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.
21
Aug '17
Fine Points Monday August 21, 2017
21
Aug '17
Greetings Everyone
On this post revival Fine Points Monday. Thanks for joining me and welcome back. It was a week to remember as Dr. Andrew Davis made his first appearance at Flag Branch as our revivalist for the week. Each night Dr. Davis brought us a timely and needed message we could apply to our daily lives. His last three messages are available for playback on our website.
Many of the churches in our community came one of the five nights to fellowship with us. And while it was hot each day, there was not much rain last week and the cooling system held up fine. Our own attendance was not where it should have been, but many members came out several nights and some were there every night. We need to say special thanks for our Ushers who had every door covered then entire week and a special thanks to Bro. James Crowder who filled in and ran the cameras in the video room nearly every night. Sis. Webber and Seberna provided music on the keyboard and drums. It was a wonderful revival with many people doing different things in order for it to be the revival that is was.
The seating tickets are now available for the Pastor’s 30th Anniversary Banquet. We are asking for a gift of $30 for each seat and that each member get a seat for themselves and one guest. See Sis. Melanie Eddy or Dea. Ernest Collins to secure your seats. Also, the church gave our nearly 20 gift cards Sunday for those children returning to school this week. Thank you for your support through our Mission Offering to provide these gifts to the children of our members and friends.
Finally, I hope you we able to experience the solar eclipse today. Unbelievers characterize it as a “cosmic coincident”. But we believe it to be just another display of evidence that our God created and designed the world and universe in which we live. Well, that’s all for now. We will be going to Belmont tonight, St. Davie tomorrow and Olive Branch Wednesday. So, until we meet again,
Blessings
Pastor Jordan
14
Aug '17
Fine Points Monday August 14, 2017
14
Aug '17
Greetings Everyone
And thanks for joining me for this edition of Fine Points Monday. As always, it is inspiring to see all of you each Lord’s Day as we come together to celebrate and thank our God for all He has done, continues to do and will do for each of us.
We should all be inspired and encouraged when we witness the faithfulness of senior members like 91 year old Sis. H. Dumas who still by the way drives herself to church and by Bro. H. Jordan who will be turning 90 this year and still goes with us to every church’s revival and program. They not only come for Morning Worship, but they are there for Sunday School, BTU and Missions. Not that others are not doing the same thing, but they just happened to be the eldest woman and man in our congregation who at their age are setting an excellent example that all of us can follow.
And just in case some of you didn’t notice, Sis. B. Robinson was blessed to have all of her five children come and fellowship with her and us yesterday. I know she was happy and we are too. We also had some special guest and visitors who were with us on yesterday and we thank God for them as well. I would like to extend a special thanks to the Planning and Social Committee and all the people who volunteered to work in the kitchen to serve all of us and clean up afterward. I also want to thank everyone for your contributions to our homecoming dinner. Everyone had enough to eat and drink thanks to members and friends pitching in and bringing what you were asked to bring.
But not only did S & P step up, but all ministries of the church had a part in the success of the day. Remember, no one person or ministry can do it all or is responsible for it all. It takes everyone working together to get things done. So, after the problems and uncertainty we were facing on last Sunday as a result of the storm damage and homecoming in jeopardy of being cancelled, God blessed us to repair what needed to be fixed and allowed us to have a wonderful day and start to our revival!
And this is OUR revival. As I have fore stated in times past, it is great when other come and fellowship with us and we thank God for all of them. But ultimately, the people of the church are responsible for supporting their OWN revival. So, let’s make some sacrifices this week and make every effort to come each night if possible. Call members and friends and remind them and invite others to come out to listen and hear what God will say to us this week. I am looking forward to each night and praying for young Dr. Davis that God will protect him, direct him, use him and strengthen him to deliver to us just what we need to motivate us to greater service and faithfulness as we journey toward our heavenly home. I ask you to join me as we pray for God’s blessings this week.
Well, thanks all for now. Next week I hope to be commenting on the wonderful week that was. So, keep loving one another and let’s have a good time in Zion!
Blessings
Pastor Jordan
07
Aug '17
Fine Points Monday Aug. 7, 2017
07
Aug '17
Greeting FB Family and Friends
It is so nice of you to join me on this Fine Points Monday as we review and reflect on our coming together on yesterday. As always, I was glad to see all our members, friends, and visitors especially Dea W. Evans who was able to return from illness Sunday and share with us his inspiring testimony.
We are still recovering and assessing the damage from a severe storm which left much of our A/V ministry equipment inoperable and may have contributed to the malfunction of the A/C in the fellowship hall. Because of the damaged fellowship hall A/C, we may have to cancel homecoming. If it has to be cancelled, we will inform everyone by Friday.
