JANUARY 07 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-07: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JANUARY  07  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-07: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) 

007 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, praise the Name of the Only Begotten Son of the Living God. Lord Jesus, I write the Name “JESUS” and I marvel at both the “Name” and its “Meaning” but it is hard for our minds to actually understand the “fact” that Jesus IS the Son of the Living God! The other fact that is difficult to “wrap our finite mortal mind around” is that the “Living God” who Loved the world with a Love that cannot be comprehended by mortal man would remain TRUE to HIS INFINITELY DIVINE CHARACTER and provide for our Salvation as explained by Abraham to Isaac, “God Himself will provide the Lamb…”  (Genesis 22:8)!  Man who is flesh cannot conceive that the Living God who is SPIRIT would allow His Only Begotten (Divine) Son to be born of a (mortal) “virgin”, live a perfect life in the FLESH and then as part of God’s Master Plan for mankind, the Omnipotent would offer His ONLY BEGOTTEN Son as the Atonement for the sins of the world?!?! Why would a God that has unlimited Power and has absolutely ZERO need of mankind Sacrifice so much of Himself that the same mankind that has rejected and denied Him would have a pathway to FORGIVENESS of our iniquities against God — surely this is the “MYSTERY OF GOD” to be revealed when He RETURNS to “Bring Home” those that have “received” Him! Praise God for His Master Plan!!!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  07  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-07: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) Jesus was known as the Messiah by all those that had been blessed by the angel’s declaration: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11) and those that had traveled to Bethlehem and had seen with their own eyes the Christ Child laying in a manger. Jesus was next revealed as the Messiah to a man named Simeon in Jerusalem for (as per Jewish tradition) after “eight days were completed” it was customary for Jewish families to take newborn males to the temple for circumcision. “Now when the days of her [Mary the mother of Jesus] purification according to the law of Moses were completed, [Mary and Joseph brought their Child named Jesus who was born in a manger in Bethlehem] to Jerusalem to present Him to the LORD…And behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” (Luke 2:21-26) Simeon being an official in the temple at Jerusalem and very familiar with the “Consolation of Israel” (which was a common name for the Messiah used by the Jews) that when Mary and Joseph presented Jesus to Simeon, Simeon was aware that he was holding in his arms the “LORD’s Christ”! Simeon said when “he [Simeon] took [Jesus] up in his arms and blessed God… ‘LORD, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.” (Luke 2:27-32) John the Baptist was among the few that had been informed by the angel of God or by the Holy Spirit Himself that the Messiah had arrived but unlike those that had beheld the Child in Bethlehem, or the wise men that had bestowed gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Him, or Simeon who had held the Messiah in his arms at the circumcision ceremony in the temple in Jerusalem {{side thought: Simeon most likely circumcised Jesus knowing it was God’s Son that he was circumcising!!!!!!!!Selah}}, John, the foretold “forerunner” of the Messiah, had not yet seen the Messiah. Even though John had been proclaiming about the Messiah, “…He who is coming after me is mightier than I…will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11). John the Baptist had been proclaiming that the “kingdom of heaven is at hand” but John had not actually seen the Messiah in the FLESH so when Jesus came to John to be baptized in the Jordan that it was at that very “moment” that John first saw the Messiah with his own eyes and the Holy Spirit revealed to John that this Jesus approaching him in the Jordan was the Messiah in the flesh!!! John felt unworthy and tried to prevent Jesus from being baptized by him (see Matthew 3:14) but through that baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan, Jesus publicly reveals Himself and John as prophecies being publicly fulfilled in the presence of many eyewitnesses! Prior to Jesus being baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist, Jesus had been revealed as the Messiah by a host of other witnesses and by circumstances beyond His control — but clearly all His prior circumstances witness to the fact that God has a Master Plan and that Jesus IS the “Anointed One”! Now here at the Jordan, prophecy was simultaneously being fulfilled in the sight of a multitude of “eyewitnesses” that left no doubt that John was the “forerunner” of the Messiah and that Jesus whom John had just baptized in the Jordan was the long-awaited Messiah! These prophecies were not fulfilled by Jesus simply proclaiming Himself to be the Messiah but by documented factual circumstances surrounding His Birth and by a multitude of witnesses that proclaimed they had seen the Messiah with their own eyes! But here at the Jordan, Jesus begins His Ministry as the Messiah by declaring to John in the presence of those many witnesses: “Jesus … said to [John], “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15) “Now” is a good time for “us” to consider the great cloud of witnesses before us that are individual “eyewitness accounts” of having seen the Messiah and we ourselves should listen to Jesus and take His advice to “us” for “now” is the time for “us” to be led by the “Spirit” into His Presence and to listen when Jesus by the Holy Spirit encourages “us” to: “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Remember — Today is the day of salvation and only through salvation can we “fulfill all righteousness”!!! Are you like Simeon looking expectantly to see the Messiah??? Remember Jesus promised “Seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened”!!! (Matthew 7:7) 

