JUNE 11 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#19 “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

 

JUNE 11  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#19  “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, 

and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, thank You Lord for the outpouring of Your Spirit as we witnessed 

Your Salvation in the lives of Malachi and Mariah and their “obedience” 

to Your command to be “spiritually baptized” as our confession before men 

that we have accepted You as the Son of God 

and have placed our lives and desires into Your Capable and Loving Hands.

 Lord Jesus, it amazes me at how You have loved me and how You 

are leading me “through” this “valley of the shadow of death” 

and how many years ago I prayed and now today those prayers 

that the Holy Spirit gave me when I first lifted up those prayers 

still bear witness today to Your Great, Eternal, Unchanging Love 

and Your Divine Purpose — 

so today I pray again a prayer lifted up in 2004

 that shows that Your Message

 and Your Purpose are the 

TRUE WAY, YEAH YOU ARE TRUTH ITSELF: (from 2004 I pray again —) 

“Jesus, praise be the Holy and matchless Name of Jesus, 

the Lamb that was slain for the sins of the world, 

an acceptable Sacrifice because the Lamb of God was without blemish

 and was the First Born Only Begotten Son of our Father in heaven!!

 Lord, Your life was a perfect example of Humility, Service, and Sacrifice

 for the Glory of God!

 Lord Jesus, we are sinners and God KNEW we were sinners when He sent You, 

and You KNEW were were sinners when You took the form of the Sacrificial Lamb,

 and both You and the Father KNEW that man would continue sinning 

after the cross and yet You Loved the Father enough 

to Obey His Will and die at Calvary for our sins!?! 

Lord, may my heart be wholly Thine, 

and that for the number of my remaining days

 that You grant me in this life, let my remaining days be driven 

by the “purpose of my heart” to do the Will of the Father 

and as You showed by Your Perfect Example of being 

Obedient to the Father’s Will

 that I too will simply “TRUST AND OBEY”, 

for there is no other “WAY”.     

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has really put a challenge to our “Spiritual awareness” 

by asking the JQ#19 Question of “profit” and “gain” in the same breath

 Jesus reminds us of our “physical frailty” and the ultimate disaster 

of our worldly journey wrought by the reality that if we walk the wrong path

 that we could not only “lose our way” but get so lost 

that we can “lose our own soul” (Matthew 16:26a). 

Then, to exacerbate the already serious issue

 of the losing of our eternal “soul”,

 Jesus ties our earthly hands as He asks in the same breath, 

“Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” 

(Matthew 16:26b) 

which is in essence saying that we have fallen into a deep pit 

and the walls have caved in on us and we are required to dig ourselves out

 without the use of our hands or a shovel!?!?! 

There is no greater fear in my life now 

than to imagine having to live without God 

because I know that the world and my sins not only have tied my hands 

and left me to die in a pit, but before I was thrown into the pit 

the enemy bound me in shackles and chains 

and like the really dumb person I was,

 I actually asked the enemy to abuse me!?!?! 

Jesus knows that sin in our lives is really that serious therefore Jesus 

is making us face the ultimate reality by asking this very tough Question 

and potentially the most dangerous issue we will face. 

Our honest answer to Jesus will impact our eternal destiny 

in which there are only two options for our eternal souls: 

(Option 1) we will lose our “soul” which is our connection to God 

and if we lose our connection to God 

we will spend our “eternity” separated from God or 

(Option 2) we do not lose our “soul” which is our only connection to God 

and if we stay “connected” to God then we will be 

under His Guidance and Perfect Love Forever (and Forever, AMEN) 

 We need look no further than the Words Jesus spoke 

just prior to asking us this eternally important question about 

“losing” our “soul” as we hear Jesus preface JQ#19 with this Teaching:

 “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, 

and take up his cross, and follow Me. 

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, 

but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” 

(Matthew 16:24-25)

 Once again, Jesus gives us the answer first and then asks the Question,

 demonstrating that 

GOD HAS A PLAN FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL SOUL 

HE CREATED AND IMPARTED ETERNAL LIFE TO 

and God will Provide everything we need 

to KNOW HIM and to have ACCESS TO HIM 

and that “Questions” are never asked without first giving us the answer 

so that we can give the

 “correct Spiritual response to please the Father” 

to the JESUS Questions that are asked on behalf of our 

“eternal souls” 

and by giving the 

correct Spiritual response to please the Father” 

that we will not have to be judged as we read this Promise from Jesus:

 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My WORD 

and believes in Him who sent Me 

has everlasting life, 

and shall not come into judgment 

but has passed from death into life.” 

