The Altar

[0:00] 1 Kings chapter 18 is where we're going to go to. And we're going to talk about a time of Elijah's sacrifice at the altar.

[0:10] ! And it's often mentioned made of sacred sites. The Bible tells much about sacred sites and specifically altars. In fact, there's over 400 references to altars in the Bible.

[0:24] It's astonishing, isn't it? 400 times. In Elijah's day, there was an occasion where there was an altar of Baal and the altar of the Lord. What is an altar?

[0:36] The altar means a place of sacrifice, a place to meet with God. And we take it up from 1 Kings 18, chapter 18, verse 30.

[0:47] 1 Kings 18, from verse 30, where it reads, And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him.

[0:59] And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob.

[1:10] Unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name. And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord.

[1:21] And he made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the word in order. And cut the bullet in pieces and laid him on the word.

[1:34] And said, Fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the word. And he said, Do it the second time.

[1:48] And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar.

[1:59] And he filled the trench also with water. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. That Elijah the prophet came near.

[2:10] And said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and of Israel. Let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel.

[2:21] And that I am thy servant. And that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord. Hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God.

[2:37] And that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell. And consumed the burnt sacrifice. And the wood and the stones and the dust.

[2:49] And licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. And they said, The Lord, he is the God.

[2:59] The Lord, he is the God. And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal. Let not one of them escape. And they took them. And Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and slew them there.

[3:15] Here was an astounding miracle. This sodden sacrifice was totally consumed. As the fire fell. Let's consider the altar of the Lord. And what we can gather from that today.

[3:26] What does it mean for us today? Now there were two altars in both the tabernacle and the temple. One was for sacrifices. One was for incense. And the symbol there of believing, of acceptable prayer, of praise and worship.

[3:41] We see that in Hebrews 13 verse 15, where it tells of our Lord. By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.

[3:56] Our Lord is seeking worshippers. He wants us to be offering up praise. And we see that in Elijah's time, the altar had been neglected.

[4:08] In fact, they were so backslidden that they were worshipping other gods. We know that it tells us that there's only 7,000 worshippers of the true God that remained in that northern kingdom.

[4:25] And that's out of an estimated 4 to 5 million. So that's the kind of ratio there. 7,000 hadn't vowed to need to bail out of some 4 to 5 million in the nation.

[4:36] We could think of our own spiritual condition and question where we're at. Is our worship right? Notice how it says back to verse 30 that the altar of the Lord was broken down.

[4:51] The altar needed repair. It was in ruins. The condition of the altar, we could reflect that it could represent the spiritual condition of the people, of our own hearts.

[5:02] If we were at this time, their spiritual life was like that altar. It was in disrepair. Notice that Elijah didn't build a new altar.

[5:14] He restored the altar. We can think of that maybe for our own spiritual lives. Where we once were, where we are today, maybe we need to do a bit of rebuilding. A bit of restoring.

[5:27] You think of the early zeal as a believer. You wonder, wow, I'd like to get some of that back. I'd like to be like I was. That restoration of that spiritual life that I had.

[5:41] And that was the sense of it here that they didn't build a brand new altar. They rebuilt the altar that they started with. And he restored the altar. The altar, I put to you, speaks of some three things.

[5:54] Firstly, an altar speaks of a place of surrender. Of giving and of receiving. We see here at an altar, it's a place of worship, isn't it? You're worshipping.

[6:05] You're giving up. You're letting go. You take the best of your herd and you bring it as an offering. And at the altar, we give up ownership. We put what we have into God's hands.

[6:17] So Elijah repaired the altar, it says, in the name of the Lord. Verse 32. So with the stones, he built an altar in the name of the Lord.

[6:31] He restored what had been neglected. He wanted God to be glorified and honoured. He wanted to get back that first love. You could reckon of that picture there. And stone upon stone, he restored that altar.

[6:44] Stone upon stone upon stone. And he did it with his heart, censored on pleasing God and giving God the glory due to his name. The altar, it speaks of faith, doesn't it?

[6:55] When we think how that altar, that picture of the altar, it speaks of a place where you go in faith, in prayer. It says, verse 36, that he prayed.

[7:06] And notice that it was just a humble prayer. It wasn't very flowery or extended. It wasn't some rambling prayer. It was a very short prayer.

[7:17] It was what mattered, a prayer of faith. A prayer of faith. That's what it was. It was the prayer of a righteous man, wasn't it? An earnest prayer. A humble prayer.

