Making it better

Jude 1:24-25

Making it better

²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep ^[m]you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
²⁵ To ^[n]God our Savior,
^[o]Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and ^[p]power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.

We finally reach the end of Jude! 

We started in talking about who Jude said that he was. He did not say he was the half brother of Christ like he could have. Instead, he viewed himself as a bond servant of Jesus Christ. Someone whose focus is only on pleasing their master to the detriment of everything else. Next Jude encourages us with a simple message, to not be afraid. God is for us who can be against us? For as long as there are people willing to proclaim the gospel there will be people who are opposed to the gospel. Last time we looked at the various sin categories false doctrine tends to fall into “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.”

Last time we looked at practical ways to build our faith. Prayer, specifically prayer seeking the will of God, guided by His word and His spirit. Fellowshipping with other believers on a consistent basis. Showing mercy as any time you have two sinners under one roof you will have problems. Holding one another accountable not out of a sense of judgment and pride but compassion and Holy fear. Quite frankly beloved, all of this is a daunting task! It all can easily become quite overwhelming. Jude now gives us hope. Hope not in ourselves, but in our Lord. 


To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling. 


The vast majority of us would say there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. Yet, we so quickly transition from grace back to the law once we are saved. We read books like Jude and we want to be on the lookout for false prophets and false doctrine. We also want to avoid the sin in our lives and know we should live differently. Yet, the struggle is real.


This year the news media has had a field day with so many high profile Christians falling from grace. I’m not going to repeat the names here as I feel it serves no purpose. Yet, a famed author whose books I had read declared himself an Atheist. A famous singer whose song you have heard on K-Love in the past also walked away from his faith. A pastor whom I had been a big fan of and recommended in the past was declared “Biblically unfit to lead” by his own elders. After he fell to the traps of money and power. Most recently, an entertainer was outed as having used his wealth and influence to take advantage of women repeatedly over the year. The struggle is real and sin crouches at the door waiting to trip us up.



Paul would say in Romans 7 “Why do I do the things I don't want to (Romans 7: 15) who will save me from this death (Romans 7: 24) thanks be to God
it's Jesus (Romans 7: 25)”


Jesus is how we are saved! Jesus is how we remain saved! Jesus is how we walk with the Lord. A more outdoorsy pastor than me put it like this “In mountain climbing, the beginning hiker attaches himself to the expert so that if he loses his footing he won’t stumble and fall to his death. In the same manner, if we keep connected with God, we cannot fall. He keeps us safe.” It is when we walk with Jesus we are kept from stumbling because His love and grace pulls us through and keeps us upright. 


We will not just be there alive, survivors. We will not just be free from guilt and sin, we will be holy. We will be blameless. We will be faultless. We will not only not violate God’s law, we will keep every bit of it all the time forever. It is not just that we will be there in the absence of sin, but we will be there in the presence of holiness. We will not only not be capable of doing evil, we will be only capable of doing right. We will have every power and every passion emancipated from evil and devoted only to holiness.


And we’ll be there with our heads lifted up, blameless before God. And instead of fear and trauma and panic and fainting, we’ll be overwhelmed with joy - joy forever. Joy forever.

Joy defines heaven. Zephaniah 3, verse 17, tells us another aspect of heavenly joy. “The Lord your God will rejoice over you with joy. He will joy over you with singing.” Isn’t that great? Not only are we going to sing praise to God, He’s going to sing praise concerning us. And Jesus went to the cross for the joy that was set before Him. And what’s that joy going to be? Fellowship with us. He’s going to rejoice over us. God’s going to rejoice over us and we’re going to rejoice over the Lord and over the Father.


Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever: This all reminds us of God’s wisdom, glory, and power. Jude isn’t trying to say that we can or should give these things to God. When we acknowledge and declare the truth about God, it glorifies Him. We aren’t giving God more majesty or power than He had before; we are just recognizing and declaring it.


There is serious deception in the world and often among those called Christians. There are enemies of the gospel who have infiltrated the church. Yet despite the greatness of the threat, God is greater still. He wins, and if we will only stay with Him, we are guaranteed victory also.


Jude is a book full of warning, but it closes with supreme confidence in God. Dangerous times should make us trust in a mighty God.


This year has been a challenging year for my family. The year started off with a vacation to Florida and taking the kids to Universal. We left a little early to try and beat out an ice storm that fizzled. Yet, it was good to be home. I went to see mom that next day and she was doing as well and she was during that time. It was the last time I would visit her at Commonwealth. She would then progressively get worse until she passed in early March. David offered me a break then and I stubbornly refused it. Since Easter I’ve had 1-2 extra kids with my nephews living with us as my sister in law has been in and out of the hospital. 

