LIVING SECURELY and CONFIDENTLY Jude 24-25 How can we live SECURELY and CONFIDENTLY when life is so difficult at times? (Life is hard—the three books we read and listened to on our recent trip all dealt with people’s lives that experienced difficulties and hardships.) Consider the Benedictions and Doxologies of the Bible: - Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” - 2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 deals with God sanctifying us. - Hebrews 13:20-21 deals with God equipping us. - Jude 24-25 “Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.” We can live securely and confidently because God does two things for us: God keeps us from stumbling. - God is the one who guards and protects our life. - We are secure because of Him. John 10:27-30 - Romans 8:38-39 - Ephesians 1:13-14 - 1 Peter 1:3-5 God makes us stand in His presence. - We will stand “blameless” before Him. (Greek “amōmous” relates to the sacrifice “without spot or blemish”) - We stand covered by the spotless sacrifice of Jesus! - We will stand rejoicing in His presence! We can live securely and confidently because of God’s greatness: Four reminders that God is in control of our life: - To Him be the GLORY doxa—weight, splendor, radiance of light. (all the divine attributes) - To Him be the MAJESTY megalōsunē —Kingly majesty, the word is only used of God and never used in reference to a human. - To Him be the POWER kratos—control over the world. - To Him be the AUTHORITY exousia—sovereignty of God, the one who possesses the Divine right to do as He wills. Jude finishes with one final triad: - In the past (before all time) - Now (the present) - Forever (in the future) Next Step: - When life gets hard—remember you are being secured by God!