The Forgotten Letters - Jude (North OC)

Eric Ennis: 00:00:00

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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: 00:17:16

other groups, he's talking about us.

321

: 00:17:20

What are we dealing with now?

322

: 00:17:24

And the few I thought of.

323

: 00:17:26

First one, this has a nice, big religious

naves, moralistic, therapeutic deism.

324

: 00:17:31

Okay.

325

: 00:17:32

Another way of saying this

is main character syndrome.

326

: 00:17:36

It's when you read the Bible as if

you are the main character, when the

327

: 00:17:40

Bible revolves around you, when the

Bible becomes your self-help book.

328

: 00:17:46

When the Bible's about how

do I make myself happy?

329

: 00:17:51

Rather than, how do I serve God?

330

: 00:17:53

Jude's opening line, I'm a

slave to Christ, not, Hey,

331

: 00:17:57

Jesus is gonna make me happy.

332

: 00:18:00

And we start to get a narcissistic

faith because now we read the

333

: 00:18:03

Bible with our lens going,

God, how are you gonna help me?

334

: 00:18:08

Speaker 3: Yep.

335

: 00:18:09

Eric Ennis: I've given some

counter scriptures in there.

336

: 00:18:10

I told you, I'm just exploring, I

can't go into any depth on this,

337

: 00:18:14

but if this is something that you're

like, man, I I, I see this for myself.

338

: 00:18:20

Please study this out.

339

: 00:18:23

Another one I thought of that we have

to be careful of is emotionalism.

340

: 00:18:27

And this has, i, I made up this

name, I don't know if it has a name.

341

: 00:18:30

I should have made up some fantastic name,

but I've called it Emotionalism is when

342

: 00:18:34

we elevate our personal feelings above

scripture, elevate our personal experience

343

: 00:18:39

above Christian, uh, above scripture.

344

: 00:18:41

Another way of saying it is similar

is existential subjectivism.

345

: 00:18:45

I feel it.

346

: 00:18:45

It must be truth.

347

: 00:18:46

You know my truth.

348

: 00:18:47

Your truth,

349

: 00:18:50

man.

350

: 00:18:50

That's scary.

351

: 00:18:51

Yep.

352

: 00:18:53

And I think something as an older

Christian that we have to be aware

353

: 00:18:56

of is sometimes our experiences

are guiding us more than scripture.

354

: 00:19:00

Now, come on, it's a temptation.

355

: 00:19:02

Yeah.

356

: 00:19:03

I've seen the church.

357

: 00:19:04

I know what's right.

358

: 00:19:06

Well, what does scripture say?

359

: 00:19:09

Do I continue to go back

that I feel this so deeply?

360

: 00:19:14

You are right.

361

: 00:19:15

You do.

362

: 00:19:16

What does scripture say?

363

: 00:19:17

Speaker 3: Yep.

364

: 00:19:17

Amen.

365

: 00:19:18

Eric Ennis: Do we start with scripture

and end with our emotions, or do we

366

: 00:19:20

start with our emotions and go, no, no.

367

: 00:19:21

What does scripture say?

368

: 00:19:23

Speaker 3: Come on

369

: 00:19:23

Eric Ennis: and use scripture

to override our emotions.

370

: 00:19:29

Last one I thought of is this

one progressive Christianity.

371

: 00:19:33

I'm not trying to make

a political stand here.

372

: 00:19:34

I'm not saying conservative

Christianity is good.

373

: 00:19:36

Progressive Christianity is bad.

374

: 00:19:37

This is not political,

but it's progressive.

375

: 00:19:40

Christianity is when you try to match.

376

: 00:19:42

Scripture to culture where you

try to blend into the culture.

377

: 00:19:49

That's scary.

378

: 00:19:51

And man, it's hard helping

out with the campus man.

379

: 00:19:54

They are dealing with

this on the front lines.

380

: 00:19:57

The teens are dealing with

this on the front lines.

381

: 00:20:02

It's so easy to go, ah,

I don't like this verse.

