Relating to Jesus

 

We are coming to the end of another challenging year and I hear from a lot people that they are tired. I understand and identity with feeling tired. There has been one huge truth that has keep me hopeful as I have gone through the year.

 

The truth is that it is about relationship with the Father through surrendering my life to Jesus as my Savior and Lord.

 

In John 17:3 Jesus says that eternal life is knowing the one and only God and the One He sent, Jesus Christ. Eternal life is not a commodity to be earned or a reward to be deserved. Eternal life is a relationship with a person, God.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing God.

 

Ephesians 1:13

In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believing in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being filled the Holy Spirit and having His presence as the security of our salvation.  

 

Eternal life is knowing God the Father and Jesus the Son of God and being sealed in that relationship by God the Holy Spirit.

 

The Bible makes it clear that it is relationship, not religion or rules or rituals.

 

Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:33 that we are to seek first (above everything else, with no competitors or rivals) the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and God will provide what we need.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is seeking God’s kingdom and experiencing the provision of God.

 

We focus on a relationship with God, being sealed with the Holy Spirit and seeking God’s kingdom.

 

What does it mean to have a relationship with Jesus and seek His kingdom?

 

Relationship with Jesus involves:

Experiencing God’s Presence

Obeying God’s Word and Will

Serving God

Making Jesus the Sole Ruling Authority of Our Lives

 

A relationship cannot be healthy if it is based in religion or rules or rituals.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing God’s presence and obeying God and serving God and having Jesus as Lord.

 

Seeking God’s kingdom is defined in two verses.

 

Romans 14:17

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

 

God’s kingdom is not what you eat or drink or how you eat or drink. It is not a matter of religion or rules or rituals.

 

God’s kingdom is about experiencing God’s righteousness.

God’s kingdom is about experiencing God’s peace.

God’s kingdom is about experiencing God’s joy.

 

These are all experienced through the filling of the Holy Spirit. They are not experienced through religion or rules or rituals.

 

1 Corinthians 4:20

For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.

 

God’s kingdom is not about knowing the right words. It is not about knowing the language of the church. God’s kingdom is about experiencing the transforming power of God in our lives.

 

I grew up in the church. I knew what I was suppose to say, when to say it, and how to say it, but I didn’t believe it.

 

God’s kingdom is about being conformed by God’s power through the work of the Holy Spirit into the image of Christ.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being made more like Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit.

 

In just a few days we will start a new year. I pray that you will have a 2022 experiencing a powerful relationship with the risen living Lord Jesus.

 

Experiencing Jesus and Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                 Joe

Jesus Is

 

One of the questions that I hear asked the most about Jesus is exactly who is Jesus. It was a question in the days that Jesus was on the earth and it is a question today.

 

I believe that the question is answered at the birth of Jesus.

 

Isaiah in chapter nine gives a prophecy about the coming Messiah.

 

Isaiah 9:6

For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 

Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor.

 

Jesus is the extraordinary one who gives purpose. Jesus is the one who can and does give our lives purpose. He is the only one who can give purpose because He is eternal and only, He can give eternal purpose. Everybody and everything else is temporary and thus gives temporary purpose. Jesus came to give purpose to now and for eternity.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living out God’s eternal purpose for our lives.  

 

Jesus is Mighty God.

 

Jesus is the All-Powerful One True Creator.

 

Jesus is all-powerful. He showed it by healing incurable diseases, by quieting storms, multiplying small amounts of food to feed thousands, and bringing people back to life from death. He can restore, redeem, and reconcile because He is the One True Creator.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing Jesus as the all-powerful Creator who restores us to who we were created to be.

 

Jesus is the Everlasting Father.

 

Jesus is the Eternal Founder of the Family.

 

John tells us in John 1 that Jesus, the Word, was with God in the beginning, that He was God in the beginning. Jesus, the Son of God, did not come into existence in Bethlehem. Jesus is eternal. In John 10:30 Jesus says that He and the Father are one. Jesus is not just a godly human being; He is God in the flesh.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing Jesus as the one and only eternal God.

