Skip to main content

Faith Once Entrusted

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God's holy people. Jude 3

Jude, the brother of Jesus Christ, wrote a short letter that found its way into the scriptures. It is short but sharp. In it, Jude talks about chained angels, wicked Cain and Balam, and Enoch's prophecy. Each subject of which would require a good-sized volume to explain. 

Jude wrote to warn us to fight for our faith, that faith that was “once delivered” to God's holy people. This last sentence is incredible. It is saying that, if you are a God follower, a believer in Jesus Christ, that you are one of God's holy people. Do you feel like a divine person? 

When God does his work in saving us, a creation that took place before time, we become holy people. You will notice that Paul begins most of his letters by addressing them to the saints. The Roman Catholic church has made up its list of "saints.” Canonization is an arduous process; it seems complicated to become a saint. For one thing, the person has to be dead. For another, they have to have performed a miracle during their lifetime. If the deceased person meets all the requirements, then they might become Saint. 

I am so glad that the Saint-making process is a work of God. Aren't you? I can't imagine how a group of miserable sinners would be capable of choosing whether or not to make me a holy person. Even harder to understand is why God wants to make me a righteous person—making sinners righteous is precisely what he did when his Christ took my sin. Jesus became sin (2 Cor 5:21), and he gave people like you and me the right to become sons of God (John 1:12). 

As holy people, we must defend our faith. That faith that makes sinners saints of God is worth the fight. Don't you agree? 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Twenty Buck Challenge

Well I went and done it! That's bad grammar I know. But I done it anyway. We've been having a Bible study with Esmano and Genesie and their two kids Jennifer and Jadson, for about seven weeks now. This week Jennifer threw out a challenge. "Let's memorize a verse!" I thought that was a great idea. I told them that if they did memorize the verse that I would give them each an American coin. Esmano, their dad usually sits in on the study but he hasn't really been a part of it. When I mentioned the coin idea his eyes lit up a little. I then reached into my wallet and said, "If YOU memorize that verse I'll give you $20 bucks! His eyes really lit up then! Was it a good idea? I doubt it. No one has ever offered me money for memorizing verses. However, this will be the first verse that this man has ever memorized. If he does it. It is not a conventional way of doing memory work and it could cost me a bill for nothing. But if God uses this simple chall...

What About the Property?

Some of you have been asking about the land purchase. In fact I got a note from my friend Tom asking about it just this morning. So, I decided to respond to Tom's question and send the note to everyone on my list.  Tom Funny that you should ask about the property. We talked about it last night in our team meeting. We see three options.  We could buy a piece of land near the neighborhood and build.  We could buy a couple of houses that are side by side and remodel or  We could buy just one house and expand as we grow.  We have R$37,000 ($22,000) available to choose our option. We decided last night to pray and ask God for specific guidance as we proceed. We plan to talk to a man next week about option one . There is a huge piece of property next to our neighborhood and we will be asking him to sell us a 600 meter square piece. If he does we will have our land but no money for construction. If the man say, "No" we will consider that God is closin...

If this is the kingdom of God, do I really want it?

If this is Kingdom Living, Do I Want it? Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. In a study of the Sermon on the Mount to this point we might be tempted to say, “I don’t want to be that happy!” If this is Kingdom living then I want to go to Disney World. This place is depressing.  What Jesus describes here seems to highlight all of the ...