JULY 17 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 17  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, each day presents new opportunities to serve and through our service to others we will Glorify the Father as You did when You lived the Perfect Life as an Example for us to turn from our selfishness. Staying stuck on ourself always leads to sin and turning from our selfishness to following your Example and serving others always leads to God and His Plan of Salvation through our helping others. If You Jesus, being the King of all kings, will gird Yourself with a towel and wash our feet, why do we shirk the responsibility of serving our fellow man? Lord grant me a servant’s heart that I will always seek to think of others before thinking about myself, because when I am thinking of others and serving them as You Yourself served us while we were lost in our sin, then I trust that the Father God will see You in me and not the sinner that I was when I was lost in my selfishness — forgive me when I fail You and I pray daily to be filled with the Holy Spirit and centered in Your Will and that all that I do will Honor the Father.    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus makes a point of asking us to “think” and then He presents the problem and the solution. The fact that Jesus asks us to “think” for ourselves and then presents the problem is a good indication that He is pointing us to both the “source of the problem” and the “solution to the problem” as being within ourselves. Jesus is telling us that we have the ability to “observe” and “reason” and then He presents the problem of sin. Jesus NEVER presents a problem to us without giving us a solution and with this section of scripture Jesus is “Teaching” us that we cause the sin problem ourselves and the solution to our personal sin problem is to observe our actions that are resulting from our participation in that sin and to use our God-given resources to recognize that our sin is just that — it is OUR SIN!!! Once we can find the source of our problem then we can “fix” the problem ——— Jesus has shown us that to correct “our” sin against God that we must take “personal responsibility” for our personal actions/choices that result in sin and to turn from those actions/choices and rely on our “Faith in God”.  The Lesson that Jesus is Teaching us on correcting “our” sin problem is to come to Him when He calls us. Jesus says that we must “humble” ourselves like a “little child” to “enter the kingdom of heaven” and that we must choose to “receive” Jesus Himself.  Jesus told the disciples that “Whoever receives one little child like this in my Name receives Me.” (Matthew 18:5) Jesus had just called a little child to Himself and the child had obeyed and had come to Him and Jesus had sat the child in their midst and then started Teaching about “sin”. Jesus made it clear that to solve “our” sin problem that we would have to come to Him and humble ourselves as the little child had done. Jesus then said that solving our sin problem would be rewarded with the right to “enter into life” and if we failed to resolve our sin problem we would be “cast into hell fire”. There is a big difference between the actions of freely “entering” or unwillingly being “cast” into our eternal destination! Then there is the destination itself to consider: (1) “the kingdom of heaven” and (2) “everlasting fire” in “hell”. If we think about it, we at first will think to ourselves, “No way would I ‘enter’ willingly into ‘hell !!!’” — which is exactly the point Jesus is making about being “cast into” our punishment which implies that we will have to go to hell because of our choices result in sin, i.e. we have chosen “hell” over “heaven” ——— even if we don’t want to go ——— because a Higher Power who has reserved the Authority to determine the “consequence of our choices” has judged our sin and we have been found “guilty”; therefore, because of our free-will choice to sin we will be cast into hell by the Power of the Almighty!  Our penalty is executed resulting in us being “cast into hell fire” because of our “actions/choices” regardless of our “desires or want to”! Jesus uses the term “enter into life” which also Teaches us that we are “dead” until we “enter into life” and so if we fail to “enter into life” because we remain in our sin then we can say that if we “choose our sin” instead of humbling ourselves before Jesus when He calls, then “we have chosen death”  for the only path to “life” is through Jesus, all other paths keep us “lost” in our “sin” and there is no “life” in “sin” ——— only “death” which is the absence of “life”. The eternal residence of sin is “hell” and the “Promise of God” is that If we turn from our sin to Jesus we will “enter” the kingdom of God through our belief in Jesus but if we choose not to “receive” Jesus then we will remain dead in our sin and will be cast into hell and the everlasting fire. There is a very good reason Jesus first tells us to “think” and then presents the Truth of God that Jesus Himself is the “[Only] way, the [Only] truth, and the [Only] life…No one comes to the Father except [Only] through Me.” (John 14:6) Can you “think” of a clearer way to present our problem and our solution and the rewards and penalties for how God Himself will deal with “our” sin?  The Question we all face is not “IF we will sin” but the real Question is “how will we deal with our sin that results from our poor actions/choices” that we ALL make??? “Think” about it, will you choose “life” and turn to Jesus or will you choose “death” and remain “lost” in your selfish existence apart from God???

