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!!!”
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