ABIDE Devotionals

Abide – Good Morning

Facing Chronic Fear

https://abide.co/prayer/krw5rb

In John 14:25-27 NLT says, “25 I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. 26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as My representative – that is, the Holy Spirit – He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
27 “I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ gave His last words to His disciples. The coming days would bring horrifying, then glorious, events, but our Lord Jesus Christ would not be able to talk to His disciples during those events. Before the disciples could understand any more, our Lord Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection would have to take place. Then, the disciples’ understanding would be heightened by the coming of the Holy Spirit.

The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, would be sent as our Lord Jesus Christ’s representative. The Holy Spirit would continue our Lord Jesus Christ’s ministry of teaching. The Holy Spirit would also remind the disciples of what our Lord Jesus Christ had told them. The apostles remembered and wrote with the help of the Holy Spirit. John’s Gospel, even the entire New Testament, would not exist if not for this reminding work of the Holy Spirit.

In the case of the disciples, the reminding role of the Holy Spirit uniquely guided the recording of the New Testament. However, the process is still in place. The disciples first heard our Lord Jesus Christ speak; we discover our Lord Jesus Christ’s Words in Scripture. Reading, studying, memorizing, meditating, and obeying place our Lord Jesus Christ’s Words firmly inside us, and the Holy Spirit reminds us of our further learned lessons and application as we move through life. Amen!

This Verse 27 echoes the first verse of the chapter. Our Lord Jesus Christ’s peace would not guarantee the absence of trouble – for our Lord Jesus Christ Himself faced excruciating spiritual, physical, and emotional struggles in the coming hours. Instead, our Lord Jesus Christ’s peace supplies strength and comfort for the burdens we are called to carry. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave the disciples peace that would help them through their own time of trial ahead. After three days, the risen Lord Jesus Christ would come to them and again bestow His peace upon them (John 20:19).

The peace our Lord Jesus Christ offers His disciples isn’t like the peace the world gives. It is His peace, the peace He modeled every day of His life. Our Lord Jesus Christ’s peace did not flee conflict, pain, or death. In fact, the more intense the difficulties, the more apparent our Lord Jesus Christ’s peace became. Our Lord Jesus Christ derived His peace from His relationship with the Father.

Sin, fear, uncertainty, and doubt work to make us troubled and afraid. The peace of God moves into our hearts and lives to restrain these hostile forces and offers comfort in place of conflict. Our Lord Jesus Christ says He will give us that peace if we are willing to accept it from Him. The Holy Spirit’s work in our lives brings deep and lasting peace. We have confident assurance in any circumstance; with our Lord Jesus Christ’s peace, we have no need to fear the present or the future. Amen

Abide – Good Night

Lord’s Supper

https://abide.co/prayer/27tg2n

In Luke 22:19-20 NLT says, “19 He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then He broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember Me.” 20 After supper He took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and His people – an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ took the loaf of unleavened bread, thanked God, and broke it. Because bread was considered a gift from God, it was irreverent to cut bread with a knife, so bread would be torn (or broken) with the hands. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave the bread to the disciples to eat with the sauce. As He did so, He gave this Passover practice an entirely new meaning. Just as the Passover celebrated deliverance from slavery in Egypt, so the Lord’s Supper celebrates deliverance from sin by our Lord Jesus Christ’s death. Our Lord Jesus Christ told the disciples: “This is my body, given for you.” Our Lord Jesus Christ used literal terms to describe a figurative truth. Just as He had so many times said, “I am” the door, the bread, the light, the vine, so the bread symbolized our Lord Jesus Christ’s work of salvation on behalf of humanity. That His body would “be given” pictures the Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ gave His body in death, allowing it to be broken so that believers could receive life.

Our Lord Jesus Christ told the disciples to eat the broken bread in remembrance of Me. He wanted them to remember His sacrifice, the basis for forgiveness of sins, and also His friendship that they could continue to enjoy through the work of the Holy Spirit.

As noted above, in a traditional Passover meal, wine is served four times. Most likely, the cup mentioned in this verse was the third cup; the words of Luke 22:17-18 were spoken about the fourth and final cup that our Lord Jesus Christ did not drink, vowing first to complete His mission before drinking again of wine. Our Lord Jesus Christ took this cup and explained, “This wine is the token of God’s new covenant to save you.”

