NOVEMBER 27 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#33 “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

 NOVEMBER 27  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#33  “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  (Matthew 27:46)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Precious Jesus, You took my sins away — I want to thank You for all that You have done, so this is the prayer that I pray: “Please help me Lord, to give of myself and to share with my fellow man, for You have said that there’s no greater LOVE than to give your life for a friend! For all the souls lost, You died on The Cross, You Gave and You Gave some More, so that sinners like me might truly be FREE, Your Death opens life’s door. So O Precious Jesus, Giver of Life, Hallowed be Thy Name! Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done, and my life won’t be the same! You took my soul, You made it whole, You washed all my sins away, I want to thank You for all that You have done, so this is the prayer that I pray!!! ” (excerpt from “The Prayer I Pray” — written 2001 by L. G. Lewis)   AMEN

NOVEMBER 27  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has been up to this point in His earthly Ministry, expressing the TRUTH OF GOD in plain simple statements so that everyone can understand.  Those simple statements illustrated that everything that was about to happen to Him was fulfillment of prophecy of God’s Plan of Salvation that was formulated by the Trinity BEFORE the foundation of the world and that Jesus would conclude His Ministry on earth with The Ultimate Victory over the world as the Master Plan of Salvation would be executed with TOTAL SOVEREIGNTY to achieve the ULTIMATE VICTORY. Nothing has been left to chance and nothing has happened that was not planned by God to happen: Jesus was Immaculately Conceived by the Holy Spirit and The Child Jesus was born of a Virgin, John the Baptist came onto the scene preaching “Repentance from sin” and Jesus began His Ministry by approaching John who was baptizing in the Jordan and John declared “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” and Jesus said of His baptism by John, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15)  Through the first 26 Chapters of the Gospel of Matthew Jesus has been pointing to this upcoming event and now “His Hour”  has arrived and as Jesus sweats drops of blood in Gethsemane in anticipation of His Hour of Suffering His disciples are sleeping and Jesus declares, “…Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.” (Matthew 26:45)  Judas has now betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver which also is in line with prophecy and now as Jesus is being led away and His disciples have abandoned Him, History and Prophecy have arrived at the point in time that would be described in our modern vernacular as “This is where it gets real!!!” Matthew writes the last words of Jesus before leaving Gethsemane: “But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” (Matthew 26:56a) Then Matthew concludes Chapter 26 with a sad commentary: “Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.” (Matthew 26:56b)  Sad though it was, it was a foreshadowing of that most important Conclusion of the Master Plan of Salvation in which God Himself “Walks the Walk”  proving Himself God and demonstrating the Divine Love of God for His Creation. Through 26 Chapters in Matthew we have studied 32 JESUS Questions that point us to the Final Question (JQ#33) asked from the Cross just before Jesus surrendered His Spirit to God so let us look at the final two chapters of the Gospel of Matthew and understand that with JQ#33 that this is:   “AS REAL  AS  IT  GETS!!!”    Chapter 27 begins: “And those that had laid hold of Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed Him at a distance to the high priest’s courtyard. And he went in and sat with the servants to see the end.” (Matthew 27:1-2) Let us read these last two chapters of Matthew to see “the end of the matter” and to “know beyond a shadow of a doubt”   the words uttered at the foot of the cross when JESUS DIED: “So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly saying, ‘Truly this was the Son of God’” (Matthew 27:54) We must ask ourselves this final question: “Could the whole Bible be about the simple fact that God is God and Jesus is His Son?”   ——— COULD IT REALLY BE THAT SIMPLE!?!?!?