 

Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

 

Jesus is the One Who Produces Peace.

 

Jesus is the one who will rule our lives with peace when we surrender our lives to Him. The word peace here is the Hebrew word shalom. It means a peace in the midst of conflict or chaos or difficulties. The world’s peace is based on circumstances being such that it produces peace. God’s peace is based on Him and His reign in our lives with peace.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the peace of God in our lives daily.

 

In Luke 2:11 the angel announces to the shepherds, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

 

Jesus is the Savior.

 

Jesus came to rescue humanity from the penalty and power of sin. Sin causes us to be separated from God and be spiritually dead. Jesus as Savior brings us to God and gives us life.

 

Jesus is Christ or Messiah.

 

Jesus is the anointed one. He is anointed to be our deliverer from sin.

 

Jesus is the Lord.

 

Jesus came to be the sole ruling authority of our lives.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing Jesus as the One who has been anointed to be the One who delivers us from sin and rules as the authority in our lives.

 

In Matthew 1:21 the angel tells Joseph that the son that Mary will have is to be named Jesus. Jesus means Jehovah is Salvation. Jesus is God in the flesh who will show the world that God wants all people to be saved from sin and come to know Him as their Father and Lord.

 

Jesus is not just the reason for the season; Jesus is the reason for everything.

 

Celebrating the Coming of Jesus by

 Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                       Joe

The Sacrifices Christmas

 

Romans 12:1

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

 

God asks us to give ourselves to Him as living sacrifices. So, what does a living sacrifice look like?

 

I think some beautiful pictures of living sacrifices are found in the story of the coming of Jesus.

 

When Gabriel comes to Mary and tells her that she had been chosen to be the mother of the Messiah, Mary had some questions. But then Mary says in Luke 1:38, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to Your word.”

 

Mary certainly didn’t totally understand all that obeying God would entail, but she was willing to present herself to God as a living sacrifice.

 

Mary was willing to sacrifice her:

Family: They would see Mary’s pregnancy outside marriage as dishonoring to them and may have rejected Mary as a part of the family.

Intended Marriage: Joseph would see Mary’s pregnancy as adultery and a betrayal of the commitment to each other.

Reputation: Mary would have been considered an adulteress and a wicked immoral woman.

 

Mary was willing to potentially sacrifice family, marriage, and reputation to do God’s will.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is sacrificing what the world tells us is most important so that we can fulfill God’s will.

 

Joseph was ready to divorce Mary because of her pregnancy. God spoke to Joseph in a dream and told him to take Mary as his wife because what she is telling Joseph is true.

 

In Matthew 1:24 it says that when Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took Mary to be his wife.

 

Joseph was willing to sacrifice his:

Reputation: People would have seen Joseph as sinning before God by marrying Mary and claiming Jesus as his son.                     

 

Joseph was willing to be a living sacrifice by marrying Mary and claiming Jesus as his own.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is obeying God regardless of the circumstances.

 

Paul describes Jesus’ sacrifice in Philippians 2:5-8:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 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 sacrificed the glory He had in heaven.

Jesus sacrificed the power and authority of being God.

Jesus sacrificed living in a perfect place, heaven, to live in a fallen world.

Jesus sacrificed His life.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is giving up everything to do God’s will.

 

Christmas is the story of Mary and Joseph being living sacrifices and living to do God’s will.

Christmas is the story of God, Jesus, becoming a human and becoming all of humanity’s atoning sacrifice for our sin.

 

Christmas always reminds me that Jesus is the greatest gift I have ever been given.

 

As a Living Sacrifice Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                         Joe

Jesus Messiah

 

Isaiah prophecies the coming of the Messiah more than any other book in the Old Testament.

 

In Isaiah 9:6-7 it says, “For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

 

The Messiah will be a king having authority.

