Altars by Apostle Emmanuel Iren: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Life Is Not Defined by Hard Work Alone

If you're talking about the stone of help — Ebenezer — the name itself carries an assumption: that life is not defined by hard work alone. Planning and strategizing matter. But have you ever heard the phrase "all things being equal" in a planning session? The reality of life is that all things are almost never equal.

James 4:13-14 describes people who say: I will go into this city, I will make these transactions, this is how my life will go. He calls it arrogance. He asks: what is your life? It is a vapor that appears for a season and vanishes. What you ought to say is: if the Lord wills. Because with all due respect to planning and strategy, there is a factor of mercy in every outcome.

Anyone who does not know this has either not lived long enough or is too proud to admit it. Not everyone who is doing better than you is better than you. Some people just had a head start. Not everyone you are doing better than is beneath you. You must be honest enough to look at your life with humility and acknowledge the advantages you received — even the ones that seem small.

Growing up in a home where people communicated love, where someone told you that you have a chance in life — do you know how that sets a person up? Even a strict African home where discipline was present and people cared about your conduct — that alone is an advantage many others did not have.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 — the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to men of skill. In life, results are not always directly proportionate to effort. That is a fact. And people who don't understand this become perpetual victims of comparison and of systems that market hard work as the only equation while many of the results they envy came from somewhere else entirely.

The Economy of the Spirit

Hebrews 11:3 — by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen are not made of things which are visible.

In the world of sowing and reaping, of input and output, there is another software — another programming — that can superimpose the natural elements of this life and produce results. Not every money came by ordinary means. Not every progress arrived through explainable channels. Not every child came by medical expectation alone.

Hebrews 11:1-2 — faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. What makes the patriarchs of faith patriarchs is that they knew how to tap into a different economy. The catalog that follows in that chapter — people who should not have had children who had them, people whose dead came back to life — is a compendium of those who benefited from an extraterrestrial realm and did things that the natural order said were impossible.

This is what divine help means. And what David said remains true: some trust in horses, others in chariots. These represent natural advantage — economic head starts, resources, networks. But David said: I will remember the name of the Lord. In a world where people trust in chariots, the name of the Lord is an advantage. The prophetic gives people an advantage in life that no economic projection can account for.

What Altars Are

Altars are spiritual programs. The same way your phone has an alarm set for 5 a.m. that goes off without your having to reset it every day — it's programmed at that same time, without fail — altars in the spiritual realm work the same way.

There are altars that cause traffic from heaven to earth. There are altars that cause traffic from hell to earth. People belong to families where such transactions have been done — on their behalf, sometimes without their knowledge. These altars set up spiritual programs that trigger at certain points: when people in that family marry, when it is time to have children, when they reach a particular age.

The good news for the New Testament believer is this: you are not without resource. You have a high priest.

Christ Is the New Altar

What Christ did is an altar on its own. Every stone that was raised, every animal that was sacrificed in the Old Testament — all of it pointed forward to the fulfillment in Christ. John the Baptist saw him and said: behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. By his stripes we were healed. The same way you put an animal on an altar and good things begin to happen because of that sacrifice — this is now your reality because of what Christ has done.

Hebrews 4:14 — we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens: Jesus the Son of God. The children of Israel, when the Philistines were coming, called for Samuel to intercede. That's why he raised an altar. But Samuel is not here. You have something better — a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. You are not helpless. You are not hopeless.

He says: hold fast your confession. With due respect to whatever any ancestor in your lineage covenanted with any demon, you have a new confession. You have chosen your own high priest. You have chosen your own destiny. Because God always gives the right to choose. Choose you this day whom you shall serve. I have chosen my high priest.

Hebrews 6:19 — this hope we have as an anchor for the soul, both sure and steadfast, which enters the presence within the veil. This is the confidence: an anchor. This is the basis for knowing that no weapon formed against you shall prosper. Not some elaborate strategy — this hope, sure and steadfast.

Hebrews 8:1-2 — we have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of majesty, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected and not man. The Old Testament altars were erected by men. This one was erected in heaven by God himself. If people could erect stones made by human hands and their destinies took a positive turn, how much more the one erected in heaven?

