Smells Like Smoke-Contend For The Faith

We're gonna worship our awesome God today and we're gonna celebrate some amazing baptisms. Let's worship today. He opened the prison doors. He parted the raging sea. My God, He holds the victory. There's joy in the house of the Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today. And we won't be quiet. We shout out to praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is surely in this place. And we won't be quiet. We shout out to praise. We sing to the God who heals. We sing to the God who saves. We sing to the God who always makes a way. Cause He hung up on that cross and He rose up from that grave. My God still holds those who wait. There's joy in the house of the Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today. And we won't be quiet. We shout out to praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is surely in this place. And we won't be quiet. We shout out to praise. And we were the beggars and now we're royalty. We were the prisoners and now we're running free. We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by His grace. Let the house of the Lord sing praise. We were the beggars and now we're royalty. We were the prisoners and now we're running free. We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by His grace. Let the house of the Lord sing praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today. And we won't be quiet. We shout out to praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is surely in this place. And we won't be quiet. We shout out to praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today. And we won't be quiet. We shout out to praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is surely in this place.

And we won't be quiet. We were the beggars and now we're royalty. We were the prisoners and now we're running free. We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by His grace. Let the house of the Lord sing praise. We were the beggars and now we're royalty. We were the prisoners and now we're running free. We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by His grace. Let the house of the Lord sing praise. There's no one like the Lord. There's no one like You, Lord. You're the only one who is worthy. The giver of forgiveness, rich in mercy. I was dead in sin, but You pulled me from the pit God, You saved my soul and I can't get over it I respond to Your grace with faith on fire I surrender it all, hands held high from my heart Do the heavens hear my cry? I love You, I love You Jesus, I give You my worship You can have my whole heart No one else is worthy like You are Jesus, You alone deserve it Here's my hallelujah No one else is worthy like You are You're only one, the highest King of Heaven Enthroned upon the praises of Your people Every knee will bow down and every tongue will play You get all the glory, all the honor of the praise Jesus, I give You my worship You can have my whole heart No one else is worthy like You are

Jesus, You alone deserve it Here's my hallelujah No one else is worthy like You are I respond to Your grace with faith on fire I surrender it all, hands held high from my heart Do the heavens hear my cry? I love You I respond to Your grace with faith on fire I surrender it all, hands held high from my heart Do the heavens hear my cry? I love You, I love You Jesus, I give You my worship You can have my whole heart No one else is worthy like You are Jesus, You alone deserve it Here's my hallelujah No one else is worthy like You are Like You are No one else is worthy like You are You're worthy, Lord You're worthy of all our praise There's no one greater No one higher Jesus, You're worthy It was my cross You bore So I could live In the freedom You died for And now my life is Yours And I will sing of the goodness forevermore Worthy is Your name, Jesus You deserve the praise Worthy is Your name

Worthy is Your name, Jesus You deserve the praise Worthy is Your name And now my shame is gone I stand amazed I stand amazed I stand amazed I stand amazed I stand amazed ♪ In the love undeniable ♪ ♪ Your grace goes on and on ♪ ♪ And I will sing of your goodness forevermore ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy Lord ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens ♪

♪ As your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Be exalted Lord now ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise you're worthy of Lord ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh you deserve the praise you're worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise you're worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ So worthy Lord ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name Jesus ♪

♪ Jesus you deserve the praise worthy is your name ♪ Come on let's just sing that out today. ♪ Worthy is your name Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise worthy is your name ♪ God, this morning, we just position our hearts in surrender in full humility to the goodness of you, the greatness of you. We exalt you today, God, in our worship, because you're so worthy to be praised. Jesus, we thank you right now. We celebrate right now, Lord, the work that you're doing in the lives, in our community, in our city. God, that you are moving. You are moving in ways that we cannot even comprehend. God, how amazing it is to serve a Lord that is actively doing miracles today. Jesus, I thank you for new life. I thank you for victory. I thank you for provision, Lord. I thank you for, man, hearing stories of providing jobs for individuals that have been praying for work, for restoring families that have been broken. Jesus, and I thank you, Lord, that if there are those here today that might not be able to claim these victories, we thank you, Jesus, that you give us hope to contend for these things, because you are a God of provision, a God of mercy, a God of grace, a God of love and acceptance, freedom.

Jesus, and we thank you that the power that you bring, God, is so accessible. Jesus, that you're working wonders, Lord. And so today, I just pray that you would strengthen and encourage our faith to reflect on the goodness of God, to believe for the impossible, Lord, because we know that you are moving. You are moving in ways that are unexplainable. You're so worthy. You're so worthy of praise. If you're here this morning and you just need some encouragement, you just need some, you know, maybe just a little extra dose of grace and love today, I just wanna encourage you to just like have a posture of openness to receive, maybe just to open up your hands kind of like you're receiving a gift. I just wanna pray right now, God, I just pray that you would meet us where we're at today. Jesus, that your love would move into our souls. God, we give everything that we are dealing with to you today. And we ask that you would take it off our chest, the weight, the pressure, that you would give us enough endurance, enough faith to get through the next step that we need to get through. We thank you, God, that you see us. You see every problem, every situation,

