APRIL 15 THE JESUS QUESTIONS SRJQ#1-13 (Day 2) >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< SRJQ#1-13 * Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#1.1—JQ#13.7 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

APRIL 15  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  SRJQ#1-13  (Day 2) >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< SRJQ#1-13 *  Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#1.1—JQ#13.7 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

106 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, another day that You have “graced” us with and another day of praises for the King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus, my prayer on this day is that Your Spirit will be upon all believers so powerfully that we will unite in one voice and one “Hope” as we pray for Your Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven! Lord Jesus, each day I pray for my eyes to be opened but today I pray for our hearts to be united in Your Love, the only True Love, given unconditionally to all that would believe that it was Love that put You on the Cross, Love that put You in a Grave, and Love that Conquered Death, and it was in Perfect Love that You were Resurrected — grant it Lord that we may share in Your Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection that we may KNOW LOVE!       AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

APRIL 15  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  SRJQ#1-13  (Day 2) >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< SRJQ#1-13 *  Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#1.1—JQ#13.7 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)  Jesus has been Teaching us through His Question/Lessons the Truth of God and by Jesus revealing these “TRUTHS” to us through these Questions we Learn to better see ourselves — not through the eyes of the world but through the eyes of God who is revealed to us “Precept-Upon-Precept” and “Line-Upon-Line”. Jesus proclaimed that He came to reveal the Father, “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” (Matthew 11:27)   However, before we Review the “JESUS Questions” themselves we should note the obvious that these are Questions being asked by Jesus, the Son of God, and before we consider answering His Questions we should answer the obvious question — “Why would Jesus, who is The All Knowing Master Teacher and Son of the Living God, ask Questions of mere mortals?” — The only logical answer is that Jesus is not asking these Questions to gain knowledge for Himself but Jesus is asking “rhetorical” questions to impart knowledge to those He is trying to teach and introduce the “learner” to God Himself! These are all introspective Questions and deeply personal but if we honestly answer each one we will learn about ourselves what Jesus Himself desires us to know about the Kingdom of God and our “inheritance” in it! In order to fully understand the Divine Objective let us list a few of the Divine Circumstances and Divine Context in which these “JESUS Questions” are being asked. 

The Divine Circumstance: 

Isaiah (whose name means ‘salvation of the LORD”) wrote in the 8th Century B.C. many prophecies covering “Divine Events” from “The Creation” to the “New Heavens and New Earth” to be formed during the “Millennial Reign” of Jesus Christ but the writings are mostly noted for “the great Messianic predictions in which are foretold Christ’s birth (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6), His Deity (9:6-7), His ministry (9:1-2; 42:1-7;61:1-2), His death (52:1-53:12), His future millennial reign (for example, chapters 2; 11; 65), etc.” {{pg. 910 The Scofield Study Bible Introduction to the Book of Isaiah, the 2002 Edition}}. So the Divine Circumstance had been prophesied over 800 years before Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem and all prophecies point to Jesus as being the long awaited Messiah!

The Divine Context:

The Gospel According to MATTHEW was written C. A.D. 50 and was written originally for the Jews and presents Jesus as the Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, and the place of His birth was the City of David, Bethlehem — all of which point to the Divinity of Christ and to Jesus being God made flesh (John 1:14) and walking among us. Matthew starts his documentation of the Life of Christ with a genealogy that traces the lineage of Jesus back to Abraham then covers the Divine Event of the birth of Jesus to the virgin Mary. Matthew then introduces John the Baptist who was preaching in the wilderness, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2) and proclaimed that John said that he was “The voice of one crying in the wilderness; ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’” (Matthew 3:3) Matthew then records that Jesus was baptized by John, and then was led into the wilderness where Jesus was “tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1) and then Matthew writes: “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 4:17)  then later in Chapter 4 Matthew continues; “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.” (Matthew 4:23)  These miracles of God by the hand of Jesus became widely known and great multitudes started following Jesus which leads us into the first of the JESUS Questions which immediately followed the famous “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5:1-12) This is where we start learning the Lessons of God’s TRUTH that Jesus Teaches by asking “The JESUS Questions”. 

