JULY 22 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#22 “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15)

 JULY 22  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#22  “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (Matthew 20:15)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Praise, Glory, and Honor to the Only Begotten Son of the Living God that Sacrificed Himself willingly on a cruel cross, who Died on my behalf, was Buried by men but was Resurrected by our heavenly Father on the Third Day. Jesus now sits at the right hand of God making intercession for all who believe that the Son of God came to save lost souls from an eternal burning hell and indeed all who call upon the Name of Jesus for Salvation receives Forgiveness from our Father in Heaven. Lord Jesus, there has never been nor is there any reason or need for another like You, for Your life, death, and Sacrifice was Perfect and Sufficient. Jesus I acknowledge on a daily basis my unworthiness and surrender my soul to You, and pray as humbly as I can to be showered with Your Mercy and Grace, LORD JESUS lead me in paths of righteousness for Your Name’s sake.   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has just spent a large amount of effort in Teaching His disciples about sin and now Jesus moves on to addressing more details about our daily lives as Matthew writes, “Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings [on sin], that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.” (Matthew 19:1) As we move from one area in our lives to another, we usually encounter new circumstances and when we do, we will find Jesus there and Jesus will already have a Lesson planned for us to cover every circumstance we will encounter. Matthew documents that “…great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.” (Matthew 19:20) but everywhere Jesus performed miracles there was opposition to His generosity of His Spirit to those who followed Him and it always came from the “authority” figures who seek to have “control” over the populace. Matthew writes: “The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him…” (Matthew 19:3a) and so once again as Jesus does the work of God and heals the multitudes that He comes under attack from the Pharisees who were the “traditionalists” of their time in Jewish history. Jesus repeatedly turned their attacks on His doing the work of God to exposing their problem with their “traditions” based on their wrong interpretation of God’s Laws. In this particular case, in this passage in Matthew, this group of Pharisees asked Jesus “…saying to Him, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?’” (Matthew 19:3b) Jesus took the question the Pharisees had used to try and trick Him with and Jesus used their own question to actually expose a major problem with both the common Jewish practices as well as the Pharisee’s teaching of “traditional” Jewish laws which the Pharisees followed even at the expense of God’s original intent for giving them His Laws in the first place! Earlier in Matthew, another group of Pharisees had attacked Jesus regarding picking grain to eat on the Sabbath and Jesus had responded by asking them: “Why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3) and then Jesus called the Pharisees “hypocrites” then He quoted Isaiah: “But their heart is far from Me, and in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Isaiah 29:13/Matthew 15:3-9)  Jesus therefore has used every attack from the “traditionalists” to expose a problem with the way we “sin” against God by turning our hearts from following God’s Laws and instead follow the doctrines of “men”. Following the “doctrines of men” instead of “following God” is a problem with every generation, and the generations living now are no exception and each generation stands in need of learning the Lesson that Jesus is about to Teach in this circumstance. The fact that Jesus could Teach a Lesson to correct a problem exposed by Isaiah 800 years before Jesus was even born makes one realize that Jesus must be God, for only God could Teach a Lesson that could be applied to every generation, every creed, nation, and race — and a Universal Lesson like that can only be explained by the fact that God and His Truth is Unchanging and Eternal — therefore if something is Unchanging and Eternal it must be of God! If you read the answer Jesus gave the Pharisees as recorded in Matthew 19:4-12 and your heart is  “hardened” by His answer then it is safe to assume that you are part of the problem and need the Teachings of Jesus to free you from the slavery of being in bondage to the “commandments of men”!  Don’t you “think” that it would be better to “please God” who made the commandments than to “please men” that have manipulated God’s commandments so that the populace will succumb to the power of “men” and ignore “God”?!?!?!? Or do you believe that we as a society should be ruled by a court of nine judges that call themselves the “Supreme Court” or should everyone be under the Supreme Rule of Law established by the True Supreme Judge, God Almighty Himself?!?!?

