DECEMBER 31 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#1-33 Conclusion The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

 DECEMBER 31  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#1-33 Conclusion   The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 

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DECEMBER 31  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#1-33 THE CONCLUSION —  The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Lord and Savior, as this year ends, let us REJOICE that it ends with HOPE, Your HOPE!!!  

THE TRINITY OF HOPE — 

TRINITY HOPE #1 — The  HOPE of CRIST IN US 

TRINITY HOPE #2 — The HOPE of the RESURRECTION OF THE SPIRIT TO NEW LIFE after the PHYSICAL DEATH has consumed our earthly vessel 

TRINITY HOPE #3 — The HOPE OF OUR SPIRIT SPENDING OUR ETERNITY WITH GOD IN THE ETERNAL LIGHT OF HOPE ITSELF WHICH IS JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF THE ETERNAL LIVING GOD!!!

The past year You have filled our Cup of Grace to overflowing and Your Mercy has showered upon us an abundance of Your Spirit of Peace and Joy. 

Thank You Jesus for Your Mercy and Grace that You have bestowed so Graciously upon us and as the year ends today we rely on Your Promise that You will never leave us nor forsake us so just as each new day is given to us as the sun rises because of God’s Faithfulness to Provide for our daily needs we look forward to a New Year that will be filled with Promise and Hope because each day we will have the SON RISE to LIGHT our way.  

O the Blessed Walk from darkness into LIGHT!!!     

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus Lived a Perfect Life that proved He was the Chosen One, God’s Messiah, for only this Jesus, born in Bethlehem to a “virgin” could have Taught the world about the “kingdom of heaven” filled with the Promise that “whosoever” believes that “God so loved the world” that He “gave His only begotten Son” SO THAT EVERY BELIEVER WOULD INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE as part of GOD’S Master Plan of Salvation sealed with the Blood of Jesus Christ would indeed receive GOD’S ASSURANCE THAT THE BELIEVER “SHALL NOT PERISH” (JOHN 3:16)!!! 

From Genesis to Revelation God has revealed this Plan of Salvation through the Sacrifice of the Passover Lamb to Provide Deliverance of God’s Chosen People to the Land of Promise! Only the Messiah would have lived a Perfect Life and then Sacrificially die a cruel death and  VOLUNTARILY Shed His DIVINE Innocent Blood for the Remission of ALL mortal SIN. 

The study of Matthew is a study of the “kingdom of heaven” as revealed to us through the Eyes, Heart, and Mind of THE One who has been there.  Jesus made it clear that “all authority” was His because God the Father had willed it so and Jesus laid out the pathway for us to “inherit the Father’s kingdom” — but at the same time Jesus was also making it clear that if we chose to live for ourselves that we would spend an eternity separated from God. 

As much as Jesus Preached “Salvation” He also Preached the “Final Judgement” when at the end of our lives EACH INDIVIDUAL will stand before God and we will be judged by how we lived our lives! Jesus Preached “you will know a tree by its fruits” and on several occasions Jesus said plainly that “by [our] own words” [and beliefs] we will condemn ourself and we will either be rewarded by our Faith in God and His Son or we will receive judgement for rejecting God and His Plan of Salvation. If one “choses not to be saved” then that person has “condemned oneself to eternal lostness”! 

God is Faithful and Jesus Taught that everyone is given the opportunity to either “Accept” or “Reject” God’s Plan and it is this “Choice” alone that determines our “Eternity”!!! 

God is Sovereign and has declared that we have the right to “Act according to our Choices” but in His Sovereignty God has reserved the Right to determine the “Consequence of our actions” thereby establishing the Eternal Consequence of Self Determination — God does not send anyone to hell, “WE PUNCH OUR OWN TICKET TO OUR CHOSEN DESTINATION” — we either choose to believe God and spend eternity in heaven with Him or we choose to reject God and by our own choice we condemn ourselves to eternity separated from God — 

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR BECAUSE GOD NEVER FORCES HIMSELF ON ANYONE, IT IS OUR CHOICE TO BELIEVE IN HIM OR NOT, IF ONE CHOOSES TO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD THEN GOD WILL GRANT YOU YOUR REQUEST AND LEAVE YOU TO YOUR OWN DEVICES. 

