing prayer speaks of being cleanse of removing anything and everything from the power of God operating in your life an altar speaks of unity did you know that once upon a time there were no denominations there were no labels there were no you know moves of God and camps over here in this camp in that Church in this church but there was we were according to the scripture baptized by one spirit into one body men United from different persuasions in America around the 1900s at the beginning of the 1900s they United in revival in an altar and they prayed from different persuasions that God would send revival and then lastly an altar speaks of the place of prayer when men take time to seek the face of God they take time and discipline to seek the counsel of God the will of God the way of God it's critical that early generation and many of you are the byproduct like me of those who've gone before us who they built an altar and they understood the power of prayer Abraham built an altar and then Along Came Isaac and everything that Isaac received the Bible said in Genesis chapter 25 and Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac notice that it was by inheritance the problem with inheritance sometimes is this the person who receives doesn't fully appreciate the sacrifice the calloused hands the tremendous price the sacrifice the doing without that the previous generation has gone through to get you where you are today and Isaac just received the Bible said Abraham his father gave him everything that he had he just handed it to him and he didn't really understand personally how that dream had become a tangible reality that he was standing in he took it for granted I had a lot going for him he had a great father he had a religious upbringing in spite of it all in spite of all that he would inherit listen to me carefully he had to meet God for himself there came a time when it was not enough to hear about mother's touch and daddys experience or even the fact that I was brought up in a Christian home all of that is good all of that is fine but you hear me the Lamb's Book of Life is listed in individual names not family names there's no family names in the Lamb's Book of Life it doesn't say Franklin it says Jenson Franklin Charisse Franklin and if my children don't encounter the same God we encountered their names will not go in that book it's an individual thing and just because you've been raised in it and just because you've been around greatness and just because you have a grandmother who's godly it does not mean you have encountered God for your self Issac learned that he had to read igg the whales of ancient revival that his father had left him a whale but the Philistines had plugged it up and I liked the fact I was reading it again this week as I was traveling and the Bible said that he actually Isaac actually dug two new whales before he read ugh his dad's oh well in other words he thought well that old-fashioned stuff I don't need that oh they're silly I don't need Church I don't have to go I can worship at home I don't need this I don't need that I don't believe in tithing I don't god I just don't your mom and dad that was for you but my I'm digging me some new whales but the Bible said those two new Wells dried up and I want to preach just a minute to the young people here you go off the University and you let them tell you what a joke this book is and you let them laugh at your old fashioned Bible clean and calling on the name of Jesus but any new whale you dig it's a matter of time before it dries up but we've left you one that if you'll read igg it there's living water there we've left you one that I don't care how many people make fun of it when you get in the crisis when it's your baby that needs a miracle or it's your family that's in a crisis the only thing that's going to stand is the word of I know what the professor said but he's miserable I know what smartypants said but they can't hold a marriage together their lives are a mess they're all jacked up drunk and high all the time there's an old whale where there's living water and it makes you feel alive again how do you you somebody give God praise if you believe Chloe we need an Isaac generation ours is a rich spiritual heritage men and women of bygone days dug whales spiritual whales at deep coasts lastly Abraham built altars Isaac came along and encountered God and Reid ugh wails but Jacob the third generation his name means deceiver he took shortcuts to every blessing do you remember what he did to his brother his brother was hunting he was the oldest therefore the firstborn therefore would receive the blessing of Abraham and Isaac and now it would come on Esau but he came home from a hunting trip exhausted and starving and he smelled the aroma of the meal that his brother Jacob had fixed the tantalizing aroma of that bean soup he was starving and he said give me some and if that been me and that's my brother I'm out of giving him some soup that's just kind of guy I am but but but not but not listen to this not Jacob Jacob said I want the blessing but I don't want to get it the way that others have got it I want the shortcut I've intellectually figured this thing out scheming you give me the birthright I'll give you the beans and in a moment of weakness Esau gave him the birthright he didn't just want the birthright he didn't just deceive and treat his brother wrong then he turned around and his father Isaac who was on his deathbed had lost his vision and the Bible said while he was eating the meal and distracted he went in and took goats hair and put it on his arms because his brother was hairy and he went in and he disguised his voice and he said father father bless me Father I have the birthright in my hand bless me it's your son Esau and his dad said something interesting his dad said you sound like Jakub but you feel like Esau it's a huge little lesson right here the Bible said he went by his what he felt instead of what he heard anytime you start letting your feelings go above what God is saying your feelings will always deceive you and take you in the wrong direction over what God is telling you we don't walk by our feelings if it feels right but the word says it's wrong your feelings are wrong and the word is right what you hear is right man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God can't trust your feelings but you can trust the voice listen so think about it then he goes to his father-in-law and his father-in-law ripped him off for 14 years cuz you reap what you sow but then he turns around and rips his father often takes the choice breeding animals and steals them and goes away so he's ripped off and deceived his brother burned that bridge he's ripped off and deceived his father don't you know his father was heartbroken when he found out the truth burn that bridge his father-in-law burned that bridge I'm sure his wife was upset with him because of that burned that bridge and now he finds himself at a place called J Bach and the word J Bach means the place of breaking he's all by himself he's got stuff he's got wealth and then the thought hits him I'm here and I have never encountered and I do not have what my grandfather Abraham had I do not have what my father Isaac had I don't have an altar I don't have a whale I have nothing and suddenly he cries out to God and he says I want it I want to have a fresh encounter with you for myself I can't I thank you for what you did in other generations but I want you to touch me my generation me I need to know you not appear but in here the Bible said God dispatched an angel and the angel came and Jacob grabbed that angel and wrestled with him