We only have one more Sunday to get our names in to Sis. Melanie Eddy if we have a child in Kindergarten to 12th grade going back to school to receive the back to school supplies help. We don’t want anyone left out, so turn those names in asap if you have not already done so.
Yesterday’s message entitled “The Last Laugh” is available for replay on own website and mobile app. The message takes a closer look at how people view what is possible and impossible. The scripture text revealed that Sarah, Abraham’s wife laughed with unbelief at the possibility of having a child at their age. But God’s messenger assured them that there is nothing too hard for God. And they did have the child just as God said. People are all too quick to laugh with unbelief and judge something is impossible because they can’t fathom how it can be done. Many of the things we take for granted now, a few centuries ago people would have thought to be impossible. We do things today that people then could not even imagine. And so it is with us.
Two or three centuries from now, people will be doing common things that people today, not only think is impossible, but can’t even imagine. In 1817, just 200 years ago, who could even imagine a common device like a smartphone with all its capabilities. We are mere mortal men who are making what seems impossible to earlier generations possible. What should that tell us about the power and ability of an everlasting eternal God? With our God, all things are possible, even the raising of the dead. Well, that’s all for now. Remember, Mt. Moriah Tuesday, Flint Ridge Wednesday and Elizabeth Marshville Thursday. Let pray for God’s will to be done concerning homecoming and for a great blessing and move of God during revival next week. Until next time,
Blessings
Pastor Jordan
31
Jul '17
Fine Points Monday July 31, 2017
31
Jul '17
“Atom (I mean Adam), where art thou?”. This is the question God asked Adam after he and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit and attempted to hide themselves. Greetings everyone and thanks for joining me for this edition of Monday Fine Points.
We had a really nice service yesterday. I was especially pleased to see a few familiar faces I had missed seeing for a while and all the others I look forward to seeing every Sunday. While our oldest group’s Show and Tell presentation was well short of what they are capable of, the middle group’s presentation, while not where it could or should be, was good and continues to show signs of improvement. I continue to urge the parents and others to support and encourage our young people in our quest to provide them with the religious and social education that will help to sustain and guide them as they journey through life.
Allow me now to pivot back to the opening question. Finding Adam is like finding an Atom. An atom is the smallest known unit of matter that retains all of its properties. It is said that if all the atoms in a single grapefruit were the size of blueberries, that grapefruit was be as large as the earth itself. Can you imagine that? When compared to the rest of the universe, the physical size of a man is probably less than the size of an atom. So then finding Adam represents a real challenge and one reason why Jesus said man is “condemned already”.
The good news is that God found Adam and has found us as well. In finding us, He is offering us the opportunity to become more than what we are. The alternative is to perish and vanish into the nothingness that we almost already are. This is the hope of Christianity that an Atom can become an Adam, a heavenly being that is other worldly capable of existing in places unseen and unknown to us.
We will go to Nicey Grove Wednesday night at 7:00 for their revival service so get the word around and the Men will have breakfast at Flag Branch Saturday at 8:30. So, until we meet again,
Blessings
Pastor Jordan
24
Jul '17
Fine Points Monday July 24, 2017
24
Jul '17
Greetings FB and Friends
Thanks for joining me on this post Lord’s Day. As always, I was pleased to see all of you and meet a few new people. It is my hope that God will send others who will join us in completing the mission for which we are called in our time. That mission is for us to believe that God has sent Jesus Christ into the world to give us everlasting life and to share that belief with others.
This mission has two parts. The first part is for us to believe. Belief in this case means more than agreeing or assenting that something is true. The bible tells us that devils believe. So, belief in the Christian case also means to be in agreement and in harmony with the teachings and commandments of God in Jesus Christ. Jesus came to bear witness to the truth of God’s offer of salvation. That was His highest priority. Likewise, if we are to be successful in carrying out our mission, bearing witness to the truth must also become our highest priority. It must come before family, friends, work, business and any group, club, or organization.
You say “that’s asking a lot” to which I will say you are correct. And the reason the church is not doing well in completing our mission is because our belief is so weak that it will not allow us to make God’s mission our number one priority. Without the faith to do the first part of the mission, the second part of the mission in which we share our faith leaves us with only a watered-down, unenthusiastic, lifeless testimony nobody believes or desires. And what’s even more troublesome for us is that a weak or lifeless faith means our own position with God is in jeopardy. In short, we care more about other things than we do about the success of God’s mission.
