The Pastor’s Blog - Flag Branch MBC

The Shepherd’s Voice

The Shepherd’s Voice is one of our pastor’s communications extension to the Church, our friends and the world. He uses it as a way to reach out to our faith community while providing spiritual insight and perspectives to the sermon messages and events and issues of our day. We are welcomed and encouraged to comment on any of the messages by clicking the “Fine or Main Point” link you want to comment on, going to the bottom of the page and filling in and Submitting the Reply at the end of the message. Most of the blogs have audio playback so we can listen to as well as read them. We hope you are blessed and inspired by our Shepherd’s Voice.

Jan '21

And The Winner Is Fine Points

Posted on Jan 25, 2021 in Pastoral Messages |

Jan '21

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 “And The Winner Is”.

Those words are usually followed by the name of someone who just finished first out of many who also wanted to be first. Last week the numbers of two huge lottery prizes were announced. There were millions of people who wanted their name to be called as the winner. The odds of that happening were over 292 million and 302 million to one respectively.

Yet, just the thought of being the recipient of all that money proved more than they could resist. They kept thinking about how those millions of dollars would be the end of all their struggles. They had already begun to visualize how they would spend it. Yet by weeks end, only one winner was announced for each prize and everyone else’s tickets became worthless.

This message was not to criticize those who took a chance or to suggest that they had somehow sinned. But it is asking them and everyone else who considered buying a ticket with those odds of winning, do they value money or millions more than life?

Money is a corruptible prize to win in more than one way. But the most basic reason why it is corruptible is because it’s only good for you as an individual as long as you have both the physical and mental health to benefit from what it can provide.

Yes, you can use it or leave it to help others which would be the primary motivation for some who have and are considering taking a chance at winning it. But for you, the individual, it is perishable and corruptible which would eventually be the case for others.

But eternal life on the other hand is incorruptible and unperishable. It will endure and benefit us regardless of what becomes of our mental or physical state. This is the point Paul makes when comparing what those who desire to win a corruptible crown and those who seek salvation in Jesus Christ.

Paul points out that there is only one winner of the corruptible prize they seek just as there is only one winner of the millions of dollars people were seeking for these massive payouts. Knowing the odds of winning and that there will be only one winner, Paul said the runners discipline themselves in their training in order to make sure that they give themselves the best opportunity to be the winner of the one lone prize.

Paul says Christians should discipline themselves in a similar matter as if competing for only one prize. If we do that, we will not become careless in our Christian living and there will be nothing to prevent us from claiming the prize.

Because unlike the corruptible crowns where there is only one winner, every Christian who enters and finishes the race will be a winner of the coveted jackpot or eternal crown. A prize far more valuable than winning all the jackpots and millions in the entire world and where the odds of being a winner are 50/50, one to one or even money and not millions to one which people are taking chances on now.

The gospel is either true or false and that is 50/50. The question remains. Do we value money and millions over life? We are willing to accept outrages odds to acquire millions, but not willing to accept even money to obtain eternal life. Think about it.

You can hear the entire sermon again by clicking the sermon title above. You can also see and listen to our latest 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 lesson. Don’t forget to leave a comment or question down below. As always, remember to fear God and keep His commandments.

Pastor Jordan

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Jan '21

The Crowd Outside Fine Points

Posted on Jan 18, 2021 in Pastoral Messages |

Jan '21

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 “The Crowd Outside”.

While a joint session of the US Congress along with the Vice-President were convening to read and certify the vote totals of the Electoral College of the 50 states, a crowd had gathered on the outside.

A crowd that had been whipped into a frenzy and told to march down to the capital based up fraudulent claims that the 2020 Presidential election had somehow been rigged and stolen and they had to do something about it.

This crowd on the outside then overwhelmed those assigned to protect the capital building from intrusion and proceeded to force their way into a place they were not permitted to be by breaking doors and windows and everything in the way designed to keep them out.

They stormed through the building shouting threats, destroying and damaging the contents, rummaging through personal files and desk and sitting and standing in places reserved for the honored and duly elected members of Congress.

