DECEMBER 24 THE JESUS QUESTIONS SUMMARY-11 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31 (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

DECEMBER  24  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   SUMMARY-11 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31  (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16) 

365 Prayers to JESUS    

{{The Holy Spirit is again leading me to write another 2004 prayer}} — 12/24/2004 Christmas Eve AM prayer: “Jesus, You are the Messiah, praise Your Holy Name, God became flesh, Redeemer of all men from the bondage of sin, You have freed us from the Law of Sacrifice for You have substituted Your Holy Self as the Atonement, once for all!!!  Lord, teach me to share the Good News to both Jew and Gentile that the Messiah has come, the Son of Man has sacrificed His Perfect Life and shed His Spotless Blood of the Passover Lamb that the angel of death will “pass over” all who believe that Jesus is the Passover Lamb and apply His Blood to the doorposts and lintel of their hearts. Salvation is through the Messiah, God’s Anointed One, for God sent His Son, born of a “virgin”, sacrificed on a cross, buried in a borrowed tomb, and was raised to Glory on the 3rd Day — The Messiah HAS COME!!!      AMEN

<<<Note 12/24/16: If you have been following this blog, please read yesterday’s post of 12/23/16 which discusses this very topic of Jesus being the Messiah and I had mentioned that I was being led by the Holy Spirit to fulfill “part of the 12/23/2004 prayer” and that part was “to do something about this evil and vile situation that is removing Your Name from so many things” and the Holy Spirit led me to an article about the Messiah written by Tracey R. Rich that states “If you want to know how Jews interpret the passages that Christians consider to be messianic, see Jews for Judaism, a counter-missionary organization not associated with this website, especially their article about Christian Proof-Texting.”  The thought that struck me when I read my 12/24/2004 prayer this morning during my devotional that said, “teach me to share the Good News to both Jew and Gentile that the Messiah has come” was that there is a sect of Jews that has taken the Name of Jesus and separated Him from His Messiahship which is every bit as “vile and evil” as America promoting “separation of church and state” from the viewpoint of  removing the name of God from public places. To say that God is not allowed in public schools removes God’s “moral standard” from our government and therefore the “federal government is free to decide what is moral in our society” and there is nothing more “vile and evil” than man usurping God’s Power for man has been proven untrustworthy since the first bite of forbidden fruit! Therefore in fair and equal treatment of everyone, every nationality, and every religion, I will continue to write these articles based on “God’s Standards” and “His Holy Word” and keep reminding you that God is Truth, so if you are not listening to God, then you are not listening to the Truth. If man (and woman) had listened when God said “do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17) instead of when the Tempter said “you will not surely die”  (Genesis 3:4) then the knowledge of good and evil would have remained on the tree and man would have remained in the Garden of Eden, forever.! So at the very beginning even Satan himself was (and still is) using the Word of God to lead us FROM GOD’S TRUTH but each of us must listen to what God says is the Truth and NOT what Satan will tell you God “really meant” for the Truth to be!?!?!? 

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

DECEMBER  24  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   SUMMARY-11 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31  (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16)  Jesus at an early age was fulfilling prophecy about the Messiah and starting with the 3rd chapter Matthew documents that the life of Jesus revealed Him to be the True Messiah by His actions because the actions of Jesus Himself could only be accomplished by the True Messiah. Matthew at the start of the 3rd Chapter of the Gospel of Jesus according to Matthew introduces the Messiah’s “star witness”, John the Baptist. Here again we will see that Jesus fulfills prophecy of the Messiah by circumstances beyond His control and starting with the 3rd Chapter, Matthew demonstrates that all Scripture and all prophecy point to Jesus as the Messiah and even the most casual reader will see that Jesus by His actions and lifestyle cannot be interpreted as “just a good man doing good works” but they were actions accomplished by God Incarnate, Immanuel, and that it was the Power of God in Jesus that was doing “miraculous works that could only be accomplished by God Himself” and therefore the “actions” of Jesus proclaim and witness that JESUS IS CHRIST, GOD’S ANOINTED ONE!!!

