Let's begin with a word of prayer. Father, again, we thank you for the privilege of being here. Oh, Father, we thank you for this word that you've given to us to encourage us and to teach us and to cause us to conform to your will. Father, may we learn what you would have us to learn this morning in Jesus' name, amen. Book of Jude, chapter one. We're headed down to verse three, but let me read verses one to two. Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, a willing servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, who was a half-brother of the Lord Jesus. So was Jude, but he doesn't mention that. To those who are thee called, what a great thing to be among thee called. be loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. We realized when we were studying last time, God can't increase his mercy or his love or his peace, but we can come to know it better and better and better and partake of it in the sense of living in the reality of it. That's huge, okay. It's not that God doesn't love me, it's that I don't appreciate or I don't enter into the fullness of that love. It's a lifelong, journey. Okay, verse three. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, this is such an interesting and strange beginning of an epistle where he says, I was going to write about something else, but I didn't. There was something that God revealed that was way more important. All right, beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I was gonna go over the great doctrines of salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. I was looking at what Wiest had to say about this third verse, and I'll read you some of the words that he used. Beloved, or divinely loved ones, while I was giving all diligence, the idea is He was really focused on this. This is what he thought God was leading him to do. And he was, I guess I would say, he was all in and wanting to do it, eager to do it. And I think there's such a lesson here is, and we'll develop this on, I hope. Oftentimes, in our best efforts, We are focused on something that we believe God would have us do. Do you know what I mean? It makes sense to do this next. And sometimes God changes that and gives us a different way to go and closes doors, as we're gonna see. while I was making every effort or giving all diligence to write to you about our common salvation, what we share as, you know, I like to say it this way, everybody has the same testimony. You know what I mean? Yeah, I know, we've got the background and some of these details and so forth, but every one of us had to come to faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins and rose again the third day, and we put our trust in him. We turned away from our past life to the new life that he has for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're all that no man should boast. It's all God's grace and so that we might be part of, as we already read, the called, okay. So he says, I felt the necessity to write to you, appealing. that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. Okay, let's deal with this change that's here. We might ask, I don't have the answer, but we might ask, why didn't God set him straight from the beginning? You know, where he knew what he was gonna write about. But Romans 11, 33. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments. I love this. And unfathomable his ways. What are we always trying to do? fathom the unfathomable. I'm not saying that's wrong, but I always come back to when Paul's in prison and Onesimus is in prison, who ran away as a slave, and through contact with the Apostle Paul, he leads them to faith in Christ, he becomes a beloved brother And when Paul is writing to Onesimus' master Philemon, he says, perhaps he was separated from you for this purpose. And I always thought, that's a no-brainer. You know what I mean? But Paul is saying, I'm not gonna say I know that this is exactly what all this is about, you know? God's ways are unfathomable. Okay. For who has known the mind of the Lord? I love that. Who could ever say as history is developing, this is what he's gonna do next. Unless he's revealed in his word what he's gonna do next, we don't know. For who has known the mind of the Lord or became his counselor? Or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again? And I just love this. Why are things the way they are? For from him, and through him and to him are all things. What a grand verse. If we could keep that in mind in our everyday lives. From him, through him, to him are all things. To him be the glory forever and ever. Now let's go to Psalm 77. In Psalm 77, we're gonna come to verse 19. Just a fascinating statement by Asaph. Thy way was in the sea, and thy paths in the mighty waters, and thy footprints may not be known. You know, I think about, in other words, you can't track God, you know, and we try to do that so often. Let's go to Acts chapter 16. So here's the apostle Paul. And we might, Paul was so intensely desiring to carry out the will of God and the plan of God in his ministry and so forth. But when we start in verse five, Acts chapter 16, And verse five, so the churches were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number daily. And they passed through the Phrygian and Galatian areas there in Europe and Galatian region. Notice, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. The Lord said no. That to me is shocking. Go into all the world and preach the gospel, but then it wasn't the time for that to take place. And the Lord stopped them. And when they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them. No, again. But you can tell that, you know, the Apostle Paul that we hold in such high esteem, even he didn't know, understand. And the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, did not permit them. And passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. Don't you wonder what Paul was praying? Lord, where should we go? Where do you want us? And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A certain man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And when he had seen the vision, immediately, we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So now he's locked into what God's plan