JANUARY 28 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#01 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13)

JANUARY  28  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#01  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, what a joy it is to look back to the day that You first got my full attention and Your Holy Spirit first led me to write and to see the simple Divine Truth of God — we in our daily struggle with the world are in a constant state of change but Your Love is Eternal and Your Peace Everlasting— Your Holy Spirit reminded me today that as I awoke on that morning many years ago that the Spirit had led me write in my first Spiritual journal: “Jesus, Lord, my soul is joyful for Your Love is changing my life! I can see a good man at the end of the tunnel. Lord I will continue to pray for a repentant heart for that is the first step in my turning from the world and all its many lusts. Jesus, I pray again today many years later that I will abide completely in YOUR TRUTH. I accept my unworthiness as a a sinner and put my hope in Your Salvation through calling on Your Name, the Precious Name of JESUS! Lord, without the Cross and Your Shed Blood, my life would have no real meaning. I pray today to be immersed totally in Your Blood, I beg for Mercy for my many sins as only the God against Whom I have transgressed can Forgive my iniquities and cleanse my unrighteousness. Lord Jesus, today I praise You for You have answered my prayers and have led me through sin’s dark tunnel into the Light of Your Grace, I beg for Your continued Mercy on me a sinner.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS was shown to be the Messiah through circumstances beyond His control and now by His Teaching He is demonstrating that Jesus is both the Messiah and the Master Teacher. Jesus started His Teaching of the multitudes after He had allowed John to Baptize the Lamb of God in the Jordan River. John the Baptist had the attention of all Israel for he had been declaring the arrival of the Messiah and preaching in the wilderness, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2)  God declared from heaven when Jesus rose out of the baptismal waters, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) After Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan and a great multitude of witnesses heard God Speak from heaven giving His Approval to what Jesus was doing, we begin to read about the Lifestyle and Lessons that Jesus lived to establish beyond any reasonable doubt that JESUS IS the Son of God, God’s Anointed One, the Messiah! Matthew also documents that Jesus IS the Master Teacher and has the Authority of God because Jesus proved Himself to be the Master Student when the devil himself tempted Jesus immediately after Jesus had been fasting forty days and forty nights. Jesus used the Holy Scriptures to address the devil’s 3 temptations that is common to all mankind; lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. With each temptation the devil presented to Jesus, Jesus declared, “It is written…” (Matthew 4:4,7,10) Matthew records that after Jesus demonstrated His Master Knowledge of God’s written Word that “Then the devil left Him…” (Matthew 4:11) thereby establishing Jesus as the Master Student of God and God’s Holy Scriptures which are the best credentials for Jesus being the Master Teacher. After Jesus established His Credentials as the Messiah and the Master Teacher, Matthew records that “…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) By the time Jesus gave His “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5:3-12) His “fame” had already traveled throughout the land and people were coming from everywhere just to be in the presence of the Messiah for His “fame” was the result of the “Work of God”  that Jesus had be doing “among the people”. So when Jesus addresses the multitude that had heard Jesus Teach His “Sermon on the Mount” Lesson, they were convinced that Jesus was the Messiah and the Master Teacher because of His “Example” and the Lessons He had been Teaching God’s people on how to live their day-to-day lives. The fact that Jesus was not taking anything material from the people demonstrated that the Messiah had come to “Serve” the people for Jesus was preaching the same MESSAGE that had been preached by His forerunner John the Baptist, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) It is significant that after Jesus Taught the Divine Lessons in the “Sermon on the Mount” that JESUS immediately ASKED A QUESTION — which itself begs the question, “If Jesus is the Master Teacher why is He asking questions?” Secondly, “Why would Jesus in His first Question ask about salt?” As soon as these two questions are “honestly” asked, the Holy Spirit will give us an understanding that will lead to an “honest” answer if we will seek the Truth of God that Jesus is putting forth with His Question.  Jesus does not ask His Questions because of a lack of knowledge on His part, the Holy Spirit reveals to those who seek to give Jesus an “honest” answer that Jesus uses His Questions to focus our attention on the Truth of God and by giving Jesus an “honest” answer, we will be speaking a Truth of God!   — Therefore, let us consider: JQ#01  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13) and honestly answer the specific Question Jesus asked, “…if salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” — The “honest Spiritual” answer to JQ#01 is twofold: (1) First, salt gets its flavor from the Creator; there is nothing man can do to create the flavor of salt, the flavor of salt is proprietary with the Creator, and (2) the Question is rhetorical for Jesus immediately after asking the Question declares the Divine Truth that salt without flavor is “good for nothing”. The Holy Spirit leads us to this conclusion: Jesus says we “are salt” and we should always strive to attain to being like Jesus as stated in His Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-12. Sharon Anderson sent in these “honest” comments on the Beatitudes which will post today as a summary for the conclusion to JQ#01. On February 29, 2016 Sharon posted: “(1) Jesus teaches that those who are poor in spirit are deeply humble. They recognize their own spiritual bankruptcy before God . They accept there is nothing in and of themselves to commend them to God to merit salvation.  (2) Those who mourn have a godly sorrow over their sin…a sorrow that produces repentance leading to salvation without regret. They are genuinely sorry for sin as they know they have offended a holy God. (3) Gentleness (or meekness) is the opposite of being out of control. Meekness is supreme self control that must be empowered by the Holy Spirit. (4) Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness seek God’s righteousness (through Jesus Christ) rather than attempting to establish a righteousness of their own. They have a deep craving to please God that produces a desire with all their entire being to live and walk the way God instructs us. (5) The merciful person is a person who exemplifies God’s characteristic of mercy…God is Mercy. (6) Purity of heart is a purity of thoughts, purity of actions, purity of desires and motivations, a purity of proper reasoning based on Scripture and God’s ways. This requires continual examination of our lives and a continuous going before God in confession seeking cleansing.” So the next time you see a salt shaker let it remind you that you are “the salt of the earth” and we should continuously strive to be the Christian flavor to a tasteless world.