Greater Light Part 2 | Tearing Down Altars (jeremiah 1:10) by Apostle Joshua Selman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Performance of the Word

The performance of the word of God in the life of a believer is dependent on three things:

1. Your willingness to receive the word
2. Your understanding of the word
3. Your obedience to the word

John 2:5 — His mother said to the servants: whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. She knew the word was about to come forth, so she ran to the servants. She knew there was no problem with the word that would be coming forth, but the problem would be with the people that would receive the word — their willingness first to listen, their understanding of that word, and then the ability to respond to that word.

Lord, my heart is open tonight. Help me to be willing to receive, and grant me the ability to obey the word that will be proceeding from this altar tonight. Let that grace come upon me — the doing grace — in the name of Jesus.

Hebrews 4:1–2 — Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them — but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

Lord, as your word comes, the faith component that is required to make that word effective in my life — I receive it in the name of Jesus. That faith is your obedient response to the word of God, based on your conviction of who God is. Lord, help me — that as that word comes, the conviction to believe your word and to act upon that word rises in me. My faith is rising tonight like never before.

Series Overview: Greater Light — Tearing Down Altars

Jeremiah 1:10 — See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, and to destroy and to throw down, and to build and to plant.

2 Samuel 24:25 — And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

The subject of altars is not one that can be exhausted in one service. This is an Apostolic Ministry, and this subject demands that we stretch days to do it justice, else you may not gain the kind of spiritual understanding required to walk in victory.

The Kingdom Operates in Mysteries

Matthew 13:11 — Jesus said: it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom; but to them that are without, it is not given.

A mystery is a secret code of operation that is only privy to a people who are part of a group. The police force has a modus operandi — if you are not a trained officer, intelligent communication can be happening around you and you will be at a loss. They are called mysteries: hidden codes of operation, privy to a group of people.

Among the many reasons why God decided to keep truths as a mystery is because handling the truths of the kingdom has consequences and demands maturity.

The mysteries of the kingdom are like holding on to electricity. Imagine allowing a two-year-old child to hold on to a high-tension wire. It would be evil to know that a baby has dangerous tendencies and then sharpen a razor blade and give it to them. So it is preserved — and as the child grows and demonstrates capacity, you begin to introduce them to more sensitive matters.

Your authorization to access the mysteries of the kingdom is your willingness to grow — your maturity per time and per season. Don't assume that truths are hidden because God does not want you to know them. They are hidden to allow a certain version of you to access them. When you press for growth, he begins to release the truth.

Hebrews 6 — Paul was saying: having dealt with foundational elementary things, let us press further, let us go to perfection. There are layers of truth like light.

Foundational Truth: Satan's Three Grounds of Advantage

Satan only has an advantage over the saints on three grounds:

1. Ignorance — ignorance of the truth, the ways of God
2. Disobedience — refusing to comply with the terms that commit God
3. Covenants

Of all three, the most far-reaching in terms of its effects are covenants. The reason is because in many regards, ignorance has a personal consequence to an individual and most often stops at the individual. Disobedience can affect an individual and perhaps extends to a few people. But covenants are transgenerational. Even when the individual who was actively involved in setting up that system is no longer there, it becomes a law that the realm of the spirit recognizes — no matter how long.

The Biblical History of Altars

The Bible is scattered throughout with the subject of altars. Every single patriarch who did business with God — who became mighty and commanded Dominion — engaged with this mystery of altars.

• Genesis 8:20 — Noah built an altar unto the Lord and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
• Genesis 12:7 — The Lord appeared unto Abraham and said, unto your seed will I give this land. In response, Abraham did not simply receive and begin dancing. He built an altar in honor of that statement.
• Genesis 26:25 — Isaac built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there — and there Isaac's servants dug a well. He was about a well, but not without an altar.

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• Genesis 35:7 — Jacob built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother.
• 1 Samuel 14:35 — And Saul built an altar unto the Lord. The same was the first altar that he built unto the Lord.
• 2 Samuel 24:25 — David built an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

What Is an Altar?

Definition 1: An altar is a place, a platform, or a system where the spirit realm makes contact with the Physical Realm on legal grounds.

Luke 1:10–11 — The whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the time of incense. There appeared unto him the angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. The angel came and stood at the right side of the altar — there was a basis for the angel to visit.

Definition 2: An altar is a platform that authorizes laws and spirits to function upon the Earth. It is not only spirits that are given access through altars — laws are given access through altars to function.

Definition 3: An altar is a platform where covenants are initiated, activated, and maintained. Covenants must be initiated — they must have a starting point. They must be activated, to give them the power and legitimacy to be acted out. And they must be maintained, creating sustainability.

