Good morning. Today we are going to start with Jude 24 and then
back up to Jude 20. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to
make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy. As always
it is not we in our own power that can keep us from stumbling. He is the one
that does that; we just have to agree with Him - to allow Him to do His work in
us through the Holy Spirit. We have to be so in tune with Him that we don't
even have to think about whether something is right or not. Many times that's
easier said than done. Also to stand in the presence of His glory. In the Old
Testament the priests were not even able to stand when the glory of God entered
the temple or the tabernacle; and yet we will be able to. Just as Jesus was blameless,
so we are to be. That is the way that God sees us when we walk in His Spirit
and allow Him to control our lives. We are just as if we never sinned. And we
will stand in His presence with great joy. How can we achieve this? One of the
best ways is in verse 20: building yourselves up on your most holy faith;
praying in the Holy Spirit. Praying in the Holy Spirit – does that mean praying
in tongues or praying under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? The answer is
yes :-) It is both. However it is easier to do the latter if you're continually
doing the former. I don't like to pray in English unless I prayed in tongues
before that. All the way to church and during different parts of the service, I
am praying in tongues. It helps me to get in tune with what God is saying about
having a word for the entire church or for an individual. Also praying in the
Spirit before you pray in English for yourself or another individual helps you
in your praying in English. Just like a Christian should not marry a non-Christian;
even so one who is baptized in the Holy Spirit should not marry someone who is
not. It's not nearly the same magnitude, but is still true. You will not have
the best marriage possible, if you marry someone who is not baptized in Holy
Spirit. Father help keep the reader from stumbling and make him/her stand in
the presence of Your glory blameless with great joy.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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