Community Stream Sunday - Enter The Land

[Music] [Applause] welcome to another online edition of empower church my name's matt and it's my absolute honor and privilege to come around the word of god together this morning i'm blessed to be a part of the team that's pioneering a new community as many of you would know of empower church out in the eastern suburbs of melbourne and it's just been so encouraging to just walk that journey out to see what god is doing in laying just such beautiful foundations amongst us as a community and as a family out there i do want to give credit where credit's due some of the message that i'm going to share this morning actually has come out of some of the conversations we've been having as an east community last sunday we had a really great time together on zoom as an east family where we talked around the altar of god and what it means to build an altar of god in our hearts and there was so much great insight and so much great wisdom flowing from our family time together and so i do want to give credit to those of you who know who you are um for the fruit and the wisdom and the insight that you shared last sunday that's helped frame some of where we're going to go this morning but i do want to say welcome to all of you whether it's your first time joining us at empower church or this is your home i just want to say welcome if you do want to find out a little bit more about who we are at empower church you can head to our website empower church dot co and you can connect with us there you can also register your interest to be a part of our east community or just check out what we're doing in the eastern suburbs of melbourne on the website too so encourage you to do that if you want to find out a little bit more about who we are and what god is doing in our midst but before we jump into the word this morning i do want to just open up in prayer and just invite god's presence into all of our living rooms wherever we might be watching bedrooms wherever we might be let's just spend some time in prayer holy spirit heavenly father lord jesus we just come to you right now we honor your presence in our homes in our hearts in our families we thank you that you are an omnipresent god that you are everywhere that there is no space that you can't fill there is no room that you can't inhabit and so we just invite you in to our hearts we ask that you would minister and move and do something significant in all of our lives this morning father that while we might be separated god that your presence is uniting us and drawing us and knitting us together for your glory for the expansion of your kingdom i just pray father that the words that come out of my mouth father as they are released that they would minister power and truth and love and freedom only by your spirit father have your way amongst us we submit ourselves to you lead us and guide us we're humbled that you would come and meet with us we give you all the glory all the honor and all the praise in jesus mighty name amen and amen so good well one of the questions that i do often get asked um and many of you have asked me this question over the last six to 12 months as we've been on this journey with with empowered church is where does my accent come from um and some of you would be able to tell that story but i am half american and half australian and i grew up in germany and growing up in germany i had the absolute honor and blessing to be able to travel quite a bit growing up went to lots of different countries different places because obviously in europe it's a whole lot easier to to get around than it is here except for perhaps at the moment with with lockdown restrictions and the situation we find ourselves in but i have been able to travel quite a bit and and that's been a real blessing and i've really enjoyed that and one of the things that i've come to know about travel is that there's a big difference between just going to a country and doing the tourist thing compared to actually entering into the culture of the city or the nation that you're visiting you know we can cross over the border into another city or into another country but that doesn't mean that we necessarily enter into the culture of the people that are living there and one of the things particularly as i've grown up and traveled myself that i really enjoyed doing as part of entering into the culture of the city or the country that i find myself in is to take local public transport and that looks different in in different cities i've i've been squashed in little vans in africa with 20 or 30 other people in a little van chugging along i've been in subways and trains around the place and i really enjoy that as part of entering into the culture and what life in that place really looks like i was doing that personally and then when my amazing wife sarah um and i got married a couple years after we got married we spent some time in cambodia and china and again i was keen to check out the local public transport i remember one time in particular we were just arrived in beijing and i was keen to use local public transport to get to the hotel and as much as sarah probably would have preferred to jump in a taxi she was very gracious and we got on the train in the subway and tried to find our way to the hotel and i remember getting to the train station where we were meant to be and we couldn't find a lift and so we had to drag all of our bags up you know a number of flights of stairs we broke one of the handles on our on our bags along the way and i'm sure she was like why couldn't we just caught a taxi why couldn't have we had just gotten on the shuttle bus but there's something about entering into the culture and the city and the nation that you go to visit that's different to just crossing over into the border you see just because we cross over the border into something it doesn't mean that we actually enter into the fullness of what's available there and i think this can also be true of our christian walk where we cross over the border into new seasons or different spaces but that doesn't necessarily mean that we're actually