Repent and Believe

 

In Mark 1:14-15 Mark records the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. It says, “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”

 

When Jesus began His ministry, His message was simple; the time is now; the kingdom of God is present, so people need to do two things: repent and believe.

 

There are two parts of accepting Jesus’ message and following Him.

 

The first is to repent.

 

We have made repentance hard, full of drama, and rare. Repentance should be natural, humble, and frequent. Repentance is to do an about face. It means I am headed in one direction and see that is the wrong way, so I do a 180 degree turn and head in the opposite direction.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is turning away from sin and not letting sin control your life.

 

The second part is to believe.

 

This is the part that many don’t do. They see the wrongness of the direction of their lives and turn away from sin but then have no idea who or what to turn to.

 

Believing is turning to Jesus. It is not enough to just turn from the wrong, the sin; we must turn to the right, to Jesus.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is turning our lives over to Jesus and letting Him be in control of our lives.

 

Accepting the message of Jesus and following Jesus with all our lives involves both repenting, turning away from sin, and believing, turning to Jesus.

 

In the third chapter in the book of Zechariah we are given a powerful picture of how this works.

 

Zechariah 3:3-4

Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So, they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by.

 

The filthy clothing that Joshua was wearing was his iniquity. Repentance is pictured as the filthy clothes are taken off him. Belief is shown as pure clean clothes are put on Joshua.

 

If we only turn from sin and don’t turn to Jesus, then we create a spiritual vacuum in our lives. Nature does not like a vacuum and will fill it up with something.

 

If we turn from sin but don’t turn to Jesus, we will have a vacuum and Satan will fill it with something that could be even worse than what was in our lives before.

 

Following Jesus is more than just not doing “bad things”, it is also doing the good works that God has prepared for us to do.

 

Following Jesus is letting our light shine so that others can see our good works and give God the glory for it.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is repenting and believing; about turning from sin and turning to follow Jesus.

 

Repenting and Believing So We Can

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls,

Joe

Yes!

 

I am a child of the 60’s and so I loved the Beatles and I still enjoy their music. I know they were not believers, but I still find truth that God, not the Beatles, put in their music.

 

The Beatles have a song called Hello, Goodbye. The first line of the song says, “You say, Yes, I say No.”

 

That really summarizes life because life is a series of yeses and nos. Each yes and each no carries consequences. Each yes and each no leads in a certain direction.

 

In Matthew 5:37 Jesus says, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”

 

When we make big elaborate declarations about our faith instead of a simple, “Yes, Lord’ we tend to be doing it to impress others and not in obedience to God’s will.

 

James 5:12 says, “But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” no so that you may not fall under condemnation.”

 

It is about simply obeying God and not about big, overdone proclamation.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is saying yes to God’s will and then doing it.

 

Revelation 16:7 says, “And I heard the altar saying, ‘Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!’”

 

We have to say yes to God’s Word.

The Bible is not a book of suggestions.

The Bible is not a book of religion.

The Bible is not a book of theology.

 

The Bible is the very word of God spoken to us. It reveals who God is, His purpose, and His ways. The Bible also reveals to us the truth of who we are and why we need Jesus as Savior and Lord.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is accepting the Bible as God’s Word and obeying it.

 

In 2 Corinthians 1:17 Paul asks a question, “Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make plans according to the flesh, ready to say, “Yes, yes” and “No” at the same time?”

 

When we know God and seek His will, He promises to revel it to us. When we seek to live life without seeking God’s will in God’s Word, we have no direction and go back and forth between yes and no. We have no direction if we are not guided by God and His will and His Word.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being guided by God and knowing which direction to go by saying yes to God.

 

2 Corinthians 1:20 says, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in Him. That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for His glory.”

 

Jesus is the Yes of God. Everything that God promised is fulfilled in Jesus. God will always fulfill His promises because He is faithful. He has and is and will fulfil them all in Jesus.

 

Jesus is the Amen of God. Jesus is the so be it of God. Jesus did everything the Father told Him to do. Jesus perfectly accomplished the will of the Father.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is trusting that God will fulfill all of His promises in Jesus and then living daily based on that truth.

