Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me, Pastor Jordan, for the Main Point from Sunday’s message “What Makes Us Happy”. 

Happiness is the feeling which is among the most desired of all human feelings.  There is nothing like happiness.  Happiness is a state which makes life the most rewarding and satisfying.  It makes us glad to be alive and to experience the wonderful gift of life. 

But the same things that can be a source of happiness can also become a source of sorrow, pain and sadness.  Happiness is a fleeing feeling.  It does not remain and fades over time. 

However, the gospel tells us there is a source of eternal and everlasting happiness.  This eternal happiness, which Jesus calls blessedness, is available to those whom Jesus described in the sermon on the mount. 

People who find themselves in these blessed or happy categories, not only experience happiness here and now, but have the promise of everlasting or eternal happiness in the life to come.  For in the life to come, all the things that can cancel happiness or be a source of sorrow or anything that can cause unhappiness will be done away with.  This is why so many people over the centuries have sought God and still do because of their desire to be eternally happy.  

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 link for selected scriptural passages in 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

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Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me, Pastor Jordan, for the Main Point from Sunday’s message “Turning Water Into Wine”. 

Marriage has been a stabilizing and organizing mechanism for human community building for centuries and maybe longer than that.  Jesus was supportive of marriage and is reported to have turned water into wine at a wedding festival.

Weddings are a communal event that celebrates the joining of two people providing the building block for a family and community.  Also, for centuries marriage was the rule to having children and the expectation of the community. 

In today’s society, marriage has become more the exception than the rule.  The community’s greatest, strongest and most valuable asset is the family consisting of a married father and mother and their children. 

The enemies of God have blinded a generation or more of people to this fact and have waged a war against it.  As a result, there is havoc and chaos in the streets of our communities. 

Jesus turned water into wine not only to demonstrate who He is, but in support of the divine institution of marriage because it forms the building blocks of a thriving and prosperous community and society. 

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 link for selected scriptural passages in 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

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Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me, Pastor Jordan, for the Main Point from Sunday’s message “Missed Opportunity”. 

Missed Opportunity is the title and subject of a previous message I preached in 2019 from the same text.  I was unaware of this when making the decision to preach from this same title, subject and text again. 

As I listened to parts of the earlier message, I could hear myself repeating some of the same things I said in the current message.  One of the common points of both messages emphasized the limited time nature of opportunity. 

However, a major theme in the current message focused on life itself as the means to access opportunity in contrast to those who are already dead and have no such means.  Life itself is the only means to opportunity we have to influence our destiny or what shall become of us. 

A greater percentage of people seem not to be concerned with their destiny or fate because an increasing number seem not to think much about it or that there is anything to think about it.  However, there are a few believers in God still left.  A few who believe that what we do with our life in this world matters and influences what will happen later. 

This message was directed to all who hold that humanity is beholding to God for their existence and it will be to God we will be held accountable.  Therefore, we only have the precious and few moments of life to present our case and influence the judge that we believe in, seek and desire immortality on His terms. 

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 link for selected scriptural passages in 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

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Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me, Pastor Jordan, for the Main Point from Sunday’s message “Lynchpins Of Salvation”. 

As some of you may know, the lynchpin is the object that keeps things from separating from each other.  In the case of wheels, the lynchpin keeps the wheel from coming off the axle or hub.  If we were to imagine salvation as a wheel, then what is needed to keep it from coming off the axle of life. 

Paul seems to believe, and I do agree, that hope, faith and love are the lynchpins that are needed to keep salvation front and center in our lives.  They each have a special role in keeping our quest for salvation alive and on track. 

Hope fills our hearts with anticipation of something to be desired.  Faith supports and gives strength and vitality to our hope because it informs us that what we are hoping for is something that can be realized.  And finally love teaches us how to treat and see others as we prepare for eternal life in the kingdom of God. 

When we have the proper and needed ingredients for salvation, then abiding in hope, faith and love will see us to the end without failing to reach our eternal home.  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 link for selected scriptural passages in 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

Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me, Pastor Jordan, for the Main Point from Sunday’s message “Ingredients Of Salvation”. 

There are certain things that must be present for salvation to be true and genuine.  Because if we think about it, why will one person be saved and another not.  Both may have many similar things in common.  Both may be really moral, deceit and good people.  Both may even be baptized church members and active in their respective churches. 

While these things are good and some may be indicative of someone who believes and declares themselves to be a Christian, none of these things ensures salvation.  For we know there are many people who may name the name of Christ and do great and good works in His name the bible says will not be saved. 

Why will you be saved and your spouse, siblings, children, parents, friend, neighbors or coworkers will not?  Why will God save some, even you or me, and not others. 

I believe according to the scriptural text of the message that three ingredients are necessary.  They are a belief in God, a desire greater than any other to be with God and a constant and consistent obedience to God.  Those who seek honor, glory and immortality all share these things in common and form the ingredients of salvation and eternal life. 

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. 

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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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 “Depending On Bread”.  The main point of this message is the exchange of dependence on God for life for that which is made available in the world but is incapable of sustaining life. 

The desire and need of physical bread to keep the body alive has overtaken the need and desire for spiritual bread to keep our souls alive.  By causing Israel to suffer hunger and want in the wilderness, God tied the spiritual and physical dependence of life together.  He demonstrated life, both physical as well as spiritual, is depended upon Him and not the physical food they ate. 

