NOVEMBER 23 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

NOVEMBER 23  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord and my Redeemer, what is man (?), and certainly, what am I (?) that the Son of God would suffer and die the cruelest death, and to offer Himself as the Passover Lamb to deliver the undeserving?!?! Lord, I plead as did the thief on the cross: “Lord, remember me [now that] You [have] come into Your kingdom!” (Luke 23:42)    AMEN

NOVEMBER 23  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus  has just made His Crucifixion personal with this Question He asked as He was in the Garden of Gethsemane after eating the Passover with His disciples. Judas has left the group to betray Jesus to the chief priests, Peter has sworn to die defending Jesus, and the other 10 disciples had followed Jesus to the Garden and Jesus has told them to “Sit here…” while He went to pray but Jesus left them with a serious command: “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” (Matthew 26:38) So the disciples knew this was a critical time and yet they fell victim to the world because it was late and they were tired so even though Jesus had just commanded them to “watch with Me” that they fell asleep and Matthew records: “Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping…” (Matthew 26:40) It is at this point that we all find ourselves guilty of not watching and we know we are guilty as we answer Jesus when He asks us as He catches us sleeping instead of “watching” with Him — “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40) —It was after Jesus asked this direct personal Question that Jesus then made it clear that we were putting our souls in danger when He said immediately: “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41) Jesus never asks a Question, and especially when He has made the Question a personal one, without leaving us with a Truth of God that if we apply it to our daily lives we will be blessed. Jesus does not leave anything to “interpretation” because He makes it simple and plain, or as Pastor Steve says, “Put the cookies on the bottom shelf so everyone can get to them!”  Jesus simply commanded us to “Watch and pray…” which is within everyone’s capabilities and Jesus gave us some helpful incentives because if we “Watch and pray…” as He commands us then the problem of us falling victim to the “flesh” and entering into the “temptation” of the world will be averted. The Lesson we should learn is that God intends for mankind to “enter into His labors with Him” and to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. God could have made us robots without the ability to “fall into temptation” but instead God gave us freewill and commands us to “Watch and pray” with Him and it is through “obedience” to His Word that our weak flesh will be strengthened and we will have the strength to pull others from the pit. Jesus confirms the importance of being “obedient” to the Father: “Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.’” (Matthew 26:42) This passage makes me think about the song “Trust And Obey” and Jesus makes it clear that “there is no other way” — so when we think about the Garden of Gethsemane we should think of it as another “Great Commission” — “Watch and Pray”!!!  

NOVEMBER 22 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

NOVEMBER 22  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS -Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord when I stop and realize what You gave in terms of Yourself for the good of others, I am ashamed at what little I have done for the eternal security of even my own family. Lord, forgive me of the sin of omission and may I from this day forward look for each opportunity  that You will place in my life that through serving those in need that I will be serving You. Lord You gave Yourself without conditions that we may inherit the kingdom — an inheritance that You paid so high a price for but gave freely, Lord let me die to the old sinful self and serve others as You served, not for my benefit, but for the Glory of God!   AMEN