DECEMBER 23 THE JESUS QUESTIONS SUMMARY-10 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31 (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

DECEMBER  23  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   SUMMARY-10 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31  (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16) 

365 Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, today I am going to post a prayer written 12 years ago that is as relevant today as it was on 12-23-2004 when it was first written, and contained within it is a section of the prayer that I believe was answered for me two days ago on 12-21-2016 as I awoke with a vision of a project that if I follow the guiding of the Holy Spirit will bring about the exact answer to this section of prayer: “Jesus, ‘I am Yours, save me’ as spoken by Martin Luther must have been a great glory to Your Name and a great time of ‘coming out of darkness’ into the LIGHT of YOUR WORD! O Lord, I see today (12-23-2004) the coming of a new ‘Spiritual Dark Ages’ for the world if America continues down this disastrous course of ‘separation of church and state’ and if America lets this go to far we will lose the religious freedom established by our forefathers. Lord we simply cannot allow Christ to be taken out of Christmas and let ‘Happy Holidays’ replace ‘Merry Christmas” in our schools and public places. Lord, I pray for the Holy Spirit to lead me to do something about this evil and vile situation that is removing Your Name from so many things that have made our nation great.”   I now, like many Americans in 2016 who must have felt the same way for we have exercised our freedom to vote have  chosen a new President, and in unity our prayer is that Christ will be allowed back into our schools and public places and that as a nation that we will once again proclaim “IN GOD WE TRUST”!!!!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

DECEMBER  23  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   SUMMARY-10 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31  (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16)  Jesus has now been connected to 4 prophecies that point to Him as the Messiah and yet it is our “faith” that will actually seat Him on the “throne” of our heart for all the evidence in the world will not be sufficient to those that want to trust in the “doctrines and traditions of man” and not the “commands of God” as Jesus has demonstrated by addressing that very problem throughout His earthly ministry and especially after making His “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem. During the Passover Week Jesus was very specific as He is quoted as saying “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much as a son of hell as yourselves.” (Matthew 23:15) With statements like that from Jesus that attacked religious leaders of Israel and called them out with such great condemnation and especially being called out like that in Jerusalem during the Passover Week that they would certainly not want Jesus to be confirmed as the Messiah for that would be confirmation of them being “sons of hell” — that particular problem still exist today among many Jews that are still refuting the claim that Jesus in not the “Messiah” and go so far as to say that the word “Messiah” has been defiled by translation that these believing that the “mashiach” which means “the anointed one” has not yet come argue that the “mashiach” is not a god but that the “mashiach” is a human that will be a warrior king like David. Those dedicated to this “Messianic Idea in Judaism” base their arguments on arguments put forth in such writings as “Rambam’s 13 Principals of Faith” which are in their own words “the minimum requirements of Jewish belief” and when they refer to God’s Holy Scriptures these so dedicated to “Judaism” use the same prophets that declared the coming of the “Messiah” and “signs” of His Coming through their interpretation of the Scriptures to claim to “prove” that Jesus is not the “mashiach”;  therefore Jesus rightfully called them “hypocrites” for claiming to know the Scriptures better than God Himself which is the exact problem Jesus questioned the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem that had sought out Jesus because of His “Works” that were “miraculous” by any definition when He answered their question with a question of His own, “Why do you transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3) and coincidentally Jesus called them “hypocrites” and quoted the prophet Isaiah: “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying, ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, and in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” (Matthew 15:7-9) So if those that claim Jesus is not the Messiah do so by quoting “commandments of men” such as “Rambam’s 13 Principals of Faith” then I will let each of you make your own decision and review the “evidence” but you will still come to the same point of decision put forth by Joshua — “Choose this day whom you will serve!” (Joshua 24:15)

DECEMBER 22 THE JESUS QUESTIONS SUMMARY-09 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31 (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

DECEMBER  22  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   SUMMARY-09 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31  (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16) 

365 Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, today is another day that You have provided for us that deserve death were it not for Your Mercy and Grace and Your Great Sacrifice on the cross at Calvary to purchase our Redemption from the punishment of our many iniquities — Lord let us “lean not” on our own understanding but let You Guide our steps and Light our path! Jesus we are so undeserving of the Mercies that You Renew each morning because of who You ARE, You shower us with blessings, so Lord Jesus I offer up that which I have and that Lord is my praise and prayers, praise for You and prayers for others, keeping neither for myself for Your Grace is Sufficient for me! Forgive me for all the ways I have failed You and keep me centered in Your Will!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

