Jesus' Methods

We hear a lot about letting science guide us today. Ministry is not a matter of science; it is about relating to others. The church is not an organization; it is a living organism made of living parts (people) who are unique. Ministry, teaching, preaching, & sharing the gospel are more a matter of art than science.

Jesus understood and used methods that effectively impacted people’s lives and transformed them.

Jesus went out and looked for people where they were.

In John 10:11 Jesus calls Himself the good shepherd and He says that the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. In the parable of the shepherd and the lost sheep, Jesus tells the story of a shepherd who lost one sheep out of his flock of one hundred. The shepherd left the ninety-nine sheep and went looking for the one lost sheep till he found him. Jesus is the one out looking for the lost. Jesus went where the people were. He taught in their synagogues, sat and ate in their homes, and talked with them in the market place. Jesus came for others and He went to the places where they were.

The imperative in the New Testament is go. Jesus commands us as His followers in Matthew 28:19 to go. He does not say to tell the lost to come but we are to go to the lost.

Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.”

The mission of Jesus was to go out and spread the gospel to those who needed it, which was and is everybody. Jesus did this by teaching the Word of God and doing acts of service to others in the name of God.

Our mission as the body of Christ is to spread the gospel to people by the teaching of the Word and by doing acts of service to others in Jesus’ name. We do that by going out and connecting with people.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is going out to where people are and sharing the gospel through the Word of God and actives of service in the name of Jesus.

Jesus did not force Himself on others.

When Jesus sent out the twelve and later when He sent seventy-two followers, He told them that if any town that did not receive the message, they were to leave and go to another town. They were not to stay and try and force it on the people.

When James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven to consume a village of the Samaritans that rejected Jesus, Jesus said no and simply went on to other places to share the gospel.

If we try to force the gospel down people’s throats, we are implying two things: first, that more depends on our effort and the pressure we put on people than depends on the work of the Holy Spirit; second, that it is possible for us to decide that a person shall believe, so that his response to Jesus is really our response forced upon him. The heart of evangelism is the sharing of the gospel, not the producing of results.

We are to be like Philip who was led by the Holy Spirit to go to a desert and wait for one man and then simply join himself with that man and ask a question. God did the rest and the man came to give his life to Jesus.

The best definition of evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread. 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is sharing the gospel in word and deed and leaving the result to Jesus.

Jesus spent much time training others.

The two parts of what Jesus did of His earthly ministry were sharing of the gospel to large groups and training with the gospel of small groups.

Disciple is the designation used for followers of Jesus more than any other designation. Disciple means learner.

Jesus trained His disciples by teaching them the Word of God. He spent time with the Twelve and by the Word of God trained them and prepared them. 

Jesus trained His disciples by answering their questions. Some of their questions were insightful and deep, and some were out of ignorance and shallow. Jesus did not worry about the quality of the question, but He used them all to equip His disciples with the truth.

Jesus trained His disciples by sending them out to do ministry, to do the work of the Kingdom of God. They were sent out to proclaim the Word of God, to heal, and to exorcise demons from people. The disciples had to depend of Jesus to be successful in doing any of these.

We learn how to relate to and serve Jesus by spending time in study and in going and doing ministry. It not an either-or situation but we are to do both.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is making our lives available to Jesus to be used to disciple others.

The manner in which Jesus did ministry was always focused on enabling people to see and hear the truth, to receive the truth, and to live out the truth. He never forced it but went where the people were and started where the people were. He did it with love and respect for the person.  

With Love for Jesus and Others Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                          Joe

Jesus' Approach Part 2

We are living in a time when we want to win the argument more than we want to dialog with others.  We want to talk more than we want to listen.

Jesus was the opposite of that. Even though He was all-knowing, He dialoged with people and listened to them and connected with them.

Jesus listened to what others had to say.

Jesus was a good listener. We see in scripture Jesus again and again listening to what people had to say before He began to teach them.

