Jude: How Do We Fight For Our Faith? - 27: The Letters That Define Us, Message 22

can you feel it fall is in the air we're finally in the month of october and we've got some great additions to your calendar for both men and women on october 18th we have our women's night out hosted right here on the vista campus this is a great opportunity to get out and connect with some other ladies we've got incredible guest speakers breakout workshops time to connect get signed up for this event and then men our men's conference is on october 22nd and 23rd with guest speakers mark clark and chris brown this is going to be an incredible event we've also got some competitive tournaments for cornhole disc golf other things for activities for you to be able to participate in so go on to our website and get signed up today if you are online and outside of the area and you'd like to be able to participate we're going to be offering these events on demand just a couple weeks following the event quick shout out to the state of texas we would love to be able to know who you are and where you're watching from we actually have a texas zoom meetup coming up in the month of october to be able to register for it simply text texas to this phone number right below and you'll get a registration link to your phone well let's go ahead and dive into worship an incredible message from chris brown on the book of jude [Music] i was a slave to the darkness living with no light [Music] dead with no hope of revival living with no life you broke into my darkness pull me into light started in the revive your return alive [Music] [Music] amazing grace how sweet the i am a child of god [Music] and now i belong to the father heaven's open wide [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] i am a child of god [Music] my god gets to say who i am and i am a child of god my god gets to say who i am and i am a child of god my god gets to say who i am [Music] and i am a child of god [Music] i am [Music] i am a child of amazing grace how sweet the sound no longer lost [Music] my chains are gone i've been set free my [Music] his mercy race [Music] amazing praise [Music] [Music] hey north coast are you ready to fight i mean come on let's just be honest you don't have to raise your hand because it's church but you can nod your head a little bit is there someone something right now in culture in society that you just want to knock out or you go look i'm not a violent person i'm not going to knock it out but i'd love if somebody could knock something out right now in society man i talked to so many people and it seems like there's this pent-up angst and this anxiety and this growing frustration and we just want to deck somebody right now well i'm glad you tuned in today because this is all about fight club that's what this is fight club we're going to go to a little book called jude and my bet is if we raise hands all across north county and those watching beyond all of our military men and women thank you so much for your service that are serving abroad a far time far from home right now man we applaud you and to my favorite venue of all east cape christian fellowship down in los barrillas in baja i loved hanging out with you last sunday oh my heart's still there with all of you and my bet is all of us right now would go to the book of jude and go i'm not even sure where to find jude go to the very back of your bible the last book is revelation that's next week back up one book it's only going to take one page but because it's small sometimes we think it's insignificant that's our problem not the book's problem this book packs a punch and i mean that very literally this book is going to teach us how to fight and how to fight well now let me tell you for those of you that are getting a little excited and say yeah i really want to deck someone right now you're going to be bummed at the end of this because this book is how to fight not who to fight and right now you're like that's okay chris just teach me how to fight i know the who you're going to be disappointed when you get to the end of this book this is going to be a one-page letter written with some urgency on why the church needs to fight and how we do that may surprise you a little bit but it comes from an amazing an amazing source so i hope you got your interest peaked let's jump in right now book of jude i gave you time to find it very very back of the bible you know what um but go ahead and bring up the first three verses we're going to read those together the rest i really hope you have a bible because we're going to be running through this but i just want to read this jude a servant of jesus christ and a brother of james to those who have been called who are loved in god the father and kept for jesus christ mercy peace and love be yours in abundance stop right there before we get any further here's what i want to show you this is no mere introduction this isn't just here's who's writing it i'm writing to you love grace and peace to god now let's get to the content no no so much is done just right here it is ridiculous i absolutely love how the author just says hey i'm jude now right off the bat there are six different judes mentioned in the bible let me let me let you in a little secret okay this is just for us north coast english translators many many many centuries ago have called this jude even though his name is judas why because the name judas has a oh how should i say it a slightly negative connotation in the christian realm most of you don't have a kid that you named judas and if you did hey i applaud you way to go on a limb on that one that's okay but most people don't name their kid judas john james michael something like that that's great from me hinters be spanish brothers and sisters uh jesus i love that but not a lot of judases his name was judas but because judas was such a prevalent negative character in the life of jesus the book's been called jude we have six judases in the new testament that are mentioned i think we can take one of those out of the picture of writing this now who's this jude and i love the way he puts it let me tell you who i am i'm a servant of jesus and i'm a brother of james well james who do you know how many james's around in the first century talking about one of if not the most popular hebrew name it is james but there is one judas in the bible who is a brother of james and that james needs no other introduction in fact there's only one james in the early church that you don't have to mention