We're doing a Book Study on Jude.
In a Book Study, you basically read the book through once to get the scope of the book (maybe you'll read it 2 or 3 times)... This shouldn't be hard since Jude is a total of 1 chapter or 25 verses.
Oh! And when you read it, you have to put it into its historical setting too.
Once you read through it, you go back and do more of a detailed analysis. Like I do, kind of. So in a Book Study you're going to "develop a statement regarding the meaning of each paragraph as well as a statement for the entire book."
Here's a link to Jude on BibleGateway.com (first link is actually Jude, second is just BibleGateway :)
Okay. I'm going to do what I normally do. Then I'm going to do a paragraph by paragraph analysis. 'Kay? 'Kay.
Jude 1-25
1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,
To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:
2Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
Greetings! WOOT! Yeah. Sooo Jude is one of James' brothers... This is a letter to "those who have been called" and "who are loved... and kept" by God&Jesus. "Sending mercy, peace, and love your way peeps!" That's basically what he's saying. ;P (This is going to be an "Abby Paraphrase" Post with the general ideas about Jude at the end. YAY! =P)
The sin and doom of Godless men (This sounds like a lot of fun! ...not.)
3Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.Okay. So I was gonna write to you about happy thing... like about our salvation! That's cool, right? Yeah. But I didn't. I wrote to you about how you still have to fight for your faith.
So there are these people... they were written about a really long time ago. You probably don't remember... which is why I'm telling you this. But they're coming. They're there actually... they're right there with you. They don't love God. They want to deny that Jesus was the Christ. It kinda stinks. Soooo keep on reading. Cuz there's more about these people!
5Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
Man. Jude may have written a really small book (short letter), but he wasn't joking around. He was all about reminding people what was going on. What happened. What their past was. What the present was. And eventually, what their future would be. I mean, God banished angels. Satan was an angel. Until he decided that it would be a good idea to try to fight God... mmm...that didn't work out too well. Now he's bound with the everlasting chains for judgment.... kinda scary.
Oh, remember those people who were destroyed with fire&brimstone? yeah. They kinda did the same thing as the angels... I mean, I guess you could call them an example... not of what you want to be though. Just, ya know, a thought.
8In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. 9But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals—these are the very things that destroy them.
These are some pretty heavy accusations... that were true. I think it's interesting that when Michael was fighting with the devil, he just kind of deferred to God... almost like he was too mature to respond and just was like "I'm going to let God tell you off for this... I don't have the time" I don't think that was really how it went... but Michael did defer to God. And that's what we need to do sometimes.
Even though we sometimes defer to God, people still respond automatically. They don't go with the "think before you speak" tactic. They just react how they feel. And that's dangerous....
11Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.
12These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
These people don't exactly have it good. They rushed. They'll be destroyed. Kinda grim, eh? (Yes. I am from Canada. NO! I'm from Guadalajara. NO. I'm from Akron, OH. Which one's true? haha)
In a few words: these people (men? Were there women involved too? Or was it just men? Interesting...) took out what they didn't put in and reaped what they didn't sow (Luke 19:21).
They didn't produce anything good. They didn't even help. The darkness was reserved for them. Crazy.
14Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." 16These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
Like I said above: these people didn't produce anything good. They grumbled. They found faults. They took advantage of people. But the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones. Crazy man. God's amazing. And he has thousands upon thousands of holy people... I wouldn't want to mess with God!
A call to persevere (Yes! Encouragement!)
17But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." 19These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.The prophets were well aware that there would be people like this. They warned for the future generations to look out for them. Because they would be the ones that divided them. they would divide them because they didn't have the Holy Spirit. They didn't follow God's desires for their lives. They followed their own desires.
20But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
But keep close to each other. Build each other up. Pray. Rest in God's love and mercy. Important things.
Just now I'm noticing that yesterday, I think... or Thursday, I read 2 blogs about resting. I think I'm a little busy. When someone asks how I am, busy is generally in the reply. I need to remember to take the time to rest in God's love. (Is it bad that I'm penciling this in? haha)
22Be merciful to those who doubt; 23snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
Mercy. Salvation. Mercy interlaced with fear. Holy Hate. That's my thoughts on this.
Doxology (an expression of praise to God-dictionary.com)
24To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! AmenGod can keep us from falling. He can. He doesn't always. He will pick us back up when we fall.
He presents us with his presence. That's faultless... an extremely joyful.
We should offer ourselves to God's glory, power, majesty, and authority.
A-men.
Okay. This is going to "marinate" overnight. Because I'm tired. And it's getting late. And I have to get up "early" tomorrow. (I'm actually sleeping in by my normal standards, but today has been a long day... because my sister LEFT US! For Germany. For 2 1/2 months. For school. To get her Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certification. It was weird to just leave her at the airport. But she called us to tell us that she made it to Charlotte okay. She called when the people in front of her were boarding the flight to Frankfurt, Germany. She'll get to Frankfurt at about 1 am (about 2 hours left in the flight!) and then she'll fly to Dresden (where she's spending the summer) from there. Crazy. So her plane will land around 3:30 am our time... 9:30 Dresden time. I might not have the times quite right... but it's something crazy like that. I'll keep you updated on what's going on. Hopefully she'll post something on her blog sometime soon after she gets there! I know my dad is getting e-mailed as soon as she's able to get her computer up and running in the airport :) And THAT is why I've had a long day! (not to mention cleaning out the garage. That would probably explain some of the sleepiness too! =P))
On a slightly random note:
Bohemian Rhapsody is an amazing song. Juuust thought you should know that. Oh! Hey! Here. Why don't you listen to it? (Disclaimer: This song may get stuck in your head and you might not be able to get it out for a while. Just saying :D)
So I'm going to go to bed. I'll finish this up in NIPTO, Day 98 tomorrow. That'll have the statements about each paragraph and the book at large. So. Until then!
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