 

We as God’s people, as the Body of Christ need to be like Jesus and say yes to God’s will and God’s way and to God Word. We need each day to surrender to the Will of God.

 

Do we just sing praise songs to Jesus and declare big elaborate statements about our faith in a safe environment around other Christians or do we live out our commitment to Jesus as Savior and Lord every day no matter the circumstances or our feelings?

 

In Obedience to God’s Will and God’s Word

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe

How to Deal with Opposition

 

How do we as followers of Jesus deal with people who are opposed or hostile to our faith? Because to be honest, the way we as the church are dealing with opposition, hostility, and ungodliness is not working. It is not working because it is not following the biblical pattern.

 

So how do we deal with opposition, hostility, and ungodliness?

 

Proverbs 15:1

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

 

James 1:19-20

Know this my beloved brothers; let every person be quick to hear, slow speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

 

James 3:17-18

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

 

These passages show us some biblical ways of dealing with anger and opposition because of our faith in Jesus.

 

Our word, our answers need to be soft. Our answers need to be made in compassion for others. We must see those who dislike us and oppose our faith and those who live an ungodly lifestyle as victims, not enemies.

 

Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6:12 that we do not battle against people but against evil spiritual forces. These evil spiritual forces, Satan, and his demons, want to hold humans in slavery. Those who are held in slavery are victims and they are not our enemies.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is using compassionate answers to others for our faith in Jesus.

 

We need to be quick to hear. Hear, not just listen, is the key. I listen to a lot of information daily and I only hear a small portion of the information. We need to hear what those who are opposed to our faith are saying. We need to be open to reason. We need to learn how to dialog with those who disagree with us and those who don’t like us.

Paul when he went to Athens in Acts 17 held discussions with the Greek philosophers about his faith. He even used some of their own ideas to share Jesus with them.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being open and willing to talk in a loving and peaceful manner with those who disagree with us.

 

We approach those who do not like us or agree with us in a loving, sincere, and peaceful attitude.

 

We love those who don’t love us.

We are real and transparent with those who don’t trust us.

We manifest godly peace to those who are angry at us.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is approaching those who oppose our faith with love, authenticity, and peace.

 

We relate to those who are hostile to our faith with mercy and grace. We relate to them in mercy because that is how God related to us when we were in opposition to Him.

 

We relate to those who are hostile to us with grace because it only by God’s grace are people really changed. Paul tells us in Romans 2:4 that it is by kindness that we are brought to repentance.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is relating to others in mercy and grace.

 

Why are we to deal with opposition in this way?

 

When we do it produces:

Good Fruits

Righteousness

Peace

 

It is also the way in which Jesus dealt with

The Women at the Well

The Women Taken in Adultery

Zacchaeus

Demon Possessed Man

 

Jesus does not relate to those held as victims of sin with anger, condemnation, or judgment but with love. He relates to them with love, as victims not enemies, and changes their lives.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is treating those in the grip of a sinful lifestyle with love as victims, not with anger as enemies.

 

Jesus used the early church to change the world because they followed a biblical pattern to deal with those who opposed them, who hated them, and to those who lived ungodly lives.

 

With a Biblical Pattern for Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                              Joe

Jesus Died for Sinners, Losers and Winners

 

In Romans 7:18-19 Paul writes, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”

 

There is a truth that the Bible reveals to us. That truth is that we as humans are not born good. We are born with a bent toward evil.

 

In Romans 3:10-11 Paul writes, “None is righteousness, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks God.”

 

This is very clear, no one is born righteousness, no one is born understanding God, and no one is born naturally seeking God.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is recognizing that no person is born with a bent toward God naturally.

 

Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All of us fall short of God’s standard, which is perfection. No person is perfect so we can’t depend on our goodness or perfection.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is acknowledging that we are not perfect, and that God’s standard is perfection.

 

Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

The best we as imperfect and sinful humans can earn with our very best effort is death. God in His grace gives us a gift through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

 

Romans 3:23 and 6:23 says two things to me.

 

First, it says we need to be aware of our sin and our inability to earn or deserve salvation. That salvation comes through Jesus and Him only.

 

Second it says that we as humans are all in the same situation. There is no human being naturally better than any other human being.  

