This sermon emphasizes the importance of consecration, flexibility, and deriving satisfaction from God. It draws parallels from the life of Abraham, highlighting the need to surrender fully to God, be open to change, and find fulfillment in Him. The sermon encourages seeking the anointing of the Holy Spirit to bring life and fruitfulness.

Let's look to the Lord in prayer again, shall we? Father again, we recognize our need of you. Holy Spirit, we ask that you would come and be our guide, be our teacher. Be the one that would convict us of things that need to be put right. Just have your way among us, brood over us. Father, bring forth, as you did in the beginning, Lord, out of chaos you brought forth cosmos. Father, out of disaster and destruction, Lord, bring forth that which would glorify and edify and minister to you. Establish your kingdom, your purpose within us tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. I want to challenge you tonight about three, what I consider three essential requirements that God is looking for in the life of every man or woman of God. And they are exemplified for us in the life of this wonderful man, Abraham. And they are symbolized by three things, the altar, the tent, and the well. Let me say that again. These three essential requirements, if you like, postures, attitudes, that God looks for, I believe, in the life of every believer. Again, they are exemplified so clearly in the life of Abraham. And again, symbolized by these three things, the altar, the tent, and the well. The altar speaks of consecration and dedication. And it deals with my attitude towards myself and ultimately towards God. The tent speaks of progression, speaks of transition, deals with my attitude towards change. The well speaks of satisfaction, deals with where I derive my life from, what it is that gives me satisfaction. I'll go over those again as we go through them. Abraham, as you know, is referred to as the father of all those who believe. He is not obviously the ultimate father, but he is nevertheless the father, the Bible says, of all those who believe. In other words, he is a role model. He is a prototype in many ways of what God is wanting to do and will do in your life if you allow him to have access into your life. Fathers have a profound impact on our life, don't they? For either good or bad. If your father was a mechanic or is a mechanic, chances are you can tinker with your car. If your father was a lawyer, chances are you know all sorts of legal terminology. If your father is a doctor, then chances are you know all sorts of medical expressions. If your father is a farmer, chances are you can get out there and till the ground and drive the tractor and so on. If your father rose early in the morning, chances are you're an early riser. And so fathers have an impact on our life, whether we like it or not. They are the ones that we look to and the ones that influence us the most. And Abraham, again, is called the father of all those who believe. He was a Gentile that became a Jew. He was not born a Jew, he became a Jew the way you and I become Jewish through the new birth. He was justified by faith. Paul says a Jew is not one that is born of the flesh, but one that is born of the spirit. Isn't that right? He's not circumcised of the flesh, he's circumcised of the heart. Abraham was really the first disciple in the Bible. We were always taught in Bible school that the old, meaning the old covenant, is in the new reveal. The new is in the old conceal, or the old is in the new explain, the new is in the old contain. As Solomon said, there's nothing new under the sun. And the very first thing that God said to Abraham after appearing to him was, basically, forsake father and mother, brother and sister, take up your cross and follow me. He phrased it a little differently, Abraham, get out of your father's house and away from your kindred and so on. But it was basically the claims of discipleship. And again, as you pattern yourself after the life of Abraham, God will challenge you to see where your affections lay, whether you have a supreme love for him, a love that surpasses the love of your friends and family, the love of your country, all of those things are part of the test. And ultimately, of course, there will be the ultimate test of putting your Isaac on the altar, whatever that Isaac may be. It may be a boyfriend or girlfriend, it may be a reputation, it may be some ambition that you have where God says, love me more than these. And of course, we know that time when God challenged Abraham to give up his beloved Isaac. And he will do the same thing to you and he will do the same thing to me. And so Abraham, again, sets for us an example, a role model. He is, again, a sort of a prototype. And as you study the life of Abraham, again, you can look at your own life, and many times there will be a parallel as to what God did in Abraham's life and what God will do in your own life. And so Abraham, if you have looked at his life, he was a man that was always building altars, always calling on the name of the Lord. Not only was he a man that was building altars, but he was always moving his tent and pitching his tent. And finally, he was a man who dug wells. So those three things really symbolize the life of Abraham. The altar, the tent, and the well. And it's those three things that I want to deal with tonight because I really do believe that God is wanting to take every single one of us on further. The Bible says the path of the just is a shining light. It shines more and more. There's no room for stagnation in the Word of God. The Christian life is always one of progression. We never arrive. Even Paul, with all of his brilliant intellect and revelation, and he's being caught up to the third heaven, saw things that were unlawful for him to utter. Even at the end of his life, he still has that longing. But I may know him. We talked about it last night. Hebrews talks about, you know, pressing on, moving on to maturity. And so there's never a place in the Word of God where we ever arrive and we can say, I finally made it. There's always room for more. We go from faith to faith. We increase in our knowledge of God, increase in our love, increase in our understanding of the things of God. And so these are three areas I believe that, again, God is looking for in your life and my life. So let's begin and look at the altar. The altar, like I said, speaks of consecration or dedication. And it deals with my attitude towards myself. The altar was the place of sacrifice. The altar was the place where you surrendered and you gave that which was of value to you. You gave it to God. It was a place of death, a place of abandonment, a place of yieldedness. All of those things are symbolized by the altar. The one thing that we do know about the altar, regardless of when it was throughout the Word of God, the altar always demanded the best. Let me say that again. The altar always demanded the best. You never could bring to God something that was broken, if you like, something that was deformed, something that was diseased. In fact, in the book of Malachi, the first chapter, God is complaining. And He's complaining to the nation of Israel. He says there in that first chapter, You know, there's an O there. O that somebody would simply go to the gates of the temple and close the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on mine altar. In other words, He said there's all sorts of sacrifices going on, but He says you do not realize that I am having no part of those sacrifices. I wish somebody would simply grind the whole thing to a halt. Somebody would go to the gate, shut the doors, so that you don't uselessly kindle fire on mine altar. And then God says the reason why. He says because you're bringing me the blind. You're bringing me the lame. You're bringing me the diseased. You're offering any sort of sacrifice, as though that was something that I would accept. He says you would not do that for the governor. You would not do that for any sort of earthly dignitary. You would not present some sort of a present to, you know, the mayor or some counselor or the queen. And here when they open up that package, it's all bruised and broken and so on. You would never think of doing something like that. You always give something of value, the very best. And so, again, the altar was the place where you surrendered to God the very best. I