Our Legacy - Christ Fighting Through Us

Recap of the week

Night one - Jude is calling us to get into the battle

Night two - In this battle all sin is punished, but not by us, it is punished by God

all who sin will have to face that judgment, punishment, on their own

or by faith in Christ, our sin will be on him and his righteousness will be on us

Night Three - There are threats to our legacy, they have snuck in and are hiding likes rocks under the water

How we Battle

Our Legacy - Christ fighting through us

Jude 20–23 CSB

20 But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. 22 Have mercy on those who waver; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

Pray!

Our battle plans do not involve weaponry of this world. We battle by growing in our faith, showing the mercy of God and relying on his glory, majesty, dominion and authority.

Battle Preparations

My testimony - God uses all aspects of your life to prepare you for the works that he has for you

I did not grow up in a Christian home

I accepted Jesus as my savior, I can even tell you it was on April 21, 1982

I have a photo copy from my aunts bible where she had prayed for my family by name, and she wrote the day I accepted Christ because I was at her house staying with her and went to an event for kids

I went to church with my grandmother on the weekends

I would go to stay with her on Saturdays, go to church and she would take me home

as I got older, she would wait until youth group was over on Sunday nights

this went on until I was in High School and my dad told me that if I wanted a car, and to drive, I had to get a job on the weekends, so I quite staying with my grandmother and got a job.

After Heather and I got married we had a baby, nine months from our wedding day

again - God to the back burner, I have to take care of my family

I started a career in marketing and worked for a casino in Kansas CIty

I would plan huge events, give away cars and money

I once drove a car with $34,936 in it

I got to ride in the pace car at the Kansas Speedway with Mario Andretti

I had all the oppertunities with other companies

but suddenly, I lost my job and the other places did not want me either

Heather and I had decided at some point prior to me losing my job, that we both wanted to get back to church

we began attending a church, we got connected into a small group and were both growing in our faith

after losing my job, I went for a couple months without a job

then I had a dream that I was sitting in seminary classes

God used every part of my life to make me the pastor I am today

I was terrified to speak in public, in front of people and here I am

and it seems like every step of the way, where I would say I won’t do this, because I cannot do that… that is where God would send me and give me the ability to do it

Jude has begged us to stand up for the faith, for the gospel

up until this point, he has not told us how we are to do that

but he is not sending us into the battle without being prepared

Jude 20–21 (CSB)

20 But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.

We cannot jump into the battle if we are not firm in our relationship with Christ

Jude says that you must be prepared in order to jump into this battle

there are things that we must do before we stand up for the gospel

We are to keep ourselves in the love of Jesus

this word means to be on the look out, to guard or watch out for

it is like telling your kid to watch out for deer as they leave when it is dark outside.

it means as you go your are constantly looking for the deer on the side of the road, keeping an eye out for one to jump right in front of you and

How do we keep ourselves in the love of Jesus

there are three participles

for those of you who are not english majors, or it has been a long time since you have taken an english class, a participle is a word formed from a verb (e.g., going, gone, being, been) and used as an adjective

by building ourselves up in the faith

to build means to build a foundation

Jesus telling the parable of the man who built his house upon the rock verses the sand

Matthew 7:24 (CSB)

24 “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

You are not to simply build a foundation of good works, but obedience to Jesus

but it is through a relationship with Jesus.

In Matthew 7, v21 tells us that only those that “do” the will of the Father can enter into the kingdom of God

the question is what is the will of the Father

v23 tells us that it is to know the Son, Jesus responds to those calling him Lord, “Depart from me, for I never knew you.”

by praying in the spirit

Jude is telling us to pray in step with the Holy Spirit

far to often we pray contrary to the Holy Spirit

How - We pray for our own desires, our own wants without even asking what God’s will in a situation is

That may be the hardest part of the Lord’s prayer

we have no problem asking for our daily bread, though I am not sure we fully understand that

I think we might not recognize all our sin, but we have no problem asking God to forgive us

But when we ask for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven

we are asking for his will to be supreme to our own

that our desires, do not just take a back seat, but die.

so we pray, in the Holy Spirit, for the will of God to be accomplished in my life, in lives of those around me, in our church

waiting for the return of Jesus

we should be excited about the return of Jesus

I think that the part we should be looking forward to the most is the full realization of our salvation

