Thursday, April 17, 2025

APRIL 17 THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 4) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#01-01—JQ#13-07 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

 


APRIL 17  THE JESUS QUESTIONS 

(Day 4) Summary Review of JESUS Questions 

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


LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

(For Danny Phillips 4/17/25)

JESUS, Glory and Honor to the Son of the Living God who “so loved the world”

 that the Father “willed” the Son to become “flesh

 and dwell among [the world the Father loved]”. 


The Son demonstrated His Love for the Father with the Ultimate Obedience

 to the Father as the Son became the Sacrificial Lamb

 for ALL the sins of “the world”. 


It was through this Great Sacrifice on the Cross at Calvary that all 

Glory and Honor is due the Son who demonstrated such “Love”, 

even our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

AMEN



THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus Taught us in Lesson 1 about our personal responsibility to the

 kingdom of God and now in Lesson 2 He begins to Teach us the “tools” 

that the Father will equip us with in order that we may promote His Kingdom:


Lesson 2  JQ#2    “What do you really know about Love?”   Matthew 5:43-48


The first precept that Jesus introduces is the concept of “True Love” 

and not the “love of the world” but the “Love of the Father” 

that is to reside within those that choose to follow Him. The importance of

 “Loving as the Father Loves” and as “Christ Loved the Church” 

is confirmed for His followers as Jesus states:


 “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another;

 as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know

 that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 (John 13:34-35) 


As Jesus Teaches Lesson 2 He also shows us glimpses of the Father

 and demonstrates that 


The Father and The Son are going to be The Perfect Examples of TRUE  LOVE

 and that before we are asked to “love others” 

we will first be loved by the Father and the Son


In the passage from John 13 we just read Jesus saying that we are to love 

“as I have loved you”

 and everyone knows John 3:16 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” 

so it is no surprise that the first Lesson Jesus Teaches is our responsibility to

 the kingdom and in His 2nd Lesson Jesus Teaches us how to best represent

 the Kingdom of God by Teaching us about “The True Love of God”


Jesus confirms the importance of knowing how to “LOVE” 

when He states why we should emulate the


 Father’s Love “…that you may be sons [and daughters] 

of your Father in heaven…” (Matthew 5:45) 


Jesus further clarifies that we are to Love as the Father and the Son Love and 

not as the world loves because Jesus started the Lesson on Love with 

“You have heard it said…” and adds immediately, “But I say to you…” 

clearly warning us that the world will tell us wrongly how to love — for the 

only True Love comes from the Father and the Son 

who “first loved us” (1 John 4:19) 


and by Their Perfect Example we are to “love one another”. 


Jesus demonstrates that He has come to live His life as an example and that before

 Jesus asks us as His disciples to do anything, we will have both the 

Father and the Son to look to as “Perfect Examples” 

of how we are to live our lives. When we determine to

 “Love one another as God first Loved us” 

we will best promote the Father, the Son, and Their Kingdom. 


Jesus continued throughout His ministry to Teach His disciples about “Love” 

and we see the disciples in turn teaching “God’s Love” Lesson to others 

as we read the Apostle Paul writing to the Church in Corinth 


“And now abide faith, hope, and love, these three, 

but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13). 


It is only fitting that this Summary Review of Lesson 2 on God’s Love should 

end with a love statement from the disciple known as the “disciple that Jesus loved” 

and the disciple that wrote his entire Gospel on “Love” as John teaches 

some of his last lessons before his death on the island of Patmos in what

 is described as a “family letter” to “his little children” as John writes:


 “Beloved, if God so loved us, 

we also ought to love one another.”    (1 John 4:11)      


Could the importance of “God’s Love” be made any more Sincere and True

 

than for the Father and the Son to live as examples of “Perfect Love” 


and to hold “Love” in such High Regard in Heavenly Places?