talked about it in so many ways the other night, when I talked about giving God not just your sin, but yourself. You see, your sin is something that is defiled. God is not interested in it. That's why he buries it in the depths of the sea. But what he does want is your life. And you give God your best as you're all on the altar of sacrifice laying. And one of the jobs of the high priest was to inspect, not just the high priest, but whatever priest was officiating at the altar. His job was to go over that sacrifice with a fine-toothed comb, so to speak. He would expect every single element. And if there was any tiny little blemish, he would reject it. It was not worthy of the one who is the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords. In the New Testament, thank God, we no longer have to bring our sacrifices in that sense. We don't have to line up on a Sunday morning with the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, as it says in Hebrews. But we do bring a sacrifice. You brought a sacrifice tonight. You did? Yep. A sacrifice of praise. That's the New Testament. And you know the high priest, the ultimate high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, inspected your sacrifice. Oh, you may not be aware of it, but he did. And was it worthy of him? I'll leave that up to him. But sometimes we just sort of mumble the songs. It doesn't really flow out of true gratitude. We do it out of rote because we know the song, and so it just sort of rolls out, but it doesn't really have the meaning that it should. And every single time you and I sing, there is a high priest inspecting the sacrifice of praise. Does he reject it? Or doesn't he? Jesus said to the scribes and the Pharisees, you honor me with your lips. They were honoring him. But your heart is not in it. So it was a sacrifice, but it wasn't acceptable. That's why the psalmist says, may the words in my mouth and the meditation of my heart be what? Acceptable in thy sight. And so we need to realize that the singing of songs is not just something that is a tradition that we do because we're sort of Protestants and that's the way our service goes. No, we enter into his gates with thanksgiving. And we need to sing something that is worthy because again, he is inspecting the sacrifice. The altar required again, not only the best, but it required everything. You didn't come to God and put a portion on the altar. Everything again had to die. You couldn't just sacrifice one area and say, well, I'm going to keep this part of the sacrifice alive. And many times we have to do the same thing. We have to die to self, don't we? We can't just give God a little bit and say, but I want to reserve this portion of my life for myself. I'll give you this, but you can't have that. Everything has to die. Everything has to be placed on the altar. And so again, the altar is a recognition as well of our need of God. Abraham called on the Lord. He built a sacrifice. Thank God for the supreme sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ, that gives you and I access into the presence of God. And thank God that it was a perfect sacrifice. Thank God it was acceptable. We're not redeemed with the blood of bulls and goats. We're redeemed with the precious blood of the lamb, what? Without spot of blemish. That's why Jesus Christ himself was inspected. Inspected by Pilate. They accused him of having all sorts of, if you like, issues. All sorts of problems. And so he's brought before the leadership of the country. And he says, having found no fault in him, I give him back to you. Again, Jesus Christ himself was inspected, declared to be without sin. And therefore became the acceptable sacrifice for you and I. And so the altar. Now the altar results from a correct understanding of who God is. Let me say that again. The altar results from a correct understanding of who God is. You will find as you go through the word of God that revelation most of the time precedes consecration. In other words, you have to have a revelation and then comes the consecration. For instance, in the book of Acts it says regarding Abraham, the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham. And right after that it says, and Abraham built an altar. Notice there was revelation and then consecration. Revelation, the glory of God appeared. In other words, Abraham had a revelation of the greatness of God, the holiness of God, the awesomeness of God, the glory of God that represents his nature, his character. And after seeing God in all of his manifest glory, then Abraham, it's very easy for him to obey. Abraham left everything. And we find that again as we go through the word of God. Isaiah, he went into the house of God one day and he had a revelation unlike any revelation he's ever seen before. Isaiah chapter 6. And he said, suddenly I saw the Lord high and lifted up. He was sitting on his throne. The seraphim were crying out, holy, holy, holy. And all of a sudden he becomes aware of his own sinful condition and so on. And then immediately following that revelation comes, who will go for us? I'll go. Consecration. Revelation and then consecration. The apostle Paul, thinking that he's doing the Lord's will, persecuting the early church, that fledgling church, tormenting them, imprisoning them, even allowing Stephen to be stoned, giving the final authority to go ahead and stone him. And here he is on that road to Damascus and suddenly he has an encounter with the Shekinah glory of God. God, brighter than the noonday sun, appears to this man, Abraham. He has a revelation. And immediately he says, Lord, what do you want me to do? Consecration. We looked the other night at the end of Romans chapter 11, from him and through him and to him are all things. God is the creator of all things. He is the sustainer of all things. He is the culminator, a consummator of all things. And Paul says, if you have that revelation of God, that everything comes from God, everything is sustained by God, everything finds its ultimate fulfillment in God and climax in God, therefore I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God that you consecrate, you present your body, a living sacrifice, revelation, consecration. And so, we have to come to this conclusion, if there is no consecration, it means there is no revelation. In other words, if you have not given God everything, it means you really do not know God in all of his glory and all of his majesty, because if you did, if you had a revelation of God, nothing would keep you back. Let me put it this way, you don't find young men, 20, 21 or two or three years of age, going to the jewelry store in Belfast and spending four or five thousand pounds on an engagement ring and just walking in the church and handing it to any girl and saying, oh, I thought you'd like this. Nobody is going to waste that sort of money, I mean, we're talking about big money, four or five, six thousand dollars. No, they need a revelation before consecration. They start dating that girl, they get to know her, she's beautiful within and without, and after a while, they're so madly in love, they can't live without her, and they think, listen, this is the one I want, I don't care how much it costs, I'm going to empty the bank, I'm going to do whatever I can, and I'm going to take that ring, and I'm going to ask her, will you marry me? But first of all comes the revelation. Isn't that right? You get to know her, and the more appealing she becomes to you, and the more you get to know her, again, you don't take that ring and kneel down there in the middle of the restaurant with the violin playing, if we had that beautiful setting, and you pop the question, so to speak, and then all of a sudden you burst into tears and say, you'll never know how much this cost me. You're not thinking of the value, because, again, the value is outweighed by the value of the person. And you think to yourself, I wish I had $10,000 to spend on a ring. I would do anything to get this girl. And you know, once you have a revelation of God, nothing will stop you. You'll give everything. But there has to be the revelation, first of all, before there can be the consecration. So again, the law of the altar, turn with me, if you will, to Exodus for a moment, chapter 20. This is the first time, as far as I know, that the altar is mentioned in the Bible, at least what we call the law of the altar. And it's interesting to me, here at the end of the 10 commandments as they were given to Moses, God adds something in verse 24. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me. This, of course, is before the tabernacle and everything else. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and thou shalt sacrifice upon it burnt offerings and peace offerings, thy sheep and thine oxen in places where I record my name, and I will come to thee, and I will bless thee. Again, the altar is the meeting place with God. I will come to you on the basis of sacrifice. After all, in the natural, or I shouldn't say the natural, the spiritual, we come to God on the basis of the fact that Jesus Christ is the new and the living way. But we also come to God on the basis of our own sacrifice. Oh, not for sin, understand me, but on the basis of Lord, I'll give you everything. That's the meeting place that God wants to have with us individually, where we bring to God our lives. And he says, I will come to thee, and I will bless you. Verse 25, and if you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it with hewn stone. For if you lift up thy tool upon it, you have polluted it, or profaned it. Neither shall you go up by steps to mine altar, that thy nakedness may not be discovered thereon. Now, this is the first time that God, in the word of God, ever sets down requirements concerning the altar. And the first thing he says, the altar has to be made of just earth. Sod, just plain dirt. But if you make it of stone, it's to be made of just ordinary stones that you gather out of the field. But it can not be made of cut stone, because the moment you make it of cut stone, you've profaned it. Now, what does that mean? What's God trying to convey here? He's trying to convey that the altar has nothing to do with self-aggrandizement. Let's suppose, for instance, maybe you're my friends, and we go back into the old covenant period, and I gather you together, and I say, listen, I want you to come to my house. I've got something that I want to show you, and maybe we have a meal. And then I say, this is what I really want to show you. And we are going to call on God together. And I've got this altar, and all of a sudden, I pull back the cover, and this altar is magnificent. I mean, it's all beautifully engraved. It's got beautiful stones and diamonds and filigree work and everything. All of a sudden, you're like, wow, did you make that? Wow, it's beautiful. What am I doing? I'm drawing all the attention to me. Look at my work. You see, the altar is not to be made of hewn stone. The moment you build it of hewn stone, it's already profane. God will have no part of it. Again, we don't draw attention to ourselves. It's all about Him, isn't it? And many times, and I've been, and thank God I haven't seen it here, because you don't have any other musical instruments than these two. But sometimes in the States, we'll have people playing their various instruments, and you'll see young men and women sometimes getting carried away the way they play the guitar and so on. It's all about my way of playing. And all of a sudden, everybody's focused on their altar, all sort of nicely embezzled and so on and so forth. And all of a sudden, the attention is drawn away from God, and the focus is on the individual. And God says, you've profaned it. You've polluted it. I can't accept that. That's why we have an old rugged cross, so despised by the world. No beauty. Oh, even the sacrifice himself, there's no beauty that we should desire him. And we need to be careful, I think, when it comes to the altar, that we see something here by revelation of the altar. Neither can it be ascended by stairs. The heathen altar, the little bit of research that I've done on this, the heathen altars would go up to 30, 40, 50 feet somewhere. And of course, much, as I said the other night, much of their worship was sensual and its nature, and so the priest or the priestess, as she or he would ascend, they would be able to see literally up their robes and see their nakedness, and it would trigger again a sensual sort of frenzy amongst the people and so on and so forth. And God says, no, you won't do that. Again, we don't have to ascend either. Thank God for that. He descended so that we don't have to ascend. Isn't that right? Even though he knew what it was to be equal with God, he thought it not robbery, he came down, he descended, took the form of a servant. So you and I don't have to try and ascend, we don't have to try and lift ourselves up, thank God, and if we do, again, we've profaned the altar. Now there's also the law of the burnt offering because the altar, he said, was to be a place there where you offer your burnt offerings. And in Leviticus chapter 6, we have the law of the burnt offering. It's a challenging law, at least it is to me. Leviticus 6 and verse 9 command Aaron and his son saying, this is the law of the burnt offering. It is the burnt offering because of the burning upon the altar all night until the morning. The first thing we find about the burnt offering is it had to remain on the altar all night. I think this is the most difficult thing to do in the Christian life. You see, sometimes there is a move of the Spirit of God in the meeting, the presence of God is there, there's conviction of sin, and it's very easy to make a vow, a dedication to God. Maybe there's a missionary that's talking about the need of the mission field and challenging young people who will go and maybe you're there with your girlfriend or your boyfriend and maybe other young people are standing and indicating that they're willing to give God everything and so you stand and you make a vow to God, because there's an atmosphere created, the music and the people and your friends and so on and it's so easy to put yourself, if you like, on the altar. But you know, I can guarantee you this, there'll be a night season. There'll be a time when the meeting or the camp meeting diminishes and goes and you're back at the job maybe a week later or two weeks later and the challenge now is, can I keep on the altar what I placed on the altar during the day? Now it's the night season. My girlfriend has gone to college or whatever. My boyfriends and the people I hang around with have gone back to school and here I am all alone in the factory back at the office and so on and there is a night season but can I keep again on the altar what I put on the altar? It has to stay on it all night. That's the hard time, isn't it? But then the hardest thing of all it says is and the fire shall be kept burning on it. And to me, the greatest challenge in the Christian life is to keep the fire burning during the night season. Let me say that again, to keep the fire burning during the night season. That is the hardest thing in the Christian life. Oh, we can have these meetings we can get excited and so on and rightly so and encourage one another and so on but again, there will come a night season. Can I keep the fire burning when I'm all alone when nobody else is around me to encourage me and so on and there are various offerings that we have to give to God. Again, the offering demands the very best and God is the one that inspects and He knows. Abraham, of course, was a man that was always offering God. Genesis chapter 15 God gave him promises and then Abraham says, how is that going to happen? And God says, it's going to cost you something basically. I want you to bring me a three year old heifer and turtle doves and a three year old ram and it says Abraham brought all those things and he put them on the altar and he fulfills in every detail what God required of him and they have taken him many, many hours. He's got to go out. He's got to inspect the flock. He's got to slay the animals. He's got to build the two altars. They're going to cut a covenant and hours and hours of work and finally he presents to God exactly what God asked him to bring and then instead of God showing up the birds of the air show up. Instead of God showing up the birds of prey show up and Abraham spends the rest of the day defending what he put on the altar. You see the enemy hates you putting something on the altar and he will do everything within his power. The birds of prey, the demonic forces will oppose. They will try and get you to take back or they will try and take off the altar what you put on and you have to stand there and the Bible says it began to get darker and darker and darker until