Five Discipleship Principles with Matt Friedeman
July 28, 2022
On today’s podcast I unite with the Life-Changing Discipleship podcast with Matt Friedeman to discuss discipleship principles from Jude and concerns facing pastors today.
Youtube - https://youtu.be/5wlV4xH71no
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Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/more-to-the-story-with-dr-andy-miller/id1569988895?uo=4
Contender: Going Deeper in the Book of Jude - This all-inclusive small group study on the book of Jude is out now. Check it out on the course page: http://courses.andymilleriii.com
Five Steps to Deeper Teaching and Preaching - I’m excited to share some news with you. Recently, I updated this PDF document and added a 45-minute teaching video with slides, explaining this tool. It's like a mini-course. If you sign up for my list, I will send this free resource to you. Sign up here - www.AndyMillerIII.com or Five Steps to Deeper Teaching and Preaching.
Today’s episode is brought to you by these two sponsors:
Keith Waters and his team at WPO Development do an amazing job helping non-profits and churches through mission planning studies, strategic plans, feasibility studies, and capital campaigns. We are honored to have Keith and WPO on the More to the Story team. You can find out more about them at www.wpodevelopment.com or touch base directly with Keith at Keith.Waters@wpodevelopment.com.
AND
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Thanks too to Phil Laeger for the new podcast music. You can find out about Phil's music at https://www.laeger.net
Transcript
Andy
I just love hearing that soundtrack and my thanks to Phil Legger, who's made that happen.
Andy
You might hear a little quote in there some of you.
Andy
It's a quote of the tune from the 20 boundless salvation. Come roll over me. It's in there so check out Phil's music. You can find the link to.
Andy
I'm here, I'm the more to the story podcast in my show notes or so.
Andy
Glad that you've come along for this episode.
Andy
This is a combined episode with a life changing discipleship with Matt Friedman and we're going to do some introductions here as it comes along, but I'm so thankful for you being a part of this community and we look forward to sharing this content.
Matt
With you hey friends, great to have you with us today.
Matt
Remember the place for a man.
Matt
For woman completing all their powers is in the fight and right now today somewhere in the world making disciples of the nation.
Matt
So stay tuned and stay encouraged.
Matt
We've got a rendezvous with destiny.
Matt
And if that's a little bit different of intro for you is because you are a more to the story podcast guy with Andy Miller who's here with us today and we're doing this kind.
Andy
Of jointly right.
Andy
Absolutely right.
Andy
Combine it to podcast.
Matt
And hours, of course, is the life changing discipleship podcast with Matt Freedom. And so we want to throw out a couple of advertisements here still OK, and I'm going to do mine 1st and I'm gonna let you do yours. First off, I'd really like for you to check out the five Q discipleship com quick Start up guide. Some of you have been hearing about this 5Q discipleship.
Andy
Let's do it, yeah.
Matt
And by the way, Andy has done some 5Q.
Andy
Yeah, absolutely.
Matt
This option group so.
Andy
I love it, yeah.
Matt
It's it's really going well, thousands and thousands of people are in this group all across the world right now, and we just want to get in on it.
Matt
So if we're wondering.
Matt
What is this? You can check it out at 5 Q that number 5, the actual #5Q discipleship com and get a quick start guide and I think if you get.
Matt
I I showed it to yesterday.
Andy
It looks beautiful and yeah.
Matt
Andy yeah it's great and it gives you the cards necessary to have your own group and.
Andy
Have free mat.
Matt
Is ah, yes it is free.
Speaker 1
Oh no.
Matt
I do free things and.
Matt
I do free.
Matt
Things yeah.
Matt
And then of course, if you want to buy something and some people say you know I, I like this thing so much I want to buy something.
Matt
Well, you can go and check out the book the the five Q method of discipleship at Amazon.com.
Matt
So that's my ad for the.
Andy
Day and tap into your five because I like emphasizing the number 5 so you have the five Q.
Hey OK.
Speaker 1
OK.
Andy
I have five steps to deeper teaching and preach.
Andy
So whether this is a little guide, it's a eight page PDF document and a 45 minute teaching that's available from me.
Andy
It's something that I take like my preaching students through to help develop content in a way that inductively approaches the scripture but creatively thinks about how to present to an audience that we're serving.
Andy
So that's available.
Andy
If you sign up for my e-mail list.
Andy
At andymillerthethird.com Andy Miller I I.
Matt
I'll go ahead and commend that to you.
Matt
First off, and he's a tremendous communicator for my side.
