A man is hiking up a steep mountain trail when he slips and falls over the edge. He is able to grab hold of some old scrub brush as he falls. He is hanging on for dear life and is yelling for helping. A voice answers him and the man ask for help. The voice tells him that He is God and just to let go. The man explains that if he lets go he will fall. God again tells the man to let go. The man then yells, “Is there anybody else up there?”
The man didn’t want to let go. God was saying the only way to save yourself is to let go.
Most of us finding letting go very hard. We don’t like to do it.
For God to work in our lives we have to let go, we have to empty our hands.
In 1 Kings 17:7-16 we read of an event in the life of Elijah. There is a drought in the land which has lead to a famine. God tells Elijah to go to the town of Zarephath and there God had commanded a widow to supply him with food. When Elijah gets there, the widow only has enough food for one meal for herself and her son. Elijah tells the widow to fix him something to eat first and then something for her and her son. He tells her that if she will continue to do that, God will make the food last until God gives the land rain. The widow obeys what Elijah tells her and God provides.
The widow of Zarephath emptied her hands.
She trusted God.
She obeyed despite her fear.
She obeyed God in a seemly impossible situation.
God provided.
How can you empty your hands?
Acknowledge Jesus as FIRST.
Revelation 22:13
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.
Give yourself COMPLETELY to Jesus.
2 Corinthians 8:5
They even exceeded our expectations, because they gave themselves to the Lord first and then to us, consistent with God’s will.
Seek God’s Kingdom BEFORE anything.
Matthew 6:33
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.
Submit yourself to God’s AUTHORITY.
Matthew 20:26-27
But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.
Make it a PRIORITY to tell others.
John 1:40-41
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s witness and followed Jesus. The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived was find his brother, Simon, telling him, “We’ve found the Messiah (that is, “Christ”).
LOVE God first above anybody.
Mark 12:30
And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.
The widow trusted and obeyed God.
God provided!
When you trust and obey God, He will provide.
We have to empty our hands and turn everything over to God.
We have to empty our hands of spiritual things. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot change ourselves. We have to acknowledge our sin and let Jesus by His Spirit transform us.
We have to empty our hands of emotional things. We have to look to Jesus for our self-worth. We have to see ourselves as His treasured possession. We have to let Jesus not the world define who we are. We have to let Jesus’ opinion be the one that matters and know that He loves us no matter what.
We have to empty our hands of financial things. All we have belongs to Jesus. Our material possessions are to be used to honor Him. Our money is to be spent according to His will. It is not just about tithing. It is about using all of our material wealth for God’s Kingdom.
We have to empty our hands of our marriage. Your marriage is not yours; it belongs to Jesus. It is His to be used to glorify Him. Husbands are to love their wives unconditionally. Wives are to respect their husbands unconditionally. We are to do that because that is what God commands. We do it because by doing it we show the world Jesus.
We have to empty our hands of our children. Your children are not yours; their belong to Jesus. Our job as parents is not to raise children but to raise adults. Adults who will obey and follow Jesus. As parents we are not to make our children like we want them to be. We are to be used by God to mold them into who He wants them to be.
1 Peter 5:6-7
Be humble in the presence of God’s might power, and He will honor you when the time comes. God cares for you, so turn your worries over to Him.
You came into this world empty-handed. You will go out of this world emptied handed. Why not live in this world empty-handed?
Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls is being empty-handed.
Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls is about letting go of everything.
Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls is about letting Jesus control everything I have and everything I am.
Tenth Avenue North has a song called Empty My Hands. The chorus summarizes what Jesus desires for us to do.
So empty my hands
Fill up my heart
Capture my mind with You
Empty your hands - Surrender your life to Jesus
Fill up your heart - With Jesus, His truth, His will
Capture your mind with You - Let Jesus have control our your mind
When we empty our hands by surrendering ourselves to Jesus as our Master then He takes over and relieves us of our
Sin
Guilty
Worries
Stresses
Emptying our hands lets Jesus provide what we need.