JULY 21 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 21  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, Thank You Jesus for Your Great Sacrifice. Lord when we stop and think about what You had to give up of Yourself for the sake of the unlovable we cannot comprehend such Supreme Sacrifice nor can we explain in terms of our limited finite intellect how such a Sacrifice even works, God giving Himself and His Divinity and Unlimited Power for lost and dirty sheep??? Lord Jesus, forgive me for my unrepentant attitude and turning from Your Grace and Forgiveness so freely given yet at such great cost to the Giver. I no longer need to understand why, I acknowledge only the TRUTH that You were Obedient to the Father’s Will and You Suffered and Died so that my sin could be forgiven and that You defeated death and the grave that I may be clothed in Your Righteousness and enter into an eternity of fellowship with the Father!  I KNOW I AM A SINNER — I BELIEVE YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD — LEAD ME IN THE PATHS OF YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has spent great effort in educating His disciples about “sin” and the eternal impact that sin has on our souls and here in the 18th Chapter of Matthew Jesus continues detailing “sin” in some very dramatic terms and we should pay close attention to the fact that each time Jesus presents the “problem” of sin, He also makes sure that we understand that He has come to the earth as the “Solution” to the sin problem and let us not miss the importance of His Great Sacrifice in order that our sins can be “Forgiven”!!! Jesus does not need forgiveness for anything so why the great Self-Sacrificing effort for those that are guilty of sin and must face the Final Judgement where ALL sin will be exposed? Jesus has spent His Life on earth Teaching us about the kingdom of heaven and both He and John the Baptist (who was sent to announce the arrival of God’s Chosen One) started their ministry proclaiming “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Jesus is making it clear that God the Father has sent Jesus His Son to resolve through the Holy Spirit the problem of sin in the world ——— for the Truth of God is that because God is Holy He desires to save the sinner but that same Holiness dictates He cannot look on sin. Therefore if something is not done to correct the sin problem in our life we will die and stand before God to be judged. If we are not clothed in the Righteousness of Jesus then we are standing before God with our sin being an offense to Him. God will not have to judge us, for it is our own sin that will declare us “guilty” at which time God will then require “payment” for our rejecting Him and His Son that He sent to die to pay our penalty for our sin! Payment for our sin is that our eternal soul will be forever separated from the Love of God and we will spend eternity in the place already set aside for those that do not accept His Gift of Grace. That place of eternal penalty has been described clearly many times as “the everlasting fire” and is the place called “hell” which God has reserved for the unrepentant. I will make it clear that Matthew is an historian and not a fiction writer and therefore when we think of “hell” we must understand that it was Jesus that used the term “hell” and “everlasting fire” and “hell” is always associated with the “penalty for sin”. If we miss Jesus Teaching about “hell” then we are missing His Divine Lessons on “sin”!  Without God’s Truth about “sin and hell” we will miss His Lessons on “entering heaven” because Jesus always Taught His Lessons on sin, hell, and repentance together! Jesus continued in Matthew 18 Teaching about how we are to react if our brother sins against us — Jesus Teaches that we are to forgive our brother and not just once, but Jesus said, “I do not say to you, [forgive your brother that has sinned against you] up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:22) Jesus was Teaching His disciples that we are to do all things like He would do them, and that we are to do them in His Name and He gave His disciples this promise: “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20) Then Jesus tells His disciples a long parable about a certain king that wanted to settle accounts with his servants (God and the final judgement) and the king forgave a servant that owed the king a great debt but then the servant who was forgiven by the king then failed to forgive someone that owed the servant a lessor debt. The king found out that the servant who had been forgiven much did not forgive others their lessor debt and the king asked the servant whose debt the king had forgiven, “Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?” (Matthew 18:33) Jesus then told His disciples in very clear language: “and his master was angry, and delivered him [the one that would not forgive others] to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.” (Matthew 18:34) then Jesus said to His disciples: “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (Matthew 18:34) Make no mistake reader, God is VERY SERIOUS about “sin” and the solution is “Forgiveness” through His Only Begotten Son Jesus so we must ask ourselves “honestly”, “Have I forgiven others who have sinned against me as often as I have sinned against God and received His Divine Forgiveness?”

