JANUARY 22 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#01-01 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#1 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JANUARY  22  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#01-01 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#1  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13) 

022 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, Lord and Savior, Redeemer, Lover of my soul, all praise and honor to You and Your Holy Name, the Only Name by which ALL are saved! Lord let us always be mindful that You are unchanging and let us start each day of the year with Your Name on our lips and Your Grace in our hearts. Lord Jesus, my prayer is that every day will be lived in a way that honors You and advances the Kingdom. Lord Jesus, open our hearts and our minds that we can see the Father God as You reveal Him through Your Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables as You “TEACH” us the TRUTH OF GOD through Your Questions — You have asked The JESUS Questions for our benefit that we might dwell on the TRUTH and my prayer is that we will listen with our hearts and apply Your TRUTH to our day-to-day lives so that You WILL Bless us daily with Mercy and Grace — so give us the Self-Discipline to answer Your “Questions” HONESTLY for YOU KNOW OUR HEARTS!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS   

JANUARY  22  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#01-01 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<<   JQ#1  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13)  Jesus has been introduced by St. Matthew as “Messiah” who was prophesied from the Jewish Holy Scriptures. St Matthew started with the “genealogy of Jesus Christ” and established that Jesus is “the Son of David” and “the Son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:17) Matthew then moved to the “Virgin Birth” and demonstrated that Mary the mother of Jesus bore Him in a “Virgin Womb” for she had known NO man and the “Seed” she carried was the “Holy Seed of God Himself” which made Jesus both the “Son of Man” born to a “virgin” and the “Son of God” born from the “Holy Seed”!!! (Matthew 1:18-25) Matthew then documents the significance of where and when Jesus was born and establishes that John the Baptist had fulfilled the prophecy of the “forerunner” of Messiah by preaching in the wilderness, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and was baptizing by water in the Jordan River and  those that were being baptized by John were “confessing their sins”. When John saw Jesus coming to be baptized in the Jordan, John acknowledged that Jesus was Messiah and at this point Jesus said to John, “Permit it to be so now, for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:1-15) Matthew then documents God’s Recognition that Jesus was the Messiah for as Jesus “came up immediately from the water; … behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” (Matthew 3:16-17) Matthew has shown that Jesus fulfilled the Messianic prophecy through circumstances Jesus had no control over such as (1) His parents (lineage), (2) His Birth from a “Virgin Womb”, and (3) the place of His Birth in the City of David — Bethlehem — and (4) His Baptism by God’s “forerunner” of the Messiah, John the Baptist was done to “fulfill all righteousness”. Upon Jesus being “Obedient” to the Father’s Will by being baptized by God’s “forerunner”, God Himself spoke from heaven and called Jesus “My Son” which was heard by a crowd of many witnesses! (Matthew 1:1 thru Matthew 3:17) Starting with Matthew 4:1 Jesus Himself is going to show He is the Messiah by His Lessons, His Lifestyle, and His “Teaching” the TRUTH OF God !!! Jesus used circumstances to get us to Meditate on the Truth of God. Jesus demonstrated His Messiahship as He addressed each circumstance and instead of His Messiahship being “compromised” by the circumstance, Jesus turned each circumstance into a “Lesson” and the “Truth of the Lesson” in turn “Confirmed” Jesus as Messiah, the Christ! Jesus included in His “Lessons” a Method to get our attention and to focus us on the “issue” at hand, and that “Method” was to ASK a QUESTION for us to “think about” and then He would wait for the TRUTH to soak in as we thought about His Question.  Sometimes Jesus would immediately tell us the TRUTH so that there would be no mistake or misunderstanding the Truth of God Jesus taught with every Lesson.  It is this Method of Jesus “asking” us “questions” to make us focus on the TRUTH OF GOD that is the basis for this blog “The JESUS Questions”.  JANUARY 1 introduced “how and why” the JESUS Questions  came about by the Holy Spirit challenging us to read the Gospel of Jesus Christ as written by St. Matthew ——— here is that “Challenge”: “Read through the complete Gospel of Jesus Christ written by St. Matthew (the first book in the New Testament) starting with Matthew 1:1 and every time you come to a ‘question’ that Jesus asks, your challenge is to give Jesus a ‘Truthful answer’.” Think about that “challenge” and your “mission” <<< should you choose to accept it >>> is to read the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew and “each time you come to a JESUS Question, give Jesus a TRUTHFUL answer” and I personally will give you a double-your-money back lifetime guarantee that it will change you from the inside out and that you will see that person in the mirror in a different “Light” — remember that TRUTH is FREE so what have you got to lose??? The Holy Spirit left me with these words of wisdom: “No one but God owns the TRUTH and He gives it FREELY to all who search for it, so if someone tries to charge you for TRUTH, don’t buy it no matter how pretty a package they present it with!” ——— Once you accept the challenge to let Jesus show you the TRUTH OF GOD then continue in the Gospel of Jesus Christ written by Matthew starting with Chapter 4:1 and read for yourself and observe how Jesus lived His day-to-day life to witness to the TRUTH OF GOD!!! Just like Matthew used Chapters 1-3 to introduce Jesus as the Messiah by circumstances controlled by God then Matthew uses Chapter 4 through the end of Matthew’s Gospel of Jesus Christ to let Jesus introduce Himself by how Jesus reacted to the “circumstances” that confronted Him in His day-to-day life on this earth. Matthew begins: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1) It “is fitting for us” then to know that Jesus started His ministry with a most difficult circumstance and the “Example” that Jesus gives us with His response to being confronted by the devil should be a “Lesson” we use to make it through our day-to-day life of having to face difficult circumstances, after all, Jesus has changed the course of History forever so He certainly can do the same for our lives — forever!!!