finally the sun set and it was very dark and when it's very dark you cannot see where the birds of prey are coming from and so on and it was in the middle of the night season that God came and he revealed himself to Abraham but he tested him first. You see God said to Abraham just a few verses before that. He said Abraham because Abraham of course is making out his will he's convinced that he's going to die without having a son and he says God I'm going to have to give you a son all because you he says have never given me a child. You can read it there in Genesis 15 and God says listen I will give you a son. In fact he said if you can go outside and look at the stars if you can number the stars he said so shall your descendants be and the stars became to Abraham what the rainbow became to Noah. When he got discouraged when he wondered am I ever going to have a child all he had to do was look up and there were the stars and they were a constant reminder to Abraham of God's faithfulness that one day I will have from my loins numerous children and yet just a few verses later Abraham puts everything on the altar and it says the sun began to go down and it says it was very dark in the original. Not just dark but the darkness of dark and what happens when it's very dark you can't see the stars and there are times again when God will seem to remove all the promises from us again the night season what the old mystics call the dark night of the soul can I keep the fire burning that's the great challenge and so the altar deals again with consecration and dedication it deals with my attitude towards God himself have I given God the very best or is there something that I'm holding back and the 10th speaks of progression it speaks of transition it deals with my attitude towards change you see if you go to Genesis chapter 12 God comes to Abraham and he challenges him we looked at this the other night from a little different angle verse 1 and the Lord said to Abraham get out of your country or away from your country and from your kindred, your relatives and from your father's house unto a land that I will show you in other words the first thing that God had to do with Abraham he had to dislodge him let me say that again he had to dislodge him we're not talking about the Masonic Lodge right now although if you're in it you need to be dislodged too let the seed fall where it may on that one but God had to dislodge him when he used Abraham in and while he was part of his father's house it's interesting if you study the life of Abraham that never again according to the word of God did Abraham ever go and reside in a house again the word house that is used there means a building with a foundation it's permanent, it's rigid and the book of Hebrews says one thing about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob is he was looking for a city whose builder and maker was God and from the moment Abraham responds to the call of God never again does he settle down because you and I are pilgrims and God wants us to be flexible God wants us to be open to change God wants us to be able to be led by the spirit of God and one of the things he has to do he has to get us out of our father's house and you see the father's house and I'm talking about the natural father's house the natural house that you were raised in there are certain things certain orders, certain ways of doing things that we are comfortable about you know that you can get up in the middle of the night at least I can in my house I can make my way to the kitchen, the bathroom whatever the case may be without even turning on the light it is so comfortable, it is so familiar I know exactly where I am and we get very comfortable in our father's house spiritually because we know what's going to happen next we know this, we know that and we get very uncomfortable when things are all of a sudden changed and God is wanting again that flexibility one of the things he did with the children of Israel he took them out into the wilderness and all of a sudden he uprooted their routine they were used to getting up in the morning in Egypt and you know making their quarter of bricks and so on and so forth it was very much a regimented lifestyle for those men but here they are now free and yet God is leading them Numbers chapter 8 you have that wonderful chapter there let me just summarize it for you Numbers chapter 9 and verse 21 and so it was when the cloud abode for even unto the morning that the cloud was taken up in the morning and they journeyed whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up they journeyed on the tabernacle remaining thereon the children of Israel abode in their tents and journeyed not but when it was taken up they journeyed at the command of the Lord they rested in their tents at the command of the Lord they journeyed they kept the charge of the Lord at the command of the Lord and by the hand of Moses notice again whether it was a day or two days or whatever this is Elam this is the place of palm trees and boy it's great we've got our own water supply and plenty of figs and let's just camp here forever God says no and he moved them up and sometimes again it was a week and sometimes it was two weeks and sometimes it was a day and sometimes it was a month and sometimes it was a year and I can imagine and yet we love our routines don't we we love our Father's house you see I was raised in a in a Father's house like obviously all of you in the natural but in the spiritual and my wife and I ended up in charge of a team of young people in New Guinea in 1971 or 1970 actually Youth with a Mission Base that my wife and I ended up being in charge of we had maybe 20 young people some of them nationals from New Guinea others from Australia and New Zealand and they were far more liberated than I was I mean they would raise their hands they would begin to shout sometimes they'd even dance a little bit and I was the leader of the group and boy was I ever in my Father's house I mean I'd never put my hands up even like this you know it just feels terrible I mean you know and God had to deal with me severely my pride my pride I'm not going to become a crazy charismatic or whatever you know you see we have our Father's house don't we you know I could quote in my mind let everything be done decently in order and this and that the other thing I had all the answers as to why I shouldn't do what they're doing and yet I knew inside God was trying to break something God was trying to break a resistance from my Father's house that I'd grown up in I was comfortable in I knew exactly what was coming next and so on and I didn't want to change because after all I'm British and I like to know you know what's coming next and the order you see a house is permanent a tent is movable every one of you tonight no doubt will go back to your house there's something about a house that controls you some of you have driven 20 miles you will gravitate back to your house now if you lived in tents you could just pitch them underground here you wouldn't have to go back and if we decided to go somewhere else spiritually of course that's what God is talking about again a house is familiar a tent is unfamiliar a house we tend to accumulate a lot of baggage don't we at least we do in our house every closet seems to be full you know like the goldfish depending on what size bowl you put it it gets bigger and bigger there's only my wife and I and every closet in the house is jam full we're always talking about having a garage sale and so on but if it was a tent boy we'd have to strip down and I think sometimes we get so much spiritual baggage that God is wanting to move us on and God has new things for us but we're resistant because we don't want to let go of the old and so on and so it deals again with my attitude towards change how flexible am I can God do something new or do I make God conform to that which is comfortable for me oh I don't want to raise my hand I don't want to do this I don't want to do that Psalm 45 and verse 10 forget your people and your father's house and the king will desire your beauty now isn't that true in the natural that when you marry somebody hopefully you can get her to leave her father's house and if she can't you've got a problem believe me not too many young men here that would agree to say well listen when we get married I'm glad to move back into the house with your parents I don't think so