MARCH 10 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#08-07 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

MARCH 10  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08-07 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

Daily Prayer to JESUS    

Jesus, no other name is like the Name of Jesus, there is no name under heaven or on the earth that man can call on for Salvation but Jesus, there is none but You, Lord Jesus that loves us even though we are continually sinning against Your Holiness and yet instead of Your arms folded in rejection when we repent and return, You Lord Jesus, just like the Father welcoming the prodigal son, You run to greet us with open arms and You receive us unto Yourself as Your own. Lord Jesus, eternity will not be enough time to praise Your Holy Name!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

MARCH 10  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08-07 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4) Jesus not only Teaches “individual” and “personal” Lessons as He reveals the Truth of God with each Question, Jesus also Teaches us a “universal” Lesson with the “order” with which Jesus weaves the Truth of God contained within each Lesson/Question. This “universal” Lesson comes from not only “what” Jesus Taught but the “order” in which Jesus Teaches them. Yesterday the Holy Spirit turned my thoughts to looking at this “universal” Lesson already Taught by The JESUS Questions JQ#1-8 before moving on to JQ#09 and as I started to move on to JQ#09 today the Spirit has made it clear that He wants me to present the outline that has been formed by JQ#1 - JQ#8 in Matthew Chapters 1-9 before moving to the next JESUS Question. The Holy Spirit directed me to initiate “The JESUS Questions” daily project and directs my writing of these morning devotionals and He also guides me to keep notes in a separate folder which now has developed into an “Introduction Outline to Discipleship” which sets forth the mindset for being a “Follower of Christ” that builds upon itself step by step the “Spiritual” importance of placing our “Faith” in the only “One” who is “Worthy” of our “Faith”. Jesus begins proving He is “Worthy” and is called for the Purpose of doing the work of God. Matthew Chapter 5 records Jesus giving us His “Sermon on the Mount” in which Jesus listed in the “Beatitudes” (1) that to inherit the kingdom of heaven we must  enter through the “Spirit” and (2) that if we care for and comfort others that we ourselves will be cared for and comforted, (3) that strength to inherit the earth will come from our weakness, (4) to be filled with righteousness we should hunger for it, (5) to be merciful in order to gain mercy, (6) our ability to see God will come through our purity, (7) and if we strive to make peace we will be called sons of God!  Jesus concludes the “Beatitudes” with “not to worry” about the persecution on earth of our “Faith in God” because our righteousness will be rewarded in heaven. Jesus concludes with JQ#01 that those that “Follow Jesus” will be “salt and light” to the world.  JQ#02 Teaches us that Jesus did not come to destroy the Law of God but to fulfill the Law and then Jesus proceeds to instruct us how to “love others”, (both our enemies and our friends) as Jesus proclaims that “LOVE” is the Greatest Law. Jesus builds on these Lessons with a new command on how to be “salt and light” and how to “love others” which is an “imperative concept” to a Follower of Christ when we as a Followers of Christ  encounters opposition to our “Faith in God”.  When Jesus Teaches in JQ#03 “Not to worry” and then builds on the concept of “Do not worry” by Teaching us that to be successful in “not worrying” that we must practice what He Teaches in JQ#04 “Do not Judge”. Jesus then Teaches where to obtain the “Power of His Truth” as He tells us in JQ#05 that we are to “Ask-Seek-Knock” and we will “Find”. Jesus then calls us to “live” the principles He is Teaching and says that we will know if we are living by His Principles if we start “bearing the fruit of the spirit” as Taught in JQ#06. Jesus then makes it evident in JQ#07 that by going through these steps that we will be growing the basic elements of discipleship and that we must continually work to “build our faith”. We build our Faith in God by focusing on Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son who came to earth to reveal “our Father in heaven”! Jesus then starts instructing us in JQ#07 that there comes a point in our “faith” that we must “exercise” our “FAITH” by putting  “Action” to our “Belief” and at that point in our “Faith”, we as a Follower of Christ will “Arise & Walk” as Jesus details in JQ#8. Jesus concludes the “Introduction Outline to Discipleship” with this “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matthew 9:12-13) This command from Jesus to “go and learn” points us to what will be required of each individual once we commit to being “Followers of Christ” and for starters Jesus said to “learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’” —I see that I have have some studying to do because I know I am a sinner and that He has called me to “repentance” and has also commanded  “Follow Me”!

