FEBRUARY 29 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#07-03 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#7 “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26)

FEBRUARY 29  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#07-03 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#7 “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer

JESUS, in 2004 when You first started me on the narrow path You awoke in me the Holy Spirit to teach me how to pray and what to pray for and for that “spiritual awakening” I give You “Praise and Glory” for without those guidances from the Holy Spirit I know that I would not have been able to “know the Way” — Lord Jesus, I submit 2004 prayer today FEBRUARY 29 because Your Truth is Eternal: “…Lord remember me when You come into Your Kingdom. For men there is no hope without Your Sacrifice, for there is no man that could keep all the points of “The Law” or live a perfect sinless life before Almighty God, we are all weak and have been born into a sin nature. Lord, I make no pretense anymore that there is any “Good” in me except for the faith that I have in the things You have done, Lord Jesus. Grant it Lord that I might grow in that “faith in Jesus Christ” day-by-day and that my “self” will fade into nothingness as You come into Your Kingdom in my very soul.”    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus always ties His Lessons together in an order that if we follow His Teachings we will be building our “Foundation of Faith in God” on “The Solid Rock” and today the Holy Spirit makes the connection between Resurrection Sunday, the Creation, and JQ#7: “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26a) will they will all be tied together by pointing out these similarities: (1) The Creation of All things “Physical” in Genesis (2) The Creation of All things “Spiritual” in Jesus on Resurrection Sunday (3) The lack of “faith” in those who overlook the “Obvious God” and (4) The growing of “faith in God” by belief in the things God has Already Done until that “faith in God” becomes “Spiritual Sight”. A thorough reading of the first 5 verses in the first Chapter of the first Book in God’s Bible will reveal things about God and the Creation of both the Physical World (Genesis 1:1) and His laying down the foundation upon which the Spiritual World (Genesis 1:3) is built.  These two worlds could only be built by an All-Powerful, All-Knowing, Almighty Creator God that can never be explained by man’s finite intellect which is bounded by man’s obsession with “self”. A thorough study of Resurrection Sunday will reveal the Creation of the Narrow Gate  whereby the believer that has grown their “faith” to the point that they can spiritually discern the will of God can see that the “Key” to finding the “Narrow Gate” is growing their “faith in Jesus”, the Only Begotten of the Father, to the point that their “faith in Jesus” has become “Spiritual Sight” to locate the “Narrow Gate” and once the “Narrow Gate” is located they will be able to use the “Key” to boldly “Enter by the Narrow Gate” into the Spiritual Creation realized by the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ! If one cannot accept that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) then their “faith” will not be able to accept that God planned Salvation from before creation and He accomplished His Master Plan through Resurrection Sunday. But if one is desirable of growing their “faith in God” until it becomes “Spiritual Sight” then the “Obvious God” will reveal how God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are One with the expressed purpose of “drawing all men” to the kingdom of God to be “One with Them”, and this “Spiritual Sight” comes from “Believing” the things that have already been accomplished by God so that we may enjoy the “miracle of being alive”. Further, we will see that God went through great lengths to accomplish so much good for our “life” that excitedly we will proclaim as did the disciples when they saw Jesus as He calmed the wind and the waves (that He had created): “So the men marveled, saying ‘Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?’” (Matthew 8:27) and then we can exclaim with our newfound “Spiritual Sight” — “We have seen the “Obvious” that this IS God, the Creator, who can do whatever He desires for His Creation, and He has chosen to give us Peace and Eternal Life through Jesus Christ!!!” God really is that “Obvious” and He really is that “Powerful” — just open your spiritual eyes!!!

