APRIL 13 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?* “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

 

APRIL 13  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  

“How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, I pray for forgiveness for not resolving the spirit of disunity that existed yesterday as we were on “service” for the kingdom. I cannot explain it sufficiently to put it into words but anytime I am aware of the “division” of the “Spirit” I know that something is not right and Lord my prayer is to be made aware of my “shortcomings” in my “service” to You, for with You there must be “unity” ——— for the “HOLY Spirit” does not divide IT UNIFIES! 

Lord, I know that You have promised that if we are unified with the “Spirit” that we will be “One” with You and “One” with the Father — Lord help me identify the source of the division I felt yesterday, I desire for the kingdom’s sake to know if I was creating the situation with my “actions” or was I contributing to the division by my “reactions”, Lord, in either case, let me take full responsibility and “repent” as necessary to return to the “Divine Unity”!    

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is dealing with false accusations against His Ministry therefore when we read the 3 Questions asked in JQ13 it is a priority that we ask ourselves: “Just how important is it that we make a “personal spiritual connection” with this series of questions?”: (1)JQ#13A: “How then will his kingdom stand?” (Matthew 12:26) ——— (2) JQ#13B: “And if I [Jesus] cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?” (Matthew 12:27) ——— and (3) JQ#13C: “Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?”. (Matthew 12:29) The importance of making a “personal spiritual connection” is at least as important as the subject matter don’t you think?  

In JQ#13A Jesus had just said that a “divided kingdom will be brought to desolation”, in JQ#13B Jesus calls out the “enemy” by name and says Satan is involved. However, even as powerful as Satan is, his power also is lessened because of “division” to such a point that Jesus asked: “How will [Satan’s] kingdom stand [if it is divided]?” (Matthew 12:26) and then in JQ#13C Jesus uses a “strong man” as an example and states that even a “strong man’s house” and all his “goods” …will be “plundered” (Matthew 12:29) 

Therefore Jesus is saying that “division of the spirit” (1) will cause a “kingdom” to be brought to “desolation”, (2) “Satan” himself cannot survive, and (3) Even a “strong man” will be “plundered”. That sounds pretty serious to me to think that from a “division of the spirit” that a “kingdom” can be “desolated”, “Satan” can be “destroyed”, and the “strong man’s house” can be “plundered” — keep in mind that all these words and descriptions of destruction were used when the Pharisees falsely accused Jesus of “casting out demons by Beelzebub…” (Matthew 12:24) 

Jesus could have ignored the Pharisees and their false accusation but Jesus did not ignore it but responded with 3 Questions and therefore we must search the Questions Jesus asked to find “God’s Truth” that Jesus is trying to teach with such drastic examples! The fact that the Holy Spirit is directing us to ask ourselves if our “life is a plus or minus in God’s kingdom”  is to get our attention ——— if we do not address the false accusations against the kingdom of God then there will be serious kingdom repercussions in our personal lives! 

Jesus follows JQ#13C with:

 “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” (Matthew 12:30) 

With that declaration, Jesus just made the issue “deeply personal” and if we are trying to be a disciple of Jesus we will find it very difficult to “follow Jesus” if we do not “gather with [Him]”. Jesus is using some very serious terminology and pronounces some very severe “Consequences”  if we do not personally take a stand with Him (“He who is not with Me…”) ——— the world today is making all kinds of false accusations against God, His Son Jesus, and against The Kingdom so we must make the personal decision: “Are we with JESUS, or against Him?”

APRIL 12 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?* “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

 

APRIL 12  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  

“How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord, my Savior, Praise, Glory, and Honor to the Son of God Most High. Jesus, my prayer today is that the Holy Spirit will totally consume me and overflow from my spirit so that all that will be seen in me is Thee! Today I pray for the total destruction of the old man as I share Your Story of Grace and Forgiveness by the “Way” I live my day-to-day life. 

