A glimpse at Sunday services
to come … and past messages
April 28, 2024
Family Matters
Glorious day of the Lord greetings, friends and family of the Shepherd! This morning in worship, we will consider the family matters addressed by Paul in his letter to us and the church at Ephesus in chapter 6:1-9.
This is a continuation of the series “Foundations of the House and Future of the Home.” The finale is next week on “Home Protection and Full Armor” in Ephesians 6:10.
See you all this morning, or listen to the garden talk, below.
Blessings,
Pastor Jay
Update: Listen to Jay’s garden talk, on a glorious Eastern North Carolina morning, as he explores the dual meanings of “family matters.”
April 21, 2024
The Mutual Submission Competition (AKA “Marriage”)
This week at Good Shepherd, we examine our heavenly bridegroom, Jesus, and consider His heart for His bride—the Church.
In less than two weeks, I will preside over the marriage of Win and Emily. Win is my son, and Emily is his beloved bride-to-be. As deep and devoted followers of Christ, I have invited them to consider which passage of scriptural wisdom will be read before their vows.
Of the myriad of wonderful selections, few choose the passage to be preached tomorrow—Ephesians 5:21-33. It is one of those readings that leads the cursory scanner of biblical texts to conclude that our God is a patriarchal tyrant, with no regard for the full expression of His image in woman.
Consider this verse:
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Ephesians 5:21 (NIV)
While this is not problematic in itself, the words are still laden with the perils of pride in the “who-goes-first” category.
The passage continues with counsel and commands for both husbands and wives, with the parallel understanding that husbands love their wives as Christ loved the church, and that wives respect their husbands. The essence of the teaching is that in marriages submitted to Christ, under His Lordship the curse is reversed.
Which curse? Genesis teaches that in the aftermath of original sin:
… [there will be] enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.
Genesis 3:15 (NIV)
Ya think?
So come and see, hear, and wade into the wedding waters with hope, encouragement, and abundant resourcing for our shared journey!
See you soon.
Blessings,
Pastor Jay
Update: Listen to Jay’s garden talk on this spring morning. Today he dives into marriage, taken in the context of Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus. You can prepare for services by reading Ephesians 5:21-33.
April 7, 2024
Walk Past Emmaus
Good morning lost but found sheep of the Shepherd!
We are a week past Easter, and I would be shocked if we have folks standing in the parking lot again this morning at COGS because there are no seats in the house. But as we all move forward from Resurrection Sunday, the power and the joy and the redeemed life of God remain a gift for unwrapping.
Today I move back into Ephesians, and specifically chapter 4:17-31, as we consider our walk past Emmaus and the principles for the path.
Paul uses the phrase “life with God” as a series of five or six points of contrast and comparison: from a path of darkness and impulsive immaturity, to the abundance and assurance of a life, where we put off the former things and put on garments of kindness, compassion and forgiveness.
The Emmaus Walk was a biblical record of a couple of confused disciples who encountered Jesus on Easter. Their hearts were warmed to the fullness of His Word for the walk. His call was not to be perpetual spectators, but rather to share in the journey. And that invitation remains.
Today part of sharing in the journey in-house at COGS will be to hear from Avril Havlin. He is a pastor with a mission called House of Hope to Central and South American women, specifically in this manner:
Who We Are
House of Hope was birthed out of the tremendous need to help young girls and women, trapped in brothels in Latin America experience transformation. We currently work in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Bolivia with day programs and residential centers to equip women spiritually and vocationally for a new life in Christ.
Mission
Our mission is the integration of women and their children into society, transformed through the power of healing and complete discipleship and vocational training within a safe, loving, and serving community.
Vision
To see women decide to follow Christ and leave behind sexual commerce; women who are transformed personally, economically, in their family life, and are fully equipped to be integrated into society.
Explore their shared website for yourself.
The power of Easter is not just for you or me—it is to overflow to our spheres of influence.
Hope to see you soon!
Blessings,
Pastor Jay
Update: Listen to Jay’s fireside worship message on this chilly April morning. You can prepare for services by reading Ephesians 4:17-31.
March 31, 2024
The Saturday Before Easter of “Betweens”
Between the cross and the empty tomb …
Between defeat and victory …
Between death and life eternal …
I hope that this finds you in a place of peace, and with anticipation for a day of passion and celebration. Below are the highlights for Easter at COGS.
Please Bring to COGS
Any light breakfast items to share.
Flowers for the flowering of the cross.
Easter Schedule
6:45 a.m.: Ensemble sunrise service at Festival Park, downtown by the Estuarium. Practice of music this morning was amazing, and the simple service of 30 minutes is come-as-you-are. Bring a chair, unless you are okay standing.
