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NATIONAL COMMUNITY CHURCH February 21, 2016 Altars of Celebration Mark Batterson

On May 25, 1979, Denis Waitley was waiting to catch a flight from Chicago to Los Angeles for a speaking engagement. He was late. He was running through O’Hare Airport. Wrong airport to have to run through. Big airport plus Garrett’s Popcorn. How do you run past that? Terminal 1 Concourse B, you will thank me! So Denis ran through the airport and got to his gate, Gate K5 just as they closed the jet way. You might know the feeling. He begged to get on the flight, told them he had a speaking engagement, they don’t budge. So in his anger, he went back to the ticket counter to register a complaint. 20 minutes later, the line hasn’t moved when an announcement comes over the airport intercom that American Airlines flight 191 from Chicago to Los Angeles had crashed upon take-off. 258 passengers and 13 crew members died in that crash. It was the deadliest aviation accident in US history. Denis got out of line. He didn’t register a complaint. In fact, he didn’t return the ticket. What he did was he took that ticket home and he pinned it on a bulletin board in his office. And every time he would get a little frustrated or upset at things that were happening in his life, all he had to do was glance at that ticket and it was a reminder that life was a gift, a gift not to be taken for granted.

That invalidated ticket for Flight 191 is what I would call a life symbol. It is a symbol from the past that gives meaning to the present and faith for the future. It is a symbol from the past that gives meaning to the present and faith for the future.

We are going to talk about that this weekend. This series is going to run right up to Easter. Turn to Joshua 4 and I’m going to ask you to stand while we read God’s Word. I’m reading from the New Living Translation.

Joshua 4:1

When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,2 “Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe. 3 Tell them, ‘Take twelve stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight.’”

Verse 19

19 The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month. Then they camped at Gilgal, just east of Jericho. 20 It was there at Gilgal that Joshua piled up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan River.

21 Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 Then you can tell them, ‘This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did at the Red Sea when he dried it up until we had all crossed over. 24 He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the Lord’s hand is powerful, and so you might fear the Lord your God forever.”

It was the Israelites first night in the Promised Land. They had dreamed of this for 430 years. They are partying like it is 1999 BC! I love how God gets them there. Why would you walk around the river when you can part it? This is a grand entrance.

I’m going to let you into my world for a moment. We have a new tradition. The last couple of years we have gone out to rural Virginia and we hit up the Madison County Fair and they have a demolition derby and I get all country and I pull out my camouflage and I eat elephant ears and it is awesome! And this year, Madison County pulled out all the stops. The Orange County Skydivers parachuted into the fairgrounds to the Star Spangled Banner with a flag! That’s an entrance! After 430 years, you better enter in a big way. Red carpet Oscars? No, way bigger than that! Why did God part the Jordan River? Because He can! Let me give you another reason, because this generation didn’t cross the Red Sea. That generation had died. So God did for this generation what He had done for the generation before. I love verse 23! It says God parts the Jordan River just as He did the Red Sea. That’s why we build altars. Because altars remind us that the God who did it before can do it again. The God who did this can do that. The God who got us here and get us there!

I say do it again God! Do it again! Here’s what I believe, if we do what they did in the Bible, God will do what He did. He will renew his deeds in our day because He is the same yesterday, today and forever. If we do little things like they are big things, God will do big things like they are little things. If we would consecrate ourselves day in and day out, God is going to show up and God is going to show off.

It is not a question of if, it is a question of when and how and where. So we live with this holy confidence. What is God going to do next? The God who works before us. The God who works all things together for good. The God who orders our footsteps. The God who prepares good works in advance. The God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine. What is that God going to do next? So we live with a holy confidence because He did it before and He can do it again.

Here is what I believe for you. During this series, during this Lent season, this could be the greatest season of spiritual growth you ever experience. This could be the greatest season of spiritual breakthrough you have ever experienced but it is not going to happen by default. You have to build an altar every day. And then you have to put yourself on that altar. If you want God to do something new, you can’t keep doing the same old things.

Let’s have some fun. How many know that we made the news this week? I love it! I love it when the good news makes the news. Let me give you the back story and then I’m going to show it to you because we are going to build an altar. In 2007, we hosted an outreach called the Convoy of Hope. We blessed 10,000 people with 100,000 pounds of groceries and several tons of love. And afterwards, we were patting ourselves on the back when God said, now I want you to do it every day. I remember thinking to myself, it took a year of planning and strategizing. It took 85 churches and organizations to come together and pull that off. And quite honestly it took the leadership of our Executive Pastor Joel Schmidgall to pull that thing off. So when God said do it every day, I thought to myself, how in the world are we going to pull this off. But God gave us a dream. A dream of a DC Dream Center east of the river. It was like God said the Anacostia River is the Jordan River and I’m going to part it if you will walk through it. I’m going to tell you, it took eight years. It took a lot longer and it was a lot harder than we anticipated. But He who began a good work is carrying it to completion. You know that we broke ground, and how fun! Watch this.