It was a complete and total desecration of the most revered and sacred place of US democracy based upon a lie and the enabling and perpetration of that lie my many immoral people.

The Book of Revelation tells us of another crowd outside a sacred place. This crowd is outside the city of God. This crowd in made up of many like that crowd that stormed the capital who would enter God’s holy city by force and desecrate it. But this crowd is much larger because it includes a greater number and type of person.

In this crowd are “dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie”. This crowd encompass a large portion of humanity. But unlike the crowd outside that breached the doors and windows of the US capital, this crowd outside the city of God will not enter. God will collect them all and place them somewhere where they will never threaten or trouble His people or city again.

The only people not in that crowd outside are those who washed their robes in the blood of Christ by believing and trusting in Him and who do His commandments. They have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into God’s holy city.

God’s city will not look like a fortress with armed soldiers and guards at every station. But the 12 gates to the city are always open and the people of God bring their glory and honor in and out of the city.

That crowd outside the US capital has dispersed but it may reassemble. The good news is that those who were in the initial crowd don’t have to be in any subsequent crowd. Because we were initially in the crowd described in heaven, we don’t have to remain in that crowd. We still have the opportunity to leave that crowd outside the gates of God’s eternal city and never return.

You can hear the entire sermon again by clicking the sermon title above. You can also see and listen to our latest 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.

Pastor Jordan

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Jan '21

Working Faith Fine Points

Posted on Jan 11, 2021 in Pastoral Messages |

Jan '21

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 “Working Faith”.

Something is working when it is doing what it is suppose to or designed to do. A refrigerator for example is working if it is keeping things placed inside it cold and fresh without making a mess or fuss. If a refrigerator ceases to perform in this matter, it may still be a refrigerator but it has become useless for what it was made and designed for.

Faith likewise must work in order to be useful and accomplish its purpose. Faith that doesn’t work is dead as a body without any breath. James message is addressed to all who would-be Christians who believe just saying, claiming or believing they have faith is enough. James points out to the contrary that faith involves actions or what he calls works.

And not any old works will do. The actions must demonstrate a belief in the promises of God. They must demonstrate a reliance on God. They must demonstrate an obedience to God. Just to believe there is a God is not working faith. All the devils believe and know this. Working faith causes people to act in a way that reflects their desire to be with God and to trust God for salvation.

People with working faith do things for the kingdom of God. Their faith works them by changing them into what God created and ordained them to be. And they work their faith by applying it to help increase the kingdom of God.

There is a saying in the church that “prayer is the key to the kingdom and faith unlocks the door”. Unlocking is an action, not an idea, concept or label. Jesus was known to say to those who were delivered from their troubles that it was their faith that saved them or made them whole. All of them acted in a way that demonstrated they believed without proof.

We must not try to convince ourselves or others that God is before believing and having faith in him. Faith is not required for something that is proven. The righteousness of God is not with proof, but of faith. People will be justified before God because they believed God and their actions or work demonstrated that they did.

I have yet to see a dead person who is still breathing. But if they are breathing there will be a way to tell by observing their chest area, hearing the sound of air moving in and out their nose or mouth or feeling the motion of air moving over a hand place at their mouth or nose.

Likewise, if our faith is alive, there will be a visible sign that it is working to both bring about changes within our own lives and changes within the lives of others.

You can hear the entire sermon again by click the sermon title above. You can also see and listen to our latest 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.

Pastor Jordan

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Jan '21

Healing For The Hurting Fine Points

Posted on Jan 4, 2021 in Pastoral Messages |

Jan '21

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 “Healing For The Hurting”.

Mankind is God’s purpose for creating the universe as we know it and the earth. To us the universe is large and we can’t imagine anything so large being created just for us. But we tend to measure God’s power and abilities in light of our own which makes it seem quite a feat.

But as slow as we are, we are capable of some amazing things of our own. Just look at what man has accomplished and figured out within the space and time God made for and has given us. Try to image what hidden things will be reveal and amazing feats accomplished in a few hundred or thousand more years! I imagine the universe is the size it is to us in order for us to have enough space and room to expand, apply and exercise our mind, knowledge and capabilities as we continue to imitate our Creator.

