JULY 07 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)

 JULY 07  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, how did mankind make it before You came and sacrificed Yourself for our sins? We all have sinned and fallen short of Your Glory and yet there is always the “HOPE” that Your Sacrifice brings into our world. There is no night so dark that Your Light cannot shine through that darkness nor is there a pit so deep that Your Love cannot reach down and pull us up. Lord Jesus we have the Blessed Assurance that not only are you here for us in our time of need but that You have Promised to NEVER leave us nor forsake us, and that Promise is Eternal!!!  Lord, Savior, Redeemer, take my life and make it wholly Thine and lead me in Your Paths of Righteousness for Your Name’s Sake.           AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus always Teaches in steps that lead us closer to God, but just like steps which must be taken one at a time, we should take care to obtain our “footing” on the new step and stand firm in our faith before trying to attain the next, lest we lose our “footing” and instead of drawing closer to God we stumble and fall away from God as we try to keep our own balance instead of relying on the Truth of God to keep our equilibrium on our Journey to find God Himself. It always helps my understanding of what Jesus is trying to Teach me if I stop and look at where Jesus had my attention focused in the previous Lesson and use that understanding to see the direction that the new Lesson is taking me. Jesus ended His last lesson by declaring in this order: (1) The disciples could not cast a demon out of a man’s son (2) Jesus pointed out their inability to “heal” the boy was linked to the fact that they were “faithless and perverse” because they were depending on their ability and not the Power of God. (3) “And Jesus rebuked the demon [in the boy], and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.” (Matthew 17:18) (4) Jesus then turned to His disciples and explained it was their “unbelief” that caused their weakness and they needed to work on their “faith’” [in God’s Power to work through us] (5) Jesus then referred to Himself as the “Son of Man” and reminded them that as part of His Mission on earth that He was to “be betrayed into the hands of men” (Matthew 17:22) and (6) He would be killed but that “the third day [Jesus would be] raised up” (Matthew 17:23) (7) Jesus performed the miracle of paying the temple tax with a fish Peter caught and demonstrated that God knows our needs without us asking (see also Matthew 6:8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him”) (8) Then Jesus ties the Lesson of working on our faith with Him casting the demon out of the boy with His Lesson on “Who’s the greatest…” by calling a child to Himself and saying that “whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest…” and to me that tied together JQ#20 lesson where Jesus cast the demon out of the boy and now here in JQ#21 Jesus is saying that if we will allow Him to cast out our demons we will become as innocent children in the kingdom of heaven and will be among the “greatest”. (Matthew 18:1-6) Step upon step we learn of God’s Truth just by taking those steps under the Guiding Power of the Teachings of Jesus! Jesus then continues the theme of us daily repenting of our sins caused by our worldly desires as He then reminds us that “offenses [to God by our worldly sins] must come” (Matthew 18:7) but that if we will repent and turn to God that we will “enter into life” — but if we don’t remove the source of sin and repent then we will “be cast into the everlasting fire” (Matthew 18:8) Jesus then continues His Lesson and says a second time that we should do whatever it takes to get rid of our sin for “it is better for you to enter into life” than to “be cast into hell fire”!!! (Matthew 18:9) Jesus then reminds us that we must become as innocent children and announces that when we are “converted and become as little children” that “in heaven [that the angels of God’s children] always see the face of My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10) Jesus then confirms His Mission and our path to heaven and the Father when He clearly states: “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” (Matthew 18:11) Step by step Jesus has Taught us that we are lost in our sin and that we must repent of those sins for they are an offense to God and if we repent then Jesus will cast out our worldly demons and we will be converted to children of God and will have angels in heaven watching over us and we will have direct access to our Father in heaven! Can you “think” [there’s that command again] of a better future than to return to your childlike innocence and have a “Loving Father” take care of your every need?