Christian Education - Flag Branch MBC

Sunday School Commentary and Preview 5-1-22

Posted on Apr 28, 2022 in Christian Education |

Greetings members and friends and welcome to another commentary and preview to this Sunday’s study of the Word. This Sunday’s study text is entitled “Freedom From Sin” and it is based on Romans 6:1-14.

Where sin did abound which means did thrive and grow, grace overcame and overshadowed all that sin had accomplished by abounding even more. There is a thought ingrained in Christian teaching implanted by corrupt unregenerate leaders from the early foundation of Christian doctrine that tends to make sin in Christian life of no consequence because of grace.

This doctrine totally ignores what is being said about the death and end of sin in the Christian’s life. Instead of liberating people from the bondage of sin which this text does, those who planted this insidious doctrine pervert its meaning to justify their own sinful behavior and practices.

They say it doesn’t really mean that the old man is truly dead or that sin no longer has power or influence over our life or that we no longer live sinful lives. But this is what the text says and anyone who says differently is contradicting the text.

This text is an excellent follow up from last weeks text about the Son setting us free. In both instances, there is this dynamic around a master and slave. In both text, dedication to and identifying with the Son sets us free from being the slave of sin.

In the study text, Paul uses baptism to signify the death of the old bondage relationship to sin and the beginning of a new life to a new master which sin has no part of. All obligations to sin have been fulfilled in death.

Reckon yourselves indeed or truly dead to sin meaning on influence whatsoever in your life but truly alive to Christ. Sin has no more dominion or influence over you. Like a person who has served their sentence and has been released. Whatever penalty or obligation was there, it has been fulfilled and it is all over.

This is Paul’s way of saying he who has died or paid sin’s penalty is now free from any obligations it once had upon him. This is how the text says Christians should regard sin. Christians have no allegiance or obligation to sin to serve it or yield to it and it has absolutely no claim on their lives.

Why? Because they serve and are bound to a new master who prevents them from serving any other including sin. So then, why is the doctrine or teaching of perpetual enslavement to sin so prevalent in the Church? There are several reasons.

Those who initiated and those who perpetuate it judge the text by what they themselves do and not what it says. Because they do something other than what it says, they tell others it doesn’t mean and can’t mean what it says.

They attempt to submit others consciences to their judgement by attempting to make others feel guilty which they will if they haven’t submitted their consciences to God alone. True believers only need to submit their consciences to God, not to what other people think about them or their behavior or actions. Why? Because other people are not their master, God is. It is to God every person shall stand or fall.

Another reason is because they read and interpret the next chapter as Paul as a mature Christian conflicted by sin. But to do so is to undermine everything Paul has just said concerning the death of sin and the old man.

The correct understanding of the latter part of the chapter is a description of a person, Paul using the first person to describe, who is trying to find a way to do what is right but not being able to do so. This person Paul describes is not free from sin but a slave to sin, under its control, which he just said Christians are no longer.

There are one or two other text which I will not go into which are also misconstrued to justify being a slave to sin. This teaching and doctrine has weaken the Church and accounts for its failure to properly and rightly represent Christ in the world.

The study title is “Freedom From Sin”. Jesus said whoever the Son sets or makes free are truly or altogether free from all others. Grace has abounded to cover our sins, not to commit more.

Sin is missing the mark of God’s expectations or law. Love is the fulfilling of God’s expectation and law. Love works no ill toward its neighbor or fellow human being. God’s act of love and mercy in Christ has set us free to love everyone including those who would and have proven difficult to love as we would want others to love us. This is how we fulfill the law of God and cease being a slave to sin.

Furthermore, we just don’t love in word, but indeed. True believers and lovers of God are joined to a new master who sets the boundaries for their lives and live within those boundaries. They walk and live to please God, not man, not others, not even themselves but God only. By this they and we become dead to sin and are made alive to God.

If our consciences are bothering us and convicting us and we claim to be Christians, then we haven’t died to sin and are attempting to serve two masters and live two lives.

Pastor Jordan

Sunday School Commentary and Preview 4-24-22

Posted on Apr 21, 2022 in Christian Education |

Greetings members and friends and welcome to another commentary and preview to this Sunday’s study of the Word. This Sunday’s study text is entitled “Freedom In Christ Jesus” and it is based on John 8:31-38.

