It's Time To Rip The Roof Off This Place!

I heard a story about a dude who brought a friend to church who only typically attended twice a year: on Christmas and Easter (Chreaster). As they were walking out after the service was over – the pastor was standing at the door shaking everyone’s hands. He grabbed the dude’s friend by the hand and pulled him aside to talk to him.

The Pastor said to him, "Sir, you need to join the Army of the Lord!"

The friend replied, "Pastor, I'm already in the Army of the Lord."

The pastor questioned him, "Well then why do I only see you at Christmas and Easter?

He whispered back, "Because pastor, I'm in the secret service!”

Today, my message is titled, “It’s time to rip the roof off this place!”

Please turn in your Bibles or turn on your Bibles to Luke 5:17. Last week I preached a sermon from Luke 5 about getting Jesus in your boat…and today I’m preaching from Luke 5 again and it’s all about ripping the roof off this place.

I don’t know about you, but I believe in church. I believe in the local church. Even as jacked up as some churches can be (accept for Impact Church, of course)…I strongly believe in the local church. The local church is the greatest promoter of Jesus. It’s the greatest gatherer of Christians...there is not a greater moment in the week where hope is presented globally than on Sunday mornings in churches all across the country! Can you imagine our world without churches? I am convinced local churches are at the very center of God’s plan to redeem and restore this broken, hurting world for Christ.

Churches carry out “the Matthew 28 mandate” to give Jesus and to make disciples…churches fuel a movement of trans¬formation as they bring salvation, grace, healing, and life-change into communities, regions, and the world. It’s churches all over the world that preach the gospel, help the homeless, help the addicts, the broken-hearted,…its churches that offer prayer, hope, marriage restoration, emotional restoration, and spear-head human evils and tragedies such as sex trafficking, aids, poverty and the hugry.

Don’t get me wrong, I think charities are great. And I think Christian charities are even better. But there’s nothing more powerful than the local church throughout our world. There’s nothing like the local church when the local church is working right. When the Holy Spirit is in charge, and when God’s anointing power is on a church, it is the most powerful experience I’ve ever witnessed.

Why is that? Because Jesus is the center of it all. Jesus IS the hope of the world. And the church offers the world JESUS.

In a perfect world, I think people should attend church every week. Every week. Not once a month…not every other week. Every week. Maybe today, you wanna take that challenge. See if you can attend for 52 weeks straight. I believe in church…it offers Jesus, the hope of the world.

Luke 5:17-26

17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

IMPACT CHURCH, I have been doing some thinking…IT’S TIME TO RIP THE ROOF OFF THIS PLACE! I mean, we’ve been doin’ pretty good…but I’m talkin’ about it’s time as the Beastie Boys said: “to rock this party 8 days a week”.