Build Now! | Jude 1:20-23 | February 4 | Derek Neider

Derek Neider [00:00:07] If you need a Bible today, raise your hand. We're in the book of Jude. Jude. Jude. Get your hand up high if you need a Bible. And, today we're going to be in chapter one. Because how many chapters are there in Jude? So I'm gonna say five, five chapters up. You got got a messed up translation. We're in verse 20 today. Get your hand up high. Once you're there, stand up with me if you're able to. And I'll begin by reading. Don't you guys love the rain? Yes. Oh. So good. Some of you were like, yeah, I love it so much. I stayed home today and I watched online and. Just want to say we really miss you this morning. And. All right, let's do it. Verse 20, the Bible says, but you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life, and have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching them out of the fire to others. Show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flash. Let me read it again. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy. Of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life and have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching them out of the fire to others. Show mercy with fear. And this is a metaphor for hating even the garment stained by the flesh. And he's just saying, listen, you share the gospel and by God's grace pull them out of their sin and don't get sucked into their sin, because that's not the will of God for your life.

Speaker [00:02:18] Let's pray together. God, thank you so much. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the plan that you have for our lives. Thank you God that you have. You have laid out the architecture. God, you have established the purpose, the eternal purpose, the main purpose for our lives. Help us. Help us to God. Intentionally take steps of faith so that we can grow and mature in you. In Jesus name, Amen. You can be seated today. There are about 11,500 houses slated to be built in southern Nevada in 2024. I'm say wow. I mean, that's that's a pretty big number, and it's about 200 to 300 more houses than were built last year in southern Nevada. And, you know, that represents 11,500 dreams, 11,500 aspirations and hopes. It represents 11,500 future memories that will be built in a home. And if you're a homeowner and you've gone through the process of, of maybe discovering the part of the city that you want to live in and, and, you know, there's, there's there's new construction there. And so you go in and you see the, the layout, the architectural plans, the the footprint, and you get excited, like, this is what you've been praying for and hoping for. Your your spouse has been praying as well, and you've been saving and working hard for this moment. And and so you find the house of your dreams, as it were. And and the general contractor, you know, takes those plans, hire subcontractors. And then if all goes well, over the course of time, you watch from the ground up a building, get built. It's an amazing thing to see like that for sure, was that was our experience with our worship center. You know, we worked hard to create plans and, plans that would be best fitted for Awaken Las Vegas.

Speaker [00:04:23] And, and then we hired a general contractor and, and then the ground was prepared, the the infrastructure was laid. And then over the course of time, subcontractors came in and we saw a building birthed out of out of the ground. It's extraordinary. It's an extraordinary experience. But if you've gone through that experience, you know that not only do you need the architectural plan, so not only do you need the general contractor, the work really doesn't start until the subs start getting engaged. And it's possible, you know, it's possible that that experience for you was not altogether a great experience, because you can have the plans and you can even have a general contractor. But until the building starts, you know, it's just a dream. It's just a set of plans. And there's probably someone here today that you went through the process, and there was this prayer that had been invested in saving and and providing for this home of your dreams. And then, you know, at some point in time, it all fell apart and it never really got built. And you were left with plans in hand. That happened to some good friends of ours. They had this dream home that they'd hired an architecture, an architect to, to, to draw out. And they'd gone through this process and they hired a general contractor. And then the whole thing came to a grinding halt, as there was conflict with the general contractor and the subcontractors, and their dreams just really fell apart. They were left with a useless set of plans. All of the work that went into that, all of that dreaming, would never really come to pass. And the reality is that's the truth for some of your spiritual lives. That's kind of what your spiritual growth has been like.

