Contend for the Faith

It is indeed an honor to see all of you in the house of the Lord tonight. And uh while you're standing, I'm just going to read just a short passage of scripture and I'll begin to unpack the whole chapter of uh the one chapter Jude, the book of Jude. Book of Jude is chocked full of of information and impartation that I think is going to minister to us. This letter was written to the church uh and for the church I should say as it was under pressure. Book of Jude is only 25 verses long, but it carries an enormous burden.

And I'll just read for your consideration. Jude chapter 3. Jude verse number three. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. For once was delivered unto the saints.

I believe tonight the Lord's going to help us as we navigate through these portions of scripture. I just want to preach to us tonight. Contend for the faith. I'm preaching to the church tonight. I'm preaching to the body tonight.

I believe if you'll open your heart and receive what the spirit has to say is a challenge to all of us in the name of Jesus. One more time, would you lift your voice? Lord, I trust you. I believe you, oh God, for what you're going to say and how you're going to anoint, how you're going to instruct me, God, to uh encourage and equip this body. God, I cannot do anything without you.

I depend on your anointing. I depend on your grace, depend on your mercy. It's in the name of Jesus I pray. Everybody say, "Amen." This is Bible study. And I look forward to this Wednesday night Bible study and uh we're going to unpack a few of these verses tonight and I hope we can I hope we can make it through and uh accomplish what the Lord would have in this service.

Jude begins as though he is writing a general letter if you will. The book is actually called the general epistle of Jude. It's you would you would think he's just going to write a general letter to the church about salvation, but he says, "Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, there was almost a pause in uh the the mood or the tone or the pen of Jude would would change." I believe it was Jude realizing that the the church was facing a spiritual threat that could not be ignored. So he would say uh let me paraphrase in one translation I found it necessary to write to you exorting exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. And Jude is writing to the believers who are inside the church but are being influenced by people who have distorted the faith.

That makes Jude incredibly I I believe incredibly relevant to our church today. The challenge isn't just simply can we get people into the church. Uh yes, we are interested in people coming and and people being converted and people receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Uh we're interested in that. But the challenge in this last day apostolic church is not much different than it was in the first century.

And it's simply this. Can we preserve the faith once delivered to the church? Can we preach what the apostles preached? Can we uh can we preach or maintain the the doctrine established in the book of Acts? Can we preserve holiness?

Can we preserve biblical separation from the world? Can we preserve the necessity of repentance, water baptism in Jesus' name, and the infilling of the Holy Ghost? I'm not talking about an added blessing. I'm talking about the necessity of this. I believe that the call of God upon me tonight is is a challenge because there are winds of doctrine trying to rock the the the church asleep so the church can be try to be relevant to the world.

God did not call us to be relevant to the world. He did not call the church to be relevant. But I do believe God called the church to preserve the authority of the scripture, to preserve the truth. Even when culture changes, fads are going to change. Uh culture is going to change.

Uh this is going to be in style today. That's going to go out and something new. You live long enough, the tie you've got hanging in your closet and the clothes that you you hung up 15, 20 years ago, hang on. It's coming back around. You going to be wearing that stuff and it's going to be the cool thing again.

Whether whether tides change and whether whether fads change and culture change, Jude said we better contend. We better contend for the faith. Understanding it this and understanding what what Jude was saying, I think it does do us justice to really understand who Jude was. Jude describes himself as a bondervant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. Now, now Jude was the brother of James, but he was a halfbrother of Jesus.

And I think that's very significant when you when you read and study. He could have introduced himself as Jude, the brother of Jesus, but he doesn't. He calls himself the bondservant of Jesus Christ. When when I read that this afternoon, uh, you could feel the humility of it. You could feel that Jude understood something that my relationship with Jesus is more important than my relationship just to him as as an earthly family member.

I'm not writing this to, you know, just from a a a family privilege or a family uh perspective, but I'm writing this I believe who he was. I believe he was God manifest in the flesh. I I I watched him be crucified, and I witnessed him be risen from the grave after three days and three nights. And as a result, I've watched the church be born. Yes.

