Abundant Life

Abundant Life

By Saso Mendez & Ben ArellanoReligion & SpiritualityChristianityReligion
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Abundant Life episodes

  • The War on Humanity

    Abundant Life Episode 50

    In this episode Saso and Ben talk about Satan’s plan to destroy humanity.

    This episode was inspired by the recent Nefarious movie release (Please use discretion before watching movie, may no be suitable for young children)

    Websters 1828 – Vigilant – Watchful; circumspect; attentive to discover and avoid danger, or to provide for safety.

    Key Verse

    1 Peter 5:8 – Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour

    1 John 2:15-16 – Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 

    Ephesians 6:10-18 – Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

    1 John 4:4 – Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

    Acts 5:3 – But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

    Luke 22:3-6 – Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them. And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.

    Proverbs 28:26 – He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

    Matthew 16:26 – For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

    James 1:14-15 – But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 

    James 4:7 – Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

    Revelation 20:10 – And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

    Resources

    • Nefarious Movie
    • Conquer Series (Battle Plan for Purity)
    • Ray Comfort Interview with Satanist

      • 1 hr 1 min
    • Fishers of Men

      Abundant Life Episode 49

      In this episode Saso and Ben interview Jeff Grachus as they discuss being fishers of men by the sharing of the gospel.

      Key Verse

      Matthew 4:19 – And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

      Luke 5

      Listen in as Jeff gives his powerful testimony of how he went from being completely immersed in the world to becoming a child of God. He also met his wife as a result of his conversion, completed bible college and is preparing for the next season of life. Learn how Jeff uses fishing as a tool for ministry as he exercises his gifts of evangelism and exhortation.