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”?

JULY 19 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 19  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 Thank You for the answered prayers that You have graciously allowed in my life. When I was in my first “Spiritual 365 Day Journey” through Your Word in 2004,  I  wrote a prayer which I will pray again as a witness to Your EVERLASTING Faithfulness and the Timelessness of Your Word!  The 2004 prayer has been answered but it is even more relevant today: [From August 2004] “Jesus, Your Way is Perfect, Your Word is Faithful, Your Name is to be Praised by ALL men, for You alone are Worthy. I confess You as Lord and come to You as a humble servant, knowing that serving You is the greatest honor I can achieve on this earth, my prayer is that when people talk of me, they will say ‘He was a man of God.’ Lord, I also pray for my wife, Deb and our marriage, that we will rededicate all that we do to Your Glory and Kingdom. I pray that our hearts will be turned completely to You and that we can say with confidence that ‘to live is Christ and to die is gain.’”    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus had previously Taught that “life is more than food and the body more than clothing” (Matthew 6:25) and that we should “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) because Jesus warned us “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21). When Jesus healed the centurion’s servant and told the centurion the reason the servant was healed was because of the centurion’s “great faith” in the Power of Jesus to heal and then sent the centurion home and said “Go your way; as you have believed, so let it be done for you. And [the centurion’s] servant was healed that same hour.” (Matthew 8:13) that Jesus was clearly Teaching that it is our “Faith in God” that will “heal” us!  Once Jesus made it clear that “Faith in God” is a requirement for getting into heaven, He then Taught what will prevent us from entering into heaven. Jesus healed a paralytic and said to him, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” (Matthew 9:2) and Jesus performed this healing on the Jewish Sabbath and the scripture Teaches us that Jesus is ALL KNOWING. Matthew records what Jesus Taught the scribes during this “healing” in relation to “sin and forgiveness” as we read: “But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you’ or to say ‘Arise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins’” ——— afterwards [Jesus] turned to the paralytic and said, ‘Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.’  And [the paralytic arose and departed to his house.” (Matthew 9:4-7) Jesus then demonstrated His Power over death and disease as He healed a woman who for twelve years had a flow of blood problem. All the woman did to be healed was to touch the hem of His garment and Jesus declared “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” (Matthew 9:22) Jesus then raised a man’s daughter from the dead because the man had said in “faith” to Jesus, “…but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live…” and Jesus “…went in and took [the dead girl] by the hand, and the girl arose.” (Matthew 9:24) Jesus then healed two blind men and before healing them Jesus asked them “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28) and when the blind men responded “Yes, Lord” Jesus “touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith let it be to you’” and then Matthew records, “and their eyes were opened.” (Matthew 9:27-30)  Jesus then “called His twelve disciples to Him, and He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease…” then Jesus sent them out to the “lost sheep” and commanded them, “Preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:1-8) But after giving us a list of things to do to enter into heaven Jesus then gave His disciples a list of what “NOT TO TAKE” with them as He told His disciples “Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.” (Matthew 10:9-10) Jesus then introduced the next concept for the disciples as they were to go about His work that He had commanded them to do as Jesus tells them “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28) Jesus has now Taught His disciples that it is the Power of God that heals and that we must have “Faith in the Power of God”!!! Our “Belief in God” is the conduit through which the Power of God flows into our lives!!! Jesus is also Teaching that our “faith in God” is what will keep us from our “sin” but that our battle on earth is between what we “say” we “believe” and what “actions” that actually result in our lives which is the true indicator of  our true “belief”. Jesus knows our thoughts and if we want to truly be healed or forgiven (which are the same thing) then we must “believe” in our hearts that Jesus is who He says He is and has the Power to “heal and forgive” — we all know that we want to be free from our sin but do we truly “believe” that Jesus has the “Power to Forgive”?!?!!?  Or is the power of sin to enslave us greater than the Power of God to free us from sin? The thing to do is to know that there is a battle and the battle is “Faith” vs. “Sin” and we should “think” to ourself, “Do I have the Power to forgive myself?” or do I want to “Believe and Trust” the One that died for my sin that I may have forgiveness and eternal life?”

