Episode 4
The Forgotten Letters - Jude (North OC)
In this final message of the series 'The Forgotten Letters,' Eric Ennis delves into the Book of Jude. Eric is joined by his twin, Justus, from the campus ministry, who reads the entire letter of Jude as it would have been read in the first century. The sermon explores the major themes of contending for the faith and guarding against false teachings. The historical context and Jewish references in Jude are examined, providing insights into the challenges faced by early Christians. The sermon also addresses contemporary false teachings and how believers can protect their faith today. Eric offers practical action steps for deepening faith and encouraging others.
00:00 Introduction and Overview
01:09 Reading the Book of Jude
05:40 Exploring the Themes of Jude
06:29 Context and Audience of Jude
08:21 Jude's Identity and Humility
13:36 Warnings Against False Teachings
16:23 Modern-Day False Teachings
20:25 Personal Reflections and Analogies
21:45 Struggles and Faith
22:08 False Teachers and Self-Reflection
22:48 Biblical References and Lessons
25:14 Warnings and Poetic Imagery
27:29 Contending for the Faith
36:51 Protecting Ourselves and Others
41:25 Final Thoughts and Communion
Transcript
good morning.
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:My name's Eric.
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:This is my twin Justus.
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:Yes.
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:Um, but we're gonna be finishing up
our, our Book of Jude, and I want
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:to do something a little different.
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:And that is this, uh, oftentimes when you
read these letters, it's hard because,
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:man, we want to go so deep into this,
but we also wanna explore as well.
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:But the problem is, the deeper you
go, the harder it is to explore.
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:And so realize that I'm just
gonna be mostly exploring today.
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:But I wanted to begin by having our
brother, justice from the campus
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:Ministry actually read you the letter.
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:And the reason is, is because
these letters would be circulated
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:to the churches and they
would be read to the churches.
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:And so before we go into the
letter, I want you to hear
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:it read through its entirety.
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:It's very dense, I guarantee that.
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:Um, but I want you to kind of pick out
some of the major themes and what's
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:being talked about here and kind of put
yourself into a first century mindset.
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:Of what it was like for those
Christians to hear this book.
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:So our brother from Campus
Justus, I'll have him read now.
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:Justus: Jude chapter one, Jude, a
servant of Jesus Christ and a brother
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:of James to those who have been called,
who are loved and God the father,
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:and kept for Jesus Christ mercy,
peace and love be yours in abundance.
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:Dear friends, although I was very eager
to write to you about the salvation we
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:share, I felt compelled to write and urge
you to contend for the faith that was once
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:for all entrusted to god's Holy people.
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:For certain individuals whose
condemnation was written about a
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:long, long ago have secretly slipped.
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:And among you there are, they are ungodly
people who pervert the grace of our God.
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:And to a license for immorality and
deny Jesus Christ our only sovereign.
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:And Lord, though you already know
all this, I want to remind you that
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:the Lord at the one time delivered
his people out of Egypt, but later
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:destroyed those who did not believe.
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:And the angels who did not keep
their positions of authority but
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:abandoned their proper dwelling, these
has, he has kept in dark darkness.
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:Bound with everlasting chains
for judgment on the great day.
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:In a similar way, soda and Gamora and
the surrounding towns gave themselves
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:up to sexual immorality and perversion.
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:They serve as an example of
those who suffer the punishment
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:of eternal fire in the same way
on the strength of their dreams.
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:These ungodly people populate their
own bodies, reject authority and
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:heap abuse on celestial being.
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:But even the Archangel Michael when
he was disputing with the devil
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:about the body of Moses, did not
himself dare to condemn him for the
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:slander, but said the Lord rebuke you.
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:Yet these people slander whatever they
do not understand, and the very things
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:they do understand by instinct as
irrational animals do will destroy them.
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:Woe to them.
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:They have taken the way of can.
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:They have rushed for
profit and the baums error.
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:They have been destroyed
in Cora's Rebellion.
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:These people are blemishes at your
love feast, eating with you without
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:the slightest Qualm Shepherds who
feed only themselves, they are clouds
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:without rain, blown along by the wind.
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:Autumn, trees without fruit
and uprooted twice dead.
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:They are wild waves of the
seed foaming up their shame.
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:Wandering stars for whom blackest
darkness has been reserved forever.
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:Enoch the seven from Adam
prophesied about them.
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:See, the Lord is coming with thousands
upon thousands of his holy ones to judge
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:everyone and to convict all of 'em.
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:Of all the ungodly acts they have
committed in their ungodliness and
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:of all the defiant words and godly
sinners have spoken against them.
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:These people are grumbler
and fault finders.
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:They follow their own evil desires.
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:They boast about themselves and
flatter others for their own advantage.
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:But dear friends, remember
what the apostles of the
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:Lord Jesus Christ foretold.
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:They said to you in the last times,
there will be scoffers who will
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:follow their own ungodly desires.
