All About The Altar
Text: 1 Kings 12:28
Subject: Holiness
Context: We have forgotten the meaning of a holy place, we have forgotten the meaning of the altar. The evolution of the altar is damaging the church and youth groups everywhere. They are so caught up in fanciness that they are forgetting the reality.
The things of an altar
1 Kings 12:28-33
I. False Altar
A. This world is full of choices....
B. Burger King or McDonalds, Gap or Old Navy...every where you look you have a choice
C. The same goes with the Altar. You have a choice on your Altars did you know that?
D. In the bible it speaks of two different altars. Either an altar for heathens or an altar for God
E. Let me explain
F. Do you know that your addiction is your idol? You have that choice of who you are sacrificing when you come to the altar.
G. When in the biblical times when someone worshiped a false God they would have a statue of their God on their table and another altar for the sacrifice.
H. What is your “false altar” that you are sacrificing at for your false God
I. Alcohol, Drugs, Cigarettes, computersAlcohol: 3.3 million 13 to 17 year olds in the United States have serious alcohol problems.
Drugs: 41 percent of high school seniors have used marijuana
Music: According to Don Campbell (founder of Institute for Music, Health and Education) music can communicate to us even when we’re not influenced by the words of a song.
He says “music impacts physiology on a deep, basic level. The human heartbeat is especially attuned to sound – changes in tempo and volume act as natural pacemakers. Breathing slows down or speeds up along with the music.”
In addition “Music has a direct effect on the function of the brain. It can slow down and equalize brain waves to create a meditative state… or it can energize brain waves, quickening, the thinking process and enhancing creativity.”
Even the cells of your body respond to music. A study at MSU found that just 15 minutes of listening to music could increase levels of immune chemicals – vital to protect against disease. By contrast, the release of cortisol (the “stress hormone”) dropped by up to 25%
Pornography: Approximately 40 million people in the United States are sexually involved with the Internet
Americans spend $10 billion per year on pornography
Three million of the visitors to adult websites in September 2000 were age 17 or younger
The average age of first Internet exposure to pornography is 11 years old
The largest consumer of Internet pornography is the 12-17 age group
Teen Sex
Approximately 19 million new cases of STDs occurred in 2000, of which 9.1 million (48%) were among young people ages 15-24
42 percent of guys and 33% of girls ages 15-17 have had intercourse
21 percent of ninth-graders have slept with four or more partners
Sexually active girls are more than three times more likely to be depressed than are girls who are not sexually active; sexually active boys are more than twice as likely to be depressed as are those who are not sexually active
Sexually active girls are nearly three times more likely to attempt suicide than are girls who are not sexually active; sexually boys are eight times more likely to attempt suicide than are boys who are not sexually active
57 percent of teens ages 13-17 see sex outside of marriage as morally acceptable
In 2002, about 47% of female teenagers (4.6 million), and about 46% of male teenagers (4.7 million) had had sexual intercourse at least once
Nearly 3 in 10 (27%) 13-16 year olds are sexually active
Video Games:
U.S. children are exposed to 8 1/2 hours of TV, video games, computers and other media a day, often at once. As a result, kids’ expectations are to be constantly entertained and, if they are not entertained, they quickly lose interest.
Television: The average 8-18 year old African American person will watch 4 hours, 5 minutes of television per day, Hispanics 3 hours, 23 minutes, and Whites 2 hours, 45 minutes
MTV plans to launch a network devoted entirely to its gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender audience in February, 2005. The network is to be named LOGO.
J. Who is your God? Which of these have you followed today? Which of these are you sacrificing
K. 1 Cor 10:18-22
Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
L. That is a tough message...if you are not sacrificing for God then you are sacrifice to the enemy..
II. The Meaning of the Altar
A. Exodus 29:37: The altar will be most holy and whatever touches it will be Holy!
B. The meaning of the Altar is to offer a sacrifice and the one who sacrifices will be holy
C. 1Rom 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.
D. Sacrifice is not meant for you to ask for an apology!
E. Sacrifice is meant to reach the altar and die to yourself and live for God.
F. An altar is:
Filled with Blood
Heb 9:22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Gen 9:4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood
Your Blood is your Soul, it is who you are, so when you are leaving your blood from sacrificing yourself you are in turn leaving YOUR SOUL.
Definition: The animating and vital principle in humans, credited with the faculties of thought, action, and emotion and often conceived as an immaterial entity
Filled with Flesh:
John 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
1 Cor 15:50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable
G. God does not require a certain look, attitude, all he requires is your life.
H. You have been apologizing too long. You have not left a drop of blood up here, you have not left a shred of flesh, all you leave are empty words that God can’t use, he is requiring your soul....YOUR LIFE.
H. When you come up here and worship these idols you sacrifice your holiness, you sacrifice THE CROSS!
