Repairing the Broken Altar

1 Kings 18:30-39

Living in the Light

Repairing the Broken Altar

Do you remember where you were when you asked Christ into your heart? For many of us it was at a church altar. Where we came and knelt and asked Jesus to come into our hearts. Oh, what a day that was. There something special about the church altar.

For those who have been in church for a long time, you probably can testify of the mighty things that have occurred at the altar. From your life being changed to others.

We hold it in high regard, but it is a place that over time has been neglected. A place where many of us met Jesus, has now become like an abandon zone, that is rarely visited by the believer.

I know that when it comes to talking to Jesus, we can do that anywhere at anytime, but there are some places where we show to the Lord that we are serious about our relationship. And at the altar is one of those places.

I did a search of the word “altar” in the KJV and it appears 364 times. Friends, when it comes to the altar, the Word of God shows great importance to it.

And if it is important to God, it should be important to us.

Now what is an altar? Well, simply put, it is a meeting place for you and the Lord. Now the altar was a place at the tabernacle and temple, where a sacrifice or offering was made to the Lord.

And when we come to the altar, we are illustrating to the Lord that we are offering ourselves to the Lord, and that we want the Lord to come upon us and meet with us.

Now we are about to read about an altar, and friends if we are going to live in the light of Christ, we have got to repair the altar unto the Lord.

(Read Scripture)

When we read this account, we see the mighty hand of God moving at that altar. What would it have been like to see that happen?

Well, I think if we witnessed that, we would have been like those people who were there, getting on our knees and recognizing the Lord for who he is.

But we look at the altar today, and we don’t see the power of God. We just see a place in the church.

We fail to move to it, maybe because we doubt it, maybe because we are embarrassed by it, maybe because it is broken. Well friends, the altar was broken in this passage, but when Elijah showed the importance of it, the people saw the power in it.

Now I want you to see the power in the altar today, by noticing these four things from this passage.

Point 1 – The Bidding to the Altar (vs 30)

· Now the first thing we see is the bidding to the altar. Look at verse 30. What is Elijah saying? He is saying come near unto me.

· Let me ask you this question, if Jesus was standing in the vestibule, would you go to where he was? I’m sure we all say yes. What if Jesus was there in the pew, would we go to him there? Of course. Well, why are we so reluctant to meet him at the altar?

· Why is Elijah bidding them to come to the altar, because there is where they would see the power of God displayed.

· You know friend, the reason we have an altar call, is so you can draw near to the Lord, that you may see the power of God poured down on your life.

· Elijah bid them come to the altar, and what happened? The people came. You ask a person to come to the altar today, and they stay right where they are at.

· Friends, its not the preacher who is bidding you to come, it is Jesus. You see Jesus wants you to come to the altar that he might repair you.

· Elijah is personally repairing the altar here in this verse, but what really was taking place, was the altar in those people’s lives were being repaired.

· They had lost focused of God. They had become distracted by religion. But the altar is not about religion is about finding a relationship.

· And what is Christ crying out to you today, he is saying “come near unto me”.

· Christ is bidding us to the altar

Point 2 – The Burden laid on the Altar (vs 31-35)

· Now notice the second thing we find in this passage, and that is the burden laid on the altar and this is found in verses 31-35.

· Now in these verses, we see Elijah laying the sacrifice on the altar, but he is also dumping water on the wood. I mean he is just flooding this altar.

· As the people look at this, they don’t know what to make of this. I mean here is Elijah wetting the wood that is suppose to burn the sacrifice.

· What he was doing made it seem impossible to answer.

· Now there are some things we just don’t bring to the Lord. We just think, it is too little or it is too much. But friend, that is what the altar is meant for.

· Let me tell you though, it doesn’t matter what you bring to the altar, how impossible it might be to solve, what God wants you to do is bring it to him.

· Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing shall be impossible”

· Friends, what God wants you to do, is pour it all out on the altar. Don’t hold anything back. He wants you to bring all the impossibility to him and friend just dump it on it.

· Now Elijah dumped all of those barrels of water on that altar, I mean that altar was flooded.

· Wouldn’t that be good to see, the altar flooded? Not with water, but with every burden, every care, every worry, every doubt, that we all just poured it on the altar before the Lord.

· If the world from you withholds of its silver and its gold And you have to get along with meager fare Just remember, in his word, how he feeds the little bird Take your burden to the Lord, leave it there

Leave it there, leave it there Just take your burden to the Lord oh and leave it there If you trust him through your doubt, he will surely bring you out Take your burden to the Lord, leave it there

· Do you have a burden? Is it for yourself? Lay it on the altar. Do you have a burden for a someone you care about? Lay it on the altar. What ever it is, friend lay it on the altar of God.

Point 3 – The Beseeching at the Altar (vs 36-37)

· Now notice the third thing, and that is found in verses 36-37.

· Elijah has bid the people to come to altar and they lay the burden on the altar, but friend then we see the beseeching at the altar.

· You see the altar is a place of prayer!

· An altar is a place of prayer. In a church service we may talk about God but in the altar we are not talking about Him – we are talking To Him.

· Praying at the altar is the culmination of God speaking to you through the message and you responding by talking back to Him.

· Friends, the altar is where you and the Lord meet.

· You ever had something serious you had to talk with someone about? Maybe it was something real personal. I mean it is so serious, that this isn’t something you want to text about, this was more serious than just talking on the phone about it, this was where you needed to go and talk face to face about it.

· Well, that is what the altar is. It is a place where you and God are meeting and you can tell him face to face what is going on.

· Oh, if we would just come to altar and kneel before our Lord.

· Did you know, A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing.

· Friend beseech the Lord at the altar, that is what Elijah did. He prayed out to God and ask the Lord to hear his prayer, he asked that God would make himself known to the people.

· He is praying at this altar, not so much for himself, as he is for others. He called out at the altar for the one true God.

· You see, he wasn’t at the altar to make himself feel better, he was at the altar to converse with God.

Point 4 – The Belief from the Altar (vs 38-39)

· Now here is the fourth thing we notice in this passage and that is the belief from the altar.

· What happens, Elijah came laid that burden on the altar, be prayed to the Lord at the altar, and God showed up at the altar, and friends people left that altar believing in God.

· God poured out his power and consumed that offering and friend the people saw God moving.

· I’m sure that many of us would desire to see the power of God poured out in our homes, in our work places, in our schools, in our courts, throughout our nation.

· Well friend, the power of God starts at the altar. We can’t expect to see God pour out on all these places, if we fail to see Him at the altar.

· These people saw God consume the offering, the wood, stone, and the dust, and licked up all the water, friend where did that take place at? It took place at the altar.

· It didn’t take place in the pew, it took place at that special place called the altar.

· Friend, we can sit in our pews and see the power of God take place at the altar, or we can step out of our pews and come to the altar and experience the presence of God.

· I believe that the altar is a powerful place where God desires to transform your life, but do you believe it?

· These people did, they fell on their faces and said The LORD, he is the God, the LORD he is the God.

· That is what we should believe when we come to this altar, that the LORD, he is the God.

· Do you believe that?

Closing –

· You know the altar holds a special place in my heart, because it is at the altar where I met Jesus Christ.

· The Bible says where two or three are gathered, he is in the midst of them. I believe he is standing right here right now, waiting for you to come to him and experience his love and goodness.

· Now remember, it doesn’t matter how big of a burden you are carrying, Jesus says lay it on this altar. Lay it here and see the power of God transform your life.

· Will you experience the presence of God today? Will you beseech him and see the blessing come?