DECEMBER  22  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   SUMMARY-09 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31  (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16)  Jesus was not only proven to be the Messiah by the evidence of His Birth to a virgin that had nothing to gain but death by stoning by the Jewish community to which she belonged, Jesus was also linked to the “purpose” of the Messiah by outside forces that He could not have manipulated as a Child. The purpose of the “Messiah” in both Jewish tradition and today’s Christians is one of “Kingship” which became an issue that pointed to Jesus as the “Anointed One” when the then King of Israel, King Herod met with the “wise men from the East” that had traveled to Jerusalem and were asking, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” (Matthew 2:1-2) This inquiry from credible “wise men” that knew of the “birth” of the “King of the Jews” that had seen a “sign” in the heavens and knew that the event had happened in Judea as noted by their statement “has been born” caught the attention of the then seated king of Judea, King Herod. “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when [Herod] had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, [Herod] inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea…” and then the chief priests and scribes quoted the prophet Micah who wrote “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.” (Matthew 2:3-6 and Micah 5:2) Modern Jews do not accept that Jesus is the “Messiah” and their main argument is that the “mashiach” is a human and not God and will be a human leader like King David  who will win great battles for Israel and not a “savior” who will save “His people from their sins”. The Judaism concept of “mashiach” is human that will rebuild the temple, re-establish traditional Jewish worship in the re-built temple, and also “mashiach” will establish a government in Jerusalem making it the center of all world government.  Herod however was not concerned about these concepts of the “one born King of the Jews” but Herod was concerned about the “kingship” of one that had fulfilled  prophecy! Herod was concerned enough to enlist the services of the wise men in finding the “King of the Jews” and when the wise men did not return to Herod, Herod “sent forth [Herod’s soldiers] and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under…” (Matthew 2:7-16) But this act of Herod reacting to prophecy about “one who has been born King of the Jews” was also prophetic in its execution as the prophet Jeremiah had noted that there would be “A voice heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”  (Jeremiah 31:15) Matthew documented that “Divine Intervention” on behalf of Jesus came as an “angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream” after the wise men had bestowed gifts on the “young Child” Jesus and the angel said, “Arise take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt” … thus fulfilling the prophecy by Hosea stating “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Hosea 11:1) The simple fact that all these events that came about while Jesus was still a “young Child” are events that are historical facts and were they fabricated after the crucifixion of Jesus would have been quickly refuted by the Jewish rulers and the chief priests and scribes at the time but the only records that exist support Jesus as having fulfilled the prophecy of the Messiah according to the prophets of old. So Matthew in the first 3 chapters of his Gospel of Jesus Christ has established as historical fact that Jesus has already at the young age of 2 or 3 years old had already fulfilled 4 prophecies written hundreds of years earlier by God’s own prophets and these critical prophecies and their fulfillment could not have been “fabricated” without receiving great criticism from the chief priests and scribes and if it were the apostles and disciples of Jesus that had “fabricated” the stories after the death of Jesus, their fabrication would have resulted in their own deaths and the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Divine Truth would not be documented so well in the New Testament which has been Divinely Protected for thousand of years which only adds credence to the claim that Jesus IS CHRIST!!!

DECEMBER 21 THE JESUS QUESTIONS SUMMARY-08 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31 (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

DECEMBER  21  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   SUMMARY-08 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31  (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16) 

365 Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, Creator of all things, by whose Hand and Will are all things held together, You are worthy of all Praise, all Glory, all Honor! Lord, to You and You alone will every nation bow and every tongue in every language confess that Jesus is CHRIST! — the Savior of mankind, the King of kings. Lord, I praise You this day, let not the world interfere with our worship of Thee — You Lord, are the Guiding Path, I pray that You part the “Sea of Doubt” and give us the strength and courage to lift up Your Name as we cross on dry land between the walls of worldly distractions built up on every side on our journey to Your Promised Land, especially in this circumstance and at this time of “testing” in America — for it is in these types of circumstances that there is special strength coming from the Throne of Grace, let us receive Your Divine Strength into our lives and into our homes, and Lord Jesus, give everyone someone in their life that they can share Your Love with today.   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

