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Abundant Life Episode 33 In this episode Saso and Ben discuss the topic of trials. How do you respond to trials? Trials -  A test of faith, patience, or stamina through subjection to suffering or temptation broadly : a source of vexation or annoyance. - Websters 1828 Key Verses James 1:2-4 Sometimes call these sanctification tests, but God allows these into our life for a reason and purpose. Have you ever had your water heater break and counted in all joy? How about a besetting sin in your life? Man, what a joy to be tempted!  Trials are meant to test and stretch us or grow us as Christians. An athlete that wishes to become the best spends hours in the gym lifting weights, eating right, working out, in order to strengthen his/her body. It takes a lot of discipline, which is why many of us are a little soggy around the midsection! Essential Virtues, Mark of the Christ-Centered Life - The Christian, however, who faithfully seeks to develop these essential virtues (faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love), will see every circumstance of life as a “fitness station” upon which the Trainer has arranged another repetition of the necessary surrender, dependence and obedience required to develop and manifest that virtue. - Jim Berg When we go through trials we are being given opportunity to grow in our walk with God. The reality is that if everything were perfect, we’d likely never take the opportunity to seek God. Why do we go through trials? 1 Peter 5:10 I think of Abraham who was tested and tried, and I cannot imagine how he was strengthen and changed by seeing God work through that trial. We often miss out on the perfect, stablish, and settle part as we fail the initial part of the test. I often cannot see beyond the trial and see only what is in front of me. I am short sighted in many of these cases. Romans 5:3-4 In retrospect you can apply this to life. Just like this verse as well as our key verse in James, this testing is done so that we can build our endurance which results in hope according to Romans and contentment according to James. In short, trials are allowed in our lives to grow our dependence and faith in God. 1 Peter 1:6-7 It’s pretty clear that trials are not only to test the genuine of our faith but to change us into the image of Christ. What are God’s promises with regard to trials? 1 Corinthians 10:13 Ecclesiastes tells us there is nothing new under the sun, and there is no temptation that our heavenly Father is not aware of. No new sin, no new circumstance, no nuance or no new red button person that has not been encountered. God promises not to give us a temptation that we will not be able to escape. Joseph was able to resist the pursuit of a married woman and Moses choose to suffer with the children of Israel rather than to indulge in the pleasures that Egypt had to offer.   John 16:33 In our last podcast we discussed the peace that only comes from our God. Dr. Berg discussed that we will always have all tribulation in this world as this verse states, but there is tribulation with God and tribulation with God. God has overcome the world, and we have hope and joy in this victory. Help is there for the asking.  Exodus 14:14 Allow God to fight for you!  Matthew 11:28-30 Typically when we are in a trial, it’s not our first instinct to look to God’s promises. The bible is pretty clear, we as people are really good forgetters. Just think of the Israelites in the desert, seeing amazing miracles, then when trials came, they forgot God, and would complain, even to the point of becoming idolaters. We as people are no different. In fact if we are honest, many of us have such a weak prayer life, and we only pray when bad things happen.  The reality is that we must learn and teach ourselves to always have our gaze to God, he is sovereign and he cares. Romans 8:28 This verse has a couple prerequisites,

Abundant Life Episode 32 In this episode Saso and Ben discuss the topic of hope. What do you place your hope in? Websters 1828 Hope “A desire of some good, accompanied with at least a slight expectation of obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable. hopediffers from wish and desire in this, that it implies some expectation of obtaining the good desired, or the possibility of possessing it. hopetherefore always gives pleasure or joy; whereas wish and desire may produce or be accompanied with pain and anxiety. Confidence in a future event; the highest degree of well founded expectation of good; as a hope founded on God's gracious promises; a scriptural sense. A well founded scriptural hope is, in our religion, the source of ineffable happiness.” Key Verse Joel 3:16 We live in a world that gives us anything but hope. We have been guilty of putting our hope in our favorite sports team, our favorite stock, our back accounts, our residency in America and our religious freedoms. We have seen things bubbling in our world whether that be racial divide, countries at war, and even our country divided behind political lines. The news is not full of hope nor is it full of truth. One does not watch the news and walk away with an outlook of hope. As Christians, our hope is in the Lord, and He is still our strength no matter the headline or news breaking story John 16:33 We were told of the world not being a peaceful place and it has not been a peaceful place for a long time. We sometimes forget that they crucified our Lord, and the world is not a place we can take refuge in or find peace in. That is the bad news, but the good news is that our God has overcome this world, and there is ultimate peace found in Him. Chin up!  Complacency is a really dangerous place to be, because its like being in a false state of satisfaction. But that’s exactly where we were just a few years after 911. We went through the horrific tragedy and then we just got emerged in life, business, daily routines and such. Then we had somewhat of an awakening in 2008 with the housing market crash and high inflation, but then we were back to our old ways. We were living pretty comfortable from 2010 till March of 2020 when the world was overtaken by Covid. As churches shut down, business sent employees home, students were sent home and we were sort of left in this state of the unknown. Grocery stores were low on stock, there was no toilet paper, having to social distance and wear uncomfortable masks, it was a sort of a stressful time of uncertainty. But something interesting happened that hadn’t happened in quite some time. We begin to look up. God was allowing this pandemic trial to happen and we were confronted face to face with our faith. Where was our faith? Was it in the CDC, was it in Dr. Fauci, was in the hope for a coming vaccine or was it in the one who spoke the world into existence? Fast forward a little to our current day, and we are currently in another point in history where we are entering the unknown. Russia has just invaded the people of Ukraine and news analysts are trying to determine what’s coming next. The people in Ukraine are under attack, and the rest of the world is watching and waiting for the next tyrant to attack. And again we are face to face with our faith. 1 Peter 1:6-7 God Cares for you Isaiah 41:10 There are going to be times in the present world where we will feel alone, where we will feel defeated, and we will feel without strength. Our strength is not found in anything but the Lord our God. He is the One who upholds us, and He is the One who says, “Fear not!” It does not take much watching of the news to feel fearful of what is going on, and to lose sight that our God is still on the throne  Isaiah 41:13 We are told again here not to fear as the Lord our God is the One who holds our hand, and He is the One who will help and sustain us. We often get fearful by what we see and hear but ...

