The first statement in John 14:1 would be a totally absurd statement if it had come from any one but Jesus.
Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled.”
The word troubled here means to be agitated, to cause one inward commotion, to take away calmness of mind, to make restless, or to render anxious or distressed.
Jesus is telling us not to be in inner turmoil, but to be at peace.
First, because Jesus is our Provision.
John 14:2-3
In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go and prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself that where I am you may be also.
Jesus provides all the we need:
Physically
Emotionally
Relationally
Mentally
Spiritually
He does not want us to look at any other source to be satisfied.
Second, because Jesus is the Way.
In John 14:4 Jesus tells the twelve that they know the way to the place that He has prepared for them.
In John 14:5 Thomas says that they don’t know where Jesus is going, so how could they know the way.
In John 14:6 Jesus says that He is the Way, the Truth, the Life.
Jesus being the Way means that we don’t follow rules, rituals, or religion, but a person - Jesus.
It is about a relationship, and in relating to Jesus as the Way, we follow Him by denying ourselves and taking up our cross every day.
Third, Jesus is the Truth.
There is mathematic truth
There scientific truth.
There medical truth.
There is historical truth.
There is archaeological truth.
There is spiritual truth.
All truth comes from Jesus and points back to Jesus.
We as followers of Jesus never need to be fearful of the truth, It will always prove that Jesus is who says He is.
Fourth, Jesus is the Life.
Colossians 3:4
When Christ who is your life appears then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Jesus never asked to be part of your life.
Jesus asked to be your life.
It is not about fitting Jesus into your life. It is about yielding your life to Jesus.
It is about submitting your will to Jesus’ will.
It is about surrendering everything you are and everything you have to Jesus.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is trusting Jesus as your Provision, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Jesus also claims that He is God.
John 14:7-11
If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him. 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?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”
Jesus is saying that He and the Father are the same. Jesus speaks the words of the Father and does the works of the Father.
Jesus is our Provision.
Jesus is the Way.
Jesus is the Truth.
Jesus is the Life
Because Jesus is God.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing, following, and obeying Jesus as God and nothing less.
Because Jesus is God He gives us two promises.
John 14:12
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I do; and greater works then these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
We will do the works that Jesus did and greater ones.
Greater Works:
Pentecost
Paul taking the Gospel to the Gentiles
Billy Graham having preached to over two billion people
Bible in over 2,500 languages
We can do greater works because Jesus has gone to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit. It is not our works but the works of God through us.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being God’s instrument to take the Gospel of His grace to the world.
John 14:13-14
Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
What A Promise!
Jesus is saying, “If you ask Me anything that is according to My will, I will do it.” Jesus doesn’t say He might do it or He could do it or He will think about doing it. He says “I will do it.”
James 4:2
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
We don’t have because we don’t ask.
Then in James 4:3 God reveals another reason we don’t have. It says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
We don’t have because we ask based on the wrong motives. We want it for OUR passions. We are to ask and want it for God’s passions.
I have been praying for revival for over fifteen years. Two weeks ago God spoke to me about why I was praying for revival. I came to understand I was praying for revival because I wanted things to change in the church and become more like what I wanted. God told me that I was praying for the right thing but for the wrong reason.
I am still praying for revival but now I want revival for the honor and glory of God. I want revival for the church because God wants revival for the church.
I hear a lot of Christians wanting our country to change, but I have to be honest. Many American Christians are wanting the country to change so it will be like it was or to become more conservative or become safer or become more moral. Many are wanting God to make the American Dream happen.
We must, as God’s people, lose the attitude that it is about me and return to our first love as God’s people - Jesus.
The promise is Jesus will give us what we ask for when what we ask for is all about Him.
Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls is praying according to God’s will, to glorify Jesus and watching God do awesome things beyond what we can imagine.
In Peace, Not Worry, Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls
Joe
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Jesus Washes Dirty Feet
Several years ago a friend of mine said, “I love being a servant, until people beginning treating me like a servant.”
It sounds very spiritual and godly to talk about being a servant. It is very different when we actually function as a servant.
Jesus talks a lot about being a servant, but He backs it up by being a servant.
In John 13 we see the servanthood of Jesus demonstrated as He washed the feet of the Twelve.
John 13:4-5
He laid His outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around His waist. Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.
The Creator, The King, The Lord, The Master of all creation was on His knees washing the dirty feet of humanity.
The duty of washing people feet was given to the lowest of the servants in the household.
Jesus had not just become a human being.
Jesus had just become a servant.
Jesus had become the lowest of servants.
Not only did Jesus wash the feet of Peter, James, John, Andrew, Mathew, but He washed the feet of Judas. He washed the feet of the guy who would betray Him.
What did Jesus know that gave Him the humility to act as that lowest of servants and wash the feet of these men?
Jesus knew that:
(1) His Hour Had Come
John 13:1a
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His our had come
Jesus knew that what the Father had given Him to do was about to come to a climax. Jesus knew that He had obeyed the Father and all was in order.
We need to face life and death with the same confidence that Jesus did, knowing that we have obeyed the Father.
(2) It was time to depart and go to the Father
John 13:1b
To depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
Jesus knew that when He left this world, His earthly existence, He would go to the Father. This allowed Him to love His own even when His own misunderstood Him, denied Him, or even rejected Him.
(3) All things were in His hand
John 13:3a
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands
Jesus knew that He was in control. He is always in control.
When they came to Jesus, Jesus asked them who they were seeking and they said Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus told them that He was Jesus. In John 18:6 it says, “When Jesus said to them, ‘I am he’, they drew back and fell to the ground.”
Even when Jesus is being arrested, He, not the ones coming to arrest Him, was in control.
(4) He had come from God
John 13:3b
And that He come from God and was going back to God
Jesus knew who He was.
Jesus knew why He had come.
Jesus knew what He was to do.
God doesn’t play hide and seek with us about who we are as His children, and what our purpose is. He doesn’t play hide and seek about what we are to do based on what our purpose is and who we are.
We, like Jesus, can know and in the knowing be free to follow God’s will.
(5) He was both Master and Lord
John 13:13
You call Me “Teacher” and “Lord,” and rightly so, for that is what I am.
Jesus is the Teacher.
Jesus is the Master.
Jesus is the Lord.
Jesus is all of that and more, and He washed the feet of His:
Students
Subjects
Inferiors
The grace and love that Jesus shows here reinforces the truth found in Isaiah 57:15.