382

: 00:20:06

Mm-hmm.

383

: 00:20:06

I wish it wasn't there.

384

: 00:20:09

I wish instead I can just

make a quick change to it to

385

: 00:20:12

blend in with everyone else.

386

: 00:20:14

Yep.

387

: 00:20:17

But scripture should be changing culture.

388

: 00:20:20

Culture should not be informing

us of how to see scripture.

389

: 00:20:25

I

390

: 00:20:28

share this because I worry about me

391

: 00:20:34

right now.

392

: 00:20:34

My wife and I are what's

call a nesting face.

393

: 00:20:37

We're a few weeks from our, our,

hopefully our birth soon it's coming up.

394

: 00:20:41

And right now we're just

building stuff in the house.

395

: 00:20:44

If you came over, this

is what we're doing.

396

: 00:20:46

I'm building and I put this

wardrobe closet up here.

397

: 00:20:48

'cause that's, I just assembled it.

398

: 00:20:49

I was gonna say build it, but

I, like, I didn't build it.

399

: 00:20:50

I assembled it, but I

just assembled this thing.

400

: 00:20:53

You know, it comes with instructions

and while I was assembling it, you know,

401

: 00:20:58

you, you kind of, you get a feel for

what you're supposed to do after a while.

402

: 00:21:02

And the directions just

kind of become secondary.

403

: 00:21:05

Yep.

404

: 00:21:06

You know, you're kinda like, I, I

know where this is supposed to go.

405

: 00:21:08

I know what this is and I'm putting

it together and, and I, I get most of

406

: 00:21:11

it done and I, I lift it up and it was

quite heavy and I was so proud of myself.

407

: 00:21:16

I wanted to make sure that by

the time my wife got home, she

408

: 00:21:19

would see, look how great this is.

409

: 00:21:20

And I realized I put in

one of the walls backwards.

410

: 00:21:24

Yep.

411

: 00:21:25

And I'm like, dang it.

412

: 00:21:27

And you're in that place of like,

okay, if I could just unscrew this

413

: 00:21:30

one and unscrew this one, could I

just take out this one little wall and

414

: 00:21:34

flip it around before she gets home?

415

: 00:21:38

Had to take the whole thing apart,

416

: 00:21:42

start over.

417

: 00:21:43

And it was right before

we're going to a party.

418

: 00:21:45

And I was like, you know, now,

now, now my wife's having to pray

419

: 00:21:48

with me on the way to the party.

420

: 00:21:49

'cause I don't even wanna

leave this wardrobe.

421

: 00:21:50

I wanna build this thing.

422

: 00:21:51

It's not gonna defeat me.

423

: 00:21:56

The same is true with our faith.

424

: 00:21:57

Come on.

425

: 00:21:58

If we start corrupting just

even one wall of it, right?

426

: 00:22:01

One wall, the whole thing doesn't work.

427

: 00:22:06

How important it is.

428

: 00:22:08

And, and, and before you start going,

yeah, you know, I need, I need to

429

: 00:22:11

worry about those false teachers, Eric

especially, uh, Marcel worried about him.

430

: 00:22:16

Yeah.

431

: 00:22:16

Yeah.

432

: 00:22:16

I believe me, I'm too, um, the false

teacher I'm most worried about is myself.

433

: 00:22:21

Yeah.

434

: 00:22:24

When I read scripture, do I truly

understand what God wants me to know?

435

: 00:22:29

Am I confident?

436

: 00:22:30

Do I contend for the faith?

437

: 00:22:34

Let's keep reading

438

: 00:22:36

though.

439

: 00:22:37

You already know this.

440

: 00:22:38

I wanna remind you, I, I like this,

especially to us, all the Christians.

441

: 00:22:43

He goes like, I, you already know this.

442

: 00:22:44

Yep.

443

: 00:22:45

But you need to be reminded.

444

: 00:22:47

And he shares out three stories.