NOVEMBER 22  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has just shared the Passover with His disciples and made it clear that this Passover would be His Last Passover until He partakes of the Passover “with [them] in My Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29) which is a very powerful statement to the disciples for Jesus has been talking about His Imminent Death as the Passover Lamb! Jesus and His disciples rose from the Passover Meal and have now entered into the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus told them, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” (Matthew 26:36) Matthew then writes: “And [Jesus] took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.” (Matthew 26:37) Peter had just sworn his allegiance to Jesus up to and including his own death so when Peter hears Jesus saying He was going to “pray” and then observes that Jesus is “sorrowful and deeply distressed” and knowing that Jesus has announced His Imminent Death it is understandable that Peter would have been concerned — but when Jesus said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me” (Matthew 26:38) that you would certainly think Peter would be on guard!? But  alas, “[Jesus] went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39) In quick succession Jesus has announced His Death, Burial, Resurrection, made it clear that He would meet them in “My Father’s kingdom”, Jesus had at His Last Passover Supper demonstrated His body would be broken and His blood shed for the “remission of sin”, left the Upper Room Passover and entered into Gethsemane where He began to “pray”, and in Gethsemane Jesus became “deeply distressed” and “exceedingly sorrowful” and then “fell on His face” and Jesus cried out, “O My Father…” which should serve as the Perfect Example of how we should face both life and death by Trusting God The Father! Jesus KNOWS that He will be RESURRECTED but the fact that He is asking His Father to “let this cup pass from Me” is an indicator that JESUS KNOWS that there is going to be great pain involved on the cross! Nowhere else in Scripture does it state that Jesus is “deeply distressed” nor “exceedingly sorrowful” or that He requests His Father to change His situation so we can be certain that Jesus was making the Ultimate Sacrifice! Jesus knew that His Father would allow the great weight of ALL SIN to be put on His Shoulders and the Father has made it clear from the Garden of Eden that the penalty for sin is death!  Here in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus knows that He must feel the pain of death for EVERY SIN ever committed in the Past, the Present, and all Future Sin!!! If Jesus is going to Sacrifice His Innocent Life for ALL SIN then He would have to suffer the Penalty for ALL SIN and Jesus knows that at some point that the Father would have to abandon His Only Begotten Son for God the Father cannot look on sin and it is my belief that Jesus is distressed because He has NEVER BEFORE been left ALONE by HIS FATHER — but for the FATHER to be FAIR AND JUST, JESUS MUST SUFFER DEATH ALONE AND SHED HIS BLOOD or the SACRIFICE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTABLE! That is the Supreme Responsibility Jesus was about to face and He was both “distressed” and “sorrowful” on a scale we cannot imagine but it tells this TRUTH OF GOD — ONLY THROUGH JESUS IS THE REMISSION OF SIN POSSIBLE!!! It is a small wonder that Jesus is concerned and commanded His disciples to “watch with Me” and I can hear the disappointment in His voice when the disciples went to sleep on Him and Jesus asked,  “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40). Surely each of us that reads the Scriptures knows the Sacrifice was Supreme and those that do not read the Scriptures know that sin is a very serious issue in every life so when we become aware that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that His Purpose was to be our Savior then we should accept the challenge to “pray and watch with [Jesus] one hour” or do you find yourself as I do keeping company with the disciples and Peter and we are sleeping on our “watch”?!?!?!

NOVEMBER 21 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

NOVEMBER 21  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, JESUS, JESUS, I come today with a broken spirit for the thought that I entertained yesterday! I realized that I was grieving the Holy Spirit with that thought I let form in my mind for the Holy Spirit convicted me and I immediately begged for forgiveness. I have again grieved the Holy Spirit for I have not trusted in the Promise that if I will repent that God is Faithful and will forgive and it is my lack of faith again entering into my thoughts that separate me from fellowship with God. I know how my spirit has been depressed since I knew I was having an unclean thought because I can feel that separation and it hurts me deep in my soul — Lord, again I pray for a “clean heart” and a “renewed spirit” for I desire Your fellowship and beg for forgiveness of letting my spirit drift away — and I know it is my fault because You have promised to “never leave nor forsake me” — Praise God!!!  AMEN

