Praise Church DirectionThe Lord has been giving Praise Church a consistent direction. God desires to build an altar for His glory. An altar is the place where heaven meets earth and where God meets man. While at Bethel, Jacob saw angels ascending and descending upon a stairway leading to heaven. Jesus told Nathaniel that he would see the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. What does this mean? Jesus is our stairway to heaven, the Mediator between God and man, our Great Intercessor and High Priest. The Cross is the altar where Jesus bled and died. When we come to the cross and meet Jesus, we come to the altar to meet God himself! Some have recently testified of actually seeing angels ascending and descending over the Praise Church property. Others have given words that God is desiring to build an altar here. I do not pretend that this has anything to do with man's greatness but rather that God wants to do something special here to glorify His name. He wants a church that will wait upon Him and seek His face about His plan. He is looking for a people who will meet with Him at the altar and give Him control of their lives. Here at the altar we will find His presence, His plan and purpose. Many Churches and congregations seek after greatness according to man's standard of prosperity, commerce, talent and ability. Meanwhile the altar of God is in ruins because no one seeks Him. The altar of God is broken down today just as it was in the day of Elijah on Mt. Carmel. Israel had forsaken God and fallen into idolatry by worshiping the blessings rather than the Hand that blessed. As a result of not loving the truth, the false prophets of Baal moved in and God's priests hid in caves, afraid for their lives. There was no more worship and no more seeking God. Elijah challenged these false prophets and teachers by building an altar and asking the fire of God to fall on his altar. The prophets of Baal were to implore Baal to light the fire on their altar. The false prophets jumped around, screaming and cutting themselves. But to no avail. Elijah prayed and the fire of God fell and the sacrifice along with the water was consumed. The prophets of Baal were executed, the priests of the Lord were freed, Jezebel was dethroned, and the land was re- deemed from idolatrous worship. When you rebuild the broken altar in your life, in your family, and in your church you will hear a word from God and know His power! God will not answer a church or a people who worship according to their own imagination. The church today is using worldly measures to influence its growth and "success". By embracing the same worldly values and compromising the true gospel, we have shallow Christians who do not know the Word of God and do not know how to seek God for themselves. The smaller churches look to the mega churches for their plan to make them grow bigger. Some have let their altars of prayer, worship, and repentance, based on the preaching of God's Word be replaced with the latest user-friendly church growth programs and cookie-cutter macro-management discipleship methods designed to gain control over the masses. It is not just the leadership at fault. The congregations have also stopped seeking God and are looking to the preachers, the prophets and the TV personalities to become their new Pope and mediator to hear from God for them. Let this not be so! God is seeking a church and a people that will cry out for Him and Him alone. Let us all humbly join together to repair the broken altars in our lives. Let us repent of our over-indulgence and worldliness and neglecting Him. Let us commit to seek Him again and touch His Heart. God is waiting to pour out His Holy Spirit and Fire on us today. |