To “abide in” means to remain without leaving. This is what Jesus said to those who would be His disciples. They who remain in His word which is to follow and believe what He says without departing from it.

If anyone will do this, then they will truly be His disciples and will be free. Abiding or remaining in His word would lead to revelation of the truth. This knowledge of the truth is what gives one freedom.

Some of the people to whom Jesus spoke these words didn’t understand themselves to be in bondage nor lack freedom. They were curious as to how could they be freed when they were not bound.

The freedom Jesus spoke of was not a freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom of expression nor any other freedom they or we could think of. The freedom Jesus is speaking of is the freedom to live. A person can have all these other freedoms and still die. They are therefore all temporary freedoms because they don’t remain.

It is like being a slave. A slave may not remain in the master’s house for he is a guest and a guest must eventually leave. To leave is to die. God is the master and owner of the house. All of His children are not guest nor treated like guest. All of His children are entitled to live in His house and belong there. They remain forever and are not required to leave as a guest or slave.

What separates God’s children from all the others is bondage of and to sin. This bondage is what those who questioned Jesus failed to see or recognize. The same to true of mankind everywhere.

Sin makes or causes people to not to abide or remain and become like a slave who must leave the house. They have no right to nor are entitled to remain in the house. The house is the house of life. No person can survive for long outside this house.

This is the essences of the 34^th and 35^th verse of the study text where Jesus is talking about being a slave or a son. As the Master’s heir, God’s Son, He has the authority to grant freedom to slaves whether they are His own or those of someone else.

Not only can He grant them freedom, but He can make them part of His family and entitle them to the privileges of a son. If and when this happens, sin has no more dominion or power over them.

By abiding in the word of the Son, they no longer commit the sin which enslaved them. No person can at the same time abide or remain in the word of the Son and commit sin because it excludes it from occurring.

The slave is a servant of sin. The son is a servant of righteousness. No one can serve two masters or be the servant of two masters. Christ sets us free from being the servants of sin to being the servants of righteousness by knowing and following and abiding in His word.

There are many who do not know this truth and others who choose not to follow it. Furthermore, people cannot act upon what they do not know nor understand.

We must begin to rid ourselves of the slavery to sin mentality. The mentality that tells us we are in bondage to sin, can never escape it and will always be under its power here and now.

Finally, Jesus tells them they have the correct pedigree or lineage, but follow or obey a different spiritual father. And because they adhere to and follow a different spiritual father, they have rejected His words.

The same is true with all humanity. We have the correct pedigree or lineage by all being made in the image of God, but we follow a different spiritual father than the one Jesus comes from and represents. This is why we don’t believe and follow or abide and remain in His words.

Pastor Jordan

Sunday School Commentary and Preview 4-17-22

Posted on Apr 14, 2022 in Christian Education |

Greetings members and friends and welcome to another commentary and preview to this Sunday’s study of the Word. This Sunday’s study text is entitled “The Paschal Lamb Lives” and it is based on Matthew 28:1-10.

Of all the events recorded in human history, it is difficult to find one that is more significant or has had a greater impact on humanity that the resurrection of Jesus from among the dead. Today’s study text describes what took place early Sunday morning at the break of day when several of Jesus female companions and associates arrived at His tomb to anoint His body for burial.

This event is central to the Christian faith. Without it, there is no Christian faith and no message of redemption for humanity. It is the most unlikely of events, yet it endures and survives. Many things have been done to discredit this story of Jesus resurrection, including persecuting believers unto death. Nothing has worked.

Could it be that all the efforts since this event took place in this scripture to discredit it until this present moment have all failed because it happened just as it is recorded here in this text? My personal belief is yes.

Yet the threat to stop Christianity from spreading in not by discrediting the resurrection, for after 2000 years, that has failed. What seriously threatens to stop the spread of Christianity is disingenuous worship by those who claim to be the followers and believers in Christ.

The Apostles wrote to the Church in the early days and warned of this as the major threat to the survival of the Church. They never mentioned disbelief in the resurrection or attacks to discredit the resurrection as a threat to the spread of the gospel message. They wrote and taught as if this was never a question, issue or threat.

However, they repeated the threat of false doctrine, teaching and worship practices as the major threats to the church. And through the ages, the church has managed to survived many of these challenges.