MARCH 09 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#08-06 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

MARCH 09  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08-06 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

Daily Prayer to JESUS    

Jesus, Lord there is a peace that the world just cannot offer, there is nothing in the world, not fortune nor fame, that can provide the Peace that comes from knowing You, for Your PEACE is PRICELESS. Lord Jesus, I praise You for knowing my heart and my thoughts for You — Your Lovingkindness knows just how to speak those well placed and perfectly timed Words of Grace just when we need them most and this morning as I awoke with a cloud on my spirit You spoke to me through the inspired verses Deb made for my desktop as I read this “personalized” verse: “You will have perfect peace if you keep focused on Me, Lanny.” (Isaiah 26:3)    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

MARCH 09  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08-06 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4) Jesus never Teaches just one Lesson so when we look at The JESUS Questions project we should keep in mind that all His Questions are Lessons from God that reveal the Truth of God and since it is the Son of God Himself doing the “Teaching” we should let the Holy Spirit illuminate our thinking as we study each Question; Jesus will always teach the “obvious” Lesson but there will always be a “personal” Lesson that God has for each person that studies His Word. Think of this “personal” Lesson like this: Imagine there are 7 people and they are standing in a circle and in the center of their circle is a box with writings on every side of the box. The box is holding an artifact that no one recognizes and the question is asked: “What is in the box?” There is only 1 box and 1 artifact but there are 7 different unique viewpoints to answer the 1 question. The “obvious” answer is that there is “something” in the box but when each one goes to describe the artifact from their unique viewpoint there will be seven different answers, some may have a prior “unique” experience in their past that will help them recognize what the artifact is or “is like” and others may read the writings on their side of the box, but there remains the Obvious Truth that there is a box and the box contains an artifact but to fully understand “purpose” and “meaning” each individual will have to examine not only the box and the artifact but each individual must also consider their “unique” position within the circle of other individuals surrounding the box and the artifact. Jesus IS the Son of God and knows what is in each individual’s heart and keep in mind that God placed every star in the universe in their place so why is it difficult to believe God has placed each one of us in our “unique” place in time to give us a “unique” viewpoint? With each Lesson/Question Jesus is able to Teach each individual the “obvious” Truth of God and at the same time Jesus can address a “personal” circumstance “unique” to each individual. Because of His Infinite Knowledge and Love for us, Jesus always gives us more than we expect, and as He opens our Spiritual Eyes we naturally see different aspects of His Divine Nature. As I examine the context surrounding each Question encountered so far in the Gospel of Matthew, an underlying pattern is emerging that demonstrates that Jesus is building our understanding of the Father by Teaching us “precept upon precept” and “line upon line”. He is also developing an “Outline” to living the Christian Life if we but follow His Example, the key verse for that concept emerged today as I was looking to conclude JQ#08 and move to JQ#09 when the Holy Spirit directed me to use Matthew 9:9-13 as the conclusion of JQ#08 and a summary of JQ#01-JQ#08. Let’s start with Matthew 9:9 where we stopped yesterday with Jesus calling Matthew, a tax collector, with these two words: “Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9) and it was noted that as soon as Jesus called Matthew that Matthew immediately responded: “So [Matthew] arose and followed Him. (Matthew 9:9) What started me on the “Summary” of JQ#1-8 was the opening line in Matthew 9:9 “As Jesus passed on from there…” and the opening line in Matthew 9:10 that reads “Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table [with] many tax collectors and sinners…” and these were tied together with the last line in Matthew 9:13 which Jesus Himself summarizes “why” he has been healing, demonstrating the Power of God, and forgiving sins when He clearly states: “For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matthew 9:13) A parallel verse is in John 1:17 “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Therefore the Spirit showed that in JQ#1-8 Jesus calls us personally to get involved in His Work which is to do the Father’s Will and we know from John 3:16 that Jesus is God’s Gift to those that BELIEVE in the work of Jesus. Belief in the Work of Jesus as a Gift of God results in “Eternal Life” and JQ#1-8 teach us that Jesus came to “heal” the “sick”, give “sight to the blind”, enable the “lame” to “walk with God”, and that Jesus came to call “sinners” to “repentance”. In these first 8 Jesus Questions Jesus clearly has presented His Gospel: each individual must personally recognize our need as sinners for a Savior, then we are to “believe” that Jesus is the Son of God and has the Power of God to “forgive us our sin”. The really Good News is found back in JQ#07 where we read: “ And behold , a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’ Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” (Matthew 8:2-3) And lastly once we have been “healed” we are to “Arise” and “follow” Him. In our modern church vernacular (1) We admit we are a sinner (2) We believe Jesus is the Savior and (3) We confess before men that we have decided to “Follow Jesus”. Have you made your personal decision to live your life for Christ who is “willing” to “cleanse” you of your sin and replace your sin with the Gift of Everlasting Life in the Presence of God Almighty?

