Who We Are in Jesus Part 6

I want to continue to share about who we are in Jesus because of God’s great grace.

The truth is that all the things that the Bible tells us we are as followers of Jesus is what we ARE. Not what we could be or should be; it is who we ARE.

1 Thessalonians 1:4

For we know, brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you.

We are chosen of God.

We are chosen to be God’s children.

We are holy.

We are dearly loved.

We are jealously protected.

I can remember that as a child I was pretty good at anything athletic so I was chosen early to be on different kinds of sports teams. I never thought about how kids that we picked last or didn’t pick felt. I experienced that feeling of not being chosen when our teacher one year decided we would have weekly math competitions. I was not good at math and I was the last one chosen every week.

God chose us because He wants to have a relationship with us, to love us and to have us love Him in return.  

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living knowing that we have been chosen by God to be His children.

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Peter reminds us that we are a chosen race.

We are a royal priesthood.

A priest is one who represents the people to God and God to the people. We are a people that God has chosen to bring the love and person of Jesus to others.

We know the truth of God and we need to share it.

We have experienced the grace of Jesus and we need to dispense it.

We have the love of Jesus and we need to show it.

We are a holy nation.

In Leviticus 11:44 we are told that because God is holy, we are to be holy.

In 1 Peter 1:15 we are told that because God is holy, we are to be holy.

Holiness means to be set apart.

God being holy means that He is set apart from us as His creation. He is uniquely different than anything in all creation.

Our being holy means that we are set apart for His use and His purposes.

The fact that we as God’s children are holy means we live for Jesus, not ourselves.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting Jesus set us apart and use us for His purposes and honor.

We are a people for God’s own possession.

In 1 Corinthians 6:20 and 7:23 Paul tells us that we have been bought with a price. We are to glorify God and serve Him.

The price with which we are bought was Jesus. The Father loved us so much that He chose to give Jesus’ life to pay for our sins.

We are God’s possession because He paid for us. We belong to God exclusively.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living knowing that we belong to God.

Jesus has called us out of darkness into His light. Because Jesus has done all this for us, we are to proclaim His excellencies. The result of knowing who Jesus is and what He has done and who He has made us in Him is to thank Him, praise Him, and worship Him.

1 Peter 2:11

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.

We are aliens and strangers in this world and to the prince of this world.

Jesus said that the world hated Him, and that if we followed Him, the world would hate us as well.

We cannot love the values of this world and love Jesus because the values of this world are in opposition to the truth of Jesus. We have to choose.

God’s Word tells us to choose to be aliens and strangers to this world and be citizens of His kingdom.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living as strangers and aliens to the values of this world.

1 Peter 5:8

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

We are enemies of the devil.

The devil hates us because Jesus loves us.

There is no peaceful coexisting with the devil. Jesus says that the devil wants to kill, steal, and destroy, and he will not stop doing it.

Jesus has defeated the devil and, through Jesus, we have victory over him.

Being followers of Jesus means we are enemies of the devil.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is loving Jesus and being enemies of the devil.

We need to remember who we are in Jesus and live based on those truths.

As Followers of Jesus, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                              Joe      

Who We Are in Jesus Part 5

I want to continue reminding us who we are in Jesus. I think that it is essential for us to know who we are in Jesus so that when our enemy, the devil, lies to us about who we are, we can know it is a lie and move away from it.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We are God’s workmanship.

The word for workmanship is the word we get masterpiece from. We are God’s masterpiece.

We may not feel like a masterpiece.

But Jesus has declared that we are God’s masterpiece. Since we have been declared God’s masterpiece, we need to live that way, doing the good works that God has prepared for us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living as God’s masterpiece, doing the God works God has made us for.

Ephesians 2:19

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellowship citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

We are citizens of God’s kingdom.

We are not strangers or aliens to God. We once were, but now we have exchanged our citizenship in the world for citizenship in God’s kingdom. We are now strangers and aliens in the world.

Being a citizen in God’s kingdom means that my focus, my priority is no longer this world, but the kingdom.

In Colossians 3:2 Paul encourages us to set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. When I am a citizen of God’s kingdom, I can and will do that.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in this world as a citizen of the kingdom of God.

Colossians 3:12

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

We are chosen ones.

God chose us to be His children. We did not choose Him, but He chose us and because He chose us we have the opportunity to have a relationship with the Creator as our Father.

God always makes the first move.