sometimes out of necessity that happens but most of the time listen darling forget your people and your father's house not upsetting us but because he wants us to be flexible again the father's house is the area of security get out of your father's house that area of security because our security can become related to a form to an order instead of to God and even though God may be saying do this and do that instead of one song sing three instead of three songs sing one instead of preaching now take communion now and preach later all of a sudden we and so God says to Abraham get out of your father's house again the pride if you like of security and then leave your relatives the pride of family and then your country the pride of nationality why does he say that to Abraham because he's going to give him something else to Abraham he is going to give a new family he's going to give a new nation I will make of you a great nation and so Abraham has to be willing to get rid of those things so God can replace it with something greater and so often we hold on to that little thing thinking if I let go of this and God he will always give us more he will always give us more every time God asks you to give something up he will give more back no man having forsaken houses and lands shall not in this life receive what houses and lands in abundance I remember in the Pensacola revival many years ago the pastor down there a man by the name of John Kilpatrick talked about the little boy giving his lunch to the Lord as the Lord took those loaves and fishes and fed the multitude and then he described it at the end of the day the little boy making his way home and walking through the front door into the kitchen and there are twelve men following him and those twelve men have got huge baskets full of food and they're staggering in and the little boy's mother looks at him and Johnny what's going on here oh mummy that's the leftovers from my meal today in other words God gave back he gave his lunch he got twelve baskets full left I mean that was the assumption at least God borrowed a boat to proclaim the gospel in one day he gave it back what full of fish whatever you give to God how security is in that thing and we've got to be willing to do that again are we willing to be led by the spirit of God in the New Testament it's put slightly differently God says I want to put new wine into a new wineskin lest putting the new wine into the old wineskin it just simply is lost why because the old wineskin has lost its elasticity it's lost its flexibility it can no longer expand and therefore the new wine just ruptures it and everything's gone so God says I've got to look for a new wineskin and sometimes we get so settled don't we we become the old wineskin we become resistant God begins to move maybe we've experienced a revival and as they say in America the pioneers of the past revival why because God didn't do it that way in our revival and so they become resistant to change in our revival the spirit of God did this that and the other thing and this is different so this can't be God and so we begin to persecute the next move of God because God mixes it up and does it a little differently and so we have to ask ourselves am I the old wineskin or am I the new wineskin Jeremiah 48 many years ago when I left New Zealand we were part of a very wonderful church I was part of a team of godly ministers we functioned just like a husband and wife there were six of us in a leadership capacity the senior man and then my other brethren that we worked together I was the teacher the senior man was more of a sort of prophetic exotic sort of man we had another man that came and I used to say if there were five men that I would love to go on vacation with it was the five men I worked with that was the sort of relationship we didn't have any competitiveness amongst us we understood our different functions and callings and we blended together beautifully and the church had grown it became at one stage the largest church in New Zealand about two thousand people and then one day God spoke to me from this portion of scripture in Jeremiah 48 that he has been settled on his lease and he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel therefore he has gone into captivity and therefore his taste remains in him and his scent is not changed now that may sound like a strange verse to you let me explain it to you it is the process of making wine and what they would do of course they would trample out the grapes with their feet and as the juice ran out along with the juice of course would come little bits of pith and the seed and maybe a little bit of stalk or whatever and so there was a little bit of debris if you like that would find itself into the crushing of the grapes and then they would take that liquid and they would pour it into a vessel and they would give it a period of time for what they call the lease to settle all that debris if you like would eventually settle to the bottom and it would become a sort of a gummy jammy sort of a substance and that was referred to as the lease and they would very carefully take that vessel and they would empty it into another vessel and again let a settling process begin and then after that they would empty it into another vessel and it was emptied from vessel to vessel and the best wine was that which was emptied from vessel to vessel the cheap wine was that which was allowed to settle on the lease and then the lease gave it a certain aroma because all that junk if you like at the bottom would permeate the wine and it was cheap wine it was not very good wine and God says to Moab you are cheap wine in that sense I can't really use you why because you've not been emptied from vessel to vessel and God spoke to me and we've been in this church now for 15 years and God said to me you know I want to empty you from vessel to vessel and over the last number of years and we've spent a considerable amount of time in different places but you know God has emptied me from vessel to vessel and He's got all the answers but as you're emptied from vessel to vessel you begin to see what is going on in other parts of the body of Christ and you glean things from others and understanding and revelation and so on but many of us we've settled on our lease and there's a certain aroma and I can go into congregations and I can smell the aroma this is a brethren church this is an assembly of God church this is a baptist church in other words you settle there's an aroma there's a way of doing things there's an order if you like that God is saying listen you need to be open to the moving of the Spirit of God now let me talk for a moment about the making of a wineskin I heard a gentleman possibly 25, 30 years ago now go into a great amount of detail I remember it to this day but he said the first thing about making a wineskin number one it's a wineskin it's something you make on the potter's wheel it's not made of clay it's a skin and many times the wineskin the best ones were made from the leg of an animal because whether it's the front leg of an animal or the real leg of an animal it has that natural funnel shape but in order to make a wineskin the first thing that has to happen is something has to die and that is the hardest thing isn't it something has to die it's one of those things and we don't like to because then it's the unknown we don't like to die I don't want to die to the order that I'm used to I don't want to die to this particular thing or whatever it is but something first of all has to die and it's hard to die the second thing is the flesh has to be removed the animal dies it's a bad promise and it's not a pleasant thing it wasn't for me for sure as I had to learn to just simply raise my hands in gratitude to God and see in the word of God that it says listen make a joyful noise shout unto the Lord all the earth talks about dancing after all the father danced and he ran towards the prodigal turned on the music and the dancing but there are those things oh you know I would never do that but I am saying sometimes God will break us and we have to die we have to die to that thing within us that just recoils against that thing because all of our life we've had a certain order and we don't want to move out of that order and it's so hard to die it's so hard to have the flesh removed because we're convinced my way is the only way and then the skin had to be soaked and