So, God give us a sign from heaven to reassure us that your mission should take priority in our lives. We need to know and be certain that our sacrificing for your sake is not in vain. If you can provide proof that what you say will come to pass, we’ll be willing to do whatever you want and need to be done. Lost by a sign means there will be some in the church who will never commit to doing what God wants and needs them to do because they didn’t get the sign or proof they thought they needed to believe God and commit to His mission. From the pulpit to the door, we must rearrange and realign our lives to leave no doubt that Jesus’s mission is our mission and His goals our goals and everything else is secondary to that.
Pray for us that in the coming weeks and months this will become a reality. Everything we need to make this transition is already in place and has been given. We only need to ask, seek, and knock for all the answers we need to make our living faith a reality and one we can enthusiastically share from the signs and assurances God has already provided. If the Lord wills, I hope to see some of you tomorrow at Greater Grace. Until then,
Blessings
Pastor Jordan
17
Jul '17
Fine Points Monday July 17, 2017
17
Jul '17
Greeting FB and friends
So nice for you to join me on this post Lord’s Day Monday. I was glad to see you all after being away last Sunday. I want to thank Rev. Byars for standing in for me and all of you for your support.
I was also happy to see the Church give something to those children returning to school on the year-round schedule to help them get ready for the school year. We will be doing this again as those children on the traditional schedule prepare to return in August. If you have a child you would like to receive the back to school help, give the name of the child and the member or supporter of the church recommending the child to Melanie Eddy. The number of children we can assist is limited, so those children who are active in the Church will have priority if we run out of assistance.
Speaking of running out, the message yesterday was about running out of life time. We are all born with a limited amount of life time that we will consume every second of every minute of every day until there is nothing left. Then we will die and be lost forever, unless God’s offer of unlimited life time through Jesus Christ is valid and we have made arrangements to take God up on His offer. Seeing then that we can’t change our life time, we have nothing to lose and eternity to gain by switching from the limited life time we were born with to the unlimited life time in Christ.
By switching, God essentially buys out our limited contract and replaces it with His own eternal one. All we have to do to switch is be baptized, come to work for Jesus, and live our lives in harmony with His expectations. So now that we know how to switch, the challenge for some is actually making the switch. This I hope to address next. And speaking of next, need I remind us all that we are all next to run out of life time. So, let’s continue to prepare now while we still have some left. Have a great day and week. Hopefully, I will see some of you tomorrow at Walker’s Grove.
Blessings
Pastor Jordan
03
Jul '17
Fine Points Monday July 3, 2017
03
Jul '17
Greeting FB and friends
Keep the sinful self-centered life you have or trade it for a holy God-centered life and what’s behind door #2. This is the choice we all face when the question is “shall I become a Christian?” Thanks for joining me for the post-Sunday fine points comments. Becoming a “real” Christian is a deliberate and thoughtful choice to pursue the “things of God” rather than the “things of self”. It means sacrificing the “I mentality” for the “We, Us and Our mentality”. It means crucifying the flesh (our self-will) in order to walk after the Spirit of God. It is a choice millions who claim to be Christians have not made, and quite frankly, many are unaware they must make.
Read Luke 14:25-33. Forsaking all means allowing Jesus’s mission to become our mission and His cause to become our cause. Our focus and goal in life becomes glorying God. And this becomes impossible to do until we decide the joys of heaven are more valuable and important than the pleasures of earth and sin. There is no way to pursue both. We are allowed to have one life or the other. This is the choice many who say they want to go to heaven and come to church and claim Christianity as their religion have not come to terms with.
Once the parachutist jumps out of the plane, there’s no returning back to it. He relies on his faith in the parachute and knowledge of skydiving to get him safely to the ground. Likewise, “real” Christians must jump out of the plane of their sinful, self-centered lives and rely on their faith in God and Spirit-led lives to land them safely onto the ground of eternity and immortality. So, are you going to stay on the plane or jump? It’s impossible to do both. Have a safe and wonderful week and happy 4th of July. And I hope to see you in the air!
Blessings
Pastor Jordan
26
Jun '17
Fine Points Monday June 26, 2017
26
Jun '17
Greetings Church and friends
Let’s begin today by joining me in thanking God that we are alive to see the beginning of another week. A new week or day can bring with it new and fresh opportunities to do some things over or some things better than before. I was so glad to see some of you on yesterday and hope God was pleased with Men’s Day. We were blessed to have a few visitors among us and I trust you made them feel welcomed. Allow me now to follow up with you on the message from yesterday, “Why I Am a Christian”.
Becoming a Christian involves a choice to deny or forsake ourselves and independence to live as we choose in order to allow God through Christ and His Holy Spirit to live through us. If we become Christians, we are no longer our own or in charge of our lives, but agree to put God in control and give him ownership. This is a major decision with eternal consequences and one quite frankly many in the church have not totally thought through. This is why I invite you to do what I did on yesterday and take an honest and realistic look at how your life would be different if you were not a Christian.