JULY 18 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 18  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, thank You for one more day, may it be a day where everything I do and say will be to Your Glory, for You alone are worthy of ALL Praise! Lord Jesus, when You tell us to Love others as You have Loved the church, help me to see what is involved in Loving the church because the only way we can be free from sin is to believe in all that You did for the church that You Loved enough to give Your Life for!  Lord I know that You did not intend for anyone to perish but You died that ALL would have eternal life through Your Sacrifice on that cross. Lord Jesus, I truly believe You ARE the Son of the Living God, born of a virgin, lived a Perfect Life, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, but on the third day You were Resurrected and that You are LIVING TODAY, that You are still working miracles and saving souls. Glory, Praise, and Honor to the Son who Sacrificed Himself for my sins!!!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus throughout His Ministry while He was walking this earth did not gather anything to Himself. When we read about any other person in history or hear the oral traditions passed down about that person, we can always associate some possession that person had — except Jesus. Jesus came down from heaven on a “mission from God” and Jesus collected no possessions while living the “Perfect and Acceptable” life for the Father! We can easily deduce that if Jesus and His Work pleased the Father without gathering even a single possession unto Himself that we do not need a single possession ourselves in order to please the Father! Personally I find it a great comfort to know that I do not need a single possession in order to find favor with God! If “possessions” do not get us into heaven, then what does get us in? The answer to entry into heaven was stated by Jesus many times in a single word:

 ——— R E P E N T ———  In our passages for JQ#21 Jesus declared: “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost [in sin].” (Matthew 18:11) Jesus had started His discourse on sin and the rewards and punishment for sin at the beginning of this section of scriptures dedicated to recognizing sin as the biggest problem we will face. Jesus started this section by using the word “Assuredly” which is in effect a “promise” and then Jesus continued “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) Jesus said clearly that the ONLY way to enter the kingdom of heaven is for a “conversion” to take place in our lives. This conversion though is sort of unusual from a “growth” viewpoint for we are to be “converted” back to being “as little children”?!?!? Our first response is very much like Nicodemus when he asked Jesus “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” (John 3:4) These questions from Nicodemus (a ruler of the Jews), was in response to Jesus telling Nicodemus “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) So when the wisest teacher of the Jewish Law asks Jesus about a “Second Birth” and Jesus responds with the phrase “Most assuredly” and then Jesus states that in order to “see the kingdom of heaven” that we “must be born again”, then we must take Jesus at His Word for His whole mission is to bring lost sheep home to the Father. So Jesus has now twice said the same thing using different words — (1) we must be “converted and become as little children” and “we must be born again” then (2) if we are “converted” we will “enter the kingdom of heaven” and if we are “born again” that we will “see the kingdom of heaven”. These two passages in scripture confirm each other because this section in Matthew started with “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 17:22-23) and the scriptures in John reads: “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) The really important thing to notice about both passages is that God’s Plan for mankind to “enter” into heaven is through His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ — God’s Divine Plan includes a Divine Sacrifice on the part of Jesus. The Good News is that Jesus died on the Cross as part of the Plan of Salvation and John 3:17 confirms Jesus came to be the Sacrificial Lamb of God for Jesus states: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17) The scripture is clear, only our sin can separate us from the Love of God so that is why Jesus Teaches us so often to understand that “sin” is a personal “choice”!  Jesus is Teaching us that God has already determined the consequences of our “choice” and being a “fair” and “just” God, everyone will be judged according to our Free Will choices that we make —doesn’t it make good sense to “choose” to live guilt free in a life everlasting with the Father that Loves us rather than to reject Him and live alone in our guilt while burning in the everlasting fire of hell? 

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 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 lives will become Light and that 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)  ***********************************