MARCH 08 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#08-05 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

MARCH 08  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08-05 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

Daily Prayer to JESUS    

Jesus, Lord we know that because You are Risen that we can have confidence that our sins are Forgiven. Because You are Risen, we can Hope for our Eternal Fellowship with You and the Father immersed in the Eternal Light of the Holy Spirit!  Lord, forgive me when I get distracted by the world, for when I think I am in control, I quickly see that there is no “Power” in me — what “Power” that is in me is there because of the Marvelous Gift of Grace! Lord always keep Your Life-Death-Crucifixion-Burial & Resurrection before me for when my eyes are on You, I can’t see anything but You and the Living God!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

MARCH 08  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08-05 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#8 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4) Jesus healed the paralytic and there was a “multitude” that heard Jesus when He stated the Divine Truth that He had the “power on earth to forgive sins” (Matthew 9:6). It should be noted here that the “multitudes” and the “Scribes” all witnessed the same event but there were two different outcomes: (1) Those that believed Jesus , “marveled and glorified God” (Matthew 9:8) and (2) those that accused Jesus of “blasphemy” were exposed as having “evil in [their] hearts” (Matthew 9:4). This section also was full of examples of God’s Law of Choice and Consequence. One of God’s ways of involving our personal actions in His Work is the Gift of Free Will — God will reveal Himself and His Powers and He will make it clear what His Purpose and Intent towards us is, but He never forces us to choose Him! God wants us to be Free Agents so that we choose what we want to choose; however, He makes it perfectly clear that even though we are free to choose  our “actions” but God has already determined the “Consequence” of that “Choice”. The Truth of God that God never changes and the “Consequence” of our actions is as constant as the effects of gravity for they are the result of God’s Law which is never changing and fairly administered to all creation. It is God’s Laws and His Divine Power that keeps the stars on their course through His heavens and we are able to chart our course because of that same consistency of God’s Laws. God declared in the Garden of Eden that the “penalty for sin is death” but He also provided an “acceptable sacrifice” to cover Adam and Eve’s sin when God killed an animal (most likely a lamb without blemish) which He then presented to Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness. God has been consistent to punish sin with death (i.e. the Great Flood) and yet with each judgement God gives us a choice — God told Noah to get on the ark but God did not force Noah on the ark. God rewarded Noah’s choice by giving all who chose to follow God’s instructions with “life” and those that chose not to get on the ark with “death” thereby administering faithfully His Laws. I challenge you to read this Matthew 9:1-9 passage again and consider how God’s Law of Choice and Consequence was fairly applied to (1) the ones that brought the paralytics to Jesus (2) some of the scribes (3) the paralytic himself and (4) the multitudes that witnessed Jesus physically healing the paralytic. It is very interesting that Jesus said “Arise and walk” in verse 5, then again in verse 6 he says “Arise, take up your bed, and go…” then in verse 7 we read that the paralytic “arose and departed”. The Lesson is that Jesus wants us to get personally involved and exercise our Gift of Free Will to “act” upon our belief in God. Jesus then in verse 9 shows that His intent is for us to “Arise and go” when Jesus tells Matthew “Follow Me” and we read that Matthew “arose and followed Him.” (Matthew 1-9)  Who are you going to chose to follow — Jesus or the world of men?!?!?

