JULY 18 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#21 “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

 

JULY 18  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#21  “What do you think about fish,

 taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” 

(Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, thank You for one more day, may it be a day where everything 

I do and say will be to Your Glory, for You alone are worthy of ALL Praise!

 Lord Jesus, when You tell us to Love others as You have Loved the church,

 help me to see what is involved in Loving the church because the only way

 we can be free from sin is to believe in all that You did for the church

 that You Loved enough to give Your Life for!  

Lord I know that You did not intend for anyone to perish therefore

 You died that ALL would have eternal life through Your Sacrifice

 on that cross. Lord Jesus, I truly believe You ARE the Son of the Living God,

 born of a virgin, lived a Perfect Life, suffered under Pontius Pilate,

 was crucified, dead and buried, but on the third day You were Resurrected

 and that You are LIVING TODAY, 

that You are still working miracles and saving souls. 

Glory, Praise, and Honor to the Son

 who Sacrificed Himself for my sins!!!    

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus throughout His Ministry while He was walking this earth

 did not gather anything to Himself. 

When we read about any other person in history 

or hear the oral traditions passed down about that person, 

we can always associate some possession that person had 

— except Jesus. 

Jesus came down from heaven on a “mission from God” 

and Jesus collected no possessions while living the “Perfect and Acceptable” 

life for the Father! We can easily deduce that if Jesus and His Work

 pleased the Father without gathering even a single possession unto Himself

 that we do not need a single possession ourselves in order to please the Father!

 Personally I find it a great comfort to know 

that I do not need a single possession 

in order to find favor with God! 

If “possessions” do not get us into heaven, then what does get us in? 

The answer to entry into heaven was stated by Jesus

 many times in a single word:

 ——— R E P E N T ———  

In our context passages for JQ#21 Jesus declared:

 “For the Son of Man has come to save 

that which was lost [in sin].” 

(Matthew 18:11)

 

Jesus had started His discourse on sin and the rewards and punishment

 for sin at the beginning of this section of scriptures dedicated to

 recognizing sin as the biggest problem we will face.

 Jesus started this section by using the word “Assuredly” 

which is in effect a “promise” and then Jesus continued 

“Assuredly, I say to you, 

unless you are converted 

and become as little children, 

you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” 

(Matthew 18:3) 

Jesus said clearly that 

the ONLY way to enter the kingdom of heaven 

is for a “conversion” to take place in our lives.

 This conversion though is sort of unusual from a “growth” viewpoint 

for we are to be “converted” back to being “as little children”?!?!?

 Our first response is very much like Nicodemus when he asked Jesus

 “How can a man be born when he is old? 

Can he enter a second time 

into his mother’s womb and be born?” 

(John 3:4) 

These questions from Nicodemus (a ruler of the Jews), was in response

 to Jesus telling Nicodemus

 “Most assuredly, I say to you, 

unless one is born again, 

he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

 (John 3:3)

 

So when the wisest teacher of the Jewish Law asks Jesus about

 a “Second Birth” and Jesus responds with the phrase 

“Most assuredly” 

and then Jesus states that in order to

 “see the kingdom of heaven” that we “must be born again”, 

then we must take Jesus at His Word 

for His whole mission is to bring lost sheep home to the Father. 

So Jesus has now twice said the same thing using different words — 

(T1) we must be “converted and become as little children” 

and “we must be born again” then 

(T2) if we are “converted” we will “enter the kingdom of heaven”

 and if we are “born again” that we will “see the kingdom of heaven”. 

These two passages in scripture confirm each other 

because this section in Matthew started with 

“The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men,

 and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” 

(Matthew 17:22-23) 

and the scriptures in John reads: 

“For God so loved the world 

that He gave His only begotten Son,

 that whosoever believes in Him should not perish 

but have everlasting life.” 

(John 3:16) 

The really important thing to notice about both passages is that

 God’s Plan for mankind to “enter” into heaven 

is through His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ — 

God’s Divine Plan includes a Divine Sacrifice on the part of Jesus. 

The Good News is that Jesus died on the Cross 

as part of the Plan of Salvation and John 3:17 confirms 

Jesus came to be the Sacrificial Lamb of God for Jesus states: 

“For God did not send His Son into the world 

to condemn the world, 

but that the world through Him might be saved.” 

(John 3:17) 

The scripture is clear, only our sin can separate us from the Love of God 

so that is why Jesus Teaches us so often to understand 

that “sin” is a personal “choice”!  

Jesus is Teaching us that God has already determined 

the consequences of our “choice” 

and being a “fair” and “just” God, everyone will be judged 

according to our Free Will choices that we make 

—doesn’t it make good sense to “choose” to live guilt free

 in a life everlasting with our Heavenly Father that Loves us 

rather than to reject Him and live alone in our guilt 

while burning in the everlasting fire of hell? 

JULY 17 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#21 “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

 

JULY 17  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#21  “What do you think about fish, 

taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” 

(Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, each day presents new opportunities to serve 

and through our service to others we will Glorify the Father 

as You did when You lived the Perfect Life as an Example 

for us to turn from our selfishness. 

