Jesus and His Bride

In Genesis 24, Abraham sends his chief servant back to the land of his relatives to find a wife for his son, Isaac. When the servant gets to the land of Abraham’s relatives, he prays for God to lead him to the women who God would have for a wife for Isaac. God answers his prayer and leads him to encounter Rebekah.

The servant goes to stay in the home of Rebekah’s family. He shares with her family the reason for his visit and tells them that Rebekah is the one God has selected for Isaac’s wife.

Rebekah agrees to go back with the servant and become Isaac’s wife.

In this story we have a picture of God’s relationship to the church.

Three times in the book of Revelation, the church is referred to as the bride of Christ.

The comparison of Rebekah becoming Isaac’s bride and the church becoming Jesus’ bride reveal some truths about our relationship with Jesus.

The church was created by God to be the bride of Christ just as Rebekah was created by God to be Isaac’s bride.

Because we were created to be Jesus’ bride, that means that nothing else will satisfy us the way Jesus does.

We tend to look to things like:

People

Success

Possessions

Money

Comfort

Acceptance

Romance

Family

Power

A Cause

to give our lives meaning.

They can’t because none of those things are the bridegroom.

God planned for Isaac and Rebekah to marry each other and be used by Him to be part of the process that brought the Messiah into the world. God planned for the church to marry Jesus and be the instrument that He uses to change the world.

It is not just about finding the bridegroom; it is about marrying the bridegroom.

We marry Jesus by joining every part of our life with Him.

We join our:

Heart

Soul

Wounds

Longings

Desires

with Jesus.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is joining all of your life to Jesus.

Abraham’s servant went and sought out the bride, Rebekah. The servant gave gifts to Rebekah and her family to draw her to Isaac.

God sought us out. God through His Spirit wooed us and drew us to Jesus.

The bridegroom seeks out the bride, and the bride simply opens herself up to the bridegroom.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is us opening ourselves up to Jesus.

There was a waiting time between the betrothal period and the wedding ceremony. That was the time for the bride to prepare herself to be married to the bridegroom.

Rebekah had the trip to Canaan to prepare herself. We as the church have been betrothed or promised to the bridegroom, but the wedding ceremony has not taken place yet.

But we have been changed. Things around us may look the same and feel the same. We are in the world but not of the world. We no longer belong to our circumstances, or our past, or our sins, or our limitations. We now belong to Jesus.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about belonging to Jesus and being free.

When Abraham’s servant told Rebekah’s family it was time for him to take Rebekah to Isaac, they tried to delay his leaving. When they asked Rebekah, she was willing to go right then.

When we commit to marrying Jesus, open ourselves up to Him completely, and see ourselves as belong to Him, we then focus on Him and not what we are leaving behind.

Just as Rebekah left her family, we have to leave things and values of this world and take the things of God and what He values.

We are to no longer look on this world as our home but look to our eternal home with our bridegroom, Jesus.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is focusing on Jesus and nothing else.

Genesis 24 gives us a beautiful picture of the bridegroom seeking His bride and of the bride saying yes and giving herself completely to the bridegroom.

As the Bride of Christ, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                  Joe

The Sacrifice

In Genesis 22 we read the story of God telling Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.

In this story we have a picture of the crucifixion of Jesus.

In this story, God puts Abraham to the test by asking him to do something unthinkable. God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son, the son of the promise, Isaac, as a burnt offering. Abraham had another son, Ishmael, but Isaac was the son that all of God’s promises were to come through.

Isaac represented the continuation of all the promises God had given to Abraham to bless all the earth through Abraham’s descendants. Everything about Isaac’s life was the result of God’s supernatural plan and provision.

God did what was humanly impossible by enabling Sarah at 90 years old to have a child.

In spite of all that Isaac represented, God was asking Abraham to surrender his beloved son.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is surrendering our will to God’s will and being willing to trust God with everything in our lives.

In this story we see the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son according to God’s will.

Genesis 22:2-3

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac – and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

God also was willing to sacrifice His one and only Son.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

Genesis 22:6

Abraham took the wood for the brunt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife.

Abraham had Isaac carry the wood on which he would be laid to be the burnt offering.

John 19:17

Carrying His own cross, He went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).

God the Father placed the wooden cross, the instrument of Jesus’ sacrifice, on Him.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is acknowledging and receiving Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for our sin.