NOVEMBER 26 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Conclusion: JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

 NOVEMBER 26  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Conclusion: JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, each day I wake to thoughts of You and each day my spirit has HOPE for I know You are the LIGHT and that after every night full of darkness there comes morning and the drying of tears and the setting aside of my fears as Your Light drives out the darkness and the Son warms the inner parts of my soul. Jesus, forgive me for I fall victim so easily to self and am dissuaded by the world because I let the world’s darkness start to take hold but You Lord Jesus are as Faithful as the sunrise and each morning Your Mercies are renewed and as soon as I call Your Name Jesus, Your LIGHT rises in my soul and I can walk with HOPE into the new day You have created and graciously bestowed on this a sinner seeking the LIGHT! Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!!!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has drawn us personally into His Final Passover and His Betrayal by first telling the disciples that in “two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” (Matthew 26:2) Then Jesus is anointed with oil as Jesus explained: “For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial” (Matthew 26 12) which again drew serious attention to His Imminent Death on the cross at the Passover. The Passover arrives and Jesus proclaims: “My time is at hand, I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples” (Matthew 26:18) and they gathered in the Upper Room where Jesus again makes it personal when at the beginning of the Passover Jesus announces: “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” (Matthew 26:21) Jesus always uses Scripture and He declares to His disciples as He begins sharing what was to be His Last Passover Supper with them before He was crucified: “The Son of Man indeed goes as it is written of Him…” (Matthew 26:24) Everything Jesus has done in His Ministry has pointed to “His Hour” and even as Jesus eats this Final Passover He continues to Teach and show by His Example how we are to live — for “Jesus took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take eat, this is My body.’” (Matthew 26:26) Jesus then took the wine and summarized in detail the Purpose of why He being the VERY Son of God and Son of Man had come down from heaven and had  taken on flesh: “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28) At this point the disciples should have recalled at the start of His Ministry that Jesus went to John the Baptist who was preaching “repentance and the remission of sin” and who when he saw Jesus coming to be baptized in the Jordan proclaimed: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” (John 1:29) Now here at the Passover Jesus had been showing that He was the Passover Lamb and that just as God had instructed Moses at the first Passover that the Passover Lamb must be slain and the blood applied as instructed for deliverance from their slavery and now here at this Passover Jesus is giving instructions what to do with the shed blood of the Passover Lamb to be delivered from the slavery of sin! Jesus then goes from the Passover to pray in Gethsemane and there He asks the final, very personal question  “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)   that  makes it clear that Jesus intends for us to “enter into His labors” as He commands us to “Watch and Pray” (Matthew 26:41) Peter had boldly proclaimed his loyalty and Jesus made it personal for Peter and said that even the most loyal followers would betray Jesus and Peter would do it three times “before the cock crows”! Judas then betrays Jesus with a kiss and as Jesus is seized He tells Peter who has drawn his sword to put his sword “in its place” (which could be a “Render unto Cesar” scenario with the sword instead of money?) and then Jesus explained everything that was happening was part of the Master Plan of Salvation! Jesus explained about the betrayal and why Jesus had allowed this to happen to Him: “How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” (Matthew 26:54) and then Jesus summarizes His entire Ministry: “But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” (Matthew 26:56) As followers we should listen to Jesus and trust that everything that happens is controlled and allowed by God and will be used for our good and His Glory!  Jesus is being led away to begin His final hours and to face the cross and the final Question He asks in the Gospel of Matthew is the most personal  Question of all and is also the most revealing of all the Questions into the very Heart of God!   

