JUNE 13 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 13  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 years that You have given us to know You

 and the prayers that the Holy Spirit has guided us in praying 

that gives us glimpses of the True and Living God, 

for only the True God could answer so many prayers

 in so many unexplained ways

 and all proclaim the Glory of God. 

I pray again one of the timeless prayers You gave to me in 2004

 as the Holy Spirit was showing me the “Path” to the “Narrow Gate”:

 “Jesus, the Creator of life and the author of our Salvation, 

who gave up the Glories of Heaven to come to earth and dwell among us, 

not as a God among men but as a man among sinners 

and yet lived a “Perfect” life in obedience to the will of the Father. 

Then after a humble life of serving all around Him, He then became a Sacrifice

 and an Atonement for the sins of the world 

that we might have True Forgiveness of our sins

 and appear Righteous before the Father, 

and being blameless before the Father because of Your Sacrifice

 we become heirs to the Kingdom of God. 

All God asks in return for His Grace

 is that we ‘love one another’”.    

 AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has such a Powerful Message because He not only used the

 “Words of God” to give us “understanding of the Truth of God” 

but Jesus “Lived” out the “Words of God” by His Actions. 

Many times His Actions spoke louder than His Words, 

which is a Bonus Lesson that the Master Teacher includes

 in His “life saving” Lessons that He was continually Teaching. 

As we consider JQ#19 and the myriad of Lessons contained in these

 very serious soul-searching back-to-back Questions 

Jesus asks us in His efforts to bring 

Divine Aid for the purpose of “saving” 

our “soul” from “eternal lostness”, 

we must look not only at  “His Words” but we must observe “His Actions” 

which are a visual demonstration of what the Master Teacher

 is “Teaching”, for what Lesson is of any value if the Teacher 

does not “walk the walk”?  

Jesus takes us deeper into the 

Truth of God 

as He builds our 

“understanding of God’s Truth” 

by building on the previous Lesson “precept upon precept” 

and for this very serious “soul-searching” JQ#19

 we see a shift in the Lessons that Jesus was Teaching His disciples

 as we read in the account written in Matthew,

 “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples 

that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things 

from the elders and chief priests and scribes, 

and be killed and be raised the third day.” 

(Matthew 16:21) 

Once Jesus “began to show” His disciples this very, very serious

 side of His Purpose on earth,

 we see a shift in how the disciples reacted to these

 advanced Teachings of Jesus. 

Remember Peter stepping out of the boat on faith 

and actually walking on water to Jesus — 

well we read that when Jesus started Teaching that He must

 “suffer” and “be killed” 

that Peter demonstrated that if we are not careful 

that we will default back to the teaching of the world 

and miss the 

Truth of God 

that is presented to us by the 

Word of God. 

Matthew records that Peter reacted to this new precept Jesus was Teaching

 them in a way that led Jesus to “get serious” 

and these are the circumstances leading to the 

“soul searching” 

Question JQ#19. Peter reacted to this new revelation from Jesus 

that He must suffer, die, and “be raised the third day” thusly:

”Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, 

saying, ‘Far be it from You, Lord; 

this shall not happen to You!” 

(Matthew 16:22) 

Peter is reacting to Jesus as all of us react when we fail to see the

 Glory of God in the Will of God 

in our lives — All Peter could understand was from a worldly viewpoint 

because he overlooked the 

Glory of God

 and only saw the “suffering” and “death” of Jesus 

as a victory for the world and not  the

 “Ultimate Victory” 

of Jesus over death and the grave! 

Peter could only see “suffering and death” 

and the world had blinded him to the 

Truth of God that Jesus

 would by the Glory of God 

“be raised the third day”! 

How many times do we look upon hardship, suffering, and 

deaths of our loved ones and question God as Peter did? 

Jesus is following the 

Will of God 

and we must look beyond that which the world 

has taught us about “physical death” and see the 

Truth of God that Jesus Teaches 

us about “Eternal Spiritual Life”! 

This “soul” question JQ#19 must be answered 

not from a worldly “physical” viewpoint but we must 

look through “spiritual eyes” and focus on the Glory of God 

— don’t you agree that we can see very little 

with our physical eyes except the world’s “darkness” but

 how clear things become 

when we look through our “spiritual eyes”

 aided by the Light of God’s Glory?

