Thank you so much. Well, it's good to be in the presence of the Lord. It's so... So great to be with you. And I miss your pastors this week, but I'm sure they're getting a wonderful, wonderful break. I know they're coming off a wonderful pastor's appreciation, and I know how much they love your congregation. And it's really nice to finally meet my brother from another mother, but we got the same father, Pastor Mayo. So it's really, really good to meet you and be with you once again. When I came out, I came out with a little bit more toner, but all good, man. You'll get it on the way out. All good. Well, I have an amazing family. My wife, usually she travels with me, but wasn't able to be here. But they're on the screen here. This is my beautiful family. Got five kids. All of them are almost off the payroll, not quite there, but the favorite is my grandson. My daughter and her husband gave us this little guy here, and then that's the new one. Right? So that one, the price tag's still on. So I'm getting back to this guy. He just was born on the 13th of October. And so God has tremendously blessed us way more than what we deserve. My wife and I travel literally the world sharing the gospel of Jesus through marriage conferences, youth conferences, you name it, we are a part of it. special needs ministry, which is dear to our hearts. This past season, the Lord opened up a door for us through some partnerships to begin just a simple podcast. We started it back in January, and the amount of people that the gospel is reaching to individuals who we'll never meet. So my wife and I just share some experiences, talk a lot about change in this season, but it's absolutely incredible what the Lord continues to do. And if you want more information on that, the next one has the QR code. You can probably click it and take you to do whatever you need to do. But I want to bring you a message simply entitled, Altars, Altars. My life was changed at an altar. Altars in the scriptures are oftentimes places where regular people met with God. As a matter of fact, three times a year, the Israelites were to go up to Jerusalem. Why? For an altar. Altars were also significant places that marked people's lives. It represented a starting place of literally entering into the presence of God. All altars are is it reminds you that the God that did it there is also capable of doing it over here. In other words, if he did it before, God can do it again. Every person who has something special in common with God or growing in their walk with God are usually marked by a trail of altars. Altars represent, in the Bible, times when God gave promises, sometimes when you're going through a transition, anointing, empowerment, new identity. But today I want to go over covenant. Hebrews chapter 11, we read about a list of people known as literally the hall of faith. And one of those individuals is a man by the name of Abraham. In Hebrews chapter 11, verse 8, the scripture says, By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place, he would later receive as an inheritance. He obeyed and went, here's it is. When you walk by faith, we do not listen or God oftentimes will not show you before he speaks to you. The Christian faith is not seeing with your eyes, it's hearing with your ears. That God will give you a promise, here's why. Because the moment God speaks to you, and then the moment God comes through, I call it the rocky middle. There's going to be trials and storms along the way, but the very storms that were there to sort of hurt me, God used to form me for his glory. The Bible is clear. Let's pick up the story in Genesis 12. This guy by the name of Abram. The Lord said to Abram, go from your country, your people, and your father's household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I'll make your name great and you'll be a blessing. I'll bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse. And here's the gospel. And all peoples on earth will be blessed forever. through you. So we begin the story. There's something to keep in mind. Remember, this is going to speak to the altar of covenant between God and Abraham. At this point, his name is still just Abram, but every place, every altar has a place and every altar also has a promise. God tells Abraham, by faith, I will reveal the place, but I'm going to give you a promise even before you go. The word covenant is not commonly used in today's language. We tend to talk about contracts or litigations or agreements, but a covenant, however, speaks about something so much more. A covenant is a binding agreement, but more than that, it's a combination of a promise and an oath. Oftentimes, you will see covenants when people get married. So when my wife decided that she was okay with marrying me, I'm still like shocked she said yes. Oftentimes, when women get married, most, most, not all, but y'all been thinking about this for some time. You gotta give guys some time, because we haven't not thought about it at all. And I'm not joking. We don't come out the womb going, I can't wait to get married. We