APRIL 11 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?* “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

APRIL 11  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord, my Savior, Praise, Glory, and Honor to the Son of God Most High. Jesus, my prayer today is that the Holy Spirit will totally consume me and overflow from my spirit so that all that will be seen in me is Thee! Today I pray for the total destruction of the old man as I share Your Story of Grace and Forgiveness by the “Way” I live my day-to-day life. Lord, I know that without Your Grace and Forgiveness that I would still be lost in “self” and drowning in my “sin”, grant it Lord that all the words I speak today will be Your Words, that all my desires will be towards “loving others” as You have commanded. Forgive me mine iniquities, let Your cleansing Light be all that remains in my life.   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus Himself has always made His Lessons and Callings personal — we see Him calling out His disciples one by one and not only just calling them out individually but He called each one by name and made it clear to each one that they were to use their talents now to advance the kingdom of God! The way they were to learn “how” to advance God’s Kingdom was the same command Jesus has given each individual that will heed the Voice of Jesus, “Come, follow Me.” (Matthew 4:19) In JQ#13a, b and c we must understand that Jesus is asking the Pharisees to look at themselves and see that their false accusations are damaging themselves more than they are damaging Jesus. Jesus starts explaining this to the Pharisees by pointing out to them that the “reality” of their accusation has the root motivation of “division” and that even in the strongest of kingdoms there must be “unity of spirit” or the kingdom itself will weaken and eventually crumble: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:25) . The fact that the Pharisees attributes the good works and miracles that Jesus had been performing was “by Beelzebub” points to the fact that “Satan” himself has been the motivating “spirit” directing the Pharisees to attack the good works of Jesus and  the Miracle Power of God — “Now when the Pharisees heard [Jesus was performing miracles and casting out demons] they said, ‘This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons.” Matthew 12:24)  If we look at what Jesus had been doing in terms of healing and casting out demons we must concede that the “physical” results of these miracles can only be accounted for by the “Spiritual” Power of God being exhibited through Jesus — for never before in all of history nor ever will it happen in the future that anyone has or will “cast out demons by Beelzebub”!!!  However, the Pharisees could not deny that miracles were being performed so they had to draw the multitude’s attention away from God’s Power and therefore the Pharisees were given the “idea” from Satan himself to draw the focus of the miracles away from God and to give Satan the “credit” for this healing and casting out demons! The really big problem here can be seen as the ridiculous claim it really is — by saying that Jesus is “casting out demons” by the power of “Beelzebub”, the accusation itself reveals it as another fabrication by Satan to draw us away from the Truth of God! If Satan controls all the demons then why would Satan make himself look bad by putting demons into someone and then turning around and drawing them out again which would only put Satan at “cross purposes” with himself!?!?  Jesus points out that Satan would be fighting against himself and that would be self-destruction — but on the other hand, Jesus points out that by just the very mention of the name “Beelzebub” in their accusation that the Pharisees have exposed the source and supply of their false accusations and their true motivation which is to “divide and conquer” the followers of Jesus who is Teaching the Truth of God, doesn’t that sound exactly like what is happening in our world today? Jesus knew that this problem would plague all men just like the universal problem the world has with sin and self and if Satan can draw your attention away from God then he has divided God’s people! It is as true today as it was when Jesus first spoke it, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house [or church group or family] divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:25) That verse started with, “But Jesus knew their thoughts…” and the Lesson we must learn is that as soon as the name “Beelzebub” or “Satan” is mentioned we must look to find the false accusations that will be present against God — for the goal of Satan is “desolation” of God’s people!  Satan himself knows that “God so loved the world that He gave [the sin filled world] His only begotten Son [Jesus], that whosoever believes in [the acceptable Sacrifice on the cross for our sin by] Jesus that they shall not perish, but have everlasting life!” ( John 3:16) John 3:16 explains why Satan would attack and accuse Jesus — for it is Jesus that defeats Satan and frees all men from the slavery of sin and self! Satan has used the “separation-from-God” weapon against the children of God ever since Adam and Eve to “divide” and hurt all that seek to be the children of God! If we remain in our sin then we will perish and have to live our Eternity separated (or “divided”) from God, hence our “desolation” is Satan’s victory! Do you see now why Satan attacks the Truth of God and why Jesus is pointing this out with JQ#13? Jesus clearly points this out so that we will know that Satan always attacks God by attacking God’s people, and Satan’s favorite weapon of “desolation” is false accusations against God to get us to turn from God to ourselves where temptation and sin will consume us and separate us from God? If Jesus points out a “problem”, don’t you think a “solution” is quick to follow? Remember, “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed!” (John 8:36) 