Today, the main message of the gospel of loving God and other people as ourselves is not practiced in reality by a large majority of those proclaiming Christ as Savior. Instead of living this out in daily life, the primary focus of many naming Christ from the pulpits to the door is on cultural and political issues, on wealth and prosperity, on changing established teaching and doctrine to suit or fit lifestyle choices and many other issues and causes unrelated to the gospel all in the name of Jesus.

In addition to all these things, another major problem is that the grace of God is used as an excuse and crutch for not living the life we are called to live and for doing the things we are doing instead of living the life.

Belief in the resurrection of the “Paschal” or Passover Lamb of God in not the problem and never has been. If Jesus did not rise, Christianity would have died from this fact alone before it ever got started 2000 years ago.

If it couldn’t be disproved way back then, it is impossible to disprove, or even for that matter to prove, it now. It is a fact that can only be believed or not believed now. But believing in the resurrection is not sufficient for salvation.

Along with believing that Jesus rose from the dead is required a confession of Lordship faith unto righteousness. See Romans 10:9-10. A righteousness that is evident by how we love God and our fellow man.

The Church of Jesus Christ has survived difficult and serious self-inflicted trials, not because of disproof of the resurrection, but because of disingenuous worship and practices. Today it is experiencing another one of those self-inflicted wounds.

Just as it took true worshippers to contend for the faith in the past, it is going to take those same worshippers to content and save the church today. The resurrection is settled doctrine and fact we believe. Now, let’s live the life His resurrection calls upon us to live.

Pastor Jordan

Sunday School Commentary and Preview 4-10-22

Posted on Apr 7, 2022 in Christian Education |

Greetings members and friends and welcome to another commentary and preview to this Sunday’s study of the Word. This Sunday’s study text is entitled “The Passover With The Disciples” and it is based on Matthew 26:17-30.

Jesus had been with His disciples now for three years. They were in Jerusalem where Jesus would meet the fate that was preordained of Him before He came into the world. He was there to be the Passover Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world.

In a final act before His sacrifice of Himself, He would observe the Jewish Passover with His disciples one final time. Jerusalem was crowded with many people coming to the city for the observance of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Both of these events were instituted by God through Moses to commemorate the exodus from Egyptian bondage.

Today’s study passage begins with Jesus’s disciples asking Him where were take going to observe the Passover. It appears Jesus had already made arrangements and told His disciples what to do in response to their question.

As they met to eat this last sacred meal, Jesus knew it would be the last time He would be able to speak to them before He suffered. The Gospel of John records some to the final dialog Jesus had with them. It is very profound, moving and revealing.

Also at the supper, Jesus reveals that one of His disciples will betray Him. That disciple turned out to be Judas. But it is still amazing that each one of them asked Jesus if it would be them that betrayed Him. It is difficult for me to understand why they would ask Him that as if they didn’t know themselves and what they were capable or not capable of doing.

During this Passover meal, Jesus instituted a new meal for a New Covenant. The current Passover represented delivery from bondage and death that touched the firstborn of all who were in Egypt that night God delivered the decisive plague that forced Pharoah to let Israel go. In was instituted with the blood of a lamb and placed of the door of all the houses of the children of Israel to save them from death that came that night.

There are two parts in the new covenant meal Jesus instituted to be an everlasting covenant between Him and all He was about to die for. The bread He said was His body that is given for them. The second was the cup which He said was His blood which was being shed for them. Just like the Passover, the bread and cup was to be observed perpetually until He returned to redeem His church.

The Lord’s Supper is an update to the Jewish Passover. It indicates a new revelation of God’s Law and Will for humanity from the Jewish Law that was instituted under Moses. It indicated that Jesus supersedes what has been done and written before His arrival.

It was fitting that at the Passover meal the new Passover would be instituted with Jesus Himself becoming the Passover Lamb. This is why we should never take the Lord’s Supper lightly or for granted. It represents our union with God and all it took to secure our salvation. We should count it a privilege to be able to partake of such a solemn and sacred occasion.

Pastor Jordan

Comments

Sunday School Commentary and Preview 4-3-22

Posted on Mar 31, 2022 in Christian Education |

Greetings members and friends and welcome to another commentary and preview to this Sunday’s study of the Word. This Sunday’s study text is entitled “Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem” and it is based on Matthew 21:1-11.

Today’s study recalls what some call the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. I personally wouldn’t characterize it that way. The word “triumph” means victory. Up to this point, Jesus had avoided being caught in the snares and traps of Satan and others to disqualify Him from being able to fulfill His mission.