JANUARY 06 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-06: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JANUARY  06  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-06: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) 

006 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, Lord, LORD, El Elyon, Creator, Prince of Peace, Glory, Honor and Praise to the Lamb of God, Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Born of a virgin, You are the WORD and You became flesh and dwelt among us, yet You Lord Jesus Christ were without sin, living a Perfect Life in Obedience to the Will of the Father, becoming the Perfect Sacrifice for ALL sin, that Your Righteousness could be imparted to mankind as the Atonement for our transgressions, that through the Shed Blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary, we as Repentant sinners could, through the Forgiveness of our iniquities by our Heavenly Father, enter into Eternal Fellowship with Almighty God! Praise be the Matchless Name of JESUS CHRIST!!!       AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  06  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-06: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) Jesus always lived a Lifestyle every minute in a manner such that with any inspection, from any viewpoint, the New Testament ALWAYS reveals that Jesus was OBEDIENT to His Father! The Questions, Lessons and Parables that Jesus used to Teach the TRUTH OF GOD our Father were always presented in the Gospels (4) in such a way that the reader would Gain Understanding of the TRUTH — all we have to do to understand TRUTH is to observe how Jesus lived His own Life in the flesh through the SPIRIT OF GOD! The Scofield Bible introduces the Gospel written by St. Matthew as follows: “The first of the four Gospels was written by Matthew, also called Levi, who was an Apostle of Jesus and this Gospel  by Matthew was originally written for the Jews and presents Christ as the Son of David and the Son of Abraham. Because He is portrayed as King, His genealogy is traced to King David. Only in Matthew does Christ speak of ‘the throne of His glory’. In this Gospel according to Matthew, Jerusalem is referred to as ‘the Holy City’ and ‘the city of the great King’…since Matthew is the Gospel of the King, it is also the Gospel of the ‘kingdom’  and in this Gospel written by Matthew, the word ‘kingdom’ appears more than fifty times and the expression ‘the kingdom of heaven’ which is found nowhere else in the New Testament, appears about thirty times.” {{See The Scofield Study Bible, New King James version. Copyright ** 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. pg.1299}} It is safe to say that the main theme in this Gospel according to Matthew is that Jesus Christ IS the King! Matthew does an excellent job of documenting the Life and Teachings of Jesus in a manner that clearly demonstrates that only Jesus Christ by His Birth, Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection fulfills all the prophecies written about the Messiah and the “Soon Coming King”. This introduction of The Jesus Questions JQ#1 thru JQ#33 is to alert the reader that every step Jesus took and every lesson that Jesus taught was to illuminate the WAY and guide the reader to the “Truth of God His Father” and to “the kingdom of heaven” where Jesus Christ will Rule as King for all Eternity! Matthew begins his Gospel with: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1) and with the first three chapters, Matthew sets the stage for the ministry and the teachings of Jesus Christ. Matthew then at the end of Chapter 3 quotes Jesus for the first time in the Gospel, “But Jesus answered and said to [John the Baptist], ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’” (Matthew 3:15) Matthew, in Chapter 1, lists the Genealogy of Jesus starting with “Abraham begot Isaac …and Jesses begot David the king…and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.” (Matthew 1:1-17) Thus Matthew in the Jewish tradition lists the genealogy of Jesus through the husband and declares the birth mother. Also in Jewish tradition, the Jewish genealogy uses the “first born male” to perpetuate the “Family” line! Thus Matthew establishes that Jesus can trace His Genealogy back to Abraham through Isaac and Jacob and can claim the fulfillment of the “Promise of God” to Abraham that “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3) and the Promise of God to King David through the prophet Isaiah, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7). Thus Matthew tied Jesus to prophecy and establishes Jesus as the TRUE HEIR to the THRONE of Thrones as KING of Kings and LORD of Lords! In case you have not been formerly introduced to the most important name in the history of life itself — His Name is JESUS!