entering into the fullness of what's available there so often i think as christians we move from season to seasonal from space to space but so often we don't enter into the fullness of what's available and what god is doing amongst us we don't enter fully into what he's doing we don't enter fully into what he has for us we don't enter fully into the land of promise and destiny that is before us and so if you're taking notes this morning at home in your living room wherever you might be the title of my message this morning is enter the land enter the land if you've got your bibles you can open them find it on your phone ipad whatever you want to do or you can just read along listen along as i read out from deuteronomy chapter 27 verses 1 to 8. i'm going to be reading from the the new english translation deuteronomy 27 verses 1 to 8. it says then moses and the elders of israel commanded the people pay attention to all the commandments that i am giving you today when you cross the jordan river to the land the lord your god is giving you you must erect great stones and cover them with plaster then you must inscribe on them all the words of this law when you cross over so that you may enter the land of the lord your god is giving you a land flowing with milk and honey just as the lord the god of your ancestors said to you amen i want to be a part of a group of people that enter into the promised land the land flowing with milk and honey so when you cross the jordan you must erect on mount ebal these stones about which i am commanding you today and you must cover them with plaster then you must build an altar there to the lord your god an altar of stones do not use an iron tool on them you must build the altar of the lord your god with whole stones and offer burnt offerings on it to the lord your god also you must offer fellowship offerings and eat them there rejoicing before the lord your god you must inscribe on the stones all the words of this law making them clear i find it fascinating here as moses gives the gives these instructions to the israelites he refers to crossing over the jordan and he also refers to entering into the promised land but they're described as two separate steps in the journey of the israelites you see just because the israelites might have crossed over the jordan that doesn't mean that they automatically enter into the promised land there's a difference between simply crossing over into the next season and then actually entering into the fullness of destiny and purpose and moses of all people would have known firsthand about the difference between crossing over and entering into the land of course he led the people of israel the people of god as they crossed over the red sea but then he also led the people of israel as they wandered around the wilderness and a whole generation failed to enter into the promised land and i wonder whether some of this perhaps resonates with you today maybe you feel like you've been at the point of crossing over and you haven't been able to actually enter into the promised land enter into that place of destiny enter into that place of purpose perhaps you've had some significant moments with the lord you've experienced some amazing breakthroughs you've had the lord speak promises and stir dreams within your heart but yet you haven't been able to fully enter into those promises you haven't been able to enter into that place of destiny and purpose but i'm here to tell you this morning i sense the word of god being declared over us that it's time to enter the land it's time to enter into destiny the individual calling and purpose on your life it's time to enter in and experience the fullness of the land of promise over your life just crossing over isn't all that he has for you friend this morning i want to tell you that there is more as we enter into the land of promise and destiny for you and your life i really pray that god does something significant this morning amongst us i think part of what god is doing amongst us in this this really bizarre time in so many ways over the last 12 18 months with covert 19 and the global pandemic part of how i think god is using this time is is helping us to actually see that there is more for us you know by having some time to pause and reflect i think that's been a little bit of a wake-up call for the church to understand that actually you know just getting to the point of crossing over isn't enough because there's more for us in the promised land there's more for us as we truly step in to destiny there's more work for the church of god to do there's more for us to inherit there's more power to be released there's more mountains to be cast into the sea there's more souls to be saved there's more for us to experience if we would just be people who truly enter into the promised land the land of destiny the land of purpose and whether we like it or not whether we want to admit it or not we certainly have crossed over into a new season over these last 12 18 months things have changed the landscape is different and we're not going back to the way things used to be we've had 12 months of pause reset disruption whatever term you want to use to describe this past season but the question i want to ask this morning is have you entered into the new land you might have crossed over into the new season but have you entered into the new land are we going to be people who enter into the land of promise beyond that perhaps you're asking but how do we enter the land what is the key to entering into the promised land well if we turn back to that passage that we read in deuteronomy 27 just verses 2 and 3 it says when you cross the jordan river to the land of the lord your god is giving you you must erect great stones and cover them with plaster then you must inscribe on them all the words of this law when you cross over so that you may enter the land the lord your god is giving you a land flowing with milk and honey just as the lord the god of your ancestors said to you this passage tells us that the israelites had to build an altar so that they may enter into the land and for those of you playing along