In John 3 Nicodemus comes to Jesus and Jesus lets him talk and ask questions before He shares with him about being born again.

In Luke 9 Jesus sends the Twelve and tells them that as they are out ministering, they are to depend on Him and only Him. When the Twelve return they excitingly share with Jesus all that went on and Jesus listens and then takes them with Him as He feeds the five thousand.

We will not be of much use in fulfilling Jesus’ mission unless we learn to be good listeners.

#1: Part of our mission is helping people and one way to help people is to listen to them. God gave us two ears and one mouth. I think that is an indication that we are to listen more than we are to talk.

#2: Unless we let people have their say, they will not listen to us. If they don’t listen, they can never hear the truth and give themselves to Jesus.

#3: We can’t learn where people are or what they believe and think unless we listen.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is God’s people, the church, listening before they speak.

Jesus sought the root of people’s problems.

Jesus never glossed over the surface of people’s lives. He also did not assume that what appeared to be their need was, in fact, their real need.

In Mark 2 Jesus is teaching in a house when four men bring a friend who is a paralytic to be healed by Jesus. In verse 5 it says, “And when Jesus saw their faith, He said, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’”

Jesus later heals the man and the man walks away. Jesus saw the deeper need of the man was for forgiveness of sin and so He addressed that need first. Jesus knows our needs and He always addresses the deeper needs first.

As God’s people we have to listen to people and allow God to enable us to see the real needs and empower us to deal with those, as well as their perceived needs.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing God to empower us to meet people’s perceived needs so that we can deal with their real needs.

Jesus took people’s questions seriously.

As Jesus listened to people and saw their deeper real needs, He listened to their questions and took what they were asking seriously.

In John 4 Jesus has an encounter with a woman at a well in a Samaritan village. He took all of the woman’s questions seriously and used them to share with her, and later the whole village, the gospel.

In Luke 10 a lawyer asks Jesus about eternal life and Jesus listens and answers the man. When the lawyer then asks a question that was simply meant to try to get out of fulfilling what Jesus said, Jesus still takes the question seriously and shares the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Jesus took people’s questions seriously and answered them and used the questions as an opportunity to share the truth of the gospel with them.

We as God’s people cannot dismiss people’s question even if those questions are not asked in sincerity. We can use the opportunity to share the truth and let the Holy Spirit empower what we say to transform lives.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being open and honest and taking all questions that people ask seriously.

We as the church have a chance to be holy and different than our culture. We can be holy listeners. We can in love listen and dialog with people and honestly share with truth of God’s gospel of grace.

For the Love of Jesus and People,

 Raising the Roof  and Removing the Walls,

                                                    Joe

Jesus' Approach to His Mission

When we call ourselves Christians it means that we are committed to share in the mission of Jesus. For us to be involved in Jesus’ mission we need to understand Jesus’ approach to fulfilling His mission and use His approach, not ours.

Jesus Offered People His Friendship

John 15:12-15

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Jesus would rather call them friends than servants. He had taken His disciples into His confidence. The disciples had shared experiences with Jesus. The disciples had intimate fellowship with Jesus. The disciples had served others with Jesus. Jesus shared life with the disciples so He viewed them as His friends.

Jesus offered His friendship to those who were outcasts to the Jewish culture:

prostitutes and tax collectors.

Jesus offered His friendship to those who rejected Him: the rich young ruler and the religious leaders.

Jesus offered His friendship to those who betrayed Him: Judas.

Luke 15:2

And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Jesus was a friend of sinners.

As God’s people, the church needs to be a friend of sinners.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls means we as followers of Jesus are to be friends to sinners.

Jesus started where people were.

When Jesus approached people, He started where they were and found a link between their interest and His truth.

When Jesus called His first four disciples, who were all fishermen, in Mark 1, He calls them to be fishers of men.   

When Jesus begins a conversation with an immoral woman at a well in John 4, He begins by asking for a drink of water.

