A daily Stone from Pastor Rick

Though he is home with Jesus now, let the words of Pastor Rick sink into to your heart. Though I miss him dearly, I am ever thankful for his legacy and for his teaching. I know God will bless you with this daily stone from youtube. A typed out teaching has been typed out to go along with it.

John 15:5 — The Anchor Verse

I’m going to start today by reading John 15:5:

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

That word “abide” — this verse — has changed my life. It’s given me a walk with Jesus that actually bears fruit. Not just a knowledge of Him, but a relationship that’s real and growing — one that has built my faith in a great and amazing way.

So John 15:5 is a powerful verse to me, and the word in it that I want to focus on is “abide.”

Right now is a time when our hearts need to abide closely with Jesus.

The word “abide” is the Greek word meno. Strong’s definition is:
to stay in a given place, state, relation, or expectancy; to continue, to dwell, to endure, to be present, to remain, to stand, to tarry.

Why do we abide in Christ?

The answer is simple: to bear fruit — and not just some fruit, but much fruit.

Abiding takes work. It takes effort. It’s a verb — an action word. And I didn’t know that for many years in my Christian walk. I didn’t abide well. I didn’t do well in abiding.

That’s part of what gave me the desire to teach what it means to abide — and how to actually live it out.

John 15:6 says:

“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

So Jesus takes abiding very seriously. This isn’t a small matter.
Abiding is important — because it’s the only way we can bear fruit for the kingdom of God.

The Acrostic: A-B-I-D-E

To help us understand what it truly means to abide in Jesus, I’ve broken it down into an acrostic:

A – Accept
B – Beware
I – Invest
D – Die
E – Endure

Today, we’re going to explore the first two.

A – Accept

Accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

You cannot abide in Him unless you’ve accepted Him as your Lord and Savior. Abiding isn’t just a work — it’s a relationship that has to begin with surrender.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” — John 14:6

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” — John 11:25

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” — Acts 4:12

Jesus is the only way, the truth, and the life — and we must accept Him as our Lord and Savior.

“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.” — Matthew 7:13–14

The first step to abiding is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. It’s that important.

I had a Savior for a long time — but I didn’t really have a Lord. I didn’t trust Jesus with all of my life. I didn’t sell out. I didn’t give Him everything. Sure, I wanted salvation. I wanted heaven. But I didn’t want to give Him my life. I wanted to be saved, but I didn’t want to surrender.

If you're wrestling with this, I encourage you to revisit Pastor Ted’s teaching from Thursday and Friday last week on The Daily Stone. He explained beautifully how Jesus is both Savior and Lord — two sides of one gospel. You can’t have one without the other.

We need to accept Jesus fully — not just for what He can do for us, but for who He is. Savior and Lord. And until we do that, we can’t truly abide. We can’t bear fruit. We can’t do any of it until that foundation is in place.

So “A” is Accept — that’s the first step in abiding.

B — Beware

Beware lest you drift.

“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.” — Hebrews 2:1

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” — Ephesians 6:12

Drifting happens slowly. Subtly. It’s something that creeps in until we’ve been pulled away by the enemy.

I believe we’re in a time right now where it's dangerously easy to drift — to let go of time in the Word, time in prayer, or connection with others in the body of Christ. Even if it's through FaceTime, YouTube, or whatever way we can connect — it’s easy to begin forsaking it.

This is a scary time in that way. It's subtle. And if we’re not careful, we’ll look up and realize we’ve drifted far from where we were.

Signs of Drifting

1. We drift from God’s Word.
We slowly stop studying God’s Word.
It doesn’t usually happen all at once — maybe it starts with skipping a day, then every other day, and before long we’re not in the Word at all.

That’s drifting.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” — 2 Timothy 2:15

We need the Word daily. Every single day.

It’s the first thing I do when I wake up. I get dressed, walk into my room, sit down in my place, and open God’s Word. I ask Him to speak. I don’t even spend much time praying before I get into the Word. I want to hear from Him first.

And I encourage you to find a place — a spot that’s yours — and make it your meeting place with God.

I also recommend starting a journal. Write down the passage He gives you each day and what He shows you through it. It’s amazing to go back and read through old journals and see where God brought you through hard seasons, through victories, through growth. It’s like written-down prayer. A conversation with the Lord, recorded.

2. We drift from prayer.
We slowly stop going to the Lord in prayer.

“Pray without ceasing.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:17

“I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” — 1 Timothy 2:8

Prayer takes sacrifice. And when we drift, we begin to stop fellowshipping with God in prayer. We stop bringing Him our struggles, our needs, our temptations.

I keep a prayer journal — a list of people I pray for every day. Some are lost. Some are prodigals. Some are believers going through hard seasons. I pray through them daily.

My son Josh challenged our men’s group to start a list of ten people to pray for, and then add one name each week. I’ve been doing it. It’s a powerful challenge, and I recommend it. It helps keep you from drifting.

Prayer is part of abiding. It’s essential. And we’ll talk more about that later in the acrostic.

3. We drift from fellowship.
We stop fellowshipping with the body of Christ.

That might feel hard right now with social distancing and separation, but we can stay connected. You’re reading this devotional. That’s fellowship. You can still tune into services, prayer meetings, and Sunday messages.

But when we drift, we slowly start skipping those things. We stop watching. We stop checking in. We stop calling or reaching out.

“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another — and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” — Hebrews 10:24–25

One of my favorite ways to fight drift is through accountability.

“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” — Hebrews 3:12–13

Accountability partners are vital.

I have one — and I love him. He called me the other day, and it blessed my heart just to hear his voice. To pray with him. To share what was on my heart and hear what was on his.

I’ll be honest — when I first heard that verse, I didn’t like the idea. I thought, “No way do I need someone calling me every day.” But as I grew in obedience to what the Lord was asking, I realized the power of being accountable.

That relationship changed my walk.

If you don’t have an accountability partner, pray for one. Ask the Lord to bring someone into your life. It’s not something leadership assigns — it’s something the Lord establishes.

And it could be the very thing that keeps you from drifting.

Accountability Keeps Us from Drifting

“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
— Hebrews 3:12–13

Accountability is one of my favorite ways to keep from drifting.

I have an accountability partner that I love dearly. He called me the other day, and it just blessed my heart to hear his voice — to hear his prayer requests and to share mine with him. I love him, and I need him. And so will you.

To keep from drifting, we need to be exhorted daily. That verse above says “while it is called today.” That means now — not later. It means we need each other consistently. We weren’t meant to walk this alone.

When I first heard this concept, I’ll be honest — I pushed back. I thought, “No way. I don’t need someone calling me every day to check in on me.” I resisted the idea at first.

But as I became more obedient to what the Lord was calling me to — which was accountability — everything changed.

My accountability partner became someone I could count on. Someone I could pray with, and for. Someone I could share life with, and walk with in faith. Someone I could trust.

If you don’t have an accountability partner, I want to encourage you to pray for one. Ask the Lord to bring that person into your life. This isn’t something a church leader assigns to you — it’s something the Lord builds through relationship.

And I believe with all my heart: God will answer that prayer.
And that relationship could be what keeps you grounded — what keeps you from drifting.

Coming Up Next...

Next time, we’ll walk through the rest of the acrostic:

• I – Invest

• D – Die to self

• E – Endure

Prayer

Father in heaven, thank You that You’ve called us to abide in You — and that by doing so, we bear much fruit. Lord, if anyone reading this doesn’t know You, I pray this would be the day of salvation. May they accept You as Lord and Savior and begin the journey of abiding. Help us beware lest we drift. Keep us anchored in Your Word, persistent in prayer, and connected to the Body. Send accountability into our lives and glorify Yourself through us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

See you next time — and may the Lord bless you and keep you until then.