who his father was or who his grandfather was he stood alone he was james we've already covered his book you know where i'm going he's the half-brother of jesus he's the leader of the church in jerusalem he's one of the top three leaders along with peter and paul of the new testament era of churches and now we know who this jude is i put there in your in your outline if you want to look it up on your own i put matthew 13 mark 3 mark 6 john 7 acts 1 14 multiple times were talked about mary and joseph had multiple kids after jesus i know that messes with some of us that came from a catholic background where mary has been given by the church she's a perpetual virgin which is not biblical in many many many books of the bible there were a lot of brothers and two significant ones are always mentioned that's right james and judas or jude see this guy's a half brother of jesus but but when we go to the source then and understand can you imagine growing up with jesus i grew up five years removed from my older brother one year removed from my next younger brother and i tell you having an older brother five years older than you was pretty cool now at my ripe old age five years doesn't make any difference in the world in fact you look at each other and go well which one of you are the oldest but growing up five years oh it's a world of difference growing up when i'm in third grade he's in eighth grade oh that's a huge difference growing up when i needed problem or i fell off my bike or i need to be carried somewhere because i was bleeding dude big brother could do that but more importantly growing up when i got in fights in the neighborhood i know it's really hard to believe it happened every once in a while never am i doing just bad kids bad neighborhood i would always scream for my older brother because if a kid's fighting with me it's probably about my own age i'm a fourth grader in a scrap with another fourth grade or even a fifth grader oh man but my freshman and high school brother starts running down the street guys are going to scatter do you know how cool it was to have a big brother that i could claim can you catch us the first sentence of this book who is jesus to his half-brother jude dude i'm your servant i'm your bond slave to jesus the blood that jesus built on the cross is far more powerful to jude than the family blood that's running through his veins i don't consider this my big brother i don't consider him a half brother i understood i grew up with the son of god under our roof and i'm his servant and that is the greatest title and by the way the brother i do claim without telling you which james it is i'm also a brother of james i'm a brother of the guy that leads the new testament church oh what a book we have what a great source and i love where he gets to then to those who have been called you may want to circle that who have been loved in god and the father and kept for jesus christ and then get this mercy peace and love be yours in abundance you want to start marking up your bible can we circle highlight and underline these things i love the way this book starts out now we know who wrote it we know how he sees himself in relation to christ who's he writing to he's writing to everyone who's been called everyone who's been loved by god and everyone kept for jesus all of us who have been called by god to be sons and daughters and have answered that call when that phone rang when that tongue of the heart that tug on the heart happened happened it's for all of us who understand the love of god that grace and mercy of god that's in our life and all of us that are kept that that's that sanctified that big churchy word we are set apart in christ jesus for christ jesus and here's the hope that we're supposed to get from reading this one page mercy peace and love and get this in abundance can i just another pause and say north coast listen listen north coast listen if we could ever be honest in church how many of us right now go that's it for me for my family for my workplace where i'm at school right now in life right now for my singleness for my marriage that's it if i could just have mercy peace and love and in abundance because so much of our culture right now seems like it's anti-mercy anti-love anti-peace when's the last time you laid in bed at night and just felt full of an abundance of peace this contentment an abundance of just love love for you and love that you now can have forever and this and mercy mercy realizing you've been given what you couldn't possibly deserve you couldn't hope for you couldn't earn and realizing you haven't been given what you have earned and what you have deserved how many of us right now would say i want a life that just rests in abundance of mercy an abundance of love and abundance of peace it's a one-page book ironically it's fight club it's how to fight and in that we're going to find here's the hope for it love mercy and peace before we jump into fill the blanks let's leave read a little bit more i'm going to wipe out this keep going in your text with me in the book of jude and let's keep reading together the word of god verse 3. so dear friends although i was very eager to write you about the salvation that we share i felt compelled to write you and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to god's holy people stop right there here's what i want you to circle underline the salvation that we share in verse 3. dear friends jude the half-brother of jesus the little brother of james the other half brother jesus but leader of new testament church i wanted to write you a book about the salvation that we share the thing that we have common to all of us you may have a personal relationship with jesus but you do not have a personal salvation that is common to all of us what jesus did is the son of god coming to earth how he lived a perfect life and demonstrated how we should live and taught us how to live that he died and shed his blood on the cross to cover our imperfections and our sin so that we can be accepted in the kingdom and family of god because he paid the price for our debt that is a salvation common to all if you have a different salvation than that let me promise you you don't have a salvation the good news of this salvation it covers all it covers old it covers young it covers rich it covers poor it covers white skin dark skin blue skin grey screen yellow skin purple skin it covers any ethnicity any background any family of origin and it covers any sin any sin is this is this is this