At the same time, He had taught and said the things God had commanded Him to say and do. To that degree, there is something to celebrate and claim victory for. But the war was not over.

In the week that was to come, Jesus would face His most difficult challenges as He would be betrayed, disserted, tortured, place on trial, mocked, crucified and raised from the dead. After the completion of all this, there would certainly be something to claim an even more impressive victory over.

But today’s text is a focus on how Jesus entered Jerusalem on the last week of His ministry. Throughout His ministry, Jesus was well aware of prophesy regarding Him and was careful to fulfill the things that had been written.

One such prophecy foretold how Messiah would enter Jerusalem. Being aware of this, Jesus commanded His disciples to fetch a donkey and its’ foal so that He may ride upon it into Jerusalem to fulfill the prophecy.

By this time, three years in fact, Jesus had performed enough works and taught and preached in enough places to gain the confidence of enough people who believed He is indeed the Messiah who God had promised would come and sit on the throne of David.

As He rode into Jerusalem, many of those believers announced His presence by placing branches and clothes in His path as a way of honoring Him as a king in a type of royal procession. They shouted and called Him the Son of David. This designation indicated their belief that He was the rightful and permanent heir to David’s throne.

And they consistently use the word “Hosanna” when referring to Him. It is a word which means “save us now we ask you”. Applied in this situation the word in conjunction with the rest and in context would mean “”Blessing on him who comes with Divine mission, sent with the authority of Jehovah!”. So, there were those who are proclaiming Jesus as the King of Israel sent by God to claim the throne of David to save them.

There were those in Jerusalem who did not know Jesus and asked about what was going on. Those who knew Him described Him to others as Jesus the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. This is also how the Romans identified Him in the inscription they wrote above His cross.

This entry into Jerusalem was His highest moment in the week that followed. Not many days later, He would be nailed to a cross and die.

Pastor Jordan

Sunday School Commentary and Preview 3-27-22

Posted on Mar 24, 2022 in Christian Education |

Greetings members and friends and welcome to another commentary and preview to this Sunday’s study of the Word. This Sunday’s study text is entitled “Lest We Forget” and it is based on Deuteronomy 8:1-11.

The Book of Deuteronomy can be described as God’s servant Moses last words to the people he has been charged with beginning to the land of Canaan.

After their forty year journey in the wilderness, they stood on the brink of entering the land God had promised their fathers to give them. Moses, knowing he could not go with them any further, wanted to give them his words of encouragement and warning before they departed ways.

As we read the chapter and verses in this book, it is important to keep in mind the situation and Moses’ motivation for writing what has been recorded. In the study text today, Moses begins by insisting that they heed to everything he tells them in order for them to be successful in the new land they are going to.

He asks them to remember how they survived for the past forty years in the wilderness and why they had spent so much time there. Most, if not all of them, had lived most of their life in the wilderness and were now about to go into a new land.

He reminded them of the providential care of God and their need to trust Him for their survival. He explains that God disciplined them as a loving father disciplines the child He loves. His discipline was for their good and to cause them to fear or respect the Lord. Moses tells them that all God did and they experienced was to prepare them for the land He was about to give them.

Then Moses began to describe the land they were going to. The description of the land was as good as any could be on the earth and for a people who had nothing and who were only a generation removed from Egyptian bondage.

After his description of the land, Moses gives them a stern warning. He tells them not to forget to bless their benefactor after they have received the blessing provided by the land. The implication being they shall loose and be cut off from the source of their blessing.

And despite Moses’s urgent plea and warning, generations that followed this generation that experiences the hardship in the wilderness and had heard Moses speak, as things got better, they did exactly what Moses had warned them against.

People living today have come out of a wilderness of sorts. People around the world, but especially in places like the United States, are only a few generations from poverty and peasantry. It has not been that long ago when there was no electric power, no indoor plumbing, no insulated houses, gas powered automobiles and many more things we all take for granted now and enjoy.

Yet, the easier and convenient people’s lives become, the less and less they thank God and worship Him. In another part of Deuteronomy, he warns them against saying they got all these things by their own hands without the Lord. This is what they did and this is what people are telling themselves and each other today.

There are consequences for disrespecting and not fearing God. The Israelites found that out and a rebellious and ungrateful mankind shall find this out once again.