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:These are the people who divide
you, who follow more natural in
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:instincts and do not have the spirit.
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:But you, my dear friends, by building
yourselves up in your most holy
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:faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
keep yourselves in God's love as you
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:wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ, to bring you to eternal life.
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:Be merciful to those who doubt.
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:Save others by snatching
them from the fire to others.
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:Show mercy mixed with fear,
hating even the clothing.
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:Stand by corruptive flesh.
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:To him who is able to keep you
from stumbling and to present
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:you before his glorious presence,
without fault, and with great joy.
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:To the only God our savior, be glory,
majesty, power, and authority through
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:Jesus Christ, our Lord, before
all ages now and forever mourn.
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:Amen.
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:Eric Ennis: Amen.
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:Thank you, Justus.
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:Thank you.
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:I've always wanted to have a lesson where
we just read the Bible and then go, amen.
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:And just go home.
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:Um, it's not gonna be today,
but someday that may happen.
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:So just know if I pull
that off, it'll be amazing.
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:Um, but we're gonna go through
this book and, and you can hear,
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:man, there's a lot being said here.
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:Uh, it's intense.
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:And so this is a study guide that I, I.
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:I use and help create.
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:It's, you know, you start
with a good translation.
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:You take notice of the genre, you
gotta kind of understand the context,
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:discern the major themes, and most
importantly, always, always yield
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:to God and what God has to say.
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:And so we're gonna kind of go through
this book and kind of parse out what is
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:Jew trying to tell us, and ultimately
what does God want us to know now?
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:The translation we're using is the NIV.
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:Uh, it's kind of a good for overall
comprehension, but I'm gonna parse
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:in some of the NASB, which is more
of a Greek to English translation
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:Bible, because there's certain words
there that I think are just very
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:important that we're gonna pick up on.
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:Also wanna remind you, this is a
letter we don't know who is written to.
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:We know whoever is written to,
uh, there was an urgent need, but
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:it was about the idea of warning
them against these false teachers.
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:Encouraging disciples to defend the faith.
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:The context of this is a Jewish audience.
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:And how do we know this?
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:Because he reads in a lot of scripture,
a lot of biblical references here.
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:He just says like, I remind you, like
you're just expected to know all this.
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:And he also puts in several texts from
Jewish tradition, uh, in here as well.
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:Again, that would've been widely
known amongst the Jewish population.
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:And at this point, the
church is meeting in homes.
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:They've, they've left the synagogue
and I wrote, left the synagogue.
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:I probably should have wrote,
kicked outta the synagogue.
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:But they're no longer
meeting in synagogues.
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:They're meeting in homes and all they have
with them are these letters and scrolls.
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:There is no published bible for them.
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:They have many of the Old Testament
scrolls that they might have, have made
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:copies of, or they, they've made copies
of these letters, and this is why we
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:have so many letters from the Bible
in such abundance as far as testament,
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:because they would get these letters
and they would just copy them and
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:copy them and pass them and pass them.
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:And they would commonly meet in what they
known as agape feasts, these love feasts.
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:And that's how they would gather together.
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:And by this point, the church has
spread all across the Roman Empire.
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:It's estimated this book is written
somewhere between 65 and 80 ad.
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:Uh, we're not fully sure, but by
this point the church has been
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:scattered mainly through persecution.
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:And, and again, because of
this, there's been some needs.
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:Now who wrote this?
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:Uh, or the major theme, I should say?
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:The major theme that he's talking about
is this idea of contending for the faith.
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:And I'm gonna go through this verse here
in a moment, but the idea of contending
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:for the face against false teachers.
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:So let's get into Jude.
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:Jude, a servant of Jesus
Christ and a brother of James.
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:That's how he introduces himself.
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:Now, this word servant
is, is difficult because.
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:This word servant means a lot of things
and he starts off by saying, Jew.
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:Now notice he didn't say
his full name, Judas.
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:And you go, wait a minute.
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:I thought Judas is dead.
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:No, this is a different Judas Jud
is just a shortened name of Judas,
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:kinda like Mike is to Michael,
and Judas is the Greek name.
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:Judah is the Hebrew name.
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:Now he's going by Jude because he
doesn't wanna be associated with the
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:Judas that you probably are aware of.
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:So he is going by the name of Jude.
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:It's kind of like we don't walk
around meeting Adolfs anymore.
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:You know?
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:When's the last time you met one?
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:You know, you don't kind
of go by that name anymore.
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:It's kind of, certain names are dead now.
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:My wife and I are in the process of
trying to create names, uh, for our child.
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:Uh, what name is it gonna be?
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:And, uh, I'm a teacher, so there's
a ton of names I have to eliminate,
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:uh, because all the years are
just going, no, not that kid.
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:I remember that one.
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:Nope, not that name.
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:Nope, not that name.
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:Um, ju names Matter.