There is no dominion without the knowledge of altars. There is no true liberty if we do not know and learn how to tear down altars.

Man was created by God as spirit. That spirit, with the soul, is resident within a body. It is that tripartite manifestation that gives man the legitimacy to function upon the Earth. From the time God built that system, it became illegal for any spirit — including God himself — to come as spirit into the Earth to do anything at all. There must be a system that honors that compatibility.

That is where the concept of altars came in. The concept of altar is man upon the Earth — as the legitimate custodian and steward on Earth — giving the realm of the spirit access to do any kind of business within the Earth. And it would not be considered illegal, because man who was given stewardship over the Earth has his participation there.

The Major Assignment of an Altar

The major assignment of any altar at all is:

1. To give authorization
2. To give continuity
3. Or to bring discontinuity — to any spiritual activity on Earth, whether Godly or demonic

In one sentence: an altar is a spiritual negotiation table.

Two Kinds of Altars

Based on the results that they produce, there are two kinds of altars:

1. Evil or Demonic Altars

   • A system of authorization set up to allow the operation of darkness, demons, and the operations of Satan within a life, a family, or a community on legal grounds
   • Causing setbacks consistently — in a life, a family, a church, a community, a nation

2. Righteous or Godly Altars

   • A system of authorization set up to allow the operations of the Holy Spirit, the Angelic realm, and the word of God to work profitably for an individual or a family

Judges 6:25–26 — The Lord said unto Gideon: take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father built, and cut down the grove that is by it. And build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock.

This is very powerful — two kinds of altars, because in any case, if you want things to change, you do not just tear down: you also build up. Now you understand what God told Jeremiah: I have set you over kingdoms and given you power to tear down, to uproot, and then to rebuild.

How to Detect the Presence of an Altar

You can know the presence of an altar in any life by the consistency of patterns and occurrences that happen — whether positively or negatively.

Examples of patterns that may indicate a demonic altar:

• Mysterious occurrence of sicknesses and bodily infirmity that run through a family — consistent with what medicine acknowledges as hereditary or genetic patterns
• Those who never have longevity of impact — they start but never finish. Something eventually destroys them. Whether in ministry or business, one trouble tears them down.
• Those who just blank out or fail at critical moments despite great preparation and ability
• Families where as soon as someone rises financially, everyone becomes sick — the nature of the sickness consuming every available resource
• Generational patterns of poverty, broken marriages, untimely death, or closed doors — regardless of the continent or country the individuals live in

Examples of patterns that may indicate a Godly altar at work:

• Consistent open doors, favor with men, and mysterious provision across a family
• Prosperity that follows individuals regardless of their position or station

Altars have voices, and their voices give instructions. The realm of the spirit obeys their instructions to the letter. If they say destroy, that is the instruction that will happen — until someone says restore.

Men are conveyors of altars. These altars carry instructions. When the devil wants to destroy you, he looks for what is deficient based on the speakings of the altar fighting you, and finds another person who has a speaking that will produce a double problem — and brings both of you together. Beyond men, men are conveyors of altars.

You do not have to be bad or evil to be a victim of evil altars. For most people, they came into fraternity with dark powers in ignorance — sincerely looking for help. Many great-grandfathers were not evil people. They needed their crops to grow. They needed protection from wars. And the only way they knew was through priests and mediums who told them: come into a covenant, the spirit will protect you — but your children's children to the fourth generation will serve them.

The realm of the spirit was precise. Like your phone number, it will find you no matter where you go — except you know how to rebuild an altar that secures you.

How Demonic Altars Operate — Romans 8

Romans 8:1–2 — There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Replace the word "law" with "operation" or "programming" — and you understand it:

For the programming of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus had set me free from the programming of sin and death.

What put him in bondage? Programming. What brought him liberty? Programming. There is an operation that leads to the experience of liberty. There is another operation that keeps an individual perpetually in bondage.

Life is largely a product of programming — instructions done by you, or done on behalf of you.

The Central Altar Behind All Demonic Altars

There is a central altar that powers every evil altar. It is called the altar of sin and iniquity.

There are three levels of sin:

1. Personal sin — shortcomings as an individual
2. Territorial sins — not something committed by an individual, but territorial. Genesis 18:21–23 — the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not just the sin of an individual; it was a territorial sin.
3. Sin based on foundations and bloodlines — Psalm 11:3 — If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

No matter how much you pray, bind, and cast out individual altars — once this altar of sin and iniquity is still at work, whether personal, territorial, or through bloodline, you will not be able to do much. This is the reason why people pray and shout sincerely and it looks like the realm of the spirit has no regard for what they say.