literally show up that day like, oh my goodness, I'm getting married. And we show up with a haircut, all good, make sure things don't, whatever. But I remember when, back in the day, okay, back in the day, I don't know what they're doing nowadays, it's weird. But back in the day, you didn't see the bride. Now they got like first looks, it's weird. But the bride comes walking in. The guy is at the altar, okay, next to the pastor so he won't pass out because he can't believe this is happening. So he looks out and he sees his bride coming. The guy is thinking this, please don't change. Stay waking up in that white dress. Oh, you're so beautiful. Please don't change. The women, you know this. You come walking in, you go, I'm going to change him. You know it. That's exactly what happens. And we don't change. Well, we do. Covenants are an agreement. Here's the deal with covenants. You can either agree with it or you can disagree with it, but you can't change it. See, God made an agreement with you and I, creation. God said that he was gonna die on the cross and he was gonna pay the penalty that you and I deserve. And watch this, he was gonna pay it in full. Everything was accomplished through the redemption power of Jesus Christ, and he did not need your help. You can either accept it, you can reject it, but you can't change it. Genesis chapter 12 talks a little bit more about Abram. Check it with a sense. So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Okay. Whenever you're gonna do something great for God, and you bring a lot with you, you're getting a lot of problems. No one ever told Lot to come with him, but Abraham took his nephew. Bible goes on there. They have many possessions. They dig into a little argument, but that's a whole nother topic for another day. They were heading to a land of Canaan, which was the promised land, but the Canaanites were in the land. Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moriah at Shechem. And at that time, the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said to your offspring, I will give you this land. So he built an altar there to the Lord who appeared to him. For there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west, I on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord. I see two things there. On one end, he's building the altar. On the other end, he's pitching his tent there. In other words, if God is gonna build you on the altar, you gotta be willing to get rid of the temporary, okay? The two cannot cross. Every great woman and man of God realizes this. Your sacrifice will never outweigh the goodness of God in your life. You got to understand that if God's going to do something great in your life, you got to pitch the temporary so that he can build your life on what will last for all eternity. Because the last time I checked, you can't take nothing with you when you get out of here. Altruism. actually help us accomplish three things. First, altars mark important spiritual events, okay? So in my household, I'm the doc guy. Like, I like documentaries. I'm the guy. Okay? I'm the guy. I'm romantic comedies. Like, I get my heart into everything. My wife, she can see things blow up. Boo, boo, boo. I hate that. Okay? Let's calm it down. Let's kind of cry together. My wife's like, all right. You get what I'm saying? So I catch everything on video. I'm the guy. I'm like the photographer, the videographer. I'm the guy. And my wife, when we're on vacation and I pull this out, she goes, She said, put it away. Why you always got to have your phone out? Be in the moment. I go. So I don't put it away because I'm a man. We just don't put it away. So I'm like, I'm here with it. I'm here with it. I'm here with it. So I catch everything. So my daughter, she was in high school. She now graduated. She did something very adventurous because my wife was like, you need to go out and do something at your school. Don't just be coming home at three o'clock. Get involved. So I don't know who told her. I don't know if God spoke to her. She said, I'm going to run track. I went. you've never run before day in your life. Like, no, dad, I'm not gonna run. I'm actually gonna do like the long jump. I go, you've never jumped your entire life. But I go, go ahead and do it. When's your schedule? She goes, dad, I don't want you to come because it's weird. I'm like, okay, no problem. I Google, I got the schedule and I showed up to the first meet. I get to the meet, there's a big old gate in front, like a big old gate. The gate says for like the mayos, stay out. But mayos, we don't listen. We step over. We step over the gate. The parents are like, who's that? I'm like, that's my daughter. So she's all getting ready. She don't even know how to stretch. I go, this is going to be comedy. I get out there. I'm by the pit. I'm like this. She don't see me. After she jumps about this much. I go, oh my goodness, you're incredible. She's like, dad, why did you come out here? I go, do you think I was going to miss this? Are you kidding me? You jumping? That is hilarious. So whatever. So we get back