2020.10.7 The Problem with Leaving Altars Up - The Gathering
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Missions 1090.80
Unexpected ck. dave
Amaidi text
thanks for survey
drop the link 15 mins have at it
Intro
Intro
I alluded to the power of altars on Sunday
16 Also he removed Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah; and Asa cut down her obscene image, then crushed and burned it by the Brook Kidron. 17 But the high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was loyal all his days.
easily could be ignored. if you want victory…if you want your efforts to be complete and effective, you’ve got to deal w the high places.
Notice the actions
Notice the actions
Maachah - deals w the one in power. the person enabling the idolatrous worship to happen
He takes down what she put up (Gideon - his father’s poles)
He ignores the altars
Altar
Altar [N] [E] [S] Baker’s Dictionary
Structure on which offerings are made to a deity. The Hebrew word for altar meaning "to slaughter." Greek "a place of sacrifice." As time went by the same word is used for altar is a place where sacrifice is offered, even if it is not an event involving slaughter.
I'm interested in mirrors being portals to a spiritual realm
I'm interested in mirrors being portals to a spiritual realm
Question: read the end of the story
12 And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians.
Q: How did he start off so good and end up so tragically?
I want to submit, he didn’t deal w all of the high places
“High Places” are a big deal to God
“High Places” are a big deal to God
1 sam - ezek 18 verses 20 references - 7 books in total
synthesis:
synthesis:
these same places that you read by quickly is where blood sacrifices were made and worship to other gods.
what sense does it make to say you serve God and not deal w that which He abhors
but yet, Asa who knew better did nothing.
the danger of leaving altars in place
26 When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied. 27 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, 28 then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. 29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. 30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you.
Lessons from Sunday:
Galvanized-Maximized-Organized-Respiritualized
8 And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had taken in the mountains of Ephraim; and he restored the altar of the Lord that was before the vestibule of the Lord. 9 Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who dwelt with them from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for they came over to him in great numbers from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
How do you do so much right and then in one decision undo and then some?!?!?
Mesmerized
Mesmerized
He didn’t take down the one thing that controlled the spiritual dynamics of the region
High places are where defilement is released. Homes where gruesome death happens. This is what is released. Hollywood. There’s a particular kind of atmosphere.
Dan Duval’s guest - NY - friend was acting out of her character. He left called back. She took a drive.
app: big decisions, contention, pick a direction and drive 25/30 mins. You will be out from underneath the territorial power
Personal application
Personal application
“but I don’t have any high places.”
the place where sacrifice and worship happens.
red bottoms, rims, fashion, sneaker head, type car. God’s fine w you having them, but they should never be worshipped
litmus test to determine if you’re worshipping: does it keep you from doing what God’s telling you to do? Do you hate to open the mail? Does it totally consume your mind/thoughts
Q: How do we deal with them? A: Declare War!!!
Q: How do we deal with them? A: Declare War!!!
respect them
Altars are places of spiritual encounters
later the Balaam/Balak passage
identify them
dismantle them
you can’t build something up til you tear something down
Ex. couple that got convicted and decided to change some things
Leave no room but for God and God only
41 So it was, the next day, that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the high places of Baal, that from there he might observe the extent of the people. 1 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a desolate height. 4 And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” 5 Then the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
Because Asa didn’t finish him, he couldn’t even see how much he’d done
7 Therefore he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and make walls around them, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.
walls-security
towers-ability to see
gates-keep in what needs to be and out what doesn’t need to be in
bars-you got to have access to the locking device aka you get to determine who can come in
HE COULDN’T SEE WHAT HE’D DONE WITH GOD ON HIS SIDE!!!!!
and bc he was Mesmerized he looked for something in somebody other than
my thought…all because of the spiritual dynamic that leaving the altars up caused him to function under.
Close
Close
God won’t be anybody’s side piece
God won’t be anybody’s side piece
You’d better learn from the people in Ashdod
1 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set it in its place again. 4 And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold; only Dagon’s torso was left of it. 5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon’s house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
even on enemy territory where other idols/gods have been sacrificed to and worship, God says “I’m still greater than them!”
Altars Affect your Relationship w God
Story starts off saying he removed but left
ends w him having called the people to repentance AND HE STILL DIDN’T GET IT RIGHT (2 Chron 15:16-17)
chapter 16. king Baasha bows up - Asa gets scared - gives an offering to an unholy man
2 Then Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben-Hadad king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, 3 “Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I have sent you silver and gold; come, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”
the idols mesmerized, let in fear
12 And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians.
So why haven’t you been able to see this?!?!?! Could it be you haven’t dealt w your altars?!
19 Now Josiah also took away all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger; and he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel. 20 He executed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.
2 kings 23.19,20
section titled “punishment for disobedience”
lev 26:21-34
English Standard Version Chapter 26
21 c“Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins.
English Standard Version Chapter 26
23 “And fif by this discipline you are not turned to me cbut walk contrary to me, 24 gthen I also will walk contrary to you
English Standard Version Chapter 26
30 And oI will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and pcast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you. 31 And I will qlay your cities waste and will rmake your sanctuaries desolate, and sI will not smell your pleasing aromas. 32
Balak, king of Moabites.
1 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a desolate height. 4 And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” 5 Then the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!” 12 So he answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?”
56 Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God, And did not keep His testimonies, 57 But turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; They were turned aside like a deceitful bow. 58 For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images. 59 When God heard this, He was furious, And greatly abhorred Israel,