Those of you who have lived in Huntsville for a while know that aside from being the ‘Rocket City,’ Huntsville is also known as ‘The Hockey Capital of the South.’

Years ago, when UAH fielded an NCAA Division 2 Men’s Hockey program, the Chargers won two national championships. And then there is the success of minor league professional hockey here in Huntsville. Anyone who has ever attended a Huntsville Havoc game knows how well the city supports the sport.

I would also venture a guess that when most people reflect on the sport of hockey they think about . . . fighting! The fisticuffs that go along with the game are often enjoyed more than the skating and puck handling!

All of this reminds me of that old joke about going to a boxing match, only to see a hockey game break out! Fighting just goes with the sport.

Well, there is at least one Epistle in the New Testament that has fighting as it main theme and purpose. The inspired letter written by a man called “Jude” has one fundamental exhortation for all those who are believers in Christ. In the third verse of the one-chapter note, Jude enjoins all Christians to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”

Paraphrased, this means that all believers in Christ, not just the professional theologians and apologists, are to fight for the faith. And it’s not that we picked the fight, but rather that the fight has come to us! For those my age and older, Billy Joel’s hit song, We Didn’t Start the Fire, might be playing in your head!

In verse 4 Jude says that the conflict started when “certain people” entered the church with teaching that twisted “the grace of God,” contorting it into “sensuality.” With such a poisonous distortion of the gospel seeping into the fellowship of true believers, Jude orders every Christian into the war. In the same way that fighting just goes with the sport of hockey, the war for the truth always accompanies true Christianity.

On Sunday we will begin our series of messages from this little New Testament letter. So, make sure to bring your skates and sticks, and especially your boxing gloves!