During this whole summer & fall I continued to stubbornly refuse to take a break.

God made it very clear to me recently that it’s time for a break. So this is my last wed night sermon for the year. Don’t worry I’ll still be here. I’m not going anywhere. If you want to hear me teach you can pop in on my Sunday school class. Don’t fret, there is a wide variety of talented speakers and fun Christmas related activities to fill out the year. I’ll be back in January when we start our next book. I love and appreciate all of you.

Let Him into your heart

Jude 1:20-23

Let Him into your heart

We are Antioch Baptist Church in Timberlake, NC. However, have you ever wondered why we are Antioch Baptist Church? Why that particular name. I know plenty of churches that have changed their names over the years but we have not. How did we come upon this name to begin with? Why aren’t we Ephesus Baptist Church? We could be AI Baptist Church. Well the name comes from our founders and from Acts 11:26 “And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”

Yet, even the label “Christian” has changed over the years. As long as there is a group there are always people that will claim to belong to that group, that in reality, have nothing to do with that group. So we clarify and categorize ourselves so people can know we are different from those things. Lots of terms have been used to categorize Christians to distinguish the sheep from the goats in just my 21 years of Christianity. “Baptist” “Fundamental Baptist” “Conservative Baptist” “Protestant” “Evangelical” “Born Again” “Calvinist” “Monergist” I could keep going but I think you get the point.

The reason for this is that there are always going to be people that are in churches, that don’t know the Lord. That is one of the main reasons for the church is so that the lost might be saved! Yet, it’s only the clear teaching of the Word of God and the conviction of the Holy Spirit that brings about this change. We see about that in tonight’s message “Let him into your heart”.

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 

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

22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 

23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

After a lengthy period of time. We have now come to the next to last message in the book of Jude. It was a long and widing road this last month but a good one! We started in talking about who Jude said that he was. He did not say he was the half brother of Christ like he could have. Instead, he viewed himself as a bond servant of Jesus Christ. Someone whose focus is only on pleasing their master to the detriment of everything else. Next Jude encourages us with a simple message, to not be afraid. God is for us who can be against us? For as long as there are people willing to proclaim the gospel there will be people who are opposed to the gospel. Last time we looked at the various sin categories false doctrine tends to fall into “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.”

Tonight, we have some good news! It’s one thing to tell someone “Don’t be afraid” it’s another to tell them things they can do to conquer that fear. He’s done that in part in the previous message in breaking down the various false doctrines and helping people understand what they are really looking at. To know what is coming is only partly helpful. You have to do know what to do when it gets there.

Now that the temperature drop is hear to stay as long as temperature drops stay in NC that is, we know that as we approach the winter months we know that snow is a possibility. We usually first hear about 10 days out. We have plenty of time to make proper preparations for the event. Milk & Bread, rock salt, gas up the generator if you have one, get some extra wood for the fire place. Fill the bath tub with water in case the power goes out. Make sure we have our winter gear & clothing out and readily available.

Jude here is forecasting a storm of persecution and false doctrine. Now he is telling us how to prepare for it and how to survive it. He tells us we need to build ourselves up in our faith! Faith, not merely our own personal belief system but the faith he just mentioned at the start of the letter but the essential truths of the gospel. 

What’s the first thing he tells us to do? What is the first faith builder? Prayer! Oh we love prayer! I mean we are some prayer loving people. Yet, we also have a really hard time actually praying.

First, at times It just seems so passive. We want to go out and do! We want to make stuff happen! We want it to happen right now! Secondly, a good majority of us spend our workday being ignored. Our co-workers sympathize with us but are powerless to make any change. The big boss who has the power to make change has bigger better things to work on than our problem. When we pray and don’t get our answer our way we tend to assume God is one or the other.

There’s nothing new about any of this. This is why Jude says “Praying in the Holy Spirit” what does that mean? Many of our prayers are directed by our own needs, by our own intellects, or by our own wishes and desires. Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us “

Prayer is not just a cosmic wish list. It’s communication, communion, conversation with our loving Father. If you’re interested in stretching your prayer legs talk with Ty Johnston or Dave Daniels after service.

Next, he tells us “keep yourselves in the love of God”. That sounds lovely! How exactly does one do that? Well it’s quite simple really. There are two main ways that God loves on us and reminds us of his love. First, we have God’s Word, a love letter from Him to us. Depending on your version of the Bible the word love appears 500+ times. A lot of those are directed at you!  How else do we keep ourselves in the love of God? We go to church! Do you know the main comment we here about Antioch from visitors? “It just felt so warm and loving.” Now, I know we all have multiple examples of times at church, even Antioch, where did not feel loved. That’s what happens when you put hundreds of sinners under one roof.