In Emptiness Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Sunday, June 15, 2014
All The Pretty Things
Luke 12:34
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be too.
Treasure: what you value, what is the most important thing in your life
What my treasure is determines where my heart is. My heart is what I focus my life on. It is what I love the most.
So what you value determines how you:
Think
Feel
Act
In Luke 9:25 Jesus asks a question. He asks, “What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself or waste your life?”
If you gain what the culture teaches us are the most important things what will it really gain or benefit you? Are you willing to give up who you are and waste your life on things that don’t last?
Isaiah 55:2
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
In Luke 12:13-20 Jesus shares a story of a rich farmer. He describes this farmer’s life as one that is focused on
Wealth
Pleasure
Pleasing Himself
Taking Care of #1
We are told that the rich farmer dies and all the stuff he had spent his life acquiring goes to someone else.
Jesus’ message here is very clear.
True life does not come from an abundance of things.
True success does not come from an abundance of things.
True security does not come from an abundance of things.
Matthew 6:19-20
Stop storing up treasure for yourselves on earth, where moths and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. Instead, store up treasure for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust don’t destroy and thieves don’t break in and steal.
Store up godly wealth!
The farmer’s problem was coveting.
God commands us not to covet.
Exodus 20:17
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
We are not to covet. So what is coveting? We can understand what coveting is by looking at other meanings of the Hebrew word that we translate covet.
Genesis 3:6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
Coveting means to see something as pleasant and desirable.
Proverbs 1:22
How long, O simple [open to evil], will you love being simple? And the scoffers delight in scoffing and [self-confident] fools hate knowledge?
Coveting means delighting in something.
Psalm 39:11
You discipline people for their sin, punishing them; like a moth, you ruin what they treasure. Yes, human life is just a puff of air.
Coveting means to treasure something.
Proverbs 6:25
Lust not after her beauty in your heart, neither let her capture you with her eyelids.
Coveting is lusting after something.
Isaiah 44:9
Those who make an image, all of them are useless, and their precious things shall not profit, they are their own witness; they neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed.
Covet means to hold on to something as your precious thing.
Coveting is when something or someone other than Jesus is so desirable to you that it becomes your delight and the treasure of your life. It is when you make something or someone other than Jesus the most precious thing in your life and the attraction become so strong that you lust after it continually.
The rich farmer wanted more than anything wealth and pleasure. The focus on his life was taking care of himself and making sure that everything was as he wanted it to be.
Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls is about being other focused.
Jesus tells us in Mark 12:30-31 that we are love God with all that we are and love others as much as we love ourselves.
The rich farmer saw life as being about him.
Jesus says life is about Him and others.
What do you find more pleasant, desirable and delightful than Jesus?
What do treasure and find more precious than Jesus?
GET RID OF IT OR THEM!
David found being in God’s presence the most desirable thing he could imagine.
Psalm 84:1-2,10-12
How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord of Heaven’s of Armies. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body, and soul, I will shout joyful to the living God.
A single day in Your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the home of the wicked. For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right. O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, what joy for those who trust in You.
Jesus ends the story of the rich farmer by remind us that our choices in life will affect our relationship with God.
Luke 12:21
This how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.
Rich toward God means knowing God and living based on the truth that He owns you.
Where our treasure is will determine where our hearts are and where our hearts are will determine how we live and how we live determines where eternally we will dwell.
I want my treasure to be Jesus.
I want my heart to be focused on Jesus.
I want my life to be about Jesus.
If I want that, I have to surrender all I am, all I will ever be, all I have, and all I will ever have to Jesus.
With Godly Wealth Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be too.
Treasure: what you value, what is the most important thing in your life
What my treasure is determines where my heart is. My heart is what I focus my life on. It is what I love the most.
So what you value determines how you:
Think
Feel
Act
In Luke 9:25 Jesus asks a question. He asks, “What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself or waste your life?”
If you gain what the culture teaches us are the most important things what will it really gain or benefit you? Are you willing to give up who you are and waste your life on things that don’t last?