JULY 16 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 16  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, ALL Praise be to the Only Begotten of the Father that is the Light of the world, and to the Son that is the Hope of all who believe. Jesus, Lord, Savior, Redeemer, I bow not only my knee to You, but I also bow my heart and my head that I may fulfill Your command to love God with all my heart, soul, and mind. Lord Jesus, thank You for Your Presence among us when we gather in Your Name and Lord we lift up praise to You for the lives that You and You alone can change. Lord teach us to draw others to You and to share Your Truth with those that are stuck in that worldly rut and secular darkness that they will come to know You and their that their lives will become Light and they may experience the “Peace that passes all understanding”. Forgive me when I fall short and when I turn to the right or left, especially when I fall back into self, You Lord and only You can still my soul, so Lord grant it that my spirit will yield completely to Your Holy Spirit so that it will be Your Light that others see in me.    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus with JQ#21a and JQ#21b has started both Questions with the phrase or lead-in Question, “What do you think?” and then Jesus follows the lead-in Question with the topic Question.  JQ#21a (Matthew 17:25) was about “kings of the earth” taking “taxes” as part of our daily lives and in JQ#21b (Matthew 18:12) Jesus asked about “lost sheep”. We should note that after JQ#21a Jesus “Divinely Empowered” Simon (whom Jesus had named Peter) with the ability to pay the tax with what Peter did on a daily basis — Peter was a fisherman when Jesus called Peter to follow Him. Then between JQ#21a where Jesus made Peter stop and “think” about his daily life and trusting God for his daily provisions while Peter had to deal with the “kings of the earth” and JQ#21b where Jesus then drew our attention to the man that had a 100 sheep and lost one whom the man (or shepherd) left the ninety nine to rescue the one lost sheep, that Jesus Taught His disciples about sin in our daily lives and how important it is that we solve the problem of sin! First Jesus “called a little child to Him” and used the child as an example as Jesus Taught: “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3) Then to make sure that we knew He was beginning a Lesson on what will keep us out of the “kingdom of heaven” Jesus introduces the main problem as He declared, “But whoever causes one of the little ones who believe in Me to sin…” thereby Jesus introduced sin as the main problem as Jesus tied “entry into heaven” with being like a “little child”. Jesus then established a consequence of dire proportions if we caused “one of the little ones” to “sin”, the dire consequence was worse than being “drowned in the depth of the sea”!?!?! (Matthew 18:4-6) The picture that is painted in this illustration is a basic presentation of the Gospel and God’s Plan of Salvation. First we have Jesus “calling” and saying “come to Me”. Jesus then took the “little child” that came to Him and put the child “in the midst of them” so that everyone could see how even a “little child” could be accepted by Jesus Himself! Then to make it clear Jesus said “Assuredly” which is a word used that means the speaker is telling an important truth and in this verse Jesus is speaking a most important Truth of God then Jesus states emphatically “unless you are converted and become as little children” and Jesus again states the consequence of our failure to “become as little children” that we “will by no means” (which says that there is no other way possible for us to) “enter the kingdom of heaven” except by the way that Jesus is illustrating with the “little child”. The only “WAY” to see the kingdom is that we come to Jesus when He calls. He will accept us if we are “converted” (or “repent/turn from” our sinful life) and return to the innocence of a little child who is without sin. In Matthew 18:6 Jesus says that if we cause a “little one who believes [in Jesus] to sin” then we will not enter into the kingdom but we will perish the same as if we were “drowned in the depth of the sea”!?!?! Therefore we can see that the picture Jesus presents is if we humble ourselves before Him and come as innocent little children, then and only then, will we enter into the kingdom of heaven ——— but if un-repented sin is involved in our lives then the consequence of our un-repented sin is death — —— it is clearly understood that death is the penalty God declared for sin, therefore it is logical that un-repented sin is not a pathway to entering the kingdom of heaven!?!?!?! The big problem we have in our modern culture is that the enemy has been deceiving the “lawmakers” into writing laws that are “outside of God’s Moral Standards” and then the “lawmakers” lead the public to believe that because something is “legal” by man’s law that it will be “morally” acceptable to God!?!?!? But who are you going to trust your eternity with, someone who seeks personal power and worldly fame and profit through “politics”, or will you trust your eternity to “One” that went to great trouble to save that one lost sheep? Once again we are placed in the uncomfortable position to “think” for ourselves, so don’t you “think” it would be wise to listen to the “One True Light” that is trying to promote “everlasting life” instead of the those in darkness that promote the “death” of the unborn?!?!?!?  