Lesson 1: JQ#1    “Are you salt and light?”                                           Matthew 5:1-16

APRIL 14 THE JESUS QUESTIONS SRJQ#1-13 (Day 1) >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< SRJQ#1-13 * Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#1.1—JQ#13.7 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

APRIL 14  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  SRJQ#1-13  (Day 1) >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< SRJQ#1-13 *  Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#1.1—JQ#13.7 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

105 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, (Originally Prayed  May 14, 2004) “Jesus…only by our association with You do we have any ‘Hope’ to be able to stand before God [at the judgement] for You alone can forgive us — for we are full of iniquity and sin, [deserving the verdict of guilty with the punishment of death] but You and Your Grace has been extended to [all sinners] as a ‘Gift’ from God the Father to all mankind — we can do nothing to deserve or earn  Your Love. You ‘proved’ You Loved us by Your Sacrificial death on the cross which was the Ultimate Demonstration of Obedience to God’s Will! Lord Jesus, give us the knowledge of our sin that we can REPENT in the fullness of Your Truth and boldly approach the Throne of Grace with confidence that our sins have been covered by Your Precious Blood when You died on the cross that we may live eternally in heaven!”            AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

APRIL 14  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  SRJQ#1-13  (Day 1) >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< SRJQ#1-13 *  Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#1.1—JQ#13.7 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)  Jesus has now taken us through 13 JESUS Questions with each Question illuminating a Deeper Truth of God as Jesus has laid the Foundation of Discipleship if we answer His Call “Follow Me”. The Holy Spirit moved my writing of His Word today as I was reviewing JQ#13.7 from APRIL 13  to conclude JQ#13 “Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?” with the closing sentences of JQ#13.7   +++Then Jesus declares “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgement. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:33-37) It is easy to see that Jesus and God think this is very serious and there is “eternity” riding on your answer — trust me, this IS A BIG DEAL, so what is the verdict that you are going to pass on yourself, “Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?”+++  Once the Spirit directed me to conclude JQ#13 He then directed me to write a “Summary Review” of “The JESUS Questions” that covers JQ#1.1 through JQ#13.7. For all those who have not been following “The JESUS Questions Project” from the beginning, this “Summary Review” will serve as an outline of “The JESUS Questions Project” through JQ#13.7 that concluded APRIL 13. For those that have been following “The JESUS Questions Project” regularly this Summary Review will demonstrate the “Precept-Upon-Precept” way the Master uses to bring us along in our Spiritual Maturity that we may walk boldly with Him to the Throne of Grace and proclaim with Great Confidence that our sins have been covered by the Blood of the Lamb of God! The Summary Review will begin with a simple list of “The JESUS Questions” in the order in which they appear in the Gospel of Matthew. 

SRJQ#1-13  ——— Summary Review of The JESUS Questions  JQ#1-13

JQ#1    “Are you salt and light?”                                             Matthew 5:1-16

JQ#2    “What do you really know about Love?”                     Matthew 5:43-48

JQ#3    “What good is worry or ‘who cares’?”                         Matthew 6:25-34

JQ#4    “What gives you the right to judge?”                           Matthew 7:1-6

JQ#5    “Why should you Ask-Seek-Knock?”                          Matthew 7:7-14

JQ#6    “What kind of fruit does your tree bear?”                    Matthew 7:15-23

JQ#7    “What’s bigger, your ‘Fear’ or your ‘Faith’?                 Matthew 8:23-27

JQ#8    “How do you put ‘Feet’ to your ‘Faith’?”                      Matthew 9:1-13

JQ#9    “Are you a friend of the ‘Bridegroom’?”                       Matthew 9:14-26

JQ#10  “What is your ‘Spiritual Value’?”                                  Matthew 10:1-42 

JQ#11  “What are your ‘Spiritual Expectations of Jesus?”       Matthew 11:1-30

JQ#12  “Who decides what is legal, God or man?”                 Matthew 12:1-23

JQ#13  “Is your life a plus or minus in God’s kingdom?”         Matthew 12:24-45

It is challenging at this point before we go any further to “review” these 13 JESUS Questions asked so far and see if we can detect a pattern and possibly predict what the next question may be? Look at all the questions in the sequence that they were asked and see if you can see the “Precept-Upon-Precept” style and also notice that the Questions are all “personal” and are getting more serious as we build our knowledge and understanding of what it means to “Follow Jesus” — Always keep in your mind this question: “If I ‘Follow Jesus’, what is the ‘Final Destination’?”

