Words of Grace

God has been directing my attention to the connection between the words I speak and grace.

Matthew 12:35-37

The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

I am not a person of grace by nature. I by nature don’t have a lot of mercy. That truth comes out for the most part in my words. In the Matthew passage, we are warned that God will hold us accountable for every careless word we speak. Careless words are words that are useless, barren, or idle. They are words that don’t produce positive spiritual fruit in our lives or in other’s lives.

Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear it.”

The oppose of careless words are words that build up. The thing that allows my words to be building up, words that produce positive spiritual fruit, and not careless words, words that don’t produce positive spiritual fruit, is grace.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing grace to produce words that build up, not careless words.

The result of careless words is condemnation of ourselves. Words that are careless reflect the ungrace in my own life. Words that are careless don’t help others to know Jesus and experience His grace or grow in grace to be more like Jesus.

When we condemn people, we speak careless words.

When we tell people they are worthless, we speak careless words.

When we lie to people, we speak careless words.

When we try to control people with our words, we speak careless words.

When we try to just win an argument, we speak careless words.

Grace allows our words to be words that give life.

In John 6:68 Peter says that Jesus has the words of eternal life.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is speaking words that lead to eternal life.

When our words are careless, they grieve the Holy Spirit according to Ephesians 4:30. The Holy Spirit draws people to the person of Jesus. He testifies to the truth that Jesus is the one and only Son of God. When we speak careless words that don’t come from grace, that drives people away from Jesus and that brings great sorrow to the Holy Spirit.

Our words are not to be:

Bitter

Wrathful

Angry

Hate Filled

Slanderous

Colossians 4:6 says that our speech should always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Careless words are not gracious.

Carless words are not seasoned with salt.

Careless words don’t allow us to, with godly wisdom, answer what others want to know (because they won’t dare to ask)

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is speaking words of grace that draw people to Jesus.

The struggle I had was how to allow God’s grace to do away with my careless words and replace them with words of grace that build up.

The answer I found was in Ephesians 4:32. It says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” The phrase “as God in Christ forgave you” spoke to me. God was saying to me that He had forgiven me even though I did not deserve it. God had forgiven me unconditionally. God had forgiven the second I asked (He had actually provided the means of my forgiveness before I asked). I didn’t have to beg Jesus to forgive me, I just had to ask. When I was reminded of how God had forgiven me, then how could I not forgive in the same way and how could I not speak words of life and grace to others? No person will ever sin against me to the depth that I have sinned against God.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is speaking words of grace and forgiveness to others.

With Grace Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                    Joe

Grace Makes Us Who We Really Are

C. S. Lewis was once passing through a room where they were discussing what was unique about Christianity. He stopped and said that was easy; it is grace.

Grace is what we as followers of Jesus have to share with the world. Jesus is grace. He dispensed grace to many kinds of people. He dispensed it to hungry people, sick people, hurting people, distraught people, prideful people, and clueless people.

It is by and through God’s grace we can know who are in Him and what He does in our lives to make us that.

We are confused. We see that in our culture today in how we are confused about what is right or wrong, in knowing our own gender, and in knowing what is true or fake.

In Isaiah 9:6 we are told that Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor. Jesus by His grace is our counselor and reveals to us what is right and what is truth.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is following Jesus’ counsel.

Many people face life feeling totally alone. They are lonely. They feel that no one is there for them and no one cares.

In Matthew 1:23 we are told that Jesus is Immanuel. Immanuel means God with us. When we have a relationship with Jesus, we are never alone. He is always with us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the presence of Jesus in our lives continually.

We come into the world lost and separate from God. We are born sinners.

In John 10:11 Jesus says that He is the Good Shepherd. Jesus as the Good Shepherd goes and gets the lost sheep and brings them back to the flock. He then as the Good Shepherd provides and protects us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being part of a faith community with Jesus as our Good Shepherd caring for us.

We all face failure at some times in our lives. The truth is, the more you do in life the more you face failure. Failure does not have to be fatal. Failure does not have to define us.

In Job 19:25 Job knows he has a redeemer. Jesus is our Redeemer. Jesus through His death and resurrection has redeemed us, not just giving us eternal life but also redeeming us from a life with no purpose or meaning.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the fullness of life, eternal and in the here and now.

I meet people weekly who are desperate. They are desperate for love or peace or joy or hope. Some are desperate for essential material needs. We live in a time when many people are desperate.

In Genesis 22:14 Abraham names the place where God provided the ram to sacrifice in place of His son Isaac “The Lord Will Provide”, Jehovah Jireh. Jesus is our Provider. He provides what we need, when we need it.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is depending on God to provide what we need, when we need it.