JANUARY 05 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-05: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JANUARY  05  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-05: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) 

005 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, ever will I praise Your Name, for You are ever-Faithful and Your Glory will endure forever! Lord I praise You for Loving me and dying for me while I was lost in my sin — Your LIGHT has led me into a new day where I pray that my new song will be to “work until Jesus comes!” Lord, You have directed my paths to this point and I pray that my eyes and heart will be kept firmly fixed on You and the kingdom’s work and that I will be a good “witness” to Your Love. Lord Jesus, again and yet anew do I yield my life to serving You and to telling Your “Good News” to those You send my way.      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  05  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-05: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) Jesus told His disciples and even the Pharisees and Sadducees that the Holy Spirit would be a “witness” to who He really was and Matthew, being an eyewitness led by the Holy Spirit and Divinely inspired by the Spirit of God, wrote for a permanent record the events that point clearly to Jesus being the Divine Son of God sent to earth by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with a specific Purpose. Matthew was primarily writing for the Jews because it is the Jewish Holy Scriptures (known today as the “Tanakh” or modern “Hebrew Bible”) that the Jewish nation Israel had been reading for thousands of years and were waiting expectantly for the Messiah, God’s Anointed! The prophets from Jewish history were led by the Holy Spirit to write down the “signs” that would point to the Messiah, just like the New Testament writers Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were led by the Holy Spirit to write down eyewitness accounts of how Jesus fulfilled those prophecies of old. You cannot read the Holy Scriptures (the Old Testament and New Testament) without seeing God, His Plan, and the fulfillment of all the Spirit led prophecies that God uses (present tense!) to “lead His people to the Promised Land”. Matthew wrote in his Gospel of Jesus Christ that which was contained in the Jewish Holy Scriptures (the Old Testament of our modern Bible) that pointed to Jesus being the fulfillment of prophecy. What Matthew wrote about Jesus is true for all that will “seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness” and is fully documented in the New Testament. God has a Plan and a Purpose for each individual person that breathes the breath of life imparted to us by God which God demonstrated with the first man that God brought into existence as the last act of His Divine Creation. “This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed…Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and to keep it.” (Genesis 2:4-15) God “Spoke” everything into existence except man and woman — it was “Personal” with God in the creation of mankind, for with mankind God used His own Hands to form man and then God Himself directly “breathed” (with His Own Breath) life into the man! After forming man, God then used His own Hands to form woman out of the rib of the man God had just breathed His “Breath of Life” into, an operation accomplished by God Himself demonstrating His “Hands On” commitment to mankind — and to “seal the deal” and to show that God had all His Creation planned out before “the beginning”,  we read of God’s “intent” for mankind to be special: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’…So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27) So let us approach this “Introduction” of God’s Plan for the world as documented in the Gospel of Matthew in this way: The Old Testament is a written record of God revealing His Plan and “how” He intends to “execute” His Plan. The New Testament is a written record of eyewitness accounts of the fulfillment of prophecies in the Person of Jesus Christ as well as general prophecies regarding the “completion” of God’s Plan for all Mankind. Again, the fact that Matthew writes primarily for the Jews is because it is through the Jews and the nation Israel that God has intended to use the nation Israel from BEFORE the beginning of mankind to fulfill God’s Plan for the salvation of the world! The main point is that BEFORE man came into existence God “had a Plan” — and the obvious Truth of God in that statement is that God made His Plan before mankind was created therefore mankind must accept that God is in control and is the Master Plan Maker — and life for mankind must fit God’s Planned Purpose — for God alone is the giver of life, the Creator — and everything that is not God is His Creation — get that part straight and the rest is a piece of cake! St. Matthew was part of God’s Plan to reveal the Messiah and His Purpose for the world — “For God did not send [the Messiah] His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17) Good Plan don’t you think??? —No wonder it’s called “THE GOOD NEWS”!!!