Speaker [00:06:09] I want you to think about God in these terms. God the father, the owner, architect, God the son as the general contractor. And then God, this spirit and you as the subcontractors working together to do the building, you know, the blueprint for your spiritual growth and the purpose of God is literally in your hands. And there's been all this investment and provision from before the foundations of the earth. God has this picture in mind, and the son has done everything. He's provided everything for your growth to come to pass. But the question is this what are you doing with that? What are you doing with all that God has provided? Because the reality is, you can dream all day about spiritual growth, but no growth will happen until you do something about it. Can we read that together this morning? You can dream all day about your spiritual growth, but no growth will happen until you do something about it. You know, Jude has been, kind of pleading, exhorting and encouraging this congregation to really contend for the faith. And we talked about what that what that means. It means prioritizing your faith, making your faith the most significant, essential aspect of your life. And in that being in a place where you're contending so strongly for your faith that you're really orienting everything about that around your relationship with God, intimacy with the father, the son, the Holy Spirit, being able to be in a place where you're capable of defending your faith in that, in that moment of need. Not only contending, though, but also knowing what you believe. Remember, Jude had laid out some of the warnings to these people because there were false teachers that had crept into the church. And so, so he was saying, hey, listen, recognize and realize the the negative toxic influence that's happened among you because of these false teachers.

Speaker [00:08:10] And essentially, he says to them, you need to know what you believe. You need to be able to contend for the faith. You need to know what you believe. And now he's going to be exhorting them, as we've just read, exhorting them to grow. I want to remind you today, and I mentioned this last week, that our mission statement, this is our mission statement. We are a community of Jesus followers who worship God, who grow as disciples and who reach Las Vegas and the world with a gospel. Can you guys read that with me this morning? We are a community of Jesus followers who worship God, grow as disciples, and reach Las Vegas and the world with the gospel. We second thing we grow as disciples. We grow as disciples. There should be a progressive spiritual maturing that's happening in our lives. And this is exactly what Jude is talking about. There are four key words here this morning. You probably pick them out, but the key words are these build, keep wait and save, build, keep wait and save yourself building yourself up in your most holy faith. Keep yourselves in the love of God. By the way, for those of you who are students of the word with these four exhortations that one. Keep yourself in the love of God is the central exhortation in the Greek language is in the imperative. And so he intended this one in particular to stand out among all of them. If you were to put some punctuation that would reflect what it means in the original language, you would put an exclamation point after or keep yourself in the love of God. So build yourself up in your most holy faith. Keep yourselves in the love of God.

Speaker [00:09:52] Wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus and save others. Build. Keep wait. Save, build. Keep wait. Save. Say with me today. Okay, build. Keep. Wait save build keep. Wait say now. Listen. Some of you aren't even participating. Some of you are like. You're just looking at me like. Like, like you have no clue what's going on right now. And I can't make this any easier for you this morning. Okay? And so we're going to give you another shot because. Because I don't want you feeling like a loser non participant this morning. So we're going to do this okay. And we're going to do this until you get it right. So ready. Are you ready. Okay. Build keep. Wait. Say he say build keep wait save okay. Great. What are you going to do this morning? build keep wait save. What are you going to do this week? build keep wait save? What are you going to do this month? Build Keep Wait Save. What are you going to do in 2024? Build keep wait save? All right, let's close in prayer. In Jesus name. No, I'm just I'm just kidding. Hey, let's let's talk about let's talk about what these four things mean. He says. Building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. So the first exhortation that Jude gives to these believers is that they need to be. They need to be the ones that are building. The plans have already been laid out, the finished product, like have the point of view that God is the architect, that God is doing something in your life that God does in fact have a plan. That there's a purpose that God has. Everything is moving towards a singular point. And you and you and you today you're like, well, what is that point? Let me ask you that question.

Speaker [00:11:58] What is that point? What is the ultimate thing that God is doing in your life? You don't have to answer it out loud. But if we were having a conversation over some espresso when I said to you, hey, at the end of the day, what is God's ultimate goal? What is God's ultimate plan for you personally? How would you answer that? Because you won't be able to build unless you know what the architect's plan is. And the architect's plan is laid out in Romans chapter eight, verses 28 to 30. The Bible says this, and we know that for those who love God. How many things? Just the good stuff. Just the easy stuff. Just. Just the stuff that you've been dreaming about and hoping for. All things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose. All we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose. Check this out. Architect's plans for those whom he for knew. He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. So if someone comes to you and says, hey, hey, I know that I know you've got a relationship with God and you love Jesus Christ. And people talk about a plan that God's got a plan for your life. What does that mean? You're able to say, well, this is the plan of God. I am being molded and shaped. I'm being built in such a way, over the course of time in my life that I reflect the image of Jesus. And how does that come to pass? Well, that comes to pass as you and the Holy Spirit are working not for your salvation, but are working together for your sanctification.

