Layman's Pulpit

JUNE 27  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#21  “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Glory to the Only Begotten Son that became sin for the world that through one death all could be saved! Only by living a Perfect Life could One die for all, for as great as the sins of the world is, that is how Greater Still was the Life of the Only Begotten Son! Praise God for life and Free Will, praise the Son for eternal life to live freely forever and praise to the Holy Spirit for teaching and comforting us when life in the flesh makes us fall short of God’s purpose and we try to resolve it by selling our freedom to sin!?!?! Lord Jesus, I bow myself to Your Magnificence and lean on the Holy Spirit for a Greater Understanding!!!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus never misses even one of the smallest of details in our “spiritual” education and JQ#21 seems like one of those “lite” Questions that we can answer pretty easily but then we have to consider the “Source” and then we will come to the logical conclusion that there are no “free passes” to answers nor “insignificant” Questions forthcoming from the Master Teacher that gave up His Divinity and Glory in Heaven to become flesh, suffer and die, and sacrifice His Holy Self for sinners!!! No, you can bet that if Jesus asks a Question that He has a very good  Lesson in store for everyone that will take the Question seriously and give Jesus an honest answer. If we will follow the progression of Jesus Questions and think about how Jesus asks one Question to lead into the next we will gain an understanding that will take the serious disciple “deeper still” into the knowledge of “the Good, Good Father” that Loves us and sent His Son to die for us that we may have fellowship with Almighty God Himself, and the Jesus Questions, each and every one, gives us another glimpse of the Glory of God and how to live our daily lives looking forward to the day that we stand before God and give an account of what we did with the Lessons that the Only Begotten Son imparted to us while living His Life on earth.  Jesus started this new section of our “spiritual vs. physical awareness” with JQ#18 when He asked “Who do you say I am?” and then JQ#19 Jesus asked “For what profit is it to man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Once Jesus gets us to thinking it is important to think about Him, He gives us “incentive” to think seriously when He tells us that if we don’t take Him seriously that we are in danger of losing our “own soul” when we stand before God and have to offer something in “exchange” for the soul that we have sold to the world while trying to seek “profit and physical things”! Then Jesus really ups the ante by telling us to face the Truth with JQ#20 as He rebukes us and calls us a “faithless and perverse generation” and makes us consider the reality that His “Physical” Time with us is limited and we should consider that the Master Teacher Himself is the One asking “how long shall I be with you and how long shall I bear with you?” which should make us buckle down and get the Lessons as He presents them. Then as we decide to get down to business, Jesus asks His next Jesus Question JQ#21 that is Divinely Designed to make us put our “thinking caps” on when He asks simply: “What do you think, Simon?” (Matthew 17:25) Just like every other Question Jesus has asked He makes it clear that each Question is “personal” as He is teaching that by “thinking” about His Question and then giving an “honest and truthful” answer that we will be developing a “personal” understanding of and a relationship with the “Good, Good Father” and this is illustrated by Jesus directing the Question at a unique individual and calling that individual by name, as in this case Jesus asked Simon Peter to give a response directly to Jesus Himself on certain matters — Jesus is calling each of us by name and in this next section is asking us to consider for the good of our “own souls” to “Think” about the topics Jesus covers from Matthew 17:24 through Matthew 18:35 — don’t get distracted by what seems absurd at first like “fish and taxes” but just remember that if the Master Teacher asks the Question, it deserves a serious answer and we must make every effort to avoid the “physical” trap the world sets and look for the “Spiritual Truth” that awaits everyone that keeps their personal focus on Jesus!!!