445

: 00:22:48

Now, he gives a bunch of old Ference,

old Testament references, and again, I

446

: 00:22:52

encourage you to go back and read through

these, but he starts out with the story

447

: 00:22:56

of Egypt, who delivered his people out

of Egypt, but he had to destroy those

448

: 00:23:00

who didn't believe because they get out

of Egypt, they get to the promised land,

449

: 00:23:03

they send in 12 spies, and only two

came back with like, yeah, we can do it.

450

: 00:23:07

The other 10 were like, no, we're done.

451

: 00:23:11

And God allowed them to die in

that desert, that generation.

452

: 00:23:15

Before he let him in 'cause

they didn't have the faith.

453

: 00:23:20

The only two that got in was Caleb and

Joshua 'cause they had the faith to go.

454

: 00:23:25

Then he talks about these angels

who had positions of authority and

455

: 00:23:28

abandoned their proper dwelling.

456

: 00:23:30

Probably a reference to Genesis six.

457

: 00:23:34

Even celestial beings need to be

obedient to God because when they

458

: 00:23:40

weren't, they were bound with

everlasting chains for judgment.

459

: 00:23:44

This could be a reference to even

what, uh, the biblical passage

460

: 00:23:49

when Jesus was talking to a

demon possessed man named Legion.

461

: 00:23:52

And Legion goes, please

don't send me to the abyss.

462

: 00:23:55

That could be a reference

to this, to these angels who

463

: 00:23:57

abandoned their proper dwelling.

464

: 00:24:00

And then he talks about another

city or two, Sodom and Gomorrah,

465

: 00:24:04

who with their sexual moral and

perversion, God destroyed them.

466

: 00:24:08

God destroyed that city.

467

: 00:24:10

What's interesting is,

is historical points.

468

: 00:24:14

From even Jesus' time.

469

: 00:24:16

So there were his Jewish historians from

Jesus' time that would talk about that,

470

: 00:24:20

those cities, 'cause they knew where

those cities were, that they were still

471

: 00:24:24

smoldering thousands of years later,

472

: 00:24:28

that somehow that was still happening.

473

: 00:24:33

God takes this very seriously.

474

: 00:24:36

Do not corrupt my word.

475

: 00:24:44

And the very same way on the

strength of their dreams.

476

: 00:24:46

These dreamers, these, these false

teachers, these ungodly people, pollute

477

: 00:24:51

their own bodies, reject authority

and heap abuse on celestial beings.

478

: 00:24:59

You start to see the impact

that these teachings are having.

479

: 00:25:03

People are polluting their own bodies.

480

: 00:25:04

They're, they're not taking

care of themselves spiritually.

481

: 00:25:08

They're rejecting authority and they're

even heaping abuse on celestial bodies.

482

: 00:25:14

And then he goes into the story

that's nowhere in the Bible.

483

: 00:25:17

It's from a, um, a Jewish tradition

about the Archangel Michael

484

: 00:25:21

having this conversation with the

devil about j uh, Moses' body.

485

: 00:25:26

And Michael doesn't even

go, ah, Satan heck with you.

486

: 00:25:30

He goes, the Lord rebuke you

487

: 00:25:33

and my youth.

488

: 00:25:35

Which is another translation of in my

stupidity, um, I remember times like,

489

: 00:25:40

ah, Satan, you got nothing on me.

490

: 00:25:43

I got this.

491

: 00:25:46

Even Michael wouldn't do that.

492

: 00:25:51

But the recognition that we slander what

we don't understand, we act by instinct.

493

: 00:26:00

We act by irrationality.

494

: 00:26:04

And that will destroy us.

495

: 00:26:11

Jude 11 wo to them, they

have taken the way of Cain.

496

: 00:26:16

They have rushed for prophet

into bain's error, and they

497

: 00:26:19

destroyed and core his rebellion.

498

: 00:26:21

Think about all the references Jesus

has just put in there from the or.

499

: 00:26:24

Jude has just put in there

from the Old Testament

500

: 00:26:28

how well this group knew their Bible.