For this what the high and lofty One says - He who lives forever, whose name is holy, “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
Jesus is high and holy, but He chose to live with us and to give His life to save us.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that Jesus is the absolute ruler in our lives with absolute authority.
Why does Jesus wash the feet of the disciples?
In short, because He is God and He wanted to. We know that Jesus only did what the Father told Him to do.
Jesus did it as an example of humility.
John 13:15
I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
In Matthew 21:5 Jesus is described as humble. He showed the extent of that humility in the washing of the disciples’ feet.
Since we are being recreated in the image of Jesus we are to allow His Spirit to make us humble.
Jesus did it as a rebuke to pride.
In Luke 22 a conversation between the Twelve is recorded.
Luke 22:24-27
Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and one who rules like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? But I am among you as one who serves.”
Jesus says this at the very time that He is washing their feet. Jesus adds great power to what He says by showing them pure service.
Jesus did it as a picture of daily cleansing.
John 13:10
Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”
When we confess our sins, Jesus forgives us and cleanses us from the dirtiness of sin. We need only allow Him to clean us daily from the dirtiness of living in a broken, dirty world.
Jesus did it as a reminder of His union and communion with the believer.
John 13:8
“No,” said Peter, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me.”
Jesus physically, emotionally, and spiritually touches the lives of the Twelve.
Jesus wants to physically, emotionally, and spiritually touch our lives daily.
Raise the Roof and Removes the Walls is allowing the Holy Spirit to make us humble like Jesus and cleanse us and make us one with Jesus.
Humbly and Submissively with Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
It sounds very spiritual and godly to talk about being a servant. It is very different when we actually function as a servant.
Jesus talks a lot about being a servant, but He backs it up by being a servant.
In John 13 we see the servanthood of Jesus demonstrated as He washed the feet of the Twelve.
John 13:4-5
He laid His outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around His waist. Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.
The Creator, The King, The Lord, The Master of all creation was on His knees washing the dirty feet of humanity.
The duty of washing people feet was given to the lowest of the servants in the household.
Jesus had not just become a human being.
Jesus had just become a servant.
Jesus had become the lowest of servants.
Not only did Jesus wash the feet of Peter, James, John, Andrew, Mathew, but He washed the feet of Judas. He washed the feet of the guy who would betray Him.
What did Jesus know that gave Him the humility to act as that lowest of servants and wash the feet of these men?
Jesus knew that:
(1) His Hour Had Come
John 13:1a
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His our had come
Jesus knew that what the Father had given Him to do was about to come to a climax. Jesus knew that He had obeyed the Father and all was in order.
We need to face life and death with the same confidence that Jesus did, knowing that we have obeyed the Father.
(2) It was time to depart and go to the Father
John 13:1b
To depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
Jesus knew that when He left this world, His earthly existence, He would go to the Father. This allowed Him to love His own even when His own misunderstood Him, denied Him, or even rejected Him.
(3) All things were in His hand
John 13:3a
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands
Jesus knew that He was in control. He is always in control.
When they came to Jesus, Jesus asked them who they were seeking and they said Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus told them that He was Jesus. In John 18:6 it says, “When Jesus said to them, ‘I am he’, they drew back and fell to the ground.”
Even when Jesus is being arrested, He, not the ones coming to arrest Him, was in control.
(4) He had come from God
John 13:3b
And that He come from God and was going back to God
Jesus knew who He was.
Jesus knew why He had come.
Jesus knew what He was to do.
God doesn’t play hide and seek with us about who we are as His children, and what our purpose is. He doesn’t play hide and seek about what we are to do based on what our purpose is and who we are.
We, like Jesus, can know and in the knowing be free to follow God’s will.
(5) He was both Master and Lord
John 13:13
You call Me “Teacher” and “Lord,” and rightly so, for that is what I am.
Jesus is the Teacher.
Jesus is the Master.
Jesus is the Lord.
Jesus is all of that and more, and He washed the feet of His:
Students
Subjects
Inferiors
The grace and love that Jesus shows here reinforces the truth found in Isaiah 57:15.
For this what the high and lofty One says - He who lives forever, whose name is holy, “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
Jesus is high and holy, but He chose to live with us and to give His life to save us.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that Jesus is the absolute ruler in our lives with absolute authority.
Why does Jesus wash the feet of the disciples?
In short, because He is God and He wanted to. We know that Jesus only did what the Father told Him to do.
Jesus did it as an example of humility.
John 13:15
I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
In Matthew 21:5 Jesus is described as humble. He showed the extent of that humility in the washing of the disciples’ feet.
Since we are being recreated in the image of Jesus we are to allow His Spirit to make us humble.
Jesus did it as a rebuke to pride.
In Luke 22 a conversation between the Twelve is recorded.
Luke 22:24-27
Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and one who rules like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? But I am among you as one who serves.”
Jesus says this at the very time that He is washing their feet. Jesus adds great power to what He says by showing them pure service.
Jesus did it as a picture of daily cleansing.
John 13:10
Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”
When we confess our sins, Jesus forgives us and cleanses us from the dirtiness of sin. We need only allow Him to clean us daily from the dirtiness of living in a broken, dirty world.
Jesus did it as a reminder of His union and communion with the believer.
John 13:8
“No,” said Peter, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me.”
Jesus physically, emotionally, and spiritually touches the lives of the Twelve.
Jesus wants to physically, emotionally, and spiritually touch our lives daily.
Raise the Roof and Removes the Walls is allowing the Holy Spirit to make us humble like Jesus and cleanse us and make us one with Jesus.
Humbly and Submissively with Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Jesus Is More
I heard a conversation between two people. The first person asked the second if he believed in Jesus. The second responded that he believed that Jesus existed. The first person said, “Then you believe in Jesus.” The second person responded again that he believed that Jesus had existed. The first person went away seemingly satisfied.
We throw that phrase, “Do you believe in Jesus?” around a lot. What are we really asking?
Many people believe that:
Jesus existed
Jesus was a great man
Jesus was a great teacher
Jesus was a prophet
Jesus does not really leave any of those options open to us.
In John 12:44-50 Jesus shares five things about Himself that move Him out of the category of “merely existed” or “being a great man” or “a great teacher” or “a prophet“. What Jesus shares puts Him in a higher category than an any human.
John 12:44-50
Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in Me, he does not believe in Me only, but in the One who sent Me. When he looks at Me, he sees the One who sent Me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness. As for the person who hears My words but does not keep them, I do not judge them, For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not accept My words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. For I did not speak of My own accord, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me what to say and how to say it. I know that His commands lead to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told Me to say.”