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:So he is going by Judy's,
a shortened version.
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:And he says, Jude Bond servant Doulas.
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:Better translation of that
slave, A voluntary slave.
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:I'm a slave to Jesus Christ.
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:And brother of James, well,
who's his brother of James.
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:Isn't this the carpenter?
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:Isn't this Mary's son and brother
of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon.
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:This is Jesus's half brother.
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:Now, if I'm writing a letter and I'm
Jesus's half brother, I lead with that.
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:Yeah.
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:That is my opening line.
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:Half brother of Jesus, here
I am, but he doesn't do this.
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:He says, I'm the brother of James.
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:You know the guy who's leading the
church in, in Jerusalem at this
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:point, but I'm a slave to Christ.
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:Amen.
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:Wow.
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:Wow.
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:What Humility.
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:Speaker 3: Yep.
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:Yeah.
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:Eric Ennis: Now I wonder why.
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:I think maybe it's because at the time he
wasn't a believer during Jesus' ministry.
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:This is for, even his own
brothers did not believe in him.
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:Jude wasn't a believer
during Jesus' ministry.
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:So what changes, what goes from,
this is my brother to, you know, he's
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:kind of crazy, you know, a little
out there to I'm a slave to that guy.
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:Yeah.
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:I don't know if you guys have siblings.
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:I have an older brother and I was
trying to think what would it take for
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:me to believe my brother is a Messiah?
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:A lot.
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:A lot.
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:I grew up with him.
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:Now people always think Jesus must have
been perfect and never got in trouble.
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:I actually don't think
he never got in trouble.
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:I think he got in trouble all the time
because he still had imperfect parents.
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:Just because the kid might have been
perfect doesn't mean the parents were.
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:That may hurt some of your feelings.
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:But that's probably reality.
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:Remember, we see him go to the
temple early on and his parents
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:were like, why were you here?
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:They're all yelling at
him and upset again.
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:Jude witnessed all of this, but all
of a sudden he flipped a switch and
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:what flipped the switch for him?
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:The resurrection.
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:Jesus resurrected.
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:We know he appeared to James.
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:He could have appeared to Jude
if my brother died on a cross.
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:Then several days later, he's
walking around going, yeah, yeah,
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:they killed me, but I'm back.
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:I'd be like, I got you.
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:I wanna listen to this.
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:You have something to say.
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:From my mind, this is one of many proofs
of the resurrection, is the fact that his
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:own brother was like, yeah, he came back.
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:It's hard to fool that.
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:To those who have been called who
are loved in God, the father of, of
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:kept in Jesus Christ, he's basically
writing a letter to us Christians.
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:So for those of us here who are
Christians, he's writing a letter to us.
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:Mercy and peace be yours in abundance
and, and in the Greek it actually
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:means love be multiplied to you.
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:And I love God's math to us
because we are tit for tat society.
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:You do nice, something nice for me.
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:I'll do something nice for you.
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:Yeah.
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:That's how we function.
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:We addition, you add something to my life.
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:I'll add something to your life.
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:You subtract something from my
life, I'm subtracting from you.
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:God multiplies.
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:God multiplies his abundance.
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:Then we get into it.
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:I'm eager to write about
the salvation we share.
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:He wanted to write this nice letter
like let's talk about our salvation,
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:how amazing this is gonna be.
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:Let's have a good time.
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:But instead he goes, I felt
compelled to write and urge
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:you to contend for the faith.
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:This word contend is where we
get the word agonize from in
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:English, agonize for the faith.
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:You gotta give it your all.
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:You gotta fight for it.
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:Why?
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:Because certain individuals have
secretly slept, uh, slipped in among you.
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:And they're perverting the grace,
creating a license for immorality
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:and denying Jesus Christ.
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:This is very, very sobering.
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:'cause what he's saying here is in these
church meetings and homes, they were
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:visiting teachers who were coming and
they were teaching a gospel other than
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:the one that Jesus wanted to talk, and
it was corrupting their viewpoints.
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:During this time, what was being
taught was this idea of God's grace
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:covers all, so who cares if we sin?
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:If God loves me, I can't do anything
wrong, and this is one of the
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:challenges when we just preach God's
love without preaching repentance too.
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:Because why do I need to repent?
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:If God loves me, why do I need to change?
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:If God just loves me, there's
nothing I can do wrong.
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:God just loves me.
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:Yeah, and this is what the other church
was starting to deal with themselves.
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:It's like, well, then I can sleep
whoever I want with God loves me.
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:I can do whatever I want.
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:God loves me.
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:They saw it as a license for morality.
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:They're perverting the grace and
therefore denying who Jesus Christ is.
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:Yep.
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:There's a couple definitions I
want to give you just because I
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:might mention these words later.
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:And if you hear them, I want you
to at least know the difference.
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:And that's heresy and apostasy.
