Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Good morning.
[00:00:07] Yes, good morning. It's a delight for and I to be back here again.
[00:00:13] We are dog sitting and also just have an opportunity of sharing with you this morning, which is a joy. Of course, I've enjoyed the times I've been here before, and it's good to see so many of you here again today.
[00:00:29] Esther said, would you speak? We're in a sort of season on prayer, she said, which is a great season to be in, isn't it? She said, would you share something on the theme of prayer?
[00:00:40] So I said, okay, I'll do that. And I've sort of just asked the Lord about it. And so in a moment I'm going to speak on the four altars of Abraham.
[00:00:57] I'll say it again, but before that, whenever you talk about prayer, you'll find I come out here and as far as I can come, whenever I sort of think about prayer, particularly in a New Testament context, I always think, and go back to acts 242 where it says that the christians devoted themselves, or some translations put it, they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine. That's their teaching fellowship, that's sharing their lives together. That's a whole lot more than a cup of coffee, breaking of bread and prayer.
[00:01:47] You know, we often hear the phrase, don't we, that we aspire to be a New Testament church.
[00:01:52] So it's a pretty good idea to find out what was important to the New Testament church and what wasn't.
[00:02:00] And we might sort of end up finding out that in fact, the things that we feel are really important and major to the New Testament church and to the almighty are minor.
[00:02:14] And that would be a problem.
[00:02:18] New Testament church teaching, our teaching, our fellowship, breaking a bread, it was important to the New Testament church, but the church of the 21st century is knocking the breaking of bread on the head.
[00:02:34] But we aspired of your New Testament church.
[00:02:39] Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you should have breaking of bread every Sunday morning, but I'm saying we need to rethink the importance.
[00:02:50] Put your hand up if you have breaking a bread in your home, few, not too many. Okay, maybe that's one area. And of course, prayer, prayer was one of the things that was so important to them. And I've been, was in ministry for over 40 years.
[00:03:08] I was never at a church where the prayer meeting wasn't the least attended service.
[00:03:17] Of course, being the pastor, I couldn't make an excuse. I had to be there.
[00:03:23] I couldn't be too busy.
[00:03:26] Let me tell you, I have been in prayer meetings. This is being honest. I have been in prayer meetings where I could scratch my eyes out. They were so boring.
[00:03:40] Anybody got anything they want to pray about? Oh, my word.
[00:03:46] Oh, my next door neighbor's got a. I noticed she was limping this morning.
[00:03:53] Times when we were just waiting. I tell you what, when you're waiting for a service to close the time, don't ask, go slowly.
[00:04:04] Yet, for the New Testament church, the prayer was absolutely fundamental.
[00:04:11] If we aspire to be a New Testament church, we've got to rediscover. That's a good idea, a good phrase, isn't it?
[00:04:18] What are you trying to rediscover? We've got to rediscover the things that the New Testament church was really passionate about. They were passionate about praying.
[00:04:31] So it tells me if they continued steadfastly or one person puts it like this, they continued to continue steadfastly is to continue to do something with intense effort, despite difficulty. Oh, that's a very good definition of what you have to do when it comes to praying.
[00:04:59] Continuing steadfastly, to do with great effort, something that comes with difficulty. So that tells me three things about the New Testament concept of prayer. One is that prayer is important.
[00:05:22] If you're going to continue steadfastly, it's because you're going to be tempted in the process maybe just to just neglect or give up on your praying. It's important. So they continued steadfastly. They put 1ft after the other day by day in their prayer lives.
[00:05:42] That was the first thing. It was important.
[00:05:48] Second thing is, it tells me that prayer is hard work.
[00:05:54] The third thing is, it tells me that prayer has to be done with discipline.
[00:05:58] So if you're going to have a good prayer life, you better be prepared to be disciplined.
[00:06:06] You've got to be prepared for some difficulty.
[00:06:12] It's a lot easier to spend an hour listening to a worship tape than seeking the Lord in prayer.
[00:06:21] So prayer is so important, the importance of prayer. It's worth sticking at the hard work in prayer and the discipline in prayer.
[00:06:39] What is the problem? What's the issue? Why has prayer become such a cinderella in the church of Jesus?