I've watched the church survive. I've watched the church go from one generation and now a new generation because you got to understand that this was most scholars place Jude somewhere around the second half of the first century. So it's commonly referenced at around 65 to 80 AD is about the time frame that this portion of scripture was being written. So, as with anything, as with anything, you get further and from the initial birth of something and the initial event of something, people start forgetting. We talked about it today.

Do you realize we're 25 years removed from 911? 25 years. There's people voting in elections that were not alive during 911. They don't know what that is and they don't they don't know what happened on on that and frightful day. And we were we were talking about how if we do not pass some of these things down to the next generation, they get lost in translation.

It just becomes another event. It just becomes another thing and it's just part of life. Oh yes, it did happen. Check the box. Yeah.

But but we cannot look at the the faith that was once delivered to the saints like that. Jude was writing during the generation after the church was established. The apostles had preached. The gospel had spread. Churches were planted.

Doctrine had been suddenly delivered. And now danger comes on the scene. false teaching begins to to to infiltrate the church. Well, I don't know if it takes all of that. I I don't know if it takes repentance and I don't I don't know if it takes water baptism in Jesus name.

I don't know if it takes receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Matter of fact, this is the danger of all dangers. You ready for it? False teachings was the beginning. It It was beginning to infiltrate the church.

But here's the alarming for certain men have crept in unnoticed. I want you to notice the language. They didn't necessarily attack the church from the outside. They crept inside the church. They made their way into the seat.

They made their way into the circles, into the synagogue. The danger wasn't simply persecution. Oh, help me tonight. I I You know what? We know persecution is gonna come.

But I believe I stand tonight there's a greater danger than persecution. And that's corruption. The corruption from within. The corruption of truth. The the minimizing of truth.

After faith had already been delivered. Jude is admonishing one of the most important statements in the entire letter. The faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. That phrase once for all carries the idea of something definitely handed down. Jude isn't telling the church, create some new faith.

He's telling them, "Guard the faith that you have received. Put it in your care. Get a grip on it. Guard it. There is something that's been delivered and somebody has the responsibility to preserve it." I believe God is giving us a mandate in 2026 that we better preserve the truth that's been handed to us.

It was handed to my grandparents. It was handed to my parents. It was handed to me. And and I've got a commission tonight to tell us tonight, we better be handing it to the next generation. We got to.

But we've got to understand what we're what we're contending for. And sometimes I think that's where the breakdown happens. We don't even really comprehend what the faith is. I started thinking about he's not just talking about merely just believing in God. He's talking about the body of Christ being entrusted.

that this this body, this truth being embraced and being embodied in our lives so that we're living, breathing, walking testimonies of the faith that was once delivered to the saints. More than just words, more than just a declaration with our mouth. Second Timothy 1:13, Paul, this this is Paul talking. Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me. Get a hold of that.

Get a hold of what I've taught you. Those sound words. The pattern of the words. The principles of the words. You've heard it from me.

Now you better hold fast to it. You better get it. Commit it to memory. Second Timothy, Paul writing would write, "And the things that ye have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men." There was a recognized apostolic message come out of their mouths. They were sound words.

They were words that had patterns. It it had formats. It had direction. It had a thrust into the supernatural and what God would want the the church to continue to profess, continue to do, continue to become. I do not believe that the days of the apostolic church were were just relinquished to the first century.

I believe it's the design by God that the pattern of the sound words uh that Paul would write to Timothy uh I believe they are still important today. I believe the things that he spoke and that were written uh that they are still relevant today for us to live by. I believe there is a recognized apostolic message, a recognizable apostolic doctrine, a recognizable apostolic way of living. And Jude would say, "Don't let it get corrupted. Don't let it get corrupted.

Don't let little foxes come in and spoil the vine. Don't let little voices minimize the pattern of sound words. Don't let those negative Don't let naysayers try to to to to pull you back and and say, "Do you really have to? Is this heaven or hell? Is this do you really have to to be saved?" because those those voices and those those opinions will begin to infiltrate your spirit and you will begin to back off the sound pattern, the sound doctrine.