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:They're words that really only religious
people use nowadays, although I
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:think there's a band named Heretic.
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:But heresy is when you
kind of start contrary.
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:Contrary to the doctrine, I, I
kind of put in three images there.
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:The disciple is following Jesus.
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:The heretic is just kind of turning to the
side and just kind of walking a to stray.
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:And the apostate.
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:The apostasy is when
you abandon the faith.
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:Because of the heresy, these,
these beliefs that were
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:being taught in the church.
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:This time, people began to drift away
from following Jesus, and over time they
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:just abandoned the faith altogether.
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:And this is the warning that Jude
is giving, how important it is
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:to follow Christ entirely, to
not drift in even a little bit.
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:It's amazing how much,
if I'm walking straight.
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:And I just turn a little bit how
different of a place I'll be.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:Versus where I was going.
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:Yep.
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:And this is what was
happening in the church
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:and what's alarming is we
have to take this also.
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:Speaker 3: Yep.
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:If
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:Eric Ennis: the reason what's
included in the Bible is because
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:this warning goes to us too.
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:Amen.
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:I thought of some false
teachings of our church.
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:In our historical past,
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:and for us, this was probably our biggest.
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:Come on, Eric.
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:Come on.
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:You know, I've been a disciple
30 years, 60% of my life.
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:It's easy to do the math,
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:but this idea that God accepts me based
upon how well I perform, this was us.
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:This idea of be fruitful at all costs.
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:We had some false teachings in the past.
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:I'm grateful that we're
working on some of those.
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:I don't feel like we're legalistic like
we used to be, but I was also trying
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:to think what do we struggle with now?
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:Because I think it's easy to point at
other churches and go, well, look at them.
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:They teach this over there, look at them.
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:They teach that over there, but
Jews not writing, talking about
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:other groups, he's talking about us.
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:What are we dealing with now?
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:And the few I thought of.
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:First one, this has a nice, big religious
naves, moralistic, therapeutic deism.
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:Okay.
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:Another way of saying this
is main character syndrome.
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:It's when you read the Bible as if
you are the main character, when the
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:Bible revolves around you, when the
Bible becomes your self-help book.
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:When the Bible's about how
do I make myself happy?
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:Rather than, how do I serve God?
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:Jude's opening line, I'm a
slave to Christ, not, Hey,
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:Jesus is gonna make me happy.
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:And we start to get a narcissistic
faith because now we read the
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:Bible with our lens going,
God, how are you gonna help me?
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:Speaker 3: Yep.
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:Eric Ennis: I've given some
counter scriptures in there.
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:I told you, I'm just exploring, I
can't go into any depth on this,
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:but if this is something that you're
like, man, I I, I see this for myself.
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:Please study this out.
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:Another one I thought of that we have
to be careful of is emotionalism.
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:And this has, i, I made up this
name, I don't know if it has a name.
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:I should have made up some fantastic name,
but I've called it Emotionalism is when
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:we elevate our personal feelings above
scripture, elevate our personal experience
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:above Christian, uh, above scripture.
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:Another way of saying it is similar
is existential subjectivism.
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:I feel it.
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:It must be truth.
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:You know my truth.
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:Your truth,
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:man.
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:That's scary.
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:Yep.
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:And I think something as an older
Christian that we have to be aware
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:of is sometimes our experiences
are guiding us more than scripture.
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:Now, come on, it's a temptation.
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:Yeah.
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:I've seen the church.
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:I know what's right.
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:Well, what does scripture say?
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:Do I continue to go back
that I feel this so deeply?
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:You are right.
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:You do.
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:What does scripture say?
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:Speaker 3: Yep.
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:Amen.
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:Eric Ennis: Do we start with scripture
and end with our emotions, or do we
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:start with our emotions and go, no, no.
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:What does scripture say?
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:Speaker 3: Come on
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:Eric Ennis: and use scripture
to override our emotions.
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:Last one I thought of is this
one progressive Christianity.
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:I'm not trying to make
a political stand here.
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:I'm not saying conservative
Christianity is good.
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:Progressive Christianity is bad.
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:This is not political,
but it's progressive.
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:Christianity is when you try to match.
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:Scripture to culture where you
try to blend into the culture.
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:That's scary.
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:And man, it's hard helping
out with the campus man.
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:They are dealing with
this on the front lines.
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:The teens are dealing with
this on the front lines.
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:It's so easy to go, ah,
I don't like this verse.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:I wish it wasn't there.
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:I wish instead I can just
make a quick change to it to
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:blend in with everyone else.
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:Yep.
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:But scripture should be changing culture.
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:Culture should not be informing
us of how to see scripture.
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:I
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:share this because I worry about me
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:right now.
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:My wife and I are what's
call a nesting face.
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:We're a few weeks from our, our,
hopefully our birth soon it's coming up.
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:And right now we're just
building stuff in the house.
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:If you came over, this
is what we're doing.