Speaker [00:13:39] That happens as you and the Holy Spirit are working together, not for your salvation, because we know we don't work for our salvation. For by grace you've been saved through faith and not of yourselves, that it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, that he has beforehand prepared for us to walk in. We are not working for our salvation, but we are working in conjunction with the Holy Spirit to be sanctified, to be molded and shaped and set apart, to be conformed into the image of Jesus. This is why Paul says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. And so Jude says to them, building yourself up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, Jude is clearly indicating that this great work of building happens in conjunction with God's Holy Spirit. What does it mean to pray in the Holy Spirit? Some would say, well, that means praying in tongues. And and that may in part be true for those who've been given the gift of tongues. But really, what you are saying is it means to be led and guided by the Holy Spirit on a daily basis, so that you are operating in conjunction with his perfect plan for your life every single day. It means you start your day availing yourself, opening up your heart, aligning yourself. You know you don't just wake up in the morning and think, okay, here's my checklist. I got this to do and that to do, and I need to get gas in the car.

Speaker [00:15:17] And I need to make sure there is food in the fridge. And I've got this job I've got to do at work. Well, yeah, you have to do those things. But first and foremost, you're saying, Holy Spirit, here's my heart, here's my heart. I've got all this stuff. I got all this stuff happening today. But first and foremost, I am in alignment with you. I am not going to live in a way that is going to quench you. I'm not going to live in a way that is going to grieve you. I need you to guide me and to lead me in those things that have been set before me, divinely ordained by the father, so that those things are shaping my life so that I can look a little bit more like Jesus does at the end of this day. That's what. That's what that means. And this is the thing. This is the thing, he says, building yourself up in your most holy faith. Jude is saying, this is your responsibility. This is your responsibility. It's not the pastor's job to grow you. It's not the church's job to grow you. Don't get me wrong. Today, God supplies. God supplies. Apostles. Prophets, pastors. Teachers, evangelists. Yes he does. God provides discipleship journeys so that we can be faithful to set up the constructs necessary for you to grow over the course of time as a follower of Jesus Christ. But man, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make the horse drink. I'm not calling y'all horses today. I could have said mules, but I didn't say that. It's your responsibility. It is your responsibility. The responsibility rests on your shoulders. It is your job to take your own spiritual growth seriously, to be building.

Speaker [00:17:00] There are all sorts of things that we build in life. We can build a house. We can build a family. We can build a financial portfolio for retirement. We can build our education, go after a master's degree and a doctors, a doctorate so that we have more professional opportunities. But the reality is, while all those things are good, don't get me wrong. Thank God for the opportunity to advance your education. Thank God for an opportunity to build a home and to build a family. But first and foremost must be your faith. Did you hear me today? First and foremost. First and foremost, you prioritize growing as a disciple of Jesus Christ. God, you know I have all these dreams and desires. But the truth is, this first and foremost at the center of my life is building my relationship with you. The word that we used at the beginning of this year, and we're just a month in, was the word intentional. And I want to strongly encourage you to be intentional about building your spiritual maturity this year. Of course, in your devotional life, that means on a daily basis, you are learning to live in the presence of God. I'm not just categorizing this as 5 or 10 or 20 minutes. You know that we chop up and segregate to God. That is important and you have to have that. I'm talking also about learning to live in his presence throughout the day. I'm talking about being consistent on Sunday morning and engaging with the people of God to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, like the early church consistently did. I'm talking about being willing to take a step of faith and serve. You know, to be in a place where it's like God, here I am and my my, my time and my talent and my treasure.