is that you and i have committed this is a common salvation that was nothing common about it but what's common is it is for all circle highlight underline and then he says i want you to contend for the faith you may want to circle that word contend and right next wrestle or fight for the faith that word contend it comes from it comes from the roman wrestling mats it means to struggle with it means to exert physical power with it means to agonize and battle over it means to expend energy and not for once but a continual he goes i need you to wrestle grapple with fight for the faith now again listen it's not specifically your faith here's what i want you to underline contend for the faith underline this that was once for all entrusted to god's holy people he goes this is what i need you to do this is what i want this book to be about i need you to wrestle and fight for a faith not a personal relationship the very essential truths that make us north coast that make north coast a church that make our church common with every other church that believes in the blood and the life of jesus christ the son of god came to earth it is a faith that all christians share in common it is a common salvation i love the way spurgeon wrote and he said this about that passage he said upon other matters there are distinctions among believers but yet there is a common salvation enjoyed by the armenian as well as the calvinists possessed by the presbyterian as well as the episcopalian prized by the quaker as well as by the baptists those who are in christ are more near of kin than they know of and their intense unity in deep essential truth is a greater force than most of them can imagine only give it time and scope and it will work wonders oh for all believers in jesus christ this is the call of the half brother jesus saying i need you to fight and wrestle for something there's an urgency i'm writing this book we're at a time in a place where faith needs to be fought for faith needs to be contended for and he saw a crisis in the church and and i don't know since the first century if there's ever been a time in history where we need to understand this little book more than we do right now at our time in history so i know your pencils your pins are going you're trying to fill in the blank here's what i want you to write down first thing is this the half-brother of jesus had something to tell us even more urgent than salvation the half-brother of jesus he has something to tell us even more urgent than salvation jude himself said i wanted to write you about the salvation the common salvation that we all share however led by the spirit there is now an urgency of a more important matter it will be a smaller note to you a smaller letter to you than the book i want to write about the great salvation of you guys know him as my older brother but i just call him my lord and my savior i'm a servant a bond slave to him but now there's something happen in the church that has more urgency than even salvation and so i got to get this letter out and again the three things his hope was to bring mercy peace and love mercy peace and love and and and you can draw an arrow on your note sheet down to everything we're about to fill in and maybe just write to it we're going to need these we're going to need mercy we're going to need peace and we're going to need love if we really want to fight for the faith if we really want to be that remnant of people in america right now that say i'm about saving the church i'm about defending our spiritual freedoms if you really want to be a person that fights and contends for the faith this is why he starts a letter i want to write you about salvation there's something more urgent right now that's splitting and destroying the church and here's my hope in abundance you can have this mercy this love and this peace because you're going to need it if you want to take on this task and this is where this road is going to take us today are you ready man can you tell i'm excited i'm excited you're excited we're jumping in what is the big deal what is the urgency what is he writing about i'm glad you asked read with me verse 4 for or because certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you they are ungodly people who pervert the grace of god into a license for immorality circle highlight underline a license for immorality and they get ready to underline this deny jesus christ our only sovereign and lord this is the urgency there were certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago there's certain individuals look don't worry about whether they're getting away with it there's certain individuals oh don't worry about you need to go knock them out they're going to get knocked out there are certain individuals hey don't threaten worry about well they're saying this and they go look their end is already written their condemnation is already taken care of but here's the problem they've secretly slipped into among you part of the church someone once said and i forgot the names and i don't know how to look it up but someone once said one devil inside the church can do far more than ten thousand devils outside the church and i'm like oh amen see secretly slipping into christianity inside the church is this problem write it down this way some people saw their freedom in christ as a freedom to sin some people saw their freedom in christ as a freedom to sin certain individuals whose condemnation is written about long ago secretly slipped in among you they are ungodly people who pervert the grace of god into a license for immorality because i have forgiveness and grace i can do this because i have forgiveness and grace this isn't that bad because i have forgiveness and grace don't judge me about my sin i'm forgiven i have grace because i have forgiveness and grace i don't have to worry about this specifically pointed out in an areas of immorality and let me tell you when you and i grasp on to what has come into the church because we talk about grace and god's love for you and god's forgiveness and god's mercy true true true true it lends itself into what has slipped into the church as well i don't have to worry about sin we can still live together even though we're not married i can still sleep with the person i'm dating i can still follow my own sexual desires outside of marriage i can still go after my own same-sex attraction i can still watch as much porn as i want i can still have an extra relationship outside of the person that i'm committed to i can have and he goes this is what has come into the church grace of god mercy of god love for god have secretly silently slipped in and become a license to well it's covered by grace i'm loved by god god loves me i'm a child of god god died on the cross for these things and obviously these things aren't that bad and he goes i wanted to write you about salvation but you know what's more urgent than that we've got to get rid of the hypocrisy and the license the sin that grace is giving us that grace is bringing us you see when you live a lifestyle like that he says you are denying jesus christ our only sovereign and lord you're denying the teachings of jesus and you're denying the lordship of jesus well chris how can you say that i know i stepped on a lot of toes with all the areas i just mentioned for those who are dating for those of you that are living together for those of you that are having sex outside of a marriage between a man and a woman this is the bible's view of sex and sexuality it makes it incredibly difficult to teach in a day in error right now where this is just seen as almost hate speech but i go we either got to get rid of the bible or we got to follow the bible i would love nothing more than just to pull the pages out of the bible that i like i would have about a six-page bible two of them would have pictures on them and i could follow that but that's criticism and that's christianity that's not christianity it's not christianity i love the way in their book habits of the heart robert bella and his colleagues wrote about interviews they had with people in spirituality in our country today and they wrote about a nurse that they did an interview with who claimed to be a believer in god and jesus christ quote she says her name is sheila i believe in god i'm not a religious fanatic i can't remember the last time i went to church but let me promise you my faith has carried me a long way and my faith is the most important thing in my life i guess it's sort of sheila-ism it's just that own little voice that helps direct me and tells me what is right and what is wrong this individualistic faith is the most popular religion in the world definitely in america today i believe in god i believe in jesus but i believe there is a voice in me that tells me my own voice what's right and wrong and it's it's sort of sheilaism it's davidism it's michelism it's amy ism it's criticism it's you fill in the blank with your name and it comes from having this sense of well god loves me and god forgave me and god's given me grace and and now i can kind of do what i want and this is where jude says with the more urgency than even telling you about a salvation that we all share this is what we fight for this is what i want you to contend against this is what i want to allow you to see has slipped into the church into the mindset of christianity and we have got to fight against it watch what he says there's six different old testament stories he's going to pick up and just mention he's writing to a jewish audience that would know every one of these stories maybe for you and i some of us may be biblically illiterate and we don't know these stories or what it's about i challenge you on your own look it up we can spend nine weeks in just this 20-some verse in this little book but he's giving you old testament let me tell you what god did with people in the past that said i know god i love god but i'm going to live life this way i'm going to do my relationship this way i'm going to do my marriage this way i'm going to do my sexuality this way he said you're denying a sovereign lord you're denying that god is god of your life you have pages of his teaching and of christianity that you refuse to follow therefore he's not lord may i remind you how that has worked for people in the past so he says this is the outcome though you already know all this in verse 5 i just want to remind you that the lord at one time delivered his people out of egypt but later destroyed those who did not believe he goes can i just remind you let's go back to the greatest salvation in history that israelites were slaves in the greatest empire in the known world at that time named egypt and god delivered them out of bondage he brought them out of egypt it's an amazing picture of salvation chris what you were in bondage to what you called was freedom but freedom became the heaviest chains on your life i tore you out of that i tore you away from that i brought you to a place where you could be mine can i remind you what his people did in the wilderness the people had a drunken orgy that people refused to believe god that people refuse to go in the promised land because they didn't have faith in god and so god said fine he destroyed those who didn't believe number two what about the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandon their proper dwellings these he has kept in darkness bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great day what about another rebellious group he was even angels go back to genesis 6. go back to our genesis series we did back is there a date on exodus we did back a long time ago right before exodus and it was genesis 6. i had to talk about angel sex people i don't write the book i just teach the book it's in genesis 6 and this is what jude is referring to let me tell you even angels when they take their position outside the authority got an act on their own they're confined they are chained because what about number three verse seven in this similar way sodom and gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave them up to gave themselves up to their own sexual immorality and their own perversion they serve as an example of those who suffer this punishment of eternal fire let me tell you why i'm writing with urgency as christians today it has snuck into our church and we just don't think it's a big deal and jude goes can i give you old testament example after example after example after example of people that decided to do their sexuality their way outside of god's sovereign will and authority they were all considering themselves followers even angels or we're god's people and he goes look god doesn't play games with that he goes in the very same way verse 8 on the strength of dreams these ungodly people now talking about those that are in the church they pollute their own bodies and they reject authority they don't want to yield to god's authority in their life and they keep abuse on celestial beings i believe what it's saying there is again they're going against every good news and every law that comes from heaven but even the archangel michael when he was disputing with the devil about the body of moses did not himself dare to condemn him or slander but said the lord rebuked you yet these people slander whatever they do not understand and the very thing they do understand by instinct as irrational animals do will destroy them now here's the thing jude has given us a picture of these people one so we can identify and go man i can't follow and get into that and two so we can look in the mirror and go am i one of those people do i pollute my own body do with my own body whatever my little voice tells me it's right am i rejecting the authority of god over my life and my body am i slandering what i don't understand am i speaking against well that word didn't really mean that and in the bible that actually means pedophilia and in the old testament it's like shut up if we're going to try to change the words of two thousand years of history to fit our lifestyle forget about the words and forget about the book just go live your lifestyle and jude is pleading with the church that he is watching growing up in a house where jesus was older brother after jesus died on the cross and appeared to his family jude gets it may i remind you the verses i put there in the the top jude and james and mary and his brothers and sisters were against jesus at first they thought he was crazy don't go tell people you're the messiah and the son of god come on you're just our brother but when they saw his life his teachings his death on the cross and then when he appeared to them after the empty tomb that's where they all laid down the title of brother and just said lord savior and jude is saying i'm watching what's happening with followers and the church in this area i'm trying to give you warning after warning after warning what following that path looks like he quotes from enoch and he quotes from the testimony of moses or an assumption of moses it was called two very prevalent books they're not in the bible but they were still two great books in the early new testament and he's saying guys you know these stories you know our culture you know our history stop playing around with this recognize who's on that road and make sure you're not on that road and verse 11 he says this because woe to them they have taken the way of cain they have rushed for profit in the balaam's error and they have just been destroyed in korra's rebellion again for his people for his culture they immediately know oh i know what you're talking about you know i could say tiger woods and i don't have to tell a story explain anything all of us know a tiger wood store why not we just would kind of know it i can talk about hey padres and all of us would go up when we know the padre i don't explain there's a baseball team in san diego shut up we all know what the padres are you may have different views on but you know who they are he's claiming names that his entire culture immediately go i know who that is i know who cain is i know who balaam is and i know cora again we could take a week on each of these but in the old testament these are all people and characters that rebelled against god and they got what was reserved for them this is jude's way of just pleading with christians look at the road you're on i know you're listening to your own voice i know you're listening to your own conscious but because of that you are your own god you're denying the authority of jesus in your life the sovereign lord of his life you're claiming you have grace and forgiveness and that's just the license to go on your way in sin and let me tell you at the end of that road he's not lord there's no lordship and and you're doomed these people in verse 12 are blemishes at your own love feast they're eating with you without the slightest qualm they're shepherds who feed only themselves and look it's a shepherd that doesn't feed the sheep there are clouds without rain and what good is that an agrarian society where your crops need water where your livestock needs to see big clouds come in and they pass over and they're like what no rain that was a worthless cloud blown along by the wind they are autumn trees without fruit uprooted and twice dead man when it comes to autumn and you're looking for a time of harvest to have amazing trees and no fruit uproot them get rid of them it's worthless there are wild waves of the sea foaming up their shame and the sea is turbulent man especially in jews speaking terms especially back then we found ways to calm the sea in modern navigation but back then the sea was treacherous and fearful for most people and people didn't play around going out on the sea and he goes but there's a lot of turmoil there's a lot of these people have action these people may be boisterous they may be uh he's all but what's it giving you it's just that nasty foam that comes up on the sea that starts stinking after a while and then he said and lastly they're like wandering stars for whom the blackest darkness has been reserved forever you ever been able to be out at night and see some shooting stars isn't that cool for a half second there goes it did you oh you missed it you missed it it was right across there it was cool it was bright shiny but it just burns itself out and it goes out into the darkness this is a pastor's heart pleading with people our faith isn't something to be used as a license for sin we've got to fight for it we've got to contend we got to wrestle with this you don't want to walk around and look like you've got it all together and there's no fruit you don't want to have a lot of action a lot of volunteer a lot of usefulness maybe in the church but inside your your your dad and it just brings that yucky foam out you don't want to be just a flash in the pan the flash in the night sky you don't want to be someone that comes with selfish motives and you just feed yourselves well how do i get life how do i get blessings out of life and he goes what kind of shepherd is that and jude and this little book start showing punch after punch after punch wake-up call after wake-up call after wake-up call this is why we got to fight for our faith and then he turns the corner on this in verse 14. enoch the seventh from adam prophesied about them see the lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone to convict all of them and all the ungodly acts that they have committed in their ungodliness and all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against them these people are grumblers underline that fault finders underline that they follow their own evil desires underline that and they boast about themselves and flatter others only for their own advantage he goes let me tell you what has secretly come into the church grumblers fault finders people that pursue their own evil desires they boast about themselves and if they're friendly to others it's just to get some need or some usefulness of their own out of that relationship but dear friends verse 17 remember what the apostle the lord jesus christ foretold remember what the apostles have all told us they said in the last times and stop right there in the last times in the end times and and that phrase doesn't mean in revelation that doesn't when god comes back in the end in the last of days it means in the time of christ in our current era of the holy spirit and christ dwelling in our life there will be scoffers who will follow their ungodly desires these are the people who divide you circle highlight underline they follow mere natural instincts and they don't have the spirit don't be shocked and surprised about grumbling fault-finding and division in the church we were told in the times of christianity in the era of christ the church would be filled with those who grumble find fault complain and division in the church they're following their mere natural instincts and they're not following the spirit north coast can i just encourage all of us in this season when we follow our own natural instincts we are going to want to knock someone in something out we just will when we're following the spirit we're going to fight differently second problem jude is writing about not defending the faith brought divisions not defending the faith brought divisions the first problem was simply some people saw their freedom in christ as the license of sin he gets down closing this little book and he goes and let me tell you what it's led to grumbling fault-finding people that are being led by their natural instincts they're not being led by the spirit and what is it done right here they have divided you and they have divided the church in verse 19. i've given you a picture of my bible as we've gone into these books and just said hey here's how i kind of wrote up mine so three months from now when you go oh i forgot what jude was about you can turn to it and go yep that's it this is actually the picture but can you bring it up oh you're already ahead of me there's two problems we hit the first one in verse 4 and the next one in verses 17-19 problem one forgiveness and grace are not a license to sin here's the problem forgiveness and grace are not a license to sin yes god loves you yes he forgave you yes he gives grace and mercy that doesn't mean we keep on sinning folks are you kidding me and this book is going to expose the fallacy in that and the end result of that the second problem there's divisions in the church so here's how we close this whole thing the answer how to fight for the faith and notice i put the faith not our faith i think so many times we've made our faith so personal to us and we forgot well i can have a personal relationship but faith and salvation isn't personal that is given to the saints once and for all there is one salvation one faith for all people i get to share in that i get to have a personal relationship with god but my faith and my salvation isn't personal as far as i get to make and do with it my own that's sheilaism and then this is something that i belong in the great body of christ and something worth fighting for but it's how to fight for the faith not who to fight for the faith i told you this is going to be fight club and i told you at the end you're going to be disappointed here's where you're going to get really disappointed let's look at how to fight let's look at how to fight for christianity let's look at how to fight for our freedoms like now let's look at how to fight for our faith right now you ready for that here's where jude takes the whole thing home verse 20. but or so you dear friends but let me tell you what's happening let me tell you about the grumbling let me tell you about the divisions let me tell you about the friction let me tell you about the fault finding that is going on let me tell you about the hypocrisy that is going on let me tell you about people that deserve to be damned or condemned and he goes let me give you examples why that's going to happen to them but as for you church as for you go back to the beginning those of you that are called love and kept as for you dear friends those that are called loved and kept as for you that say chris how do i get more love peace and mercy in my life as for you here's how to fight by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and by praying in the holy spirit keep yourself in god's love as you wait for the mercy of our lord jesus christ to bring you to an eternal life this is where we just start breaking it down how do we fight for the faith and in that keep our wits our mind our love our grace our mercy and my salvation intact number one get rid of division get rid of division this is exactly why jude is writing i wanted to write to you to talk about a salvation that was given for all common to all a faith that once and for all has been given to all people however i've got to put that book on the shelf for a while there's an urgency that i want you to contend wrestle grapple with exert energy with a continuous working out boxing fighting for this faith that we all share as one church in christ jesus there's an urgency there because it's creating divisions amongst you and we can't have divisions in a family we can't have divisions and things that essentially we all hold to be true who jesus christ is as lord and savior as the family of god and and here's how we're going to do that we're going to grow in our faith we're going to grow in our faith but you dear friends building yourselves up in your most holy faith how do we grow in our faith we're people that are in the word we're people that are in our life groups life groups aren't something that we walk into and we bring a sheet of paper that we hope no one sees because there's nothing written on it man we are in the word we bring it we're in each other's lives we're encouraging and we're equipping each other we're growing in that own personal relationship we have in a faith that is common to all of us i need you to grow and build up that faith secondly then he says this and praying in the holy spirit and that ends verse 20 pray in the power of the holy spirit pray in the power of the holy spirit and you go chris i am man i'm praying against these people i'm praying against this i'm praying against may i just challenge you to pray maybe a little differently some of your prayers may be getting you more worked up in your news channel and your social media he goes pray for this pray for what we already know of that has given us this book why don't we pray for mercy peace and love and abundance in our life why don't we pray for what he just said god i pray that you help me grow in my faith help me grow as a christian in you and then god i pray for love peace and mercy and abundance in my life because those are the weapons we fight for and i know right now you're like i don't want to fight with mercy and peace that's and that's an oxymoron i want to fight with vengeance and the power of god and weapons of angels he goes yeah but but here's what i need you to have and i need you to have an abundance i need you to grow in your faith i need you to pray in the power of the holy spirit do you realize the power that is in prayer it's not just making a wish with your eyes towards heaven the power that enacts when the children of god walk into the throne room of god oh we'll hit that in revelation next week at least in a daily dose and we stand before the presence of almighty creator and because he calls his sons and daughters we have a right to stand there and to approach the throne of god without fear and trembling the power that happens in prayer and he says and then with that praying in the holy spirit verse 21 keep yourself in god's love as you wait for the mercy of our lord jesus christ to bring you eternal life walking god's love after pray in the power of the holy spirit walk in god's love keep yourself in god's love we've touched on this so much through this series how do we walk in obedience why do we walk in obedience because walking in obedience is when i walk in love because god is love and the more i'm in the word and the more i'm in life group and the more with other believers the more i come to understand god's love for me and the more that changes my heart and heart and my thick head he goes continue then build up your faith in the word of god be a person of prayer walk in god's love and then await mercy i struggle with this waiting for the mercy of our lord jesus christ to bring you to eternal life and waiting for mercy is keep salvation in mind keep eternity in mind keep this bigger picture in mind chris pull your head out of the world didn't know where i was going with that did you pull your head out of the world and fix and wait for this mercy god has given you and this mercy of jesus christ bringing me to eternal life because chris when you're fixated on the mercy god gives you you're going to become a more merciful person we hit this a couple of weeks ago in the book of first john when you're a person that walks in god's love you're going to have love to give these first of getting rid of divisions that are my life the conflict that are in my life but chris these people have done wrong chris these people are saying i know i know i know i know jew just put down an entire first part of his letter who these people are what they're doing and they're going to get theirs and they're going to get theirs and they're going to get theirs and they're going to get theirs but you don't rebuke them god will you've got to be a person if we're going to fight spiritually for our faith for our church right now you've got to be a person that says i'm getting rid of the division i'm growing in my faith i'm praying the prophet i'm walking in god's love and i'm gonna fix my mind on the mercy that's been given to me and the big picture that god's taking me home and i'm gonna pull my head out of this world i'm gonna put my head in eternity and i'm gonna realize there's a much bigger picture at stake here than the one i'm losing sleep over and jude says this is the urgency i want to write there's an inward look one two three four the first five are all about this inward look i grow spiritually i pray and love growing my walk with god oh man i'm sorry this one's just for the men of north coast in three weeks it is october i wrote it down here somewhere october 22 and 23. it's a friday night and it's a saturday we're doing a men's retreat guys guys guys i know i just lost you i'm not going to some 100 degree bunk house where all guys snore and i got to sit there and show my chonies and my dirty socks nah it's not that at all that was limited to about 300 guys we'd go out in the woods we'd do that that was great for guys that like to go out in the woods and halt the moon and that was fun for us this is for all the rest of us we're doing it here on campus we're doing a friday night we're turning the vista campus into just a big man's carnival we're going to have all kinds of junk going out there in the plaza and the grass fields i'm gonna only do one session you don't have to listen to me but only one man talk we're bringing in one of my best friends and i will tell you this can i say this yeah i will sorry ricky jenkins maybe albert tate but here it is my probably favorite guy to listen to in america right now is mark clark and he has become a dear friend he's hilarious he is smarter than nine chris's can ever be in nine lifetimes and he is a phenomenal communicator and we are going to laugh hard and it's going to be a friday night and a saturday get online sign up bring your sons bring your uncle bring your dad bring your brother bring a dude from work and we're gonna get fired up on taking this inward look god man there's something we're fighting for here in life and i want to learn how to do fight club and do well man that was just a commercial here's how we take the whole thing home away for the mercy of our lord jesus christ to bring into eternal life you know what let's do 22 and 23 up on the board but can you do that can you bring 22 and 23 up on the man board good be merciful to those who doubt save others by snatching them from the fire and to others show mercy mixed with fear hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh see after we await mercy don't but keep this up the fill in the blanks not going to go up right now just write down now we give mercy if we look inward we got to take care of our spiritual faith where we are in this common faith of salvation and then once we become people that walk in love have that peace