Abundant Life Episode 31 In this episode Saso and Ben discuss the topic of time, how short life is and how we should be spending our time. 1828 Websters A particular portion or part of duration, whether past, present or future. The time was; the time has been; the time is; the time will be. Lost time is never found again.” Key Verse Psalm 90:12 Time is the really the only thing that we have equal access to until we do not. Time is a gift from God and cannot be bought, borrowed or ever found again as the dictionary would define it. We cannot pause time and get an extra hour of sleep or to use it again once it has been used. Time is a precious commodity, and we often take it for granted the time we have been given.   Why is time important? The time for salvation is now! 2 Corinthians 6:2 Salvation is not something to put off as the wrath of God abides on everyone who has not put their faith in Jesus Christ John 3:36 Only a fool waits until it is too late. We look at those that perished in the flood because they would not heed the warning that the waters were coming. Many today feel they are “good” but the time is now! Hebrews 9:27 It does not matter who you are, how much money you have, how much you spend on health, or if you have a special diet, we will all face the judgment of almighty God. There is nothing wrong with living healthy but there is no “Cocoon” we can enter that will bring back the days of yesteryear.  Life is short There are two absolutes when it comes to life, first life is short and secondly we don’t know when our life will end. Death can be a sobering topic and a topic to be avoided, but the truth of the matter is that we will all die one day. Nobody gets a pass and nobody can avoid it. The question is, how will we spend our short time on earth? In Psalm 90 we read this Psalm of Moses. The children of Israel were about to cross the Jordan into the promise land. After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness they were about to reach their destination. It’s as if this Psalm was written as a prayer of thankfulness, humility and blessing. However we see several verses that makes it quite apparent that the children of Israel had an awareness of how short human life is. Psalm 90:10 It’s very similar to what James said on the issue of living a presumptuous life. He basically said, your life is like a vapor. James 4:14 Time is such an interesting concept because people for centuries have been searching for a way to prolong their time on this Earth. There is nothing wrong with eating well and taking care of your body, but the fact of the matter is that our lives are in the hands of our Creator and He is the one that determines how many days we have on this earth. Life is so short and precious and it reiterates once again why we must number our days. 70 when you are 15 seems like a long time but it really seems short the older, we get. This episode is titled “A Dash of Time” but our life is the dash between the year we are born and the year we end. It is a dash from the time you are born to the time God decides to take you home or calls you to judgment. The main problem is taking life for granted The primary issue is that we get comfortable and complacent and therefore we take life for granted and foolishly we make the assumption that we will live to a ripe old age. We assume that we will be around for many years to come like the verse in Psalms which talks about 70 or 80 years, but the reality is that we just don’t know. The problem with being comfortable and complacent is that we forget about God. Remember what the children of Israel did when Moses went up to Mount Sinai Exodus 32:1 They completely forgot God and they became impatient with Moses and they gave themselves over to idolatry. Remember David on the roof top, he was comfortable and complacent when He should have been on the battlefield with his army and in his complacency he fell into sin committing adultery and murder. Just listen to this list of sin we find in 2 Timothy when we forget about God. 2 Timothy 3:2-4 When we don’t have our focus on Jesus, and if we don’t die to ourself daily, we will live a life contrary to what scripture teaches, we won’t bring our Heavenly Father glory because we will live for ourselves and the frightful part is that the Lord could call us home and we will give an account to Him for our time here on earth. The times are evil Romans 1: 21-32 Ephesians 5:16-17  Far too often we waste our days with foolish things and do not take realize that I will have to answer for the time we wasted. We must walk in His will and not our own will. The example is Jesus stating, “Not my will but thine be done.” He showed what a surrendered  life looks like.  Colossians 4:5 We live in a world that is devoid of wisdom, and we ought not to be one of these. We have the wisdom of God’s Word, and we need to be reading and applying the wisdom gave gives us in His Word.  Proverbs 3:5 What will you do with your days? There is this interesting story about King Hezekiah who was about to die, but the Lord extended his life 15 years. Isaiah 38:1-4 It’s interesting that the Lord first warned King Hezekiah of his impending death. The King then prayed and God answered his prayer, not only by extending his life but giving him an absolute number of years that he was to expect. King Hezekiah had something that we will never have and that is an absolute time table of when our life will end. This begs the question. What will you do with your life? Sometimes it gets overwhelming because you hear people who have a 5 year plan and a 10 year plan and your just trying to figure out what to eat for dinner. While I think it’s wise to plan, I think we should not presume we will have our next breath. Therefore we need to God’s warning in Isaiah 38. We must get our house in order starting with me. Am I saved? Are you saved? Have your repented of your sin and asked Jesus to save you? That is priority number one! If you are saved, how is your walk with God? Are you like the Israelites, making a golden calf? You might say, I don’t worship idols. What is the priority in your life. Is it your work, you business, your hobby, your friends? What do you spend your time and money on? Once we are saved we should be focused on growing in the knowledge and wisdom of Jesus. Our relationship with Jesus should be our TOP priority, because everything will flow out of that relationship. Do you die to yourself daily? We must live lives of humility and self-control. You cannot get saved by your good works, the scripture plainly teaches this. Ephesians 2:8-9 But the scripture teaches us that we God’s workmanship unto good works, in other words our good works are the evidence that God is working in our lives.  Ephesians 2:10 Are you living to glorify God? Are you allowing God to sanctify you, to make you into the image of Christ. We are each given 1,440 minutes each day, they are not guaranteed, but the question is what will you do with your 1440? Will you die to self, and live for God or live for yourself? Time is something that we all have in equal quantities. No one can buy time or sell time, but the time on the earth is given by God alone. How are you spending your time on this earth? The term retirement is not mentioned in the Bible, and we must learn to number our days.  This out to be our prayer every day that God gives us the gift of life which is the gift of time. Psalm 118:24 May we make our days count for eternity and may we remember the words of adolescent Jesus who stated in Luke 2:49 “Will you be about the Father’s business?”. Resources Abundant Life Christian Podcast Community Stay in the Fight Blog by Saso Mendez Are You Wasting Your Life – Coffey Evangelistic Meetings

