Jesus is God with Us

 

In Matthew 1:23 the angel says to Joseph that Mary will have a son and the baby is from God and they are to call His name Immanuel. Immanuel means God with us.

 

Jesus didn’t come just to secure our salvation; He also came to show us God and to show us what God will do.

 

What does it mean that Jesus is Immanuel, God with us?

 

In Hebrews 13:5 we are told that Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you.

 

This promise means that we will never face anything alone. That whatever we face, Jesus will face it with us and He is greater than whatever we face.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that every day Jesus will be with us as His followers.

 

1 John 3:16 says that by this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

 

Jesus loves us and laid down His life for our sins. The love that Jesus has for us is not just an emotional love or a theological love. It is a love that is action. He loved us and showed it by giving His life for us.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the love of Jesus in our lives in the everyday things of life.

 

In 1 John 4:18 it says that there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

 

Jesus with us means that not only does He love us but that His love is so strong that we can have confidence no matter the circumstances.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is, that by experiencing the love of Jesus, it removes any fear we have of anything in our lives.

 

Jesus being Immanuel, God with us means that Jesus will always be with us and that He will always love us and that His love will remove fear from our lives.

 

But we as followers of Jesus also have the Holy Spirit who indwells us.

 

In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Paul says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were brought with a price. So, glorify God in your body.”

 

We have the Holy Spirit who:

Reveals truth to us

Enlightens us

Empowers us

Seals us

Guides us

 

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth.

The Holy Spirit is our Helper, our Advocate, our Comforter.

 

According to Romans 8:9 He is the Spirit of Christ and His presence in our lives verifies that we belong to Jesus.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is having the Holy Spirit filling and indwelling our lives.

 

Just as Jesus was God with us, He was God in the flesh, and He came to walk among us as humans and show us God. He showed us what God would do in the daily circumstances of life and how God relates to people in real life.

 

Just as Jesus was with the people in first century Israel, so through the Holy Spirit Jesus is with us today. We as His followers are the hands and feet of Jesus and are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do what Jesus did.

 

With Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                      Joe

Jesus and His Word

 

A few years I ago we had a new family join our faith family. I was visiting with the man in the family and he made the comment that the church was a real Jesus-focused church. I said yes, but all churches were supposed to be Jesus-focused.

 

Many times, over the years I have been told that I use a lot of scriptures when I teach. I simply say that is all I have.

 

I am puzzled over why so many people are surprised over these two concepts. They seem to be asking why the church is to be centered on Jesus and His Word.

 

In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

 

Jesus is to be the focus of the church because He is the way and the truth that leads us to the life.

 

Peter says in 2 Peter 1:3 that His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence.

 

Jesus is to be the focus of the church because He has given us everything, we need to live life in a godly manner.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is making Jesus the focus of our lives because He is life and has given all we need to live a godly life through Him.

 

In Acts 4:12 Peter says, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

 

Jesus is the only way to receive salvation.

 

Salvation is:

Forgiveness of Sin

Assurance of Eternal Life

Relationship with the Father Through Jesus

Filling of the Holy Spirit for a Jesus-Directed Life

 

Jesus is the only way to all these aspects of salvation.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is receiving Jesus as the only source of salvation.

 

In Matthew 16:18, Peter declares that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

 

Jesus is God in the flesh.

 

Jesus is just not:

A Good Man

A Man Following God

A Prophet of God

A Preacher of the Truth of God

 

Jesus is God who became man and then gave Himself to be our atoning sacrifice for sin.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is believing and obeying and serving Jesus as God.

 

The church has to be focused on the Word of God because of what God’s Word does in and through us.

 

Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

 

God’s Word is living – it is continually used by God to speak to us.

God’s Word is active – it is continually used by God to transform us.

God’s Word penetrates to the very core of who we are – it reveals our sins and weaknesses and reveals who we are in Jesus.

 

The Word of God speaks to us, changes us to be like Jesus, and reveals to us who we are and who God is. It does this through the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is making God’s Word part of our daily life and allowing the Holy Spirit it use it to change us.