         ***********************************  “A LIE doesn’t become TRUTH, WRONG doesn’t become RIGHT & EVIL doesn’t become GOOD, just because it’s accepted by a majority. “  (Author Unknown)  ***********************************

JULY 15 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 15  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, keep my eyes always on You, keep my focus on the Hope that You lay before us as we follow Your Way, keep my heart longing to be “One” with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as I know that You will keep me showered in Your Mercy and Grace that my life will be Abundant with Peace and Joy. Lord Jesus, You are Gracious and Forgiving so keep me centered in Your Will. Give us each day our daily bread and keep me ever mindful that if God be for us, who can be against us!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus, being the Master Teacher, spends as much time on a particular subject as is necessary to bring His disciples to the point that they “understand” what He is “Teaching” with His Question-Lessons. This section of Scripture has been a Lesson on sin and He has again made the crystal clear point that if we fail to “understand” to perceive the Truth of God in the Lesson that the “consequences” of our misunderstanding will have an impact on where we spend our eternity. When Jesus says “Woe to the world because of offenses.” (Matthew 18:7) and in the very next sentence He points to our personal responsibility for our sin by the example, “If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you” (Matthew 18:8) then those verses leaves no doubt that it is ourselves that is the originator of our sin; it is not “the-devil-made-me-do-it” myth ——— the devil himself has deceived us with his rebellious suggestions which are nothing more than lies ——— but, the originator of our sin is us, our sin is personal and we should be well aware that the Truth of God about sin is what King David wrote: “Against You, You only, have I sinned and done this evil in Your sight.” (Psalm 51:4) The other worldly myth this verse destroys is the myth that if we have not involved someone else and that what we are doing is “personal” then it is not a sin (???) then we miss the point that sin is against God and we do not have the right to decide what sin is or what sin isn’t. We suppose wrongly that without God there would be no sin and that is what the world is trying to get us to believe, that there is “no God” and that whatever we want to do with our own bodies that we have the “right” to “choose” what we will do with this earthly body because we are wrongly assuming that there is no “sin” because there is no “God”!?!?! When your mind is turned away from God and His Standards of Morality then you have committed the “unpardonable sin” — for God has ordained each soul with Free Will and if we “choose” to turn from Him and live without Him then His Hands are tied because we tied them with our wrong-thinking about God! God will not force Himself on us, therefore if we turn our mind from Him then He will respect your God-given Free Will and therefore our “sin” cannot be pardoned because the only One that can “pardon” sin is God and if you turn from God and refuse to acknowledge His Power of Forgiveness then God cannot forgive you; hence, the “unpardonable sin”. The Truth of God is that the definition of sin is being disobedient to God, and the enemy of God lies to us and says that to free us from our responsibility to God all we have to do is believe the “lie” that there is “no God” ——— but a world without a Fair and Just God making the rules must take on the awesome responsibility of making our own “rules” and being our own “god” ——— and all of us has proved with our own lives that we cannot take care of ourselves properly, must less take care of the moral good of everyone else!?!?!  There is the reality facing mankind that there is no “life” without God but life without God leads to death and destruction!!! God is the Creator and there would not be a reality without Him and regardless of what the majority decides is a “law”, that does not have any impact on the Reality of God and God’s Moral Standard that He has established ———mankind cannot make God go away nor can mankind legislate “morality” ——— God has declared what is “good” and what is “evil” and God has declared what is “Right” and what is “Wrong” and those that refuse to follow God’s declarations are in Truth the “lost sheep”. JQ#21b asks “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety and nine and go to the mountains to save the one that is straying?” (Matthew 18:12) So the world-without-God will tell you that since “there is no God” that your answer must be that if you are “lost” then “tough luck” because there is “no shepherd” and if you can’t find your own way back then you will have to accept your own “fate/destiny”. Jesus is pointing out with this Question that God is going to take care of ALL of His “sheep” and that if we “stray” from His Protection and Provisions that He will do whatever is necessary to bring us back into the “fold” and keep us safe. “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 says back in verses 8-10 that we are going to be held personally responsible for our sins and that our sins will lead us astray but then Jesus concludes with the “Hope” that if we listen for the Voice of the  “Good Shepherd” that we will be “found” ——— our “Eternal Hope” is that He is searching for us and is calling for us to let Him save us from our sin against God, but if we refuse to hear Him then we will be “lost in our sin” which leads “into the everlasting fire” (Matthew 18:8) Do you want to take the responsibility of providing for your own eternity based on a “worldly myth” that man invented for his selfishness ——— or do you want to Trust the Creator God who unselfishly gave Himself that we might “not perish but have everlasting life” with Him? The voice of the Good Shepherd is asking in that “still small voice”: “What do you think?”   