Yet, for every 1 story of someone having a bad experience at a church I can provide you 10 stories of someone feeling loved.

Heb 10:25 “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Also, Jude knows the church isn’t perfect and isn’t going to be perfect until the Lord returns so what do we do with that 1 out of 10 bad experience? We seek God’s mercy!

looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 

Why do we show others mercy? Because God first showed us mercy!

Col 3:12-14 “12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”


Then he shows that love and mercy in action. Sometimes that involves compassion, sometimes that involves fear. We have a hard time wrapping our minds around that. There’s not a one size fits all approach to accountability. I’m going to give an example of both.

Sam’s in second grade over at South Elementary. They have his app called Class Dojo. It’s how I can communicate directly with his teachers and how I can see how he’s doing during the day. Specifically, you can gain or lose points during the day based on your behavior. Those points lead to a party once a month. On average Sams loses about 1 point a week. He usually gets about 10-15. However, one day last week he lost 5 points. What makes that worse is he was only there for half a day. When I picked him up he had that look where he knew he was in trouble. He knew he had a bad day. I told him we would discuss when we got home. When we go home we talked, I gave him a big hug and told him that I loved him. Why? 


That morning he had to go to the orthodontist and get expanders in both his top and bottom teeth. It hurt. The glue tasted funny. He kept drooling and now he talks a little different. Had he not missed 3 days of school the previous week with fever I would have kept him home. I knew he didn’t feel good, so I showed him compassion.  


We have limits on screen time at the house. There is no screen time after school during the week. Saturday mornings are usually chill so they have screens until I get back from Men’s Breakfast between 9-10AM. A few months ago I got back and Sam was supposed to have done a chore for his mom. Instead of doing said Chore, which he was asked to do repeatedly, he ignored his mom and kept playing Nintendo. I look at him and say “SAMUEL JAMES NEWSOME” I know have his attention. “PUT THAT GAME DOWN AND DO WHAT YOUR MOM SAID RIGHT NOW SON” He put the game down and did that chore like he was the flash. He knew what happened next if he didn’t. 

Yet, while this was unpleasant it was actually an act of mercy. What he didn’t realize was how upset his mom was getting with him.  I know what happens next after that. Boy do I ever!  I saved him from the fire! 

We live in a world of counterfeits. It’s only when we have Jesus in our hearts can we truly know the truth.

A Sad Song

Jude 1:5-19

 A sad song

Recently I went to the fall carnival for South Elementary. There I bumped into an elementary student wearing a Nirvana t-shirt.  As quick reminder Nirvana was THE band for my generation. Like a lot of historically famous bands they had a new sound, resonate lyrics and a tragic death right at the pinnacle of their fame. I laughed on the inside and I thought to myself “What could this child possibly know about Nirvana?”. Then I had a second realization “This is probably how my parents felt hearing me talk about the Beetles or Jimi Hendrix.” Solomon proclaimed in that there is nothing new under the sun. Ecc 1:9 “That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us.” Tonight Jude will echo that point in a message entitled “A sad song.”

⁵ But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ And the angels who did not keep their ^[c]proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; ⁷ as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the ^[d]vengeance of eternal fire.

First  we looked at who wrote Jude and why. Jude was written by Jude the full brother of James (book of James) and the half brother of Jesus. Yet, instead of claiming close blood relation to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, he instead referred to himself as a bondservant, a person totally dedicated to the service of their master, of Christ. Last time we looked at why he writing his letter. To encourage and challenge all the believers that would read this “Don’t be afraid” he told them. God’s got this! Go and proclaim the gospel, stand on the Word of God.


So here’s the thing. When do we normally tell people don’t be afraid? When they are scared of something! I think all of my kids had a fear of the dark when they were little. They though something might hop out and get them! My oldest was afraid of tornados and severe thunderstorms when she was younger. I’m personally not a fan of Carnies. You know circus folk, small hands don’t bathe much. David, Missy & Lindsey all have the same fear.  It’s about whatever happens next after I say “Don’t worry about it. Everything’s fine.”


The church here was in a situation similar to our own. There was false doctrine inside and outside the church. Jude sorts the various false doctrine into categories. At least once a week I hear from you guys “You wouldn’t believe the heretical thing this *fill in the blank* said at/on TV/Internet/Work/Social Media, etc.” Bravo for recognizing false doctrine! Don’t be so surprised. There’s nothing new under the sun. It had the church scared and quiet, afraid to do or say anything unless they would be insulted, ridiculed, viewed as intolerant, or worse executed.