from vacation. I got my phone out, whatever. And my wife, she gets in the conversation. She's like, oh, we had such a great time. Let's say she's talking to her mom because that's what she does. She talks to her mom. She goes, Jamel, show her the phone. I don't know if I have it. So I open up my phone, right? And I do what every old head does. Okay, I'm officially an old head. Especially if you open up your camera and you do this. That's y'all. Y'all do this. Yeah. That means you're old. Okay. We're embrace it. So I'm here. I'm here. And my kids are like, dad, hurry up. Hurry up. I go, well, what, what do you, she goes, you can type in what you're looking for dad in the search bar. I've never even knew it was a search bar. So she goes, type it in, watch that type in chickens. Cause I have chickens. I'm the only black guy in America that has chickens. So That's a whole nother sermon. I'm a farmer. So I'm typing in chickens. It pulls up every chicken in like your area and your neighbors. And I'm like, oh my goodness, this is incredible. So if you tap on the picture, it comes up and then it gives you date, time and location. If a stupid phone can record time, date, and location, how much more, when God moves in your life, can he record date, time, and location? That's the power of an altar. It marks moments in your life, events in your life, that changes everything. In Romans 4, 16 and 17, listen to this promise. Paul brings it up. He says, therefore, the promise comes by faith so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all of Abraham's offspring. Not only to those who are of the law, but also those who have faith in Abraham. he is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations. He is our father in the sight of God in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into beings those that were not. Isn't that incredible that the act that Abraham did that day still speaks a better word to you and I? It's the power of an altar. Secondly, altars memorialize our divine encounters. Many times, altars in the Bible are built on dirt, stone, wood. It was used in a tabernacle in the temple, and they were sort of like bronze-plated ornate objects. However, most of the time, they were simply piles of stones, like the one ordered by the I love this story, especially now as a grandparent. I'm the youngest grandparent in the world. It's recorded. You can look it up. Maybe not. Joshua chapter four, verse one through seven. Joshua's leading over a million people to a place he's never been before. The last guy died. We know his name. It's Moses. So Joshua's coming in like, I ain't going to be cutting up with me. So Joshua, in the book of Joshua chapter 24, he has like this service, this come to Jesus meeting. And he said, look, if y'all don't desire to serve God, then choose for yourself this day whom you're going to serve. But as for me and my house, right babe? We are going to serve the Lord. That's this Joshua. So Joshua got to Jordan before him. And God promised him, if you walk into the Jordan, I'm going to separate that thing just like I did for Moses. I'm going to do it for you. So they get to the Jordan. Watch what happens. We pick up the story. When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, Listen. Listen. Memorials are not to be idolized. I read in the Bible, when Moses died, no one knew where his grave was. You know why? Because we would have worshiped his grave. You and I as humans have this weird fall of man that we worship our past. We worship the things that God does, but we fall out of love with the God who does it. It's weird. So notice what happens. He takes the stone as a sign. And he says this, in the future, when your children ask you, dad, mom, grandma, why do you keep carrying this stone? What does it mean? You tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut up before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever. And my terminology and understanding means this. Your kids got to find out your testimony. There's nothing worse in all the world than God doing all this stuff in your life and you bury it with you. Here's what I'm not going to do. I'm When I die, because I'm dying, okay? That's why you wear deodorant, okay? Because you're dying, okay? You're wearing perfume because you're dying every day. When I die, I'm telling my kids right now, come here, you little, come here. It's not what I leave to you. It's what I leave in you. Because if I leave it in you, you'll never run out. If I give it to you, you'll spend it in a day. Get what I'm saying? I care more about my kids being rich towards heaven than being rich towards this world. I desire my children to love God with all of their hearts, with all of their minds, with all of their soul. So I tell my kids my testimony. The whole thing. And I carry that stone and I say, Jake, you see this stone? He's like, I don't see it, dad. Yeah, because you're a teenager. God moved in my life. If God did not touch mom and dad, you wouldn't even be here, literally. See, I grew up in a generation that said, I brought you