NOVEMBER 25 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

 NOVEMBER 25  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, JESUS, JESUS - Praise to the Son that was Obedient to the Father’s Will, the Only Begotten Son that Lived a Sinless Life, gave up His Glory to become the Propitiation of our sins, that instead of condemnation of death WHICH WE ALL DESERVE, we could be RESURRECTED to new life because of HIS INFINITE MERCY! O the Mystery of God that He loved the world so much that His Plan of Salvation of the world which has rejected His Grace could receive His Mercy. Truly Jesus is the Son of God and to all those that desire to be made well, we can KNOW that we WILL be made well by Believing in the DIVINE POWER of the Name of the Only Begotten Son of God, even our LORD — JESUS!!!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has prayed three times in the Garden of Gethsemane where the betrayal of our LORD into the hands of the chief priests was about to occur. His DEATH was happening just as Jesus had told His disciples just two days before the Passover when Jesus had said: “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” (Matthew 26:2) and then when His Last Passover with His disciples began Jesus told His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” (Matthew 26:21). Now Jesus and His disciples (with the exception of Judas Iscariot) are in Gethsemane and Jesus awakes the sleeping disciples and announces, “Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer (Judas Iscariot) is at hand.” (Matthew 26:46) Matthew writes: “And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people.” (Matthew 26:47) Judas then gave Jesus a kiss as a sign of identifying Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” (Matthew 26:49) Jesus replied to this greeting from Judas His betrayer, “Friend, why have you come?” (Matthew 26:50). Jesus of course knew the reason Judas had approached Him in the darkness with a detail of  armed guards but no one else knew that this was all part of the Master Plan of Salvation and it should be noted that even though Jesus KNEW that He was being betrayed by Judas that Jesus still addressed Judas as “Friend”! Had this event caught Jesus by surprise and had Jesus been mad at Judas then it would have been a victory for evil and darkness but Jesus by His calm greeting of “Friend” to Judas at this exact moment announced VICTORY for all that is GOOD for the Plan of Salvation was going according to Plan and even though this final Path for Jesus would lead to the Ultimate Sorrow on the cross, Jesus KNEW that His Suffering would lead to the Ultimate Joy and with His Final Earthly Destination of the Cross, Death, a Grave , and the Resurrection clearly in view, Jesus called Judas “Friend”!!! All Christians who profess Jesus as the Son of God and believes that God so loved the world that He gave us GRACE through the Sacrifice of His Only Begotten Son that we should see the betrayal of God and His Son by the world as part of the Path to God’s Glory! We should never seek to “judge others” nor seek “revenge” for Jesus commanded us to “judge not” and God has declared “vengeance is Mine”  and when we see Jesus fulfilling prophecy as He becomes the Passover Lamb of God we should see VICTORY over evil as the Ultimate Outcome of any life lived in Obedience to the Father’s Will! This Ultimate Confidence comes when Peter pulls his sword in an effort to protect Jesus from His betrayer’s and Jesus says to Peter: “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it happen thus?” (Matthew 26:52-54) Jesus knew His “hour had come” and as always Jesus points “the multitudes” to the Scriptures as He expresses the Ultimate Confidence in the Scriptures to provide “Deliverance” when He the explains why the betrayal and why the Sacrifice: “But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” (Matthew 26:56A) However Matthew records what is still today our normally predictable human response when evil raises its ugly head for immediately after Jesus spoke those words Matthew wrote: “Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled” (Matthew 26:56B) — and we today when faced with great sorrow and great evil we fail to listen to JESUS,  but instead we forsake Him and go the way of the world and we fail to “Watch and Pray” — but that does not change the Plan of Salvation nor diminish the VICTORY OF THE CROSS!!! Our failure to pursue God in no way diminishes God, His Glory, nor His Sovereignty — our failure only makes us vulnerable to the attacks of evil for our defenses are weakened because our Faith has been abandoned and we expose ourselves to the lies of the world! Our best defense is to “Watch and Pray” for God is VICTORIOUS OVER THE WORLD!