everything that we're going through, God. And you love us all the same. So we give these cares to you today, Lord. Precious mighty name, we pray. Amen. Amen, God's good today. He's good every day, right? Hey, well, if you came in and you got that cup of juice and the cracker, we're gonna go into the time of communion. We do this every week, but as we do this today, just be encouraged and accept that invitation that God welcomes you at the table. This cracker and the juice is a symbol of the work that Jesus did on the cross for us to have new life and freedom. His blood was shed, his body was broken, so that we could be free. And he invites us to do this with brothers and sisters in our faith, to remember the goodness of God, the goodness that he is. So let's go ahead and take communion and continue with our service. Amen. Amen. Amen. Oh You All up Antonell, I'm Anna And we're so glad you're here whether you're joining us for the first time or Pantano has been home for years

Welcome every week more than 3,000 people join us in person across all our campuses and over 2,000 more worship with us online No matter how you're joining us You're a part of our church family if you're here on campus stop by next steps after service We'd love to meet you answer your questions and help you find your next step joining us online We're so glad you're here Take a moment to fill out a connect card through next steps so we can get to know you keep you in the loop And help you get connected And if you want to stay connected with everything happening at Pantano follow us on social media for encouragement Behind-the-scenes moments ministry highlights and more last weekend across all our campuses 61 people chose to publicly declare their faith through baptism We're blown away by what God is doing in Tucson Benson and beyond if you're ready to jump in you can schedule your baptism by visiting next steps at Pantano Our mission is to love people to Jesus and launch passionate difference makers and your generosity helps make that mission possible Every gift creates opportunities for people to encounter Jesus Families to find hope and lives to be transformed when you give you're not just supporting what we do You're helping make a difference in people's lives here in Tucson across our campuses and beyond When you give you're investing in what God is doing through Pantano across our campuses throughout our community and around the world To give simply drop your gift in a giving box give online or text give to four six three five six Thank you for your faithful generosity and for being a part of all that God is doing through Pantano You may have heard rooted mentioned once or twice around Pantano and we can't wait for our fall rooted experience to kick off on August 23rd Rooted is a 10-week experience designed to help you connect more deeply with God build meaningful community and discover a place where you truly belong It's a space where life transformation begins If you're longing for a deeper connection greater freedom and a stronger faith We invite you to join us head to next steps for all the details and to get connected We can't wait to see how God brings healing growth and new life through your rooted experience Thanks again for joining us. We can't wait to see how God moves in our time together You

Hey, there's something special about a good campfire, isn't it now you feel like we live in Tucson bro, we don't even know what those are Those are called wildfires But there's something good when it's not a hundred and ten degrees outside For a good campfire. I don't know if you're like me I love sitting around a good fire with good people having good conversation. Usually there's somebody that lights a marshmallow on fire too soon There's usually somebody that wants to dive deeper like the jokes are funnier the conversation is deeper like there's just something about sitting around one of these That makes life a little better And then interesting eventually somebody I'll throw a couple extra logs on the fire because they they don't want the evening to end They want the fire to grow because you know Especially living in the desert if you throw another one on you got to stay out there till they're burnt And eventually Eventually, the night comes to an end. You get in the car, you don't want it to be over, but you're like, you know what, I guess the fire is over. It's time to go home, and then you get home, and if your family's like my family, I walk in and they're like, oh, you smell like smoke. I'm like, oh, I didn't even know. And then you go to bed, and you wake up the next morning, and the hoodie you were wearing, you go to put it back on, and you're like, oh, that smells like last night. Smells like the fire, smells like the smoke that was around, and it's not a bad smell. Like, I actually love the smell of a hoodie the next day after a campfire. It kind of smells like warmth. It smells like good conversation. It smells like friendship. It smells like a good night.

And here's what I know. Smoke is evidence of proximity. Smoke is evidence of proximity. Like, you get close enough to the fire to leave a mark on you. It's left something there. Like, what if our lives carried evidence that we had been close enough to people in pain, or people with doubt, or people who have wondered, or people who are one step from losing hope, and there was evidence all over us that we had been with them. Like, that is the image behind this series. Smells like smoke. In fact, this, you don't know this. I've been writing this sermon series for 28 years. Like, this is my life verse, Jude 23. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Like, literally, if you've been around, you've heard me talk about it. It hangs inside of our house, inside the front door. If you go over to Next Steps at our Houghton Road campus, you will see it on the wall in our Next Steps. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Like, here's my dream. I want you just to look around the spaces you're in, whether you're in Benson, whether you're here. I just want you to look around this room a little bit.

Just look around. Pay attention. You're staring at people awkwardly right now, right? Some of you guys are staring too long. Stop it. Back here, okay? And I want you to notice something. I want you to notice the seats that don't have people in them. The seats in proximity to you that there's nobody there. And let me tell you why I need you to notice that, because what I'm gonna implore you to be is a person that smells like smoke that has one person in your life far from God that you invite into one of these chairs, that you invite them into hope, that you invite them into Jesus. Now, do me a favor. When we do that, can we be kind when we do that? Can we be nice when we do that to people? Like, that's the image of this series. Like, if you've been around here, you know I tell our church all the time is that we're gonna snatch people out of hell to get them to hope. The only way you can do that is getting close enough to the fire. You can't do that from a safe distance. You can't yell across culture, hey, you're about to fall into hell, hope it works out.