FEBRUARY 28 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#07-02 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#07 “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26)

FEBRUARY 28  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#07-02 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#07 “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, All Glory and All Honor ARE Yours and Yours alone, for the best of men with the greatest of intentions ALWAYS fall short of Your Glory. Yes, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that You are the LORD of lords and the KING of all kings. There is no one like JESUS, the Only Begotten of our Father in Heaven, who from the beginning of time had an appointment with suffering and death and this same Jesus gave up His Glory in Heaven, descended to earth, became flesh, met His Divine appointment at the exact moment in history God had predestined before the foundation of the earth to Raise His Only Begotten Son Victorious over death and the grave on the Third Day, never will another time in all eternity match the Matchless Moment of the Salvation for ALL  mankind as Jesus bore our iniquities on His Shoulders and died for our sins, the Perfect Sacrificial Offering of God the Father for the sins and iniquities of the world!    And NEVER will 3 words mean so much to so many as Jesus declared that GOD’S WORK of SALVATION IS COMPLETE — JESUS SPOKE JUST 3 WORDS FROM THE CROSS — “IT IS FINISHED” !!!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has raised two important topics for our consideration with JQ#07 and yesterday the Spirit led these writings to tie JQ#07 “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26a) into Lessons from the Resurrection because how can one be fearful of our lives when “God has demonstrated His Love towards us that while we were yet sinners God sent His Son to be the propitiation of those sins” (Romans 5:8)  which should also give us “great faith in God”!  Today that example of “faith in God” will be expanded to give some specific details that teach us that God has done so many things to reveal His Greatness to us that we should never be fearful of neither life nor death — yet we overlook the obvious things God has done for us in providing for daily needs in our day-to-day lives and we still stand fearful of the world?!? Every chapter and verse in all 66 books of our Bible Teach us a Lesson on who God is and what is His intention for the world. Mankind however, from the Beginning has been deceived by the world and each one of us has had to face the reality that God proves Himself to be a Loving-Forgiving God that Demands Justice, and is Jealous of His Glory. But each and everyone of us that faces that reality is given the most valuable gift anyone could receive and that “pearl of great worth” is that we are all free to choose God and Trust Him or we can also choose not to believe that God is who He says He is — The “Pearl of Freewill” is that we are free to choose our own “God/god” - but we must accept the responsibility of taking care of ourselves if we choose to believe in a false god of our own imagination - which if we choose to not believe in God, then we are “casting our pearls before swine”!  “Freedom of Choice” is the single greatest “test of faith” the ENTIRE HUMAN RACE will face!  ——— Let me give the most obvious reason that we should believe that God is who He says He is:  Our “little faith” is related back to Resurrection Sunday but has roots all the way back to Genesis 1:1-5. The first concept we can derive of God from His Word is from the very first verse in Genesis “In the beginning God created the heaven’s and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1 )     <<<<<<< The first characteristic of God is that He is the Creator (Provider) of everything that we have consciousness of, both in “heaven” and on the “earth”. What is overlooked about this passage is the obvious that if God “created” every thing “in the beginning” of all things, then God Himself was before the “beginning” and is Himself Uncreated. This is referred to by scholars as the “self-existence” of God. >>>>>>>    A. W. Tozer wrote in his book “The Knowledge of the Holy” that “Aside from God, nothing is self-caused.” (Chapter 5 “The Self-Existence of God” pg.25) — Only the Creator of all things can establish the laws governing all things and has control of all things and therefore we should recognize the obvious that He who controls all things is “in control of all things”!!! — It is a simple concept but JQ#07 exposes that fact that we overlook the obvious as we read “…Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm.” (Matthew 8:26b). The significance of the fact that the disciples were in a storm yet Jesus Himself was asleep, and that when He awoke He immediately reprimanded His disciples in the boat with Him by asking them: “why are you fearful” (Matthew 8:26a) is that after rebuking them about their “fear” of the world’s circumstances and their lack of “faith”,  Jesus turned immediately and addressed the source of their “fear” as “[Jesus] rebuked the winds and the sea” (Matthew 8:26b) !!! Only the Creator of all things controls all things and can take a “”storm” and produce “a great calm”. Think about all that God has done and documented in His Holy Word commanding us to “be anxious for nothing” and then answer the JQ#07 Question: “Why are you fearful?”  Fear is of the world and worldly circumstances but PEACE comes only from the “Creator of the heavens and the earth” and He-Who-Controls-All-Things!! It is a “CHOICE” to “fear the world controlled by doctrines of men” or  to “have PEACE from the Creator of the Universe” — “Choose this day whom you will serve”!!!! (Joshua 24:15)

