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?