      1 hr 14 min
    • Jesus is Coming Back!
      Abundant Life Episode 48
      In this episode Saso and Ben discuss Jesus path from resurrection to second coming.
      RESURREC’TION A rising again; chiefly, the revival of the dead of the human race, or their return from the grave, particularly at the general judgment. By the resurrection of Christ we have assurance of the future resurrection of men. 1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” - Websters 1828
      Key Verses
      Acts 1:11
      Matthew 24:30
      John 20:7
      There are some who analyze this verse but Pastor Charles Elliott preached a sermon about the significance of the folding of the napkin. In this message, he spoke about how Jesus did not cast His grave clothes to the side in a crumpled fashion but folded them to signify He was not done and would return. He is coming again just as He said!
      Mark 16:6
      Those who went to the tomb in the early morning were frightened by Jesus missing from the grave. Jesus spoke of this and it was also prophesied but yet they expected to find Him in the tomb even on the third day.
      Matthew 24:27
      It would seem that we are living in end times. Or as the book of Matthew calls it, it seems we are living as in the days of Noah.
      Increase of evil in the world - daily main stream media news
      Call good bad and bad good - common speech, social media
      Falling away of people from the church/religion - numbers are down
      Increased Violence - mass killing, school shootings
      Sin is glorified and promoted - transgender movements
      Natural disasters and events - flooding, earthquakes
      Famine - Ukraine, Africa
      Pestilence - Covid
      Rapture and Second Coming Distinction
      1 Corinthians 15:51-53
      Rapture:
      Pre-trib
      Mid-trib
      Post-trib
      1 Thessalonians 4:13–18
      Jesus meets the raptured church in the air (in the clouds)
      Jesus doesn’t appear to be described as descending to the Earth to rule and reign at this point in time
      Second Coming
      Second coming description by John in Revelation:
      Revelation 19:11–16
      Second coming location
      Zechariah 14:4
      Second coming signs
      Matthew 24:3
      False Christs
      Wars and rumors of wars
      Nation will rise agains nation and kingdom against kingdom
      Famines
      Pestilences
      Earthquakes (natural disasters)
      Afflicted and hated and killed for the name of Jesus
      Betrayal, hatred, offenses
      The gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come
      Matthew 24:32-35
      Matthew 24:36-39
      Are you prepared?
      Titus 2:11-13
      John 11:25-26
      1 Thessalonians 4:14
      Closing
      Do you believe the gospel? Are you ready for His coming again? He is coming back as the King to gather His bride unto Himself. Life is short, and we know not when our day will come or when the trump will blow.
      54 min
    • Encountering God in Israel
      Abundant Life Episode 47
      In this episode Saso and Ben discuss Saso's recent visit to Israel, Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. He is risen, He is risen indeed!
      Deuteronomy 8:7
      Luke 24:13-35
      1 hr 3 min
    • Can we really trust God?
      Abundant Life Episode 46
      In this episode Saso and Ben discuss the Sovereignty of God.
      Websters 1828
      Sovereign - Supreme in power; possessing supreme dominion; as a sovereign ruler of the universe.
      Key Verse
      Psalm 147:5 - Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.
      God is Sovereign
      Proverbs 16:9
      Proverbs 19:21
      Proverbs 21:30
      Ecclesiastes 7:13
      Lamentations 3:37
      Matthew 10:29
      John 19:10
      James 4:13-15
      Revelation 3:7
      Life Examples:
      Economy, President, Governor, injustices
      Row vs. Wade
      Divorce
      Tragic accident in 2009
      Injury
      Job Loss
      Bible Examples
      Job
      Paul left in prison by Roman Governor Felix as favor to Jews
      Joseph
      Jesus crucifixion
      God does what pleases Himself
      Job 42:2
      Psalm 115:3
      Isaiah 14:27
      Isaiah 43:13
      Isaiah 46:10
      Daniel 4:35
      Ephesians 1:11
      You can trust God because He has a plan for you
      God is not the author of sin and evil, but he does allow trials and adversity.
      Romans 8:28-29
      Ephesians 2:10
      Psalm 138:8
      Jeremiah 29:11
      Recap
      God is sovereign
      God is in control
      God is never caught off guard or surprised or experiences unexpected developments
      God is not the author of sin but allows trials for various reasons
      God does what pleases Himself
      We are not in control and others are not in control of me
      We may not like our circumstances but they are always ordained by God
      God loves and has a plan for you
      We can trust God
      Psalm 18:30
      It’s not always easy to trust God in trials and adversity, but we can trust Him because He truly is sovereign.
      Proverbs 3:5-6
      1 hr 4 min
    • 2022 Reflections & Blessings
      Abundant Life Episode 45
      In this episode Saso and Ben discuss how God blessed and worked in their lives in 2022.
      Prayer & Fasting Daniel 9:3
      Marriage Conference James 1:2-4
      Wedding Ephesians 5:32-33
      Concert Psalm 147:5
      Job Promotion Jeremiah 17:7-8
      Salvation! Romans 10:8-10, Psalm 34:8
      New Years Resolution Romans 12:2
      Read the Word! Numbers 6:24-26
      1 hr 4 min
    • God is More Than Enough
      Abundant Life Episode 44
      In this episode Saso and Ben discuss how Christians can be content with God, because God is enough.
      Enough - That satisfies desire, or gives content; that may answer the purpose; that is adequate to the wants.
      - Websters 1828
      Key Verse
      Philippians 4:19
      This is such a powerful truth, God is more than enough, because if it is true, which it is, it means we that we should be trusting God to meet our every need. Yet, we have this nasty sin called unbelief that leads us down a dark path into further sin.
