JUNE 06 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 06  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 of all creation, Giver of Life, You Lord are Victorious 

over “death and the grave” and Your expressed “Purpose” was 

“not to condemn the world”, but through Your Sacrifice the world

 would be saved from our sins, sins which of our own volition

 curse our eternity resulting in our eternal separation from God ——— 

but because the Son was Obedient to the Will of the Father 

and endured the Cross for the sake of the sins of the world,

 we now have the HOPE and ASSURANCE 

based on the Promise of God 

that turning from our sin and seeking God’s Forgiveness, 

we are FORGIVEN because of the Great Sacrifice of Jesus! 

Thank You, Praise You, and Glory to God 

for we have heard the Words of Victory shouted out from that Cross,

 “It is FINISHED!!!”          

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is always using His last Question 

and our current circumstances to take us

“deeper still” 

into the knowledge and understanding of God and His Kingdom 

and along the “Way” Jesus “motivates” us to look expectantly with Great Hope

 to our “Future” with Him in the Kingdom. 

JQ#18 was asked to get us thinking about “who” Jesus is

 “in Spirit and in Truth” 

for Jesus wants us to be assured that when we face God at the

 “Final Judgement” 

we will have the “correct answer” to give to God. 

Jesus very clearly stated this as He was discussing this 

“Final Judgement” 

and making sure we know what to say and do 

when we find ourselves

 in God’s Presence 

and how to prepare with our day-to-day existence

 to “meet our Maker”

 when Jesus said to the woman seeking Truth about God: 

“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers

 will worship the Father in spirit and truth; 

for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him 

must worship in spirit and truth.” 

(John 4:23-24) 

Now in JQ#19 Jesus asks the next Question which moves us 

from the “spiritual” realm into the the “physical” world 

and Jesus locks His Divine Laser beam on the main problem 

man faces on a day-to-day basis — 

and that issue is 

“profit”! 

Let us stop and consider the world we live in and see if there is any basis

 to this “theory” that everything is “profit driven” —

 the first thing that comes to my mind 

when I think about “PROFIT”

is the Super Bowl! 

Now before you get off on a tangent about your favorite team, 

please consider this in terms of the phrase 

“…what profit is it to man…” 

and I will submit these facts from Super Bowl 50 in 2016 :

 A “30 second advertising spot” sold between $4,600,000.00 to 5,000,000.00 

and the 50 year total on advertising alone is officially at $5,900,000,000.00. 

This is for “advertising” only and is only the “reported” numbers

 used for “tax” purposes. To make the point clear we must consider 

that the $5,900,000,000.00 (unreported expenses 

could easily be the same amount) represents an “investment” 

by the business and can you guess why so much money was “invested”?

 Business must make a “profit” from their “investments” 

or they cannot remain in business so it is safe to say that

 if a business is willing to invest such large sums of money, 

and they do it for 50 years,

 it is because there is a “lucrative” reward from their financial “investment”

 in the form of “profit” and in order to remain in business the “profit” 

must exceed the “investment”. 

So if Jesus asks about “profit” well over 2000 years before the first Super Bowl

 then we must admit that Jesus obviously knows something about

 the future “ways” of the world and so it would be wise for us

 to listen to Him 

and consider how much time we spend 

in our day-to-day lives seeking

 “profit” 

and how much time we spend 

in our day-to-day lives seeking 

“divine purpose”?  

If Jesus “invested” His time into us, 

we should be seeking to understand what kind of “profit”

 Jesus is telling us is appropriate for our “soul”! 

Jesus keeps asking Questions and we should keep thinking 

not only about answering His Questions honestly, 

but we should also consider what He is trying to accomplish 

and for JQ#18 and JQ#19 the comparison between the 

“physical” (our body) 

and the 

“spiritual” (our soul) 

keeps coming to my mind. 

In Psalm 139, King David whom God described as a

 “man after My own heart…” wrote: 

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; 

try me, and know my anxieties; 

and see if there is any wicked way in me, 

and lead me in the way everlasting.” 

(Psalm 139:23-24) 

 This verse seems to me to be a prayer that Jesus is answering 

in our daily lives by making us search our own heart to see if any 

wicked way such as “seeking physical profit instead of spiritual purpose”  

exists in us and that the reward for our effort is 

that if we follow Jesus we will find the 

“way everlasting”! 

One other verse was placed before me as 

a thought to consider about the upcoming 

“Final Judgement” 

for those that seek “spiritual purpose” ——— 

“There is in store for me the crown of righteousness, 

which the Lord, the righteous Judge, 

will award to me on that day — 

and not only to me, but also to all 

who have longed for His appearing.” 

