5 Minutes a day / 5 Days a week

with God

Jude 1:17-19 (NLT)

17 But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ told you, 18 that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to enjoy themselves in every evil way imaginable. 19 Now they are here, and they are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They live by natural instinct because they do not have God's Spirit living in them.


I've been to many churches over the years as I have moved from town to town. These churches were great to be a part of. But there always seemed to be a handful of people who didn't like the way something was being done in the church.
So because they were not happy they tried to make waves in the church, sometimes even causing division within the body.
A lot of times it's the pastor, who was being attacked, because they don't like his style of teaching, or the way he dresses or whatever. After all, if you can take down the leader of an army, then the rest will fall or run away.
I know some of these things sound ridicules and to think that people would cause a division in the church over them doesn't seem true. But believe me they are true and the reason is in verse 18.

that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to enjoy themselves in every evil way imaginable.

When someone causes trouble in the church and they get others involved, it's not usually for the bettering of the church, but rather to please themselves.
But Jude tells us what we should be doing in cases like these.

  • Jude 1:20 (NLT) But you, dear friends, must continue to build your lives on the foundation of your holy faith. And continue to pray as you are directed by the Holy Spirit.


    • So many times we build ourselves upon what people say, instead of what the Lord says. We start listening to people instead of the Lord.
    No one in the church will ever be 100% happy, because as soon as you try to please one crowd, another will find a fault, and then you have to try and please them, but by doing so, the first crowd is no longer pleased again.
    But the question is, who are you trying to please, man or the Lord?
    Who is guiding and directing your life, man or God?
    Who will you have to answer to in the end, man or the Lord?

    In the end we want to hear the Lord say: "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' Matt 25:21

    The only way to hear this in the end is to be pleasing to the Lord, not man.

    You may be thinking, "Yea but what about: I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you
    1 Cor 9:22b-23".

    Notice it says: Now this I do for the gospel's sake , not for the purpose of pleasing man.

    So basically stop trying to be a man pleaser, and be a God pleaser. If others are starting problems in the church, pray for them that the Lord would cause them to repent, or that the Lord would remove the cancer from the church before it spreads.
    Finally don't be a part of what someone else wants to do if it's against the Lord's anointed.

  • 1 Sam 24:5-7 (NLT) 5 But then David's conscience began bothering him because he had cut Saul's robe. 6 "The LORD knows I shouldn't have done it," he said to his men. "It is a serious thing to attack the Lord's anointed one, for the LORD himself has chosen him." 7 So David sharply rebuked his men and did not let them kill Saul.


    • If they need to change, then the Lord will change them.
    But most of the time when we think we see things in others that need to be changed. It's usually us and our hearts that need to be changed, not theirs.

    E-Mail
    Home Page