MARCH 07 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#08-04 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

MARCH 07  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08-04 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

Daily Prayer to JESUS    

Jesus, Lord, Savior, the Prince of Peace, my Redeemer, what Joy it is to awake to a new day and to know that I will not have to face this world alone for You are with me. Lord forgive me of the many years I spent running to my sin which is nothing more than running away from You. Thank You Jesus for showing me that it is my sin that separates me from You and that it is the purity of our lives lived through Your strength that draws us nearer to You — I pray to always be moving towards the Savior that my Joy may be made full.    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

MARCH 07  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08-04 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4) Jesus addressed a very personal issue which is universal to mankind when He addressed “evil” in JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4) Our natural tendency is to suspect that the “evil” addressed by Jesus was directed at those that had chosen to follow man’s law instead of accepting the Truth of God. Indeed, Jesus had pointed out that God is not limited to what the Pharisees and their interpretation of what God “really meant to say” and by the Pharisee’s usurping the Power of God, their actions indeed are “evil”. God cannot be restricted in His Power and His Divine Sovereignty by anyone or anything so for the scribes to witness God’s Power being displayed through His Only Begotten Son in the healing of the paralytic, the Pharisees  should have reasoned that if only God can do the things that Jesus was doing, then Jesus must be God!!! Instead  “at once” the scribes passed judgement on Jesus based on the Pharisees laws and accused Jesus of blasphemy! Jesus knew what was in their hearts so He immediately asked the scribes who were blinded by the “legalism” of their day a second question, that if answered in the Spirit of Truth, would result in their faith being elevated to the point that their spiritual blindness would be healed and they would be able to see that Jesus was what He said He was, the Son of God sent to do the work of God. The second question Jesus asked the “evil” scribes immediately was JQ#8b, “For which is easier, to say ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say ‘Arise and walk’?” (Matthew 9:5) which Jesus knew could only be answered by saying that “Only God” could heal the paralytic and “Only God” can forgive sins so both are above the power of men and only possible through the Power of God!  Jesus didn’t leave them hanging as He  immediately told them the answer: “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” — then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” (Matthew 9:6) Just as Jesus pointed out that the “evil in their hearts” was the fruit of their unbelief in Him, He immediately gave them a visual to prove He was God as Jesus commanded the paralytic to “Arise”. We witness the fruit of the paralytic’s belief in Jesus because the paralytic “arose and departed to his house”! (Matthew 9:7) Jesus never leaves us hanging and He always makes it clear what answer we should give. The case of the scribes and the paralytic are no different. The scribes refused to see the Truth of God and therefore the “fruit of their faith in the doctrines of men” was “evil hearts” whereas the paralytic believed Jesus and the “fruit of his faith in God” was “healing”. Both the scribes and the paralytic heard Jesus but it was the paralytic that believed Jesus had the Power to Heal so he received healing and the scribes refused to acknowledge what they had witnessed so their hearts remained “evil”. It was the tradition of the Jews that it only took two witnesses and in this case there was a “multitude” of witnesses and the verdict of the multitude was that they “marveled and glorified God” — Jesus is indeed guilty — guilty of being the Son of God! Jesus gives us the Truth of God but it is up to us to “Arise and walk”!