Isaiah 55:2
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
In Luke 12:13-20 Jesus shares a story of a rich farmer. He describes this farmer’s life as one that is focused on
Wealth
Pleasure
Pleasing Himself
Taking Care of #1
We are told that the rich farmer dies and all the stuff he had spent his life acquiring goes to someone else.
Jesus’ message here is very clear.
True life does not come from an abundance of things.
True success does not come from an abundance of things.
True security does not come from an abundance of things.
Matthew 6:19-20
Stop storing up treasure for yourselves on earth, where moths and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. Instead, store up treasure for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust don’t destroy and thieves don’t break in and steal.
Store up godly wealth!
The farmer’s problem was coveting.
God commands us not to covet.
Exodus 20:17
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
We are not to covet. So what is coveting? We can understand what coveting is by looking at other meanings of the Hebrew word that we translate covet.
Genesis 3:6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
Coveting means to see something as pleasant and desirable.
Proverbs 1:22
How long, O simple [open to evil], will you love being simple? And the scoffers delight in scoffing and [self-confident] fools hate knowledge?
Coveting means delighting in something.
Psalm 39:11
You discipline people for their sin, punishing them; like a moth, you ruin what they treasure. Yes, human life is just a puff of air.
Coveting means to treasure something.
Proverbs 6:25
Lust not after her beauty in your heart, neither let her capture you with her eyelids.
Coveting is lusting after something.
Isaiah 44:9
Those who make an image, all of them are useless, and their precious things shall not profit, they are their own witness; they neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed.
Covet means to hold on to something as your precious thing.
Coveting is when something or someone other than Jesus is so desirable to you that it becomes your delight and the treasure of your life. It is when you make something or someone other than Jesus the most precious thing in your life and the attraction become so strong that you lust after it continually.
The rich farmer wanted more than anything wealth and pleasure. The focus on his life was taking care of himself and making sure that everything was as he wanted it to be.
Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls is about being other focused.
Jesus tells us in Mark 12:30-31 that we are love God with all that we are and love others as much as we love ourselves.
The rich farmer saw life as being about him.
Jesus says life is about Him and others.
What do you find more pleasant, desirable and delightful than Jesus?
What do treasure and find more precious than Jesus?
GET RID OF IT OR THEM!
David found being in God’s presence the most desirable thing he could imagine.
Psalm 84:1-2,10-12
How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord of Heaven’s of Armies. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body, and soul, I will shout joyful to the living God.
A single day in Your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the home of the wicked. For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right. O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, what joy for those who trust in You.
Jesus ends the story of the rich farmer by remind us that our choices in life will affect our relationship with God.
Luke 12:21
This how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.
Rich toward God means knowing God and living based on the truth that He owns you.
Where our treasure is will determine where our hearts are and where our hearts are will determine how we live and how we live determines where eternally we will dwell.
I want my treasure to be Jesus.
I want my heart to be focused on Jesus.
I want my life to be about Jesus.
If I want that, I have to surrender all I am, all I will ever be, all I have, and all I will ever have to Jesus.
With Godly Wealth Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Let God Satisfy Your Soul
John 8:44
Your father is the devil, and you do exactly what he wants. He has always been a murderer and a liar. There is nothing truthful about him. He speaks on his own, and everything he says is a lie. Not only is he a liar himself, but he is also the father of all lies.
Satan is a liar and the father or source of all lies.
When we believe the lies, we will live our lives based on them and seek our satisfaction following the lies.
In Romans 1:18-25 Paul goes into great detail on the fact that humanity as a whole has rejected Jesus as Creator and Lord. Humanity has chosen to worship the created things and not the Creator. Because humanity rejected Jesus as Creator and Lord, certain consequences followed.
#1: God’s wrath is being poured out on godlessness and wickedness.
#2: Humanity’s thinking became futile.
#3: Humanity’s hearts became darkened.
#4: Humanity became foolish.
#5: Humanity rejected and lost God’s glory.