Lord, I know that without Your Grace and Forgiveness that I would still be lost in “self” and drowning in my “sin”, grant it Lord that all the words I speak today will be Your Words, that all my desires will be towards “loving others” as You have commanded. Forgive me mine iniquities, let Your cleansing Light be all that remains in my life.

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus Himself has always made His Lessons and Callings personal — we see Him calling out His disciples one by one and not only just calling them out individually but He called each one by name and made it clear to each one that they were to use their talents now to advance the kingdom of God! 

The way they were to learn “how” to advance God’s Kingdom was the same command Jesus has given each individual that will heed the Voice of Jesus, 

“Come, follow Me.” (Matthew 4:19) 

In JQ#13a, b and c we must understand that Jesus is asking the Pharisees to look at themselves and see that their false accusations are damaging themselves more than they are damaging Jesus. Jesus starts explaining this to the Pharisees by pointing out to them that the “reality” of their accusation has the root motivation of “division” and that even in the strongest of kingdoms there must be “unity of spirit” or the kingdom itself will weaken and eventually crumble:

 “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:25) . 

The fact that the Pharisees attributes the good works and miracles that Jesus had been performing was “by Beelzebub” points to the fact that “Satan” himself has been the motivating “spirit” directing the Pharisees to attack the good works of Jesus and  the Miracle Power of God — 

“Now when the Pharisees heard [Jesus was performing miracles and casting out demons] they said, ‘This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons.” Matthew 12:24)  

If we look at what Jesus had been doing in terms of healing and casting out demons we must concede that the “physical” results of these miracles can only be accounted for by the “Spiritual” Power of God being exhibited through Jesus — for never before in all of history nor ever will it happen in the future that anyone has or will “cast out demons by Beelzebub”!!!  However, the Pharisees could not deny that miracles were being performed so they had to draw the multitude’s attention away from God’s Power and therefore the Pharisees were given the “idea” from Satan himself to draw the focus of the miracles away from God and to give Satan the “credit” for this healing and casting out demons! 

The really big problem here can be seen as the ridiculous claim it really is — by saying that Jesus is “casting out demons” by the power of “Beelzebub”, the accusation itself reveals it as another fabrication by Satan to draw us away from the Truth of God!

 If Satan controls all the demons then why would Satan make himself look bad by putting demons into someone and then turning around and drawing them out again which would only put Satan at “cross purposes” with himself!?!?  Jesus points out that Satan would be fighting against himself and that would be self-destruction — but on the other hand, Jesus points out that by just the very mention of the name “Beelzebub” in their accusation that the Pharisees have exposed the source and supply of their false accusations and their true motivation which is to “divide and conquer” the followers of Jesus who is Teaching the Truth of God, doesn’t that sound exactly like what is happening in our world today? 

Jesus knew that this problem would plague all men just like the universal problem the world has with sin and self and if Satan can draw your attention away from God then he has divided God’s people! It is as true today as it was when Jesus first spoke it,

 “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house [or church group or family] divided against itself will not stand.”

(Matthew 12:25) 

That verse started with, “But Jesus knew their thoughts…” and the Lesson we must learn is that as soon as the name “Beelzebub” or “Satan” is mentioned we must look to find the false accusations that will be present against God — for the goal of Satan is “desolation” of God’s people!  Satan himself knows that 

“God so loved the world that He gave [the sin filled world] His only begotten Son [Jesus], that whosoever believes in [the acceptable Sacrifice on the cross for our sin by] Jesus that they shall not perish, but have everlasting life!” ( John 3:16)

 John 3:16 explains why Satan would attack and accuse Jesus — for it is Jesus that defeats Satan and frees all men from the slavery of sin and self! Satan has used the “separation-from-God” weapon against the children of God ever since Adam and Eve to “divide” and hurt all that seek to be the children of God! If we remain in our sin then we will perish and have to live our Eternity separated (or “divided”) from God, hence our “desolation” is Satan’s victory! 