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is acknowledging that we are sinners who have sinned, and we cannot earn our salvation.

 

All of this sounds depressing and negative.

 

In reality, it allows us to see that God has provided us in Jesus with what we need for salvation.

 

Jesus provides salvation through His mercy. In His mercy Jesus does not give us what we deserve.

Jesus provides salvation through His grace. In His grace Jesus gives us much more than we deserve.

 

The fact that we are sinners who sin is bad, but the fact is that Jesus by His mercy and grace provides what we cannot provide for ourselves – salvation.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is depending on Jesus and His death and His resurrection to provide us salvation, the forgiveness of our sin, and eternal life.

 

Depending on Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                            Joe

 

A personal note: This Sunday I shared with my faith family that at the end of this year I would be retiring from full time pastoring. I have had the honor to serve six churches over forty-seven years and it has been a great adventure. I don’t know what next year will hold for Jan and me but I know God has more adventures for us.

Forgiven People

 

Colossians 1:13-14

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

 

Jesus is the one, the only one who can:

Deliver us from the kingdom of darkness

Transfer us into the kingdom of Jesus

Give us redemption

Provide forgiveness of our sins

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is receiving the forgiveness of God through surrendering our lives to Jesus as Savior and Lord.

 

What does a person who has been delivered, transferred, redeemed, and forgiven look like?

 

Ephesians 4:25

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

 

Forgiven people put away falsehood and speaks the truth.

 

Jesus said that if we abide in His word, we will know the truth and the truth will make us free because Jesus is the truth. Forgiven people know the truth, Jesus, and speak truth and thus experience freedom.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing the truth, Jesus, and living Him out every day.

 

Ephesians 4:26-27

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.

 

Forgiven people are not controlled by their emotions and do not give the devil an opportunity to use their emotions to lead them into unrighteous acts.

 

James 1:20 tells us that human anger does not produce the righteousness of God.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting the Holy Spirit, not our emotions, control our lives.

 

Ephesians 4:28

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his owns hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

 

Forgiven people are honest and giving.

 

Peter reminds us that Jesus had no deceit, He was completely honest and had complete integrity. We as followers of Jesus who have been forgiven by Him are to also show those characteristics. Jesus also came as a servant to serve and we as His followers are to use what He has blessed us with to bless others.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being people of integrity and people who share with others.

 

Ephesians 4:29

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as it fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

 

Forgiven people are encouragers and speak grace into other’s lives.

 

Corrupt talk is using words that condemn others and judge them as opposed to showing them grace.

 

Jesus confronted sin but encouraged people and showed grace to the outcast and condemned.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being gracious people who build others up.

 

Ephesians 4:30

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

 

Forgiven people do not grieve the Holy Spirit.

 

We grieve the Holy Spirit when we disobey God. Jesus says that we are His friends if we obey Him. It grieves Him when we disobey Jesus and dishonor His desire to be our friend.

 

Ephesians 4:31

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

 

Forgiven people deal with life differently than the world does.

 

The lives of us who are followers of Jesus need to reflect the person of Jesus, not the attitudes of the world. The world should never look at Jesus’ followers and see wrath, bitterness, anger, physical outcries out of anger and bitterness, and saying hurtful things about others. Our lives are to show love, mercy, joy, and peace.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is showing godly character, not worldly character.

 

Ephesians 4:32

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

 

Forgiven people forgive others.

 

Jesus forgave the women at the well, the woman taken in adultery, Zacchaeus, and Peter. None of these deserved it but all needed it. We, like Jesus, need to forgive those who hurt us.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is forgiving others as Jesus forgave us.

 

As Forgiven People Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                              Joe

The Authority of Jesus

 

We all want change in our nation. My heart was heavy over the massacre that occurred in Buffalo, New York and it became even heavier with the massacre of innocent children in Uvalde, Texas this past week. These are examples of the evil that is gripping our country and our world.

 

In Mark 5 we see how Jesus changes people.

 

Mark 5:1-5

They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

 

This man who was demon possessed was violent.

This man who was demon possessed lived isolated from other people.

This man who was demon possessed hurt himself.

This man who was demon possessed cried out in pain constantly.