501

: 00:26:32

Speaker 3: Yep.

502

: 00:26:34

Eric Ennis: A bunch of references and he

just suspected you should know your Bible.

503

: 00:26:39

Mm-hmm.

504

: 00:26:40

There was a time when churches, not us, we

got this one, but there was a time where,

505

: 00:26:49

where it was common in church culture

to only have priests read the Bible.

506

: 00:26:54

That was a common thing

back in the Middle Ages.

507

: 00:26:58

It would be taught in Latin and

the people didn't even speak Latin.

508

: 00:27:02

And people hungered so much to have

the Bible written in their own language

509

: 00:27:06

that many people died for that just so

they could read the Bible themselves.

510

: 00:27:13

And what's sad today is how

many of us have Bibles in our

511

: 00:27:16

house that we don't even read?

512

: 00:27:18

Yep.

513

: 00:27:20

People lived and died for that freedom.

514

: 00:27:24

And Satan doesn't even have

to prevent us from doing it.

515

: 00:27:27

We do it ourselves.

516

: 00:27:28

Yeah.

517

: 00:27:29

And, and, and the expectation

that Jude had for these followers

518

: 00:27:33

to know the scriptures, and they

didn't even have a full Bible.

519

: 00:27:35

They just had some

scrolls and some letters.

520

: 00:27:37

It's like, yeah, but you know this how

important it's for us to be in God's word.

521

: 00:27:43

Preach.

522

: 00:27:43

You woe to them.

523

: 00:27:46

So what is the way of Cain?

524

: 00:27:48

It's the way of empty religion.

525

: 00:27:50

Cain offered a sacrifice, but

it wasn't his first fruits.

526

: 00:27:55

It wasn't his best.

527

: 00:27:56

Yep.

528

: 00:27:59

And again, we're here and I'm grateful

we're here and for the people online,

529

: 00:28:06

but are we fully here?

530

: 00:28:07

Yeah.

531

: 00:28:12

Kane gave the sacrifice,

532

: 00:28:16

but it wasn't really much of a sacrifice.

533

: 00:28:19

It wasn't his best, it was his leftovers.

534

: 00:28:24

And again.

535

: 00:28:25

I'm staring at you,

but I'm thinking of me.

536

: 00:28:28

Am I giving my best, right?

537

: 00:28:31

Or am I going the way of King Rush

for prophet into balaam's error?

538

: 00:28:36

Balaam was a prophet of God who was

being seduced by a king to speak ill

539

: 00:28:41

of Israel to prophesy against them.

540

: 00:28:45

And every time he would try, God

only allowed him to bless Israel.

541

: 00:28:48

He couldn't even curse him.

542

: 00:28:50

And this is the famous story of

Blum's Donkey, where a donkey

543

: 00:28:53

thought that actually spoke to Blum.

544

: 00:28:56

God used an ass to speak to somebody.

545

: 00:29:02

Are we listening to what God has to say

546

: 00:29:07

or we rushing in for

greed and materialism?

547

: 00:29:13

Is this what we're sacrificing for now?

548

: 00:29:15

Or Cora's Rebellion?

549

: 00:29:17

Moses was leading the people of Egypt

and Cora thought, you know what?

550

: 00:29:23

I got this.

551

: 00:29:23

I could lead this.

552

: 00:29:24

He was a Levite.

553

: 00:29:27

It's like, you don't

have this position Moses.

554

: 00:29:29

And Moses being humble,

goes, let's take it to God.

555

: 00:29:33

God, who do you want leading?

556

: 00:29:35

And God goes, Moses, step

over here for a moment.

557

: 00:29:39

Leave core right there.

558

: 00:29:41

And the ground swallowed him up.

559

: 00:29:45

Do we respect God's authority and

those appointed for authority?

560

: 00:29:54

What does he have to

say about these people?

561

: 00:29:57

They are shepherds who

feed only themselves.

562

: 00:30:01

They are clouds without rain,

autumn trees that are just dead

563

: 00:30:10

wild waves foaming up the

sea and wandering stars.

