Contending for the Faith

I want to tell of a man I knew as a teenager. As I got to know a bit of his story, he was probably closer to my father's age, and my dad was 42 when I was born, so there was almost a generation skipped in there, but I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with his man. He went way, way back in the Church of God. He was baptized in 1952, which was the year I was born.

Of course, there was no local congregation in, I think, nowhere in several states, but he was able in the spring to go down to Big Sandy, Texas, and in the fall for the feast to go down to Big Sandy, Texas. Somewhere along the course of time, I believe it was 1961, a congregation was established in Oklahoma City, and so he had a place to go. Now, our family didn't begin attending there until 1967, but this man was there, really stood out as a servant from the outset, was ordained a deacon, and then I faintly remember when he was ordained as an elder. Just a wonderful family, just the type person you were drawn to, a love of God's truth, warm, fervent, really cared about people. Had time. He'd give you time to just talk with you. Well, the time point in my life came when I applied to college, went off to Big Sandy, would come back and visit. He was always there, serving, giving, sharing, speaking.

And then, four years later, I graduated, came back, lived back up in Oklahoma a year before we then married. And it's hard to put a point at a certain date on the calendar, but the time came when he began to be different. It was like with time, he was becoming cynical and critical as you get into the latter 70s. And yeah, there were a lot of things going on church-wise at that time, but we always have lots of things going on church-wise, don't we? We're human beings. Leaders are imperfect representatives of Christ, and we have to go on. But the time came when I started giving the sermonettes, and then the minister there asked us to go up to, there were a couple of smaller, outlying congregations, and I'd give a sermonette, and in one of those congregations, this man attended, and there'd be this little group in the back corner, four or five men, that looked, they didn't look like they were that happy. So I'd walk right back and say, hi, happy Sabbath, all of you, and try to say something positive. And of course, the conversation would end until I would go on and say hi to some others, and the conversation would then ensue, with the huddle going on back there. And I guess with some time, it was not surprising, but it was sad when the day came when he wasn't there. He just drifted right on out of the Church of God. Now that is a story that all of us could tell dozens of stories like that. People who were in the Church long before us, who really had a strong impact, made a great investment in our lives, set a wonderful example, and then with some time, they just drift on away. All kinds of reasons for that. Maybe just lethargy, maybe just, you know, life sometimes storms up and just rains and storms and hails all over us. There are times I look back, and as Denise and I have talked, where we look back at a certain phase of life, and we just felt like at that time, we just had to stand there and take a beating, and months later, or years later, it got better. Well, this afternoon down in Birmingham, Larry Pritchett puts together the bulletin, and he sends it to me electronically on Fridays, and I looked at it, and oftentimes he will, in one place, have a quote from a recent sermon, and this week he has one from Dr. Ward, and Dr. Ward's quote was, so many people who go to church are on a knowledge trip and not a conversion trip.

Now, you think about that. When we come here, yes, we want to get as much knowledge as we possibly can out of God's Word, but in the process, let us never forget that we have a salvation to be working out, and conversion is a process. It began at a certain point with God's calling, and then in our cases, we were chosen to become a part of the very elect. But until excuse me, until Christ returns or our last life's breath goes out, it's a journey. It's a process, and we're going to have a struggle to hold on and hold fast and endure to the end, because those are the ones the Scripture says, Jesus said, those are the ones who will be saved. Now, it is amazing how many times there's a warning in the Word of God about, don't let it go. I'm going to just mention some Scriptures. I won't take time. I have the key phrases here in my notes. I'll give you the Scripture, but you won't have time to turn to them, and I'll be going to the next one. But the first one, there are statements made in 2 Corinthians 11, verses 1 through 4. 2 Corinthians 11, verses 1 through 4. And that's where Paul was saying, I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. And he talks about how I betrothed you to one husband. But then he said that he feared that your minds are being corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. I like to think about that phrase. I think it's good for us to ponder that phrase, the simplicity that is in Christ. Sometimes we try to make it too hard. Sometimes we beat ourselves up, thinking it ought to be a lot harder. But to live the way Christ lived, when it gets down to it, is a very simple life. Just the basics of step by step walking as he has walked.