Abundant Life Episode 30 In this episode Saso and Ben discuss the topic of failure. FA’ILURE, noun fa’ilyur. A failing; deficience; cessation of supply, or total defect; as the failure of springs or streams; failure of rain; failure of crops. Omission; non-performance; as the failure of a promise; a man’s failure in the execution of a trust. Key verse Luke 16:9 January 17 is the typical day where New Year’s resolutions are broken. That is a total of 17 days after they have started. It does not take long for the ambition of yesterday to become the failure of today. We all come to a point in our lives where we do not add up to the standards of others and to the standards, we set for ourselves. Have you ever failed at something in your life? Well, you are in good company. If we are honest it’s not fun to fail and if we are honest sometimes it hurts. It’s like they say death and taxes are inevitable, but failure is also inevitable. The bible also tells us to expect trouble. Job 14:1 It’s not a matter if failure will happen, it’s a matter of when. How do you look at failure? Do you see failure as a negative thing? Does failure define who you are? Do you see failure as an opportunity to grow and learn? Success is a pile of failure that you are standing on. –Dave Ramsey  I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan For Christians, failure is a negative response to our trials and testing. Sometimes we call these sanctification tests. We get presented with a set of circumstances and then we must chose how to respond. At times we pass the test and other times we do not pass the test. As you mature as a Christian, we hope that there are more wins than losses. The Christian life is about your sanctification and how over time you are changed into the image of Christ. It’s about the journey and what you learn, and how you mature as a Christian and it’s often times of testing and trial that we have opportunity to grow as Christians. Interestingly, the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. If you were to take a straight shot from Egypt to the promised land, they likely could have made it there in under 5 years. But God was trying to teach them to depend on Him, to trust Him to obey Him. Some learned and grew in that fashion and others did not. Examples of failure from scripture Numbers 20:10-12 Moses sister Miriam had died, the people talked of stoning him, the people were thirsty, and Moses the meek man, lost it and struck the rock. He was told to speak to it but out of frustration, he struck it twice. He failed in reaching the promised land, and he was told he would not see it with the people he had led for all those years. Moses, needless to say had a bad week. How about David? II Samuel 11:14-17 David saw Uriah’s wife and had to have her for herself. He tried to cover his sin which is impossible to do, and in his attempt to do so, he had Uriah killed in battle. David was entrusted as the king to protect and look out for the people, but here he was pursuing his own lusts and doing the opposite of protecting his people. David failed in being a righteous king, failed in self-control and failed in pleasing God. Ever failed in these areas? Ever tried to hide your sin? How did that go? Matthew 26:69-75 Have you done something to deny Christ in your life? Have you ever been ashamed of Him? How about in your witness of Him? We all fail at some point in our Christian lives and many times it is several times throughout the day. God can only use people that have failed because that is all there is. A preacher once said, “Failure is not a person, but it is an event.” The mark is perfection but there is no such thing as perfection. Romans 3:23 In Matthew we read about how a boy was demon possessed and the boys father had asked the disciples to cast the demon from the boy. The disciples tried to do it, however, they could not. Jesus ended up casting the demon and then later on the disciples asked Jesus why they couldn’t cast the demon. Matthew 17:19-20 Unbelief and faithlessness is a root sin that many of us are guilty of. Many of us have fallen into sin and all of this because of a lack of faith. It’s somewhat comforting to know the disciples struggled with faith also. Every Christian at some point or another has struggled in the area of faith. But faith is the key to our relationship with God. What does the Bible say about failure? Testing and trials are inevitable, the Bible tells us that it will come as we read in Job. Testing will come but we told in scripture to count it joy! It’s not an easy thing to count trials and testing as joy. However, this is exactly we are told in the book of James. James 1:2-4 We are told to count trials and testing as joy which means our response is what matters to God. We are being given opportunities to grow. How do you respond to trials and testing? Do you pass or fail? We know that trials will come whether you are rich or poor, man or woman, blue eyed or brown eyed, for God is not respecter of persons. Romans 2:9-11 Testing and trials, at times will come directly from God, but we should know that in those trials God is treating us as sons and daughters. Hebrews 12:5-6 What a blessing to know that God loves me unconditionally. What does not fail? I Corinthians 13:8 II Corinthians 3:9 What do we do with testing/trials and failure? Expect trials and be ready for them Know that trials and testing will come Know your identity when testing comes and you fail. There will be times in our life when we fail, but we must not let that define us. We as Christians are not defined by failure but we are defined by the one who saved us. Galatians 3:26 If you fail don’t let failure define you Repent Proverbs 28:13 1 John 1:9 Get back up Proverbs 24:16 Move forward Luke 9:5 Philippians 3:14 When trials come remember God’s promises and provisions so that you may respond without failure God is our provider Psalms 145:14-15 God cares for you Psalm37:23-24 God is our protector Isaiah 41:13 He will never leave you nor forsake you Deuteronomy 31:8 God has already equipped us for everything 2 Peter 1:3 God will give us strength to bear our trials 1 Corinthians 10:13   Closing God’s promises never fail! God never fails, and He can and never will fail us. To try something means to fail sometimes in our endeavors. If you try nothing, then you will not fail but that is not the life God has called us to. What will you do with failure? Will you get and rise or will you succumb to defeat? We have a God who is faithful even in our failures and a God who will give us grace if we humble ourselves. May we get up when we fall down, and may we press on for the glory of God. Galatians 6:9 Resources Abundant Life Christian Podcast Community Stay in the Fight Blog by Saso Mendez