MARCH 06 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#08-03 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

MARCH 06  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08-03 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

Daily Prayer to JESUS    

Jesus, all Praise, Glory, and Honor to the King of kings, who by His Great Sacrifice for all mankind has earned that Praise, Glory, and Honor from all mankind for there is no other name but the Name of the One that lived a Perfect Life before God the Father, even our Lord Jesus Christ! Only the Perfect Life of the Son of God was the Acceptable Sacrifice demanded by the Perfect Father and only through the Perfect Sacrifice of the Son of God can sinners be made Perfect before the Father. Lord Jesus, I BELIEVE, make me Perfectly Acceptable to God!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

MARCH 06  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08-03 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4) Jesus always Taught us the “Truth of God” and Jesus demonstrated the Power and Greatness of the Father both in His earthly life and His Divine Death, Burial, and Resurrection!  The world teaches mankind, “Do as we say, not as we do” but when Jesus came to reveal the TRUTH of the FATHER, Jesus Taught men, “Do as I do for I reveal the Truth of God but what a man does on his own is in opposition to God’s Truth.” JQ#08 is the first time in the gospels that Jesus directly challenged the “legal” authority that mankind had usurped from God. Some background here on the “scribes” is helpful: the scribes were used by the prophets and religious leaders of Israel to write down the words of God therefore, by their association with the Holy Scriptures, the scribes were considered very important in Israel.  The Pharisees used scribes to write down man’s interpretation of what the Pharisees “thought God meant” when He spoke His Word. This is very similar to the situation today in America where we have a “Constitution of the United States of America” that was written down by our founding fathers but now there is a “supreme court” where officials appointed by the ruling political party write “opinions” of what they think the “Constitution” and America’s founding fathers really meant to say?!?!? It should be understood also that “blasphemy” was defined during the time Jesus Himself walked the earth, as taking from God the Unique and Divine authority “to forgive sin”.  Nowhere in the Old Testament writings studied by the Pharisees contemporary with Jesus had the Pharisees given even the Messiah Himself the “right” to “forgive sin” so when Jesus spoke to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9:3) the Pharisees started quoting their interpretation of God’s Law (as the Pharisees had determined what God had “really meant to say”) {see paraphrase of Genesis 3:1 “Now the [Pharisee] was more cunning than any [religious leader in Israel] which the LORD God had [put in authority] and [the Pharisee] said [to Israel] ‘Has God indeed said…’ (Genesis 3:1)} — the Pharisees declared that Jesus, by “forgiving sin” had called Himself “God” because according to the Pharisees interpretation of the “law” in Holy Scripture and written “officially” by the scribes, only God Himself had the Authority to “forgive sins”. Do you not see that Jesus is confronting “legalism” here and in Truth Jesus is revealing that the ones that are condemning Him of “blasphemy” are really the guilty ones for usurping the authority of God from God’s Law and making man’s law the “law of the land” that the people must live by? When I read passages like these, the Holy Spirit stirs me to ask my contemporaries; “How is our modern laws on abortion which usurp the authority of God, any different from the law of the Pharisees which condemned our Lord Jesus Christ of “blasphemy and to death on a cross?”   If we as Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God who was sent by God Himself and promised by God that if we will believe that God sent His Son to us as a gift that we would not have to “perish but have everlasting life” — then how can we support a “man-made law”  made by the “opinion” of man that denies the unborn their right to receive God’s gift of life? An “aborted unborn” has “perished” and man’s legalism is responsible for taking God’s authority and Gift of Life away from the unborn, and the “legal” death of the “unborn” can be interpreted as nothing but modern day blasphemy by America’s lawmakers resulting in the taking away of the unborn’s God-given right to life!!! Jesus confronted the legalists of His day and the TRUTH is that not only did Jesus demonstrate the Power of God over the “physical” by healing the paralytic, He also healed the paralytic “spiritually” by “forgiving” his sins and the “verdict” of a “jury of the (paralytic’s) peers” was that “the multitudes saw [Jesus heal the paralytic and heard Jesus say that He could forgive sin], [and] they marveled and glorified God”. (Matthew 9:8)  Let TRUTH be our judge and jury as to the “Consequence” of our “belief” that Jesus is the Son of God! More importantly, let TRUTH guide the way we live our day-to-day lives and treat the unborn with all the dignity we demand for ourselves!  Being “unborn” does not give anyone the “legal authority” to deny the “unborn” their  “God-given” Right to  Life!!!

