The Lord is My Banner

 

The Lord is My Banner

 

In Exodus 17:8-16 we see the Israelites at war with the Amalekites. Moses tells Joshua to put an army together & go out & fight the Amalekites & that he will go up on top of the hill with the staff of God in his hands. Joshua obeyed & as long as Moses’ hands were held up, the Israelites would be prevailing in the battle, but when Moses lowered his hands, the Amalekites would prevail. So, a stone was brought so Moses could sit down & Hur & Aaron came beside Moses & held his arms up. The Israelites won the battle. Moses built an altar & called it the Lord Is My Banner.

 

There are two truths that God reveals to us in this passage.

 

The first truth is that God must be our banner. The title the Lord Is My Banner indicates that the Israelites saw themselves as belonging to God. A banner was a standard or flag that armies, tribes, or nations carried in their front ranks to identity who they were as they marched into battle. Moses was saying by naming the altar the Lord Is My Banner that he & the Israelites saw their identity was in God.

 

We are in a battle not with other humans or even the world. We are in a battle with Satan our enemy who wants to kill, steal, & destroy. We only overcome our enemy by believing that we are who God says we are & then living based on that truth. We know who we are through God’s word.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about identifying ourselves with God, acknowledging that we belong to Him, & trusting Him as we obey His word.

 

The second truth is that we as God’s people need each other. The church is made up of recovering sinners who are flawed, imperfect people. But the church is the body of Christ. We as the body of Christ need each other.

 

In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul makes the point that we are one body made up of many members & that the eye needs the ear, & the eye & ear need the nose, & the hands need the feet, & the feet need the hands. We as the body of Christ & we need each member so that body can function as God designed His body, the church to function.

 

In Exodus 17 Joshua & the army needed Moses to keep his hands raised to win the battle. Moses was not strong enough to keep his hands raised for the whole of the battle, so Hur & Aaron came along side Moses to help him keep his hands raised. So, Moses needed Hur & Aaron to keep his hands raised so that the Israelites could win the battle.

 

We as God’s people need each other to accomplish the will of God. We cannot do it alone.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about us as God’s people realizing that we need each other & living as the body of Christ in a true community of faith.

 

If we are going to be God’s people who He will use to change our communities, our states, & our nation, then we must see ourselves as belonging to God & have our identity in Him. We also must see ourselves as the body of Christ & realize that we need each other & that we must live as a community of faith.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe

God's Church Part 3

 

God’s Church Part 3

 

There are three analogies used to describe the church in the New Testament.

In 1 Corinthians 12:27 where the church is referred to as the body of Christ.

In Revelation 19:7-8 where the church is referred to as the bride of Christ.

In 1 Timothy 3:15 where the church is referred to as the household or family of God.

 

In each of these analogies there is one big common connection, they are all relational terms.

The parts of the body have to relate to each other properly so the body works together & is healthy.

A groom & bride have to relate to each other properly so the marriage can have unity & be healthy.

A family has to relate to each other properly for the family to be in harmony & be healthy.

 

So, what does God want for His church, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, & the family of God?

 

To Recognize that Jesus is the Head

In Colossians 1:18 Jesus is the head of the body. Jesus is the only one who knows the Father’s complete will for the church. The church is to be Jesus-centered or Jesus-ruled.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about having Jesus as the head of His church.

 

To Be in Unity

In Romans 15:5-6 Paul prays for the church to be in unity so that with one heart & mouth the church can glorify God. If the church is not in unity it cannot glorify God & it cannot effectively proclaim the gospel.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about as the church being in unity with Jesus & with each other.

 

To Love Each Other

In John 13:34-35 Jesus tells His disciples that it their love for each other that will show the world that they are His disciples. People will not be drawn to Jesus if they don’t see His love through His church, but they will be drawn to Him when they see His love manifested in His church.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about loving others, in the church & in the world.

 

To Be Pure & Holy

In 1 Peter 1:16 we are told that just as Jesus was holy, we as His disciples are to be holy. Holiness has two aspects one to be set apart to serve God & the second is to be spiritual pure. We are to see ourselves as servants of God & we are not to be polluted by ungodly motives or desires.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about as Jesus’ church be pure & holy like Him.

 

When the church allows God’s presence & activity to be expressed through us, then a watching world will be drawn to Jesus.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

                         Joe

 

 

Coming to Know God Through Experiencing God

 

 

Coming to Know God Through Experiencing God

 

If you ask me if I know Paul McCartney, I would say I know about him & in fact I know a lot about him. But, no, I do not know him. If you ask me if I know Jan Byers, I would without any hesitation, yes. Some people know God like I know Paul McCartney; they know about Him. Some people know God like I know Jan Byers because they have experienced His presence or His reality in their lives.

 

God wants all of us to know Him by experiencing His reality in our daily lives. Abraham shows us how this can work in our lives.

 

In Genesis 12 God speaks to Abraham & tells him to leave his country, his kindred, & his father’s house & go to a land that God will show him. God also makes promises to Abraham. He promises to make him a great nation, make his name great, He will bless those who bless him & dishonor those who curse him, & make him a blessing to all the families of the earth.

 

Abraham obeys God & later in Genesis 12 God again speaks to Abraham & tells him that the land He has led him to is the land that He would give to Abraham & his offspring.

 

Abraham came to know God as faithful because he experienced God being faithful to him.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about being able to trust God as faithful because we have experienced God’s faithfulness personally.

 

In Genesis 21 Isaac is born. He is the child of the promise that God had made to Abraham twenty-five years before. Abraham was one hundred years old & Sarah was ninety years old when Isaac was born. They were both way past childbearing age, but God brought forth their son. Abraham came to know God as God Almighty because he experienced the supernatural power of God producing Isaac from him & Sarah when it was humanly impossible.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about experiencing God as God Almighty through experiencing the power of God in our daily lives.

