There is an international phe-

nomenon taking place in the

world known as the “occupy

movement”. It began last sum-

mer in Malaysia but seems to

have found its traction in the

United States. Known as Occupy

Wall Street and Occupy San

Francisco and Occupy Dallas it

is made up of individuals who

are frustrated with social and

economic inequality in the

world. They are disheartened that

the rich are getting richer and the

poor are getting poorer. This is a

highly controversial movement

with motivations and intentions

being hotly debated. The jury is

still out whether this movement

will result in positive change or

descend into violent anarchy.

I share their dissatisfaction. I

too am frustrated that things are

not the way they are meant to be

in this present world. The big

difference, and it is a big differ-

ence, between me and them is

where the solution lies. They

seek a political change while I

seek a spiritual one. They look to

the kingdoms of men and I look

to the kingdom of God.

I still believe the church of

Jesus Christ is the answer to the

problems of this world. That

statement is very politically in-

correct and would be laughed

with scorn by the so called socio-

political experts of our day. Sad-

ly, there are many followers of

Jesus who also think the answer

to the problems of our world lie

outside the church of Jesus

Christ. Today’s church, both left

wing and right wing, have

bought into the subtle lie that

politics will change the world.

Some believe if we can only get

the right people elected and con-

trol the Supreme Court and Con-

gress we can bring revival to the

nation. To hear the other side

talk you would believe that the

salvation of the world is tied into

the allocation of dollars in the

United States federal budget to-

wards social justice in the world.

While I do not discount the im-

portance of the above, ultimately

we must remember that God will

work through His spiritual body

to accomplish His goals. The Bi-

ble still says the church is “the

house of God, which is the

church of the living God the pil-

lar and ground of truth” trut

(1Timothy 3:15).

I believe that one of the pri-

mary reasons the church is not

the force for the Gospel in the

world is that the modern church

is a church with no altar. The

Bible is clear there is no such

thing as worship without sacri-

fice and there can be no sacrifice

without an altar.

An altar is a place of sacrifice.

The ancient world is filled with

pagan altars as man sought in his

ignorant and darkened mind to

fill the place of worship with sac-

rificial altars. I have stood at ex-

cavations in modern day Israel of

the ancient Canaanite altars that

predate Abraham’s arrival in the

land. These ignorant people sac-

rificed their children on these al-

tars.

True worship was revealed by

God to His people. Noah walked

off the Ark and built an altar to

God in which he offered a sacri-

fice of thanksgiving for the sal-

vation that had come to he and

his family. The Bible says of this

sacrifice: “And the LORD

smelled a soothing aro-

ma” (Genesis 8:21).

The patriarchs Abraham,

Volume 1 Issue 2 Volume 1 Issue 2 December 2011December 2011

OCCUPY THE ALTAR

I still believe the Church is the answer to the prob-

lems of our world

the church altars in our gather-

ings and our personal altars of

private devotion and sacrifice,

In preparing this message the

Lord reminded me that the

greatest things He has ever

done in my life happened at

an altar.

It was at an altar that I first

professed my faith in Christ

and I was surrounded by a

church that loved and encour-

aged me in my new faith.

It was at an altar that I

wept all night in darkness un-

til I was visited by the Lord

who taught me about for-

giveness, grace and restora-

tion.

It was at an altar that some

godly deacons laid hands up-

on me ordaining me and set-

ting me aside to pursue the

calling as pastor that God had

revealed in me and at the altar

they affirmed this by the lay-

ing on of hands.

It was at an altar that God

told me to marry Amy Thorn-

burg and later at the same al-

tar we stood before God and

made our vows and were pro-

nounced husband and wife.

It was at an altar that my

young firstborn son came run-

ning in tears one morning and

said, “Daddy, I hear His voice

and I want Him to be my

Lord!” At that altar I knelt

with him and saw him surren-

der his life to Christ.

It is time to Occupy the Altar.