#6: Humanity became sinful (full of sin).
#7: Humanity rejected the truth and accepted a lie.
One of the biggest consequences was that humanity worshiped created things instead of the Creator God. That leads us to seek our satisfaction in the created things and not the Creator. That leads to never being satisfied. Created things cannot satisfy us; only the Creator can.
If we are going to find true eternal satisfaction we have to:
Reject the lie
Seek our satisfaction in Jesus
There are some lies that our culture has bought into and is now teaching that hinder us from seeking Jesus and finding satisfaction.
Lie #1: Humans evolved by time and chance.
We as humans are a product of chance coming together of all the necessary ingredients over billions of years. AKA - we are a cosmic accident.
That leads to hopelessness.
Lie #2: There are no absolutes.
Everything is relative. Everything is based on our circumstances. There are no eternal absolute truths.
That leads to confusion.
Lie #3: Humans have no moral obligation.
If there is no Creator, we are who we are by chance. If there is no absolute truth, then we have no moral obligation to do or not do anything.
That leads to immorality.
Lie #4: Human life has the same value as animal and plant life.
If there is no Creator and human life came about in the same way all other animal and plant life did, than humans and animals and plants are all of equal value. That means the life of a puppy or kitten or flower or tree or weed is just as value and sacred as the life of a little boy or girl.
That leads to a lack of sacredness for human life.
Lie #5: Humans exist to serve and satisfy self.
My life is about ME!
You and I exist for our own pleasure and benefit. No one else is as important as me.
That leads to selfishness.
So if we live based on the lies of Satan we will have a culture that is:
Hopeless
Confused
Immoral
Calloused Toward Human Life
Selfish
Guess what? We have a culture that is all those.
But we are not without hope because we have truths that can free and satisfy us.
Truth #1: We are created for God’s purpose.
Ephesians 1:11
In Him we were chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.
That leads to meaning for everything we do.
Truth #2: We are wonderfully designed by God.
Psalm 139:13-14
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
That leads to hope.
Truth #3: God is an absolute and His Word gives us absolute truth.
Isaiah 45:5-6
I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God. I strengthen you - though you don’t know Me - so all will know, from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is nothing apart from Me. I am the Lord, there is no other.
James 1:18
God decided to give us life through the word of truth to make us His most important creatures.
That leads to direction for our lives.
Truth #4: We are accountable to God.
Job 40:6-7
Then the Lord spoke to Job from the storm: “Be strong, like a man! I will ask you questions, and you must answer Me.”
That leads to accountability and morality.
Truth #5: Human life is sacred
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God Himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred - and you, remember, are the temple.
That leads to a respect and reverence for human life.
Truth #6: We were created to serve God.
Deuteronomy 6:13
Fear the Lord your God, serve Him only and take your oaths in His name.
Matthew 4:10
“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
That leads to purpose in our every day living.
Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls is based on truth.
Truth frees us
Truth satisfies us.
We were created BY God.
We were created FOR God.
We were created in God’s IMAGE.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were brought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.
Raising the Roof and Removing Walls is about acknowledging and living based on the truth that God owns you. He paid for you with His death on the cross.
We can only find satisfaction in the Father through a relationship with Jesus. That satisfaction comes as you make Jesus everything by surrendering yourself completely to Him.
Psalm 63:1-5
O God, You are my God: I earnestly search for You. My soul thirsts for You; my whole body longs for You in this parched and weary land where there is no water. I have seen You in Your sanctuary and gazed upon Your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise You! I will praise You as long as I live, lifting my hands to You in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise You with songs of joy.
God will satisfy you when you let Him by surrendering everything to Him.
Satisfied in Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Your father is the devil, and you do exactly what he wants. He has always been a murderer and a liar. There is nothing truthful about him. He speaks on his own, and everything he says is a lie. Not only is he a liar himself, but he is also the father of all lies.
Satan is a liar and the father or source of all lies.
When we believe the lies, we will live our lives based on them and seek our satisfaction following the lies.