We love Him because He first loved us.

He died for us while were still sinners.

He goes before us, not behind us.

He chose us so we could know Him.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is showing gratitude for God choosing us.

We are holy.

We are commanded both in the Old Testament and the New Testament to be holy because the God we follow is holy.

Holiness is being set apart for a purpose. In this case, we are set apart for God’s purpose.

Holiness also contains the idea of being morally upright. Holiness means that I am living in the strength of the Holy Spirit which enables me to live morally upright, fulfilling God’s purposes.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living morally upright and fulfilling God’s purposes in this world.

We are the beloved of God.

God loves us and we are His beloved.

Being His beloved means we are special to God. Humans are the most special of all of God’s creation for we are created in the image of God. We are the only part of the creation which has been affected by sin that God sent Jesus to die for.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing live as the beloved of God.

Colossians 3:3

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

We are hidden with Jesus in God.

That means that both the Son and the Father protect me. Satan must go through Jesus and the Father to get to me.

I believe that we have no idea how many times daily God protects us from Satan’s attacks. We are told in Ephesians that we are in a spiritual war. Satan, the enemy of God and His people, knows he cannot attack God head on and win, so he attacks God’s people. Satan knows that if we are not alert and connected with Jesus, he can defeat us and that will hurt Jesus because Jesus loves us.

We must realize that we are in a spiritual war, and if we stay attached to Jesus, He will protect us from the effects of Satan’s hatred of us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is staying hidden in Jesus so that we can experience the protection of God.

Colossians 3:4

When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

We are an expression of the life of Jesus.

We can experience the life of Jesus when Jesus is our life.

Paul says that it is no longer he who lives but Jesus who lives His resurrected life through him.

The world needs to see the person of Jesus.

The world needs to see the truth of Jesus.

The world needs to see the love of Jesus.

When we live as an expression of the life of Jesus, the world can see those things through us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living as an expression of Jesus in a fallen world.

Living in Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe

Who We Are in Jesus Part 4

I have been told a lot about who I am that was not true. Unfortunately, I believe so many of those things and it caused me to live in ways that were not true and that were not of God.

I want to continue to remind us who are in Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

We are the righteousness of God.

The word righteousness means to be who we ought to be, to be in a condition that is acceptable to God.

In our natural condition, we are not as we should be; we are sinners. Sin is never acceptable to God and, if we are living in a state of sin, we are not acceptable to God.

Jesus never sinned. He was perfect, and on the cross, He took our sinfulness and gave us His sinless perfection, His righteousness.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing we have been made righteous by God through Jesus and living based on that truth.

Galatians 3:25-28

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew or Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

We are children of God and are one in Jesus.

Not only are we children of God, we are also one with Jesus.

We are in unity with our Father because we have surrendered our lives to Jesus and now have His life in us.

I am one with Jesus because I literally share His life.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living Jesus’ life in unity with Him.

Galatians 4:6

And because you are a son, God has sent His Son into your hearts, crying “Abba! Father!”

We are children of God, and we have an intimate love relationship with Him.

We all have our special names for our fathers. These names show the intimate connection that we have with our fathers.

We are children of God who have the privilege to call God “Abba”, which is an intimate name for father. It equates to dad or daddy or pop or papa.

We have been given a gift to experience God, not just as our father but as our dad. He is the one we share a very intimate relationship with.

Galatians 4:7

So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

We are not only children of God but we are heirs of God.

An heir is one who obtains his allotted possession by right of sonship.

We as children of God have been given an eternal possession through Jesus.

Our eternal inheritance is beyond anything that we can imagine.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living knowing I have an awesome eternal inheritance.

Ephesians 1:1

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus.

We are saints.

Saint is the noun form of the word holy. We are saints, holy ones.

We have made the word saint to be some super Christian. The truth is that every true follower is a saint. We are the holy people of God, made that way by Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living as the holy ones of God.

Ephesians 4-6

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

We are alive and seated with Jesus, able to experience His authority in our lives and through our lives.

We are living, not just existing, not just surviving. We have the abundant life of Jesus.

We are seated with Jesus in a place of authority. We have, through Jesus, the authority to say no to sin and have victory over our enemy the devil. I am not a weak victim; I am a victorious conqueror of sin through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in the authority of Jesus and having victory over sin.

We are who God says we are, not who the world says we are.

