Jesus and the Father's Will

 

Luke 22:39-46

And He came out and went, as was His custom, to the Mount of Olives, and they followed Him. And when He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.” And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

 

Jesus often went with His disciples to the Mount of Olives. Jesus could have possibly avoided being found and arrested if He would have deviated from His regular activities. Jesus didn’t let threats or intimation or other’s expectations or opinions divert Him from doing the Father’s will.

 

Our lives as followers of Jesus are to be directed by Jesus, not our feelings or other’s opinions.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is following Jesus, not my emotions or popular opinion.

 

Jesus tells His disciples that they are to pray, not give into temptation. Being tempted is not sin. Scripture tells us that Jesus was tempted just like us but He didn’t sin.

 

Our desire should be not to sin and to pray for the Holy Spirit to strength us and equip us to say no to sin.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being tempted but, by the Holy Spirit, not letting it lead to sin in our lives.

 

Jesus prays if there is a way to avoid the cup of suffering He was about to experience, to not have to drink it, but not Jesus’ will but the Father’s will is what He wanted to do.

 

Humanly Jesus was not looking forward to experiencing the physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering He was about to endure. But Jesus says, “Not what I want but what the Father wants”.

 

We as followers of Jesus are to be like Him and seek the Father’s will and want to do the Father’s will and do the Father’s will.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is doing the Father’s will, not our will, no matter the circumstances.

 

Jesus was experiencing such stress that as He prayed, He actually sweated blood.

 

Jesus understands the stress that you and I go through. He is able to help us in our stress and anxiety. He went through great stress and still remained faithful and obeyed the Father’s will.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is looking to the Holy Spirit to be our hope and peace in the midst of stressful living.

 

Jesus comes back to His disciples and encourages them and then goes out to meet those who are coming to arrest Him.

 

We as followers of Jesus have all we need in God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to meet life and overcome.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is, with total dependence in God, meeting life and, by God’s power, overcoming.

 

With Our Loving and Powerful God

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe

 

 

   

 

What You Have

 

2 Corinthians 8:9-12

I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He become poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich. And in this matter, I give my judgment this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.

 

In this passage Paul is not giving a command but he is giving godly counsel.

 

Paul gives three things we should do as followers of Jesus.

 

The first is that we are to complete what we started.

 

It does not glorify God when we start a work for God and then we fail to complete it.

 

First it is not what God wants because it leaves something God directed you to do unfinished and leaves people who need what God told you to do hanging.

 

Also, it is not what God wants because it does not accurately show God’s character. Paul says in Philippians 1:6, “And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

 

God always finishes what He starts and we as followers of Jesus are to do the same.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing God to use us to finish what He directs us to start.   

 

The second is that we genuinely love others.

 

God sees love as a verb, not a noun. The proof of real love is our actions, not just our words.

In John 3:16 John says that God loved the world and so He gave His one and only Son. We as followers of Jesus are to love in that same way by giving.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is loving others like Jesus did by giving of ourselves to others.

 

The third is serving God with what we have, not what we don’t have.

 

I cannot serve God in ways that others do because I don’t have their gifts or abilities or resources. So, I focus on serving God with I do have.

 

Many people use the excuse of what they do have to not obey God. Moses, when God told him that he was to go back to Egypt and lead the Israelites out of slavery, began making excuses. God’s answer to all Moses’ excuses was Himself. Moses didn’t have some things just as we don’t have some things, but as followers of Jesus we all have Jesus and that is really all we need.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is taking what we have and serving God with that and not worrying about what we don’t have.

 

Paul shares two things that God provides so we can obey Him.

 

Jesus gave up His riches to us and took our poverty upon Himself.

 

Jesus took our sin, our trespasses, our iniquities, our failures, our weaknesses, and our diseases and gave us His righteousness, His perfection, His strength, and His healing.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is trading our sin for Jesus’ righteousness.

 

We have received God’s grace so that we can obey and serve Him.

 

God’s grace, His undeserved love and favor toward us just because we exist, empowers us to desire and do what pleases Him.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is depending on God’s grace to empower us to do His will.

 

God never calls us to do anything that He does not resource us to do, and the resource is always Him.

 

Focused and Resourced by God

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe

 

 

 

 

Called to Follow Jesus

 

In Matthew 4:18-22 Jesus calls Andrew, Peter, James, and John to come follow Him.

In Matthew 9:9 Jesus calls Matthew to come follow Him.

In John 1:43 Jesus calls Philip to come follow Him.

 

Notice the calling Jesus gives.

 

It is not a calling to follow a religion.

It is not a calling to follow a worldview.

It was not a calling to follow rituals or traditions.

 

It was a calling to follow Jesus, a person.

 

How do we respond to a calling to follow Jesus?

 

We love and obey Jesus.

 

John 14:15

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

 

Following Jesus means loving Jesus and loving Jesus means obeying Jesus.

 

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments.

 

Loving and obeying God is a mark that we belong to God and are following Jesus.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is loving Jesus and obeying Jesus.

 

We acknowledge and lived based on the truth that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life.

 

Jesus said in John 14:6 that He is the way and the truth and the life.