For a complete copy of this message

please visit www.BarryClingan.org

Joshua is to the Old Testament what the Book of Acts is to the New Tes-

tament. Out of the provision of God’s Salvation the people are to actively

possess what God has already given them. To journey with Joshua is to

understand it is a time to choose.

The messages in this series include: It is time to make our vision visible,

to possess our future, to get past our past, to claim new territory, to pre-

pare for fullness, to experience God, to shout against our opposition, to

call holy what God calls holy, to turn our mistakes into miracles, to finish

well, to establish our refuge, to be thankful, to occupy the altar, to be

filled with the Holy Spirit, and to answer the Joshua challenge.

Visit BarryClingan.org to listen to this series or to order your own copy

of these messages.

www.BarryClingan.org

It is Time to Occupy The Altar Joshua 22:1-34

Beginning January 2012

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE REVOLUTION A Series from the Book of Acts for today’s church

Isaac, Jacob and Joseph built al-

tars to offer sacrifices to God.

Finally God established a cen-

tral altar for His people through

Moses. This altar traveled in the

tabernacle with the people

through the wilderness and

when the people of God entered

the Promised Land Joshua es-

tablished it in the city of Shiloh.

Later it would move permanent-

ly to Jerusalem.

All of this changed when Je-

sus Christ was offered as the

perfect sacrifice on the Cross.

When He died the Bible teaches

us that an earthquake shook the

foundations of the venerated but

vain worship in the Temple and

the curtain within it was ripped

from top to bottom to expose its

emptiness and the fact that God

was not sitting upon their empty

worship but rather was being

offered outside the city upon a

Roman cross.

So is the church to have no

altar in the New Testament? It

has certainly fundamentally

changed. We do not drag ani-

mals with us to church and have

a priest make a bloody mess up-

on an altar because the supreme

sacrifice of blood has already

been made by Jesus Christ. Still

the Bible speaks of a New Tes-

tament altar. The writer to the

Hebrews said it plainly, “We

have an altar…” (Heb. 13:10).

Also Peter declares, “[we] are

being built up a spiritual house,

a holy priesthood, to offer up

spiritual sacrifices acceptable to

God through Jesus Christ”

(1Peter 2:5).

Specifically, the New Testa-

ment mentions five distinct

spiritual sacrifices the New Tes-

tament believer is to offer.

1. The Sacrifice of Assembling

1 Peter 2:4-5

When a follower of Jesus

Christ obeys God and assem-

bles together meaningfully and

sacrificially with other believers

in a New Testament, spirit-

filled local body of believers it

is a spiritual sacrifice. In order

to belong, one must sacrifice

their preferences, desires and

opinions in order to put God

and others first. Recently a visi-

tor at our church told me they

were “church-shopping” and

they “like what they saw.” I

wanted to say that we are not

Wal-Mart and we believe that

we are not the consumers evalu-

ating the product for the best

deal, but we believe that God is

the consumer of our sacrifices

of obedience in going where he

tells us to go. Had I said that, I

might as well as have been

speaking in an unknown tongue

because the modern church

knows little of the meaning of

the sacrifice of assembling. To-

day we believe the lie that we

can be a Christian without faith-

fully assembling for worship.

2. The Sacrifice of Growing

Romans 12:1-2

New Testament believers are

to come to an altar where we

offer ourselves to God as a liv-

ing sacrifice. We bring our flesh

to the altar and allow it to be

burned away in order to be ac-

ceptable to God. Paul says this

is our reasonable form of wor-

ship. Revival would come to the

church today if we occupied the

altar in true, self-renunciation

until we were willing to com-

pletely and wholeheartedly do

the will of God.

3. The Sacrifice of Serving

Philippians 2:17-18

When one pours out a glass

of water on the dry ground it

cannot be recaptured. Once

poured out it is gone. The

Apostle Paul compares our sur-

render to service as a drink of-

fering. We are to pour out our

lives in unreserved and uncon-

ditional service to one another

as a spiritual sacrifice to God.

When the church serves, it is a

spiritual aroma to the nostrils of

Almighty God We become like

Jesus each time we sacrificially

serve others (Ephesians 5:1-2).