 

Then in verses 6 and 7 the man encounters Jesus and he falls to his knees and cries out to Jesus, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure You by God, do not torment me.”

 

The demons recognize who Jesus is, Son of God, and recognize He has authority over them.

 

We are living in a culture that is increasingly violent.

We are living in a culture where many are isolated from each other, if not physically, then ideologically and spiritually.

We live in a culture where people are hurting themselves increasingly.

We live in a culture where more people are in mental or emotional or spiritual pain than ever before.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is recognizing the truth about the brokenness of our culture.

 

When the man who was demon possessed encounters Jesus, the demons recognized who Jesus is and they recognize that He has the authority to torment them. They beg Him, based on God, not to torment them. They knew that their master Satan had no power to stop Jesus if He wanted to torment them.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is recognizing the authority of God and submitting our lives under His authority.

 

Jesus expelled the demons from the man and permitted them to enter a herd of pigs that, when the demons entered them, went rushing over the banks and drown in the sea.

 

The people from the town come out to see what has happened.

 

Verse 15 describes the man after the demons had left him.

 

He is sitting with Jesus; he is not isolated from other people. He is not violent and not trying to hurt himself and not crying out in pain. He is clothed and he is in his right mind.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing Jesus to transform us and to remove the things that He does not want in our lives.

 

If there is going to be change in our nation, we must turn to Jesus and trust His Word, the Bible. We must see that without Jesus we are not righteous or good. We must reestablish the family as the main source of spiritual and moral values and support the family to do that. We must recognize that change of culture comes from a change in individual hearts. Society changes from the individual out, not from society in.

 

God’s people the church must live out our faith in Jesus every day.

God’s people the church must love each other and stop hurting each other.

God’s people the church must love the world as Jesus does.

God’s people the church must focus on the head of the church, Jesus.

 

Letting Jesus Transform Us by Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                     Joe

Knowing and Trusting Jesus

 

I was four years old when I got my first Bible. I couldn’t read so my mother read me stories. The first one I remember was the story of David and Goliath. I learned growing up in the church that the Bible was God’s Word. But as I grew older, I began to question that fact.

 

2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

 

2 Peter 1:20-21 says, “Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

 

The Bible says of itself that its source is God, not humans. What are the things that cause me to believe this as being true?

 

First, I know Jesus. I talk to Him, and He speaks (not out loud in an audible voice). I share my life with Jesus, not as a theological concept but as a real person.

 

In knowing Jesus, I have come to trust Him. I also have come to know four essential things that enable me to trust Jesus and trust that the Bible is really God’s Word.

 

Jesus is God.

 

John 10:30 says, “I and the Father are one.”

 

John 14:8-9 says, “Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’”

 

Since I know through my relationship with Jesus that He is God, then it enables me to trust what He says. Jesus points to the Bible as God’s Word.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing Jesus as the one true God.

 

Second, Jesus is love.

1 John 4:8 and 16 says that God is love. The essence of God is love and since Jesus is God, then He is love. Jesus came into the world because He loved us as His human creation according to John 3:16.

 

In know Jesus as God and knowing He loves me, then I can trust Him.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that Jesus is love and thus came to die for me because He loves me.

 

Third, Jesus is good.

 

In Mark 10 Jesus encounters a wealth young man and the young man calls Him good. In verse 18 Jesus asks the young man why he calls Him good because only God is good.

 

Jesus is God and so He is good. We see Jesus’ goodness in His healing of lepers, lame people, blind people, and all kinds of sick people. We see it in how Jesus deals with marginalized people like the woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, and demon possessed people.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing Jesus is good and being enabled, as we come into relationship with Him, to live that goodness out in our lives.

 

Fourth, Jesus is faithful.

 

1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

 

Jesus as God is faithful and He does not lie, so I can trust Him and what the Bible says.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that Jesus is faithful and being about to trust all that He says and all that He promises.

 

Do I understand everything about life? – No!

Do I understand everything about the Bible? – No!

Do I understand everything about Jesus? – No!

 

I know Jesus and I trust Jesus and I believe the Bible is God’s Word. I know and trust and believe because Jesus is God, He is love, He is good, and He is faithful.

 

Knowing Jesus and Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                Joe