Matt
God is his side in.
Matt
Somebody knows that my side of the audience here you may not know that and animals a great communicator knows how to put things together and teaches preaching at Wesley.
Andy
Biblical seminary, which is our sponsor as well, right?
Matt
Yeah, well, we ain't here.
Andy
Leslie Biblical seminary
Matt
Even in front.
Ha ha ha.
Matt
Of that, that's for.
Matt
Sure, so anyway.
Matt
Great stuff listen.
Matt
I like to usually talk about an issue before we get to the thing.
Andy
Let's do it, yeah.
Matt
And you are the thing today, so we're going to do 5 discipleship principles from the book of and I I'm not going to tell you what it is yet.
Well, thanks for saying.
Speaker 1
Ha ha ha.
Matt
Yeah, but we're going New Testament today.
Matt
Yes, and it's your wheelhouse.
Matt
So we're excited about that.
Matt
First off real quick, I want to get to this.
Matt
I saw an article in Christianity Today.
Matt
I actually was zipping through today and saw this.
Matt
I thought isn't that interesting and the name of the article and he was our pulpits are full of empty preachers.
Matt
10s of thousands of passengers want to quit, but haven't.
Matt
So what's going on?
Matt
And when I found out that empty preachers I thought of TS Eliot, the Hollow man.
Matt
The empty man blown to and fro by the wind and this is what that the CT article said.
Matt
That apparently.
Matt
Uhm, in January of 2020 129% of clergy had thought about quitting, but less than a year later.
Matt
38% were thinking about quitting. Wow, that's stunning. We're talking about a third and more of our clergy out there.
Matt
Thinking I don't want to do this anymore, yeah, now this is what, by the way, everybody picked up on this.
Matt
The Washington Post picked up on the Wall Street Journal. They calling it the great Ministry resignation that they think is on the horizon. Yeah, but this whole article is 25 pages.
Matt
They say it's reason to think that the more likely alternative is that pastors aren't going to quit nearly so much as that, and that's even more concerning.
Andy
Right?
Andy
Right hip to empty printy preachers concept that title is really interesting.
Andy
Our pulpits are full of empty preachers.
Andy
Normally you think our our pulpits are empty right?
Andy
You think the pulpits being empty but it shifts that language to say empty preacher.
Matt
OK, let's go real quick.
Matt
Yeah, top of our head why?
Matt
You've done a significant amount of pastoring. I'm currently a pastor. I've been doing it for 22 years as at the at the current church I'm at.
Matt
Why are guys apparently burned out gals as well?
Matt
Why are people burned out and thinking about quitting?
Andy
Yeah, it's interesting because as this has happened, it's been a phenomenon some people call it the great resignation that what's happened.
Andy
Since 2020, as a result of COVID, I think some people see that as a cause.
Andy
But as this happens, you wonder what is leading people that place, but the challenge for preachers.
Andy
And I've heard this from many people I've made a transition in that period as well.
Andy
I didn't transition out of ministry or out of preaching, but I left full-time kind of like local church ministry for serving in a seminary and so people have talked to me over the last year and wonder about that.
Andy
Change the challenge is there aren't many places for preachers to go.
Andy
I think that's part of why people.
Andy
Aren't there might be people who are thinking about leaving but aren't leaving?
Matt
Yeah, what do I do if I don't do this right right?
Matt
I mean you go to school.
Matt
For this you get trained for this.
Matt
You do this for a while and guess what?
Matt
There's not a lot of other executive positions that are going to want you because you've.
Andy
Got church experience right?
Andy
Absolutely and while that does have executive experience.
Andy
And skills that people have learned.
Andy
It's not easy to convince people in the business community that that's a transfer, but also like the fulfillment of it.
Andy
Like I think one of the challenges.
Andy
Or maybe you're going to get.
Andy
This is that, why?
Andy
Why are people in a place where they want to leave?
Andy
Well, there certainly are pressures in the local church, but at the same time, is there something happening with the empty preacher like?
Andy
Why are we empty?
Andy
And I think that that's probably the thing that needs to be.
Andy
Challenged the most OK I.
Matt
I think the reason for this is going to come right out of our five things.
Matt
I would do if I were the burned.
Matt
OK now and how to hang in there when you just feel like I want to quit.
Andy
Right, yeah?
Matt
Yeah, and I think these five things I think are tremendous antidotes.
Matt
I want once you speak into them, the first one, actually, I think all of these.