DECEMBER  21  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   SUMMARY-08 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31  (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16)  Jesus is being revealed through circumstance and simple fact to be the Messiah and in a court of law there would be enough evidence to sentence Him to a LIFE sentence for being the “Chosen One”. If we could look at His “Birth” certificate we would see that He was born a Jew to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem in Judea and it could be demonstrated that Jesus was of the lineage of David the former King of Israel therefore making Jesus a Jew that can trace His ancestry all the way back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But the most compelling evidence was given by His own mother Mary who swore under oath that she had never been with a man and had conceived Her baby boy while still a “virgin” and that she further testified that she was informed that she would carry the Son of God in her virgin womb by God Himself through His angel Gabriel, thereby confirming that her “son” was “The Son of God”! Not needed to convict her but required by law that there be two witnesses, Mary’s husband to which she was betrothed when she became pregnant with this Holy Child, took the witness stand and confirmed her confession as Joseph testified that he too had been visited by the Angel Gabriel and was informed also that his betrothed was with Child that had been conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jewish law is very strict and had not Joseph withheld his public accusation of infidelity, Mary could have been stoned to death so neither she nor Joseph had anything worldly to gain by this outrageous claim of her “virgin birth” which declared the “Son” born to Mary was indeed the “Son of God” and all this transpired BEFORE the actual “Virgin Birth” so this historical evidence of Christ’s identity was established BEFORE Jesus was even born! To think that all the prophets and the Jewish Holy Scriptures was a “conspiracy” organized by Jesus and His followers goes against all logic for why would those that wanted Jesus dead because He proclaimed Himself as God be compliant with a plot to make Jesus God Incarnate?!?!?!?!? There is simply no way that anyone could put together one man’s life to remotely complete more than one of the prophecies and certainly not two of this Divine Significance of a Jewish male born in Bethlehem to a “virgin” — Matthew therefore using Jewish law and Jewish tradition along with the Jewish Scripture documents that this Jesus, born of Mary in Bethlehem must be declared as “The Messiah” and is the Christ, even if by Jewish law and tradition that the Jewish religious leaders could have Mary and Jesus both killed, and you know the rest of the story. In God’s Great Plan for mankind each individual must deal with this “Revelation of Jesus Christ” and “work out your own salvation” through the exercise of Your God-given Freewill and decide if your “Faith” (though it be a small as a “mustard seed”) can be planted into this fertile soil of God’s Grace and grow to reach “Heaven” itself!!! God’s simple promise is “I WILL PROVIDE” — and regardless of the evidence it still boils down to “FAITH IN GOD” — it is time to reclaim for our lives and our world — “IN GOD WE TRUST”!!! 

DECEMBER 20 THE JESUS QUESTIONS SUMMARY-07 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31 (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

DECEMBER  20  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   SUMMARY-07 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31  (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16) 

365 Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, each day starts a new day in our spiritual life and I pray that You through the Holy Spirit will make each of my new days in the Spirit be a great witness unto God. Lord, I pray for forgiveness of all sins known and those that are unknown to me but  known or not, if they grieve the Holy Spirit, they dishonor the Father and the Son, so I beg forgiveness for Holiness sake. Lord, I desire in my heart to dedicate this temple to the Holy Spirit, to You,  and Father God — Lord Jesus I am so close to being separated from the world and if it be Thy will, Lord lead me to total dependance on You and live only to serve You. Take now this prayer as an offering to You, use my life for the glory of Your Kingdom. Lord I yield to Your will, You are my Lord, my God, my Savior, my Redeemer, and the Prince of Peace.      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

DECEMBER  20  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   SUMMARY-07 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31  (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16)  Jesus has been shown by Matthew’s Gospel to be in the line of David and Matthew drew the lineage from the traditional Jewish doctrine of tracing the family line through the father and listing who the birth mother of the offspring. It is Jewish tradition because of the teachings of God as found in Deuteronomy 21:15-17 that the first born male that was also the first issue of his mother’s womb would be granted a special portion of the father’s estate so when Matthew being a well educated Jew found that Jesus was the first born from her womb and then the claim that the Child was conceived by the Holy Spirit making God Himself the Father, then the prophecy of the “virgin birth” in Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign; Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” So when Matthew put the “virgin birth” prophecy with the fact that the mother of Jesus gave birth to Him in Bethlehem which also fulfilled the prophecy by the prophet Micah “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting” Matthew had two prophecies that pointed to Jesus being the “One” that was written by God’s prophets about God’s Messiah. Granted their had been a lot of Jewish males that had been the “first born” of their mother’s womb and had received the special inheritance from their earthly father but Jesus was the first Jewish male that could claim that His Father was God Himself and had been “born of a virgin” — and least we forget, the story of the “virgin birth” of Mary began before she had given birth and in those days she could not have known that she was carrying a male child therefore her claim that she was told by an angel that she would conceive a child in her virgin womb and give birth to the “Son of God” could be easily disproved if she had given birth to a daughter!?!? So from a “spiritual Truth” standpoint, the only way that Mary could “know” that she was giving birth to a ‘son” was that it was revealed to her by God!!! Since Matthew was well versed on prophecy then he could see the significance of Joseph having to return to Bethlehem to pay his taxes and Mary actually giving birth to her first born in the town of Bethlehem was enough to raise expectations of the Jewish community but when the story which had been circulated during her pregnancy of Mary’s claim that God had chosen her to be the mother of the “Son of God”  became known to Matthew that these two prophecies (1) the “virgin birth” and the (2) location being Bethlehem when they were added to the simple fact that Jesus was a firstborn male from Mary’s womb then Matthew could state the simple facts and show that Jesus had fulfilled two major prophecies of the Messiah and that is what Matthew writes first in his Gospel of Jesus Christ. The first claims made by Matthew should be enough evidence for all of us but God still wants each individual to search the Scriptures for ourselves so that we too can through “faith” know the “Joy” of discovering the “Messiah” !!! 