Now, another passage, Galatians 1, verses 6 through 9. Galatians 1, verses 6 through 9. And one of the key phrases is that Paul said, I marvel that you are so soon turning away from him who called you to another gospel.

So the Galatian church was largely a Gentile church and some Jews, but he was utterly amazed. Those churches in that province of Galatia that God had worked through him in raising up, and when he went on, how quickly they were turned. A little later in the same book, Galatians 3, verse 1, Paul said, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth. Now, let's turn to 2 Timothy 4.

2 Timothy 4, because this is late in Paul's life. He is in prison again. He has been condemned to die. And this is where earlier in the book, he said, I fought a good fight. There's a crown waiting for me. I mean, he was at peace with what God's will appeared to be.

2 Timothy 4, verse 2, he tells Timothy, Preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering and teaching, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.

Now, again, back over the years, some of you remember a time when the church observed the day of Pentecost on a Monday, and in 1974, it was changed. There was evidence that was seen scripturally, and the church from that 74 to present has observed it on Sunday. But there were those, I remember, there were those who said, no, we can't be wrong. We can't change.

There were changes later on the topic of divorce and remarriage, as far as seeing that when the unbeliever departs, let him depart, the brother is not bound in those cases. And there were people who said, that's wrong. And so, you know, like he said, there were those that wouldn't, you know, we have to be pliable, moldable, because the analogy from Isaiah is that we're the clay, he's the potter, he's forming and fashioning us. And there are times when we have to be flexible, or we're going to get set, and somewhere down the line we're going to break.

But look on down to verse 10. Verse 10, chapter 4. 4, Demas has forsaken me. Now, we don't know much about Demas. He's hardly mentioned in the Bible, but we do know it was a man, that's the name, a man who had supported Paul, assisted, having loved this present world and has departed for Thessalonica. And then he says, Cretans for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia, a region that years ago was called Yugoslavia, the one region there is Dalmatia. And the way it's worded, it's a little difficult, but it appears not just Demas, but also Cretans and Titus had deserted Paul. Now, we don't know the end result, but he said only Luke's with me, so Luke held fast. And he's writing Timothy saying, When you come, get Mark bringing with you. I've got a job for him. But here Paul, late in life, saw certain ones who had been so instrumental, and they walked away.

There are letters written to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3, and the church at Sardis was told, Remember how you have heard and repent. And hold fast, he told them. He warned the church at Philadelphia, Don't let any man take your crown. So, I mentioned these as there are so many warnings in the New Testament. Don't let it slip away from you. Or in Hebrews, Don't neglect so great a salvation. Let's turn to the little book of Jude, just in front of Revelation. Jude, half-brother of Jesus Christ. Jude uses a phrase I want to use for the sermon title, and that is this, contending for the faith.

Jude verse 1, Jude, a bonded servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, referring to the James, the other half-brother of Christ who had written an epistle as well. To those who are called sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ, mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, he's saying I intended to write further about the salvation God's given us. I found it necessary to write to you exhorting to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Contending for the faith. This last summer, I entered my 50th year of attending the Church of God. Now, part of that was as a teenager. I don't mean as a baptized member. And Denise's family, I think in August, they passed a full 50 years of attending the Body of Christ. That's a long time.

We look back and hear Jude writes. He's writing a bit down the line into the first century, but he tells them to contend for the faith.

I think the people would have known what he meant when he said, hang on to the faith. Because probably there were those who were alive that went back to the very ministry of Christ. And they would have known what the faith was. They would have heard it from him or directly from the early apostles. They would have received it firsthand. They would have had no question about what was taught. It had been faithfully handed down to them. But if we had Jude or John or Peter or Paul looking at the modern-day church, what do you suppose they would write?

I bet they'd write the same thing. Hang on. Stick close to the trunk of the tree.

Don't let any man take your crown. Fight the good fight of faith, like Paul wrote. I think it'd be the same message. And I believe it's the same message to us in the church today.