[7:28] And then we see verse 38, what happened? God responded, the fire of the Lord fell. It wasn't some fire of man that was conjured up from beneath. It came from above.

[7:40] It came from heaven. The fire fell. The fire of the Lord fell, it says, and it consumed the burnt sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust. It licked up the water even.

[7:51] That was in the trench. This great deep trench around about the altar. So notice it was a consuming fire. Again, we could think picturesque, illustratively, how that could picture for us.

[8:06] That it's the fire of the Lord that must fall upon us. And we could think how the Bible speaks in picture form of the Holy Spirit being represented as a fire. The burning with the Holy Spirit is the sense of this verse here, Romans 12, 11, where it tells us to be not slothful, not lazy in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.

[8:31] It's got that sense of being aglow with the Spirit of God. Our Lord wants us to be fervent, to be fervent. I know I was talking with someone in the week and they were saying sometimes people have got too much zeal and they just become fanatical.

[8:45] But in a way, I think the worst problem is not enough zeal, really. I don't think we've got a problem with too much zeal, really. I don't think that's an issue for us. I think that rather it's a lack of zeal.

[8:59] It's a lack of fervency. Now, of course, the 850 prophets of Baal, they were very fervent. They were really in the spirit, the wrong spirit.

[9:11] The 850 prophets of Baal, they had much fervency and they were emotional people. They were zealous. There was much emotion, much zeal, much noise.

[9:23] But it was misguided, wasn't it? In the context, of course, we haven't touched on the preceding verses of the failed worship of Baal, of the failed altar of Baal, where there was much excitement and spectacle.

[9:37] And the prophets of Baal were ecstatic with their worship. But we see how it came about that the Lord demonstrated with Elijah how his worship was righteous, but the Baal worshippers' worship was false and misguided.

[9:57] Now, we can have the much excitement and spectacle as the raving prophets of Baal, but false religion is shown for what it is. It doesn't work.

[10:08] God's not in it. God's not in it. But then on the other side, we see Elijah, as he prayed, that humble prayer of faith, as he worshipped not with his own wisdom, but even pouring, soaking that sacrifice with water, it would be evident that it wasn't a man-made thing.

[10:26] It was a God-done thing. Amen? With Elijah's sacrifice, it was not of his own wisdom, as the false religion, as he soaked that sacrifice with water. He did not help God to burn up the sacrifice.

[10:40] He did the contrary. Because there was to be no mistaking that here it was. It was the work of God. It was a heaven-sent work. And so Elijah, we could see, it's almost like he surrendered his intelligence, his logic, his human thinking.

[10:55] Elijah didn't trust in his own efforts, his own works. He had no song and dance routine like the prophets of Baal. He didn't have some power team or some gospel rap or some drawcard, man-made kind of spectacle to somehow bring God's glory.

[11:17] But he had a humble prayer of faith and a trust in his God. And this work, the work of Elijah, it had to be wrought of God. There was no man-made fire here in Elijah's altar.

[11:30] Elijah just claimed the old-fashioned power of prayer. And so can you and me, brother and sister. We've got the same God. We've got the same power of prayer. Amen? Haven't we? We've got the same wonderful God.

[11:43] And the fire fell from heaven. The question is, we could pose, where is the fire today? Where's the fire gone? It was said of the tabernacle that the fire was never allowed to go out.

[11:56] Leviticus 6.13, it says, The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar. It shall never go out. I put to you today, I think we've lost some things.

[12:08] In Christianity, modern Christianity, we've lost the fire. We've lost the fire. It seems like for many that the altar is broken down and the fire has gone out.

[12:19] Fire speaks of the wrath of God, of the zeal of Christ. We see how the zeal consumed our Lord as he dealt with the false religionists of his day.

[12:31] And we see the word of God says that our God is a consuming fire, like the fire of Elijah that consumed everything, even the stones. Even the altar got consumed with the heaven-sent fire.

[12:44] As the old song goes, Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?

[13:02] Does your heart, the spirit, control? You can only be blessed and have peace and sweet rest as you yield him your body and soul. How is your level of surrender?

[13:14] And notice how Elijah prayed. Verse 37, it says, Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God and that thou hast turned their heart back again.

[13:26] It says, hear me, O Lord, hear me. The place of surrender is the heart. Notice how Elijah prayed that God would turn their heart back again. That God would turn their heart back again.