MARCH 05 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#08-02 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

MARCH 05  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08-02 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

Daily Prayer to JESUS    

Jesus, another new day, another “Son” rise in my heart, the air is fresh with Your Mercies and Your Grace and my soul sings a new song and all these wonderful things are the Fruit of Your Divine Love. Lord let us decrease in our selfishness and darkness and let Your Light shine through us into a dark world just as the rising sun shines forth to dispel the night, may our “Light of the Risen Lord” burst forth so that those in need will be showered in “Hope” that the new day will be filled with blessings from the “True Light” which gives “life” to men!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

MARCH 05  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08-02 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4) Jesus started us with JQ#08 on a very personal inward journey straight to the point of revealing that the source of a significant amount of the evil in our lives comes from “[thinking] evil in [our own] hearts” and just that quick Jesus lets us know that He is interested in every detail of our lives and Jesus doesn’t want us to be “hearers only of the Word” but He wishes to “transform” our view of the world through knowing the “Truth of God” about ourselves!   Yesterday we looked at how personal Jesus makes His Teachings as we looked at JESUS Question JQ#8 in Matthew 9:4 — and to answer His Question honestly we must first consider the Truth of God that He KNOWS that we have “evil” thoughts and they are not just in our “heads” but there is “evil” in our “hearts”!?!?! Here again we find that in order to find the complete “Truth of God” in His Teachings we must look at the “Big Picture” and as Sharon Anderson said when we started this journey through the JESUS Questions — “context is king!” Also, in the completeness of His teachings we must look at every aspect that Jesus touches so we must dig deeper into the scripture to find those “gems” of understanding that can always be found by “digging deeper”. One tool that is helpful in going deeper in God’s Word is using “The Law of Choice and Consequence”. From the beginning God has been very clear that He KNOWS everything we do, say, and think — and He is very clear that our “Choices” will result in “Consequences” that God had “predetermined” before the foundations of the earth. {See JQ#06 “You will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16)}  and God makes it very clear that our “actions” that are the “fruits” of our “Choices” and our actions will result in those predetermined “Consequences”. God has reserved the right to determine the results of our actions but He has also made it very clear that He allows “Free Will” and He will never interfere with our “Freedom of Choice”! One of the big problems with this modern philosophy of “tolerance” is that the world has decided that God doesn’t exist, therefore His Laws no longer apply, and the world has established a new set of laws, the real problem being of course, is that God is “the everlasting God” and has not had His Supreme Power lessened by man’s evil desires. Remember that God looked at the world in Noah’s time and “saw the the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” (Genesis 6:5-6) God brought a great flood upon the earth as the “Consequence” (a form of punishment) for the “intent of the thoughts of [our] hearts [being] evil” and only 8 people in the whole world survived — so when Jesus, who is the Son of God, asks us point blank: “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4) don’t you think that we should be very concerned that we have “grieved…[the Father’s] heart”!!! ———The Bible teaches us from Genesis to Revelation that God will always have Control and Power and will always KNOW THE INTENTS OF OUR HEARTS, therefore each generation is personally responsible for making the “Choice” that determines the “Consequence” of an individual’s eternity, and that “Choice of Eternity” is simple, (1) We “Choose” to Trust God and live according to His Law and we will inherit eternal life with the Father or (2) We “Choose” to make and live by our own laws and ignore God’s Law and live according to our selfish nature and we will inherit eternal separation from God. Let us look at the context of JQ#08 in terms of “Choice” and see if God is “consistent” in His “Consequences” as He has written them down in His Holy Bible for us to read and KNOW His Holy Word. In Matthew 9:2 we read, “…they brought [Choice] to [Jesus] a paralytic…And when Jesus saw their faith…” Jesus said to the paralytic “Son…your sins are forgiven [Consequence]”.  The Law of Choice and Consequence can be observed by looking at the actions of an individual and then seeing that our actions are simply the results of the “Choices” each person makes. It works well to make a list of who-did-what-actions from these JESUS Questions and then see the result of the “Choices” that made them take those actions. For deeper learning purposes read Matthew 9:1-4 and list the person, the choice/action each person made, and then write the result (Consequence) of their “Choice”, for example in Matthew 9:2 we read “they brought to Him” which means “they” “Choose” to take the paralytic to Jesus so in the “Who” Column write “They” then in the “Action/Choice Column” write “Brought to Jesus the paralytic” and in the “Result/Consequence Column” write “Jesus both healed the paralytic and forgave him of his sins because of their faith” . You have just dug deeper into the Word, what do you think the “Consequence” of that action will be?