APRIL 13 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#13-07 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?* “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

APRIL 13  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13-07 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

104 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, Lord, Savior, what glorious names that You are Worthy to be called! There is no name like the Name — Jesus. Lord as I think about all the names that I can remember, even the most famous even legendary names, even fictional names, there is NO name that even begins to compare! For every name there is a set of characteristics associated with that name and what name includes all the attributes we recall when we utter the Name of Jesus?! There has been no name associated with Salvation, with Eternity, with Forgiveness, with Mercy, and with Grace but the Holy Name of Jesus! May we ever speak the Name and know the Savior.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

APRIL 13  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13-07 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34) Jesus never Teaches us a Lesson that we cannot look at His Life and see that before Jesus Teaches us a Lesson, Jesus Himself has Lived that Lesson as an example for us to not only “hear” His Lessons but we can “look” at His Life and “see” the Lesson being Lived out before us. It is because Jesus Lives what He Teaches that HE has earned the right to ask us such a personal Question that He asks in JQ#13  “Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?” .  We can look at everything Jesus has done up to this point and we can see that Jesus Himself has been forgiving people of their sins, calling men to repentance, Jesus has cast out demons, He has healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, He has fed the poor and made the lame to walk, and He did all those things as He proclaimed, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus is saying that we are to look at His Life and know that His Life is “proof” that His Power comes from “the Spirit of God” and if the Spirit of God is moving so powerfully in your life that “surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Matthew 12:28) Jesus is telling us, “Look at what I have done with My life and know that only the Power of God could accomplish these good works!” Everything we have observed and know about Jesus points to the Father! The only logical conclusion is that Jesus is sent from God with the Divine Purpose to make mankind aware that the kingdom of God is at hand! Each individual is given the knowledge of God and should personally evaluate our individual contributions to the “kingdom of God”! Jesus made this personal connection clear when He said we are either “for Him” or we are “against Him" (Matthew 12:30)! We should stop to consider what possibly could have been the “purpose” of God in sending His Only Begotten Son to the earth to be Sacrificed on a cross? To add to the obvious, God states in His written Word that He has done everything, from the creation of all things to the last breath you will breathe BECAUSE He loves us and wants us to be with Him in this “Kingdom” that He is preparing for us! With all that God has done in preparing a place for us and preparing us for His place, then we should give a reasonable and honest answer to His simple Question, “Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?” This is such serious business that God would invest His Everything into revealing Himself to us and His expectations for us that He has placed “eternity” as the finish line and the ultimate failure in life is to end our life without the “hope” or the “assurance” of spending our “eternity” with the God who bestowed such “Grace” upon us — at such Great Personal cost to God Himself! Jesus follows this Lesson with some additional serious examples as in Matthew 12:31-32 Jesus says that “blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men” and “whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” Then Jesus talks about trees with “good” fruit or “bad” fruit, and calls those that are against God a “Brood of vipers” who “being evil” cannot speak good things. Then Jesus declares “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgement. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:33-37) It is easy to see that Jesus and God think this is very serious and there is our personal “eternity” riding on our answer — trust me, this IS A BIG DEAL, so what is the verdict that you are going to pass on yourself, “Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?” 

APRIL 12 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#13-06 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?* “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

APRIL 12  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13-06 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

103 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, I pray for forgiveness for not resolving the spirit of disunity that existed yesterday as we were on “service” for the kingdom. I cannot explain it sufficiently to put it into words but anytime I am aware of the “division” of the “Spirit” I know that something is not right and Lord my prayer is to be made aware of my “shortcomings” in my “service” to You, for with You there must be “unity” for the “Spirit” does not divide! Lord, I know that You have promised that if we are unified with the “Spirit” that we will be “One” with You and “One” with the Father — Lord help me identify the source of the division I felt yesterday, I desire for the kingdom’s sake to know if I was creating the situation with my “actions” or was I contributing to the division by my “reactions”, Lord, in either case, let me take full responsibility and “repent” as necessary to return to the “Divine Unity”!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

