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.
09
Sep '19
Fine Points Monday Sept 9 2019
09
Sep '19
Everybody knows that walking on water is humanly impossible. But the bible says not only did Jesus do so, but Peter took a few steps as well. Either there is something about water and physics everybody doesn’t know or the bible is false. The sermon “The Destructiveness of Doubt” takes a closer look at the dynamic between faith and doubt.
Our own knowledge and experiences can lead us to doubt whether what the bible says is true. Soon after Peter took a few steps onto the sea, he began to sink, cried out for help and Jesus pulled him up before they both stepped into the ship. Evidently, there is something about faith that had nothing to do with physics and knowledge that allowed Peter to take steps onto the surface of the sea.
But faith is eroded, corrupted and destroyed by doubt. It was Peter’s doubt that weaken his faith and allowed him to sink and go down. Doubt will weaken anyone’s faith, which in turn, will jeopardized their salvation. Doubt leads to unbelief and unbelief opens the door to sinful behavior and anemic and tired worship.
The amount of confidence we have in the outcome of faith, directly affects what we tell others about salvation, how we treat and engage other people, how closely we live in obedience to God and how much we are willing to do and sacrifice for the kingdom of God’s sake.
When we lack enthusiasm to serve and help others come to Christ, or when we only give what we think we can spare or get by without, or when we find ourselves constantly being disobedient to the Word of God, or when coming to church is about as anticipated as going to the dentist and we view it as a necessity or chore rather than an opportunity for service, worship, praise and enlightenment then doubt is destroying our faith and any hope of salvation.
Faith is the key to receiving and living in the transforming power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit. But doubt neutralizes faith and takes away all of its power to bring about the born-again change God seeks in His children.
Did Jesus and Peter in fact walk on water, did Jesus suffer and die and rise from the grave, is Jesus in fact coming again to judge the world, does God indeed have an eternal home and inheritance for all who believe and is the forsaking of the pursuit of this world’s and life’s riches and pleasures worth all the promises of God?
If our answer to these questions is yes, then our faith will transform us into the people God created us to be. However, doubt will destroy the transforming process and power of faith and leave us in the same condition and state of all the other unbelievers and we will suffer their fate.
Be sure to catch our Sunday School preview that will be appearing later on this week on our Facebook page and mobile app. You can also enjoy the SS Daily Bible Readings anytime and anywhere at our website. As always, remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
02
Sep '19
Fine Points Monday Sept. 2, 2019
02
Sep '19
People sometimes work two and three jobs over 60 hours a week not because they have to, but because of something they want or believe they need that will eventually perish. Yet many, if not all, of these same people aren’t working at all for that which shall last forever. Hello again and welcome to another addition of fine points.
There is nothing wrong working for perishable things, many of which are necessary for physical existence. The problem occurs when we work just for those things and ignore eternal things. On this Labor Day, we need to pause to reexamine what are we working for which was the main point or idea from the message “Eternal Labor”. Jesus told His following that they were seeking Him for perishable food, but that they should work for food that doesn’t perish but produces eternal life. When asked what kind of work that is, Jesus replied it is the work of believing in Him.
God did not create man to die or experience death, but to dwell with Him in eternity. Death came as a result of a choice we made and are still making to disobey God and pursue perishable things. As a result, we continue to work for things that will not last, instead of things that are eternal. Jesus came to inform us that God has forgiven us and we can enter into the eternal relationship He created us to have through the work of believing in Him.
One reason many people don’t engage in eternal labor is because they fail to grasp and understand the meaning of the eternal. Our finite, limited existence where everything dies or fades along with the troubles and trials that accompany this life makes it difficult for many to image or think about life or existence in any other way. But just take some time to look at the glory of a beautiful day and everything above and around you not made with man hands and you will see only the smallest example or shadow of the eternal things God has prepared for you. These are the things, the unseen things, Jesus said we should be working for.
Expending our limited time and energy for a new this or new that, for this experience or that, on this person or that are all temporary and will vanish and perish. God is giving us the opportunity to work or labor for things which shall never perish or fade away. We can experience the unspeakable joy and glory of the eternal with Him simply by believing the words and teaching of Jesus Christ and doing what He says.
No one can deny you, me or any person eternity because God made faith the only thing a person has to have to receive it. Eternal labor is about hoping and reaching for everlasting things through faith in Jesus Christ. Be sure to catch our Sunday School preview that will be appearing later on this week on our Facebook page and mobile app. You can also enjoy the SS Daily Bible Readings anytime and anywhere at our website. As always, remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
26
Aug '19
Fine Points Monday August 26, 2019
26
Aug '19
When people have no hope or expectation beyond death, they live waiting or expecting to die. In fact, an increasing number of people are accepting death as inevitable and finite. People are becoming so accustomed to pain and sorrow and suffering, that they can’t imagine life any other way. Hello again and welcome to another addition of fine points.