4. The Sacrifice of Giving

Philippians 4:18-20

Every time we obey God in

our stewardship and give obedi-

ently, cheerfully and sacrificial-

ly we are offering a spiritual

sacrifice to God. When the of-

fering plates are being passed

and we obediently participate it

is a “sweet-smelling aroma” to

God.

5. The Sacrifice of Praising

Hebrews 13:10-16

We praise God amidst a hos-

tile culture of ridicule and per-

secution. We praise God even

when we have not seen the

blessings yet. Our praise is to

be a spiritual sacrifice that

pleases God. Praise is always

demonstrative. Praise always

brings deliverance.

Praise delivers the backslider

Jonah 2:1-10

Praise delivers the burdened

Acts 16:25-26

Praise delivers the bound

Jeremiah 33:10-11

Praise delivers the barren

Isaiah 54:1-2

Where is the Altar in the

modern Church?

In the 19th century the great

camp meeting revivals pro-

duced a “mourner’s bench”

where sinners under the convic-

tion of the Holy Spirit could

come and receive prayer. Be-

lievers could also come and be

prayed for when they were bur-

dened. Ultimately, revival evan-

gelists would give an “altar-

call” for sinners to come and re-

pent of their sin. Some are

quick to point out how these

things later became very man-

centered and resulted in many

false professions of faith but

how good it would be to see the

real thing once again! Today we

have substituted entertainment

for an altar.

I believe the question of the

living Lord to His church is

where is the altar? The Lord

says to the modern church:

I see your well-timed and carefully

orchestrated services but where is the

altar?

I see your expensive sound systems

and your artificial smoke machines

but where is the altar?

I see your well managed corporate

leadership structures but where is the

altar?

I see your slick three-colored bro-

chures and your impressive marketing

strategies but where is the altar?

I see your layers of personal securi-

ty and your entourage but where is the

altar?

“It is not scientific doubt, not

atheism, not pantheism, not ag-

nosticism, that in our day and in

this land is likely to quench the

Gospel. It is a proud, sensuous,

selfish, luxurious, church-

going, hollow-hearted prosperi-

ty” (F. Huntinton).

It is a church with no altar!

Joshua and a Near Civil War

Over the Altar

Joshua 22 finds the conquer-

ing Israelites enjoying the fruit

of a very successful seven year

campaign of possessing the

Promised Land.

After completing what they

promised Moses to do, namely

being faithful to fight for their

brother in the campaign to pos-

sess the land, the tribes of Rue-

ben, Gad and the half of Manas-

seh requested to go back to their

geographical allotment on the

East side of the Jordan. Joshua

blessed them and released them

to return. When they came to

the Jordan River they construct-

ed a very large altar (Joshua

22:10).

When the rest of the tribes

heard about this they were

ready to go to war with these

tribes. There was to be only

one altar and it was in Shi-

loh. They assembled a dele-

gation to investigate before

they went to war and the del-

egation found out the truth

that averted a civil war. The-

se tribes did not erect this

great altar to offer alternative

place to sacrifice. This altar

was not about sacrificing

what only happened on the

true one altar in Shiloh but

was rather to be a witness of

their being a part of the na-

tion. They had been afraid in

the future that somehow be-

cause they were settled on

the other side of the Jordan

River that someone would

forget that they were a part

of the nation.

There are many truths to

this story but one that is cen-

tral is the altar of the Lord

is worth fighting over. It is

worth taking a stand to en-

sure that God’s people re-

spect and participate at a true

altar of worship. Our altars

are to be witnesses that the

LORD is God. When the

church is restored in the spir-

it and power of Elijah in the

last days we will have the

ministry of Elijah that re-

stores the altar of the Lord

that is broken down.

1 Kings 18:30

Then Elijah . . . repaired the

altar of the LORD that was

broken down.

I pray God will restore the

family altar in our homes and

OCCUPY THE ALTAR OCCUPY THE ALTAR

The question of the living Lord to the

modern church is: “Where is the altar?”