In Isaiah 9:6 Jesus is called the Prince of Peace. He brings peace between us and God the Father through His death on the cross.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experience peace with God because of what Jesus has done.

We come into the world totally helpless. We need someone to do everything for us. We grow to be more capable, but even having reached our full growth we are many times weak. We need a power outside human power to survive and succeed.

In Isaiah 9:6 Jesus is revealed as Mighty God. He is the all-powerful God who can do the impossible.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the power of God to do the impossible.

We are all broken people. We have hurts, wounds, and brokenness that need to be healed.

In Exodus 15:26 we are told that God is our healer. He heals us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He heals the whole person.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the healing of God in every area of lives.

The grace of God makes us:

Steadfast in Faith

In Relationship with God and Others

Found

Successful

Content

Peaceful

Strong

Healed and Fixed

In God’s Grace, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                       Joe

Grace is Undeserved

Pictures of grace are all over the place. I have been intentionally looking for them in my daily life and finding more than I ever thought I would. Grace is also all through the Word of God, New Testament and Old. One of the greatest pictures of grace is found in 2 Samuel 9.

In verse 1 David wants to know if there is anyone in Saul’s family that he can show kindness or grace for Jonathan’s sake. David is asking if there is anyone in the family of Saul to whom he can demonstrate the same kind of grace.

David does not ask if there is anyone deserving or qualified or smart or powerful who I can show grace to so that they can help me. He simply is looking for anybody related to Saul that he can show grace to. This is an unconditional desire.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is desiring to share grace with anybody.

There is a son of Jonathan who is a cripple that is still alive.

Ziba seems to emphasis that Jonathan’s son was crippled. Yes, there is someone but he is a cripple and you really don’t need to bother with him.

In verse 4 David simply asks where he was. David does not care that he is crippled, he just wants to show him grace. David finds out that he is Lo-debar. Lo-debar means barren place. The young man was crippled and living in a barren place.

In 2 Samuel 9:5-7 David has the young man, Mephibosheth, brought to him. Mephibosheth falls face down before David and says, “Here is your servant!” David then tells him not to fear and that he will show him kindness for the sake of Mephibosheth’s father. He tells him that he will restore all the land of his grandfather and that he will eat at the king’s table.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is grace giving us the desire to release others from fear.

In verse 8 Mephibosheth asks what is your servant that David should show regard for a dead dog should as him. The term dead dog refers to a person who is worthless. Mephibosheth saw himself as a total worthless, valueless person.

Mephibosheth is an unknown, of no importance, and crippled. He is of no benefit to David or his kingdom. There is absolutely no reason David should care about him.

David is desiring to show grace to Mephibosheth not because who he is, but because of David’s relationship with his father, Jonathan.

In verses 9 and 10 David gives orders that Ziba and his sons are to work the land that David restored to Mephibosheth. Then David says that Mephibosheth will eat at his table, the king’s table.

Verses 11-13 tell that Ziba and his sons worked the land and that Mephibosheth ate at David’s tables as the king’s son.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is accepting God’s grace and living as a child of God.

Grace restores us to intimate fellowship with God.

Grace heals us from our brokenness.

Grace restores, heals and forgives us based on Jesus’s death and resurrection.

Grace works in us based on Jesus, not us.

Grace rescues us from a life of bareness and purposelessness to a life of spiritual nourishment and purpose.

Grace makes us God’s children.

Grace abounds more and more where sin is.

Grace makes us all equal in God’s sight.

Grace covers all our disabilities and limitations.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the fullness of God’s grace.

Romans 5:20

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded more. So that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through the righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.   

No matter the sin, the disability, the limitation, the fear, the hurt, or the doubt God’s grace overcomes.

In God’s Grace, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                          Joe

Grace Leads to Compassion

One of the things that flows out of grace is compassion. Compassion is sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it. The word compassion in the New Testament means to be moved as to one’s bowels. The bowels were seen as the seat of love and pity.

In Matthew 14 Jesus is told about Herod executing John the Baptist. Jesus then withdraws to a desolate place. He is not doing this out of fear but Jesus is following the Father’s schedule and it was not time to die, so he withdrew to avoid any attempt of Herod to try and arrest Him.

In Matthew 14:13 it says that even when Jesus withdrew, the crowds followed Him.

Matthew 14:14 says when Jesus went ashore, He saw a great crowd and He had compassion on them. Then it says that He healed their sick.

Compassion that flows out of the grace of Jesus leads to healing.

Isaiah 53:5

But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities, upon Him was the chastisement that brought peace, and with His wounds we are healed.

Jesus’ compassion does not just feel bad about our illnesses, including sin, but He alleviates them. Jesus is not reluctant to heal our physical, emotional, and spiritual illnesses.