Matt
They're obviously none of my rocket science, but we're not doing them.
Andy
Hmm, that's it.
Matt
So you can say all you want about vitamins and minerals and a healthy diet, but if you're not eating a healthy diet, knowing about it isn't really helpful.
Andy
That's right, right?
Matt
So these are things we know about, we're just not doing it.
Matt
First off is what we call the means of grace, and that's basically the spiritual disciplines of having.
Matt
There are time with the Lord everyday you know, Jesus, we suspect had three times of these three times.
Matt
They would go to the temple during the day if they couldn't get their, they'd stop wherever they were.
Matt
They would face the temple and they'd go through a list of benedictions and an attack on to all Jews were doing that at the time of Jesus, we know Jesus was doing that.
Matt
So three times a day.
Matt
For him, probably something that equaled an hour and a half to two hours.
Matt
Yeah, that's was normative for Jesus, and he had an extraordinary life where if you're not doing that, you're going to get burned out.
Matt
But what I'm fascinated by is the number of pastors that will say, well, I'm not really doing.
Andy
Right in in the last year since I've been serving this role, I've done more events for pastors, and I'm often surprised at how many people will admit, just like freely offer it up that they don't have a personal quiet time.
Andy
And I think one of the antidotes to this.
Andy
Is seminary education.
Andy
And the similar education in the spirit that we offer here at West Bill summary if somebody comes through our seminary program, they are going to be put in a position that in order to get a good grade in order to get past a class, they need to have a regular quiet time and they need to be able to spend time in scripture, right?
Andy
And when you ask people and like, honestly, if a pastor is listening to this and they're wondering like I'm feeling burnt out.
Andy
Honestly, actually, how is your quiet time right?
Andy
Do you have one?
Andy
Are you spending time with the Lord Daily?
Matt
Right?
Matt
So the means of grace have two sides of them.
Matt
As far as we can tell, the the first side is piety, so the works of piety and piety.
Speaker 1
Right?
Andy
Yes, yes.
Matt
It's searching the scriptures, it's fasting something that almost no American does right.
Matt
It's regular fasting, and for the early church and for the early Methodists, that was twice a week, Wednesday and Fridays they fasted, so it's fasting.
Matt
It's scripture meditation, it's being in a small group, and in a large group.
Matt
They call it Christian conferencing in the day, but on the whole, what that meant was I'm part of a regular fellowship and part of a small group, so that's the works.
Right?
Matt
The other one I think is too often neglected or the works of mercy.
Matt
Yes, to go to some place in your community where there are desperate and needy people and spend an hour or two a week and those two things together.
Matt
It's powerful.
Matt
That's how you can be with Jesus, and you know.
Matt
Work, somebody say not work with Jesus.
Matt
Doing a work of mercy.
Matt
All contrary and as much if you've done it to the least of.
Matt
These you've done it under me.
Matt
You want a personal relationship with Jesus.
Matt
Go serve him in the poor and that personal relationship will be magnified.
Matt
So I just would say the works of mercy, the works of piety we call together the means of grace are exceedingly important for all people.
Andy
Right?
Matt
Let alone pastures that feel out, feel like they're burned out right now.
Matt
The second thing I would say is this.
Matt
I think if your.
Matt
Passion he's a pastors.
Matt
Group, and by the way, by zoom this is easier than ever before.
Matt
Twice a week.
Matt
I don't why I get to have two of these, but I have two excellent ones, uh?
Matt
Basically, well, actually they both.
Matt
Former students that feel more like peers to me.
Matt
But on Monday and on Friday I get together with two circle groups of pastors that fortify my soul. Yes, we do a 5Q group.
Matt
By the way, OK, but in that five Q group, we're doing real sharing and confessing, and these are my struggles.
Matt
It's a beautiful.
Andy
Thing, let me jump in because one thing I think would be helpful for people think about particularly lay leaders who are listening to these.
Andy
Broadcast, you might say, well, what does this have to do with me here?
Andy
So as a pastor I loved it.
Andy
When my the people I was serving I I try not say my people but they would come to me and say how are you taking care of yourself?
Andy
Yep, here, here's what you are.
Andy
You look.
Andy
I'm glad to put that out there.
Andy
And if you can encourage people to, you can encourage your pastor to make sure this is happening.
Andy
And even.
Andy
Provide some accountability to your pastor.
Matt
Yeah, and forget about your passion.
Matt
Do it.
Matt
Do it for.
Matt
You Oh yeah, yeah.
Matt
Listen, this is important for that was going to be the kicker, but you.
Matt
Got you got to kick?
Andy
I'm sorry jump the gun.
Matt
Up before the kicker, and that is if you want to be an awesome layman or a non burned out layman do these things.
Andy
Amen, Amen.
Matt
You need a group of people you can get together and share with.
Matt
The third thing is simply this and debits going on.
Matt
Yeah, yeah yeah, but stay healthy.
Matt
Get healthy, you know we all could lose some weight.
Matt
For the most part, most of us need to lose some weight.
Matt
We probably need to start eating better.
Matt
We need to get more sleep.
Matt
That's just a healthy dynamic there that is so very important.
Andy
Less TV is that all your points to drop off the maybe maybe say I don't need to pay for Netflix.
Matt
Ah, it's no.
And I.
Matt
Uh, hang on just me boy, you you step in something right there screen screen time of all kinds yes do the screen time you need to do not the screen time you want.
Andy
Oh, I got Matt going.
Matt
To do right.
Matt
We've got a new book coming out here real soon called the new Discipleship in the home has a whole chapter on that.
Matt
OK, and if you want to destroy your kids brain, give him a screen.
Matt
And say have at.
Matt
It wow yeah but the same thing I think would go for us.
Matt
Good good stuff there.
Matt
The fourth thing is you've got to have a good theology of.
Matt
God in order to stay in tune to the pastor or to your lay.
Matt
Work and basically that means you need to know that you're surrounded.
Matt
Gave up, gave a sermon on this to Wesley both cemetery long long ago.
Matt
You are surrounded so when you get into Christianity, no, you're surrounded by evil.
Matt
You're surrounded by the devil.
Matt
You're surrounded by his demons.
Matt
You are surrounded.
Matt
A lot of people get into Christianity, or by extension, they get into the ministry thinking and this is going to.
Matt
Be so great.
Matt
You know this is just gonna be joy and love and and when I go into the pasture my people going now they might not like the last guy but the last guy can't preach like out.
Andy
Oh man, just wait till they hear me.
Matt
And preach.
Matt
You know, wait till they hear me wait till they get a hold of my personality.
Matt
Everything is going to go great and they forget something.
Matt
You're surrounded by evil now.
Matt
Might not be laypeople, but sometimes it is.
Matt
But you are surrounded but the good theology comes to this.
Matt
You have a greater surrounding.
Matt
Yes, Amen and God and so in the Psalms, for instance, there's that word surround, surround, surround and it talks about both dynamics.
Andy
Right?
Matt
You're surrounded by evil.
Matt
Surrounded by difficulty surrounded by the devil him.
Matt
Self, but you are surrounded by God.
Matt
You're surrounded by truth and righteousness and you've got to recognize boy.
Matt
When I signed up for this Christianity thing or when I signed up for this ministry thing, I signed up to be surrounded.
Andy
Yes, I love that.
Andy
I love that imagery.
Andy
I'm surrounded.
Andy
If we can pull that power into these difficult points, I think that that's what God can use to help us, so we're not empty pastors.
Matt
So well.
Matt
One last thing here, we need to become a people of Thanksgiving, so this is I shared with a discipleship group not long ago.
Matt
So you know I've started a new discipline.
Matt
I've decided I'm going to write down every morning three things I'm thankful for.
Matt
So start doing it and I shared that with him and one of the guys was a former prisoner.
Matt
He said, well, I tell you what?
Matt
I did every.
Matt
Morning says I before my feet ever hit the floor, I would.
Matt
He went down on his knees, so his feet hadn't hit the floor, yet his toes had his feet, hadn't he said before my souls.
Matt
Hit the floor.
Matt
I would give thanks to God for 20 things.
Speaker 1
Hey man, wow.
Matt
I said well 20 is better than three.
Matt
No question about it.
Matt
Then I read something awesome and it was this and you're not going to get any meaning out of this at all.
Matt
When I read it, but it's X is 38 versus 27, the 100 talents of silver we used to cast the basis for the sanctuary and for the curtain 100 basis for the 100 talents, one talent for each base.
Matt
You're thinking, excuse me, there were 100 sockets that served as a foundation for the sanctuary.
Matt
So ancient Jewish wisdom started teaching. Therefore, there ought to be 100 blessings coming out of your mouth every day, because that's the foundation for holiness. I started to try to do that to 100 hundred OK.
Andy
Wow, Matt.
Matt
The road thank you, Lord Jesus, for the color green.
