How to Live with Confidence in Christ

Faith can stand firm because Christ holds His people secure. Pastor Chris Teien begins a series in Jude by showing how believers can live with confidence because they are called by God, loved by the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ. Even in life’s storms, Christians can remain steadfast and shine the light of Christ.

In This Message

1. God Has Called You, Your Life Has a Purpose
(Jude 1; 1 Peter 1:15; Romans 8:28)
Jude reminds believers that they have been called by God. Life is not just daily routine or survival. Every follower of Jesus has a purpose, a calling, and an opportunity to serve Christ faithfully.

2. God Loves You Deeply, His Love Is Your Confidence
(Jude 1; Romans 8:38-39; Ephesians 1:4)
God’s love gives believers security when life feels uncertain. Because Christians are loved by the Father, they can face struggles, questions, and discouragement with confidence in Christ.

3. God Will Keep You Safe, Your Future Is Secure
(Jude 1-2; John 10:27-28; 2 Timothy 1:12)
Believers are kept for Jesus Christ. No storm, struggle, or uncertainty can remove them from His care. God’s mercy, peace, and love are available in abundance for those who trust Him.

Helping you understand and apply God’s Word as you follow Jesus in everyday life. Learn more about Pastor Chris Teien at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell Church at Rockwell.church. Find more sermon audio and transcripts at Well.faith. If this message encouraged you, let us know at wellfaith24@gmail.com.

Transcript

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Chris T 0:16

I want to introduce a series in the book of Jude. The Book of Jude. It's interesting that I'm gonna do five weeks on a Bible section that is in most of your Bibles, unless you've got the large print version, one page. So I printed out some of my Bible commentary stuff. Most of it's on computer. I had 160 some pages of Bible commentary stuff to read through for one page of the book of Jude. And so I want to introduce the series and maybe explain to you why every image for the messages is a lighthouse this time. So some churches subscribe to services that make their message sermon images. We use them to promote the message here for the email update, for the YouTube cover page, and all of those things. So one image can go a long distance. So I often spend some time to come up with the images for the series all at the same time. And this time it is all lighthouses. And so if you can't see this because you're listening by audio, there's a picture of a Bible with a lighthouse on top of the pages and a torrential storm on top of it that says steadfast how to stand firm in the faith. I think in your bulletin it lists this too, but today is how to live with confidence in Christ. And then it's how to stand firm for biblical truth, and then how to avoid the traps of spiritual deception, then how to stay strong when the world is falling apart. That sounds like a good one, doesn't it? How to live in victory until Jesus returns. And those would be good. So I don't know if you like lighthouses. I think my brother-in-law likes lighthouses. Lighthouse calendars. Lighthouses are cool. A lighthouse stands steadfast against the crashing waves and relentless storms. A lighthouse obviously has a light that pierces through the darkness to try to guide the ships or keep the ships from dashing up against the rocks to help guide the ship safely to shore. A lighthouse is firmly anchored, and we too can be firmly anchored and rooted in Christ in life's storms. So we need to be like lighthouses. We need to shine out the light of Christ. We need to stand strong against spiritual deception. We need to offer hope to those navigating life's storms. In my past church, I worked from home most of the time, and then we met at a school. Here we have an office, but I work here and I work from home and I seem to work all the time. And some people wonder what is the advantage to a church having a full-time pastor. And it one of the advantages is the full-time pastor is kind of like the lighthouse keeper. So he's always there, available, to help in time of need, to see the storm coming and make sure the light is shining and do all of those things. But everybody, every one of us, we need to keep growing in our we need to find faith, but we need to keep growing in our faith. We need to know how we can navigate life's challenges. We need to know how we can help guide people in the storms of life. And so I hope that each message, this one will be shorter because we're having communion, and I really want to focus on that communion time and give you some time so it's not rushed. But we all have personal struggles, and sometimes the personal struggles keep changing. So we go through different phases of life. Sometimes, you know, will we get married? Should we get married? Who will we married? Who will we marry? And then we get married, and it's like, okay, now we're married. How do we get along? What do we do about a family? How do we provide for the family? And then as the family grows, it's like, what do we do about the kids? What do we do about the grandkids? What do we do about retirement? All these things. Everybody's got to struggle in some phase of life. And the Lord cares about every one of those phases and every one of those stages and every one of those periods of life. And for us to be Christ followers who have confidence, even if we don't have an answer, even if we don't have the solution, even if we don't have the resource, but we keep trusting in the Lord, not only is that a great way to live and a joy-filled way to live, but people see that and people are attracted to that, and people may find Jesus because you're steadfast and standing firm in the faith. So today, how to live with confidence in Christ. And here we have a lighthouse that is a real picture because I've seen it in multiple pictures, but there's flowers and green stuff, and it looks summery. And to even have the confidence that spring is coming. That, while you know, March is actually the time when you get the heavy snowstorms and the basketball tournament blizzards and all that, that we know that it's coming. So what do we do? We plan for it. We plan for it. You can go to the stores right now and you can buy seeds. You can even get your garden started in your basement with your grow lights or your greenhouse or whatever you have because you're confident that spring and summer is coming. You have confidence in that. So you make decisions based on that. And if you have confidence in Christ, confidence in faith, confidence in your salvation, that is going to make a difference in the way that you choose to live and the things that you prioritize, and the way that you spend your time and your money and what your values are and what you will stand for. So our passage today is Jude chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. And if you have a Bible or a phone Bible, I guess a phone Bible, you just put in Jude. But if you're in a paper Bible, it's that one page probably right next to the book of Revelation, towards the back. And here out of the New International Version, it says, Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. Mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance. So here in this passage from the New International Version, it says that we are loved, that we're called, loved, and kept. And it's interesting that in the King James Version, in the New King James Version, instead of loved, it says sanctified. And so that bothered me to the point that I spent some time researching it and went to Bill Mount's, the Bible Greek experts page to find out, okay, which is it? Because you know, I want to be sanctified, set apart to God. Sanctified is a big deal, and I also want to be loved. And so which is it? And so the Bible scholar, Greek Bible scholar Bill Mounts said that it is most likely loved. That we are still, though, for set apart to God for his good purposes and his pleasures. Isn't it great to know that God loves you so much, that God cares for you so much, that he would delight in you and do all of the things that he does to help you to grow in faith, to be part of his family, to be adopted as a child of God, to be assured heaven and all of those things for those who believe in Christ. So let's talk about this Jude guy for a minute. So I had to go to the Converge Pastors Conference. So every two years, the Converge churches get together. That's the denomination or group we're a part of. There's over 200 churches like us across Iowa and Minnesota. There's others in other districts of Converge across the United States, but Converge North Central is roughly 200 churches. And so we got together on Friday and Saturday for the pastors conference. And I've never actually been to a pastor's conference on Friday and Saturday. I think it's a very bad idea, especially if you live four hours away. It's like, don't you people have to go to church on Sunday? But anyway, that's what it was. And so as I was driving back, so was it almost three and a half hours or so? I was listening on Audible to someone else's series of messages on Jude. And so there's confusion as to who is this Jude person. And so is yeah, let me read to you. I forgot questions. I always point that out as a resource. So it is never my intention to stand up here and be the Bible expert that you have to come to ask questions on. I want to be an encourager and equip you to do ministry. And I try to tell you all the time when you have questions about scripture, when you want to learn more about things, that got questions, the app and the gotquestions.org website have succinct answers and lots of scripture references that you can click on to help you find the answers that you're looking for. So you will come across people that have all sorts of questions, and you might not be able to get a hold of me. And I hope that you probably wouldn't call me in the middle of your discussion with your friend or whatever. I'd rather you like have access to the information. So got questions. Gotquestions.org succinctly describes who Judas is. So there was Judas Iscariot. This is not the guy. He didn't like say, Yeah, I kind of messed up, but I'm back. Call me Jude, not Judas. No, Judas Iscariot betrayed our Lord for 30 pieces of silver, was a chosen disciple who later hanged himself. So it wasn't him. Judas the Apostle is identified in the Gospels as Judas, not Iscariot. So Jesus chose two men by the name of Jude or Judas to be among the 12 disciples. One followed faithfully, one didn't. So there's a really funny thing. So I don't know if you've ever heard of Sean McDowell, Josh McDowell's son. He has big podcasts, he writes a lot of books, he is on RightNow Media, the video service we offer. He's a big deal. And so I had met his dad in the past, Josh McDowell, back in like the 90s when I was a youth pastor. We did this big evangelism conference, and Josh McDowell was the speaker. And it was funny because he'd always look at my name tag. He did this repeatedly. He'd be like, Hey Chris, it's good to see you. And it's like he's looking at my name tag. I know that you don't really know my name, Josh, but he was a really nice guy. And he's getting older, and I was wondering how he was, and I was just waiting because I went to this pastor's conference where Sean McDowell was, and first thing I wanted to say is, How's your dad doing? How's your dad doing? And I get there and look at the guy, I'm like, huh, you do not look like anything. You don't look anything like the guy in the video. So not what I was expecting. So it turns out that there is a Sean McDowell who works for the Billy Graham Association and Wheaton that teaches evangelism, that lives in Minnesota, that's not even related to Josh McDowell. And but I was like, are you related? Are you a brother? And I'm like, so how often do you go through life? And people are like, oh, you're not who I expected. He's like, that happens a lot. All these people are like, how's your dad doing? It's like, well, my dad's doing pretty good. I don't really know what Josh McDowell is doing, but there's just this confusion, you know, as to names. So fortunately, my name is very unusual. And most people actually, I don't really know if there are any Chris Tyans in the United States. They're more likely in Norway. There were some others with my name and relatives, but they're dead. So my last name is so hard to spell. I recently changed my own personal website from Christ Tyon.com to wealth.faith, because that is a lot easier to say and to spell. But so back to Judas. It wasn't obviously Judas the Iscariot, and it wasn't Judas the Apostle, Judas the disciple that Jesus named among the twelve disciples. And this audio that I listened to, this audio book that I listened to on the way up, the pastor said that was the guy. But it turns out it's not the guy. Judah, I'm sorry, Jude here was half-brother of Jesus and brother of James, leader of the first Jerusalem church. So this Jude was the son of Mary and Joseph and would have been raised as a brother to Jesus Christ, according to Mark 6, verse 3. This Jude is the author of the New Testament book by that name that we're studying now, and he identifies himself as a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. Why wouldn't you just say, I'm Jude? Half brother of Jesus. Half brother of Jesus. And why didn't James come out and say, hey, I'm half brother? We share the same mother of Jesus. Maybe it was pride. Maybe they didn't want that to stand in the way. So they said that were servants, followers of Jesus. Maybe. Well, actually, the Holy Spirit guided them into what to say. But so you have James, who was a big deal, and then Jude that was kind of unheard of. So Jude's like, hey, I'm brother of James. You know who you knew James is like the leader of the church. So I'm his brother. And so I don't think he was looking to get notoriety. I don't think he was looking to say, you know, well, everybody's writing books or gospels. I want one too. I think what he was seeing is that there was a big mess in the church with false teachers coming in. False teachers would come in and try to sway people towards Gnosticism, towards false doctrine, because one, Satan wants to do that. Two, it would help them to gain notoriety and maybe money. So there was a lot of that going on. And this is what Jude is fighting in this book that we're going to look into that's going to build our faith. So it is Jude, the half-brother of Jesus. You know, it's interesting though is that just because you grew up in Jesus' family didn't mean that you were automatically a believer, a follower in Christ. As a matter of fact, Jude and James in the very beginning didn't really believe and follow Jesus until much later. So after Jesus was resurrected, then their faith was much stronger, much more secure. And I guess that if you go around and tell everybody, I am Jude, Jesus was my brother, then the whole conversation switches to wow, what was it like to grow up with Jesus? What was he like as a kid? What did he was he good at sports? What did he do? Tell me all about him. So Julia and I have some friends who one girl, this lady is a sister to a major league baseball pitcher. So her younger brother is a professional baseball player. And my one of my questions was to her husband. I'm like, hey, what was it like growing up with this guy? When this kid was little, what was he like? He was like, he could throw the ball really hard. It's like, yeah, that would make sense. But to focus on being a follower of Jesus, to focus on Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ. That's where we all need to be. We all need to be there. It is not who we're related to, it is not our heritage, it is not our position, it is not who we know or what we have. It is our desire to serve Jesus Christ, whether there's notoriety or not, whether it's popular or not, whether we're well received or we're not, we want to follow and serve Jesus Christ and serve him in the way that he intended, and serve him humbly and being willing to do whatever task that he has for us, to do the task that he leads us to do. A lot of people think that to become a pastor or a leader of a church, you just go to school and you get a degree and you pop out and you're like, okay, I'm ready to pastor a church, but that's not usually the way that it works. Yes, pastors do go to school, many for as long as doctors, six, eight years or more. But instead, the pastors that get hired, the pastors that people want are the ones that were faithful in all the little experiences, the ones that were faithful to say yes. I tell people that are going to Bible college or seminary, you want to get the education, but you also want to get the experience. So I was blessed, I think, to have, not sure if it was two or three Crown College interns, but to give them the experience, to help them to learn how to serve in a way in the church congregation was gracious and allowed them an opportunity to serve and to preach and to do different things. So we had one intern that preached a sermon, it was a pretty good sermon, and he said the word in conclusion, and then he had like multiple points after that. And there was one family that had a bunch of teenagers, and they're like, We're not coming back. I'm like, What? They're like, that was just too much pressure. I'm like, he's new, he's just learning. Give him another chance. Oh, okay, we didn't know that. And then they did give him another chance, and he's a successful pastor now, pastor now doing great things. But to be faithful, to serve in the little roles. So you in church, you're like, how can I serve? And then you end up helping with the fellowship team, or you end up helping with chairs and tables or lawn care or sound booth or whatever. And then there's an opportunity for you to teach something, and you're like, I don't really know exactly what to do. And then somebody else that's more experienced comes along and they teach you and they help you, and they give you an opportunity to practice while they're there, and then you get better at it. And then pretty soon you're teaching and you're a teacher, and you love teaching, and you love other teachers, and pretty soon you're like leading the teachers, and it's just this progression of you being faithful to say, Yes, Lord, yes, I will serve you in this way, I will do this thing, I'll do it for your glory, I'll do it because I think it's what you want me to do, and then you just keep moving forward, and who knows where a lifetime of serving Jesus will lead. You may find yourself the head, the leader, and you may look back and find lots of people sharing testimonies about how their life was changed because you were faithful. So, and that leads. This is the I think I read this mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance. That's actually the first two. But anyway, God has called you, your life has a purpose that God has called you. Do you think your life has a purpose now? Do you know what that purpose is? Your purpose is not just to make money to put food on the table and you know pay for a place to live. People get caught in this constant cycle of that I get up in the morning, I go to work, I come home, I eat dinner, I watch TV, I go to sleep, I get up in the morning, I go to work. And it just is this constant cycle that doesn't bring a lot of satisfaction, doesn't bring a lot of results if you get caught in the circle. It is good to have a pattern, it is good to also try to break that pattern and find ways to grow, find ways to serve, and find ways to make a difference in the world. I mean, what if you, as a servant of Jesus Christ, who have been you've been called to make disciples, because we've all been called to make disciples, what if you woke up in the morning and said, Lord, I want you to know that I'm available. I want to serve you today. I give you permission to interrupt my day. If you have something that I could do to share my faith, to tell someone about you, to further your kingdom, or to help someone in need, I want to fulfill the purposes you have for my life. And I wonder what kind of adventure that would be if you were ready, if you were prepared, if you were prayed up. What a good thing. So, a servant of Jesus Christ, to those who have been called, to those who have been called. So we are called to follow the Lord, not merely an invitation, but an effectual summons to salvation. So the same word that Paul used, the same word is used when Paul speaks to those God has chosen to belong to him. So we are called to salvation. We are called to follow Jesus. We are called to live in holiness, just as he who has called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. 1 Peter 1:15. We are called to serve. You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh. Rather, serve one another humbly and in love. We're all called to share Christ's message. Some are called to travel as missionaries, some are called to you know preach and have opportunity. So in my past church, I did not preach all of the sermons. I usually went six weeks, and then an elder in the church or someone in the church would share a message. And so that was a good rhythm. It would be fun to get back to that again. But Romans 10 15 says, How can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. Called to teach, some are called to missions. You'll hear about that at the Range Missions Conference. And we're all called also to suffer for Christ. So, what about your Calling, what is he what is the Lord calling you to do? So in 1 Peter 2, you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful life. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received received mercy. What a good thing to be called by God, to experience God, to be able to serve God and live for him in such a way. So Romans 8 28, we love that passage because it tells us that we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them for them. So God calls us according to his purpose, he's working everything out. Things are going bad, but we can trust, you know, okay, God's got a plan. I'm just gonna wait to see how God's working out this plan. And then we read the next verse that says, For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his son, so that his son would be the firstmore born among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him, and having called them, he gave them right standing with himself, and having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. What a great thing! What a comforting passage, what a great thing to know that we are called by the Lord. So there's other passages in your bulletin you can look through. I will probably come back to some of this next week when there's more time. I want to make sure there's time for communion. Ephesians 1 4 says, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy without fault in his eyes. And so, number two, God loves you deeply. His love is your confidence. Now we just came off of a four-week series on love. So we talked a whole lot about love. So if you go back to February 2nd, we've got love and action flows from Jesus through us. And on the 9th of February, we've got love and action for every season. The 16th, love and action shapes the next generation. And on the 23rd, love and action at work, school, and play. So hopefully you're convinced of God's love. Hopefully you are convinced and you understand God's love here in this passage, who are loved in God the Father. So Romans 8:38, I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels, nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So hopefully, when times are tough, you'll remember that God loves you and cares about you. When you don't know the future, you know that Jesus loves you and cares about you. When you are feeling lonely or discouraged or sad, or I don't know, sometimes you just don't feel anything to have the confidence that the Bible says that God, that Jesus, that we are loved, that we are loved by our Heavenly Father, that we are loved. God's love is everlasting and we are loved eternally in Christ. That God's love draws us and He continues to call us closer to Him through the Holy Spirit. I'm gonna talk more about this love, I think, next week. So let's skip ahead because we've talked about love quite a bit. So we will move ahead to point number three. God will keep you safe, your future is secure. God will keep you safe, your future is secure. You know, the future seems so scary. Who knows what the future holds? You know, they talk about, well, we're probably gonna need to have an universal income because the robots and the computers will do everything, and there won't be any jobs for any people. Meanwhile, I read somewhere that they were bringing back shop class so that people can learn how to fix stuff. I mean, a robot in a computer can manufacture things and maybe come out with plans and literature, but they're not going to be able to fix your toilet or hook up your plumbing. At least not now. But God knows what's going on, and God can keep us safe in the future. Even in an unknown future, we can trust that God will hold us and keep us secure and kept for Jesus Christ. Mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance to be kept, to be secure, to know that the Lord has us. In John 27, my sheep listen to my voice, I know them, they follow me, I give them eternal life, they shall never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hands. So there is the message last year in 2023 about the Jesus being the good shepherd that you could reference. But the whole security, Paul's in prison in 2 Timothy 1 12. He says, I'm suffering here in prison, but I'm not ashamed of it, for I know the one whom I trust, and I'm sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return. So these are some of the things that we're going to talk about, the direction that we're headed this month for this series, and I will bring back some of this next week. But let's move to communion. I also want to mention also those last three verses at communion and to talk about mercy, peace, and love. So they're not limited resources. Jesus offers them an overflowing measure, enough to cover every need in every situation. So we can trust that we have God's mercy when we fall, God's mercy lifts us up. We can trust we have God's peace when we're troubled, God's peace calms your soul. We can trust that we have God's love, and when we feel unworthy, God's love reminds us of our worth.