We have an altar . . . Hebrews 13:10

Isaac, Jacob and Joseph built al-

tars to offer sacrifices to God.

Finally God established a cen-

tral altar for His people through

Moses. This altar traveled in the

tabernacle with the people

through the wilderness and

when the people of God entered

the Promised Land Joshua es-

tablished it in the city of Shiloh.

Later it would move permanent-

ly to Jerusalem.

All of this changed when Je-

sus Christ was offered as the

perfect sacrifice on the Cross.

When He died the Bible teaches

us that an earthquake shook the

foundations of the venerated but

vain worship in the Temple and

the curtain within it was ripped

from top to bottom to expose its

emptiness and the fact that God

was not sitting upon their empty

worship but rather was being

offered outside the city upon a

Roman cross.

So is the church to have no

altar in the New Testament? It

has certainly fundamentally

changed. We do not drag ani-

mals with us to church and have

a priest make a bloody mess up-

on an altar because the supreme

sacrifice of blood has already

been made by Jesus Christ. Still

the Bible speaks of a New Tes-

tament altar. The writer to the

Hebrews said it plainly, “We

have an altar…” (Heb. 13:10).

Also Peter declares, “[we] are

being built up a spiritual house,

a holy priesthood, to offer up

spiritual sacrifices acceptable to

God through Jesus Christ”

(1Peter 2:5).

Specifically, the New Testa-

ment mentions five distinct

spiritual sacrifices the New Tes-

tament believer is to offer.

1. The Sacrifice of Assembling

1 Peter 2:4-5

When a follower of Jesus

Christ obeys God and assem-

bles together meaningfully and

sacrificially with other believers

in a New Testament, spirit-

filled local body of believers it

is a spiritual sacrifice. In order

to belong, one must sacrifice

their preferences, desires and

opinions in order to put God

and others first. Recently a visi-

tor at our church told me they

were “church-shopping” and

they “like what they saw.” I

wanted to say that we are not

Wal-Mart and we believe that

we are not the consumers evalu-

ating the product for the best

deal, but we believe that God is

the consumer of our sacrifices

of obedience in going where he

tells us to go. Had I said that, I

might as well as have been

speaking in an unknown tongue

because the modern church

knows little of the meaning of

the sacrifice of assembling. To-

day we believe the lie that we

can be a Christian without faith-

fully assembling for worship.

2. The Sacrifice of Growing

Romans 12:1-2

New Testament believers are

to come to an altar where we

offer ourselves to God as a liv-

ing sacrifice. We bring our flesh

to the altar and allow it to be

burned away in order to be ac-

ceptable to God. Paul says this

is our reasonable form of wor-

ship. Revival would come to the

church today if we occupied the

altar in true, self-renunciation

until we were willing to com-

pletely and wholeheartedly do

the will of God.

3. The Sacrifice of Serving

Philippians 2:17-18

When one pours out a glass

of water on the dry ground it

cannot be recaptured. Once

poured out it is gone. The

Apostle Paul compares our sur-

render to service as a drink of-

fering. We are to pour out our

lives in unreserved and uncon-

ditional service to one another

as a spiritual sacrifice to God.

When the church serves, it is a

spiritual aroma to the nostrils of

Almighty God We become like

Jesus each time we sacrificially

serve others (Ephesians 5:1-2).

4. The Sacrifice of Giving

Philippians 4:18-20

Every time we obey God in

our stewardship and give obedi-

ently, cheerfully and sacrificial-

ly we are offering a spiritual

sacrifice to God. When the of-

fering plates are being passed

and we obediently participate it

is a “sweet-smelling aroma” to

God.

5. The Sacrifice of Praising

Hebrews 13:10-16

We praise God amidst a hos-

tile culture of ridicule and per-

secution. We praise God even

when we have not seen the

blessings yet. Our praise is to

be a spiritual sacrifice that

pleases God. Praise is always

demonstrative. Praise always

brings deliverance.

Praise delivers the backslider

Jonah 2:1-10

Praise delivers the burdened

Acts 16:25-26

Praise delivers the bound

Jeremiah 33:10-11

Praise delivers the barren

Isaiah 54:1-2

Where is the Altar in the

modern Church?