In Romans 1:18-25 Paul goes into great detail on the fact that humanity as a whole has rejected Jesus as Creator and Lord. Humanity has chosen to worship the created things and not the Creator. Because humanity rejected Jesus as Creator and Lord, certain consequences followed.
#1: God’s wrath is being poured out on godlessness and wickedness.
#2: Humanity’s thinking became futile.
#3: Humanity’s hearts became darkened.
#4: Humanity became foolish.
#5: Humanity rejected and lost God’s glory.
#6: Humanity became sinful (full of sin).
#7: Humanity rejected the truth and accepted a lie.
One of the biggest consequences was that humanity worshiped created things instead of the Creator God. That leads us to seek our satisfaction in the created things and not the Creator. That leads to never being satisfied. Created things cannot satisfy us; only the Creator can.
If we are going to find true eternal satisfaction we have to:
Reject the lie
Seek our satisfaction in Jesus
There are some lies that our culture has bought into and is now teaching that hinder us from seeking Jesus and finding satisfaction.
Lie #1: Humans evolved by time and chance.
We as humans are a product of chance coming together of all the necessary ingredients over billions of years. AKA - we are a cosmic accident.
That leads to hopelessness.
Lie #2: There are no absolutes.
Everything is relative. Everything is based on our circumstances. There are no eternal absolute truths.
That leads to confusion.
Lie #3: Humans have no moral obligation.
If there is no Creator, we are who we are by chance. If there is no absolute truth, then we have no moral obligation to do or not do anything.
That leads to immorality.
Lie #4: Human life has the same value as animal and plant life.
If there is no Creator and human life came about in the same way all other animal and plant life did, than humans and animals and plants are all of equal value. That means the life of a puppy or kitten or flower or tree or weed is just as value and sacred as the life of a little boy or girl.
That leads to a lack of sacredness for human life.
Lie #5: Humans exist to serve and satisfy self.
My life is about ME!
You and I exist for our own pleasure and benefit. No one else is as important as me.
That leads to selfishness.
So if we live based on the lies of Satan we will have a culture that is:
Hopeless
Confused
Immoral
Calloused Toward Human Life
Selfish
Guess what? We have a culture that is all those.
But we are not without hope because we have truths that can free and satisfy us.
Truth #1: We are created for God’s purpose.
Ephesians 1:11
In Him we were chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.
That leads to meaning for everything we do.
Truth #2: We are wonderfully designed by God.
Psalm 139:13-14
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
That leads to hope.
Truth #3: God is an absolute and His Word gives us absolute truth.
Isaiah 45:5-6
I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God. I strengthen you - though you don’t know Me - so all will know, from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is nothing apart from Me. I am the Lord, there is no other.
James 1:18
God decided to give us life through the word of truth to make us His most important creatures.
That leads to direction for our lives.
Truth #4: We are accountable to God.
Job 40:6-7
Then the Lord spoke to Job from the storm: “Be strong, like a man! I will ask you questions, and you must answer Me.”
That leads to accountability and morality.
Truth #5: Human life is sacred
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God Himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred - and you, remember, are the temple.
That leads to a respect and reverence for human life.
Truth #6: We were created to serve God.
Deuteronomy 6:13
Fear the Lord your God, serve Him only and take your oaths in His name.
Matthew 4:10
“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
That leads to purpose in our every day living.
Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls is based on truth.
Truth frees us
Truth satisfies us.
We were created BY God.
We were created FOR God.
We were created in God’s IMAGE.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were brought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.
Raising the Roof and Removing Walls is about acknowledging and living based on the truth that God owns you. He paid for you with His death on the cross.
We can only find satisfaction in the Father through a relationship with Jesus. That satisfaction comes as you make Jesus everything by surrendering yourself completely to Him.
Psalm 63:1-5
O God, You are my God: I earnestly search for You. My soul thirsts for You; my whole body longs for You in this parched and weary land where there is no water. I have seen You in Your sanctuary and gazed upon Your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise You! I will praise You as long as I live, lifting my hands to You in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise You with songs of joy.