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:I'm building and I put this
wardrobe closet up here.
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:'cause that's, I just assembled it.
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:I was gonna say build it, but
I, like, I didn't build it.
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:I assembled it, but I
just assembled this thing.
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:You know, it comes with instructions
and while I was assembling it, you know,
401
:you, you kind of, you get a feel for
what you're supposed to do after a while.
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:And the directions just
kind of become secondary.
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:Yep.
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:You know, you're kinda like, I, I
know where this is supposed to go.
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:I know what this is and I'm putting
it together and, and I, I get most of
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:it done and I, I lift it up and it was
quite heavy and I was so proud of myself.
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:I wanted to make sure that by
the time my wife got home, she
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:would see, look how great this is.
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:And I realized I put in
one of the walls backwards.
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:Yep.
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:And I'm like, dang it.
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:And you're in that place of like,
okay, if I could just unscrew this
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:one and unscrew this one, could I
just take out this one little wall and
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:flip it around before she gets home?
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:Had to take the whole thing apart,
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:start over.
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:And it was right before
we're going to a party.
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:And I was like, you know, now,
now, now my wife's having to pray
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:with me on the way to the party.
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:'cause I don't even wanna
leave this wardrobe.
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:I wanna build this thing.
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:It's not gonna defeat me.
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:The same is true with our faith.
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:Come on.
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:If we start corrupting just
even one wall of it, right?
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:One wall, the whole thing doesn't work.
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:How important it is.
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:And, and, and before you start going,
yeah, you know, I need, I need to
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:worry about those false teachers, Eric
especially, uh, Marcel worried about him.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah.
432
:I believe me, I'm too, um, the false
teacher I'm most worried about is myself.
433
:Yeah.
434
:When I read scripture, do I truly
understand what God wants me to know?
435
:Am I confident?
436
:Do I contend for the faith?
437
:Let's keep reading
438
:though.
439
:You already know this.
440
:I wanna remind you, I, I like this,
especially to us, all the Christians.
441
:He goes like, I, you already know this.
442
:Yep.
443
:But you need to be reminded.
444
:And he shares out three stories.
445
:Now, he gives a bunch of old Ference,
old Testament references, and again, I
446
:encourage you to go back and read through
these, but he starts out with the story
447
:of Egypt, who delivered his people out
of Egypt, but he had to destroy those
448
:who didn't believe because they get out
of Egypt, they get to the promised land,
449
:they send in 12 spies, and only two
came back with like, yeah, we can do it.
450
:The other 10 were like, no, we're done.
451
:And God allowed them to die in
that desert, that generation.
452
:Before he let him in 'cause
they didn't have the faith.
453
:The only two that got in was Caleb and
Joshua 'cause they had the faith to go.
454
:Then he talks about these angels
who had positions of authority and
455
:abandoned their proper dwelling.
456
:Probably a reference to Genesis six.
457
:Even celestial beings need to be
obedient to God because when they
458
:weren't, they were bound with
everlasting chains for judgment.
459
:This could be a reference to even
what, uh, the biblical passage
460
:when Jesus was talking to a
demon possessed man named Legion.
461
:And Legion goes, please
don't send me to the abyss.
462
:That could be a reference
to this, to these angels who
463
:abandoned their proper dwelling.
464
:And then he talks about another
city or two, Sodom and Gomorrah,
465
:who with their sexual moral and
perversion, God destroyed them.
466
:God destroyed that city.
467
:What's interesting is,
is historical points.
468
:From even Jesus' time.
469
:So there were his Jewish historians from
Jesus' time that would talk about that,
470
:those cities, 'cause they knew where
those cities were, that they were still
471
:smoldering thousands of years later,
472
:that somehow that was still happening.
473
:God takes this very seriously.
474
:Do not corrupt my word.
475
:And the very same way on the
strength of their dreams.
476
:These dreamers, these, these false
teachers, these ungodly people, pollute
477
:their own bodies, reject authority
and heap abuse on celestial beings.
478
:You start to see the impact
that these teachings are having.
479
:People are polluting their own bodies.
480
:They're, they're not taking
care of themselves spiritually.
481
:They're rejecting authority and they're
even heaping abuse on celestial bodies.
482
:And then he goes into the story
that's nowhere in the Bible.
483
:It's from a, um, a Jewish tradition
about the Archangel Michael
484
:having this conversation with the
devil about j uh, Moses' body.
485
:And Michael doesn't even
go, ah, Satan heck with you.
486
:He goes, the Lord rebuke you
487
:and my youth.
488
:Which is another translation of in my
stupidity, um, I remember times like,
489
:ah, Satan, you got nothing on me.
490
:I got this.
491
:Even Michael wouldn't do that.
492
:But the recognition that we slander what
we don't understand, we act by instinct.
493
:We act by irrationality.
494
:And that will destroy us.