Speaker [00:18:45] All of it. And some of it I don't have very much to offer anyway. But, God, I'm giving it to you. And I want to. I want to be used to see your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. So listen. Set an achievable goal. Set an achievable goal this year to grow in your spiritual maturity. And as you achieve that goal, build on that goal with another goal. Stack your habits. Number one is build. Number two is keep. He says. He says keep. Verse 21 keep yourselves by the way. I love to underline, highlight, write notes in my Bible. I would encourage you to circle all of these words and write some notes next to it in your Bible. Keep yourself in the love of God. Keep yourself in the love of God. In other words, remain in God's love. Don't be moved away from God's love. You know what? What exactly does that mean? Because you might be thinking today. Well, that just seems so simplistic, right? It means it. Of course, it means that that God loves me and I know that God loves me, but. But he's talking about actively living in the love of God, not just knowing that God loves you as a principle or a philosophy. You know it's true. And let me just say, aren't you thankful for the love of God this morning? Aren't you thankful that he loves you relentlessly? Aren't you thankful that man? When. When you're just. When you're being stubborn. When you're being asked some. Are you stubborn? If you're stubborn today, raise your hand. All right. Hey. God loves you. Stubborn people. He loves you when you're stubborn. You know, when you've been living in that place where it's, like, your way or the highway and.

Speaker [00:20:27] And, you know, it's like you've got your plans and your ambitions and your desires, and they're not lining up with God. And you're slow. You're slow to to to blend and align your purposes with the purposes of God. God still loves you relentlessly. God is still after your heart. God is still a proverb, proverbially knocking on that door and wooing you to himself by his overwhelming, eternal and relentless love. Right? That's the way that God loves you. Maybe today you've never. Put your trust and faith in Jesus Christ. You're not a Christian. And when you think about Christianity, you think rules and regulations and principles and philosophies and, and and churches and and bad examples of Christian leaders and I would just say set all of that stuff aside and just understand that Christianity is about God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. God loves you today. And I'm saying this we keep ourselves in the love of God, not just by. By intellectually acknowledging that, but we plant our flag and we choose to live there. We live in that place. We live within the framework of God's love. We abide in that place. We remain in that place. We are unmoved off of that spot. Our life becomes defined by God's love. And not only is it defined by God's love, you know. And that means this you can be going through some crazy stuff, but at the end of the day, you know, the most important thing in your life is this you are loved by God. And this isn't just some esoteric, untouchable principle. This is something that you experience on a daily basis the love of God. Romans chapter five, verse 1 to 3. The love of God being shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit.

Speaker [00:22:26] It is the love of God that frames your life. You can say, today I am loved by God, my God. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I didn't even ask you guys to say that. So let me ask you to say it. Say it this. This morning. I am loved by God. Paul said in Romans 8:37. He said, knowing all these things were more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, you think is convinced, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And that's that's confidence. God is confidence. And I think what Jude is saying is this don't let anyone move you off of that spot. Make this your determined mindset. Frame your life in those terms. When someone ridicules you because you're because you're a follower of Jesus Christ. When someone says really, really, you believe in Jesus. Like you're so anachronistic yourself. A lot of time. You're so underdeveloped, like you're one of those people and they minimize you and and and your faith. You can simply say, you know, God loves me. I'm anchoring myself to the reality that God loves me. I am keeping myself in the love of God. When you're struggling financially and things are difficult and you're having a hard time making ends meet, and the devil is present in those moments, you know what he does. You know when he does. Have God really loved you? If God really loved you, you know he would be providing, he would be supplying, but he's not. In those moments, you have to determine in your heart that you are going to plant your flag on the love of God, and you are going to silence the lies of the devil by saying to yourself and to him, I am loved by God.