 

Jude groups the different types of false & heretical teaching. The first group here is sexual immorality. There is some debate on the phrase “Angels who left their own domain” as to what specifically that refers to. That can get complicated fast and I don’t want to delve into that tonight. If you would like to talk about it after service let me know. Since they are paired with Sodom & Gomorrah this would imply they were involved in some kind sexual immorality. Whether they actively participated or just encouraged it, it’s there.

There’s all manner of sexual sin these days. Pornography is free and easily available on the device in our pockets. You don’t even have to actively look for it. Download the wrong thing, hit the wrong website and it’s all you’ll see. Yet, the media and the world act like sexual sin is a thing that doesn’t exist. To point out there is a right and a wrong way to pursue intimacy is to be considered intolerant. Dan Cathy says a comment 7 years ago backing the biblical definition of marriage and now 7 years later if you eat at chik fil a it’s tantamount to publicly declaring hatred for gay people. Again, nothing new about this. It goes back as far as we can go. Roman & Greek pagan temples that employed a variety of prostitutes. Not to mention Sodom & Gomorrah who were rampant in the indulgence of the flesh regardless of consent.

1 John warns about this For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

⁸ Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of ^[e]dignitaries. ⁹ Yet Michael the archangel, in ^[f]contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰ But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Here we have the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Cain killed his brother Able out of jealously. Able had what cain wanted. Balaam took money to curse God’s people. Korah was jealous of Moses position and authority. He and his family made false accusations against him. I recently heard about a pastor within an hour of here that the church just renewed the lease on his Mercedes benz! This is in addition to his mid six figure salary! I’m driving an 11 year old minivan that smells like old milk and fast food! My first thought was “I wonder if he needs an Associate Pastor.” Jealously sneaks in so quickly! One moment we are content then our eyes see the next shiny thing and bam! We are miserable.

Then there is the pride of life. People who speak evil of dignitaries. We constantly take say and do hateful things. About ourselves, each other and literally anyone and everyone in the public eye. We reward those that do also in grand fashion. They get the attention, the tv spots, the website articles, the viral tweets. They get the money, votes and support. Then we disguise it as “freedom of speech” and “I’m just speaking the truth.” I’m going to tell you right now there is a huge difference between our own personal opinions and truth of the Word of God. Don’t use the truth as an excuse for your own hateful biases.  The Lord rebuke us when we do!

¹² These are ^[g]spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried ^[h]about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; ¹³ raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. ¹⁴ Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, ¹⁵ to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

¹⁶ These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 

Then we have the last group here. The whitewashed tombstones. Matthew 23:27 ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”

These people look healthy, vibrant, active on the outside. Yet, they produce no fruit in their lives. When your service to the church is nothing more, or has become, an empty ritual you are treading on very dangerous ground.

¹⁷ But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: ¹⁸ how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. ¹⁹ These are ^[i]sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

Here have warning and judgment. It’s not that these people don’t know the truth. It’s that they do know the truth and they reject it. They are ok with the salvation of the Lord, but not submission to Him.

“NOW I ASK YOU, WHAT IS THE PHILOSOPHY OF MISSIONS? WHAT IS THE PHILOSOPHY OF EVANGELISM? WHAT IS THE PHILOSOPHY OF A CHRISTIAN? If you'll ask me why I went to Africa, I'll tell you I went primarily to improve on the justice of God. I didn't think it was right for anybody to go to Hell without a chance to be saved. So I went to give poor sinners a chance to go to heaven. Now I hadn't put it in so many words, but if you'll analyze what I just told you do you know what it is? Humanism. I was simply using the provisions of Jesus Christ as a means to improve upon human conditions of suffering and misery. And when I went to Africa, I discovered that they weren't poor, ignorant, little heathen running around in the woods looking for someone to tell them how to go to heaven. But they were MONSTERS OF INIQUITY! They were living in utter and total defiance of far more knowledge of God then I ever dreamed they had! They deserved Hell, because they utterly refused to walk in the light of their conscience, and light of the law written upon their heart, and the testimony of nature, and the truth they knew.

There alone in my bedroom as I faced God honestly with what my heart felt, it seemed to me I heard Him say, "Yes, but will not the Judge of all the earth do right? The Heathen are lost. And they're going to go to Hell, but not because they haven't heard the gospel. They're going to go to Hell because they are sinners WHO LOVE THEIR SIN, and because they deserve Hell. BUT, I didn't send you out there for them. I didn't send you out there for their sakes." And I heard as clearly as I've ever heard, though it wasn't with physical voice but it was the echo of truth of the ages finding its way into an open heart. I heard God say to my heart that day something like this: "I didn't send you to Africa for the sake of the heathen, I sent you to Africa for My sake. I was there not for the sake of the heathen. I was there for the Savior who endured the agonies of Hell for me. But He deserved the heathen, because He died for them. My eyes were opened. I was no longer working for Micah and ten shekels and a shirt, but I was serving a living God.” – Paris Reidhead

Tonight, we have  chance to come, in repentance, to been pardoned for His glory. And in victory we've been brought to the place of death that He might reign. And in that fullness, Jesus Christ is able to live and walk in us. Our attitude must be the attitude of the Lord Himself, who said, "I can do nothing of Myself.”