into this world. Okay, so you from Brooklyn too. I knew it. I felt it. I remember hearing the story of an old farmer who lived a very sinful life, but one day he received Christ as his Lord and Savior, and his life was changed that day. And so what he did was, at that moment, he took a stake and he went out to the back of his barn, and he nailed that stake into the ground. And his wife asked, why are you doing this? He says this, because when the devil comes to remind me that I'm not saved, when the devil comes to remind me that I'm too bad for God to save, I take the devil to the back of my barn and I show him that stake because at that stake, that was the place where I gave my life to Jesus and all my sins have been washed away. I want you to know that the enemy hates your soul and he wants to remind you of everything you've done wrong, but you pick up that stone and you let him know that my life was transformed by the power of God. of Almighty God. When the enemy comes in and he reminds you of what you've done in the past, you remind him where he's going. Remind him where he's going. Altars serve as a memorial. Altars, thirdly, are a milestone for spiritual covenants. A spiritual milestone is an encounter that marks an agreement you entered before God. In the Bible, when a person made an altar, it also was often a place where spiritual covenants were formed. That's exactly what you and I see in Genesis chapter 12. The altar that Abraham built established a place and a promise where the Abrahamic covenant was initiated. In other words, it was a covenant agreement between two parties. In this case, the agreement that God will use Abraham to establish a people called forth that will be a special possession of God himself. It started with Abraham's bloodline, which formed the Hebrew race that led to the Messiah. It now includes all of God's children through the spiritual bloodline of Jesus Christ. Now both Jew and Gentile who follow Jesus are part of a spiritual heritage of Abraham now called this covenant. It's powerful. 1 Samuel chapter 7 verse 15 and 17. This is Samuel, the priest of God. And this was the person that God used to call forth Saul and David to start their kingdom reign. Samuel continued as Israel's leader all the days of his life from year to year. He went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mishpah, judging Israel in all those places. But he always went back to Ramah, where his home was. And there he also held the court of Israel. And he built an altar there to the Lord. Notice the line, he always went back. That's what altars do. They take us back to the place where God established his covenant agreement with you. For Samuel, it was an altar where he would hear from God to go and anoint King David. This would establish David's covenant that a king will reign from his dynasty, from his family, and that kingship and promise would eventually lead us to Christ, our Savior, and the Messiah. I want you to know that when God saves you, he calls out greatness from inside of you. You ever notice Jesus's family line? They were a mess. No, I'm serious. Now, when I was born and you were born, you didn't pick your family, did you? You just showed up. I didn't ask for them. I look back over my life and my family. I'm like, whoa. Wow. I can only go as far back as my grandmother. My grandmother was all Irish, living in a hood. But she was blind, so she didn't know she was white. I'm dead serious. She married an African American man, which you don't do. Her family cut her off. left her to deal with these three kids, one of them being my mom. We grew up in Farragut Projects, Brooklyn, New York. My mom was a single mom. My mom got pregnant as a teenager. My mom shares her testimony how she had my brother. Before she had my brother, she had an abortion. She had my brother. After my brother, she had another abortion. Well, then after that, she was pregnant with me. I asked my mother, what did you do? I'm listening to the testimony. I'm going, wait a minute, that's me. I go, mom, what happened? At 19, she was on her way to the abortion clinic to abort me. She said when she walked into the abortion clinic, she stubbed her toe on like the door. She starts crying and a godly nurse walks by, looks my mother in the face and say, woman, you don't belong here. My mom leaves the hospital or the clinic. She's in the parking lot, sobbing, sobbing, sobbing. I'm thinking, mom, did you know that that kid was going to be an evangelist? Did you know that that kid was going to be a pastor? Did you know? You don't know. The enemy is after the seed. Then I came out. I said, God, I gave my life to Jesus when I was 19 years old. I said, God, what do you want to do with my life? Here's what he said. It's all about the covenant. Can I show you this picture? This is not AI generated. I had hair. Okay. That's my girlfriend, whatever. That's her prom. I took her to my prom when I was a senior. She was a junior. Okay. And so we were like, whatever. And then she took me to her prom because that would have been weird if you'd have took somebody