APRIL 27 THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 13) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

 

APRIL 27 THE JESUS QUESTIONS 

(Day 13) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 

(Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34) 

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord of Life, You are greatly to be praised, 

Your Name is to be lifted up by all men 

and one glorious day every tongue will speak

 the Name above names, Jesus.

 Lord, there will be those that will regret not having called on that Name for salvation while still residing in these earthen vessels to transport us through the “physical” life, for without calling on the name Jesus, the “physical” cannot be transformed to the “Spiritual” for You are the Giver of All Life, both the “Physical” and the “Eternal”, and though it is as simple as “asking”, it is also the most difficult task because the “asking” must be done from a “humble” heart. 

Lord I thank You that You have changed my heart and now I pray for those that do not know the earthly peace of the confidence of Heaven, through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, that their “spirit” will yield to Your Divine Holy Spirit’s leading them to an understanding of the TRUTH OF GOD.      

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus gives us Divine Guidance for our “Spiritual health” through the Subject Lesson and the Order of His Teaching Questions and through the first 11 JESUS Questions, Jesus has outlined the plan for our discipleship by developing the proper perspective of both the Kingdom and the King of Heaven. 

Starting with JQ#12 Jesus “gets real” with our perspective of our “relationship” with God during our life on earth! 

Lesson  12  JQ#12  “Who decides what is legal, God or man?”       

Matthew 12:1-23

This JQ#12 question of “Who decides…?” really “cuts to the bone” but when we consider that this Question comes immediately after Jesus asked

 about our “Spiritual Expectations” of Him in JQ#11 — this JQ#12 JESUS Question is very serious indeed! 

First of all 

Jesus states that He is who He is because of the Father’s Will and not because of any “personal expectations” on our part 

and then Jesus makes the most practical application

 to why our beliefs should be based on the “Truth of God” 

and not some “interpretation” of what we think we believe! 

A.W. Tozer told this “Truth of God” in his book “Knowledge of the Holy” when he begins his book with:

 “What comes to our minds when we think about God 

is the most important thing about us.” 

Tozer is pointing out the 

“Truth of God” that if we have the wrong idea of God 

then our “eternal soul” is in jeopardy. 

There is not enough “money” or “power” in the world to justify thinking wrongly about God for God alone determines the “Truth” and man has no power to change the “Truth of God”, and no man ever will!! 

Jesus tries to call our attention to the fact that

 

we can know the “Truth of God” for it will be revealed to us but our obligation is to believe it when we see it. 

Jesus told the disciples of John who were looking for the 

“Coming Messiah” 

to look at what Jesus had actually been doing in His ministry and not what other men were claiming what “they thought” He was doing and the same is True for God, all we have to do is look at what God has done and what He is still doing today and admit that only God can accomplish those things!

 We must then accept

 the Truth of God that He ALONE is in control 

of every thing that happens in His Creation 

and not what some men say “they believe” about God. 

Our personal belief does not change God, 

God is ‘Unchangeable” 

— our “belief” changes us 

and it is not just a matter of “life and death” at stake, 

our personal belief in God 

is a matter of “where will our soul spend its eternity”!! 

Jesus warns us that we must see Him as the 

True Messiah 

for it is the only path that leads to the Kingdom of God 

and that it is God that is the Creator of our souls 

and it is God alone that determines the final and eternal resting place 

for each man’s soul. 

The “evidence” for God sending His Son Jesus is overwhelming, however, 

God gives us “Free will” so the responsibility to examine the “evidence” 

is up to us ——— but regardless of the “verdict” 

we pass after reviewing the evidence,

 the “Truth of God” remains unaltered. 

Don’t you think that “accepting” the 

“Truth of God” 

carries greater reward than us trying to change that which cannot be changed? 

APRIL 26 THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 12) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

 

APRIL 26  THE JESUS QUESTIONS 

(Day 12) Summary Review of JESUS Questions 

JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34) 

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Jesus, Jesus, “sweetest Name I know, fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go” ———.  