Matt
Thank you Lord Jesus, for the red light.
Matt
That says stop.
Matt
That is the rule of law.
Matt
I thank you for the rule of law.
Matt
Thank you God, for when you say go, because that's one of the chief words of the New Testament.
Matt
Thank you for going and I just start thinking.
Matt
Stuff, I just let my mind drift and go and it's it's it's a.
Matt
Blast oh I love it.
Matt
OK what?
Andy
It's 3 to 20 to 100.
Matt
And do that 100 times a day and your mind starts thinking on a whole different level. So check out that five Q discipleship.com Quick Start guide. I think you'll really like that.
Matt
Folks, that's one of the ways you can stay healthy.
Matt
Is do that with other pastors.
Matt
Do that with other laymen.
Matt
Do with other people.
Matt
And sometimes Andy I've got like.
Matt
Seven or eight of those groups going a.
Matt
Week feeds my soul.
Andy
Wow, amazing.
Matt
I'm excited to have you on the program today.
Matt
Because Andy you are going to share with us something we've been doing across the last several weeks of this program.
Matt
And that is 5 things out of a certain book of the Bible.
Matt
Yeah, that are discipleship lessons for us today, right?
Matt
So you happen to be an expert on the book of.
Matt
Jude that's right, Jude.
Matt
Now, how many verses did you have?
Andy
It's only 25 verses.
So the whole bunch.
Matt
And can you squeeze?
Matt
Five to South shipping spells out of Jude.
Andy
I I don't know I did Deuteronomy a few months ago, so that was a little easier.
Andy
I had a lot.
Andy
More material to work with.
Matt
OK, we're going to bracket this.
Matt
With start first.
Matt
Start off saying you're doing something right now.
Matt
Book of Jude that is an.
Matt
Offer to people, right?
Andy
Absolutely, this is been an interesting thing.
Andy
I never.
Andy
Dreamed that I.
Andy
Would come to love this little book so much.
Andy
But I'll tell you, Matt, before I started to study Jude.
Andy
I had a Jude less Christianity and I've gotta tell you I just.
Speaker 1
Love this book.
Andy
Yeah, I and and part of the reason.
Andy
Here's what my experience was with Jude.
Andy
I would read it in my quiet time once a year, probably one day I would read it and it take Me 2 minutes to read it.
Andy
And I read the beginning, read the end, look at the middle in the middle was crazy to me and I'm going to bring up some of that craziness.
Andy
But if you get behind what Jude is trying to do, what he's trying to communicate to his audience.
Andy
I found it incredibly powerful for our time, so that's part of my other Michael Green and apologist from the UK with somebody I found really interesting.
Andy
He said that as long as sin is rampant as long and he has this long list of problems in the world, he says the letter of Jude will be uncomfortably in Burningly
Matt
Relevant wow.
Matt
OK, so you are offering this.
Andy
Oh right, I didn't say what I'm doing, yeah?
Matt
Too sure, no, no, that's OK.
Matt
Well let's.
Matt
Set it up at the end of this, we're going to.
Matt
We're going to tell people how they can plug into this right for their small group.
Matt
Well, individually for their small group or.
Andy
For the whole church, that's right, yeah.
Andy
So I've I've a study that's available.
Andy
Andy Miller third.
Andy
Com and so it walks people through it's five hours of content, discussion guides discussion forums that leads people through this book so you know, I.
Andy
Talk about I'm going to talk about it here like in five to 10 minutes, right?
Andy
But I have five hours available at my website, so.
Matt
Five desktop ship rimple principles from the Book of Jude, number one, Andy Miller.
Andy
The very first one is flexibility.
Andy
Now these kind of blend together discipleship.
Andy
Up in spiritual formation altogether, one of the things that people don't realize about Jude that's incredibly helpful is that Jude did not want to write this letter.
Andy
He starts off by saying in verse three dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, he said I wanted to do this.
Andy
He then says I felt compelled to write and urge you to.
Andy
Contend for the faith once for all delivered to the Saints.
Andy
And then he goes through all of these challenges.
Andy
Now look, this is relevant to us at this point, because particularly as it relates to sexual revolution and the way our society is trending, I don't want to be somebody who has to talk about issues of sexuality on regulation.
Andy
I don't want to talk about rather.
Andy
Or not truth exist.
Andy
In the world, they look at the challenges of modernity.
Andy
Postmodernity, where our culture is but you know what?
Andy
The job of the.
Andy
Disciple is is.
Andy
To live in their time that God called us at this point.
Andy
So we have to be flexible in these days.
Andy
I would rather write about the salvation we all share, but instead.
Andy
Because the situations have come and what the situation is in Jude's for Jude's audience is that a group of what Richard Bauckham calls itinerant charismatics have secretly slipped in and are promoting kindness.
Andy
A big word antinomianism, but the idea that our fate are that God's grace is a license to sin.
Andy
That God's grace just gives us an I like what Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Andy
Called cheap grace.
Matt
I like this thought.
Matt
I don't want to deal with this issue, but I kind of got it.
Matt
You have to.
Matt
So yeah, I got something like this in my Life OK, you know, there's a.
Matt
Supreme Court case recently.
Matt
That overturn Roe V.
Andy
We don't want to talk about.
Matt
Who wants to do that?
Matt
And who wants to show up out at the abortion clinic now that abortion clinic in the Supreme Court case was here in Jackson, Ms?
Andy
Absolutely yeah.
Matt
It's not 3 miles from my house, right?
Matt
I don't want to go out there.
Matt
That's not, you know.
Matt
I'm a respectable guy.
Matt
I don't like to do these kinds of things and you go out there and people.
Right?
Matt
I don't like you 'cause you're out there.
Andy
I'm not sure they take pictures of, you know I've been out there as soon as they get.
Andy
Out there taking pictures of my children, yeah.
Matt
International media stuff.
Matt
It's just crazy, but and I'm not gifted.
Matt
For it that's.
Matt
Not where I'm gifted sure sure and yet.
Matt
There's the issue.
Matt
It's it's 3 miles from my house.
Matt
I'm a pastor.
Matt
I'm supposed to be leading a people to topple unrighteousness.
Matt
In our culture, what am I?
Andy
Going to do, yeah, that's contending you do it anyway.
Andy
You contend you get in that and that's the same thing we deal with with all kinds of issues.
Andy
We could list them by the hundreds, but with abortion with sexuality, it's a.
Andy
It's a pastor.
Andy
Job, it's a.
Andy
It's a disciple makers job.
Andy
To be able to engage the people they're discipling about, the nature of human sexuality.
Andy
As it's revealed in Scripture.
Matt
Flexibility is number 1 #2.
Andy
Keeping keeping this is a word that's underrated in scripture, but it's a word that comes all throughout Jude. Now it's I can say all throughout, even those 25 verses.
Andy
He begins by saying to those who have been called who are loved in God the father and kept for Jesus Christ, and then later he contrasts this.
Andy
By the way, he talks about the angels.
Andy
He says they did not.
Andy
The Angels who we would assume.
Andy
Come demons who are fallen angels did not keep their proper positions, and so then he then says something later he says they have been kept in darkness, but then at the end of a letter he uses that word.
Andy
Keep two more times.
Andy
He says it's our jobs to keep ourselves in the most.
Andy
Holy faith now. This kind of emphasizes this dual focus that we have God's initiative in bringing us to a place of saving grace, but we have a role to in the relationship, a relationally significant task of keeping ourselves maybe through the five things we.
Andy
Just talked about pastors.
Andy
To do keeping ourselves in the most holy faith, and then he concludes in a great way that mostly people the way I knew Jude was through the last two vert 3 verses.
Andy
Now to him who is able.
Andy
To what keep you keep?
Andy
What is what can he keep you from stumbling?
Andy
And this is the powerful message that you and I believe that there's never a time in our life where we have to send.
Andy
Because if we allow God to keep us, we do not have to fall into sin.
Matt
Good word, good word.
Matt
What's the shepherding implications of keeping?
Andy
Oh interesting, yeah yeah.
Andy
So there's also this side where the the keepers you know have a responsibility to ensure that people were serving are protected.
Andy
You know this is 1 interesting thing like Jew didn't want to write this.
Andy
Like he had to, he had to fight for his people.
Andy
The shepherd has to occasionally take the staff and hit some wolves in the head and I think that's that's the implication here is that Jude had to step up and decide I'm going to protect this.
Andy
This group I'm going to keep them in the fold.
Matt
Yeah, like I like both emphasis.
Matt
You need to do some things to keep yourself by the grace of God.
Matt
In his hand, but.
Matt
You probably need to have somebody looking over your life, right, right?
Matt
Also, you need to be looking over someones life, yeah, 'cause that's trifold.
Matt
So good stuff.
Matt
OK, so first to stop ship principle flexibility. Second to stop ship principle from the book of Jude keeping #3.