People who believe death is inescapable and the end of everything live expecting to die. But people who believe in God and Jesus Christ Live Expecting To Live. People who live expecting to die don’t look for anything beyond death so their entire life is spent seeking joy and happiness in the here and now. This causes them to take a dim view of life and the people who live in it.
They live trying to escape the misery and sorrow of this life by seeking joy and happiness in anything that can help them forget about their troubles. They look to money and the things money can buy to help them make life worth living. But there are only so many things in this world for sale and none of them can bring lasting joy and happiness and escape from the misery and sorrows of life. At best they provide a temporary break, a respite and then its back to the pain and sorrow of living in this world.
No one can escape aging, no one can escape sickness, can escape pain, can escape sorrow, escape death though they try in vain to do so. Life for those expecting to die is a race against time to seek out all the pleasure and joy possible before they can no longer enjoy anything or die. Christians on the other hand have a different approach and perspective of life.
While acknowledging the misery and sorrow of life, they see an end to it and a world and place where none of it exists. They don’t try to escape or cope with it in the ways people who live expecting to die do, but by trusting God instead to deliver them from it. The God they believe in will delivered them from pain, sorrow and death provided they live a certain way. Therefore, they live as commanded by God because by living this way they expect to live even through death itself.
As a result, it causes them to see and value people and the world we live in much differently than those who expect to die. They don’t view people and resources as objects and things to be used to help them escape and forget about their own misery and sorrow. Instead they see people as themselves in need of love and support of a God who loves them and wants to deliver them.
They see the earth as temporary housing that God has provided and expects them to treat it like they would want someone to treat and take care of something that belonged to them knowing that others live here and need and use it also. As people who live expecting to live it is our duty and calling to help those who live expecting to die to believe and trust in the God who can allow them to live and not die.
Yes, everyday is a challenge and not every day brings personal pain and sorrow. But when it will and does come, Christians take consolation in knowing it won’t be like this always because they believe and have faith that a better day is coming by and by. And this hope causes them to live expecting to live.
Be sure to catch our Sunday School preview that will appearing later on this week. August and September is revival time around here so be encouraged to attend revival services in your area. And as always, remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
20
Aug '19
Fine Points from Splitting the Child
20
Aug '19
What kind of woman will lie to steal another woman’s child, and if the lie doesn’t work, would rather see the child dead instead of being with its real mother? These are the sentiments of one of the women at the center of a dispute over custody of a child that provided an example of the divine wisdom God gave to Israel’s King Solomon. Hello everyone and thanks for joining me for another addition of the Fine Points of Sunday’s message “Splitting the Child”.
Of all the examples that could have been given of Solomon’s wisdom, I don’t believe this one was just a coincident or random, but by design or purpose. The reason why is because this judgment demonstrates a hidden spiritual reality. The two women represent two spiritual forces at work. One of the forces wants man to live personified in Jesus Christ and the other wants man to die personified in Satan. The child caught in the middle is humanity.
The mother of the child was willing to sacrifice her right to the child and allow an evil woman to raise her child in order to allow the child to live and hopefully one day reveal to the child who its real parents are and what they did to spare his life. This is what God did for humanity. Instead of allowing man to die for his sins which Satan helped to cause, God allowed man to be raised in a hostile environment by an evil governor in the hope that one day he would discover his true creator and the love and sacrifice His Creator has and made to save him from destruction.
The other woman with her child dead, when she saw she couldn’t have the child, wished it destroyed rather than returned to his rightful mother. The other woman’s dead child represents Satan, his angels and all of humanity that will follow him who are all under a death sentence for their rebellion against God. Because he can’t have the children of God, he would rather see them dead than with their Father, the Creator.
Jesus said that Satan came to “kill, steal and destroy” the woman’s child he could not have. He wants to split the child. He has lied to humanity and led us to believe no one loves us, our lives are meaningless and there’s no hope for us beyond the grave. He has fed us with his venom of evil which causes us not to love one another, turn against God and become liars and murderers like him.
He is the god of this world who has successfully blinded the eyes of humanity from the truth of their real father and the love He has for them. Jesus has come to open our eyes to the truth and to shine the light of truth in our dark world beset by evil. What kind of woman would lie and steal another woman’s child and wish it dead if she was unsuccessful instead of the child remaining with its true mother? That person is Satan the enemy of God and humanity who says “split the child” so that he will be neither mine or his true Creator’s.