Jesus says that He is God.
Jesus says that believing Him is the same as believing God.
Jesus says that seeing Him is the same as seeing God.
If I said that believing in me is the same as believing in God or that seeing me is the same as seeing God, I would either be lying or crazy.
I have never healed anyone.
I have never calmed a storm.
I have never kicked a demon out of anyone’s life.
I have never miraculously fed thousands of people with a small amount of food.
I have never raised anyone from the dead.
Jesus did all these things and He did them more than once.
Jesus’ life backed up His claim to be God.
Oh, yeah. He rose from the dead!
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing and following Jesus as God.
Jesus is light.
Jesus makes the claim that He is the very essence of light and that if we believe in Him as God we will never walk in darkness.
In Psalm 4:6 David prays, “Many are asking, ’Who can show us any good?’ Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord.”
Jesus is telling us that He is the light of God’s face.
If I or any mere human were to claim that we were the light of God’s face, then again, we would be lying or crazy.
Jesus as recorded in Matthew 17 shone with a light that was so overpowering that Peter, James, and John could not look upon Him. It says that Jesus’ face shone like the sun and that His clothes became as white as the light.
Jesus didn’t just claim to be light, He demonstrated the very essence of light.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is walking in Jesus as the Light.
Jesus is the Savior of the world.
Jesus says that He didn’t come into the world to judge the world, but to save the world.
In Luke 19:10 Jesus says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Jesus hung out with sinners.
In Matthew 9:11 Jesus’ disciples are asked by the Pharisees, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus ate with sinners because He came to be the Savior of the world.
We as the church need to really keep in mind that Jesus didn’t come into the world to judge or condemn people, but to save people. Many people see the church not as people who are in the world to help and serve out of love, but see us as being here to judge and point out all the bad things they do.
We need to become much more like Jesus in this area.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is surrendering your life to Jesus as your one and only Savior.
Jesus hears directly from God.
Jesus says that He does not speak on His own but what the Father commands Him to say.
Jesus claims to have direct communication from God and that He speaks only the word that is given to Him.
This is not just knowing God’s Word.
This is not just an impression.
This is not just a strong feeling.
This is a direct revelation from God.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is seeing Jesus and hearing His words as a direct revelation from God.
Jesus is eternal life.
Jesus says that the words He speaks are eternal life.
We have made eternal life something God gives us. Jesus says that eternal is Him and the words He speaks.
Jesus doesn’t give us eternal life, He is eternal life.
Jesus raised three people from the dead:
Jarius’ Daughter
Widow of Nain’s Son
Lazarus
Jesus didn’t do these with medicines or medical procedures or by enlisting any other people to help. Jesus by simply speaking restored life to these three dead people.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living based on the truth that Jesus is eternal life.
In Acts 17:17 Luke writes that the early church turned the world upside down by proclaiming Jesus as King.
Jesus is the Lord of lords and King of kings. We as followers of Jesus need to proclaim Jesus not as a good man, a great teacher or a prophet. We need to proclaim to the world who Jesus says He is - Lord and Savior of all creation.
With Jesus as King Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
We throw that phrase, “Do you believe in Jesus?” around a lot. What are we really asking?
Many people believe that:
Jesus existed
Jesus was a great man
Jesus was a great teacher
Jesus was a prophet
Jesus does not really leave any of those options open to us.
In John 12:44-50 Jesus shares five things about Himself that move Him out of the category of “merely existed” or “being a great man” or “a great teacher” or “a prophet“. What Jesus shares puts Him in a higher category than an any human.
John 12:44-50
Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in Me, he does not believe in Me only, but in the One who sent Me. When he looks at Me, he sees the One who sent Me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness. As for the person who hears My words but does not keep them, I do not judge them, For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not accept My words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. For I did not speak of My own accord, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me what to say and how to say it. I know that His commands lead to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told Me to say.”
Jesus says that He is God.
Jesus says that believing Him is the same as believing God.
Jesus says that seeing Him is the same as seeing God.
If I said that believing in me is the same as believing in God or that seeing me is the same as seeing God, I would either be lying or crazy.
I have never healed anyone.
I have never calmed a storm.
I have never kicked a demon out of anyone’s life.
I have never miraculously fed thousands of people with a small amount of food.
I have never raised anyone from the dead.
Jesus did all these things and He did them more than once.
Jesus’ life backed up His claim to be God.
Oh, yeah. He rose from the dead!
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing and following Jesus as God.
Jesus is light.
Jesus makes the claim that He is the very essence of light and that if we believe in Him as God we will never walk in darkness.
In Psalm 4:6 David prays, “Many are asking, ’Who can show us any good?’ Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord.”
Jesus is telling us that He is the light of God’s face.
If I or any mere human were to claim that we were the light of God’s face, then again, we would be lying or crazy.
Jesus as recorded in Matthew 17 shone with a light that was so overpowering that Peter, James, and John could not look upon Him. It says that Jesus’ face shone like the sun and that His clothes became as white as the light.
Jesus didn’t just claim to be light, He demonstrated the very essence of light.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is walking in Jesus as the Light.
Jesus is the Savior of the world.
Jesus says that He didn’t come into the world to judge the world, but to save the world.
In Luke 19:10 Jesus says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Jesus hung out with sinners.
In Matthew 9:11 Jesus’ disciples are asked by the Pharisees, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus ate with sinners because He came to be the Savior of the world.
We as the church need to really keep in mind that Jesus didn’t come into the world to judge or condemn people, but to save people. Many people see the church not as people who are in the world to help and serve out of love, but see us as being here to judge and point out all the bad things they do.
We need to become much more like Jesus in this area.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is surrendering your life to Jesus as your one and only Savior.
Jesus hears directly from God.
Jesus says that He does not speak on His own but what the Father commands Him to say.
Jesus claims to have direct communication from God and that He speaks only the word that is given to Him.
This is not just knowing God’s Word.
This is not just an impression.
This is not just a strong feeling.
This is a direct revelation from God.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is seeing Jesus and hearing His words as a direct revelation from God.
Jesus is eternal life.
Jesus says that the words He speaks are eternal life.
We have made eternal life something God gives us. Jesus says that eternal is Him and the words He speaks.
Jesus doesn’t give us eternal life, He is eternal life.
Jesus raised three people from the dead:
Jarius’ Daughter
Widow of Nain’s Son
Lazarus
Jesus didn’t do these with medicines or medical procedures or by enlisting any other people to help. Jesus by simply speaking restored life to these three dead people.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living based on the truth that Jesus is eternal life.