Contending for the faith, or contend earnestly for the faith, depending on your translation. I would look at some attitudes as I reflect back to a church that my family began attending with when I was 14 years old. Now, there had been seven years before that of the family studying and working toward that point. We had a lot of years thinking, well, it's just Mr. Armstrong out in California and us, and there's nobody else. And wow were we surprised on July 8, 1967, to walk into church, and there were 400 people there in line before us. So that was a little eye-opening. But Elijah thought he was the only one, too, and God said, I've got 7,000 out there worshiping Baal. But there were some very meaningful first impressions that I saw in that church, and that I've seen in that same church all the way across the years to today. When I went to Ambassador College, the age-old motto of the college was to recapture true values, and I think in part the challenge for us, time has a way of wearing us out if we aren't careful. Time can pull us down, weigh us down, and we need to go back, remember how we heard, remember our story of God's calling, remember the path by which God has led us, and if necessary, go back and recapture some of that first love that we had once upon a time.

There was an attitude, number one, of change. I heard an awful lot about change. We still talk about change. Maybe we use other terms like repentance. That sounds more religious, doesn't it? To say, well, you need to repent, son. Well, what that means is we need to change.

And when we were called, and when we responded to that calling, and we began taking steps toward the point to where we were immersed into the very family of God, and we had the sins of a lifetime washed away, we committed to a lifelong process of change. And that's something that never goes away.

We will always find things that we need to be changing. But once upon a time, and maybe an application to us, it would be when we were newer in the faith, whether that was 15 years ago or 60 years ago, when we were newer, there was a zeal. We'd sit there, we took notes. I have notes all the way back, notebooks all the way back to, well, I have to say 1968. The first year I sat there, and I'd follow along in my Bible, and after a year, Dad said, alright, time to get a notepad, bring it with you, start taking notes. And there were times I can pull those out, and I might have drawn pictures. But there were times when there's a sermon, and some points, and some scriptures, and the process began. And it happened for all of us in different ways. We zealously struggled to change when we were corrected. It might be from personal Bible study. It might be from something that someone just says offhand. It might be from a formal, more formal correction. Might be from something said in a sermon, or a sermon, or in a Bible study. But we took it personally, and with God's help, we wanted to set machinery and emotion to change. We wanted to become different. And that's a marvelous thing. So long ago, I heard that saying in the church, let a suggestion be as good as a command. Like in Spokesman Club, the director might suggest that we do something. And basically, it meant, we ought to take that as a command. I need to change. I need to do this a little bit differently. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 4.

Hebrews 4. And we read verses 12 and 13.

An attitude of change.

But with time, we can get calloused. We can get used to living a certain way.

We can even allow certain compromises to where that what once shocked us doesn't shock us as much anymore as the world gets its tentacles into our life.

Hebrews 4 verse 12. For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of the joints and morrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And so we've always been told, to know how to change, we have to keep our nose in the word of God.

It is the word of God that sees through some of these shells that we put up.

It sees through the denial that we all put up. And there is no creature hidden from His sight. You see, when it talks of the word of God, we're talking the written word, but we also have the logos, the word Himself, Jesus Christ. That all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him, to whom we must give account. There are so many scriptures that likewise speak of change. I realize in working on this sermon, I have too many scriptures, and I think I'll just refer you to some, but give you the scripture for your own study later.

2 Corinthians 13 verse 5. That's where Paul was telling them, examine yourself whether you be in the faith. And that ties in with the sermon on contending for the faith once given. There are times to reassess.

There are times, in fact, we are always admonished when it comes time for the Passover, examine yourself, take an inventory of your spiritual life. It's good to have a five-year plan as well. A lot of businesses have five years. Where do we want to be in five years?

Another passage would be Jeremiah 10 verses 23 and 24. Jeremiah 10 verses 23 and 24. And that's where Jeremiah cried out to God, to correct me, but in your mercy lest you bring me to nothing.

And we need to have that attitude that needs to just be a mindset.

If we are going to change, we need to continually ask God, correct me in mercy, show me the way, because the most difficult person's heart to see is our own. So difficult to look and to see ourselves as perhaps others might be able to see. Let's turn together to 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

I'd like to highlight a little bit there. Paul was listing some horrible sins, but then he reminded them, such were some of you. And we're all there. We've all been there.

