JANUARY 11 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-11: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

JANUARY  11  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-11: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

JLIVING FOR JESUS   Daily Prayer    

JESUS, my prayer for the new year is to daily be totally dependent on Your Mercy and Grace to lead me where You will. Lord, I pray that in regard to worldly influences is that I may have the discernment to see past the world and the deceit of this world to Your Truth and to Trust Your Holy Spirit to take whatever worldly circumstance that I find myself in and use it to witness to Your Great Love — for there is nothing or no one that cannot benefit from Grace which You have provided so abundantly. Keep our hearts and eyes open to those times when we can take the circumstances of the world and use them to witness to your Glory.      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has already in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew fulfilled more prophecies than any one single person before Him and certainly Jesus has fulfilled more prophecies than anyone that has lived after Him. The Birth, Life, Death by Crucifixion, Burial in a “borrowed” Tomb, and His Glorious Resurrection on the Third Day are predictions fulfilled by Jesus. The fulfilling of specific prophecies of the Messiah by Jesus have been documented by so many independent sources and written down and confirmed in the presence of so many eyewitnesses that there will NEVER be anyone but JESUS that can have the facts of His Life be the PROOF that He is the SON OF GOD. Some obvious supporting facts surrounding Jesus fulfilling the Messianic Prophecies come from the world of mathematics but are not always considered as “proof” (there will always be skeptics). Mathematics became involved because the “claims” that Jesus fulfilled so many prophecies got the attention of the scientific community and several well known mathematicians were asked to apply the science of “probability” to the scriptures. As a result of applying the science of probability to prophecy, the numbers generated from this investigation and sophisticated mathematical calculations produced such outrageous numbers that the numbers were rechecked and recalculated by dozens of sources! One such case resulted in  a conclusion written by the professor emeritus of science at Westmont College in Santa Barbara who had previously served as chairman of the mathematics and astronomy departments at Pasadena City College.  Professor Peter Stoner had done a probability study on 11 general prophecies coming true and wrote that “the probability of these 11 prophecies coming true, if written in human wisdom, is…1 in 5.76 x 10⁵⁹ Needless to say, this is a number beyond the realm of possibility.” Professor Stoner used the following to illustrate the unbelievable number of 1 x 10¹⁷ of one person “accidentally fulfilling” only 8 Messianic prophecies: “Imagine filling the State of Texas knee deep in silver dollars. Include in this huge number one silver dollar with a black check mark on it. Then, turn a blindfolded person loose in this sea of silver dollars. The odds the the first coin he would pick up would be the one with the black check mark are the same as 8 prophecies being fulfilled accidentally in the life of Jesus.” {{See internet article: “Applying the Science of Probability to the Scriptures — Do Statistics Prove the Bible’s Supernatural Origin?” By Dr. David Reagan on the website http://christinprophecy.org}} If we look at just the “odds” from a numerical standpoint of one man “accidentally” fulfilling more than 8 prophecies as being impossible then what is the phrase that would have to be invented for a second person to fulfill more prophecies than the first person?!?!? The “odds” that one man could fulfill ALL the Messianic prophecies are so beyond our comprehension that many find it hard to believe it to be humanly possible and choose to believe that all of this “prophecy” stuff and “the Jesus story” is a “fairy tale” — which is still one of the main arguments put forth by skeptics against Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit today and this argument prevents many people from believing! On the other side of the coin others write: “The bottom line is that the fulfillment of Bible prophecy in the life of Jesus proves conclusively that He truly was God in the flesh. It also proves that the Bible is supernatural in origin.”  Many “unbelievers” are the very ones that deny that Jesus is the Son of God and that God Himself exists, yet they refuse to accept as “evidence” the “eyewitness” accounts such as each of the individual Gospels. If we accept simple things that must be true of the Messiah like the Messiah is a Jewish male born to a virgin in Judea and that He would have to be “sacrificed” to make atonement for the sins of His people and not just any “sacrifice” but a unique death-by-crucifixion at the hands of a foreign government then when we look at the simple facts of eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus who was a Jewish male born in Bethlehem to a virgin and we have records of Jesus Himself starting His ministry by teaching “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” then eyes must be opened to the TRUTH!  Matthew, being an educated Jew met Jesus and then learned everything he could about Jesus and would eventually write the Gospel that would be an eyewitness account to the fulfilling of Jewish prophecy by Jesus. Matthew being a studied and educated Jew himself recognized the significance of the simple facts of the life of Jesus and wrote the Gospel that documented his findings. I can just imagine what Matthew felt like when he started following Jesus and hearing reports from the other apostles about the parents of Jesus and when Matthew traced the genealogy of Jesus back to King David, Matthew knew that there was something special about this first born Jewish male that could trace His genealogy back to King David! But can you imagine how Matthew felt when he learned that the mother of Jesus accounts the details of  how her firstborn son Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirt and that she was a “virgin” when she gave birth to Jesus! Then Mary and Joseph both told of the visit from Gabriel and Gabriel telling them to “call Him Jesus for He will save the people from their sins”!  I can also imagine that Matthew started taking notes and studying the prophecies of the MESSIAH even more seriously because already Jesus had fulfilled the three most basic but difficult prophecies concerning the MESSIAH — for no one can choose where they are born nor whom their parents are much less who the parents of the parents are — secondly there is the “virgin birth” prophecy which no one can choose that their mother be a “virgin” and give birth!  Those ARE IMPOSSIBLE things for man, but that makes the HOLY SCRIPTURE valid when it clearly states, “with man it is impossible but with God, all things are possible.” I am sure that Matthew started writing furiously when he heard Mary and Joseph tell the account of the “virgin birth” and I am sure that God fully intended for Matthew to be the one to write the Gospel and document this “impossibility” of Jesus — for the TRUTH is that indeed it is “impossible” for man to fulfill prophecy, only GOD can fulfill prophecy and only the Son of God could be “virgin born”!!! The first four chapters of Matthew then documents through eyewitness accounts all the simple facts of the Life of Jesus that points to the Divine Truth that Jesus is the Son of God!!!    