[13:39] That's really the place of surrender, isn't it? Is our heart. The place of surrender is the heart. The Bible talks about a discerning of where our treasure is. You know that familiar one, Matthew 6, 21?

[13:53] It reads, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. So, the altar is a place of surrender.

[14:03] And we give him our heart. We come to that place of surrender. I know there's one of our number reading a book called Absolute Surrender. And that's the place God wants us to be, isn't it?

[14:13] Surrender. Amen. We need to surrender. Give him our heart. How is our heart today? We could all wonder, how's that heart? Is it surrendered? Am I a surrendered vessel?

[14:24] Is my heart tender towards God? Is my heart, on the contrary, unforgiving? Unbelieving? Our heart. It matters to get the heart right.

[14:35] It's that place of surrender. And it is possible to accumulate treasures in heaven. I'm sure some of you have got some big bank accounts, as it were, of those treasures in heaven, that you've invested something of yourself, of your substance, in heaven.

[14:51] And when the surrender is right, then God can do his work in our heart. We get our priorities straightened down. When we come to the altar, the place of surrender, and it's a choice we make, isn't it, to surrender.

[15:06] We can choose not to surrender, or we can choose to surrender. But what a glad place it is to come to that place of surrender. Sometimes we've got to make a choice that's a tough choice.

[15:17] There was a man one day, and he was caught in a trap. He got his hand, a finger caught in a raccoon trap. And the river started to rise, and he was going to get drowned.

[15:28] He was faced with a choice. He had to cut off his finger to save his life. And it's the same in a sense where spiritually we have to surrender to grow as a Christian.

[15:39] There's a sense where to truly be blessed as a Christian, we have to come to that place where we surrender. We come to that surrendering point. We make that choice. We make that decision, that change.

[15:52] Do we hand control of our lives over to the Lord? Where we see the old man for what it is. We crucify the old man, the old sinful nature. And we make that personal surrender to the Lord.

[16:03] As we lay down our desires, our will, our self, our flesh. Because at the altar we surrender, we die. It's the place of surrender, number one.

[16:15] Another thing about an altar is it's a place of sacrifice. We think of the story of Abraham and Isaac. In Genesis we read, chapter 22, verse 8, Abraham said to Isaac, he said, My son God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.

[16:33] So they went both of them together. Abraham was willing to go to the place of sacrifice. Sacrifice.

[16:44] What do we know of sacrifice here in the West? In this supposedly lucky country. I think it's more a blessed country than luck is.

[16:55] Luck doesn't have anything to do with it. Think of luck associated with Lucifer. We don't praise luck. We praise the one who's blessed us. With what measure of blessing we've got.

[17:07] We think of ourselves in the West compared to the church in China. And what they would call sacrifice. And what we call sacrifice.

[17:18] It might be a sacrifice for us to maybe go to an extra meeting every week. Or a sacrifice to chuck another dollar or two into the bag. Or a sacrifice to do some measure of Bible reading or personal prayer.

[17:35] Some sacrifice of reaching out and trying to witness to another soul. Some sacrifice of giving an extra few minutes of time to think about fellowship.

[17:47] But then in China, what's sacrifice there? Or places like North Korea. Places where it costs your life. That's sacrifice. That's sacrifice.

[17:58] Here in the West, we know nothing really of what really sacrifice is. Of course, we heard some measure of persecution lately of a football club CEO getting ostracised because he had some measure of Christian testimony.

[18:16] And that's the kind of sacrifice. We see there is an increasing suffering for the real Christians who want to stand up. And count the cost to take that path less travelled.

[18:27] But really, sacrifice in Western world terminology is nothing. Really. But we think of the sacrifice here of the altar. Of the sacrifice of the bullet there.

[18:39] And we think how, as for ourselves, there's a measure of sacrifice we're called to. It's God's people. There's a measure of sacrifice. When we submit our will, our emotions to God's guidance.

[18:52] But we can sometimes say it very lightly, this expression of being on the altar. On the altar. Maybe a bit of inconvenience, discomfort.

[19:06] Sometimes we shy away even from that, don't we? Oh, I can't spare another few minutes to go to the meeting. Or it's too cold. It's too dark. Now, with Daylight Saving, we don't have that excuse at the moment.

[19:19] And so, we can sometimes say, I'm on the altar, but really, are we really, Fairdinka? What does it really mean? Totally giving over. Handing over.