1 Corinthians 6, beginning in verse 9, 9 through 11. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? And when God called us, we were truly unrighteous. And we still, if we're honest, we look in the mirror, there's unrighteousness that keeps trying to crop up in the lives of all of us. And here he says, if we continue that way, if we don't change, we're not going to be in the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. Verse 11, But such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

The Spirit of God is like in the water that washes away the sins of a lifetime, and sins that follow thereafter. The church at Ephesus was told, "'You have lost your first love,' and then they were told, "'Repent and do the first works.'" And all of these speak of change.

Now, I'm not sure if Lewis gave the sermon here. He gave a sermon on some of the lessons from the life of King Saul. Did he give that here last week? Okay. And there is that one statement where Samuel went to Saul, 1 Samuel 15, I believe verse 17, and he was told, "'When you were little in your own eyes,' God said, "'I made you king over Israel.'" In Saul's case, sadly, he changed, but it wasn't for the better.

And we don't know where his life was when his life ended in that battle. But it doesn't look good, but we let God determine that. We don't know what was in his heart as his last breath went out. But let us always be little in our own eyes and realize that we need to change. Number two is teamwork. Again, we had larger congregations, but we had work parties, and all kinds of people would show up.

And granted, today, as I look around, and as I looked at that old guy I saw in the mirror this morning, we're kind of moving toward being the halt and the lane. We can't do what we once could do. What was it? April 27, 2011, we had all the tornadoes across this area. And then across the line in Tennessee, just a few miles, Mrs. Catherine Cole had a lot of large trees knocked over. And there were three different times men and women went out there, and they cut up a lot of firewood, got a lot of work done, helped clean up, because she had some beautiful old oaks that it was sad to see them gone. But you think back probably years ago, you think of big work parties or fundraisers, the teen group, the Y.O.U. would want to go off on a trip, and so people would sell fruit. People would, I know in West Texas, we cut mesquite firewood and sold it to have funds and to make donations to the church. So we had a tremendous spirit of teamwork. And you know, I have to commend the congregations here. We still have that. It's a beautiful thing to see. It really is.

You take the word team. Years ago, I saw they made it to an acronym. Together, everyone accomplishes more. And by sticking together, there's a lot to that. By sticking together, we're able to accomplish more than we ever would as individuals or little small groups of a handful of people. But we had a spirit of teamwork, a spirit of involvement. I think I've looked back across the years, there are times when it has waned.

There have been circumstances where we kind of come back together and we see who's still standing, and we realize, you know, we need each other. And I think we have a tremendous spirit of teamwork here, and you are to be commended for that. But the church at Laodicea was told, anoint your eyes with ISAF, so you can see, and you change. And at any rate, we had Ambassador College way back when. Today, we have the Ambassador Bible Center, or Ambassador Bible College now.

And it teaches us to get out there, be involved, participate, be immersed in the lives of the church. You notice how Lewis and Lena came here? They're products of that training. And you probably haven't seen it as much here as we have watched them move into Huntsville, and they really made a home. And they've had so many people over to their apartment and have just really set a sterling example. So, and I'm still pouting that they're going to be moved. But anyhow, I'll be all right. Be all right. But teamwork. Let's keep what we have. Don't let that get away. Number three is respect. Respect. Now, this country has changed a lot in my lifetime. There was a time, in fact, it was before my life, but some of you, I don't know if anyone here really is old enough to remember, but I have read about it, and I have seen photos and film clips of President Franklin Roosevelt. You know, through depression and war years.

And you almost never see a picture of him in his wheelchair.