All Godly altars are similarly powered by one major altar — it is called the throne of grace.

Hebrews 12:22–24 — Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

The realm of the spirit only respects your speaking to the degree to which that speaking is connected to the throne of grace.

You stop the speakings of satanic altars by raising up another righteous altar — that speaks consistent with God's desire for you.

Altars for the Believer Today

When Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob spoke of altars, they meant physical monuments with animal sacrifices. Today, the idea of altars for the believer is not rebuilding physical monuments. Altar for the believer is a system of speaking and programming — Pro-Destiny, Pro-Kingdom.

There are so many things that can serve as reminders and symbols in your home — and there is nothing wrong with having a place dedicated to God, provided you do not idolize the place.

John 4 — Jesus said a time will come when you will neither worship on this mountain nor in Jerusalem, but the Father is seeking those who worship him in spirit and in truth. God is more concerned about a state beyond a place. You can be in the right place but not with the right heart.

Altars are built through words — through speakings. The principal way that believers build altars is through speakings.

The Law of Substitution

There is a law in the spirit called the law of substitution. It states that you cannot stop outcomes by stopping them — you stop outcomes by replacing what should be there.

There can never be a void at any given time. If it is not morning, it is night. The concept of altars was so designed that at no point in your life should there be any void. If there is no personal altar set up by you, the altar before you becomes your status quo.

You don't need to consciously set up a negative altar. If you do not rise up to define your possibility, any altar available can hurt you and harm you. You don't need to plant weeds — the seeds are scattered everywhere. All it takes is for rain to fall and weeds grow in your farm. But a manicured garden is not one where weeds cannot grow — it is one where the gardener has taken responsibility to do something upon that farmland every day.

Most believers have been taught to tear down altars — and then not have any altar around their life again. The person falls, rolls on the ground, stands up, and walks away. That is right, but it is wrong — because according to the law of substitution, there must be a voice speaking. An altar must be speaking at every given time. If it is not the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, it is the law of sin and death. There is no such thing as void.

This is a responsibility component to administering liberty that if the saints are not taught, they will remain defeated. There are three levels of deliverance:

1. Casting out the spirit influences
2. Deliverance through transformation — the ministry of light transforming you by the power of the Holy Spirit
3. The discipline of conformity — using your will, empowered by the grace of God, to walk in keeping with the factors that keep those spirits at bay

For most people, their focus is only the first area. Demons are not afraid — because they know that there are two other steps that were ignored.

How to Tear Down Altars and Rebuild Altars of Righteousness

1. Break the hold of demonic altars by engaging the blood

   Breaking the hold of those demonic speakings, those ordinances, those demonic altars — by the blood.

   The blood of Jesus is not just the liquid that falls from a man. The blood of Jesus is the summation of the revelation that a just man took upon himself the cloak of being unjust — and by that spiritual law, he died a death he did not deserve. The basis of that death he did not deserve was that the man who deserved to die in him can now find liberty.

   Every time you invoke the blood, a memorial is raised in the realm of the spirit — that an unjust man went through something he should not have gone through — and that means, no matter the basis of the accusation, because of the liberty that just man has brought, you are free.

   The blood is an instrument of mercy to you, but an instrument of justice before judgment.

   Satan, when it has to do with liberty, is called the accuser of the brethren. He comes before the court of heaven and accuses. He says: I have a right to oppress this family — the grandfather called me through spirits and mediums, he said empower our farms, in return I will give you all the female children in this family — and I have maintained my part. So when a young man or woman comes into Christ and asks me to release my 150-year-old grip over their family, it does not work by sentimentality.

   The system of justice must have a basis. Having the truth is one thing — knowing how to communicate it in a way that relates to the laws that govern you is another.

   Bring forth your strong reasons.

   There is only one basis for the liberty of the believer — Christ Jesus and his sacrifice. The moment you bring the blood into the equation, every accusation — no matter how many years, no matter how many decades — is addressed. Because when God judges, he judges based on who he is. The Bible says the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. God does not desire that any man perish. The blood leverages on the very nature of God with respect to what has been done in Christ.

   Once you engage the blood, Satan has nothing else to say. Because the basis of Satan's operation is the fact that a human will was part of that negotiation. Somebody agreed. Now you have come into Christ — and by the power of his sacrifice, you can advocate your liberty.