In the Truth of Who I Am Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls

                                                 Joe

Who We Are in Jesus Part 3

In John 8:31-32, Jesus says that if we abide in His Word, then we are really His disciples and that we then know the truth and the truth will make us free.

A huge part of knowing God’s Word is knowing who we are in Jesus.

Galatians 3:26

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

Galatians 3:28

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 4:6

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

We are children of God and God is our Dad and we are one with Jesus.

We are sons and daughters of God. That will never change. I have a son and there is absolutely nothing that he could do that would make me reject him as my son. The fact that we are God’s children means that I am part of God’s family forever.

God is not just our father; He is our Abba. He is our dad. There is not just a formal connection between us and God. There is an intimate love connection between us and God.

We are one with Jesus. In Colossians 1:27 we are told that as children of God, Jesus literally lives in us. Jesus doesn’t work from the outside in but by the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit He works from the inside out.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that we have an all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present Dad who loves us and has made us one with Jesus.

Galatians 4:7

So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

We are children of God, and because we are children of God we are heirs of God.

As heirs, we are recipients of God’s:

Promises

Blessings

Presence

We don’t just have God and the things of God here in this earthly life but for eternity.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the eternal promises, blessings, and presence of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For our sake He made Him sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

One of the things that took place on the cross was that Jesus became guilty of my sins and your sins and the sins of everybody who had lived, who was living, and who would ever live.

Sin had to be punished, so God the Father, in His great love, made Jesus guilty of all our sins and punished Him for them on the cross.

That made it possible for God to completely forgive us and then to declare us righteous. Our righteousness is not our own doing; it is by God’s grace through Jesus. I am righteous, not because I earned it, but because Jesus earned it and gave it to me.

This was a great exchange. Jesus exchanged His sinless perfection for my sin. He exchanged His righteousness for my unrighteousness.

I don’t have the potential to be righteous.

I am not going to someday be righteous.

I am right now completely righteous.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in the righteousness that I am.

In Ephesians 1:1 Paul calls the believers in Ephesus saints.

In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul calls the believers in Corinth saints.

In Philippians 1:1 Paul calls the believers in Philippi saints.

In Colossians 1:1 Paul calls the believers in Colossi saints.

We are saints.

I know you don’t see yourself as a saint. Part of the reason you don’t is because we have screwed up what being a saint really is.

We have made a saint a super Christian. Someone who is perfect and does all sorts of miracles and unexplainable things. The reality is that every person who has surrendered his life to the authority of Jesus and become a child of God is a saint.

The word saint is the noun version of the word holy. A saint is a person who, by giving his life to Jesus, has been made holy.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that you are a holy follower of God and living like it.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepare before-hand, that we should walk in them.

We are God’s workmanship.

The word translated workmanship literally means masterpiece. We are God’s masterpiece.

Again I know you don’t see yourself as God’s masterpiece. We see ourselves most of the time through the eyes of the world and world values and a worldly perspective. We need to see ourselves through God’s eyes and His perspective. God sees you and me as masterpieces created through Jesus to do good works.

When we really believe that truth, we will stop beating ourselves up, stop having pity parties, and stop condemning ourselves. We will see that God can and will use us to bring honor to Him and to change the world.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is seeing ourselves as God’s masterpieces and letting Him use us for His honor.

Ephesians 2:4-6

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loves us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

We are seated in the heavenly realm with Christ.

We are not powerless people. We are seated with Jesus and under His authority have power to resist sin and obey Him.

We will be tempted, but because of our position with Jesus, we have the power to say no to sin and yes to holiness. That means when temptation comes, I have victory over it in Jesus.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that, because of my position with Jesus, I have His victory.

Because of Who I am in Jesus, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                  Joe

Who We Are in Jesus Part 2

I want to continue sharing about our birthright as followers of Jesus.

Remember when we surrendered our lives to Christ. There were things that occurred as God’s Spirit entered us and changed us into new creations.

Romans 8:35

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

Romans 8:37-39

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our lord.

There are two birthrights mentioned here.

One is that we are secure in Christ’s love for us.

It says in this passage that nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Jesus.

The knowledge that no matter what we do, no matter what life brings to us, or no matter what spiritual attack we face, God and His love for us will never go away or even diminish.

Hebrews 13:5 backs up this truth. It says that God will never leave us or forsake us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living knowing beyond any doubt that God loves us.

The second birthright in this passage is that we are an overwhelming conqueror in Jesus against all that would come against us.

We are more than conquerors through Jesus.