is. Therefore, putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi. Ring a bell? which is a leading city in the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony. And we were staying in this city for some days. And I won't do the whole thing, but guess who we find out about in verse 14? Lydia. And the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things of Paul. So we have Lydia. And when she, verse 15, when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay. And she prevailed upon us. And then we have the slave girl that was demon-possessed and so forth. And then the next thing, Paul and Silas end up in prison. And who gets saved? The Philippian jailer and all his household. And I just love, Here's the Lord directing them for the salvation of these, what we would say maybe is really just a small bunch of people. I just love it. And I love the way it teaches me, teaches us to be flexible. You know what I mean? We have such a way about us when we set our minds on something, often we're, pretty resolute. I can't tell you the number of times that you're doing what you believe the Lord is calling you and leading you to do and maybe you're in the midst of witnessing to somebody and it just seems so important and the phone rings. or somebody knocks on the door. Do you know what I mean? Now, some people would say, well, that's Satan. But my God is sovereign. He could have stopped that easily. And am I flexible enough to realize he's still going to work what he wants to work through all of this, even though it makes my legs ache when I think it's going to go this way and it doesn't. but I see that in scripture. I see it in Paul, and then, bear with me here, go to Mark chapter six. We'll start in verse 30. Now, the Lord has sent out the 12 disciples, apostles, and they've gone out, and they have done the ministry that God wanted them to do, and that the Lord sent them out to do, and now they've come back. That's the background. And the apostles gathered together with Jesus, and they reported to him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while. R and R, Christian R and R. They've been out and he's gonna bring them back and give them a rest, okay? But notice. And he said to them, come away by yourselves and so forth, for there are many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. Okay? And they went away in a boat to a lonely place by themselves. Verse 33, and the people saw them going. and many recognized them and they ran there together on foot from all the cities and got there ahead of them. What was this supposed to be? You ever have this happen? You know what I mean? You think, if I don't get some sleep or if I don't get a nap or I don't get, you know, whatever it is, I'm just gonna come apart and then, something that you can't deny is really important, is right here in your face, you know what I mean? Okay, so, and disembarking. So this is the place of rest, okay, that they're gonna take the rest, and the people are, as I see it in my mind, lining the shores as the boat comes in. and notice. And embarking, he saw a great multitude, and he felt compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And you know, I have to understand or believe that the disciples are involved in all this. And when it was already quite late, his disciples came up to him and began saying, this place is desolate, and it's already quite late. Send them away, and that's where the Lord is gonna feed all these people, all part of the plan of God, but didn't go the way they thought. And so the thing I, we might say, what does that teach us? Well, I would say flexibility, but more than flexibility, trust our leader. Trust our sovereign God. to work in whatever the situation is. As it looks like it's falling apart, as it looks like, well, as it didn't go the way we thought it would go, you know. Okay. Now, looking again at Jude 1.3. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you, he had his plans changed. about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith. This word contend, epi agonizomai. Maybe, do you hear a word in there? There's a beginning of agonizomai. It speaks of agony, okay. And it was used for athletic contests where you got one person against another or one team against another team and they're doing everything they can. I think of, I wrote down some other things. Vigorous, intense, determined struggle to defeat the opposition. I think wrestling, you know? boxing, any of those things you do, you're trying to win, whatever the sport is, and probably it's gonna bring you to some level of agony as you go all out. I can remember in high school, our youth group would go up into northern New England to be up there in the snow after Christmas. And the guys would get together and we would fight in the snow for fun. And that was just something we did. And I can remember just about throwing up after I could never believe how hard we fought and then how exhausting being in that cold snow, you know, being ripped around. You're going flat out, and it was certainly the agony. When we were done, you're just exhausted. And I thought, I'm going to throw up. I didn't, but it's that picture. So it sure sounds like we're fighters, and we are. But our method of fighting is totally different. Let me give you some verses. 2 Timothy, we go here often, but 2 Timothy 2, how do we fight? Do we raise our voices? Do we yell? Do we get in people's faces? 