God will satisfy you when you let Him by surrendering everything to Him.
Satisfied in Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Sunday, June 1, 2014
How Healing Begins
In Matthew 19:16-22 Jesus encounters a man who is described as rich, young, and with authority. We have come to call him the Rich Young Ruler (mostly because God doesn’t give us his name).
Then in Luke 19:1-10 Jesus encounters another rich man. His name is Zacchaeus.
The Rich Young Ruler is
Moral
Religious
Pious (devout and God-fearing)
Respected
Good Guy (the kind of guy you want your daughter to marry and your
son to hang out with)
Zacchaeus is
Immoral
Dishonest
Not Religious
Not Pious
Hated
Someone you could feel good about not liking
The men had different result from their encounters with Jesus.
The Rich Young Ruler went away sad because he didn’t get what he wanted - eternal life.
Zacchaeus went away joyful because he did get what he wanted - forgiveness and salvation.
Zacchaeus wanted a relationship and the Rich Young Ruler wanted a product.
Why did their encounters lead to such vastly different results?
The Rich Young Ruler was depending on his good works to earn eternal life. In Matthew 19:16 he asked Jesus what must “I do.”
Zacchaeus was depending on grace. In Luke 19:5, Jesus invites Himself to Zacchaeus for lunch. Jesus, not Zacchaeus, begins the relationship. Zacchaeus simply accepted Jesus and gave his life to Him.
The difference was GRACE!
Grace is an awesome thing.
Grace is God’s undeserved and never-can-earn love for you.
Grace brings life.
Romans 5:17
For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Grace allows us to stand.
Romans 5:2
We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand through Him, and we boast in the hope of God’s glory.
Grace is greater than our sin.
Romans 5:20
The Law came, so that the full power of sin could be seen. Yet where sin was powerful, God gift of undeserved grace was more powerful.
Grace is a gift from God.
Ephesians 3:7
I was made a servant of this [gospel] by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of His power.
Grace is our means of salvation.
Ephesians 2:5
That even though you were dead because of sins. He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
Ephesians 2:8
God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
Grace comes through surrendering our lives to Jesus.
2 Corinthians 8:9
You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know that Christ was rich, but for you He became poor so that by His becoming poor you might become rich.
Grace is a healing agent in our lives.
In Exodus 15:26 God is called Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals.
God also heals those who are brokenhearted.
He heals the brokenhearted, and bandages their wounds.
In Isaiah 53 we are given a beautiful picture of how Jesus’ suffering at the crucifixion brings us forgiveness and healing.
Isaiah 53:5 says, “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”
We are healed through Jesus’ wounds!
Sin always hurts and damages us and, if not dealt with, will destroy us.
In James 5:16 James writes, “Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed.”
Confession and prayer bring healing.
Give Up! Surrender! Submit!
To Jesus
1 John 1:5-7
This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you; God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Let Jesus purify and heal you by His grace.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about grace.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about healing.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about experiencing the grace of God through Jesus and being healed and formed into His image.
In the Grace of Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Wall
Joe
Then in Luke 19:1-10 Jesus encounters another rich man. His name is Zacchaeus.
The Rich Young Ruler is
Moral
Religious
Pious (devout and God-fearing)
Respected
Good Guy (the kind of guy you want your daughter to marry and your
son to hang out with)
Zacchaeus is
Immoral
Dishonest
Not Religious
Not Pious
Hated
Someone you could feel good about not liking
The men had different result from their encounters with Jesus.
The Rich Young Ruler went away sad because he didn’t get what he wanted - eternal life.
Zacchaeus went away joyful because he did get what he wanted - forgiveness and salvation.
Zacchaeus wanted a relationship and the Rich Young Ruler wanted a product.
Why did their encounters lead to such vastly different results?
The Rich Young Ruler was depending on his good works to earn eternal life. In Matthew 19:16 he asked Jesus what must “I do.”