DECEMBER 19 THE JESUS QUESTIONS SUMMARY-06 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31 (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

DECEMBER  19  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   SUMMARY-06 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31  (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16) 

365 Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, my prayer is to be totally dependent on Your Mercy and Grace to lead me where You will. Lord, I pray not to be free of worldly influences but rather my prayer is to have the discernment to see past the world and the deceit of this world to Your Truth and to Trust Your Holy Spirit to take whatever worldly circumstance that I find myself in and use it to witness to Your Great Love — for there is nothing or no one that cannot benefit from Grace which You have provided so abundantly. Keep our hearts and eyes open to those times when we can take the circumstances of the world and use them to witness to your Glory.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

DECEMBER  19  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   SUMMARY-06 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31  (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16)  Jesus has already in the first two chapters of the Gospel of Matthew fulfilled more prophecies than any one before Him and certainly anyone after Him and since His Birth, Life, Death by Crucifixion, Burial in a “borrowed” Tomb, and then His Glorious Resurrection on the Third Day have been documented by so many sources and written down and confirmed that there NEVER will be anyone after JESUS that can have the facts of His Life be the PROOF that He is the SON OF GOD. It is not often stated some of the obvious things that must fall in place for all the prophecies in the Old Testament to be fulfilled and the odds of one man fulfilling half a dozen of the prophecies is mathematically impossible — and if we look at just the “odds” from a numerical standpoint then if one man fulfilling more than 6 is impossible then what is the phrase that would have to be invented for a second person to fulfill more than the first person?!?!? The “odds” are so great that one man could fulfill ALL of the prophecies that many find it hard to believe it to be possible and choose to believe that all of this “prophecy” stuff and “the Jesus story” is a “fairy tale” — which is still one of the arguments against Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit today and prevents many people from believing, and many of these same “unbelievers” are the very ones that seek “proof” that Jesus is the Son of God and that God Himself exists are the very ones that refuse to look at “eyewitness” accounts such as each of the individual Gospels. If we think of simple things like facts that must be true of the Messiah and we see things like the Messiah is a Jewish male born in Judea and that He would have to be “sacrificed” to make atonement  for the sins of His people and not just any “sacrifice” but a unique death at the hands of a foreign government then when we look at the simple facts and see one Jewish male that is born in Bethlehem start teaching “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” then eyes are opened! Matthew did not know Jesus until after Jesus had started His ministry and Matthew was called by Jesus as an Apostle — Jesus called each of His Apostles individually and because Jesus IS the Son of God that He knew the “purpose” each of the Apostles were called for and it is easy to imagine that Jesus “knew” that Matthew would naturally learn everything he could about Jesus and His life and would eventually write the Gospel that would be an eyewitness account to the fulfilling of Jewish prophecy by Jesus, and Matthew being a studied and educated Jew himself would see the significance of the simple facts of the life of Jesus. I can just imagine what Matthew felt like when he started following Jesus and hearing from the other apostles stories about the parents of Jesus and when Matthew traced the genealogy of Jesus back to King David that Matthew knew that there was something special about this first born Jewish male that could trace His genealogy back to King David! But can you imagine how Matthew felt when he learned the story that the mother of Jesus told about her firstborn son that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirt and that she was a “virgin” when she gave birth to Jesus and then Mary and Joseph both told of the visit from Gabriel and Gabriel telling them to “call Him Jesus for He will save the people from their sins”!!! I can also imagine that Matthew started taking notes and studying the prophecies of the MESSIAH even more because already Jesus had fulfilled probably the three most basic but difficult prophecies for no one can choose where they are born nor whom their parents are much less who the parents of the parents are — and to make Jesus and the Messiah unique we have the “virgin birth” prophecy — and no one can choose that their mother be a “virgin” and give birth!!! Those ARE IMPOSSIBLE things for man, but that makes the HOLY SCRIPTURE valid when it clearly states, “with man it is impossible but with God, all things are possible.” I am sure that Matthew started writing furiously when he heard Mary and Joseph tell the story of the “virgin birth” and I am sure that God fully intended for Matthew to be the one to write the Gospel and document this “impossibility” of Jesus — for the TRUTH is that it indeed is “impossible” for man to fulfill prophecy, only GOD can fulfill prophecy and only the Son of God could be “virgin born”!!! The first four chapters of Matthew then documents through eyewitness accounts all the simple facts of the life of Jesus that points to the Divine Truth that Jesus is the Son of God!!! 