else, you know. So we had a deal. So that was that. But we weren't living for Jesus at all. Like no one was living for, like no one. Trust me, we weren't. Okay? Let's jump over. Then I give my life to Jesus. Watch. And now the principles of the kingdom become first priority in my life. Then the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside of me, not so that I can run around church or hang from chandeliers. It's so that we can walk in righteousness. Part of walking in righteousness is not only being right with God, but right with one another. So the next important relationship was the woman I married. So we got married. I was 21. She was 20. And we were like, we're going to do it. And we were broke. We had no money. We still don't got no money. I'm kind of thinking about this now. Revelation just hit me. I guess we just all broke. I guess whatever. So anyway, so that happened. So we get married. We're living for Jesus. God got a call of God upon our life. Okay, let me say this. After I get married, my mother, she comes to Jesus. My stepdad, he comes to Jesus. I'll share this a little bit later, but even my biological father, he eventually came to Jesus. Then they have more kids. Bless your heart. They came to Jesus. I mean, literally, I was the only one serving Jesus in my home, but I wanted to be the last because Jesus changes the bloodline. Okay. Okay. So then these people over here, let me tell you about these people. So that's my daughter. Okay. That's my son-in-law. So she was like, let's say 16. And we had some young people over the house and I saw that kid walk in. I'm like, he smelled different. Why does he have on cologne? Like, And my wife is like, leave him alone. I go, mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm. Mm-mm, something's, no, I know there, but 20 of them here, but something, mm-mm, he's looking at my daughter kind of way. Let me, I'm zooming in. Uh-huh, pin that, got it. About a year later, he comes to me. He goes, Mr. Mayo, Mr. Mayo, can you, I go, what's wrong with you? Because teenagers, when they talk, they mumble. You ever talk to your teenager and you tell them whatever? I don't care where you live, Virginia, New Jersey, all the same. Hey, Jay, what's going on? So he comes in or whatever. I'm like, what? I want to court your daughter. I want court. I want court. You're taking her to court? What's courting? I go, oh, you eventually want to marry my daughter? No. That was the easiest no ever. Here's why. Because I raised her. If I don't smell Jesus somewhere near you, I'm not giving her to you. No way. So for about a year, I literally spiritually coached him. He going to get some Jesus in him. And man, his life was transformed. So he came in. Afterwards, he was like, you know, mom, dad. I'm like, I'm not your father. That's not. And my wife is like, be quiet. You're so annoying. Call me what you want. I was like, honey, let me get a little second with the boy. He was like, I want, I want. I want to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage. I was like, son, I watched you for a year. I saw how you pursued Jesus. And my desire was that you would pursue Jesus greater than the way you're pursuing my daughter. Because if that's not right, your life will not be right. And I said, I give you the blessing of asking my daughter for her hand in marriage. And when I do this, no coming back. In other words, no backsies. She's yours. Off my payroll, on yours. Are you sure you wanna do this? So at 19, my wife said, you're not doing the wedding. I want you to be her father. I was like, cool. Got my phone out. They were like, this little new generation. No phones. I'm paying for this. She walked down the aisle at 19. As she's walking down the aisle, the Holy Spirit speaks to me. Because, you know, as humans, we forget. And he said, how old were you when you gave your heart to me? I was 19. He goes, I saw you before you saw yourself. Do you understand the power of this bloodline now, Jamal? What I did for you at 19, I wasn't just doing for you. I've now blessed your line. Because now you're in covenant agreement with me. And when you're in covenant agreement, it gives the potential for others to fall in line, to be in covenant agreement. He goes, so you just thought you were getting saved. I was working through you to your seed that you didn't even notice. You didn't even see yet. I don't know who I'm talking to in this room, but man, God wants to speak not just to you or in you, but he wants to speak through you. The power of the blood still speaks a better word. The blood still has the power to change the trajectory of your spiritual inheritance. it still has the authority. It still makes us right before God. Listen, let's stop telling people how bad they are. Let's start telling people how good God is. God's goodness always outweigh man's wickedness. That's why the Bible says while we were sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. It's the beauty of the gospel. So what do I need to do? All I need to do Just come in agreement and alignment with God. That's