The word of God that's been given to us through scripture will begin to get corrupted in your own heart. The Acts, the book of Acts church gives us the pattern. If we want to know what the early church believed, we got to go back to the pattern. Acts 2:42 and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine in fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. Now what is the apostles doctrine?

What is that? They didn't simply continue in in just a in an emotional experience if you will. They continued in doctrine. They had received truth. They had remained committed to truth.

In the book of Acts, Acts chapter 2, gives the apostolic response to the gospel. Repentance. Somebody say repentance. Water baptism. Let every one of you, Do you know Acts 2:38?

Do you know it by memory? Do have you committed it into your heart? Repent and be baptized. We cannot lose this apostolic message. I'm here contending for the faith.

I'm here contending. Repent and be baptized. Somebody tell you you don't need to repent. You need to go back to the word of the Lord and say, "The apostle said you got to repent if you're going to be saved." Well, you know, baptism is just an outward sign. It's just an outward sign to to let everybody know that that that you believe.

No, it's far greater than that. Baptism is far greater than that. That baptism that you take in Jesus' name, it still washes away all of your sins. It's not just a check a box. Come on.

THE BIBLE SAYS, "HE THAT BELIEVETH and is baptized shall be saved." Luke would write in the book of Acts, he would write as he was moved on by the Holy Ghost that every one of you should be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Do not believe the lie that you don't have to be baptized in Jesus name. It's still the book. I said it's still the book. And let me just give you another promise.

Once you've repented, once you've been baptized in Jesus' name, I've got a promise for you. It's apostolic doctrine. You shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. You shall receive it. It's part of the apostolic doctrine.

That's what we believe and we decree and declare here at the sanctuary. But we can't stop there. They continued apostolic teaching. They continued steadfastly in this doctrine. They continued in this.

They went house to house breaking bread and in prayers. That's why this message from Jude is so important today. The church doesn't have in 2026 permission to reinvent a new plan of salvation. They didn't at the council of Nya and we don't today. They were wrong then and we would be wrong today if we try to reinvent the apostolic doctrine.

It's still the same. It's still the plan of salvation. It's still what will take humanity from from earth to glory. Hallelujah. Because if we start changing it for every generation and every you know it was the council of Nika and uh and then there were more modifications and then there where does it stop with every generational preference.

We are stewards of something that has been handed to us. I think that's very important. The baton has been passed to us from one generation to another generation. But my fear is if we're not careful, we can the baton can get dropped in transition translation. You know, I this has been a burden of mine.

This has been a burden of mine that I want this next generation and I believe we have some of the greatest students, some of the greatest the kids. Uh but but but I I I there's got to be a fresh awakening of getting the word of God into them and not just on Sundays and on Wednesdays. Come on, mas. Come on, daddies. We we we got to take this serious.

There must be a contention earnestly because I can tell you that the enemy as hard as we're contending for the faith, the enemy is contending for the souls of those kids and even for us trying to allure, trying to corrupt, trying to plant a seed of doubt. But when they get this truth and they they get this faith and they know it for themselves, it will be near impossible if they ever ever will believe it. They may try to go to another church, but I can just tell you when that preacher tells them they can be baptized in the titles father, son, and holy ghost, they're going to say, "Oh, that ain't that that ain't right. That ain't right. It it's happening even right now as I'm speaking that there are people that God's wooing back and little seeds are being planted and they're saying that ain't right.

That ain't what my daddy taught me. That ain't what I heard when I was a little kid. You train them up in the way they should go. It may take them a long time to come back. But I can tell, you may never see it with your eyes, but I stand on a promise.

You train them up in the way they should go. When they're old, they shall not depart. I'm just glad. I don't care how old they get. As long as there's breath in their body, they not old enough to outlive a promise from God.

I just believe God's going to fulfill every promise in the book. I looked at the word and I looked it up. The Greek word carries it carries weight. Contend earnestly for the faith. That that that word is struggling, striving, exerting, fighting for something of great importance.

Jude, he wasn't describing a a casual defense. He isn't saying if you if you get around to it, you just protect truth or No, he says contend for it. There are some things worth fighting for. There's some heels worth dying on. This me, this Acts 2:38 message is a heel worth dying on.