Andy
And the third is connected to keeping and I've your.
Andy
I think you're gonna love this because it's the works of piety.
Andy
Works of mercy snatching.
Andy
Snatching now.
Andy
What I mean by that interesting thing that happens as we get to the pivot that comes in Jude in verse 20 after he kind of describes a problem that exists.
Andy
He then says, but you, dear friends, you need to keep yourself.
Andy
So we just talked about that.
Andy
Well, keep is the main verb in that sentence.
Andy
And then there are four participles that support that verb.
Andy
And you can.
Andy
It could be translated with an ING ING.
Andy
So how are people kept by building, praying, waiting or or hoping?
Andy
Looking for something and then the final thing that he says it comes in verse 23 save others by snatching.
Andy
So how is it that it's OK snatching them from the fire?
Andy
So this is where ***** Crosby gets the idea and rescue the perishing.
My thing.
Andy
You know, ****** them in pity from sin in the grave.
Andy
My denomination the Salvation Army talks about, like our call to save other people.
Andy
We need a snack.
Andy
Go do some work like snatching.
Andy
Helping people to lead to a place of getting out of hell quite frankly.
Andy
Is a part of the way we're kept, so it's not just in building, praying, hoping, but also snatching snatchings a key part of the Christian faith.
Matt
So how do you do that?
Matt
How do you?
Andy
****** oh wait, well see, I think that this is this is a challenge we need to witness.
Andy
Yeah, we need to tell other people.
Andy
Do we need to do what we can to contend for the souls of people who are around us?
Andy
And I say.
Andy
Souls is kind of a picture of the broad person as a.
Andy
Whole that we.
Andy
Believe that if if you affirm that there is such a thing as hell.
Andy
In the world that that will come at some point, rather whatever form it might take right, like we want to save people from now.
Andy
And so for.
Andy
The discipleship spiritual formation emphasis is like you're not being a disciple.
Andy
If you're not snatching, you need to ****** other people from the direction of a.
Matt
Moving torch tap.
Matt
I just think it's interesting there's a number of ways you could ******
Matt
You could physically put your hands on people and snatchem you could yell at them to ****** him.
Andy
Yeah, yeah.
Matt
You could, I think the most powerful weapon to ****** someone.
Matt
Is love.
Andy
Well, of course.
Andy
Jude says, ****** them from the fire.
Andy
To others show mercy mixed with fear.
Matt
Very nice.
Andy
Snatching isn't just like, yeah, snatching is a loving.
Matt
Act yeah, it is a loving act and sometimes it might include yelling or grabbing you know.
Matt
But on the whole I, I think, uh, love is a powerful, powerful weapon to actually for all these things, flexibility keeping snatching that they're all covered by loving one way or another, OK?
Andy
#4 and #4.
Matt
This is good stuff.
Andy
So this is where it.
Matt
Good stuff Andy.
Andy
Gets a little complicated, but this is what keeps people away from Jude.
Andy
Is the verse that talks in verse 9, but even the Archangel Michael, when he was disputing.
Andy
With the devil about the body of Moses did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said.
Andy
The Lord rebuke you.
Matt
What's going on?
Andy
I know this is the craziest.
Andy
First like.
Andy
Didn't remember you.
Andy
Did you teach your kids to memorize this?
Andy
First, yeah.
Matt
Hi Ann
Matt
No I no.
Andy
OK, so here's what's happening like there's, and if you want more on this, I actually talk with Caleb yourself, Caleb Freedom and Doctor Halo frame.
Andy
And I have 45 minutes that I offer in this session where we talk through the all the Jewish sources that lead this. But essentially there was a Jewish document that existed that was called the Assumption of Moses that.
Andy
Details the fact that there was likely this moment where Michael the Archangel Michael and the devil disputed Satan's body, but here's the.
Andy
Point is that Michael was clearly in the right in this moment.
Andy
He could have done anything he wanted to to say, like he had the authority to say to say no, you're wrong in this situation, but instead, what is it that Michael does?
Andy
He says I'm going to lean on the Lord and not my own understanding.
Andy
He said, the Lord rebuke you.
Andy
He comes in this situation where he doesn't depend on his own experience, so it discipleship for us and as we're serving other people, we don't depend upon ourselves and said we rest in the judgment.
Andy
We less in the way that God has already revealed himself, so we say.
Andy
May the Lord rebuke you, and when there's problems in the world that we can't control, we're going to contend for them as best we can.