APRIL 10 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?* “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

APRIL 10  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

Daily Prayer to JESUS    

JESUS, each day is a new day in Your Grace, Lord I give You praise for Your Infinite Grace because of the great need in my life for it, what a glorious thought that both Your Compassion and Your Grace are without limits. Lord Jesus, give me the desire in my heart that I will live Your Grace daily and share it with others at every opportunity in order that souls in need of Your Great Compassion will come to rest in the Shelter of Your Infinite Grace. Forgive me when my flesh weakens, grant it Lord Jesus that my spirit will continue to abide in Your “Grace, Grace, Marvelous Grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within.”   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus met the “legalist” head on as they were constantly plotting and devising schemes in which they hoped to trap Jesus with their man-made laws which the Pharisees had memorized to the “letter”!  But these “legalists” were only interested in wielding the “power” that they had stolen from God’s Law by enforcing on others the “letter” of the law instead of the “Spirit” of God’s Law.  Jesus spent a lot of His Ministry addressing this very issue for the problem Jesus saw then is the same problem we see today, man wants “power” and since there is only One True Power in the universe; therefore, men must “rob God” when they seek to use that “power” to gain control over others. The method that has proved most successful in “robbing God” is through the passing of laws that give the “lawmakers” false “authority” over others. The original intention of the Pharisees was to make sure that the Israelites were following God’s Law but there is a law of the nature of man that exists which states: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This “power” to corrupt actually comes from defiling God’s Law and can be demonstrated as follows: (1) All POWER is from God, no “power” exists in the universe that does not come from God (2) God gave man “Free Will” which is really nothing more than man exercising “responsibility” to use the “power” of “Free Will” to make choices that honor God. (3) God gave man “Free Will” which gives man the “Freedom” to “choose” but God reserves the right to determine the “Consequence” of our actions. (4) This determination of “Consequences” is God’s Law and God’s Law will NEVER CHANGE therefore every generation and each individual have equal opportunity to exercise the “power” God bestows on each and every individual in the form of “Free Will” and every choice we make in life either honors God or it defiles God’s “Spirit”. Since the Pharisees were the perfect example of taking God’s Law and making it man’s interpretation of God’s Law, Jesus time and time again confronted the “legalist” and demonstrated that the “Spirit” of the Law is the only True Power. The fact that Jesus is pointing us to this “Power of God’s Spirit” and that there is no “power” but that which comes from God can be seen in the next series of Questions Jesus asked the Pharisees when they accused Jesus of using “power” that originated with Satan!  Let us look at the accusation and then see how Jesus Teaches His accusers that there is “No Power aside from the Power of God!” The Pharisees had been following Jesus and their sole purpose was to trap Him with their manmade laws and discredit Jesus in front of the multitudes that were observing Jesus performing good works for the needy. The Pharisees had been watching Jesus do miracle after miracle and could find nothing to “accuse” Him of so they decided to “manufacture” a “problem”. Matthew recorded this effort of the Pharisees to find fault with all the good Jesus had been doing when Matthew writes: “Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, ‘This [Jesus] does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.’ But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them,…” (Matthew 12:24-25) and so that there was no doubt about the point Jesus was going to make, Jesus identified the author of the problem as “Satan”. (Matthew 12:26) Jesus knew that the Pharisees were addressing the “Power” issue and Jesus therefore is going to point us to the “Truth of God” that “ALL Power comes from God” and that not even Satan himself has any power except what power God allows him to have! Have you ever questioned this Truth of God yourself? Come on now and be honest, after all, Jesus knew the thoughts of the Pharisees and don’t you think He knows your thoughts as well?   