But here's where we got to have a balance. We got to be wise. We got to have discernment. The church must never become a people who fights everybody. That's right.

We're called to fight for the faith, not fight people. Because you're going to come into contact with people that don't believe what we believe. They don't understand what we what we what we what we're trying to say and what we're trying to convey. Sometimes it takes weeks, months, years of just relationships, them getting to trust you, them getting to listen to your voice. I'm gonna make this plain tonight.

Our battle is not in the flesh. No, no, no. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. Jude says, "Contend." Paul said, "Know what you are fighting." Our enemy is not our brothers and our sisters. It's not it's not another church.

It's not a sinner. It's not someone who may disagree with us. Our ultimate enemy is spiritual. We fight spiritual battles with spiritual weapons. That's very simple.

Therefore, take upon the you the whole armor of God. Jude eventually tells us exactly how believers are supposed to position themselves spiritually. You got to read it. So much to unpack. But ye beloved, building up yourself, I'm gonna read it in the King James.

But ye beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, but you, beloved, Jude has just told them what they were supposed to do. Don't become what you're fighting. every fight. You don't have to get in. You don't have to show up for every battle because that's that's a powerful lesson for the church.

We can become so concerned about false doctrine that we lose our spiritual character. Let's don't do that. We can become so determined to defend the truth that we stop walking in love. There are good people that just don't have the knowledge. They it has not yet been revealed to them.

But if we'll keep the spirit right. But ye beloved, do this. Building yourselves up on your most holy faith. Your most holy faith. The answer to spiritual deception isn't abandoned doctrine.

is becoming more deeply rooted in truth. You got to get in this. You got to peel the layers back and you got to say, "Okay, this is truth. This is in the book. This is the pattern.

These are the sound words." It's got to get in you and you got to get so you got to get so rooted in this, a church that knows what it believes. It's harder to deceive. If you believe it, you going to get roots in this. You You going to get settled in this. There ain't a devil in hell that can deceive you out of it if you get it in here.

But here's the problem. If it was in your mama or your grandmama, your daddy or your granddaddy, but it never got in you, there's no roots. That wind's coming. That rain's going to come. That deception's going to come knocking at your door.

But if you've got it, come on, Timothy. It was in your grandmother. It was in your mother. And it's in you. Every once in a while, you got to stir up that gift that's within you.

And you got to say, I I know this for myself. I got this relationship with God for myself. This making sense. You got to get in. This is what I felt this afternoon.

You got to get in this book. You got to memorize it. Got to love it. got to commit to it. If you get in this book, it's going to challenge your flesh.

It ain't always going to feel good. Matter of fact, if you get in and it don't challenge yourself, you you better keep reading. But here's here's where I've I've got to bring you hope. I know I say that a lot. I got to bring you hope.

The letter killth, but the spirit maketh alive. If we're just reading this a as words, but we're not mixing faith with it, we're not mixing the spirit with it. If we're just trying to live just by this flesh, you're going to fail miserably. You're going to be a miserable individual. If if you're just living for God in the flesh and forget who you're living for, do I need to pause and remind you, you're not even your own and you're trying to live like you're your own.

We try to. It's so tempting that we can live like we belong to oursel. Well, if it feel good, you know what? I want to do me right now. I want to be happy right now.

I want to do this and I want to do that and I want You better be careful doing you. You better be careful pacifying this flesh. You need to let that letter, you need to let this book kill some stuff in you. You need to let this book kill some stuff in you. And then you need to let the spirit bring something alive in you and the things you could not do in your flesh.

The spirit will equip and guide you and you will be and become what you could have never done and become without the holy ghost. You got to get the word and the spirit working together. Not just word. You got to get the word and the spirit. It's got to work together.

It's called contending for the faith. I'm contending to what I'm what I'm preaching. I'm contending because here's what's going to happen. You got to build yourself up. Then you got to pray in the Holy Ghost.

This one of the most powerful instructions in the entire book. Praying in the Holy Ghost. He didn't say fight harder in the flesh. Your flesh will drive you crazy trying to trying to live the way we want to live and the way the word instructs us fight harder in the flesh. No, he said pray in the Holy Ghost because why?

Why do you got to pray in the Holy Ghost? We're in a spiritual battle. Could that be why some of our battles are lost? We hadn't went through into that spiritual warfare where we're praying in the Holy Ghost. Why?

Because we can't fight spiritual warfares with carnal weapons. This is a You're going to hear me say it. I've said it. I'm going to say it. This is a spiritual battle.

The Holy Ghost is the It's what's going to give you the spiritual strength you need. When human comprehension, when your mind can't wrap around what's going on, when your when your heart cannot bear the weight and the and the load, that's that's the time God's saying, I'm trying to get you to a place uh where you will depend upon me and press your way into a place where you'll begin to pray in the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah. The Holy Ghost is what's going to give you strength. Paul says, "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might." His might, not not our intelligence, not our, you know, our our charisma or No, no, no, no.

His power. Praying in the spirit aligns us with God. The spirit, Romans 8:26, the spirit also helps in our weaknesses. There are moments when we don't know exactly how to pray. Anybody ever been that way?

You don't even know how to pray. I don't even have the words to pray. I don't even know. That's where the Holy Ghost comes in. The Holy Ghost will begin to help you.

That's why the spiritfilled prayer life is essential in spiritual warfare. Pray till you pray through. Pray till you lose an English language and you get in that heavenly language. That that there's going to come a time when groanings come out of you. You don't even understand.

OH, IT'S JUST IT IT'S A BREAKING THROUGH. And I believe when we break through in the Holy Ghost and we start speaking in that heavenly language and we have that spiritual breakthrough, I believe that's when God sends reinforcements and allows a break forth and a breakthrough upon our lives. Hallelujah. This is where the enemy fights us. This is where the enemy challenges us because he tries to convince us we can do this in our flesh.

That's why I said you got to get in this book and you got to let it kill some things in you. Then you got to let the spirit bring some things to life. So much I want to say. Spiritual battles only can be fought and won with spiritual weapons. It's a danger for this generation.

We can see something wrong and immediately respond in the flesh. Well, I want to prove my point. I want to We can become angry. We can become argumentative. We can become bitter.

We can become defensive. We can become combative. Anybody ever I I I've said that this week we may say something that may be right, but our spirit can be wrong. That's why you got to pray in the Holy Ghost. Got to pray in the Holy Ghost.

Lord, I don't want my flesh to say something. Get me out of a line. Pray in the Holy Ghost. Some battles aren't won by arguing. They're won by praying.

I'm going to tell you right now that strongholds I I don't know I don't know many stronghold I don't know of any strongholds that have ever been broke by just shouting arguing but I can tell you if you get in a spiritual battle and you get to praying they're broke through in a prayer room they're broke through in a prayer session with you and God arguments arguments don't always change people but I can tell When you get on your knees and begin to pray, prayers reach beyond that ceiling right there. They get to a realm where change can the idea and the thought of change can take place in there in a heart in a mind. Here's something I I want to convey to you because I think this is where some think where some have thought even in the religious world that the Holy Ghost is just an experience. The Holy Ghost is not just an experience. We should never reduce the Holy Ghost to I spoke in tongues.

No, the Holy Ghost is not merely an event that we we experience one time. The spirit is supposed to become the source of our spiritual being. It's the source of our life. The Holy Ghost is the source of our life. Brother Atkins, you blessed me Monday.

I know. come into prayer meeting and boy I mean I I felt something when you begin to pray and begin to pray in the Holy Ghost right over there. I'm telling you the Holy Ghost and maybe that's where where where the disconnect is just between the the experience and the purpose the the experience and the design by God. The Holy Ghost that filled you is the same Holy Ghost that strengthens you. It's that same Holy Ghost that leads and guide you into all truth.

It It's that same spirit that's going to convict you of sin. It's that same spirit that's going to empower you and equip you. It's going to be the that the Holy Ghost is what's going to encourage you and prompt you to pray. But here's the great the Holy Ghost is what's going to help you produce spiritual fruit. that love and joy and peace that that comes from the Holy Ghost.