 

He will have the authority of God because the Messiah is God. In Matthew 28:18 Jesus says that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him.

 

Jesus’ authority is an authority that:

Transforms lives

Forgives sin

Gives eternal life

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living under and in the authority of King Jesus.

 

The Messiah will be the Wonderful Counselor.

 

The Messiah will guide our lives.

The Messiah will confront and correct us.

The Messiah will teach and instruct us.

 

Jesus is the one who guides, corrects, and instructs us into the will of the Father.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing Jesus to direct our lives.

 

The Messiah is the Mighty God.

 

The Messiah is the all-powerful Creator. He created us and through His death and resurrection He recreated us.

 

In Colossians 1:16 everything was created by Jesus and for Jesus. It is through Jesus that we exist and we exist for Jesus.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is recognizing Jesus as our creator and living to serve Him.

 

The Messiah is Everlasting Father.

 

The Messiah is one with the Father. He and the Father share the same nature, the same desire, the same power, and the same will.

 

In John 10: 30 Jesus says that He and the Father are one.

In John 14:9 Jesus say that whoever has seen Him has seen the Father.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is worshiping and serving Jesus as the one true God.

 

The Messiah is the Prince of Peace.

 

The Messiah will be the source of peace or shalom. He will be the only source in our lives that will enable us to experience a rest in the middle of the conflict and chaos of life.

 

In John 16:33 Jesus says that we will have tribulations in this world but we are not to lose heart because He has overcome the tribulations of the world.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing a rest in the midst of troubles through a living relationship with Jesus.

 

The Messiah will operate with justice and righteousness. The Messiah’s kingdom will be one that will be based on real justice and righteousness.

 

In Luke 20:21 the religious leaders tell Jesus that they know He teaches rightly and does not show partiality. They know that Jesus demonstrates justice in what He does.

 

In 2 Corinthians 5:21 Paul writes that God made Him who knew no sin (Jesus) to be sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus exchanged His perfect righteousness for our sin so that we could have His righteousness.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting Jesus manifest His justice and righteousness through our lives.

 

The Messiah has come and He is Jesus.

 

Jesus is all authority.

Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor.

Jesus is our Mighty God.

Jesus is our Everlasting Father.

Jesus is our Prince of Peace.

Jesus is justice and righteousness.

 

With Jesus as the Messiah Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                              Joe

Peace That Sends Us Out

 

 

In John 20 Jesus comes into the room where the disciples were with the doors locked because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders and He shows them that He is alive and that He is real.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is Jesus coming to our lives in the midst of our fears and showing us that He is real.

 

Jesus then in verse 19 says “Peace be with you.” Jesus gives His frightened disciples what will overcome their fear, the peace of God. The peace of God is not like the peace the things of the world offers. The world’s peace is based on circumstances being perfect so that there is nothing that causes worry or concern. Jesus’ peace is based on Jesus having overcome everything that causes us worry or concern.

 

The disciples were fearful of being arrested and killed. Jesus shows up and tells them to have peace because He has overcome death, their greatest fear.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is trusting Jesus and not letting the worries and concerns of the world being what we focus on and what controls us.

 

In John 20:21 Jesus again says “Peace be with you.” Then Jesus says, “As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you.”

 

Jesus gives them peace so that they can go into the world as the hands, feet, voice, and heart of Jesus. The peace is given so that they can be Jesus’ body.

 

The peace that Jesus gives us is not for us to have and then go living in isolation from the world. Jesus’ peace enables us to with boldness and love go into a broken, diseased, hurting, and scary world and be the body of Christ to this world.

 

This peace allows us to be Jesus’ hands reaching out to the hurting, the outcast, the sick, the hungry, the forgotten and bringing healing, hope, community, and love.

 

This peace allows us to be Jesus’ feet to go with the gospel of God’s grace to those who don’t know Jesus’ salvation and help them to know how they can come to know Jesus.