It was like there was this respect for the office of the president of this country, and he has a physical infirmity. And yet today, what would happen? Why, you'd have all kinds of photos. You have today open mics, and you know, somebody says something they intended just for one or two, and then it gets plastered all over the internet for the world to hear. And you get your nose rubbed in it. But at that time, it was a society that respected leaders, respected employers, teachers. Yes, in the church ministers, deacons, elders, I think sometimes we tried to put them too high on a pedestal. But at any rate, too many times that respect has been breached, though, by the example of the individuals involved. But we do need to have a basic level of respect. As a teenager, every year, it seems like we'd get a new ministerial trainee. At that time, they'd send them out in January from Ambassador College, give them a one-year assignment, then they'd go back to Ambassador for their last semester, graduate, and they'd send them somewhere else as a ministerial trainee, a lot of them getting married and going as a young couple. But we suddenly had someone who was 23, 22, 24 years old, and, well, this is now Mr. So-and-so.

And we addressed them that way. Now, I personally like it where we can be a little more lax than that, but, you know, we as a church, we were a product of a different day and age. Mr. Armstrong was born in the 1800s, you know, and he had a tremendous impact on us. You look at the autobiography, and when they were in Oregon and would go to the beach, he'd have his shoes and socks off and his suit pants, pant legs rolled up, but he's out there in a suit and tie walking on the beach. He was a product of a different world, and we still have some customs that follow along because of that, but at any rate, times changed as we got to the 60s, the 70s, and the basic, the respect quotient of the average person began to wane. We would have the media, and if Gerald Ford would slip and fall coming down the ramp off of the Air Force One, the photo goes everywhere. If Gerald Ford would swing, hit a golf ball, and it would go off and bounce off somebody's head, it's front page news. You know what it was like.

Respect. King David. There was a time, you remember, he was anointed to become king, but then God left Saul as king for a long time, and there were times when relation was okay, and there were times when Saul was seeking David's life.

And there is that story in 1 Samuel 24 of David and his men being back in the cave, and of all places Saul came to relieve himself, and David's men are saying, even saying, God has delivered him into your hand. Go over and kill him. Well, after Saul went out, David's heart, you know, he went out there, and my Lord the King, my King. And, of course, then they were together, but he had a tremendous level of respect. And again, in society, we have those, we've all worked with those who are always bad-mouthing up the line in whatever business, wherever we work. We have it in the church, we have it in government. It just seems like that we have so much of that we need to be careful that we don't get, we are not infected with that attitude. We need to show respect to those up the line. And society is filled with so much disrespect. But, of course, to be respected, we have to live respectably. Example is the basis for respect. But still, there are those, like in our federal offices and our state offices, they hold positions, they deserve recognition for who and what they are, the office they hold. We may not agree with everything about their lifestyle, and that's where the Word of God would tell us, pray for those in authority and submit yourselves to them. They're there for your good. So we need to remember that. Number four is the spirit of sacrifice. Sacrifice. We willingly gave up for those who had needs. As a teen, I remember a family that had a fire, and they basically lost everything. And boy, there were members. An old dinette sat in four chairs, and somebody else had a bed, and somebody had a dresser, and at least stuff appeared so that they could begin slowly starting all over. And it was a spirit of sacrifice. As a student that, I think this was just my first year at Big Sandy, the Spanish department was still in Big Sandy, then it was, maybe it was two years later, it was moved out to Pasadena, but the Spanish language, Plain Truth magazine, as it was at that time, was printed right there at the press at Big Sandy, Texas. And every so often, whenever a new edition came out, there might be an announcement at dinner.

Well, we've got the new issue out. It was smaller than the regular Plain Truth. They would fold it, and they had these sleeves that you had to physically slide them in, but the sleeve had the address for this person in Guatemala or Colombia or Mexico or wherever, and they needed volunteers. And there would be rows of us sitting there, and we had had thousands of magazines and all of these sleeves, mailing sleeves, and we had to insert those. And it was just what we did.

It was just what we did. I probably should have been studying. I know it shows this day I should have studied more, but at any rate, also there's a time just drop everything and get your hands in there and help somebody else out. And I remember one time during my college years, there was some kind of a financial crunch within the church, and a request for special offerings were made. And I didn't have any money. I mean, I was working there and being paid a little bit, but basically my parents were paying my tuition.

And I had some money in my account, and I wrote a check, and I sent it to Pasadena and got toward the end of that semester, and I was running short by about that exact amount. So my dad made up the difference. He probably didn't know that he made a special offering at that time. But it's the attitude we had. Somebody has a need.