washed in water in other words the flesh had to be removed thoroughly washed it with water and of course the washing of water to me is the word of God we need to get back into the word of God and say what does the word of God say about this thing let God give me a fresh revelation give me a fresh revelation on this part of the service give me a fresh revelation on worship give me a fresh revelation on communion give me a fresh revelation on prayer or whatever it may be God I need to get into your word again and whatever he saith unto you do it well Lord I haven't been raised that way I don't care and then it's dried over the fire and the psalmist talks about that in Psalm 119 verse 83 he says I'm like a wineskin over the smoke in other words it was a primitive curing process where it was put over the fire and none of us like the fire but the fire again purges doesn't it and the fire is also part of a cleansing process and then finally the wineskin was soaked in oil and the oil gave it that elasticity the oil gave it that flexibility and water proofing and so on to me of course the oil represents the ministry and the work of the Holy Spirit we need a fresh anointing of the Spirit of God we can't function without the anointing of the Spirit of God if you go into Exodus chapter 40 interesting portion of scripture where Moses is told to put together the tabernacle and of course he spent many many months constructing it along with Bezalel and others and they've done all the intricate detail of the tabernacle and now God says I want you to put the tabernacle together verse 1 and the Lord spoke to Moses saying on the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation and thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony and cover the ark with the veil and thou shalt bring in the table and things that are to be set in order upon it and thou shalt bring in the candlestick and light the lamps thereof it's interesting when God puts together the tabernacle he begins with the ark and he works his way out when we come to the tabernacle we start in the outer court and we work our way in but the most important thing to God is the ark, the presence of God and everything is built around the presence of God everything radiates out from the presence of God and so Moses begins to build the tabernacle from the inside out basically and then he gets to the place where verse 8 thou shalt set up the court all about and hang up the hangings of the court at the gate at the court gate in other words the last thing of the tabernacle was the final outer court was hung there and now you would have thought that's all that's necessary it would be like building a church like this I'm sure the day came when the last thing was put into place the carpet went down, the pews came in and you thought finally we're finished Sunday's coming, we just made it in the nick of time we've got a great celebration we're going to celebrate the building of this new house of God together and so on and so forth great excitement and yet God says listen you cannot continue on there is still one last thing that needs to be done even though everything was in place every single thing was built according to the pattern notice what it says and thou shalt bring Aaron sorry, verse 10 let me even go back further, verse 9 and thou shalt take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that therein and shalt hallow it and all the vessels thereof and it shall be holy and thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt offering and all the vessels, the sanctuary altar and it shall be an altar most holy and thou shalt anoint the laver and so on thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle and wash them and thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments and anoint him and sanctify him that he may minister as a priest and thou shalt bring his sons and clothe them with coats and thou shalt anoint them as thou didst anoint their father that they may minister to me in the priest's office for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generation my translation says and their anointing shall qualify them for the priesthood their anointing shall qualify them for the priesthood in other words even though the tabernacle was built to the precise standards that God demanded he said it still lacks one thing the anointing and we know that Jesus Christ came and what did he do? he tabernacled amongst us he tabernacled amongst us and yet before that tabernacle could function the spirit of God had to descend upon him and the spirit of God the voice of God said this is my beloved son and the anointing of the spirit came on the tabernacle even though that tabernacle existed for 30 years as the son of God perfect in every detail all put together if you like he was the son of the living God and yet he could not function until the anointing came upon him and we think somehow that we can function without the anointing of the spirit we have to get to that place where we are so open and receptive regardless of whether it upsets us or not and say God I don't care I am prepared to do whatever you require you see when it comes to the baptism of the spirit let me save this for a moment I was being honest very honest with the Lord a number of years ago and I felt God gave me three words the first word was the word incarceration the second word was the word inoculation and the third word was the word intoxication and I felt the Lord say to me in the body of Christ we have three categories of individuals we have the incarcerated now if you are incarcerated obviously you've been put in prison let's assume that this is a prison cell and I'm incarcerated I only have a limited amount of freedom I can't get out I can't go beyond these restraints I'm limited, I'm restrained I'd like to be over there but I can't be because I'm restrained I'm incarcerated and one of the great tragedies I believe is the false teaching we have incarcerated the body of Christ don't go after the baptism of the spirit you'll end up with a demon whatever you do don't speak in tongues because that's the worst possible thing that could happen to you and all of this teaching and so people are incarcerated they're afraid, they're limited they know that there's something more but they can't get out and then there's the inoculated and you all know what inoculation is because I'm sure all of you have had an injection for polio I still have a little mark on my arm there and what does it do? you get such a small dose it keeps you from ever getting the real thing and unfortunately even in Pentecostal circles and I do a lot in Pentecostal charismatic circles I find a lot of people have been inoculated oh, they're so quick to get people to speak in tongues at the moment you say gibberish of some sort oh, you've got it brother, you've got it and my Bible says repent and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit not the gift of tongues now I'm not diminishing the gift of tongues but it's the gift of a person that's what the real gift is a person, the Spirit of God who comes to reside and abide in us and the Spirit of God wants to take control He wants to have complete control you study all the lives of the great men and women of God every single one of them almost without exception had some sort of a second experience they were filled with the Spirit of God yes, some spoke in tongues some had other giftings and so on but there was a definite experience which brings me to the third thing they were intoxicated these men are not drunk as you suppose but they were acting like it they were intoxicated when you're filled with the Spirit of God you're going to do one of the things that alcohol does in the natural it frees you up, doesn't it? a drunk man will give you every penny he's got a drunk man will chat and talk and all of a sudden he's loosed his tongue's loosed, he'll do crazy things now I'm not suggesting that that happens in the realm of the Spirit in that sense but it will free us bring us out of our reserved personality and so on set us free so that God can use us and so again there is the making of the wineskin how flexible am I? the tent deals with my attitude towards change my resistance Abraham left again a place that had a permanent foundation and he became a dweller in tents why? because he was following the Lamb these are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes take up your