In the 19th century the great

camp meeting revivals pro-

duced a “mourner’s bench”

where sinners under the convic-

tion of the Holy Spirit could

come and receive prayer. Be-

lievers could also come and be

prayed for when they were bur-

dened. Ultimately, revival evan-

gelists would give an “altar-

call” for sinners to come and re-

pent of their sin. Some are

quick to point out how these

things later became very man-

centered and resulted in many

false professions of faith but

how good it would be to see the

real thing once again! Today we

have substituted entertainment

for an altar.

I believe the question of the

living Lord to His church is

where is the altar? The Lord

says to the modern church:

I see your well-timed and carefully

orchestrated services but where is the

altar?

I see your expensive sound systems

and your artificial smoke machines

but where is the altar?

I see your well managed corporate

leadership structures but where is the

altar?

I see your slick three-colored bro-

chures and your impressive marketing

strategies but where is the altar?

I see your layers of personal securi-

ty and your entourage but where is the

altar?

“It is not scientific doubt, not

atheism, not pantheism, not ag-

nosticism, that in our day and in

this land is likely to quench the

Gospel. It is a proud, sensuous,

selfish, luxurious, church-

going, hollow-hearted prosperi-

ty” (F. Huntinton).

It is a church with no altar!

Joshua and a Near Civil War

Over the Altar

Joshua 22 finds the conquer-

ing Israelites enjoying the fruit

of a very successful seven year

campaign of possessing the

Promised Land.

After completing what they

promised Moses to do, namely

being faithful to fight for their

brother in the campaign to pos-

sess the land, the tribes of Rue-

ben, Gad and the half of Manas-

seh requested to go back to their

geographical allotment on the

East side of the Jordan. Joshua

blessed them and released them

to return. When they came to

the Jordan River they construct-

ed a very large altar (Joshua

22:10).

When the rest of the tribes

heard about this they were

ready to go to war with these

tribes. There was to be only

one altar and it was in Shi-

loh. They assembled a dele-

gation to investigate before

they went to war and the del-

egation found out the truth

that averted a civil war. The-

se tribes did not erect this

great altar to offer alternative

place to sacrifice. This altar

was not about sacrificing

what only happened on the

true one altar in Shiloh but

was rather to be a witness of

their being a part of the na-

tion. They had been afraid in

the future that somehow be-

cause they were settled on

the other side of the Jordan

River that someone would

forget that they were a part

of the nation.

There are many truths to

this story but one that is cen-

tral is the altar of the Lord

is worth fighting over. It is

worth taking a stand to en-

sure that God’s people re-

spect and participate at a true

altar of worship. Our altars

are to be witnesses that the

LORD is God. When the

church is restored in the spir-

it and power of Elijah in the

last days we will have the

ministry of Elijah that re-

stores the altar of the Lord

that is broken down.

1 Kings 18:30

Then Elijah . . . repaired the

altar of the LORD that was

broken down.

I pray God will restore the

family altar in our homes and

OCCUPY THE ALTAR OCCUPY THE ALTAR

The question of the living Lord to the

modern church is: “Where is the altar?”

We have an altar . . . Hebrews 13:10

There is an international phe-

nomenon taking place in the

world known as the “occupy

movement”. It began last sum-

mer in Malaysia but seems to

have found its traction in the

United States. Known as Occupy

Wall Street and Occupy San

Francisco and Occupy Dallas it

is made up of individuals who

are frustrated with social and

economic inequality in the

world. They are disheartened that

the rich are getting richer and the

poor are getting poorer. This is a

highly controversial movement

with motivations and intentions

being hotly debated. The jury is

still out whether this movement

will result in positive change or

descend into violent anarchy.

I share their dissatisfaction. I

too am frustrated that things are

not the way they are meant to be

in this present world. The big

difference, and it is a big differ-

ence, between me and them is

where the solution lies. They

seek a political change while I

seek a spiritual one. They look to

the kingdoms of men and I look

to the kingdom of God.

