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