Hebrews 9:24 — Christ has not entered the holy place made with hands, but into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for us. You have a high priest representing your interest in heaven. Every verdict against you: cancelled.

Hebrews 12:24 — to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things. Whatever another altar spoke over your family, there is a blood speaking better things. Better things are spoken about your health. Better things are spoken about your marriage. Better things are spoken about your children. Better things are spoken about your destiny.

The New Testament Altar: Three Components

There are still altars in the New Testament. The offerings are different.

1. Confess the Lordship of Christ and the Sufficiency of His Sacrifice

   Hebrews 13:15 — by him, therefore, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.

   Every morning: thank you, Jesus, for your blood. Your sacrifice has once and for all cancelled every negative ordinance over me, over my children, over my family. I declare that your sacrifice is enough. I thank you for the blood that speaks better things. This is your altar. The only altar that is permitted to speak over your life.

   You don't need elaborate mystical strategies. All you need to know is Christ. If all you know is Christ, that is enough for every battle to be won. Some people spend more time learning about the devil than declaring what Christ has done. Christ is enough.

2. Confess It

   What you learn about the finished work of Christ must be spoken. Declare it. Confess it regularly. This is how faith is maintained and strengthened. Write out confessions if necessary. Speak the word of God over your life and your family daily.

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3. Present Your Body — The Altar of Consecration

   Romans 12:1 — I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

   In salvation, Christ is the priest. But in devotion, you are the priest. You are the one who must drag your body and present it. You are the priest, the sacrifice, and the altar. You can be a churchgoer and not have done this.

   When the enemy wants to attack a family, he doesn't just look at whether they call the name of Christ. He looks at consecration. Are they truly consecrated to the Lord, or are they playing church?

   Whatever is placed on an altar must be dead. That's why the apostle uses the phrase "living sacrifice" — you are alive, but in Christ you are dead. Dead to sin, dead to certain things. The spirit realm should be able to look at you and tell that you are sold out to God.

   Be strict with your consecration. If you cast the enemy out and he finds any inroad, he will attempt to come back. Real estate in the realm of the spirit is contested. You don't play games with the consecrations the Lord gives you.

The Rules of Life

In Judges 13:12, Manoah, when told that a special child was coming, prayed and asked: what will be the boy's rule of life and his work? He knew the principles. He knew that if this child would continue to be powerful, there would be rules that must be adhered to.

In your life, there must be spiritual rules. That is what altars are in the New Testament. They are not exotic — they are personal disciplines given to you by the Lord. For some, there are financial consecrations. For some, the Lord specifies how the first days of the year should be spent. For some, there are things the Lord will tell you to shut yourself away for. Whatever it is the Lord tells you — adhere to it.

Leviticus 6:12 — the fire on the altar shall be kept burning. It shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning. The application is this: not one day should pass without prayer ascending to heaven. Prayer in the book of Revelation is described as incense that ascends before the Lord. The prayers of the saints are held by angels. Your prayer is not wasted.

James 4:7 — submit yourself to God. Then resist the devil and he will flee from you. Many people go straight to resisting the devil and skip the submission. Submit yourself to God — that is the consecration, the altar part. Then resist the devil and he will flee. The order matters.

• What do you do with your money?
• What do you do with your time?
• What do you do with your body?
• How do you handle food? How do you handle sleep?

These are altar questions. If you have no structure, you have no altar. Present your body. These are the major things. If you figure these out, that is how to serve the Lord.

The Legacy of Your Altar

The same way there are altars that cause traffic from heaven to earth, there are altars that cause traffic from hell to earth. Never under any circumstances — no matter how desperate things become — seek help from any other source. The moment you collect help from the wrong place, the exchange never fails. It may look like a transaction that benefits you now, but the cost is paid across generations. These are never fair trades. Don't complicate things for your children. At minimum, if you don't leave them houses, don't leave them spiritual problems.

Start your children early. The children who start praying early — it shows. It always shows. Begin to train them. Make fasting and prayer a household practice. Hand them a legacy.

The investment of your altar does not only work for you. It follows your lineage. Someone who comes from a heritage of righteousness carries something you can sense — a sweetness, an ease, a different quality of favor. That is the sacrifice of the generations before them speaking. You are building that for your own children and their children.