Be sure to catch our Sunday School preview that will appearing later on this week. As always, remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
12
Aug '19
Fine Points Monday August 12 2019
12
Aug '19
“A Book containing Faces and the things these faces do and say and think”. That is how I would describe Facebook and most of the other social media outlets and platforms people are using to inform others of their actions, thoughts and opinions. Hello everyone and thanks for joining me for another addition of Fine Points as I try to highlight the important aspects of yesterday’s message “The Face Book of Life”.
The concept of Facebook or “A Book of Faces” isn’t something new. The bible tells us God has books of faces containing the works of men long before Mark Zuckerberg or any other entrepreneur had the idea of capitalizing on the lack of and need for social interaction between people. The big difference between God’s book of faces and these here and now is that we decide when and what to post and what our page says about us.
We have no such control in God’s books. We can’t post anything ourselves nor take anything down. God is in complete control and we can’t argue about what’s on our pages. Jesus told His disciples to rejoice more over the fact that their names were written in heaven or as I put it in God’s Face Book of Life. Of all the books one’s name and face can appear, there is no better place than in God’s Book of Life. For the bible teaches us that if our name is not there, we shall be cast into a lake of fire.
Our actions, thoughts and motivations are being recorded or “posted” in the appropriate book or books God has ordained for that purpose. One of those books will contain post of what we did for Jesus. Any act such as giving, singing, witnessing, teaching, preaching or any other thing done in the name of Jesus and for Him doesn’t necessitate a post in the what we did for Jesus book of faces. The qualifier is the motivation for our deeds and acts.
“Spirit and Truth” is how Jesus said we must worship God. Therefore, when a person worships God in spirit and truth he or she does not do things in order for something to be posted about them, but things are posted because they serve God in spirit and truth. The motivation for our giving, teaching, preaching, witnessing, singing, praying, ushering, our service of any kind and so much more is what matters and determines in which book our works will be recorded or posted. What is being posted in your what I did for Jesus book?
Finally, we have the opportunity to use Facebook and all social media as a platform or tool to help build community and relationship for the people of God while keeping to a minimum any promotion of ourselves. We have been charged with carrying the Gospel to the ends of the world. Facebook and other social media platforms are helping to make that possible without stepping foot outside the United States.
We should start in the Church to organize around building communities of truth and righteousness based upon the teaching of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I invite believers everywhere to take advantage of these book of faces tools to help build and strengthen Christian communities where people can find truth, love, friendship, interaction, support and purpose for our lives and that of others and, in the end, find our names written in heaven in God’s Face Book of Life..
Well, thanks for listening. We will be in revival all this week and we hope you will be able to come join us. Be sure to catch our Sunday School preview that will appearing later on this week. As always, remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
05
Aug '19
Fine Points Monday Aug 5, 2019
05
Aug '19
Greetings Everyone
No matter where most of us are today in terms of material and physical well-being, it is nearly certain we are better off today than our fore parents were in 1877. That was 12 years after the end of the Civil War and Federal troops were pulled out of the South as the last means of protection between former slaves and those who fought a war to keep them enslaved.
Penniless, homeless, friendless, naked and illiterate, black people who had been forced to labor without pay were left along the road with nothing in the midst of a society that didn’t want to see them prosper. To ensure their demise, laws on both the state and federal level were put in place to stifle and contain their economic progress and where laws failed, terror and intimidation was used to deny black people full citizenship rights.
But despite some of the cruelest and meanest efforts that caused (and in some cases are still causing) countless black people to lose their lives and caused them untold anguish and fear, they have overcome and defeated the efforts and tactics that were designed to destroy them. God had mercy on them and has allowed them to be in the places they are today.
Many battles on the way to full citizenship and equality have been won even to the point of having an African-American family occupy the White House. But most black people are in danger of Winning the Battle, but Losing the War. I invite you to listen to the sermon to get a better understanding of how a people can come so far and overcome severe obstacles and still lose the war. The war that matters in the end isn’t over physical and material things and well-being, though they are important and essential to life.
The real war is over and for our souls. It is our desire and lust for the things of and in this world that can allow us to win the battles of physical and material life and lose the war for our souls. The United States is plagued with senseless gun violence which in driven in large part by division based on differences that in any other context or different world wouldn’t even matter.
The enemy of God and humanity has managed to plant in the minds of some people that they are different and superior to the rest of humanity and are entitled by that difference. All differences between people on this planet are superficial at best and doesn’t change the fact that we all have a common ancestry. We are all the same species and people despite some slight differences in appearance. We communicate and can have relationships (including reproduction ones) with each other that no other species or creature on this planet can have with us.