Do you see now why Satan attacks the Truth of God and why Jesus is pointing this out with JQ#13? Jesus clearly points this out so that we will know that Satan always attacks God by attacking God’s people, and Satan’s favorite weapon of “desolation” is false accusations against God to get us to turn from God to ourselves where temptation and sin will consume us and separate us from God? 

If Jesus points out a “problem”, don’t you think a “solution” is quick to follow? Remember, “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed!” (John 8:36) 

APRIL 11 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?* “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

 

APRIL 11  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  

“How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

Daily Prayer to JESUS    

JESUS, each day is a new day in Your Grace, Lord I give You praise for Your Infinite Grace because of the great need in my life for it, what a glorious thought that both Your Compassion and Your Grace are without limits. 

Lord Jesus, give me the desire in my heart that I will live Your Grace daily and share it with others at every opportunity in order that souls in need of Your Great Compassion will come to rest in the Shelter of Your Infinite Grace. 

Forgive me when my flesh weakens, grant it Lord Jesus that my spirit will continue to abide in Your “Grace, Grace, Marvelous Grace, 

Grace that will pardon and cleanse within.”   

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus met the “legalist” head on as they were constantly plotting and devising schemes in which they hoped to trap Jesus with their man-made laws which the Pharisees had memorized to the “letter”!  But these “legalists” were only interested in wielding the “power” that they had stolen from God’s Law by enforcing on others the “letter” of the law instead of the “Spirit” of God’s Law.  

Jesus spent a lot of His Ministry addressing this very issue for the problem Jesus saw then is the same problem we see today, man wants “power” and since there is only One True Power in the universe, men must “rob God” when they seek to use that “power” to gain control over others. The method that has proved most successful in “robbing God” is through the passing of laws that give the “lawmakers” false “authority” over others. 

The original intention of the Pharisees was to make sure that the Israelites were following God’s Law but there is a law of the nature of man that exists which states: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This “power” to corrupt actually comes from defiling God’s Law and can be demonstrated as follows:

 

(1st) All POWER is from God, no “power” exists in the universe that does not come from God 

(2nd) God gave man “Free Will” which is really nothing more than man exercising “responsibility” to use the “power” of “Free Will” to make choices that honor God. 

(3rd) God gave man “Free Will” which gives man the “Freedom” to “choose” but God reserves the right to determine the “Consequence” of our actions. 

(4th) This determination of “Consequences” is God’s Law and God’s Law will NEVER CHANGE therefore every generation and each individual have equal opportunity to exercise the “power” God bestows on each and every individual in the form of “Free Will” and every choice we make in life either honors God or it defiles God’s “Spirit”. 

Since the Pharisees were the perfect example of taking God’s Law and making it man’s interpretation of God’s Law, Jesus time and time again confronted the “legalist” and demonstrated that the “Spirit” of the Law is the only True Power. The fact that Jesus is pointing us to this “Power of God’s Spirit” and that there is no “power” but that which comes from God can be seen in the next series of Questions Jesus asked the Pharisees when they accused Jesus of using “power” that originated with Satan!  Let us look at the accusation and then see how Jesus Teaches His accusers that there is “No Power aside from the Power of God!” 

The Pharisees had been following Jesus and their sole purpose was to trap Him with their manmade laws and discredit Jesus in front of the multitudes that were observing Jesus performing good works for the needy. The Pharisees had been watching Jesus do miracle after miracle and could find nothing to “accuse” Him of so they decided to “manufacture” a “problem”. Matthew recorded this effort of the Pharisees to find fault with all the good Jesus had been doing when Matthew writes: 

“Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, ‘This [Jesus] does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.’ But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them,…” (Matthew 12:24-25) 

and so that there was no doubt about the point Jesus was going to make, Jesus identified the author of the problem as “Satan”. (Matthew 12:26) Jesus knew that the Pharisees were addressing the “Power” issues and Jesus therefore is going to point us to the “Truth of God” that “ALL Power comes from God” and that not even Satan himself has any power except what power God allows him to have! 

Have you ever questioned this Truth of God yourself? 

