The Well

Wells are prominent in Scripture.

In Genesis 24 Abraham sends his senior servant to get a wife for Isaac from among his relatives. In Genesis 24:15 he meets Rebekah at a well.

In Genesis 29 Jacob goes to Paddan Aram to escape Esau and to find a wife among his mother’s family. In Genesis 29:9 Jacob meets Rachel at a well.

In Exodus 2 Moses flees Egypt and goes to Midian. In Exodus 2:16 Moses meets Zipporah his future wife at a well.

In John 4, Jesus and His disciples were traveling from Judea to Galilee. They stopped at a well in the Samaritan village of Sychar. Jesus encountered a woman. This woman was an immoral Samaritan woman. Jesus shared with her the truth about who she was and who He was. The woman gave her life to Jesus and many in the village did also.

All these encounters happened at a well.

What does the well represent?

It represents a place where we can come and get our needs meet.

When Abraham’s servant went to the well, his need was to fulfill the mission that his master had sent him on, and he did.

When Jacob went to the well, he needed to find a place of security and acceptance, and he found it.

When Moses went to the well, he needed a family and a place to live, and he found.

When Jesus went to the well at Sychar, He didn’t need anything but the woman needed to find love and purpose, and she found it.

There are two keys to finding what we need at the well.

The first key is that we have to go to the well.

We can have needs and even realize we have needs, but if we don’t go to the well, our needs will go unmet and unsatisfied.

For years I struggled with fear. I was the most fearful of failing. I was sure that at every church I served I would be fired and told to leave. The thought of not being successful from the world’s viewpoint was truly terrifying to me. There were many nights where I didn’t sleep because of this fear.

That fear all came to a head when the church I was pastoring was calling two new pastoral staff members. The calling of these men presented the real possibility of splitting the church. It looked like I would be asked to leave. I went to the well and cried out to God for help. God supplied not only what I needed, but He delivered me from my fear of failure.

I know that, short of me going to the well, I would still be living, or should I say surviving, with this fear.

At the well, needs are meet by our all-powerful, loving, creating, redeeming God.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is going to God and asking and then watching Him meet our need.

The second key is admitting our needs.

We as followers of Jesus many times find it hard to admit our needs.

We think that we should not have needs as followers of Jesus.

We think that having needs shows weakness.

We think that having needs shows a lack of faith.

We think that having needs will disappoint others.

These are lies that Satan tells us.

The truth is that every person, follower of Jesus or not, has needs.

Needs are things that God uses to try to draw us to Him.

When the people in Scripture came to the well, their needs were met and their lives were changed and God used them in ways He could not have if they had not come to the well.

When we admit our needs to God, it allows Him to meet our needs.

Jesus said that it was not a healthy person who needed a doctor but a sick person. He came to call the sinner, not the self-righteousness.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is admitting your needs and bringing them to God.

So what is the well? The well is not a what; the well is a Who.

The well is Jesus. Jesus is the one, the only one who can meet your needs. But notice something about all these wells in Scripture. They all had other people around them. They were not isolated from a community. They were at the center of a community. One of the big ways that Jesus meets your needs is through the Body of Christ, the church.

I love many of Casting Crowns songs. One of my favorites is their song The Well.

Leave it all behind,

Leave it all behind,

Leave it all behind,

Leave it all behind

I have what you need

But you keep on searching

I’ve done all the work

But you keep on working

When you’re running on empty

And you can’t find the remedy

Just come to the well

You can spend your whole life

Chasing what’s missing

But that emptiness inside

It just ain’t going to listen

When nothing can satisfy

And the world leaves you high and dry

Just come to the well

And all who thirst will thirst no more

And all who search will find what their soul longs for

The world will try, but it can never fill

So leave it all behind, and come to the well

So bring Me your heart

No matter how broken

Just come as you are,

When your last prayer is spoken

Just rest in my arms a while

You’ll feel the change My child

When you come to the well

And all who thirst will thirst no more

And all who search will find what their souls long for

The world will try, but it can never fill,

So leave it all behind, and come to the well

Yeah

Leave it all behind

The world will find, but it can never fill, leave it all behind

And now that you are full

Of love beyond measure

Your joy’s gonna flow,

Like a stream in the desert

Soon all the world will see that living water is found in Me

Cause you came to the well

And all who thirst will thirst no more

And all who search will find what their souls long for

The world will try, but it can never fill

So leave it all behind, and come to the well

Leave it all behind, leave it all behind

Leave it all behind, leave it all behind.