In Acts 17:17 Luke writes that the early church turned the world upside down by proclaiming Jesus as King.
Jesus is the Lord of lords and King of kings. We as followers of Jesus need to proclaim Jesus not as a good man, a great teacher or a prophet. We need to proclaim to the world who Jesus says He is - Lord and Savior of all creation.
With Jesus as King Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Exalting Jesus
I am continually amazed at the transparency of God and His Word.
In John 12:27 Jesus says, “Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father save Me from this hour? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.”
Jesus is troubled about the cross. He knows that is the purpose for which He has come into the world.
If the Bible was not truly the Word of God it would paint another picture of Jesus. It would not show His troubled soul here in this passage.
Jesus then in John 12:28 says, “Father, glorify Your name.”
Jesus wanted to glorify the Father in every circumstance of His earthly life.
Then God the Father does an awesome thing. He answers Jesus. The crowd hears something but is not quite sure what it was, and Jesus tells them that the voice had been for their benefit, not His.
Then in John 12:32 Jesus says, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.”
John 12:33 tells us this is a reference to how Jesus would die.
This verse also shares with us a very important truth.
When we exalt Jesus in our lives, He will use us to draw people to Himself.
What does it mean for Jesus to be exalted in our lives?
It means that we live based on who the Word of God says that God is.
God is Infinite.
Colossians 1:17
And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Infinite means limitless or endless in space, extent, or size; impossible to measure or calculate.
God cannot be measured or calculated or compared to anything.
God is Good.
Psalm 119:68
You are good and do good; teach me your statues.
God being good means He is morally perfect. There is no sin, no sin at all, in God.
God is Just.
Psalm 111:7
The works of His hands are faithful and just; all His precepts are trustworthy.
God never acts in an unjust or unfaithful manner.
God is Mercy.
2 Corinthians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.
God always shows mercy before any judgment is dispensed.
God is Grace.
Romans 3:24
And are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Grace is God’s undeserved love for us. We cannot do anything to make God love us more or love us less. He loves us to the max all the time.
God is Holy.
Leviticus11:44
For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.
God is separate and above His creation. He is pure and undefiled.
God is Perfect.
Psalm 50:2
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
There is nothing about God that is not perfect.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls means living based on who God is.
Exalting Jesus in our lives means that we live based on what God Word’s says about what God can do.
Psalm 145:19
He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He also hears their cry and saves them.
God saves us from the penalty and power of sin
Psalm 103:3
Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases.
God forgives and heals.
Psalm 23:3
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
God restores.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls means living based on what God can do.
Exalting Jesus in your life means living based on who God’ s Word says we are.
Ephesians 2:5
Even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved.
We are Saved and Alive.
Galatians 3:3
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us - for it written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.”
We are Redeemed.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We are Forgiven and Cleansed.
Ephesians 2:4
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us.
We are Loved.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls means we live based on who God says we are.
There are mnay more things that God is and does and many more things that God says we are and exalting Jesus means living based on all those truths.
It is time that the church, all followers of Jesus, live not based on what the enemy is telling us about God and ourselves, but on what God says about Himself and us.
The world does not need to see what we can do.
The world does not need to see us exalted.
The world does not need a human-based solution to our problems.
The world needs to see what Jesus can do.
The world needs to see Jesus exalted.
The world needs to see a Jesus-based solution to our problems.
Exalting Jesus in Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
In John 12:27 Jesus says, “Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father save Me from this hour? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.”
Jesus is troubled about the cross. He knows that is the purpose for which He has come into the world.
If the Bible was not truly the Word of God it would paint another picture of Jesus. It would not show His troubled soul here in this passage.
Jesus then in John 12:28 says, “Father, glorify Your name.”
Jesus wanted to glorify the Father in every circumstance of His earthly life.
Then God the Father does an awesome thing. He answers Jesus. The crowd hears something but is not quite sure what it was, and Jesus tells them that the voice had been for their benefit, not His.
Then in John 12:32 Jesus says, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.”
John 12:33 tells us this is a reference to how Jesus would die.
This verse also shares with us a very important truth.
When we exalt Jesus in our lives, He will use us to draw people to Himself.
What does it mean for Jesus to be exalted in our lives?
It means that we live based on who the Word of God says that God is.
God is Infinite.
Colossians 1:17
And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Infinite means limitless or endless in space, extent, or size; impossible to measure or calculate.
God cannot be measured or calculated or compared to anything.
God is Good.
Psalm 119:68
You are good and do good; teach me your statues.
God being good means He is morally perfect. There is no sin, no sin at all, in God.
God is Just.
Psalm 111:7
The works of His hands are faithful and just; all His precepts are trustworthy.
God never acts in an unjust or unfaithful manner.
God is Mercy.
2 Corinthians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.
God always shows mercy before any judgment is dispensed.
God is Grace.
Romans 3:24
And are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Grace is God’s undeserved love for us. We cannot do anything to make God love us more or love us less. He loves us to the max all the time.
God is Holy.
Leviticus11:44
For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.
God is separate and above His creation. He is pure and undefiled.
God is Perfect.
Psalm 50:2
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
There is nothing about God that is not perfect.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls means living based on who God is.
Exalting Jesus in our lives means that we live based on what God Word’s says about what God can do.
Psalm 145:19
He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He also hears their cry and saves them.
God saves us from the penalty and power of sin
Psalm 103:3
Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases.
God forgives and heals.
Psalm 23:3
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
God restores.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls means living based on what God can do.
Exalting Jesus in your life means living based on who God’ s Word says we are.
Ephesians 2:5
Even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved.
We are Saved and Alive.
Galatians 3:3
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us - for it written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.”
We are Redeemed.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We are Forgiven and Cleansed.
Ephesians 2:4
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us.
We are Loved.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls means we live based on who God says we are.
There are mnay more things that God is and does and many more things that God says we are and exalting Jesus means living based on all those truths.
It is time that the church, all followers of Jesus, live not based on what the enemy is telling us about God and ourselves, but on what God says about Himself and us.
The world does not need to see what we can do.
The world does not need to see us exalted.
The world does not need a human-based solution to our problems.
The world needs to see what Jesus can do.
The world needs to see Jesus exalted.
The world needs to see a Jesus-based solution to our problems.
Exalting Jesus in Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Sunday, September 27, 2015
The Driving Force of Your Life
Purpose: the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.
Psalm 86:9
All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name.