No, no, no, no, you gotta get in proximity to the fire. There's gotta be evidence of smoke on us that we've gotten close enough to the fires of hell to get people to hope, that we would snatch people out of these places. See, Pantano, I don't want us to be a church that only talks about the fire. I want us to actually be a church that gets close enough to rescue people and leave a mark on us. See, Jude 23 is where the series is headed. We're not gonna start there. Because the problem with starting there is it's easy to talk about rescue, but we've gotta do some things in ourselves before we get to rescue others. See, the road to rescue starts back in verse three of Jude. Now, Jude's not a big book. 25 verses. Like, you could read it in about four minutes. And here's the main idea I wanna carry throughout this message today, okay? I want you to grab this. Maybe if you're a note taker, this is the one you wanna write down. If not, you're gonna hear it like four or five more times. But contenders don't compromise. But if we don't contend, we will compromise. What are we contending for? We're gonna dive into that. See, compromise, though, is sneaky, isn't it?

It's like a little ninja in your life. Nobody wakes up planning to abandon everything they believe. I've never met anybody that's come to my office and their life is a mess and they're like, you know what, I woke up today and chose to blow it all up. Nobody does that. Nobody wakes up one day and goes, you know what, life's kinda okay, let me blow that whole thing to pieces. It's a bunch of little small compromises that we make day after day. Like, compromise rarely begins with a giant leap. Usually begins with small decisions. It's one silence when you should have spoken. It's one habit we excuse, one truth that, or half-truth that we kinda tolerate, one conviction. and we stop defending because holding it becomes a little inconvenient. See, if you wanna rescue people from the flames, you've gotta start contending your own heart away from compromise. That's why people say this phrase all the time. I don't go to church because it's full of hypocrites. Well, first of all, my response is, well, you're one too, you should come join us. I'm not a hypocrite. Well, now you're a liar, so yes, you are. So you should come hang out with us. Welcome to Hypocrites Anonymous.

It's called Ha, welcome. Some of you will get that at lunch, that's funny. See, we live in a world though where you can customize everything. Like, you can customize your coffee. Now, some of you guys call it coffee. What you drink customized is not coffee. Now, let me tell you how to drink coffee. I'm a connoisseur, I'm a professional. Drink your coffee black. Mm-hmm. Where's all my black coffee people? You're my people. The rest of you that customize it with 14 pumps of hazelnut, sugar-free, oat milk, whipped cream with no sugar, you're drinking a milkshake with a few shots of espresso. Let me bring you to the dark side. Get good coffee and drink it black, you'll be happier. But you can customize it. Like, think about your music, your playlist. Like, back in the day, you just had to listen to what the radio told you to listen to. Man, now you can customize. My daughter gets in the car, she's like, dad, put on playlist four. I'm like, what happened to one, two, and three? She's got a customized playlist. You can customize your news, your algorithms. You know what your algorithms have started to do

in social media for years? Is they don't have to prove something is true, they just have to prove that it feels normal. And usually what feels normal becomes what's true in our hearts. But here's what I need us to understand about this whole thing called contending versus compromise. Not everything familiar is faithful. And when we stop contending for faithful, we'll start to buy into what's familiar and it may not be true. So the danger comes when we try to customize Jesus. We've customized our coffee, we've customized our news, and then we're like, well, let's just customize Jesus too. And here's what we do. Here's how we customize. We want his comfort, we just don't want his correction. Make me feel good, Jesus, just don't tell me to do anything else. Or better yet, we want his grace, but not his authority. God, I want your grace, just don't tell me what to do. Or we wanna save you who rescues us, but not who's the Lord of us. And get me out of it, just let me live my life the way I want to. And here's what you need to understand about contending. See, when we compromise, we lose the ability to contend for people far from God. But if we're gonna contend,

contending is not about fighting people. I don't know if you grew up in church. I grew up in church where we were fighting against everybody. We tell everybody why God hates them. It's like, what are we doing? Actually, contending is not fighting people. Actually, it's fighting the truth that frees people. We fight for the truth that frees people. So your neighbor, not your enemy. Your questioning child, not the enemy. The person who's tangled in sin, not the enemy. See, if we forget that, we may win an argument and lose someone Jesus told us to love. So if you wanna win a bunch of religious arguments, you've missed the gospel. Like Jude writes into a moment in the church. When the church was actually slipping in deception, like they were being deceived. And so his message is urgent because the gospel, the good news of Jesus matters and people matter. That's why Jude writes this. Let me ask you, how many of you think people matter? Just raise your hand. Good. If you're not raising your hand, we need you to know you matter too, okay? People matter. Jude wants people to know that because contenders don't compromise. If we don't contend, we will compromise.