      We are living in a time where many so called believers are bible illiterate. The reality is that many Christians don’t know the truths and promises of God found in scripture and therefore they fall victim to unbelief. They simply don’t believe God is enough.
      Rather we are bombarded by ads that tell us we deserve more, we are plagued with instant gratifications that social media brings, we place our hopes in an elected official, we commit sin and feed our flesh because we simply don’t believe that God is more than enough.
      It’s interesting that the scripture deals with this idea of unbelief and in fact we did an episode on the topic of unbelief, episode 17 to be specific. Unbelief is like a cancer for unbelievers as the scriptures tell us that Satan blinds them from seeing the light of the gospel.
      2 Corinthians 4:4
      This speaks of unbelievers, but Satan does this same thing to believers to keep them as if they were still in bondage. It’s like the Andy Griffith show where Otis grabs the jail cell key hanging from the wall and lets himself out of jail. Christians have been forgiven and have been freed from the bondage of sin, yet we live like as if we were still in bondage.
      Christian, do you deal with unbelief? Do you believe that God is more than enough? Or are you discontent? Do you lust for more? Are you intrigued by the world?
      Throughout the Bible we see this theme of unbelief and it all started in the garden of eden. Adam and Eve chose to believe the lie of Satan that God wasn’t enough, they wanted more, they wanted to be like God. And in single act of sin, Adam brought down the human race into sin.
      Genesis 3:1-7
      Lucifer was cast out of heaven with one third of the angels as he lusted to be greater than God.
      Just like Adam and Eve, we are ruined by our own hearts as we lust for more because both discontentment and covetousness are both rooted in unbelief.
      The apostle John warned us about this. He told us not to lust for the shiny things of this world, but instead trust and obey God.
      1 John 2:15-17
      The problem
      Our problem is that we get our eyes off of God and we then put our focus on ourselves. We look at ourselves, our circumstances, our failures, our sin, our short comings. We compare ourselves to others. We are by nature selfish and we love to think about ourself and how we can live our best life now. Joel Olsteen's book, Your Best Life Now is a lie, your best life is only for believers and will come when you are in glory with our savior Jesus.
      We complain and grumble and we believe the lie that God is not enough or that God is not in control, or that God doesn’t love me, or that God doesn’t bless me.
      It’s this unbelief that drives us to a place of discontentment. Once we reach that point we start looking for fleshly things that will satisfy us. We then simply seek to feed our flesh and please ourselves which is always through some sort of sin. Not everyone sins the same, not everyone is tempted by the same sin, but we all have fleshly desires and our bent and bondage toward sin can only be broken by Jesus.
      The problem with that is that the flesh can’t be satisfied with things of the world. God is the only one that can satisfy our souls. He is the one that gives peace to our souls. He is the one that gives us joy. He gives us comfort. He gives us the power to say no to sin. He is the one that truly gives us contentment and satisfaction.
      1 hr
    • Open Our Eyes Lord
      Abundant Life Episode 43
      In this episode Saso and Ben discuss the how Christians must place their hope in God in times of discouragement and life's trials.
      OPENED - Unclosed; unbarred; unsealed; uncovered; revealed; disclosed; made plain; freed from obstruction. - Websters 1828
      Key Verses
      2 Kings 6:15-17
      Elisha’s servant was troubled with the armies that had encompassed them about, but Elisha was not fearful as he was able to see the presence and protection of God. “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.”
      Romans 4:19-21
      The promise he was referring to is the promise given to Abraham that through Him all of the families of the earth would be blessed. God in a sense had opened his eyes to the promise He had given him where he could visualize and see the great nation that would come from him. The opening of our eyes is the faith we must have in God to see the great things He has promised us and the great hope we have in Him.
      Sometimes these emotions come with the trials of life.
      What are the giants in your life? What do you fear? What makes you feel hopeless? What makes you anxious?
      Sickness, disease, cancer, terminal illness
      Personal offense, someone said/did something to hurt you
      Personal loss, home lost in fire or natural disaster
      Loss of loved one
      Divorce or marital problems
      Elections & Economy
      Rumors of wars
      Midlife crisis
      You’ve committed that same sin again that has you ensnared or a sinful habit that you can’t kick
      Difficult boss at work, or difficult co-workers
      The scriptures not only speak truth and give you hope, but the scriptures are so relatable. The book of Psalms is always a comfort to me whether you are on the mountain of life or in the valley because there is something you can always relate with.
      Psalm 38 is a lament when you lay your troubles at the feet of Jesus realizing your sin has brought on the trouble and you are discouraged.
      Psalm 38:17.
      Psalm 42, is a lament when you are oppressed and persecuted and discouraged.
      Psalm 42:11
      Psalm 73 is a Psalm of wisdom written by Asaph sharing his thoughts of discouragement as he observed the prosperity of the wicked.
      Psalm 73:2
      Here are more examples in scripture that you can relate to when you are discouraged or feeling hopeless.
      Elijah was in the midst of a drought and God commanded him to go and ask a widow to feed him. The widow basically had nothing left, except a little bit of flour and she was basically preparing for her and her son to die of hunger. She must have been fearful and discouraged. In fact this is what she said: 1 Kings 17:12