 

Jesus responds to Satan in Matthew 4:4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

 

The church has to be focused on the Word of God because it is what we need to live based on.

 

The Word of God is to be spiritually to us what food is physically to us. It is what sustains us and gives us hope and joy and peace.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is making God’s Word our spiritual food.

 

Jesus and His Word are to be the focus and foundation of the church. It is not just believing in Jesus and believing His Word; it is living out His Word and making Jesus the sole ruling authority in our lives.

 

With Jesus and His Word Directing,

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe

Troubled!

 

Do you ever feel troubled? It is not fearful or worried or hopeless. It is looking at the world and what is going on and the circumstances around you, and it brings a sorrow to your spirit.

 

Jesus had those times of experiencing trouble in His spirit. What made Jesus experience trouble in His spirit?

 

Luke 13:34

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

 

Jesus was troubled over disobedience to God’s word.

Jesus was troubled over rejection of the will and authority of God.

 

Disobedience to God’s word should trouble us because it is God’s word that gives true direction for living and a real foundation for our lives.

 

Rejection of God’s will should trouble us because God’s will is always perfect and always the best for us.

 

Rejection of God’s authority should trouble us because God’s authority is the only thing that can overcome sin and the effects of sin in our lives.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is accepting the word and will and authority of God as what directs our lives.

 

John 11:33-35

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled. And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.

 

The hurt and sorrow in the lives of people causes Jesus to be troubled. Jesus understands what sorrow is and what it does to our hearts as humans. Jesus can know and understand human sorrow because He was a human.

 

Jesus emptied Himself and became human and, in becoming human, became a servant and, in becoming a servant, humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death on the cross for the sins of humanity.

 

So, Jesus became human so He could be our perfect sacrifice and so He could fully identify with us as humans.

 

Raise the Roof an Remove the Walls is to be troubled over the hurt and sorrow of others.  

 

John 12:27

Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour? But for this purpose, I have come to this hour.

 

Jesus is troubled by the brokenness and evil in the world.

 

Jesus’ answer to the brokenness and evil in the world was to offer Himself as the sacrifice for sin.

 

Jesus saw those who were broken because of sin and evil because they had bought into the deceit and lies of Satan as victims, not enemies. We as the body of Christ are to view those broken and those who are evil as victims, not enemies.

 

In Ephesians 2, we are described before we became followers of Jesus as:

Dead in our trespasses

Walking in the course of this world

Following the prince of the power of the air (Satan)

Living based on our human fallen passions

Children of wrath

 

But God, through His grace, changed that through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is viewing broken people as victims and not as enemies because, before Jesus changed our lives, we were totally broken people also.

 

Matthew 26:37

And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, He began to be sorrowful and troubled.

 

Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane and He became troubled. He was troubled and sorrowful over the cost He would have to pay to provide salvation.

 

We should be troubled over what our sin cost Jesus.

 

Jesus gave all for our sin and we are to never take that for granted. It should motivate us to live honoring Jesus with all that we say and do.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is honoring Jesus with our lives because He died for our sins.

 

That is what troubled Jesus.

 

What troubles me?

 

I am troubled when I am not comfortable all the time.

I am trouble when I don’t get what I want.

I am troubled when I am not appreciated.

I am troubled when others don’t do what I think they should do.

 

Do you see the difference between what troubled Jesus and what troubles me? Jesus was troubled about how sin was affecting others. I am many times troubled about things that inconvenience me.

 

Jesus did something about what troubled Him. He gave His life for sin.

 

We need to be troubled over what troubled Jesus and to give our lives to living out the solution – Jesus.

 

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

                                               Joe

Seek God's Kingdom

 

Have you had the experience with Jesus when He has kept some passages of scripture in your mind? Well, I have a had that experience several times, the last of which was this past week. Jesus has kept three verses on my mind for several days and has given me a chance to share it with a lot of people over those days.

 

The first verse that Jesus put in my mind was Matthew 6:33. That verse says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.”