So let me take you back to Jude. Now, Jude, I told you, is 25 verses long, but don't confuse short with small, okay? My mom, she's short, she's not small. She poofs her hair, so she's at least 5'1". But if you say something dumb, she's like, son, dynamite comes in small packages. I'm like, okay, I don't know what that means, mom, but I like it. Jude may be one of the shortest letters in the New Testament, but it carries with it a massive challenge for the church. So let me read just the first four verses. So go to the book of Jude. You're like, which chapter? It's only one chapter. So go to Jude, verse one. Here's what it says, this letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ, a brother of James. I'm writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe, and the care of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love. And then he says, dear friends, I've been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we share. He's like, I wanna give you the salvation that we share, but now I find that I must write about something else. Basically, this is the preacher version of, I was gonna preach this,

but now because you guys are boneheads, I have to preach this. That's what Jude's telling them. And he says, I find that I must write to you about urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. And then verse four, he says, I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God's marvelous grace allows us to now live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they've denied our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. So let me stop there. If you're here exploring faith, if you're online with us or one of our campuses, exploring faith, if you're doing any of those kinds of things, first of all, welcome. We're glad you had the courage to show up. Thanks for coming in. Jude did not write this letter to you. So lean in and listen and learn, because when you come to know Jesus, don't turn into the people that he has to write this letter to. So who he's writing it to is all of us that know Jesus. All of us that have been in church. How many of you would say you know Jesus and have been a part of church? Just show of hands.

He's writing it to you. That's me too, by the way, I'm not exempt. Jude's not attacking your questions if you're exploring faith. He's warning church insiders is what he's doing. That's what he's doing. Especially in the first four verses. He's warning us who use the language of grace while refusing Jesus's authority. Like Jude could have actually sent this letter to the churches in 2026 and he'd have been spot on. So Jude calls himself, he identifies himself. So let's learn about Jude. If you caught it, he identifies himself as a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. Notice how he leads. He leads with who he belongs to first. He's like, hey, my name's Jude. I'm a slave to Jesus, brother to James. Could you imagine if we introduced ourselves like that today? Hi, my name's Trevor. I'm a slave to Jesus. I have no siblings so I don't have to worry about that. I get all the inheritance. That's how I would lead, right? I'm number one in the trust. My mom loves me the most. However I want to frame it. But Jude says it's an identifier.

What he's doing is he's leading with who he belongs to not who he's related to. So he's basically saying before I defend the truth out there, I need to surrender to the truth right here. See, we can't contend faithfully if Jesus is a brand that I use instead of the Lord that I obey. And a lot of us have made him a brand. And then Jude tells the believers who they are. He's like, this is who I am. I'm a follower of Jesus first and then I got this guy named James that's my brother. But then he tells us who we are. He says they've been called by the Father. They've been loved by the Father. They've been kept safe in the care of Jesus. So if you were throwing logs on this fire, you would throw the log of called, you would throw the log of loved, you would throw the log of kept safe onto this fire of how we contend for the faith. So what does that look like? So before Jude gives them an assignment, he gives them an identity. It's our identity too. So before he tells them to stand for Jesus, he reminds them who's holding them to stand first. So before you go rescue people, understand why you're actually rescuing people. First of all, you're called. Every single one of us has a calling.

Before you've ever given your life to Jesus, you still have a calling on your life. How do I know that? Because I ran from mine for years. I never wanted to do this. I still don't most days. I'm like, Jesus, you know what you're doing? Like, you know I'm an idiot, right? He's like, uh-huh. That's why I called you. Because if this idiot can do it, anybody can do it, right? But I ran from the calling for years, but God was like, just because you're running doesn't mean it's not there. Doesn't mean I didn't call you. See, some of you have been running for years, or more than that, you're like, God can't use me for anything. Oh, sure he can. When you choose to reach back out to him after he's reached towards you, he'll show you your calling. Not only are you called, but you're loved. Like, you don't earn his affection. by doing more. You don't earn the affection of Jesus by winning more arguments. He already loves you. In fact, the least amount of love that you'll experience from him is today

because he'll love you more tomorrow. I tell my girls that all the time. You will never make me love you less. Today is the least amount of love my girls will experience from me because tomorrow I will love them more. Now, I may not like some things they do. Sometimes those little weirdos do some stuff, you're like, I don't really like you right now. But I love you. I love you enough to keep moving you forward. And then he says you're kept safe. You know what I love about that? The kingdom is not sitting on our shoulders. You are safe in the care of Jesus. Can I let you in on a little secret? We save nobody. I've looked all through scripture for Trevor saves, it's nowhere. I save nobody. Guess what? You don't either. We're not the ones that save. We just give people to the one that saves. This is why we contend. And then in verse two, Jude prays that God will give them something else. More and more mercy, peace, and joy. Mercy, peace, and love. Mercy, peace, and life.

See, that's not decorative language before the real fight starts. Mercy, peace, and love are the atmosphere in which Jesus' folks contend for others. Mercy, peace, and love. So if the way I defend the truth of Jesus has no mercy, it has no peace, it has no love, you know what it makes us? Jerks. Like the opposite of peace, chaos. The opposite of mercy is chaos. The opposite of love is hate. Unfortunately, the church has been that to the culture more than they've been mercy, peace, and love. And here's how I know, is because I've seen people prove a point while misrepresenting Jesus. Like, I've seen people that have the right verse in the wrong spirit. You know what I mean? Yeah, for God so loved the world, he gave his son for you weirdos. Sounds different when you say it like that, doesn't it? Yeah, I guess he wants you too, we'll see. Versus, hey, can I just tell you? Man, Jesus died for you, he loves you, his mercy's for you. I just want you to know the saving grace that I have. I want you to live with an eternity that is not weeping, gnashing of teeth, and fire,

but with the savior of all mankind. Do you hear the difference in tone? Contending's not about fighting people, it's about fighting for the truth. We'll fight for the truth. We just need to do it with mercy, and love, and peace. The NLT that I usually preach from, it uses the word defend in that translation. Other translations use that word contend. Both words mean the same thing. The Greek word is a pretty intense word. It actually means carrying the feel of serious struggle in athletic efforts. It's the, I will not quit, I will not let go. But notice what we fight for. Notice what we fight for. Jew doesn't say that we fight for every preference. You ever been in those churches? People fight for their preferences. You can spot it pretty quickly. You can spot it in yourself too. If you're more concerned with contending for your preference, you say things like, I really don't like the lights. I don't like the carpet. Or maybe you fight for your tradition. You ever been in those churches? Their traditions are like, why don't we do more hymns? Ask this question when somebody says that. So tell me what kind of songs you're talking about.

They're like, shout to the Lord. That's 1994. That's not a hymn. That's just what you liked. And you're like, okay, Amazing Grace, cool. That was a bar song. So how do we want this to go? Say, are we contending for tradition? How about your political opinion? Uh-oh. You're like, don't go there, bro. I have people all the time say to me, they're like, hey, I need you. I'm like, that's a funny statement to tell me you need me to do. I need you to tell people who to vote for. Okay. I'm not getting crucified. Here's why I will never tell you who to vote for, just what to vote with, is because my political opinion does not bring people to Jesus. Jesus brings people to Jesus. And if your political opinion is what you wanna stand on in rah-rah politics, and Jesus is down here, you've missed the gospel. He doesn't say even contend for your worship style. You're like, I don't really prefer these kind of songs. You know what's great about that? We're not here to worship you.

Hey, can I let you in on something? I don't like some of them either. You know what? I don't care. It's not about me. I'm not here to worship me. I'm here to worship Jesus. I've got a whole generation that I'm trying to reach that desperately needs the hope of Jesus. So those of us that have been around for a while, we need to be less ouchy about traditional things and get more excited about the thing he says to contend for, the faith. That's what scripture says, contend for the faith. Now let me thank you as a church because it sounds like I'm on you right now. I'm not. I'm just letting those of you that have never been here before know what kind of church we actually are. You know what I love about you? You guys don't get like this. And you know what's funny? You police yourselves really well. I've been with people like, hey, I wish you would do more of this. And before I can answer you go, shut up. It's not about us. I'm like, yeah, what they said. Like I love that this church cares about lost people, cares about people far from God more than we care about us because that's contending for the faith. The faith is the gospel centered on Jesus. That's what we're here for. In fact, let me give you the gospel really quickly. Okay.

I'm going to give you a cliff notes. Go back and watch this, slow it down, whatever. Here it is. Jesus Christ is Lord. So we start there. He died for our sins. He rose from the grave. He offers us salvation by grace. He calls us to trust him, turn from sin and live under his gracious rule. And that's the truth that's handed to the church, that we take that to the world. Not any of those other things. See that's the hope that we can take to get somebody from hell to hope. You want to contend, give them that. If you want to contend, lean into that. Jude says this faith was entrusted to us. We didn't invent it. We just receive it. We're stewards of what contending for the faith is. We're not owners. We don't get to rewrite what belongs to Jesus. We just get to be faithful witnesses. You know the best way to help people find hope? Share the hope that you found. You don't have to be a theologian. You don't have to know all these apologetics. People are like, so how do I tell people when they ask questions that I can't answer, say, I don't know. And then we'll go figure it out together. See, if we're going to contend, we have to understand that contenders don't compromise. And if we don't contend, we will compromise.

He says once for all time, I like that. Now you hear once for all time, that's not like happily ever after, once upon a time. But once for all time doesn't mean that we use now the same language they used in the first century, because people wouldn't understand that. It doesn't mean once for all time, that whatever music was happening, it is once for all time. That's why we don't still play the harp and the lyre, which by the now is probably so retro it'd be cool, you know what I mean? It's like, wow, there's a harp on stage with a techno beat. Wow, that's crazy. Pretty sure a harp doesn't sound like that, but whatever. Or methods that are frozen in the past, that's not what once for all time means. Here's what it means, the methods have to change. Here's what doesn't change, the truth of Jesus doesn't change. The truth of the gospel doesn't change. See, Jesus is unchanging truth, so people in this moment, we're going to do whatever they have to do to understand it. Those methods will have to change. You know why we don't use transparencies anymore to put the lyrics on the screen? Well, because transparencies died in 1986. You know why we don't use flannel graphs to teach anymore? Well, first of all, that's wizardry. I don't even understand how this stuff works, a little piece of paper sticking to felt. But you know why? Because there's better methods now. It's not about the method, it's about the message. Paul tells Timothy, fight the good fight for the true faith. I love that. He says, fight the good fight for the true faith. And then he tells him, hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called him. And then he goes on at the end of his life, near the end of Paul's life.

By the way, the end of life words are important, I think. And this is what he says at the end of his life. He goes, I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I've remained, what's it say? Faithful. I remain faithful. That's the scoreboard. If you want to keep score for your life, that's the scoreboard, not agreement. He didn't say, man, look at all the people that agreed with me. Not the applause, look at all the people that applauded me. But faithfulness. So contending for those that are about to fall into hell is less about throwing punches and more about refusing to move from Jesus' truth. That's what it's about. Because see, I hear contend, I think Mike Tyson. I hear contend, I think Evander Holyfield. I think contend. 10, I think punch in the face. That's not what Paul's talking about. That's not what Jude's talking about. So why was Jude so urgent? Because verse four says some ungodly people had wormed their way into the church. Ungodly people. And here's what they were doing. They were twisting God's grace into permission to live immoral lives. So they were coming in and going, hey, you know, God's so gracious. If you ask for forgiveness, he'll give it to you. And guess what?

And then you can go out and do that thing again and he'll still forgive it. That's what they were saying. Well, God's grace says he's gonna forgive you anyhow, so might as well enjoy it a little bit. You know how crazy that is? And here's what's crazy. False teachers, they typically don't arrive in church wearing a warning label. It's not like they walk in and you're like, that guy right there, it's him. Sorry, I didn't mean to point at you. It's not you, but it could be. That guy's like, I'm never coming back. It's more like a deep fake. Like the dangerous counterfeit is the one that looks almost real. Like the Gucci bag you buy in an alleyway in New York City. I know some of you have one. You're like, look at my new Gucci. And I'm like, look at the stitching. The strap fell off before you got to the airport. But it looked almost real. From a distance looks great. See, spiritual deception rarely says, hey, I just want you to forget Jesus. Usually it says, hey, keep Jesus, but move what confronts you. So keep grace, but remove repentance. Keep heaven, but remove lordship.

Keep Sunday inspiration, but don't let Jesus leave Monday. See, that's most of us right there. Give me my inspiration today. And then Monday, I will not remember it. I'll lead like this on Sunday. And then I'll only use one finger on both these hands on Monday in traffic. And you'll lift them high. But it's not in the name of Jesus. You may use his name, but he doesn't like the way you're using it. See, grace means you don't clean yourself up before coming to know Jesus because you can't save yourself. But grace is not permission to remain enslaved to what Jesus died to free you from. Grace pardons and transforms. It lets us come as we are, but loves us way too much to leave us there. We say that all the time here. We love you a pint, you know, just enough to let you come completely as you are. We just love you way too much to leave you in that condition. Like if you stay in the condition you are that when you came in, then we've not done our job as well. And there's a difference between struggling with sin and settling into compromise. There's a big difference.

Here's what struggle says. Jesus is Lord of my life and I need his grace to help me obey. That's what struggle says. You know what compromise says? I'm the Lord of my life. I need a version of grace that agrees with me. And don't ask me to do anything outside my comfort zone. See, struggle brings darkness into the light. It repents when Jesus confronts it. That's what struggle does. You know what compromise does? It turns off the light. It changes the label and edits Jesus so repentance feels unnecessary. It says things like, well, you can have your truth, but here's my truth. The problem with that statement is one of us is a liar. And the truth of Jesus always seems to win. Like we can confess Jesus with our mouths and contradict him with our habits. You ever met those people? They claim to love Jesus, but then when they get around people far from God, they don't really love them that well. So that means the first question that this text should make us ask is not, who around me is the false teacher? That's not the question you should be asking. Because Jude didn't hand us binoculars to find them.

You know what he handed us? A mirror. He wants us to look in the mirror of our own lives. See, a destructive fire can begin with one spark and one piece of fuel. Compromise does not need every part of your life at once. It only needs one unguarded place to light the fire. And then you go from trying to rescue people from hell to being on the edge of falling in yourself. And we say things like, Jesus, you can have everything in my life except this. You can have every part of my life except this one little part, one place, one comfort, one part of culture, one fear that starts to get the final word. And every time we normalize what Jesus came to free us from, we add fuel to the fire of deception that destroys people. Some of you are standing on the edge of hell right now, not trying to rescue others, but in desperate need of rescue. See, this is why we contend. Not because we enjoy conflict. Not because we fear questions or want power over people. Because truth, freedom, eternity, and people matter. That's why we will contend. So if our version of contending makes us proud, harsh, distant, and eager to condemn, it's not Jesus. It's not Jude's version. Jude's contenders have conviction, but they also have mercy. You can be convicted about the gospel,