what this means. Watch. God, I'm wrong. God, you're right. The hardest thing for your kids to do is to confess that they're wrong. You know you're a parent. We tell them this all the time. I just want to know the truth. the truth. That's all God's trying to get to you. I just want you to learn that I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. And when that alignment takes place, the blessing and favor of God says it like this. Even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will run after me all the days of my life as I learn to dwell in the presence of God. Can I tell you? The Bible says, absent from the body and the presence of the Lord, I am so looking forward to the day when I will meet Jesus face to face, where my faith becomes sight. And it's going to be so worth it. My heart is heavy in this room because while I'm preaching, God is saying, I'm trying to get someone aligned with my covenant agreement. Just because you come to a church don't mean you're aligned. Even the devil comes to churches. Trust me, he does. But with every head bowed and every eye closed, if you're in this room, you say, I'm ready. I'm ready to walk down the aisle and give my life to Jesus. The Bible says we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. What are the witnesses there to do? They're to bear witness of this moment. When the covenant is first formed, the people from the community will come to give witness to the agreement that's being made. That's the body of Christ. If you're here this morning, You say, Pastor, that's me. I'm ready. I'm so ready. I'm ready. I've been running away from God. I know the call of God, but I've been running. And I'm ready to surrender my life to Jesus. Pastor, I'm stuck in sin. I'm stuck in regret. I'm stuck in remorse. I'm stuck. But God said, today is the day where you're going to be set free. This morning, if you're here, you say, Pastor, I'm ready to receive Christ. You don't be afraid. There's no fear. in his perfect love. We say, pastor, that's me. I want you to just lift up your hand right now and say, pastor, pray for me. I need to walk in freedom. I need to walk in his power. I need to walk in his grace. I need to walk in his anointing. I need to walk in his freedom. Come on, can we stand together all over this house? Can we stand together? I don't want to miss this moment. But look, I don't want to miss this moment. Anybody have like kindergartners? Like you got kindergarten kids? Like they're in kindergarten? Do they call it kindergarten here? Why are y'all looking at me like? You got a little kindergarten? Are they still in kindergarten? Okay, when they graduate, watch their graduation. It's hilarious. They haven't done anything yet. Nothing and all the parents they're gonna get there super early. Don't be late cuz you ain't gonna get a seat Maybe stepping over people like They didn't they didn't do nothing They didn't do that Hey, cuz you know I had a kindergarten after we got out of the the Lord ceremony or whatever and they asked me for some don't bother me But when they in that ceremony, oh you could bother me for anything. Look at my baby. Look at my baby You know did that God the Father, when Jesus got baptized. He says, look at my son. I'm here, boy. I'm here. I'm here. Jesus, that's my boy. With him, I am well pleased. And the Holy Spirit came to agree on that moment. Just want you to know that your Father in heaven always shows up for you. You're never alone. He's always with you. But why? What happens? It's the altar of covenant agreement. Saying, God, I'm coming to you. Can I see grandparents? Where are my grandparents at? Raise your hand. Come on. See, grandparents, they got that swag. They got that swag. Grandparents, the body of Christ needs you now more than ever before. We need you. We need you. I know they don't like listening. It's okay. Keep speaking. Keep speaking, keep talking. The body of Christ is the greatest, greatest form of blessing the world has ever known. It's the body of Christ. It ain't perfect. Just like your family ain't perfect. I saw your family. They got issues, but my God is so good. Here's what I believe is gonna happen in this next moment. Now you can stay in your seat if you want. If I'm you, I ain't staying in my seat. And if you touch your keys at this moment, the Holy Spirit's going to go boom. I'm joking. Not really. But I wonder if we could close out the service around the altar. And I believe that everything you walked in with is going to lift in the name of Jesus. I believe that God's going to use this pivotal moment in your life to remind you of the promises he met you when he first saw you. And God has not abandoned you. God will never abandon his promise. And I believe that healing is going to come into your body. I actually believe God's breakthrough is going to come into your body. And I believe that God's going to do stuff in your life that you've been praying for. Listen, whatever you sow in faith, don't dig up in doubt. God wants to meet every single person in this room. So can we come? Can we close out this