Jesus connected with people by using the natural things with which they were interested to teach them a spiritual truth. All of Jesus’ parables are stories that used the normal every day things of life to teach a deep spiritual truth.

The early church used that approach also.

In Acts 8 Philip along with other believers were scattered because of persecution. Philip went to Samaria and God used him to spark a revival. Then God led him to go down to a road that was between Jerusalem and Gaza. While he was there, he met an Ethiopian eunuch who was a court official in the Queen of Ethiopian’s court. He had been to Jerusalem to worship God. He was reading from the book of Isaiah. Philip asked the Ethiopian if he understand what he was reading. The Ethiopian said that he couldn’t unless someone explained it to him. So, Philip according to verse 35, began with the scripture that the Ethiopian was reading and told him about the good news of Jesus.

Philip, just like Jesus, began where people were to share truth with them. We many times try to begin sharing the Gospel in a way that does not connect with people because we don’t begin where they are, we begin where we are.

We live in a culture that is post Christian and not very knowledgeable about God and His word. So, to try and begin based on our relationship with God or our knowledge of His word is futile. We have to find ways of connecting with where they are so that they can understand and connect their lives with Jesus.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls means lovingly starting to share the Gospel with people based on where they are so they can come to know and love Jesus.

Jesus was patient with people.

Jesus was patient with the disciples when they didn’t get it.

Jesus was patient with Peter when he denied Him.

Jesus was patient with James and John when they wanted to destroy people for not accepting Him as Lord and Savior.

Jesus was patient with Nicodemus when he, a learned Jewish scholar, did not understand what Jesus was teaching.

Jesus didn’t force things on people. He shared truth with them and let God apply it to their lives. He did not force them to change or reject them when they didn’t immediately understand and begin to follow Him.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls means we are patient with people as we love them and share the gospel with them.

Jesus’ approach was focused on befriending people and patiently sharing truth with them based on where they are and not rejecting them when they don’t immediately believe and follow Him.

With Jesus and Using His approach Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                              Joe

How Jesus Did It Part 3

The last two things that are true about Jesus’ attitude reveal to us two essentials for our attitudes as followers of Jesus if we want to really be used by Him to touch other’s lives.

Jesus saw all people as a whole person.

There are too many times when we as the church, the people of God, see people as a soul with ears. We communicate to them that they are only important to us if they are willing to listen to us and agree with us.

In the Bible people are described as body, soul, and spirit. That is not thought of as three different parts of a person but more as three different ways to view a person as a whole. It is more biblical to see people as being both body and soul, not having a body and soul. Jesus never forgot that people are both.

Mark 6:34 says that as Jesus looked at the crowd, He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.

The disciples saw it was growing late so they went to Jesus and asked Him to send the people away so they could go get food. Jesus then tells the disciples to give the people something to eat. The disciples were overwhelmed because they had no way to get enough food to feed this amount of people. Jesus then took a small amount of food and fed the people.

Jesus saw and met the spiritual needs of the people.

Jesus saw and met the physical needs of the people.

In Luke 8 Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter from being dead. In verse 55 the first thing that Jesus told the parents to do was to get her something to eat. Again, we see Jesus meeting the spiritual needs and the physical needs of a person.

In Matthew 9 a paralytic is brought to Jesus and Jesus heals him. But in verse 2 Jesus says to the paralytic, “Take heart, My son; your sins are forgiven.” The most obvious need was for the paralytic to be healed so he could walk. Jesus dealt first with the less obvious but more essential need and forgave the man of his sin. Again, Jesus met the spiritual needs and physical needs of a person. 

Many times, we focus on one or the other. Jesus constantly showed that He focused on the whole person.

Jesus urged men to repent, forgave them their sins, taught them to think of God as their Father, instructed them in prayer, commanded them to preach the gospel. He also fed people, healed people of a variety of diseases, and raised people from the dead.