Jude - Don't be Afraid

Jude 1:3-4


Don’t be Afraid


Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴ For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord ^[a]God and our Lord Jesus Christ.


Well it’s October and that means Fall Festivals, but also Halloween and scary movies! We have an interesting relationship with scary movies. Fun fact! During times of social or economic difficult viewership and consumption of horror movies increases! Think of the original Universal Horror films Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman, all were made during the great depression. In the 90’s, I remember a lot of talk of Generation X as the “Lost generation” so it’s fitting that the greatest horror movie of my generation was not Kevin Costner’s Waterworld but The Blair Witch Project. A movie about three college age kids that got lost in the woods, couldn’t find there way out and got eaten by a witch or something.


Now, I personally do not care for horror movies. If I want to be scared  ‘I’ll think about the fact that my daughters are going to be dating sooner rather than later. Yet, when The Blair Witch came out in the summer of 99 I somehow, was talked into going to see it by my friends Nick & Jared. They also had the bright idea of going to see the latest showing of it. Show of hands anyone willing to admit that they’ve seen this movie? That’s a creepy movie still today, it was seriously terrifying in 1999. The ride back to Nick’s house right past the county line wasn’t to bad. There was 3 of us in the car. The 10 minute or less ride from Nick’s house to my house was another story. Here it is like 1:30 in the morning or something. It’s dark, still, and quiet. 501 wasn’t as developed back then as it is now. I had never noticed so many wooded areas on my ride home. Then I started hearing noises. Then this thought popped into my head. What if my truck breaks down? This is pre-cell phone era! I’d have to walk!


THAT’S EXACTLY THE WITCHES PLAN TO GET ME! HER AND THE BOOGEYMAN! By the time I had gotten safely home (all 8 minutes of that drive) I had formulated at least 20 different plans on what to do when I was attacked by a made up monster that I didn’t even know what it looked like! Yet, that’s what fear does. It gets us all wound up, puts us on tilt. Let’s dig a little more into Jude with tonight’s message “Don’t be afraid”

 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 


Last time we looked at who wrote Jude and why. Jude was written by Jude the full brother of James (book of James) and the half brother of Jesus. Yet, instead of claiming close blood relation to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, he instead referred to himself as a bondservant, a person totally dedicated to the service of their master, of Christ. Now with the introduction done he gets to the point of his letter.


He says, beloved, those that are loved by the Father, I write to you concerning our common salvation. Our salvation isn’t common in the sense that it is cheap or that everyone has it. It is common in the sense that we are saved in common, we have all come by the way of the Cross. One of the times I went to Asia on mission I got to enjoy a service at an International Baptist Church. It was one of the most unique services I had ever attended. It wasn’t unique in it’s methodology. In fact it looked similar to any service you might attend on a Sunday in the US. There were greeters, a baptism, we sang some hymns, there was a praise band, then the pastor went through his sermon while running some PowerPoint slides. No, what was so different was the audience! The deacons I met were Chinese. The gentlemen that was baptized was British. South Africans were running the sound system. The family in front of us was Canadian. The pastor, was a good ol boy from Kentucky! It truly was an international service. We all rejoiced in our common salvation.


God doesn’t have one way for the rich and another way for the poor, or one way for the good and another way for the bad. We all come to God the same way. If it isn’t a common salvation, it isn’t God’s salvation – and it isn’t salvation at all.


To be a Christian is to be a part of a community. To be a Christian means you stand shoulder to shoulder with millions of Christians who have gone before. We stand with strong Christians and weak Christians, brave Christians and cowardly Christians, old Christians and young Christians. We are part of an invisible, mighty army that spans back through the generations. A mighty fortress is our God, and a mighty army is under His command.


. “Upon other matters there are distinctions among believers, but yet there is a common salvation enjoyed by the Arminian as well as by the Calvinist, possessed by the Presbyterian as well as by the Episcopalian, prized by the Quaker as well as by the Baptist. Those who are in Christ are more near of kin than they know of, and their intense unity in deep essential truth is a greater force than most of them imagine: only give it scope and it will work wonders.” (Spurgeon)


Jude says, hey you are the mighty army of God! Act like it! We are to contend for the faith! The ancient Greek word translated “contend” comes from the athletic world – from the wrestling mat. Side Note: Righteous mania would make an excellent wrestling themed VBS.