We'll bend over backward to do whatever we can to help. Let's look at Romans 12. And here I'm turning the wrong way. I used to laugh at people who start turning the wrong way, and now it's happened to me all the time. I can say, let's go to Genesis, and I'll start turning to the back of the Bible.

And then some people are kind enough to tell me that it'll get worse. And I appreciate that. I like to know what's out there. But in Romans 12, verse 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

That's as far as we need to read. But present yourselves a living sacrifice that we gave our lives to God once upon a time. We gave our lives to God. Our life is His to do with as He will. Verse 11 says, to be not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Verse 13, the latter part, given to hospitality. Paul once from prison wrote to the church at Philippi, and he commended them for their generosity. He said he had had no church that had given in the same way as they had given to him from Philippi, even when he was in Thessalonica, and certainly then when he was in prison.

He commended them highly for that spirit of sacrifice and giving that they had. And I think we should always ask, what would Paul write about me? Or what would Paul write about our congregation here? I think he would praise. I think he really would. Okay, number five is a spirit of dedication. We were dedicated. We were devoted to the calling of God, the work of God. I remember a time, again, it was a bigger day and age in the church, and we would have lists of regional directors. I remember keeping a list. Dean Wilson was up in Vancouver, Canada, coordinating over the Canadian work.

Or we had someone else in another place overseeing the work in Africa or Australia. I remember seeing photos of Gerald Waterhouse, way back in 1960-something, a young man, and he had been sent to Manila, the Philippines to open an office there. And we had lists of evangelists. That was back when we had 12 or 18. And then it seemed like there were more and more. But in the earlier years, we had lists like that of people we'd pray for.

And we'd follow where there were new doors that appeared to be opening, new congregations raised up, and it was just something we were dedicated to. It was a part of our life, part of who and what we are. And we still are. And it's hard to compare when you had 100,000 people attending to when we're happy to have 12 or 13,000 attending. It's hard to compare those, and we shouldn't compare. But here in 2 Timothy, let's look at chapter 1.

Because even with Timothy, you think of him, you realize what a powerful tool he was there assisting Paul and traveling with Paul and being sent various places by Paul. But here, as Paul's life is about to be taken, he writes Timothy, and he's saying, young man, I love you, but you better stir up your spirit.

The 1 Peter, excuse me, 2 Timothy 2, I'm sorry, I said 1, verse 5. See, it's getting worse already, isn't it? When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you. I like that.

Be nice if Paul would write about a genuine faith we have. Which dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois, your mother, Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. Now, whether Paul baptized him and laid hands on him, whether Paul ordained him as an elder in the church, we aren't given that.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. So he's telling him, stir up that faith. Stir up your level of dedication and devotion to this cause of God.

Okay, let's see.

Number six is a closeness to God.

We had that desire then, and I believe we have that desire now, but it's good to be reminded of that.

We have the place where Daniel opened his window and prayed toward Jerusalem three times a day.

And David said, evening, morning, and at noon, I'll pray. And we're told to pray without ceasing. And in one place, Paul said that men everywhere ought to be praying.

Forget the exact phrase. Men, he calls it, men everywhere would pray.

We're to labor in prayer, but we're also to study.

And yes, sometimes we all go through our times. We have to blow the dust off the Bible, because maybe we lay it down and we haven't opened it since last Sabbath. And we have to get our nose back in there and jumpstart the process once again, and pour over the booklets. The magazines are so much that it's just spoon-fed to us by the literature that we have, and all that is on the the internet, the website that we have.

So there's a closeness to God. And number seven is training. We knew that we were in training for the kingdom.

We were aware that we needed to build character, because only by character. And I think that's when with this past election, that's what struck me more than any other election. Always before, I thought, well, I'm not too wild about either of them, but you know, this one or that one, at least seems to be a person of character, or a person with a solid family, life, and marriage.

But this time, character obviously didn't matter to this country. I mean, either way that the election would have gone. But we knew that we needed to build character if we were going to reign with Christ in the kingdom. We saw it for balance. And balance is a term I used to hear in the church when I was young. Well, you need to be balanced. And there's a lot of wisdom to that.

We tend to, as humans, we tend to go to extremes. And we need a bit of all of the above as far as life. We were told to recapture the true values. There were articles on a regular basis about build the personality of a king, or build the character of a king. And there was the old classic booklet, The Seven Laws of Success. And all of these talked about character. And not just to be going through the motions as Christians coming to church, but to realize we're not here playing church. We're in training. There is a time when the feet of Christ literally will stand on the Mount of Olives, and the kingdom will be established, and His saints will be with Him.

And those early verses of Revelation 20 will be fulfilled, and the saints will live and reign with Him for a thousand years. And that might be just over the horizon for us. And we need to be readying ourselves. And so we were cognizant of the fact that we are in training. While we're here, let's go to 1 Timothy 3. I mentioned to you two weeks ago, I had that honor, and I always consider it an honor to be a part of ordaining, in that case, a couple of men with their wives, but a couple of men as elders in the church. And so in introducing what we were going to do, we went right here to 1 Timothy 3. And I think as we go through this, we need to remember we are all in training to become kings and priests. And the priests in the Old Testament were the ones who taught the law. These verses describe what Christians are to become. And so as we read through this, this is a faithful saying, if a man desires a position of bishop, he desires a good work. You know, there ought to be a desire to serve and to sacrifice and to give a life for the benefit of others. A bishop then must be blameless. The husband of one wife. Temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior. Ospitable, able to teach. Not given to wine. Not violent. Not greedy for money. But gentle. Quarrelsome. Not covetous. One who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence. For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? Not a novice. You know, not just somebody that walked in off the street and been sitting here for seven months, or even seven years. It takes time to weigh the fruits of somebody's life.

Last being puffed up with pride. And wow, so many times over the years, we have had the innate ability to ordain people into offices who have a basic level of pride. There is an ego there, and somewhere down the line it does tend to come up and bite them. And the saddest thing is that it impacts God's people out there somewhere.

The last being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. So, in training, these are seven attitudes of the way the church once was, once upon a time.

And sometimes it's good for us to be reminded of them. In fact, let's go back to Jude. Let's go back to Jude. I wanted to end back over here.

We started...

One of the opening scriptures was Jude, and I want to end over here. But Jude said to contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered.

And yet, as this book, this little short book of 25 verses goes on, he gives examples of ungodly men who crept in among the flock.

He talks about in verse 6 the angels who sinned and Sodom and Gomorrah in verse 7.

He mentions something in verse 9 we know nothing about, except this verse, that Michael the archangel had to secure the remains of Moses because Satan wanted those.

And what an idol that would have been if the bones of Moses had been accessible. He talks about Balaam and Korah. Well, and then a message from Enoch. But as he wraps it up, to me, it gives us a bit of an outline on how to contend for the faith, because we are warned. There will be an apostasy. And it's good to be forewarned, and we read that in verse 17, But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how they told you that there would be mockers in the last days who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. So he warns, there will be those who will try to take your crown. And he warns that Satan the devil is always going to be there trying to trip us up. He also reminds us of the importance of prayer in verse 20. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.

So there may be times, well, there are times, when we need to pray that God will help us to keep our eyes focused on the trunk of the tree, to not ever drift away, getting caught up with some new teaching, but to always have God's help in changing and being a part of the team and sacrificing as is necessary. In verse 21, he says, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. So obedience would be something covered here in part. Keeping the commandments. The commandments are not heavy burdens to bear.

And verse 23, some others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. But then he says, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. And here he's talking about sin. The analogy goes all the way back to some of those laws of purification. And if you touch it, if you get it on you, you become impure for a period of time. Sin is the most contagious thing there is out there. Be very careful with what we allow into the mind, what we allow into our house.

Don't allow sin to take root because it'll start destroying and corrupting. Verse 22, excuse me, 24, now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling. And so here he says, keep your eyes on Christ. If you want to contend for the faith, keep your eyes on Christ to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. So, contending for the faith once delivered.