When Jesus used the words saved and salvation He meant:

In Luke 7:50, the forgiveness of sins

In Luke 18:42, the recovery of physical sight

In Luke 19:9, the transformation of character

Jesus is the Savior for the whole person.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is seeing people as a whole, not as unrelated parts.

Jesus spent Himself for others.

Jesus’ earthly life was about serving others. To prepare for His mission Jesus spent forty days and forty nights fasting in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-10). During that time, He rejected the easy way to bring the whole world to His feet. He had set Himself already on the hard way He had chosen, and from the beginning of His ministry He set out to spend Himself for others. 

In Mark 1:21-45 Jesus:

Heals a man with an unclean spirit

Heals many people of various diseases

Preaches in several towns in Galilee

Cleanses a leper

Was giving Himself away to help others

What we see throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry is Him sacrificing His time, His energy, and His power to help and save others.

In Mark 10:45 Jesus says that He came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. Jesus gave His life for you and me.

1 Peter 2:21 says, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps.”

Jesus’ choosing to suffer for us and give His life for us is not only done to meet our needs but also to set an example for us to follow. We as the Body of Christ are to spend our lives for others.

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

It means to spend our lives for others.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is spending your life meeting the needs of others.  

In the Image of Christ Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                               Joe

How Jesus Did It Part 2

Philippians 2:5 tells us to have the same mind that was in Jesus. Last week we looked at three things that were true of Jesus’ attitude and this week I want to look at three more.

Jesus was slow to condemn.

The attitude of Jesus was in direct opposition to the religious leaders of His day when it came to how He viewed sinners. The religious leaders condemned them, scorned them, and completely kept themselves separated from them. Jesus loved them, befriended them, and spent time with them.

In Luke 7 Jesus has an encounter with a woman of the city, a sinner. She comes and worships Jesus by using her tears to wash His feet, her hair to wipe His feet, and anoints His feet with expensive ointment.

The response of the religious leaders is recorded in Luke 7:39. “If this man were a prophet, He would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”

Jesus accepted the woman’s worship and in Luke 7:50 Jesus says to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Jesus could have condemned this woman.

Jesus could have condemned the woman at the well in John 4.

Jesus could have condemned the woman taken in adultery in John 8.

Jesus could have condemned Zacchaeus.

Jesus could have condemned Peter.

Jesus could have condemned me.

But Jesus did not condemn any of these. In Romans 8:1, Paul writes that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.  

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is not condemning others.

Jesus saw people as they might be.

In John 1:42 Andrew brings Simon to Jesus and Jesus says, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). Peter means rock. Jesus saw in Peter the man who would stand at Pentecost in Jerusalem and preach to the crowd and see three thousand people surrender their lives to Jesus as Lord. The man who would deny Him three times was there, but Jesus knew that real Peter would emerge.

Jesus looks at the heart, not at the outward appearance. Jesus knows that a heart centered on Him and a life filled with the Holy Spirit can be used by the Father to do powerful and miraculous things. Jesus knows who we are and who He will form us into.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is seeing the heart of people not just their outward appearance.

Jesus did not give up easily.

Jesus called twelve imperfect men to follow Him and become apostles. Jesus never gave up on them.

These men:

Misunderstood Jesus

Disobeyed Jesus

Doubted Jesus

Questioned Jesus

Denied Jesus

Abandoned Jesus

And even Betrayed Jesus

But in all that, Jesus never gave up on them. He never stopped loving them or teaching them. And when eleven of the twelve finally got it, He used them to change the world.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is not giving up on others.  

As a pastor, I have been guilty of being quick to condemn people, and I have been guilty of not really seeing people as they could be, and I have been guilty of giving up on people.

Jesus has never condemned me. He has disciplined me to move me into obedience to Him, but only out of His love for me.

Jesus has never not seen me. He has seen in me things I did not see in myself and by the Holy Spirit used me in ways I never thought possible.