at home joshua actually fulfilled this scripture in in joshua 8 verses 30 to 32 you can look it up separately but when they crossed over at mount evil he erected an altar and did what moses was asking of the israelites to do in this passage so while the israelites crossed over the jordan it wasn't until they built an altar that they could then enter the land there's something about setting up an altar to the lord in our hearts that moves us from being people who just cross over to becoming people who truly enter into the land of promise and purpose and destiny and that's what i want to spend some time digging into this morning what does it mean to build an altar to the lord how do we set up an altar in our hearts and in our families so that we might be people who enter into the promised land and i can show you right up front that we won't be talking about physically building anything we're not talking about building with our hands or using physical materials or tools these office hands blister far too easily so we're not getting into that and there's so many other amazing people that can give you expert guidance on how it is to build things i've had many failed diy projects so i don't want to go there but i do want to spend some time talking about how we build an altar to the lord an altar of prayer and worship in our hearts i've been meditating on on the topic of altars and and building an altar for the last couple of weeks in particular over these last two weeks of lockdown here in melbourne if you're joining us from elsewhere where we're just come out of a 14-day lockdown here in melbourne and and during this time i've been spending time with the lord just meditating on what it means to build an altar to the lord in our hearts god drew me to the story of david in 1 chronicles 21 it's also shared in into samuel 24 where david builds an altar to the lord so that the plague and the disease that was coming against israel would stop you know i'm not here i don't understand how everything works but i do sense that there is some connection between building an altar to the lord in our hearts and seeing healing and deliverance released and and interestingly that that place where david built that altar so that the plague and the disease that was coming against israel would stop was a place called mount moriah and that same place was also where abraham built an altar to sacrifice his son isaac obviously for those of you familiar with that story isaac wasn't sacrificed in the end because god provided a ram in the thicket to take his place but that happened at the same place as david built an altar to the lord and also that place mount moriah was the location where solomon built the temple to the lord and obviously there was altars that were very much a part of the temple that was built so there was altars in the same place where abraham sacrificed isaac where david built an altar so that the plague might stop and thirdly where solomon built the temple and there was the altars of sacrifice and offering there as well altars have been a part of the journey of the people of god right from very early on in the history of man the bible tells us that the first person to build an altar or the first reference to an altar in scripture is is noah when he and his family came out of the ark it says he built an altar to the lord abraham isaac and jacob all of these mighty men of god they built altars before the law was introduced you see altars are not just part of the religious system of the law but there's there's something deeper than that i believe altars are actually still meant to be a part of our christian lives obviously the expression of altars has looked different and looks different throughout the ages you know i'm clearly not talking about or encouraging us to necessarily go into our backyard and collect a pile of stones and and fashion them into some sort of altar but that is what the early patriarchs did very early on abraham isaac and jacob they built altars and they were there with a purpose to remind them and the people of god of something that god had done for them in that specific location during the period of the law there was an altar that was in the tent of meeting or in the temple that solomon built and that was a place of sacrifice and offering but now here we are in the new covenant and it tells us in in 1 corinthians 6 19 that we are the temple of the holy spirit so where the altar used to be physically present in the temple that solomon built now we are the temple of the holy spirit and altars are about the posture of our hearts you know the word altar the root word for alter actually comes from the word sacrifice altars are that place of sacrifice that place of offering prayer and worship in our hearts and we've had an amazing couple of weeks as pastor matt has shared around prayer if you've joined us over the last couple of sundays you would have just been a part of that amazing teaching on on prayer if you haven't seen those you can go to our website and check those out pastor matt's messages part one and part two on on prayer and i want to continue to build on that this morning as we talk around building an altar of prayer and worship in our hearts turning to to scripture in 1 peter chapter 2 verse 24 this is speaking of jesus and it says that he personally carried our sins in his body on the cross willingly offering himself on it as on an altar of sacrifice so that we might die to sin becoming immune from the penalty and power of sin and live for righteousness for by his wounds you who believe have been healed fascinating again isn't it we were talking about one chronicles 21 just before that connection between building an altar and the plague being stopped there's a i don't understand it all but there's a connection between building an altar and having an altar of prayer and worship in our hearts and healing and deliverance being released and we see that again right here in fact i don't know maybe maybe you're wrestling with some sickness or something right now in your body i just want to pray and declare the healing power of god over you and over your life