FEBRUARY 27 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#07 “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26)

FEBRUARY 27  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#07 “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, today You have revealed a glimpse of the “Divine Obvious” for us to ponder as we simply observe that we are in yet another day that has been provided by Your Grace and Faithfulness for if You were not Faithful to keep the stars in their place then we would not be experiencing another sunrise. You Lord control the entire universe and we can observe the “Divine Obvious” if we but open our eyes and see Your Glory being revealed by Your Creation, using our God-given “senses” we can see “YOUR FAITHFULNESS” being displayed daily in the Miracle of Life. Lord Jesus, I pray that I will never close my eyes to Your Truth but keep my eyes wide open and my heart softened to the myriad of ways You reveal Your Faithfulness to us on a daily basis. Lord as I contemplate another year of serving You, I pray that You would fill me daily with that desire to do those things with my life that truly serve and Honor You and Glorify the Father.  Lord I pray with my heart of hearts that I become one with You and the Father and that my life will be lived totally “in Christ alone”.  Forgive me of my many shortcomings and guide me in Your Truth.    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS has been Teaching with His Lessons so far how we should view ourselves from a kingdom of God perspective with what Matthew describes as “sayings” of Jesus, then Matthew documents that what Jesus had been Teaching with these “sayings [of Jesus], that the people we astonished”! (Matthew 7:28) Matthew begins the next series of Lessons of Jesus with “When [Jesus] had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.” (Matthew 8:1) Remember that this series of Lessons started as Matthew had written about Jesus: “And seeing the multitudes, [Jesus] went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:” (Matthew 5:1-2)  —Jesus began His Teaching on the mountains with the Beatitudes and followed with the Lessons that “astonished” the people and now Jesus is coming down from the mountain and begins providing “Examples” of how to put action to our faith! Jesus came down from the mountain and began His Public Ministry of healing, first a leper, then the servant of a centurion who Jesus commended for having “great faith”, after that Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law, and Matthew records that the multitudes that had observed Jesus doing these works of God that “they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He Himself [the Messiah] took our infirmities and bore our sickness.’” (Matthew 8:2-17 from Isaiah 53) Since Jesus has introduced the term “faith” when He healed the centurion’s servant, and considering that the next JESUS Question is JQ#7 “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26),  we should pause and think about “faith” in general. How the Holy Spirit has led me to teach “faith” to my third graders in Sunday School is to first ask them how they themselves define “faith” and then to take their definitions and show them how phrases like “belief in God” and “trusting in God” points to the basic Truth of God about “FAITH IN GOD”. God points us the common sense fact that we must be careful where we direct our “faith” and who it is that we “trust”  — for “faith” is not the KEY, the KEY is “FAITH IN GOD”  and is best taught by answering the simple question “What do you believe about God and why do you trust Him?” However, we can have “Faith” in just about anything. We can believe in whatever we chose to believe so we must consider this elementary question about “Faith” — “What causes you to ‘believe’ and what causes you to ‘trust’?”  When we think about “faith” and “trust” we must admit that both can be applied to anything or anybody that we chose to have “faith in” or to “trust in”!  The degree to which we trust is a measure of our belief, for example each time you go to sit down in a chair is an expression of trust in the ability of the chair to hold your weight. Some of us look a little closer at the particular chair we are going to “trust” with our additional weight but over time our “faith” in chairs has been built upon exercising that faith in chairs by sitting in different chairs and grow our trust in chairs each time that chair hold us up.  Our “FAITH IN GOD”  can only be strengthened by exercising that “faith” in Him by trusting Him with various areas of our lives and letting Him prove Himself to us each time we put our “Faith in God” to the test thereby our Trust in God grows each time God proves Himself able to provide for our needs! Resurrection Sunday is one of those great times in our spiritual lives that we can build our “FAITH IN GOD” because of all the great things God proved to us when He raised Jesus from the tomb, gave His Son Jesus victory over death, and completed the Divine Plan for the Salvation of a lost world of sinners! God has done many things to show us that if we will study His Word that we will see time after time obvious basic “Divine Truths” about God that will develop in us great TRUST in God. As we contemplate our “FAITH IN GOD”, let us remember the last words Jesus spoke from the cross: “It is finished!”. (John 19:30) Jesus trusted God with His Eternal Life and allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross to be Sacrificed for our sins — and If Jesus had enough ““FAITH IN GOD” that He would Shed His Holy Blood and die on a cross for us, then we should have “Faith” in the One that has Provided for our Salvation!