Pastor Jordan

Sunday School Commentary and Preview 3-20-22

Posted on Mar 17, 2022 in Christian Education |

Greetings members and friends and welcome to another commentary and preview to this Sunday’s study of the Word. This Sunday’s study text is entitled “Celebrate Passover Liberation” and it is based on Ezra 6:13-22.

The same officials who had sent a letter to King Darius to halt the building of the temple of God in Jerusalem to spite the Jews were ordered and complied to cooperate fully with them to see that the temple was completed.

After the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah to restart the building of the temple and with renewed support from the King of Persia, the Jews completed the rebuilding of the temple of God four years after they restarted in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

The completion of the temple was a cause for great celebration and dedication. The size of the sacrifice at this dedication was woefully meager in comparison to the first dedication of the first temple built under Solomon and dramatically demonstrated all they had lost.

At that first dedication, King Solomon offered to the LORD a peace offering of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats in contrast to the few hundred dedicated this time. The nation was hardly a shadow of its former self and glory after the twelve tribes divided into two kingdoms and each was overcome by foreign kings and scattered to the winds and other lands.

The good news is that a remnant were gathered together again and were able to rebuild part of what was lost. Very few, if any, nations have survived the destruction that Israel endured to emerge again.

This dedication was a small, but significantly important and new beginning for a nation that could have never been heard of again. From this new beginning, they prospered under the hand of the Lord to becoming a whole and thriving nation by the time Jesus arrived several hundred years later. They were once again able to fulfill their role as a people God has chosen who would lead and introduce the rest of the world to the living and eternal God.

The dedication of the temple signaled the beginning of a renewed commitment to their place as the holy people of God as they rededicated themselves to the laws and teaching in the Books of Moses and observing holy days as commanded in the Law including the Passover.

They committed themselves to holiness by separating and sanctifying themselves from the sins and practices of the people around them in order to seek the will of the Lord. God had given them rest and peace from those around them by turning the hearts of kings toward them and all the officials and rulers under them in the region.

Throughout human history nations and empires have come and gone. From the earliest civilizations to the present, there have been periods of greatness, power and domination of a group of people over other groups of people.

The United States has been one such nation that rose from the ashes wars to become the dominant military and economy power in the world despite some of the unjust practices and policies it promoted and tolerated.

However, internal strife and division along with unbridled greed and idolatry and an absolute disdain for truth can cause any nation to self-destruct and incur the judgement of God.

As Christians in any nation, we must lead to heal and bridge the gaps of strife and division by godly examples of love and kindness while not comprising truth. The means we employ to achieve the Lord’s ends must be open and honest and reflect the truth, compassion and mercy He taught to demonstrate toward all people.

Keeping in mind always that Jesus told His followers to make disciples by teaching and not by manipulating, coercing or forcing people to observe His commandments. Because the same thing that has happened to other great powers and civilizations and nations can and will happen anywhere if people don’t abandon the self-destructive paths they are currently on.

Pastor Jordan

Sunday School Commentary and Preview 3-13-22

Posted on Mar 10, 2022 in Christian Education |

Greetings members and friends and welcome to another commentary and preview to this Sunday’s study of the Word. This Sunday’s study text is entitled “Freedom To Worship” and it is based on Ezra 6:1-12.

This Sunday’s study is about persevering through obstacles to the worship of and faith in the Lord. According to several biblical commentaries, it was at least 14 years and as many as 20 years since king Cyrus gave his decree to allow the Jews to return home and rebuild the temple the Babylonians had destroyed.

During that time, their efforts had been frustrated by people in the region who didn’t want them to succeed. Some hired what we would call “lobbyist” today and what the text called counselors. Their job was to influence government decision makers for their own interest.

Not only did they hire these counselors and lobbyist, but they wrote letters to the king accusing the Jews of sedition and rebellion if they are allowed to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. As a result of all these efforts, a decree came from the king during this time period ordering the Jews to halt what they were doing.

But after a time of inactivity, the prophets of God encouraged them to resume the work on the temple. When they resumed the work on the temple, another king different from the one who ordered them to stop had risen to the throne.

Some of the same people, whose offer to help was rejected by the Jews, again intervened by writing a letter to king Darius to try to get the work stopped. But their letter backfired against them this time.

Instead of stopping the work, they were instructed to help expedite the work by giving the Jews everything they needed to get the job done all at the expense of the royal treasury. Furthermore, he ordered them not to interfere in any matter or else they would pay a heavy price up to and including death.