NOVEMBER 21  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has announced His Death, Burial, and Resurrection and has eaten the Passover with His disciples and demonstrated with the bread and the wine that His body will be broken and His blood will be required of Him as part of the “new covenant” and Jesus stated clearly the Divine Purpose was “for the remission of sin” (Matthew 25:31-26:32). Jesus has up to this point been explaining and showing by example what His Divine Responsibility is in God’s Plan of Salvation and starting with Matthew 26 verse 33 Jesus will Teach us another Truth of God about ourselves as Jesus responds to Peter’s promise that he would “never be made to stumble” (Matthew 26:33) Peter was the first to declare that Jesus was Christ the Son of the Living God, Peter has walked on water, Peter was present at the Transfiguration and saw Jesus with Moses and Elijah, and when many disciples of Jesus was leaving and going back to the world that when Jesus asked the twelve if they too were going to leave, it was Peter that said there was nowhere else to go because only Jesus had the “words of eternal life!” All these scriptural credentials should be sufficient for us to have confidence that Peter would indeed never “stumble” so it at first shocked me when Jesus replied to Peter, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” (Matthew 26:34) Matthew then records: “Peter said to Him, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!’ And so said all the disciples.” (Matthew 26:35) Jesus is leading up to His next Teaching Question which in light of the context of the Passover, the Betrayal, and the Imminent Suffering at the hands of those Jesus came to Save. When Jesus announces that even Peter will “deny” Him then asks His next Question after His Last Passover Supper as He and His disciples enter Gethsemane, we should know that Jesus is personally calling each individual to look at our lives which we claim to be living for Him and answer His very personal Question:  “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40) We should understand that Peter was not being attacked by Jesus nor was Peter possessed by an evil thought from Satan like we ascribe to Judas who betrayed Jesus to the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver. Peter knew Jesus was the Son of the Living God and Peter believed in his heart that he would not stumble so why does Jesus call Peter out personally? Here is a Truth of God  the world does not want us to hear but Jesus Teaches in a dramatic fashion. But , we have to see Peter through the eyes of a Gracious and Merciful God and not a callous and condemning world view because Jesus is using Peter to say that all the world’s (and Peter’s) righteousness is but “filthy rags” and “all sin and fall short of the Glory of God”!    Even so,  Jesus is Teaching that there is “nothing to hard for God” and God will prove Himself ———“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)  The Lesson Jesus is Teaching “all” then is that there is no sin that we can commit that if we confess it to God that God has Promised “all” that He will be Faithful to “forgive us our sins” and “cleanse us from all unrighteousness” and as part of the context surrounding Jesus is telling Peter {paraphrased} “Yes Peter, even you will deny me, and not just once but three times but remember that I have come to be the Passover Lamb and my death on the cross is for the remission of sin, all sin, including this night when you will deny Me even after promising Me your loyalty — I will forgive you when you confess your love for Me AFTER I am RESURRECTED!” Jesus has invested His earthly life to Teaching about the Father and the Power and Glory of God and how God Promises to use that Power and Glory to rectify the problem of sin in our individual lives! The Lesson is simple: “We will sin, but God will forgive if we but repent and confess!”

NOVEMBER 20 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

NOVEMBER 20  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, each morning my spirit looks to Your Spirit for the renewing of Your Mercies and for my “daily bread” that will nourish both my soul and my physical body. Lord You  were obedient to the Father unto death as You suffered and died for my iniquities in order that my sins would be forgiven and through Your Righteousness and through the Remission of Sin I might have Fellowship with the Father — and the Really Good News is that “IT IS FINISHED” and there is NOTHING LEFT FOR GOD TO DO — and to receive God’s Free Pardon from sin and Your Perfect Peace, all that we need to do is to Believe “IT IS FINISHED” and accept “YOUR GIFT OF GRACE” — so I pray as did the disciples that you would daily grow my FAITH and help me with my unbelief. Lord You are Sovereign and I believe that “all things are possible with God”!!!   AMEN