   Father, if there is any legal basis upon which Satan would lay claim in my life, I advocate the blood right now. The sin of commission, the sin of omission — I obtain mercy by God. Sins of bloodline — I obtain mercy by God. Territorial sins — I obtain mercy from God. Every speakings of every altar that is not of Christ — by the blood of the eternal covenant, be silenced. I come against you. I dismantle those altars. Every ill speakings powered by demonic altars — advocating defeat, advocating delays, advocating untimely death, advocating poverty, advocating closed doors — by the blood of the eternal covenant, I come against you. I dismantle those altars in Jesus name.

2. Engage the Covenant of Sacrifice

   The Covenant of Sacrifice is not a one-off sacrifice. It is a sacrifice that must be initiated, activated, and maintained consistently if you want to walk in the reality of victory.

   First: The sacrifice of your own life

   Romans 12:1 — I beseech thee brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies — not just your spirits — a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable act of worship.

   For as long as there is still a part of you that is not interested in the things of God, Satan still has a hold.

   John 14:30 — Jesus said: the prince of this world cometh to me and hath nothing in me. There are many believers today when Satan comes, he will still find something that gives him a legal basis.

   There are people who want to be delivered but not to be born again. But the first sacrifice is not money — it is your own life. A committal to knowing Jesus, loving Jesus, and living for him all the days of your life.

   Every altar is maintained by priesthood. Priesthood is the spiritual system that maintains altars — it fans the coals so those speakings continue. When the priesthood that powers an altar fails, the operation of that altar will fail. The altar is as powerful as the priesthood that keeps it thriving.

   I will follow you holy. There is no such thing as I won't serve Satan — and I'm still considering you, God. You are either with God or with Satan.

   Joshua 24:15 — If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose ye this day whom ye will serve — whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

   Second: The sacrifice of consistent prayer as a lifestyle

   Leviticus 6:12–13 — And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it — it shall not be put out. And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning. The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar.

   Three entities are mentioned: the altar, the priesthood, and the fire. The priest shall put wood every morning — not every weekend — every morning. You want the altar to keep burning, to keep speaking blessings, to keep speaking faith — you pray not as a response to tragedy, but as a lifestyle. Not governed by fear — as the modus operandi of dominion.

   Every morning you are signing that spiritual register: I am a priest maintaining this altar. The altar that speaks favor, the altar that speaks blessings, the altar that speaks open doors, the altar that speaks ever-increasing glory.

   Your prayer life is as rich as your knowledge of the word. If your knowledge of the word is poor, your prayer is poor. What gives strength to your prayer life is the strength of your spiritual understanding.

   Third: The sacrifice of giving

   Giving is threefold:

   • Your time to serve God
   • Your energy to serve God
   • Your resources to serve God

   If you don't use your time to serve God, you will use it to serve Satan. If you don't use your energy to serve God, you will use it to serve Satan. If you don't use your resources to serve God, you will use them to serve Satan — or rather, you will use them to serve the endless needs that Satan brings: the pain and disappointment that never stops.

   Lord, grant me grace to follow you holy. Grace to commit to a life of prayer consistently — speaking realities daily, rewriting stories daily, declaring my will daily. And the giving grace — the grace to give God my time, my energy, and my resources. Not by manipulation, but by revelation, in Jesus name.

God's Method of Delivering Families

Every time God wants to step into a family, he does not call all of them. He waits for the first person who shows interest in him.

What God does when he wants to deliver a family is to set up a burning bush — and he will wait for five years, ten years, as people are growing, dying, and moving. One day, somebody will turn and see that burning bush.

All God needs in every family is one representative. It could be more, and it is great if it is more — but one.

From that one man or one woman, he says: your destiny is to advocate an exodus. All the trainings I am subjecting you through are not for yourself. For five years you have been in the school of the spirit — it is the making of that deliverer.

He is insisting on you. Insisting that you carry that anointing. Insisting that he must build that capacity. Insisting on the sacrifice of your life — building that formation, equipping you with the tools — because you are going to be confronting altars older than you, older than your grandparents.

The question is: who is willing to give God a chance with their family? Give God a chance with your life.

Every altar speaking against your life — it does not matter what it is speaking — by the blood of the eternal covenant, those voices and the effects of their speaking come to an end now.

I decree and declare by the power of the Holy Spirit: let a new altar speak. Righteousness. Favor. Blessings. Advancement. Restoration. Increase. New levels. Multiplication — in the name of Jesus.

Everywhere the altar has spoken death, I speak life. Everywhere the altar has spoken poverty, I speak increase. Everywhere the altar has spoken curses, be blessed. Everywhere the altar has spoken delay, I declare: go forward — in the name of Jesus.

Everywhere you have been stagnated in life and destiny, as a result of this prophetic declaration, let your wilderness become a fruitful field — and let your fruitful field become a forest — in the name of Jesus.