Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me, Pastor Jordan, for some Fine Points from Sunday’s service and message “Christian First”.
Many people today have lost, are losing and never coming to faith in Christ because they are listening to and believing those who question whether anything is true or that there is no objective or absolute truth.
For them and anyone else I believe it is hard indeed to deny that it is easier to destroy than to create. Easier to tear down than to build, easier to fall than to stand and to go down than to go up.
For any remaining holdouts to this truth, just look at what Putin has been able to destroy in a few weeks that took the people of Ukraine months and years to build and create or what terrorist did on 911 that took years to build or what happens almost nightly on the news as a life that took years to build is taken out in a matter of seconds.
The universal force of gravity works this way. Gravity tends to bring things back toward it or down. Tossing a ball up in the air doesn’t continue going in the direction it was tossed because gravity brings it back toward it or down. Human behavior tends to bend down toward the less desirable qualities in interaction between people.
People tend to pursue and want what is best for them and what they care about. There’s nothing wrong with that. The problem is what we are willing to do in the process of doing that to the exclusion and hurt of anyone and everyone else. We are a people who will kill, steal and destroy seeking what could be called the “me first” principle.
This is why Jesus told all those who want to be saved, rescued and salvaged from this world of death and misery that they must put Him first. By doing this, God’s will, His ways and His priorities comes before everything and everybody else.
We are not allowed to put family first, property first, business or possessions first, race first, country first, teams and dreams or anything in or out of this world before God. Yet this is what people are doing and it is why there is so much killing, stealing and destroying in society and around the world.
How we answer the question of what is first in our life tells us a lot about ourselves and others. Some don’t readily know the answer to that question. They may say, let me think about it for a minute. For others, what is first changes from time to time.
One way to help determine who or what is first in our lives is to examine our daily motivation for waking up and getting out of bed if we are able each day and what we think about and do each day.
One thing many people already know and can be sure of is that God is not first in the way Jesus describes and means. But if He is not first, something definitively is and this is one way to help determine what that is if we are not sure what or who is first.
When God is first, we tend to go against the natural tendency to pull us down toward the lower qualities of human behavior and elevate to the higher virtues that God is calling and has called us to. It is like defying the laws of gravity.
Water flows downstream and so will our behavior when God is not first. This is why Jesus said to be saved we must place Him first. He tells us we must be Christians first before anything else we can or want to be.
You can hear the complete sermon by clicking the sermon title above. You can also see and listen to our previous Sunday School, Missions and BTU sessions by clicking this link. Be sure to download our mobile app on your phones and mobile devices to get the latest news, updates and shortcuts to all of our ministries, functions and activities.
Click the SS Daily Bible Readings for an excellent devotional and preparation for the upcoming Sunday School study. Don’t forget to leave a comment or question down below. As always, remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
