Abraham's Altars

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Abraham's Altars

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Abraham's Altars

• Genesis 127-9 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram
  and said, "To your descendants I will give this
  land." And there he built an altar to the Lord,
  who had appeared to him. 8 And 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 there he built an altar to the Lord
  and called on the name of the Lord. 9 So Abram
  journeyed, going on still toward the South.

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Abraham's Altars

• Genesis 133-4 3 And he went on his journey from
  the South as far as Bethel, to the place where
  his tent had been at the beginning, between
  Bethel and Ai, 4 to the place of the altar which
  he had made there at first. And there Abram
  called on the name of the Lord.

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Abraham's Altars

• Genesis 1314-16 14 And the Lord said to Abram,
  after Lot had separated from him "Lift your eyes
  now and look from the place where you
  are--northward, southward, eastward, and
  westward 15 for all the land which you see I
  give to you and your descendants forever. 16 And
  I will make your descendants as the dust of the
  earth so that if a man could number the dust of
  the earth, then your descendants also could be
  numbered.

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Abraham's Altars

• Genesis 1317-18 17 Arise, walk in the land
  through its length and its width, for I give it
  to you." 18 Then Abram moved his tent, and went
  and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which
  are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the
  Lord.

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Abraham's Altars

• Abraham is known for the tents he lived in and
  his altars
• Tents pilgrim, vagabond, wanderer, traveler
• Altars worship God
• Our worship should identify us.
• The altars of Abraham should teach us about the
  nature and importance of worship.

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Our Worship is Internal

• Worship must begin in the heart
• There are externals sing, pray, give
• But they must be generated from the inside the
  heart
• Notice these 3 passages from the Old Testament

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Our Worship is Internal

• Hosea 813-14 13 For the sacrifices of My
  offerings they sacrifice flesh and eat it, But
  the Lord does not accept them. Now He will
  remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
  They shall return to Egypt. 14 "For Israel has
  forgotten his Maker, And has built temples Judah
  also has multiplied fortified cities But I will
  send fire upon his cities, And it shall devour
  his palaces."

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Our Worship is Internal

• Amos 520-22 21 20 Is not the day of the Lord
  darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark,
  with no brightness in it? 21 "I hate, I despise
  your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred
  assemblies. 22 Though you offer Me burnt
  offerings and your grain offerings, I will not
  accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened
  peace offerings.

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Our Worship is Internal

• Malachi 112-13 12 "But you profane it, In that
  you say, 'The table of the Lord is defiled And
  its fruit, its food, is contemptible.' 13 You
  also say, 'Oh, what a weariness!' And you sneer
  at it," Says the Lord of hosts. "And you bring
  the stolen, the lame, and the sick Thus you
  bring an offering! Should I accept this from your
  hand?" Says the Lord.

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Our Worship is Intentional

• We can not worship God accidently
• Worship requires our intent
• Worship can not be a secondary activity
• We can not praise, honor God, worship Him and
  fail to do so with our heart and mind in proper
  focus.

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Our Worship is Intentional

• Genesis 224-6 4 Then on the third day Abraham
  lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And
  Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with
  the donkey the lad and I will go yonder and
  worship, and we will come back to you." 6 So
  Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and
  laid it on Isaac his son and he took the fire in
  his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went
  together.

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Our Worship is Intermittent

• All of life is NOT worship.
• Worship begins.
• Worship ends.
• Genesis 225 And Abraham said to his young men,
  "Stay here with the donkey the lad and I will go
  yonder and worship, and we will come back to you."

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Our Worship is Intermittent

• Acts 827-28 27 So he arose and went. And behold,
  a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority
  under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who
  had charge of all her treasury, and had come to
  Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And
  sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the
  prophet.

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Our Worship is Intermittent

• Matthew 2630 And when they had sung a hymn, they
  went out to the Mount of Olives.
• Acts 207 Now on the first day of the week, when
  the disciples came together to break bread, Paul,
  ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and
  continued his message until midnight.

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Our Worship is Independent

• Our worship does not depend on
• The whims, likes, preferences of man
• What others think or say

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Our Worship is Independent

• Our worship does not depend on
• The whims, likes, preferences of man
• What others think or say
• What everyone is doing
• How some seek to change worship into
  entertainment

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Our Worship is Independent

• Our worship does not depend on
• The whims, likes, preferences of man
• What others think or say
• What everyone is doing
• How some seek to change worship into
  entertainment
• The only one we seek to please in our worship is
  God.