Wednesday, April 16, 2025

APRIL 16 THE JESUS QUESTIONS (Day 3) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#1-13 (Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)

 


APRIL 16  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

(Day 3) Summary Review of JESUS Questions JQ#1-13 

(Matthew 5:1 thru Matthew 12:34)


LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord, may Thanksgiving and Praise always be on my lips for You Lord

 have blessed me beyond anything I could have imagined and certainly more

 than I deserve. Jesus, thank You for showing me that True Blessings are

 so much more valuable than anything money can buy! 


Lord, to know that we are held safe in the hands of the Father and that

 His Perfect Will is only directed towards “good” for us is the most comforting

 assurance life can provide, and we know that You, Lord Jesus 


are THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE

 

— Praise God from Whom ALL BLESSINGS flow.           

AMEN


THE JESUS QUESTIONS


Jesus as The Master Teacher has asked each of

 “The JESUS Questions JQ#1-13” not to gain information from anyone

 but to impart wisdom to His listeners.


 Those that take the time to “listen” to Jesus and honestly “answer” 

His Questions will learn very valuable Spiritual Lessons 


— below is a Summary Review of the individual JESUS Questions JQ#1-13 

that have been studied so far in Matthew, starting with 


Lesson 1  JQ#01    “Are you salt and light?”      Matthew 5:1-16



JQ#01 started after Matthew had documented in Chapters 1-4 that

 

Jesus had compassion on the multitudes and out of His Great Compassion 

for us Jesus had taught His famous “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew 5:1-13


 and then after encouraging the multitudes with

 

His Beatitudes which Teaches us what must be done with our earthly 

lives in order to obtain our inheritance in “the kingdom of heaven”


Jesus then asks His first personal JESUS Question JQ#01 by making us 

think about ourselves and to consider the 


Truth of God that what we are actually “doing” with our lives 

has a direct impact on our inheritance in the kingdom of heaven!!!  


Jesus states emphatically: 


“You are the salt of the earth;…” (Matthew 5:12a) 


and then He promotes the concept of the necessity to get personally involved. 

Jesus introduces 


God’s  Divine Law of Choice and Consequence 


which illustrates our personal responsibility to exercise our 


“God-Given Free Will” 


to promote the kingdom of God. Jesus declares that we 

“are the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world” 

then immediately Jesus asks us to consider the “consequence” 

of not using our personal talents and abilities to promote the kingdom

 when He asks us to consider the “Consequence” resulting if

 “salt… loses its flavor” or if a “light” is “put under a basket”


Jesus then tells us very clearly that if we “lose [our] flavor” then we are


 “good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men”

 (Matthew 5:13) 


and it is obvious that if a light is put under a basket it is useless! 


Thus with JQ#01 Jesus demonstrates that 


if we follow Him and take on the name Christian that our responsibility

 is to be “salt and light” 


for the kingdom’s sake but if we fail in that responsibility then we will have to suffer

 the “consequence” that is the “Truth of God” which states:


 “We are free to choose our actions but we are not free to choose 

the consequence of that action for God in His Supreme Sovereignty 

has already determined the consequence of our choices!” 

<<A. W. Tozer “Knowledge of The Holy”>> 


which implies personal responsibility to “listen and obey” all that God has

 prepared as “Spiritual Lessons” for our lives which are to be “lived” for 

“His Glory” and the Kingdom’s Sake! 


There is no denying that if we look at this first JESUS Question that we will 

learn several Lessons about our personal responsibility to the kingdom of God —

 but the greatest Lesson is that


 God has provided for us everything we need in order to personally 

know Him and He expects our personal involvement in accomplishing

 His Kingdom Work here on earth!   


Our first Spiritual Lesson to learn is that God wants us to understand that 


He has chosen to use His “followers” to “lead” others to the 

Kingdom of God by the way we “live” our lives 


and not by who we “say” we are! 


We “are” the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” 

and our responsibility to the kingdom is laid out plain and clear

 as Jesus ends Lesson  1 with:


 “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works

 and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)


 If Jesus starts His Lessons by Teaching us that we have a personal responsibility

 to the Kingdom of God, don’t you think that He will continue with His

 subsequent Lessons and lay out the “Way” 

and make it clear what He requires of us as 


“followers of JESUS”?