JANUARY 04 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-04: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JANUARY  04  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-04: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) 

004 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, I awoke this morning with the need to pray first in my mind and when I started to pray there was some sort of “spiritual” distraction of unknown origin that seemed to prevent me from praying in “Spirit and in Truth” and I was disturbed. I lay in bed and struggled to “commune” with God but the “perceived separation” caused me great uneasiness! After meditating on “cause” and coming up empty, I then thought about the “effect” and almost immediately I was confident that I was being given a “taste” of going on my journey alone. Jesus, I am also confident that I no longer want to walk by myself and be alone as I traverse this “valley of the shadow of death” and I praise You for the glimpse of where I could end up being if I had not started following You.  Lord Jesus, You simply told Your disciples “Come follow Me” and You still today invite those that do not wish to travel this journey of life alone to “walk” with You, and in walking the extra mile with us You add the promise that You will never leave us nor forsake us! The “glimpse” today was a reminder to me that if we get separated it will be my fault — Lord Jesus, keep me focused then on “following Your LIGHT”  and always staying on Your paths of righteousness!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  04  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-04: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) Jesus and who He “really is” has been a topic of debate from  before He arrived on earth and who He “really is” is still being debated today. It is very interesting to note that there is a great “double standard” being applied to the debate on the “person and purpose” of Jesus and whether or not He should be given the title of “Christ”. The “double standard” that glares out to this layman is that in our highly “legal” society here in America today that our government is dominated by “lawyers” and the government now has more “control” over our lives than anytime in the past so logically we must admit that as a society we are being led by professional “legalists” who have become (through the power of legislation that we have given them) “elitists” and impose their “legalist” mindset on the very people that endowed them with their power! No matter the dispute, the final decision rests with our “legal” system of judges and lawyers as per the “legislation” passed by our “law makers” — laws that include the “right” to kill the unborn which should give us a clue as to what the main problem with our society “really is”! In our society there are laws addressing “slander” (the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation)  and “libel” (a published false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation; a written defamation) which directly apply to the debate on who Jesus “really is” and the “double standard” (a rule or principle that is unfairly applied in different ways to different people or groups) which is prevalent in this ongoing debate. I am sure that in the highly legalist religious system of the Pharisees and Sadducees that there were the same such “laws” existing in Israel and therefore the New Testament writers would have been held accountable in their legal system. All the writers of the New Testament were not only “evangelists” that were stating Jesus had addressed problems with the “legal authority” of the Pharisees and Sadducees but they wrote it as a matter of public record! Jesus Himself by today’s standards would be labeled a “terrorist” because He made “direct threats” against their legal system and said the temple itself would be destroyed — just imagine if someone today said that the U.S. Government, the White House and our legal system was going to be “destroyed” and this person was directly claiming that the U. S. Government's  “rule” would be “taken from them” and further if that person was publishing documents and writing letters stating how the government would be overthrown, that person would be arrested and his statements and writings would be used to convict him of crimes against the government and would carry the severest penalty! However in today’s society the very evidence that would be used to convict Jesus of being a “terrorist”  would not be allowed in the same courtroom to prove that Jesus was and IS who the Bible documents Him TO BE!!!  So as we begin our Journey to discover TRUTH then we must have some kind of Moral Standard which will be used to determine the final verdict as to the validity of TRUTH itself!>!>!>! Because the Moral Standard itself is in the hands of legalist who control both the Moral Standard and our government that imposes their will on “we the people”, then we can see the problem of letting a “special interest” group decide on the Moral Standard to be applied to our entire society (by force and legal action). St. Matthew wrote a document dated C. A.D. 50 which puts his “eyewitness” account very close to the actual event of which he wrote and the “facts” that St. Matthew wrote down would have been highly scrutinized by the legalist of that era and all the claims that St. Matthew put in his document would have been “judged” as to it being “libel” based on “slander” which was directed against the “reputation” of those that were in “power”! To be fair we must read the document and ask ourselves, “If St. Matthew did not write what is true then why has there been so many printed copies and why was Matthew made a ‘Saint’ instead of being punished for his crime?”