NOVEMBER 20  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus had just sat down at the Passover Table in the upper room and Jesus opened the Passover Meal with an announcement that one of the disciples eating this Passover Meal would “betray” Him. (Matthew 26:21b) This statement of imminent betrayal got the disciples attention and it should get our attention as well for Jesus is the Master Teacher and is demonstrating that His Purpose is to educate the world of God’s Plan of Salvation and with both by His Life and soon, very soon His Death, Jesus will reveal the importance of  Living a Sinless Life up to His Death on the Cross to completing God’s Plan that was in place “before the foundation of the world”!!! As the murmurs of His disciples died down as they had each asked “Is it I” that “Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.” (Matthew 26:26) This was the institution of the Lord’s Supper or Communion which is still observed today but even still today after being observed for over 2000 years we still miss the total significance of what Jesus meant when He said, “Take, eat…” in reference to the Passover Bread He offered to the disciples as Jesus “broke” the bread which He explained as He had done with His Parables  that the “bread” was symbolic of His Body which Scripture records that Jesus broke the bread with His own hands and then Jesus “gave it to the disciples” (Matthew 26:26) We miss that Jesus voluntarily “broke” the “bread” and “gave it” freely to those that had chosen to share the Passover with Him. Jesus then did the same with the Passover Cup as Jesus clearly commanded His disciples, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sin.” (Matthew 26:27-28) Jesus could not have Taught a better Lesson than calling our attention to our “sin of betrayal” of which we are all guilty and then Jesus demonstrated God’s Solution to the sin problem by Jesus Himself having “His Body Broken” and “His Blood Shed” for the “remission of sin”!!! In the continuity of God’s Master Plan, Jesus and the disciples ate the Passover Meal and went out to the Mount of Olives and again to get the disciples attention and to focus them on the important issue, Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night…” (Matthew 26:31) but as with all Lessons Jesus Teaches, He never leaves us hanging as to what He “Means” for immediately Jesus referred to Scriptures and explained “the Shepherd” would be killed and the “sheep scattered” but as part of God’s Plan that once the “Shepherd” is killed that God will “resurrect” the “Shepherd” and Jesus has made it perfectly clear that He is the “Good Shepherd” and that He has Supreme Confidence that He “MUST DIE” and that He “WILL BE RAISED THE THIRD DAY”!!! Once again God demonstrates that everything is part of God’s Plan of Salvation and everything is “Under His Control” — up to and including death!!!  

NOVEMBER 19 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

NOVEMBER 19  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord as I start another day in Your Word I praise you for being Obedient to the Father and for willingly facing death on the cross for my sake, for shedding Your Precious Blood for the remission of my sin ——— You ARE the Son of God and lived the Perfect Sinless Life but exchanged that Divine Perfection for my pardon!?! Lord Jesus teach me to be a willing servant of the Most High God and to be a good steward of the blessings that He pours out daily along with the greatest of blessing of life — GRACE. Lord I deserve death for my many iniquities and shortcomings so as I start this day I give Thanks for Grace with one breath and plead for Mercy with the next!   AMEN

NOVEMBER 19  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has made His Purpose clear with His announcement that He was to “be delivered up to be crucified” and when next He was anointed with oil, He explained the oil was for “My burial”!  It should have been clear to the disciples that Jesus was to be the Passover Lamb and fulfill the prophecies of the Messiah but they were blinded by the world as each generation is blinded by the deceitful world in which we live. Matthew records that Judas Iscariot had conspired with the chief priests to betray Jesus and “from that time [Judas] sought opportunity to betray Him.” (Matthew 26:17) None of His disciples had yet understood that Jesus was to be the Passover Lamb even though Jesus had plainly told them He was to die in Jerusalem at the Passover. Jesus however was being obedient to God’s Plan and He continued to Teach His disciples by living the perfect example. “Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, ‘Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?’” (Matthew 26:17) Jesus continues Teaching as He instructs His disciples on the preparation of His Last Passover and He tells them to “go to a certain man” and tell the man, “The Teacher says, ‘My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples’” (Matthew 26:18) So again Jesus is telling His disciples that the Event that Jesus became flesh for was about to occur and Jesus makes it clear that it is the Passover that is His Purpose. The “disciples did as Jesus had directed them” and as Jesus sat down with the twelve and began eating the Passover that Jesus again made a statement that the disciples and Judas Iscariot especially should have understood that Jesus was saying that He knew everything that was going to happen when Jesus made this statement while sitting at His Last Passover Supper with His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” (Matthew 26:21) Jesus demonstrates with this statement that He has knowledge of the future events for He listed this sequence of Divine Events when Jesus said (1) that He will be delivered up by the chief priests, (2) that He would be crucified, (3) that He would be buried, and now He is revealing (4) that it is one of His own disciples that is going to betray Him. Instead of marveling at the fact that Jesus knows everything that is going to happen and give God the Glory for using His Only Begotten Son for the Plan of Salvation, the disciples did exactly what we all do in our worldly selfishness as they each asked, “Lord, is it I?” (Matthew 26:22) and Jesus answered as He always answered by referring to the Scriptures as He answered His disciples, “The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to the man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.” (Matthew 26:24) Jesus is being sacrificed on the cross because it is the Father’s Plan of Salvation and not because of one man’s betrayal of the Truth of Jesus nor is Jesus being crucified because Satan had convinced Judas to sell his soul for 30 pieces of silver! Jesus demonstrates by His every action that GOD HAS A PLAN and that SALVATION WILL COME THROUGH THE SACRIFICE OF THE LAMB THAT GOD HIMSELF HAS PROVIDED!!! Every action of the world is the other side of that coin in that everything that the world has done to persecute Jesus has all contributed to the completion of GOD’S PLAN even though they had acted “unintentionally” and with evil intent! The world gives Satan much more credit than deserved and we fail to see in our daily lives that we are guilty of betraying Jesus in our own way because we do not see God’s Plan in our lives — Jesus expressed the importance of believing in God’s Plan as He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement, but has passed from death into life.” (John 5:24) Therefore as we study the events that unfold at this Historic Passover, let us PRAISE GOD that He has provided GRACE for a lost and dying world and each generation “betrays” God’s Only Begotten Son but receives MERCY instead of JUDGEMENT because we believe that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) 