JANUARY 10 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-10: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

JANUARY  10  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-10: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, as we enter the new year we realize that the “Good News” is that we have another year and our complete future in which we can spend our lives in Your Presence each and every day! With Great Hope and Expectation we can look forward to a year with the KING of kings and LORD of lords! If it be Your Will for us, I pray that You grant Your servants the Grace and Mercy of another year that we will get to spend with the One that is Worthy and has given us this Divine Advice and Promise: “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5) and as God Promised His people through Moses as they were being delivered by the Mighty Hand of God from their bondage in Egypt and were about to face unknown enemies on their way to the “Promised Land”: “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of [your enemies]; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes before you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6) I can’t think of a better way to begin a new year than to know that it is God Himself that is going before us and His Divine Promise will lead us safely through!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has been introduced by St. Matthew in his Gospel of Christ Jesus in such a manner that Jesus is first revealed as the Messiah by (1) <<Matthew 1:1-17>> “the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ” (Matthew 1:1) and this genealogy also establishes Jesus to be “the Son of David” and “the Son of Abraham” thereby fulfilling the minimum requirement for the long awaited and highly anticipated Messiah, who in Jewish eschatology is a future Jewish king from the Davidic line. It is interesting to note that in addition to Jesus being the “Son of Abraham” in this genealogy given by Matthew that in the ancestry of Jesus the line of Abraham extends back in Jewish history through Shem who was the son of Noah. The Holy Scriptures record: “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” (Genesis 8-10) The fact that the Holy Scriptures includes Noah in the line of the Messiah is paramount to understanding the “Purpose” of the Messiah and God’s “Intent” in sending Jesus to earth to be born at that particular time into this particular family. A monumental clue exists here in the introduction and genealogy of Noah, that the Holy Scriptures record of the time of Noah: “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” (Genesis 6:11) Everyone even vaguely familiar with the Bible can tell you the story of the flood and of Noah’s ark and how God made it rain 40 days and 40 nights but not many can quote what God spoke directly to Noah as to the reason Noah was to build the ark for God: “So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.’” (Genesis 6:12-13) Remember Matthew is writing to Israel and all Israel had been reading the Book of Moses for generations upon generations and they would have understood from reading Matthew’s genealogy that Jesus had in His ancestry King David, Abraham, and Noah thereby linking Jesus directly to men whom God had called out individually to lead the nation Israel in a Divine Way!!! These individual men in the same family line can also trace their ancestry back to the first man that God created with His Own Hands and became a “human being” when God used His Own Breath to Breathe Life into, Adam — thereby making Jesus the “Son of Man” as well as being the “Son of God”. The Hebrew word for “begot” that is found in all genealogy in the Holy Scriptures does not just mean “only” in reference to being the “son of” but is best rendered as “became an ancestor of” thereby the Biblical word for “son” is the equivalent of our English word “descendant” so by tracing the genealogy of Jesus through King David and Abraham, Matthew also demonstrates that not only is Jesus from the family line God has chosen to raise up leaders for Israel but Matthew also through the genealogy of Jesus demonstrates that Jesus is of the line that God announced would bring forth the Messiah and is also the family that can trace its lineage back to Adam, making Jesus eligible to be the Messiah, the Son of God AND the Son of Man! The continuing genealogy of Matthew also reveals Jesus is the Messiah by (2) <<Matthew 1:18-25>> His “virgin birth” as prophetically written over 700 years before by the prophet Isaiah “Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 11:1,Isaiah 7:14, & Numbers 24:7,8a,16-17a) (3) <<Matthew 2:1 - 2:23>> Prophecies fulfilled by Herod about the Messiah’s birth being in “Bethlehem” - the city of David  (Isaiah 40:3, Jeremiah 31:15, Hosea 11:1, & Micah 5:2) and finally (4) <<Mathew 3:1-17>> The testimony of John the Baptist the “forerunner of the Messiah” who was preaching “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand…” (Matthew 3:2) and was baptizing in the Jordan all those that went out to him in the wilderness to hear his message of “Repentance” and “were baptized by him in the Jordan confessing their sins…” (Matthew 3:6) and when John saw Jesus he proclaimed that Jesus was the One that John had been sent by the Holy Spirit to “prepare the way of the Lord”. (Matthew 3:3) John also said when he saw Jesus coming to him in the Jordan, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) and finally  (5) Jesus is proven to be the Messiah by the way He Lived and what He Taught others as the Holy Scriptures record in <<Matthew 4:1 - Matthew 28:20>> that Jesus is the Messiah by virtue of His Lifestyle, the Lessons and Parables Jesus Taught, and with His Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection which when taken altogether “is sufficient evidence” that Jesus IS THE MESSIAH, GOD’s ANOINTED, GOD’s ONLY BEGOTTEN SON”!  Therefore, we find in the Gospel of Matthew enough evidence and eyewitness testimonies to prove in any modern court, that Jesus IS the “rightful Heir to His Father’s Kingdom” ——— but it is as true today as it was when Jesus walked the earth that each of us must view the “evidence” through the filter of our personal “FAITH” and provide the final “verdict” for ourselves with an honest answer for the single most important Question you will ever be asked ——— for one day you will stand in His Presence and Jesus will ask you face-to-face  — “But who do you say that I am.” (Mark 8:29)  

JANUARY 09 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-09: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