Zacchaeus was depending on grace. In Luke 19:5, Jesus invites Himself to Zacchaeus for lunch. Jesus, not Zacchaeus, begins the relationship. Zacchaeus simply accepted Jesus and gave his life to Him.
The difference was GRACE!
Grace is an awesome thing.
Grace is God’s undeserved and never-can-earn love for you.
Grace brings life.
Romans 5:17
For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Grace allows us to stand.
Romans 5:2
We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand through Him, and we boast in the hope of God’s glory.
Grace is greater than our sin.
Romans 5:20
The Law came, so that the full power of sin could be seen. Yet where sin was powerful, God gift of undeserved grace was more powerful.
Grace is a gift from God.
Ephesians 3:7
I was made a servant of this [gospel] by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of His power.
Grace is our means of salvation.
Ephesians 2:5
That even though you were dead because of sins. He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
Ephesians 2:8
God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
Grace comes through surrendering our lives to Jesus.
2 Corinthians 8:9
You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know that Christ was rich, but for you He became poor so that by His becoming poor you might become rich.
Grace is a healing agent in our lives.
In Exodus 15:26 God is called Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals.
God also heals those who are brokenhearted.
He heals the brokenhearted, and bandages their wounds.
In Isaiah 53 we are given a beautiful picture of how Jesus’ suffering at the crucifixion brings us forgiveness and healing.
Isaiah 53:5 says, “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”
We are healed through Jesus’ wounds!
Sin always hurts and damages us and, if not dealt with, will destroy us.
In James 5:16 James writes, “Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed.”
Confession and prayer bring healing.
Give Up! Surrender! Submit!
To Jesus
1 John 1:5-7
This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you; God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Let Jesus purify and heal you by His grace.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about grace.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about healing.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about experiencing the grace of God through Jesus and being healed and formed into His image.
In the Grace of Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Wall
Joe
The Ways of God Are Holy
Psalm 99:3
Let them praise Your great and awesome name - He is holy.
Psalm 99:5
Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool, He is holy.
Psalm 99:9
Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy.
God is Holy!
Holy means to be set apart, to be completely separated from something and separated to something, also to be morally upright. It is separated from the world’s values and separated to God’s will. There is to be behavior that reflects that separation.
How important is it to be holy?
It is commanded in both the Old and New Testaments.
Leviticus 11:44-15
For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
1 Peter 1:15-16
But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
We are also called a holy nation.
1 Peter 2:9
But you are not to be like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.
God’s way is called the Way of Holiness.
Isaiah 35:8
And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it, it shall belong to those who walk on the way, even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.
What does it mean to be holy?
It means to be morally upright.
Deuteronomy 28:9
You will be the Lord’s holy people; as He promised you with an oath. He will do this if you obey the commands of the Lord your God and follow His directions.
In today’s American culture:
Truth is Relative
Wrong and Right is for Me to Decide
The Direction of My Life is for Me to Set
If It feels Good I Should Be Able to Do It
It is About Me Profiting and Getting What I Want
It is About Living by the Toddler’s Rules of Possession - anything I want is mine to have
To be morally upright means there is absolute truth and it is defined by God - God says it and I do it.
We have to chose for Jesus to be our standard.
We have to chose Jesus to determine how we live every day.
It means total surrender to Jesus.
Luke 9:23
Then He said to all, “Anyone who wants to follow Me must put aside his own desires and conveniences and carry his cross with him every day and keep close to Me.”
We serve many gods:
Materialism
Pleasure
Success
Power
Job
Family
But mostly we serve the god - Self!
Holiness means I serve one God - Jesus!
It means having God’s will as the primary motivation of your life.
Romans 12:2
Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God - what is good and pleasing to Him and is perfect.
We need to ask ourselves
Why do I work?
Why do I work where I do?
Why do I live where I do?
Why do I do the everyday things I do?
There is only one reason to do anything - that it is God’s will.
Holiness means the will of God always comes first.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about us as God’s people being holy.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is therefore about being morally upright, being totally surrendered to Jesus, and having God’s will as our only motivation for all that we do.