 

This peace allows us to be Jesus’ voice speaking the truth in love to all people.

 

This peace allows us to be Jesus’ heart living so the world does not only hear about God’s love but actually sees God’s love.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the peace of God so that we can live as the body of Christ.

 

In John 20:22 Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

 

The disciples would get the formal filling of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 but now they knew what to expect and would know what was happening when the Holy Spirit came upon them.

 

We cannot do the work that God saved us and gave us the peace to do without the continual filling of the Holy Spirit. The work of God is not done because of us or our abilities or our resources. The work of God is done through the work of the Holy Spirit in us and through us.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being enabled and empowered by the continual filling of the Holy Spirit.

 

Jesus comes to the disciples in their fear and shows them that He is real.

Jesus gives them His peace.

Jesus reveals to them that the Holy Spirit will come to empower them.

 

We as God’s people have:

Jesus

His Peace

The Holy Spirit

 

Now, let us live as the Body of Christ!

 

By Jesus’ Peace, Being His Body and

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe

Covid and Sin

 

Covid is a word I hate. It is a word that now describes me. I tested positive for covid last week and am presently quarantining which is really weird because my symptoms are minimal and just about gone now. I feel great but, for the sake of others, I am living in my bedroom.

 

But in this covid experience I see how covid and sin are very much alike.

 

Covid and sin create fear.

 

I have to admit that when I saw the result of the covid test was positive, I felt a moment of fear. Sin causes is to fear God. This is not a godly fear or awe of God but a fear that makes us want to hide from God like Adam and Eve did after they disobeyed Him.

 

2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

 

Sin causes us to live in a spirit of fear but God gives us the ability to live in His power and His love and that gives us self-control.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living not in fear but in the freedom that Jesus gives us.

 

Covid and sin lead to isolation and division.

 

I can’t be around my family or my faith family. I can’t be around any other humans. We have seen the division that covid has caused: mask or no mask or to be vaccinated or not to vaccinated.

 

Sin isolates us from God. In Luke 15 when the shepherd discovered that a sheep was missing, it was isolated from the flock. The Shepherd found the sheep and returned him to the flock because that is where it was safe. We need each other and that is why Jesus created the church.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is loving each other and coming together as God’s people in unity.

 

Covid and sin create guilt.

 

When I found out that I was positive, I called all the people that I had been around and told them. I felt guilt that I had potentially infected them.

 

Sin should make us feel guilty, but when we confess our sins, God forgives us and removes the guilt. Satan tries to keep us feeling guilty and living in that false guilt.

 

Romans 8:1 tells us that those who are in Christ, those who have Jesus as the Savior and Lord of their lives, are under no condemnation and thus no guilt. Our sins have been paid for by Jesus’ death and have been cleansed by His blood so they no longer exist.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is confessing our sins and believing that Jesus is faithful and just and forgives us of our sins and then living in freedom from that guilt.

 

Covid and sin bring long term harm.

 

Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”

 

Covid is not confined to one kind of person or one group. It spreads to all kinds and groups of people. It is a disease that can affect people for months and even leaves lifelong effects.

 

Sin affects all people and it has lifelong and eternal consequences if we don’t admit our sin and repent of it.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is recognizing the seriousness of sin and admitting it and repenting of it so that Jesus can forgive us and cleanse us.

 

Covid and sin cause death.

 

James 1:15 says, “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

 

I know several people who have died from covid or the complications from covid.

Everyone who dies physically dies from complications from sin. But because of Jesus, we don’t have to die spiritually.

 

Not everyone of us who gets covid will die and not all who have sinned will die because Jesus died for all of us. If we accept Jesus’ death for our sins and surrender our lives to Him as Savior and Lord, we will receive eternal life.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is receiving Jesus as Lord and receiving eternal life.

 

I am praying for who have covid that they will be healed and restored to full health. I am also praying that God out of His grace will remove covid from the earth.