until that angel touched the hollow of his thigh and disjointed his leg he was wrestling with that angel he's having his own encounter with God at the place of breaking he's broken he every relationship in his life is broken all of his dreams are broken everything that J Bach is messed up but it's there the very place of breaking becomes the very place a blessing that any time God allows you to end up at the river Jay Bob broken alone disillusion what has happened in my life how did this happen what is going on I tell you what is going on it's a Bible pattern Moses go to the desert for 40 years and lose everything broken Jobe you're gonna go through the trial of your life and you'll lose everything broken Joseph you're gonna be thrown into a prison for 14 years for a crime you didn't commit broken Paul I'm gonna knock you off your high horse and you're gonna fall in the dirt and for three days you'll go blind and you won't even know who you are anymore broken but if you read the last chapter of all four of those illustrations I just gave you you'll this fact that the breaking was where the blessing always came and I close with this there are three great lessons that I want you to get and I can give them to you in three sentences sometimes you have to hold on to God this is what Jacob teaches us within wrestling with that angel for his own encounter with God sometimes you have to hold on to God longer than your flesh wants to if you're going to get an answer from the throne notice that he's crippled now but the thing about a is all he can do is clean and if God has crippled you in some area it wasn't to hurt you it was to make you clean to him and I can't get there on my own but I'm gonna hold tight to you now I've learned in the place of breaking that that I'm crippled in this area now but it'll cause me to cling to you Jesus secondly victory in Jacob's life came by a touch Nick you'll know me I feel like I'm surrounded with angels right now like I'm keenly aware the presence of God is in this room you listen to me you listen to me victory came by a touch what kind of touch an exhilarating touch exciting touch of fun happy hallelujah touch no a touch a breaking a touch of crippling lastly this story teaches us that after you have your encounter with Jesus Jacob never walked the same again and every friend who knew him before when they saw him after this encounter they all recognized one thing he has a different walk it changed his walk before if they saw the shape of someone coming they knew that's old proud arrogant deceiving self-centered Jacob he would walk in and you could see him coming but now his walk has changed he's got a limp because when you truly encounter Jesus he changes your walk and I'm praying some of you will have such an encounter with Jesus today that you leave here with some spiritual swag this is spiritual swag I'm clinging into Jesus and I can't even make it I don't want to go anywhere the he doesn't want me to go I only go where he goes with me and if Jesus can't go you can have it I'd rather cling to him I have a new walk I have a new toe I have a new life [Applause] and I wonder I know when it happened to me I know when I had a Jacob encounter when I was 16 years old that I left that building and that service changed I didn't know what the future held but I knew one thing I was clinging on to him and nothing would ever separate me again that's the truth nothing can separate me from the love of God I failed the Lord many times but my lameness my crippled place causes me to clean not run and there's a whole new generation of Jacobs that know about him up here and you've said for years and years and years see all these young people but you need a whale you need an altar and you need an encounter and I'll close with this sometimes victory means defeat sometimes you have to lose physically to win spiritually in the natural world you lose it looks like but in the spiritual world you just stepped up into God's holy spotlight and it happened not at a happy place but at a J Bach brokenness weeping loneliness crying wondering will I ever see the light again ah no you can't avoid the altar of Abraham you can't avoid the wail of Isaac and you can't avoid the encounter of Jacob in a personal way in your life as you've watched this program today I don't believe that God is finished with you he's a God of restoration he's here to restore you to heal you to love you and today if you are ready to get right with God if you feel far from him and it seems like your dreams have been torn to pieces where ever you were watching this program pray with me right now say Lord Jesus just say these words Lord Jesus I call on you I need you here's my broken life here's the broken pieces of the dream that has been shattered but I thank you that you are the restorer you are the one who can take the broken pieces and make something beautiful out of my life I surrender to you Jesus in Jesus name I pray amen and amen I'd love to hear from you and if you prayed that prayer just pick up the phone and dial the number or go online and tell us what God has done in your life I believe today that the Word of God is changing everything in your life and I want to ask you to join us with an urgent need that we have to build a home for teenage girls who are struggling with addiction their lives have been torn to pieces the devil is whispered failure to them and if we don't intervene in time he'll drive them to the lowest darkest place he can put them in but we can change the way the story ends for these girls their failure does not have to be final we're going to build a safe place for them to be cared for fed clothed counseled and loved and most importantly restored by the power of Jesus Christ I can't wait to see this home built and filled with girls from the age of 14 to 17 who desperately need the restoration power of Jesus Christ my announcers going to share how you can a part of this miracle alcohol and drug abuse is a devastating epidemic in the United States today with young girls and women becoming the fastest growing demographic nearly five million women over the age of 12 have a substance abuse problem and over 200 thousand of them die each year due to their addictions these women need your help this month we're partnering with new beginnings to build a dormitory for teenage girls struggling with addiction your generosity will assist in building this new dorm as well as giving recovery hope and the life-changing message of Jesus for your gift of $35 or more you'll receive jetson Franklin's message your failure is not final and custom bookmark with your gift of $300 or more you'll also receive God's masterpiece journal and the Jenson Franklin Legacy Bible with your generous seed of $1,000 or more your name will be commemorated on a wall of recognition at new beginnings and to receive this special edition legacy Bible your generosity will save countless lives of young girls by showing them the life transforming love of Jesus visit us online today this program has been sponsored by friends and partners of Kingdom Connection we hope you've enjoyed this teaching by Jensen Franklin and thank you for your continued support of this ministry your prayers and financial support make these programs possible for more information about this message and other ministry resources visit us online at Jensen Franklin TV

Channel: Jentezen Franklin

Views: 54,638

Keywords: Jentezen Franklin, Free Chapel, Sermons, jensen franklin, jentezen franklin sermons, christianity, franklin jentezen sermons, church online

Id: 41nXK5yMJmc

Length: 28min 32sec (1712 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 28 2019