Abundant Life Episode 29 In this episode Saso and Ben discuss the topic of self-control. RESTRA'INT, noun “The act or operation of holding back or hindering from motion, in any manner; hinderance of the will, or of any action, physical, moral or mental.”- Websters 1828 Freedom That Lasts definition of self-control: “Adding self-control means instantly obeying God’s Word in the power of God’s spirit.” II Peter 1:6 We say this verse every Friday night in Freedom That Lasts and it is important in dealing with any type of sin that we show temperance or to say another way, self-control.  Self-control is so difficult. But why? It’s simple, we like to indulge ourselves and pleasure ourselves because we are selfish. The problem with this is that the things we want to do often times are things that we ought not to do because they are sinful in nature. It’s like the diet thing, we all love to eat tacos, burgers and pizza, because they taste good but unfortunately those things are unhealthy when consumed without restrain and can lead to not only obesity but can cause serious health issues like heart disease, high blood pressure and so on. How do we discipline ourselves to be obedient to God? The first step to self-control is to be a born again believer. When you are born again the scriptures tell us that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us. 1 Corinthians 6:19 Ephesians 1:13 Since the Holy Spirit dwells within you, the fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians is the result of the Holy Spirit’s presence in a believers life. Therefore if you don’t have the Holy Spirit, it is impossible for you to exercise self-control because you are a slave to sin. Obedience requires that a believer to deny himself which isn’t always easy, but in reality to deny oneself is to be obedient to God. Luke 9:23-24 Practicing instant obedience Matthew 7:24-25 It takes self-control to not only hear the words of Jesus Christ but to do them and live them out in your own life. We all know how to lose weight and get in shape, but to live it out and do it is another issue altogether. Be in our spiritual lives what will we build our house on? Will we be foolish or wise in our obedience to the Word.  Romans 6:19 Prior to salvation, we always obeyed and yielded to our flesh showing no self- control. Now that we have been redeemed, we should yield our bodies to purity and holiness.  Psalms 119:33-34 David was asking God to give him understanding, so that he might exhibit self-control in obeying God’s Word. Delayed obedience is disobedience, and we can often reason within ourselves and rationalize sin if we choose not to obey immediately. Examples of no self-control Adam and Eve We see Eve as she thought the fruit was nice looking and good for food. She also was tempted by the serpent to be like God knowing good and evil.  This one act of disobedience and lack of self-control has lead to the fall of mankind. Because of this we are born sinners and condemned because of of the sin nature we inherit going all the way back to Adam and Eve. Samson Married a philistine woman which was prohibited by his parents, he broke his nazarite vow  ate honey from a dead carcass, and divulged the secret to his strength to Delilah to his detriment. It’s as if Samson acted on impulse, and did whatever pleased himself with no regard for God. David and Bathsheba David was king, already had 6 wives, which was prohibited according to Deuteronomy 17:17, and by lack of self-control, he allowed his lust to take over and committed adultery with Bathsheba which eventually lead to the murder Uriah. His lack of self-control had repercussions for generations to come. King Solomon According to 1 Kings 11, King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Ecclesiastes 2:10 At the root of all these examples we see a disregard for self-control, and a regard for selfishness and pleasing ones self. In contrast we see direct disobedience to God which has u...