FEBRUARY 26 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#06 “Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16)

FEBRUARY 26  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#06 “Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, I praise You each day for the simple fact that You have given me another day! Lord, my prayer is for others for I am finally learning that You have provided for all my needs in abundance, an abundance that You have given to me that I share with others in Your Name!  Lord Jesus my second prayer is that I will be found faithful in giving of myself to serve You by serving others. Lord Jesus, it is a Mystery why You would come down from Your Glory in heaven to dwell among us for there is nothing that we can do for You because You need nothing from us and You exist without us, but Lord there is no way we can exist without You! So the Mystery remains as to “why” You do anything at all for us (?) but Lord let my Praise rise to You daily for the simple fact that “YOU DID” and it is not important “why” — but it of Supreme Importance that we acknowledge the “Gift of God” and thank You Lord for the glimpse into “why God would send His Only Begotten Son into a world of sinners”? When we study Your Word it will reveal that the Truth of God is simply because of God’s Great Love for us that He sent His Only Begotten Son JESUS to come to Share that LOVE with us that we may in turn Share God’s Love with His Creation!!!  AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS concluded His JQ#06 Lesson with a declaration which is actually a summation of His first 6 Lessons “JQ#01 - JQ#06 so let us look at that declaration and consider the Truth of God found in the Lessons as well the Truth of God revealed by the content and the order of these first 6 JESUS Question/Lessons. Jesus ends JQ#06 by warning us not to “say” that He is “Lord” but that we will prove that He IS the “Lord” of our lives if we DO “the will of [our] Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21) Jesus then Teaches a parable of two builders which is the summation of how we can determine if we are a tree that will produce “good fruit” or “bad fruit” and is also a summation of the first 6 lessons: “Therefore whoever hears theses sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; an it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24-25) Matthew then documents the effect of all that Jesus had Taught so far in His earthly Ministry, starting first with the Sermon on the Mount. So far Matthew has documented these first 6 Question/Lessons as Matthew records: “And so it was, when Jesus had ended these saying, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” (Matthew 7:28-29) So let us look at “His Teachings” and the Truth of God contained in “What” Jesus has Taught so far, as well as the “Order” in which He Taught them. The first Question/Lesson JQ#01 followed immediately after Jesus gave His Sermon on the Mount (also called the Beatitudes) which was an announcement that the kingdom of heaven was at hand and what we should consider for ourselves if we desire to be subjects of that kingdom. With JQ#01 Jesus makes a statement of fact about our “spiritual heritage” when He EMPHATICALLY declares that we “ARE the salt of the earth” and that we “ARE the light of the world” and He then asks us to consider the state of the world if we do not use our “salt” and “light” to benefit others? Jesus continues with JQ#02 and again Jesus tells us that we are to “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.” (Matthew 5:44)— Jesus instructs us to “Love” others not just because they love us but we are to greet others that don’t necessarily greet us which is another way of saying that if we are going to be kingdom subjects then we should treat others as God treats us and not be like the world and the world’s idea of who is worthy of our love or our greetings. Jesus then Teaches in JQ#03 that our life from a kingdom perspective takes on more value if we consider where our “life” comes from and we discover that “we are made in the image of God” and that “life IS more than food” and that our “body”, since it is created in the “image of God” is more important “than clothing”. Jesus then starts working on our “attitudes toward others” in more detail as He commands us with JQ#04 to “judge not” and makes it clear that our responsibility is to “love others” and let God do the “Judging” and in doing so Jesus introduces the “Final Judgement” that every individual will have to face at the end of our earthly existence and stand before God ——— God at the “Final Judgement” lets the way we lived our life take the witness stand before The Great White Throne to be our only witness before the “TRUE Judge” as to our true guilt or innocence! Jesus does not leave us hanging but Teaches us with JQ#05 that as “heirs of the kingdom of God” that we are not just “subjects” but we are “heirs” and Jesus Teaches us that as “heirs to God’s Kingdom” we have the privilege of declaring the KING of heaven  as “our Father” and are encouraged to ask of “our Father in heaven” and TRUST HIM to provide good things for His heirs. Jesus wraps up these first six Lessons by introducing what could be called “Divine Common Logic” with the “simple but obvious” JQ#06 “Do men gather grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles” and our God-given logic tells us “of course not” and we glimpse one of our fleshly problems with living in this world and that is that even though we “know” that grapes only come from grapevines that we seek God in some unholy places or we buy the lie of the enemy and try to find nourishment among the thornbushes and thistles. The enemy tells us that grapes from thornbushes will give us “satisfaction” and when we swallow the “lie” we end up malnourished at best. Jesus Teaches us the Truth of God and He does so with “Ultimate Authority” and if we listen and learn from Jesus then we also will be “astonished” and our lives will be “transformed by the renewing of our minds” from the simple to the Sublime! 

