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A Revival of the Family Altar · Enjoying the Journey

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  In our busy world, family time is frequently neglected.
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  It is vital that we give attention to our families while we
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  can, and it is especially important to give attention to what
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  God says in his word about our homes.
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  For the next few moments, let's join Scott Pauley as we open
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  the scriptures and and find God's message for your family.
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  Have you ever noticed that the great faith chapter of the Bible,
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  the Hall of Faith, Hebrews chapter 11, has a tremendous emphasis
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  on family? Now, we alluded to it already when
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  we talked about Abraham and Sarah, but go with me to Hebrews 11 today.
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  Let me show you an interesting a common thread that is woven
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  throughout. It begins in Hebrews 11, verse number 7, with Noah.
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  Remember, Noah was warned of God of things not seen as yet. He moved
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  with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house. Okay,
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  what was the first thing Noah did when he came off the ark? First thing
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  he did, he built an altar. He taught his sons
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  to worship God, to pray. When you come to verse number
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  9, you have Abraham sojourning in the land of promise. Dwelling in tabernacles
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  with Isaac and Jacob. Well, what did Abraham do?
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  Everywhere he went, he built an altar.
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  Then you come down to verse number 20. Isaac blessed Jacob and
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  Esau concerning things to come. Isaac had
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  to learn to repair the altars that his father had built.
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  And then you come to this verse, Hebrews 11, verse 21.
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  By faith Jacob, when he was a dying,
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  blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning upon
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  the top of his staff. We don't talk
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  a great deal about Jacob, but this verse is powerful.
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  Do you know what Jacob is doing in Hebrews 11, verse number 21?
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  He is teaching the next generation— in fact,
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  2 generations beyond, his grandsons. He's teaching the generations
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  to come what it means to worship
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  God and pray. In fact,
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  I believe that Hebrews 11 is a wonderful reminder of our need to
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  have a family altar, a place where we pray with our families and
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  where we teach our families to seek the Lord by example. We need
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  a revival of the family altar.
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  In fact, if you hold in your right hand Hebrews chapter number 11 and
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  in your left hand go back to the book of Genesis— we spent a long
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  time in Genesis, didn't we, in this series? But there's an amazing chapter in Genesis
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  chapter number 35 where Jacob meets
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  with God. Jacob— the Bible says in Genesis 35:1,
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  God said to him, arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there,
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  and make there an altar unto God that appeared
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  unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.
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  And so Jacob does exactly what God tells him to do. He builds
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  an altar He leads his family to worship God. It is
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  one of the first occasions that we have here where Jacob is guiding
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  his family to seek the Lord. Norman Williams said
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  the greatest Bible institute in the world is a father reading the open Bible to
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  his family. Oh, I love that. The greatest thing
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  you can do with your family is lead them into the presence
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  of God. Teach them to seek the Lord.
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  Matthew Henry was famous for saying that wherever man has a tent, God should have
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  an altar. He meant by that that wherever you're living, that ought to be a
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  place of worship. If the only worship your family
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  ever gets is the family— or the worship they get on the Lord's Day,
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  then we're not teaching them that worship is not something we just do
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  occasionally. It's a way of life. Worship is not reserved for corporate
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  worship. There's to be perfect personal family worship every
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  day seeking the Lord. That's what Jacob was doing in Hebrews chapter 11,
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  verse 21. So almost like bookends on his life, you have him beginning
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  with the altar in Genesis 35, and now you have him ending
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  the same way. Look at the verse again, Hebrews 11, verse 21:
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  By faith Jacob, when he was a-dying,
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  blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning upon
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  the top of his staff. Notice 3 things he did as he died.
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  Number one, he died believing. I like that, don't you?
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  By faith, Jacob. How do you end in faith?
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  Live in faith. The just shall live by his faith. You want to die in
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  faith? Live in faith. Keep believing the Lord. Keep your eyes on Jesus.
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  Then the Bible says he blessed both the sons
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  of Joseph. So he not only died believing, he died blessing.
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  What will you leave behind? Money, that's not the great blessing.
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  No, truth is the great blessing. A testimony of faith
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  in God, that's the great blessing. When you leave this world, some things are not
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  going to matter, friends, and other things are going to matter much.
