Jesus and His Followers

 

When I was eighteen years old, I met four people who loved Jesus and were excited about following Him with their whole lives. That created in me a desire to really experience Jesus daily in my own life. I was a believer; I had given my life to Jesus when I was twelve. But my desire to be a real follower of Jesus had become weak at best. It was through what I saw in these four people’s lives that I came to love Jesus and want to be His follower and His disciple more than anything.

 

Jesus became the one I looked to for my life to be like. I wanted my life to reflect Jesus. So, I looked deeply into Jesus to determine how I was to live.

 

These are things I found:

 

Philippians 2:6-8

Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

 

Jesus gave up His position.

Jesus gave up His rights.

Jesus gave up His privilege.

 

Jesus made Himself nothing.

Jesus became a servant.

Jesus humbled Himself.

 

So, if Jesus gave up His position and rights and privileges, shouldn’t we as Jesus’ followers give up our human-based position and our human-based rights and our human-based privileges?

 

So, if Jesus made Himself nothing and became a servant and humbled Himself, shouldn’t we as followers of Jesus make ourselves nothing, become servants and humble ourselves?

 

As followers of Jesus we have to stop focusing on our positions, our rights, our privileges and focus on making ourselves nothing, becoming servants, and humbling ourselves.

 

We live in a world that is focused on being entitled. Followers of Jesus need to disentitle ourselves and serve others in the name of Jesus.

 

In Mark 10:45 Jesus says, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

 

Jesus came to be a servant and served others even to the point of dying for us.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is, like Jesus, humbling ourselves before the Father, giving up our rights and privileges, and becoming servants.

 

Luke 5:29

And Levi made Him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.

 

Jesus ate with sinners

 

John 13:3-5

Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside His outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around His waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with a towel that was wrapped around Him.

 

Jesus washed the feet of the disciples.

 

Jesus did not mold His life to the values of the world or religion.

 

Jesus ate with sinners and earned the title Friend of sinners. This action went against what the religious leaders said to do. They taught people to avoid sinners. Jesus connected with them.

 

Jesus as the teacher or master had no responsibility to do anything as demeaning as washing His disciples’ feet but He did out of love for them.

 

We as followers of Jesus need to follow the values that we see in the life of Jesus, not the world or of religion. 

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is following the values of Jesus and not the world or even of religion.

 

John 6:15

Perceiving then that they were about to come and take Him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

 

Jesus denied the desire of the people to make Him king.

 

Luke 23:34

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

 

Jesus died for all people, even if they had rejected Him.

 

Jesus did not give in to the temptation to focus on the popularity of the world and chose to follow the Father’s will by giving His life as the sacrifice for sin for all people.

 

We as followers of Jesus are not to focus and desire the praise of the world, but to follow the will and mission of the Father.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is rejecting the desires of the world and doing the will of the Father.

 

As followers of Jesus we are to allow the Holy Spirit to conform us to the image of Jesus and live our lives following Jesus.

 

As a Follower and Disciple of Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls

                                                            Joe

The Present Riseness of Jesus

 

The resurrection of Jesus is the greatest miracle in history. It is the central event in Christianity. The early Christians were not persecuted for proclaiming Jesus’ birth or His life, but for proclaiming His resurrection from the dead. If Jesus’ resurrection is not real then Christianity is a lie and our faith in Jesus is worthless.

 

All four Gospels record Jesus’ resurrection.

 

Matthew 28:6

He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay.

 

Mark 16:6

And he said them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid him.”

 

Luke 24:6

He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee.

 

Notice three things:

Jesus had risen, He was alive.

The place where Jesus lay in the tomb was empty, resurrection was bodily.

Jesus had told them before His resurrection that he would die and come back to life.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is believing that Jesus bodily rose from the dead and that He is alive today.

 

So, let me introduce you to a term that I have just came know. The term is “present riseness”. It means that Jesus’ resurrection is to be an everyday reality in our lives. Jesus’ resurrection is not just a historical fact, it is a present reality.

 

So, what does it mean to live in the present riseness of Jesus?

 

It means living with Jesus’ presence in our lives in daily living.

 

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And this life I live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

 

It is knowing that through the Holy Spirit Jesus is living His life in and through me.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living knowing the presence of Jesus in us every day.

 

It means knowing that what I face, I face with Jesus living in me.

 

Jesus tells us in John 16:33 that while we live this life, we will face troubles. He also tells us that we can have peace in the midst of these troubles because He has overcome the world and thus it troubles.

 

As you and I live in the midst of this Covid situation, we have new and different troubles than we have ever had before. But because of the fact of Jesus’ present riseness, we can know peace in the midst of chaos.