564

: 00:30:15

Jude gets poetic here.

565

: 00:30:17

But this idea of these love feasts,

these agape feasts, these people are

566

: 00:30:20

going and just eating it for themselves.

567

: 00:30:23

It's the idea of you're going to

church, but it's only for you.

568

: 00:30:25

Mm-hmm.

569

: 00:30:28

I go to serve myself.

570

: 00:30:30

Speaker 3: Yep.

571

: 00:30:31

Eric Ennis: No, that's not why I'm here.

572

: 00:30:36

There are clouds without rain.

573

: 00:30:37

For farmers, that's the worst thing

because the expectation of, oh, rain's

574

: 00:30:42

coming, but there's nothing there.

575

: 00:30:45

It's shallow.

576

: 00:30:46

It's empty.

577

: 00:30:47

Autumn trees are supposed to be giving

fruit by now, but they have nothing.

578

: 00:30:52

Nothing to offer.

579

: 00:30:54

The wild ways is foaming at the sea.

580

: 00:30:56

I had to look this one up

because I was like that.

581

: 00:30:58

That sounded nice actually.

582

: 00:31:00

But there's a reference in Ezekiel talking

about foaming up, you know, dirty foam,

583

: 00:31:04

like foaming up, you know, the dirt

and grime, and then wandering stars.

584

: 00:31:09

You know, you have

comets that just die out.

585

: 00:31:14

Sobering.

586

: 00:31:16

If you came here today and go, man, I

can't wait for an encouraging lesson

587

: 00:31:19

where I wanna be built up, and like,

man, I'm gonna walk in there going,

588

: 00:31:22

man, I, I read through the book of Juah.

589

: 00:31:23

I'm like, man, God, this is sobering.

590

: 00:31:28

Sobering.

591

: 00:31:34

Then he references Enoch, a man

who was taken from God, and again,

592

: 00:31:39

a story from Jewish tradition.

593

: 00:31:42

But he says, see, the Lord is coming

with thousands upon thousands of

594

: 00:31:45

his holy ones to judge everyone and

convict them of their ungodly acts.

595

: 00:31:51

And what are some things that

you're gonna see with these people?

596

: 00:31:54

All their defiant words.

597

: 00:31:57

They are grumbler, they're fault finders.

598

: 00:32:02

They pursue after their own evil desires.

599

: 00:32:03

The n his peace says,

follow after their own lust.

600

: 00:32:06

They boast about themselves and flatter

others just for for their own gain.

601

: 00:32:15

And again, I had to look

at how much am I in this?

602

: 00:32:19

Okay.

603

: 00:32:20

Am I seeking solutions

or am I finding problems?

604

: 00:32:25

You know, one of the things as a teacher,

uh, we talk about in our class is just you

605

: 00:32:30

can find problems and a intelligent, or

you can find solutions and be intelligent.

606

: 00:32:38

Do we just find problems?

607

: 00:32:40

There

608

: 00:32:41

Speaker 3: we go.

609

: 00:32:42

Eric Ennis: Do we just

grumble behind the scenes?

610

: 00:32:44

Yep.

611

: 00:32:45

And boast about how great we were in

my day, man, when I walked on water,

612

: 00:32:53

when I raised people from the dead.

613

: 00:32:55

Woo.

614

: 00:32:57

The ministry was amazing.

615

: 00:33:00

Or do we have the humility

to go, okay, God, help us and

616

: 00:33:05

help me find how to help us.

617

: 00:33:12

But dear friends, remember

what the apostles of our

618

: 00:33:14

Lord Jesus Christ foretold.

619

: 00:33:16

They said to you in the last

times, there'll be scoffers.

620

: 00:33:18

Another word for that is mocks.

621

: 00:33:20

Another reference to

that is false teachers.

622

: 00:33:22

What are they gonna do?

623

: 00:33:23

Follow their own ungodly desires.

624

: 00:33:26

These are the people who divide

you, who follow mere natural

625

: 00:33:31

instincts and do not have the spirit.

626

: 00:33:34

They divide us.

627

: 00:33:36

They have slipped in and they divide us.

628

: 00:33:39

They follow their own natural instincts.

629

: 00:33:41

This sounds right, this feels right,

but they're not living by the spirit.

630

: 00:33:52

And so what do we see in this

corruption of false teachers?

631

: 00:33:56

Speaker 3: Come on,

632

: 00:33:57

Eric Ennis: their belief gets corrupted,

633

: 00:34:01

starts with their belief.

634

: 00:34:02

You start perverting your belief,

you start changing just a few things

635

: 00:34:07

and all of a sudden you start denying

Christ and who Christ really is.

636

: 00:34:14

Then it affects your conduct.

637

: 00:34:17

You start living out differently

than what you would have had you

638

: 00:34:21

really been following Christ.

639

: 00:34:22

I can give into this sin a little bit.

640

: 00:34:24

This sins not that bad.

641

: 00:34:27

I mean, do I really

have to follow that one?

642

: 00:34:29

I don't know.

643

: 00:34:31

And then it starts to change our way of

thinking and how we even see reality.

644

: 00:34:35

We reject authority and even look at

the spiritual reality differently.

645

: 00:34:40

It affects our character,

greedy, violent, rebellious.

646

: 00:34:47

It affects our speech and

how we speak to one another.

647

: 00:34:50

Whether we grumble or boast or flatter,

and ult ultimately affects our motivation.

648

: 00:34:56

We come here self-serving, what

is this church gonna give me?

649

: 00:35:00

Speaker 3: Okay.

650

: 00:35:03

Eric Ennis: What is this

relationship gonna give me?

651

: 00:35:06

And it's flat on spiritual.

652

: 00:35:08

Mm-hmm.

653

: 00:35:09

This is the warning against false teachers

and false teaching and God's scripture.

654

: 00:35:16

We have to contend for the faith.

655

: 00:35:19

Yep.

656

: 00:35:20

Fight for it, agonize for it, because

we do not want this corruption

657

: 00:35:23

in our church and we certainly

don't want it in our own hearts.

658

: 00:35:26

Speaker 3: Yep.

659

: 00:35:30

Eric Ennis: A house divided cannot stand.

660

: 00:35:32

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

661

: 00:35:36

Eric Ennis: A house divided cannot stand.

662

: 00:35:43

You know, when you look at churches.

663

: 00:35:45

That are, that are growing.

664

: 00:35:48

They're typically in places of

high persecution and typically

665

: 00:35:52

places where it's very challenging.

666

: 00:35:54

The churches that are shrinking

are typically places where life is

667

: 00:35:58

in abundance and things are easy.

668

: 00:36:04

Our church used to be a fast

growing church, but it was also

669

: 00:36:07

a time of great persecution.

670

: 00:36:08

Mm-hmm.

671

: 00:36:11

'cause we had to contend for the faith.

672

: 00:36:14

Now it's hard pressed to find

out if we're different than

673

: 00:36:19

the church across the street.

674

: 00:36:23

Are we blending in so much because

we wanna be so accepted that

675

: 00:36:27

we're compromising our faith?

676

: 00:36:32

And if so, then we won't last.

677

: 00:36:35

Yeah, we have to take a stand.

678

: 00:36:39

And that stand is God's word, period.

679

: 00:36:45

Otherwise we'll be a house divided.

680

: 00:36:51

So how do we protect ourselves?

681

: 00:36:53

Now that I've just said,

man, this is tough.

682

: 00:36:56

This doesn't sound good.

683

: 00:36:58

How do we protect ourselves?

684

: 00:36:59

But you dear friends, by building

yourself up in your most holy faith

685

: 00:37:05

and praying in the Holy Spirit,

keep yourself in God's love.

686

: 00:37:11

As you wait for the mercy of our Lord

Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

687

: 00:37:15

So how do we protect ourselves

during this challenging time?

688

: 00:37:19

We build ourselves up in the faith.

689

: 00:37:22

We go after God's word,

and we pray in the spirit.

690

: 00:37:27

This idea of God's spirit will pray

for us even when we don't know what

691

: 00:37:30

to say, but we trust in God's word.

692

: 00:37:34

We trust in God's spirit.

693

: 00:37:36

We don't trust in ourselves.

694

: 00:37:37

Yep.

695

: 00:37:39

That's how we protect ourselves.

696

: 00:37:42

But I just said that our

church isn't about us.

697

: 00:37:45

It's not just about me.

698

: 00:37:47

How do we protect others?

699

: 00:37:50

Be merciful to those who doubt.

700

: 00:37:52

Speaker 3: Yep.

701

: 00:37:53

Eric Ennis: Save others by snatching

them from the fire and to show mercy

702

: 00:37:58

mixed with fear, hating even the

clothing stain by corrupted flesh.

703

: 00:38:01

He kind of mentions three

different groups of people here.

704

: 00:38:05

One mercy to people who are doubting.

705

: 00:38:08

Speaker 3: Yep.

706

: 00:38:08

Eric Ennis: If you have people in

the fellowship, they're just kind

707

: 00:38:10

of in that place of slight doubt.

708

: 00:38:11

Like, do I really need to,

you know, I don't know.

709

: 00:38:15

Share my faith.

710

: 00:38:17

Do I really need to read the Bible?

711

: 00:38:19

Am I starting to doubt?

712

: 00:38:20

Be merciful to them?

713

: 00:38:24

If people have gone further down

and starting to fall, save 'em.

714

: 00:38:28

If you're snatch 'em from

fire, think firemen, save them.

715

: 00:38:37

And if people have left his

response, have mercy on them.

716

: 00:38:43

But mix it with fear that you don't

fall through the same temptation.

717

: 00:38:49

The idea of man, as people struggle

around us, do we demonstrate this mercy

718

: 00:38:54

to one another and help one another?

719

: 00:38:59

This church isn't about

me, it's about God.

720

: 00:39:02

Speaker 3: Yep.

721

: 00:39:03

Eric Ennis: What does God want for me?

722

: 00:39:04

And what does God want for you?

723

: 00:39:05

What does God want for us?

724

: 00:39:07

And are we living this out every day?

725

: 00:39:14

So what are our action steps this week?

726

: 00:39:15

Come on.

727

: 00:39:18

Content for the faith.

728

: 00:39:19

Agonize.

729

: 00:39:20

For the faith.

730

: 00:39:21

I thought something might be cool to do.

731

: 00:39:24

Take a key doctrine of Christian faith.

732

: 00:39:26

It could be baptism, it could be

evangelism, it could be sanctification.

733

: 00:39:31

Anything.

734

: 00:39:34

Write it down and why it matters.

735

: 00:39:39

Write it in a way that you

could explain to others.

736

: 00:39:41

Back it up with scripture.

737

: 00:39:43

Get into your Bibles.

738

: 00:39:45

Can I fully explain why giving to

the poor is so important biblically?

739

: 00:39:54

Write it down.

740

: 00:39:55

Write why it matters.

741

: 00:39:58

Don't just go by your experience.

742

: 00:40:00

Your instincts go by God's word.

743

: 00:40:04

Secondly, guard against false

teaching, and that is me here.

744

: 00:40:10

And you there

745

: 00:40:13

evaluate the content that you consume.

746

: 00:40:15

What podcast do you listen to?

747

: 00:40:17

What c what commentaries do you read?

748

: 00:40:20

What music do you listen to?

749

: 00:40:22

Heck, there's some Christian songs.

750

: 00:40:23

I'm like, ah, that's wrong.

751

: 00:40:28

Evaluate.

752

: 00:40:30

Be a Berean.

753

: 00:40:31

Evaluate this lesson.

754

: 00:40:32

Go back, read Jude.

755

: 00:40:34

There's a bunch of stuff.