JANUARY 03 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-03: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JANUARY  03  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-03: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) 

003 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, I pray for Your Mercy and Grace with each new day that you present to me as Your Gift of Life! Lord Jesus, I know that if I follow You as You commanded that Your blessings will be upon my life and I can experience Your Rest which You have promised. Lord I have made many wrong turns and foolish mistakes in my life by going out on my own and each wrong turn ends up proving that I truly need “Guidance” and You have “led me safe thus far”. Lord daily I look to You for my “daily bread”, both physical and spiritual and I thank You Jesus for providing both spiritual and physical “bread” to me in such abundance even though I am so undeserving! Lord Jesus, my goal still is that one day I will stand in Your Presence and hear You say “Well done thy good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  03  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-03: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) Jesus led a “Lifestyle” that has never been approached by any other person throughout all of history and the “Lessons” that He taught as part of His Lifestyle are still being successfully applied to every person’s life that is willing to “learn” from the “Master”. On my spiritual journey to “TRUTH” I have been introduced to several sources that claim to know who Jesus really was but then the thought struck me that if a person claims to be an “authority” on Jesus yet they did not even know Jesus and is living 2000 years after Jesus lived on this earth, then how could that person so far removed from the “factual Jesus” proclaim 2000 years after the “fact” that they know the “TRUTH” about Jesus? It does not make sense to take a document like the Holy Bible that has been unchanged and undefiled and “divinely” preserved for thousands and thousands of years that at this late date in the history of Jesus arrogantly proclaim that all those “eyewitness” accounts of the Life of Jesus are not accurate accounts of the “real” Jesus!?!? I want to ask those making those arrogant claims what “authority” do they claim to be the “source” of this newfound “Truth” and I am guessing that they will say something that puffs up their own personal intellect which is obviously greater than any intellect before them and even greater than God’s own Supreme Intellect because the world is now obviously blessed by someone smart enough to point out God’s “mistakes” — so we should ignore everything the Holy Bible attests to as the “TRUTH” as per the very WORD OF GOD HIMSELF and listen instead to this new “superior intellect”!?!?!? I have learned to distrust those who claim to “know what God really meant to say” — the purpose of this blog is to encourage you to read the Holy Bible for yourself and to let the Spirit of God reveal the “TRUTH” to you that is contained within those Sacred Pages and waiting to reveal itself to you personally. There is no claim from the writer of this blog as to being a superior intellect that wishes to share with the less intellectually endowed the “Truth” according to some “new revelation” — as if TRUTH has been hidden from even God for all these years!?!? The purpose of this blog is to go through the “eyewitness” account of the writer of the first book in the New Testament, St. Matthew, and to listen to what this person that lived with and observed the Lifestyle of Jesus had to say about the most well known person in history. The “Life” and “Death” of Jesus has had more positive influence on more lives than any person or event in the past, including Mohammed Ali that claimed to be “The Greatest” (and boy was he good) or the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended the 2nd World War!  If Jesus has accomplished all these things that are now historical facts witnessed by literally billions of people in their personal lives then surely we can learn from those who wrote down for future generations what Jesus had personally taught them — they wrote because they recognized the “TRUTH” when they saw it and heard it! Remember that none of the writers of the 66 books in the Bible received any financial compensation and on several occasions the things they wrote resulted in their death so we must assume they were driven to write by a “Source” greater than their fear of starvation and death!!!  The Holy Bible begins with the only answer we will ever really need to know as Genesis 1:1 starts with four of the most powerful words ever written, “In the beginning, God…” and if you can get past those first four words then you have moved past the greatest roadblock on your personal journey to “TRUTH”. So the purpose of this blog then is to encourage you to read the Holy Scriptures and to let them “teach” you “TRUTH” and this blog will also point out that on this spiritual journey that you must travel your path alone and you will do so in your life until you find and “believe” the TRUTH when it is revealed to you! Welcome to The Journey, let’s see what St. Matthew wrote about Jesus as we will start our “journey” with the assumption that the Holy Bible is TRUTH and GOD HIMSELF is the SOURCE and then when we read the Holy Scriptures we know that we are reading the “RECORD” of God’s Divine Instructions on Life — If you cannot begin there then there is no need for you to bother to read either the Bible nor this puny blog!

