Jude  the brother of Jesus  speaks

Jude Speaks

Jude

- the half brother of Jesus -

will begin the introduction of this Bible devotional.

Note that this page has teaching and a prayer at the end.

Jude is speaking information 

that we need

in our lives

today.

Jude says,

“Some godless teachers

have wormed their way in among you,

saying that

after we become Christians

we can do just as we like

without fear of God’s punishment.

The fate

of such people

was written long ago,

for they have

turned against our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.”

That was Jude chapter one verse 4 in the Bible.

Jude reminds us

that

even though we are Christians,

when we sin,

we need to

REPENT

by asking the Lord for forgiveness of our sins

and making an effort to turn from our sins.

In the book of Revelation

chapters 2 and 3,

Jesus is talking to Christians who are in the seven churches.

The main message of those chapters

is

Repent and be Obedient.

In Revelation 2:2-7,

Jesus is talking to the church of Ephesus.

Jesus is telling

the

Christians

in the Ephesus church

to

repent

First,

he tells them of all the great things

they are doing

that please Him,

then he tells them

what they need to repent of.  

Jesus says,

“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and

that you cannot bear those who are evil.

And you have tested those who say

they are apostles and are not,

and have found them

liars;

and you have persevered and have

patience,

and have labored for My name’s sake

and have not become

weary.

Nevertheless

I have this against you,

that you have left your first love.

Remember therefore from where you have fallen;

repent

and do the first works,

or else

I will come to you quickly

and

remove your lampstand from its place – unless you repent.”

In those verses,

Jesus is speaking to Christians

and telling them to repent.

Jesus said they had left their first love

and were not doing the first works.

I am not sure

what they were doing wrong.

But I believe I know. Let me explain:

Today there are

Christian organizations

that were created

to do apologetics - which is defending the faith.

These Christian organizations

originally were formed to study other religions

and then tell Christians

where the errors were in those religions,

so

we could reach people

in other religions

with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Today many of those organizations

have become

ultra critical of their fellow Christians. 

-

For example,
they take end times theories
which are not foundational doctrine
and make one theory mandatory for everyone to believe.

Note:

There are times

when we definitely need to expose wrong teaching.

On this site,

I have pages that expose wrong teaching.

Yet we need to stir up love in our heart for those who are wrong.

Several years ago,

my church hosted

one of their meetings.

As I listened to them speak,

all I could think about was

Revelation chapter 2  -

where the Bible speaks of the Church of Ephesus.

The speakers began with teaching us about other religions,
but quickly turned
to teaching about
"heretic" Christians.
I noticed that there was no love or tenderness in their words.

2 Timothy chapter 2 clarifies my point. It says,

"God's people must be gentle, patient teachers of those who are wrong.
Be humble when you are trying to teach those
who are mixed up concerning truth."

Then in 1 Corinthians 13,

Paul gives us information about

how important love is when we are teaching others.

Paul says,

“And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries

and all knowledge and though I have all faith,

so that

I could remove mountains……

but have not love, I am nothing.”

So without love,

our ability to help others is close to nonexistent.

In the book of Revelation, I believe Jesus is trying to say that the people of Ephesus have great zeal for serving Jesus Christ but somewhere along the way they have left love behind and Jesus finds them only interested in cleansing the church.

This does not mean that

we should shy away from teaching

what the Bible says.

It just means that

we need to do our teaching

in love.

AND

we must realize that some subjects  - such as the endtimes -

  can have a variety of opinions in the church

while each person is still in right standing with the Lord.

Ephesus - type Christians

sometimes continue

until they get to the point where they call everyone,

but those in their small group, heretics.

Here they move away from

clear Bible teaching and move into

their own opinions and preferences.

The Lord wants us to work together

not tear each other apart.

Note that

Jesus compliments those in Ephesus

concerning many things.

The main thing Ephesus members need to focus on is

LOVE - love for others and love for God.

Going back to the book of Revelation,

we need to remember that the verses written to the churches

were not only written for the people in the churches of that day,

but the verses

are also written for every generation.

Revelation 1:3 tells us

that everyone who reads Revelation out loud

or listens to verses being read

will get a blessing!

 So

if we believe the

Word of God

 - and if we need a blessing in our life - 

we will   RUN   to the

Book of Revelation

and read it and get a blessing!

As I have studied the 7 churches,

I have seen that each of us living today is -

in essence - 

a member of one of the churches of Revelation.

I believe we can all find ourselves in one of the churches

The words  to each of the churches

were written specifically

to each of the churches

who were in existence when John wrote down the words.

The words are also applicable to

Christians all through the centuries.

And in fact,

we can even find ourselves

and evaluate our spiritual condition

by looking at the letters to the 7 churches.

Going back to the Ephesus church,

if you are personally acting

as those in Ephesus,

Jesus has a message for you today – repent. 

Jesus says to you in verse 5….

“I will come to you quickly

and

remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.”

I’m not sure exactly what "removing the lampstand" means, but I know one thing it means. It means you better repent.

This is not to say that only those who find themselves in the Ephesus church need to work on their love walk.

I'm sure the Lord has to speak to all of us at one time or another
about our love walk.
When he does - the correct response is repentance.

Take note that:

The main message Jesus gives to the churches is -

  when the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin

REPENT.