Staying stuck on ourself always leads to sin

 and turning from our selfishness to following your Example

 and serving others always leads to God 

and His Plan of Salvation

 through our helping others. 

If You Jesus, being the King of all kings, 

will gird Yourself with a towel and wash our feet, 

why do we shirk the responsibility of serving our fellow man? 

Lord grant me a servant’s heart that I will always

 seek to think of others before thinking about myself, because when

 I am thinking of others and serving them as You Yourself served us 

while we were lost in our sin, then I trust that the Father God will see You

 in me and not the sinner that I was when I was lost in my selfishness — 

forgive me when I fail You and I pray daily to be filled with the Holy Spirit

 and centered in Your Will and that all that I do will Honor the Father.    

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus makes a point of asking us to “think” and then He presents 

the problem and the solution. The fact that Jesus asks us to “think” 

for ourselves and then presents the problem is a good indication

 that He is pointing us to both the “source of the problem” 

and the “solution to the problem” as being within ourselves. 

Jesus is telling us that we have the ability to “observe” and “reason” 

and then He presents the problem of sin. 

Jesus NEVER presents a problem to us without giving us a solution 

and with this section of scripture Jesus is “Teaching” us that we cause

 the sin problem ourselves and the solution to our personal sin problem is

 to observe our actions that are resulting from our participation in that sin

 and to use our God-given resources to recognize that our sin is just that — 

it is OUR SIN!!! 

Once we can find the “source” of our problem then we can “fix” the problem —

—— Jesus has shown us that to correct “our” sin against God 

that we must take “personal responsibility” for our personal 

actions/choices that result in sin and to turn from those actions/choices 

and rely on our “Faith in God”.  

The Lesson that Jesus is Teaching us on correcting “our” sin problem

 is to come to Him when He calls us. Jesus says that we must “humble”

 ourselves like a “little child” to “enter the kingdom of heaven” 

and that we must choose to “receive” Jesus Himself.  

Jesus told the disciples that

 “Whoever receives one little child like this

 in my Name receives Me.”

 (Matthew 18:5) 

Jesus had just called a little child to Himself and the child had obeyed

 and had come to Him and Jesus had sat the child in their midst

 and then started Teaching about “sin”. Jesus made it clear that 

to solve “our” sin problem that we would have to come to Him 

and humble ourselves as the little child had done. 

Jesus then said that solving our sin problem would be rewarded 

with the right to 

“enter into life”

 and if we failed to resolve our sin problem we would be

 “cast into hell fire”. 

There is a big difference between the actions of freely “entering” 

or unwillingly being “cast” into our eternal destination!

 Then there is the destination itself to consider: 

(D1) “the kingdom of heaven” and 

(D2) “everlasting fire” in “hell”. 

If we think about it, we at first will think to ourselves,

 “No way would I ‘enter’ willingly into ‘hell !!!’” — 

which is exactly the point Jesus is making about being 

“cast into”

 our punishment which implies that 

we will have to go to hell because our own choices 

results in our own sin, 

i.e. we have chosen “hell” over “heaven” 

——— even if we don’t want to go ——— 

because a Higher Power who has reserved the Authority 

to determine the “consequence of our choices” has judged our sin 

and we have been found “guilty”; therefore,

 because of our free-will choice to sin we will be cast into hell 

by the Power of the Almighty! 

 Our penalty is executed resulting in us being

 “cast into hell fire” 

because of our “actions/choices” 

regardless of our “desires or want to”! 

Jesus uses the term “enter into life” which also Teaches us 

that we are “dead” until we “enter into life” and so if we fail to

 “enter into life” because we remain in our sin then we can say that if we

 “choose our sin” 

instead of humbling ourselves before Jesus when He calls, 

then “we have chosen death”  

for the only path to “life” is through Jesus, 

all other paths keep us “lost” in our “sin”

 and there is no “life” in “sin” ——— 

only “death” which is the absence of “life”. 

The eternal residence of sin is “hell” and the “Promise of God” 

is that If we turn from our sin to Jesus we will “enter” the 

kingdom of God through our belief in Jesus 

but if we choose not to “receive” Jesus then we will remain 

dead in our sin and will be cast into hell and the everlasting fire. 

There is a very good reason Jesus first tells us to 

“think” 

and then presents the 

Truth of God 

that Jesus Himself is the

 “[Only] way, the [Only] truth, and the [Only] life…

No one comes to the Father except [Only] through Me.” 

(John 14:6) 

Can you “think” of a clearer way to present our problem and our solution

 and the rewards and penalties for how God Himself will deal with “our” sin? 

 The Question we all face is not “IF we will sin” but the real Question

 is “how will we deal with our sin that results from our poor actions/choices” 

that we ALL make??? 

“Think” 

about it, 

will you choose “life” 

and turn to Jesus 

or will you choose “death” 

and remain “lost”

 in your selfish existence

 apart from God???