[19:30] It could mean death. Well, an altar does mean death. And we see there was a measure of inconvenience and discomfort as they repeatedly brought these barrels of water.

[19:43] Twelve in total. Now, it was a time of drought, so water was somewhat scarce, but there would still have been some streams. There was a brook there and such. But they were on the top of the Mount Carmel, so they had to go down one time, two times, three times from the top of Mount Carmel to where the water was.

[20:04] So, that would have been some measure of discomfort, wouldn't it? But what about us? Do we stop at the slightest inconvenience, the slightest challenge? We find the most paltry, weedy excuse not to be a living sacrifice.

[20:18] What does a sacrifice mean? Giving over. Handing over. Death. Burning up. What is it that happens at the altar?

[20:30] The blood is there. The burning is there. And God receives the glory there. Now, of course, for us today, nowadays, there's no need for us to sacrifice our choiceless animals.

[20:41] The perfect sacrifice for our sin has been given. Our precious Saviour. He's absolutely fulfilled every element of the type of that picture of the sacrifice to come that we see represented here.

[20:59] And the many times we see sacrifices talked about. Now, there's no more sacrifice for our sins because once for all, he's given himself for our sin. Yet, in a sense, we are to be the sacrifice today.

[21:12] There's a measure where we need to be on the altar. Such that we count everything else as rubbish. That we would give up. That which gets in the way. We see, Paul says, even as he had many credentials and many things that he could boast about, he says, I just counted them as rubbish, as loss.

[21:34] Making a sacrifice hurts. It costs. It can take courage as well. In workplaces, when you're the rare Christian, we know it can be an isolating thing.

[21:50] It's a sacrificial thing. But don't shy away from it. The sacrifice offered had to be an unblemished sacrifice. What about us? When we give something to God, do we just give something in half measure?

[22:01] Or should we be, as Exodus 12 reflects, giving the best? Give of your best to the master. Don't give something second rate. It says of the lamb, it shall be unblemished.

[22:17] A male of a year old. You shall take it of the lambs and of the kids. The sense of the unblemished sacrifice. Give your best. There was a time where a vessel went down called the Empress of Ireland.

[22:31] And it had a whole load of Salvation Army officers on it. 130. And 109 officers were drowned. Not one body that was picked up had a life belt. There was not enough to go round.

[22:44] So they gave them to others saying, I can die better than you can. They knew where they were going. They were saying, we are ready to give our lives. We're ready to sacrifice.

[22:54] There was a time where a six metre shark attacked a newlywed couple. And the man, John Ford, saved his wife.

[23:04] This is Byron Bay. But he died in the process. He was willing to be a sacrifice. You know, there's lots of stories we could tell of sacrifices. Of course, the ultimate sacrifice is our saviour, isn't it?

[23:16] But going to the altar, it means sacrifice. What about you and me? When we think of the word sacrifice, we sometimes can shy away from that thought that we don't want to sacrifice.

[23:26] We don't want to inconvenience ourselves. But think of our Lord at Gethsemane. He resigned to the Father's will. Let us also go with Christ to the garden. To not shy away from some measure of sacrifice.

[23:40] Because that will bless us. It takes travail to give birth. And travail, not that I can personally testify of it, but it's not very pleasant.

[23:53] And it's a difficult experience, I'm sure. And yet there's great joy, isn't there, in travail? It's the same spiritually too. We see Paul talks about how of the believers, he calls them little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.

[24:12] Paul knew a travail of soul, a travail for souls, as he travailed in prayer. We can too. For brothers and sisters, for folk we're trying to reach for the gospel, we travail for them.

[24:26] We want to see them come through to salvation. We must go to the altar, the place of surrender, the place of sacrifice. Thirdly, an altar is a place of service.

[24:39] A place to serve. Elijah prepared the altar. It's interesting, when he prepared the altar, as the time is mentioned here, he spent six long hours.

[24:50] It was six hours non-stop work as he prepared the altar. It was a place of service for Elijah. And every believer, all of us, each one of us today, we're all called to a place of service.

[25:04] And not just any old service, but holy service. We're all stewards. We're all servants. We're called to servanthood, to be servants. Sometimes it can be that a preacher will invite people, spiritually speaking, to come to the altar.