In this story was also see the faith we need to receive Jesus’ sacrifice for our sin.

Genesis 22:5

He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

Abraham expresses faith that after they had gone and worshiped God, he and Isaac would come back. Abraham was not saying this just to appease his servants or to trick Isaac. He was saying this based on his faith in God.

Genesis 22:7-8

Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and the wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

Again, Abraham expressed his faith in God’s plan. Abraham didn’t fully understand all the details of God’s plan, but he trusted God.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is trusting God in His plan for our salvation and our lives.

Then we see God’s gracious provision.

Abraham tied Isaac to the altar and was about to plunge the knife into him when the angel of the Lord called out to Abraham.

Genesis 22:12-13

“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son.” Abraham looked up and there in the thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

God saw that Abraham had faith in God, His will, and His plan and so in His grace He provided a ram in place of Isaac for the burnt offering.

In God’s grace He provided a sacrifice for us in His Son, Jesus.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is God gracious gift of His Son, Jesus.

Jesus’ sacrifice for our sin is not an after thought of God or plan B. Jesus’ sacrifice for our sin was part of the Father’s plan from the very beginning.

Rejoicing in Jesus’ Sacrifice, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                       Joe

Gratitude Not Entitlement

I just returned from Mexico and spending four days there handing out Samaritan’s Purse Christmas boxes. Jan and I, like many of you, have for years packed shoe boxes. It as an awesome experience to actually be part of giving shoe boxes to the kids.

While we were there, God spoke to me about my attitude.

I don’t mind God dealing with me about my language or my behavior because those are seen by others and I want them to see truly see Jesus in what I say and how I act. But I really want my attitudes and thoughts to be mine. God however, purchased all of me on the cross. He has a right to correct my words, actions, attitudes, and thoughts.

We went to three different communities in Mexico. The third one was a very small village. The streets were all dirt. There was water in the streets from bathrooms because there is no sewer system. The building we did the outreach in was dark and dirty. This was a village where most of us as Americans would not have lived.

I saw on the faces and heard in the words of these people joy.

I ask myself how these people can be joyful living in these conditions. Some would say it is all they know, so since they have only known this, it is ok to them. I believe in Greek there is a word for that: “baloney!”

I believe God showed me a huge spiritual truth as I watched these children get so excited about the shoe boxes. 

In Exodus and Numbers, it says that the people of Israel grumbled about things they thought were bad. They grumbled against God.

Now here were people who God had delivered out of slavery. He had provided for them by giving them manna every day. He had provided water out of a rock. He had protected them from more powerful people groups.

And their response was gratitude? No, their response was grumbling and whining.

God wants gratitude from His people.

God used two passages to show me some truths that I want to incorporate into my life and into the life of my faith family.

Philippians 2:14-16

Do all these without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

1 Peter 4:9-10

Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another; as good stewards of God’s grace.

The truths are:

●Gratitude, Not Grumbling

Gratitude shows our submission to God.

Grumbling shows that we still want to be in control.

● Righteousness, Not Perversion

Righteousness shows that we are looking more and more like Jesus.

Perversion shows that we are looking more and more like the people we complain about.

● Light, Not Darkness

Light shows that we are walking with God.

Darkness shows that we are walking away from God.

● Based on God’s Word, Not the Values of This World

Living based on God’s Word shows that we are a supernatural creation of God.

Living based on the values of this world shows that we are just part of this natural temporary world.

● Purpose, Not Purposelessness

Purpose shows I exist for something bigger than me.

Purposelessness shows I exist for only me.

● Hospitality, Not Selfishness

Hospitality shows love for others.

Selfishness shows only love for myself.

● Grace, Not Condemnation

Grace shows Jesus.

Condemnation shows everything that is not Jesus.

One of the things I saw in the people of Mexico and in the followers of Jesus in Mexico was true humility. They did not feel entitled. That humility is allowing God to use them to impact their country.

We as Jesus’ followers need an attitude of gratitude and a spirit of humility. We have to get rid of the entitlement attitude.

One last note: The people of Mexico are pictured by some to all be drug running criminals. The people I encountered were people who were truly seeking God.

Without Grumbling, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                              Joe    

In the Beginning: Jesus

The Bible is the story of God redeeming fallen humanity by grace through the sending of His Son Jesus.