2 Timothy 2, and we'll come down to verse 24. Here's our method of fighting. Agonizamai, striving. And the Lawrence Bond servant must not be quarrelsome. I had a guy years ago and he would make a comment or two in a group of people and pretty soon there'd be an argument. And one day I was just talking to him about it. He said, I just love to start this stuff. Okay. And the Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all. You know, gather up into that word all some vicious enemies. You know what I mean by that? Some people that, if they had their way, certainly down through history, they would have you put to death. Kind to all, able to teach. Ah, here's one. Patient when wronged. Boy, that's, that's not the way the world fights. Okay, and that's the thing, the Lord's taking us, putting us in the ring, putting us in the octagon, and he's saying, go against this person, but you have to do it this way. Patient when wronged, with gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition. We don't back down, but we gently give them the truth. Let's love this. And I don't know if you've thought this through, but it's such a position and a display of power, the power of God, to be able to be in a conflict, an intense conflict, and not lose it, and not become, not letting your pride, you're not gonna say that to me, kind of thing, not letting that, in other words, just serving the Lord and giving the truth. I've told the story of another friend of mine that, Somehow he got in a conflict in a car situation. And he's a believer, but a fairly new believer. And he was a fighter, a physical fighter. And this other guy gets out, and he gets out. And he's going up there, and they start getting ready to throw fists. And all of a sudden, he thinks, I'm a Christian, what am I doing? This is what I've done my whole life. So he says to the guy, hey, I'm really sorry I did this, but let me share Jesus Christ with you. And I just love that picture of, he's kind of getting the idea of the things that we're looking here. "'with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, "'if perhaps,' there's Paul using that word again, "'God may grant them repentance, "'leading to the knowledge of the truth, "'and they may come to their senses and escape "'from the snare of the devil, "'having been held captive by him to do his will.'" 1 Peter 3 15. and we have looked at this, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you. I think of all the different scenarios where you might be asked to give an account. It might be because they're saying by saying that people that were sinners, that's hate speech. And they might say, what were you saying? Well, be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. Wow. Okay. Then, James chapter three. James three, we're gonna come to verse 17. But the wisdom from above, so this is what we should be operating by the Holy Spirit in the sphere of, but the wisdom from above is first pure. than peaceable, gentle, how many times we're gonna have that word gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, still hanging in there, unwavering, without hypocrisy, and the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown, in peace, as we see, as we give the gospel, the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. We're peacemakers, okay? All right, then. Titus chapter three. Verses one and two. And remember, Titus is on Crete, and Cretans are tough people to deal with, okay? What was it Paul said in verse 12? Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. And then I love the follow-up where Paul says, this testimony is true for this cause. Pack up your bags and leave. It's hopeless, but it doesn't say that. It sounds to me like it's impossible, but for this cause we prove them severely that they may be sound in the faith. What a great thing. God's word can and did and will change folks like us Cretans. Okay, then back to, Remind them, these cretins, remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed. Notice, to malign no one, to be uncontentious. Gentle, again, showing every consideration. For all men, for we also once, we're in this category, for we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. Then Philippians chapter one, verse 27. similar to what we have in Jude. Paul says, only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. And here's what I love. Verse 28, in no way, not at all, in no way alarmed by your opponents. No matter who you're up against that is contrary to the gospel, contrary to the truth of the word of God, in no way shaken up by that. Standing on the truth, okay, and with gentleness but unwavering, You stand there in no way alarmed by your opponents, get this, which is a sign of destruction for them. Have you noticed today how much, we're in a scary time and so many people are unwilling to talk. They're unwilling to discuss. They have a position, and they yell, and they scream, they intimidate, you know. But the word tells us, talk to them in gentleness, but unwavering, in no way alarmed by all these things that are going on. which is a sign of destruction for them because you're not alarmed. They have to know there's something going on this way. They can put themselves in your place and say, if I were in their place, I would be so scared. Do you know what I mean? I would be so nervous, we're all against them, and they're just standing for the gospel. And the Lord says, which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too from God. And Paul says to the Philippians, for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. Okay, one more. Talk about different ways of, fighting the good fight, Romans chapter 12, verse 17 and following. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Boy, that's a pretty blanket statement. Respect what is right. In other words, what's right before our Lord in the sight of all men. You know, I used to be confused. It's not saying do what they think you should do, but it's saying respect what is right, we get that from the word of God, no matter whose presence you're in, okay, in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Now there's some situations, you know, If somebody's gonna harm your wife or, you know, you then have a responsibility. You can't just stand there and, okay. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God. We have this promise, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Here we go. Can you imagine? But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. Talk about not doing things the world's way. Look out, what's their need? Can I take care of this for you? It's so contrary to the way the flesh thinks and the way the world thinks. If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Father, we thank you for your word to us. It speaks so clearly to our own needs and to the needs of our day. Father, may we be faithful no matter what we face, and may we represent you the way your word calls on us to do, the way the Lord Jesus Christ so beautifully did it time after time. We ask your blessing, in Jesus' name, amen.