Bud Lamb Talks Bud Lamb

Many know facts about Jesus. Though all are loved and welcome few know Jesus as their Saviour.  Soldiers and betrayers approached Him in the Garden of Gethsemane as He was about to be betrayed, beaten, and crucified the next day.
Slowly read and reflect on what follows.
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Jesus asked a deep brooding question, “Whom do you seek?”
John 18:7
A short time later Jesus was taken in chains to meet with Pontius Pilot, the Roman Governor. He asks Jesus, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Perhaps Pilot too felt the hole in his heart and was curious enough perhaps to move from curious to a devoted follower.
How about you? Curious? Aware of a deep unfilled longing in your heart? What, or who are you looking for? Are you weary? 
 
The One you seek has come for you.
Jesus is the One you have been searching for.
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Imagine  If your spouse or child had inoperable brain cancer what lengths would you go to find a cure? Would you consider unorthodox treatment not recommended by Western medicine? Would you travel the world to find a doctor who has found success with a new medication?
This is the story with all of us. We all have a terminal disease called “humanity.” 
Only One can rescue us from the abyss of the unknown.
Action If you knew you would die today would you be certain of what lies ahead for you? You can have the assurance of heaven. The Bible tells us is available to all who come to believe in Jesus and accept Him as their Saviour. 
But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.  John 1:12
Ask Jesus Will you be my Lord and Saviour? I believe You are the One.
Begin attending a church. Tell someone you have become a follower of Jesus. Drop me a note at budlamb@infaith.org or give me a call at 831-566-4131
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TODAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE

Jesus is crucified on a hill in between two thieves who, I imagine, were screaming with pain, asking for mercy, and watching how Jesus responded to the slander of bystanders.  How Jesus carried Himself spoke to the heart of one of the thieves.
Slowly read and reflect on what follows…
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Two others, criminals, were led out to be executed with him at a place called “The Skull.” There all three were crucified—Jesus on the center cross, and the two criminals on either side.
And the soldiers gambled for his clothing, throwing dice for each piece.  The crowd watched. And the Jewish leaders laughed and scoffed. “He was so good at helping others,” they said, “let’s see him save himself if he is really God’s Chosen One, the Messiah.”
The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink—of sour wine.  And they called to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself !”
A signboard was nailed to the cross above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”
One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”
But the other criminal protested. “Don’t you even fear God when you are dying? We deserve to die for our evil deeds, but this man hasn’t done one thing wrong.”  Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
And Jesus replied, Today you will be with me in Paradise. This is a solemn promise. 
Luke 23:32-43 (TLB)
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Imagine  See yourself as one of the two thieves watching Jesus as life oozes out of you.  What regrets would haunt you?  Do you identify with either of them?  The one that taunts Jesus to do something…or the one who asks Jesus to remember him...
Action  Take a moment to thank Jesus for His grace to the thief, recognizing that same grace is extended to you now.
Ask Jesus  Where am I experiencing the consequences of my own bad decisions?  How would You speak into my pain?  Let me experience Your kindness the way you replied to the second thief’s awareness of who You are.  Show me Your kingdom -- the place of Your rule and authority in my life.

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Jesus’ longest day. His life was draining out of Him. His breathing was hard and heavy. He pushed up with His feet nailed to the cross in order to simply take another breath. Distraught family and friends looked on with horror, grief, and confusion, wondering How much longer can Jesus live?
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That afternoon, the whole earth was covered with darkness for three hours, from noon until three o’clock.
About three o’clock, Jesus shouted, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for Elijah.  One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine and put it on a stick and held it up to him to drink.  But the rest said, “Leave him alone. Let’s see whether Elijah will come and save him.” Matthew 27:45 TLB
The light from the sun was gone—and suddenly the thick veil hanging in the Temple split apart. Luke 23:45
When Jesus had tasted it, he said, It is finished, and bowed his head and dismissed his spirit. John 19: 30
Then Jesus shouted, Father, I commit my spirit to you, and with those words, he died.
When the captain of the Roman military unit handling the executions saw what had happened, he was stricken with awe before God and said, “Surely this man was innocent.”
And when the crowd that came to see the crucifixion saw that Jesus was dead, they went home in deep sorrow.  Meanwhile, Jesus’ friends, including the women who had followed him down from Galilee, stood in the distance watching. Luke 23:46 - 49 
When evening came, a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, one of Jesus’ followers, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. And Pilate issued an order to release it to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, placed it in his own new rock-hewn tomb, and rolled a great stone across the entrance as he left. Both Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting nearby watching. Matthew 27:57-61
 
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Imagine You have followed Jesus in the crowd up the hill, watched Him drop the cross then climb onto it as they nailed Him to it. Hear the ring of the hammer on the nails as the people grow silent. What runs through your mind?
Ask Jesus Help me whisper Father, I commit my spirit to you each time I find myself exhausted and at wit's end.
Action As I close my eyes, help me meditate on the truth that I will never be separated from God again.