JANUARY  09   THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-09: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord and Savior, You are worthy, You alone are to be praised above all names. Lord, our lives simply have no meaning outside Your Salvation, No Hope without Your Cross and Sacrifice, and no Life outside Your Death and only through Your Resurrection can we have Eternal Joy and live forever in Heaven itself! Outside of Your Mighty Deeds the world only offers despair, death, darkness, and no hope of life. Lord Jesus, I pray to always be “In Christ” for outside of Christ there is no “LIGHT” and only “In Christ” will we ever find “True Rest” — Lord Christ Jesus, I dedicate myself to Your service, make me wholly Thine, shape me, mold me, and use me as You Will. Let my life be Yours that I will always remain “In Christ”!!!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has in His Genealogy some very interesting TRUTHS listed that point to both Him being the Messiah and what His “Inheritance” as the Messiah might include! Therefore, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ” (Matthew 1:1) can be used to shine a “Light” on the “Purpose” of the Messiah and also reveal the Divine Character of the God that sent Him to be born of a “virgin” and live a perfect life in order that He might die as “the Lamb of God”. The following comments are taken from two independent sources — the first is a sermon given by Brian Walls on the Genealogy of Jesus Christ taken from Matthew 1:17 presented on 12/28/16 and the second source is an internet article titled “The Origins of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1-25)” written by Robert L. Deffingbaugh (Copyright 2003 by Community Bible Chapel, Richardson, TX) in which some very interesting information is presented from this Genealogy of Jesus Christ as given by St. Matthew in his efforts to present to the Jewish Community that Jesus IS the Messiah. In the sermon given by Brian Walls, he points out that in the genealogy given by Matthew that in normal Jewish genealogy the inclusion of women was very rare and the inclusion of Gentiles was even less likely to appear in a good Jewish genealogy but the very fact that by Matthew including these women (and them being “gentiles” as well) points to the “TRUTHFULNESS” of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. We must also consider these thoughts from the internet article by Robert Deffingbaugh, who starts his comments on the genealogy of Jesus Christ found in Matthew with a quote from the “Apostle to the Gentiles”, the Apostle Paul — “16 Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.” (2nd Timothy 3:16-17) As we look at the “inspiration” being from “God” for this genealogy given by St. Matthew then we must trust that God had a “purpose” for the inclusion of these women and not only their inclusion but the “TRUTH” of their lives which God Himself thought was important enough to be included in the Genealogy of His Anointed! I quote Robert Deffingbaugh as he observed about the inclusion in the Genealogy of Jesus Christ of these less-than-reputable women: “One purpose of the first genealogy, then, is to dramatically underscore the truthfulness of God’s Word.” And as Brian Walls pointed out in his sermon, “if you are writing a resume then you usually don’t included such dubious characters in your list of references” for we as fallen creatures succumb to the temptation of burying those shady parts of our pasts because they do not shed a “good light” on our reputation — so for God to make sure these additions are not only included but their “problems” were actually highlighted such as “David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.” (Matthew 1:6) Pastor Walls emphasis is that Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus Christ God reveals the “TRUTH” that David the king was guilty of both adultery and murder, thereby making Jesus a Son of David (who was guilty of murder and adultery) and a Son of Abraham thereby meeting the minimum requirements of the Jewish Messiah. That St. Matthew would include these “revealing facts” listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Robert Deffingbaugh states that these less than flattering facts “dramatically underscore the truthfulness of God’s Word”. Deffingbaugh points out the heart of God in a quote from Fredrick Bruner comments on Matthew’s inclusion of these “revealing facts” that: “One gets the impression that Matthew poured over his Old Testament records until he could find the most questionable ancestors of Jesus available in order, in turn, to insert them into his record and so, it seems, to preach the gospel — the gospel, that is, that God can overcome and forgive sin, and can use soiled but repentant persons for His great  purpose in history.”  So when we read the Genealogy of Jesus Christ in God’s Holy Word we must trust that there is always a reason and purpose behind everything that  God includes in HIS WORD and they are there for our benefit! Therefore we should let HIS WORD teach us that truly “God so [loves] the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son [Jesus] that whosoever believes in [the Messiah and His Word] shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Simple-Direct-Truthful and this “TRUTH”   can only be found “In Christ”!!!

JANUARY 08 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-08: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