King Darius ordered the records searched and found king Cyrus’s original decree giving the Jews permission to rebuild the temple and commanding everyone to cooperate with them. So what the people who wrote the letter to stop the building meant for evil or bad for the Jews, turned out to be just what they needed and their good to complete the job of rebuilding the temple first and later the wall and the rest of Jerusalem until the time of Christ.

This study demonstrates that God never abandons His people no matter the circumstances and obstacles they must face to worship Him. This world which God made for us to dwell in is not ideal or perfect. While there are many wonderful things in it and to experience, there are just as many things to spoil it and make life difficult.

The challenge for the people of God is to persevere through the trials, setbacks and difficulties with faith in and true worship of God. Some of the challenges are more difficult than others and we are often left asking why so great the burden.

Only God knows for sure, but I can only surmise our trials and tribulations serve some divine purpose we are not able to fully see or comprehend. We are simply called to trust God without fully understanding or seeing His plan or reason for our pain and suffering.

Just like those in the study today, there are people and have been people in every generation who want to stop the progress of others for various reasons. Most of the reasons stem from jealousy, greed, envy, lust or some other fleshly passion rooted in the heart. We can be assured that God knows our situations and circumstances.

God has and always will work behind the scenes as He did with the Jews in today’s study to bring about His purpose for His people and foil the attempts of their enemies to stop them. We here in the United States have unlimited freedom to worship the true and living God as we see fit where in many places on this planet there is no such freedom.

There are those in some places who can only dream of the freedom to worship we here in America so recklessly disregard, ignore and abandon. Many of our ancestors braved and endured unimagined severe hardship and difficulty to keep and maintain faith not only for the sake of their own souls, but to pass it and the hope of a better life along to us.

So far in the year 2022, we are doing physically and materially better that they could even have imagined, but are doing so poorly worshiping God in spirit and truth that it is not worthy of their sacrifices.

I surely would not like to see it happen because I recognize how much we are blessed. But I am forced to confess that if we don’t amend our ways, God might be compelled to turn all our lights off for an extended period of time. Never doubt that He can or doubt that He will.

Pastor Jordan

Sunday School Commentary and Preview 3-6-22

Posted on Mar 3, 2022 in Christian Education |

Greetings members and friends and welcome to another commentary and preview to this Sunday’s study of the Word. This Sunday’s study text is entitled “The Babylonian Captivity Ends” and it is based on Ezra 1:1-8, 11; 2:64-70.

Sometimes situations require us to start over. So many times, God can’t get our attention until something is taken from us. This was the case with Israel and Judah. Because they wouldn’t hear God, He allowed both kingdoms to be over thrown.

Sometimes there is no coming back. The Northern kingdom of Israel lost its identity. But the Southern kingdom of Judah returned, rebuilt and reestablish itself 70 years after being exiled according to the prophesies concerning it. Today’s study recounts the beginning of that return.

It seems that Cyrus, king of the Persian empire and conqueror of the Babylonian empire was very tolerant of religion and was inclined to allow the Jews within his kingdom to return to their homeland and rebuild the house of their God. He also encourages others to give their financial support and resources to those who decided to return.

In addition to that, the returnees were given back all treasured and valuable items that the Babylonians had taken from the temple of the Lord. Yes, they were starting over. This first group of returning exiles numbered about 43000 and included slaves and much livestock.

Once they arrived, they settled in to the former towns and places and began putting their lives back together. Most of them probably had not participated directly with the sin responsible for their captivity but the effects of sin are rarely confined only to the persons who committed it. Those not targeted often receive sinful fallout.

Our sin not only affects us, but often those close to us as well as others. Sin we have been warned about and given space to repent and turn from. When we fail to heed God’s warning, we suffer the consequences and others often suffer as well who were not involved. But because God is merciful, some of us are given a chance to start over.

This is what this study is about, staring over. It good to have the chance to start over, but it’s better not to need to. It’s better to heed God’s warnings than to suffer the consequences of sin. Consequences of sin we may have a chance to start over from and some we won’t.

Well, be sure to look over the study again and come prepared to offer your comments, questions and perspective on the meaning of the study. If you can’t attend your own Sunday School class this Sunday, you can join us live and online at 9:00 am at www.fbmbc.org and clicking the online services link.

Pastor Jordan