MAC KIRK

  Jude 3.   " What does it mean to earnestly contend for the faith?"    A classic book which I was unacquainted with was one of the rewards of seminary education that I had in 2003.  I was fortunate to be chosen to go to get another degree in the Army .  I was blessed to be able to go and teach Army Soldiers with it in ethics.  I uncovered some liberalism at Princeton Seminary,  but overall was impressed with many of the people and teachers I met.  One taught a course on the Lutheran who died at the hands of the Nazis before the Americans liberated the prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  He is well known in many Christian circles, The Cost of Discipleship, 1949. I will admit I never heard of it until 2003.  He writes about the Sermon on the Mount: " Grace is costly...because it is God's grace in Jesus Christ...Is the price we are paying today with the collapse of the organized Churches anything else but an inevitable consequence of grace acquired too cheaply?... We pou

 Jude 2 I'm not that perfect Christian---I'm the One who knows I need Jesus  ( this was from Facebook.  No Christian is perfect and no Christian would say this really.without Jesus you are not a Christian. Duh) To Be a Leader You Have to be a Servant First ( Jude was a servant of Jesus even though he was the "brother of James") Introduction---- If you /I are going through problems which we all do every day, what do we need?  We don't need an angry voice or a loud one shouting .  We don't need to be told we can't do such and such because we are not able to.  We if we are honest struggle with doubts, difficulties, problems and people who annoy every day.  Jude knew that .  Jude knew there were tremendous problems; he was saying how to not give in right in  the middle of.  He was saying to fight the good fight, " contend earnestly for the faith" vs.   But he does not start with the problems even though that was the reason for writing the letter poss

 Jude Introductory Sermon & Encouragement     We need encouragment in our Christian path and walk.  The society we live in calls this Pride Month, but the Scriptures do not allow pride in sin. ( homosexual),---imagine that there are churches in our own area that exalt these kind of societal problems.  We should welcome all but we should expect they hear the Word of God to address their and our problems in this present age.  The Scriptures are unbroken. They have not changed.  God has not changed, and we need to conform to His Word, not the other way around.   This problem was addressed by Jude as well....teachers of a faith that was not real, emphasized freedom from the law, and un-grounded in truth, but only in the mind,  they thought,  were a problem  . It was called Gnosticism ( and this is around today as well in some major older denominations)...emphasis on knowledge (gnosis-greek word) " which emancipated them from the claims of morality" The Second Epistle of Peter