Revival in the Family – Part 2 | Sun 25 Sep | 2022 Year of Abundant Harvest

Welcome back to the house of God. Today is special, because God has made this day and allowed us to speak with Him and praise and worship Him.

Today we will learn about Building a family Altar.

We as a parent, we must bring a revival at our home in order to bring a revival at our Church and eventually in our land.

 And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. You shall wield no iron tool on them;

And on the day you cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster.

And when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster.

And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. You shall wield no iron tool on them; you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut stones. And you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and shall eat there, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God. And you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”

As soon as they were come into Canaan, they must set up a monument, on which they must write the words of this law. They must set up an altar. The word and prayer must go together. Though they might not, of their own heads, set up any altar besides that at the tabernacle; yet, by the appointment of God, they might, upon special occasion. This altar must be made of unhewn stones, such as they found upon the field. Christ, our Altar, is a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, refused by the builders, as having no form or comeliness, but accepted of God the Father, and made the Head of the corner. In the Old Testament the words of the law are written, with the curse annexed; which would overcome us with horror, if we had not, in the New Testament, an altar erected close by, which gives consolation. Blessed be God, the printed copies of the Scriptures among us, do away the necessity of such methods as were presented to Israel. The end of the gospel ministry is, and the end of preachers ought to be, to make the word of God as plain as possible. Yet, unless the Spirit of God prosper such labours with Divine power, we shall not, even by these means, be made wise unto salvation: for this blessing we should therefore daily and earnestly pray.

Most of the times we pray whenever there are crisis. However here Moses says that when you are enjoying milk and honey, do not forget God.

People do not believe in alter now a days. If we look at the patriarchs, they tell us so many things about the importance of the family alter.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

It is a beautiful thing to see family honouring the alter and worshiping the lord.

So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

Abraham taught Isaac and Isaac followed what his father did in order to honour and call upon the name of the Lord.

By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.

Your children will not go or the house of God unless you set a right order in your family and build an altar.

Every family must cultivate an alter and this is a basic thing to do for everybody.

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

We are thankful to God that Abraham set an example by building am alter for his family. Now if we see, the entire generation are through it. However, back in the day, that alter was ignored.

Now a days people show more through fashion, possessions etc. But when the time comes to give, they ignore.

Many times, God gives us and we keep it for us. However, we must have a giving heart. In order to build an altar, we must give a sacrifice. The prosperity which takes you to God is from God and the prosperity that takes us away from God is not from God. When we come to the alter and realize that everything we have is from God and we stand against the enemy, and teach our children is the way acceptable to Christ.

God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.

And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner,

What does it mean to call the Lord is my banner? This means God leads us to victory.

At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal.

Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

Today we are raising children to dance us and honour us. We need our children to dance for God and honour God rather than pleasing us or other people in the world.

And Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first altar that he built to the Lord.

And Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first altar that he built to the Lord.

We are busy in our own schedule and not giving time for our family. Do we have family alter? What does it mean to have a family alter? It simply means keeping God at the centre of family and centre of everything.

Family alter is a place where we come together as a family and read the word of God and pray together. Time is not important, but your attitude and your desire for God matters.

The empty alter will never attract the fire of God. If there is no fire from God, how will there be a revival in your homes to begin with? How will there be a revival in your church?

Praise God, give Him all the glory!

But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

There are three important alter, Personal, Family and Church.

You must have an altar. In a marriage you must have an altar. Building an altar, setting a time apart and sacrifice maybe your sleep, or going out or meeting friends. But we must build alter in our family and with a family alter, there is a transformation at home. And when there is a transformation in your life, your church will transform as well. We are praying for the spiritual awakening at churches and among people.

An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

Are you feeling that your family is struggling to cope up with certain things? Are you feeling that you are losing blessings? Are you feeling that deep down in your heart, you have a feeling of brokenness? If your answer is yes, that means today is the day when you must bow down to God and build an altar in your family to begin your personal revival.

Dear Church, let’s pray for an old-fashion, Heaven-sent, God-honouring, sin-defeating, revival of the family altar! It may be the first step toward revival in our land and especially in our Church.

We thank you for joining us. We look forward to see you all again next Sunday. God Bless!