Transcript

Podcast Introduction

This is Epistles Sunday, and we’ll read the book of Jude. I’m calling today’s show “False Teachers.” 

Comments on Jude

It’s amazing, isn’t it, how a letter written more than 2,000 years ago sounds so current? 

Jude talks about the importance of standing up for the faith. Never has it more important to do that than it is today, when Christianity is under attack as it has not been in many years, and never, I believe as it has been here in the United States. I’ve heard it said that Christianity is always only one generation away from extinction. If we don’t stand up, if we don’t share our faith with the next generation, there will be no one to share the Good News of a Risen Savior. 

But of course we know that God has promised to always have a remnant in each generation, so that won’t happen. But that does not take away our responsibility to heed what Jesus said just before he ascended into Heaven. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 So you must go and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And you can be sure that I am always with you, to the very end.”

This is the great commission. This is the job he gave to each of us. He didn’t say to do this when it is easy, or convenient, or politically correct. There was no opportunity given for a way out of doing everything we can to accomplish the job. We must do what Jesus said.

And Jude spoke, as others did, about false teachers. But here, Jude talked about those who abuse God’s grace and excuse sexual sin. Doesn’t that sound familiar? Today they say, “How could a loving God condemn me for who I love? This is the way He made me.” Which addresses the point Jude made about how they “do what comes naturally to them”. 

Listen, it might “come naturally” to me to have multiple women. But that is not God’s plan, and I chose to follow God’s teaching about marriage and I am joyously faithful to one wife.

Jude encourages the believers to remain in God’s love. To pray with the leading of the Holy Spirit and to live lives that please God, and praise Him for who He is, and praise Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jude’s message was written to the early church, the church of today, and the church of tomorrow without a doubt.

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 1 NIRV

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Transcript

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STEVE WEBB – 0:00
Christianity is always just one generation away from extinction.

INTRO S12E361 – 0:11
Coming to you from Riverside, California, this is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible. And podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily show where we are reading through the entire Bible in a year. And after this episode, there are two left. Have you sent in you’re “The Next Step” email to me at st***@*************ia.com with THE NEXT STEP in the subject line? If not, please do it today. I do want to hear from you. This is Epistles Sunday and we’ll read the book of Jude. I’m calling today’s episode, “False Teachers”. I’ll have a brief introduction for you before we read this short one chapter book. Today’s show notes page or lifespringmedia.com/s12e361. And my email address again is st***@*************ia.com. Are you ready? Let’s get started.

INTRO TO JUDE – 1:00
Like James, Jude was the brother of Jesus or more accurately a half-brother. This epistle or letter was probably written to Jewish believers, and he wrote to them about Jewish history, angels and false teachers.

JUDE (NIRV) – 1:14
The book of Jude. (1) I, Jude, am writing this letter. I serve Jesus Christ. I am a brother of James.

I am sending this letter to you who have been chosen by God. You are loved by God the Father. You are kept safe by Jesus Christ.

(2) May more and more mercy, peace, and love be given to you.

(3) Dear friends, I really wanted to write to you about the salvation we share. But now I feel I should write and ask you to stand up for the faith. God’s people were trusted with it once and for all time. (4) Certain people have slipped in among you in secret. Long ago it was written that they would be judged. They are godless people. They use the grace of our God as an excuse for sexual sins. They say no to Jesus Christ. He is our only Lord and King.

(5) I want to remind you about some things you already know. The Lord saved his people. He brought them out of Egypt. But later he destroyed those who did not believe. (6) Some of the angels didn’t stay where they belonged. They didn’t keep their positions of authority. The Lord has kept those angels in darkness. They are held by chains that last forever. On judgment day, God will judge them. (7) The people of Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns around them also did evil things. They gave themselves over to sexual sins. They committed sins of the worst possible kind. They are an example of those who are punished with fire. The fire never goes out.