[video clip can be viewed at http://www.wusa9.com/news/faith-our-town-dc-dream- center/51003311 ]

In 2014, Navy Admiral William McRaven gave the commencement speech at his alma mater the University of Texas. His advice to those graduating Longhorns was this: If you want to change the world, start out by making your bed. This is a 36-year career Navy SEAL and he chooses that piece of advice when addressing graduates. They do 10-mile runs with 50 pound packs! They do midnight swims in the freezing Pacific Ocean. They have tactical skills and they have survival skills and he wants to talk about making your bed. Here is what he said, ‘Every morning in basic SEAL training, who at the time were all Viet Nam Veterans, would show up in my barracks and the first thing they would inspect was my bed. If I did it right, the corners would be square, the covers pulled tight and the pillow centered just under the headboard and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the rack. It was a simple task, mundane at best, but every morning we were required to make our bed to perfection. It seemed a little ridiculous at the time, particularly in light of the fact that we were aspiring to be real warriors, tough, battle-hardened SEALS. But that simple act has been proven to me over and over, if you make your bed, you will have accomplished the first task of the day.’ Then he said this, ‘If you can’t do little things right, you will never do big things right.’ Make the bed.

Make an altar. Every morning, every evening, hit your knees. Submit yourself to God’s Word and to God’s Spirit. Give Him the first word and the last word. Give Him the first thought and the last thought of the day. And if you do, look out! Game on! Success is not sexy, it is sweaty. Success is not inspiration, it is perspiration. Success is not glamorous, it is grit. Destiny isn’t a mystery, destiny is a decision. Destiny isn’t one moment in time, it is daily disciplines. Destiny isn’t 15 minutes of fame, it is long obedience in the same direction. Make an altar.

I love what Will Smith says, ‘The only thing I see that is distinctly different about me is that I’m not afraid to die on the treadmill.’ ‘I will not be outworked. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, but if we get on the treadmill together, you are getting off first or I’m going to die.’

That’s how he became one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood. It wasn’t on talent alone. It was on the treadmill. Make an altar.

Are you willing to die on the treadmill? How hungry are you? How hungry are you for God? How badly do you want more? How badly do you want more of God? Right before God parts the Jordan River, He says, ‘Consecrate yourself for tomorrow I will do amazing things among you.’ That is my verse for 2016. That is my word for 2016. Consecrate. It means going all in and all out and doing it day in and day out.

There is no status quo. Either you are growing or you are atrophying. You have to press in and press on. You have to press on and that’s how you win the week and win the month and win the year. If you want to win the game, you have to win the practice. Make an altar.

If you consecrate yourself to God day in and day out, something amazing is going to happen. God will show up and show off.

I want to tell you about a decision I made 25 years ago. I don’t think I’ve ever framed it this way. In fact, I don’t know if the importance of it hit me until I stopped to think about it. When I was in college, I made a decision that I wasn’t going to leave my gift at the altar. If the altar was open, I was going to be there. The inspiration was Exodus 33:11

11 Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Afterward Moses would return to the camp, but the young man who assisted him, Joshua son of Nun, would remain behind in the Tent of Meeting.

I connected the dots. Why did Joshua become the leader of Israel after Moses? Because he didn’t leave the Tent of Meeting. Because those who God uses the most spend the most time in God’s presence because those are the people who know God best and that is who God can trust the most. Now, I’ve missed a lot of days. I do not bat a thousand. We have been kneeling during this Lent season. Let me tell you I’m not batting a thousand. I’ve missed a couple. But I know that going to the altar is going to make a difference.

So when I made that decision, I was self-conscience at first. I don’t know your church background. Some churches, the altar is right there. You just flip it down and boom, its right there. Then other churches you walk all the way to the front. And then there is National Community Church. Theaters. You are kneeling in spilled popcorn and soda! But I think the most important altar is the altar at the foot of your bed. It is not abracadabra. This is not magic but I think it is biblical. So when I made the decision that if the altar was open I was going to spend some time at the altar, I felt self-conscience at first because I thought the people who went to the altar were the people with the most problems. But what I discovered was it is the people who have the most courage. It is the people who are actually hungry for God and who knew how much they needed God. I know that I need more of God today than I did yesterday. And I will need Him more tomorrow than I did today. So I decided if the altar is open, I’m going to go.

In the coming weeks, I will tell you about some of those altars, turning points in my life. A couple of years ago, I did a life plan with a life coach. We identified turning points and came up with this map, this storyline of my life and I was shocked at how many of those 39 turning points in my life happened at an altar. God won’t answer 100 percent of the prayers you don’t pray. You won’t accomplish 100 percent of the goals you don’t set. The greatest tragedy in life are the prayers that go unanswered because they go unasked. There is a gift, there is a miracle, there is a blessing waiting for you. Sometimes you have to take a step of faith and see what God does. A few months ago, I was down in Atlanta, Georgia speaking at Chick-fil-A headquarters. I got up to speak and they handed me a vanilla milkshake! Really? I’m supposed to talk instead of drinking this dream in my hand. Afterwards I got a tour of Chick-fil-A and went into Truett Cathy’s office which is set up the way he had it. I sat in his chair. I saw the toys he had set up for his grandchildren in the office and then I saw his car collection. Whew! The original Batmobile. Truett Cathy loved cars and he loved giving cars. He was disciplining a young man, the young man needed a car but needed discipling even more so he struck a deal. He said to the young man, ‘I’ve got some tapes of Dr. Charles Stanley, I want you to listen to these tapes and we are going to talk about them and see what God does.’ But he played a little trick on the young man. On the last tape, he recorded over Charles Stanley and recorded a message to this young man that said hey, the keys to your new car are in my office. The kid never listened to the tapes. Truett Cathy kept reminding him to listen to them, day after day, week after week. About a month and he realized it wasn’t going to happen. He called the young man into his office and played the last tape for him but he didn’t give him the car. He said it might have been one of the toughest lessons this kid ever learned and one of the toughest lessons he ever taught. Here’s what he said, to receive a blessing, we often have to take action first.

Don’t leave your gift at the altar. There is more. There is more. There is more and I need it. Make an altar every day.

Number two, establish celebration rituals. I think this is going to be fun. Why would you go back into the Jordan River and pick up 12 large stones. That took a lot of time and energy to carry those big rocks out and set them up. Why would you do that? I think sometimes we are so quick to forget what God did last and we are thinking about what God is going to do next that we fail to celebrate crossing the Jordan River because we are so focused on Jericho. Listen, Jericho happens next but I don’t think you are ready for Jericho until you have fully celebrated the Jordan! Until you have celebrated what God has done last, you are not ready for what is next. We need celebration rituals. That is part of what this series is about.

Ok, the high five, the joy stick, the chest bump, the touchdown dance, the ticker-tape parade, the wedding reception, graduation ceremony, inaugural ball, all have one thing in common. They are celebration rituals. They are unique ways to celebrate a touchdown, a wedding, an election. I think our culture is better at celebrating than the church. I have a problem with that. Is it ok if I have a problem with that? We have so much to celebrate. We have to celebrate anything and everything that we possibly can. Lora and I had one of the worst travel days of our life this week. Got up, 5:30 am we were headed to San Francisco airport. We were out visiting Parker who has just moved to Santa Cruz. If you know a place for him to stay, let me know! The only place on the planet where the real estate is more expensive than DC! So we were headed to the airport and I got a phone call that our flight was cancelled due to weather. We get booked on another flight and then that flight was cancelled. We got booked on another flight but we couldn’t get to the terminal in time to get checked so I got on another flight but it was to New York. The reason we had to at least get close to DC is because we had a home alone scenario on our hands. My 14 year old is back from youth retreat. I’m not saying we didn’t have a back-up plan but we needed to get home. So we got to New York and 9:45 last flight into Dulles and there is a delay to 11:00 and then a delay to 12:00. I’m going to tell you what happened. I’m not going to give you the initials of the airline but it was Jet Blue. At midnight, the plane comes into the gate and the next thing I know, Boston gets our plane! It was midnight, the next flight was the next day at 4:00 in the afternoon. Thank you very little! We rented a car and we got home at 4:30 am. The beautiful thing is Josiah woke up and didn’t know the difference. But we stayed positive! 98 percent of the time. Two percent of the time? Negative! It got so ridiculous that we kept finding silver lining here and silver lining there. At one point, she gave me a new nickname, Silver Lightening. I don’t know if she meant to say it but it just came out that way. This is huge. Your focus determines your reality. You can’t tell me that there isn’t something you can find to celebrate.