Romans 15:6
That together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation 15:4
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.
These and many other Scriptures make it plain that the purpose of all human beings is to glorify God.
How do we glorify God?
All of nature except humans glorify God naturally.
Birds glorify God by singing.
Flowers glorify God by blooming.
Fruit trees glorify God by producing fruit.
The sun glorifies God by shine and giving light and warmth.
We as humans are to glorify God by being who God created us to be. We do need to remember that we are each created uniquely. No two human beings are exactly alike and so we glorify God by being the unique creation that God made us to be.
In John 12 there is a great example of this truth in the person of Andrew.
John 12:20-21
Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
Some people had come to celebrate the Passover and they heard about Jesus. They come to Philip and ask him to arrange a meeting with Jesus.
Sounds like a simple request. But Philip does an interesting thing.
John 12:22
Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
Why did Philip go and get Andrew?
In John 1:40-41 we are told that Andrew encounters Jesus and the first thing he does is go and get his brother Peter and bring him to Jesus.
In John 6 Jesus feeds five thousand people. He does it with five barley loaves and two fish. Jesus got the bread and fish from a boy that Andrew brought to Him.
Philip went to Andrew because Andrew took things to Jesus. And the things he took to Jesus, Jesus used to accomplish the Father’s will. Andrew glorified the Father.
Jesus took Peter and used him to change the world.
Jesus took the bread and fish and fed over five thousand people.
Jesus took the Greeks and shared some awesome truth with the crowd.
Jesus tells us in John 12:24 that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Jesus then connects the seed being planted with our willingness to lose our lives for His sake.
John 12:25-26
Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
If my life is focused on glorifying Jesus and not focused on me then I will experience eternal life. If I am going to serve Jesus, I have to follow Him. Following Jesus means I will be where Jesus is, doing what Jesus is doing. The Father will honor Jesus’ servants.
When we glorify God by fulfilling His purpose for us it also results in three things:
Honor to God
Growth of God’s Kingdom
Benefit for us
Andrew glorified God by bringing whatever came into his life to Jesus.
The driving force our lives is meant to be bringing glory to God by being who He created us to be.
We have to ask the question: What is the driving force of my life?
Many people are driven by guilt. (This is one the church has unfortunately used.)
Many people are driven by resentment and anger.
Many people are driven by fear.
Many people are driven by materialism.
Many people are driven by the need for approval.
All those driving forces are negative and they lead to living lives of defeat and desperation.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is making glorifying God the driving force of your life.
There are great benefits to letting this be the driving force of your life.
When glorifying God is the driving force of your life, your life has meaning.
This is an eternal purpose. If life is driven by guilt or anger or fear then, when those feelings go away, so does what drives your life.
Glorifying God gives life eternal meaning.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing your life has an eternal purpose.
Knowing your purpose will simplify your life.
When I know my purpose, my driving force, I can then evaluate what is essential and what is not.
If I am driven by the need for approval of others, I am constantly having to figure out want “they” want me to do. I have no clue as to what is really essential.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about life being simpler.
Having glorifying God as the driving force of your life allows you to focus your life.
I know that multitasking is encouraged by our culture, but Jesus was focused. He was singled minded in who He was and what He came to do.
John 8:28
Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on My own authority, but speak just as the Father taught Me.”
Jesus was not directed by anything but what the Father wanted. it freed Him to live a focused life.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living a life focused on Jesus.
When we have glorying God as our driving force, it motivates us to live life with godly passion.
If fear or anger or guilt is my driving force, I am going to very reluctantly do anything because all my motivation is negative.
When glorify God is my motivation, then I can passionately pursue God and His kingdom.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is passionately pursuing God and His kingdom.
God has created all of us differently, but He has wired each of us in our own unique way to glorify Him.
We don’t have to do it like anyone else.
God created Andrew to be Andrew and to glorify Him by bring people to Jesus.
God created you to glorify Him just like you are.
SO DO IT!
Uniquely Glorifying Jesus by Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Psalm 86:9
All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name.
Romans 15:6
That together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation 15:4
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.
These and many other Scriptures make it plain that the purpose of all human beings is to glorify God.
How do we glorify God?
All of nature except humans glorify God naturally.
Birds glorify God by singing.
Flowers glorify God by blooming.
Fruit trees glorify God by producing fruit.
The sun glorifies God by shine and giving light and warmth.
We as humans are to glorify God by being who God created us to be. We do need to remember that we are each created uniquely. No two human beings are exactly alike and so we glorify God by being the unique creation that God made us to be.
In John 12 there is a great example of this truth in the person of Andrew.
John 12:20-21
Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
Some people had come to celebrate the Passover and they heard about Jesus. They come to Philip and ask him to arrange a meeting with Jesus.
Sounds like a simple request. But Philip does an interesting thing.
John 12:22
Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
Why did Philip go and get Andrew?
In John 1:40-41 we are told that Andrew encounters Jesus and the first thing he does is go and get his brother Peter and bring him to Jesus.
In John 6 Jesus feeds five thousand people. He does it with five barley loaves and two fish. Jesus got the bread and fish from a boy that Andrew brought to Him.
Philip went to Andrew because Andrew took things to Jesus. And the things he took to Jesus, Jesus used to accomplish the Father’s will. Andrew glorified the Father.
Jesus took Peter and used him to change the world.
Jesus took the bread and fish and fed over five thousand people.
Jesus took the Greeks and shared some awesome truth with the crowd.
Jesus tells us in John 12:24 that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Jesus then connects the seed being planted with our willingness to lose our lives for His sake.
John 12:25-26
Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
If my life is focused on glorifying Jesus and not focused on me then I will experience eternal life. If I am going to serve Jesus, I have to follow Him. Following Jesus means I will be where Jesus is, doing what Jesus is doing. The Father will honor Jesus’ servants.
When we glorify God by fulfilling His purpose for us it also results in three things:
Honor to God
Growth of God’s Kingdom
Benefit for us
Andrew glorified God by bringing whatever came into his life to Jesus.
The driving force our lives is meant to be bringing glory to God by being who He created us to be.
We have to ask the question: What is the driving force of my life?
Many people are driven by guilt. (This is one the church has unfortunately used.)
Many people are driven by resentment and anger.
Many people are driven by fear.
Many people are driven by materialism.
Many people are driven by the need for approval.
All those driving forces are negative and they lead to living lives of defeat and desperation.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is making glorifying God the driving force of your life.
There are great benefits to letting this be the driving force of your life.
When glorifying God is the driving force of your life, your life has meaning.