The person some people are fearing, hating and killing are their own sisters and brothers, their own flesh and blood. If they and the person they fear, hate and kill were the only two humans being left on the earth, to kill the other would leave them alone on this planet with creatures they can’t relate to and can’t relate to them instead of enjoying and sharing this beautiful planet together with one of their own kind. This is an illogical and senseless hate and ideal planted in the heart of humanity by someone or something that wants no good for humanity.
Division is the greatest weapon that can be used against any people. While we have won and are winning many battles against it, our lust is causing us to lose the war. Don’t end up gaining every physical and material well-being thing our lust and money can get us and lose the only thing that last forever, our souls. Well, thanks for listening and remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
29
Jul '19
Fine Points Monday July 29, 2019
29
Jul '19
Greetings Everyone
People often keep things of value hidden away in what they believe to be a safe place and will come back for them when they need them at a later time. This is essentially what believers do by safely hiding their lives in Christ only to receive them again at a later time. The sermon “Living Now or Living Later” is about the sacrificing exchange God requires for us to gain admittance into His Kingdom (Colossians 3:1-4).
Salvation in Christ involves making a choice between living in the present world seeking to fulfill our own desires and passions or abandoning them in order to take on the mission of seeking the lost for Christ. These two alternatives are in conflict so they both can’t be done even though many try. If we would be truthful with ourselves, many of us would have to confess that seeking the lost for Christ is not our main priority in life. Yet, this is what is needed in order to be in the will of God.
Instead of our affections being on the unseen riches of heaven, we focus on the riches of the here and now on earth and what many would call the “good life”. But Christians are told to set our minds or hearts on things above and not on things that are on the earth. God offers to keep our lives hidden in a safe place with Him in exchange for allowing Him to live His life through us here and now to help save humanity from destruction. The period of time God requires of our life is nothing in comparison to an eternity with Him.
One way to think about eternity is equating the choice to live for now as one second and the choice to live later all the rest of the seconds you have already lived and then some. The passage goes on to say that when Christ shall appear, the life you sacrificed and gave to Him for safe keeping will also appear with Him in glory. But make no mistake, if we decided not to place our life with God in Christ or attempted to simply work Christ into our lives while living them the way we wanted to, then our life will not appear with Him in glory because we chose to live now and not later.
So, does this mean that I have to live like a monk or hermit and enjoy or have nothing in this life? Absolutely not! God will supply everything we need and then some when we put Him and His mission to save the lost first. In fact, there is not a more fulfilling life than one spent in the service of God. Nothing is capable of giving more lasting satisfaction and joy than seeing lost souls come to God through Christ. To know that someone who was only going to live for a second is now going to live forever brings a joy that can’t be found anywhere else in the world.
Our time we are required to give to God is about threescore years and ten or even fourscore on average. But what we get for what amounts to a second is an eternity with God. How can anyone who understands the stakes refuse such a deal! So, I urge you to join me in giving your life to God for safe keeping if you have not already done so and allow Him to use you to help spread the gospel and all the other things you and I need will be added unto us. Well, thanks for listening and remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
22
Jul '19
Fine Points Monday July 22, 2019
22
Jul '19
Fifty years ago on July 20, 1969, the world watched as Neil Armstrong dismounted from the Lunar module and placed the first human footprints on the surface of the moon. As he placed his foot upon the moon, he famously said he was taking “a small step for man”. How true was his statement! All of our steps, from the day we take our first one, are small. But put together, they manage to take us from one place to another along an epic journey. The important thing is not the size of our steps, but their direction and purpose.
If you have not already done so, I invite you to listen to the sermon “Small Steps”. The direction and purpose of our steps are determined by the desires of our hearts. The Psalmist asked the Lord to “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”.
There is something very profound in his request. The thoughts originating from within his heart are what needs God’s attention. He realizes that these thoughts are what causes him to go the way he goes. He asks that his intentions be examined so that he may be led into the way everlasting. Everyday we are leaving footprints from the places our hearts have taken us and where they are leading us. People have desires that are leaving footprints in many different places. Just think of the countless steps you have already taken in your life and places you have been and are still going. Small each one may be, but they get us from one place to another.
Of all the places our small steps can take us, there is no better place than the way everlasting. Where our steps take us depend on the thoughts in our hearts. Every time we take a step, they are small but are designed to help us reach a destination. Our tiny feet are the means by which we take a journey. The size of our feet and steps are not what’s important. What matters is their direction and purpose.