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The day Jesus was crucified and died may have ended with a long dark sleepless night for His disciples.  That first Easter was greeted by the dawn of a new age.
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Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone was rolled aside from the entrance.
Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
That evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors, in fear of the Jewish leaders, when suddenly Jesus was standing there among them! After greeting them, he showed them his hands and side. And how wonderful was their joy as they saw their Lord!
He spoke to them again and said, As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. Then he breathed on them and told them, Receive the Holy Spirit.  John 20:1, 18-22 (TLB)
He told his disciples, I have been given all authority in heaven and earth.  Therefore go and make disciples in all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and then teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you; and be sure of this—that I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”  Matthew 28:18
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Imagine  Can you imagine the shock and confusion that rocked Jesus’ disciples when Jesus walked into the room?  
Action  How would you respond?
Ask Jesus  How would you have me continue on with Your mission Jesus?  What “next step” do you want me to take?

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This is the Breathe Meditation for the week.  Written and produced to help you know, love, and enjoy God, to follow Him with your heart, and to love like Jesus.
 
For the next six weeks, we will look at what the Bible says about how we can weather headwinds and hardship.  Jesus will teach us how we too can be overcomers!
Jesus tells us that “in the world, you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 AMP
Years ago I was sitting in a recovery meeting reciting the Serenity Prayer with 60 or 70 other men and women, who like me, were confronting the stiff headwind of recovery.
The phrases “...accepting hardship as a pathway to peace” and “taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is” stopped me dead in my tracks.
Out loud to myself, I said “I DON’T WANT HARDSHIP!!!  I WANT IT EASY.”
You see, I, like many – if not most – of us don’t like hardship.   We want to avoid it altogether, or at least to get out of it as quickly as possible.  And, we don’t want to take this broken world as it is…  We want to fix people, places, and things.
A headwind can come out of the north with a bitter cold brought on by holding on to some addicting habit that sucks the warmth from your soul. 
Or out of the east like hope staggering to rise like Lazarus from the dead, years of chronic pain, or becoming more and more familiar with grief as we grow older. 
The fast west wind of youth when you are stalled or drifting in your faith or your career, your fidelity, or putting out into deep water learning to stay close to Jesus. 
Headwinds racing out of the south can be a form of God calling us up and out – a burning bush experience, a Goliath standing in the way of duty, a betrayal, or even a self-inflicted wound. 
Yet it is the Headwinds that help us soar.
They are the lift facet of the Holy Spirit. Headwinds develop holy resistance that forms the muscles of a spiritual endurance runner, the Force that forges endurance. It is a friend, not a foe. 


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This is the Breathe Meditation for the week.  Written and produced to help you know, love, and enjoy God, to follow Him with your heart, and to love like Jesus. For six weeks we are looking at what the Bible says about how we can weather headwinds and hardship. 
 
In this episode, we are learning from Peter and how he was able to weather wind and waves…
A fierce storm attacked the disciples made their way across the lake. About 3 am Jesus came to them walking on water in the middle of a fierce storm
Peter, the impulsive one, called to Jesus, “Lord if it is you, tell me to come to you by walking on water.”  Jesus replied, “All right, come.”
Peter jumped out of the boat and, eyes fixed on Jesus, walked toward Jesus!
Peter heard the wind saw the waves became afraid and began to sink. Peter then eyes locked on Jesus cried out “ Jesus, save me!”  Jesus reached out and steadied Peter and they both git back into the boat.   Matthew 14:28-32 paraphrase
Perhaps you have been walking on water with Jesus with your taxes, or your spouse just had a stroke, or an unforeseen issue with your car, kids, or marriage and you too hear the wind, see the waves, and are beginning to sink!
Notice Peter’s response. 
“Jesus save me!”
Yes, we too can begin to sink, to try harder, to scramble back into the comfort of the boat and it’s illusion of perfect safety.
How can we avoid headwinds & hardship?  
We can’t.
How can we stop sinking?
Refocus on looking at the situation and fixing our eyes on Jesus.
“Jesus, save me!” affirms that He will keep in perfect peace those whose hearts are fixed on Him. (Isaiah 26:3)
Jesus is growing us up.
At every age and stage, God seeks to develop ever-increasing situational trust in us. 
Lean into the lesson of the Wind and Waves
Grow an intimate moment-to-moment reliance and awareness that in the boat or on the water you are not alone, He is always near, He will help with just a whisper.
Do not be surprised that later today Jesus invites you to get out of the boat onto the water with Him.  It could be when you get a letter from the IRS or Social Security Administration saying they are making changes to your account.  It could mean death comes to the door of another close friend.  It could be at night when fears are racing.
Pray
Lord, Jesus Christ, I don’t like headwinds or hardship.   I want to avoid them altogether, or at least to stop sinking as quickly as possible.  Help me learn to simply cry out. “Jesus, save me!”


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