Just remember, Heaven OR Hell are where we must live OUR ETERNITY with our Choices we make in our lifetime ——— TRUTH ETERNAL is that GOD IS LOVE and we will know for Eternity we were RIGHT TO CHOOSE GOD or WRONG TO REJECT HIM!!! 

Jesus Taught us above all that we were to “Choose Life” and “Reject Evil” and spend an ETERNITY WITH GOD — and Jesus not only Taught us “How”, He Taught us “Why” and made it clear “Where” our Choice to Accept or Reject Him would take us!!! 

Let us therefore end this year and this study of Jesus with thankful hearts and look forward to another year knowing that we need not worry about tomorrow (or next year) for God the Father is already there and has all the provisions we need already waiting for us!!!   

Life is a Gift, but like any gift — we must open THE GIFT and accept it before it becomes ours!   In the famous Christmas quote from Tiny Tim, “God Bless us everyone!!!” 

 DECEMBER 30  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#1-33 SUMMARY-16 The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Lord as I come to the last days of another year that You have so graciously provided for us, my thoughts are turned to the wonders of Your Love which You have so graciously bestowed on such an unloveable creature as me. Lord Jesus, I know that aside from those Good Things You have given me and my family over the past year that there would be little to no good at all in my life were it not for Your Forgiveness of my many shortcomings and I would still be lost in my sin — BUT GOD, O the Mystery of God’s Love that has been given without condition or limit and we, the recipients of that UNCONDITIONAL LOVE OF GOD, have experienced the Abundant Life.  As I look toward another year I confidently pray, not my will, but Thine be done!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus was shown by circumstance to be the Messiah as recorded in the first four chapters of Matthew’s Gospel of Jesus Christ and starting with Chapter 5, Matthew records the Sermon on the Mount with which Jesus started demonstrating through His Life and Teachings that He was the Son of God and the long awaited Messiah. Jesus was first recognized as an extraordinary Teacher after the Sermon on the Mount and throughout the remaining writings of Matthew, Jesus then asked a series of Questions which would focus our attention on a specific topic or Lesson that Jesus used to explain to us “How” to live a life pleasing to “our heavenly Father”. 

The Lessons that Jesus Taught from His Questions were always built around an Example that Jesus Himself had Lived. That Jesus was Teaching Spiritual Lessons from God the Father was evident to everyone that had witnessed the Life that Jesus Lived and the Lessons of God that Jesus was Teaching. 

This Teaching of God and His Kingdom of Heaven “Fact” was best expressed in a conversation Jesus had with “a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He [Nicodemus] came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him.’” (John 3:1-2) 

Jesus went right to the “Point” of His Teachings: “Jesus answered [Nicodemus] and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” (John 3:3) Nicodemus knew that Jesus was Teaching about the things of God and if we study all the Questions Jesus used to introduce each Kingdom Lesson we too will know Jesus is the Greatest Teacher of the Mysteries of God that will ever walk the earth and in our “understanding” (that Jesus was so concerned about) of His Lessons that we also will “know” that Jesus IS the Son of God and was sent to bring Salvation to a lost and dying world. 

Jesus certainly didn’t ask Questions to gain “understanding” from us but rather, 

Jesus asked His Questions to impart “understanding” to us 

that we may know that God “so loved the world” (JOHN 3:16)  

…and that there were no limits to what God would do to impart Kingdom Knowledge to us in order to lead us “Home to be with our Heavenly Father”!!! 

The Gospel of Matthew begins: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ…” (Matthew 1:1) and ends with Jesus summing up His Lessons: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen (Matthew 28:19-20) 

Jesus never got off Point and Jesus never spoke without Teaching and for certain, after studying the Birth, Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus, we can confidently proclaim Jesus as the Messiah. 

