Contending For The Faith Series

Navigating the Journey #2

Contending for the faith

Jude

Introduction-

As we continue our series Navigation the journey, I going to make a harsh statement-

God doesn’t always wait till everything is good to work miracles in our lives.

God isn’t limited to doing things only when things are out of control.

We feel we must clean up, stop doing things, be kind before He can do something.

God doesn’t need your help! He can do it all on His own! But He chooses to do things through us! That is amazing and that is a miracle in itself!

Last week, we looked at the transformation of our lives when we give our lives to Christ. When we choose to take the road that leads to Jesus.

Last week’s message was one of the most talked about sermons in a while.

We need a transforming moment with God if we are to move past the challenges.

You cannot stay the same and expect change.

You cannot keep doing things that God has already told you about and expect a blessing.

There has to be change and that change has to be God lead.

I can give a great sermon but if no one changes and moves toward and closer to God, it was not life changing, it was a motivational speech and most speeches are forgotten by the end of the same day that they were heard.

What did you do with last week’s word- did you hide it in your heart and apply it?

If you were not here, did you go back and listen to the message because you don’t want to miss anything God is doing or wanting to say to you?

If you weren’t here was it because you couldn’t be here or didn’t want to be here.

Most think of Jude as unimportant because there is only one chapter.

I think there is a lot for us in this one chapter. I think he says a lot with a few words which is sometimes all it takes to get our attention if we have a heart that is open and ready to hear from God.

The book of Jude opens with “To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus” I hope that is you this morning. He is writing to believers. He is pouring out his live and giving a warning to God’s people. “Mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.”

Prayer-

Father, we come this morning in the name of Jesus. We see Jude’s heart in his letter that the perversion of the world is not a license for the immorality of God’s people. The perversion of his grace will one day come to a close and we as sinful people will stand before a holy God.

To those of us who are not where we need to be, He gives a warning.

To believers, the greatest glory we can attain is to be of use to Jesus.

Remember the series is about the journey. We know that there is a fork in the road where each of us must decide which path we will take.

One, the road of destruction and one will take us toward and following Jesus.

If you are on the road of destruction, you are struggling because God is trying to get your attention and you keep picking up things that don’t belong to a believer, or you continue to hang onto things that you should be laying down.

He addresses it in verse 3- let’s start reading- “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men who condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. (Stop There) This is where we will spend a minute!

WHAT HAS SLIPPED INTO YOUR LIFE THAT HAS CAUSED YOU TO STUMBLE?

What person or thing has caused you to slip from where you know you need to be?

Listen he says that he would love to talk about the salvation that we share but he felt lead by the Spirit of God to talk about what has slipped in and is causing your work with God to make you stumble.

Sin has a way of slipping in- sometimes we even hold the door open for it to come in because we are welcoming it into our lives.

Jude is lead by God to address the hard issues in our lives- we don’t want to talk about those things but we need to talk about those things! Those things that keep us up at night and things that pull us away from the Lord. In the weeks to come we will keep looking at some hard questions to find Godly answers.