wherever you are in your bedroom in your car in your living room whatever might be going on holy spirit right now i just come to you in faith just as we read about in the gospels the the faith of the centurion where he had faith and jesus healed his servant who was in a different location i just declare right now while we might be in different locations that your healing power father as we spend time talking around setting up alters in our hearts that you would release healing you would release deliverance in people's bodies and in people's circumstances right now that by the power of god you would shift something lift off symptoms lift off heaviness lift off darkness and we declare freedom we declare light we declare healing health and wholeness in the name of jesus amen and amen i really pray that god is doing something significant perhaps if god has done something even just that moment of prayer we would love to hear testimonies of what god is doing in your life you can reach out and connect with us as i said at our website empower church dot co but coming back to that verse in 1 peter chapter 2 24 here peter likens jesus dying on the cross to an offering on the altar of sacrifice it says that when jesus died on the cross he willingly offered himself on it as on an altar of sacrifice i want to come back to that opening scripture from deuteronomy 27 and the instructions that moses gave there the order of the instructions that moses gave was first that the people of israel were to cross over the river jordan then they were to set up an altar then they were to enter into the land and offer burnt and peace offerings on the altar that they had set up so if we think about jesus dying on the cross as being like jesus offering himself on the altar of sacrifice it tells me that jesus got to the end of those four steps that moses talked about in deuteronomy 27 jesus entered into the promised land and of course we know that to be the case jesus fulfilled his purpose he fulfilled his destiny he fulfilled the promise that was over his life and the purpose that he came to earth for it was through his death and his resurrection that he fulfilled his destiny on earth he absolutely entered into the promised land but i wonder then if jesus got to the end of that process and entered into the promised land what did the crossing over what did the setting up of an altar look like during jesus time on earth i think perhaps the crossing over moment for jesus was right at the very beginning when he came from heaven to earth and was born as a man there's a very clear crossing over isn't there he crossed over from one season to the next he crossed over from heaven to earth but as we know crossing over is not the same as entering into the promised land in the same way that jesus being born as a man didn't automatically mean that he fulfilled his destiny it's the same for us that crossing over alone is different to us setting up an altar and then entering into the land of promise and purpose but obviously there must have also been a time in jesus life where he went through that journey of setting up an altar of prayer and worship in his heart where he prepared to enter into that land of promise and and of course jesus was connected to his father all throughout his life and and was an intimate relationship with him in prayer and worship and there would be a number of moments that we could point to that that clearly show the the altar of prayer and worship that was in jesus heart examples of sacrifice and prayer in the life of jesus but my personal sense is that jesus time of prayer and surrender in the garden of gethsemane is probably the clearest and most powerful example of what it means to set up an altar to the lord in our hearts you know this was jesus moment of surrender i don't know i struggle to say those words without thinking of the youtube song moment of surrender many of you listening or watching may well be familiar with that complete tangent but this moment in the garden of gethsemane was jesus moment of surrender the place where he prepared his heart for the sacrifice that was to come the sacrifice of himself on the cross of calvary and so what i want to do for the remainder of our time together is is look at the three prayers that jesus prayed in the garden of gethsemane and see if we can tie them in with the instructions that moses gave to the israelites in deuteronomy 27 about how to build an altar and see if we can learn some things about how we might be able to set up an alter or perhaps repair and rebuild the altar of prayer and worship in our hearts i'm not sure where you're at this morning but my prayer is that god would do something to stir up and repair and ignite again the altar of prayer and worship in your life in your heart in your family so if we turn to matthew 26 and look at the three prayers that jesus prayed in the garden of gethsemane matthew 26 verses 39 46 it says this in the amplified bible and after going a little farther he fell down and prayed saying my father if it is possible that is consistent with your will let this cup pass for me yet not as i will but as you will such a powerful moment of surrender and he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to peter so you men could not stay awake and keep watch with me for one hour keep actively watching and praying that you may not come into temptation for the spirit is willing but the body is weak he went away a second time and prayed saying my father if this cannot pass away unless i drink it your will be done again he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy so leaving them again he went away and prayed for the third time saying the same words once more and then he returned to the disciples and said to them are you still sleeping and resting listen the hour of my sacrifice is at hand and the son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners get up let us go look my betrayer is near so as i said i want to just look at these three prayers that jesus prayed here in the garden of gethsemane and see if we can link them in with the instructions that moses gave on how to build