Element Christian Church of Santa Maria

John falls at Jesus feet, terrified, but Jesus reaches out and says “John, it’s me Jesus, don’t be afraid.” As Jesus says to you and I, “don’t be afraid. I am the Son of Man and I hold everything (including you) in my hand.”

There is a great Shepherd and He longs to lead us home and offer us purpose even when we cannot hear it or see it. He loves us more than we know. His name is Jesus, He lived, died, and rose from the dead so we can have relationship with the Father again.

God packs a lot of what He wants to say into a few words. In Mark 1:9-11God the Father speaks of Jesus as a king, a servant, and His Son, who will become a sacrifice.

What Jesus does with Gezerah Shavah is state that loving your God will be born out in how you love your neighbor. Jesus says: “I’M HERE TO PUT FLESH ON THE WORDS.” THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HE DOES.

God causes His people to rise up, to be filled with His presence, wisdom, and understanding. Like a mustard seed can grow into a large tree, the Kingdom of God, in its glory, properly lived out by His people, can transform the world.

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God’s character has always remained constant throughout all of human history. Ages have come and gone, people have changed, and they have tried to place that change upon God. Our great God has always been a God of not only justice, but of righteousness, forgiveness, grace and hope.

Scripture is all about Jesus. When in doubt, look for Jesus in a passage or narrative. Everything ultimately points to Him as our redeemer and hope.

We saw that Jude starts his letter by pointing out that our salvation from beginning to end is the result of God gracious working in our life. Jude then urges the faithful to “contend for the faith once for all entrusted to the saints. But as we’ve seen through the rest of the letter, God doesn’t do the believing for us. We are responsible to REMEMBER his warnings, and to REMAIN in his love, to REACH OUT to those in error, and finally to REST in God’s ability to save us completely by his glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jude goes to great lengths to describe the lifestyle of sin and ungodliness that characterized the false teachers in the church. They assume that the grace of God revealed in Christ gives them the freedom to do just about anything they want to do. They have no regard for the authority of Christ so they engage in all kinds of sins of the flesh. They are godless, yet they claim to be Christians. Jude doesn’t mince words and he leaves no doubt that they are false teachers proclaiming a false gospel and they are destined for hell.