JULY 14 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 14  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, Giver of Life, Hallowed be Thy Name, the Name above all names. O Lord my God, Praise, Glory and Honor to the Only Begotten Son that became sin for my sake that through His Sacrifice I might be clothed in His Righteousness that I might have fellowship with the Father. Lord Jesus, there is no explanation why You would choose to give up Your Divinity for sinners but Lord we Praise You because we know in our heart of hearts that were we left to our sin that we would remain forever lost in that sin and while we were yet lambs being led to the slaughter and lost in that sin that You accepted the Task as the Good Shepherd and now we praise You as did King David, You “make [us] to lie down in green pastures, You lead [us] beside the still waters, You restore [our] soul and lead [us] in paths of righteousness for [YOUR] Name’s sake!”      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus spent His every breath of His earthly ministry living His Life as an Example of how we should live our lives for God so that when we read His Story in God’s Holy Word we should appreciate all the heavenly forces God employs to provide for our daily needs and we should pay attention to each Lesson God has to Teach us about His Kingdom and the Singular Path God has determined that we must take to ENTER into His Glory! There is no argument that can be made as to “why” there is only ONE WAY — God has plainly demonstrated that even before He Created the Heavens and the earth, He had settled on His Plan of Salvation and over thousands of years God revealed that Plan to a fallen world that God has committed all His Divine Resources to saving. God has been Faithful to that Plan and His Plan has been executed without flaw as our Salvation has been Sealed and Sanctified by the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ. The first Scriptures were written with the Hope of the Messiah and the Law was written in anticipation of the fulfillment of the Law by the Coming of God’s Holy One ——— and now the Scriptures record: “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) So when the Messiah Himself spends such a great proportion of His Words Teaching us about the sin “problem” we should search the scriptures for the “solution” and have Faith that God who has always provided for our daily needs will Teach us the True Path to Salvation which leads to entering through the “Kingdom Door” which Jesus Himself declared “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9) Jesus then continues to clarify God’s Truth as Jesus tells us “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” (John 10:10-11) Then to make sure that we understand God’s Plan of Salvation Jesus states: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) There is no way that anyone can read the Holy Scriptures and not see God’s Plan of Salvation and the extent to which God had committed to BEFORE the beginning of time as we read that central verse “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) ***Notice John 3:16 is written in the past tense, it has already been accomplished and has been written in God’s History Book, the Holy Bible, for thousands of years and as Jesus Himself said as He was breathing His last earthly breath Jesus cried: “It is finished.” (John 19:30)*** Generations upon generations have proved that He Lives as we have a great cloud of witnesses that have been touched by the Savior’s Grace and their lives have been forever changed. What God said He would do, He always accomplishes! 