an altar from deuteronomy 27 the first prayer that jesus prayed he says my father if it's possible that is consistent with your will let this cup pass from me yet not as i will but as you will the first thing i want to mention about this prayer is that jesus starts with my father if you look at the greek word that's used here for father one of the definitions it says the father of jesus christ as one whom god has united to himself in the closest bond of love and intimacy isn't that a beautiful picture and what i want to reinforce here is that that this journey of setting up an altar of prayer and worship in our hearts has to be a journey that starts with love it has to be a journey that's motivated by our love for the lord an altar of sacrifice and prayer and worship should never be motivated by self-effort it should never be motivated by religious duty or religious obligation it should never be motivated by people pleasing if that's the reason why we're coming to the lord in prayer we will never find the freedom that we need to step into purpose and destiny friend i want to encourage you this morning that our motivation our drive the starting place for the altar of prayer in our hearts must be love that must be our starting and our primary motivation as it says in the scripture it's the love of christ that compels us may we be drawn into that place of love as our primary driving motivation for everything that we do amen well this prayer that jesus prays here in the garden of gethsemane is a prayer that really is all about surrender it's about jesus making sure that his priorities were in the right order that the will of his father had the number one spot in terms of the priorities and the things in jesus heart and life that his father's will and purpose had top spot on the list and the order of priorities interestingly the first step in building an altar from moses in deuteronomy 27 was to set up stones and he says that you shall not use an iron tool on them you shall build the altar of the lord your god with whole uncut stones the first instruction that moses gives around how to build an altar is to set up the stones and so when we look at the stones or the rocks in our lives i wonder whether they're set up in the right order the right order of priorities the right formation are our priorities where they should be if you look at the big rocks and the stones that form your life that take up headspace and time in your world what order are they set up in are there some stones that perhaps are in a more important spot than they really deserve perhaps social media or work or um other spaces in your life have a much higher level of priority than perhaps they should i wonder where the the stone of god's will and purpose is in your life in your order of priorities does the stone of god's will and purpose need to be elevated again to sit at number one in your order of priorities just as jesus was doing here not as my will but as your will be done surrendering and reordering and making sure that the priorities are aligned with what god wants to do you know i'm reminded thinking about stones and putting them together in the right order and formation i'm reminded of of playing building blocks we've got three kids at home malia has you know going through prep at school and we've just obviously had two weeks of homeschooling which has its challenges um we've also got two other um younger boys joel who's three and lucas who's just turned two we had three lockdown birthdays over the the 14 day lockdown my amazing wife sarah malia and lucas all had birthdays in the space of those two weeks so not ideal timing but we were able to celebrate nevertheless playing with building blocks with with joel i'm reminded of that when we're talking about stones and and forming them in the way that god wants us to because sometimes when i'm playing building blocks with joel he he doesn't quite understand how to position the blocks to build what he wants to build he doesn't quite understand how to choose the right shapes to fit where they need to fit and i think sometimes this is what happens in our lives when our stones for the altar in our hearts aren't in the right order or priority there's a there's a wobbliness there's a shakiness because the stones aren't set up the way they're meant to be and so when you look at the altar of prayer in your heart are you coming to god with that posture of surrender where his will is your number one priority where we lay everything else down and we say not my will but yours be done the other instruction that moses gives in the context of the stones from judah 27 is that the people of israel were to use uncut stones and not use an iron tool or a chisel or anything like that on them and i think what this speaks to me is that when we come to god in prayer and worship at the altar of our hearts you see god's not looking for polished shiny perfectly sculpted prayers that's not what he's looking at he's not looking for us to come with some kind of facade some shiny you know external appearance no god wants us to come to him raw and natural real and uncut he wants us to come to him with our mess with the bumps with the rough edges with the cracks and everything that we are he knows us he loves us and he's made a way for all of that mess to be atoned for he wants us to come to him in a way that is raw real and uncut in the same way that moses instructed the israelites to build their altars out of uncut stones and interestingly it was in the garden of gethsemane that i think jesus had one of his most human moments of his time on earth he was obviously really hurting and wrestling with the assignment that was ahead of him it says and these are the words of jesus my soul is deeply grieved so that i am almost dying of sorrow and again in that prayer right if it's possible let this cup pass from you there was a there was a real humanity a real rawness about jesus in the garden of gethsemane he was laying and setting up the altar of his heart with uncut stones just coming before the lord being real and uncut and can i encourage you in your own prayer life it's okay to be