[00:06:49] Why are prayer meetings so often in churches now? The prayer meetings, another one that's been knocked on the head, or if we have prayer meetings, there's a whole lot more music and worship going on than praying, because I believe that we have underestimated or undervalued what prayer really is. Prayer is not simply turning up with a shopping list and asking God to meet your needs.
[00:07:21] This is what prayer is about.
[00:07:24] Prayer is about. If I would say two things, two words to do with prayer. It is these two words, relationship and communication.
[00:07:36] Relationship.
[00:07:38] When we pray to God, we are praying to one in whom and with whom we have a relationship.
[00:07:43] What an amazing thing that is. And how that relationship has been formed through the cross is an amazing truth.
[00:07:53] And in our relationship there has to be communication. Guys, I don't know why I'm saying guys here.
[00:08:01] You imagine that you were married to somebody who never let you ever get a word in, in a conversation hand. No. Don't know how many relationships are ruined by lack of communication.
[00:08:26] Our prayer meetings will begin to thrive and flow with anointing when our own individual lives start to flow and go with anointing.
[00:08:41] So often we come to a prayer meeting and we come through a prayerless life and seek somehow that God will answer our prayers. And we wonder why we get so few prayers really answered powerfully.
[00:08:57] So I'm going to just lead you through these four altars that Abraham built this morning. I think it will help you.
[00:09:06] I'm encouraging you, I'm imploring you, I'm challenging you in your own life to begin to think again about your own personal prayer life.
[00:09:19] Years ago they used to call it a quiet time. It might be quiet, it might not be quiet or a devotion.
[00:09:30] I know Anne will hate me saying this.
[00:09:34] I have been married to Anne. I can't believe it.
[00:09:38] In three months time we will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.
[00:09:45] I can't believe that I can be that old to be married only 50. Let me tell you in 50 years I could tell you on the one hand, the number of mornings that I have woke up and Anne has been by my side, whether she was sick, whether she was weaning children in the middle of the night, whether she was looking after our children, she would be every morning down with God, just seeking prayerfully to come into that deeper relationship with him every single day.
[00:10:29] I don't suppose they were easy. I don't suppose it came naturally. But that was what she did and has always done and does to this day.
[00:10:40] And I know about an hour later I'll get a cup of tea.
[00:10:45] I want to encourage you to rethink your prayer life this morning. Okay. And I'm using some thoughts. I'm going to dip into them very briefly. Esther's given me a time slot. I'm going to keep to it.
[00:10:58] The four altars of Abraham. I'm going from chapter twelve through to chapter 13 and 14, then to 22, where Abraham on his journey. Some of you will know that Abraham was called out from God by God to go from where he originally lived, in ur of the Chaldees. And then they came through Haron. And then eventually God said, I'll move you on, and eventually I'll show you a place I'm going to give to you and your descendants. And so we find Abraham in chapter twelve. He's moving on that journey.
[00:11:36] And it says, they passed through the land to the place of Shechem, a place where the terebinth lay near Morah, and the Canaanites were then in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to your descendants, I will give this land. And there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him.
[00:12:04] So the first altar is the altar of Shechem.
[00:12:10] Interesting. Shechem actually means shoulder.
[00:12:16] Did you know that your shoulder is one of the most powerful and strong parts of your body?
[00:12:22] That's why we talk about having broad shoulders.
[00:12:26] Or you can don't cry on my shoulder.
[00:12:32] It's why the shepherd brings the lamb back, carrying it on his shoulder.
[00:12:39] Back to the 99 says of Jesus, the government shall be upon his shoulder. The shoulder is a place of great strength. SO ShEkhaM speaks of strength. It was a place that AbrahAM built an altar and received strength.
[00:13:05] In over 40 years of ministry, I knew that whenever I was confronted or whenever I was sharing or whenever I was pastoring or whenever I was counseling people who were weak in faith, I always knew that when I spoke to them about their personal walk with God, there would be very little prayer in their life.
[00:13:28] Seven prayerless days make one week. Spelt W-E-A-K.
[00:13:45] Abraham receives strength in this first altar.
[00:13:51] If you want to be a strong Christian, there'll be times when God needs your full attention, totally and completely to himself.
[00:14:02] Notice it says here that God appeared to Abraham and spoke to him. That's the only altar. When God actually appeared to Abraham, what did he say?