This is an eternal purpose. If life is driven by guilt or anger or fear then, when those feelings go away, so does what drives your life.
Glorifying God gives life eternal meaning.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing your life has an eternal purpose.
Knowing your purpose will simplify your life.
When I know my purpose, my driving force, I can then evaluate what is essential and what is not.
If I am driven by the need for approval of others, I am constantly having to figure out want “they” want me to do. I have no clue as to what is really essential.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about life being simpler.
Having glorifying God as the driving force of your life allows you to focus your life.
I know that multitasking is encouraged by our culture, but Jesus was focused. He was singled minded in who He was and what He came to do.
John 8:28
Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on My own authority, but speak just as the Father taught Me.”
Jesus was not directed by anything but what the Father wanted. it freed Him to live a focused life.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living a life focused on Jesus.
When we have glorying God as our driving force, it motivates us to live life with godly passion.
If fear or anger or guilt is my driving force, I am going to very reluctantly do anything because all my motivation is negative.
When glorify God is my motivation, then I can passionately pursue God and His kingdom.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is passionately pursuing God and His kingdom.
God has created all of us differently, but He has wired each of us in our own unique way to glorify Him.
We don’t have to do it like anyone else.
God created Andrew to be Andrew and to glorify Him by bring people to Jesus.
God created you to glorify Him just like you are.
SO DO IT!
Uniquely Glorifying Jesus by Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Being a Risk Taker
I am not by nature a risk taker. But I am beginning to let God break down some of the fears I have lived with over the years and free me to risk for Him.
There are many risk takers in the Bible, but one of my favorites is found in John 12.
Jesus is at a dinner party in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper. While Jesus was eating His meal, Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, came with an alabaster flask of ointment made of pure nard and anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair.
She was criticized by Jesus’ own followers for “wasting” something that could have been used to help the poor.
Jesus comes to her defense. He says, “Leave her alone. It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of My burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.”
Jesus is saying that Mary had the right focus: Jesus. Helping the poor was important, but Jesus is more important.
Mary was a risk taker.
What does it take to be a risk taker?
It takes courage.
In the Jewish culture women were not considered very important. In the John 12 passage the other woman mentioned was Mary’s sister Martha. She was serving. Serving was the proper position for the women of that time.
Mary chose to do something that was not accepted by her culture.
In the first chapter of Joshua, God tells Joshua four times to be courageous.
God knew that leading the people of Israel into a land where they would have to fight was a big risk. He knew that, for Joshua to take the risk, he would need to be courageous. So, God commands him to be courageous and in commanding him to be courageous, God empowers him with courage.
God never commands us to do something or be something that He is not the source for us to fulfill the command.
In Joshua 10 Joshua and the Israelites defeat a coalition of five kings. In verse 25 Joshua says, “Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous. For thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.”
Joshua had been empowered by God to have courage and now he was helping his people to experience that same godly courage.
Many define courage as not being afraid, but courage is trusting God more than you fear something.
It is living based on the truth on 1 John 4:4: Greater is He who is in you than he that is in the world.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being a courageous risk taker.
It takes confidence in God.
Being a risk taker is not about confidence in yourself. It is not thinking that you can do anything.
Being a risk taker is about believing that you can do anything that God tells you to do.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
It does not say I can do:
What I have the training and education to do
What I am good at
What I enjoy
It does not say I can do:
Many things
Most things
All put a few things
All but one thing
It says I can do ALL, not in my ability, but through HIM who gives me strength.
Paul says a similar thing in Philippians 2:13. He says, “God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out His good purposes.”
We don’t have to come up with what God wants us to do; He will.
We don’t have to come up with how God wants us to do it; He will.
We don’t have to come up with the power or ability to do it; He will.
We have to listen, trust , and obey. All based not on confidence in ourselves but in Jesus.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being a confident risk taker.
It takes humility.
When Mary came, in she didn’t make a big production out of what she was doing. She didn’t anoint Jesus’ head, she anointed His feet. For Mary to anoint Jesus’ feet she would have to bow down. Bowing down is an indication of humility.
Being humble is not condemning yourself.
Being humble is not seeing yourself as worthless.
Those ideas come from Satan, not Jesus.
Jesus sees us as so valuable and worthwhile that He died on the cross for us.
Being humble means I see myself in the proper position in relationship to Jesus.
1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.
Look at the process here in this passage.
I humble my self under God’s authority.
God, at the time He chooses, exalts me. (He can exalt me because I am humble. If I am not humbled, God cannot exalt me because I have already exalted myself)
I cast all my cares on Him.
He cares for me.
The all-power, all-know, all-loving, ever-present God of all creation says, “If you will surrender your life over to me I will exalt you and take all your worries on me because I love you.”
This is a no brainier! And the answer is YES!
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being a humble risk taker.
It takes making Jesus everything.
When we risk for Jesus, others will criticize us.
Sometimes that criticism will be, as in Mary’s case, verbal.
Sometimes risking for Jesus will bring physical persecution and even death.
Just recently I faced a situation that, by doing what God had directed me to do, I could have been detained in jail. The possibility was small, but still a possibility. I asked myself, “Is it worth it?” It made me very much appreciate our brothers and sisters in the persecuted church and determine to increase my praying for them.
Criticism, mocking, persecution or death are not things we seek or rush into.
The criticism of the disciples was that the perfume could have been turned into money to help the poor. Helping the poor is important. Jesus commands us to help the poor.
Jesus is teaching His disciples something that is huge. It is huge for followers of Jesus who minister in any form. The ministry is never to be more important than the One whose name we do the ministry in - Jesus.
Life and ministry are about Jesus.
We don’t minister based on the needs of people; we minister based on what Jesus wants us to do. It is not about human need; it is about God’s will.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being a Jesus focused risk taker.
I want to share the lyrics of one of my favorite songs. It is Alabaster by Rend Collective Experiment.
Being a Risk Taker for Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
There are many risk takers in the Bible, but one of my favorites is found in John 12.
Jesus is at a dinner party in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper. While Jesus was eating His meal, Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, came with an alabaster flask of ointment made of pure nard and anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair.
She was criticized by Jesus’ own followers for “wasting” something that could have been used to help the poor.
Jesus comes to her defense. He says, “Leave her alone. It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of My burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.”
Jesus is saying that Mary had the right focus: Jesus. Helping the poor was important, but Jesus is more important.
Mary was a risk taker.
What does it take to be a risk taker?
It takes courage.