In Old Testament times, God agreed to forgive people’s sins if they brought animals for the priests to sacrifice. When this sacrificial system was inaugurated, the agreement between God and sinful humanity was sealed with the blood of animals (Exodus 24:8). But animal blood did not in itself remove sin (only God can forgive sin), and animal sacrifices had to be repeated day by day and year after year. Our Lord Jesus Christ instituted a “new covenant” or agreement between humans and God. Under this new covenant, our Lord Jesus Christ would die in the place of sinners. Unlike the blood of animals, His blood would seal the agreement between God and people to remove the sins of all who put their faith in Him. Amen!

The Gospel – The Good News

In John 3:16-17 NLT says, “16 “For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.”

The message of The Good News – The Gospel comes to a focus in these verses. God’s love is not static or self-centered; it reaches out and draws others in. Here God sets the pattern of true love, the basis for all love relationships – when we love someone dearly, we are willing to give freely to the point of self-sacrifice. God paid dearly with the life of His Son, the highest price He could pay. Our Lord Jesus Christ accepted our punishment, paid the price for our sins, and then offered us the new life that He had bought for us. When we share the Good News with others, our love must be like our Lord Jesus Christ’s – willingly giving up our own comfort and security so that others might join us in receiving God’s unconditional love.

In John 14:6-7 NLT says, “6 Jesus told him, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through Me. 7 If you had really known Me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him!”

This is one of the most basic and important passages in Scripture. How can we know the way to God? Only through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Way because He is both God and man. By uniting our lives with His, we are united with God. Trust our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit to take you to our Father God, and all the benefits of being God’s child will be yours.

Home Fellowship Churches Services

We are glad to invite you all to join us in our Zoom Services; Leadership & Discipleship at 5 pm every 1st & 3rd Sunday of the month, and Sunday Service at 7 pm and Bible Study on Wednesday at 6 pm, and Praise & Worship/Karaoke on Friday at 7 pm Central Time (CT). Karaoke location TBA. Our neighborhood and home church is at https://bridge.church.

To Join our Zoom Meetings, just click the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7354863381?pwd=aFJXV0g4S0NZcUNVeGtZZ0NsTHVZUT09

Meeting ID: 735 486 3381
Passcode: 718522

If you have any questions and/or concerns, please don’t hesitate to send them to:

Email: trinityblessings@homefellowshipchurches.org

Podcast Messages & Bible Studies Topic: Fruit of the Holy Spirit, God’s Promises for All Our Every Needs, Books of Leviticus, the Gospel Books (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John), Revelation and Romans, Pastor/Chaplain Elias’ books – “From the Words and Thoughts to the Swords and Battlegrounds”, and “From the Battlegrounds and Wars to the Overcoming and Victories” portions (to be published soon).

Love God, Love People, and Make Disciples,

Pastor/Chaplain Elias Aguilar Busuego Jr PhD DTM

Founding Pastor – Home Fellowship Churches – https://homefellowshipchurches.org

Chaplain – American Legion (AL) District 10 – Texas, AL Post 302 Hutto, TX, formerly at AL Post 447 Round Rock, TX

Notice to Cell Phone Users: Click > To Open the Site Menu – (God’s Promises for All Our Every Needs, Purpose and Mission Statement, Ministries, and Etc.) Using the Three-Lined “Hamburger Icon” at the Top Right of the Screen.