(8) In the very same way, those dreamers pollute their own bodies. They don’t accept authority. They speak evil things against heavenly beings. (9) But not even Michael did that. He was the leader of the angels. He argued with the devil about the body of Moses. But he didn’t dare to speak evil things against the devil. Instead, he said, “May the Lord stop you!” (10) But those people speak evil things against what they don’t understand. They are like wild animals. They can’t think for themselves. They do what comes naturally to them. Those are the very things that destroy them.

(11) How terrible it will be for them! They followed the way of Cain. They rushed ahead and made the same mistake as Balaam did. They did it because they loved money. They are like Korah. He turned against his leaders. Those people will certainly be destroyed, just as Korah was.

(12) They are like stains at the meals you share. They eat too much. They have no shame. They are shepherds who feed only themselves. They are like clouds without rain. They are blown along by the wind. They are like trees in the fall. Since they have no fruit, they are pulled up. So they die twice. (13) They are like wild waves of the sea. Their shame rises up like foam. They are like falling stars. God has reserved a place of very black darkness for them. He will keep them there forever.

(14) Enoch was the seventh man in the family line of Adam. He gave a prophecy about those people. He said, “Look! The Lord is coming with thousands and thousands of his holy ones. (15) He is coming to judge everyone. He is coming to sentence all ungodly people. He will judge them for all the ungodly acts they have done. They have done them in ungodly ways. He will sentence ungodly sinners for all the bad things they have said about him.” (16) Those people complain. They find fault with others. They follow their own evil longings. They brag about themselves. They praise others to help themselves.

(17) Dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ said was going to happen. (18) They told you, “In the last days, some people will make fun of the truth. They will follow their own ungodly longings.” (19) They are the people who separate you from one another. They do only what comes naturally. They are not led by the Holy Spirit.

(20) Dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith. Let the Holy Spirit guide and help you when you pray. (21) The mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ will bring you eternal life. As you wait for his mercy, remain in God’s love.

(22) Show mercy to those who doubt. (23) Pull others out of the fire. Save them. To others, show mercy mixed with fear. Hate even the clothes that are stained by the sins of those who wear them.

(24) Give praise to the One who is able to keep you from falling into sin. He will bring you into his heavenly glory without any fault. He will bring you there with great joy. (25) Give praise to the only God. He is our Savior. Glory, majesty, power and authority belong to him. Give praise to him through Jesus Christ our Lord. Give praise to the One who was before all time, who now is, and who will be forever. Amen.

COMMENTS – 6:07
Isn’t it amazing how a letter written more than two thousand years ago sounds so current?

Jude talks about the importance of standing up for the faith, and never has it been more important to do than it is today when Christianity is under attack as it has not been in many years, and never, I believe, as it has been here in the United States. I’ve heard it said that Christianity is always just one generation away from extinction. If we don’t share our faith with the next generation, there will be no one to share the good news of a Risen Savior.

But, of course, we know that God has promised to always have a remnant in each generation, so that isn’t going to happen. But that doesn’t take away our responsibility to heed what Jesus said just before He ascended into heaven. He said,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (19) So you must go and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (20) Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And you can be sure that I am always with you, to the very end.”

That of course, is the Great Commission. And that’s the job he gave to each of us. He didn’t say to do this when it’s easy or convenient or politically correct. He didn’t give any opportunity or no excuse for a way out of doing everything we can to accomplish this job. And we must do what Jesus said.

In his epistle here, Jude spoke as others did about false teachers. But here Jude talked about those who abuse God’s grace and excuse sexual sin. That sounds vaguely familiar, doesn’t it? Today, they say, “How could a loving God condemn me for who I love? This is the way He made me.” Which addresses the point Jude made about how they, quote, “do what comes naturally to them”, unquote.

Listen, it might “come naturally” to me to have multiple women but that is not God’s plan. And I choose to follow God’s teaching about marriage, and I am joyfully faithful to one wife.