FEBRUARY 25 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#06 “Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16)

FEBRUARY 25  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#06 “Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer

JESUS, thank You Lord for Your Grace so freely bestowed on such an undeserving sinner such as I Lord, (But by the GRACE of GOD I am what I am…1 Corinthians 15:10)— Lord, it matters not what other men do with the knowledge of Christ, but it is of Eternal Importance what we ourselves personally do with the knowledge that Jesus came to earth, took on flesh, lived a Perfect Life, and allowed Himself to be the Lamb of God, offered for the sins of each individual as an atonement for those sins in order that we can be “Forgiven our sins” and through the Sacrifice of Christ we can exchange our guilt for the Righteousness of Jesus Christ, our Savior! Lord, what does matter in our lives is that we ourselves “Believe in God and His Righteousness” and that we “Believe” it significantly enough to share the “Good News” with other men that they too can have the Saving Knowledge of Jesus Christ! Lord, I pray that all the remaining days that You choose to GRACE me with that I will use each day to point others to the Truth of God that He so Loved the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son to become flesh and dwell among us and show us the “Way” to the Truth of God and His Great Love for us!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS took a simple Question about “grapes” and “figs” and pointed us to the Truth of God that God will make His Truth “obvious” to us if we will use our God-given common logic — of course we don’t get “grapes” from anything but grape vines nor do we gather “figs” from anywhere but fig trees, so why do we go to the world of men to learn of God? Jesus warned us “beware of false prophets” which tells us that there are “real prophets” and there are “false prophets” and to keep us safe Jesus tells us how to tell the “good” from the “bad” and that is simply to see if the bush has “thorns” or “grapes” or does the tree produce “thistles” or “figs”?  Jesus then made it clear that we will be judged by the fruit that we produce and not by what we profess to be with our mouths, and the penalty is rather severe, if we do not produce good fruit in the eyes of God, then our tree will be “cut down and thrown into the fire”! God never asks us to do anything that He does not provide everything we need to accomplish with our lives that which He calls us to do and God always gives us very clear detailed instructions not only “How” but “Why” we should follow His instructions! Such as is this case as Jesus Teaches we should produce “good” fruit then He immediately Teaches us a parable on “How” — and if we use our God-given logic we will also easily understand “Why”! Jesus had just warned, “Not everyone that says to Me ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven…” (Matthew 7:21a) and Jesus then illustrates the Truth of God that we are not to just “say” Jesus is “Lord” of our lives but we must “live” our lives and “do” those things that prove that He IS the “Lord” of our lives. Jesus was blunt in His “Consequence” of our lives producing “fruit” of the world and of men rather than the “fruit” of following Jesus as “Lord” and producing kingdom fruit when He proclaims: “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!"  (Matthew 7:23) Jesus then starts His Teaching Parable of the two builders: “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24-25) When we look at the simple Truth of God through simple God-given common sense, we will not try to gather grapes from thornbushes nor will we try to build our refuge from the world on the shifting sands of the doctrines of men that change with the prevailing winds of popularity, nothing worldly provides any real shelter from the storms of life. Jesus tells us that there will be storms and struggles in our lives but we should build our life on the strong foundation of Faith in God found in trusting the “rock” — a house built on Faith in God and the Rock “will not fall” — if you build your house on the shifting sands of the ever-changing doctrines of men and the lies of the world, when the storms of life come, your house will fall, “And great [will be] its fall!” (Matthew 7:29)   