NOVEMBER 24 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

 NOVEMBER 24  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, O Jesus, the Name above all names, but even more amazing is that the Most High God would send His Only Begotten Son to live a Perfect and Innocent Life and die upon a cross as the Passover Lamb that whosoever believed in Him could call on that Precious Name for Salvation and enter into the Eternal Kingdom of God! Lord, the longer I live under Grace, the more I realize the need for Your Mercy, indeed give me this day Your Daily Bread, for only You have the Words of Eternal Life! Blessed be the Name of Jesus!!!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has entered into His Great Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane for He knows that soon He will be “despised and rejected” as foretold by the prophet Isaiah 800 years before Jesus “became flesh and dwelled among us” and Jesus knew the Divine Extent that He would be “wounded for our transgressions, …bruised for our iniquities, … the chastisement for our peace [laid] upon Him, … [Jesus would receive] the stripes [in His Body] that would heal our souls.” (Isaiah 53) Earlier in His Ministry Jesus had read from Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth and pronounced: “Today this Scripture {Isaiah 61:1-2} is fulfilled in your  hearing” (Luke 4:21) and here in the Hour of His Betrayal the disciples will observe the Scriptures once again being “fulfilled” as they will witness first hand the fulfillment of the Prophecy of the Suffering Servant and we can be sure that with our limited intellect that while we are in this mortal body we will not be able to comprehend the extent of the Agony of Gethsemane nor the excruciating pain of Golgotha but we can be sure that Jesus KNEW that for Him to be the Atonement of ALL sin that He would have to Suffer and accept the Pain for our iniquities and Jesus was there when it was Divinely determined that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin”!!! (Hebrews 9:22) Jesus knew He was the Passover Lamb to be killed as the Acceptable Sacrifice by God for the remission of ALL sin and Jesus has encouraged us: “Follow Me” and “enter into God’s Labor and Harvest of souls” when He asked, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)  Jesus again admonishes the sleeping disciples: “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.” (Matthew 26:45) and then Jesus tells us how to move forward in our ministries “Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.” (Matthew 26:46) …Jesus never gives up on us and He never quits Teaching and every Lesson is for all people. The Timeless Message of Jesus is appropriate to our generation especially as we see that once again we are in bondage to sin as never before in our great nation as the forces of evil that are changing our once great American society has enslaved us by removing prayer from our schools, God from our government, passed laws allowing the murder of the unborn, and “legalized” many activities that God Himself has declared as “abominations”, yet as a culture we are openly embracing them in open defiance of the One True Living God of Jacob!?!? Surely the Words of Jesus rings true, “Are [Christians] still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.” (Matthew 26:45)   If we are going to claim to be “Followers of Christ” then we must prove our loyalty and our love to Jesus and do as Jesus instructs us — “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) and Jesus in His Gethsemane plea has commanded, “Watch and Pray and Rise, let us be going…”!   The “hour” is getting late and we have slept long enough so let us “be going” for soon, very soon, God will complete His Plan of Salvation which includes as the Conclusion of our time on earth, the Final Judgement where God Himself will separate the sheep from the goats and we will hear Jesus saying: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27) Jesus is “talking” but the SERIOUS question is “Are we not listening to Him because we have let the world put us to sleep?” 

NOVEMBER 23 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

 NOVEMBER 23  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord and my Redeemer, what is man (?), and certainly, what am I (?) that the Son of God would suffer and die the cruelest death, and to offer Himself as the Passover Lamb to deliver the undeserving?!?! Lord, I plead as did the thief on the cross: “Lord, remember me [now that] You [have] come into Your kingdom!” (Luke 23:42)    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus  has just made His Crucifixion personal with this Question He asked as He was in the Garden of Gethsemane after eating the Passover with His disciples. Judas has left the group to betray Jesus to the chief priests, Peter has sworn to die defending Jesus, and the other 10 disciples had followed Jesus to the Garden and Jesus has told them to “Sit here…” while He went to pray but Jesus left them with a serious command: “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” (Matthew 26:38) So the disciples knew this was a critical time and yet they fell victim to the world because it was late and they were tired so even though Jesus had just commanded them to “watch with Me” that they fell asleep and Matthew records: “Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping…” (Matthew 26:40) It is at this point that we all find ourselves guilty of not watching and we know we are guilty as we answer Jesus when He asks us as He catches us sleeping instead of “watching” with Him — “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40) —It was after Jesus asked this direct personal Question that Jesus then made it clear that we were putting our souls in danger when He said immediately: “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41) Jesus never asks a Question, and especially when He has made the Question a personal one, without leaving us with a Truth of God that if we apply it to our daily lives we will be blessed. Jesus does not leave anything to “interpretation” because He makes it simple and plain, or as Pastor Steve says, “Put the cookies on the bottom shelf so everyone can get to them!”  Jesus simply commanded us to “Watch and pray…” which is within everyone’s capabilities and Jesus gave us some helpful incentives because if we “Watch and pray…” as He commands us then the problem of us falling victim to the “flesh” and entering into the “temptation” of the world will be averted. The Lesson we should learn is that God intends for mankind to “enter into His labors with Him” and to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. God could have made us robots without the ability to “fall into temptation” but instead God gave us freewill and commands us to “Watch and pray” with Him and it is through “obedience” to His Word that our weak flesh will be strengthened and we will have the strength to pull others from the pit. Jesus confirms the importance of being “obedient” to the Father: “Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.’” (Matthew 26:42) This passage makes me think about the song “Trust And Obey” and Jesus makes it clear that “there is no other way” — so when we think about the Garden of Gethsemane we should think of it as another “Great Commission” — “Watch and Pray”!!!  