Lord Jesus, You deserve all praise because Your Life makes our life have thoughts like those expressed in songs as we sing about Your Name, “the sweetest Name I know”, “fills…every longing”, “and keeps me singing” are expressions not associated with any other name except the Holy Name of Jesus! 

There is a reason that it is Jesus and only Jesus that causes these responses and that reason is called “TRUTH”, for Jesus IS the Son of the Living God, His Holy Spirit dwells within us, and our hearts are filled with His song, and our desires are satisfied, so Lord I simply speak Your Precious Name once more to start my day ——— JESUS!AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has led us to a realization of the importance of our concept of the “spiritual” life that we are living in conjunction with this earthen vessel we call the body. The concept of the “soul” is not foreign to us but the “eternal consequences” dictated by our stewardship of our souls is usually overlooked as we are blinded by the physical desires that are pushed on us by the world and its desires and lusts.

Lesson 11 JQ#11 “What are your ‘Spiritual Expectations of Jesus?” 

  Matthew 11:1-30

Jesus has been gracious in His Lessons for they make us aware that our individual bodies define who we are “physically”, HOWEVER 

our physical bodies are “temporary” and  do not define who we are “spiritually”! 

Jesus Teaches that it is what we DO with our bodies 

that determines our “character” and 

“our character” is “purely spiritual” 

— but the body and the daily aging process is God’s reminder that our time on earth and this earthly body is only “physical” and is “temporary” but our “HOPE” resides in knowing that there is something beyond the “physical” 

and Jesus Teaches us to be aware that

 the “physical” is finite but the “spiritual” is “eternal”. 

The more we can focus on the “spiritual” aspect of our lives, 

the more we are aware that 

“stewardship of our own soul” has “eternal” implications. 

Jesus always goes the extra mile in His Teachings so in JQ#10 Jesus makes us aware of our “Spiritual Value” and then when He has our attention on the “Spiritual” in general He then asks a very specific serious Question in 

JQ#11: “What are your ‘Spiritual Expectations’ of Jesus?”  

Jesus made it clear in His response to the disciples of John the Baptist that

 the Messiah is the One that does the Holy Work of the Messiah!  

John the Baptist had been preaching in the wilderness about the

 “Coming Messiah” and the need to “Repent” 

so John’s followers were “expecting the Messiah” 

but they were not sure because their “spiritual expectations” of the “Messiah” 

had been shaped by the religious leaders whose “personal expectations”

 of the Messiah had evolved over several generations 

of leaders of the nation Israel. 

Jesus is warning that 

our “personal expectations” DOES NOT DEFINE the True Messiah.

 What Jesus is Teaching us is that if we try to make Jesus fit our “personal expectations” then we might miss seeing the True Jesus because He does not fit our “personal expectations” of Him! Many of the Jews had “expected” a Messiah that would be a powerful king and free them from the Roman government —

they did not want a Messiah that made them aware of their spiritual shortcomings 

and was preaching the need to

 “Repent” and receive “Forgiveness of their sins” 

which included thinking wrongly about what and who the True Messiah 

would be! Jesus Taught that He was not going to “make any claims” but rather Jesus was confident that everyone that knew the scriptures would 

recognize the True Messiah because of the “Works” that would be accomplished by the Messiah. 

Jesus pointed John’s disciples to what His Ministry had accomplished and left it up to all those that had observed what He had achieved through the Power of God to determine if anyone but the Messiah could perform these miracles as foretold by the scriptures when Jesus listed His accomplishments

 that had been witnessed by the multitudes: 

“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Go tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.’” (Matthew 11:4) 

Do you “expect” Jesus to be a “genie in a bottle that grants you your wishes when you rub a magic lamp” or do you “expect” a

 

Savior that has come to give you “forgiveness and eternal life”? 