emotional in fact i encourage you to be emotional in your prayers you know if you're frustrated if you're disappointed if you're hurting if you're sad if you're angry tell the lord about those feelings and those circumstances in your prayer life just as jesus was real with his father in prayer may we also be real with our father in our own prayer life as we go on this journey of establishing perhaps rebuilding repairing setting up that altar of prayer and worship in our hearts the second prayer that jesus prays in the garden of gethsemane comes out of verse 42 in matthew 26 and it says he went away a second time and prayed saying my father if this cannot pass away unless i drink it your will be done i love the message translation of this verse that says again he prayed my father if there is no other way than this drinking this cup to the dregs i'm ready do it your way what a statement i'm ready do it your way if only we would be people who could live that out in every area of our lives lord i'm ready do it your way see the first prayer that jesus prayed was all about surrendering his will and and getting his priorities right but here we see jesus committing himself to god's way of doing things and the second instruction that moses gives in deuteronomy 27 around how to build an altar or the instruction that was specific for the altar that he was asking the israelites to build in that setting was to coat the stones in plaster which seems a little bit odd and a little bit strange to be honest because this is as far as i'm aware the only time in scripture where this instruction is recorded as something that the israelites were commanded to do there's nowhere in the law of moses that specifically says stones need to be coated coated in in plaster look some of the commentators they say that perhaps god asked them to do this so that when they wrote the words of the law on the stones they would be more visible and clearer when people walked past and that in itself just prompts an interesting thought and a bit of a a tangent but i wonder whether there are things that we could do to make the word of god more clear and more visible to those around us in the same way that perhaps putting plaster on those stones and when they wrote the law on there it was clearly able to be seen i wonder whether there's things in your life perhaps that you can adjust that you can shift that you can do that you can wash over so that the word of god is more clearly seen and more visible perhaps to your family perhaps to your neighbors to to the parents or the moms that you see at school whatever it might be your colleagues at work i wonder what we can do to make the word of god more visible to those that we come in contact with an interesting thought to ponder and to pray into but coming back to the specific instruction from moses here in deuteronomy 27 to coat the stones in plaster we don't really know exactly why god asked them to do this and that's just that's just life isn't it that god's ways are higher than our ways god's thoughts are higher than our thoughts sometimes we just don't understand the ways of god we don't understand exactly why he's asking us to do something or why he's doing something a particular way but as people who are looking to establish and set up alters of prayer and worship in our hearts may we be people who are committed to god's way regardless of what that looks like regardless of whether that fits with the expectations that we had regardless of whether that fits with our past experience of how we thought it should play out regardless of what it looks like that we would be people who just like jesus say i'm ready lord do it your way you know there's so many examples in the bible of just weird things that happened but that was part of god's way of causing supernatural victories and shifts and changes and miracles you think about the israelites marching around the the walls of jericho what a bizarre strategy okay guys um for six days we're gonna be silent and we're gonna march around the walls of this city and then on the seventh day i want you to march around seven times and i want you to shout and blow trumpets and all of the walls are going to fall down how bizarre i'm sure that didn't fit with the expectations that they had i'm sure that didn't fit with their past experience or even thinking about other things i was reminded of of elisha and the the school of the prophets where they were looking to to build a building and they were chopping down trees near the jordan river and someone was chopping down a tree and the axe head flew off and landed in the river and naturally sank to the bottom and they come to elisha and say help us help us the axe head is gone and what does elisha do he breaks off a stick throws it in the water and the axe head floats to the top who would have thought that that would be god's way of getting the axe head back certainly wouldn't have fitted with any of their expectations but god's ways are higher than our ways and may we be people in our prayer life that are just committed to doing things god's way regardless of what it looks like and regardless of whether we can rationalize it in our own minds so when we come to god in prayer come before him at the altar of our hearts may we be people who truly are able to say just as jesus did i'm ready do it your way you know it reminds me of of a scripture that has really spoken to me and continues to to be something that i'm reminded of from psalm 5 verse 3 in the passion translation it says that each and every sunrise you will hear my voice as i prepare my sacrifice of prayer to you every morning i lay out the pieces of my life on the altar and wait for your fire to fall upon my heart i wonder if we would just be people who lay out our circumstances lay out our questions lay out our issues lay out our needs before the lord without any preconceived ideas without any expectations around how he needs to answer those prayers and just allow him to do it his way we wait for his fire to fall the way he wants to move i wonder if there's any preconceived ideas or religious mindsets or perhaps past experiences