Abundant Life Episode 28 In this episode Saso and Ben discuss a name given to Jesus, Immanuel. Key Verse Matthew 1:23 – Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” This was the angel speaking to Mary, giving her insight to God’s plan to save His people from their sin. I can’t imagine what was going through Mary’s mind. Was she thinking, why me? Who am I to have this happen? How can this be? I bet there were a million questions racing through her mind, yet she likely didn’t even see the big picture. If we look back to the old testament, we see a prophecy that was given during the rain of Ahaz, king of Judah, an evil King. This prophecy was given as a sign to Ahaz, but it was actually a prophecy of the coming Messiah that we see fulfilled in Matthew chapter 1 which would be about 700 years later. Isaiah 7:14 Immanuel – is a masculine Hebrew name meaning “God with us” or “God is with us.” What about the name Jesus vs. Immanuel? The name Jesus, given to Joseph in Matthew 1:21 and Mary in Luke 1:31, means “Yahweh saves” or “Yahweh is salvation.” In the Hebrew and Aramaic, the name is Yeshua. This name is a combination of Ya, an abbreviation for Yahweh, the name of Israel’s God; and the verb yasha, meaning “rescue,” “deliver,” or “save.” Matthew 1:20-21 Luke 1:30-31 Evidence for God “with us” in the flesh We see evidence of this truth in the book of 1 Timothy that Jesus was God in the flesh. This is a very gospel rich verse as well. 1 Timothy 1:16 John also gives testimony of Jesus, God in the flesh, dwelling among us. John 1:14 Colossians 2:9 He dwelt among us and experienced life as a human being Philippians 2:6-11 Jesus lowered Himself to become man yet He did not lay aside His deity. He was 100% man and 100% God. It is truly amazing and also comforting that the God of the universe was tempted just like we are, experienced loss, and pain and sadness just like us and He did not sin as a result. We fail on a daily basis, and it’s just more plain to see that we need Jesus and can’t live a righteous life without him. Just like it talks about in John 15, we can do nothing unless we abide in the vine, which was our last podcast episode. Hebrews 4:15 Why did Jesus come to be with us? It’s quite simple. We are sinners on our way to eternity apart from God. Out of great love for a people who unlovely, Jesus stepped in to save us from eternal damnation. In Matthew we see the angel speaking to Joseph stating the purpose for Jesus. Matthew 1:21 In the book of Luke Jesus testifies of Himself and His mission. Luke 19:10 This is what makes the name it claim it movement false. Jesus didn’t come to make your dreams come true. He came to rescue you from yourself. He came to give you new life, eternal life which is worth more than new cars, big houses, jewelry, and money. Why did Jesus come in the flesh? Couldn’t Jesus just speak forgiveness and forgive all humanity? Perhaps, but God is a God of order, and integrity and truth. He can’t go against His nature. We read in Hebrews that the only way sins can be forgiven is by the shedding of blood or a blood sacrifice. Hebrews 9:22 Not just any sacrifice, the sacrifice must be without spot or blemish just as the lamb sacrifices in the old testament. Hebrews 9:14 Jesus was the perfect sacrifice that fulfilled all the old testament sacrifices and covered any future sacrifice that would be necessary, literally the perfect sacrifice. Hebrews 9:24-28 Why did God send Jesus, His only Son? Psalm 50:10 In other words, God owns everything. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are poor in comparison because God owns all. But what could God give that would actually cost Him something? His Son is the only thing of value or worth, everything on this Earth including the Earth could be spoken into existence by God, but sending His Son was ultimately a sacrifice and He did it because He loves us. Immanuel by Thomas Terry of Beautiful Eulogy Lift up your eyes and see the riches of the all-sufficient King seated on His throne in glory See His scepter that stretches the expanse of unmeasured space Hear Him who holds all things together declare, “all things are mine without exception” See the curiosity of the cosmos as Christ condescends to His most cherished creatures See the astonishment of angels as the Almighty advances towards Earth See the humility of the pre-existent King born of a virgin birth The Infinite becomes infant, the Maker becomes man The Divine becomes despised, and the Christ is crucified The Author of all creation cursed upon the tree that He Himself spoke into being And the Lord of life was laid in the tomb, but the grave could not contain Him and so the Son of Man was raised to life But why? To draw near, to pierce our greatest fear To shed satisfying blood on our behalf To give back the life we were meant to have To enjoy, to hear, to adore, to taste And to look with peace upon our Savior’s face And to embrace Him with an undying faith To interpose all His worthiness into us And serve the most unworthy and undeserving He is our God and we are mere men made by Him We are not like Him, but He loves us and moves among us The great Uncreated and the created, no longer separated He is Immanuel, God with us Closing Thoughts Do you have a relationship with Jesus? Maybe you don’t and would like to know more. Maybe you are ready to surrender and trust Jesus as your savior. If this is the case, all you simply need to do is pray. It’s not the prayer that saves you. It’s what you believe. Do you believe that you are a sinner? Do you believe that God sent Jesus to this Earth, born of a virgin, lived life as a human but yet fully God, died for your sin and was raised on the third day ascending to heaven and seated at the right hand of God? If you believe this, tell God this. Remember He sees your thoughts and your heart. He knows. Maybe you do, and you’ve drifted. Jesus did not come to condemn but to save and like a good Father He is waiting to embrace you. We encourage you to repent and come back to the fold. Resources: Abundant Life Christian Podcast Community The Chosen Christmas Show me the Father