The main character through all the Bible is Jesus. The Old Testament is looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus. The New Testament is looking at the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, and then Jesus working through His body, the church.

From Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, Jesus is the focus.

I want to walk through the Bible and show how in each book Jesus is pictured.

Genesis 1:3

And God said, “Let there be light.”

God brings light into darkness. That is a recurring theme throughout the Bible and it all begins here.

God creates by His spoken word.

John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, without Him nothing was made that was made.

Jesus is the Word of God. Creation was done by the Word of God.

The first thing that was created was light.

John 8:12

When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Jesus is the Light of the World. God shows us at the very beginning of creation that light is necessary for real life and that light is found in Jesus.

Paul writes to the church at Corinth about what God’s has done in their lives through shining His light into their lives.

2 Corinthians 4:6

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

Jesus as our Light gives us knowledge and understanding of the presence God in our lives. He extols the Father in our lives.

Light represents the glory or presence of God and the salvation that God provides for us. This is all expressed in the person of Jesus.

Jesus is the exact representation of God, and He revealed God to a world sitting in spiritual darkness. Those who trust in Jesus are brought from the darkness of sin and the guilt of that sin into God’s light. In the light of Jesus there is joy, peace, and hope forever.

In the end, there will be no more darkness. The light of God’s glory will shine brightly in God’s eternal kingdom.

Revelation 21:23

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

In Matthew 5:14 Jesus says that we as His followers are the light of the world. Jesus as the Light of the World shines through us as the Holy Spirit fills us.

Philippians 2:14-16a

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.

We as followers of Jesus are the light of the world. We as people of the light are to shine as stars in the night sky. We do that by living our lives by the power of God’s Spirit based on the truth of the Word of God.

From the very beginning God the Father knew that is was only through His light that we as His human creation would be able to live. Knowing that truth, God sent us the Light of the World, His Son, Jesus.

Jesus warns us in John 9 of the dangers of not walking in God’s light.

John 9:4-5

“As long as it is day, we must do the works of Him who sent Me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

We can only do the works of God in the light of His presence.

We can only do the works of God as we stay connected with the Light of the World, Jesus.

In the Light as Jesus is in the Light, Raising the Roof

And Removing the Walls,

Joe

Newness in a New Year

I read an article this week from a national newspaper that was entitled, The List: What’s In & Out in 2018.

As I read the article, I wondered who decides what is in and out. It couldn’t be what was popular because this was written before the year had even begun. I imagined in my mind a group of people sitting in a big room around a table deciding what was going to be in and what would be out.

I believe that many times we, as followers of Jesus, let the world tell us what is in and out.

For followers of Jesus, God, not the world, defines who we are and what is right and wrong and what is in and out.

The Word of God tells us who we are in Jesus.

In 2 Timothy 3:16 it says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

God’s Word teaches us who we are.

God’s Word tells us when we are not living like who we are.

God’s Word redirects us to live like who we are.

God’s Word trains us to live like who we are.

The Bible says a lot about who we are. I want to focus on seven truths about who we are in Jesus.

John 1:12

Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in his name, He gave the right to become children of God.

We are Children of God.

As God’s children we are:

Loved by God

Protected by God

Provided for by God

Heirs of God

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

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.

We are a chosen people.

God chose us. A person can only come to Jesus because God has called him. We love Him because He first loved us. It is all about God choosing us, God loving us, God initiating the relationship with us.

Think about that. The God of all creation chose you and me to be His people.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living as God’s chosen people.

We are a Royal Priesthood.

Only Jesus combined the offices of king and high priest. We as followers of Jesus are kingly priests. We are given the privilege through God’s authority to come before God’s throne.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living as people who have direct access to God the Father through Jesus.

We are a holy nation.

Holy means set apart for God’s purpose.

Nation does not refer to a political entity but to a group of people.

We as followers of Jesus are a group of people who have been set apart for His purposes.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living as people set apart to do God’s will.

We are God’s special possession.

We belong to God.

We are special to God.

In Deuteronomy God says that Israel is to be a peculiar people. That word peculiar means treasured possession. We as His people are His treasured possession.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living as God’s possession.

We are a people called out of darkness into God’s light.

Darkness is always associated with evil.

Light is always associated with good.

We are a people called out of evil and called in to goodness or righteousness by God’s grace.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living as light people not darkness people.