(John 5:24)

 Aren’t you seeing a pattern emerging from these Questions

 that demonstrates that God will give us the answer first but 

He insists that we “understand” what He is Teaching 

with His Questions??? 

His Questions are not for His benefit but for ours! 

JUNE 10 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#19 “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

 

JUNE 10  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#19  “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, 

and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord as I start another day seeking to know God and You “deeper still”,

 I pray that the Holy Spirit will open my “spiritual eyes” that I may know

 that Your efforts to give me “understanding” is so that I will become “One” 

with the Holy Trinity and that I will not only know You better 

but I will know better who I am. 

Lord Jesus, it is a comfort to know that You are the Good Shepherd 

and that You came to earth to lead “lost sheep” in the paths of righteousness,

 that You died on the cross as the Lamb of God, the Perfect Sacrifice

 for sinners like me — that You have completely resolved the “sin problem”,

 so let me fully accept Your Grace 

and 

Share Your Unconditional Love 

with others.     

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus not only “Taught” His disciples by “Words”, 

His most powerful Lessons were Lessons that His disciples saw Him 

“living out” 

before them and then Jesus would sit down and explain to them the

 “purpose” 

of His actions that they had just seen Jesus doing 

as He went about His day-to-day living. 

Jesus always approached every circumstance from the point of view 

that He had a “purpose” to fulfill — 

Jesus was on a “mission” to “do the Father’s will”.   

To accomplish what Jesus knew fully well He was sent from the Father

 to accomplish — Jesus also always worked to accomplish those tasks

 in a manner that He knew would be pleasing to the Father. 

Jesus was always aware that everything He did was to 

“honor”

 the Father and that His actions were to be done 

“in the name of the Father” 

and 

for the sake of the kingdom (of God).  

Jesus lived every moment to fulfill 

His Purpose

 therefore everything He did and say was Teaching about the kingdom

 and bringing His disciples into a closer relationship

 with both Himself and the Father. 

Now Jesus has put forth JQ#18 in which He Teaches that it is all-important

 that we personally know the Truth about “who” Jesus is 

and then He immediately asks us to consider “who” we are in relation to the

 Truth of God

 and the upcoming

 “Judgement by God”. 

Our 

“eternal guilt or innocence” 

will be solely determined by how well we answer 

JQ#18 & JQ#19 for God knows our inward thoughts 

and He will determine if we have 

accepted Jesus as the Son of God whom the Father sent 

to rectify the world’s sin problem 

and thereby God will know if we have truly recognized our

 “lostness” 

and acknowledged that the only correct answer to give God  

when we stand before Him at the 

“Final Judgement”

 is that we are a sinner 

and Jesus is 

“the (only) way, the (only) truth, and the (only) life”. 

(John 14:6) 

Our best “hope” in this life is to study Jesus and to learn to 

“live” the way He lived and to make His Purpose our purpose 

and to simply believe God’s declaration 

that Jesus is God’s Beloved Son 

and then to take God’s advice to “Listen to Him.” 

The only way to know who we are is to know who Jesus is

 for in the history of the world, no other person or god

 has done so much to Teach us the 

Truth 

about who we really are in our day-to-day lives

 and no other person or god has done everything required of the 

One True God 

so that 

we can rise above our day-to-day existence 

and have “fellowship” with the Living God. 

Jesus has asked us in JQ#19 now to consider “profit”,

 “gain”, and our own unique “soul” —

 then Jesus specifically asks us to consider what we might

 “exchange”

 for our unique “soul”? 

We really should reflect on “why” should we consider that we will be required to

 “exchange” something “acceptable to God” for our “souls”? 

Also, when we consider the 

“exchange”

 we must seriously consider “who” requires the

 “exchange” (who is making the “rule”) 

and what will we use for the

 “exchange”

 that is considered of any 

“value” (to the Living God) 

when the “Exchange” is required? 

This is a dilemma considering that God has declared 

that “gaining the whole world” 

(the entirety of all earthly material possessions) 

is not of enough value to present to God 

as an “Acceptable Exchange” 

in the eyes of God the Father and Creator 

to keep us from “losing [our] own soul”!!! 

The “whole world” pretty much covers everything “physical” 

therefore the logical place to start looking at this point for an

 “Acceptable Exchange” 

is in the 

“spiritual” arena 

and to 

listen to the “Spirit of God”(Genesis 1:2)  

who is trying to secure our eternal salvation ——— 

Don’t you think that if we need to consider the 

“eternal spirit God Himself Created” 

as being 

“valuable enough” 

to God that He would consider an 

“exchange for [our] soul” 

that we might want to “listen” 

to the One True Living God 

who has always been declared as 

“God is Spirit”?? 

(John 4:24)