NOVEMBER 18 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

NOVEMBER 18  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Blessed be the Name of Jesus, Name above all names, Lord of all lords, the Prince of Peace, the Son in whom the Father is well pleased and who the Father admonishes us: “Listen to Him”!!! Jesus, Jesus, Jesus … my Lord and my Salvation, may all that I do be a Glory to You and Honor Your Great Name, the only Name which can be called upon by a sinner for salvation and the only Name to bestow Mercy and Grace on the humble and contrite heart that repents and seeks the Peace that can only be found by following Your Ways and entering the Narrow Gate!   AMEN

NOVEMBER 18  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus announced that “…the Son of Man will be delivered up…” (Matthew 26:2) then is anointed with “…fragrant oil…for [His] burial…(Matthew 26:12) then Matthew documents how Jesus was betrayed: “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?’ And they counted out to [Judas] thirty pieces of silver.” (Matthew 12:14-15) There is a Deep Lesson on the Sovereignty of God in these two verses that is a very revealing insight to both God and mankind! This Deep Insight in Matthew 12:14-15 is always overlooked as is the same insight found in Job 1:8 and Job 2:3 in which God initiates a conversation with Satan. “Then the LORD said to Satan…” (Job 1:8) and again, “Then the LORD said to Satan…” (Job 2:3) and our first worldly question is “What is God doing talking to the devil?” When we read the passage in Matthew 12:14-15 — we give the devil credit again as our worldly misguided wisdom tells us that Judas Iscariot is possessed by the devil and it is the devil making Judas betray Jesus!  The Deep Truth of God in both these passages is simply that GOD IS IN CONTROL!!! In the book of Job we tend to look at the suffering of Job and in the passage in Matthew where Judas accepts 30 pieces of silver we focus on the suffering of Jesus on the cross because of the “betrayal” but in both instances we miss the Sovereignty of God and we never consider that the Suffering of Job and the Betrayal of Jesus was Planned by God “before the foundation of the earth” (see Revelation 13:8 and 1 Peter 1:20) with the Ultimate Purpose found in John 3:16. Satan was approached by God and asked to consider Job and through Job’s suffering we see that there was nothing Satan could do to Job that God could not make good in Job’s life and we see in the Crucifixion that there is nothing the world can do to the living that God cannot turn into His Glory as Satan took his best shot and convinced the world to crucify the very Son of God!!!  Yet though Jesus was betrayed by His own, beaten beyond recognition, crucified, dead and buried, the Power of God and His Supreme Sovereignty over Life and Death was demonstrated on the Third Day when God Resurrected His Only Begotten Son in victory over the best that Satan and the evil world could come up with!!! God has ALWAYS HAD A PLAN FOR THE GOOD OF MAN and Satan is powerless ——— the TRUTH OF GOD is that Satan cannot do anything without God’s approval!  Satan cannot thwart God’s Plan of Salvation because the devil knew that he was totally defeated when he heard Jesus cry from the cross “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which Matthew translates as “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46) Can you imagine Satan at Golgotha first giving high fives to his demons when God’s Son, hanging on the cross, shedding His last drop of blood was asking from that cross why the Father had forsaken His Only Begotten Son?!?! That scene of the jubilation of Satan is what the world makes us see, as we see the suffering of Job at the hand of Satan, and as we see Christ dying a cruel death because Satan made Judas betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver ——— BUT GOD HAS A PLAN ——— and when one looks at GOD’S PLAN through the eyes of GOD’S GRACE and is not blinded by the lies of Satan and the deception of worldly desires we can see that God is in CONTROL and that everything is GOING ACCORDING TO GOD’S PLAN!!! I can imagine that Satan was in the midst of a high fives when God let Satan see the TRUTH that God had planned for Judas to betray Jesus who was INNOCENT and that JESUS WOULD SHED HIS INNOCENT BLOOD AS AN ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE FOR THE REMISSION OF SIN and now that God had gone so far as to abandon Jesus on the cross to accomplish HIS PLAN OF SALVATION that Satan knew that JESUS WAS THE VICTOR AND NOT THE VICTIM!!! God had already demonstrated the POWER of LIFE OVER DEATH and at that moment Satan KNEW that what Jesus had stated on several occasions leading up to the cross would become a reality and in only THREE DAYS God would RESURRECT HIS SON from the GRAVE AND DEATH_——— AND IT WAS ALL PLANNED!!! “What about you — do you believe God is that powerful?” 