Jesus is our well and is the source to fill all our needs.

Coming to the Well and Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                Joe

Jesus is our Sacrifice

The first offerings recorded in the Bible were made by Cain and Abel. In the book of Leviticus, Israel is given a structure for their sacrifices. God gave them instructions on the how, when, and where of sacrifices.

The offerings were not made to the Lord because He had needs. They were acts of thanksgiving and repentance, acknowledging the people’s dependence of God and recognizing Him as their Creator, their Judge, and their Lord.

There were five major offerings. They each represent an element of who Jesus is and what He did.

The burnt offering required the slaughter of an unblemished animal as an atonement. The blood and death of the animal were offered as substitutionary payment for the person who had sinned.

1 John 4:25-26

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood – He did it to demonstrate His righteousness because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Jesus is our atoning sacrifice, our burnt offering.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is receiving Jesus as our atoning sacrifice.  

The grain offering accompanied all burnt offerings. It shown gratitude to God for the fruitfulness of the land.

In John 15:5 we are told that apart for Jesus we can do nothing, but connected to Jesus we will produce much fruit.

In John 15:8 we are told that it is to God’s glory that we produce much fruit.

It is to God’s glory that we produce fruit and it is through Jesus that we produce the fruit. Jesus is our grain offering.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is staying connected to Jesus and producing fruit.

The fellowship offerings were given out of gratitude, expressing the fellowship between the worshiper and God. The fellowship offering was offered in response to blessings given by God.

John 17:23

I in them and You in Me – so that they may be one as We are one – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that You sent Me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

It is through Jesus that we are one with the Father and are in complete unity with Him and each other. Jesus is our fellowship offering.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in unity with God.  

The sin offering involved the occasion of sin committed intentionally, but no

restitution was possible since the violation was against God.

Romans 8:3

For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. So He condemned sin in the flesh.

Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for our sin. He shed His blood and gave His life for our sin. Jesus    

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is depending on Jesus for the forgiveness and removal of our sin.

The guilt offering atoned for sins committed unintentionally, where restitution could be made to the offended. The guilt offering would be made when there was either a mistreatment of the Lord’s holy things or an offense against a neighbor.

In Luke 19:8 Zacchaeus says, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

In Luke 19:9 Jesus says, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.”

When Zacchaeus comes into the presence of Jesus, he is convicted of the sinfulness of his lifestyle and offers to give half his wealth away and give back to anyone he has cheated four times what he took. Jesus says that salvation had come to Zacchaeus. He was not saved because he was making restitution; he was making restitution because he had been saved.

It was through this new relationship that Zacchaeus had with Jesus that freed him to give his wealth away. Jesus is our guilt offering.

All the offerings of the Old Testament as prescribed by the Law have been fulfilled in Jesus. We don’t have to make these offerings because, in our acceptance of Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we accept His fulfillment of  them forever. 

With Jesus as My Eternal Offering, Raising the Roof

and Removing the Walls,

                                                          Joe

The Unveiling

We live in a time where being open and transparent is not what most people are. We live in a culture that is very guarded. We don't feel that we can be real, be who we are. We guard our identities and our hearts.

This is not a new thing. Moses felt that he had to veil his face.

Exodus 34:29-35
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hand, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. Afterwards all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai. When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the Lord's presence to speak with Him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.

Because Moses had been in the presence of God, his face began to glow because the glory of God had transformed him. Moses hid his face because his face was scaring the Israelites.

When we submit our lives to Jesus and make Him the authority of our lives, we are transformed. We take on the image and character of Jesus.

When we become more like Jesus, we will offend or scare some people. We will then be tempted to tone it back so that we won't offend or scare others.

Some would say that if we tone back then people won't be so offended or scared. The problem with that idea is that they would not get to see the fullness of Jesus in us. We need to be a display case of God's glory and not allow anything to obstruct from seeing Jesus in us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing the presence of Jesus to been seen in and through us.

Moses took the veil off when he went to speak with God.