The same is true today.  We take for granted all the things that are necessary for life that God provides without acknowledging that it is God which is keeping us physically alive.  The bread we eat, water we drink, air we breathe, the light which warms the planet and everything else that is needful for physical life is provided by God. 

Living by bread alone is a reference to the idea that access to the things that keep us physically alive are incapable of maintaining and sustaining life.  But whether we live or die all depends on the word of God Himself.  For it is God who has power to give life, take life and restore life so that man lives or dies by the will and word of God.  For it is God who has power and authority of both life and death. 

But sadly, the world has become dependent on bread to live which is incapable alone of keeping us alive.  And by doing so, has forfeited and condemned our eternal souls of life.  

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.  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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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 “Home Field Advantage”. 

“Home field” is a term or phase generally applied in sports references.  But it also can be applied to most situations where one of the antagonists in a struggle find themselves in a battle that takes place in a nonneutral setting that is hostile to them and places them at a disadvantage while providing an advantage to their opponent.  This is usually the case when teams travel to the city of other teams to play them. 

In His parable of the wheat and the tares, Jesus described the world as the field.  The enemy of man is the god of this world.  He is our enemy because he uses our own home field, the world, to hide and blind us from the truth of God in Christ. 

He takes advantage of our God-given senses and the things and issues and materials of the world to deceive and distract us from our purpose and reason for existence.

Christians and believers in God find themselves at a disadvantage because an unbelieving world spurred on by spiritually malicious persons are hostile to all persons and things righteous and godly.  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. 

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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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 “Counting The Righteous”. 

Counting the righteous is one of my favorite sermons to preach for several reasons.  It speaks to many aspects of faith and worship.  In the chapter from which the sermon is taken, we can see the type of relationship that has developed between God and Abraham over the years. 

Abraham has not yet received a son from his wife Sarah and it seems like both he and she are now too old to have one together.  Yet God arrives to tell them that their time has come and within the year their son will be born.  But this was not the only reason God was in the vicinity.  For He was on His way to investigate the level of wickedness in Sodom. 

After Abraham fed those who were there in God’s stead, God wondered if He should tell Abraham of His plans.  Here we see the admiration God had for Abraham because he had risen to become His friend.  Another great aspect of this sermon is the dialog and the mystery surrounding the source of its origin. 

The dialog feature in many places in the bible gives us a front row seat as to what was said, thought or prayed by and among those found in the text.  It is mysterious in how it has been recorded and transmitted to those who wrote it down onto the pages of the sacred text. 

Seeing there were no human witness writing and recording what happened and was said in real time and no recording devices to record it, it becomes a matter of faith to trust the content of the text. 

Abraham and God’s relationship had evolved to the point that Abraham was able to suggest to God that He should consider if His actions were worthy of the judge of the earth without God taking offense. 

Abraham and his nephew Lot had parted ways but not because they no longer cared about each other, but for the sake of peace between their growing households.  When God revealed He might destroy Sodom, Abraham remembered his nephew Lot could get caught up in the destruction because he had moved to Sodom.  

Again, we see and hear the thoughts of Abraham as he began to reason with God on behalf of his nephew Lot.  This intervention proved to be the difference that saved Lot and his family from the destruction that befell Sodom. 

But perhaps one of the most important aspects of this sermon is that God did not find ten righteous people in all of Sodom.  He did not find ten people who feared and respected God.  If He could have found ten, He would have spared the city for their sakes. 

God sees the world and each place in the world and those in the world who have faith in Him and fear Him.  It is for their sakes I believe God continues to spare the inhabitants of the earth.  For the righteous belong to God.  And as long as there remain righteous individuals, God will make accommodations in order for them to be saved. 

Yet we can plainly see, the number of righteous, the number of people who actively seek to know and obey the will of God, continues to dwindle here among us.  The message is designed to allow us to take inventory of ourselves and consider where we would fall in the count of the righteous. 

How many will God find if He began counting the righteous among us?  Would we count as one of the righteous?  

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

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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 “Generational Righteousness”. 

In the world of sports, people often debate who is or was the greatest in the game.  One measure is of course championships or games won.  Championships and wins alone are insufficient to answer the question.  Other factors such as the rules at the time, number of teams, quality of players, equipment used, eligible players, etc. must and should be taken into account to answer such a question. 

Such things as these in sports define generations.  It then becomes uncertain and somewhat dubious then to compare players across generations.  The playing conditions and circumstances are not the same.  It could be like comparing apples and oranges.  Both are fruit and have characteristics common to fruits, but there are significant differences between the two. 

Likewise, righteousness is generational.  While there are some things that are constant and consistent concerning righteousness in all generations, each generation of people are defined by their own unique set of circumstances and conditions that make them different from previous and future generations. 

Comparing righteousness across generations is pointless, because nobody is able to live in another’s generation.  We can only live in our own. 

I would hear my parents, grandparents and others tell me about the conditions and circumstances they lived through.  I have heard myself saying how I couldn’t do this or take that.  There is something consistent within a sport that identifies it as a particular sport.  Something consistent about fruit that makes apples and oranges fruit. 

There is something about righteousness that is consistent and transcendent in all generations.  This is what this portion of the 119^th Psalm helps us to identify as generational righteousness. 

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

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