Jesus has never given up on me. I have given up on myself many times, but He has always encouraged and strengthened me to believe Him and let Him use me.

If we allow the Holy Spirit to impart into us the mind or attitude of Jesus, we will be people who don’t condemn others, we will see the possibility in others, and we will not give up on others.

With the Mind of Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                Joe

How Jesus Did It Part 1

We live in a world dominated by technology. That has become even more true of the last two months. The church is no exception. For the last 482 weeks I have been doing this online devotion, for the last two months I have been doing a morning Bible study on Face Book, and for those same two months we have done our worship service on Face Book and You Tube and our church web site. And though we are back meeting live together we will still be online also. So, the world and the church are both centered in technology.

But no matter the form we use to do ministry, it has to be done in the name of and for the honor of Jesus. So, how did Jesus do ministry? I want to explore that question.

I want to begin our study of how Jesus did ministry by looking at the attitude of Jesus.

Attitude reveals our way of thinking about ourselves and others. As followers of Jesus, effectiveness in doing ministry is greatly affected by our attitude.

Jesus’ Attitude

Jesus Was Sure of His Calling.

Jesus was supremely confident. He was confident because He was sure that the Father has sent Him. Jesus began His ministry in Galilee. He preached in His home town synagogue and spoke from Isaiah 61 which is a messianic passage. He began by reading, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me.” He ended the reading by saying, “In very hearing this text has come true.” Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah sent by the Father.

Jesus knew, with no doubts, that He had been sent by the Father with a specific mission. In the same way that the Father sent Jesus, Jesus has sent us.

John 20:21

As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.

We as followers of Jesus can be sure, like Jesus was sure, that we have been sent into the world. We stand in the world neither intimidated by its hostility nor arrogantly scornful of it. This is not a self-confidence that borders on brashness and pride. It is God-confidence of people who know that they belong to God and that God has sent them into the world with a God-directed mission. It is the confidence of one like Jesus who is sure of their calling.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing what our calling from God is in the world.

Jesus Really Loved People

The love of Jesus for people was so different from love as humans usually understand it that the New Testament writers used a little-known Greek word in the world of their day to describe. It is a word free from anything sordid or trivial. The word is agape. This is a word that is distinctively associated with how Jesus loved people and is used for how we as followers of Jesus are to love. It is a love without conditions or boundaries and a love that never ends.

John 13:1

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come 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 loved His disciples with a persistent love that survived their slowness to learn and their tendency to let Him down.

John 11:3

So, the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

Jesus also loved others of His friends outside the twelve.

Mark 10:21

And Jesus, looking at him loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing; go sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow Me.”

Jesus loved those who rejected His call to follow Him.

Luke 23:34

“Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.”

Most amazing of all is the love Jesus showed on the cross for those who put Him to death. And that statement is not just for the Romans and Jews of that day but for each of us also.

Matthew 5:44

But I say to you, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

The words that Jesus spoke about God’s love have the ring of truth because they are consistent with the way He lived and the way He died.

So, if we are to share in the mission of Jesus, we need an attitude of genuine love.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is loving people, really loving people, like Jesus did and does.

Jesus Cared About Unwanted Individuals

We can learn a great deal about people from their attitudes to the misfits of society. Some bully them, some despise them, some laugh at them, some patronize them, some ignore them with embarrassment. The attitude of Jesus to those no one else bothered with was like none of those mentioned above. Jesus’ care for unwanted individuals is one of the most gracious things about Him.

In Mark 1:40-42 Jesus encounters a leper. The leper implores Jesus to heal him. Most people would have gotten way from the leper for fear of getting leprosy or from fear of becoming ceremonially unclean. But Jesus says that He wants to make the man unclean and He reaches out and touches the man with leprosy and heals him. Jesus didn’t have to touch the man to heal him. Jesus had healed others by words and even words at great distances. Jesus knew that the man not only needed to be healed but needed a human touch.