I was puzzled for years over what was meant by “more than conquerors” in this passage.

When you conquer another country or group, you are then in control of them. You have them under your authority through the conquest.

What could be more than that? The more is to conqueror a country or group and then make them our friends. First, we come under Jesus’s authority, His servants. He then elevates us to be His friends.

Jesus tells His disciples that He no longer calls them servants but He now calls them friends. We have been conquered and become intimate friends with the One who conquered us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is becoming friends with Jesus and thus overcoming all those things that Jesus died to secure our freedom from. 

1 Corinthians 6:17

But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.

We are united to the Lord and one in spirit with Him.

In John 17 Jesus prays that His followers will be one with Him as He and the Father are one.

Jesus does not want a casual relationship with us. He wants an intimate love relationship with us. He wants to share life with us as His people.

The awesome things about this relationship are that we never face a situation where Jesus is not there and that it is eternal.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing oneness with Jesus.

1 Corinthians 12:27

Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a part of it.

I am a member of Christ’s body.

By surrendering our lives to Jesus, not only do we get God as our Father and experience His unconditional love through Jesus. We also get a huge family of brothers and sisters.

I know that many people look at the church today and see negative things and feel that they don’t need or even want the church to be able to follow Jesus.

That attitude is wrong. Jesus died to bring many sons to the Lord according to Hebrews 2:10. Following Jesus is about community.

Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep. The shepherd went and found the one sheep who had moved away from the flock and brought the sheep back to the flock. He did that because he knows that, away from the flock, isolated and alone, the sheep would be killed. Remember our enemy the devil wants to kill, steal, and destroy.

We need each other.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in community with fellow believers.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

We are new creations in Jesus. Old things are passing away.

When people surrender their lives to Jesus, two things happen.

First, we become new people.

Second, the old things go away and are replaced with new things.

New Desires

New Thoughts

New Attitudes

New Priorities

New Words

New Actions

Jesus didn’t come to make us better. He came to make us new and different.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19

All this is from God, who reconciled is to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them, and He committed to us the message of reconciliation.

I am reconciled to God and am a minister of reconciliation with God to others.

Reconciled means to bring something or someone back into favor. Through Jesus’ death on the cross God brought us back into His favor. We were at odds with God, we were enemies of God. He brought us back into favor with Himself through Jesus’ death on the cross. We then became the bearers of that message to the world.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in the grace of God.

Confidently and Securely Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                   Joe

Who We Are in Jesus Part 1

In Romans 8:17, we are told that we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Jesus.

If we are children of God and heirs of God, what is our birthright?

Over the next several weeks I want to list and discuss our birthright in Jesus.

Matthew 5:14

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

We are the light of the world and the darkness cannot suppress or overcome it.

Darkness is simply the absence of light. When light penetrates darkness, it immediately and completely overcomes the darkness.

Paul says in Philippians 2:15 that we are to shine like lights in a dark sky. We can do that because, as God’s children, we are the light of the world.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living as the light of the world.

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!” And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.”

We are living in Christ’s authority, which gives us power over all the forces of the enemy.

When I live in my authority and power, Satan defeats me.

When I live in God’s authority and power, I experience victory over Satan.

In Matthew 28:18, Jesus tells His followers that all authority is His and, based on that, we are to go into every part of the world and make disciples.

God bestows on us His authority and power to grow His kingdom.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living and operating under God’s authority and power.

John 15:1

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

John 15:5

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

We are the branches, a channel for Jesus’ life and energy.

When we stay connected with Jesus, we produce fruit.

When we stay connected with Jesus, we will be channels of God’s power and blessing.

When we stay connected with Jesus, we will be people God can and will use to change the world.

Jesus is the focus, and staying connected to Him is the key.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is staying connected to Jesus.

Romans 8:1

There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

We are never condemned by Jesus, but declared fully forgiven and righteous.

Jesus does not condemn us. When He confronts us with sin, it is for our

good. Jesus forgives us completely.

Jesus declares us righteous with the righteousness that He Himself is.

We deserve none of this, but Jesus does it out of His grace.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in the forgiveness and righteousness of Jesus.

Romans 8:35

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

Romans 8:37-39

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death not life, nor angels nor rulers, not things present, not things to come, nor powers, not height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are secure in Jesus’ love for us and we are overwhelming conquerors in Him.

Nothing, Nothing, Nothing can ever separate us from God’s love for us.