That doesn't come from the flesh. That comes from the spirit. We still, this is what I'm contending for. We still need spiritfilled doctrine and spiritfilled living. I'm contending for this tonight because if we have that, we literally have the potential to do what the what the early church did.

They turned the world upside down. Literally, they turned the world upside down with their doctrine, with their lives. Everywhere they went, they were walking epistles. Every everywhere what they did, they were walking epistles. They believed what they had seen.

They had believed what they had experienced and they understood. I've received into me. I I have been a beneficiary and a recipient of the spirit of the living God living on the inside of me. And so when you get the Holy Ghost and God fills you with his spirit, the Bible says, "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost." Y'all ready for this? You got the Say, I got the Holy Ghost.

Keep yourselves in the love of God. Man, I read that. I'm like, Oh, you got to keep yourself in the love of God. It's work. You got to let you got to pray in the Holy Ghost and keep yourself in the love of God.

Because truth without love becomes harsh. Love without truth becomes compromised. But we got to have both. We got to have truth. We've got to have love.

And and we got to have a balance because Jesus was full of grace and truth. But but we can't contend for the faith and lose our love. That's right. We can't do that. We can profess all that we who we are, but but if we have not love.

Yes, we stand for holiness, but we we can't become self-righteous in the process. We got to love those that don't maybe not look like us. We got to be patient with people and work with people, instruct in the fear of the Lord. And we preach truth, but I I promise you, I understand my heart. We preach truth, but we cannot become hateful.

We preach truth, but we can't become hateful to people. We we call people and we believe pe we we call people to repentance because we love their souls. We share the truth of God's word because we love their souls and we believe they matter to him. Not only to us but to him. I'm coming to a trying to come to a quick close.

Keep reading Jude 21. Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Wow. Looking for the mercy. It Why is it programmed?

We're not careful. We can get this mindset. We're looking for the judgment of God. The church is supposed to live with it eyes looking for mercy. The church is supposed to live with its eyes looking forward.

We aren't simply preserving something. from the past. We're preparing for something in the future. And I'm telling you, when you look for the mercy of our Lord unto eternal life, it's something beautiful. Jude's instruction verse 22 and 23.

And some having compassion, making a difference, and others saved with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. What's this mean, pastor? This means our response to spiritual error must include discernment and mercy. Not everybody confused is rebellious. Not everybody struggling tonight is an enemy.

Here's what I've learned. There's a lot of good people in this world and in this church. And some people just need to be taught. Some just need compassion. Some do need a warning.

But the church needs enough spiritual discernment to know the difference. Who needs mercy? Who needs compassion? Who needs warning? Who needs exhorting?

Who needs rebuking? I mean, let's let's talk about there's a balance, but here's you got to think about the generation that received the gospel. The generation that received the gospel that was preached in Acts two. He preached Christ and him crucified. He estab they established churches all across that known world.

The doctrine was taught, the gospel was spread, and all Jude said was Guys, just guard what's been given to you. I see it happening all across our movement. Men take churches that were one-time apostolic churches and turn them into charismatic whatever, abandoning what was handed to them. We see it time and time again. Hear me tonight.

Sanctuary. Jude says, "Guard it." As I was sitting in the office, the Holy Ghost, we better guard the deposit that's been given to us. You know why? You know why some institutions call Wells Fargo or Lumis or whoever to back their armored truck up and load their deposits up from the for the day and take them to the local bank. They're guarding the deposit that's been given to them.

People have entrusted to them and and they believe that it's going to get from point A to point B. So, we're going to do everything necessary to guard what's been given to us. That's what Jude was saying. Guard the deposit. Guard what's been handed to you.

Don't let anybody creep in. Don't let any voice get louder in your spirit than the voice of this word and the spirit behind this word. The pattern and the soundness of the words. Here's the truth. Here's the reality.

Every generation has the potential of spiritual drift. Spiritual drift. This is where Jude would become so personal. He became so personal with it. This is the book written before Revelation.

This is we're getting to the the the mighty man of God who pinned the book that we read from and we hold dear. As the Holy Ghost would move upon him, he would write these words and fade off into spiritual history. What he was saying, I'm not necessarily, and yes, I am. I want to get this and convey it right. I'm not necessarily I'm not as much as worried about what I've received, but I'm responsible for what I'm handing down.