By doing this, we are able to see what we are forsaking in order to become a real Christian. And as you will see, there are things we would do as a nonbeliever that are inconsistent with a life as a Christian. So, are we really ready to forsake our life as a non-Christian? We can’t have it both ways and serve two masters. And if we are willing and ready to forsake a non-Christian life, the question then becomes, why? Why would you give up the freedom of living your life as you choose, not answering to anyone or anything but yourself to become a Christian? Speaking for myself, I hope to give you my answer to this question Sunday.
In the meantime, I invite you to listen to the sermon once again and answer this eternal question for yourself. It is available for replay through our mobile app or website. Be prepared to compare your reasons with the ones I will give Sunday. Our reasons may not be the same and that is fine. The only thing that really matters is that your reason is strong and good enough to cause you to forsake your non-Christian life. So, why are you a Christian? Think about it. I will all this week.
Blessings
Pastor Jordan
16
Jun '17
Epilogue Friday June 16, 2017
16
Jun '17
Good Afternoon FB and Friends
Well, we reached the end of another week and the Lord is still by our side. We have had a wonderful time together this week at VBS. It has been one of the best attended we have had. I want to start by saying thank you” to everyone who worked to make VBS possible this year. Thanks to Sis. V. Jordan, W. Jordan, G. Hawkins, L. Collins, Dea. E. Collins and anyone else who worked with the classes. Thank you M. Eddy, C. Rorie, R. Muirhead, O. Simpson and anyone else who help prepare food each day for us. And of course, a special thanks to Bro. T. Funderburk for serving as director and organizer for VBS. Without all of you it wouldn’t have been what it was. Also, thanks to Bro. E. Jordan for driving the van and picking up the young people.
The theme for the week was “Celebrate Jesus”. The teachers did a marvelous job staying with the theme for the week which was evident by the presentations on Thursday from each class. Now, allow me to put on my pastor’s cap. There are going to be times when we don’t see things the same way. And that is because we don’t have perfect knowledge. But the important thing is that we keeping seeking the truth and never ever allow any disagreement on how we understand things to affect our love for each other. As the hymn writer penned, “we will all understand it better by and by”.
Also, we all have our unique ways of doing and saying things. And while you may not do or say something the way someone else does and even feel offended, remember the reverse can be said of you. None of us are the same and that is a good thing. We should celebrate our uniqueness and learn and grow spiritually from it.
Finally, a reminder to all men of our practice tomorrow at 12:00 pm for Men’s Day. You can still bring a song if you have one. Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there. Let’s work to be the best father we can be. Happy Birthday to K. Jordan on Saturday. Verlinda and I will celebrate our 28th year of marriage if we live to see tomorrow. Keep Pastor D. Chambers of St. Davie in your prayers who is recovering from a serious illness. Let’s have a wonderful, safe and joyous weekend. And, I hope to see you in the Lord’s House on the Lord’s Day.
Blessings
Pastor Jordan
12
Jun '17
Fine Points Monday June 12, 2017
12
Jun '17
Greetings FB and Friends
The main thing I hope you took away from the message yesterday is that God intends to reward us according to our works. We are so busy working for ourselves and the man, that we have omitted the more important work of God in Christ. We are laboring for the bread that perishes instead of the eternal bread of life. The difference between us and Paul, Apollos, and Peter is that they wanted to work for God and we don’t.
When I say we, I mean the Church in general and not every single person in the Church. Because there are some in the Church who are like Paul, Apollos and Peter whose joy it was and is to labor for God in Christ. They are the ones who have a sense of duty to God to repay Him for what He has done for them. For God not only has delivered them from death, but has given them eternal life. In exchange for this, they have and are gladly laying down their lives in His service.
The task that remains is to help the Church in general to begin to feel and believe like the few who recognize the importance of His service. I am optimistic and confident this will happen. Now that I am free to concentrate and focus my remaining life on accomplishing this task, I can already see tiny signs of progress. Satan is working to blind everyone from the truth of God’s redemption in Christ, but the light of the gospel is penetrating his efforts to keep everyone in the dark.
I invite all of you at Flag Branch and elsewhere to join me as we allow the divine compassion God has for loss humanity to saturate our hearts and efforts with His love. When this happens, we will join those who are watering and planting and plowing and harvesting in the fields of God with inexpressible or unspeakable joy and full of the glory of an eternal just reward. These are just some of the “finer points” of Sunday’s message that I hope to continue to share with you in the future. So, let’s all have a wonderful week as we mediate on our work for the Lord.
Blessings
Pastor Jordan