[00:14:20] The Lord said to him, to your descendants, I will give the land. And there he built an altar to the Lord. Sorry, I've got new glasses.
[00:14:33] I can't see very well in them.
[00:14:38] So in this first altar, we find that God is appearing to Abraham, speaking to Abraham, and then speaking into his life.
[00:14:52] To your descendants, I will give this land. Remember that Abraham was on a journey. He didn't know. He knew that God was taking him somewhere, but he didn't know where.
[00:15:02] And God says, abraham, you've reached the place to your descendants, I'm going to give this land.
[00:15:16] If God was to promise to appear to you tomorrow morning, to speak to you personally and to speak direction and promise into your life, you would be up like the lark in the morning, wouldn't you?
[00:15:39] Yet there is a place in the presence of God where God comes and appears and speaks and promises, and out of that comes strength. And AbrahAM needed strength. Because there's that little phrase there. It says, the Canaanites were then in the land at that time.
[00:16:02] Oh, can you imagine what was going to happen when the Canaanites found out that God had promised their land to Abraham?
[00:16:12] Abraham couldn't quite see what God had promised.
[00:16:18] He could see the Canaanites around, but he knew and he believed. And he became strong in that place to believe. The promises that God had for him that came to him in the place of the altar, place of Shechem.
[00:16:36] Can I just say, just if I pass on to number two, I always heard a lot of people saying, well, I pray when I'm washing the dishes. Do you ever do that?
[00:16:52] Okay.
[00:16:54] Or I pray when I'm in the. Driving the car. That's okay.
[00:17:01] Folks, there are times when God needs your total attention to himself.
[00:17:09] When the things that he wants to speak, when the deep things to your heart that he wants to say will only come in a place where you are totally and completely under his attention.
[00:17:25] Okay? So that was shechem. The place where Abraham believed what he couldn't yet see.
[00:17:36] Place where God spoke. Folks, you have a right to expect the presence of God when you come before him in prayer.
[00:17:48] You have a right to expect to hear from him. You see, this is one of the problems about prayer. We forget that prayer is about thanksgiving. It's about appreciation. It's about listening. It's about communicating. It's not just simply about me talking and him listening.
[00:18:06] God has more to say, more important things to say to you than you have to him.
[00:18:11] Number two, he moved on.
[00:18:15] He moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel. And he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and AI on the east. And he built an altar to the Lord. Number two, was it Bethel?
[00:18:31] Notice.
[00:18:33] Oh, I'm not talking about Bethel. Reading.
[00:18:38] He built an altar at Bethel.
[00:18:41] Can I just draw you to something that I think is very important? It says, when he moved to Bethel, he pitched his tent, and then he built an altar.
[00:18:55] Can I say to all of you this morning, don't get so preoccupied with your tent that you forget your altar when you move to your new home, and you're setting it all up, and you're getting all together. And your tent's absolutely fantastic. Don't forget that Abraham not only pitched a tent. But then he very speedily erected an altar.
[00:19:23] A place of significance for him.
[00:19:26] It had to be. Because eventually, in chapter 13 and verse three. He comes back to Bethel.
[00:19:36] Back to the altar that he had built previously.
[00:19:39] But this time, he's not just calling on the name of the Lord.
[00:19:46] He's coming with baggage. He's coming with sin. He's coming with repentance. Very much on his heart. What has happened?
[00:19:55] If you follow the story, you'll see that after Abraham built his altar, he went down to Egypt. It says there was famine in Egypt.
[00:20:08] And instead of trusting God to meet the famine where he was. He trusted the Egyptians to meet the famine. First mistake.
[00:20:15] Second mistake. Being down in Egypt where he shouldn't have been. He suddenly realized that his wife was very attractive.
[00:20:25] And somebody in authority would want his wife. And Abraham's life would be in jeopardy. So he said to Sarah, you pretend to be my sister. Second mistake.
[00:20:39] So pharaoh came along, saw Sarah. And said, is this your wife? No, this is my sister. Oh, I'll take her for my own.
[00:20:47] And it says the Lord plagued pharaoh for Abraham's sin. Third mistake.
[00:20:56] Eventually, he escapes with his life and with Sarah. And he comes back to Bethel.
[00:21:06] To the place where he was and had been at the beginning. To the place of the altar that he had made there.