What’s it mean to contend? We fight for something, we agonize over it, we are in a constant state of struggle over it. We win some, we lose some, but we always contend. We all know how to contend for things that we want and things that we believe. Yet, what are we supposed to actually be contending for?


⁴ For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord ^[a]God and our Lord Jesus Christ.


Funny thing is, when it’s our opinion, when we think we are right about something, we will fight to death over it. The last presidential election saw us lose members, friendships were damaged, some still haven’t been repaired to this day. I’ve had to physically separate people before on a Wednesday night, during college basketball season. I know of more than one romantic relationship here in the church that broke up due to an argument over what song to play in guitar hero. Who knew Guitar Hero was so divisive?



We know we should contend, we just don’t want to contend for what matters. We will fight to the death, burn our entire world down, to be right about something stupid, and irrelevant, because someone hurt our feelings. When those things could easily be brushed aside with just a fraction of the grace and forgiveness God has shown us. Yet, when it is time for us to fight for what matters we stay silent.


Because of this, certain men have crept in unnoticed, ungodly men, who take the grace of Christ and turn it into lewdness. Who deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ. False doctrine is subtle. It creeps in unnoticed it pretends to be our friend, but it isn’t. It plays on our fears and our selfish desires.

What’s false doctrine? Anything that tries to add to or take away from Jesus on the Cross. Anything that presents Jesus as less than God incarnate. Anything that says there is another way to heaven that’s not the way of the cross. We are saved by grace through faith not of works lest any man should boast. These are the things worth contending over. These are the things where we speak the truth in love to any and all whom we might find an audience with. This is the hill to die on. Not an election, sporting event, or video game. I know how scary this can be firsthand, yet I praise God constantly for the people that reached out to me in faith before I knew Him. So many got such terrible responds from me as I reacted out of pain and conviction. I look forward to seeing them in heaven and going hey! It made a difference. God used you to make a difference. Praise Him!  


Conclusion:

I listened and read from a lot of different pastors, with different backgrounds, denominations, churches, locations, etc. It’s really helpful to hearing other points of view whether or not I agree with them. This one guy told his amusing story from when he was a teenager growing up in the church.  He was up here in the mountains of NC at one of those old timey tent revivals. The big tent, the organ music, the large preacher with the layered suit that’s mainly for the purpose of removing while he preaches. The handerchef to dab the sweat from his face, neck and brow. Good ol fashioned KJV fire and brimstone! He  comes down during the altar call and the preacher prayed over him saying “Be ye not askeered for the Lord is not askeered!”


It makes me laugh every time I think about it honestly. We so quickly get dominated by our fears. In the next 12 months you will be hit with ad, after ad, social media post after social media post, that is designed to make you feel one thing “Fear”. Fear of democrats and republicans, foreigners and neighbors, the rich poor, men, women, children and fast food restaurants. You need to be afraid of them all for they are coming to get you! Lock your doors and load your guns! Then comes a subtle lie. That the only way, the only way, to stay safe is if the right people get elected and for them to get elected they need your support and by support they mean money.  Certain people, that crept in unnoticed, who turn the grace of God into lewdness and deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Now I think you should vote and vote prayerfully and intelligently. I don’t think you should be afraid.

Whomever sits in the oval office, the governor’s mansion, or even at city hall, it doesn’t Change for one nanosecond who sits upon the throne, The Lord Jesus Christ! Amen! Don’t be Afraid.

Hey from Jude

I stated in my last sermon I would start putting my notes online. Here you go! This is my most recent Wednesday night sermon. The disclaimer is that while these are my notes, what my notes are and what comes out of my mouth is not 100% the same. Maybe 90% or so. Enjoy!

Jude 1:1-2


Hey from Jude.


Earlier in the year we finished our study of the books of Samuel. Last time we finished our study of the 7 last sayings of Christ from the cross. I’ve had an increasing number of you start to request my notes over the last few months. I have ambitions plans to start putting those online in addition to the videos you can replay on our youtube channel.  If/When that happens I will let you know. Tonight we start our new book! We started Genesis in 2008 and finished that in 2012. Then we started 1 & 2 Samuel in 2013 and finished in 2019. Tonight we start our next new book! How long will it take? Weeks? Months? Years! Let’s find out! Turn to Revelation Chapter 1. That’s exciting right? The book of Revelation! That’s an indepth study that could easily take years and years.  Let me know when you have found it with a hearty amen! Great. We aren’t actually studying Revelation though. So, go back about 1-2 pages to the book of Jude. As we get into our next book and tonights message entitled “Hey, from Jude”.

Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,

To those who are called, ^[a]sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:

² Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you

So, any pastor will tell you one of the greatest battles they have when preaching & teaching is what next? Even when you are in a book or series that you know will be years the “What next God?” is usually there in the back of your head. Realistically, it’s not like you can go wrong with God’s Word. It’s all good and more importantly it’s all God. After much prayer I started learning towards Jude as a Segway between the rest of the year and January when we start our next book which will be, one of the books in the Bible.


You generally don't hear many messages from Jude. Most of us might not have known it was a book in the Bible. It’s so short. It’s just kind of sandwiched in-between 1,2,3 John and Revelation. Almost like a speed bump if you will, or that in flight safety demonstration that flight attendants do right before the plane takes off.


After all, Revelation is the grand finale! The special effects extravaganza! It’s the end game!  Revelation is the apokalupsis, the apokalupsis being the appearing of Jesus Christ, the second coming. In fact, the book of Revelation is called the revelation of Jesus Christ.


There’s nothing to add to Revelation. When Revelation is done, all that God wanted to say has been said because that takes you write out into eternity. Right? It ends with the return of Jesus Christ, His millennial kingdom, at the end of which He defeats the final rebellion – Satan and the sinners on the earth, and healthiest earth and its environs, the created universe as we know it is uncreated, goes out of existence. The new heaven and the new earth, which is the eternal stage, are created, and we go on to eternal heaven, and the ungodly, along with Satan and all those who were associated with him in demonic or human realms, go into the lake of fire forever, and that’s the end.


So, what do we know about Jude? Why place it here of all places? God doesn’t do things without a purpose. Let’s see what Jude has to say about himself.


Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother to James. This is, most likely,  this is not James the Disciple but James who wrote the book of James. James, of the book of James, was half brother to Jesus. That makes Jude the half brother to Jesus.


Let’s switch gears for a minute and talk about clothes. Anyone here currently own or have owned a piece of clothing from Polo Ralph Lauren? That’s a decent number of you. Fun Fact! If you do own something with that polo pony logo on it. Unless you bought it overseas, that came from Greensboro, NC! Polo Ralph Lauren’s Distribution Warehouse for all of North America is in Greensboro, NC! IT employees about 3000 people. For two months in late 2005 I was one of those employees! I worked in their IT department as one of the guys on the phone that reset your password and asked if you had tried turning it off and on again.


The thing that struck me about that place though, was the pecking order. You immediately knew where you ranked amongst everyone else in the entire organization worldwide, not just the people in NC. Everyone threw there weight around no matter how little they had. I literally had two documents pinned to my cubicle wall with flow charts of the top 1% of the company.


Obviously the most important person was Ralph. Just slightly below that tier was Ralph’s Son David and Ralph’s first employee a lady named Buffy.  I never got to talk to Ralph. I doubt more than a handful of people in that entire building every got to talk to Ralph. However, not to brag but, on my last day there, your illustrious associate pastor, got to talk to David Lauren’s Administrative Assistant’s, Administrative Assistant! While I am 5 people from Kevin Bacon, I am only 3 people from Ralph Lauren! As of August this year I am now only 1 person from the Pope, which I believe makes me the most Catholic person in the entire county! You can tell who the yankees are by who laughed at that joke.


Jude is the half brother of Jesus! The King of Kings, The Lord of Lords! The Author and perfecter of our faith! Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Jude could claim close blood relation to Jesus! Many societies may have viewed him as a demigod. He could wield power and influence over a significant number of people just on that name! Yet, how does he refer to himself?


A bondservant of Jesus Christ. What does it mean to be a bond servant? We don’t understand. We don’t have servants. In fact, to even remotely hint at something even resembling being a servant is enough to get people outside your place of work protesting you and calling for you to be fired and made anathema to the human race for the rest of your existence.


The Greek here is Dolas, a slave, a bond man, a person of servile condition, devoted to one’s master to the disregard of one's own interest.


Sunday, David asked, who is Jesus to you? Tonight, I asked the other side of that question. Who are you to Jesus? Are the one giving orders or are you the one taking orders? Are you the one working to please your master or are you the one who wishes to be pleased? Who is on the cross? Who is on the throne?


Without a doubt, Jude valued the fact that Jesus was his half-brother and that he grew up in the same household as Jesus. But even more valuable to him was his new relationship with Jesus. To Jude, the blood of the cross that saved him was more important than the family blood in his veins that related him.


Now that we know who wrote it. Who is he writing it to? Believers.