In John 4:23-24 Jesus tells us that we must worship Him in spirit and in truth. When we come into the presence of God, we have to come in complete transparency. God knows us completely and He demands that we be open and honest as we come to Him.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is coming before God completely transparent, being open and honest with God.

The glory of God eventually faded from Moses' face. Moses' transformation was only temporary.

The transformation we undergo from Jesus in our lives is not temporary, it is eternal.

2 Corinthians 3:16-18
But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit if the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His image with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

The transformation that we undergo is:
with the veil permanently removed
done by the Spirit from the inside out
with the desire to bring us to total freedom
increasing more and more, day by day

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is an ongoing and permanent work of God's Spirit.

Moses kept the veil on after the glory had faded. He didn't want the Israelites to know that the glory had faded.

We should not fell the need to try to be more spiritual than we are.

Following Jesus is not a matter of impressing other people. Following Jesus is about pleasing Him and that is not something you can fake. We can, as Moses did, make our outward appearance look good. Jesus will know the truth.

We don't need to be afraid of letting others see our struggles or even our failures. I have found that when I talk about my struggles and how God is enabling me to overcome them, it really speaks to people and helps them to see hope in their struggle.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being honest and letting people see our struggles and how God is enabling us to overcome them.

In Matthew 27:51 we are told that at the moment that Jesus died, the curtain in the temple that separated the Holy of Holies, where God's presence was thought to dwell, and the Holy Place was torn in two from top to bottom.

God removed the barrier that separated Him from His people. That meant that through Jesus' death we have complete access to the Father.

Now that we have direct access to God, He wants direct access to us and to use us to show the world who He is.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting God use us to show the world who He is.

We are not expected by God to be perfect; He is in us perfecting us.
We are not expected by God to have it all together; He is transforming us to be like Jesus.

God simply wants us to allow Him to remove our veil and be who we were created in Him to be.

Without a Veil Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
                                           Joe

Finding Real Rest

Genesis 2:1-2

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done.

 

God finished the work of creation and He rested on the seventh day. God’s resting does not mean that He was tired it means that He was finished with creation.

 

This rested on the seventh day was a pattern that God set for His human creation.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing the way God created us direct the way we live.

 

Exodus 35:1-3

Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, “These are the things the Lord has commanded you to do: For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of Sabbath rest to the Lord. Whoever does nay work on it is to be put to death. Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”

 

God establishes a Sabbath, a day of rest for the people of God. God indicates how important it is to Him that the people do it by establishing death as the penalty for not observing it.

 

God did this to remind us as His human creation that we are dependent on Him by having one day of the week dedicated to worshiping Him. God also created us with a need for rest and so one day out of seven was for us to worship Him and rest.

 

The rhythm of work and rest was built into the way God designed humanity to function and thrive. All believers are to give themselves to meaningful work that cares for and enhances God’s creation in order to give Him honor and glory. It is an act of faith and trust. We show by taking a day focusing on worship and rest our dependence on God and that we find satisfaction in intimacy with our Creator.

 

The hope of the Promised Land served as a picture of Sabbath rest.

 

The Promised Land was the picture of rest for a people who had been in slavery for 400 years and who had been freed but were on a very hard journey. They pictured the Promised Land a place of rest and security. They could dwell there in safety and worship God.

 

The story of the people of Israel proves that such rest was short-lived, at best. The people were never willing to drive out the inhabits of the land completely, thus they were constantly facing the threat of enemy attacks. Their inconsistent obedience meant that the judgment of God was never far off. The hope of rest remained, but it seemed like a long-forgotten dream.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is recognizing that earthly things will never give us true rest.

 

Hebrews 4:6 tells us that there still remains a rest to enter into because the people failed to enter into the rest because of their disobedience.

 

Hebrews 4:8 says that if Joshua would have lead the people into real rest then God would not have spoken of another rest. And Hebrews 4:9 says there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

 

The question is how do we enter into a Sabbat’s rest?

 

Hebrews 4:9 gives us the answer. It says, “For whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His.”

 

This time the rest is not found in a day of the week or a location on a map. Instead, the promise of rest is found in a person and by being united to that person. The person is Jesus.

 

John 19:28-30 records the last few moments of Jesus’ earthly life. It says, “After this Jesus, knowing that all was now fulfilled, said (to fulfill the Scripture, ‘I thirst.’ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to His mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

 

Jesus work of salvation was finished. Everything that needed to be done to secure our salvation was accomplished by Jesus’ death on the cross.