Jesus is the healer.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing healing through the grace of Jesus.

The crowd stays out in the desolate place with Jesus for many hours. Jesus’ compassion led Him to be concerned about them not having any food. When His disciples come to Him and tell Him to send the people away so they can get food, Jesus tells the disciples to give them something to eat.

The disciples’ response is that they don’t have enough food to even begin to feed all the people. Jesus tells the disciples to bring Him what food they have.

Jesus has the crowd sit down. He takes the five loaves and two fish and thanks the Father for them and then breaks the food and gives it to the disciples and the disciples distribute them to the crowd.

When the people had eaten and were satisfied, the disciples took up twelve basketfuls of leftovers.

Jesus feed five thousand men plus women and children with five loaves of bread and two fish.

Jesus’ compassion led Him to meet the people’s need for food.

Jesus is the provider.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the provision of Jesus through His grace.

Jesus’ grace is unlimited. No matter what healing is needed, Jesus can do it. No matter what the need is, Jesus can provide.

When Mary didn’t understand how she, a virgin, could conceive a child and when the disciples didn’t understand how it was hard, even impossible, for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus gave the same answer – With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Jesus’ grace gives us humanly impossible results.

Through Grace Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls

                                          Joe

Three Things Grace Does

God is teaching me week by week more and more about His grace. One of the things God has given me to do to better understand, experience, and share His grace is to keep a grace journal. This is journal in which I jot down moments of grace as I encounter them. It has amazed me how much grace I have seen and encountered on a daily basis.

I am also amazed how much grace is in God’s Word when you look for it.

There are three moments of grace in the book of Luke that are overwhelming to me.

The first is in Luke 7. Jesus and His disciples are entering the Village of Nain. He encounters a funeral procession. Jesus inquires about who the person was that had died. He finds out that it is the only son of a widow. In verse 13 we are told that Jesus had compassion on the woman. Jesus then goes over to the casket and raises the young man from the dead.

This was done without anyone asking Jesus to do anything. There is no faith on the part of anyone. This miraculous act is done based solely on the compassion of Jesus.

.

Grace brings life.

Grace brings physical life. It is by grace that we all have physical life. We are born by the grace of God and our life is sustained by God’s grace.

Grace brings spiritual life. It is by grace that we have salvation and eternal life. Salvation comes only by grace through faith.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is through the grace of God experiencing life.

In Luke 9 Jesus and three of His disciples, Peter, James, and John, were coming down off a mountain where they had experienced a miraculous time with Jesus being transformed.

Jesus encounters a man who had a son who was demon possessed. The nine disciples had not been able to get rid of the demon. Jesus then orders the demon out and the young man is healed.

Grace brings healing. This can be physical healing. Anyone who experiences physical healing experiences that healing through the grace of God. The healing can be emotional. When a person experiences the healing of wounded emotions it is through God’s grace. The healing can be spiritual. When we are touched by God and are healed of spiritual struggles it comes by God’s grace.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing healing through God’s grace.

Grace also overcomes our human weaknesses. The disciples could not expel the demon from the young man. Jesus in His grace does what the disciples could not do.

The disciples had seen Jesus do it, but they were depending on a method or formula to expel the demon. Jesus didn’t depend on a method or formula, He depend on the power of the Father and His complete dependence on that power.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is recognizing the power of God and relying on that power and that power alone.

The third grace moment in Luke is found in Luke 19 where Jesus encounters the tax collector, Zacchaeus.

Zacchaeus is curious so he goes to see Jesus as Jesus enters Jericho. Jesus stops under the tree where Zacchaeus is and invites Himself to Zacchaeus’ house for lunch.

Jesus takes the initiative to connect with Zacchaeus. He interrupts Zacchaeus’ life and by doing so leads Zacchaeus to salvation.

Grace doesn’t wait for us to get good enough. Grace meets us when we are still sinners. Romans 5:8 tells us that Jesus died for us while we were still sinners. If grace only came to us after we had become good enough none of us would ever experience grace.

Grace doesn’t wait for us to be good enough, grace makes us good enough.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing grace and grace make us good enough.

Grace Brings Life

Grace Restores

Grace Overcomes

Grace Makes Us Good Enough

By Grace, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                  Joe

Jesus is Full of Grace

Where does grace come from?

John 1:14-17

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about Him, and cried out, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me.’”) For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Jesus is full of grace and truth.

Jesus gives us, out of His fullness, grace upon grace.

The law came through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus.

Jesus is full of grace.

Jesus relates to each person with grace and truth.

Truth without grace can be harsh.

Grace without truth can be soft.

