JULY 20 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 20  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, You know my heart and I pray that all that I do and say will be to Your Glory. Lord I am praying now for the strength to take all thoughts of self and remove them so that Your thoughts would increase in my life in my desire that all people can see only You when they look at me, may all my actions and words reflect Your Light and Honor our Father in Heaven. Lord I seek anew that identification with Your life, death, burial, and resurrection in order that my life will be lived to Glorify the Father, keep me always centered completely in His Will. Forgive me of all iniquities that I may stand before the Father in Your Righteousness and proclaim Your Word so that others will be blessed by knowing the Only Begotten Son that paid the ultimate price for our freedom.    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has dedicated His earthly life to doing the will of the Father and even at a very early age it was recorded that when His earthly parents thought they had lost the boy Jesus that “… after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when [His earthly parents] saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, ‘Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.’ And [Jesus who was about 12-13 years old] said to them, ‘Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?’ But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.”  (Luke 2:47-50)  Jesus was always Teaching and always asking Questions but the Questions Jesus asked were never about gaining understanding for Himself, but each Question Jesus asked was to impart “understanding and wisdom” to everyone that listened to Him and took the time to “think” about the Question He was asking, knowing that each Jesus Question is a Divine Lesson and contains Divine Truth!!! Jesus is asking very pointedly in this particular section for His listeners to “think” about “forgiveness”, not just being “forgiven” but Jesus wants us to “think” about: “Why” it is important that we are “forgiven”?, “What” is it that causes the need for “forgiveness”?, “Who” has the Power to “forgive” us?, and “Where” will “forgiveness” or the lack of “forgiveness” take us? —  and so in this section Jesus gives us three important “answers” about “forgiveness” — (1) Sin is the reason that we need forgiveness. Sin is being disobedient to God and is an “offense” to God. Sin will be judged by God. “Woe to the world because of offenses!” (Matthew 18:7) (2) Jesus is the Son of God and the Son of Man who took on the flesh of man and was sent by the Father to save us from our sin, “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” (Matthew 18:11) and (3) Jesus states the Father’s will regarding sin and the final judgement of our sin: “Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” (Matthew 18:14) Jesus states that His job on earth is to educate us about the problem of “sin” so that we can resolve the “problem of sin” because what we do with “our sin” will be judged by “our Father in heaven” and if we haven’t resolved our sin problem before the judgement then we will have to pay the “penalty of sin” which was established by the Father in the beginning: “And the Lord God commanded [Adam] … [obey Me]…for in the day that you [are disobedient to me] you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16)  Jesus has stated clearly that the reward for obedience to God is  to “enter into heaven and everlasting life in the presence of God” and the penalty for disobedience will be “everlasting torment in the fires of hell”!!!  Jesus has been Teaching all along that our physical bodies (our flesh) are temporary but our souls (our spirit) are eternal and it is our soul that leaves the flesh at the time of our death and we through our spirit enter into eternity ——— the first stop in our eternity is for our soul to stand before God and be judged by our Father in heaven regarding our “offenses” (disobedience) against him or our (obedience) to His commandment to “Listen to Him [My Son Jesus]” (Matthew 17:5)!!!   Jesus IS the Christ , sent by the Father to save us from our sin, and if we have listened to Jesus then we will be seen by the Father as wearing the Robe of Righteousness given to us by the Sacrifice of Jesus on the cross at Calvary, for it was the “death” of Jesus that  paid the “penalty” due us for our sins!   Can you not see how important it is to God that we know the severity of staying lost in our sin and rejecting the “Divine Solution” to our sin — or do you not understand the simple but central statement : “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)?!?!!? Personally, in my opinion, the risk of ignoring God is to great since He has since Day 1 of Creation been doing everything He possibly could do to make sure that when we sin against God that we have a path to Forgiveness through Repentance to return to fellowship with our Creator — “Your ears shall hear a “Word” behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it’ …” (Isaiah 30:21) and once we turn back to God “He will give the rain for your seed with which you sow the ground, and  …  the increase of the earth … will be plentiful.” (Isaiah 30:23) It’s your choice (1) Obey God and Prosper in the “Abundant Life” or (2) Disobey God and Perish and be “Forever Lost in the Darkness of Sin”?