 

Overcoming Sin and Covid with Jesus

by Raising the Walls and Removing the Walls,

Joe

Trials Produce

 

In Romans 5:1-2 Paul says that we have been justified by faith and that means we have peace with God, and that through our faith, we now have access to God’s grace and we stand in that grace and rejoice in the hope we have in God.

 

Then in Romans 5:3-5 Paul says, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

 

We are to rejoice in our sufferings because sufferings produce endurance.

 

The Christian life is an iron man triathlon, not a hundred-meter sprint. There will days of difficulty and trials and there will be days of great enjoyment. We have to stand firm in our faith believing that God is with us in the trials and has a purpose for them. We don’t need to give up.

 

Paul says in Galatians 6:9 that we are not to grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

 

Godly endurance produces a great harvest.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is not giving up but enduring and reaping a harvest.

 

We rejoice in our sufferings because endurance produces character.

 

God did not create us for time but for eternity. Trials produce endurance and, as we endure trials, that will produce godly character in us. We will become more and more conformed to the image of Jesus.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing the trials we face living in a fallen world to produce godly character and make us more like Jesus.

 

We rejoice in our sufferings because godly character produces hope.

 

Hope is not wishing something will happen or that something is true. Hope is the confidence that when God says something, it is and will happen. Hope is not based in ourselves or circumstances but in Jesus. And Jesus is trustworthy.

 

We rejoice in our sufferings because hope in God will never put us to shame but will empower us to experience His love.

 

When I hope in me, I can disappoint me.

When I hope in others, they can disappoint me.

When I hope in circumstances just working out, they can disappoint me.

 

But when I hope in Jesus, I am never disappointed.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove Walls is letting Jesus be what satisfies you and totally depending on Him.

 

This has been a tough week for our faith family with many dealing with covid and others with other health issues. It is not easy for me to see our family suffering but I see God at work in the midst of the struggle. God allowed me to baptize two today and will be baptizing one next Sunday, and that shows me that God is at work in the middle of difficult times.

 

In Trials, in Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                            Joe

Casting Your Anxieties on Jesus

1 Peter 5:6-7

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you.

 

We see humbling ourselves as a sign of weakness and defeat. Jesus sees it as a way to bless us by pouring His grace on us so we can cast our fears, worries, and anxieties on Him.  

 

So, what happens when we cast our anxieties on Jesus?

 

John 20:21

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you.”

 

We get peace, God’s peace. It is a peace that is a rest in the midst of difficult and even chaotic times. It is a peace that no one else can give us.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing God’s peace through Jesus.

 

Philippians 4:13

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

 

We get strength. It is God’s strength that empowers us to trust Jesus, obey, Jesus, and follow Jesus even in very hard times.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the mighty working of God in our lives daily.

 

James 1:5

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

 

We get wisdom. This is God’s wisdom that is peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy, good fruits, impartial, and sincere.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the wisdom of God.

 

Philippians 4:19

And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

 

We get provision. We get God supplying every need we have through His riches in Jesus.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing daily provision from Jesus based in His riches.

 

James 1:2-4

Count it all pure joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

 

We get joy. This is joy that comes from God and can be present even in the midst of trials. It is joy not based in circumstances but in our relationship with Jesus.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing joy in Jesus in the middle of difficult trials.

 

Romans 8:28

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.

 

We get hope. The hope God gives us is hope that is centered in Jesus and is real even when circumstances say there is no hope. It is hope that is real even when the world around us says it is hopeless.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the hope of God in the midst of hopelessness.

 

James 5:14-15

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

 

We receive healing and forgiveness. God is a God who heals. He heals us physically, emotionally and spiritually.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is receiving healing from God in our bodies and in our spirits.

 

Humbling ourselves under God’s authority allows us to cast our anxieties on Jesus and enables Jesus to pour out His blessings on us.

