The Way in 2016 “I am the way…” Jesus

There is a Way. There is a way that is not the way.

Acts 19:23

And about that time there arose a great commotion about the Way.

A way that satisfies. A way that does not satisfy.  

Gen. 2:15-17

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

A way that leads to God. A way that does not lead to God. 

Gen. 5:2

And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

A way that prospers us. A way that consumes us.

Psalm 1:1-6

Blessed is the man

Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor stands in the path of sinners,

Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree

Planted by the rivers of water,

That brings forth its fruit in its season,

Whose leaf also shall not wither;

And whatever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so,

But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,

Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

A way that ends well. A way that does not end well.

Psalms 23:1-6

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

A way that is the truth. A way that is a lie.

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

A way that few find. A way that many find.

Matthew 7:13-14

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

A way that harmonizes everything. A way that destroys everything.

Col. 1:15-20

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Which way in 2016?

Bud McCord

Abide International

The Theft of Christmas

The headline of today’s News  should be  “Christmas Stolen!”.  

Stolen by commerce.

Stolen by busyness.

Stolen by religion.

Stolen by family.

Stolen by sports.

Stolen by lack of attention.

There are rumors that  something of the orginal Christmas still thrives in the privacy of some hearts.  As far as today’s public Christmas is concerned the true meaning may be gone forever.

Of course that was the same thing they said when Jesus was crucified and buried 2000 years ago.

Christmas has a way of rising again!  Nothing about Jesus can be permanently stolen.

Bud McCord

Abide International

Mary, Did You Know?

The Christmas song “Mary, did you know?”  raises a question every Christian would love to personally ask Mary.

 From the Bible here are a few things we know that Mary knew.

Mary knew she was just Mary from a nowhere place called Nazareth.

Mary knew she was Jewish and was hated for simply being a Jew.

Mary knew she was a virgin and promised to Joseph a descendant of David and this was no one else’s business.

Mary knew she was receiving grace from God, she would be pregnant and give birth to a son called Jesus.

Mary knew her son would be great and called the Son of the most high God.

Mary knew her pregnancy would begin unlike any other that had ever begun and very few would believe her when she claimed she had never known a man.

Mary knew her son would be called Holy and the Son of God.

Mary knew that with God all things are possible and she was about to live this truth.

Mary knew she would called blessed and so would her son.

Mary knew that God had come to her because she was willing to humbly cooperate with Him.

Mary knew that God controlled everything and everyone.

Mary knew a spear would cut through her soul as she watched the plan for her son unfold.

Some say that Mary was only 15 years old when she knew all of this. So much to know for one so young!

Mary, the mother of Jesus was too young. Even so, the One she knew and what He told her made her willing to be what she  could not be and do what she could not do in the Jesus story.

God stills calls those who are too young and too old to do the impossible with Him in the Jesus story.

Click here to see and hear the song “Mary, did you know?” 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Walk In The Spirit

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Gal. 5:16

To walk in the Spirit is to be led by the Spirit to apreciate that Jesus is all for us and all in us. It is also to be led by the Spirit to admit what we are without Jesus.

As we walk in the Spirit we simultaneously know the truth  about Jesus and ourselves.

Jesus is all.  Without Jesus we are nothing.

Jesus has all.  Without Jesus we have nothing.

Jesus knows all.  Without Jesus we know nothing.

Jesus can do all.  Without Jesus we can do nothing.

As the Spirit convinces us Jesus is all for us and in us we begin to walk in the Spirit.  As we admit that we are nothing without Jesus the Spirit can freely make all Jesus is form in us.  When we walk in all Jesus is,  we are made into the kind of human beings the Father has always wanted us to be and the kind of human beings we thought we could never become.

As we walk in the Spirit we experience fellowship with the Father, Son and Spirit.  In this oneness we receive by the Spirit the daily grace from all Jesus is, has, knows and does.  We walk in the Spirit as a new creation in Christ. All has become new in the Father’s will.

By the Spirit I know that Jesus is all that the Father is for me.  By the Spirit I know that Jesus is all that the Father has for me.  By the Spirit I know that Jesus is all that the Father wants me to be.  By the Spirit I know that Jesus is all that the Father wants me to do.

Pure life in Jesus is what walking in the Spirit brings me each day.  As I walk in the Spirit I can say “I am what I am by the grace of God.”

Bud McCord

Abide International

Discipleship

Without Jesus there is no discipleship.  This singular truth should guide all our attempts to disciple those who have received Jesus as Savior.

It is no accident that Jesus made Himself the subject of His own teaching.  All that He said of Himself leads us to the conclusion that He is the way, the truth and the life.

We hear Him saying He is essential for anyone who desires to return to the Father. We also hear Him say He is central to discipleship.

In John 15:1-8 Jesus describes His Father’s vineyard.  In this spiritual ecosystem where love is sent into the world as fruit the essential role of the True Vine is very clear.  So there wouild be no doubt Jesus uses these powerful words:  “Without Me you can nothing.”   In any language nothing means nothing.

In the Father’s ecosystem of love Jesus is central.  If Jesus not is central, present and active there is no discipleship.

Imagine a beautiful ecosystem where all the elements are in perfect harmony for the cultivation of grapes.  The only thing missing is the Vine.  Simply put, there will be no grapes, juice or wine. All that harmony is useless if the goal is a particular fruit.

Finding the Vine is the essential element if one wants grapes. This does not diminish the other parts of the ecosystem.  In God’s plan everything else that surrounds Jesus is for Jesus.  Why?  Because He is the source of all that surrounds Him and the goal of all that surrounds Him.  The ecosystem exists for Him to be and do what only He can be and do.

When our discipleship does not begin and end in Jesus it is useless for producing what the Father wants.  The Father wants what is only in Jesus.  

Discipleship is Jesus present and active in a surrounding ecosystem that exists so Jesus can reveal the true nature of the Father which is love.

Discipleship is essentially Jesus. Center on Him. 

Bud McCord

Abide International