9:30 a.m.: Light breakfast at COGS. Sausage and small pancakes provided, along with fruit and any goodies you care to contribute.
10:10 a.m.: Big Easter service at Good Shepherd. In the event of an overflow, we will open doors and fold out chairs into the parking area.
Directly after worship: Egg hunt for young disciples.
See you soon and often!
Blessings,
Pastor Jay
Update: Listen to Jay’s Easter message recorded during services at COGS.
March 24, 2024
Following the King … to the Cross?
This weekend is Palm Sunday, when we remember Jesus as he entered the week a conqueror. He also and exited the week as a conqueror, but by a very different script than any of his followers or bystanders would have expected, even though he had told them multiple times what the Son of Man would endure.
God the Father has been so patient with us the children since the beginning of time. Jesus calls us to remember because we need regular checks to our perspective on our worth, in contrast to His worthiness on our behalf.
So, this weekend at COGS we have four young disciples—Logan, Erin, Blake and Ruth—who have journeyed for six months of table talk time considering the claims and the consistency of Christ. They will publicly profess their faith tomorrow, and remind us all on Palm Sunday that to follow Jesus is to come to the parade of Hosannas and to the pain of the cross, and to accept the sacrifice of our Savior as the moment in history that changes everything.
Come alongside, and read Psalm 118:19-29 and John 12:1-12 in preparation.
Blessings,
Pastor Jay
Update: Listen to Jay’s Palm Sunday message recorded on Saturday from the seashore.
March 17, 2024
Saturday Grace and Peace to You, Friends of the Shepherd!
Feel free to wear your green tomorrow, but no pinching is allowed for those who do not. Actually, I fear that we will all be covered in a glaze of mustard yellow pine pollen.
I don’t recall a recent overlap of St Patrick’s Day and Sunday, but I do know from history that this is not just a hallmark holiday, and also that Patrick had little to do with snakes or leprechauns. He was a prisoner for six years in Ireland, and escaped back to his native Britain only to have his faith in Jesus, which had been formed in confinement, lead him back to bring faith to his former enemies.
This story fits perfectly into the teaching of Ephesians 4:11-16. Come and see and sit and listen.
Also, take note—we will hit pause on the Ephesians series for March 24 and 31, which are Palm Sunday and Easter.
Special seasonal accents will include:
Maundy Thursday, March 28: Communion and foot-washing service at 7 p.m. Please see the three-minute YouTube video featuring the tender and classic Michael Card song “The Basin and the Towel,” which beautifully captures the essence of foot-washing from a Biblical perspective.
Easter Sunday, March 31: Sunrise community service, 6:55 a.m., downtown at Festival Park; and
Easter breakfast and egg hunt surrounding worship on Easter morning, which will also include flowering of the cross up front.
Love and blessings to you all!
Pastor Jay
Update: Listen to Jay’s table talk from his kitchen on this dark morning. For preparation, read Psalm 145.
March 10, 2024
Rainy Saturday Greetings Faithful Friends!
A friendly nudge and reminder that Daylight Savings Time returns overnight, which means the dreaded spring-forward event in which we lose an hour is at hand.
Redemption awaits tomorrow, as does another favorite section of Paul’s letter to us and Ephesus. Read Ephesians 4:1-6 about four huge imperatives for the follower of Christ. And oneness is the promise.
Come and see and hear what the Lord has done!
Also, next week for five straight mornings is the Youth Prayer Breakfast downtown at First Baptist Church with loads of familiar COGS faces. Click here to see the flyer.
Blessings,
Pastor Jay
Update: Listen to Jay’s table talk from his dining room on this cusp of spring. For preparation, read Psalm 46.
March 3, 2024
For This Reason I Kneel: _____
How do you fill in that blank? Paul the apostle begins Ephesians 3:14 with those five open-ended words.
For what reason do you kneel? By kneeling, we show honor, humility, and impactful intent. It is customary to kneel in:
A marriage proposal
A plea to a higher power whom we trust
Desperation
Knighthood before a king
Prayer
Paul’s reason for kneeling is a plea before God the Father from whom he believes that every family derives its very name. And the plea is for a triple dose of power for you and for me.
Has his prayer been answered for us? Do we have power as a foundation for life and faith?
Plug in on Sunday to stay current!
Blessings,
Pastor Jay
Update: Listen to Jay’s weekly talk from the echo chamber of his kitchen on this springlike March morning, as he continues his exploration of Ephesians.