Speaker [00:24:30] Yeah. When there's conflict in relationships, when you're struggling with sin, when you're struggling against sin, when you're struggling against sin. Do we have any perfect people in the house of God today who don't struggle with sin? Oh you do. You don't struggle with sin. You do. Okay, I got a. Just making sure. I'm just making sure. Like in those moments, you know, you know what the adversary does. Because the Bible says in revelation 12, he's the accuser of the brethren and the sister in, he'll come alongside and say, man, if you really love God, if the love of God was really powerful, how could God love you after all he's done for you? Here you are in that spot again. And so this is how you respond to that I am secured, I am saved, I'm rescued by the love of God. I'm choosing to actively live in his love. And by the way, keeping yourself in the love of God not only means actively living in his love, it means to avoid sin. It means to avoid sin because you know you can't live in that place of God's love and have unrepentant and unconfessed sin in your life. When you're in that spot, the power of God's love softens your heart, aligns you with his purposes, and empowers you to overcome sin. Build. Keep. The third thing is wait. The way Jude says it is, is like this. Waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Wait for wait for the mercy. These are saved people. Wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. When we talk about eternal life realized today, there are two aspects that we talk about. We talk about the eternal life that we experience now John chapter 17, verse three, and this is eternal life, that they know the one true God and His only son, whom he sent.

Speaker [00:26:32] When does that begin? That begins when you take a step of faith and trust in Christ, repent of your sins, and believe in him. In that moment, you have the opportunity to know God not just to know about God, but to know God is a is a strong word that means not just intellectual knowledge. It means experiential knowledge. And so, by the mercy of God in this life, you can have a living, vibrant, robust relationship with God the Father through faith in us, in the son. That's what God provides by his mercy, by his mercy through Jesus Christ, the fullness of heaven can be experienced in a way where it influences and transforms your life. Somebody say Amen to that today. That's his mercy. Like, that doesn't happen because you're so awesome and amazing and extraordinary. And make no mistake about it, you certainly are, because some of you are like, yeah, pastor, I know, like that happens to me. You've seen my social media. You know how awesome I am. I mean, come on, of course, of course I have a relationship with God because I'm all that. And no, the Bible is saying it's not because you're all that is because he's all that is because he's all that is because he's merciful. You say, well, well, what is mercy? Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve? Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve, and so we don't deserve to have the present influence of heaven in our life. But you know what he did? He sent his only son, who died on the cross and rose again from the dead. He paved a way to the father so that when we open our hearts to him and he comes and takes up residence within us, he abides in us.

Speaker [00:28:23] We have the power and influence of heaven in our lives now, but it also means that we are looking forward to eternal life. We are looking forward to a place. We are looking forward to the fulfillment of the mercy of Christ that is going to come when we either take our last breath here on this earth, and we will, as it were, take our first breath in heaven. Second Corinthians chapter five I believe verse nine, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Or if that's not the case, there's a generation of Christians that will be raptured. They will be seized up. They will be snatched up. The Lord will come in the clouds, not with his people, but for his people. And we will be translated in the twinkling of an eye. And then he will take us to our heavenly, our heavenly inheritance. We are looking forward to that. We are. We are looking forward to a place. We are looking forward to. A place where the father and the lamb will be the central. All will be sent her to the New Jerusalem. We are looking forward to a place where he will wipe away every tear. Where he will console every sorrow. Where he will deal and address every sickness. There will be no more sickness. There will be no more pain. There will be no more sorrow. He will wipe away every tear. Our hearts long for that and listen. Eschatological. If we believe that Christ is coming back, we know things are going to get worse in this world, which is why that builds within us and anticipation for the new heaven and the new earth that is coming. Peter says it like this.

Speaker [00:30:10] He says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy. He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept where kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Build, keep, wait, and then finally save. Jude says, you guys with me today. So great. Jude says, verse 23, save others by snatching them out of the fire to others. Show mercy with fear, hating even the garments stained by the flesh. So the final exhortation that Jude gives build, keep wait, save, save others by snatching them out of the fire. Jude gives strong exhortation here strong exhortation that we be a part of the rescue of the saving of people. Now certainly some of you are like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait a minute, pastor. I thought, God does the saving, not us. And that's true. God saves people, not you. When someone is conveyed out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the son, who is the object of the father's love, understand that is a work of the power of God's Holy Spirit. When someone is born again. It's not your arguments. It's not your intellect. It's not that you convince them to take this amazing step. And it was the power of your influence. It was the power of God's influence in their life. And I'll just tell you right now, that takes a lot of pressure off. It takes a lot of pressure off. Because those people that you've been praying for in your circle, remember, it is God's responsibility to rescue them.