To confirm to yourself the intent of The JESUS Questions, all one needs to do is “understand” that Jesus, the Son of God is asking the Questions directly to you and if you will give Jesus an “honest answer” — you will KNOW as did Nicodemus that Jesus is Teaching us about the Kingdom of God”!!! 

Once you “learn” what Jesus is Teaching, you will possess all the knowledge necessary “to become children of God…born not of…the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:11-13) 

The study of Matthew introduces Jesus Christ as the Son of God and if we learn the Lessons Jesus Taught with His Questions we will be equipped to enter into God’s Labor with Him for the Kingdom’s Sake 

and 

as we stand before God at the Final Judgement we will hear God declare to us “Well done thy good and faithful servant…enter into My Rest!!!”  

DECEMBER 29 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#1-33 SUMMARY-15 The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

 DECEMBER 29  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#1-33 SUMMARY-15   The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer to JESUS    

JESUS, Your Grace has been sufficient for my every need, You have kept Your promise to lead us through the valley of the shadow of death and to lavish upon us the abundant life!  Lord, I started the year praying that each day You would fill us with Your Spirit and guide us through every situation and You have! Lord Jesus, today I simply lift my voice and my heart to You in Praise - giving You all the Glory - for You alone are Worthy - for You are my Passover that has delivered me from this body of death - Your  Blood is Victorious over the world and all its lusts that rob us of Your Joy and Peace - Lord, Savior, Redeemer, Praise to Your Holy Name JESUS!!!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus was shown to be the Messiah by a series of prophecies that were fulfilled with the events surrounding His “virgin birth” and each one is unique in that each event came about as simple undisputed facts that could not have been controlled or manipulated by someone after the event itself occurred such as the lineage of His parents and subsequently because of His parents lineage Jesus was born in Bethlehem, none of us get to choose our parents or where we are born!  

Then when Jesus began His earthly Ministry He was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist who was the prophetic fulfillment of the forerunner of the Messiah and it was at this occasion that John declared about Jesus: “Behold [JESUS], the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world!”. John, the Messiah’s forerunner, had been foretold thousands of years earlier and John’s declaration and message of “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and his claiming that Jesus was the “Lamb of God” are Biblical facts that point to Jesus as being the long awaited Messiah — all of which are historical facts that could not be made up by followers of Jesus after His death! 

These “FACTS” pointing to Jesus being the Messiah could not have been “manufactured as part of some conspiracy” after Jesus was crucified because the Jewish leaders who had Jesus crucified by the Romans simply would have disputed any “made up” events because the Jewish traditions are built entirely on the preservation of their lineage and in addition the Jewish leaders were well versed in the Jewish Holy Scriptures which are filled with the prophecies of the Jewish Messiah and would have corrected any false claims immediately. 

Add to those facts about John the Baptist fulfilling the prophecy of the forerunner of the MESSIAH and the Jewish leaders protecting their Jewish heritage, these same Jewish leaders were the ones that condemned Jesus to death in the first place because of His claim to be the Son of the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, these same Jewish leaders would not have allowed any sect of “blasphemers” to fabricate a story using the Holy Scriptures to put the religious leaders in such a bad light!  Then to add insult to injury, the Jewish leaders had to stand by and let all these “false fables” become The New Testament and become the most printed and most widely read book in the history of the world! 

If Jesus had not existed and had not the “facts” surrounding Him not been true, then those “fabricating blasphemy” would have been punished because history itself proves that the Jewish leaders had the “power” to put someone to death if they were guilty of blasphemy — indeed this claim that He was the Chosen One is the very reason they used to put Jesus Himself to death! The odds are absolutely astronomical that these many facts could be fabricated for one man especially when the facts bring so much “shame” on a group of Jewish leaders that were so “all-powerful” and had dedicated centuries to preserving their heritage and control over the Jewish traditions! 