MARCH 04 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#08-01 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

LIVING FOR JESUS --- Daily Devotional

MARCH 04  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08-01 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

Daily Prayer to JESUS    

Jesus, Thanks be to our Savior, our Redeemer, for without His Love we could not even love ourselves, without His Salvation, we could not save ourselves, and without the price He paid on Calvary we could not redeem ourselves. Lord Jesus we need You more than we know for without You we have no purpose, no reason, but with You we can “go” with confidence that You are the “Way” and the “Truth” and the “Life” and that we can “do all things through Christ who strengthens [us].” Lord I pray as I do each morning that Your Spirit will guide, lead, and direct me to the Narrow Gate.    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

MARCH 04  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08-01 >>> Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus <<< JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4) Jesus was asleep in a boat as the disciples panicked during the storm and when Jesus awoke He calmed the “wind and the waves” and His disciples “marveled” and wondered “Who can this be that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (Matthew 8:27) Next we read “When [Jesus] had come to the other side…” He encountered a storm of a different nature in the form of “two demon-possessed men, exceedingly fierce…” and Jesus did to this storm what He had done to the wind and the waves, He calmed them! It is interesting that even though the disciples who had seen Jesus doing the miracle healing and calming the storm at sea wondered “Who can this be” — however, the demons did not wonder “who” Jesus was for when they saw Jesus the demon possessed men “suddenly cried out saying, ‘What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God?’” (Matthew 8:29) The disciples had wondered “Who?” Jesus was after seeing Him healing, teaching, and controlling the wind and waves but the demon-possessed men called Jesus by name and called Him the “Son of God”. Not only did the demon-possessed men know who Jesus was, they knew His purpose in regard to their personal situation as they asked Jesus, “Have You come here to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29b) It is interesting to note that the demon-possessed men knew Jesus was the “Son of God” and that there was coming a “time” when there would be a “Judgement” and that their penalty would be “torment” at the hands of Jesus!?!? (Matthew 8:28-29) The disciples observed that the demons “begged” Jesus to let them “go away” which means that they knew Jesus had the power to free them so the disciples should have understood that Jesus controlled the wind and the waves which are “physical” elements and now they will observe that Jesus has control over the “spiritual” elements as He not only cast out the demons from the two men but then He allowed them to enter a herd of swine which is a combination of the “physical” and “spiritual” worlds. After that incident we read “So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city…” (Matthew 9:1) which begins the context for JQ#08a & JQ#08b. The fact that Jesus is in His own city is going to make this Question rather personal plus Jesus is introducing the most important personal event that will take place in our lives, and that is “forgiveness of sins”! Jesus introduces “forgiveness of sins” in His “own city” and He asks for our personal opinion by starting the Question/Lesson with “Why do you think…”. Jesus really gets personal when He bluntly says what we are thinking is “evil”.  (Matthew 9:4) Jesus proves that He will not pull any punches with the “Truth of God” as He points out that the “evil” is “in [our own] heart”! It doesn’t get any more personal than this, we are at “home” and Jesus knows what is in our “own hearts” and He calls us out on our “evil thoughts and desires”! Jesus is pointing out with JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your heart?” (Matthew 9:4) that He knows what we hold dearest to our hearts and He identified our selfishness as “evil” but the Good News is the context in which He meets us on such personal ground. We see that some friends had brought a paralytic laying on a bed to Jesus and “When Jesus saw “their faith”, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you.’” (Matthew 9:2) Sounds kind of personal doesn’t it? The message I get out of this Lesson is that even though our hearts are full of evil that if we will turn our attention away from our personal selfish desires and put our focus towards doing good for others that Jesus will honor our good intentions — it was the good intentions of some evil hearts that was the catalyst of Jesus introducing the “forgiveness of sins”!!!