APRIL 12  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13-06 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34) Jesus is dealing with false accusations against His Ministry therefore when we read the 3 questions asked in JQ13 it is a priority that we ask ourselves: “Just how important is it that we make a “personal spiritual connection” with this series of questions: (1)JQ#13A: “How then will his kingdom stand?” (Matthew 12:26) ——— (2) JQ#13B: “And if I [Jesus] cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?” (Matthew 12:27) ——— and (3) JQ#13C: “Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?”. (Matthew 12:29) The importance of making a “spiritual” connection is at least as important as the subject matter  don’t you think?  In JQ#13A Jesus had just said that a divided kingdom will be brought to “desolation”, in JQ#13B Jesus calls out the “enemy” by name and says Satan is involved. However, even as powerful as Satan is, his power also is lessened because of “division” to such a point that Jesus asked: “How will [Satan’s] kingdom stand [if it is divided]?” (Matthew 12:26) and then in JQ#13C Jesus uses a “strong man” as an example and states that even a “strong man’s house” and all his “goods” …will be “plundered” (Matthew 12:29) Therefore Jesus is saying that division of the spirit (1) will cause a “kingdom” to be brought to “desolation”, (2) “Satan” himself cannot survive, and (3) Even a “strong man” will be “plundered”. That sounds pretty serious to me to think that from a “division of the spirit” that a “kingdom” can be “desolated”, “Satan” can be “destroyed”, and the “strong man’s house” can be “plundered” — keep in mind that all these words and descriptions of destruction were used when the Pharisees falsely accused Jesus of “casting out demons by Beelzebub…” (Matthew 12:24) Jesus could have ignored the Pharisees and their false accusation but Jesus did not and we must search the Questions Jesus asked to find “God’s Truth” that Jesus is trying to teach with such drastic examples! The fact that the Holy Spirit is directing us to ask ourselves if our “life is a plus or minus in God’s kingdom” is to get our attention that if we do not address the false accusations against the kingdom of God then there will be serious kingdom repercussions! Jesus follows JQ#13C with: “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” (Matthew 12:30) With that declaration, Jesus just made the issue “personal” and if we are trying to be a disciple of Jesus we will find it very difficult to “follow Jesus” if we do not “gather with [Him]”. Jesus is using some very serious terminology and pronounces some very severe “consequences” if we do not personally take a stand with Him (“He who is not with Me…”) ——— the world today is making all kinds of false accusations against God, His Son Jesus, and against The Kingdom so we must make the personal decision: “Are we with JESUS, or against Him?”

APRIL 11 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#13-05 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?* “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

APRIL 11  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13-05 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

102 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, Lord, my Savior, Praise, Glory, and Honor to the Son of God Most High. Jesus, my prayer today is that the Holy Spirit will totally consume me and overflow from my spirit so that all that will be seen in me is Thee! Today I pray for the total destruction of the old man as I share Your Story of Grace and Forgiveness by the “Way” I live my day-to-day life. Lord, I know that without Your Grace and Forgiveness that I would still be lost in “self” and drowning in my “sin”, grant it Lord that all the words I speak today will be Your Words, that all my desires will be towards “loving others” as You have commanded. Forgive me mine iniquities, let Your cleansing Light be all that remains in my life.   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

APRIL 11  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13-05 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34) Jesus Himself has always made His Lessons and Callings personal — we see Him calling out His disciples one by one and not only just calling them out individually but He called each one by name and made it clear to each one that they were to use their previous talents now to advance the kingdom of God and the way they were to learn “how” was the same command Jesus has given each individual that will heed the Voice of Jesus, “Come, follow Me.” (Matthew 4:19) In JQ#13a, b and c we must understand that Jesus is asking the Pharisees to look at themselves and see that their false accusations are damaging themselves more than they are damaging Jesus. Jesus starts explaining this to the Pharisees by pointing out to them that the “reality” of their accusation has the root motivation of “division” and that even in the strongest of kingdoms there must be “unity of spirit” or the kingdom itself will weaken and eventually crumble: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:25) . The fact that the Pharisees attributes the good works and miracles that Jesus had been performing was “by Beelzebub” points to the fact that “Satan” himself has been the motivating “spirit” directing the Pharisees to attack the good works of Jesus and  the Miracle Power of God — “Now when the Pharisees heard [Jesus was performing miracles and casting out demons] they said, ‘This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons.” Matthew 12:24)  If we look at what Jesus had been doing in terms of healing and casting out demons we must concede that the “physical” results of these miracles can only be accounted for by the “Spiritual” Power of God being exhibited through Jesus — for never before in all of history nor ever will it happen in the future that anyone has or will “cast out demons by Beelzebub”!!!  However, the Pharisees could not deny that miracles were being performed so they had to draw the multitude’s attention away from God’s Power and therefore the Parisees were given the “idea” from Satan himself to draw the focus of the miracles away from God and to give Satan the “credit” for this healing and casting out demons! The really big problem here can be seen as the ridiculous claim it really is — by saying that Jesus is “casting out demons” by the power of “Beelzebub”, the accusation itself reveals it as another fabrication by Satan to draw us away from the Truth of God! If Satan controls all the demons then why would Satan make himself look bad by putting demons into someone and then turning around and drawing them out again which would only put Satan at “cross purposes” with himself!?!?  Jesus points out that Satan would be fighting against himself and that would be self-destruction — but on the other hand, Jesus points out that by just the very mention of the name “Beelzebub” in their accusation that the Pharisees have exposed the source and supply of their false accusations and their true motivation which is to “divide and conquer” the followers of Jesus who is Teaching the Truth of God, doesn’t that sound exactly like what is happening in our world today? Jesus knew that this problem would plague all men just like the universal problem the world has with sin and self and if Satan can draw your attention away from God then he has divided God’s people! It is as true today as it was when Jesus first spoke it, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house [or church group or family] divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:25) That verse started with, “But Jesus knew their thoughts…” and the Lesson we must learn is that as soon as the name “Beelzebub” or “Satan” is mentioned we must look to find the false accusations that will be present against God — for the goal of Satan is “desolation” of God’s people!  Satan himself knows that “God so loved the world that He gave [the sin filled world] His only begotten Son [Jesus], that whosoever believes in [the acceptable Sacrifice on the cross for our sin by] Jesus that they shall not perish, but have everlasting life!” ( John 3:16) John 3:16 explains why Satan would attack and accuse Jesus — for it is Jesus that defeats Satan and frees all men from the slavery of sin and self! Satan has used the “separation-from-God” weapon against the children of God ever since Adam and Eve to “divide” and hurt all that seek to be the children of God! If we remain in our sin then we will perish and have to live our Eternity separated (or “divided”) from God, hence our “desolation” is Satan’s victory! Do you see now why Satan attacks the Truth of God and why Jesus is pointing this out with JQ#13? Jesus clearly points this out so that we will know that Satan always attacks God by attacking God’s people, and Satan’s favorite weapon of “desolation” is false accusations against God to get us to turn from God to ourselves where temptation and sin will consume us and separate us from God? If Jesus points out a “problem”, don’t you think a “solution” is quick to follow? Remember, “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed!” (John 8:36) Read on —