Matthew, who was a Jew himself and an eyewitness to the life Jesus lived and knew full well the Jewish heritage that had been handed down to him through his Jewish family plus Matthew was a well-educated Jew who was taught the Jewish Holy Scriptures and prophecies of the Coming Messiah making Matthew indeed the best qualified person to recognize that JESUS FULFILLED PROPHECY and was indeed JESUS CHRIST, THE MESSIAH!!!  

Matthew had written his Gospel of Jesus account  C. A.D. 50 and that would have been contemporary with many of the powerful Jewish leaders that had  been responsible for Jesus being executed for “blasphemy” against the Jewish traditions and Holy Scriptures and had Matthew simply fabricated these “facts about the life of Jesus” then Matthew himself would have been stoned to death and his writings would have been utterly destroyed. The simple fact that Matthew’s Gospel still exists is proof that the Gospel is the TRUTH OF GOD and JESUS IS GOD’S SON!!! 

The body of evidence is so great that one must fabricate reasons NOT TO BELIEVE — it is not a lack of FACTS that prevents one from BELIEVING IN JESUS — no, as with all things relating to faith in anything, it is our own “BELIEF” in the “FACTS” that establishes our “FAITH” — even atheists have “faith” but God cannot be “dis-proved”!! 

Hence, everyone is left with the individual responsibility of determining where we will spend our “eternity” — and that final determination will be based on what you “BELIEVE” to be “TRUE” about “JESUS” because the FACT of ETERNITY does not exist outside the FACT OF GOD!  It was God Himself that declared when the Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove after Jesus was Baptized in the Jordan, 

“You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11) 

There is no other man in all of history that can show from prophecy  past to prophecy future that He is the Son of God for we know from these God Protected and God Preserved Holy Scriptures that JESUS IS THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD — the facts prove it, but will you believe it to be true?

DECEMBER 28 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#1-33 SUMMARY-14 The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

 DECEMBER 28  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#1-33 SUMMARY-14   The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

Jesus, You Lord are the reason that there is HOPE each and every day, for we need Your Forgiveness, Mercy, and Grace on a daily basis! Just as You prayed to the Father for us (1) “Give us this day our daily bread” and (2) “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”,  let us daily take up our cross and follow You and depend on the Father’s will for our daily lives. 

Thank You Lord for Sacrificing Your Perfectly-Lived Sinless Life for our worldly lives so defiled and soiled with our daily iniquities — so we pray the Father, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever!”      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has been introduced by St. Matthew in his Gospel of Jesus Christ in such a manner that Jesus is revealed as the Messiah by 

(Proof #1) <<Matthew 1:1-17>> His genealogy, “the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ” (Matthew 1:1) that proves Jesus to be “the Son of David” and “the Son of Abraham” thereby fulfilling the minimum requirement for the long awaited and highly anticipated Jewish Messiah who in Jewish eschatology is a future Jewish king from the Davidic line. 

(Proof #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) 

(Proof #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)  

(Proof #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) John 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 [John] in the Jordan [after] confessing their sins…” (Matthew 3:6) and when John saw Jesus, John proclaimed Jesus the One that John had been sent by the Holy Spirit to “prepare the way of the Lord” (Matthew 3:3) and 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 

(Proof #5) <<Matthew 4:1 - Matthew 28:20>> Matthew documents that Jesus by virtue of His Lifestyle, the Lessons and Parables that Jesus taught, and that Jesus with His Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection “proves” that JESUS IS THE MESSIAH, GOD’S ANOINTED, GOD’S ONLY BEGOTTEN SON”!  

Therefore, we end the Gospel of Matthew with enough evidence to prove, in any modern court, that Jesus IS the rightful Heir to His Father’s Kingdom — but just as it was true when Jesus walked the earth, it is TRUE that each of us in our modern world must view the “evidence” through the filter of “FAITH” and provide the final verdict for ourselves and honestly answer the single most important question you will ever be asked: for one day 

YOU WILL STAND  in His Presence 

and Jesus  Himself will ask YOU — 

“But who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29)