FEBRUARY 24 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#06 “Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

FEBRUARY 24  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#06 “Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord Jesus, the Only Begotten of the Father, Son of the Living God, my Redeemer, Savior, You are the Christ! You Lord are the fulfillment of Prophecy, You lived the Perfect Life, You Suffered as the Perfect Sacrifice and Paid the Penalty that I could not pay, You died in my place, Your side was pierced as You were hanging Dead on the Cross, Your Body was Broken, Your Blood was Shed, You were laid in a grave! You Lord, being Loved by the Father was Obedient even unto death and the grave and on the Third Day You AROSE and the Greatest Testimony ever given was proclaimed: “HE IS ALIVE”!!!  As a follower of Jesus Christ there can be no greater TRUTH OF GOD in our life — Jesus is the Resurrection!!! Praise God!!!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS began JQ#06 with a simple Question about gathering “grapes from thornbushes” and “figs from thistles” that may seem totally out of context for a Truth of God Question but it makes perfect sense if you consider the warning Jesus gave us before asking the Question about “grapes” and “figs”: “Beware of false prophets…” and then telling us how to identify them, “…you will know them by their fruits…” (Matthew 7:15-16) On the surface this seems like a mundane Question but consider that first of all that it is Jesus who is asking and secondly Jesus never asked a Question that did not point us to a Truth of God  to help us live a successful life. Of course, we don’t get “grapes from thornbushes” nor do we get “figs from thistles” but if we are not careful and discerning about where we get the sustenance of our daily lives then we could end up prey to “ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing”! Jesus then applies simple logic: “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” (Matthew 7:17-18) Then Jesus gives us the “Divine Spiritual Caution”  when He tells us “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:19-20) Once Jesus gets us to thinking in terms of God’s Truth that we can know if a tree is “Good” or “Bad” just by observing the “fruit” produced by that tree, Jesus then proclaims that a tree that does not bear “good fruit” will be judged by God and the penalty for producing nothing but “bad fruit” is that the “bad” tree will be “cut down and thrown into fire”! Jesus is Teaching us with this simple Question that we will be judged by the fruit that our lives produce, not what we “say” we are going to do, but did our actions actually produce “good fruit” or “bad fruit”???  “Good fruit” gives nourishment and the bearer of good fruit will be rewarded with an abundant life,  but bad fruit produces no good results and simply consumes the nutrient from the soil without providing any benefit to others; therefore, the tree must be cut down and burned so that the life giving nutrients will be returned to the soil and will be used by the good tree to provide life to those that consume the good fruit from a good tree. Jesus has us focused on our producing “good fruit" for the benefit of others then He really gets “Real” when He then amplifies this Lesson about not just “saying” we will do good but by actually “doing” good when He says “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21) Wow, Jesus took us in a matter of minutes from thinking “of course we don’t get grapes from thistles” — to clearly telling us that the “will of [our] Father in heaven” is that we “produce good fruit” and join Him “in heaven” but if we don’t, we will be “cut down” and “thrown into the fire”. In simple terms — If we follow Jesus and His Teachings we will know the will of God and if we know the will of God we will produce “good fruit” but if we simply declare we are followers but do not produce any good fruit, our Father in heaven will judge us, not by what we “said” we would do, but what “fruit” did we produce with our actions in the way of “good fruit” for the kingdom. This Lesson sounds simple but how quickly Jesus, the Master Teacher,  transforms  the “simple” into the “Sublime” — That’s what Jesus does with our simple lives — but only if we do “the will of [our] Father in heaven”!!!