Where are you going? What is your destination? What will you have or do once and if you arrive? If it’s not eternal life, I invite you to do what the Psalms did and request a change in direction and purpose while you still can. At the conclusion of all the millions and perhaps billions of small steps you have and will take in your life, where will you be? I don’t know about you, but I want to be where Jesus is.
Pastor Jordan
15
Jul '19
Fine Points Monday July 15, 2019
15
Jul '19
Greetings FB members and friends
Well you made it to another day. Not because you willed it so nor because you have it like that. But it was and is because of God’s grace and mercy. And no doubt, many of you have made plans for this day even before it arrived. And not only do you have plans for this day, but for the days, weeks, months and even years ahead. There is nothing wrong with plans, but plans are just what we intend to do.
The problem with plans is that they can be easily interrupted, changed or terminated by unwelcomed and unknown events and circumstances. Because of these events and circumstances, we need to acknowledge our ability to carry out our plans depend on the Lord’s will. Whatever we plan to do, we must recognize that they will only be done if the Lord so wills. When we make plans without acknowledging our dependence on God, the Bible says we are boastful and arrogant as if to say we have power over time and circumstances (James 4:13-17).
Someone will get hurt, but it won’t be me. Sick or disabled, but not me. Loose a friend or family member, but not me. Be the victim of crime or natural disaster, but not me. Someone will die, but not me or anyone involved in my plans. The Bible says all such assumptions are evil. Instead, we ought to say I will or plan to do this or that, my family and friends will do this or that but only if the Lord wills. Because the Bible describes our lives as fragile and fleeting as a vapor without the power to control what happens to ourselves or others.
We are forced to live with many uncertainties and unknowns knowing what we want to do and what we want to happen, but realizing the power to force our will and wants or anything to happen doesn’t belong to us. However, there is one thing we can be certain and control of. We can be certain and in control of our knowledge of who we believe in and of our confidence in His ability to do what we want and need Him to do for us.
We may not know if our children will make it home safety or if we will be in an accident or fall victim of a violent crime or natural disaster or even if we will be able to get up in the morning. But we can know if we trust in the Lord and want Him to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. Therefore, let’s cease worrying and fretting over the future by living each day knowing that whatever happens it will be only if the Lord wills.
You can hear this sermon by clicking the link “If the Lord Wills”. Be sure to download our mobile app and to visit us at our worship facility or online and on social media and leave us a comment or submit your questions. That’s all for this segment of the Shepherd’s Voice. It is my prayer that we will receive the kingdom God has prepared for us and those we and He loves and cares about. Thanks for listening and until next time, continue to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
11
Jul '19
Fine Points Monday July 8, 2019
11
Jul '19
Greetings FB members and friends
Appearance and dress reflect respect and norms of a society or culture. Respect for ourselves and those around us and for the standards of conduct and behavior of the people we live with. Both of these things have taken a fall in relevance and importance today.
Today, you are likely to see people out and about looking as if they just rolled out of bed, grabbed their keys and when on their way. No personal grooming (or hygiene), bedroom slippers or flipflops and barely covering their nakedness. Young men and boys (and some older men also) going about exposing their underwear for all to see as if they had no need for pants. People are likely to be seen in many different settings (medical offices, business offices, waiting rooms, shopping malls, government and education building, workplaces and just about anywhere else) dressing as if to say appearance doesn’t matter.
This lack of respect people have for themselves and others is one reason they find it hard to relate to Jesus’s parable about a man being tossed for not coming properly dressed to a wedding. Many say “What’s the big deal?” There are still times today when an invitation is given to an event and the dress for that event is stated, implied or known. Those attending the event will prepare themselves and get ready according to the expectations of those who invited them.
God has likewise extended an invitation to mankind to come to a wedding between His Son and His Bride along with the dress expectations. Those in attendance are expected to dress in such a way as to show respect for Him, His Son, the Bride, His guest and themselves. The man in the parable showed up without this respect. He wore something that revealed his lack of preparedness and respect for the occasion and those in attendance.
Likewise, the parable is intended to say to all the 2.3 billion people who have invitations to heaven by stating they are Christians they also are dressed improperly for heaven if they have not and are not making preparation to go by getting ready. They are making the mistake of thinking proper appearance or dress which is how they live in obedience to the will of God isn’t important and therefore they make little or no effort to dress or get ready for the wedding. As a result, they will therefore show up improperly dress and be removed from the event.
The sermon “Improperly Dressed” hopefully will provide you with a fuller understanding of this parable. Be sure to download our mobile app and to visit us online and on social media and leave us a comment or submit your questions. That’s all for this segment of the Shepherd’s Voice. It is my prayer that we will receive the kingdom God has prepared for us and those we and He loves and care about. Thanks for listening and until next time, fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