NOVEMBER 17 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

NOVEMBER 17  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, my Savior, the One who died for my sin and clothed me in His Righteousness that even though I am guilty and vile, by Your Precious Blood I am washed clean of my iniquities and stand blameless before the Father. Lord Jesus, why You would choose to suffer on that cruel cross for a worm such as I is beyond my mortal comprehension but then Your ways are higher than my ways and Your thoughts higher than my thoughts for which I am grateful that You have promised to never leave me nor forsake me — I pray to be centered in Your Will and always in Your Word, forgive me for my daily shortcomings and keep me safe and secure on the Rock!    AMEN

NOVEMBER 17  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus now has two days left before He must endure the cross as the Passover Lamb and having just announced that He will be “delivered up” by the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders “to be crucified” at the Passover,  Jesus is now giving other signs that His Death and Burial is imminent as Matthew records in his Gospel that “…when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table.” (Matthew 26:6-7) There is in this passage about a woman coming to Jesus a Lesson for our modern day society if we study the reactions of those that observed the woman pouring the oil on His head. Matthew records, “But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant…” (Matthew 26:8) !!! If we look at our modern society today we can see that “indignation” is the reaction of those that have supported taking God out of our government against those that are calling for our society to return to honoring God; for never in the history of this great nation of America has Jesus and His followers been so persecuted and our laws so blatantly anti-God! When I observe those that are so adamant about removing God entirely from our schools and government, their calling for the “separation of church and state”, and their attitude toward those that would dare oppose them, their attitude can only be described as “indignant”!!! Jesus corrected those that opposed the woman and her actions toward Him as He explained her motive: “For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial.” (Matthew 26:12) So just after Jesus tells His followers that He “will be delivered up to be crucified” He then goes to Bethany and is there anointed with “fragrant oil for [His] burial” and yet it seems like His disciples have “ears that cannot hear and eyes that cannot see” and that is exactly the same case as our modern society having the record of His Death, Burial, and Resurrection but we still refuse to see the Truth that God has given the world His Only Begotten Son as an Acceptable Sacrifice for the Remission of Sin as we blindly refuse to step into the Light from the darkness of this world in which we are told by our “chief priests, scribes, and elders” {collectively the modern American government} that Jesus deserves to be “crucified” and removed from our society altogether!!! The series of events that take place in these next two days before Jesus submits His Innocence to the cross for the sins of the guilty, is of eternal consequence so let us study carefully each event so that we can understand that Jesus has died on the Cross and defeated Death and the Grave for us sinners and we can better understand His next Spiritual Question, “What! Could you not watch with Me for one hour?” (Matthew 26:40) Personally this scripture tells me to “WAKE UP” and join Jesus in praying for our lost and dying world that is blinded by the darkness of sin and evil!!!