 

The rest that come from us receiving Jesus’ death on the cross to pay for our sins frees us.

 

It frees us from the impossible process of trying to save ourselves.

It frees us from the futile effort of trying to secure God’s love by means of works.

It frees us from the burden of attempting to secure God’s blessing through being good enough.

 

Since Jesus has fulfilled the law for His people and given us His righteousness through faith, we can rest, knowing that the work is finished and our standing with God is eternally secure.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is coming into a relationship with Jesus and letting Him be our rest.

 

We can rest at any time and at any place by coming into relationship with Jesus and taking is yoke which is easy and receiving His burden which is light.

 

In Jesus, weary souls will find rest and security that will make us whole.     

 

Resting in Jesus and Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls

                                                      Joe   

The Reason for the Resurrection

In Matthew 28:6 the angel said to the women who came to the tomb on Sunday morning, “He is not here; He has risen, just as He said.”

In Mark 16:6 the angel said to the women, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here.”

In Luke 24:5-6 the angel said to the women, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen!”

John doesn’t record the women’s encounter with the angels. It records Mary’s encounter with Jesus at the tomb. She only recognized Jesus when He spoke her name.

Three things are made clear with the Gospel’s accounts of the resurrection.

First, Jesus died.

Jesus was in a tomb for three days. You don’t stay in a tomb for three days unless you are dead.

Jesus had died. In the Mark account it says that Jesus was crucified. The end result of crucifixion is death.

Jesus had died in the view of the women who came to his tomb that day and in the view of His other followers.

Second, Jesus had risen and was alive.

In the Matthew, Mark, and Luke accounts, the angel says Jesus is risen and in the Luke account the angel asks why they were seeking the living among the dead.

In John, Mary was not expecting to see Jesus and at first didn’t recognize Him. When she did, she knew it was Jesus; not His Spirit but Jesus Himself, a real, living person.

Third, the resurrection of Jesus is an essential event.

Only Matthew and Luke record the birth of Jesus. All four Gospels record the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The resurrection of Jesus is a real thing. It is one of the most documented events in the history of the world.

It is a history-changing event.

If the resurrection is not true, then:

Christianity is the greatest hoax in the history of the world.

Jesus is either a lunatic or a liar.

We as humans have no hope.

If the resurrection is true, then:

Christianity is true and there is a way to come to know God.

Jesus is Lord.

We as humans have hope.

I could give you all the Biblical reasons for the resurrection giving us hope, but I want to share with you personal reasons for the resurrection giving me hope.

The resurrection frees me from being fearful of life.

I am not this bold risk-taking person. I am in my human nature a fearful person. The resurrection of Jesus gives me confidence that, no matter what I face in life, Jesus is bigger.

The resurrection frees me to really trust Jesus.

Jesus tells His followers several times that He is going to Jerusalem to be rejected by the religious leaders, be crucified, and rise from the dead. And that is exactly what occurred and exactly what He did. Because of that, I know that I can trust in everything He says in His Word.

The resurrection allows me to give to Jesus those things that are most precious to me.

The most precious things to me are my biological and faith families.

I can trust my biological family to God. I can trust that God loves my son and will take care of him and my daughter-in-law and my grandchildren. I can trust God when He takes my son to South Africa to share Jesus. I can trust God when God has directed my daughter-in-law to go to Puerto Rico after a hurricane has hit the island. I can trust God as I watch my grandchildren grow up and face the issues of life.

I can trust my faith family to God. I can trust that when members of my faith family come to me with spiritual struggles and even doubts that God will enable me help them find the answers they need. I can trust that when my faith family goes through times of loss and sorrow that He will comfort them. I can trust for God to love and grow my faith family.

The resurrection allows me to look forward to all that God has promised to me as His child.

I have an eternal home with God in heaven.

I have the assurance of a resurrection.

I have the reality of an intimate love relationship with Jesus.

I loved the idea of Jesus’ resurrection when I viewed it from a theological viewpoint. Now that I view Jesus’ resurrection from a personal viewpoint, I see it as the one event that has changed my life and given me boldness, freedom, and hope.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is believing in and living in the realness of Jesus’ resurrection.

Because Jesus is Alive, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls.

                                                Joe