We are responsible for what we have received. But if something could get in our hearts tonight, a responsibility for what we have handed down. It's got to go beyond what pastor taught me. And it's got to what will I teach my children? What did sister Paul and the Sunday school teachers teach?

Or what did brother Zach or brother Stefan and hyphen and the youth? What will they know because of your influence? Will they know the word of God? Will they know what we believe? Please don't put the burden completely and solely on the man behind the pull pit.

That's unfair. It's unfair for any generation. There's got to get something on the inside of us. I'm gonna get it for myself. I'm going to know in whom I'm believed.

Yes, I'll have to stand and get give an account for what I've taught. I will. But I hope and pray that my three, they'll know daddy translated to them. Repentance, baptism in Jesus name, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, faith in God, repentance, prayer, a love for humanity, the importance of faithfulness to the house of God, the authority of the scripture, this apostolic message. Psalm 78:6 and 7, and I do close.

It says the next generation should arise and declare them to their generation. That's what I want to happen here. What why did we just Why are we investing in four acres right behind us? Why are we why are we stretching? Why are we why are we sacrificing?

Why are we digging deep to to to purchase four acres? Because I believe there's a declaration that's going to happen in the next generation. The vision's bigger than where we're at right now. The vision is calling us arise and declare them to their children. We have got to make this a generational apostolic inheritance from one generation to the next, from one generation to the next generation.

We are not ashamed of this truth. Stand to your tr stand to your feet. We are not ashamed of who we are. I I I know some of you it's right here right now. You're you're you're weighing out the words that I've said.

And I I understand there is a temptation in every generation to soften anything that makes apostolic doctrine a distinctive. We're apostolic in distinction unashamedly with love, with compassion, with mercy. But Jude told us, "Don't you apologize for the faith. You contend for it. You contend for who we are." I just wonder in this next few moments if you would where you are, if you feel like stepping out, there's a contingent for the faith that can be done the right way.

I said we can contend for the faith the right way. How do you contend for the faith? Don't attack sinners. Hear me. Don't attack prodals.

Love them. You can reach for sinners and not compromise truth. Don't become carnal trying to defend spiritual things. Don't don't become carnal trying to defend spiritual things. Please pray in the Holy Ghost and don't get better.

Offenses will come. You are going to get hurt. Jesus told us offenses will come. But if you're going to defend and you're going to contend for the faith, you've got to keep yourself in the love of God. If you'll keep yourself in the love of God, you won't abandon doctrine.

You're going to build yourself up at the most. You're going to build yourself up in your most holy faith. And if you're going to contend for the faith, I'm not saying any of these are in order, but this has got to be in the list. Please here, pastor, don't get distracted. You are a useless soldier if you get distracted.

You will get taken out. The enemy already has a target. Don't get distracted. Be alert. Be aware.

Your adversary, the devil, he goes around as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. You know how you keep from getting distracted? Keep looking for the coming of the Lord. When's he coming? I don't know.

But my head's tilted a little higher today. My head's looking toward that eastern sky. My My eyes are looking in the direction which he will come from. You can't get distracted if your mind set on him. Jude concludes, "Now to him, capital H, who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." Wow.

Wow. To the only wise God, our savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. You don't have to do this by yourself. You don't have to walk in fear. You don't have to walk trying to perfect it in the flesh.

You don't have to walk trying to mature your flesh. Walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Just make your mind up. I'm going to pray in the Holy Ghost. Why don't we lift our voice?

Why don't we just have a connection right now with the spirit? Lord, right now, all across this house, all across this sanctuary, oh God, God, I depend upon you, oh God. I depend upon what you are doing. Give us a love for truth. Give us a love for the truth.

Oh, it's been handed to us. It's been, God, it's been deposited in our spirits, oh God. God, I've tried to obey. I've tried to teach it tonight. Lord, just Heat.

Heat. Stay true. Stay true. True. Stay true.

Guard the deposit. Guard the truth. Contend for a journey. Teach it.