Ephesians 5:1

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children of God.

We are the beloved of God.

God loves us just because He loves us. It is not because of anything we have done or will do or even could do. Jesus loves us because we exist.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living as people fully beloved by God.  

God’s Word tells us:

Who God is

What God does

Who we are in Jesus

What we can do in Jesus

As we enter a new year may we believe that we are who God says we are.

Believing Jesus, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                            Joe

Jesus Came as the Light of the World

John 1:1-9

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through Him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

In John 8:12 Jesus says that He is the light of the world and that whoever follows Him will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

What are these passages telling us about Jesus?

They are telling us that Jesus is the light of the world. 

1 John 1:5-7

This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not have the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.

Jesus being the light means He illuminates truth.

The truth of our sin.

The truth of who Jesus is.

The truth of God’s provision.

The truth of God’s grace.

The truth of who we are in Jesus.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is acknowledging Jesus as the light and letting Him guide our daily walk.

Jesus being the light means He creates.

Nothing that exists was made outside of the knowledge and will of Jesus. You and I exist because He wants us to exist.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is acknowledging Jesus as the Creator and living under His authority.

Jesus being the light means that we have many, many brothers and sisters.

We not only have God as our Father, we have God’s people as our brothers and sisters. We are part of a huge community of like-minded people called the church.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is entering into and enjoying the fellowship of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Jesus being the light means that He saves us from our sin and also purifies us from the stain of our sins.

Verse 7 talks about the blood of Jesus purifying us from all our sin. 1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins God will forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Jesus as our Savior not only forgives us from the penalty of our sin, but He also removes from us the power of sin over our daily lives.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the forgiveness and cleansing of our sin.

In Luke 2, when the angel appeared to the shepherds, it says that the glory of the Lord shone around them. When Jesus’ birth was announced, it was with a bright light shining on the shepherds.

In Matthew 2 the Magi came to seek Jesus through the guidance of a star and its light showed them the way.

I pray that you will have a very Merry Christmas. But even more I pray you will experience the truth of the light of the gospel of Jesus.

Celebrating Jesus as the Light, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                     Joe

Christmas: The Beginning of a New Hope

As we approach the celebration of Christmas, the coming of the Savior Jesus, I am reminded that Christmas is about grace and mercy.

I am truly amazed when I hear people expressing the idea that somehow God is a harsh, unfair, demanding tyrant. Christmas shows that God is all about grace and mercy.

In Philippians 2, Paul says that Jesus was God, but did not keep a hold of being God. He emptied Himself and became a human and humbled Himself to die on the cross for our sin.

In Colossians 1, Paul shows us the greatness of Jesus. Paul says:

Jesus is the image of the invisible God

Jesus is the firstborn over all creation

that in Him all things were created

that everything was created by Jesus and for Jesus

that He is before everything

that in Him all things are held together

He is the head of the body, the church

He is the beginning

He is the firstborn from among the dead

He has the supremacy in everything

all the fulness of God was in Him

all things were reconciled through Him

He made peace through His blood

Jesus is God, the Creator of everything, and He chose to give up all that power and authority and become the Savior by giving His life for our sin.

So, you say we are God’s creation, and His creation is good, so what is the problem?

The problem is:

Genesis 6:5

The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

The creation had been perverted by sin, and human beings’ lives were now characterized by wickedness and evil.

The problem is:

Romans 3:10-18

As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Humans rejected Jesus and began following their own ways and it lead down a path of evil and violence.

The problem:

Matthew 15:10-11; 17-20

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts – murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is acknowledging that in our natural condition we are separated from God. 

Other people, circumstances, or even the fallen nature of our culture are not what defile us as humans. It is our own hearts that defile us. In our natural human state, we are filled with things that are evil, immoral, and destructive to others.

These are the conditions that Jesus came into. He didn’t come to make humans better; He came to save us and transform us.

He came to save us from the penalty and power of sin.

He did that by His death on the cross.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is looking to Jesus and Jesus alone for our salvation.

He came to transform us from:

sinners to saints

enemies to friends

rejecters to followers

He did that through His resurrection.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is acknowledging that Jesus is the only thing that can really change our lives.

Jesus came to save and transform and He is our only hope for both salvation and transformation.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is looking to Jesus as our only hope.

In the Hope of Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe