How to Live in Victory Until Jesus Returns

Rescue the Perishing, Coach the Living: A Call to Spirit-Led Action. What does it mean to live with confidence and spiritual victory when the world feels uncertain? In this powerful message from Jude 1:22–25, Pastor Chris challenges us to boldly show mercy, share our faith, and rest in God’s power to keep us secure in Christ. Discover how the hope of Jesus’ return empowers us to reach out to others with love and courage—without losing heart.

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/16885203

Key Points:

1. Reach Out with Courageous Mercy – Jude 1:22–23 calls us to actively engage with those who doubt or are caught in sin. Show compassion without compromise, snatching others from the fire while guarding your own walk with God (Galatians 6:1).
2. Rescue with Purposeful Caution – Some people are deeply entangled in sin that could draw you in too. Extend mercy but with discernment, seeking to guide others without compromising your faith (2 Timothy 2:25–26).
3. Rest Secure in God’s Power to Hold You – Jude 1:24 reminds us that Jesus is able to keep us from stumbling and will present us blameless with great joy. Trust His preserving power (Philippians 1:6, John 10:28–29).
4. Rejoice in the Hope of Christ’s Eternal Glory – The doxology in Jude 1:25 directs our hearts to worship. Fix your eyes on Jesus’ majesty, authority, and the eternal joy of being in His presence (Romans 8:18, Revelation 11:15).

Pastor Chris shares real-life moments of rescuing people—from helping a girl injured on a moped to pulling cars out of snowy ditches. He also opens up about walking with people struggling with addiction and sin, emphasizing the importance of being present, compassionate, and Spirit-led. His practical experience in spiritual coaching and biblical life coaching helps us learn how to walk alongside others with wisdom and grace.

Notable Quotes:

• “Be the person who snatches others from the fire—show mercy, not judgment.”
• “Jesus holds you firmly—your salvation is secure not because of your performance, but because of His promises.”
• “Don’t just sit around waiting for Jesus’ return. Live with purpose, and help others be ready too.”

Actionable Takeaways:

1. Reflect: Who in your life is doubting, entangled in sin, or drifting spiritually? How can you show mercy today?
2. Apply: Don’t just pray for boldness—take action. Reach out with both truth and grace.
3. Grow: Rest in God’s power to preserve you. Memorize Jude 1:24–25 and thank Him for His faithfulness.
4. Live it Out: Be available to rescue others in crisis. Let your faith move you to action and love.

Scripture References:

• Jude 1:22–25 – Show mercy, rescue the perishing, rejoice in God’s saving power.
• Galatians 6:1 – Restore gently, but stay alert to temptation.
• Philippians 1:6 – God will complete the good work He began in you.
• John 10:28–29 – No one can snatch believers from Christ’s hand.
• Revelation 11:15 – Christ will reign forever and ever.

Keywords:
 Jude, spiritual victory, mercy, rescue, Christian life coaching, discipleship, false teaching, second coming, doxology, Christian hope, eternal security, rescue ministry

25m0330de

The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:16

Pretty excited to share this message from Jude. So if you opened your Bibles or your phone Bibles or whatever, if you wanted to, to Jude, chapter one, there's just one chapter, verses 22 to 25. That's where we will be today. I'm excited to hopefully encourage you in the difficulties of life and to also motivate you to share your faith with other people. All right, Jude verse 22. Be merciful to those who doubt. Save others by snatching them from the fire. To others show mercy mixed with fear, hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. To him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and 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. Alright, I like Jude, the end of Jude. Well, the one of the doxologies is there. Well it works good for a benediction. And also the idea of snatching people from the flames is pretty awesome. So I know that a lot of people are going through difficult times. Maybe you've been laid off, or there's a threat of layoff, and you're concerned about your job, or maybe you're one of the supportive industries and you're concerned about your job because these other people are getting laid off. And so it's a concern, and I strongly encourage you to pray through and to trust God to get you through. Matthew 6.33 says, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and he'll provide everything that you need. Pray for your needs, keep moving forward. Trust that he's got you. And maybe even see it as an opportunity if you are laid off to do something significant for the kingdom of God. Maybe it will give you more opportunities to connect with people and to tell people about Jesus. Pray about how you can be used in this season. And instead of having a mentality of fear and not thinking you'll have enough, trust that you will have enough and trust God to get you through. Some people are struggling with just their life direction. So life has become boring. Life is just the same old thing. Every day you wake up and you just keep going through the same emotions and there's not much excitement to it. Finances are stressed, time is stressed, there's not like a lot of opportunity to do anything new or fun. That can be difficult too, but you can find new energy, new hope as you keep growing in Christ, as you spend time in God's Word, as you pursue the things of God. We offer the Right Now media video service that has a ton of different videos that have leadership videos, discipleship videos, parenting videos. Maybe if you have some extra time watching some of those and doing the studies that go along it, we'll help you. But here we're at the end of the book of Jude. So for this month we've gone through the chapter of Jude. Jude was Jesus' half-brother, and you can listen to the past messages or watch them online and find out more about that. But as you're doing your best to manage stress and trying to keep your head above water, you can look to Scripture and know that Jesus is going to get you through. So if you've received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you've been adopted into the as a child of God, into the kingdom of God, Jesus is going to help you. Jesus is going to get you through. And so we all fear failure. We all fear what is going to happen next. Sometimes we sin to the point we wonder if God's going to give up on us. And so this passage is very helpful when we think about those things, when we look at how we're to live and what Jesus has done for us. So first, the idea that God can use us, use us, even if we're imperfect, to be rescuers, to be rescuers. If there were, if there was a fire or a car accident or whatever else, I would assume that a lot of you would, if you were the first one on the scene, to show up and see what you could do to help. Maybe call 911 and then see what you could do to get involved, what you could do to help. Sometimes it's a lot, sometimes it's not much. So sometimes you're not exactly sure what you should do, so you just do the what you know that you can. But an example is that I watched this girl wipe out on her moped and she hit her head really hard. And so she was in the middle of the street. So I parked my, I left my car in the middle of the street. We had a blanket in the car. We put her head on a blanket, but we weren't sure if we should move her. So we sat with her till the ambulance showed up. I was afraid that if we were to move her, maybe we could make things worse. So we just kind of blocked everybody off and waited. And maybe that was the best thing that we could do. Sometimes you might actually be more heroic and actually snatch someone from the flames, like it says here in this passage. But with the Holy Spirit, sometimes the Holy Spirit prompts us to do things that we wouldn't expect to go befriend the neighbor that maybe isn't like us, to go share our faith with someone, to help someone in need, to do some kind of work or service project to help. And so many of those things can add value to your life. So many of those things can help if you think that your life is boring or your life is depressing. When you get involved helping with other people's lives, sometimes that makes life even more exciting. Sharing your faith, discipling someone, mentoring somebody, being involved, caring for someone's kids so that they can go out on a date. So many different things that you could do. And so Jude has given us the church at the time and us a book that basically warns against false teaching and warns about all the terrible characteristics that false teachers have and all the problems that they cause. But he ends it with a call for us to be involved in rescuing people, and he ends it with a time of worship and praise, remembering, helping us to remember all that Jesus is and all that Jesus has done and all that he has promised us. So I guess the big question is how can we live with unshakable confidence and victory as we wait for Christ's return? Some people are like, Jesus is gonna come back, and I'm just gonna sit on my hands and do nothing until he does. And other people are like, Jesus is gonna come back. I want to make sure that everybody around me is ready to go with Jesus. And so that becomes their life passion, their life purpose, and the reason they get up in the morning. So the first point is to reach out with courageous mercy. To reach out with courageous mercy. Do you do that? Sometimes that can be hard. Sometimes you're afraid they're gonna ask you a question you don't know the answer to. Sometimes you're afraid they're gonna reject you. Sometimes you're afraid they're gonna pull you into their sin, their sinful lifestyle, their sinful habits, the things that they do. Sometimes you think that they're just gonna reject you because you're not like them or they're not like you. Back to this verse, I already read it, but be merciful to those who doubt. Save others by snatching them from the fire, to others show mercy mixed with fear, hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. Mercy to show compassion or kindness, especially to those in spiritual need. It implies active restorative care, not just pity. So to show mercy. I've gotten to pull a lot of people out of the ditch before. A lot of times they just, I don't know, it was icy and they slipped into the ditch, and I was able to help pull them out. And sometimes people, when they're in the ditch, they do really dumb things. They like panic. I'm like, I was telling them, I'm like, when I pull you out of the snowy ditch, do not floor it, because if you hit pavement, you're gonna launch right into the back of my truck. And that won't be good for either one of us. I pulled another guy out of the ditch. He's like, I don't even know why I'm in the ditch. I'm like, because there's a deer over there that I assume you hit. He's like, I didn't even see it, but could you pull me out of the ditch? I can't afford a tow truck. And you show mercy and kindness, and you don't really judge those who are in the ditch, you just pull them out of the ditch. And you don't condemn them or mock them. There was one person that was trapped in a snowy drive-thru and couldn't figure out how to tow his new car. So I'm like, can I just get in and try to get it out? So I rocked it back and forth a bit, and he's like, be nice to my new car. Like, it'll be fine. And I got him out. And I didn't go, oh, you should have done knowing how to do that yourself. You live in Minnesota, don't you, eh? But nonetheless, we show care. We show mercy to those people who doubt. There's a lot of reasons that people doubt. They haven't been taught the things of God. Maybe they don't have a Bible they can understand. That's why we have those how to find God New Testaments and the New Living Translation that are easy to understand, taught them. Maybe they've heard the message, but they don't understand it. Maybe they've heard a religious message, but they've never heard about the grace of Jesus and what it means truly to be born again and all of those things. And they just need to hear the message from somebody they trust, somebody that they will listen to and be able to ask some questions. So they currently doubt, but we have an opportunity to explain to them maybe what they heard they don't understand right, and we can help them. So to those in danger, saving others by snatching them from the fire, to seize or snatch away quickly, so to snatch from the fire. And so if you think about this, so Jesus has taught and talked a lot about hell, and a lot of people want to explain away hell, but I believe this is a reference to the flames of judgment, the separation that comes for those who are, those who die in their sins, those who don't receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior, a fire of divine judgment. So all through the Bible, in Genesis 19, 24, fire and sulfur destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. In Isaiah 66, 24, their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched. In Matthew 13, 42, Jesus speaks of the wicked being thrown into the blazing furnace. In Revelation 20, verses 14 to 15, the lake of fire is the second death. So since we know that should motivate us, that should encourage us to share our faith, to snatch people from the flames of eternal judgment and hell. And so the greatest motivation for people to come to Jesus is because they want to have a personal relationship and because they want to live a life empowered by the Spirit. But there is that warning that those who die with Christ, with to die without Christ, will suffer eternal separation and the fire. So theological theologian Thomas Schreiner writes the fire represents God's eschatological judgment, alluding to hell itself. Jude calls believers to snatch others away from such judgment, emphasizing the urgency and seriousness of their spiritual condition. So we are told that there is judgment coming for those who die without Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 10, 28, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Jesus said in Mark 9, 43, where the fire never goes out. And so Jesus said many other things about hell. So we are to reach out, we are to show care. We are to do what we can to help them to make the choice to come to Jesus. We can't make the choice for them. We can't force them to make the choice. We can't force them to come to Jesus. All we can do is to share the gospel boldly, to share the gospel and to pray fervently and to confront sin lovingly. And that's what this passage is talking about. So to rescue the perishing, to rescue the dying. John MacArthur says the fire is symbolic of the fire of hell, and believers are to be rescuers, pulling people back from the brink. We know, as Mike already shared, that John 3.16 says that God loved the world, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish and have, but have eternal life. And so God loves us and God cares for us, and God doesn't want to condemn us, but he wants to rescue us through what Jesus has done by us placing our faith. He'll give us eternal life through Jesus Christ. And a lot of people stop at John 3.16, but they don't move on. As they read down the page, you'll see John 3.36 that says, Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them. So if they don't receive, if they don't bow the knee, if they don't repent of their sin and come to Christ, God's wrath for our sin. We're all sinners in need of salvation. Sin separates us from God. Jesus is the bridge to life, but without receiving Jesus, we are condemned. And Romans 6.23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so we hear the message, we share the message, and we know according to Jude 23 that we're to save others by snatching them from the fire. So Jesus came to save us, and we must respond by faith. And maybe the best way to do that is by acknowledging that and praying something like, Dear Jesus, I thank you that I'm able to hear this message that's found in the Bible. I acknowledge that I am a sinner and that I need to be saved. I need to be forgiven of my sin. Please forgive me of my sin. Come into my life and save me. I want to be the person you created me to be. I want to follow you in your ways. Rescue me from hell. In Jesus' name. Amen. And those who receive Jesus Christ receive the Holy Spirit. They're assured heaven. They will not go to hell. And they can be used by God to make a difference in people's life. So that was the NIB version, the New Living Translation. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives. So here we have we're showing mercy to those people who don't have a faith or they have a weak faith. We're trying to rescue those people and get lost people to get saved so that they'll come to Christ. And we show mercy and care with great caution to those who have contaminating sins. So people have contaminating sins that if you're going to go reach them and you have the same type of temptation, you should take someone else with you. Like, so far in my life, I've said no to drinking, and I hope to go my entire life without ever giving in to drinking and getting caught up in alcoholism and all that stuff that can I've seen happen so easily. But if you struggle with alcoholism and you're trying to help somebody who's an alcoholic, and then you're there with them, you might be tempted to give in. They might pull you in. And you need to be careful that doesn't contaminate you, that you don't fall into that, that type of temptation, that type of sin. Or sometimes it's lust or sex or money or greed or pride or all sorts of different things. There's certain people that are in certain types of besetting entangling sins, and when you try to rescue them, the devil tries to use that opportunity to suck you down into it too. And you need to be careful not to fall for that. So I was taking a seminary class on leadership and life coaching, which is kind of a new concept, new phenomenon. I don't know if you ever heard of a life coach or have a life coach. And when I first read the books on it, I'm like, I'm not really buying into it, but now I do. So a counselor, if you go to a biblical counselor, they might help you to find the root of your problems. They might look at your history and your upbringing and all of those things that made you the person you are today, and to help deal with some of that, unwrap some of that. Maybe maybe you'll find healing from the past. And so a counselor kind of starts from what was going on in the past and tries to help move you forward, and a lot of this stuff overlaps. But so that's the counselor, okay? So a consultant, if you were to hire a consultant, say I were to hire a consultant that I said, come into this church building and tell us what we could do to make this sound better. The consultant would come in and he'd probably make a list and come up with an invoice and say, These are the things that you need to do. And he'd tell me, he would tell me what, or he or she would tell me what to do. So give me a list of what I have to do to make it better. And a life coach, they focus on taking you from where you are, and then through a Christian life coach, with the help of the Holy Spirit, helping you figure out what Scripture is saying and what God is doing in your life, and helping you come up with a plan and a set of goals and holding you accountable through asking a lot of great questions. Asking a lot of great questions. Like in this passage, a life coach might ask you a question like who in your life might be drifting toward destruction and what would it look like to pursue them with truth and grace? Questions. They ask questions. Sometimes when you are working with someone, if you tell them exactly what they need to do to change, because you can see it and because you have the information and stuff, and you tell them what you think, sometimes you'll be right, sometimes you'll be wrong. But even if you're right, sometimes they'll push back. And so counselors will say this too, and sometimes I feel like it's a way to build extra counseling hours, but to help them find their own solution, to spend a lot of time to help them to find their own way. There's some truth to that, because sometimes people need to buy into it and know that it was their idea to make that commitment, to make that change, to see the path that they were headed on, and if they make these changes, the path that they could be on and the success that they could have, and it can be a good thing. So it could be a good thing to help with the doubting that need gentle mercy, the endangered that need urgent rescue, and the entangled that need careful compassion. So sometimes you need to have someone come alongside you, maybe a person's discipling you, or a life coach or a counselor, or and let you see or help you to see the things that are out of order in your life, or the things that are misprioritized, the things that are pulling you back, holding you back, pulling you down as you pray about it together. The life coach, it's not their purpose or goal necessarily to fix you, to fix people or to give orders. It's about work working with the Holy Spirit to help them discover what God is already doing in their lives. So the only the Spirit, because we are not the Holy Spirit, so we can't force a conviction on people, but the Holy Spirit can. Only the Holy Spirit can connect hearts of sin and truth, only the Holy Spirit can empower real transformation, only the Holy Spirit can guide into truth and to seal and secure believers. So when we focus on helping people, when we focus on talking to people, we have to figure out where are they at and how are they responding to me. So, how are they responding to you? There's some people that will listen to what you have to say, but they're not bought into what you stand for or who you are. They just think that you're weird or you like grew up in a Christian home and that's why you're that way, and that you don't know how life works, and you've been sheltered, and all of these different things. So they're willing to listen, but they're not jumping on to doing whatever you say. And a good response sometimes when you talk to them and you hear what they're doing and you have some ideas and stuff, sometimes a good question to ask them is how is that working out for you? And often when they say not so good, then you have an in to start sharing some things. And sometimes it has to be done in the life coach way where you just start asking them questions, like, where do you think you're gonna end up if you keep doing this, or how do you think this is gonna turn out if you don't, if you don't step up and take that new challenge or get that certification, or where do you think you'll be, and to ask those types of questions. Sometimes people are in such a bad situation, sometimes people are in such a sinful situation that you just need to do everything you can to get them out of it. You need to do everything that you can to literally rescue them, to go and get them. Of course, with their permission, don't kidnap anybody. But an alcoholic, for instance. I knew a guy that was an alcoholic that lost his license and was told if he had if he got caught having one more drink, he was going back to jail. And so I had him come into Bible study and was trying to invest in his life, and everything was great, and then he didn't come to Bible study one time, and so I went to his apartment and I was waiting for him, and he comes up the stairs with a case of beer, and I'm like, what are you doing? He's like, Oh man. He prayed, he repented, he realized that it was wrong. We poured it all down the toilet and got rid of it, and we were on a good path. I thought we were on a good path. And every now and then he disappeared and I'd go looking for him, and it was easy to find his bicycle in the alley of the bar. And I'd walk in and we'd talk, and he'd walk out, and it was kind of rescuing him. But then the last time I saw him, the last time I saw him, he had given in. He had gone back to his addiction, and he was in the bar, and he was staring at his glass of beer like he would like amorously, like he was in love with it. And he looked at his beer and he looked at me and he said, There's no way you're getting me out of here today. And that was the last time I saw him. And so I don't know where he ended up or how he ended up. But if you're a parent of a teenager or a youth leader or whatever, maybe it's a good idea to let kids know. That if you find yourself in a compromising situation, you can call me any time of the day or night and I will come get you. I will come pull you out. I will rescue you, or I will take you to the hospital, or I will take you to detox, or I will take you to the emergency room, or whatever it is. But sometimes the Holy Spirit can prompt you and know there's something going on in someone's life, and you start calling and finding out that things are falling apart with this person, and God can use you to be a rescuer. God can use you to be a consultant and say, hey, I see three things that are wrong here that need to change right away. And we're gonna get rid of, we're gonna get rid of the alcohol, we're gonna clean this up, and we're gonna make a commitment not to do it again. And sometimes people are receptive to that and they thank you for it. Other times people don't want to hear your advice, they don't want to hear your consultation. What they want to hear is questions that get them to question their future, get them to question their doubts, get them to question the direction of their life, and that will be really helpful. Sometimes they need a professional counselor that can get to the root of their problem and their addiction. Sometimes they need treatment, sometimes they need detoxin treatment. And again, if you are a recovering alcoholic, you can be a great gift to the kingdom of God. Because I was working with another guy that was trying to, I don't know if he was trying to drink himself to death or what, but I got my other friend involved who was a recovering alcoholic, and so he was in the car with me, and this guy was telling why he was this way and why he kept drinking and everything. And my friend, the recovering alcoholic, said he's lying. And I'm like, he is? He's lying. It turns out he was. It turns out that former alcoholics can really sniff out the lies in people who are alcoholics. And so we got this guy to detox. And somehow he checked himself out and we found him. And then we got him to go back to detox again. And he said to us when we went to visit him, he's like, I was so terrified that I was going to go through terrible withdrawal and that I was gonna just go through all this hard stuff. But he said, I prayed to receive Jesus like my mother told me to do long, long ago, and like you guys were sharing. And I asked Jesus into my life, and he said, I slept pretty good last night. It seems like Jesus is helping me through this. And so you have to be involved in people's lives. You have to be willing to get involved, you have to be willing to go meet people where they're at. Years ago, I was trying to reach some people that lived in this project apartments, and I don't know what it was about their apartment, but it just reeked. Sometimes I wondered if there was a dead body in the basement or something. It just smelled terrible. And so I would come home and I'd put all my clothes in the garage and leave them out there so they could air out till they were washed. I don't know what it was, but the smell of that place just stuck on me. And I'd tell my wife, I said, I'm out getting stinky for Jesus, and she'd smile. And it was a good thing. But consider how the Holy Spirit can use you through Christian counseling, how the Holy Spirit can use you through consulting, through life coaching, through those different ways. And as you move forward, it can be a good thing. I have so much I can say on this. I do want to point out though that there are certain times that you're working with somebody and you can't keep their secret. You can't just listen to them and allow them to stay where they're at. You don't want to be controlling because they might not respond. You don't want to set their faith up based upon your rules and regulations and your level of legalism and said you want their faith to be based on scripture. So maybe you show them where in scripture it talks about things like adultery or alcoholism or all those different things, and show them from scripture, you know, how it's not wise to give in to alcohol, how it's not wise to give in to adultery and all those things. Let them see from scripture, let it become their conviction so that they'll have the life change for that. Sometimes that's better than you just telling them you need to stop drinking right now, or shaming them. A real Christian wouldn't do this, or speaking for God, saying, God told me to tell you. Those aren't really the best way to handle things. But on the other hand, if somebody tells you that they think they're gonna take their life and you ask them, Do you have a plan? And they're like, Yeah, do you have a method? And they're like, Yeah, you need to go to them or call 911 right away. You can't keep that secret. They need to get help immediately. People get stuck in different types of sin, and sometimes you can't keep that to yourself. Sometimes you need to do everything you can to protect them and their life or protect their family or protect their children if there's abuse and all of those different things. So, fortunately, as a pastor, I've got a whole network of pastoral friends and resources, and sometimes I've even called other leaders and pastors on other, like in California that I know and say, hey, how do I deal with this issue? How do I fix this? What can I do? And to have that resource, that networking. So many things. But we want to listen more than lecturing. We want to point people to Jesus and forgiveness more than just focusing on their performance. We want to give them inviting steps they can take rather than expecting their immediate transformation. We want to trust the Holy Spirit to work in their lives as we pray for them and as we work with them. So those can be good things. Because we want to be like faithful responders, we want to be rescuers. In Galatians 6:1, it says, brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently, but watch yourselves, or you may also be tempted. So again, another passage that says, Hey, you want to reach out to these people, you want to do all you can to help them to find forgiveness for their sin and to restore them. How? Restore them gently. But always beware that you can be tempted in that way. And then in 2 Timothy 2 25, gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will chose, will change, perhaps God will change those people's hearts, and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil's trap, for they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants. To be a rescuer. To be a rescuer is a great way to live. Pray about that. See what God can do in your life. Maybe read books on counseling, biblical counseling. Billy Graham, the Billy Graham evangelistic ministry used to have a counseling handbook that had like situations and then verses and plans of actions and things like that you could get as a resource. It would be really good if we had people that were like, don't really call them counselors because it causes insurance problems. So more Christian encouragers in the church to help people in their faith. Number two, rest secure in God's power to hold you. Rest secure in God's power to hold you. We go through this life and we think Jesus has saved us. We don't want to mess it up. So Jesus, he forgave me of my sin, and now I can never sin again, or I'm gonna ruin it. Like uh like having a perfect white shirt and everything's or a perfect white suit if you're into that, or a white dress, and everything's perfect until you get a stain on it, and then you're like, it's not good for anything. I'll just have to throw it away. That's not what Jesus does with you. So Jude says, to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, to he who is able to keep you from falling, to those, to him who is able to keep you from destroying your life. Philippians 1 6 says, Being confident of this, confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Your spiritual life might be a roller coaster of obedience and doing good and then slacking off and backsliding, and it might not be an even uphill battle, and so it might just be this roller coaster of mess. But God can use that. And in the 70 years or 80 years or 100 years or how many years he gives, he can help you to become more and more like Jesus every day. Ask yourself, are you different today? Are you more on fire for the Lord? You know more about Scripture, have you made more of an eternal impact on society? Are you more like Jesus today than you were last year and 10 years ago? And how are you changing? And if you're not changing very much, what do you think you should be doing to change more? Maybe you need to spend more time in God's Word. Maybe you need to plug into some other practical teaching classes or books or resources or the men's or women's Bible study or the Sunday school classes. Jesus says in John 10, 28, I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my father's hand. The believer in Christ, the follower of Christ, the saved person that's been adopted into God's family is doubly secure because they're not going to snatch them out of Jesus' hand, and they're not going to snatch them out of the Father's hand. No one's going to snatch you out of Jesus' hand. No one is going to snatch you out of the Father's hand. You are secure in Christ. If you are truly born again in Christ, you are forever, eternally in Christ. Even if you mess up somewhere along the way. Ephesians 1 13 says, Now you Gentiles have also heard the truth. The good news that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised, and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. So we look at our lives and we say, I am imperfect, but Jesus is perfect. I can't get myself to heaven. I can't get myself right with God, but Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can and is working on me. And we trust and we move forward. So are you trusting your own ability to stay faithful? Or are you resting in God's power to preserve you? As we move forward and we trust, number three, we can rejoice in the hope of Christ's eternal glory. And that is the exciting thing about this doxology, to present you before his glorious presence without fault and great joy. To present, you will be made to stand in God's presence, secure and welcomed, without fault. You will be blameless, not because of your performance, but because of Christ's righteousness, with great joy. This is not a reluctant reception, it is a celebration, and Jesus delights to welcome you home. Doxologies in the Bible are times of praise. It's a short hymn of praise to God. Comes from the Greek word doxa, means glory, and logos means word, meaning a word of glory. Doxologies matter because they recenter our hearts on God who is, redirect our focus from fear to faith, and re-ignite our worship in response to his greatness. So Romans 11.36 is another doxology. To him be the glory forever. Amen. Ephesians 3.20, to him be glory throughout all generations. First Timothy 1.17, to the King eternal be glory, be honor and glory forever. Theologian Millard Erickson says doxologies are expressions of deep theological truth expressed in worshipful wonder. To present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy. If you think about seeing Jesus face to face, you wonder, will you look in awe and say, Jesus, I've known you. I have a personal relationship with you. It's like a family reunion, I'm so excited. Or you will you shrink back in shame and say, Oh, I didn't know you were gonna come now, or I didn't know I was gonna die so soon. Pray for the family of the 21-year-old person who died yesterday at Giants Ridge somehow. Skiing, it sounds. You just never know how long you get. 21 years, 35 years, 60 years, 100 years. We don't know how many days that we all get, but we know that we should serve Jesus, live for Jesus, and trust him with the days that we get. Romans 8, 18. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. And then we look at at the end, at the end, where are we headed? Where is this going? Revelation 11, 15. And this seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven. The world has now become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. That is exciting. So again, Millard Erickson in his Christian theology makes a quick list of what we're looking forward to. Christ will return personally and visibly, the second coming will be literal and triumphant. There will be a resurrection of the dead, believers and unbelievers will be raised. A millennial reign of Christ will follow, a period of a thousand years where Christ rules before the final judgment, and a final judgment in the eternal state where the wicked will be judged and the righteous will dwell eternally with God. And then five, the kingdom is both present and future. We experience it spiritually now, but it will be fully realized at Christ's return. To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and 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. Amen means so be it. Let it be. We should keep trusting, we should keep rescuing, we should keep worshiping, we should keep contending, and we should keep looking up as we live in victory. The next time we get together, we're gonna look at when Jesus is welcome in every area of our life. And that's communion Sunday, so there'll be a good time for that. You know, each Sunday we get together, and so we have an opportunity to worship, we have an opportunity to pray, we have an opportunity to sing, and we should really take our opportunity to give as something important because it shows tangibly how much we trust God, how much we love God, and where we are at spiritually. So when we're focused on investing in the things of God, investing in the people of God, investing in his church, a tangible way to do that is giving, and you can give on the box. A lot of people don't have cash, so we offer an opportunity to give online at rockwell.church forward slash give. And so when we give, God sees, God knows, God can provide, and God can help us through. So each week when I send out the email update, which you can easily get, you go to our website and just click on the thing that says get email update. And so I usually have a paragraph that encourages giving what the Bible says about giving, and it's a good thing. Let me pray. Jesus, I thank you so much for your word. So many more things I could have said about spiritual coaching and guiding and training and discipling and so many good things. But Lord, I thank you that you have given us the opportunity to serve you, to live for you, to be part of your army, your servants, to be part of what you're doing through the Spirit. God, we just thank you for that. We pray that anybody here that struggles with their faith would seek help. Maybe ask me or someone else. And anybody here that knows a lost person would grab one of those how to find God New Testaments and bring it to them and share with them what they know about you and life and salvation. Lord, we pray that you would grow us and then you'd grow this church. We pray that you would do great things as we seek to serve you, as we seek to show mercy, as we seek to snatch people from the flames of judgment, as we seek to live for you confident in all that you're doing and all you're gonna do. In Jesus' name. Amen.