APRIL 10 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#13-04 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?* “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

APRIL 10  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13-04 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

101 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, each day is a new day in Your Grace, Lord I give You praise for Your Infinite Grace because of the great need in my life for it, what a glorious thought that both Your Compassion and Your Grace are without limits. Lord Jesus, give me the desire in my heart that I will live Your Grace daily and share it with others at every opportunity that souls in need of Your Great Compassion will come to rest in the Shelter of Your Grace. Forgive me when my flesh weakens, grant it Lord Jesus that my spirit will continue to abide in Your “Grace, Grace, Marvelous Grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within.”   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

APRIL 10  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13-04 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34) Jesus met head on the “legalist” that were constantly plotting and devising schemes in which they hoped to trap Jesus with the man-made laws that the Pharisees had memorized to the “letter”!  But these “legalists” were only interested in wielding the “power” that they had stolen from God’s law by enforcing on others the “letter” of the law instead of the “Spirit” of God’s Law.  Jesus spent a lot of His Ministry addressing this very issue for the problem then is the same problem we see today, man wants “power” and since there is only One True Power in the universe; therefore, men must “rob God” when they seek to use that “power” to gain control over others. The method that has proved most successful in “robbing God” is through the passing of laws that give the “lawmakers” false “authority” over others. The original intention of the Pharisees was to make sure that the Israelites were following God’s Law but there is a law of nature that exists which states: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This “power” to corrupt actually comes from God and can be demonstrated as follows: (1) All POWER is from God, no “power” exists in the universe that does not come from God (2) God gave man “Free Will” which is really nothing more than man exercising “responsibility” to use the “power” of “Free Will” to make choices that honor God. (3) God gave man “Free Will” which gives man the “Freedom” to “choose” but God reserves the right to determine the “Consequence” of our actions. (4) This determination of “Consequences”  is God’s Law and God’s Law will NEVER CHANGE therefore every generation and each individual have equal opportunity to exercise the “power” God bestows on each and every individual in the form of “Free Will” and every choice we make in life either honors God or it defiles God’s “Spirit”. Since the Pharisees were the perfect example of taking God’s Law and making it man’s interpretation of God’s Law,  Jesus time and time again confronted the “legalist” and demonstrated that the “Spirit” of the Law is the only True Power. The fact that Jesus is pointing us to this “Power of the Spirit” and that there is no “power” but that which comes from God can be seen in the next series of Questions Jesus asked the Pharisees when they accused Jesus of using “power” that originated with Satan!  Let us look at the accusation and then see how Jesus Teaches His accusers that there is “No Power aside from the Power of God!” The Pharisees had been following Jesus and their sole purpose was to trap Him with their manmade laws and discredit Jesus in front of the multitudes that were observing Jesus performing good works for the needy. The Pharisees had been watching Jesus do miracle after miracle and could find nothing to “accuse” Him of so they decided to “manufacture” a “problem”. Matthew recorded this effort of the Pharisees to find fault with all the good Jesus had been doing when Matthew writes: “Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, ‘This [Jesus] does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.’ But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them,…” (Matthew 12:24-25) and so that there was no doubt about the point Jesus was going to make, Jesus identified the author of the problem as “Satan”. (Matthew 12:26) Jesus knew that the Pharisees were addressing the “Power” issue and Jesus therefore is going to point us to the “Truth of God” that all “Power comes from God” and that not even Satan himself has any power but what power God allows him to have! Have you ever questioned this Truth of God yourself? Come on now and be honest, after all, Jesus knew the thoughts of the Pharisees and don’t you think He knows your thoughts as well?

APRIL 09 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#13-03 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?* “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

APRIL 09  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13-03 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

100 of 365 - Prayers to JESUS    

Jesus, Lord I pray back to You the words found in Your Holy Word that I may “be rooted and established in Your Love, and that I will be granted by the Holy Spirit the power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the Love of Christ, and to know that this Love of Christ surpasses all knowledge — I pray this that I might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19). Lord I also pray again the prayer I prayed on April 9, 2004 “…I pray daily that I would recognize that the ‘Cross is the Key’ to all Eternity and I praise God for His Perfect Plan of Salvation and I add to my praise that both God and Christ have been Faithful to His Master Plan of Salvation — daily I will pray for Your Resurrection in my life, daily I pray that You will search my heart and cleanse me of my iniquities that I may serve You better”.   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

APRIL 09  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#13-03 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34) Jesus has now moved to Teaching us another Divine Truth and He is drawing our focus to our personal “relationship” with God the Father — and Jesus encourages us to give serious consideration to our day-to-day lives and determine if we are making a “contribution” to God’s kingdom or are we so selfish still that all we can do is “take, take, take” as we whimper “gimme, gimme” as Jesus asks JQ#13.3 — “Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?” (Matthew 12:24-37)??? The Master Teacher of course has a Master Plan and as we have already learned through the first twelve Questions Jesus has asked, each Question builds upon the last and together they are  forming a stair-step knowledge that we may climb higher in the understanding of God’s Infinite Wisdom. This “precept upon precept” Teaching is very effective if when we come to gain understanding of one Question that we will ask ourselves in “Faith” — “Were will He lead us next?” I will be honest that when JQ#12 was revealed as “Who decides what is legal, God or man?” I thought that I may well spend Eternity trying to give an honest answer to that Question but then God spoke and the Holy Spirit asked “How much proof do you need to answer that Question for yourself?” — so I looked and indeed there was a mountain of “evidence” that I had not even began to dig into so the Question made good sense to me and I heard that “still small voice” tell me to decide for myself in my heart of hearts if I was going to let man or God declare what is legal? As soon as I delivered my verdict and declared a resounding affirmative that “God alone decides what is legal”  that the still “small voice said… ‘Then let’s move on’.” Going from so serious a question as all “Legality” in the universe for all “Eternity”, I thought that JQ#13 would be a less serious Question but no, there was an even more serious Question put in front of me to answer now, and it is also in front of you if you have been sitting under the shadow of the MASTER TEACHER  as He has asked these Questions that we may gain knowledge of the Father and His Kingdom. Jesus has been “living His Life as the Perfect Example” as in each Lesson we have been learning that not only will we “hear” the Lesson but we will also see Jesus “Living the Perfect Example” of each Lesson that He Teaches! As we look upon the “Perfect Example” of the “Divine-Do-As-I-Do”  Life Lived by Jesus placed in juxtaposition with the classic “Hypocritical-Do-As-I-Say” example set by the Pharisees, we begin to understand that Jesus is saying “Walk-the-Walk” and that our lives should be lived in the Light of the Understanding that His Lessons impart to us. So let’s “Move on” from “JQ#12 - Who decides what is ‘legal’, God or man?” to the equally (if not even more serious) JESUS Question JQ#13 — “Is your life a plus or minus in God’s kingdom?” We will try to answer the Questions and study the “Perfect Example” in this next section for JQ#13 which covers Matthew 12:22-45, unless of course you do not think it is really necessary to answer these JESUS Questions or to worry about what God thinks about us, after all, can’t we get to heaven on our own path just by being good (or do we also have to stop and ask, “Who decides what is ‘good’, God or man”?)