JANUARY 02 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-02: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JANUARY  02  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-02: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) 

002 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, we pray as You instructed us to pray: “Our Father who is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread…” (Matthew 6:11) and have confidence that we will proclaim as did David “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want…” (Psalm 23:1) Lord Jesus we come humbly before You each morning to start our day knowing that You are what You say You ARE: You Lord Jesus are “The Way, the Truth, and the Life…” (John 14:6) Lord we cannot on our own know Your Truth without “Faith” in Your Holy Word and “Trusting” that the “Way” that you lead us will produce the “abundant Life” — Lord we know that You are good to us because You choose to Love us in spite of ourselves and we thank You and give You praise. Lord I pray that You and Your Holy Spirit will move me and my selfish desires out of the darkness and into Your LIGHT!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  02  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-02: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) Jesus is a Name that is unlike any other name in history and this blog seeks to discover the TRUTH of Jesus because there are some very bold and “miraculous” claims associated with the Name of Jesus in the Holy Bible! The challenge of this blog is not to provide “proof” because this blog does not seek to be either the “judge” or the “jury” but rather this blog is simply a common ordinary everyday “Joe” that takes the “witness” stand and with my left hand planted firmly on the Holy Bible and my right hand raised toward the heavens I proudly proclaim before all men, “I swear to tell the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth, so help me God!” I seek no personal secular gain but seek desperately for Spiritual guidance to live my life in “peace” and in the many years that I have been searching for a “shelter in the storm” I have learned that when you find that unexpected umbrella that it is smart to open it up and let it protect you from the rain. I stand before you and say that I did not expect to find TRUTH in any particular place, person, or philosophy because all my previous expectations and explorations of places where I “just knew” that Truth could be found there had landed me in some very peculiar predicaments! My “witness” that I share in this blog is that for over 15 years now I have been applying to my life the TRUTH that I found in a book called the Holy Bible and I can say that by following God’s instructions I have avoided personal spiritual disaster and I know that my “deliverance” came not because of anything that I have done to protect myself because my individual independent efforts are selfish in nature and always land me in some form of trouble from which the TRUTH always has to rescue me! The Bible then has given me confidence that the Holy Scriptures are the inspired Word of God and that the Holy Scriptures are designed to reveal TRUTH. In my life and experience the TRUTH that I have discovered in the Holy Bible has been constant and it consistently produces successful results in my personal life when I follow the TRUTH found in God’s Word. This blog then does not look to “prove” that the Word of God is infallible, this blog is simply to document how in my life the Word of God has proved Itself to me to be infallible in my life and I challenge you to answer for yourself the question posed by a man that was desperately seeking answers in his life, “What is truth?”. Take any book or any philosophy and search for the TRUTH within that book or philosophy and when you apply what is proclaimed by that book or philosophy to be the “Truth” to your own life you must then “test” your newly discovered “Truth” to determine if when after applying your suspected “Truth” to your personal life over an extended period of time that the “Truth” is actually making an improvement in your personal life? The success or failure will be determined by what you “believe” and you must ask yourself and respect yourself by answering honestly this very personal question, “Am I willing to bet my life, my soul, and my eternity on this newfound Truth”? I know that when I first suspected that the Holy Scriptures were the “Real Deal” and that I had found the source of “TRUTH” that the world was telling me loudly and rudely “You can find “TRUTH” without God” but after 15 years of personal experience I KNOW that I would not have found “TRUTH” without the help of God!  I close with the words of a famous country song: “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!” Remember, “You are only lying to yourself and ‘living the lie’ if you are not believing in and living your life through the TRUTH as TRUTH proves itself to you through your own personal experience and only you KNOW what you really believe!”