756

: 00:40:36

Go back and read all the

Old Testament references.

757

: 00:40:39

Read through the book of Enoch and

the Testament of Moses, which was two

758

: 00:40:42

of the things I quoted here today.

759

: 00:40:47

No God's word for you.

760

: 00:40:50

And finally show mercy.

761

: 00:40:53

Reach out to someone who you

know has been struggling.

762

: 00:40:55

Speaker 3: Yep.

763

: 00:40:56

Eric Ennis: Reach out.

764

: 00:40:57

Give 'em a phone call.

765

: 00:40:58

Say, Hey man, I wanna spend

time demonstrate mercy,

766

: 00:41:03

leading them back to God.

767

: 00:41:05

I'm grateful for the people who have

have had mercy on me over the years.

768

: 00:41:09

My times of doubt, and my times of

failure, and my times of hurt who've

769

: 00:41:14

demonstrated that I don't want

us to be a place we just consume.

770

: 00:41:20

I wanna be a place that we give

771

: 00:41:25

as I end.

772

: 00:41:25

I'll end with this To him who is able to

keep you from stumbling and to present

773

: 00:41:31

you before his glorious presence,

without fault, and with great joy.

774

: 00:41:36

To the only God our Savior, be

glory, majesty, power, and authority

775

: 00:41:40

through Jesus Christ, our Lord,

before all ages now and forevermore.

776

: 00:41:43

Amen.

777

: 00:41:45

As we close up this, this chapter

of, of Lost, or I should say

778

: 00:41:49

forgotten books, they're not lost.

779

: 00:41:52

We can find them, but they're forgotten.

780

: 00:41:55

But as we close out this, just the

reference of of going back to following

781

: 00:41:59

scripture and how important each

one of those was calling us back to.

782

: 00:42:06

And as we think through communion,

it says we get to present ourselves

783

: 00:42:12

before his glorious presence.

784

: 00:42:14

Without fault and with great

joy, not because of how good

785

: 00:42:19

we are, because who Jesus was.

786

: 00:42:22

Mm-hmm.

787

: 00:42:24

And why could Jude write this?

788

: 00:42:26

Because he saw Jesus.

789

: 00:42:30

He knew who Jesus really was.

790

: 00:42:33

He had changed his mindset.

791

: 00:42:36

He was no longer a brother who no

longer believed he was a brother who

792

: 00:42:39

was willing to be a slave to Christ.

793

: 00:42:43

And as we come before him,

now in our communion, we get

794

: 00:42:49

to come to him without fault.

795

: 00:42:51

Not because we are sinless, because Jesus

was, he was the perfect sacrifice 'cause

796

: 00:42:58

it was through Jesus Christ our Lord.

797

: 00:43:01

Let's pray for communion now.

798

: 00:43:05

Father, as we come before

you, um, father, I am humbled.

799

: 00:43:10

As someone who's standing up here

talking now, as someone who wants

800

: 00:43:15

to fight and contend for the faith,

801

: 00:43:20

God, I pray that we have the humility

to look at the teachings that are going

802

: 00:43:25

on both externally, but also internally,

803

: 00:43:30

that we root out false teaching in our

own hearts, but also in our fellowship

804

: 00:43:36

that we have mercy on one another.

805

: 00:43:40

But God that we fight for our

faith because God, you agonized

806

: 00:43:46

for the faith as well when you

were in the Garden of Gethsemane.

807

: 00:43:50

Not my will, but your will be done.

808

: 00:43:54

You have paved a way for us.

809

: 00:43:57

Father, I pray we follow it completely,

not half-heartedly, but wholeheartedly,

810

: 00:44:03

because God, it's only you that can save.

811

: 00:44:07

Father, we love you.

812

: 00:44:09

But more importantly, we know that you

love us and we are grateful to be in

813

: 00:44:13

your glorious presence without fault

and with great joy because we know that

814

: 00:44:21

your son died, but also resurrected,

and we pray this in your son's name,

815

: 00:44:27

Speaker 3: amen.