We will never be unloved. We may feel unloved, but we will never be unloved.

We are conquerors because Jesus won the victory over sin, death, and Satan and He gives us that victory.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in the security of and victory of Jesus’ love.

1 Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 6:19

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

We are the temple of God – the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit lives within each of us as followers of Jesus.

Colossians 1:27 says Christ in you is the hope of glory. Jesus lives in us through the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:9 says that every follower of Jesus has the Spirit.

We don’t have to depend on ourselves or our abilities or our resources; we depend on the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

When we know who we are in Jesus, then we will have more confidence.

When we know who we are in Jesus, then we will have more boldness.

When we know who we are in Jesus, then we will have more security.

Living Knowing Who I am In Jesus

 Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                              Joe

Intimacy with Jesus

I know one person better than any other human being in the world. That person is me. I know me. I know the thoughts and desires that no other human knows but me. I know that what others see in me is not always what is on the inside.

Knowing me like I do and also knowing that Jesus knows all the things about me that I know (Jesus really knows more about me than I know), I am in total amazement at the desire Jesus has for a relationship with me.

The most amazing thing about the relationship that Jesus wants with me is the intimacy that He wants in that relationship.

There are many verses that show us the intimate relationship that Jesus desires with us. I want to focus on four.

Romans 5:6-8

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – through perhaps for a good person one would dare to die – but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus died for us while we were ungodly sinners.

Jesus didn’t wait for us to realize we were ungodly sinners. He died for us while we were still under the control of sin and not even aware of our condition.

We might be willing to do something nice for really good people.

Jesus died for us as really bad people.

I know the idea that, without Jesus, we are bad does not go along with the values this world teaches. The Word of God makes it clear that Jesus is the only good one and that every human being is unrighteous, does not do good, and has no respect or love for God naturally.

Jesus gave His life while I was in absolute rebellion against Jesus and His authority.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is acknowledging that, apart from Jesus, we have nothing good or righteous in us.

Luke 19:10

Jesus came for the lost.

Jesus came to seek the lost. He did not wait for the lost to come seeking Him. He took the initiative to go and find the lost. Jesus spent His three years of ministry going out to where lost people were and inviting them to enter into a relationship with Him.

Jesus did not act as the offended party, even though we had offended Him with our sin. He sought to reconcile us, as His human creation, with Him, our Creator and Lord.

I don’t seek out people who have offended me. I tend to wait for the person who has hurt me to come and ask for forgiveness, and then I will forgive him.

Jesus went looking for people to forgive them.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that Jesus reached out to me when I was lost.

Mark 2:16-17

And the scribes and the Pharisees, when they saw that He was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

When I tell God that I am ok without Him, that I don’t need Him, it breaks His heart, but He will abide by my wishes and stay out of my life.

When I admit my sin, Jesus says that I am the kind of person that He came to call into a relationship with Himself and the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus knew that people who considered themselves righteous were not desiring a relationship with Him. Jesus also knew that a person who knew he was a sinner was desiring a relationship with Him.

In Luke 18 Jesus tells the story of two men who went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee who prayed out of a heart of pride and self-righteousness. The other was a tax collector who prayed out of a heart of humility and repentance and confession of his sin. Jesus said that the tax collector went away justified. He was justified because he acknowledged his sin, asked for forgiveness, and desired a relationship with God.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is acknowledging our need for Jesus and receiving His forgiveness and establishing a relationship with Him.

Matthew 11:28-30

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Jesus invites people who are weary, tired, ready to quit, to come to Him.

Jesus invites people who are carrying heavy burdens, who are bent over with the weight of what they are having to carry, to come to Him.

Jesus promises that when the weary, heavy burdened come to Him, He will give them what they need – rest.

Life wears us down and what we need many times is rest. We need rest that goes beyond the physical. We need a rest in which we know that, no matter what circumstance we are facing in this life, we will get through it because Jesus is with us through it all.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing rest in our relationship with Jesus.

Jesus invites weary, ungodly sinners to surrender their lives to Him.

Jesus will give these weary, ungodly sinners – rest, forgiveness, love, grace, and mercy. The greatest thing that Jesus gives us is an intimate relationship with Him, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

I am overwhelmed that Jesus even wants a relationship. I am more than overwhelmed at the intimacy that Jesus wants with me in that relationship. I am truly grateful for a God that loves me that much.

In Great Intimacy with Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                   Joe