495
:Jude 11 wo to them, they
have taken the way of Cain.
496
:They have rushed for prophet
into bain's error, and they
497
:destroyed and core his rebellion.
498
:Think about all the references Jesus
has just put in there from the or.
499
:Jude has just put in there
from the Old Testament
500
:how well this group knew their Bible.
501
:Speaker 3: Yep.
502
:Eric Ennis: A bunch of references and he
just suspected you should know your Bible.
503
:Mm-hmm.
504
:There was a time when churches, not us, we
got this one, but there was a time where,
505
:where it was common in church culture
to only have priests read the Bible.
506
:That was a common thing
back in the Middle Ages.
507
:It would be taught in Latin and
the people didn't even speak Latin.
508
:And people hungered so much to have
the Bible written in their own language
509
:that many people died for that just so
they could read the Bible themselves.
510
:And what's sad today is how
many of us have Bibles in our
511
:house that we don't even read?
512
:Yep.
513
:People lived and died for that freedom.
514
:And Satan doesn't even have
to prevent us from doing it.
515
:We do it ourselves.
516
:Yeah.
517
:And, and, and the expectation
that Jude had for these followers
518
:to know the scriptures, and they
didn't even have a full Bible.
519
:They just had some
scrolls and some letters.
520
:It's like, yeah, but you know this how
important it's for us to be in God's word.
521
:Preach.
522
:You woe to them.
523
:So what is the way of Cain?
524
:It's the way of empty religion.
525
:Cain offered a sacrifice, but
it wasn't his first fruits.
526
:It wasn't his best.
527
:Yep.
528
:And again, we're here and I'm grateful
we're here and for the people online,
529
:but are we fully here?
530
:Yeah.
531
:Kane gave the sacrifice,
532
:but it wasn't really much of a sacrifice.
533
:It wasn't his best, it was his leftovers.
534
:And again.
535
:I'm staring at you,
but I'm thinking of me.
536
:Am I giving my best, right?
537
:Or am I going the way of King Rush
for prophet into balaam's error?
538
:Balaam was a prophet of God who was
being seduced by a king to speak ill
539
:of Israel to prophesy against them.
540
:And every time he would try, God
only allowed him to bless Israel.
541
:He couldn't even curse him.
542
:And this is the famous story of
Blum's Donkey, where a donkey
543
:thought that actually spoke to Blum.
544
:God used an ass to speak to somebody.
545
:Are we listening to what God has to say
546
:or we rushing in for
greed and materialism?
547
:Is this what we're sacrificing for now?
548
:Or Cora's Rebellion?
549
:Moses was leading the people of Egypt
and Cora thought, you know what?
550
:I got this.
551
:I could lead this.
552
:He was a Levite.
553
:It's like, you don't
have this position Moses.
554
:And Moses being humble,
goes, let's take it to God.
555
:God, who do you want leading?
556
:And God goes, Moses, step
over here for a moment.
557
:Leave core right there.
558
:And the ground swallowed him up.
559
:Do we respect God's authority and
those appointed for authority?
560
:What does he have to
say about these people?
561
:They are shepherds who
feed only themselves.
562
:They are clouds without rain,
autumn trees that are just dead
563
:wild waves foaming up the
sea and wandering stars.
564
:Jude gets poetic here.
565
:But this idea of these love feasts,
these agape feasts, these people are
566
:going and just eating it for themselves.
567
:It's the idea of you're going to
church, but it's only for you.
568
:Mm-hmm.
569
:I go to serve myself.
570
:Speaker 3: Yep.
571
:Eric Ennis: No, that's not why I'm here.
572
:There are clouds without rain.
573
:For farmers, that's the worst thing
because the expectation of, oh, rain's
574
:coming, but there's nothing there.
575
:It's shallow.
576
:It's empty.
577
:Autumn trees are supposed to be giving
fruit by now, but they have nothing.
578
:Nothing to offer.
579
:The wild ways is foaming at the sea.
580
:I had to look this one up
because I was like that.
581
:That sounded nice actually.
582
:But there's a reference in Ezekiel talking
about foaming up, you know, dirty foam,
583
:like foaming up, you know, the dirt
and grime, and then wandering stars.
584
:You know, you have
comets that just die out.
585
:Sobering.
586
:If you came here today and go, man, I
can't wait for an encouraging lesson
587
:where I wanna be built up, and like,
man, I'm gonna walk in there going,
588
:man, I, I read through the book of Juah.
589
:I'm like, man, God, this is sobering.
590
:Sobering.
591
:Then he references Enoch, a man
who was taken from God, and again,
592
:a story from Jewish tradition.
593
:But he says, see, the Lord is coming
with thousands upon thousands of
594
:his holy ones to judge everyone and
convict them of their ungodly acts.
595
:And what are some things that
you're gonna see with these people?
596
:All their defiant words.
597
:They are grumbler, they're fault finders.
