Joel Osteen - Build Your Altar

TOPICS: Thankfulness

Joel Osteen urges us to «build altars» by regularly acknowledging and thanking God for His past faithfulness—protection, healing, favor, and victories—using stories of Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Jehoshaphat, his parents founding Lakewood, and acquiring the Compaq Center. He teaches that thanking God in advance for promises fuels faith, releases blessings, and impacts future generations, declaring that God blesses us at the altars we build.

Build Your Altar

I want to talk to you today about build your altar. We can all look back in life and see times where God made a way. He protected us from an accident; He sustained us in a slow time; He promoted us when we didn’t deserve it; He strengthened us when we were weak; He brought us through that loss.

Those weren’t lucky breaks; they weren’t just coincidences — that was the hand of God protecting you, healing you, favoring you.

Altars as Reminders

In the Old Testament, when these things happened, people took time to build an altar to thank God for what He had done. They would look back at those altars, and that fueled their faith. They knew if He did it back then, He would do it again.

Today we should still be building altars. It’s easy to take things for granted, get so busy that we don’t recognize the blessing of God.

Pause to Give Thanks

But when you take time to acknowledge what God has done — you realize He brought you through the pandemic (some people didn’t make it); He gave you that person to love; you were at the right place at the right time; He healed you when it didn’t look good; He opened that door and now you’re further than you’ve ever imagined — when you pause to say, «God, I recognize this didn’t happen on my own; this is Your goodness. Thank You for Your favor. Thank You for Your mercy. Lord, I’m grateful for what You’ve done» — that’s building an altar.

God told the Israelites in Exodus 20:24, «Build altars in the places where I remind you of who I am, and I will bless you there.»

God Blesses at Your Altars

God will bless you where you build altars. When you’re always thanking God for what He’s done, remembering His goodness, talking about how He’s made ways where you didn’t see a way — while you’re thanking Him, God says He’ll bless you.

You’re there to express your gratitude — but when you’re at the altar, God says, «I’ll be good to you.»

This begs the question: are we not being blessed because we’re not building altars? Are we not seeing favor because we’re not acknowledging God’s goodness? God said, «Build altars where I remind you who I am.»

Recognize the Hand of God

We all have these times where we know it was the hand of God. That car on the freeway should have hit you — but somehow at the last second it missed. It wasn’t a lucky break; those were angels assigned to protect you. Take time to build an altar.

That contract at work should have gone to three other people — they had more experience; they looked better on paper — but somehow you were chosen. That was the favor of God causing you to stand out. Have you built your altar?

A Miracle Baby

I talked to a young couple. They were told they couldn’t have children. She had taken all the fertility treatments — nothing more the doctors could do — but seven years later, against all odds, they brought their little baby boy after the service.

And those places where you see the hand of God — what are you supposed to do? Just take the blessing and move on? No — build an altar! Pause for a few minutes to say, «God, I recognize this is Your mighty hand at work. I give You the praise. I give You the honor.»

Altars Fuel Your Faith

When you get in a habit of building altars, then you’ll look back over your life and see all these times where you should have been stuck, depressed, defeated — but God stepped in and did what only He can do.

As you see the different altars as reminders of God’s goodness, that will not only encourage you that God can do it again — but God says He’ll bless you at the altars you built; He’ll bless you as you go back and remember the good things He’s done.

Noah’s First Act

In Genesis chapter 6, God told Noah that there was going to be a great flood. He was to build an ark — a large boat, 450 feet long — and to take two of every kind of animal on it.

The floods came. Forty days and forty nights it rained — wiped everything out except Noah, his family, and those animals. For over a year Noah was on that boat, cooped up with all the stinky animals. It was smelly, noisy. I’m sure he was tired, ready to get off.

First Thing: Thank God

Well, finally the waters receded. After 377 days they opened the door to dry ground. Noah and his family walked off.

What is the first thing you would think Noah would want to do? Have a big party, celebration? Maybe go for a long walk, get away from everyone?

The first thing Noah did was build an altar. He took time to thank God that they made it.

[h3]Like Noah