February 25, 2024
Mystery Made Known
Some of you are fans of mystery novels, movies and other media. From Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, in our youth the mystery genre was and continues to be widely popular. I think you will agree with me, however, that the last place you want a mystery is in the foundation of your house or faith.
As a realtor, I’ve had numerous home purchases adversely affected by the discovery of a negative mystery matter in the foundational crawl space that affected the structural integrity of the home, and literally brought the house down in value and desirability.
This week we explore the first half of Ephesians, chapter 3, where Paul uses the phrase “mystery of the Gospel” or “mystery in Christ” four times. Are we to assume that God wants to remain hidden and unknown? Does he require followers and seekers to acquire a treasure map or bring in a magnifying glass in order to discover His treasures of truth?
Paul says—and we receive a resounding no—that God does not want to be hidden, or His ways and plan to be unclear!
The big revelation in Ephesians 3 is that the house that God has been building gets a huge addition, which has been planned from the beginning. The draftsman of the blueprint and architect of the expansion is none other than Jesus, the Christ.
In historical and theological terms, the expansion people for whom there is room in the Father’s house are the non-chosen gentiles, and unless you have Jewish heritage, that means you and me.
Want to know more about this plan for a far greater house party? Come on Sunday, and we will see more about how the mystery was solved.
Blessings,
Pastor Jay
Update: Listen to Jay’s fireside chat on this chilly February morning, as he dives back into Ephesians after a week’s absence.
February 11, 2024
A House Built With Imported Materials
Most of you know that for the past 18 years, I have worn another professional hat as a residential realtor.
I don’t bring that up to self-promote my services, but rather to share that one of my points of reference in home-building is that in premier home construction, often wood floors can come from Brazil, marble from Europe, and tiles from the Mediterranean basin.
In our study of “foundations of the house” and “future of the home” in the letter to the Ephesian church, Paul the apostle (hear “messenger”) uses language of imported materials for the building of God’s house.
Consider this verse:
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2:13 (NIV)
And these verses:
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19-22 (NIV)
Premiere homes are not built with damaged goods. In fact, quality controls filter out cracked marble, termite-riddled hardwood, and fragmented tile, which are flagged as sub-par and discarded. God, on the other hand, specializes in remodeling projects using people otherwise rejected or disqualified. In fact, the Lord’s plans for citizenship and oneness as a human race are the essence of the other Lord’s Prayer—Jesus’s calling to the Father for oneness as recorded throughout John 17.
How do we fit into the construction of the house of the Lord? How do we filter fellow foreigners for whom Christ has lived and died?
These are vital questions in our knowing Jesus and sharing the journey. Come and see and bring hearts to hear!
Blessings,
Pastor Jay
Update: Listen to Jay’s fireside chat on this balmy February morning. Looking ahead in the week, both Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day fall on February 14, which lends itself to an exploration of the nature of true love. Today’s Bible passage is Ephesians 2:12-22.
February 4, 2024
The Grace That Fuels the Race
As January wound down last week, my intent was to cover all of Ephesians 2:1-10, and then I didn’t.
To give you a glimpse into my inner speak, I had a solid nudge to linger in the early part of the passage. This is where Paul writes about the perils of the human condition in its disobedience and failure to actually lead the lives for which we were created. There is a pivot in verse 4, which reads: “But because of His great love for us God, who is rich in mercy …”
I want to run to mercy and move on, don’t you? I want the old playground handshake, when I have joined in the wild ruckus at recess and just say the big blanket “I’m sorry,” and then return to the scene and the repetition of the crime! I don’t want the consequences of sin, but I do want a fresh start to do as I please.
So back to last week in worship. I got to verse 4, and then recalled chapters 4 and 5 yet to come in Ephesians and found thorough and frankly disturbing lists of ways in which we wander. And as the mirror hung before me, I saw myself still in the middle of the mess I had made.
And thus we went into what I called “sin-ventory” mode, and I asked anyone listening to be thorough with our life’s evaluation and confession. I emphasized that the goal is not guilt and punishment, but rather to clear our frail and faulty foundations of life so that the Lord—the builder of the house—can mold and make us in His image to His glory and to our joy and freedom.
Alas, one week is not enough, so if you don’t want to hear any more about “the wages of sin is death,” and you don’t want to hear any more about rescuing grace, then best stay home or go to brunch.
If, however, you want to join in the triumphant procession of the redeemed, restored and rescued—then come on over to Market Street.
Just one beggar telling another where I found the bread … and then the bread became the King’s table set for you and me!
Blessings,
Pastor Jay
Update: Listen to Jay’s fireside chat on this cold February morning, as he continues his exploration of Ephesians 2, two days after Groundhog Day. During services, he will reveal the wisdom hidden in the classic movie, Groundhog Day.