you can talk to people with passion, and you can still have mercy for them. In fact, you can hold firmly to truth and move towards people and love at the same time. You know what the tension between grace and truth is? Is love. We can move that way because contenders don't compromise, but if we don't contend, we will compromise. So if you've followed Jesus for a long time, can I implore you to do something? Don't turn Jude's message about everybody else. Let me explain what I mean. You ever sat in church and thought, man, I wish so-and-so was here to hear that? You ever said that? You ever looked at the person next to you and like, you know who really needs to hear that? They're not here. You know what I usually realize in my own life when I say that is, I'm the one that actually needs to hear it, but I'm so uncomfortable, I think they should hear it first. Don't do that. The first place a contender refuses to compromise is in your own heart. Like, if you're gonna contend for people that are on the edge of hell, on the edge of the fire, then you gotta look at your own heart first. You gotta say, where have I compromised my soul? Where have I compromised my life?

Like, where have I grown complacent? Where do I affirm on Sunday but edit on Monday? Like, where is it in your life? Maybe it's what you keep watching that's not bringing any value to your soul. Maybe it's a boundary you keep moving. Maybe it's resentment you keep feeding. Maybe it's a shortcut at work, a truth about Jesus you refuse to speak because awkwardness scares you. Maybe it looks religious. Maybe it's not knowing the right answers. Or maybe it's knowing the right answers and you've lost the ability to have mercy. You spot everybody else's error while missing your own pride. You can see the speck of dust in their eye and you got a telephone pole sticking out of yours. Maybe you should look in the mirror more. So here's the next step this week. I want you to identify one area, just one. Start there, just one. Because some of you will find 40. Just one. Where you've grown a little complacent and recommit to holding firm to Jesus's truth. Just one area. And I want you to name it honestly and then I want you to re-anchor it in what Jesus says. And then take one obedient step within the next 24 hours. I want you to confess it to somebody you trust.

Preferably somebody you trust that knows Jesus. If you don't know somebody that knows Jesus, go to next steps, we'll point you to one, okay? Maybe you need to delete what's pulling you back. Maybe you need to open the Bible before you open your phone. You're like, I don't know. You're like, but my Bible's on my phone. Okay, do you start there? Can I, maybe buy an analog version of the Bible. You're like, what is this analog you speak of? Instead of scrolling, what if you thumbed? You're like, man, that's so retro. I know. Get retro. Open the Bible first. And then tell that one trusted follower of Jesus and ask that person to pray for you and hold you accountable. See, compromise grows well in secrecy. Faithfulness grows well in community. Find people that will hold you accountable. Now, if you feel far from God, where you're not sure what you believe, let me help you. Your next step is not cleaning yourself up. Because I know, you're like, I'll clean myself up and then come to Jesus. That's never gonna happen. Jesus actually meets you in your mess. He forgives you in your mess. He leads you into new life.

See, you can trust him today. And for every one of us, the question is this. Where am I asking Jesus to adjust to me instead of surrendering to him? Where do you need to surrender? See, I believe Pantano can be a church with a backbone of conviction and a broken heart for people. You can have both. We can be unmovable on the gospel and unstoppable in love. Those two things can exist. We can refuse to move the truth away from people and we can refuse to move away from people who need the truth. We need both. See, this is. picture for the next four weeks. We're not gonna stand across the room and yell, fire! Nope. We're gonna run towards it. We're not gonna use truth like a torch to burn people. We're gonna carry truth like a lifeline and move towards people to get them out of the flames of judgment. We will not smell like smoke because we start fires with our words. We'll smell like smoke because we got close enough to people's pain. We'll smell like smoke because we'll get close enough to people with doubts or people who have wondered or people like all of us who need hope. We'll tell the truth when silence is easier. We'll show mercy when judgment feels more satisfying. We'll stay near when walking away is more comfortable. We'll be a people will open our homes. We'll cross the room. We'll make the call. We'll answer the questions. We'll serve the city. We'll love one more. It keeps me awake every night. The people in our communities that don't know Jesus. The 800 plus thousand people in our city alone that don't know

Jesus. Which also tells me we have a great opportunity. Why would we do this? You know why? Because somebody did it for us. You know why all of us are here? Because at some point somebody prayed for you. And not only did they pray for you, they stayed in proximity to you. And then they told us some truth that we probably needed to hear. And then they loved us enough not to leave us where they found us. And then somebody got close enough to our mess so that they would smell like smoke. At some point in somebody's life they spent an evening with you and they got up the next morning and there was remnants of your of your smoke on them. And they decided you know what I need to rescue them. So they kept showing back up to the fire. So now it's time that we be that for others. That we would be rescuers. See a compromised gospel can't rescue anyone from a real fire. If you're compromised you can't save anybody. But you know what can? The true gospel that still saves. Jesus that still forgives. Jesus that still transforms. Jesus that moves people from death to life and from hell to hope. So Pantano I want you to hold the faith. This week be contenders of faith. I want you to look around again at those empty seats. Just find one. There's not a lot of them. Partly because if we filled all these you can't park anywhere in Tucson. You want to talk about people losing Jesus it's in our parking lot. Typically between 830 and 1030. See contenders don't compromise. But if we don't contend we'll compromise. Those seats you just saw. I want to give you a mission over the next four weeks. First of all I want you to commit to don't miss a week of this series. Just give me four weeks. You're like man four weeks sounds like a lot. I'll be here all four. You should show up. It'll be fun. Come hang out. I want you to commit to four weeks of this series. Just show up. If you're in this room show up. If you're online with us somewhere else in the country the world join us online each and every week. And then the other thing I want you to commit to is these empty seats take responsibility for them. Invite somebody. And not only invite them and you're like yeah but if we invite them they're gonna lose Jesus because of the parking you just told us that. That's fine let them lose Jesus

over parking. We'll give them Jesus once I get inside. We'll help them. You know what we don't have a parking problem. We have a parking opportunity. We have an opportunity for people to see Jesus. You know when we have a parking problem is if nobody shows up. That's a problem. But with a parking lot too full that's an opportunity. In fact I hope some of you have to walk down the neighborhood. Oh people in the neighborhood back here are like dang church people. And you're like oh you probably need some Jesus too. Why don't you come with? They might even cuss at you a little bit. Don't cuss back. Just say in the name of Jesus we love you. But let's fill this place with people in desperate need of hope. We're gonna sing this song. Speak Jesus. There's something powerful about the name of Jesus. And actually one of the refrains in this is we're gonna we're gonna speak Jesus in the city and the streets and our homes and our neighborhoods. And I want you to do me a favor. I know you'll vote for the parking lot some of you and I'll see you outside and you'll do this little number and like I still see you by the way that's not camouflage. Don't bolt. Let's speak the name of Jesus together for the next few moments. I believe that name changes communities. That name changes hearts and lives and souls. And so I'm gonna ask you to stand where you are, if everybody just get on your feet. I wanna pray over you. I wanna pray with you. And then let's speak the name of Jesus together for the last few moments together this week. And then let's go contend for the faith. Let me pray. Father today, God, we thank you for being a God who loves us, that contends for us.

That God, you call us to rescue people. But God, before we rescue others, we need to realize our own rescue need. God, if we've been teetering out of contending and compromising, draw us back to you. Bring us back to faith. God, for those of us that don't know you yet, God, I pray that today, whether they came in this room or any of our campuses, that God, they understood we love them enough to let them come here just as they came in, but God, we love them way too much to leave them there. God, that we would contend for their faith too. God, use us this week. Change our community this week because we have one conversation with one person. So God, we love you. We give you all the glory, all the honor, all the praise, and we give you the contention of our faith. It's in the powerful name of Jesus we pray, all God's people said, amen. Love you, church. Amen. Amen. Amen. We love you. We give you all the great glory and honor that belongs to church. We like to come in meeting. We love you.

We give you all the glory and honor I just want to speak the name of Jesus Over every heart and every mind Cause I know there is peace within your presence I speak Jesus I just want to speak the name of Jesus Till every dark addiction starts to break Declaring there is hope and there is freedom I speak Jesus Your name is power Your name is healing Your name is life Break every stronghold Shine through the shadows Burn like a fire I just want to speak the name of Jesus Over fear and all anxiety To every soul held captive by depression I speak Jesus Your name is power Your name is healing Your name is life Break every stronghold Shine through the shadows Burn like a fire And we declare it now Your name is power Break every stronghold Shine through the shadows Burn like a fire

Shout Jesus from the mountains Jesus in the streets Jesus in the darkness Over every enemy Jesus for my family I speak the holy name Jesus Shout Jesus from the mountains Jesus in the streets Jesus in the darkness Over every enemy Jesus for my family I speak the Holy Name Jesus Your Name Your Name is Power Your Name is Ease Your Name is Light Every stronghold Shine through the shadows Burn like a fire Come Holy Spirit, Your Name Your Name is Power Your Name is Ease Your Name is Light Yes it is Break every stronghold Shine through the shadows Burn like a fire I just want to speak the Name of Jesus

Over every heart and every mind Cause I know there is peace within Your presence I speak Jesus Oh Jesus I speak Your Name Shout Jesus from the mountains Jesus in the streets Jesus in the darkness Over every enemy Jesus for my family I speak the Holy Name Jesus Shout Jesus from the mountains Jesus in the streets Jesus in the darkness Over every enemy Jesus for my family I speak the Holy Name Jesus Shout Jesus Shout Jesus from the mountains Jesus in the streets Jesus in the darkness Over every enemy Jesus for my family I speak the Holy Name Jesus Amen, Amen Yeah, we shout Jesus today May you shout Jesus the rest of this week

Let's live like Jesus lives See how Jesus sees people, right? In Jesus Name, Amen Thanks for coming today So glad you are here If you are new with us And this is your first time We have a room across the courtyard Called Next Steps Where our team will be there to meet you We really do want to meet you And get to know you So come over there And then we also have a prayer room Across our courtyard If you need prayer for anything But thank you so much for being here today God bless And we'll see you again next time