Standing Strong in Our Faith

 

God’s Word talks a lot about standing firm or strong in our faith. We are encouraged to not put our faith in anything or anyone but Jesus and to live daily based on that faith in Jesus.

 

One of the great pictures of that is found in the book of Ezekiel. God sends Ezekiel to the people of Israel in exile in Babylon. God tells Ezekiel that the people are stubborn and rebellious and that they won’t listen to what he has to say.

 

Ezekiel 3:8-9 says, “Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. 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 will give Ezekiel the ability and endurance to stand strong in his faith and obey what God tells him to do even when it is very hard.

 

What do we need to be able to stand strong in faith in the face of unbelief and opposition?

 

We need to understand that the world’s system is based on conformity and that God’s system is based on transformation.

 

Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

 

The world wants to make everyone alike, to fit in the same mold. God wants to transform us by renewing our minds so we can know the perfect will of God.

 

Being conformed, going along with the flow of the culture is easier than letting God transform you and make you into the unique person He created you to be.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is not being conformed to the values of this world but being transformed by God to be who He created you to be.

 

We need to believe that the Bible is God’s Word.

 

2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.”

 

The Bible is not human opinion or human viewpoint or human thoughts. It is God’s eternal, infallible, never-changing Word. It is God’s love letter to us that reveals who He is, His ways, and His purpose. It also reveals who we were and who Jesus has made us and what God says we can do.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is believing that the Bible is God’s Word and living based on the truth that God reveals through it.

 

We need to believe that God’s Will is for our good.

 

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

 

Following God’s will always leads to two things:

God’s Honor

Our Good

 

God will never lead us to things that are wrong or sinful or harmful. He will always lead us to:

The good because He is good

The righteous because He is righteous

The holy because He is holy

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing God’s will is for our good and following His will.

 

I can stand in faith in Jesus because:

He will transform me into who I was created to be

His Word is truth

His will is always to honor Him and benefit me

 

Standing in faith in Jesus is not about:

Being condemning to others

Being judgmental of others

Being angry at others

 

Standing in faith in Jesus is about:

Living in complete trust in Jesus

Living in daily obedience to Jesus

Living in passionate love for Jesus

 

With Faith in Jesus, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                            Joe

The Vine and the Head

 

In Matthew 19:13-15 we have the account of Jesus spending time with a group of children. The disciples told the parents not to let the children come to Jesus, but Jesus told them to come. He spent time with them and then laid His hands on them, blessing them.

 

Why did Jesus spend time with these children?

 

Jesus spent time with these children because that is what Jesus did. He spent time with people.

 

He spent time with people:

On hillsides and fed them

In the temple and taught them

On the seashore and called them to follow Him

In the marketplace and healed them

 

According to Luke 19:10 Jesus said that He came to seek and save the lost.

 

Jesus came for us, people.

 

John 15:1

I am the vine and My Father is the vinedresser.

 

Jesus came to be the vine, our source. Jesus is our source for everything.

 

Jesus is our source for:

Salvation

Forgiveness

Healing

Mercy

 

Through Jesus we have everything we need for life and godliness.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is having Jesus as our source for everything.

 

John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

 

We are the branches and if we stay attached to the vine (Jesus the Source) we will produce godly fruit. If we don’t stay attached to the vine, we will do nothing. 

 

Since Jesus is the source, we have to stay connected to Him to be able to produce anything of eternal value in our lives.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is, as branches, staying connected to Jesus the vine and producing fruit.

 

Ephesians 5:23

For the husband is head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body and is Himself its Savior.

 

Jesus is the head of the church, His body.

 

Jesus as the head is the authority to give direction to the body. The body is directed by the head and is to function as the head tells it to.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is submitting to the authority of Jesus, the Head, and doing His will.

 

Since Jesus is the Head, that makes us the body. We are the hands and feet and voice and heart of Jesus in the world.

 

We are, as the body, to obey the direction of Jesus, the head.

 

We are to be the feet of Jesus to go where people are.

We are to be the hands of Jesus to give to others and heal others.

We are to be the voice of Jesus and proclaim good news to people.

We are to be the heart of Jesus and show His love to others.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being the body of Christ and doing what Jesus did.

 

Recently we got to spend an evening with a group of children as they played in the jump house we provided for an event. We talked to the children and their parents. The event was not a Jesus-focused event so we got the privilege to be Jesus at the event.

I believe that the church produces fruit when we are the hands and feet and voice and heart of Jesus. It may not be instant fruit, but it will be used by the Holy Spirit to impact the lives of people and cause those who don’t know Jesus to see the church in a different light.

 

  As the Body and the Branches Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                     Joe

Remember

 

Where were you? That is a question we ask when some national or global event takes place.

 

It is a question we ask of others about the assassination of President Kennedy.

 

It is a question we ask of others about 9-11.

