Hank Smith: 00:02 Hello my friends. Welcome to followHIM Favorites. My name’s Hank Smith. I’m here with the wonderful John Bytheway. John, we’re going to do what we usually do at followHIM Favorites. We’re going to take on a single question from this week’s lesson. We’re in first, second, and third John this week, John. John frequently talks about abiding in the Lord. This is 1 John chapter two, verse six. He that saith he abideth in him should walk the way he walks. Verse 10, he that loveth his brother abideth in the light. Abide isn’t a word we use much anymore, John, so what do you think of them when you hear the word abide in the Lord?

John Bytheway: 00:41 It’s a great word, and I remember studying the Christmas story in Luke years ago. There were in the same country shepherds abiding in their field, keeping watch over their flock by night. We’ve all heard that. I looked it up on dictionary.com. It has such a great list. To stay, to remain, to endure, to persist, be where you’re supposed to be, doing what you’re supposed to be doing kind of a word. There’s blessings from abiding. In fact, in the Christmas story, the wise men had a hint of what was coming. Joseph knew. Mary knew. Obviously Jesus knew. Who didn’t know? The shepherds. And how did they get to find out? Because they were abiding. They were where they were supposed to be and the angels knew right where to find them. We want to be abiders and be where we’re supposed to be, doing what we’re supposed to be doing.

Hank Smith: 01:27 I love that. In Spanish, abide, I believe is permaneced, something like that. Permaneced, but you can hear the word permanent in there, right?

John Bytheway: 01:38 Permaneced.

Hank Smith: 01:39 The idea of abiding in the Lord should be that I’m here permanently. I’m here forever. I am in. Both feet are in.

John Bytheway: 01:49 Both feet in. Yeah.

Hank Smith: 01:49 I’m all in when it comes to Jesus. I think the word abide implies that, that you’re not just halfway in. You’re not here for a little while. You’re here forever.

John Bytheway: 01:59 Here for the long haul. Boy, the way that 1 John chapter two ends in verse 28 is so nice, and now little children abide in him that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. What a nice verse that is. I marked that one when we went through it.

Hank Smith: 02:22 Yeah. How often people are looking for confidence. I need a little self-confidence and need self-esteem. I think that verse is great. Abide in him. We can have confidence.

John Bytheway: 02:34 When he comes, we can stand before him and we can be confident and not be ashamed before him because we were where we were supposed to be doing what we’re supposed to be doing. And I hope we out there get to meet our fellow abiders all the time, right?

Hank Smith: 02:47 Yeah. This is 1 John chapter three. If we abide in him, when he shall appear, we shall be like him. Isn’t that fantastic? That’s the promise. We hope you’ll join us on our full podcast. It’s called followHIM. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts. We’re actually with a couple this week, Dr. Justin Dyer and his wife, Aislin Dyer, something we rarely do. So come join us over on our full podcast and then join us right here next week for another followHIM Favorites.