January 28, 2024
10 Verses That Say It All
We now come to one of those “if all you had was this chapter” passages, as we round the first lap of our New Year’s journey through Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, and consider the foundation if offers and the future it promises. Here is how pastor, scholar and uncle of a man, Eugene Peterson, translates these extraordinary truths in his Bible translation:
He Tore Down the Wall
It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Ephesians 2:1-10 (The Message)
January 28 is the day between the anniversary of my father-in-law’s death 11 years ago on the 27th, and my father’s death six years ago on the 29th.
We are not haunted by those dates because of the truth of this Gospel message. The promise is death to life, and it begins here and now!
Come and listen …
Blessings,
Pastor Jay
Update: Listen to Jay’s fireside chat on this balmy January morning. Today’s Bible passage is Psalm 19:1-14.
January 21, 2024
Preparing the Site and Restoring Our Sight
For the past two Sundays at Good Shepherd, we have pored over the first fifteen verses of Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus. We have extracted extravagant plans, promises and provisions of God the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit. This was and is Gospel good news, and freedom in fact.
We have also framed this conversation around foundations of our spiritual houses and personal lives. I have mentioned more than once the essential reality that a stable house cannot be constructed on shifting sands or faulty foundations.
Last week in fact I did a bit of meddling in the assertion that signs of faulty foundations in our lives can be but are not limited to:
Defensiveness
Pettiness
Impulsive behaviors
Ouch—right?
There are many amazing facets of God’s words to us in Scripture. Among them are narrative accounts of faulty families from the beginning, and the truth that can set families right and redeem broken pasts.
This week we will look into biblical history and see where the following are practices that persist, but that can be stopped under the powerful presence of the Lord:
Favoritism
Deceit
Consistent immoral behavior
You are not alone in the baggage from your past. Abundant life in Jesus is freedom from then for now. Let’s explore these promises together!
Blessings,
Pastor Jay
Update: Listen to Jay’s fireside chat on this bitterly cold morning as he continues his exploration of the foundations of faith from Ephesians. Today’s Bible passage is Psalm 27:6.
January 14, 2024
Plans, Promises and Provision
A foundation is not built in a day. This is an obvious statement, whether I am speaking literally about construction or figuratively about footings for life.
More difficult yet is the process of foundation inspection and modification. For many of us, it takes crisis as a catalyst to change anything, and getting to the root cause is an action plan that many of us fail to pursue.
Author and pastor John Maxwell said,
“People change when they hurt enough that they have to, learn enough that they want to, and receive enough that they are able to.”*
The plans, promises and provision laid out in the early chapters of Ephesians offer hope and guarantees even of inclusion in God’s plans. They also ask for agreement and response.
As we continue this new (yet old) study in 2024, my prayer for us all is to be open to transforming truth and connective community, which continues to fulfill the abundant life that our Good Shepherd came and comes to bring.
Come and see, come and listen, come and trust the promises of the Lord!
Blessings,
Pastor Jay
*Maxwell, John C. (2000) Failing Forward: Turning Your Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc. p. 156.
Update: Listen to Jay’s fireside chat on this crisp winter morning as he focuses on the foundations of faith from Ephesians 1. Today’s homework is Psalm 27.
January 7, 2024
New Series: Ephesus Is Us
Happy New Year, COGS family and friends! For this Sunday and moving forward, we are launching into a series of messages based on the New Testament Letter to the Ephesians. The name for the series could be “Back to the Future,” but has a bit more specific title in:
Foundations of the House and Future of the Home
Ephesus Is Us
Over the past several years, many new faces from new places have come into this faith family. Consequently, we determined that it is vitally important to consider the foundations on which Church of the Good Shepherd is built.
Part and parcel to that foundation is the strength and counsel we draw from God’s Living Word in His Son Jesus, and in the divinely inspired record of His life and teachings that we find faithfully recorded in the Bible.
If you missed New Year’s Eve worship and have access to Facebook, please click here to watch Melanie Stoudt’s brave, beautiful and bountiful teaching testimony. It is a living witness to what COGS is all about.
A faith and family without foundations is vulnerable, as we all know, to floods and failure. But, you and I do not need to create blueprints or pour concrete of our own making to have a stable future! By grace, the work has been done by our Lord, but we must know these truths to be fortified with power for the future.
Come and see and hear this Sunday as we enter a new year without fear!
Blessings,
Pastor Jay
Update: Listen to Jay’s garden talk as he leans into a new message series inspired by Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus.