 

I was at home getting ready to go to the office. A friend called and told me what was happening. I turned the television on and watched for most of the day. I called my son at college to see if he was ok and if he wanted to come home.

 

9-11 occurred on a Tuesday and that Wednesday our church was full. People were fearful and they were doing what Psalm 56:3 tells us to do, when we are afraid: to trust in God.

 

We saw in 9-11 people showing real love. In John 15:13 Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay his life for his friends.” We saw people risking their lives to help others. We saw first responders giving their lives to save others. We saw on flight 93 a whole plane full of people giving their lives so many others would not be killed.

 

In Joshua 4 God directs Joshua to lead the nation of Israel to set up a memorial to continually remind the people of what had occurred on that day.

 

What do we need to remember about 9-11?

 

We need to remember that God is our only hope.

 

Psalm 20:7

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

 

We need to remember our hope is not found in the strength of our military or the strength of our economy or in human leaders. Our hope is in God and Him alone.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is trusting in God and nothing that is human-based in every situation.

 

We need to remember the unity we had.

 

In 1 Peter 3:8 Peter encourages us to have unity of mind, to have sympathy, to have brotherly love, to have a tender heart, and to have a humble mind.

 

We saw all of these in the immediate aftermath of 9-11. We saw people not caring what race or social standing or political party a person was, but showing love and sympathy and compassion and humility. We have to remember what that looked like and allow the Holy Spirit to manifest these things in our lives as God’s people.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is showing love, sympathy, compassion, and humility through the Holy Spirit and let that lead to unity.

 

We need to remember we overcome evil with good.

 

Romans 12:21

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 

When we try to overcome evil with evil, we just add to the evil. When we try to overcome evil with hatred, it will only create more evil. When we overcome evil with good - love, mercy, and grace - it will be transformational.

 

The nation of Israel has the Day of Atonement. It is a day to seriously look at their lives and where they as a nation are with God. 9-11 should be our day of atonement. A day to seriously look at our lives and, as a nation, to consider where we are with God.

 

2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people who are called by My name (this is addressed to us as God’s people and reminds us we belong to God) will humble themselves (place ourselves under God’s authority), and pray (stay in constant connection and communication with God) and seek My face (seek God’s presence, not just His hands; not what He can do but who He is) and turn from their wicked ways (repent, turning away from sin and turning to God), then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

May we as God’s people not just read that verse but allow the Holy Sprit to make it the daily reality of our lives.

 

With Jesus as Lord and by the Power of the Holy Spirit

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe

The Gifts Jesus Gives

 

The longer I live and the longer I follow Jesus the more I realize that it is all about Jesus and nothing else.

 

In John 14:6 Jesus says that He is the Way and the Truth and the Life.

In James 1:17 James says that all good and perfect gifts come from God.

 

Everything you and I have in life comes from God and only come because He is good and powerful.

 

In examining my life, I see many needs but I recognize four big needs.

 

John 15:9-10

As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide in My Love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My Love, just a I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

 

Jesus has given us His love.

 

Jesus loves us when we are good and when we are bad.

Jesus loves us when we obey and when we disobey Him.

Jesus loves us no matter our belief or unbelief.

Jesus loves us because we exist.

 

Jesus’ love is based on Him and not us. Jesus’ love does not come and go because it is based on Him and He does not change.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is receiving and abiding in Jesus’ love.

 

In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul shares that he had a thorn in the flesh and that he had asked Jesus to remove it three times. Jesus answers in verse 9. Jesus says, “My Grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” 

 

Jesus gives us His grace.

 

Grace is Jesus’ unmerited or unearned or undeserved love and blessing on us. Grace is what all of our blessings from God come from. Grace means that I can’t and don’t have to try and earn the love of Jesus.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is depending on Jesus’ grace and resting in His grace.

 

In John 14:27 Jesus says to His disciples, “Peace I leave with you;     

My Peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

 

Jesus gives us His peace.

 

The word peace does not mean circumstances in which there is no conflict or danger. It means to have a trust and rest in Jesus in the midst of conflict and danger. 

 

The world’s peace is about life’s circumstances.

Jesus’ peace is about His control in your life.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in compete trust in Jesus in the midst of trying circumstances.

 

1 Timothy 1:1

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus Our Hope.

 

Jesus gives us hope.

 

Hope is not wishing. Hope is the confident assurance that God will fulfill all that He says and promises.

 

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:20 that all the promises of God find their Yes in Jesus. Jesus is the fulfillment of all God’s promises so Jesus is our hope.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living daily with Jesus as our hope, our confident assurance that God will fulfill all His promises.

 

I need Jesus as my love, my grace, my peace and my hope to daily live trusting and obeying Him. Living life with Jesus as all of these things is hard, but living life without Jesus as all these things would be impossible.

 

With Jesus as My Love, Grace, Peace and Hope,

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe