Stepping Back. Jude 1:1-8

 Sometimes you just need to take a step back and regain your focus. We all do it in different ways. We take a vacation, meditate or just go for a walk. Maybe some event in our lives forced us to take that step back, maybe it’s just something someone said. 

This morning I took a step back and reread Jude from the beginning. It was only 7 verses so it didn’t take long. 😉 But instead of focusing on Jude word for word and verse by verse I looked at the context of the letter. Here’s my summary so far:

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us”

Don’t get caught up in the evil and sin that surrounds us, stay the course and keep your eyes on Jesus! 

Jude 1:1 This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.

1 I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ.

2 May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love.

The Danger of False Teachers

3Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. 4I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

5So I want to remind you, though you already know these things, that Jesus first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful. 6And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment. 7And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.

8In the same way, these people—who claim authority from their dreams—live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at supernatural beings. 

Blessings