Bible Study - 8:00AM PDT on 03/15/2025

Hello All,

We pray all are safe and healthy. This is just a quick heads up for
those not residing in the US (uncertain about Hawaii.) or are visiting
a foreign country. This past Sunday morning at 2:00 AM the United
States returned to daylight saving time. That means we pushed our
clocks forward one hour. So if your clock was not adjusted forward an
hour you will arrive at Bible study as we are ending in prayer.

This Saturday we will embrace Jude's powerful Pastoral Letters. He
preached the Gospel with great passion and this was often in difficult
circumstances. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, he made profound
differences in the lives of the people as he offered them God's Word.
The Gospel tells us that St. Jude was a brother of St. James the Less,
another one of the Apostles. They are described in the Gospel of
Matthew as the "brethren" of Jesus. After Jesus' death and
resurrection, St. Jude traveled throughout Mesopotamia, Libya, and
Persia preaching the 'Good News' and building the foundations of the
early Church. St. Jude died a martyr's death for his unwavering faith.

Please join us, our Zoom Link and Bible Study notes are below for this
Saturday's session at 8:00 AM PST 03/15/2025. I pray you and yours are
well.

Please remember that you bless us with your presence, and may the Holy
Spirit bring you His comfort and His peace. Join us!!!

Zoom Link:
For Study, Prayer and Fellowship - 8:00 AM PDT on 03/15/2025:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82968961343?pwd=LzcwVjJKcWVESDRURlhDcXlNV0JUdz09
Meeting ID: 829 6896 1343
Passcode: 77299ere:

Bible Study Notes:
03/15/2025 – Prologue – Has anyone ever heard Jude quoted in a sermon?
That is a challenge for me. Does anyone really know Jude? The Roman
Catholics refer to him as the Patron saint of hope. Well, we will get
to know him now and I pray we keep him forever more close to our
hearts. As we examine Jude in the conclusion of Pastoral Letters we
have to be aware of the order of things, meaning we look at the order
of the text, then we look to the interpretation and finally the
allocation of strength. And we must be ever mindful that the strength
is in the scripture. I thought that we could collapse him into one
lesson. We cannot allow that to happen.

[Jude 1 – 4] – Contend for the Faith – We are back in a name issue
again, Jude claims to be the brother of James, [Mark 6:3] whom we
think is the James who was the brother of Jesus. Jude calls himself
‘slave of Jesus.’ In starting this Book, one hopes to be able to
encourage people to a clear and powerful witness and to lives of
faith, hope and love. But we quickly sense a change in mood – things
going wrong. What once seemed easy now seems dark and difficult. He
proclaims, ‘the rescue in which we share’ – God’s rescue of us in
Jesus the Messiah. The great saving acts that all Christian teachers
love to celebrate. But wait, the church has been infiltrated with
those teaching an altogether different mes-sage. Ordinary folk with
long experience are now vulnerable. Then those who extol it say, “Let
us try it.” “NO!! Jude says it is time to put on your climbing ropes.
The rocks are dangerous, difficult, it is time to struggle to regain
the faith that was once and for all time given to God’s people. The
heart of Christian faith is under direct attack and those who are
grasped by the truth – maintain, but those heading in another
direction take many people with them. Climbing to the pinnacle, now
appears more dangerous.

That is why we think the opening greeting Jude speaks of Jesus the
Messiah as keeping his people safe.  He guards them! This is among the
great truths of Jesus’ present ministry, interceding for His people
before the Father. [Rom.8:34] However, note – What God loves to do He
loves to do through others, calling and equipping people to take His
work forward. The way Jesus guards His people is by prayerful and
accredited teachers encouraging them, warning them, and creating for
them the bigger picture wherein they can make sense of the puzzling
things they face. That is what Judah is doing here.

Jude is clear about the twin dangers and is very contemporary. On one
hand  people are transforming God’s grace into ‘licentiousness’ and
denying the one and only Master, our Lord Jesus the Messiah. We find
those who say God loves everyone exactly as they are, thus, stay that
way, doing all the things they want because He is full of generosity
and that is what He wants them to do. There are people who say that
Jesus is one religious teacher, among others; one way of salvation
among others; or there might be multiple ways up the mountain of
salvation – Jesus’ is but one. These are wrong. We are intimidated by
others who say we are making exclusive claims, judgemental and we are
arrogant. These were problems of the early church and are today. This
is no longer incidental and must be confronted head on. [Rom. 5; Gal.
6] Perhaps the approach for the puzzled – Is a mapping exercise, to
help a person get oriented and thus get their bearings. The first
thing we must find is: Which way is north? If we do not know that
direction, all directions from that moment on are false or just maybe
we will find the right path, by chance. This is not strange. It simply
means we must acknowledge the turbulence. Find the big picture,
balance up, and head to safety.

[Jude 5-16] – False Teachers – One example of a leader with a many
dimensional wickedness is Mao Tse Tung (Murdered 80,000,000 Chinese).
His actions have caused enormous social and political aftershocks.
Some are still being felt. Part of our dilemma in reading [Jude 5-16]
is believing that things could be so bad. Thus, many folks simply
distance themselves from Jude. However Jude was centered in his
relationship with God. Perhaps that is why we never hear quotes from
this Book. However, we cannot and should not distance ourselves from
the dangers that face the church. Jude is saying this has happened in
the past and will happen again. In the early verses [v. 5-7] he
reminds us that God can and does judge and condemn those who rebel
against Him. Ex. Exodus [v. 5]. The angels who rebelled and God placed
them in ranks and duties.[v. 6] Or the better known, stories of Sodom
and Gomorrah. [Gen. 19] Plus the fate to be in store for gross
sinners. [v. 7] Here is where Jude is going, [v. 8-13]  many in the
church are simply ignoring those stories! The modern church seems to
ignore them as well and more importantly by many teachers. Jude
reminds us that wrongdoers treat God’s grace as an excuse for
sinfulness. [v. 4] These are the big four: Denying Jesus; defiling the
flesh; rejecting authority; and cursing God's angels who hold
authority from God. Many modern folk ignore angels, as cute and
feel-good. For Jude, they were real and powerful, for some this is an
opportunity to rethink their position. [Zech. 3] Michael, the
archangel, meets Satan and Michael hands the problem to the Lord. Jude
says people curse what they do not know; think about the person(s) who
heap abuse on the Christian faith and then prove their lustful
ignorance with everything they utter.

There is a sequence here: reject spiritual authority, reject human
authority and then reject every restraint in every form of behavior,
especially with regard to sex. People view sexual immorality as
‘modern’, making ‘progress’, becoming sophisticated, and requiring
less and less restraint. All the people are doing is reverting back to
one of the oldest forms of dehumanizing behavior! Jude then jumps into
a list of biblical bad guys: Cain, Balaam, Korah. They rebelled –
rebellion is near the heart of the issue. When teachers overthrow or
ignore proper structures of authority the problem is chaos and
pollution. Look at the metaphors: waterless clouds, fruitless trees,
splashing waves, and wandering stars. Each noun promises something,
but they do not deliver. Teachers promise a way of life that is
exciting, different, and liberating but delivers only shame, darkness
and chaos.

In [v. 9] Jude brings up Enoch [Zech. 14:5] “… the Lord is coming with
His holy ones. Judgement is on the way, not least for the ungodly.”
NB, he uses ungodly three times. This is a solemn signal that this is
at the heart of the whole problem. But the teachers involved only
grumble, complain and go off again seeking pleasure, supporting their
behavior(s) with arrogance and greed. This is a horrible design: we
would rather not notice such things, we want to be ordinary
peace-loving people who would rather not notice that another nation
not only prepares for war, but for genocide. This is the reality of
false teaching: especially the rejection of authority, the denial of
the uniqueness of Jesus and the encouragement of sexual immorality.
This is all part of becoming 'sophisticated' - the rules are no longer
applicable to the 'sophisticated'. We see this today, as much as it
was in the 1stC. We must exhale a sigh of sorrow and pray that Jesus
the Messiah keeps us safe. Part of the answer to prayer is: we are to
be alert enough to the problem that when it reappears,  and it will,
that we are able to recognize what is happening for what it truly is.
 AMEN!

Love, hank

Hank Hohenstein, OFS
Land Steward
161 Osprey Vista
Shady Cove, OR 97539
Cell: 541-973-5442
hankhohenstein@gmail.com