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  And one of those is that you leave behind a spiritual
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  blessing for those who are following in your steps. But notice the
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  third thing he did. By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons
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  of Joseph and worshiped leaning upon the top of his
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  staff. He not only died believing and blessing,
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  he died worshiping and praying. Do you see it?
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  I read this for years and missed it. What does it mean leaning upon the
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  top of his staff? Why is that significant? We know he's an old man.
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  We know he's about to die. Somebody said, oh, that's just a testimony of his
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  physical weakness. That's just to show you how frail he was.
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  No, I don't think so. As a matter of fact, the staff was very
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  important in Jacob's life. If you go all the way back to the beginning
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  of his story, I think it's Genesis chapter number 32, he's worshiping
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  God for God's goodness to him, and he gives this testimony. He said,
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  when I came across this Jordan the first time, I came across with nothing
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  but my staff. Now when I've returned,
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  the Lord has made me 2 bands. In other words, I had nothing but
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  this staff, but God has taken a whole lot of nothing and done something amazing
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  with it. He has blessed me more than I ever imagined. I'm going to tell
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  you what I believe. I believe leaning on that staff, worshiping God,
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  head bowed before God, that staff was a reminder
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  to him that he was nothing and God was everything,
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  that every good thing in his life had come from Almighty God.
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  Jacob, you remember early on, was the schemer, the conniver,
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  the deceiver, but it doesn't end that way. Thank God
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  that's not his lasting legacy. No, God changed Jacob the schemer
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  to Israel the prince with God. He learned to pray. He learned
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  to worship. This is, this is not a testimony
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  of just how evil he was. It's a testimony of how good God is.
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  At the end, he wasn't thinking about himself. He was thinking about his God.
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  I'm going to tell you how we're all going to end. We're all going to
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  end in worship. I know that because Philippians 2 says someday every knee will bow,
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  every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
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  the Father. And so if eventually we're all going to end in worship, don't you
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  think it might be good if we got some practice now? Don't you think it
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  might be good if perhaps we went back to establishing a time of prayer
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  and seeking God ourselves every day, and then teach our children to do
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  the same? Set a time and place, open the
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  Bible, a time when you're not rushed, read the scriptures together,
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  turn off media for a little while, have a place where you can just be
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  quiet and be still before God.
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  Teach your children to love the scriptures. Pray with them,
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  pray for them. Let them hear you call their name.
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  Teach them how to pray. Teach them how to pray for others.
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  You know, the truth is most of us never develop a good family
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  altar because we haven't really developed our own personal altar.
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  Start with your own personal altar, seeking God every day,
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  and then out of that, share that with your family. Bring your family
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  into a place of real worship and seeking God.
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  Let's have a real old-fashioned, heaven-sent,
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  sin-killing, devil-defeating, God-glorifying revival
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  of the family altar, household worship,
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  people seeking the Lord together.
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  The only house of God is not the, the house
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  where you assemble with your church family. No, you are the temple of the Holy
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  Ghost of God, and your house should be a place of real worship.
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  Your house should be a house of prayer, and that should be something
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  all of us are leaving behind for our children. I hope it
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  won't be on your deathbed that you institute this, and I hope it will
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  be now with your family, whatever stage, whatever age.
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  Begin where you are, do the best you can, and let's leave behind
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  a testimony, a legacy of faith in God.
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  Even the concept of the family altar seems very old-fashioned, but I want
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  you to know we need a revival of it if we're going to see a
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  mighty move of God in our generation. May the Lord teach us to pray,
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  and may God help us to teach the next generation.
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  For more resources for your marriage and family,
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  visit us at etj.bible and click on
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  the Take the Next Step link, where you'll find many Bible
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  resources that will strengthen your marriage and equip you
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  to raise your children in the ways of the Lord.
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  We highly recommend Scott's book, New Testament Marriage.
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  In it, you'll discover timeless biblical principles from the husband
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  and wife team Aquila and Priscilla, and these principles are very
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  applicable to your marriage today. From all of us
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  at Enjoying the Journey, thanks for listening today,
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  and until next time, We pray that you will enjoy the journey.