FEBRUARY 23 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#06 “Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16)

FEBRUARY 23  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#06 “Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer

[JESUS, Precious Jesus, thank you for the visit from the Holy Spirit yesterday that reminded me that every day is a “Good Day” because of Your Sacrifice on the Cross and what that means to the world and its great impact on not only our eternity but in our everyday lives — but mostly for the Great Sacrifice You Personally made and the Personal Suffering You endured for my sake! Lord Jesus, as I think about all You have done for me I am also reminded by the Spirit that part of that Suffering was for You to be in the grave and experience death for us so that at the end of our life we would look forward to sharing another experience that You so Graciously Share with believers! Just like You experienced “life” for us by being born of the flesh, You also have experience “death” for us, and not just “death” but the worst death imaginable so that You can Truly say “I know what you’re going through and Rejoice for I Am the Victorious Life and I am also Victorious in death! Praise be the Name Jesus the Christ.  AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS has now taken us through 5 Questions that have been woven together as only the Master Weaver can and now He is beginning a new section with a new Question but the object is the same, to Teach us the Truth of God! This new section for JQ#06 in Matthew 7:15-29 which actually contains two Questions, but if the section is studied in context, both Questions are essentially the same, just asked at different angles which Jesus always does to get us to think more completely about the Lesson and the Truth of God that He is trying to Teach us. As I studied this section I see that it is broken into 3 sub-sections. Sub-section 1 is verses 15-20 and deals with “false prophets”, Sub-section 2 is verses 21-23 and deals with false profession of who our “Lord” really is, and Sub-section 3 is verses 24-29 and is a parable of two builders and warns us to build our lives on the True Foundation that is the “solid rock” and not on a false foundation that is the ever-changing sands of humanism. There is one key phrase that the Holy Spirit pointed out that pulls this all together and that is where Jesus is Teaching the parable of the two builders and in the middle of His Teaching He says: “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand…” (Matthew 7:26) This verse spoke to me and said that if we “listen and hear what Jesus is saying” and “study His sayings” then we will not “fall for false prophets” nor profess anyone but “Jesus Himself as Lord” and we will not be guilty of having “prophesied in any name but the Name of Jesus”. And lastly the obvious: if we build our life on the “Rock” that we will have a True Shelter in time of storm. Read this passage again with these thoughts in mind and see if Matthew 7:15-29 is not 3 insights to the same issue of being a True Christian, for we can only truly be a Christian if we listen, live, and follow Jesus Christ, and Him Only! From this viewpoint we can give Jesus the obvious answer to His two Questions found in this section: (1) JQ#6a — “Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16) and (2) JQ#6b — “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’” (Matthew 7:22) To fully answer this Question we must also recall that during one Passover in Jerusalem that Jesus performed many signs and wonders and many believed in Him because they had seen His Miraculous “signs” yet we read: “but Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” (John 2:24-25) Therefore we should be very careful to build our Spiritual Life on the solid “Rock”!