So what hinders you and me from being holy? - SIN!
Romans 7:17-20
But I am not really the one who is doing these hated things; it is sin living in me that does them. Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me - I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is earthly and sinful. I want to do the things that are good, but I do not do them. I do not do the good things I want to do, but I do the bad things I do not want to do. So if I do things I do not want to do, then I am not the one doing them. It is sin living in me that does those things.
Sin hinders us from living morally upright.
Sin hinders us from surrendering our lives fully to Jesus.
Sin hinders us from letting God’s will direct our lives.
We have to take sin seriously. We cannot allow it to build up and take root in our lives.
Hebrews 12:15
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.
Holiness is living the life of Jesus as the Holy Spirit fills you and empowers you to do that.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing Jesus to live His life through you and His life is HOLY.
We have to ask ourselves:
Am I holy?
Do I want to be holy?
What will I do to let Jesus make me holy?
In Holiness Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Let them praise Your great and awesome name - He is holy.
Psalm 99:5
Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool, He is holy.
Psalm 99:9
Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy.
God is Holy!
Holy means to be set apart, to be completely separated from something and separated to something, also to be morally upright. It is separated from the world’s values and separated to God’s will. There is to be behavior that reflects that separation.
How important is it to be holy?
It is commanded in both the Old and New Testaments.
Leviticus 11:44-15
For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
1 Peter 1:15-16
But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
We are also called a holy nation.
1 Peter 2:9
But you are not to be like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.
God’s way is called the Way of Holiness.
Isaiah 35:8
And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it, it shall belong to those who walk on the way, even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.
What does it mean to be holy?
It means to be morally upright.
Deuteronomy 28:9
You will be the Lord’s holy people; as He promised you with an oath. He will do this if you obey the commands of the Lord your God and follow His directions.
In today’s American culture:
Truth is Relative
Wrong and Right is for Me to Decide
The Direction of My Life is for Me to Set
If It feels Good I Should Be Able to Do It
It is About Me Profiting and Getting What I Want
It is About Living by the Toddler’s Rules of Possession - anything I want is mine to have
To be morally upright means there is absolute truth and it is defined by God - God says it and I do it.
We have to chose for Jesus to be our standard.
We have to chose Jesus to determine how we live every day.
It means total surrender to Jesus.
Luke 9:23
Then He said to all, “Anyone who wants to follow Me must put aside his own desires and conveniences and carry his cross with him every day and keep close to Me.”
We serve many gods:
Materialism
Pleasure
Success
Power
Job
Family
But mostly we serve the god - Self!
Holiness means I serve one God - Jesus!
It means having God’s will as the primary motivation of your life.
Romans 12:2
Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God - what is good and pleasing to Him and is perfect.
We need to ask ourselves
Why do I work?
Why do I work where I do?
Why do I live where I do?
Why do I do the everyday things I do?
There is only one reason to do anything - that it is God’s will.
Holiness means the will of God always comes first.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about us as God’s people being holy.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is therefore about being morally upright, being totally surrendered to Jesus, and having God’s will as our only motivation for all that we do.
So what hinders you and me from being holy? - SIN!
Romans 7:17-20
But I am not really the one who is doing these hated things; it is sin living in me that does them. Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me - I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is earthly and sinful. I want to do the things that are good, but I do not do them. I do not do the good things I want to do, but I do the bad things I do not want to do. So if I do things I do not want to do, then I am not the one doing them. It is sin living in me that does those things.
Sin hinders us from living morally upright.
Sin hinders us from surrendering our lives fully to Jesus.
Sin hinders us from letting God’s will direct our lives.
We have to take sin seriously. We cannot allow it to build up and take root in our lives.
Hebrews 12:15
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.
Holiness is living the life of Jesus as the Holy Spirit fills you and empowers you to do that.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing Jesus to live His life through you and His life is HOLY.
We have to ask ourselves:
Am I holy?
Do I want to be holy?
What will I do to let Jesus make me holy?
In Holiness Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
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