 

Rise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the peace of Jesus in a confusing and chaotic world.

 

It means I can live in complete trust in Jesus because He is always with me and He is all-powerful.

 

In Matthew 19:23-24 Jesus tells His disciples that it is difficult for a rich person to get into heaven and that it is actually easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

 

The response of the disciples is to ask who then can be saved.

 

Jesus then responds in Matthew 19:26, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

 

God is all-powerful so what can overpower us or overwhelm us cannot overpower or overwhelm Him. When I live in the present riseness of Jesus I know that whatever comes against me, God is bigger than it.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is trusting Jesus with everything in our lives.

 

It means that I am never alone.

 

In Hebrews 13:5 we are promised that Jesus will never leave us or forsake us.

 

Jesus will not abandon me.

Jesus will not ignore me.

Jesus will not forget me.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living with the total assurance that God is with me no matter what.

 

May you and I live every day with the present riseness of Jesus filling our lives. May you and I experience the fullness of God’s presence, power, love, and grace daily.

 

In the Present Riseness of Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls

                                                     Joe

Success is Obeying God

 

What is success? I have asked myself that question for forty-five years. Is it numbers of people, is it numbers of baptisms, is it the number of compliments?

 

Listen to John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

 

Success to Jesus is obeying God.

 

There were great people of faith in scripture who would not be considered successful in today’s church culture.

 

Jeremiah who preached for about forty years saw little or no success as far as people who changed because of his preaching.

 

Noah is called a preacher of righteousness in 2 Peter 2:5. No one responded to his preaching and only his family was saved.

 

Most of the Old Testament prophets were not listened to, rejected, and even persecuted.

 

So, were they successful? Yes, because they obeyed God.

 

In Ezekiel 3, God gives Ezekiel an unusual command.

 

Ezekiel 3:4-7

And He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel – not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you. But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are willing to listen to Me; because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.”

 

God tells Ezekiel to take His word to the people of Israel, God’s chosen and beloved people. Then God tells Ezekiel that the people of Israel will not listen to what Ezekiel has to say because they will not listen to Him. The people of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.

 

God calls Ezekiel to be a prophet to His exiled people and then tells him that the people will not listen to him.

 

Then why bother? Then send me somewhere else! That is what I would have been saying to God. It would be like God telling me to go pastor a church and that the church will not listen to what I preach or follow my leadership.

 

What we see in the rest of the book of Ezekiel is that God was right and the people ignored what Ezekiel proclaimed to them.

 

What does this truth in Ezekiel teach us?

 

That God isn’t interested in His followers trying to produce results, He is interested in His followers being obedient and faithful to do what God tells them to do.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about faithfully obeying God.

 

Now, God hasn’t told us that all the people we proclaim the gospel to will not listen and reject it. But we know experientially that most people won’t believe. As we watch our nation move farther and farther away from God, we know to two things; God has called us to proclaim the gospel in word and in service, and salvation belong to God and to Him alone.

 

That means that as I obey God to faithfully proclaim and live out the gospel, I am successful regardless of the response of people.

 

Now, in verse 8 God does something extraordinary in Ezekiel.

 

Ezekiel 3:8-9

Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their forehead. Like emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.

 

God did not violate the free will of His people by forcing them to listen and accept His word but He gave Ezekiel a godly determination in continuing to share His word with the people of Israel. He gave Ezekiel a forehead like flint.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing God to place within us a persevering spirit.

 

There are have been many times in my life when I have felt like a failure because people were not responding to my teaching or that my church was not as large another church or that people thought another pastor was a better preacher than me. I have even thought about quitting because I didn’t feel or see myself as being successful.

 

But as I grow older and hopefully wiser, God has shown me that success is obeying God by doing what He says and doing it when He says and doing it the way He says to do it.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is obeying God.

 

Obediently Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                       Joe

Jesus the Rock as Our Foundation

 

Matthew 7:24-27

Everyone then who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

 

What is the rock? – Jesus

What is the sand? – Anything that is not Jesus

 

The problem is obvious – the collapse of the house.

The cause is complex – the sand is everything we depend on in life that is not Jesus.

The solution – has to be biblical.

 

Most things in our culture are eroding.

Academia

Economy

Media

Entertainment

Government

Family

Church

 

It is not just that these institutions are being less effective and becoming corrupt. It is also that people trust is also becoming less and less for each one of these.

 

And yes, I know that the reasons for this are many and complex. And I am not writing to complain or give my opinion how each of these should be fixed.

 

I want to share a biblical solution to deal with one. The one that Is the foundation for all the others.