598
:They pursue after their own evil desires.
599
:The n his peace says,
follow after their own lust.
600
:They boast about themselves and flatter
others just for for their own gain.
601
:And again, I had to look
at how much am I in this?
602
:Okay.
603
:Am I seeking solutions
or am I finding problems?
604
:You know, one of the things as a teacher,
uh, we talk about in our class is just you
605
:can find problems and a intelligent, or
you can find solutions and be intelligent.
606
:Do we just find problems?
607
:There
608
:Speaker 3: we go.
609
:Eric Ennis: Do we just
grumble behind the scenes?
610
:Yep.
611
:And boast about how great we were in
my day, man, when I walked on water,
612
:when I raised people from the dead.
613
:Woo.
614
:The ministry was amazing.
615
:Or do we have the humility
to go, okay, God, help us and
616
:help me find how to help us.
617
:But dear friends, remember
what the apostles of our
618
:Lord Jesus Christ foretold.
619
:They said to you in the last
times, there'll be scoffers.
620
:Another word for that is mocks.
621
:Another reference to
that is false teachers.
622
:What are they gonna do?
623
:Follow their own ungodly desires.
624
:These are the people who divide
you, who follow mere natural
625
:instincts and do not have the spirit.
626
:They divide us.
627
:They have slipped in and they divide us.
628
:They follow their own natural instincts.
629
:This sounds right, this feels right,
but they're not living by the spirit.
630
:And so what do we see in this
corruption of false teachers?
631
:Speaker 3: Come on,
632
:Eric Ennis: their belief gets corrupted,
633
:starts with their belief.
634
:You start perverting your belief,
you start changing just a few things
635
:and all of a sudden you start denying
Christ and who Christ really is.
636
:Then it affects your conduct.
637
:You start living out differently
than what you would have had you
638
:really been following Christ.
639
:I can give into this sin a little bit.
640
:This sins not that bad.
641
:I mean, do I really
have to follow that one?
642
:I don't know.
643
:And then it starts to change our way of
thinking and how we even see reality.
644
:We reject authority and even look at
the spiritual reality differently.
645
:It affects our character,
greedy, violent, rebellious.
646
:It affects our speech and
how we speak to one another.
647
:Whether we grumble or boast or flatter,
and ult ultimately affects our motivation.
648
:We come here self-serving, what
is this church gonna give me?
649
:Speaker 3: Okay.
650
:Eric Ennis: What is this
relationship gonna give me?
651
:And it's flat on spiritual.
652
:Mm-hmm.
653
:This is the warning against false teachers
and false teaching and God's scripture.
654
:We have to contend for the faith.
655
:Yep.
656
:Fight for it, agonize for it, because
we do not want this corruption
657
:in our church and we certainly
don't want it in our own hearts.
658
:Speaker 3: Yep.
659
:Eric Ennis: A house divided cannot stand.
660
:Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
661
:Eric Ennis: A house divided cannot stand.
662
:You know, when you look at churches.
663
:That are, that are growing.
664
:They're typically in places of
high persecution and typically
665
:places where it's very challenging.
666
:The churches that are shrinking
are typically places where life is
667
:in abundance and things are easy.
668
:Our church used to be a fast
growing church, but it was also
669
:a time of great persecution.
670
:Mm-hmm.
671
:'cause we had to contend for the faith.
672
:Now it's hard pressed to find
out if we're different than
673
:the church across the street.
674
:Are we blending in so much because
we wanna be so accepted that
675
:we're compromising our faith?
676
:And if so, then we won't last.
677
:Yeah, we have to take a stand.
678
:And that stand is God's word, period.
679
:Otherwise we'll be a house divided.
680
:So how do we protect ourselves?
681
:Now that I've just said,
man, this is tough.
682
:This doesn't sound good.
683
:How do we protect ourselves?
684
:But you dear friends, by building
yourself up in your most holy faith
685
:and praying in the Holy Spirit,
keep yourself in God's love.
686
:As you wait for the mercy of our Lord
Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
687
:So how do we protect ourselves
during this challenging time?
688
:We build ourselves up in the faith.
689
:We go after God's word,
and we pray in the spirit.
690
:This idea of God's spirit will pray
for us even when we don't know what
691
:to say, but we trust in God's word.
692
:We trust in God's spirit.
693
:We don't trust in ourselves.
694
:Yep.
695
:That's how we protect ourselves.
696
:But I just said that our
church isn't about us.
697
:It's not just about me.
698
:How do we protect others?
699
:Be merciful to those who doubt.
700
:Speaker 3: Yep.
701
:Eric Ennis: Save others by snatching
them from the fire and to show mercy
702
:mixed with fear, hating even the
clothing stain by corrupted flesh.
703
:He kind of mentions three
different groups of people here.
704
:One mercy to people who are doubting.
705
:Speaker 3: Yep.