      

     

    …when I AM

 

          …says I WILL

                !!! HE  DOES !!!

The only question we can ask ourselves is “Why in the world do we question a God that has so unselfishly given so much of Himself for our good?”  Could it be because we are so selfish that we are blinded to His Holiness?

JULY 13 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 13  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, (From a song given to me by the Holy Spirit in 2003) “Jesus, Precious Jesus, Thank You, You took my sins away, and I want to thank You for all that You’ve done, so this is the prayer that I pray — Please grant it Lord that I may grow strong, yet give more than I take. Teach me to lean on Jesus my King and guide me each step that I take. In all that I do let Your Love Shine through, that lost sheep might find the way and come back Home to this Peace I’ve known — this is the prayer I pray.”  Praise to God from whom ALL Blessing flow, forgive me of my daily sins, and create in me a clean heart, O God!       AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus always gave us a Living Example of the Lessons He was Teaching and each Lesson reveals a Truth of God so that we may know who God is by knowing His Truth. I have always asked the question: “Couldn’t there have been some other way for our sins to be forgiven other than God having to send His Son to Sacrifice Himself for our sins?” There has been one answer that the Holy Spirit gives me and it is in the form of a question as my heart and soul hears: “Why do you question God?” When I stop and “think” about it, I come to the conclusion that instead of questioning God that I should look to see what Truth of God is revealed in the things that He does! So instead of asking “Why would God sacrifice His Only Begotten Son for my sin” I make this observation and I see that (1) the creator God who can do all things without my help has made a Divine Personal Decision to help those that He certainly doesn’t need any help from ——— and (2) not only does God help others who cannot repay Him for His Divine Help, He used His Most Precious Possession to accomplish His Desire to do “Good” for others, (3) God had no motivation to make His Decision except His Own Pure Character of Mercy (4) besides proving Himself to be a Merciful God, He also reveals that He is a Loving God for we know that our sin is nothing but rebellion against God and even though God Knows all things and Knows that we are undeserving of Love, God pours out His Divine Compassion on us and proves He is a Gracious and Compassionate God and finally (5) The fact that God would send His Son to die a cruel death for our sin proves that God is an “Unchanging” and “Just” God !!! In the beginning God said that disobedience to Him must be punished by death and my worldly thoughts say that “if I am the rule-maker and I am in charge of enforcing those rules then I can change the rule if I want to” ——— but God proves He is a GOD that GOD NEVER CHANGES and the rules apply to everyone and will be enforced fairly and justly — FOREVER — PROVING GOD IS ETERNALLY UNCHANGING AND UNEQUIVOCALLY JUST! When we question God we are using the world’s standard of ever-changing priorities but when we observe God from the point of “Truth and Fairness” we see that God’s Moral Standard is the only True and Fair Standard by which all mankind should judge ourselves and others!  By using God’s Unchanging Moral Standard we have confidence that God will judge everyone equally by the same fair standard which NEVER CHANGES, and we know His Standards NEVER change because God Himself NEVER CHANGES. So the Truth of God is that sin MUST be punished and the Compassion of God ——— (“For God so loved the world”) is demonstrated by His Grace towards sinners (“that He gave His only begotten Son”) and by providing Himself a Sacrifice for our sin problem (“that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16) and God goes the extra mile in that not only will we “not perish” but God rewards our “belief in His Only Begotten Son” with “everlasting life”!  The fact that “sin” is a problem in the world is not what is being disputed by mankind, mankind just does not want to admit that “sin” is a problem that we are EACH personally responsible for! We refuse to admit that we cannot solve the sin-problem ourselves and that we must turn to God for the solution. This is God’s Plan of Salvation in a nutshell: God gave us Free Will but we used it poorly and chose to sin instead of following God and we ended up lost in our sin. Once lost in sin, we cannot see our way back to the TRUTH OF GOD and our selfish pride prevents us from asking God for directions. God however RESCUES us from our sin but in Honor of His Gift of Free Will to us, God will not “force” the RESCUE on us but waits for our call for “Help!” which comes when we REPENT of our sin and call out to God for His Mercy. When God hears our cry, He immediately “RESCUES” us, THIS TRUTH OF GOD RESCUING US  we call “SALVATION”. My question to those that read this passage is simply: “Why do you not accept God’s Help instead of questioning ‘why’ He is such a Good, Kind, Gracious, and Forgiving God?”