 

The condition of the church is at the core of the weakening of all the others. The church is not the building, not the programs, not the ministries, but the church is the people. The issue then becomes the waywardness of God’s people.

 

In Psalm 11 David is looking at his nation, his culture and he asks a question that we as God’s people need to be asking.

 

Psalm 11:3

If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

 

The question is simple: When the godly foundation of any nation is being eroded or destroyed, what can the righteous do?

 

The righteous here does not mean the people who think they have life all figured out and are living right as compared to everyone else. The righteous here means those who have given the authority to run their lives over to God.

 

Jesus says in Mark 2:17 that He came to not to call the righteous (self-righteous), but sinners (those who know their sin and turn to Him).

 

Righteousness is not being perfect or being better than others; it is being made right with God by God.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is recognizing our sin, turning to God for forgiveness and not judging others.

 

So, what can the righteous do?

 

Psalm 11:4

The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; for His eyes see, His eyelids test the children of man.

 

The solution is for the righteous to know that God is in His holy temple.

 

1 Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

 

We as God’s people have the Holy Spirit living in us. He will empower us by God’s mighty power to live out our relationship with Him by obeying God’s Word and God’s Will. And also, by manifesting the reality and power of Jesus in our lives.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing we are God’s temple and are filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

The solution is for the righteous to know that God is on His throne.

 

God is the King and He is on His throne reigning in power. When the disciples expressed amazement that it was hard if not impossible for a rich person to enter heaven, Jesus told them that what was impossible for humans was possible for God. Our God is the God of the impossible. So, when the foundations are eroding, God can restore them to be what He desires them to be.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living with complete faith in God’s power to do the humanly impossible.

 

The solution is for the righteous to know that God is watching over them.

 

God is constantly looking out for the righteous. He will never abandon us. He will work everything out for our good.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living with the assurance that God is always with us no matter the circumstances.

 

Five Keys to Inspecting our Foundation

 

Authority of Scripture

Lordship of Jesus

Ministry of the Holy Spirit

Focus on the Cross

Power of Prayer

 

Are these what the foundation of your life is built on?

 

With Jesus as Our Rock Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                               Joe

Growing in Jesus

Last weekend my children and grandchildren were here. Every time I see my grandchildren it seems that they have grown a foot each. That is what healthy children do; they grow. Healthy Christians are also to grow. We are to grow spiritually as children of God just as children who are healthy grow physically.

One of the biggest scandals of the church is complacency. Many people in the church think that once they have experienced salvation based on Jesus’ death and resurrection that they are finished. Salvation is in reality the beginning, not the end.

The heart of what it means to be saved is being freed from the penalty of sin and death; receiving eternal life; and, in between conversion and death, being formed into the image of Jesus.

2 Corinthians 3:18

And we all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Salvation begins with being freed from the penalty of sin and has to lead to being transformed more and more into the image of Jesus. That transformation is spiritual growth.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing the Holy Spirit to form us more and more into the image of Jesus.

Paul talks about how God enabled his growth in Philippians 3:13-14. He writes, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Paul is not content to just stay where he is and rest on what God has used him to do in the past. He wants to look toward the future and continue to grow in his relationship with Jesus.

What are some things that we can do in our lives to cooperate with God and be empowered by Him to grow?

1.   Let God make His desires into the reality of your life.  

Psalm 37:4

Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Delight here means to immerse yourself in God. We are to make what God desires our desires. If our desires are not God’s desires, then God does not guarantee to fulfill them in our lives.

Growing spiritually means letting God transform our desires to become His desires.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting God make His desires your desires.

2.   Be empowered to put away whatever in your life is not pleasing to God.

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

There are things that hinder us from growing spiritually. Sin hinders us. But there are other things that are not sin that hinder us from growing spiritually. Wherever it is, we are to get rid of it.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting God remove from our lives whatever is hindering us from growing spiritually.

3.   Make Jesus the focus of your life.

Hebrews 12:2

Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

We day by day focus on Jesus, listening to and obeying Him.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is making Jesus the focus on all that we do.

4.   Let the Holy Spirit fill you.

Ephesians 5:18

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is in the life of every believer and He will continually fill us if we open our lives up to Him.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting the Holy Spirit continually fill us and empower us to do God’s will.

5.   Expect God to work in your life and through your life and show grace to others.

Romans 12:3

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

God’s grace has been given to us. His grace will enable us to do God’s will. God’s grace is to be shown to others. We let God’s grace build us up and let that grace flow from us to others.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting God’s grace grow you and passing that grace on to others.

Seek to grow in Jesus day by day.

Growing in Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                           Joe