Come on now and be honest, after all, Jesus knew the thoughts of the Pharisees and don’t you think He knows your thoughts as well? 

APRIL 10 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?* “How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

 

APRIL 10  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#13 * Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?*  

“How can you, being evil, speak good things? ” (Matthew 12:34)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Lord I pray back to You the words found in Your Holy Word that I may

 “be rooted and established in Your Love, and that I will be granted by the Holy Spirit the power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the Love of Christ, and to know that this Love of Christ surpasses all knowledge — I pray this that I might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” 

(Ephesians 3:17-19). 

Lord I also pray again the prayer I prayed on April 9, 2004 “…I pray daily that I would recognize that the ‘Cross is the Key’ to all Eternity and I praise God for His Perfect Plan of Salvation and I add to my praise that both God and Christ have been Faithful to His Master Plan of Salvation — daily I will pray for Your Resurrection in my life, 

daily I pray that You will search my heart 

and cleanse me of my iniquities 

that I may serve You better”.   

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has now moved to Teaching us another Divine Truth and He is drawing our focus to our personal “relationship” with God the Father — and Jesus encourages us to give serious consideration to our day-to-day lives and determine if we are making a “contribution” to God’s kingdom or are we so selfish still that all we can do is “take, take, take” as we whimper “gimme, gimme, gimme” as Jesus asks 

JQ#13.3 — “Is your life a plus or a minus in God’s kingdom?” 

(Matthew 12:24-37)

 

The Master Teacher of course has a Master Plan and as we have already learned through the first twelve Questions Jesus has asked, each Question builds upon the last and together they are  forming a stair-step knowledge that we may climb higher in the understanding of God’s Infinite Wisdom. This “precept upon precept” Teaching is very effective if when we come to gain understanding of one Question that we will ask ourselves in “Faith” — “Were will He lead us next?” 

I will be honest that when JQ#12 was revealed as 

“Who decides what is legal, God or man?” 

I thought that I may well spend Eternity trying to give an honest answer to that Question but then God spoke and the Holy Spirit asked

 “How much proof do you need to answer that Question for yourself?” 

— so I looked and indeed there was a mountain of “evidence” that I had not even began to dig into so the Question made good sense to me and I heard that “still small voice” tell me to decide for myself in my heart of hearts if I was going to let man or God declare what is legal? As soon as I delivered my verdict and declared a resounding affirmative that

 “God alone decides what is legal”  

that the “still small voice” said…

“Then let’s move on”. 

Going from so serious a Question as who determines all “Legality” in the universe for all “Eternity”, I thought that JQ#13 would be a less serious Question but no, there was an even more serious Question put in front of me to answer now, and it is also in front of you if you have been sitting under the shadow of

 the MASTER TEACHER  as He has asked these Questions that we may gain knowledge of the Father and His Kingdom. 

Jesus has been “living His Life as the Perfect Example” as in each Lesson we have been learning that not only will we “hear” the Lesson but we will also see Jesus “Living the Perfect Example” of each Lesson that He Teaches! 

As we look upon the

 “Perfect Example” of the “Divine-Do-As-I-Do” Life Lived by Jesus 

placed in juxtaposition with the classic “Hypocritical-Do-As-I-Say” example set by the Pharisees, we begin to understand that Jesus is saying 

“Walk-the-Walk”

 and that our lives should be lived in the Light of the Understanding that His Lessons impart to us. So let’s “Move on” from 

“JQ#12 - Who decides what is ‘legal’, God or man?” 

to the equally (if not even more serious) JESUS Question 

JQ#13 — “Is your life a plus or minus in God’s kingdom?”  

We will try to answer the Questions and study the “Perfect Example” in this next section for JQ#13 which covers Matthew 12:22-45, unless of course you do not think it is really necessary to answer these JESUS Questions or to worry about what God thinks about us, after all, can’t we get to heaven on our own path just by being good??

 — or do we also have to stop and ask, 

“Who decides what is ‘good’, God or man”?