      Goliath the philistine was taunting the Israelites because he was a mighty warrior, a confident giant. Although we know how the story ends, the fact of the matter is that the soldiers were scared and discouraged.
      1 Samuel 17:11
      Elijah had just experience a great victory when God consumed his alter and then he slayed 450 prophets of Baal. But after the great victory he ran for his life after Jezebell threatened his life.
      1 Kings 19:4
      Can you imagine how fearful and discouraged the Israelites were as they were trapped between Red Sea and Egyptian army expecting to be executed?
      Exodus 14:10
      How about Joseph and Mary fleeing to Egypt to avoid Herod's vicious execution of young boys in attempt to kill Jesus. Imagine the fear and discouragement? Can you imagine what Mary would have thought?
      Fear not
      Haggai 2:4-5  - Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work (building of the temple): for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts: According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.
      2 Timothy 1:7
      Isaiah 41:10
      Isaiah 41:13
      Trials of life
      1 Corinthians
      Paul had gone through the ringer to the point where he faced de...
      53 min
    • Trials in the Workplace
      Abundant Life Episode 42
      In this episode Saso and Ben interview Mike Baldwin, ex-police, as they discuss dealing with trials in the workplace.
      Key verses
      Colossians 3:23-24 - And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
      Resources
      Dr. Tillotson's sermon on Hinderances to Answered Prayer
      Baldwin Performance
      1 hr 11 min
    • How to get on fire for Jesus
      Abundant Life Episode 41
      In this episode Saso and Ben discuss the topic of being renewed and how to get on fire for Jesus!
      Key verses
      Titus 2: 11-14
      RENEW'ED, participle passive Made new again; repaired; re-established; repeated; revived; renovated; regenerated. - Websters 1828
      Grace -  Appropriately, the free unmerited love and favor of God, the spring and source of all the benefits men receive from him. - Websters 1828
      Romans 11:6
      We know salvation is an act of grace from God, and it is from His deep well of favor, and love that He has for mankind that He would send His Son to die for us. It costs us nothing but to Him it came at a great price.
      Romans 5:2
      The act of Jesus dying for us gave us direct access to this grace. We would have no hope or chance if He did not send His Son to die for us. What an amazing picture of His love and unmerited love He has for us!
      After salvation which appeared to all men, we get His grace to help us live this Christian life.
      Romans 5:20
      No one would argue with you that sin is abundant in this world. It does not take long, and you do not have to go far to find sin. 
      Although sin is abundant and abounds, God’s grace abounds much more. Although it may seem as though we have no hope against sin, this verse tell us differently as grace abounds more than the sin in this world. Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.
      God’s Grace of Salvation
      Being on fire for Jesus all starts at salvation. Salvation was only possible because we not only have a just God who cannot overlook sin, but we also have a loving God, who looked at His creation with love and compassion and made the ultimate sacrifice to make it possible for mankind to be brought back into a relationship with God.
      2 Peter 3:9
      I’m so thankful for the truths in this verse. I’m thankful for God’s patience. I got saved a little later in life and if God didn’t have patience and sent Jesus back before I got saved, who knows if I would have ever received Jesus as savior.
      The Deist believes that God created everything, but then was no longer interested after creation. In other words they would say God is the clock maker, and winds the clock, and lets it go.
      God is ever present in the affairs of men today! It’s God’s grace that sacrificed the first animal in Genesis to cover Adam and Eve, it’s God, who commanded Israel to sacrifice animals to cover their sin, and ultimately it was that those animals represented and pointed to Jesus who was the ultimate sacrifice.
      The Gospel of Jesus never gets old! The world needs to hear the gospel of Jesus so they can know the grace of God but, the believer must always reflect on this story, because this Gospel is truly the fuel we need to be on fire for Jesus. 
      Christian, would you sit and reflect on the gospel and your salvation, think about where you’d be without it, think about your eternal destination without it and then think about how blessed you truly are, how you have a relationship with the King of kings.
      A Christian’s “why”
      The why is simply implying what motivates you to keep going every day, especially when things are not going right, everything appears to be failing and you basically want to quit. What they have found in the business world is that money is typically not people’s motivation for leading a business. Leading a business can be tough, and people could likely the same amount of money or more working for someone else and therefore money is not always the driving factor.
      The Christian walk is similar in the fact that It’s hard. We need motivation in those valleys of life when we have a sense of hopelessness or brokenness, or maybe it's just tiredness and fatigue, maybe it’s burnout, or a sense of complacency, or simply lack of motivation. Maybe there are days where you just don’t want to do this Christian thing anymore. There are going to be some difficult days ahead for every Christian.
      For a Christian, their “why" is the gospel!
      54 min

    About Abundant Life

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    The Abundant Life podcast's sole purpose is to encourage and challenge Christians to grow in their faith and become more like Jesus. Saso and Ben share their life experiences as they've grown as…