JANUARY  08   THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-08: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS we thank You for Your daily Presence in our lives as we see You revealed by Your Holy Word and Your Holy Spirit. Lord I pray that in my life that I will know that You are always there! If I fail to recognize You, then it is my own flesh that is blinding me and I pray the Spirit will remind me that it is my fault that I can’t see You! I further pray that Your Spirit be Resurrected in us and illuminate our darkness with YOUR PRESENCE AND YOUR LIGHT! Lord, our daily walk is our “now” and “now” is the “time” when we can experience GRACE — but only if we decrease and You are allowed to increase in us can we behold the Messiah! Forgive me of my daily shortcomings and my failure to see You working in my life — even so, come now Lord Jesus!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus was revealed as the Messiah by circumstances beyond His control but though they were not controlled by Jesus Himself, (events such as His “virgin” Birth or who His earthly parents would be), these events were obviously circumstances coming about as part of God’s Master Plan that Jesus had no control over but was the Will of God! Up to the point where Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan river, the Messiah was validated by many witnesses to be Jesus, the son of Mary and Joseph of Nazareth, but now Jesus, with His statement: “for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15) will begin His Public Ministry. His Public Ministry and the way Jesus lived His Personal Life in the flesh was a “witness” to the TRUTH that JESUS IS THE MESSIAH !  Everything that Jesus ever did or will ever do, He publicly proclaimed that He does ALL at the direction of His Heavenly Father. Before beginning the actual JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#1-JQ#33 (that also reveal and witness to Jesus being the Messiah) let us look at one more detail of Matthew’s introduction of Jesus. The genealogy of Jesus  is also a separate witness to Jesus being the Messiah and what His “Mission” and “Purpose” was in being born in the flesh, at this particular time, in this particular place, to these particular parents. Matthew starts his Gospel of Jesus Christ with “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ” (Matthew 1:1) and within this “genealogy of Jesus Christ” is a further “witness” to God’s Master Plan and to Jesus being the Messiah — Jewish tradition from the very beginning placed great importance on the “lineage” or family line perpetuated by the first born Jewish male and one of the main reasons that “lineage” is so important in the Jewish community is that the lineage determined (and still does) their “tribal inheritance” based upon the fact that it was at God’s directions that each Jewish tribe had initially received a particular piece of land. For any person to inherit land in a particular area assigned to a specific tribe, that person had to produce evidence that he was from that tribe — and that “evidence” of inheritance was his “birth” into a “tribe” which came through the Jewish family genealogy — hence the term “birthright”. The genealogy of Jesus therefore will determine His Inheritance and a close look at the genealogy of Jesus Christ reveals some very important “signs” or “evidence” of some miraculous claims by Jesus as they relate to the “Purpose and Life” of the Messiah which was revealed by Jesus being born “the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1) Now is a good time to revisit the “book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ” as listed in Matthew 1:1-17 and ask yourself about the importance that your personal “spiritual” lineage has in “inheriting” what has been set aside for you in “the kingdom of heaven”??? This investigation of your personal “spiritual inheritance” can really best be understood by reading what Jesus told Nicodemus in John Chapter 3 verses 1-21 which includes these statements that address your spiritual inheritance (1) “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) and (2) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes on Him shall not perish but [inherit] everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Therefore, by reading the “promise” of God for your inheritance you must ask yourself “Have I received Him and claimed my right to become [a child] of God” by “believing on the [Name and Person] of Jesus?” (See John 1:12-13) The Bible starts with 4 words that you must get past to be able to understand the rest of the Bible and those 4 words are “In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1) and this genealogy set forth in Matthew dealing with the lineage of Jesus Christ is another of those “faith/factual” Divine Declarations in God’s Holy Word that we have to accept to be able to understand the mind of God and the “faith/fact” that the genealogy of Jesus declares that Jesus is a Jew, born into a Jewish family. The Life of Jesus was that of an Israelite and Jesus called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the endearing term “Abba Father”! We should keep in mind that “God did not send His Son [Jesus] into the world to condemn the world, but that through [His only begotten Son] the world might be saved!” (John 3:17) The consequence of our God-given Freewill “Choice” to “NOT believe in Jesus as the Son of God” is declared in the next verse: “…he who believes in [Jesus as the Son of God] is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18) The Bible only makes sense if you believe that “In the beginning” it was “God” that chose to create the world and that after creating the world and seeing mankind’s rebellion against Him and His Creation that God would also choose to save the world through His “only begotten Son, JESUS” whom God had announced as “The Chosen One, God’s Anointed” through Jewish prophets hundreds of years before His Virgin Birth, in addition Old Testament prophets declared that the Messiah would be born of a “virgin” and in the line of King David from the family of Judah and this “Virgin-born Savior” would be called “IMMANUEL — God with us”!   God created all life and has the only right to declare “IF” and “HOW”  He intends to provide for our “SALVATION”!!!  We, on the other hand, only have the right to be THANKFUL that God even bothered with a mankind that continues to reject Him and His Love for us!!!   ———  Go figure!?!?!?

JANUARY 07 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-07: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

JANUARY  07  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-07: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS   Daily  Prayer    

JESUS, praise the Name of the Only Begotten Son of the Living God. Lord Jesus, I write the Name “JESUS” and I marvel at both the “Name” and its “Meaning” but it is hard for our minds to actually understand the “fact” that Jesus IS the Son of the Living God! The other fact that is difficult to “wrap our finite mortal mind around” is that the “Living God” who Loved the world with a Love that cannot be comprehended by mortal man would remain TRUE to HIS INFINITELY DIVINE CHARACTER and PROVIDE for our SALVATION as explained by Abraham to Isaac, “God will provide for Himself the Lamb…”  (Genesis 22:8)!  Man who is flesh cannot conceive that the Living God who is SPIRIT would allow His Only Begotten (Divine) Son to be born of a (mortal) “virgin”, live a perfect life in the FLESH and then as part of God’s Master Plan for mankind, the Omnipotent would offer His ONLY BEGOTTEN Son as the Atonement for the sins of the world?!?! Why would a God that has unlimited Power and has absolutely ZERO need of mankind Sacrifice so much of Himself in order that the same mankind that has rejected and denied Him would have a pathway to FORGIVENESS of our iniquities against God — surely this is the “MYSTERY OF GOD” that is to be revealed when He RETURNS to “Bring Home” those that have “received” Him! Praise God for His Master Plan!!!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus was known as the Messiah by all those that had been blessed by the angel’s declaration: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11) and those that had traveled to Bethlehem and had seen with their own eyes the Christ Child laying in a manger. Jesus was next revealed as the Messiah to a man named Simeon in Jerusalem for (as per Jewish tradition) “after eight days were completed” it was customary for Jewish families to take newborn males to the temple for circumcision. “Now when the days of her [Mary the mother of Jesus] purification according to the law of Moses were completed, [Mary and Joseph brought their Child named Jesus who was born in a manger in Bethlehem] to Jerusalem to present Him to the LORD…And behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” (Luke 2:22-26) Simeon being an official in the temple at Jerusalem and very familiar with the “Consolation of Israel” (which was a common name for the Messiah used by the Jews) that when Mary and Joseph presented Jesus to Simeon, Simeon was aware that he was holding in his arms the “LORD’s Christ”! Simeon said when “he took [Jesus] up in his arms and blessed God… ‘LORD, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.” (Luke 2:27-32) John the Baptist was among the few that had been informed by the angel of God or by the Holy Spirit Himself that the Messiah had arrived but unlike those that had beheld the Child in Bethlehem, or Simeon who had held the Messiah in his arms at the circumcision ceremony in the temple in Jerusalem {{side thought: Simeon most likely circumcised Jesus knowing it was God’s Son that he was circumcising!!!!!!!!Selah}}, John, the foretold “forerunner” of the Messiah, had not yet seen the Messiah but John had been proclaiming about the Messiah, “…He who is coming after me is mightier than I…[the Messiah] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11). John the Baptist had been proclaiming that the “kingdom of heaven is at hand” but John had not actually seen the Messiah in the FLESH; however, when Jesus came to John to be baptized in the Jordan, it was at that very “moment” when John first saw the Messiah with his own eyes that the Holy Spirit revealed to John that this Man approaching him in the Jordan was the Messiah in the flesh!!!  John felt unworthy and tried to prevent Jesus from being baptized by him (see Matthew 3:14) but through that Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan, Jesus publicly revealed Himself and John as Messianic Prophecies being publicly fulfilled in the presence of many eyewitnesses! Prior to Jesus being baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist, Jesus had been revealed as the Messiah by a host of other witnesses and by circumstances beyond His control — but clearly all His prior circumstances are themselves a witness to the fact that God has a Master Plan and that Jesus IS the “Anointed One”! Now here at the Jordan, prophecy was simultaneously being fulfilled in the sight of a multitude of “eyewitnesses” that left no doubt that John was the “forerunner” of the Messiah and that this Jesus whom John had just baptized in the Jordan was the long-awaited Messiah! These prophecies were not fulfilled by Jesus simply proclaiming Himself to be the Messiah but the prophecies were fulfilled by documented factual circumstances surrounding His Birth and by a multitude of witnesses that proclaimed they had seen the Messiah with their own eyes! But here at the Jordan, Jesus begins His Ministry as the Messiah by declaring to John in the presence of those many witnesses: “Jesus … said to [John], “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15)  “Now” also is a good time for “us” to consider the great cloud of witnesses before us that included individual “eyewitness accounts” of having seen the Messiah — we ourselves should “Now” listen to Jesus and take His advice to “us” for “now” is the time for “us” to be led by the “Spirit” into His Presence and to listen when Jesus, by the Holy Spirit encourages “us” to: “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15) Remember — Today is the Day of Salvation and only through Salvation can we “fulfill all righteousness”!!! Are you like Simeon looking expectantly to see the Messiah??? Remember Jesus promised “Seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened”!!! (Matthew 7:7) 

JANUARY 06 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-06: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

JANUARY  06  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-06: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS   Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord, LORD, El Elyon, Creator, Prince of Peace, Glory, Honor and Praise to the Lamb of God, Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Born of a virgin, You are the WORD and You became flesh and dwelt among us, yet You Lord Jesus Christ were without sin, living a Perfect Life in Obedience to the Will of the Father, becoming the Perfect Sacrifice for ALL sin so that Your Righteousness could be imparted to mankind as the Atonement for our transgressions, and through the Shed Blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary, that Repentant sinners could through the Forgiveness of our iniquities by our Heavenly Father, enter into Eternal Fellowship with Almighty God! Praise be the Matchless Name of JESUS CHRIST!!!       AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus always lived a Lifestyle every minute in a manner such that with any inspection, from any viewpoint, the New Testament ALWAYS reveals that JESUS was OBEDIENT to HIS FATHER! The Questions, Lessons and Parables that Jesus used to Teach the TRUTH OF GOD our Father are always presented in the Gospels in a way such that the reader will Gain Understanding of the TRUTH OF GOD — all we have to do to understand TRUTH is to observe how Jesus lived His own Life in the flesh through the SPIRIT OF GOD! The Scofield Bible introduces the Gospel written by St. Matthew as follows: “The first of the four Gospels was written by Matthew, also called Levi, who was an Apostle of Jesus and this Gospel  by Matthew was originally written for the Jews and presents Christ as the Son of David and the Son of Abraham. Because He is portrayed as King, His genealogy is traced to King David. Only in Matthew does Christ speak of ‘the throne of His glory’. In this Gospel according to Matthew, Jerusalem is referred to as ‘the Holy City’ and ‘the city of the great King’…since Matthew is the Gospel of the King, it is also the Gospel of the ‘kingdom’  and in this Gospel written by Matthew, the word ‘kingdom’ appears more than fifty times and the expression ‘the kingdom of heaven’ which is found nowhere else in the New Testament, appears about thirty times.” {{See The Scofield Study Bible, New King James version. Copyright ** 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. pg.1299}} It is safe to say that the main theme in this Gospel according to Matthew is that Jesus Christ IS the King! Matthew does an excellent job of documenting the Life and Teachings of Jesus in a manner that clearly demonstrates that only Jesus Christ by His Birth, Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection fulfills all the prophecies written about the Messiah and the “Soon Coming King”. This introduction of The Jesus Questions JQ#1 thru JQ#33 is to alert the reader that every Step Jesus Took and every Lesson that Jesus Taught was to illuminate the WAY and guide the reader to the “Truth of God His Father” and to “the kingdom of heaven” where Jesus Christ will Rule as King for all Eternity! Matthew begins his Gospel with: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1) and with the first three chapters, Matthew sets the stage for the Ministry and the Teachings of Jesus Christ. Matthew then at the end of Chapter 3 quotes Jesus for the first time in the Gospel, “But Jesus answered and said to [John the Baptist], ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’” (Matthew 3:15) Matthew, in Chapter 1, lists the Genealogy of Jesus starting with “Abraham begot Isaac …and Jesse begot David the king…and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.” (Matthew 1:1-17) Thus Matthew in the Jewish tradition lists the genealogy of Jesus through the husband and declares the birth mother. Also in Jewish tradition, the Jewish genealogy uses the “first born male” to perpetuate the “Family” line! Thus Matthew establishes that Jesus can trace His Genealogy back to Abraham through Isaac and Jacob and can claim the fulfillment of the “Promise of God” to Abraham that “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3) and Jesus fulfills the Promise of God to King David through the prophet Isaiah, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7). Thus Matthew tied Jesus to prophecy and establishes Jesus as the TRUE HEIR to the THRONE of Thrones as KING of Kings and LORD of Lords! In case you have not been formerly introduced to the most important NAME in the history of life itself — HIS NAME IS JESUS!

JANUARY 05 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-05: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

JANUARY  05  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-05: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS   Daily Prayer   

JESUS, ever will I praise Your Name, for You are ever-Faithful and Your Glory will endure forever! Lord I praise You for Loving me and dying for me while I was lost in my sin — Your LIGHT has led me into a new day where I pray that my new song will be to “work until Jesus comes!” Lord, You have directed my paths to this point and I pray that my eyes and heart will be kept firmly fixed on You and the kingdom’s work and that I will be a good “witness” to Your Love. Lord Jesus, again and yet anew do I yield my life to serving You and to telling Your “Good News” to those You send my way.      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus told His disciples and even the Pharisees and Sadducees that the Holy Spirit would be a “witness” to who He really was — and Matthew, being an eyewitness who was led and Divinely inspired by the Spirit of God, wrote for a permanent record the events that point clearly to Jesus being the Divine Son of God sent to earth by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with a specific Purpose. Matthew was primarily writing for the Jews because before the birth of Jesus, it was the Jewish Holy Scriptures (known today as the “Tanakh” or modern “Hebrew Bible”) that the Jewish nation Israel had been reading for thousands of years and were waiting expectantly for the Messiah, God’s Anointed! The prophets from Jewish history were led by the Holy Spirit to write down the “signs” that would point to the Messiah, just like the New Testament writers Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were led by the Holy Spirit to write down eyewitness accounts of how Jesus fulfilled those prophecies of old. You cannot read the Holy Scriptures (the Old Testament and New Testament) without seeing God, His Plan, and the fulfillment of all the Spirit led prophecies that God uses (present tense!) to “lead His people to the Promised Land”. Matthew wrote in his Gospel of Jesus Christ that which was contained in the Jewish Holy Scriptures (the Old Testament of our modern Bible) that pointed to Jesus being the fulfillment of prophecy recorded in the Tanakh. What Matthew wrote about Jesus is true for all that will “seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness” and is fully documented in the New Testament. God has a Plan and a Purpose for each individual person that breathes the breath of life imparted to us by God as was demonstrated by God breathing life into Adam whom God personally created with His own hands as His last act of His Divine Creation. “This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed…Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and to keep it.” (Genesis 2:4-15) God “Spoke” everything into existence except man and woman — it was “Personal” with God in His creation of mankind, for only with mankind did God use His own Hands to form man and then God “breathed” (with His Own Breath) life into the man — it is imperative for us to note that only after mankind receives the “breath of life from God” that we become a “living being”!  After forming man, God then used His own Hands to form woman out of the rib of the man that He had just breathed His “Breath of Life” into, Eve was the second operation accomplished by God Himself demonstrating His “Hands On” commitment to mankind — and to “seal the deal” and to show that God had all His Creation planned out before “the beginning”,  we read of God’s “intent” for mankind to be special: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’…So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27) So let us approach this “Introduction” of God’s Plan for the world as documented in the Gospel of Matthew in this way: The Old Testament is a written record of God revealing His Plan and “how” He intends to “execute” His Plan. The New Testament is a written record of eyewitness accounts of the fulfillment of prophecies in the Person of Jesus Christ as well as general prophecies regarding the “completion” of God’s Plan for all Mankind. Again, the fact that Matthew writes primarily for the Jews is because it is through the Jews and the nation Israel that God has intended to use the nation Israel from BEFORE the beginning of mankind to fulfill God’s Plan for the salvation of the world! The main point is that BEFORE man came into existence God “had a Plan” — and the obvious Truth of God in that statement is that God made His Plan before mankind was created therefore mankind must accept that God is in control and is the Master Plan Maker — and life for mankind must fit God’s Planned Purpose — for God alone is the giver of life, the Creator — and everything made by  God is His Creation — get that part straight and the rest of your life will be a piece of cake! St. Matthew was part of God’s Plan to reveal the Messiah and His Purpose for the world — “For God did not send [the Messiah] His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17) Good Plan don’t you think??? — No wonder it’s called “THE GOOD NEWS”!!!