JUNE 12 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 12  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, Your [Word] is Truth and we know 

“In the beginning was the [Word], and the [Word] was with God, 

and the [Word] was God…” (John 1:1) 

and we also know that it was the Spirit of God 

that was the Creative Power displayed 

as God used only His Spoken Words to accomplish His Creation 

and the first words God spoke were 

“Let there be light.” (Genesis 1:3)  

So Lord, let us be led by 

“The Light”

 which is Jesus, the Truth which is Jesus, 

and the Way to the Father  which is Jesus — 

Jesus we need You and Your Mercy, Compassion, and Grace

 to fall daily on our “thirsty” souls 

which we now and forever commend to Your Spirit.             

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus and the Holy Spirit is leading me today to add the second part

of this most enlightening Jesus Question so that JQ#19 reads:

 “For what profit is it to man

 if he gains the whole world, 

and loses his own soul? 

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

(Matthew 16:26) 

and to consider in an effort to an 

“understanding” 

of this 

“Deeper Still Teaching” 

of what Jesus is asking as we consider the

 “words” Jesus used to rebut Satan 

immediately after Jesus was “baptized” and then

 “[JESUS was] led up by the Spirit 

into the wilderness 

to be tempted by the devil…” 

(Matthew 4:1) 

We read the words that the Spirit had led Matthew to write 

of this confrontation between Jesus and Satan: 

“Now when the tempter came to [Jesus], he said,

 ‘If You are the Son of God, 

command that these stones become bread.” 

(Matthew 4:3) 

Matthew noted that Jesus has been without food and was hungry

 after fasting forty days and forty nights when Satan approached Him

 and Matthew then records these words Jesus used to rebuke Satan:

 “But [Jesus answered Satan] and said,

 ‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, 

but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” 

(Matthew 4:4) 

This exchange of words between Satan and Jesus Teaches us 

where Jesus is going with JQ#19 and brings our attention

 to the most serious problem we will face in all eternity, 

“How do we prevent losing our ‘soul’ and 

what is the price that we must pay 

to gain eternal possession of our own ‘soul’?”  

First of all it was Satan that tempted 

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

 and the temptation was in the form of “words” Satan spoke

 that put doubt in the mind of Eve about 

God’s instructions to her and Adam. 

The “power of words” surface in this encounter for Satan tempted 

Jesus to doubt the will of God when Satan challenged Jesus

 to prove Himself to be the Son of God by turning stones into bread 

and Jesus rebuked Satan’s attack by quoting scripture 

thereby giving us an example of the power of reading the

 “written word of God” 

and also the power of 

“speaking the word of God” 

when we face trials and temptations. 

When Jesus asks us to consider our “soul”

 and its “value” to God, 

we must go to the scripture to 

“understand the infinite magnitude” 

of the problem, and once we 

“understand” the “eternal consequences” 

of our answer, we can more fully appreciate the

 “compassion” 

that Jesus demonstrates by making us face the sin issue head on

 with His Question that brings into sharp focus the 

TRUTH of God 

that our “soul” is a “gift of God”

 

and all things of God are “eternal” 

so our “souls are eternal”!!! 

God has written over and over again in His Word that Satan admits that he goes 

“to and fro on the earth” 

and Peter reminds us that Satan makes his rounds on the earth

 “seeking those he can destroy” (1 Peter 5:8). 

Jesus had warned us previously that we 

shouldn’t worry about those that can 

“kill the body”

 but we should be very concerned about those that are

 “able to destroy both soul and body in hell…” 

(Matthew 10:28) 

God has provided us with the scriptures and 

the scriptures are about God’s love for His Creation 

and the great extent that He has gone to 

in order to demonstrate 

HIS DIVINE LOVE 

by sending His Son to “redeem” us… 

(and this “redemption” sounds exactly like “exchange”)! 

God is making it clear that nothing on earth can be used to 

“exchange” for our “soul” 

even if we possessed the 

“whole world”

 but there will be a day coming when He will ask us 

“who owns your soul?” 

In other words, God and Satan both are interested in our

 “eternal soul” 

which has 

“infinite” value to God 

who has proved over and over that He wants to give us

 “Eternal Life” 

and the only thing Satan has demonstrated is that he wants

 to “destroy” our soul and doom us to “Eternal Death” in hell 

where we will spend our eternity separated from 

the Father who Loves us so much 

that He sent His Only Begotten Son 

to die on a cross 

and “exchange” His death for our life! 

Jesus is therefore asking us to take inventory of our lives 

and decide whose words are we listening to ———

 

the lies of Satan 

or the

 Truth of God?