706
:Eric Ennis: If you have people in
the fellowship, they're just kind
707
:of in that place of slight doubt.
708
:Like, do I really need to,
you know, I don't know.
709
:Share my faith.
710
:Do I really need to read the Bible?
711
:Am I starting to doubt?
712
:Be merciful to them?
713
:If people have gone further down
and starting to fall, save 'em.
714
:If you're snatch 'em from
fire, think firemen, save them.
715
:And if people have left his
response, have mercy on them.
716
:But mix it with fear that you don't
fall through the same temptation.
717
:The idea of man, as people struggle
around us, do we demonstrate this mercy
718
:to one another and help one another?
719
:This church isn't about
me, it's about God.
720
:Speaker 3: Yep.
721
:Eric Ennis: What does God want for me?
722
:And what does God want for you?
723
:What does God want for us?
724
:And are we living this out every day?
725
:So what are our action steps this week?
726
:Come on.
727
:Content for the faith.
728
:Agonize.
729
:For the faith.
730
:I thought something might be cool to do.
731
:Take a key doctrine of Christian faith.
732
:It could be baptism, it could be
evangelism, it could be sanctification.
733
:Anything.
734
:Write it down and why it matters.
735
:Write it in a way that you
could explain to others.
736
:Back it up with scripture.
737
:Get into your Bibles.
738
:Can I fully explain why giving to
the poor is so important biblically?
739
:Write it down.
740
:Write why it matters.
741
:Don't just go by your experience.
742
:Your instincts go by God's word.
743
:Secondly, guard against false
teaching, and that is me here.
744
:And you there
745
:evaluate the content that you consume.
746
:What podcast do you listen to?
747
:What c what commentaries do you read?
748
:What music do you listen to?
749
:Heck, there's some Christian songs.
750
:I'm like, ah, that's wrong.
751
:Evaluate.
752
:Be a Berean.
753
:Evaluate this lesson.
754
:Go back, read Jude.
755
:There's a bunch of stuff.
756
:Go back and read all the
Old Testament references.
757
:Read through the book of Enoch and
the Testament of Moses, which was two
758
:of the things I quoted here today.
759
:No God's word for you.
760
:And finally show mercy.
761
:Reach out to someone who you
know has been struggling.
762
:Speaker 3: Yep.
763
:Eric Ennis: Reach out.
764
:Give 'em a phone call.
765
:Say, Hey man, I wanna spend
time demonstrate mercy,
766
:leading them back to God.
767
:I'm grateful for the people who have
have had mercy on me over the years.
768
:My times of doubt, and my times of
failure, and my times of hurt who've
769
:demonstrated that I don't want
us to be a place we just consume.
770
:I wanna be a place that we give
771
:as I end.
772
:I'll end with this To him who is able to
keep you from stumbling and to present
773
:you before his glorious presence,
without fault, and with great joy.
774
:To the only God our Savior, be
glory, majesty, power, and authority
775
:through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
before all ages now and forevermore.
776
:Amen.
777
:As we close up this, this chapter
of, of Lost, or I should say
778
:forgotten books, they're not lost.
779
:We can find them, but they're forgotten.
780
:But as we close out this, just the
reference of of going back to following
781
:scripture and how important each
one of those was calling us back to.
782
:And as we think through communion,
it says we get to present ourselves
783
:before his glorious presence.
784
:Without fault and with great
joy, not because of how good
785
:we are, because who Jesus was.
786
:Mm-hmm.
787
:And why could Jude write this?
788
:Because he saw Jesus.
789
:He knew who Jesus really was.
790
:He had changed his mindset.
791
:He was no longer a brother who no
longer believed he was a brother who
792
:was willing to be a slave to Christ.
793
:And as we come before him,
now in our communion, we get
794
:to come to him without fault.
795
:Not because we are sinless, because Jesus
was, he was the perfect sacrifice 'cause
796
:it was through Jesus Christ our Lord.
797
:Let's pray for communion now.
798
:Father, as we come before
you, um, father, I am humbled.
799
:As someone who's standing up here
talking now, as someone who wants
800
:to fight and contend for the faith,
801
:God, I pray that we have the humility
to look at the teachings that are going
802
:on both externally, but also internally,
803
:that we root out false teaching in our
own hearts, but also in our fellowship
804
:that we have mercy on one another.
805
:But God that we fight for our
faith because God, you agonized
806
:for the faith as well when you
were in the Garden of Gethsemane.
807
:Not my will, but your will be done.
808
:You have paved a way for us.
809
:Father, I pray we follow it completely,
not half-heartedly, but wholeheartedly,
810
:because God, it's only you that can save.
811
:Father, we love you.
812
:But more importantly, we know that you
love us and we are grateful to be in
813
:your glorious presence without fault
and with great joy because we know that
814
:your son died, but also resurrected,
and we pray this in your son's name,
815
:Speaker 3: amen.