Staying True

*Jude’s teaching here deals with scoffers and fleshly individuals at work in the last days who basically do their own thing without any regard for the things of God.

*He also teaches how the believer is supposed to deal with people by being merciful, reaching out to them and helping them to understand the urgency of the time.

*Sandwiched between these two thoughts is a teaching on how the believer who has the Spirit of God in their lives is instructed to live.

1. Live by building your faith.

a. How do we build our faith?

i. Prayer

ii. Reading God’s Word

iii. Fellowship with believers

iv. Witnessing to others

b. How did Jesus tell us to build our faith? (Luke 17:5-10)

i. When the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith, He told them that they just needed to use it.

ii. Jesus’ teaching is that faith should naturally be exercised by every believer, as it is his/her duty.

2. Live by praying in the Holy Spirit.

a. Romans 8:26-27 tells us that the Spirit always prays the will of God. There is no more effective method of prayer.

b. Prayer in the Spirit is one powerful way in which we can build our faith and encourage ourselves in the Lord.

c. Prayer in the Spirit can take on two forms (1 Cor 14:15)

i. Prayer in the Spirit that you do not know exactly what you are praying.

ii. Prayer in the Spirit where you have an understanding of what you are praying for or about. This can be in tongues or in a learned language such as English.

3. Live by and in God’s love and mercy.

a. How do we live in God’s love? Through our obedience (John 15:9-10).

b. It is a two fold process: Love God, Love People.

4. Live in anticipation of Christ’s return.

a. Many today live as though Jesus was never here, let along coming again.

b. We should live every day with the idea that it could be our last without Christ.