Abundant Life Episode 27 In this episode Saso and Ben discuss what it means to abide in the Vine. ABI’DE – to be, or exist, to continue; W. bod, to be; to dwell, rest, continue, stand firm, or be stationary for anytime indefinitely. 1. To rest, or dwell. Genesis 29:19. 2. To tarry or stay for a short time. Genesis 24:55. 3. To continue permanently or in the same state; to be firm and immovable. Psalms 119:90. 4. To remain, to continue. Acts 27:31. Ecclesiastes 8:15. Websters 1828 Key verse John 15:1-6   Philippians 4:13 This is one of the most misquoted verses in the Bible as it pertains to having the strength to do what God has commanded us to do. We are helpless without His divine help; we are fools to think we can anything without the help of the Father What is abiding in Christ? John 15:5 As Christians we tend to say things like abide in Christ, or walk in the Spirit, but do we really understand what that means. When someone asks you, are you abidding in Christ, how do you respond? Are we talking about the act of abiding or the position of abiding. When a person is saved the Bible describes the person as being “in Christ”. Romans 8:1 2 Corinthians 5:17 If you were asked, are you in Christ or not, what would you say? How do you become “in Christ”? In Christ Galatians 3:26-27 According to this verse you are in Christ through faith. So now let’s move backward to find out what through faith means. What is Faith? Ephesians 2:8-9 According to Ephesians, you are saved by grace through faith and goes on to say that it is the gift of God and not of your own works. If we were saved by our good works, then we’d go around bragging about it according to this verse. And if we are honest, that would be true because we all have a this little thing called pride that loves to show it’s face when we think we’ve achieved something. Also, since this is a gift, then there wouldn’t be any works involved because I’ve never heard of working for a gift. Saso your love language is gifts. When was the last time you worked for a birthday gift? This is likely them most profound verse that separates true Christians from all world religions. But why? Romans 6:23 Now we know what the free gift or salvation is, it’s eternal life in Christ Jesus, but we still need to understand what through faith is talking about because that is the link to get the gift of eternal life. Romans 9:1 Since the concept of belief is intangible, someone can simply say “I believe” and it won’t mean a hill of beans. According to James 2:19 even the demons believe and shudder but we know very well that the demons are not saved. The concept of believe is not just to have understanding and knowledge which causes to believe, but the key ingredient is dependence. For example, if you ask a person, do you believe that you can get on a plane and fly to Florida. Most people will say that they believe. But the dependence comes when they actually get on the plain and fly to Florida. Thats the kind of belief being spoken of. But why are you placing your dependence on Jesus? Romans 9:1 that we read earlier, that you are believing in the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus suffered and died and was raised on the third day all so that God could forgive your sins and give you this free gift of eternal life so long as you place your faith in Jesus. It’s so simple yet many will miss this. Please don’t miss this! I was saved, not because I’m good but because God is good and God looked down at helpless me and sent His son to die for me. What a glorious truth brother! Ben What does this have to do with abiding in Christ? Everything! From what we just went through it’s your position in Christ or your position not in Christ. The difference from being saved and not being saved. What is the evidence for being saved? Go into the latter part of the verses here of bearing fruit… John 15:4-5 Matthew 12:30 If we are not abiding with Him then we are against Him and we are an antagonist to our God. Galatians 5:16 We must first walk in the Spirit in order to not fulfill the lust of the flesh. I take this to mean we must be in full agreement as Amos 3:3 states, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” It’s about taking a stand against what God hates and loving what He loves. Jesus walked with the Father while He walked this earth, and He left us with The Holy Spirit in that we might have the ultimate helper in order to not fulfill the lust of the flesh. When we sin, it is evident that we are not agreement with the Spirit because we have yielded to the flesh. Matthew 26:41 Confession of Christ states that we dwell with Him and if we dwell in Him, then we must dwell in love because God is love. You cannot dwell with God and not love as it is a sign that we are dwelling with Him 1 John 4:15-16 John 15:10 Love is one of the fruits of the Spirit. We cannot say we are walking with God and have hate towards others as God is love. Galatians 5:22-23 I John 2:6 John likes to give us scenarios and self checks so that we can have assurance of being saved. John gives us the evidence in these verses that we are abiding in Christ. Let’s see if we can find it. 1 John 2:1-6 There is a lot in these verses. Notice that John answers the question “What if I sin after I put my faith in Jesus? He says we have an advocate with the father and His name is Jesus. More on that in a second. The best part of 1 John 2 is the phrase “we know” or “we may know”. John isn’t giving us advice, he is giving us facts, truth so that we may know. Know what? Know that we are abiding in him. Look at verse 6 “By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” If we are walking righteously in obedience we are in Him, and it’s only because of his righteousness. Notice verse 3 which speaks of being obedient “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.”. This is the evidence we are looking for, obedience. If we are walking in obedience, then we know we are abiding. What if I sin after I’m saved? 1 John 1:9 It’s simple, if we sin, we must repent and confess our sin, and His promise to us is that he will forgive us. Can I lose my salvation As our Pastor so eloquently puts it, if you could lose your salvation then it wouldn’t be eternal life. However, we still must prove this from scripture. John 10:27 Romans 8:38-39 Benefits and rewards The reward is beyond my comprehension. I don’t understand why God, the ruler of all, would look down on sinful men and want to save them, much less give us benefits and rewards. I know the answer to this question is because He loves us, but I don’t understand because we are unlovable people. It makes you want to ask the question that David asked when he wrote Psalm 8. Psalm 8:4 The reality is that we are given the gift of eternal life. 1 John 2:24-25 Romans 6:23 Eternal life is the ultimate reward. However we are also heirs with Christ! Romans 8:15-17 We can call God Abba Father or in modern vernacular “Daddy”? Amazing! Did you just hear that you are fellow heirs with Christ? Mind blown! 🤯 There are also multiple verses that talk about receiving crowns as rewards. It’s just truly incomprehensible. God is so good, even when I’m not. Where are you today Christian? Are you trying to live outside of the branch and wonder why you struggle? Are you holding onto sin in your life and think you can serve two masters? Are you grafted into Him? Do you know Him as your personal Lord and Savior? Are you even a branch that can be grafted into the tree? Are you bearing fruit? Who is being impacted for eternity by your life? John 15:8 1 John 5:13 Resources: Abundant Life Stay in the Fight Blog Christian Podcast Community