APRIL 09 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?* “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

APRIL 09  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Lord I pray back to You the words found in Your Holy Word that I may “be rooted and established in Your Love, and that I will be granted by the Holy Spirit the power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the Love of Christ, and to know that this Love of Christ surpasses all knowledge — I pray this that I might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19). Lord I also pray again the prayer I prayed on April 9, 2004 “…I pray daily that I would recognize that the ‘Cross is the Key’ to all Eternity and I praise God for His Perfect Plan of Salvation and I add to my praise that both God and Christ have been Faithful to His Master Plan of Salvation — daily I will pray for Your Resurrection in my life, daily I pray that You will search my heart and cleanse me of my iniquities that I may serve You better”.   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has now moved to Teaching us another Divine Truth and He is drawing our focus to our personal “relationship” with God the Father — and Jesus encourages us to give serious consideration to our day-to-day lives and determine if we are making a “contribution” to God’s kingdom or are we so selfish still that all we can do is “take, take, take” as we whimper “gimme, gimme, gimme” as Jesus asks JQ#13.3 — “Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?” (Matthew 12:24-37)??? The Master Teacher of course has a Master Plan and as we have already learned through the first twelve Questions Jesus has asked, each Question builds upon the last and together they are  forming a stair-step knowledge that we may climb higher in the understanding of God’s Infinite Wisdom. This “precept upon precept” Teaching is very effective if when we come to gain understanding of one Question that we will ask ourselves in “Faith” — “Were will He lead us next?” I will be honest that when JQ#12 was revealed as “Who decides what is legal, God or man?” I thought that I may well spend Eternity trying to give an honest answer to that Question but then God spoke and the Holy Spirit asked “How much proof do you need to answer that Question for yourself?” — so I looked and indeed there was a mountain of “evidence” that I had not even began to dig into so the Question made good sense to me and I heard that “still small voice” tell me to decide for myself in my heart of hearts if I was going to let man or God declare what is legal? As soon as I delivered my verdict and declared a resounding affirmative that “God alone decides what is legal”  that the “still small voice” said…“Then let’s move on”. Going from so serious a Question as who determines all “Legality” in the universe for all “Eternity”, I thought that JQ#13 would be a less serious Question but no, there was an even more serious Question put in front of me to answer now, and it is also in front of you if you have been sitting under the shadow of the MASTER TEACHER  as He has asked these Questions that we may gain knowledge of the Father and His Kingdom. Jesus has been “living His Life as the Perfect Example” as in each Lesson we have been learning that not only will we “hear” the Lesson but we will also see Jesus “Living the Perfect Example” of each Lesson that He Teaches! As we look upon the “Perfect Example” of the “Divine-Do-As-I-Do” Life Lived by Jesus placed in juxtaposition with the classic “Hypocritical-Do-As-I-Say” example set by the Pharisees, we begin to understand that Jesus is saying “Walk-the-Walk” and that our lives should be lived in the Light of the Understanding that His Lessons impart to us. So let’s “Move on” from “JQ#12 - Who decides what is ‘legal’, God or man?” to the equally (if not even more serious) JESUS Question JQ#13 — “Is your life a plus or minus in God’s kingdom?”  We will try to answer the Questions and study the “Perfect Example” in this next section for JQ#13 which covers Matthew 12:22-45, unless of course you do not think it is really necessary to answer these JESUS Questions or to worry about what God thinks about us, after all, can’t we get to heaven on our own path just by being good — or do we also have to stop and ask, “Who decides what is ‘good’, God or man”?  

APRIL 08 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?* “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