 

We are to seek God and His kingdom and His righteousness. The idea of seeking first is not put at the it at the top of my top ten list. It is not first as the top of a list, but it is first such as first above all else. It is first with no rivals or competitors. I seek God’s kingdom above anything else.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness above anything else in my life.

 

The second verse explains what God’s kingdom, that I am seeking, is. It is 1 Corinthians 4:20. It says, “For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.”

 

The kingdom of God is not just words but it is the power of God being displayed through our lives as followers of Jesus.

 

The word “power” is where we get the word dynamite. It is explosive power. It is the power that transforms lives, that heals people, that changes cultures, and that delivers people from the slavery of sin.

 

It means that when I seek God’s kingdom, I will experience the power of God exploding within me and God using me to impact others’ lives.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing through the Holy Spirit the power of God working in and though you.

 

The third passage is Micah 6:8. It says, “He told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”

 

Seeking God’s kingdom above everything and letting the power of the Holy Spirit guide will lead you to:

Doing Justice – making justice what God does through His power through your life

Loving Mercy – making mercy what God displays through your life

Walking Humbling – making humility what God characterizes your life with

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living lives characterized by justice, mercy, and humility.  

 

We as followers of Jesus are to seek God’s kingdom above anything else in our lives, and as we enter the kingdom, we allow the Holy Spirit to fill us and give us the power to display the characteristics of the kingdom, which are justice, mercy, and humility.

 

When the church proclaims the truth of God’s kingdom but doesn’t live it out, it causes the world to reject Jesus and see the church as a bunch of hypocrites.

 

When the church proclaims the truth of God’s kingdom and lives it out, it causes the world to notice and many to receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

 

The world needs the church to proclaim the truth of God’s kingdom and live it out.

 

Living the Truth of God’s Kingdom and

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe

How to Turn the World Upside Down

 

In Matthew 16 Jesus asked His disciples who people said that Jesus was and then He asked who they said He was. Peter answered that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus then tells Peter that he is blessed because His Father had revealed that to him.

 

Jesus in verse 18 says that he is Peter and on the truth of what Peter the rock said Jesus will build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

 

We see a group of mostly uneducated and theologically untrained followers. But they are described in Acts 17:6 as people who turned the world upside down.

 

How did those early believers turn the world upside down?

 

They loved Jesus.

 

Paul describes the Thessalonian believers in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 as laboring in love. The early believers loved Jesus and gave themselves to serve Him and Him only.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is loving Jesus and serving out of love for Jesus.

 

They depended on the filling of the Holy Spirit.

 

In Ephesians 5:18 Paul tells us as followers of Jesus to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. The early church depended on the Holy Spirit to give them desire for God and the empowering to obey God.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing the Holy Spirit to fill us and depending on the work of the Spirit in and through our lives.

 

They believed God’s word.

 

In Acts 2:42 the early church was devoted to the apostles’ teaching. They believed God’s word and obeyed it and lived it out daily.    

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is believing God’s word, obeying God’s word, and living God’s word out every day.

They made a priority of worship and prayer.

 

Worship is telling God how much we love Him.

Prayer is listening to God and agreeing with His will.

 

The early believers spent time in both public and private worship.

The early believers prayed about everything and trusted God to answer their prayers.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is prioritizing worship and prayer.

 

They served the community.

 

In Acts 4:32-35 Luke says that the early church their sold material possessions and shared with all who had need. They did what Jesus tells us to in Matthew 25 by feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, they took strangers in, they clothed the naked, they visited the sick, and they ministered to the prisoners.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is seeing the perceived needs of a community or area and meeting those needs in the name of Jesus.

 

It is time that the church and particularly the American church overcame the gates of hell.

 

The early believers show us how:

Loving Jesus

Depending on the Holy Spirit

Believing and obeying God’s word

Prioritizing worship and prayer

Meeting the needs of people

 

Jesus loves us and He desires that all people know He loves them, experience that love, and has a love relationship with Him. We as followers of Jesus have been given a privileged call of sharing and showing His love to others.

 

So, are we going to be described as those early believers were as people who turned the world upside down?

 

Showing the World the Love of Jesus,

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                       Joe