 

Humbling Ourselves and Casting Our Anxieties on Him

by Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe 

Set Apart by Death

 

In John 17 Jesus prays, and in this prayer, we see the heart of Jesus. He prays for Him to glorify the Father, for His followers to be in unity with Him and the Father and each other.

 

In verse 19 Jesus prays, “For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be sanctified.”

 

In verse 17 Jesus prays, “Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.”

 

Jesus says that He sanctifies Himself so that His followers can also be sanctified, and what sanctifies is God’s Word because it is truth.

 

Sanctification means to be set apart. Jesus is saying that He is setting Himself apart so that His followers will also set themselves apart. Sanctification, the setting apart, is accomplished through obeying God’s Word because God’s Word is truth.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living being set apart for God’s purposes by God’s Word.

 

In John 12:26 Jesus says, “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”

 

If we are really going to follow Jesus and serve Him, we must be where He is.

 

And where is Jesus?

 

He is teaching the crowd and feeding the crowd.

He is healing those with no other hope.

He is loving the immoral and dishonest.

He is socializing with outcast and sinners.

He is focusing on people, not rules.

He is doing the Father’s will by building the kingdom of God.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being in the world doing what Jesus did.

 

In another prayer that Jesus prayed on the night that He was arrested, He prays in Luke 22:42, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done.”

 

This is Jesus following through with His prayer John 17 that He sanctifies the Father’s will by going to the cross and dying for our sins.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is accepting that it is only through Jesus’ death that we have forgiveness of sin, by nothing we can do.

 

In Luke 9:23 Jesus says to all, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

 

Jesus sanctifies Himself by following God’s will and dying for our sins.

We are sanctified by denying ourselves and taking up our cross every day (dying to self).

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is dying to our will and being born to and living out God’s will.

 

Following Jesus and serving Jesus is what we were created by God to do. We do that by being sanctified, being set apart, to do God’s will.

Doing God’s will means we die to our will and live doing what Jesus did.

 

Following Jesus is about being where Jesus is, and Jesus is where the lost, the outcast, and the hurt are.

 

Sanctified by Jesus and With Jesus,

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe

Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk

 

In Revelation 12:11 it says that they overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony and by not loving their lives but being willing to give up their lives.

 

Recently I was asked how was the best way to share Jesus with others. The person was expressing a concern because they didn’t know scripture as well as they should. I told them that the best way I have found is to share what Jesus is doing now in our lives and show Jesus to them.

 

Our verbal testimony needs to share with others what God is doing in our lives right now. Many times, we share about our salvation experience and that is in the past, for some of us decades in the past. People want and need to hear about Jesus in our lives in the present, not the past.

 

In Galatians 5:25 Paul tells us that if we live by the Spirit we will keep in step with the Spirit. Letting the Spirit give us life means we allow the Spirit to work in us and through us daily. Jesus has to be a present reality in our lives, not just a past event.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is having a vital spiritual life being empowered by the Holy Spirit so that Jesus is a present and powerful reality in our lives every day.

 

In addition to a verbal testimony, we have to have a life testimony. Our lives have to back up our words.

 

Acts 2 describes the early church. Acts 2:42-47 says, “And they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

 

The early church grew because they backed up what they were proclaiming with what they did.

 

They proclaimed that God loved people, and they shared with others by giving up their material possessions and providing for others.

 

They proclaimed that there was one God, and they showed that by their devotion to Him and their unity with each other.

 

They proclaimed that Jesus gives His followers joy, and they received everything they got with glad and generous hearts.

 

What they proclaimed, they lived.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is backing up our words with how we live.

 

The word hypocrisy means two-faced. It comes from the Greek theater. Actors were only men, so when they portrayed a female, they wore a mask and thus they were two-faced.

 

Hypocrisy means that I say one thing but do another. I am two-faced. I am a hypocrite when I proclaim a truth about Jesus but don’t live that truth out. We are to proclaim Jesus and live Jesus through the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

 

Proclaiming and Living Jesus By Raising the Roof

and Removing the Walls,

Joe