APRIL 08  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Son of the Living God, Praise, Glory, and Honor to the Son that Honors the Father by being Obedient to the Father’s Will, even unto a cruel death on a cross so that the Son of Man could be lifted before sinful men and draw all men unto Him. Were it not for that One Day on the Cross, mankind would never know the Hope of Eternity with God! O Blessed Day, O Blessed Resurrection, O Blessed Promise given by the very Son of God by His Blessed Sacrifice! Forgive us our daily sins as we seek daily to be more like Thee.   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus asks us the JESUS Questions not as a query to gain knowledge for Himself but for our own self-awareness of where we stand on those “Spiritual Issues” that will impact our Eternity. Just stop and think of Eternity itself and we can quickly come to the logical conclusion that Eternity is populated only with the Eternal and throughout all the knowledge of mankind we must concede that only God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is Eternal.  Common sense tells us that if God is Eternal then anything that seeks to be Eternal must seek to be One with God or at the very least we must expect to share His Eternity with Him. Simply put — we know that we cannot create an Eternity for ourselves! Therefore, if we are going to spend “Eternity” with the Source of Eternity, God Himself — the only Self-Existing Eternal One, then it makes good sense to seek to know Him that we might gain His Acceptance and be allowed access to that which only God can provide — the “Way” that we must take to enter into His Eternal Kingdom through the Narrow Gate. We are familiar with the various types of entries we use every day as we go about our physical lives on earth dealing with locks, keys, combinations, and entry codes, all of which are inventions of men to prevent our entry or access to certain areas and the only way to gain entry to these restricted areas is to be given the pass codes or the key and then we must enter them in the right order at the right place for if we do not follow these requirements for our entry into these restricted areas then we will be met with the simple truth — “Access Denied”! Why should we think that heaven with all its Wealth and Treasures and Everlasting Life should be any different? If we want to enter the Kingdom of the All Seeing, All Knowing God we must enter where He has decided we should enter and we must be ready to enter His pass code where He says to enter it to gain access to His Kingdom. That being said we can more easily understand why Jesus would start instructing us how to please God once we have come to the conclusion that it is God and God alone that determines what is legal (see JQ#12) therefore it is God alone that determines True Right and establishes the True Moral Standard by which all men should live. It only makes sense that God rewards those that abide by His Rules for life and indeed that reward is “Eternal Life” in fellowship with God Himself in His Kingdom that He has provided for those that are prepared to enter His Kingdom, His “Way”! If God is going to provide a “Way” then He will provide a “Map [the Holy Bible]” and a “Guide [Jesus]” for those that follow His Instructions. He will by no means deny us entry into the Kingdom established by God for His people if we follow His Instructions given to us by His Only Begotten Son Jesus, who by Teaching us God’s Way with His Lessons, Jesus is giving us the “pass code to entry into Eternity” — but to learn the pass code, we must honestly answer the Teaching Questions that Jesus has been instructed by the Father to ask those who seek to gain entry into God’s Kingdom and the Question being asked by God today is simply: “Is your life a plus or minus for My Kingdom?” As always, Jesus has the Answer, but are you willing to listen?  

APRIL 07 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?* “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