I still believe the church of

Jesus Christ is the answer to the

problems of this world. That

statement is very politically in-

correct and would be laughed

with scorn by the so called socio-

political experts of our day. Sad-

ly, there are many followers of

Jesus who also think the answer

to the problems of our world lie

outside the church of Jesus

Christ. Today’s church, both left

wing and right wing, have

bought into the subtle lie that

politics will change the world.

Some believe if we can only get

the right people elected and con-

trol the Supreme Court and Con-

gress we can bring revival to the

nation. To hear the other side

talk you would believe that the

salvation of the world is tied into

the allocation of dollars in the

United States federal budget to-

wards social justice in the world.

While I do not discount the im-

portance of the above, ultimately

we must remember that God will

work through His spiritual body

to accomplish His goals. The Bi-

ble still says the church is “the

house of God, which is the

church of the living God the pil-

lar and ground of truth” trut

(1Timothy 3:15).

I believe that one of the pri-

mary reasons the church is not

the force for the Gospel in the

world is that the modern church

is a church with no altar. The

Bible is clear there is no such

thing as worship without sacri-

fice and there can be no sacrifice

without an altar.

An altar is a place of sacrifice.

The ancient world is filled with

pagan altars as man sought in his

ignorant and darkened mind to

fill the place of worship with sac-

rificial altars. I have stood at ex-

cavations in modern day Israel of

the ancient Canaanite altars that

predate Abraham’s arrival in the

land. These ignorant people sac-

rificed their children on these al-

tars.

True worship was revealed by

God to His people. Noah walked

off the Ark and built an altar to

God in which he offered a sacri-

fice of thanksgiving for the sal-

vation that had come to he and

his family. The Bible says of this

sacrifice: “And the LORD

smelled a soothing aro-

ma” (Genesis 8:21).

The patriarchs Abraham,

Volume 1 Issue 2 Volume 1 Issue 2 December 2011December 2011

OCCUPY THE ALTAR

I still believe the Church is the answer to the prob-

lems of our world

the church altars in our gather-

ings and our personal altars of

private devotion and sacrifice,

In preparing this message the

Lord reminded me that the

greatest things He has ever

done in my life happened at

an altar.

It was at an altar that I first

professed my faith in Christ

and I was surrounded by a

church that loved and encour-

aged me in my new faith.

It was at an altar that I

wept all night in darkness un-

til I was visited by the Lord

who taught me about for-

giveness, grace and restora-

tion.

It was at an altar that some

godly deacons laid hands up-

on me ordaining me and set-

ting me aside to pursue the

calling as pastor that God had

revealed in me and at the altar

they affirmed this by the lay-

ing on of hands.

It was at an altar that God

told me to marry Amy Thorn-

burg and later at the same al-

tar we stood before God and

made our vows and were pro-

nounced husband and wife.

It was at an altar that my

young firstborn son came run-

ning in tears one morning and

said, “Daddy, I hear His voice

and I want Him to be my

Lord!” At that altar I knelt

with him and saw him surren-

der his life to Christ.

It is time to Occupy the Altar.

For a complete copy of this message

please visit www.BarryClingan.org

Joshua is to the Old Testament what the Book of Acts is to the New Tes-

tament. Out of the provision of God’s Salvation the people are to actively

possess what God has already given them. To journey with Joshua is to

understand it is a time to choose.

The messages in this series include: It is time to make our vision visible,

to possess our future, to get past our past, to claim new territory, to pre-

pare for fullness, to experience God, to shout against our opposition, to

call holy what God calls holy, to turn our mistakes into miracles, to finish

well, to establish our refuge, to be thankful, to occupy the altar, to be

filled with the Holy Spirit, and to answer the Joshua challenge.

Visit BarryClingan.org to listen to this series or to order your own copy

of these messages.

www.BarryClingan.org

It is Time to Occupy The Altar Joshua 22:1-34

Beginning January 2012

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE REVOLUTION A Series from the Book of Acts for today’s church