service? Come on, toes on the altar. You're like, how is everybody going to fit up there? Trust me, we will. Just press in. We're going to lift up our hands before God. The Lord's presence is in this room. Father, we love you. Father, we thank you for the altar of God. We thank you for the altar of God. Come on, as you're at this altar, I want God to begin to speak to you. Can we press in a little bit more? Just a few more inches. It's all right. We're a church family. We love each other. Maybe if you're coming, you want to fan out a little bit. That's cool. I just want to pray God's blessing, God's favor, God's anointing. It's a privilege to have a relationship with Jesus. It's the number one relationship in my life. And I tell everybody about it. It's this presence that makes a difference. Three times a year, they will go up to Jerusalem, travel miles and miles and miles and miles and miles. Why? For an altar. Altars represent God's presence. Now the question is that Jesus will oftentimes ask us, what is it that you need of him? What do you believe in God for? Lay it at this altar and say, God, I trust you. Maybe you're in this room, you're suffering from migraines because you forgot that God's got you. We're going to lay it now. Lay it down at his feet right now. Can we lift up both our antennas? Those are our arms. I just kind of feel like when I'm going through it, I just lift up my hands. I just need a better signal. A Christian's life, to get more fruit, you got to become more surrendered. More surrender. And so, Father, around this altar, Lord, are families, lives, people that have surrendered their life to you. And Father, I pray God's blessing and favor all over them. God, I pray, Lord, that you would reverse every seed that the enemy tried to plant. Every seed of doubt and unbelief will be uprooted out of their hearts, minds, and lives. And Father, I pray that the people of God would put on and clothe themselves with Christ Jesus. I pray that they would hear from the Holy Spirit himself. I pray, God, that everything that consumes the body That tries to attack the seed of your word. Father I pray that you'll give us faith. That can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Father greater is he that lives inside of us. Than he that lives in this world. I pray God that you would put upon your people. Show them that they already have received the blessings of God. You said it in your word. That you have blessed them with every spiritual blessing in Christ. And I pray that they'll live their lives finding out what pleases you. I pray God that they will live their lives full of joy, full of peace, full of the power of the Holy Spirit. Father, I pray God for broken families, broken relationships around this altar. And I pray God that you would heal, heal, heal deep wounds that have been embedded in their hearts. Jesus, only you can uproot what the enemy's planted. And so God, would you do it? We love you. We thank you. Can I share this with you? Why altars are really important to me? I had to bury my father about a month ago. From the age five to 27, I did not talk to him. Not one word. I had so much bitterness and anger in my heart of the things that he's done to us when we were younger. But I told my mom, I said, how old was my father? He was only a teenager. But I had so much anger. And it was at my daughter's wedding where they invited him. I didn't want to invite the guy, but the Lord allowed it to happen. And after inviting him, we had a moment where healing took place. It was at a wedding celebration. At a wedding celebration, Jesus changed water into wine. At my daughter's wedding celebration, he gave me a soft and tender heart and he took out my hard heart. About a few weeks ago, now a month ago, when my dad passed, I told him at 19 I wasn't going to his funeral. And I was the one that was doing the funeral. I literally held my dad's hand as he was passing away. To make sure that he was put in the hands of our heavenly father who loves us and forgives us and gives us grace. All I'm saying is this. God will use you in the midst of the bloodline to transform your heart and life so that you can be like Abraham, that you can have a line of people that come to know this wonderful savior. It happens at the altar. So Jesus. I pray for the spirit of reconciliation around this altar. And I pray that you'll give us the spirit of wisdom and knowledge, not just knowing what to do, but when to do it. And I pray, God, that your power and your spirit will not just work in this room, but Lord, maybe the person that we have an offense with, Holy Spirit, we give you permission to work in their life. And I'll pray this bold prayer. Father, I pray for our enemies. I pray that you will bless them. I pray that you will cause your favor to shine on them. I pray, God, that the blessing that we receive, they too will receive. God, I pray as far as it depends on us, may we live at peace with everyone. Let us be the light that can shine into a dark world. Jesus, heal us in the process, we pray. Come on, and all God's people said.