Repent means that you ask God for forgiveness AND  you work on changing so that you become obedient to God in that area of your life.

Jesus said in the book of John 14:15 that if you love me, you will obey me.

Today there is a new grace message that is preached that is not new and it is not of God. I looked at one of the books of one of its main teachers and
even the “prayer for salvation” in the back of  his book did not include repentance of sins.”

Anyone who says that Christians never need to repent, is not teaching what the Bible says.

We are not saved by works

nevertheless

we are called to become

obedient children of our Heavenly Father.

We are justified by faith.

Yet note that

God calls us to participate in our sanctification.

There are 7 churches in Revelation.

I am not going to teach on each of them.

At this point, I highlight the church of Pergamous.

Are you in this Church?

Here is what Jesus said

to those in

the church of Pergamous……

"You hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith
even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr,
who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

But I have a few things against you,
because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam,
who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel,
to eat things sacrificed to idols,
   and
to commit sexual immorality.
  Thus you also have those
who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

Repent,
or else I will come to you quickly and
will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. 

 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

If you identify with the sins of the church of Pergamous, Jesus says to you -  REPENT.

Jesus tells Pergamous People

several things to repent of.

> > >   Sexual Sin   < < < 

One of the easiest sins to highlight

is the sin of sexual immorality.

~

If you are committing sexual sin,

you probably

fall into this church.

Jesus is saying to you, “Repent.”

> > >   Idols   < < < 

Another thing they are told

to repent of

 is eating things sacrificed to idols.

I believe the clear meaning is the main meaning

but

I also think

it probably means

that we are not to be consuming things

that the devil is  producing   

for entertainment on our TV and other devices.

We need to be careful what we watch.

God wants us to agree with Psalm 101

when it says,

“I will live a pure life in my home and not tolerate evil.”

Too many times

we entertain ourselves with sinful things.

Jesus tells us,

"As many as I love  - I rebuke and chasten.

Therefore, be zealous and

repent."

Revelation 3:19

At this point,

I highlight the church of

Thyatira.

Are You in This Church?

Here is what Jesus said

to those in

the church of 

Thyatira.

Revelation chapter 2 beginning in verse 18 talks of the church of Thyatira. 

Jesus says to them,

"I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience;

and as for your works, the last are more than the first.

 Nevertheless

I have a few things against you,

because you allow that woman Jezebel,

who calls herself a prophetess,

to teach and seduce My servants  to commit sexual immorality

and eat things sacrificed to idols.

 And I gave her time

to repent of her sexual immorality,

and she did not repent."

Jesus says a lot more

right after that

about what is going to happen to them if they don’t repent.

   I’m not going to include that here,

but I encourage you to read it

for yourself - especially if you or a loved one is in this church.

The people in the Thyatira church

don’t just commit sexual sin in their personal life,

they have people speak in their pulpits that sexual sin is ok.

The  Thyatira church

teaches it is ok to disregard Bible commands.

Jesus calls those in the Thyatira church

to repent.

At this point,

I highlight the church of

Philadelphia.

Are You in This Church?

The Philadelphia Church

This is the church that Jesus wants us to be in.

Jesus doesn’t tell this church to repent,

because people in this church

are regularly evaluating themselves.

The members of this church

live continually with a mindset of repentance.

Jesus says that

the people in the Philadelphia church

Keep His Word –

meaning they continually try to obey the Bible.

Jesus is pleased with the obedience of the Philadelphia church.

Here are the words of Jesus to those in the church of Philadelphia:

"I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door,
and no one can shut it;
for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and
have not denied My name."

Jesus goes on to give them an interesting promise that he doesn't give the other churches.

"Because you have kept My command to persevere,
I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth."

Interesting, Jesus tells this church that they will be given a blessing that apparently no other church will get, because they persevere and continue to try to do what the Bible tells them to do even with opposition.

So how do we get into the Philadelphia church?

Answer:

We TRY  to keep his word.

We stand firm

on what the Bible says

and do not give in to peer pressure.

For example, even if all the world says sexual sin is ok,

the people in the church of Philadelphia

say

we will obey the Bible

and we will teach others what the Bible says.

Again it is important

to emphasize that

the people in the church of Philadelphia

are not told to repent,

because they live

a lifestyle of

regularly repenting

when God convicts them of sin.

 Being in the

Philadelphia church

doesn’t mean

you think you are perfect.

It does mean

that you will

regularly look at yourself and

notice the areas

you need to work on.

We never arrive

but we are continuing

to work on ourselves

until

Jesus comes back to get us

by death or by rapture.

 

Jesus tells us,

"As many as I love  - I rebuke and chasten.
Therefore, be zealous and repent."

Revelation 3:19

Prayer of Renewed Dedication

 

I invite you to pray with me.

 

Dear Lord,

I come before you,

and I declare that I want to please you.

I want to be right with you.

I am promising you

that when you convict me of sin,

I will not ignore you.

Help me, Lord, to become

the person you have destined me to be.

In Jesus' name I pray,

Amen

 

Is there anything

more important than

reading the verses Revelation about the churches today

or at least sometime this week

and making sure that you are right with Jesus Christ?

Note that

when talking to Pergamos in Revelation 2:13,

Satan's throne is mentioned.

It is generally believed that

the words "Satan's throne"

refers to an altar that was in the city of Pergamos.