Speaker [00:32:03] But God gives you the privilege of actively participating as he saves and rescues people. God gives you the privilege of actively, actively, you say actively today, actively participating as he saves and rescues people. We call this missional living. We call this living for God's mission. We we call this being an influence for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You're like, you're like, man, you want that in your life. How many of you how many of you want to actively participate in seeing others rescued and saved by God? Raise your hand today. All right, all right. That's that's good. Some of you were like, I have to, because if I don't, you'll start the service and then you'll do that whole thing with everyone participating. The thing is, this, like the place to start is in prayer. The place to start is in prayer. Like the step for you to take is is praying for those that God has placed in your life that don't know Christ. Praying that they would see that their eyes of understanding would be enlightened. That the veil that the God of this age has blinded them with would be torn in two, so that the light of the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can influence their lives. The place to begin is prayer. It listen. It's in prayer. As you start your day and you're aligning yourself to the work of the father in your life, being empowered by the Spirit of God, you're coming to God with open hands. You are arranging your day around his divine purpose and not only shaping you into the image of His Son, but the mission, the ultimate mission that he has for you, which is to be an influence in the lives of those who've yet put to put their trust and faith in Christ.

Speaker [00:33:49] And so what you do is you begin to pray for them by name. You know, you're praying for your friends, you're praying for your coworkers, you're praying for your neighbors. You're bringing them to God in prayer. Just like those four men brought their paralytic friend to the feet of Jesus. You remember the story, right? I mean, they were so filled with love for their friend, and they were so concerned about his particular need, and they were so stirred in faith that if they could just get him before the feet of Jesus, he'd be made whole. That they carried him, and they lifted him up to the top of the roof. And they dug a hole in the roof, and they lowered. They lowered him to the feet of Jesus. And you guys know how the story goes. The Bible says, when. Jesus saw their faith when Jesus saw their faith. Like, make no mistake about it. Their faith had an influence in how God worked in their life. And God wants to see you. Bring the people that you care for and love to him in prayer, believing that he is going to do a work and listen. God did it work, right? The first thing that Jesus says to him is, is hey, your sins are forgiven you. And I'm sure the friends were like, dude, it's not. We're not concerned about the sins. We want him physically healed. But you know what Jesus did? He dealt with what mattered most. He dealt with the real underlying issue. And then not only that, as there was commotion over what he said, he proved that he had the power to forgive sins by saying to the man, rise up, take your bed and walk. And so what happened was these four guys, they got two for one.

Speaker [00:35:31] That's what they got. They got two for one. They got the physical healing of their friend. But they had the more important issue of him being reconciled in his relationship with God. And I'm saying this to you today, God will always exceed your expectations. Pray in faith. God will always exceed your expectations. Pray in faith. God will always exceed your expectations. Pray in faith. You're like, pastor, I have been praying. I've been praying for my kid for five years. Like, come on, when's it going to happen? Well, it's going to happen in God's time. But you know what? God will be faithful. God will be faithful. And so in that moment of weakness, you can pray to him, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief, strengthen me, strengthen me. I know who you are. I'm going to root myself in your unchanging character. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so look, you start by praying and then and then you live. You live the light of Christ openly to people. And by that, I'm just saying that you are filled with the spirit. You know, it is the fruit of the spirit in your in your life love, joy and peace and patience and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and kindness and self-control. And then when people see that, because it's supernatural, it gives you an opportunity to point the finger to Jesus. Hanna, it was sharing with me a story, you know, someone in her life, a friend, and texted her just just because she seen so much strength in Hanna's life. And Hanna, our daughter, is strong. I mean, she's super disciplined. There's times I'm like, I wish I was more like that super disciplined, super strong. You know, she's studying to be a nurse and she her and Levi