APRIL 07  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer

JESUS, Lord and Master, my Redeemer and the Lover of my soul, Praise be to the Lamb of God, the Light of the world. Lord we cannot begin with our limited words to express or to give to You the Glory due to the Son of God in whom the Father is well pleased. For how can man’s mortal words express from our defiled heart words to compare to expressions from the Divine Holy God who has entrusted all that the Father has to the Beloved Son? No words can express Your Glory but let these three be spoken, JESUS IS WORTHY!!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus addressed the “legalism” issue with the Pharisees with JQ#12 “Who determines what is legal, God or man?”. Matthew then noted that the response from Jesus to the next confrontation Jesus had with the Pharisees, “Then the Pharisees [after seeing Jesus heal a man on the Sabbath] went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.” (Matthew 12:14) further proved Jesus is the Messiah! Even when threatened again by these “legalist” that were plotting to have Him killed, Jesus in the face of this evil plot responded as He always did when threatened by evil — by doing the will of His Father in Heaven openly and in public view which demonstrated to everyone that Jesus was indeed fulfilling the Holy Scriptures as written in the Isaiah 42:1-4 passage: “But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.” (Matthew 12:15) So when Jesus was threatened by the Pharisees and they sought to “destroy Him” because He had healed a man’s withered hand (see Matthew 12:10-13) Jesus simply withdrew from the “evil” and continued to do “good” to those who followed Him — Matthew makes a powerful statement when he wrote, “…and [Jesus] healed them all [that is … all who followed Jesus and believed He had the “Power and Spirit” of God upon Him to heal]…” (Matthew 12:15b) Jesus publicly lived this passage from Isaiah to demonstrate that His Lessons, Lifestyle, and His Parables were fulfillment of prophecy about the Messiah, God’s Chosen One: “Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory; and in His name Gentiles will trust.” (Matthew 12:18-20 from Isaiah 42:1-4) This set up another confrontation with the Pharisees when Jesus then healed a mute and a blind man and His followers asked, “Could this be the Son of David?” (Matthew 12:23) but “…when the Pharisees heard it…” (Matthew 12:24) they again attacked Jesus and made false accusations against Him and plotted yet again how they might “destroy Him”! Just as soon as Jesus Teaches one Question/Lesson He immediately ties all the previous Lessons together and introduces the next “precept” and draws the next “line” in the sands of our life and we begin to understand that this Infinite Knowledge being shared by the Master Teacher will never be exhausted! Therefore let us “Stay the course” and continue to “Run the race and fight the good fight” as we look at the Foundation of Faith built on the Rock and know that we are building a “house” that the storms of life will not prevail against if we but continue to build our wall of Faith “line upon line” and  “precept upon precept” as Taught by the Master Teacher, Jesus Christ! In the last few JESUS Questions/Lessons we can see Jesus moving our consciousness in a controlled and specific direction towards knowing God the Father and it becomes obvious we could not have arrived at our answers and insights without this Divine Guidance. In JQ#10 Jesus made us stop and consider “What is your Spiritual value?” and in JQ#11 He next asked us “What are your Spiritual expectations?” and to keep us headed in the right direction towards the kingdom, Jesus asked us in JQ#12 “Who decides what is legal, God or man?”. When we can finally declare to Jesus that our Spiritual value is proportional to our Spiritual life and declare with honesty that our Spiritual expectations were formerly directed towards “self” (for we had mostly seen Jesus as an historical figure who went about doing good and never as “The Living God”), and then truly concede that God is the One, the Only, and the Final Authority and Judge — then and only then can we see that Jesus is the Son of God who is Teaching us to follow His Perfect Example and live our own lives for the good of others and not for self promotion.  Jesus then makes us see that we are not just supposed to “talk the talk” but we must for the kingdom’s sake “walk the walk” as He asks JQ#13 “Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?”  The context for JQ#13 is all of Matthew up to JQ#13 which specifically starts at Matthew 12:22 and runs through Matthew 12:45. Just as in previous Lessons, Jesus always makes an opening statement that shifts our focus to a new topic and with JQ#13 Jesus again grabs our “Spiritual attention”  as He addresses the Pharisee’s new accusation that Jesus “cast out demons…by Beelzebub” (Matthew 12:24) — Jesus replies to this devilish accusation with this Universal Truth of God that: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand…” (Matthew 12:25) The relevancy of these Question/Lessons and topics as they so directly apply to our world today should be proof to us that Jesus is the All-Knowing Living God, for I cannot read these two verses without thinking about the great division in our nation and in our world today and the news is full of ongoing desolation and wars and there is no denying that our nation has turned from God!?!?  There  clearly is no “unity” of “Spirit” throughout our secular/new age nation!  Don’t you think that maybe Jesus has “Struck another nerve in our spiritual consciousness“ and we should prepare to learn  what Jesus has to Teach us about “a kingdom divided”?!?!

APRIL 06 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?* “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

APRIL 06  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?*  “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, O the Precious Name —No other name can calm doubt and fears like the Name of Jesus, what unspeakable privilege to call on the Son of God and know that the Father is listening. Jesus, may every thought of self be buried in my desire to serve You honorably.  May my prayer be as I awaken each morning to face another new day that You have made that I will start the day with “give us this day our daily bread” and end it with “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus was Teaching a Lesson on “legality” and “True Authority” that is both “universal” and “eternal” because of the fallen nature of mankind and our society today needs to address this issue not only in our personal lives but in our national lives as well!!!  Not only is our “modern” society demanding God be removed from public places but we also are allowing God and His Moral Standard to be “over-ruled” in our personal lives. The incident with the Pharisees documented in Matthew 12:1-23 was not the only time that Jesus addressed the fact that the “legalist” did not know “the Spirit of God’s law” as Jesus repeatedly entered synagogues and temples on the Sabbath and performed miracles to prove the Deep Truth of God that the Sabbath should be honored by acts of “mercy” and not condemning the “guiltless” (Matthew 12:7). Jesus was confronted by “legalism” with the specific question “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” (Matthew 12:9-10) and Jesus made it clear that “Compassion and Mercy” are the “True Spirit” of “keeping the Sabbath Holy” is when He gave this reply to their “legalist” question about what is “lawful” the Sabbath: “Then [Jesus] said to them, ‘What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.’ Then [Jesus] said to the man [with the withered hand], ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And [the man with the withered hand] stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.” (Matthew 11-13) Jesus could not have done any more to illustrate that the “Spirit” of the commandment “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8) is to “do good” on the Sabbath and to demonstrate “mercy” to others. The legalists have taken the “letter of the law” and have misinterpreted God’s instructions in Exodus 20:8-11 and have confused “you shall do no work [on the Sabbath]” and “keep [the Sabbath] holy” — in other words, the legalist consider it “work” to be “holy” and their interpretation of Exodus 20:8-11 is that the Pharisee’s definition of “holy” really means “doing nothing” and have completely missed the “Spirit” of the Sabbath which God intended as a day of honoring Him and demonstrating “mercy” to others which is more pleasing to God on the Sabbath than “forced sacrifices” (see Matthew 12:7 again). Jesus continued illustrating this Truth of the Spirit of the Sabbath as He time and time again healed and cast out demons and forgave men of their sins on the Sabbath and Jesus did these acts of God’s Mercy openly in the synagogue on the Sabbath for all to see the Son of God honoring the Father on the Sabbath by doing acts of “mercy” in strict defiance to the legalist of His day, the Pharisees. We are seeing among the legalist of today the same reaction of the Pharisees antagonistic attitude towards Jesus honoring God because there are many anti-God laws on the books today that are the same as what Matthew documented about the Pharisee’s negative reaction to Jesus and Him confronting their “legalism” as we read: “Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.” (Matthew 12:14) Jesus made it clear that God has the Only Authority and His Law is Perfect so can we please cease “plotting against God” and now declare the only correct answer to this very important question, “Who decides what is legal, God or man?” as a resounding and confident declaration that “GOD is the FINAL AND ONLY AUTHORITY!!!!” I rest my case at the CROSS!!!