In Mark 5 Jesus encounters a wild and scary man who was demon possessed. The man was violent and dangerous to himself and others. Jesus met the man with so much rage with calm and commanded the demon to come out of the man. Jesus was not put off or intimidated by the man’s condition.

The church needs to not only accept messy, hurting, troubled people, but the church needs to specifically reach out to messy, hurting, troubled individuals. Jesus did and, as His hands and feet, we need to.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is loving and accepting and reaching out to unwanted individuals.

The church is the Body of Christ. That means we are to be who Jesus is and do what Jesus did.

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

                                                      Joe

Following God's Will

Following Jesus is not for wimps.

Following Jesus is not for the inflexible.

Following Jesus is not for the self-centered.



For fifty years, since I was eighteen years old, I have intentionally been following. Since I was twenty-three years old, I have been given the responsibility and privilege to help lead God’s church. Since 1993 I have had the privilege to pastor God’s church. And, in all honesty, these last six weeks have been hardest time in knowing how to follow Jesus and how to pastor and lead His church.



Let me share with you the tension that I, and I believe many others pastors and leaders in God’s church, have been walking in.



Romans 13:1-2

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.



The one side is that a man of God inspired by God writes that I as a follower of Jesus am to obey the governing authorities. That those authorities are instituted by God and that I will come under God’s judgment if I resist these authorities.



I am a rebel at heart. God has been transforming me and my heart for over fifty years now. He has allowed me to retain that part of my God given personality that is unique and goes against popular opinion (in the world and also at times in the church).



As a person who has given the authority of running and directing my life over to Jesus, I do not want to intentionally disobey Jesus. So, I cannot just dismiss or ignore this passage.



Hebrews 10:24-25

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as in the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.



The other side is the command of God for us as followers of Jesus to meet together. It is a command born out of need. God created humans for relationships. We as followers of Jesus were called into relationship with Him and with each other. We were called in a community, a community of faith in Jesus.



If we try to live a “long ranger” Christianity, isolating ourselves from other believers, we will be discouraged, cold in our passion for Jesus, and a weakened in desire to obey Jesus.



So, how do we as followers of Jesus balance these two commands when we are being told that the best things and the thing the governing authorities are telling us to do seems to be elevating one of these commands over the other?



There are three passages I have been using to guide me.



Philippians 2:3

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.



Do nothing out of selfish ambition. I don’t want anything I do to be done to exalt me or enhance my position. My calling as a follower of Jesus and a pastor is to exalt Jesus.



Do nothing from conceit. I am not to do things because I want to. As a follower of Jesus, I gave up my right to control my life and have turned that over to Jesus. I want to do what Jesus wants me to do.



Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is doing it Jesus’ way, not mine.



Galatians 6:2

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.



Jesus bore our burdens on the cross.



Jesus bore our sins.

Jesus bore our trespasses.

Jesus bore our iniquities.

Jesus bore our failures.

Jesus bore our diseases



As Jesus’ followers, He wants us to bear each other’s burdens. Jesus wants us to bear our neighbor’s hurts, fears, and sacrifices.



Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being willing to love others enough to bear their burdens.



James 4:6

But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”



I will humble myself before God and do want God wants, His will, and not want my old nature tells me to do. I want to receive God’s grace and never be in opposition to Him. Humility will allow me to experience God and His grace. Pride puts me in direct opposition to God because pride will never lead to do God’s will.



Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is in all things humbling ourselves before God and doing His will.



Without Jesus, it is impossible to operate from true love and godly motivations. But as we grow in Jesus, our motives grow to be like His and we are increasingly compelled by His love, which is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.



Only in Jesus can we exhibit humility and be motivated by biblical love rather than our own desires.



Mask or no mask motivated by God’s will

Stay isolated or open up motivated by God’s will

Follow guide lines or don’t follow guide lines motivated by God’s love



Never let anything separate you from God’s love and never let anything cause disunity in the body of Christ.



Following God’s Will Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                              Joe