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Bishop Jones: In Jude, in Jude today [music]
In Jude. Now if you ask me what [music]
chapter, then [laughter, music]
chapter, then [laughter, music]
[laughter] we automatically have a problem
But in Jude and when we
think about Jude, Jude
he is probably, well he is
the brother of James and
if this is true, then
he may have been a brother
of our Lord
John 7 and about 5
indicates that his brothers
did not believe in him at first
but by time you get to Acts 1
and 14, it would
indicate that after his resurrection, they became followers
Its not an unusual thing that
oftentimes your family
does not give much respect to your gift
And its interesting when you have to prove to your
family [come on Bishop, preach Bishop] that
God has his hand on you, but its
not anything to be condemnatory about
because Jesus already indicated that a
man is without honor in his own
If he is without honor in his own
environment, then it would seem
that it wouldn't be condemnatory
for your family to have doubts about who you are
If the neighbors have doubts
and he says a man is without honor in his own country
then it would seem that he would take it further to say that a man
is without honor in his own family [right]
Well, take a look at Joseph
So I didn't say that for you to now begin to
look around at your family members [laughter, well]
and become hostile towards those who
didn't believe on you [that's right]
But it suggests that in spite of how close and
regardless of the proximity of the doubters
you have to go forward within the vocation in which you
were called [yes] And if mama don't believe it, keep
doing it [that's right] And if daddy wants to hinder it
keep doing it. Isn't it Jesus who had to say to his parents
"Wist ye not that I be about my
Father's business"
It is possible then, one writer says that Jude because
of his early unbelief
felt that he was not worthy to sign himself
as the brother of Jesus. So in writing
the epistle he called himself
Jude, the servant
of Jesus Christ [well] And notice how he put it
"and the brother of James to them that
are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved
in Jesus Christ," So probably because
he was feeling his early
unfaithfulness, you might think
that's why you gotta learn to forgive yourself, amen
I didn't come to preach that, but
you cannot tell me that God has forgiven you
if you haven't appropriated that forgiveness by
forgiving yourself. One of the things
that the church has intesify
when it should eliminate it, is the issue
of guilt [well, amen] Because the house of God
is not a house of guilt, it is a house
of liberty [right] and release
from guilt [right] 'Cause nobody
wants to live in a relationship that is embodied
and entranced with guilt
I don't want you to be with me because of guilt [amen]
What have you done for me lately?
You don't ever treat me right. Guilt
is not a very adhesive
in a relationship. Its certainly not superglue
it might be some other kind of glue, but love is what a relationship
is about, and love forgives [yes]
and love covers a multitude of faults, and love does not continually
bring up other people's weaknesses [well]
and does not bring up how its been wronged. Love has a way of finding
out how its been righted, mm-mh
So I wanna read a couple of verses here, from 20 to 25
and he simply says, "20 But ye, beloved, building up
yourselves on your most holy faith, praying
in the Holy Ghost, 21 Keep yourselves in the
love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ unto eternal life.
22 And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23 And others save with
fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the
garment spotted by the flesh. 24 Now unto him that is able
to keep you from falling, and to present you
faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding
joy, 25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be
glory and majesty, dominion and power, both
now and ever." Somebody holler, "Amen."
[amen] Look at somebody with all the ebullience
you can muster, look 'em dead in the eye and tell 'em, "Through the Holy Ghost [through the]
[Holy Ghost] I'm working on myself [I'm working on myself
Build up, build up
When the text begins with a but
and isn't that my, isn't that one of my assemblymen?
Dr. Horton is over there, yes. Stand up
and wave your hand Doc. Are you running for something this year?
Are you running for anything? O you should be
Amen [laughter] we thank God for his presence
You know most politicians when they get through they do drive-bys [right]
but he come to stay
If the final, where I began
reading begins with but
the conjunction suggests that there was
a different flavor of presentation
before we came to the conjunction
And the conjunction seems to change the
philosophical or the psychological atmosphere in which the scripture
is presented. Have you ever
been around somebody who
opens up with what seems to be complimentary?
I like the way you look; I like the way you talk; I
like the way you dress, but
[laughter] I
really enjoyed your company the other day, and it seemed as if
you were extremely pleasant and likeable
but
The dinner that you prepared was exquisite, it was marvelous
the culinary experience was splediferous
but, and sometimes
the but, no pun intended, is bigger than everything
else [laughter]
that goes with the statements
Sometimes you almost wanna run
from the but
because it swings the conversation
to a total different dimension
and in most cases, if it begins with a
compliment, then it goes negative. In this
case what precedes the but is the negative
and what follows the but is
positive because Jude is attacking
the presence and the attitudes of false prophets
I wanna point out that many times we sit in church
and we argue about the level of sin
that operates within the parameters of the house of God
and we become extremely condemnatory in our presentations
because we're doing our best from the pulpit to eliminate
sinful behavior
But we don't need any great discourse on what
sin is because all of us know
what sin is. If we don't know
anything, we do know what sin is
So sin actually is not the greatest
threat to the church
Because it doesn't matter what level of maturity you have found in
Christ Jesus, all of us know
what sin is. The greatest threat to the church
is not sin. The
greatest threat to the church is false
teaching [yes sir, handclaps]
Because the subtlety of false teaching
can be camouflaged in what I
call sophistry. And sophistry
in its definition is simply clever
and plausible presentations
that are fallacious
Sounds good
mingled with a little bit of truth [yes, come on, alright Bishop]
but at the end of the day, it is designed to
be deceitful [yes] And it is
not regulated by the power of the Holy Ghost [well, come on]
but its regulated by the disposition of the presenter
seeking an advantage over the people he's presenting
it to [alright] If you understand
then the Nicolaitanes, and you understand
Balaam. And the word Balaam means
conqueror of the people, no rather
lord of the people, and Nicolaitanes means
conquering the people
And it is simply using your influence
to promulgate and perpetuate false
presentations that lock
people in
and totally distort the truth of God
and there's absolutely no way for
faith to be born out of what is false [right]
I feel it already, I feel it already. If
I went to a church, I would love the
music department, and the extraordinarily
ability for them to euphoniously and
melodiously present the song [well]
I would be entranced, enhanced, entranced, tranced with the
with the band, and I would love all
of the trinkets. But the greatest thing
in the church, is the purity of
the presentation of the word of God [tell it]
I mean I wouldn't go to a church just because
some famous people went [I know that's right, that's right]
The only reason I wanna go to church is to hear something that comes straight
from the throne of God [yea, handclaps of praise] because
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God. Henrietta Mears
talks about the false prophets in Jude
And she points out the leaven of evil
was at work because the presenters
and those that had sorta