Stick with me. I believe that our greatest shortcoming is not – not feeling bad enough about what we’ve done wrong. I think our greatest shortcoming is not feeling good enough about what God has done right. That’s why we practice worship sometimes at our campuses. Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshiping what is right with God.

Listen, if you underestimate sin, you devalue grace. I’m just saying that God is gooder than good and greater than great. We have so much celebrate and it starts at the cross. I am in right relationship with God.

Six times in Romans 4, this little phrase ‘credited his righteousness’ is used. It says Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. If something is repeated six times in Scripture, you better drill down. To impute means to make a deposit in someone else’s account. Let me paint a picture. One of my favorite things to do is to pay for someone else’s meal at a restaurant. So last month we were at a diner, Lora and I, and a mini-bus from a retirement home pulls up. I love old people! They were walking in with walkers and I was thinking to myself there is no way they are walking out of here without a blessing. If I was real generous I would have told them before they ordered. But I didn’t and I’ll tell you why. I love those moments thinking about when they are getting ready to pay the bill and the server comes up and says the bill is paid. I don’t usually get to see that because I’m gone but that’s what gets me. Your bill was paid. Christ picked up the tab. It is a free meal. If you have nothing else to celebrate, you have that and that is enough. More than enough. Your spiritual balance sheet shows no liability. And the righteousness of Christ shows up on your account as an asset.

Let me talk about a few celebration ideas. One, this is why I keep a gratitude journal. It is a celebration ritual. I’m on number 97 for 2016. Every day I try to find something to celebrate. It is why we share wins at our staff meeting. Let me tell you what it is. It is borrow emotional energy from the successes so we can overcome the failures. They are going to come so I need to borrow from here to get past here. Did you know that the Talmud says that whatever we fail to thank God for, it is as if we stole that blessing from God. Whatever you don’t turn into praise turns into pride. We better make sure we are celebrating the win. By the way, that is why we are doing the 20 year celebration at Constitution Hall on October 30th. I have lived here for 20 years and had never seen it. Awesome! I posted an Instagram if you want to see it. It is why our family does a special dinner every time a new book releases. I just finished Chase Your Lion and sent it to the editor. It will release September 6th. I’m going to make a prediction, on September 6th, I will be ordering a filet mignon with extra butter sauce and a blue cheese crust at Ruth Chris’s. I learned that my personality is I’m always thinking about what’s next. You have to celebrate what God did last so that you are ready for what’s next. Here’s what is so fascinating. I just read through the book of Leviticus and for a lot of people, Leviticus is the toughest book to get through because of all the rules and regulations. But that is a misreading. There are some amazing rules and regulations. Leviticus 23:39

39 “Remember that this seven-day festival to the Lord—the Festival of Shelters—begins on the fifteenth day of the appointed month, after you have harvested all the produce of the land. The first day and the eighth day of the festival will be days of complete rest. 40 On the first day gather branches from magnificent trees—palm fronds, boughs from leafy trees, and willows that grow by the streams. Then celebrate with joy before the Lord your God for seven days.

Are you getting the point? Seven days. I’m going to ask you a question. When was the last time you celebrated anything for seven days? Let me prove my point, any Broncos fans? We’ll pray for you. The Broncos fans I know, two minutes after the Super Bowl. Payton Manning is going to retire. Are you serious? You just won the Super Bowl! You need to celebrate for seven days!

My point is this, this is like a command to eat cupcakes! Celebrate more! You are not celebrating enough! God is not a kill-joy. He is the God who mandates a week-long celebration three times a year. And by the way, this little tidbit too, Deuteronomy 24:5

5 “A newly married man must not be drafted into the army or be given any other official responsibilities. He must be free to spend one year at home, bringing happiness to the wife he has married.

That’s what I’m talking about! That is another sermon for another day!

I can’t do this for you. You have to do it yourself. Here is the challenge. Take inventory this week. Look at your life. Look at ages and stages. Look at people in your life. Defining moments, defining decisions, successes, failures, mistakes, miracles. Do an inventory of your life. Winston Churchill said the farther backwards you look, the farther you are likely to look forward. You have to look back. It is the faithfulness of God that gives us faith for the future.

Build an altar every day but figure out, what are those altars? What are those life symbols? What do you need to put on a bulletin board? Take three hours this week. Take your three favorite programs, DVR it, skip the commercials and you have three extra hours. I just bought you three hours. Take an inventory. This series is going through Easter but you have to start doing the ground work now.

Here’s what we are going to do this weekend. We are going to end with a story and it is a celebration. A powerful story from a family that attends our Kingstowne campus. Watch this and our campus pastors are going to come and then we are going to celebrate.

Transcribed by: Ministry Transcription [email protected]