[25:21] Now, we don't have an altar here. I don't have some fancy structure here for you to come to the altar. Of course, in old time, they caught at the sinner's bench, didn't they, where they would come forward.

[25:33] And to do business with God, there's that sense of coming to the altar. Because we don't necessarily have to make such a call or have such an action.

[25:43] But it's more what's happening on the inside of us, isn't it? To come to the altar, spiritually speaking. To come to that place of doing business with God. As we have the saying, the altar call.

[25:54] It's really that, it's coming to that decisive point, isn't it? In our walk with God, that we want to get things right. We want to do business with God. And we're not against having an altar call as such. But it's not so much the demonstration of it.

[26:08] It's what's happening on the inside of you. That you go to the altar this morning. That we're willing to lay our lives down. To consecrate ourselves for holy service. We know that familiar passage.

[26:21] It's often one we turn to. Where Paul says, Romans 12.1. Notice that word service there.

[26:41] It's the reasonable service. Present yourselves to God. Make it a decision point. Really, I like to think, really, every time we are exhorted by the word.

[26:54] As we fellowship. As there's a message preached. That it's a time of decision. It's a time of making that reasonable decision. That consecration.

[27:07] It's a time to refresh that walk with God. It's a time for a cleansing. For a restoring. For a refreshing.

[27:18] A reviving. God calls us to a sacred service. It means that decisive dedication. It means as you put something on the altar. You don't take it back afterwards.

[27:29] You leave it there. Amen. Put your life on the altar. Brother. Put your life on the altar, sister. Say, God, I want you to have me. Have all of me. To dedicate yourself to God.

[27:41] It's a picture there, isn't it? And being a servant of God. It's a holy service. It's a holy work. The altar is a holy place. And all of us are called to that holy place.

[27:55] That place of pleasing God. Of consecration. Of devotion unto him. So, it's our reasonable service. Some put it.

[28:07] It's our spiritual worship. It's something that's... It's a holy thing. It's a holy ministry. It's a holy act of worship, isn't it? And it's the right thing to do.

[28:19] It's the logikos. It's the word reasonable. It's the intelligent thing. It's the rational thing to do. To give your life to God. As a sacrifice. As a living sacrifice.

[28:30] So, will you rebuild the altar today? Think of the altar. Maybe it's broken down. Maybe the fire's gone out. I know I have times like that. I'm sure we can all think when we're honest.

[28:42] Yeah, where I was and where I am. I'd like to get some of that fire back. That re-consecration. That re-building of the altar. Will you come to the altar today?

[28:53] To surrender your life afresh. To be the sacrifice. To be all that God can make you to be. To find that service that he wants you to render unto him.

[29:06] A man, CT stud, known as a cricketer. But more so as a man of God. He left the cricketing scene to serve. And he said, Some like to live within the sound of church or chapel bell.

[29:20] I'd rather run a rescue shop within a yard of hell. He didn't choose some easy path. He chose a sacrificial path. He chose that place of service. Isaiah the prophet described a time where he saw an altar.

[29:34] And there was angels called seraphim there. And Isaiah 6 verse 3 through 8 it says, And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips.

[30:21] And thine iniquity is taken away. And thy sin purged or cleansed. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?

[30:32] Then said I, here am I. Send me. Isaiah knew that he was not worthy. Holy, holy, holy. He saw the great holiness of God. The splendour, the majesty of God.

[30:44] He heard the angels crying out, Holy, holy, holy. And he said, I'm unclean. My lips are unclean. He knew that he was undone. Unclean.

[30:56] Every one of us acknowledged that. Surely we must. That we are in need of a saviour. And then we see the life call. Representing God's touch.

[31:07] God's holiness. Brings that purging, that cleansing. And then Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord. Calling for a willing servant. And Isaiah was enabled to serve.

[31:17] It was at the altar that he received the call to serve. And so too for you and me. As we, spiritually speaking, come to the altar. As it were, come to that place with him.

[31:31] That we hear the Lord's call. We won't have deaf ears to it. And we'll know. He's asking who will go for God. And in Christ we see the ultimate servant.

[31:44] That one who set the pace for us. It says of him that he did not come to be ministered unto, but he came to render service.

[31:55] Mark 10.45 it says, May our motto be like Christ.

[32:07] To do his will. To do his will. But that's the prime motive. John 6.38 he says, How about us?

[32:20] We see that Elijah, he set the altar right. The altar had to be set right. It had been neglected. Covered in cobwebs and weeds, you could imagine.