In the Jewish culture women were not considered very important. In the John 12 passage the other woman mentioned was Mary’s sister Martha. She was serving. Serving was the proper position for the women of that time.
Mary chose to do something that was not accepted by her culture.
In the first chapter of Joshua, God tells Joshua four times to be courageous.
God knew that leading the people of Israel into a land where they would have to fight was a big risk. He knew that, for Joshua to take the risk, he would need to be courageous. So, God commands him to be courageous and in commanding him to be courageous, God empowers him with courage.
God never commands us to do something or be something that He is not the source for us to fulfill the command.
In Joshua 10 Joshua and the Israelites defeat a coalition of five kings. In verse 25 Joshua says, “Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous. For thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.”
Joshua had been empowered by God to have courage and now he was helping his people to experience that same godly courage.
Many define courage as not being afraid, but courage is trusting God more than you fear something.
It is living based on the truth on 1 John 4:4: Greater is He who is in you than he that is in the world.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being a courageous risk taker.
It takes confidence in God.
Being a risk taker is not about confidence in yourself. It is not thinking that you can do anything.
Being a risk taker is about believing that you can do anything that God tells you to do.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
It does not say I can do:
What I have the training and education to do
What I am good at
What I enjoy
It does not say I can do:
Many things
Most things
All put a few things
All but one thing
It says I can do ALL, not in my ability, but through HIM who gives me strength.
Paul says a similar thing in Philippians 2:13. He says, “God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out His good purposes.”
We don’t have to come up with what God wants us to do; He will.
We don’t have to come up with how God wants us to do it; He will.
We don’t have to come up with the power or ability to do it; He will.
We have to listen, trust , and obey. All based not on confidence in ourselves but in Jesus.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being a confident risk taker.
It takes humility.
When Mary came, in she didn’t make a big production out of what she was doing. She didn’t anoint Jesus’ head, she anointed His feet. For Mary to anoint Jesus’ feet she would have to bow down. Bowing down is an indication of humility.
Being humble is not condemning yourself.
Being humble is not seeing yourself as worthless.
Those ideas come from Satan, not Jesus.
Jesus sees us as so valuable and worthwhile that He died on the cross for us.
Being humble means I see myself in the proper position in relationship to Jesus.
1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.
Look at the process here in this passage.
I humble my self under God’s authority.
God, at the time He chooses, exalts me. (He can exalt me because I am humble. If I am not humbled, God cannot exalt me because I have already exalted myself)
I cast all my cares on Him.
He cares for me.
The all-power, all-know, all-loving, ever-present God of all creation says, “If you will surrender your life over to me I will exalt you and take all your worries on me because I love you.”
This is a no brainier! And the answer is YES!
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being a humble risk taker.
It takes making Jesus everything.
When we risk for Jesus, others will criticize us.
Sometimes that criticism will be, as in Mary’s case, verbal.
Sometimes risking for Jesus will bring physical persecution and even death.
Just recently I faced a situation that, by doing what God had directed me to do, I could have been detained in jail. The possibility was small, but still a possibility. I asked myself, “Is it worth it?” It made me very much appreciate our brothers and sisters in the persecuted church and determine to increase my praying for them.
Criticism, mocking, persecution or death are not things we seek or rush into.
The criticism of the disciples was that the perfume could have been turned into money to help the poor. Helping the poor is important. Jesus commands us to help the poor.
Jesus is teaching His disciples something that is huge. It is huge for followers of Jesus who minister in any form. The ministry is never to be more important than the One whose name we do the ministry in - Jesus.
Life and ministry are about Jesus.
We don’t minister based on the needs of people; we minister based on what Jesus wants us to do. It is not about human need; it is about God’s will.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being a Jesus focused risk taker.
I want to share the lyrics of one of my favorite songs. It is Alabaster by Rend Collective Experiment.
I am broken at your feet
Like an alabaster jar
Every piece of who I am
Laid before Your majesty
I will bow my life
At Your feet
At Your feet
My lips
So lost for words
Will kiss Your feet
Kiss Your feet
Oh the gravity of You
Draws my soul unto it knees
I will never be the same
I am lost and found in You
I will bow my life
At Your feet
At Your feet
My lips
So lost for words
Will kiss Your feet
Kiss Your feet
Being a Risk Taker for Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Jesus Teaches Us Truth Through Death
Death: the permanent cessation of vital physical functions
In John 11 Lazarus dies. He didn’t pass out or go into a coma. He was not misdiagnosed. He DIED!
If you don’t believe that Lazarus died, then you will miss God’s truths in John 11.
John 11:4
But when Jesus heard it He said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Truth #1: It is about trusting Jesus.
Lazarus did die, but Jesus knew and trusted the plan that the Father had.
The ultimate result of Lazarus’ illness, death, and resurrection was for Jesus to be glorified. The Father’s plan was for Jesus to be glorified by Lazarus experience of all three: sickness, death, and resurrection.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is trusting Jesus and His plan.
John 11:5-6
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was.
Truth #2: Jesus’ timing is always perfect.
Many times in our desire to do for God, we try to help Him out and we want to rush things.
In the book of Psalms we are told thirteen times to wait on God.
God never tells us to do for Him. He tells us to do with Him. When I do with God, I let Him lead and set the pace and the timing.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting God set the time for everything.
John 11:16
So Thomas called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us go, that we may die with Him.”
Truth #3: We are to follow Jesus.
It is one thing to follow Jesus when we think that everything is going to successful, fun, and comfortable. It is another level of faith when by following Jesus you think you will die.
According to Luke 9:23 following Jesus means exactly that - You Will Die.
We are to take up our cross daily. The cross is not a piece of jewelry or a decoration for the wall. The cross is a place to die.
Following Jesus means we are to die to self daily.
John 11:21
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
John 11:32
Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Truth #4: Jesus gives us the unexpected.
Martha and Mary were not necessarily blaming Jesus. They were actually expressing great faith in Jesus and His power to heal.
But Jesus had a much greater plan that He tells Martha about in John 11:23. Jesus says, “Your brother will rise again.”
According to Ephesians 3:20 Jesus can do far more than we can ask or think.
Jesus gives us unexpected blessings.
Martha and Mary didn’t know that Jesus could bring people back to life. They had never experienced that from Jesus.
Jesus is willing to do more than we can even imagine.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is having faith in Jesus to do the unexpected.
John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Truth #5: Jesus is life, physical and eternal.
Death for us as human beings is inevitable. We can prolong life but we can not defeat death.