NOVEMBER 22 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

 NOVEMBER 22  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS -Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord when I stop and realize what You gave in terms of Yourself for the good of others, I am ashamed at what little I have done for the eternal security of even my own family. Lord, forgive me of the sin of omission and may I from this day forward look for each opportunity that You will place in my life that through serving those in need that I will be serving You. Lord You gave Yourself without conditions that we may inherit the kingdom — an inheritance that You paid so high a price for but gave freely, Lord let me die to the old sinful self and serve others as You served, not for my benefit, but for the Glory of God!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has just shared the Passover with His disciples and made it clear that this Passover would be His Last Passover until He partakes of the Passover “with [them] in My Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29) which is a very powerful statement to the disciples for Jesus has been talking about His Imminent Death as the Passover Lamb! Jesus and His disciples rose from the Passover Meal and have now entered into the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus told them, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” (Matthew 26:36) Matthew then writes: “And [Jesus] took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.” (Matthew 26:37) Peter had just sworn his allegiance to Jesus up to and including his own death so when Peter hears Jesus saying He was going to “pray” and then observes that Jesus is “sorrowful and deeply distressed” and knowing that Jesus has announced His Imminent Death it is understandable that Peter would have been concerned — but when Jesus said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me” (Matthew 26:38) that you would certainly think Peter would be on guard!? But  alas, “[Jesus] went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39) In quick succession Jesus has announced His Death, Burial, Resurrection, made it clear that He would meet them in “My Father’s kingdom”, Jesus had at His Last Passover Supper demonstrated His body would be broken and His blood shed for the “remission of sin”, Jesus then left the Upper Room Passover with His disciples and entered into Gethsemane where He began to “pray”, and there in Gethsemane Jesus became “deeply distressed” and “exceedingly sorrowful” and then “fell on His face” and Jesus cried out, “O My Father…” which should serve as the Perfect Example of how we should face both life and death by Trusting God The Father! Jesus KNOWS that He will be RESURRECTED but the fact that He is asking His Father to “let this cup pass from Me” is an indicator that JESUS KNOWS that there is going to be great pain involved on the cross! Nowhere else in Scripture does it state that Jesus is “deeply distressed” nor “exceedingly sorrowful” or that He requests His Father to change His situation so we can be certain that Jesus was making the Ultimate Sacrifice! Jesus knew that His Father would allow the great weight of ALL SIN to be put on His Shoulders and the Father has made it clear from the Garden of Eden that the penalty for sin is death!  Here in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus knows that He must feel the pain of death for EVERY SIN ever committed in the Past, the Present, and all Future — literally ALL Sin!!! If Jesus is going to Sacrifice His Innocent Life for ALL SIN then He would have to suffer the Penalty for ALL SIN and Jesus knows that at some point that the Father would have to abandon His Only Begotten Son because God the Father cannot look on sin and it is my belief that Jesus is distressed because He has NEVER BEFORE been left ALONE by HIS FATHER — but for the FATHER to be FAIR AND JUST, JESUS MUST SUFFER DEATH ALONE AND SHED HIS BLOOD or the SACRIFICE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTABLE! That is the Supreme Responsibility Jesus was about to face and He was both “distressed” and “sorrowful” on a scale we cannot imagine but it tells this TRUTH OF GOD — ONLY THROUGH JESUS IS THE REMISSION OF SIN POSSIBLE!!! It is a small wonder that Jesus is concerned and commanded His disciples to “watch with Me” and I can hear the disappointment in His voice when the disciples went to sleep on Him and Jesus asked,  “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40). Surely each of us that reads the Scriptures knows the Sacrifice was Supreme and those that do not read the Scriptures know that sin is a very serious issue in every life so when we become aware that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that His Purpose was to be our Savior then we should accept the challenge to “pray and watch with [Jesus] one hour” or do you find yourself as I do keeping company with the disciples and Peter and we are sleeping on our “watch”?!?!?!