that are limiting and restricting your prayer life right now could we just believe god to remove all limitations to break open every ceiling so that our prayers could be aligned with his purposes and his plans not restricted by past experience not restricted by our own expectations not restricted by our own insecurities not restricted by our religious mindsets in the box that we've put him in that we would break open and allow god to do things the way he wants to do in and through us on the altar of our hearts i wonder where in your life perhaps it's time for you to say leaving all of that aside lord i'm ready do it your way do it your way lord so we've looked at the first prayer that that jesus prayed and it was about surrender and getting our priorities right in the same way that moses instructed the israelites to set up the stones for the altar the second prayer that jesus prayed was one about committing to doing things god's way and in the same way that the instruction that that moses gave the israelites to coat the stones in plaster we don't really know exactly why that was we don't really know why god does things the way he does but may we be people in the altar of prayer in our hearts that are committed to doing things god's way and then the third prayer that jesus prays at the garden of gethsemane verse 44 of matthew 26 it says so leaving them again he went away and prayed for the third time saying the same words once more again the message translation i really like this it says this time he let them sleep on and went back a third time to pray going over the same ground one last time can i tell you this morning that in building an altar in our hearts and setting up that place of prayer in our lives it's okay to go over the same ground more than once can i give you permission this morning that it's okay to pray with the same prayer again and again it's okay to go around the mountain again and again sometimes that needs to happen in order for god to complete the work that he wants to do within us perhaps we can just tear down some religious lies right here and right now perhaps you felt ashamed because something didn't happen the first time that you prayed for it perhaps you felt like a failure perhaps you felt squashed or condemned or you felt like you were missing something because you prayed once and it didn't happen the way that you thought and you've become discouraged or disheartened let me tell you that's a religious lie from the enemy just as jesus here have to pray prayers more than once it's okay to go over the same ground again and again perhaps you've got an issue that you're wrestling with and you feel so overwhelmed by the fact that you stumble again and again let me tell you it's okay to go around the same mountain more than once it's okay to cover the same ground more than once sometimes we need to pray the same prayer again and again and be persistent sometimes we need to cover the same ground again and again so that what god is doing actually becomes a part of who we are sometimes we need to keep going around again and again until we see the breakthrough that we're believing for sometimes we need to keep going and keep going until the word of god truly is written upon our hearts so that it moves from our intellect to our hearts and begins to transform us from the inside out you have permission to go around and cover the same ground again don't let the fact that it didn't happen the first time stop you from going after the promise from going after your destiny from going after that dream from going after that miracle from going after that breakthrough so that's the third prayer that jesus prayed he goes over the same ground one more time and the third instruction of moses in deuteronomy 27 around how they were meant to to build their altar the third instruction it says you shall write on the stones all the words of this law this i find quite fascinating and to be honest quite overwhelming in some ways you think about all of the law right this deuteronomy 27 is after all of the law had been given by god through moses and he says write all of the words of this law on these stones i'm not sure how they would have done this how many people were working on it i'm not sure how big the stones were but in my head this would have been a pretty painstaking tedious and time-consuming process to inscribe i'm assuming they would have used some kind of chisel all of the words of the law on these stones and this to me speaks of taking our time to make sure that we do the process right that we see things through until they are complete that we don't leave things undone that we don't move on too soon all of the words of the law were meant to be inscribed on these stones that we keep going until the work is complete until the word of god is truly written upon our hearts i'm reminded of jeremiah 31 verse 33 god says i will put my law within them and i will write it on their hearts if we were in that position where we were asked to write all of the law on those stones i wonder how we would respond personally just being real i think in the context of the society in which we live which is so often dubbed a microwave society i think i would have struggled to have the patience and the endurance to stick that out i'm not sure we would have been able to actually go all the way through and see the work of god completed just being honest i mean my kids sometimes struggle to wait the two minutes for they did in a warm up in the microwave let alone you know having a group of people who are able to chisel the entire law on stones i think too often in our christian walk we move on far too quickly and we don't give enough time for god to complete the work that he wants to do within us and with the altar of prayer in our hearts my prayer is that we would be people who are willing to go round the mountain one more time pray that prayer one more time go over the same ground one more time just as jesus did and that we're able to do that until the work of god is complete and established within us i wonder are there any areas in your life perhaps that are half finished right now where