 

In Genesis 22 God tells Abraham to take Issac & sacrifice him as a burnt offering. Abraham got up early the next day & took Issac to sacrifice him as God had told him to. When Isaac asked Abraham where the sacrifice was as they walked to the place of the sacrifice, Abraham replied that God would provide the sacrifice. When Abraham had placed Isaac on the altar God stopped him from killing Isaac & provided a ram caught in the bushes for the sacrifice. Abraham came to know God as the God Who Provides because He experienced God providing a substitute for his son Isaac.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about knowing God as the God Who Provides as we experience God providing for our needs daily.

 

God took Abraham into a more intimate relationship with Him as He revealed Himself in different ways & as Abraham obeyed.

 

God wants to work the same way in our lives.

 

God will speak to us by the Holy Spirit through the word of God, the Bible. When we obey God, we will come to experience Him in a new a different way & we come to know Him more intimately.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about hearing God, obeying God, & coming to know God in deeper & intimate ways.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

                        Joe

Transformed

 

Transformed

 

Romans 12:1-2 says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 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.”

 

God does not focus on giving us heartwarming devotional thoughts. God intends to save us & radically transform our lives. This is the work of God.

 

Moses was a shepherd until he encountered God at a burning bush in the desert, until God transformed him into a deliverer & leader of a nation of over one million people. David was the youngest son in a family who didn’t expect David to amount to much until God transformed him into the greatest king of Israel. Elisha was a farmer until God transformed him into a great prophet. Mary was preparing to be an ordinary small-town Jewish wife & mother until God transformed her into the mother of the Messiah. Peter & Andrew were simple fisherman until God transformed them into apostles. Saul was a persecutor of the church until God transformed him into Paul, a planter of churches.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about God transforming people into who He created them to be.

 

What has to occur in our lives so that God can transform us?

 

In Isaiah 66:1-2 God says, “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool; what is the house that you would build for Me, and what is the place of My rest? All these things My hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look; he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My word.”

 

We have to humble ourselves under God’s authority. If we don’t humble ourselves before God then we will try to make ourselves who we want to be & miss being transformed into who God wants us to be.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about being humble before God.

 

We have to admit that we are broken & wounded without God. If we see ourselves as not broken then we will not let God fix us & if we see ourselves as not being wounded then we will not let God heal us.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about allowing God to fix & heal our brokenness & woundedness.

 

We have to have a holy awe & respect for the authority of God’s word. God’s word reveals to us who God is & who we are in relationship to God. If we don’t completely trust the truth of God’s word, we will not be transformed by God to be conformed to His will.  

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting & obeying the truth & authority of God’s word.

 

Psalm 139:13 says, “For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” We must acknowledge God as our Creator. If we do not acknowledge God as our Creator then He has no right to transform us, but if God is acknowledged as our Creator then He has the right to transform our lives in any way He wants (which is always for His glory & our good).

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about acknowledging God as our Creator.

 

God is fully aware of His eternal purposes for our lives & the enormous heavenly resources He is prepared to pour out on us to ensure His will comes to pass in our lives. We must submit our lives to God as living sacrifices so He can transform us into who He created us to be.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe

Sinners, Not the Self-Righteous

 

Sinners, Not the Self-Righteous

 

In Luke 6:27-28 Jesus encountered a tax collector named Levi or Matthew & called him to follow Him & Levi left his tax collecting booth & followed Jesus. In verses 29 through 30 the Pharisees & scribes begin to grumble at Jesus’ disciples about why they & Jesus were eating & drinking with tax collectors & sinners.

 

Jesus says to the Pharisees & scribes, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

 

In Luke 19:1-10 Jesus encounters Zacchaeus & goes to his house for lunch. Zacchaeus during the meal repents & places his faith in Jesus. In verse 10 Jesus says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.”

 

Jesus makes it very clear that He came to seek & save the lost & call the sinners to repentance.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about knowing that Jesus came to seek & save the lost & call sinners to repentance.

 

I have read several things lately stating that Jesus did not hang out with sinners just to being hanging with sinners but to transform their lives. That is truth to a certain point, but He did spend time with the people that His culture labeled sinners. Yes, He spent time with them to transform their lives & bring them into a faith relationship with God. He also spent time with them because He loved them & did not want them to die & go into an eternity without God.   

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about spending time with people who do not know God because we love them & want them to know Jesus as their Savior & Lord.

 

Jesus never saw a person’s lifestyle as an insurmountable obstacle to a person being saved. Jesus reached out to tax collectors, Samaritans, women caught in adultery, lepers, & Gentiles. All of these people were concerned outcasts or sinners in the culture of that day.

 

The church is the body of Christ. We are to be carrying out the mission of Jesus. Jesus’ mission was to bring people into a faith relationship with God so that they could be saved & have eternal life. So, are we as the church carrying on Jesus’ mission?

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about us as the church carrying on the mission of the Head of the church & reaching out to those who are outcasts & sinners. And,

 

The Pharisees & scribes saw these sinners as hopeless. Jesus saw them as victims of the lies of Satan and, as their Creator, He wanted to redeem them & He knew they were not hopeless & that He could redeem them. If we as the church are not reaching hopeless, broken, messy, ungodly people, then we are not doing a Jesus kind of evangelism. We are to proclaim a gospel of grace that transforms sinners into saints. We are not here to proclaim a gospel of works or a gospel of money, success, & health, but of eternal salvation through Jesus’ grace.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about proclaiming the gospel of grace that leads to people receiving eternal salvation.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe