Jude 3 (ESV) - Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

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In this final message in our series over the book of Jude, we look back to the beginning as Jude begins to summarize his message to his readers. At the end of his letter Jude gives practical instruction on how to contend for the faith and how to encourage a congregation that has false teachers within it. We are to contend for the faith by building ourselves up in the faith (2 Peter 1:5–10) and praying in the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 6:18).

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We are also to be sensitive to the needs of the congregation as many might be struggling in their faith because of the false teacher's doctrines. We are to hate the presence of sin, calling our brothers and sisters in Christ out of it, and at the same time show mercy to those who are doubting and even struggling with their faith.

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If Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior and we have been saved by His work on the cross, then let us contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to us, and let us keep that faith by cultivating our relationship with Christ, having mercy on those who are falling away, and giving glory to God for His work in us and His promise to keep us. This is good news. Thanks be to God.

Follow up devotional thoughts from our Band of Brothers Study on July 24, 2024.

It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. —Hebrews 10:31 (NLT)

In this continuing sermon series, we have seen the threat addressed by Jude in the form of false teachers who attempt to infiltrate and deceive the body of Christ. Jude challenges the church to “contend for the faith” as they safeguard the truth.

In the first week we saw that the greatest threat is false teaching from within the church, false teachers who seem legitimate but knowingly deceive others. We are called to preserve the purity of the Gospel as we understand who we are being warned about.

In the second week, we learned that we will recognize these false teachers by their pride. We are warned to not be so quick to accept shallow teaching as we begin to grasp what it is that we are being warned about.

This week, verses 14-16 bring into focus the harsh judgment that is in store for these false teachers because they deceive so many with their perversion of the truth. It also illustrates why we are being warned so we avoid sharing their fate.

Follow up devotional thoughts from our Band of Brothers Study on July 17, 2024.

One of the truly challenging things about Biblical teaching is being able to recognize the difference between sound teaching and false teaching. Of course, in addition, one must be able as well to ascertain whether a teacher is simply in error and open to correction or intentionally distorting the meaning of the Scriptures. When we consider that many of us assume the best in people’s intentions as they stand to teach in the church—plus, it isn’t as if false teachers wear a “Hi, I’m a False Teacher” badge.

There is a genuine onus on each of us to know the Word of God in such a way as to recognize such false teaching. Jude gives us some warning signs to look for when listening to a teacher. Chief of those is an attitude of pridefulness. Pride motivates a lot of sinful behavior and is often the foundation of intentionally misleading and harmful teaching. Join us Sunday as we dive into this important topic in Frank’s message.

ude 1-2, Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

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This Sunday marks the beginning of a four-week sermon series over the book of Jude. The writer’s purpose in his letter was twofold: he wanted to expose the false teachers that had infiltrated the Christian community, and he wanted to encourage Christians to stand firm in the faith and fight for the truth. Jude recognized that false teachers often sold their deceptive goods unnoticed by the faithful, so he worked to raise the awareness of the believers by describing in detail how terrible their teachings were. But more than simply raising awareness, Jude thought it important that believers stand against those working against Jesus Christ. Believers were to do this by remembering the teaching of the apostles, building each other up in the faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, and keeping themselves in the love of God.

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Jude calls for his readers and us to fight for the truth! Stand up against error! The book is the very definition of short, succinct pithy proclamations. But in our day and age, this sort of teaching is called rude or unacceptable. In many circles the forcefulness of Jude will not be tolerated, the crowds preferring a softer and gentler side of the Christian faith. But Jude reminds us that there is a time and a place for the aggressive protection of the truth from those who would seek to tear it down.

Follow up devotional thoughts from our Band of Brothers Study on July 3, 2024.

Matthew 9:36-38, When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

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Building one’s character is not a sudden thing. It does not happen overnight. The term “building character” gives us an idea that it happens over time, with the hopefully strong foundation in truth and faithfulness being laid in the believer’s life. After that foundation is laid, the building up of morals, values, thoughts, actions, etc. are laid on top of it.

A follow up devotional thought for this morning from Clay King on part of the life of Abraham and his responsibility to protect and provide for his family, and how that mirrors our own level of responsibility as husbands, fathers, and men of God.

1 Peter 4:12, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

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Life would just be so much easier if we didn’t have to deal with problems; if we could avoid suffering at all costs. In fact, most of us, given the option would pray for such things to be removed from our lives rather than having to deal with them.

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While that all sounds good, it is unrealistic. In his book, Eating Problems for Breakfast, author Tim Hansel wrote about dealing with problems in life, “Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional. We cannot avoid pain, but we can avoid joy.” In short, pain, difficulty, and suffering are going to happen, what if we prayed instead for the strength to endure such things and for joy in spite of them. It might radically change the way we face each day. We wouldn’t have to go out of our way to seek out suffering, but we could be better prepared for dealing with it.

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Hansel went on to say, “One of the ways that our faith expresses itself is by our ability to be still, to be present, and not to panic or lose perspective. God still does his best work in the most difficult of circumstances.” Join us Sunday as Frank shares from 1 Peter 4 about this very concept of expecting suffering and being prepared to respond to it, so Christ might be glorified through our circumstances.