Jude encouraged the believers to remain in God’s love in this letter as well. To pray with the leading of the Holy Spirit and to live lives that please God and praise Him for who He is. And praise Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jude’s message was written to the early church and to the church of today and the church of tomorrow without a doubt.

What do you think? Do you have a comment? Let me know at lifespringmedia.com/s12e361. Tomorrow is Monday and we’ll finish the book of Deuteronomy by reading chapters 32 through 34.

Boost.

SUPPORTER SHOUT-OUTS – 8:50
Sean of San Pedro sent a boostagram this morning of 1-2-3-4-5 sats, 12,345 sats. Thank you, Sean. And a couple of nights ago the Lovely Lady LeeAnn and I had the pleasure of having dinner with Sean and his beautiful wife, Brittaney, in a very nice San Pedro eatery. It’s a bit of a drive from Riverside to San Pedro, but it was well worth it to spend the time with them. Thank you, Sean for a fun evening. And yesterday I mentioned on the show three 222 sat boosts from Wayne Henderson that total 666. This morning he sent it another row of ducks of 222. And I’m guessing he did that to make the total 888. That’s a good one. Wayne, Thank you.

ON THIS DATE IN CHURCH HISTORY – 9:41
On this date in church history, August 28, the year 430. Augustine of Hippo, an early Latin Church Father and one of the outstanding theological figures of the ages, passed away. It was Augustine who wrote, “Thou hast made us for thyself, Oh Lord, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in thee.

THE HABIT OF PRAYER AND PRAYER REQUESTS – 10:10
Before we get to our prayer today, I ran across this quote on prayer from Charles Spurgeon this morning, which I shared on No Agenda Social and I want to share with you. He said, “The more we pray, the more we shall want to pray. The more we pray, the more we can pray. The more we pray, the more we shall pray.” I couldn’t agree more. Prayer is a little bit like exercise, I’m the first to say that it is very difficult, at least for me to get into the habit of exercising. It’s hard to overcome the inertia. When we aren’t used to exercise it’s hard to begin. But once we do, if we stick to it, the easier it is to continue. And once the habit begins to form, it’s easier to do it every day. And once the habit is truly habit, we actually begin to enjoy it. So we do it more. If you find it difficult to pray, do it anyway. Make an appointment with God every day. Start small, say five minutes a day and stick to it. I think you’ll find that after a short while you’ll look forward to your time with God. And those five minutes will become ten. Then the ten will become fifteen, and so forth. And you’ll also find that you’ll be talking with God throughout the day, prayer will become a joyful thing for you.

I got this report from Del this morning about Kathi. He said she had a rough night with nausea, thought she would pass out but it didn’t happen. So let’s pray that the anti-nausea medication they gave her before she left City of Hope will begin to kick in.

CLOSING PRAYER – 11:42
Let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, we thank you for preserving your Word through the centuries so that we can know the truth. There are so many that tried to teach that which is false, but your word is the standard, the plumb line. And when distortions are lined up against it, the lies are revealed. We thank you for that Lord and we ask you to give us discernment and help us to be immersed in your truth.

Lord, we pray that you will ease Kathi’s nausea today, Lord, I pray this in Jesus’ name.

Lord, I thank you for the Lifespring family and for those who have sent their thoughts and ideas about the show. Guide me, Lord, as I seek your will as to what the next step should be. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.

If you have a praise or a prayer request, please go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com and tell me all about it. Give me whatever information you want me to have. And I will pray for you my private prayer time and we’ll pray together here on the show. If you want to remain anonymous, you can do that as well.

OUTRO S12E361 – 12:46
Comment on the show at lifespringmedia.com/s12e361. Send me an email at st***@*************ia.com. Thank you to the team: Kirsty, Sean of San Pedro and Denise. Thanks to you sat streamers and boosters. I appreciate you. And thank you for inviting me into your day, today. I don’t take it for granted and I am honored.

And now until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb.

Bye.

Two.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Corrected by Denise