DECEMBER 18 THE JESUS QUESTIONS SUMMARY-05 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31 (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

DECEMBER  18  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   SUMMARY-05 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31  (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16) 

365 Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, You are Unchanging for ever and Forever, for You are the Alpha and the Omega. Lord as I face another day in the world I praise you for the great and mighty work that You accomplish daily through the Holy Spirit in our lives and the extra blessing of teaching us how to worship with our work and how to be a witness to Your Great Love. I pray that others will see us living our lives through You and witness to  the Abundant Life that comes only from following You that they also will learn that it is following You that is the most important thing in each individual’s life — not what the owner’s of the business or our earthly bosses think about our worship at work but  of major importance is what You think of our worship! Jesus, You know our hearts and Lord, help us die to our worldly self and let Your Love show though in a mighty WAY!!!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

DECEMBER  18  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   SUMMARY-05 of the Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#31  (Matthew 1:1 thru 26:16)  Jesus was established in the first chapter of Matthew as the rightful Heir to the Throne of David through His genealogy through David all the way back to Abraham and then Matthew documents the prophesied “virgin birth” of Jesus thus fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 7:4. Matthew then moves directly into the conflict that developed with the then earthly king of Israel, King Herod: “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.’” (Matthew 2:1-2) The fact that “wise men” from the East came seeking the “King of the Jews” and declaring that they had “seen His star in the East” and they traveled all the way to Judea to find Him is significant in the “universality” of the Jewish Prophecy the the King of the Jews would be born in Bethlehem of Judea for the prophets had written: “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.” (Matthew 2:5-6 and Micah 5:2) Matthew has now demonstrated 3 major prophecies that have been fulfilled by Jesus in just the first chapter and part of the second that put the odds of any one person fulfilling these 3 major prophecies at an astronomical number and almost certainly by mathematical odds that Jesus by (1) His genealogy through David, (2) His “Virgin Birth”, and (3) that  “Virgin Birth” occurring in the town of Bethlehem  would be sufficient to declare Jesus the Heir to the throne of David and by prophecy Jesus would have to be declared the “King of the Jews” so it is obvious why this news from the wise men declared in the presence of Herod and all the chief priests and scribes in the city of Jerusalem would cause Herod to be “troubled”.  What makes the odds of Jesus being the “King of the Jews” grow exponentially is the fact that even this “trouble” that King Herod felt was in prophecy as well as Matthew records that when the wise men departed after “they saw the young Child with Mary His mother” (Matthew 2:11) that “an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.’ [Joseph] did as the angel had commanded “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet [Hosea], saying, “Out if Egypt I called My Son.” (Matthew 2:12-15 and Hosea 11:1) When Herod “saw that he was deceived by the wise men…[Herod] sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which [Herod] had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet saying: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Matthew 2:16-17 and Jeremiah 31:15) Now Matthew has in only two chapters has Jesus fulfilling prophecies by Isaiah, Micah, Hosea, and Jeremiah and the miracle part of the prophecies is that in order for these prophecies to be fulfilled that the circumstances demanded that “wise men from the East” and the current king of Judea be complicit in the fulfilling of prophecy! To me it is significant that God was accomplishing His Plan and literally using Jesus as a Child to cause the literally a Universal Response to His arrival and that means that there will be required of the world a Universal Response when Jesus comes again! God’s complete Plan has been written down for us to read and comply — all we have to do is accept the obvious, Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of God!!!