Published by Elias A Busuego Jr PhD DTM

Elias A. Busuego, Jr., PhD, DTM is self-described as “proud of the only two women in my life – my wife and my daughter (with her husband and one grandson & one granddaughter). I am also proud of my three sons: John and his family (two sons & 1 daughter); Christopher and his family (with his wife and one grandson & one daughter); and Elias Jr. IV and his family (with his wife and one son & one daughter), who are all serving in the U.S. military.” The author states that he read the Bible back-to-back, and learned the history behind it, but did not understand its deeper spiritual perspective until he experienced of being Born-Again, born in spirit. Since he was Born-Again on March 17, 1972, he started understanding the Passage and/or Scripture on John 3:3-7 NLT. These are most of his favorite verses. In John 3:3-7 NLT says, “3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” 4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again? "Jesus replied, “I assure you; no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ In John 3:5 – This statement has perplexed and divided commentators for many centuries. Some traditions have taught that the water denotes physical birth (referring to the “water” of amniotic fluid or even semen) and Spirit to spiritual birth – in which case our Lord Jesus Christ would be saying that a person has to have two births: one physical and the second, spiritual. This view builds upon the preceding context when Nicodemus referred to physical birth. It also points to the parallel our Lord Jesus Christ makes in verse 6. According to this position, our Lord Jesus Christ would have been granting the Pharisee’s point in order to highlight the nature of the second birth as spiritual. Two strengths of this interpretation are that it avoids making the physical act of water baptism a necessity and that it avoids bringing almost a “third birth” idea into the discussion. If water doesn’t refer to natural birth, say its defenders, then our Lord Jesus Christ seems to be saying that a person must be born of their parents, born of water, and born of the Spirit. Other traditions have taught that the water refers to baptism and the Spirit to spiritual regeneration – thus, our Lord Jesus Christ would have been saying that a person must both be baptized and receive the Spirit in order to enter the Kingdom of God. This view is at times influenced by the belief that the sacrament of baptism is itself a requirement for salvation. A parallel view makes water refer to baptism but places the emphasis on teaching two steps of baptism; one by water, the other by the Spirit. For support, these views point to the larger context in John where John the Baptist and water baptism are mentioned just preceding the events in Cana and following this encounter with Nicodemus. They also rely on the tendency of previous generations of Christians to equate the mention of water with baptism. But in the first seven chapters of John, water appears in some way (naturally or symbolically) in each chapter. To associate water and baptism too closely makes baptism a higher priority than the Scriptures give it. Here, for instance, if our Lord Jesus Christ was speaking of two completely separate acts, two baptisms, it is odd that the rest of the discussion between our Lord Jesus Christ and Nicodemus never again refers to the subject but revolves entirely around the work of God’s Spirit. Still other traditions have taught that our Lord Jesus’ reference to water is not physical in either the sense of birth or baptism. The term water is simply another description of the Spirit – or the Spirit’s activity of cleansing and giving life (see John 7:37-39). In John 3:6 – Humans can produce only more human beings; this answers Nicodemus’s question in verse 4. Only God the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. At the same time God puts His Spirit into us, we are given a new regenerated human spirit. It is God’s Spirit, not our effort, that makes us children of God (John 1:12). Our Lord Jesus’ description corrects human hopes that we might somehow inherit goodness from parents or earn it by good behavior, church background, or correct associations. At some point we must be able to answer the question: Have I been born of the Spirit? In John 3:7 – Our Lord Jesus’ statement to Nicodemus that evening has been heralded to all the world ever since. Both Jew and Gentile have heard the divine mandate: You must be born again. Without the new birth, one cannot see or enter into the Kingdom of God. In those words, millions have heard our Lord Jesus Christ speaking directly to their hearts and our hearts. Behind our Lord Jesus’ challenge is His invitation to each of us –” You must be born again; allow me to do that for you.” Since he was born again on March 17, 1972, he started also understanding his other favorite Passage on Romans 12:2 NLT. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” When Elias offered his entire self to God, a change happened in his relation to the world. As one of Born-Again Christians, he believes we are called to a different lifestyle than what the world offers with its behavior and customs, which are usually selfish and often corrupting (Galatians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:14). He commented that Born-Again Christians are to live as citizens of a future world. There will be pressure to conform, to continue living according to the script written by the world, but Born-Again Christian believers are forbidden to give in to that pressure. But refusing to conform to this world’s values must go even deeper than the level of behavior and customs – it must go to the transforming of the way we think. In Elias testimonies as a Born-Again Christian believer, he emphasized that born-again is an experience and he experienced a complete transformation from the inside out. And the change must begin in the mind, where all thoughts and actions begin. Much of the work is done by God’s Spirit in us, and the tool most frequently used is God’s Word. As we memorize and meditate upon God’s Word, our way of thinking changes. Our minds become first informed, and then conformed to the pattern of God, the pattern for which we were originally designed. When we as Born-Again Christian believers have had our minds transformed and are becoming more like our Lord Jesus Christ, we will know what God wants and we will want to do it for it is good, pleasing to God, and perfect for us. It is from those gleanings that he was able to write this book.