To prepare to Battle, we do not consume information so that we can combat those that might appose the gospel we love

we consume Him, His word, and long for his return

Battle Expectations

We know that salvations awaits us

I am not a very patient person… I have seen the Lord grow my patience through the years, but it has been a battle

the saying is that you never pray for patience, because then God will give you situations to be patient in

parents lose patience with their kids… Lillie got in trouble, all three of our kids got in trouble because they refused to listen to their mother. Mom made them write a paper on why they would not listen.

lillie was very young, wouldn’t write anything because she is a little stubborn

Heather growing impatient said just write me a sentence

I can’t listen because you are just too pretty

I think this is the worst advice that the church gives…

your day is not going to go perfect, there will be chances for patience,

I think it is a way that Satan keeps us from praying for things

like saying every morning you need to put on the armor of God… why did you take it off? When did you think you were strong enough to battle without it

Jude 21 CSB

21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.

We live in an already not yet state

many are saved, Christ has died and paid the price of your sins

but… here we are on Thursday night and I know that many of you are far from perfect

none of us are perfect yet

we continue to sin

Muscle memory… Jimmy and Ethan in the gym

one day we will be with him

1 Corinthians 13:12 CSB

12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.

we will dwell in his glory

we will have glorified bodies just as he does

we will know him as we are fully known

Until that day… we live expectantly

expectantly = looking forward

some of you are looking forward to going to high school, or your senior year, or your first year of college

we look forward to those things, and they are good

but once we experience them and it is over we are looking forward to the next thing

we look forward to the day when we meet our savior face to face

when we understand all that he has done, the mercy that he has poured out on me so that I can stand in his presence pure and righteous in a new glorified body

wow! I cannot wait for that day.

Battle Plans

Our family likes to hike, Heather and I decide we like it without the kids!

in October we are planning on hiking in

we have come up with a plan for hiking some of these places

because they call these canyons slot canyons.

they are skinny to get through and right now I am going to get high centered!

I am not doing well on this plan…

Prayer as we covered in the first point must be a part of our preparations, this is now how we will be interacting with those we are battling against

it is not for their defeat, their demise, but their salvation

Jude 22–23 (CSB)

22 Have mercy on those who waver;

what are the wavering

there is wrong teaching in the church

they are wavering between the earning my salvation, satisfying my own flesh teaching of the false teachers

The people who have the mercy of God multiplied on them v2 and expectanly waiting in v21

Jude 2 CSB

2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Jude 21 CSB

21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.

are to extend the mercy that we have been shown

23 save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

We are to share the grace of God with others, snatching them from the fire

sharing the gospel with those who need it and do not know God

God has called all of us to enter the battle in this way

some he has called to full time ministry and others he has called to do it in other ways

I believe that there are many in here that called to go and proclaim the gospel, either as pastors, missionaries or still other vocational jobs

I believe that we look at the ministry backwards and that we train people when they are young, they can be anything they want and a few might receive a special calling to the ministry

what that does is cause many of us to be like Moses when he was called by God and start to give why we cannot do that because of our limitations

His strength is shown off in our weakness

Youth leaders to help with this I believe that we need to get our youth involved in the church

they need to be a part of the body, because they are a part of the body

too many churches have youth time and then adult church, or adults serve or kids can do whatever it is that the adults do not want to do

they can work the nursery or mow the grass or something

We are to show mercy to all… hating even the garment defiled by the flesh

this last group is the toughest

I believe that Jude is talking about those that have believed the message of the false teachers

maybe even the false teachers themselves

we show mercy to them, compassion in action

hating the garment defiled

Will you enter the battle?

you first must have your own heart prepared

if you have not taken that step to submit to the Lord I pray you do so this evening, we will give you that opportunity

you cannot defend the gospel that you do not believe or have submitted to

you must live in expectation of the mercy that we will one day realize fully when we see him face to face

knowing that just as we will be in his presence one day, so will everyone else that we know, so we share hoping to snatch them from the fire!

We must be ready to share the mercy and grace of God with all

I believe God is calling some of you right now to enter the battle in ministry

that the greatest way that we can pass on the legacy of the gospel, the legacy of super summer, is to get into the ministry