JULY 12 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 12  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, Precious is that Name, the Name above all names, all praise and honor go to the Name of Jesus. The Only Begotten of the Father, yeah the only One of all the children of God that was able to live a Perfect Life while in the flesh, and even to the point of death at the end of His earthly Life, Jesus maintained that Perfection even in dying such a cruel death on the Cross! Jesus took His death and turned it into our Victory! Jesus, You are Faithful to fulfill Your Promises to us and Your Word is Pure! O Holy Spirit, my heart is yielded and my soul longs for Your Touch, my mind yearns to be filled with Your Understanding and even the most inward parts of my being begs for Your Salvation and Sanctification. Teach me, guide me, and lift up my soul to the Father!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus always has a Purpose for every Question, and that single Purpose is to reveal the Father to us, so why is Jesus spending so much of His Effort in Teaching us about “sin”?  Jesus asked JQ#21 in Matthew 17:25 just after telling His disciples that “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” (Matthew 17:22) and immediately Jesus jumps to asking: “From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?” (Matthew 17:25) — or is this a “jump” going from talking about the resurrection (being raised the third day) to the kings of the earth extracting “taxes”? Jesus made a very interesting statement to Peter once Peter answered that the “kings of the earth … take customs or taxes” from “strangers” and not from their “sons” and Jesus declared “Then the sons are free.” (Matthew 17:26) After Jesus made the “sons are free” statement He performed the miracle with the “fish and taxes” which illustrated that God wants us to continue in our daily lives and to trust Him to provide for us. Then Jesus Teaches in Chapter 18 about “sin” by addressing our worldly desire for “greatness” as expressed by a comment from His own disciples. Jesus replies to His disciples with this statement when the disciples asked Him “who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:1) ——— Jesus answers “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted…you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven…” (Matthew 18:2) Then for the remainder of Chapter 18 Jesus is Teaching about “Sin” !?!?!? These verses when viewed individually feel somewhat disjointed to me and the amount of verses dedicated to “sin” seems out of proportion, but then I read these passages as a whole and I see God’s Master Plan of Salvation in Matthew 17:20 - 18:35. When these passages are viewed as the Plan of Salvation it becomes evident that God is serious about resolving the sin problem!!! To illustrate the Magnitude of God’s Compassion for a lost world, Jesus spends His earthly ministry teaching “Repent … the kingdom of heaven is at hand…” (see Matthew 3:2 and Matthew 4:17) and He emphasizes that God has prepared a heaven for those that “repent” or are “converted” from their sin and that God has also prepared a “hell” for those that reject God. Time and time again Jesus has stated that we must personally make this decision that determines where we will spend our “eternity” after our “(very brief) lifetime on earth” which begins with our “physical” birth to an earthly mother and father. This “physical” lifetime will be terminated either by our “physical” death on earth or our “spiritual birth” into the “Spiritual kingdom of God” to which Jesus alluded to with His “the sons are free” statement in Matthew 17:26. So the Master Plan of Salvation is God sending His Only Begotten Son to the earth to become flesh so that Jesus can live a perfect life which will be the ONLY acceptable Substitutionary Sacrifice wholly acceptable to the Father and this “Acceptable Sacrifice” will be a “Once for All” Sacrifice for All Sin. Mankind is sinful and will be judged by a Just and Faithful God who at the beginning of His creation declared the “penalty of sin is death”. As a sinner, we must admit our sin and then “repent” of our sin and we will receive God’s Gift of “Grace” and “Forgiveness” for our sins because Jesus paid our debt to sin when He was “betrayed into the hands of men … [and killed]” God sealed His Promise by “Resurrecting Jesus” from the grave on the “third day”!!! Jesus has stated His Divine Purpose was to “save that which was lost [in sin]” (Matthew 18:11) and so our personal decision to “repent from sin” and “convert” to being sons of God will determine where we will spend our eternity ——— we will either spend our eternity with God or separated from Him and our eternity boils down to a simple question ——— “Do we believe God means what He says?”