 

Jesus is not a way or one of many; Jesus is the The One and Only.

 

Colossians 3:3

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

 

We have died to any other way.

We have died to any other truth.

We have died to any other life.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is having Jesus as the way and the truth and the life in your life.

 

Luke 6:5

And He said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

 

Jesus is the sole ruling authority in our lives.

 

Jesus is who directs our lives.

 

Jesus is over the way we were raised.

Jesus is over the traditions we may have grown up following.

Jesus is over the rituals that may have been a part of our lives.

Jesus is over any human authorities that we may have followed.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is having Jesus as Lord, the sole ruling authority in our lives.

 

John 15:15

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

 

Jesus is our friend and we spend time hanging out with Jesus.

 

We just spent the weekend with our grandkids. When we asked them on Friday night what they wanted to do, they said plan some games with us.

 

On Saturday we hung out with them playing games, watching television and baking goodies.

 

Our grandkids just wanted to spend time hanging out with us. That is what Jesus wants for us: to spend time with Him. Spending time with Him by talking to Him, that is called prayer. Spending time with Him by listen to Him, that is called studying the Bible. Spending time with Him by working with Him, that is called ministry. Spending time with Him by telling Him you love Him, that is called worship. Spending time with Him by inviting others to be His friend also, that is called evangelism.

 

Being a Christian is not about religion, theology, traditions, or rituals.

Being a Christian is about having a relationship with Jesus by following Him.

 

Following Jesus by Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                Joe

Reaching Out to All People

 

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

 

God does not want anyone to live and die and without a relationship with Him through having accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord.

 

Jesus spent His life reaching out to all kinds of people.

 

In Luke 19 Jesus invites Himself to a tax collector’s house, Zacchaeus, to have lunch.

 

In Matthew 9 Jesus calls Matthew, a tax collector, to come and follow Him and later calls Matthew to be one of the Twelve. Jesus has dinner at Matthew’s house with a house full of tax collectors and sinners. When Jesus’ disciples are questioned about why Jesus is doing that, Jesus responds by saying that He “didn’t come to call righteous people but sinners” to come to Him.

 

In John 8 Jesus defends a woman who was caught in the act of committing adultery. He tells her to “go and from now on sin no more.”

 

In Matthew 15 Jesus heals the daughter of a Canaanite women.

 

In Luke 4 Jesus is in Nazareth and, in His sharing on the Sabbath in the synagogue, He points out that God provided for the widow in Zarephath and that He healed Naaman, a Syrian. Neither of these people were Israelite yet God still provided what they needed. The people of Nazareth got very angry at Jesus and tried to kill Him.

 

The point is that Jesus reached out to sinners, outcast, powerless, marginalized people. He reached out to people that the Jewish culture saw as unclean and sinful.

 

The question: Is the church reaching out to the sinner, to the outcast, to the powerless, and to the marginalized?

 

Another question is how do we reaching out.

 

Romans 3:23

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

 

All Have Sinned – we have to always remember that.

 

God’s eyes. There are no black sins and white sins; there is just sin.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is never forgetting of what God has forgiven us and always extending forgiveness to others.

 

Ephesians 4:15

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way unto Him who is the head, into Christ.

 

We Speak the Truth in Love

 

Speaking truth is essential but truth without love can be very harsh.

Speaking love is essential but love without truth can be weak.

So, both are essential to effectively reach out.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is speaking the truth of the Gospel to people but always with the attitude of love.

 

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

 

Our Salvation is Because of Jesus and Not About Us

 

It is not because of who we are but because of who God is.

It is not because of what we have done because of what God has done.

 

I can not boast about me; I can only boast about Jesus.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is realizing and acknowledging that it is by God’s grace and not our goodness.

 

All people need Jesus. The church is the Body of Christ. We as the church are to reach out to all the culture and proclaim Jesus and show Jesus to them.

 

We live in a culture where the majority don’t trust the church or church leaders. So, we have to remember that we were all at one time separated from God and only through Jesus are we brought into relationship with God. We have to speak the truth in love to all people.

 

Desiring that All People Come to Jesus,

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe

Jesus is Risen!

 

Jesus is risen! This is the central message of Christianity.

 

Matthew 28:5-6

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come see the place where He lay but has risen.”

 

Mark 16:6

And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.”

 

Luke 24:5-6

And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee.”

 

In these three gospels there are three things revealed to us.

 

The people came to the tomb expecting to find Jesus’ body there in the tomb and, when they didn’t find it there, they were afraid.

 

When we don’t find things as we expect them to be and we have no explanation, we can become very fearful. This is why they are told to not be afraid.

 

Jesus’ resurrection gives us the ability to not have to live in fear. The greatest enemy we as humans face is death. Jesus defeated death when He bodily came out of the tomb.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in complete peace with no fear because of Jesus’ resurrection.

 

A second thing we see in these accounts is that the people are invited to come see that Jesus is not in the tomb.

 

The people coming to the tomb could have been met before they got to the tomb but they are invited to come and see for themselves.

