TIME OUT with Pastor Ben Talley June 22nd 2020

Jude 20–23: Working Out Faith, Prayer, Love, and Gospel Witness

Morning y 'all. This is Pastor Ben. I'm the associate pastor at Wynton Memorial Baptist Church, and this is another timeout. So, I was a little late getting here, and I apologize, but I had to go to the doctor.

I had to make sure I didn't have the Rona, but I don't. So, that's good. No, I had to get a checkup. Just making sure I'm not dying. Not yet, at least. The Lord's not going to take me home yet. Hey Julie, how are you?

What's up Andrew? Hey Heather. Morning. How's Annalise doing? So, it is a good day to be alive in Jesus Christ, and it's a beautiful day out there. I saw a little rain clouds. It's supposed to rain today, I think.

Hey Andrew. So, you're staying at the church late today, I think. So, I hope everybody has a good day today. I just wanted to share some things with you. A lot of the times, you know, Christians get a lot of a hack for being easy-believism.

You know, you just believe, and that's all you do. You just believe, go to church, and just live your little lives of all this other stuff. But, you know, being a Christian is hard work. God doesn't call us to sit by and just not do nothing.

You know, God requires us to go to work. He requires us to work hard. And so, I wanted to share some things with you that I shared with the staff, but it's coming out of Jude, and it's Jude 20 -23. I think it's a good reminder to us all that we ought to be going to work.

What's up, Josiah, or pastor? You're a pastor now. Well, it's not official, but you are a pastor now, in my eyes. What's up, Rodney? Save others by snatching them out of the fire. To others, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

Building Up in the Most Holy Faith

So, there's four things I want you to know here. One is that God requires us to go to work, building yourselves up in the faith, in your faith, for His service. God requires us to go to work, building our faith, working on our own sanctification and our growth.

You know, we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. We are to go to work in doing that. Spiritual growth. God is more concerned about our spiritual growth than anything else. More than the car you drive, more than the marriage you're in.

And actually, marriage is a sanctifying issue. It is spiritual growth in itself. So, for me to say that is a flawed statement, so I take that back. But, marriage is spiritual growth. But, God is concerned about your spiritual growth.

So, any friendship you're in, any relationship you're in, that's sanctifying work. God will sanctify you through that relationship. So, God is more concerned about your spiritual growth than anything else.

He wants you growing spiritually. If you're in a relationship and you're not growing spiritually, God will remove it. God will remove you from that relationship, or He will cause circumstances to happen in which He will push you to grow.

That could be trials, that could be suffering, that could be hardship, anything like that. God will cause you to grow. He will grow you. We know from Philippians 2 .13 that God works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

He will cause you to grow in your sanctification. God works in you. God will complete the work He has begun in you. So, God will grow you. God will complete the work He has started in you, and that's also you participating with Him.

If you're not growing, God is going to move you so you will grow. So, go to work. Go to work building your relationship with Him, growing in your relationship with Him. Don't be stagnant. Go to work. It says, but you beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith.

Praying in the Holy Spirit

The second thing is praying in the Holy Spirit. Go to work. Seek Him wholeheartedly, praying through all things in the Holy Spirit. Pray in the Holy Spirit. What exactly does that mean? That means pray in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Pray with submitting to the power of the Holy Spirit in you. Submit to the Spirit. Submit to His leading. Submit to His power. Submit to His character, His nature, His leadings. Submit to Him in prayer with humility, with patience.

Be fervent in prayer. Always praying. A lot of Christians, they might be good at reading the Bible, but they might suck at prayer, spending time in prayer. I ask people, how's their prayer life going?

And they might say, oh, it's okay. What does their life look like? You can always tell. A lot of the times, you can tell what someone's prayer life is like if you look at their life. So, be reverent in prayer.

Keeping Yourselves in the Love of God

Third thing is this. Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

So he says, this is my point, go to work keeping yourselves in the love of God. This is what sustains you. I'm going to tell you this. Nothing in this world will sustain you more than knowing that God loves you more than anything else, and His character will come through His love, His kindness, His sovereignty, His goodness, His wisdom, His righteousness.

It flows through His love towards you. So, if you know that He loves you, and He knows that He wants what's best for you, let that saturate in your mind. Let that saturate in your mind that He loves you, and He knows what's best for you.

He's in control of every situation, and He cares for you. Let that saturate in your mind. Let that just flow through every thought, every word, every deed, every action in your mind, and in your thought, and in your life.

Just keep yourselves in the love of God, knowing that, practicing that. I'm telling you, if you are anxious about any situation in your life right now, know that God cares for you, and He knows what's best for you, and He loves you.

Let that just soak in, okay? Because if you know that truth, you can trust Him. You can trust Him. He is trustworthy. So, remember that. And lastly, verse 22 and 23, And have mercy on those who doubt, and save others by snatching them out of the fire, to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

Mercy, Fear, and Snatching Others from the Fire

Go to work snatching those who are perishing with mercy and fear out of the fire. Go to work snatching those who are perishing with mercy and fear, who are perishing, snatching them out of the fire. Who are you witnessing to?

Who do you have a relationship with that you are sharing the love of God with? Who are you witnessing to? Who in your sphere of influence, even outside of your sphere of influence, who are you sharing the gospel with daily?

Who are you approaching and sharing the love of God with? Who are you communicating the gospel with in your life? Family members, people at the gas station, people that you come in contact with at church.

Even church people aren't saved. Not all the church people are saved. Those that you live with, your father, your grandmother, your brother, your sister, who are you witnessing to? Who are you sharing the love of God with?

These are the people you should be sharing with. Jesus said, preach the gospel. We are to go throughout the world preaching the gospel, preaching the good news. This is good news. Do you really think it's good news?

Really? Do you? If it's good news to you, then are you sharing it? If you're not sharing it, then are you really treating it as good news? If it's this great news to you, and it's so great, then why are you not sharing it?

That's just something you might want to think about. If you're not sharing it with your sister over in Texas on the phone, or your brother who lives next door, or your neighbor who lives next door, or the postman who stops by and drops off a package and says, hey, I got a package for you.

Or maybe the waitress who says, hey, do you need anything? You could probably say, do you need any prayer for anything before we pray for our meal? Maybe just sharing a little information and saying, hey, can we pray for you?

Maybe enter into a gospel conversation there. What methods, what opportunities do you have? What kind of methods are you using to share the gospel with people in your daily life? What kind of thoughts, what kind of thought processes, what kind of ideas are you coming up with in your mind to get the gospel out there?

Are you sharing with the maintenance man who came by to fix your refrigerator? Hey man, you fixed my refrigerator. Do you mind if I share something with you just real quick? I think it might be helpful to you.

Hey man, I'm a Christian. I go to church down here. Would you ever thought about coming to church? What kind of Christian would I be if I didn't share my faith with you? I wouldn't be a very good one, would I?

What kind of ideas or phrases or something? It may sound quirky, but who cares? It's the gospel. So think about it. The gospel's got to get out there somehow. So think about it. What kind of methods, what kind of ideas, what kind of tactics are you using to get the gospel in someone's ear?

I remember a short little story. I remember at FedEx, while I was at FedEx, I would approach people in the parking lot and witness to them. I took joy in that. You know, coming up with ideas of how to approach them and stuff like that.

Find ways to get the gospel out there. Find ways to come up with a conversation or conversation starters to approach people with the gospel. Be as wise as doves. Or, no. As gentle as doves, but as wise as serpents.

Sorry. Even pastors get it wrong sometimes. Love y 'all. God, thank you for this day. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for taking care of us, Lord. Keep us safe and please, please, please help us get out there with the gospel.

The gospel is that you died on the cross for our sins. You shed your blood so that anyone could place their faith in the work that you did. You died on the cross. You rose again and you ascended on high.

That anyone who placed their faith and trust in you could have salvation through your name. In Jesus' name, help us get it out there. Amen.