Great Rock Church Pastor Mat Nadworny

Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal points out the reality of the choice all of us have either to follow the Lord or something else. Pastor Jin Paik asks: what choice will we make? Do we like our sin too much to give it up? He also shares some lessons about letting God guide in ministry, learned from beginning a new church on the beach in Florida -- Anchor Hope.

We look at the hope of the resurrection: what it means to be sown in weakness and raised in power. And Pastor Mat also points out why everything we do for Jesus matters.

Outline of Jude: (1) The demand for the letter in vv 1-4; (2) the description of false teachers in vv 5-16; (3) how to defend against false teachers in vv 17-23; and (4) Paul's doxology in vv 24-25.
As we continue our look at false teachers, Pastor Mat points out that they have no respect for authority and they speak ill of dignitaries. Does that speak to us in our current political climate? We also learn about three types of false teachers, following the examples of Cain, Balaam, and Core.

Is there a connection between suffering for Christ and heavenly rewards? The church at Smyrna had no condemnation or correction from Jesus, but they also suffered the most for Him. Pastor Mat looks at that suffering, how they were "crushed" and how that relates to our lives today. We also learn from this church that, even in the midst of poverty, if we have Jesus, we have everything.

In part two of this look at the Resurrection of Christ, Pastor Mat points out the consequences of saying Jesus did not rise from the dead. And we learn that we are not to have faith in faith, but faith in the resurrection and the truth of God's Word.

False teachers say it's okay to live any way we want as Christians. But is that correct? Taking his cue from Jude, Pastor Mat stresses that we should be fighting the battle every day to walk worthy of our calling in Christ. Jesus died to give us the freedom to live holy lives, not to give in to sin and trample the grace of God.