 

We never have to apologize for our faith in Jesus, His death and His resurrection. The death and resurrection of Jesus is real and there is nothing that has been brought to light that disproves it.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is sharing the truth about Jesus and inviting people to come and experience it for themselves.  

 

The third thing we see in these accounts is that Jesus had died. He was dead but He bodily rose from the dead.

 

We all will die, unless Jesus returns, but unlike Jesus we will not come back to life in three days.

 

Jesus tells His disciples before that last week that He will be rejected by the religious leaders, crucified, and on the third day rise again.

 

And Jesus did it!

 

Many have predicted they would do it but did not. Jesus said He would and He did it.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is believing that Jesus died on the cross for our sin and rose from the dead on the third day for our justification and living based on that belief every day.

 

May you experience the reality of the risen Lord Jesus today and each day. And may in your words and actions you proclaim Jesus’ death and resurrection every day.

 

In the Power of the Resurrection of Jesus

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe

Prophecies Fulfilled Part 4

 

I hear a lot on reality competitions when a contestant is asked what it would mean to win the competition and they say, “It would mean everything.” Another thing I hear a lot is when something good happens in a person’s life and they say this is the greatest day of their life.

 

I have had some great days and I have had some things that impacted my life in a big way. But the thing that means everything and the greatest two days in the history of the world are the day that Jesus died and the day that Jesus rose from the dead.

 

Isaiah 53:10

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him; He has put Him to grief; when His soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.

 

This verse reveals to us that the Messiah will be crushed and put to grief and become an offering for our guilt or sin.

 

John 19:28-30

After this, Jesus knowing that all was now finished, said, (to fulfill scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to His mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished,” and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

 

Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified as our sacrifice for sin. He could have stopped it at any point, He had the power. But Jesus chose to do the Father’s will and gave Himself up for our sin.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is surrendering our lives to Jesus as Lord and receiving His death to pay for sins and acknowledging Him as our Savior.

 

Isaiah 53:10 also says that the Messiah will see His offspring and His days will be prolonged.

 

The Messiah will not stay dead but will rise from the dead.

 

Matthew 28:5-6

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay.”

 

Jesus was placed in a tomb on Friday after His death. Jesus rose bodily from the dead and came out of the tomb.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is believing that Jesus rose bodily from the tomb and is alive.

 

When Jesus rose from the dead, He showed His power and authority over:

Death: He didn’t stay dead after He died, but came back to life

Sin: Sin is the cause of death being a reality in this world

Satan: Satan is the one who tempts us to sin and caused death to come into the world.

 

When we surrender our lives to Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we receive from Him His victory over death and sin and Satan.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in the victory that Jesus accomplished in His resurrection.

 

As you celebrate Good Friday may you remember Jesus’ sacrifice for your sin.

As you celebrate Resurrection Sunday may you experience Jesus’ victory over death and sin and Satan.

 

With Jesus as Savior and Lord, Celebrating His Victory

by Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe

Prophecies Fulfilled Part 3

 

This week we continue to look at prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament and their fulfillment in the New Testament.

 

Jeremiah 31:31-33

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put My law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

 

The old covenant that God gave Israel through Moses was a covenant based in the law that God gave Israel. It was a covenant that the people of God continually violated. They sought to make the law everything and ignored the personal relationship that God desired to have with them.

 

The new covenant would not be an outward but an inward covenant written on their hearts.

 

Luke 22:20

And likewise, the cup after they had eaten saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”

 

Jesus establishes the new covenant through His blood that He shed on the cross. It is a covenant that is put into our lives at conversion by the Holy Spirit as He comes to indwell us.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is having a personal relationship with Jesus and having that relationship sealed in our lives by the filling of the Holy Spirit.

 

Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey.

 

The Messiah would come into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. The king proclaiming Himself king.

 

Mark 11:7-9

 And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

 

Jesus fulfilled this prophecy by riding into Jerusalem as He began the last week of His earthly life. As He rode into Jerusalem on the donkey, He accept the praise as the Messiah and their king.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is receiving and serving Jesus as your king.

 

Psalm 22 vividly describes a crucifixion. In a very detailed manner, it describes the crucifixion of Jesus.

 

It describes the crowd mocking Jesus.

It describes the physical effects of crucifixion on Jesus.

It describes the fact that Jesus is crucified with criminals.

It describes the fact that the soldiers gambled for Jesus’ cloak.

 

All four Gospels, Jesus’ crucifixion is recorded. The Gospels record:

 

The crowd mocking Jesus

The physical effects of crucifixion

That Jesus is crucified with two convicted criminals

The soldiers casting lots for Jesus’ cloak

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that Jesus died for our sins and trusting in His death to completely pay for our sins.

 

Without Jesus’ teachings we would not know how to live in a righteous relationship with God.

Without Jesus’ miracles we would not know the power of God and how that power can transform our lives.

Without Jesus’ death we would not have forgiveness of sin and no guarantee of eternal life.

Jesus’ life and His death fulfill all the prophecies to show that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. This empowers us to trust Jesus as Savior and Lord and commit our lives to obey, follow, and serve Jesus with our lives.

 

Believing and Following Jesus

by Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe