New!

 

New. We don’t always like that word because it means change. New and change have always been hard for the church. We, as the church, have never embraced change very easily. That always seemed strange to me since when Jesus came, He brought and establish something new, a new covenant established by His blood. And in the Bible, there are over 200 references to “new”.

 

So, as we are about to enter a new year, let’s look at a new thing God did in the life of Elijah and in the life of His people.

 

1 Kings 18:17-19

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, troubler of Israel?” And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is having the courage to confront false belief.

 

God moves to have Elijah challenge Ahab and 850 false prophets to meet with him on Mount Carmel.

 

In 1 Kings 18:21 Elijah asks the people gathered on Mount Carmel to not try to go back and forth between Baal and God but to decide who is really God and serve that God.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls being willing to challenge others to really believe and follow God.

 

Then in 1 Kings 18:23-24 Elijah set the rules for the contest. The false prophets would build an altar and put an animal sacrifice on it and pray to their gods. Elijah would build an altar and put an animal sacrifice on it and pray to God. The winner would be the God who sent fire to burn up the sacrifice.

 

Then in 1 Kings 18:25 Elijah lets the false prophets go first. This on the surface is a risky thing. What if Baal sets fire before Elijah and God even get a chance? Well, Elijah knew a truth, Baal does not exist and God is real. Elijah also knew that this whole contest was God’s idea.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is trusting God enough to do the risky.

 

The outcome of the contest comes in 1 Kings 18:26-40. The false prophets try for hours to get Baal to bring fire and he doesn’t. Then Elijah sets up his altar and sacrifice and then three times pours water on it and then prays and God sends fire that burns up the sacrifice and the altar and licks up all the water. Then Elijah has all the false prophets killed. God removes the false influence that was separating His people from Him.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is trusting God to be faithful to what He says.

 

There is never another time in all the Bible where God tells another person to have a contest like this. God uses Elijah to do something new that draws His people back to Him.

 

New is never easy or comfortable but it is always an adventure.

 

I have always been a little bit of a rebel and always a proponent of change, but this year has stretched me in the area of letting God do new things.

 

Early in the pandemic it was a question of whether we were to meet live or not. We chose to not meet live for seven weeks. It was the hardest seven weeks of all my years in local church ministry. We did it not because we were afraid or because a governor was telling us to or to please our people. We did it so that, like Jesus, we would enter into the suffering of our community. We had people who had no jobs to go to. We had people who could not operate their businesses. We had children who could not go to school. We had parents who had to figure what to do with their children. We wanted to say to them by our actions, “We are suffering with you.”

 

So, by not meeting live, that meant we had to learn how to do online worship and Bible studies. We had to learn how to do all of our ministries in a new way.

 

So, what did God do in our faith family with all the new? Grew our worship attendance by 100 with our online people. Grew our Bible studies attendance by over 300 with our online people. Grew the effectiveness of our benevolence and outreach ministries. He even added new people to our faith family with new people coming live to our worship times and our live Bible studies.

 

The new was not our idea. The contest on Mount Carmel was not Elijah’s idea.

The new was not comfortable for us. The contest was not comfortable for Elijah.

The new resulted in greater honor for God. The contest resulted in greater honor for God.

 

New is not always comfortable and it is never easy.

New when initiated by God will always result in greater honor for Him when we as His people obey.

 

Have a Jesus joyful new year.

 

In the Newness of Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                             Joe

An Empty Christmas

 

Christmas is the birth of Jesus and MORE!

 

We tend to focus on Luke 2:7, “And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”

 

This is what Christmas is: The coming of Jesus, the Christ. But what does that really mean?

 

I want to use a word to describe Christmas that will sound a little strange but hang with me as I explain it.

 

The word is Empty.

 

In Philippians 2:6-7 Paul describes the first emptiness of Christmas. Paul writes, “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.”

 

The throne in heaven was empty. When Jesus left heaven for the manger in Bethlehem, He left the throne of God empty. Even though Jesus is the Son of God and was God, He gave up all of that, He emptied Himself. He gave up the glory and majesty of heaven to become a human and to serve all humanity.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is acknowledging Jesus as God and being grateful for His coming into the world.

 

In Bethlehem Jesus came as a human baby and was born in a stable, a barn, and placed in a manger, an animal’s feed trough.

 

But Jesus did not stay a baby so the manger became empty. We don’t worship Jesus as a baby. We worship Him as God and as the Lord of all creation.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is worshiping Jesus as Lord.

 

Jesus went to the cross.

 

In Matthew 27:26 it says that Pilate had Jesus scourged and delivered Him to be crucified.

 

But Jesus did not stay on the cross. John 19:38 says that Pilate gave the body of Jesus to Joseph of Arimathea after he confirmed that Jesus was dead. In John19:41 we are told that Jesus’ body was put into a tomb.

 

Jesus died on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sin, but Jesus did not stay on the cross. The cross is empty.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that Jesus died for our sins but did not stay hanging on the cross.

 

Jesus was in the tomb. But on the third day something extraordinary happened.

 

In Matthew 28:5-6 we are given the account of what occurred on that Sunday morning. It says, “But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay.’”

 

The tomb is empty. Jesus is no longer in the tomb He is risen and He is alive. He has returned to the throne as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the reality of the risen Jesus in our lives.

 

All of these mean that Jesus came into the world with the cross in mind. Since God is eternal and cannot die, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, entered into the human race through the virgin womb of Mary. He took on flesh and blood and became a man. He did this to offer Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. He was born to die, and He died to rise again. Because of His death, we can live forgiven; because of His resurrection, we can live forever.

 

That is why an “empty” Christmas is so fulfilling.

 

With the Reality of Jesus Empowering Us

to Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls,

Joe

Pride or Humility Leads to Opposition or Blessing

 

James says it in James 4:6 and Peter says it in 1 Peter 5:5, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

 

God makes it very clear through all of the Bible that human pride will put a person in opposition to God and humility allows God to pour even more grace on a person.

 

Why does pride put a person in opposition to God? Pride is the root that causes us to sin against God.

 

Eve’s pride led her to disobey God and eat the fruit that God had said not to eat.

Cain’s pride led him to kill his brother Abel.

Rehoboam’s pride led to the nation of Israel being split into two nations.

Jonah’s pride led him to run from God and be shallowed by a big fish.

Judas’ pride led him to betray Jesus.

Paul’s pride led him to persecute Christians

The religious leaders’ pride led them to crucify Jesus.

 

Proverbs 16:18

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

 

Pride always leads to destruction because it put us in opposition to God and thus leads to sin.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is seeing that pride puts us in opposition to God and leads to destruction.

 

The poster boy for pride in the Bible may be Nebuchadnezzar.

 

In Daniel 3 Nebuchadnezzar builds a ninety-foot-tall statue of himself and commands that all the people are to bow and worship the statue.

 

In Daniel 4 Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. Daniel interprets the dream. He warns Nebuchadnezzar in verse 27 to break off his sins by practicing righteousness and his iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed so that there could be a lengthening of his prosperity. God had already showed Nebuchadnezzar His wisdom in having Daniel interpret his first dream and showed His power by rescuing Shadrach, Meshach, and Meshach from the fiery furnace without any harm done to them.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is taking seriously the words of God meant to warn us and move us to repentance.

 

Nebuchadnezzar did not pay any attention to God’s words and actions.

 

In Daniel 4:30 Nebuchadnezzar says, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for glory on my majesty?”

 

Instead of giving God praise for all that God had given him and done for him, Nebuchadnezzar praises himself for the power and splendor of Babylon.

 

The result was that God drove Nebuchadnezzar out to live like an animal for several months. Pride leads us away from God because pride elevates us to be the most important, not God.

 

Humility draws us closer to God because, by humbling ourselves, it allows God to elevates us. 

 

1 Peter 5:6

Humble yourself. Therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you.

 

Pride = self-elevation which leads to us falling off the pedestal we put ourselves on.

 

Humility = God-elevation which leads to us being exalted by God’s mighty hand by which we cannot fall.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is not exalting ourselves but humbling ourselves and letting God exalt us.

 

We live in a culture in which one of the big traits is entitlement. We talk about our rights, what we deserve, and what we are entitled to.

 

Jesus, who had every right to demands His rights, talked bout being a servant.

 

Mark 10:45

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, the eternal God of all creation who could have rightly demanded that everybody serve Him, came to serve others and to die as the payment for every person’s sins.

 

As we are celebrating the coming of Jesus into the world, let us allow the Holy Spirit to form in us the image of Jesus by creating humility in our words, actions, thoughts, and desires.  

 

When we humble ourselves under the authority of Jesus, we will experience the joy and peace of Christmas.

 

In Humility Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls with Jesus as Lord,

                                                      Joe

Receiving God' Wisdom

 

If someone were to ask you what one gift they could give you, what would it be? Now, this person has the authority and power to give you anything you say you want. Most of us will never be in this position, but Solomon was.

 

2 Chronicles 1:7

In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you.”

 

God asks Solomon, ‘What is it that you want Me to give you/” God, the all-power one, asks Solomon, ‘What do you want Me to give you?”

 

2 Chronicles 1:8-10

And Solomon said to God, “You have shown great and steadfast love to David my father, and have made me king in his place. O Lord God, let your word to David my father be now fulfilled, for You have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of Yours, which is so great?”

 

Solomon answers God

 

First, he acknowledges how gracious God had been to his father David.

 

David had not been a perfectly obedient king. He had committed adultery. He had committed murder. He had, in his pride and arrogance, disobeyed God. Yet, God loved David and, in His love, had confronted David over his sin, He forgave David when David repented, and He restored David to still be a man after God’s own heart.

 

All that we have.

All that we are.

Is because of God’s grace.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is recognizing and acknowledging God’s grace shown to us in His steadfast love.

 

Second, he acknowledges how gracious God is being to him.

 

Solomon knows that it is God who has made him king in his father’s place. Solomon was not David’s firstborn son. He is not the oldest living son of David. Solomon is only king because God revealed to David that Solomon was to be king.

 

God has not blessed me based on me.

God has blessed me because of Him.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in obedience to God because of God’s grace, not to get His grace.

 

Third, he asks God to give him wisdom.

 

Solomon knows that governing Israel was something that went beyond his natural abilities. He knows that he does not have the knowledge and wisdom to effectively lead Israel in the way that God wants him to.

 

Solomon humbles himself and admits that and asks God for knowledge and wisdom.

 

Life is complex and complicated and in our natural ability we don’t have the insight or knowledge or wisdom to live it in a God-honoring way. We need God to be our wisdom.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove is humbling ourselves under God’s authority and asking Him to be our wisdom.

 

2 Chronicles 1:11-12

God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked for long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king, wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.”

 

God’s response is that He will give Solomon what he asked for: knowledge and wisdom. But God will also give him what he did not ask for: riches, possessions, and honor like no king has had before.

 

God’s grace is shown in that He gave Solomon what he asked for and what he did not ask for. This again shows how gracious God is.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is honoring God and receiving His grace.

 

When we honor God by obeying Him, God will then pour out more blessings on us because He can trust us. The more God knows He can trust us, the more He can graciously bless us.

 

In Obedience and Blessing Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                              Joe