What more could anyone do to demonstrate that

 the Messiah is God’s Messiah 

and not our “personal expectations” of Him?

APRIL 25 THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 11) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

 

APRIL 25  THE JESUS QUESTIONS 

(Day 11) Summary Review of JESUS Questions 

JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 

(Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34) 

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Praise be to the King of kings, the Eternal Light. Lord Jesus, Thy Word is TRUTH, Thy Way is PERFECT, only through You can we HOPE that our life can count for anything! 

Aside from our belief in You, we have nothing GOOD in us. 

Lord I pray for a RIGHT SPIRIT in my life so that it can be said that I do what is RIGHT in the eyes of the Lord — You are my strength and my very PRESENT HELP, I can do all things with You as my LIGHT leading me in PATHS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

 AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus continually moves us forward in the kingdom as He first builds on His last Lesson and during the present Lesson He points us to where all His Lesson/Questions are leading next. Of course the “Final Destination” is Eternity in Heaven with God Himself but Jesus always keeps us equipped for handling the “Now” (while we are still in our physical earthly bodies and “in the world”. 

Jesus  leaves Lesson 9 with three earthly miracles (1) a woman who had a

 “flow of blood” for 12 years was healed 

just by touching His garments and Jesus said; 

“Be of good cheer, daughter, your faith has made you well” (Matthew 9:22) 

and (2) Jesus raised a dead girl when 

“He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose (Matthew 9:25) 

and thirdly (3) two blind men were healed as they cried out 

“Son of David, have mercy on us!” (Matthew 9:27)  

It was at this point that Jesus asked the Question that reveals the 

TRUTH of JESUS and His Healing Powers 

as He queried the two blind men, 

“Do you BELIEVE that I am able to do this?” 

(Matthew 9:28).  

Jesus then confirms the source of His Power as He heals the blind men and then reveals the TRUTH of GOD: 

“According to your faith let it be to you.” 

(Matthew 9:29) 

Jesus used these (3) miracles and tied them to “Personal Faith in God” and

 JESUS Teaches us that if we “believe” that Jesus is who He says He is and and can do all things through the Power of God that the Son of David WILL HAVE MERCY ON US!!!

— Jesus then confirms our “belief in God” with these three miracles 

then He moves to His next Teaching Question:

Lesson  10  JQ#10  “What is your ‘Spiritual Value’?”                Matthew 10:1-42

Jesus has just demonstrated His “Spiritual Power” 

and plainly tells us that 

His Power is from God because JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD and was sent to bestow Mercy and Grace on a lost and dying world and these 3 miracles were accomplished by the Power of God!!! 

Then JESUS effectively tells us that if we have “FAITH IN JESUS” that we also will have great “Spiritual Value”. 

Jesus started JQ#10 with the easy Question to answer about

 “two sparrows” having “value” 

therefore 

we are of more value than two sparrows in God’s Eyes 

but He then turns our thinking towards some very serious reasons why we should

 “believe” that God IS “in Control”,  

that Jesus IS the Son of God, 

and why we have “Spiritual Value”! 

There are some very serious “consequences” if we do not “believe” 

as Jesus warns us 

“… 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)

 So Jesus transitioned from a light-hearted Question about sparrows to a very serious discussion about destruction of 

“both soul and body in hell.” 

Jesus uses the light-hearted and the very serious to create a contrast that really gets our attention and the Lesson here is that we have 

“both soul and body” 

and while the “body” is “finite” and will die and be buried,

 our “soul” is “eternal” 

therefore we should give great consideration to what we are doing with our

 “Personal Faith in the Eternal God” to recognize 

the grave importance of our “Spiritual Value”! 

Jesus Teaches in JQ#09 that 

there is a great miracle-working “Spiritual Power” at our disposal that is proportional to our “Faith in God” 

and then He Teaches in JQ#10 that our

 “Faith in God” will have “Eternal Consequences” for our “Soul”, 

so where do you think Jesus is pointing for JQ#11?