[00:21:17] Sometimes you have to come back to a place. In order to deal with the things that need to be sorted out with you and God.
[00:21:29] It's good to have a quiet place. It's good to have a devotional place. It's good to have a prayer life. Where you can come and bring your sin. And ask for repentance from know.
[00:21:46] The biggest thing. And Abraham was very responsible. The biggest thing that he had done. Was not to lie over his wife Sarah. But when he came back from Egypt, he brought with him a servant girl whose name was Hagar.
[00:22:06] Wouldn't be too long before Abraham and Hagar conceived and brought forth a son, Ishmael. And Ishmael has become the father of the islamic race.
[00:22:19] Abraham has a lot to answer for.
[00:22:25] He came back to Bethel.
[00:22:27] Sometimes in the quiet place. In the place where you're just seeking God in prayer. Sometimes the burden of your heart will be your own sin.
[00:22:37] Thank God that we can come back to a place. Aren't you so wonderful that God always gives you a place to come back to when you feel lousy? And you feel rotten and you feel sinful and you feel condemned. God gives you a place to come back to. And sometimes when you come into the quiet place, you just say, oh, God, you're so wonderful. But I don't want to talk about your promises. I just want to just jettison, and I just want to get rid of this sin out of my heart.
[00:23:03] Bethel was a significant place. He came to it twice.
[00:23:08] They continued steadfastly.
[00:23:12] Bethel was significant, too. Just have to say this. Bethel was significant, too. In that two generations later, his grandson Jacob came to that very place.
[00:23:25] Jacob said, wow, this is none other but the house of God.
[00:23:32] It was there that Jacob had this wonderful dream of angels ascending and descending as he lay upon the rock.
[00:23:40] Do you know what I felt the Holy Spirit say to me? When you lay stones, when you build altars, when you plant altars before God, you're not only doing them for yourself, you're planting those things as a legacy for those that will come after you.
[00:24:01] You think your prayer life is just about you and God.
[00:24:09] I'm absolutely. Well, I know. And this is not false humility. I know that my kids are where they are today, a large part because of Anne's praying.
[00:24:17] You're not just planting and laying principles altars for your own life. You're laying them for those that would come after you. Isn't it wonderful? I have seen. I saw it in ministry years ago, how I would see young people come into the church, and they would tell me that their grandparents had been part of the church, but their parents hadn't for some reason.
[00:24:40] And it seemed as if two generations later, the Holy Spirit remember this girl saying to me, said, I'm sure, she said, my grandfather was an elder in this church. I am sure that I am here today, restored at university through the prayers of my grandparents.
[00:24:59] Number three.
[00:25:01] We've been to Shekham. We've been to Bethel. We're now going to go to Hebron.
[00:25:08] Chapter 13.
[00:25:12] Some sadness.
[00:25:15] Abraham and Lot are having to part company.
[00:25:22] If you look in the scriptures, you'll see.
[00:25:25] The Lord told Abraham right in the beginning to leave his home and leave his family.
[00:25:32] And it says, and Lot went with him.
[00:25:37] Lot was the son of Abraham's brother. He was Abraham's nephew, his father. The scripture tells us his father had died, but lot came with Abraham. I don't know whether that was God's will. I don't know whether he should have done. But he did tells me that Abraham was very, very fond of lot.
[00:26:04] He was almost the closest family that he had.
[00:26:08] The time came when both of them were exceedingly well off. Lots of flocks and sheep and herds. And their herdsmen were kind of contending with each other. Maybe there wasn't enough land. Maybe there wasn't enough food for all the sheep and the goats and the cows or whatever it might be.
[00:26:28] But whatever it was, they decided that they would part asunder.
[00:26:34] I just get the feeling that Abraham's heart was kind of almost parting asunder in the process.
[00:26:43] He was going to miss Lot.
[00:26:47] And I think as he watched Lot leave him go on his own journey. And he saw lot planting his tent near the outskirts of Sodom.
[00:26:59] With all its wickedness. I think Abraham's heart almost kind of was cut in half.
[00:27:09] And at that time, as he watched Lot disappearing in the distance, the spirit of God began to speak to him.
[00:27:20] Abraham, lift up your eyes where you are now.
[00:27:24] And.