NOVEMBER 21 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

 NOVEMBER 21  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#32 “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, JESUS, JESUS, I come today with a broken spirit for the thought that I entertained yesterday! I realized that I was grieving the Holy Spirit with that thought I let form in my mind for the Holy Spirit convicted me and I immediately begged for forgiveness. I have again grieved the Holy Spirit for I have not trusted in the Promise that if I will repent that God is Faithful and will forgive and it is my lack of faith again entering into my thoughts that separate me from fellowship with God. I know how my spirit has been depressed since I knew I was having an unclean thought because I can feel that separation and it hurts me deep in my soul — Lord, again I pray for a “clean heart” and a “renewed spirit” for I desire Your fellowship and beg for forgiveness of letting my spirit drift away — and I know it is my fault because You have promised to “never leave nor forsake me” — Praise God!!!  AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has announced His Death, Burial, and Resurrection and has eaten the Passover with His disciples and demonstrated with the bread and the wine that His body will be broken and His blood will be required of Him as part of the “new covenant” and Jesus stated clearly the Divine Purpose was “for the remission of sin” (Matthew 25:31-26:32). Jesus has up to this point been explaining and showing by example what His Divine Responsibility is in God’s Plan of Salvation and starting with Matthew 26 verse 33 Jesus will Teach us another Truth of God about ourselves as Jesus responds to Peter’s promise that he would “never be made to stumble” (Matthew 26:33) Peter was the first to declare that Jesus was Christ the Son of the Living God, Peter has walked on water, Peter was present at the Transfiguration and saw Jesus with Moses and Elijah, and when many disciples of Jesus was leaving and going back to the world and when Jesus asked the twelve if they too were going to leave, it was Peter who said there was nowhere else to go because only Jesus had the “words of eternal life!” All these scriptural credentials should be sufficient for us to have confidence that Peter would indeed never “stumble” so it at first shocked me when Jesus replied to Peter, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” (Matthew 26:34) Matthew then records: “Peter said to Him, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!’ And so said all the disciples.” (Matthew 26:35) Jesus is leading up to His next Teaching Question which in light of the context of the Passover, the Betrayal, and the Imminent Suffering at the hands of those Jesus came to Save. When Jesus announces that even Peter will “deny” Him then asks His next Question after His Last Passover Supper as He and His disciples enter Gethsemane, we should know that Jesus is personally calling each individual to look at our lives which we claim to be living for Him and answer His very personal Question:  “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”  (Matthew 26:40) We should understand that Peter was not being attacked by Jesus nor was Peter possessed by an evil thought from Satan like we ascribe to Judas who betrayed Jesus to the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver. Peter knew Jesus was the Son of the Living God and Peter believed in his heart that he would not stumble so why does Jesus call Peter out personally? Here is a Truth of God  the world does not want us to hear but Jesus Teaches in a dramatic fashion; but, we have to see Peter through the eyes of a Gracious and Merciful God and not a callous and condemning world view because Jesus is using Peter to say that all the world’s (and Peter’s) righteousness is but “filthy rags” and “all sin and fall short of the Glory of God”!    Even so,  Jesus is Teaching that there is “nothing to hard for God” and God will prove Himself ———“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)  The Lesson Jesus is Teaching “all” then is that there is no sin that we can commit that if we confess it to God that God has Promised “all” that He will be Faithful to “forgive us our sins” and “cleanse us from all unrighteousness” and as part of the context surrounding Jesus is telling Peter {paraphrased} “Yes Peter, even you will deny me, and not just once but three times but remember that I have come to be the Passover Lamb and My death on the cross is for the remission of sin, all sin, including this night when you will deny Me even after promising Me your loyalty — I will forgive you when you confess your love for Me AFTER I am RESURRECTED!” Jesus has invested His earthly life entirely in Teaching about the Father and the Power and Glory of God and how God Promises to use that Power and Glory to rectify the problem of sin in our individual lives! The Lesson is simple: “We will sin, but God will forgive if we but repent and confess!”