of god we understand mercy then we can finally look outward we've been blessed to bless others we've been called to call others i've been rescued to rescue others then i can be merciful to who well i can be merciful to those who doubt okay that's pretty easy those who doubt and those who have different views views and opinions i can i can i can give merciful that he goes but also on that we're going to save others by snatching them from the fire who's snatched by the fire well these are those who doubt these are those that are lost chris if you can get out of the divisions if you can get out of your own immorality if you can be a person that walks rooted in this grace love mercy faith of god this peace of god then you can give to others then you can actually rescue others you can save others and i'm like okay i'm in on that he goes but wait there's more we're also going to show mercy and you better be mixed with some fear on this one hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh he goes you're going to give mercy to those who doubt you're going to give mercy to those who are lost and you are going to give mercy to those who are in rebellion that you hate because you're going to finally figure out you don't hate them you hate the enemy and people will never ever be our enemy they won't they can't they can't they can't oh you can hate even the clothing stained by the girl you can hate everything they're packaged in you can hate everything they believe in you can hate their ideology you can hate where they're coming from but to the person you're going to show mercy because you in abundance have mercy you in abundance have love and you know what you in abundance have peace so that when you get with them you're not a person of friction you're not a person of division you can hear that side and you can hear those antics and you can hear their ideology and with a smile on your face you're gonna show mercy because what has quietly snuck into our church is a hypocrisy of well i'm a christian and i can kind of do what i want and in that we have people that follow their natural desires and not the spirit and because of that we've got divisions of all kinds in the church so i need you to roll up your sleeves and i need you to fight and it's not a who we will never fight a who it's how and our weapons are going to be well maybe seen as asinine to a church that has eight nine hundred military families who do very well with weapons and trust me we need you on that front but our spiritual weapons are gonna be love mercy peace to be back with the power punch of prayer because we ourselves are in the right place so now we can rescue others do you see how this works do you see why when i teach this i get fired up about man where we are and how we do this we walk in god's love we await mercy and we give mercy oh and he goes by the way let me close so to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy to the only god our savior be glory majesty power and authority through jesus christ our lord before all ages now and forevermore amen remember who is in your corner before you go to that great god that is able to keep you from stumbling that wants to grow you and your faith more than you want to grow in your faith to that incredible god whose glorious presence to the god of our savior the god of majesty power authority through jesus christ our lord before all ages and even now and forevermore this is who is in your corner see christians have to focus on the rescuing and let god focus on the revenging i don't even know if revenge is a word but i loved it so much i told our spell check artist leave it in there christians have to focus on the rescuing and let god focus on the revenging right now i wanted to turn to romans 12 i'm already eight minutes out of time just i i don't i just i'm passionate about this and passionate about you church i really really am i'll tell you what in our daily dose tomorrow i'll hit romans 12. and how we do this um text 51 text daily to 51 400. is that right guys text the word daily to 51400 and you'll get free daily dose tomorrow i'll do that can i just remind you that a drowning person makes for a lousy lifeguard don't they if you and i don't have love we don't have love to give if you and i don't have that mercy from god we can't be merciful and if you and i aren't people at peace how in the world are we ever given peace christian here's how we fight it's an internal look i'm getting rid of division in my life i'm grounding myself in this faith i'm praying in the power of the holy spirit here in my life i'm keeping my eye set on the mercy of god and receiving that mercy and i'm keeping the big picture in mind and then maybe in a culture filled with so much unlove unkindness unjustice i may be able to reach out and grab somebody who doubts maybe somebody who's heading to hell who's just lost and maybe i can enter into conversations with those who i hate because i realize i don't hate people i hate an enemy i hate sin i hate the clothing it comes in but people will never be our enemy let us do the rescuing chris that's not fair chris people need there needs to be judgment people need to be yes yes yes yes god does that that's tomorrow on the daily dose or at least monday on the daily dose god does that we do the rescuing he does the revenge romans 12. now i'm 12 minutes over oh father please be with children's workers who are saying bad things about me right now let parents be able to grab their kids after service today but god let all of us who want to fight get once and for all today it's how we fight not who we fight and the battle is within us not outside us god may we truly be people that have love peace and mercy and abundance so we can walk through this society and rescue others and not be caught up in the conflict and turbulence that surrounds our culture today god find us faithful fighting for this truth for this salvation in jesus name amen i bet you never thought you'd be able to get that much material from such a small book but man that was powerful well to be able to participate with us we encourage you to put in a prayer request on our connection card or you can give online as well thanks for joining us and we'll see you next week

Channel: North Coast Church

Views: 7,961

Keywords: north coast church, larry osborne, pastor chris brown, north coast, churches near me, christian, bible study, jesus, god, bible

Id: FkdIzmIJNR0

Length: 58min 56sec (3536 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 02 2021