(2 Timothy 4:8) 

When was the last time you went to take a “final exam” 

and didn’t study the material you knew would be on the test? 

I can tell you from experience that the results of such 

“foolish” behavior is “Failure” with a Capitol “F” !?!?!?! 

Jesus is preparing us to meet God 

and God has already spoken:

 “This is My Son 

in whom I am well pleased. 

Listen to Him!” 

(Luke 9:35) 

JUNE 05 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 05  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 and Savior, Redeemer and Friend, Praise be to the Son, 

Glory to the Father, and Honor to the Holy Spirit of God 

that comforts us in times of trouble. 

Lord, we seek daily to know the will of the Father for our lives

 as we look to Him for our daily bread. 

Jesus, You have commanded 

that we love one another as You Love the Church 

so help us understand that in order to 

“LOVE AS CHRIST LOVES” 

that we must also daily take up our cross and follow Him,

 knowing that our Way is narrow but the destination is eternal. 

Help us realize that Jesus demonstrated His Love by suffering on His cross

 that was daily before Him. Help us Holy Spirit to “understand” 

that the Work of God the Father 

was accomplished by the Obedience of the Son upon that Cross

 and to know that our cross can only be carried 

by the strength given to us by God through Jesus Christ!     

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus had just asked “who” we believe Him to be 

and made us look inward at ourselves 

when He took us aside personally 

and asked us point blank in 

JQ#18, “Who do YOU say I am?” 

(Matthew 16:15) 

This juxtaposition of these JQ#18 and JQ#19 is very dramatic 

when one considers Jesus is first confronting us with what our inmost

 and most sincere belief about Him really is 

and then while we are dealing introspectively with 

“what” we truly believe about Jesus, 

He immediately throws in this JQ#19 Question that brings our focus

 on “why” do we believe what we believe!?! 

Jesus had prefaced the “who-do-you” Question 

with a “what-do-men” Question 

which really made it serious and personal and took away 

the scapegoat-false-theology of “they say” ———

 (“they say” has been a curse upon our nation 

for the past several generations). 

Then immediately when Jesus has us on this personal level 

He goes for that “next level” of our “understanding” of God 

by making us not only consider “what” do we believe about Him 

but Jesus makes us consider “why” do we believe it?!?!   

The big Hollywood phrase for actors when they try out for a part 

is the question, “What is your motivation?” 

(for this character to do the things that is written for that part) 

because the producers and directors want to know if the actor 

can convince the audience that their “actions” are “real”? 

The producers and directors know that if the actor can 

“sell” the part then the movie will be “profitable”! 

How easily does God get right to the point

 with each Question and Lesson

 that He has laid out with such Divine Precision ——— 

 so we can quickly see in the JQ#19 Question that God 

says that if we will stop and examine “why” we “act” the way we do, 

that we will gain an “understanding”  of who we we are in TRUTH 

and that Life is not a “play”. 

God desires us to know that our physical reality 

should be motivated by His Divine Spiritual Reality 

as we see His Great Wisdom in this Question. 

I can hear God speaking in today’s language saying something like this,

 “Dude, is money all you think about?” 

There is no amount of money that can buy your way into heaven,

 not all the money in the world, and besides, once you are dead 

your money goes to someone else.

 

Can’t you see that history has proven without a doubt that your body

 and your money stay on the earth and will rot and decay?

 Our law books are filled with laws that once your physical body

 is pronounced dead, your money first is taxed and taken by the government

 and what’s left goes to someone still alive and then your cold dead body 

must be either burned and your ashes scattered 

or you must be put into a cold dark grave! 

Either you believe you have a soul that is eternal 

or you are in hell already 

because your soul is spiritual 

and is a separate part of your physical existence! 

If you haven’t provided for 

your soul’s eternal existence 

then it must remain in the cold dark grave with your rotting body — 

not a good thought, huh? 

As the commercial says, your soul is “priceless”, 

therefore, if you sell your soul for any amount you have been cheated! 

Let me ask you this simple question, 

“If you could take all the wealth in the world with you when you die, 

then where do you think you can spend it 

and what do you think you can buy with it?” 

Let us therefore, having brought our attention to “what” we believe about Jesus,

 let us then focus that attention on “why” we believe 

those things and what is our “motivation” for our actions

 as we consider the next Jesus Question: 

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

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

This would be a good time to consider taking inventory 

of  your “Spiritual Treasures” as you ponder 

“How much is my “soul” spiritually worth in God’s eyes?”