Andy
But ultimately, we depend upon the justice.
Matt
Of God wow so I love this because just on a very practical level there's some things that I mad freedom and can't do.
Matt
I can feel about them.
Matt
I can pay attention to them, but at the end of the day, there's not much I can do about it.
Matt
It's nice to know we get on a whole.
Andy
Higher plane.
Andy
That's a higher plane.
Matt
Yeah, you didn't say.
Matt
A word here.
Andy
I'm sorry, yeah.
Matt
So no flexibility is keeping it snatching a get on a higher plane and know that there is a God that has taken care.
Andy
Yeah, still the corn one.
Right?
Matt
Of business.
Andy
There's a higher truth than you, and so like we want to lend a higher plane, as I have found, Lord plant my feet on solid ground.
Matt
There's a song.
Andy
I know it sounds.
Andy
Yeah it doesn't.
Matt
That's very nice.
Matt
Yeah, OK, so you're doing great.
Andy
Right now it might not be going great.
Matt
Flexibility keeping, snatching get on that higher plane of truth and #5
Andy
No, right now you're gonna have to let me explain this.
Andy
Don't abuse angels.
Matt
No OK.
Andy
In the very same way, verse 8 on the strength of their dreams talking about these people who have secretly slept in these ungodly people, pollute their own bodies.
Andy
Reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beans.
Matt
Heap abuse on celestial beings.
Andy
Don't abuse Angel now.
Andy
We have to get back in that idea.
Andy
Of what Jude.
Andy
's audience would have thought about angels.
Andy
Down here I'm going to get I'm going to break this all down.
Andy
I do it in a long way.
Andy
In my recent study, which will be a book, hopefully in a few month.
Andy
As well.
Andy
Jewish, the Jewish understanding of angels, were they were the ones who delivered the law, delivered the written word to Moses.
Andy
And so you even see this in Stephen, like he in in.
Andy
2 Stephen in Acts 7 talk.
Andy
Like I acknowledge the fact that a new test.
Andy
My understanding is that the.
Andy
Law given to Moses came through angels.
Andy
So if that's the case, if angels delivered the law, and if these people are living as if God grace is a license to sin, they don't need the law, right?
Andy
They don't need any of the things that God has.
Andy
Already prescribed God written word that they can live by themselves.
Andy
Then the idea is that when we live outside of the.
Andy
Law, it's as if we are hurting, abusing the messenger, and the message itself.
Andy
Wow, so that that's kind of like I go into this in greater depth to explain this, but the idea is like if we are going to heap abuse, like if we're going to if we are going to move against God's law, it's like we're hurting angels. Wow.
Andy
So you live within God's law, so the idea is God has revealed himself clearly through the scriptures. The old New Testament. It's the divine rule of Christian faith and practice. So when we move against that law.
Andy
We're putting ourselves in a position where we are in grave.
Matt
Danger flexibility keeping snatching get on the higher plane and don't abuse angels.
Matt
And some of you thinking right now man, I just need some more teaching on that.
Andy
If you'd like.
Matt
And guess what, we have an opportunity for you.
To do that?
Matt
So tell him one more time.
Matt
Yeah, how they can plug into the.
Speaker 1
Right?
Matt
Andy Miller
Matt
Exit Jesus of the book.
Andy
Of Jude, that's right, so it's called contender. It's a six week study with a 25 to 30 minute lessons that are video based. And then you can.
Andy
You can get this for your small group your for your church as a whole and we walk through this.
Andy
And if you.
Andy
Think I went through it too fast.
Andy
I explain it in a little bit more lucid.
Andy
Way in the.
Matt
Well six week way yeah.
Andy
Six weeks so we have some time to walk through this and I think it's really powerful to help.
Andy
Must be contenders for our time, so it's going deeper in the book of Jude.
Andy
So thanks so much for letting.
Matt
Me plug that here man.
Matt
Always an honor to have you and I I like doing.
Matt
These joint podcasts you like these OK?
Andy
Yeah I do, I do I do.
Matt
You like it?
Matt
Yeah no.
Matt
I listen any exposure I can get to the more to the story podcast audience is a.
Matt
It's it's a boom of.
Matt
A day for.
Andy
Me and the.
Andy
Thing with Trent with disciples, what are you doing?
Matt
See, you don't even know.
Ha ha ha.
Andy
The name.
Andy
Have a paper Plumbeous life changing discipleship.
Matt
It's life changing.
Matt
Life life Changing discipleship podcast Andy and listen.
Matt