[32:33] And broken down. In fact, it was deliberately broken down. When the idol worship was instated, the altar was tossed aside.

[32:45] And Elijah had to set the altar right. The spiritual life. He had to come to that place of surrender. To come to that place of sacrifice. And the place of service.

[32:57] And when we get the altar right. When the altar is right, the fire will fall. How about us? Do we want to be used of God? Are we ready?

[33:08] Willing? Available? To serve? And as we come to the place of the altar. As we come to realise the need for restoration.

[33:22] The fire that I had. I need it again, Lord. That altar that is broken down. That spiritual worship. That life of love and devotion to my Saviour.

[33:35] I need it restored. That you can press the reset button. And the restore button, as it were. On your spiritual life. And to say, yes, Lord. I want to be all that you want me to be.

[33:46] And there's great joy and life and blessings there. As we find his will. And we see that sacred sight can be such that. We'll have that refreshing of spiritual life today.

[33:58] Let us pray. Lord, we thank you that, as Elijah demonstrated, we saw the false prophets failed. Lord, the idol worship, the pagan worship, the false religion of its day.

[34:13] We see the present day of that with many false religions. With much hoo-ha and razzmatazz that some would try to conjure up your presence with some mystical music or ceremonies or ecstasies of people.

[34:32] Lord, we know we must have the real thing. And we pray, Lord, we must not build a new altar, but restore the altar that is your altar.

[34:43] The altar of the Lord. We see that spiritually speaking for ourselves. It speaks of our own spiritual condition. Lord, that sometimes our lives are like that altar broken down.

[34:56] Help us, Lord, to refresh our spiritual life. Help us, Lord, to truly surrender to your will. To be ourselves that living sacrifice.

[35:08] To be the very sacrifice. Lord, to not shy away from sacrifice. And, Lord, to be ready for that spiritual worship, that reasonable service.

[35:19] That you call us to be a people who are ready and willing. That you've touched us, as it were, at the altar, like you did with Isaiah. You cleansed his sin.

[35:32] As we trusted you as our saviour, we've been forgiven. We've been made a holy people. Even when we don't feel like it, Lord, your word says that we're made a holy people.

[35:42] Help us, Lord, to actually live like it. Not to disregard that holy calling. And to answer your holy, sacred service, Lord.

[35:54] We see this world is shaping up as more and more threatened by woes and war, even. We see the war clouds, the thunder clouds gathering.

[36:08] We see now is a time not to toy with the things of God. We see that we've got limited time. I would see it so that really there's no time to waste.

[36:24] Lord, help us to be such a people that we will respond to your call. We won't hold back. Give us that zeal afresh, that holy fire. That the fire from heaven would fall upon us, as it were, in a good way.

[36:40] That picture of zeal, of Holy Spirit empowerment that we so need. Lord, that you'll give us the grace to live righteously. And to your pleasure, to your praise.

[36:53] Help us to do your will. Lord, we ask. We pray for each one here present. Essentially that each one might know what it is to be saved. And then to walk in that, that newness of life.

[37:05] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You have longed for sweet peace and for faith to increase And have earnestly, fervently prayed But you cannot have rest or be perfectly blessed Until all on the altar is laid Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid Your heart does the spirit control You can only be blessed And have peace and sweet rest

[38:09] As you yield him your body and soul Would you walk with the Lord In the light of his word And have peace and contentment or way You must do his sweet will To be free from all ill On the altar your all must be laid Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid Your heart does the spirit control You can only be blessed And have peace and sweet rest

[39:10] And have peace and sweet rest As you yield him your body and soul Oh, we never can know What the Lord will bestow By the blessings for which we have prayed Till our body and soul He will not be blessed He doth fully control, and our all on the altar is laid.

[39:49] Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid? Your heart does the spirit control.

[40:03] You can only be blessed, and have peace and sweet rest, As you yield in your body and soul.

[40:19] Who can tell all the love he will send from above, And how happy our hearts will be laid.

[40:36] Of the fellowship sweet, we shall share at his feet, And our all on the altar is laid.

[40:52] Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid? Your heart does the spirit control.

[41:07] You can only be blessed, and have peace and sweet rest, As you yield in your body and soul.

[41:23] You can only be blessed, and have peace and sweet rest, And have peace and sweet rest.

[41:36] You can only be blessed, and have peace and sweet rest.