god started something but you've moved on too quickly are there any half completed altars in different parts of your life that perhaps you need to go back to and see them finished and completed are there some old promises or dreams that you need to revisit well god started something but you've moved on and you didn't allow him to complete the work you didn't give him the time or the persistence or the patience to complete that work or other heart issues perhaps addictions or other struggles in our lives that have only been half addressed and it's time to come back to those and give them the attention and go round the mountain the prayer the same ground again and again until we see them properly fully and finally resolved and we find that place of freedom you see a key part in setting up an altar of prayer and worship and sacrifice in our hearts is being willing to take the time that we need to see god complete the work to continue to come back in our prayer life and asking god for that same breakthrough that same freedom whatever it might be that same dream to come to pass i think of the persistent widow the parable of the persistent widow just being someone who's able to go back and cover the same ground just as jesus did there in the garden of gethsemane he went over the same ground one more time so when looking through the prayers of jesus in the garden of gethsemane and the instructions of moses from deuteronomy 27 as as we bring our time together this morning to an end there's three things that we've pulled out of that around what it means to establish an altar of prayer in our hearts firstly we need to come to god in surrender just as jesus prayed not my will but yours be done and moses gave that instruction to set up the stones this this this coming to god and surrender is about making sure our priorities are where they need to be that god's ways are our number one priority secondly we need to commit ourselves to god's way regardless of what it looks like regardless of our past experience regardless of our expectations as jesus said i'm ready do it your way we don't always understand the ways of god we don't understand why moses specifically you know threw the lord gave that instruction to coat the stones with plaster thirdly we are to cover the same ground until the work is complete jesus went back over the same ground one more time and just as the israelites the instructions from moses was to write all of the law on those stones may we be people who are willing to continue to come back to the lord in prayer until the work that he wants to do in us is complete so i wonder where you're at with the altar of prayer and worship and sacrifice in your heart what is the condition of the altar in your life in your heart in your family how is the altar of prayer and sacrifice going in your heart i'm not sure where you're at maybe all of this is new to you maybe you've just stumbled across this as you've been surfing the web that felt like an old school phrase surfing the web maybe you stumbled across this as you've just been googling things and this is all new to you and you need to begin from the very beginning and start constructing an altar that's totally fine god is with you in that space he wants to meet you where you're at but maybe you've been on this journey for a long time and you've been attending church and walking with the lord for many years and you've had perhaps your ups and downs and and maybe the lord is stirring you to to go back and repair and rebuild parts of your altar that haven't been maintained properly i'm reminded of one kings 18 verses 30 to 32 this is the prophet elijah on mount carmel 1 kings 18 30-32 then elijah said to all the people come near to me so all the people approached him and he repaired and rebuilt the old altar of the law that had been torn down then elijah took 12 stones in accordance with the number of the tribes of the sons of jacob to whom the word of the lord had come saying israel shall be your name so with the stones elijah built an altar in the name of the lord perhaps you need to repair and rebuild some parts of the altar of your heart that haven't been properly maintained to come back to that place of surrender to commit yourself afresh to doing things god's way regardless of what that looks like or going over the same ground again to allow god to complete the work that he started in you i'm here to tell you this morning that it's time to set up and establish that altar of prayer and worship and sacrifice in our hearts and i believe that if we do this we will be a family of people who not only cross over into the new season cross over into the new spaces and places but we would be people who truly enter in to the land of promise enter into the promised land enter into destiny enter into the destiny that is uniquely yours that's my prayer for you that as we go on this journey of establishing an altar of prayer and worship in our hearts that you would personally enter into the destiny of god that place of promise for you because god has great plans and purposes for you and i want to see god do something significant as he empowers a family and a group of people into destiny and into purpose to enter into the land it's time to enter the land it's time to enter that place of fulfilled promises it's time to enter into that place of destiny and purpose and i declare that over you this morning in the name of jesus friend i pray that you were blessed and encouraged by a time together this morning i encourage you to continue to to go to god and see that altar of prayer and worship established in your heart in your family in your world because god has a great promise and a great purpose for you and my prayer is that we would truly enter into the promised land in jesus name [Music] amen you

Channel: Empower Church

Views: 188

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: empower church, empower, furtick, hillsong, church, matt garner, matty garner, preaching, preach, melbourne, jesus, bible, prayer, enter the land

Id: UpJ2Fss6VYw

Length: 53min 1sec (3181 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 12 2021