We so frequently forget who we are. We spend so much time trying to be someone or something else. Maybe we are trying to be who people say we are or say we should be. Maybe we are trying to be the opposite of those things just out of spite. Somehow we simulteanously thing we are the worst thing in the world and the best thing in the world and we wish to be treated as both!

Yet, it doesn’t matter what we think we are, or other people. What matters is who God says that we are.

To those who are called, ^[a]sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:

Jude identified his readers as Christians. And gives us three signs, three reminders of who we are. We are the called. We are Christian because God has called us, and we answered when that call came in. Many of you have told me your stories of how you ignored and avoided that call but God pursued you until you finally answered!


We are the sanctified of God. We are set apart, apart from the world, saved by and for the Lord that we might do good works, not for our salvation, or our own glory, but His.


We are the preserved in Jesus.  When I say preserved, I imagine most of you thought of food. Maybe you literally thought of preserves. Maybe you grew up on a farm canning food for the winter. That’s not what is being talked about here. This is actually a military term. It’s talking about a fortress, or a large military force prepared for battle. We are preserved in Jesus. Jesus Christ is our guardian, our protector, our fortress. He will be with us every step of the way. His will will be done.


Finally, Jude says “Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you” If I told you, you could get 3 wishes from God, what would you ask for? You could ask him anything and he would do it. I think for the majority of us the first two would be some form of health and wealth. The third one we would likely be held on to until we really needed or some type of personal wish fulfillment. Athletic ability, superpowers, really good luck, etc. 


Yet, if we talked about why you want those things and drilled down to it. It’s so we would worry less. It’s so we wouldn’t be afraid. If we had enough money, we wouildn’t worry about money things. If we and all our loved ones were 100% healthy then that carries a measure of relaxation as well. When we are honest, at the root of all our fantasies, wishes and worries is a desire for peace.

Yet, the only place we find true lasting mercy and peace is as bondservants of Jesus Christ.

Honor Thy Mother

Honor Thy Mother

Exodus 20:12 ““Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

Last night at 10:26 PM my mother, Phyllis Newsom, breathed her last. She spent her last day on this earth surrounded by her sister, myself and my sister, and all her grandkids. It was loud, and there was laughter. Sam read to us about Sharks from a new book he had gotten. We found out about the Lemon Shark which is named so because it is yellow. We prayed with her multiple times. We all finally went home around 9 to put the kids to bed. My Aunt Melba (her sister) was going to stay the night. About an hour later I got the call I had been anticipating/worrying over for over 7 years. When me and Angie got back to RNC we were met by mom’s nurse, he let us know that mom had passed. We went into the room and hugged, and cried, and hugged momma, and cried, and prayed, and shares stories and laughed and cried some more.

Soon the funeral home came and got her and we got back to the house a little after midnight. There was not much sleep for any us. There will be time for that later. Now my mom has found peace and has been reunited with those loved ones she had lost along the way.

As the news spread about mom’s passing many of you have called, texted, emailed and visited. I appreciate and cherish every single one of those. I apologize if I have not yet replied to you directly, it’s not from a lack of effort.

The Funeral will be this Saturday at Antioch. The visitation will be at 10AM, the Service will be at 11AM. There will then be a graveside service in Norlina, NC at 2PM.

There’s so much I could write and say both good and bad, funny and tragic. However, now is not the time for any of that. In my mind I keep coming back to this one moment, one lovely day, I had with her when I was in 6^th grade. My parents got divorced in the fall of 5^th grade. This was the spring of 6^th grade. In 5^th grade I had developed a love of baseball. In 6^th grade mom took me out of a day that was just me and her. My sister was at the baby sitters. We went to a baseball card shop / convenience store / bait shop out in Caswell County somewhere (bear with me I’m trying to recall something from 1990) where Person County Native and Baseball Hall of Famer, Enos Slaughter, was doing an autograph signing and talking to fans. Mom had become friends with Enos while working as a teller at the bank. I remembered him chatting with me for quite a while sharing baseball stories. He signed a card, a ball and a picture of himself sliding into home when he won the world series. 

Then mom took me to Northgate mall. There at Babbages (which was where you bought video games in 1990) there stood a shiny new copy of Double Dragon II. I looked at it, but new it was expensive ($80) and that games were for Birthdays and Christmas. Mom looked at me and said “Do you like that game?” “Yes!” I said enthusiastically, “Well let’s buy it” she said. I was overjoyed! When we got home I played that game the rest of the weekend! It’s still one of my favorite games to this day. 

As I got older I realized how much of a financial sacrifice she made purchasing that game for me. She really didn’t have the money to do so. One thing can be said about mom, she never hesitated to sacrifice for myself or my sister, not only for what we needed but for what we wanted as well.

Rest in Peace Mom, we love you and miss you already!

Glen & Angie