Jesus has overcome death. He died on the cross and three days later He was alive.
The reality is that without Jesus we have no life. So, if you want to really live, yield your life to Jesus as your source of life.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living with Jesus as your life.
John 11:38-39
Then Jesus deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
Truth #6: Jesus will lead us into uncomfortable situations.
Many people believe that to follow Jesus means:
An easy life
Comfortable situations
No difficult circumstances
Following Jesus means going into the heart of the enemy’s camp.
Following Jesus means going against the cultural values of the day.
Following Jesus means risking everything.
Following Jesus means we are going to be uncomfortable at times.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing Jesus to move us out of our comfort zone.
John 11:41-42
So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that You sent Me.”
Truth #7: Following Jesus means acknowledging the power of God before we see or experience it.
Jesus prays to the Father and He already knows that the Father has heard Him. And He already knows that the Father is going to answer. And He already knows what He is going to do and the results. In spite of knowing all these already, Jesus out loud thanks the Father.
Jesus wanted the crowd to know that He was depending on and honoring God the Father.
Following Jesus is about giving honor to the Father on a continual basis. It is not talking about luck or fate. It is talking about faith in God to do the impossible. It is about living not based on what we can do but on what the Father can and will do.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is out loud, in front of everyone acknowledging the greatness of God.
John 11:43-44
When He had said these things, He cried, out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Truth #8: Jesus calls us to be partners with Him in life and ministry.
Jesus could have gone over and removed the wrappings from Lazarus. He chose to involve other people in unbinding Lazarus and giving him complete freedom.
Jesus has chosen human being to be His partners in sharing the Good News with all the world. Just as Jesus chose the twelve, He has chosen you and me to testify to the gospel of God’s grace to the world.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being Jesus’ partner in telling people the Good News of God’s grace.
Just as in other things, the people who experience the work of Jesus had a choice about how they responded.
John 11:45
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what He did, believed in Him.
Some believed and surrendered their lives to Jesus.
John 11:46
But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
Others rejected Jesus even after the awesome miracle and went and tattled on Him to the Pharisees.
We must choose to believe and surrender to Jesus or to not believe and reject Jesus. There is no middle ground.
Following Jesus to Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls
Joe
In John 11 Lazarus dies. He didn’t pass out or go into a coma. He was not misdiagnosed. He DIED!
If you don’t believe that Lazarus died, then you will miss God’s truths in John 11.
John 11:4
But when Jesus heard it He said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Truth #1: It is about trusting Jesus.
Lazarus did die, but Jesus knew and trusted the plan that the Father had.
The ultimate result of Lazarus’ illness, death, and resurrection was for Jesus to be glorified. The Father’s plan was for Jesus to be glorified by Lazarus experience of all three: sickness, death, and resurrection.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is trusting Jesus and His plan.
John 11:5-6
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was.
Truth #2: Jesus’ timing is always perfect.
Many times in our desire to do for God, we try to help Him out and we want to rush things.
In the book of Psalms we are told thirteen times to wait on God.
God never tells us to do for Him. He tells us to do with Him. When I do with God, I let Him lead and set the pace and the timing.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting God set the time for everything.
John 11:16
So Thomas called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us go, that we may die with Him.”
Truth #3: We are to follow Jesus.
It is one thing to follow Jesus when we think that everything is going to successful, fun, and comfortable. It is another level of faith when by following Jesus you think you will die.
According to Luke 9:23 following Jesus means exactly that - You Will Die.
We are to take up our cross daily. The cross is not a piece of jewelry or a decoration for the wall. The cross is a place to die.
Following Jesus means we are to die to self daily.
John 11:21
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
John 11:32
Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Truth #4: Jesus gives us the unexpected.
Martha and Mary were not necessarily blaming Jesus. They were actually expressing great faith in Jesus and His power to heal.
But Jesus had a much greater plan that He tells Martha about in John 11:23. Jesus says, “Your brother will rise again.”
According to Ephesians 3:20 Jesus can do far more than we can ask or think.
Jesus gives us unexpected blessings.
Martha and Mary didn’t know that Jesus could bring people back to life. They had never experienced that from Jesus.
Jesus is willing to do more than we can even imagine.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is having faith in Jesus to do the unexpected.
John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Truth #5: Jesus is life, physical and eternal.
Death for us as human beings is inevitable. We can prolong life but we can not defeat death.
Jesus has overcome death. He died on the cross and three days later He was alive.
The reality is that without Jesus we have no life. So, if you want to really live, yield your life to Jesus as your source of life.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living with Jesus as your life.
John 11:38-39
Then Jesus deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
Truth #6: Jesus will lead us into uncomfortable situations.
Many people believe that to follow Jesus means:
An easy life
Comfortable situations
No difficult circumstances
Following Jesus means going into the heart of the enemy’s camp.
Following Jesus means going against the cultural values of the day.
Following Jesus means risking everything.
Following Jesus means we are going to be uncomfortable at times.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing Jesus to move us out of our comfort zone.
John 11:41-42
So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that You sent Me.”
Truth #7: Following Jesus means acknowledging the power of God before we see or experience it.
Jesus prays to the Father and He already knows that the Father has heard Him. And He already knows that the Father is going to answer. And He already knows what He is going to do and the results. In spite of knowing all these already, Jesus out loud thanks the Father.
Jesus wanted the crowd to know that He was depending on and honoring God the Father.
Following Jesus is about giving honor to the Father on a continual basis. It is not talking about luck or fate. It is talking about faith in God to do the impossible. It is about living not based on what we can do but on what the Father can and will do.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is out loud, in front of everyone acknowledging the greatness of God.
John 11:43-44
When He had said these things, He cried, out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Truth #8: Jesus calls us to be partners with Him in life and ministry.
Jesus could have gone over and removed the wrappings from Lazarus. He chose to involve other people in unbinding Lazarus and giving him complete freedom.
Jesus has chosen human being to be His partners in sharing the Good News with all the world. Just as Jesus chose the twelve, He has chosen you and me to testify to the gospel of God’s grace to the world.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being Jesus’ partner in telling people the Good News of God’s grace.
Just as in other things, the people who experience the work of Jesus had a choice about how they responded.
John 11:45
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what He did, believed in Him.
Some believed and surrendered their lives to Jesus.
John 11:46
But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
Others rejected Jesus even after the awesome miracle and went and tattled on Him to the Pharisees.
We must choose to believe and surrender to Jesus or to not believe and reject Jesus. There is no middle ground.
Following Jesus to Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls
Joe
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