In this special Thanksgiving Episode Saso and Ben give thanks to God for His many blessings. THANK'FULNESS,noun Expression of gratitude; acknowledgment of a favor.1. Gratitude; a lively sense of good received.The celebration of these holy mysteries being ended, retire with all thankfulness of heart for having been admitted to that heavenly feast. Websters 1828 Key Verse Ephesians 5:20 1 Thessalonians 5:18 We are thankful to God for: God’s grace John 1:16 God’s provision Genesis 22:14 & Psalm 107 God’s love Romans 8:38 Our wives Proverbs 18:22 Jaden Surgery / Recovery 1 Peter 1 Friends and fellowship Acts 2:42 Pastors and Church James 3:1 Missionaries Luke 10:2 Psalm 28:7 Psalm 100:1-5 Happy Thanksgiving and may God bless you. Remember to give thanks to our great God! Support the show (https://abundantlife.fm)

In this episode Saso and Ben discuss the boss and employee relationship according to Ephesians 6:5-9. Support the show (https://abundantlife.fm)

In this Episode Saso and Ben talk about children and how God requires obedience and honor toward parents. Key Verse Ephesians 6:1-3 – Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Websters 1828 Obey – To comply with the commands, orders or instructions of a superior, or with the requirements of law, moral, political or municipal; to do that which is commanded or required, or to forbear doing that which is prohibited. Honor – The esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation. Support the show (https://abundantlife.fm)

In this Episode Saso and Ben talk about men and their important role as a father. Ephesians 6:4 – And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  Support the show (https://abundantlife.fm)

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In this Episode Saso and Ben with special guest Rebekah Mendez talk about honor and respect and a woman's role as a wife.Role of a wife and example of Sara 1 Peter 3:5-6 Ephesians 5:21 Ephesians 5:22-24 Wives do you come under your husband?  Do you treat him as fool?  Do you respect him?  Ephesians 5:33 Do you reverence (respect, honor) your husband or do you put him down and belittle him?  Currently we live in a culture where agendas are being pushed and it’s so wonder that we have corrupted God’s plan for marriage. It’s really just rebellion against God. 1 Samuel 15:23 Did you catch that? Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.  Do you rebel? What submission is not Submission is not to men in general Submission is not a depiction of lesser value Galatians 3:28 Submission is not an excuse to sin Submission is not an outward-only “check the box” activity Submission is not a defeatist attitude 1 Peter 3:1 Support the show (https://abundantlife.fm)

In this Episode Saso and Ben discuss the topic of biblical love and more specifically agape love. Support the show (https://abundantlife.fm)

In this episode Saso and Ben talk about the issue of forgiving one another because we've been forgiven so much. Forgiveness does not mean “bro, now you owe me a solid”. Forgiveness means the debt is canceled and now you no longer have a hook, the debtor does not owe anything. It’s like paying the bill for your food at the restaurant. Once it’s paid you don’t owe anything else, there fore nothing else should be expected by the restaurant. The Lord’s prayer speaking of forgiveness and an example of how we should pray for others who sin against us Matthew 6:12-15Colossians 3:13 How often should we forgive? Matthew 18:21-22 Examples of Forgiveness in Scripture  Joseph - Genesis 50:19Stephen - Acts 7:59-60Simon Peter - Luke 24:34Jesus Christ - Luke 23:34 The new covenant with the house of Israel and house of Judah Hebrews 8:11-12John 8:3-11 Forgiveness is a command Ephesians 4:30-32 Since forgiveness is a command, we must willfully make the decision to obey God and forgive others. Forgivness is conditional Matthew 6:14 Also, the prerequisite to biblically forgiving others is to be forgiven. If you’ve not placed your faith in Christ, if you’ve not been born again as spoken of in John 3, then you are incapable of forgiving others as commanded in scripture. What about forgive and forget? This is a common question among Christians. We can’t selectively choose what we want to forget. In fact there are many things stored in our brains that we’d like to delete but it's just not possible. Unfortunately there are things we do forget but we don’t willfully forget them because it’s impossible for us to forget things on demand. The bible never tells us to forget, however, the Bible tells us to be prudent. Proverbs 22:3 Forgiveness and trust are two different things. Forgiveness means that you’ve released the person from any type of repayment or retribution. However, that means that the dynamics of the relationship may and will likely change until trust is regained which can take time and honestly, trust may never be regained. We are not instructed to forget but we are instructed to love and pray for enemies. Matthew 5:44Romans 12:18 Consequences of unforgiveness The bad thing about unforgiveness is that it leads to other sins like anger, jealousy, bitterness, and hate. Just think what the United States of America would be like if we just forgave each other. What would our world be like if forgiveness was a priority? The parable of the unmerciful servant Matthew 18:22-23 What prevented the servant from forgiving his fellow servant? Pride and greed! And what was the consequence? Matthew 18:35 Why is there a need for forgiveness? Romans 5:8 Who are we to not forgive? After all I’ve been forgiven so much. Romans 6:23 Romans 5:12 Romans 6:23Psalm 51:5 Forgiveness available for all of us 2 Corinthians 5:21 Prodigal Son Luke 15:18-24 Who do you need to forgive?  Has anyone plucked out your beard? Put a crown of thorns on your head?  God help us to forgive as we have been forgiven of all of our unrighteousness if we have placed our faith in Him. Support the show (https://abundantlife.fm)