JANUARY 01 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-01: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

JANUARY  01  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-01: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) 

001 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, we begin this new year with HOPE, not because of anything we have done but because of WHO YOU ARE! Lord Jesus, I have year after year made resolutions and tried to make changes in my lifestyle, but on my own I have to admit that very little positive progress had been made — until — until I learned of the HOPE that is given as a Free Gift called Grace included in a single verse of scripture that is so familiar that  in many social circles the verse is considered cliche — but to those who read the verse and know why the verse was inspired and the original intent, the verse itself can be read a thousand times a day and with each reading HOPE springs eternal: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Therefore looking expectantly towards 2017 to be a year that HOPE reigns sovereign in my day-to-day life, I start this day January 1, 2017 with this prayer to You Lord Jesus and Trust that  You will “never leave nor forsake” me and everyday I will look forward to You leading me in “paths of righteousness”!!!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JANUARY  01  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-01: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17) {Note from the writer of this blog: This blog is not mean to “argue” or “prove” the existence of God. The writer of this blog sits down with the Bible to begin my day and then I write what the Bible reading inspires me to write! I do not claim that I am “right” but I truthfully document what the WORD OF GOD speaks to me, fully admitting to all, my intellect is limited but I can proclaim loudly, my spirit is free!} This blog is a “Daily Devotional” — for me — and you are invited to make it part of yours as I encourage you to spend 2017 in the Word of God and let it speak to you, we are all different and each of us has a unique perspective. This blog is me sharing my “perspective” of what the Word of God has meant in my life since I started my “Spiritual Journey to Truth” in 2001. On my Journey I have lost my way, hit many detours, found several “rest” areas, yet one Truth has surfaced as a constant, the main problem in my life is me! Each of us has to look at the same person in the mirror day in and day out and though we try to change our outward appearances, who we are on the inside is our personal TRUTH, and the presentation we make to the world is a facade. Of all the self help articles and processes that I have engaged in, none have been able to produce “real change to my inner self” other than when I started my search for “TRUTH” and committed myself to accepting the TRUTH when I found it and vowed to avoid trying to “amend” the TRUTH for personal gain but to “accept and apply” the TRUTH to my life and let TRUTH change my lifestyle instead of me letting my lifestyle change TRUTH to fit my personal desires! It was in 2001 that I received a book from my sister for a birthday present and it pointed me to a TRUTH that I had been blinded to my whole life — TRUTH can only be found where TRUTH exists, not where we want it to exist — and that is when I made the decision to search for TRUTH and to let TRUTH reveal itself, therefore areas that I had previously thought “No way can TRUTH be found in here” I began to investigate those areas that for closed-minded reasons I had avoided. I started my search determinedly with a new perspective and somewhat glibly I chanted my old mantra “Give me your best shot!” I was indeed surprised to find TRUTH in the Holy Bible and accepting TRUTH wherever I found it proved itself day-in-and-day-out that each time I “honestly tried” on TRUTH I found out that “Accepting TRUTH” made my life better! So now after 15 years on my Spiritual Journey to Truth I invite you to start your own Journey and give TRUTH a chance to make that mirror reflect an inner self full of TRUTH and you will find that no one can argue with success. The Holy Bible contains all the TRUTH each unique individual needs to live an abundant life and this blog is simply a window into my soul which has found peace with God. The cliche then is to desire “World Peace” yet deny the TRUTH that can achieve “Inner Peace”. The writer of this blog was given an “inspiration” in April of 2016 and is the basis of this daily blog which you are invited to take the same challenge posed by the Holy Spirit who presented the challenge to me in this way: “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 according to Matthew and “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!”