APRIL 05 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?* “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

APRIL 05  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?*  “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

         

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, let the Praise from my heart be acceptable in Your ear, Lord You have overwhelmed me again with Your Grace, overwhelmed because even in the worldly pain we must endure, if we endure it “for Your sake” then there is a Peace and Joy that cannot be explained. In this “healing” from my “physical” injury that You have granted, my Faith is growing and  I am experiencing the spiritual sensation that the scales are falling off slowly from my eyes of “little faith” and I am aware of the improvement of my “spiritual” sight. Lord Jesus, forgive me of those days when I allow the trials of this world to fog my vision of Your Truth.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus asked the root Who-decides-Legality Question of the “legalist” that had accused Him of “what is not lawful on the Sabbath” and this JESUS Question should leave us with no doubt that Jesus had a major point to prove about the “law” and those that had “usurped” the “authority” to “interpret” God’s Law for Him!?! Jesus is making the main point that God knows exactly what He’s doing at all times and God does not need anyone to “interpret God’s intent”, nor does there need to be any clarification to God’s instructions because God Himself had already directed the Holy Spirit to instruct chosen men called prophets to write down what God wants His people to know! We know this is true as we read statements from King David  (one of those “chosen ones” whom Jesus had referred to in His initial response to the Pharisees accusation that what Jesus was doing in the grain fields was “not lawful”, see Matthew 12:3) David writes in this Psalm: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.” (Psalm 19:1-3) David continues: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making the wise simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” (Psalm 19:7-9) One cannot but ask anyone who “thinks” they “know” what God “meant” the same implied question Jesus asked the Pharisees: “Do you expect any reasoning person to accept from a created being their ‘interpretation” of what God said or should the person that reasons for himself as God intended accept God’s Own Words which are ‘clean’, ‘pure’, ‘true’, ‘righteous’ and ‘endures forever’ and have been declared by the Creator Himself as ‘perfect’?” There are numerous testimonies from those that God spoke to directly that say God knows what He’s doing so why should we put any faith in some third-party second-hand opinion from a socially or politically motivated source wishing to gain control over a group of individuals? The point Jesus is plainly making is that everyone, everywhere, has access to God and God’s revealed Word and it is our responsibility to listen not to man’s interpretation but to God Himself who is completely capable of making Himself understood! Jesus continues to prove this “deep Truth of God” and that we should concede that God is the Only Authority when after Teaching this Lesson verbally that Jesus “walked the walk” as He entered a synagogue on the Sabbath and healed a man with a withered hand which was His answer to the “officials” in the synagogue when they asked Jesus: “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” — talk about “In-Your-Face!” (see Matthew 12:9-13) How can we doubt both Jesus and God and have the audacity to think God needs our help in explaining what God “really meant”?