cross and follow me but what if God goes a direction I don't want to go? can you still follow him? that's the challenge and there's been many many times in my life when God has upset my whole way of thinking when God has challenged me to die to self in a particular area where I was uncomfortable I'll give you an illustration we left New Guinea we moved to New Zealand I'd made a wonderful man of God and he had invited us to go to a little Bible school in New Zealand and so we left the mission field and made our way to New Zealand and we attended the church the church that eventually I became part of the team and the senior pastor was actually an Anglican background and he'd had a mighty visitation of the Spirit of God he was known all over Australasia for his prophetic gift and just a wonderful man of God and I was attracted to that because of my background I had not had a great deal of that in the Bible school I went to and so my wife and I when that happened I would be in the meeting on a Sunday morning with possibly 300 or 400 people at the time and one Sunday morning people began to dance they were just liberated it wasn't a sensual dance of any sort but they were just excited about what God was doing and the pastor was up there and we had an orchestra at the time and I remember I was about the second row from the very back everybody stop Ravenhill's not dancing back there we'll sing it one more time that's true and I thought I either join them or I resist them now that may sound radical to you and it certainly put me on the spot but I decided listen Lord you know liberate me right now now again you may sound well that was sort of forced and so on but God did something God broke something in me and a resistance that I don't want to do that it's humbling it's humiliating it's not British it's not the way I was trained it's not my father's house alright it's getting very quiet let's move on the reasons we resist change number one tradition again we've always done it this way we're afraid of like the parents of a man who was healed of his blindness and they came to Jesus the leaders came but the Bible says they were afraid of being put out of the synagogue so they kept them out ask him he's of age we don't want to be put on the spot we'll get kicked out of the synagogue again tradition cost there's a reputation sometimes involved it costs us something it may be money it may be time it may be a different locality if we have to uproot and move fear there's always the fear of the unknown Lord what if doctrine obviously we can believe certain truths and they can hold us back because we have a misunderstanding of the word of God all of those things can be reasons we resist change but the other thing is things can change and we can go right back to having a tent become a house for instance the time when the children of Israel were murmuring God allowed serpents to come amongst the children of Israel people were beginning to die you know the story they cried out Moses cried out to God God said make a brazen serpent put it on a pole whoever looks at the brazen serpent will have life and obviously for that moment of time in the life of the nation of Israel that symbol of the cross was a wonderful experience for them but it was never intended by God to last and yet if you look in your Bible 700 years later Hezekiah has to grind that thing in pieces because the people made an idol out of it in other words that which was meant for a period of time suddenly became something that they turned from a tent into a house and it became a permanent part of their sort of worship that God never intended it was simply a stepping stone for them to do it and I can imagine in that meeting let's say it was a board meeting where Hezekiah says by the way I believe God has spoken to me and He wants me to grind up the brazen serpent I can imagine all the oldies saying no, no, no I won't be here if it wasn't for that brazen serpent my great great grandmother was complaining one day and a serpent came in and she was just about dead and they pulled her out of the tent and made her look at that brazen serpent it's easy isn't it again to make certain things into an idol because God moved in a particular way and now we worship that particular way of doing things and it's become an idol it's become a hush tent and somebody needs to get up and change it you see all the great men of God after all God had to take Martin Luther out of his father's house the Catholic church God had to take John Wesley out of his father's house the Anglican church the well and we will try and speed this up a little but the well deals with my attitude towards God himself speaks of satisfaction Abraham was always digging wells wells of course are the source of life aren't they you cannot live very long without water you can go days and days and days without food 40 days without food but you can't go 40 days without water we need water when it comes to the water of life we need it Genesis, one of the strategies of the enemy Isaac had to dig again the wells that his father Abraham had dug why, because the enemy blocked them off they filled in the well that was one of the strategies of war after all you would have your camp and your village would be set up around a water supply as it still is in many places like India and other places where there's just one water supply and everybody goes to the well and the village has to move and so the enemy would come in and block up the water supply and then the person had to move and relocate and while they were gone of course they'd re-dig the well and claim that territory for themselves and so the Philistines would fill in the wells of Abraham and they had to be re-dug and so on and you and I have to re-dig the wells sometime they get filled in they get blocked by the enemy we get discouraged and things come along but you see we have to have a life source we've got to know what it is to have our life source what is it that satisfies you where do you get your life from one of the great complaints in the book of Jeremiah where God says through his servant the prophet you've committed two evils you've forsaken me the fountain of living water and you've drowned me and you've dug for yourselves broken cisterns of holy water in other words you've forsaken me the source of life I'm come that you might have life and yet you've turned your back on me and you're trying to drink out of broken cisterns I think it's the next verse that says why are you going down to the Nile it also goes on a verse or two later it says you're going to the Euphrates the Euphrates again is the river of Babylon and the Nile of course is the river of Egypt that typifies the world and sometimes again we try and get our sustenance from the world from Babylon from a whole religious system if you like or a whole worldly system and God is saying you will not come to me that you might have life oh there were the scribes and the Pharisees they found their satisfaction in the word of God you say well what's wrong with that well the word of God became their satisfaction not the God of the word you will not come to me you search the scriptures for in them you think you have life no I'm not knocking the word of God obviously we need the word of God but the word of God alone is not sufficient that's why the old hymn writer says beyond the sacred page we seek thee Lord our spirits pant for thee Lord the living word my father used to tell the story of the Hebridean revival and he knew and I know some of you have heard Duncan Campbell but the story is told I've never checked it out but I've heard my father say it many times about during the revival there was a dream one night Duncan Campbell and in the dream he saw himself making his way into one of the little townships there on the island of Lewis or somewhere and there was a big crowd of people listening to somebody preaching and as he approached the crowd in his dream or vision he heard somebody proclaiming the word of God and that was not unusual again street meetings in those days were popular but he did not recognize and as he looks at the speaker he is horrified because the speaker was the devil and after the crowd dispersed he went up to the devil in his dream or his vision and Duncan Campbell says you're the devil aren't you and he says yes I am and he says well what are you doing proclaiming the word of God and the devil said to Duncan Campbell