There is no way for us to be like God without giving us choice. God made us in order for Him to have someone to love, relate to, and do things for. This meant that we could choose evil instead of Godlike good. But for genuine, divine eternal relationship with God, man must decide on his own to choose good.

In order to help him do this, God must sometime use pain and suffering to shape and change our behavior and our choices. Sunday’s message is about how God’s punishment or judgement on Israel brought about the desired change in the heart and spirit of His people.

And although He became angry and upset with His children’s behavior and sent them to their room in a sense and didn’t talk to them and them to Him, there comes a time when God decided and will decide they and we have had enough.

This is what the text was saying about God and those who dwell with Him in eternity. They have contrite spirits and humble hearts which they have learned from the hurt they have experienced. Whatever the hurt or the cause of it, God stands ready to remove any and all things that separate us from Him and to heal our hurt to the point that we will forget why we were hurting. If He remained angry and hid His face, all of His people would die.

But there is a group of mankind that refuses and resist all God’s corrective measures. God describes them as wicked and likens them to a restless sea. For them, there will be no peace, no salvation, no joy and no mercy. But for God’s people, there is peace and healing.

Jesus said it best when He said “Blessed are”. We will suffer hurt in this world, some from our own doing and some from the doing of others. Revelations tells us about some heavenly trees that bear fruit which is good for the healing of the nations. Not only that, but God will wipe all tears from our eyes.

Be sure to download our mobile app on your phones and mobile devices. Don’t forget to read and listen to my Sunday School preview that comes out on Thursday. Get a jump on Sunday School by reading the SS Daily Bible Readings at our website or by clicking the link. As always, remember to fear God and keep His commandments.

Pastor Jordan

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Dec '20

Master Of My Fate Fine Points

Posted on Dec 28, 2020 in Pastoral Messages |

Dec '20

Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me, Pastor Jordan, for some Fine Points from yesterday’s service and message “Master Of My Fate”.

“Invictus” is a poem that was written by William Ernest Henley in 1875. The word means unconquerable or invincible and is applied in the poem concerning the state of the writer’s soul. I first learned of and memorized this poem as something required for me to do as part of my initiation into a fraternity in college.

As people breathe a sigh of relieve at the passing of the year 2020, I was led to remind everyone that this year was only an attempt for God to get our attention or like a “tap on our shoulder”. Because there has been much worst plagues in the past and much worst going forth. The church and the world is off course and God is calling us back.

The scriptural text tells Ezekiel to inform Israel of God’s desire to see them live and not die. He offers them total and complete forgiveness if they will turn away from their sins and come to Him. On the other hand, God warns anyone who turns away from their obedience and begins to follow after unrighteousness, will forfeit all their obedience and be judged on their sin.

As Israel laments their sinful condition and dire state, God swares by His life that their fate is in their own hands. God gives each person the ability to choose life or death. Nobody makes can make the choice for us. By giving us this power, we become the “masters of our fate” and the “captains of our soul” in a way I didn’t understand when I first learned this poem.

Many people in the church, not to mention those in the world, are using this pandemic as a cloak and excuse to abandon faith in God and venture into sinful behavior and actions. Many in the church are making little or no effort to worship, praise and follow God by using the pandemic as an excuse not to be engaged in the work of the church or live Christian lives.

But as disruptive as the pandemic has been, it is a small thing compared to what has been and what is to come. God is giving us an opportunity to come to our senses and return to Him in spirit and in truth while we still can and before something much worst comes upon us.

The choice we make to ours and ours alone. We won’t be able to blame or contribute our fate on or to anyone else. God will not send us to hell or take us to heaven. We determine our fate because God has made it so.

Forty years after I was required to learn that poem, its words ring truer now than ever before because I realize more than ever that we are “the masters of our fate and the captains of our souls”.

Pastor Jordan

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Dec '20

Why Jesus Was Born Fine Points

Posted on Dec 21, 2020 in Pastoral Messages |

Dec '20

Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me, Pastor Jordan, for some Fine Points from yesterday’s service and message “Why Jesus Was Born”.

A lot of people celebrate a holiday they understand little about. For instance, while many people know that Christmas had something to do with Jesus being born, many of them cannot tell explain or know why Jesus was born.

Some may tell you He was born to save the world which would be true. But just what does that mean and how was and how did He do that?

First, Jesus was not conceived by natural human methods. For most of human history people thought that impossible. But now we know a woman can be impregnated outside the natural human method. Mary, the mother of Jesus, conceived in this manner but by a Divine method God is and was able to perform.

Therefore, Jesus was not conceived and born by the will of man, nor of the flesh but by the will of God. He was born with a mission and He articulated that mission in His final hours while being questioned by a governor whose name was Pilate. In those final moments Jesus affirms that He was born to be a king.

He was born to be the king of God’s people and sit upon the throne of an everlasting and eternal kingdom. But not only that. He said He was also born to bear witness of the truth. The truth of creation. The truth of our existence. The truth of God’s purpose. The truth of God’s mercy and judgement.

He was and is God’s star witness in His case to preserve and save humanity. Everybody who will be saved are those who love the truth and abide in the truth. They hear and believe the words of Jesus. This is why Jesus was born. He was born to be the king of the people of God and to be an eye and star witness of God’s creation and the purpose of it.

By believing in Him we can fulfill our own purpose in being born which is to live and not to die. I was raised hearing people say we were born to die. But I discovered that man was not born to die, but born to live eternally with God. But he will die unless he turns to the king and becomes a lover of the truth.

Yes, people are doing a lot of things in the name of a holiday that is about the birth of someone who was born for a reason they don’t understand, don’t care to know or know but fail to receive.

Pastor Jordan

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Dec '20

Failure To Due Diligence Fine Points

Posted on Dec 14, 2020 in Pastoral Messages |

Dec '20

Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me, Pastor Jordan, for some Fine Points from yesterday’s service and message “Failure To Due Diligence”.

Due diligence is the process of making sure something is as it appears or should be before making a commitment to it. For instance, when buying a house, the buyer is given a certain number of days to discover if there is anything wrong with the house that would keep the buyer from finalizing the contract to buy the house. This period of time is known as due diligence.

The more diligent a buyer is in examining the house, the less likely the buyer will discover something wrong with the house after the sale. It would be a big mistake for the buyer to finalize the sale without due diligence because the buyer assumed everything was fine.

When Peter tells us that the righteous shall barely, hardly or scarcely be saved, it is not because God made it difficult to be saved. But it is because people didn’t practice due diligence when it came to knowing and doing the will of God.

Due diligence for Christians involves making sure we know what God’s Word says, understand the meaning of what it says and adhere to what it says. The reason so many will hardly be saved is because they have failed to do this. They have failed to know, failed to understand and/or failed to adhere to the Word of God.

This kind of due diligence only occurs when a person no longer seeks satisfaction and fulfillment in the things of the world. Instead, their satisfaction comes from knowing they are in the will of God and that God will give them the desires of their heart. In other words, they rely on God to satisfy them in whatever manner He chooses.

Not only this, but those who practice due diligence are fully convinced of the value of eternal life and are determine not to take any chances or make any mistakes that could keep them for receiving the eternal inheritance.

What God requires of us is not difficult or hard. God has not made salvation hard or difficult. The difficulty comes in when people, for whatever reason, failed to due diligence when it comes to God’s Word. The path that leads to life is narrow meaning there is not much room for us to stray from it.

Due diligence is not difficult, but it does require constant awareness and focus on the mission and task at hand. If we lose focus, if only for a moment, of what we want and why we want it, that moment is enough to jeopardize our salvation and put our souls at risk.

Finally, let us make no assumptions, but prove everything by the word of God. And once we know and understand, we can have confidence when we stand before God if we have abided by His word.

Pastor Jordan

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Dec '20

High Hurdles of Unbelief Fine Points

Posted on Dec 7, 2020 in Pastoral Messages |

Dec '20

Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me, Pastor Jordan, for some Fine Points from yesterday’s service and message “The High Hurdles of Unbelief”.

Hurdles are obstacles placed in someone’s path designed to slow and impede a person’s forward progress. The high hurdles of track and field competition are barriers which can’t be leaped over except by some of the best trained and skilled athletes.

Forward progress in receiving the blessings and inheritance which God has for mankind is blocked when those it is intended for erect high hurdles of unbelief. One type of hurdle of unbelief arises out of a growing inability of people to transcend the limits of the physical world informed through our senses.

Increasingly people identify as “realist” who only accept what is physical (meaning what can be detected by human senses) and by that measure seems possible or likely. This becomes a high hurdle of unbelief for these because God is transcendent and to believe Him we must transcend the natural, physical and mental confines of our senses.

A second high hurdle arises out of the belief that life under God is worst than life of self-direction. They believe they would not be happy or satisfied living with God under His restrictions to their freedom. They believe that life as they know it couldn’t be better with life under God.

And the final hurdle of unbelief comes from people’s inability to let go of what they have for what is promised. People are vested in their human existence with ties to many people, places and things. To inherit God’s kingdom, people must be willing to sacrifice and cut ties to all these things in order to do the will of God and receive His promise.

It is like burning a bridge behind oneself so that there is no returning to where one came from. In this case, people are afraid and unwilling to trust God for the fulfillment of a promise at the cost of forsaking what they have here and now.

High hurdles of unbelief are formed when people make these objections and concerns obstacles that they can’t get over in order to move forward with God. But to God’s people, all these objections are made into stones that can be stepped over instead of the hurdles that can’t be jumped over.

How we approach each of these and others I have not mentioned will determine if we perish in the wilderness of death and unbelief or have the foresight to trust God for an unseen but bright and glorious promised future.

Pastor Jordan

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Nov '20

Terms of Service Agreement Fine Points

Posted on Nov 30, 2020 in Pastoral Messages |

Nov '20

Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me, Pastor Jordan, for some Fine Points from yesterday’s service and message “Terms of Service Agreement”.

Service agreements are something people in the 21^st century are all too familiar with. They are the legal conditions those who provide a needed or wanted service require those receiving the service to sign or agree to for providing the service.

These types of agreements are common to receive medical treatment, cable and tv service, phone and internet service, rental services and many others. We go to these providers because they have something we want or need. In exchange for their service, we agree to the terms they set forth for providing the service.

Something very similar takes place between God, who provides life and mankind who are all in need of that service. Like human service providers, God has every right to insist that certain conditions or terms are met to receive His Life-giving service. And just like human service providers God is within His right and privilege to terminate and/or withhold His service if and when the terms of service are not met.

The text made it clear and plain that mankind is not the owner of his life. Instead, he is accountable to God for the life God has provided for him. God’s terms of service began with Adam when God outlined the conditions of his existence. God set a boundary for Adam beyond which if he ventured, he would terminate his service of life.

Those same conditions exist for us today and throughout human history. God has granted life under the terms that we acknowledge and accept the boundaries He has set forth to govern our lives.

We will all be judged and granted an extension of life based upon how well we have adhered to God’s terms of service. They are and have been available to all people to a greater or lesser extent from the beginning. Each and every person will have to give an account of how they used their life to the One who provided it, God in the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said the terms of service agreement or covenant is that you love each other in the same matter I have loved you. If we do this, we can have confidence that God will extend that which only He has the power to provide and sustain which is our life.

Pastor Jordan

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Nov '20

Don’t Pray For These Fine Points

Posted on Nov 24, 2020 in Pastoral Messages |

Nov '20

Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me, Pastor Jordan, for some Fine Points from yesterday’s service and message “Don’t Pray For These” . This week my Fine Points consists of a video summary of the main points of the message. Click on the sermon title link above to hear it.

The hard truth is God requires that we change from our desire to live outside His law and from our belief that we can live that way without consequence. God already knows but once we prove it by our persistent disobedience, God knows no amount of prayer is going to change the outcome.

So in telling Jeremiah not to pray for these people, God was cutting them loose to perish for choosing anything other than Him. Reflect on the message, have a good day and rest of the week.

Pastor Jordan

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