Speaker [00:37:13] work out consistently. It's amazing. And as we're talking about this, I'm like, Hanna, that is the work of God in your life. What an opportunity to say to your friend. That's not me. That's Jesus in me. And so so it's good. We are starting a new policy at our churches. You have an opportunity to be out there influencing people for Jesus. When those people take a step of faith, we are wanting you to be a part of their water baptism. So you can actually, if you lead someone to faith in Christ as God is stirring you to be an influence, you can get in that water and you can baptize them in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. Daniel says that he says not Daniel, our worship leader, but the book of Daniel. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever. But listen, not only is heaven real, according to Jude. Hell is real too. He says save others by snatching them out of the fire. What is he talking about? He is talking about what we see in Scripture. What Jesus referred to as a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Outer darkness where the worm does not die. He's talking about the physical body and the fire is not quenched. We know that hell, just as heaven is real. Hell is real too. We know that because I don't know if it was like this for you guys, but even as an unbeliever, I knew deep down in my heart that that I was destined for an eternity of condemnation. And then as we read the Scripture we know from Genesis to Revelation, this is clear, is the teaching of the Bible.

Speaker [00:39:00] And then, as I mentioned as well, this is what Jesus said. Make no mistake about it. Just as heaven is a reality. Hell is a reality too. And this is sobering. It's sobering. Listen, because maybe today you've never put your trust in faith in Jesus Christ. The mercy of God is extended to you today so that you can be in a place where you don't get what you deserve. And you can, by grace, get what you don't deserve. It is a sobering reality because it reminds us that in this life, you and I are part of a rescue mission. You and I are part of a rescue mission. I love movies that are about a good rescue. I love a good rescue story. Probably some of you do too. It's like, you know, someone's in some crazy, horrible situation. And then the hero, whoever he or she is, like, rides into the scene and rescues one of my favorite stories. Anyone know what this is? Oh, Lord of the rings. Yeah. So any Lord of the rings fans here? Just curious. Anyone see this movie? Raise your hand. Okay. So crazy situation, right? Gondor. Bad city of bad. Gondor. Good. Mordor bad. More doors. Got all the armies been emptied out there in front of the gates of Gondor. And the story's done like I mean, it's done. Gandalf is going to die. And. And you know, the people of Gondor are toast. Like, there's no there's no rescuing them. This is, by the way, the return of the king. There's no rescuing them. The story is over. And then all of a sudden you hear this bugle sound, and then the. The picture is the horizon with the sun rising. And then the horses of Rohan appear and they gather together.

Speaker [00:40:42] They see the hordes of Mordor in front of the gates of Gondor and theater. And he rallies. He rallies the army. Fear no evil, you know he's got his sword. He's clicking along the spears. And then they just head straight into the armies of Mordor. And they wipe them out, and they rescue the people of Gondor. And I say that today to say to you, you are on a rescue mission. You're on a rescue mission, not for the King of Gondor, but for the real King of Kings, the the Lord of Lords. We are looking forward to the return of the King, and he is positioned you and privileged you and blessed you to be a part of his army, shaped and purposed on mission for him to rescue lost souls. As Jude says, snatching them from the fire. That is the reality. That is a reality of what you're privileged to be a part of every single day. That is the reality of what we we carry as a burden, as believers. Because, you know, it's is sometimes easier for our flesh to ignore the reality of hell. But when you have the reality of reality, of eternal life stamped upon your eyes, you recognize every single day that without Jesus Christ, a person may be breathing their their last breath, destined for eternity of condemnation, a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. And God has raised you up. God has raised you up for this moment. God has empowered you and strengthened you. It begins in prayer as you're an influence for Christ. Every week we say to you, you are commissioned to go reach your people with the power and the love of Jesus. Do it this week in his strength.

Speaker [00:42:37] In Jesus name, Amen.