Duncan Campbell don't you know the greatest weapon I have is the preaching of the word of God without the anointing of the spirit and the spirit brings it to life and one of the great tragedies in America no doubt here in Northern Ireland or Southern Ireland is the word of God goes forth every morning, Sunday morning but unless it's brought to life by the spirit of God there's no conviction and all it does is it just builds up a callus like somebody that plays a guitar and after a while their hands are almost immune to the pain of the strings because they've felt it so often and they've heard the stories and they just run over and there's no life to them and they just write it off oh I've heard that story David and Goliath oh I've heard the story about Lazarus come forth and nothing happens and it is the spirit of God that has to bring it to life the letter kills and we've got to get back again to the source of life turn with me and we'll close in a moment into John chapter 7 for a moment very familiar portion of scripture John 7 verse 37 in the last day or on the last day the great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried saying if any man come to me let him come to me and drink he that believeth on me as the scripture said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water but this spake he of the spirit that I receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified that little phrase there out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water a number of years ago I bought myself a little palm pilot before the days of iPads and so on and small computers and I had a particular program on that little device in which if you touch the water with the word it would bring up the Greek or the Hebrew depending if you were in the Old and New Testament and what it would do it would tell you all the ways in which that word is translated and so I was reading one day and I touched the word belly and it came up and it can be translated stomach or kidneys and you know different things but the way in which this word is translated the most by far you see when the writers of the Bible whatever translation you're using when they came to this particular portion of scripture they were stymied a little bit because the womb is something that men don't have it's gender specific women have wombs and men don't and so they made it generic out of your belly but you see the Greek word is far more specific and you can check it out it really does mean the word womb you and I cannot conceive you and I cannot be fruitful you and I cannot give birth because God if you like has closed our womb until the spirit of God comes and he says out of your belly then shall flow rivers you see every temple and I'll close with this I know I've been going a long time but every temple that God ever made and when I say God made I'm referring to not Moses tabernacle because that was made by Moses even though the plan was given by God but every temple that God made and there is a man you can Google him his name is Govert Robert Govert he was said by Spurgeon to be the greatest expositor of his time in fact Spurgeon said the day will come when his writings will be worth their weight in gold that's quite a statement that was the first tabernacle and it was there that the presence of God came and it was there that man had intimacy with God and it was once man sinned he was driven out of the tabernacle and there was a entrance again a flaming torch put there a cherubim that he says corresponds now to the brazen altar in other words the only way man could get back in if he could get back in was through a river and that river brought life to the surrounding areas just as rivers do and then you go to Ezekiel and in Ezekiel you have a river that flows from the throne of God and the river wherever the river went waters up to the loins up to the ankles and so on waters to swim in and wherever that river goes there is healing and then you go to Revelation Revelation 21 and every time there is a temple or a tabernacle made by man man cannot make a river so he makes a laver because nobody can make a river but God and so we have a laver but isn't it interesting that your life and my life the Bible says is the temple of the Holy Spirit and out of this temple shall flow what? Rivers and the only way that river will flow is if you and I are receptable and open to the baptism of the Spirit of God and say Lord I don't care what it takes I don't care how embarrassing it may be or whatever it is but Lord I want everything that you have for me everything and I believe that there is a time when God is going to move and I long for that it's not a day hardly goes by in my own prayer time where I don't covet more of the Spirit of God because the Bible says it's not enough just to be filled once be on being filled it's the only supply that we need of the Spirit of God otherwise we're barren otherwise we'll never achieve anything but if we come and we drink God can open your womb and you can be fruitful and you can have an increase and see again the blessing of God flow out and touch the lives of others touch the lives of your community that's why Jesus said listen Tarry in Jerusalem even though those twelve disciples were eleven at the time going out doing things and yet he said listen you're not ready to graduate yet Tarry in Jerusalem until you've been endued with power from on high and we cannot do a thing apart from the Spirit of God and so God is looking for these areas in our life am I prepared to give him everything the very best not holding anything back am I prepared to truly die to self am I prepared to be flexible to go wherever the Spirit of God leads me to be led by the Spirit of God Jesus is looking for a city whose builder and maker is God never settling down never getting sort of tied down to any particular thing but always open to what God is doing the wind bloweth where it listens and what is my source of satisfaction do I have a well is he the one that I derive my life from you go into the Old Testament New Testament all the brides that were met at the well it's amazing isn't it it was at the well that they met the bride and the bridegroom wants to meet you at the well let's just close in prayer Father you know the ground that has been covered tonight Father I just pray that you bring clarity Father take away any confusion if there is any Father we just want to be open and responsive to whatever it is that you want to do Father these are desperate days these are days Lord when we don't want to be rigid and flexible we don't want to be the old wineskin that you have got to pass by as that old song says while on others thou art calling do not pass me by Father we say that not just because of salvation in that sense of conversion but Lord don't pass us by and do something Lord with this group or that group Lord we are left behind because we are not willing to get out of our Father's house where there is a rigidness and inflexibility and intolerance Father give us wisdom give us insight Father give us discernment in these days we know Lord that there are false rivers and there are all sorts of things going on but Father we ask that Lord you would truly lead us God keep us from any type of deception and yet Lord we don't want to be fearful we don't want to Lord just stay back and say I am afraid Father we want to be like Peter and step out of the boat and so Father bless this congregation Lord bless those that are representative here from other congregations again that Lord has known in times past great moves of the Spirit of God Father we pray for that again break down those barriers Lord break down that resistance Father give us again the mind of your Spirit that is all that we want Father we want to be led by the Spirit of God have your way have your way why don't you just respond tonight just where you are maybe you would like to kneel you can do that respond to Lord say Lord I want to be open I want to be open Lord I don't want to be resistant Lord if it is a matter of being humbled if it is a matter of giving up a particular thing Lord I am prepared to give it up Lord I just want your presence I want to be used by you Father I want that river to flow out of me river of life Lord I am tired of just routine having a form of godliness a routine, a ritual, an order but Lord missing the life oh God change us, transform us help us teach us your ways in Jesus name