FEBRUARY 05 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#02 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

FEBRUARY 05  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#02  “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you …and if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew 5:46-47)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer

JESUS, You Lord are to be praised by all mankind for there is not a soul that was ever born that did not or does not benefit from Your Great Sacrifice on the Cross in Obedience to the Father’s Will because You, God’s Only Begotten Son suffered and died for the sins of the world, ALL SIN for EVERY SOUL — so Lord Jesus I acknowledge that You paid my Debt and Ransomed me from my slavery to sin and I claim You as my Redeemer, may I now be found to be a “good and faithful servant” and that one day in glory I will hear You say, “Well Done!”      

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS used multiple Questions in Matthew 5:46-47 to basically bring to our mind the necessity of using our talents to help others instead of being selfish and looking out only for ourselves. Jesus brought up the topic of “Love” and pointed out that if we intend to spend our eternity in heaven with God then we should start living our lives in such a manner that it would be pleasing to God who demonstrated His “Love” for us that “While we were still sinners, [God gave us His Gift of His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ to the world and]  Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) 

Jesus made it clear that to receive a “reward in heaven” that we should “Love others” while on earth! Jesus then starts a series of Lessons on how we should be like God in our actions so that others will not see us but will see the “glory of God” shining forth from our actions! Jesus commanded at the end of Matthew chapter 5, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) and then Jesus begins immediately to instruct us on how to “be perfect” as He teaches:

 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what you right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.” (Matthew 6:1-4) 

So in our first step to being “perfect” before God is that we must do “charitable deeds” for others but Jesus warns us not to be “hypocrites” — it is very interesting that Jesus tells us to do “charitable deeds” but immediately condemns “the hypocrites in the synagogues” that are doing “charitable deeds”!?!?!? The term “hypocrites” is always used by Jesus to describe those that “do good things” but that they do them “for the wrong reason” which is a VERY IMPORTANT LESSON on “doing for others” — for Jesus tells us that we should do our “charitable deeds in secret” and avoid the temptation to make ourselves look good in front of other men which would make us “hypocrites” in God’s eyes but we should do our “charitable deeds” in such a manner that we do not get any personal credit but that others would benefit from our “charitable deeds” and “your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”!!! 

The VERY IMPORTANT LESSON is that we should GIVE TO HELP OTHERS and TRUST GOD FOR HIS REWARDS. 

Every time we seek glory from men for some action that we have done we risk being “hypocrites” for when we act on God’s behalf but we do it to receive personal glory from men, we have robbed God! 

If we do our “charitable deeds” to glorify God, then and only then will God get the glory and we will receive a reward from “God Himself” — man cannot match the Gift of God nor can man give a reward that comes close to matching 

God’s Rewards!!! 

So our first step in “perfection” then is to imitate God and do “charitable deeds” in His Name and for the kingdom's sake and not for our own personal glory!!!

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THE PATRIOT’S PULPIT

Comment: 2/5/24 Monday 4:08A - Good (early) Morning Patriots. It was last Monday that Paul tried to get out of bed and fell and broke his arm. We had to send for an ambulance as we could not even get him out of the floor and barely got him out of the very awkward position he had fallen into when his walker rolled away from him and his legs gave out and he fell against the bed, his broken arm was causing him great pain so we had to try and make him as comfortable as possible in that awkward position on the floor waiting for the ambulance! It has been awkward and difficult ever since and this past week has been very hard on Deb and I as his 24/7 caregivers because he cannot move himself and has been bedridden completely and Deb and I are not spring chickens ourselves. 

I mention this not to get sympathy but to enforce what the above scriptures say about “giving to others” and to “do it for the right reasons” and I will make a connection to what is happening to America, which has fallen down and if we don’t help America get up then she could well be down for the count. But, we can’t be selfish about the awkward position we find ourselves in but we must do the right thing and it may be a little “uncomfortable” for awhile but when those you love are hurting, you will do whatever is necessary and whatever you can to help in whatever way you can. 

In my position as “son-in-law” in this current situation I am getting a couple of different perspectives not previously considered. First, I am so proud of Debbie because what she is doing is very hard, her dad cannot do anything, and I mean anything, for himself and whenever there is a “mess” it is cleaned up and she is amazing because I KNOW how stressful it is to have to deal with a hurting loved one that is in a lot of pain and not always cooperative to her efforts to resolve the issues with our limited resources but she gets it done and all the while trying to comfort him in his great pain. All I can do is help clean her as she is cleaning him and we have found that by helping each other we are growing closer, even in this difficult situation and that has the fingerprint of God all over it! Today we were up at 2:00A and once we got him settled we decided to build a fire and sit on the couch but off goes the buzzer and we are back at it. What has  happened because we are doing this out of love for family and for each other, God has blessed our relationship in ways that only through these trying times can we truly see real love in its simplest form. We are not getting much sleep but we are getting strength to make it through and it must be coming from God and His Holy Spirit! 

Yes, these are trying times but when you do the right thing for the right reason, God will bless in ways we cannot imagine and proves He will never leave us nor forsake us! I am seeing this as we live daily in a very difficult situation but yet, God is taking us through this valley of the shadow of death together and I am sure that is what is happening with America. As Patriots we have been put in a very difficult situation and it is “hurting” and it is not “easy” but if we don’t get America through this difficult time then it will only get worse! The only way we are going to get through this ordeal is to “Allocate” our “Resources” in the right place for the right reasons and only by following the leading of the Holy Spirit will we be able to get through the darkness. I can tell you from this current personal position I am going through that

 GOD WILL PROVIDE! 

Keep praying for us and keep praying for AMERICA!!!

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