Becoming Fruitful
Jude 1:24&25 NIV “To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy — to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
I know Jesus will keep me. But there’s a human element called “Free Will.” Are you thinking or are you trusting?
Then there is this beautiful word called TRUST. Do I Trust myself for a Worldly outcome or do I Trust God for a Godly outcome.?
Do you Believe that Breakthrough can happen with God?
Is your Faith stirred up to see it happen through your Spiritual eyes.?
Do you perhaps have that Faith that even if it seems too late?
If you are a Believer today, Faith comes from our Belief system and is therefore permanent.
Trust does not come from our belief system. Trust is built through our relationship with someone we build over a period of time and is therefore not permanent.
Therefore your relationship with God the Father, Our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, and the Power of the Holy Spirit is our first priority.
Jude 1:24 NIV “to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—”
Jesus will present us to Father God without fault and with great joy…”
Jude 1:3 NIV “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.”
Jude background:
Like his older brother James, Jude did not place his faith in Jesus while the Lord was still alive. Only after the crucifixion and resurrection did the scales fall from Jude’s eyes and he become a follower of his half-brother, Jesus. First Corinthians 9:5 offers a tantalizing piece of information, noting that the Lord’s brothers and their wives took missionary journeys.
We begin to picture Jude as a man who lived in skepticism for a time but eventually came to a powerful faith in Jesus. And as he traveled on behalf of the gospel—telling the story in city after city with his name Judas butting up against that of Judas Iscariot—he would stand as a living example of faithfulness towards Christ, a stark contrast to the betrayer Judas Iscariot towards Christ.
What’s the big idea?
Jude’s purpose in his letter was twofold:
1) He wanted to expose the false teachers that had infiltrated the Christian community,
2) he wanted to encourage Christians to stand firm in the faith and fight for the truth.
Your faith and trust are building blocks for being fruitful in God’s Kingdom.
If you have faith, the size of a mustard seed, that is a great start. But it really won’t take you anywhere without trusting. Same thing: You can trust but without faith, It renders itself useless.
2 Corinthians 5 :7 NKJV “We walk by faith and not by sight”
Hebrews 11:6 NKJV “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Hebrews 11:1 NKJV “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
James 2:17 NIV “…faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
Your faith will never produce what it could in your life if it doesn’t take root in your heart. It takes work. It requires a process. The Word of God is not a pill to be ingested — it’s a seed to be planted.
But if you’ll water it, fertilize it, and give it the sun it needs, you’ll start to see the potential the seed had in it all along.
As Believers we need to allow Christ to dwell in us and bring forth fruit. Grace produces that fruit as we focus on Jesus.
Jude recognized that false teachers often peddled their wares unnoticed by the faithful, so he worked to heighten the awareness of the believers by describing in vivid detail how terrible Godless men actually were.
Jude 1:12 AMP “These are hidden reefs (elements of danger) in your love feasts, where they boldly feast sumptuously [carousing together in your midst], without scruples providing for themselves [alone]. They are clouds without water, swept along by the winds; trees, without fruit at the late autumn gathering time–twice (doubly) dead, [lifeless and] plucked up by the roots;”
A love feast or agape feast was a fellowship meal eaten by Christians in the early church.
One of the purposes was to feed the less fortunate, not just for the sake of sustenance and socializing but for the sake of fellowship.
Jude is talking about false teachers who come into the believers’ fellowship, pretending—they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. These false teachers are described as “blemishes at your love feasts” (Jude 1:12). The ESV calls the pretenders “hidden reefs,” pointing up the dangerous nature of false teachers and their potential to shipwreck Christians.
Jude 1:13 AMP “Wild waves of the sea, flinging up the foam of their own shame and disgrace; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of eternal darkness has been reserved forever.”
Jude 1:14 AMP “It was of these people, moreover, that Enoch in the seventh [generation] from Adam prophesied when he said, Behold, the Lord comes with His myriads of holy ones (ten thousands of His saints)”
Jude 1:15 NKJV “to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
More than simply raising awareness, Jude thought it important that believers stand against those working against Jesus Christ.
Jude 1:17, 20–21 NKJV “But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:
V20But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit
V21keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life”
How do I apply this?
Fight for the truth! Stand up against error!
Believers were to do this by:
1)Remembering the teaching of the Apostles, (Stay connected in God’s Word)
2)Building each other up in the faith,
3)Praying in the Holy Spirit,
4)Keeping themselves in the love of God
Becoming Fruitful
The Fig Tree Withered
Matt 21:18-22 NKJV “Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?” So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
Matthew 21:42-43 NKJV “Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’? “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.
What is the purpose?
We need to bear fruit, The right fruit, Good fruit that we can bless someone else. Fruit they can use.
John 15:4-8 NKJV “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it
abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches.
He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw
them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask
what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit;
so you will be My disciples.”