Grace and truth reveal God and His will in a way that is loving but firm. It allows us to experience conviction which leads to transformation, but still know that God loves us.

Grace and truth are not just what Jesus gives us, they are also who He is. Jesus will never not tell us the truth and He will always relate to us based on grace.

Truth penetrates our lives and overcomes the lies of Satan.

Grace does it through mercy and compassion.

It leads to real healing and restoration in our lives.

Jesus deals with the woman brought to Him by the religious leaders who was caught in the act of adultery with truth and grace. He doesn’t condemn her but tells her to leave her life of sin.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the grace and truth of Jesus.

Jesus gives out of His fullness grace upon grace.

Jesus is able to give us grace because He is full of grace. And Jesus does not just give us grace, He gives us grace upon grace. Jesus gives us grace day after day after day.

Jesus does not just give us grace for salvation. Jesus gives us grace to live daily obeying Him and abiding in His will. Paul says in 2 Peter 1:3 that by His power God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.

God is not stingy, He will give us generously out His grace what we need. Jesus doesn’t give us anything because we deserve it or could earn it. He gives us everything out of His grace. Every good and perfect gift comes from above from the Father of lights.

When Jesus saved me out of His grace, He didn’t just save me a little bit, He saved me fully.

When Jesus blesses me out of His grace, He doesn’t just bless me a little bit, He blesses me fully.

I don’t have to beg Jesus for grace, He gives it naturally because grace is Jesus’ nature.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is receiving the fullness of God’s grace through Jesus.

The law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus.

This does not mean that there is no grace in the Old Testament or that Moses did not experience the grace of God. It means that if I choose to follow the law as given through Moses then I have to fulfill the law perfectly. If I choose to follow Jesus through grace then He, not me, has fulfilled the law perfectly.

In Romans 3:20 Paul says, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since though the law comes knowledge of sin.”

Law brings knowledge of sin but no ability to overcome sin.

Grace brings the forgiveness of sin and righteousness through Jesus’ finished work on the cross.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is depending on grace not the law for salvation and blessings from God.

2 Peter 3:18

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

In and Through God’s Grace, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                     Joe

Grace Overcomes Condemnation

A large and important aspect of grace is the truth that Jesus does not condemn us.

There are times in my life when I feel exhausted.

There are times in my life when I feel unworthy.

There are times in my life when I feel condemned.

When I have those feelings, I have learned two important things.

First, I am not to live my life or relate to Jesus based on my feelings.

Second, I go to God’s Word to realign my life with truth.

So, when I face those feelings of unworthiness and condemnation, I bank on Romans 8:1. That verse says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

There are three words in this verse that I need to hear daily.

Now No Condemnation

Condemnation:

To condemn someone is to expose them because of what they have done. We all deserve condemnation. I know this.

I know what I am. I know my thoughts and desires that no one but Jesus and I know.

Psalm 94:11 tells us that God knows the thoughts of men.

Matthew 15:18-20

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.

Jesus knows that all these thoughts and desires have been in my heart. And on top of that, there have been times when I have squandered opportunities to love Jesus and love others.

So, yes, I deserve to be condemned by Jesus.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is recognizing that I deserve condemnation.

No Condemnation:

So here it is written in Scripture that there is no condemnation. Somehow it is possible to go from being condemned, all deserving that condemnation, to no condemnation at all. But it is in no way because of me. It is no condemnation based on being in Jesus. It is the grace of Jesus that delivers me from being condemned.

Being in Christ means we’re united with Him, so that what is true of Him is now true of us. What is naturally true of Jesus, He now shares with us. Jesus absorbs my debt (my sin); I gain His righteousness. Jesus was condemned so I could be forgiven and experience the freedom of no condemnation.

I cannot say. “There is no condemnation for Joe Byers.” But I can say for Joe Byers in Christ Jesus, “There is no condemnation.” This is truth only because I am His.

No condemnation means Jesus will never count our sin against us. Even the must shameful and disgusting things I have ever done will never be used against me. Jesus will always be for us and never against us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living based on the truth there is no condemnation for us when we are in Christ Jesus.

Now No Condemnation:

This is not some hypothetical or theological concept. It is a present-day reality. It is not something I have to wait for, hanging in there until it arrives. It is a right now reality.

I wake up everyday with Jesus telling me that I am in Him and therefore that there is no condemnation. This is a truth that I need to have at the very core of my being. It needs to define how I see myself.

I need not fear the condemnation of people when I am guaranteed the favor and approval of Jesus.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living every day with the knowledge that Jesus is completely for me.

Now No Condemnation is because of God’s grace through Jesus.

With No Condemnation, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                           Joe