JULY 11 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 11  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 Lord have done all that could be done and there could be no greater expression of Love than the Gift that the Father gave to the world in the form of Self Sacrifice for the sake of others. Lord it will always be a Mystery why You became flesh and allowed Yourself to be tempted in the flesh in all ways that we are tempted in the world?!?  Why would the King of kings and Lord of lords humble Himself and allow His creation to crucify Him? Lord, instead of questioning “Why” would God choose this path for mankind to enter into eternity and unbroken fellowship with the Father, let me Lord give You Thanks, Praise, and Glory for without You showing us the Way, we would remain lost in our sin. Give us this day our daily bread — for Yours is the kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory FOREVER!!!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus IS the Master Teacher and being God He has Infinite Knowledge and Wisdom. Jesus used “His Mastery of Words” to Teach Lessons-within-a-Lesson and in this section in Matthew chapters 17 and 18 Jesus has already used two common everyday words that everyone understands — “fish” and “taxes” — simple little words BUT with our limited finite insight we would never put together in the way Jesus puts them together to Teach us a Lesson-within-a-Lesson and reveal God Himself! Jesus actually performed a miracle with Peter and a fish to explain the “Provisions” of God and while in the process of Teaching us about God’s Provisions for us, Jesus Taught us that God is not limited in His Power in any way and GOD IS the SUPREME POWER in the universe, and also that God has chosen to use that Supreme Power to take care of our daily needs by controlling circumstances in our daily lives to produce a miracle — these two words are “fish” and “taxes” and in only 4 verses (Matthew 17:24-27) Jesus reveals some amazing characteristics of God. If we look at the behavior of God in this passage and in reading the following passages in Chapter 18 we can learn Lesson after Lesson and could spend days just reading these passages and contemplating God and wonder “why” God would go through all the trouble to perform miracles in the first place, let alone understanding “how” God is able to perform miracles at all! Once you start thinking about the “Powers” of God you begin to wonder “Why” God cares about us at all, especially when He spends so much time Teaching us that we are sinners? The very definition of “sin” is “disobeying God” — so why would the Father God send His Only Begotten Son down to earth from heaven (where Jesus is a Third-Part of the Trinity of God) to give up His Divinity and Unlimited Power in heaven to be born flesh (John 1:14) and blood on the earth and dwell among a world that is so disobedient to God? Jesus spent His earthly life living a simple life, He did not hold any office of distinction, He did not have any earthly possessions, and He dedicated Himself to Teaching sinners how to solve their sin problem and the earthly life of Jesus was terminated by the Greatest Lesson ever Taught about God, “For [the Father] made [the Son] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in [Jesus].” (2 Corinthians 5:21) So why does Jesus spend so much time Teaching us that we are sinners — the answer is because His Mission was to teach us the “problem of our sin” and then present us with the “solution to the problem  of our sin”— the successful resolution of our sin problem on earth will be rewarded with eternal fellowship with God in heaven, completely free from sin but if the problem of sin is not resolved in our lives, then the consequence of our sin will be to spend an eternity in “hell fire” where we will be forever separated from God who sent His Son to save us from that hell where we will always know that our eternal agony is because we chose to sin against God ——— if we reject God then by our own choice we will live eternally in a burning hell knowing it was our sin that separated us from God and it is that knowledge of our sin that is the fuel that causes the fires of hell to burn so hot!!! We cannot explain why “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1)  in the first place or why God allowed “sin” to enter into His Perfect Creation and certainly we can’t explain why God would send His Only Begotten Son to Sacrifice Himself on a cruel cross to pay the penalty for OUR SIN — but the real question is: “Now that you know that “Sin IS the Problem” and that “Jesus IS the Solution” what are you going to do about it, will you continue disobeying God and die in your sin and spend eternity separated from God or will you obey God and “Listen to Jesus” and accept the Gift of Eternal Life of Fellowship with God?”