In this episode Saso and Ben talk about the to topic if friendship. Do you have solid, biblical friendships? If not, you are missing out! Paul & Barnabas - Acts 15:36-40 What are friends for? Comfort - 1 Thessalonians 5:11Forgiveness - 1 Peter 4:8-10Unity - Ecclesiastes 4:10-12Sharpening - Hebrews 10:24, Proverbs 27:17 How are we to be good friends?  1 John 4:7 How do we know we are to love our brothers and sisters in the faith? John 4:21 Jesus is our example John 15:13John 13:1 Jesus command to love one another John 15:12-14 Support the show (https://abundantlife.fm)

In this episode Saso and Ben talk about the topic of unbelief.Mark 9:17 - 24 - Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, r“If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”We want to believe but there comes a time when we need to ask God to help our unbelief. The times where we are discouraged, or we have asked for many years with no change that we can see. “Help thou mine unbelief.”Essentially the sin of unbelief is the equivalent of us saying, God you are not enough and I don’t trust you. We would never shake our fist at God and say that, but if we are honest, our actions portray it. It’s our beliefs that fuels our desire for sin and our beliefs are formed in our minds. And as we’ve talked about in past episodes, the mind is battleground for spiritual warfare. It’s in our minds that we form beliefs. It’s in our minds where we decide what we believe and how we will behave and act according to those beliefs. What is your belief in today?  Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?  Have you put your belief in Him?May our prayer be, “Help thou mine unbelief.” Support the show (https://abundantlife.fm)

Is it possible to change? Is it possible to have victory over sin? Yes! 100% Biblical change can happen for any believer no matter what the sin. Thats encouraging! But there is a catch. The prerequisite for change is salvation. You must be born again. You must be regenerated by the Holy Spirit, otherwise victory over sin is impossible. Apart from salvation, we have no power to stop sinning. Why is that? Here are a couple supporting verses. 1 Corinthians 1:181 Corinthians 2:14 The bottom line is this. The word of God is what changes us, however, if you are not a Christian, you can’t understand the things of God, therefore you can’t change. In Episode 14 we spoke about God’s grace. God’s grace is the means that changes us. But we can’t experience this grace unless we are born again. It’s God’s grace that saves us and it’s also God’s grace that changes us. Titus 2:11-12 What is the pattern of biblical change? According to Ephesians 4 he pattern for change is put off - renew - put on. Let’s take a look. Ephesians 4:17-24 - Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Support the show (https://abundantlife.fm)

In this episode Saso and Ben reflect on various events of the passion week. Happy Resurrection Sunday.  He is risen - He is risen indeed! Messianic Prophecy Genesis 3:15 Crucifixion ProphecyDaniel 9:27 Crucifixion Prophecy Isaiah 53:5 Mary anoints Jesus John 12:1-8 Jesus washes disciples feet - John 13:1-17 High Priestly Prayer - John 17:9,20 Peter’s denial foretold - Luke 22:31-34 Gethsemane Prayer - Luke 22:43-44 Peter Denies Jesus - Luke 22:56-61 Judas Hangs Himself - Acts 1:18 & Matthew 27:3-5 Jesus Coronation - Matthew 27:27-31 Jesus forgives soldiers - Luke 23:34 Jesus Crucified between two thieves - Luke 23:39-43 Jesus Provision for Mother John - 19:26-27 Empty Tomb - Luke 24:1-12 Road To Emaus - Luke 24:13-24 Thomas Believes - John 20:24-29 Peter Restored - John 21:15-19 Ascension - Acts 1:8-11 Second Coming Warning - Matthew 24:36-38 Support the show (https://abundantlife.fm)

In this episode Saso and Ben cover the topic of God's amazing abounding grace. How do I gain victory in a world full of sin? Because of God’s grace should I continue in my sin?  Why do I still struggle with my sin nature and my besetting sins?  How can I be victorious? Take the grace has given you as discussed in Romans 5:20-21 Testimony of God’s grace in the midst of a wicked world  Are you praying for God’s grace?  God does not always say yes to what we ask for or even a bad thing we may ask to be taken away. Grace is always a sign of God’s good will towards us and it is sufficient in all things and for all things. We would not go to Him if we felt capable of being successful within ourselves. True victory is only found in Christ Jesus and only through His grace are we truly strong.  Will you allow His grace to abound in you?  Will you come boldly before Him and ask for His grace and will you take it when He gives it to you?  Are you sinning and presuming upon God’s grace? God forbid! Support the show (https://abundantlife.fm)